Chapter Summaries

Lu Xin took part in tests to assess and improve his abilities, and Sister’s presence transformed his handling of a gun. After Lu Xin dismantled the firearm and refused to dodge bullets, the researchers prepared to test him another way.

• Lu Xin agreed to undergo tests after Chen Jing explained how Mental Mutants trained their abilities.
• Chen Jing demonstrated basic firearm handling, but Lu Xin’s first shot hit the neighboring target.
• Sister appeared and guided Lu Xin’s hand, allowing him to fire accurately before dismantling the gun because she found taking it apart more fun.
• A bald professor arranged a bullet-dodging test with three armed soldiers, but Lu Xin warned that he might not be the only one in danger.

Lu Xin underwent a battery of ability tests, revealing impressive physical control and perception but little willingness or ability to cooperate with some demonstrations. The professors tentatively rated his ability C-class, while the psychologist reported that he was remarkably normal.

• Chen Jing explained that the professors skipped Lu Xin's bullet-dodging test because his abilities had already been observed.
• Lu Xin completed tests of speed, perception, movement imitation, and micro-space infiltration, with Sister helping him achieve several surprising results.
• Lu Xin refused a professor's proposed knife test and failed to demonstrate telekinesis when Sister declined to fetch an apple.
• Chen Jing offered Lu Xin further tests, and he completed the final assessment through a conversation with a psychologist.
• The professors discussed Lu Xin's C-class ability and potential, while the psychologist reported that he was almost excessively normal.

Psychologists and researchers discussed Lu Xin’s unusually normal personality, his family members, and his possible mental abilities. They estimated his mental level at over four hundred, while Chen Jing warned that if he caused the Crimson Moon Orphanage explosion, the destruction could have been far worse than they imagined.

• The psychologist reported that Lu Xin had answered her questions openly and seemed optimistic, cheerful, positive, and kind despite growing up after the Crimson Moon incident.
• The psychologist attributed Lu Xin’s outlook to the former Crimson Moon Orphanage director, who had protected and educated the orphans through the chaotic years.
• A bald professor said Lu Xin truly believed his family members existed and suggested his Sister might lend him one ability while the other family members could lend him two more.
• A researcher explained that Lu Xin had moved his tightly secured wig without being noticed and estimated that Lu Xin’s mental level was at least over four hundred.
• Chen Jing warned that if Lu Xin was connected to the Crimson Moon Orphanage explosion, the resulting destruction might have scattered his entire body across the ground.

Chen Jing and the professors reviewed Lu Xin’s examination, weighing his extraordinary mental ability and unexplained family members before deciding to guide him. The professors supported assigning him more missions for research, leaving Chen Jing uneasy about their enthusiasm.

• The professors estimated that Lu Xin’s mental magnitude might exceed four hundred or even five hundred and praised his ability while noting his refusal to use firearms.
• The Crimson Moon mysticism researcher reported that her instruments detected no separate mental entity beside Lu Xin, though she wondered whether more sensitive testing might reveal one.
• The psychologist said Lu Xin had shown no recognition of the Dream Maker’s photograph, and Professor Chen concluded that Lu Xin had great potential, sound values, and some degree of danger.
• The professors voted overwhelmingly to guide Lu Xin, with the Occult Expert recommending that he receive more missions to provide research data.
• Professor Chen explained that confronting and understanding strange phenomena was better than avoiding them, and Chen Jing recognized the professors’ eagerness to study Lu Xin.

Lu Xin met Gecko and learned about his ability and embarrassing stories before Chen Jing assigned them a cleanup mission. They prepared to investigate a C-class contamination incident, with Gecko leading and Lu Xin learning the process.

• Lu Xin listened as Gecko described discovering his ability by hiding inside a tiny shoe cabinet to evade the Guard Department.
• Gecko gossiped about Chen Jing, and Sister revealed that Chen Jing wore pink underwear.
• Chen Jing told Lu Xin that Gecko would help him learn his abilities by taking him on cleanup missions.
• Chen Jing assigned Gecko to lead a C-class cleanup mission and Lu Xin to support him, and gave Lu Xin the provisional codename Lone Soldier.
• Chen Jing warned Gecko not to gossip about her, then told Lu Xin she was wearing black; Sister said she was lying.

