Recaps

Lu Xin tracked Number Three from the Administrative Hall to a meat factory and asked him to help oppose the Old Director. Number Three revealed his monstrous abilities and mocked Lu Xin for asking him to risk his life again, leaving their alliance uncertain.

• Lu Xin and Number Fourteen spotted Number Three leaving the Administrative Hall dressed as a polished professional and followed his sports car to Nanyuan Meat Factory.
• Lu Xin slipped into the deserted factory, where the hanging pigs laughed and turned toward him until he told Number Three to stop fooling around.
• Number Three emerged from a discarded body and lunged at Lu Xin, but stopped his claw just short of Lu Xin's face and retreated.
• Lu Xin asked Number Three to help deal with the Old Director and escape his control.
• Number Three transformed through a hanging pig into his handsome human appearance and mocked Lu Xin for asking him to risk his life again.

Lu Xin reunited with Number Three and explained that he wanted his help against Wang Jingyun, but Number Three reminded him of their violent past. Over a lavish family dinner, Lu Xin saw that Number Three had built a warm life, and Number Three agreed to wipe away their grudge after the meal.

• Lu Xin told Number Three that he had learned Wang Jingyun had been watching and controlling them, and asked for his help.
• Number Three recalled that Lu Xin had pulled his heart out and admitted he still hated and feared him, but agreed to meet with Lu Xin and the others.
• Number Three brought his wife, children, in-laws, and brother-in-law’s family to an expensive hotel dinner, where Lu Xin, Number Fourteen, Little Nineteen, and Sister joined them.
• Lu Xin recognized that Number Three’s affection for his family was genuine and told him that caring for family mattered more than whether he helped.
• Number Three said that after they finished the meal, he would consider the grudge over Lu Xin killing him wiped clean.

Lu Xin reunited with Number Three, who chose to protect his family rather than join the fight against Old Director. Number Fourteen revealed he could contact Number Five, and the chapter ended with him calling her through the hotel television.

• Number Three left with his family after meeting Lu Xin, and Lu Xin decided not to pressure him to fight Old Director.
• Lu Xin, Number Fourteen, Sister, and Little Nineteen checked into a hotel, while several groups of suspicious guests gathered nearby.
• Sister and Little Nineteen went out to play, and Lu Xin told Number Fourteen they would leave Number Three’s choice to him.
• Number Fourteen said Number Twelve would be hard to find and warned Lu Xin that Number Five might still resent him.
• Number Fourteen asked Lu Xin for money to buy a phone, then revealed a backup plan and called Number Five through the hotel television.

Lu Xin reunited with Number Five through a television, where she appeared strapped to a hunched man’s back and threatened to operate on Number Eight. Number Five blamed Lu Xin for her condition before revealing she had discovered Old Director’s crazy plan, leaving Lu Xin asking what it was.

• Number Fourteen activated an unplugged television and connected Lu Xin to Number Five, who appeared in a laboratory with Number Eight bound to an operating table.
• Number Five said she planned to open Number Eight’s head and rewire him for trying to bring her to Qinggang.
• Lu Xin pleaded with Number Five to stop and asked why she had become so strangely disfigured.
• Number Five blamed Lu Xin for the chain of events that led to her condition, while Number Fourteen and Number Eight challenged her accusation.
• Number Five said she had discovered Old Director’s crazy plan, and Lu Xin urgently asked what it was.

Lu Xin confronted Number Five about the Old Director and promised to help her and the other orphanage children, but she explained why they feared seeking revenge and warned him that the Old Director and the Spades Office were far more dangerous than he understood. The chapter ended with Lu Xin anxiously asking where Sister and Little Nineteen were.

