Chapter Summaries

Su Yang questioned whether the changes in his life were gifts of Fate, then resolved to focus on living one day at a time. At the Soul-Reaping Bureau headquarters, a blind man in red delivered ominous oracles as Gai Fengyan guarded the Omniscients and pursued the Fierce Ghosts.

• Su Yang read the Dead Man's Book's warning that gifts of Fate carried hidden prices and reflected on how his life had improved.
• Su Yang dismissed his worries about Fate and vowed to live tomorrow well.
• At the Soul-Reaping Bureau headquarters, the blind man in red proclaimed that a maiden's disappearance would herald a blade and a great calamity in the Nineteenth Jurisdiction.
• The man in red declared that the God of Fate and Reason, humanity's enemy, had descended upon the world, and the white-robed Omniscients repeated his oracle.
• Gai Fengyan worried that the Omniscients' frequent use of their sequence ability would make them mutate and asked whether the Fierce Ghosts' remnants had been wiped out.

An old man carried out a blood ritual in Muyang City, while Teacher Zhao discovered something horrific beneath his bed. Su Yang woke with new strength and headed to school, planning to thank Ren Yexue.

• An old man drew blood patterns in a basement and said he would spread his flesh and blood throughout the city when the sleeping bell rang.
• Teacher Zhao smelled a stench beneath his bed, found something there, and screamed, while similar events occurred across the city.
• Su Yang woke, summoned his black saber, and tested the immense strength he had gained.
• Su Yang saw his grandmother peacefully watching television and left after she reminded him to thank Ren Yexue.
• Su Yang did not find Ren Yexue at the school bus stop, decided to thank her at school, and boarded the bus.

Su Yang worried when Ren Yexue failed to show up at school and learned that she had taken the day off sick. As he resolved to visit her after school, the principal called him out of class to meet Mr. Director again.

• Su Yang saved a bus seat for Ren Yexue, but she never boarded, and he found her usual classroom seat empty.
• Su Yang messaged Ren Yexue, but she did not reply before class began.
• A substitute teacher told the class that Teacher Zhao and Ren Yexue were both sick and absent.
• Su Yang learned Ren Yexue had taken the day off, then decided to visit her after school.
• The principal interrupted class and summoned Su Yang to see Mr. Director again.

Su Yang learned that destroying Maiden's Soul had led to an unusually complete oracle, sparing Zhao Shengshen from punishment and prompting Headquarters to share news that Su Yang's parents were safe on a high-level mission. Zhao Shengshen welcomed Su Yang into the Soul-Reaping Bureau as a First-Tier Sword-Bearer and took him toward a dangerous mission, joking that their jurisdiction offered especially generous death benefits.

• Zhao Shengshen told Su Yang that an oracle had followed the destruction of Maiden's Soul and that Headquarters had not punished him.
• Zhao Shengshen informed Su Yang that his parents were safe and expected to return before long.
• Zhao Shengshen officially welcomed Su Yang into the Soul-Reaping Bureau as a First-Tier Sword-Bearer, explained his privileges, and warned him to uphold justice.
• Su Yang accepted the dangers of his new role and said he was ready to serve.
• Zhao Shengshen set off with Su Yang for a dangerous mission and boasted about their jurisdiction's generous death benefits.

Zhao Shengshen dragged Su Yang from school to meet the Soul-Reaping Bureau, explaining his ability to conceal them and the power of high-tier Sequence Ability users. They reached the black sedan, and Su Yang reluctantly got in after Zhao Shengshen promised not to speed.

• Zhao Shengshen insisted Su Yang skip class and pulled him out of the school to go on a mission.
• Zhao Shengshen revealed that his Domain could alter people’s emotions, states of mind, and short-term memories, making them unable to notice him and Su Yang.
• Zhao Shengshen explained that Sequence Abilities had nine tiers and recounted how two Demigods erased a city and then restored it, reviving its dead inhabitants.
• Su Yang praised Zhao Shengshen’s strength and role in protecting the city, but Zhao Shengshen claimed he would use Su Yang as a shield if danger arose.
• Zhao Shengshen and Su Yang reached the school gates, and Su Yang got into the black sedan after Zhao Shengshen promised not to speed.

Su Yang traveled with Zhao Shengshen and Lina to the Northern Suburb Cemetery, where dead Omniscients were close to mutating. On the way, he learned that Gai Fengyan’s fiancée died in a war against the Fierce Ghosts, and Zhao Shengshen explained why the Soul-Reaping Bureau now opposed organizations that worshipped other Ancient Gods.

