Chapter Summaries

Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng entered Jian Di’s past and stopped her from killing herself and her baby by helping her escape. After returning, they learned that the Mother Goddess sent swallowed players to a parallel world, and the South Gate awaited them as Shen Yiwen said goodbye.

• Jian Di approached her baby’s cradle with scissors, and Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng rewound the clock but could not turn it back far enough to change her circumstances.
• Lu Mi realized they could enter the past as participants, and he and Cheng Cheng went through the vortex into Jian Di’s room.
• Lu Mi persuaded Jian Di that her daughter could have a better future, while Cheng Cheng opened the window so Jian Di could escape with the baby.
• Jian Di cut her hair, borrowed Lu Mi’s jacket, and left to find work and raise her daughter.
• Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng returned to the present, where Zhong Zixian stood beside Shen Yiwen; Shen Yiwen explained that people swallowed by the Mother Goddess lived in a parallel world.
• The group reached the Bamboo Grove entrance, where the South Gate waited, and Shen Yiwen said goodbye.

Lu Mi and his companions left Shen Yiwen behind to decipher the Ancient Text, then escaped the Library Dungeon Instance. Outside, Lu Mi noticed the keys in Shen Yiwen’s Canvas Bag were glowing and wondered if they were the fragments they needed.

• Shen Yiwen stayed behind to study the Ancient Text while Zhong Zixian, Lu Mi, Cheng Cheng, and Roman left, and Roman promised to visit her between Dungeon Instances.
• Shen Yiwen gave Lu Mi a Canvas Bag and said goodbye to the group at the South Gate.
• Lu Mi and the others returned to the Hall, where Shi Caiwen said Yao Zhiye was dead and that she intended to live well.
• Lu Mi and Roman exited the Library with the other survivors and reached the Public Rest Area.
• Roman pointed out that something in Lu Mi’s Canvas Bag was glowing, and Lu Mi realized the keys might be the fragments.

Lu Mi and his friends connected the keys from Dungeon Instances to a formation diagram and began gathering them to oppose the game. With Xuanxuan’s help, they collected fourteen keys, but Lu Mi still needed sixteen more before Roman’s state of undress interrupted their conversation.

• Lu Mi, Cheng Cheng, and Zhong Zixian studied the formation diagram and suspected its thirty symbols represented Dungeon Instances whose keys could open exits.
• Lu Mi and his friends tried to obtain keys from other players, but most were wary and refused to hand them over.
• Xuanxuan stopped a burly player from intimidating Lu Mi, and the man gave Lu Mi the key from Zheng Sinian’s Dungeon Instance.
• Xuanxuan organized players who had cleared Dungeon Instances with Lu Mi and persuaded them to contribute keys through discreet signals.
• Lu Mi counted fourteen keys and learned that Xuanxuan had urged everyone to bring keys back from future Dungeon Instances.
• Roman pushed Lu Mi’s rocking chair as Lu Mi thanked him for staying by his side, then Lu Mi noticed Roman’s exposed chest and waist and scolded him for not dressing properly.

Lu Mi and his companions decided to test Shen Yiwen’s uncertain translation by catching a ghost, and 2044 arranged another Human-Ghost Showdown for them. Lu Mi and Roman entered a new dungeon instance, where an elderly woman asked the players to find her missing granddaughter, Fanfan.

• Roman told Zhong Zixian that Shen Yiwen had translated the ancient text as requiring a human soul, though she was unsure of the wording.
• Zhong Zixian, Lu Mi, Cheng Cheng, and Roman decided to catch a ghost and try using its soul to repair the fragments.
• Lu Mi asked 2044 to arrange another Human-Ghost Showdown, and 2044 agreed while asking about Lu Mi’s previous dungeon instance.
• 2044 noted that Lu Mi was close to reaching 1,000 points, but Lu Mi said he and his companions wanted to free everyone from the game.
• Lu Mi and Roman entered a dungeon instance together, where an elderly woman asked the players to help find her missing granddaughter, Fanfan.

Lu Mi took a pocket watch from an old woman who claimed her granddaughter Fanfan was missing, then entered the fog-shrouded building with Roman. As the elevator carried them upward, Roman reacted angrily to the newcomer who had touched Lu Mi’s shoulder.

