Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian and Selena discussed the Ancient Recollection’s image of Annalise and why she had seemed to speak to someone, then Selena left the artifact in his care. Fu Qian headed out to visit Wen Li, who was startled by his missing arm and was recreating the Great Fortune Ming King’s face.

• Selena accepted that the figure in the Ancient Recollection was her Progenitor, Annalise, and asked Fu Qian why she had appeared to speak to someone.
• Fu Qian suggested Annalise had been communicating with her younger self, and Selena accepted that explanation.
• Selena thanked Fu Qian and entrusted the Ancient Recollection to him, promising to teach him how to leave it.
• After Selena left, Fu Qian considered what Annalise’s rise revealed about the Moon God and the divine oracle, then packed the Crystallized Teardrop and left the bookstore.
• Wen Li was shocked by Fu Qian’s missing arm as he joked that Selena’s faith had crumbled, while she recreated the Great Fortune Ming King’s face.

Fu Qian offered Wen Li the Crystallized Teardrop so she could undergo an awakening and he could study what she saw. After the light faded, Wen Li opened her eyes and told him she had seen it, though her expression was complicated.

• Wen Li showed Fu Qian the masks she had drawn based on the Great Fortune Ming King's exploits, and he encouraged her to promote them.
• Wen Li told Fu Qian that Selena was an unusual Gulad demigod who would likely investigate Taylor's situation before acting rashly.
• Fu Qian offered Wen Li the Crystallized Teardrop, explaining that he wanted to observe her awakening and believed she had the talent to reach the fourth tier.
• Wen Li accepted the teardrop without consulting her family, crushed it, and was enveloped in its light.
• When the radiance faded, Wen Li opened her eyes, called Fu Qian Mr. Fang, and said she had seen it.

Wen Li explained the emotional-ripple ritual she needed to complete to advance, and Fu Qian arranged a dinner to test whether it could affect two Divine creatures. Yuan Shan arrived, and Fu Qian greeted her in a disguised form as Herbert.

• Wen Li told Fu Qian that her ritual required an emotional ripple to reverberate between two Divine creatures.
• Fu Qian reassured Wen Li about her ability and suggested they test the ritual with help from Yuan Shan.
• Fu Qian and Wen Li hosted a lavish dinner, expecting Yuan Shan to visit after hearing that Selena had left Fu Qian in a worrying state.
• Yuan Shan arrived and questioned Fu Qian after seeing his aged disguise with Ancient Recollection in its eye socket.
• Fu Qian shared grilled fish with Yuan Shan and told her she could call him Herbert.

Fu Qian revealed his role in the Gullard Family's affair and explained that he had manipulated events to regain a path forward. Yuan Shan rejected his attempt to settle the matter and rose to kill him, just as someone interrupted.

• Fu Qian removed the fake Ancient Recollection from his eye socket and revealed that it had been made from his own eyeball.
• Yuan Shan pieced together how Fu Qian had guided the Gullard Family, influenced Embo and Selena, and spoken with the Red Moon.
• Fu Qian explained that he had gone to Leaf Island and wanted Yuan Shan to approve of the outcome and let the matter rest.
• Yuan Shan condemned Fu Qian's scheme and declared that killing him was the least dangerous choice for the world.
• Yuan Shan unleashed dozens of black bands and ordered Fu Qian to die, but someone shouted for them to stop fighting.

Wen Li completed her Promotion Ritual with Fu Qian and Yuan Shan’s help, ending the confrontation between Fu Qian and Yuan Shan. As Wen Li recovered, Fu Qian explained his recent actions, and her reaction suggested she had heard his account of Selena’s invitation.

• Herbert stopped fighting and sat down to eat, while Yuan Shan noticed Wen Li advancing and recognized that she was completing a Promotion Ritual.
• Wen Li apologized to Yuan Shan, and Fu Qian explained that her ritual required two demigods to cooperate without knowing its full requirements.
• Yuan Shan questioned Fu Qian’s claims, and he explained that Wen Li had used anger to fulfill the ritual and that he had helped her by provoking Yuan Shan.
• Fu Qian told Yuan Shan that Taylor had returned home and denied involvement in the latest corpse scavenging, attributing it to Jiang En’s cultivation.
• Fu Qian said Selena had invited him to explore ancient secrets, and Wen Li opened her eyes after hearing him.

