Chapter Summaries

Zuo Cheng'an explored the locked farmhouse and discovered that the missing twenty-first sheep had become a sheepskin rug. Photographs revealed a scratched-out figure and a flock of twenty white sheep, and a special quest asked him to identify whose farm it was.

• Zuo Cheng'an entered the farmhouse through the chimney and recognized the sheepskin rug as the missing twenty-first sheep.
• Zuo Cheng'an examined the first floor, where he found two chairs made by Pipi and little other furniture.
• Zuo Cheng'an went upstairs and found photographs of the farm's animals, crops, and a repeatedly scratched-out figure.
• Zuo Cheng'an counted twenty white sheep in the photographs and wondered how a black sheep had joined the flock he had seen in the pen.
• Zuo Cheng'an triggered a special quest to identify the name hidden behind “???” in the farm's title, with tomato sauce's recipe as the reward.

Zuo Cheng'an investigated the farm quest, found clues pointing to possible answers, and headed toward the sheep pen. Wang Guangfei, realizing the instance defied his usual assumptions, stopped him from approaching the sheep.

• Zuo Cheng'an reasoned that the quest answer was a phrase ending in “Uncle” and wrote it slowly, confirming that the word was correct.
• Zuo Cheng'an searched the room and found a photograph of a scratched-out man with his Sheepdog; its back bore the name “Mo Dou.”
• Zuo Cheng'an added “Uncle Mo Dou,” “Uncle Mo,” and “Uncle Black Sheep” to his possible answers but saved his limited attempts.
• Wang Guangfei reconsidered his usual level-one instance strategies after finding only twenty sheep and no conventional enemy or hidden basement.
• Wang Guangfei watched the sheep pen and stopped Zuo Cheng'an when he tried to approach.

Zuo Cheng'an searched the black sheep for clues to his task, but a runaway herd disrupted the farm and the sheep escaped. After helping Wang Guangfei round up the flock, Zuo Cheng'an learned from the viewers that the black sheep had run into the tomato warehouse and headed there to investigate.

• Zuo Cheng'an pinned down the black sheep to inspect it but found no task notification, while viewers revealed that its bell had been stored in his inventory.
• Crazed cows charged across the farm, forcing Zuo Cheng'an, Wang Guangfei, and Fu Yu to escape onto the sheep-pen shelter.
• After the herd passed, the sheep escaped, and Zuo Cheng'an helped Wang Guangfei gather them while Fu Yu ran toward the chicken coop to check on her younger sister.
• Wang Guangfei counted the sheep and discovered that the black sheep was missing again.
• Zuo Cheng'an saw viewers report that the black sheep had entered the tomato warehouse and prepared to investigate.

Zuo Cheng'an identified Wang Guangfei’s bell as a key quest item and told him where to find the Twenty-First Sheep. While Zuo Cheng'an went to the tomato warehouse, Black Sheep disrupted Youyou’s work and led her to discover that the tomatoes in the baskets had rotted.

• Zuo Cheng'an asked Wang Guangfei for the bell he had obtained from Black Sheep and recognized it as a key quest item.
• Zuo Cheng'an told Wang Guangfei that the Twenty-First Sheep was hiding beneath the wool rug in the Red House, and Wang Guangfei went to investigate.
• Zuo Cheng'an took the bell to the tomato warehouse, where Youyou was struggling to control Black Sheep.
• Black Sheep dashed into the warehouse and evaded Youyou among the dark shelves.
• Youyou smelled rot, reached into a bamboo basket, and found the tomatoes inside had decayed before vomiting.

Zuo Cheng'an helped Mo Dou uncover a wooden box containing an old tin of ketchup and used its label to complete the farm's name. The mission was completed, but the farm began shaking as Red-Eyes confronted him and the instance descended into chaos.

• Youyou fled the warehouse stench and collided with Zuo Cheng'an as he entered.
• Zuo Cheng'an removed Black Sheep's collar and called it Mo Dou, restoring it to its form as a large black dog.
• Zuo Cheng'an and Mo Dou dug up a wooden box containing a rusty tin labeled Mu Zhou Farm Ketchup.
• Red-Eyes entered the warehouse and offered Zuo Cheng'an rare items in exchange for the tin, but Zuo Cheng'an refused.
• Zuo Cheng'an completed the mission by naming the farm Uncle Mu Zhou's Farm, and the farm began shaking.

Zuo Cheng'an completed his tasks and took the tomato sauce recipe from Red-Eyes, which threatened him with future hostility. As the farm changed into Uncle Muchou's Farm and Mo Dou set out to oppose Red-Eyes, Youyou faced Red-Eyes without the game's protection after failing her task.

