Chapter Summaries

Lu Xin pursued a strange man to High Wall City’s outskirts and shot him off the wall with Sister’s help, but the headless body escaped on a motorcycle. After City Patrol Army soldiers stopped him, Lu Xin asked to make a phone call.

• Lu Xin chased the man across the city and fired at him as they reached the wall.
• Lu Xin tossed Sister his reloaded revolver, and she shot the climbing man in the neck, severing his head.
• The headless corpse climbed over the wall and fled into the wasteland on a motorcycle.
• City Patrol Army soldiers surrounded Lu Xin, checked his identification papers, and lowered their guns.
• Xie Chen introduced himself as captain of the Fourth Unit and asked what had happened, and Lu Xin requested a phone call.

Lu Xin described how he pursued and shot the Headless Knight near the Crimson Moon Orphanage, and Chen Jing investigated the encounter. After the support team found the missing head, Chen Jing concluded that an ability user from outside the city was causing trouble.

• Lu Xin told Chen Jing that the Headless Knight escaped on a motorcycle after climbing over the wall without his head.
• Chen Jing arrived with a support team, and the soldiers secured the area while Lu Xin indicated where the head had fallen.
• Lu Xin explained that the man had appeared repeatedly, that living threads reached toward him, and that he attacked because the man was near the elementary school.
• Chen Jing reasoned that the Headless Knight had come from outside the wall and suspected an outside-the-city ability user was behind the incident.
• The support team reported that they had found the missing head.

Chen Jing and Lu Xin examined the severed head of the headless man and identified him as a Mental Modification Human controlled by a powerful Puppet-type ability user. After ordering the evidence sent to the Research Institute, Chen Jing took Lu Xin with her and warned that they had to prevent a repeat of the Technological Church’s disaster in Satellite City No. 4.

• Two support team members brought the head in a glass box, and Lu Xin realized it belonged to the headless man who had escaped on a motorcycle.
• Chen Jing tested the head’s responses and used her ability to make its eyelids twitch, but it could not communicate further.
• Chen Jing ordered the support team to dissect the head, revealing a shriveled, lifeless brain.
• Chen Jing explained that the man was a Mental Modification Human, likely controlled by a powerful Puppet-type ability user, and told Lu Xin that researchers suspected his own ability might belong to an undiscovered type.
• Chen Jing sent the evidence to the Research Institute and drove Lu Xin away, saying they must prevent another disaster like the Technological Church’s attack four years earlier.

Chen Jing warned Lu Xin that the Technological Church’s past evacuation of Satellite City No. 4 might be connected to new threats against Qinggang City, and arranged security measures after Lu Xin was targeted. The chapter ended with Chen Jing ordering a deeper investigation into the former Crimson Moon Orphanage.

• Lu Xin recalled how the Technological Church had persuaded most residents of Satellite City No. 4 to leave with it four years earlier.
• Chen Jing told Lu Xin that outside organizations might be targeting Qinggang City and warned that the orphanage could be at risk.
• Chen Jing arranged to relocate Crimson Moon Elementary School and its residents from Area C3 to Area A4, charging rent under standard procedures.
• Chen Jing received headquarters’ approval to investigate nearby gathering points and black markets, intensify the cleanup of Special Pollution Events, and keep Lu Xin on standby.
• Chen Jing secretly added an accelerated investigation into the former Crimson Moon Orphanage and its records to the response.

Lu Xin took a week off from his commercial job and waited on standby while the city carried out a widespread investigation for hidden Pollution Sources. He was dispatched to investigate Special Pollution Source--072 in a residential complex where fear had spread among the residents, but the investigation team was too frightened to continue.

• Lu Xin told his Director that his sister was sick, and the Director readily granted him a week's leave.
• Lu Xin stayed on standby at the training floor while investigation teams and local officials searched the Satellite Cities for Pollution Sources.
• Han Bing notified Lu Xin of suspected Special Pollution Source--072 at Block C of the Mine Cave Residential Complex in Satellite City No. 2.
• Han Bing explained that residents were gripped by unexplained fear, leading to hallucinations, a fatal fight, frantic drinking, and people abandoning their homes.
• The investigation team confirmed signs of Mental Pollution but could not proceed because its members were too afraid.

