Chapter Summaries

Lu Xin investigated the unresponsive crowd beneath the high wall, then joined them to try to sense the force affecting them directly. As he stood among them, Han Bing and the others watched his unorthodox investigation, and Tie Cui revealed that he had barely begun his training.

• Lu Xin knocked an old man down and observed that the surrounding people turned their attention toward him.
• Lu Xin found no visible signs of a Mental Monster or unusual injuries on the old man, then took his place in the crowd.
• Lu Xin told Han Bing he would merge with the crowd to sense the hidden influence, despite her warning that the Pollution Source might remain undetectable.
• The old man got up, stood behind Lu Xin, and began crying while looking toward the high wall.
• Lu Xin cleared his mind and tried to trace the force affecting the crowd by sensing it directly.
• Tie Cui told Gecko that Lu Xin had been training for less than a week and had not yet covered most of the special contamination response materials.

Lu Xin identified the contamination as a faint little boy’s crying that caused listeners to become overwhelmed by sadness and hallucinations. He warned Han Bing that the investigation team should stay out, then concluded that the Pollution Source had been designed to evade detection.

• Lu Xin asked Sister to move away so he could sense the contamination, and she demanded a toy in return.
• Lu Xin heard a little boy crying and experienced visions of being tortured, isolated, and afraid.
• Sister bit Lu Xin to snap him out of the contamination, and he realized the crying spread it to anyone who heard it.
• Lu Xin told Han Bing that the Pollution Source was likely a little boy hiding among the crying crowd and warned her not to send the investigation team inside.
• Lu Xin reasoned that the faint crying and the investigators’ protective suits made the Pollution Source difficult to detect and dangerous to approach.

Lu Xin traced the sorrowful mental contamination to a technological device concealed inside a figure resembling Qin Ran. The device identified him as an abnormal target and attacked him and the people nearby with blue electricity.

• Lu Xin followed the sobbing through the crowd and identified a bearded figure resembling Qin Ran as the contamination's core.
• Gecko assembled a sniper rifle and guarded Lu Xin while Han Bing analyzed the situation over the channel.
• The figure's head opened, revealing a winged white sphere that played the recorded sobbing.
• Han Bing recognized the sphere as a product of the Technological Church and warned Lu Xin to be careful.
• The sphere announced that an experiment was beginning its second stage and engulfed Lu Xin and three nearby people in blue electrical currents.

A group of knights monitored the detonation of a ten-thousand-scale Weeping Boy Mental Pollution bomb near Qinggang City while Lu Xin and the defenders encountered the resulting Mental Monster. The monster reached Satellite City No. 2’s southern wall, where Gecko prepared to attack it with special ammunition.

• The man in sunglasses, the big-headed boy, and the man in the red suit tested one another with a card game before confirming that none of them showed signs of mental abnormality.
• The knights discussed their completed missions and the escaped laboratory, then prepared to withdraw after recording the bomb’s detonation data.
• Lu Xin dodged the bomb’s blue electrical arcs as the afflicted people’s mental forms emerged, merged into a many-limbed monster, and crawled toward the high wall.
• Qinggang’s channels announced that a Mental Monster had appeared at Satellite City No. 2’s southern wall, possibly connected to the Technological Church.
• Gecko spotted the monster and told Linda he was going to use special ammunition.

Lu Xin and Gecko attacked the Mental Monster, but it grew stronger by absorbing the mental power of people beneath the high wall. The chapter ended with its level nearing two thousand and the measurement team warning that it could soon reach B-class or even A-class.

• Han Bing identified the Mental Monster and recommended its immediate elimination.
• Lu Xin split the monster in two, and Gecko destroyed one half with a plasma bullet.
• Lu Xin tore apart the other half, but it rebuilt itself by absorbing faces and mental power from the crowd.
• Lu Xin and Gecko kept attacking as the monster rapidly grew larger and stronger.
• The measurement team reported that the monster was nearing C-class and ordered a Level 1 alert to headquarters.

