Chapter Summaries

After Darklands launched at an unaffordable price, a mysterious group member shared a supposed cracked version, and broke gold farmer Li Zheng downloaded it despite suspecting a scam. He launched the game from his Game Pod and saw an unexpected monster icon instead of the official sword logo.

• Darklands sold a million copies in ten minutes, while players in the chat group complained about its price and restrictions on streaming and recording.
• Perks Officer posted a link claiming to be a working cracked version, and Gold-Farming Gamer volunteered to download and test it.
• Li Zheng, a struggling game gold farmer in Skywind City's slums, downloaded the file while expecting it to be a scam.
• Li Zheng canceled his stream, entered his Game Pod, and noticed the downloaded game's monster icon did not match Darklands' official logo.
• Li Zheng launched the suspicious game anyway, calling out, "Calabash Brothers, launch!"

Li Zheng entered Monster World, chose the Black-Armored Snake as his starting form, and discovered he could switch between it and his human body through the Star Meridian. After meeting his beginner Guide and learning how to log out, he began teleporting back to the real world to tell others about the game.

• Li Zheng created the character Gold-Farming Gamer and chose the Black-Armored Snake, gaining its Deadly Poison trait as a Life Soul.
• Li Zheng arrived in a mist-surrounded village and learned that his Star Meridian let him transform into the Black-Armored Snake and inherit its attributes.
• Li Zheng tested the game's realistic sensations and found no other players in the village.
• Guide appeared, explained that Li Zheng had to hunt Emperor Zhao's lost Primordial Power, and introduced himself as Li Zheng's beginner Guide.
• Li Zheng learned how to log out and began a thirty-second teleportation back to the real world.

Qi Sheng recruited ten gamers by posing as a provider of a cracked Darklands download, then watched them arrive in the Monster World. The players left Emperor Tomb Village and encountered a terrifying landscape and a colossal beast, while Li Zheng insisted the danger was only an introductory scene.

• Li Zheng persuaded the skeptical Hardcore Gamer Chat Group members to download his fake Darklands link, and the first ten players entered the game.
• Qi Sheng left the group chat after completing recruitment and explained that the link sent the players’ consciousnesses to the Monster World, where they received monster bodies.
• Guide showed Qi Sheng the players’ arrival in Emperor Tomb Village, where the gamers praised the game’s realism and Li Zheng proposed forming a leveling party.
• Li Zheng led the ten players out through the village barrier into the black mist, and they emerged into the devastated Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.
• A colossal scarlet beast descended from the sky and struck the ground, leaving the players stunned as Li Zheng insisted the danger would not affect beginner mode.

Li Zheng and the other players learned how Primordial Monster containment, Monster Forms, and moon phases worked before heading into the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range to fight Evil Spirits. They defeated a Cursed Soldier, and Family-Sharing Godfather alone received the kill rewards and leveled up, provoking his party members.

• Guide explained that players could contain Primordial Monsters to unlock Monster Forms for everyone, and use Star Meridian sockets to combine monster traits.
• Guide described the five moon-phase intensity levels and how they affected the Evil Spirits found in each region.
• Li Zheng led the nine other players toward the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range, where they encountered a level 3 Cursed Soldier at the Ancient Battlefield.
• Li Zheng and the party switched to their Monster Forms and subdued the Cursed Soldier by constricting it, holding down its limbs, and striking its skull.
• Family-Sharing Godfather received the kill, gaining 30 Life Evolution Points, 5 Sacrificial Power, and a level, while his annoyed party members beat him up.

Li Zheng and his group of ten players leveled up while fighting Cursed Soldiers, then charged Bonefire, a level 9 Primordial Monster, and were wiped out by its Deathflame. Forced into a one-hour resurrection cooldown, they discussed keeping the game’s download link private and agreed to look for an in-game organization.

• Li Zheng and the other players reached level 2 after an hour of fighting Cursed Soldiers, and they discovered the pain adjustment setting in System Settings.
• Eat Dirt warned the party that strong energy fluctuations were approaching, and the players identified Bonefire as a level 9 Primordial Monster.
• Li Zheng and the other nine players attacked Bonefire, but its Ink-Colored Flames set them ablaze and killed all ten.
• The players found that their characters had entered a one-hour resurrection cooldown, and they agreed not to share the game’s download link outside the group.
• Li Zheng proposed finding an organization, and the group agreed that he would search the Forum.

Li Zheng struggled to find a guild for his ten-person team because recruiters demanded proof that they had bought Darklands, which they could not provide after downloading a pirated copy. He joined the Star Sea Guild instead, but its members discussed game features his group had never seen, and Li Zheng realized they were armchair gamers pretending to play.

