Recaps

Fu Qian met with a Siren Group demigod, who questioned him about his work and the Ji Clan before ordering him back into the exploration. The chapter left Fu Qian at the edge of a vast, foul-smelling swamp with Gerard and the Siren Group.

• Gerard brought Fu Qian to the Siren Group base and escorted him to meet a blue-haired demigod.
• Fu Qian refused to remove his mask and explained that the Siren Group's offer was not worth the risks compared with other opportunities.
• Fu Qian told the demigod that Ji Yicheng knew about the mirror and the feather, leading the demigod to suspect a Ji Clan mole in the Siren Group.
• The demigod offered Fu Qian new terms and said he would join the next exploration, while Gerard took him directly to the swamp.
• Fu Qian surveyed the swamp's strange-colored pools and bloody stench.

Fu Qian traveled with Gerard’s group through the dangerous swamp to an underground ruin, where they met the Siren team waiting at its entrance. There, Fu Qian recognized Elina, who had changed since their last encounter.

• Gerard urged Fu Qian to hurry to the underground ruins, and Fu Qian joined his group as they crossed the swamp on foot.
• Gary spotted a swelling mound and led the group away, but its eruption showered Gary with blood that burned and began to decay his scalp.
• After enduring two more eruptions, Gerard’s group reached a dry pit and entered a passage lined with petrified roots.
• Fu Qian descended through the passage and passed an open Stone Door into a man-made underground ruin.
• Fu Qian spotted Elina among the people resting at the ruin’s entrance and noticed that she seemed more subdued than before.

Fu Qian joined the Siren Group’s exploration of the underground ruins under Sybill’s watch. After crossing a hall with a massive mirror that altered his perception and left him feeling unusually serene, he was assigned to explore with Elina and the others.

• Sybill accepted Fu Qian into the operation and warned that she would kill him if he acted suspiciously.
• Sybill led the group into a hall containing a huge mirror and a pile of gray-white feathers, warning everyone not to look at the mirror or touch the feathers.
• Fu Qian saw his reflection in the mirror as a shifting arrangement of bones and flesh and felt a sudden sense of peace as he crossed the hall.
• After the group reached the passages beyond the hall, Sybill divided them into teams and assigned Fu Qian to explore with Elina and the others.
• Fu Qian noticed that Sybill had become unexpectedly polite and serene when she spoke to him.

Fu Qian, Elina, and a man in a black coat explored a passage in the ruins, where radiant pillars filled them with an overwhelming sense of holiness. Fu Qian resisted the effect by shooting at one of the lights, which detached from its pillar and flew away.

• Fu Qian suspected that looking in a mirror had caused the explorers' strange calm, and he followed Elina and the man in the black coat into their assigned passage.
• The team found a sealed door, and Fu Qian helped the man in the black coat push it open.
• Inside a rectangular hall, lights atop rows of pillars shone brilliantly and drew Elina and the man in the black coat toward them.
• Fu Qian fought the lights' influence and fired his revolver at the nearest pillar, causing its light to fly through the air.

Fu Qian, Elina, and Brother Coat fought a swarm of glowing bugs in the hall, but Elina’s unstable powers caused an explosion that left her unconscious and Brother Coat badly injured. As Brother Coat suggested retreating with a bug corpse, Fu Qian picked up a grayish feather instead.

• Fu Qian shot down a glowing bug, revealing that the lights moving around the pillars were spiked insects.
• Brother Coat pierced an incoming bug with his extending spear while Elina attacked the swarm with arrows of black mist.
• Elina’s arrows suddenly exploded, and Fu Qian kicked her clear before her black mist detonated and wiped out the swarm.
• Fu Qian shot the last surviving bug, then covered the unconscious, nearly out-of-control Elina with his trench coat.
• Brother Coat suggested they retreat and take a bug corpse back, but Fu Qian picked up a grayish feather instead.

Fu Qian found that gray feathers were growing from Brother Coat’s face in the underground ruin, then returned to Sybill with news of Elina and the others. After Kelson joined the rescue party, they went back to the pillar hall, where Fu Qian noticed that the sensation of his mind being purified had stopped.