• Lu Xin told Number Five that he would oppose the Old Director and asked whether she would help him.
• Number Five challenged Lu Xin's ability to protect her, rejected his offer of compensation, and questioned why the Old Director could save people Lu Xin had killed.
• Number Five explained that the orphanage children knew Lu Xin was not to blame for their suffering, but feared the Old Director more than they resented him.
• Number Five warned Lu Xin that the Spades Office had powerful human allies and that even gods could be killed.
• Lu Xin stood up tensely and asked where Sister and Little Nineteen were.

Lu Xin left High Wall City after Sister and Little Nineteen stopped a coordinated assassination attempt, carrying Number Five’s request and his resolve to oppose the Old Director. Meanwhile, the cloaked group prepared an erasure trap for him, believing they understood his rules well enough to ensure his death.

• Sister turned the assassins attacking Lu Xin’s hotel into a human snake and swept up the bomb installers and anesthetic team, while Little Nineteen killed the snipers across the street.
• Lu Xin scolded Sister for causing a commotion, then told Number Five he would leave the city to avoid weapons that could endanger ordinary people.
• Number Fourteen declined to join Lu Xin without the others’ support, and Lu Xin gave him cash and told him to find him in Qinggang if he needed help.
• Lu Xin asked Number Five to send Number Eight to Qinggang, then left Number Fourteen the jeep and supplies and rode toward the city outskirts with Sister and Little Nineteen.
• A cloaked group discussed how Lu Xin’s strict rules would make him leave High Wall City and planned to guide him into an erasure trap, while the heart-cloaked speaker revealed a top-secret mental assessment report.

Lu Xin left Soda City and pursued a series of attacks in which knight orders abducted children under the influence of a being called the Pale Nun. He rescued some children but discovered a larger danger, while a secret council revealed that it had deliberately steered him toward a trap.

• Lu Xin escaped Soda City, sensed that he was being watched, and followed his map toward an uninhabited area.
• After seeing a gathering point engulfed in flames, Lu Xin learned that a knight order had attacked it and taken children from its orphanage.
• Lu Xin tracked down the knight order, killed its members, and found that the rescued children were mentally drawn toward the northeast.
• Lu Xin used his expanding mental force field to discover more knight orders abducting children and a strange nun-like creature leading others toward the northeast.
• A surviving knight order member told Lu Xin that the Pale Nun wanted the children so she could help them find their mothers and return home.
• The council members discussed how Lu Xin’s curiosity, kindness, responsibility, and confidence had led him along their planned route, and the man in the spade cloak declared that their trap would kill him.

Lu Xin followed the child-attracting pollution to the out-of-control Dark Ironworks and rushed in to save the children despite suspecting a trap. He destroyed the monster within, but The Beginning’s power seized him and black tendrils began to surround him.

• Lu Xin found that the trail of pollution led to the breached S-Rank restricted zone, where Pale Nuns guided children toward a monster in the black mist.
• Lu Xin chose to rescue the children, while men in Spade and Heart cloaks revealed that they had planned to exploit his humanity to lure him into a trap.
• Sister linked the children together and pulled them away as Little Nineteen attacked the Pale Nuns.
• Lu Xin entered the restricted zone, pierced the huge rotting Mental Monster with his black particles, and pulled children from its grasp.
• The monster burst apart, but something seized Lu Xin’s left hand and black fleshy tendrils rose around him; he realized the assassins had used The Beginning’s power.

Lu Xin was nearly dragged into the Abyss by The Beginning’s power, but he resisted long enough for Number Five and the other orphans to arrive and cut through its tendrils. Number Fourteen revealed that the orphans could oppose The Beginning’s power, hinting at Old Director’s secret.

• The person in the spade cloak explained that the Spades Office had released part of The Beginning’s power to kill Lu Xin and claimed he could not be saved.
• The Beginning’s tendrils bound Lu Xin and began dragging him into the Abyss as Sister and Little Nineteen struggled to hold him back.
• Lu Xin encountered a hollow-eyed man in a dreamlike void, who praised his resistance and passed something into his mind.
• The spade-cloaked conspirators celebrated Lu Xin’s supposed death until their screen began receiving a signal again.
• Number Five arrived with Number Three, Number Fourteen, and Number Eight, and Number Five cut the tendrils to free Lu Xin.
• Number Fourteen told Lu Xin that the orphans could resist The Beginning’s power and called it Old Director’s greatest secret.

