Chapter Summaries

Zhao Bai and his allies dismantled Gray Serpent’s forces in Sky City while Bronya uncovered that Cup Snake was one of Gray Serpent’s clones. Cup Snake vanished before Bronya could keep watch on her, and Zhao Bai set out to find her.

• Zhao Bai split Gray Serpent’s body in two and reminded Jackal that he had promised to punish them when disaster struck Sky City.
• Jackal abandoned her attempt to operate Gray Serpent’s body and prepared to flee if necessary.
• Rosaliya and Liliya defeated a Titan, while Jackal’s attempts to manipulate them failed.
• Bronya found Gray Serpent’s intelligence network largely unguarded and identified Cup Snake as a Gray Serpent clone.
• Cup Snake disappeared, and Zhao Bai asked Bronya to tell him where she was so he could find her.

Cup Snake followed a predetermined path to a warehouse, where she discovered a sleeping girl who looked like her. A letter from Gray Serpent revealed that the city concealed a drug hundreds of times more potent than the previous dosage.

• Cup Snake sensed danger and chose the dark road, but every route led to the same destination.
• Cup Snake reached a locked warehouse and opened its biometric door with her own fingerprints and iris.
• Cup Snake found a sleeping girl inside an experimental pod and realized the girl looked like her.
• Cup Snake read a threatening letter from Gray Serpent to Zhao Bai about a powerful drug hidden in the city.

Cup Snake prepared her final words as her personality replacement countdown began, then bound herself in chains and succumbed to exhaustion. After Bronya located her, Zhao Bai reached the experiment site and found Cup Snake tied up and unresponsive.

• Cup Snake read the letter, swallowed it, and began writing her last words before her personality replacement.
• Cup Snake chained herself to a chair and fainted from exhaustion.
• Bronya told Zhao Bai that she had found Cup Snake in an experiment site and sent him the location.
• Zhao Bai followed Bronya's directions to the site and found Cup Snake bound with her head lowered.

Zhao Bai discovered Cup Snake’s suicide note and learned how deeply she cared about writing and the story she had recorded. Her final requests left him with the task of publishing her work and tormenting whoever took over her body.

• Zhao Bai entered the cultivation chamber and saw Gray Serpent’s organic form, which looked exactly like Cup Snake.
• Zhao Bai opened the phone and read Cup Snake’s suicide note, in which she explained that she had learned she was part of a mystery and would soon disappear.
• Cup Snake mourned that she could no longer investigate the world or finish writing Zhao Bai’s story.
• Cup Snake asked Zhao Bai to publish her completed account of the underworld as payment for a meal.
• Cup Snake asked Zhao Bai to kill whoever occupied her body or, if he could not, make that person live in fear of him.

Zhao Bai began hunting down Gray Serpent’s bodies, freezing each one after she awakened in it. He left for the next location, timing his executions to kill her bodies as they revived.

• Bronya sent Zhao Bai a file listing more than a thousand intelligence houses after he asked for their locations.
• Gray Serpent awakened in chains and tried to provoke Zhao Bai by mentioning that she had killed one of his friends.
• Zhao Bai stabbed Gray Serpent and froze her body solid.
• Gray Serpent’s consciousness entered another body, but Zhao Bai kicked it aside and froze her again.
• Zhao Bai left for the next location, calculating that each frozen body would die after seven minutes and six seconds.

Zhao Bai repeatedly killed Gray Serpent each time she reincarnated, using his knowledge of her awakening program to find and strike her without fail. After more than nine hundred deaths, Gray Serpent finally lost control to fear.

• Gray Serpent woke after seven minutes of death and called for Jackal and Raven, but neither could help her.
• Zhao Bai killed Gray Serpent again and moved on, while she realized someone had cracked the program controlling her reincarnations.
• Gray Serpent reincarnated into a mechanical body, but Zhao Bai severed her head and destroyed it before killing her next human form.
• Zhao Bai continued killing Gray Serpent through more than six hundred reincarnations without making a mistake.
• After her nine hundred and twenty-third life died beneath Zhao Bai's blade, Gray Serpent completely lost control.

Zhao Bai hunted down and killed the last of the Gray Serpents, then returned to the plane. Rosaliya and Liliya learned what a spy was and worried Zhao Bai might punish them, but Bronya reassured them that he had known about them all along.

• Zhao Bai killed Gray Serpent agents at their strongholds until the final one was gone.
• Bronya watched the last flashing point on the map disappear as Zhao Bai returned to the plane.
• Rosaliya asked where Cup Snake was, and Zhao Bai told her that Cup Snake had been a spy.
• Rosaliya asked Liliya what a spy was and worried that they were spies too.
• Bronya told Rosaliya and Liliya that Zhao Bai had always known they were spies.

