Chapter Summaries

Su Chen escaped the Elephant Enclosure after a real elephant broke the visitors’ confusion, then followed the staff to the Lion Enclosure. There, he witnessed the White Lions destroy an extra lion, and their roars left him feeling purified.

• A scarred security guard transformed into an elephant, and its presence helped visitors regain their senses and escape the Elephant Enclosure.
• Staff sealed the enclosure, subdued visitors who tried to leave, and led everyone toward the White Lions after a child screamed inside.
• Su Chen noticed there were five White Lions instead of four, and staff ordered the visitors to look away.
• A staff member splashed Rabbit Blood on the extra White Lion, making it docile before the other four attacked and erased it.
• The four White Lions roared together, and Su Chen felt as though something filthy inside him had been purified.

Su Chen watched the white lions kill several Chosen Ones while they targeted people wearing rabbit ears and ignored him. Lamb sacrificed others to escape, but Yamashita Kenichiro shut the Lion Enclosure gate just as Lamb reached it.

• Sang Luoyi approached a white lion, which bit his head off and triggered flooding across India for 15 days.
• The white lions attacked the rabbit-eared Chosen Ones, and Lamb used the Kangaroo Country and British Empire Chosen Ones as sacrificial pawns to escape.
• Lamb blamed the black text and Dragon Country for the deaths, while angry viewers flooded Dragon Country’s livestream to complain.
• Su Chen noticed that the lions targeted people with rabbit ears and relaxed when one ran past him without attacking.
• Lamb reached the Lion Enclosure gate, but Yamashita Kenichiro closed it in front of him.

Su Chen survived the White Lion’s attack and learned that the Employee Handbook pointed him toward the Aquarium as his next escape route. As he headed there, Yamashita Kenichiro reappeared and asked how he had escaped the Lion Enclosure.

• The White Lion killed Lamb, costing Ugly Country 10 points of national fortune and bringing a 10-day, 50-degree heat wave; Sakura Country’s government apologized and punished Yamashita Kenichiro’s family to appease Ugly Country.
• Su Chen realized the White Lion approached because his contamination remained severe, then let it bite his left arm and watched the wound heal.
• Su Chen recalled the crossed-out handbook passage directing survivors of a White Lion attack to the Aquarium, where they would find a black work uniform, and decided not to put one on.
• Su Chen left the Lion Enclosure and found that an Aquarium had appeared where the Zoo’s normal exit should have been.
• Yamashita Kenichiro emerged from the woods and asked Su Chen how he had survived the White Lion’s attack.

Su Chen tricked Yamashita Kenichiro into reentering the Lion Enclosure after he had drunk Rabbit Blood, where Kenichiro violated another rule and was killed by a white lion. Sakura Country lost 10 points of national fortune, and Mount Fuji was set to erupt for 10 days.

• Su Chen convinced Yamashita Kenichiro that ordinary survivors could safely leave the Lion Enclosure, and Kenichiro questioned them before believing him.
• Kenichiro entered the enclosure to approach the white lions, but Su Chen warned him that Rabbit Blood made entry fatal and shut the gates behind him.
• Remembering the rules, Kenichiro panicked and triggered another violation by suspecting the Rabbit Blood, causing him to begin mutating.
• The largest white lion attacked and killed Kenichiro as his eyes turned blood-red.
• The death announcement reduced Sakura Country's national fortune by 10 points and declared that Mount Fuji would erupt for 10 days, prompting furious reactions from Sakura Country's citizens.

Sakura Country’s military and navy argued over potential invasions while its citizens clashed with Dragon Country viewers over Su Chen’s revenge. At the Aquarium, Su Chen found a secret rescue notice, recognized its instructions as dangerous, and realized it was designed to send people in black to their deaths.

• Sakura Country’s army and navy representatives fought over whether to attack Dragon Country or Ugly Country, repeating their ancestors’ rivalry.
• Sakura Country viewers flooded Dragon Country’s livestream to condemn Su Chen, but Dragon Country viewers overwhelmed them with insults.
• Su Chen saw the death announcement, headed for the Aquarium, and decided it might offer a way out of the Zoo.
• At the Aquarium entrance, Su Chen read a notice that claimed to be from an undercover government rescue organization and gave visitors rules for escaping.
• Su Chen identified several instructions as suspicious, linked the black uniforms to servants of “It,” and reasoned that the notice was sending people in black to their deaths.

