Chapter Summaries

The chapter recounted several historical incidents of mass panic and collective behavior before introducing the Crimson Moon incident in 2030. It left the details and outcome of that latest incident unknown.

• In 3 BC, people across several Han commanderies carried stalks of grain to Emperor Ai, believing they were the Queen Mother of the West’s tally, then later awakened from their dreamlike frenzy.
• In 1518, hundreds of people in Strasbourg joined a woman’s relentless dancing, and many died from exhaustion.
• In 1960, a scarecrow in a New England wheat field caused people who saw its eyes, and those near them, to become rigid and vacant.
• In 2005, students at a middle school in Shibuya collectively dreamed of red-eyed spiders and developed strange bodily symptoms before a gas explosion destroyed school buildings.
• In 2030, the Crimson Moon incident occurred, with no further details given.

Lu Xin returned home to his strange family in a city changed by the Crimson Moon, where his parents and sister erupted into violent behavior while he calmly ate dinner. A team monitoring him identified signs of telekinetic mental mutation, and revealed that a dreamweaver sent into his dream had never returned.

• Lu Xin arrived home and gave Sister the teddy bear he had bought for her.
• Mom left to settle a dispute with Sister Zhang and returned with a fresh bloodstain on her sweater.
• During dinner, Dad attacked Mom while Sister clung to the ceiling and watched; Lu Xin calmly ate beside the overturned table.
• A woman observing Lu Xin’s apartment reported that telekinesis had manifested in Mental Mutation Observer Number Thirteen.
• The woman told her colleagues that a dreamweaver sent into Lu Xin’s dream had never come back out.

Lu Xin delivered a document to the Corner Cafe, a confirmed mental pollution zone, while Team Leader Chen and her observers watched to assess his abilities. After spotting something monstrous contaminate his coffee, Lu Xin refused it and hurried for the exit, with the cafe’s patrons staring after him.

• Lu Xin helped Lu Cheng organize documents before the Director sent him to deliver an envelope to the Corner Cafe.
• Team Leader Chen used her red-moon pupils to make the Director forget her visit and the delivery assignment.
• Sister warned Lu Xin that something was wrong at his destination while he rode the train toward the city wall.
• Team Leader Chen’s observers identified the cafe as a Level One Mental Pollution Zone and monitored Lu Xin’s entry.
• The cafe server dropped a black, eye-like thing into Lu Xin’s coffee, but Lu Xin declined the drink and hurried toward the exit as the patrons stared at him.

Lu Xin was trapped in the subway station by the café’s monstrous patrons, but Sister helped him awaken bizarre Spider-type agility and escape their grasp. Near the exit, Sister stopped him from fleeing and provoked the café waiter, insisting that the monster should be afraid of them.

• Lu Xin fled the café and found its patrons and waiter waiting for him at the subway station with his untouched coffee.
• The waiter sent an eye-like creature flying toward Lu Xin’s mouth while the patrons restrained him, and Sister appeared and urged him to fight.
• Sister took Lu Xin’s hand, and he broke free with unnaturally agile movements that the observers identified as a Spider-type ability.
• The café waiter revealed enormous tentacles and attacked Lu Xin, who dodged them while climbing toward the exit.
• Sister held Lu Xin back near the exit and taunted the waiter, telling Lu Xin that the monster should be afraid.

Lu Xin and Sister fought and destroyed the Level 1 Mental Monster in the subway station, then Lu Xin stopped Sister from attacking a normal security guard. The short-haired woman and the doll-like girl arrived after the battle and found the station wrecked, the monster dead, and the frightened guard holding an old camera.

• Sister pulled Lu Xin into a charge against the coffee shop clerk after it transformed into a Level 1 Mental Monster, while the short-haired woman’s team watched the station’s destruction from the observation post.
• Lu Xin dodged the monster’s attacks, tore off its tentacles, and pinned it to the ground with an iron pipe until it burst apart.
• The fleeing coffee shop customers ran through the station, and Lu Xin chased them down and killed several before the rest escaped.
• Lu Xin stopped Sister from attacking the old security guard, then hurried away when she warned that people were coming.
• The short-haired woman and a doll-like girl arrived at the station and found the monster dead, the station wrecked, and the old guard clutching an Old Era camera.

