Chapter Summaries

Wenren Sheng helped halt the ancient book tests after defeating the Parasite Scholar, then joined the planning for further experiments. Meanwhile, his family gathered for a flower-themed Otherworldly Emergence, where Ouyang Tian and Liu Tian absorbed unusually large amounts of Mysterious Power.

• Wenren Sheng told the experimenter that the ancient book could likely be used to exchange stories or items rather than necessarily requiring people as payment, and agreed to help draft a testing plan.
• Wenren De led his family, including Ouyang Tian and Liu Tian, to a flower-covered mountain for an upcoming Otherworldly Emergence.
• Liu Tian bluntly described flowers as plant reproductive organs, and Ouyang Tian agreed with her, making the others uncomfortable.
• The group reached the secured summit and waited as a strange floral fragrance began to spread before the emergence.
• The fragrance brought Mysterious Power that rapidly strengthened their Otherworldly Users, while Ouyang Tian and Liu Tian drew at least twice as much as the others.

A pink Love Seed appeared, and Liu Tian and Wu Liansong showed ultra-high compatibility with it. Wu Liansong refused the Otherworldly Species and offered it to Liu Tian, while the Patrol Division captain took it away to report on its allocation.

• The Patrol Division tested its internal trainees against the Love Seed, but none achieved the high compatibility needed for it to be allocated to them.
• As the captain carried the Love Seed past Wenren Sheng's family, it blazed with seven-colored light near Liu Tian and prompted him to test the family.
• Liu Tian and Wu Liansong both showed ultra-high compatibility, while Wu Shanshan reached medium-high compatibility and Wenren De received no response.
• Wu Liansong declined the Love Seed and suggested Liu Tian receive it, so the captain left to report on its allocation.
• Wu Shanshan praised her father, and Wu Liansong modestly attributed his compatibility to luck.

Wenren Sheng tested the ancient book by telling it a story, and its answers warned that the people’s future depended on whether they could resist the cruelty spreading around them. The book pointed to the people gathered in the auditorium as the source of their chance to win.

• Ouyang Tian praised Liu Tian’s high compatibility with the Love Seed, while Zhao Han, Wang Wenwen, and Wu Shanshan wondered what Wenren Sheng’s compatibility would be.
• Ouyang Ling searched whether successive procedures involving Otherworldly Users could affect the compatibility test, and Wenren De tried to leave.
• Wenren Sheng told the ancient book a condensed version of “Diary of a Madman,” and the book recorded it.
• Wenren Sheng asked whether his story could become their future, and the book answered that there was a 99% probability.
• Wenren Sheng warned the audience that their society could become like the story if they fell, and urged them to find their own chance of victory.
• After other people tested the book with their stories, it accepted the tenth person’s story and answered that victory lay “Among you.”

The Disaster Anomaly Administration debated who should receive the Love Seed and chose Liu Tian, whose mysterious background and unusual compatibility made her a tempting gamble. Ouyang Tian took Liu Tian home to meet his family, while Wenren Sheng saw that her appearance concealed a bizarre, flesh-like existence created by his Seed of Illusion.

• The Administration reviewed Liu Tian’s layered secret affiliations and debated whether to grant the Love Seed to her or Wu Liansong.
• Director An decided to give the Love Seed to Liu Tian without consulting Wenren Sheng.
• Ouyang Tian praised Liu Tian’s selection, then left with her to introduce her to his parents.
• Wang Wenwen and the others discussed Ouyang Tian’s Love Seed, while Li Shuangyue asked whether he should be told the truth.
• Ouyang Tian asked Liu Tian what to call her and what food she liked as he drove her home.
• Wenren Sheng spotted Ouyang Tian’s car and saw it as a mass of writhing flesh, realizing that his Seed of Illusion had created the form Ouyang Tian loved.

Wenren Sheng prepared his family to earn merit through dangerous Patrol Division missions and considered how to address problems among the souls in Mutant-Hair Village. Meanwhile, the imprisoned Anomalies planned to manipulate him into gathering information on Bizarreness Objects, while researchers in Miken tested a controlled dimensional world and encountered a dangerous flaw.

