Chapter Summaries

Sun Hang and Ye Xuan entered Building Two to stop a rampaging figure believed to be Ye Jiu, but Sun Hang recognized it as a humanoid anomaly and destroyed it. They found the real Ye Jiu unconscious inside the case holding the Anomaly Equipment "Slaughter" in his dormitory.

• Sun Hang and Ye Xuan learned that a figure resembling Ye Jiu had killed dozens of people in Building Two and was attacking the barrier to the second floor.
• After watching footage of the massacre, Sun Hang and Ye Xuan entered the sealed building and found the figure facing the damaged barrier.
• Sun Hang identified the figure as a humanoid anomaly rather than Ye Jiu and went to confront it as it charged.
• Sun Hang took the anomaly's sabers, cut it apart, and destroyed it by draining the memes from its body with Tai Sui Hyphae.
• Sun Hang and Ye Xuan went to Ye Jiu's dormitory and opened the case containing the complete set of "Slaughter," where they found Ye Jiu lying unconscious inside.

Sun Hang woke Ye Jiu from a nightmare and removed Slaughter after Ye Xuan feared the armor had taken control. Ye Jiu was left exhausted and unable to stand, and Sun Hang ordered an Everfrost Coffin brought for him, prompting Ye Jiu to protest that he was not infected.

• Sun Hang determined that Ye Jiu was trapped in a nightmare and poured cold water on him to wake him.
• Ye Jiu reflexively swung the Wolf Tooth Mace-Spear at Sun Hang, who disarmed him and slapped him until his eyes opened.
• Ye Jiu woke confused and in pain, then found that his limbs would not obey him.
• Ye Xuan discovered the emergency sedatives and muscle relaxants were gone and urged Sun Hang to remove Slaughter immediately.
• Sun Hang restrained Ye Jiu with hyphae and removed Slaughter's armor, leaving Ye Jiu weak and unable to stand.
• Sun Hang told Ye Xuan to have the research institute bring an Everfrost Coffin for Ye Jiu, who protested that he was not infected.

Ye Jiu recounted being trapped in a seemingly real battle as a Black Armored Cavalry soldier wearing Slaughter, while Ye Xuan and Sun Hang tried to understand the experience. The chapter ended with Ye Xuan revealing that a creature resembling Ye Jiu had killed nearly a hundred people, and that fragments of Slaughter’s visor were found among its remains.

• Ye Jiu told Sun Hang and Ye Xuan that he had blacked out while playing a game and awakened in a battlefield wearing Slaughter.
• Ye Jiu described fighting anomalous creatures alongside the Black Armored Cavalry and said their attacks felt real and could have killed him.
• Ye Xuan suggested that Slaughter’s original owner’s memories and obsession had invaded Ye Jiu’s consciousness.
• Ye Xuan confronted Ye Jiu for hiding an earlier similar experience during the operation to collect Chimera Seventeen Meme samples.
• Ye Xuan revealed that a humanoid anomalous creature resembling Ye Jiu had killed nearly a hundred people in Building Two of Zone C, and fragments of Slaughter’s ghost-faced visor were found among its remains.

Ye Jiu accepted strict control and a dangerous combat role as an alternative to imprisonment, then entered hibernation in a permafrost coffin. Sun Hang discovered that an anomaly carrying Ye Jiu’s memories had moved through the institute and suspected multiple moles had helped it commit the massacre.

• Ye Xuan warned Ye Jiu that his freedom would be restricted and that Slaughter would be sealed while investigators examined the incident.
• Sun Hang proposed keeping Ye Jiu in Tianfu City under strict supervision and sending him on extremely dangerous missions, and Ye Jiu agreed to stay and prove his worth.
• Field agents and researchers placed Ye Jiu in a permafrost coffin and escorted him to the underground ice vault.
• Sun Hang asked Ye Xuan to send Slaughter and the ghost-mask fragments to Institute One’s research team for examination.
• Sun Hang learned from Yang Qi that an anomaly with Ye Jiu’s memories had visited the testing department, taken items, and disappeared, leading him to suspect multiple human or anomalous moles inside the institute.

Sun Hang defended the Insecticide Plan and kept Ye Jiu frozen while considering how to use the red square crystal and comforting Yang Lian. The chapter then shifted to Wang Zheng, a new agent observing Chimera Seventeen from Bunker One.

• Sun Hang and Ye Xuan discussed Chimera Seventeen’s attacks on the reverse-engineering team, the value of sacrifices, and Ye Xuan’s ambitions to inherit his father’s position.
• Sun Hang decided to fortify the underground palace to protect the red square crystal and postpone mass-producing Anomaly Equipment until he had observed Ling Xiao longer.
• Yang Lian visited Sun Hang with food, and he told her that Ye Jiu was being kept in the underground freezer.
• Yang Lian’s intimate thoughts were exposed to Sun Hang through Mind Reading before Wang Xiyi barged in and proposed researching the limits of human Physiological Tolerance.
• Wang Zheng watched Chimera Seventeen from Bunker One and learned that its surrounding rainwater was part of its cooling cycle and could irritate exposed skin.

