Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou discovers an illusory Crystal Skull depicted in a mural beneath the lake. It appears connected to the Holy Relic Seal he carries.
• When the Seal activates, the skull transforms into a crystal antenna. The antenna releases lightning, ancient chanting, and a mysterious summons that resonates with Bai Zhou and something hidden beyond the lake.
• A real Crystal Skull is pulled from the void and materializes before him. The crystal antenna shatters, and the skull falls directly into Bai Zhou’s hand.
• Contact with the skull causes intense pain and the sensation of something gnawing through Bai Zhou’s head, although no physical damage occurs. He uses [Soothing], looks away, and stores the artifact.
• Bai Zhou realizes that the Holy Relic Seal is likely the key to retrieving the Crystal Skull from the Hidden Vault. The skull could therefore be summoned without traveling to Evening City’s shifting Ruins Realm coordinates.
• He concludes that the Crystal Skull was probably hidden by the Holy Relic Institute—or by other mysterious figures—as a secret emergency treasure. This means Bai Zhou may have unintentionally taken an artifact that another person was destined to obtain.
• Bai Zhou reviews the expedition’s gains, including the Crystal Skull, [Sun Fist], Shadow of the Deep One, the Holy Relic Fingernail, information about the Dead Sea Scrolls, and several dormant Silver Corpses. He decides the Hidden Vault has been fully looted and prepares to leave with Ya, the Gem Witch, and Fang Xiaoxia.
• Their next objective is to return to the Blood Worship Cult, report to the Holy Son, and investigate the previous cult leader. Bai Zhou now feels more confident confronting the Holy Son because he understands the enemy better and possesses a powerful countermeasure.
• Ya asks about the artifact. After Bai Zhou explains what happened, she connects it to the mystical legend of thirteen Crystal Skulls from a powerful Previous Civilization.
• According to the legend, the skulls possess movable jaws, can speak and sing, contain immense knowledge, reveal the secrets behind the civilization’s rise and destruction, and may communicate with the continent’s spirits. Their existence may even be linked to the Third World War and the apocalypse.
• Ya warns that if Bai Zhou’s skull is genuine, the origins and importance of the Holy Relics may need to be reconsidered.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou successfully acquires the Crystal Skull and gains a major strategic advantage over the Holy Son. He becomes more confident and recognizes that he is now a key variable in the plans surrounding the Holy Relic Institute.
• Bai Zhou reflects on whether he has stolen another person’s fate, wondering if figures such as Dr. Zhang, the previous Sloth, or the Holy Son were supposed to obtain the Seal and Crystal Skull instead.
• He becomes increasingly aware that his connection to Evening City may have made him uniquely compatible with the skull, possibly because of mystical influence received from being born there.
• Ya shifts from casual skepticism to serious concern. Her knowledge of the Crystal Skull legend broadens the significance of Bai Zhou’s discovery and suggests that the artifact may be far more important than any ordinary Holy Relic.

Significant Themes

• Fate and stolen destiny: Bai Zhou questions whether his actions have displaced another person’s predetermined path.
• Hidden inheritance: The Crystal Skull represents knowledge and power passed down from a lost civilization to the present world.
• Ancient conspiracies and secret plans: The Holy Relic Institute appears to have deliberately designed a method to retrieve the skull, implying a larger purpose.
• Knowledge versus danger: The skull may contain immense secrets, but merely looking at it causes mental pain and destabilization.
• Changing power dynamics: Bai Zhou moves from being threatened by the Holy Son to possessing a weapon or advantage capable of challenging him.
• Civilizational mystery: The chapter introduces the possibility of another Previous Civilization, likely the Maya or an associated ancient culture, expanding the world’s history beyond the known Jurassic civilization.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhou and the Crystal Skull share a mysterious supernatural connection mediated by the Holy Relic Seal.
• Bai Zhou and Ya discuss the artifact’s nature. He admits his uncertainty, while Ya supplies the crucial legend that reframes the skull as one of thirteen world-shaping relics.
• Ya’s concern contrasts with Bai Zhou’s curiosity: she fears the skull’s implications, while he becomes fascinated by the newly revealed Previous Civilization.
• Bai Zhou’s thoughts about the Holy Son establish an indirect confrontation: the Holy Son believes he remains hidden and informed, while Bai Zhou now secretly possesses knowledge and a relic that may overturn their conflict.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou and Ya discuss the Previous Civilization and the dangers surrounding the Crystal Skulls. Ya warns that revealing Bai Zhou’s skull could provoke powerful factions from Tianjing, the Western Federation, and other major forces.
• Before leaving the underwater hidden treasury, Bai Zhou examines the six suspended coffins and considers taking the objects attached to them—chains, tools, wax, combs, and other apparent relics.
• Ya stops him, explaining that these are Ritual Relics embedded into the corpse-raising ritual. Removing them could disturb the Silver Corpses and cause them to decay, which would be especially harmful to Bai Zhou because of his Dead Sea Scrolls.
• Ya explains that the chamber’s ritual system combines corpse-raising, sealing, Magic Patterns, and other techniques. Its creator must have been extraordinarily knowledgeable, or the site may have been constructed by a large group of experts.
• Bai Zhou and his companions leave the hidden treasury through the Bronze Gate, but discover that the mutated Fishmen are gathered on the lakeshore, blocking their exit.
• Rather than attack the Fishmen, Bai Zhou devises another solution. He rises above the lake, parts the water with his Personal Destiny, and displays Shadow of the Deep One alongside a mud-covered brick.
• The weapon’s aura creates the image of a gigantic, divine Fishman behind him. The Fishmen interpret Bai Zhou as a sacred ancestor or divine being and immediately kneel in worship, allowing the group to leave without fighting.

2. Character Developments

• Bai Zhou becomes more cautious regarding the Crystal Skull, recognizing that its secrets could bring immense danger if exposed.
• His instinct to collect valuable objects remains strong, but he shows restraint when Ya explains the consequences of taking the Ritual Relics.
• Bai Zhou’s knowledge and confidence continue to grow. He increasingly uses creativity and intimidation rather than brute force, choosing a nonviolent solution to the Fishmen problem.
• His dramatic display above the lake reveals both his growing power and his flair for theatrical, often absurdly overblown solutions.
• Ya acts as the knowledgeable guide, explaining the function of Ritual Relics and the complexity of the underwater ritual site. He also protects Bai Zhou from making a reckless mistake.
• The Gem Witch and Fang Xiaoxia demonstrate concern about harming the Fishmen, viewing them as contaminated villagers rather than inherently evil monsters. They are astonished by Bai Zhou’s unexpected “divine” strategy.
• The group’s trust and familiarity deepen through their banter, particularly as they tease Bai Zhou about his supposed tendency toward violence.

3. Significant Themes

• Knowledge as both gift and burden: The Previous Civilization left behind secrets and artifacts, but understanding them creates new dangers and unanswered questions.
• The interconnectedness of power systems: Rituals, relics, corpse-raising, sealing techniques, and Magic Patterns function as parts of one larger structure; disturbing one element can affect everything else.
• Restraint over greed: Bai Zhou’s desire to loot the chamber is checked by the realization that some treasures are valuable precisely because they remain within their original ritual context.
• Violence versus ingenuity: The chapter emphasizes that force is not always necessary. Bai Zhou resolves a potentially dangerous confrontation through symbolism, supernatural intimidation, and manipulation of the Fishmen’s beliefs.
• Appearance and perception: Bai Zhou appears to his companions as a dangerous cult officer, while the Fishmen perceive him as a sacred ancestor. The same figure can be seen as god, demon, or savior depending on the observer.
• Moonlight and ancient recurrence: The moon acts as both a source of Bai Zhou’s strength and a visual link to forgotten ancient rituals. The final scene suggests that similar sacred spectacles may have occurred at the lake in the distant past.

4. Character Interactions

• Ya repeatedly advises Bai Zhou, balancing his impulsiveness with historical and ritual knowledge.
• Bai Zhou and the Gem Witch exchange sarcastic remarks about being trapped beneath the lake and possibly hiding in a coffin.
• The Gem Witch and Fang Xiaoxia question whether the Fishmen should be killed, highlighting the group’s moral hesitation and concern for innocents.
• Bai Zhou protests their apparent suspicion that he is a murderous demon, though his reputation and bloodstained affiliations make their doubts understandable.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhou astonishing both companions as the Fishmen kneel before him, transforming a dangerous obstacle into an absurd religious procession.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Fang Xiaoxia and the Gem Witch witness Bai Zhou standing before more than a thousand fishmen, who kneel and worship him as their “Holy Ancestor.”
• The fishmen are revealed to be a powerful, organized species created through generations of pollution from the Decayer’s weapons and armor, combined with reproduction and exposure to polluted lake water. Most are Level 2 or Level 3 extraordinary beings.
• Bai Zhou explains that the armor’s influence is embedded in the fishmen’s bloodlines. They instinctively regard whoever possesses the armor as their evolutionary ancestor and natural ruler.
• Although the fishmen could potentially become a major faction in Tinghai—possibly rivaling the Authorities or Blood Worship Cult—Bai Zhou chooses not to recruit or command them yet. He signals the group to leave, leaving the fishmen confused about whether the Holy Ancestor’s appearance was real.
• While traveling through the forest, the Gem Witch warns Bai Zhou that controlling such a loyal armed force could make him immensely wealthy and influential. Bai Zhou replies that he already possesses freedom and does not desire the burdens of leadership or constant scrutiny.
• Bai Zhou reminds them that he was once poor and vulnerable, living on an air-conditioner unit. Fang Xiaoxia recalls first meeting him as an injured black cat, deepening her emotional attachment and curiosity about his past.
• Since the group is preparing to infiltrate the Blood Worship Cult and impersonate [Envy], the Gem Witch uses her transformation abilities to create a new disguise.
• Her first attempt fails spectacularly when the transformation device explodes. On the second attempt, she becomes an eerie ghost-mermaid, covered in green scales with a blue scarf and glowing red eyes—an appearance well suited to [Envy].
• The trio returns to the ruined urban district, where they discover that the conflict in Tinghai has intensified. Helicopters, gunfire, and destruction indicate that the war is still expanding.
• Bai Zhou’s Sloth Gospel suddenly appears and warns them not to return to the Blood Worship Cult headquarters. The saint instructs Bai Zhou and the Gem Witch to turn around and look behind them, promising to lead them to the “true Blood Worship Cult” and reveal the world’s truth and his grand plan.

2. Character Developments

• Bai Zhou: Demonstrates his immense influence over the fishmen but remains uninterested in building a conventional faction or ruling others. His commitment to personal freedom is emphasized by his memories of poverty and hardship. He also continues to display knowledge of the fishmen’s origins and the dangerous implications of the armor.
• Gem Witch: Shows her strategic awareness by recognizing the political and military value of the fishmen. Her financial difficulties and frugal habits are highlighted when she collects the monster’s scales for later use. She also reveals more about the mechanics and limitations of her transformations.
• Fang Xiaoxia: Becomes increasingly emotionally attached to Bai Zhou. She remembers his former black-cat form and quietly longs to see it again, suggesting affection and nostalgia. She also reacts with admiration and excitement to the Gem Witch’s transformation.
• The Sloth Gospel/Saint: Takes a more direct and mysterious role, addressing Bai Zhou and the Gem Witch personally and hinting that the Blood Worship Cult they know may not be the real one.

