Chapter Summaries

After defeating the Absolute King, the players assessed their heavy losses and discussed how to recover before choosing their next target. Yang Yi proposed leaving him to guard Sweet Island while the players voted between pursuing the Bewilderment King and attacking the Holy Capital.

• Seerte reported that 57% of the players were casualties and that many had permanent injuries, while the destruction of the Song of Creation Gramophone left the players with only four islands besides occupied Sweet Island.
• Su Na presented her Salt Potion, which could treat Gourmet Desire and help counter Gourmet Matter, and said it could speed the wounded players’ recovery when combined with Sweet Island’s produce.
• Shen Guanquan proposed spending two weeks recovering and repairing facilities, but Su Na and some players favored acting sooner.
• Yang Yi offered to stay behind to defend Sweet Island and argued that the Bewilderment King and the Holy Capital’s Radiant Goddess were both formidable threats.
• Yang Yi proposed publishing information about both targets and letting players vote on their next move; most agreed, while Su Na urged an immediate attack on Miracle Island and the Holy Capital.

After a meeting on rebuilding the Shelter, Yang Yi tried an unusual way to repair the Song of Creation Gramophone and checked the ongoing vote about whether to attack Salt Island. He reunited with Zhao Tie, Huang Shishi, and Zhao Yi, then left with Su Na for a place he thought she would like.

• Yang Yi planted the Song of Creation Gramophone's parts inside an incubating Limb Spider using the Limb Restoration Spell, hoping it would hatch into a special Music Limb Spider.
• Yang Yi saw that most current votes favored continuing the assault on Salt Island, browsed a Salt Kings popularity poll, and worried that Reinhardt and Bell might oppose an attack on the Holy Capital.
• Yang Yi visited Zhao Tie, Huang Shishi, and Zhao Yi, who celebrated Huang Shishi's recovery and welcomed Su Na to their family dinner.
• Yang Yi and Su Na left Zhao Tie's home together, and Yang Yi led her toward a place he said she would like.

Yang Yi and Su Na planned for either possible target while monitoring the system's allies and the rising Collapse Clock Index. After days of harvesting and preparation on Sweet Island, the players' vote settled on the Holy Capital as their next target.

• Yang Yi rejected manipulating the vote and planned contingencies for fighting at either the Holy Capital or Salt Island, while Su Na warned that the system might have deals with Reinhardt and the Brain-Eating Demon.
• Yang Yi assigned Su Na and Istil to monitor Bell, said he would watch Reinhardt, and outlined plans for either vote outcome while warning against Daishi and the Lost Ones Fleet.
• Players harvested Sweet Island's delicacies, helping wounded players recover; Yang Yi killed a dangerous lord-level queen bee and consumed its swarm and nest.
• The Corpse Zone hatched a Music Limb Spider whose music promoted growth, and Shen Guanquan began adjusting it.
• The players' vote favored attacking the Holy Capital by more than ninety percent, with the combined Astrologer and Shelter making the campaign feasible.

Shen Guanquan finalized the players’ plan to attack the Holy Capital, while Yang Yi began separating his ship from Su Na’s. Before the separation finished, the Shelter was struck from below, and in the Abyss a distorted version of Yang Yi extinguished a mass of Light of Civilization, shaking the Light of Truth Device.

• Shen Guanquan secured the players’ agreement to attack the Holy Capital directly after occupying Sweet Island, using Falling Star for a surprise assault.
• Yang Yi used a Ship Separation Card to begin splitting his combined ship into two Special Ships and gave Su Na several cards.
• An impact struck the Shelter from below, violently shaking it before the ship separation finished.
• Sun Jin fought a Fake God at Miskatonic University, countering its claims about gravity before it challenged him on the microscopic scale.
• A distorted version of Yang Yi captured the Fake God, extinguished the mass of Light of Civilization, and caused the Light of Truth Device to shake before disappearing.

Yang Yi was ambushed by Reinhardt while investigating the Black Blocks, then seized by a being resembling himself. As Su Na and the others gathered at sea, Zhou Dai took Dream Island and prepared to confront them.

• Yang Yi discovered Black Blocks spreading across the sea and went outside to investigate as the Seaquake struck.
• Reinhardt ambushed Yang Yi with Supreme Holy Slash, nearly cutting him in half and sending him into the Black Blocks.
• A figure resembling Yang Yi grabbed him from behind, and Yang Yi realized something could move inside the Abyss.
• Su Na found Reinhardt dying from Death Dream and saw Zhou Dai seize Dream Island before she could reach it.
• Lada confirmed Reinhardt was beyond saving, and Zhou Dai turned her malice toward the gathered players.

