Chapter Summaries

Tiandao and several other trainees cleared the Rose Ladder by finding its hidden spatial overlap point, while the remaining trainees struggled to understand the assessment. Vivian led Chen Kong and the others toward a solution as Tiandao and Caroline waited in the starting hall.

• Tiandao passed through the wall, and Caroline followed the Raccoon Administrator after spotting a Star Energy Fluctuation.
• Caroline, Yagami Rin, and Huan Qianyin passed the assessment, then Mi Yao also crossed through a wall and cleared it.
• The Raccoon Administrator announced the remaining time and number of successful trainees as others failed to force their way through the walls.
• Vivian identified clues about Scopophobia and told Chen Kong and the others to follow her without falling behind.
• Tiandao and Caroline revealed that the staircase looped back to the Rest Hall and that passing required finding the Spatial Overlap Point between the two spaces.

Chen Kong and the others cleared the Rose Ladder assessment, which tested observation and judgment, and returned to the Rest Hall. The Raccoon Administrator began the second assessment, Hide-and-Seek, leaving everyone to form teams before the five-minute pursuit began.

• Vivian led Chen Kong and the others through a fleeting Spatial Overlap Point, allowing them to clear the Rose Ladder with one minute remaining.
• The Raccoon Administrator announced that eleven candidates had passed and explained that the first round tested observation and judgment.
• Liu Ma objected that the assessment unfairly favored candidates with spatial perception, but the Raccoon Administrator dismissed his appeal to fairness.
• The Raccoon Administrator transformed the Rest Hall into a Parkour Maze and introduced Hide-and-Seek, in which teams had to avoid him for more than five minutes while detectors scanned every five seconds.
• Chen Kong felt confident that his Mark of the Void and The Visionary suited the survival-focused assessment, and the Raccoon Administrator told the candidates to form teams of three, with one two-person team.

The participants formed teams for the Hide-and-Seek assessment, and Chen Kong joined An Qin and Camera Guy after choosing to go alone from his original group. The Raccoon Administrator began the test by selecting Mi Yao's team, though Mi Yao intended to handle the challenge by himself.

• Tiandao and Caroline formed a two-person team, while Vivian, Liu Ma, and Isabelle stayed together.
• Chen Kong volunteered to join a separate team because his abilities suited Hide-and-Seek, and the others agreed he was the best choice to go alone.
• After Mi Yao declined the other participants' invitation, Chen Kong teamed up with An Qin and Camera Guy, but the bell rang before An Qin shared her ability.
• The Raccoon Administrator began the assessment by selecting Mi Yao and two strangers to go first, and Mi Yao planned to act alone.

Mi Yao’s team entered the assessment maze and discovered a Calamity-class Star Beast among the city ruins. Chen Kong recognized landmarks from his childhood in the ruins, which Caroline and the Dimensional Audience connected to the Fallen Zone Meteorite Land, leaving the assessment’s purpose uncertain.

• Mi Yao rejected his teammates’ offer to discuss a plan and told them to hide without involving him.
• The Raccoon Administrator began the second assessment and teleported Mi Yao’s team into the City Ruins Area.
• Mi Yao’s teammates used a detector, found many life signs and a Calamity-class Star Beast approaching, and panicked.
• Mi Yao calmly noticed the danger and walked deeper into the ruins without warning his teammates.
• Chen Kong recognized Sunshine Kindergarten and other childhood landmarks on the broadcast, while Caroline identified the ruins as modeled on Tianhui City, now the Fallen Zone Meteorite Land.
• The Dimensional Audience speculated that the assessment and the Calamity-class Star Beast were connected to Tiandao and the others’ childhood memories.

During the second-stage Explorer Qualification Assessment, the Raccoon Administrator eliminated Mi Yao’s two teammates almost immediately with a Space Jump. Left alone, Mi Yao used his Arcade Master ability to disguise himself as a toy box, but the Raccoon Administrator was not easily fooled.

• A Shadow Wolf Pack chased two Rank 3 Star Envoys through the ruins of Tianhui City as they tried to evade the Star Energy Detector and the assessment’s pursuer.
• The Raccoon Administrator appeared behind the male passerby and eliminated both fleeing participants with a Space Jump.
• The cameraman identified the Administrator’s movement as a Space Jump, leaving Mi Yao as the only participant in the arena.
• Mi Yao saw that his teammates had been eliminated and prepared to act alone inside an abandoned mall.
• Mi Yao used Arcade Master’s Hide-and-Seek Mini-Game to transform into a toy box, concealing his appearance, star energy, and life aura.
• The chapter ended as the Calamity-class Raccoon Administrator approached, with the narration noting that the transformation might not fool it.

