Chapter Summaries

Captain Chu and Mr. Ge questioned Xu Chen about the Taihao Mausoleum and the spreading diseases, but Xu Chen revealed that Special Corrosion on cultural relics seemed abnormal. He asked Mr. Ge to investigate which relics had been damaged at the site museums he listed, leaving the inquiry open.

• Captain Chu dropped his questions about Xu Chen's source of information after the think tank warned that pressing him could damage his cooperation.
• Mr. Ge asked Xu Chen about Taihao and his earlier conjecture, then explained that strange disease outbreaks had appeared around the world and might return.
• Xu Chen raised his suspicion that Special Corrosion on cultural relics was abnormal, but Mr. Ge initially treated it as a natural phenomenon.
• As Mr. Ge prepared a confidentiality agreement, Xu Chen insisted that his discovery be taken seriously and asked him to investigate relics damaged by Special Corrosion at the site museums he wrote down.

Xu Chen showed Elder Ge that injured and healed Stone Age remains were disproportionately affected by Special Corrosion, leading them to suspect someone was erasing traces of humanity. Elder Ge planned to test the artifacts for unnatural damage, while Xu Chen left the meeting under a confidentiality agreement.

• Xu Chen reviewed the uploaded artifact records and found that many remains with healed injuries or abnormalities had been affected by Special Corrosion.
• Xu Chen asked Elder Ge to consider whether a person had caused the corrosion, and showed him the pattern among ancient human remains.
• Elder Ge calculated that the pattern was statistically unlikely and connected it to the idea that caring for injured people marked the beginning of civilization.
• Elder Ge proposed that someone—possibly aliens—was destroying cultural artifacts and might be linked to the coastal fungal infection, aiming to erase every trace of humanity.
• Elder Ge suggested testing the artifacts for unnatural damage, then asked Xu Chen to sign a confidentiality agreement and leave while he discussed the discovery with the others.

Xu Chen reflected on how ancient human remains revealed the beginnings of civilization and found reports of damage to similar remains overseas. Old Ge organized a response, linking the threat of Special Corrosion to an effort to erase civilization, while arranging an equipment escort and further research.

• Xu Chen explained that ancient remains showing survival after illness or tooth loss revealed early human care and mutual aid.
• Xu Chen found a minor archaeologist’s reports about damage to ancient human remains abroad and hoped Old Ge would investigate.
• Old Ge requisitioned equipment from the Physics Institute and assigned the deputy regimental commander’s forces to escort it.
• Old Ge ordered Captain Chu to brief Yang Tianyou and gather information about damaged human remains both domestically and abroad.
• Old Ge told the deputy regimental commander that Special Corrosion might lead them to whoever was trying to erase civilization, and promised his regiment a future mission.

Xu Chen learned that Song Tian’s father had chronic myeloid leukemia that had rapidly progressed to the accelerated phase despite extensive treatment. After reviewing the records, Xu Chen wondered whether gene therapy might still offer a solution.

• Xu Chen found Song Tian distressed because his father was ill and the family company faced trouble with overseas suppliers.
• Song Tian showed Xu Chen his sister’s messages and his father’s diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia in the accelerated phase.
• Xu Chen discovered that Song Tian’s father had been diagnosed a month earlier and that the disease had advanced rapidly despite medication and repeated treatment.
• Xu Chen realized the current drugs had been stopped because they were ineffective and Song Tian’s father could no longer tolerate chemotherapy.
• Xu Chen considered whether doctors might be preparing to try gene therapy as a possible treatment.

Xu Chen accompanied Song Tian to visit his critically ill father, whose unusual Chronic Myeloid Leukemia had resisted several medications. At the hospital, Xu Chen found a CT scan showing severe abnormal bone growth in Father Song’s femurs, a condition absent from the case information he had received.

• Xu Chen sent Song Tian’s medical records to Ouyang Xing, who reported that the hospital’s experts had formed a team but could do little as the illness advanced rapidly.
• Xu Chen and Song Tian went to the hospital, where Song Tian reunited with his father and sister.
• Xu Chen examined the unused medical records and the boxes of leukemia medication that had failed to treat Father Song.
• Xu Chen found a concealed CT scan and saw that Father Song’s femurs were severely deformed by abnormal bone growth.
• Xu Chen searched whether Chronic Myeloid Leukemia could explain the bone changes and found that the conditions might be related to blood cancers.

