Chapter Summaries

He Ao entered a blood-stained canyon to hunt a Blood Spider and obtain the ingredients for the Warrior secret medicine. After wounding the spider, he was caught by its Soul Spider Silk and saw a vision of Nel’s home.

• He Ao found blood-soaked snow in the canyon and reviewed the Warrior secret medicine recipe and its promotion ritual.
• He Ao heard something approach and walked deeper into the canyon as the Blood Spider silently followed him through the blizzard.
• He Ao dodged the spider’s attack, rolled beneath its body, and stabbed a soft spot between its exoskeleton plates.
• The wounded Blood Spider fired translucent silk that stuck to He Ao and filled his mind with chaotic whispers.
• He Ao saw a vision of Nel’s home, where Eldest Brother told his youngest brother he would go find Second Sister.

He Ao fought the Blood Spider after its Soul Spider Silk trapped him in an illusion of Nell’s painful memories. He broke free and killed it, then opened its carapace and found its heart.

• The Blood Spider’s Soul Spider Silk awakened Nell’s memories and held He Ao against the cliff.
• He Ao dodged the Blood Spider’s attacks while Super Memory and divine consciousness revealed its patterns and weaknesses.
• He Ao tore through the silk, struck between the Blood Spider’s eyes with his twin swords, and killed it.
• He Ao cut open the Blood Spider’s carapace and found its heart.

He Ao prepared the Warrior secret medicine from the Blood Spider’s heart, Blood Moon Fruits, and Soul Spider Silk, using an induction cooker to control the brewing. Its enticing fragrance drew Blood Rats out of the canyon, leaving He Ao facing a growing swarm.

• He Ao collected the Blood Spider’s heart and severed Soul Spider Silk, then mixed the heart with blood-soaked snow and Blood Moon Fruit juice in a pot.
• He Ao used an induction cooker to brew the mixture, relying on its temperature controls instead of a secret medicine master’s skill.
• He Ao added the Soul Spider Silk, whose imprisoned spirits escaped as the silk melted into the broth.
• The finished brew released a powerful fragrance that intensified the attraction between He Ao and the Warrior Talent Sequence.
• He Ao prepared piranha tooth powder and drew his Short Sword when a Blood Rat emerged from the canyon, followed by many more glowing red eyes.

He Ao lured a pursuing beast horde into the Ice Wolf Gang’s convoy and survived the ensuing attack. After learning that Nell’s siblings were still alive, he discovered the youth was lying and left him to the Blood Rats as he continued into the blizzard.

• He Ao fled the Blood Rats on his motorcycle while brewing a scent that attracted mutant beasts, and Wick warned him that the Ice Wolf Gang was searching for him nearby.
• The Ice Wolf Gang’s youths planned to exploit the wilderness camp, while their leader offered Wick a reward for information about He Ao.
• Wick relayed the gang’s location to He Ao, who rode toward the convoy with the beast horde following him.
• The gang opened fire on He Ao, but he collected the finished scent and escaped the motorcycle before the beasts overwhelmed the convoy.
• He Ao asked a wounded brown-haired youth about Nell’s Fifth Sister and siblings; the youth claimed they were alive, but He Ao revealed he had visited the crematorium and shot the youth’s wrist when he tried to attack.
• He Ao walked away as Blood Rats gathered around the wounded youth and began tearing him apart.

He Ao returned to Rock City after arranging for Wick to sell the Blood Spider’s remains, and witnessed the desperate poverty awaiting its homeless residents. As he headed toward the city center, a vast shadow and its tentacles seemed to suffocate the city.

• Wick and the young Wilderness Wanderers began collecting the Blood Spider’s corpse after He Ao’s plan drew nearby mutated beasts away.
• He Ao rode a mining convoy back to Rock City, leaving money behind as fare before slipping past security.
• He Ao found a homeless man frozen to death and considered how Nell and his mother might have met the same fate.
• A mother carrying a child took the dead man’s coat and money, then left with the child wearing the coat.
• He Ao continued into the city as a vast shadow spread tentacles across Rock City.

He Ao investigated the craft store that had sold Nell Old Sword and the Church Middle School Priest who had given Nell a black cross, suspecting both were connected to the dead god. After finding both men gone, he followed a lead to the Eisen family and sensed the clues were part of a wider web.

