Chapter Summaries

Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi defeated Yuze Chun, whose final head Coal Ball devoured before North Star could take him alive. After the Yuze Family fell and Yingqi began arresting those involved in its experiments, Shangyuan Zi chose to live and joined Guan Tong’s new organization; Guan Tong later celebrated his birthday in Pinglu.

• The Flying Fire Fleet bombarded Yuze Chun’s serpent body, leaving his three heads alive, and Shangyuan Zi crushed one in revenge for Shangyuan Mitsumi.
• Guan Tong pierced another of Yuze Chun’s heads with Shadow Blade, and Coal Ball swallowed the last one before Silver Fox could relay the captain’s order to take him alive.
• Shangyuan Zi told Guan Tong she no longer wanted to die and accepted his invitation to join his unnamed organization.
• North Star salvaged evidence from the cargo ship as the Yuze Family collapsed and Yingqi authorities arrested people implicated in the experiments.
• Guan Tong held a small birthday party in Pinglu with Chen Na, Silver Fox, Wang Yan, Xu Xiaotian, and Shi Jingyi.

Guan Tong celebrated his twentieth birthday with friends in Pinglu City, where they discussed the dangers posed by Yuze Chun and the parasitic entities in Black Flag Nation. Guan Tong chose to rest rather than immediately join the fight against the parasitic entities, and the party continued with gifts, ending as Xu Xiaotian revealed his specially made Instant Noodles.

• Guan Tong celebrated his birthday with Shi Jingyi, Wang Yan, Xu Xiaotian, Silver Fox, and Chen Na, and Silver Fox explained that the Countermeasure Research Institute had not publicly revealed his identity as Shadow.
• Guan Tong explained his grudge against Yuze Chun and how Yuze Chun's growth-type ability and position in the Yuze Family had enabled him to become powerful.
• Silver Fox said North Star was mobilizing troops against the parasitic entities in Black Flag Nation, and she asked Guan Tong to cooperate with the institute there.
• Guan Tong said he would fight the parasitic entities but wanted time to rest before going, and Chen Na and Wang Yan supported his decision.
• Chen Na gave Guan Tong a multifunctional Mind Power Artifact watch, which he accepted happily.
• Xu Xiaotian presented Guan Tong with a box of Instant Noodles made with his newly developed ability and said they had special effects.

At his birthday gathering, Guan Tong received Xu Xiaotian’s enhanced instant noodles, Silver Fox’s alloy blade, and Shi Jingyi’s notes on Mind Martial Arts. After discussing missing, spore-addicted students and weighing his plans against the parasite threat, Guan Tong learned that Suzuki had been asking about him and agreed to meet her.

• Xu Xiaotian gave Guan Tong storable instant noodles with varied effects, and Silver Fox presented him with a human-forged alloy short blade.
• Shi Jingyi gifted Guan Tong her Mind Martial Arts notes and asked him to test her techniques; he agreed to meet her in the coming days.
• Shi Jingyi told Guan Tong that five students had disappeared, including Lu Cheng, whom she suspected had been addicted to spores; they considered that the students might have gone to the Black Flag Nation.
• After the guests left, Guan Tong returned to his valley, checked Coal Ball, and reflected on improving his combat strength while keeping his focus on investigating the rules and the Fire Thief.
• Shangyuan Zi told Guan Tong that Suzuki seemed troubled and kept asking about him, possibly because of the spores; Guan Tong agreed to meet her.

Shi Jingyi tested two newly developed Mind Martial Arts with Guan Tong, proving Shocking Pulse Collapse’s power while refining the still-unsteady Repelling Extreme Step. After helping her test both techniques for two more days, Guan Tong left Pinglu for Yingqi to meet Suzuki and investigate whether she was a parasite.

• Shi Jingyi struck Guan Tong with Shocking Pulse Collapse, breaking his Shadow Armor and Mind Power barrier before [Gilded Guard] absorbed the remaining force.
• Shi Jingyi demonstrated her movement technique, accidentally colliding with Guan Tong, and named it Repelling Extreme Step after his suggestion.
• Shi Jingyi offered to teach Guan Tong the techniques, but he declined to stay in Pinglu because he had other matters to handle.
• Guan Tong told Shi Jingyi about the organization he had founded with Shangyuan Zi to investigate the Fire Thief and the Apocalypse Rules, and she supported his plan.
• Guan Tong helped Shi Jingyi test and adjust her martial arts for two more days, then left for Yingqi on the tenth to meet Suzuki and investigate her.

Lu Cheng fled North Star with fellow Spore Addiction sufferers and killed them to obtain spores after realizing some were parasites. In Yingqi, Guan Tong met Shangyuan Zi, discussed the parasite threat and her changing scales, and founded the Source Tracing Brigade with her.

