Chapter Summaries

Sun Hang investigated the ruins where Ling Xiao had encountered Anna and found no trace of her, then offered to help Ling Xiao gain anomaly abilities through an experiment. Their discussion of public fears about infected people led Wang Xiyi to explain that a vampire-like hunter named Dracula had hunted humans, and that the truth had leaked despite efforts to keep it secret.

• Sun Hang and Ling Xiao visited the ruins beside Refugee Resettlement Camp No. 6, where Anna had appeared, but Sun Hang found no trace of her.
• Sun Hang demonstrated his ghostly blue flames and asked Ling Xiao whether he looked like a god; Ling Xiao said he seemed more like a demon.
• Sun Hang offered Ling Xiao a chance to become a Qualified User through an experiment, and Ling Xiao agreed to cooperate unconditionally.
• Ling Xiao asked whether Sun Hang planned to eat people, prompting Sun Hang to realize that the public viewed Anomaly Hunters negatively.
• Wang Xiyi explained that Dracula, a hunter infected by a vampire-like anomaly, had hunted women after the city's blood supply failed to satisfy him.
• Wang Xiyi said she killed Dracula during his capture and that investigators' leaks spread rumors of infected people eating humans despite official denials.

Sun Hang and the others confronted Chen Hongjuan after Ling Xiao severed ties with her, but she suddenly transformed into an anomaly driven by resentment. Sun Hang fought to contain her while the Field Operations Department evacuated the crowd, and the cause of her abrupt transformation remained unknown.

• Sun Hang learned Chen Hongjuan was demanding to see Ling Xiao after receiving the document ending their parent-child relationship, and Ling Xiao confirmed the decision was his own.
• Chen Hongjuan denied caring about the welfare benefits and attacked Sun Hang after he exposed her fear of losing them; Sun Hang briefly revealed his infected form and frightened her back.
• Chen Hongjuan suddenly manifested as an anomaly, and one Field Operations Department agent lost an arm when she attacked.
• Ling Xiao shot Chen Hongjuan, but Sun Hang realized the attacks were strengthening her resentment and sent Ling Xiao to help Ye Jiu evacuate the crowd.
• Sun Hang used his Liquid Metal flying blades to restrain Chen Hongjuan for research, while Wang Xiyi treated the injured agent and Ye Jiu questioned how a normal person could transform so suddenly.

Sun Hang learned from Pei Zongjun that Chen Hongjuan’s transformation resulted from the Three Poisons and helped devise a cover story to prevent public panic. After the team transported her to the Institute, Wang Xiyi challenged Sun Hang to a boxing match, which drew a crowd of spectators.

• Yang Qi questioned Sun Hang about Chen Hongjuan’s transformation and worried that the Federation Council would reject his explanation.
• Pei Zongjun explained that Chen Hongjuan had been consumed by greed, wrath, and delusion, and agreed to handle the matter with the council.
• Sun Hang proposed blaming Chen Hongjuan’s transformation on an unauthorized visit to the prohibited ruins zone, and Pei Zongjun approved the cover story.
• Field agents loaded Chen Hongjuan into an eternal frost coffin while Ling Xiao watched, and Wang Xiyi invited Sun Hang to spar at the Institute.
• Song Yarong, Yang Qi, and Ye Jiu watched Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi fight in the boxing ring, and Sun Hang cursed Ye Jiu for his wild commentary.

Wang Xiyi defeated Sun Hang in their no-rules boxing match, and Sun Hang wondered whether releasing negative emotions could weaken the shadows that eroded people. Yang Qi dismissed the idea that greed, anger, and delusion could be eliminated, leaving Sun Hang thinking of Ling Xiao, who had no shadow after Anna devoured his emotions.

