Chapter Summaries

Fang Cheng improved his shooting, unlocked the Ghost Shooting special effect, and bought ammunition at an underground firearms shop. An air-raid siren then sounded because monsters had appeared in the Western Mountains, and he left with Ma Donghe rather than investigate.

• Fang Cheng hit thirty moving targets in one minute, then raised his Gun Technique to Level 1 and obtained the Ghost Shooting special effect after a second round of practice.
• Fang Cheng and Ma Donghe paid 3,900 yuan for their shooting session, and Fang Cheng refused the monthly membership offer.
• Fang Cheng bought three magazines of 7.62mm ammunition and a Silencer from the hidden firearms shop, then noticed a costly combat uniform and tactical mask.
• An air-raid siren sounded, and the shop's salesman explained that monsters from the Western Mountains had triggered it.
• Fang Cheng and Ma Donghe went outside, saw firelight and gunfire in the distant mountains, then left in the car with Ying Jun.

Fang Cheng treated Ma Donghe, Huang Mao, and Wen Xin to a late-night meal, then accompanied Wen Xin home and saw the desperate conditions she and her mother lived in. He asked Zhou Xiumei to help with an unspecified matter, and she agreed.

• Fang Cheng invited Wen Xin to join him, Ma Donghe, and Huang Mao for barbecue at North Point Night Market.
• Ma Donghe drunkenly lamented his past and the deaths of A Dong and his Big Brother, and Fang Cheng had the Boss remove the remaining beer.
• Fang Cheng walked Wen Xin home and found her mother unconscious on the floor amid squalid living conditions.
• Wen Xin asked whether Fang Cheng would dislike her, and he reassured her before telling her to stay home the next afternoon.
• Fang Cheng asked Zhou Xiumei to help with something, and she promised to handle it well.

Fang Cheng attended Professor Hao Yu’s lecture on Primeval Vowels, where a recording deciphered from the Western Mountains Underground Palace triggered a strange resonance in him. As the recording continued, his Language Skills rapidly gained experience.

• Fang Cheng arrived at Professor Hao Yu’s lecture on the common origin theory of world languages and sat beside Lin Chuqiao.
• Professor Hao explained that Primeval Vowels were ancient linguistic roots and said discoveries at the Western Mountains archaeological site supported the theory.
• Lin Chuqiao told Fang Cheng to listen carefully because the recording might contain the answer he was seeking.
• Professor Hao played audio compiled from writing found in the Underground Palace, and a profound Moo Sound echoed through the hall.
• Fang Cheng felt the sound open a door in his mind and saw his Language Skills’ experience values rise rapidly on the Panel.

Fang Cheng discovered that listening to Professor Hao’s mysterious recording greatly boosted his language skills but drained his spirit. After Lin Chuqiao lent him a copy, he tested it at home, advanced Eastern Ocean Language to level 2, and then hurried to Zhou Xiumei’s door with a gift.

• Fang Cheng saw his four language skills gain experience and his Spirit Attribute rise after listening to the tape at Professor Hao’s lecture.
• Lin Chuqiao gave Fang Cheng a voice recorder containing a copy of the restricted recording.
• Fang Cheng replayed the audio after resting, and its strange sounds triggered vivid visions while rapidly increasing his language-skill experience.
• Fang Cheng stopped the recording when sharp pain hit his brain and saw Eastern Ocean Language reach level 2, earning two Spirit Attribute points.
• Fang Cheng remembered something, grabbed a packaged box, and went to knock on Zhou Xiumei’s door.

Fang Cheng celebrated Wen Xin’s twelfth birthday with Zhou Xiumei and Grandma Zhou, giving Wen Xin new shoes and sharing a cake with her. Afterward, the three watched the New Year fireworks together, and Fang Cheng reflected on how changing one’s perspective could reveal a brighter world.

• Fang Cheng returned home with a birthday gift and found Zhou Xiumei and Wen Xin decorating the apartment for Wen Xin’s birthday.
• Fang Cheng gave Wen Xin pink shoes, and Zhou Xiumei lent her a dress from her childhood.
• Wen Xin asked if her mother could join them, but Zhou Xiumei found that she was not home.
• Fang Cheng, Zhou Xiumei, and Wen Xin sang to Wen Xin, and she made a wish before blowing out her twelve candles.
• Fang Cheng took Zhou Xiumei and Wen Xin to the rooftop to watch the New Year fireworks, where he reflected on seeing the world from a new angle.

