Recaps

Han Su reached the fourth floor and found Li Manman, then used her mirror to provoke the wooden dolls and draw the Pale Giant toward the room. The Pale Giant smashed through the blocked doorway, leaving Han Su and Manman facing the monster.

• Han Su entered the fourth-floor room, reviewed what he knew about the Pale Giant and the wooden dolls, and found Li Manman hiding beside the bed.
• Han Su told Manman he would save her and explained how she could help him distract the monster.
• Han Su pulled down a cabinet to block the doorway, making enough noise to attract the Pale Giant.
• Manman held a small mirror up to a wooden doll, causing it to scream in terror and alert the Pale Giant.
• The Pale Giant burst through the doorway, scattering the cabinet and smashing glass cabinets in the room.

Han Su fled the Pale Giant after discovering the key had moved, then found it beside a coffin on the fifth floor. The coffin’s occupant seized his hand, and Han Su hacked at his wrist to escape.

• Han Su found that the Pale Giant no longer carried the key and escaped while Li Manman distracted it with the mirror.
• Han Su ran to the fifth floor, where the Pale Giant could not follow, and encountered copper-armored statues set into the corridor walls.
• Han Su found the brass key hanging beside a coffin in a candlelit room and took it without initially waking anything.
• The coffin opened and a pale hand seized Han Su’s left hand, cutting him and briefly releasing his paralysis.
• Han Su clenched the key between his teeth and brought down the weapon Irritable Kid Brother had given him on his left wrist.

Han Su escaped the coffin room through the fifth-floor corridor, where his Spell revived bronze snakes and armor statues. He rescued a frightened child and passed through the EXIT door, then woke at the Disaster Management Bureau after apparently falling asleep during the Ruins' Whispers.

• Han Su fled the coffin room as bronze snakes sprang from the corridor statues, and his Spell froze the snakes while awakening the Bronze Armor Statues.
• Han Su spotted a child trapped behind a loosened iron door and chose to rescue her instead of escaping alone.
• Han Su grabbed the child, unlocked the EXIT door, and plunged through as the bronze statues bowed toward him.
• Han Su woke in a room at the Disaster Management Bureau's base, where Zhang Chiguo and a bespectacled staff member reacted in disbelief that he had fallen asleep during the Ruins' Whispers.

Han Su realized he had rescued a girl from the Ancient Castle, reducing the Kidnapping Case’s missing children from twenty-six to twenty-five. After passing the Disaster Management Bureau’s test, he wondered how he had used the incantation and escaped the Ghost Truck on this Life Path without losing an eye.

• Han Su returned to the moment after his Bureau test and discovered that both eyes and his scarred face were healed.
• Zhang Chiguo told Han Su to take his training seriously and try to join Group D1D2, while Bureau staff confirmed he showed no signs of contamination.
• The woman in the black suit warned Han Su not to discuss the Kidnapping Case casually and told him to pass the Bureau’s assessment first.
• Han Su learned that twenty-five children remained missing and realized he had rescued one girl from the Ancient Castle, though he was unsure whether her name was Meilan.
• Han Su wondered how he had used the incantation and driven off the Ghost Truck on this Life Path without the Mysterious Power from his injured eye.

Han Su discovered that this altered life path left him with a stiff, scarred left hand and changed how Song Chushi and the Disaster Management Bureau had dealt with him. After learning why the Bureau had tested him with Ruinspeak, he grew wary of his unusual ability to flicker through life paths and heard what investigators were expected to do.

• Han Su recalled that his right eye was intact in this life path, while his left hand bore a cross-shaped scar and had become stiff.
• Han Su realized Song Chushi had not given him the Spell, though Han Su had still used it against the Ghost Truck and the Bureau had suspected Song Chushi intervened.
• Cui Qiao told Han Su that the Bureau had recorded his information, would arrange leave from university, and expected him to focus on training.
• Cui Qiao explained that Ruinspeak was used to screen aberration contactees for mental contamination and assess their spiritual sensitivity and resistance; Han Su had passed by falling asleep.
• Han Su suspected that Ruinspeak had triggered his return to an earlier point in time and wondered whether he might be more dangerous than the Bureau believed.
• Cui Qiao explained that investigators traced, contained, and prevented aberrations, while concealing their existence from the public.

Han Su joined the Disaster Management Bureau and learned that his team assignment could determine whether he became an investigator or cannon fodder. While confined overnight, he tested the Spell and realized it could activate abilities tied to his right eye and injured left hand, possibly preserving powers across different Life Paths.

