Chapter Summaries

Wang Tao tested Awakening Fruits on Jiang Shixue, Lightning, and the Black Snakes, then used one himself and gained an Awakening Key. The next day, Cui Sheng invited Wang Tao to attend the Municipal Government’s Spring Festival celebration, and Wang Tao agreed.

• Jiang Shixue and Lightning each ate one Awakening Fruit and fell asleep, leading Wang Tao to suspect their Hidden Attributes enabled them to awaken.
• The five Black Snakes ate Awakening Fruits and gained health and energy, but their physical capabilities increased by only two percent, so Wang Tao decided not to give them more.
• Wang Tao, He Jijun, and Lan Yulian ate Awakening Fruits and enjoyed their unusual flavor; Wang Tao gained an ordinary Awakening Key.
• Wang Tao carried Jiang Shixue to his room to monitor her awakening, while Xu Xiaojun carried Lightning; Wang Tao also planned to awaken Ding Yuqin in the future.
• Cui Sheng visited Wang Tao after becoming a first-tier Esper and invited him to the Municipal Government’s Spring Festival celebration.
• Wang Tao accepted the invitation and agreed to attend the celebration.

Wang Tao learned that the Prairie Fire Society had become famous after its role in killing a Calamity Grade monster, though he had no plans to expand it substantially. Cheng Yiyi arrived as a newly awakened fourth-order Esper and brought Wang Tao the meteorites she had promised, including some fifth-order ones.

• Cui Sheng gave Wang Tao a badge, trophy, and 100,000 crystal coins from the Municipal Government, then explained how the Prairie Fire Society had gained fame despite missing the publicity event.
• Wang Tao learned that many people had submitted résumés to the Prairie Fire Society, but he and Lan Yulian had little interest in large-scale recruitment.
• Wang Tao's group spent the morning resting after their encounter with the fifth-order Giant Eagle.
• Cheng Yiyi arrived and revealed her Poisoned Bullets awakening, which caused her fired bullets to carry poison.
• Cheng Yiyi had soldiers unload boxes of meteorites for Wang Tao, including fifth-order meteorites, and offered to convert them into crystal coins if he did not want them.

Wang Tao accepted Fourth and Fifth Order Meteorites from Cheng Yiyi as payment for Prairie Fire Society’s share of the giant snake’s spoils, and reserved her Sixth Order Meteorite for a future trade. He showed Cheng Yiyi the Fourth Order Black Snakes that had hatched from the Calamity Grade giant snake’s eggs, then learned that both Advanced Awakening Keys had successfully awakened their users.

• Cheng Yiyi offered Wang Tao the meteorites owed to Prairie Fire Society and said she also had a Sixth Order Meteorite; Wang Tao reserved it for a later trade.
• Cheng Yiyi explained the giant snake’s loot distribution and paid Wang Tao’s 1.14 million crystal coin share with thirty Fourth Order and five Fifth Order Meteorites.
• Wang Tao accepted the meteorites, though opening all the Fourth Order ones would cost him more crystal coins than he had saved.
• Wang Tao took Cheng Yiyi to see five Fourth Order Black Snakes basking in his yard and revealed they had hatched from eggs laid by the Calamity Grade giant snake.
• Cheng Yiyi assumed Wang Tao had found the eggs inside the giant snake’s body and regretted not searching the corpse more carefully.
• Wang Tao praised Cheng Yiyi’s luck with her awakening key, and she revealed that the person who used her second key had awakened too.

Cheng Yiyi told Wang Tao that both her Awakening and her Hidden Attribute fusion had succeeded, then revealed that she had gained the passive poison-type Awakening Poisoned Bullets. Wang Tao helped her test it at the underground shooting range, where its poison damage proved weak but stackable.

• Cheng Yiyi told Wang Tao that both of her ordinary Awakening Keys had worked and that she had gained a Hidden Attribute by fusing the Strange Poison Sac.
• Cheng Yiyi asked Wang Tao if Black Snake was for sale, but he refused and explained that it only obeyed him.
• Cheng Yiyi gave Wang Tao clues about her Awakening, and he deduced that it was a passive poison-type ability related to shooting.
• Cheng Yiyi confirmed that her Awakening was Poisoned Bullets and agreed to test it at Wang Tao's underground shooting range.
• Cheng Yiyi fired several kinds of guns at four Night Demon I Types, and Wang Tao observed that her poison damage was low but could stack.