• The tomato sauce tin turned into light and entered Zuo Cheng'an's mind, revealing the recipe used Fragrant Tomatoes, and Red-Eyes realized its secret had been exposed.
• Red-Eyes threatened Zuo Cheng'an and left to target players who had not finished their tasks, while he dismissed the threat and considered how the changed sheep count might affect his task.
• Mo Dou ran toward the sheep pen after sensing something, and the surviving players discovered that the instance had changed its name to Uncle Muchou's Farm.
• Mo Dou recalled his life as a sheep and resolved to kill Red-Eyes, knowing he would need players' help.
• The twin sisters stayed at their task locations while waiting for Red-Eyes to check their completed tasks.
• Youyou trembled before Red-Eyes at the warehouse, seeing its terrifying true form after her failed task left her without the game's protection.

Red-Eyes brutalized Youyou after she failed its tomato task, then looked forward to Purge Day as an opportunity for revenge. At the farm, Mo Dou returned to the Sheep Pen as the missing Black Sheep, while Zuo Cheng'an’s glance toward a bloody puddle made Wang Guangfei fear the truth about Youyou.

• Red-Eyes crushed Youyou’s knees and thighs for bringing damaged tomatoes and calling them “tomaytoes,” then left her bleeding as Steel-Toothed Rats gathered around her.
• Red-Eyes remembered that Purge Day was approaching and eagerly anticipated being assigned as a Cleaner.
• Wang Guangfei waited by the Sheep Pen, despairing over the missing Black Sheep and assuming Youyou had already escaped the instance.
• Mo Dou raced back to the farm, transformed from a black dog into the Black Sheep, and rejoined the other twenty sheep.
• Zuo Cheng'an arrived from the warehouse, and Wang Guangfei asked whether Youyou was still angry with him.
• Zuo Cheng'an looked toward a bloody puddle outside the warehouse, and Wang Guangfei turned deathly pale.

Red-Eyes discovered that Wang Guangfei had completed the sheep task and begrudgingly declared the instance cleared. Enraged by his girlfriend’s death, Wang Guangfei attacked Red-Eyes, triggering a boss battle as a protective barrier or rule shattered.

• Red-Eyes found the sheepskin rug and realized Wang Guangfei had completed the task while protected by the game.
• Zuo Cheng'an read comments about the Great Purge and considered how players built attributes and chose instances.
• Red-Eyes congratulated Wang Guangfei on clearing the instance, and Zuo Cheng'an prepared to leave.
• Wang Guangfei charged Red-Eyes with a scissors-shaped item, and a warning asked whether to initiate a boss battle.
• Red-Eyes's chilling aura overwhelmed Wang Guangfei as a crack sounded, as though a protective barrier had shattered or a rule had been broken.

Wang Guangfei canceled his boss fight against Red-Eyes after seeing its terrifying true form, and Zuo Cheng'an helped the surviving players clear Uncle Muzhou's Farm. After everyone else left, Zuo Cheng'an discovered that his actions had altered the instance, prompting the game to temporarily remove it from the Instance Hall for adjustments.

• Wang Guangfei saw Red-Eyes' frightening true form and canceled the boss fight before attacking, while Zuo Cheng'an noticed that Red-Eyes' health had regenerated.
• The viewers discussed how players remained attached to people they had broken up with, and Zuo Cheng'an vowed to make the viewers experience the instances themselves.
• Red-Eyes glared at Zuo Cheng'an, vanished, and the game announced that Uncle Muzhou's Farm would close in one hour.
• Wang Guangfei thanked Zuo Cheng'an, offered him points, and left the instance after adding him as a friend.
• Zuo Cheng'an walked around the farm and realized the animals and tasks had changed since the instance's name changed.
• The game detected changes to Uncle Muzhou's Farm and temporarily revoked its eligibility to enter the Instance Hall for rectification.

Zuo Cheng'an cleared Uncle Muchou's Farm, earned rewards, and acquired Mo Dou as a follower. After returning to the Ladder Tower, he allocated his attribute points and became the target of eager guild recruiters.

• Zuo Cheng'an discovered that the farm instance had changed into a ten-day survival challenge, then escaped as Wailing Tomatoes gathered outside.
• Mo Dou followed Zuo Cheng'an out of the instance and became his follower.
• Zuo Cheng'an returned to the Ladder Tower, received an S+ rating and the Pioneer Achievement, and gained 21 Free Attribute Points.
• Zuo Cheng'an put 10 points into Strength, 8 into Constitution, and 3 into Speed, raising his Sanity concerns and reviewing his new items.
• The Instance Hall announced the clear, prompting guild intelligence collectors to seek guides from the players who had cleared the instance.
• Zuo Cheng'an became visible outside the Ladder Tower and was swarmed by players and guild recruiters, leaving him wishing he had invested more in Speed.

