Recaps

Chen Jing reached Qinggang’s forces and reported that dozens of powerful Mental Monsters and hundreds of people had been swallowed by the mental turbulence. Minister Shen ordered the overclocked ion cannons to fire, and the chapter ended with the weapons blasting apart the approaching monsters and clearing the turbulence.

• Chen Jing and Gecko were swept down by the arc net, then support teams rescued them and carried them to the military trucks.
• Chen Jing told Minister Shen that hundreds of people were trapped in the turbulence and that more than thirty Mental Monsters had exceptionally high mental levels.
• Minister Shen explained that Professor Bai’s ion-weapon research and Su’s order had enabled Qinggang to advance, and he declared the force would stop the turbulence and destroy the threats outside the walls.
• As the arc nets began to fail and a giant clown-like Mental Monster reached the cordon, Minister Shen ordered the overclocked ion cannons prepared.
• Minister Shen ordered the cannons to fire, and their beams tore through the clown monster and erased sections of the dark-red turbulence while flame-tailed weapons struck the wilderness.

Lu Xin emerged from the mental turbulence after Kid cleared the surrounding radiation, and Han Bing relayed that the Archbishop of Calamity was pursuing the Fourth Stage: becoming a Mental Lord. With Queen’s resistance weakening inside the cocoon, Lu Xin asked Han Bing for advice on how to reach the Archbishop.

• Qinggang’s forces advanced through the wilderness and cleared mental turbulence and Mental Monsters with coordinated troops and special weapons.
• The old man told Qin Ran that he should ask the Archbishop of Calamity and his opponent whether the plan would succeed.
• Lu Xin woke as artillery fire calmed the chaos, and Kid fell into his arms after losing the ability to fly without mental power.
• Han Bing reconnected with Lu Xin and reported that Professor Bai’s analysis identified the Archbishop of Calamity’s goal as reaching the Fourth Stage, the Mental Lord.
• Lu Xin saw that Queen was more deeply entangled in the cross as her resistance weakened, while the Archbishop watched him from inside the cocoon of light.
• Lu Xin told Han Bing that the Archbishop would not come out of the cocoon and asked whether she had a way to deal with him.

Lu Xin learned that the Archbishop of Calamity needed the Museum of Calamities, Happy Town's Queen, and himself to become a Mental Lord, so destroying any one of them would foil his plan. Unable to find the museum itself, Lu Xin proposed entering its bottle voluntarily to get closer to its main body.

• Han Bing explained that the Archbishop of Calamity planned to use the Museum of Calamities and Queen to become a Mental Lord, and that destroying any one of the three would stop him.
• Lu Xin examined the Archbishop inside the cocoon of light and decided not to break it, since doing so might help the parasitism or harm Queen.
• Lu Xin chose the Museum of Calamities as his target because the other two options were unavailable.
• Han Bing explained that Lu Xin had only experienced the museum's radiation and destroyed its exhibits, not the museum itself.
• Lu Xin suggested that he could get close to the museum's main body by voluntarily entering its bottle, leaving Han Bing stunned.

Lu Xin used the 12-tier Rubik’s Cube to copy the sleepwalkers’ connection to the Museum of Calamities, hoping to enter it as a collectible. The copied trait concealed him and Kid from the Archbishop of Calamity, leaving the Archbishop terrified as Lu Xin approached the museum.

• Lu Xin told Professor Bai that he planned to enter the Museum of Calamities by copying the trait of its sleepwalking collectibles with the 12-tier Rubik’s Cube.
• Lu Xin went into the wilderness with Kid, found a dazed old man, and used the cube to replicate the man’s connection to the museum.
• The cube’s trait spread over Lu Xin, disguising his mental fluctuations and making Kid appear to him as the old man.
• The Archbishop of Calamity watched Lu Xin and Kid vanish from his perception and panicked, unable to understand what he had encountered.

Lu Xin entered the Museum of Calamities’ bottle world, where it tried to trade his painful memories for false happiness. He refused, and the town’s dreamlike prosperity vanished, revealing the suffering souls beneath it.

• Lu Xin recognized the town as the world inside the bottle and saw that the old man’s family, including Kid, was part of his dreamlike life.
• The town opened eyes in the sky and drew on Lu Xin’s mental power, forcing buried memories to surface as he walked through the town.
• Lu Xin saw memories of Mom, his father, Sister, the girl in the wheelchair, Little Nineteen, and Old Director, and greeted Old Director before moving on.
• The Museum of Calamities offered to take Lu Xin’s painful memories in exchange for happiness, but he refused to surrender what was real to him.
• The town’s people and false scenery disappeared, revealing isolated souls suffering amid ruined shops and bleak surroundings.

