Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn turned the Vehicle Race into a brutal contest, then used Little Flame to block the road and reach the handoff point first. He passed the baton to Guan Xinxian and returned to the stands, where spectators regarded him warily.

• Lu PingAn continued attacking racers who threatened to overtake him, while the contestants behind him waited for Little Flame to tire.
• Lu PingAn’s attacks kept the pack lined up behind him, and he saw that he was in seventeenth place.
• Lu PingAn ordered Little Flame to use Thermal Blood Explosion, creating a burning magma river that slowed the vehicles behind him.
• Lu PingAn reached the next handoff point first and passed the baton to Guan Xinxian.
• Lu PingAn returned to the spectator stands and faced wary spectators and uneasy Ghost Club Members.

Lu PingAn watched Guan Xinxian dominate the water race, then left the Demi-Plane with the Rebirth Society after the results were settled. Team 63 placed fifth overall with an A+ evaluation, and the group turned its attention to the rewards.

• Lu PingAn reasoned that Guan Xinxian’s underwater expertise would make him a strong contender in the third event.
• Guan Xinxian surged through the water, overtaking runners and establishing himself among the leaders.
• Lu PingAn led the Rebirth Society out of the Demi-Plane before the crowd could cause trouble.
• The Demi-Plane announced that Team 63 had placed fifth overall and earned an A+ evaluation, with Lei Shui Yun receiving an additional gift.
• The Demi-Plane Master invited Lu PingAn to advance along the path of pursuit, but Big Cat reacted angrily when he relayed the message.

Lu PingAn chose Forbidden Knowledge and a Chaser blessing as his rewards, while Cat Cat received powerful Runner gifts that greatly improved her prospects. The chapter left Lu PingAn with mysterious memories of a hostile world to decipher and Cat Cat with new abilities and a lasting aptitude boost.

• Lu PingAn selected a random anecdote and a reduced-tier blessing, receiving fragmented memories of a barren world and the Chaser's Arrow Aversion Blessing.
• Cat Cat excitedly revealed that she had awakened the Runner ability Ground Shrinking.
• Lu PingAn learned that Divine Grace had enhanced Cat Cat's Ground Shrinking to Brass Grade, giving her a major advantage in mobility and combat.
• Cat Cat revealed that she had also received a blessing that could permanently improve her aptitude for awakening Runner abilities.
• Big Cat suggested that Cat Cat's unusually strong rewards might balance out the value of Lu PingAn's anecdote, which he could not yet interpret.

After receiving the Chaser’s gift, Lu PingAn realized that his recurring nightmare had yielded an unfinished Breathing Method that could transform the body by drawing in contamination. The method promised immortality, regeneration, and perpetual motion, but using it risked an unknown mutation.

• Lu PingAn woke from another nightmare about a numerous, resilient lifeform and found that the Life Bank had recorded experience and insight into an unknown Breathing Method.
• He trained at the gymnasium with Cat Cat nearby and noticed the method changing his body with each breath.
• Lu PingAn reasoned that Breathing Methods used information as a ritual to draw contamination into humans and modify them, explaining how Professionals developed enhanced bodies.
• The System warned Lu PingAn that the Unnamed Breathing Method contained immortality, regeneration, and perpetual motion, and urged him to complete it while warning against its current use.

Lu PingAn considered how Breathing Methods might shape a person’s evolution and decided to train more regularly while following Big Cat’s warnings against overexertion. He organized his combat skills and prepared to awaken a Tier 1 combat profession so he could discuss his progress with his instructor.

• Lu PingAn reasoned that Runners and Awakened developed along different paths, with one altering the body and the other the mind, and concluded that the Chaser’s information was guidance rather than a usable Breathing Method.
• Big Cat warned Lu PingAn to build up his knowledge before creating his own Breathing Method and advised him to learn another profession focused on Breathing Methods.
• Lu PingAn noted that his Unnamed Breathing Method Insights had reached 31/100 and decided to practice Breathing Methods during his daily routine, while Big Cat cautioned him about overtraining.
• Lu PingAn reviewed his combat skills, including his Heavy Grip branch and immature My Style, and Big Cat suggested that he consider becoming a Weapon Master.
• Lu PingAn decided to take on a Tier 1 combat profession and use his accumulated Heavy Armor Warrior insights to awaken its ability.

Lu PingAn completed the Job Change Ceremony and became a Tier 1 Strangler (Heavy Armored Warrior), gaining the Armed Collapse ability and the Calamity Wrist killing crest. His physique increased, but his reflexes fell behind, and he ended with no armor or riding skills for his new profession.

