Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn joined the overworked Special Task Force for overtime and helped reorganize its duties before going on patrol. After he took down gangs and a human trafficking ring, fought members of another task force, and overwhelmed his police escort, Xia Qin agreed to spar with him after work.

• Lu PingAn noticed Xia Qin's uncontrolled aura after she advanced, but she refused his request to spar until she had recovered.
• Lu PingAn reviewed the Special Task Force's disorganized workload and helped with paperwork while Xia Qin postponed assigning shifts until the new recruits had arrived.
• Xia Qin sent Lu PingAn to patrol with veteran detective Zhu Hengde at Zion Police Station so he could learn routine procedures.
• Lu PingAn found a human trafficking ring by hearing victims' screams through his Hand of Redemption blessing, then took down two gangs and fought with Fifth Squad over the case.
• Xia Qin summoned Lu PingAn after complaints reached headquarters, and she agreed to spar with him after work.

Lei Huo Ren explained to Lei Shui Yun the brutal choices people faced during West Gate’s disaster and urged her to decide what kind of person she wanted to become. Lei Shui Yun remained troubled, left to consider her own path.

• Lei Shui Yun asked whether West Gate could have been saved, and Lei Huo Ren told her there had not been enough time for rescue.
• Lei Shui Yun questioned why ordinary students risked their lives, and Lei Huo Ren described how Professionals had survived at far higher rates, often by fleeing with their families.
• Lei Huo Ren told Lei Shui Yun that everyone had the right to choose survival and must bear the consequences of their actions.
• Lei Huo Ren revealed that more than two hundred Professionals had held the line at the riverbank, buying refugees an hour, and that donations supported their families.
• Lei Huo Ren urged Lei Shui Yun to choose whether to put herself first or stand in front of the dam, reminding her that their parents had respected his choices.

Lu PingAn sparred with Xia Qin and discovered how vastly her Sword Saint abilities outmatched him in close combat. Afterward, he helped with paperwork until a phone call revealed that he had driven without a license and crashed Xia Qin’s car.

• Xia Qin explained the harsh restrictions and combat power that came with the Sword Saint Path before challenging Lu PingAn to a spar.
• Lu PingAn tried attacking with his Venom Scythe, but Xia Qin disarmed him and broke through Xiao An’s tentacles with ease.
• Lu PingAn used All Weapons at Will and Ground Shrinking to evade Xia Qin, then surrendered after realizing he could not match her speed or strength.
• Lu PingAn returned to the office and used the case files to study the city’s supernatural intelligence while Xia Qin slept nearby.
• Xia Qin answered a phone call, learned Lu PingAn had driven without a license and crashed her car, and angrily confronted him.

Lu PingAn crashed a police car during his first patrol but continued the duty after switching vehicles, then spent his remaining money on potions that raised his physique to Black Iron Mid Rank and strengthened his knowledge of potion-making and magic plants. Cat Cat asked to learn from him, and Big Cat offered to teach her.

• Lu PingAn took the wheel for patrol, crashed into a traffic barrier, and returned to the station with his criminal investigator partner to switch cars.
• Lu PingAn bought and consumed potions at Miss Lu's shop until his physique reached Black Iron Mid Rank, spending the rest of his money.
• Lu PingAn reflected on how potion studies had improved his Gardener skills and considered pursuing potion-making as a side profession.
• Cat Cat told Lu PingAn that Lei Huo Ren wanted her to learn from him and share in his growth.
• Big Cat offered to teach Cat Cat and asked Lu PingAn to pass along the message.

Lu PingAn asked Lei Shui Yun to reveal the talent behind her unusually high potential score, and she admitted that she was a Spirit Cat with the Possession ability. After Big Cat judged her spiritualized constitution exceptionally useful despite its weakness, Lu PingAn decided they might need a new contract.

• Lu PingAn confronted Cat Cat about whether she was a cat or a cat monster and explained that her potential would affect her treatment and contract.
• Cat Cat resisted sharing her secrets, then revealed that she was a beast tamer who fought alongside Xiao Bai using a Double Cat tactic.
• Cat Cat admitted that her first talent was Possession, which let her merge with Xiao Bai and briefly fight at the peak of Tier 2.
• Big Cat told Lu PingAn that Cat Cat’s spiritualized constitution made her especially useful for possession, though it left her vulnerable to Law-grade weapons that harmed souls.
• Lu PingAn decided to offer Cat Cat a higher-grade cooperation and consider making a new contract.

Lu PingAn relayed Big Cat’s guidance to Lei Shui Yun, learning that her possession ability could grow far beyond its apparent Tier 2 strength and that Cliffside Fang might suit her better than the Fighter path. He endured discomfort from conflicting Beast Tamer knowledge until Lei Shui Yun gave up from hunger, while he remained committed to helping her build her foundations before trusting Big Cat to meet others.