Su Chen reasoned that the Zoo’s plan used a staff member in black as a sacrifice to lure “it” into the otherworld, and he refused to take part. After entering the Aquarium, he found a hidden notice whose rules revealed more dangers and contradictions.

• Su Chen deduced that staff in black could draw “it” into a passage near the Ape Area, protecting visitors at the cost of becoming an ape, and decided not to be sacrificed.
• Su Chen entered the Aquarium, followed by visitors who hoped to escape by staying close to him.
• Several visitors grabbed black uniforms, but Su Chen warned them not to remove them, concealing that he was bluffing to prevent them from attracting “its” attention by changing clothes.
• Su Chen found a notice hidden opposite the Aquarium entrance notice, and the gathered visitors read its rules about the Aquarium’s hazards and staff.

Su Chen studied the Aquarium rules and tried to escape before the 16:00 deadline, but the guide appeared and targeted him. He turned back and played along, while the black-uniformed staff gathered behind the guide and Dragon Country’s viewers feared he was doomed.

• Su Chen reasoned that the Aquarium notices might screen for people who were severely contaminated and realized he could belong to that high-risk group.
• Su Chen noticed it was 15:59 and rushed toward the exit, fearing the Aquarium’s time limit and the guide’s arrival.
• A shrill voice offered visitors a whale tour, and Su Chen saw through the back of his head as his eyes distorted, revealing that he had been targeted.
• Su Chen turned around and acted cooperative, causing the watching sensation to recede and his vision to return to normal.
• Su Chen observed that most visitors trembled while black-uniformed staff stood expressionlessly behind the guide, apparently under its control.
• Little Li urged Elder Qin to stop watching, but Elder Qin insisted that Su Chen had not given up and that Dragon Country should keep watching until the last moment.

Su Chen recognized the drowned elephant in the whale zone as the security guard who had helped visitors escape, then challenged the cross-eyed staff member’s views about whales. As the group followed the staff member toward the jellyfish zone, Su Chen found a ball of paper beside the elephant and unfolded it.

• Su Chen followed the cross-eyed staff member to the whale zone, carrying a black work uniform as a precaution.
• The group saw a dead elephant floating in the whale zone, and Su Chen recognized a scar that matched the security guard’s.
• Su Chen concluded that the security guard had become an elephant and helped save visitors before the Zoo punished him.
• Su Chen told the cross-eyed staff member that whales might prefer living on land, and the staff member led the group toward the jellyfish zone.
• Su Chen bowed to the elephant, spotted a ball of paper nearby, and unfolded it in front of the group.

Su Chen studied a note of survival rules and theorized that jellyfish were remnants of humans killed by white lions, retaining enough humanity to draw away “it.” At the Aquarium, the glowing jellyfish seemed to restore him, confirming they were still protecting people.

• Su Chen read and shared the handwritten rules with the other contestants, then deduced that “it” appeared in shadows and was drawn to light.
• Su Chen theorized that people killed by white lions left fragments of their humanity behind as jellyfish, which could lure “it” away.
• The group reached the Aquarium, where glowing jellyfish drifted behind glass.
• Su Chen felt the jellyfish’s light make him whole again and realized they were giving him their remaining humanity.

Su Chen realized the Cross-Eyed Staff Member was throwing contestants into the jellyfish pool because he had misunderstood how jellyfish were created. As the man prepared to throw Su Chen in, Su Chen insisted that he was not a jellyfish.

• The Cross-Eyed Staff Member sent a contestant from Pottery Bowl Country into the jellyfish pool, where he drowned.
• The man sent a contestant from Marijuana Country and then five more chosen ones into the pool, and they all drowned.
• Su Chen noticed that every victim had been bitten by the White Lion, while those who had not been purified by it remained safe.
• Su Chen concluded that the man had misunderstood a message and believed that people bitten by the White Lion became jellyfish after dying.
• The Cross-Eyed Staff Member raised his hand to throw Su Chen into the pool, but Su Chen firmly declared that he was not a jellyfish.

