Chapter Summaries

Guan Tong considered what exclusive information to post as the intelligence section’s first entry, weighing the attention and risks of revealing details about the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, a Blood Plague Adaptable infiltrated infected rioters, recorded their hospital assault and the authorities’ response, then left with footage he hoped to sell.

• Dozens of infected stormed the hospital searching for Sister Yu and the room where the announcements came from, then confronted the Administration Team Leader on the third floor.
• A gunman shot the Team Leader, and the infected continued searching until armed reinforcements and drones surrounded the hospital and soldiers eliminated the attackers.
• Soldiers rescued the hostages and found Sister Yu, while the hooded man filmed the operation from the eighteenth floor and revealed he was a Blood Plague Adaptable posing as infected.
• Guan Tong downloaded Mask’s optimization package and transformed the Ascendant’s Home website, then opened the empty intelligence section to plan its first post.
• Guan Tong considered sharing how to obtain the Holy Grail and its unlimited Mind Power effect, but worried that the information could connect the site’s webmaster to Shadow.

Gao Liangwei announced that Beixing Nation would enter Wartime Status after the Lethal Blood Plague, while Mask failed to breach the Ascendant's Home website and discovered a post revealing original information about the Holy Grail. The chapter left hackers questioning whether the website was conscious or a Mind Power Artifact.

• Gao Liangwei showed researchers footage of violence caused by infected people and announced that Beixing Nation would enter Wartime Status after the Rule ended.
• Gao Liangwei explained that Wartime Status would bring centralized control of production, supplies, travel, information, and citizen registration.
• Mask realized his Trojan had likely been removed from the webmaster's optimization package and found a new post about the Holy Grail on Ascendant's Home.
• Mask searched the internet, found no other source for the post's information, and wondered whether the webmaster was connected to Shadow.
• Mask asked hackers on the Anonymous forum to test the website, but their tools failed and they speculated that it could be conscious or a Mind Power Artifact.

After the Sixth Apocalypse Rule ended, Guan Tong collected his rewards, tested a powerful new summon, and bought communication scrolls. A government announcement that cities would enter Wartime Status on October 10th forced him to reconsider his plans and decide whether to register or leave the city.

• Guan Tong opened his Silver Grade Survival Chest and received a hoodie that summoned a Great Axe Warrior, which easily defeated six Living Dead.
• Guan Tong found Communication Scrolls in the Ascension Shop and bought the full limit of ten.
• Guan Tong planned to improve his Mind Power, develop his website, and continue studying Shi Jingyi's course during the month before the Seventh Apocalypse Rule.
• Guan Tong watched officials announce that cities would enter Wartime Status on October 10th, requiring residents to register and imposing strict controls.
• Guan Tong rejected the idea of living in a collective shelter and considered leaving the city before the ten-day preparation period ended.

As Beixing Nation prepared to enter wartime administration, Guan Tong chose to leave the city for Mingdao Mountain, where he planned to live in his shelter. He found Wang Yan and Chen Na’s abandoned truck and called them, while Chen Na secretly agreed to take an assessment to earn help for her mother’s cancer treatment.

• People across Beixing Nation debated wartime administration as reports of blood plague infected causing violence and disruption spread online.
• Guan Tong left the city with supplies for more than half a year, intending to settle temporarily on Mingdao Mountain.
• Guan Tong found Wang Yan and Chen Na’s truck parked in an Emergency Management Bureau lot and retrieved Wang Yan’s phone number after an employee broke a window.
• Chen Na met the short-haired woman who had delivered her Protective Suit and agreed to take an assessment the next night for a chance to get treatment for Wang Yan.
• After Chen Na returned to the apartment, Guan Tong called Wang Yan’s phone, and Chen Na answered.

Guan Tong settled into a Wooden House on Mingdao Mountain and checked the growth of his Ascendant's Home website. A post questioning how its users could safely trade after Wartime Status began on the 10th left him considering a problem his site had yet to solve.

