Chapter Summaries

Tao Ju called Tang Li for help after surviving a string of threats and a car crash, explaining that he had awakened an ability he could not control. Tang Li gave him a bizarre ritual based on the Virtue Association’s Atonement Tree rite, leaving Lang Jin alarmed by how closely it resembled Evil Cult instruction.

• Tao Ju recounted how Wu Xiude’s family and district agencies pursued and interrogated him, then described surviving a staged car crash through his newly awakened ability.
• Tao Ju asked Tang Li for help, while Tang Li challenged him about whether he had implicated Tang Li in an Evil Cult story when questioned by authorities.
• Tao Ju explained that he wanted help controlling his ability, and Tang Li said they could study it together.
• Lang Jin realized that Tang Li was discussing sensitive ability-awakening information in front of him and worried that Tang Li might be drawing Tao Ju into an Evil Cult.
• Tang Li instructed Tao Ju to inject 3,600 milliliters of blood into a tree, and Lang Jin recognized the directions as a distorted version of the Virtue Association’s Atonement Tree ritual.

Tang Li dismissed Lang Jin after discussing Tao Ju’s transformed ritual, then went home and suffered a violent, strange fit as Ronan observed the city’s unsettled figures. The chapter left Ronan surveying their reactions while Lang Jin investigated evil cults and grew increasingly agitated.

• Tang Li told Tao Ju how to perform the altered Atonement Tree ritual, dismissed his concerns, and ended their call without promising help.
• Tang Li praised Lang Jin’s report, asked whether they had Virtue Association prisoners, and sent Lang Jin and Wang Peilie off work.
• Lang Jin wondered whether Tang Li was hinting at a plan to free a prisoner, then went home and searched for information about evil cults.
• Tang Li left the office, returned home, and convulsed in the bathroom as his forked tongue emerged and the Demon Rune pulled partly free.
• Ronan rode the Demon Rune through the mirror and surveyed Lao Bao, Chang Xin, Jiang Ke, Pang Tieshan, Mei Zhu, Liu Xuezhi, and Lang Jin across the city.

Ronan used his invisible web to observe Tao Ju performing the Cult Ritual in East 824 District, then returned his main body to the Relay Station to study the Cloak app’s accelerating download progress. He concluded that investigating the Evil Cults through Tao Ju could help him uncover how Outer Earth, the Mist Labyrinth, and Inner Earth were connected.

• Ronan monitored Tao Ju’s weakening condition and intense attachment while allowing The Other Side to sense it, but left Tao Ju waiting for now.
• Ronan returned through the Gate of Rebirth (Experiment) to his main body inside the Relay Station and checked the Cloak app, whose download progress had reached 30.6%.
• Ronan considered how Cloak might be interacting with Outer Earth through the Mist Labyrinth and decided that directly opening a path would risk exposing his secrets to the Reclamation Corps.
• Ronan judged his investigations through New Wildfire and the Reclamation Corps insufficient, but became interested in the Evil Cults as a route for studying energy and information exchange.
• Ronan identified Tao Ju’s Cult Ritual as an experiment that could help him investigate the relationship between Outer Earth, the Mist Labyrinth, and Inner Earth.

Ronan used Hundun to send Extraordinary Power across the barriers to Tao Ju, testing whether the connection could empower him. As Ronan prepared to leave, he noticed an unusual fluctuation in Hundun’s transmitted power and a brightening of its cloak.

• Ronan directed Hundun to send power through Tao Ju’s lingering connection, but the barriers allowed only a tiny fraction of the energy to pass.
• Ronan messaged Wen Huilan to have Deng Chun and Lao Yao monitor the area around Lake City for effects of the experiment.
• Ronan judged the transmission too inefficient and considered studying the Virtue Association’s ritual to improve the connection.
• Ronan left Hundun to continue the experiment and headed toward the Relay Station base.
• Ronan sensed an abnormal fluctuation in Hundun’s transmitted power and saw patches of its cloak shine unusually brightly.