3. Significant Themes

• Quantity creating power: Even if individual fishmen are not exceptionally strong, their enormous population makes them a force capable of reshaping Tinghai’s balance of power.
• Origins of mythical races: The fishmen’s development raises questions about whether legendary werewolves, vampires, and other supernatural species may also have originated from pollution, mutation, or long-term extraordinary influence.
• Freedom versus authority: The Gem Witch sees faction leadership as a path to wealth and influence, while Bai Zhou values independence and refuses to view power over others as inherently desirable.
• Bloodline, instinct, and worship: The fishmen’s devotion is not merely religious; it is biologically rooted in the armor’s influence, blurring the boundary between faith, genetic instinct, and domination.
• Identity and performance: The Gem Witch’s ability to become [Envy] reflects the importance of appearance and disguise in the undercover mission, while her transformation also highlights the theatrical and unpredictable nature of her powers.
• Hidden truths and conspiracies: The Gospel’s warning suggests that the visible Blood Worship Cult is only part of a larger mystery, with the saint preparing to reveal a deeper reality.

4. Character Interactions

• The Gem Witch jokes that Bai Zhou may have transformed into a dragon, but her humor masks genuine shock at his sudden control over the fishmen.
• She repeatedly tries to convince Bai Zhou to recognize the value of becoming a faction leader, while he dismisses wealth, prestige, and public influence as unappealing.
• Bai Zhou explains the fishmen’s biological connection to the armor, giving the Gem Witch a clearer understanding of why they obey him.
• Fang Xiaoxia and the Gem Witch both react strongly to Bai Zhou’s recollection of his earlier hardships, though Fang Xiaoxia’s response is personal and affectionate while the Gem Witch is confused by his reference to an “air-conditioner outdoor unit.”
• The Gem Witch teases and reprimands Bai Zhou for looking disappointed by her ghost-mermaid appearance, creating playful tension between them.
• Bai Zhou, the Gem Witch, and Fang Xiaoxia all watch the transformation process with curiosity, especially after the first attempt fails.
• The chapter ends with the Gospel interrupting their journey and addressing Bai Zhou and the Gem Witch as “Mr. Sloth” and “Miss Envy,” setting up a tense revelation and an unknown encounter behind them.

Summary

This passage is an author’s note rather than a narrative chapter.

• Key events: The author announces taking their final day off for the month to organize the plot involving the Holy Son’s conspiracy, uncover the true nature of the Blood Worship Cult, and resolve earlier foreshadowing connected to Tinghai.
• Character development: No direct character actions or developments occur, though the mention of Tinghai suggests that this character’s storyline will receive clarification or payoff.
• Themes: The note highlights conspiracy, hidden identities or motives, and the importance of resolving foreshadowed plot threads. It also emphasizes the author’s commitment to planning and narrative coherence.
• Character interactions: None are shown. The passage only references future or ongoing conflicts involving the Holy Son, the Blood Worship Cult, and Tinghai.
• Future plans: The author promises to resume regular writing afterward, with large daily updates, and teases the upcoming arrival of “red envelopes.”

Chapter Summary: Fantasyland Project

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou receives a message through the black Gospel Book from the Blood Worship Cult’s Holy Son. Although the message implies the Holy Son is watching from behind, he is not physically present.
• The Holy Son welcomes the newly arrived [Envy] and tells Bai Zhou that he no longer needs to go to the Blood Worship Cult’s official headquarters. Instead, he must travel to the Upper City and visit the headquarters of the Little Yellow Rat Delivery Company.
• Bai Zhou realizes that the Blood Worship Cult is divided. The official headquarters and the Five Elders Institute are opposed to the Holy Son, who appears to be building an independent organization using the cult’s resources.
• The Little Yellow Rat Delivery Company is revealed to be far more than an ordinary food-delivery business. Because its riders have access to homes, streets, businesses, and private information throughout the city, the company could provide the Holy Son with an enormous intelligence network.
• The Gem Witch recalls rumors connecting the company to powerful figures, including [White Horse Star], an Inspector linked to the Purple Thorn Group. Bai Zhou remembers that White Horse Star was actually Luo Tunan’s second brother and had been involved in corruption and hidden dealings.
• Bai Zhou concludes that the Holy Son is secretly creating a “New Blood Worship Cult”: a modern, socially integrated organization hidden behind ordinary businesses and workers rather than openly operating from criminal strongholds.
• Bai Zhou, the Gem Witch, and Fang Xiaoxia travel to the delivery company’s commercial headquarters. The building appears deserted, but its doors, security gates, and elevator activate automatically for them.
• A guide leads them to a hidden elevator level, “-18,” far below the building’s listed floors. There they discover a vast underground facility filled with workers in yellow uniforms, machinery, documents, packages, armed escorts, children, and vacant-looking adults.
• The guide reveals that the Blood Worship Cult’s supposed “Peering into the Ruins Realm Experiment” was not merely an abandoned failure. The plan involving human experimentation, reproduction, and the creation of [Nonexistent Ones] was allegedly a cover story or misconception.
• The guide, whose head unnaturally turns backward, speaks in the voice and manner of the Blood Worship Cult’s Son. He claims that Evening City was only a disposable smokescreen and that seven larger Ruins Realm strongholds are still expanding.
• The chapter ends with the guide welcoming them to the “New Blood Worship Cult” and inviting them to witness the Fantasyland Project.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou becomes increasingly analytical and cautious. Rather than accepting the Holy Son’s intimidation, he reconstructs the political conflict between the Holy Son, the Blood Worship Cult, and the Five Elders Institute.
• Bai Zhou identifies the delivery company as part of a long-term infiltration strategy and recognizes that the Holy Son is effectively a separatist leader attempting to establish a new cult.
• His memories of [White Horse Star] and the Purple Thorn Group connect the delivery company to previously exposed corruption, suggesting that the Holy Son’s influence may reach into institutions and powerful families.
• The Gem Witch shifts from mocking the Holy Son’s theatrical message to feeling genuine alarm. She realizes that an ordinary company woven into daily life could conceal a massive cult network.
• Fang Xiaoxia experiences a familiar sense of paranoia and disillusionment, recalling when she learned that seemingly ordinary people around her were secretly agents. Her understanding of society’s “normal” appearance is once again destabilized.
• The Holy Son is shown to be strategic rather than merely theatrical or fanatical. He uses official cult resources while operating independently, creates layers of misinformation, and builds influence through legitimate-looking organizations.
• The guide’s unnatural behavior and apparent identification with the Son reinforce the chapter’s atmosphere of horror and suggest that the Holy Son’s plans involve more than conventional espionage or criminal activity.

Significant Themes

• Hidden infiltration: The most dangerous threat is not confined to obvious cult strongholds; it is embedded within familiar companies and ordinary urban life.
• The collapse of normality: Delivery services, workplaces, neighborhoods, and institutions—things characters once regarded as mundane—become potential extensions of the cult.
• Old versus new forms of evil: The traditional Blood Worship Cult is portrayed as openly chaotic and monstrous, while the New Blood Worship Cult is more frightening because it is organized, respectable, adaptable, and nearly invisible.
• Information and social control: Delivery riders’ access to homes, secrets, streets, and personal habits makes them ideal observers and intelligence gatherers.
• Deception and misdirection: Evening City, rumors about political protection, and the supposed failure of the Ruins Realm experiment may all have been deliberate covers for a much larger continuing project.
• Modernity as a vehicle for horror: The chapter contrasts ordinary commercial infrastructure with an underground “rat nest,” showing how modern systems can conceal exploitation, surveillance, and human experimentation.
• Identity and hidden power: The Holy Son repeatedly operates through intermediaries, false appearances, and secret institutions, making it difficult to determine who truly controls the organization.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhou and the Gem Witch exchange skeptical reactions to the Holy Son’s dramatic communication, with the Gem Witch openly ridiculing his intimidation tactics.
• Bai Zhou and the Gem Witch silently compare their suspicions before the Holy Son confirms that they must go to the Upper City.
• Bai Zhou, the Gem Witch, and Fang Xiaoxia share their shock at the Little Yellow Rat Delivery Company’s possible connection to the cult. Their reactions emphasize how personally threatening the revelation is.
• The Gem Witch provides information about rumors surrounding the company and [White Horse Star], while Bai Zhou supplies the crucial connection to Luo Tunan and the Purple Thorn Group.
• The trio maintains communication through their [Heart-to-Heart Connection], allowing them to analyze the situation together while concealing their reactions from the guide.
• The guide’s final revelation transforms the group’s investigation from a suspicious visit into direct exposure to the Holy Son’s hidden organization and its larger, ongoing plan.

Chapter Summary: “Parasites? The Final Countdown!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou, the Gem Witch, and Fang Xiaoxia discover the Blood Worship Cult’s enormous underground facility beneath Tinghai. The “Underground Labyrinth” secretly transports ordinary people from Blue Star into hidden regions of the Ruins Realm called Fantasylands.
• Captured civilians—including children, vagrants, orphans, elderly people, and mentally ill individuals—are brainwashed, made to believe they were born in the Ruins Realm, and exposed to Void Contamination.
• Complex rituals, maintained for decades, periodically transfer these people into the Ruins Realm. The transfers occur once every five years, with the current group being the final batch needed for the Blood Worship Cult’s plan.
• The Holy Son reveals that the Blood Worship Cult has operated this scheme for roughly a century, secretly infiltrating mundane industries such as rickshaw services, employment agencies, taxis, and food delivery. These occupations allowed the cult to monitor and abduct unnoticed members of society.
• The cult has established seven other places like Evening City beyond Tinghai, suggesting that Evening City was only a small part of a much larger project.
• The purpose of the Fantasyland Project is to breed people whose bodies can better resist Ruins Realm contamination. The strongest survivors are processed into a substance called “Fragrant Meat,” also referred to as Human Material.
• Bai Zhou realizes that the Human Material technology connected to Major Luo and Elder Wu was likely supplied or manipulated by the Holy Son. Both men were unknowingly pieces in the Holy Son’s long-term plan, which also indirectly shaped Bai Zhou’s life.
• The Holy Son explains that the Fragrant Meat will be attached to the Supreme Bone, awakening the “Supreme One” and bringing about the Blood Worship Cult’s prophecy: the return of the Blood Moon and the day when “Raven sings praises to silence.”
• A massive electronic display reveals that only eight days, twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-nine seconds remain before the plan reaches its decisive stage.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou is horrified as he recognizes the true scale of the conspiracy. He connects the Fantasyland Project to Evening City, Human Material, Major Luo, and Elder Wu, realizing that major events in his own life may have been orchestrated by the Holy Son.
• His investigative abilities remain crucial: using Celestial Pivot, he analyzes the rituals and determines their complexity, age, and function, though even he cannot fully decipher them.
• The Holy Son is revealed as far more than a cult representative. He is the hidden successor and mastermind of a century-long operation, presenting himself as the “queen ant” directing a loyal underground society.
• The Holy Son views the old Blood Worship Cult leadership as obsolete and regards his underground organization as a new nest that will replace it. However, he also treats this facility as temporary compared with the ultimate Fantasyland.
• The Gem Witch and Fang Xiaoxia share Bai Zhou’s shock as they grasp the scale and duration of the project, though Bai Zhou carries the greatest personal burden because of his connection to Evening City and Human Material.

