Chapter Summaries

Zhao Han searched for a way to earn money by finding overlooked antiques, then joined an auction with Li Shuangyue and Wenren Sheng. The Seed of Narration warned her that the auction was a Death Auction.

• Zhao Han invited Li Shuangyue to accompany her treasure hunt, and they explored East Suburbs Liuli Market.
• Zhao Han learned that genuine antiques were already priced too high and asked Wu Shanshan for advice on profitable missions.
• Zhao Han researched high-value missions and decided to attend an auction after the market guide invited her.
• Zhao Han and Li Shuangyue arrived at the auction, where they met Wenren Sheng, who was using a Puppet Man.
• The Seed of Narration gave Zhao Han a rare red prompt warning that the auction was a Death Auction.

Zhao Han foresaw danger at the auction, so Wenren Sheng alerted the Patrol Division while the event continued. When the Blood As You Wish unleashed blood threads that paralyzed the crowd, Wenren Sheng protected the attendees and discovered that even robots could not approach it safely.

• Zhao Han warned Wenren Sheng that something terrible might happen at the auction, and he contacted the Patrol Division.
• The auction host presented the Blood As You Wish, a jade ruyi said to extend its owners' lifespans, prompting wealthy bidders to seek it at any cost.
• The Blood As You Wish glowed red, paralyzed the crowd, and sent blood threads toward Zhao Han and Li Shuangyue, but the threads broke before reaching them and avoided Wenren Sheng.
• A Black Shirts team approached the object, and Wenren Sheng pulled back its Captain when he burst apart near it, then healed his wounds.
• Wenren Sheng suggested using robots, but the Spider-Men shattered several meters from the Blood As You Wish, leaving its danger unexplained.

The Black Shirts tried to rescue the auction attendees ensnared by the Blood As You Wish, but their attempts caused more deaths. As White Robes began a sealing ritual, Zhao Han realized sealing the object might not save its victims and turned to Wenren Sheng for hope.

• Spider-Men tried to pull the trapped attendees away, but the blood threads made them explode.
• The Black Shirts captain ordered Chen Jiansheng to rescue a young man, but severing the blood thread killed him.
• The captain ordered Plan C, and three White Robes began drawing a sealing ritual around the Blood As You Wish.
• An Otherworldly User warned Zhao Han that sealing the object could make the blood threads inside the victims flare up and kill them.
• Zhao Han looked to Wenren Sheng for help, and the Seed of Narration clarified that its prompt meant itself.

Wenren Sheng and Zhao Han learned that the Chieftain Skull could restrain the Blood As You Wish, but the seller was trapped with it inside an Anomaly zone in the Western Continent. At the Capital City Patrol Division, officials debated whether to rescue him or reject what they saw as blackmail.

• Zhao Han relayed Xiao Bai's suggestion to find the Chieftain Skull, and Wenren Sheng ordered the Black Shirts captain to search for it and suspend the sealing ritual.
• The Black Shirts captain found that the Chieftain Skull's Western Continent seller was trapped in an Anomaly zone and would hand it over only if rescued.
• Wenren Sheng concluded that the Western Continent People were trying to draw the Eastern Continent into their crisis, and he ordered medical robots to sustain the blood-thread victims while the team pursued the skull.
• Wenren Sheng, Zhao Han, and Li Shuangyue traveled to the Capital City Patrol Division, where officers reported that the expanding Anomaly zone had resisted investigation and that the Western Continent had previously refused a proposed exchange for help.
• An Otherworldly Expert argued that the Patrol Division should reject the blackmail and warned that giving in would invite repeated demands.

Wenren Sheng’s group tried to locate Chieftain Bone while researchers decoded Blood As You Wish and developed a repellent for its blood threads. Zhao Han worried about the auction house victims as Wenren Sheng studied mobility skills, and the chapter ended with them heading to the laboratory to test the new potion.

• The meeting chair ordered Western Continent forces to search for Chieftain Bone and researchers to accelerate their decoding work.
• Zhao Han waited with Wenren Sheng and Li Shuangyue, fretting over the thousands of people endangered at the auction house.
• Wenren De failed to predict Chieftain Bone’s location, so Wenren Sheng considered other ways to handle the threat and pursued more Mystery Points by studying skills.
• Wenren Sheng sensed Zhao Han testing whether the Puppet Man could hear her, then learned researchers had developed an initial blood-thread repellent.
• Wenren Sheng and Zhao Han went to the laboratory to observe the potion’s effects.

Wenren Sheng entered the laboratory and replicated the researchers’ Expulsion Potion, producing a version several times more effective through his Seed of Mystery. The researchers prepared to take it into clinical trials, while Wenren Sheng offered to make more if it worked.