Zuo Cheng'an and Mo Dou went shopping for supplies, and Zuo Cheng'an learned that the Great Purge was a mass instance used to reduce overcrowding in safe zones. He realized that Safe Zone 7's unusual player-level distribution reflected the risk that its residents could be swept into a purge alongside older zones.

• Mo Dou charged through recruiters as a black sheep, helping Zuo Cheng'an escape the crowd without triggering a game warning.
• Zuo Cheng'an bought supplies at the department store and replaced Mo Dou's dog food with pasture grass, bok choy, and radishes.
• Zuo Cheng'an asked shoppers about the Great Purge, but they reacted with fear and refused to explain it.
• Wang Guangfei told Zuo Cheng'an that the Great Purge was a mass instance in which the game killed players to reduce overcrowding in older safe zones, potentially dragging newer zones into it too.
• Zuo Cheng'an connected the purge threat to Safe Zone 7's unusually high number of First Heavenly Tier players compared with Not Yet on the Ladder players.

After accepting Zheng Ren and Li Yueqiu’s friend requests, Zuo Cheng'an agreed to bring Li Yueqiu into a dungeon, secretly planning to take her into a dangerous level 2 one. Back at his room, he crafted Muchou Brand Tomato Sauce and discovered that a small amount could rapidly heal serious wounds.

• Zuo Cheng'an accepted Zheng Ren and Li Yueqiu’s friend requests, then agreed to take Li Yueqiu along on his next dungeon run.
• Zuo Cheng'an returned to his room, where Mo Dou ate the fodder and vegetables he had bought.
• Zuo Cheng'an used his ingredients to craft Muchou Brand Tomato Sauce, which restored injuries when eaten.
• Zuo Cheng'an cut his arm with the Swift Rat Dagger and confirmed that a spoonful of tomato sauce quickly healed the wound.
• Zuo Cheng'an considered making tomato beef brisket with his remaining Fragrant Tomatoes and meat.

Zuo Cheng'an planned to sell some of his healing Ketchup and prepare for a level 2 instance by buying an offensive item and possibly a skill. At the Instance Hall, he learned that a large group had returned from the level 3 instance "Nowhere to Escape" with fewer than twenty survivors after encountering the boss Red-Eyes.

• Zuo Cheng'an counted his remaining 340 points and planned to visit the trading market for equipment before entering a level 2 instance.
• Zuo Cheng'an left Mo Dou behind and headed toward the market, but stopped when he heard that players had returned from "Nowhere to Escape."
• Zuo Cheng'an joined the crowd around the bloody survivors and listened as players discussed the failed attempt to clear the instance.
• A Dawn Moon Guild member began explaining how the players had survived their encounter with Red-Eyes.

Zuo Cheng'an learned how Red-Eyes had raised the difficulty of the “Nowhere to Escape” instance and how Gan Ran led the surviving players through an escape-pod side route. He then went to the market and spotted Yu Le among a group of children.

• A Dawn Moon Guild player recounted how Red-Eyes strengthened the zombies and pushed the instance’s difficulty far beyond its original level.
• Gan Ran abandoned the full-clear plan and led the team toward the escape pods, where Red-Eyes blocked the route and forced the players into a boss battle.
• The players drove Red-Eyes into retreat but suffered heavy losses, with only a little over twenty of the hundred-person team surviving.
• Zuo Cheng'an left the crowd and headed to the market after learning nothing new.
• Zuo Cheng'an spotted Yu Le among a group of children, and Yu Le waved to him.

Zuo Cheng'an learned about the lives and risks faced by children who grew up in the game's Orphanage as Tian Wenliang guided him through the marketplace. Tian Wenliang explained the marketplace's pricing conventions while eyeing the goods.

• Zuo Cheng'an considered how orphaned children were cared for by the game and how they had to support themselves after leaving the Orphanage at ten.
• Yu Le introduced Tian Wenliang, a thirteen-year-old orphan who had completed four dungeon runs, to guide Zuo Cheng'an through the marketplace.
• Tian Wenliang explained that few players teamed up with children, so he planned to reach the Ladder Tower with his own team after they raised their attributes.
• Tian Wenliang told Zuo Cheng'an that Orphanage students learned basic combat and were advised to wait for their bodies to grow before entering dungeons.
• Tian Wenliang explained that better goods were found deeper in the marketplace and that white items under 200 and green items under 500 were reasonably priced.