Significant Themes

• Invisible exploitation: The cult survives by embedding itself in ordinary social systems, feeding on society like parasites while remaining undetected.
• Dehumanization and commodification: Vulnerable people are treated as “consumables,” then transformed into biological material for a supernatural resurrection scheme.
• Long-term conspiracy and manipulation: Events that seemed unrelated—including Evening City’s existence and Major Luo’s technology—are revealed as parts of a plan operating across generations.
• Evolution through suffering: The cult deliberately uses contamination and mass reproduction to force the emergence of people adapted to the Ruins Realm.
• False progress and replacement: The Holy Son compares the cult to ants and rats building new nests, presenting his brutal project as a necessary evolution beyond the decaying old leadership.
• Inevitable catastrophe: The countdown emphasizes that the cult’s century-long preparations are nearly complete, turning the chapter’s revelations into an immediate crisis.

Character Interactions

• The Holy Son guides Bai Zhou and the others through the facility, explaining its history and purpose while revealing information with unsettling confidence.
• Bai Zhou cautiously questions him about Fantasyland, attempting to gather information without exposing his undercover position.
• The Holy Son compares himself to an ant queen and the workers to loyal worker ants, portraying the facility’s brainwashed laborers and cult members as parts of a single organism.
• Bai Zhou internally challenges the Holy Son’s claims, recognizing the manipulation behind his explanations and linking them to his own past.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhou and the others confronting the countdown, transforming their conversation with the Holy Son from an investigation into a race against the imminent activation of the Blood Worship Cult’s plan.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou realizes the Saint Son’s countdown of fewer than nine days likely marks the completion of the Blood Worship Cult’s century-long plan. The “Supreme Bone” is probably the reassembled Holy Relic, with the Seven Sins’ Demon Cells serving as essential components.
• The final group of “special individuals,” called “Fragrant Meat,” still needs to be gathered and processed. They will be brought from the Ruins Realm into the Present World, imprisoned, and forced to live according to their own distorted idea of normality.
• Bai Zhou decides that the evidence he has uncovered is too significant to handle alone and plans to involve the Authorities, believing coordinated action is necessary to stop the cult.
• The remaining members of the Seven Sins arrive, badly wounded but fanatically excited about the Saint Son’s promised revolution and the possibility of ruling territory after his success.
• Bai Zhou privately recognizes the truth: the “Supreme Bone” may actually be the Seven Sins themselves. Rather than being rewarded followers, they are likely living containers whose bones will eventually be extracted and sacrificed.
• The Seven Sins are brought before the Saint Son in a sealed chamber containing another grotesque Needle Throne. The Saint Son’s appearance strongly resembles the mysterious square-faced man Bai Zhou has encountered, raising questions about their relationship and identity.
• The Saint Son reveals two important assignments:
  1. The cult must eventually retrieve and protect the imprisoned “special individuals” needed for the Ritual.
  2. They must urgently locate a mysterious Destiny [Magician] who possesses a [Shrine]-attribute Destiny and a corresponding Forbidden Canon.
• The description unmistakably identifies the target as the Gem Witch. The Saint Son orders the cult to uncover her identity and location and permits them to abduct her relatives, friends, and possible romantic partners to force her submission.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou becomes more determined and strategic. He understands the scale and urgency of the cult’s plan, begins considering a rescue operation for the imprisoned special individuals, and resolves to contact the Authorities.
• The Saint Son demonstrates his authority, secrecy, and ruthless pragmatism. He manipulates the Seven Sins through promises of glory, conceals key information, and is willing to threaten innocent people to obtain the Gem Witch.
• The Seven Sins show intense fanaticism and ambition. They believe they are destined to share in the Saint Son’s victory, unaware that they may instead be sacrificial components of his plan.
• The Gem Witch is thrown into panic when she realizes the Saint Son has identified her true nature despite never having met her. Her habit of wearing a mask protects her identity temporarily, but rumors about her frugality and unusual reputation bring her dangerously close to exposure.
• Gluttony, Lust, Greed, and Wrath each reinforce the cult’s devotion: Gluttony boasts of cannibalistic violence, Greed longs to serve the Saint Son, Wrath anticipates the coming conflict, and Lust uses seductive incitement to intensify everyone’s zeal.

Significant Themes

• Fanaticism and manipulation: The Seven Sins are convinced of their inevitable success and eagerly serve the Saint Son without realizing they may be expendable tools.
• Urgency and impending catastrophe: The short countdown emphasizes that Bai Zhou has very little time to gather allies and disrupt the ritual.
• Identity and hidden truths: The Saint Son’s resemblance to the mysterious square-faced man, the secret nature of the Holy Relic, and the Gem Witch’s concealed identity all deepen the chapter’s mystery.
• Exploitation and sacrifice: The cult treats people as materials—“Fragrant Meat,” bone containers, and leverage against the Gem Witch—highlighting its complete dehumanization of others.
• Moral contrast: Bai Zhou seeks to expose the cult and rescue its victims, while the Saint Son views innocent lives as disposable resources.

Character Interactions

• The Seven Sins enthusiastically praise the Saint Son, competing to demonstrate their loyalty and excitement about the coming upheaval.
• Bai Zhou outwardly joins their celebration while internally condemning their blindness and recognizing the danger they face.
• The Gem Witch is introduced to the other Sins, who react with curiosity and unease because of her monstrous appearance and her close association with Bai Zhou.
• The Saint Son praises Bai Zhou’s effectiveness, then shifts his attention to the Gem Witch with unsettling satisfaction.
• When Wrath and Lust connect the Saint Son’s description of the [Magician] to the famous Gem Witch, she becomes increasingly terrified.
• The Saint Son ultimately turns the entire cult against her, ordering them to capture not only her but everyone close to her.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Gem Witch secretly overhears the Blood Worship Cult’s Holy Son ordering the capture of both her and her family. She realizes her parents are in immediate danger, but remains hidden beneath her fish-like disguise.
• The Holy Son questions Bai Zhou—currently posing as Sloth—about why he and Envy returned severely injured and why the six Medical Association physicians accompanying them are missing.
• Bai Zhou claims that a powerful white-haired old man in a suit attacked them during Envy’s transformation. According to his fabricated account, the man killed the physicians, subdued Envy’s monster form, and nearly killed Bai Zhou and Envy before Bai Zhou escaped.
• Bai Zhou deliberately describes the attacker as a mysterious King of Lustful Evils, adding details about a blade, sword, folding knife, and blizzard techniques. These clues lead the Holy Son to suspect the principal who escaped from the Ruins Realm and has been active around Tinghai.
• The Holy Son becomes enraged and declares that the Blood Worship Cult will retaliate against the suspected principal, the Five Elders Institute, and anyone else involved. He orders the cult to gather information and personally execute the mysterious King of Lustful Evils.
• Lust asks about the relationship between the Trickster and Magician Destiny Paths. The Holy Son explains that they are the same path at different stages: Trickster is the Professionalist stage, while Magician is the Lifeforger stage. He also hints that the Mystic World may have suffered a break in continuity after the catastrophe around the turn of the century.
• The Holy Son assigns a mission to capture the Gem Witch before sunset the following day, preferably along with her parents.
• Bai Zhou volunteers to supervise Envy, presenting the mission as a test of her loyalty. The Holy Son approves but assigns Lust to assist them.
• Greed warns that Senior Student Zhou—Bai Zhou’s own identity and a supposed ally of the Gem Witch—may interfere. The cult discusses Zhou as a dangerous enemy while Bai Zhou secretly joins in condemning himself.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhou, the Gem Witch, and Lust accepting the mission to capture the Gem Witch herself.

Character Developments

• The Gem Witch: Learns the full extent of the Holy Son’s plans and becomes increasingly alarmed about her parents. Despite her fear and confusion, she maintains her disguise and successfully acts like a newly recruited member of the Seven Sins.
• Bai Zhou/Senior Student Zhou: Demonstrates exceptional cunning by fabricating a convincing story, redirecting the cult’s anger toward another powerful enemy, and maneuvering himself into the capture mission. His injuries and performance reinforce his credibility.
• The Holy Son: Reveals himself as ruthless and highly controlling, valuing the Seven Sins far more than the expendable physicians. He is easily provoked by threats to his plans but remains confident in his ability to replace lost resources.
• Lust: Continues to appear flirtatious and unsettling, but is also portrayed as intelligent, capable, and politically important within the Seven Sins. He eagerly seeks the opportunity to pursue the Gem Witch.
• Greed and Wrath: Greed acts as a cautious informant by warning about Senior Student Zhou, while Wrath displays fear of confronting him.
• Fang Xiaoxia: Remains a silent observer and ally, sharing the Gem Witch’s disbelief at the absurdity of the situation.

Significant Themes

• Deception and manipulation: Bai Zhou turns a dangerous interrogation into an opportunity to manipulate the cult’s suspicions and redirect blame.
• Irony and mistaken identity: The Gem Witch is ordered to capture herself, while Bai Zhou helps condemn himself as Senior Student Zhou.
• Power and expendability: The Holy Son considers the Seven Sins indispensable but treats the Medical Association physicians as replaceable casualties.
• Propaganda and distorted truth: The cult portrays Senior Student Zhou as a villain despite his real identity being present among them, illustrating how easily fear and rumor reshape reality.
• Historical decline and lost knowledge: The explanation of the Trickster/Magician Path, along with references to the catastrophe at the turn of the century and the Previous Civilization, suggests that the modern Mystic World has lost knowledge and power.
• Family and protection: The Gem Witch’s concern for her parents gives the capture plot personal stakes beyond the cult’s larger schemes.

Important Character Interactions

• Bai Zhou and the Holy Son: Bai Zhou convincingly performs loyalty and weakness while subtly steering the Holy Son’s conclusions. The Holy Son rewards him with authority over the mission.
• Bai Zhou and the Gem Witch: They cooperate silently under extreme pressure. Bai Zhou’s injuries, fabricated testimony, and volunteered supervision create a path for both of them to leave the cult together.
• Bai Zhou and Lust: Bai Zhou is visibly uncomfortable with Lust’s involvement, recognizing him as a serious threat, though he accepts the arrangement to avoid suspicion.
• The Holy Son and the Seven Sins: The Holy Son commands their loyalty and unites them against the supposed white-haired King of Lustful Evils.
• The Gem Witch and Fang Xiaoxia: They exchange silent reactions as the cult members openly discuss and condemn Senior Student Zhou while he stands among them.
• Greed and the group: Greed’s warning about Senior Student Zhou increases the mission’s danger and convinces the Holy Son that Lust must accompany Bai Zhou and Envy.