Wang Tao analyzed Cheng Yiyi’s Poisoned Bullets awakening and helped her test whether it worked from inside an Iron Beetle. After binding herself to Wang Tao’s Iron Beetle, Cheng Yiyi successfully triggered poison damage and asked him to become the Sixth Army Corps’ Expert Consultant.

• Wang Tao explained that Cheng Yiyi’s Poisoned Bullets grew more effective over time and suited enemies with high health and defense, while requiring powerful firearms and plenty of ammunition.
• Cheng Yiyi considered ways to increase her firepower, and Wang Tao suggested testing whether she could use her awakening while piloting an Iron Beetle.
• Cheng Yiyi learned that Wang Tao owned an Iron Beetle, and he let her test her awakening inside it by shooting a Night Demon I Type.
• Cheng Yiyi’s shots triggered no poison damage until Wang Tao realized she needed to bind the Iron Beetle to herself.
• After binding the Iron Beetle, Cheng Yiyi triggered repeated poison damage and then offered to hire Wang Tao as the Sixth Army Corps’ Expert Consultant.

Wang Tao accepted a job as an Expert Consultant for the Sixth Army Corps and visited its main camp with Cheng Yiyi. He learned why the corps lagged behind the others, and Cheng Yiyi realized that his addition raised their number of awakened people to four.

• Cheng Yiyi offered Wang Tao a flexible consultant position with a signing bonus, weekly pay, and priority access to the corps' spoils, and Wang Tao agreed.
• Wang Tao reviewed and signed the employment contract, and Cheng Yiyi immediately transferred his signing bonus and weekly allowance.
• Cheng Yiyi took Wang Tao to the Sixth Army Corps' main camp, where he remarked that it looked less impressive than the Third Army Corps.
• Cheng Yiyi explained how the Six Army Corps had formed around different military units and described the Sixth Army Corps' losses, limited resources, and naval origins.
• Cheng Yiyi told Wang Tao about the Sixth Army Corps' leadership and counted four awakened people in the corps, including Wang Tao.

Wang Tao joined the Sixth Army Corps as an Expert Consultant, learned about its forces, and asked Cheng Yiyi to share information about unusual items and powerful monsters. Back at the villa, Jiang Shixue awakened as a Fourth Tier Lord with the String Puppet ability, and Wang Tao prepared to test what it could do.

• Cheng Yiyi explained why the Sixth Army Corps' former commanders had become committee members and handed command to her, then introduced Wang Tao to Deputy Corps Commander Lin Kaiyang.
• Cheng Yiyi and Lin Kaiyang showed Wang Tao around the Sixth Army Corps, whose thousand members and military equipment made it much smaller than the other corps.
• Wang Tao asked Cheng Yiyi to let him inspect unusual items and report sightings of Giant Zombies, Calamity Grade monsters, or Fifth Tier Lords so he could hunt them; she agreed to notify him.
• Wang Tao returned to the villa and arranged for He Jijun to bring their helicopter to the Sixth Army Corps for repairs, weapon modifications, and a communications upgrade.
• Jiang Shixue woke, and Wang Tao discovered she had advanced to Fourth Tier Lord and replaced Eye of Contract with the String Puppet awakening.

Wang Tao and the others tested Jiang Shixue’s Puppet Strings Awakening, discovering that it could forcibly control people for durations determined largely by their mental strength. After Jiang Shixue expanded her Awakening Energy capacity and completed several tests, Lightning awakened.

• Wang Tao let Jiang Shixue control him, and a video showed her taking over his body for one second while he barely noticed.
• Jiang Shixue explained that Puppet Strings forcibly controlled thoughts and movements, consumed Awakening Energy, and let her use Awakening Crystal Cores to replenish her energy.
• Wang Tao increased Jiang Shixue’s Awakening Energy limit to 500, after which she controlled Yang Changhong for five seconds and made her swing an iron rod at him.
• Jiang Shixue tested her control on the others and found she could control Wang Tao for one second, He Jijun for one and a half seconds, Lan Yulian for two seconds, and lower-level companions for roughly five to ten seconds within about thirty meters.
• Lightning barked as he awakened.