• Wenren Sheng and Zhao Han entered the laboratory, where a researcher explained that the No. 1 Expulsion Potion could sever the host’s connection to the blood threads without triggering their self-destruction.
• Wenren Sheng requested the production method and a pharmaceutical room so he could make a batch for a comparative test, while researchers privately grumbled about him and Zhao Han worried he might fail.
• Wenren Sheng finished his potion quickly and handed it to a researcher, who took it into the testing room as everyone waited for the results.
• The female researcher announced that Wenren Sheng’s potion was several times more effective, and he explained that his Seed of Mystery enhanced the medicines he made.
• Wenren Sheng urged the researchers to begin clinical trials and offered to produce more if the potion proved effective.

A medicine rescued many victims of Blood As You Wish, but a second person exploded, forcing the rescue team to reconsider its approach. Meanwhile, Lina and Luoer redirected an evacuated truck toward Beiluo City’s expanding rift as part of a plan to pressure the Eastern Continent into sharing its geological technology.

• A wealthy young heir survived after the medicine broke the blood threads around him, and the rescue operation continued in batches.
• An Operations Staff Officer explained that Blood As You Wish could detect danger if too many victims were rescued at once, and a woman exploded as the 150th person received medicine.
• The officer proposed transferring the blood threads to animals, while Zhao Han noticed that young women and children made up most of those rescued.
• Residents fled Beiluo City as its Great Rift Valley expanded, and Luoer used gray mist to knock out people in a truck who had cursed the local authorities.
• Lina and Luoer drove the truck toward the rift, discussing how their sabotage was meant to pressure the Eastern Continent into sharing technology to suppress geological activity.

Wu Kun confirmed that the Western Continent Handling Bureau was feeding captives to the Chieftain Skull at the Great Rift Valley, while the Patrol Division planned a way to counter Blood As You Wish without exposing its trump cards. Wenren Sheng helped produce experimental Flesh Puppets, and the chapter ended as the first batch was sent into the auction house for a test.

• Wu Kun used a fly puppet to watch Lina and Luoer take captives to the Great Rift Valley, where the Chieftain Skull swallowed them.
• Wenren Sheng and the Patrol Division officials discussed the crisis and chose to make Flesh Puppets to draw Blood As You Wish's blood threads away from Ordinary People.
• Wenren Sheng took Zhao Han to the underground puppet factory and explained its mass-produced models and the purpose of Flesh Puppets.
• Wenren Sheng learned the Flesh Puppet production process and helped make the first batch of three hundred experimental units over three days.
• Wenren Sheng watched a live feed as the Flesh Puppets entered the auction house, while Zhao Han hoped they could replace real people and Wenren Sheng sensed something was missing.

Wenren Sheng used the Seed of Illusion and the Seed of Mystery to lure Blood As You Wish away from the victims and into Flesh Puppets, allowing the Patrol Division to evacuate the auction hall and seal the Bizarreness Object. He then received permission to examine the captured object and discovered its life-draining abilities.

• An elderly man with protective charms demanded to be saved first, while Wenren Sheng explained that Mysterious Power harmed Ordinary People who could not adapt to it.
• Wenren Sheng connected to a Black Box to control the Flesh Puppets and used his Seeds to give them illusory hearts, drawing every blood thread away from the victims.
• Medical robots evacuated the survivors as Blood As You Wish wrapped the dancing Flesh Puppets in blood threads.
• The White Robes used the Three Fishes sealing ritual to capture Blood As You Wish, and the Flesh Puppets exploded after the blood threads snapped.
• Wenren Sheng examined the captured object, identified its life-related abilities, and gained three Mystery Points.

Wenren Sheng gathered the materials he needed and repaired Big Cat while the aftermath of the Blood As You Wish incident spread. Elsewhere, the Strange Hair Prisoners reviewed his response, and Luoer and Lina waited beside the Great Rift Valley, anticipating retaliation and further trouble.

• Wenren Sheng returned Blood As You Wish, collected the mysterious materials at fair prices, and began repairing Big Cat in his workshop.
• Little Girl asked to play with Big Cat, but Wenren Sheng refused and redirected her to Cousin Ouyang.
• Silver Marble, Turtle, White Rat, and Ping Pong Ball recorded Wenren Sheng's methods for dealing with Blood As You Wish before returning to hibernation.
• Luoer and Lina blamed the Western Continent's private ownership of Otherworldly Users for its lack of resources compared with the Eastern Continent.
• Luoer and Lina waited for orders near the Great Rift Valley, and Lina questioned whether it would keep expanding.

Wenren Sheng finished making puppets for his family and spent a peaceful Spring Festival with them, while a group of hikers and rescuers became stranded in a mysterious Mountain Hollow. The stranded group organized itself to survive after losing contact with the outside world.