• Wang Xiyi overwhelmed Sun Hang in their first round, then persuaded him to fight again with promises to limit her strength and leave her tail unused.
• Song Yarong, Yang Qi, Ye Jiu, and Ye Xuan discussed Wang Xiyi’s fighting record and learned that she had taught herself by destroying hundreds of punching bags.
• Wang Xiyi used Sun Hang’s feint and sweep against him, pinned him, and stopped her punch just short of his nose when he surrendered.
• Sun Hang noticed that the shadow behind Wang Xiyi had faded as she enjoyed the fight and wondered whether happiness could protect people from the shadows’ erosion.
• Sun Hang asked whether Chen Hongjuan might have avoided becoming anomalous if he had not driven her away, and Yang Qi said greed, anger, and delusion could not be removed from ordinary people.
• Sun Hang noted that Ling Xiao had no shadow because Anna had devoured his seven emotions and six desires.

Sun Hang learned that Jiang Yu’s Hunter onboarding and meme-infection surgery were scheduled for that night, alongside Chen Hongjuan’s first stress-response experiment. He arrived at the Institute ready to help Jiang Yu, but Yang Qi insisted he follow sterile operating-room procedures.

• Sun Hang questioned why Anna had consumed Ling Xiao’s negative emotions instead of Chen Hongjuan’s, then learned that Jiang Yu had agreed to meme infection and that her surgery was scheduled for eleven that night.
• Yang Qi told Sun Hang that he also had to attend Chen Hongjuan’s first stress-response experiment, and Wang Xiyi teased him over dinner about Zhong Ling’s affection for him.
• Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi ate in the Institute cafeteria, where Sun Hang discovered the meal was prepackaged and Yang Qi collected takeaway before reminding him to arrive at Building 1 by nine.
• At the Institute’s eleventh floor, Yang Qi sent Sun Hang to change in the sterile room before Jiang Yu’s surgery and said the operation would be documented as an unprecedented medical attempt.

Sun Hang helped replace much of Jiang Yu’s cancer-ravaged body with Tai Sui tissue, while the researchers monitored the infection. After the operation, he questioned whether he himself was human and briefly saw Anna outside the operating room before she vanished.

• At Yang Qi’s request, Sun Hang joined the surgical team and agreed to replace Jiang Yu’s damaged organs and tissues with Tai Sui tissue.
• The chief surgeon removed Jiang Yu’s cancerous organs and other affected tissue, and Sun Hang used hyphae to create and connect replacement tissue.
• After five hours, the team finished the operation and Song Yarong reported that Jiang Yu’s Tai Sui infection was stable, though Yang Qi warned that too much of her body had been replaced.
• Sun Hang considered whether extensive replacement could turn a person into an Anomaly, then wondered whether his own body was made of mimetic cells.
• Sun Hang saw Anna sitting outside the operating room window, but she vanished in an instant.

Sun Hang checked on Jiang Yu after surgery, learned how dangerous her unstable infection might be, and then joined Yang Qi to observe experiments on Chen Hongjuan. The experiments showed that Chen Hongjuan still understood language and could read, leaving her apparent mental state less settled than her silence suggested.

• Sun Hang brought Song Yarong coffee and learned that Jiang Yu might not wake until morning and would need frequent meme tests because her infection progression was near the danger threshold.
• Sun Hang told Song Yarong he planned to place Jiang Yu in an independent unit, while Song warned him to prepare for the possibility that Jiang Yu might Anomalize.
• Sun Hang met Yang Qi at the Class B containment zone, where researchers exposed Chen Hongjuan to sounds and videos intended to provoke negative emotions, but detected no clear response.
• Yang Qi showed Sun Hang footage of Chen Hongjuan recognizing and tearing up a parental-severance agreement, demonstrating that she could read and understand its contents.

Sun Hang entered Chen Hongjuan’s containment room and discovered that Anna had already consumed most of her Anomaly Memes, leaving her a weakened shell. The chapter left Sun Hang questioning whether Anna could foresee or move through time and what form her appearances took.

