Chapter Summaries

Zhao Bai caught up with Lin Yiping after the butterfly-like creature fled, while Gray Serpent watched and tried to push Lin Yiping to his breaking point. Gray Serpent prepared to encourage him through the voice system implanted in his ear.

• Zhao Bai survived the creature’s white-light attack, which shattered the hotel’s glass, and saw the creature flee.
• Zhao Bai told Bronya to pursue Lin Yiping on Heavy Cannon Rabbit, and they caught up with him.
• Lin Yiping turned to face Zhao Bai, who mocked him for piloting a Gundam at his age and asked whether he had one from his wife.
• Gray Serpent watched Zhao Bai freeze Honkai Beasts and judged that Lin Yiping’s self-esteem had been badly shaken.
• Gray Serpent decided Lin Yiping needed encouragement and prepared to speak to him through the sound system implanted in his ear.

Zhao Bai froze Lin Yiping and his two floating cannons, then was dropped by Heavy Cannon Rabbit and rescued after a few seconds. He returned to Bronya as they prepared to arrange cleanup of the enormous ice sculpture.

• Lin Yiping gathered two floating cannons while Zhao Bai calmly charged Ice Lotus Sky.
• Zhao Bai struck Lin Yiping, freezing the monster and both cannons into an enormous ice sculpture.
• Heavy Cannon Rabbit dropped Zhao Bai from the sky and waited several seconds before catching him with its tail flames.
• Zhao Bai returned to Bronya, who called the sculpture ugly and ordered the cleanup crew notified, possibly with the Aerial Operations Team.

Gray Serpent revived Lin Yiping after his defeat and watched him begin to adapt to the cold through a new evolution. Lin Yiping crawled through the deserted street as Gray Serpent approached to study him up close.

• Gray Serpent decided Lin Yiping could still be saved because the citywide hypnosis had not faded.
• Zhao Bai watched the Pilgrim Butterfly and the falling ice crash down through mist.
• Lin Yiping admitted his attacks had failed, and Gray Serpent urged him to give his life as well.
• Lin Yiping awakened in his shattered body and began evolving, wrapping himself in black armor that resisted the cold.
• Gray Serpent dismissed Lin Yiping's conviction and walked along the deserted street to observe him more closely.

Zhao Bai and Bronya were interrupted by an armored attacker whose overwhelming strength shattered Zhao Bai’s rib. Zhao Bai switched to the Jie Mie Greatsword and severed the attacker’s hand, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Zhao Bai and Bronya joked together while Theresa’s cleanup team prepared to remove the evidence.
• Bronya sensed something approaching, and Zhao Bai raised his blade as an armored living corpse charged him.
• The attacker struck Zhao Bai in the chest, shattering his fourth rib, then vanished at high speed and left a crater in the ground.
• Zhao Bai evaded the next attack, put away Ice Lotus Sky, and took up the Jie Mie Greatsword.
• Zhao Bai swung the blazing greatsword and severed one of the attacker’s hands.

Gray Serpent approached Zhao Bai while entranced by his sword, but Bronya stopped him as Zhao Bai destroyed the one-armed monster with a fiery slash. Nearly burned by the flames, Gray Serpent discovered that the brush with death thrilled him and awakened his talent for courting death.

• Gray Serpent walked toward Zhao Bai and Jie Mie, ignoring Bronya's warning to stop.
• Bronya suspected Gray Serpent was an obsessed admirer and moved to keep him away from Zhao Bai.
• The one-armed monster charged toward Bronya and Gray Serpent, and Heavy Cannon Rabbit raised its shield.
• Zhao Bai struck the monster with a scorching slash and burned it to pieces.
• Gray Serpent narrowly escaped the flames and found himself exhilarated by the near-death experience.

Gray Serpent collapsed after being overwhelmed by the sensations of her human body, and Zhao Bai and Bronya discussed her strange reaction. Three armed transport helicopters arrived with a sixty-person team, whose leader treated Zhao Bai as their superior.

• Gray Serpent lost consciousness as Zhao Bai approached, and her expression returned to normal.
• Zhao Bai wondered whether his first mission had caused a casualty, while Bronya said Gray Serpent’s emotions were complicated.
• Three armed transport helicopters landed, carrying a sixty-person team.
• The team leader saluted Zhao Bai, who ordered the medical team to take Gray Serpent to St. Freya.

Zhao Bai returned to St. Freya Academy alone while Bronya accompanied the unconscious Gray Serpent there by helicopter. Gray Serpent awoke at the academy to find Theresa watching over her and explaining the treatment she had received.

• The Cleanup Crew packed the corpse and collected the butterfly fragments and debris for transport.
• Medical staff reported that Gray Serpent’s endocrine system was severely disrupted and recommended transferring her to St. Freya.
• Bronya chose to ride back with the Cleanup Crew, leaving Zhao Bai confused about her sudden change in plans.
• Zhao Bai returned alone to St. Freya Academy on his motorcycle.
• Gray Serpent woke from a dream of the Venerable Lord and found herself in Theresa’s care.
• Theresa told Gray Serpent that the staff had given her inhibitors and taken surface cells for Honkai energy resistance testing.