• Li Zheng contacted Black Dawn, but its recruiter rejected him after he could not provide an electronic purchase receipt.
• After several other guilds also demanded proof of purchase, Li Zheng found the Star Sea Guild and accepted its offer to join despite its lack of benefits.
• Li Zheng and the other nine members of his team joined the Star Sea chat group and were welcomed by its members.
• Star Sea members discussed level-two skills and a guaranteed main quest, confusing Li Zheng and his friends, who had encountered neither feature.
• Li Zheng concluded that the Star Sea members were armchair gamers inventing game content, and his friends laughed and began leaving the group.

Qi Sheng reviewed Emperor Zhao's weakening resources and decided to recruit more players to contain Primordial Monsters and reclaim Domain Nodes. He entered a chat group to offer members access to Darklands, but they mistook his download link for a scam and removed him.

• Qi Sheng examined Emperor Tomb Village's Sacrificial Power income and expenses, noting that its three contained Primordial Monsters produced less power than the Dark Tide defenses consumed.
• Qi Sheng explained that he needed players to contain Emperor Zhao's scattered Primordial Monsters and occupy Domain Nodes, and decided to recruit up to 130 more players.
• Qi Sheng returned to the real world and joined a chat group whose members lamented that Darklands was too expensive to play.
• Qi Sheng posted a Darklands download link as a perk, but the group members called it a scam and the group owner removed him.
• Junior Class-Drunken Milk said he would report the link to the Federal Cyber Police.

Jiang Zhou discovered that the suspicious download was a genuine copy of Darklands, a fully immersive game, and introduced it to his friends. The group rushed to download it, but the link’s download limit left Tong Xin unable to get a copy, and his attempt to apologize to Perks Officer failed.

• Jiang Zhou scanned the downloaded archive, installed the game in his Game Pod, and found himself immersed in Monster World.
• Jiang Zhou told his kindergarten group that the link provided a genuine copy of Darklands, and his friends downloaded the game after he convinced them.
• Tong Xin woke to the group’s excited messages and discovered that the download limit had been reached.
• Tong Xin sent Perks Officer a lengthy apology and friend request, but Perks Officer’s settings blocked it.

Li Zheng and the other players defeated Bonefire by exploiting its failure to recover damage between battles, completing their primordial hunt quest and earning Sacrificial Power and a second Life Soul slot. Li Zheng examined the available Life Souls but postponed choosing one, then discovered Eat Dirt had already taken Bonefire’s form.

• Li Zheng led the level 5 players in another attack on Bonefire, focusing on its badly damaged left leg until it shattered.
• Eat Dirt and the other players joined the assault, and the group destroyed Bonefire’s skull crystal and extinguished its flames.
• The Guide Water Orb contained Bonefire’s Life Soul, and the players received 1,000 Sacrificial Power and free permission to unlock a second Life Soul slot.
• Li Zheng viewed the Star Meridian panel and compared the available Life Soul traits for Gargoyle, Eagle-Headed Demon, and Bonefire.
• The Guide explained that the Primordial generations reflected the increasing strength of Emperor Zhao’s separated power, and Li Zheng decided to discuss his choice with his buddies.
• Li Zheng left the Star Meridian interface and saw that Eat Dirt had already inlaid a second Life Soul and changed into Bonefire form.

Li Zheng's group explored combining monster traits, while Cute Kid's party discovered the Blood Plains and entered a cavern beneath a stone statue. They found a Spirit Plant and learned how to sacrifice it for Sacrificial Power.

• Eat Dirt combined the Eagle-Headed Demon's Grudge Chant with Bonefire's Deathflame to strike targets without a line of sight, though the effort left him dizzy.
• Li Zheng and the others chose to keep fighting in Black-Armored Snake form rather than embed a second Monster Form yet.
• Cute Kid led thirty players west from Emperor Tomb Village, where they discovered the Blood Plains and received a notification to occupy a Source Domain Node.
• The party entered a cavern beneath a massive stone statue and Iron Hammer found a Hollow Valley Grass beside the passage.
• Iron Hammer sacrificed the plant and received 109 Sacrificial Power, prompting the other players to demand a share.

Qi Sheng recovered the Inkflame ability and learned that players had discovered a lost Domain Node. In the Dark Cavern, the Kindergarten Squad mined Energy Stones before encountering a Cavernfolk creature and its Iron-Shelled Insects, then charged into battle.

