Chapter Summaries

He Ao brought Jia Qian to an underground doctor, hoping to have a new cane forged from extraordinary materials and fitted with her Butterfly Knife. He secured the doctor's help by revealing his connection to the Life Goddess Church, while Eve reported that the Black Market account Blood Wolf had replied about a kidnapping mission.

• He Ao drove toward South City with Jia Qian, who fell asleep as he and Eve reviewed the Poison Scorpion Gang's files and found Kajet Group's black ledger and Evolution Follower's kidnapping missions.
• He Ao told Eve to privately ask Blood Wolf for the details of a Black Market kidnapping mission.
• He Ao arrived at the underground doctor's shop with two extraordinary corpses and asked for a blacksmith to make a Rank E-or-better cane that could hold his Butterfly Knife as a spear blade.
• The doctor agreed to find a mechanic after He Ao recited a prayer from the Life Codex and offered to introduce him to the Life Goddess Church.
• Eve told He Ao that Blood Wolf had replied.

He Ao investigated Blood Wolf’s secretive job recruiting people to kidnap homeless targets, then met mechanic Temok to commission an upgraded Butterfly Knife. After leaving Sien Ji’s pharmacy with Jia Qian, He Ao prepared to search Saint Jon City for traces of the Evolution Follower.

• He Ao learned that Blood Wolf’s Lv.2 mission required capturing people from a detailed list of homeless targets, and he delayed accepting a test mission because he suspected a trap.
• Sien Ji introduced himself to He Ao, took the two extraordinary beings’ bodies to extract their Talent Sequences, and warned He Ao that his physical condition was poor.
• Jia Qian emerged through the Invisible Door and reunited with He Ao, who took her to buy ice cream and raced her to the convenience store.
• Temok arrived at the pharmacy, identified the Talent Sequences, and agreed to modify He Ao’s Butterfly Knife by that night despite the rushed schedule.
• Sien Ji gave He Ao a Rapid Hemostasis Recovery Spray and told him the garage was open; He Ao left with Jia Qian to investigate Saint Jon City for traces of the Evolution Follower.

He Ao examined the Poison Scorpion Gang’s records and Kawi’s case files, connecting the Evolution Follower’s growing activity to Night Hawk and the mystery surrounding Kawi’s death. The chapter ended with He Ao arriving at a filthy road crowded with homeless people.

• He Ao learned that the Evolution Follower had expanded its sacrifice demands, sparking conflict with the Poison Scorpion Gang and unrest among Green Olive Street residents.
• He Ao suspected the Evolution Follower had exposed Night Hawk and that Night Hawk’s departure had enabled the organization’s reckless growth.
• Yixia sent He Ao Kawi’s autopsy report, which revealed that Kawi and his wife had endured prolonged interrogation or abuse before their fatal car accident.
• He Ao sent Yixia the records about the Evolution Follower and warned her to investigate discreetly and carefully.
• He Ao examined the case file and found that Kawi’s social security number had been written in blood near the bodies, then arrived at a road lined with homeless people.

He Ao and Jia Qian investigated how Evolution Follower obtained detailed information about homeless people, then intervened when two gang members attacked them. After Jia Qian distributed bread to the street children, He Ao realized he had overlooked an important clue.

• He Ao questioned a homeless Old Man, who said the Job Center photographed people who registered there, while labor brokers and other groups also collected personal information.
• As He Ao and Jia Qian prepared to leave, two gang members threatened them and attacked, but He Ao used his cane to knock one out and Jia Qian sent the other crashing into a wall.
• Jia Qian retrieved blood-stained coins from a biscuit tin and exchanged them for bread, which she distributed to the homeless children.
• He Ao put an arm around Jia Qian after she returned and realized he had overlooked some information.

He Ao traced the upside-down red-heart emblem from a homeless charity to the Federal Homeless Charity Assistance and Vocational Support Foundation and headed to its Saint Jon City office to investigate for contamination traces. Meanwhile, Old Man promoted Ishia as Saint Jon City’s alternate person in charge and tasked her with preparing to succeed Night Hawk.

• He Ao learned from Old Man that a charity with an upside-down red-heart emblem provided enough food for homeless people to register only their own names, and he urged Old Man to consider moving to Green Olive Street.
• Eve identified the organization as the Federal Homeless Charity Assistance and Vocational Support Foundation, and He Ao set the vehicle’s destination to its office at 60 Golden Sycamore Street.
• He Ao tested Masking Spray and confirmed that Super Memory could still detect contamination traces on souls, allowing him to distinguish people who had raised contamination monsters from those exposed by chance.
• Old Man showed Ishia Night Hawk’s city model and told her he had sent for the secret medicine and ritual formulas for her next Talent Sequence ranks.
• Old Man instructed Ishia to study Night Hawk’s records and Saint Jon City’s situation as she prepared to take on greater responsibility, and Ishia left to tell Sir the news.