Fang Cheng trained on the rooftop, combining intense physical workouts, horse stance, and Muay Thai practice. His Muay Thai reached Expert Level, and he received a choice between attribute boosts and the Steel Bone skill effect.

• Fang Cheng moved his main training to the rooftop and completed his demanding daily physical workout before dawn.
• He practiced horse stance and reflected on how Pile Stance training improved his attributes and recovery.
• Fang Cheng trained Shadow Boxing with a focus on Muay Thai.
• Fang Cheng's Muay Thai reached Expert Level, and the system offered him a choice between Strength and Agility increases or the Steel Bone special effect.

Fang Cheng chose the Steel Bone skill effect and tested its power before helping Wen Xin reunite with her mother. He then went to the Global Elite Fighting Club, where the staff waited for the chairman’s inspection.

• Fang Cheng selected Steel Bone, then dented an iron pipe with a sweeping kick and damaged concrete with a turning elbow.
• Fang Cheng found Wen Xin waiting outside her home and took her inside to see her mother, Wen Hui Yi.
• Wen Hui Yi thanked Fang Cheng for arranging Wen Xin’s birthday celebration and tearfully embraced her daughter.
• Fang Cheng left the mother and daughter together, then went to the Global Elite Fighting Club for the chairman’s visit.
• Fang Cheng saw his colleagues dressed formally and practiced his fists and legs while they waited.

Chairman Shen visited the club, praised Fang Cheng, and awarded him a thick red envelope while a bodyguard reacted warily to him. Later, Fang Cheng spotted Ma Donghe in the second-hand market and realized someone appeared to be following him.

• Chairman Shen announced a salary increase and handed Fang Cheng an Outstanding Employee award, telling him they might meet again.
• After the meeting, Chairman Shen told his bodyguard he trusted Majima's assessment of Fang Cheng and heard that the Red Tiger Gang had swallowed another gang allied with them.
• Fang Cheng collected his bonus and later went to the second-hand market to buy the phone he had been renting.
• Fang Cheng saw Ma Donghe searching for someone and noticed a suspicious man following him.

Ma Donghe entered a hidden powder-processing den after its occupants mistook him for a buyer, but they exposed him and surrounded him. Fang Cheng smashed through the den’s steel-reinforced door to rescue him, then disabled the first thug who charged.

• Ma Donghe followed A Xiang through a concealed checkpoint into a powder-processing factory, where A Xiang accused him of scouting for a rival outfit.
• The workers and armed gang members surrounded Ma Donghe, who fought back despite his injured right hand.
• Fang Cheng burst through the hidden door and told Ma Donghe to rest while he handled the gang.
• A machete-wielding thug charged Fang Cheng, who swept his leg and broke his shin.

Fang Cheng defeated a gang of armed thugs at the Flour Mill Workshop, then shot two gunmen who ambushed him. He and Ma Donghe freed trafficked women and children, including Ma Donghe’s sister-in-law, and Fang Cheng called Zhou Yongnian to handle the aftermath.

• Fang Cheng knocked down more than forty thugs with rapid kicks and strikes, then chased down the few who tried to flee.
• Two surviving thugs opened fire, but Fang Cheng used machinery for cover before shooting them in the forehead with a pistol he had brought along.
• Ma Donghe found a locked room containing trafficked women and children and recognized his sister-in-law among them.
• Fang Cheng told Ma Donghe to summon help to remove the two bodies and detain two leaders while leaving the remaining gang members for the police.
• Fang Cheng called Zhou Yongnian, saying he had someone he could trust to help handle the situation.

After Fang Cheng and Ma Donghe left the raided factory, Wu Shih Hao punished Sang Biao and checked on a monstrous specimen held at the Trade Company Building. That night, Fang Cheng sat in Jiangbei with two Voice Recorders, preparing to put one to use.

