Arc 17The Shelter’s Breaking Point

Lu Bai destroyed the Mona starship and warned the Underground City’s leaders of the threat, then helped them face Can Society attacks and a catastrophic reactor explosion. As Shelter No. 9 prepared to evacuate, Lu Bai captured Black Sniper while Feng Yixuan and Li Shan confronted the blood-wielding young man.

  • Lu Bai destroyed the Monata with a flying slash, then learned from the settlement Spokespersons that the Mona presence on Earth was unclear and food was running short.
  • Lu Bai brought the settlement residents into the Underground City for food and told its leaders he had destroyed a Mona battleship, prompting an emergency meeting and preparations to resist the invasion.
  • Lu Bai returned home as Ghost King Sect and Can Society plots threatened the shelter, then rushed with Pu Xueli to defend Zudian Campus from Can Society attackers.
  • Lu Bai questioned and defeated the Can Society president, then killed Ruan Boyang, but another vice president caused the Heavy Element Reactor to explode and plunged the Underground City into darkness.
  • Lu Bai restored light across the city as Speaker Xiao Zhengyan announced the evacuation of Shelter No. 9, then Lu Bai joined Team Ten to investigate disappearances at the E3 intersection.
  • Lu Bai found Black Sniper on the twenty-eighth floor, bound him with his tripwire, and left after giving Baldy the room number.
  • Feng Yixuan and Li Shan fought the young man who flooded the streets with blood, while a man in a white trench coat healed Baldy and said Lu Bai had gone to Fourth Livability City to repay a favor.
Chapters 405–429 Vol. 5 Read

Ch. 405Monata

Lu Bai deduced that the Mona people’s starship, the Monata, might be vulnerable to a powerful direct attack. He used the white-robed Mona as a weapon to launch a flying slash that split the ship in two, then collapsed from exhaustion.

  • Lu Bai ignored the white-robed Mona’s question about how he escaped and asked whether his deductions about the Mona people’s combat approach were correct.
  • The white-robed Mona proudly identified his ship as the Monata, the Mona people’s first starship equipped with a curvature engine.
  • Lu Bai warned that destroying the Monata would hurt the Mona people, unsettling the white-robed Mona enough to send a warning to the crew.
  • Lu Bai used [Flash Time] and [Ink Dye] to seize the white-robed Mona and swing him into a powerful flying slash aimed at the Monata.
  • Lu Bai collapsed after the attack, and the flying slash struck the Monata and split it in two.

Ch. 406Putting on a Show of Force

Lu Bai destroyed the Mona people's only interstellar warship stationed near Earth, leaving their white-robed inspector overwhelmed and the settlement leaders unsure what would happen next. After recovering, Lu Bai questioned the nine settlement Spokespersons about the Mona presence worldwide, but they knew no more than he did.

  • The white-robed Mona realized Lu Bai's attack had destroyed the Monata, the only Mona interstellar warship near Earth, and feared losing control of the planet.
  • Lu Bai lay drained after his attack, while the settlement Spokespersons and the white-robed Mona were too afraid to approach him.
  • Brother Biao eagerly praised Lu Bai and checked on the white-robed Mona after the alien abandoned its body, confirming the corpse was lifeless.
  • After recovering most of his strength, Lu Bai kept Steel Body active and asked the nine settlement Spokespersons how many Mona people were on Earth.
  • The settlement Spokespersons said they had only dealt with the white-robed Mona and knew nothing about the Mona presence elsewhere.

Ch. 407Food Shortage

Lu Bai learned that seventy-eight Mona Warriors remained and realized the Mona people likely had few forces deployed on Earth. With food running short across the nine settlements, he ordered their populations gathered and said he would take them to find supplies.

  • Old Huang told Lu Bai that seventy-eight Mona Warriors remained after Lu Bai killed three.
  • Lu Bai waited for the Mona people to attack, then moved the settlement Spokespersons back to Brother Biao’s settlement without encountering resistance.
  • Lu Bai concluded that the Mona people probably had little force deployed on Earth because they let him act without interference.
  • Brother Biao warned Lu Bai that the nine settlements’ combined population of nearly thirty thousand was running short on food.
  • Lu Bai told the Spokespersons to gather their settlement populations and said he would take them wherever they could get food.

