Chapter Summaries

Lu Xin, Xia Chong, and Number Two were caught in the awakening vortex of God's Nightmare, whose mental force began to pollute them and distort the world around them. As they struggled to survive its shifting dangers, Number Two continued begging Lu Xin to kill him so he could escape the Nightmare.

• Number Two begged Lu Xin to kill him, claiming that only Lu Xin could end his endless rebirth in God's Nightmare, but Lu Xin refused.
• A surge of mental turbulence swept over Lu Xin, Xia Chong, and Number Two as the Nightmare began to awaken and swallow them.
• Lu Xin experienced the Nightmare's godlike perspective and realized that its pollution was changing him and Xia Chong.
• The bridge split apart, and Lu Xin caught Xia Chong while Number Two vanished and reappeared on a broken bridge pier.
• The world flipped upside down, throwing people and flames toward Lu Xin and Xia Chong while Number Two insisted that no one could resist the Nightmare.

Lu Xin realized Number Two had trapped him in God's Nightmare to provoke the other half of him into killing Number Two, but he stopped himself before crossing that line. As Number Two despaired of escaping, a raft of bizarre figures approached them on the Human River.

• Lu Xin fought through God's Nightmare while carrying Xia Chong, but the nightmare tore her apart in his vision and pushed him toward unleashing his fury.
• Number Two urged Lu Xin to break the nightmare, but Lu Xin paused and told him to stop.
• Lu Xin awoke on the bridge with his hand around Number Two's neck and saw Xia Chong unharmed nearby.
• Number Two admitted he had used God's Nightmare to make Lu Xin's other half kill him, and said he was running out of time before the nightmare consumed him.
• Lu Xin told Number Two that his plan had nearly turned him into a murderer and that he would have been sad if he had killed him.
• A raft made of people swept down the Human River, carrying a tattooed man, a nine-headed snake monster in a suit, and a fat man, who called out to Lu Xin and Number Two, "Heaven King Covers Earth Tiger?"

Lu Xin reunited with Night Owl, Old Wang, and Hydra inside God's Nightmare and learned that they had repeatedly survived its dangers without feeling the pressure that nearly overwhelmed him. Their carefree accounts left Lu Xin wondering why they experienced the world so differently.

• Night Owl recognized Lu Xin from the raft and called for help, so Number Two moved him, Old Wang, and Hydra onto the bridge.
• Night Owl introduced Hydra and Old Wang to Lu Xin, who also introduced Xia Chong and Number Two as his friend and family.
• Old Wang explained that he had followed Kindling into the city, while Night Owl and Hydra described how they had ended up in God's Nightmare.
• Lu Xin asked how they avoided the nightmare's pressure, but the three said they felt no pressure and treated its dangers as thrilling.
• Hydra revealed that their raft had capsized several times and they had been torn apart, only to regroup and continue exploring; Lu Xin began to understand something about their survival.

Lu Xin realized that God's Nightmare assimilated people only after they became completely contaminated and despairing, and he understood that Number Two had endured too long to escape despair on his own. Lu Xin promised to find a way to save Number Two and take him out of the nightmare, leaving Number Two moved by a renewed sense of hope.

• Number Two explained that the nightmare devoured people at different rates, while Night Owl, Old Wang, and Hydra had lasted because they still found the world exciting or interesting.
• Lu Xin concluded that God's Nightmare assimilated people only when they were completely contaminated, and that Number Two had become despairing after enduring the nightmare for too long.
• Number Two told Lu Xin that only Lu Xin's other half could help him, leaving Lu Xin feeling unable to find another solution.
• Lu Xin promised Number Two that he would not kill or abandon him and would one day save him and take him out of the nightmare.
• Number Two thanked Lu Xin and admitted that the promise made him happy despite how unlikely it seemed.
• Lu Xin embraced Number Two and told him that what he had offered was called hope.

Lu Xin reunited with Number Two in God's Nightmare, promised to rescue him and recover what had been stolen, then tore open an exit as Kindling's sacrifice began. He left the nightmare with Xia Chong and the others, while Number Two remained behind, and found Kindling City engulfed in chaos.

• Number Two cried in Lu Xin's arms, then listened as Lu Xin recounted what had happened to him and promised to bring him back to Qinggang.
• As mental bodies began pouring into the nightmare, Lu Xin vowed to find whoever had deceived Number Two and reclaim what had been taken from him.
• Number Two woke Xia Chong and admitted that he had forgotten how to leave the nightmare.
• Lu Xin used the black particles to tear open the air, creating an exit through which he, Xia Chong, Old Wang, Night Owl, and Hydra escaped.
• Lu Xin, Sister, and Father watched Number Two smile from the bridge as the opening sealed shut.
• Lu Xin saw Kindling City overwhelmed by chaotic mental power and realized the gathering had begun.