Lightning advanced to a Fourth Order Lord and awakened Gluttonous Feast, which let it grow stronger by devouring creatures of its tier while changing size freely. Wang Tao decided to raise his Second Awakening success rate by opening meteorites, then visited the Esper market with Nie Siyan and spotted an expensive Night Demon Heart.

• Lightning awakened Gluttonous Feast and demonstrated that it could grow larger and stronger, then shrink back to its normal size.
• Wang Tao considered attempting his Second Awakening with a 70% success rate, but the others advised him to wait and improve his odds.
• Ding Yuqin reminded Wang Tao that Cheng Yiyi had repaid her debt with thirty Fourth Order meteorites, prompting him to plan an outing to open them.
• Wang Tao exchanged his crystal coins for enough Fourth Order Epic Crystal Cores to open all thirty meteorites.
• Wang Tao and Nie Siyan entered the Esper market to buy information, where Wang Tao noticed a stall selling expensive Night Demon Hearts.

Wang Tao investigated the surprisingly high price of Night Demon Hearts at the Esper Market, bought monster intelligence, and planned a small expedition to seek targets for his Second Awakening. Qu Shilin revealed that Night Demon Hearts had surged in value because factions were preparing to explore a newly discovered underground cavern.

• Wang Tao learned that a Night Demon I Type Heart was listed for one million crystal coins, but the stall owner would not lower the price below nine hundred thousand.
• Wang Tao bought several pieces of zombie and monster intelligence at the Information Exchange and shared them with Ding Yuqin and the others, who planned an expedition route.
• Wang Tao decided to leave the next day with Lan Yulian, Jiang Shixue, Lightning, He Jijun, and Little Black, while avoiding the unknown Fifth Order Giant Eagle.
• Qu Shilin told Wang Tao that her newly modified crystal energy-powered vehicle had passed two tests, and Wang Tao agreed to help test it.
• Qu Shilin explained that factions planned to explore a huge underground cavern soon, making Night Demon I Types valuable there, and asked Wang Tao whether she should sell her Night Demon Hearts.

Wang Tao learned about a secret underground cave and secured a chance to join the expedition through Cheng Yiyi, while Qu Shilin gave him a Crystal Energy Car and a powerful new sniper-style Crystal Energy Gun. The next day, Wang Tao left the base with Jiang Shixue and the others to hunt zombies and use Night Demon insect eggs.

• Wang Tao learned from Qu Shilin that several factions controlled a secret underground cave, then told Cheng Yiyi about it so she could investigate.
• Cheng Yiyi confirmed the cave was real and secured a place for the Sixth Army Corps to join the operation ten days later, and Wang Tao said he would be back in time.
• Qu Shilin showed Wang Tao the Crystal Energy Car and offered him a powerful Crystal Energy Gun; Wang Tao accepted the gun and took her to Lan Yulian for treatment.
• Wang Tao gave Qu Shilin his Night Demon Hearts to sell together, hoping to get a better price.
• The next day, Wang Tao drove Jiang Shixue and the others out of the base to hunt zombies and feed them Night Demon insect eggs.

Wang Tao opened meteorites while searching for powerful zombies and uncovered a Fourth Order Lord Scissors Insect Monster, which his group quickly defeated. After Lightning devoured the monster and grew stronger, Wang Tao prepared to continue opening the remaining meteorites.

• Wang Tao and He Jijun loaded forty-six zombie heads with Night Demon eggs into the Crystal Energy Car and drove along their planned route, but found almost no zombies.
• Wang Tao chose an abandoned town with an underground workshop as a temporary refuge and began opening thirty meteorites while his companions declined to try their luck.
• Wang Tao opened an Excellent Meteorite and found a Fourth Order Advancement Crystal Core, then uncovered other items before releasing a Fourth Order Lord Scissors Insect Monster from a meteorite.
• Jiang Shixue briefly controlled the Scissors Insect Monster, giving Wang Tao, He Jijun, and the others time to attack it before they finished it together.
• Wang Tao's group collected the monster's loot, and Lightning swallowed its corpse, gaining health and growing stronger.