• Secretary Cui Qiao explained the Bureau's teams and urged Han Su to qualify for Group D1D2 while warning him to avoid Group D5D6.
• Han Su completed his intake paperwork and was escorted to a secured room to spend the night before training.
• Han Su silently recited the Spell and felt his Mental Power flow first toward his right eye, then toward the Cross Scar on his left hand.
• Han Su reasoned that his right eye could use the Pallor monster's melting ability, while his left hand might hold the coffin monster's ability that had not yet fully awakened.
• Han Su suspected the Spell had recorded his right-eye power on a previous Life Path and could carry Mysterious Powers across time and space.

Han Su joined more than twenty recruits for the Disaster Management Bureau’s assessment and training. Their instructor introduced a classified handbook of mission rules as both their first lesson and final assessment, leaving Han Su to read rules that demanded the suppression of all belief in anomalies.

• Han Su met the other trainees, including Xu Qingyi, Pastor Chen, and Black Tiger, and said he had more than a dozen lives on his hands.
• An instructor rebuked the trainees for trying to get acquainted and explained that their performance would determine their team assignments, though they could leave after completing the required training period.
• Staff distributed a classified handbook, and the instructor gave the trainees one week to memorize it before returning it.
• Han Su read the handbook’s opening rules, which ordered operatives to dismiss or eliminate witnesses to anomalies, remove people who believed in the supernatural, and report historical records from before the Reconstruction Era.

Han Su and the other trainees began studying a handbook of rules before a new assessment involving a Cipher Incantation. After staff debated his weak spiritual sensitivity, Zhang Chiguo approved an A-rank evaluation based on Han Su’s composure during a Ghost Truck encounter and his resistance to supernatural whispers.

• The instructor gave the trainees a handbook to memorize and said they needed at least three A's to enter Group D1D2.
• Han Su found no information about the Dark Fortress in the rules and noticed a gold-rimmed-glasses man barely studying.
• The instructor exempted Han Su and the girl in black hood from the Cipher Incantation assessment, citing their earlier experiences.
• Zhang Chiguo's staff debated Han Su's evaluation, initially considering a C-class rating because he had fallen asleep during the incantation.
• Cui Qiao and another staff member argued that Han Su's calmness around the Ghost Truck and resistance to the incantation made him a promising operative.
• Zhang Chiguo agreed that Han Su deserved an A-rank evaluation and asked for the report to be brought to him for his signature.

Han Su watched trainees suffer strange reactions to an ancient secret language, then learned that Mysterious Power training used spiritual sensitivity to let Mental Power penetrate reality. The black-hooded girl explained that Cipher Incantations and other mediums let humans imitate the gods, leaving Han Su with a glimpse of the powers behind supernatural abilities.

• Several trainees were carried from the listening room after convulsing or speaking ominously, and Han Su's hand scar ached when one shouted about the Bronze Age.
• Han Su asked the instructor about the language and learned that it tested spiritual reactions and intuition.
• The instructor explained that Mysterious Power training enabled controlled spiritual penetration, allowing people to use supernatural powers.
• The instructor said highly sensitive trainees could hear distinct sounds, gain talents, or perceive spells in ancient languages.
• The black-hooded girl said some believed the secret language came from the gods, and described how humans used spiritual penetration and mediums to imitate divine powers.

After the trainees completed six days of general instruction, the Bureau assigned them a final field mission to determine their group placements. Han Su drew a mission guarding an elevator at Huaguang Building, and Dong Wei taught him how to use his Service Pistol before denying that she had ever used the name Meilan.

• The instructor ended the trainees’ instruction and explained that their final evaluation would include missions, while two trainees with strong spiritual intuition would join Group D1 and a third would be sent for study.
• Han Su drew a mission to guard Elevator B3 at Huaguang Building from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., report abnormalities, and shoot any human-shaped creatures that emerged.
• Han Su and the other trainees collected real Service Pistols, but Han Su admitted he did not know how to operate his gun.
• Dong Wei offered to teach Han Su and carefully demonstrated how to load, ready, aim, and reload the pistol as other trainees watched.
• Han Su introduced himself to Dong Wei and asked whether she had ever used the name Meilan, but she denied it.

Han Su and the other trainees began a night mission guarding a powerless elevator in an empty office building. Zhao Da'er explained that people had vanished there and that they were to shoot anything living that emerged, leaving them to wait for the mission to begin at ten.

