Chapter Summaries

Sigaoxin captured the Xisiya Nation Security Bureau while Yelena reported that Valery and his agents had been executed. At the farm, Guan Tong uncovered Lucifer’s airflow-sensing ability, but Lucifer drugged himself into a four-winged frenzy, forcing Guan Tong to meet his massive storm head-on.

• Sigaoxin and Yelena’s forces took control of the Security Bureau, detaining the agents who surrendered and killing over thirty who resisted.
• Yelena told Sigaoxin that Valery and his agents had been executed, then headed toward the farm where Guan Tong and Lucifer were fighting.
• Guan Tong used mixed ammunition to shatter Lucifer’s light-suppressing bead, then countered Lucifer’s pursuit in the Shadow Domain with smoke and Living Dead.
• Guan Tong deduced that Lucifer tracked disturbances in the airflow, and a swarm of Living Dead disrupted Lucifer’s ability to locate him.
• Lucifer swallowed a dozen drugs, manifested two additional wings, and attacked Guan Tong with a vast storm; Guan Tong countered with a Nanite Swarm Net and a small-space sword.

Guan Tong survived his battle with Lucifer, while Yelena crushed Valery’s network and consolidated her authority in Xisiya Nation. As the country’s political upheaval settled, the sixteenth rule was nearing its end.

• Shi Jingyi pulled Guan Tong from the crater, and Shangyuan Zi and Yelena found him badly wounded but out of danger.
• Guan Tong revealed that he had defeated Lucifer and gained a score of 4144, then sent Yelena and Shangyuan Zi to secure the aftermath.
• Yelena ordered mass arrests, exposed Valery’s crimes, and won public support after announcing that she had executed him and the rebellion’s agents.
• Yelena dismissed generals implicated in Valery’s evidence, and their soldiers seized them as the military opposition collapsed.
• The sixteenth rule drew to a close as Xisiya underwent major political changes.

The Solloma Empire’s Grand Competition finals began in a packed arena, where eighteen finalists—including the favored white-haired Peter—competed for the title and a share of the ticket revenue. As the contestants prepared to fight, Guan Tong watched the broadcast and discussed Yelena’s difficult task of governing Xisiya.

• Spectators filled the finals venue, while Yishan and the other nobles discussed the favorites and Yishan angrily reacted when someone mentioned Adam.
• The host announced that the champion would receive ten percent of the event’s ticket revenue and welcomed the eighteen finalists onto the arena.
• Several finalists exchanged hostile looks at Peter, prompting the audience and livestream viewers to expect another attempt to gang up on him.
• Shangyuan Zi found Guan Tong watching the broadcast and told him that Yelena had seemed unhappy while presenting the Xisiya competition’s prize.
• Guan Tong said Yelena’s mood reflected the deaths behind the competition but believed Xisiya would improve after Valery’s people were removed, just as the finals were about to begin.

Peter’s match at the Solloma finals was interrupted by a bombing that killed more than two thousand spectators. The Fire Thief Cult claimed responsibility, calling the attack a cleansing of heretics and promising to end Solloma’s “final carnival.”

• Contestants attacked Peter together, but he protected himself with a lightning barrier and counterattacked as others turned on one another.
• Spectators watched the match and bet on its outcome, while Black Star and Bai Xing discussed their efforts to save Allen and whether Shadow could help.
• A bomb exploded among the audience, suspending the match and causing widespread destruction and panic.
• Peter and the remaining contestants left the arena as authorities evacuated the venue and reported more than two thousand preliminary casualties.
• Heath, a bishop of the Fire Thief Cult, appeared in a video claiming responsibility for the bombing and declaring it a cleansing of heretics.

After placing third in the Sixteenth Apocalypse Rule, Guan Tong claimed his rewards and considered how to use them before deciding his work in Xisiya was finished. He told Yelena he would return to North Star, leaving her in power but promising to visit.

