Chapter Summaries

Jin Hongyi broke free from the mycelial puppets through an emotion-induced anomaly transformation driven by rage, then nearly killed Chen Jing before Sun Hang subdued him with an enhanced inhibitor. Sun Hang said Jin Hongyi had not transformed completely and called for an Eternal Freeze Coffin to contain him.

• Xue Yue sensed Jin Hongyi’s intense emotions, and Sun Hang saw a crimson pillar erupt from the mycelial mass around him.
• Jin Hongyi transformed amid blazing heat and blood mist, then tore through the mycelial puppets and fought his way into Sector Four.
• Chen Jing approached Jin Hongyi and asked whether he still recognized him, but Jin Hongyi knocked him down and raised his bone blades to strike.
• Jin Hongyi stopped just before killing Chen Jing, then Sun Hang injected him with an enhanced inhibitor and rendered him unconscious.
• Sun Hang told Chen Jing that Jin Hongyi had not transformed completely and asked Candle Dragon to request an Eternal Freeze Coffin from Dragon City.

After the Three Great Families halted their assaults on the sinkhole, Chen Jing learned that Jin Hongyi had suffered emotional anomalization caused by anger and that his condition had been temporarily contained. Sun Hang identified Jin Hongyi’s unusual resistance to foreign memes and considered bringing him to Egypt, while the hunters prepared to wait for reinforcements and faced dwindling supplies.

• The Three Great Families’ hunting parties stopped attacking the sinkhole after losing twenty-three people, and the mycelial puppets retreated underground.
• Sun Hang told Chen Jing that Jin Hongyi remained unconscious in a makeshift cold-storage setup and would likely need a permafrost coffin.
• Chen Jing used Tianshu Tower’s Mainframe to learn that Jin Hongyi’s infection was emotional anomalization caused by accumulated anger, and heard about a similar case called the Berserker.
• Sun Hang said Jin Hongyi rejected foreign memes so strongly that he could act as an insulator, and considered taking him to Egypt as a hunter named Berserker.
• Chen Jing said the Three Great Families would wait for reinforcements led by the Bai Family’s eldest daughter, expected in ten days, while Sun Hang pointed out that Charles’s group was running short on supplies.

After securing his mother’s transplant and a higher allowance, Cheng Ming honored his deal with a mysterious girl and traveled to Longcheng for the encirclement operation. There, a Bai Shi Group recruiter tried to persuade him to join its hunting party, and Cheng Ming agreed only to consider visiting the selection site.

• Chen Jing offered to supply the survivors, and Sun Hang advised him to sell provisions at Yumen prices rather than give them away.
• Cheng Ming arrived in Longcheng, grateful that his mother’s transplant fees had been waived but bound by his deal with the mysterious girl to join the operation and earn a place on a harder mission.
• Cheng Ming surveyed Longcheng’s military defenses and set off on foot toward his cheap inn after finding no buses or available shared bikes.
• A fashionably dressed young man identified Cheng Ming as an out-of-town hunter and introduced himself as a Bai Shi Group employee.
• The recruiter offered free gear, supplies, a guide, and a ten-percent bounty subsidy in exchange for Cheng Ming joining the Bai Shi hunting party.
• Cheng Ming questioned why the recruiter was approaching him, and the young man admitted he had a quota and invited him to visit the selection site.

Cheng Ming joined headhunter Li Ming on the way to the Three Great Families’ hunter corps selection in Dragon City, learning that the operation would target a fungus-type Anomaly and that the families would supply equipment. He reached Dragon City Stadium as the gates opened and entered with the waiting hunters.

• Cheng Ming checked Bai Shi Group’s official recruitment notice, and Li Ming admitted he wanted Cheng Ming to apply through him for a commission and a chance to meet his quota.
• Cheng Ming learned that Li Ming had singled him out because he appeared to be a lone hunter, and Li Ming said the selection site was Dragon City Stadium.
• Cheng Ming read that the hunt would target a fungus-type Anomaly vulnerable to fire, and Li Ming assured him the Three Great Families would provide flamethrowers and incendiary grenades.
• Cheng Ming and Li Ming arrived at Dragon City Stadium at 1:45 p.m., where more than a hundred hunters were already waiting.
• The stadium gates opened at two, and Cheng Ming joined the hunters streaming inside.