Mi Yao faced the Raccoon Administrator’s Calamity-class Gigantamax form and struggled to survive the final stretch of his assessment. He outran the giant raccoon until time expired, passed the stage, and received an Apprentice Badge.

• The Raccoon Administrator transformed into its twenty-meter Gigantamax form and challenged Mi Yao to endure until the assessment timer ran out.
• Mi Yao narrowly dodged the raccoon’s attacks, suffered severe injuries, and fled rather than fight it head-on.
• Mi Yao summoned a Need for Speed maglev sports car and used daring maneuvers to evade the pursuing raccoon.
• The assessment time expired, and the Raccoon Administrator returned to normal and declared Mi Yao had passed.
• The Raccoon Administrator gave Mi Yao an Apprentice Badge, which would become an Explorer Badge after he passed the final theoretical assessment.

Vivian used her Myriad Machine Spark and Smart Machine bees to create false signals during the Hide-and-Seek assessment. As the Shadow Wolves gathered around her, the bees began transmitting signals resembling her own, leaving the plan’s effect on the Raccoon Administrator unresolved.

• The Raccoon Administrator selected Liu Ma, Vivian, and Isabelle for the next assessment, and Vivian reminded them to follow their plan.
• Liu Ma hid in tall grass, Isabelle concealed herself in an abandoned bus, and Vivian walked toward the urban ruins.
• Vivian let a Shadow Wolf spot her and draw more Shadow Wolves to her location.
• Vivian released Smart Machine bees that attached to the Shadow Wolves and distorted their life signals into quantum signals resembling her own.
• The chapter revealed that Vivian’s Myriad Machine Spark could store and control Machine Spirits, enhance Smart Machine equipment, and communicate with Smart Machines.

Vivian tried to mislead the Raccoon Administrator with false signals carried by Shadow Wolves, but the Calamity-class examiner found and eliminated her. Liu Ma and Isabelle were also caught, leaving the audience to anticipate how Tiandao’s and Chen Kong’s groups would fare.

• Tiandao and Caroline explained that Shadow Wolves supplied the life signals Vivian’s smart-machine bees needed to make their false data convincing.
• Vivian hid in a tree hollow behind an anti-scan barrier while her bees spread interference through the forest.
• The Raccoon Administrator tracked Vivian despite her precautions, immobilized her, and eliminated her after explaining it could inspect every signal source directly.
• Vivian returned to the Rest Hall and realized how overwhelming the gap between her and a Calamity-class being was.
• The Raccoon Administrator found and eliminated Liu Ma and Isabelle with one minute left in the assessment.
• The Station 13 audience watched the examinees get wiped out and began anticipating Tiandao’s and Chen Kong’s groups.

After Liu Ma, Vivian, and Isabelle were easily defeated by the Raccoon Administrator, Chen Kong’s team prepared to enter the next assessment. Tiandao suggested that An Qin’s hidden circumstances and human nature could make her a decisive variable, leaving Caroline watching her as the team teleported into ruined factories.

• Liu Ma, Vivian, and Isabelle returned to the Rest Hall dejected after the Raccoon Administrator overwhelmed them.
• Isabelle voiced how vast the gap was between them and Mi Yao, while Chen Kong reconsidered his assumptions about Mi Yao.
• The Raccoon Administrator called Chen Kong, the Cameraman, and An Qin for the next assessment.
• Caroline asked Tiandao whether Chen Kong’s team could pass, and Tiandao said human nature could defy the likely outcome.
• An Qin resolved to get herself eliminated rather than risk revealing anything to Tiandao or Caroline.
• Chen Kong, the Cameraman, and An Qin teleported to ruins filled with abandoned factories as Tiandao and Caroline watched.

Chen Kong, An Qin, and Cameraman entered the abandoned factory ruins, where An Qin reacted strangely to a group of mutated children. Before the Rest Hall’s screen, Tiandao explained that the trial was a dream illusion built from buried memories, leaving the origin of the factory’s memories and the dream’s creator uncertain.

• Cameraman detected nearby hiding places and abnormal signals in an abandoned residential building, so Chen Kong led the group inside.
• Mutated children ambushed Cameraman with scrap-metal arrows, but the arrows bounced off him without causing harm.
• An Qin froze at the sight of the children, then lowered her head and said nothing was wrong when Chen Kong asked about her reaction.
• Tiandao told Caroline and the Dimensional Audience that the Rose Ladder, childhood city, and factory were parts of a dream domain assembled from Memory Shards.
• Tiandao suggested the trial’s events, including the Raccoon’s supposed Gigantamax, might be products of the dream, while the audience speculated that the factory belonged to An Qin’s memories.

