Chapter Summaries

Sun Hang entered Tianshu Tower’s containment zone to choose an anomaly to consume, and Yuri showed him the remains of C7, Kui, which Sun Hang added to his list. Sun Hang then asked to see the anomaly Yuri least wanted him to absorb, and they arrived at B423, Lucas, a former Anomaly Hunter fused with another anomaly.

• Sun Hang and Yuri rode into Containment Zone One in protective suits while Yuri explained the dangers of the Pure Black Iris and asked what kind of anomaly Sun Hang wanted to consume.
• Sun Hang saw the skeletal remains of C7, Kui, and learned that its lingering meme could still cause thunderstorms and weather changes.
• Sun Hang added Kui to his list of possible choices and asked Yuri which anomaly he least wanted Sun Hang to absorb.
• Yuri took Sun Hang to Section 1855 to see B423, Lucas, and explained that Lucas had been an Anomaly Hunter who fused with an anomaly after his infection exceeded the danger threshold.

Sun Hang learned how Lucas, the Reaper, became a phenomenon-class Anomaly after absorbing the immense life force of a plant Anomaly. Yuri left him looking at Lucas contained in an extreme-cold room, where his life force continued to pulse in and out of his body.

• Yuri explained that Lucas had been a first-rank hunter whose scythe-like weapons drained life force from biological targets.
• Sun Hang and Yuri passed strict identity checks, entered the vacuum-sealed B423 containment area, and coated their protective suits with isolation liquid.
• Sun Hang saw Lucas floating in a transparent box, with purple-black life force flowing through eight cups grown into his back.
• Yuri recounted how Lucas was sent to kill a vine Anomaly in a swamp that was far larger than Tianshu Tower had estimated.
• Lucas ignored the Command Center's orders to stop absorbing the vine's life force, and people approaching him swelled and exploded from the escaping energy.
• After the vine Anomaly died, Lucas's infection progression surged, and he was declared completely Anomalized nine hours later.

Sun Hang examined two unusual Anomalies in Tianshu Tower, including Lucas, whose life-force evolution had turned him into the center of a dangerous phenomenon. At the mysterious television, Sun Hang activated the unplugged device and discovered that its image showed him and Yuri with their faces replaced by skulls.

• Yuri explained that Lucas had evolved into a special life-form whose spreading life force made him the main body of B423, and that an earlier experiment with a dying toad Anomaly had ended in disaster.
• Sun Hang suspected Tianshu Tower had wanted to see what would happen if Lucas absorbed the vine Anomaly, but agreed to leave B423 alone for now and put it on his list.
• Yuri took Sun Hang to containment zone 999, where an anomalous television had shown no activity despite extensive testing and was housed in a recreated living room from its discovery site.
• When Sun Hang approached the remote, he heard static from the television, then turned it on despite Yuri's objections and selected a signal source.
• The television displayed the living room from an unseen camera angle, and Sun Hang saw that the image showed his face as a skull; Yuri then confirmed that his own face also appeared as a skull.

Ling Xiao received Chirou and learned the safety limits for using Anomaly Equipment, while Tianshu Tower researchers connected Ye Jiu’s investigation of Chang'an City to the Black Armored Cavalry and Slaughter. In the containment zone, Sun Hang attacked the anomalous television after studying its image of him and Yuri as skeletons.

• Sun Qiong explained Tianshu Tower’s full-time and cooperative contracts to Ling Xiao, who could keep working as a field agent under the cooperative option.
• Institute One researchers returned Chirou to Ling Xiao, confirmed his synchronization rate was 57.97 percent, and warned him about dangerous increases and thresholds.
• Ling Xiao said Ye Jiu had been staying in the Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute archives to investigate Chang'an City, prompting the researchers to wonder whether something had happened to Slaughter.
• Sun Hang asked Yuri why the television showed them as skeletons, and Yuri speculated that the image might be a prophecy before noticing it showed no signs of aging.
• Sun Hang punched the television, then formed a Liquid Metal hammer and smashed it while the image continued to mirror his actions; Yuri saw that the coffee table’s metal legs had disappeared.

Sun Hang and Yuri discovered that the containment object’s television showed an alternate scene of Sun Hang killing Yuri, while the security footage recorded a different version of events. They realized the object had tampered with surveillance recordings and might have infiltrated Tianshu Tower’s systems, so Sun Hang proposed watching the other signals to learn more.

• Sun Hang reassembled the smashed television, revealing footage of a skeletal version of himself beating Yuri to death.
• Security personnel rushed in after seeing the false footage, but found Yuri alive and the living room mostly intact.
• Sun Hang noticed the television’s camera angle did not match any surveillance camera and found that the footage on the security terminal had also been altered.
• Yuri learned that the surveillance center’s saved files matched the altered recordings, raising concern that the object had infiltrated Tianshu Tower’s systems.
• Sun Hang suggested that the group watch the television’s other signal sources rather than attempt to secure systems that might already be compromised.