Ch. 408Returning to the Shelter

Lu Bai brought settlement spokespeople into the Underground City to carry food, then took them down in the Evader Elevator. He emerged to find a crowd waiting in the corridor and claimed he had only returned to buy a few things.

  • Lu Bai told Old Huang and the other settlement spokespeople they would carry food, then used clones to lift the bunker doors and lead them inside.
  • Xu Kun, Engineer Li, and Engineer Qian chatted in the control room until Xu Kun spotted a new Evader Elevator log and raised the alarm.
  • Engineer Li urged the control room staff to stay calm, reminding them that City Direct Military troops guarded Level 404.
  • Lu Bai and the settlement spokespeople rode the Evader Elevator down into the Underground City.
  • Lu Bai opened the elevator doors to a crowded corridor and said he had only come back to buy a few things.

Ch. 409Conversation

Lu Bai surrendered to the City Direct Military and secured food for starving surface settlements before meeting the shelter’s elderly leader. He revealed that after visiting a settlement, he had destroyed a Mona starship, leaving the old man speechless.

  • Yu Zheng, captain of the City Direct Military's Second Squad, confronted Lu Bai and asked him to come along.
  • Lu Bai agreed to go with the officers if they provided thirty thousand people with a month’s worth of food, and Yu Zheng arranged the shipment.
  • Yu Zheng’s team escorted Lu Bai to a manor beside the northeastern military garrison.
  • The elderly leader asked Lu Bai what he had done on the surface, and Lu Bai said he had visited a settlement and met a Mona person.
  • Lu Bai told the old man that the meeting had gone badly and he had destroyed a Mona starship.

Ch. 410Emergency Meeting

After Lu Bai revealed that he had destroyed a Mona interstellar battleship, the old man called an emergency meeting to prepare Shelter No. 9 for a possible invasion. The meeting began with Director Huai Ruohe warning that the Mona civilization’s technological and material advantages would leave humanity overwhelmingly outmatched.

  • Lu Bai told the old man that he had destroyed one of the Mona people's interstellar battleships, prompting the medical team to treat the old man after he collapsed.
  • After recovering, the old man asked Lu Bai to recount everything that had happened, then ordered One-Eyed Dragon to notify Zhu Taihong, the City Council, and Huai Ruohe.
  • The old man brought Lu Bai to an emergency meeting attended by more than a hundred prominent figures from the Underground City.
  • The City Council standing committee member showed attendees Lu Bai's recorded account and explained the history of humanity's conflict with the Mona people.
  • A military spokesperson asked about the Mona people's technological level, and Huai Ruohe said they were roughly three generations ahead and would suppress humanity one-sidedly in a war.

Ch. 411Mobilization

After learning that the Mona people remained an inevitable threat, Shelter No. 9’s leaders rejected a proposal to hand over Lu Bai and committed to preparing for confrontation. Lu Bai briefed the attendees on fighting the Mona, while researchers began assessing the enemy’s technology.

  • A City Councilor questioned the account of events on the surface, and One-Eyed Dragon confirmed that the Second Unit had found no reason to doubt it.
  • Councilor Jin proposed appeasing the Mona by handing over Lu Bai, and about a quarter of the attendees supported the proposal.
  • Minister Zhu Taihong ordered that the supporters’ names be recorded and that they be arrested after the meeting.
  • The old man warned that the Mona would not spare humanity and urged the leaders to commit everything to the operation; the attendees accepted his appeal.
  • The old man asked Lu Bai to lead the rest of the meeting, and Lu Bai described what it was like to fight the Mona people.
  • Research Institute academicians questioned Lu Bai about the Mona’s weapons and defenses, gradually making the attendees feel more prepared to fight.

