Chapter Summaries

Doghead Gold and Wangwuji attacked Rotten Persimmon’s group on the Circus’s orders, prompting Guild Leader Shiren to hire players to rescue them. Gan Ziwen and Honey-Trap Fool led the livestreamed operation to Sewage Flats, where Gan Ziwen began fighting the Iron Fist Gang and Circus attendants.

• Doghead Gold and Wangwuji killed players from Rotten Persimmon’s group and planned to pursue them at their respawn point in Sewage Flats.
• Shiren agreed to fund a rescue for Rotten Persimmon and his eight guildmates, asking Doghead Gold and Wangwuji to help.
• Rotten Persimmon stayed offline after an underling was killed by Iron Fist Gang members camping the respawn point.
• Honey-Trap Fool and Gan Ziwen accepted a paid, livestreamed commission to rescue Rotten Persimmon’s group, drawing attention from players and guilds across the city.
• Gan Ziwen’s group confronted the Iron Fist Gang in Sewage Flats, and Gan Ziwen charged into the gang members as Circus attendants approached.

Gan Ziwen and the hired players fought the Circus under Barton while God's Love Guild’s rescue livestream boosted its reputation. As they prepared another attempt, Silent Nun-Froy appeared at the abandoned building, leaving the players facing a lethal new threat.

• Honey-Trap Fool blinded the attackers with a scroll, allowing Gan Ziwen to kill the Iron Fist Gang underlings before Barton arrived with Circus servants.
• Doghead Gold and Wangwuji joined the fight but deliberately fell in battle, while Gan Ziwen and Honey-Trap Fool were also overwhelmed and killed.
• Shiren watched the livestream as its audience and God's Love Guild’s recruitment numbers grew, pleased that the publicity campaign had succeeded.
• Su Keying told Polaris and Ma Ren to watch the livestream, where the players had begun preparing a second rescue attempt.
• Silent Nun-Froy appeared before the abandoned building, and Gan Ziwen, Honey-Trap Fool, Doghead Gold, and Wangwuji recognized the lethal danger she posed.

Froy slaughtered the players sent to rescue Rotten Persimmon and advanced to Moon Faction Sequence 8—Executioner. When Gan Ziwen’s group returned for another attempt, Froy wielded a vine-grown scythe and killed them again.

• Froy declared Rotten Persimmon and his accomplices targets under Lord Jack’s orders, then attacked the rescue squad with Black-Purple Vines.
• Honey-Trap Fool boosted the players with an Inspiration scroll, but she and the others, including Gan Ziwen, were killed by Froy’s vines.
• After the massacre, Froy sensed death and slaughter and advanced to Moon Faction Sequence 8—Executioner.
• Gan Ziwen’s group returned to the Abandoned Building, where Froy approached them with a scythe woven from vines.
• Shiren told the players to end the commission after this life, and Froy killed the group with her scythe and vines.

Chen Lun visited Frankensta Hospital to see Mrs. Caroline and Mr. Taut, whom he healed but found afflicted with a mysterious plague-related condition. After hearing someone secretly pray to a figure associated with sickness and plague, he began investigating the hospital.

• Rotten Persimmon deleted his save after being imprisoned and decided to start over by joining his enemies.
• Chen Lun arrived at Frankensta Hospital and heard an unknown person praying on the third-floor balcony to a plague-associated figure.
• Chen Lun tried to divine the secret worshipper's location, but the result only indicated that the person remained somewhere in the hospital.
• Chen Lun visited Mrs. Caroline in Room 404 and learned that Mr. Taut might never wake after being injured while saving her.
• Chen Lun healed Mr. Taut's physical injuries but discovered that he remained in a deep coma and had a Plague Incubation status.

Chen Lun urged Mrs. Caroline to move to the Inner District and gave her Anti-Plague Candy after discovering she had latent plague. At the hospital, he uncovered a possible link between the outbreak and the Lord of Plagues, whose believer appeared to be spreading the infection.

• Chen Lun persuaded Mrs. Caroline to move to her nearby Inner District property and gave her medicine for herself and Mr. Taut.
• Chen Lun witnessed a grieving father accuse a Raven Doctor of killing his daughter Elsa, then heard the man invoke the Lord of Plagues.
• The father went to the hospital rooftop to perform a suicidal ritual, but Chen Lun stopped him and hypnotized him into revealing that an insurance salesman had introduced him to the deity.
• Chen Lun learned the Lord of Plagues was real and gained experience, but his divination could not locate the insurance salesman.
• Chen Lun discovered that everyone on the third floor had latent plague and that the father had the distinct status Latent Plague Source, leading him to suspect the deity's faith was connected to the outbreak.