After Lada revealed herself as the system and abandoned the players, Sweet Island vanished with her and Zhou Dai. Su Na tried to keep the players calm while searching for the missing Yang Yi, and Cui Bisi and Cui Xiya rescued Reinhardt from the sea.

• Zhou Dai left for Sweet Island after Lada interrupted her attack on the players.
• Lada revealed that she was the system, congratulated the players on clearing the game, and announced that she would no longer monitor or interfere with them.
• Lada explained that the players could not accompany her group to the New World, prompting Hong Yanyan and other players to accuse the system of betrayal.
• Su Na said Yang Yi had been attacked by Reinhardt and suspected he might be inside the Black Blocks.
• Falling Star activated and transported Sweet Island away with Lada and Zhou Dai, and Su Na discovered that the Astrologer had also disappeared.
• Cui Bisi and Cui Xiya pulled Reinhardt from the sea and began dragging him toward the Shelter while the players searched for Yang Yi.

Su Na addressed the former players about their deteriorating situation after the system vanished, then claimed its betrayal was part of a plan she and Yang Yi had anticipated. She supported the claim with evidence about Reinhardt, Zhou Dai, and the Brain-Eating Demon, leaving most players more willing to believe her.

• Seerte explained that the former players had lost system support, supply lines, and much of their strength, though the Shelter had enough supplies to last at least six months.
• Su Na continued searching for Yang Yi in the Black Blocks but found no trace of him, while Reinhardt remained trapped in Nightmare and unable to answer questions.
• Su Na secretly coordinated with several Mythic-level powerhouses and Shen Guanquan, then told the livestream audience that the system's actions were part of a plan she and Yang Yi had anticipated.
• Su Na claimed that she and Yang Yi had identified Galahad as Reinhardt and Bell as Zhou Dai, the former player who had become the Radiant Holy Church's Saintess.
• Su Na presented Ma Hou, Reinhardt's painting, and a Brain-Eating Demon specimen, lending credibility to her account and persuading most players to listen.

Su Na reassured the players with a carefully constructed account of the system’s conspiracy, then persuaded Shen Guanquan to rally them and explain their plan to hold out. After the successful press conference, Seerte reported an approaching fleet of Blind Believers, while Yang Yi faced his greatest crisis since advancing to Mythic.

• Su Na told the players that Yang Yi had uncovered the system’s plan and secretly infiltrated the Holy Capital with Reinhardt’s help.
• Su Na persuaded Shen Guanquan to speak, arguing that his leadership and public-speaking abilities did not depend on his lost talents.
• Shen Guanquan discarded his prepared speech and urged the players to hold out until the system’s effort to format the Special-Class Islands gave them an opportunity.
• The press conference stabilized order, but Seerte reported that a large fleet of Blind Believers from the Radiant Holy Church was approaching.
• Yang Yi faced his greatest crisis since advancing to Mythic.

Yang Yi woke in a hospital, convinced he was trapped in an illusion after fighting an enemy, while Su Na and Amanda treated him as a patient suffering from a new drug’s side effects. The chapter ended with Amanda calmly asking him to explain why he believed she had deceived him, as Yang Yi faltered and said he should have transmigrated.

• Yang Yi woke in a hospital bed covered in medical equipment and tore off his electrodes and IV, believing he needed to fight an enemy.
• Yang Yi tried to stand, fell, and injured his mouth, then shouted and flailed on the floor.
• Su Na and Amanda helped Yang Yi back into bed, and Su Na treated his wound.
• Amanda explained that the new drug could cause hallucinations, cognitive impairment, memory disturbances, and delusions.
• Yang Yi accused Amanda of trapping him in an illusion and insisted Su Na was waiting aboard the Shelter.
• Amanda calmly asked Yang Yi to explain what she had deceived him about, and he began to say he should have transmigrated.

Yang Yi woke in a hospital and insisted his memories of surviving a dangerous world were real, while Su Na and Amanda treated them as delusions. After seeing the peaceful city outside, Yang Yi began to question whether his otherworldly experiences had truly happened.

• Yang Yi recounted his bizarre adventures to Amanda, who listened seriously and told him to rest while Su Na sutured his mouth.
• Three days later, Su Na explained that Yang Yi had been critically ill with multiple sclerosis and was recovering after taking part in a clinical drug trial.
• Yang Yi continued telling Su Na about his adventures, and she encouraged him to write them as a novel.
• Yang Yi accused Su Na and Amanda of being the only people in a hallucination imprisoning him, claiming that Su Na's regular responses to his bell exposed the illusion.
• Su Na angrily explained the research institute's security and revealed that Yang Yi had been summoning her every three hours, disrupting her sleep.
• Yang Yi looked outside at the peaceful city and began to wonder whether his illness or the drug had caused his memories and delusions.