Cheng Ming was tested for a place in Bai Shi Group’s Hunter corps and, after a mysterious girl urged him to claim he was combat-type, faced the G09 biochemical robot. His perception of time slowed during the fight, and the chapter ended as he aimed his pistol at G09’s head.

• Cheng Ming waited in the lounge, heard a mysterious voice, and was called to Venue Five as he wondered whether time had passed unusually quickly.
• During the interview, time stopped and the stone-faced girl mouthed that Cheng Ming should identify himself as combat-type, so he did.
• Cheng Ming chose a pistol and two daggers for the combat power test against Bai Shi Group’s G09 biochemical robot.
• G09 charged, but Cheng Ming perceived its attack in slowed time, dodged, and struck its back with a dagger that was knocked from his hand.
• After G09 healed and charged again, Cheng Ming drew his pistol and aimed at its head.

Cheng Ming’s shooting and newfound burst of speed let him counter G09 during the Hunters’ recruitment test, but Instructor Meng raised the test’s intensity to probe his limits. Cheng Ming could still stop and join the Hunters, leaving his decision about continuing unresolved.

• Cheng Ming shot G09 several times, but it healed within seconds and its strengthened body became resistant to his pistol rounds.
• Trapped against the glass wall, Cheng Ming realized his body could suddenly move as quickly as his slowed perception allowed and slipped behind G09 to fire at close range.
• The interviewers debated whether Cheng Ming’s speed was a limited burst ability, while the middle-aged woman objected to Instructor Meng pushing him too hard.
• The young girl ordered the test to continue, and Instructor Meng raised G09’s Anomaly cell activity and mechanical output to their maximum levels.
• Cheng Ming heard the test’s intensity had increased and knew he could still give up and join the Hunters.

Cheng Ming’s combat assessment turned dangerous when G09 transformed and seized him, while his ability failed. The control console and suppressant system failed to stop G09, whose face revealed glowing scarlet eyes.

• Cheng Ming hesitated over whether to continue the assessment, but G09 transformed into a gorilla-like machine and pounced on him.
• G09 seized Cheng Ming as his speed and the slowing effect in his vision vanished, leaving him in severe pain.
• Instructor Meng ordered the technicians to stop the test, but they reported that cutting G09’s power had failed.
• Tao Ge tried to inject suppressant into G09, but the injection failed, and the control console later crashed.
• G09 kept moving as its mask fell away and scarlet eyes opened on its featureless face.

Cheng Ming awakened red spikes that stopped G09 and survived the test, while Bai Shi officials ordered an investigation and tried to contain the incident. Tao Ge later found an unknown Meme contaminant in G09’s remains, but the footage showed that G09 had lost control before Cheng Ming used his ability.

• Cheng Ming’s red spikes pierced G09’s palm, and G09’s Anomaly tissue dissolved until only its mechanical skeleton remained.
• Medical staff rescued Cheng Ming, and Meng Yunfeng warned Tao Ge that G09’s failure could cost Bai Shi Group its City Defense Army contract and the R&D project.
• The expressionless girl gave Tao Ge one week to find the cause of G09’s loss of control and ordered Cheng Ming recruited into the Hunter Corps.
• Tao Ge and Xiao Li tested G09’s remains repeatedly until one sample turned red and revealed an external Meme unrelated to G09’s own Meme.
• Tao Ge reviewed the fight footage and saw that G09 lost control before Cheng Ming’s red spikes appeared, leaving the cause unresolved.

Tao Ge concluded that Anomaly 116 may have triggered G09’s loss of control, but Meng Yunfeng warned him that Bai Shi Group would reject any investigation and abandon the project to protect its ties with Tianshu Tower. Tao Ge agreed to prepare an acceptable explanation while privately hoping to recruit Anomaly 116 for research; meanwhile, Cheng Ming recovered in the group’s hospital with Bai Lingqiu’s generous offer and the hunting group’s departure set for a week later.