• Lu PingAn questioned the value of Lei Shui Yun’s possession ability, and Big Cat explained that it fused her and a cat into a combined fighter despite Lei Shui Yun lacking a combat class.
• Big Cat proposed Cliffside Fang as a possible combat-class path for Lei Shui Yun, and Lu PingAn relayed that she should prioritize learning Spirit Awakening Art.
• Lu PingAn realized Beast Tamer knowledge was making him irritable, and Big Cat admitted she had withheld the warning because she expected him to refuse to help.
• Lu PingAn agreed to accept a Life-Death Contract with Lei Shui Yun and decided he would keep acting as Big Cat’s messenger until he reached at least Tier 3.
• Lu PingAn continued teaching Lei Shui Yun about Beast Tamers, magical plants, and potions despite his discomfort, until Lei Shui Yun interrupted because she was hungry.

Lu PingAn learned the biological logic behind the Beast Tamer and Gardener paths from Big Cat, advancing his Writing skill and clarifying his plans for Cat Cat and the Life Bank. The lesson ended with Lu PingAn realizing Chris had reached Rule-level as both a Healer and a Beast Tamer.

• Big Cat taught Lu PingAn that magical plants and animals followed different survival strategies, and that Beast Tamers and Gardeners interfered with life from opposing perspectives.
• Lu PingAn recorded the lecture's ideas, raised Writing to level four, and gained the Humanism passive enhancement.
• Cat Cat agreed to train her Spirit Awakening Art, join Cliffside Fang, and practice Runner abilities, but objected to accelerating the growth of her innate ability.
• Lu PingAn promised to brew Essence Stabilizing Potions for Cat Cat and considered the Life Bank's need for Potion Masters and Healers.
• Lu PingAn learned that Chris was a dual-main-path Healer and Beast Tamer who had reached Rule-level in both.

Lu PingAn used his growing understanding of Gardeners and the resources of his secret realm to clarify his advancement plans, then acquired the Scholar ability Contamination Pen and advanced to Tier 1. He left with his Spirit Energy greatly enhanced and Tier 2 Gardener within reach, though time and several demanding skill requirements still held him back.

• Lu PingAn realized the Gardener in the Palm Profession embodied a Gardener’s purpose and reaffirmed his advancement path.
• Lu PingAn reviewed the advantages of his Secret Realm Courtyard and Life Bank, which could support his growth and supply raw materials for potions.
• Lu PingAn practiced Contamination Pen with Old Ke’s fountain pen, then awakened the ability and advanced his Scholar Profession to Tier 1.
• Lu PingAn experienced the advancement’s effects: his senses sharpened, his Spirit Energy increased, and his Spirit Energy Emission became more powerful and precise.
• Lu PingAn assessed the remaining requirements for Tier 2 Gardener and messaged Senior Brother Guan and new leeks for help with abilities and skill proficiency.

Lu PingAn deciphered more of the History Reenactment ritual and helped the Special Task Force assess its timing, targets, and likely sacrifices. With the ritual expected around July 8, the task force prepared a new trap by escorting two retired colleagues out of the city, and Lu PingAn joined the convoy.

• Lu PingAn learned that the ritual required an infiltrator to reenact a god’s past, and the Special Task Force searched hospitals for a replaced doctor without finding its target.
• Lu PingAn and Big Cat estimated that the ritual would likely occur around 2 a.m. on July 8, while Lu PingAn avoided hospitals to prevent resonating with Chris’s Divine Power Crystal.
• Lu PingAn signed a short-term agreement with Senior Brother Guan and gave Cat Cat his final BUFF slot to help her improve her Grafting ability.
• Lu PingAn learned that stolen relics and distrustful retired veterans could serve as ritual sacrifices, while the Sophist’s infiltration made the Special Task Force’s internal security unreliable.
• The Special Task Force decided to use two retired colleagues as bait outside the city, and Special Task Force Three joined the convoy escorting them.

Lu PingAn rode with Special Task Force Three as they escorted survivors in a heavily guarded fishing operation, while Big Cat explained why captives could not reliably reveal protected secrets. The convoy’s sudden localized downpour exposed an ambush by a High-Level Life-type Professional.

• Lu PingAn asked Big Cat why the enemy did not abduct the survivors, and she explained that forbidden relics protected Keepers’ secrets and that extracted information could not be trusted.
• Lu PingAn traveled with Xia Qin, Xue En, and Hua Xueyi in a convoy escorting two ritual anchors as part of a coordinated fishing operation.
• Hua Xueyi asked Lu PingAn about stopping Xiao Lu’s BUFF, and he revealed that he was already pushing for Tier 2 because he had four Tier 1 professions.
• Xue En mentioned that he had prepared umbrellas despite a forecast of clear skies, and heavy rain began falling around the convoy.
• Xia Qin called headquarters to check whether the rain was localized, while Big Cat warned Lu PingAn that a sudden downpour often marked an ambush by a High-Level Life-type Professional.

