Chapter Summaries

Xu Jing killed General Koyaman and explained to Lu Xin that the Midnight Court judged sinners who escaped justice. After they parted ways, Xu Jing set out to pursue more cases, leaving Lu Xin uncertain about his methods and principles.

• Xu Jing killed General Koyaman, collected and cleaned his torture instruments, and left a signed record of the general's crimes on the corpse.
• Xu Jing told Lu Xin that he and the Midnight Court traveled beneath the Crimson Moon to pass judgment on sinners.
• Lu Xin said he could understand intervening against injustice but objected to Xu Jing acting alone and using abilities and force without restraint.
• Xu Jing defended his methods, saying the settlement had allowed General Koyaman to live like an emperor and that the Court's principles kept its enforcers from losing control.
• Xu Jing told Lu Xin he was leaving to pursue other cases, then split into three figures and departed in different directions.
• Lu Xin stayed in the jeep, promising to answer Xu Jing's question when they met again, and later heard gunshots from the Koyaman settlement.

Lu Xin returned to Qinggang after Number Eight left and reassured Chen Jing that the visitor meant the city no harm, though he admitted he had taken his apartment building away to handle an incident. At Crimson Moon Elementary School, he told Teacher Lu that he struggled to feel happiness, understand other people’s emotions, and belong in the city.

• Lu Xin returned to Qinggang and told Chen Jing and the others that Number Eight had left and was an old orphanage classmate visiting on a business trip.
• Gecko asked Lu Xin to write a note protecting him from demotion, but Lu Xin said he trusted the homeowner’s husband more.
• Lu Xin told Chen Jing that Number Eight posed no threat to Qinggang and explained that he had taken the old building away to deal with certain incidents.
• Lu Xin went to Crimson Moon Elementary School and reassured Teacher Lu that Number Eight had left.
• Teacher Lu asked what Lu Xin meant by saying he had cured himself, and Lu Xin confessed that he struggled to feel happiness, understand sadness, and fit into other people’s lives.

Lu Xin tried to explain his changing sense of connection to the world to Teacher Lu, but their conversation left them both distressed. Later, Kid waited for him to share a late-night meal, and Lu Xin found comfort in her honest answer when he asked whether she understood him.

• Lu Xin told Teacher Lu that he felt his wavelength and the world's were changing, but he could not say whether they would merge or claim he had become someone else.
• Lu Xin insisted he had always been himself and left Teacher Lu, who watched him go and murmured that she had only wanted to help him.
• Lu Xin drove away from Crimson Moon Elementary School and found Kid waiting with a bag of food that had gone bad.
• A woman in uniform brought Lu Xin and Kid lunch boxes containing sandwich cookies and fried noodles.
• Lu Xin shared the food with Kid and asked if she understood him; Kid shook her head, and Lu Xin laughed with relief.

After returning from Kindling City, Lu Xin shared a family dinner and wondered whether he was strong enough to face the Old Director’s fifth trial. He admitted that he envied Seven’s certainty and felt lost, while Sister began to comfort him.

• Lu Xin returned to the old building, noticed strange presences in its stairwell, and left them a bowl of rice as thanks for helping against Staff Hider.
• Lu Xin joined Mom, Sister, and Father for a family celebration dinner, and Mom said they had done everything they could to prepare him for future trials.
• Lu Xin asked whether he could overcome the Old Director’s fifth trial, but Mom said she did not know and reminded him there was nothing to fear after they had done their best.
• Lu Xin told his family he had met Seven, envied his clear purpose, and felt lost and unprepared by comparison.
• Sister took Lu Xin’s hand and began reassuring him that he had carried something heavy all these years.

Lu Xin reflected on the crushing pressure he felt and, after his family suggested seeking professional help, asked Qinggang’s Special Purity Department for a thorough examination. His request sent the department’s experts rushing into an excited meeting, where Professor Bai ordered them to examine him thoroughly.

• Sister, Mom, and Father comforted Lu Xin and acknowledged how hard he had worked to keep living under the pressure he felt.
• Mom suggested Lu Xin marry and have a child, then proposed that Qinggang’s Special Purity Department help him instead.
• The next morning, Lu Xin told Han Bing that the Pale Hand was connected to the old building’s disappearance and asked her to track his Research Institute payment, other debts, and renovation costs.
• Lu Xin asked Han Bing to arrange a physical and psychological examination through Qinggang’s Special Purity Department.
• Professor Bai convened the department’s experts and leaders, then ordered them to examine Lu Xin thoroughly.