• Zhao Shengshen drove Su Yang and Lina from the city to the northern suburbs in ten minutes, leaving Su Yang vomiting while Lina warned him not to ride in the director’s car again.
• Su Yang learned that Lina would join the mission and awkwardly kept her handkerchief to wash after he vomited on it.
• Lina told Su Yang that their mission was at the Northern Suburb Cemetery, where dozens of dead Omniscients were buried and nearing mutation.
• Su Yang recognized the road to the cemetery and explained that Gai Fengyan had brought him there, then learned that Gai Fengyan’s fiancée was buried there.
• Lina and Zhao Shengshen told Su Yang that Gai Fengyan’s fiancée died in the Soul-Reaping Bureau’s war with the Fierce Ghosts ten years earlier.
• Zhao Shengshen explained that the Fierce Ghosts worshipped an Ancient God, killed hundreds of thousands of people, and had made the Soul-Reaping Bureau treat all groups worshipping other gods as enemies.

Su Yang learned about the mass deaths caused by worshippers of the ancient gods and the corrupted Sequence Abilities as he traveled with Lina and Zhao Shengshen to the Northern Suburb Cemetery. At the cemetery, Zhao Shengshen revealed that Su Yang would face the mutated corpses alone while he and Lina watched.

• Zhao Shengshen condemned the ancient-god worshippers for a war that had killed hundreds of thousands, and Lina comforted Su Yang.
• Lina explained that the last three Sequences—Extraction, Omniscience, and Eternal Life—were corrupted, and described how fifth-Sequence abilities could be condensed into containment objects.
• Su Yang asked about differences among the Ability Sequences, and Lina explained that the later Sequences had fewer variations and that corrupted Eternal Life possessors were killed after mutating.
• Zhao Shengshen identified the yellow barrier at the Northern Suburb Cemetery as the Class C containment object Suffocation Screen, code name C-0311.
• Zhao Shengshen told Su Yang to prepare to fight the mutated corpses alone, while he and Lina watched from the sidelines.

Su Yang was tricked into entering the sealed Northern Suburb Cemetery alone after Lina enhanced him, while Zhao Shengshen and Lina stayed outside. Surrounded by mutated corpses, Su Yang felt the enhancement’s bloodthirsty urge take hold and charged at three monsters.

• Su Yang accepted Zhao Shengshen’s explanation that the cemetery mission would be practice and summoned his ink-black saber.
• At the Suffocation Screen, Lina struck Su Yang with a white beam that enhanced him, while Zhao Shengshen opened the barrier and threw him inside.
• Zhao Shengshen and Lina sealed the barrier and agreed to retrieve Su Yang after the enhancement lasted about two hours.
• Su Yang landed among ruined graves, scattered remains, and three green-furred monsters, then cursed Zhao Shengshen for deceiving him.
• The three monsters charged at Su Yang, and he summoned his saber and rushed toward them under the influence of Lina’s enhancement.

Su Yang fought three monsters whose Omniscience let them anticipate his attacks, while Lina’s energy kept him alive and repaired his injuries. After the monsters paused to feed, Su Yang cut one in half, but it reassembled itself and continued eating.

• Su Yang charged the three monsters, but they anticipated his slash and one struck him hard enough to break many of his ribs.
• As the monsters rushed to finish him, a surge of energy repaired Su Yang’s injuries and let him leap out of their attack.
• Su Yang fought defensively for an hour, relying on Lina’s energy to heal him, and realized the monsters’ Omniscience let them predict his moves.
• The monsters slowed, stopped attacking, and fed on a corpse, revealing that they replenished their energy by eating the dead.
• Su Yang crept up and cleaved one monster in two, but its halves joined together and it resumed eating.

Su Yang fought the endlessly reassembling monsters beneath the Suffocation Screen, mastering his strength while watching them devour the corpse of a former colleague. After one monster dissolved from eating a clod stained with Su Yang’s blood, he suspected his blood could kill them, just as Zhao Shengshen and Lina prepared to enter before his enhancement wore off.