• Tao Ge argued that contact with Anomaly 116 may have caused G09 to lose control, but Meng Yunfeng forbade him from investigating Anomaly 116 and warned that the board would scrap the project.
• Meng Yunfeng told Tao Ge to produce an explanation acceptable to the board, the City Defense Army, and Tianshu Tower within eight hours, and said Bai Lingqiu would handle Cheng Ming.
• Tao Ge said he still wanted to privately invite Anomaly 116 to cooperate with research, but Meng Yunfeng insisted the group would abandon G09 and start future projects from scratch.
• Tao Ge stopped the fifteenth experiment, told Xiao Li the project was over, and invited the staff to dinner before going to shower.
• Cheng Ming remained in Bai Shi Group’s hospital, where Bai Lingqiu had apologized and offered him unconditional admission to the hunting group, five times the additional compensation, and deputy-leader authority; the group would depart in a week.

Cheng Ming tested the red-spike ability he had gained from the Anomaly Cactus Ball and worried that it left him unprepared for combat. After leaving his hospital room to check whether Bai Shi Group was restricting his freedom, he discovered its influence extended across the surrounding street and received a message from an unknown number requesting a meeting.

• Cheng Ming sensed streams of heat beneath his skin and briefly began forming one into a red spike, but dispersed it before it fully emerged.
• Cheng Ming told his mother he was safe, browsed the hunter forum, and reflected on the pressure of attracting attention during the hunt.
• Cheng Ming declined the nurses' advances, got out of bed, and asked the doctor whether he could leave the hospital; the doctor said his freedom was not restricted.
• Cheng Ming walked through the hospital garden to a nearby commercial street, where he realized the shops and surrounding area belonged to Bai Shi Group.
• Cheng Ming learned that the juice bar served Bai Shi Group employees and other people in its territory, then received an unfamiliar text asking to meet.

Cheng Ming gave Tao Ge a blood sample to help investigate why G09 had gone out of control, and Tao Ge tested it in his laboratory. The test coincided with a supernatural event, and the next morning Tao Ge was reported dead by suicide.

• A young woman met Cheng Ming privately and explained that Tao Ge wanted his Meme sample to determine whether it had caused G09 to lose control.
• Cheng Ming agreed to provide the sample without accepting Tao Ge’s payment, and the woman brought the sample to Tao Ge.
• Tao Ge began testing Cheng Ming’s sample in the laboratory, where the lights and his phone failed and a strange face appeared on a computer screen.
• The face made of static smiled at Tao Ge after he asked who it was.
• The next morning, Meng Yunfeng learned that Tao Ge had apparently shot himself while staring at the computer screen.

At Nanhua Town, Sun Hang’s group discussed Cheng Ming’s appointment as vice captain of the Three Great Families’ Hunter Group and learned that he had defeated a runaway G09 biochemical robot. Candle Dragon revealed that the G09’s failure was tied to Cheng Ming, but Bai Shi Military Industry’s explanation was false, leaving the reason for the malfunction unresolved.

• Sun Hang and his companions joked about their quiet days at the mine pit and learned that Cheng Ming had joined the second-phase Hunter Group as its vice captain.
• Candle Dragon explained that Cheng Ming had defeated a runaway G09 biochemical robot whose strength matched a Class B-Low hunting target.
• Candle Dragon said Cheng Ming had displayed a previously unseen ability linked to his Anomaly Cactus Ball, while his infection progression remained stable.
• The group speculated about how Cheng Ming had gained or concealed his strength, and Charles recalled another hunter who had awakened powerful abilities when facing death.
• Sun Hang asked why the G09 had lost control, and Candle Dragon said Bai Shi Military Industry had ended the project after issuing a false report; its project lead had committed suicide.