• Wenren Sheng told his family they could afford custom puppets on credit, and Wu Shanshan warned them that Patrol Division missions could be deadly by showing them an illusion of Otherworldly Experts killed by a mysterious well.
• Wenren Sheng sent his family their proposed puppet roles, and the others debated animal-shaped and machine-shaped designs while he slept.
• Silver Marble, Ping Pong Ball, White Rat, and Turtle agreed to feed Wenren Sheng information about Bizarreness Objects so he would unknowingly help them build a protective system for humans.
• Wenren Sheng examined Mutant-Hair Village, noticed that some souls no longer regarded themselves as human, and decided he needed to find a way to address their psychological problems.
• Lieutenant General Lola and Dr. Stein oversaw a network experiment in Miken that let Brain-Plugged subjects enter a dimensional world, but Subject No. 3 suffered severe cognitive dissonance when the simulated world violated reality.

Xie Cangyue studied an ancient account of a failed immortality seeker and devised a plan to trick the Immortal in Eastwater into revealing his secrets. Before he could act, his Order Seed abandoned him and his power tore him apart, while Xie Yanjie arrived to claim the Xie Family’s Ancestral Seed.

• Xie Cangyue read that a Grandmaster who had sacrificed his humanity for longevity eventually found life meaningless and chose death.
• Xie Cangyue planned to make the Immortal believe he had developed a similar path so the Immortal would reveal his secrets through an exchange.
• Xie Cangyue’s Order Seed burst out of his abdomen and flew away, leaving his enhanced power unrestrained and causing his body to collapse.
• A silver oval object entered Xie Linghui’s chest at the Xie Family Gardens gate, and he felt that something both terrible and good had happened.
• Xie Yanjie found Xie Cangyue dead and searched his remains for the Xie Family’s Ancestral Seed, declaring herself the true Family Head.

Xie Yanjie claimed the Main Seed after Xie Cangyue died and began plotting to take control of his forces. In Dongshui City, Wenren Sheng sought a way to preserve the humanity of souls in Soul Village and arranged to bring them into his Dream World in exchange for a fireworks festival.

• Xie Yanjie found the oval object that emerged from Xie Linghui, marked it with her blood, and absorbed what she believed was the Main Seed.
• Xie Linghui concealed Xie Cangyue’s notebook while Xie Yanjie ordered him to help her seize control of the forces and learn to use the Otherworldly User’s power.
• Wenren Sheng posted a Patrol Division task seeking a way to preserve the humanity of bodiless souls, then received a warning call from Wei Yiqing.
• Wenren Sheng consulted Big Stone and realized the Dream World’s Two Colossi could help stabilize Soul Village’s residents.
• Wenren Sheng asked the Seed of Illusion to bring the people in his hair into his dreams, and agreed to hold a lively fireworks festival with screams in return.

Wenren Sheng joined the emergency response to Luozhou Island’s unexplained volcanic crisis, which threatened tens of millions of people. As evacuation fleets mobilized, the Silver Marble offered an explanation for the eruptions and began describing a way to address the world’s merging.

• Inspector Liu summoned Wenren Sheng to investigate the sudden eruptions across Luozhou Island, and Wenren Sheng flew to the Dongshui Patrol Division in his Eagle puppet.
• Wenren Sheng met President Zhao aboard a military plane, and they discussed the island’s threatened population and the preparations to evacuate them by sea.
• Wenren Sheng received a report that the first volcano had erupted without warning and that Prophecy Art predicted eruptions across the island.
• Wenren Sheng suspected the Disaster Anomaly Lords might be responsible, but President Zhao said their known behavior made that unlikely.
• The Silver Marble sensed Wenren Sheng’s anger and claimed the eruption came from intense spacetime distortions that required a spatial lubricant.
• The Silver Marble showed Wenren Sheng an image of a world devastated and later repaired during a fusion, then argued that its people could offer humans power and freedom from their bodies as slaves.

