Chapter Summaries

Lu Xin attended a tense dinner with Vice President Xiao and his wealthy friends, who mistook ordinary troubles for special pollution and asked him for help. After learning that Qinggang would cover most of his renovation costs but leave him with a bill of over thirty-seven million, Lu Xin returned to the table and offered to investigate the guests’ problems—for a fee.

• Lu Xin met Vice President Xiao’s friends, who nervously asked whether he was an official ghost-hunting master.
• Guoguo described a girl at school who preferred studying to dating him and suspected she was polluted.
• Several guests asked Lu Xin to investigate supposed hauntings, curses, nightmares, and other troubles.
• Han Bing told Lu Xin that Qinggang would cover ninety percent of his renovation costs, leaving him to pay 37,824,000 for materials.
• After returning to the dinner, Lu Xin offered to look into the guests’ problems for a fee.

Lu Xin accepted paid jobs from Vice President Xiao’s wealthy acquaintances and investigated Mr. Wu’s report of his dead wife crying in his mansion. He discovered the sound came from Mr. Wu’s son watching something on a tablet, and advised Mr. Wu to discipline him.

• Lu Xin agreed to charge two hundred thousand per job, and the group eagerly asked him to investigate their strange incidents.
• Lu Xin chose Mr. Wu’s midnight crying case and went with him and the others to his mansion.
• The group waited for the crying, while Lu Xin found no trace of mental radiation in the villa.
• A sorrowful woman’s crying filled the room, frightening everyone and prompting Lu Xin to investigate a bedroom.
• Lu Xin opened the door and caught Mr. Wu’s son hiding a glowing tablet beneath his blankets, then told Mr. Wu the child was causing the disturbance.

Lu Xin and the group investigated a string of supposed mysterious incidents, only to uncover ordinary theft, a pervert, and a cat beating its owner. As the group’s investigations wound down, Little Meng pointed out a girl he called his school’s campus belle, and Lu Xin immediately declared the case solved.

• After the Wu family’s supposed haunting turned out to be a teenager watching videos through a radiator, Lu Xin and the group went to General Manager Wang’s construction site and found security guard Old Zhang stealing materials.
• Lu Xin agreed to keep investigating after the group insisted, and they exposed a junior accountant behind General Manager Yang’s lost business deals and an ordinary murderer behind General Manager Li’s red-eyed peephole scare.
• Lu Xin and the others filmed Gao Yan’s younger brother and discovered that his shaved cat had been climbing onto his chest and slapping him whenever he snored.
• After several days, the group concluded that the supposed mysteries had all been resolved, while Lu Xin reflected that Qinggang’s Heavenly Kingdom Plan would make such incidents—and his private jobs—rarer.
• Little Meng pointed out a pretty girl on the street and claimed she was his school’s campus belle, and Lu Xin immediately said the case was solved.

Lu Xin and the others investigated why Chen Wei had rejected Meng Guoguo, but Lu Xin suspected her relationship with Cao Ye was abnormal despite her apparent affection for him. After watching Meng Guoguo confront the couple, Lu Xin was left more uneasy about what he had seen.

• The group spotted Chen Wei happily shopping with Cao Ye, but Meng Guoguo insisted Cao Ye had behaved pervertedly toward female students and that Chen Wei had once feared him.
• Lu Xin noticed Chen Wei seemed genuinely happy with Cao Ye, while Cao Ye appeared bored and focused on her body, and said their interaction felt wrong.
• Lu Xin sent Meng Guoguo to provoke the couple so he could observe their reactions, and Meng Guoguo approached them while pretending to be his usual arrogant self.
• Chen Wei declared that she had always liked Cao Ye and planned to marry him, while Cao Ye acted reluctant at first and then gave Meng Guoguo a smug, sinister look.
• Meng Guoguo returned feeling as though he had been cheated on, while Lu Xin remained troubled by the couple's behavior.

Lu Xin and the others followed Zhang Weiyu after seeing him trail Chen Wei and Cao Ye, then watched him attack Cao Ye at a hotel. After Zhang Weiyu fled into an alley and was restrained, Lu Xin asked what connected him to Chen Wei and why he had attacked Cao Ye.

• Lu Xin spotted Zhang Weiyu watching Little Meng from outside the restaurant, and Little Meng recognized him as an old classmate who had dropped out after violently injuring someone.
• Lu Xin, Little Meng, and the others followed Zhang Weiyu as he secretly followed Chen Wei and Cao Ye to a hotel.
• Zhang Weiyu charged into the hotel and beat Cao Ye, but Chen Wei protected Cao Ye and told Zhang Weiyu that she hated him for what he had done for her.
• Zhang Weiyu ran into traffic and fled to an alley, where Lu Xin and the others found him crying.
• Zhang Weiyu attacked Little Meng when he tried to question him, and Gao Yan and the others restrained him.
• Lu Xin asked Zhang Weiyu why he had attacked Cao Ye and what his relationship with Chen Wei was.

