Chapter Summaries

Yao Yu fled across Lihua Mountain while the Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute searched for him, and he pushed onward after taking military stimulants. At the institute, an interrogation of a captured Ability User failed to produce information, and the interrogator asked Ye Jiu for permission to use an Anomaly.

• Yao Yu hid among the dead pear trees on Lihua Mountain as the Third Special Operations Team and drones began searching for him.
• Sun Hang and the captain discussed Yao Yu, and the search team found his footprints but continued its planned formation while sending Group F after the tracks.
• Yao Yu took military stimulants and headed toward the northern plantations, expecting the organization to disrupt the search and send assassins after him.
• A captured Ability User endured torture without revealing information, insisting that her pain would prove her devotion to the Holy Lord.
• The grim-looking interrogator asked Ye Jiu for authorization to use an Anomaly during questioning.

Ye Jiu questioned Sasha with the anomalous object Bing Wu Jiu Wu, learning about her orders from the Holy Lord and her ties to the Tai Sui cult. Sasha’s first instruction pointed back to the day Sun Hang saw a white shadow, leading Ye Jiu to suspect Chimera Seventeen had been plotting against Sun Hang far earlier than expected.

• Song Yarong approved using an anomalous object to interrogate Sasha and accepted responsibility for any mishap.
• The interrogation expert used Bing Wu Jiu Wu to take control of Sasha, who survived but lost control of her bladder.
• Ye Jiu learned that the Holy Lord had ordered Sasha to attack the Hunter Villa District and delivered instructions to her through dreams.
• Sasha identified other Tai Sui worshippers in Lizhou City, and Ye Jiu sent their names to the Public Security Bureau.
• Sasha said the Holy Lord first gave her instructions on the ninth day after she returned to Tianfu City, the day Sun Hang saw a white shadow.
• Ye Jiu connected the Holy Lord’s warning about punishing those who destroyed the organization to Sun Hang and wondered how Chimera Seventeen was connected to the cult.

Ye Jiu questioned Sasha about the Holy Ark and the Holy Lord, but her answers did not clarify who was behind the attack on Sun Hang. At the Safe House, Song Yarong learned more about Sun Hang’s strength and his fight with Iron Wall, while Yang Qi revealed that Sun Hang had seemed disrespectful toward Elder Pei.

• Song Yarong asked Sasha about the Holy Ark and photographs of Wen Ya and Yao Yu, but Sasha showed no sign of knowing them.
• Song Yarong told Ye Jiu that Sun Hang had killed Wen Ya after Wen Ya tried to silence him, while Yao Yu had fled and remained under pursuit.
• Song Yarong asked Ye Jiu to investigate the Holy Lord’s identity, cautioning that a powerful Cult Organization could have orchestrated the attack without Chimera Seventeen.
• At the Safe House, Miki Fukada complained about being confined, and Wang Xiyi stopped her from drinking beer and brought her kvass instead.
• Song Yarong asked Wang Xiyi and Yang Qi about Sun Hang’s past fights, and Yang Qi said Sun Hang had drawn with Iron Wall after suppressing him during their three-minute match.
• Yang Qi told Song Yarong that Sun Hang had seemed disrespectful toward Elder Pei when they met at Tianshu Tower.

Sun Hang and the Field Operations Department searched Lihua Mountain for Yao Yu while discussing autonomous drones and the Texas Rebellion Virus Incident. A sniper on Zhang Family Mountain killed several agents, and Sun Hang raced to the firing position, only to find the sniper had escaped.

• The Field Operations Department deployed autonomous spider drones to search the orchards and buildings on Lihua Mountain while its team leader explained their operation to Sun Hang.
• Sun Hang and the team leader discussed the dangers of autonomous weapons and how the Texas Rebellion Virus Incident helped cause the fall of the United States.
• Sun Hang spotted agents collapsing during the search, and the team leader learned that several agents had been killed by gunfire despite Yao Yu reportedly carrying only a nine-millimeter pistol.
• Sun Hang identified an ultra-long-range sniper on Zhang Family Mountain after seeing a bullet's trajectory, then stopped the team leader from immediately warning the agents so he could locate the shooter.
• The sniper fired again, and Sun Hang raced to Zhang Family Mountain, crashing into its cliff before reaching the firing position and finding that the sniper had escaped.

Sun Hang tracked the retreating attackers to a location less than a hundred meters away after crashing into a mountain. After learning that six newly recruited agents had died, he asked whether the field team wanted him to avenge them or take anyone alive.

• Sun Hang crashed into the mountain, alerting the people on the other side to his arrival.
• Sun Hang found an unhidden trail and followed the footprints and lingering aura of anomalous creatures.
• The field team leader told Sun Hang that all six sniped agents had died, including two who had just turned eighteen.
• Sun Hang asked whether the team wanted him to avenge the agents or spare anyone.