Chapter Summary: “A Grand Firework Display—Anyone Want to See It Again?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Son introduces the Underground Labyrinth as the New Blood Worship Cult’s headquarters and explains that it combines features of the old Blood Worship Cult while excluding its unstable, eccentric members.
• He expresses contempt for the Five Elders, accusing them of lacking ambition, and reveals that they have already sent people to interfere with his plans. He intends to settle accounts with them soon.
• During this outburst, the Son suffers a violent physical episode. His body emits an overwhelming craving for blood, and masked doctors rush in to treat him. They activate the Needle Throne, forcing numerous thick needles into his body.
• The Son dismisses the Seven Sins, but he watches Bai Zhou leave with suspicion, clearly questioning how Bai Zhou survived and returned with the Gem Witch after the six supervising doctors were killed.
• Through their mental connection, Bai Zhou warns the Gem Witch not to react unnaturally. He explains that the Son’s suspicion is unavoidable but remains only suspicion for now.
• Bai Zhou concludes that they cannot remain undercover much longer. The Son’s plan will be completed in fewer than nine days, and the Blood Worship Cult is already preparing to target the Gem Witch, her family, and possibly her associates.
• Their investigation has uncovered the cult’s major secrets: the Seven Sins’ gathering, the awakening of the Supreme Bone, the Fantasyland Project, the Underground Labyrinth’s location, the countdown, and the Gem Witch’s role as a core part of the plan.
• Bai Zhou identifies three essential components of the Blood Worship Cult’s century-long scheme: the Fragrant Meat for the Fantasyland Project, the Holy Relic or Seven Sins Cells, and the Gem Witch. He and the Gem Witch together possess two of these crucial elements.
• Because Bai Zhou killed the six doctors controlling the Cells’ backdoors, the Son’s plan currently has a temporary weakness. Bai Zhou decides it is time to inform the Authorities and flee during their current mission.
• Before escaping, Bai Zhou proposes three objectives:
  1. Search the cult’s records for information about the previous cult leader.
  2. Use the Son’s remaining trust to intercept thousands of “Black Warriors,” who Bai Zhou suspects are actually valuable Sunlight Soldiers or Sun Knights inherited from Major Luo.
  3. Explore the Underground Labyrinth to learn its defenses and secretly determine whether he can plant explosives or other ritual arrangements.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhou recalling the spectacular fireworks displayed over Soaring Egret Mountain for Fang Xiaoxia’s birthday. He suggests recreating an even greater fireworks display inside the cult’s headquarters.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou remains calm, strategic, and opportunistic despite the danger. He recognizes that their undercover mission has achieved its purpose and immediately begins converting their discoveries into an escape and counterattack plan.
• The Son is shown to be physically unstable and dependent on disturbing medical treatment. His suffering reveals vulnerability beneath his authority, while his suspicion of Bai Zhou demonstrates his growing caution.
• The Gem Witch begins to understand that she—not Bai Zhou—is the true center of the catastrophe surrounding them. She realizes that her fate and her family’s connection to the Blood Worship Cult’s plans existed independently of Bai Zhou.
• The Gem Witch develops deeper trust and gratitude toward Bai Zhou, seeing him as a reassuring, heroic figure who refuses to abandon her. Bai Zhou deflects her sentimentality by insisting that they are simply allies.
• Fang Xiaoxia/Xiao Fang becomes visibly excited by Bai Zhou’s suggestion of recreating the famous fireworks, hinting at her enthusiasm for the coming operation.

Significant Themes

• Trust and suspicion: Bai Zhou must operate under the Son’s scrutiny while relying on the Gem Witch and maintaining the Seven Sins’ trust.
• The reversal of victimhood: The Gem Witch realizes that Bai Zhou did not drag her into trouble; she and her family were already central targets of the cult’s conspiracy.
• Turning danger into leverage: Rather than merely escaping, Bai Zhou uses the cult’s secrets, weapons, and internal weaknesses against it.
• The exposure of hidden powers: The Son’s physical collapse and need for grotesque medical intervention reveal that even the apparent mastermind is vulnerable.
• Preparation before rebellion: The protagonists’ discoveries have reached a point where secrecy is no longer enough. They must involve the Authorities and openly challenge the Blood Worship Cult.
• Fireworks as destruction and spectacle: The planned display symbolizes Bai Zhou’s blend of theatricality, rebellion, and calculated violence—an explosive declaration that the cult’s hidden world is about to be exposed.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou begins scouting the Underground Labyrinth under the pretext of inspecting the environment and planning the capture of the Gem Witch. He is accompanied by Envy, Fang Xiaoxia, Lust, and eventually the other Seven Sins.
• The Seven Sins’ intimidating appearances and supernatural presence frighten the labyrinth’s worker leaders into complete submission.
• While touring the labyrinth, Bai Zhou and Ya secretly study its magical infrastructure. They confirm that the Holy Son has filled the area with Magic Patterns, Rituals, surveillance systems, and defensive artifacts.
• Using the Celestial Pivot, Bai Zhou identifies crucial connections between the labyrinth’s rituals. He secretly plants nearly undetectable disruptions at key nodes. When activated later, these “loosened screws” will cause the labyrinth’s own spiritual systems to overload and explode, creating the planned “fireworks.”
• Bai Zhou’s strategy depends on three difficult conditions: identifying the ritual weak points, having permission to move freely through the labyrinth, and planting the disruptions without attracting attention. His status as a newly arrived leader of the Seven Sins gives him the necessary opportunity.
• After the tour, Bai Zhou gives the Gem Witch a subtle signal. She understands that the preparations are complete.
• Bai Zhou then visits the labyrinth’s archives with Envy and Fang Xiaoxia. The archives contain vast amounts of information copied from the original Blood Worship Cult, including secrets unknown even to many high-ranking members.
• While searching, Bai Zhou uncovers historical records about the Blood Worship Cult’s Seventy-Second Leader. The leader’s personality changed drastically around 1908, after which the cult declined. More than twenty years later, the leader mutated and became Patient Zero of Blood Thirst Syndrome, causing a devastating epidemic that further weakened the cult.
• Lust arrives with urgent intelligence about the Gem Witch. Authorities have identified a likely suspect: a recently graduated psychology student surnamed Yu who lives as a shut-in. Bai Zhou immediately suspects this is probably the Gem Witch herself.
• The suspect’s parents will dine at an upscale restaurant the following noon. Because the restaurant and the surrounding street are controlled by the Blood Worship Cult, the parents can be targeted while separated from the Gem Witch’s protection.
• Lust announces that the Seven Sins will launch their operation at noon, while also investigating a hidden secret connected to Pride. Bai Zhou recognizes that this mission will likely trigger the chapter’s major confrontation and draw the attention of all Tinghai.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou demonstrates exceptional strategic ability, ritual expertise, and nerve. He turns a casual inspection into a chance to sabotage the entire labyrinth and carefully exploits the authority granted by his role.
• He also shows his habit of exhaustive preparation, comparing himself to someone who “digs three feet deep” everywhere he goes. His success comes from anticipating opportunities and quietly preparing for them.
• Bai Zhou’s investigation into the cult’s history reveals that he is beginning to connect the Blood Worship Cult, Blood Thirst Syndrome, and the mysterious Seventy-Second Leader to larger hidden truths.
• The Gem Witch becomes more closely aligned with Bai Zhou’s plans. Her pleased reaction to his signal shows her trust and cooperation.
• Lust acts as both an investigator and an operational leader. She remains confident and flirtatious with Bai Zhou, but also delivers serious intelligence and coordinates the upcoming attack.
• Envy and Fang Xiaoxia function as Bai Zhou’s assistants in gathering information, reinforcing the growing cooperation among the undercover group.
• Gluttony provides comic relief through his constant hunger, casually eating a corpse’s leg and immediately demanding to know where the cafeteria is.
• The ordinary labyrinth leaders are characterized as intimidated and powerless before the Seven Sins, emphasizing the vast difference between the cult’s supernatural elites and its human workforce.

Significant Themes

• Preparation and opportunity: Bai Zhou’s success reflects the idea that opportunities favor those prepared to seize them. His hidden ritual sabotage appears effortless only because he has already developed the necessary knowledge and skills.
• Subversion from within: The heroes operate openly inside the enemy’s headquarters while secretly undermining it, turning the cult’s own systems and authority against itself.
• Power and fear: The Seven Sins’ presence instantly destroys the workers’ confidence, showing how appearance, reputation, and supernatural status create authority.
• Hidden history and corrupted institutions: The archives reveal that Tinghai’s history, the Blood Worship Cult, the Authorities, and major unsolved cases are deeply interconnected. Official narratives may be false or deliberately manipulated.
• Disease, mutation, and decline: The story of the Seventy-Second Leader and Blood Thirst Syndrome suggests that the cult’s historical downfall may be linked to supernatural illness, transformation, or loss of control.
• The approach of open conflict: The covert preparations are giving way to a public showdown. Bai Zhou expects the coming operation to become a major event witnessed by all of Tinghai.

Important Character Interactions

• Bai Zhou coordinates with Ya while examining the labyrinth’s ritual network, relying on her greater and mysterious expertise.
• The Seven Sins work together during the tour, while the worker leaders guide them under extreme pressure.
• Bai Zhou silently signals the Gem Witch as they pass each other, and she confirms that she understands the fireworks preparations are complete.
• Bai Zhou, Envy, and Fang Xiaoxia investigate the archives together, discovering information that changes their understanding of the cult’s past.
• Lust interrupts their research with news about the Gem Witch’s suspected identity and parents. Her flirtatious farewell contrasts with the seriousness of the planned attack.
• Through the Heart-to-Heart Connection Ritual, Bai Zhou privately tells the others that the next day’s mission will likely begin the final battle, with the Gem Witch’s parents unknowingly placed at the center of the coming chaos.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• After returning to his room, Bai Zhou and Teacher Ya analyze the strange behavior and death of the seventy-second Blood Worship Cult leader, who had been Patient Zero of Blood Thirst Syndrome.
• Bai Zhou compares historical records of successive cult leaders and notices a pattern: many disappeared, mutated, lost control, or became “rotten flesh,” leaving no intact bodies. He suspects their recorded causes of death were fabricated and that they may all have died from Blood Thirst Syndrome.
• Bai Zhou connects these deaths to the present Saint Son, who exhibits the same “Blood, blood, blood” symptoms and may have repeatedly “died” and returned. He theorizes that the Saint Son may be a single hidden figure who has controlled the Blood Worship Cult across multiple generations.
• Teacher Ya reminds him of the former Sloth, whose diary abruptly stopped after she underwent modification to become one of the Seven Sins. A hidden diary entry reveals that, since childhood, Sloth had heard a mysterious voice guiding her toward the Blood Worship Cult.
• Bai Zhou concludes that becoming Sloth may have allowed the hidden mastermind to partially possess or overwrite her identity. However, she retained enough of her own will to resist fully becoming him, avoid becoming cult leader, and ultimately sacrifice herself.
• Bai Zhou and Ya infer that the mastermind is weakening and growing desperate, explaining the increasingly short reigns of recent cult leaders and the Saint Son’s rushed plans.
• Ya reveals that the containment object known as [Legacy of Blood Thirst], which began Bai Zhou’s involvement in the Mystic World, is one-sixth of the flesh of Patient Zero. This links Bai Zhou’s past, the Blood Worship Cult, the Human Material Program, and the Saint Son.
• Bai Zhou realizes that fate has made him the Saint Son’s true nemesis rather than merely Major Luo’s enemy.
• The next morning, preparations begin for Bai Zhou’s group to travel on September 20, 2030.
• Lust tells Bai Zhou that the group will visit L’Ambroisie, the restaurant where the Gem Witch’s parents are meeting, while also opening Major Luo’s hidden armory nearby.
• The armory supposedly contains thousands of unfinished biological weapons, which Bai Zhou realizes could potentially be transformed into Sunlight Soldiers and Sun Knights. He immediately decides that claiming Major Luo’s inheritance is essentially a robbery operation.