Ronan traced Hundun’s unusually effective energy transmission to a possible connection with the Unparalleled Divine Kingdom and shifted his research to investigate it. Meanwhile, Tao Ju’s blood ritual in East 824 District left him severely weakened before the hoped-for turning point arrived.

• Ronan used Hundun’s mapped remnants and Auntie Kui’s research to identify the energy tributary as possibly linked to the Unparalleled Divine Kingdom, though he could not confirm whose power or ritual elements caused the connection.
• Ronan projected back into Outer Earth and sensed that Tao Ju was gravely weakened and nearing despair, while Tang Li remained collapsed in the washroom.
• Tao Ju continued Tang Li’s blood ritual on a camphor tree at Zuo Tai Residence, and his supernatural perception grew clearer as he sensed an unseen connection and outside power.
• Tao Ju kept bleeding into the tree after the required 3,600 milliliters, but the promised suitable moment did not arrive and the incoming power accumulated too slowly.
• Tao Ju grew cold and weak as his fractured leg failed to support him, and he panicked when the ritual showed no sign of reaching its conclusion.

Tao Ju completed the bloody ritual beneath the camphor tree and found himself walking up a circular staircase toward a chaotic Starry Sky. Meanwhile, at a Virtue Association event in East 725 District, Mister Yu learned that something had happened at the main venue.

• Tao Ju exhausted himself debating whether to continue the ritual, then tore bark and wood from the camphor tree and collapsed into the mud.
• Tao Ju dreamed that he was betrayed and cast off the Steel Jade, then resolved to make those watching suffer alongside him.
• Tao Ju saw ritual-like paths among the stars and was drawn into a vortex that led him to cover his face with the bark and trunk tissue.
• Tao Ju emerged from a filthy sea and began walking up a winding staircase that seemed to lead toward the Starry Sky.
• Mister Yu surveyed the Virtue Association’s Nature Activity and worried that fewer major clients had attended than the previous year.
• A subordinate told Mister Yu that something had happened at the main venue.

Mister Yu entered a sealed High-Energy Environment surrounding the burning Atonement Tree and was trapped in boiling water and fire. Meanwhile, Lang Jin received a report of a localized High-Energy Tide, and the preliminary materials revealed the Virtue Association was involved.

• Mister Yu rushed to the main venue after learning that the Atonement Tree had caught fire before the ceremony.
• Mister Yu stepped into the heat surrounding the tree, recognized the danger as a High-Energy Environment, and became trapped as the water boiled around him.
• Mister Yu's subordinates screamed as the burning trunk partly collapsed and he struggled helplessly in the water.
• Tie Ji informed Lang Jin that the Blood Moon Hook had reacted to a localized High-Energy Tide, and Lang Jin reported it to Tang Li.
• Tang Li ordered Lang Jin to arrange a meeting for the next morning, and Lang Jin later saw that the preliminary report concerned the Virtue Association.

Tang Li chaired a meeting to review the Regional High-Energy Tide incident at the Li Zhi Clubhouse, where Virtue Association member Mister Yu had died beneath a burning lychee tree. The leaders discussed the footage and revised the detailed report, while considering that the Virtue Association might seek information about the incident.

• Deputy directors discussed a mass death in the Eleventh District before Tang Li and Lang Jin arrived for the meeting.
• Tie Ji reported that Mister Yu had died during a high-energy incident at the Li Zhi Clubhouse after most people fled the scene.
• Mei Zhu showed surveillance footage of Mister Yu running in circles beneath the burning tree as he withered and died.
• Ang Tun warned that the Virtue Association might suspect a human cause and seek information through intermediaries.
• Mei Zhu led the attendees in reviewing revisions to the detailed report, while Lang Jin and Tie Ji took notes.

After the emergency meeting, Tang Li asked Lang Jin about concerns over his connections to local power factions and evil cult organizations. When Councilor Guo invited Tang Li to a cocktail party, Tang Li told Lang Jin to come along and revealed that Guo had already arranged a female companion for him.

