Chapter Summaries

After Sun Hang reported the enormous blade he had created, the Institute classified it as an Artifact Anomaly and gave it the serial number J2796. Yang Qi explained that Sun Hang could apply to make it his exclusive weapon, leaving its name and transport arrangements undecided.

• The one-eyed female researcher recorded Sun Hang’s account, encrypted the file, and let him leave while asking him to keep his phone available for seventy-two hours.
• Sun Hang took a taxi to the Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute because he did not know the address of his assigned villa, and he told the driver that an anomaly had caused the collapsed buildings.
• Yang Qi messaged Sun Hang about his destruction of a Cult Organization and the Tai Sui anomaly, then confirmed he had not been injured.
• Yang Qi explained that Sun Hang’s Taotie infection might have given him metal-controlling abilities and that the blade could have become anomalous through Tai Sui or Sun Hang’s infection.
• Yang Qi told Sun Hang he could apply to designate the blade as his exclusive weapon and offered to seek a transport drone for the fifteen-meter-long, eight-ton object.
• Yang Qi informed Sun Hang that the Institute had assigned the blade serial number J2796, and she explained that Primal Anomalies were numbered according to the frequency of their memes.

Sun Hang remained on standby while Yang Qi warned him that the Grand Sui’s memes could revive inside him during their digestion period. At the research institute, Lu Hongming persuaded him to consider returning to the South City Public Cemetery, but Sun Hang had not yet decided whether to help.

• Yang Qi refused Sun Hang’s offer to investigate the south of the city, warning that the Blood Moon could trigger a backlash from the Grand Sui’s memes.
• Sun Hang arrived at the Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute and saw staff unloading the container holding the Aberrant Long Blade.
• Two bodyguards escorted Sun Hang to meet Lu Hongming, a Tianfu City Management Committee member, in a black sedan.
• Lu Hongming explained that the disappearance of key personnel at the South City Public Cemetery had overloaded Tianfu City’s administration and asked Sun Hang to investigate.
• Lu Hongming told Sun Hang he was free to decide whether to return to the cemetery area, and Sun Hang asked what would happen if he refused.

Sun Hang refused Lu Hongming’s demand to join the search-and-rescue mission, arguing that Yang Qi’s order to keep him on standby was necessary after the Blood Moon affected him. He left the vehicle after warning Lu to care for the families of the fallen, while Lu agreed the Committee would reconsider its response.

• Lu Hongming pressed Sun Hang to go to the South City Public Cemetery and accused him of dereliction of duty, but Sun Hang said he would follow Yang Qi’s orders until she was removed.
• Sun Hang restrained Lu Hongming, the driver, and a soldier with fungal threads, then warned that the Blood Moon had made him unusually aggressive and that prolonged exposure could turn him into an anomaly.
• Sun Hang released the three men and Lu reluctantly agreed that Yang Qi’s position might be right, saying the Committee would discuss the matter further.
• Sun Hang asked Lu to provide for the families of the investigators and Peacekeepers killed in the previous night’s operation, then left the vehicle.

Sun Hang visited the Anomaly Research Institute, where Song Yarong explained that the Aberrant Long Blade, designated J2796, had a gravitational anomaly and that Sun Hang had likely created it. After Ment proposed ways to use the blade to counter gravity, Song Yarong and Ment argued over who should lead its research, leaving Sun Hang wary of Ment’s advice.

• Sun Hang entered the Anomaly Research Institute and met Song Yarong, who took him to J2796’s temporary containment room.
• Song Yarong used her artificial eye to reveal that J2796’s abnormal gravitational field offset its own weight and extended only about two centimeters from its surface.
• Song Yarong said Sun Hang had likely created J2796 by giving it a physical form and the meme of the Anomalization Virus.
• Sun Hang asked whether J2796 could let him fly, and Song Yarong explained that its limited field would make that impractical unless its range could be altered.
• Ment suggested reshaping J2796 into armor, but Song Yarong criticized his idea and argued with him over who should lead the research.
• Sun Hang asked Ment whether he planned to melt J2796 and inject it into his blood vessels, and Ment denied it.

Sun Hang used the Aberrant Long Blade in liquid form, then felt a resonance draw him to the rooftop, where he experienced a vision of Tianfu City beneath dark, motionless clouds. The director explained that the Blood Moon and its anomalous zone had vanished with 1,755 search-and-rescue personnel, including Yang Qi, and named Yang Lian as her replacement.

