Chapter Summaries

Wenren Sheng prepared to teach Puppet Art while monitoring Ives’s investigation of the Xibi River. Ives confirmed the river attacked when exposed to an Otherworldly User’s Mysterious Power, and he began considering how to deal with it as Wenren Sheng watched.

• Wenren Sheng agreed with President Zhao to prepare Puppet Art classes for Otherworldly Experts and studied the Patrol Division’s skill database for two days.
• Big Cat alerted Wenren Sheng that Ives had taken Ronnie and the three Trial-and-Errorers to the upper reaches of the Xibi River.
• Ives kicked a foggy soccer ball into the lake, triggering the water to attack and dismember an angler.
• Ives concluded that the river imitated humans eating fish, attacked roughly every two days, and was triggered by an Otherworldly User’s Mysterious Power.
• Ronnie condemned Ives for using an Ordinary Person in the experiment, but Ives challenged her to find a solution that required no sacrifices.
• Ives studied the lake for a way to resolve the Anomaly while Wenren Sheng watched, ready to intervene if he failed.

Ives investigated the man-eating river but concluded it could be left alone if people stayed away, while Wenren Sheng decided to seek out Milia as a more useful partner for resolving Anomalies. He contacted Leide to arrange a meeting and planned to recommend Ronnie as Milia’s apprentice.

• Ives reviewed records of people who had fallen into the Xibi River and examined the lake for clues.
• A tornado attacked the group, and Ives severed his left arm and threw it to the Anomaly, stopping the assault.
• Ives recorded that the Anomaly hunted Otherworldly Users within a kilometer of the riverbank, then decided to leave it alone and report his findings.
• Wenren Sheng judged the investigators unsuitable for his aims and decided to cultivate Milia and Ronnie as tools for solving cases.
• Wenren Sheng called Leide, who confirmed that Eagle Fort had requisitioned Milia and agreed to help arrange a meeting.

Wenren Sheng learned that Milia was trapped in a looping space on an island and went there as Big Cat to free her. He found Milia and the other captives at an amusement park, recognized the space as part of a nested event linked to Quiet River, and left their escape in Milia’s hands.

• Leide told Wenren Sheng that Milia was trapped on an island after accepting an impossible employment task from Eagle Fort, and gave him her location.
• Wenren Sheng learned that the island’s looping space was a mysterious event, and Big Cat traveled there through a lake blockade.
• Big Cat found Milia and the other captives at an amusement park, where Professor Mailey explained his theory that the space was a three-dimensional Klein Bottle.
• Wenren Sheng recognized the island and its buffet as a nested event linked to Quiet River, with the trapped people serving as ornamental fish and their food coming from their own kind.
• Milia asked Big Cat to take the captives with them, and he told her she would have to break the looping space herself; she agreed to learn how.

Big Cat taught Milia how to investigate and crack Anomalies, while Professor Mailey joined them and helped analyze Lake Heart Island. They identified the buffet as the likely connection point holding the isolated space together and went inside to investigate.

• Big Cat taught Milia how Anomalies formed and how strength and knowledge of their core could help crack them.
• Professor Mailey joined the lesson, then agreed to help Milia investigate the island.
• Milia and Professor Mailey found they could not leave Lake Heart Island, while Big Cat could come and go freely.
• Professor Mailey reasoned that breaking the space's connection point with Milia's power might shatter the Klein Bottle.
• Milia, Professor Mailey, and Big Cat entered the buffet, where people were eating fish and meat without knowing what it was.

Professor Mailey and Nun Milia discovered that the buffet restaurant served human meat, and concluded the food came through an external passage. Their attempt to destroy the restaurant failed when the affected Ordinary People blocked them, leaving them to seek another way out.

• Professor Mailey realized the buffet diners had likely been influenced by the oddity, and Milia confirmed the raw meat was human flesh.
• Professor Mailey and Milia determined that no one inside was missing, so the human meat must have come through an external passage.
• Professor Mailey suggested enlarging the passage so Ordinary People could escape, and Milia tried to destroy the buffet restaurant with her Giant Hammer.
• The diners chased Milia away, insisting the restaurant was essential to their survival.
• Professor Mailey told Milia they would have to find another way, while Big Cat reasoned that the Anomaly had made Ordinary People its shield.

Milia and Professor Mailey organized the people trapped on Lake Heart Island to farm so they could stop relying on the buffet restaurant. When one man began showing signs of madness from eating its meat, they disagreed over whether to reveal the danger and destroy the restaurant before their crops were ready.

