Chapter Summaries

Shao Lan woke in a bloodstained house and discovered that a woman in red embroidered shoes was killing people inside it. He and Jiang Mingran hid in a bedroom, where they watched the woman kill an old man outside the door.

• Shao Lan woke on an unfamiliar sofa and found the word “Rules” carved into the floor beneath it.
• Shao Lan saw a human head in the kitchen freezer and tried to escape, but Jiang Mingran stumbled into him.
• Shao Lan pulled Jiang Mingran into a bedroom and told him to call the police, but they had no phones.
• The woman in red embroidered shoes tested the bedroom door by peering beneath it, and Shao Lan warned Jiang Mingran to stay silent because she could not see.
• An old man emerged from a neighboring bedroom, approached the woman, and had his neck broken.
• Shao Lan stopped Jiang Mingran from opening the door and told him the old man was dead.

Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran escaped the old woman’s home, but Jiang Mingran vanished in the stairwell and Shao Lan was thrown back to the start of the night. They recognized each other’s memories of the loop and realized they had to beat the game or die.

• Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran tried to flee after witnessing Pancake Uncle’s death, but a fallen garbage bag made enough noise to alert the woman.
• Jiang Mingran disappeared in the dark stairwell, and Shao Lan found himself back on the sofa in the murderer’s home.
• Shao Lan noticed the fish tank now held three red goldfish instead of four and read a new rule scratched into the floor.
• Shao Lan found Jiang Mingran hiding behind a bedroom door, and they confirmed that both remembered what had happened.
• Shao Lan told Jiang Mingran that they had to find a way to beat the game or they would die.

After dying while trying to leave the apartment floor, Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran realized the objects in the room explained the loop’s rules and their remaining chances. They uncovered evidence that the woman in the kitchen was a serial killer and decided to contact the Special Investigation Team using the old landline.

• Shao Lan explained that the Owl Clock marked the loop’s start time and that leaving the floor broke the game’s rules, while the three goldfish showed they had three attempts left.
• Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran searched the bedroom and found a household ledger with loose stitching and torn-out pages in the wastebasket.
• The torn pages revealed that the diary writer feared the woman in the kitchen, suspected her of killing people, and had learned that his neighbor Brother Wang was in his fridge.
• Jiang Mingran showed Shao Lan newspaper reports about unidentified remains and a tip-line number circled in the same handwriting as the diary pages.
• Shao Lan concluded that the diary writer had never reported the woman and said they should call the Special Investigation Team using the red landline in the living room.

Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran found an electricity bill with the address of Building 7, Happiness Residential Community, and called the police while hiding from the woman in the kitchen. After Shao Lan hung up and prepared to return to the bedroom, he sensed someone standing behind him.

• Shao Lan sent Jiang Mingran to check the landline and bring back the living room trash can while the woman remained in the kitchen.
• Jiang Mingran found that the landline worked, and Shao Lan pieced together an electricity bill identifying Building 7, Happiness Residential Community.
• Shao Lan planned for Jiang Mingran to hide near the kitchen and signal with mouse squeaks if the woman came out.
• Shao Lan called the Municipal Bureau Special Task Force, reported the address and a knife threat, and hung up after delivering the key details.
• Shao Lan sensed a cold breath behind him and realized someone was standing silently at his back.

After Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran were killed, Shao Lan woke into another loop and learned the owl clock could not be trusted. He and Jiang Mingran questioned Pancake Uncle, who revealed that the killer was an unusually tall woman in a black jacket and red shoes with a large belly.

• A killer stabbed Shao Lan from behind, dragged him into the kitchen, and killed him with a bone cleaver while Jiang Mingran lay dead among the clutter.
• Shao Lan woke again, read the warning not to trust the owl, hid beneath the sofa, and watched the red shoes enter the kitchen.
• Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran found Pancake Uncle hiding in a bedroom and warned him to stay quiet.
• Pancake Uncle wrote that he had been killed twice and described the first time he encountered the woman after leaving the room.
• Pancake Uncle identified the killer as a tall woman wearing a black jacket and red shoes, with her hair covering her face and a big belly.

Shao Lan questioned Pancake Uncle about the previous loop and learned that the police had responded to their call, though everyone died before they could get inside. He confirmed Pancake Uncle had not caused Jiang Mingran’s death and asked Jiang Mingran how he had been killed.

