Chapter Summaries

Investigator Xia Chong explained her investigation into an organization trading souls and building hell, whose members had sacrificed themselves to become Mental Monsters. She asked Lu Xin to help capture them after their monster appeared to fear him and turned away from Black Marsh City.

• Xia Chong told Lu Xin, Gecko, and Han Bing that she was an Intermediate Investigator and had tracked a soul-trading organization from Central City.
• Xia Chong explained that the Crimson Heart Knights, led by a woman called Seven, had disrupted her team’s earlier attempt to capture the organization.
• Xia Chong said the organization’s members had performed a sacrificial ritual and become independent Mental Monsters, which her team had been tracking through the pollution they caused.
• Xia Chong asked Lu Xin to help capture the monsters because he could see them and protect the team.
• Xia Chong revealed that one monster had prostrated itself toward Black Marsh City, then cursed and changed course after Lu Xin resolved the city’s pollution event, leading the team to conclude it feared him.

Xia Chong asked Lu Xin and Qinggang to help trap the Mental Monster, and Han Bing negotiated clear responsibilities and compensation before they agreed. Lu Xin accepted two million for the mission, which left him impressed by Central City's benefits and Han Bing wondering whether Qinggang should improve his compensation.

• Xia Chong explained that the Mental Monster was heading toward the central Land of Chaos and asked Lu Xin to block its escape route so her team could capture it.
• Han Bing agreed that Qinggang would help but asked Xia Chong to clarify responsibility and compensation for the mission.
• Xia Chong promised to take responsibility, then offered Lu Xin two million from her own money when she realized she had not arranged compensation.
• Lu Xin accepted, partly because the mission involved Seven, and Xia Chong said she was seeking a higher rank and Central City housing benefits.
• Xia Chong called for the restaurant bill and offered to pay, while Han Bing worried that Central City's benefits might tempt Lu Xin to switch sides.

Lu Xin joined Xia Chong's team to help track a Mental Monster in the abyss while Han Bing and Gecko stayed in Black Marsh City. The team identified their target as Hell Messenger, but warned that time was running out.

• Lu Xin, Han Bing, and Gecko agreed that Lu Xin would accompany Xia Chong while Han Bing and Gecko remained in Black Marsh City to monitor the Special Pollution Event.
• Xia Chong took Lu Xin into the abyss, where they found it unusually quiet and free of Abyssal Creatures.
• Xia Chong brought Lu Xin to meet Scalpel and Beast Tamer, former Research Institute collaborators from the Black Table operation.
• Xia Chong's team revealed that the Negative Zero Unit had tracked the Mental Monster codenamed Hell Messenger, but that they were running out of time.

Xia Chong briefed Lu Xin and the team on their urgent mission to capture the Hell Messenger before it entered the Land of Chaos, where the Seed Mining Group and numerous mysterious organizations made operations unpredictable. They chose Hongni Town as the trap site, assigned preparations, and set out by jeep to the place where Lu Xin would turn the monster back.

• Xia Chong explained that the Hell Messenger would reach the alert line in twelve hours, leaving the team less than ten hours to capture it before it entered the Seed Mining Group’s chaotic territory.
• Scalpel told Lu Xin that the monster needed to contaminate settlements to maintain its mental level and that Hongni Town was the only suitable place to trap it, despite the danger to its thirty thousand residents.
• Xia Chong chose Hongni Town for the encirclement, Beast Tamer volunteered to persuade the residents to cooperate, and Scalpel said he would prepare the trap within three hours.
• Xia Chong assigned Lu Xin the role of forcing the monster to turn back and took him to the designated location.
• Lu Xin asked whether they would travel through the Abyss, and Xia Chong explained that she could not carry him that far, then asked whether her hand was soft before telling him to let go so she could drive.

Xia Chong took Lu Xin through the Abyss to the agreed interception point so he could confront a Mental Monster. She left him to guard the route alone, and Lu Xin prepared to draw on the frightening state that had made the monster fear him.

• Xia Chong drove Lu Xin from Black Marsh City to an abandoned village and used an intact door to take him through the Abyss.
• As they crossed the Abyss, Lu Xin stomped near the withered hands, making them shrink back in fear, while Xia Chong pushed herself to reach the other side.
• Xia Chong guided Lu Xin out of an abandoned warehouse and explained that they had to force the Mental Monster to return along the same route.
• Lu Xin told Xia Chong he could provoke the monster by entering the state it feared, but warned that she might be in danger if she stayed beside him.
• Xia Chong left to rejoin her team after Lu Xin assured her he could manage alone, and she promised to transfer his two million when she returned to Central City.