At Bunker One, Wang Zheng, Old Xu, and Yang Baishuang observed Chimera Seventeen as it continued to grow and learned that radiation was worsening and patrols were becoming more dangerous. They discovered that the anomaly had sprouted gigantic human faces that tracked the observation lens, leaving the bunker on alarm.

• Wang Zheng reported that Chimera Seventeen had grown again, and Old Xu compared its latest image with an earlier photograph to show how much larger it had become.
• Yang Baishuang reported rising radiation levels, a patrol member's radiation sickness, and the higher-ups' demand for patrols every eight hours, which she refused to follow.
• Yang Baishuang noticed a new patch of bumps on Chimera Seventeen, and Wang Zheng magnified the area to reveal dozens of enormous human faces.
• Old Xu ordered Wang Zheng to capture and upload the image as the faces opened their eyes and appeared to look toward the binoculars.
• Wang Zheng shifted the lens, and the faces' gazes followed it, confirming that they were watching the observation equipment.

Wang Zheng and Old Xu discovered that the monster faces had spread from Chimera Seventeen to Bunker One’s observation room, forcing them to flee toward the Vehicle Depot. The faces pursued them through the bunker, and Old Xu’s attempt to stop them with a fire extinguisher only created more faces.

• Wang Zheng saw the monster faces reflected in a foil lid and realized they covered the observation room ceiling.
• Old Xu and Wang Zheng opened the door despite the alarm, waking the faces and racing toward the Vehicle Depot.
• The faces chased them through the walls and floor, and Old Xu pulled Wang Zheng free after a face caught his ankle.
• Old Xu fired at the pursuing faces, discovered bullets could not harm them, and sent Wang Zheng to start an Amphibious Motorcycle.
• Old Xu sprayed the faces with a fire extinguisher, but faces formed in the powder and lunged at him.

Old Xu and Wang Zheng escaped the Vehicle Depot while Yang Baishuang stayed behind and sacrificed herself to destroy the monstrous faces. Blinded and dying from exposure as they fled, the two men discovered they had reached Chimera Seventeen and decided to attack it with the explosives on their motorcycle.

• Yang Baishuang returned to save Old Xu, then stayed behind so he and Wang Zheng could escape as monstrous faces spread across her body.
• Yang Baishuang stabbed herself with her daggers and exploded, destroying herself and staining the Vehicle Depot with blood.
• Old Xu and Wang Zheng rode through the radioactive rain, unable to contact the bunker and suffering from the cold and contamination.
• Wang Zheng lost his sight and stopped the motorcycle, and Old Xu realized they had come within a hundred meters of Chimera Seventeen.
• Old Xu proposed using the motorcycle's explosives against Chimera Seventeen, hoping to make a bigger bang before they died.

The Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute’s Combat Command Center struggled to respond after the forward observation post lost contact with two bunkers. The staff debated how to investigate Chimera Seventeen without provoking its increasingly dangerous energy weapon.

• A report announced that Bunker One at the forward observation post had lost contact.
• A drone reached Bunker Two, then lost its signal, and Bunker Two also went silent.
• A researcher warned that Chimera Seventeen’s energy-beam organ had mutated four times in six days and could threaten Garuda.
• A staff officer suggested using drones to trigger Chimera Seventeen’s stress response again, and another objected that drones were not unlimited.

Old Xu examined his corpse-built body after returning from the dead as an anomaly and tried to understand why he had retained his human consciousness and memories. He suspected his obsession with survival—or Chimera Seventeen—had caused his transformation, but he remained uncertain.

• Old Xu realized his new body was assembled from corpses and motorcycle wreckage, including Wang Zheng's head, though Wang Zheng had not affected his thoughts or memories.
• Old Xu discovered that he could no longer breathe or smile normally and that his body absorbed and violently expelled air and rainwater through its gaps.
• Old Xu recalled how infected people transformed into anomalies, including a woman whose obsession with having a child shaped her transformation.
• Old Xu considered whether his determination to stay alive had become an obsession powerful enough to revive him as an anomaly while preserving his self-awareness.
• Old Xu looked at Chimera Seventeen and wondered whether it had caused his transformation.

Sun Hang met Anomaly Hunters Liu Li and Crystal Princess on their way to a mission and learned about their abilities and backgrounds. He revealed that Taotie had let him absorb powers from Tai Sui and Kui Ox, leaving Liu Li stunned by what this meant for their understanding of anomalies.