Su Chen escaped the Aquarium by confusing the creature with claims about being a Jellyfish and an Ape, then fled toward the Lion Area. His survival renewed hope in Dragon Country, and Xiao Li and Elder Qin recognized and praised his courage and abilities.

• Su Chen convinced the creature that he was an Ape and that its eyes were crooked, leaving it confused.
• Su Chen and the other survivors ran for the Aquarium exit, but the creature regained control of him as he opened the doors.
• Su Chen fell out of the Aquarium and regained control of his body, then hurried toward the Lion Area.
• Dragon Country's livestream viewers celebrated Su Chen's escape and compared their relief with the despair in other countries' streams.
• Xiao Li admitted his prejudice against Su Chen had been wrong, while Elder Qin praised Su Chen as Dragon Country's hope.

After escaping the Aquarium, Su Chen rested in the Lion Enclosure and planned to return after midnight, when the red-clad staff might keep “it” away. While sleeping, he dreamed he was the Security Guard and found himself in the Otherworld, where a black sun began to fall.

• Su Chen recovered from his escape and reasoned that the Aquarium’s staff might work after 12:30 at night, making that the safest time to seek the exit.
• Exhausted and hungry, Su Chen fell asleep in the Lion Enclosure and dreamed he fought rabbit-eared elephants before noticing the Security Guard’s scar on his arm.
• Su Chen used his phone’s camera and saw the Security Guard’s face, then found himself in a foggy world beside a sign for the Goat Enclosure.
• Su Chen discovered that the Otherworld lay beneath a transparent canopy, with the Zoo above and the Aquarium spanning both worlds.
• After the Surface World’s sun set, a pitch-black sun began falling beyond the Otherworld’s western dome.

Su Chen dreamed of a horned shadow absorbing power from the Otherworld and suspected the Zoo’s entity had been corrupted there. After a goat transformed into a White Lion and weakened the Lion Enclosure’s protection, he hurried to the Aquarium, avoiding a group of surviving chosen ones in black uniforms.

• Su Chen awoke from a vivid dream of the Otherworld, where a horned shadow absorbed blackened smog, and reasoned that the entity might have originated there.
• Su Chen stayed awake to study the rules, then heard hooves and saw a snow-white goat approach him.
• The goat entered the Lion Enclosure and transformed into a White Lion, leading Su Chen to conclude the enclosure had temporarily lost its purifying effect.
• Su Chen headed for the Aquarium and avoided a group of survivors wearing black work uniforms near the roadside.
• Su Chen reached the Aquarium shortly after half past midnight and went inside.

Su Chen entered the Aquarium at night, learned its basic rules from a red-clothed staff member, and suspected the staff’s goat meat might come from dead Chosen Ones. He tricked the employee into helping him in the dark and stole the Employee Handbook, leaving the staff member searching for dropped food.

• Su Chen asked the red-clothed staff member for a place to stay, and the man told him to turn off the Jellyfish Night Light before 1:00 a.m. and stay inside the Aquarium until 6:00 a.m.
• The staff member carried a package labeled Goat Meat toward the Whale Area, prompting Su Chen to suspect it was made from dead Chosen Ones.
• The red-clothed staff member returned with bread and water and led Su Chen to an Hourly Room in the dark Rest Area.
• Su Chen pretended to have night blindness, tripped at the doorway, and stole the Employee Handbook while the staff member searched for the dropped food.

Su Chen read the Aquarium’s Employee Handbook and deduced that he could escape by leaving shortly before the staff ended their shift. After evading the returning staff member, he believed he had found a safe way out of the Zoo.

• Su Chen read the Employee Handbook and focused on the rules about working hours and visitors leaving before six in the morning.
• Su Chen reasoned that he could follow a staff member out when they left a little early and escape the Zoo safely.
• When the staff member returned for the handbook, Su Chen tossed it toward the door and pretended to sleep.
• The staff member retrieved the handbook and left, while Su Chen stayed still until the footsteps faded.
• Dragon Country’s livestream viewers celebrated Su Chen’s discovery and discussed the prospect of earning national fortune points.

