Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian left the group alone to draw the infected away and investigate the lower floor, while the others watched his signal from behind a sealed door. He reached a room below and subdued two infected uniformed figures, finding fluorescence in their wounds.

• Fu Qian volunteered to leave alone, arguing that his reckless plan would make the infected less likely to attack him.
• He exited while the others sealed the door, and two infected figures followed him down the corridor.
• Fu Qian avoided the blocked route to the top floor and headed to the floor below to check something he wanted to confirm.
• He opened the lower-floor door, shot two pursuing infected in the legs, and slipped inside.
• Fu Qian locked the door, broke one infected person's knee with his tranquilizer, and examined the pair's uniforms and fluorescent wounds.

Fu Qian returned to the lab to learn whether hiding from the pervasive colors could prevent contamination. He found Oliver and rescued Henry from the safe, but Henry was still affected, leaving Fu Qian without a reliable way to avoid contamination.

• Fu Qian searched two bodies, took a riot baton, and continued through the locked doors.
• Fu Qian reached the lab where Henry had been kept and shut the door against a crippled polluter.
• Fu Qian questioned Oliver, who identified himself but could barely respond to questions about Henry.
• Fu Qian opened the safe and found Henry inside, more aggressive than before.
• Fu Qian restrained Henry and concluded that the darkness had not protected him from the colors’ effects.

Fu Qian questioned Oliver and learned that the real laboratory was below the building, then knocked him out and took an access card. As the fluorescent contamination spread across his body, Fu Qian chose to explore the top floor alone and noticed the red color shifting again.

• Fu Qian restrained the increasingly powerful Henry and confirmed that Oliver recognized the cat.
• Oliver told Fu Qian that the laboratory was below before reverting to repeating Henry’s name.
• Fu Qian deduced that a hidden laboratory lay beneath the building and that the locked door upstairs might conceal an elevator.
• Fu Qian tranquilized Oliver, searched him, and took a white access card and several keys.
• Fu Qian decided to explore the top floor instead of rejoining the others, then saw the deep red in the glass change again.

Fu Qian shifted into the role of a movie theater employee named Angelo, with Henry the cat in his custody and Adele still alive. After Adele warned him that the research institute was hunting for the source of disaster rumors, Fu Qian decided to take Henry to his owner, Paul, with Adele accompanying him.

• Fu Qian’s vision returned in a movie theater, where he held Henry by a worn leather collar.
• Sergei reprimanded Fu Qian for letting Henry into the theater and ordered him to take the cat outside.
• Adele arrived, recognized Fu Qian as Angelo, and asked whether his warning about a coming disaster had been a joke.
• Adele warned Fu Qian that the research institute was searching for whoever had spread the disaster rumors.
• Fu Qian refused to hand Henry to Adele and said he would take the cat to Paul, so Adele went with him.

Fu Qian and Adele visited Paul to return Henry the cat, but the meeting was interrupted by Red Dragon and Ms. Star, who appeared to investigate the rumors. The two newcomers were surprised to find Fu Qian there.

• Adele took Fu Qian to Paul's apartment after checking through her telescope that Paul was home.
• Paul reacted tensely to Fu Qian, and Adele realized that Fu Qian had told him about the disaster.
• Fu Qian returned Henry to Paul, while Adele warned Paul not to lock the cat up.
• Fu Qian heard people approaching, and Paul accused him and Adele of tricking him.
• Red Dragon and Ms. Star arrived in uniform, apparently to deal with whoever had spread the rumors, and recognized Fu Qian with surprise.

Angelo, Red Dragon, and Ms. Star captured Paul and compared what they had learned after the white light separated them into different roles. The chapter ended with Angelo revealing that he had encountered Oliver.

• Red Dragon and Ms. Star confronted Paul, who indirectly confirmed that he had spread the rumors, and took him into custody.
• Angelo agreed to go with Red Dragon and Ms. Star, while Adele stayed behind with Henry.
• Angelo told Red Dragon and Ms. Star that he had appeared at the cinema and met Adele after a flash of white light.
• Ms. Star and Red Dragon explained that they had been assigned roles among uniformed personnel and had not found the Masked Man or the others.
• Red Dragon and Ms. Star discussed following their assigned roles and gathering information until the situation changed.
• When Red Dragon asked what unusual thing he had found, Angelo said he had encountered Oliver.

Fu Qian told Red Dragon and Ms. Star that Oliver had revealed the real laboratory was below, and they chose to report the situation rather than sneak in. At the institute, Fu Qian confronted Michelle with claims about Oliver and Paul, then declared that he knew what was below.

• Fu Qian told Red Dragon and Ms. Star that Oliver was lucid despite serious contamination and had said the real laboratory was underground.
• Red Dragon considered sneaking below, but Fu Qian questioned where the masked people had gone, and Red Dragon decided to trust their judgment and report the situation.
• Red Dragon arranged to report Fu Qian’s condition as serious and stay nearby with Ms. Star to protect him.
• Michelle questioned Fu Qian about spreading rumors, but he challenged her by bringing up the research and Oliver’s relationship with Paul.
• Fu Qian claimed he had started the rumor and said he knew exactly what was below.

