Chapter Summaries

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.

Fu Qian was trapped between Ji Yicheng and the Angel Corpse, but he maneuvered into the sealed chamber and triggered a blinding light that destroyed the corpse and incapacitated Ji Yicheng. In the light, he spotted a pregnant woman he suspected was the master who had transformed Kelson.

• Ji Yicheng revealed that he had set a trap with the Angel Corpse, which attacked Fu Qian alongside his beams.
• Fu Qian endured injuries and crushed the Angel Corpse's skull, then escaped its explosive beams and fled into its sealed chamber.
• Ji Yicheng pursued Fu Qian and grew confident he had cornered him, but a brilliant light suddenly erupted.
• The Angel Corpse crumbled as time seemed to pass over it, while Ji Yicheng lost consciousness and fell into the filthy water.
• Fu Qian spotted a human woman with a swollen belly at the center of the light and suspected she was a Pregnant Angel who had transformed Kelson.

Fu Qian lured Ji Yicheng into provoking a powerful purifying presence and identified it as possibly connected to a missing pregnant woman named Lorraine. After Ji Yicheng survived the encounter, Fu Qian questioned him about his lost teleportation ability, and Ji Yicheng tried to bargain by invoking Elina.

• Fu Qian used the purifying sensation he had felt around the glowing insects to locate the hidden entity, while Ji Yicheng and a dried corpse drew its power out.
• Ji Yicheng emerged from the black-green water in a daze and told Fu Qian that the presence felt purer and more powerful than the being that gave birth to angels.
• Fu Qian asked Ji Yicheng about missing pregnant women, and Ji Yicheng recalled that Lorraine had vanished in the swamp while searching for her missing lover.
• Fu Qian wondered whether Lorraine and Ji Yicheng had fulfilled an oath by becoming spirits, then asked Ji Yicheng why he could no longer teleport.
• Ji Yicheng brought up Elina and tried to persuade Fu Qian to save her, but Fu Qian said their relationship was only enough for him to collect her corpse if he happened to pass by.

Fu Qian worked out that the mirror oath could be completed by accepting an altered perception of oneself, then followed Ji Yicheng to Elina and Cross. The chapter left Ji Yicheng offering to help Elina, but Fu Qian refusing his offer.

• Fu Qian forced Ji Yicheng to lead him to Elina, then tested Ji Yicheng's reflection in the mirror hall.
• Fu Qian realized that Ji Yicheng had completed the oath by recognizing his spirit-like reflection as himself.
• Fu Qian and Ji Yicheng returned to the pillar hall, where they found Elina and Cross together.
• Elina recognized Fu Qian, and Cross confirmed that Tir had brought them there.
• Ji Yicheng offered to help Elina, but Fu Qian declined.

Fu Qian led Elina, Cross, and Ji Yicheng back to the mirror hall, where he tested whether Ji Yicheng was the story’s protagonist by hurling him at the invisible, purifying force. After Ji Yicheng was reduced to ash, Fu Qian ordered Cross to charge at the force, but Elina stepped in to go instead.

• Elina and Cross refused Ji Yicheng’s offer of treatment, and Elina chose to follow Fu Qian while Cross agreed to protect her.
• Fu Qian asked Elina about Lorraine, and she described her as a capable early wasteland explorer who had disappeared with her husband.
• At the mirror hall, Fu Qian seized Ji Yicheng with tentacles and threw him at the invisible force, which killed him in a burst of dazzling light.
• Fu Qian told Cross to charge at the force, and Cross started forward with his mace before Elina blocked him with a wall of fire and offered to go herself.

Fu Qian investigated the mirror’s effect by having Elina look into it, but she showed no sign of forming an oath. He deduced that Lorraine’s unborn child had perceived the mirror, completed the oath by mistaking itself for its mother, and erased Lorraine; the powerful Pregnant Angel became Fu Qian’s likely mission target.

• Elina stepped forward to face the danger, but Cross rushed through her wall of fire and urged her to stay back.
• Fu Qian told Elina to look into the mirror, and she said it seemed to show her true self.
• Fu Qian observed that Elina’s Reflection resembled Ji Yicheng after Gray Descent, but her reaction did not trigger an oath.
• Fu Qian recalled seeing a young, pregnant woman at the center of Ji Yicheng’s eruption and realized she was the unusually powerful Pregnant Angel.
• Fu Qian theorized that Lorraine’s fetus had perceived the mirror, mistaken itself for its mother, completed the oath, and erased Lorraine’s consciousness.
• Fu Qian concluded that the Pregnant Angel was probably the target he had to eliminate, despite her ability to kill him instantly.