• Tang Li ended the meeting by directing the staff to report the case carefully and record both their findings and any merits.
• Lang Jin and Tie Ji compared their notes, and Lang Jin later brought Tang Li a stack of documents for approval.
• Tang Li asked Lang Jin whether officials commonly investigated his connections, and Lang Jin explained the Center's concerns about Councilor Guo and the Virtue Association.
• Lang Jin told Tang Li that Madam Shan Chuan was personally friendly with General Kang Heng, complicating the Virtue Association inquiry.
• Tang Li revealed that Councilor Guo had invited him to a cocktail party and told Lang Jin to accompany him, adding that Guo had arranged a female companion.

Tang Li guided Lang Jin toward investigating the Virtue Association while Ronan revealed that the rising download progress reflected the Cloak app. Ronan concluded that the True God of Peerless’s rules had crossed into Outer Earth through the association’s ritual, but he remained uncertain why the power had manifested there so purely.

• Tang Li asked Lang Jin for detailed information about Madam Shan Chuan and other senior Virtue Association members, and Lang Jin offered inmates from Meng Yang Prison for experiments once their transfers were approved.
• Lang Jin asked about the changing number on Tang Li’s screen, and Tang Li said it was task progress related to finding something important, perhaps a computer.
• After Lang Jin left, Ronan took control and identified the number as the Cloak app’s download progress, which had risen from 30.6% to 35.9% after the previous night’s events.
• Ronan reasoned that Hundun’s power had drawn the True God of Peerless’s rules through the Virtue Association’s Atonement Tree ritual, draining Mister Yu’s Qi and Blood and transferring the remaining energy to Tao Ju.
• Ronan suspected that Outer Earth’s Evil Cult organizations had absorbed rule power from the True God of Peerless and other Nation-Founding Gods, but he could not explain why the power had manifested so purely there.

Lang Jin and Jing Xiu surveyed Councilor Guo Yuanying's reception while discussing their assignment and Lang Jin's place in the High-Energy Center. They spotted Tang Li working on a Virtue Association file with a woman, and he signaled them to come inside.

• Lang Jin and Jing Xiu assessed the mansion's surroundings and discussed Councilor Guo Yuanying's power and rumored underground facilities.
• Jing Xiu urged Lang Jin to use the reception to build connections, while Lang Jin reflected on the High-Energy Center and its relationship with local officials.
• Lang Jin and Jing Xiu spotted Tang Li inside, viewing a key figure's file on the Virtual Work Area with a woman beside him.
• Lang Jin noticed the enlarged keyword Virtue Association on Tang Li's interface as Tang Li and the woman separated.
• Tang Li spotted Lang Jin and Jing Xiu through the window and pointed toward a nearby door, prompting Lang Jin to realize he was inviting them inside.

Lang Jin and Jing Xiu met He Shan at Tang Li’s reception, where Tang arranged a Friday exchange about the Virtue Association. Lang Jin suspected He Shan was the disguised cult figure Madam Shan Chuan, and after Tang called him, he told Jing Xiu to get ready to leave.

• Tang Li introduced He Shan to Lang Jin and Jing Xiu and arranged for her team to discuss the Virtue Association case at the Center on Friday.
• Lang Jin began gathering case materials while Jing Xiu questioned why Tang Li had been so eager to arrange the meeting.
• Jing Xiu pointed out that Councilor Guo Yuanying and Director Liu had joined Tang Li’s circle, then discussed the Virtue Association’s trade in poor people’s lives with Lang Jin.
• Lang Jin described a victim’s grid-like bruises and blood-clotting symptoms, leading Jing Xiu to recognize the signs of the Blood Clotting Net.
• Lang Jin suspected He Shan was Madam Shan Chuan, and after a call from Tang Li, he told Jing Xiu to prepare to leave.

Tang Li drove away from the reception with He Shan while Lang Jin and Jing Xiu monitored them, and he explained his theory about why the Reclamation Corps suppresses organizations tied to Extraordinary Power. He then turned the conversation to the Virtue Association, leaving He Shan interested in what he had learned about it.

