Recaps

Xu Tingfang and Yu Ruoli were separated in the fog at the start of Sick Village and found different visitor notices for its library and medical station. Xu Tingfang tried to reach the library while obeying its rules, while Yu Ruoli stood before the medical station’s open doors and read its warnings.

• Xu Tingfang found a roadside notice saying the library was safe, listing rules, and directing visitors to find its focus of disease for a rest period.
• Xu Tingfang noticed dirt and grass on her shoes and saw a blurry figure approaching through the fog.
• Xu Tingfang ran toward the library, then stopped when she recalled the rule against making noise or horseplay and saw red lights nearby.
• Yu Ruoli found a notice at the medical station warning that patients and other dangers were inside, and saw that its main doors were ajar.

Yu Ruoli deciphered the Sick Village Medical Station’s survival rules and entered the building, while Shen Hai analyzed the Sick Village Supermarket’s rules and prepared to face its dangers. The chapter left both players beginning their separate area challenges, with Shen Hai recognizing that his rules were a trap he believed he could overcome.

• Yu Ruoli concluded that the medical station contained danger, identified its two possible paths to survival, and suspected that disinfection meant removing sheets of clustered granules.
• Yu Ruoli realized she had triggered a danger warning by staying near the entrance for about three minutes and inferred that she had to move more than a meter within that time.
• Yu Ruoli climbed the steps, opened the medical station door, and went inside.
• Shen Hai read the supermarket rules and found that [Faded Memories] could not reveal the area’s past.
• Shen Hai reasoned that the supermarket’s customers might not be human and that he would likely have a conflict with one while shopping.
• Shen Hai recognized that his supermarket rules were a trap and believed he had a way to resolve it.

Qin Manjiang and Du Bi'an found themselves in different areas of the rules-based Sick Village Ghost Story and studied the instructions that governed how they could leave. Qin Manjiang entered the nursing home and encountered an elderly resident, while Du Bi'an entered the extremely dangerous public toilet to complete its requirements.

• Qin Manjiang read the nursing home's rules, considered what they implied, and decided to avoid the other players, especially Shen Hai.
• Qin Manjiang entered the nursing home courtyard, where he saw a person sitting on a stone stool and realized it was an elderly resident.
• Du Bi'an photographed the public toilet's rules and noted its warning that it was extremely dangerous and could not be disinfected.
• Du Bi'an interpreted the rules as requiring him to hold his breath, use the toilet, and respond carefully to noises and footsteps.
• Du Bi'an took several deep breaths and rushed into the public toilet.

Luo Chengyou revealed that his Permanent Item, the Mind-Reading Mirror, had been driving him mad as it consumed his sanity, and he destroyed it before entering Nine-Bend Alley. The alley transformed around him as he stepped inside, leaving him facing white walls and ground covered in black, frogspawn-like masses.

• Luo Chengyou recalled how his Mind-Reading Mirror let him read the next thoughts of ghosts and players while permanently draining his sanity and consuming Spirit Pupil Points.
• Luo Chengyou crushed the mirror, deciding he no longer needed it or the imagined life it had represented.
• Luo Chengyou read the rules for Nine-Bend Alley: he could not touch the walls, stop walking, or look back, and he had to find the correct way through.
• Luo Chengyou entered Nine-Bend Alley, where the brick-red walls and path turned white and became covered in sticky black masses.

Luo Chengyou entered a dangerous alley and struggled to follow its rules while a creature impersonating Xu Tingfang tried to lure him back. He fled from the monster and reached three curving paths, but the rule against stopping left him unable to choose safely.

• Luo Chengyou ignored the voice claiming to be Xu Tingfang and continued into the alley, where the rules forbade touching the walls, stopping, or looking back.
• Xu Tingfang urged Luo Chengyou to walk backward, and he used his phone’s front camera to confirm that she appeared to be at the entrance.
• Luo Chengyou realized the figure could not have seen the black Pathogen inside the alley and identified it as a monster.
• Luo Chengyou ran forward as the monster pursued him, its imitation of Xu Tingfang’s voice growing distorted.
• After fleeing for about three minutes, Luo Chengyou reached three curving paths and realized he could not stop to choose among them.