• Fu Qian saw a gray feather grow out of Brother Coat’s face and picked it up before returning to the mirror hall.
• Sybill questioned Fu Qian about what he had found, and he explained that Elina and the others were alive but unable to move easily.
• Kelson arrived and questioned how Fu Qian had escaped, but calmly accepted Fu Qian’s explanation and reloaded pistol.
• Sybill, Kelson, and the others followed Fu Qian back to the pillar hall, where Elina had awakened and Brother Coat remained in place.
• Fu Qian realized that the feeling of his mind being purified had disappeared during the trip back.

Fu Qian and the others found Elina and Brother Coat alive but badly affected by the mirror, then searched the chamber for clues. Kelson’s destructive test uncovered nothing beyond the bugs, and the group prepared to collect their remains when a distant scream interrupted them.

• Sybill checked on Brother Coat and Elina, while Fu Qian noted that Elina’s mind seemed almost emptied by the mirror.
• Kelson examined the bug corpses and pillars, then unleashed a lightning strike that Sybill stopped with an invisible barrier.
• The lightning destroyed the pillar, but Kelson and Sybill concluded that the chamber held nothing else and planned to have specialists examine the bugs.
• A shrill cry sounded from far away as Sybill and Kelson discussed collecting the bug corpses.

Kelson, Sybill, and Fu Qian investigated a hidden chamber where three members of their team had died after growing feathers, then Kelson ordered the others to retreat and kept Fu Qian with them. After finding nothing in the pool, Kelson demanded that Sybill reveal how much of the ruins remained unexplored, and his threat left their standoff unresolved.

• Kelson and Sybill followed a dying scream to a sunken pool, where they found one dead teammate covered in feathers and two more bodies floating in the liquid.
• Kelson unleashed lightning across the pool, but nothing emerged from the dark liquid.
• Kelson ordered the team to retreat to the ruins' entrance and assigned Fu Qian to keep exploring with him and Sybill because he did not trust Fu Qian.
• After their search of the pool yielded nothing, Kelson asked Sybill how much of the ruins remained unexplored.
• Sybill said she could not know without exploring, and Kelson replied with murderous intent that she knew because he wanted to know.

Fu Qian watched Sybill and Kelson fall into a volatile state and fight until a rising beam revealed a hidden passage. After they returned to calm, Sybill warned that the place affected their emotions, and Kelson told her to go first.

• Sybill rebuked Kelson for his destructive actions, and Kelson attacked her with lightning as she summoned foul water serpents.
• Sybill's serpents wounded Kelson, but Kelson broke free, seized her by the throat, and she surrendered in fear.
• A huge beam rose from the pool, distracting Kelson and revealing a concealed passage high in the wall.
• Sybill returned to her calm demeanor and explained that the place switched them between emotional states, nearly causing them to kill each other.
• Kelson agreed with Sybill's warning, then pointed toward the passage and told her to go first.

Kelson, Sybill, and Fu Qian explored a hidden room in the ruins and found a chained, mummified woman with what appeared to be wings. As Sybill considered whether the winged woman had been imprisoned for her unusual body, Fu Qian suddenly shot her.

• Kelson ordered Sybill and Fu Qian to follow him across the beam to a concealed passage and a distinctive metal door.
• Sybill opened the door, and Kelson sent Fu Qian inside first to investigate the room.
• Fu Qian uncovered a mummified woman who was chained in a kneeling position, and Kelson noticed that she had four limbs resembling arms.
• Fu Qian suggested that the extra limbs were wings and that the woman may have been imprisoned for her unusual features.
• Sybill connected the wings to the feathers found throughout the ruins, and Fu Qian pulled the trigger.

Fu Qian used the Eternal Clarity of Thought bell to suppress Sybill and Kelson’s abilities, then attacked Kelson to draw out whoever had been protecting them. When the Angel Corpse intervened and a hidden figure fled through the black doorway, Fu Qian pursued the fugitive.

