Chapter Summaries

Lu Xin and several teams faced deadly attacks from people and creatures transformed by an unknown contamination. The burly team leader pulled the knife-wielding girl away from the clown’s neck, but her head turned toward him as he struck.

• Lu Xin dodged attacks from multiple Geckos in the courtyard and struggled to determine whether Chen Jing, Gecko, or he himself had been contaminated.
• Lu Xin stopped Sister from charging into the courtyard’s chaos, fearing she would attack his teammates.
• The Doctor’s team turned on one another in the eye-covered alley, with the Doctor threatening the unfocused Patient, who aimed a gun at the tightly wrapped Patient.
• Xia Chong’s team fired special bullets at the ceiling creature in the underground parking lot, but the flesh regenerated and hidden mouths and barbs injured all three team members.
• The burly team leader attacked the girl who jumped from a rooftop beneath the Crimson Moon, but she split her body apart and swept toward the clown with a dinner knife.
• The team leader seized the girl’s blood strands and dragged her away from the clown, then punched toward her as her head turned toward him.

Lu Xin discovered that he could distinguish the real Gecko and Chen Jing from their polluted doubles by the feel of their combat uniforms, then attacked the fakes. Elsewhere, the doctor and his patient teammates turned Xinmo’s mind-reading against him and captured him.

• Lu Xin realized the polluted doubles felt cold and hard, unlike the real teammates’ woven combat uniforms, and asked Sister to help him fight more ruthlessly.
• Lu Xin tore through the false Geckos, destroying them until only a few figures remained in the courtyard.
• The doctor and his two patient teammates fought each other without trying to kill one another, filling Xinmo’s observations with their painful and disturbing sensations.
• The doctor found Xinmo’s true body while Xinmo was overwhelmed by the patients’ experiences and attacked him with a scalpel.
• The doctor dismembered Xinmo and admitted he could not let him escape after he had seen the group’s inner thoughts.

Xia Chong fought the flesh monster in the underground parking garage, using fire and repeated doorways to pursue it. Elsewhere, the stitched girl killed the magician, clown, and burly man, then walked away into an alley.

• Xia Chong recognized the contamination as Special Pollution Event No. 1021 and told her teammates to stay calm while she escaped through a door.
• The flesh monster killed one teammate, but Xia Chong returned with a flamethrower and burned the creature until it fled upstairs.
• Xia Chong pursued the fleeing monster through rooms and buildings, repeatedly attacking it with flames.
• The stitched girl used her blood threads to evade the burly man and killed the magician with a table knife.
• The clown restrained the stitched girl with his dance, but she bit his neck and killed him.
• The burly man seized the stitched girl, but his head suddenly rolled off; she picked up the knife and walked into an alley.

Lu Xin, Gecko, and Chen Jing survived the fake Geckos and recovered the twelve-tier Rubik’s Cube that caused the contamination. As they approached the high-rise where Lu Xin’s family was, Sister sensed the same person she had felt at the detention center.

• Lu Xin confirmed that two apparent Geckos were fakes and dismantled one, revealing a twelve-by-twelve Rubik’s Cube inside.
• Chen Jing emerged from hiding with the Mizang monster, explaining that she had concealed herself while the others fought.
• Chen Jing identified the cube as a valuable high-level parasitic item and gave Lu Xin a bag to take it back for research.
• Chen Jing explained that the Mizang monster’s concealment caused intense dejection, making it risky to rely on for their infiltration.
• Lu Xin headed toward the nearby high-rise, but Sister stopped and told him she could sense the person she had felt at the detention center.

Lu Xin and Chen Jing reached the abandoned skyscraper believed to house Black Table’s laboratory, where they encountered injured Central City operatives and learned that Captain Li’s squad had been wiped out. Sister then excitedly told Lu Xin she had found someone, as a pale girl with a kitchen knife appeared at the end of the street.

• Lu Xin, Chen Jing, and Gecko reached the skyscraper while Sister searched anxiously for someone nearby.
• Xia Chong arrived with an injured teammate, argued with Chen Jing about their presence, and said a flesh-controlling monster had killed one member and wounded another.
• Scalpel and two other Central City operatives joined them, and Xia Chong revealed that eight squads were in Buffalo City, with more possibly on the way.
• A red balloon floated toward the group, and Xia Chong and the others recognized it as a sign that Captain Li’s squad had been wiped out.
• Sister tugged Lu Xin’s clothes and said she had found her, as a pale little girl carrying a kitchen knife appeared and scraped it along abandoned cars.