Sun Hang tested the anomalous television while Yuri and the security team followed his orders. He concluded that the screen amplified the strongest emotion in the room, and the team continued investigating the anomaly.

• Pei Zongjun ordered Yuri to obey Sun Hang, so Yuri instructed everyone in the containment area to follow Sun Hang's orders.
• Sun Hang compared the television's changing footage with the real room and recalled that it began diverging while he was smashing the television.
• Sun Hang provoked a sexual situation with a female officer, and the television depicted the scene as increasingly distorted mosaics.
• Yuri suggested the television's power was continuation, but Sun Hang argued it amplified the strongest emotion present.
• The screen's figures merged and began thrusting against a wall, supporting Sun Hang's theory that the television magnified desire.

Sun Hang contained Unknown Contained Anomaly No. 999 after it spread from a television into the living room, but he could not use its abilities until he had slowly digested its vast store of memories. With Chimera Seventeen nearing completion, he asked Yuri to show him more anomalies and declared that he wanted everything on the list.

• Yuri and the security team watched the television footage distort as grotesque flesh began to emerge, and Sun Hang explained that the anomaly was an aggregate of proliferating cells.
• The flesh dragged a security officer toward the television, and the officers froze and shattered its tentacle, scattering contaminated fragments that began crawling toward people.
• Sun Hang sent fungal filaments after the television and flesh, devoured the anomaly, and ended the immediate threat as its signal vanished.
• Sun Hang told Yuri that digesting the anomaly's memories would take several months, then asked to see more anomalies because Chimera Seventeen threatened Tianfu City.
• Yuri suggested the previously selected anomalies C7, 'Kui Ox Skeleton,' and B423, 'Lucas,' but Sun Hang clarified that he wanted every anomaly on the list.

Sun Hang planned to devour Kui Niu, B423, and other Anomalies to prepare for Chimera Seventeen, while Yuri warned him about the risks and identified Crimson Spore as a possible counter. In a monitored containment chamber, Sun Hang began devouring Kui Niu’s electrically charged spinal marrow and used a barrier field to protect himself as his hyphae entered the bone.

• Sun Hang told Yuri he intended to devour several Anomalies, reasoning that Tianshu Tower had no data to predict how his body would handle the process.
• Sun Hang asked Yuri to find Anomalies suited to counter Chimera Seventeen, and Yuri recommended the dangerous toxin-producing W105, Crimson Spore.
• Yuri advised Sun Hang to test his resistance to diluted Crimson Spore toxin before attempting to devour it.
• Four hours later, Sun Hang sat in a monitored containment chamber with Kui Niu spinal marrow sashimi prepared as his first course.
• A lightning arc struck Sun Hang’s hypha when it touched the bone, and Yuri explained that a barrier field had deflected nearly all its energy.
• Sun Hang summoned the barrier field around two hyphae, which then pierced the Kui Niu bone.

Sun Hang devoured Kui Niu’s Meme and survived an energy storm that nearly destroyed the containment chamber. Meanwhile, Song Yarong revealed a successful Armored Combat Suit prototype designed to help hunters break through Chimera Seventeen’s energy-flow blockade.

• Sun Hang absorbed Kui Niu’s Meme as its released energy battered his barrier field and threatened to rupture the containment chamber.
• Yuri refused to evacuate while the chamber neared collapse, then realized Sun Hang had controlled the energy storm when the pressure rapidly fell.
• Yang Qi struggled with exhaustion in Tianfu City and worried that she might have missed important developments concerning the Insecticide Plan.
• Song Yarong showed Yang Qi footage of an Armored Combat Suit that could reach Mach 5 using a Steady Wind Device made with help from Zhong Ling.
• Song Yarong revealed that she had tested the suit herself and endured the flight with only an ordinary anti-G suit.

Yang Qi agreed to rest after Song Yarong and Wang Xiyi warned that her exhaustion threatened the mission. Meanwhile, Sun Hang emerged from the containment chamber after mastering Kui Niu’s energy and headed to devour B423; Ling Xiao then met a mysterious girl who claimed to be Sun Hang’s daughter and said she had brought him an opponent.

• Song Yarong persuaded Yang Qi to sleep in a medical pod, and Wang Xiyi stressed that the war depended on the commander staying alive.
• Sun Hang explained to Yuri how he calmed Kui Niu’s energy storm inside the containment chamber and absorbed its refined essence.
• A researcher confirmed that Kui Niu’s Meme had integrated perfectly into Sun Hang’s sequence, so Yuri agreed to take him to B423.
• Ling Xiao confronted a girl who appeared in his dormitory and claimed to be a god.
• The girl told Ling Xiao that Sun Hang was the god he wanted to kill, claimed to be Sun Hang’s daughter, and said she had brought him a suitable opponent.