• Fu Qian shot Sybill, then rang the bell to suppress the demigods’ supernatural abilities.
• Fu Qian shot Kelson twice as he tried to flee, but the Angel Corpse blocked his third shot.
• The Angel Corpse fired a beam of sacred light, forcing Fu Qian to dodge instead of crushing Kelson.
• Fu Qian spotted a semitransparent figure fleeing from the black doorway and chased it.
• Fu Qian realized that the Angel Corpse’s repeated interventions had confirmed someone was protecting Kelson and Sybill.

Fu Qian tracked the hidden spirit that had repeatedly rescued Kelson and fought it in the passage. After it transformed into a winged, decayed creature and claimed Fu Qian had run out of bullets, he struck it with an invisible blast from his fingertip.

• Fu Qian realized a hidden figure had rescued Kelson twice and chased the milky-white spirit clinging to the entrance.
• Fu Qian struck the spirit with his thorn-covered whip and fired at it, but it healed and blasted him off a crossbeam.
• Fu Qian used tendrils to pull himself back in front of the spirit and demanded to know what it was doing there.
• Kelson unleashed a surge of lightning from the hidden room as his powers returned, and the spirit grew into a huge, winged, decayed creature.
• The creature told Fu Qian he was out of bullets, but Fu Qian pulled the trigger anyway and destroyed its head with an invisible blast.

Fu Qian escaped the headless angel’s feather attack and left before Kelson could reach him. At the giant mirror, he suspected the Angel Dungeon’s permanent existence was an abnormality, and connected the angel’s vision to Ji Yicheng’s Gray Descent.

• Fu Qian shot the angel’s head off, then discovered that touching its feathers reduced his Sanity Value.
• Fu Qian avoided the feathers as the headless angel crumbled into ash and vanished.
• Kelson smashed through the corridor wall, so Fu Qian left before he could emerge.
• Fu Qian returned to the giant mirror and considered whether the Angel Dungeon’s permanent existence was the abnormality his mission required him to end.
• Fu Qian recalled the angel’s vision of a decaying body and faded world, which resembled Ji Yicheng’s Gray Descent.

Fu Qian suspected the Ji Clan had lured the Siren Group into dangerous ruins, then left after finding that the ruins' strange influence faded outside. Back in the settlement, he encountered Felix amid the chaos and shot him after Felix tried to kill him.

• Fu Qian reasoned that the Ji Clan had likely sent the Siren Group into the ruins as part of a scheme, but he remained puzzled by the hidden person who had saved Kelson and Sybill.
• Fu Qian returned to the ruins' exit, held a Siren Group member at gunpoint, and forced his way out.
• Fu Qian crossed the flesh-like swamp and found the settlement nearly deserted and tense.
• Felix told Fu Qian that people had died, then attacked him with a dagger.
• Fu Qian kicked Felix through a wall and shot him in the stomach.

Fu Qian shot Felix with a special bullet that caused a dangerous mutation, then returned home to wait for Ji Clan members to come after him. After escaping a cupboard that nearly fell on him, he found that his food had gone moldy, leaving him surrounded by signs of danger.

• Fu Qian shot Felix in the abdomen, but Felix initially found no wound and believed the gunshot had been a blank.
• Felix realized something was swelling inside him, while Fu Qian said he was waiting to see what happened and left.
• Fu Qian explained that he had used the bullet to force Ji Yicheng or the Ji Clan to seek him out, so he could interrogate anyone who came.
• Fu Qian returned home, washed up, and discovered that his dinner was covered in mold.
• A cupboard toppled toward Fu Qian, and he dodged it as it fell against a table.

Fu Qian met Angui, the Ji Clan’s demigod representative, who revealed that he had trapped Fu Qian inside the apartment and intended to kill him. Fu Qian unleashed his Tendril Barrage Devastator to break free, leaving Angui stunned by his power.