Lu Xin arrived at Building C in the mining district, where an unidentified pollution source had filled investigators with overwhelming fear. After Han Bing identified it as likely Special Pollution Source No. 072, Lu Xin entered the building alone to investigate.

• Lu Xin reached the cordoned-off residential complex and met Cheng Hui, who explained that investigators had failed to approach the suspected source on Building C's ninth to twelfth floors.
• Cheng Hui said the source caused growing fear, dizziness, and exhaustion, while Han Bing suggested Special Pollution Source No. 072 was amplifying terror among the investigators and residents.
• Lu Xin agreed to investigate without protective equipment and told the others to stay farther away.
• Lu Xin entered Building C, saw burned paper offerings in the corridor, and headed for the stairs after Han Bing advised against using the elevator.

Lu Xin climbed through the building while Han Bing monitored him, locating the Pollution Source by tracking the growing fear. He reached the source’s locked room on the tenth floor, where Sister tore the lock apart.

• Lu Xin reported the escalating fear as he climbed, but told Han Bing he had grown used to it and continued upward.
• Lu Xin spotted Sister crawling through the darkness, then picked her up and gave her candies so she would settle down.
• Lu Xin climbed to the tenth and eleventh floors and determined that the Pollution Source’s core was on the tenth floor.
• Lu Xin found a locked iron-barred door radiating intense fear, and Sister tore its lock apart.

Lu Xin investigated the fear-filled apartment and found a dead man, Wang Chu, whose fear had become an E-class Pollution Source. After containing the corpse and medicine bottle, Lu Xin learned that Wang Chu had died alone from a heart attack and was left thinking about the family members who stayed by his side.

• Lu Xin searched the apartment with Sister and found a corpse and a shadowy Pollution Source in the second bedroom.
• Lu Xin turned on the lights, making the shadow disappear, and Han Bing identified the dead tenant as Wang Chu.
• Lu Xin found nitroglycerin beside Wang Chu's outstretched hand, and Han Bing concluded that he most likely died from a heart attack.
• Lu Xin sealed Wang Chu's corpse and the medicine bottle in a containment bag, and the fear in the apartment quickly faded.
• Han Bing explained that Wang Chu's fear of dying alone had formed the Pollution Source, and Lu Xin felt reassured by having Sister and his family with him.

Lu Xin finished the investigation and reflected on the lonely Wang Chu, while Han Bing helped secure his reward. Afterward, an elderly man named Mr. Xu watched Lu Xin leave and arranged to commission him privately to help his gravely ill daughter.

• Lu Xin told Han Bing he hoped there would be fewer pollution incidents and said Wang Chu had probably hoped someone would find him sooner.
• Han Bing promised to handle Lu Xin’s pay and secured him a reward of at least twelve thousand for the mission.
• Sister teased Lu Xin about Han Bing, while Cheng Hui and the nearby officers treated Lu Xin with awe after he resolved the incident.
• Mr. Xu watched Lu Xin depart and heard an associate describe Lu Xin’s record and ability to see and deal with Mental Monsters.
• Mr. Xu decided to bring his daughter to Satellite City No. 2 and privately commission Lu Xin, saying her condition had become extremely serious.

After calculating his savings, Lu Xin was approached outside the Guard Department by a Main City consultant offering a private commission to treat an elderly gentleman’s daughter. Lu Xin considered the lucrative offer but ended the chapter by saying he needed to apply to his superiors first.

• Lu Xin calculated that he had saved sixty thousand and seventy yuan and considered buying a home near the orphanage.
• A young policewoman brought Lu Xin dinner while he worked through his accounts, and he later left the Guard Department for the night.
• A fat man named Liu approached Lu Xin outside the Guard Department and said he had been sent by an elderly gentleman to request help for his ill daughter.
• Liu offered Lu Xin ten thousand yuan for the visit and one hundred thousand if he cured the daughter, while Lu Xin watched him cautiously and had Sister release the man’s hand.
• Lu Xin told Liu he needed to submit an application to his superiors before accepting the private commission.