After returning to St. Freya Academy from a deadly mission, Zhao Bai learned that Fu Hua believed he was at risk of demonic corruption. Fu Hua suppressed his anger through daily training and urged him to carry the Xuanyuan Sword, which happily called him “Mommy.”

• Zhao Bai and the others returned to St. Freya Academy after losing a member on their mission, and Fu Hua warned that Zhao Bai showed signs of demonic corruption.
• Zhao Bai told Theresa about the situation and agreed not to reveal that the headmistress had recruited another spy.
• Cup Snake’s novel sold well through several print runs, eventually leaving Zhao Bai indebted to her.
• Fu Hua trained Zhao Bai daily to suppress his anger and temper his sword heart.
• Fu Hua advised Zhao Bai to carry the Xuanyuan Sword to help contain his inner demon, and he agreed.

Zhao Bai searched for Qing Ye and learned that the former underworld figure had been led to an empty grave by his former subordinates. After stopping a taxi driver who tried to shoot him, Zhao Bai remained beside the patch of weeds he believed marked Qing Ye’s grave.

• Zhao Bai left St. Freya Academy with a copy of Cup Snake’s book to deliver to Qing Ye.
• Zhao Bai searched the city for Qing Ye but found no information about him.
• A taxi driver claimed to know Qing Ye’s location and made Zhao Bai ride around the city three times before taking him to a wilderness.
• The driver explained that Qing Ye had been brought to an empty grave prepared by his former subordinates when he tried to return to school.
• The taxi driver raised a gun behind Zhao Bai, but Zhao Bai knocked him unconscious and continued staring at the grave.

Zhao Bai paid respects at Qing Ye’s grave and burned the book about him, but returned to investigate after deciding Qing Ye’s death must have meant something. He found the grave empty.

• Zhao Bai left the unconscious taxi driver behind, bought matches and white flowers, and drove back to Qing Ye’s grave.
• Zhao Bai laid flowers at the grave and burned the book, including the evaluation he had written himself.
• Zhao Bai left, then returned because he believed Qing Ye’s death could not have been meaningless.
• Zhao Bai dug into the grave with his greatsword and found no corpse, bones, or other remains.

Zhao Bai left the bookstore behind and began training under Fu Hua at St. Freya Academy to suppress his inner demons. With Xuanyuan Sword told not to assist him, he faced Fu Hua’s strict lesson on his own.

• Zhao Bai decided not to use Schicksal’s methods to track down Qing Ye and returned to school.
• Zhao Bai met Fu Hua by the lakeside at St. Freya Academy for training.
• Fu Hua struck Zhao Bai with a bamboo rod when he lost focus during meditation.
• Fu Hua explained that Zhao Bai’s state of mind could affect his use of Honkai energy and worsen over time.
• Fu Hua told Xuanyuan Sword not to help Zhao Bai, and the sword flew farther away.

Zhao Bai tried to grasp a calm state of mind but fell asleep while Fu Hua waited with the Xuanyuan Sword. In Sky City prison, Raven feared Gray Serpent had abandoned her, then heard a girl crying for help through the communicator.

• Zhao Bai listened to the lake and tried to empty his mind until he fell asleep.
• Fu Hua returned with the Xuanyuan Sword and waited without waking Zhao Bai.
• Raven rubbed the prison bars with a toothbrush while worrying that Gray Serpent had abandoned her.
• Gray Serpent’s communicator suddenly carried a girl’s desperate cries for Raven to save her.
• Raven told the girl she was imprisoned with a tracker in her stomach and could barely protect herself.

Raven escaped her imprisonment by removing the transmitter from her abdomen and revealing her regenerative powers. She left the ambulance to find Gray Serpent and discover what had happened to Jackal.

• Gray Serpent urged Raven to hurry, and Raven saw a map pointing to a location in northwest Sky City.
• Raven cut open her abdomen and stomach with a sharpened toothbrush, removed the transmitter, and made the guards think she had killed herself.
• In the ambulance, Raven’s wounds healed, and the nurse fainted when Raven spoke to her.
• Raven kicked open the ambulance door and set off to find Gray Serpent and Jackal, declaring that World Serpent needed her.

Raven escaped from prison and made her way to Gray Serpent’s hidden meeting place despite her injuries and lack of money. She unlocked the strange entrance and discovered it led to an underground elevator.

• Raven stuck the tracker to the ceiling, escaped, and stole a cloak to hide her prison uniform.
• Raven stopped for food, knocked out the vendor when he tried to abduct her, and left without paying.
• Raven reached the portable toilet Gray Serpent had designated as a meeting place.
• After her fingers and toes failed to unlock the fingerprint scanner, Raven licked it and opened the door.
• Raven discovered the portable toilet was actually an elevator leading underground.

