Chapter Summaries

Sun Hang investigated Longyan Temple on Longyanlei, where the first Infiltration Group hunters had vanished. He discovered hidden humanoid Anomalies that were actually the missing hunters, whose bodies fused into a concealed mass of flesh after he cut them down.

• Sun Hang landed in Longyan Temple's courtyard and found a fresh fork-shaped mark where the first Infiltration Group hunters had arrived.
• He learned that the first four hunters had split up and lost contact, and that the auras of all the hunters who landed there had vanished.
• Sun Hang entered the main hall and found that the temple was protected from Longyanlei's tremors, while unseen gazes seemed to watch him.
• Sun Hang attacked the hidden figures with mycelium, revealing four invisible humanoid Anomalies that rushed at him.
• Sun Hang used J2796 to cut down the four Anomalies and recognized their bodies as the missing hunters.
• The hunters' severed limbs fused into a mass of twisted flesh, which concealed itself and retreated from Sun Hang.

Sun Hang became trapped in an anomalous space at Longyanlei after finding four missing hunters transformed into an Anomaly. He discovered a cement Buddha statue with a head modeled after his own, and suspected that damaging it might also harm him.

• Sun Hang spread mycelium through the hall to track the concealed Anomaly and found the four missing hunters fully anomalized, but communications with the command center failed.
• Sun Hang stepped outside and found that Longyanlei’s surroundings, including the aircraft and drones, had vanished into an anomalous space.
• Sun Hang returned to the hall to investigate the hunters’ corpse-stitched Anomaly, but it had disappeared.
• Sun Hang examined the damaged Buddha statue and found its severed head embedded in its back.
• Sun Hang pulled out the head and saw that it bore his own face; when he tried to crush it, an invisible force squeezed his head until he let go.
• Sun Hang suspected the head might work like a voodoo doll and feared that breaking it would injure him.

Sun Hang reattached his head to the Buddha statue, ending the curse that transferred its injuries to him, but the statue came alive and rapidly regenerated from J2796’s attacks. Sun Hang discovered that he could wound the statue by injuring himself, leaving him with a possible way to fight back.

• Sun Hang tested the head’s injury-transfer effect and found that putting it back in its recess made him suffocate and lose his balance.
• Sun Hang attached his head to the Buddha statue and confirmed that damage to the statue no longer injured him.
• J2796 attacked the living statue, but it repeatedly rebuilt itself and advanced on Sun Hang.
• Sun Hang noticed scratches on the statue that did not heal after debris flew through the hall.
• Sun Hang stabbed himself in the abdomen, and a deep gash appeared across the Buddha statue’s abdomen.

Sun Hang fought the Buddha statue inside Longyan Temple while his team dealt with the Giant Ghoul outside and learned that a nuclear strike could be launched against Longyanlei in seventeen minutes. Wang Xiyi set out to reach Sun Hang, carrying a dangerous serum that could enhance him or turn him into a mindless Anomaly.

• Sun Hang let the Buddha statue strike at him, then smashed its head apart with his own head.
• Ye Jiu, Wang Xiyi, and their allies destroyed the Giant Ghoul, but learned Sun Hang had lost contact inside Longyan Temple.
• Ye Xuan explained that Plan B could involve a nuclear strike near Tianfu City, with the earliest launch in seventeen minutes.
• Wang Xiyi decided to fly to Longyanlei to find Sun Hang, while Yang Qi offered to accompany her and was refused.
• Yang Qi gave Wang Xiyi a sample of Gluttonous Meme serum, which could strengthen Sun Hang but might turn him into a mindless Anomaly.

After the Buddha statue shattered, Sun Hang was trapped in an illusion that replayed scenes from his memories, including a confrontation with Ye Jiu. He returned to Longyan Temple, uncertain whether he was still dreaming, just as a Hunter fled the main hall and reported that the Buddha statues had started moving.

• Sun Hang found himself back on the morning of the Taishui hunt and tested the memory-like illusion by speaking with the old man and taking his Brown Sugar Glutinous Rice Cake.
• Sun Hang discovered that his sensory range detected no infected people and that events or objects outside his memories could not behave normally in the illusion.
• Sun Hang was transported to Tianfu City's commercial district, where he saw Yang Qi's face on a billboard and let Ye Jiu strike him without resisting.
• Sun Hang returned to Longyan Temple's courtyard and found his wristband still displaying garbled text, leaving him unsure whether he had escaped the illusion.
• A Hunter burst out of the main hall and begged Sun Hang for help, saying the Buddha statues inside had started moving.