Lu Xin escaped the military cordon around the subway station and was approached by Chen Jing, an agent from Qingcheng Main City’s Inspection Department. She explained that the coffee shop incident was a mental pollution source that had infected dozens of people, and introduced the danger of transmissible mental illness.

• Lu Xin fled the sealed-off subway area by climbing across rooftops, while Sister warned him that someone was watching him and then disappeared.
• Chen Jing stopped Lu Xin on a nearby street and took him to a quiet bar for a private conversation.
• Chen Jing identified herself as an agent who handled abnormal affairs and admitted she had arranged Lu Xin’s encounter that day.
• Chen Jing showed Lu Xin a confidential file describing the coffee shop’s infected host as a low-danger Level 1 mental monster.
• Chen Jing explained that mental pollution spread like a disease and could cause depression, violent attacks, loss of communication, or self-harm.

Chen Jing explained the dangers of Mental Monsters and revealed that Lu Xin had already been contaminated and was a Mental Mutant. She identified his Spider-type ability as precise control over his muscles and bones, leaving him classified as a promising candidate for pollution cleanup work.

• Chen Jing told Lu Xin that the deeply infected people from the Corner Cafe would be eliminated because they could spread the contamination.
• She explained that killing a Pollution Source did not cure the infected and that armed troops had been deployed to stop them from escaping.
• Lu Xin asked whether Chen Jing had risked contaminating him by sending him into the cafe, and she said he had already been contaminated.
• Chen Jing described the two outcomes of mental mutations: Mental Monsters and mutants who could control mental power.
• Chen Jing showed Lu Xin his assessment file and identified him as a Spider-type Mental Mutant with precise control over his body.

Chen Jing explained the threat of mental pollution and tried to recruit Lu Xin, but grew alarmed when he revealed his family. Lu Xin calmly insisted that his family existed for him, leaving Chen Jing unable to answer.

• Chen Jing explained that mental pollution could spread, that losing control could turn someone into a Pollution Source, and that her organization recruited people who could control their abilities.
• Lu Xin asked about the assessment and said Sister lent him his ability, adding that Dad and Mom had always lived with him.
• An anxious voice warned Chen Jing that Lu Xin might have severe dissociative identity symptoms and should be eliminated if he was near losing control.
• Chen Jing recalled Lu Xin's dangerous assessment records and told him his family did not exist and that he lived alone.
• Lu Xin said he knew others could not see his family, but argued that they existed because he could see, talk to, and touch them; Chen Jing could not answer.

Chen Jing weighed whether Lu Xin’s unseen family made him dangerous, then paid him for helping defeat a Mental Monster and provisionally recruited him into the Action Team. Lu Xin left the money at Crimson Moon Elementary School, and Chen Jing’s decision to take him in rested on what he had done with his unexpected fortune.

• Chen Jing asked whether Lu Xin’s family could take control of him, and Lu Xin assured her that they were good people.
• Chen Jing paid Lu Xin ten thousand yuan for passing the assessment and helping handle the Level 1 Mental Monster.
• Lu Xin visited Crimson Moon Elementary School and left the money in the mailbox outside the classroom, marking it with wildflowers for the girl in the wheelchair.
• Chen Jing offered Lu Xin a ride and told him that the Action Team was provisionally taking him in.

Lu Xin signed on as provisional external personnel for Qinggang’s Special Action Team, accepting dangerous work investigating Mental Pollution. Chen Jing armed him despite concerns about his stability, and she resolved to defend her decision to recruit him despite his high risk assessment.

• Chen Jing explained Lu Xin’s duties, pay, and the dangers of investigating Pollution Sources, and Lu Xin signed the provisional recruitment document.
• Chen Jing gave Lu Xin an ID card, a satellite phone, and a revolver, advising him to report everyday trouble or use the firearm rather than his abilities.
• An official questioned Chen Jing’s decision to recruit Lu Xin and urged that he undergo testing in the Main City.
• Chen Jing rejected the objections, tore off her earpiece, and decided to submit a report to Professor Bai.
• Chen Jing reflected that Lu Xin’s assessed risk of losing control was 75 percent and that she believed Qinggang needed people like him to face its threats.

