Chapter Summaries

Lu Xin settled into a quiet life with Kid while Qinggang’s researchers worked to study the Sole Consciousness and help him resist the First-Generation Researcher. The calm ended when Infiltrators arrived with a safe Mom had left for him, though they left furious after learning he had already paid another group for the delivery.

• Lu Xin asked Qinggang to study the Sole Consciousness, and the researchers quickly agreed to prepare materials and analyze its power.
• Kid invited Lu Xin to live in her villa, overcoming the objections of Professor Chen Liqing and the Nanny Squad.
• Lu Xin spent several relaxed days living with Kid while the Nanny Squad discussed his suitability as her partner.
• A vortex appeared in the villa courtyard, and Infiltrators emerged with a safe Mom had left at the Research Institute.
• Lu Xin thanked the Infiltrators and explained that he had already paid a red-hatted Infiltrator, angering the delivery group before they departed.

Lu Xin opened the safe and reunited with Sister and Little Nineteen, who had been separated from him. As the reunion was interrupted by a menacing voice from inside the safe, a familiar figure crawled out and begged Lu Xin not to attack.

• A Nanny Squad member carried the heavy safe to Lu Xin’s room, and Kid stayed to watch as he opened it.
• Sister appeared, reunited with Lu Xin, and asked whether their mother would return; Lu Xin promised she would.
• Sister introduced Little Nineteen, whom Lu Xin welcomed into his arms after she called him “Big Monster.”
• A strange voice mocked Lu Xin from inside the safe, prompting Kid to ready her umbrella and Lu Xin to prepare to attack.
• A chubby figure crawled out of the safe, called Lu Xin “Ninth Brother,” and begged him not to lose his temper.

Lu Xin reunited with Number Fourteen, who had been serving a life sentence after accidentally frightening an old man to death. Number Fourteen revealed that Mom had arranged to have him brought from prison, and Lu Xin asked why she had sought him out.

• Number Fourteen crawled out of the safe, and Lu Xin recognized his former orphanage companion despite his greatly changed appearance.
• Number Fourteen mistook the Kid for Lu Xin’s wife and joked about Lu Xin’s romantic prospects before asking for expensive food.
• Number Fourteen explained that the Eclipse Research Institute had brought him to meet the Fate Seer, whom he had initially mistaken for a terrifying Ultimate before realizing she was Lu Xin’s auntie, Mom.
• Number Fourteen revealed that he had been serving a life sentence in Central City after a ghost scare he staged caused an old man to die of a heart attack.
• Number Fourteen said he had worked for the Black Table alongside Little Nineteen before being fired, and Lu Xin realized Mom had arranged his release during Lu Xin’s earlier trip to High Wall City.
• Lu Xin reflected on Mom’s early preparations for him and asked Number Fourteen why she had found him.

Lu Xin received Mom’s warning through Number Fourteen: he had to stop Wang Jingyun and uncover his secret before the Trial of God. Little Nineteen helped Lu Xin understand Mom’s reminder to honor his original promise, leading him to conclude that the Old Director still controlled the orphanage children through the surviving laboratory.

• Number Fourteen told Lu Xin that Mom had visited him and Little Nineteen at the Research Institute and asked him to pass on a message.
• Number Fourteen conveyed Mom’s warning to stop Wang Jingyun, whose fanatical plan involved sacrificing fate, before the Trial of God arrived.
• Lu Xin questioned Number Fourteen about the message, but Number Fourteen insisted Mom had told him nothing more and that he was only meant to help when necessary.
• Little Nineteen reminded Lu Xin that the big monster had promised to take the little monsters away from that place.
• Lu Xin realized his original promise concerned freeing the orphanage children and concluded that the Old Director still controlled them through the laboratory.

Lu Xin learned that the Old Director had turned settlements into fanatical cults and may still be watching the orphanage children. He decided to find their former companions, while Han Bing received a mysterious coded phone call and urgently sought Professor Bai.

• Lu Xin asked Number Fourteen whether the Old Director had done anything to him, and Number Fourteen said the Old Director had rescued and later abandoned the children.
• Number Fourteen recalled the Old Director turning a large settlement into a fanatical cult and said he believed the Old Director was still watching the children.
• Lu Xin resolved to find their former companions, and Number Fourteen, Sister, Little Nineteen, and Kid agreed to help.
• A mysterious rhythmic call reached Qinggang's Special Purity Department, and Han Bing recorded its message before urgently asking to speak with Professor Bai.