Sun Hang realized he was exploring Longyan Temple’s memories and rewound them to uncover a hidden cause of the temple’s decline. He witnessed two novice monks conceal their Master’s strange illness and was led to the guarded rooms where the Master was being kept.

• Sun Hang recognized that the hunter and backpacker belonged to Longyan Temple’s memories, which had become mixed with his own.
• Sun Hang entered a meditative state and rewound the temple’s memories until he saw two novice monks closing the courtyard gate at dusk.
• The younger novice asked how long their Master could endure, and the older novice warned him not to reveal the illness or risk driving worshippers away.
• Sun Hang followed the novices to the monks’ living quarters, where a monk told the older novice to feed the Master carefully and keep liquids off the bedding.

Sun Hang witnessed a memory revealing how Abbot Master Huisan died and how the monks concealed his death. The scene ended with Sun Hang realizing that Huisan’s remains carried the scent of an anomalous creature.

• Sun Hang recognized the bedridden Abbot Master Huisan’s growths as noncontagious Treant Syndrome rather than Anomalization Virus infection.
• The young novice accidentally caused Huisan to choke while feeding him, and Huisan briefly stopped breathing.
• Jue Ming arrived with the fair-faced senior monk, who smothered Huisan beneath the bedding after he began coughing again.
• The senior monk ordered Jue Ming to burn Huisan and the room, and told him to blame the novice and control him.
• Sun Hang saw Huisan’s skeleton amid the flames and detected the scent of an anomalous creature.

Sun Hang learned that Longyanlei may have been driven by an undead seeking revenge and proposed a deal with the skeleton aboard it. As Garuda came under renewed threat, Sun Hang raced to identify people connected to Longyan Temple and uncovered a lead pointing to Li Yuan.

• Sun Hang explained that undead carried intense emotions and purpose, then proposed a deal to the skeleton amid the flames.
• Crow Anomalies attacked Garuda, replicating from their scattered feathers, until they abruptly retreated and hunters spotted Sun Hang’s green signal flare above Longyan Temple.
• Sun Hang asked the Command Center to find former Longyan Temple monks Jue Ming and Jueyuan, who he needed for his deal.
• Yang Qi found that Jue Ming was Xu Zi, who died in a car accident, but could not locate anyone named Jueyuan in the records.
• Sun Hang ordered Yang Qi to question the driver responsible for Jue Ming’s death, who revealed that Wang Tian had paid him to do it.
• Sun Hang told Yang Qi to bring in Li Yuan, Wang Tian’s former employer, and check for a Black Mole on the back of his head.

Sun Hang brought the dying Li Yuan, formerly Jueyuan, to Longyan Temple and threw him into its burning main hall, where the Buddha statues and the fire recalled the blaze he had started years earlier. Longyanlei turned away from Tianfu City and headed southwest toward the fallen zone of the Yundian Plateau.

• Yang Qi and Sun Hang identified the dying Li Yuan as Jueyuan and learned that he had become a wealthy businessman after appearing to acquire his identity and startup money without records.
• Sun Hang woke Li Yuan, brought him to Longyan Temple, and threw him into the main hall as the statues stared at him.
• Sun Hang ordered Yang Qi to suspend the operation and have Bao Si withdraw her ability, despite Yang Qi's concern that Longyanlei might turn toward Tianfu City.
• Longyanlei turned southwest, accelerated away from the city, and was expected to enter the fallen zone of the Yundian Plateau in four hours.
• Sun Hang told Yang Lian they would discuss what happened after they returned and watched Longyanlei recede with its summit fire extinguished.

Sun Hang explained his deal with Longyanlei and learned about the undead being’s treatment of Li Yuan and Zhuque. As the helicopter passed over Tianfu City’s devastation, Sun Hang faced the uncertain future of Shu Province under Eternal Night.

• Sun Hang told Wang Xiyi and Yang Qi that Longyanlei was a resentful spirit and had left Shu Province after he handed Li Yuan over to it.
• Yang Qi explained that Li Yuan’s consciousness might endure torment and that Zhuque remained unconscious despite having normal brain activity.
• Yang Qi told Sun Hang he would receive a reward and three months of leave, but the Federation planned to make him a public hero and an honorary principal.
• Sun Hang joked with Yang Qi, Wang Xiyi, and Sāntǒng about fame and the perks of being a hero.
• Wang Xiyi and the others saw Tianfu City’s destruction and learned the death toll might reach five digits.
• Sun Hang said he did not know whether Shu Province could endure Eternal Night, but hoped the sun might rise tomorrow.