Sun Hang and Yuri investigated Anomaly 549’s unexplained disappearance and suspected Anomaly 999 might be involved. At the containment chamber, Sun Hang sensed Anna Demoshina, while Ling Xiao faced a light-sensitive, monstrous woman in Chunming City.

• A researcher reported that Anomaly 549 had vanished despite its sealed containment device and an otherwise normal surveillance record.
• Yuri explained that Anomaly 549 was a fully anomalized former teaching assistant whose unusual memetic mutation made her valuable to researchers.
• Sun Hang suggested Anomaly 999 might have helped Anomaly 549 escape, and Yuri questioned why it would release such a weak anomaly.
• Sun Hang and Yuri traveled to Containment Chamber 549, where Sun Hang recognized a familiar presence and wondered if Anna Demoshina had followed him from Tianfu City.
• In the temporary dormitory, Ling Xiao evaded a gaunt woman’s attack and discovered that bright light caused her to shriek and blister.

Ling Xiao used a tactical flashlight against Anomaly 549, only to enrage it as its body mutated under the light. Meanwhile, Yuri and Sun Hang learned that the anomaly was loose at Peony Slope and realized Ling Xiao might be trapped with it in Room 608.

• Ling Xiao avoided fighting the jawless woman directly and attacked it with his flashlight, causing its skin to ulcerate without seriously injuring it.
• Yuri explained to Sun Hang that Anomaly 549’s tissue mutated when exposed to light, making its escape increasingly dangerous.
• Sun Hang suspected that Anomaly 549 might be at Peony Slope, where Ling Xiao was taking an Ability User test.
• Sun Qiong reported that Peony Slope had detected a signal matching Anomaly 549 and that an invisible force had sealed off Building Three.
• Yuri ordered the base to cut power and told Sun Qiong to secure the area, while Sun Hang asked whether Ling Xiao was in Room 608.
• Sun Qiong confirmed that Ling Xiao was in Room 608, where Anomaly 549 was believed to be located.

Sun Hang learned that Anomaly 549 was targeting Ling Xiao and headed with Yuri to Peony Slope. Trapped in a darkened room at the experimental base, Ling Xiao tried to escape the monster but found the corridor window sealed against him.

• Sun Hang told Sun Qiong that Anomaly 549 was after Ling Xiao and ended the call after hearing reinforcements were on their way.
• Sun Hang ordered Yuri to prepare a plane for Peony Slope and have B423 and the Crimson Spore ready for absorption afterward.
• Ling Xiao switched off his flashlight, and the room’s lights and other electrical systems went dark while the monster remained focused on him.
• Ling Xiao cut his thumb to empower Chirou, then broke through the room door and fled into the corridor as the monster pursued him.
• Ling Xiao found that he could not hear people outside or open the corridor window, and Chirou failed to cut through its glass.

Ling Xiao fought a regenerating anomaly in Building Three, where alarms and equipment had failed and the windows could not be broken. He realized the building had been sealed off from the outside, and the chapter ended with the anomaly killing the girl in Room 607 as Ling Xiao retreated into his own room.

• Ling Xiao evaded the anomaly’s charge and severed its right arm with Chirou, but the building remained silent despite the battle.
• The anomaly reattached its arm with tentacles and corrosive blood, then killed a young Ability User who opened his door and the woman hiding in his room.
• Ling Xiao suspected an Environment-type anomaly had isolated Building Three from the outside and weighed how little time he could survive using Chirou.
• Ling Xiao warned the girl in Room 607 to hide, but the anomaly attacked her through the door while he retreated into Room 608.

Unable to breach the barrier sealing Building Three, the base's staff feared Ling Xiao had been cornered by the rapidly mutating Anomaly 549. Sun Hang arrived and learned the situation, but Anomaly 549 emerged from Room 607 and rushed toward Ling Xiao's room.

• Yuan Rui's soldiers and Ability Users failed to break through Building Three's barrier, while Sun Qiong warned that it might be a separate Geng-type Anomaly.
• Miki Fukada used Death's Eye on the barrier and then on Sun Hang, finding no weaknesses in either.
• Sun Hang arrived by helicopter, stopped the rain around him, and learned that Ling Xiao was trapped in Room 608 while Anomaly 549 fed in Room 607.
• Yuri reported that Anomaly 549's mutation had reached 2913% and argued that it must have encountered intense light.
• Sun Qiong spotted Anomaly 549 leaving Room 607, and the creature looked at Sun Hang before charging toward Room 608.