• Pancake Uncle recalled hiding in the bedroom as the woman killed the young man who called the police.
• Pancake Uncle tried to reach the police after they arrived, but he tripped over the woman and she snapped his neck.
• The second loop ended with Pancake Uncle, Jiang Mingran, and Shao Lan dead.
• Shao Lan questioned Pancake Uncle and concluded that he had not lied and that the police had come in response to their call.
• Shao Lan asked Jiang Mingran to explain exactly how he had been killed.

After Jiang Mingran’s death in the previous loop, Shao Lan deduced that the kitchen woman tracked fresh blood and that the herbs suggested she had struggled to conceive. He devised a plan to test whether the group could use the dead neighbor’s apartment, but the woman appeared in the hallway and spotted Jiang Mingran.

• Jiang Mingran hid among medicinal-herb bags, killed a rat to prevent it from making a misleading squeak, and exposed himself when the rat’s fresh blood drew the woman, who crushed his head.
• Jiang Mingran told Shao Lan what he had seen, and Shao Lan concluded that the woman could smell fresh blood as well as hear them.
• Pancake Uncle recognized the listed herbs as part of a prescription intended to help women conceive, and Shao Lan connected the medicine to the pregnant woman and the diary writer’s reluctance to hurt his wife.
• Shao Lan reasoned that the group might be able to enter the dead neighbor Brother Wang’s apartment across the hall without going downstairs.
• Shao Lan sent Jiang Mingran to test the apartment by throwing in a ringing alarm clock, which drew the woman into the hallway.
• The woman passed Jiang Mingran, then stopped and turned her bloodshot eye toward him.

Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran tried to keep the woman at bay while Pancake Uncle called the police, but they discovered she had entered through a window and escaped her attack only by exploiting her vulnerable abdomen. Injured, Shao Lan refused to open the door to someone Jiang Mingran identified as Pancake Uncle, and red embroidered shoes beneath the door revealed the danger.

• Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran lured the woman away with an alarm clock, then shut her outside while Pancake Uncle called the police.
• Shao Lan prepared hot oil and Jiang Mingran made a spear, but they realized the woman had entered the apartment through an open window.
• Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran fled into the apartment across the hall, where Shao Lan splashed hot oil on the woman's abdomen and sent her tumbling down the stairs.
• Shao Lan told Jiang Mingran to guard the window, revealing that the woman's abdomen was her weakness, while his shoulder was badly injured.
• Jiang Mingran saw Pancake Uncle at the door and asked to let him in, but Shao Lan refused and pointed out red embroidered shoes beneath the door.

Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran drove the monstrous woman out of the window, but Shao Lan was gravely injured. When a supposed police officer arrived, Shao Lan realized the man was a fake just as he stabbed Jiang Mingran.

• Jiang Mingran saw Pancake Uncle’s severed head outside the glass, and Shao Lan explained that the woman had killed him.
• Shao Lan told Jiang Mingran to hide and asked him to kill himself if necessary after the police subdued the woman; Jiang Mingran promised.
• Shao Lan enraged the woman by revealing that the baby she protected was only cotton stuffed inside her jacket, then fell through the window as she charged him.
• Jiang Mingran shoved the woman out of the window, then discovered Shao Lan had survived by tying his ankle to the sill and pulled him back inside.
• Jiang Mingran carried the badly injured Shao Lan across the hall, where they heard sirens and a man claiming to be from the Special Investigation Team.
• Shao Lan realized the police could not have found their apartment so quickly and warned that the officer was fake, but the man stabbed Jiang Mingran through the open door.

Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran killed the fake policeman, but Shao Lan died by suicide to restart the loop and keep Jiang Mingran and Pancake Uncle from being trapped. In the final loop, Shao Lan confronted the fake policeman before the monstrous woman emerged from the bathroom.

• The wounded Jiang Mingran tackled the fake policeman, giving Shao Lan a chance to stab him and save Jiang Mingran from being killed.
• Jiang Mingran died after asking Shao Lan whether there was still a way to survive, and Shao Lan promised there was.
• When medical staff arrived, Shao Lan stabbed himself rather than let them take him away and end the loop with Jiang Mingran and Pancake Uncle still trapped.
• Jiang Mingran woke at 3:58 a.m. in the final loop and heard Shao Lan call for a knife.
• Jiang Mingran threw the knife to Shao Lan, who caught it and held the fake policeman at knifepoint as the monstrous woman opened the bathroom door.