Sun Hang and his companions discussed the risks of their hunting party and Charles remembered a friend who had died without recognition. Meanwhile, Cheng Ming’s convoy crossed the Hexi Corridor, and Cheng Ming fell into a blood-red world where he could not remember his mother’s face or ward and tried to find help at her hospital.

• Sun Hang dismissed the disorderly hunters, while Yang Qiaoxi and Charles questioned whether the group could recruit capable members for the Egypt expedition.
• Charles described how a friend had saved his life but vanished without remains, family, or anyone left to remember him.
• Cheng Ming’s convoy escaped a Death Sandstorm at the cost of nearly a fifth of its members, and Miss Shadow said the survivors faced another selection on the way to Nanhua Town.
• Cheng Ming fell asleep in the vehicle and awoke in a red version of Kuaiji, where he realized a strange creature had distorted the area and erased his memories of his mother.
• Cheng Ming went to his mother’s hospital to get her out before the contaminated area could be destroyed, but the old guard did not respond when Cheng Ming called to him.

Cheng Ming dreamed that an Anomaly-infected hospital consumed him and erupted into Blood Mist, then woke in a Bai Shi Group vehicle and learned that dreams might overlap with reality in the era of Anomalies. He reviewed the Hunter Group’s plans and questioned why he had been appointed deputy leader as the group continued toward Nanhua Town.

• In his nightmare, Cheng Ming entered an infected hospital to find his mother, discovered the sixth-floor patients and staff had infected him, and exploded into Blood Mist with them.
• Cheng Ming woke in the vehicle, and Miss Shadow explained that hunters commonly suffered nightmares and that an Anomaly might be able to make dreams real.
• Bai Lingqiu told Cheng Ming that the target Anomaly near Nanhua Town remained dormant and that the two Hunter Groups would launch a new offensive after joining up.
• Cheng Ming questioned his appointment as deputy leader, and Miss Shadow explained that having an independent hunter in command could reassure hunters outside the Three Great Families.

The convoy arrived at the sinkhole near Nanhua Town, where Bai Lingqiu left Cheng Ming to organize the camp and met with Chen Jing and Tianshu Tower’s Sun Hang. Sun Hang uncovered that Miss Shadow was the real Bai Lingqiu and asked her about the unusual ability that came from an anomalous picture book.

• The Hunter Group reached the sinkhole after losing only one vehicle, and Bai Lingqiu left Cheng Ming in charge of setting up camp.
• Bai Lingqiu and Chen Jing told Sun Hang that they planned to conduct fire reconnaissance in the sinkhole at seven the next morning, using near-expiry ammunition to reduce risks to the Hunters.
• Sun Hang asked Bai Lingqiu and Miss Shadow to remain after the others left, then revealed that he had noticed Bai Lingqiu seeking her bodyguard’s advice during the tactical meeting.
• Miss Shadow removed her mask and revealed that she was the real Bai Lingqiu, while the apparent Bai Lingqiu was a surgically altered stand-in arranged by the family to protect the infected heiress’s inheritance.
• The real Bai Lingqiu showed Sun Hang the picture book Xiazhou Records of Strange Tales, explaining that it had infected her and that she had once summoned something from its pages into the real world.

Bai Lingqiu told Sun Hang how her first Anomaly Meme infection led to a deadly monster emerging from her picture book and explained the risks and randomness of her summoning ability. Sun Hang suggested there was a place where she could use it with less danger, and asked whether she wanted to hear about it.

• Bai Lingqiu recalled falling ill after reading a picture book and summoning a bird-headed, human-bodied monster that killed four people before corporate guards stopped it.
• Bai Lingqiu explained that her summons obey her only while she is conscious and that she avoids using her ability because the result is random and can become uncontrollable.
• Bai Lingqiu told Sun Hang that her ability draws creatures from Xiazhou Records of Strange Tales, with stronger summons consuming more mental energy and having lower odds.
• Bai Lingqiu explained that weaker summons allow her to use the ability again quickly, while stronger ones cause a longer cooldown.
• Sun Hang suggested a place beyond the Hexi Corridor uninhabited zone that could suit Bai Lingqiu's ability and asked if she wanted to hear more.

