Recaps

After the Sword Bearer fell, the Eyes in the Sky and the mental threats over Qinggang weakened, while Lu Xin answered a victim’s question about fairness and resolved to help build a more orderly world. The Old Director then encountered a first-generation researcher from the Crimson Moon Research Institute, who appeared with a gun pointed at him.

• Eight told Teacher Lu that he could no longer find his heart, unsure whether he felt confused or free.
• Gecko celebrated the apparent end of the Midnight Court crisis, while Qinggang’s command staff debated whether the remaining Eye in the Sky posed a threat.
• Lu Xin encountered the little girl whose suffering had inspired Eight and told her he hoped she could live happily in a fairer world.
• The Old Director and Seven saw a man emerge from the grass with a gun aimed at the Old Director.
• The Old Director recognized the armed man as a first-generation researcher from the Crimson Moon Research Institute.

After destroying the Sword Bearer, Lu Xin entered its Midnight Court with his family and discovered that its judges had already been hanged. Mom realized the Sword Bearer’s mental core had died long ago, leaving the question of who killed it unanswered as the Crimson Moon’s light vanished.

• Lu Xin examined the hollow Midnight Court left behind after the Sword Bearer’s destruction, and Mom explained that it was the Sword Bearer’s Mental Palace.
• Mom noted that the Sword Bearer had seemed unusually weak and rigid, despite descending in person, and warned Lu Xin that its Mental Palace might contain dangers.
• Lu Xin led Mom, Father, and Sister up to the Midnight Court’s gates and pushed them open.
• Inside, they found seven judges hanging from ropes beneath the dome, with no living judges to confront them.
• Mom concluded that the Sword Bearer’s mental core had been killed long ago and that the being they fought had only been its shell.
• Mom wondered who had killed the Sword Bearer as the Crimson Moon’s light brightened, dimmed, and disappeared.

Lu Xin and his family discovered that the Sword Bearer had been dead and controlled by a terrifying power, then agreed to investigate the mystery of the eyes together. Elsewhere, the Old Director met a surviving first-generation researcher, who confirmed the Crimson Moon and Mental Pollution had origins tied to the Secret of the Beginning and the Final Plan, and the Old Director agreed to hear more.

• Lu Xin and his family realized the Sword Bearer had been a mindless corpse controlled by a power capable of killing an Ultimate.
• Mom proposed asking her sister, Black Queen, about the eyes, and Lu Xin insisted they investigate together rather than let her go alone.
• The Old Director identified the armed stranger’s wristwatch as an early Research Institute model and said he had expected the stranger to appear.
• The stranger confirmed that he and his group had predicted or controlled the Crimson Moon’s arrival and had arranged experiments involving Number Nine for the original plan.
• The stranger said the Secret of the Beginning and the Final Plan were real, then invited the Old Director to join a discussion, threatening him if he refused.
• The Old Director accepted the stranger’s invitation.

After defeating the Sword Bearer, Lu Xin asked Qinggang to secure the leftover Midnight Court, the Sword Bearer’s Mental Palace. He handed the site over to Chen Jing’s team and headed back to Qinggang with Gecko, while his family warmed to the unusually considerate deputy captain.

• Lu Xin called Qinggang for help securing the Midnight Court, explaining that the Sword Bearer’s death had left the Mental Palace behind.
• Gecko and Troublemaker Kid arrived and stood guard over Lu Xin, with Gecko declaring that protecting the captain was their duty.
• Chen Jing and the support team arrived, and Lu Xin revealed that the Sword Bearer was dead and the Midnight Court remained in the wilderness.
• Chen Jing consulted Professor Bai and the researchers, then arranged for Qinggang to cordon off the area and investigate the Mental Palace.
• Lu Xin asked Qinggang to share a detailed report, then Gecko drove him and his family back toward Qinggang.
• Gecko asked after Lu Xin, Sister, Mom, and Father, impressing the family enough that Mom offered to invite him over.

After returning from the wilderness, Lu Xin reflected on the hidden watchers and the Sword Bearer's death, then decided to recover memories from the three years he had forgotten. He went to the orphanage to speak with Number Eight and the old security guard, while Kid waited for him in Qinggang Main City.

• Gecko and Troublemaker Kid celebrated their mission and imagined the promotions and rewards they would earn.
• Lu Xin told Mom that the watchers seemed to have seen secrets he did not understand, and Mom planned to visit her Sister.
• Lu Xin decided to recover the memories he had discarded during the three years and drove to the orphanage.
• Teacher Lu greeted Lu Xin, who invited Number Eight and the old security guard to go out with him so they could talk.
• Kid waited on a rooftop in Qinggang Main City for Lu Xin to finish his business.