Hell Designer revealed that Kindling had prepared a vast underground shelter and begun its final ritual as groups around the world mobilized. He showed how Tiche Wang’s speech drove a square full of believers into fanatical worship, and ended by revealing that numerous organizations and Abyssal Creatures had also taken action.

• Hell Designer entered Kindling’s underground shelter and told Kindling’s leaders that the missing intruder was no longer a threat, so they could proceed with the final ritual.
• Hell Designer displayed surveillance footage of Tiche Wang addressing a huge crowd in a city square and explained that his Speech System ability could influence people.
• Tiche Wang urged the crowd to believe True Hometown would descend that day, and the believers gathered around him knelt and vowed to offer their hearts as sacrifices.
• Kindling’s monitoring devices showed spiritual radiation approaching its threshold, and Hell Designer said the scene demonstrated why they had to build Hell.
• Hell Designer displayed footage of the True Church, the Fox Immortal Temple, the Daytime Society, the Six-Faced Buddha, the Free Psychological Counseling Center, the Mysterious Affairs Investigation Department, the Special Emergency Force, the Black Box Council, and the Abyssal Creatures mobilizing.

Kindling City descended into citywide madness as supernatural Pollution spread, while Lu Xin and his companions realized Kindling’s chaos was only a prelude to a greater sacrifice. With ordinary measures unable to stop it, Dracula called on the Crimson Moon Club to intervene, giving Xia Chong hope that his rumored army could save the city.

• Fanatics and strange entities lured, attacked, and killed residents across Kindling City as the Crimson Moon illuminated the spreading chaos.
• Troops surrounding the city received orders to stop anyone from interfering, while their commander said Kindling would gain the power to rule the world if it survived the night.
• Lu Xin, Xia Chong, and their companions emerged from God's Nightmare and saw the vast Pollution engulfing the city; Lu Xin sensed it was only a prelude to something worse.
• The Negative Zero Unit reported that the Pollution could not be stopped by conventional force or mass killing because that could complete Kindling’s prepared sacrifice.
• Lu Xin suggested that they might have an army, and Dracula urged Crimson Moon Club members to use any means necessary to stop the sacrifice, offering a reward and the title of Strongest Ability User.
• Xia Chong recognized Dracula as the strongest mercenary and took hope from the legend that he always carried an army with him.

Lu Xin recruited Night Owl and Hydra to help stop the pollution in Kindling City while Xia Chong went to investigate Kindling’s sacrifice and plans. As Lu Xin prepared to descend into the chaos with his family, he was thinking about the hundred million Dracula had taken.

• Lu Xin offered Night Owl an extra hundred thousand yuan to help stop the pollution, and Night Owl accepted.
• Hydra agreed to help without payment, while Sister revealed that she remembered him secretly cursing Lu Xin at sea.
• Old Wang announced that he was going to kill Dracula, and Lu Xin approved.
• Night Owl entered the surrounding people’s minds and swam through their sea of consciousness, while Hydra formed a human shape from his nine snake heads and drove off in a stolen car.
• Xia Chong left to join the Negative Zero Unit and investigate Kindling’s sacrifice and plans, promising to share information with Lu Xin.
• Lu Xin watched Xia Chong leave, then fell from the rooftop toward the city with his family, thinking about the hundred million.

Red Snakes, a red-dressed dancer, and a red-cloaked girl disrupted several mass-pollution rituals across Kindling City. The girl confronted the Fox Immortal figures in an underground garage after revealing that their leader was supposedly a man.

• A nine-headed man used Red Snakes to spread doubts among the believers pounding their hearts at East City Plaza.
• A red-dressed dancer interrupted the singer’s broadcast, breaking his influence over viewers as he collapsed into bizarre movements.
• White figures led hypnotized men toward a bronze statue in a seven-level underground garage in North City.
• A red-cloaked girl stopped the figures and identified the Fox Immortal Temple as a Kindling City-backed organization led by a hypnotic ability user.
• The girl pointed out that the information identified the Fox Immortal leader as a man.

During Kindling City’s outbreak of madness, Dracula led her followers through the streets while various people tried to disrupt the chaos in their own ways. Lu Xin entered the Guard Department and asked whether its troops would respond to the illegal gatherings.