• Qi Sheng examined Bonefire and regained the ability to control Inkflame after containing it.
• The Kindergarten Squad found Energy Stones and bought mining pickaxes, while Iron Hammer used a Crystalbreaker Pickaxe to mine more effectively.
• The players discovered that sacrificing Energy Stones yielded more Sacrificial Power than killing Cursed Soldiers, but gave no Evolution Points.
• Marble used Grudge Chant to detect Iron-Shelled Insects and a level 19 Cavernfolk creature in the darkness.
• The Cavernfolk creature directed the Iron-Shelled Insects to attack, and the Kindergarten Squad switched to Monster Form and charged at it.

The two player groups battled Iron-Shelled Insects in the Dark Cavern but were wiped out before reaching its fifth-level domain node. Back in Emperor Tomb Village, they compared notes, agreed to explore together, and each claimed they had obtained game access through the official website.

• The Kindergarten Squad joined players fighting Iron-Shelled Insects in the Dark Cavern, and friendly fire caused several player deaths during the chaotic battle.
• Both groups were wiped out, and Qi Sheng decided the players needed to grow stronger before they could claim the domain node; he planned to recruit fifty more players.
• At the respawn point, the Kindergarten Squad learned that exploration progress was shared and heard how Li Zheng's team unlocked Bonefire life souls.
• Li Zheng explained that starting forms could develop in many ways, while the groups speculated that multiple servers explained the village's sparse population.
• When Iron Hammer asked where the other group had bought its game access, both teams said they had snagged it on the Darklands official website.
• The groups set aside the awkward question and agreed to explore the Dark Cavern together.

Qi Sheng planned to recruit players who could spend money, while Li Siyu failed to obtain purchase eligibility for Darklands for the third time. After an enigmatic Perks Officer shared a download link in her group chat, Li Siyu installed the files and entered her Game Pod to see what would happen.

• Qi Sheng decided to target players who could afford to spend in the third recruitment round, aiming to improve the in-game economy and Sacrificial Power income.
• Li Siyu failed to claim a purchase slot for Darklands and complained to her Dinner Drunkards group chat.
• A stranger called Perks Officer joined the group, posted a link to a supposed free cracked version of Darklands, and left.
• Li Siyu checked the stranger's details, grew curious about the link, and downloaded the compressed file.
• Li Siyu transferred the extracted files to her Game Pod, waited for adaptation to finish, and entered the pod to start the game.

Li Siyu urged her grandfather Li Tie to download Darklands, and he discovered the game’s unusually realistic sensations. After defeating his first Cursed Soldier, Li Tie raised the pain feedback to its maximum and prepared to fight with full intensity.

• Li Siyu shared a cracked Darklands download link with the Dinner Drunkards group and urged her grandfather Li Tie to join.
• Li Tie suffered a battlefield flashback at the postwar sanatorium, then downloaded the game at Li Siyu’s request.
• Li Tie entered Emperor Tomb Village, marveled at the realistic sensation of his missing leg, and accepted Li Siyu’s friend request.
• Li Tie chose to explore alone and defeated a Cursed Soldier using Gargoyle form and hand-to-hand combat.
• Li Tie noticed the game reduced pain feedback, set the pain slider to its maximum, and declared the game interesting.

Qi Sheng recruited a new batch of players and learned that Li Tie had set his pain feedback to 100%. Li Tie reached Weapon Spirit Valley, challenged a powerful Artifact Spirit, and died after the other weapons joined the fight; he returned to Emperor Tomb Village intending to find a sturdier weapon.

• Qi Sheng discovered that one of his new recruits, Li Tie, had voluntarily set his pain feedback to 100%.
• Li Tie used Petrification to fight Cursed Soldiers, reached level 4, and continued east with a battered war hammer.
• Li Tie entered Weapon Spirit Valley and found several first-generation primordials, including the battle-axe Strength Savage.
• Strength Savage challenged Li Tie to a duel, but when his war hammer broke and he dropped it, the other Artifact Spirits attacked and killed him.
• After respawning, Li Tie learned that dropping his weapon had ended the duel and decided he needed a high-quality weapon before returning.

Li Tie repeatedly challenged the Strength Savage Axe in Weapon Spirit Valley, using sacrificial power pooled by Li Siyu and the Drunken Feast Group to buy weapons. His attempts ended in defeat, and the players watching his livestream were left wondering how to stop his costly obsession.