Shao Lan uncovered that the killer and the fake cop had been inside the apartment before the game’s announced start, and used the hidden two-minute window to take the fake cop hostage. He identified the fake cop as the Diary Writer, who had chosen to help the killer.

• Shao Lan restrained the fake cop while Jiang Mingran helped hold him, and Pancake Uncle called the police as the killer remained in the bathroom.
• Shao Lan explained that the game had truly begun at 03:58, not when the Owl Clock announced it at 04:00.
• Shao Lan deduced that the killer had been washing away blood in the bathroom while the fake cop prepared to leave with garbage bags.
• Shao Lan explained that the fake cop’s departure made the sound they had mistaken for the killer entering, and that the killer emerged from the bathroom afterward.
• Shao Lan identified the fake cop as the Diary Writer, who had become the killer’s accomplice and weakness.

Shao Lan let Li Chengyuan say goodbye to Wu Suxia, believing the final rule mattered despite the danger. Li Chengyuan stabbed Wu Suxia and then himself, and the scene ended as the rain stopped and sunlight revealed the room’s past.

• Shao Lan questioned Li Chengyuan about Wu Suxia’s sacrifices and killings, and Li Chengyuan confirmed they were married and the apartment was their home.
• Li Chengyuan asked to hug Wu Suxia before the police arrived, offering his wedding pocket watch in exchange.
• Shao Lan recognized the final rule, “goodbye, Suxia,” and ordered Jiang Mingran to release Li Chengyuan.
• Li Chengyuan embraced Wu Suxia, stabbed her through the heart, and watched her return to her former appearance.
• Li Chengyuan turned the knife on himself as Jiang Mingran rushed toward him, and the rain stopped while sunlight filled the room.

Su Xia’s tragic history with Li Chengyuan revealed how his betrayal, her blindness, and her desperate longing for a child turned her into a man-eating monster. Li Chengyuan ultimately chose to stay with her, and an appendix explained three ways players could clear the assessment instance, including the risky method Shao Lan used.

• Su Xia fell in love with Li Chengyuan while living with his family, and years later he returned to the village and married her after a drunken night together.
• Li Chengyuan reunited with his First Love at his former advisor’s funeral and stayed with her, while Su Xia waited at home and later began taking herbal medicine in hopes of having a child.
• After Li Chengyuan rejected First Love at the factory, Su Xia suffered a workplace accident and lost her sight, then grew increasingly desperate to conceive.
• Su Xia killed and ate people in their building, and Li Chengyuan decided to call the police before seeing her cry and choosing to keep living with her.
• The appendix outlined opportunist, backstabber, and risk-taker approaches to clearing the instance, noting that Shao Lan used the highest-risk method that could save everyone and earn a precious item.

After passing the Night of the Cannibal assessment, Shao Lan, Jiang Mingran, and Zheng Bingfeng arrived at Happiness Residential Community Building 7 and learned they could travel between floors only by stairwell. Their attempt to find an exit ended with Shao Lan discovering that objects sent through the building’s tiny windows vanished into the darkness.

• Shao Lan, Jiang Mingran, and Zheng Bingfeng entered an elevator and were greeted by a property manager who assigned them rooms 802, 803, and 804 and awarded each 500 yuan.
• The property manager explained that the emergency stairwell connected the floors and warned them not to use the elevator to travel between them.
• Jiang Mingran carried Zheng Bingfeng down the stairs with Shao Lan, but the first floor had no doors or ordinary windows.
• Shao Lan identified small black squares in the walls as windows, and Jiang Mingran discovered that the part of his screwdriver pushed through one disappeared.
• Shao Lan threw a stone through a window and concluded that anything leaving the building ceased to exist.

Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran learned that Building 7 was a residence for people sent into dangerous game instances, then checked in to rooms on the eighth floor. The property manager revealed that checking out meant death, and Jiang Mingran froze when the vending machine showed the cost of his order.

• Shao Lan, Jiang Mingran, and Pancake Uncle searched the upper floors, finding only an empty room numbered 303 before returning to the eighth floor.
• Shao Lan learned from the property manager that the elevator transported residents to game instances and that assessment instances were their first, generally easier games.
• When Jiang Mingran asked to check out, Shao Lan stopped him, then watched staff remove the long-dead resident from room 801 after the property manager reported her for checkout.
• The property manager showed Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran to rooms 802 and 803, where they found only bare furniture and learned they could buy necessities from a vending machine.
• Jiang Mingran ordered food and drinks, but froze when the screen displayed a total of 102 yuan and a balance of 500 yuan.