Lu Xin prepared to reunite with his former orphanage classmates, but the Spades Office issued a billion-Alliance-currency bounty for his assassination. Despite warnings from Chen Jing and Minister Shen, he decided to leave Qinggang and face the threat.

• Lu Xin told Number Fourteen he would compensate any resentful classmates with money, and Number Fourteen jokingly offered to hate him for a share.
• A convoy of armed soldiers arrived at Kid’s villa, bringing Chen Jing and Minister Shen to speak with Lu Xin.
• Chen Jing and Minister Shen warned Lu Xin that the Spades Office had placed a one-billion-Alliance-currency bounty on his death and advised him to stay in Qinggang.
• Lu Xin reasoned that leaving Qinggang would protect the people around him and said he planned to go anyway.
• Lu Xin calmly challenged the assassins to come, saying he was curious how anyone could kill him.

Lu Xin set out from Qinggang with Sister, Number Fourteen, and Little Nineteen to find his former orphanage companion Number Three in Soda City. As he learned how many children from the orphanage might still be alive, a covert security team and bounty hunters began moving around him.

• Lu Xin prepared a motorcycle and jeep for the journey, bringing Sister, Number Fourteen, and Little Nineteen while leaving Kid behind in Qinggang.
• Chen Jing and Qinggang’s leaders decided not to stop Lu Xin and arranged covert protection and support along his route.
• After the convoy left Qinggang, Number Fourteen revealed that they were going to Soda City to find Number Three.
• Number Fourteen told Lu Xin that Number Three, Number Seven, Number Eight, Number Two, Number Five, Number Twelve, and Number Fourteen were believed to have survived, while Number One had died again after being revived.
• Number Fourteen told Lu Xin he had helped the children who were not saved find release, but Lu Xin continued toward the wilderness in a grim mood.
• Qinggang’s secret security team prepared to follow Lu Xin as bounty hunters and other groups gathered across the wilderness.

Lu Xin traveled through the wilderness with Number Fourteen and Little Nineteen while assassins tracked his route but hesitated to attack. After a sniper finally fired a special bullet at him, Lu Xin caught it and appeared beside the shooter, asking if it belonged to him.

• Lu Xin and his companions traveled safely through Qinggang’s territory, though several groups watched them along the road.
• Lu Xin noticed that more people were tracking him and guessed that his route had spread among the assassins.
• That night, Lu Xin sensed a sniper hiding in an abandoned village and walked toward him so Little Nineteen could wash her feet in peace.
• The sniper panicked when Lu Xin looked directly at him and accidentally fired a special bullet.
• Lu Xin caught the electrified bullet and used his black particles to appear beside the sniper, then placed the charred warhead beside him and asked if it was his.

Lu Xin repelled a wave of assassins with overwhelming power, then recognized that The Beginning’s influence had pushed him toward needless destruction. After calming himself, he returned to the stunned group, while Number Fourteen secretly called Fifth Sister to say they might be able to trust Number Nine.

• A veteran assassin’s bullet was returned by Lu Xin, and the gunshot triggered attacks from a motorcycle gang, a rocket team, and a helicopter squad.
• Lu Xin reversed the rocket’s explosion and sent it back to destroy the abandoned building, then crushed the motorcycle gang with a distorted force field.
• Lu Xin destroyed the attacking helicopters with mental power, creating a spectacle witnessed by observers across the area.
• Lu Xin noticed that The Beginning’s influence had strengthened his destructive impulses, so he restrained his power and dismissed the resulting hallucinations.
• Little Nineteen dropped her knife and washed her feet, while Number Fourteen decided Lu Xin might be trustworthy.
• Number Fourteen secretly contacted Fifth Sister and said Lu Xin was powerful, wealthy, and seemed to want to make amends with them.

Lu Xin warned a surviving killer to spread a message to the other assassins and negotiated a business deal before continuing toward Soda City with Number Fourteen and Little Nineteen. After preparing his group to meet Number Three, Lu Xin waited outside the city’s Administrative Hall, where Number Three was said to work, as its staff began leaving for the day.

• Lu Xin spared the trembling senior killer, warned him against anyone targeting him, and proposed a business deal.
• Lu Xin and his companions traveled peacefully toward Soda City while Cheng Hui’s security team investigated the attack and ordered a crackdown on those behind it.
• Lu Xin entered Soda City with Number Fourteen and Little Nineteen, then spent money on new clothes and haircuts before going to meet Number Three.
• Number Fourteen led Lu Xin to the Administrative Hall, but guards turned them away because they had no appointment or way to contact Number Three.
• Lu Xin paid an old man ten yuan to let them wait outside, and the group watched expectantly as the Administrative Hall staff got off work.

