Recaps

After the hospital battle, Fang Cheng returned home and entered the Memory Palace, where he confronted the Smiling Devil about Jiang Chen. The Smiling Devil asked whether Fang Cheng believed in ghosts, and Fang Cheng said he did.

• Xu Fei and Chen Lei watched the news report on the Rehabilitation Center attack and discussed the surviving ghoul and the masked officer who had saved them.
• Fang Cheng visited his grandfather in the hospital, then left for home after spending the day with his family.
• Fang Cheng meditated and discovered he could switch his Memory Palace bedroom between night and daylight before opening a way into the dark space beyond it.
• Fang Cheng entered the Smiling Devil's manor and claimed he and Jiang Chen were friends, but the Smiling Devil saw through the bluff.
• Fang Cheng admitted that he and Jiang Chen were enemies and asked the Smiling Devil about Jiang Chen's origins; the Smiling Devil asked whether Fang Cheng believed ghosts existed.
• Fang Cheng answered that he did, prompting the Smiling Devil to ask whether he had already seen one.

Smiling Devil explained the history of Lone Peak Temple and how Jiang Chen escaped from the ancient underground palace, then told Fang Cheng how the Special Search Team identified and tracked superhuman beings. The chapter left Fang Cheng aware that RC cell levels revealed both a predator’s strength and the danger of losing control.

• Smiling Devil told Fang Cheng that powerful consciousness could survive death and recounted how a general’s attack on Lone Peak Temple released evil entities that transformed the soldiers into ghouls.
• Smiling Devil explained that the Imperial Court sealed the ghouls in an underground palace, which the Archaeological Team accidentally opened when it unearthed the Headless Buddha Statue.
• Fang Cheng concluded that Jiang Chen was the general who had survived for two thousand years as a soul, and suspected that Jiang Chen had contacted Smiling Devil after escaping.
• Smiling Devil described the Special Search Team’s three detection methods: watching pupils, using trained Search Hounds, and screening blood for RC cells.
• Smiling Devil explained that higher RC cell values increased physical strength and regeneration but also raised the risk of losing control and becoming a monster.

Fang Cheng warned the Smiling Devil that Jiang Chen might have survived the military’s attack, then spent the night training in Crushing Tiger Fist. By dawn, his Muay Thai skill was close to leveling up, and he resolved to keep practicing.

• Fang Cheng explained that the Special Search Team’s investigation at his building had ended, then warned the Smiling Devil that Jiang Chen had been blown apart by a missile but might return through a fallback method.
• The Smiling Devil suspected Jiang Chen was still alive and weak, and Fang Cheng promised to help when Jiang Chen came after him.
• Fang Cheng returned to his bedroom, reflected on his growing comfort with darkness, and decided to improve his skills while he had time to train.
• Fang Cheng practiced the lethal Muay Thai style Crushing Tiger Fist through the night, imagining a monster as his opponent.
• At six thirty in the morning, Fang Cheng checked his Muay Thai progress and saw it had reached Level 1 (239/250), then resolved to train harder.

Fang Cheng trained through the night, advancing Muay Thai to master level and gaining Overlord Body, then recovered with Qi Gong and considered how to restore and use his true qi efficiently. As he helped at the clinic and prepared to collect his grandfather from the hospital, a battered young man arrived to report that his boss was in trouble.

• Fang Cheng perfected Muay Thai and gained the Overlord Body skill effect, which granted brief resistance to control and reduced damage.
• Fang Cheng practiced Qi Gong to ease his exhaustion, then ate and considered replenishing his true qi and merging skills to improve his Qi Gong.
• Fang Cheng helped at Master Lin's Bone-Setting Clinic, where Wen Xin watched children playing outside and Wen Hui Yi treated a customer.
• Fang Cheng learned that his grandfather could be discharged from the hospital and prepared to leave the clinic to collect him.
• A bruised young man rushed into the clinic and told Fang Cheng that his boss was in trouble.

Chen Yingjun told Fang Cheng that Ma Donghe had been captured after a deal for the guns turned violent, and Fang Cheng discovered Chen was being tracked before sending him away to mislead the pursuers. Fang Cheng decided to rescue Ma Donghe, who remained bound at a Waste Treatment Plant as an armed group approached.

• Chen Yingjun told Fang Cheng that a mysterious buyer had attacked Ma Donghe's crew, wounded Ma Donghe, and demanded five million in ransom within three days.
• Fang Cheng found a tracker hidden on Chen Yingjun, treated his wounds, and instructed him to act as though he was seeking money while the pursuers followed.
• Fang Cheng watched a black sedan chase Chen Yingjun and suspected the attackers might be targeting him, while concealing the truth from Lin Fusheng, Wen Hui Yi, and Wen Xin.
• Master Lin gave Fang Cheng and Wen Xin red envelopes, briefly easing the tension at the clinic.
• Fang Cheng resolved to rescue Ma Donghe before the New Year, and Ma Donghe sat bound beside a deep rubbish shaft as a group approached him.