At a secret victory banquet, Sun Hang dodged his medal ceremony and ran into Yang Lian, who had left research to take charge of security on the hotel floor. Yang Lian showed him a video of Reformist Professor Deng Yi, and Sun Hang asked what Reformists were.

• At the banquet, Yang Qi told Sun Hang he would soon receive a medal for helping repel Longyanlei and asked whether he could give a brief speech.
• Sun Hang escaped by leaving behind a dummy made of mycelium, prompting Yang Qi to curse him and Ye Jiu to agree.
• Sun Hang searched the restricted hotel floor for a restroom and found Yang Lian by a window.
• Yang Lian told Sun Hang she had been promoted to manage security on the floor and had decided research was not for her.
• Yang Lian showed Sun Hang a video of Professor Deng Yi speaking at Tianshu Tower's quarterly public report meeting, and Sun Hang asked what a Reformist was.

Sun Hang learned that Professor Deng’s Reformists sought a mass-producible alternative to Anomaly Hunters. Professor Deng demonstrated Li Fire, a bullet that killed a replica of the nearly indestructible Bing 499, and said it could be mass-produced.

• Yang Lian explained that Professor Deng’s hostility toward the infected stemmed from seeing an Anomaly Hunter kill her mother when she was eleven.
• Sun Hang reasoned that the Reformists needed a safe, versatile, low-cost alternative to infected hunters, and Yang Lian let him listen to Professor Deng’s presentation.
• Professor Deng unveiled a pistol and four experimental bullets, then introduced a replica of the regenerative anomaly Bing 499.
• Professor Deng fired a Li Fire bullet at the replica, and black flames burned it to ashes before it could regenerate.
• Professor Deng announced that the anomalies used to make Li Fire could be replicated, allowing the bullets to be mass-produced.

Professor Deng presented Tianshu Tower’s memetically engineered Li Huo bullets, which could suppress the regeneration of anomalies like Bing 499, while the other proposed ammunition types remained years or decades from completion. The military authorized Li Huo’s mass production and combat testing, and Sun Hang questioned whether bullets could ever defeat Rule-type Anomalies.

• Professor Deng explained that years of memetic research had produced Li Huo bullets that neutralized the regenerative ability of anomalies like Bing 499.
• Professor Deng described plans for Spirit Bane, Steel Cutter, and Fate Reversal, which were intended for other anomaly types, including Rule-type Anomalies.
• Sun Hang criticized the long development timelines and the difficulty of designing counters for unknown or mutated anomalies, and Yang Lian conceded that his doubts made sense.
• Professor Deng estimated that Spirit Bane would take five years, Steel Cutter three years, and Fate Reversal twenty to thirty years to develop.
• The military bigwig expanded the research team and funding, ordered Li Huo into mass production, and approved limited field testing with special forces in Shu Province.
• Sun Hang asked whether the Federation had contained a Rule-type Anomaly, and Yang Lian said the only disclosed example was the hunter codenamed Bao Si.

Sun Hang learned that he had been invited to a Hunter Rank Advancement Trial in Chunming City, then slipped out of a hotel ceremony. As he surveyed the freezing, darkened city, he reflected that humanity’s chief struggle during the Eternal Night was against cold, hunger, and dwindling resources.

• Yang Qi told Sun Hang he had been invited to the semiannual Hunter Rank Advancement Trial and explained that passing could earn him federal certification and improved benefits.
• Sun Hang denied being with Yang Lian on the phone, then asked her to help him leave the ceremony; she pointed him toward the exits, but he jumped out a window instead.
• Yang Lian realized Sun Hang had forgotten to return her earpiece.
• Sun Hang used the mycelium and J2796 to descend to the hotel parking lot, where he saw frost and darkness across the surrounding district.
• Sun Hang considered how the Federation was preparing heating belts and refugee camps, and recognized that cold, disease, food shortages, and energy shortages threatened humanity.

Sun Hang spotted a glowing white shadow moving across the rooftop of Shengshu Securities and reported it to Yang Qi, prompting officials to halt the banquet and launch a search. The search found no anomaly or residual memetic information, but investigators discovered rooftop damage suggesting an object weighing at least eight to ten tons had rolled across the building.

• Sun Hang saw a faintly glowing white shadow flash across the rooftop of Shengshu Securities and called Yang Qi to report it.
• Yang Qi alerted her teacher and the director of the Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute, who had Sun Hang confirm what he saw.
• The garrison commander ordered the banquet ended, key personnel escorted, and the area within five kilometers sealed off for an investigation.
• Sun Hang went home after being told to stay reachable, then received a call from Yang Qi about the search results.
• Yang Qi told Sun Hang that investigators found cracks in the rooftop glass curtain wall, apparently caused by an object weighing at least eight to ten tons rolling across it.

