Chapter Summaries

A gigantic Flesh Monster awakened in Buffalo City and reached a psychic level of 100,000, threatening to contaminate the refugees and nearby cities. As the outpost withheld a decision on mass destruction and the trapped teams debated their options, Chen Jing insisted their missing teammate might still be able to deal with the monster.

• At the outpost, staff reported that the Flesh Monster’s psychic level had reached 100,000 and was still rising, potentially leading to a city-slaughtering contamination event.
• The gray-haired commander refused to rush into using weapons of mass destruction while 100,000 refugees and the teams remained inside Buffalo City, and he waited for a signal from the Action Team and Infiltrators.
• Inside Buffalo City, the awakened Flesh Monster towered over the city, destroyed buildings with its tentacles, and disrupted communications.
• Xia Chong ordered the team to use a flare to signal the outpost, and the Doctor prepared one, but Chen Jing stopped him and argued that the outpost had not signaled an imminent attack.
• Chen Jing questioned Central City’s motives and resources, then said their remaining teammate at the monster’s center could still resolve the crisis; Gecko said the teammate’s family was powerful.

Buried beneath the ruins, Lu Xin recovered memories of the laboratory children and realized Little Nineteen remembered him as the big monster who had promised to help them escape. He apologized to her, while the monster’s pollution continued spreading through Buffalo City.

• The monster buried Lu Xin, Sister, and Little Nineteen beneath collapsing buildings, while Father held up the rubble to protect them.
• Lu Xin considered giving Father more than 70% trust so they could stop the monster, but feared losing control and becoming a monster who might kill his friends.
• Little Nineteen whispered that the big monster had promised to take the little monsters away, unlocking Lu Xin’s memories of the children in the laboratory.
• Lu Xin remembered that the children had looked to him for help and that Little Nineteen had recognized him rather than feared him.
• Lu Xin hugged Little Nineteen and tearfully apologized for forgetting his promise.

Lu Xin emerged from beneath the rubble with Little Nineteen and faced the Flesh Monster’s god, then reconciled with the shadow and joined forces with Sister. He charged through the sea of flesh toward the god’s main torso, calling it trash.

• The god attacked Lu Xin with tentacles and a mental shock, but Lu Xin’s shadow blocked the attack after he emerged from the rubble carrying Little Nineteen.
• Lu Xin apologized to the shadow and explained that he had remembered what mattered, and the shadow agreed to trust him.
• The god sent a sea of flesh surging toward Lu Xin, who set Little Nineteen down and told her to turn around.
• Sister grabbed Lu Xin’s hand and joined him, while the shadow wrapped around his body and enhanced his charge.
• Lu Xin tore through the sea of flesh toward the god’s main torso and called the god trash.

Lu Xin tore apart the God’s body, then let Father release the power hidden in his shadow to confront the Life entity spreading through Buffalo City. As the shadows began hunting the flesh monsters, Lu Xin watched from above and looked forward to what Father would do next.

• Lu Xin ripped off the God’s limbs and head, but realized the true God was the vast mass of flesh filling Buffalo City.
• Father spread through the city’s shadows, causing the flesh to crystallize and transform into creatures resembling geckos.
• The doctor and Chen Xun sensed a terrifying power awakening, while Chen Xun insisted that the Life entity could not be killed.
• The shadows spread through Buffalo City and attacked the flesh monsters, terrifying the residents and silencing the city.
• Lu Xin stood atop the crystallized Flesh Monster and concluded that Father’s high-intensity pollution could overcome Life’s regeneration.

Lu Xin unleashed Father’s fear, which overwhelmed the Flesh Monsters across Buffalo City and exposed Chen Xun’s mistaken belief about Tyrant. After the threat receded, Lu Xin realized Father’s power was fear and stood atop the crystallized monsters beneath the Crimson Moon, exhausted from overusing his mental power.

• Father’s fear spread through Buffalo City, driving the Flesh Monsters from hiding and crystallizing them in terrified poses.
• The Joint Ability User Squad sensed a terrifying presence watching them, and Gecko’s plea that they were Lu Xin’s colleagues seemed to make it withdraw.
• Chen Jing realized that some crucial information about the situation had been wrong from the beginning.
• Chen Xun recognized that the power in the shadows was fear rather than Tyrant’s, and he questioned what his Teacher had concealed.
• Lu Xin understood that Father had always embodied fear, then surveyed the frozen Flesh Monsters from atop their crystallized mass.

Lu Xin destroyed the Flesh Monster, leaving the city silent and Little Nineteen as a crystal statue. He confronted Chen Xun in the skyscraper, learned that the teacher’s experiment involving him was still ongoing, and fell asleep while Sister dealt with Chen Xun.