Ma Donghe was captured and tortured by Bao Long, who revealed his alliance with the Noah Organization and used him as bait for the mysterious killer. Shadow and his armed forces prepared for the target’s arrival, and the chapter ended as the target appeared on camera and disabled a surveillance feed.

• Ma Donghe recognized Bao Long as the traitor who had betrayed him and learned that Bao Long worked for the Noah Organization.
• Bao Long demanded that Ma Donghe reveal where the killer was hiding, but Ma Donghe refused and endured a beating.
• A Pursuer Captain serving Lord Shadow arrived with armed reinforcements, and Bao Long’s men helped secure the workshop.
• Bao Long had Ma Donghe placed on a drawbridge over a deep shaft, leaving him trapped as bait for the killer.
• Shadow explained that he had avoided using the Red Tiger Gang and waited with a hooded man for the target to appear.
• A figure flashed across a surveillance feed, which immediately turned to static, and Shadow and the hooded man realized the target had arrived.

Fang Cheng infiltrated the Waste Treatment Plant to hunt the Noah Organization, silently killing guards and evading its elite search teams. Shadow and the hooded man watched the hunt unfold as Fang Cheng vanished again into the workshop’s darkness.

• Fang Cheng climbed to the fifth-floor walkway, killed its two guards, destroyed a surveillance camera, and entered the workshop.
• Shadow spotted the destroyed camera feeds and ordered his teams to protect the hostages and search for Fang Cheng.
• Fang Cheng dragged one team member into the shadows, prompting Shadow to direct the other hunters toward B Zone.
• Two team members searched an empty Control Cabinet, but Fang Cheng dropped from above, killed one, and struck the other dead.
• As the teams closed in, Shadow warned them to keep their distance and watch overhead, but Fang Cheng disappeared into the darkness.

Fang Cheng used stealth, decoys, and false radio messages to slaughter most of the Noah Organization’s capture team inside the abandoned factory. With the surviving operatives regrouped on the sixth floor to guard the hostages, Ghost realized Fang Cheng intended to kill every gang member before rescuing them.

• Ghost ordered the assault groups to regroup after Group Four stopped reporting, but Fang Cheng used a decoy to draw their fire and killed the operatives guarding the rear.
• Fang Cheng attacked the assembled operatives, used a corpse as a shield, and tricked them into thinking he had escaped beneath the platform.
• Fang Cheng sent false information over a stolen radio and picked off the Pursuer Squad as they searched for him.
• Ghost ordered the survivors to retreat to the sixth floor, and only five of the original nineteen capture-team members remained.
• Ghost refused the hooded man's offer to help, expecting Fang Cheng to approach the guarded hostages, but then realized Fang Cheng planned to kill everyone in the workshop first.

Fang Cheng infiltrated the workshop's trapped top floor to rescue Ma Donghe, who was bound above a deep shaft and surrounded by ambushers. After killing a sniper and using the door as a shield to advance, Fang Cheng aimed at the suspension bridge's supporting cable.

• Ma Donghe taunted the ambushers while Bao Long and the Pursuer Captain waited for Fang Cheng to enter their trap.
• Fang Cheng reached the sixth floor, evaded traps, and narrowly dodged a sniper's shot after spotting the hostage and the armed men.
• Fang Cheng used iron tongs to open the door and briefly surveyed the room, memorizing the ambushers' positions before retreating behind cover.
• Ma Donghe called out enemy positions, and Fang Cheng used Ghost Snipe to shoot a sniper in the throat.
• Fang Cheng removed the iron door and carried it as a shield while advancing toward the suspension bridge under heavy fire.
• Fang Cheng fired at the steel cable supporting the suspension bridge.

Fang Cheng rescued Ma Donghe from the collapsing drawbridge and hid him in a workshop duty room. He then set out to confront the Noah Organization's gunmen as Ghost watched the rescue and went to meet him.

• Fang Cheng shot through the drawbridge cables, leaped onto the falling bridge, and caught both Ma Donghe's chair and the bridge frame.
• Fang Cheng hurled Ma Donghe through a shaft-side window and followed him into a workshop passage.
• Fang Cheng freed Ma Donghe from his ropes, then led him to a concealed duty room and told him to hide.
• Fang Cheng left Ma Donghe behind and said he would kill the attackers; Ma Donghe reluctantly agreed to stay.
• Ghost watched the rescue on the remaining surveillance feed, ordered his people to report sightings, put on a Skull Mask, and went to find Fang Cheng.
• The hooded man was told to monitor the surveillance feeds, but soon followed Ghost into the darkness.