Lu Xin confronted a stitched little girl whose appearance felt strangely familiar, while she attacked the gathered teams and killed two people. As she lunged at Gecko, Lu Xin seized her by the neck and declared that she could not kill anyone else.

• Lu Xin recognized something familiar in the stitched girl, and Sister reacted uncertainly when he asked whether they knew her.
• The girl split apart and attacked Lu Xin from behind, but Sister caught her knife and forced her to retreat to a wall.
• Xia Chong and the others attacked the girl, but she evaded them, killed one of Xia Chong's teammates, and killed the Doctor's patient after he retrieved the red balloon.
• Lu Xin saw the deaths and told the girl to stop killing, but she lunged at Chen Jing and then redirected her knife toward Gecko.
• Lu Xin grabbed the girl by the neck and slammed her into the ground before telling her she could not kill anyone anymore.

Lu Xin's contact with the little girl stirred fragmented memories, while Sister fought to protect him and the team prepared a counterattack. The girl revealed that she had secretly trapped everyone in a taut web of invisible threads, poised to kill them all.

• Lu Xin slammed the little girl to the ground, but her body broke apart and reassembled as she continued attacking him and Sister.
• Chen Jing and Xia Chong reviewed information from the red balloon and learned that control abilities could restrain the girl, while the doctor identified her as a Puppet-type user with a distorted ability.
• Lu Xin recalled fragments of a sunny garden, where Sister and the little girl had grown up alongside another child.
• Father refused to help Lu Xin, while Xia Chong used a flamethrower to burn the girl's bloody threads and draw her attention.
• The doctor recognized the girl's invisible threads and warned Xia Chong to run as Lu Xin realized the web had trapped everyone and was ready to contract.

Lu Xin used a distorted force field to save Chen Jing, Xia Chong, and the others from the little girl’s threads, then subdued the girl as more teams arrived. He embraced her and apologized for forgetting her, calling her Little Nineteen.

• Lu Xin twisted the little girl’s threads aside with a distorted force field, saving Chen Jing, Xia Chong, the doctor, and the others.
• Xia Chong recognized Lu Xin’s power as the distorted force field of a Zero Ability User.
• The Central City squad and a support squad arrived, but Lu Xin diverted their special bullets and repeatedly pinned the girl down with mental shock and a distorted force field.
• Lu Xin reached the girl as she struggled to seize her table knife, then embraced her and apologized for forgetting her, calling her Little Nineteen.

Lu Xin reunited with a puppet of Little Nineteen, who called him a “big monster” before escaping and deepening his grief. He left the Central City squads to pursue another relative alone, while Xia Chong took command and led the others toward the laboratory by another route.

• Lu Xin embraced the little girl, who called him a “big monster,” then vanished and left behind a crystal-like puppet as Little Nineteen escaped.
• Sister comforted Lu Xin, who admitted the girl was afraid of him, while a skinless puppy bit his leg and was kicked away.
• Xia Chong confirmed Captain Li and five others had died, assumed temporary command, and ordered the remaining squads to join forces and share information.
• Lu Xin refused to join the squads, saying he was on vacation and needed to meet a relative, then entered the building with Sister and the skinless puppy.
• Chen Jing told Xia Chong that Lu Xin was an ordinary Mutant with an excellent mission record, and Xia Chong ordered the squads to move out by another route.

Chen Xun left the laboratory after agreeing to secure time for Zhao Shiming’s experiment, then met Lu Xin in an abandoned bar. He revealed that Little Nineteen had survived and accused Lu Xin of having killed her before, leaving Lu Xin to face the revelation.

• Chen Xun told Zhao Shiming that the Tyrant’s power was incomplete but terrifying, then shook hands with him and left the laboratory.
• Lu Xin entered the abandoned building with Sister and followed the presence in the darkness to a candlelit bar.
• Chen Xun greeted Lu Xin and poured drinks for him and his companions, and Lu Xin said he remembered Chen Xun from the orphanage.
• Lu Xin asked what had happened to Little Nineteen, and Chen Xun explained that he had kept her alive.
• Chen Xun set down a Wish Countdown stopwatch and warned that harming him or destroying it would trigger his wish immediately.
• Chen Xun claimed Lu Xin had killed Little Nineteen before and asked whether Lu Xin felt sad about it.

Lu Xin’s memories of the orphanage returned alongside the horror of Little Nineteen’s death, and Chen Xun revealed that Lu Xin had once been a severely contaminated subject in their experiments. As Chen Xun defended his group’s attempt to understand and control the Crimson Moon’s power, Lu Xin struggled to resist his family’s demands to kill him, while fighting elsewhere suggested Chen Jing’s team had entered the laboratory.