Gray Serpent posed as a thirteen-year-old writer named Cup Snake while Theresa introduced St. Freya and checked her fabricated records. Theresa was impressed by the eerie stories and accepted Gray Serpent’s apparent genius.

• Gray Serpent asked Theresa to introduce St. Freya while she prepared a false identity in cyberspace.
• Gray Serpent gave her assumed name as Cup Snake, a girl who wrote mysticism and horror stories on Rongshu Xia.
• Theresa found Cup Snake’s serialized posts, which Gray Serpent had based on her own research notes and events from centuries earlier.
• Theresa questioned how Cup Snake could have written such stories at eight, despite records showing she was born in 2001.
• Gray Serpent acted disdainful and claimed she had learned to get along with ordinary people, leading Theresa to regard her as a genius.

Theresa told Zhao Bai that Bronya was mentally sound, had passed her background check, and would join St. Freya Academy after summer break. Meanwhile, Gray Serpent returned to Sky City and arranged to distribute body-altering drugs through Hexie Medicine while leaving World Serpent in Jackal’s care.

• Theresa told Zhao Bai that Bronya had no need for a psychiatric evaluation and would become his junior at St. Freya Academy.
• Theresa relayed Bronya’s account of how Zhao Bai’s actions had shaken her out of her peaceful routine, and said Bronya wanted to thank him.
• Gray Serpent returned to Sky City to prepare disguises that could fool Zhao Bai and his wife.
• Gray Serpent decided to release dozens of doses of body-altering drugs at once and circulate them through the market under the name Hexie Medicine.
• Gray Serpent told Jackal that she would be away and that Jackal would manage World Serpent while Raven was in prison.

Gray Serpent erased her memories to awaken Cup Snake, a genius young writer, as part of a plan Jackal knew was only partly revealed. Cup Snake arrived at St. Freya during summer vacation, sensing that the academy's peaceful appearance concealed an extraordinary life.

• Gray Serpent put on the memory-erasing helmet and lost consciousness as Jackal watched.
• Jackal took temporary control of World Serpent and realized Gray Serpent had concealed hundreds of experimental doses as part of her plan.
• Cup Snake arrived at St. Freya and surveyed the academy, sensing something abnormal beneath its tranquil atmosphere.
• Cup Snake read the school rules and wrote that her long-delayed extraordinary life had finally begun.

Cup Snake visited Bronya’s restaurant to thank her and Zhao Bai for the extraordinary events of the previous night. She explained that she wanted to record and interview people, and the chapter ended as Bronya brought Zhao Bai out to meet her.

• Cup Snake arrived at the restaurant after asking Theresa where Zhao Bai usually was.
• Bronya recognized Cup Snake from the previous night and watched her warily as Cup Snake introduced herself.
• Cup Snake described herself as a recorder and thanked Bronya and Zhao Bai for drawing her into extraordinary events.
• Cup Snake said she wanted to interview everyone, starting with the restaurant’s owner and proprietress.
• Bronya dragged a bewildered Zhao Bai out of the kitchen, and he greeted Cup Snake.

Cup Snake approached Zhao Bai to write a biography about him and his wife, claiming she would stalk him if he refused. Zhao Bai agreed to her terms and confronted Theresa for revealing information about him.

• Cup Snake asked Zhao Bai whether he was the strongest person in the world, and he readily agreed before objecting to her exaggerated descriptions.
• Cup Snake told Zhao Bai and his wife that she wanted to write a biography and explained that Theresa had told her about his many encounters with monsters and extraordinary events.
• Zhao Bai stormed over to Theresa and complained that Cup Snake had threatened to stalk him if he refused to cooperate.
• Theresa asked whether Zhao Bai had agreed, and he said he had because he feared Cup Snake might catch him during a bathroom visit.

Theresa felt guilty because she could not remember what she had told a novelist the previous night, while Bronya explained her behavior to Zhao Bai. Zhao Bai and Bronya then discussed whether to bring an observer on their missions and checked the school forum to see how much attention the novelist had attracted.

• Theresa denied telling the novelist anything important, then took back the Xuanyuan Sword and shut herself in her room.
• Bronya told Zhao Bai that Theresa was guilty because she had forgotten what she said the previous night.
• Bronya suggested that Zhao Bai bring the novelist along on missions, but Zhao Bai objected that it would make their time together awkward.
• Bronya proposed treating the novelist as someone writing Zhao Bai’s biography, and Zhao Bai rejected the idea.
• Zhao Bai and Bronya browsed the school forum and found that the new student novelist had caused a bigger stir than expected.

Zhao Bai read school gossip about Cup Snake and his rumored relationship with Bronya, then discussed food and payment with Cup Snake over a meal. He recorded Cup Snake’s unpaid bill in a ledger and insisted that he cooked for enjoyment, not distrust.

