Chapter Summaries

Sun Hang reconsidered the Nameless Island trial and suspected Pei Zongjun and Tianshu Tower had deliberately used hunters as cannon fodder to help release Anna. At the window, he experienced Chimera Seventeen’s memories and encountered the entity, which called itself a defective product.

• Sun Hang examined his Metal Nameplate and wondered whether Pei Zongjun knew his identity and what had happened on Nameless Island.
• Sun Hang reviewed the trial’s abnormal death toll, lack of safety measures, and unusually permissive admissions, and suspected Tianshu Tower had planned for him to release Anna.
• Sun Hang resolved to confront Pei Zongjun after his mission and determine whether he knew Anna existed.
• Sun Hang realized the room’s view belonged to a higher floor and saw phantom warships from the Nameless Island research institute’s past.
• Sun Hang witnessed two phantoms at the window, then watched the first disappear as the second continued counting signal flags.
• The remaining phantom identified itself as Chimera Seventeen and said it disliked its human-assigned designation but admitted it was a defective product.

Sun Hang learned that Chimera Seventeen was born from the same human embryo as Anna and could only be killed if he sacrificed one-third of his soul, with Three Monkeys able to help. Chimera Seventeen offered to disperse Eternal Night if he accepted, while Garuda detected an energy surge from her chrysalis.

• Sun Hang refused to trade his life for Tianfu City but agreed that he would try to stop Chimera Seventeen from destroying it.
• Chimera Seventeen revealed that she and Anna were separated from a human embryo, and that Sun Hang had to discard one-third of his soul to end her existence.
• Chimera Seventeen explained that her memories were fading and she would eventually fall into madness, then said Three Monkeys could help Sun Hang sacrifice part of his soul.
• Chimera Seventeen offered to disperse Eternal Night if Sun Hang accepted the exchange.
• On Garuda, Song Yarong and Yang Qi waited anxiously for news from the team inside the chrysalis.
• Garuda detected an energy reaction from Chimera Seventeen that exceeded its equipment's detection limit.

Chimera Seventeen reached a collapse state, making Yang Qi and Song Yarong believe Tianfu City was about to be destroyed. Instead, it released its compressed energy into the sky and ended the Eternal Night across Shu Province, leaving Yang Qi and Song Yarong stunned as its memetic reaction weakened.

• Song Yarong livestreamed Chimera Seventeen as its cocoon glowed like a sun, while Old Yu saw daylight return to Tianfu City.
• Chimera Seventeen's light abruptly vanished as it collapsed and compressed, and Yang Qi warned that it could be about to explode.
• The Eternal Night returned over Tianfu City, plunging its residents into despair after their brief glimpse of daylight.
• A crack opened atop Chimera Seventeen, and it fired a powerful beam through the clouds, dispersing them and restoring daylight across Shu Province.
• Old Yu and the people in his neighborhood watched the clear sky in disbelief, while Yang Qi and Song Yarong learned that the Eternal Night's memetic reaction had vanished.

After Chimera Seventeen and Eternal Night perished, Sun Hang recovered in the newly sunlit Shuzhou and wondered what giving up a third of his soul had changed. He decided to investigate whether Pei Zongjun was still fully human, while Yang Qi learned Sun Hang planned to go to Chunming City.

• Sun Hang asked Anna about the soul he had given up, and she said neither of them knew what effect the loss would have on him.
• Anna explained that Chimera Seventeen had loved and hated Sun Hang, while he questioned whether existence was worth the suffering she endured.
• Wang Xiyi found Sun Hang alive, told him the other hunters could be rescued, and discussed the mysterious destruction of Eternal Night.
• Sun Hang asked about Pei Zongjun's security and said he wanted to verify whether Pei Zongjun was still a pure human.
• Yang Qi handled the aftermath of the crisis and learned that Sun Hang planned to go to Chunming City.

Sun Hang flew back to Chunming City to speak with Pei Zongjun, while his fellow hunters mistook his purpose for an official assignment. After inspecting the inaccessible heaps of memories in his mental world, he reached the airfield and headed toward the Jade Pillar by leaping from its thousand-meter drop.

• Wang Xiyi saw Sun Hang off and promised to rescue him if he got into trouble.
• On the flight, Sun Hang heard the hunters gossip about Tianfu City and revealed that he was going to speak with Pei Zongjun.
• Sun Hang put on an eye mask and inspected two vast, mist-shrouded heaps of memories in his mental world.
• After landing, Sun Hang declined to join the hunters' aircar and jumped over the airfield guardrail.
• The little fat guy saw Sun Hang land safely and walk toward the Jade Pillar.

Sun Hang visited Pei Zongjun in the Primal Underground Palace and discovered that Pei Zongjun had fused his brain with Tianshu Tower’s Mainframe. The Mainframe explained that its core came from half of the Sphinx’s brain, which granted precognition.