• Lu Xin recalled the orphanage and its children, but the memories turned blood-red as he remembered Little Nineteen dying and began to lose control.
• Chen Xun told Lu Xin that they had found him severely contaminated, believed they had cured him, and later saw his potential before he destroyed everything.
• Chen Xun explained that his group had sought to understand and control the power brought by the Crimson Moon, comparing themselves to people who wanted to steal fire.
• Father and Sister urged Lu Xin to kill Chen Xun, while Lu Xin tried to quiet the voices and asked whether their pursuit of truth justified cutting people open.
• Chen Xun rejected Lu Xin’s question as immature, and Lu Xin heard gunshots and cries from elsewhere in the building, realizing Chen Jing and the others had encountered powerful enemies.

Lu Xin confronted Chen Xun about his treatment and the Old Director, then learned that Chen Xun had deliberately brought about a controlled descent of a god. After pinning Chen Xun’s hands to the bar, Lu Xin left to prove where he had gone wrong.

• Lu Xin questioned Chen Xun about the others and the experiments performed on him, triggering fragmented memories of his time in the laboratory.
• Lu Xin asked whether the Old Director was still alive, but Chen Xun refused to show fear or regret and said he would make the same choices again.
• Sounds of suffering from underground interrupted the confrontation, and Chen Xun watched his stopwatch with delight.
• Chen Xun revealed that he and the Old Director had aimed to make a god descend early as a controllable tool, claiming he had made a god bow to humanity.
• Lu Xin challenged Chen Xun over who would bear the consequences of creating a monster, then pierced Chen Xun’s palms with glass and left to prove him wrong.

Lu Xin descended through the building to find the terrifying presence below while Xia Chong’s team reached the laboratory and confronted Zhao Shiming. Zhao Shiming activated a glass tank and announced that it contained a god, whose tentacle stopped the team’s attacks and made everyone’s eyes bleed.

• Lu Xin apologized to Sister and Father, then used his shadows to smash through the floors and descend toward the source of the tremors.
• Gecko, Xia Chong, Chen Jing, and the other members of the joint team stormed the laboratory, where the Gothic Lady subdued most of the researchers with her whip.
• Xia Chong ordered Zhao Shiming to stop working and return with them, but he refused and continued operating his instrument inside a reinforced glass chamber.
• The team attacked Zhao Shiming’s chamber, but he pushed a red switch and cracked open a glass tank in the laboratory.
• Zhao Shiming laughed and called the creature inside the tank a god as a long tentacle emerged, halting the team’s attacks and causing everyone’s eyes to bleed.

Zhao Shiming’s experiment awakened a monstrous being whose mental power overwhelmed the joint team and brought Buffalo City’s hidden horrors to life. Xia Chong was struck down, the team’s escape routes were blocked, and an observer at the outpost reported that the experiment had succeeded.

• Zhao Shiming’s tentacled monster emerged from the pool, overwhelming the laboratory staff and ability users with its mental field.
• Scalpel warned Xia Chong and the others to retreat, and the elegantly dressed man’s plasma bomb briefly disrupted the field so they could escape the office.
• Xia Chong summoned a force from the Abyss and charged the laboratory while Chen Jing, Gecko, and the others fled down the corridor.
• The monster focused its six eyes on Xia Chong, blasted her backward, and prompted Zhao Shiming to command the creatures throughout Buffalo City.
• Flesh monsters surged through the corridors and sealed the team’s exits as tentacles rose and buildings collapsed across Buffalo City.
• An old man at the Central City Special Pollution Cleanup outpost surveyed the awakened city and told headquarters that the experiment had succeeded.

The joint team returned to the laboratory to rescue Xia Chong, but found themselves trapped as Zhao Shiming’s monster adapted to its power and advanced on them. With Xia Chong unable to open another door, Gecko called for help, and a mysterious figure crashed through the ceiling and landed on the monster.

• The doctor calculated a safe moment for Gothic Lady to pull Xia Chong out of the monster’s psychic field, and the team regrouped at the laboratory entrance.
• The team realized every route out was blocked and that the monster’s growing psychic power made their abilities nearly useless.
• Zhao Shiming announced that the God's Body power experiment would continue, and the monster expanded its psychic field while the team tried to hold it back with plasma grenades.
• Xia Chong told the team she could no longer open a door without trapping them all in the abyss, leaving them with no clear escape.
• Gecko shouted, "Save me, Captain," and a figure fell through the ceiling onto the monster’s head before asking whether Gecko had called for them.