Lu Xin explained to Number Eight that the Sword Bearer and the Midnight Court had been corrupted, then urged him to help Qinggang investigate. He ended by warning Number Eight, whose real name was Xu Jing, not to approach Teacher Lu or bring polluted power into Qinggang, and said he should have come to Lu Xin directly about the orphanage.

• Lu Xin took Number Eight and the old security guard to a restaurant, where the owner discarded spoiled meat after Lu Xin’s fantasy power had made him recognize the harm he had caused.
• Number Eight and the old security guard ordered food and liquor, and the three men drank in silence.
• Lu Xin told Number Eight that the Sword Bearer was dead and had become a walking corpse, and that the Midnight Court had been full of dead people.
• Number Eight recalled that the Midnight Court had stopped responding to his prayers and realized he had suspected something was wrong.
• Lu Xin invited Number Eight to cooperate with Qinggang’s Special Purity Department to investigate the Midnight Court.
• Lu Xin warned Number Eight, also called Xu Jing, not to seek out Teacher Lu or bring polluted power into Qinggang, and told him he should have come to Lu Xin directly about the orphanage.

Lu Xin reconciled with Number Eight over the orphanage's past and asked him to find their surviving former classmates, explaining that he wanted to help restore order and become wealthy. As Number Eight's attitude softened, Lu Xin turned to the old security guard and identified him as Teacher Sun, Old Director's trusted assistant.

• Number Eight confronted Lu Xin about the deaths at the orphanage and asked whether he regretted what happened.
• Lu Xin said he had felt no regret back then, but regretted it every day since developing emotions.
• Lu Xin asked Number Eight to find the orphanage children and explained that he had promised to get them out; Number Eight's attitude softened.
• Lu Xin described his goals as helping establish rules and order and becoming a respectable rich man, and said he envied Number Eight's resolve.
• Lu Xin recognized the old security guard as Sun Zhong, Teacher Sun, one of Old Director's two most trusted assistants.

Lu Xin confronted the old security guard, revealing that he was Sun Zhong, one of the former orphanage director’s assistants, and asked him what had happened during the experiment that changed Lu Xin. Sun Zhong recounted the aftermath and how he found the out-of-control Tyrant, ending with the childlike Lu Xin asking where their home had gone.

• Lu Xin revealed that he had recognized Sun Zhong long ago and explained that he had once feared he might kill him.
• Sun Zhong confirmed that Lu Xin’s changes were connected to the first-generation researchers’ plan and described the out-of-control experiment’s aftermath.
• Sun Zhong recalled rescuing the severely injured Teacher Lu, searching for Lu Xin, and losing armed teams that tried to bring him back.
• Sun Zhong described how witnessing Professor Wang’s experiments on children caused his faith to falter and made him recognize his own cruelty.
• Sun Zhong recounted preparing to use a plasma bomb against the returning Tyrant, then seeing a frightened child who asked, “Teacher, where did our home go?”

The old security guard recounted how he found the Tyrant as a suffering child, then called in people claiming to be from the Research Institute who described Lu Xin as a prison containing something terrifying. He later identified them as first-generation researchers of the Crimson Moon and explained that, three years after Lu Xin vanished, Little Deer brought him back to the orphanage changed and apparently gentler.

• The old security guard found the Tyrant in a vulnerable state and secretly brought him back, attempting to counsel him despite his dangerous powers.
• The old security guard contacted the Research Institute, but the arriving researchers refused to take him and revealed that Lu Xin's mind was a prison containing a terrifying entity.
• The old security guard recalled that Lu Xin recognized the researchers, spoke to them like old friends, and used a frightening voice.
• The old security guard later concluded that the researchers were first-generation researchers identified by Crimson Moon cards, then withdrew from the Research Institute and cared for Little Deer.
• Three years later, Little Deer brought Lu Xin back to the orphanage, where the old security guard noticed that his oppressive power had disappeared or become more deeply hidden.
• The old security guard recalled that Lu Xin quietly saved money for the rebuilt elementary school and went hungry and underdressed, prompting Lu Xin to ask him to leave that part out.

Lu Xin postponed judging Number Eight and the old guard, then walked home with Kid while reflecting on his frightening past. As they walked, Kid remembered the first time they had met as children, when their powers had calmed each other.