• Han Su learned basic firearm handling before a staff member led him and the other trainees to meet Zhao Da'er, their examiner and team leader.
• Zhao Da'er briefed the group, and they rode in black armored vehicles to a dark fifty-story building.
• Zhao Da'er led the team to the thirty-ninth floor, where they took positions facing four elevators and prepared to watch them from ten at night until three in the morning.
• Han Su asked why they had to guard the elevator, and Zhao Da'er explained that five people had gone missing in the building that month.
• Zhao Da'er revealed that anomalies might emerge from the powerless elevator and ordered the team to shoot anything living that came out.

Han Su and the trainees completed an overnight watch at an out-of-service elevator, but an apparent apparition appeared just as they were leaving. Little fatty revealed the watch had been an evaluation, and the chapter ended when all four elevators arrived at their floor despite no one pressing a button.

• Han Su and the trainees guarded the elevator until three in the morning without incident, then received orders to return to base.
• As the group turned to leave, a pale hand reached out of the elevator, and the camouflage man spun around and fired until his gun was empty.
• Little fatty said the camouflage man had reacted well but had violated procedure by firing without orders, so he would recommend a B-class rating; the other trainees had followed the rules.
• Little fatty explained that the elevator apparition had been an illusion for the evaluation and told everyone to leave for late-night food.
• All four elevators chimed and showed they had arrived at the group's floor, though no one had pressed the button.

Han Su and the others were attacked when all four elevators opened and disgorged pale, face-less creatures. As the camouflage man fought to rescue the trainees, Han Su’s Cross Scar awakened and gave him the strength to pull the man free, leaving the creatures still pouring from the elevators.

• Han Su sensed danger and warned the group just before all four elevators opened and the pale creatures poured out, knocking several trainees down.
• Han Su shot the creatures while the camouflage man fought through them and rescued the pinned trainees.
• Han Su stopped a frightened trainee from firing blindly, and the little fatty ordered the group to shoot carefully.
• More twisted creatures grabbed the camouflage man and tried to drag him into an elevator.
• Han Su’s Cross Scar turned copper-colored and strengthened his left hand, allowing him to pull the camouflage man free and hurl him out of the creatures’ grasp.

Han Su used his left hand’s unusual strength and steadiness during an evaluation against impostors that were evolving into humans. When the trainees’ defensive line failed, he sealed the corridor with a roll-down gate, trapping the little fatty team leader on the other side.

• Han Su rescued the camouflage man and helped hold back the advancing impostors with little fatty.
• Han Su recognized the encounter as an evaluation and discovered that his left hand made him unusually steady when firing a gun.
• At the Bureau base, Zhang Chiguo and the staff praised Han Su and the camouflage man for their composure and skill.
• Little fatty stopped the shooting, drew a blood line that briefly forced the impostors back, and then failed to hold them when more poured from the elevator.
• Han Su pulled the camouflage man away and lowered a corridor gate, trapping the impostors and little fatty behind it.

Han Su completed the operational assessment after helping contain the impostors in the elevator, then returned to base with the other trainees. The code-of-conduct assessment began, and Doctor’s results appeared with mostly A grades and a C in Ciphertext.

• The little fatty used his bloodline to force the impostors back into the elevator and scolded the camouflage man for trying to release them.
• The little fatty explained that the Bureau contained uncanny forces seeking to seep into reality, while Han Su questioned whether they were connected to spiritual penetration.
• Zhang Chiguo praised Han Su’s assessment performance and slipped him something to help him get along with his colleagues.
• The instructor announced that the operational assessment results were in and invited trainees to take the code-of-conduct test.
• Doctor volunteered to go first and emerged about ten minutes later with A grades in Code of Conduct, Insight, Adaptability, and Execution, a B in Containment, and a C in Ciphertext.

Han Su completed the Disaster Management Bureau’s evaluation and received five A-rank scores, but the system assigned him the codename Butcher instead of his preferred choice. Zhang Chiguo reconsidered Han Su’s prospects and decided he might be capable of joining the D2 Team and learning more.