Fu Qian pressured Michelle into revealing how Paul’s statements had spread and deduced that someone was secretly directing her. When an old expert arrived to take Fu Qian to his laboratory, Fu Qian noticed Michelle’s lipstick dimming and attacked him.

• Fu Qian told Michelle that Paul’s supposed dream and the rumors about it were part of a plan to make the rumors seem credible.
• Fu Qian confronted Michelle about the dangerous experiments behind the rumors and warned her that Paul’s strange statements would become reality.
• Fu Qian realized someone was giving Michelle instructions and asked to speak with that person, prompting Michelle to leave.
• Michelle returned with an old expert who offered to take Fu Qian to his laboratory.
• Fu Qian spotted Michelle’s lipstick growing dim, drew Mercy, and seized the old expert by the throat.

Fu Qian killed Michelle and the old expert to learn that the object was on the lowest level of the Third District, then the colors shifted and he reunited with Red Dragon and Ms. Star. The group headed upstairs to find their remaining members, where Red Dragon spotted Qing.

• Fu Qian shot Michelle, forced the old expert to reveal that the object was on the lowest level of the Third District, and then killed him as the room shifted into a blue-colored state.
• Red Dragon and Ms. Star reunited with Fu Qian and reported that a more professional team had appeared outside.
• Fu Qian, Red Dragon, and Ms. Star headed upstairs to find their other members after learning that Adele's body was missing and the elevator was still unusable.
• Red Dragon stopped in surprise when he saw Qing in the distance.

Fu Qian, Red Dragon, Ms. Star, and Green reunited and reached the top floor, where they found an elevator that required an access card. Fu Qian supplied Oliver’s card, leaving the group ready to activate it.

• Green reunited with Fu Qian, Red Dragon, and Ms. Star and explained that she had been confined as a staff member in the facility’s fake laboratory.
• Green learned that the real laboratory was downstairs and joined the others as they headed for the top-floor entrance before the blue phase ended.
• Fu Qian shared his deductions about the company, Adele’s neighbor Paul, and the possible location of the information they sought.
• Fu Qian opened the top-floor door without incident, and the group found an empty room with an accessible elevator.
• Red Dragon discovered that the elevator required a card, so Fu Qian handed him Oliver’s access card.

Fu Qian joined Red Dragon, Qing, and Ms. Star in the underground facility, where they reunited with Masked and headed for the suspected source of the corruption. As they reached the lowest level of Section Three, gunshots sounded nearby.

• Fu Qian gave Red Dragon Oliver's pass, and the group used it to enter the elevator.
• Masked met the group outside the elevator and explained that his code was a way to check whether arrivals had been corrupted.
• Qing chose the lowest level of Section Three as their destination because the suspected source of the corruption was stored there.
• Masked asked how Qing had learned the location, and Fu Qian said Michelle had welcomed him; Masked recognized her as his superior.
• Masked led Fu Qian, Red Dragon, Qing, and Ms. Star through the facility to the lowest level of Section Three, where gunshots rang out nearby.

The team reunited with an injured Brother Death Row, who warned them that an armed group guarded the facility. He revealed that he had come to steal or destroy the Prism, but the team still had to figure out how to get inside.

• Red Dragon encountered gunfire around a corner, then Brother Death Row rushed over and urged the team to retreat.
• The six regrouped in an office, where Brother Death Row treated his gunshot wound and gave Red Dragon a weapon and ammunition.
• Brother Death Row explained that his role was a corporate spy sent to find the Prism and take or destroy it.
• Brother Death Row said his partner had told him about the mission and that he had taken the partner's gun.
• The Masked Man asked how the team could enter the facility guarded by the armed group.

The group debated how to get past the heavily armed team guarding their objective, and Fu Qian proposed waiting for the world to turn red. Before they could prepare, the colors shifted and a contaminated zombie attacked, leaving them trapped beside the source of the contamination.

• Death Row, Red Dragon, Ms. Star, and Qing discussed the enemy team's firepower and the difficulty of luring them away from their position.
• Death Row suggested finding another way in, while Qing argued that the team might be spread thin after Death Row's earlier attack.
• Fu Qian judged a direct assault hopeless and proposed waiting until the world turned red, when the enemy might be easier to handle.
• Red Dragon, Qing, and the Masked One supported Fu Qian's plan, and the Masked One began explaining that they might have to wait a while.
• The tabletop turned red, fluorescent contamination surged across it, and a zombie appeared and attacked the group.
• The Masked One shot the zombie and the others disabled its knees, realizing the red state had arrived far sooner than expected and that they were beside the contamination source.

Fu Qian left Mask’s team and followed a trail of bodies to the surface, then returned to the research building to search for Oliver. Finding him gone, Fu Qian suspected the dead researcher was Oliver and that the two versions of the red world belonged to different timelines.