Lu Xin asked Sister to lend him her ability for his new job, and offered to buy her toys instead of letting her hurt someone. After Sister destroyed the toys and agreed to appear when he needed her, Lu Xin sealed their agreement with a high-five.

• Lu Xin calculated how his new income could help him buy a home for Crimson Moon Orphanage and take Teacher Lu to Main City for treatment.
• Sister appeared on a streetlamp, and Lu Xin asked to borrow her ability for his new job.
• Sister asked for a drunken man as a toy, but Lu Xin refused to let her hurt him.
• Sister touched Lu Xin’s scar, remembered how he had protected her, and hugged him as she cried.
• Lu Xin withdrew his savings and bought Sister many toys, which she happily tore apart by the river.
• Sister agreed to appear when Lu Xin needed her, and they sealed the agreement with a high-five.

Lu Xin ate breakfast with his family, endured his father’s anger, and received Mom’s support before heading to his new job. He left the office early to patrol with Sister, carrying the equipment for his work with the Special Investigations Team.

• Mom served Lu Xin and Sister breakfast and encouraged Lu Xin as he prepared to start his new job.
• Father accused Lu Xin’s employers of trying to get him killed and moved to grab him, but Mom stopped him with a gesture that made him retreat to the kitchen after wrecking the room.
• Mom told Lu Xin to be polite and reason with people, while warning that the family would confront anyone who bullied him.
• Lu Xin finished his office work early, motivated by the salary and incident allowances described in Chen Jing’s materials.
• Lu Xin packed his identification, satellite phone, and gun, then went out on patrol with Sister.

Lu Xin patrolled High Wall City for several days but found no dangerous anomalies, then learned that his employer had fired him in favor of Lu Cheng. He left with his belongings and considered Chen Jing’s advice for dealing with trouble.

• Lu Xin and Sister patrolled the streets of High Wall City, but they found no dangerous people or strange incidents.
• Lu Xin worried that the lack of cases might lead Colonel Chen and the others to take back his allowance.
• The Director fired Lu Xin, claiming the company could not keep two workers with similar abilities and criticizing Lu Xin for leaving before overtime.
• Lu Xin learned that Lu Cheng had packed his belongings and that he was dating the Director’s daughter.
• Auntie Sun told Lu Xin that Lu Cheng had wanted his position, while Lu Xin touched the gun in his backpack but chose not to draw it.
• Lu Xin went downstairs, lit a cigarette, and remembered Chen Jing’s advice to call the police, call her, or use the gun when he ran into trouble.

Lu Xin called Chen Jing after his company tried to fire him, and she used Bogu Technology to restore his job. Chen Jing then assigned him to investigate whether a string of deaths linked to Sifang Transportation Company involved contamination, and Lu Xin asked Lu Cheng to help with the project.

• Lu Xin called Chen Jing to explain that his company planned to fire him for supposedly leaving work early to patrol.
• The Director rushed downstairs after Bogu Technology offered Lu Xin's company a transportation project and insisted that Lu Xin keep his job.
• Lu Cheng asked to join the project, but Lu Xin initially refused, while Xiaoqing kept quiet about his apparent connections.
• Chen Jing assigned Lu Xin to contact Qin Ran of Sifang Transportation Company and investigate whether seven or eight related deaths were ordinary murders or something else.
• Lu Xin returned to the company and told Lu Cheng that he should help with the project after all.

Lu Xin went with Lu Cheng and Princess Xiaoqing to inspect Sifang Transportation Company, whose real boss was the wilderness man Qin Ran, while secretly investigating the company for possible mental pollution. After Sifang’s workers beat Lu Cheng and Princess Xiaoqing over a contract dispute, Lu Xin fired his gun at an attacker and turned it on a woman in the crowd.

