Chapter Summaries

After Zhao Bai told Mr. Chen how his loved one had died, he and Mei headed south to Melbourne, where a strange blizzard began. Zhao Bai told Theresa that his sword might have caused the abnormal cold, and she fell silent.

• Zhao Bai explained that the Honkai had returned Mr. Chen’s loved one as an agent, then told him she had died painlessly in Absolute Zero.
• Mr. Chen thanked Zhao Bai, who left with Mei; as they drove away, they heard Mr. Chen wailing in grief.
• Zhao Bai and Mei drove south to Melbourne as deep-blue snow began falling.
• Theresa told Zhao Bai that a cold front had frozen a ranch and spread across southern Australia, then asked whether he knew what had caused it.
• Zhao Bai said his sword might have caused the cold, leaving Theresa silent.

After the snowstorm grounded flights in Melbourne, Zhao Bai and Mei received a week off and decided to stay in Australia. They spent the night at a hotel, with Zhao Bai nursing his frostbitten arm.

• Zhao Bai told Theresa he had used the item she gave him, and Theresa warned that Melbourne's flights were grounded for a week.
• Mei returned with frostbite ointment and down jackets, then treated and bandaged Zhao Bai's arm.
• Zhao Bai told Mei that Theresa had given them a week off and suggested they try skiing in Australia.
• Because it was late and they were exhausted, Zhao Bai booked rooms at the Pacific Rim hotel.
• Zhao Bai brushed his teeth with his injured hand raised and went to sleep across the hall from Mei.

The little girl reformed at the frozen Schicksal Ranch and set out to find Zhao Bai, intent on revenge for the attack that had shattered her. After three days of recovery, Zhao Bai and Mei went skiing near Melbourne, where he joked that his two swords were his ski poles.

• The little girl rebuilt her body from a gray-white flame among the frozen ruins of Schicksal Ranch.
• She credited Zhao Bai with helping her discover a new power and vowed to make him suffer for nearly killing her.
• The little girl followed Frozen Hell Ice Sky’s aura south, confident that neither of Zhao Bai’s blades could harm her.
• After three days of rest, Zhao Bai’s frostbite healed as Mei changed his medicine.
• Zhao Bai and Mei drove to a ski resort near Melbourne, where Zhao Bai said Ice Lotus Sky and Crimson Cherry Blossom were his ski poles.

Zhao Bai and Mei prepared to ski at the resort during a sudden heavy snowfall, but Mei sensed the temperature drop and Zhao Bai’s blades rang with warning as a powerful storm approached. A slender figure emerged from the wind and snow.

• Zhao Bai recalled arguing with the ticket seller about the snowfall before entering the ski resort with Mei.
• Zhao Bai sat on a bench and began putting on his skiing gear.
• Mei noticed that the temperature around them had suddenly dropped.
• Zhao Bai’s blades rang out, and he realized danger was approaching the resort.
• A violent wind and snowstorm swept toward them, and a slender figure appeared within it.

Zhao Bai and Mei faced a little girl who had returned with powers of both ice and flame. Zhao Bai’s attacks failed to harm her, and Mei felt something inside her about to break free as the girl approached.

• The little girl appeared, half surrounded by ice and snow and half glowing with flame, and announced that she had crawled back from hell.
• Zhao Bai put on his black-rimmed glasses and prepared to fight while Mei warned him that the girl had changed.
• Zhao Bai struck the girl with Annihilation, but she turned to solid ice and emerged unharmed.
• Zhao Bai attacked with a burning demonic blade, but the girl transformed into magma and suffered no damage.
• The girl approached Zhao Bai and Mei, and Mei felt a painful force threatening to break free inside her.
• Zhao Bai stroked Mei’s forehead, easing her pain slightly.

The girl taunted Zhao Bai and threatened to kill Mei to complete her evolution. Enraged, Zhao Bai unleashed both blades and attacked her, but she adapted to their ice and fire strikes.

• The girl burned Zhao Bai’s forehead, then asked what he wanted to do and mocked him over Mei.
• She threatened to gut Mei, take her incomplete Herrscher Core, and evolve, while insisting Zhao Bai could only watch.
• Zhao Bai’s blades surged with power, and he transformed amid ice crystals and flames.
• Zhao Bai struck the girl with a blizzard of ice and a series of fiery slashes.
• The girl sneered and shifted her body between ice and fire to withstand the blades.