2. Character Developments

• Bai Zhou becomes increasingly confident in reconstructing the Blood Worship Cult’s buried history. He moves from suspicion to a nearly complete theory about the Saint Son’s identity, illness, immortality, and influence over past cult leaders.
• He also recognizes how deeply his own origins are connected to the Saint Son, giving his conflict with the antagonist a personal and fated dimension.
• Teacher Ya acts as Bai Zhou’s analytical partner, supplying forgotten historical connections and helping him test his theories.
• The former Sloth is reinterpreted as a tragic figure who may have been partially possessed or modified by the hidden mastermind but retained enough independence to resist him.
• The Saint Son emerges as an increasingly desperate, weakening manipulator who may have survived through body replacement, corruption, or possession across generations.
• Lust remains flirtatious and provocative toward Bai Zhou, but also reveals important operational information and becomes serious when discussing the dangers of the coming mission.

3. Significant Themes

• Hidden truth beneath official history: The Blood Worship Cult’s records may have been deliberately altered, with inconvenient details erased or diluted over time.
• Identity and possession: Sloth’s transformation raises questions about whether a person remains themselves after modification or partial takeover.
• Decay and false death: Blood Thirst Syndrome, rotten flesh, and repeated deaths symbolize physical and spiritual corruption, while suggesting that death may not truly end the Saint Son’s existence.
• Fate and interconnectedness: Events separated by decades—including Bai Zhou’s childhood, Legacy of Blood Thirst, Major Luo’s legacy, and the Saint Son’s schemes—are revealed to be connected.
• The arrogance of conspirators: Those who attempt to manipulate history and challenge fate eventually suffer fate’s “counterattack.”
• Power and inheritance: Major Luo’s armory represents a potentially world-changing military resource, and Bai Zhou views taking it as both strategic necessity and deserved spoils.

4. Character Interactions

• Bai Zhou and Ya: They conduct the chapter’s central investigation together, with Ya prompting key memories and Bai Zhou building the larger theory.
• Bai Zhou and the former Sloth: Though Sloth is absent, Bai Zhou’s memories of her diary and sacrifices reshape his understanding of her past and motives.
• Bai Zhou and the Saint Son: Their connection becomes much more direct. Bai Zhou discovers that an artifact central to his life originated from the Saint Son’s history, making them fated enemies.
• Bai Zhou and Lust: Lust jokes, flirts, and implies romantic interest, while Bai Zhou ignores the innuendo and focuses on the information about the armory and their destination.
• Bai Zhou and Major Luo: Major Luo’s legacy becomes the target of Bai Zhou’s next mission, with Bai Zhou seeing himself as the rightful victor claiming the defeated opponent’s hidden resources.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou leaves breakfast with Lust and returns to his room to shower before the group’s planned noon departure. The ritual reminds him of a previous escape and prompts him to pray that the coming journey will go smoothly.
• While Bai Zhou is dressing, the Gem Witch contacts him and Fang Xiaoxia through the Heart-to-Heart Connection. After organizing the information she memorized with her Palace Memory Method, she reveals a major historical discovery:
  • During the reign of the Blood Worship Cult’s seventy-second leader, the cult reached its peak.
  • At the same time, the Seven Sins gathered an unusually powerful “Golden Generation.”
  • Those Seven Sins disappeared or died within a decade, and records of the period were mysteriously erased.
• Bai Zhou connects this missing history to the Holy Relic Institute and the Holy Relic. He theorizes that the Holy Relic was divided into seven parts and fused with Demon Cells to create that generation of Seven Sins.
• He concludes that the seventy-second leader likely sacrificed those Seven Sins in an attempt to reassemble the Holy Relic, but failed because it lacked flesh and blood. This failure caused the Blood Thirst Syndrome crisis.
• Bai Zhou further deduces that the Fantasyland Project and the production of Fragrant Meat were created to supply the missing flesh and blood. The Holy Son is now attempting to repeat the earlier ritual, having gathered enough Fragrant Meat and the Seven Sins’ components.
• The chapter reconstructs a century of Tinghai’s hidden history: the Holy Relic Institute declined after losing the Holy Relic, the Blood Worship Cult suffered repeated crises and leadership changes, and both organizations eventually fought a near-destructive final battle. The Holy Relic Institute vanished, while the Blood Worship Cult survived under the Five Elders.
• Although Bai Zhou still does not understand the ultimate purpose behind the ritual or the leader’s century-long obsession, he recognizes the group’s strategic advantage. The Holy Son needs the Gem Witch and the Holy Relic components carried by the infiltrators, making them essential targets.
• Bai Zhou decides to leave openly with the Blood Worship Cult’s people and vehicles, taking their most important assets while preparing to destroy their plans. He, the Gem Witch, Fang Xiaoxia, Envy, Lust, Fragrant Meat, and their armed followers depart in a luxury motorcade toward the coming battlefield.
• In a parallel scene, the Gem Witch’s elderly father, Old Yu, nervously leaves home on his decades-old bicycle with his wife. His destination appears to be the same as the motorcade’s, suggesting that he has made an important decision and may become involved in the confrontation.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou shifts from gathering clues to forming a coherent theory about the Blood Worship Cult, the Holy Relic, and the Golden Generation of the Seven Sins. His confidence grows as he realizes the enemy’s weakness and the importance of protecting the Gem Witch.
• He continues maintaining his Sloth persona publicly, acting calm and indolent while privately analyzing a century of conspiracies and preparing for battle.
• The Gem Witch demonstrates exceptional memory, organization, and psychological insight. Her discovery about the erased history of the Golden Generation proves crucial to understanding the Holy Son’s ritual.
• Fang Xiaoxia shows admiration for the Gem Witch’s abilities and remains involved in the investigation and planning.
• Old Yu is presented as anxious but resolute. His unusual journey implies a willingness to act despite his age and ordinary appearance.

Significant Themes

• Buried history and erased truth: The absence of records surrounding the Golden Generation suggests that historical silence can conceal the greatest crimes and conspiracies.
• Repetition and failed cycles: The Holy Son appears to be reenacting the seventy-second leader’s failed ritual, showing how unresolved obsessions can persist across generations.
• Sacrifice and exploitation: The Seven Sins, the Holy Relic, and Fragrant Meat are all treated as components in a larger plan, emphasizing the dehumanizing logic of the Blood Worship Cult.
• Knowledge as power: Bai Zhou’s growing understanding of the enemy transforms him from an infiltrator into someone capable of strategically opposing the Holy Son.
• Calm before catastrophe: The luxurious, peaceful motorcade contrasts sharply with the battle and possible citywide crisis ahead.
• Hidden identities and role reversal: Bai Zhou and his companions publicly appear as wealthy company directors while secretly carrying the Blood Worship Cult’s most vital resources and moving to destroy it from within.

Character Interactions

• Lust tries to persuade Bai Zhou to stay longer after breakfast, but Bai Zhou quickly escapes, preserving his Sloth-like detachment.
• The Gem Witch and Fang Xiaoxia exchange information through Bai Zhou’s mental channel. Fang Xiaoxia is impressed by the Gem Witch’s memory technique, while the Gem Witch explains its limitations and origins.
• Bai Zhou listens to the Gem Witch’s historical findings, then supplies the crucial interpretation connecting the Golden Generation, Demon Cells, the Holy Relic, and the Holy Son’s current plan.
• The group travels together in an extravagant convoy, with Lust and the Gem Witch beside Bai Zhou and Fang Xiaoxia and Envy accompanying them, while loyal cult personnel serve as guards.
• Old Yu’s unexplained departure creates a parallel connection to Bai Zhou’s journey, foreshadowing a convergence between the elderly couple and the approaching battlefield.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou travels in an extravagant convoy led by a long-wheelbase Rolls-Royce Ghost, accompanied by BMWs and Toyota Alphards. The display is intended to reinforce his fabricated identity as the arrogant heir of Little Yellow Rat Delivery Company.
• [Lust] explains the Blood Worship Cult’s preference for BMW and Rolls-Royce over Mercedes-Benz, revealing the childish rivalry between the Blood Worship Cult and the Authorities even in matters of luxury branding.
• Bai Zhou, Fang Xiaoxia, and the Gem Witch use magically prepared “human skin” disguises. Their identities are carefully constructed personas connected to Little Yellow Rat Delivery Company and the city’s elite.
• Bai Zhou’s cover identity is that of the chairman’s spoiled biological nephew and presumed heir. His role requires him to act wealthy, arrogant, extravagant, and constantly surrounded by attendants.
• The group heads toward the exclusive Michelin three-star restaurant L’Ambroisie, secretly controlled by the Holy Son’s forces. [Lust] taunts the Gem Witch about her former low social status and implies that she should be grateful to Bai Zhou and the cult.
• Fang Xiaoxia recognizes the restaurant from a humiliating incident in her past, when she accidentally entered the men’s restroom and encountered Bai Zhou. Bai Zhou realizes that her earlier visit may have been deliberately arranged as part of Luo Tunan’s “Caged Bird” plan to crush her confidence and isolate her.
• Before dining, the group detours to an abandoned well near the restaurant. The site contains a hidden armory and legacy left behind by [Pride], Luo Tunan.
• At the armory entrance, Bai Zhou begins considering whether to kill [Lust]. The Black Scepter in his possession urges him to seize [Lust]’s authority, potentially allowing Bai Zhou to control four of the Seven Sins and summon the Seven Sins Hall.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou: Continues adapting to his role as an arrogant young master, though his private reflections reveal that he may possess a hidden appetite for excitement and adventure despite claiming to desire a quiet life. He also recognizes the strategic danger and opportunity presented by [Lust]’s presence.
• Fang Xiaoxia: Her past humiliation at L’Ambroisie is revealed. She has grown dramatically since then, returning not as an insecure girl desperate for recognition but as a powerful supernatural participant disguised as an elite heiress.
• Gem Witch: Adjusts to her new identity and is irritated by [Lust]’s provocative comments. She suspects that [Lust] may be jealous of Bai Zhou’s relationship with her, adding an uncomfortable romantic tension.
• [Lust]: Displays extensive knowledge of luxury, status, and high society. His behavior toward the Gem Witch is deliberately antagonistic and possibly motivated by jealousy or personal interest in Bai Zhou.
• Luo Tunan/[Pride]: Though absent, his influence remains central. The hidden armory represents the remnants of his power and the continuation of his plans after his failed “Caged Bird” scheme.

