Chapter Summaries

Yu Ruoli tried to avoid a frightening patient by pretending to seek a doctor, but their eyes met as he returned to his room. Outside Sick Village Supermarket, Shen Hai called out a Sales Assistant and offered his Permanent Item in exchange for a purchase, leaving the assistant to accept the Pocket Watch.

• Yu Ruoli shouted toward the Nurses' Station that she was there to see a doctor, and the approaching patient stopped and turned back.
• Yu Ruoli saw the patient looking at her with his head twisted around, and their eyes met.
• Shen Hai studied the Supermarket's rules and decided not to enter until he found a way to pay.
• Shen Hai laid out his belongings outside and called for a Sales Assistant, who lifted the entrance curtain and asked what he needed.
• Shen Hai asked the Sales Assistant to buy him toilet paper in exchange for one of his belongings.
• The Sales Assistant chose Shen Hai's Pocket Watch, and Shen Hai held it out to the empty air.

Qin Manjiang entered the Nursing Home and searched for a way past its infected residents, while Xu Tingfang found a record describing how the village’s sickness began. The record connected the Nursing Home’s abnormalities to a missing resident, a red-clad figure, and the fog that trapped Sick Village.

• Qin Manjiang saw an elderly resident covered in black granules stir in the courtyard and ran into the Nursing Home.
• Qin Manjiang encountered another granule-covered resident wandering in the main hall and considered luring the two residents into fighting.
• Xu Tingfang opened a copy of Sick Village Records instead of carrying out her plan to identify the Library administrator.
• Xu Tingfang read that a Nursing Home resident had vanished, a figure in red had appeared on the second floor, and black granules had begun growing on the residents before the fog arrived.

Xu Tingfang read a record of Sick Village’s transformation, which traced the outbreak from a Nursing Home resident’s disappearance to the fog and black eggs. The account ended when a gigantic hand covered in eyes reached through the fog, leaving Xu Tingfang facing a new threat.

• The writer recorded how black particles infected villagers, and how alcohol disinfected places but caused infected people to transform into monsters.
• The writer joined four others who tried to escape through the fog, but every route returned them to the village’s Public Toilet.
• The writer returned home intending to record what happened and then kill themself.
• Xu Tingfang read that a gigantic hand covered in eyes had parted the fog.

Xu Tingfang discovered that Sick Village Records linked the Library to the village’s strange changes and suspected the six assigned locations were important to solving the mystery. As she watched books return to their shelves, someone grabbed her from behind and quietly told her not to move.

• Xu Tingfang read the final line of Sick Village Records and suspected the Library had been thoroughly disinfected because a lesion had appeared there.
• Xu Tingfang connected the six locations in the book to the places assigned to the six players and decided to share what she had learned.
• Xu Tingfang moved copies of Sick Village Records onto the floor, feeling watched as she emptied the shelf.
• Xu Tingfang hid by a wall shelf and saw books fly back into place, leading her to think the Library Administrator had arrived.
• A pair of hands clamped over Xu Tingfang’s mouth, and a quiet male voice told her not to move.

Shen Hai appeared in the Library and stopped Xu Tingfang from approaching the supposed Administrator, then helped her realize the figure collecting books was likely not human. He explained that clearing the supermarket area had removed the fog from his view, and the two discussed the Village’s strange conditions before he asked how she knew about the supermarket.

• Shen Hai surprised Xu Tingfang in the Library, told her to keep quiet, and explained that ordinary quiet conversation would not break the area’s rules.
• Shen Hai told Xu Tingfang that he had cleared the Sick Village Supermarket and could now see through the fog, then explained why he had come to the nearby Library.
• Shen Hai questioned whether the figure collecting books was really the Administrator, and Xu Tingfang reconsidered what she had seen.
• Xu Tingfang realized that four books floating in separate directions could not have been held by a person, and she thanked Shen Hai for stopping her.
• Shen Hai asked Xu Tingfang how she knew that the supermarket existed.

Xu Tingfang told Shen Hai about the book Sick Village Records, which only she had seen, and he used its clues and a Library map to infer that the Nursing Home lay at the center of the six locations. Shen Hai left to investigate, while Xu Tingfang chose to search the Library for its mysterious lesion, encouraged by the escape method he shared.