• Lu PingAn chose Armed Collapse, also known as Armor Break, as his first weapon-type ability and completed its conversion.
• Lu PingAn awakened the profession ability and became a Tier 1 Strangler (Heavy Armored Warrior).
• Lu PingAn's physique rose to Black Iron High Rank, while his reflexes remained at Black Iron Low Rank and triggered a warning about their imbalance.
• After 267 stranglings, Lu PingAn's Calamity Wrist seed sprouted, giving him a crest that hardened his left-hand defense when activated.
• Lu PingAn realized he had a warhorse but no riding skills, and his Heavy Armored Warrior profession came with no armor.

Lu PingAn impressed his instructors with his rapid advancement and imaginative mixed weapon fighting, then received demanding homework to develop his martial style. Big Cat suggested he recruit club members to practice foundational techniques and share the workload.

• Lu PingAn told his instructors he had reached Tier 1 as a heavy armor warrior and explained his quick advancement.
• Lu Teacher assessed Lu PingAn’s weapon skills, criticized his scattered training, and agreed to spar with him.
• Lu PingAn demonstrated a mixed fighting style using polearms, tentacles, rapid weapon switching, and spatial movement, though Lu Teacher defeated him in close combat.
• Lu Teacher praised Lu PingAn’s combat instincts, assigned books and foundational practice, and told him to develop his own martial path.
• Big Cat suggested Lu PingAn enlist new club members to practice basic techniques and help with his demanding training.

Lu PingAn offered the Ghost Club Members a chance to become first-tier combat Professionals within half a year, in exchange for choosing their combat professions and training. The girls immediately competed for the three available places.

• Lu PingAn returned to Flowing Universe and found the female Ghost Club Members relaxing in its Healing Hot Spring.
• He asked the girls about their training, and learned they were exhausted by military drills but had not yet chosen weapon specializations.
• Lu PingAn promised he could accelerate three members to first-tier combat Professionals within half a year and explained that his ability had helped him progress unusually quickly.
• Simir and Tian Xi immediately asked to be selected, while the other girls also rushed to claim one of the limited places.

Lu PingAn secured signed training contracts from six girls and began assigning them long-weapon studies and limited investment buffs. He then learned that the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs was using the White Sleeping Sakura case to crack down on black-market networks, a move that could benefit the legal arms trade tied to his group.

• Mei Yuge refused to sign Lu PingAn's contract, but after he offered to guarantee two of the five remaining girls, the others pressured her until she agreed to sign.
• Lu PingAn collected contracts promising to guide the six girls' studies and help them all reach first rank within half a year, then distributed long-weapon manuals and buffed Simir, Tian Xi, and Mei Yuge.
• Lu PingAn explained that only three girls could receive his investment buff at a time, so he would prioritize those who made the fastest progress; Tian Xi and Simir recognized that he wanted their practical long-weapon experience.
• Xia Qin told Lu PingAn that investigators had found new leads on Sleep Cherry, the White Sleeping Sakura linked to the Mother Goddess Church attack and supplied by Long Qianlan.
• Lu PingAn learned that the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs planned a broad crackdown on black-market arms and related criminal networks, and he noted that the crackdown could boost the legal arms trade and Zion District's Volcano Craftsman Secret Realm.

As the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs prepared a major crackdown on the Black Market and criminal organizations, Lu PingAn suspended arms trading and considered how the changes might benefit his Trading Ground. He brought evidence to Professor Wen to identify and trace new biological weapons, with the deeper goal of finding the mastermind behind White Sleeping Sakura.

• Lu PingAn and other officials discussed falling superpower crime rates and concluded that the recent major incident had temporarily deterred newly Polluted criminals.
• The Bureau of Anomalous Affairs expanded its Special Task Forces and prepared to crack down on the Black Market, control firearms, and pursue listed criminal organizations.
• Lu PingAn suspended arms trading, judged that the crackdown could increase traffic at his violence-free Trading Ground, and decided not to stockpile contraband for profit.
• Lu PingAn visited Professor Wen at the Plant Academy of the Logistics Department with evidence to identify and track biological weapons, especially the trail leading to White Sleeping Sakura's mastermind.

Lu PingAn brought new demonic plants and Black Market weapons to Professor Wen, seeking the Plant Academy’s help with the Special Task Force’s investigation into demonic plant trafficking. Professor Wen agreed after securing Lu PingAn as a laboratory assistant and arranging one-on-one lessons, and they set off to begin two experiments.