Lu Xin and Gecko could not stop the Mental Monster from growing by absorbing the contaminated crowd, and Tie Cui warned that it might self-destruct and devastate Satellite City No. 2. When headquarters ordered Lu Xin to withdraw, he refused and told everyone else to flee and avoid watching him.

• The Mental Monster rapidly grew beyond a mental level of two thousand as Lu Xin and Gecko attacked it.
• Han Bing warned that the monster could reach a ten-thousand mental level by absorbing the crowd, while Gecko ran out of special bullets.
• Tie Cui explained that the manufactured monster might self-destruct, releasing radiation capable of killing or distorting life across a wide area.
• Tie Cui said the only way to halt its growth was to eliminate the contaminated people, and headquarters ordered Lu Xin to withdraw.
• Lu Xin refused to leave and ordered everyone else to retreat, warning them not to approach, watch him, or use cameras.

Lu Xin asked headquarters to withdraw everyone from the Crying Wall mission so he could face the expanding Mental Monster alone, and the key leaders agreed. As Lu Xin prepared to confront the monster and those behind the incident, Mom appeared and supported him.

• Lu Xin proposed that all Special Action Group members and patrol soldiers withdraw, leaving him to handle the Mental Monster alone.
• Professor Bai, Chen Jing, and Minister Shen approved Lu Xin's proposal, while ordering the Special Task Force to remain ready to act.
• Tie Cui ordered the forces to withdraw, and Lu Xin removed his earpiece and camera as the monster continued to grow and consume people.
• Lu Xin walked toward the monster while Sister struggled to damage it, and Mom appeared beside him.
• Lu Xin told Mom he would deal with the monster and find and confront the people responsible, and Mom said she supported him.

Lu Xin confronted the enormous Mental Monster while Mom urged him to trust his family and lend Sister his abilities. He chose to trust Sister and gave her the monster as a toy, then charged toward it with her on his back.

• Lu Xin approached the Mental Monster after Mom supported his plan, and she warned that releasing Father could endanger the surviving people and the entire Satellite City.
• Mom encouraged Lu Xin to trust his family and asked whether he had ever lent Sister his abilities instead of merely borrowing hers.
• Lu Xin decided to trust Mom and Sister, then offered Sister the enormous Mental Monster as a toy.
• Sister leaped onto Lu Xin's back as Father roared from an apartment building more than ten kilometers away.
• Lu Xin ran toward the Mental Monster with Sister riding on his back, delighted by her new toy.

Lu Xin charged through the monster’s mental distortion field while Sister began polluting its vast body of fused mental faces. The monster’s distortion spread beyond the area Lu Xin touched, leaving him and the others to realize Sister’s ability could overwhelm it.

• The monster released a mental distortion field, alarming Gecko, Tie Cui, and Han Bing as they withdrew from the battlefield.
• Lu Xin charged through the distortion field unharmed and reached the human-faced monster.
• Lu Xin stroked the monster’s faces, scrambling their features and disrupting its body.
• The distortion spread from the faces Lu Xin touched, slowing the monster as it sensed danger.
• Lu Xin realized Sister was polluting the monster and that its size and strength offered no protection against her.

Lu Xin and Sister battled the Mental Monster, with Sister twisting part of it into a second monster that Lu Xin sent to attack the original. As the fight continued beneath the red moon, Qin Ran’s group began monitoring the unstable experiment, and Mom cut off the unauthorized observers’ connections.

• Sister twisted the Mental Monster until it tore off the polluted part of its body and rushed toward the remaining crowd.
• Mom appeared in the monster’s path, while Lu Xin stood atop the discarded part, now transformed into a bizarre abstract monster under Sister’s control.
• Lu Xin directed Sister’s monster to attack the original, and the two Mental Monsters fought, distorting the battlefield around them.
• Qin Ran noticed the experiment becoming unstable and allowed the man in the red suit to look through a puppet before permanently cutting the connection.
• A person in the crowd blinked and turned toward Lu Xin as several unauthorized observers watched the battle.
• Mom took scissors from her handbag, and a sharp snip sounded beside the ears of everyone watching.