• Big Cat mastered the Etherealization Art, and Wenren Sheng made puppets for his family from professionally designed blueprints.
• Wenren Sheng completed the family’s puppets by Spring Festival and gave them out as gifts, drawing President Zhao and his family to the New Year gathering.
• Wenren Sheng examined President Zhao’s newborn son and, finding no current abnormalities, told Old Zhao to keep an eye on him.
• A group of hikers argued with rescue team members after becoming lost in a Mountain Hollow where their compass and BeiDou navigation failed.
• The rescue captain assigned the group tasks to find clean water and food, build Wooden Houses, and keep watch while they prepared to survive long-term.

Two weeks after becoming trapped in the fog, the hikers learned that a powerful being had isolated them in a piece of their world and wanted them to manage it. After the being killed a man who asked to go home, the rescue captain and the others submitted, and were told they would be allowed to enter the Main World to gather people.

• The rescue captain organized the survivors in a camp, where they discussed the fog barrier and their worsening prospects for escape.
• A man suggested using mysterious rituals to contact the outside, but a voice revealed that the camp was inside a world cut away from their own.
• The voice offered the survivors a share of the profits if they managed the world and developed it into a city.
• When a young man said he wanted to go home, the voice killed him by making his body melt into the grass.
• The rescue captain agreed to cooperate, and the survivors knelt to pledge loyalty after learning they could enter the Main World and bring people back.

After the Spring Festival, Wenren Sheng found a mysterious incident involving a rift valley that might be a foothold for powerful Anomalies, but chose to monitor it from afar. He joined the Dongshui Patrol Division’s effort to appraise Mysterious Objects, working alongside Teacher Qin.

• Wenren Sheng discovered the “Severed Fragments” incident and suspected that Anomaly teachers and principals were creating a home ground from a severed piece of the world.
• Wenren Sheng decided not to handle the rift valley himself and instead planned to gather information about it while seeking Mystery Points from Bizarreness Objects.
• Wenren Sheng called Inspector Liu and received permission to help compile a book about dangerous Bizarreness Objects.
• Wenren Sheng joined the Dongshui Patrol Division’s appraisal work and sent a Puppet Man bearing his appearance to the storage room.
• Teacher Qin showed Wenren Sheng the growing collection of Mysterious Objects and explained how objects could appear or mutate as the mysterious world integrated with reality.

Wenren Sheng investigated a mysterious ancient zither and began learning about its music with Teacher Qin and Shen Yeyu. Shen Yeyu sensed that the world's hidden rhythm foretold a tragic ending, leaving Wenren Sheng concerned about her exposure to the mysterious world.

• Wenren Sheng learned that the broken-string ancient zither had been collected by the musician Wen Xin, whose name vanished when he wrote it down, and decided to study the zither.
• Wenren Sheng used his ability to assess an ordinary writing brush and a Thunder Peach Pit, and Teacher Qin approved his preliminary reports.
• Wenren Sheng left work early with Teacher Qin and visited Shen Yeyu, who played the Horizon Heartbreak Melody and taught him about ancient zither music.
• Wenren Sheng recognized the loneliness and despair in Shen Yeyu's music, and she predicted that such negative music would grow popular as she sensed a tragic rhythm beneath the world's apparent peace.

Wenren Sheng played Beethoven’s “Destiny” to lift Shen Yeyu’s spirits, then practiced until he learned Mysterious Guqin Art. The evening ended with Teacher Qin trusting Wenren Sheng’s reassurance that the sky would not fall, while Wenren Sheng noticed something flickering above the night sky.

• Shen Yeyu described her despair, but Wenren Sheng and Teacher Qin challenged her pessimism and reassured her.
• Wenren Sheng played “Destiny” on the guqin, moving Shen Yeyu and Teacher Qin with its passionate, optimistic melody.
• Wenren Sheng borrowed Miss Ye’s music room and practiced until he learned Mysterious Guqin Art, gaining 10 Mystery Points.
• Wenren Sheng played another guqin piece, astonishing Teacher Qin and Shen Yeyu with his apparent mastery.
• Teacher Qin asked whether Wenren Sheng had been comforting Shen Yeyu when he said the sky would not fall, and Wenren Sheng said he usually spoke the truth.
• Wenren Sheng and Teacher Qin looked toward the night sky, where Wenren Sheng noticed something flickering above.

Wenren Sheng appraised a damaged ancient zither and learned how it had tried to save its former owner, Wen Xin. His rapid appraisals earned him the zither as a reward, but after Wenren De played it all night and kept the family awake, Wenren Sheng took it back the next day.