• Lu Cheng crossed the border with several academy runaways who planned to reach the Sery Divine Kingdom, while he privately focused on finding spores.
• When Lu Cheng suspected one of the runaways was a parasite, he attacked and killed the group, then fed on the parasites’ spores to ease his withdrawal.
• Guan Tong arrived in Yingqi and learned from Shangyuan Zi that North Star had placed the city under military control and reorganized its security forces.
• Guan Tong told Shangyuan Zi he would destroy Suzuki if she had become a parasite, and he offered to seek Yuze Family records that might explain Shangyuan Zi’s rapidly spreading scales.
• Guan Tong named their organization the Source Tracing Brigade, and Shangyuan Zi joined as its first member.

Suzuki asked Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi for help with her lingering spore addiction, and Guan Tong arranged for her to enter a safe withdrawal facility. The UHC declared war on the Sery Divine Kingdom, the two crewed rockets launched successfully, and the story ended with people awaiting the Fifteenth Apocalypse Rule on January 15.

• Suzuki admitted she remained addicted to spores and asked Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi to save her.
• Guan Tong promised to arrange safe withdrawal treatment for Suzuki and have North Star monitor her.
• On January 11, the UHC classified the Sery Divine Kingdom as a colonization operation, declared war, and announced a coalition led by North Star, Suoloma, and Xisiya.
• The UHC announced that Dream Boat One and Empire Pioneer would launch as scheduled on January 12.
• Both crewed rockets launched successfully on January 12, giving people hope for humanity's future in space.
• On January 15, people waited anxiously for the Fifteenth Apocalypse Rule to be announced.

Xiao Cao held a character symposium to discuss the Fourteenth Apocalypse Rule, explain its length and ongoing effects, and answer questions about the novel. The gathering ended as Xiao Cao hoped to avoid overtime and publish the next rule the following day.

• Guan Tong asked where the first thirteen symposiums were, and Xiao Cao said she would write them gradually and add them to earlier chapter notes.
• Shi Jingyi asked why the rule lasted fifty-two chapters, and Xiao Cao explained that the growing cast and Yuze Chun's role had extended it.
• Zhang Minglu asked whether the parasites would persist across multiple rules, and Xiao Cao confirmed that they would create long-term pressure on humanity.
• Lu Cheng asked whether he could become a second protagonist, but Xiao Cao said the book had only one male protagonist, Guan Tong.
• Suzuki asked whether he would appear again, and Xiao Cao kept the answer secret; Xiao Cao also told the group that her setting guide needed more time.
• Shi Jingyi began another question, but Xiao Cao ended the symposium, and everyone left as Xiao Cao hoped to avoid overtime before the next rule's release.

Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi uncovered how Shangyuan’s Yuanlu bloodline connected to the ancient serpent legend before the Fifteenth Apocalypse Rule announced that an intelligent alien would arrive on Tianshui Star. The UHC agreed to prepare for contact while suspending its campaign against the Sery Divine Kingdom until the alien’s intentions were known.

• Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi read Yuze Family records identifying Yuanlu as a serpent that defeated Yamata, and Guan Tong explained how Yuze Chun had intended to exploit Shangyuan’s power.
• Guan Tong suggested that Shangyuan may have gained power by helping kill Yuze Chun, and the two waited for the new rule.
• Fire Thief released the Third Kind Contact rule, announcing that an Alien Intelligent Individual would be deployed on Tianshui Star for fifteen days with no reward or penalty.
• Gao Liangwei secured UHC members’ agreement that all countries would have fair, public access to contact with the alien, while Mary and Toravt warned it might be hostile.
• The UHC suspended its coalition operation against the Sery Divine Kingdom and directed countries to prepare surveillance and armed forces ahead of the alien’s arrival.

Guan Tong read Hidden Rule Fifteen, which warned that the extraterrestrial intelligent individual’s interaction would depend on its appetite, as a spacecraft landed in Xisiya. During first contact, the alien devoured two delegates and demanded food in exchange for answering questions.

• Guan Tong read Hidden Rule Fifteen and withheld its contents while he tried to understand its warning about a steep price.
• A cookie-shaped spacecraft appeared in orbit and descended toward the Sainantata Icefield in Xisiya.
• Yelena sent Sigaoxin and a rapid-response unit to secure the landing site, then helped organize the UHC Contact Delegation.
• The delegation gathered around the silent spacecraft while billions watched the first-contact livestream.
• The spacecraft sprayed black sludge over two delegates, devoured them, and murmured, “Taste through... Give me food... Answer... questions...”

The alien individual emerged from its spacecraft and killed members of the Contact Delegation, prompting the authorities to cut the livestream. When Louis tried to communicate with it, it demanded food and devoured eight more people before stopping, leaving Louis to suspect that humans were the food it wanted in exchange for answers.

• Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi discussed the livestream cutoff, the alien’s attack, and the risks of trying to kill it before the Fire Thief retrieved it.
• On the ice field, armed soldiers aimed at the black sludge while the Contact Delegation kept its distance.
• Louis approached the alien and asked whether it had spoken; it answered that it had.
• When Louis asked its name and origin, the alien demanded food and swept into the crowd, devouring four or five people.
• Ascendants’ items and soldiers’ bullets failed to stop the alien, which devoured a total of ten people before collapsing back onto the ground.
• Louis concluded that the alien required human food in exchange for answering questions.

After the alien entity killed ten people to answer Louis’s questions, the Contact Delegation debated what its unintelligible response meant and prepared to test whether animals could replace humans as food. At the UHC meeting, representatives considered feeding it captured parasites and agreed to restrict future questions to practical problems.

• Louis argued that the ten deaths had yielded valuable information, but a bereaved young man confronted him and Sigaoxin’s soldiers kept him away from the alien entity.
• Louis suggested the entity’s name and home could not be expressed in human language, raising doubts about whether humanity could understand its answers.
• Xisiya transport vehicles arrived carrying cages of livestock so the delegation could test whether animals could feed the alien entity.
• At the UHC meeting, Mary proposed using parasites as food if other animals could not replace humans, and Toravt suggested sending captured fighters from Black Flag Nation to Xisiya.
• Gao Liangwei and the other representatives agreed to restrict questions, favoring practical issues and rejecting overly broad questions that could cost humanity more lives.

The authorities kept the Contact Delegation isolated after the alien entity’s question killed ten people, while the UHC tried to prevent parasites from learning they could be exposed by questioning it. Zhang Minglu arranged an information exchange with the administrator through Guan Tong, agreeing to reveal what happened after the livestream ended.

• The Contact Delegation remained stranded on the Sainantata Icefield with its signals blocked, and members reasoned that the authorities were hiding the alien entity from parasites.
• Gao Liangwei and Zhang Minglu concluded that parasites might attack the alien entity or use reckless questions to cause more deaths, so the UHC required strict screening of questioners.
• Gao Liangwei told Zhang Minglu to contact Shadow for information from the administrator of Ascendant's Home.
• Through Silver Fox, Zhang Minglu asked Guan Tong to contact the administrator, who offered hidden rule information in exchange for details about events at the site and the livestream cutoff.
• After Silver Fox raised concerns about leaks to parasites, Guan Tong guaranteed the administrator was not a parasite, and Zhang Minglu agreed to the exchange.

Guan Tong learned that questions to the alien entity triggered its hunger and required human food, then decided to travel to Xisiya with Shangyuan Zi to collect a debt. At the alien’s ice-field site, the UHC began a food replacement test using animals, confirmed parasites, and an unexplained third group of people.

• Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi discussed how the UHC might feed the alien and what questions it could answer, including how to identify parasites.
• Guan Tong decided to travel to Xisiya to collect a debt, and Shangyuan Zi insisted on going with him.
• UHC researchers struggled to study the alien’s language, body, and spacecraft, while planning how to obtain useful information during its brief visit.
• Xisiya soldiers unloaded dozens of confirmed parasites and farm animals, and Sigaoxin told the Contact Delegation that a food replacement test was about to begin.
• Soldiers arranged animals, parasites, and an unexplained group of people in three rings around the alien, and a UHC designee stepped forward to begin the test.

The UHC tested whether the Alien Intelligent Individual charged again for a repeated question and learned that it consumed four parasites for its name. Meanwhile, Solloma’s king ordered Adam to help capture the parasites’ leader, and Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi entered Xisiya to settle a score with help from a commissioned guide.

• A UHC questioner repeated Louis’s question about the Alien Intelligent Individual’s name, and the creature consumed four parasites despite passing over the animals.
• The Solloma king decided to leave the creature on the Xisiya ice plain and sent Adam to personally capture the parasites’ leader.
• Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi bypassed official entry procedures, crossed a deserted neighboring country, and reached Xisiya.
• Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi met Black Star, who had accepted Guan Tong’s commission and led them into a bar.

Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi bought information on Rieka from the broker Black Star so Guan Tong could find him without involving Yelena. They left with a file containing Rieka’s location and personal details, while Black Star and a woman speculated about their connection to the governor.

• Guan Tong explained that he had chosen to buy intelligence on Rieka rather than investigate alone or ask Yelena for help.
• Black Star brought Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi a computer file with extensive information about Rieka, including his current location.
• Black Star said the intelligence came from one of Rieka’s trusted confidants, who wanted to sell it and flee after Rieka’s political defeat.
• Shangyuan Zi completed the Ascension Coin transaction, and Guan Tong left with the computer after agreeing to verify the information.
• A woman at the bar wondered whether Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi were connected to Yelena, but Black Star dismissed the gossip and told her to check for new commissions.

