Chapter Summaries

Jiang Nuo and the guests identified the Nine-Headed Mountain God as the final BOSS and investigated Sleeping Village’s strange children and customs. On the third day of the Flower Fair, the villagers gathered at Immortal Lake for the God-Descending Assembly, with Jiang Nuo carried there by butterflies.

• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan suspected Si Yong had been replaced and wondered whether Si Mingde knew about it, but decided to clear the game before seeking answers.
• Zhou Ling and the guests found a black butterfly mark on Feimina’s ear, and Si Yan recalled a butterfly escaping from the monster that had possessed her.
• Jiang Nuo identified the Nine-Headed Mountain God as the final BOSS and said the guests still had to uncover Sleeping Village’s secret and piece together its history.
• Si Yan theorized that generations of close-relative marriages had caused the villagers’ children to become increasingly abnormal, while the village’s dreamlike life made most villagers unwilling to wake.
• On the final day of the Flower Fair, the villagers gathered at Immortal Lake for the God-Descending Assembly, and butterflies carried Jiang Nuo to the lakeside as Si Yan and the other guests watched nearby.

Jiang Nuo refused to kneel before the deity and threw the monstrous baby believer into the lake instead. The Twin Messengers then ordered him to water the giant tree’s flowers with a friend’s blood.

• A little girl brought Jiang Nuo a swaddled monster and told him to protect it as a believer.
• The Twin Messengers told Jiang Nuo to kneel before the giant tree and jump into the lake to summon the deity, but he refused.
• When the villagers condemned him, Jiang Nuo asked if any believer would do and hurled the baby monster into the lake, completing the stage.
• The Twin Messengers gave Jiang Nuo an empty wine jug and ordered him to use one of his friends’ blood to water the flowers beside the giant tree.

Jiang Nuo and his companions survived the Twin Messengers’ rituals as the Nine-Headed Mountain God descended at Immortal Lake. When the deity offered to grant any wish to those who worshipped him, Jiang Nuo refused and challenged him.

• Jiang Nuo chose Zhang Quan for the blood ritual, and Zhang Quan calmly filled the flask while replenishing himself with yin incense.
• The Twin Messengers completed the rituals and led the villagers in worship as a whirlpool formed in Immortal Lake.
• Butterflies plunged into the lake and dark clouds gathered before the Nine-Headed Mountain God appeared.
• Jiang Nuo mocked the deity’s monstrous appearance and refused to kneel when asked.
• The deity offered to grant any wish to worshippers, but Jiang Nuo said he would fight for what he wanted and called the deity a monster wearing a god’s skin.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan forced the deity to reveal the truth behind Life and Breath Village’s slumber, exposing how System 024 had turned the villagers into sleeping monsters. When the deity attacked, Jiang Nuo killed it and dispersed its dark power.

• Si Yan tricked the deity into admitting it could not answer every wish, prompting the villagers to question their faith and awaken.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan learned that inbreeding had caused deformed births, and the deity had put the villagers to sleep in a false utopia to feed System 024.
• Jiang Nuo suspected System 024’s true body was imprisoned, while the deity realized its plot had unraveled and abandoned its disguise to attack the players.
• Jiang Nuo fought the deity in Immortal Lake as Si Yan guarded the shore, Zhang Quan organized the others, and Feimina used purification magic on the villagers.
• Jiang Nuo defeated the deity, whose corpse surfaced before its believers as its remaining dark power dispersed.

Jiang Nuo and the guests rescued the little boy and cleared the trial grounds, then returned to reality and helped the villagers recover. Before heading up Feng Mountain, Jiang Nuo warned the others about the danger, but Tuoba Hong insisted on joining him to protect the Dragon Vein.

• Jiang Nuo realized the villagers' fantasy world was connected to reality through an awakened person, and the guests rushed to the little girl's house.
• Si Yan, Zhang Quan, and Jiang Nuo stopped the vine monster from swallowing the little boy, and Feimina healed him.
• The system announced that Jiang Nuo and Zhang Quan had cleared Life and Breath Village with 100% story completion and awarded Jiang Nuo a Return Gate.
• The guests returned to the real world, and Feimina dispelled the villagers' remaining witchcraft while the group helped them rebuild and prepare their wake ceremony.
• Jiang Nuo upgraded Zhang Quan to make him seem more human, then warned the others that Feng Mountain was dangerous and they could turn back.
• Tuoba Hong refused to retreat, saying he had to protect the Dragon Vein and investigate Feng Mountain's connection to the instance.

