Chapter Summaries

Lu Bai reflected on his place in a society he distrusted and returned home after dinner with Xiao Xueyin, who warned him to avoid the Can Society. In the days that followed, life stayed quiet as the New Birth Festival approached, until Lu Bai received a notification and turned to Xiao Xueyin.

• Xiao Xueyin warned Lu Bai that the authorities monitored the Can Society and advised him to keep his distance.
• Lu Bai left dinner early, and Xiao Xueyin drove him toward Livability City while discussing how his life differed from ordinary people's.
• Lu Bai returned home, found Lu Ziyi waiting for him, and ate the cold food she had set aside before going to sleep.
• Lu Bai continued practicing at Zudian Campus while the Can Society stayed silent and Xiao Xueyin kept visiting him.
• As the New Birth Festival approached, Lu Bai received a chime on his smart screen and asked Xiao Xueyin, "Now?"

Lu Bai agreed to attend Zudian Campus’s student exchange after Xiao Xueyin invited him. Meanwhile, Ding Zhongmin recruited Ding Zhen to provide technical support for President Zheng’s plan to attack a group of promising reserve students.

• Lu Bai turned down Xiao Xueyin’s invitation to meet influential heirs, but agreed to go watch the campus exchange.
• Ding Zhongmin met Ding Zhen at an internet cafe, where Ding Zhen agreed to provide technical support when the time came.
• Ding Zhongmin reported to President Zheng, who revealed that he had deliberately tipped off Daxiang’s field operations department about their previous gathering.
• President Zheng said their new plan would take out a whole group of promising reserve students, and Ding Zhongmin predicted campus exchanges would end afterward.

The annual Deathmatch school exchange filled a sports complex in the Democratic Zone, where Lu Bai and Xiao Xueyin watched the matches. Ding Zhongmin started Ding Zhen’s operation, and a blast struck the stands as a laser tripwire grenade appeared.

• The ten Deathmatch schools competed in hand-to-hand matches before a large paying crowd, while instructors discussed the students’ abilities.
• Lu Bai and Xiao Xueyin watched from a luxury box and discussed the strength and prospects of the female students.
• Ding Zhongmin pushed back his hood and sent the signal to begin the operation.
• The complex’s screens flickered and went black, angering spectators and leaving the instructors waiting for technicians.
• A furious spectator stepped across the Safe passage, triggering a laser tripwire grenade that exploded and hurled spectators into the arena.

Explosions struck all sixteen Safe passages at the stadium, and President Zheng then launched a vehicle packed with special chemical fuel into the gathered students and team leaders. As Lu Bai watched the devastation from the VIP box, Xiao Xueyin realized the attackers had targeted the Deathmatch students.

• Explosions at all sixteen Safe passages injured and killed spectators, while Lu Bai and Xiao Xueyin survived the blast beneath their VIP box.
• Xiao Xueyin blamed Can Society, and Lu Bai questioned how he had failed to anticipate the attack.
• Outside the stadium, President Zheng directed a blond young man to drive a modified off-road vehicle toward the stadium and detonate it.
• With communications cut off, Liang Fuzhong and the other team leaders gathered students and tried to guide them to safety.
• The vehicle smashed through the stadium wall and exploded among the gathered students and team leaders, killing everyone in the blast radius.
• Lu Bai watched from the VIP box as Xiao Xueyin realized the attackers had targeted the Deathmatch students.

After the stadium bombing, Lu Bai returned to his routine while the authorities staged Operation Sweep against Can Society, which failed to capture any important members. As the New Birth Festival approached, Pu Xueli pressed Lu Bai for an answer about dinner, but Lu Bai put him off because he was secretly preparing for another Deathmatch Showdown.

• Lu Bai stayed at the stadium after the explosion, then left Xiao Xueyin and went home to Livability City.
• Can Society claimed responsibility for the bombing, while the public panicked and Lu Bai wondered why the group had not told him about its plan.
• Over the following half month, campus field teams launched Operation Sweep, destroying Can Society bases but arresting no important members.
• Pu Xueli stopped Lu Bai at the campus gate and demanded an answer about the New Birth Festival dinner invitation.
• Lu Bai promised to answer the next day, concealing that he had not told anyone about the upcoming Deathmatch Showdown.