• A bespectacled man and other players failed to get useful details from the old woman, who kept repeating that Fanfan was a lively, high-achieving child.
• Lu Mi persuaded the old woman to hand over her pocket watch and found a photograph of a woman with a young child inside it.
• Lu Mi and Roman entered the building as the white fog arrived, and the old woman melted into blood outside.
• A wide-eyed newcomer accused Lu Mi of abandoning the old woman and demanded the pocket watch, while his muscular companion tried to seize it.
• Roman briefly grabbed the muscular man's neck, and Lu Mi left the pocket watch with the wide-eyed newcomer before riding the elevator with Roman.
• Roman pushed Lu Mi against the elevator wall and said the man had touched his shoulder.

Lu Mi and Roman searched the tower for safety, then entered apartment 1004, where Lu Mi saw a mirror showing the home and grandmother he missed. Roman warned him that the floors became dangerous at night and told him to sleep.

• Lu Mi pulled Roman back into the elevator when a female ghost crawled toward him on the fourteenth floor.
• At the eighth floor, two veteran players warned them that safe floors could hold no more than two people.
• Lu Mi told Roman that even very good friends could not kiss or control each other’s touch, and they explored the tenth-floor apartment 1004.
• Lu Mi saw Grandma and a tabby cat in the mirror, resisted the cat’s invitation to enter the scene, and covered the mirror again.
• Roman explained that the mirror showed people what they longed for most, warned that the tower was dangerous at night, and told Lu Mi to sleep.

Lu Mi and Roman spent the night in their room, where Lu Mi questioned a voice trapped in a mirror and refused to help the suspicious creature. The next morning, a boy accused Lu Mi of causing Brother Zhang’s death.

• Lu Mi found a faded photo of a teenage girl in the room’s wardrobe and showed it to Roman.
• Roman and Lu Mi went to bed holding hands, and Roman comforted Lu Mi after he dreamed of Jin Bi.
• A voice from the covered mirror claimed to be seventeen-year-old Qiu Bufan and asked Lu Mi to free her.
• Lu Mi questioned the voice, recognized that it was an imperfect copy, and refused to help it.
• The players gathered in the Hall the next morning, where the boy accused Lu Mi of getting Brother Zhang killed.

Lu Mi’s fellow players dismissed Gong Tan’s accusations and confirmed the old woman was still waiting outside, while Liang Mafeng uncovered Gong Tan’s motive and offered to protect him. The group planned to identify which of the ten room spirits was the old woman’s “Fanfan,” and Huihui wondered whether Lu Mi’s Mirror Spirit, Qiu Bufan, was the one they sought.

• Gong Tan accused Lu Mi of causing Brother Zhang’s death by giving him the pocket watch and of getting the old woman killed.
• The veterans defended Lu Mi, and he pointed out that the old woman still stood outside the building beyond the white fog.
• Lu Mi discussed how the room spirits attacked players, while Roman quietly straightened his collar.
• Liang Mafeng learned that Gong Tan had tried to get Lu Mi killed so Roman would notice him, then offered to protect Gong Tan himself.
• The players decided to investigate the rooms of the two groups who had died and identify which spirit was named Fanfan.
• Huihui asked whether Lu Mi’s Mirror Spirit, Qiu Bufan, could be the Fanfan the old woman was looking for.

The players learned that the ghost girl Xiao Fan might be the Fanfan the old woman was searching for, and the old woman gave them a wooden box after panicking at the ghosts in the apartment building. Liang Mafeng took the box and chose Gong Tan to accompany him upstairs, but Lu Mi stepped in to go instead.

• Liang Mafeng described meeting a pale girl with twin ponytails on the sixth floor, who asked why he would not play with Xiao Fan.
• The players found that none of the evil spirits in their rooms was the girl, and they went outside to question the old woman about Fanfan.
• The old woman recognized the description of Xiao Fan, but became terrified when Huihui told her the girl was inside the apartment building.
• The old woman gave Huihui a wooden box with ten recesses, and Liang Mafeng took it after Huihui hesitated.
• Liang Mafeng said he wanted to test his guess about the box and asked Gong Tan to accompany him upstairs, but Lu Mi volunteered to go instead.

Lu Mi investigated the building’s dangerous floors and discovered another creature pretending to be Fanfan, then escaped with Roman. In the lobby, he found Liang Mafeng and Gong Tan already downstairs, and Huihui praised Liang Mafeng.

• Lu Mi questioned the old woman about Fanfan’s appearance, then decided to search two unknown rooms and find out what Liang Mafeng planned to do with the wooden box.
• Lu Mi and Roman encountered Hair Woman on the eleventh floor and a painting of a girl resembling Ning Zhuangzhuang on the seventeenth floor.
• Following a smell of blood, Lu Mi found a little girl claiming to be Fanfan and then Yao Yao, recognized the deception, and trapped Snake Woman behind a door with a ball of fire in her mouth.
• Lu Mi and Roman returned to the lobby, where they found Liang Mafeng and Gong Tan already there, and Huihui praised Liang Mafeng.

