Chapter Summaries

[Howling Pothos] visited [Do Some Farm Work] to collect a custom weapon made from Blood-Drinking Thornbush parts. He tested its hidden-blade, hand-cannon, and protection modes, leaving with the weapon's capabilities and costs established.

• [Howling Pothos] traveled to the farmland near the old castle to meet [Do Some Farm Work] and collect his order.
• [Do Some Farm Work] explained that he had built the weapon using his knowledge and parts made by hand, then gave [Howling Pothos] the thorn-covered cylinder.
• [Howling Pothos] connected the weapon to his nerves by inserting his forearm and persuaded it to obey him.
• [Howling Pothos] tested its hidden blade, which unfolded without costing HP.
• [Howling Pothos] tested the hand-cannon mode, which fired two wooden arrows at the cost of five percent of his HP and took about three minutes to grow replacements.
• [Howling Pothos] tested protection mode, which formed armor over his hand, cost about a fifth of his HP, and lasted until destroyed.

[Howling Pothos] reached the Adventurers' Guild in Black Locust Town and joined the first deployment of the Fir City Operation. After learning about the limited team count and the pheromone signal sticks used to call for extraction, he accepted an information-gathering mission and was carried off by a Soldier Bee.

• [Do Some Farm Work] explained that he made expensive custom weapons by referral while focusing on farming, then joked about being a hidden master weaponsmith disguised as a farmer.
• [Howling Pothos] arrived at the Adventurers' Guild, where Grand Knight Commander Nuolun briefed players on the first Fir City deployment and recommended that stronger Soul Returners participate.
• Nuolun said the trial deployment would send twenty teams of up to three players into Fir City, and she handed out pheromone signal sticks that Soldier Bees could detect to provide extraction.
• [Howling Pothos] secured a place in the first deployment, accepted the mission to gather information in any area, and was carried away by a Soldier Bee.

[Howling Pothos] and the other players were flown to Fir City by Soldier Bees, which lowered them into the city on silk. After finding that his game network was unavailable and his clothes would draw attention, [Howling Pothos] decided to take local clothing and climbed an alley wall to reach some.

• Nuolun sent the players toward Fir City on Soldier Bees, which descended through the snow and lowered them safely on silk.
• [Howling Pothos] landed in a narrow alley and checked his player panel, discovering that the Root Network and real-world internet features were unavailable.
• [Howling Pothos] noticed that his clothes differed from the locals’ and decided to take some of their clothing.
• [Howling Pothos] climbed between the alley’s walls and spotted local clothes on the second floor.

[Howling Pothos] disguised himself as a local in Fir City and gathered information while following crowds toward a church. As he considered how to investigate its restricted chapel, a deafening explosion interrupted him.

• [Howling Pothos] took a local's coat and paid for it, then blended into the streets wearing a Symbiotic Tree on his neck.
• [Howling Pothos] mapped the residential district and collected a glowing plant sample from a streetlight for Ed.
• [Howling Pothos] followed children and their parents toward a church and overheard that choir practice would end for the winter, with novice friar selection still pending.
• A sword-wielding friar stopped [Howling Pothos] near the chapel, but let him pass after he claimed he was there to collect his younger brother.
• [Howling Pothos] wondered how to investigate the restricted chapel before a deafening boom rang out.

[Howling Pothos] exploited an explosion and the ensuing chaos to infiltrate the Tree Worship Church chapel in disguise. As he began searching the chapel, two clerics at the entrance grew suspicious of his identity.

• An explosion spread flames through the street, and a Tree Worship Church expert called for help against enemies nearby.
• [Howling Pothos] followed a cleric toward the disturbance, then killed him with his hidden blade and took his clothes as a disguise.
• [Howling Pothos] entered the chapel’s restricted area and decided he had three hours to search before the cleric’s death was discovered.
• [Howling Pothos] brushed aside a cleric who questioned him and began roaming through the chapel to learn its layout.
• Two clerics at the entrance wondered whether they had ever seen [Howling Pothos] before.

A Holy Crusaders squad leader killed three Master Club players who had set fire to a house, then found a dead cleric and suspected a fourth infiltrator was hiding in Fir City. The supposed sick women in the nearby house were actually [Pond Fish and Old Abyss] and [Dark Archmage], who had bound three locals and were trying to keep their cover.