Lu Xin joined Gecko on an operation to investigate C-Class Special Pollution Source No. 039, while Gecko tried to teach him that flirting with their Information Analysis Team contact was part of the job. They reached a factory in the northern city, where Lu Xin spotted something inside that made him tense as Sister called it fun.

• Gecko admitted he feared a woman who had once threatened to make him strip and dance in public, then told Lu Xin he would teach him on an operation.
• Gecko and Lu Xin connected to the operation channel, where Information Analysis Team contact Tie Cui briefed them on Special Pollution Source No. 039 and rebuffed Gecko's flirtation.
• Gecko and Lu Xin arrived in a dim industrial area and climbed toward a vantage point near the factory, with Lu Xin holding Sister's hand after promising her ten pieces of black candy.
• From a rusty water tower, Lu Xin looked through the factory windows and tensed at what he saw inside while Sister giggled that it was fun.

Lu Xin and Gecko investigated a factory where Zheng Yuanxiong’s Mental Mutant ability drove workers to labor without rest or awareness. Tie Cui explained that the factory was close to losing control, and Headquarters ordered a direct cleanup.

• Lu Xin saw workers at Yuanxiong Textile Factory injuring themselves and continuing to work mechanically through the night.
• Gecko pointed out factory director Zheng Yuanxiong, whose frantic shouts pushed the workers into an even more feverish rhythm.
• Lu Xin and Gecko confirmed that Zheng Yuanxiong was the Pollution Source, though Lu Xin could see only an ordinary man.
• Tie Cui reported that the factory’s workers had been infected for days and attacked anyone who tried to stop them.
• Tie Cui said Headquarters had ordered Lu Xin’s team to conduct a direct cleanup before the contamination spread to nearby factories.

Lu Xin and Gecko carried out a plan to incapacitate factory manager Zheng Yuanxiong without triggering the Mental Plague. After Gecko shot him with a tranquilizer rifle, Gecko prepared to descend with Lu Xin and continue the cleanup.

• Gecko explained that the workers were lightly contaminated and could be saved if the Pollution Source was cut off without killing Zheng Yuanxiong.
• Linda recommended using a high-powered tranquilizer rifle, while Tie Cui arranged an explosion to distract Zheng Yuanxiong and disrupt his Telekinesis.
• As Linda counted down thirty seconds, Gecko assembled his rifle and aimed at the factory from a water tower.
• The explosion drew Zheng Yuanxiong's attention, and Gecko shot him in the back of the collar with a tranquilizer round.
• After Zheng Yuanxiong collapsed, Gecko packed away his rifle, picked up a glass helmet-like object, and told Lu Xin to come with him before leaning back off the water tower.

Lu Xin and Gecko restrained the unconscious Zheng Yuanxiong, but a little girl appeared in the factory and triggered a hostile reaction from the workers. Linda revealed that the girl was Zheng Yuanxiong’s daughter, who had died in an accident, and Gecko identified her as a secondary Pollution Source.

• Gecko and Lu Xin entered the factory, where the workers continued working mechanically despite Zheng Yuanxiong being unconscious.
• Gecko secured Zheng Yuanxiong with a helmet, handcuffs, and shackles while Lu Xin stood guard.
• Lu Xin noticed a little girl in a red dress beneath a desk, and Gecko reported her to Linda.
• The girl asked why Lu Xin and Gecko were not working, and the workers stopped and turned toward them with hostile expressions.
• Linda identified the girl as Zheng Yuanxiong’s daughter, who had died after being caught in a machine while he was neglecting her, and Gecko called her a secondary Pollution Source.

Lu Xin and Gecko confronted a secondary Pollution Source that took the form of Zheng Yuanxiong’s daughter and incited the factory workers to attack them. As Gecko struggled to reach him, Lu Xin approached the girl, unwilling to let Sister harm her because she looked real and pitiful.