• Sun Hang used mycelium to breach the containment chamber and let the Aberrant Long Blade flow into his body before drawing it back out.
• Sun Hang sensed something on the rooftop and rushed there, where he saw Tianfu City shrouded in dense fog and dark clouds.
• The director arrived and told Sun Hang he had resonated with the anomalous object again; the Blood Moon and its zone had disappeared.
• The director said 1,755 search-and-rescue personnel, including Yang Qi, were missing, while the 213 people originally lost in the cemetery had been found except for 27.
• The director explained that Sun Hang could detect the object because their memetic frequencies were similar and said Yang Lian would replace Yang Qi at the institute.

Sun Hang helped Yang Lian find a possible weather pattern linked to the next Spacetime Displacement as she searched for her missing sister. They identified May 19 as a potential date, but Yang Lian concluded they needed to prepare their own beacons because the Special Operations Team might not share its data.

• Sun Hang told Yang Lian that the Federation's Special Operations Team would handle the cemetery incident's follow-up, but Yang Lian insisted she would keep searching for her sister.
• Wang Xiyi explained that she had killed her infected older sister after losing control of her strength.
• Sun Hang suggested that Yang Lian compare upcoming weather with the heavy-cloud conditions he had seen during the Spacetime Displacement.
• Yang Lian checked the Meteorological Bureau's data and found that May 19 was the only windless day in the next fifteen days with overcast skies and low atmospheric pressure.
• Wang Xiyi said the Special Operations Team planned to airdrop 140,000 beacons, but Yang Lian decided to prepare at least 12,000 of their own in case the team withheld information.

Sun Hang realized the people who returned from South City Public Cemetery and the cemetery itself remained tied to anomalous spacetime, making the returnees potential Anomaly Nodes. A test revealed that their sense of time still differed from the real world, confirming the danger remained active.

• Yang Lian said the returned attendants reported that only five hours had passed inside the displaced area, and that twenty-seven people sent to seek help had not returned.
• Sun Hang concluded that South City Public Cemetery and the returned people belonged to a different spacetime and warned that they could become Anomaly Nodes.
• Wang Xiyi ordered the returned people brought to the institute so they could test Sun Hang's theory.
• Sun Hang asked the three returnees whether it was dark outside, and the female administrator said it was nighttime despite the bright afternoon sun.
• The electronic clock showed 1:30 p.m., but the female administrator insisted it was 3:30 a.m., leaving the room in stunned silence.

Sun Hang and Yang Lian failed to persuade the Management Committee to gather the missing people, while the Council representatives’ plane had already departed. After a Special Operations Team Leader forced an air base commander to launch fighter jets to intercept the plane, Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi set out to join him and pressure the Committee.

• Yang Lian told Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi that the Management Committee refused to intervene and dismissed the missing people’s visions as hallucinations.
• Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi discussed the Committee’s refusal and the risks of trying to gather the missing people by force.
• A Field Operations Department operative reported that two fighter jets had taken off to intercept the Council representatives’ special plane.
• The operative revealed that the Special Operations Team Leader had held the air base commander at gunpoint to force the launch, and the base had gone on Level One alert.
• Sun Hang announced that he, Yang Lian, and Wang Xiyi would go to Longquan Post and threatened to escalate the hostage situation unless the Committee gathered the missing people.

Sun Hang, Yang Lian, and Wang Xiyi traveled through Longquan Mountain’s military checkpoints to reach the air force base, where soldiers had sealed the area after the commander was kidnapped. Sun Hang warned the guards that the kidnapping might be connected to an anomaly, but the soldiers still refused to let them pass without authorization.

• Sun Hang drove Yang Qi’s military-issued vehicle through the checkpoints while he, Yang Lian, and Wang Xiyi discussed the kidnapping and the risk of the conflict escalating.
• The group passed six more checkpoints before heavily armed soldiers stopped them near the air force base.
• Sun Hang identified himself and Wang Xiyi as Tianfu City Anomaly Hunters and said their mission target was inside the base.
• The NCO refused to let the group proceed and ordered them to get out of the vehicle and wait for authorization.
• Sun Hang invoked Night Fiend’s name and told the NCO that an anomaly might have influenced the kidnapper.

Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi entered the air force base after Sun Hang persuaded the guards to let them through, then learned that the hijacker and the base commander were trapped on the Command Tower’s fourth floor. The base had surrounded the tower with overwhelming firepower, and the standoff remained unresolved as they approached.

• Sun Hang convinced the sergeant to admit him and Wang Xiyi by implying the hijacker might be infected with the Anomalization Virus.
• Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi discussed duty, bureaucracy, and whether humanity could survive in a world ruled by anomalies.
• An escort and two armored vehicles brought Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi to the Command Tower, where troops and weapons surrounded the building.
• The accompanying officer told Sun Hang that the hijacker and commander were on the fourth floor and that the hijacker led the Special Operations Team.
• The officer said the team had fought base officers, wounding five officers and one team member, but nobody had died; the standoff continued because the base hesitated to shoot the hijacker.

