Chapter Summaries

Lu Mi discovered that Michel’s dark art required scheduled blood sacrifices and realized the manor’s twelfth day marked a deadly milestone. After uncovering a hidden face in the ceiling, he and Roman rushed to intervene as the Butler confronted He Shengguang.

• Lu Mi found a handwritten dark arts manual describing how to steal someone’s appearance and learned the preparation had to be replaced every seven days.
• Lu Mi saw that Roman had sharp fingernails growing across his body and urged him to seek treatment after they escaped.
• Lu Mi found instructions for the dark art called Deification and realized Michel had been collecting blood from victims according to a schedule on the instance’s twelfth day.
• Lu Mi and Roman searched for what He Shengguang had seen with his Butterfly Eyes, then washed away a ceiling disguise and found a bloodied face behind ice.
• The Butler confronted He Shengguang while Lu Mi and Roman rushed in different directions toward the upper floors as snow buried the manor.

Lu Mi exposed the real Butler, freed Noel from the manor’s past, and opened the gates for the survivors to leave. Noel planned to go to the capital with the Butler and restore the manor when she grew up, while Lu Mi and Roman stepped into the light.

• Lu Mi melted the ice disguising the real Butler and freed him, while Roman kept the fake Butler occupied by carrying He Shengguang and Mo Yu around the hall.
• The real Butler attacked Michel, and Lu Mi said Noel was still the key to resolving the manor’s curse.
• Lu Mi melted the snow outside the castle with a powerful wall of fire, then led Noel to the weeping angel statue to retrieve her eyes.
• Noel put her eyes back in without going mad, saw the ruined manor, and agreed to leave with the Butler for the capital before restoring it as an adult.
• The butterflies transformed into a key, Lu Mi opened the manor gates, and Mo Yu, Jiang Chunyan, He Shengguang, Jin Bi, Lu Mi, and Roman left through the light.

Lu Mi recovered his spiritual power during a healing session, alarming the staff until 2044 recognized him and stopped them from treating him as a threat. Afterward, Lu Mi and Roman went to the cafeteria, where Lu Mi offered to buy Roman a meal with popularity points.

• Lu Mi and Roman entered the Healing Area, where the staff insisted Lu Mi receive treatment too.
• During healing, Lu Mi summoned a glowing ball of water, triggering an alarm and sending staff into a panic.
• 2044 identified Lu Mi as a harmless kitty who had recovered his spiritual power, shut off the alarm, and told staff to memorize the ranked players’ faces.
• Lu Mi asked 2044 about the growths on Roman’s skin, but 2044 hinted that Roman knew more than he admitted.
• Lu Mi and Roman found the cafeteria accepting popularity points and ordered food, with Lu Mi offering to pay for Roman’s meal.
• Lu Mi asked whether Roman could eat despite not needing food, hoping to share the fried chicken with him.

Lu Mi learned that Cheng Cheng had a message for him from Shen Yiwen, then discovered the Divine Punishment Game's upgrade had added viewer messages and a plaza job listing. Jin Bi came to his dorm to offer him a chance to earn gold coins, but Lu Mi turned her down.

• Cheng Cheng approached Lu Mi in the cafeteria and gave him a card with a number, but Roman carried him away after he admitted he didn't know who the woman was.
• Lu Mi called Shen Yiwen, who apologized for bumping into him in an instance and explained that her friend had died.
• Lu Mi learned that he and his profile were displayed on the plaza screen because he ranked first in popularity.
• The game upgrade let players who had cleared at least two instances receive viewer messages, and Lu Mi enabled the feature before regretting the lewd messages he found.
• Jin Bi knocked on Lu Mi's dorm door and offered him a plaza job, but he refused.

Jin Bi tried to win Lu Mi over, but he rejected her and agreed to stay in Roman’s room for a few days. As they shared a bed, Lu Mi found a cat-care book Roman had been studying and offered to teach him to read.

• Jin Bi pleaded with Lu Mi to help her, but he told her to leave and not return.
• Roman asked Lu Mi to sleep in his room so he could keep Roman from attacking Jin Bi, and Lu Mi agreed.
• Roman prepared a bath and bed for Lu Mi, but Lu Mi had already showered and brought his own comforter.
• Lu Mi dried Roman’s hair and eventually let him share the bed.
• Lu Mi found a well-worn guide to bonding with tabby cats hidden under his pillow and offered to teach Roman to read.

Lu Mi and Roman spent several days studying and practicing before visiting a new shop, where Lu Mi ran into Shen Yiwen and her former college classmate Jin Bi. Lu Mi and Shen Yiwen entered a dungeon together, leaving Roman behind in the Public Rest Area.