• Sun Hang entered the laboratory and removed Chen Hongjuan’s earmuffs and VR goggles, triggering her violent reaction and signs of possible secondary Anomalization.
• Sun Hang released Chen Hongjuan’s restraints and found that she had lost the transforming abilities and strength she displayed when first Anomalized.
• Sun Hang pierced Chen Hongjuan’s brain with fungal filaments and absorbed fragmented memories revealing that a deathly pale figure had nearly killed her.
• Yang Qi discovered that Chen Hongjuan’s meme fragments had shrunk, while Sun Hang realized Anna had eaten most of her Anomaly Memes.
• Sun Hang connected Anna’s past words about the river of time to her repeated appearances and wondered whether she could foresee the future or move between timelines.

Chen Hongjuan’s Anomaly underwent spontaneous apoptosis after Sun Hang released her restraints, and Yang Qi explained that Anomalies could decay naturally and that Barrier Liquid Crystal was a useful, mass-produced Anomaly. Yang Qi planned to report Chen Hongjuan’s death and was left in charge of research on the Phoenix Factory underground palace.

• Researchers watched Chen Hongjuan’s body dissolve after her Anomaly Meme began to die out, and they identified the cause as spontaneous apoptosis rather than Sun Hang’s actions.
• Yang Qi let Sun Hang leave the observation area after he explained that he had released Chen Hongjuan to test whether her weakness was genuine.
• Yang Qi told Sun Hang that Barrier Liquid Crystal blocked Anomaly auras and was manufactured by implanting and replicating an Anomaly Meme in liquid crystal.
• Yang Qi said Chen Hongjuan’s remains would be divided between a specimen and Tianshu Tower, while the institute reported her spontaneous death.
• Yang Qi revealed that her teacher had assigned her to lead research on the Phoenix Factory underground palace, and Sun Hang teased her by calling her Institute Head Yang.

A routine tour near Lake Baikal turned into an emergency when an enormous aurora appeared south of the city and began descending toward Baikal City. Communications failed as the strange lights neared the Siberian TV Tower.

• The fisherman escorted Minister Sergei and visiting Federation leaders through the mountains near Lake Baikal.
• Minister Sergei agreed to call Lake Baikal the North Sea after a square-faced official objected to its name.
• The fisherman and the others spotted ribbons of light over Baikal City and realized they were growing and falling toward it.
• The fisherman tried to contact the Baikal City Anomaly Research Institute, but communications had been jammed.
• The square-faced man recognized that the aurora was interfering with communications as it neared the Siberian TV Tower.

Sun Hang learned that the anomaly Yi 77 had annihilated Baikal City, raising fears that a second large-scale anomaly surge had begun. He headed to the Talent Training Base construction site to help prepare, while an account from the contaminated zone showed how deadly the aftermath had become.

• Sun Hang read the report that Yi 77 had destroyed Baikal City and left behind a severe memetic contamination zone.
• Yang Lian explained that every exploration team sent into the contaminated zone had been infected, and Yang Qi warned that the disaster might mark the start of a second large-scale anomaly surge.
• Sun Hang argued that Eternal Night’s presence might make Tianfu City less likely to suffer another super anomaly attack, and Yang Qi concluded that construction of the Talent Training Base should be accelerated.
• Sun Hang left for the construction site, telling Yang Qi they needed to prepare in case Chunming City became humanity’s last hope.
• Fisherman watched the military camp south of Baikal City and reviewed reports of exploration teams and Hunters dying or transforming in the contaminated zone.

At a military outpost near Lake Baikal, Minister Sergei attacked an Infected fisherman before a gunshot rang out nearby. In Tianfu City, Sun Hang tested Ling Xiao’s remaining emotions and combat ability, then brought him to the underground palace to offer him Anomaly power through a different method.