Sun Hang and his companions investigated a command-room hijacking led by Ye Xuan and pressed the base officers to let him negotiate. The standoff continued as an officer went to seek approval, leaving Sun Hang waiting to see whether they would accept his offer.

• An officer showed Sun Hang and the others surveillance footage of the hijackers holding the base commander hostage behind barricades.
• Yang Lian identified the leader as Ye Xuan, daughter of Councilman Ye Shaochun, and the officer reported that Shaochun had been detained and his plane was returning under escort.
• Sun Hang asked to enter the command room and speak with Ye Xuan, but an officer refused while awaiting a decision from the Federation Council.
• Sun Hang argued that Ye Xuan had not killed the hostage or tried to escape and warned the officers that the Council's likely responses could cost the commander his position.
• The officer went to call for instructions, while Sun Hang told Yang Lian that their identities made them suitable scapegoats.

Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi negotiated with Ye Xuan at Longquanyi Air Force Base, where Ye Xuan was holding the commander hostage. They agreed to wait for the next Spacetime Anomaly on May nineteenth, while the missing people from the South City Public Cemetery incident and the Council Representative were brought to an enclosed camp.

• Wang Xiyi forced open the command room door and let a bullet ricochet off her metallic scales.
• Ye Xuan recognized Sun Hang and asked him when the next Spacetime Anomaly would occur.
• Sun Hang told Ye Xuan that he expected it three days later, on May nineteenth, during the day.
• Ye Xuan agreed to have the missing people from the South City Public Cemetery incident brought to the base, and Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi ended the five-minute negotiation.
• The Tianfu City Management Committee transported the missing people to Longquanyi Air Force Base, and Sun Hang ordered them and the Council Representative confined to an enclosed camp for three days.

Sun Hang prepared the air base for a possible Spacetime Anomaly, arranging an evacuation and beacon deployment while waiting for the predicted event. As May 19 began, the air grew stagnant, and the base braced for what might happen before dawn.

• Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi discussed the Council Representative’s daughter, Sun Hang’s missing memories, and why he had become a hunter.
• Sun Hang discovered that two people were missing from the expected headcount and ordered the military to retrieve Ding Yuanjiang’s feverish children from their home.
• The children’s grandparents accompanied them to the base, bringing the total headcount to 188 instead of the expected 186.
• Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi waited for the predicted event, and Sun Hang said he prepared for the worst-case possibility.
• At midnight on May 19, the air over the base grew stagnant, and Sun Hang noted that five hours remained until dawn.

Sun Hang and the others prepared for an anomaly expected to affect the 188 missing people, whose perceived time lagged ten hours behind the real world. A photograph revealed a clock in Sun Hang’s blurred memory might hold important information, so Wang Xiyi requested an anomalous object to help recover it.

• Sun Hang warned the missing people to remain together, and the senior colonel arranged to maintain order in the barracks as their perceived night began.
• Sun Hang recalled seeing high-rise buildings during the second resonance and asked the research institute to photograph the distant business district.
• Yang Lian and Sun Hang identified the Financial Center Building’s clock showing 5:08 in the new photograph.
• Sun Hang said he remembered a clock in the resonance but could not recall what it showed, while Wang Xiyi suggested that an unseen force was obscuring the memory.
• Wang Xiyi called the director and requested authorization to deploy the contained anomalous object 'Ji 1992' to the air force base.

Sun Hang used the Crystal Ball to recover details from his second resonance and tried to break through the barrier sealing his memories from before the attack. The chapter ended as he pressed harder against that barrier, hoping to recover what he had lost.

• Wang Xiyi explained that the Crystal Ball enhanced memory but could cause vivid recollections, dreams, and Hyperthymesia, and Yang Lian described its former owner's fate.
• Researchers from the Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute brought the Crystal Ball to the air force base and warned Sun Hang not to touch it for more than 120 seconds.
• Sun Hang placed his palm on the Crystal Ball and recovered the time shown on the Financial Center Building clock: 3:15 on May 19, Year 4719 of the Lunar Calendar.
• Sun Hang used the Crystal Ball to trace his memories back before waking in the hospital and sensed a membrane sealing the memories from before his attack.
• Sun Hang pushed harder against the membrane, trying to recover his lost memories.

Sun Hang broke through a barrier in his memories and encountered three monkey statues, then returned to reality as the Christmas Crystal Ball shattered. He confirmed that the abnormal event would occur at 3:15 p.m. and ate with Wang Xiyi as the base prepared for it.