Lu Xin confronted the Archbishop of Calamity’s use of suffering souls as a source of power and offered them sincere sympathy, breaking the spell that kept them numb. As the souls began to cry and the museum’s power faltered, the Archbishop abandoned his parasitic ritual and sent his nerves and blood vessels into an ancient museum model.

• Lu Xin recognized that the souls gathered in the town powered the Museum of Calamities and were being used by the Archbishop of Calamity.
• Lu Xin resisted the urge to attack the crowd and told them that their suffering had been exploited, offering them his sympathy.
• A woman who had lost her husband began to cry, and her grief spread through the crowd until many souls were weeping and the town’s synchronized ritual broke down.
• The Archbishop of Calamity sensed that the museum’s power was changing and abandoned the parasitic ritual in the Queen’s body.
• The Archbishop sent his nerves and blood vessels into an ancient museum model hidden inside a black box in the ruined Happy Town.

Lu Xin confronted the Archbishop of Calamity as the false town collapsed, and his black particles began turning the archbishop’s tendrils to ash. In the motorhome, the old man revealed that Lu Xin had once been contaminated by a god, but had gained the ability to feel sympathy.

• Four enormous crosses appeared around the collapsing town, and the Archbishop of Calamity used tendrils to attack Lu Xin and Kid.
• Lu Xin stopped Kid from fighting and faced the archbishop himself, saying that he intended to destroy him rather than contaminate the town.
• As the archbishop’s tendrils overwhelmed Lu Xin’s force field, black particles emerged from his body and turned the tendrils he touched to ash.
• Lu Xin seized a retreating tendril and used it to charge toward one of the crosses.
• In the motorhome, the technopriest reported that the archbishop was rapidly weakening, and the old man told Qin Ran that a god had contaminated Lu Xin before he was cured and gained sympathy.

Lu Xin destroyed the eastern and northern crosses, but the Archbishops of Calamity resurrected and surrounded him with crosses, black flowers, and memory-piercing thorns. Trapped in their mental world, Lu Xin asked the Lord of Calamity what he meant by bestowing calamity upon him.

• Lu Xin used Sister's power to smash through the eastern cross and destroy the Archbishop of Calamity on it.
• Lu Xin charged through the town and destroyed the northern cross despite its efforts to reshape the roads and buildings.
• The Archbishops of Calamity made the town's suffering residents bloom into black flowers and resurrected the eastern and northern crosses.
• More crosses fell around the town as the Archbishops declared that calamity was inescapable and trapped Lu Xin among memory-piercing black thorns.
• Lu Xin tore through the thorns, but they regrew around him, and the Lord of Calamity claimed control over all mental power in his world.
• Lu Xin stood amid the thorns and asked the Lord of Calamity if he was talking about bestowing something upon him.

Lu Xin resisted the Archbishop of Calamity’s attack, destroyed the Museum of Calamities, and released the people and objects trapped inside. As the wilderness was overwhelmed by the resulting spiritual force, Lu Xin stood laughing uncontrollably.

• The Archbishop of Calamity used the Museum’s thorns to dredge up Lu Xin’s painful memories, but Lu Xin declared that no one could give orders in front of him.
• Lu Xin’s power stripped away the Museum’s illusory world and turned its black thorns against the Archbishop of Calamity, overwhelming him with despair.
• The Archbishop of Calamity withdrew his spiritual tentacles from the cocoon of light, convulsing and fleeing in terror as the Museum of Calamities was destroyed.
• The Museum’s destruction released millions of trapped items and people into the wilderness, where a heartbeat shattered their bottles and flooded the area with spiritual force.
• Queen’s cocoon of light shattered, freeing her, while Lu Xin remained beside the old man, laughing and trembling amid the spiritual fallout.

Lu Xin emerged from his loss of control after destroying the Museum of Calamities, while the Queen killed the fleeing Archbishop of Calamity. Professor Wang explained that the catastrophe had been an experiment testing Lu Xin, Qinggang, and Calamity, then left Qinggang a reward as he departed.