• Professor Mailey persuaded Milia to farm the island, and she turned her sledgehammer into tools and recruited help.
• Wenren Sheng refused to bring vegetables from outside, while Milia pressured the young tourists to work the fields.
• The islanders organized their farm and dug an irrigation canal, while Wenren Sheng continued training and attending classes back home.
• Professor Mailey told Milia that one of the men who had eaten the most meat was showing symptoms of madness, possibly from a prion outbreak.
• Milia wanted to tell everyone the truth and destroy the restaurant, but Professor Mailey warned that failing to escape could leave them without food before the crops were ready.

Milia chose to reveal that the restaurant’s food was human flesh, then judged and attacked the survivors who refused to repent. Her display of overwhelming power left Professor Mailey contemplating how the rise of Otherworldly Users could transform human society.

• Milia decided that people deserved to know the truth, but Professor Mailey explained that leaving the choice to those affected by the grotesque meant abandoning her responsibility.
• Milia went to the restaurant and told the survivors that its food was human flesh and could drive them mad.
• Several survivors left, while others accepted the risk, so Milia judged the remaining diners guilty and struck them unconscious.
• Milia’s hammer glowed, bullets bounced off her, and Professor Mailey and the clear-headed survivors tied up the unconscious people.
• Professor Mailey realized that powerful Otherworldly Users might soon place Ordinary People beyond the ability to resist or restrain them.

Milia enforced strict food rationing after killing those who attacked her, while Wenren Sheng taught Puppet Art to influential Otherworldly Experts and arranged puppet commissions. He ended the chapter looking ahead to using Zhao Han, who had recovered from her sleepiness, as a future worker once she mastered Puppet Art and formed a resonance connection.

• Milia knocked out those who opposed her on charges of cannibalism and killed the attackers, then ordered Professor Mailey to ration food and teach everyone to eat grass.
• Wenren Sheng stopped watching Big Cat and taught a Puppet Art course to powerful Otherworldly Experts, persuading them to invest in learning the skill.
• Several experts commissioned puppets from Wenren Sheng, and the class stayed afterward to share what they had learned.
• Wenren Sheng listened to the experts discussing their shared interests and thought that they were all tools.
• Zhao Han called Wenren Sheng to say that her sleepiness had stopped, and he privately attributed her recovery to Old Turtle going dormant.
• Wenren Sheng considered Zhao Han a future worker who could help him gain Mystery Points after she mastered Puppet Art and established a resonance connection.

Wenren Sheng discovered that Ouyang Tian’s sudden rise in power and promised marriages to Origin Realm royalty came from an Anomaly that had drained and deceived him. After teaching Ouyang Tian a Resonance Method and breaking the illusion, Wenren Sheng questioned him about the white light to learn what else it might reveal.

• Ouyang Tian called Wenren Sheng to borrow one billion and claimed a white light from the Origin Realm had greatly increased his Alien Power and offered him three daughters and four granddaughters in marriage.
• Wenren Sheng suspected Ouyang Tian had encountered an Anomaly and ordered him to come to the villa for an examination.
• Wenren Sheng saw that Ouyang Tian was physically depleted, though Ouyang Tian and others believed he looked healthy.
• Wenren Sheng taught Ouyang Tian a Resonance Method, and the two used spiritual communication to break the illusion concealing his condition.
• Ouyang Tian emerged from the bathroom grieving the loss of his imagined princesses, while Wenren Sheng asked him to recount his encounter with the white light.

Wenren Sheng discovered that a White Light had been exploiting Ouyang Tian’s emotional cultivation and planned to investigate it through their mental connection. He also understood that the River Disaster Anomaly kept people as pets and chose to let the trapped group find their own way out.

• Wenren Sheng learned that the White Light had accelerated Ouyang Tian’s cultivation by inducing intense joy, weakening his body, and agreed to investigate it with him after he recovered.
• Wenren Sheng concluded that the River Disaster Anomaly treated people as pets and would release them only if they became unable to survive in its looping space; he decided not to give the trapped group a hint.
• After two days of recovery, Ouyang Tian and Wenren Sheng connected their minds and searched for the White Light.
• Ouyang Tian introduced Wenren Sheng to the White Light as a compassionate friend who valued living things, and the White Light invited him to make contact.
• Wenren Sheng used his alien species to reach out to the White Light.