• Lu Cheng told Lu Xin about Sifang Transportation Company, and Lu Xin recalled Chen Jing’s information identifying Qin Ran as its real boss.
• Lu Xin, Lu Cheng, and Princess Xiaoqing arrived at Sifang’s factory, where Lu Xin looked over the company’s armored trucks while the other two went to negotiate.
• Sifang’s workers beat Lu Cheng and Princess Xiaoqing after they questioned the company’s prices and accounts.
• When the scarred manager demanded that Lu Xin sign the contract and pay, Lu Xin pulled out a gun as the workers surrounded him.
• A young man rushed at Lu Xin with a knife, and Lu Xin shot him in the leg before pointing the gun at a middle-aged woman and warning the crowd not to force him.

Lu Xin confronted Qin Ran’s people with a gun but insisted on continuing their business negotiation, and Qin Ran let the meeting proceed. When Lu Xin asked Qin Ran whether he had encountered anything strange, Qin Ran reacted with fear and raised a gun.

• Lu Xin pointed his gun at a woman and stopped Qin Ran’s people from detaining Princess Xiaoqing and Lu Cheng.
• Lu Xin refused to leave and insisted that he and the woman continue negotiating a fair price.
• Qin Ran emerged, called off retaliation, and invited Lu Xin into his office while business continued.
• Qin Ran ate as he described life in the wilderness and asked who had sent Lu Xin and why he had come.
• Lu Xin identified Qin Ran and asked whether he had encountered anything strange, prompting Qin Ran to raise a gun and accuse him of plotting against him.

Lu Xin questioned Qin Ran about strange incidents, and Qin Ran described a series of people claiming to be the victims he had killed. He revealed that he had locked up the latest four attackers and led Lu Xin to see them.

• Lu Xin disarmed Qin Ran and asked whether he had encountered anything strange.
• Qin Ran admitted that someone had come after him for revenge and recounted killing Cui Wang, a woman named Wang Ting, and two more strangers who claimed to be them.
• Qin Ran said four further strangers broke into his home, each claiming to be one of his victims, and attacked him.
• Qin Ran told Lu Xin he had locked up the four attackers and asked him to come along.

Lu Xin investigated the attacks on Qin Ran and learned that the attackers had mutilated and bitten one another before Qin Ran killed them. He realized the attackers were appearing in increasing numbers, warned Qin Ran that they could keep finding him, and called Colonel Chen for help.

• Qin Ran showed Lu Xin an underground warehouse containing the remains of four attackers and described how they had torn into one another before he shot them.
• Lu Xin connected the attacks to a growing pattern and learned that the latest group had come seven days earlier.
• Qin Ran threatened Lu Xin with an axe, fearing he might use the strange events to scheme against him.
• Lu Xin warned Qin Ran that the attackers could find him wherever he went and that their numbers might keep multiplying.
• Qin Ran lowered his axe and said he believed Lu Xin, who called Colonel Chen.

Lu Xin reported Qin Ran’s strange experience to Chen Jing, who sent an armed investigation team and an Information Analysis Team to support him. They classified the case as D-class special pollution source 041 and decided to investigate the site where Qin Ran disposed of the body.

• Lu Xin told Chen Jing what Qin Ran had heard, and she ordered him to wait at Sifang Transportation Company for an investigation team.
• Three armed personnel arrived, met Lu Xin, and equipped him with a headset linked to Chen Jing and the Information Analysis Team.
• Corporal Han Bing classified the incident as D-class special pollution source 041 and proposed investigating the source or imprisoning Qin Ran as bait.
• Chen Jing explained that the team would not satisfy the pollution source’s suspected needs because they lacked information, and ordered an immediate investigation and cleanup.
• Han Bing identified Qin Ran’s first murder site, where he disposed of the body, as the investigation’s top priority.

Lu Xin and the investigation team took Qin Ran to the sites where he had killed Cui Wang and disposed of his body, searching for signs of a Mental Pollution Source. Finding no abnormal mental power, they concluded that the investigation should focus on where the victims’ paths had intersected.

• Lu Xin brought Qin Ran along with the armed investigation team to the locations associated with Cui Wang’s death and disposal.
• Chen Jing and Han Bing explained how the team’s mental-power detector and protective helmets worked as the personnel scanned both sites and the surrounding area.
• The team found suspected bone fragments but detected no abnormal mental power, and Qin Ran confirmed that he had identified the correct locations.
• Han Bing reasoned that the unrelated Avengers must have crossed paths somewhere and recommended investigating their identities and past routes.