Xu Chen learned that Song Tian's father had rapidly progressing chronic myeloid leukemia and that available treatments were unlikely to save him. After Song Tian went to be with his father, Xu Chen examined photos of the man's thighs and discovered a grotesque deformity that seemed far more severe than the doctors had described.

• Xu Chen and Song Tian asked the attending physician about Father Song's condition, and the doctor said his leukemia was near blast phase with few treatment options.
• Xu Chen learned that gene therapy might help, but it was unlikely to be ready before Father Song's condition worsened.
• Xu Chen reviewed the doctor's notes and found that Father Song's disease resisted existing drugs and was progressing rapidly.
• Xu Chen told Song Tian the prognosis was grim and offered to help him seek medical trials, so Song Tian went back to the ward to spend time with his father.
• Xu Chen found a file of photos of Father Song's thighs and was stunned by the twisted, severely deformed masses of flesh.

Xu Chen was escorted by soldiers to a military hospital, where Captain Chu told him that Old Ge was dying from unexplained systemic organ failure and had requested to speak with him alone. Xu Chen began recording their conversation and approached Old Ge, who weakly called him closer.

• Xu Chen studied cancer development in class and wrote down a thought about carcinogens.
• Two noncommissioned officers and six armed soldiers took Xu Chen from class in a Type 08 Infantry Fighting Vehicle to a military hospital.
• Captain Chu told Xu Chen that Old Ge was in critical condition and wanted to speak with him privately, while asking Xu Chen to record their conversation.
• Xu Chen entered Old Ge's room, turned on the recorder, and saw that machines were keeping the unconscious-looking man alive.
• Old Ge opened his eyes, declined Xu Chen's offer of water, and told him to come closer.

Xu Chen listened as Old Ge tried to describe a mysterious dream, but Old Ge died after the medication pump administered an overdose of propofol. The Nanhua Military Region reported his death to the central government and ordered the nation to mourn.

• Old Ge asked Xu Chen to remove his respirator, then described a magnificent dream and warned that speaking of it seemed dangerous.
• Old Ge struggled to explain that Xu Chen was more solid than the others and would not be washed away, as his heart rate rose and the medication pump administered repeated doses.
• Old Ge told Xu Chen that the indescribable thing was beyond words and that all things rejoiced at one who understood, then collapsed as the pump continued injecting medication.
• Xu Chen stopped the IV line and called for a doctor, but Old Ge died of cardiac arrest caused by a propofol overdose.
• An officer ordered Lian Gaoming to notify the central government that Old Ge had died, and the Nanhua Military Region announced national mourning.

After Old Ge’s fatal overdose, investigators questioned hospital staff and examined the faulty recording equipment. Xu Chen was detained and interrogated about damaging the recorder, but the officers were using the session to reconstruct his conversation with Old Ge.

• Doctors discussed whether Old Ge’s drug pump or vital signs monitor had malfunctioned, and Xu Chen considered whether Old Ge’s agitated state could have affected his heartbeat.
• Captain Chu called Engineer Cheng into the meeting room for technical support.
• Armed soldiers detained Xu Chen and took him to an interrogation room.
• Two public security officers questioned Xu Chen about damaging the recording equipment, then asked him to recount his conversation with Old Ge.
• In the conference room, Captain Chu objected to Xu Chen’s treatment, but an official said they needed his account because the recorder held no speech.

Xu Chen joined a meeting about Old Ge’s death and the missing voices in the recording, learning that Old Ge’s body had aged abnormally and that his research notes on the cultural relics’ special corrosion remained unreadable. The chapter ended with Xu Chen growing alarmed that Old Ge’s high-energy physics discovery was still unexplained.

• Captain Chu explained that the recording device had worked normally, but the playback contained only sounds and none of Xu Chen and Old Ge’s conversation.
• Xu Chen suggested Old Ge may have prevented the conversation from being recorded, but Captain Chu said Old Ge lacked the technical means and the cause remained unknown.
• An elderly man explained that an extraordinary amount of free radicals had caused Old Ge’s body to age rapidly, while investigators had ruled out chemical poisoning.
• Xu Chen asked about Old Ge’s research into the special corrosion of cultural relics, and Old Ge’s student said the teacher’s handwriting made his notes impossible to understand.
• Old Ge’s student said the research might have uncovered something in high-energy physics, but the team had discovered nothing yet, leaving Xu Chen deeply uneasy.

Xu Chen and the investigators examined Old Ge’s notebook, which was filled with seemingly meaningless circles, then asked Xu Chen what Old Ge’s final message meant. When Xu Chen said “Cthulhu,” an immense consciousness reached into his mind, but he resisted its influence and cut off the unnatural joy it had imposed.