Lu Xin learned that The Beginning had two sides, death and life, and that the Old Director had revived his orphanage companions using its life power. His former classmates agreed to help him, and the group turned their attention to finding the Spades Office members behind the assassination.

• Number Fourteen explained that the Old Director had revived the orphanage children with The Beginning's life power, while Lu Xin had inherited its power of death.
• Number Fourteen, Little Nineteen, Number Eight, and Number Three agreed to help Lu Xin, though Number Fourteen returned his breakup fee in one-yuan bills and Number Three demanded Lu Xin's watch.
• Number Five told Lu Xin that the orphanage companions trusted him and needed his help, then tried to persuade him to invest in her research project.
• Number Five revealed that the assassination trap had been a planned operation and that the Spades Office had concealed the attackers' identities.
• Lu Xin told Number Five that he had planted a spy among the people who had tried to assassinate him.

After surviving an assassination attempt, Lu Xin learned that the Old Director had built an altar capable of sacrificing half the world and was pursuing an unknown plan involving a logic chain called Mobius. Lu Xin decided to return to Qinggang and investigate who had arranged the attack.

• Number Fourteen used his connection ability to contact the rescued children's relatives, while Number Five and Number Eight investigated the attack site.
• Number Five identified the assassins' weapon as a device that exchanged a forbidden-zone creature's mental power for power from The Beginning.
• Number Five revealed that the Old Director had secretly built an altar capable of sacrificing half the world and had also focused on Lu Xin and the logic chain codenamed Mobius.
• Number Five said she feared the Old Director's obsessive love would make him indifferent to others, whom he might treat as sacrifices.
• Number Eight discovered poor construction and alarm systems around the restricted zone and planned to report the officials responsible.
• Zhou Quan arrived with Qinggang's security squad and apologized for being diverted; Lu Xin said he would return to Qinggang to investigate the assassination and find those responsible.

Lu Xin returned to Qinggang with his classmates and met with its leaders over evidence of betrayal within the city. Chen Jing rejected the official investigation’s findings and pressed Mr. Zhang until he agreed to let them meet the person under investigation.

• Lu Xin arrived at Qinggang’s northern outpost with Number Three, Number Five, and the veteran assassin, whose intelligence had helped identify people plotting to kill him.
• As they traveled into Main City, Lu Xin reflected on whom he trusted and wondered who had destroyed his sense of security.
• Chen Jing brought Lu Xin and his companions to meet Mr. Su and Mr. Zhang, while Qinggang’s security forces remained on alert.
• Mr. Zhang presented an investigation result, but Chen Jing threw it away and accused him of trying to cover up a betrayal with scapegoats.
• Chen Jing pointed to the evidence in Lu Xin’s briefcase and demanded a face-to-face meeting with the person involved, and Mr. Zhang agreed that the person was waiting.

Chen Jing led Lu Xin and the others to arrest a powerful figure at a guarded villa in Qinggang, ordering her forces to shoot anyone who resisted. After the guards let them through, Chen Jing shot Second Young Master Song when he threatened them, and the exhausted old man they had come to arrest appeared on the stairs.

• Lu Xin, Chen Jing, and Numbers Three, Five, and Fourteen drove to the villa after leaving the nameless building.
• Chen Jing ordered her armed personnel to prepare for a firefight, warned the villa guards, and drove through after they withdrew.
• Lu Xin recognized Vice President Xiao outside the villa, and Old President Xiao took his son away, hoping to retire and transfer the company.
• Chen Jing and the others entered the villa, where Second Young Master Song threatened them with a gun.
• Chen Jing shot Second Young Master Song in the heart and explained that she had promised to kill anyone who obstructed them.
• An exhausted old man in a dressing gown appeared at the top of the stairs and looked helplessly at the wounded Second Young Master Song.