A superstorm of Plague Rain struck the Special Task Force convoy, and Xia Qin led the officers through the emergency response as the rain triggered attacks from underground plants and swarming rats. Lu PingAn and the others survived the opening assaults, but a huge shadow appeared at the edge of the defensive line as the main attack approached.

• Xia Qin equipped the officers with protective gear and organized the police cars into a defensive formation as the rain became contaminated.
• Trees erupted from underground, splitting the formation, and their blooming flowers released mist that knocked out rookie officers until veterans burned it away with flamethrowers.
• Lu PingAn warned the group of an approaching threat, and Hua Xuejie detected a swarm of rats rushing toward them.
• The rat horde overwhelmed unprepared officers while Lu PingAn, Xue En, and Hua Xueyi fought off the rodents.
• Xia Qin stood unharmed as the rats parted around her, while Lu PingAn spotted an enormous shadow nearing the defensive line.

Lu PingAn and Special Task Force Three fought off an ambush of New Humans, magical creatures, and poisonous plants, while Xia Qin hunted down the attackers’ Beast Tamer. After the rain stopped, the team discovered that Xiao Huang had killed himself under a contract, and Lu PingAn grew interested in the Contractor path.

• A captain raised a Fire Ring to stop the rat swarm as six stone-bodied New Humans advanced on the convoy.
• Xia Qin smashed one New Human, and Lu PingAn used its wounds and Silver Poison to kill another before beheading it.
• Hua Xueyi spotted a cloaked watcher, then Lu PingAn helped her escape a swarm of golden hornets with an explosive attack.
• Special Task Force Three cleared a safe zone while Xue En used a flamethrower to burn away poisonous mist.
• Xia Qin returned with a severed head and identified the dead attacker as the fourth-rank Beast Tamer Purple Mire, but the convoy discovered Xiao Huang had killed himself under a contract.
• Lu PingAn recognized the incident as the work of Sophist and decided to experiment with the Contractor path.

After the escort mission ended in disaster, Lu PingAn learned that an awakened airship had swallowed the other convoy and killed the protected individual. Big Cat explained that the Great Summoning had drawn the world toward other worlds and unleashed rising contamination, leaving Lu PingAn to consider whether any way to save it remained.

• Lu PingAn and the returning team heard that an awakened airship had devoured the retiree and many passengers before the escorts destroyed it, with only about forty-three people rescued.
• Big Cat told Lu PingAn that even a tenfold increase in Ancient City's defenders could not have stopped Tier 6 or 7 enemies, and Lu PingAn stopped expecting the authorities to guarantee safety.
• Lu PingAn asked whether the deteriorating world could be saved, and Big Cat said it had been beyond saving since the Great Summoning fifty years earlier.
• Big Cat explained that the Twelve Gods and powerful figures had performed a ritual that pulled the world closer to others, sharply increasing contamination and lowering the threshold for gaining power.
• Big Cat said the world could only be protected by a being on the level of the Twelve Pillars, or by ascending to godhood and leaving aboard the Doomsday Ark, and challenged Lu PingAn to choose his path.

Lu PingAn studied newly shared files on the enemy professions and judged that the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs might have deliberately let the attack happen to learn the enemy’s strength and secure reinforcements. As the Special Task Forces began searching for clues, he warned that the hidden Butcher must be eliminated on contact.

• Xia Qin shared internal reports on enemy professions and suspected attackers with Special Task Force Three after two days of meetings produced little progress.
• Lu PingAn suspected the Bureau had used bait to draw out the Fish Swarm and gain evidence for requesting reinforcements.
• Lu PingAn identified a likely high-tier Butcher as a major threat because the profession could create flesh golems and exploit a city’s population for victims.
• Lu PingAn studied the files on Mechanical Awakeners and Pactbearers, learning about their electronic contamination, mechanical constructs, and uncertain abilities.
• Lu PingAn learned the Gardener’s demonic plants had been planted recently and suspected the apparent low-tier operative might have been an underling.
• The Special Task Forces received assignments and began searching for clues about the attackers.

After the ambush, Lu PingAn investigated the localized Sith White Flower and earned a large mission bonus, while Xia Qin explained how Keepers of Secrets should manage their income. She then assigned him to contact Butcher Bro's Commerce because he was the Special Task Force's only combat-capable Gardener in Zion District.