Wenren Sheng confronted the white light, which advocated peace by having humanity submit to stronger beings, and refused to accept its view of humans as livestock. After it escaped into a deeper layer of the Origin Realm, Wenren Sheng understood more about the realm’s encroachment on reality and the power humanity would need to survive.

• Wenren Sheng questioned the white light about its plans for humanity and realized it wanted people to submit like sheep raised for slaughter.
• Wenren Sheng rejected the white light’s proposal and tried to capture it, but it evaded his strike by flickering into a deeper layer of the Origin Realm.
• The white light declared that peace could only be brought by force, then vanished.
• Wenren Sheng inferred that the mysterious world’s spread into reality would expose humans to deeper transformations and leave them vulnerable if they lacked sufficient power.
• Wenren Sheng reassured Ouyang Tian that the white light would not return to him, and Ouyang Tian stayed at Wenren Sheng’s place out of fear.

Wenren Sheng explored a deeper layer of the mysterious world and realized that Anomalies formed stable, sphere-based systems that could explain how they gained strength. He also learned that the island incident had been completed and used Big Cat’s recordings to review the resolvers’ investigation, which ended with a mad prisoner disappearing.

• Wenren Sheng read reports of other Otherworldly Users exploring beneath the mist clusters and followed their method into the mysterious world.
• Wenren Sheng saw solid spheres arranged into star systems beneath the mist clusters and inferred that these structures reflected the Origin Realm’s social order and offered a more stable way to grow stronger.
• Wenren Sheng received notice that “Island You Can't Leave” was complete and that his Mystery Points had increased to 113, with his limit rising to 482.
• Wenren Sheng connected to Big Cat and reviewed the puppet’s recordings of the incident’s resolution.
• Professor Mailey told Nun Milia and the others that the fat man who had gone mad from eating meat had vanished, prompting them to wonder whether madness allowed someone to escape.

Milia and Professor Mailey discovered that people could escape the looping space by smashing into its wall, though the required injuries grew more severe over time. After everyone escaped and the event was marked resolved, Wenren Sheng decided to make the Big Cat Milia’s agent for finding mysterious events.

• Milia used the Giant Hammer to replay the storage room’s past, revealing that a crazed fat man had smashed into the wall and vanished.
• Milia confirmed that the fat man had escaped but later died, and an Old Man volunteered to test the method.
• The Old Man vanished through the wall on his tenth impact and confirmed by phone that he had survived outside.
• The trapped people escaped by striking the walls, but the looping space remained and became harder to leave as it demanded more blood.
• Wenren Sheng received the resolution prompt and decided the Big Cat would find mysterious events for Milia.
• Wenren Sheng had the Big Cat offer to help cure the Old Man, and Milia thanked it.

Milia, Wenren Sheng, Big Cat, and Professor Mailey visited the gravely ill Milan, where an IV containing water from the Xibi River triggered a curse. After Big Cat healed Milan, Milia learned that six others had died and set out to eliminate the source of the danger.

• Professor Mailey decided to follow Milia and provide logistical analysis work.
• At Milan's hospital bedside, Big Cat cut the IV after Wenren Sheng sensed danger, stopping the river water from harming Milan further.
• Professor Mailey concluded that leaving the cage had made them targets of its owner's loathing, and Wenren Sheng realized the IV contained water from the Xibi River.
• Big Cat treated Milan and instructed the doctors to prevent him from contacting local water.
• Milia reported that six people had died and warned the survivors not to drink local water.
• Milia resolved to eliminate the Demon responsible for the danger, and she, Wenren Sheng, and Big Cat left the hospital.

Big Cat and Milia returned to the Xibi River’s source after deciding to lure out the Anomaly, while Milia resolved to reform the Disaster Anomaly Elimination Association and take power from its corrupt members. They reunited with Ronnie and Ives, whose investigation report could help them confront the river.

• Big Cat explained that they would use bait to draw out the hidden river Anomaly, and Milia agreed.
• Milia said Eagle Fort had compromised with Anomalies and resolved to unite ordinary people and reform the Disaster Anomaly Elimination Association.
• Professor Mailey expressed his willingness to fight, and Milia promised to reclaim Otherworldly User powers for people who would use them properly.
• Big Cat, Milia, and Professor Mailey returned to the Xibi River’s source, where they found Ives and Ronnie; three of Ives’s companions were missing and presumed dead.
• Ronnie gave Milia the investigation report, and Milia coldly rejected Ives’s greeting.