• Tie Cui explained that the little girl was likely a secondary Pollution Source created by Zheng Yuanxiong, while the factory workers began attacking Lu Xin and Gecko.
• Gecko and Tie Cui urged Lu Xin to retreat and wait for reinforcements, but Lu Xin chose to act because the workers might otherwise be killed during the perimeter lockdown.
• Tie Cui revealed to Gecko that Lu Xin could harm mental entities but was forbidden from facing situations that might cause him psychological trauma or make him lose control.
• Lu Xin refused Sister’s offer to deal with the girl, blocked the workers with a collapsed rack, and confronted the girl directly.

Lu Xin hesitated to attack the secondary Pollution Source, a little girl, as her rage drove the factory workers into a frenzy. Mom intervened and frightened the girl into disappearing, abruptly ending the factory’s pollution.

• Lu Xin tried speaking to the little girl but found she could not communicate, while the workers tore through the racks and the pollution worsened.
• Gecko held back from restraining Lu Xin because he had not attacked the Pollution Source, and told Tie Cui that Lu Xin seemed to be negotiating.
• Mom arrived and questioned why the little girl was not at school, blaming Zheng Yuanxiong for forcing his daughter to work and failing to protect her.
• Mom took the girl’s stuffed toy and cut off its head with scissors, then asked whether the girl was obedient.
• The frightened girl vanished, Zheng Yuanxiong stopped convulsing, and the workers across the factory fell still.

After the secondary Pollution Source disappeared, Lu Xin watched the support team evacuate and restrain the contaminated factory workers, then considered the lasting damage they might suffer. When Gecko asked how he had defeated the little girl, Lu Xin claimed he had frightened her by taking apart her toy, leaving Gecko unconvinced.

• Gecko told Tie Cui that the secondary Pollution Source had been cleared, and Lu Xin confirmed it over the channel.
• Tie Cui ordered the support team into the factory, where they secured the unconscious Zheng Yuanxiong and carried out the workers for treatment.
• Gecko explained that the workers might recover from their contamination, though some could be left with severe depression and lasting mental damage.
• Gecko asked Lu Xin how he had handled the little girl, and Lu Xin said he had scared her by twisting the head off her toy.
• Gecko doubted Lu Xin's explanation, but Lu Xin suggested that Gecko's inability to do the same was his problem.

Lu Xin and his team cleared Special Pollution Source No. 039 after Lu Xin explained how exposing the imagined daughter’s contradictions severed its logic chain. The cleanup report impressed the professors, who saw Lu Xin’s instinctive actions as evidence of unusual potential and renewed their plan to guide and study him.

• Gecko questioned Lu Xin’s method, while Tie Cui explained that fear could deter some Mental Monsters but said the entity’s disappearance suggested its logic chain had been severed.
• Lu Xin explained that Zheng Yuanxiong’s guilt had created an imagined daughter whose purpose was to support him, and that exposing the girl’s unreasonable behavior had broken the source’s logic chain.
• Tie Cui confirmed that Pollution Source No. 039 had been cleared and ordered the team to withdraw to Qingzhuo Building for examination.
• Gecko asked Tie Cui to write his work report, but she refused because the baby was hungry.
• Tie Cui sent the cleanup report and audio files to Chen Jing, and the professors praised Lu Xin’s performance and discussed using it to support his guidance application.
• Professor Chen concluded that Lu Xin had acted before finding a theoretical explanation, and the professors agreed to use the report to persuade Old Shen to let them guide and study him.

After completing his first cleanup mission, Lu Xin underwent a routine contamination examination and wrote a report with Gecko, leaving out Mom’s appearance. He accepted a three-month special cleanup course arranged by Colonel Chen, and Gecko prepared to teach him how to avoid losing control.

• Lu Xin and Gecko completed their routine examination, where Gecko explained the questions tested memory, cognition, and reasoning.
• Lu Xin and Gecko wrote their mission reports, and Lu Xin omitted Mom’s appearance because he could not explain it.
• Gecko coached Lu Xin through the report and negotiated with him to split the mission payment evenly.
• A staff member gave Lu Xin details of Colonel Chen’s three-month special pollution cleanup course, and Lu Xin signed up.
• Gecko told Lu Xin that he would teach him how to prevent himself from losing control.