• Sun Hang reached the Primal Underground Palace and defeated Pei Zongjun’s mechanical bodyguard by dismantling her prosthetics.
• Pei Zongjun welcomed Sun Hang and revealed that he had anticipated the visit by observing him through cameras.
• Pei Zongjun showed Sun Hang his corpse and the brain tissue fused with Tianshu Tower’s supercomputer, explaining that he had become the Mainframe.
• The Mainframe told Sun Hang that the Sphinx was an intelligent Anomaly and that a Hunter had obtained half of its brain.
• The Mainframe revealed that the Sphinx’s brain granted precognition.

Sun Hang learned that Sphinx’s vague prophecies had guided Pei Zongjun’s choices, including sending Sun Hang and sacrifices to Nameless Island to awaken Anna. The Mainframe revealed a warning about the Three Wise Monkeys and pointed Sun Hang toward Sphinx’s broad range in Africa, though it cautioned that the Fallen Zones there could only be observed by entering them.

• Sun Hang questioned Pei Zongjun about Sphinx’s prophecies, and Pei Zongjun explained that they were vague clues that had guided his decisions.
• Pei Zongjun revealed that memories and records of the Nameless Island project had been blocked, and that the hunters who accompanied Sun Hang were sacrifices required by a prophecy.
• Sun Hang realized that his connection to Anna might be the key to keeping her on humanity’s side.
• The Mainframe showed Sun Hang a drawing of the Three Wise Monkeys and explained that Pei Zongjun’s attempt to use Sphinx’s precognition on them had caused a devastating backlash.
• After Sun Hang asked about retrieving Sphinx’s other brain half, the Mainframe received a prophecy of an endless desert and said Sphinx ranged across former Egyptian, Sudanese, and Libyan territory.
• The Mainframe warned Sun Hang that Fallen Zones could not be observed by satellite because of Shadow of Frozen Time, and that entering them was the only way to learn what was inside.

Sun Hang agreed to witness the Mainframe’s prophecy while supplying it with life force to withstand the backlash. He relived his past as a homeless young man during the Taotie Clone’s attack, then saw Peacekeepers shoot him on sight.

• Pei Zongjun warned Sun Hang to stay in Xiazhou and explained that revealing a prophecy tied to Sun Hang could trigger a destructive backlash in the Mainframe and Chunming City.
• Sun Hang agreed to inject life force into the Mainframe as Pei Zongjun showed him the prophecy.
• Sun Hang experienced his past self eating instant noodles in a shabby attic as the Taotie Clone attacked and bit through his neck.
• Sun Hang watched his past self emerge from the ruined attic after the Taotie Clone vanished, leaving a devastated street and a mangled landlord.
• Several Peacekeepers saw Sun Hang, reacted with terror, and shot him, knocking him into darkness.

After Sun Hang saved the Mainframe from its malfunction, it named him its second-generation controller and revealed that Pei Zongjun’s consciousness had perished. Sun Hang inherited authority over the Mainframe, but Pei’s message left him with unanswered questions about the prophecies and humanity’s future.

• Sun Hang wondered whether he had killed the Peacekeepers after devouring the Taotie Clone and planned to search the Mainframe for records of the reinforcements who found him.
• The Mainframe’s brain tissue began rapidly self-destructing, so Sun Hang poured in life force until the malfunction ended.
• A robot scanned Sun Hang and collected his blood, allowing the Mainframe to identify him and grant him its highest authority.
• The Mainframe told Sun Hang that Pei Zongjun’s consciousness had perished and named him the new controller.
• The Mainframe played Pei Zongjun’s final message, in which Pei explained his choice to die as a human and asked Sun Hang to guide humanity and give the Mainframe time to prepare a replacement.
• Sun Hang learned that the Mainframe could operate independently and could not bring Pei Zongjun back to life.

Sun Hang told Candle Dragon that Pei Zongjun’s consciousness had died after using Sphinx’s prophecy, and that Pei had transferred control of the Mainframe to him. Sun Hang planned to seek Sphinx’s other brain half in Egypt, and Candle Dragon offered to join him with knowledge of a related desert anomaly.

• Sun Hang revealed Pei Zongjun’s death to Candle Dragon, who believed him and took him to a Tianshu Tower safehouse.
• Sun Hang explained that Pei had survived as a brain in the Mainframe until Sphinx’s prophecy erased his consciousness, and that Pei had transferred the Mainframe’s control to Sun Hang.
• Sun Hang said he planned to find Sphinx’s other brain half in Egypt, while privately hoping to use its prophecies to recover memories and confront Three Monkeys.
• Candle Dragon asked to accompany Sun Hang and described his past explorations of fallen zones, including an encounter with a Sand-Sinking Giant Worm related to an anomaly found in Egypt.

