Chapter Summaries

Su Cheng and her companions defeated Liu Huizi on the ninth floor, where Su Cheng uncovered the ghost’s past before burning her away. They reached the tenth-floor administrative level, whose strange state left them shocked.

• Su Cheng, Yan Yu, and Song Yichi emerged from the operating room and joined Mu Ling’s fight against Liu Huizi.
• Su Cheng pinned Liu Huizi with the boning knife, then used Soul Attraction to learn how Wang Ye’s betrayal and Golden Leaf Town’s pressure had led to her death and vengeance.
• Su Cheng burned Liu Huizi’s weakened soul, completing the random quest, while Mu Ling and the others cleared away the remaining resentment.
• Yan Yu told Su Cheng that she had received a pending quest to visit the Golden Leaf Slaughterhouse, and Su Cheng said she had received quests for other locations.
• Su Cheng, Yan Yu, and Song Yichi opened the tenth-floor doors and found the administrative floor’s computers and desks piled into a small mountain.

Su Cheng, Yan Yu, and Song Yichi discovered Liu Huizi was raising twin Ghost Kings and completed the hospital quest by sealing the placenta chute. Su Cheng and Yan Yu then accepted a pending quest to travel to Golden Leaf High School, while Ai Xiang was left trapped with the hungry twins.

• Su Cheng realized Liu Huizi was feeding the unborn Ghost King twins with placentas and concluded they had to stop the supply rather than wake or fight them.
• Su Cheng, Yan Yu, and Song Yichi packed the chute with furniture and sealed its opening with steel plates, completing the main quest.
• As the contestants were teleported, Su Cheng and Yan Yu accepted a pending quest directing them to board bus w04 for Golden Leaf High School.
• Su Cheng placed talismans on the sealed chute and the tenth-floor door before she and Yan Yu hurried down the stairs.
• After they left, Ai Xiang tried to feed the twins but found herself trapped on the tenth floor by the talismans, while their calls for food distressed her.

Su Cheng left Golden Leaf Hospital and boarded bus w04, where she observed a town whose people followed strangely strict rules. She reached Golden Leaf High School, received the identity of a Chinese teacher, and began the random quest “Our Teacher” as she investigated the campus.

• Su Cheng and Yan Yu raced to the bus stop before their countdowns expired, and Su Cheng gave Yan Yu a Soul-Pointing Needle and a yellow talisman before they boarded separate buses.
• On bus w04, Su Cheng found the passengers unnervingly expressionless and learned from an elderly man that Golden Leaf High School was the next stop.
• Su Cheng saw silent pedestrians, rigid traffic rules, and bodies run over along the roadside as the bus passed through the town.
• At Golden Leaf High School, Uncle Liu recognized Su Cheng as a teacher and let her through the turnstile after her employee ID changed to identify her as a Chinese teacher.
• The system began the random quest “Our Teacher,” and Su Cheng entered the teaching building, where she examined the honor roll and the wall of shame.

Su Cheng discovered that Golden Leaf Town was subtly altering her consciousness and making her believe she belonged at Golden Leaf High School. After examining the school's punishing rules and performance system, she headed to senior year class 1 to teach Chinese.

• Mu Ling pointed out that Su Cheng seemed familiar with the school, prompting Su Cheng to realize her identity was being imposed on her and to recall other signs of the intrusion.
• Su Cheng asked Mu Ling to watch for changes in her behavior, and Mu Ling agreed to alert her if anything seemed wrong.
• Su Cheng entered the teachers' office and found that her name was at the bottom of a performance ranking with 60 points.
• Su Cheng read the teacher's guide and school rules, learning that teachers and students faced harsh penalties tied to academic rankings and performance points.
• After the bell, Su Cheng took the Chinese textbook to senior year class 1, where fifty students sat waiting in rigid silence.

Su Cheng began teaching an honors class at Golden Leaf High School, where the students studied with unnerving obedience and showed no reaction when a classmate fell to his death. After losing performance points and learning she had been assigned as Class 1's homeroom teacher, she prepared to conduct a dorm inspection that night despite suspecting it could be dangerous.

• Su Cheng assigned her students self-study, then told Fang Tingrou to help classmates after learning she had memorized every textbook and earned full marks.
• Su Cheng saw a student fall past the classroom window, and Gao Wen entered and described the death as the second student to jump from the roof that week.
• Gao Wen deducted 20 performance points from Su Cheng for engaging in a non-teaching activity during class.
• Gao Wen told Su Cheng she would be Class 1's homeroom teacher for the week and ordered her to inspect the dormitory at 22:00.
• Su Cheng reviewed the teaching system and decided to attend the inspection to seek information and investigate the missions.

