Recaps

Han Su accepted the Xu Family’s money and asked Assistant Xu to find Meilan, while the family’s intervention made people pursuing the bounty more cautious. On the fourteenth day, the Flash began to flicker but failed to take hold, and Han Su received an urgent mission ordering operatives to assemble.

• Assistant Xu showed Han Su two former Public Security Bureau officers getting their legs broken and offered him money and help with the Black Table bounty.
• Han Su accepted the money and asked the Xu Family to search for Meilan using the few details he remembered.
• Assistant Xu agreed to look for Meilan and privately wondered whether she was someone he knew.
• Black Rose told Han Su that the attack on the former officers had made bounty hunters more cautious, and Han Su spent the next three days waiting for the Flash.
• Han Su felt the Flash begin just before four, but its signs faded before it could take hold.
• Han Su received an emergency D2-level mission ordering operatives to collect firearms and report to Pinghu Road to assist Investigator Codename: Mr. Strange Bird.

Han Su joined a street patrol tasked with finding a mysterious door and was ordered to recite a dangerous Spell. He refused after Miss Crow warned him, but his partner recited it and shot a woman whose face appeared distorted.

• Han Su collected a Service Pistol and met the other field personnel at a restaurant, where Strange Bird ordered them to search for people with obscured faces.
• Strange Bird instructed the patrol teams to recite a Spell, promising improved evaluations and promotion for their obedience.
• Han Su received a direct warning from Miss Crow and chose not to repeat the Spell.
• Han Su's partner recited the Spell and told him field personnel had to gamble with their lives to survive and advance.
• Han Su spotted a woman with a distorted face, and his partner shot her before Han Su could decide what to do.

Han Su and Mr. Strange Bird fought blurred shadows that possessed people and pursued a mysterious shop door. After Han Su failed to block the entrance and the shadows vanished inside, Strange Bird confronted him, then praised his response and asked his name and team.

• Han Su watched his Executor teammate shoot a woman with a blurred face, and Strange Bird reported an anomaly at Line 2.
• Blurred shadows attacked Han Su and the Executor, possessing bystanders and infecting the Executor until Han Su drove one off with an electric baton.
• Strange Bird rushed toward the source of the shadows, ignored the surrounded Executor, and shot him before using a Spell to slip past the attackers.
• Strange Bird mistakenly opened a nearby home, then spotted the shadows racing toward a half-open shop and ordered Han Su to block its door with his body.
• Han Su struck at the shadows with his electric baton but did not block the entrance, and the shadows slipped inside the shop and disappeared.
• Strange Bird confronted Han Su about failing to stop the shadows, but then smiled, praised him, and asked which team he belonged to and what his name was.

After a disastrous mission, Han Su reported the Strange Bird Investigator for multiple violations, leading both men to be questioned at the Disaster Management Bureau. Han Su learned that the investigator would face no punishment because his eagerness to earn merit earned him leeway.

• The Strange Bird Investigator ended the mission and ordered the scene cleaned up, while Han Su and the others returned to the bureau.
• The Strange Bird Investigator blamed Han Su for the failure and instructed his assistant to write a report against him.
• Han Su asked Doctor and Crow to list the investigator’s violations, then called Uncle Zhang to report him immediately.
• Armed personnel escorted Han Su and the Strange Bird Investigator for questioning, and Zhang Chiguo took the investigator’s briefcase.
• Han Su recounted the mission to Secretary Cui Qiao, who told him he was unlikely to face trouble but that the Strange Bird Investigator would also avoid punishment.

Strange Bird Investigator argued with Zhang Chiguo over the failed mission and tried to claim Han Su as his assistant, but Zhang warned him about Crow and the woman in the Red Trench Coat. Cui Qiao then explained Han Su’s precarious position and the paths to receiving investigator training, leaving him eager to become an investigator’s assistant.

• Strange Bird Investigator blamed a field operative for the failed mission, while Zhang Chiguo accused him of choosing the wrong door, breaking rules, and rushing ahead for credit.
• Strange Bird Investigator asked to transfer Han Su to work as his assistant, but Zhang Chiguo refused and warned him that Crow was connected to the woman in the Red Trench Coat.
• Zhang Chiguo told Strange Bird Investigator that he could seek the transfer through higher authorities, but implied he could also persuade the woman in the Red Trench Coat to retaliate over his treatment of Crow.
• Cui Qiao warned Han Su that Strange Bird Investigator had been angered by the report and that Han Su needed to be careful despite Zhang Chiguo’s protection.
• Cui Qiao explained that Han Su could receive Mysterious Power training by becoming a full-fledged investigator or an investigator’s assistant, and Han Su eagerly considered pursuing the assistant route.