• Roman was too excited to sleep after Lu Mi promised to teach him, and Lu Mi asked why Roman always wore a face covering, but Roman did not answer.
• Lu Mi taught Roman to read while practicing spells, and Roman's notebook was soaked by Lu Mi's summoned water for the third time.
• Lu Mi and Roman visited the crowded Wonderful Dream shop, where Shen Yiwen warned that the new popularity-point activities seemed suspicious.
• Shen Yiwen and Jin Bi traded hostile remarks, revealing their old college grudge, while Jin Bi mocked Lu Mi and Shen Yiwen in front of the crowd.
• Lu Mi announced he was about to enter a dungeon, clearing the crowd around him, and Shen Yiwen joined him before the countdown ended.

Lu Mi and the other players arrived as transfer students at Bo'ai Academy, where the teacher and classroom hinted at something sinister. When Roman was injured during class and the teacher turned hostile, Lu Mi calmed him by showing his carefully written lecture notes, leaving the group with a possible way to manage the teacher.

• Lu Mi, Roman, Shen Yiwen, and the other players joined Class Four at Bo'ai Academy, where Cheng Cheng pretended to be a newcomer.
• Shen Yiwen asked how many students had originally been in the class, and the teacher insisted there had been twenty despite forty desks.
• During a lesson, Roman smelled burning and found that something had badly burned through his forearm.
• Roman grabbed a bespectacled boy, and the teacher grew sinister as he scolded the class for fighting and neglecting their studies.
• Lu Mi showed the teacher his lecture notes, and the teacher praised them as his sinister energy receded.

Lu Mi and Roman were punished with a night patrol after class, while Lu Mi investigated the academy and found a way to earn meals by working in the cafeteria. As evening study ended, they stayed behind for their patrol, and Lu Mi hoped he would get a chance to test his ability against the instance’s ghosts and monsters.

• The teacher quizzed Lu Mi, then assigned him and Roman to patrol the teaching building that night as punishment.
• Roman told Lu Mi that Zhao Xiaoxiang had arranged for Han San to throw sulfuric acid at him, and Lu Mi treated Roman’s injury.
• Zhao Xiaoxiang and Han San apologized, then Cheng Cheng led the group to the cafeteria and entertained Lu Mi with stories about his background.
• Lu Mi realized he needed to save his gold coins, so he persuaded the cafeteria staff to let him work for free meals, and Roman worked beside him.
• After evening study hall, Shen Yiwen and the other players returned to the dorms while Lu Mi and Roman stayed behind for their patrol; Lu Mi hoped to test his ability on the instance’s monsters.

Lu Mi and Roman began their night patrol in Teaching Building No. 3, where a school-uniformed figure watched them. In the girls’ dormitory, Xiaoyi encountered a ghost in the shower room and fled to room 509, but the door opened from the inside just as she called for help.

• Zhong Zixian warned Lu Mi that the first night usually had the most deaths, and Lu Mi hurried with Roman to the gatehouse to begin patrol.
• Roman tied Lu Mi’s scarf while a figure in a school uniform watched them from a classroom window.
• Shen Yiwen reminded Xiaoyi about the dormitory rules, but Xiaoyi laughed in the shower room and encountered a ghost with a fruit knife embedded in its head.
• Xiaoyi fled to room 509 and repeatedly pounded on the door, breaking the room’s entry-code rule.
• Xiaoyi called Shen Yiwen, and the steel door opened a crack from the inside.

Xiao Yi was dragged into her dorm room and killed while Shen Yiwen reviewed the dormitory rules. In Teaching Building No. 3, Lu Mi and Roman escaped a violent ghost with help from Cheng Cheng, but the ghost’s question left Lu Mi facing an eerie change in his surroundings.

• Xiao Yi was seized through her dorm doorway, and her phone call ended with her screams and faint chewing sounds.
• Shen Yiwen read the warning against lingering in Teaching Building No. 3 after evening study hall.
• A burned ghost attacked Lu Mi and Roman, and Lu Mi used fire to slow it as they fled.
• Cheng Cheng immobilized the ghost with Yellow Talismans, but Lu Mi accidentally burned one while freeing the ghost’s head so he could question it.
• The ghost repeatedly asked Lu Mi whether he could see it, and Lu Mi noticed that the moonlight had vanished and neither Cheng Cheng nor Roman cast a shadow.