Zhao Bai defeated the little girl with his blade techniques and the legendary gauntlets Nuoyada of the Broken Light. As she died, she asked why he had not used the gauntlets from the start, and he explained that she had looked down on his swordsmanship.

• Zhao Bai’s blade attacks overwhelmed the little girl and melted her body.
• Zhao Bai summoned Nuoyada of the Broken Light and struck the girl with a lightning-charged fist.
• The girl was left with a massive hole in her chest and asked Zhao Bai why he had not used the gauntlets earlier.
• Zhao Bai said she had looked down on his blade techniques and described the years he had spent practicing with a blade.
• Zhao Bai closed the dying girl’s eyes as her consciousness faded.

After Zhao Bai killed the girl with an electromagnetic attack, her body dissolved into motes of light, leaving no ashes behind. He helped Mei up and tried to pass off his gauntlets as ordinary cooking tools, demonstrating their use by making a corn snack.

• Zhao Bai closed the dead girl's eyes as her body began dissolving into motes of light.
• Zhao Bai checked Mei for injuries and helped her back to her feet.
• Mei questioned Zhao Bai about the gauntlets, which she recognized as powerful weapons.
• Zhao Bai claimed the gauntlets were household cooking tools and used them to toast corn kernels.

Zhao Bai used Nuoyada of the Broken Light to make popcorn for Mei, cheering her up and easing her worries. After she ate it, he demanded one thousand yuan, pricing the spectacle of watching him make it at 998 yuan.

• Zhao Bai held out freshly made popcorn to Mei and asked if she wanted some.
• Mei laughed, ate all the popcorn, and worried that it might make her gain weight.
• Zhao Bai reassured Mei that he had added no sugar, then said she had to pay for the food.
• Mei questioned the price of one thousand yuan for seventeen pieces of popcorn.
• Zhao Bai explained that the popcorn cost two yuan and watching him make it with Nuoyada of the Broken Light cost 998 yuan.

After the ski resort battle, Zhao Bai and Mei fled and remained stranded in Melbourne as storms delayed their return to school. Zhao Bai ended the chapter teaching a dozen hotel chefs how to make Western European dishes.

• Zhao Bai and Mei fled the destroyed ski resort to avoid paying for the damage.
• All ski resorts in Melbourne closed, and worsening storms delayed the return to school indefinitely.
• Zhao Bai added a thousand yuan to his mission expenses as post-battle psychological trauma recovery expenses.
• After criticizing the hotel's seafood paella, Zhao Bai offered to teach the chef how to make authentic Western European dishes.
• Mei woke to find Zhao Bai lecturing twelve reverent chefs in the hallway.

Twelve days after the storm, Mei and Zhao Bai left Melbourne for the Far East, and Mei asked him to accept her as a Sword Sect disciple. Zhao Bai reluctantly agreed to teach her under strict conditions, while Mei vowed to stay.

• Mei and Zhao Bai flew from Melbourne to the Far East as Zhao Bai's students saw them off with a banner.
• On the plane, Mei asked Zhao Bai whether he had considered her request to become his Sword Sect disciple.
• Zhao Bai recalled Mei's request and tried to refuse, saying his swordsmanship had many flaws.
• Mei praised Zhao Bai's swordsmanship, and he finally agreed to teach her according to his curriculum without questions.
• Mei promised Zhao Bai she would never leave the sect.

After returning from the mission, Zhao Bai and Mei met Theresa at the runway, where Theresa tried to explain Zhao Bai's character to Mei. Mei followed Zhao Bai all the way to his front door and wondered how she had ended up there.

• Zhao Bai got off the plane and told Theresa that the mission had been all right and that he had gained several disciples.
• Theresa asked Mei how the mission had gone, and Mei said she had accomplished her goal but struggled to explain her experience with Zhao Bai.
• Theresa described Zhao Bai as a sensitive and gentle man beneath his appearance, while Mei remembered his petty demand for a thousand from her.
• Zhao Bai walked away, and Mei hurried after him until she found herself at his front door.

Mei brought Famous Sword Beichen to help Zhao Bai with a delivery of premium Australian beef at Zhao Family Restaurant. After a week of serving the beef, Zhao Bai tried making beef tartare and suffered diarrhea for three days.

