Chapter Summaries

Lu Mi was forced to choose between saving Jin Bi and letting the monster kill her, and Jin Bi died after he stayed silent. Back in the stone-house area, Lu Mi reunited with Zhong Zixian and Cheng Cheng, while the red-haired girl confronted Zeng Deming over the key and the reason she haunted him.

• The monster lifted Jin Bi and forced Lu Mi to choose whether to spare or kill her, while she pleaded with him to save her.
• Lu Mi said nothing as the monster swallowed Jin Bi, then returned to the weed-covered ground and saw Zeng Deming accuse him of making the same choice he had.
• Cheng Cheng attacked Zeng Deming, and Zhong Zixian helped Lu Mi toward the Number One Stone House after his Mental Value fell dangerously low.
• A red-haired girl came out carrying the Bamboo Basket and said Roman had sent her to help Lu Mi, though Roman stayed inside.
• Zeng Deming begged to be released and promised to give them the key, while Lu Mi suggested that the girl might be haunting him because he could not forgive himself.

Zeng Deming apologized to the Red-Haired Girl and found peace when she killed him, while Lu Mi and the others escaped the graveyard with Roman. Back in the Public Rest Area, Lu Mi cared for Roman and realized he no longer cared about uncovering Roman’s secrets, just as an important message arrived on his Wristband.

• Lu Mi encouraged Zeng Deming to face the Red-Haired Girl, and Zeng Deming apologized and handed her the fountain pen he had used to kill her.
• The Red-Haired Girl killed Zeng Deming, whose soul found peace, and then dissipated into a black key.
• Lu Mi called Roman out of the stone house, and Roman collapsed into his arms before they headed for the exit with Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian.
• Lu Mi brought Roman to the Healing Area and let him stay in his bedroom while he recovered from his injuries.
• Roman remembered Cheng Cheng telling him to hide something better, while Lu Mi privately accepted that Roman’s secrets and feelings no longer mattered to him.
• Lu Mi closed the bedroom door, and his Wristband vibrated three times with a reminder about an important unread message.

After discovering that Jin Bi’s death had unlocked the Killing Spree achievement, Lu Mi struggled with the realization that the game was changing him. He told Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian that he wanted to destroy the game, but the system interrupted them by accusing him of subversive speech.

• Lu Mi learned that he had won the Popularity Contest and received enough popularity points to reach the highest level of Crown of Popularity.
• Messages from Ghost Spectators reminded Lu Mi that Jin Bi had been killed in the instance, and he unlocked the first level of the Killing Spree achievement.
• Lu Mi stayed behind closed doors instead of collecting his reward, and he avoided discussing Jin Bi’s death with Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian.
• Lu Mi told Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian that he wanted to destroy the game and explained how its rules and rewards treated players’ lives as disposable.
• The system ordered the resident of room 701 to open the door, citing Lu Mi’s subversive speech as a serious violation.

Lu Mi faced arrest for declaring that he would destroy the game, but 2044 spared him and summoned him to collect a reward. Afterward, Zhong Zixian urged Lu Mi not to bear his burdens alone, and Lu Mi confided that Yi Wen was dead and he had indirectly killed Jin Bi.

• Guards surrounded Lu Mi's room and arrested him after he admitted responsibility for his statement, while Zhong Zixian nearly revealed forbidden instance details.
• A message from the Deputy Administrator halted Lu Mi's execution, and 2044 told him to come to the Central Control Building at five to collect his reward.
• After the guards left, Roman and Cheng Cheng returned to Lu Mi's room, and Zhong Zixian comforted Lu Mi.
• Zhong Zixian encouraged Lu Mi not to shoulder everything alone, prompting Lu Mi to confess that Yi Wen had died and that he had indirectly killed Jin Bi.

Lu Mi visited the Central Control Building to claim the Popularity Contest prize, where 2044 revealed he had secretly chosen a wish for him as a gift. That night, Lu Mi discovered he could turn into a cat at will, and Roman woke at the sound of his meow.

• Lu Mi realized Zhong Zixian had accepted Shen Yiwen's death, while their companions silently agreed to set out together on a dangerous path.
• Lu Mi used his gold pass to meet 2044, who told him the god was not angry and that he had already chosen Lu Mi's wish.
• Lu Mi returned to his dormitory and found Roman cooking dinner for him; later, he blow-dried Roman's hair after his bath.
• As midnight approached, Lu Mi remembered his former nightly transformations and wondered whether 2044's gift had restored them.
• Lu Mi wished he could switch between human and cat form freely, then transformed into a cat, waking Roman with a meow.