Fang Cheng fought through a squad of armed men in the dark factory and eliminated them, but an invisible attacker named Ghost struck as the battle ended. Ghost prepared another attack, and Fang Cheng sensed a disturbance in the air and focused on its direction.

• Fang Cheng silently killed one team member, but a flashlight exposed his position and the squad opened fire.
• Fang Cheng used the factory's machinery and his combat skills to defeat the encircling gunmen one by one.
• After the workshop fell silent, an invisible Dagger attacked Fang Cheng and cut his shoulder before vanishing.
• Ghost taunted Fang Cheng from hiding and revealed that he could conceal himself and his weapon.
• Ghost announced that his next attacks would be twice as powerful, and Fang Cheng detected a faint disturbance in the air and fixed his gaze on it.

Fang Cheng fought Ghost’s invisibility and phantom doubles, badly injuring him before a hooded fighter joined the battle. As the two enemies attacked together, Fang Cheng activated his Overlord Body, leaving the fight poised to escalate.

• Fang Cheng sensed Ghost approaching and attacked, but Ghost’s phantom doubles countered and wounded him.
• Fang Cheng studied the doubles’ movements, then struck Ghost with a powerful punch that broke his ribs.
• Ghost called for help, and a hooded man emerged to join the fight against Fang Cheng.
• Ghost and the hooded man launched a coordinated attack, believing Fang Cheng was weakened by his injuries and neurotoxin.
• Fang Cheng unleashed a surge of power and activated his Overlord Body.

Fang Cheng defeated Ghost and the hooded man in the workshop, then found Ma Donghe had killed Bao Long. With their enemies dead, Fang Cheng and Ma Donghe planned to dispose of the bodies and call Yingjun for clothes and a ride.

• Fang Cheng tore off his Combat Uniform and used an airborne spinning Whip Punch to break the hooded man's neck, then struck his head to finish him.
• Ghost attacked Fang Cheng from behind, but Fang Cheng caught him and beat him to death with repeated Knee Strikes.
• Fang Cheng picked up the commander's dagger as a trophy and realized he had no clothes beyond his red underpants.
• Fang Cheng heard a gunshot and found Ma Donghe standing over the mortally wounded Bao Long, who soon died.
• Ma Donghe proposed dumping the bodies in the Well Cave, and Fang Cheng told him to call Yingjun for a ride and a change of clothes.

On Lunar New Year's Eve, Fang Cheng celebrated with his mother, grandfather, and uncle, sharing a festive reunion dinner and exchanging gifts. His uncle gave him a seaside home, and Zhou Xiumei stopped by with a New Year's present before the family continued their celebrations.

• Fang Cheng cooked the reunion dinner, and Li Biyun, Li Zhenhua, and Li Dingjian praised his food as they ate together.
• Li Dingjian toasted the family, remembered Fang Cheng's absent father, and thanked Li Biyun for raising Fang Cheng on her own.
• Li Dingjian gave Fang Cheng a commercial housing purchase contract, and Fang Cheng accepted the gift after Li Zhenhua urged him to let his uncle show his care.
• Li Dingjian told Li Biyun he planned to give Fang Cheng a computer and asked Fang Cheng to keep the property gift quiet until the paperwork was finished.
• Zhou Xiumei brought Fang Cheng's family a New Year's gift, and Fang Cheng gave her a present before she hurried home.
• Fang Cheng handed out gifts to his mother, uncle, and grandfather as the family celebrated beneath the New Year's fireworks.

Fang Cheng exercised before dawn at YuLong Lake and unexpectedly broke through the 40-point limit in agility. After discovering his attributes and body had changed, he wondered whether his increased strength and speed might let him throw a punch faster than sound.

• Fang Cheng woke at the Yuehu Hotel, thought about his family’s plans for his grandfather’s care, and decided to exercise by YuLong Lake.
• Fang Cheng reached a small park and warmed up with Tai Chi before completing a demanding set of bodyweight exercises.
• As Fang Cheng continued training, a sudden wave of pain and a series of joint cracks accompanied his agility breaking through the 40-point limit.
• Fang Cheng checked his attributes and noticed his strength, agility, constitution, and spirit had all increased.
• Fang Cheng examined his more defined, coordinated body and wondered whether he could now punch faster than sound.