• Lang Jin and Jing Xiu followed Tang Li to the car, where He Shan joined him for the ride.
• Jing Xiu warned Lang Jin that a car had followed them and exchanged messages with him about He Shan's status as a Class A Fugitive.
• Tang Li told He Shan that the Reclamation Corps targeted groups that traced Extraordinary Power to its source, claimed authority to explain the High-Energy Tide, or crossed its control over people, money, and goods.
• He Shan remarked that Tang Li sounded like a Resistance Army leader, and Tang Li suggested they discuss something more concrete.
• Tang Li brought up the Virtue Association and said he had investigated trouble it had caused over the past two days, prompting He Shan's interest.

Tang Li questioned He Shan about the Virtue Association while touching her, and his provocative remarks left Jing Xiu increasingly worried that he was either provoking a dangerous wanted criminal or behaving recklessly. As the car neared the city, Tang Li poured drinks for himself and He Shan, while Jing Xiu remained on alert.

• Tang Li asked Lang Jin whether the Virtue Association in East 725 District mainly pursued wealth, and Lang Jin confirmed that its cases usually involved profitable Blood Sacrifice rituals.
• Tang Li mocked the association's leadership and discussed the pressure on Director Liu and Yan Baishan as the car approached the city and the Blood Moon Hook.
• Jing Xiu watched the cars following them and worried that Tang Li was deliberately provoking He Shan, who might be the wanted killer Madam Shan Chuan.
• Tang Li continued touching He Shan's hand and thigh while making suggestive remarks about a hardworking celebrity and the Beauty Association.
• Tang Li found liquor in the car, poured drinks, and clinked glasses with He Shan as Jing Xiu shuddered and stayed tense.

Deng Chun struggled to classify the Hundun Cult’s mountains under the Twelve Kingdoms system until Kitayama Yukie arrived to collect data for Mister Luo’s experiments. Elsewhere, Lang Jin and Jing Xiu followed Tang Li and He Shan to Tang Li’s residence, where Lang Jin revealed he had called no backup.

• Deng Chun and Lao Yao admitted they had made little progress classifying the Hundun Cult’s mountains and reorganizing its zones.
• Kitayama Yukie arrived seeking Wen Qing, and Wen Huilan explained that she would gather the Cult’s questions and data for Mister Luo’s closed-door experiments.
• Kitayama Yukie said the project might involve Hundun and could be a new Game Scenario.
• Jing Xiu reported that three suspicious vehicles had followed their sedan and that at least nine people were involved.
• Tang Li and He Shan entered Tang Li’s Residential District together, while Lang Jin parked in the garage and arranged to go upstairs with Jing Xiu.
• Lang Jin confirmed that he was unsure whether He Shan was Madam Shan Chuan and said he had not called for backup.

Lang Jin and Jing Xiu went to Tang Li’s apartment and found him restraining Lady He, whom he identified as Madam Shan Chuan. After sending his subordinates away, Tang Li resumed fighting her and revealed a monstrous transformation.

• Lang Jin and Jing Xiu went to the sixteenth floor, where they heard signs of a struggle inside Tang Li’s apartment.
• Tang Li restrained Lady He and told Lang Jin and Jing Xiu that they had interrupted a game; Lang Jin gave the car keys as an excuse for their visit.
• Lang Jin took Jing Xiu away and told her to delete their messages, while she wondered whether they should have called for help.
• Tang Li and Madam Shan Chuan argued about his abilities and her attempt to smooth things over.
• Tang Li attacked Madam Shan Chuan, slammed her into a wall, and pinned both her hands as his body transformed and a forked tongue emerged.

Jing Xiu watched the afternoon discussion with He Shan proceed as scheduled, then unexpectedly joined the official reception and saw Tang Li leave with He Shan. On their drive through the rainy city, Tang Li spoke with Snake Tongue, who had replaced Madam Shan Chuan, about adapting to the Outer Earth and preparing to break the world.