Lu Xin waited alone in the ruins for the Hell Messenger, unable to light a cigarette and reflecting on people he missed from the orphanage. A military convoy arrived, and its soldiers found him on a rooftop; he agreed to go with them while asking if anyone had a light.

• Lu Xin sat on a ruined building to watch for the Hell Messenger, then discovered that both his lighters were out of fuel.
• Lu Xin thought about Seven, Sister, and the other children from the orphanage, and realized how much he missed them.
• A convoy of seven or eight vehicles stopped outside the abandoned town, and its soldiers searched the buildings for an ambush.
• A squad found Lu Xin sitting on the rooftop, and he greeted them by asking for a light.
• The soldiers aimed their guns at Lu Xin and reported finding a suspicious person.
• Lu Xin agreed to go with the soldiers to avoid a confrontation, then asked whether any of them had a light.

Lu Xin was stopped and questioned by Team Leader Dragon’s armed unit while waiting in the ruins, but they dismissed him as harmless and shot at him as he walked away. After Lu Xin turned the attack back on them, he confronted Team Leader Dragon and asked whether he still wanted to know what Lu Xin looked like when he was malicious.

• Lu Xin was brought before Team Leader Dragon’s unit, where the bearded man searched his bag and demanded to know why he was in the ruins.
• Lu Xin said he was from Qinggang, had no companions, and was waiting for someone, but refused to explain the agreement that brought him there.
• Team Leader Dragon told the bearded man to let Lu Xin go, and Lu Xin walked away while the soldiers prepared to shoot him from behind.
• The bearded man fired at Lu Xin, but the bullets missed; Lu Xin pounced on him, seized his gun, and knocked him to the ground.
• A little girl’s laughter rang out as the armed personnel lost control of their bodies and fired at one another.
• Lu Xin shot the bearded man at close range, lit his cigarette on the gun’s muzzle, then faced Team Leader Dragon and asked if he still wanted to know what Lu Xin looked like when malicious.

Lu Xin fought the Dragon Team Leader after the man accused him of pretending to be weak, discovering that a strange mask let the ordinary-looking leader use several abilities. Lu Xin defeated him and asked to inspect the mask, leaving its nature unresolved.

• Lu Xin complained that he had restrained himself despite the armed personnel’s threats, but the Dragon Team Leader called him an ability user and demanded to know who had sent him.
• The Dragon Team Leader put on a patterned mask, then used Spider-type, Puppet-type, and vision-distorting abilities to attack Lu Xin.
• Lu Xin dodged the leader’s shots and attacks, then kicked him into a group of armed soldiers.
• Lu Xin examined the six-eyed mask and asked the injured Dragon Team Leader to lend it to him for a look.

Lu Xin defeated Dragon Team Leader’s armed personnel and discovered that the truck carried jars of dismembered child mannequins. Dragon Team Leader released hundreds of living plastic children to attack Lu Xin, who greeted them with nostalgia as the chapter ended.

• Lu Xin rejected Dragon Team Leader’s apology and ordered Sister to attack the armed personnel.
• Sister seized control of the soldiers and turned their weapons on one another, leaving them grotesquely twisted.
• Dragon Team Leader fled to the truck, revealed jars containing mannequin parts, and activated the cargo.
• Hundreds of plastic child mannequins burst from the jars and surrounded Lu Xin with eerie laughter.
• Lu Xin recognized the scene as resembling the orphanage where he had grown up and felt nostalgic.

Lu Xin used the skinned puppy, the 12-tier Rubik’s Cube, and the Jack of Spades to get past Dragon Team Leader’s plastic children and armed guards. He disarmed Dragon Team Leader and punched him, then asked if they could talk properly.

• Dragon Team Leader sent plastic children to bite Lu Xin and drain his mental power, while the children passed what they stole to him.
• Lu Xin held back his anger to avoid frightening the Hell Messenger off its route, then summoned the skinned puppy to help Sister fight the children.
• Lu Xin used the 12-tier Rubik’s Cube to hide his location and the Jack of Spades to swap places with an armed guard near Dragon Team Leader.
• Dragon Team Leader’s abilities failed to affect Lu Xin, who removed his mask, punched him in the face, and asked to talk properly.

