Chapter Summaries

Lu Xin brought Mom to lecture at Qinggang’s advanced training course, where she explained the relationship between religion and political systems and answered questions the researchers had struggled with. The researchers were captivated, while Professor Bai admitted he did not understand everything either.

• Professor Bai continued the training course and allowed researchers and ability users to attend together, arguing that they were two sides of the same individuals.
• When researchers raised difficult questions about the Heavenly Kingdom Plan, Lu Xin went to the lectern and introduced Mom as his teacher.
• Mom arrived, ordered Gecko, Troublemaker Kid, Red Snake, the Shaman, and Gatekeeper Dog out of the auditorium, but allowed Kid to stay.
• Mom began teaching about the relationship between religion and political systems, explaining that religious organizations could maintain stability but offered no path to survival.
• The researchers listened intently as Mom answered their questions, while Han Bing and Linda watched in shock and Kid listened seriously.
• A researcher asked whether Professor Bai understood the lecture, and Professor Bai said there was no need to rush to find answers to the unknown.

After the training, Lu Xin learned that a worldwide wave of vigilante murders had been classified as the S-Rank pollution incident Midnight Court. Professor Bai revealed that its countdown-like mark had appeared inside Qinggang, on Teacher Lu.

• The researchers offered Lu Xin the title of Special Honorary Professor, but he arranged for the title to go to Mom as Ms. Lu while he accepted a graduation certificate.
• Professor Bai warned the trainees that Qinggang faced severe problems, including the approaching eyes in the sky and a growing series of brutal murders outside the city.
• Lu Xin recognized the signature Xu Jing in the murder reports and learned that the killings were occurring across the Alliance and beyond.
• Professor Bai explained that the murders were part of the unsolvable S-Rank pollution incident Midnight Court, whose influence was spreading and attracting followers.
• Professor Bai revealed that a countdown-like mark appearing before Midnight Court executions had now appeared inside Qinggang; Lu Xin knew it was on Teacher Lu.

Lu Xin discovered that Teacher Lu had been marked by the Midnight Court and found a blood-vessel countdown in her eyes. She concealed what was happening and asked him not to blame her as the countdown began to speed up.

• Professor Bai told Lu Xin that Teacher Lu had been marked, likely by Number Eight, and promised Qinggang would investigate the Midnight Court.
• Lu Xin returned to Crimson Moon Elementary School and watched Teacher Lu lead the children’s physical education class from her wheelchair.
• After class, Lu Xin saw that Teacher Lu’s bloodshot eyes displayed a countdown of 36:17:48, though she denied experiencing any symptoms.
• Lu Xin realized Teacher Lu was hiding what was happening and offered to help, but she backed away and said that whatever happened would be what should happen.
• Teacher Lu took Lu Xin’s hand, asked him not to worry, and then told him not to blame her as the countdown in her eyes rapidly decreased.

Lu Xin learned that Teacher Lu had been marked by Judgment and had already reached an agreement with her judge, making it dangerous for Mom to intervene. As he returned to the old building, Mom promised to help him face the threat, and Lu Xin vowed that Number Eight would not hurt Teacher Lu.

• Teacher Lu hid her condition from Lu Xin, and the old guard revealed that Number Eight had spoken with her privately before Lu Xin returned.
• Mom explained that Teacher Lu was lightly polluted, had become part of the Pollution Source, and could not be freed without risking damage to her mind.
• Mom identified the force behind Teacher Lu's condition as Judgment and said Teacher Lu had reached an agreement with her judge, effectively confessing to an unknown charge.
• Mom said she could not safely read Teacher Lu's bound memories and warned Lu Xin that execution awaited her; she promised to stay by his side and help.
• Lu Xin arrived at the old building and vowed that Number Eight would not hurt Teacher Lu, while the driver quickly fled.

Lu Xin studied the Midnight Court’s execution records and learned that its executors could overcome even formidable defenses and powerful supernatural beings. After Professor Bai warned that they might wield abilities spanning all seven levels, Lu Xin decided to stay at Crimson Moon Elementary School and personally confront their coming judgment.

• Lu Xin read Professor Bai’s files detailing the Midnight Court’s killings and noticed that the records often described conclusive evidence or confessions, though not always both.
• He examined Gao Hui’s case and felt uneasy that the former village chief had been judged for a disastrous mistake that led to villagers’ deaths.
• Lu Xin read accounts of targeted people who had been killed despite armed guards, a nuclear-resistant safe room, or protection sought from a god.
• Lu Xin called Han Bing to reach Professor Bai, who explained that the Midnight Court’s executors appeared able to use abilities from all seven levels and were nearly impossible to stop.
• Lu Xin told Professor Bai he planned to take leave, stay at Crimson Moon Elementary School, and witness the Midnight Court’s judgment firsthand.