Lu Xin questioned Zhang Weiyu about Chen Wei and concluded that her apparent change of heart seemed suspicious. When patrol officers arrived after Lu Xin fired his gun, he showed them his identification and reported that someone at a nearby hotel was illegally getting a room.

• Lu Xin fired a warning shot to stop Zhang Weiyu from attacking him, then persuaded Zhang Weiyu to explain his relationship with Chen Wei.
• Zhang Weiyu revealed that he had supported Chen Wei through school and believed they had been together since childhood, but she had recently started dating Cao Ye.
• Little Meng doubted that Chen Wei would betray Zhang Weiyu, and Lu Xin agreed that her actions and apparent choice of boyfriend did not make sense.
• Little Meng asked Lu Xin what they should do after Chen Wei and Cao Ye went into a nearby hotel.
• Two patrol officers arrived after hearing Lu Xin's gunshot, and Lu Xin showed them his identification before reporting that someone was illegally getting a room.

Lu Xin used a Special Pollution Cleanup Department identification card to trigger a massive police raid on the hotel where Chen Wei and Cao Ye were staying. During questioning, Chen Wei described a childhood romance with Cao Ye, but Zhang Weiyu recognized her story as a reversal of what had really happened and tried to explain.

• Lu Xin reported the hotel couple, prompting the Guard Department to mobilize officers across Satellite City No. 2.
• Police raided the hotel, arrested Chen Wei and Cao Ye along with other guests, and Lu Xin led his group to the Guard Department.
• Lu Xin asked a young policewoman to question Chen Wei about how she and Cao Ye had become a couple.
• Chen Wei recalled Cao Ye caring for and protecting her since childhood, then accused Zhang Weiyu of stalking and attacking them.
• Zhang Weiyu told Lu Xin that Chen Wei’s account was all true but reversed, and began explaining that he had been the one who treated her well.

Lu Xin questioned Zhang Weiyu and concluded that the problem might lie with Cao Ye rather than Chen Wei. When Cao Ye refused to cooperate, Lu Xin began using a terrifying interrogation method, leaving him convinced that something had entered the room.

• Zhang Weiyu denied Chen Wei’s accusations and admitted he was unsure whether she had ever liked him.
• Lu Xin decided the problem was not with Chen Wei and went to question Cao Ye.
• An officer said Cao Ye had refused to discuss anything beyond claiming he was Chen Wei’s boyfriend, and Lu Xin called Han Bing before entering the room.
• Lu Xin sat in silence until Cao Ye asked why he was not speaking, then explained that he was considering a gentler way to make Cao Ye answer.
• When Cao Ye continued to remain silent, Lu Xin’s demeanor shifted, the lights flickered, the curtain closed, and the camera moved.
• Lu Xin told Cao Ye that his chance to avoid the interrogation had passed, and Cao Ye became terrified as the room seemed unnaturally crowded.

Lu Xin explained how Cao Ye used a mysterious Love Sticky Note to alter Chen Wei’s memories, making her believe Cao Ye had shared the moments that made her love Zhang Weiyu. The incident was cleared up, and Lu Xin told Zhang Weiyu that Chen Wei’s love for him had been real before it was stolen.

• Chen Wei heard Cao Ye scream and feared the officers had harmed him, while guards and investigators rushed to the interrogation rooms.
• Lu Xin emerged and ordered the officers to take statements and notify the Special Purity Department to arrest Cao Ye and Chen Wei.
• Lu Xin identified Chen Wei as the polluted person and Cao Ye as the cause, then explained that Cao Ye had bought a Love Sticky Note after becoming obsessed with her.
• Cao Ye had stuck the note to Chen Wei’s neck, replacing her memories of Zhang Weiyu with memories of Cao Ye and changing her feelings toward both men.
• Lu Xin told Zhang Weiyu that Chen Wei’s love for him had been real, even though the memory alteration made her believe she loved Cao Ye and hated Zhang Weiyu.

Lu Xin explained how the Love Sticky Note had deeply altered Chen Wei’s memories and reassured Zhang Weiyu that the Special Purity Department would treat her. After learning the pollution’s source, he joined Chen Jing’s team to eliminate it, heading toward the shop on Qingpo Road as the area was sealed off.