• A technician copied the photographs of Old Ge’s notebook from his student’s phone and displayed the pages for the conference room.
• The investigators and a handwriting analyst found only dense, irregular circles in the notes and sent them to the technical team for analysis.
• The investigators asked Xu Chen to explain Old Ge’s message, and Xu Chen recalled that the final words evoked the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Xu Chen said “Cthulhu” and sensed an immense consciousness above him, which filled his mind with thoughts of raising, harvesting, and spreading.
• Xu Chen felt forced joy and an urge to look up, but he shouted a curse, sprang to his feet, and shut his eyes, abruptly ending the joy and silencing the presence.

Xu Chen found that he could no longer speak, write, type, or otherwise communicate information after trying to reveal what Old Ge had discovered. Unable to alert the conference room, he privately deduced that a Cthulhu-like mastermind had silenced Old Ge and him, then wondered whether Old Ge had left a hidden message about Special Corrosion.

• After Xu Chen lost his voice, the conference room tried writing, typing, dictionary selection, and surveillance footage, but each method failed to reveal what he had tried to say.
• The conference room concluded that an unknown enemy could disrupt cognition and ordered inquiries into how such a weapon worked and whether it could be countered.
• Xu Chen selected books through a process of elimination but ended up with Andersen's Fairy Tales instead of the Cthulhu Mythos he wanted.
• Xu Chen deduced that Old Ge had uncovered information about the mastermind while researching Special Corrosion, and that the mastermind had killed Old Ge and scrambled Xu Chen's cognition to prevent the information from spreading.
• Xu Chen suspected the mastermind might be Cthulhu and considered that understanding Special Corrosion could help humanity resist the destruction of cultural relics.
• Xu Chen reconsidered Old Ge's final words and wondered whether they had contained a hidden message, but he could find no useful information in them.

Xu Chen received a warning from Yang Tianyou and discovered that the jade jue let him speak again. He linked the warning to the infected patients and tested writing Cthulhu’s name, triggering another disturbing vision.

• Captain Chu gave Xu Chen Yang Tianyou’s package, which contained a warning letter and a jade jue pendant.
• Xu Chen found that he could speak while holding the jade jue, so he made it into a necklace and wore it.
• Xu Chen realized Yang Tianyou’s warning about people being washed away likely referred to the Aspergillus flavus patients who had been part of the internship group.
• Xu Chen wrote to Yang Tianyou asking how he knew about the incident and where the jade jue came from, then sent the letter with Captain Chu.
• Xu Chen wrote Cthulhu’s name on paper and saw a dark, writhing vision before tearing the page into pieces.

Xu Chen questioned the possibility that harmful information could affect or kill people, connecting the idea to Taihao disease and the typhoon wind-field map. He refused to continue cooperating until Captain Chu removed his earpiece and agreed to be checked for other listening devices.

• Xu Chen kept the forbidden name to himself, and Captain Chu found scraps of paper bearing an unknown script and sent them to the Think Tank.
• Captain Chu asked Xu Chen what had happened during the missing stretch of time and what he had tried to say at their previous meeting.
• Xu Chen recounted a story about a prisoner who died after believing he was bleeding, then explained how information could shape bodily responses.
• Captain Chu revealed that harmful information was possible and linked the concept to the typhoon wind-field map associated with Taihao disease.
• Xu Chen suspected Captain Chu was transmitting their conversation, so he demanded that Captain Chu remove his earpiece and submit to a metal-detector check.

Xu Chen warned Captain Chu about a supernatural entity whose name could bring madness, but attempts to record details of Him were distorted by a supernatural effect. They reasoned that the entity might be planning to destroy human civilization through a psychic plague, and Captain Chu fell silent as he considered Xu Chen’s earlier exposure to its gaze.

• Xu Chen told Captain Chu about an entity he called “He,” whose name could attract its attention and drive those it gazed upon into madness.
• As Xu Chen described the entity, Captain Chu’s clothes became soaked with salty seawater, and his notes transformed into the same distorted script Xu Chen had found before.
• Xu Chen and Captain Chu set aside the entity’s identity and discussed whether He was behind the strange cases, Taihao disease, Aspergillus flavus infections, and the destruction of cultural relics.
• Xu Chen suggested that the entity might spread madness by spreading its name, and Captain Chu wondered why it had not already done so.
• Xu Chen recalled that he had lost the ability to speak after saying the entity’s name in the conference room, and Captain Chu fell silent as he looked at the one under its gaze.