Luo Chengyou chose the narrow, dark middle passage to hinder the monster chasing him, then realized the alley narrowed as he went deeper. He faced a choice between risking contact with the walls and slowing down until his phone light failed.

• Luo Chengyou rejected the familiar right passage and the bright, wide left passage, then entered the narrow middle passage covered in black granules.
• He used his phone flashlight to navigate the damp alley while avoiding its walls and the clumps of black matter.
• Luo Chengyou noticed the monster’s scraping stopped when it could not enter the narrow passage.
• He considered why Nine-Bend Alley supposedly required no disinfection and suspected its pathogens might not spread beyond it.
• Luo Chengyou realized the alley narrowed farther ahead and feared that slowing down would exhaust his phone battery, while continuing at speed could make him touch the walls.

Du Bi'an realized that something had tampered with the restroom rules, then entered the restroom to follow the remaining instructions. While he hid in a stall, a mysterious presence searched the restroom, and he noticed a command written on the door.

• Du Bi'an spotted contradictions in the restroom rules and concluded that a red warning and one of the rules had been added by something malicious.
• Du Bi'an tried to warn the other players by phone, but his message could not reach them.
• Du Bi'an rushed into the restroom, checked the stalls, and found that the second-to-last stall was occupied; a toilet flushed inside it.
• Du Bi'an hid in the opposite stall and began using the toilet, then heard hurried footsteps enter the restroom.
• Du Bi'an saw the words [Open the door and get out!] on his stall door as the presence opened the stall doors one by one.

Du Bi'an struggled to follow the restroom rules while something searched the stalls outside, then realized the thing might be himself. After he ran out of air, frog-egg-like particles fell from the ceiling and invaded his body.

• Du Bi'an chose to flush despite the danger, and the sound of the thing pushing doors stopped.
• Du Bi'an reasoned that the same person might make both light and heavy footsteps, and that the footsteps outside had become lighter.
• Du Bi'an hesitated over whether to leave because the stall door’s message conflicted with the rule not to trust messages on stall doors.
• Du Bi'an looked beneath the stall door and saw feet wearing his own white sneakers, then recognized the handwriting on the door as his own.
• Du Bi'an released his breath, and writhing black particles fell from the ceiling and burrowed into his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

Luo Chengyou pressed on through the narrowing middle path in Nine-Bend Alley, accepting the consequences of his choice as the walls closed in. Just before the walls crushed him, he touched the “frog eggs” and realized what the rule [No disinfection required] meant, but he died and the fog cleared.

• Luo Chengyou continued down the narrowing middle path, believing he had chosen a wrong route but refusing to turn back.
• As the walls closed in, Luo Chengyou resolved to follow his choice to the end, despite expecting to die.
• The walls touched and crushed Luo Chengyou, while he reached out and touched the “frog eggs.”
• Luo Chengyou realized the meaning of [No disinfection required] before the walls crushed him into mangled flesh.
• The blood vanished from the walls, and the fog cleared from the Nine-Bend Alley area.

Xu Tingfang entered the Library to escape the fog and began looking for the Library Administrator while trying to obey the rules. After discovering that the Library’s occupants seemed invisible, she realized she could draw the Administrator to her instead of identifying them herself.

• Xu Tingfang removed her muddy shoes before entering the Library and checked that the fog could not get inside.
• She searched the Library for the Administrator, prioritizing a way out over finding the Lesion.
• Xu Tingfang heard a book fall and pages turning, then found a book floating in the air with no visible reader.
• She worried that she could not tell an invisible Borrower from the Administrator without breaking the rule against communicating with Borrowers.
• Xu Tingfang recalled a similar situation and decided to make the Administrator come to her.

Xu Tingfang realized that every book in the Library was an identical copy of Sick Village Records. At the Medical Station, Yu Ruoli faced a patient calling her Doctor and suspected that accepting the title would violate the rules.