Wen Li advanced to the fourth tier, and Fu Qian examined her new abilities, discovering crystal scales that enhanced her defenses and resistance to mental attacks. Yuan Shan then considered how to explain Jiang En’s conduct publicly, while Fu Qian proposed blaming Darnetta for a separate criminal scheme.

• Yuan Shan recognized that Wen Li had reached the fourth tier less than half a year after reaching the sixth.
• Fu Qian questioned Wen Li about her condition and abilities, then tested her Kaleidoscope.
• Fu Qian pricked Wen Li’s wrist, revealing crystal scales that he recognized as evidence of an inherited ancestral legacy.
• Wen Li thanked Yuan Shan for her help, and Yuan Shan said she had lost nothing.
• Yuan Shan weighed whether to pursue Jiang En’s conduct further and said she still needed to explain the sensitive matter to the public.
• Fu Qian suggested blaming Darnetta for an evil pyramid scheme and told Yuan Shan to find Darnetta’s remaining accomplices.

Yuan Shan accepted Fu Qian’s plan for handling Darnetta’s group and Jiang En, then tested whether he might be Herbert; Fu Qian’s absurd answer persuaded her he was not. After Yuan Shan left, Wen Li celebrated advancing to the fourth tier while Fu Qian considered how her success supported his theory about the Supernatural Path.

• Yuan Shan agreed to investigate Darnetta’s group and watch Jiang En, while withholding action against him unless he did something extreme.
• Yuan Shan challenged Fu Qian’s identity as Herbert, and his bizarre explanation about vampire eye colors convinced her the possibility was unlikely.
• Yuan Shan thanked Fu Qian and advised Wen Li to digest and consolidate her advancement before leaving.
• Wen Li celebrated reaching the fourth tier and thanked Fu Qian for letting her help.
• Fu Qian reasoned that supernatural materials might already exist within people, and that advancement involved discovering and controlling what was already built inside them.

Fu Qian began a new containment mission after spending several days watching over Wen Li and recovering his left arm. He entered the blue-lit Color Wheel scene, where a group of adventurers approached him, and discovered that none of his selected skills worked.

• Fu Qian decided to stay with Wen Li for a few days while she recovered from her rapid advancement.
• Wen Li followed his instructions and focused on digesting her gains as Fu Qian's left arm gradually regrew.
• Fu Qian started the new mission for the containment breach at Color Wheel, code 1-105, and selected all his skills and items.
• Fu Qian entered a strange, blue-lit settlement and encountered five oddly dressed people who called him another special person.
• Fu Qian noticed that none of his selected skills worked and told the group he was an ordinary person.

Fu Qian joined five other mission participants, who used cards to choose codenames and agreed that any newcomers would be enemies. The group had received no missions and found themselves powerless amid strange blue light, so they set out to investigate its source.

• A short-haired man introduced the card-based codenames, and Fu Qian chose Death Watcher as his.
• Fu Qian joined Mask, Red Dragon, Star, Death Row, and Azure, learning that the others considered any later arrivals enemies.
• Star said the group had come to complete missions, while Red Dragon explained that none of them had received one and survival came first.
• Fu Qian told the group he had received no mission and was in an unusual condition.
• Mask proposed that they investigate the blue light and determine whether it was connected to their strange situation.

Fu Qian joined the newly formed team as they agreed to search the strange, orderly settlement for survivors. After splitting into pairs, Fu Qian and Red Dragon discussed the team's cautious strategy, and Fu Qian voiced doubts that Ms. Star’s conversation with Qing would go well.

• Masked Guy proposed that the team search for people, and Ms. Star and Red Dragon agreed.
• Masked Guy divided the team into three pairs, and Ms. Star chose to search with Qing.
• Fu Qian and Red Dragon searched their assigned area, found no one, and returned to a high-rise.
• Red Dragon discussed the value of the team's anonymous cooperation with Fu Qian.
• Fu Qian questioned whether Ms. Star's conversation with Qing would go well as he looked at a blue rose made of reinforced concrete.