As Luozhou Island’s volcanoes erupted, residents evacuated while hoping the Patrol Division could stop the disaster. They watched as an Eagle and a Turtle released silver dust into a crater, and a livestream confirmed that the volcano had stopped erupting.

• Residents fled toward the ports as lava threatened their homes, plantations, and businesses, and Old Man Suo feared they would lose their fortunes.
• An informed evacuee explained that people had to leave so the Patrol Division could use its Mysterious Powers without endangering civilians.
• Evacuees spotted an Eagle carrying a Turtle from a Patrol Division aircraft and watched them approach an erupting crater.
• The Eagle circled the crater and dropped glittering silver dust into it, after which the smoke vanished and the eruption paused.
• A livestream confirmed that the volcano had calmed, and Old Man Suo celebrated the hope that his family's fortune might be saved.

Wenren Sheng stopped the volcano using spatial lubricant far more effective than the Silver Marble expected, then negotiated with the imprisoned anomalies. The Silver Marble offered to reveal other anomalies in exchange for time outside, and Wenren Sheng offered one week of freedom for each one it betrayed.

• Turtle praised Wenren Sheng for stopping the volcanic eruption, while the Silver Marble marveled that his lubricant surpassed even its planned final version.
• White Rat, Turtle, and the Silver Marble agreed to make others suffer alongside them so they could gain status and territory, and Ping Pong Ball eventually stopped objecting.
• Wenren Sheng entered the prison and offered the Silver Marble one day outside as a reward for the method that had temporarily calmed the volcano.
• The Silver Marble warned that its lubricant would last about three months, but Wenren Sheng believed that would give Luozhou Island enough time to stabilize.
• The Silver Marble offered to reveal others of its kind in exchange for time outside, and Wenren Sheng offered one week of freedom for each friend it betrayed.

Lu Guang’s prayers to a Gilded Bodhisattva triggered a volcanic eruption that trapped the Wei family and crowds at Luozhou Island’s harbor. An Eagle scattered silver dust to seal the fissure, leaving Lu Guang furious as Wei Qinglan waved to the rescuer.

• Lu Guang recalled years of humiliation as the Wei family’s son-in-law and revealed that his prayers through the Gilded Bodhisattva had awakened a force that caused the volcano to erupt.
• A fissure opened by the harbor, lava and smoke surged out, and ships abandoned people trying to evacuate.
• Lu Guang kicked Mother Wei down when she demanded he carry her, then fled as the crowd trampled her.
• Lu Guang jumped into the sea and watched Wei Qinglan beg a man for a life jacket while Mother Wei lay motionless on the dock.
• An Eagle scattered silver dust into the fissure, closing it and stopping the eruption.
• Lu Guang resented the Otherworldly User’s intervention and watched Wei Qinglan wave at the Eagle instead of checking on Mother Wei.

Wenren Sheng helped contain a volcanic disaster on Luozhou Island and uncovered that Lu Guang’s resentment had triggered it with the Gilded Bodhisattva. The authorities arrested Lu Guang and the Wei family father and daughter, while Director An promised Wenren Sheng a share of the island’s annual output.

• Wenren Sheng stopped Eagle from landing after Wei Qinglan and Wei Ande blamed him for Mother Wei’s death, and security officers arrested them for abusing a rescuer.
• Lu Guang watched the Wei family get arrested and wondered whether his Gilded Bodhisattva could earn him the influence Eagle commanded.
• Wenren Sheng noticed Lu Guang’s unusual emotions and alerted the Black Shirts, who bluffed Lu Guang into exposing himself and arrested him.
• Wenren Sheng watched Lu Guang’s interrogation recording and learned that the debt-bound son-in-law had used the Gilded Bodhisattva to trigger volcanic eruptions through his resentment.
• Director An called Wenren Sheng, who agreed to share his method for suppressing the volcano, and promised him a share of Luozhou Island’s annual output.