After the livestream officials silenced Ugly Country’s insults, Su Chen searched the Aquarium’s rental room for clues and discovered a document titled Zoo Director's Rules. He read its fifteen rules, learning of the Zoo’s strange hazards and what to do if he violated any of them.

• People from Ugly Country mocked Su Chen in Dragon Country’s livestream, and officials banned the abusive accounts.
• Su Chen stayed awake in the dark rental room, wary of losing his chance to escape and unsettled by his nightmare.
• Su Chen searched the bedside table and opened a small metal box containing a sheet of paper.
• Su Chen used his phone’s glow to read the Zoo Director's Rules, including instructions about employees, animal enclosures, the Aquarium, and the office.
• Su Chen read that anyone violating a rule must remain in the office for thirteen hours and remember that humans have two eyes.

Su Chen discovered a hidden letter on the back of the Zoo rules, which warned that reading it by light was dangerous and promised to reveal the Zoo’s truth. Although he had planned to wait safely until morning, he chose to keep reading, hoping to uncover the sacrifices made by the Zoo’s staff and earn greater rewards.

• Su Chen realized the director’s rules exposed the director to severe dangers, including the Otherworld, uncanny animals, and power outages.
• Su Chen found densely packed writing on the back of the rules and read the letter’s warning that keeping a light on was dangerous.
• Su Chen turned off his phone light, and viewers in Dragon Country urged him not to risk reading further.
• Su Chen thought of the staff who had sacrificed themselves and decided the Zoo’s secrets were worth pursuing.
• Su Chen turned his phone light back on and continued reading the letter.

Old Zhou recounted the Zoo's history, from the organization's first efforts to restrain its power to repeated disasters that cost the team members their lives. After the Zoo altered the Visitor Rules and killed every visitor, Old Chen and Old Li left, leaving Old Zhou as the last hope to protect it.

• Eight years earlier, Old Chen discovered that the Zoo used memetic contamination to turn visitors into animals, and the team created Visitor Rules and staff protections to keep them safe.
• After five years without a visitor dying, a strange white, rabbit-eared elephant appeared in the Elephant Enclosure, and Old Zhang died after fighting it.
• Old Zhao failed to destroy the Zoo, and the White Lion Area became a place it would not enter.
• When the organization could not spare support, Old Chen took charge as director, revealed the truth to the staff, and many employees chose to stay.
• On July 23, 20XW, the Zoo altered every copy of the Visitor Rules, and every visitor died after becoming an animal.
• Old Chen gave Old Zhou the director's badge and left with Old Li; the next day, two more white lions appeared in the Lion Enclosure.

The surviving Zoo Director overcame his fear, rallied the employees, and recorded how the Zoo’s rules and territory changed as the Otherworld spread. Facing his final battle, he left the Director’s Badge and the responsibility of protecting humanity to the next successor.

• The Zoo Director turned back from fleeing after employees gathered at the gate and a lion roared, then led them into the Zoo to fight.
• The employees devised new rules and reorganized, but from July 23 onward the Aquarium and other areas fell into the Otherworld, causing deaths and making the Aquarium unusable as an exit.
• The Zoo Director discovered that the entity drew energy from the Otherworld and resolved to leave the truth for future people to use against it.
• On August 1, the Zoo Director prepared for his successor but left the position unfilled so someone with a fresh perspective could take over.
• On August 2, the Zoo Director went to buy time for his successor and asked them to retrieve the Badge from his office.

After reading Old Zhou’s letter, Su Chen realized the Zoo had been deteriorating for two years and its employees were close to collapse. Torn between securing his own survival and taking up the Zoo Director’s burden, he asked Dragon Country’s viewers what he should do, and they voiced their support for him.

• Su Chen noticed that the Zoo had far fewer employees than Old Zhou’s letter described and realized the letter was two years old.
• Su Chen deduced that the Zoo’s protections had weakened, visitors had died, and the remaining employees had lost hope.
• Su Chen considered leaving the employees to their fate so he could clear the scenario, but remembered the guard and employees who had sacrificed themselves for him.
• Su Chen asked the sky whether he should take on the burden, and Dragon Country’s viewers debated the choice before many declared their support for him.
• A Sakura Country commenter wished for Su Chen’s death, and the livestream moderators deleted the comment and banned the account.