• Guan Tong received 4,144 competition points, placed third, and opened his ranking chest to obtain Killing Intent Perception, the Bronze Hunter title, and 3,000 Ascension Coins.
• Guan Tong inspected his new ability and title, then discovered that consuming the Nanite Swarm could increase Civilization Observer's experience but decided to keep the swarm for now.
• Guan Tong concluded that Yelena's position was secure and planned to return to North Star to meet Shi Jingyi, visit his friends, and coordinate action against the Fire Thief Cult.
• Yelena visited Guan Tong, and he told her he was leaving Xisiya; she accepted his decision and asked him to visit when he could.
• Guan Tong promised Yelena that he would return and introduce her to any new friends he made.

Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi left Xisiya, where Sigaoxin invited them to establish the Source Tracing Brigade, and returned to North Star. After Shangyuan Zi visited Suzuki at a detox center, Guan Tong vowed to find a way to save her and everyone suffering from Spore Addiction.

• Sigaoxin drove Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi to the edge of the capital, invited them to develop the Source Tracing Brigade in Xisiya, and asked them to visit Yelena again.
• Guan Tong continued his Mind Power collection arrangement with Black Star, asked her to search for items that could store Mind Power, and left with Shangyuan Zi for North Star.
• Gao Liangwei and Zhang Minglu discussed North Star's team for the planned joint operation against the Fire Thief Cult and agreed that Guan Tong should lead it, with Li Meng coordinating personnel command.
• Shangyuan Zi visited Suzuki at the Pinglu City Comprehensive Therapy Center and learned that Suzuki's Spore Addiction persisted despite treatment and that she wished to return to Yingqi to see her former colleagues.
• Shangyuan Zi told Guan Tong that Suzuki was in grave danger, and Guan Tong promised to find a way to save Suzuki and everyone with Spore Addiction.

Guan Tong returned to North Star, discussed testing the Mind Network on spore addicts with Shi Jingyi, and prepared for a mission against the Fire Thief Cult in Fahuo Nation. After arranging to meet Xu Xiaotian, he learned Wang Yan had argued with her daughter, leaving him with a reason to contact her.

• Students at North Star recognized Guan Tong leaving with Shi Jingyi and speculated that he might return to teaching, but he told Shi Jingyi he was too busy.
• Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi discussed his effort to raise his Mind Power Cap, and Shi Jingyi agreed to teach him Condensation and accompany him to test the Mind Network on Suzuki, a spore addict.
• Shi Jingyi warned that the Fire Thief Cult might be laying a trap in Fahuo Nation, and she agreed to help Guan Tong prepare before the mission.
• Zhang Minglu provisionally assigned Guan Tong to lead a ten-person team for the Fahuo Nation operation, with Li Meng overseeing it, and agreed to provide containers for Mind Power.
• Guan Tong met Xu Xiaotian, who told him that Wang Yan and her daughter had recently argued and suggested he ask Wang Yan about it.

Guan Tong arranged to speak with Chen Na about her desire to leave the base and help him, then accepted a commission from the King of Solloma to kill the Fire Thief Cult’s Pope. When he went to visit Suzuki at the Detox Center, he learned she had supposedly died by suicide and began investigating, suspecting something was wrong.

• Guan Tong called Wang Yan, learned Chen Na wanted to leave the base to help him, and promised to speak with her.
• Guan Tong received a message from Original Person and accepted the King of Solloma’s commission to kill the Pope of the Fire Thief Cult during the joint operation in Fahe.
• Guan Tong asked Silver Fox to bring Chen Na out of the base to meet him the next morning, then went with Shi Jingyi to visit Suzuki.
• A nurse told Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi that Suzuki had supposedly taken her own life, and Guan Tong demanded to see her body and review the surveillance footage.
• Guan Tong contacted Zhang Minglu, who arranged for the special medical department to preserve Suzuki’s body before it could be dissected.
• Shi Jingyi calmed Guan Tong’s killing intent as he resolved to uncover what had happened to Suzuki.