Lu Xin subdued Dragon Team Leader and contained the Six Senses Mask with two other parasitic items, then questioned him about the Staff Hider and its rituals. Dragon Team Leader revealed that someone he had been waiting for had arrived, as a strange presence approached from the north.

• Lu Xin warned the armed personnel not to shoot and stomped on the Six Senses Mask before placing it, the black magic cube, and the playing cards in a bag, which stopped the plastic children from moving.
• Dragon Team Leader revealed that he had pretended to be injured and accused Lu Xin of being an attendant of the Staff Hider who had taken the mask.
• Lu Xin asked about the Black Box, the Staff Hider's gift, and the ritual, while Dragon Team Leader warned him that the Kindling Company would pursue anyone who took its mask.
• Dragon Team Leader explained that seven parasitic items could be used in the Ritual of Seeking Knowledge to gain entry to the Staff Hider's Spirit Hall.
• A cold wind and strange voices came from the north, and Dragon Team Leader said that the person he had been waiting for had arrived.

Lu Xin confronted the Hell Messenger, which fled at the sight of him, but Father helped him seize it. The creature split into pale mental entities to escape, and Lu Xin began using Hell’s Kitchen to contain them.

• Dragon Team Leader revealed that he had stalled Lu Xin while waiting for the Hell Messenger to arrive.
• The Hell Messenger saw Lu Xin and immediately fled, surprising Dragon Team Leader.
• Lu Xin and Father pursued the Hell Messenger with a shadowy hand and dragged it closer.
• The Hell Messenger tore open its robe and scattered its pale mental entities into the ruins and wilderness.
• Lu Xin and Father expanded the black shadow across the ruined town to trap the fleeing entities.

Lu Xin used Father's shadow to subdue the fleeing mental entities and force them back into Hell Messenger's black robe, then arrested Hell Messenger for participating in a soul transaction. Dragon Team Leader watched the capture in despair, realizing he had provoked someone far beyond his understanding.

• Lu Xin unleashed Father's shadow across the abandoned town, destroying many of Hell Messenger's fleeing mental entities before warning Father not to kill them all.
• Father restrained the remaining entities with shadowy giants and ordered them to return to the black robe.
• Hell Messenger re-formed, and Lu Xin questioned it about fleeing from him and cursing him outside Black Marsh City.
• Lu Xin called Father back, then formally arrested Hell Messenger for participating in a soul transaction.
• Dragon Team Leader and the armed personnel witnessed the capture, and Dragon Team Leader despaired over having provoked Lu Xin.

Lu Xin captured the Hell Messenger and Dragon Team Leader’s group, then called Xia Chong to report what happened. He decided to turn Dragon Team Leader over to the authorities and a judge, while Dragon Team Leader agreed to answer his questions.

• Lu Xin told his family to watch the weakened Hell Messenger and called Xia Chong to say he had captured it and its accomplices.
• Xia Chong and Scalpel ordered Lu Xin to stay put while they hurried to his location.
• Lu Xin lit a cigarette with a submachine gun and asked Dragon Team Leader about the ritual and the Staff Hider.
• Lu Xin said he would hand Dragon Team Leader over for investigation or return him to Qinggang for a judge to decide his punishment.
• Lu Xin threatened to have Sister interrogate Dragon Team Leader, who quickly offered to answer his questions.

Lu Xin learned from Dragon Team Leader about the True Hometown, its rituals, and the sacrifice intended to reach the Spirit Hall. Mom warned Lu Xin to avoid the Staff Hider for now, but he became eager to gather the seven required parasitic items and meet the being behind the ritual.

• Dragon Team Leader explained that the Black Box Codex described rituals through which believers could seek the Spirit Hall and the gods’ blessings.
• Dragon Team Leader said the ultimate ritual required seven parasitic items corresponding to perception, emotions, desires, cognition, instinct, memory, and self.
• Mom called Lu Xin and advised him not to provoke the Staff Hider, explaining that it held the scepter representing domination.
• Lu Xin pressed Dragon Team Leader for the ritual’s details, and Dragon Team Leader disclosed its seven-part requirement while withholding one detail at first.
• Lu Xin realized he already had four relevant parasitic items and anticipated collecting three more to meet the being directly.