Lu Xin watched Teacher Lu as her countdown neared zero, while rumors about the Eyes in the Sky unsettled Qinggang. At sunset, Number Eight hesitated outside Qinggang’s high wall as hundreds or thousands of suited figures arrived, insisting that the confessed must be sentenced.

• Lu Xin delivered a truck to Crimson Moon Elementary School, claimed he had come to apply as a teacher, and stayed to observe Teacher Lu.
• Lu Xin found Teacher Lu haggard but busy preparing the children’s records and school applications, while her countdown fell to seventeen hours and thirty-six minutes.
• Lu Xin believed Kid and the others could manage the growing tension in Qinggang, though rumors about the Eyes in the Sky spread and prices rose.
• As the countdown drew closer to zero, Lu Xin waited at the school while Teacher Lu wrote and discarded papers, then closed her curtains.
• Number Eight stopped outside Qinggang Satellite City No. 2, and hundreds or thousands of suited figures gathered beside him with silver briefcases.
• Number Eight asked whether the newcomers had come to help or urge him on, and they answered that those who confessed their crimes must be sentenced.

Lu Xin stayed with Teacher Lu as the countdown to her executioners’ arrival neared zero, but she could not explain why she believed she deserved what was coming. When he discovered her attempting suicide amid a horrifying vision of the orphanage, he treated her wounds and called Seven out to face him.

• Lu Xin returned to the school and sat with Teacher Lu, determined to stay beside her as her countdown ran down.
• Teacher Lu asked whether Lu Xin feared the danger and suggested she might deserve what was coming, but she could not bring herself to explain.
• Teacher Lu went into the restroom, where Lu Xin found her with a slit wrist, sewn shut by black threads as childhood laughter and orphanage figures filled the distorted space.
• Lu Xin removed the paper cutter, carried Teacher Lu to the sofa, and bandaged her wrist despite her struggling and the spreading threads.
• Lu Xin shouted for Seven to come out and face him.

Lu Xin confronted Number Eight after Teacher Lu attempted suicide, and Number Eight revealed that he had sought her help to accuse Lu Xin for the orphanage deaths. Teacher Lu awoke and admitted she was guilty, saying she had caused the events from the beginning and had always known Lu Xin was a monster.

• Lu Xin unleashed his twisted force field, destroying the black threads and hallucinations around Teacher Lu.
• Number Eight emerged from the washroom mirror and explained that he had rushed in after sensing Teacher Lu's suicidal thoughts.
• Lu Xin demanded to know why Teacher Lu had been given a judgment contract, and Number Eight said he wanted justice for the children who died in the orphanage by having Lu Xin judged.
• Number Eight revealed that Teacher Lu had accused herself, confessed, and been judged guilty by the Midnight Court.
• Teacher Lu woke and said she was guilty because she had caused the events, then told Lu Xin she had known from the beginning that he was a monster.

Teacher Lu confessed that her boasting about the outside world and insistence on including every child in the escape plan helped set the orphanage tragedy in motion, and that she had long known what Lu Xin was truly like. Lu Xin realized his efforts to appear normal had not fooled her, just as blood-red eyes appeared over Qinggang City.

• Teacher Lu told Lu Xin and Number Eight that she had proposed the escape plan after describing the outside world to the children, though she had not truly wanted to escape herself.
• Teacher Lu admitted she had insisted the older children bring everyone, including Number Nine, because she wanted to prove herself and knew they feared him.
• Teacher Lu confessed that she blamed herself for the children's suffering and deaths, and apologized to Number Nine for refusing to acknowledge what he was like.
• Lu Xin realized his attempts to convince Teacher Lu that he was recovering and normal had been a clumsy performance she had seen through.
• Violent tremors shook the city, and a pair of blood-red eyes appeared in the sky over Qinggang alongside the Crimson Moon.

Old Director revealed to Seven that he had orchestrated the children’s escape and later trials to awaken and shape Number Nine’s humanity. As the three Crimson Moons appeared over Azure Harbor, he explained that his new Trial of Strength would put Number Nine under even greater pressure to strengthen him.

• Old Director told Seven that Number Nine, codenamed Tyrant, had resisted every attempt to provoke a predictable reaction, so he had deliberately activated the boy’s power through the escape plan.
• Old Director revealed that Chen Xun had reported the children’s escape plans and that Seven’s informing had helped him assess her attitude and decide to rescue her.
• Old Director explained that Number Nine’s fragile humanity had grown alongside overwhelming divinity, leading him to cling to rules and forget painful memories.
• Old Director described how he designed successive trials that helped Number Nine’s humanity grow strong enough to bear his divinity.
• Old Director told Seven that the Trial of Strength would use even greater pressure to strengthen Number Nine’s fragile humanity.