Qin Ran’s group lost contact with every puppet near Qinggang City and withdrew from their mission to record the Mental Pollution bomb’s experimental data. As a sound like scissors spread through the area, unseen cuts struck investigators and observers, leaving the danger around the battlefield unresolved.

• The man in the red suit told Qin Ran that he had lost contact with every puppet and recalled seeing a smiling woman before the connection vanished.
• Qin Ran decided the mission had failed and pressed the withdrawal button, explaining that he always chose caution over greed.
• A veteran investigator called Mole lost his sight and voice as his camera twisted apart under an invisible force.
• A woman watching the battlefield found her clothes cut open and discovered a line of blood running from her lower abdomen to her throat.
• A person reporting through an encrypted channel stopped responding, and the listener realized that the seated reporter’s head had tilted to one side.

Lu Xin let Sister control his ability to fight the Mental Monster beneath the Southern Wall. When the monster began to release catastrophic mental radiation, Sister split herself and her polluted monster apart to contain the blast, leaving Lu Xin shaken by the sight.

• Lu Xin trusted Sister to take charge, and her twisted monster overpowered the larger Mental Monster.
• The Mental Monster stopped fighting and began building up an intense signal, warning nearby teams that it was about to release lethal mental radiation.
• Sister came out of Lu Xin, split her body into pieces, and spread her polluted monster around the Mental Monster.
• Sister's monster enclosed the Mental Monster as it released its radiation, preventing the force from spreading outward.
• Lu Xin felt an intense pain as he watched Sister embrace the blast, while Qin Ran detected no change in his instrument and began descending from the rooftop.

Lu Xin’s team waited as the Mental Monster’s psychic power collapsed, then Gecko found Lu Xin alive at the blast site. Lu Xin confirmed the threat was dealt with and worried about paying for his broken equipment.

• Gecko detected the Mental Monster’s psychic power falling, and Tie Cui warned that its eruption could devastate the surrounding area.
• Han Bing trusted that Lu Xin could handle the threat because he had not asked for help, and reports soon confirmed that psychic radiation near the southern wall was disappearing.
• Gecko entered the wasteland and found Lu Xin beside a crater, with people lying unconscious or fleeing in confusion.
• Lu Xin told Gecko the Mental Monster had exploded and explained that Sister had contained the blast by wrapping its force into a small area.
• Lu Xin asked whether the headquarters would make him pay for his broken earpiece and detector, and Gecko said they probably would not if he did not report how they broke.

After the colossal human-faced monster was eliminated, Lu Xin watched support teams secure the battlefield and learned that the Technological Church and the knights outside the city were likely behind the disaster. As he vowed that someone would pay for the deaths, Mom warned him that his father was furious and the family would need to meet.

• Han Bing ordered support teams to control and isolate the survivors while City Patrol Army squads calmed them with loudspeakers.
• Support teams arrived by helicopter, secured the site, and began checking the survivors and the many corpses.
• Han Bing told Lu Xin that all four special-pollution zones in Satellite City No. 2 were under control and that other cities would assist with cleanup.
• Han Bing said investigators suspected the Technological Church and the knights outside the city, who might have achieved another objective beyond stealing the painting.
• Lu Xin reflected on the deaths and said those responsible would pay, while Mom told him to come home because his father was furious and the family might hold a meeting.

After the Pollution Source incidents were contained, Lu Xin returned to the Guard Department with Gecko and completed routine reports while people around him remained wary of the power he had shown. He planned to keep the details to himself for now and agreed to take Sister home later, since she was afraid to return while Mom was angry.

• Han Bing told Lu Xin that the Satellite City No. 2 incidents were under control and thanked him for protecting Qinggang City’s ordinary people.
• Gecko teased Lu Xin about Han Bing and asked him to find out whether Linda really weighed three hundred pounds.
• Lu Xin and Gecko went to the Guard Department, where staff asked them to complete inspection reports and remain on standby.
• Lu Xin realized Gecko was nervous because people wanted to know how Sister had contaminated the human-faced Mental Monster, but he chose not to explain.
• Sister told Lu Xin she was afraid to go home because Mom was throwing a tantrum, and Lu Xin promised to take her home later.