Ch. 412Humanity

Lu Bai discussed the Mona threat with One-Eyed Dragon while the Conference Hall meeting concluded with orders to mobilize humanity’s shelters and investigate Mona technology. The military leaders acknowledged the enormous technological gap but resolved to resist, leaving humanity preparing for a war with no place to retreat.

  • Lu Bai left the Conference Hall and joined One-Eyed Dragon in the courtyard, where they discussed humanity’s discovery of the Mona civilization and Lu Bai’s strength.
  • One-Eyed Dragon asked how strong Lu Bai was, and Lu Bai said he was stronger than any other Deathmatch Showdown survivor.
  • The meeting concluded with orders to share its findings with shelters below number one hundred and for Dean Huai Ruohe to lead an investigation at the No. 9 Underground City Research Institute.
  • Zhu Taihong told the senior commanders that humanity’s technological gap with the Mona civilization was enormous and survival depended on how much effort the Mona people committed to the fight.
  • The commanders resolved to resist the invasion, and City Direct Military’s overall captain vowed that his forces would stand at the front.

Ch. 413The Undercurrents Stirred

Lu Bai returned home after the council meeting and resolved to save as many people as possible as Shelter Nine’s calm began to fracture. Meanwhile, a Ghost King Sect cultivator prepared to attack residents, the Can Society received orders to plunge the shelter into chaos, and Pu Xueli hurried to ask Lu Bai about the news.

  • Lu Bai learned that Lu Ziyi and Lu Qingyan had not been implicated, then went home and promised himself to save as many people as possible.
  • A Ghost King Sect cultivator who had refined more than a hundred people’s flesh and blood set her sights on the 2,397 residents of her building.
  • Ruan Boyang ordered Vice President Zheng to mobilize the Can Society and plunge the shelter into chaos before the Day of Judgment.
  • Lu Qingyan welcomed Lu Bai home and told him he suspected Lu Ziyi was dating a blond man.
  • Pu Xueli arrived, worried, and asked Lu Bai whether the news he had heard was true.

Ch. 414Campus Under Attack

Lu Bai and Pu Xueli learned that every Deathmatch campus in the Underground City was under attack by the Can Society. Lu Bai used his abilities to reach Zudian Campus quickly, where he and Pu Xueli appeared before the attackers.

  • Pu Xueli told Lu Bai that the field units had been mobilized and placed on round-the-clock alert, and Lu Bai said casualties were inevitable in a clash between civilizations.
  • Pu Xueli received a message that all Underground City campuses were under attack and rushed for the door with Lu Bai.
  • Can Society members attacked Zudian Campus while its field units were away, killing students who had never fought in a Deathmatch Showdown.
  • Lu Bai used [Ink Dye] and [Act Under Cover of Darkness] to bring himself and Pu Xueli to Zudian Campus, where Pu Xueli vomited and Lu Bai faced the attackers.

Ch. 415One Piece of Credit

Lu Bai and Principal Pu killed the two Can Society guards at Zudian Campus and moved through the school, where they found students sheltered in the Fighting Arena. A group of Can Society members then surrounded them, and Lu Bai faced the attackers with confidence.

  • A Can Society guard recognized Lu Bai, but Principal Pu killed both guards with beams from his eyes.
  • The remaining Can Society members learned the gate guards had alerted them; some fled while others joined forces to capture Lu Bai.
  • Lu Bai and Principal Pu found the skinny old man protecting dozens of students inside the Fighting Arena.
  • Six men emerged from a grove, three attackers appeared on the arena roof, and two more approached from the road, surrounding Lu Bai and Principal Pu.
  • A woman on the roof taunted Lu Bai, who surveyed the attackers and warned them to stay out of schools.

Ch. 416Successive Attacks

Lu Bai stopped the Can Society members from shooting him and took control of them to ask where the Mona people had gone. Meanwhile, an explosion devastated Xiaoxiang and Daxiang Campuses, and a second blast struck a would-be rescuer as the injured man guarding the site tried to clear the crowd.

