Recaps

Su Cheng survived a confrontation between Mu Ling and the red-mist ghost, then exposed He Lie’s suitcase of dismembered remains and subdued him. She confronted Xunfang over the talismans, accusing her of attracting ghosts and causing earlier deaths.

• Mu Ling fought the red-mist ghost in the restroom, and Su Cheng helped her by throwing a dagger before both ghosts vanished.
• Su Cheng attacked He Lie for setting her up, then cut open his suitcase and discovered a dismembered corpse inside.
• He Lie fought back with a Boning Knife, but Su Cheng wounded him, confiscated the weapon, and learned his name.
• Su Cheng questioned He Lie about the corpse, but he refused to answer, so she turned her attention to Xunfang.
• Su Cheng accused Xunfang of giving passengers Ghost-Attracting Talismans and secretly sticking one on her back.

Su Cheng rejected Xunfang’s attempt to manipulate her, then followed her and Chen Renping through a door into a strange monochrome carriage. After the carriage’s many eyes nearly drove her to gouge out her own eyes, Su Cheng forced them to stop and escaped into the ordinary train.

• Su Cheng confronted Xunfang, who claimed He Lie was the unsolved killer and tried to cast doubt on Chen Renping, but Su Cheng did not believe her.
• Xunfang fled through a locked door, Chen Renping followed her, and Su Cheng slipped through before it closed.
• Su Cheng entered a monochrome carriage whose walls and floor seemed strangely alive, then found eyes emerging from the roots covering the walls.
• The eyes’ clicking overwhelmed Su Cheng and made her eyes blink uncontrollably, while she fought the urge to gouge them out.
• Su Cheng shouted at the eyes to stop, picked up her dagger, and ran through a door into a carriage filled with familiar train sounds.

Su Cheng and Chen Renping organized passengers to ambush the masked murderer on the train, and Su Cheng killed him after discovering Xunfang was inside his body. As the scene turned gray, Su Cheng continued stabbing the dead man, repeating that he had ruined her.

• Su Cheng reunited with Chen Renping in the train carriage and learned the train would enter the tunnel in three minutes.
• Su Cheng and Chen Renping recruited eight passengers to smash the rear carriage lights and prepare for a coordinated attack.
• The masked murderer shot passengers and tried to turn them against one another, while Su Cheng recognized Xunfang’s familiar manipulation tactics.
• Chen Renping called the masked murderer Xunfang, provoking him to fire toward Chen Renping and giving Su Cheng an opening to attack.
• Su Cheng and Chen Renping fought the murderer; after he said he had killed Chen Renping once, Su Cheng stabbed him in the neck and heart until he stopped moving.
• The surroundings turned gray as Su Cheng kept stabbing the dead man and repeated, “You ruined me.”

Su Cheng escaped Mu Ling’s possession, recovered Xunfang’s ghost-harming weapons, and watched the passenger ghosts devour Lin Jie. She returned to the train carriage after completing “Old Case Reenacted,” leaving He Lie and the remaining quest “The Extra One” as her next concern.

• Su Cheng regained her identity after Chen Renping stopped her from killing herself, and she realized Mu Ling had possessed her.
• Su Cheng found soul-suppressing nails and a hammer in Xunfang’s bag, then understood why the ghosts had feared Xunfang.
• The passenger ghosts dragged Lin Jie’s soul from his corpse and tore it apart while Su Cheng and Chen Renping watched.
• Chen Renping directed Su Cheng to the exit, and she left the instance, completing the side quest “Old Case Reenacted.”
• Su Cheng returned to the train carriage, where she learned only about two minutes had passed, and focused on He Lie as the remaining quest’s central figure.

Su Cheng discovered that He Lie and He Zhou were two personalities and that a Twin Fish Jade Pendant had protected them from ghosts. Qu Yutong killed He Zhou in the train tunnel, but instead of disappearing after her revenge, she turned on Su Cheng.

• Su Cheng questioned He Zhou and provoked He Lie into admitting that he had killed Qu Yutong.
• Su Cheng took He Lie’s half of the Twin Fish Jade Pendant and learned that it could repel ghosts.
• He Zhou said the pendant had been a love token between him and Qu Yutong, but Su Cheng refused to return it until he explained the whole crime.
• When the train entered the tunnel, Qu Yutong appeared and confronted He Zhou and He Lie.
• Qu Yutong devoured He Zhou, then revealed herself on the carriage ceiling and told Su Cheng that she was next.

Su Cheng used Qu Yutong’s reconstructed corpse and Soul-Suppressing Nails to seal the vengeful ghost, ending the attack on the train. The ghosts explained their actions as the train arrived, and Su Cheng left carrying the only other survivor.