After the cleanup mission, Lu Xin left the Guard Department to attend a family meeting, despite being followed by observers. Chen Jing had the tailing stopped, and the chapter ended with the driver learning that investigators who had pursued Lu Xin had died under unknown circumstances.

• After the midnight snack, Lu Xin told Gecko he was going home, and Gecko agreed to cover his shift.
• Lu Xin rode toward Moon Platform with Sister and noticed several vehicles and hidden observers following him.
• Lu Xin called Chen Jing, who arranged for the followers to withdraw and revealed she was undergoing surgery for injuries from the attack.
• The jeep dropped Lu Xin at his old building, where a light came on as he entered.
• The driver learned that investigators ordered to investigate Lu Xin had died, then fled the area in fear.

Lu Xin returned home to find Father furious over his work protecting Satellite City, while Mom proposed a family meeting. The chapter ended with Father accusing Lu Xin’s duty of putting the entire family in danger.

• Lu Xin climbed through the silent old building with Sister and found their damaged home brightly lit.
• Father confronted Lu Xin over failing to catch the people who had escaped, while Mom reassured someone by phone that the city was safe.
• Mom suggested that the family sit down and talk, and Lu Xin agreed before joining her on the sofa with Sister.
• Lu Xin defended his choice to protect Satellite City, and Father argued that the people he helped would never be grateful and that his actions endangered the family.

Lu Xin discussed how to respond to the outsiders who had attacked him and stolen the painting, while his family urged him not to let the incident pass. He revealed that he had already decided what to do, and the family agreed to go find the outsiders.

• Mom argued that the city needed its people and told Lu Xin that saving others had been right, but that he had been too soft afterward.
• Father urged Lu Xin to strike first and demanded that he care about the people who had nearly killed him.
• Sister defended Lu Xin and hid behind him when Father rose angrily, while Lu Xin shielded her.
• Mom questioned whether the outsiders' attack and the bomb in the southern city had been part of a larger plan, and mentioned that going outside the city might be interesting.
• Lu Xin said he had already made his decision before coming home and had only wanted to confirm that his family supported him.
• Mom concluded that they would go find the outsiders, and Father and Lu Xin agreed.

Chen Jing and Professor Bai investigated the ambush, the painting, and the mysterious knight order, then uncovered a possible link to a rogue laboratory from the Eclipse Research Institute’s early days. The chapter left them suspecting that the knight order was pursuing the Runaway Laboratory.

• Chen Jing reported that outsiders had tracked Xu Xiao Xiao and likely had an informant in the Main City, and she said she was investigating the consulting company that hired solo soldiers.
• Professor Bai assessed Qin Ran as a powerful ability user whose dangerous contingencies had caused fewer casualties than expected, and he doubted the Technological Church had directly orchestrated the incident.
• Professor Bai told Chen Jing that the knight order had tried to contact the solo soldier earlier through a mental modified human created by the same Puppet-type ability user involved in the Jiujiang Road attack.
• Chen Jing read a document about the Crimson Moon Orphanage explosion and learned that a laboratory Director had left the Eclipse Research Institute twenty years earlier with data and experimental subjects.
• Professor Bai said the knight order might be searching for the runaway laboratory, whose code name was the Runaway Laboratory.

Chen Jing visited Teacher Lu to investigate the orphanage’s connection to a long-hidden laboratory and the explosion from Lu Xin’s past. Teacher Lu threatened to shoot herself rather than risk Chen Jing harming Lu Xin, and Chen Jing left without pressing her, offering her contact information and agreeing to conceal the gun.

• Professor Bai advised Chen Jing to investigate the orphanage herself and said Teacher Lu might know the truth about the laboratory that escaped long ago.
• Chen Jing visited the orphanage and waited for Teacher Lu to finish class.
• Chen Jing asked Teacher Lu about Lu Xin’s childhood and the explosion at the orphanage.
• Teacher Lu pulled out an old gun, aimed it at her chin, and warned Chen Jing not to hurt Lu Xin.
• Chen Jing said the gun would not fire, gave Teacher Lu her number, and left after agreeing to cover up the gun while reminding her to pay the orphanage’s bills.