Wang Tao and his group opened a string of meteors, killing several monsters and testing the powerful but costly Crystal Energy Sniper Rifle. The eighteenth meteor revealed a monster that appeared to be a Fire Element, leaving its identity and threat unknown.

• Wang Tao killed a Cockroach Monster, and Lightning devoured its corpse and gained 1,500 health.
• Wang Tao and his group killed a Double-Tailed Scorpion and waited for its poisonous mist to disperse.
• An Acid Worm sprayed corrosive acid across a wide area, forcing the group to attack it from range.
• Wang Tao tested the Crystal Energy Sniper Rifle, then charged through the acid with Prairie Fire and killed the Acid Worm.
• Wang Tao opened more meteors, finding a Physical Awakening Key, an Iron Bone Blade, and a set of Iron Bone Armor.
• The eighteenth meteor released a monster that Wang Tao suspected was a Fire Element.

Wang Tao defeated a Flame Centipede, survived its powerful Blast Flame attack, and synthesized a perfect Blast Flame Crystal Core, though he waited to fuse with it. After clearing the Fourth Order Excellent Meteorites, he began opening the Epic Meteorites and acquired an Iron Beetle.

• Wang Tao fought the Flame Centipede, broke through its defenses, and dealt enough damage to force it to use Blast Flame.
• Wang Tao survived the explosion, killed the weakened Flame Centipede, and obtained its Blast Flame Crystal Core and other loot.
• Wang Tao synthesized three Blast Flame Crystal Cores into an Epic core with no side effect, but decided to wait until after his Second Awakening to fuse with it.
• Wang Tao and his companions opened the remaining Excellent Meteorites, defeating the monsters inside and finding a Physical Awakening Key.
• Wang Tao opened the first Epic Meteorite and found a third Iron Beetle, then fed it the Acid Worm while Lightning ate the Double-Tailed Scorpion.
• The Iron Beetle gained 50,000 health and an acid enhancement attribute.

Wang Tao tested the Iron Beetle’s new acid ability, opened the remaining meteorites, and prepared to hunt Night Demon Lords to raise his Second Awakening success rate. At night, he let a group of survivors escape a Night Demon pack into the temporary camp and learned that the pack had come from an enormous Night Demon Nest.

• Wang Tao confirmed that the Iron Beetle had gained a weaker acid-spraying ability from eating an Acid Worm, while Lightning gained health by devouring a Double-Tailed Scorpion.
• Wang Tao opened the remaining meteorites, fought several Insectoid monsters, and collected valuable loot, though he did not find another Iron Beetle.
• Wang Tao and his group fortified the underground factory camp, crafted equipment, and planned to seek zombie monsters to improve his Second Awakening success rate.
• Wang Tao and his companions received an alert that survivors were being chased by more than a hundred Night Demons, so they opened the camp gate and let the survivors inside.
• The survivors told Wang Tao that they had ventured to a Night Demon Nest at night and found it was as vast as an Underground City.

Wang Tao learned about a vast Night Demon Nest in an underground mall and led his group there to investigate and hatch Night Demons. The Incubation Flesh swallowed three parasite-infected zombie heads, and three black figures emerged almost immediately.

• Wang Tao met Wen Guocheng and his teammates, learned about the Night Demon Nest and its Incubation Flesh, and brought them into the temporary camp.
• Wang Tao’s group agreed to visit the nest, while Wen Guocheng and his teammates stayed behind to guard the camp.
• Wang Tao drove to the Air Raid Shelter entrance and found a huge area of Incubation Flesh and Unformed Night Demons.
• Wang Tao tossed three zombie heads infected with Night Demon Parasites into the Incubation Flesh, which quickly produced three black figures.

Wang Tao used Incubation Flesh to rapidly produce and ambush dozens of Night Demons, including many Fourth Order Lords, as his group advanced through the Air Raid Shelter. At dawn, they blocked the route between the shelter and the Underground Mall, where Wang Tao confronted a Fifth Order Lord Night Demon and judged that he could defeat it.