Xia Chong and the Negative Zero Unit arrived to find Lu Xin had captured the Hell Messenger and a Seed Company squad. After they confirmed his success and prepared to take the prisoners and evidence back, Lu Xin made sure the leftover vehicles would be left for him to collect.

• Xia Chong and the Negative Zero Unit arrived by helicopter, and Scalpel gave Lu Xin a copper lighter he had found in a villa.
• The Negative Zero Unit confirmed the weakened Hell Messenger was the target, while Scalpel identified the armed squad and equipment as belonging to the Seed Company.
• Xia Chong asked Lu Xin how he had captured the monster and squad, then praised his work and said the Research Institute would recognize his contribution.
• The Negative Zero Unit contained the Hell Messenger, collected evidence, and loaded Dragon Team Leader and the other armed personnel onto the helicopter for interrogation.
• Lu Xin asked what would happen to the leftover vehicles, and Xia Chong agreed to leave them behind so he could drive them back.

After the Black Marsh City mission ended, Lu Xin and his team prepared to return to Qinggang with the vehicles he had seized, while Xia Chong continued investigating the soul trade and Hell. As the convoy set off, Lu Xin realized they had brought five people on the mission and began wondering if they had overlooked a driver.

• Lu Xin and the Central City team divided the captured vehicles, and Scalpel arranged for Kindling Group soldiers to drive some of them to Black Marsh City.
• Lu Xin returned to Black Marsh City with the convoy, where Han Bing and the others welcomed him and worried about how they would drive all the vehicles back.
• Xia Chong sent several Negative Zero Unit members away with the Mental Monster and Dragon Team Leader, then continued investigating soul trading and Hell with Scalpel and Beast Tamer.
• Lu Xin declined Xia Chong's offer to work in Central City but asked whether he could take a part-time job there.
• After confirming Black Marsh City's pollution had been cleared and completing their reports, Han Bing's support team ended its mission and prepared to return to Qinggang.
• As Lu Xin drove the truck at the rear, he suddenly remembered that five people had gone on the mission and picked up the vehicle radio.

After returning to Qinggang, Lu Xin went home and found himself drawn to a long-abandoned neighbor’s apartment. A telephone rang inside it and in his own home, and he chose to close the neighbor’s door and answer the call at home.

• Lu Xin and his convoy returned to Qinggang after completing their mission, and the team went to headquarters to give its report before taking leave.
• Lu Xin returned to his old building, checked the vehicles he had brought back, and noticed how empty the building seemed without the others.
• Father suggested that Lu Xin look inside a nearby apartment whose former resident, a woman surnamed Zhang, had disappeared.
• Lu Xin opened the unlocked door and saw a dark, ruined room with cobwebs, disordered furniture, and dark-red stains.
• Telephones began ringing in the abandoned apartment and Lu Xin’s home, while Father backed away and Sister covered her eyes.
• Lu Xin closed the neighbor’s door, stopping its ringing, and decided to return home to answer the telephone there.

Lu Xin returned home and learned that Mom wanted him to renovate the entire old building, though he could not remember who owned it. That night, the Kid came to see him and was terrified by what she saw through his window.

• Lu Xin hurried home with his father and Sister, then answered Mom’s call and agreed to follow her renovation list.
• Lu Xin found that Mom’s list covered the entire building, questioned whether his family owned it, and decided to begin the renovation anyway.
• Lu Xin examined his collected parasitic items, including the mask he had borrowed from the Dragon Team Leader, then went to bed.
• The Kid used her spiritual power to appear outside Lu Xin’s home and approached his window after realizing he had returned.
• The Kid looked inside, froze, and became frightened by what she saw.

Lu Xin returned to the company and found his colleagues eager to welcome him and bring him clients, while Vice President Xiao invited him to dinner with several friends. Lu Xin declined the gathering but let Vice President Xiao arrange his house renovation, then reconsidered and asked where they were eating that night.

• Lu Xin returned to the company with Black Marsh City specialties and gave them to his colleagues.
• His coworkers brought him envelopes of kickbacks and asked him to meet clients throughout the morning.
• Vice President Xiao invited Lu Xin to dinner with Gao Yan and other friends, but Lu Xin declined because he had planned to visit the building-materials market.
• Vice President Xiao offered to arrange Lu Xin's home renovation, and Lu Xin handed him the shopping list.
• Lu Xin asked Vice President Xiao where they would eat that night.