• Lu Xin lost himself in violent power, but a calm voice and Kid’s reflection in his eyes helped him regain control; he carefully shaped his face into a smile before returning to the wilderness.
• Lu Xin found Kid muddy and frightened, then saw the Queen kill the Archbishop of Calamity with a mental tentacle.
• In the RV, Professor Wang told Qin Ran that the Archbishop had failed an experiment and that he could have mastered calamity if he had understood it rather than treating it as power.
• Professor Wang graded Qinggang as passing, the child as a full-mark success, and Calamity as a failure, then threw Qinggang’s reward documents outside the RV.
• Professor Wang said the experiment’s findings could help the Research Institute, Qinggang, and other factions pursue a new Mental Lord, then silently remembered the Dean.

After the Museum of Calamities was destroyed, Lu Xin secured the Queen’s agreement to let Qinggang’s support team enter Happy Town and learned that the Technological Church still had fugitives at large. As the Queen agreed to communicate with Qinggang after a month, she specifically refused to speak with Lu Xin, leaving Chen Jing wondering what he had done to her.

• Lu Xin told Han Bing that the Queen and the Archbishop of Calamity were still fighting, then got the Queen’s permission for the support team to enter Happy Town.
• The support team arrived, examined Lu Xin, and began investigating the ruins; Lu Xin promised the seven little monsters he would reimburse their fees through headquarters.
• Chen Jing reported that at least three Technological Church members had escaped in an RV whose tracks vanished, and Lu Xin recalled seeing the Old Director in an illusion inside the museum.
• A support team member said the Queen accepted food and agreed to communicate with Qinggang after resting for a month, but insisted that anyone except Lu Xin handle the talks.
• Chen Jing asked what Lu Xin had done to the Queen, and he replied that he had saved her life.

After returning from the cleanup mission, Lu Xin feared his family had vanished, then found them waiting at home. Meanwhile, the Kid’s negative influence appeared to have disappeared as she wondered how she and Lu Xin could be together.

• Lu Xin flew back to Qinggang and asked the pilot to take him to Satellite City No. 2, telling the Kid they would have to part after work.
• A young policewoman gave Lu Xin instant noodles, and he rode a pink electric scooter home through the city.
• Lu Xin entered the dark, seemingly abandoned Room 401 and collapsed in despair, but Sister appeared and his family welcomed him home.
• Professor Chen and the other officials repeatedly checked that the Kid was safe before leaving her to rest.
• The Kid removed her contact lenses and asked how she and Lu Xin could be together, while a support team member realized the Kid’s negative influence seemed to have disappeared.

After returning to Satellite City No. 2, Lu Xin enjoyed a peaceful breakfast with his family and called Chen Jing to ask about work and the mission. With his next assignment delayed and money tied up, he decided to head to his other job, which he had been on unpaid leave from.

• Lu Xin woke late, shared breakfast with his family, and felt content with their noisy household.
• Lu Xin called Chen Jing, who said the danger in Happy Town had been eliminated and told him to rest and write a work report.
• Chen Jing reported that Kid's negative influence had weakened after the mission and asked Lu Xin to describe Kid's experience in his report.
• Lu Xin considered visiting Teacher Lu or asking Han Bing about a house, but decided against both because he lacked money and they were busy.
• Lu Xin remembered his other job, checked his gun, and rode away on the young policewoman's pink electric scooter.

Lu Xin returned to his company job after visiting Central City, and the Director welcomed him with unusual enthusiasm. Vice President Xiao Yuan then arrived and awkwardly tried to invite him to dinner.

• Lu Xin rode his pink electric scooter to the office and found his coworkers stunned to see him back.
• The Director eagerly welcomed Lu Xin, confirmed his position was waiting for him, and asked him to stay at work that day.
• Lu Xin formally returned to work, spent the morning waiting for assignments, and copied Tetris onto his computer.
• Vice President Xiao Yuan hurried into Lu Xin's office and awkwardly invited him to dinner.

Lu Xin accepted Vice President Xiao’s dinner invitation and learned more about the Xiao family’s aftermath after the Central City incident. The meal ended with Vice President Xiao nervously asking whether Lu Xin had ever seen someone possessed by the devil.

• Vice President Xiao invited Lu Xin to dinner to thank him, and Lu Xin agreed to meet after work.
• Lu Xin and Vice President Xiao waited until half past seven to leave the company, while Director Liu stayed late to impress the vice president.
• Vice President Xiao took Lu Xin to an expensive Western restaurant in Satellite City No. 2 and ordered the chef’s recommendations and wine.
• Vice President Xiao told Lu Xin that Lu Weiwei had not returned after being taken away, while Xiao Yuan had stopped having nightmares and Old President Xiao had withdrawn from work.
• Vice President Xiao asked whether Lu Xin’s department handled supernatural matters and finally asked if he had ever seen someone possessed by the devil.