Fang Cheng demonstrated that his enhanced physique let him break the sound barrier with his punches, then tested whether his improved agility had increased his airtime. He glided from a cliff for 8.4 seconds and traveled 116 meters, revealing a new level of control in the air.

• Fang Cheng practiced supersonic punches in a secluded grove, producing sonic booms that startled nearby birds and drew the attention of early risers.
• Fang Cheng reflected that his constitution of 40 points let his body withstand the strain of his powerful punches.
• After checking his training progress, Fang Cheng headed up the mountain to find a secluded place to test his airtime.
• Fang Cheng jumped from a cliff over thirty meters high and used the airflow to glide forward as he descended.
• Fang Cheng landed safely, then checked his watch and saw that he had glided for about 8.4 seconds and covered 116 meters.

After testing his ability to glide from a cliff, Fang Cheng followed cries through the woods and discovered three thugs trying to force Boss Xu to reveal an alleged antique vault. When the thugs attacked Fang Cheng, he dodged their leader's shovel strike and broke the man's back.

• Fang Cheng checked his cliff-jump data and realized he had used air currents and precise body control to extend his time in the air.
• Fang Cheng headed back toward the hotel and followed muffled cries into a secluded grove.
• Fang Cheng found the Bald Man and two thugs threatening Boss Xu, who denied knowing about an antique vault.
• The thugs prepared to bury Boss Xu alive until Fang Cheng emerged from the woods.
• The Bald Man ordered the tall, lean thug to attack Fang Cheng, who evaded him, caught his shovel, and flung him into a tree, breaking his back.

Fang Cheng killed a group of bandits in the woods and learned about valuable relics from the Western Mountain Ancient Tomb. After killing another attacker with overwhelming force, he left Xu Sanduo terrified in the pit.

• Fang Cheng dodged the Bald Man's gunfire, closed the distance, and killed him after his pistol ran empty.
• The stocky bandit told Fang Cheng about the Western Mountain Archaeological Site, its relics, and Xu Sanduo's connection to the tomb before Fang Cheng killed him for trying to bargain.
• Xu Sanduo emerged from the pit but panicked when Fang Cheng turned toward him.
• An armed accomplice arrived, and Fang Cheng charged across the woods and killed him with a single punch.
• Fang Cheng complained that he had used too much force while Xu Sanduo watched in terror.

Fang Cheng buried the bandits he had killed, questioned Xu Sanduo about antiques from the Western Mountain Ancient Tomb, and returned to the Yuehu Hotel for breakfast with his family. Xu Sanduo’s clues deepened Fang Cheng’s suspicion that the antique trade was connected to the vanished Jiang Chen.

• Fang Cheng and Xu Sanduo buried the bodies in the woods while Fang Cheng reviewed the experience he had gained from fighting the bandits.
• Fang Cheng threatened Xu Sanduo into explaining that a scarred, hoarse-voiced man with a southern accent had asked him to find a buyer for an antique from the Western Mountain Ancient Tomb.
• Xu Sanduo said powerful buyers seemed to have extraordinary abilities or influential backgrounds, and Fang Cheng took his business card before leaving him alive.
• Fang Cheng told Xu Sanduo to conceal the pit and keep their meeting secret, then ran down the mountain toward the hotel.
• Fang Cheng suspected the antiques might be connected to Jiang Chen and returned to the Yuehu Hotel, where he joined his family for breakfast.

Fang Cheng enjoyed breakfast with his family while his uncle, Li Dingjian, left to meet the Mysterious Thief Group. At the meeting, Li Dingjian refused to join another operation, explaining that he could no longer risk leaving his family without him, and urged the team to quit as well.

• Fang Cheng ate breakfast with Li Biyun and Li Zhenhua while Li Dingjian left after receiving an urgent call.
• Li Dingjian traveled to a hidden workshop in Jiangdong District and used his Perception Pulse to open its electronic lock.
• Li Dingjian met with Big Hammer, Lark, Monkey, and their leader Professor, members of the Mysterious Thief Group.
• Li Dingjian told the team that he did not plan to take part in their next operation.
• Li Dingjian described the gunfire and bloodshed during their last job and said he had sworn to survive for his family.
• Li Dingjian declared that he wanted out and urged the other team members to quit too.

Li Dingjian reconsidered leaving the team after the Professor explained that their safety and future depended on staying together. The team agreed to pursue mysterious sarira from a newly opened underground palace, while Fang Cheng ended the chapter receiving a late-night call from Ma Donghe.