Wenren Sheng gave the Patrol Division his Spatial Lubricant method while secretly recruiting the Silver Marble as an informant. After the Heaven's Mandate Society rescued Lu Guang, its members tried to persuade him to become a savior, though Lu Guang remained resentful and agreed to train for the sake of gaining power again.

• Wenren Sheng submitted his Spatial Lubricant production method to the Patrol Division, and the Silver Marble criticized him for giving away valuable technology.
• Wenren Sheng and the Silver Marble pretended to cooperate, with Wenren Sheng promising it a separate residence in exchange for meritorious service.
• The Silver Marble showed Wenren Sheng the Heaven's Mandate Society's plan to rescue Lu Guang, and Wenren Sheng informed the Patrol Division, which said the situation was within its plan.
• Three days later, three cloaked figures from the Heaven's Mandate Society abducted Lu Guang from the harbor Public Security Bureau.
• A cloaked figure told Lu Guang that sincerity and kindness could have made him a savior, and Lu Guang agreed to train and atone while privately holding on to his resentment.

After the Luozhou Island volcanic disaster subsided, Wenren Sheng checked on his family and arranged for the Patrol Division to help design their puppets. He then sought to learn Etherealization Art from the Seed of Illusion, and the sleeping big girl’s words gave him a first glimpse of nothingness.

• Wenren Sheng found that his family had grown stronger and encouraged them to earn merits and seek promotion to Otherworldly Expert.
• Wu Shanshan and the others showed Wenren Sheng their puppet designs, including a tank, aircraft, space battleships, and an Ultraman.
• Wenren Sheng contacted the Patrol Division’s puppet design department to coordinate practical designs for the group.
• Wenren Sheng searched for Mystery Points but found no suitable prompts, then spoke with the Seed of Illusion about fireworks and the big girl who had spoken before.
• Wenren Sheng asked the Seed of Illusion to teach him Etherealization Art, and the big girl’s words about all things returning to nothing helped him grasp a trace of nothingness.

Wenren Sheng failed to learn the Etherealization Art in his own body, but succeeded by experimenting with Big Cat and began gathering mysterious materials to rebuild it. He accepted a mission to obtain Blood Sinew and sent the Ruyi Puppet to hunt the Mist Wolf.

• Wenren Sheng tried to learn the Etherealization Art and learned from the Silver Marble that mastering it required turning his body into a Mysterious Object.
• Wenren Sheng used Big Cat as a new vessel for experimentation, and Big Cat learned the Etherealization Art but reappeared with severe wounds.
• Wenren Sheng spent more than half his savings buying mysterious materials for Big Cat, but still needed Blood Sinew, Adamantine Bone, and Frost Heart.
• Wenren Sheng accepted a mission to kill the Mist Wolf in exchange for Blood Sinew and sent the Ruyi Puppet because Big Cat was injured.

Wenren Sheng investigated the Mist Wolf in Losshuaia and learned about Liu Jian’s growing Flame Group. After recruiting Aipu as a guide, he planned to lure out the wolf by recreating the game that had attracted it before.

• Wenren Sheng learned that the Mist Wolf appeared in heavy fog and turned losers of its idiom-chain game into idiots.
• A merchant told Wenren Sheng that Liu Jian’s Flame Group was recruiting actors and offering people a place in its peaceful territory.
• Aipu followed Wenren Sheng out of the bar, warned him that the Flame Group might conceal a powerful danger, and offered to produce a valuable item for him.
• Wenren Sheng agreed to visit Aipu’s tribe after hunting the Mist Wolf, and Aipu offered to help track the monster.
• Aipu recalled that the Mist Wolf had appeared beside a survivor who was playing an idiom-chain game online, so Wenren Sheng decided to recreate the situation to lure it out.

Wenren Sheng completed a Mist Wolf mission, then entered the Truman World event and discovered Liu Jian acting as a humiliated son-in-law in a drama designed to fuel his rage. The event remained unresolved as Hu Yue'e slapped Liu Jian after he defended Shen Zhengqing.