Han Su learned that Strange Bird had offered him an assistant position, which Zhang Chiguo had arranged so Han Su could begin training in the Mysterious Power early. Zhang Chiguo planned to use a favor to find someone to train him, after which Strange Bird would cancel the application, while Cui Qiao questioned Zhang Chiguo’s willingness to adapt to the Bureau.

• Cui Qiao explained that field operatives could train in the Mysterious Power early by becoming an investigator’s assistant, though doing so could complicate their promotions.
• Han Su received a message saying B-class investigator Strange Bird had invited him to work and study under him, and Cui Qiao warned that Strange Bird could be dangerous.
• Zhang Chiguo said he had asked Strange Bird to submit the application because the assistant position would give Han Su a chance to train early.
• Zhang Chiguo explained that he would arrange for someone else to train Han Su, then have Strange Bird cancel the application; Han Su accepted the risks.
• After Han Su left, Cui Qiao told Zhang Chiguo he seemed different, and he admitted he was trying to adapt rather than repeat the mistakes that had sidelined him at the Public Security Bureau.

Han Su asked Miss Crow how the Disaster Management Bureau trained people to achieve Spiritual Penetration, and she offered to let him experience Mental Power firsthand. As she pushed more of her power into him, she realized his spirit was unusually difficult to stir.

• Han Su worried that revealing his existing abilities could get him assigned to the Bureau’s restrictive Group D7, so he planned to conceal his Spiritual Penetration.
• Han Su messaged Miss Crow about Spiritual Penetration training, and she invited him to training room C2.
• Miss Crow explained that people could achieve Spiritual Penetration through Cipher Incantations, dangerous exposure to bizarre pollution, or repeated help from someone who had already achieved it.
• Miss Crow took Han Su’s hand and infused it with Mental Power so he could feel his spirit come alive.
• Miss Crow found Han Su’s spiritual world vast and stubborn, so she steadily increased the force of her Mental Power.

Han Su’s Mental Power instinctively counterattacked Miss Crow’s Spiritual Penetration, briefly invading her memories and triggering alarms throughout the base. The chapter ended with armed security personnel entering the training room as Zhang Chiguo and Secretary Cui Qiao arrived.

• Miss Crow explained Mental Power’s development and the recognized stages of understanding the mysterious while transmitting information into Han Su’s mind.
• Han Su tried to respond, stirring the sea of Mental Power inside him and causing it to surge toward his and Miss Crow’s joined hands.
• Han Su’s Mental Power repelled Miss Crow’s influence, struck back through her hand, and triggered red runes and alarms across the base.
• Han Su’s power invaded Miss Crow and showed him fragmented memories of her childhood, training, and a pitch-black eye watching her.
• Han Su and Miss Crow released each other, but before she could explain what had happened, armed security personnel entered and Zhang Chiguo and Secretary Cui Qiao arrived.

Han Su completed Spiritual Penetration training after Miss Crow accidentally opened his breach, and Zhang Chiguo tested him to confirm he remained himself. Zhang Chiguo reprimanded Miss Crow for the dangerous mistake, but Han Su claimed responsibility too because he had asked her to do it.

• Miss Crow admitted she had accidentally completed Han Su's Spiritual Penetration and offered to accept punishment.
• Zhang Chiguo and Secretary Cui Qiao tested Han Su with a mirror, an impostor image, the Ghost Truck, and the Action Manual, confirming he appeared unchanged.
• Cui Qiao tested Han Su's right hand, and his controlled Mental Power caused cracks in the training room walls before she pushed it back.
• Cui Qiao confirmed Han Su had completed Spiritual Penetration, and Zhang Chiguo scolded Miss Crow for creating a dangerous breach.
• Han Su told Zhang Chiguo that he had asked Miss Crow to open the breach and said he should share responsibility.

Han Su achieved Spiritual Penetration, and Zhang Chiguo warned him to rest and keep his right-hand opening secret while arranging his training. Meanwhile, Song Chushi hid outside Qinggang and wondered how a sealed forbidden Spell had become Void before he reached it.

• Zhang Chiguo dismissed Miss Crow without requiring a self-criticism and ordered Han Su to remain at the Bureau for observation.
• Zhang Chiguo warned Han Su that his right hand was now a known opening and told him to wear a glove until formal Mental Power training began.
• Zhang Chiguo said Han Su's future trainer was pursuing Song Chushi, who had appeared in Qinggang City and met Han Su.
• Song Chushi told the voice in his silver suitcase that he had returned to give Han Su a protective gift, but the ruin's sealed S-rank forbidden Spell had become Void.