Lu Mi, Roman, and Cheng Cheng survived an encounter with a ghostly boy, then questioned the guard about the student. The guard identified him as Xie Ping'an and agreed to provide the archives key if they helped him patrol the next night.

• Lu Mi answered that he could see the ghost, followed it to Class Four, and was pulled back to reality by Roman and Cheng Cheng.
• Roman said he escaped by telling the truth, while Cheng Cheng woke with a broken left hand after provoking the ghost.
• Roman signed in at the guardhouse, and Lu Mi confronted the guard with surveillance footage of the ghost.
• The guard identified the boy as Xie Ping'an and told Lu Mi and Roman that the archives held records on every student.
• The guard agreed to risk giving them the archives key if they helped him patrol the following night.

Lu Mi and Roman returned to dorm 302, where a fake version of the room tried to lure them into knocking incorrectly. After they entered safely, Zhong Zixian told Lu Mi how newcomer Xiao Hu had died, leaving Lu Mi with a chilling account of the knife-headed boy.

• Cheng Cheng healed his hand, then rode a flying sword toward the dorm while Lu Mi and Roman followed.
• Outside room 302, Lu Mi noticed the eerie silence and rejected the figures inside as poor imitations before following the door’s knock code.
• Wang Rongyu and Zhong Zixian let Lu Mi and Roman into the room, where they found Xiao Hu dead with a fruit knife in his head.
• Zhong Zixian told Lu Mi that Xiao Hu had returned from the communal restroom, followed by a knife-headed boy who asked whether Zhong could see him.

Lu Mi and Roman investigated the records room before their patrol and discovered details about Class 4, Grade 26, while overhearing Teacher Zhao threaten Zhao Xiaoxiang. After Roman took over Lu Mi’s cafeteria work, Lu Mi spotted something that left him staring in shock.

• Lu Mi told Roman about the decapitated boy’s question and suspected the gatekeeper had deliberately directed them to the records room.
• Lu Mi and Roman secretly entered the records room, found Xie Ping'an’s file, and reviewed the Class 4 student records.
• Lu Mi overheard Teacher Zhao threaten Zhao Xiaoxiang, who insisted that students were disappearing and urged his uncle to check the records.
• Roman bought Lu Mi a meal and washed dishes for him at the cafeteria, then waited for praise that Lu Mi did not give.
• Lu Mi stared intently at something as he ate, and Roman asked what he was looking at.

Lu Mi investigated the shrinking class and learned that surveillance footage from October 28 was missing before attending the Drama Club’s performance. As the play reached Quasimodo’s entrance beneath a suddenly overcast sky, the audience waited to see who would play him.

• Lu Mi learned that Xiao Hu and Xiao Yi had died, and he counted only seventeen NPC students in class, down from twenty the previous day.
• A couple of players skipped class to search for clues, while Lu Mi calculated that Class 4 had twenty-nine students and that earlier deaths had already gone unremembered by most NPCs.
• Teacher Zhao announced that afternoon classes were canceled and attendance at the Drama Club’s performance was mandatory; Cheng Cheng slipped into class after arriving with the teacher.
• Shen Yiwen told Lu Mi that surveillance footage from Teaching Building No. 3 was missing for October 28, the same date Lu Mi had noticed on a calendar.
• Lu Mi, Shen Yiwen, and Cheng Cheng watched the Drama Club perform The Hunchback of Notre-Dame as clouds covered the sky and the audience waited for Quasimodo to appear.

Xie Ping'an unleashed a dormitory attack, then challenged Lu Mi and Roman to identify the real Lu Mi in an illusion. Roman faced three identical versions of Lu Mi, and the chapter ended before he chose.

• A burned figure posing as Quasimodo emerged onstage, and the audience fled when he revealed his severed neck.
• Cheng Cheng reminded everyone that shouting violated the Dormitory Rules, while knife-headed figures hunted those who had screamed.
• Xie Ping'an put on the Mad King's Crown and left the stage as students died around the dormitory.
• Lu Mi and Roman confronted Xie Ping'an, who agreed to reveal what happened on October 28 if they won his game.
• Xie Ping'an transported Lu Mi and Roman to a meadow and told Roman to identify the real Lu Mi among three identical copies within five minutes.
• One copy proposed discussing their experience in the Public Rest Area, while the real Lu Mi sat down to see how long Roman would take to recognize him.

Roman chose the real Lu Mi over an impostor during Xie Ping'an’s test, and the group returned to the dormitory grounds after Teacher Zhao interrupted them. Lu Mi realized the dead Class Four students were killing classmates according to a five-per-day limit and planned to question Xie Ping'an that night.