• Xu Tingfang decided to rearrange books to attract the Library Administrator, but discovered that every book was identical and titled Sick Village Records.
• Yu Ruoli entered the Medical Station and activated the Spirit Medium Sketchbook, which slowly drew a single crooked line.
• A patient called for a doctor from the corridor and asked Yu Ruoli to change its dressing.
• Yu Ruoli stayed silent as the patient approached, then realized it might be trying to make her accept the title Doctor despite the rule that there were no doctors in the Medical Station.

Yu Ruoli avoided answering a strange patient by pretending to call for a doctor, but their eyes met as he retreated. Outside Sick Village Supermarket, Shen Hai used the rules to summon a sales assistant and offered his Permanent Item, the pocket watch, in exchange for help buying toilet paper.

• Yu Ruoli shouted that she was looking for a doctor, prompting the patient to retreat while keeping his head turned toward her.
• Yu Ruoli looked toward the corridor and met the patient's gaze.
• Shen Hai studied the supermarket rules and decided not to enter without figuring out how to pay.
• Shen Hai laid his belongings outside the entrance and called for a sales assistant to help him buy toilet paper.
• The sales assistant asked for the pocket watch, and Shen Hai offered it in exchange for help.

Qin Manjiang entered the Nursing Home, where two infected elderly residents blocked his route, and began planning how to get past them. In the Library, Xu Tingfang opened a copy of Sick Village Records and read an account of the Nursing Home’s first abnormalities.

• Qin Manjiang saw an elderly resident covered in writhing black granules in the courtyard and hurried inside when the man stirred.
• Qin Manjiang noticed contradictions in the Nursing Home’s rules and found another granule-covered resident wandering in the lobby, blocking the routes through the building.
• Qin Manjiang considered hiding and provoking the two residents into fighting, but worried that the plan might put him in danger.
• Xu Tingfang found shelves filled with identical copies of Sick Village Records and opened one, postponing her plan to leave the Library.
• Xu Tingfang read a record describing the village’s spreading sickness, the Nursing Home’s missing resident, a red-clothed figure on the second floor, and black granules growing on the residents.

Xu Tingfang read a diary describing Sick Village’s transformation after an elderly nursing-home resident disappeared, and learned that the black particles were eggs that alcohol could trigger into monstrous creatures. The diary ended as its author encountered a gigantic, eye-covered hand emerging through the fog, leaving Xu Tingfang facing a new clue about the village.

• Xu Tingfang identified the fog, black particles, and nursing home as clues to Sick Village’s transformation after an elderly resident disappeared.
• The diarist recorded how infected villagers attacked others and how the village used alcohol to disinfect public facilities.
• A doctor gave liquor to an infected nurse, causing black eggs to hatch and turn her into a monster; the doctor died, and other infected people transformed and fled into the fog.
• The diarist joined four others in an attempt to escape, but every route led them back to the village’s Public Toilet.
• The diarist returned home intending to kill themselves, then saw a gigantic hand covered in eyes part the fog.

Xu Tingfang discovered clues in Sick Village Records suggesting the Library was a lesion that had been disinfected to prevent possession by Frog Eggs. As she tried to leave and get help from the Library Administrator, someone grabbed her from behind and told her not to move.

• Xu Tingfang found that the rest of Sick Village Records was blank and connected the Library’s disinfection notice to the danger of Frog Eggs.
• Xu Tingfang suspected the Library was a lesion and realized the six locations in the book matched the places assigned to the six players.
• Xu Tingfang emptied a shelf of Sick Village Records and hid nearby to see whether the books would move on their own.
• The Library Administrator began returning the books, and Xu Tingfang prepared to approach him for help leaving the Library.
• Someone grabbed Xu Tingfang from behind, covered her mouth, and quietly warned her not to move.

Shen Hai appeared in the Library and stopped Xu Tingfang from approaching the supposed Administrator. He helped Xu Tingfang realize that the figure carrying four separately floating books was not human, then asked how she knew about the Supermarket.