Zuo Cheng'an and Tian Wenliang browsed a player market, where Zuo Cheng'an learned about closed instances and considered buying a rare thermos. He left without purchasing it and continued searching for a better container for Ketchup.

• Zuo Cheng'an examined a green-quality cleaver while another player haggled with its stallholder and bought it for 380 points.
• Zuo Cheng'an asked about Your Grandpa's Thermos, and Tian Wenliang explained that its source instance had closed and the item was out of circulation.
• Tian Wenliang told Zuo Cheng'an that all level-one instances numbered below one thousand and level-two instances below four hundred had closed, along with ten level-three instances.
• Zuo Cheng'an offered 80 points for the thermos, then walked away when its stallholder refused to lower the 179-point price.
• The stallholder lowered the price as Zuo Cheng'an left, but Zuo Cheng'an continued browsing for a dispenser-like container that could squeeze out Ketchup.

Zuo Cheng'an searched the market for useful supplies and weapons, then found a damaged weapon from a level-seven instance whose garbled name matched symbols from messages he had seen before. He offered the stallholder his Swift Rat Dagger and 100 points for it and the Little Flying Stone, but the chapter ended before the stallholder answered.

• Zuo Cheng'an bought an insulated cup for 120 points after bargaining with the stallholder.
• Zuo Cheng'an spotted a rusty, bandage-wrapped weapon listed as white quality, but the Eye of Truth revealed that it came from the level-seven instance "7-015 God-Making" and had a garbled name.
• Zuo Cheng'an feigned interest in other items while asking the Waves Chasing Guild stallholder about the unusual weapon, which was priced at 120 points.
• Zuo Cheng'an offered his Swift Rat Dagger and 100 points for the garbled-name weapon and the Little Flying Stone.
• The stallholder calculated whether to accept Zuo Cheng'an's offer, but had not yet replied.

Zuo Cheng'an traded for a strange iron weapon, named it Little Seven, and recovered enough spirit to prepare for another instance with Li Yueqiu and Zheng Ren. The three headed to the Instance Hall, while Zheng Ren kept quiet about why his treatment had cost so many points.

• Zuo Cheng'an traded the Swift Rat Dagger and 100 points for the Little Flying Stone and a garbled item, then named the heavy iron weapon Little Seven.
• Zuo Cheng'an spent several days resting, recovering spirit points, and hearing from Yu Le that the Dawn Moon Guild and Wavebreaker Guild had scheduled an Arena match after their falling-out.
• Li Yueqiu invited Zuo Cheng'an to run an instance, and he agreed to bring Zheng Ren along.
• Li Yueqiu and Zheng Ren prepared their few belongings and set out for the Instance Hall.
• On the way, Li Yueqiu asked Zheng Ren why his treatment had cost over forty points, but he avoided explaining.

Zuo Cheng'an met Li Yueqiu and Zheng Ren at the Instance Hall, where they compared their abilities before choosing a level-two instance. As the group browsed the available instances, Li Yueqiu and Zheng Ren noticed that Zuo Cheng'an kept stopping in front of level-two options.

• Zheng Ren told Li Yueqiu about surviving a hostile solo instance and losing his savings to repair his body.
• Zuo Cheng'an introduced Mo Dou, whose stats and crowd-control skill made him a powerful addition to their team.
• Li Yueqiu and Zheng Ren shared details about their skills, items, and attributes with Zuo Cheng'an.
• The three players and Mo Dou entered the Instance Hall and browsed its instance listings.
• Zuo Cheng'an refused a Dawn Moon Guild member's request to buy a guide for Uncle Muchou's Farm because the instance had changed drastically.
• Li Yueqiu and Zheng Ren noticed that Zuo Cheng'an repeatedly stopped to look at level-two instances.

Zuo Cheng'an chose the uncleared level-two Sunny Resort instance, and he, Li Yueqiu, Zheng Ren, and their dog entered despite a Wavebreaker Guild player claiming the matchmaking circle. Two Wavebreaker members joined them, and the group was transported to Sunny Village as tourist activity testers.

• Zuo Cheng'an selected Sunny Resort because it was a new instance with first-clear rewards and only seven player slots.
• Li Yueqiu agreed to enter after seeing the resort's jungle and cultural attractions, and Zheng Ren followed.
• A mustached Wavebreaker Guild player demanded that Zuo Cheng'an's group leave the claimed matchmaking circle, but they stayed.
• Five more Wavebreaker players arrived, and after arguing, a tall man and a short woman entered the two remaining slots.
• The seven players and Zuo Cheng'an's dog entered Sunny Resort, where they were tasked with surviving ten days and nine nights and completing at least three tourist activities.