Yagami Rin recognized that An Qin’s assessment drew on memories, while the Raccoon Administrator revealed its Eternal Nightmare ability, which materialized people’s fears. It found that Tiandao Siming’s fear was impossible to locate and wondered whether he could feel fear at all.

• Huan Qianyin woke Yagami Rin, who asked whose memory the assessment scenes came from.
• Caroline explained that the assessment’s scenes and characters came from An Qin’s Memory Shards, materialized through dream illusion techniques.
• Yagami Rin fell asleep again, and the camera revealed that she had no shadow.
• The Raccoon Administrator transformed the surroundings and explained that its Eternal Nightmare made people’s fears real, trapping those who avoided them.
• The Raccoon Administrator saw a preserved old residential building and questioned whether Tiandao Siming possessed fear, comparing him to the old being who had imprisoned it.

The chapter revealed that the Raccoon Administrator’s pursuit was driven by examinees’ fear, and that Mi Yao passed by treating the assessment as a game. Chen Kong chose to protect four children and followed their suggestion to hide in a basement as the Administrator drew near.

• The Dimensional Audience learned that fear caused examinees to become easier to sense and subconsciously move toward the Raccoon Administrator, while Mi Yao’s calm attitude had helped him pass.
• Caroline’s Tactical Tablet displayed an analysis confirming the fear-triggered spatial anchoring effect.
• Chen Kong decided to take the four children with him, and the Cameraman agreed, though An Qin objected that they would slow the group down.
• The blind girl told Chen Kong that a basement behind a factory had protected the children from Black Shadows before.
• Chen Kong agreed to let the children lead him and his teammates to the basement.

Chen Kong and the others found a hidden warehouse where two children had survived since the Star Beasts breached the city, and An Qin’s matching scar with the little girl raised questions about their connection. When Star Beasts discovered the basement, An Qin stayed behind to hold them off while Chen Kong led the children toward an escape route.

• The little girl led Chen Kong into a hidden canned-goods warehouse and explained that she and Xiao Hao had been hiding there since the Star Beasts attacked.
• An Qin acted unusually tense in the warehouse, and her hood slipped to reveal a scar nearly identical to the little girl’s.
• The Cameraman noticed the matching scars and appeared to realize something about An Qin and the girl.
• Star Beasts gathered overhead, and An Qin told Chen Kong to take the children through a ventilation duct leading to the woods.
• An Qin went out alone to hold off the Star Beasts while Chen Kong followed her instructions and headed for the escape route with the children.

During the explorer assessment, Chen Kong and An Qin risked failure to protect the children, and the Raccoon Administrator realized their convictions helped them resist the Eternal Nightmare. It changed the woods to create a deadly dead end, leaving Chen Kong wondering whether the assessment was more than hide-and-seek.

• Huan Qianyin questioned why Chen Kong and An Qin protected the children, while Yagami Rin explained that holding to a bottom line mattered more to them than passing the assessment.
• The Raccoon Administrator saw that Chen Kong, An Qin, and the camera Star Envoy had resisted the Eternal Nightmare through their conviction and the children's trust.
• The Raccoon Administrator sent Shadow Wolves to attack An Qin, whose determination to protect the others grew stronger as she fought.
• The Raccoon Administrator secretly changed the forest path into a dead end and filled it with black mist and threatening sounds.
• Chen Kong found the route blocked and realized the Raccoon Administrator had altered the surroundings, prompting him to question the assessment's true nature.

Chen Kong and Cameraman used Panoramic Observer to uncover the Black Mist illusions and locate the Raccoon Administrator, then fled with the two children. The Administrator spread Black Mist through the woods to alter their surroundings and challenge their trust in one another.

• Chen Kong and Cameraman realized the assessment’s location scans were misleading and suspected the Administrator was watching them.
• Cameraman used Scene Rewind to reveal that Black Mist had formed the broken wall and used his lens to locate the Administrator near the factory gates.
• Chen Kong and Cameraman recognized the Administrator’s position and followed the children toward a hidden cave, moving farther from their pursuer.
• The Raccoon Administrator spread Black Mist through the woods and altered the surrounding Star Energy Fluctuations as Chen Kong and the others escaped.