Lu Xin tracked Number Three from the Administrative Hall to a meat factory and asked him to help oppose the Old Director. Number Three revealed his monstrous abilities and mocked Lu Xin for asking him to risk his life again, leaving their alliance uncertain.

• Lu Xin and Number Fourteen spotted Number Three leaving the Administrative Hall dressed as a polished professional and followed his sports car to Nanyuan Meat Factory.
• Lu Xin slipped into the deserted factory, where the hanging pigs laughed and turned toward him until he told Number Three to stop fooling around.
• Number Three emerged from a discarded body and lunged at Lu Xin, but stopped his claw just short of Lu Xin's face and retreated.
• Lu Xin asked Number Three to help deal with the Old Director and escape his control.
• Number Three transformed through a hanging pig into his handsome human appearance and mocked Lu Xin for asking him to risk his life again.

Lu Xin reunited with Number Three and explained that he wanted his help against Wang Jingyun, but Number Three reminded him of their violent past. Over a lavish family dinner, Lu Xin saw that Number Three had built a warm life, and Number Three agreed to wipe away their grudge after the meal.

• Lu Xin told Number Three that he had learned Wang Jingyun had been watching and controlling them, and asked for his help.
• Number Three recalled that Lu Xin had pulled his heart out and admitted he still hated and feared him, but agreed to meet with Lu Xin and the others.
• Number Three brought his wife, children, in-laws, and brother-in-law’s family to an expensive hotel dinner, where Lu Xin, Number Fourteen, Little Nineteen, and Sister joined them.
• Lu Xin recognized that Number Three’s affection for his family was genuine and told him that caring for family mattered more than whether he helped.
• Number Three said that after they finished the meal, he would consider the grudge over Lu Xin killing him wiped clean.

Lu Xin reunited with Number Three, who chose to protect his family rather than join the fight against Old Director. Number Fourteen revealed he could contact Number Five, and the chapter ended with him calling her through the hotel television.

• Number Three left with his family after meeting Lu Xin, and Lu Xin decided not to pressure him to fight Old Director.
• Lu Xin, Number Fourteen, Sister, and Little Nineteen checked into a hotel, while several groups of suspicious guests gathered nearby.
• Sister and Little Nineteen went out to play, and Lu Xin told Number Fourteen they would leave Number Three’s choice to him.
• Number Fourteen said Number Twelve would be hard to find and warned Lu Xin that Number Five might still resent him.
• Number Fourteen asked Lu Xin for money to buy a phone, then revealed a backup plan and called Number Five through the hotel television.

Lu Xin reunited with Number Five through a television, where she appeared strapped to a hunched man’s back and threatened to operate on Number Eight. Number Five blamed Lu Xin for her condition before revealing she had discovered Old Director’s crazy plan, leaving Lu Xin asking what it was.

• Number Fourteen activated an unplugged television and connected Lu Xin to Number Five, who appeared in a laboratory with Number Eight bound to an operating table.
• Number Five said she planned to open Number Eight’s head and rewire him for trying to bring her to Qinggang.
• Lu Xin pleaded with Number Five to stop and asked why she had become so strangely disfigured.
• Number Five blamed Lu Xin for the chain of events that led to her condition, while Number Fourteen and Number Eight challenged her accusation.
• Number Five said she had discovered Old Director’s crazy plan, and Lu Xin urgently asked what it was.

Lu Xin confronted Number Five about the Old Director and promised to help her and the other orphanage children, but she explained why they feared seeking revenge and warned him that the Old Director and the Spades Office were far more dangerous than he understood. The chapter ended with Lu Xin anxiously asking where Sister and Little Nineteen were.

• Lu Xin told Number Five that he would oppose the Old Director and asked whether she would help him.
• Number Five challenged Lu Xin's ability to protect her, rejected his offer of compensation, and questioned why the Old Director could save people Lu Xin had killed.
• Number Five explained that the orphanage children knew Lu Xin was not to blame for their suffering, but feared the Old Director more than they resented him.
• Number Five warned Lu Xin that the Spades Office had powerful human allies and that even gods could be killed.
• Lu Xin stood up tensely and asked where Sister and Little Nineteen were.

Lu Xin left High Wall City after Sister and Little Nineteen stopped a coordinated assassination attempt, carrying Number Five’s request and his resolve to oppose the Old Director. Meanwhile, the cloaked group prepared an erasure trap for him, believing they understood his rules well enough to ensure his death.

