Chapter Summaries

As Lu Xin and his companions neared the goal of destroying half the emitters, they discovered a vast forest of dead people blocking their route. Lu Xin agreed to lead the dead team through it, while Researcher Wang Song and the soldiers accepted the danger without asking for protection.

• Lu Xin noticed that the emitter-destruction routes had stopped advancing as unseen enemies began killing the other squads.
• Lu Xin destroyed two emitters, bringing the total to forty-four, while Researcher Wang Song reported that only four remained.
• Lu Xin stopped the truck when its headlights revealed countless withered human figures blocking the road.
• Researcher Wang Song realized the enemy had planted a forest of the dead and urged Lu Xin to destroy the pollution field and find its core.
• Lu Xin decided to drive through the dead forest, and Researcher Wang Song and the soldiers said the dead were not afraid of danger.

Lu Xin and the team fought through a forest of corpses to reach the forty-fifth stabilizer, and the soldiers sacrificed themselves to destroy it while Lu Xin pushed on toward the forty-sixth. Their enemies let him pass, planning to draw him into the domain’s core and show him the Flower of Death.

• Lu Xin drove into the corpse forest, but the creatures grew more agile deeper inside and slowed the truck as they swarmed it.
• Researcher Wang Song and Captain Li Jian proposed splitting up so they could destroy the forty-fifth stabilizer while Lu Xin continued toward the forty-sixth.
• Lu Xin promised to do his job and leaped from the truck as the soldiers drove toward the stabilizer.
• The truck reached the forty-fifth stabilizer, where an explosion destroyed it as Lu Xin charged alone through the corpses.
• Rose asked whether she should attack Lu Xin, but her exhausted ally ordered her to let him pass and draw him toward the domain’s core to face the Flower of Death.

Lu Xin destroyed the forty-eighth group of stabilizers and discovered a factory using the Queen of Happy Town’s power to produce a drug from her subjects. He reported that the investigation was complete and prepared to begin the cleanup mission.

• Lu Xin learned that another operative had destroyed the forty-seventh group of emitters, leaving him to destroy the final group.
• Lu Xin reached an abandoned village and found the forty-eighth group of stabilizers in a factory built inside a vast pit.
• Lu Xin entered the factory and destroyed the stabilizer, reducing the field’s pressure and stopping the machinery.
• Lu Xin discovered people being kept alive on racks while machines extracted fluid from their bodies to produce a green substance.
• Lu Xin realized the field was being used to vent the Queen of Happy Town’s power and to make a drug from her subjects.
• Lu Xin reported that the investigation was essentially complete and prepared to begin the cleanup mission.

Lu Xin destroyed the factory where the Bishop was carrying out the Reception Plan, then faced the corpse-filled force surrounding the pit. As the dead sang a sorrowful song that pressed on his mind, he declared that his fear came from how evil people could be.

• Lu Xin entered the factory and warned its occupants that he would destroy it, while three outsiders and a vast crowd of corpses gathered around the pit.
• The white-haired old man, Rose, and the other operatives discussed Lu Xin’s unexpected resistance to the Death Field and planned to reset the field.
• Lu Xin, Mom, Father, and Sister demolished the factory’s machines and instruments, and Mom said their friend was being harmed by having her power extracted.
• Lu Xin climbed onto the factory roof and called on the surrounding forces to surrender.
• A little girl among the corpses began singing with the crowd, and their joined mental bodies surrounded Lu Xin with sorrow and hatred.
• Lu Xin admitted he often felt afraid, but said he feared people’s evil rather than any Mental Monster.

Lu Xin fought the Death's Flowers surrounding the factory while his family argued and Father repeatedly attacked against his plans. As Lu Xin began to feel unexpected dissatisfaction with his family, he realized something was wrong with his mind.

• Lu Xin charged the forest of corpses, but a Death's Flower's immense mental force drove him back and revealed the power of the flowers.
• More Death's Flowers bloomed and drifted toward the factory as the music box's song intensified their influence over Lu Xin.
• A red-haired woman turned up the music on a music box while Lu Xin tried to escape the flowers and find their mastermind.
• Father attacked a Death's Flower, whose collapse unleashed a mental shockwave that forced Lu Xin to halt and confront him.
• Father, Sister, and Mom argued as Lu Xin dodged the flowers, and Lu Xin unexpectedly criticized all three.
• Lu Xin recognized that his sudden dissatisfaction with his family was unnatural and realized something had gone wrong.

Lu Xin realized the field was amplifying an ability that inflamed people’s emotions, and Mom deduced its user was nearby. He charged through the Flowers of Death toward the red-haired woman, while an old man beside her prepared to intervene.