Chen Kong led four children toward a supposedly safe cave while the Cameraman held off an ambush of Shadow Wolves, but the boy betrayed them and revealed a Grayline Lizard waiting inside. Chen Kong used the Sand Ant Queen Star Core’s strength amplification to block the beast’s attack, drawing Mi Yao’s attention.

• The Cameraman detected more than a dozen Shadow Wolves and fought them while Chen Kong led the children toward a safe route.
• The little boy guided Chen Kong and the others to a hidden cave, where Chen Kong sensed a powerful presence.
• A Grayline Lizard emerged, and the boy revealed that the beast was his father and that he had lured them there as food.
• The boy moved to the Grayline Lizard’s side, and Chen Kong prepared to fight without calling Bai Kong to take over.
• Chen Kong activated the Sand Ant Queen Star Core’s strength amplification and blocked the Grayline Lizard’s attack with one hand.
• Mi Yao recognized that Chen Kong had copied the Pseudo-Calamity’s ability with The Visionary and watched him seriously.

Chen Kong used The Visionary to manifest the Ant Queen Star Core’s power and badly injure the Grayline Lizard, but the ability’s side effects began tearing apart his arm. Tiandao explained The Visionary’s potential and dangers as Chen Kong struggled to control the unstable star energy.

• Caroline and Tiandao discussed how The Visionary turned imagination into reality, and Tiandao explained that he had chosen Vector Control because he did not need The Visionary to achieve his goals.
• Caroline described how The Visionary could make users lose track of reality and damage their bodies, prompting Tiandao to glance meaningfully at Huan Qianyin.
• Chen Kong dodged the Grayline Lizard’s magma-coated claw and struck its jaw, then broke its brow ridge and badly wounded it.
• Chen Kong prepared to press his advantage while remembering that he needed to pass the assessment and evade the Raccoon Administrator, not defeat the Grayline Lizard.
• Chen Kong’s arm began splitting and bleeding as the star energy within him surged out of control, revealing The Visionary’s side effects.

Chen Kong realized that his arrogance in wielding the Ant Queen's power had nearly cost him his life, and used Sweet Dream Candy - Blue (Fake) to recover and defeat the Grayline Lizard. The Raccoon Administrator praised him for finding his own way to use The Visionary.

• As the Grayline Lizard prepared to attack, Chen Kong recalled Tiandao's advice and recognized that adapting to his surroundings, not copying others' power, had kept him alive.
• Chen Kong let the Ant Queen's power fade and swallowed Sweet Dream Candy - Blue (Fake), restoring his body and Star Energy.
• Chen Kong dodged the Grayline Lizard's magma attack while using Jing Liuli's Daytime Dream and Vivian's Black Iron Clock.
• Chen Kong struck the Grayline Lizard's injured brow with the Seconds Hand Rapier and killed it.
• The Raccoon Administrator praised Chen Kong for using The Visionary to find himself rather than blindly imitate others.

Chen Kong was left defenseless as the Raccoon Administrator attacked, but An Qin awakened a serpent form and intervened, joined by Cameraman. The Raccoon Administrator gigantically transformed and confronted them as the assessment neared its end.

• Chen Kong defeated the Grayline Lizard but was nearly out of star energy when the Raccoon Administrator arrived at the cave.
• The Raccoon Administrator prepared to eliminate Chen Kong before the assessment ended, while he could no longer activate his Star Core or Star Source.
• An Qin blocked the Raccoon Administrator's attack, revealing a serpent-like transformation, and told it to face her first.
• Cameraman arrived beside An Qin and used Global Lens to restrict the Raccoon Administrator's movement.
• The Raccoon Administrator expanded into a colossal monster and declared that it was the pursuer and they were merely prey.

An Qin, the Cameraman, and Chen Kong survived the Raccoon Administrator’s final assault and passed the Explorer assessment. Back in the Rest Hall, Chen Kong kept his questions about An Qin to himself, while Huan Qianyin and Yagami Rin prepared for their group’s assessment.

• The Raccoon Administrator attacked An Qin and the Cameraman with waves of Nightmare Blades, while An Qin and the Cameraman fought back together.
• An Qin struck the bell on the Raccoon Administrator, triggering an announcement that reduced the assessment time by thirty seconds.
• The Raccoon Administrator stopped attacking, congratulated An Qin, the Cameraman, and Chen Kong on passing, and told Chen Kong that the children were fragments of memory and his Test of Humanity.
• The group returned to the Rest Hall, where An Qin concealed the remaining scales on her arm and Chen Kong chose not to question her.
• Huan Qianyin and Yagami Rin stood up to begin their group’s assessment, and Yagami Rin resolved to pass it within three minutes.