• The Professor argued that Li Dingjian and the team would remain in danger even if they quit, and Big Hammer, Lark, and Monkey each explained why they wanted to stay.
• The Professor revealed that sarira from a two-thousand-year-old underground palace might help the team exceed their physical limits and cure aberrants’ mental afflictions.
• After Monkey asked how dangerous the operation would be, the Professor offered the team a vote and said he had a plan to limit combat.
• Big Hammer, Lark, Monkey, and Li Dingjian agreed to participate, and the Professor began planning the operation set for a week later.
• At the Yuehu Hotel, Fang Cheng wondered about his uncle’s unusual questions before Ma Donghe called him late at night.

Ma Donghe warned Fang Cheng that suspicious people were watching him and said he would take the Special Search Team’s selection exam for protection and a chance to investigate his enemies. Fang Cheng declined to join, then tested his maximum running speed and unlocked the Running skill.

• Ma Donghe told Fang Cheng that suspicious strangers had appeared near the Ma Family Courtyard and that he was avoiding contact to keep their connection secret.
• Ma Donghe said his father was sending him to take the Special Search Team’s selection exam, and he planned to use its authority and resources against the Noah Organization and the Red Tiger Gang.
• Ma Donghe invited Fang Cheng to join him, but Fang Cheng refused because he valued his freedom and was still preparing for the graduate entrance examination.
• At dawn, Fang Cheng ran a kilometer around YuLong Lake in under thirteen seconds, averaging about 79 meters per second.
• Fang Cheng received a notification that he had unlocked Running lv0.

Fang Cheng unlocked the Running skill after testing his extraordinary speed, then helped his family find and buy a home in Wanghu Town for Li Zhenhua. As his mother stayed to oversee renovations and declined to quit her job, Fang Cheng prepared to return to the Club after his Spring Festival holiday, his physique fully recovered.

• Fang Cheng unlocked the Running skill and estimated that his all-out sprint could reach roughly 300 kilometers per hour, while noting that further training could improve his performance.
• Fang Cheng accompanied Li Zhenhua, Li Biyun, and Li Dingjian to view a traditional courtyard house near YuLong Lake, and Li Zhenhua approved it once they negotiated a suitable price.
• The family bought the house, and Li Dingjian hired renovation workers and cleaners to prepare it for Li Zhenhua.
• Fang Cheng urged Li Biyun to leave her exhausting nursing-aide job and told her he had made several hundred thousand yuan from an antique bargain, with Ma Donghe backing up the story; she believed him but planned to seek an easier job later.
• Fang Cheng trained, walked by the lake with Li Zhenhua, and monitored the renovations before preparing to return to the Club as his Spring Festival holiday ended and his physique returned to normal.

On his first day back after the New Year, Fang Cheng defeated the arrogant Xu Hao in a paid sparring match and signed a monthly endorsement contract. After learning Xu Hao was Coach Xu’s estranged son, Fang Cheng called someone about another matter, leaving the story poised for his next request.

• Xu Hao challenged Fang Cheng at the Global Elite Fighting Club, but Fang Cheng controlled his strength, outlasted him, and earned a thousand yuan while gaining fighting experience.
• Fang Cheng invited Xu Hao to spar again, but Xu Hao made excuses and vowed to train before challenging him another time.
• Fang Cheng declined the coaches’ encouragement to compete professionally because pre-fight blood tests could expose him to a ban.
• Chen Xiaohai told Fang Cheng that Xu Hao was Coach Xu’s son and had come to the club hoping to impress his estranged father.
• Fang Cheng signed a contract with Manager Li that would pay him sixty thousand yuan a month in endorsement fees.
• Fang Cheng retrieved his phone in the changing room and called someone about something he needed help with.

Fang Cheng asked Lin Chuqiao to help find a school for a young girl, while Lin Chuqiao used her predictive ability to locate the Golden Benba Vase and joined her team’s planned operation to retrieve it. The team prepared to target the treasure at a guarded mountain estate during the International Shadow Auction, though Lin Chuqiao sensed hidden danger and had a personal reason to obtain it.

• Fang Cheng called Lin Chuqiao and asked her to find a suitable school for the young girl he had brought to her for treatment, and Lin Chuqiao agreed to help.
• The professor told Lin Chuqiao that the Golden Benba Vase was expected to appear at the International Shadow Auction and asked her to predict its location.
• Lin Chuqiao drew a detailed vision of a heavily guarded mountain estate and a hidden chamber containing the vase, then warned the professor that the operation might involve another danger.
• The professor reasoned that the auction could be a trap meant to draw competing factions into conflict, and explained that his team would try to take advantage of the chaos.
• Lin Chuqiao insisted on joining the operation so she could make real-time predictions, and the professor agreed on the condition that she stay close to him.