• Qu Yutong attacked the passengers, and Su Cheng struggled to fend off her red threads and vines.
• Mu Ling and the other passenger ghosts arrived and fought Qu Yutong while Su Cheng found both halves of Qu Yutong’s corpse in the suitcases.
• Su Cheng joined the corpse’s halves and drove Soul-Suppressing Nails into its brow, hands, feet, and heart, trapping Qu Yutong inside the blood-red suitcase.
• The Twin Fish Jade Pendant emerged from the suitcase, and Su Cheng completed the side quest “The Extra One.”
• Chen Renping explained that the passenger ghosts had been waiting for revenge and that Qu Yutong’s resentment had corrupted them; he and the others stayed behind to guard the suitcase.
• The train announced its arrival, and Su Cheng carried the fainted headphone girl toward the open doors as the only two living survivors.

After completing the special instance, Su Cheng brought Mu Ling with her under a contract and returned to her apartment, where she rested, replenished her routine, and arranged to meet Yan Yu the next day. She went to bed but still suffered a nightmare about the eye-covered train carriage.

• Su Cheng collected items from the instance, then confirmed a contract that let Mu Ling accompany her for a monthly fee of 500 points.
• Su Cheng returned to the medical pod, where Lin Deng treated her and gave her calming pills for possible psychological aftereffects.
• Su Cheng returned to her apartment, received a meal voucher and a Street Competition ticket, and reviewed her supplies.
• Su Cheng agreed to meet Yan Yu the next day, and Yan Yu said he would introduce her to a friend who had completed a special instance.
• Su Cheng collected and enjoyed a roast chicken meal, checked the residents' chats, and took a calming pill before bed.
• Su Cheng dreamed that her eyes had been torn out and that she was bleeding in the dark.

Su Cheng stocked up on supplies, obtained an access card, and left the apartment complex by bicycle to meet Yan Yu. As they headed toward An Tavern and the central district, Yan Yu invited her to compare Gene Lock experiences with Xu Shaowei.

• Su Cheng upgraded her supermarket membership, bought supplements, nutrient solutions, smart bags, and a language translator, and obtained an access card and bicycle key.
• Su Cheng asked Tang Su about the book’s Eris symbol, and Tang Su described Eris as a vessel for an ancient evil god.
• Su Cheng merged the new smart bags with her existing bag, rode through the apartment complex’s exit, and messaged Yan Yu from outside the main gate.
• Yan Yu arrived by car, and Su Cheng loaded her bicycle into the trunk before they set off for An Tavern to meet Xu Shaowei.
• Su Cheng told Yan Yu she had unlocked her Gene Lock, and Yan Yu said Xu Shaowei had unlocked his in his last instance and offered to show Su Cheng the central district.

Su Cheng toured the Central Circle with Yan Yu and Xu Shaowei, learning about its shops, points, and competitions before witnessing a confrontation with the Toward the Moon Society. At a warehouse market, she found epidemic-prevention supplies and began negotiating with the seller.

• Yan Yu brought Su Cheng to a tavern, where they met Xu Shaowei and compared their Gene Lock abilities and experiences triggering them.
• Yan Yu and Xu Shaowei showed Su Cheng around the Central Circle and explained that points were used for purchases and trades.
• The three shared their instance histories and learned that completing a first special instance granted a street-level competition ticket.
• They saw Toward the Moon Society members flee an alley after an unknown boy fought them, and Su Cheng judged the boy formidable.
• At the warehouse market, Su Cheng found a stall selling epidemic-prevention supplies and asked the bald seller what he wanted in exchange.

Su Cheng entered the Plague instance, where she recognized the danger of the Black Death and took precautions to protect herself from fleas and infection. After preparing a disinfected shelter, she discovered that Mu Ling had followed her into the instance.

• Su Cheng traded food and nutrient solutions for protective suits, disinfectant, alcohol, and masks, then spent time with Yan Yu and Xu Shaowei before returning to her apartment to recover.
• After preparing supplies, Su Cheng entered a new instance and found two kneeling figures dressed as plague doctors.
• Su Cheng recognized the plague doctors as a warning of the Black Death and learned that she had to survive five days to earn 400 points and return to the apartment.
• Su Cheng ran into the woods, put on a protective suit, cleared and disinfected a patch of ground, and sprayed herself with mosquito repellent.
• Mu Ling spoke through a wooden bead bracelet on Su Cheng's wrist and asked whether the train journey had also been an instance.