Chen Lun investigated a plague carrier whose death was tied to a planned outbreak, then brought Maggie to examine Mrs. Caroline and Mr. Taut. Maggie found the elderly couple could be cured with her medicine, and Mrs. Caroline gave Chen Lun a box of old books.

• Chen Lun watched a plague carrier succumb to the infection after interrupting his sacrifice, then decided to report the incident and the Lord of Plagues to Mona and the Moon Church.
• Maggie told Chen Lun that recent plagues arose from mutated microorganisms and that an unseen force was behind them.
• Maggie examined Mrs. Caroline and Mr. Taut and found their latent plague could be cured with her medicine.
• Chen Lun praised Maggie’s research, promised her more funds, and gave medicine to Mrs. Caroline for herself and Mr. Taut.
• Mrs. Caroline brought Chen Lun a box of old collectible books she had found in her attic.

Chen Lun revealed the Circus’s hidden exchange list to six players, including access to all ten Transcendent Sequences and a ticket to his Wonderland dungeon. He punished players who had opposed the Circus, leaving Doghead Gold and Wangwuji demoted while Gan Ziwen and Honey-Trap Fool were placed on the Circus Kill Order.

• Chen Lun found a complete transcendent account titled "Dreaming of the Town of Kazt" in Mrs. Caroline’s books and stored it in the Blood-Poem Ring.
• Dongyang, Morning Twilight, and Last Note joined the other players at Jack Manor and used donations to become full Circus members.
• Chen Lun opened the hidden exchange list, revealing all ten Transcendent Sequences and a costly Wonderland Entry Ticket.
• The players discussed forming a trusted party for the Wonderland dungeon and asked whether Honey-Trap Fool could join the Circus.
• Chen Lun declared that Doghead Gold and Wangwuji could remain as peripheral members, but Gan Ziwen and Honey-Trap Fool would face the Circus Kill Order.
• Morning Twilight warned Honey-Trap Fool to leave Amber City, and he learned that the Circus had put a bounty on him.

Chen Lun sold large quantities of Circus goods to the Hall of Heroes and First Dawn, while Polaris saved toward buying Fate Faction knowledge. Doghead Gold and Wangwuji returned to Jack Manor seeking a way to regain full membership, and Jack offered them a dangerous chance through Sick Doctor-Maggie's potion research.

• Dongyang and Morning Twilight bought more than 1,000 Gold Pounds’ worth of Circus goods, and Chen Lun arranged to store their purchases at the manor.
• Weiyin bought goods for herself and Su Keying, while Polaris bought a little ammunition and supplies and resolved to save for Fate Faction knowledge.
• Doghead Gold and Wangwuji returned to Jack Manor after being demoted to peripheral members and losing access to the hidden shop.
• Chen Lun told Doghead Gold and Wangwuji that their decision to oppose the Circus Kill Order had disappointed him, but offered them one chance to make amends.
• Jack assigned Doghead Gold and Wangwuji a mission to serve as Sick Doctor-Maggie's test subjects and help develop potions in exchange for regaining full membership.

The players heard Doghead Gold and Wangwuji screaming in the attic while they gathered at Jack Manor, unaware of the trap behind their quest. Meanwhile, Chen Lun studied a strange book recounting a sailor’s fatal dream of the town of Kazt, and the story left him pondering the powerful beings it described.

• Ma Ren, Weiyin, Polaris, Su Keying, Dongyang, and Morning Twilight heard screams from the attic and speculated that Jack was punishing Doghead Gold and Wangwuji.
• Ma Ren left the lounge, troubled that his secret tip had led Doghead Gold and Wangwuji into a trap, while the others prepared to visit Sewage Flats the next morning.
• Polaris reflected that he felt like an outsider among the group and resolved to earn enough money to become a Beyonder.
• Chen Lun read Dreaming of the Town of Kazt, which described a sailor passing through the Gate of Slumber and meeting the Lady of Sighs, intelligent cats, and a vast figure in yellow robes before dying.
• Chen Lun closed the book and wondered what powerful beings the story’s strange names represented.

Chen Lun investigated a possible link between the old book’s dream and Wonderland while Maggie tested and perfected a potent potion on Doghead Gold and Wangwuji. After Chen Lun approved the Beef Power Bottle, ten players gathered at Jack Manor to enter Wonderland together.