Gecko took Lu Xin to a nightclub and taught him that indulging his desires could help prevent losing control. The lesson ended with Lu Xin asking whether headquarters would reimburse the cost, and Gecko taking him outside after learning it would not.

• Gecko explained that losing control happened when emotions overwhelmed reason and that powerful mental strength could turn it into a Pollution Source.
• Gecko brought Lu Xin to the Blue Ocean nightclub and called indulgence a way to maintain a healthy mental state.
• Gecko scattered money across the dance floor, then drank and socialized while Lu Xin experienced the club's atmosphere.
• Lu Xin asked whether headquarters would reimburse the expense, and Gecko took him outside when he learned they would not.

Lu Xin began formal training with Han Bing at the Guard Department after keeping up with his work at the company. Han Bing introduced the Eclipse Research Institute’s history and the basics of special pollution, then started teaching him how pollution sources were classified.

• Lu Xin checked the market and manufacturers himself to keep the project on track and prevent Brother Zhang and Sister Sun from mishandling their responsibilities.
• After work, Lu Xin went to the Guard Department for professional training arranged by Chen Jing.
• A staff member escorted Lu Xin to a quiet fourth-floor office, where Han Bing greeted him through a screen and explained that she would teach him.
• Han Bing warned Lu Xin to keep all training materials and information about mental pollution secret from ordinary people.
• Han Bing explained the origins and uncertain state of special-pollution research before beginning lessons on pollution-source classifications and mental abilities.

Lu Xin gained a systematic understanding of special pollution through daily training with Han Bing while his work project succeeded and brought him praise, kickbacks, and the prospect of promotion. He returned home to find Mom away, Father asleep, and Sister singing overhead.

• Lu Xin attended training punctually, studied special pollution with Han Bing, and learned that Gecko handled practical fieldwork training.
• Lu Xin accepted a manufacturer’s kickback from Brother Zhang after his market research helped the company project progress smoothly.
• The Director praised Lu Xin’s work, said he was a leading candidate for Model Employee, and planned to apply for his promotion to supervisor.
• Lu Xin returned to Room 401, found Mom gone and Father asleep, and heard Sister singing as he quietly closed the door.

Lu Xin studied secondary pollution sources and asked Mom whether his family was real. Mom said their companionship was real, then gave him a letter from the orphanage inviting him to eat dumplings.

• Lu Xin reviewed information about secondary pollution sources while waiting for Mom to return home.
• Mom came home and told Lu Xin she had been shopping with her new friend, Miss Chen.
• Lu Xin asked Mom whether the girl from the factory had been real, then asked whether Mom and the rest of his family were real.
• Mom said Lu Xin could decide whether they were real and told him their shared companionship was real.
• Mom gave Lu Xin a letter from the orphanage inviting him over for dumplings.

Lu Xin received Teacher Lu’s invitation to celebrate the Crimson Moon Orphanage receiving its operating license and set off to visit. On the way, he passed a rose-selling boy whose flower seemed to affect a couple’s breakup, leaving the girl unable to throw it away.

• Lu Xin read Teacher Lu’s letter about the orphanage’s new license and decided to visit for dumplings.
• Lu Xin finished work, informed Han Bing, and traveled toward the orphanage with biscuits and candy for the children.
• A poor boy offered Lu Xin a rose for ten yuan, but Lu Xin declined and gave him a one-yuan coin.
• A young man bought one of the boy’s roses and offered it to Yuan Yuan after she broke up with him.
• Yuan Yuan took the rose and found that, despite her irritation, she could not bring herself to throw it away.

After an evening at the orphanage, Lu Xin noticed a bearded man following him and opened fire, but the man escaped with uncanny agility. Lu Xin pursued him to a construction pit, then jumped after him with help from Sister.

• Lu Xin left the orphanage after sharing dumplings and a celebration with Teacher Lu and the children.
• Lu Xin spotted the same bearded man watching him at several places along his route.
• Lu Xin pulled out a pistol and fired at the man, who dodged the shots and fled.
• Lu Xin chased the man through the streets until they reached a broken road beside a deep construction pit.
• Lu Xin jumped into the pit, and Sister caught him before he used a steel pipe to leap through the air.