As Jiang Nuo and the others prepared to enter the mountain, they exchanged farewells with loved ones while the Dao Xuan Association uncovered a sealed record connected to Jiang Nuo's family. The chapter left the Grand Elder realizing Jiang Nuo was Jiang Daoran's son, and fearing the team might face the same fate as the failed Feng Mountain Dragon Vein restoration team.

• Zhou Ling and Feimina refused to leave, and Jiang Nuo welcomed them before suggesting they call their families.
• Zhang Quan promised Su Su he would return, while Su Su said he did not care whether Zhang Quan was human; Zhang Quan asked him to wait until his return to discuss it.
• Cui Ming urged Jiang Nuo and Si Yan to come back safely, and they promised they would.
• The Grand Elder ordered the secretary to retrieve the Dao Xuan Association's sealed files and wondered whether Si Mingde, Jiang Nuo, and the others would return safely.
• The Grand Elder found a report showing that Jiang Daoran's Feng Mountain team had disappeared for seven days and all members except Wang Qing had died, then recognized Jiang Nuo as Jiang Daoran's child.

Jiang Nuo and the temporary squad entered the world behind the illusory door, where Jiang Nuo reunited with Si Yan and welcomed him to his lair. After binding the squad to his team, Jiang Nuo discovered that he had fallen to second place.

• The system seized control of livestream terminals worldwide and invited viewers to witness the squad's fate as they climbed Feng Mountain.
• Jiang Nuo and the squad appeared in his lounge, where Tuoba Hong joked about Jiang Nuo's transformed appearance.
• Jiang Nuo showed Si Yan his outfit, accepted his affection, and gave him a ring that marked him as Jiang Nuo's partner.
• Jiang Nuo gave Feimina the Bloody Cloth and bound the squad members to his team, explaining that his level could conceal their newcomer identities.
• Jiang Nuo noticed that he had dropped to second place on the rankings.

Jiang Nuo returned to the instance lobby as players argued over his apparent death and Boduo’s rise to the top of the rankings. After maiming Da Qi for mocking him, Jiang Nuo greeted the lobby, where someone asked who the people behind him were.

• Da Qi and the Shengsheng Squad claimed Boduo was the rightful number one, while other players questioned why Jiang Nuo had only fallen to second place if he was dead.
• Jiang Nuo arrived, approached Da Qi and the Shengsheng Squad, and mocked Da Qi’s speech.
• Da Qi panicked and drew his poisoned sword as Boduo and the Shengsheng Squad braced themselves.
• Jiang Nuo sliced away half of Da Qi’s face, saying he was returning the favor, and the squad dared not object.
• Jiang Nuo greeted the players and wished them a pleasant mission experience, prompting someone to ask who was behind him.

Jiang Nuo entered a never-before-seen destruction-class six-star instance with Si Yan and their temporary team, drawing a roster packed with high-ranking players. The group reached a strangely familiar city and gathered outside a hotel, where a disturbing man asked whether they believed in fate.

• Jiang Nuo introduced Si Yan and the others as players he had chosen, and Si Yan acted frightened while clinging to him.
• Jiang Nuo led the team into the newly opened destruction-class six-star instance, and Boduo was assigned to the same instance.
• Jiang Nuo explained that high-level instances were illusory worlds where players could lose themselves and become NPCs.
• The group followed the instance's directions toward a hotel, and Jiang Nuo told them not to answer the beggar-like man asking about fate.
• Tuoba Hong crossed the intersection safely, and the group reached the hotel entrance, where Jiang Nuo noticed fifteen players had gathered.

Jiang Nuo and the players entered the destruction-class six-star Curse of Fate instance, where they learned that escaping the world was their mission. At the Fate Hotel, Jiang Nuo ignored the advice to stay alone and secured a shared room with Si Yan as the first inspection approached.

• A man at the entrance declared that fate controlled everyone, then killed himself with an axe as the system announced the Curse of Fate instance and its mission to escape the world.
• Jiang Nuo insulted the system, while An Tang questioned why he had brought unfamiliar people into the instance.
• The hotel manager welcomed the players and listed the Fate Hotel's rules, including room inspections, nighttime restrictions, and warnings about uniforms and trust.
• As the first inspection neared, players checked in separately after the receptionist advised them to stay alone.
• Jiang Nuo requested a couple's room with Si Yan, claimed Si Yan was his frail monster wife, and received the hotel's only special room key cards for one room.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan settled into their eerie hotel suite, treating the dangers around them with casual affection. After the manager inspected their room, Zhang Quan revealed a level matching Jiang Nuo’s, while the silent woman’s skeleton doll seemed to recognize him.

• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan entered their suite, where they noticed bloody water from the tap and a ghostly figure outside the window.
• At eight, Jiang Nuo opened the door for the room inspection and claimed he had a hearing impairment; Si Yan emerged from the bedroom, and the manager told them to come downstairs for dinner.
• Zhang Quan asked Jiang Nuo whether the food was safe, and the tank-top man mocked Zhang Quan for seeming like a newbie.
• Zhang Quan displayed a level matching Jiang Nuo’s, startling the tank-top man, who hurried downstairs.
• The woman with the little skeleton doll went downstairs, and Zhang Quan felt strangely familiar with it before following them.

At the hotel dinner, Jiang Nuo’s team discovered that the dessert made people crave more and pretended to eat theirs to satisfy the manager. Zhao Si was exposed for hiding his cake and forced to eat it while the waitresses closed in.

• Jiang Nuo had Zhang Quan taste the dessert, and Zhang Quan admitted he wanted another piece.
• Jiang Nuo fed his own cake to Zhang Quan, and the team finished their desserts before the other players decided whether to eat.
• Zhao Si accused Tuoba Hong of not eating, but Tuoba Hong convinced the hotel manager that he wanted another piece.
• Tuoba Hong confronted Zhao Si, and Boduo stopped him from attacking before Zhao Si was made to apologize.
• Tuoba Hong made Zhao Si drop the cake he had hidden, and the waitresses surrounded Zhao Si for breaking the rule.
• Zhao Si ate the cake under the waitresses’ watch, and they returned to normal and offered him tea.

Jiang Nuo refused Boduo’s offer to cooperate and planned to visit Si Yan during the night watch. At the hotel lobby, Xu Yin questioned Si Yan about his connection to Jiang Nuo, and Si Yan claimed his looks had caught Jiang Nuo’s eye.

• The hotel manager assigned Yue Zhou, Liu Wei, Xu Yin, and Si Yan to patrol while the other players went upstairs to rest.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan agreed that Jiang Nuo would find him during the night rather than let him patrol alone.
• Boduo offered to work with Jiang Nuo, but Jiang Nuo refused and accused him of wanting to kill him.
• Zhou Ling pointed out that the midnight room checks did not require players to remain in their rooms, and Jiang Nuo told Zhou Ling and Feimina to rest and watch for security guards.
• During the night watch, Xu Yin questioned Si Yan about his identity, and Si Yan said he was a newcomer whom Jiang Nuo liked for his face.

Yue Zhou noticed that the clock had stopped, and the players were summoned to patrol despite the broken time display. The group was sent to a forbidden fourth floor, where the guard vanished and a side quest demanded that they open every door.

• Yue Zhou pointed out that the clock’s second hand had stopped, and Xu Yin discovered that her watch had lost its time function.
• A guard ordered Xu Yin, Si Yan, Yue Zhou, and Liu Wei to join a forty-five-minute patrol, and Si Yan broke the clock to make the guard confirm the time.
• Jiang Nuo joined the patrol and took Si Yan’s hand, while Liu Wei protested when the guard selected the forbidden fourth floor.
• Jiang Nuo told Si Yan that he had burned off Yue Zhou’s hair, and Si Yan asked whether she had hurt him.
• The group arrived on a damp, eerie fourth floor, where the guard and elevator disappeared and a side quest instructed five players to open every door.

Jiang Nuo and the other players investigated room 404, where a ghost recognized him before the system destroyed it. They moved on to room 406, and Jiang Nuo told Si Yan that Yue Zhou's witchcraft would be important in bringing down the system.

• Jiang Nuo and the players entered room 404, where a ghost crawled out of a portrait and recognized Jiang Nuo.
• Si Yan identified symbols on a coffin-like cabinet as codes used by the association's members more than a decade earlier.
• Jiang Nuo subdued the ghost to question it, but the system caused it to explode; the mission sheet recorded the resident as Song Gen.
• Jiang Nuo warned the other players not to ask about what they had seen, then went with them to room 406.
• Yue Zhou opened the scorching room with a spell, and Jiang Nuo explained to Si Yan that her witchcraft would be crucial to destroying the system.