• Lu PingAn presented his new Assembled Demonic Plants to Professor Wen, who enthusiastically appraised them.
• Lu PingAn asked Professor Wen to organize an expert investigation into the origins, developers, and supply chains behind Black Market demonic plant weapons.
• Professor Wen dismantled the weapons and examined their components, then balked at committing the Plant Academy’s resources for money alone.
• Professor Wen asked Lu PingAn to work as his laboratory assistant and take his designated courses, but Lu PingAn refused because his schedule and study plans were full.
• Professor Wen offered Lu PingAn one-on-one lessons and direct laboratory guidance, and Lu PingAn accepted.
• Professor Wen and Lu PingAn headed out to discuss two upcoming experiments.

After an exhausting night helping researchers, Lu PingAn slept through his morning classes and refreshed the Little Girls’ BUFFs before harvesting the experience they gained from training. Their fierce practice advanced his weapon skills and began loosening a long-standing bottleneck, while their growing competitiveness stemmed from fear of losing their promised slots.

• Lu PingAn returned to his dormitory exhausted after catalyzing plants and discussing life modules through the night, then slept through his morning classes.
• When the Little Girls arrived for their BUFFs, Lu PingAn refreshed them and went back to sleep, then harvested the experience they had gained.
• Lu PingAn discovered that two girls had trained until dawn, granting him large amounts of longsword and warhammer experience and progress in Slaughtering Long Weapon.
• Lu PingAn worried that the girls’ all-night training and fierce sparring would exhaust them, and decided he should talk to them about pacing themselves.
• The Little Girls continued competing because Lu PingAn’s hard work and powerful Investment BUFF had convinced them he could secure their first-tier places, which they feared losing.

Lu PingAn discovered that sharing his abilities let him learn from other people’s perspectives and gain insights into martial techniques. He guided Simir, Tian Xi, and Mei Yuge, and the Preparatory Class students gave him information about their innate abilities for further advice.

• Lu PingAn realized that studying Simir, Tian Xi, and Mei Yuge’s different approaches to martial training had improved his Slaughtering Long Weapon skill.
• Lu PingAn advised Simir to study the Supple Method and combat recordings, offered to pay for Tier 0 potions for Tian Xi, and urged Mei Yuge to work harder.
• Simir asked whether the students could tell others about Lu PingAn’s lessons, and he said they could share everything except details of his ability and contract.
• The Preparatory Class students gave Lu PingAn papers describing their innate abilities, preferences, and goals, and he agreed to review them.

Lu PingAn trained six students with different weapons, assessed their abilities, and offered them help preparing for future professions in exchange for cooperation. He warned Mei Yuge about her poor gains, then gave the group cooking and drawing materials as additional training options.

• Lu PingAn explained that Simir's paint-making ability had little practical use, while Big Cat described how Mei Yuge's weak Rain Calling could support other abilities if developed.
• Lu PingAn offered the students help pursuing professions such as potion-making, cooking, painting, and crafting, provided they signed long-term cooperation contracts and made satisfactory progress.
• Lu PingAn warned Mei Yuge that her gains from the first round of buffs were the lowest and that further warnings would cost her buff time; she nodded and reconsidered her suspicion of him.
• Lu PingAn distributed cooking guides and drawing lessons, encouraging the students to build skills in their spare time and count the work toward their split.

Lu PingAn investigated a new contraband called Angel's Hope after it drove smugglers into violent, suicidal attacks on Special Task Force members. The gang’s base was empty, so he went to the Steam Factory to question Iron Old Dad, where he found himself surrounded by gunmen.

• Lu PingAn asked Cat Cat to train the club’s Ghost Club Members, then visited hospitalized Xue En and Vice Captain Lu.
• Xue En described how smugglers who ate golden apples gained strength and tactical skill, ignored pain, and attacked while laughing; captured survivors had turned to ash.
• Big Cat told Lu PingAn to obtain a finished apple, and he recorded the incident for internal intelligence before leaving to handle the case.
• A guard told Lu PingAn that other Special Task Force members had been injured by smuggling airships armed with near-contamination Bombardment Harpoons.
• Lu PingAn found the Golden Apple gang’s base abandoned and went to the Steam Factory to speak with Iron Old Dad, where more than a dozen guns were aimed at him.