• Lu Xin found Little Nineteen transformed into a crystal statue and carried her toward the skyscraper as Father’s power returned to his shadow.
• The joint team emerged from hiding, and Chen Jing told them the mission was complete but Lu Xin was visiting his family.
• Chen Xun tore his hands free and reached for wine, but Lu Xin returned and drank it before confronting him about the failed experiment.
• Chen Xun accused Lu Xin of being a monster and revealed that Lu Xin was still part of the teacher’s ongoing experiment.
• Lu Xin accepted the revelation calmly, asked Sister to deal with Chen Xun, and fell asleep while holding Little Nineteen’s statue.

After the Black Table’s pollution event in Buffalo City ended, the Research Institute debated its stance toward the General Administrative Hall and ordered the recovery of escaped Laboratory Subject No. 9. The coup plotters learned their plans had failed and were summoned to explain themselves, while a black jeep arrived at the outpost.

• Research Institute staff recorded the Buffalo City event as cleared and identified Qinggang as escaped Laboratory Subject No. 9, recommending recovery.
• The Zhongshan-suited old man and the female researcher discussed the General Administrative Hall’s power grab and agreed that others would punish those who violated the rules.
• After the female researcher warned that future crises might be harder to contain, the old man ordered the recovery plan for Laboratory Subject No. 9 to begin.
• At Buffalo City’s eastern outpost, the gray-haired commander watched the pollution readings reach zero and worried that the experiment he had prepared for had failed.
• The coup plotters realized the crisis had ended and received a call from the Research Institute ordering them to report to the General Administrative Hall within half an hour.
• A black jeep drove toward the gray-haired commander, its headlights shining on his face.

After defeating the laboratory monster in Buffalo City, Lu Xin woke to find that Mom had sent Little Nineteen for treatment. He reunited with his colleagues, who confirmed the crisis was over, and decided to speak with the Research Institute before withdrawing.

• Mom told Lu Xin that she had sent Little Nineteen somewhere that could cure her, then praised him for looking after the family.
• Gecko refused to enter the building while waiting for Lu Xin and introduced himself to Xia Chong as the deputy captain of the Solo Squad.
• Lu Xin returned to the joint squad and explained that he had dealt with the laboratory monster before falling asleep from exhaustion.
• Chen Jing and Xia Chong confirmed the crisis was resolved, and the Central City ability users thanked Lu Xin and introduced themselves.
• As military support arrived in devastated Buffalo City, Lu Xin told Chen Jing he wanted to talk with the Research Institute.

After helping resolve Central City's crisis, Lu Xin asked to meet the Research Institute, which agreed and summoned him to Main City No. 2. As the group approached the Institute, Lu Xin spotted the hidden reason the city had no visible defenses: a Mental Monster patrolled the grounds.

• Chen Jing agreed to ask the Research Institute about Lu Xin's request, and Xia Chong relayed it through the Special Purity Department.
• Gecko stayed behind to retrieve their motorcycles while Lu Xin, Chen Jing, and Xia Chong flew back toward Central City.
• Xia Chong took over Chen Jing's call and ordered Central City to release the detained Qinggang members and apologize.
• The Research Institute agreed to meet Lu Xin immediately and asked the group to come to Main City No. 2.
• Lu Xin saw a Mental Monster wandering across the lawn outside the city and realized it served as the Research Institute's defense.

Lu Xin and Chen Jing arrived at the Lunar Eclipse Research Institute, where Xia Chong began sharing confidential information with Chen Jing. Lu Xin went separately to meet someone who might answer his questions about the orphanage, only to find a striking woman asking him to zip up her dress.

• Lu Xin saw a powerful Mental Monster guarding Main City No. 2 as their vehicle entered the city.
• At the Research Institute, Lu Xin kicked a wayward soccer ball into the goal and annoyed several researchers, while Xia Chong warned him they might later become his superiors or doctors.
• Chen Jing asked Lu Xin about his visit to his relatives, and he said he had remembered enough to know what he needed to do.
• Xia Chong told Chen Jing she would share confidential information about the Black Table experiment, then directed Lu Xin to Office 3106 for a separate meeting.
• Lu Xin entered Office 3106 and found a woman standing with her bare back toward him; she asked him to come over and zip up her dress.

Lu Xin met Dr. An at the Research Institute and asked for information about Wang Jingyun, the former researcher he hoped to find. He learned that Wang Jingyun had tried to implant thirteen abnormal mental entities into people to create a new form of life, an Apostle of God and potentially a world-destroying weapon.