• Su Yang hacked at the three monsters as they reassembled and fed, but he could not stop the green-haired monster from digging up and devouring a former Soul-Capturing Bureau colleague.
• Su Yang recognized that the fight had helped him master his power, though the monsters’ treatment of his dead colleagues left him overwhelmed with grief.
• A monster that had lost both arms dissolved after eating a bloodstained clod, and Su Yang suspected the blood was his and could kill the monsters.
• Zhao Shengshen stubbed out his cigarette and told Lina the two-hour enhancement was about to end, then they prepared to enter the Suffocation Screen.

Su Yang reviewed the battle after killing three Mutation Monsters and concealed that his blood had killed them. When Zhao Shengshen and Lina arrived, he credited his victory to Lina’s Sequence Ability and his Black Blade, leaving them stunned by the blade’s power.

• Su Yang confirmed that his blood stopped the monsters’ regeneration and dissolved their flesh, then resolved to keep this secret from the Soul-Reaping Bureau.
• Zhao Shengshen and Lina entered the Suffocation Screen and found Su Yang alone amid the battlefield’s ruined ground and monster remains.
• Su Yang told Zhao Shengshen that he had killed all three Mutation Monsters, prompting Zhao Shengshen and Lina to question him and discuss how valuable his ability could be.
• Su Yang demonstrated the Black Blade dissolving a piece of monster flesh and claimed the blade was responsible, asking why Zhao Shengshen and Lina were surprised.

Su Yang proved that his blood could destroy mutated flesh, though Zhao Shengshen and Lina believed the cause was his Sequence Ability. The group left the Northern Suburb Cemetery with the bureau’s plans for Su Yang and the Divine Book still ahead.

• Lina lent Su Yang her dagger, and he used it to show that the mutated flesh did not dissolve without his blood.
• Zhao Shengshen rejected Lina’s suggestion to take Su Yang to the General Bureau, saying the bureau had urgent matters to handle first.
• Zhao Shengshen warned Su Yang to keep his unusual ability secret because it could attract the attention of a Demigod and other dangerous people.
• Zhao Shengshen removed the Suffocation Screen and left the Northern Suburb Cemetery with Lina and Su Yang.
• Lina explained that the Divine Book was a containment object given to mortals by one of the Seven Gods and could destroy mutated monsters.

After returning to school, Su Yang reflected on the Soul-Reaping Bureau’s unusual group chat and spent the last lesson daydreaming. When class ended, he agreed to visit his sick homeroom teacher, Teacher Zhao, on behalf of the class.

• The principal kept Su Yang in his office for hours, hoping he would put in a good word with Zhao Shengshen about the principal succession process.
• Su Yang checked the Soul-Reaping Bureau group chat and saw its members trade jokes and selfies while Zhao Shengshen tried to remind them about their mission quota.
• Su Yang found the group’s casual atmosphere hard to reconcile with the bureau’s duty to protect ordinary people and grew bored in class.
• After the final lesson, Su Yang prepared to visit the flower and bird market to buy his grandmother a puppy.
• Zhang Qingxuan asked Su Yang to represent the class in visiting their sick teacher, Teacher Zhao, and Su Yang agreed.

Su Yang went to Teacher Zhao’s home after learning he was ill, but found a grotesque creature attacking him. Teacher Zhao had already died, and Su Yang summoned the Soul-Reaping Bureau for help.

• Su Yang received Ren Yexue’s messages saying she was sick and smelled something like a dead mouse beneath her bed.
• Su Yang reached Teacher Zhao’s apartment, found the door open, and entered to investigate a foul stench.
• Su Yang found Teacher Zhao hanging from the ceiling by a red tentacle and severed it with his saber.
• Su Yang discovered Teacher Zhao was dead and alerted the group chat, which fell silent.

Su Yang found his homeroom teacher Zhao dead after an attack by a foul-smelling tentacle, then discovered messages that revealed the struggles of Teacher Zhao’s later life. Remembering Ren Yexue had reported the same dead-rat smell, Su Yang raced to her home and warned her to flee.

• Su Yang told Zhao Shengshen that Teacher Zhao had died in an unnatural Sequence Ability incident and gave him the address.
• Su Yang closed Teacher Zhao’s eyes, then read the messages on his phone, including pleas from his elderly mother and notices about work, debt, and a breakup.
• Su Yang hacked the tentacle in anger, then recalled Ren Yexue had smelled a dead rat beneath her bed.
• Su Yang leaped from the building and messaged Ren Yexue not to move her bed and to leave her home, but she did not respond.