The Prophet agreed to cooperate with Fahuo against the UHC and ordered the parasites to retreat into underground fortifications while they awaited a turning point. At the Senantata Icefield Landing Site, the UHC prepared a fourth round of questioning with thousands of sedated parasites, and the questioner asked the alien entity how humans could identify them.

• The Prophet concluded that the parasite forces could not defeat the UHC alone and accepted Joel II's offer of cooperation, asking Fahuo for intelligence about the alien entity.
• The Prophet ordered the parasites to enter underground fortifications and endure until a turning point arrived.
• At the Senantata Icefield Landing Site, UHC forces delivered thousands of sedated parasites for the fourth questioning session.
• The soldiers arranged the parasites in rings around the alien entity as Sigaoxin's unit and snipers secured the site.
• The UHC questioner asked the alien entity how humans could identify parasites created by the Alien Spore.

The Alien Intelligent Individual devoured 2,900 parasites before answering that the Mind Network could identify parasites, leaving the UHC uncertain how to use the information. The conference ended with news that the Fahuo Nation had attacked the Solloma Empire.

• Sigaoxin prepared to withdraw the Action Team if the alien entity consumed 3,000 parasites, but it stopped at 2,900 and answered, "Mind Network."
• UHC representatives debated whether the Mind Network could help identify parasites and whether it was possible to activate it again.
• Mary suggested asking how humans could activate the Mind Network, but Gao Liangwei and others argued that the answer might be unusable and the question too costly.
• Mary disconnected after receiving urgent news, and Gao Liangwei learned that the Fahuo Nation had attacked the Solloma Empire.

Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi traveled to Senanta Tata to find Rieka, while avoiding the security surrounding the alien creature. Guan Tong found Rieka living comfortably in a prison fortress and killed him and his warden confidant, leaving Xisiya’s leaders to learn of the assassination.

• Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi arrived in Senanta Tata and heard that armed troops barred visitors from approaching the alien creature’s Coordinate.
• Guan Tong sent Shadow to scout the prison fortress and located Rieka Konia in the guards’ dormitory.
• Shadow overheard Rieka and the warden discuss using evidence of Yelena’s secret transfer of prisoners and the fortress weapons to seize Sigaoxin.
• Guan Tong stabbed Rieka with Silver Fox’s knife and killed the warden with Shadow Blades.
• Rieka died after recognizing Guan Tong as the academy teacher targeted in his earlier assassination order, and Guan Tong escaped using Phase Shift.
• A guard discovered the bodies, and Sigaoxin, Yelena, and Xisiya’s decision-making body learned of Rieka’s death.

The Fahuo Nation invaded the Solloma Empire while its elite forces were away, prompting the king to deploy a hundred secret Annihilators. At the Landing Site, the Contact Delegation was sent home after the Alien Intelligence’s purpose and feeding needs were leaked, while Sigaoxin was ordered to guard it from unauthorized visitors.

• More than a thousand evolved beings from the Fahuo Nation broke through Solloma’s eastern border and advanced toward its core cities.
• Solloma’s king ordered Dr. Hysen to activate one hundred Annihilators and asked about Angel’s neural connection problems, hoping the Alien Intelligence could answer questions humanity could not.
• Sigaoxin told the Contact Delegation it could leave because information about the Alien Intelligence and its feeding had leaked online, then had soldiers escort everyone away despite Louis’s protests.
• Yelena ordered Sigaoxin to remain at the Landing Site and prevent anyone unauthorized from approaching the Alien Intelligence.
• Yelena and Sigaoxin discussed whether Guan Tong had killed Rieka, but agreed they needed evidence before making a judgment.

After the Alien Intelligence’s secrets leaked, public outrage and border unrest put pressure on Xisiya while North Star considered restarting the Mind Network to identify parasites. In Senantata Town, Guan Tong admitted he wanted to ask the Alien Intelligence a question, but his chance depended on Yelena, whose brother he had killed.

• The Contact Delegation regained access to their devices and saw public arguments over the Alien Intelligence, while news of Fahuo Nation’s attack on Solloma and a rush of outsiders into Xisiya heightened tensions.
• Yelena ordered a crackdown on undocumented entrants and barred people from approaching the Senantata Icefield to protect Xisiya’s population.
• At the Countermeasure Research Institute, Academician Han proposed testing whether powerful Ascendants could restart the Mind Network, and Gao Liangwei approved sharing classified data and contacting Shadow.
• Gao Liangwei warned Zhang Minglu that Fire Thief Cult followers might have infiltrated UHC decision-making and that the institute might still harbor a dangerous former associate.
• In Senantata Town, Guan Tong told Shangyuan Zi he hoped to use Living Dead as food to earn a chance to question the Alien Intelligence.
• Guan Tong revealed that the person he had killed in revenge was Yelena’s biological older brother, making his prospects of securing her help uncertain.