Lu Xin returned to work after his trip to Kindling City, then was escorted to Qinggang for an unusually high-profile medical checkup. The chapter ended as he warned the gathered researchers not to cut him open.

• Lu Xin returned to the company, greeted his coworkers, and declined Manager Liu’s offer to arrange a secretary.
• Manager Liu took Lu Xin to a working lunch and hinted that the company would reward him with more red envelopes.
• A police convoy arrived outside the restaurant, and Chen Jing took Lu Xin away for a medical checkup.
• Chen Jing escorted Lu Xin by high-speed train and convoy to the Special Purity Department, where Qinggang’s experts and leaders awaited him.
• Lu Xin entered the prepared medical room and warned the researchers that he would fight back if they planned to cut him open.

Lu Xin underwent Qinggang’s long-awaited examination, which found his ordinary-looking body and estimated his mental level at nearly ten thousand before researchers tested his abilities at sea. The confidential report revealed that he possessed several powers at the level of Mental Lords, along with destructive and possibly untested abilities.

• Lu Xin signed the examination consent form after the researchers assured him they would not cut him open, but the tests were delayed because he had been drinking.
• Doctor Piswen found that Lu Xin’s body was in a standard state of sub-health, while his distorted CT images and abnormal magnetic field remained unexplained.
• Lu Xin released three mental shockwaves, leading researchers to estimate that his full mental level was near ten thousand.
• Qinggang researchers took Lu Xin to an isolated sea area for three days of ability testing while Gecko declined encouragement to advance to the second stage.
• Professor Bai presented the sealed report to Mr. Su, Minister Shen, and Chen Jing, listing Father and Sister as Mental Lords, Pale Hand’s power as unknown, and a destructive ability that could damage both mental power and physical objects.

Professor Bai explained that Danbing had a powerful theft-type mental ability that let him steal objects across great distances, including the apple in a sealed laboratory and the old building. He outlined the ability’s limits, leaving Minister Shen and the others alarmed by what Danbing might steal if his power grew stronger.

• Chen Jing played footage showing an apple vanish from a sealed laboratory, and Professor Bai identified a distorted pale hand reaching for it.
• Professor Bai explained that Danbing had stolen the apple from three hundred kilometers away and later returned it with a bite mark that bore his DNA.
• Professor Bai described other theft-type abilities, including stealing identities, memories, senses, emotions, and instincts, alarming Minister Shen and Mr. Su.
• Professor Bai concluded that Danbing’s advanced theft ability could take objects directly through space and explained that it required knowing an object’s location and consumed more mental power for valuable or closely watched targets.

Professor Bai explained that the Lone Soldier’s fear-based power operated at a level beyond Qinggang’s Mental Lord research, using test footage and the Black Marsh City incident to show the gap. He left Mr. Su and Minister Shen wondering whether Lu Xin was a Fourth Stage ability user, an incomplete Fifth Stage, or not an ability user at all.

• Professor Bai showed footage of Lu Xin facing dozens of armed men and making them collapse in terror with a gesture from over fifty meters away.
• Professor Bai explained that Lu Xin’s power was fear contamination and suggested he controlled its highest level.
• Professor Bai presented materials on the Black Marsh City Fear Demon King incident, where fear contamination had killed people in many different ways.
• Professor Bai compared Lu Xin’s intermittent Mental Lord-level effects with Kid’s burden of sustaining Qinggang’s Mental Lord.
• Professor Bai said Lu Xin might be naturally at the Fourth Stage, an incomplete Fifth Stage, or perhaps not an ability user at all.

Professor Bai explained that Lu Xin’s power came from the experimental subject codenamed Tyrant, a child with no ability who could suppress and kill Ability Users. He concluded that Lu Xin was that child, though he could not explain how Tyrant had changed or whether the child’s humanity could endure his power.

• Professor Bai confirmed that the Soloist’s spiderweb was tied to his Spider-type ability and suggested his power distorted or destroyed other mental power.
• Professor Bai revealed that Tyrant was the codename of an unusual experimental child who appeared emotionless and powerless but could effortlessly suppress and kill Ability Users.
• Professor Bai said Tyrant killed other experimental subjects out of curiosity and that Zero Ability Users were inferior copies based on his mental power.
• Professor Bai connected Tyrant to the escaped laboratory, the Crimson Moon Orphanage, and the Mental Mutant recruited by Qinggang.
• Professor Bai told Minister Shen, Mr. Su, and Chen Jing that Lu Xin was the grown-up Tyrant, though he did not know what had changed him or whether his humanity could withstand his power.