• Chen Na lied to Guan Tong about taking her mother to the capital because she feared losing the short-haired woman's invitation and the chance to obtain medicine-type items.
• Guan Tong drove to Mingdao Mountain, explored its undeveloped slopes, and chose a sunny clearing for his shelter.
• Guan Tong ordered the Great Axe Warrior and Living Dead to clear the chosen site, then placed his Wooden House there and moved supplies outside to make room.
• Guan Tong checked the academy's Online Course platform, found no updates, and saw that Ascendant's Home had grown to more than eight hundred registered users.
• Guan Tong discovered that hackers, including Mask, had failed to breach the website and had helped attract users by discussing its security.
• Guan Tong read a post asking how Ascendants could safely trade in person once Wartime Status restricted movement after the 10th.

Chen Na secretly joined a dangerous selection in hopes of earning Ascension Coins to treat Wang Yan’s cancer, while Wang Yan discovered her disappearance and told Guan Tong what had happened. Guan Tong realized a mysterious organization had recruited Chen Na for her abilities, but he could only wait for news as he considered how to develop Ascendant's Home.

• Chen Na left home with the short-haired woman and joined a selection at an abandoned factory, where masked participants had to evade armed pursuers for three hours.
• Wang Yan woke to find Chen Na missing and called Guan Tong after discovering his number in her call log.
• Guan Tong learned that Chen Na had lied about Wang Yan’s illness and that she had secretly entered a team selection offering Ascension Coins for medicinal artifacts.
• Wang Yan explained that she had refused to let Chen Na join because she distrusted the offer, and Guan Tong urged her to contact the Public Security Bureau and check surveillance footage.
• Guan Tong considered why the organization wanted Chen Na’s [Perception Domain] and concluded that he could only wait for news while planning improvements to Ascendant's Home.

Guan Tong advanced his qi-circulation studies and worried over Chen Na’s disappearance while considering the risks of Wartime Status. Shi Jingyi offered him a course-assistant position that would give him a registered identity and private lodging, leaving him to decide whether to accept before the tenth.

• Guan Tong studied the acupoints and Wordless Book, then reflected on how emotions and intense combat could increase Mind Power Cap.
• Guan Tong learned from Wang Yan that Chen Na had been taken to the outskirts and remained missing, and he reassured Wang Yan that her daughter was unlikely to be harmed.
• Guan Tong called Shi Jingyi, answered her questions about acupoints, and received an offer of further course materials on qi circulation.
• Shi Jingyi invited Guan Tong to become her course assistant, offering him a registered identity and a private room at the academy instead of communal shelter housing.
• Shi Jingyi told Guan Tong the invitation would remain open but advised him to decide before Wartime Status began on the tenth.

After leaving Chen Na a healing pill and a message, Wang Yan recovered and joined the Public Security Bureau to search for her daughter. Guan Tong declined Shi Jingyi’s invitation and watched as Wartime Status began, bringing new controls, shelters, and conflict between Ascendants and Non-Ascendants; his website’s membership surged.

• Wang Yan received Chen Na’s letter and a Special Healing Pill, took the pill, and resolved to stay alive until she could find her daughter.
• Guan Tong turned down Shi Jingyi’s teaching-assistant offer and continued living freely on Mingdao Mountain.
• Wang Yan told Guan Tong her illness was cured and that she had been approved to join the Public Security Bureau to look for Chen Na.
• On October 10, Guan Tong watched the Wartime Status announcement as authorities began drone patrols and assigned people to new shelters.
• Non-Ascendants protested what they saw as Ascendants receiving priority for shelter places, while online arguments over resource allocation intensified.
• Guan Tong’s Ascendant’s Home website gained users, so he posted guidelines banning anti-human remarks as members discussed shelter assignments.

The Apocalypse Rules Countermeasure Research Office reviewed the nation’s shrinking population and warned staff against leaking secrets through Communication Scrolls. Guan Tong prepared for the Seventh Apocalypse Rule, which banned all humans from making sounds other than breathing, and was left facing a thirty-day silence challenge enforced by the Sound Hunter.