• Xu Tingfang told Shen Hai that she had seen Sick Village Records among the Library books, but the book had vanished and Shen Hai said he had seen only ordinary books.
• Xu Tingfang wondered whether each player perceived the village differently, and Shen Hai found a map near the Library entrance.
• Shen Hai mapped the six locations and noticed that the Nursing Home lay at the center of the pattern, then decided to go there.
• Xu Tingfang said she could not leave the Library, and Shen Hai explained that finding the Administrator would let her escape while asking her to look for the lesion.
• After Shen Hai reassured her and revealed another way out, Xu Tingfang decided to search the Library for the lesion.

Shen Hai investigated the Supermarket and found evidence that its dead staff had been infected by living parasites, then entered the Library and discovered Xu Tingfang already had Frog Eggs on her face. He could not remove them and chose not to tell her, leaving her to clear the Game and escape Sick Village before they matured.

• Shen Hai cleared the Supermarket and found its four employees dead, their necks covered in Frog Eggs.
• Shen Hai searched the Supermarket and dodged a black thread parasite that shot from the Boss's corpse.
• Shen Hai found a ledger noting that an unidentified old man from the Nursing Home had bought a case of alcohol on credit.
• Shen Hai entered the Library through an open window and found Xu Tingfang moving books while Frog Eggs clung to her neck and chin.
• Shen Hai tried to wipe away the Frog Eggs with a handkerchief but failed, then decided not to reveal the grim discovery to Xu Tingfang.

Qin Manjiang used the Nursing Home’s rules to summon its director, Lao Zhang, and accepted a tour while staying alert to the strange residents and the director’s unnatural shadow. The chapter ended when Lao Zhang asked his name, and Qin Manjiang gave the false name Qin Se.

• Qin Manjiang retreated to the entrance and loudly called for staff to arrange a tour.
• Two residents covered in “Frog Eggs” charged at Qin Manjiang, but Lao Zhang appeared and ordered them to return to their places.
• Lao Zhang introduced himself as the director and urged Qin Manjiang to stay overnight after the tour.
• Qin Manjiang noticed Lao Zhang’s twisting shadow and agreed to follow him through the Nursing Home.
• As Lao Zhang asked his name in the dim Main Hall, Qin Manjiang gave the false name Qin Se.

Qin Manjiang toured the Nursing Home with Director Zhang and discovered signs that its residents and staff were missing or abnormal, while the director insisted it was the only safe place to stay at night. Shen Hai arrived, and Qin Manjiang left with him to find the others, ending with Shen Hai asking what to call him.

• Director Zhang warned Qin Manjiang that the village was dangerous at night and urged him to bring his friends to the Nursing Home.
• Qin Manjiang toured the Nursing Home and saw six elderly residents with frog-egg-like growths, while the seventh resident and the staff were unaccounted for.
• After Qin Manjiang's individual area cleared and dusk approached, Shen Hai arrived at the Nursing Home to tour it.
• Qin Manjiang told Shen Hai that Director Zhang claimed the Nursing Home was the only safe place to stay overnight.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai left to find their friends, and Shen Hai asked Qin Manjiang what he should call him.

Shen Hai and Qin Manjiang pieced together clues about Sick Village and concluded that the missing old man from the Nursing Home was central to its mystery. They found Yu Ruoli alive, and Qin Manjiang carried her as they continued their search.

• Shen Hai told Qin Manjiang that the villagers were dead and shared his findings from Sick Village Records and the Supermarket Ledger about the missing old man and the Frog Eggs virus.
• Qin Manjiang proposed that the villagers either forgot the old man passively because he was a ghost or actively blocked him from their memories.
• Shen Hai and Qin Manjiang agreed that the missing old man was the key and that they needed to return to the Nursing Home for clues.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai found Yu Ruoli collapsed at a fork in the road, and Qin Manjiang confirmed she was alive.
• Shen Hai said Yu Ruoli had likely fainted from mental exhaustion, and Qin Manjiang slung her over his shoulder as they continued onward.

As darkness and the fog returned, Shen Hai went into the Library to retrieve Xu Tingfang while Qin Manjiang considered the village’s pentagram layout and suspected an out-of-control evil god. Shen Hai found Xu Tingfang covered in frog eggs and transferred some to his own neck, insisting he would clear the ghost story before they hatched.