Su Cheng used her contract with Mu Ling to explore a plague-stricken village, where two beak-masked doctors tried bloodletting to treat an infected woman. Mu Ling returned with eggs and liquor, then retreated into the wooden bead to recover because the instance had too little qi.

• Su Cheng learned she could release Mu Ling from the wooden bead and examined Mu Ling's remnant-soul abilities and status.
• Su Cheng used Shared Senses to follow the two beak-masked doctors as they entered a village filled with sick people, corpses, and filth.
• The doctors cut an infected woman's limbs to bleed out supposed toxins while Mu Ling judged their treatment useless and surveyed the village.
• Mu Ling found food in a rat-infested cellar, but Su Cheng rejected the potatoes and wheat as unsafe; Mu Ling instead collected fifteen eggs and several bottles of liquor.
• Mu Ling returned to Su Cheng, complained that the area lacked qi, and went back into the wooden bead to rest; Su Cheng sprayed the eggs and liquor with alcohol.

Su Cheng spent the night in a mountain clearing, then gave the plague-stricken villagers instructions for limiting the disease before leaving to avoid further danger. She followed a stream through the forest, gathered unfamiliar berries, and continued onward without finding food to hunt.

• Su Cheng camped overnight in a clearing, burned weeds, and considered how she might safely collect supplies from an infected village.
• At dawn, two plague doctors brought surviving villagers to the clearing, and the villagers begged to meet the supposed divine messenger.
• Su Cheng told the villagers to isolate the sick, burn plague victims’ bodies, bathe, clean their surroundings, and control rats, then left without offering to treat them.
• Su Cheng decided to leave the mountain after realizing her reputation as a divine messenger could attract more villagers.
• Su Cheng followed a stream, missed a hare with her thrown dagger, collected unfamiliar red berries, and continued downstream.

Su Cheng met Lu Heng, a Survival Apartment resident who was treating the plague in Bru Village with medicine made from plants. After discovering a group of sick travelers heading there in search of a rumored divine envoy, Su Cheng hurried to warn Lu Heng.

• Su Cheng met Lu Heng in the mountains and learned that he had spent four days in the instance and was staying in a village where the plague was under control.
• Su Cheng sent Mu Ling to follow Lu Heng and saw him transform gathered plants into medicine and treat villagers in Bru Village.
• Su Cheng observed that Lu Heng was trusted by the villagers, who used protective measures and cared for the sick in a quarantine zone.
• Su Cheng heard a group of sick travelers discussing their plan to reach Bru Village and seek its rumored divine envoy.
• Worried the travelers might disrupt the village and Lu Heng's efforts, Su Cheng ran toward Bru Village to find him first.

Su Cheng warned Lu Heng that eighteen infected people were approaching Bru Village and agreed to help him handle them without bloodshed. She posed as a divine envoy with Mu Ling’s help, convincing the group to submit, and the chapter ended with Lu Heng planning to shelter them outside the village despite having little medicine.

• Su Cheng reached Bru Village and warned Lu Heng that eighteen armed infected people were heading there because they sought the divine envoy.
• Su Cheng agreed to help Lu Heng, asked him to keep the villagers indoors, and borrowed the sprayer and his cross necklace.
• Su Cheng met the approaching group and claimed to be God’s divine envoy, but Danlise and Danny remained doubtful.
• Mu Ling appeared as a mist-shrouded figure in a white robe, and Danlise, Danny, and the others knelt in belief.
• Su Cheng sprayed the group with diluted disinfectant as holy water, then Lu Heng said he would keep them outside the village because his medicine could save only some mildly ill people.
• Lu Heng asked whether Su Cheng’s illusion came from her class, and Su Cheng asked what his class was.

Su Cheng learned that Lu Heng’s profession as a pharmaceutical manufacturer gave him experience for curing villagers, and traded his medicine-making for a favor. After Lu Heng prepared medicines from her herbs, Su Cheng moved into a village house and was welcomed as a divine envoy.

• Su Cheng waited at Lu Heng’s house while he reassured the villagers, then asked him how he had obtained his profession.
• Lu Heng said his pharmacist background and saving someone with herbs had triggered his profession, which gained experience when he treated sick villagers.
• Su Cheng traded a favor—looking after recovered villagers for twenty-four hours after Lu Heng left the instance—in exchange for medicine made from her gathered herbs.
• Lu Heng transformed the herbs into tablets, pills, and syringes of medicine, including antibiotics and a hallucinogen.
• Su Cheng moved into a house the villagers prepared and accepted their offerings as they treated her as a divine envoy.