Sun Hang asked Bai Lingqiu to join the Egypt operation, offering to remove the Anomaly Meme from her body. After she learned the dangers and heard Sun Hang explain that he could do what Tianshu Tower could not, she agreed to consider it and asked what the mission’s target was.

• Bai Lingqiu asked whether she could refuse Sun Hang’s invitation to the Egypt operation.
• Sun Hang offered to remove the Anomaly Meme from Bai Lingqiu’s body if she participated, and her double grew suspicious and reached for her gun.
• Bai Lingqiu’s double tried to shoot Bai Lingqiu, but the trigger jammed; Bai Lingqiu disarmed her.
• Sun Hang said Tianshu Tower could not cure meme infection, but he could, and asked Bai Lingqiu to keep his ability confidential.
• Bai Lingqiu recognized Sun Hang as the hunter who had resolved the Eternal Night and Chimera crises in Tianfu City and said she would consider his offer.
• As Sun Hang left the tent, Bai Lingqiu asked him to reveal the Egypt mission’s target.

Sun Hang learned about Bai Lingqiu’s monster-summoning ability and its limits before the hunters began an operation to locate the Anomaly beneath a sinkhole. The first phase revealed a vast mass of mycelial puppets obscuring the giant fungus-type Anomaly.

• Sun Hang asked Bai Lingqiu about the Sphinx, and she explained that her picture book summoned creatures from Xiazhou legends, including Wei Xiu and potentially Kui Niu.
• Bai Lingqiu told Sun Hang that her summons were real, could be sent back by thought, and left blank pages if they died or remained in the world.
• Sun Hang concluded that Bai Lingqiu’s picture book might be a sealing artifact and noted that Dragon City’s institutions had not properly researched her.
• The next morning, Chen Jing ordered the first phase of the operation as Bai Shi Group armored vehicles and hundreds of drones assembled near the sinkhole.
• The drones dropped marker rounds into the sinkhole, revealing many mycelial puppets that blocked the hunters’ view of the giant fungus-type Anomaly.

Chen Jing devised a desperate plan to send hunters through a temporary passage in the Cordyceps anomaly’s puppet-filled pit after incendiary shells proved ineffective. Cheng Ming volunteered to lead the assault team, prompted by the mysterious girl, who promised to keep him alive until their deal was fulfilled.

• Chen Jing’s incendiary barrage failed to kill most of the mycelium puppets, which had adapted to fire.
• Chen Jing and Bai Lingqiu concluded that limited ammunition ruled out saturation bombardment, while the puppets could recover from being blown apart.
• Chen Jing proposed concentrating the remaining firepower to open a temporary passage and dropping hunters into the pit before it closed.
• Chen Jing offered triple mission rewards, five times the compensation, and a three-million-cash card to anyone joining the assault team.
• Cheng Ming stood up and volunteered to lead the assault team, then realized the mysterious girl had briefly taken control of him.
• The mysterious girl told Cheng Ming she had helped him seize the opportunity and would keep him safe until he fulfilled their deal.

Twenty-eight hunters volunteered for a near-suicidal assault on the Anomaly at the bottom of the pit, and Cheng Ming became their captain. As the team prepared, Sun Hang chose not to intervene, while Yang Qiaoxi and Candle Dragon judged the hunters’ chances of survival to be nearly nonexistent.

• Twenty-seven hunters joined Cheng Ming to form a twenty-eight-person assault team, and Meng Yunfeng assessed their confidence and abilities.
• Yang Qiaoxi told Sun Hang that Cheng Ming had volunteered to lead the suicide squad, but Sun Hang said the doubts about Cheng Ming would no longer matter if he died.
• Yang Qiaoxi described the expensive equipment and compensation offered to the assault team, then insisted they were unlikely to survive.
• Candle Dragon said his ability was ineffective against fungus-type Anomalies and that he had no chance of killing the target quickly.
• Charles asked whether Candle Dragon believed the assault team would all die in the pit.