Wenren Sheng learned that lord-type Anomalies were emerging around the world and considered how The Association might reshape global power. He found a dangerous Escape Maze incident in South Continent and left the chapter preparing to assess it.

• Wenren Sheng had Big Cat track Milia, Ronnie, Ives, and the professor while he stayed out of their investigation.
• Wenren Sheng read a Patrol Division notice recruiting volunteers for The Association and reports of lord-type Anomalies appearing across several continents.
• Inspector Liu told Wenren Sheng that the Patrol Division had trump cards and was preparing to send people to seal the lord-type Anomalies.
• Wenren Sheng found details of an Escape Maze in South Continent, where residents were forced to evade capture or be killed, and saw that The Association was recruiting volunteers to resolve it.

Wenren Sheng sent the Ruyi Puppet toward a maze Anomaly in the South Continent, while his former student Liu Jian secretly used a Red Orb to establish a territory there. Liu Jian watched a group of chosen fugitives flee pursuers and considered how to make the ordeal more effective.

• Wenren Sheng arranged for the Ruyi Puppet to fly from Dongshui City to the South Continent and went back to rest.
• Liu Jian recalled how he had possessed a Red Orb while cultivating his Otherworldly Seed and used Puppet Art to control it.
• Liu Jian learned that the Red Orb could establish safe territory, create mazes, and draw power from escapees' emotions.
• Liu Jian set up the Red Orb's territory in the Extreme South of the South Continent and chose people with criminal pasts as fugitives, with local security personnel assigned to pursue them.
• Liu Jian watched four fugitives struggle to escape and considered improving their equipment so they would not give up too easily.

Wenren Sheng arrived in Volcano City to investigate an Escape Maze incident, but found the city open to visitors and apparently calm under a Disaster Anomaly Lord’s influence. He learned that residents’ freedom to leave depended on God’s permission or belief, and began considering how to investigate the Anomaly without destroying it.

• Wenren Sheng took the Ruyi Puppet through several transfers to reach Volcano City after an Anomaly incident disrupted direct flights.
• Wenren Sheng saw that Volcano City’s airport was operating normally, contradicting the report that the city had become a maze.
• Wenren Sheng questioned a taxi driver, who said the city had enjoyed two months without strange incidents or much crime since receiving God’s favor.
• Wenren Sheng overheard security guards celebrating five days of safety and Free Entry and Exit Rights after completing God’s task.
• The taxi driver explained that outsiders could come and go freely, while long-term residents needed God’s permission or wholehearted belief to leave.
• Wenren Sheng concluded that destroying the Disaster Anomaly Lord could turn the people against him and decided that investigating its nature and history might be enough.

After finding a hidden camera in his hotel suite in Volcano City, Wenren Sheng searched the Patrol Division network for a way to identify who had placed it. He chose to learn the dangerous Spirit Communication Art, leaving the story with him studying how to use it safely.

• Wenren Sheng found a miniature wireless camera hidden in a rose and summoned the hotel manager for an explanation.
• The room manager admitted that powerful people monitored important outsiders but refused to identify them, warning Wenren Sheng that ignorance helped people survive.
• Wenren Sheng searched the Patrol Division network and found the Spirit Communication Art, which could reveal images of the past but risked mental contamination.
• Wenren Sheng decided his Mystery Resistance and the protection of his great god made the Spirit Communication Art suitable for him to learn.
• Wenren Sheng read that spirit communication could connect users to malicious mysterious existences and that they should use known targets and sever contact at the first sign of danger.

Wenren Sheng used the Spirit Communication Art to contact the giant in the deeper layer of the Origin Realm and received a vision of three people discussing their cooperation with a powerful outsider. The giant then sent him a flood of images and information, and Wenren Sheng withdrew safely through his tunnel before the incoming white light reached him.

• Wenren Sheng used his Otherworldly User's power to open a tunnel into the deeper layers of the Origin Realm.
• Wenren Sheng drew the giant's ritual, placed a miniature camera between its eyes, and infused the ritual with Alien Power.
• Wenren Sheng saw Suli, Kaluo, and another man discuss serving a powerful outsider and keeping watch over other outsiders.
• The giant sent Wenren Sheng a rush of images about its body, the spheres, and its descent onto a sphere.
• Wenren Sheng withdrew his mind through the tunnel, and the white light disappeared before it could reach him.