• Mom explained that the field enhanced its user’s power and said the field’s collapse meant its user had to be nearby.
• Lu Xin urged Father and Sister to stop arguing and help him attack the person controlling the field.
• Lu Xin traced the refracted music to its source and charged toward the red-haired woman.
• Lu Xin surrendered control of his body to Sister and forced his way through the Flowers of Death, shattering them despite sustaining severe wounds.
• The red-haired woman watched her music box’s power weaken as Lu Xin approached, and the old man beside her drove a silver nail into his own foot.

Lu Xin pushed toward the Dead Man's Forest but was overwhelmed by pain inflicted by the pale-haired old man's ability. Mom shielded him and turned the ordeal into a lesson in self-understanding, then insisted he study while the enemy prepared to continue attacking.

• Lu Xin charged through the Flowers of Death, but sudden pain in his foot and tooth slowed him and let the petals surround him.
• The pale-haired old man pierced his own foot, pulled a tooth, drank sulfuric acid, and endured the resulting pain to inflict it on Lu Xin.
• Lu Xin's stomach and lower abdomen began hurting, disrupting his coordination with Sister and weakening Dad's shadow as the Flowers of Death closed in.
• Mom blocked the Flowers of Death and ended Lu Xin's pain, then explained that the old man's ability inflicted ordinary illnesses and pain.
• Mom reminded Lu Xin of their family meeting and told him the ordeal was a chance to understand himself; the pale-haired old man and the red-haired woman prepared to attack again.
• Lu Xin reluctantly took out his communicator, and Mom told him it was always a good time to study.

A priest arrived in Songshan Town to preach and won over its chief by revealing a mysterious case whose contents enthralled everyone who saw them. He left the chief eager to follow his god and ordered him to kill the tractor driver and his four sons, then put the town’s armed people under his command.

• The priest paid an old walking-tractor driver extra fare and arrived at Songshan Town’s gate.
• The priest bribed the gatekeepers to let him meet the town chief.
• The town chief ordered his men to kill the priest, but the priest opened his case and showed its contents, captivating the chief and everyone in the room.
• The priest offered the case’s contents in exchange for the chief’s allegiance and claimed other towns and the Woshan Knights Order had agreed to follow his god.
• The priest told the chief to kill the tractor driver and his four sons, then organize everyone in town who could carry a gun under his command.

Qinggang lost contact with its outlying settlements as evidence pointed to a massive psychic disturbance caused by the Technological Church and the Queen of Happy Town. While Chen Jing and Mr. Su confronted Qinggang’s isolation and Gecko hesitated over joining the mission, Kid set out into the rain.

• Chen Jing learned that Qinggang’s monitoring stations and many settlements had gone silent, while Lu Xin’s broken transmission reported that his investigation was complete and he was beginning cleanup.
• Covert agents reported a psychic fluctuation southwest of Happy Town with a magnitude of at least one hundred thousand, and Qinggang identified the Technological Church and the Queen as likely allies behind the crisis.
• Chen Jing received news that armed forces from several settlements were heading toward Happy Town and that their leaders seemed to have gone mad.
• Mr. Su asked Chen Jing for suggestions, and she recalled the Technological Church’s humiliating operation in Qinggang four years earlier while admitting the city had become isolated.
• Gecko agonized over whether to go outside and help the captain, while the Drunkard challenged his claim that he trusted Little Soldier.
• Kid put on her mask and took an umbrella and her untouched glutinous rice cakes before walking alone into the rainy night.

Lu Xin studied the Seven Steps Theory while Mom watched, learning how the first three steps developed from mental mutation to ability extension and Mental Plague. He connected the theory to the god in Buffalo City and wondered how far ability users and forbidden-zone creatures could progress, and Mom left him with the warning that reaching the Third Stage did not mean someone could continue living like an ordinary person.

• Lu Xin reviewed the Seven Steps Theory and learned that the First Stage involved a mental trait, mental power, and stability, while the Second Stage involved extending one's ability.
• Lu Xin connected Xia Chong's and Chen Jing's abilities to the Second Stage and recognized that the Third Step's defining feature was Mental Plague.
• Lu Xin realized that the god created by Black Table had spread contamination to build its mental power, and recalled using Father's ability to stop it from contaminating Buffalo City's refugees.
• Lu Xin wondered whether higher steps made people more like Pollution Sources and whether Kid and forbidden-zone creatures had Third-Step traits.
• Mom told Lu Xin that reaching the Third Stage was different from continuing onward, and asked whether he had ever seen someone at that stage still live like an ordinary person.