Lu Xin learned that Headquarters allowed Special Operations Team members to take private commissions as long as they recorded them and reported risks. He agreed to meet a wealthy client the next evening and arrived at the client's villa in Qingyan Mountain, where the commission was about to begin.

• Lu Xin called Han Bing, who explained Headquarters' rules for accepting and recording private commissions.
• Lu Xin told the fat man he could investigate the matter, and they arranged to meet the following evening at six.
• Lu Xin spent the next day training at the Guard Department and looked forward to the commission's payment.
• The fat man picked Lu Xin up and brought him to a villa district in Qingyan Mountain.
• Lu Xin admired the villa's grounds, heard it had been valued at five million Alliance currency, and headed inside.

Lu Xin met Mr. Xu, whose daughter Xiao Xiao had become violently unstable, and agreed to examine her in secret. After Mr. Xu released her from a padded metal box, he revealed that her madness manifested as frantic, indiscriminate mating.

• Lu Xin signed a contract with Manager Liu to examine a woman for a hundred thousand after she was cured.
• Mr. Xu explained that his daughter Xiao Xiao had inexplicably gone insane, and he wanted her treated privately to protect her reputation.
• Lu Xin agreed to examine Xiao Xiao and watched as Mr. Xu unlocked the metal box containing her.
• Lu Xin saw Xiao Xiao restrained and injured, struggling and roaring inside the box.
• Mr. Xu told Lu Xin that Xiao Xiao's main symptom was frantic mating with anyone.

Lu Xin investigated Mr. Xu’s daughter after her erratic behavior and learned that he had restrained her in an iron box. After releasing her, Lu Xin restrained her and, with Sister’s help, spotted a moving face beneath her skin.

• Mr. Xu told Lu Xin that his daughter had begun acting hysterically after returning home and described her increasingly reckless behavior.
• Lu Xin examined the young woman but saw nothing unusual, then asked Mr. Xu to release her so he could control her himself.
• Mr. Xu released his daughter, and she charged at Lu Xin, who tripped her and pinned her to the floor.
• Lu Xin’s gaze prompted Sister to crawl over from the iron box, allowing him to see something moving beneath the young woman’s skin.
• Lu Xin tore away part of the young woman’s pajamas and saw a face form beneath her skin; Sister smiled at it, and Lu Xin smiled too.

Lu Xin tried to restrain Mr. Xu’s daughter and investigate the eerie face moving beneath her skin, but it transformed into a mass of tentacles tipped with human heads. After Sister tore off two heads, the remaining tentacles fled into the living-room objects, making them seem alive and alluring.

• Lu Xin restrained Mr. Xu’s daughter and considered cutting the face out of her back, asking Mr. Xu to find a knife.
• The girl screamed, and black-scaled tentacles with human heads erupted from her back without breaking her skin.
• The Head Tentacles turned toward Lu Xin when he smiled, then rushed at him.
• Sister intercepted the attack, tore off two heads, and chased the retreating tentacles.
• The Head Tentacles scattered into the living-room objects, which appeared animated and alluring to Mr. Xu.

Lu Xin recognized the Head Tentacles as contamination and realized their source was the motionless girl, while Sister gleefully tore through them. When the tentacles joined into a monstrous snake to defend the girl, Sister bit it and pulled it from her body.

• Lu Xin watched the Head Tentacles distort the living room and confirmed they were contamination.
• Sister independently raced around the room, tearing apart tentacles while Mr. Xu's perception fell into chaos.
• Lu Xin realized the tentacles' mental power remained undiminished and identified the girl on the floor as their source.
• Lu Xin approached the girl with his gun as the tentacles attacked, and Sister rushed to defend him.
• The tentacles joined into a toothed serpent, but Sister bit it and pulled it from the girl before biting its body.

Lu Xin and Sister stopped Xu Xiao Xiao’s violent contamination, and Lu Xin determined that a Pollution Source still needed to be found. After Xu Xiao Xiao woke, she insisted on speaking privately with her father, while Sister later reported that they were discussing an oil painting.