• The man with gold-rimmed glasses earned four A-rank results, while Black Tiger received two A's and Crow received four A's, two S's, and an additional evaluation.
• Han Su answered Miss Ai’s questions about the impostors and his decisions during the internship mission, then gave his preferred codename as Sparkling Handsome Man.
• Han Su’s results appeared as five A’s and one B, under the codename Butcher, leaving him and the other trainees stunned.
• Zhang Chiguo saw Han Su’s results and worried that his evaluation had made him stand out too much.
• After rewatching Han Su’s footage, Zhang Chiguo concluded that Han Su could safely join the D2 Team and might have earned the right to learn certain things.

Han Su bonded with the other trainees during a smoke break, learning why they had joined the Disaster Management Bureau and offering to help them find opportunities. Miss Crow warned them that passing the evaluation was only the start of the danger, and Han Su proposed they stay in touch as a group.

• Han Su took Black Tiger, Doctor, and Mouse to the emergency exit for a smoke and asked what had brought them to the Bureau.
• Doctor explained that he had uncovered signs of a force concealing the supernatural, while Black Tiger sought revenge for his unit’s defeat and Mouse hoped to obtain an artifact that could treat his illness.
• Han Su offered to recommend Black Tiger and Doctor for suitable work and reassured Mouse that the Bureau would value his contributions.
• Miss Crow warned the trainees that field operatives were both the first line of defense against mysterious infiltration and expendable to the forces threatening reality.
• Han Su asked Doctor about the rules and proposed starting a group chat once the trainees received their phones and team assignments.

The trainees completed their training and learned the rules, assignments, and equipment of the Disaster Management Bureau. Han Su received his D2 assignment and wondered where Old Zhang had been placed.

• The instructor explained that the groups had different duties and levels of freedom, and warned that breaking the rules could lead to demotion or confinement.
• The instructor issued the trainees Thunderbolt 101 stun batons and Bureau IDs, explaining that the IDs granted conditional immunity from ordinary laws but required reports and approval.
• Crow told Han Su that investigators often avoided guns because they were noisy and exposed users to enemies' gaze.
• Miss Ai's encrypted messaging app sent Han Su his assignment to the D2 Work Group with the codename Butcher and an initial rating of C+.
• Han Su saw that Doctor and Black Tiger were also assigned to D2, while Crow and other S-rated trainees were in D1, and he searched the group for Old Zhang.

After joining the Disaster Management Bureau’s D2 Team, Han Su returned to his apartment with Secretary Cui Qiao, who revealed and destroyed surveillance devices planted there. Cui Qiao explained that Han Su’s early assignments would affect his evaluation and his chance to receive Mysterious Power training.

• Cui Qiao drove Han Su home and explained that his D2 Team assignment let him keep his studies and social connections, though he had to protect the Bureau’s secrets.
• Han Su described his supposedly cheap apartment and the wealthy friend who had helped him move in.
• Cui Qiao touched a live outlet, sensed hidden surveillance devices, and found bugs, a camera, and a data-stealing device in Han Su’s laptop.
• Cui Qiao destroyed the devices with electrical sparks, causing people monitoring Han Su to suffer disrupted signals and damaged equipment.
• Cui Qiao warned Han Su to take future assignments seriously because his evaluation would determine whether he could receive Mysterious Power training.
• Cui Qiao told Han Su that her ability came from Spiritual Penetration training and the second Sequence Three Cipher Incantation.

Han Su learned that using Mysterious Power brought people closer to the monsters beneath reality, but he doubted the danger could deter him. Zhang Chiguo and Cui Qiao visited to celebrate Han Su joining the Disaster Management Bureau, and their home-cooked meal brought back memories of Zhang caring for him after the Kidnapping Case.

• Cui Qiao explained that using abilities drained Mental Power and that Spiritual Penetration drew practitioners closer to monsters lurking beneath the world.
• Han Su wondered whether the monsters that had kidnapped him as a child had left Mysterious Power in his body, then tested his left-hand ability and cracked a bowl.
• Han Su considered touching a monster in the Ancient Castle to see whether he could gain another power.
• Zhang Chiguo arrived with Cui Qiao and groceries, explaining that he had come to cook Han Su a celebratory meal.
• Han Su helped prepare vegetables and remembered how Zhang Chiguo had cared for him after the Kidnapping Case.

Zhang Chiguo told Han Su how his investigation into the Kidnapping Case led him to join the Disaster Management Bureau and how powerful figures blocked the case from being treated as a Bizarre Incident. He revealed that, despite being ordered to stop, he found a new lead through Han Su’s mother.