Raven freed Gray Serpent from a protected underground enclosure and held her as she trembled. Gray Serpent confronted her fear, then snapped out of her terror and asked Raven if she was sick.

• Raven rode deep underground through Gray Serpent's heavily fortified base and found her body sealed in a bulletproof glass enclosure.
• Raven used a Cold Blade to cut open the enclosure and catch Gray Serpent as she spilled out with the nutrient fluid.
• Raven realized Gray Serpent was trembling and considered attacking her while she was vulnerable.
• Gray Serpent wondered why she was afraid despite having anticipated the destruction of her bodies and Raven's rescue.
• Raven comforted Gray Serpent and brushed her bangs aside, but Gray Serpent snapped out of her fear and asked if Raven was sick.

Raven cared for the weakened Gray Serpent, who reluctantly accepted her help while reconsidering how to use her final body. The two settled into an uneasy truce, with Raven sensing Gray Serpent’s grumpy attitude.

• Gray Serpent struggled to escape Raven’s embrace, unable to stand or walk after being soaked for so long.
• Gray Serpent reaffirmed her belief that humans were dangerous and that mechanical ascension was necessary, but her body trembled.
• Raven stroked Gray Serpent’s head, and Gray Serpent rejected her and fell painfully to the floor.
• Raven picked Gray Serpent up and squeezed her hand, making Gray Serpent cry out.
• Gray Serpent considered abandoning destruction and using her body as an intelligence relay station, then nodded at Raven’s request not to set her up again.
• Raven sensed Gray Serpent’s grumpiness and wondered what that made her.

Raven’s visit triggered Gray Serpent’s self-destruction, and a little girl took over as the Gray Serpent network. Meanwhile, Zhao Bai continued struggling through Fu Hua’s Tai Chi lessons.

• Gray Serpent’s body exploded when Raven mentioned Zhao Bai, activating a safeguard against the forbidden name.
• The little girl explained that Gray Serpent had made her the network’s messenger and taken over the network’s responsibilities.
• Raven embraced the girl and asked her to keep Gray Serpent from coming out.
• Zhao Bai practiced Fu Clan Tai Chi with Fu Hua, who criticized his restless technique and told him to stop practicing it for now.

Zhao Bai accepted Theresa’s mission to investigate the Sherlock Holmes Stigmata, and Bronya agreed to join him. They reached the laboratory and prepared to enter its test, but the chapter ended as Zhao Bai put on a full-dive helmet and collapsed onto the sofa.

• Fu Hua ended the exercise and handed the Xuanyuan Sword back to Zhao Bai, who left her alone.
• Theresa welcomed Zhao Bai and the Xuanyuan Sword home, then offered him a mission involving a newly unearthed Sherlock Holmes Stigmata in London.
• Zhao Bai agreed to the mission, and Theresa suggested inviting Bronya to join him.
• Bronya accepted the invitation and asked whether Sherlock Holmes had really existed.
• Zhao Bai and Bronya arrived at the laboratory, where a glowing Stigmata floated inside a glass chamber.
• Zhao Bai put on one of the two Homu-shaped full-dive helmets and toppled onto the sofa.

Zhao Bai and Bronya entered a Stigmata-created island mystery, where they found themselves posing as great detectives in a locked-room setting. After exploring the empty villa, they heard a scream and began searching for its source.

• Zhao Bai and Bronya shared a brief kiss while remembering that Theresa was watching outside.
• Zhao Bai inspected the island and found no bridge, only a small dock, and could not summon any weapons.
• Zhao Bai and Bronya introduced themselves as great detectives and entered the empty villa with matching invitations.
• Bronya realized Heavy Cannon Rabbit was missing and could not conduct a biological scan.
• A scream sounded overhead, and Zhao Bai followed it through the rooms until he stopped outside a door.

Zhao Bai and Bronya entered a futuristic metal room and found a murdered man, joining the detectives investigating the scene. As Bronya examined the unusual wound and the room, Zhao Bai treated the investigation like a game and announced himself as a master detective.

• Zhao Bai opened the unusual metal door and entered the room with Bronya, where they found a corpse facedown in a pool of blood.
• Doug questioned whether Zhao Bai and Bronya had discovered the crime, and they introduced themselves as Japanese high school detectives.
• Doug inspected the corpse and identified a massive penetrating wound that suggested it had been made by a knight's lance.
• Bronya reasoned that the weapon and killer's escape from the blood spray implied a magical weapon and superhuman speed.
• Bronya examined the victim's callused hand and the wrecked room while Zhao Bai played around and proclaimed himself a master detective.