Candle Dragon told Sun Hang how Sand-Sinking Giant Worms devastated Egypt and described their encounter with one in the Taklamakan region. Sun Hang considered the possibility of traveling to Egypt and asked how Tianshu Tower could reach distant fallen regions, learning about Low Earth Orbit airdrops and their dangers.

• Candle Dragon explained that tens of thousands of enormous Sand-Sinking Giant Worms had devastated Egypt and that one in the Taklamakan region had inflicted four deaths on his expedition before the survivors escaped with a meme sample.
• Candle Dragon said the worms could regenerate, move rapidly through sand and rock, and even swallow aircraft, while Tianshu Tower later judged that they were unlikely to enter Federation territory.
• Candle Dragon recounted how the worms turned Egypt's Nile basin into desert, defeated nuclear and conventional attacks, and forced Cairo to abandon the Nile Delta, though survivors might remain in northern Africa.
• Sun Hang said they could consider Egypt later and asked how far Tianshu Tower had explored fallen regions; Candle Dragon identified the Ural Mountains and described Low Earth Orbit airdrops as a way to reach distant locations.
• Candle Dragon warned that airdrops could miss their targets because fallen regions could not be observed and that powerful Anomalies inhabited Low Earth Orbit, prompting Sun Hang to question whether those Anomalies were truly unaggressive.

Sun Hang discussed plans to reach Egypt and return safely, prompting the Mainframe to prioritize a reusable spacecraft project. He disabled the Mainframe’s monitoring and decided to visit Baikal City’s ruins to investigate the Death Aurora, then wandered Chunming City looking for somewhere to eat.

• Candle Dragon explained that past hunters had returned from distant fallen zones by reusing their drop capsules and finding launch vehicles, but Egypt’s launch facilities were likely destroyed.
• Sun Hang requested a reusable spacecraft, and the Mainframe assigned the project its highest priority and began assembling a team.
• Sun Hang learned that Pei Zongjun’s user manual had enabled the Mainframe to monitor him, so he disabled the monitoring function.
• Candle Dragon left to contact Professor Ouyang, while Sun Hang said he might visit Baikal City’s ruins to see the Death Aurora and heard that more than three hundred soldiers had died or vanished in Baikal’s Remains.
• Sun Hang wandered Chunming City and searched for a restaurant, but the upscale places were full, so he considered finding a cheap place to eat.

Sun Hang followed a trail of materialized negative emotions through Chunming City after learning that an anomaly was competing with Anna for food. He reached an office building and revealed his Hunter License to a suspicious office worker.

• Anna fed on pedestrians' negative emotions on Yongan Street and spotted another anomaly drawing the same emotions away.
• Sun Hang refused to hunt the anomaly while on vacation, but agreed to investigate after Anna threatened to create panic and form a monster from the crowd's emotions.
• Sun Hang followed the drifting haze across Yongan Street and into an office building, where the negative emotions grew denser on each higher floor.
• On the seventh floor, an office lady questioned Sun Hang about his presence and prepared to call security.
• Sun Hang showed the office lady his Hunter License, startling her by revealing that he was an Anomaly Hunter.

Sun Hang tracked a black mist to Room 1925 on the nineteenth floor, only to discover that the anomaly had used the empty unit as bait. He chased its escaping trail down the building and across Yongan Street, where his web-swinging sparked a crowd frenzy and threw local authorities into chaos.

• Sun Hang told the OL that her floor was safe and rushed upstairs when the black mist slowed.
• Sun Hang followed the mist to Room 1925, opened the door with Liquid Metal, and found the unfinished unit empty.
• Sun Hang realized Room 1925 was a decoy when the black mist fled down the building's glass exterior.
• Sun Hang cut through a window and pursued the mist with fungal filaments, using them to swing above Yongan Street.
• Bystanders mistook Sun Hang for Spiderman and chased after him, while traffic control and police called for backup and struggled to contain the crowd.

Sun Hang pursued an Anomaly into a sealed heat dissipation duct and caught it after it revealed its hidden human form. He forced the girl to dress and demanded to know whether she was human or an Anomaly.

• Sun Hang tracked the fleeing Anomaly to Heat Dissipation Pump Duct No. 7 and learned from the Mainframe that the renovated duct was sealed off from the power hub.
• Sun Hang entered the duct, followed blood and clothing scraps, and found the far end of the longest branch blocked by an intact sealing plug.
• Sun Hang sensed the Anomaly nearby, enhanced his vision, and saw distorted images across the tunnel walls.
• The Anomaly formed a naked human body and tried to run, but fungal filaments captured and dragged it back to Sun Hang.
• Sun Hang gave the girl her clothes and held a Liquid Metal flying blade near her neck as he demanded to know whether she was human or an Anomaly.

Sun Hang interrogated an anomaly inhabiting a stolen corpse and learned how it survived in Chunming City. After naming her Xue Yue, he offered to help her remain in the city with a legal identity, while Anna questioned why he did not simply eliminate her.