• Three Master Club players set fire to a dilapidated house with an incendiary bomb, and a passing Holy Crusaders squad leader pursued them.
• The squad leader killed all three after one player slipped on a dead cleric’s arm and the last was struck by the knight’s sword.
• The squad leader found the cleric’s body and suspected a fourth enemy had disguised himself in clerical robes, then headed to the chapel to report the possible infiltrator.
• The squad leader broke into a house after seeing someone peer from its window, but left after questioning two apparently sick women.
• After he left, [Pond Fish and Old Abyss] and [Dark Archmage] revealed themselves, discussed the dead cleric and the danger of confronting the squad leader, and reassured three bound locals.

[Howling Pothos] fought his way into a hidden passage beneath the chapel and found an old man connected to Fir City's human experiments. He tricked the man into leaving with him and was asked to collect materials from a bookshelf.

• [Howling Pothos] used a Paralysis Bomb and killed the two guards blocking the hidden entrance beneath the chapel.
• [Howling Pothos] found empty cells and discovered an old man writing notes about human experiments in the innermost room.
• [Howling Pothos] told the old man that rioters had made the city unsafe and that the archbishop had sent him to escort him to the cathedral.
• The old man agreed to leave and asked [Howling Pothos] to fetch materials from a bookshelf.

[Howling Pothos] escorted Zarke out of the chapel under the pretense of taking him to the cathedral, then used a soldier bee and extraction thread to abduct him from Fir City. The mission succeeded, and [Howling Pothos] escaped with Zarke into the winter night.

• [Howling Pothos] gathered supplies for Zarke, secretly signaled the soldier bees, and led him out of the secret chamber.
• [Howling Pothos] convinced Zarke that guards had been reassigned and escorted him past the clerics and the squad leader.
• [Howling Pothos] steered Zarke through a detour and brought him to a secluded open spot where the soldier bees could reach them.
• [Howling Pothos] silenced Zarke by damaging his vocal cords and stuffing a Vine Bandage Pack into his mouth.
• [Howling Pothos] was extracted with Zarke by the soldier bee, completing the mission in four hours and twelve minutes.

Chang Nie logged out to rest after being carried away with the captive Zarke, then returned to World of Disorder and reached Black Locust Town. He left Zarke bound in Bee Silk and told curious players he had brought back a prisoner to question.

• Chang Nie logged off before the daily reset and considered how to earn money without slowing his progress.
• In a gaming group chat, Chang Nie read Elderly and Children Fly First's account of a failed expedition to a suspicious church and recognized that his own roadside encounter had contributed to the player's death.
• After eating, Chang Nie logged back in as Soldier Bees carried him and Zarke to Black Locust Town.
• Players gathered at the Adventurers' Guild square and mistook Howling Pothos's name for “Howling Loli.”
• Howling Pothos unloaded Zarke, still bound in Bee Silk, and explained that he had captured someone alive to question.

[Howling Pothos] handed the Adventurers' Guild the chapel records, delivered Zarke into its custody, and chose to make his map public for a higher payment. At the chapel, the bishop discovered Zarke had been abducted and ordered an investigation and a report to the cathedral.

• [Howling Pothos] gave the squad leader the experimental records and a rough layout of the Fir City chapel, then handed over the bound Zarke.
• The squad leader said Zarke would be delivered to the Son of God and offered [Howling Pothos] either a private map sale or double payment for making the map public.
• [Howling Pothos] chose to make the map public, then left the Adventurers' Guild to rest and prepare for another journey.
• The squad leader reported the events to the chapel bishop, who realized Zarke had been abducted after finding one dead cleric and another gravely wounded underground.
• The wounded cleric described the infiltrator, and the bishop and squad leader pieced together how four rioters had distracted the guards while one disguised himself and took Zarke.
• The squad leader went to fetch the rioters' bodies, while the bishop ordered the scene cleaned and the incident reported to the cathedral.

Archbishop Antiya Lisi ordered Fir City into a wartime state after clerics vanished and rioters escaped, while the three players planned to gather intelligence along the city walls. They began their cautious patrol and marked their starting point, then went to find a place to rest in their Cocoons.