Su Cheng investigated Golden Leaf High School, discovered that Hai Lu and several other contestants had been assimilated into its student routines, and learned the school’s strict teaching duties. She began invigilating the evening test and caught a student cheating.

• Su Cheng saw Hai Lu deliver homework and learned from the score sheet that Hai Lu and five other students had rapidly improved, while Yan Xing remained last.
• Su Cheng prepared weekly test questions and a lesson plan, realizing that study-related work could absorb contestants unless she stayed alert and received reminders.
• Su Cheng searched the school, noted that Yan Xing was absent from the students still studying, and wondered what had happened to the student who fell from the building.
• Gao Wen warned Su Cheng for leaving the office and criticized her test questions before the evening weekly test.
• Su Cheng entered the classroom to invigilate the Chinese test and spotted a student cheating.

During the dorm inspection, Su Cheng discovered that teachers and students manifested physical forms of their obsessions, then met Yan Xing outside the dormitory to speak privately. Yan Xing waited behind the classroom building, where the chapter left Su Cheng about to meet her.

• Su Cheng noticed Mu Zhe cheating during the Chinese exam, but decided not to expose him after realizing he was not a contestant.
• At lights-out, Su Cheng saw supernatural mutations on the teachers and inferred that they reflected their obsessions.
• Su Cheng discovered an extra head in her shadow and suspected supernatural forces gave physical form to people's obsessions.
• Su Cheng inspected the girls' dorms, faced threatening shadow tentacles, and slipped a note to Hai Lu and Yan Xing.
• Yan Xing revealed that she remained aware, left the dormitory with Su Cheng, and wrote that they should meet behind the classroom building.
• Su Cheng left the dormitory despite Gao Wen's warning and found Yan Xing waiting behind the classroom building.

Su Cheng and Yan Xing entered the music room to investigate a lead on the main quest, where a piano ghost trapped Su Cheng inside Song Yating’s memories. Su Cheng found clues about Golden Leaf Town’s disturbing rules and family history, then heard Song Yating’s mother call her out to eat.

• Yan Xing told Su Cheng that two students had died after playing a soul-summoning game in the music room and explained that the school’s identity assignment contaminated people’s consciousness.
• Su Cheng said the contamination affected the whole town, and she and Yan Xing hurried to the music room, where an invisible force shut them inside.
• A red-dressed piano ghost attacked them, and Su Cheng found herself in the body of the ghost, Song Yating, inside a girl’s bedroom.
• Su Cheng read newspapers describing Golden Leaf Town’s pharmaceutical campaigns, strict rules, and pressure to have children.
• Su Cheng found Song Yating’s hidden list of warnings, including instructions not to let a younger sibling be born and not to reveal the puppy or toothbrush.
• A woman outside the bedroom called Su Cheng, as Song Yating, to come out for dinner.

Su Cheng encountered the dog-man she suspected was her eliminated older brother and discovered that her pregnant mother planned to have another child. After her parents punished her by sending her to practice piano, she learned they intended to eliminate her once a report passed review.

• Su Cheng saw a yellow dog-man who called her Mom and suspected it was Song Yating's older brother, while her mother's pregnancy brought the note's warning about a younger sibling to mind.
• The dog-man taunted Su Cheng, and she kicked and threw it away before going to the bathroom to inspect her toothbrush.
• Brushing her teeth caused a molar to fall out, and Mom picked it up and swallowed it before telling Su Cheng that a child was part of her mother.
• When Su Cheng moved a stool at dinner, Dad sent her to practice piano, and Mom and Dad discussed wanting only outstanding children.
• As Su Cheng played, needles pierced her fingers, and she overheard Dad say she would go to school the next day and they would stop looking after her once her elimination report passed review.

Su Cheng defeated Song Yating’s illusion and learned that the main quest, “Bloody Baptism,” had begun. The next morning, she found a threatening death drawing of herself among similar drawings left for the teachers, and suspected Mu Zhe.

• Su Cheng saw through Song Yating’s illusion, stabbed the ghost, and burned away her soul while Mu Ling broke free and Yan Xing remained trapped in a nightmare.
• The system triggered the main quest, “Bloody Baptism,” and Su Cheng helped Yan Xing wake before Yan Xing left to rest.
• Su Cheng spent the night meditating in the music room, then joined the students’ morning routine and marked their test papers.
• Teachers found drawings depicting their deaths on their desks, and Su Cheng discovered one showing her hanged with the words “Judgment of Death.”
• Su Cheng suspected Mu Zhe had left the threatening drawing because she had caught him cheating.

Su Cheng searched the principal’s office and uncovered records linking Golden Leaf High School’s elimination system to students and graduates, as well as clues about Gao Wen’s past. She completed the random quest about Gao Wen, then left the office with pills and a list of unqualified teachers, only to be confronted by Gao Wen on the stairs.