• The old guard told Lu Xin that he had seen him change from a terrifying state of losing control into an ordinary, kind person.
• Lu Xin set aside questions about his past and left Number Eight and the old guard at the restaurant, carrying the leftover food.
• Lu Xin walked alone through the quiet streets, feeling ashamed of the fear his former self had caused and unsure how long it would take to reach his hopes.
• Kid descended beside Lu Xin and silently accompanied him, while the Nanny Squad chose not to disturb them.
• Kid remembered meeting Lu Xin as a bloodied child in Qinggang: their powers calmed each other, and Lu Xin helped her up before they went their separate ways.

Lu Xin learned that Qinggang planned to charge outside research groups to study the Sword Bearer’s Mental Palace and agreed to consult on Kid and the Midnight Court. The chapter ended with Han Bing realizing he wanted payment both as himself and as the translator for Ms. Lu.

• Lu Xin heard that Qinggang could not research the Mental Palace alone and planned to admit qualified outside groups for a fee.
• Han Bing said Lu Xin would receive thirty percent of the proceeds, and he asked Qinggang to negotiate a larger share of the admission fees.
• Han Bing invited Lu Xin to consult on Kid’s mysterious chains and the Midnight Court, and he accepted.
• Han Bing said Qinggang preferred to consult Ms. Lu, and Lu Xin agreed while asking whether he could collect a second fee for translating.

Lu Xin took Mom to the Main City to assess Qinggang’s ability users, Kid, and the Midnight Court. After confirming the hospitalized ability users seemed fine, he met Professor Chen and the Nanny Squad, who immediately questioned him about the mental chains on Kid.

• Han Bing told Lu Xin that the Special Purity Department had approved his consultant and translation fees, and Mr. Su privately celebrated the payment plan.
• Lu Xin drove Mom to the Guard Department, accepted breakfast from the young policewoman, and flew with armed escorts toward the Main City.
• Han Bing explained that Lu Xin had been hired to check Qinggang’s ability users, assess Kid, and advise on the Midnight Court.
• Lu Xin and Mom inspected the hospitalized ability users, and Mom judged them healthy despite their noisy antics.
• Professor Chen questioned Lu Xin about the mental chains on Kid as the Nanny Squad surrounded him and asked whether he had given them to her for another purpose.

Mom reassured Qinggang about Kid’s new power, then visited her in the hospital and confirmed she was handling it well. Lu Xin left to return to work, while Mom teased him about the Nanny Squad’s newfound warmth toward him.

• Mom scolded Professor Chen Liqing for failing to absorb her training materials, and he hurried off to review them.
• Mom told the Nanny Squad to take good care of Kid, and they eagerly led Lu Xin to her ward.
• Lu Xin found Kid using Domination Chains to fetch objects and scratch herself as the Nanny Squad monitored her condition.
• Mom explained that Kid’s purity and high tolerance let her withstand Dominator-level power, then kissed her forehead.
• The Nanny Squad warmly offered Lu Xin refreshments, but he declined and pocketed candies for Sister.
• Mom asked what the Nanny Squad’s changed attitude meant, and Lu Xin guessed it meant he no longer had to repay the three million.

Lu Xin arrived at Qinggang’s Midnight Court research base, where Number Eight clashed with the researchers over their investigation plan. When Lu Xin’s mental radiation revealed Mom to everyone, Professor Bai welcomed her as Ms. Lu and asked for her guidance.

• Lu Xin reached the newly built base with Mom and received advanced credentials for the Theoretical Research Laboratory.
• Number Eight criticized the researchers’ plan and insisted that his own knowledge and Judgment-category abilities made him better suited to guide the Midnight Court investigation.
• Dr. Mo told Lu Xin that Qinggang distrusted Number Eight because he had been an Executioner connected to the Midnight Court.
• Lu Xin stopped Number Eight from further provoking the researchers and asked what he was doing there.
• Mom greeted Professor Bai, and Lu Xin’s mental radiation made her appear visibly to everyone in the tent.
• Professor Bai welcomed Mom as Ms. Lu and asked her to guide the research.

Lu Xin reflected on his power of Fantasy and watched Qinggang’s Midnight Court research project expand, placing growing pressure on the base’s security. He offered Chen Jing help and ended by recommending a security guard from his family, the Terror Demon King.

• Lu Xin realized he had used the power of Fantasy instinctively before and no longer needed to worry about Mom’s communications with the researchers.
• Mom explained that Qinggang had opened the Midnight Court research project to other teams to share the work and limit the Research Institute’s control.
• More research teams arrived, prompting Qinggang to strengthen the base’s defenses as pressure and security risks increased.
• Lu Xin visited Chen Jing with breakfast and heard how the possibility of infiltrators and outside threats was troubling her.
• Lu Xin offered to recommend a family member for security and identified him as the Terror Demon King of Black Marsh City.