Jiang Nuo captured the fiery monster in room 406 after it called Si Yan “young master,” and Si Yan found a photograph showing his parents inside the instance. The group left the room with Jiang Nuo promising to uncover the truth, and the note identified the room’s owner as Lu Jia.

• Jiang Nuo pressured 0732 into giving him fifty pairs of shielding bracelets for 200 points.
• Liu Wei triggered a fiery monster hidden in the wall, and Yue Zhou and Xu Yin tried to restrain it.
• The monster recognized Si Yan as its young master, then attacked him after questioning his identity.
• Jiang Nuo pinned the monster and captured it in his ghost-capturing pot.
• Si Yan found a photograph of his parents and wondered why everyone had told him they were dead.
• Jiang Nuo comforted Si Yan as they left room 406, whose owner was identified as Lu Jia.

Si Yan was enveloped by black smoke, triggered a hidden quest, and collapsed as his HP began plummeting. Jiang Nuo stored him away and turned on Liu Wei, who confessed that Boduo had ordered the attack.

• Liu Wei opened a strange box, releasing black smoke that drifted around Si Yan, and accused him of being a dungeon monster.
• Jiang Nuo destroyed Liu Wei’s attack item, but the black smoke enveloped Si Yan and triggered the hidden quest Illusory Calamity Cage.
• Si Yan heard a message telling him to find the answer and return to the starting point, then collapsed as 0732 warned that his HP was plummeting.
• Jiang Nuo stored Si Yan in the system space, endured a surge of pain, and blocked Liu Wei from escaping.
• Liu Wei confessed that Boduo had told him to kill Si Yan, and Jiang Nuo cut off Liu Wei’s right hand while Yue Zhou stopped Xu Yin from intervening.

Jiang Nuo, Yue Zhou, and Xu Yin survived the elevator ghost’s attack and completed the side mission, while Si Yan remained missing. After finding a hidden bundle marked by the Dao Xuan Association, Jiang Nuo took its blurred note with him.

• Jiang Nuo left Liu Wei alive after maiming him and warned him to tell Boduo that he was next.
• Jiang Nuo, Yue Zhou, and Xu Yin entered the blood-filled elevator, where Jiang Nuo crushed an eyeball that was watching them.
• The elevator ghost attacked Liu Wei, and the elevator consumed him before rising to Jiang Nuo’s floor.
• The system announced that Jiang Nuo, Yue Zhou, and Xu Yin had completed the side mission, awarding Jiang Nuo the correct front desk hotline number.
• Jiang Nuo found a cloth bundle hidden in a fire hydrant near the elevator and put away the blurred note inside without reading it.

Jiang Nuo waited beside the unconscious Si Yan and prepared to destroy the hotel if he did not wake, while Si Yan was trapped in a dark cage during a solo mission. Si Yan escaped the empty darkness only to witness memories of his parents and recognize Gui Ci before the vision shifted to a battle against Aberrant Monsters.

• Jiang Nuo and Zhang Quan agreed that Zhang Quan would blow up the hotel if Si Yan had not awakened in twenty-three minutes.
• Qiu Su challenged the black-uniformed guard about his uniform, and the guard left without harming the players, though Zhao Si's room remained unchecked.
• Jiang Nuo carried Si Yan back to his room, confirmed his body was stable, and waited beside him as the livestream blurred behind a Spiritual Power barrier.
• Si Yan awoke in a black cage with sixty minutes to escape, then heard wind and watched a memory unfold around him.
• Si Yan saw his parents with Jiang Daoran, Wang Qing, and a beautiful young man with a cinnabar mark, whom he recognized as Gui Ci.
• The vision shifted to a world in turmoil where people fought Aberrant Monsters amid blood, fear, and despair.

The players fought to escape the instance as Jiang Daoran and his team sacrificed themselves to hold the gate open and seal the world from Feng Mountain. Wang Qing was the only player to survive, while Gui Ci remained behind after sending Xiaoqi out with her.

• Wang Qing saved Chu Yan from a player who had attacked him, but infighting derailed the escape plan as the gate began to close.
• Chu Yan sacrificed himself, turning into paper figures to hold the gate open and give the others more time.
• Jiang Daoran sent Si Xun and Yang He through the gate, then stayed behind with Gui Ci and died while protecting Xiaoqi.
• Gui Ci entrusted Xiaoqi to Wang Qing and sent her through the gate before turning to face the remaining Aberrant Monsters.
• Si Xun and Yang He sacrificed themselves to power the seal, and Wang Qing was the only escaped player to survive the Dark Power.