Sun Hang confronted a giant infected who had survived his sniper fire and tried to negotiate for information about the people targeting Yao Yu. When the giant revealed he was stalling and attacked, Sun Hang trapped him in a net of electricity.

• Sun Hang used the Anomaly Equipment sniper rifle to shoot the distant sniper, then pursued the surviving target to Naitou Mountain and discovered he was a giant infected.
• The giant shot at Sun Hang with a large-caliber rifle, but Sun Hang dodged and proposed a negotiation.
• The giant admitted that his group had meant to kill Yao Yu, while Sun Hang’s questions about their identities and plans for the Holy Ark went unanswered.
• Sun Hang noticed the giant’s memetic frequency changing during their conversation and realized he was stalling for time.
• The giant charged at Sun Hang, who burned him with lightning and caught him in a net of electric arcs.

Sun Hang defeated the giant attacker, whose Body Seizure ability briefly took control of him before Sun Hang’s consciousness devoured it. After recovering and returning to the research institute, he wondered about the sealed memories and the absence of Three Monkeys and Anna, who then appeared and said she had almost died.

• Sun Hang destroyed the giant attacker with his electric net, but the attacker’s consciousness seized his body when he snapped its arm bone.
• The foreign consciousness tried to take over Sun Hang’s memories and was annihilated by the information in his sea of consciousness.
• Sun Hang identified the attacker’s ability as Body Seizure, then answered the field operations team and asked for food and water.
• After eating and resting, Sun Hang told the arriving agents to collect the attacker’s remains and returned to the research institute by helicopter.
• Sun Hang wondered what the invader had seen in his sealed memories and why Three Monkeys and Anna had stopped appearing.
• Anna appeared and said she had almost died, while Sun Hang said he was curious how to kill her.

Sun Hang discussed Anna’s limits and the missing anomalous videotape before Wang Xiyi joined him on the research institute rooftop. Yang Qi then reported that Yao Yu had been found and would surrender only if he could speak with Sun Hang.

• Sun Hang learned that Anna could not locate the videotape and inferred that Three Monkeys made contact with her dangerous.
• Sun Hang questioned why Yao Yu had fled the Cult Organization’s mission as he waited on the rooftop.
• Wang Xiyi teased Sun Hang about his fight with Wen Ya and learned he had devoured four anomalous objects.
• Yang Qi told Sun Hang that the Field Operations Department had found Yao Yu hiding in a cave with a gun to his temple.
• Yang Qi said Yao Yu had agreed to surrender and reveal what he knew only if he could meet and talk with Sun Hang.

Sun Hang prepared to interrogate Yao Yu while joking with Wang Xiyi and the others, and Ye Jiu struggled to resist the pull of his Anomaly Equipment, Slaughter. The chapter ended with Ye Jiu approaching the armor as his vision turned into a blood-soaked battlefield.

• Yang Qi told Sun Hang that Yao Yu had disarmed and would be escorted to the research institute for a meeting in two hours.
• Sun Hang discussed his plans with Wang Xiyi and the others, then agreed to take Miki Fukada on a future reconnaissance mission while keeping its timing secret.
• Ye Jiu played games in his dormitory, smashed his controller, and tried to distract himself from Slaughter’s pull and his worsening symptoms.
• Ye Jiu recalled his sleeplessness and disturbing battlefield visions, and feared that wearing Slaughter would make him its puppet.
• Slaughter’s pull intensified, and Ye Jiu walked toward the armor while believing he needed it to survive the battlefield around him.

Ye Jiu resisted the urge to put on "Slaughter" but experienced terrifying hallucinations that culminated in him cutting a Diao Chan figurine with his blunt training sword. After tests found no Anomaly traces, he left unsure what had happened and learned that Researcher Huang believed Ye Jiu could already unleash sword aura.

• Ye Jiu fought off the killing intent and hallucinations, then saw a headless woman approaching him and cut her into pieces with his training sword.
• Ye Jiu realized the woman had been an illusion and that he had sliced his Diao Chan figurine into eight pieces with a blade that had no edge.
• Ye Jiu brought the figurine fragments and training sword to the Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute, where Researcher Huang found no Anomaly Meme residue in either item.
• Ye Jiu kept his own hallucinations secret, fearing he might be confined or neutralized if the institute discovered what was happening to him.
• Ye Jiu asked Researcher Huang whether sword aura existed, and Huang said Ye Jiu's combat footage showed him using similar attacks with Anomaly Equipment.