Jiang Mingran and Shao Lan learned how survival funds worked and planned to conserve money while trapped in the building. They discovered Roman numeral scars on their bodies, leaving them unsure what the numbers meant.

• Jiang Mingran spent thirty yuan on mineral water and a sandwich, while Shao Lan received a 10,000-yuan bonus for obtaining Su Xia's pocket watch.
• Shao Lan explained that entering Instances earned survival funds and that ready-to-eat food was marked up, so he bought ingredients, a cooker, and a pot.
• Shao Lan warned Jiang Mingran that they might be trapped for a long time and needed to save money to stay alive.
• While boiling potatoes and eggs, Shao Lan noticed a scar marked XLI on Jiang Mingran's arm, and Jiang Mingran found VIII on Shao Lan's back.
• Shao Lan realized the scars showed Roman numerals 41 and 8 but could not determine what the numbers represented.

Shao Lan saw the Property Manager force a terrified resident into the elevator game and discovered that Room 801 had vanished. After helping Pancake Uncle eat and regain his composure, Shao Lan learned his scar bore the number 96; the chapter ended when Jiang Mingran arrived to discuss a girl who wanted to team up with them.

• Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran watched the Property Manager break a man's limbs and throw him into the elevator after he tried to withdraw from the game.
• Shao Lan noticed Room 801 had disappeared and realized residents' rooms vanished when they died.
• Shao Lan comforted Pancake Uncle, who shared the story of his granddaughter Tangtang and worried he would never see her again.
• Shao Lan learned Pancake Uncle's scar read XCVI, or 96, and brought him to Room 802 for water and food.
• Jiang Mingran came to Shao Lan's room and said a girl wanted to team up with them.

Shao Lan refused to let Lin Zhizhi join his team after learning she was the sole survivor of her Assessment Instance. He suspected she had survived by sacrificing her teammates, and left her in the stairwell as she silently grew resentful toward him.

• Shao Lan stopped Lin Zhizhi from entering Room 802 and told Jiang Mingran to send her away.
• Jiang Mingran explained that Lin Zhizhi was alone because everyone else in her Assessment Instance had died, but Shao Lan still refused her request to join the team.
• Lin Zhizhi asked to speak with Shao Lan, who agreed and met her in the stairwell.
• Lin Zhizhi pleaded to join the group, but Shao Lan said he would not consider a sole survivor because he suspected she had used her teammates' deaths to escape the Instance.
• Shao Lan warned Lin Zhizhi not to break her promise, then left as she watched him with growing resentment.

Xu Nan and Zhang Fang broke into Jiang Mingran’s room and robbed him, then attacked Shao Lan and his companions. Shao Lan outmaneuvered Xu Nan and struck at him, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Xu Nan and Zhang Fang held Jiang Mingran at gunpoint, wounded him, and forced him to spend his remaining balance on food and liquor.
• The Property Manager ignored Jiang Mingran’s cries for help, and Xu Nan told him that anything not explicitly forbidden was allowed.
• Zhang Fang went to Room 802, where Shao Lan had already thrown Blondie into a wall.
• Xu Nan arrived with the injured Jiang Mingran and forced Shao Lan to stop fighting and scan his face.
• Shao Lan offered Xu Nan a share of his future earnings, then used the conversation and a bed as cover to attack him with a dagger.

Shao Lan fought off the robbers in the dark corridor and used the elevator button to take Zhang Fang down with him. The Property Manager forced Zhang Fang and Xu Nan into the game instance alongside Shao Lan, while Jiang Mingran and Pancake Uncle remained behind.

• Shao Lan, Jiang Mingran, and Pancake Uncle battled Xu Nan, Zhang Fang, and the blond-haired robber after Shao Lan suspected Lin Zhizhi had betrayed them.
• Jiang Mingran and Pancake Uncle attacked the robbers, giving Shao Lan a chance to flee into the dark corridor.
• Shao Lan used a decoy to ambush Zhang Fang, then forced him against the elevator button while both men were badly wounded.
• The Property Manager appeared and made Zhang Fang enter the elevator, requiring him to discard the Nail Gun and cleaver.
• The Property Manager revealed that Xu Nan had been invited to the instance and forced him to enter as well.
• Shao Lan told Xu Nan he had missed his best chance to kill him before the elevator doors closed.