• The data officer reported that around 713 million people were registered in major cities, with the total population estimated at 800 million, and Gao Liangwei urged the office to focus on city residents.
• Dr. Zhang and Gao Liangwei argued against forcing people living outside cities into shelters, and Gao Liangwei warned staff not to leak classified information through Communication Scrolls.
• Guan Tong practiced controlling Mind Power and managed to manifest a point of light on his finger for about two seconds.
• Guan Tong reviewed his preparations, including his 141-point Mind Power Cap, 3,890 Reserve Mind Power, Silver Hunter bullets, and tests of the Great Axe Warrior’s strength.
• The Fire Thief released the Seventh Apocalypse Rule, Moment of Silence, forbidding speech and other vocal sounds for thirty days while the Sound Hunter hunted anyone who violated it.

Guan Tong examined Hidden Rule Seven, which revealed that Sound Hunters could be destroyed for Ascension Coins and possibly tradable Communication Scrolls, but he chose to wait for more information. Meanwhile, camps and shelters prepared to prevent accidental speech during the month-long Rules.

• At a wilderness camp, a young man spoke after the rules took effect, and an unseen Sound Hunter killed him inside a car; the survivors began communicating by text and covering their mouths.
• Guan Tong considered the danger of Sound Hunters and the Mind Power penalty for failing the challenge, then discovered that destroying a Sound Hunter could yield Ascension Coins and possibly a tradable Communication Scroll.
• Guan Tong decided not to lure a Sound Hunter with his Living Dead until he learned more, and he taped his mouth shut to prevent himself from speaking accidentally.
• At Shelter No. 915, staff told residents to stay apart and use mouth coverings or pacifiers to prevent involuntary speech, including during sleep.

During the Seventh Apocalypse Rule, Sister Yu’s camp was attacked by a gang of Non-Ascendants, and the survivors fled as their pursuers chased them toward the woods. Guan Tong spotted the vehicles through his Shadow surveillance cameras as they reached the foot of his mountain.

• At a research symposium, Gao Liangwei ordered the Sound Hunter test to be completed as soon as possible.
• Sister Yu and the camp buried a companion killed by a Sound Hunter, then spent the day preparing for survival under the rule.
• A bearded man led more than thirty armed people to demand the camp’s supplies, and the gang attacked after Sister Yu refused to surrender everything.
• The buzz-cut man killed several attackers before a gunshot and his other sounds drew a Sound Hunter, which killed him; four more camp members died in the assault.
• Sister Yu escaped in a small truck with two others, but the gang pursued them until they turned off the highway toward the woods.
• Guan Tong received images from his Shadow surveillance cameras and noticed the vehicles approaching the woods at the foot of his mountain.

Guan Tong used Shadow to rescue Sister Yu and her companion from a gang of murderous supply thieves, then observed an invisible Sound Hunter kill the gang's leader. He returned to the Wooden House while considering how to defeat the dangerous creature.

• Guan Tong followed the fleeing group with Shadow and saw the pursuers kill Little Sun after she tripped and cried out.
• Guan Tong sent a human-shaped Shadow to intercept Sister Yu and her companion as they fled toward his mountain residence.
• When the bearded leader ordered his gang to kill everyone and take their supplies, Shadow killed the attackers while Guan Tong watched from hiding.
• The bearded leader shouted, and an invisible Sound Hunter pierced his neck; Guan Tong failed to detect the creature even with Shadow's senses and shadow tentacles.
• Guan Tong had Shadow refuse Sister Yu's request to join his camp, and she and her companion chose to bury Little Sun and set up a temporary camp at the mountain's foot.
• Back at the Wooden House, Guan Tong watched the pair leave through a Shadow Surveillance Eye and began planning how to fight the invisible, fast Sound Hunter.

Guan Tong shared intelligence about the Sound Hunter on Ascendant's Home, causing the site’s popularity to surge. The authorities investigated the unregistered, apparently unbreachable website and began searching for someone who could penetrate its defenses.