• Lu Xin helped An Sisi zip her dress, and she introduced herself as a researcher temporarily handling rewards for the Black Table incident.
• An Sisi offered Lu Xin a place at the Research Institute, money, or anything else he wanted, but he said he only wanted to learn about Wang Jingyun.
• An Sisi gave Lu Xin a file identifying Wang Jingyun as a former Crimson Moon Research Institute researcher who defected thirteen years earlier with assistants and a train carriage of data and contamination entities.
• Lu Xin asked what Wang Jingyun had done, and An Sisi explained that he had tried to transplant thirteen abnormal mental entities into ordinary people.
• An Sisi said Wang Jingyun hoped to control the thirteen powers by making humans bear them, creating an Apostle of God or a world-destroying weapon.

Dr. An explained how the Staircase Theory described seven steps between humans and god, and identified Lu Xin as a stable Third Stage Creation. She left him with the revelation that he could climb higher, perhaps all the way to the Seventh Step.

• Dr. An recounted how researcher Lin opposed Professor Wang Jingyun’s experiment and how Wang left the Research Institute to continue his work.
• Dr. An said Chen Xun’s Black Table experiment showed the danger of trying to control mental power with human logic, but did not by itself disprove Wang’s theory.
• Dr. An told Lu Xin that he was an apostle of god, or a candidate for god, and that his true classification was Third Stage Creation.
• Dr. An described Lin’s Staircase of God Theory, which proposed seven steps between humans and god, and said researchers had been unable to verify how to ascend them reliably.
• Dr. An said Lu Xin’s stable Third Stage existence gave the Research Institute hope and claimed he had the potential to climb to the Seventh Step.

Lu Xin rejected the Research Institute’s desire to study his unstable but balanced condition, insisting that he needed to find Professor Wang Jingyun and the orphanage’s surviving children. Dr. An proposed cooperation to locate Wang and called Xia Chong in to show Lu Xin the work the Institute wanted his help with.

• Dr. An explained that the Research Institute considered Lu Xin a precariously balanced, multi-element individual and warned that probing him could cause an accident.
• Lu Xin said he would not let the Institute observe him because he needed to find Professor Wang Jingyun, learn what had happened at the orphanage, and keep his promise to rescue the surviving children.
• Dr. An revealed that the Research Institute had created the Infiltrators to find Wang and argued that the Institute was the only organization capable of determining whether he was alive.
• Lu Xin refused to become an experimental subject, but Dr. An clarified that the help she wanted did not involve researching him.
• Dr. An called Xia Chong into the office, and Xia Chong approached Lu Xin while Dr. An teased him about what was about to happen.

Xia Chong took Lu Xin into the abyss to show him its dangers and the Pollution Source they were preparing to deal with. They fled when a Lord-class monster appeared, and after returning to the office, Xia Chong realized it had been drawn to Lu Xin.

• Xia Chong led Lu Xin through the office door and into the abyss, warning him to stay calm and ignore the voices.
• Xia Chong explained that her Abyss-type contract let her enter the abyss with limited protection, while Lu Xin saw the grasping hands and strange creatures filling it.
• Xia Chong showed Lu Xin a bright opening toward the outside world and identified their destination as the greatest Pollution Source there.
• A Lord-class monster approached, so Xia Chong hurried Lu Xin back to the entrance and opened the door as the creature’s masked face pursued them.
• Lu Xin and Xia Chong returned to the office, where Xia Chong realized the monster had noticed Lu Xin after only twelve seconds in the abyss.

Dr. An explained to Lu Xin that the Abyss was a collective mental world formed from humanity’s thoughts and emotions, and that an imbalance of evil over good may have caused the Crimson Moon incident. She warned that the Abyss was breaking through into reality, and left Lu Xin confronting the possibility that its barrier could eventually collapse completely.

• After Xia Chong left, Dr. An told Lu Xin that he had seen the source of pollution, the homeland of Mental Monsters, which was called the Abyss.
• Dr. An described the Abyss as a collective unconscious ocean and explained that it became an Abyss when humanity’s deepest evil thoughts overwhelmed its good thoughts.
• Dr. An said the imbalance may have caused the Crimson Moon incident and that the Abyss was now a vast Pollution Source connected to reality by growing rifts.
• Dr. An explained that some Mental Monsters formed naturally in the real world, while others seeped out of the Abyss, including the kind Lu Xin and his companions had encountered.
• Dr. An warned that pressure from the Abyss could make the rifts multiply and widen until the barrier collapsed, allowing the Abyss to fully pollute reality.