Sun Hang used electromagnetic acceleration to get a weapon to Ling Xiao, who killed Anomaly 549 but collapsed from his injuries. Sun Hang rushed him to Tianshu Tower and tried to restore his life force before he died.

• Sun Hang stopped Anomaly 549 from interfering and used electromagnetic acceleration to launch himself toward Building Three.
• Sun Hang sent Ling Xiao a handgun through the barrier, and Ling Xiao used it to destroy Anomaly 549.
• Fungal filaments caught the collapsing Ling Xiao and dragged him out of Building Three.
• Sun Hang ordered Yuri to remove B423's safety locks, then carried Ling Xiao to Tianshu Tower at high speed.
• Sun Hang forced his way into the Jade Pillar and descended into its shaft, hoping to replenish Ling Xiao's life force before he died.

Sun Hang brought the gravely injured Ling Xiao to B423 and released the entity’s life force to counteract the God-Slaying Spear’s side effects. Ling Xiao began to recover, but Sun Hang realized the spear had consumed far more life force than Ling Xiao possessed, leaving a mysterious debt as Ling Xiao’s heartbeat returned.

• Sun Hang arrived at the containment zone with Ling Xiao and ordered the researchers to evacuate and clear the way to B423.
• Sun Hang entered B423’s chamber, raised its temperature, and unwrapped Ling Xiao, whose injuries appeared fatal.
• Sun Hang cut open the box containing Lucas, B423’s vessel, and the released Blood Mist overwhelmed the chamber after the pressure-release cups were blasted away.
• Ling Xiao’s wounds healed as he absorbed the Blood Mist, but he showed no signs of life while consuming more life force than a normal person possessed.
• Sun Hang wondered whether the God-Slaying Spear had left Ling Xiao with a life-force debt, and Ling Xiao’s heartbeat returned on the eleventh second.

Sun Hang devoured B423 and revived Ling Xiao, while officials waited outside and discussed the possibility of a Second Anomaly War. After B423 vanished, Sun Hang deflected questions about the Building Three incident and prepared to return to Tianfu City, but Sun Qiong asked him to take someone with him.

• Sun Hang used B423's vitality to restore Ling Xiao, then continued absorbing the Anomaly while Ling Xiao waited outside the containment chamber.
• Sun Qiong, Yuri, and senior officials waited for Sun Hang, and Yuri and the security chief discussed the possibility that the Second Anomaly War could come within ten years.
• Ling Xiao ate the meal Sun Qiong brought, and Sun Hang emerged after B423's fluctuations stopped, saying he had eaten it clean.
• A researcher found that the remains of Lucas had crumbled to dust, confirming that B423 was gone.
• Sun Hang brushed off Sun Qiong's questions about Anomalies in Building Three and agreed to have Ling Xiao tested the next day before returning to Tianfu City.
• Sun Qiong asked Sun Hang to take someone with him when he returned.

Sun Hang learned that Miki Fukada would secretly join the operation against Chimera Seventeen, then tested his resistance to Crimson Spore toxin. After surviving a dose that killed a 3.7-ton hippopotamus in 415 seconds, he asked Yuri to test him with undiluted toxin before consuming Crimson Spore.

• Sun Qiong told Sun Hang that Miki Fukada, whose ability revealed anomalies’ weak points, would secretly travel to Tianfu City under a false identity to assist with the operation against Chimera Seventeen.
• Sun Qiong warned that Miki Fukada was dangerously curious about anomalies, and Sun Hang said he would manage her.
• Sun Hang asked Yuri to take him to Crimson Spore’s containment room and agreed to test a four-million-fold diluted dose of its toxin.
• A medical robot injected Sun Hang, but he showed no symptoms and the monitoring equipment detected no toxin or changes in his vital signs.
• Sun Hang argued that diluted and undiluted toxin should make no difference if it could replicate inside him, and Yuri recalled that the same diluted dose had dissolved a 3.7-ton hippopotamus in 415 seconds.

Sun Hang showed no reaction to the Crimson Spore toxin and proved he could touch Yuri without infecting him. After learning how the strains were preserved in human and anomalous seedbeds, he proposed putting them together in a new host so they would compete.

• Sun Hang waited an hour after the injection, then drank purified water while Yuri monitored him.
• Sun Hang touched Yuri to demonstrate that the toxin was harmless to him, and Yuri showed no signs of poisoning.
• Yuri showed Sun Hang the frozen Crimson Spore seedbeds and explained their different strains and hosts, including the anomalous B858.
• Yuri recommended the relatively primitive Strain Seventeen, which was maintained through cloned seedbeds.
• Sun Hang proposed combining all the strains in one seedbed and letting them compete in what he called “Cultivating Gu.”