• Fu Qian spoke with Angui, who entered the apartment and praised Fu Qian’s mask before identifying himself as the Ji Clan’s representative in the Wasteland.
• Angui revealed that Ji Yicheng had reported Fu Qian’s actions and suggested that Fu Qian join an organization, while warning that Siren might not suit him.
• Fu Qian learned Angui was the Ji Clan head’s adopted son and realized Angui had trapped him using an ability that made the apartment seem alive.
• Angui confirmed Fu Qian was trapped and challenged him to break through, warning that his ability was dangerous.
• Fu Qian used Tendril Barrage Devastator to blast the apartment apart, and Angui reacted in disbelief at Fu Qian’s demigod-level power.

Fu Qian overwhelmed Angui, then questioned him about Ji Yicheng’s role in the underground ruins. Angui left after Fu Qian implied he had not seen him, while Ji Yicheng remained near the Siren Group to monitor events.

• Angui attacked Fu Qian, but Fu Qian’s tendrils repeatedly destroyed the room and forced Angui to reveal himself.
• Fu Qian asked what Ji Yicheng had done in the underground ruins, and Angui admitted that his plan had involved letting the Siren Group discover them and then exploiting the danger.
• Fu Qian told Angui that Ji Yicheng had activated a mechanism to save Sybill after Kelson and Sybill fought, and that he had done so twice.
• Fu Qian put on Angui’s mask and suggested that he had not seen Angui that day, giving Angui a way to leave without being identified.
• Angui departed, saying Ji Yicheng was monitoring the Siren Group despite his injuries.

Fu Qian understood that Angui had revealed Ji Yicheng’s location to protect himself, then tracked Ji Yicheng down near the Siren Group’s base. Ji Yicheng offered to trade information for his life, and Fu Qian was about to ask what he wanted to know.

• Fu Qian realized Angui had told him where Ji Yicheng was and had urged him to kill Ji Yicheng to erase the evidence of their arrangement.
• Angui left to revise the plan targeting the Siren Group as its base tightened security after a string of killings.
• A cloaked visitor attacked a receptionist at the Siren Group’s entrance, but Fu Qian’s intervention stopped him before he was beheaded.
• Fu Qian intercepted a gray figure near the Rat Race Accelerator, and it took Ji Yicheng’s form.
• Ji Yicheng blamed Angui for leaking his location and offered Fu Qian more than Angui could in exchange for his safety.
• Fu Qian said he wanted only a bit of information, and Ji Yicheng eagerly asked what he wanted to know.

Ji Yicheng bargained with Fu Qian by revealing what he knew about the underground ruin. He explained that the ruin’s influence affected anyone inside and claimed it could transform someone into a true angel, though Montes was only raw material.

• Ji Yicheng offered information about the ruin in exchange for a promise of safety, but Fu Qian told him he had no leverage and ordered him to reconsider.
• Ji Yicheng said he had discovered the ruin half a month earlier while exploring it himself with the Ji Clan’s Gray Descent ability.
• Ji Yicheng explained that the ruin caused an emotional influence that began upon entry and ended when someone left, regardless of whether they looked in a mirror.
• Ji Yicheng revealed that the ruin could make someone a true angel and said the feathers near the mirror were left by a transformation.
• Fu Qian mentioned Ji Yicheng’s wings and feathers on Montes, but Ji Yicheng clarified that Montes was only raw material and that someone first had to earn the mirror’s recognition.

Fu Qian learned that Ji Yicheng had manipulated the feud between two families to bring transcendent people into the ruins and harvest their manifested corruption. Ji Yicheng offered to help Fu Qian earn the mirror’s recognition, but Fu Qian refused, and two familiar presences rushed toward them as Ji Yicheng unleashed a brilliant radiance.

• Fu Qian questioned Ji Yicheng and learned that the mirror had granted him powers to purify people whose corruption manifested in the ruins.
• Ji Yicheng explained that he had arranged a family feud to draw more transcendent people into the ruins and gather materials without attracting suspicion.
• Ji Yicheng revealed his flesh-and-blood wings and offered to help Fu Qian gain the mirror’s recognition.
• Fu Qian rejected Ji Yicheng’s offer, and two familiar presences approached as Ji Yicheng’s body blazed with radiance.

Ji Yicheng tried to use Sybill and Kelson to trap Fu Qian, but Kelson refused to fight and withdrew with Sybill. Fu Qian captured Ji Yicheng, who learned that Fu Qian had only followed him out of curiosity.