• Lu Sheng prepared two Rule-level items for the Ancient City Bureau of Anomalous Affairs as the bureau entered an emergency state and vowed to avenge Xiao Huang and A Ke.
• Lu PingAn researched the Sith White Flower, learned its pollen induced sleep and that its grafted parent plant came from the Eastern Island Country, and tested its effects himself.
• Lu PingAn and the other mission members received bonuses, and Xia Qin explained the 5221 income allocation system and the Special Task Force's relief fund.
• Lu PingAn chose to invest nearly all his earnings in improving his strength, then Xia Qin assigned him to contact Butcher Bro's Commerce because he was the only combat-capable Gardener in Zion District's Special Task Force.

Lu PingAn entered the Ancient City's Abandoned Factory Black Market to contact the local Butcher Bro faction, but first explored its shops and bought Door Nails. As he reached a secluded street, two burly men began following him.

• The Special Task Force continued screening for a high-level Healer who had replaced someone, while Life-type Professionals were told to keep their distance from one another.
• Lu PingAn entered the Black Market through a black door using a rusty nail and met Andre, a Steam Sprite who offered to guide him.
• Andre explained that the market was the Ancient City's Abandoned Factory, an industrial district from decades earlier, and Lu PingAn hired him as a guide.
• Lu PingAn browsed the shops, saw the market's unusual wares, and bought three Door Nails from Andre.
• As Lu PingAn walked down a secluded street, two burly men began following him.

Lu PingAn explored Factory with Little Andre, the Steam Sprite guide who had tried to lure him into a trap, and amused himself by frustrating a Sphinx with its riddles. After receiving the Sphinx’s blessing, he changed his plans to seek out books and items unavailable outside Factory, leaving his assignment for later.

• Lu PingAn recognized Little Andre as the newcomer-trapping guide, defeated the two thugs waiting in his alley, and hired him to show him interesting places.
• Little Andre guided Lu PingAn through Factory, including its meat-processing line and an illegal Black Factory that mistook him for merchandise.
• Lu PingAn confounded the Sphinx’s philosophical questions by challenging their assumptions and forcing it to add conditions to its dilemmas.
• The Sphinx gave Lu PingAn Darian’s Blessing of Wisdom, which greatly increased his comprehension for three days.
• Lu PingAn asked Little Andre to show him books and items that could not be bought outside, choosing to continue sightseeing instead of returning to work.

Lu PingAn used a Silver-Rank buff to study contaminated travelogues and otherworld books, improving his Scholar abilities while learning about worlds with radically different ways of surviving contamination. He reconsidered humanity’s future and concluded that some of his plans might need to change because order was not eternal.

• Lu PingAn studied contaminated books at an inn and used the Sphinx buff to copy knowledge for two and a half hours.
• He reflected on the buff’s dangerous rules and how it had greatly improved his comprehension and understanding of otherworldly languages.
• Lu PingAn read accounts of one world where humans relied on fortress cities and torches to resist monsters and mutation.
• He read about another world where competing races deliberately embraced contamination and mutation to gain strength and resources.
• After Reading and Writing both reached Level 6, Lu PingAn compared the contamination levels of different worlds and considered how they shaped classes and societies.
• Lu PingAn decided that his plans might need rearranging because order might not last forever.

Lu PingAn warned Iron Old Dad that cultists planned to use a Historical Re-enactment to recreate Big Cat’s Apotheosis Ritual and threaten the Ancient City. He stayed in the Secret Realm to train, ending the chapter with his Spirit reaching Black Iron Mid Rank.

• Lu PingAn returned to the Black Market and confirmed through Cat Cat that investigators were questioning people and that one had gone missing.
• Lu PingAn told Iron Old Dad that the cultists intended to make the Secret Realm lose control and recreate Big Cat’s Apotheosis Ritual, potentially killing millions.
• Iron Old Dad considered the Special Task Force’s request to watch for six Tier 3 New Humans and the local resources used to create them.
• Lu PingAn declined Iron Old Dad’s invitation to lunch and remained in the Secret Realm to use the Silver Buff and train.
• Lu PingAn raised Reading (Forbidden) and Writing (Pollution) to level 7, and his Spirit advanced to Black Iron Mid Rank.

Lu PingAn practiced painting and discovered that his crude artworks could carry supernatural emotional resonance, helping him understand his Tier 2 advancement exam. As his skills grew, Reading (Taboo) advanced automatically and granted him the Erudite ability.

• Lu PingAn practiced painting in the streets, struggled to apply the techniques he had learned, and began creating an Impressionist style of his own.
• His paintings conveyed emotions and contamination to viewers, revealing how Creator (General) let his creations hold contamination independently.
• A passerby bought Lu PingAn's painting of a melting wax figure for ten Door Nails, and he continued painting to gain experience.
• Lu PingAn realized his art exam might require proving his ability to the gods rather than producing conventional artwork.
• Reading (Taboo) advanced automatically and granted Lu PingAn the permanent passive bonus Erudite, which increased learning speed and the chance of awakening profession skills.