• Sister turned the assassins attacking Lu Xin’s hotel into a human snake and swept up the bomb installers and anesthetic team, while Little Nineteen killed the snipers across the street.
• Lu Xin scolded Sister for causing a commotion, then told Number Five he would leave the city to avoid weapons that could endanger ordinary people.
• Number Fourteen declined to join Lu Xin without the others’ support, and Lu Xin gave him cash and told him to find him in Qinggang if he needed help.
• Lu Xin asked Number Five to send Number Eight to Qinggang, then left Number Fourteen the jeep and supplies and rode toward the city outskirts with Sister and Little Nineteen.
• A cloaked group discussed how Lu Xin’s strict rules would make him leave High Wall City and planned to guide him into an erasure trap, while the heart-cloaked speaker revealed a top-secret mental assessment report.

Lu Xin left Soda City and pursued a series of attacks in which knight orders abducted children under the influence of a being called the Pale Nun. He rescued some children but discovered a larger danger, while a secret council revealed that it had deliberately steered him toward a trap.

• Lu Xin escaped Soda City, sensed that he was being watched, and followed his map toward an uninhabited area.
• After seeing a gathering point engulfed in flames, Lu Xin learned that a knight order had attacked it and taken children from its orphanage.
• Lu Xin tracked down the knight order, killed its members, and found that the rescued children were mentally drawn toward the northeast.
• Lu Xin used his expanding mental force field to discover more knight orders abducting children and a strange nun-like creature leading others toward the northeast.
• A surviving knight order member told Lu Xin that the Pale Nun wanted the children so she could help them find their mothers and return home.
• The council members discussed how Lu Xin’s curiosity, kindness, responsibility, and confidence had led him along their planned route, and the man in the spade cloak declared that their trap would kill him.

Lu Xin followed the child-attracting pollution to the out-of-control Dark Ironworks and rushed in to save the children despite suspecting a trap. He destroyed the monster within, but The Beginning’s power seized him and black tendrils began to surround him.

• Lu Xin found that the trail of pollution led to the breached S-Rank restricted zone, where Pale Nuns guided children toward a monster in the black mist.
• Lu Xin chose to rescue the children, while men in Spade and Heart cloaks revealed that they had planned to exploit his humanity to lure him into a trap.
• Sister linked the children together and pulled them away as Little Nineteen attacked the Pale Nuns.
• Lu Xin entered the restricted zone, pierced the huge rotting Mental Monster with his black particles, and pulled children from its grasp.
• The monster burst apart, but something seized Lu Xin’s left hand and black fleshy tendrils rose around him; he realized the assassins had used The Beginning’s power.

Lu Xin was nearly dragged into the Abyss by The Beginning’s power, but he resisted long enough for Number Five and the other orphans to arrive and cut through its tendrils. Number Fourteen revealed that the orphans could oppose The Beginning’s power, hinting at Old Director’s secret.

• The person in the spade cloak explained that the Spades Office had released part of The Beginning’s power to kill Lu Xin and claimed he could not be saved.
• The Beginning’s tendrils bound Lu Xin and began dragging him into the Abyss as Sister and Little Nineteen struggled to hold him back.
• Lu Xin encountered a hollow-eyed man in a dreamlike void, who praised his resistance and passed something into his mind.
• The spade-cloaked conspirators celebrated Lu Xin’s supposed death until their screen began receiving a signal again.
• Number Five arrived with Number Three, Number Fourteen, and Number Eight, and Number Five cut the tendrils to free Lu Xin.
• Number Fourteen told Lu Xin that the orphans could resist The Beginning’s power and called it Old Director’s greatest secret.

Lu Xin learned that The Beginning had two sides, death and life, and that the Old Director had revived his orphanage companions using its life power. His former classmates agreed to help him, and the group turned their attention to finding the Spades Office members behind the assassination.

• Number Fourteen explained that the Old Director had revived the orphanage children with The Beginning's life power, while Lu Xin had inherited its power of death.
• Number Fourteen, Little Nineteen, Number Eight, and Number Three agreed to help Lu Xin, though Number Fourteen returned his breakup fee in one-yuan bills and Number Three demanded Lu Xin's watch.
• Number Five told Lu Xin that the orphanage companions trusted him and needed his help, then tried to persuade him to invest in her research project.
• Number Five revealed that the assassination trap had been a planned operation and that the Spades Office had concealed the attackers' identities.
• Lu Xin told Number Five that he had planted a spy among the people who had tried to assassinate him.