Lu Mi inspected the captured ghosts in Liang Mafeng’s wooden box and grew suspicious of Liang Mafeng and Gong Tan. After Lü He and Shunzi went to catch a ghost, they returned with a green ball in the box, and Lu Mi identified it as Snake Woman.

• Huihui showed Lu Mi the wooden box containing the captured Box Woman, Under-Bed Guest, and Spider Man.
• Liang Mafeng explained how to use the box, but Roman grabbed his shoulder when he reached toward Lu Mi.
• Lu Mi challenged Lü He to try catching a ghost, and Lü He left with Shunzi to use the box.
• Lu Mi watched Liang Mafeng and Gong Tan, noticing Gong Tan’s corpse-pale face and a faint trace of blood on Liang Mafeng.
• Lü He and Shunzi returned with a green ball in the box, and Lu Mi identified the captured ghost as Snake Woman.

Lu Mi and Roman encountered a vicious little girl while retrieving a ghost-catching box and learned that she claimed to be Fanfan. Lu Mi brought the box safely into the elevator, but Huihui and Xiao Ru were likely dead, and he wondered whether the little girl had killed them.

• Lu Mi noticed Huihui and Xiao Ru had been gone for an hour and set out with Roman to investigate.
• Lu Mi and Roman encountered Skeleton Man and Bottle Woman before finding a blood-stained box and a little girl with twin ponytails outside the elevator.
• Lu Mi burned the little girl with a fireball and asked whether she had seen two older girls; she claimed to be Fanfan and demanded that he come out and play.
• Lu Mi used a breeze to pull the wooden box into the protected elevator, then escaped as the little girl tried to force her way inside.
• Lu Mi opened the box and guessed its black ball belonged to the hair ghost, then wondered whether the little girl had killed Huihui and Xiao Ru.

Lu Mi returned to the Hall claiming Roman had died while trying to capture Bottle Woman, then joined the players in debating the risks of catching more ghosts. As night fell, Gong Tan suddenly smashed the food Liang Mafeng offered him and threatened to kill himself if Liang Mafeng disliked him.

• Lu Mi found that the room numbers on the tenth floor had changed, realizing Mirror Spirit had taken control of the floor, then returned to the Hall alone with the bloodstained box.
• Lu Mi told the players that Roman had died when Bottle Woman escaped capture, and suggested that using the box twice in a row might cause a death.
• The players refused to risk catching more ghosts until they understood the death conditions, but Lu Mi urged Liang Mafeng to accompany him to find Bottle Woman.
• Liang Mafeng declined to go that night, and the players later shared food after no one delivered a meal.
• Gong Tan knocked Liang Mafeng's plate of Pasta to the floor and cried that he would kill himself if Liang Mafeng did not like him.

Lu Mi manipulated Liang Mafeng into staying in his room, where the Mirror Spirit emerged at one o’clock. Liang Mafeng opened the wooden box to capture it, leaving Lu Mi’s plan poised to unfold.

• Gong Tan slashed his own artery and died, while Liang Mafeng acted grief-stricken and Lü He and the others removed the body.
• Liang Mafeng joined Lu Mi in the elevator and tested whether Lu Mi blamed him for Gong Tan’s death; Lu Mi pretended to forgive him.
• Lu Mi brought Liang Mafeng to Room 1004 and waited beside the mirror for the Mirror Spirit’s signal.
• When the mirror began glowing, Lu Mi urged Liang Mafeng to take out the wooden box and warned him that the ghost was about to emerge.
• At one o’clock, the Mirror Spirit crawled out of the mirror, and Liang Mafeng opened the wooden box toward it.

Lu Mi exposed Liang Mafeng’s scheme and helped the Mirror Spirit kill him, then Roman lured the Two-Faced Girl into the mirror. Lu Mi and Roman planned to enter the mirror the next night to find Fanfan, while Roman confessed he sometimes wished he could die in a moment of happiness.

• Lu Mi revealed that Liang Mafeng had manipulated the clock and used Gong Tan as a pawn, and the Mirror Spirit tore off Liang Mafeng’s head.
• Liang Mafeng escaped as black fog, but the Two-Faced Girl captured and swallowed him after Roman ordered her to eat him.
• The Two-Faced Girl asked to eat Roman as their deal required, but Roman instead led her to the mirror, where she entered after seeing her mother.
• The Mirror Spirit told Lu Mi to come into the mirror the next night, and Lu Mi explained that Fanfan was inside it.
• Lu Mi checked Roman for injuries, and Roman told him he sometimes wished he could die while feeling so happy.

