Chapter Summaries

He Ao confronted the mercenaries’ officer after silently reaching him, then fought the officer and the short mercenary despite his injuries. He killed the short mercenary by taking the officer’s strike head-on, leaving the officer shaken and asking, “Are you afraid?”

• The officer gathered the mercenaries beneath makeshift lights, but He Ao emerged from the darkness and calmly approached him.
• The officer and the short mercenary used Gene Serums, and the officer analyzed He Ao’s limits before ordering him to surrender.
• He Ao refused, and the officer attacked with a curved blade while the short mercenary launched fireballs; He Ao dodged and was wounded.
• The mercenaries opened fire, but He Ao killed two of them and charged the officer, trading blows as the short mercenary’s fire burned his shoulder.
• He Ao used the officer’s momentum to reach the short mercenary and killed him, accepting a slash across his back; he then faced the shaken officer and asked whether he was afraid.

He Ao killed the officer and completed the promotion ritual for Talent Sequence 111: Terrorist, then escaped the building by destroying the Laser Sniper Cannons. Hai Xi picked him up and drove him toward medical care, while he remained badly wounded and unconscious.

• The officer lured Gene Serum-enhanced mercenaries into attacking He Ao, who fought through the encirclement as his injuries worsened.
• He Ao tricked the officer into taking two unpinned Hand Grenades, used Mental Interference to get close, and stabbed him through the heart.
• He Ao extinguished the last streetlamp, drank the secret medicine, and completed the Terrorist promotion ritual as fear consumed the mercenaries around him.
• He Ao led the mercenaries downstairs and used their Gauss Rifles to destroy the Laser Sniper Cannons guarding the entrance.
• Hai Xi arrived and drove He Ao away; she told him the person she had caught was locked up at her headquarters.
• He Ao fell unconscious in the car while clutching Jess's pendant, and Hai Xi sped toward a private doctor.

Two figures investigated the massacre of the mercenaries and learned that their target had escaped into West District. Hai Xi captured Thorne while He Ao recovered from his injuries; the chapter ended with Hai Xi showing He Ao the garbage-filled Zarot Street District where she grew up.

• Two figures found a surviving mercenary, learned that the target had escaped in a black car, and killed the mercenary after questioning him.
• Thorne and his subordinates awoke restrained in chairs, and Hai Xi confronted Thorne about his role in the Iron Claw Gang's assassination attempt.
• Hai Xi told Thorne that he had offended someone he should not have, then left him captive in the Zarot Street District.
• He Ao woke in Hai Xi's medical room, accepted his cleaned pendant, and paid her the discounted bill for his treatment.
• He Ao got out of bed, and Hai Xi revealed that the district outside the window was where she grew up.

He Ao learned how Vetland’s scavengers were exploited by the city’s cleaning companies while recovering in the Zarot Street District. After Hai Xi led him to the captured Thorne, He Ao entered the dark warehouse to confront him.

• Hai Xi explained that Zarot’s scavengers were descended from Wilderness Wanderers who had lost their land but were denied city identities and Social Security Numbers.
• Hai Xi gave He Ao replacement clothes and an air-purifying mask, and He Ao prepared to leave to question Thorne about Jess and the Mysterious Man.
• He Ao recalled how he had drawn the mercenaries away from Thorne so Hai Xi could capture him, and he decided Hai Xi was trustworthy enough to cooperate with.
• Hai Xi described how scavengers processed garbage for low prices while cleaning companies charged them fees and blocked them from selling materials directly to factories.
• Hai Xi revealed that Huier Mei Cleaning Company and its allies monopolized Vetland’s garbage disposal, then took He Ao to the warehouse where Thorne was being held.
• He Ao saw Thorne sitting in the darkness and entered the warehouse to confront him.

He Ao used his new Fearmonger abilities to confront Thorne and force him to recount the Mysterious Man’s scheme. Thorne revealed how Jess was steered toward Nobeck Detective Agency, and He Ao ended the chapter by confronting him about his wife’s death four years earlier.

• After absorbing the Fearmonger secret medicine, He Ao gained Night Eyes and Spreading Fear and reached a Physical Fitness of 579.
• He Ao entered the warehouse and confronted Thorne, who realized that Jess had survived and was the one behind his capture.
• Thorne tried to bargain for his release by appealing to He Ao’s kindness, but He Ao refused to promise freedom and made him offer information first.
• Thorne explained that the Mysterious Man hired him about seven years earlier to find a detective agency, ultimately choosing Nobeck because it was ruthless and unscrupulous.
• Thorne admitted he arranged for his informant to lead Jess to Nobeck and passed along the secret medicines supplied by the Mysterious Man.
• He Ao accused Thorne of withholding important details and reminded him that his wife had died in an “accident” four years earlier.