• Antiya Lisi questioned his clerics about the missing Zarke, the six dead clerics, and the absent squad sent to gather information.
• Antiya Lisi ordered a curfew, halted choir training, and strengthened daytime patrols and the city walls, while reserving his own arrangements for the night.
• Antiya Lisi went to the basement, suspecting Fir City needed to be controlled with an iron hand.
• [Gill's Cuisine], [Western Sharpshooter], and [Aluode] gave up trying to meet their fellow players and discussed how to gather intelligence.
• [Gill's Cuisine] proposed cautiously surveying the city walls, and [Western Sharpshooter] offered to defend them with his homemade silenced handgun.
• The three players started their wall patrol, marked the route with a stone, and went to find a deserted place to sleep in their Cocoons.

Pond Fish and Old Abyss and Dark Archmage released the family they had tied up, then used the house as cover while setting traps in a residential district south of the chapel. Their attempt to make the owner report them during curfew ended with a cleric warning him to go home.

• Pond Fish and Old Abyss and Dark Archmage untied the house's original owners after confirming they had not tried to escape.
• Pond Fish and Old Abyss insisted that the owner report them to the chapel and tell the clerics they had headed south.
• The two players entered the residential district, where Pond Fish and Old Abyss spread slender Deadwood Vines through alleys while Dark Archmage watched from a rooftop.
• A middle-aged man went to the chapel during curfew and told a patrolling cleric that thieves had tied up his family.
• The cleric suspected the report was false or ill-timed, told the man to report again after daybreak, and warned him to return home if he wanted to live.

While [Dark Archmage] and [Pond Fish and Old Abyss] prepared a web of traps for the Holy Crusaders, Antiya Lisi released the cathedral’s monstrous test subjects to hunt rebels across Fir City. The chapter left the city’s enemies loose in the streets as the two players waited for their own prey.

• [Dark Archmage] and [Pond Fish and Old Abyss] noticed that the cleric who took their report did not pass it up the chain, and [Dark Archmage] suspected that the curfew would lead to door-to-door searches.
• [Pond Fish and Old Abyss] finished setting hidden vine traps in an alley, and [Dark Archmage] tested them before the pair prepared to ambush patrolling Holy Crusaders.
• Antiya Lisi entered the underground prison beneath the cathedral, where he announced rules granting the test subjects temporary freedom to hunt in Fir City.
• Antiya Lisi opened the cells and a passage to the surface, releasing the test subjects as they began mutating beneath the moonlight.
• Antiya Lisi toasted the empty prison and urged the test subjects to bring their suffering to others.

Pond Fish and Old Abyss and Dark Archmage were pursued through Fir City's old district by living trees, while Zhong Lele watched from the church and wondered if Archbishop Antiya Lisi had summoned them. Zhong Lele then followed a little girl who said she heard strange noises in a room.

• Pond Fish and Old Abyss and Dark Archmage noticed street trees appearing around their hiding place and realized the trees were closing in on them.
• Dark Archmage spotted another tree behind them and ordered them to run.
• The two used Deadwood Vines as prosthetic limbs to swing through the old district while the living trees chased them.
• Pond Fish and Old Abyss joked that they were Fir City's friendly neighborhood heroes, and Dark Archmage named them Plant-Man.
• Zhong Lele watched the chase from the church and suspected Archbishop Antiya Lisi was behind the summoned trees.
• A little girl told Zhong Lele that strange noises were coming from a room, and Zhong Lele offered to investigate.

Zhong Lele found and captured a nun who had been terrorizing orphans in the chapel, then arranged to sell the nun and wardrobe to another player. She planned to use the deal to gain a genuine identity in Fir City.

• Zhong Lele comforted an orphan who said a monster was making noises inside a wardrobe, then found a woman who looked like Zhong Lele trapped inside.
• Zhong Lele paralyzed the woman with a Paralysis Bomb and bound the wardrobe shut with a vine.
• Zhong Lele logged out and read players discussing new monsters, Fir City’s rising security, and Lion Hidden in the Eyes’s unusual welcome in the Graycast Corridor.
• Zhong Lele posted an offer to sell the wardrobe and the abusive nun inside it, and agreed to meet Xiexie Huigu at the chapel the next morning.
• Zhong Lele recalled how she had used Pothos’s map and her observations to find the chapel, where she had discovered and defeated the nun.

Zhong Lele replaced the chapel nun Qieli and settled into her role, while Fir City’s night violence left only 19 Soul Returners alive. As players began arranging their return to the Second Holy See, Zhong Lele considered inviting them to stay undercover and role-play together.