  • A masked Can Society member aimed a shotgun at Lu Bai, who blocked the pellets with a wind-pressure barrier and made the attackers fall into a daze.
  • Lu Bai used Soul Searching to ask the Can Society members where the Mona people who had descended on the shelter were.
  • A massive explosion struck Xiaoxiang and Daxiang Campuses in Third Livability City, causing widespread damage and drawing crowds to the site.
  • An injured man emerged from the ruined guardhouse and ordered the onlookers to leave, saying City Direct Military was taking charge.
  • A spear flew from the dust and exploded after striking the young man who had urged the crowd to enter the campus and rescue people.

Ch. 417The President

The President killed Feng Yanchen and prepared to attack City Direct Military’s arriving Fourth Unit while violence spread across the shelter. Li Shan and Feng Yixuan were redirected to Zudian Campus, where they arrived to find signs that someone had already fought there.

  • The President emerged at the campus gate, identified himself to Feng Yanchen, and killed him with a spear as Feng Yanchen tried to flee.
  • The Fourth City Direct Military Unit arrived and reported that the local defensive force was presumed wiped out.
  • The President summoned a second spear and prepared to wipe out the Fourth Unit.
  • Feng Yixuan and Li Shan were urgently redirected to Zudian Campus as attacks and shortages of forces threw the shelter into chaos.
  • Li Shan and Feng Yixuan reached Zudian Campus and found bodies at the gate, suggesting reinforcements had already arrived.

Ch. 418Full Annihilation

Li Shan and Feng Yixuan found that Lu Bai and Pu Xueli had repelled the attack on Zudian Campus, while City Council forces imposed a curfew and began relief operations. After learning City Direct Military Team Four had been wiped out by the Can Society president, the chapter shifted to a young man who had killed everyone in the Livability Building and was preparing to exploit the chaos.

  • Li Shan and Feng Yixuan met Lu Bai and Pu Xueli at Zudian Campus, where Pu Xueli credited Lu Bai with stopping the attack.
  • The Captain of Team Six arrived, and City Council forces began enforcing a curfew and checking the campus for danger.
  • Lu Bai and Pu Xueli received an order to assemble near Xiaoxiang and Daxiang Campus, and Pu Xueli reported that the Can Society president had wiped out Team Four thirteen minutes earlier.
  • A young man who had killed everyone in the Livability Building stepped outside and decided to take advantage of the chaos.
  • An armored vehicle ordered the young man to go upstairs.

Ch. 419The Strong

A young Can Society fighter slaughtered soldiers enforcing martial law, while Lu Bai rushed to Xiaoxiang and Daxiang Campus and confronted the Society President. The Society President refused to reveal where the Mona people had descended and attacked Lu Bai, whose ability erased the spear.

  • A young man killed soldiers and officials with blood-based attacks before entering a Livability Building.
  • Lu Bai flew ahead of the Sixth Squad to Xiaoxiang and Daxiang Campus using three abilities.
  • Lu Bai identified the Society President by his six abilities and asked where the Mona people had descended.
  • The Society President refused to tell Lu Bai and said he believed every living thing needed to follow someone superior.
  • The Society President hurled his spear at Lu Bai, who made it vanish with [Save File] and taunted him to follow Lu Bai instead.

Ch. 420Why Were You Mona People's True Forms So Unsightly?

Lu Bai defeated the Can Society president, took information from him, and disabled the abilities of two directors before City Direct Military arrived. He then confronted Ruan Boyang at the Can Society hideout and asked whether Mona people's true forms were really so unsightly.

  • Lu Bai stripped the Can Society president of his abilities, caught him before he hit the ground, and used Mind Control to obtain information.
  • Two Can Society directors tried to escape after Lu Bai left, but they discovered they could not use their abilities and were captured by City Direct Military.
  • Ruan Boyang learned the president was in trouble but remained focused on his plan to throw the Underground City into chaos.
  • Lu Bai revealed himself in the Can Society bar, read the members' abilities, and used wind to clear the fog and bring down a wall.
  • Lu Bai faced Ruan Boyang and asked whether Mona people's true forms were really so unsightly.