He Ao pieced together how the Mysterious Man had manipulated Jess and concluded that he was probably behind Tini’s murder. He Ao confronted Thorne, who admitted arranging the assassin’s introduction and named the hospital where the killer was held, before He Ao asked what Thorne knew about the Mysterious Man.

• He Ao reviewed Jess’s memories and Salan’s information, concluding that the Mysterious Man had likely killed Tini to force Jess back into Gene Serum research.
• He Ao inferred that Thorne had connected the Mysterious Man with the mentally ill gunman and used Thorne’s reaction to confirm his suspicion.
• He Ao negotiated safe passage for Thorne and his subordinates in exchange for information.
• Thorne said the Mysterious Man had hired him to find a desperate, tight-lipped executor, then arranged for that person to attack Tini’s speech while pretending to be mentally ill.
• Thorne told He Ao that the assassin was still held at Vik Mental Hospital, and He Ao asked what else Thorne knew about the Mysterious Man.

He Ao questioned Thorne and learned that the Mysterious Man had once commissioned an explosion around the time Jess's Father died in a Chemical Factory blast. After He Ao modified laser cannons for Thorne's departure and asked Hai Xi to investigate the Mysterious Man, He Ao realized he could not remember the man's face.

• Thorne gave He Ao his bracelet and explained that he had communicated with the Mysterious Man through Paper Book, most recently the night before last.
• When Thorne tried to explain why he trusted the Mysterious Man, he recalled that the man had influenced his thoughts and covered up an earlier meeting.
• Thorne remembered that about twelve years earlier, the Mysterious Man had commissioned him to arrange an explosion, but Thorne never found a contractor and did not know the intended location.
• He Ao negotiated Thorne's release, then bought G-04 laser cannons and modified them to fire a single shot powerful enough to harm a C-rank being.
• He Ao asked Hai Xi to investigate the Mysterious Man, but when she asked what he looked like, He Ao realized he could not remember his face.

He Ao uncovered the Mysterious Man’s ability to erase his face from people’s memories and asked Hai Xi to trace underground Black Market purchases of Gene Serum ingredients. After selling equipment to Thorne and escorting him out of Zarot, He Ao learned that a bounty had been placed on him, then discovered Thorne’s convoy had locked him inside a vehicle with a Laser Cannon aimed at it.

• He Ao realized that the Mysterious Man could alter people’s memories and asked Hai Xi to investigate Black Market buyers of several restricted wilderness herbs.
• He Ao sold Thorne a modified G-04 Laser Cannon, vehicles, and firearms for 9.7 million, then released him and his men.
• Hai Xi warned He Ao that an anonymous Black Market bounty offered one million for finding him and fifteen million for killing him.
• He Ao joined Thorne’s convoy and left the Zarot Street District, saying he had something to verify.
• He Ao found the vehicle’s door locked and saw the Laser Cannon behind him turn its barrel toward the car.

He Ao survived Thorne’s ambush and tracked him down after killing the pursuing subordinates. Thorne activated a Transcendent Item to become a Flesh Giant, but He Ao defeated him and left for Vik Mental Hospital.

• He Ao escaped the Laser Cannon’s blast, killed Thorne’s subordinates, and followed Thorne’s trail through Hypermemory.
• Thorne stole a clerk’s wristband, shot the clerk, and tried to call for help before He Ao caught up with him.
• Thorne activated a hidden Transcendent Item that transformed him into a C-Rank Flesh Giant.
• He Ao recalled Tini’s death at 5:43 and confronted Thorne as he attacked.
• He Ao killed Thorne, took the tooth containing blue radiance, and memorized the number on the wristband.
• He Ao got into a taxi and told the driver to take him to Vik Mental Hospital.

He Ao went to Vik Mental Hospital to find the killer who had murdered his wife and investigate its connection to the former Enlai Chemical Company, where Jess's father died. He found the hospital built on the old factory site, noticed Ghost Flowers growing in its garden, and began a tour after claiming he knew a patient named Allent, whom the receptionist said had been discharged a year earlier.

• He Ao rode through the old Industrial Area in a taxi, and the driver described the hardships facing workers and Wilderness Wanderers.
• He Ao arrived at Vik Mental Hospital and recognized the site as the former Enlai Chemical Company where Jess's father had died.
• He Ao entered the hospital grounds, identified a Ghost Flower in the garden, and observed the patients and nurses in the lobby.
• He Ao told the receptionist he managed a charity fund and offered to help publicize the hospital, prompting her to contact the dean.
• The receptionist agreed to show He Ao around and said Allent had been discharged a year earlier.