Lu Xin confronted Zhao Shiming and the monstrous body he called a god, resisting its mental force and clearing the escape route for his allies. After sending them away, he offered Zhao Shiming a chance to surrender, then shot him when the monster attacked.

• Lu Xin dodged the monster’s claws and tentacles, then reassured Chen Jing and Xia Chong that he could handle it.
• Lu Xin countered the monster’s mental shockwave and used his shadow to cut apart the tentacles blocking the corridor.
• Chen Jing, Gecko, and the Central City ability users evacuated the injured, following Lu Xin’s instructions to stay away from the monster.
• Lu Xin told Zhao Shiming that his experiments were illegal and offered him the chance to surrender.
• When Zhao Shiming sent the monster charging at him, Lu Xin ran along the wall and fired through Gecko’s cracked glass, shooting Zhao Shiming in the forehead.

Lu Xin killed Zhao Shiming and dismantled the god, but the creature regenerated by absorbing everyone in the laboratory. As the revived god attacked, Lu Xin handed control to Sister, who began fighting it, and a hairless puppy appeared to bite its rear.

• Lu Xin shot Zhao Shiming, disrupting his control over the god, then used his shadow to tear the creature apart.
• The god’s remains released a distorted force field and crimson threads that melted the laboratory staff and absorbed them into its body.
• The god re-formed with Zhao Shiming’s face at its heart, and Zhao Shiming threatened Lu Xin for opposing it.
• The god attacked Lu Xin with claws and tentacles, but he dodged and fired special bullets that quickly healed over.
• Lu Xin let Sister take control and she climbed around the god, tearing at its flesh and reaching for Zhao Shiming’s face.
• Lu Xin stared at the god, and a hairless puppy darted out to bite its rear.

Lu Xin and his family worked together to overwhelm Zhao Shiming’s god by exploiting the limits of its mental impacts, and Lu Xin’s shadow finally reduced it to rotting flesh again. The chapter ended with a tentacle emerging from the remains, leaving the fight unresolved.

• The Hairless Puppy bit the god, but its tentacles pierced and flung the dog away while Lu Xin’s shadow struggled against the god’s mental impacts.
• Sister controlled Lu Xin’s body as he dodged the tentacles, and Lu Xin realized the god could only defend against Father by directing its mental impacts.
• Lu Xin asked Sister to pull out the god’s tentacles, and she climbed onto its back and began removing them as the Hairless Puppy joined in.
• With the god distracted, Lu Xin advanced and fired at Zhao Shiming until the shadow reached the god’s feet and turned it into rotting flesh.
• Lu Xin watched the remains cautiously, but a blood-red tentacle suddenly emerged and stabbed toward his face.

Chen Xun endured severe pain while the successful Forbidden Experiment unleashed its power in Buffalo City. In Central City, the General Administrative Hall prepared to take control of the Research Institute, but the Institute’s director refused to intervene, leaving the crisis to the Administrative Hall.

• Chen Xun wondered what Lu Xin, Dr. Zhao Shiming, and the others were doing as he sat with glass shards pinned through his hands.
• The General Administrative Hall learned that the Black Table’s experiment had succeeded and discussed using the resulting power while preparing to take over the Research Institute’s day-to-day affairs.
• A uniformed man waited outside the Research Institute with elite soldiers and warned that the Administrative Hall’s forces and the Forbidden Experiment could soon threaten the city.
• A female researcher reported that the director was busy playing cards and said the Administrative Hall should handle the Forbidden Experiment and any special contamination.
• The female researcher left for sweet-and-sour ribs, telling the uniformed man to go home and eat.

Lu Xin pursued the escaping Flesh Monster through the ruined city, cutting through its defenses and the monsters that tried to slow him down. He caught up with it at the end of a dark street and faced a massive baby-shaped mass of flesh.

• Father's shadow restrained the Flesh Monster, but it expanded and escaped through the hole in the ceiling.
• Lu Xin chased the fleeing monster through the city while it changed its form and attacked with tentacles.
• The Flesh Monster rushed past the Central City and Qinggang City ability users, followed by Lu Xin, leaving Gecko, Xia Chong, and Chen Jing stunned.
• Lu Xin entered a dark street lined with eye-covered tentacles and destroyed the eyes with his shadow.
• A giant baby-shaped mass of flesh blocked the street, but Lu Xin split it apart with his shadow and continued toward the Flesh Monster.