Lu Mi entered a new instance at the Zidao Provincial Library with Roman, Zhong Zixian, and Cheng Cheng, where they discovered that time seemed frozen. The library’s screen finally advanced to 17:01 just as a monster appeared, leaving the players in danger.

• Lu Mi confirmed he could freely switch between human and cat forms, while Roman spent a sleepless night outside his door.
• Lu Mi entered the instance with Roman, Zhong Zixian, and Cheng Cheng and met veteran player Zhang Xuerong and a crowd of newcomers.
• Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian noticed that the library screen and Lu Mi’s Wristband remained stuck at 17:00.
• Zhang Xuerong announced that the screen had changed to 17:01, and players spotted a dark, sticky monster in the hall.

Lu Mi and the others fled a hall where a vortex-covered monster was devouring people, and they escaped through a hidden door to a rural courtyard. Lu Mi suspected the monster attacked when more than five people shared a place; after one newcomer refused to leave and was eaten, the group entered the house as night approached.

• A huge monster filled the hall, pulling people into its vortices while Lu Mi searched for a way out with Zhong Zixian.
• Cheng Cheng led Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian through a concealed door marked West Gate, and Roman and Zhang Xuerong followed them into a rural courtyard.
• Shi Caiwen and Yao Zhiye arrived with another player, and Lu Mi suspected that having more than five people in one place triggered the monster's attack.
• Shi Caiwen and Yao Zhiye left to find another refuge, but the remaining newcomer refused to go and the monster pulled him into a vortex.
• After the monster withdrew and the door vanished, Lu Mi and the others entered the house, where its vacant-eyed occupants stared at them.

Lu Mi and the others witnessed Jian Di clash with her family over her plan to leave and earn her own living, then spent the night in the family’s house as time shifted. The chapter left them waking to a growing argument next door as the temperature dropped.

• Lu Mi and his companions entered a house where Jian Di argued with her parents about leaving to earn her own tuition and living expenses.
• Zhang Xuerong spat into the father’s soup while he urged Jian Di to marry young, and Jian Di accused her parents of wanting to sell her for bride money to provide for Jian Ren.
• Time jumped from 18:40 to 22:55, and Lu Mi discovered that Zhang Xuerong had gone missing.
• Cheng Cheng said the south door appeared to show part of an enormous monster, while the group settled down to sleep in a room beyond the west door.
• Roman told Lu Mi that he lived in a poor village and that its beautiful starry sky felt beyond reach.
• Lu Mi felt the temperature drop, and a loud argument in the next room woke the others.

Lu Mi discovered that the nighttime argument next door was an eerie loop and entered the room to investigate the nearly burned-out candle. He fled from the corpse-like couple into a seemingly endless corridor, where a fork in the path appeared ahead.

• Lu Mi realized the neighbors were repeating the same argument while Cheng Cheng, Zhong Zixian, and Zhang Xuerong fell unconscious.
• Lu Mi and Roman found the neighbors sitting silently in darkness as their voices and the sounds of smashing dishes continued to play.
• Lu Mi entered the neighbors' room to investigate the candle, and the door behind him turned into a wall as the argument stopped.
• The corpse-like couple attacked Lu Mi, who grabbed the candle and escaped through another door into a long corridor.
• Lu Mi checked that it was 00:44 and ran from the pursuing corpses until a fork with two paths appeared.

Lu Mi escaped the West Gate’s separate space with Jian Di and reunited with Cheng Cheng and the other players in the lobby. Zhang Xuerong reported that ten players remained and proposed changing locations the next time time moved.

• Lu Mi urged Jian Di to reject her parents’ forced marriage and run, then followed her through the left-hand door while driving back her father with fire.
• Lu Mi returned to the lobby and realized the companions he had seen in the separate space were not real; Roman had helped him escape by telling him to trust his friends.
• Lu Mi reunited with Cheng Cheng, saw Roman tending Yao Zhiye’s scraped knee, and learned that Zhong Zixian was still making his way out.
• Zhong Zixian emerged from the West Gate, and Zhang Xuerong said only ten players remained after others were swallowed by vortexes in spaces holding more than five people.
• Zhang Xuerong explained that the North Gate and East Gate groups had escaped without danger, then proposed that the players switch locations when time started moving again.