• Fang Cheng told Zhou Yongnian that the thugs had been subdued and left the crime scene with the injured Ma Donghe.
• Fang Cheng declined Ma Donghe's offer of a ride and took his leave, while Ma Donghe returned to the Secret Base.
• Wu Shih Hao had Sang Biao beaten for neglecting the factory operation and ordered him to investigate the two men who had exposed it.
• Wu Shih Hao visited the living specimen in the concealed cold-storage room and ordered a Bodyguard to inject it with Blue Glowing Unknown Liquid.
• Fang Cheng sat at his desk in Jiangbei, with two Voice Recorders ready for use.

After recovering, Fang Cheng played the archaeological recording in darkness and used his Focus Skill to endure its strange syllables. He witnessed visions of changing eras and gained language skills and a powerful resistance to language-based effects.

• Fang Cheng reflected on helping Ma Donghe raid a gang hideout that concealed a drug factory and resolved to focus on growing stronger.
• Fang Cheng played Lin Chuqiao’s Voice Recorder while recording it with the device he had bought at the Second-hand Market.
• Fang Cheng activated his Focus Skill, and the recording’s first syllable flooded his mind with information before another roar cleared the mental storm.
• Fang Cheng experienced a void, then saw vivid scenes of Jiangdong District and historical eras shifting around him as he remained a detached observer.
• Fang Cheng gained experience in all Language Skills, raised several languages to Master Level, and reached Grandmaster Level in Eastern Ocean Language, earning Spell Resistance.

Fang Cheng used the Primeval Vowel to push his language skills to their limits and awakened the Epic-quality talent Omniscient Language. The chapter ended with his new talent appearing on the panel, its effects still unknown.

• Fang Cheng understood the Primeval Vowel as humanity’s ancestral memories and gained a new sense of faith.
• Fang Cheng saw that his four language skills were close to max level and learned that synthesizing them would preserve their Enhancement Rewards.
• Fang Cheng decided to keep training despite his mental fatigue and used two voice recorders to listen to the Primeval Vowel.
• Fang Cheng maxed out all four language skills after exhausting himself and then recovered his senses.
• Fang Cheng awakened the purple Epic-quality talent Omniscient Language.

After gaining the Epic Grade talent Omniscient Language, Fang Cheng deciphered the spell code on the postcard and used it to enter a mysterious dark space filled with points of light. He approached a Manor Gate but hesitated to knock, while a man and a woman elsewhere reacted to his apparent failure to make contact.

• Fang Cheng examined Omniscient Language, which let him understand any sentient creature’s language and greatly increased his resistance to negative Language Skills.
• Fang Cheng read the postcard’s strange symbols and recognized them as a spell code for communication.
• Fang Cheng recited the code and found himself in a dark, fog-like space with scattered lights and a halo beneath his feet.
• Fang Cheng used the Incantation to approach a point of light, which transformed into an ornate Manor Gate, but he stopped before knocking.
• A young man in a villa sensed Fang Cheng outside and wondered why he would not enter, while a woman elsewhere questioned why he had not contacted his girlfriend.

After recovering from the previous day's events, Fang Cheng trained until his Pull-Ups skill reached Master Level and increased his Strength. Later, he found Wen Hui Yi struggling to find work and offered to take her to a trauma clinic to apply for a job.

• Fang Cheng reviewed his skills and attributes, then completed his exercise routine and raised Pull-Ups to Master Level, gaining 10 Strength.
• Fang Cheng tested his strength with a gas tank, cooked a large meal, and decided to take the day off from the Club.
• Fang Cheng saw Wen Hui Yi being rejected from a restaurant job because of rumors.
• Fang Cheng offered to take Wen Hui Yi to a nearby trauma clinic to try for work, and she accepted.

Fang Cheng learned Acupoint Therapy and Tui Na while helping at Lin Fusheng’s clinic, where Wen Hui Yi began working. He then agreed to interrogate two captives, though he planned to stop at the supermarket first, unaware that people in a van were watching him and Ma Donghe.

• Fang Cheng persuaded Lin Fusheng to let Wen Hui Yi try working at the clinic.
• Fang Cheng learned Acupoint Therapy from Lin Fusheng and unlocked the Acupoint and Tui Na skills while treating patients.
• Ma Donghe enjoyed Wen Hui Yi’s Tui Na and began helping around the clinic.
• Fang Cheng agreed to interrogate the two people Ma Donghe had held at the Secret Base, but first planned to visit the supermarket.
• Fang Cheng and Ma Donghe left the clinic as several people in a parked minivan watched them.