Han Su learned that his Spiritual Penetration had left him exhausted and considered how its power differed from his other openings. Meanwhile, Song Chushi decided to investigate Han Su’s situation at the Disaster Management Bureau and help him directly.

• Zhang Chiguo warned Han Su to be cautious around Song Chushi and advised him to recover while staying clear of Strange Bird Investigator.
• Han Su recognized that Spiritual Penetration through his right hand let Mental Power seep into reality, though the opening was tiny and he felt less weakened than expected.
• Song Chushi told the voice in the Silver Briefcase that Han Su was innocent and deserved a gift and assistance after being drawn into the Disaster Management Bureau.
• The Silver Briefcase reported that Han Su was running errands as a reserve sacrificial pawn and that his suspected enemies had not acted while Song Chushi remained near Qinggang City.
• Song Chushi decided to go into the city, obtain a detailed file on Han Su, and try to help him himself.

The Strange Bird Investigator planned to exploit Han Su’s suspected secret to gain leverage and secure an independent investigator position, while Han Su learned how investigator licenses were inherited. The chapter left Han Su considering whether the Strange Bird Investigator’s death could bring him a license.

• The Strange Bird Investigator speculated that Han Su knew something valuable and decided to bring him in for a private meeting after Zhang Chiguo left the base.
• Han Su treated Doctor, Black Tiger, and Miss Crow to breakfast to repay them for giving honest reports about the previous day’s incident.
• Doctor and Miss Crow explained that investigator licenses were scarce and could be inherited by a qualified assistant when an investigator died.
• Han Su realized that as the Strange Bird Investigator’s assistant, he might inherit the investigator’s license if the Strange Bird Investigator died.

Han Su avoided being taken for a mental examination by using a priority mission to pursue Song Chushi as protection against the Strange Bird Investigator. The base then issued an emergency order mobilizing investigators and executioners to hunt Song Chushi.

• Han Su learned from Miss Crow that the strange images he saw during Spiritual Penetration were her childhood memories, while she avoided discussing them further.
• The Strange Bird Investigator's assistant arrived with armed security personnel and ordered Han Su to attend a mental-state examination.
• Han Su showed the assistant an approved B1-level mission to track Song Chushi, which took precedence over the Strange Bird Investigator's order and forced the assistant to back down.
• The Strange Bird Investigator learned over the radio that his plan had failed and angrily left his room.
• Alarms sounded in the dining hall, and the Bureau ordered all available investigators and relevant executioners to report for an A-level pursuit of Song Chushi.

After Song Chushi entered Qinggang City, Han Su realized Song might be inviting him to meet and set out with Miss Crow, Black Tiger, and Doctor. As the Bureau mobilized to capture Song, he escaped the encirclement and headed toward Baishui Street after uncovering a hidden investigation.

• An A4-class emergency mission ordered agents to capture Song Chushi, and Han Su recognized him on the surveillance feed at the wonton shop.
• Han Su decided to meet Song Chushi, and Miss Crow, Black Tiger, and Doctor chose to go with him.
• Song Chushi finished his meal, left before the armed forces arrived, and took a taxi while asking his Briefcase for mission files.
• After reading the files, Song Chushi ordered the driver to take him to Baishui Street and forced him onward at gunpoint.
• Miss Li arrived at the empty wonton shop, ordered the city’s surveillance and traffic systems activated, and asked the higher-ups to unlock one of Miss Ai’s locks.

The Strange Bird Investigator and Han Su independently realized that Song Chushi’s movements followed the route of the door connected to the crystal plague investigation, and both headed to Beidi Street. The Strange Bird Investigator spotted Song Chushi there but hesitated to approach him.

• The Strange Bird Investigator recognized that Song Chushi’s sightings overlapped with locations he had investigated and decided to go to Beidi Street.
• Han Su compared Song Chushi’s alerts with the Strange Bird Investigator’s mission records, inferred that Song Chushi was heading toward West City, and also chose Beidi Street.
• The Strange Bird Investigator reached Beidi Street and confirmed his suspicion when electronic signals in the area failed.
• Song Chushi arrived by taxi, sat outside a cake shop with his silver briefcase, and was recognized by the Strange Bird Investigator, who wondered whether to approach him.

Han Su traced the Crystal Plague investigation to Beidi Street, where Song Chushi revealed the hidden contamination and entered the door inside a cake shop. Strange Bird Investigator followed him through, leaving Han Su and his companions facing the frozen plague victims outside.