Chen Jing and Qinggang’s researchers analyzed the Technological Church’s arrival and decided to send a team of ability users to support Lu Xin. As the team prepared to leave, Mr. Su framed the crisis as a chance to advance the Heavenly Kingdom Plan and declared that Qinggang would retaliate if attacked.

• Chen Jing reviewed intelligence about the Technological Church and, with Mr. Su’s help, identified the Archbishop of Calamity as an S-class threat whose four knights likely wielded abilities related to illness, loss of self-control, curses, and destructive desires.
• Chen Jing argued that Qinggang had to support Lu Xin, and she called the confrontation a chance for revenge against the Technological Church.
• Qinggang officials reported that Kid had left the city, so Chen Jing told the service team to bring her back by promising that the others would go with her.
• Chen Jing formed a special investigation team of ability users, including the Drunkard, Gecko, the Shaman, Troublemaker Kid, herself, and Kid, and ordered them to gather on the rooftop within five minutes.
• At the General Administrative Hall, Mr. Su told the other officials that the crisis could advance the Heavenly Kingdom Plan and that Qinggang would shoot back if it was attacked.

Lu Xin learned how the later Steps and Zero Ability Users were understood, then realized the Technological Church was attacking the Queen rather than working with her. He left Mom’s protection and faced the Flowers of Death, embracing their pain and mental chaos as part of being human.

• Mom explained that theories described existing patterns and that people could still intervene in how things unfolded.
• Lu Xin read the unfinished report on Zero Ability Users and recognized why Mom had shown it to him.
• Lu Xin concluded that the Technological Church and the Queen were enemies because the Church was stripping away mental power.
• In the Dead Man’s Forest, Great Knight Shenze and Rose Knight sensed Lu Xin moving and prepared to attack him.
• Lu Xin touched three Flowers of Death, endured their mental impacts and physical pain, and called the experience interesting.

Lu Xin endured the Flowers of Death’s mental attacks as he advanced through the forest, while Great Knight Shenze and the red-haired woman failed to stop him. Shenze chose to detonate the Flowers of Death as spiritual bombs, and the chapter ended with him warning fellow believers of the plan.

• Lu Xin studied how the Flowers of Death attacked his perception, emotions, and cognition while enduring their pain and influence without losing himself.
• The Flowers of Death retreated from Lu Xin, and the white-haired old man and the red-haired woman realized their abilities could not shake him.
• Great Knight Shenze proposed detonating the Flowers of Death to eliminate Lu Xin and draw power from Happy Town, but the red-haired woman refused to die with him.
• Shenze broke his own fingers to make the red-haired woman drop her music box, releasing its doll, which attacked and possessed her.
• Shenze reported that the interception plan had changed and warned fellow believers that detonating the Flowers of Death could cause a regional shockwave.

Lu Xin and his family faced a gathering of unstable Flowers of Death in the Dead Forest as Great Knight Shenze prepared to sacrifice them for the True God. A mysterious girl in a black dress descended from a helicopter and disrupted the attack, while her school-uniformed companion and a sniper arrived to help.

• Lu Xin sensed the mental radiation weaken as the Flowers of Death gathered around him, and Mom moved in front of him to confront them.
• Great Knight Shenze began preparing the Flowers of Death to annihilate themselves and offered a path for the True God's descent.
• A girl in a black dress jumped from a fast-moving helicopter and floated above the Dead Forest, drawing the dead and Flowers of Death away from Lu Xin.
• The girl opened her umbrella and unleashed a mental shockwave that tore apart the Flowers of Death surrounding Lu Xin.
• A ponytailed girl in a school uniform descended on a rope and diverted the Flowers of Death approaching the girl in black.
• A man in sunglasses fired an electric bullet from the helicopter and destroyed one of the Flowers of Death before greeting them.

Lu Xin reached the two ability users behind the Flowers of Death and stopped the white-haired old man from stabbing himself with a silver spike. With his family’s help, he learned that the old man’s pain immunity had been severed, and Mom approached him with scissors to restore the pain.

• Kid’s arrival drew the Flowers of Death away, while Gecko shot apart the unstable flowers and cleared Lu Xin’s path.
• Lu Xin crossed the Dead Forest and found a red-haired woman singing in agony beside a white-haired old man and a silver box.
• The old man tried to stab himself with a spike, but Lu Xin severed his wrist and then broke and tore off his other hand when he reached for another spike.
• Lu Xin asked his family what to do with the old man, and Mom explained that severing his pain immunity would make all his pain return.
• Mom took a pair of scissors from her handbag and walked toward the old man.