Lu Mi’s group chose the North Gate after learning Jian Di was likely heading to its school, then raced through the Library as the monster returned. They arrived at a university and Lu Mi began asking students about Jian Di.

• Yang Xingzhou objected to switching locations, but Lu Mi explained that Jian Di’s progress could change the locations’ safety, and the groups settled on new assignments.
• Lu Mi discovered an invisible barrier and a warning that the upstairs area was unrelated to the instance, then noticed the Candle flicker as time resumed.
• Lu Mi warned everyone to enter their gates as the monster emerged from the South Gate, and he guided his group through the North Gate.
• Lu Mi’s group arrived at a university where students discussed Jian Di, and Lu Mi asked two girls whether the person they meant was named Jian Di.

Lu Mi and the others searched the West Gate House story for Jian Di, who had gone home for a blind date, then returned to the lobby after resting in a classroom. There, they found Tang Jia’s intact body hidden behind a bookshelf, and Lu Mi turned her over to reveal something horrifying on her back.

• Lu Mi and Roman followed Jian Di’s roommates and learned that a relative had taken Jian Di home for a blind date.
• Lu Mi and the others slept in a classroom, then found its door had become the Library’s North Gate when they woke.
• The group returned to the lobby, where Cheng Cheng reported that East Gate Hospital had been safe and Jian Di was nowhere to be found.
• Roman spotted Tang Jia’s body behind a bookshelf near the South Gate, and the group worried that the West Gate team had been wiped out.
• Lu Mi used a cane to turn Tang Jia over, revealing something on her back that horrified a newcomer.

Lu Mi forced Chen Mao to reveal what he knew about Jian Di and dragged him through the West Gate when time resumed. In the cold courtyard beyond the gate, Chen Mao began explaining what happened on the night of Jian Di’s blind date.

• A vortex appeared on Tang Jia’s back and swallowed Lu Mi’s cane, while the newcomer screamed.
• Chen Mao and two veteran players emerged from the West Gate, refusing to share what had happened there.
• Lu Mi struck Chen Mao with a vase and threatened him until Chen Mao revealed that Jian Di had refused a blind date and planned to attend graduate school.
• When time resumed and the crawling sound returned, Lu Mi forced Chen Mao into the West Gate as the vortex swallowed people in the hall.
• Lu Mi and Roman followed Chen Mao into the cold courtyard, where Chen Mao said the blind-date suitor had entered Jian Di’s room with a drugged handkerchief.

Lu Mi and his companions watched Jian Di’s family keep her imprisoned and destroy her graduate school admission letter so she would marry Wu De. Afterward, Lu Mi comforted Roman, who briefly shared his painful childhood memories.

• Wu De visited Jian Di’s parents, who confirmed she was pregnant and kept her locked in her room despite her protests.
• Jian Di’s mother restrained her as she tried to escape, while Lu Mi found he could not interfere with the Dungeon Instance’s storyline.
• Jian Di’s father tore up her graduate school admission letter and threw it into the pigsty, then lied to her that it had never arrived.
• White mist returned, and Chen Mao feared that something would happen that night.
• Roman told Lu Mi about his absent mother and his father’s death, and Lu Mi hugged him.

Lu Mi woke in an isolated space and fled into a corridor of shifting vortices while Wu De pursued him, trying to lure him back with a key. Exhausted but refusing the offer, Lu Mi reached the corridor’s light as Wu De fell behind.

• Lu Mi escaped a nightmare, found Chen Mao pale and Roman missing, and realized he was isolated again.
• Lu Mi discovered Wu De outside the storage-room door and escaped through the open window into a corridor of vortices.
• Lu Mi ran through the corridor as the vortices became countless watching eyes and voices urged him to return.
• Wu De chased Lu Mi and offered him a key, but Lu Mi rejected it and kept running.
• Lu Mi saw light at the end of the corridor as the candle flame in his hand stopped flickering.

Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng entered the dangerous South Gate to search for clues and encountered a bamboo grove with a suspiciously pink stream. Upstream, Cheng Cheng spotted a crouching figure and called out to Roman.