Lu Xin and Chen Jing confronted Mr. Song, who admitted that he had joined the Spades Office’s assassination plot because he distrusted Qinggang’s uncertain plans and wanted to survive. Meanwhile, Professor Bai revealed that the Heavenly Kingdom Plan’s second half came from a genius researcher and had been secretly put into practice.

• Mr. Song returned to Qinggang, signed documents, and told Chen Jing he had come to accept the consequences of the failed assassination.
• Mr. Song explained that he had worked with the Spades Office for years because he believed the Mentor and the Bishop offered a clearer path to survival than Qinggang’s plans.
• Lu Xin listened to Mr. Song’s reasons and felt conflicted because his own experience with The Beginning gave him a faint sense of resonance with them.
• Professor Bai and Mr. Su listened to the confrontation and discussed how the pressure of their world left everyone feeling lost.
• Professor Bai revealed that Dean Xue Jia had secretly preserved a genius researcher’s ideas, which inspired the Heavenly Kingdom Plan and its newly uncovered second half.

Professor Bai revealed that Lin Mo’s research had inspired Qinggang’s Heavenly Kingdom Plan and that Xue Jia had spent decades protecting and gradually passing on Lin Mo’s findings. He explained that the First-Generation Researchers had tried to give The Beginning consciousness, turning a civilization-scale Pollution Source into a godlike Mental Monster.

• Professor Bai told the gentlemen that the original idea for the Heavenly Kingdom Plan came from Lin Mo, whose research had been concealed and later shared by Xue Jia.
• Professor Bai explained that Lin Mo discovered the truth about the world and drew The Beginning’s attention, suffered a mental breakdown, and left behind three prophecies and final advice.
• Professor Bai described how Xue Jia altered Lin Mo’s suicide note, hid his most important research, removed the First-Generation Researchers’ surveillance, and spent more than twenty years preparing Qinggang.
• Mr. Su asked what secret Lin Mo had left, and Professor Bai said the answer was an idea pointing toward a possible method of dealing with The Beginning.
• Professor Bai explained that The Beginning was a vast, unconscious Pollution Source and that the First-Generation Researchers had sought to implant consciousness into it, making it the greatest Mental Monster: God.

Chen Jing confronted Mr. Song over his betrayal of Qinggang and refused to let his confusion excuse his crimes, while Professor Bai and Qinggang’s leaders faced the choice of opening a document that could draw the Beginning’s attention. Chen Jing’s determination strengthened Lu Xin and the others, and one leader urged Qinggang to meet the dangers head-on.

• Professor Bai warned that pursuing the Heavenly Kingdom Plan could attract the Beginning, the first-generation researchers, and other dangerous forces, then asked the assembled leaders whether to open the document.
• Chen Jing demanded that Mr. Song explain how he sold information and set the trap, dismissing his confusion as no excuse for betraying Qinggang.
• Chen Jing said Mr. Song would lose his privileges and assets and that his uninvolved family would be exiled to Satellite City; she then had him handcuffed and taken away.
• Number Three and Number Five questioned Chen Jing about her convictions, and she said she would keep doing what she believed was right even if she were an ant fighting a flood-swept log.
• A gentleman in Professor Bai’s office argued that Qinggang should face the dangers head-on rather than wait for them to arrive.

Old Ghost announced that Crimson Moon was entering its final volume and that the seventh trial would include puzzle-solving before the story’s mysteries and remaining threads were resolved. The author reflected on writing the novel during a dark period and thanked readers, promising to work toward a satisfying ending.