Dr. An explained that the Abyss was worsening and that ability users might be forced into a brutal competition to climb the Staircase of God. She urged Lu Xin to help clear nearby S-class restricted zones, beginning with Happy Town near Qinggang.

• Dr. An told Lu Xin that the Abyss was breaking through into the real world and that its pollution could not be stopped at the source while people still harbored malice.
• Dr. An shared the three prophecies left by a researcher and described the Seven Steps Theory, warning Lu Xin that ability users would compete as they climbed the Staircase of God.
• Lu Xin said he needed time to think, noting that his superior was outside and that they had brought a lawyer.
• Dr. An showed Lu Xin a map of S-class restricted zones and explained that they marked places where enormous fissures connected the Abyss to the real world.
• Dr. An said the Eclipse Research Institute would work with the High Wall Cities to contain the fissures and told Lu Xin to help clear the nearest S-class restricted zone, Happy Town.

Lu Xin agreed to help repair the Wall of Reason near an S-rank restricted zone, insisting that the work be genuine cooperation rather than a transaction. Dr. An offered him a communicator and entry to the Advanced Talent Club, but Lu Xin challenged her attempts to manipulate him and left their relationship tense.

• Dr. An explained that repairing the Wall of Reason meant sealing or limiting its gaps and that an S-rank restricted zone required a powerful ability user, so Lu Xin agreed to help as part of his responsibility.
• Lu Xin said he was not accepting the mission as a deal and cited Professor Wang Jingyun's lessons about shouldering responsibilities and helping others.
• Dr. An gave Lu Xin a communicator that granted access to high-authority databases, commissions, the Infiltrator, and the Advanced Talent Club, whose members could share information and assist him in seeking Professor Wang.
• Lu Xin warned Dr. An that his cooperation was not a transaction and questioned whether the Research Institute had treated him as an experimental subject in the past.
• Dr. An tried to charm Lu Xin, but he put her shoes back on and told her that using her beauty as a weapon was not a good approach.

Lu Xin left the Research Institute with Chen Jing and Xia Chong after agreeing to discuss deeper cooperation with Qinggang’s leaders. Dr. An later reported that the recovery of Subject No. 9 seemed complete, but warned that Wang Jingyun might be concealing his true nature.

• Chen Jing told Lu Xin about the Abyss and explained why the Research Institute had kept it secret from the High Wall Cities.
• Chen Jing said she would return to Qinggang and discuss what attitude to take toward Happy Town with Professor Bai and Mr. Su.
• Lu Xin told Chen Jing that Dr. An had invited him to an Advanced Talent Club and proposed deeper cooperation, but he had deferred any decision to his team leader.
• Lu Xin said he trusted Chen Jing most, leaving her visibly pleased as Xia Chong insisted that Central City was good too.
• Dr. An called the Research Institute and said the recovery of Subject No. 9 was mostly complete, then warned that Wang Jingyun might have powerful disguising abilities and could have allowed himself to be recovered deliberately.

After returning to Central City, Lu Xin was given time off while Gecko was assigned to finish paperwork overnight. Lu Xin used his communicator to summon an Infiltrator, but a strange mental creature appeared on the ceiling, and he called for his sister to catch it.

• Chen Jing ordered Dr. Mo and the lawyers to stay in Central City for meetings and paperwork, then told Gecko and Lu Xin to leave with her at eight the next morning.
• Chen Jing let Lu Xin rest while assigning Gecko to complete the documents overnight, and Lu Xin ordered a steak while the others left.
• Lu Xin realized he had not collected payment for half a truckload of goods and wondered where the convoy had gone.
• Lu Xin used the communicator’s Infiltrator application and pressed the “Summon Infiltrator” button.
• A small black creature wearing a top hat appeared on the ceiling amid flickering lights and mental radiation, and Lu Xin called for his sister to catch it.

Lu Xin used the Research Institute’s Infiltrator to track down Gao Ting’s convoy, paying with a smile instead of money. The Infiltrators returned with the convoy’s location, leaving Lu Xin amused by their unusual payment and tipping customs.

• Sister tried to grab the Mental Monster, but Lu Xin’s communicator warned him that it was an Infiltrator he must not harm.
• Lu Xin waited for the Infiltrator to reappear and asked it to find Gao Ting’s convoy, writing down the request when it asked for written instructions.
• The Infiltrator demanded payment, and Lu Xin chose the offered option of giving it a smile.
• After Lu Xin left the restaurant, two Infiltrators returned and received another smile as a tip.
• Lu Xin picked up their note, which said Gao Ting’s convoy was at Dacheng Inn, Room 021, in the northern area of Satellite City No. 7.