• Chen Lun suspected the forest in the old book’s dream might be Wonderland and resolved to watch for confirming clues.
• Maggie tested the Beef Power Bottle on Doghead Gold and Wangwuji, who transformed into bull-headed monsters and fought through the potion’s berserk effects.
• Maggie showed Chen Lun the finished potion, and he praised it and gave her 200 Gold Pounds to make more.
• Ten players, including Doghead Gold, Wangwuji, Kuang Benkuang, and Honey Pomelo, gathered at Jack Manor and prepared to enter Wonderland.

Ten players entered Wonderland’s Gloomy Forest and found a cabin that had not been there on their previous visit. A mission tasked them with investigating it, and as the two groups approached, black smoke rose from behind a tree.

• Chen Lun summoned the players into Wonderland after they handed over their admission tickets.
• Polaris noticed a hidden cabin, and a mission appeared warning that danger lurked nearby and promising rewards for finding cabins.
• Dongyang led Ma Ren and Kuang Benkuang toward the cabin, while Polaris urged his group to keep their distance and follow carefully.
• The two groups moved toward the cabin, and Ma Ren shouted a warning when black smoke rose from behind a tree.

Polaris and the others fought Lumberjack, discovering that fire could hurt it but failing to kill it or enter the Wooden Hut. As they retreated, five Lumberjacks appeared among the surrounding trees.

• Dongyang and the others shot Lumberjack, but the monster survived and showed no visible wounds as black smoke healed it.
• Polaris arrived and showed that fire harmed Lumberjack, so the group attacked it with their Mechanical Gloves.
• Lumberjack vanished in the flames, then emerged beside Dongyang and killed him before cutting Kuang Benkuang in half and badly injuring Ma Ren.
• Polaris ordered Su Keying and Weiyin to inspect the Wooden Hut while the others held Lumberjack back, but they could not open its door or windows.
• Polaris called for the group to retreat, but black smoke rose behind several trees and revealed five Lumberjacks.

The players failed to enter the Wooden Hut and lost seven lives to the Lumberjacks before following Polaris deeper into Wonderland. They killed a Cave-Dwelling Ratman, but Ma Ren then warned that they were surrounded.

• The Lumberjacks killed seven players as the group fled the Wooden Hut, and the survivors regrouped at the starting location.
• Polaris convinced Dongyang to abandon the Wooden Hut and explore in the opposite direction, while Chen Lun watched and gained experience and attribute points from the deaths.
• The ten players ran through the forest to conserve Sanity and encountered a Cave-Dwelling Ratman, which wounded Wangwuji before the group killed it.
• Ma Ren warned Dongyang that the players were surrounded.

The players were overwhelmed by a horde of ratmen, and Chen Lun collected the loot and experience from their deaths. After respawning, Polaris borrowed a bomb from Dongyang and prepared to lead the group back along the path to clear the remaining ratmen.

• Polaris and the players fought the surrounding ratmen, but Doghead Gold, Wangwuji, and Ma Ren were killed as the battle turned against them.
• Polaris and Dongyang grabbed a few drops before the ratmen killed them, and the remaining materials disappeared.
• Chen Lun counted nine transcendent materials, 1,000 experience points, and two attribute points, then wondered whether first-time kills gave the greatest rewards and took an interest in Polaris.
• The players respawned at the Forest One wooden hut, where Polaris borrowed Dongyang's blue bomb and declined an offer to join the Hall of Heroes.
• Polaris planned to return along the same path and clear the remaining ratmen, while saying the group would divide the loot after the dungeon.

Polaris and the other players fell through a concealed sinkhole into a cavern and discovered a passage leading toward the Cave-Dwelling Ratmen’s nest. After an ambush and a frantic fight at a fork, Doghead Gold and Wangwuji drank Beef Power Bottles to hold off the charging ratmen.

• Polaris gave the Transcendent Materials he had collected to Polaris to hold until the group divided them.
• The players found the battlefield deserted, then Doghead Gold and Polaris began sinking as the ground collapsed beneath them.
• Polaris led the group into a dark cavern passage, where he shot a ratman that ambushed Ma Ren and drew a horde toward them.
• The players reached a clearing, fired a volley at ratmen charging from both paths, and had to reload.
• Doghead Gold and Wangwuji drank Beef Power Bottles and stepped forward to hold off the ratmen.