Sun Hang learned that the Rank Advancement Trial in Chunming City would begin the next day, though its stages and rules were confidential. He arrived at the research institute's north gate with Yang Qi and met the other hunters preparing to participate.

• Yang Qi told Sun Hang that an unknown anomaly had been reported in the city and that the Countermeasures Committee had formed an investigation team.
• Yang Qi explained that Sun Hang could not bring J2796 or other anomaly equipment to the Rank Advancement Trial, and said Tianshu Tower would likely grant him at least Fifth-Rank certification because he had helped resolve the Longyanlei crisis.
• Sun Hang asked about the trial's participants and format, and Yang Qi warned him not to use Taotie's devouring ability on fellow hunters if the trial included a confrontation stage.
• The next morning, Sun Hang arrived at the research institute's north gate just before nine and found Yang Qi and more than a dozen cloaked hunters waiting there.
• Yang Qi confirmed that the waiting hunters were all participating in the trial.

Sun Hang joined a group of hunters on a military flight out of Eternal Night-affected Shuzhou, learning about tensions within the Xiazhou Federation. The plane crossed into daylight near Fog City, while Shuzhou’s darkness remained mysteriously unobservable from satellites.

• Sun Hang told a tall hunter that he had skipped the medal ceremony because he preferred tangible benefits, while another hunter complained that the search had kept everyone up all night.
• Sun Hang greeted the shuttle bus driver, who said he had sent his wife and child to Fog City because Shuzhou was too dangerous.
• Sun Hang boarded a military transport plane escorted by two optically camouflaged fighters, and Yang Qi explained that the aircraft were intended for conflicts within the Federation rather than fighting anomalies.
• Yang Qi and the tall hunter told Sun Hang that the Federation faced internal discord and tensions between city-states, though such conflicts were not reported publicly.
• The transport plane crossed out of Eternal Night into daylight, and Sun Hang saw the sharp boundary between the bright sky and the darkness covering Shuzhou.
• Yang Qi told Sun Hang that satellite images could not observe Shuzhou, as though its data had been deleted.

Sun Hang and Yang Qi discussed the research value of Shu Province’s Eternal Night before arriving in Chunming City, humanity’s vast five-layer capital. As their transport approached the Taiwei Enclosure’s Skyport, Sun Hang remained struck by the city’s unfamiliarity and scale.

• Yang Qi showed Sun Hang that Shu Province appeared completely black from orbit and explained that Tianshu Tower researchers were heading there to study the Eternal Night.
• Yang Qi offered Sun Hang access to Tianshu Tower’s database, and Sun Hang agreed to explore its materials after they landed.
• Sun Hang and Yang Qi arrived over Chunming City, where Yang Qi described its importance as humanity’s capital and spiritual pillar.
• Sun Hang noticed Chunming City’s layered appearance, and Yang Qi explained its five-layer structure and the decades-long construction of its upper levels.
• A floating platform detached from Taiwei and approached the transport, and Yang Qi identified it as the Taiwei Enclosure’s Skyport and an aerial combat platform.

Sun Hang and the other Hunters began a seven-day trial in Chunming City, where they were declared wanted anomalies and hunted under strict rules. After Sun Hang escaped the floating port and destroyed its surveillance cameras, he jumped from the platform just before the next location upload.

• A staff member told the Hunters their trial began at the floating port and that they had to survive seven days while the city hunted them.
• Sun Hang learned that their identities and permissions were disabled, their locations would be uploaded every two hours, and breaking the rules meant immediate elimination.
• Sun Hang melted a hole through the hangar roof as armored soldiers attacked, while pink-smoke bullets knocked Yang Qi and many other Hunters unconscious.
• Tianshu Tower staff identified Sun Hang as the Gluttonous Meme's infected host and ordered special attention for him after he destroyed the floating port's surveillance cameras.
• Sun Hang knocked out ground crew members, checked that one minute remained until the next location upload, and jumped from the floating port.

Sun Hang survived his fall from Floating Port G57 and discovered he could suppress pain and change his appearance. His escape left him face-to-face with an aberrant husk in a mall alley.

• The Team Leader learned Sun Hang was falling into Ziwei Yuan and ordered Puppet Master to intercept him.
• Sun Hang used fungal threads to slow his fall and landed in an alley behind a mall.
• Sun Hang tested his ability to block pain and found it consumed little mental energy.
• Sun Hang changed his face, apparent age, height, and build to disguise himself.
• A ragged figure crawled from a trash bin, and Sun Hang recognized it as an aberrant husk.