• He Ao woke from a nightmare of a blood-red world and persistent whispers, then left his hotel to investigate the craft store.
• He Ao found the craft store locked and its Boss missing, reinforcing his suspicion that Old Sword had been deliberately sold to Nell.
• He Ao visited Church Middle School and learned Nell's former Priest had been transferred away and was now untraceable.
• He Ao questioned Ice Wolf Gang Members and obtained the Eisen family's address, linking them to the siblings captured by the family.

He Ao watched a video from Fifth Sister’s Storage Chip showing a mine supervisor ordering Security Personnel to shoot protesting miners and planning to silence and punish them. He then approached the building where Eisen lived, and the whispers in his ears grew louder.

• The video showed miners protesting wage cuts and demanding rest and insurance before the supervisor ordered Security Personnel to fire on them.
• The supervisor seized the camera and ordered inspections to find recording devices, then dismissed concerns that miners might expose the killings.
• The supervisor told Locke to manipulate the miners by rewarding some organizers, eliminating others, and blacklisting active protesters.
• He Ao closed the video, approached the dilapidated building where Eisen lived, and heard the whispers grow louder.

He Ao entered Essen’s apartment to learn what had happened to Eldest Brother and Second Sister, but found a monster that had consumed the residents and Ice Wolf Gang members who visited. After killing Essen and a boy corrupted by a god-linked nightlight, He Ao destroyed the source of the apartment’s pollution and escaped as an explosion drew attention away from him.

• He Ao used a cover story to enter Essen’s building and noticed that the twelfth floor’s apartments were open and eerily silent.
• Essen tried to poison He Ao with bloodied coffee, then his apartment transformed into a monster that attacked with flesh tentacles, heads, and a headless body.
• He Ao used Mental Interference to free Essen’s soul and learned that the Ice Wolf Gang had ordered Eldest Brother and Second Sister killed after interrogating them.
• He Ao destroyed the apartment’s heart, then killed a boy in apartment 1206 when the boy attacked him with eye-covered tentacles.
• He Ao found that the boy’s broken nightlight contained a black core connected to an unknown god, and the red light from it strengthened his swords.
• He Ao set off a grenade inside the building to destroy the polluted apartment, then left in disguise while his wanted notice appeared on a nearby screen.

He Ao returned to Nell’s old home and saw the Inverted 'v' Symbol that Yue En had left as a signal, then went to Yue En’s apartment. Yue En opened the door to He Ao and found twisted, red-eyed heads gathered above them.

• He Ao watched Nell’s former home, saw the Inverted 'v' Symbol on the window, and pulled the window shut.
• Yue En heard the rumored midnight knocking move through the Old Building and watched his neighbor knock at his door without answering.
• After the knocking stopped and began again, Yue En opened the door and found He Ao waiting outside.
• He Ao told Yue En he had come because he received the signal, then warned him that other dangers were nearby.
• He Ao and Yue En saw twisted heads with red eyes crowded above the doorway.

He Ao rescued Yue En from a monster made of human bodies and dragged him through the building as it pursued them. When armed gang members confronted He Ao, the monster attacked them, and He Ao pulled Yue En into the dark fire-exit stairwell instead of letting him escape by elevator.

• He Ao yanked Yue En away from Uncle Gido as the transformed neighbor attacked, then blocked the monster’s claw with a Short Sword.
• The monster revealed its mass of human bodies and chased He Ao and Yue En through the stairwell; a woman who opened her door briefly saw the creatures and slammed herself back inside.
• He Ao explained that the monster targeted people emerging from rooms and dragged Yue En toward the elevator while keeping it in pursuit.
• Several gang members with Flower Arm tattoos emerged with guns and demanded that He Ao return what he had taken.
• The monster swallowed the gang members, and Yue En tried to summon the elevator, but He Ao dragged him into the pitch-black fire exit as the creature crawled after them.

He Ao escaped the stairwell with Yue En, evaded the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and killed the pursuing monster by discovering its weakness. After destroying the doorbell hidden inside it, He Ao followed the monster’s trail into a dark alley, with Yue En reluctantly following him.