Yang Yi completed his rehabilitation, was discharged, and spent months searching for a flaw in the world he believed was an illusion. Unable to find one, he wondered whether dying could wake him and decided to test that idea.

• Yang Yi questioned Su Na again about being a Dream Demon while Li Mumu explained that the people in his supposed dream came from his real-life care team.
• Over four months, Yang Yi regained his mobility, began doubting his belief that the world was an illusion, and wrote a popular novel under the pen name Peach.
• Yang Yi received approval for discharge and left X City Third Hospital, determined to investigate the world on his own.
• Yang Yi spent six months searching for a flaw by studying history, traveling, and observing space, but found nothing.
• Yang Yi considered whether dying could break the illusion and decided to try, hoping his Refuse Death+ talent might help.

Yang Yi attempted suicide by jumping from the Third City Bridge, but Su Na rescued him and he was returned to the hospital for treatment. He insisted that his memories of another world were real, and an archery test gave Su Na further reason to question whether he was delusional.

• Yang Yi jumped into the river to kill himself, and Su Na dove in after him; when she began to falter, he swam them both to the surface.
• Passersby helped rescue Yang Yi and Su Na, and Yang Yi was taken back to the hospital where "Cui Xiya" resumed his treatment and observation.
• Yang Yi admitted that he had pretended to recover so he could leave, and insisted he needed to return to the other world and the people waiting for him.
• Su Na questioned why Yang Yi was so determined to return, and he said the Su Na and hundreds of thousands of people in the Shelter were counting on him.
• The next day, Yang Yi went to an archery range with Su Na and scored 100 points in ten shots, astonishing the staff.

Yang Yi sank into despair after discovering that the peaceful world showed no signs of the anomalies he remembered, and Su Na tried to persuade him to stay. When he refused the perfect life she offered, the world froze and his memories revealed that Evil Yang Yi had defeated and absorbed him before he awoke there.

• Su Na and her research team tested Yang Yi's extraordinary abilities, while an elite soldier judged his combat skills impressive despite his limited physical fitness.
• Yang Yi failed to reproduce supernatural phenomena through sculptures and paintings, concluding that the world was perfectly stable and that he was its only anomaly.
• Yang Yi withdrew into himself and was hospitalized with severe depression and autism, responding mainly to Su Na's counseling.
• Su Na urged Yang Yi to accept the peaceful life available to him, but he refused, saying he had to return to the Shelter for her there.
• The world froze as Yang Yi demanded to know why he could refuse the perfect world, and he recalled Evil Yang Yi defeating him and merging into his body.

The Shelter defeated the Radiant Fleet at great cost after Qin Ming used a Fake Salt Spike to transform into a Salt King and draw away five Paladins. Weeks later, despair was spreading among the battered players when the Bewilderment King and a vast army of Salt Soldiers appeared before the Shelter.

• The Shelter’s remaining fighters assessed the eight Paladins attacking their energy shield, and Qin Ming volunteered to fight using his unused Fake Salt Spike.
• Qin Ming transformed into a Salt King and carried five Paladins away, while Shi Lei, Su Na, and the other Mythic-level powerhouses fought the remaining three.
• The Shelter annihilated the Radiant Fleet but suffered heavy damage, lost much of its mobility, and saw its population fall by fourteen percent; Qin Ming’s fate remained unknown.
• With Yang Yi and the system still missing, the Shelter’s players grew increasingly desperate, and several committed suicide.
• The players sighted a vast army of Salt Soldiers led by the Bewilderment King, and the two sides prepared to make contact.

The Bewilderment King led his enormous fleet toward the Shelter, where the players faced certain defeat. Su Na set out alone to confront him, leaving a letter for Yang Yi, and her boat stopped before the king’s ship.

• The Bewilderment King assembled his Salt Folk and fleet, then declared his campaign to begin a new era.
• Seerte reported that the Bewilderment King's forces included over thirty million troops and more than ten thousand warships, while the king appeared to look directly at the players through their camera.
• Ma Hou suggested surrendering, but Su Na laughed and said she would face the Bewilderment King herself.
• Su Na gave Istil her equipment, left a letter for Yang Yi, and sailed toward the fleet in an ordinary boat.
• Su Na's boat and the Bewilderment King's fleet stopped about a kilometer apart.