Vice President Xiao told Lu Xin how his friend Gao had abruptly become violent, powerful, and obsessed with another man's girlfriend, leading him to suspect Gao was possessed by a devil. Lu Xin agreed to investigate, then sensed that Gao had arrived and saw him standing in the restaurant shadows.

• Lu Xin reassured Vice President Xiao that he should report unusual incidents, explaining that a recent cleanup mission had killed at least a hundred colleagues.
• Vice President Xiao described how Gao suddenly attacked Li, pursued Li's girlfriend, and threatened and injured the people who tried to stop him.
• Vice President Xiao said Gao had grown unusually strong and feared Buddhist statues and crosses, prompting his friends to conclude that he was possessed by a devil.
• Lu Xin dismissed the idea that ghosts existed, joked about the devil's lack of loyalty, and agreed to go look at Gao.
• Lu Xin sensed Gao behind Vice President Xiao, who turned and saw a tall figure standing silently in the dark restaurant.

Lu Xin watched Gao Yan confront Vice President Xiao over his violent behavior and suspected betrayal, finding no clear sign of Mental Pollution until he noticed countless insects moving through Gao Yan’s blood-red eyes. The chapter ended as Lu Xin became excited at the prospect of taking responsibility for Gao Yan.

• Gao Yan arrived at the restaurant and revealed that he had overheard Vice President Xiao criticizing him.
• Gao Yan defended stealing Li Ping’s girlfriend and stabbing Li Ping, while Vice President Xiao challenged his behavior.
• Lu Xin listened and judged that Gao Yan’s clear reasoning gave him no basis to identify Mental Pollution.
• Gao Yan smashed a wine bottle, threatened Vice President Xiao, and advanced on him as Vice President Xiao hid behind Lu Xin.
• Lu Xin noticed insects swimming through Gao Yan’s blood-red eyes and realized Gao Yan had been contaminated.

Lu Xin subdued the contaminated Gao Yan with his revolver and had Sister stop the bleeding so he could investigate the source of the contamination. After police arrived, Lu Xin showed his identification, and the officers turned their guns on Gao Yan’s bodyguards while Lu Xin told Vice President Xiao to open the car door.

• Lu Xin recognized that Gao Yan was deeply contaminated and tried to calm him, but Gao Yan charged at Vice President Xiao with a wine bottle.
• Lu Xin shot Gao Yan in both legs, pinned his wrist, and held a gun to his forehead until Gao Yan stopped resisting.
• Lu Xin fired toward the restaurant entrance to send the bodyguards and staff back inside, then examined Gao Yan and found his eyes had turned pale.
• Lu Xin called Sister down to close Gao Yan’s wounds with her power and told Vice President Xiao they needed to investigate Gao Yan’s home.
• Lu Xin carried Gao Yan outside, showed his identification to the responding officers, and watched them aim at the bodyguards before telling Vice President Xiao to open the police car door.

Lu Xin learned that Gao Yan’s severe contamination was unlikely to be cured and went to investigate whether it had affected others. Han Bing warned him that Gao Yan’s father was investigating Lu Xin, and arranged support while keeping the operation quiet.

• Lu Xin told Vice President Xiao that Gao Yan’s severe contamination was unlikely to be cured, leaving Xiao distressed by how much Gao Yan had changed.
• Han Bing called Lu Xin, recorded the details of Gao Yan’s contamination, and confirmed Lu Xin planned to check Gao Yan’s home and the girl he had kidnapped.
• Han Bing revealed that Gao Chang of Changxing Group had begun investigating Lu Xin shortly after Gao Yan was injured.
• Lu Xin asked the department not to alert Gao Chang, so Han Bing planned to mislead him and arranged for support to arrive within twenty minutes.
• Han Bing complained that she had been working overtime and wished she could take a vacation, eat ice cream, and watch an old movie.

Lu Xin brought the injured Gao Yan to the Gao family villa to investigate an abnormal incident and find a girl Gao Yan had abused. Gao Chang threatened Lu Xin with a gun, prompting the Guard Department to storm the villa, while Lu Xin objected that they should have stayed outside to contain the pollution.