Three Crimson Moons appeared over Qinggang, and Kid’s influence among the residents helped shield the city from their mental pressure. While Qinggang’s forces mobilized, the Midnight Court infiltrated Satellite City No. 2, prompting officials to prepare a major response and support the lone soldier.

• The three Crimson Moons opened their Eyes over Qinggang, driving residents toward shelters as city forces and prepared capable people mobilized.
• Kid raised her umbrella, and the residents’ combined thoughts of her helped keep the Crimson Moons’ mental force outside Qinggang.
• Chen Jing reported that the Midnight Court had used Kid’s distraction to infiltrate Satellite City No. 2.
• Professor Bai identified the Midnight Court’s pollution as judgment and explained that it was targeting the lone soldier.
• Minister Shen ordered Qinggang’s departments to protect citizens, prepare for an emergency, request assistance, and send all available forces to support the lone soldier.

After Teacher Lu’s confession left Lu Xin devastated, Mom comforted him and helped him recognize that he still refused to accept how things had turned out. Lu Xin began to sense his mental core as the family prepared to set events back on their proper path.

• Number Eight tried to keep Teacher Lu from drowning in guilt, but the old security guard arrived and accused Number Eight of acting like the tattling child he had once been.
• The old security guard threatened Number Eight with his shotgun, and Lu Xin lifted the barrel away before he could fire.
• Overwhelmed by Teacher Lu’s confession, Lu Xin felt too tired to care about the world and wanted to leave everything behind.
• Mom appeared with Sister and Father, comforted Lu Xin, and offered to take him home to rest.
• Lu Xin admitted that he was unwilling to accept how things had turned out, and Mom said he had begun to sense his mental core.
• Mom took the shotgun as Lu Xin’s voice shifted among his family’s voices, revealing that he did not want to abandon his life or be alone again.

Lu Xin exposed the Midnight Court’s judgment as a form of contamination that preyed on the weak and kind, forcing Number Eight to confront the flaws in his pursuit of justice. As the enforcers closed in, Lu Xin reassured Teacher Lu that she need not condemn herself, then prepared to face what was coming.

• Lu Xin mocked Number Eight and the Midnight Court, explaining that their judgments relied on overpowering or manipulating people into confession.
• Lu Xin accused Number Eight of targeting the weaker Lu Xin while avoiding the Old Director, and argued that a judgment unable to judge everyone fairly should itself be judged.
• The eyes in the sky intensified their power over Qinggang, and the enforcers began advancing toward the teaching building after the countdown ended.
• Teacher Lu admitted that she deserved judgment for her past selfishness, but Lu Xin thanked her for bringing him along when she escaped and told her not to blame herself.
• Lu Xin said he no longer liked Teacher Lu as much but would not let anyone judge her, then told the old security guard to cover the children's ears.

Lu Xin and his family suppressed Teacher Lu’s guilt-fueled illusions and the law enforcers surrounding the school, but the Midnight Court’s influence spread across Qinggang. Mom explained that the judgment power fed on accumulated guilt, and Lu Xin prepared to endure it and find its logical chain.

• Teacher Lu’s guilt manifested as illusions of the orphanage children and a chorus demanding that she pay for their deaths.
• Lu Xin spread his shadow through the school, and Mom used her scissors to erase the illusions and the law enforcers inside the building.
• Lu Xin sent Sister home, then saw more law enforcers gathering as Teacher Lu’s illusions began spreading across Qinggang.
• Mom explained that the Midnight Court’s judgments absorbed the souls of its victims and formed an S-rank contamination, making it nearly impossible to defeat by force.
• Lu Xin concluded that he had to endure the judgment and destroy its logical chain, then insisted that nobody could judge him.

Lu Xin defended Crimson Moon Elementary School from the enforcers, while Mom and Father helped him destroy their advancing forces. The surviving enforcers began using judgment powers to distort Lu Xin’s perception, emotions, and motives, leaving him under multiple forms of mental influence.

• Lu Xin warned the enforcers not to enter Crimson Moon Elementary School, but they surged toward Teacher Lu through a logic chain.
• Mom appeared throughout Teacher Lu’s logic chain and used her scissors to make approaching enforcers vanish.
• Lu Xin attacked the enforcers entering through the school gate, and Father spread black shadows that destroyed most of the crowd.
• The surviving enforcers combined their powers, and the Photographer System made Lu Xin perceive them as kind and harmless.
• The Editor System altered Lu Xin’s emotions, while the Sower System planted the desire to join the enforcers and follow their laws.