• Sun Hang restrained the girl and learned that she had stolen a recently deceased body from Chunming City Sixth Hospital to survive among humans.
• The girl explained that she could become intangible for a few minutes once a day and absorbed black fog because ordinary food could not satisfy her hunger.
• The Mainframe identified the corpse as Xue Yue, who had died of congenital heart disease at fifteen; Sun Hang discovered that her body had been revived and its heart repaired after the anomaly possessed it.
• Xue Yue told Sun Hang that she had wandered Chunming City without an identity, doing odd jobs and carefully feeding on black fog to avoid detection.
• Sun Hang named her Xue Yue and promised not to hand her over or dissect her, offering to help make her identity legal.
• Anna's voice reached Sun Hang from afar and asked why he did not simply erase Xue Yue.

Sun Hang tested Xue Yue’s abilities and learned that absorbing negative emotions kept her from suffering terrifying thoughts but did not make her stronger or grant her memories. He took her under his protection, had the Mainframe establish her as his younger sister, and prepared to take her to her home in Liu Su District.

• Sun Hang had Xue Yue demonstrate her strength and asked about her healing, hunger, and ability to absorb negative emotions.
• Xue Yue explained that she became extremely hungry and experienced frightening thoughts when she went without negative emotions, but could not remember those thoughts after eating.
• Sun Hang offered to provide Xue Yue with food and protection in exchange for cooperating with observational experiments, and she agreed.
• The Mainframe warned Sun Hang to stay vigilant, then generated Xue Yue’s identity card and registered Sun Hang as her guardian and brother.
• Anna repeatedly demanded that Sun Hang kill Xue Yue, while he called Xue Yue her little aunt and refused to comply.
• Xue Yue gave Sun Hang her address in Liu Su District, and he asked the Mainframe to arrange transportation there.

Sun Hang and Xue Yue escaped the Heat Dissipation Pump Duct in a hovercar, but Anna attacked them with construction cranes. Sun Hang rescued Xue Yue and brought down a tower crane, then confronted Anna about trying to kill them.

• Sun Hang summoned a driverless hovercar and Xue Yue rode in one for the first time, explaining that she usually traveled on foot to save money.
• As they left the Heat Dissipation Pump Duct, Sun Hang spotted a tower crane dropping hundreds of rebar rods and used Wish Fulfillment to accelerate and reinforce the hovercar.
• Sun Hang evaded one crane jib, but its hook pierced Xue Yue and tore apart the rear of the hovercar after Anna’s power made his defenses collapse.
• Sun Hang cut the hook, caught Xue Yue, and rapidly regenerated her with life force.
• Sun Hang used his metal control to overload and collapse the tower crane, then demanded to know whether Anna was trying to kill him.
• Anna said she had not meant to kill Mommy, only Xue Yue.

After Anna attacked Xue Yue, Sun Hang rescued her and took her toward the underground Huangdao Layer in a disguised hovercar. During the descent through a Vertical Dock, he discovered an adjacent car filled with inexplicably dense black mist and learned from Anna that its occupants were Modified Containers.

• Sun Hang revived Xue Yue, refused to hunt Anna, and arranged for the tower-crane attack to be covered up as an accident.
• Sun Hang disguised a Federation Council hovercar as a battered civilian vehicle and drove with Xue Yue toward the underground Huangdao Layer.
• Sun Hang and Xue Yue entered a Vertical Dock and began descending with a batch of vehicles.
• Xue Yue sensed dense black mist surrounding a neighboring hovercar, and Sun Hang detected negative emotions from hundreds of people despite seeing only two occupants.
• Sun Hang examined the neighboring car and found a man and a woman moving repetitively with hollow expressions, then Anna identified them as Modified Containers.

Sun Hang learned that the two undocumented passengers in a nearby hovercar were Modified Containers and suspected they were connected to the people who had kept Xue Yue as an experimental subject. As he followed the car toward Fuxing Industrial Park, he uncovered suspicious links between its owner, Lin Lun, and the circumstances that had brought Xue Yue to Liu Su District.

• Anna explained that Modified Containers were human bodies altered to store immense quantities of negative emotions, and said the two in the hovercar might be connected to Xue Yue's monstrous nature.
• Sun Hang learned the hovercar was bound for Fuxing Industrial Park and discovered its registered owner was Lin Lun, a pollutant-treatment company chairman who had developed a valuable technology after studying fine arts.
• Sun Hang followed the hovercar after it left the dock, while Anna suggested Lin Lun was involved with the Modified Containers and Xue Yue might have been deliberately released.
• Xue Yue told Sun Hang that a former supermarket employer had arranged her cheap room in Liu Su District, but the employer disappeared and the relative who collected rent had not appeared for half a year.