• Lu Xin explained that the Love Sticky Note had permanently changed Chen Wei’s memories, and removing it could not undo the effects.
• Zhang Weiyu begged Lu Xin to cure Chen Wei, and Lu Xin told him that experts would treat her while he preserved their relationship.
• Lu Xin left to seal the shop that sold the Love Sticky Note, while Chen Jing confirmed the pollution source and ordered the area around 24B Qingpo Road sealed.
• Chen Jing said the incident was a B-class mission, and Lu Xin set off across the rooftops to reach the shop.

Lu Xin confronted a strange presence hiding in the memories of an old shopkeeper, but it escaped and unleashed attacks from the shop’s unusual goods. Chen Jing planned to have Kid force the fugitive out.

• Lu Xin went to the grocery store on Qingpo Road and told the old shopkeeper he would arrest him for selling Love Sticky Notes.
• A handsome young head emerged from the old man’s shoulder and questioned how Lu Xin had found the disturbance.
• Lu Xin tried to seize the head, but it faded, revealing that the presence had been hiding in memories and could not be caught that way.
• The fugitive stirred mental power in the shop’s goods, sending grotesque hands and falling shelves at Lu Xin, who destroyed the attack and restored the shop.
• Lu Xin reported the escape to Chen Jing, who said she would have Kid force the entity out.

Lu Xin and Chen Jing explained how the memory-based Pollution Source escaped into the memories of Qinggang’s residents, then relied on Kid’s expanded abilities to expose it. With the crowd’s mental power subdued, Lu Xin spotted the unusual presence and charged toward it.

• Chen Jing told Lu Xin that the Pollution Source had escaped through people’s memories and that Kid was the key to finding it.
• Lu Xin surveyed the street and realized the escaped entity had blended into the memories of the people around him.
• Kid’s mental power spread through the three sealed streets, appearing to each person and drawing their attention until they stopped moving.
• Chen Jing explained how Kid’s influence could progress through perception, emotion, desire, cognition, instinct, and memory, potentially restraining the Pollution Source.
• Lu Xin sensed the Pollution Source become conspicuous among the subdued crowd, leaped onto a wall, and charged toward it.

Lu Xin confronted the pale young man wielding an hourglass, but the young man used it to scramble memories across Qinggang and trigger a mass transformation. Cao Ye’s memories were overwritten, and he joined the other transformed people before Lu Xin’s black shadows swallowed them.

• Lu Xin found the pale young man hiding in an old man’s body and reached to capture him.
• The young man inverted his hourglass, briefly disorienting Lu Xin, then shouted, “Take back all the prices!”
• Cao Ye’s memories were replaced with those of a fanatic who had been indoctrinated since childhood, and Chen Wei recoiled from his changed gaze.
• Cao Ye’s mental power surged, shattered his glass helmet, and sent his pale mental entity flying toward the hourglass bearer.
• Cao Ye joined the other entities in prayer before Lu Xin’s black shadows surged over and swallowed them.

A man wielding an hourglass used memory manipulation to invade Lu Xin’s blank memories, hoping to turn him into an ally, but the memories shifted into a sinister old building that trapped the man. Young Lu Xin’s unsettling smile left the man facing an unknown danger.

• Father’s black shadow fought the hourglass user’s white mental entities, and the man used Mental Covering to reach Lu Xin.
• The man entered Lu Xin’s body and filled his memory gap with scenes of having cared for him after he left the orphanage.
• The man planned to make Lu Xin believe he was an undercover agent, but the memory setting changed into a desolate old building beneath the Crimson Moon.
• The man tried to retreat from the building but realized he was trapped inside someone else’s memories.
• The man saw young Lu Xin smiling strangely as dark windows opened around them.

Lu Xin recalled the old building tearing apart the man who had cared for him, realizing those memories were false and that the building had taken the man’s hourglass. After the mission ended, Kid embraced him, and Lu Xin asked how much money she had in her bank account.

• Lu Xin remembered the man in black being dragged into the old building and torn apart after its inhabitants seized his hourglass.
• Lu Xin realized his memories of the man caring for him were fabricated, while his memories of the old building remained clear.
• Lu Xin told Father that the man had gone home early, meaning he had returned to their home, and Father silently sank into the shadows.
• Lu Xin concluded the mission was complete but could not contact Chen Jing because Kid’s mental power was disrupting communications.
• Kid descended toward Lu Xin, pinched his cheek, then hugged him as people across the three streets saw them and reacted with tears and jealousy.
• Lu Xin gently patted Kid’s back and asked how much money she had in her bank account.