• A fake Lu Mi embraced Roman, but Roman killed the impostor and correctly chose the real Lu Mi before the countdown ended.
• Lu Mi saw his reflection briefly turn hideously ugly, and the illusion ended behind the student dormitory.
• Teacher Zhao interrupted Xie Ping'an before he could reveal what he had promised, and Xie Ping'an disappeared as the dormitory sounds of pursuit and slaughter stopped.
• Roman gave medicine to a wounded student, while Cheng Cheng and Sun Ming told Lu Mi that the stabbers had saved them and that Zhong Zixian was being treated by Shen Yiwen.
• Lu Mi recognized the stabbers as missing Class Four students and calculated that Class Four had lost twenty-five people since October 28, matching a limit of five deaths per day.
• Lu Mi decided to find Xie Ping'an during the night patrol and learn what had happened on October 28.

Lu Mi and Roman entered an isolated replay of the events in Class Four on October 28, where Xie Ping'an was bullied and beaten to death while his classmates watched. The chapter ended with Xie Ping'an lying motionless in a pool of blood.

• Lu Mi and Roman began their patrol, then went to Class Four after Cheng Cheng reported that the guard had left.
• Xie Ping'an drew Lu Mi and Roman into an isolated space-time and began recounting what happened on October 28.
• The replay showed Zhao Xiaoxiang and Han San taunting Xie Ping'an about his family and attacking him.
• As classmates watched or filmed, Han San beat Xie Ping'an with an iron stool despite Feng Wentian trying to stop him.
• Xie Ping'an lost consciousness, and the beating left him dead in a pool of blood.

Lu Mi and his companions learned that Xie Ping'an had wanted to know why they could see him, then discovered the gatekeeper and Teacher Zhao were conspiring to stop their investigation. Teacher Zhao threatened the class with the severed heads of two students and announced a bonfire party, while Lu Mi’s group planned to search for clues during the preparations and performances.

• Xie Ping'an asked Lu Mi and Roman why they could see him before fading away.
• Cheng Cheng told Lu Mi and Roman that he overheard the gatekeeper warn Teacher Zhao to keep the students from investigating the Archive Room.
• Lu Mi found that Class Four’s records had been removed from the Archive Room and arranged for Roman to return the key later as if they had never been there.
• Teacher Zhao displayed the severed heads of two students who had skipped class and warned the players not to investigate or miss important activities.
• Teacher Zhao canceled evening study for a Bonfire Party and required everyone to prepare a performance.
• Shen Yiwen and Zhong Zixian offered to perform onstage while Lu Mi and the others handled backstage work and searched for clues.

Lu Mi and Roman searched Xie Ping'an’s dormitory and uncovered evidence of the abuse and trauma he endured, along with a blood-written revenge contract. At the bonfire party, Lu Mi planned to ask Xie Ping'an about it, but Shen Yiwen warned him not to go to the classroom building.

• Lu Mi and Roman searched Dormitory 404, where Cheng Cheng used a Time Reversal Spell to reveal cruel insults carved into Xie Ping'an’s desk.
• Lu Mi read Xie Ping'an’s diary and learned about his mother’s death, his classmates’ rejection, and his despair after the fire.
• Lu Mi found a blood-written contract invoking his soul for revenge, tore out the page, and showed it to Cheng Cheng.
• At the bonfire party, Lu Mi dodged Roman’s familiar head pat and said he planned to ask Xie Ping'an about the contract.
• Shen Yiwen returned from drawing lots and told Lu Mi not to go to the classroom building.

Lu Mi followed Zhao Xiaoxiang, Han San, and Wang Rongyu into the woods and discovered they were preparing a ritual to summon Xie Ping'an’s spirit. The ritual succeeded, and Zhao Xiaoxiang faced the furious ghost as it appeared.

• Shen Yiwen told Lu Mi that Feng Wentian had admitted writing the Student Dormitory Rules and warned him to watch Zhao Xiaoxiang.
• During Shen Yiwen and Zhong Zixian’s performance, Lu Mi saw Zhao Xiaoxiang leave for the woods and followed him.
• Lu Mi overheard Zhao Xiaoxiang, Han San, and Wang Rongyu discuss laying Xie Ping'an’s spirit to rest, and saw them carry a bloodstained metal stool to a clearing.
• The three prepared a summoning ritual with Bagua mirrors, candles, yellow paper, and incense-ash water while Lu Mi watched from hiding.
• Zhao Xiaoxiang summoned Xie Ping'an, whose ghost appeared and threatened to kill them.