• Su Cheng suspected Fang Tingrou and other top students had made the threatening drawings, while Gao Wen collected the drawings and ordered teachers to decorate the auditorium.
• Su Cheng entered the principal’s office and discovered a mannequin in the principal’s chair, then found student records marked for elimination, including Hai Lu, Yan Xing, and Mu Zhe.
• Su Cheng found Song Tingya’s death report and learned that Liu Lingzi had graduated without being eliminated but later became a monster.
• Su Cheng read Gao Wen’s old student file and completed the random quest, “Our Teacher.”
• Su Cheng found green and white pills and a list of unqualified teachers in the principal’s desk, then left when Mu Ling warned that someone was coming.
• Gao Wen caught Su Cheng’s wrist on the stairs and asked whether she had just been to the principal’s office, but Su Cheng broke free.

Su Cheng discovered that Gao Wen was targeting her and suspected her of controlling the school, then joined Yan Xing in predicting that the students would attack the teachers during the evening assembly. At the assembly, Su Cheng noticed the students slowly shifting toward Gao Wen, while Fang Tingrou delivered a strange speech of thanks.

• Gao Wen deducted forty of Su Cheng’s performance points, triggering a random quest connected to Golden Leaf Pharmaceutical Factory.
• Su Cheng noticed Gao Wen’s shadow trying to merge with hers, but a golden light scattered it and her jade pendant warmed.
• Su Cheng took Yan Xing aside, and Yan Xing reported that the top students were passing notes; they agreed that the evening assembly was the likely setting for the students’ revenge.
• Su Cheng prepared weapons and went to the assembly, where Gao Wen gave a speech before Fang Tingrou and two other top students addressed the school.
• Su Cheng noticed students gradually moving toward Gao Wen in the auditorium as Fang Tingrou’s speech ended with thanks to Golden Leaf Town, the school, Director Gao, and their parents.

Su Cheng and Yan Xing escaped the auditorium as the students killed Gao Wen and began hunting the teachers. When the students set the school on fire, Hai Lu regained her senses, and Su Cheng and Yan Xing blew up a classroom building to help break the rules’ hold.

• Su Cheng knocked Hai Lu unconscious and carried her out of the auditorium with Yan Xing while students surrounded Gao Wen.
• Fang Tingrou announced the start of the hunt after the students killed Gao Wen and celebrated in the auditorium.
• Su Cheng and Yan Xing hid in a classroom building and discussed how to stay safe while Yan Xing worked out how to complete her quest.
• Seeing fires spread near the dormitories and cafeteria, Su Cheng realized the students were burning down the school, and Hai Lu woke with her self-awareness restored.
• Su Cheng and Yan Xing fled with Hai Lu, then threw explosives into the classroom building and set it ablaze.

Su Cheng escaped the school, completed the main quest, and activated a quest at Golden Leaf Pharmaceutical Factory. She reached the factory and entered using an employee badge updated with her identity, while Fang Tingrou and the surviving students left the school planning to destroy the town.

• As the school buildings collapsed, Su Cheng realized the monsters would turn on contestants whose minds and bodies were returning to normal, then fought her way toward the gates with Yan Xing and Hai Lu.
• Mu Zhe regained his memories, recognized the monsters around him, and rallied the contestants to attack them.
• A bomb blasted open the school gates, allowing Su Cheng to escape; she completed the main quest and activated the Golden Leaf Pharmaceutical Factory quest.
• An unknown contestant tried to kill Su Cheng with a bomb, but she dodged and ran toward the factory using the system's directional arrow.
• Fang Tingrou and the surviving students left the school by bus after their tentacles turned to ash, and Fang Tingrou said they would destroy the town next.
• Su Cheng reached Golden Leaf Pharmaceutical Factory, used Ai Xiang's badge after its information changed to her name, and entered through the automatic steel door.

Su Cheng entered the pharmaceutical factory, where the contamination began mutating her into a pig, and confronted the factory director, Rong Hao. After killing him, she took over his factory-director identity, leaving her in control of the Golden Leaf Town branch.

• Su Cheng entered the production floor and began growing pig bristles and ears as she explored the factory.
• A red-capped pig-headed worker escorted Su Cheng to the director’s lounge after she presented her teacher ID and requested a bulk order of green tablets.
• Su Cheng used her cultivation formula to suppress her mutations, then summoned Mu Ling and attacked Rong Hao in his office.
• Mu Ling trapped Rong Hao in an illusion and marked him, allowing Su Cheng to kill him before his body exploded.
• Su Cheng found Rong Hao’s factory badge and changed its identity to her own, becoming factory director of the Golden Leaf Town branch.