Su Cheng traded supplies with the villagers, settled into her temporary house, and spent the night thinking about how to obtain a class. The next morning, she found a plague-infected man dead from a possible gunshot wound on the mountain and warned the village chief to evacuate, claiming she had foreseen a massacre.

• Su Cheng traded food and supplies with villagers, disinfected her house, and rested for the night.
• Su Cheng considered how classes were obtained, then woke early and went to the mountain to gather herbs and practice archery.
• Su Cheng found a plague-infected man dead behind a tree with a chest wound that might have been caused by a gunshot.
• Su Cheng continued gathering herbs and practicing before returning to the village and getting her protective suit sprayed with disinfectant.
• Su Cheng told the village chief to move the village, falsely claiming she had foreseen a murderer arriving to kill the villagers.

Su Cheng helped the villagers escape the plague and relocate, then discovered a ruthless woman in protective clothing slaughtering natives with an unknown ability. After warning the chief, Su Cheng completed the instance and returned to Apartment No. 1167 with spring water and a free medical treatment.

• Su Cheng warned the village chief that apartment residents might endanger the villagers, and he began arranging their relocation.
• Lu Heng cured the villagers, left the instance, and Danlise and her group departed before the chief led the villagers into the mountains.
• Su Cheng followed Mu Ling to a village where a woman in protective clothing had killed its inhabitants and shot people hiding inside a water vat.
• Su Cheng returned to the villagers, accepted a flower crown, hunted with them, and warned the chief to avoid people in white protective clothing.
• Su Cheng completed the instance with 400 points, brought bottled spring water with her, and returned to her apartment with a free medical treatment.

After returning from an instance, Su Cheng traded supplies with Hai Shuang, bought throwing darts and smart bags, and prepared for another trip. Elevator ① sent her into a mist-covered instance where she had to survive seven days and could optionally collect information about mist monsters.

• Su Cheng recovered in the medical pod, asked Lin Deng how to become an apartment employee, and learned that the role required passing a rigorous professional assessment.
• Su Cheng traded spare kitchen knives, scissors, jerky, and eggs with Hai Shuang and exchanged information about the gene lock for supplies.
• Su Cheng bought poison-reservoir throwing darts and two smart bags, then packed for her next instance.
• Su Cheng entered Elevator ① and arrived in an alley swallowed by dense, unnaturally silent mist.
• The system announced that Su Cheng had to survive for seven days, with an optional advanced mission to collect five entries in the mist monster bestiary.
• Su Cheng pressed herself against the alley wall and began moving cautiously toward shelter.

Su Cheng learned that the fog’s monsters hunted by sound and could imitate human cries for help, then found shelter in Fangfang Small Restaurant. There, she learned it was the sixth day of the fog and that a government message advised survivors to reach a nearby lake island, only three kilometers away.

• Su Cheng heard a monster crush a can and realized the creatures in the fog were silent and highly sensitive to noise.
• Two monsters mimicked frightened people asking for help, so Su Cheng avoided them by rounding a wall corner and continuing along it.
• Su Cheng found Fangfang Small Restaurant, where the owner’s wife opened a carefully soundproofed door and let her inside.
• The owner’s wife told Su Cheng through a phone that the fog had arrived six days earlier, while apartment residents Wang Yang and Li Mu tried to approach her.
• Su Cheng ignored Wang Yang, muffled her shoes with sanitary pads, and read a government message warning that monsters could not swim and advising survivors to reach an island in a lake.
• The owner’s wife told Su Cheng that the island was only three kilometers away.

Su Cheng agreed to prepare with the restaurant proprietress’s family to reach the lake island, then explored the neighboring buildings with Mu Ling to investigate monsters and her collection quest. Mu Ling found a giant spider monster and a voice-mimicking creature, while Su Cheng remained unsure whether she would need to kill monsters to collect them.

• Su Cheng and the proprietress agreed to wait for a suitable chance to reach the island, prepare supplies, plan a route, and add soundproofing to their shoes.
• Su Cheng went upstairs and noticed large spiderwebs covering a window in the neighboring building.
• Su Cheng summoned Mu Ling, who entered the building and found a huge spider monster beside the remains of its victims; seeing it did not trigger a collection notification.
• Mu Ling explored nearby shops and encountered a crocodile-sized monster that mimicked a frightened human voice before it disappeared into the fog.
• Mu Ling entered a small mall, where she saw signs of a violent struggle and found that its escalators continued running without drawing monsters.

Su Cheng mapped the fog’s daily cycle, prepared weapons, and left the restaurant to reach the shopping center while Mu Ling scouted ahead. She began quietly gathering supplies in the basement supermarket as a mutated rat carried prey inside.