Yang Yi returned to protect Su Na and confronted the Bewilderment King, reigniting hope among the Shelter’s players. He declared that he would kill the king and launched an attack.

• The Bewilderment King recognized Su Na and stopped his fleet, then identified her plan to use the world’s Reason to erase him.
• The Bewilderment King rejected any retreat or compromise and appeared aboard Su Na’s boat to strike her with his sword.
• Yang Yi blocked the Bewilderment King’s attack, revealing his Abyssal form, and reassured Su Na and the Shelter’s players that he had returned.
• The Shelter’s players celebrated Yang Yi’s return and began preparing to join the fight.
• The Bewilderment King recognized Yang Yi as an unusual being connected to the Abyss and chose to target him.
• Yang Yi transformed his armor into a massive black weapon and charged at the Bewilderment King.

Yang Yi rejected Black Yang Yi’s idealized world and learned how Black Yang Yi had survived the Abyss and planned to replace him. Black Yang Yi accepted that his lost Su Na could not be brought back, then trapped them both in a struggle where one will had to vanish.

• Black Yang Yi demanded to know why Yang Yi had rejected the world he created, while Yang Yi insisted that Su Na and the players aboard the Shelter were waiting for him.
• Yang Yi learned that Black Yang Yi’s world had fallen into chaos after the system abandoned the players, and that Su Na’s universal solution had let Black Yang Yi preserve himself within the Abyss.
• Black Yang Yi explained that he had used Reinhardt’s help to enter the Black Blocks and planned to kill Yang Yi, take his place, and lead the players to victory.
• Yang Yi told Black Yang Yi that the Su Na he loved was gone and that he was only pursuing her shadow; Black Yang Yi fell silent as the world froze.
• Black Yang Yi acknowledged that Su Na’s wish had left him unable to die, then swallowed Yang Yi in black mud and began a battle of wills that would end only when one of them vanished.

After absorbing Black Yang Yi in the Abyss, Yang Yi fought the Bewilderment King and used his Replication Eye to summon increasingly bizarre troops. Unable to win the battle of armies quickly, he proposed a life-or-death rock-paper-scissors duel, which began with Yang Yi taking a brutal beating.

• Original Yang Yi defeated Black Yang Yi in the Abyss and absorbed his will and abilities.
• Yang Yi battled the Bewilderment King while steering their fight away from the Shelter and using his evolved eyes to match the king's powers.
• Yang Yi copied the Bewilderment King's troops, but the copies became increasingly strange, including cooks, Peashooters, and Angry Birds.
• Yang Yi challenged the Bewilderment King to rock-paper-scissors, with the loser forced to endure a minute of attacks without resisting.
• The Bewilderment King accepted, and Yang Yi suffered a one-sided beating that left him badly deformed.

Yang Yi immobilized the Bewilderment King with a rigged contest and stole the Salt King Throne, drawing the King into the sky. While Su Na and the players fought the Salt Army around the Shelter, the Feast Master’s wail annihilated the Salt Soldiers, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• Yang Yi won a round of rock, paper, scissors and used the rules he had set to immobilize the Bewilderment King for one minute.
• Yang Yi reached the King's Ship, cut the Salt King Throne from the deck, and launched it into the sky with Broken Iron.
• After the minute ended, the Bewilderment King pursued Yang Yi, leaving most of his Salt Army to attack the Shelter.
• Su Na mobilized the players, while Yu Dawei and the remaining defenders fought the advancing Salt Army as the Shelter’s shield weakened.
• Su Na sensed Yang Yi’s plan and ordered the players to protect their hearing, then the Feast Master’s shriek shattered every Salt Soldier into grains of salt.

Yang Yi used the Salt King Throne to transform the newly forming King of Bloating, weakening the Bewilderment King and disrupting the battle with the Feast Master's wail. After the players survived the mental assault and gained the upper hand, Yang Yi fought both Kings above the clouds, aiming to defeat them at nearly the same time.

• Yang Yi escaped the Feast Master's influence long enough to reach the forming King of Bloating and drive the Salt King Throne into him.
• The King of Bloating shrank and became a new Salt King, while the Bewilderment King lost nearly half of his authority.
• The Feast Master wailed over the loss of its child, killing most of the Salt Soldiers and driving some players mad, but the players endured with Su Na's preparations.
• The players resumed the battle with a major advantage and pushed back the remaining Salt Soldiers.
• Yang Yi alternated blows against the Bewilderment King and the Fat King, using his ability to eat and grow stronger as he fought.