Lu Bai entered the Fifth Deathmatch Showdown, chose Maoshan Daoism from the first-round Ability Pool, and explored the apartment tied to his assigned identity. He discovered that he was an eighteen-year-old high school dropout whose parents had died and who survived by working as a food delivery rider.

• Lu Bai registered for the Deathmatch Showdown at Desheng Tower and waited until the system teleported him into the arena.
• Lu Bai hid his secondary titles and found himself alone in a rented apartment with a tracksuit, scooter keys, and an old phone.
• Lu Bai rejected Holy Lord Dragonization because it was irreversible and ruled out the Sign-in System because its rewards depended on luck and time.
• Lu Bai chose Maoshan Daoism, learned its spells, and found that they were less powerful than he had expected.
• Lu Bai checked the phone and learned that his assigned identity was an eighteen-year-old dropout with deceased parents who worked as a food delivery rider.

Lu Bai explored the unnaturally silent city and entered a park, where an old man revealed himself as a dangerous tour guide. The police recognized the threat as the elderly tour guide from Sequence 183 and rushed to respond.

• Lu Bai rode his scooter through the quiet residential complex and empty streets, noticing a police officer react fearfully to him.
• Lu Bai entered the park after sensing that something was watching him and found no birds or insects there.
• An old man emerged from the bushes, introduced himself as a tour guide, and produced a blood-red triangular flag.
• Lu Bai refused to follow the old man and confronted him about forcing people to buy things.
• The officer on duty reported that someone had entered the park, and a middle-aged man identified the threat as the elderly tour guide from Sequence 183 and headed over with help.

Lu Bai entered the park’s supernatural territory and attacked the white-haired tour guide, making the hidden paths reappear. After seeing police gather outside, Lu Bai released darkness to engulf them, hoping to avoid being arrested.

• The white-haired tour guide led Lu Bai through a park whose paths had vanished into dense woods.
• Lu Bai used a simplified Evil Repelling Technique on the tour guide, setting him on fire and revealing the path.
• Police arrived and identified Lu Bai as a civilian who had wandered into Sequence 183’s territory, then called an expert team.
• Lu Bai spotted the officers from behind a flower bed and engulfed them in darkness, causing them to panic.

Lu Bai learned that paranormal entities had appeared around the world two years earlier and that humanity was struggling to contain them. Meanwhile, officers investigated the darkness he had created and the missing electric scooter, then found charred objects and an unfamiliar incense scent in the park.

• Lu Bai escaped the officers during the blackout, returned to his apartment, and read online about the paranormal crisis and the entities’ danger rankings.
• The darkness faded, and the middle-aged officer found that none of his team had been harmed, though Lu Bai’s electric scooter was missing.
• The officers guarded the park overnight while experts tested Old Man Tour Guide’s range and searched unsuccessfully for the scooter thief.
• The Action Department entered the park in a chained line and found charred objects beside a bench with a faint scent of incense.
• The team leader wondered what the charred objects were because Old Man Tour Guide’s victims were believed to disappear without a trace.

Captain Mao’s team discovered that the charred fragments might be the first remains ever recovered from a dead anomaly, while Li Hanbin independently tracked down the electric scooter’s owner. Li Hanbin found the scooter outside Lu Bai’s basement rental and called the Action Department, fearing the anomaly that took it might be nearby.

• Captain Mao learned that Lu Bai, an eighteen-year-old local resident, owned the scooter, but the surveillance cameras had malfunctioned.
• Captain Mao received test results suggesting the charred fragments were anomalous flesh and blood and ordered more samples sent for analysis.
• Li Hanbin continued investigating the scooter’s owner after the Action Department stopped searching for Lu Bai’s address.
• Li Hanbin followed Lu Bai’s landlady to the basement rental and spotted the missing electric scooter outside.
• Li Hanbin called the Action Department to report that he had found the scooter and feared the anomaly was nearby.

After the Action Department evacuated the residential complex, Lu Bai emerged from the basement unharmed and explained that he had encountered the Old Man Tour Guide in Bamboo Grove Park. The interview ended when a scream came from Building 8, prompting Captain Mao and the others to respond to a new incident.