Significant Themes

• False identities becoming reality: The disguises and fabricated biographies are so detailed that they have acquired genuine social credibility, emphasizing how power can manufacture reality.
• Class and social hierarchy: Luxury cars, elite restaurants, and exclusive treatment symbolize the invisible barriers between social classes. Wealth alone is shown to be superficial without supernatural forces backing it.
• Power beneath appearances: High society is portrayed as a stage controlled by hidden organizations. Public figures and companies conceal the influence of supernatural factions.
• Freedom versus confinement: Fang Xiaoxia’s past as a “caged bird” contrasts with her present transformation. Bai Zhou recognizes that both of them have escaped manipulation and gained the strength to choose their own paths.
• Luxury and identity: The Rolls-Royce’s silence and isolation become metaphors for class privilege—the wealthy can literally separate themselves from the outside world.
• Ambition and danger: Bai Zhou’s possible seizure of [Lust]’s authority suggests his growing willingness to challenge powerful enemies and pursue greater control.

Character Interactions

• [Lust] boasts about the Blood Worship Cult’s superiority over the Authorities and repeatedly needles the Gem Witch about her origins and debt to Bai Zhou.
• The Gem Witch interprets [Lust]’s behavior as possible jealousy and is annoyed that Bai Zhou’s presence may have created romantic complications.
• Fang Xiaoxia’s memories of L’Ambroisie connect her past humiliation with Bai Zhou, while Bai Zhou silently reconstructs how Luo Tunan may have manipulated that event.
• Bai Zhou lightly mocks [Lust] by asking whether he used to sell cars, undercutting [Lust]’s elaborate explanation of the Rolls-Royce.
• At the end of the chapter, Bai Zhou privately weighs his apparent alliance with [Lust] against the opportunity to kill him and claim another Seven Sins authority.

Chapter Summary: “The Real Ambush? Catch This Dart!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lust leads Bai Zhou, the Gem Witch, and Fang Xiaoxia into an ancient well, explaining that wells were often used to conceal relics and underground Safe Houses from the Authorities.
• Beneath the well, Lust activates a hidden mechanism by tapping the wall in a specific rhythm, revealing a dry, mechanically constructed passage.
• The group reaches a massive alloy door guarding an arsenal. Lust unlocks it with a mechanical Rubik’s Cube, while Bai Zhou is expected to use the Black Scepter to transport the dormant Black Warriors to Seven Sins Hall.
• The door opens to reveal thousands of Black Warriors—powerful biological weapons created through technology associated with Pride and the Holy Son.
• Instead of carrying out the plan, Bai Zhou, the Gem Witch, and Fang Xiaoxia surround Lust. Bai Zhou uses an old saying about wells, groups, and betrayal to hint that the team has been wary of one another all along.
• Bai Zhou launches a surprise attack with the Black Scepter. Lust narrowly avoids the first blow and realizes that Bai Zhou is responsible for killing the six Medical Association doctors connected to Paroxetine.
• Bai Zhou reveals his First Life Lifeforging-level power and battles Lust directly.
• The apparent attack is revealed to be a distraction: Bai Zhou had secretly placed a Sea Star creature on Lust’s neck. He activates it, causing it to transform into a spinning disc that tears through Lust’s neck in the chapter’s true ambush.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou reveals his long-term deception and willingness to betray the Seven Sins for his own objectives. He has been coveting the Black Warriors and intends to seize the arsenal rather than deliver it to the Holy Son.
• Lust demonstrates sharp instincts and combat ability by detecting that Bai Zhou’s behavior is suspicious and evading the initial strike. However, his confidence and focus on the arsenal leave him vulnerable to Bai Zhou’s hidden attack.
• The Gem Witch and Fang Xiaoxia silently side with Bai Zhou, positioning themselves to prevent Lust from escaping. Their cooperation shows that they have accepted Bai Zhou’s plan, at least temporarily.
• The Holy Son’s ambitions become clearer: he seeks the Black Warriors as an army and as a means of replacing the labor and military support lost by leaving the Blood Worship Cult’s foundation.
• Pride and Luo Tunan’s legacy are connected to the creation of the Black Warriors, making the arsenal a major strategic inheritance.

Significant Themes

• Betrayal and hidden agendas: Every member of the group is guarding against the others, and the apparent cooperative mission is revealed to be a contest over who will control the arsenal.
• Deception versus perception: Bai Zhou manipulates Lust’s attention through conversation and a deliberately obvious attack, concealing the true danger until it is too late.
• Power and exploitation: The Black Warriors represent the use of Extraordinary beings as tireless, disposable biological tools, contrasting living soldiers with weapons designed solely for obedience and labor.
• Inherited power and political ambition: Whoever controls the Black Warriors could dramatically alter the balance among the Holy Son, the Seven Sins, and other factions.
• The danger of overconfidence: Lust correctly senses that something is wrong but misjudges the form of the attack, allowing Bai Zhou’s secondary weapon to bypass his defenses.
• Folklore as tactical wisdom: Bai Zhou’s proverb about wells and groups becomes a metaphor for the group’s unstable alliance and the inevitability of conspiracy.

Character Interactions

• Lust acts as the knowledgeable guide and mechanism expert, while Bai Zhou outwardly plays the obedient subordinate and pretends to respect the Holy Son.
• Lust treats the Gem Witch as an outsider, but she does not respond with jealousy or hostility; instead, she quietly coordinates with Bai Zhou and Fang Xiaoxia.
• Bai Zhou and Lust engage in a verbal and physical battle of wits. Lust assumes Bai Zhou’s attack is the main threat, while Bai Zhou uses the confrontation to conceal the Sea Star’s presence.
• Lust’s anger and sense of betrayal intensify when he recognizes Bai Zhou as the killer of the Medical Association doctors.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhou asserting psychological and tactical dominance, turning the “sneak attack” into a deadly spinning-dart assault on Lust’s neck.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou attacks Lust with his Sea Star weapon, slicing through most of Lust’s neck. Lust survives by transforming his resentment and hatred into an invisible web that blocks the weapon.
• Lust reveals that love and hatred grant him extraordinary regenerative power. He then deliberately allows himself to “die,” causing his spiritual essence to wither completely.
• After his death, Lust resurrects in an ultimate form: he is reborn as a powerful, beautiful woman, with a crimson gown formed from the remains of a massive flowering tree. This transformation suggests that his strength comes from deeply developed Demon Cells rather than any conventional Extraordinary Path.
• Ya explains that Lust’s resurrection requires a severe price and that her peak form can only last temporarily. He advises Bai Zhou to evade Lust until her strength declines.
• Instead of retreating, Bai Zhou declares that, as the head of the Seven Sins, he will confront Lust directly.
• Lust unleashes her ultimate domain, the “Sea of Hatred, Sky of Love,” filling the battlefield with overwhelming emotional and spiritual power. The domain represents hatred below, love above, and the twisted human world of desire between them.
• Bai Zhou counters by revealing the Sinner’s Nail, a cursed weapon specifically created to destroy a King of Lustful Evils. The nail tears through Lust’s domain, her protective giant tree, and all other defenses.
• The Sinner’s Nail pierces Lust’s head and pins her body to the armory doors, killing her instantly.
• With Lust dead, Bai Zhou and his allies prepare to claim the spoils and enter the armory containing the Luo Legacy.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou demonstrates increasing confidence and authority. Rather than follow Ya’s cautious strategy, he chooses to confront Lust head-on, reinforcing his identity as the leader of the Seven Sins.
• Lust reveals the terrifying depth of her power. Her resurrection, gender transformation, emotional domain, and monstrous muscular form show that she is among the strongest beings in the Mystic World. However, her arrogance and reliance on her ultimate transformation leave her vulnerable to Bai Zhou’s specialized weapon.
• Ya acts as the battle’s analyst and strategist, correctly identifying the temporary nature and cost of Lust’s resurrection. His concern shifts to calm confidence once he realizes Bai Zhou has a decisive countermeasure.
• The Gem Witch and Fang Xiaoxia react with alarm and helplessness as Lust’s domain expands, highlighting the scale of the confrontation and their inability to intervene directly.
• Lust’s defeat marks a major shift in the balance of power among the Seven Sins and removes one of its most formidable members.