After Teacher Zhao died, Su Yang raced across the city to protect Ren Yexue, while Zhao Shengshen investigated the tentacle attack and realized the threat might exist elsewhere. Su Yang reached Ren Yexue’s home and smashed her lock open, only to find her safe and startled to see him.

• A blind old man in a blood-drawn formation sang about cleansing the city, growing more tentacles from his wounds as he repeated the song.
• Su Yang raced toward Ren Yexue’s home after leaving Teacher Zhao’s apartment, ignoring his injuries and the peaceful evening around him.
• Zhao Shengshen arrived at Teacher Zhao’s home, found the corpse and severed tentacles, and called Su Yang, who said he was going to save someone.
• Zhao Shengshen identified the tentacles’ lingering power as a Third Sequence Domain ability and suspected other people might be in danger.
• After an hour of running, Su Yang reached Ren Yexue’s home, got no answer at the door, and smashed her smart lock open.
• Ren Yexue appeared upstairs after hearing the piano stop and asked Su Yang why he had broken her door lock.

Su Yang rushed to Ren Yexue’s house after fearing a monster was there, but found only two dead rats beneath her bed. He left Ren Yexue confused and angry after breaking her lock and wrecking her bed.

• Su Yang found Ren Yexue unharmed and stopped her from going upstairs, insisting she stay beside him.
• Su Yang entered Ren Yexue’s bedroom with a Black Longsword and searched beneath her bed for a tentacle.
• Su Yang flung the heavy bed aside and found two rotting dead rats instead of a monster.
• Su Yang picked up the rats and told Ren Yexue he had come to catch them.
• Ren Yexue questioned Su Yang about smashing her door lock and bed, and he tried to leave before she could stop him.

Su Yang stayed at Ren Yexue’s home to guard her after breaking the front-door lock, and learned that her parents had died in an earthquake. Ren Yexue shared how she had endured her loss and urged him to use what little control they had to change their fates, leaving them to toast to that resolve.

• Su Yang sat with Ren Yexue on her terrace while he stayed over as her bodyguard because he had broken her front-door lock.
• Ren Yexue told Su Yang that her parents had died during an earthquake while on a business trip in the southwest.
• Ren Yexue explained that she had gradually adjusted to living alone, though she had often cried after her parents first passed away.
• Ren Yexue said they could use the five percent of life they controlled to move the ninety-five percent fate had decided.
• Su Yang thanked Ren Yexue for liking him and helping him feel less abandoned during his hardest days.
• Ren Yexue raised her cola, and she and Su Yang toasted to the fate they would move.

Su Yang and Ren Yexue shared stories about their pasts, but their conversation revealed that Ren Yexue remembered a different teacher and a two-year friendship, contradicting Su Yang’s memories. Alarmed, Su Yang left to ask Zhao Shengshen whether his memories had also changed.

• Ren Yexue recounted her lonely life after moving to the city, and Su Yang described struggling after his parents disappeared without mentioning the Soul-Reaping Bureau.
• Su Yang claimed he could leap from the eighth floor and asked Ren Yexue if she was curious how he had smashed her door lock, but she dismissed his claims as impossible.
• Ren Yexue said their homeroom teacher had always been Teacher Zhang and that they had been deskmates for two years, while Su Yang remembered Teacher Zhao and meeting Ren Yexue only a month ago.
• Su Yang checked the class group chat and realized its owner was the woman who had substituted for Teacher Zhao that day.
• Su Yang concluded that Ren Yexue’s memories had been altered and went to the bathroom to ask Zhao Shengshen whether his memories had changed too.

After Zhao Shengshen confirmed that he had brought Su Yang into the Soul-Reaping Bureau two years ago, Su Yang discovered that records of the past two years had been rewritten to match altered memories. He realized from Grandma’s notebook that reality had begun changing earlier and that events were being replaced gradually.

• Zhao Shengshen told Su Yang by phone that he had worked at the Soul-Reaping Bureau for two years, then continued on his way without thinking much of the call.
• Su Yang searched his phone and found messages and bank records showing a rewritten history in which he had known Ren Yexue and joined the Soul-Reaping Bureau a year earlier.
• Su Yang concluded that the changes affected not only memories but also the records of what had happened over the past two years.
• Su Yang remembered Grandma’s notebook recording Ren Yexue helping Grandma a year earlier and realized the world had started changing before the events he had just uncovered.
• Su Yang deduced that reality was being altered gradually, with real events covered up and replaced by new ones.