Lu PingAn entered the Black Market on a Special Task Force mission, but Iron Old Dad ambushed him and accused the authorities of betraying their cooperation. Lu PingAn killed Iron Old Dad and his gunmen, then left the ruined shop with Little Flame after recalling the beast.

• Lu PingAn used a code phrase at the Black Market shop and was led into a room surrounded by Iron Old Dad's armed men.
• Iron Old Dad accused the authorities of cracking down on the Black Market after its help during the Reenactment incident, then ordered his gunmen to kill Lu PingAn.
• Lu PingAn unleashed Little Flame and used Gravity Manipulation and a storm to defeat the gunmen.
• Little Flame pinned Iron Old Dad, who pleaded to cooperate, but Lu PingAn left him to the beast after noting that Iron Old Dad had pointed a gun at him.
• Lu PingAn recalled the now-fed Little Flame from the ruins of the shop as onlookers watched his Special Task Force insignia.

After killing Iron Old Dad, Lu PingAn struggled to find clues about the Golden Apple because the Steam Factory’s human bosses refused to meet him. Andre offered to ask around, while Lu PingAn stayed at an inn despite expecting trouble.

• Lu PingAn found that the Steam Factory’s bosses would not meet him after he killed Iron Old Dad.
• Andre appeared and offered to repay Lu PingAn for the information that had helped the Steam Sprites destroy Fang Wen’s workshop.
• Lu PingAn asked Andre for information about the Golden Apple, and Andre promised to ask local humans and return with news.
• Lu PingAn checked into an inn after its staff refused service, and the attendant fled, expecting a fight because Lu PingAn had killed Big Crow’s family.

Lu PingAn slept through a night of attacks, then stayed beneath his tree to provoke the Steam Factory factions after killing Big Crow. At ten, fighter Ba Manzhen confronted him, and his attempt to attack her with Touch-Me-Not Mines failed to hit her.

• Lu PingAn let Big Cat loose against the attackers who came to the inn, then slept in a hammock while the beast and the tree’s tentacles killed them.
• Lu PingAn woke to find dozens of dried corpses hanging from the tree and decided to stay in town to draw out Big Crow’s associates.
• Lu PingAn bought breakfast and spent the morning beneath the tree as people spread word that he had wiped out Big Crow’s gang.
• Ba Manzhen, a heavily equipped fighter with canine ears, approached Lu PingAn, and Big Cat warned him to retreat.
• Lu PingAn threw his Touch-Me-Not Mines, but Ba Manzhen appeared unharmed as a second figure emerged nearby.

Lu PingAn was confronted by mercenaries hired by local gangs to drive him out of Steam Factory, so he summoned Xia Qin and joined forces with Lei Shui Yun against them. Xia Qin and Little Ba continued their fierce duel while Su Zhizhu surrendered, but Lu PingAn refused to let her go without an ambush.

• Su Zhizhu and Little Ba confronted Lu PingAn and demanded he leave Steam Factory, admitting mercenaries had hired them.
• Lu PingAn summoned Xia Qin, who immediately fought Little Ba, while Lu PingAn explained the situation.
• Little Ba overpowered Xia Qin at first, but Xia Qin recovered in midair and countered her spear with sword qi.
• Su Zhizhu exposed Lei Shui Yun hiding in the wall, and Lei Shui Yun joined Lu PingAn in cornering her.
• Su Zhizhu surrendered because the job had become too dangerous, but Lu PingAn insisted on ambushing her in return.

Lu PingAn and his allies fought mercenaries Su Zhizhu and Ba Manzhen, whose abilities disrupted the battlefield and overwhelmed Xia Qin. Lu PingAn poisoned Ba Manzhen with Silver Poison, leaving the fight unresolved as he pressed his attack.

• Lu PingAn ordered Little Flame to attack while Cat Cat launched spears at Su Zhizhu, but the mercenary escaped by leaving behind a paper decoy.
• Ba Manzhen struck Su Zhizhu instead of Xia Qin, then Lu PingAn used explosions and tentacled monsters to drive Su Zhizhu off, only to find another paper decoy.
• Ba Manzhen knocked Xia Qin down, and Lu PingAn interrupted their duel by drawing the Fighter's attack toward himself.
• Lu PingAn unleashed his Sea Urchin Ball at close range, piercing both himself and Ba Manzhen with its spikes.
• Lu PingAn's spikes inflicted Silver Poison on Ba Manzhen, aging her and turning her hair silver, and he charged with his poisoned battle axe.