• Li Hanbin waited for backup, and the Action Department evacuated the residents before approaching the scooter and basement.
• Lu Bai opened the basement door and emerged sleepy but unharmed, leaving Captain Mao and Li Hanbin puzzled.
• At the temporary shelter, Li Hanbin questioned Lu Bai about the previous night, and Captain Mao identified the white-haired man as Sequence 183, the Old Man Tour Guide.
• Lu Bai claimed he had pinned the Old Man Tour Guide down after learning Maoshan Daoism, then described a black creature biting off the old man's head.
• A hysterical scream came from Building 8, and Captain Mao called the personnel to attention.

A fully formed Sequence 65 Red-clothed Female Ghost appeared in Building Eight and trapped the residential complex within a vast territory of yin energy. As residents and Action Department agents tried to evacuate, Lu Bai opened his spiritual eyes, and the ghost leaped from the fourth-floor window.

• Captain Mao led the Action Department agents into Building Eight to investigate the screams, while Li Hanbin stayed outside with Lu Bai.
• A fourth-floor room glowed red, and Captain Mao recognized the signs of the Red-clothed Female Ghost and ordered residents to evacuate.
• The ghost revealed its fully formed body, prompting Captain Mao to order an immediate evacuation.
• Lu Bai chanted a spell and opened his spiritual eyes, revealing a gigantic inverted-bowl-shaped field of yin energy covering the residential complex.
• Residents discovered they could not escape the complex, and the Red-clothed Female Ghost leaped from the fourth-floor windowsill.

Lu Bai confronted the Red-clothed Female Ghost, breaking her hold over the crowd with the Lightning Law and weakening her with a willow branch. As the Action Department watched in shock, Captain Mao asked Lu Bai to finish her off.

• The Red-clothed Female Ghost bewitched nearby residents and drew them toward her while Captain Mao and the Action Department fired at her.
• Lu Bai picked a willow branch and walked toward the ghost, telling Li Hanbin that he would handle her.
• Lu Bai channeled the Lightning Law, freeing the bewitched civilians and scorching the Red-clothed Female Ghost.
• Lu Bai struck the ghost repeatedly with the willow branch, making her shrink and scream until she could no longer fight back.
• Captain Mao asked Lu Bai to put the Red-clothed Female Ghost out of her misery.

Lu Bai became a public symbol of hope after killing the Red-clothed Female Ghost, while the government organized the Lu Bai Bureau to support and study him. Captain Mao brought him to Keshan University of Arts to investigate the disappearance of six female students.

• Lu Bai destroyed the Red-clothed Female Ghost, and Captain Mao recognized that Lu Bai had also dealt with the Old Man Tour Guide.
• The government publicized Lu Bai’s abilities, and public opinion embraced him as humanity’s Guardian God.
• Lu Bai served as a consultant rather than joining the Action Department, while the government established the Lu Bai Bureau to support and study him.
• Captain Mao told Lu Bai that six female students had disappeared from Keshan University of Arts and that the Action Department had found no clues.
• Lu Bai arrived at Keshan University of Arts, where a crowd of administrators, officers, and citizens gathered to welcome him.

Lu Bai searched Keshan University of Arts for the supernatural entity but found no sign of it in the women’s dormitory or an unused teaching building. As he waited to see what would happen after dark, several deathmatchers watched the news and began moving toward the campus.

• Lu Bai arrived at Keshan University of Arts, where Captain Mao led him to the women’s dormitory, but Lu Bai found almost no yin energy and said the supernatural entity probably was not there.
• An observer reported Lu Bai’s attention to black tights to the bureau, which ordered its Entertainment Division to require women there to wear them.
• At a private hospital, a suited man cut up a corpse while discussing whether supernatural entities could be created, and Fu Xuejia teased him about Lu Bai’s televised appearance.
• A construction worker watching Lu Bai’s broadcast left with a large wrench, while three taxi drivers decided to go see what was happening.
• Lu Bai checked an unused teaching building and found no yin energy there either; he told Captain Mao they should wait until dark to see what happened.