• Sun Hang mistook Liu Li and Crystal Princess for each other before they boarded a helicopter with him for the mission.
• Liu Li explained that his mutated brain gave him exceptional intelligence and Overload Mode, while Yang Qi warned Sun Hang not to call him a midget.
• Crystal Princess told Sun Hang and Liu Li that her family inherited the Titan meme and that she could crystallize parts of her body and create crystal weapons and armor.
• Liu Li asked Sun Hang to disclose enough about his abilities to help plan their operation, and Sun Hang showed him Tai Sui hyphae and his metal-manipulation power.
• Sun Hang revealed that he had absorbed Kui Ox bone marrow and could control lightning and weather and accelerate objects with electromagnetic fields.
• Liu Li reacted with disbelief that Taotie could devour Kui Ox's meme and asked Sun Hang whether he was joking.

Sun Hang modified a reconnaissance drone to withstand the radiation and interference around Chimera Seventeen, and its first test succeeded. The team reached Bunker One, where the drone footage showed an intact exterior but no life signals, so Liu Li ordered robots to enter.

• Liu Li explained the plan to approach Bunker One above the rain clouds and survey it with drones and robots.
• Sun Hang replaced a drone’s casing, coated its components, and fashioned new antennas from Liquid Metal.
• Liu Li tested Sun Hang’s drone against an unmodified drone, and Sun Hang’s retained over ninety percent signal strength at three hundred meters.
• The drones entered the storm and showed Bunker One’s exterior intact, but detected no life signals inside.
• Liu Li said the Anomaly Meme frequencies could not reveal hidden Anomalies in the restricted area and ordered the robots to enter the bunker.

Liu Li sent robots into Bunker One and discovered that its security system had been deliberately formatted and its personnel apparently turned into an anomaly. The robots encountered Silver Fang, a rapidly regenerating Humanoid Anomaly made from the corpses of bunker staff, and the fight continued as it disabled the robots' planned attack.

• Liu Li used an H4 robot to access Bunker One and learned that its security system had been formatted, leading him to suspect an insider had disabled it.
• Liu Li opened the bunker and sent robots inside, where they detected no survivors, remains, or signs of intrusion before Go7 Number Eight lost its signal in the dormitory area.
• Liu Li sent six robots to investigate and found Number Eight cut in half; another robot was destroyed when a fast-moving attacker struck.
• The attacker emerged as a headless Humanoid Anomaly assembled from the bodies of at least sixteen Bunker One personnel, and the AI identified its daggers as the anomaly equipment Silver Fang, assigned to Yang Baishuang.
• Liu Li ordered the robots to exterminate the anomaly; gunfire damaged it, but its flesh regenerated almost instantly.
• The anomaly threw its Silver Fang daggers and pinned both approaching SP03 robotic spiders to the ceiling before they could attack.

Liu Li sent two humanoid robots to attack the humanoid anomaly with high-frequency vibrating blades, while Crystal Princess prepared to fight. The anomaly survived the assault and, as Liu Li reviewed the footage, Sun Hang realized it had deliberately cut off its own wrist to avoid the robot’s blade.

• Liu Li learned that Silver Fang had destroyed the mechanical spiders in less than 0.3 seconds, suggesting the anomaly’s synchronization with the weapon exceeded Yang Baishuang’s former level.
• Liu Li took direct control of two humanoid robots and ordered the remaining robots to rush in as Crystal Princess put on her armor.
• The anomaly abruptly retreated and fell, but Liu Li ordered the robots to pursue and attack with their high-frequency vibrating blades.
• The blades carved deep wounds into the anomaly, which healed quickly as new grotesque faces emerged from its chest wounds.
• The anomaly leaped from the ceiling and knocked down the right-hand robot, while Liu Li could not react quickly enough to issue a command.
• Sun Hang identified that the anomaly had severed its own wrist with Silver Fang to avoid the robot’s blade, and Liu Li confirmed this in slow-motion footage.

Liu Li sent Crystal Princess and an Everfrost Coffin to capture the humanoid aberration alive after realizing it retained some human consciousness. As Crystal Princess entered Bunker One, Liu Li reconsidered Yang Baishuang’s battle marks and redirected a helicopter to observe Chimera Seventeen.

• Liu Li ordered Crystal Princess to deploy in powered armor and contain the humanoid aberration alive while the robots tried to trap it.
• The aberration fled to Bunker One’s third basement level, and Liu Li directed Crystal Princess to reach it through the freight elevator shaft rather than widen a narrow passage.
• Crystal Princess landed, forced her way through the jammed Vehicle Depot door, and found bloodstains, bullet holes, and a long gouge in the wall.
• Liu Li concluded Yang Baishuang had likely made the gouge while attacking the aberration, possibly as it moved close to the wall.
• After Sun Hang warned that fighting near the bunker’s reactor could be dangerous, Liu Li ordered Helicopter Three to observe Chimera Seventeen and report any changes.