He Ao investigated the Wanderer Assistance Foundation and discovered that its paintings carried a faint, madness-inducing connection to an unknown presence. After entering the sealed basement, he found the Front Desk woman crawling across the ceiling and confronting him.

• He Ao left Jia Qian in the off-road vehicle and sent her toward the nearby FBI branch while he entered the foundation.
• He Ao examined the paintings in the corridor, sensed their contaminating murmurs, and found the signature “Listener.”
• The Front Desk woman directed He Ao toward the restroom and then disappeared as he continued down the corridor.
• He Ao entered the fire exit and descended into the basement, where a chained gate blocked the corridor.
• The Front Desk woman appeared on the ceiling above He Ao and said she had been following him the entire time.

He Ao killed the Front Desk and infiltrated Evolution Follower’s underground facility, where he discovered that people were being held in cages as feed. He found a worker preparing to prey on a child and revealed himself, leaving the confrontation about to begin.

• He Ao killed the Front Desk, removed the chain from the Iron Gate, and entered the corridor while Eve guided him past the cameras.
• He Ao identified the Main Control Room and Feed Room by studying the numbered Breeding Rooms and the corridor layout.
• Two workers entered the Main Control Room, and the Thin Man went alone to take inventory in the Feed Room.
• He Ao entered the Feed Room and saw cages holding people who were treated as feed.
• The Thin Man extended a tentacle toward a frightened child and discussed eating the captives before their scheduled feeding, while He Ao approached and told him he was not in a hurry.

He Ao infiltrated Evolution Follower’s facility, killed the Thin Man and the brown curly-haired man, and connected Eve to the Main Control Room’s network. As an elevator descended from Floor 17, he ordered Eve to keep targeting the Core Mainframe and copy the captured people’s records.

• He Ao killed the Thin Man, took his tablet, and found Sant alive in the Feed Room with his feeding scheduled for that night.
• He Ao declined the little boy’s bread, spotted Sant’s former steel pipe among the torture instruments, and heard someone calling the dead Front Desk.
• He Ao entered the Main Control Room and killed the brown curly-haired man before connecting Eve to the console’s data port.
• He Ao searched the wardrobe and found a bloodstained Cloud Pattern Jade Ornament bearing a father’s blessing.
• Eve detected an elevator descending from Floor 17, and He Ao told her to continue infiltrating the Core Mainframe and copy the captured people’s list data.

He Ao defeated Blood Wolf, took control of the Evolution Follower’s mainframe, and attacked the organization’s core members on the tenth floor. He escaped the building and met Jia Qian, while Yixia and the responding agents entered to find the lobby silent.

• He Ao fought Blood Wolf in the underground corridor and killed him by piercing his heart with his walking stick.
• Eve took control of the mainframe and identified the tenth floor as the office area for the Evolution Follower’s core members.
• He Ao confronted the tentacle-mutated staff on the tenth floor and fought through them as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Contamination Cleanup Division approached.
• He Ao smashed through a window, descended using the building’s steel framework, and got into Jia Qian’s off-road vehicle.
• Yixia led agents into the Wanderer Assistance Foundation, but they found only silence.

He Ao killed the Front Desk and infiltrated Evolution Follower’s underground facility to reach its control and feeding areas. In the Feed Room, he found people imprisoned as livestock and confronted a Thin Man who was preparing to feed on a child.

• He Ao evaded the Front Desk’s attack, killed her with his Butterfly Knife, and removed the chain from the Iron Gate.
• He Ao ignored Blood Wolf’s offer of a long-term arrangement and opened the gate, then followed Eve’s instructions to avoid surveillance cameras.
• He Ao used his knife and cane to cross a camera blind spot and discovered the Main Control Room and Feed Room beyond the breeding rooms.
• Two workers entered the Main Control Room, and the Thin Man took an inventory tablet into the Feed Room.
• He Ao entered the Feed Room and saw rows of cages holding people with numbered collars, while the Thin Man’s tentacle reached toward a frightened child.
• The Thin Man discussed stealing a bite of the child, and He Ao calmly told him that he was not in a hurry.

He Ao entered Evolution Follower’s underground facility, evaded its cameras, and found a Feed Room full of imprisoned people being treated as food. After overhearing a worker discuss killing and eating them, he confronted the worker from behind, leaving his intentions unresolved.