• Guan Tong read an online post in which I Was Originally a Good Person explained how the Hypnosis App could keep him asleep and silent through the rule.
• Guan Tong posted that Sound Hunters could be eliminated for rewards, including a chance to obtain a tradable Communication Scroll.
• The post spread across social media, drawing thousands of replies and many new users to Ascendant's Home.
• The official internet monitoring department discovered that Ascendant's Home was unregistered and failed to breach its unusual security.
• Gao Liangwei convened an emergency meeting, discussed contacting the administrator, and ordered a search for people with relevant abilities or items.

Yu Hong and Zhao Yu left supplies for Guan Tong’s mountain camp and planned to settle at the mountain’s foot, while Guan Tong considered the growing dangers in the wilderness. At the Countermeasure Research Institute, an experiment revealed that the Sound Hunter teleported to its victims, and the institute received orders to continue testing with personnel supplied by the nation.

• Yu Hong and Zhao Yu carried supplies to the place where they had fled, and Yu Hong left a letter thanking the mountain’s residents and asking to camp at its foot.
• Guan Tong collected the supplies with his Living Dead and accepted Yu Hong and Zhao Yu’s plan to camp nearby as long as they did not interfere with him.
• Researchers at the Countermeasure Research Institute sealed a test subject in a metal box and surrounded it with sensor-triggered bombs to test how to harm the Sound Hunter.
• The Sound Hunter killed the test subject without triggering any bombs, leading the testing expert to conclude that it teleported directly to the person who made a sound.
• Gao Liangwei hesitated over a proposed suicide experiment until a high-ranking caller ordered him to continue and promised to provide test subjects within three hours.
• Gao Liangwei ordered the researchers to prepare a sensor-triggered bomb for the next experiment.

Guan Tong tested the Sound Hunter’s attacks with Living Dead and discovered a way to kill it using Shadow, the Great Axe Warrior, and Silver Hunter. After earning three Communication Scrolls from the kill, he sold them for a total of 32,000 Ascension Coins and planned to hunt more Sound Hunters before the market filled with scrolls.

• Guan Tong confirmed that Sound Hunters teleported to people who made noise and tested their attacks on Living Dead.
• Guan Tong found that thick Shadow armor could slow the Sound Hunter’s attack, then baited one with a Living Dead and killed it using spikes, the Great Axe Warrior, and Silver Hunter.
• The Fire Thief awarded Guan Tong 350 Ascension Coins and three Communication Scrolls for killing the Sound Hunter.
• Guan Tong listed the Communication Scrolls for 3,000, 9,000, and 20,000 Ascension Coins, and all three sold within seconds.
• Guan Tong’s balance rose to 32,487 Ascension Coins, and he resolved to farm more Sound Hunters before other sellers increased the supply.

Wu Yun struggled with the social isolation imposed by the [Moment of Silence] Rules while finding company on the Ascendant's Home forum. At the Countermeasure Research Institute, investigators learned that killing a Sound Hunter required sacrificing someone who made a sound, and Gao Liangwei ordered further preparations while considering a possible hidden force outside Yunhua City.

• Wu Yun tried to socialize in Shelter No. 915, was rebuffed, and posted about his loneliness on the Ascendant's Home website.
• Researchers used test subjects and Mind Power Artifact explosives to discover that Sound Hunters could be killed only by a powerful attack timed to their attack on a speaker, costing at least one speaker's life.
• Gao Liangwei learned that Communication Scrolls were being sold in the Terminal Market and instructed staff to buy them only below thirty thousand.
• Gao Liangwei ordered the search for offensive artifacts and called Bai Xuewu to the underground base, while the network department reported that an attempted hack of Ascendant's Home had failed.
• Dr. Zhang told Gao Liangwei that Gu Fei and a missing girl might be connected to an unknown force, and proposed sending the Second and Fifth Squads outside Yunhua City to investigate.

Liu Yuqiang coordinated supplies at Qingmei Base as a new team, including Gu Fei and Chen Na, set out to collect resources. Meanwhile, Guan Tong continued hunting Sound Hunters for Communication Scrolls, sold his finds, and considered the risks of revealing how to kill them.