• Li Siyu transferred 86 sacrificial power to Li Tie, who bought a Mountain-Shaking Axe and challenged the Strength Savage Axe, proving that the Artifact Spirits treated him as a Challenger only while he held a weapon.
• Li Tie's axe broke and the Artifact Spirits killed him, leaving him short of the resurrection cost, so he asked Li Siyu and the Drunken Feast Group to send him more sacrificial power.
• After gathering enough power by killing Cursed Soldiers, Li Tie bought another axe and returned to challenge the Strength Savage Axe, while Li Siyu arranged more sacrificial power and watched by video.
• Li Siyu bought 500 sacrificial power from the Bricklaying Group, but Li Tie was killed again during the livestream, prompting the players to question his repeated spending.
• Li Zheng called the group’s efforts spending money to help an old man play a Soulslike, leaving the Drunken Feast Group members speechless.

After Li Tie contained three Primordial Monsters, he used the rewards to strengthen himself and prepared to challenge the Artifact Spirits on the Artifact Spirit Path. The chapter ended with him merging his three weapon Life Souls into a Golden Battleblade as the Drunken Feast Group watched.

• The Hardcore Grinder Group players sold Sacrificial Power to support Li Tie, then learned that he had contained Strength Savage and decided to focus on growing stronger themselves.
• Li Tie contained Shatter and Soul-Severer, earning rewards that unlocked his third and fourth Star Meridian slots and prompting players to seek out Primordial Monsters.
• After retreating from an Iron-Shelled Insect swarm, the players prepared to hunt in the Blood Plains, while Li Tie ignored regional questions about his victories and answered a video call from his granddaughter.
• Li Tie removed his Gargoyle Life Soul, inlaid Strength Savage, Soul-Severer, and Shatter, and spent 30,000 Sacrificial Power to reach Body Tempering level 3.
• Li Tie tested the three weapon traits against the Sweeping Sword and Netherghost Staff, then merged the Artifact Spirits into a Golden Battleblade as the Drunken Feast Group cheered.

Qi Sheng discovered that the Terrifying Dark Tide had begun invading Earth and realized it might explain why the Eclipse Race trained troops through virtual games. He planned to keep recruiting players steadily and withhold the truth for now, though he might let them bring Monster World's power into reality if Earth faced a full-scale invasion.

• Players followed Li Tie to Weapon Spirit Valley to contain Artifact Spirits, but Li Tie stopped after five because the deeper spirits were too strong.
• Guide sensed the Dark Tide near the Arctic, and Qi Sheng asked Yan Ming to teleport him there.
• Qi Sheng found black tendrils in the sky and burned them away with Emperor Zhao's Flame, confirming the Dark Tide was beginning to corrode Earth.
• Qi Sheng connected Earth's nonhuman factions and the Eclipse Race's virtual games to the Dark Tide's past invasions of their home worlds.
• Guide urged Qi Sheng to accelerate player recruitment, but Qi Sheng chose to proceed steadily and keep the threat secret for now.

Qi Sheng assessed the limited Sacrificial Power available for expanding recruitment before returning to oversee the players. In the Dark Cavern, players developed distinct combat schools, fought off Iron-Shelled Insects, and fled from the Cavernfolk Warrior, then debated whether to kill him.

• Qi Sheng calculated that his current Sacrificial Power income allowed him to recruit only one and a half players per day, then returned to Emperor Tomb Village.
• Players in the Dark Cavern developed several Star Meridian combat schools, including artifact spirit, ranged strike, Black-Armored Snake and Strength Savage Axe, and Monster Beast styles.
• The Hardcore Grinders Group, Drunken Feast Group, and Kindergarten Squad defeated an Iron-Shelled Insect swarm, losing over half their members and collecting shells to sacrifice.
• An Eagle-Headed Demon player warned that the Cavernfolk Warrior had returned, and the players fled the Dark Cavern while Iron-Shelled Insects dragged some of them away.
• After escaping, the players discussed banding together to kill the Cavernfolk Warrior, whose presence was disrupting their mining and leveling.

Qi Sheng remembered how he inherited Emperor Zhao’s power and created the Challenger Plan to save the Monster World from the dark tide. The chapter ended with him discovering his former home, a blue planet, while searching for beings to recruit as Challengers.

• Qi Sheng returned to the real world, flew to an abandoned cemetery, and knelt before a gravestone before repairing it.
• Qi Sheng recalled crossing into the Monster World amid the war against the dark tide and being rescued by the Four Devoted Servants.
• Qi Sheng inherited Emperor Zhao’s self-fixated origin, then spent centuries learning from the Four Devoted Servants and containing monsters to grow stronger.
• Qi Sheng proposed the Challenger Plan, and the Four Devoted Servants built its datafication, guidance, purification, and growth systems.
• Qi Sheng wagered Emperor Tomb Village’s remaining sacrificial power on a search for living beings in other Planar Worlds.
• Qi Sheng recognized a blue planet as his former home and realized the Challenger Plan had found a place to begin.