Professor Bai and Qinggang’s leaders reviewed Lu Xin’s examination and debated the unexplained gaps in his past and the limits of their knowledge about his abilities. They agreed to assess and guide him while monitoring the mysterious eyes watching Qinggang from the sky.

• Professor Bai listed unexplained events surrounding Lu Xin, including his powerful Telekinesis, the deaths of agents, and the unknown ability called “Mom.”
• Chen Jing suggested Lu Xin’s abilities stemmed from changes after the laboratory escape or from events during the blank period in his past.
• Professor Bai proposed a psychological assessment and said the Special Purity Department might need to form an investigation team, while explaining that Lu Xin had asked them for guidance under their contract.
• Mr. Su agreed to let Professor Bai decide how to assist Lu Xin, and Minister Shen asked whether Lu Xin and Kid could fight the presence above Qinggang.
• Professor Bai described unidentified mental radiation and Kid’s sketch of eyes watching Qinggang, then said the department would strengthen monitoring and seek information from the Research Institute.
• Professor Bai said he would discuss Lu Xin’s abilities with him and that Qinggang would do its best to prepare for the unknown threats.

After completing an exhaustive examination, Lu Xin accepted Professor Bai’s invitation to attend Qinggang’s Advanced Mental Theory Training Course, hoping to understand and improve himself. As Professor Bai prepared to teach him, Doctor Jia Mengyi warned that Lu Xin’s apparent improvement might make a relapse especially dangerous.

• Lu Xin finished his week-long examination, and Dr. Jia assessed his risk of losing control through a conversation.
• Professor Bai approved Lu Xin’s request for guidance and arranged for him to attend a training course at Qinggang University.
• Han Bing delivered the course details, and Lu Xin asked for an ordinary university diploma before preparing to leave.
• Lu Xin discussed the course with Mom, then held a family meeting and set rules for Sister and Father during the trip.
• Doctor Jia Mengyi told Professor Bai that Lu Xin seemed more willing to seek help but might face devastating despair if his condition relapsed.
• Professor Bai, uncertain what guidance to offer, decided to make philosophy the focus of his lessons and heard a knock at his door.

Lu Xin attended a crowded Qinggang University training session, where he reunited with colleagues and watched Kid choose the seat beside him. Professor Bai opened the lecture by warning that human research had reached a dead end and that a grave situation was likely to develop.

• Lu Xin arrived at the auditorium and found Ability Users, researchers, and analysts gathered for Professor Bai’s training.
• Gecko told Lu Xin that Professor Bai had made crucial discoveries and fretted about Linda, while Lu Xin advised him to change his habits if he wanted her to like him.
• Kid arrived, spotted Lu Xin, and took the seat beside him after Gecko moved away.
• Professor Bai entered with Chen Jing, then warned the audience that human research had reached a dead end and that a grave situation was likely to take shape.

Professor Bai explained that ability users faced a Mortal Limit because each possessed only one part of an ultimate entity’s power, preventing them from reaching the top of the seven steps. He proposed binding abilities as a possible way to break that limit, ending with the suggestion that perfect coordination might require the abilities to devour one another.

• Professor Bai told the auditorium that ability users were inherently incomplete and could not reach the top of the seven steps.
• Professor Bai said Qinggang could raise Kid to the strongest Mental Lord level, but she could not reach the Fifth Step or build a Mental Palace using only her Princess-type ability.
• Dr. Mo asked whether giving Kid abilities from other branches could let her enter the Fifth Step.
• Professor Bai introduced binding abilities as a possible way to break the Mortal Limit and said the abilities might have to devour one another to achieve perfect coordination.

Professor Bai warned that researchers would eventually use ability models and forbidden techniques to hunt one another, then argued that humanity should hunt the ultimate instead. He told Lu Xin that he needed to understand and master his own essence, leaving Lu Xin to consider how he had first managed to contain it.