• Wenren Sheng played the ancient zither in a sealed testing ground until it revealed its memories of saving Wen Xin three times and failing to save him from execution.
• Wenren Sheng appraised the zither, named himself its only true listener in his report, and gained one point to his Mystery Points limit.
• Wenren Sheng appraised forty-eight items in a day, prompting coworkers to praise his speed and argue over who should receive his help.
• Wenren Sheng's appraisal work earned him the zither as a reward, and he named it the Healing Ancient Zither.
• Wenren De played the zither at home, keeping everyone awake with its scraping music, so Wenren Sheng took it back the next day.

After discovering that appraisal required mastery of the relevant skills, Wenren Sheng asked Teacher Qin to introduce him to his reclusive teacher so he could learn more. The Old Man challenged Wenren Sheng’s ambition to master many abilities, and Teacher Qin confirmed that Wenren Sheng’s talent was genuine.

• Wenren Sheng realized that he could not appraise items without first learning the corresponding foundational skills and decided to continue appraisal work every few months.
• Wenren Sheng persuaded Teacher Qin to guide him toward learning as many skills as possible, promising not to blame him if anything went wrong.
• Teacher Qin brought Wenren Sheng, carrying gifts, to meet his secluded teacher at a wooden house outside Dongshui City.
• The Old Man ate the gifts and asked Wenren Sheng what he wanted to learn.
• The Old Man warned Wenren Sheng that trying to learn too much could leave him unable to master anything and asked whether he wanted to cripple himself.
• Wenren Sheng claimed he could quickly understand and master any ability, and Teacher Qin said he had come to believe Wenren Sheng could accomplish astonishing things.

Wenren Sheng learned that the Old Man knew 11,111 mysterious skills and tried to persuade him to teach them all, while Zhao Han encountered a baffling case that her Retrospection Art could not explain. The chapter ended with Wenren Sheng considering how to use the Old Man’s old dream of mastering every skill to win his cooperation.

• The Old Man warned Wenren Sheng that learning twenty-seven skills would keep him from specializing, while Teacher Qin explained Wenren Sheng’s secret advantages as an Ancient Seed.
• Wenren Sheng asked how many skills the Old Man knew, then contacted Zhao Han to help him find out.
• Zhao Han told Wenren Sheng that she could not trace the conspiracy behind a fatal flowerpot accident, though the four people involved appeared connected.
• Wenren Sheng had Zhao Han trace the Old Man instead, and she discovered that he knew 11,111 mysterious skills.
• Wenren Sheng asked the Old Man to teach him every skill, but the Old Man refused and urged him to specialize.
• Wenren Sheng recalled that the Old Man had once dreamed of achieving Return to One and imitating every mysterious skill, and considered using that hope to persuade him.

Wenren Sheng convinced Ji Zhengyan that he might realize the Formless Divine Skill, and Ji Zhengyan agreed to take him as a disciple under strict training conditions. The chapter ended with Wenren Sheng learning about the Ten Thousand Forms Sect and joining Ji Zhengyan and Qin Yizhi for an extravagant dinner before his lessons began.

• Wenren Sheng used his Transformation Art and Rhetoric Skill to persuade Ji Zhengyan that he could fulfill the Formless Divine Skill’s ideal, and Ji Zhengyan agreed to consider teaching him.
• After negotiating the terms, Wenren Sheng bowed and became Ji Zhengyan’s disciple, agreeing to master two branches of skills to Master Level.
• Ji Zhengyan told Wenren Sheng about the decline of the Ten Thousand Forms Sect and introduced Qin Yizhi by name.
• Wenren Sheng demonstrated his Stealth Art, and Ji Zhengyan judged that it had surpassed Master Level but had not reached Grandmaster Level.
• Ji Zhengyan offered to teach Wenren Sheng the basics of mobile reconnaissance skills, but postponed the lessons until the next day.
• Wenren Sheng, Ji Zhengyan, and Qin Yizhi ate at Eastwater’s famous restaurant, where Ji Zhengyan consumed most of their costly feast.

Wenren Sheng accelerated his training with Ji Zhengyan’s notebook, then agreed to help Zhao Han investigate four suspects who had murdered someone over a minor dispute. With Wenren Sheng’s Illusion Art, the suspects revealed their secret meeting place and confessed while they believed they were alone.

• Wenren Sheng studied Mystic Stealth, Superspeed Running, and Flying in the Air with the help of Ji Zhengyan’s damaged notebook.
• Zhao Han asked Wenren Sheng why she had failed to trace the information of four Ordinary Person suspects, and he agreed to investigate after learning they might be plotting in an untraceable place.
• Wenren Sheng sent Puppet Man to act and asked his Seed of Illusion to help track the suspects.
• Zhao Han and two Security Guards watched the four suspects act relaxed in a Public Security Bureau observation room as their detention neared its limit.
• Little Illusion trapped the suspects in an illusion, and the four revealed that they had plotted in a place beyond mysterious abilities and discussed their crime.