Lu Xin was subjected to the enforcers’ Judgment abilities, which turned his memories and instincts against him until he stabbed himself with their swords. As he faced the Trial of Strength, the Old Director explained that the trial tested whether Lu Xin could bear the pressure of divinity, and Mom said he had to find his true self through self-judgment.

• The enforcers used Judgment abilities to make Lu Xin doubt his past and nearly tear out his own heart.
• Lu Xin’s instincts turned against him, and he struggled to stop his shadow from polluting him.
• The enforcers trapped Lu Xin in distorted memories and drew their swords, which he seized and used to stab himself repeatedly.
• Father tried to stop Lu Xin, while Mom explained to Sister that self-judgment could either destroy his humanity or reveal his true self.
• The Old Director said the Trial of Strength tested whether Lu Xin could endure pressure and bear the divinity within him.

Lu Xin resisted the executioners’ Judgment after accepting his past selves and refusing to condemn the boy he had been. He confronted the enforcers with the many monstrous forms of himself in the old building and challenged them to consider whether the world could endure everyone’s true nature.

• Lu Xin relived his past under the power of Judgment and nearly killed the little boy at the beginning of his memories, but he embraced him instead.
• Xu Jing refused to execute Teacher Lu, cast aside his Sword of Judgment, and faced the executioners with a flower vase.
• Lu Xin reconciled with his former selves and awakened, tearing through the black threads that had sealed his eyes and mouth.
• Lu Xin rejected the enforcers’ authority to judge him, and their renewed Judgment revealed shifting visions of the old building.
• The old building filled with monstrous versions of Lu Xin, who questioned whether the enforcers or the world could bear to see everyone’s true nature.

Lu Xin unleashed the old building’s Mental Palace against the Executors, while the Black Queen tried to steal his secret and sent Mental Monsters to attack Qinggang. As more forces entered the battle, Lu Xin decided they were invading rather than judging him and prepared to kill them all.

• Lu Xin ordered the monsters inside the old building to attack, and countless versions of himself overwhelmed the Executors.
• Outside Qinggang, Old Director recognized the old building as Lu Xin’s Mental Palace and said the successful trial had revealed the secret behind his stability.
• Mom warned Lu Xin that the Black Queen was using a mirror in the sky to steal his secret, and Lu Xin saw his face reflected in it.
• The Black Queen’s mirror released an endless army of Mental Monsters against Qinggang as the Executors’ fear brought forth the Sword Bearer.
• Seven knightly orders activated silver boxes and sent black chains into Qinggang’s Satellite Cities to capture struggling ability users.
• Lu Xin declared that the attacks were an invasion, not a judgment, and said he would kill the invaders.

As Qinggang was overwhelmed by Mental Monsters and its ability users were controlled, Professor Bai ordered the city to keep resisting while waiting for Lu Xin’s signal. The Doll then revealed a new power, destroying the invading monsters with white chains, while Lu Xin learned Mom had given her the ability.

• Unknown Mental Monsters attacked Qinggang and overwhelmed the Doll’s protection, while black chains took control of the city’s ability users and turned them against their allies.
• Professor Bai recommended continuing the resistance and observing Satellite City No. 2, saying he believed Lu Xin would give them a signal to launch a counterattack.
• Mom asked Lu Xin whether he had found the mental core, and he admitted that he had but avoided explaining what it was.
• Mom said she had made arrangements on the ground and would give Qinggang a reassuring signal.
• The Doll rose into the air as Mental Monsters attacked her, then unleashed white chains that pierced and destroyed the monsters across Qinggang’s skies.
• Lu Xin asked Mom whether she had given the Doll her new power, and Mom confirmed she had given her a meeting gift.

Kid received the origin power of an Ultimate and gained overwhelming control of the mental world, enabling Qinggang to begin its counterattack. As reinforcements and defenses mobilized, Lu Xin faced the Sword Bearer, who pointed its bloodstained blade toward Satellite City No. 2.

• Kid’s power surged as white chains shattered Mental Monsters and blocked their entry into Qinggang.
• Professor Bai identified Kid’s transformation as the Ultimate, and Mr. Su realized the Solo Soldier had given her an Ultimate’s origin power.
• Minister Shen ordered Qinggang’s counterattack, while Professor Bai took command of pollution cleanup.
• Kid’s white chains freed the Drunkard, Watchdog, and other ability users from black-chain control and enhanced their powers as they fought the Mental Monsters.
• Qinggang deployed its electromagnetic cannons and cleanup teams, while a vast force of the dead approached from the southeast with a pregnant monster aboard a truck.
• Lu Xin challenged the Sword Bearer, which drew its rusted, bloodstained greatsword and pointed it toward Qinggang Satellite City No. 2.