Ch. 421Disaster

Lu Bai killed Ruan Boyang and helped special agents capture the Can Society members at the shelter’s main hideout. As the cleanup began, a massive explosion shook Shelter No. 9, bringing down buildings and leaving the Underground City in ruins.

  • Lu Bai questioned Ruan Boyang about the Mona forces, then killed him with wind blades.
  • Lu Bai ordered the remaining Can Society members to cooperate with the cleanup, and Vice President Zheng tried to claim he was an undercover agent and a witness.
  • Pu Xueli praised Lu Bai as special agents escorted the powerless Can Society members away.
  • Li Shan, Feng Yixuan, and the Team Six captain saw a blinding light flare inside the Underground City.
  • A huge explosion shook Shelter No. 9, cracked the holographic sky, and caused nearby Livability Buildings to collapse.

Ch. 422The End

The Heavy Element Reactor exploded, plunging the Underground City into darkness and triggering a Level One Alert as authorities struggled to contain widespread fear and disorder. When Li Shan asked Lu Bai for help, Lu Bai admitted he could not restore the reactor but said he could light up the entire city.

  • Vice President Zheng revealed that another Can Society vice president had caused the Heavy Element Reactor to explode.
  • Power failures darkened the holographic sky and districts across the Underground City, and the City Council issued its first Level One Alert.
  • Security forces deployed to maintain order as frightened residents and reckless thugs contributed to growing disorder.
  • Feng Yixuan and Pu Xueli tried to contact their superiors and friends while Li Shan asked Lu Bai to help.
  • Lu Bai said he could not restore the reactor, then snapped his fingers and declared, "Let there be light."

Ch. 423Dawn

Lu Bai restored the Underground City's lights, easing the chaos and drawing the attention of shelter officials. Meanwhile, a mysterious young man attacked civilians with supernatural power and leaped from a building toward the crowd.

  • Lu Bai illuminated the Underground City, and the returning light calmed much of the disorder.
  • Xiao Zhengyan ordered the City Council meeting to begin without Speaker Wang and sent Old Duan to protect Xue Yin.
  • Lu Bai agreed to go with Li Shan and Pu Xueli to the City Council Building after Team Six's captain offered to report his ability.
  • A young man tore apart a corpse inside a damaged Livability Building and drained a civilian at a window as special-duty officers watched.
  • The command center dispatched a City Direct Military unit, but the young man kicked through the wall and jumped from the third floor toward the crowd.

Ch. 424Wasn't he just here to pad his résumé?

A young man transformed a street into a blood pool and wiped out a special forces squad as Feng Yixuan and Li Shan traveled with Lu Bai’s group to City Hall. There, deathmatchers gathered to meet Speaker Xiao, while Baldy dismissed his newly appointed deputy captain without realizing Lu Bai was nearby.

  • A young man slaughtered people in the street, merged with the ground, and unleashed a blood torrent that swept away civilians and destroyed a special forces squad.
  • Feng Yixuan noticed activity in the distance but chose to continue with Li Shan and the others toward City Hall.
  • Lu Bai and his group arrived at City Hall, where staff escorted them to a crowded lounge as officials evacuated civilians from the plaza.
  • Lu Bai recognized the lounge’s occupants as prominent deathmatchers, including military officers and school district leaders.
  • Baldy complained that his deputy captain had been appointed merely to pad his résumé, while Captain Zhuang warned him not to judge someone he had not met.
  • Speaker Xiao entered the lounge with a group of people and thanked the gathered deathmatchers for their hard work.

Ch. 425Decision

Speaker Xiao Zhengyan announced the evacuation of Shelter No. 9, leaving one hundred thousand people to remain underground while the rest relocated to the surface. He praised Lu Bai for his accomplishments and assigned the attendees relocation duties, but a message from his chief secretary made him visibly uneasy.