• Vice President Xiao drove Lu Xin and the unconscious Gao Yan to Gao Yan's villa and agreed to protect himself.
• Gao Chang confronted Lu Xin with armed bodyguards, accused him of injuring Gao Yan, and ordered them to take his son away.
• Vice President Xiao tried to explain that they had come to help Gao Yan, but Gao Chang refused to listen.
• Lu Xin said he was investigating an abnormal incident and asked to meet the girl Gao Yan had abused.
• Gao Chang pointed a gun at Lu Xin, and a sniper shot Gao Chang's hand before the Guard Department's riot-control brigade stormed the villa.
• Lu Xin told Wu Xiu that the brigade should secure the perimeter and prevent pollution from spreading, leaving them both confused by the other's approach.

Lu Xin searched Gao Yan’s villa after the armed police secured the courtyard and discovered a basement filled with religious objects and evidence of abuse. He found faint, fading mental radiation and an open ventilation duct, suggesting the girl and the Pollution Source had already left.

• Lu Xin ordered the armed police to watch the courtyard, avoid contact with anything unusual, and alert him to changes before he searched the villa alone.
• Lu Xin and Sister searched the villa and found no one or detectable mental radiation on its first three floors.
• Sister discovered a hidden basement, and Lu Xin entered it through a concealed door behind a floor-to-ceiling mirror.
• Lu Xin found Buddha statues, other religious objects, and a wired chair surrounded by items that suggested Gao Yan had abused the girl there.
• Lu Xin detected faint, fading mental radiation near the chair and found an uncovered ventilation duct, then hurried out of the villa with Sister.

Lu Xin found the escaped Ping Ping in the courtyard and tried to determine whether Gao Yan had contaminated her. After he draped his coat over her, he noticed red insects writhing in the eyes of everyone around him, including the armed police and Vice President Xiao.

• Wu Xiu kept the armed police on alert while Vice President Xiao explained that he had brought Lu Xin to investigate Gao Yan and identified the injured man as his friend.
• Ping Ping crawled out through a concealed opening in the eastern wall and pleaded with the police to save her from the man who had tortured her.
• Wu Xiu ordered everyone not to touch Ping Ping, and the group kept their distance until Lu Xin emerged from the villa.
• Lu Xin examined Ping Ping as a possible target of Gao Yan's contamination, then draped his coat over her when he saw her shivering.
• Lu Xin pulled the coat away after noticing that red insects were writhing in the eyes of the people watching him.

Lu Xin recognized that the pitiful girl was the Pollution Source, whose influence spread through sympathy and made the armed police turn against him. He faced down the crowd without attacking, and his calm question left the girl frightened.

• Lu Xin stopped an armed police officer from shooting Gao Yan and realized that the girl's apparent vulnerability was contaminating the people around her.
• Lu Xin concluded that sympathy for the girl was the trigger and asked the officers to secure the courtyard while he took her for treatment.
• The girl claimed she was afraid of Lu Xin and wanted the others to protect her, turning the armed police and Vice President Xiao against him.
• Lu Xin held back as the officers aimed their guns at him, avoiding a confrontation that could get them hurt.
• Lu Xin calmly asked the girl why she kept trying to anger him, and her smug expression gave way to fear.

Lu Xin faced the girl’s contaminated protectors without provoking them, while Mom approached the Pollution Source and called her a little sister. Mom trapped the girl, and Sister caught and tormented her in the tree, leaving the girl’s former protectors horrified and unable to help.

• The armed officers aimed their guns at Lu Xin as the girl pleaded for protection, but he stayed calm and Sister took his hand.
• Mom emerged and walked through the crowd toward the girl, then revealed herself by drawing scissors and addressing her as her little sister.
• The girl’s body twisted as insects moved beneath her skin, and she tried to flee into a tree, but Mom surrounded her with shadows.
• Mom told Lu Xin to let Sister go, and Sister shot up the tree and grabbed the girl among the branches.
• Sister entangled the girl and twisted her body until she begged for help, while the contaminated officers and Vice President Xiao watched in terror.

Lu Xin watched Mom cure the contaminated people by cutting the insects from their eyes, then learned that the incident had been caused by an evil-thought female spawn connected to Mom’s close sister. Mom said the sister may have come to Qinggang because she sensed something extraordinary was about to happen.

• Mom restrained the girl and snipped at her eyes, stopping the contamination and freeing everyone affected.
• The contaminated people woke in confusion and remorse, while a hospitalized patient elsewhere also began crying after apparently understanding something.
• Lu Xin told Wu Xiu to control the courtyard, arrange medical care and punishment where needed, and leave the girl for him to handle.
• Mom explained that the insects were traces of her close sister’s presence and that the spawn could not create further contamination without permission.
• Mom suggested that her sister might have come to Qinggang to watch the extraordinary events she sensed were approaching.