He Ao toured Vik Mental Hospital under the name Jess while investigating Allent’s discharge and discovered a warning hidden in the sixth-floor ward. The chapter ended with the ward’s door being forced shut as a blade He Ao had planted caught it.

• He Ao learned that Allent had supposedly discharged himself last year, despite Thorne’s claim that he was still at Vik Mental Hospital.
• A patient in the lobby silently warned He Ao to run, while the nurse led him through the hospital and explained its wards and equipment.
• He Ao visited the sixth floor, where a mad transcendent in Room 07 urged him to open the unlocked door and join him in killing the hospital staff.
• He Ao concluded that an invisible force, rather than the reinforced doors, kept the ward’s patients imprisoned.
• He Ao found Room 47 ajar and uncovered the message, “We will all disappear. Become part of it.”
• The room’s Iron Gate began closing by itself, but a dagger He Ao had placed by the doorway caught against it.

He Ao defeated a nurse who had trapped him in the hospital and discovered that an unknown Hidden Existence was consuming the souls of the dead. After killing the nurse at the elevator shaft, he leaped into the opening below when a Black Shadow dragged her remains inside.

• He Ao explained how the nurse had followed him and tried to trap him, then fought her as she called on a Hidden Existence to assault his mind.
• He Ao killed the nurse after resisting the psychic attack, while Patient 07 emerged from his room and was killed as a purple shadow swallowed his soul.
• The Hidden Existence's presence overwhelmed He Ao's body, but its shadows withdrew before it fully awakened.
• He Ao found the nurse prying open the elevator doors and killed her with a precisely calculated dagger strike after she tried to enter the shaft.
• A Black Shadow seized the nurse's decayed remains inside the opening, and He Ao jumped into the Elevator Shaft after it.

He Ao entered the hidden hall beneath the Mental Hospital and confronted Allent, who revealed that the hospital was a farm where people were raised to merge with a Great Existence. When He Ao challenged Allent’s faith and recalled Jess’s long-held rage over Tini’s murder, Allent transformed and attacked, while He Ao stood ready to meet him.

• He Ao crossed the purple mist into a circular hall covered in glowing patterns and recognized the emaciated figure there as Allent.
• Allent revealed that the Mental Hospital was a farm where human livestock matured by hearing and joining a Great Existence, and claimed he had been chosen as its keeper.
• He Ao questioned Allent about the skeleton, the hidden door, and whether the Great Existence had truly accepted him.
• He Ao reminded Allent that he had killed Tini for commission money and said the Great Existence was not worthy of being his friend.
• Allent lost control, grew bones and masses of flesh, and attacked as He Ao raised his hand and told him, "You come."

He Ao fought the monsterized Allent, targeting the Energy Convergence Points in his legs while trying to avoid serious injury. After Allent summoned armed humanoid monsters from his tentacles, He Ao killed a bow-wielding attacker and charged at Allent again, changing his target.

• Allent attacked He Ao with a massive Bone Pillar, but He Ao dodged and stabbed Allent's thighs and knees to destroy the Energy Convergence Points in his legs.
• Allent swept the Bone Pillar and tried to batter He Ao, but He Ao evaded by rolling beneath him and cut both calves.
• Allent spun the Bone Pillar in a wide attack, forcing He Ao to retreat; He Ao grabbed two Short Knives after his dagger was ruined.
• Allent shed his Flesh Tentacles, which became soft humanoid monsters that gathered bone fragments and formed weapons.
• A humanoid monster shot a Bone Arrow at He Ao, who dodged it and pinned the attacker to the wall with a thrown Short Knife.
• As the armed humanoids closed in, He Ao charged at Allent again and changed his target.

He Ao defeated Allent by destroying his Energy Convergence Points and Energy Core, though the fight left him exhausted. After examining the patterns around him, he recognized them from occult knowledge tied to Jess's Father and the Chemical Factory’s New Production Line.

• He Ao blinded Allent, then attacked his shoulder and other Energy Convergence Points while avoiding Allent’s attempts to crush him against the wall.
• As Allent spun and the Flesh Humanoids hurled Bone Spears, He Ao broke his Short Knife, climbed onto Allent, and destroyed more Energy Convergence Points with the fragments.
• He Ao punched Allent’s skull and tore through the Energy Core behind his mouths, causing Allent’s energy network to collapse and killing him.
• He Ao rested beside Allent’s corpse, remembered Tini’s death, and then salvaged a heavy Bone Axe fragment from the shattered Bone Pillar.
• He Ao recognized the purple patterns as related to Jess’s occult knowledge and learned that Jess’s Father had led construction of the Chemical Factory’s New Production Line.