Fu Qian and Red Dragon searched a strange office building for clues, finding nothing until they opened a safe. Inside, a pair of emerald-green eyes stared at Red Dragon as a cat meowed.

• Fu Qian explained that Ms. Star seemed most anxious to keep their group together, then joined Red Dragon in searching the building.
• Red Dragon led Fu Qian through the building using the freight elevator route, and they found no clues across nearly half the complex.
• Red Dragon and Fu Qian searched a laboratory and found a gray safe among unlabeled bottles and jars.
• Fu Qian picked the safe's lock, and Red Dragon cautiously opened it with his weapon.
• Red Dragon saw emerald-green eyes inside the safe, and a cat gave a loud meow.

Fu Qian and Red Dragon found a cat in a safe and brought it back to the group, where they met Adele, a frightened young woman who had stayed behind to search for someone named Henry. The Masked Man asked Adele to explain what had happened at the building.

• Fu Qian identified the cat as a young, owned animal, and he grabbed it after it dodged Red Dragon.
• Fu Qian and Red Dragon heard the team’s agreed signal and returned to the group with the cat.
• They found Ms. Star, Qing, and the Masked Man with Adele, a young woman they had discovered.
• Adele admitted she had secretly stayed behind to look for Henry.
• The Masked Man said Adele had bad news and asked her to recount what had happened.

Fu Qian and the others learned that the rainbow light had driven people to evacuate and received a mission to find its source. After Fu Qian figured out Henry belonged to Adele’s neighbor, the Masked Man shot Adele in the forehead.

• Adele explained that a vision of rainbow light and mass madness had caused many residents to flee, and Fu Qian’s group received the mission to find the light’s source.
• Adele said she had returned to find Henry, her neighbor Paul’s cat, after he went missing during the evacuation.
• Fu Qian deduced from Henry’s worn, ill-fitting collar that Adele cared for him but did not own him.
• Adele said she planned to search the research institute for Henry because he liked its air conditioning and people there liked him.
• The Masked Man reassured Adele that Henry would be cared for, then shot her in the forehead with a crossbow.

The Masked Man shot Adele, revealing that the glowing colors had already transformed her into a dangerous creature. After the team subdued her, Brother Death Row turned his gun on Fu Qian and questioned the cat Henry, who had never left.

• The Masked Man shot Adele, then explained that her truthful account might still have been unreliable and that she could help test the threat.
• Adele transformed as luminous growths spread from her wound, and Lady Qing, Ms. Star, Brother Death Row, and Brother Red Dragon attacked and restrained her.
• The Masked Man and Lady Qing concluded that the colors were dangerous and that the team needed to find their source quickly.
• Brother Death Row pointed his pistol at Fu Qian and challenged him for watching without acting.
• Fu Qian said he had expected the others to handle the danger, and Brother Death Row redirected his gun toward Henry, noting that the cat had never left.

Fu Qian refused to let the group kill Henry, the cat found in a sealed laboratory safe, and persuaded them to take it along. The team headed toward the research institute for clues, while Fu Qian used the confrontation to establish that he would not be forced into actions he opposed.

• Fu Qian held Henry as the others considered killing it, but he argued that the cat might have had less exposure to the dangerous color because it had been sealed in a safe.
• Red Dragon confirmed that Henry had been found in a locked safe at a laboratory, and the Mask suggested the research institute as their next destination.
• Fu Qian drew Mercy, called Brother Death Row dead weight, and declared that he would rather kill him than Henry.
• The Mask decided to bring Henry along and sent the group to search the research institute, which Red Dragon said they had only searched halfway.
• The group followed Red Dragon toward the institute as tensions lingered, while Fu Qian reflected on his decision to resist being forced by the others.

The team searched the research building and found three unidentified vials, which Mask assigned to the Death Row Inmate to keep the group united. After Fu Qian picked open a locked route to the top floor, Lady Qing noticed that his lock-picking tool glowed like the light on Adele’s corpse.