• Su Cheng spotted a newly arrived apartment resident in the supermarket, sent Mu Ling back into her bracelet, and mapped the route from the restaurant to the shopping center.
• Su Cheng prepared arrows and darts with alcohol-soaked gauze and hallucinogenic drugs, then watched the fog thin after dusk and thicken again before dawn.
• Su Cheng worked out that the fog was thinnest around one in the morning and densest from five in the morning through the day, then rested before leaving.
• The proprietress showed Su Cheng the route to the island, but Su Cheng told her she was going out and asked her to open the door again in about an hour.
• Su Cheng summoned Mu Ling to scout as they headed for the shopping center, where Mu Ling spotted a mutated rat carrying human thighs into the building.
• Su Cheng entered the basement supermarket and silently stored scattered household goods, toiletries, snacks, and drinks in her Smart Bag.

Su Cheng rescued Hao Ruoxue from the monster-infested mall and set it ablaze with Mu Ling’s help. As they escaped into the fog, a sudden downpour threatened to extinguish the fire, and no monsters had appeared along their route yet.

• Su Cheng spotted Hao Ruoxue beneath a cluster of Stinging Snails and had Mu Ling lure the monsters away while they gathered supplies.
• Su Cheng and Hao Ruoxue left the mall as Mu Ling spread oil and alcohol throughout it, then Su Cheng gave the signal to start the fire.
• The flames spread through the mall, and Su Cheng and Hao Ruoxue escaped into the fog while Mu Ling was recalled into her bracelet to rest.
• The system announced that Su Cheng had completed collection missions for the Long-Tailed Red Rat, Eight-Eyed White Spider, and Stinging Snail.
• Rain poured down soon after the fire started, and Su Cheng and Hao Ruoxue continued through the fog without encountering any monsters.

Su Cheng led Hao Ruoxue and the restaurant owner's family through the heavy rain toward the island in the middle of the lake, with Wang Yang and Li Mu joining them. A mutated lizard attacked after Su Cheng spotted it, and Li Mu was left behind as the others took cover.

• Su Cheng returned to the restaurant with Hao Ruoxue and announced that they would leave for the island that night while the rain kept monsters less active.
• Hao Ruoxue changed into dry clothes, agreed to travel with Su Cheng, and heard a brief explanation about the apartment's instances.
• At 8:30, Su Cheng, Hao Ruoxue, the owner's family, Wang Yang, and Li Mu set out through the rain toward the island.
• A lightning flash revealed a pair of green eyes high on a wall, and Su Cheng ordered everyone to turn off their lights and run for cover.
• Wang Yang and Li Mu failed to reach the overturned vehicle in time, and a mutated lizard pounced on Li Mu and began biting him.

Su Cheng distracted the monsters long enough to escape with the others and completed her monster collection mission. She reached the lakeside ticket booth, where Hao Ruoxue and the others were hiding, and planned to lure away the monster sheltering there so they could board a boat.

• Wang Yang fled from the lizard monsters and then threw firecrackers toward Su Cheng to draw them after her, but Su Cheng hit him with a hallucinogen dart and escaped the tear-gas smoke.
• Su Cheng led a cochlea-headed monster into the smoke, where it collided with a blinded lizard monster and the two creatures attacked each other.
• Su Cheng’s bestiary recorded the Long-Tailed Gecko and Climbing Vine Lizard, completing her monster collection mission.
• Su Cheng followed the lakeshore with Mu Ling’s help, found the ticket booth, and discovered Hao Ruoxue and the others hiding near a dormant Long-Tailed Gecko.
• Su Cheng told Hao Ruoxue she would lure the monster away so the group could board a boat, and Hao Ruoxue praised her.

Su Cheng killed the Long-Tailed Gecko, escaped a pack of Climbing Vine Lizards with Hao Ruoxue and the proprietor’s family, and brought them to shelter on the lake island. The group settled in a pavilion for the night, where Su Cheng began the first watch.

• Su Cheng lured the Long-Tailed Gecko away from Hao Ruoxue, then attacked and killed it despite its corrosive fluids and painful vibrations.
• Su Cheng discovered five or six Climbing Vine Lizards pursuing her and raced back to the ticket office, where Hao Ruoxue and the proprietors were waiting in a boat.
• The boat escaped across the lake; the Climbing Vine Lizards that jumped into the water drowned, while the others stayed on shore.
• The proprietor steered the boat to the wrong side of the island, so Su Cheng tied it to a tree and followed the proprietress’s directions to a resting pavilion.
• Su Cheng gave everyone towels, food, and a place to sleep, assigned two-hour watches, and took the first watch as rain continued to fall.