• Zhong Lele used a face mold and plant plug-ins to disguise herself as Qieli, then locked the real nun in a wardrobe.
• Living plants attacked Fir City overnight, killing players and residents; by morning, 19 Soul Returners remained alive.
• Zhong Lele arranged for Qieli’s wardrobe to be replaced, and a middle-aged nun told her she would have to pay for it herself.
• Zhong Lele realized she could potentially remain undercover as Sister Qieli indefinitely and considered inviting the other players to join her role-playing plan.
• Mules and Horses Drive the Sun and Xiexie Huigu summoned a pickup with Jerry’s signal stick, then returned to the Second Holy See with the nun in the wardrobe, carried by three Soldier Bees.

Ed removed the entry and time limits for Fir City Operation, allowing players to enter and remain in Fir City freely. He then watched players discuss the city’s dangers and synchronized with the imprisoned Clear Soup Master to investigate.

• Ed reconsidered the original entry rules after seeing players settle into Fir City and published an update removing the entry limit and stay limit.
• Ed sent the rule changes to Nuolun, the others, and Hive Will, while eager players in nearby towns set off for Fir City on Soldier Bees.
• Ed read Clear Soup Master's forum post about a living tree capturing him, and players speculated that his constitution and Plant Compatibility had triggered a hidden storyline.
• Clear Soup Master urged players to map Fir City and said he would abandon his body if imprisonment became unbearable.
• Ed synchronized with Clear Soup Master's senses as Clear Soup Master awoke in a cold solitary cell beneath Fir City's cathedral and heard cries and laughter from the dungeon.

[Clear Soup Master] was captured in Fir City and interrogated by Antiya Lisi, who suspected him of belonging to the rebels. Ed watched through the game and became interested in the archbishop as [Clear Soup Master] claimed the infiltrators intended to assassinate him; Antiya Lisi then asked how they had entered the city.

• [Clear Soup Master] used the players’ recognition call in his cell, and two jailers brought him to the interrogation room.
• Ed recognized the mosaic-covered interrogator as Antiya Lisi, while reflecting that the Second Holy See was known to members of the Tree Worship Church’s ruling structure.
• Antiya Lisi accused [Clear Soup Master] of being a rebel and said his companions were dead and he was the only survivor.
• [Clear Soup Master] claimed that sixty people had infiltrated Fir City to gather information on Antiya Lisi and assassinate him.
• Antiya Lisi dismissed [Clear Soup Master] as a brainwashed fool and asked how the infiltrators had entered the city.

[Clear Soup Master] endured an invasive experiment in the dungeon while the archbishop ordered a search for rebels. In White Wax Town, [Howling Pothos] approached [Epic-Level Giant] with a proposal to cooperate at an incredible fishing spot.

• [Clear Soup Master] claimed half-dragons had helped him dig tunnels, prompting the archbishop to order the Holy Crusaders to search the city for rebel infiltration.
• The archbishop sent [Clear Soup Master] back to his cell and ordered the jailers to triple his dose and speed up his transformation.
• The jailers bound [Clear Soup Master] to a pillar and implanted branches in his skin as he recorded the changes.
• [Howling Pothos] noticed long queues for trips to Fir City and later drank fish soup at [Not Bad Tasting]'s roadside stall.
• [Howling Pothos] found [Epic-Level Giant] fishing by the river and proposed cooperating at an incredible fishing spot.

[Howling Pothos] and [Epic-Level Giant] teamed up to establish a hidden supply station and fishing spot near Fir City, giving [Howling Pothos] a secret route into the city. They settled beside a river bend, where [Howling Pothos] began building a shelter and [Epic-Level Giant] caught several fish.

• [Howling Pothos] proposed using an underwater route into Fir City and asked [Epic-Level Giant] to help secure a riverside supply point.
• [Epic-Level Giant] agreed after [Howling Pothos] argued that the wider river would likely have more fish.
• [Howling Pothos] and [Epic-Level Giant] traveled from Black Locust Town toward Fir City and chose a river bend outside the city walls.
• [Howling Pothos] started building a wooden shelter and supply shed after they realized the frozen ground could not support a Tree of Rest.
• [Epic-Level Giant] drilled a large fishing hole through the ice and caught three or four fish by nightfall.