• Lu Mi and the others compared what they had found in their doors, learning that Jian Di had given birth to a daughter and Wu De still intended to keep her from returning to school.
• Lu Mi argued that the South Gate might hold crucial clues, and Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian agreed to help him investigate; Zhang Xuerong stayed behind with Zhong Zixian to manage the other doors.
• As the Candle burned out and the monster emerged, the other players hurried through the Passageways while Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng faced it in the Hall.
• Lu Mi transformed into a cat and dodged the monster's vortex attack as Cheng Cheng reached the hidden door; together they escaped through the South Gate Passageway.
• Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng found a bamboo grove and followed a faintly pink stream upstream, where Cheng Cheng spotted a crouching figure and called out to Roman.

Roman brought Lu Mi to a traditional wooden building to meet a woman, and Lu Mi fell asleep in the pavilion, haunted by a nightmare about Jin Bi. After Roman warned him that the game fed on players’ negative emotions, Lu Mi reunited with Shen Yiwen, whom he believed had died, and noticed she was missing her Wristband.

• Roman led Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng to a wooden building, where two girls refused to let them enter until the guest was free.
• While waiting in the pavilion, Lu Mi shifted into cat form and fell asleep, dreaming that Jin Bi blamed him for her death.
• Roman comforted Lu Mi and told him that the game drew power from players’ fear, horror, and regret, warning him that the system wanted him to believe what he saw.
• Cheng Cheng came out of the building with Shen Yiwen, whom Lu Mi had believed Jin Bi killed.
• Lu Mi hurried toward Shen Yiwen, then noticed her bare wrist and asked where her Wristband was.

Shen Yiwen reunited with Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng after spending more than ten years in the Zidao Provincial Library, where she researched the world and befriended its NPCs. She revealed the origins of the Divine Punishment Game and a diagram that might show how to reassemble the Heart of Hell, though major obstacles remained.

• Shen Yiwen explained how she escaped her player status by taking a voted-out ghost's Identity Card, removing her Wristband, and reaching the Zidao Provincial Library.
• Shen Yiwen told Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng that she had lived in the Library for more than ten years, befriended the NPCs, and studied restricted books about the Mother Goddess.
• Shen Yiwen gave Lu Mi a damaged parchment and an abridged translation describing how the Lord of Evil created the horror game after becoming the vessel for the shattered Heart of Hell.
• Shen Yiwen showed Lu Mi a diagram in the Mother Goddess's ancient script that appeared to explain how to fit the Heart of Hell's fragments together.
• Cheng Cheng celebrated the possibility of finding the fragments and solving the game's problem at its source, while Shen Yiwen cautioned that it would be difficult.

Lu Mi found Roman apparently dead, but Roman revived and revealed he had faked his death. Lu Mi negotiated with the Lord of Evil for five Dungeon Instances to repair the Heart of Hell, and Roman began explaining his actions that night.

• Shen Yiwen told Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng that she had found an ancient book about repairing the Heart of Hell, though its instructions remained undeciphered.
• Lu Mi learned Roman had gone toward the sunset and found him lying blood-soaked and motionless.
• A gigantic figure appeared, and Roman woke up, admitting he had created no illusions this time and had wanted Lu Mi to hold him.
• Lu Mi challenged the Lord of Evil to let them repair the Heart of Hell in exchange for releasing everyone and ending the game; the Lord granted them five Dungeon Instances and threatened them if they failed.
• Roman told Lu Mi he could not remove his mask, and that night he began explaining why he had acted as he did.

Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng followed the Mother Goddess to the Zidao Provincial Library, where they discovered a stopped clock that revealed scenes from Jian Di’s life. The chapter ended with them witnessing Jian Di trapped at home after childbirth, as Wu De and others insulted her and demanded she bear a son.

• Roman told Lu Mi he wanted him to know more about his past, and Lu Mi said he already trusted him.
• The Mother Goddess returned, and Shen Yiwen said she had agreed to let Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng go straight to turn the great clock while 2044 handled the Central Control Building.
• Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng followed the Mother Goddess to the Zidao Provincial Library and found a clock tower whose markings showed dates from Jian Di’s life.
• Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng approached a tiny vortex at the clock’s 199912 mark, which turned white and revealed Jian Di lying in bed beside her baby’s cradle.
• Lu Mi recognized Wu De’s voice insulting Jian Di and demanding that she have a son, and Jian Di’s face contorted.