Lu Xin completed the mission to capture the source of the memory-altering pollution, while Chen Jing ordered the area investigated and returned to the Main City to pursue the organization behind it. As Chen Wei struggled with her memories after Cao Ye’s death and Zhang Weiyu was taken for emergency care, Lu Xin turned to Little Meng to settle his promised payment.

• Lu Xin told Chen Jing that the mental entity behind the pollution had disappeared, and she ordered the grocery store, its goods, and the affected streets investigated before the area was reopened.
• The Kid withdrew her mental power toward the Main City after waving goodbye to Lu Xin, while Chen Jing questioned him about their private exchange and then left to investigate the incident’s possible ties to a larger organization.
• Support team members found Cao Ye dead and Zhang Weiyu badly wounded after he had shielded Chen Wei from flying glass, while Chen Wei broke down in confusion over her memories and feelings.
• Little Meng, Vice President Xiao, and the others watched Chen Wei and Zhang Weiyu being taken away, then startled as Lu Xin climbed in through a window and asked who the girl he had hugged was.
• Lu Xin avoided answering their questions and asked Little Meng whether she thought he had handled the special pollution incident well.

After completing his report on the campus-belle mission, Lu Xin returned to the old building and found the hourglass from his memories in room 103. He identified five parasitic items corresponding to mental levels and was considering where to find one for the self level when Han Bing called with news about Kid.

• Little Meng offered to pay Lu Xin the two hundred thousand himself after stealing his father's tobacco pipe, and Lu Xin completed his mission report at the Guard Department.
• Lu Xin returned to the old building, entered room 103, and found the nearly empty hourglass from the memories woven by the young man.
• Lu Xin took the hourglass and wondered whether the events in his memories had truly happened.
• Lu Xin sorted his parasitic items by mental level and realized he had items for five of the seven levels, with self still missing.
• Han Bing called Lu Xin and said Kid was throwing a tantrum and demanding her mission reward from the Special Purity Department.

Han Bing told Lu Xin that Kid had asked for her compensation and planned to give him her savings, leading Qinggang's officials to worry that she had fallen for him. They accepted the relationship might be developing and approved the start of Lu Xin's renovation, while warning the engineers not to investigate the old building if they encountered resistance.

• Han Bing learned from Lu Xin that he had asked Kid to lend him three million, and she reassured him that the renovation could begin soon.
• The Nanny Squad captain revealed that Kid had asked for all the roughly three hundred million in her fund after seeing Lu Xin, prompting officials to suspect she was preparing to give everything to him.
• Professor Bai and the others agreed not to interfere with Kid and Lu Xin, though the captain threatened Lu Xin if he deceived Kid's feelings.
• Professor Bai made the renovation an A-rank mission and told an engineer from the New Weapons Research Department to begin work with the first materials.
• Professor Bai warned the engineer to abandon any attempt to investigate the old building if its occupants showed deterrence or issued a warning.

Lu Xin oversaw the start of his old building’s renovation, while the engineers investigated its structure and offered to look up its ownership records. As Lu Xin struggled to gather enough money to pay for the work, a secret team began planning to investigate the building’s hidden secrets.

• Lu Xin met the engineers sent by the Special Purity Department, approved their renovation plan, and let them inspect the old building.
• The engineers found the building unusually sturdy and offered to have the Administrative Hall search for its ownership records, since Lu Xin did not know who owned it.
• Lu Xin tried to help the construction workers but was asked to stop watching and return to work after mishandling expensive renovation materials and supplies.
• Lu Xin calculated his savings and debts and realized he was still five million short of the renovation costs.
• A group of investigators began planning to gather information about important locations in the old building, encouraged by Professor Bai’s claim that the mission was secretly S-level.

Lu Xin focused on making money while Qinggang officials investigated his old building and debated how to maintain their distance from him as special pollution spread worldwide. After Han Bing briefed him on a memory-pollution case linked to a growing soul trade, Lu Xin received an alert that the Crimson Moon Club was discussing an offline gathering.

• Lu Xin watched the renovation of his old building, while specialists reported that it was an unusually clean and safe place with no detectable secrets.
• Professor Bai told Qinggang officials to maintain their rules with Lu Xin and warned that special pollution was escalating worldwide, possibly leading to the Second Coming.
• Han Bing informed Lu Xin that a memory-type pollution source had been collecting complete spirits and was likely connected to a soul trade pointing toward a place called hell.
• Lu Xin returned home and found his family occupied, then discovered that his Research Institute communicator had received messages about a Crimson Moon Club offline gathering.