Lu Mi and Roman entered the mirror world and discovered Qiu Bufan’s past, witnessing a man cruelly belittle the young girl and urge her to change her appearance. The man then suggested selling the antique mirror, while Lu Mi and Roman watched the events that may have led to Fanfan’s tragedy.

• Shen Yiwen’s revised translation confirmed that the Heart of Hell needed pure souls, and Lu Mi and Roman grew closer that night.
• Lu Mi led the players in voting Liang Mafeng out, then he and Roman used the wooden box to capture the Bottle Woman and Painting Ghost.
• The Old Lady attacked Kong Susu when she tried to comfort her, showing that the ghost had become more dangerous.
• Lu Mi and Roman entered the mirror together and followed a man to Qiu Bufan’s apartment in the past.
• The man criticized Qiu Bufan’s appearance and urged her to get money for makeup, while Lu Mi realized she was the girl in the photograph.
• The man suggested that Qiu Bufan sell the antique mirror in her room.

Qiu Bufan accepted the Mirror Spirit’s offer and woke to find herself beautiful and wealthy, while Lu Mi and Roman watched from inside the mirror. Lu Mi suspected Qiu Bufan was the missing Fanfan and began considering how to bring her out.

• After a visitor left, Qiu Bufan lamented her appearance and finances until she saw a beautiful version of herself in the mirror.
• The Mirror Spirit promised to fulfill Qiu Bufan’s wishes, and she pressed her hand against the mirror to accept its offer.
• Lu Mi and Roman discussed whether Qiu Bufan was Fanfan, and Lu Mi realized they could affect objects in the room.
• During the night, the room grew dark and cold as a strange sound came from Qiu Bufan’s direction.
• The next morning, Qiu Bufan found that her face had changed and that her account held much more money, then frowned as she sensed something was strange.

Qiu Bufan made increasingly extravagant wishes to the Mirror Spirit, which was taking on her appearance, while Lu Mi and Roman followed her beyond the building. At the chapter’s end, Roman removed his mask for Lu Mi and gently wiped away his tears.

• Qiu Bufan asked the Mirror Spirit to change her body, attract a boy, improve her abilities, and give her more money as its form began to resemble her.
• Qiu Bufan prepared to move out, discarded an old photograph, and kept the rented room so she could return to make more wishes.
• Lu Mi and Roman followed Qiu Bufan into the city, where Lu Mi recognized the pale-green sweater Roman had once wanted to give him.
• Lu Mi apologized for hurting Roman and forcing his wishes on him in past Dungeon Instances, and Roman forgave him and admitted his own mistakes.
• Roman asked Lu Mi to close his eyes, removed his mask, and wiped away Lu Mi’s tears before apologizing.

Qiu Bufan returned from the salon furious after being rejected and asked the Mirror Spirit to ruin the appearance of the woman she blamed. The Mirror Spirit trapped her and explained that her desires came from society’s standards, then began to reveal why it had chosen Qiu Bufan’s appearance.

• Lu Mi and Roman wandered through the night market together, admiring the lights and sharing the evening breeze by the river.
• Qiu Bufan returned to her apartment and asked the Mirror Spirit to make the woman she blamed break out in pimples and wrinkles.
• After praising the Mirror Spirit and dismissing who she used to be, Qiu Bufan found that she could not pull her hands away from the mirror.
• The Mirror Spirit emerged from the mirror and confronted Qiu Bufan about her pursuit of money, beauty, status, and love.
• The Mirror Spirit revealed that it looked like Qiu Bufan because it liked its original appearance, and began explaining its choice.

Lu Mi and Roman rescued Qiu Bufan from the Mirror Spirit, but Lu Mi realized they were still trapped in the Mirror World. He watched Qiu Bufan return to the start of the loop, where the Mirror Spirit again offered to change her appearance.

• The Mirror Spirit attacked Qiu Bufan and tried to take her place, but Lu Mi and Roman helped Qiu Bufan escape into the white fog.
• Lu Mi returned to the Hall with Qiu Bufan and noticed that the players accepted her altered appearance and identity without question.
• Lu Mi followed Qiu Bufan upstairs and confirmed they were still in the Mirror World when she entered room 4001.
• Qiu Bufan returned to her original appearance and repeated the encounter with the heavily made-up man, who criticized her looks.
• After the man left, Qiu Bufan wondered if she was ugly, and the mirror asked whether she wanted to change herself.