Lu Bai confronted the Drowned Ghost in the university security office and used an Eight Trigrams Mirror, a talisman, and a Coin Sword to pin it to the wall. He learned that the ghost believed Lu Bai had been marked and prepared to question it about who was behind the attacks.

• Captain Mao and the observer surnamed Chen sought Lu Bai's protection when the Drowned Ghost appeared in the security office.
• Captain Mao noted that the Drowned Ghost normally did not choose its prey, prompting Lu Bai to suspect other supernatural beings or a hidden culprit.
• Lu Bai used the Eight Trigrams Mirror to charge the Coin Sword with moonlight, but its first strike failed to pierce the Drowned Ghost.
• The Drowned Ghost claimed Lu Bai had been marked, then attacked him with its hair.
• Lu Bai dodged, stuck a Yellow Paper Talisman to the ghost's hair, and pinned the Drowned Ghost to the wall with the Coin Sword.
• Lu Bai approached the pinned Drowned Ghost and demanded an explanation.

Lu Bai waited at Keshan University of Arts for the uncanny being that had disrupted the campus surveillance. When it entered the security office, Captain Mao identified it as the Drowned Ghost, Sequence 81.

• Lu Bai noticed static on a campus surveillance feed, and Captain Mao traced the disturbance to Huixin Lake but could not identify the uncanny being.
• Lu Bai chose to wait in the security office, expecting the being to come to them.
• The security office lights went out, and Lu Bai sensed Yin energy as dragging sounds approached the door.
• A foul wind pushed open the door, and a strange humanoid figure appeared and entered the room.
• Lu Bai found that the figure vanished under the flashlight beam and reappeared in the dark, while Captain Mao identified it as the Drowned Ghost, Sequence 81.

After Lu Bai destroyed the Drowned Ghost, the Action Department prepared to livestream the cleanup to reassure the public. Lu Bai suspected another supernatural entity was in the school and headed into the Teaching Building as the livestream drew tens of millions of viewers.

• Lu Bai destroyed the Drowned Ghost with talismans, restoring the security office's electronic devices and communications.
• Captain Mao reported that Lu Bai had dealt with the entity, and the Action Department celebrated the news.
• Minister Zhang ordered Observer 73's footage to be livestreamed so the public could see the operation.
• Lu Bai suspected there was another supernatural entity at the school and walked toward the Teaching Building, followed by Captain Mao and Observer Chen.
• Observer Chen and his superiors hesitated over whether to keep filming as the livestream's audience surged, and Minister Zhang ordered them to cut the feed if anything went wrong.

Lu Bai entered the teaching building with Captain Mao and Observer Chen and encountered a paranormal force that burst from an office, revealing a construction worker Death Fighter in distress. The livestream captured the confrontation as the worker called for help, while Lu Bai studied him.

• Citizens watching the livestream noticed that the supposedly routine cleanup had become a tense confrontation, and Minister Zhang decided to keep the feed running and trust Lu Bai.
• Lu Bai felt a supernatural chill in the teaching building and heard a faint cry for help coming from a second-floor office.
• Captain Mao checked communications and requested the building’s floor plan while Lu Bai approached the office.
• The office door exploded, sending a blue-green wave through the corridor and revealing a construction worker Death Fighter.
• The construction worker pleaded for help as Lu Bai observed him, and the man recalled that his group had hidden in the building before their accomplices began running into trouble.

Lu Bai confronted a gigantic Bloody Meatball in the Teaching Building and learned from Captain Mao that it was an Abomination, a city-destroying supernatural entity. The livestream viewers panicked as the threat became clear.

• Lu Bai noticed vein-like flesh spreading from an office and asked the surviving Construction Worker what was inside.
• Lu Bai approached the office and found a massive Bloody Meatball covered in limbs and eyes.
• The Bloody Meatball charged, smashing through the office wall and cracking the corridor floor.
• The Construction Worker told Lu Bai that the monster was slow to react and that he had escaped its grasp.
• Lu Bai's talisman had no effect on the Bloody Meatball, and Captain Mao identified it as an Abomination.
• The livestream viewers recognized the Abomination and panicked, including one who lived in Keshanshi City.