Doghead Gold and Wangwuji transformed into Four-Armed Minotaurs and fought the Ratmen while Polaris’s group searched the Pit for the Wooden Hut. Polaris used an Incendiary Bomb to destroy the Iron-Armored Ratman and clear the way, while Dongyang, Ma Ren, and Kuang Benkuang reached a vast Underground Hinterland.

• Doghead Gold and Wangwuji used Mr. Jack’s potion to transform into Four-Armed Minotaurs and attacked the Ratmen.
• Doghead Gold killed a Leather-Armored Ratman with a spiked club, but an Iron-Armored Ratman appeared and badly injured both Minotaurs.
• Polaris sent Dongyang, Ma Ren, and Kuang Benkuang down the left fork and Morning Twilight, Su Keying, and the other women down the right fork to search for the Wooden Hut.
• Doghead Gold and Wangwuji held the Iron-Armored Ratman in place while Polaris detonated an Incendiary Bomb, killing them and engulfing the elite Ratman and nearby Ratmen in flames.
• Dongyang, Ma Ren, and Kuang Benkuang continued down the left passage and emerged into a flower-filled Underground Hinterland.

Su Keying’s group found a Wooden Hut that served as a new respawn point, while Chen Lun set out to reach the second hut discovered by Dongyang, Ma Ren, and Kuang Benkuang. He killed the powerful ratman guarding it and collected its transcendent material.

• Su Keying’s group found a Wooden Hut, and Polaris and the other players respawned beside it after dying.
• Dongyang told Polaris that a three-headed ratman had killed him, Ma Ren, and Kuang Benkuang before they could reach the other Wooden Hut.
• Polaris shared the parts he had collected from the rats, and the group concluded their quest was complete.
• Chen Lun connected to the second Wooden Hut and followed the players’ trail into the underground cave.
• Chen Lun killed the three-headed ratman with sword energy and collected its transcendent material.

Chen Lun found Philip’s red clown nose in the Wooden Hut and gained an incomplete Transcendent law about asymmetry. Meanwhile, Polaris and the other players continued through Wonderland, where they encountered a black cat beside the path.

• Chen Lun opened the box in the Wooden Hut and found a red nose and a note from Philip.
• Chen Lun put on the nose, discovered the incomplete Transcendent Asymmetry Law, and gained 10,000 experience points.
• Polaris and the players decided to continue exploring after finding that the Wooden Hut could not be opened or damaged.
• Weiyin and Morning Twilight picked up pink pebbles, but the pebbles disintegrated and reappeared on the ground.
• The players followed the pebble path into an open area and spotted a black cat perched on a rock.
• Polaris stopped the players from approaching the cat to pet it.

Polaris and the other players encountered the Black Cat Warrior-Nada on the Pebble Path, where it slaughtered them for crossing the Forest Border. After the fight, Nada mourned its lost homeland until a young man in a black hat approached and greeted it.

• Polaris warned the players to observe the apparently ordinary black cat, but Doghead Gold and Wangwuji approached it and provoked its attack.
• The cat revealed itself as Black Cat Warrior-Nada, killed Doghead Gold and Wangwuji, and forced the players to flee.
• Nada caught the fleeing players and killed Su Keying, Weiyin, Dongyang, and Ma Ren as it blocked their way.
• Polaris asked Nada why it would not let them pass, and Nada explained that the Forest Border led to its homeland, Kazt, before killing him.
• After the players died, Nada destroyed the surrounding pebbles and boulder, then mourned that the sun, moon, and stars had disappeared and wondered when it could return home.
• A young man in a black hat approached Nada with a Silver Cane, placed a hand on its head, and greeted it by name.

Chen Lun met Nada, a Black Cat Warrior, in Wonderland and learned that Nada mistook him for the Cat God’s prophesied favored one. After learning of Kazt’s plight and receiving Moon Wine, Chen Lun returned to Underground Two while the players continued exploring elsewhere.

• Chen Lun approached Nada, who grew fond of him and recognized him as a favored one after the symbols on her axe glowed in his hands.
• Nada told Chen Lun that darkness and Mystical Contamination had devastated the Forest of Nature, and that Kazt and the surviving Black Cat Warriors were in danger.
• Nada led Chen Lun to her shelter and offered him the black cats’ rare Moon Wine, but Chen Lun initially refused because they needed it to resist madness.
• Chen Lun accepted the Moon Wine after Nada insisted and learned that Kazt lay beyond the scattered rocks along the cobblestone path.
• Chen Lun said goodbye to Nada, returned to the Wooden Hut at Underground Two, and saw that the players were exploring another direction.