• Ji Yicheng revealed a ray of light and urged Sybill and Kelson to join him against Fu Qian, claiming Fu Qian had nearly killed them.
• Kelson questioned why they should fight Fu Qian if he had already been powerful enough to defeat them, and Sybill noticed Kelson was behaving strangely.
• Ji Yicheng offered to surrender and go with Sybill and Kelson to Siren, but Kelson refused and said Siren was no longer right for him.
• Kelson told Fu Qian that he and Sybill would retreat and keep their distance, and Fu Qian said he believed them.
• Sybill and Kelson walked away as Fu Qian confronted Ji Yicheng, who demanded to know whether Fu Qian had known about Kelson's condition.
• Fu Qian said he had only followed Ji Yicheng out of curiosity and told him that the information mattered more than his life.

Fu Qian watched Ji Yicheng transform into a burst of flaming feathers and disappear, then returned to the ruins to investigate whether his death had changed the mirror. He found that the Siren Group had abandoned the entrance and that new people, including an old acquaintance, had arrived.

• Ji Yicheng declared that angels never sacrificed themselves in vain, then engulfed himself in white flames and burst into flaming feathers.
• Fu Qian caught a feather, concluded that Ji Yicheng had seemingly vanished for real, and left to check the ruins.
• Fu Qian reasoned that Ji Yicheng's fate might reveal what had gone wrong with his mission and whether the ruins' mirror had changed.
• Fu Qian returned to the ruins and found the Siren Group had withdrawn from the entrance.
• Fu Qian noticed that other people had taken the Siren Group's place, including an old acquaintance.

Fu Qian watched as Gam and his masked accomplices ambushed Tir with poison, intending to capture or kill him for a powerful client. Tir attacked the bowman, but unstable fissures in the swamp erupted into tentacles that tore through Gam and his companions, leaving their fate unclear.

• Fu Qian spotted Tir watching the ruins and saw several masked figures close in on him.
• A poison mist weakened Tir, and Gam emerged with two masked accomplices to confront him.
• Gam admitted he had arranged the ambush for a well-paid client, whom Tir suspected was the Siren or the Ji Clan.
• Tir freed his injured leg and charged at the bowman while Gam moved to stop him.
• Three swamp mounds burst open, and black-and-red tentacles tore through Gam and his companions.

Tir encountered Fu Qian at the underground ruins after a supernatural swamp killed three people, and Fu Qian entered the ruins despite saying he had come to die. In the mirror hall, Ji Yicheng emerged transformed into a holy, winged form, while Fu Qian remained troubled by the strange reflection that threatened his Sanity.

• Tir saw three people skewered by roots, then met Fu Qian and wondered whether he had caused their deaths.
• Tir explained that he had come to warn young people away from the underground ruins, while Fu Qian said he had come to die and entered the passage.
• Fu Qian returned to the mirror hall and found a huge cocoon hanging from the ceiling.
• Ji Yicheng emerged from the cocoon transformed, thanked Fu Qian for helping him abandon his old bloodline ability, and rose into the air.
• Fu Qian studied his distorted reflection and wondered why Ji Yicheng's reflection appeared clear and pure.

Fu Qian fought the reborn Ji Yicheng in the ruins while searching for the entity that had forced Kelson to renounce his blade. The chapter ended as a dried corpse appeared behind Fu Qian and fired a beam at him.

• Ji Yicheng transformed into an angel and attacked Fu Qian with beams of light, explaining that he could influence the angel corpse locked away in the ruins.
• Ji Yicheng sealed the exit with roots and used his connection to the ruins to pursue Fu Qian as he fled through the passages.
• Fu Qian led Ji Yicheng to the hall with the filthy water and blocked his beams with a shield of tentacles, losing Sanity Value in the process.
• Fu Qian concluded that Ji Yicheng had not purified Kelson and resolved to find the entity responsible.
• Ji Yicheng dodged Fu Qian's Air Bullets and attacked again, while a dried corpse appeared behind Fu Qian and fired a beam.