• Sister pulled a snake-like creature from Xu Xiao Xiao, whose convulsions stopped, and the medical staff confirmed she was alive.
• Lu Xin told Mr. Xu that Xu Xiao Xiao’s pollution appeared to be resolved but that its Pollution Source still needed to be identified.
• Mr. Xu had the medical staff wake Xu Xiao Xiao, and she asked him to make Lu Xin leave so she could tell him something.
• Lu Xin stepped outside and told Fatty Liu he would also deal with the Pollution Source without charging extra.
• Sister crawled over to Lu Xin and said Mr. Xu and Xu Xiao Xiao were talking about an oil painting.

Lu Xin discovered that Xu Xiao Xiao had been contaminated after seeing an unlisted oil painting recovered by a scavenger team, and he refused to end the commission before dealing with the Pollution Source. The chapter left Lu Xin confronting Mr. Xu and Manager Liu after Sister overheard them planning to hide the painting for research.

• Sister relayed that Xu Xiao Xiao had seen a black-cloth-covered oil painting recovered from the site where a scavenger team had died.
• Lu Xin questioned Manager Liu about Mr. Xu's art collection and inferred that Xu Xiao Xiao had encountered the Pollution Source outside the city.
• Mr. Xu said Xu Xiao Xiao had recovered but was taking her back to Main City, and he tried to end the commission and arrange payment.
• Sister told Lu Xin that Mr. Xu and Xu Xiao Xiao planned to secretly take the painting for research because they considered it valuable.
• Lu Xin refused to accept payment or end the commission, insisting that he had to deal with both the contaminated person and the Pollution Source.

Lu Xin refused to accept payment and leave while he suspected a Pollution Source remained at the Xu family villa. When Xu Xiao Xiao threatened him with a gun, he used his power to disassemble it—and then her fingers—leaving the confrontation in bloodshed.

• Mr. Xu offered Lu Xin double the agreed commission to end the matter, but Lu Xin refused to take money without resolving the suspected danger.
• Xu Xiao Xiao revealed that she and her father were rushing to Bangbu Port, and Sister told Lu Xin they were trying to get him out of the way.
• Mr. Xu denied that a Pollution Source existed, while Lu Xin insisted they should deal with it.
• Xu Xiao Xiao offered Lu Xin three hundred thousand, then drew a handgun and threatened to shoot him if he refused.
• Lu Xin agreed there was no need to make things hostile, then used his power to break the gun apart and make Xu Xiao Xiao’s fingers fall to the ground.

After Sister mutilated Xu Xiao Xiao, Lu Xin tried to prevent the confrontation from escalating, but Mr. Xu’s guards attacked him. Lu Xin dodged a bullet and twisted the butler into a grotesque shape before the bodyguards opened fire, drawing Sister’s excited attention.

• Sister dismantled Xu Xiao Xiao’s gun and hand, and Lu Xin stopped her before she could take apart more of her arm.
• Mr. Xu became furious over his daughter’s injury, and armed guards gathered around the villa as Manager Liu urged Lu Xin to apologize.
• The butler shot at Lu Xin from a second-floor window, but Lu Xin dodged the bullet and clung beneath the windowsill.
• Lu Xin pulled the butler out of the window and twisted his limbs into a contorted shape while keeping him alive.
• The bodyguards aimed their guns at Lu Xin and fired, and Sister excitedly called the guns toys.

Lu Xin and Sister overwhelmed Mr. Xu’s armed security team after Miss Xu attacked him, leaving the villa grounds strewn with injured and dead people. Lu Xin then confronted Mr. Xu about the hidden painting and said he would report the family’s refusal to cooperate to his superiors, while insisting that doing so would not violate their contract.

• Mr. Xu’s security personnel fired at Lu Xin, but Sister’s power made them turn their weapons and bodies against themselves.
• Lu Xin stroked Sister’s head without blaming or praising her, then walked toward Mr. Xu and his daughter as the surviving guards lay scattered.
• Manager Liu argued that Lu Xin should have shown restraint, and Lu Xin replied that having abilities did not mean he had to let Miss Xu bully him.
• Lu Xin told Mr. Xu that he had intervened to protect people from the painting, which was a Pollution Source, and that handling it was part of his official duties.
• Lu Xin said he would report Mr. Xu’s refusal to cooperate to his superiors, explaining that the family had refused first and he would not be violating the contract.