Ye Jiu suspected that his training sword had somehow cut Slaughter’s figurine and considered confiding in Sun Hang. During Yao Yu’s interrogation, the team learned that he had deliberately sought out the Cult Organization because he believed it offered a way for humanity to surpass anomalies.

• Ye Jiu told Researcher Huang to keep the sword and figurine results secret, then considered talking to Sun Hang about his symptoms.
• Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi watched Yao Yu’s interrogation as Yao Yu confirmed that the Cult Organization had assigned him and Wen Ya to get Wen Ya selected for a P.F.D.A. test involving Chimera Seventeen.
• Yang Qi reported that the contact point Yao Yu had identified was cleared out and his contact was found dead.
• Ye Xuan revealed that Yao Yu had searched for the Cult Organization before joining and had leaked classified information and stolen anomaly samples.
• Yao Yu admitted that he had sought out the Cult Organization because he believed humanity could surpass anomalies.

During his interrogation, Yao Yu revealed his beliefs about hunting anomalies and asked Sun Hang to infect him with the Gluttonous Meme for research. The others were left to consider whether his proposed experiment could provide a way to reclaim lost territory.

• Yao Yu correctly guessed that Sun Hang carried the Gluttonous Meme and explained how he had deduced it from public information.
• Yao Yu described the cult organization’s efforts to fuse humans with anomalies and argued that Tianshu Tower’s research was too cautious.
• Yao Yu claimed humanity needed to hunt and devour anomalies, identifying Sun Hang as the only true hunter capable of doing so.
• Yao Yu volunteered to be infected by Sun Hang’s Gluttonous Meme so researchers could study its effects.

Sun Hang refused to execute Yao Yu, arguing that keeping him alive could recover more value than a quick death, and left him imprisoned as a resource to be used when needed. Yang Qi and the others then debated whether to transfer Yao Yu to Tianshu Tower or kill him, fearing both the Cult Organizations’ response and the danger of his proposal to become a test subject for Sun Hang’s meme.

• Sun Hang pointed his hunting pistol at Yao Yu, pulled the trigger on an empty chamber, and told him he would remain alive to repay his debts through useful work.
• Sun Hang and Song Yarong argued that Yao Yu’s life had a calculable value, while Yao Yu insisted his research could make him more valuable and offered himself for dangerous experiments.
• Sun Hang gagged Yao Yu when he offered to become a meme receptor, then rejected the costly idea of placing him in a permafrost coffin and left him locked up as a movable resource.
• Yang Qi explained that the group could execute Yao Yu under emergency provisions but would otherwise have to transfer disposal authority to Tianshu Tower, while Song Yarong warned that Cult Organizations might target him.
• Wang Xiyi called for Yao Yu’s execution, while Ye Xuan argued that his proposal might help the Federation prepare for another anomaly war; Yang Qi warned that infecting him with Sun Hang’s meme could create a dangerous second Sun Hang.

Yang Qi assigned Wang Xiyi to investigate possible A11 activity in evacuated Jinlu County using an Anomaly-detecting watch recovered from Yao Yu. As Wang Xiyi departed, Sun Hang questioned who had installed the fish tank Qiao Liu used to stare at, suggesting a new lead in the case.

• Yang Qi briefed Wang Xiyi and the others on Qiao Liu, a bar owner whom Yao Yu had identified as an A11 member despite the lack of corroborating evidence.
• Yang Qi revealed that Qiao Liu’s car had traveled to Jinlu County under an application filed by Xu Li, whose identity and connection to Qiao Liu remained unclear.
• Yang Qi gave Wang Xiyi Yao Yu’s watch, which could detect nearby Anomalies of the same origin, and sent her to search Jinlu County.
• Wang Xiyi left for Jinlu County, while Ye Xuan offered mobile squads and said she suspected Qiao Liu and Xu Li might be the same person.
• Sun Hang asked who had renovated Qiao Liu’s bar and installed its large fish tank.

Sun Hang connected the saltwater tanks at Qiao Liu’s Clear Bamboo Bar to Senyang Aquarium in Jinlu County and suspected the fish had carried coded messages between Qiao Liu and A11. Wang Xiyi reached Jinlu County to investigate the shop, and her Anomaly Watch detected a nearby presence as she searched North City.

• Sun Hang learned that Qiao Liu had insisted on installing marine ecological tanks, and Yang Qi traced their installation to Senyang Aquarium in Jinlu County.
• Sun Hang concluded that Qiao Liu’s killer had removed the fish from the bar and proposed that the fish had relayed coded messages from A11.
• Yang Qi sent Wang Xiyi the aquarium shop’s address and told her to investigate its possible connection to Qiao Liu and A11.
• Wang Xiyi flew to Jinlu County and headed north toward Senyang Aquarium, navigating the city’s dark, rundown streets.
• Wang Xiyi’s Anomaly Watch warmed as she entered North City, alerting her that a nearby presence was within range.