Lu Xin and Qinggang’s reinforcements destroyed most of the forest of the dead, and the domain began to collapse. After Lu Xin reunited with Kid and Gecko, Chen Jing hugged him and said she was glad he was safe.

• Kid drew in the dead and the Flowers of Death, destroying them with her paper umbrella while the Drunkard shielded her and Gecko shot the flowers from the helicopter.
• Lu Xin watched as the forest of the dead fell apart, while the pale-haired old man and the red-haired woman remained alive but suffered under his family’s punishment.
• Kid flew over to Lu Xin without her mask, and he secured it before taking her toward the helicopter.
• Chen Jing landed the helicopter, sent Gecko out to meet Lu Xin, and told Lu Xin to check Kid’s mask before bringing her back.
• Chen Jing hugged Lu Xin and told him she was glad he was all right.

Lu Xin and Chen Jing confirmed that the death domain was tied to the Queen of the S-rank Restricted Area and used Qinggang’s remote strikes to destroy its stabilizers. As Chen Jing interrogated the surviving attacker and the team prepared for further investigations, Lu Xin shared glutinous rice cakes with Kid while dawn broke.

• Lu Xin reported the contamination, the death domain, and the two attackers to Chen Jing, who ordered the stabilizers destroyed remotely.
• Qinggang’s City Defense Department bombarded the stabilizers, and Chen Jing confirmed that the domain had been destroyed.
• Gecko moved the badly injured old man and red-haired woman into a warehouse, where Chen Jing questioned the woman about her identity and mission.
• Lu Xin found Kid waiting alone in a helicopter and shared her box of glutinous rice cakes with her as the sky brightened.

After interrogating two Technological Church knights, Chen Jing learned that the Church’s Gospel Plan involved the Queen of Happy Town and three separate operations. Lu Xin’s group set out to investigate the remaining threats and confront the Church, with Kid joining them and the Drunkard scouting ahead.

• Chen Jing told Lu Xin, Gecko, and the others that seven Technological Church operatives had come to use the S-Class Forbidden Zone for the Gospel Plan, and that the Church had already lost several people.
• Chen Jing explained the three operations: Flower of Death had been disrupted, Troublemaker Kid and the Witch were investigating Sin of Greed, and the bishop was carrying out Mental Fortress; the group also realized many people from Water Bay City were still missing.
• The support team secured the captured knights and vehicles, while Chen Jing ordered repairs to the signal tower, monitoring of the armed threat, and recovery and disposal of the dead.
• Chen Jing let Kid stay with the group, and the Drunkard took the motorcycle to scout ahead as Gecko drove the modified jeep.
• Chen Jing led the group toward a rendezvous with Troublemaker Kid and the Witch before they entered Happy Town to confront the Technological Church.

Lu Xin and Chen Jing’s group traveled toward Happy Town and discovered that settlements were sending armed forces there because people believed treasure could be found. After encountering a desperate family attacking hallucinations caused by the Drunkard, they continued toward Happy Town to solve the problem at its source.

• Gecko drove the group toward Happy Town, where they saw armed convoys and groups fighting as they converged on the town.
• The group stopped to move corpses blocking the road and met a family scavenging among them.
• The gaunt father told Gecko that his family was heading to Happy Town to claim treasure, despite Gecko’s warning that something there was more terrifying than ghosts.
• The children attacked Gecko and the others under the Drunkard’s distorted vision, while their parents joined in and fought enemies that were not there.
• Chen Jing told the group to continue their mission and address the cause of the crisis, and they left the family behind.

Lu Xin and Chen Jing reached Happy Town’s outskirts and learned that more than twenty armed forces had gathered there, convinced the restricted zone contained a vast treasure. Troublemaker Kid suspected a Pollution Source had driven their leaders mad and spread the delusion through them, and revealed that he had kidnapped two leaders for investigation.

• Lu Xin and the others crossed into Happy Town’s former restricted zone, where its mental radiation appeared to have shrunk as armed forces gathered nearby.
• Chen Jing met Troublemaker Kid at a mountain lookout, where he reported that tens of thousands of troops had surrounded Happy Town and more than twenty forces had arrived.
• Troublemaker Kid explained that the forces believed Happy Town held a treasure that would let them build armies and conquer surrounding territories, and he suspected the leaders had spread madness to their followers.
• Troublemaker Kid said he and the Fortune-teller believed a Pollution Source was behind the mass delusion, while the Fortune-teller remained inside Happy Town to investigate.
• When Gecko questioned how Troublemaker Kid knew so much, he revealed that he had kidnapped two of the leaders and left them piled in the grass nearby.