• He Ao killed the mutated Front Desk, opened the chained gate, and replied to Blood Wolf that he had only been asking about the offer.
• With Eve’s help, He Ao navigated the corridors’ camera blind spots and identified the Main Control Room and Feed Room.
• Two workers arrived, and one entered the Feed Room to inventory its stock while the other stayed in the Main Control Room.
• He Ao slipped into the Feed Room and found torture equipment and cages holding captive people with numbered collars.
• The Thin Man used a tentacle to threaten a child and discussed stealing food and mutilating the captives with his coworker.
• He Ao approached the Thin Man from behind and calmly said that he was not in a hurry.

Sien Ji told He Ao how the Kajet Group undermined Si Nawa’s reforms and drove his government toward collapse, ending with Si Nawa’s suicide preserving some of its achievements. After Temok made He Ao a transforming cane-spear, He Ao left to face a dangerous mission and urged Sien Ji to consider running for mayor again.

• He Ao asked Sien Ji about K and his role in Si Nawa’s government, and Sien Ji explained that the Kajet Group sabotaged the administration through food shortages, media attacks, and City Council defections.
• Sien Ji recounted how an assassin’s attack at Liangdu Daily led the City Defense Army to withdraw its protection, Krote to advance impeachment, and Si Nawa to take his own life to preserve the government’s remaining reforms.
• Temok finished He Ao’s silver cane, which extended into a staff and could combine with He Ao’s Butterfly Knife to form a spear.
• He Ao asked Sien Ji to look after Jia Qian while he went to a dangerous place, and Jia Qian let him leave after he promised to bring her ice cream.
• He Ao reminded Sien Ji that the mayoral election was two months away and asked whether he knew K before departing in Eve’s vehicle.
• Sien Ji realized He Ao’s words might mean he could help challenge Krote and the Kajet Group.

He Ao found the execution site where his son and daughter-in-law had been killed, then studied Yixia’s files on Night Hawk and concluded that Evolution Follower held the best lead to the case. As Evolution Follower prepared defenses in an abandoned grain factory, He Ao jumped from a helicopter toward the city below.

• Yixia opened the sealed Night Hawk investigation files after the Old Man left them in his office for her.
• He Ao found tire tracks, bloodstains, and footprints at an abandoned chemical factory, reconstructing how his son and daughter-in-law had escaped a monster before being struck by a vehicle.
• He Ao read the Night Hawk files, learning about Night Hawk’s Shadow Hound, his conflict with the Contamination Cleanup Division, and Evolution Follower’s likely role in locating him.
• He Ao decided to pursue Evolution Follower and opened a webpage advertising an experience of soaring through the sky.
• At an abandoned grain factory on Third Street, West City, the Minister strengthened defenses against He Ao while worrying that something might go wrong.
• He Ao gave a helicopter crewman a reassuring thumbs-up, then jumped from the helicopter with his cane and backpack.

He Ao infiltrated the Evolution Follower's headquarters and fought his way down to the seventy-seventh floor, where he confronted Shadow Weaver. Shadow Weaver recognized Kawi's name and admitted that he and his wife had been subjected to extra experiments, leaving He Ao facing the truth about what happened to his son.

• He Ao parachuted onto the headquarters rooftop, broke through its defenses, and killed the mutated guards on the seventy-ninth floor.
• He Ao killed a C-class guard on the seventy-eighth floor and learned that Shadow Weaver was on the floor below.
• He Ao avoided the elevator, which he sensed was a monster, and used the guard's tablet to install a remote-control terminal.
• He Ao descended the stairs to the seventy-seventh floor and confronted Shadow Weaver in a luxurious room.
• He Ao said he was Kawi's father, and Shadow Weaver recalled Kawi and revealed that Kawi and his wife had endured more experiments than the others.

He Ao confronted the Shadow Weaver, learned how his son and daughter-in-law had been tortured and killed, and fought him while federal forces stormed the building. Despite being wounded and overwhelmed by a painting’s mind-affecting power, He Ao pierced the Shadow Weaver’s heart with a surprise strike.

• The Shadow Weaver revealed that He Ao’s son had protected Night Hawk and described how he and his wife had survived a monster in the ruins before being run down by a truck.
• He Ao realized the Shadow Weaver had been stalling for reinforcements, then intercepted his escape and severed his forearm with the Butterfly Knife.
• The Shadow Weaver regenerated his energy points and attacked He Ao with flesh scissors and soul-cutting phantom scissors, while He Ao destroyed several of his secondary Energy Convergence Points.
• The Shadow Weaver collapsed the ceiling, wounded He Ao with bone needles, and exposed a painting whose whispers seized He Ao’s mind and soul.
• As the Shadow Weaver approached to kill him, He Ao struck back with a U-Turn Strike and drove his spear through the Shadow Weaver’s heart.