• Professor Bai explained that once mental ability models revealed which users belonged to the same group, devouring and stitching techniques could turn the world into a hunting ground beneath the Crimson Moon.
• Professor Bai identified hunting the ultimate as humanity's alternative to mutual slaughter, because the ultimate's power could help ability users break through their Mortal Limits.
• Professor Bai dismissed Gecko for watching girls during the lecture and sent Kid outside, while Lu Xin remained in the auditorium.
• Professor Bai told Lu Xin that he had no Mortal Limit and should focus on recognizing and mastering his own essence rather than collecting abilities.
• Professor Bai urged Lu Xin to ask himself how he had first mastered and borne an essence no one else could control.

Wang Jingyun secretly took Professor Bai’s place to lecture Lu Xin on strengthening his mental core and embracing godhood without losing his humanity. After recognizing the Old Director, Lu Xin learned that Wang Jingyun had risked coming to Qinggang to prepare him for an upcoming trial.

• Professor Bai told Lu Xin that a firm mental core could withstand contamination and that humanity and godhood complemented each other.
• Wang Jingyun concluded his lecture and left the auditorium while the researchers bowed in appreciation.
• Lu Xin asked whether Professor Bai smoked cheap cigarettes, realized the lecturer had been Wang Jingyun, and chased after him.
• Lu Xin found Professor Bai in pain by the academy gate, and Professor Bai confirmed that Wang Jingyun had taken his place.
• In a jeep outside Qinggang, Wang Jingyun told the tattooed woman that helping Lu Xin prepare for the trial had been worth the risk.

After Professor Bai recovered from being influenced by a mysterious outsider, he concealed what had happened and turned the training course toward investigating the ideas introduced during the lecture. A surge of mental power then struck Qinggang, and Lu Xin and the others saw enormous eyes in the sky before they vanished, leaving the city under a new pressure.

• Professor Bai claimed that he had merely become excited and suffered a health scare, hiding that an outsider had influenced him during the lecture.
• Professor Bai told the gathered researchers and ability users to continue the training course by investigating the directions raised in the lecture.
• A tremendous surge of mental power struck the gathering, and Kid's umbrella buckled under the force.
• Lu Xin and the others saw a pair of enormous eyes appear in the sky and look down at Qinggang.
• Professor Bai said the eyes had drawn closer to Qinggang, and Lu Xin was taken with Kid to observe the empty sky as Qinggang's departments began investigating.

After the strange eyes over Qinggang vanished, Lu Xin returned home and asked Mom what they were and what Old Director’s revelations meant. Mom advised him to trust the information while continuing toward his own choices, then took him out to show him his mental core, leaving Sister and Father behind.

• Lu Xin returned home after a day of tests, and Mom said she could not identify the eyes from afar but feared approaching them might be a trap.
• Mom said she had sensed fear and wariness from the eyes and urged Lu Xin to prepare rather than pursue them.
• Lu Xin asked whether Old Director’s words could be trusted, and Mom told him to keep moving forward, confront Old Director, and kill him when the time came.
• Lu Xin asked about the mental core, and Mom decided to show him instead of explaining it.
• Mom dressed for an outing and left with Lu Xin, refusing to let Sister and Father come along; the sinister creatures in the old building fled from her.

Mom took Lu Xin through a vision of people’s lives at different times and showed him the principles they had held onto despite hardship or corruption. The chapter ended with her explaining that a mental core was made of things that could be destroyed but not polluted.

• Lu Xin saw countless overlapping versions of people, and Mom explained that they represented people making different choices throughout their lives.
• Mom showed Lu Xin a researcher who compromised to survive at work but never abandoned the research he had dreamed of doing.
• Mom showed him an official who followed corrupt practices yet secretly sent evidence of an unforgivable case to the relevant department.
• Mom led Lu Xin through more lives, including a ruthless raider who spared a poor household and a polluted woman who protected a baby.
• Mom asked Lu Xin whether he understood, then described the mental core as what could be destroyed but not polluted.

Lu Xin learned to understand and control the black particles by recognizing his mental core, then faced down the eyes above Qinggang. He left with Mom, still unsure what final choice lay ahead, as they planned to train Qinggang’s researchers the next day.

• Mom taught Lu Xin that his mental core was the ordinary but essential part of himself that could keep him from losing control.
• Lu Xin stopped suppressing the black particles, unleashed their power, and gained the ability to make them fade by choice.
• The eyes above Qinggang opened, but Lu Xin’s gaze made them close and vanish as the city returned to normal.
• Mom warned Lu Xin not to rush the important decision ahead, and Lu Xin recognized how Qinggang had taught him to follow rules.
• Kid appeared, and Mom examined her before leaving with Lu Xin and planning to train Qinggang’s researchers the next day.