• Shen Hai quietly intercepted Xu Tingfang in the Library and led him to an open window to talk.
• Shen Hai explained that after clearing the Supermarket, he could no longer see the village fog and had come to inspect the nearby Library.
• Shen Hai warned Xu Tingfang that the figure picking up books might not have been the Administrator and reminded him that Sick Village was in the real world.
• Xu Tingfang suggested that Sick Village’s fog and daylight might be caused by powers that altered what people could perceive, and Shen Hai agreed the idea made sense.
• Shen Hai asked how many books the figure had carried, prompting Xu Tingfang to realize that four books floating in different directions could not have been held by a human.
• Shaken, Xu Tingfang thanked Shen Hai, who asked how he had learned about the Supermarket.

Xu Tingfang told Shen Hai about the book Sick Village Records, which only she seemed able to see, and he used its account of six special locations to identify the Nursing Home as the likely center of the village’s mystery. Shen Hai left to investigate, while Xu Tingfang chose to remain in the Library and search for its hidden lesion.

• Xu Tingfang discovered that the bookshelves had changed and told Shen Hai about the black-covered Sick Village Records she had seen.
• Shen Hai suggested that different players might perceive different things and searched the Library entrance for a tourist map.
• Shen Hai found that five special locations formed a five-pointed star around the Nursing Home and decided to go there.
• Shen Hai explained how Xu Tingfang could leave the Library area and encouraged her to look for its lesion.
• Xu Tingfang resolved to stay in the Library and search for the lesion.

Shen Hai investigated the Supermarket, found evidence of a forgotten Nursing Home resident, and discovered that Xu Tingfang had Frog Eggs on her skin that could not be wiped away. He realized she was already being influenced and left her unaware that she might be infected.

• Shen Hai found that the Supermarket's staff were dead and covered in Frog Eggs, and he discovered that a black thread parasite attacked him from the manager's corpse.
• Shen Hai recovered the Supermarket's account book, which recorded that an old man from the Nursing Home had bought a case of booze on credit, though none of the staff remembered him.
• Shen Hai entered the Library through an open window and found Xu Tingfang moving books, with Frog Eggs scattered across her neck and chin.
• Shen Hai tried wiping the Frog Eggs from Xu Tingfang with a handkerchief, but they remained, so he chose not to tell her and concluded she needed to escape Sick Village quickly.

Qin Manjiang entered the Nursing Home by asking for a tour and let Director Zhang lead him inside. As the surroundings darkened and Zhang asked his name, Qin Manjiang gave him a false one: Qin Se.

• Qin Manjiang returned to the entrance and loudly called for the director, prompting two residents with frog-egg-covered faces to charge at him.
• An old man in a gray vest stopped the residents, introduced himself as Director Zhang, and invited Qin Manjiang inside for a tour.
• Qin Manjiang noticed Zhang’s shadow had four long arms and accepted his invitation, suspecting Zhang could not or would not attack him directly.
• Director Zhang led Qin Manjiang through the dim, blood-scented lobby and urged him to stay overnight because it was getting dark.
• When Director Zhang asked his name, Qin Manjiang claimed his name was Qin Se.

Qin Manjiang toured the Nursing Home and uncovered signs that its residents and staff were not normal, while Director Zhang insisted that everyone must stay there after dark. Shen Hai arrived, and Qin Manjiang left the Nursing Home with him to find their friends, where Shen Hai asked what to call him.

• Director Zhang warned Qin Manjiang that the village became dangerous at night and urged him to bring his friends to the Nursing Home.
• Qin Manjiang toured the Nursing Home, finding six elderly residents covered in Frog Eggs and learning that the staff had supposedly taken leave.
• After the fog cleared, Qin Manjiang decided to wait and see whether other players would arrive, and Shen Hai called out from the gate.
• Qin Manjiang interrupted Shen Hai before he gave his name and introduced him as Shen Qing to Director Zhang.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai left to gather their friends, and Shen Hai asked Qin Manjiang what he should call him.

Shen Hai told Qin Manjiang that the village was dead and that the missing old man from the Nursing Home was the key to the mystery. They found Yu Ruoli alive but unconscious, and Qin Manjiang carried her as they continued.