• Zhao Bai read school gossip about Cup Snake and Heavy Cannon Rabbit, then closed the laptop when it embarrassed him.
• Cup Snake praised Zhao Bai’s meal and asked to put the cost on his tab until she earned money from publishing a book.
• Zhao Bai wrote Cup Snake’s debt in a small notebook because he could not find a way to make her pay.
• Zhao Bai said he cooked because he enjoyed it, and Cup Snake asked whether his notebook was a journal.

Cup Snake became fascinated by Rosaliya and Liliya’s beastification and began interviewing them at Zhao Bai’s shop. Rosaliya could not remember how she became beastified, so she turned to Liliya for the story.

• Cup Snake briefly examined Zhao Bai’s notebook, then explained that she would publish her novel once she had written enough.
• Rosaliya and Liliya visited Zhao Bai’s shop during summer break, and he scolded Rosaliya for failing most of her classes.
• Cup Snake observed the sisters’ beastification traits and eagerly asked to interview them.
• Rosaliya mistook Cup Snake’s interest for fandom and happily agreed to an interview, while Zhao Bai worried about what was coming.
• Cup Snake asked how the sisters had become beastified, and Rosaliya admitted she had forgotten before asking Liliya to explain.

Cup Snake tried to uncover the story behind Rosaliya and Liliya, but their simple idol ambitions left her baffled. After Cup Snake left, Zhao Bai asked Rosaliya to keep a woman occupied during missions.

• Cup Snake questioned Liliya about why she and Rosaliya had become monster girls, and Liliya said they had wanted to become idols.
• Rosaliya tried to continue telling Cup Snake how the Vodka Girls became idols, but Cup Snake gave up recording their story and left.
• Bronya told Zhao Bai that Rosaliya and Liliya had accidentally thwarted Cup Snake's scheming, and Zhao Bai agreed.
• Cup Snake decided she disliked the Vodka Girls and would avoid them while living at St. Freya.
• Zhao Bai asked Rosaliya to help keep a woman occupied when he and Bronya went on missions, and Rosaliya readily agreed.

Rosaliya agreed to help with Zhao Bai and Bronya's mission despite Liliya's reminder that she had failed classes. Otto approved Zhao Bai's expanded team against regulations and planned to assign them a new mission, leaving Amber to wonder about his intentions.

• Rosaliya accepted the responsibility enthusiastically, while Liliya complained and reminded her about her failed classes.
• Liliya tried to endure Rosaliya's hug but grew more annoyed and tired.
• Amber reported Zhao Bai's updated mission roster to Otto.
• Otto laughed at the roster, which included Bronya Zaychik, Rosaliya Alin, Liliya Alin, and Cup Snake.
• Otto approved the oversized team and said he would immediately assign it a new mission.

Zhao Bai received a message from Otto, who renewed his offer for Zhao Bai to inherit the Archbishop position and threatened him with more missions after he refused. The chapter ended with Zhao Bai and Bronya joking about his attraction to domineering CEO-style romance.

• Zhao Bai saw Otto had secretly added him back and exchanged emoticons with him.
• Otto invited Zhao Bai to come to Europe and inherit his Archbishop position, but Zhao Bai refused.
• Otto said he would send Zhao Bai more missions and approved his application to expand his team.
• Zhao Bai tried to delete Otto's contact, but the delete button had been disabled.
• Bronya teased Zhao Bai about domineering CEO-style romance, and Zhao Bai explained that he liked it because the person he liked was both a domineering CEO and a loli.

Zhao Bai and his teammates received a strange long-term mission, and Bronya studied its report while the others prepared for what lay ahead. The chapter ended by introducing Si Ren, a Chamberlain Gang member who received a strength-enhancing reagent after Chamberlain warned him that someone was trying to sow distrust among the gang.

• Zhao Bai and his teammates received a long-term mission from headquarters, with A-rank Zhao Bai leading the team.
• Cup Snake recorded her observations and anticipated traveling to the first mission site with an expert.
• Rosaliya celebrated the mission but quietly tucked Liliya’s tail under her blanket as Liliya slept.
• Bronya studied the mission report and found the assignment strange.
• Si Ren received a two-milligram strength-enhancing reagent from the Chamberlain Gang.
• Chamberlain told Si Ren that someone had leaked the reagent to stir suspicion and promised to prevent the gang from turning against itself.

Si Ren used a mutation serum to raid a gang’s train shipment, but a bald, bone-mutating guard killed him. Bronya investigated the crushed corpse and wondered how widespread genetic mutation had become.

• Si Ren injected the serum, transformed his arm into a bone blade, and approached the guards at the train.
• Si Ren killed two guards with a sudden attack, then faced the bald man in a suit.
• The bald man revealed bone hammers of his own and crushed Si Ren’s head.
• Bronya examined Si Ren’s corpse and questioned whether a stronger mutant had killed him and how many others could mutate.