After Su Cheng took over as factory director, the factory’s rules attacked her consciousness, but she resisted with her cultivation and Mu Ling’s help, unlocking a second-tier gene lock. She investigated the factory’s records and discovered its workforce and drug production were part of a widespread system, then prepared to investigate the medicines further.

• Su Cheng resisted the factory rules’ attempt to seize her consciousness, aided by Mu Ling, and unlocked the Differentiation skill after the attack ended.
• The system lifted Su Cheng’s temporary memory seal, offered compensation, and confirmed her consciousness was normal.
• Su Cheng sensed the factory and its employees without feeling compelled to enforce the rules, realizing she had become a director unbound by them.
• Su Cheng searched Rong Hao’s cabinets and found monthly employee rosters showing 260 people replaced each month, including dismissed teachers turned into factory workers.
• Su Cheng found production targets and records showing the drugs were shipped widely, but the documents did not explain their effects or complete her medicine quest.
• Su Cheng noticed a sunlike symbol on her factory badge as she prepared to investigate the drugs downstairs.

Su Cheng searched the factory for information about its tablets, gathered a large stock of medicine, and then faced a sudden attack that triggered the main quest. As the factory collapsed around her, she sheltered beneath a load-bearing column.

• Su Cheng ordered the tablet department to provide a recent research report and learned that red tablets suppressed emotion and blocked memory, with no known intended users.
• Su Cheng visited the medicine storeroom, inspected the red tablets, and packed hundreds of bottles of green, white, and red tablets into her Smart Bag.
• A barrage shook the factory, and a system alert announced that the factory was under attack.
• Su Cheng ordered the pig-headed employees to take cover, and they obeyed despite their dulled awareness of danger.
• The factory began collapsing, triggering the main quest, Falling Leaves Operation, and Su Cheng sheltered in a triangular space beneath a load-bearing column.

Su Cheng survived the pharmaceutical factory’s collapse, completed the Falling Leaves Operation, and returned to the settlement space, where she learned she had won first place in the tournament. Tao Ci also escaped the ruins and set off in search of her daughter, Ruoruo.

• Tao Ruo and the rebels left the destroyed factory to begin planning their attack on the hospital, while Tao Ruo considered developing a cheaper bomb substitute.
• Su Cheng crawled out of the rubble, completed the Falling Leaves Operation, and was teleported out of the instance.
• After Su Cheng vanished, Tao Ci emerged from the ruins with her human features restored but most of her memories missing, and began searching for Ruoruo.
• In the settlement space, Su Cheng reviewed her completed quests, achievements, and ratings, and learned that 15,963 contestants had survived the tournament.
• Su Cheng saw that she had won first place and began analyzing the settlement information to prepare for future tournaments.

After winning the competition, Su Cheng returned to her apartment, collected her rewards, and enjoyed a quiet meal before catching up on messages. She accepted three new friend requests and began replying to friends, including Hao Ruoxue, whose schedule had kept them from speaking since Su Cheng entered the Silence Instance.

• Su Cheng returned to the apartment consulting room, where Lin Deng said she was in better mental and physical condition than the other residents and gave her a five-minute medicinal bath.
• Su Cheng checked her updated status and received 21,655 points along with a black-and-gold gift box for placing first.
• Su Cheng opened the Thousand-Machine Umbrella and learned it could defend against physical and supernatural attacks, conceal her aura, and fire weapons loaded into its handle.
• Su Cheng counted ten meal vouchers, two supermarket discount vouchers, and a district-level competition voucher, then used a meal voucher to enjoy dinner in her apartment.
• Su Cheng checked her messages, accepted friend requests from Mo Yiyi, Liu Yue, and Hai Lu, and replied to Yan Yu and Xu Shaowei to confirm she had returned safely.
• Su Cheng saw that Hao Ruoxue had messaged while she was offline and read her account of fighting alone after Su Cheng left the Silence Instance.

After returning from the competition, Su Cheng arranged to meet Yan Yu and Xu Shaowei, considered selling her medicines, and searched for ammunition. She upgraded her supermarket membership and received a laser cannon before beginning to shop for supplies.

• Hai Shuang congratulated Su Cheng and explained that she had shared Su Cheng’s contact with Hai Lu, who offered a thank-you gift.
• Su Cheng agreed to meet Yan Yu and Xu Shaowei at An Tavern the next morning and asked them to look for buyers for her medicines.
• The group owner offered to buy Su Cheng’s medicines at set prices, but Su Cheng decided to consider the offer; she also searched for handgun ammunition without finding a seller.
• Su Cheng read residents’ accounts of the competition and suspected she was the big shot who had completed a hospital instance’s main quest.
• Su Cheng upgraded to Apartment Building 1167’s first Super Black Diamond membership and received a high-temperature laser cannon as a gift.
• Su Cheng began shopping for supplements, nutrient solution, Smart Bags, and small bombs.