• Cui Qiao secured the apartment against surveillance so Zhang Chiguo and Han Su could speak privately.
• Zhang Chiguo explained that investigating the Kidnapping Case drew Secretary Number 5’s attention and led him to help establish the Disaster Management Bureau.
• Zhang Chiguo said his reports linking the Kidnapping Case to the bizarre were rejected, and the Bureau was forbidden from investigating it further.
• Zhang Chiguo told Han Su that he had continued investigating despite the warning and had found a new lead: Han Su’s mother.

Zhang Chiguo revealed evidence that Han Su’s missing mother may still be in the city and warned him that pursuing the Kidnapping Case could put him in danger. Han Su agreed to proceed carefully but persuaded Zhang Chiguo to share the leads now, and Zhang Chiguo began to give in.

• Zhang Chiguo explained that he found Han Su’s old school transfer record and a group photo showing the Tall, Thin Woman.
• Zhang Chiguo told Han Su that he had seen the woman three years earlier while handling an incident involving a Mysterious Organization, and he was certain it was her.
• Zhang Chiguo warned Han Su that investigating the organization could expose him to powerful people and urged him to become an investigator first.
• Zhang Chiguo explained that the Disaster Management Bureau’s rules and power struggles could both constrain and endanger Han Su, while promising to keep watching over him.
• Han Su agreed not to investigate recklessly but asked Zhang Chiguo to share the case leads immediately in case something happened to him.
• Zhang Chiguo agreed to tell Han Su the leads, warning him to be very careful.

After learning more about the Crystal Skull organization, Han Su accepted his first Disaster Management Bureau assignment: monitoring a streetlight on Chunhua Street. He recorded its brief outages, completed the commission, and received a higher initial rating.

• Han Su asked Black Rose about the Crystal Skull organization and learned it had worshipped a crystal skull before disappearing from Qinggang City after a crackdown.
• Han Su decided to keep Black Rose as a confidential adviser and remembered Zhang Chiguo's warning to avoid mysterious organizations until he could protect himself.
• The Disaster Management Bureau assigned Han Su to record when a streetlight on Chunhua Street turned off and on between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
• Han Su watched the streetlight overnight, recorded three flickers and two brief outages, then submitted his data and completed the assignment.
• Miss Ai told Han Su that his initial rating was being raised for helping protect the reality barrier.

Han Su carried out a string of routine Disaster Management Bureau assignments while learning that four trainees had died and that Miss Ai personally assigned his tasks. During a cinema assignment, he detected an abnormal shadow and alerted the Bureau, then encountered a man from the Xu Family on his way home.

• Han Su asked Cui Qiao about his tedious assignments, and she explained that new recruits started with such tasks and that Miss Ai assigned them.
• Han Su contacted Miss Ai through the Bureau app, learned what she could do, and continued completing assignments as his rating rose from C+ to B-.
• Han Su worried about another kidnapping and about Xu Ji's absence, then received an assignment to watch a deserted movie at Dadi Cinema.
• Han Su spotted a shadow moving behind the movie on the screen and sent an alert through the app.
• Miss Ai instructed Han Su to leave, and Bureau investigators and armed personnel sealed off the cinema after he walked away.
• A man from the Xu Family approached Han Su beside a black car and asked whether he had been busy.

Assistant Xu thanked Han Su on behalf of Xu Ji and the Xu family, explaining why Han Su and Xu Ji were being kept apart and warning that the supernatural was drawn to people with deep exposure. He hinted that Han Su’s past Kidnapping Case remained mysterious even to those with status, then showed him a result outside the car.

• Assistant Xu offered Han Su an apartment transfer and six million, but Han Su asked only for the building management fees and questioned whether accepting money would separate him from Xu Ji.
• Assistant Xu explained that Han Su and Xu Ji had both been deeply exposed to the supernatural, so the Xu family had grounded Xu Ji to reduce the danger, especially while the Ghost Truck remained missing.
• Assistant Xu told Han Su that status, rather than wealth alone, gave people access to knowledge about the mysterious, and said the Disaster Management Bureau helped keep ordinary people from learning too much.
• Assistant Xu said humanity was not chasing the mysterious; the mysterious had always been chasing humanity.
• Han Su asked Assistant Xu what he thought of the Kidnapping Case, and Assistant Xu admitted that even people familiar with Qinggang’s supernatural shadows found it too mysterious to understand.
• When the car stopped, Assistant Xu changed the subject and opened the curtains, asking Han Su whether he was satisfied with the result outside.