• Red Dragon led the team back to the laboratory, where he revealed that Fu Qian had picked open the safe.
• The team searched the building, and Fu Qian opened more safes, finding three vials of red, green, and blue drugs.
• Mask told the Death Row Inmate to hold the vials, signaling that he wanted to keep the team together.
• Mask offered to scout ahead, but the team found every route to the top floor locked.
• Fu Qian picked open a passage while Henry hung from his waist, then showed Lady Qing his tool, whose glowing tip matched the light on Adele.

Fu Qian and the others found the strange glowing contamination spreading rapidly through the corridor and fled from the door as something battered it from the other side. Their route back was unexpectedly blocked, and two fluorescent, bloodied hounds attacked them, leaving Red Dragon drenched in their foul fluid.

• Fu Qian noticed the outside turning purple and red as the glow spread from the keyhole across the door and onto Brother Death Row's glove.
• Mask warned that something was coming through the door, and Red Dragon led the group back the way they had come.
• The group found their familiar route blocked by a locked door that had become covered in the spreading glow.
• Mask fired at the door, and Red Dragon kicked it open before dodging a black hound that lunged out and wounded it with his blade spear.
• Lady Qing stopped a second hound with an arrow, and the team finished it with gunfire and other attacks.
• Ms. Star helped Red Dragon up as he stared at the hounds' remains, where threads of fluorescence showed among the gore.

The group found fluorescent contamination spreading across the lower floors and fought their way through aggressive walking corpses while searching for a defensible place to hide. They took refuge in the room where Brother Death Row had found his potion and noticed that its safe was still locked.

• Red Dragon discovered fluorescent substance on his shoulder and blade-spear, but Mask said contamination was likely spreading throughout every floor.
• Mask and Qing argued that the substance could not be avoided and that the group should focus on finding a defensible location and learning what was happening.
• The group encountered a legless crawling figure trailing fluorescent residue, and Qing pinned it down with an arrow so they could pass.
• Creatures from the top floor broke through obstacles and pursued the group as they continued through corridors filled with fluorescent substance and aggressive walking corpses.
• The group ran low on weapons and abilities, so they followed Red Dragon into a room to rest and hide.
• Brother Death Row recognized the room where he had found his potion, and Red Dragon pointed out that the safe there was still locked.

Fu Qian explained that the group had shifted into a version of the building where the evacuation never happened, and the others connected the changed surroundings and spreading glow to the timeline shift. With the infection worsening, Ms. Star wondered whether something on the top floor had caused the timelines to intersect.

• Red Dragon opened the safe and found three vials matching the colors of the death row inmate’s potions.
• Fu Qian asked the death row inmate to produce his three vials, then said all six bottles were the same three seen at different points in time.
• Fu Qian proposed that the group had entered a version of the place where no one had evacuated before the disaster.
• Qing noticed the world had turned red and connected the timeline shift to the locked door, contamination, and glowing traces spreading across their bodies.
• Fu Qian warned that the group might become like the walking corpses as the infection advanced.
• Ms. Star asked whether something on the top floor had caused the timelines to intersect.

The group debated how to reach the top floor as fluorescent contamination spread and hostile figures waited outside. After the Masked Man noticed Fu Qian’s cat had vanished when the color began changing, the group considered waiting or risking contaminated scouts, and Fu Qian volunteered to go first.

• Qing saw hostile figures moving below the window, while Red Dragon warned that the group could neither fight their way back nor safely wait as the fluorescent growth spread.
• Fu Qian suggested using the potions in the safe, and the Masked Man argued that the color might change on its own rather than in response to their actions.
• Qing realized Fu Qian’s cat had disappeared just before he picked the lock, and Fu Qian said the color had started changing at the same time.
• Ms. Star and the Masked Man proposed waiting for the color to change back or using contamination to pass as one of the figures outside.
• Qing suggested sending people out in batches once the hostile figures grew less aggressive, but Red Dragon favored waiting longer.
• Fu Qian stepped forward and volunteered to go first.