After Suzuki died at the Detox Center, Guan Tong investigated whether her apparent suicide had been staged and uncovered a suspicious visitor who registered as "Wei Huo." The chapter left him pursuing the truth while Suzuki’s killer learned that Shadow might be closing in and was told to flee Pinglu.

• Guan Tong copied the Detox Center surveillance footage and collected Suzuki’s Profiling drawings, which portrayed his Shadow ability as an evil figure.
• Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi examined Suzuki’s body, confirmed she had died by hanging, and arranged to take her to Yingqi for a funeral.
• Guan Tong found that a woman using the name "Wei Huo" had visited Suzuki’s body, then asked Zhang Minglu to investigate her and Hacker Mask to analyze the surveillance footage.
• Guan Tong concluded Suzuki’s death was probably not a simple suicide and vowed to uncover the truth and avenge her if she had been murdered.
• The Short-tailed Woman admitted to a man that she had killed Suzuki to avoid being exposed, and he ordered her to leave Pinglu and hide.

Guan Tong refused to let Chen Na join him until she could use Mind Power Circulation proficiently in combat, while keeping his own troubles to himself. After attending Suzuki’s farewell ceremony, he and Shangyuan Zi agreed to investigate her death separately as the new rules approached.

• Guan Tong told Chen Na that she could act with him only after mastering Mind Power Circulation for combat, and Silver Fox gave him items for storing Mobile Mind Power.
• At Suzuki’s farewell ceremony in Antu City, Director General Yoshino paid his respects, while Guan Tong remained troubled by the unsolved identity of the woman who called herself Wei Huo.
• Shangyuan Zi proposed that Suzuki might have been targeted by surviving Yuze Family loyalists and chose to stay in Yingqi to investigate.
• Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi agreed to investigate separately and share information, while prioritizing the release of the new rules the next day.
• Shangyuan Zi asked whether Suzuki’s death was Guan Tong’s first loss of someone he knew, and Guan Tong thought he would never get used to such losses.

Guan Tong broke through the one-thousand-point Mind Power Cap with Shi Jingyi’s help and entered Ascension’s second stage. After awakening the Mind Network and experiencing a transformation, he was left wondering what the [Wordless Book] and his visions meant.

• Shi Jingyi guided Guan Tong through condensing his Mind Power as he rushed to break through before the new rules were announced.
• When Guan Tong’s Mind Power began to reject her guidance, Shi Jingyi left him to continue the breakthrough alone.
• Guan Tong saw galaxies and consciousnesses existing in different times before the two perspectives merged and he awoke holding the [Wordless Book].
• Fire Thief announced that Guan Tong’s Mind Power Cap had reached one thousand and Ascension had entered the second stage.
• Guan Tong’s body and mind transformed, his evaluation became “Perfect,” and the Mind Network reactivated.
• Guan Tong considered the visions and the possibility of a level beyond “Perfect,” then resolved to keep moving forward.

At the sixteenth apocalypse rule symposium, the characters complained about their limited roles and reviewed the many unresolved plot threads from the rule. Xiao Cao left the meeting to fill in the plot holes before the next symposium.

• Xiao Cao and Guan Tong opened the symposium, and several attendees complained about how their stories had ended or how little they had appeared.
• Shi Jingyi suggested listing the unresolved plot threads, and Guan Tong agreed that the author needed to address them.
• Shi Jingyi listed mysteries involving Han Qiu, the space colonization program, Robert, the Super City proposal, the Black and White Stars, Ascension, Yishan and Peter, the Fire Thief Cult, Suzuki, and Guan Tong's visions.
• The attendees were shocked by the number of unresolved plot threads, and Xiao Cao admitted she had not realized how many there were.
• Shi Jingyi urged Xiao Cao to resolve the plot threads, so Xiao Cao left to fill them in.

Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi successfully established a Mind Network before the Seventeenth Apocalypse Rule, Scarlet Gaze, was announced. As governments prepared a curfew, reports revealed that people who looked at scarlet Terra were already suffering severe effects.

• Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi established a Mind Network and discovered that using it consumed Mind Power.
• Shi Jingyi returned to the academy, while Guan Tong planned to investigate Suzuki’s death and test whether the network could identify parasites.
• The Fire Thief announced the thirty-day Scarlet Gaze rule, which caused people who stared at scarlet Terra to develop escalating fear and hallucinations.
• Gao Liangwei convened a meeting at the North Star Countermeasure Research Institute and proposed a curfew while officials investigated the rule’s hidden dangers.
• An employee reported that people in nighttime regions had fallen unconscious, become manic, or attacked others after looking at scarlet Terra.

After the Seventeenth Apocalypse Rule made Terra a crimson sphere that threatened people’s sanity, Guan Tong uncovered a Hidden Rule warning that even images and reflections could cause harm. He sold the intelligence, improved his Reserve Mind Power conversion ratio, and was left weighing whether to explore the crimson power as a UHC operation proceeded during the Rule Period.

• Guan Tong read Hidden Rule Seventeen and learned that viewing Terra’s images or reflections could affect sanity, while unknown forces lay within the crimson power.
• Guan Tong listed the Hidden Rule intelligence for sale at 500,000 Ascension Coins per copy and sold eight copies to his returning clients.
• Guan Tong tested the [Wordless Book] and raised his Mind Power conversion ratio from 10:1 to 5:1.
• Li Meng told Guan Tong that the UHC’s North Star team would meet in two days for its operation against the Fire Thief Cult.
• Guan Tong considered whether to risk investigating the unknown power concealed within the crimson sphere.

Guan Tong obtained evidence that someone had replaced Detox Center surveillance footage and shared his findings with Shangyuan Zi. Meanwhile, authorities prepared to investigate the unknown within Scarlet Fear, as Heath and Baike learned the UHC was planning an attack on the Fire Thief Cult.

• Mask told Guan Tong that professional analysis had uncovered about ten minutes of replaced footage from half a month earlier, though the original recording could not be recovered.
• Guan Tong examined the evidence, suspected the missing footage might have shown someone entering Suzuki's room, and considered confronting the Detox Center director despite the risk of alerting the enemy.
• Guan Tong sent his findings to Shangyuan Zi, while his scheduled intelligence reached buyers and prompted countries to plan investigations into the unknown within Scarlet Fear.
• Solloma authorities concluded that even brief indirect glimpses of the scarlet could drive ordinary people mad, while Ascendants showed greater resistance.
• Heath told Baike that the UHC planned a decapitation-style offensive against the Fire Thief Cult, and they discussed their successful infiltrations and failed attempts to penetrate North Star teams.
• After hearing bells summon them, Heath and Baike headed toward the Great Library to meet His Holiness.

The Countermeasure Research Institute investigated how Scarlet Fear affected astronauts on Terra before Rule 17 was released and planned an inquiry using Ascendants with strong mental defenses. Meanwhile, Bai Xuewu returned to Pinglu base and learned that Yang Ran would join the operation against the Fire Thief Cult in Fahe.

• Chen Shi told Gao Liangwei, Li Meng, and Zhang Minglu that astronauts had died after an unknown mental stimulus on Terra, and asked the Institute to uncover the cause.
• Li Meng proposed that the astronauts might have triggered Fire Thief's preparations before the rule was released, and the Institute decided to recruit Ascendants with Mental Abilities or items to investigate Scarlet Fear.
• Gao Liangwei said the joint operation against the Fire Thief Cult would take place in Fahe during Rule End and put Li Meng in charge of the North Star squad.
• Bai Xuewu returned to Pinglu base and reunited with Chen Na, whose Perception Domain could help identify the Fire Thief Cult's real leader by sensing Mind Power.
• Bai Xuewu met Yang Ran, who had joined the Fahe operation, and warned Chen Na to stay away from him because his wide-ranging flames could injure teammates.

Lu Cheng learned that the Prophet was still human and asked her to halt his transformation, but she required him to target Shi Jingyi first. At an auxiliary base, Guan Tong began testing whether he could identify a confirmed parasite through a Mind Network.