• Wenren Sheng and Aipu played an online idiom game until a black wolf emerged from the mist and challenged them to play.
• The Puppet Man killed Aipu, who revealed himself as a servant of the Black Wolf Great God, and Wenren Sheng burned his body to ashes.
• Wenren Sheng sent proof of the Mist Wolf's defeat to the Patrol Division, completed the mission, and resumed his journey south.
• Wenren Sheng entered the Truman World event and watched Liu Jian, disguised as a wildcat, observe a drama in which he played Shen Zhengqing's humiliated door-to-door son-in-law.
• Hu Yue'e berated Liu Jian and demanded that Shen Zhengqing divorce him, while Shen Zhengqing refused and Liu Jian blocked Hu Yue'e from striking her.
• Hu Yue'e slapped Liu Jian across the face, and Wenren Sheng noted that Liu Jian's self-written script was far more dramatic than his own earlier attempt.

Wenren Sheng confirmed that Liu Jian was trapped in a hypnotic Truman World with his strength sealed, then watched Liu Jian’s jewelry-store humiliation escalate into a brutal beating. Liu Jian was carried by the Black Shirts over the city wall, leaving Wenren Sheng’s investigation unresolved.

• Wenren Sheng watched Liu Jian’s humiliations and reversals for three days and suspected hypnosis and Sealing Art were behind the staged world.
• Wenren Sheng asked the Silver Marble to inspect Liu Jian, and it confirmed that Liu Jian and the actors were under hypnosis and Sealing Art.
• Liu Jian and Shen Zhengqing were insulted by jewelry-store clerks, and a wealthy customer offered Shen Zhengqing jewelry to become his secretary.
• Liu Jian confronted the customer, but thirty Black Shirts arrived and beat him despite his anger and apparent inability to use his strength.
• The Black Shirts carried Liu Jian out of the store and over the city wall as Shen Zhengqing and the clerks chased after them.

Wenren Sheng completed the Truman World event and found Liu Jian transformed toward becoming a Disaster Anomaly Lord. After Gawain argued that Liu Jian might still protect the people around him, Wenren Sheng had him taken into Patrol Division custody, leaving the deeper circumstances suspicious.

• Wenren Sheng learned that Liu Jian’s body was transforming into a Mysterious Object and received 200 Mystery Points for completing the Truman World event.
• Wenren Sheng decided to hand the unconscious Liu Jian over to the Patrol Division, but Gawain asked him to give Liu Jian a chance to retain his humanity.
• Wenren Sheng rejected Gawain’s request to gamble on Liu Jian’s future, while assuring him that he would protect the nearby people by sending them to a safe place in Miken to the North Side.
• Gawain apologized and left, and the Patrol Division’s overseas branch arrived by plane to take Liu Jian away.
• The Little Girl complained that the Patrol Division’s representatives had been perfunctory, making Wenren Sheng suspect that Liu Jian’s case had hidden complications.

Wenren Sheng investigated Liu Jian’s journey and rejected Silver Marble’s accusation that he was exploiting his students. Meanwhile, Zhao Han avoided luxury shopping because she was preparing to fund an expensive Puppet, then asked how she could earn more money and decided to seek treasures.

• Wenren Sheng learned that Liu Jian had traveled to the Southern Continent through approved channels and suspected the Patrol Division was preparing for the possibility of a Demon becoming an Angel.
• Silver Marble accused Wenren Sheng of letting students mature before harvesting their foundations, and Wenren Sheng angrily told it to get lost.
• Zhao Han declined expensive clothes and luxury goods after realizing she needed to raise money for her seven-hundred-million Seven-Colored Parrot Puppet.
• Molly reconsidered using wealth to draw Zhao Han closer after Zhao Han showed no interest in luxury, unaware of how much money Zhao Han needed.
• Zhao Han called Wu Shanshan for ways to earn money, then asked Xiaobai for treasure-hunting hints and proposed searching the antiques market.