• Minister Sergei drank vodka, blamed the Anomalies, and tackled the fisherman, who could not overpower him.
• Soldiers dragged Sergei away, and a gunshot sounded from the direction where they had taken him.
• Sun Hang asked Ling Xiao about his emotions, and Ling Xiao said that god and Buddha statues looked unpleasant and that godslaying might make him happy.
• Sun Hang led Ling Xiao into the underground palace and had him fight an armed terracotta soldier, which Ling Xiao failed to defeat.
• Sun Hang explained that humans fought Anomalies using Anomaly power and said he would give Ling Xiao that power through another method.

Sun Hang used the red crystal cube to transform Ling Xiao’s pistol into an Anomaly Equipment he could control. The God-Slaying Spear could erase Anomalies by consuming life force, leaving Sun Hang to warn Ling Xiao to keep its power secret and use it only as a last resort.

• Sun Hang explained how Qualified Users controlled Anomaly Equipment and how unsuitable users could suffer dangerous backlash.
• Sun Hang proposed custom-making an Anomaly for Ling Xiao, who chose the pistol Sun Hang had given him.
• Sun Hang used the red crystal cube and fungal filaments to reforge the pistol, leaving Ling Xiao in severe pain and setting their synchronization rate above sixty percent.
• Sun Hang discovered the new pistol was called the God-Slaying Spear and could strip targets of life force or erase Anomalies’ memes.
• Ling Xiao revealed that he had asked for a gun capable of killing gods and accepted that it required life as ammunition.
• Sun Hang warned Ling Xiao not to use or reveal the weapon’s ability except in a desperate situation.

Sun Hang helped Ling Xiao test a blood-powered short sword that could boost his speed and unleash azure flames, and Ling Xiao named it Chirou. Sun Hang then learned that Ling Xiao’s father had been declared brain-dead and that Jiang Yu had awakened and wanted to see him.

• Sun Hang explained that the God-Slaying Spear could not reliably defeat even one terracotta warrior, then reforged a terracotta warrior’s longsword into a short sword for Ling Xiao.
• Ling Xiao activated the short sword with his blood, used its speed boost and flaming blade to destroy the terracotta warrior’s limbs, and named the sword Chirou.
• Yang Lian called Sun Hang aside and told him that Ling Xiao’s father, Ling Qiang, had been declared brain-dead and that the younger children would be sent to welfare institutions in other regions.
• Sun Hang decided Ling Xiao should be told about his father, and Yang Lian asked him to break the news gently.
• Yang Lian told Sun Hang that Jiang Yu had woken up and wanted to see him.

Sun Hang met the newly recovered Jiang Yu at the institute’s training ground and learned that she had become an Anomaly Hunter trainee after accepting the Tai Sui Meme. Jiang Yu demonstrated her remarkable archery with powerful Special Equipment, while Sun Hang considered how her physical attacks might fare against spirit-type Anomalies.

• Sun Hang met Jiang Yu at the training ground, where she asked whether the meme had placed her under his command, and he explained their relationship and her upcoming training.
• Jiang Yu explained that she had enlisted hoping to help her family repay their debts, and Sun Hang encouraged her to focus on training to fight Anomalies.
• Jiang Yu revealed her archery skill and fired an arrow that pierced a steel target two hundred meters away.
• Song Yarong explained that Jiang Yu’s bow and tungsten-alloy arrows were Special Equipment previously used by a hunter who died after encountering a spirit-type Anomaly.
• Sun Hang reflected on the limits of physical attacks against spirit-type, rule-type, and Phenomenon-type Anomalies, then asked how hunters dealt with spirit-types.

After leaving the institute, Sun Hang visited a resident-run night market in Ya Bei District to find groceries and discovered a dispute involving an old man, a furious husband, and possible anomaly exposure. He began investigating the husband’s claim that Old Chen’s dealings had affected his wife.