• He Ao disabled the cybernetic Bald Man with his Short Sword and escaped with Yue En as the monster swallowed him.
• He Ao carried Yue En past the Federal Bureau of Investigation blockade, while agents drove the monster away with their weapons.
• He Ao returned to the bloodstained street and killed the monster by cutting through the narrow section between its upper and lower body.
• He Ao found an old doorbell inside the monster and split it with his sword, causing red light to flow into his twin swords.
• He Ao entered the dark alley where the monster had emerged, and Yue En followed him despite his fear.

He Ao led Yue En through a dark alley, killing the monsters that served a dead god as he considered how they gained their power. At the alley’s end, they found a group of unconscious people and cut-open objects, but another armed shadow attacked Yue En.

• He Ao and Yue En entered a dark alley where bloody odors grew stronger.
• He Ao killed several monsters that he suspected were claws and teeth created by a dead god, and their red power flowed into his swords.
• He Ao reasoned that the monsters gained power through the god’s bestowal and used their victims as sacrifices, though he suspected a human might be behind the wider events.
• He Ao killed the last monster and found about a dozen unconscious people beside old objects with their black interiors exposed.
• Yue En approached the sleeping people, and a shadow carrying a blade charged at him.

He Ao defeated a monster in the Federal Bureau of Investigation building, freed its captives from divine nightmares, and used the encounter to expose the threat to the authorities and the public. After escaping with Yue En, he learned the Ice Wolf Gang had taken Yue En’s grandmother and set out to rescue her.

• He Ao killed the crimson monster, recognized its face as the craft shop Boss, and inferred that someone had guided the monster and arranged the Boss’s silencing.
• He Ao absorbed power from the remaining objects and shattered the divine interference in the sleeping captives’ souls with Super Memory.
• As Federal Bureau of Investigation agents approached, He Ao escaped with Yue En and relied on recorded footage spreading online to pressure the Bureau into investigating the monsters.
• Yue En revealed that the Ice Wolf Gang had kidnapped his grandmother to force him to lure He Ao out, but he had refused to betray his friend.
• He Ao and Yue En headed to rescue Yue En’s grandmother, and Yue En explained that he had resolved to fight back rather than trust the gang to spare his family.

He Ao rescued Yue En’s grandmother and other prisoners from the Ice Wolf Gang headquarters after revealing the family tragedies that drove them into the Mutual Aid Society. He sent Yue En out of the city with his grandmother while staying behind to settle personal business.

• A driver from the Mutual Aid Society transported He Ao toward a planned operation and told him that the Mining Consortium had killed his wife and daughter.
• He Ao said his younger brother had disappeared and was apparently being hunted by the Mining Consortium; a passing wanted ad showed the boy’s face.
• He Ao told Yue En how the consortium’s violence had devastated his family, then used Eve to take control of the Ice Wolf Gang’s systems and locate Yue En’s grandmother.
• He Ao killed the gang members guarding the dungeon and freed Yue En’s grandmother and the other prisoners.
• He Ao helped Yue En get his grandmother into a car, instructed them to leave through the north gate, and stayed behind to handle personal business.

He Ao entered the Ice Wolf Gang Boss Vincent’s rooftop garden and found Vincent’s tortured son suspended beneath a game screen. Vincent offered to make He Ao his heir, then revealed he had killed He Ao’s sister, leaving He Ao gripping his sword.

• With Eve providing cover, He Ao entered the Ice Wolf Gang headquarters and killed two guards outside Vincent’s villa.
• He Ao crossed the rooftop garden where Vincent had buried his victims beneath his plants.
• Vincent finished a two-player game and revealed his bloody, barely living son behind the screen.
• Vincent offered He Ao his empire and said He Ao’s sister had shown intelligence and resolve by infiltrating his son’s circle.
• Vincent snapped his son’s neck and admitted that he had killed He Ao’s sister, prompting He Ao to tighten his grip on his sword.

He Ao confronted Vincent over the Storage Chip and discovered that the Ice Wolf Gang leader was a C-Rank transcendent with a Hell Apostle mecha. As Vincent’s forces surrounded him and battle seemed imminent, another Hell Apostle arrived with a familiar voice telling Nell to run.