• Shen Hai chose to continue with Qin Manjiang to the Library and told him to wait outside while he went in for Xu Tingfang.
• Qin Manjiang connected the village’s pentagram layout, the Nursing Home’s central position, and the frog eggs to a ritual, and suspected an evil god was involved.
• Shen Hai searched the Library and found Xu Tingfang in the washroom, devastated after seeing the frog eggs spreading across her neck.
• When Xu Tingfang resisted leaving, Shen Hai pulled several frog eggs from her neck and placed them on his own.
• Shen Hai told Xu Tingfang to obey him because he would clear the ghost story before the eggs hatched.

Xu Tingfang escaped the Library with Shen Hai, but the group became separated in the night fog while trying to return to the Nursing Home. Qin Manjiang found himself alone outside a Public Toilet, while Xu Tingfang and Shen Hai faced an unknown presence on the scarf.

• Xu Tingfang used Shen Hai's book trick to make the Library's Administrator let her leave, then followed him out.
• Qin Manjiang ordered Shen Hai and Xu Tingfang to keep up and led them through the thickening fog with Yu Ruoli over his shoulder.
• After darkness fell, the group held Qin Manjiang's scarf and refused to use their phones as lights; Shen Hai took the lead when Qin Manjiang lost his sense of direction.
• Xu Tingfang heard faint breathing and wet footsteps, then bumped into something slimy that she mistook for Professor as strange growths appeared on her neck.
• Shen Hai realized the scarf's middle seemed to be unheld, while Qin Manjiang became separated and found himself outside a Public Toilet.

Qin Manjiang reached the Public Toilet Area while carrying Yu Ruoli and realized its rules mixed genuine instructions with traps. He identified the fake rules and prepared to enter the toilet with a clearer plan.

• Qin Manjiang tried to walk away from the Public Toilet with Yu Ruoli, but the fog’s ghost wall sent him back to its entrance.
• Qin Manjiang read the Public Toilet rules and noticed that the red warning and contradictory instructions suggested some rules were false.
• Qin Manjiang set Yu Ruoli down because a rule required him to be the only person in the toilet.
• Qin Manjiang identified three false rules, including the instructions about footsteps, flushing, and leaving after using the toilet.
• Qin Manjiang concluded that the real rules could be completed while holding his breath and that the area’s danger lay in trusting the sign without question.

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

• Qin Manjiang found Du Bi'an dead in a stall and dragged his corpse outside before checking that the other stalls were empty.
• Qin Manjiang waited for strange noises without entering a stall, then saw his shadow rush in and open a stall door.
• Qin Manjiang grabbed his shadow, merged with it, and escaped the Public Toilet just as he ran out of breath.
• Yu Ruoli briefly woke and recognized the name Professor, but fainted again after seeing Du Bi'an's corpse.
• Qin Manjiang carried Yu Ruoli deeper into the fog after clearing the Public Toilet, while the fog remained and the path was unclear.
• Shen Hai and Xu Tingfang saw the mangled Luo Chengyou appear as the fog parted and the sign for Nine-Bend Alley Lane emerged.

Shen Hai examined Luo Chengyou’s crushed corpse outside Nine-Bend Alley and studied the alley’s rules, suspecting that its walls could contract. Xu Tingfang entered alone after losing sight of Shen Hai, then heard a voice claiming to be him and urging her to return without looking back.

• Shen Hai found slime from the “Frog Eggs” on Luo Chengyou’s hands, though the corpse showed no sign that they had infected him.
• Shen Hai inferred that Nine-Bend Alley’s walls could squeeze travelers and considered how its three rules might be traps.
• Shen Hai discovered that Xu Tingfang had vanished into the fog or entered the alley while he was thinking.
• Xu Tingfang entered Nine-Bend Alley, heard a voice claiming Shen Hai had gone to retrieve his scarf, and realized the explanation seemed suspicious.
• The voice told Xu Tingfang that looking back differed from turning around and urged her to return, prompting her to consider the distinction.

Xu Tingfang was tricked into seeing a monster disguised as Shen Hai, which chased her into an alley that narrowed until she could go no farther. Before deliberately violating [Don't Stop Walking] and being crushed by the walls, she recorded what she had discovered about the Lesion for Shen Hai and the others.