• Lu Cheng told the Prophet that powerful Ascendants had left the Front Line and proposed attacking the allied forces, but she reminded him that their goal was spreading, not killing.
• Lu Cheng begged the Prophet to teach him how to retain his human consciousness and stop transforming, and she admitted that she was still human.
• The Prophet promised to help Lu Cheng after he created an opportunity to deal with one of two real threats, naming North Star lecturer Shi Jingyi as his target.
• Zhang Minglu and Dragon Soul brought Guan Tong to a detained parasite at Auxiliary Base No. 2, where Guan Tong restrained the prisoner with Shadow Lines.
• Guan Tong pressed his palm to the parasite's forehead and silently recited, “Establish Mind Network.”

Guan Tong discovered that the Mind Network could identify parasites because their spores instinctively accepted connections, while restarting the network required a Mind Power Cap of one thousand points. At a UHC conference the next morning, the commissioners learned the discovery and debated cooperation against the Scarlet power, while Mary revealed that someone in Suoloma had already reached the required cap.

• Guan Tong connected to a parasite through the Mind Network and realized the connection was with its spore, which accepted because spreading was its instinct.
• Zhang Minglu and Dragon Soul understood that Ascendants could expose parasites through the images and whispers transmitted over the connection, and Guan Tong revealed the thousand-point Mind Power Cap requirement.
• Guan Tong considered using his many Shadow Lines to identify and destroy parasites at scale, while Zhang Minglu warned him to stay anonymous and avoid revealing his ability.
• Guan Tong recalled that replaced Detox Center footage might have concealed someone entering Suzuki's room with a Teleportation Item.
• At the UHC conference, Gao Liangwei argued that Fire Thief could deploy rules in advance but could not predict the future, and the commissioners agreed to cooperate in exploring the Scarlet power's unknown.
• Gao Liangwei shared the Mind Network discovery, and Mary said someone in Suoloma had surpassed a thousand Mind Power points but had not used the network to identify parasites.

The North Star squad met to prepare for the Fire Thief operation, and Guan Tong was named captain despite Yang Ran’s objections. Meanwhile, Lu Cheng arrived near Pinglu and planned to lure Shi Jingyi out of the Academy for the Parasites, sending her a message that asked for help with his supposed spore addiction.

• Li Meng told Yang Ran, Bai Xuewu, and Chen Na that Guan Tong would lead their team and was the strongest among them.
• Chen Na and Guan Tong joined the group, and Guan Tong warned Yang Ran not to touch his dangerous Nanite Swarm glove.
• Li Meng explained that Silver Fox and a remote assistant were absent, then said the team would train together once Silver Fox returned.
• Yang Ran challenged Guan Tong for the captaincy, but Guan Tong said captaining meant protecting teammates, and the others rejected Yang Ran’s bid.
• Lu Cheng arrived near Pinglu and resolved to help the Prophet eliminate Shi Jingyi so he could avoid becoming a Parasite.
• Lu Cheng texted Shi Jingyi, claiming he had fled the Academy because of spore addiction and asking her to meet and help him.

Guan Tong agreed to help the Countermeasure Research Institute test its base personnel for hidden parasites, while arranging to accompany Shi Jingyi as she met her former student Lu Cheng about his spore addiction. The chapter ended with Guan Tong preparing to test several people at once using multiple Shadow Lines.

• Guan Tong reviewed his team members and wondered about the identity of the teammate who was unable to leave home.
• Shi Jingyi told Guan Tong that Lu Cheng had contacted her for help with his spore addiction, and Guan Tong agreed to watch over their meeting without appearing unless she was in danger.
• Guan Tong considered using the Mind Network to help friends communicate and summon assistance across long distances.
• Zhang Minglu asked Guan Tong to test everyone at the Countermeasure Research Institute's base for parasites at Director Gao Liangwei's request.
• Guan Tong agreed to conduct the tests and said he could examine multiple people at once using Shadow Lines.