• Shen Hai explained that the village had no living residents outside the Nursing Home and shared what he had learned from Sick Village Records and the Supermarket account book.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai considered whether the villagers had involuntarily or subconsciously forgotten the missing old man.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai found Yu Ruoli collapsed at a fork in the road and confirmed that she was still alive.
• Shen Hai said Yu Ruoli was mentally exhausted and would likely recover after sleeping.
• Qin Manjiang hoisted Yu Ruoli over his shoulder, and he and Shen Hai discussed carrying her to find Xu Tingfang.

As night and the fog closed in, Qin Manjiang considered the village’s strange layout while Shen Hai went into the Library to retrieve Xu Tingfang. Shen Hai found her distraught over the frog eggs spreading across her neck, transferred some of them onto himself, and ordered her to obey him as he vowed to clear the ghost story before they hatched.

• As darkness fell, the fog returned with eerie sounds, and Shen Hai decided to enter the Library alone while Qin Manjiang waited outside with Yu Ruoli.
• Qin Manjiang connected the six players’ locations forming a pentagram, with the Nursing Home at its center, to the frog eggs and suspected the village was governed by an out-of-control evil god.
• Shen Hai searched the Library for Xu Tingfang and found her crying in the women’s restroom after she saw the frog eggs covering her neck.
• When Xu Tingfang resisted leaving with him, Shen Hai pulled several frog eggs from her neck and placed them on his own.
• Shen Hai told Xu Tingfang he would clear the ghost story before the eggs hatched and ordered her to do as she was told.

Shen Hai helped Xu Tingfang escape the Library, but the group became lost in the Night Fog while trying to return to the Nursing Home. They were separated by a strange displacement, leaving Qin Manjiang alone outside a public toilet with Yu Ruoli.

• Xu Tingfang tricked the Library's Administrator into letting her leave by pretending she had forgotten to return a book.
• Shen Hai and Xu Tingfang found Qin Manjiang carrying Yu Ruoli, and Qin Manjiang noticed frog-egg-like growths on both their necks.
• Qin Manjiang warned that darkness would fall before they could reach the Nursing Home, so the group linked themselves together with his scarf and entered the fog.
• Qin Manjiang handed the lead to Shen Hai, and Xu Tingfang reported faint breathing and wet footsteps nearby.
• Xu Tingfang bumped into something sticky, while Shen Hai realized no one seemed to be holding the scarf's middle.
• Qin Manjiang reached for a railing and found himself separated from Shen Hai and Xu Tingfang outside a public toilet.

Qin Manjiang reached the Public Toilet area while carrying Yu Ruoli and realized the rules sign mixed real rules with traps. After identifying the false rules, he prepared to enter the toilet and test his interpretation.

• Qin Manjiang tried to walk away from the Public Toilet with Yu Ruoli, but the fog sent them back to the entrance.
• Qin Manjiang examined the rules sign and noticed that “Extremely dangerous” was written in red and that several rules contradicted one another.
• Qin Manjiang concluded that the sign contained both true and false rules, using clues from the other areas to reason out which rules were false.
• Qin Manjiang identified the rules about footsteps, flushing, and leaving after using the toilet as false, leaving five rules he believed were genuine.

Qin Manjiang cleared the Public Toilet by finding Du Bi'an dead, investigating the strange noise, and merging with his own shadow before escaping. He carried Yu Ruoli into the fog, while Shen Hai and Xu Tingfang encountered Luo Chengyou and found themselves at Nine-Bend Alley Lane.

• Qin Manjiang found Du Bi'an dead in a stall and dragged his body outside the Public Toilet.
• Qin Manjiang waited for a strange noise, followed the footsteps, and merged with his shadow when it opened a stall door.
• Qin Manjiang escaped the Public Toilet and confirmed that the fog remained after he cleared the area.
• Yu Ruoli woke briefly, recognized Qin Manjiang only as the mysterious Professor, then fainted again after seeing Du Bi'an's corpse.
• Qin Manjiang carried Yu Ruoli on his back and followed a path deeper into the fog.
• Shen Hai and Xu Tingfang saw the bloodied Luo Chengyou as the fog dispersed and the sign for Nine-Bend Alley Lane appeared.