Captain Chu’s think tank questioned whether Xu Chen had correctly identified the supernatural forces around him, and testing Cthulhu’s name left Captain Chu briefly bewildered without causing a disaster. Xu Chen returned to his dormitory and tried to recreate the noisy atmosphere that helped him study while Song Tian was away.

• Captain Chu briefed his five-person think tank on Xu Chen’s information, and an investigator suggested that Xu Chen might be protected by another supernatural being and could not be certain there was only one.
• Captain Chu told Xu Chen that the investigator suspected Taihao was helping him, and Xu Chen agreed to test Cthulhu’s name with the Jade Jue in hand.
• Xu Chen said “Cthulhu” to Captain Chu, but Captain Chu only lost his senses briefly and then could not remember hearing the name.
• Xu Chen returned to his empty dormitory, collected missed class handouts, and began catching up on his studies.
• Xu Chen turned on Song Tian’s television and raised the news volume to recreate the lively noise that made studying feel more productive.

Captain Chu learned that the information about the supernatural creature was infecting the investigators and changing their personalities, while the search for Old Ge’s research yielded little. He drafted a contingency order directing his team to control Xu Chen if he died, then regained some confidence as an investigator urged him to keep pursuing the hidden creature.

• Old Ge’s student told Captain Chu that the research had only revealed experiments related to high-energy physics and thermodynamics, so Captain Chu arranged for Academician Tang to help.
• The think tank told Captain Chu that information about Him carried a mysterious power and caused emotional blunting and unexplained memories.
• A psychologist warned that Captain Chu’s changes were the most severe and that the creature might kill or replace them.
• Captain Chu drafted an application directing his team to deal with Xu Chen if he died, hoping they would keep Xu Chen under control.
• An investigator reassured Captain Chu that the creature could be caught, and Captain Chu considered whether a missile strike might be necessary.

Xu Chen discovered how severely culture had declined in his world and reflected on the loss of historical works and relics to Special Corrosion. While watching Old Ge’s funeral, he noticed a United Nations announcement that revived his suspicion that Song Tian and his notes on carcinogens were connected to the mystery.

• Xu Chen found that many historical sites and classic works were missing or damaged, and concluded that culture had declined while entertainment flourished.
• Xu Chen reflected on Old Ge’s discoveries, death, and possible reasons for not sharing what he knew about the mastermind’s methods.
• Xu Chen watched Old Ge’s coffin being lowered into the grave and paid his respects from home.
• Xu Chen saw a news ticker announcing a United Nations meeting about pressure on global healthcare and the customs inspection system.
• Xu Chen retrieved his notes and, after reading his list of carcinogens, suspected they might connect to Song Tian and the broken trail of clues.

Meng Hua asked Academician Tang to investigate Academician Ge’s cryptic research notes, and Tang found a possible lead in Ge’s final words. Tang left Meng Hua a coded string and instructions before departing to verify his suspicions, fearing the mysterious entity that had killed Ge might target him next.

• Meng Hua explained that Academician Ge’s notes were incomprehensible and asked Academician Tang to infer Ge’s research from the experiment records.
• Academician Tang examined the data, noticed anomalies, and scolded Meng Hua’s team over a measurement error before deciding the flawed data was not essential.
• Tang read the records of Ge’s conversations with Xu Chen and focused on the statement that matter and time solidified into small pieces.
• Tang wrote Meng Hua a long string of numbers as a clue, told him to study thermodynamics, and instructed him to alert the authorities if Tang did not return.
• Academician Tang hurried away with the materials, believing the mysterious entity that had taken Ge might claim him as well.

Xu Chen found that fungal infections had overwhelmed medical systems around the world, then suspected Cthulhu was using a different method to make people ill in the country after earlier measures failed. He ended the chapter investigating the link between rising domestic illnesses, immune disorders, and Cthulhu’s attempts to reduce the population.

• Xu Chen read reports of mycotoxin infections spreading worldwide and collapsing medical systems in some countries.
• Xu Chen compared the overseas fungal outbreak with the more violent Aspergillus flavus infection that had been contained at home.
• Xu Chen suspected Cthulhu had influenced his thoughts when he repeatedly wrote that tritiated water was causing rising pressure on domestic public health services.
• Xu Chen found that inland illnesses and immune disorders could not be explained by tritiated water alone.
• Xu Chen checked Song Tian's father's medical records and found bone lesions linked to immune system dysfunction.
• Xu Chen wrote that Cthulhu might be using new methods to make people ill after previous methods had failed.