• Old Ghost said the seventh trial would include puzzles and that the story would end after its mysteries were revealed.
• Old Ghost said Crimson Moon was the final volume and that earlier unresolved threads would be tied up without forcing them.
• Old Ghost said the month would likely be the novel’s last on the rankings and promised to work to maintain update speed and quality.
• Old Ghost explained that Crimson Moon came from an especially dark period in the author’s life and hoped it might comfort readers with similar experiences.
• Old Ghost thanked readers and wished them restful nights and happy days.

After Mr. Song was captured, Lu Xin reunited with his former classmates and hosted them for a barbecue at Kid’s villa. As they discussed finding Old Director, Number Five asked whether Lu Xin could truly protect them, and Lu Xin said he would answer after resolving the Sole Consciousness.

• Chen Jing took Mr. Song into custody and arranged for the veteran killer to report to Group D of the Special Purity Department.
• Lu Xin invited his returning classmates to eat barbecue at Kid’s villa, where Number Fourteen introduced Kid as Sister-in-law Nine.
• The group shared a meal and reminisced about their childhood at the orphanage.
• Lu Xin said he would bring Number Two back from Kindling City, while Number Five noted that Seven had chosen to follow Old Director and Number Twelve was impossible to find.
• Number Five asked whether Lu Xin could protect them, and Lu Xin said he would answer the next day after resolving the Sole Consciousness.

Lu Xin went into the wilderness with Kid to confront The Beginning and understand how to digest Sole Consciousness. As The Beginning’s influence engulfed him, he chose to trust in himself and in the hope of making the world better.

• Lu Xin shared a meal with his orphanage classmates, arranged their stay at the Special Purity Department guesthouse, and took Kid with him to the wilderness.
• Lu Xin used Kid’s mental power to travel with her nearly a hundred miles without passing through the abyss.
• Beneath the Crimson Moon, Lu Xin recalled his encounters with The Beginning and Lu Tianming and realized that his foolishness was key to opposing The Beginning.
• Lu Xin summoned The Beginning’s power and faced its overwhelming mental influence as he searched for the resolve to preserve his consciousness.
• Lu Xin remembered Kid, Mom, his classmates, Teacher Lu, Qinggang, and his colleagues, then declared that he believed the world could have hope and vowed to become its final hope.

Lu Xin voluntarily faced The Beginning’s pollution, enduring despair as he began to digest Sole Consciousness. As Old Director watched and the western laboratory’s plans faltered, the black-robed archbishop chose to unleash the abyss’s creatures and create a new crisis.

• Lu Xin chose to face The Beginning and endured its overwhelming pollution, holding on to his resolve as his emotions and desires began to fade.
• Kid watched Lu Xin struggle under the pressure and grew tearful.
• Old Director explained that the seven trials had been stages of resisting pollution, expressed faith in Lu Xin, and declared that the Trial of God had begun.
• In the western laboratory, the chief researcher and the black-robed archbishop learned that Lu Xin was digesting Sole Consciousness and discussed their remaining choices.
• The black-robed archbishop rejected giving the world another chance and ordered his people to kill Mother of Punishment and release the beings from the abyss.

Lu Xin faced The Beginning's power and used the experience to digest more of Sole Consciousness, gaining a small amount of mental power while keeping his sense of self intact. He discovered that his new connection to The Beginning affected the world around him and let him perceive Kid's thoughts, then offered to take her back.

• Lu Xin endured The Beginning's mental pressure as the symbols from the Crimson Moon Research Institute appeared in his mind and helped Sole Consciousness merge with him.
• Lu Xin realized his mental power had increased by two points and confirmed that he had not changed physically or lost his sense of self.
• Kid asked whether Lu Xin was all right, and Lu Xin reassured her before walking toward her.
• Lu Xin's movement stirred The Beginning's mental power and knocked Kid onto the ground, so he apologized and helped her up.
• Lu Xin realized his increased mental authority let him perceive Kid's thoughts and that it had changed how she saw his appearance.
• Lu Xin stopped probing Kid's thoughts and offered her his hand so they could head back.