• A monster disguised as Shen Hai tricked Xu Tingfang into looking back, allowing it to enter the alley and pursue her.
• Xu Tingfang realized that seeing the monster, rather than merely turning around, had triggered [Don't Look Back].
• Xu Tingfang fled into the middle of three branching paths, but the alley narrowed and trapped her between the monster and the walls.
• Xu Tingfang recorded the Lesion's location and her Library discoveries on her phone, hoping it would survive after her death.
• Xu Tingfang deliberately stopped walking, violating [Don't Stop Walking], and the walls crushed her.

Shen Hai discovered that Nine-Bend Alley’s entrance and exit were the same and that a monster posing as Xu Tingfang was trying to mislead him. He pulled Xu Tingfang’s corpse from the creature and crushed its fallen eyeball, leaving the monster unable to harm him.

• Shen Hai entered Nine-Bend Alley backward and saw a monster forming at the entrance in Xu Tingfang’s likeness.
• Shen Hai realized the alley looped back to its entrance, where the Sick Village Nursing Home appeared beyond the fog.
• Shen Hai understood that the monster’s appearance and calls were meant to manipulate him into moving away from the true exit.
• Shen Hai recognized Xu Tingfang’s corpse inside the monster and pulled her free.
• Shen Hai crushed the monster’s fallen eyeball as it tried to retrieve it.

Shen Hai and Qin Manjiang returned to the Nursing Home with Xu Tingfang dead and Yu Ruoli unconscious, where they uncovered more about the village’s threat and discussed their hatred of [Eye Realm]. The chapter ended with Qin Manjiang asking Shen Hai to help retrieve his backup phone so they could bring [Eye Realm] down.

• Shen Hai walked through the monster at the entrance of [Nine-Bend Alley], causing it to dissolve, and found that Xu Tingfang had dropped her phone.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai met outside the Nursing Home carrying Yu Ruoli and Xu Tingfang, then followed the Old Director inside and settled in a staff dormitory room.
• Qin Manjiang asked Shen Hai about the growth on his neck, and they agreed that an evil god—not a ghost or virus—was ravaging the village.
• Shen Hai offered to play Xu Tingfang’s last words, but Qin Manjiang first asked whether Shen Hai hated [Eye Realm] and wanted to erase it.
• Qin Manjiang revealed that his backup phone was with his other self in [Fu City] Eye Realm and asked Shen Hai to help retrieve it, saying he wanted to bring [Eye Realm] down.

Qin Manjiang explained that he was a consciousness created from Jiang Du’s resurrection shell and had spent years imitating people around him before discovering his own identity. He told Shen Hai he wanted to prevent [Eye Realm] from ever opening again, and Shen Hai asked to hear his plan after they dealt with an out-of-control evil god.

• Shen Hai rejected Qin Manjiang’s request and called him contradictory and strange, asking who he really was.
• Qin Manjiang revealed that his consciousness had awakened in Jiang Du’s prepared body and that he had first imitated Jiang Du, then Yang and others, including Shen Hai.
• Qin Manjiang said that after waking in Yan Xiao’s clinic following Wedding Dress, he finally understood himself and what he wanted to do.
• Qin Manjiang told Shen Hai he knew he was not evil and wanted to make sure [Eye Realm] could never open again.
• Shen Hai asked Qin Manjiang to tell him his plan, and Qin Manjiang said they first had to send off an out-of-control evil god.

Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai listened to Xu Tingfang’s final recording and traced Sick Village’s abnormalities to an elderly Nursing Home resident connected to the book “Mermaid Flesh.” They searched the second floor for her former room, where Qin Manjiang sensed someone watching him.

• Shen Hai played Xu Tingfang’s recording, which described finding Frog Eggs in the Library washroom and revealed that she had discovered the book “Mermaid Flesh.”
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai concluded that an elderly Nursing Home resident was the source of Sick Village’s abnormalities and suspected she had sought a way to extend her life.
• Shen Hai recalled that the elderly woman had bought a large quantity of alcohol before [Poison] broke out, and the two decided to search her former room.
• Qin Manjiang covered the unconscious Yu Ruoli with a blanket before he and Shen Hai quietly left their dormitory and went to the second floor.
• The pair split up to inspect the rooms, and Qin Manjiang sensed that someone was watching him after he looked into one room.