• Dracula bit the bronze-painted Fox Immortal, awakened another Dracula, and led a growing crowd of Draculas and freed captives into the streets.
• Dracula ordered ten followers to attack people at a club and sent the rest to bite people across the city.
• A father and son stopped a violent crowd by scattering banknotes, drawing people away from the fighting.
• A street artist’s music was disrupted by a suona, and people sabotaged a mysterious organization’s communion with laxatives.
• A fat man used a tank to destroy a strange light and a building, then turned his attention toward Kindling City’s nuclear power plant.
• Lu Xin entered the Guard Department, knocked on its reinforced glass wall, and asked whether the troops would handle the illegal gatherings.

As pollution spread across Kindling City, Hell Designer identified several ability users disrupting it and ordered forces to counter them. The footage also showed a tank firing inside the city’s nuclear power plant, prompting an urgent response.

• Hell Designer identified a Whisperer among the preacher’s followers and ordered the Mysterious Affairs Investigation Department to find him.
• A Dancer halted pollution spreading through the broadcasting hall, so Hell Designer sent Special Emergency Forces to eliminate her.
• Hell Designer recognized a golden-haired, one-eyed girl as a Zombie-type and ordered the Daylight Church to counter her with the Clock of Chaos.
• Hell Designer identified a Madman-type disrupting a street fight and ordered a sniper unit to kill him from long range.
• A suona player hidden across from a violinist interfered with the violinist’s influence over a crowd, and the secretary dispatched an emergency force.
• A tank charged into the city’s nuclear power plant and fired its cannons, causing the conference room to urgently call for someone to stop it.

The Hell Designer dismissed the disruptions spreading through Kindling City and sent armed forces to suppress the invaders, then revealed the city’s hidden weapon: three clones of True Hometown’s Guide. He claimed the clones could help Kindling piece together a Fantasy Nation, leaving the executives with a glimpse of the plan’s true power.

• The Hell Designer reviewed footage of mutations, looting, and other disruptions across Kindling City and concluded that the invaders were powerful but disorganized.
• The Hell Designer ordered ground forces to deploy across the city and had the stadium’s gathering of nearly ten thousand devout believers revealed on screen.
• The Kindling executives questioned the Hell Designer about his promised guarantee, and he opened a glass cabinet built into the conference table.
• The Hell Designer revealed three clones of True Hometown’s Guide, each displaying strange abilities, and said Kindling could use them to piece together a Fantasy Nation.

Lu Xin forced the Guard Department to act, then joined Sister in stopping Kindling City's violent forces and spreading contamination by weaving the city's fanatics and armed personnel into a vast human spiderweb. The web reached several battles and intersections, while Sister invited anyone needing help to find her.

• Lu Xin asked the Guard Department to address the citywide crisis, but its captain ordered the enforcers to shoot him instead.
• Lu Xin dodged the gunfire, shattered the reinforced glass wall, and let the skinned puppy disrupt the enforcers' emotions.
• Lu Xin realized how the Memory Hourglass gained and lost sand, then told Sister to let loose and weave a huge net.
• Sister twisted people into a human spiderweb that spread across intersections, stopping armed forces and disrupting battles throughout Kindling City.
• The web helped Hydra escape, overturned Night Owl's tank, and protected Xia Chong and others from an opposing ability user.
• Dracula, Xia Chong, and others marveled at the web as its people spoke together, inviting anyone who needed help to find Sister.

Lu Xin discovered that Sister’s web had disrupted Kindling City’s contamination and blocked its forces, but Hell Designer unleashed a vast, heartbeat-like source of mental power from the stadium. Lu Xin rushed to confront the believers, summoning Father’s expanding shadow over them and asking whether they had ever tasted fear.

• Sister’s human spiderweb spread across Kindling City, slowing the chaos and preventing Kindling’s ground forces from reaching their targets.
• Hell Designer ordered the stadium to release its power, and the city’s contamination readings surged from 45% to 60% as a huge heart of blood vessels appeared in white light.
• Lu Xin heard the supernatural heartbeat, saw the heart sending mental power across the city, and charged toward the stadium along Sister’s web.
• Lu Xin spoke to his shadow, and Father’s laughter accompanied its growth as Lu Xin climbed to the stadium roof.
• Lu Xin’s enormous shadow covered the stadium, and his voice asked the fanatical believers if they had ever tasted fear.

Lu Xin used Father’s power to spread fear through Kindling City and disrupt its madness, then discovered that the stadium’s enormous heart was a living embryo connected to the city. He told Father to pour more power into it to stop it from descending and asked Sister to tell Xia Chong and the others that he had found the entrance to Hell.

• Father spread his shadow and hallucinations through the believers and across Kindling City, causing the city’s madness to suddenly subside.
• Lu Xin watched Father’s pollution overwhelm the stadium believers while Hell Designer recognized Lu Xin on the monitoring screens and opened three glass cabinets to release their occupants.
• Lu Xin reached for the giant heart above the stadium and found that it was a living mental embryo connected to the city.
• Lu Xin told Father to put more power into the embryo to stop it from descending, then asked Sister to tell Xia Chong and the others that he had found the entrance to Hell.