Lu Xin sensed a sudden, far-reaching danger after seeing strange currents strike a monster tree and feeling a black nail pierce his palm. He returned to Qinggang as reports of severe mental pollution arrived from multiple settlements, and Professor Bai suspected the crisis was the Second Coming.

• As Lu Xin walked with Sister beneath the Crimson Moon, he sensed danger, saw a fleeting vision of violent currents hitting a monster tree, and found a painful black nail piercing his right palm.
• Lu Xin hurried back to Qinggang with Sister, while Kid returned safely to her villa and the city issued urgent orders to locate her and summon high-level personnel.
• Chen Jing told Lu Xin that Qinggang's instruments had detected immense fluctuations beyond the city, and distress reports arrived from several settlements and High Wall City.
• Professor Bai ordered the emergency intelligence system activated as reports described unknown Mental Pollution, a suspected Mental Lord in Blackwater Town, mass nightmares in Cigarette Market, and a ghost train in Misty Village.
• Professor Bai wondered whether the spreading catastrophe marked the true meaning of the Second Coming.

Lu Xin and the others learned that the world-ending Third Descent had begun after the First-Generation Researchers killed the Mother of Punishment, who had guarded reality. Professor Xue Jia issued a mission asking the Alliance to protect civilians, leaving Qinggang to decide whether it would carry out the only available plan.

• Professor Xue Jia appeared through an oil painting and explained that the Third Descent had already begun and would surpass the First Descent in intensity.
• Professor Xue Jia revealed that the Mother of Punishment had protected reality as the gatekeeper between the Abyss and the world, but had been killed by people in reality.
• Lu Xin recognized the black nail in his palm and felt guilty upon learning that the Mother of Punishment had been betrayed by those she protected.
• Professor Xue Jia issued the Alliance a world-ending Special Pollution Cleanup mission to protect polluted civilians.
• Professor Xue Jia told Professor Bai that the plan had been sent to him and that Qinggang was the only Alliance city with the foundation to carry it out, leaving the decision to Qinggang.

As the Third Descent spread chaos across the wilderness, Qinggang’s leaders debated whether to carry out a dangerous plan before they had time to prepare. Mr. Su reminded them of the choice they had made when Qinggang was founded, leaving the meeting to face the promises they had once made.

• Professor Bai asked Chen Jing to report that nearby cities were requesting aid, several locations had gone silent, and severe Mental Pollution was spreading.
• Professor Bai ordered Qinggang’s defenses prepared, while Lu Xin left the meeting and sensed monsters and outbreaks across the wilderness as Kid protected the city.
• Lu Xin sensed researchers outside Satellite City No. 2 demanding help while Qinggang’s leaders struggled to decide whether to act on a plan originally meant to take years to prepare.
• Professor Bai argued that waiting for more information would let the Pollution spread and cost more lives, but the leaders remained divided.
• Mr. Su recalled Qinggang’s founding test about whether to stay safe or risk going outside to save people, and said their old promises had finally come due.

Lu Xin learned that Qinggang had voted to accept the world-ending Mental Pollution crisis and agreed to help carry out the response. Professor Bai outlined a plan to extend Kid’s protection with the Sword Wielder’s Mental Palace and recruit Lu Xin to lead a powerful cleanup team, leaving Qinggang ready to begin the effort to save the world.

• Lu Xin listened to Qinggang’s debate and felt respect for the city’s decision to risk itself to save others.
• Lu Xin returned to the meeting after Qinggang voted five to two to accept the plan, and he promised to help.
• Professor Bai explained that the Eclipse Research Institute’s Infiltrators could provide timely information despite the collapse of communications.
• Professor Bai proposed using the Sword Wielder’s Mental Palace to expand Kid’s protective reach by creating a knight order, and Lu Xin agreed.
• Professor Bai asked Lu Xin to assemble the strongest Special Pollution Cleanup team in history, and Lu Xin agreed after confirming they would follow the rules.