• Jing Xiu learned from Secretary Qiao that the discussion with He Shan concerned Evil Cult affairs and calmed her curiosity while it proceeded.
• Tang Li invited Jing Xiu to accompany the center leaders to the official reception, where she met He Shan again.
• After the reception, Tang Li left in He Shan's car, surprising the deputy directors and He Shan's team.
• Tang Li explained the Outer Earth's population and unstable districts to He Shan as they drove through the rain.
• Snake Tongue confirmed that she was adapting to the Form and Spirit Framework and the Virtue Association, and Tang Li planned to adjust her recharging schedule before they tried to break the world.

Ronan briefed Snake Tongue on Madam Shan Chuan’s assignments and prepared her for further Cross-Boundary experiments, including using Unranked Divine Power. He explained why that power could be traced more readily on Outer Earth, ending with the role of the Intelligent Machine System, pure energy, and the Reclamation Corps.

• Snake Tongue told Ronan about Madam Shan Chuan’s investigations into Mister Yu’s death, her upcoming ceremony in East 824 District, and Zuo Tai’s request concerning Tao Ju.
• Ronan assigned Snake Tongue to investigate Tao Ju during a future visit and instructed her to prepare for a longer Soul Hosting experiment near the Cross-Border Channel in Spring City, with Raven guarding her body.
• Ronan and Snake Tongue practiced transferring her projected power into Madam Shan Chuan’s Form and Spirit Framework, and Ronan demonstrated the looping Unranked Divine Power structure that had killed Mister Yu.
• Snake Tongue questioned why Unranked Divine Power could be traced on Outer Earth when Inner Earth had made little progress, and Ronan cited their different energy environments and the Twelve Kingdoms system.
• Ronan explained that Outer Earth’s Intelligent Machine System, pure energy, and Reclamation Corps could help advanced rules and genetic fragments develop despite the world’s limitations.

Ronan tested how closely the Blood Moon Hook monitored Unranked Divine Power and planned to seek more cross-border channels in East 725 District. A bombing at the flood-control dam drew the attention of Aka Ge and his companions, who prepared to avoid the authorities and look for an opportunity.

• Ronan helped Snake Tongue return to his vacation and brought back a framework of Unranked Divine Power for Hundun to study.
• Ronan flew over East 725 District to test the Blood Moon Hook and considered finding more shells to support his cross-border plans.
• After hearing explosions near the Blood Moon Hook, Xiao Ruan learned that explosive-laden unmanned boats had reportedly struck the dam but were destroyed by the Dam Protection Team.
• Aka Ge decided to move his group away before the Internal Affairs Bureau and Intelligence Management Center responded, while Xiao Ruan saw the coming mobilization as an opportunity.

Aka Ge and the Ruan brothers discussed how the Public Security Department, Internal Affairs Bureau, Intelligence Management Center, and Giantwood Consortium could use the dam incident as a pretext for a wider sweep targeting saboteurs and people with illegal Cybernetics modifications. The chapter left them avoiding detection as a Night Owl helicopter searched the refugee shelter with equipment that could flag and track suspected people.

• Da Ruan told Xiao Ruan to prioritize protecting Aka Ge, and Aka Ge traced the rumors about the operation to Xiao Ba Lang and Su Ba Tong's studio.
• Aka Ge linked Su Ba Tong's equipment and technicians to the Giantwood Consortium and warned that the Consortium was part of the problem.
• The brothers reasoned that a joint sweep could serve the interests of the Internal Affairs Bureau, Intelligence Management Center, and Giantwood Consortium by targeting saboteurs and people with illegal modifications.
• Aka Ge and the brothers abandoned their packed luggage and moved away when a large helicopter circled the refugee shelter with searchlights.
• Da Ruan identified the helicopter's likely Night Owl detection equipment and explained how it could flag suspects, tag their contacts and locations, and draw the Intelligence Management Center's Eight Claws system.