Liu Li’s team discovered that Chimera Seventeen had grown thousands of human faces, while the humanoid anomalous creature vanished from Bunker One. After Yang Qi ordered the team to withdraw, Sun Hang returned to the institute, where Old Wang revealed she had put on stockings to increase her attack speed.

• Helicopter Three’s footage showed faces covering Chimera Seventeen, and Liu Li identified thousands of them as people who had died or gone missing.
• The faces opened their eyes toward the observers, but they shut them in terror after Sun Hang glared back at the screen.
• Liu Li searched Bunker One’s third level with the robots and Crystal Princess but could not find the humanoid anomalous creature.
• Yang Qi ordered the team to seal the bunkers, leave robots and drones to guard them, and withdraw because Chimera Seventeen’s mutation made the area too dangerous.
• Sun Hang and Crystal Princess returned to the research institute, where they discussed the faces before going their separate ways.
• Old Wang showed Sun Hang the stockings she had found and explained that she wore them because she had heard they increased attack speed.

Sun Hang left the research institute and drove to the bombed Hunter villa district, suspecting the anomaly that attacked him might return there. After entering the sealed ruins with his Hunter License, he reached his former home but found no sign of the aura, leaving him unsure whether he had sensed it at all.

• Sun Hang told Old Wang he planned to return to the bombed neighborhood, and she urged him to be careful while assigning Yang Qi and the others’ safety to herself.
• Old Wang suggested Zhong Ling accompany Sun Hang, but he declined so she could rest and avoid danger.
• Yang Qi secretly approved Sun Hang’s trip, told him to send up a Signal Flare if he encountered a powerful enemy, and Sun Hang drove toward the ruins.
• At the barricade, Sun Hang showed the soldiers his Hunter License and received permission to enter the sealed area.
• Sun Hang crossed the burned ruins to his former home, found no sign of the suspected anomaly, and wondered if the aura he had sensed was an illusion.

Anna showed Sun Hang a world reconstructed from real human memories and warned him that illusions could disable his Wish Fulfillment ability. After returning him to the devastated world, she left him questioning whether what he saw was real.

• Anna told Sun Hang that an unknown anomalous entity had sent him a bait signal as a prank and did not seem hostile.
• Anna explained that Wish Fulfillment could fail when Sun Hang mistook an illusion for reality, recalling its failure in Maoyun Town.
• Anna offered to let Sun Hang remain forever in her peaceful constructed world, but he refused.
• Anna returned Sun Hang to the ruins, where his surroundings and a soldier briefly appeared as grotesque flesh-and-blood monsters whenever he blinked.
• Sun Hang asked the soldier whether he had ever wondered if the world was real or illusory, and the soldier said he focused on carrying out orders.

Sun Hang investigated an Anomaly that had lured him to the bombed restricted zone, learned how illusions could neutralize his wish fulfillment ability, and returned to find Chimera Seventeen nearing a catastrophic hatch. Yang Qi set the final operation for three days later, while the fate of the Anomaly that had drawn Sun Hang out remained uncertain.

• Sun Hang examined the ruined restricted zone and learned from Anna that the silent Anomaly would not attack him, though she had deliberately scared it away out of jealousy.
• Sun Hang reasoned that virtual zones could trap his wish fulfillment ability and identified detecting reality and finding a point of paradox as key to escaping an illusion.
• Sun Hang returned to the safe house, where Miki Fukada demanded he take her to see Chimera Seventeen and Yang Qi reported that the investigation had made little progress.
• Yang Qi said Chimera Seventeen's cocoon could explode with the force of 4.5 million tons of TNT as soon as it hatched, potentially leveling Tianfu City.
• Yang Qi reported that the Meme Reverse Engineering team was seventy percent complete and set the final operation to begin in three days.

With only eleven infiltrators available, Yang Qi estimated the operation against Chimera Seventeen had a theoretical success rate below 0.2%, though Hunter skill and luck could improve their odds. Sun Hang set out to observe the restricted zone with Miki Fukada, disguised as Tang Jing, and agreed to let Zhong Ling join them; they drove out of the city toward the danger.

• Yang Qi explained that only nine candidates had passed screening, leaving eleven infiltrators with Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi, far short of her planned two hundred.
• Yang Qi estimated the operation's theoretical success rate at less than 0.2% and said the Hunters' abilities and choices could change the outcome.
• Sun Hang stole Song Yarong's remaining pastries, then returned to the safe room to take Miki Fukada to observe Chimera Seventeen.
• Sun Hang disguised Miki Fukada as Tang Jing, and she changed into a work uniform before they left.
• Zhong Ling told Sun Hang she had been waiting for him and asked to join the covert mission; Sun Hang agreed, with Anomalous Corpse One accompanying them.
• Sun Hang, Miki Fukada, Zhong Ling, and Anomalous Corpse One drove toward the restricted zone as the city buildings gave way to empty districts and quiet roads.