• Sun Hang passed a military checkpoint, learned about the barter market in Ya Bei District, and gave cigarettes to the soldiers on duty.
• Sun Hang reached the old Internet Celebrity Night Market and sensed a jumble of negative emotions among the market’s visitors.
• Sun Hang saw several men restraining a bald man who accused Old Chen of stealing his wife and making her act strangely after she returned from his place.
• Sun Hang sensed traces of an anomaly’s aura on both men and suspected the bald man’s wife might have encountered an anomaly or an infected person.
• Sun Hang questioned a bystander, who said the wife had tried to lure customers into a honey trap and described Old Chen as a powerful local figure whose word carried more weight than a Peacekeeper’s.

Sun Hang investigated Xu Dasheng’s claim that his wife had become strange and discovered she was infected with the Anomalization Virus. He found her cocooned in spreading rotten flesh, began assessing her condition, and Yang Qi had not yet answered his message.

• Sun Hang intervened when Old Chen and his men restrained Xu Dasheng, revealed his Hunter License, and ordered Xu Dasheng and Old Chen to take him to Xu Dasheng’s home.
• Xu Dasheng explained that his wife had changed after returning home, and Sun Hang sensed an Anomaly Meme’s aura coming from her bedroom.
• Sun Hang told Xu Dasheng and Old Chen to stay back, identified Xu Dasheng’s wife as infected, and warned that the whole block might be unsafe.
• Sun Hang messaged Yang Qi and forced open the bedroom door, revealing a humanoid figure cocooned in pulsing rotten flesh.
• Sun Hang judged that the infection had crossed a danger threshold, lit the room with a blue flame, and approached the bed to assess the infected woman.

Sun Hang woke in an unknown wilderness after losing his anomalous abilities and realizing he had driven out of Tianfu City into the fallen zone beneath the Eternal Night. He began preparing to survive and find his way back to civilization, but his brightly lit SUV could attract whatever lurked in the darkness.

• Sun Hang escaped an illusion of Anna and found himself alone in his SUV in an empty wilderness.
• Sun Hang read Yang Qi and Wang Xiyi's messages and inferred that he had driven through checkpoints and out of Tianfu City while unconscious.
• Sun Hang discovered that his abilities and monitoring wristband were gone, and that his injury no longer healed.
• Sun Hang resisted an apparent urge to shoot himself and decided to survive and return to human civilization.
• Sun Hang checked the SUV's weapons and supplies, recorded his condition, and drove slowly to explore the surrounding area.

Sun Hang encountered an old woman in the dark wilderness, accepted what appeared to be a rice cake, and discovered in the rearview mirror that she was a flesh-and-blood monster and the food was rotten flesh. He turned the SUV around to question her about the nearest village, but she asked whether he was still hungry.

• Sun Hang stopped his SUV when an old woman emerged from the darkness and wondered whether he was outside a fallen zone.
• The old woman told Sun Hang not to ask questions and offered him a rice cake, which he reluctantly accepted.
• Sun Hang saw the old woman’s monstrous true form in the rearview mirror and recognized the rice cake as a lump of squirming rotten flesh.
• Sun Hang sealed the flesh in a hazardous-items container and turned his SUV around to catch up with the old woman.
• Sun Hang asked where the nearest village was, and the old woman asked if one piece of Erkuai had not been enough.

Sun Hang accepted an old five-jiao banknote from the anomalous old woman, whose reflection shifted between a kind human face and a blood-and-flesh monster. After deciding to follow her, he discovered that even an ordinary compressed biscuit tasted like rotten flesh to him.

• The old woman gave Sun Hang a worn five-jiao banknote and urged him not to go hungry.
• Sun Hang saw the old woman’s reflection change into a monster, while the banknote remained real money in the mirror.
• Sun Hang briefly felt drawn to the warmth of the strange world, then questioned whether he was still resistant to anomalous influence.
• Sun Hang handled the rotten-flesh rice cake cautiously, cleaned his hands, and decided to follow the old woman after eating.
• Sun Hang bit into a compressed biscuit, found it tasted like rotten flesh, and confirmed in the mirror that the chewed crumbs still looked like biscuit.