• Sun Hang entered a white space and found three monkey statues covering their eyes, ears, and mouth.
• Sun Hang pried at the statue covering its eyes, and its light destroyed the vision and apparently destroyed him before he returned to reality.
• The Christmas Crystal Ball cracked apart, and researchers reported that Ji 1992's memetic frequency had disappeared.
• Sun Hang told the senior colonel that the Financial Center Building showed 3:15 p.m. as the time of the coming abnormal change.
• The base expanded its blockade zone and distributed meals, while Sun Hang shared his cilantro dishes with Wang Xiyi.

Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi discussed how the Federation created infected children to produce Anomaly Hunters and how Wang Xiyi had survived the experiments. Wang Xiyi asked Sun Hang to eat her when her remaining lifespan ran out, while the two agreed that the people marked by the Spacetime Anomaly might need to be abandoned to prevent greater harm.

• Wang Xiyi told Sun Hang that she had been infected with the Black Dragon meme in a Federation experiment and was the only survivor among fifty children.
• Wang Xiyi guessed that Sun Hang had been infected with Taotie because his presence made her instincts sense a dangerous predator.
• Wang Xiyi asked Sun Hang to eat her when the time came, and Sun Hang answered with jokes about how she should be cooked.
• Sun Hang said he planned to gather the marked people but did not intend to save them, since they had become Sunk Cost and the Spacetime Anomaly could cause greater harm.
• Wang Xiyi warned Sun Hang that a Hunter should not openly express that view, and Sun Hang compared the impossible choice to a runaway tram and a toilet plunger.

Sun Hang waited with the military for the anomaly to occur, realizing that its predicted time had to be adjusted by ten hours. When it began, people in the barracks started vanishing, while reports revealed a wider outbreak of anomalies across Shu Province.

• At 3:15 p.m. on May 19, nothing happened, so Sun Hang concluded that the predicted time reflected the missing people's perspective and that the anomaly would occur at 1:15 a.m. on May 20.
• While they waited, Yang Lian told Sun Hang she had studied Anomaly Studies to follow her sister and said she would find a way to save her.
• At 1:15 a.m., a person fled the barracks and vanished as his body turned transparent, and other people rushed out behind him.
• Sun Hang watched Drone Four's footage and saw that the anomaly was spreading to two elderly people who had not originally been marked.
• Song Yarong reported a massive outbreak of anomalies at the southern cemetery, including anomalies previously recorded as destroyed, and the General Anomaly Investigation Bureau reported that Yi San - Eternal Night had reappeared across Shu Province.

Sun Hang, Wang Xiyi, Ye Xuan, and the other hunters headed for South City Cemetery as anomalies emerged and overwhelmed Tianfu City's weakened forces. Ye Xuan outlined a plan to hold the anomalies at South City Bridge until the military detonated explosives, while reinforcements assembled.

• Sun Hang and Yang Lian assessed the disappearing people at the temporary camp and learned that the Investigation Bureau had lost most of its personnel and field capability.
• Sun Hang identified South City Cemetery as the anomalies' spawn point and arranged a helicopter to take the available fighters there.
• Ye Xuan joined the mission with four Anomaly Hunters from her team and said she could fight without special protection.
• Sun Hang, Wang Xiyi, Ye Xuan, Yang Lian, and the others boarded a military helicopter bound for South City Bridge.
• Ye Xuan said the hunters had to hold the anomalies at the bridge until the Fifth Armored Brigade's explosives detonated, while city and regional forces coordinated reinforcements.

Sun Hang and Ye Xuan discussed the threat Eternal Night posed to Shu Province, including the Federation’s plans if it continued. Their helicopter then spotted an anomaly in Tianfu City, and Yang Lian identified it as Pregnant Girl, a previously eliminated anomaly whose history began with her murder and burial alive.

• Sun Hang asked Ye Xuan about Eternal Night, and she explained its past duration, the danger of B6 Moon on full-moon nights, and the possible evacuation or abandonment of Shu Province.
• Sun Hang questioned whether the Federation would abandon even its capital if Eternal Night appeared there, and Ye Xuan said it would.
• A shrill wail came from the urban district, and Wang Xiyi ordered the helicopter to hover as the group spotted a bloated humanoid anomaly on an Office Building.
• Yang Lian identified the anomaly as C634 Girl, also known as Pregnant Girl, who had supposedly been eliminated sixty-five years earlier.
• Yang Lian recounted how Pregnant Girl was imprisoned by her boyfriend, buried alive after difficult labor, and later killed his family and blood relatives, leaving twenty-one dead.
• Sun Hang asked how Anomaly Hunters had eventually eliminated Pregnant Girl.