• Liu Yuqiang sent the supply list to his subordinate, who delivered it to the Short-haired woman for the team's first mission.
• The Short-haired woman assigned Gu Fei, Chen Na, and three teammates to search marked areas, eliminate threats, and report supply coordinates; she promised Chen Na she would ask the Commander to let her see her mother after the rule ended.
• Guan Tong killed more Sound Hunters, sold two Communication Scrolls for twenty-eight thousand Ascension Coins each, and raised his total to 120,637 coins.
• Guan Tong decided not to publish his method for killing Sound Hunters because it could lead groups to force people to act as bait.
• Ascendant's Home users discussed whether Anti-Speech Masks distributed in shelters could be obtained and resold outside the city.

Bai Xuewu and a scarecrow-using recruit helped the authorities test ways to kill Sound Hunters with fewer casualties, while Gu Fei joined a new team and learned that its headphone-wearing member outranked him. On Mingdao Mountain, Guan Tong tested extending and materializing Shadow over long distances, confirming the idea was possible but finding the fragile line could not carry supplies.

• Bai Xuewu used her mech to kill a Sound Hunter lured by a scarecrow, then complained to Dr. Zhang about the assignment and her depleted Mind Power.
• Dr. Zhang thanked the young man with the [Straw Man Doll] ability for using scarecrows as bait and considered developing him for Team Three.
• Gu Fei argued with the young man with Headphones about taking a camp's supplies, but the man's eye-activated ability drained Gu Fei's strength and stopped him.
• The young man with Headphones negotiated with the camp's people, who left their supplies behind, and told Gu Fei to send the coordinates to the base.
• Guan Tong extended a hair-thin Shadow Line more than ten kilometers and materialized it using little Mind Power, confirming that long-distance materialization was feasible.
• Guan Tong recognized that the fragile, weak Shadow Line could not transport goods and considered using the Wordless Book to strengthen it.

Guan Tong strengthened Shadow’s toughness and arranged Shadow Logistics’ first paid delivery through Ascendant's Home. The clients agreed to the terms, and Guan Tong began planning a safe route for the pickup and delivery.

• Guan Tong added the character for “firm” to the Wordless Book and discovered it made Shadow Line far tougher without increasing Shadow’s humanoid defense.
• Guan Tong tested Shadow Line’s strength and concluded that a sufficiently long, coiled line could move cargo, though solidified Shadow would need to avoid damaging indoor spaces.
• Guan Tong brought Black Stone and Sky Like Wind together to arrange the sale of ten Anti-Speech Masks for one thousand Ascension Coins, with each party agreeing to pay fifty coins in transport fees.
• Guan Tong changed his Personal Terminal nickname to “Ascendant's Home Administrator,” added both clients, and collected their locations.
• Guan Tong selected a hospital windowsill as the pickup point and studied a route that would keep Shadow’s delivery out of sight of authorities.

Wu Yun’s suicide in Shelter No. 915 revealed the mental strain caused by the speech ban, while Guan Tong used Shadow to deliver masks from a sealed city to Black Stone, proving the website’s commission system worked. The successful transaction drew attention from the authorities, and Gao Liangwei reviewed reports of shelter casualties, suspected supply theft, and gangs outside the cities.

• A resident found Wu Yun dead in the bathroom, and the shelter administrator concluded that Wu Yun had died by suicide after investigating the evidence and surveillance footage.
• Guan Tong used Shadow to retrieve ten Anti-Speech Masks from a hospital in Lipu City and transport them to a location near Black Stone’s camp.
• Black Stone collected the masks, Sky Like Wind received 950 Ascension Coins, and Guan Tong received 100 Ascension Coins for completing the commission.
• Guan Tong explained that future transactions would require both parties to pay him 10 percent, prompting speculation about his identity and a report from the cyber department.
• Gao Liangwei reviewed reports of thousands of shelter residents attempting self-harm or suicide, the website’s first suspected offline transaction, and gangs looting camps outside the cities.
• Gao Liangwei considered whether to authorize two Official Squads to eliminate the gangs, but worried about giving them unchecked authority to kill.