Fang Cheng interrogated two captured gangsters and learned that Sang Biao’s drug operation was tied to the powerful Red Tiger Gang, while Wu Shih Hao sought assassins to destroy the Three Wolves Gang. He returned to Old Factory Street and heard Wen Hui Yi and Wen Xin together, leaving him warmed by the sight of their family life.

• A minivan’s gang members recognized Fang Cheng as the expert who had attacked their hideout and reported their discovery to their Boss.
• Fang Cheng visited Ma Donghe’s abandoned factory base, where he charmed the guard dog and questioned the two captured thugs.
• The thugs identified Sang Biao as their leader and revealed that his drug factory belonged to Wu Shih Hao, a Red Tiger Gang figure.
• Wu Shih Hao and his gang leaders discussed Fang Cheng and the Three Wolves Gang, then agreed to seek Red Tiger Gang assassins to wipe out their rival.
• Fang Cheng returned to Old Factory Street, heard Wen Hui Yi and Wen Xin talking in the Sleeve Building, and felt warmed by the scene.

Fang Cheng trained his gunmanship and knife skills, then experienced an unusual dream involving brainwaves, the Primordial Era, and a mysterious Different Dimension. At East Capital University, Lin Chuqiao’s attempts to guide and charm him failed; Fang Cheng later arrived at a Sauna Club near the Second-hand Market, where several thugs gathered outside.

• Fang Cheng practiced rapid magazine changes and short-weapon combat, gaining gunmanship and skill experience while resolving to improve his Knife Technique.
• Fang Cheng dreamed of drifting among the city’s brainwaves before returning to visions of the Primordial Era and the mysterious Different Dimension.
• At East Capital University, Lin Chuqiao taught about the Subconscious Mind and extraordinary abilities before meeting Fang Cheng, who returned her Voice Recorder and said he had gained insights.
• Lin Chuqiao tried to use Charm Art on Fang Cheng, but it had no apparent effect; she then examined a drawing that resembled him.
• Fang Cheng traveled to Lingang District and arrived near the Second-hand Market, where rough-looking thugs were gathered outside a Sauna Club.

Fang Cheng tracked down Sang Biao at the Jinsha Sauna Club and killed him, framing the Flower Arm Man as his accomplice. As Sang Biao’s men rushed in, Fang Cheng claimed to be a Three Wolves Gang killer and fought them while the Flower Arm Man fled.

• Fang Cheng waited near the Sauna Club, hoping Sang Biao would appear, and learned that Sang Biao was hiding after a police raid.
• Sang Biao arrived with armed men and confronted Bao Long, demanding an apology and eighty million yuan while threatening the Three Wolves Gang.
• Fang Cheng ambushed the Flower Arm Man in the corridor and forced him to enter Sang Biao’s room as part of his plan.
• Fang Cheng slit Sang Biao’s throat, then ordered the Flower Arm Man to stab the body and choose between surrendering to the police or seeking protection from the Three Wolves Gang.
• When Sang Biao’s men charged into the room, Fang Cheng claimed to be a Three Wolves Gang killer and fought them while the Flower Arm Man escaped.

After killing Sang Biao, Fang Cheng returned home and shared a cake made by Wen Xin, whose chilblains had mysteriously healed. Meanwhile, police surveillance uncovered an emergency at the Three Wolves Gang’s villa district, where an apparently bulletproof creature attacked officers, prompting Zhou Yongnian to call for a specialized response team.

• Fang Cheng framed the Three Wolves Gang as the killers of Sang Biao and returned to his apartment, where Wen Xin gave him her first homemade cake.
• Wen Xin told Fang Cheng that her chilblains had vanished after she wished to recover quickly, and he escorted her home when she left to wait for her mother.
• Fang Cheng reflected on his growing pleasure in killing and found comfort in the thought that Wen Hui Yi and her daughter would be glad Sang Biao was dead.
• A Bang and Da Tou Cong saw a figure at Wu Shih Hao’s company signal that he had spotted their surveillance, then received Night Owl’s distress call from Feihong Road.
• Night Owl reported that a lone attacker had grown larger and could not be killed by bullets before the transmission cut out.
• Zhou Yongnian announced that he had requested Special Search Team support and ordered the other police teams to hold the perimeter and stay safe.