Significant Themes

• Love and hatred as supernatural forces: Lust’s power is rooted in the idea that love and hatred are among the strongest forces in existence, capable of producing miracles and resurrection.
• Death, rebirth, and transformation: Lust repeatedly crosses the boundary between life and death, changing from male to female and exchanging a withered body for a more powerful form.
• Specialized power versus overwhelming strength: Lust possesses immense raw power and a nearly unstoppable domain, but Bai Zhou’s Sinner’s Nail is specifically designed to counter her kind, demonstrating that the right weapon and preparation can overcome superior force.
• Confidence versus caution: Ya advocates patience and evasion, while Bai Zhou chooses direct confrontation. His victory validates his confidence and strategic preparation.
• Desire and monstrosity: Lust’s beautiful appearance contrasts with her grotesque mutations and violent nature, reflecting the chapter’s portrayal of desire as both alluring and horrifying.
• The cost of power: Lust’s ultimate form requires the destruction of her previous body and a massive expenditure of spiritual essence, foreshadowing the limitations behind seemingly absolute strength.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhou and Lust engage in a direct battle of abilities, with Lust attempting to overwhelm him through emotional manipulation and her Sea of Hatred, Sky of Love.
• Ya advises Bai Zhou and evaluates Lust’s powers, but Bai Zhou rejects his recommendation to retreat.
• The Gem Witch and Fang Xiaoxia warn Bai Zhou as Lust’s domain expands, showing their concern for him.
• Bai Zhou’s reveal of the Sinner’s Nail shocks both Lust and the observers, exposing that he possesses a weapon designed to counter the very nature of the Seven Sins.
• Bai Zhou ends the confrontation with a sardonic remark about Lust’s humiliating death, underscoring his composure and confidence.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou explains how he killed Lust, a Seven Sins officer whose strength rivaled that of a Second-Life Destiny Lifeforger. He reveals that the Sinner’s Nail, an ancient relic specifically designed to counter Kings of Lustful Evils, was uniquely effective against Lust.
• Lust’s death is confirmed: his corpse remains nailed to the Great Door, and his ability to regenerate is finally overcome.
• Bai Zhou extracts the Lust Cell from Lust’s lower abdomen. The Cell immediately attempts to escape through the void and return to the Seven Sins Hall.
• Bai Zhou discovers that every Seven Sins Cell contains a built-in “backdoor” that automatically recalls it to the Seven Sins Hall when its host dies. This ensures the Hall can preserve and eventually replace its Seven Sins.
• After defeating Lust, Bai Zhou gains the fourth authority needed to reinforce the Black Scepter’s suppression. However, even with all four authorities, he can only delay the Lust Cell’s escape rather than destroy or permanently contain it.
• Bai Zhou and the Gem Witch accept that the Lust Cell’s eventual return will alert the Holy Son that Lust has been killed. They decide to proceed quickly with their larger mission before the Holy Son can react.
• Turning to the Armory, Bai Zhou finds thousands of dormant Black Warriors arranged in military formations. He uses a crimson fingernail linked to a powerful Holy Relic and performs a ritual to awaken and transform them.
• The ritual creates the Sunflame Guards, or Solar Legion: golden flames spread through the Armory, covering the Black Warriors in golden armor and awakening them as a vast army.
• The chapter ends with the thousands of Black Warriors turning toward Bai Zhou and bowing in recognition, honoring him as their King.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou demonstrates exceptional power, preparation, and decisiveness. His victory over Lust reinforces his status as the leader of the Seven Sins, but he also recognizes the limits of his authority and the danger posed by the Demon Cells.
• He displays growing strategic maturity: rather than being paralyzed by the inevitable exposure of Lust’s death, he immediately prioritizes completing the Armory operation before the Holy Son can intervene.
• Bai Zhou’s interest in the Demon Cells reveals his desire to understand and potentially exploit their extraordinary abilities, including regeneration, contamination, defensive transformation, and amplification through love and hatred.
• The Gem Witch remains shocked by Bai Zhou’s seemingly endless supply of trump cards. She also acts protectively toward Fang Xiaoxia and provides a more emotional and humorous counterpoint to Bai Zhou’s calm, clinical attitude.
• The Gem Witch and Bai Zhou openly discuss the risks of the Lust Cell escaping, showing their increasing cooperation and mutual trust.
• Lust, though dead, remains influential through his Demon Cell and the systems built into it. His death becomes the mechanism that may expose Bai Zhou’s betrayal to the Holy Son.

Significant Themes

• Power and preparation: Bai Zhou’s victory depends not only on strength but on possessing the exact relic needed to counter Lust’s unique nature.
• The limits of authority: Even after gaining all four major authorities, Bai Zhou cannot fully control the Lust Cell. Authority over a domain does not equal mastery over the deeper, altered essence of a Demon Cell.
• Control and hidden systems: The Demon Cells’ automatic return mechanism reveals the Blood Worship Cult’s long-term planning and the Holy Son’s effort to preserve control over the Seven Sins.
• Risk and inevitability: Killing Lust was necessary, but it inevitably exposes Bai Zhou’s actions. The characters accept that some consequences cannot be avoided and focus instead on acting before their enemies respond.
• Transformation and inheritance: Lust’s corpse gives rise to a struggle over the Lust Cell, while Bai Zhou’s ritual transforms the Black Warriors into a new force under his authority.
• Kingship and allegiance: The final awakening presents Bai Zhou not merely as a commander but as a king whose banner summons an army to recognize and serve him.

Character Interactions

• The Gem Witch questions Bai Zhou about his unbelievable number of hidden techniques, while he dismisses the killing of Lust as partly a matter of favorable circumstances.
• Their conversation about Lust’s tattoo creates a brief moment of awkward humor, with the Gem Witch teasing Bai Zhou about possibly becoming Lust’s “master,” though Bai Zhou innocently misunderstands the implication.
• Bai Zhou and the Gem Witch cooperate closely in analyzing the Lust Cell’s escape and the threat of the Seven Sins Hall.
• Bai Zhou takes command of the crisis, explaining the danger and deciding that their only option is to delay the Cell while completing their objective.
• The chapter concludes by shifting the relationship between Bai Zhou and the Black Warriors: previously dormant weapons, they awaken beneath his ritual banner and collectively acknowledge him as their King.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou activates the Golden Flame within the armory, transforming the remaining Black Warriors into a superior force.
• Nearly half of the original warriors are destroyed or consumed during the refinement process, leaving 1,381 Sunlight Soldiers.
• The surviving soldiers gain dark-golden armor, enhanced bodies, powerful weapons, and coordinated combat abilities. Their strength ranges from Level 3 Extraordinary to Level 6 Sealed Extraordinary.
• Nearly twenty of the strongest warriors evolve into Sun Knights, towering armored cavalry mounted on enormous fiery red warhorses. The strongest may rival Three-Life Lifeforgers.
• Bai Zhou realizes that the army is powerful enough to challenge the major factions of Tinghai and potentially establish him as a third regional power.
• The Gem Witch is shocked by Bai Zhou’s transformation of the Black Warriors and questions whether he intends to become a warlord or create his own faction.
• Ya compares Bai Zhou and his army to legendary protagonists who inherit an ancient force capable of ruling the world. She explains the myth of the Shadow Kingdom, an unseen realm containing an immortal queen, powerful knights, and an infinite Shadow Legion.
• Ya encourages Bai Zhou to leave Tinghai after dealing with the Holy Son and travel to Tianjing, implying that his ambitions and potential now exceed the limits of Tinghai.
• Bai Zhou retrieves the Sinner’s Nail after it drains Lust’s corpse. The nail suddenly rusts and exposes Bai Zhou to horrifying visions and forbidden information.
• He learns that becoming the nail’s successor also means inheriting its ancient grudges and karmic consequences.
• An ancient entity marks Bai Zhou with a supernatural beacon. A warning tells him to avoid mountains, rivers, and deep forest swamps—the territory ruled by the mysterious being.
• Bai Zhou’s destiny is stimulated, granting him a new instinct: “Mark of the Eight-Headed Ancient Demon.”

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou evolves from inheritor of the Black Warrior Army into the commander of the far more powerful Golden Legion. His confidence and sense of possibility grow as he recognizes that he now possesses force comparable to the leading powers of the region.
• He begins considering larger political ambitions, though he internally rejects the idea that he is an ambitious warlord.
• Bai Zhou also becomes tied more deeply to ancient supernatural forces through the Sinner’s Nail, gaining power but accepting dangerous inherited karma.
• The Gem Witch becomes increasingly astonished—and somewhat suspicious or impressed—by Bai Zhou’s hidden capabilities. Her teasing labels him a “warlord,” “schemer,” and “tyrant,” while her hesitant behavior suggests personal interest.
• Ya demonstrates her knowledge of shadow-related legends and recognizes Bai Zhou’s potential. She openly supports accompanying him to Tianjing, strengthening her connection to him and positioning herself as an ally in his future ambitions.
• Lust is reduced to a completely drained corpse after the Sinner’s Nail finishes consuming him.

Significant Themes

• Power through refinement: The Golden Flame does not merely increase numbers; it eliminates weakness and transforms the survivors into a more disciplined and devastating force.
• The birth of a faction: Bai Zhou’s army gives him the foundation to challenge existing authorities and become an independent political power.
• Myth becoming reality: The imagery of ancient armies, legendary heroes, and the Shadow Kingdom blurs the line between myth and the modern world.
• Power and responsibility: Bai Zhou gains immense military strength, but his new status as the Sinner’s Nail’s successor brings inherited danger, curses, and obligations.
• Destiny and forbidden knowledge: Contact with the ancient entity grants Bai Zhou a new instinct while simultaneously placing a terrifying mark upon him.
• Expansion beyond familiar boundaries: Tinghai is portrayed as too small for Bai Zhou’s growing ambitions, setting up a move toward Tianjing and a broader stage.

Character Interactions

• The Gem Witch confronts Bai Zhou about concealing his ability to transform the Black Warriors and asks whether he intends to form a faction.
• Ya provides historical and mythological context for Bai Zhou’s army, comparing him to legendary rulers and warning that his current path resembles those of world-changing protagonists.
• Ya urges Bai Zhou to go to Tianjing and declares that she will accompany him, while Bai Zhou privately accepts her presence.
• Bai Zhou interacts directly with the Sinner’s Nail, reclaiming it after Lust’s death and unknowingly triggering contact with the ancient Eight-Headed Demon.
• The newly transformed legion silently acknowledges Bai Zhou as its commander, emphasizing his newfound authority as their “King.”

Chapter Summary: “Set Off, We’re Going to Pick Someone Up!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhou discovers the true identity of the entity connected to the [Sinner’s Nail]: the terrifying [Eight-Headed Ancient Demon], an ancient King of Lustful Evils from Estuary Swamp.
• The [Sinner’s Nail] is revealed to be a taboo weapon created from the remains, hatred, knowledge, and memories of an ancient Destiny Hunter who sacrificed everything to oppose the Eight-Headed Ancient Demon. Although the weapon is exceptionally effective against Kings of Lustful Evils, its original target was never destroyed.
• After using the nail against [Lust], Bai Zhou gains the instinct [Mark of the Eight-Headed Ancient Demon]. The mark grants him:
  • Suppression over swamp creatures
  • Immunity to low-level swamp toxins
  • Increased resistance to powerful toxins
• However, the mark also carries a danger: entering remote mountains, rivers, forests, or muddy swamps may expose Bai Zhou to the Ancient Demon’s influence and possible curses.
• Ya explains that modern cities are mystically isolated from one another by vast mists and the barriers of the Reflection Ruins Realm. Ordinary people overlook this reality because of supernatural guidance, while the Wilderness between cities remains extremely dangerous.
• Bai Zhou realizes that the mark’s negative effects are limited as long as he remains within civilization or city outskirts. Fully removing the mark may eventually require him to confront and kill the Eight-Headed Ancient Demon in Estuary Swamp.
• Bai Zhou destroys Lust’s corpse, leaves behind a protective Ritual, and stores the [Sinner’s Nail] in his chest.
• He orders the newly transformed Sunlight Legion to remain hidden underground. The obedient army excavates a tunnel, removes all traces of its passage, and relocates itself like a dormant force awaiting his summons.
• Returning to the surface with Ya and Fang Xiaoxia, Bai Zhou deceives the Blood Worship Cultists into believing that Lust remains underground as a guard. He announces that the Authorities may be monitoring them and that internal problems exist within the cult.
• Bai Zhou orders complete radio silence and leads everyone back to the luxury Rolls-Royce convoy.
• Meanwhile, Old Yu and Liu Guilan arrive by bicycle at the upscale restaurant L#039Amb, apparently for a meeting involving their daughter, Xiao Yu. They are approached by a wealthy young man whose polite demeanor masks clear condescension toward them. He pointedly asks where Xiao Yu is.
• Bai Zhou then directs the convoy to L#039Amb, declaring that they are going there to “pick someone up,” creating a parallel between his mission and the tense meeting involving Xiao Yu.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhou becomes more confident and calculating after acquiring the Ancient Demon’s mark. Rather than fearing the future consequences, he accepts the benefits and postpones dealing with the danger, treating the situation as a problem for a later, stronger version of himself.
• He also demonstrates growing authority as a leader. He commands the Sunlight Legion efficiently, manages the Blood Worship Cultists through controlled misinformation, and imposes strict security measures.
• Ya acts as Bai Zhou’s knowledgeable adviser. She identifies the risks of the mark, explains the mystical structure of the modern world, and reassures him that the Ancient Demon cannot easily affect him across the isolated cities.
• Fang Xiaoxia remains quiet and obedient within Bai Zhou’s group, while the Gem Witch appears unusually restless, hinting that she may be reacting to the surrounding situation.
• The Sunlight Legion is established as an absolutely loyal and highly efficient military force. Its transformation from dormant army to hidden strategic asset greatly increases Bai Zhou’s power.
• Old Yu and Liu Guilan appear unusually nervous and socially uncomfortable at L#039Amb, suggesting that the meeting may involve family pressure, class disparity, or concern over Xiao Yu’s circumstances.
• The unnamed suited young man is presented as outwardly courteous but inwardly arrogant, using wealth and status to dominate his interaction with Xiao Yu’s parents.