Lu Xin arranged for Father to work as a security guard at Qinggang’s base, where Father drove out hidden threats through his terrifying power. After Mom noted the wider significance of the changes, she took Lu Xin, now at the Fifth Step, to inspect his Fantasy Nation.

• Chen Jing agreed to hire Father as a security guard for the Special Purity Department after Lu Xin explained the arrangement.
• Father objected to protecting the base without being able to deeply contaminate its people, but Lu Xin persuaded him to take the job.
• Father’s nightmares frightened suspicious people into leaving the base or behaving obediently, and his watch also exposed hidden activity in the surrounding wilderness.
• Mom told Lu Xin that the changes reflected the world’s need to accept mental mutations and said Qinggang had handled them well.
• Mom accompanied Lu Xin outside, explaining that as the king at the center of the Fifth Step, Fantasy Nation, he should inspect his kingdom.

Mom guided Lu Xin into the Abyss so he could examine its creatures and understand how his Fantasy power affected them. He discovered that he held authority over the Abyss’s Mental Monsters, and Mom prepared to show him something deeper.

• Mom explained that Lu Xin’s path resembled an ability user’s but differed because he had endured immense mental pressure from the start.
• At Mom’s guidance, Lu Xin used the Jack of Spades and Fantasy to enter the Abyss and establish his influence there.
• Mom showed Lu Xin the Abyss’s various Mental Monsters and explained that they reflected thoughts and desires in human hearts.
• Lu Xin realized that within his Fantasy’s range, he could control, transform, or destroy the Mental Monsters with a thought.
• Lu Xin told Mom he would not erase every monster because doing so would make the world monotonous, and Mom praised his sturdy mental core before offering to show him something deeper.

Mom guided Lu Xin through the abyss and explained the stages of ability users, from awakening to Mental Lords and beyond. She revealed that Lu Xin’s power of fantasy could alter or erase other ability users’ traits, leaving him considering whether he could change Gecko’s Spider-type ability.

• Mom led Lu Xin through the abyss, where they greeted Kid and passed through the dreams of people in Qinggang.
• Mom showed Lu Xin an ability user’s mental trait and explained Ability Awakening and Trait Extension.
• Mom showed Lu Xin a Pollution Source imprisoned in a Qinggang Special Purity Department laboratory and explained Mental Plague and the dangers of Infinite Contamination.
• Mom explained how a stabilized Third Step ability user could become a Mental Lord, whose Mental Palace protects their will and controls contamination within a mental field.
• Mom told Lu Xin that his power of fantasy could alter or erase traits, and Lu Xin wondered whether he could change Gecko’s Spider-type ability.

Mom explained the Sixth Step, True Creation, and led Lu Xin deeper into the abyss to show him its nature. As they approached its darkest depths, Mom began bleeding, insisting that letting him see what lay ahead was worth any risk.

• Mom explained that True Creation could bring mental existences into reality and disrupt its laws, and Lu Xin recalled No. 2 and the Tyrant demonstrating similar powers.
• Mom took Lu Xin into a dark region of the abyss and showed him immense statues, surreal images, and nightmares hidden within the human heart.
• As the images gave way to vast darkness, Lu Xin heard wails and the sound of silkworms chewing, while the Jack of Spades struggled in fear.
• Mom, wounded and bleeding, told Lu Xin that he only needed to look and that showing him this was worth any risk.

Mom took Lu Xin to the deepest layer of the abyss to show him a vast, rotting entity she called the Beginning, but its awakening nearly drew him into it. She brought him back to the real world and explained that its power was the essence of the Sixth Step, then told him she believed in him.

• As Lu Xin and Mom descended through the abyss, Mom was badly wounded while shielding him from its influence.
• Lu Xin saw the enormous rotting entity at the abyss’s bottom and felt his own body awakening and a powerful urge to merge with it.
• The entity revived and called to Lu Xin through human forms growing from its body, while Mom embraced him and carried him upward.
• Mom fought to drag Lu Xin through the collapsing abyss as its cries and despair overwhelmed him.
• Lu Xin awoke beneath the stars beside the injured Mom, who identified the entity as the Beginning and its power as the essence of the Sixth Step.
• Mom warned Lu Xin that others would seek the Beginning’s power and told him she believed in him.