He Ao realized that Jess's Father had devised a ritual array to obtain and scale extraordinary power, likely with the Mysterious Man's backing, and that the research concealed a dangerous cost. With Federal Bureau of Investigation agents expected to arrive, He Ao began using Jess's knowledge to understand the array before time ran out.

• He Ao examined Allent's disintegrating soul and realized the lines around him absorbed souls as part of a ritual for obtaining power.
• He Ao concluded that Jess's Father had feared the ritual's hidden price, while the Old Professor and Jess had pursued Gene Serum research without fully understanding the danger.
• He Ao connected the ritual lines at the former Chemical Factory and Mental Hospital to Jess's Father's research and identified the Mysterious Man as the likely sponsor.
• He Ao analyzed the three-dimensional array and recognized that Jess's Father had designed structures to replace ritual steps and reduce the need for slaughter.
• He Ao reasoned that the Mysterious Man would use the Federal Bureau of Investigation to restrict him while rebuilding his Gene Serum forces.
• With the agents expected in twenty-nine minutes, He Ao closed his eyes and let his suppressed madness spread so he could use Jess's knowledge to decipher the array.

He Ao used Jess’s madness-enhanced inspiration to understand and break through the array beneath the Mental Hospital, discovering that it sacrificed patients to empower a Wooden Box connected to a Hidden Existence. He realized the ritual could not be safely ended by simply taking the box, so he returned to the first-floor lobby and asked the assimilated patients and nurse for help.

• He Ao resisted the madness affecting Jess, used his heightened inspiration to decipher the purple patterns, and broke the array protecting the Stone Gate.
• He Ao discovered that the Mental Hospital’s array used patients as ritual sacrifices and that the Wooden Box served as the ritual’s performer and beneficiary.
• He Ao found that the Wooden Box contained immense but uncontrollable power, preserved by an incomplete ritual array tied to the Hidden Existence.
• He Ao considered taking the Wooden Box but pulled back from the madness and rushed out of the hall through the Elevator Shaft.
• He Ao returned to the first-floor lobby and asked the psychiatric patients and nurse for help; one patient’s head fell off as everyone turned to stare at him.

He Ao freed the hospital’s bound spirits and used them to evacuate its patients and staff before taking the Wooden Box and escaping as the building collapsed. He disappeared into the night with a shadow pursuing him, while the Old Detective chose not to investigate.

• He Ao explained that the hospital’s spirits were stored sacrifices and persuaded them to help him evacuate the building.
• He Ao opened the wards on the upper floors, killed two assimilated supernatural beings who attacked him, and used the spirits and Terrorist to drive everyone outside.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrived, but the Old Detective recognized the building was about to collapse and retreated with his partner.
• He Ao removed the Wooden Box, broke through a wall, and jumped from the building as the formation failed and the hospital collapsed.
• A shadow pursued He Ao into the night, while the Old Detective noticed movement behind the building and decided not to investigate.

He Ao escaped the ruined Mental Hospital through a hidden factory gate after learning from Jess’s father’s former deputy that Jess’s father had not left a soul behind and had resisted parts of the ritual. The Boss concluded that Jess had gained power through a ritual rather than being possessed, while He Ao watched fireworks from a bus.

• He Ao followed a fading soul to a rusted back gate, then learned from Jess’s father’s former deputy that Jess’s father’s soul had not remained and that he had set up only some of the ritual arrays.
• The deputy urged He Ao to believe in his father and warned him to be careful before his soul dissipated.
• He Ao reasoned that Jess’s father had opposed the Mysterious Man’s plan to sacrifice people, and escaped the hospital through the hidden gate.
• The Boss learned that the hospital’s patients had survived, but the Nurse was missing, and decided Jess had gained power through a ritual rather than being controlled by a High-Level Existence.
• He Ao rode a bus, closed his pendant, and watched fireworks rise into the night.

He Ao rode a sightseeing bus across Vitran City, observing how residents viewed political candidates and their everyday struggles. He got off at Vitran University North Gate Station and headed toward the apartment buildings where Jess had grown up and where Jess's mother had died.

• Two youths on the bus discussed Dawn City Mayor Christos's proposed insurance reforms and their choices in the approaching Senate election.
• One youth supported Nide because a blogger he liked endorsed him, while the other favored DeSanke for his promises to improve workers' protections.
• The companion dismissed DeSanke's promises and argued that politicians served the conglomerates, leaving both youths wishing Christos were their mayor.
• As the bus crossed Vitran City, He Ao watched passengers come and go while keeping a cloth bundle containing the Bone Axe and Wooden Box beside him.
• He Ao got off at Vitran University North Gate Station and walked toward Jess's childhood apartment buildings, where Jess's mother had committed suicide.