  • Xiao Zhengyan told the gathering that the city council had decided to abandon Shelter No. 9 and relocate most of its population to the surface.
  • Pu Xueli asked how many people would stay, and Xiao Zhengyan said one hundred thousand had already been assigned places.
  • Xiao Zhengyan praised Lu Bai for keeping the Underground City illuminated, capturing the Can Society leader, and destroying the society's hideout.
  • Xiao Zhengyan assigned the attendees tasks to support the relocation, then prepared to leave.
  • A secretary announced that Xiao Zhengyan had received a new message from his chief secretary, and Xiao Zhengyan showed signs of panic.

Ch. 426Just Out for a Stroll?

Lu Bai agreed to join Captain Jiang in suppressing unrest in Seventh Livability City, where Team Ten had been deployed. Their routine assignment turned urgent when Sun Wei reported that Director Shen had run into trouble and a team member sent to investigate a deathmatch fighter at the E3 intersection disappeared.

  • Xiao Zhengyan left the lounge, and the assembled teams chose assignments to quell unrest across the livability cities.
  • Team Six's captain took responsibility for Fourth Livability City, while representatives from Yuji and Chuzhong argued over First Livability City.
  • Captain Jiang asked Lu Bai to accompany Team Ten to Seventh Livability City, and Lu Bai agreed.
  • Jiang drove Lu Bai out of the City Council building, which hundreds of armed soldiers now surrounded.
  • Sun Wei stopped Jiang's car and reported trouble involving Director Shen.
  • Sun Wei explained that a Team Ten member had vanished after being sent to deal with a deathmatch fighter at the E3 intersection.

Ch. 427Black Sniper

Baldy and Lu Bai investigated the disappearance of City Direct Military members at the E3 intersection, where Baldy was shot by a distant attacker hiding behind a trap. Meanwhile, Li Shan and Feng Yixuan encountered a bloodthirsty young man in Fourth Livability City, and the sniper identified himself over a phone as the Vice President.

  • Baldy drove to the E3 intersection after learning that Xiao You, the Fifteenth Seat, and Director Shen had gone missing.
  • Lu Bai and Sun Wei followed Baldy past the cordon and found three bodies stacked in the middle of the intersection.
  • Li Shan realized the killer was still nearby, and a young man emerged from behind a fallen sign to face her and Feng Yixuan.
  • Baldy approached the bodies and was struck through the chest by a distant attack.
  • Baldy found an active phone in Director Shen's corpse, identified the caller as Black Sniper, and heard him demand to be called Vice President.

Ch. 428Already Mine

Lu Bai tracked Black Sniper to a room in a Livability Building, leaving Baldy and the others behind as he confronted the Can Society Vice President. Black Sniper revealed his motives and prepared to attack, but Lu Bai took control of his tripwire.

  • Black Sniper repeatedly shot Baldy from hiding, and Baldy tried to provoke him into revealing his location.
  • Black Sniper mentioned he was wary of Lu Bai, but Lu Bai had already vanished from Sun Wei's side.
  • Lu Bai found Black Sniper in a room on the twenty-eighth floor and asked why he was only the Vice President.
  • Black Sniper said he had joined the Can Society because he opposed the social order and wanted to do what the organization did.
  • Black Sniper prepared to attack, but Lu Bai grabbed his tripwire and declared it his own.
  • Black Sniper recovered his composure and asked Lu Bai what he planned to do about the social order.

Ch. 429Blood Pool

Lu Bai bound Black Sniper and left after calling Baldy, while a young man unleashed a devastating Blood Pool that Feng Yixuan and Li Shan struggled to escape. Lu Bai headed to Fourth Livability City to repay a favor, where Team Six's captain confronted the young man over the blood he had gathered.

  • Lu Bai used his tripwire to bind Black Sniper, called Baldy with the room number, and left.
  • The young man sent a flood of blood through the streets, and Feng Yixuan used Lion's Roar to scatter the oncoming torrent.
  • Feng Yixuan grabbed Li Shan and fled as the young man blocked her sound waves with a blood barrier.
  • The man in the white trench coat healed Baldy and told him Lu Bai had gone to Fourth Livability City to repay a favor.
  • Feng Yixuan and Li Shan joined Team Six's captain as he confronted the young man in the Blood Pool, who asked whether the City Council had killed more than he had.
Arc 17 of 20