Lu Xin discovered that the embryo born from the stadium fanatics’ mental power could devour both his and Father’s power, while the fanatics had already surrendered their sense of self. As the embryo’s connection to reality grew, Lu Xin saw three different figures bearing Number Two’s face and wondered what had been done to him.

• Lu Xin touched the embryo and found that it swallowed his mental power, so he urged Father to deeply pollute the stadium fanatics and seize it.
• Father discovered that the fanatics’ mental cores were already gone, preventing him from deepening his pollution, while the embryo swallowed his power.
• Lu Xin decided to approach the embryo, and Sister formed a human ladder to carry him toward it.
• The Hell Legion marched toward the stadium, and Father’s shadow collided with the advancing soldiers.
• Lu Xin saw a Number Two-like figure behind the Hell Legion, a flesh monster with Number Two’s face, and a third Number Two on a rooftop, then wondered what had been done to Number Two.

Lu Xin destroyed three Number Two copies, but the Hell embryo brought them back as it continued to grow. As the battle reached a crisis, people and strange groups drawn by the embryo’s mental power began gathering around the stadium.

• Lu Xin and Sister fought the three Number Two copies, with Sister restraining the vein-covered copy while Lu Xin countered the rooftop copy’s illusions and the Hell Legion.
• Lu Xin unleashed his power, tearing apart the vein-covered copy and destroying the suited copy, then shattered the glass held by the rooftop copy.
• Three white chains emerged from the Hell embryo and dragged the three Number Two copies back into the world, while the embryo continued to gestate.
• Dracula arrived with an army of lookalikes, and other groups and wandering people converged on the stadium, drawn by the embryo’s mental power.

As Lu Xin struggled to stop the Hell Embryo, Xia Chong learned that Kindling City had been prepared as a parasitic item to bring Hell into reality and tried to rally the gathered ability users. The Crimson Moon Club members dismissed the danger until Scalpel announced that the Research Institute’s hundred-million reward might go to the strongest Solo Soldier, leaving them suddenly attentive.

• Lu Xin struggled against three No. 2 clones while the arriving Crimson Moon Club members greeted one another instead of joining the fight.
• Xia Chong and the Negative Zero Unit confirmed that Kindling City was an unfinished parasitic item designed to open a passage to Hell.
• Xia Chong asked Dracula and the club members to help stop Kindling’s plan, but they refused and discussed ending their gathering and finding food.
• The Beast Tamer brought the injured Scalpel to the stadium, where he urged Xia Chong to find help for Lu Xin.
• Scalpel used a megaphone to announce that the Research Institute’s hundred-million reward might go to the strongest Solo Soldier, and the club members reacted with sudden interest.

Lu Xin’s club allies joined the battle against the No. 2 clones, using their unusual abilities to weaken the Hell Legion and two of the clones. As Kindling City forces closed in around the stadium, the Scalpel urged Xia Chong to lead the remaining fight.

• Old Wang charged into the Hell Legion and used his Madman-type confidence to destroy its waves, easing the pressure on Lu Xin.
• Dracula led her legion against a blood-vessel-covered No. 2 clone, weakening it by repeatedly drawing away the Draculas it had begun to absorb.
• Red Snake persuaded a group to treat glass cups as apples, making the reality-altering No. 2 clone doubt its own transformation and causing it to crack and bleed.
• Xia Chong saw Kindling City’s forces gathering around the stadium and asked the Scalpel how he had persuaded the club members to fight.
• The Scalpel told Xia Chong that the world’s salvation depended on her, and she resolved to charge forward.

Kindling and the Crimson Moon Club’s allies unleashed a massive battle around the stadium, as military forces and supernatural groups clashed. With the city’s defenders distracted, Lu Xin felt relieved by Scalpel’s help and turned his attention back to the embryo above the stadium.

• Kindling summoned the Daytime Society, the Six-Faced Buddha, troops, and its citywide defense system to surround the stadium.
• Xia Chong fired a rocket at an armored vehicle, triggering an all-out battle between Kindling and the other forces.
• The robber father ignored the Clock of Chaos’s time effect and stole it, while the Negative Zero Unit and a Dancer-type ability user fought Kindling’s forces.
• Lu Xin watched the battlefield’s chaos, including Xia Chong attacking abyssal monsters, while a fat man fled through Kindling’s underground base and found a missile storage room.
• Lu Xin spotted Scalpel giving him a thumbs-up, returned the gesture, and turned toward the embryo above the stadium.