Wang Xiyi tracked an Anomaly to Senyang Aquarium in evacuated Jinlu County and discovered a briefcase containing Anomaly Equipment in a nearby van. An octopus-like Anomaly ambushed her, leaving her stranded far from her team and in unbearable pain as she cut off her wings to escape its neurotoxin.

• Wang Xiyi followed her Anomaly Watch along Victory Avenue to the open, dark entrance of Senyang Aquarium.
• She concealed herself on the rooftops and located the same-origin Anomaly Equipment in a cold, empty van outside the aquarium.
• Wang Xiyi tore open the van and found a scorching briefcase, then sensed an Anomaly inside the aquarium and was hurled hundreds of meters by its tentacle.
• She discovered that the tentacle's slime caused extreme pain without physically damaging her wings, and she cut off both wings.

Wang Xiyi fought the aquatic anomalies at Senyang Aquarium, where she discovered the shop had secretly kept anomalous fish and its tanks held highly flammable liquid. After the tentacled anomaly drove her underground, she fell into a vast hollow beside an underground lake as its tentacles attacked.

• Wang Xiyi lost the use of her wings after the anomaly's neurotoxin and pain forced her to sever them, then rammed a van through Senyang Aquarium's entrance.
• Wang Xiyi's flames ignited the mutated fish and the flammable liquid from their tanks, setting the aquarium ablaze.
• Song Yarong showed Yang Qi and the others records suggesting Senyang Aquarium had secretly kept fish anomalies and once accidentally sold them as ordinary fish.
• Wang Xiyi explored the aquarium's courtyard and realized the giant tentacled anomaly was moving through the underground pipes.
• Wang Xiyi tried to escape to Victory Avenue, but the ground collapsed beneath her and she fell into a massive hollow beside an underground lake.
• Tentacles surged out of the lake and attacked Wang Xiyi.

Wang Xiyi fought the Octopus Person beneath the underground lake and listened to its theory that humans should infect anomalies rather than be infected by them. After she deduced its plan for Chimera Seventeen and rejected its recruitment, the Octopus Person’s transformation and motives remained unresolved.

• Wang Xiyi blasted the lake with Dragon Breath, but the Octopus Anomaly used its tentacles to keep the collapsing cave standing.
• The Octopus Person emerged from the lake, revealed its fusion with the anomaly, and claimed it had retained its human awareness.
• The Octopus Person argued that humans should impose their will on anomalies and tried to recruit Wang Xiyi by invoking her painful past and the Federation’s treatment of her.
• Wang Xiyi inferred that the organization intended to have a chosen person parasitize Chimera Seventeen.
• Wang Xiyi rejected the offer and mocked the Octopus Person’s appearance and belief that it could remain in control of the anomaly.

Wang Xiyi destroyed the Octopus Anomaly’s body, but its fused human counterpart escaped. Yang Qi investigated the human-Anomaly fusion and found a sealed report of an island community that had practiced similar procedures.

• Wang Xiyi unleashed a firestorm that devastated the city block and burned the Octopus Anomaly’s tentacles to ash.
• Wang Xiyi dug the buried Anomaly’s head out of the rubble and discovered that the fused person had torn free and escaped.
• A drone delivered supplies, and Wang Xiyi used a Type-09 Emergency Recovery Agent before telling Yang Qi that the target had escaped and had fused with a human.
• Yang Qi searched Tianshu Tower’s database and found a report describing islanders who grafted Anomaly organs onto themselves while retaining their human self-awareness.
• The report said the islanders’ fusion research was sealed away, and the island later became inaccessible after its surrounding waters were designated a fallen zone.

Yang Qi and the others traced A11’s possible human-Anomaly experiments through research-file access records, finding that Yao Yu had viewed the relevant file. Their investigation was interrupted when Ye Jiu went berserk and began attacking people at the expanded campus.

• Yang Qi suspected A11 had infiltrated powerful institutions and considered tracing its funding, but Ye Xuan warned that financial records would be too tangled to investigate effectively.
• Sun Hang argued that successful human-Anomaly fusion did not require advanced laboratory conditions, and Yang Qi shifted focus to the files’ access records.
• Yang Qi found that Yao Yu had accessed the indigenous-fusion research file and ordered a second interrogation, though Sun Hang noted Yao Yu might not know about the Octopus Person.
• A security officer reported that Ye Jiu was attacking people with two swords in Building 2 of the expanded campus, and Ye Xuan identified her brother as the attacker.