• Han Su read the mission files and learned that the Crystal Skull organization was behind a plague that altered its victims' bodies and minds.
• Han Su realized Song Chushi had visited the same locations Strange Bird Investigator had been investigating, and arrived with Doctor, Black Tiger, and Miss Crow at Beidi Street.
• Song Chushi snapped his fingers, revealing that many pedestrians had blurred faces, and Han Su explained that the Crystal Plague's vectors had been activated.
• Miss Crow urged the group to leave and report the contamination, but Song Chushi entered the cake shop as the blurred pedestrians froze and turned toward it.
• Mr. Strange Bird appeared and followed Song Chushi through the cake shop door.

Han Su charged through a street crowded with infected to reach the door, while Doctor persuaded the others to hold their position. Miss Crow used a Spell to create a shadow that knocked down the infected and cleared a path for Han Su, who entered the door.

• Han Su told the others to stay outside and went toward the door, but a mass of infected rushed at him.
• Black Tiger helped clear the way, reasoning that they could avoid infection by defeating each attacker quickly.
• Han Su’s Cross Copper Scar burned, and he seized an infected person to use as a shield as he pushed through the crowd.
• Doctor stopped Miss Crow from following Han Su and urged the team to defend the door instead.
• Miss Crow cast a Spell that summoned a vast shadow, knocking down the infected and opening a path for Han Su.
• Han Su used the cleared path to reach the door and step through it.

Han Su entered the strange space behind the cake-shop door, fought off Crystal Plague infectees, and discovered that the corpse inside was spreading contamination. As the corpse’s shadows attacked and threatened to assimilate him, Han Su invoked Divine Decree against it.

• Han Su entered the space and found a decayed corpse lying within a strange symbol, while Song Chushi and the Strange Bird Investigator were nowhere in sight.
• Han Su switched to Investigator Battle Mode and used his Briefcase and stun baton to defeat the infectees who rushed him.
• Miss Crow held off the infectees outside the doorway while Black Tiger watched and the Doctor marveled at her power.
• After the corpse turned toward him, Han Su sensed it release a force that filled his mind with a suffocating presence and sent twisted shadows lunging at him.
• Han Su used his Mental Power to resist the contamination, then turned toward the Crystal Skull and chanted, “Divine Decree!”

Han Su used the Spell to unleash the power of the Giant's Eye, suppressing the Crystal Plague and revealing that the corpse was infected by a Crystal Skull. After the Spell drained his Mental Power, he glimpsed a vast network of connected Crystal Skulls and drew the attention of a woman linked to one of them.

• Han Su recited the Spell, causing his right eye to unleash power that erased the blurry shadows and suppressed the Crystal Plague.
• Han Su saw that the corpse had been infected by a Crystal Skull and watched its flesh and crystal-coated bones decay under his gaze.
• The plague-infected surrounding Miss Crow and the others stopped attacking as the shadows controlling them faded.
• Han Su heard the words "Mechanical Fragment" in his mind, then suffered severe dizziness as the Spell depleted his Mental Power.
• Han Su tried to strike the Crystal Skull, but its light showed him a vast pyramid of connected skulls and a woman who sensed him through their connection.
• The woman declared that nonbelievers must not gaze upon the divine realm and caused the Crystal Skull near Han Su to glow.

Han Su suppressed the Crystal Skull’s invasion, severed its connection to the other skulls, and discovered that his mind contained centuries of memories scattered across tangled Life Paths. As the skull shattered, he began reading the information released from its collapsing will.

• The Crystal Skull’s will attacked Han Su through his gloved right hand, but he stopped the invasion and recited the Spell again.
• Han Su’s Mental Power stripped the skull’s colors away and destroyed its connection to the other Crystal Skulls, cutting off the will’s support.
• The skull’s remaining will entered Han Su’s mind, became lost among his branching memories, and realized that he was not human.
• Han Su understood that his mind held centuries of accumulated experience across many Life Paths, allowing his Mental Power to recover by drawing on other stretches of memory.
• Han Su shattered the Crystal Skull and, despite Miss Crow’s warning, delved into the thought fragments its collapsing will released.

Han Su searched the memories of a Crystal Skull follower and discovered that the organization had sent a mental plague to Qinggang City to find a Mechanical Fragment, under the direction of a woman from his childhood. As the world inside the door collapsed, he saw Mr. Strange Bird shoot at Song Chushi.