• Wang Tao tested the Incubation Flesh with zombie heads and found it produced Night Demons and Night Demon Lords quickly, though the process depleted the flesh’s health.
• Wang Tao moved to another patch of Incubation Flesh and used all his remaining zombie heads, producing thirty-eight Night Demons, including thirty Fourth Order Lords, which his group ambushed and killed in small numbers.
• Wang Tao led his group to the Underground Mall passage and set up defenses to catch Night Demons returning at dawn while guarding against attacks from inside the mall.
• Wang Tao’s group killed waves of returning Night Demons, but encountered no Fourth Order Lords until a Fifth Order Lord Night Demon charged at them.
• Wang Tao fired a Large Ultraviolet Flare to weaken the Night Demons, then struck the Fifth Order Lord Night Demon and endured its powerful counterattack.
• After assessing the Fifth Order Lord Night Demon’s defense and attack, Wang Tao decided that he could kill it despite being Fourth Order.

Wang Tao and his team fought a Fifth Order Lord Night Demon in the Air Raid Shelter, using ultraviolet light, healing, and coordinated attacks to wear it down and kill it. With more Night Demons roaring from the Underground Mall, they cleared the tunnel and left in the Crystal Energy Car to rest.

• Lan Yulian healed Wang Tao and the others as they attacked the Lord Night Demon, while He Jijun and Jiang Shixue helped hold it off.
• Wang Tao's fireball badly injured the Lord Night Demon and killed or wounded many ordinary Night Demons trapped under the ultraviolet light.
• The Lord Night Demon fled toward the entrance, returned stronger, and resumed fighting as Wang Tao's group continued hunting the other Night Demons.
• Wang Tao ordered the group to finish the fight quickly, and Jiang Shixue's Puppet Strings let him and He Jijun land powerful attacks on the Lord Night Demon.
• Wang Tao killed the Lord Night Demon with a final strike, and his group cleared the remaining Night Demons from the tunnel.
• After hearing more Night Demons roar from the Underground Mall, Wang Tao led the group out of the Air Raid Shelter to rest.

Wang Tao examined the spoils from killing the fifth-order Lord Night Demon, including a fifth-order Night Demon II Type weapon and a powerful short sword. After testing the weapon and sorting the loot, he led the group toward the Underground Mall, leaving the Night Demon II Type to scout ahead.

• Wang Tao inspected the fifth-order Night Demon II Type heart, bound it, and discovered that upgrading its maximum HP would require a huge number of Crystal Cores.
• Wang Tao summoned the Night Demon II Type and tested its strength, finding it could still fight under artificial ultraviolet light despite being weakened by it.
• Wang Tao opened the Lord Night Demon's loot packages and obtained fifth-order Crystal Cores, potions, ultraviolet equipment, Awakening items, and blueprints for a short sword and ring.
• Wang Tao crafted the Night Demon Short Sword and decided to keep it as a fast secondary weapon.
• Wang Tao led the rested group into the tunnel toward the Underground Mall after the Night Demon II Type scouted ahead and reported it was safe.

Wang Tao's group discovered a vast Night Demon Nest filled with newly hatched elites and a Fifth Order Mother Night Demon. After using ultraviolet equipment to pin down the horde, Wang Tao defeated four Fifth Order elite Night Demons and charged at the mother, which attacked him with Sixth Order Night Demon Parasites.

• Wang Tao discovered that the Night Demon II Type had independently killed the Night Demons guarding the tunnel.
• Wang Tao led the group into the Underground Mall's Night Demon Nest, where they found hundreds of Fourth Order elite Night Demons and a Fifth Order Mother Night Demon.
• Wang Tao watched the mother use parasite eggs to hatch Fourth Order elites and confirmed that four Fifth Order elite Night Demons were the strongest creatures besides the mother.
• Wang Tao and his group used ultraviolet devices to scorch the nest and stop most of the Night Demons from advancing, while the Night Demon II Type attacked the weaker elites.
• Wang Tao and the others killed the four Fifth Order elite Night Demons, and Wang Tao charged at the retreating mother as it launched Sixth Order Night Demon Parasites at him.