After seeing the being at the bottom of the abyss, Lu Xin pressed Mom for answers about its connection to him. Mom revealed that she was an Ultimate and that the being was the source of the other Ultimates, then Dr. An arrived offering explanations and the Research Institute’s overdue deposit.

• Lu Xin asked Mom what the being in the abyss was and why he had felt that he was it.
• Mom said the being was one of the Thirteen Ultimates and their source, and suggested that the Ultimates might have been born because it merged with the abyss.
• Mom acknowledged that she was an Ultimate, but told Lu Xin that their trust as family would help them face what lay ahead.
• Mom noticed that strange beings, including Father and the Infiltrators, had been hiding nearby; the Infiltrators emerged, aggrieved that Lu Xin called them useless.
• Dr. An arrived from the Eclipse Research Institute and offered to explain what she knew, while also bringing the one hundred million deposit the Research Institute owed Lu Xin.

Dr. An brought the Eclipse Research Institute to Qinggang and told Lu Xin that Spades Agency had been involved in the attack and that Professor Wang Jingyun had disappeared. She revealed that the Old Director may have been deliberately kidnapped by people connected to Spades Agency, and began explaining the organization’s connection to artificially created ability users and the Genesis Hard Drive.

• Dr. An arrived at the Qinggang Mental Power Research Base with Eclipse Research Institute researchers and told Professor Bai they would join as an ordinary research team.
• Dr. An went to Lu Xin’s room, where she showed him bloodstained fragments of playing cards matching his Jack of Spades.
• Dr. An explained that the Institute had pursued Spades Agency after learning it had participated in the attack on Qinggang.
• Dr. An told Lu Xin that Professor Wang Jingyun had appeared during the attack and then left with mysterious figures connected to Spades Agency, possibly as part of a deliberate kidnapping.
• Dr. An explained that Spades Agency’s members were mostly artificially created Abyss Team ability users and said the cards might be part of the Genesis Hard Drive.

Dr. An explained to Lu Xin that the Abyss Team’s abilities were tied to the abyss and to a lost experiment involving the Genesis Hard Drive. She invited him to join an investigation of the Research Institute’s former site, where surviving records might reveal the secret of The Beginning.

• Dr. An described the Genesis Hard Drive as the vessel of God and explained that the Abyss Team’s abilities came from the people who created the abyss.
• Dr. An told Lu Xin that the Eclipse Research Institute believed the secret of The Beginning was connected to the first-generation members of the Crimson Moon Research Institute.
• Dr. An revealed that the first-generation researchers had destroyed or lost many records, but remaining clues tied their experiment to the Genesis Hard Drive and the Abyss Team.
• Dr. An explained that the Research Institute had relocated, leaving the former site as a possible source of information about the experiment.
• Dr. An invited Lu Xin to join an investigation team returning to the Research Institute’s former site.

Dr. An offered Lu Xin a place on the Research Institute’s investigation team, but Mom negotiated for the return of the Father’s authority and true name instead. Dr. An agreed to give them directions and three days to retrieve them before the group set out together, leaving the Father laughing in the darkness.

• Dr. An offered Lu Xin a two-hundred-million reward to join an investigation into the old site of the Crimson Moon Research Institute.
• Mom rejected the offer and demanded something more valuable from the Research Institute.
• Mom revealed that she wanted the Father’s authority and true name returned to the family.
• Dr. An agreed to provide directions, give them three days to retrieve the Father’s belongings, and then set out with them.
• Dr. An warned Mom not to fight to the death because the world could not withstand the fall of a second Ultimate.
• The Father knelt beneath the Crimson Moon and laughed as the agreement was reached.

Lu Xin agreed to help Father reclaim his lost authority and secured leave for the family to pursue it. As they prepared to set out, Sister continued dragging Gecko around Qinggang to hunt Mental Monsters.

• Mom explained that Father could regain his true name by finding his Mental Palace, and that his recovered authority would make everyone tremble before him.
• Lu Xin decided to help Father reclaim his Mental Palace and said the family should ask for leave before departing.
• Father's uncontrolled laughter frightened the entire base, and Chen Jing called off the alarm after Lu Xin described it as a misunderstanding.
• Lu Xin explained to Chen Jing that the family planned to retrieve stolen property, and she approved leave for him, Mom, and Father.
• Father signed the leave forms and greeted Chen Jing, frightening her and Mizang with his appearance.
• Sister roamed Qinggang with Gecko and forced him to keep searching for Mental Monsters while he complained about his miserable fate.