He Ao killed the Shadow Weaver, then entered the Winding Hill Secret Realm and glimpsed several Talent Sequences before returning to the seventy-seventh-floor hall. He destroyed the Listener’s painted lines and escaped by parachute as Yixia arrived, while an anonymous message warned her to look up and Sito told her not to.

• He Ao avoided the Shadow Weaver’s final sneak attack and watched the wounded supernatural being tear himself apart under the influence of the painted lines.
• He Ao was drawn into a shifting hill Secret Realm, found its hidden point of attraction, and saw flashes of Talent Sequence information before returning to the hall.
• He Ao identified the paintings as the work of the Listener and suspected the Secret Realm was Winding Hill, then cut down the canvas to weaken its influence.
• Eve reported that the ejection escape device was damaged, so He Ao refused repairs and jumped through the broken window with his backpack parachute.
• Yixia reached the hall and saw He Ao signal her from the air, then received an anonymous message saying to look up before Sito warned her not to.

He Ao treated his wounds, examined Evolution Follower’s records, and drove Jia Qian home while uncovering details about Night Hawk, contaminated-monster fusion, and Hidden Mask. At dawn, Sien Ji decided to run for mayor, encouraged by a former patient’s husband and the people still struggling in Saint Jon City.

• Sien Ji stitched He Ao’s wounds and warned him to rest, then stayed behind to investigate the names he had collected.
• He Ao drove Jia Qian home and read Eve’s compilation of Evolution Follower’s records, learning that the group had framed Night Hawk and later searched the sewers for his body.
• He Ao learned how Evolution Follower used the Listener’s paintings to select and fuse people with contaminated monsters, and that Hidden Mask had supplied the paintings and methods.
• He Ao discovered that Evolution Follower had branches wherever the Contamination Cleanup Division operated and that Masking Spray disguised users by making contaminated monsters perceive them as their kind.
• Sien Ji met a homeless man whose wife had been treated at a hospital he helped build, apologized for her death, and announced that he would run for mayor.
• The homeless man promised to vote for Sien Ji before leaving for factory work, and Sien Ji told his contact that he was ready to finish the road Si Nawa had begun.

He Ao returned home with Jia Qian and uncovered the contamination Winding Hill had left in him, then deciphered Kawi’s hidden message. He realized Kawi had protected a way to contact Night Hawk and activated it by crushing a shell fragment.

• He Ao brought the sleeping Jia Qian home, rested, and resisted stepping into the Winding Hill contamination appearing in his mind.
• He Ao sketched the contamination’s twisted lines, recognized the danger of completing the image, and burned the unfinished drawing.
• He Ao used the numbers Kawi had left to find a message in a storybook and inferred that Kawi wanted Sito to leave the city and not trust certain people.
• He Ao read Kawi’s horror story and concluded that Kawi had likely helped Night Hawk after Night Hawk was injured, then kept Night Hawk’s contact method hidden.
• He Ao found a crystalline shell fragment behind Kawi’s wedding photo and crushed it, forming an unseen connection across space.

He Ao followed a fading connection to a hidden room beneath the Contamination Cleanup Division branch and found Night Hawk dead. Night Hawk’s letter left He Ao an investigation file and extraordinary knowledge, including the Martial Artist formula.

• He Ao shared breakfast with Jia Qian, then took her along to follow the connection left by the shell fragment.
• He Ao drove to an old underground parking garage near the Contamination Cleanup Division and traced the connection to a locked storage room.
• He Ao opened the room’s mechanical lock, killed a grotesque evil spirit, and found a dead Shadow Hound guarding the entrance.
• He Ao entered the room and identified the iron-masked corpse as Night Hawk.
• He Ao read Night Hawk’s letter, which asked him to share the investigation data on the Storage Chip and provided secret medicine formulas and a promotion ritual for the Martial Artist sequence.

Yixia learned that the council planned to appoint her and advance her to C-rank, while He Ao read Night Hawk’s final requests and recovered the Spirit Communication Shell and a Shadow Fang. After He Ao agreed to speak with Deres, the Contamination Cleanup Division director invited him to a feast that night.

• Yixia received Deres’s news that the council would appoint her and provide a War Correspondent potion, and Deres warned her not to let Sir become their enemy.
• He Ao read Night Hawk’s will, took the Spirit Communication Shell, and learned that Night Hawk had asked him to check on Kawi and help his family if needed.
• He Ao told Jia Qian that Night Hawk was a hero and that her parents had been heroes too.
• The Shadow Hound’s fang fell out, and He Ao identified it as a Shadow Fang that could carry its holder through shadows.
• He Ao copied Night Hawk’s files to the cloud and received Yixia’s message about Deres asking for his contact information.
• Deres called He Ao and invited him to the Contamination Cleanup Division that night for a feast.