• Han Su read the dead follower’s memories and learned he had joined the Crystal Skull organization after seeing its artifact.
• Han Su found a memory of a woman in a black qipao ordering Mr. Peng to spread a plague in Qinggang City and search for a Mechanical Fragment.
• Han Su recognized the woman as the one who had cared for him before he turned ten and memorized a photograph of the Mechanical Fragment.
• At a manor near Qinggang City, a veiled woman saw the crystal skull cracking and realized a position in the organization’s pyramid of faith had gone dark.
• The world inside the door began to collapse, revealing Song Chushi and Mr. Strange Bird, who fired a bullet toward Song Chushi’s forehead.

Song Chushi froze time in the Cake Shop, killed Mr. Strange Bird, and warned Han Su that a spying entity in Azure Harbor was nearing its awakening. He left Han Su with a chance to investigate the missing secret, provided he earned investigator status and kept the warning to himself.

• Mr. Strange Bird entered the Cake Shop and shot at Song Chushi, but the bullet and the tentacle from his case stopped in midair as Song Chushi’s dust froze time.
• Song Chushi told Han Su that the Disaster Management Bureau had arrived too late and asked whether he remembered what the Crystal Skull’s people had been searching for.
• Song Chushi warned Han Su that an entity in Azure Harbor could spy on everyone, urged him to earn his investigator’s license, and taught him to check a glass of water for ripples before investigating secrets.
• Song Chushi took Mr. Strange Bird’s gun and shot him, then left the shop as time resumed and Mr. Strange Bird’s body collapsed.

Song Chushi confronted Qinggang’s armed investigators, delivered a warning to Mr. Number Five, and vanished into an empty alley. His message freed Han Su from a strange mental pressure and helped him remember that the Crystal Skull was searching for a Mechanical Part shown at a science museum ten years earlier.

• Song Chushi faced Ms. Red Trench Coat and the investigators, said he had returned to see whether Qinggang had changed, and warned that it could not stop what was descending into reality.
• An investigator tried to recite a Spell, saw a terrifying shadow, and fainted before Song Chushi walked into an alley and disappeared.
• Song Chushi told Han Su that the monster would complete its transformation in half a month and that the Crystal Skull was looking for a mechanical creation.
• Han Su recalled seeing the Mechanical Part advertised before the Kidnapping Case, when his class visited the science museum ten years earlier.
• Ms. Red Trench Coat sent armed personnel into the empty alley, and another figure emerged from the Cake Shop asking them to inspect something he had picked up.

Han Su recovered a Crystal Skull that had lost its contaminating properties and claimed the team had stopped the Crystal Plague under Mr. Strange Bird’s leadership. After Mr. Strange Bird was found dead in the Cake Shop, the Red Trench Coat woman warned Han Su that he would need to explain how he had solved the B-class incident.

• Han Su set down the Crystal Skull as armed responders threatened him, and the Red Trench Coat woman picked it up after confirming it was no longer contaminating.
• Han Su said he and Mr. Strange Bird had pursued Song Chushi while he handled the Crystal Plague mission, crediting Crow, Doctor, Black Tiger, and other team members for helping.
• The flaxen-haired assistant verified that the Crystal Skull was tied to Mr. Strange Bird’s B-class investigation, while Strange Bird’s assistant claimed the investigator had planned and led the operation.
• Han Su agreed with the assistant’s account, then told the Red Trench Coat woman that Mr. Strange Bird had sacrificed himself to stop the mental plague.
• Responders found Mr. Strange Bird dead in the Cake Shop with a gunshot wound to the forehead, apparently from his own Service Pistol.
• The Red Trench Coat woman found no signs that Han Su had fired a gun and warned him that he would have to explain how he solved the B-class incident.

Han Su wrote a report claiming credit for resolving the B-class incident, while Qinggang officials debated how to present Song Chushi’s intrusion as a victory. Miss Ai rated the field operative codenamed Butcher S, prompting suspicion and questions about his origins.

• Han Su submitted a polished report to Miss Ai that omitted his hidden powers and credited his mentor, weapons, combat skills, and the field team’s blockade.
• Ms. Red Trench Coat argued that Qinggang had detected and driven off Song Chushi while stopping him from reaching the Crystal Plague’s secondary source.
• The conference leader ordered her account included in the briefing but warned that Qinggang’s security and classified information needed better protection.
• Zhang Chiguo announced that Miss Ai had rated a field operative S after he resolved the B-class plague, and Ms. Red Trench Coat identified him as Butcher.
• An official questioned Butcher’s report and called for an investigation, but Zhang Chiguo said Miss Ai had approved it.
• A hoarse speaker challenged the room to remember where Butcher came from by looking at his file.