Significant Themes

• Power and hidden consequences: Bai Zhou gains major advantages from the Ancient Demon’s mark, but every benefit is tied to a future obligation and danger.
• Deferred responsibility: Bai Zhou knowingly postpones confronting the Ancient Demon, reflecting his pragmatic willingness to enjoy immediate gains while leaving distant threats unresolved.
• Mystical isolation and concealed reality: The chapter expands the worldbuilding surrounding the mist between cities, the Reflection Ruins Realm, and the supernatural forces that keep ordinary people unaware of the true world.
• Loyalty and command: The Sunlight Legion’s absolute obedience contrasts with the uncertain loyalty within the Blood Worship Cult, emphasizing the value of dependable power.
• Appearance versus reality: Modern civilization appears connected through trains, technology, and global brands, while mystically the cities are isolated. Likewise, the suited man appears polite but reveals contempt through his behavior.
• Class and social tension: The contrast between the wealthy young man’s BMW and Rolex and the elderly couple’s bicycle highlights social inequality and foreshadows conflict involving Xiao Yu.
• Foreshadowing: The hidden legion, Bai Zhou’s mark, the possible instability within the cult, and the meeting at L#039Amb all suggest that larger confrontations are approaching.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhou and Ya discuss the identity and consequences of the Eight-Headed Ancient Demon. Ya examines Bai Zhou’s mark and provides practical guidance about its limitations.
• Bai Zhou assumes command over the Sunlight Legion, directing it to relocate underground and remain concealed.
• Bai Zhou manipulates the Blood Worship Cultists by claiming that Lust is still alive and stationed below, while warning them about surveillance and internal betrayal.
• Old Yu and Liu Guilan’s nervous interaction with the wealthy young man establishes an uncomfortable power imbalance. His polished manners and subtle contempt make the meeting feel threatening despite its surface politeness.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhou’s convoy heading toward the same restaurant, strongly implying that his arrival will intersect with the young man’s meeting and Xiao Yu’s situation.

Chapter Summary

This chapter is primarily an author’s note rather than a narrative installment.

• Key events: The author explains that the chapter has reached approximately 5,000 words but is not yet ready for publication because its ending feels too abrupt. The section focuses on Bai Zhou’s first meeting with Gem Witch’s parents, and the author intends to continue writing through Bai Zhou’s impressive entrance before posting the completed chapter.
• Character developments: No new in-story developments occur in the excerpt. The author hints that Bai Zhou will have an opportunity to display his abilities or charisma during the meeting.
• Themes: The note emphasizes careful pacing, completing important setup, and building toward major climaxes. The author states that the groundwork has finally been completed and that most remaining chapters will contain significant high points.
• Character interactions: The anticipated central interaction is between Bai Zhou and Gem Witch’s parents, with Bai Zhou’s “dazzling entrance” expected to shape the scene.
• Additional remarks: The author asks readers to wait until the next day, promotes the original reading platform, and says they will continue working overnight.

Chapter Summary: Old Yu and His Wife’s Dead End; The Entrance of a Noble Young Master Exuding Wealth

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Old Yu and Liu Guilan are invited to the luxurious three-Michelin-star restaurant L’Ambroisie by Liu, the wealthy son of Old Yu’s former factory director.
• Liu uses the extravagant setting, designer clothing, expensive watch, and lavish food to impress the couple and make them feel honored. He claims that dining there demonstrates business strength and trust.
• Liu reveals that he wants to pursue Xiao Yu, whom he remembers from childhood. He presents himself as successful, wealthy, and ready to “settle down,” asking Old Yu and Liu Guilan to persuade their daughter to meet him.
• Old Yu cautiously refuses to decide for Xiao Yu, insisting that their daughter’s opinion matters.
• Liu then reveals that he knows Old Yu has cancer and offers him an expensive-looking bank card, implying that the money can pay for treatment if Xiao Yu agrees to be with him.
• Outraged, Old Yu rejects the money and refuses to “sell” his daughter. In the restroom, Liu Guilan discovers for the first time that Old Yu’s cancer is terminal and that he may have only six months to live.
• Liu Guilan struggles with the possibility that Xiao Yu may need to sacrifice her independence to save her father, while Old Yu firmly believes Liu has ulterior motives.
• When they return to the dining area, they overhear Liu speaking affectionately to another woman. He boasts that he arranged someone’s early retirement to create a job for her relative and refers to Old Yu’s family as “poor relatives” he intends to get rid of.
• Liu Guilan throws red wine in Liu’s face and angrily condemns his hypocrisy, infidelity, and manipulation. Liu reveals his true arrogance, arguing that wealthy men are entitled to multiple women and claiming that Xiao Yu would be better off as his lover or mistress than living a poor but ordinary life.
• He threatens to interfere with Old Yu’s pension and medical insurance, using his influence to intimidate the family.
• Old Yu refuses to yield and leaves with Liu Guilan, declaring that Liu cannot control him.
• Just afterward, a convoy of luxury cars and intimidating bodyguards arrives at the restaurant. The venue is cleared for an important guest.
• Liu, who continues eating despite being humiliated, is forcibly removed from his table when the restaurant is reserved for the incoming guest.
• The mysterious guest is revealed to be Bai Zhou, a very wealthy and noble young man accompanied by bodyguards and a beautiful woman who appears strangely familiar to Old Yu and Liu Guilan.
• Bai Zhou approaches the couple warmly, pretending—or perhaps sincerely acting—as though they came to welcome him. He enthusiastically greets them and declares that he has finally found them.

2. Character Developments

• Old Yu: Initially tries to maintain dignity in the unfamiliar luxury restaurant, but his pride and moral conviction emerge when Liu attempts to trade medical assistance for Xiao Yu’s future. He reveals himself as stubborn but principled, refusing to compromise his daughter even while facing terminal illness.
• Liu Guilan: Begins hopeful that Liu may be a suitable match for Xiao Yu because of his wealth, status, and familiarity with the family. After learning about Old Yu’s cancer, she becomes torn between protecting her husband and preserving her daughter’s happiness. Liu’s overheard phone call destroys her remaining trust, transforming her grief into fierce anger.
• Young Master Liu: Presents himself as polished, successful, generous, and sincere, but his façade gradually collapses. He is exposed as a womanizer, opportunist, manipulator, and bully who uses money and institutional influence to control others. Despite his grand claims about wealth and power, he becomes helpless when Bai Zhou’s even greater influence forces him out.
• Bai Zhou: Makes a dramatic entrance as an extremely wealthy and influential young man. Unlike Liu, he publicly rejects excessive special treatment and speaks warmly to Old Yu and Liu Guilan. His motives and relationship to the family remain mysterious, but his arrival immediately shifts the power balance.
• Xiao Yu: Does not appear directly, but her characterization is developed through her parents’ discussion. She is portrayed as intelligent, psychologically educated, independent, and currently withdrawn from society. Both parents regard her as their pride, though Liu Guilan worries about her isolation and uncertain future.
• Old Yu and Liu Guilan’s marriage: Their relationship deepens through shared fear and conflict. Liu Guilan is initially unaware of Old Yu’s illness, but the crisis exposes their mutual love, anxiety, and disagreement over whether survival might justify compromise.

3. Significant Themes

• Money versus dignity: The chapter contrasts Old Yu’s modest but principled life with Liu’s belief that wealth grants unlimited rights. Old Yu rejects the idea that money can purchase his daughter or his self-respect.
• Poverty and medical injustice: Old Yu’s illness highlights how lack of money can make treatment effectively unavailable. The chapter suggests that poverty, rather than disease alone, often determines who survives.
• Class and social power: The luxurious restaurant becomes a stage where characters perform status. Liu uses wealth to intimidate the couple, but Bai Zhou’s even greater wealth demonstrates how social hierarchy can instantly reverse.
• Manipulation disguised as generosity: Liu frames his coercion as kindness and family assistance, but his bank card is effectively a bribe. His “help” is conditional and designed to exploit Old Yu’s vulnerability.
• Parental love and sacrifice: Old Yu and Liu Guilan both want to protect Xiao Yu, but they disagree about whether accepting help could secure her father’s life. The chapter examines the painful limits of parental sacrifice.
• Appearances versus reality: Liu’s polished clothing, refined manners, and restaurant etiquette conceal corruption and promiscuity. His carefully constructed image collapses when his private phone conversation is exposed.
• The corrupting nature of power: Liu openly claims that wealth allows people to bypass morality and law. His threats reveal how influence can be used to control pensions, employment, healthcare, and personal relationships.

4. Character Interactions

• Old Yu and Liu: Their conversation begins politely but becomes a confrontation over Xiao Yu’s future. Liu attempts to charm, bribe, and finally threaten Old Yu; Old Yu responds with anger and defiance.
• Liu Guilan and Old Yu: In the restroom, Liu Guilan confronts Old Yu about concealing his cancer. Their argument reveals her terror and her practical concerns, while Old Yu insists that their daughter must not be sacrificed.
• Liu Guilan and Liu: After overhearing his phone call, Liu Guilan directly attacks Liu’s morality and throws wine in his face. This is the moment his false image of generosity is publicly destroyed.
• Old Yu and Liu Guilan versus Liu: The couple leaves together despite Liu’s threats, reaffirming their shared refusal to accept his conditions.
• Bai Zhou and Old Yu and Liu Guilan: Bai Zhou’s arrival creates an abrupt contrast with Liu. He approaches the couple with warmth and familiarity, suggesting a prior connection or an important hidden relationship. His greeting ends the chapter on a cliffhanger.
• Bai Zhou and the familiar beauty: The woman accompanying Bai Zhou watches Old Yu and Liu Guilan with complicated emotions, implying that she may be connected to Xiao Yu or the family in a way they do not yet understand.