• Lady concluded the researcher had probably been shot by someone seeking his access credentials, and warned the team that the contamination was spreading.
• Mask led the team toward the corridor, but Fu Qian claimed he had psychological trauma and deserted them.
• Fu Qian found a poisoned cleanup team’s trail, followed it through an elevator, and used it to reach the surface.
• Fu Qian returned to the research building and found Oliver missing from the lab where he had found Henry.
• Fu Qian recognized the dead researcher as possibly Oliver and concluded that the two red-world incidents might be in different timelines.

Fu Qian suspected the search for the source of the colors had been misdirected and went looking for Paul, bringing Henry along. At the movie theater, he found Adele barricaded inside a screening room as a marked crowd closed in.

• Fu Qian freed Henry from the safe and realized the cat stayed in the same place through the shifting colors.
• Fu Qian concluded the Masked Ones might be investigating a false target and decided to question Paul about his dream.
• Fu Qian found Paul's home empty and guessed Paul might have gone to the movie theater to look for Henry.
• Fu Qian fought through a crowd of people covered in glowing markings and unlocked a screening-room door blocked by junk.
• Fu Qian spotted Adele inside the screening room and showed her Henry as the crowd approached.

Fu Qian rescued Henry and found Adele in the theater with Paul and Angelo dead. Adele told him about a medicine Paul had given her and his advice to hide somewhere dark, prompting Fu Qian to realize he might know how to stay hidden.

• Fu Qian led the audience away, got Henry to Adele, and reinforced the barricade between them.
• Fu Qian found Paul and Angelo dead in the theater and questioned Adele about what had happened.
• Adele explained that Paul had suddenly attacked Angelo, then both men went mad and stopped moving.
• Adele told Fu Qian that Paul had given her medicine to resist contamination and advised her to hide somewhere dark after the disaster began.
• As Adele described hiding from the others, Fu Qian realized he might know how to make people unable to find him.

Fu Qian tested whether hiding inside another living being could shield him from the colors and restore his supernatural power. After the plan worked, he headed for Sheldon’s office and began using his powers on Sergei, though the colors were already draining his strength again.

• Fu Qian lured a spectator through the door, disabled him, and cut open his body to make a hiding place.
• Fu Qian crawled inside the spectator and waited until his supernatural power returned.
• Fu Qian asked Adele where Angelo’s supervisor Sheldon kept his office, and Adele pointed him toward it.
• Fu Qian blasted through the wall and office door, where he encountered Sergei, who tried to bite him.
• As the colors drained his power, Fu Qian stretched his hand into a strand of flesh and fed it into Sergei’s mouth.

Fu Qian took over Sergei’s corpse and used it to reach Adele and Henry, where he discovered that Henry possessed a supernatural nature and received a new task. He decided to take Henry to the abyss, suspecting a powerful force was behind the crisis.

• Fu Qian spread his body throughout Sergei’s corpse, took control of it, and left the office.
• Fu Qian killed the walking corpses in the corridor with Air Bullets and entered the screening room.
• Fu Qian found Adele unresponsive and pulled Henry from her arms.
• Fu Qian perceived Henry’s eyes as blood-red and received the task to sink the source of color into the abyss.
• Fu Qian picked up Henry and decided they would travel to the abyss together.

Fu Qian returned to the Third District’s lowest level, where Prism had spread and his teammate Stella had become contaminated. After learning that Mask had killed Qing and the others had fled, Fu Qian discovered Stella was a Demigod and killed her when she answered.

• Fu Qian suspected the mission’s reference to the abyss was meant to lure his teammates toward Prism, then returned to the research building’s lowest level.
• Fu Qian found the floor covered in Prism and shoots, dodged gunfire, and subdued the shooter, Ms. Star.
• Fu Qian learned Ms. Star’s real name was Stella and that Mask had gone mad, killed Qing, and driven Death Row and Red Dragon to flee.
• Stella realized Fu Qian was not Death Watcher and reached for his eyes, but Fu Qian interrupted her and asked her rank.
• Stella answered that she was a Demigod, and Fu Qian killed her with an Air Bullet.

Fu Qian entered the lowest level of the Third District and found the Masked Man feeding corpses into the fluorescent tree growing from a well. He confronted the man about the team’s deaths and began piecing together why the Masked Man had turned on his teammates, ending with a clue about how the mission had been completed.

• Fu Qian confirmed that Stella’s death caused no transformation, then followed the team’s trail to the lowest level of the Third District.
• Fu Qian blasted through the antler-like growths and found the Masked Man feeding corpses into a glowing tree above a well-like opening.
• The Masked Man recognized Fu Qian as the Death Watcher, and Fu Qian revealed that he was T-233 and had encountered Stella.
• Fu Qian inferred that the Masked Man had killed Lady Qing first and described how the failed mission and contamination had led to conflict among the team.
• Fu Qian questioned the Masked Man’s extreme response and concluded that he had figured out how the mission was completed.