• Vincent explained that the city’s media consortiums would suppress any evidence He Ao released, then revealed that the money had been payment for He Ao’s life.
• He Ao dodged Vincent’s hidden bomb and exchanged sword strikes with him, discovering that Vincent had C-Rank-level physical strength.
• Vincent escaped into the air in a Hell Apostle and called three more of the same mecha to surround He Ao with nearly twenty D-Rank combatants.
• Vincent played a recording of Yue En offering information about He Ao, but He Ao stayed calm because the call and payment had been part of his plan.
• As He Ao prepared to fight four C-Rank mechas, another Hell Apostle descended and a familiar voice told Nell to run.

He Ao joined the Mining Consortium fighters led by his missing Fourth Brother, Ivo, as they battled Vincent’s Hell Apostles. He Ao refused to flee and flew into the mecha fight, where Ivo remained outnumbered by Vincent and three other pilots.

• A Mining Consortium group arrived, and Merk gave He Ao a Micro Flying Machine and urged him to escape once the fighting began.
• He Ao recognized the group’s leader as his missing Fourth Brother, Ivo, but Vincent’s attack drowned out his attempt to speak.
• Ivo and the other newcomers engaged Vincent’s forces, and He Ao chose to join them rather than flee.
• He Ao used the Flying Machine to cut down a D-Rank Cybernetic Human and maneuver clear of its exploding Energy Core.
• Ivo skillfully fought four Hell Apostles, but Vincent’s piloting ability surpassed his, and He Ao entered the giant mecha battle.

Ivo and the Mutual Aid Society fought Vincent’s forces, while He Ao rescued the society’s fighters and helped Ivo destroy Vincent’s mech. The City Defense Army arrived with nine C-Rank Seraph Mechs, and He Ao realized he had stumbled into a plot to eliminate both sides.

• Ivo charged Vincent’s encirclement with the Mutual Aid Society fighters, who refused his chance to escape and fought for revenge.
• He Ao swept through the battlefield, rescued fifteen of Ivo’s fighters, and killed Vincent’s D-Rank mechs while Ivo held back the C-Rank mechs.
• Vincent attacked He Ao, but Ivo revealed his strength and struck Vincent’s mech from behind; He Ao redirected Vincent’s cannon as both men fired, destroying Vincent’s mech and severely damaging Ivo’s.
• Vincent escaped in a concealed aircraft and learned that the mayor’s City Defense Army had waited for the fight to weaken both factions before intervening.
• He Ao counted nine C-Rank Seraph Mechs and recognized that he had been an outsider to the planned operation as the commander ordered the Mutual Aid Society fighters killed.

He Ao returned to save Ivo, killed Vincent, and escaped the exploding mecha with his brother strapped to his Flying Machine. Surrounded by the City Defense Army, He Ao refused to surrender and prepared to fight.

• He Ao and Ivo charged through the enemy lines, using Vincent’s damaged mechas’ escape to open a path.
• Vincent entered Ivo’s cockpit, wounded him, and began breaking his limbs while Ivo secretly started the mecha’s self-destruct sequence.
• He Ao returned for Ivo, used Mental Interference to catch Vincent, and killed him just before the mecha exploded.
• He Ao shielded Ivo from the blast, found Ivo’s blood-soaked mathematics study guide, and strapped him to the Flying Machine.
• The City Defense Army surrounded He Ao and demanded that he surrender; He Ao raised his swords and told them to come.

He Ao fought through the City Defense Army’s Mecha encirclement while carrying Ivo and pursued his promotion ritual under fire. After drinking the secret medicine, he endured its painful transformation until the blockade left him with nowhere to dodge, then gripped his Short Sword again.

• He Ao ignored the Flying Machine’s low-battery warning and dodged the City Defense Army’s tightening double-ring formation while carrying Ivo.
• He Ao avoided the officer’s trap, tore a Mecha’s arm off, and used its greatsword to cut the Mecha in two, but the pursuing Mechas caught up.
• The officer fired a Laser Cannon at He Ao, and the middle-aged man who had lent him the Flying Machine shoved him clear before his own Mecha was destroyed.
• With the Mechas surrounding him, He Ao drank the secret medicine to begin Talent Sequence 98’s promotion ritual and endured its painful transformation while dodging attacks.
• The encirclement left He Ao with no escape route, and after his fingers loosened around the Short Sword, he clenched his hand around it again.