• Mei followed Zhao Bai home, but he refused to let her enter because Theresa’s belongings were inside.
• Mei retrieved Famous Sword Beichen and left to buy groceries, while Kiana mistook her excitement for a plan to fight someone.
• Zhao Bai received a container of premium beef from Mr. Chen in Australia and decided Mei could cut it.
• Zhao Family Restaurant spent a week working through the beef.
• Zhao Bai made beef tartare with pasteurized eggs and onions, then had diarrhea for three days.

Zhao Bai put Mei through daily sword practice by having her slice beef for the restaurant’s popular Chaoshan hot pot. Their peaceful routine ended when Theresa presented Zhao Bai with a top-secret report, hinting at a new mission.

• Zhao Bai taught Mei to slice beef thinly and quickly with the Famous Sword Beichen, improving her swordsmanship in the process.
• Mei’s beef slicing helped make the restaurant’s Chaoshan Beef Hot Pot popular with customers.
• After a tiring day at the restaurant, Zhao Bai returned home and found Theresa waiting for him seriously.
• Theresa told Zhao Bai to read a top-secret report left on the coffee table.

Theresa assigned Zhao Bai to investigate a conscious zombie in Changkong City, and he prepared anti-Honkai beef noodles to take with him. He left the mission ahead, with the food ready for delivery.

• Zhao Bai read the file about a white-haired girl covered in Honkai crystals who had been photographed in Changkong City three days earlier.
• Theresa asked Zhao Bai to investigate the girl, and Zhao Bai said he needed a teammate.
• Zhao Bai quietly entered his restaurant before dawn to prepare food for the mission.
• Zhao Bai boiled water with White Flower, then made anti-Honkai beef noodles.

Zhao Bai prepared to leave on a mission to Changkong City with Mei, who had received the same notice. They set off on his delivery motorcycle, with Mei riding in its sidecar and carrying a box of spicy braised beef ramen.

• Zhao Bai placed the ramen in a temperature-controlled case and hurried outside.
• Mei met Zhao Bai while holding a salted fish and confirmed that they were going to Changkong City for a mission.
• Mei climbed onto the motorcycle's back seat before Zhao Bai opened its sidecar and moved her into it.
• Mei asked what was in the delivery box, and Zhao Bai told her it contained spicy braised beef ramen.
• Zhao Bai added Honkai energy crystals to the fuel tank as Mei accepted his answer and prepared to depart.

Zhao Bai and Mei went to Changkong City to find the Deadwalker girl from a photo, but the trail of Honkai energy was too faint to follow. Theresa reported a brutal murder there involving Honkai energy and a huge scythe, giving them a new lead.

• Zhao Bai flew Mei to Changkong City on his motorcycle to investigate the photo of the Deadwalker girl.
• Zhao Bai found a faint trace of Honkai energy where the girl had stood, but it was too weak to track.
• Mei and Zhao Bai struggled to decide how to search the crowded university district.
• Theresa called and told them that a brutal murder had occurred in Changkong City the previous night.
• Theresa said the murder scene contained traces of Honkai energy and that the weapon was a huge scythe.

Zhao Bai and Mei used false identities arranged by St. Freya Academy to investigate a gruesome crime scene. Zhao Bai’s instrument detected extremely dense Honkai energy, but the stench prevented him from identifying other scents.

• Zhao Bai showed Mei his ledger of meals Theresa had eaten without paying, convincing Mei of their supposed pure superior-subordinate relationship.
• St. Freya Academy’s false identities allowed Zhao Bai and Mei to reach the crime scene without obstruction.
• Zhao Bai recoiled from the fragmented corpse and complained that the stench was torture for a chef.
• Zhao Bai left the spicy beef ramen outside and joined Mei in investigating the scene.
• Zhao Bai used an instrument to scan for the dense Honkai energy because he could not smell anything else.

Zhao Bai and Mei followed the zombies’ trail to a cave in Changkong City’s abandoned subway, where they discovered a zombie nest. They were left facing sixteen pairs of glowing eyes in the darkness.

• Zhao Bai and Mei followed the zombies’ tracks through the city from morning until evening.
• Zhao Bai detected dense Honkai energy in a cave formed from an unreconstructed subway line.
• Zhao Bai and Mei entered the dark tunnel, with Zhao Bai leading in his gauntlets and Mei following with the Beichen Blade.
• Zhao Bai realized the tunnel was a zombie nest after hearing roars from an emergency escape passage.
• Sixteen pairs of crimson eyes opened in the darkness before Zhao Bai and Mei.

Mei and Zhao Bai confronted a horde of dead soldiers in a cramped subway passage, where Zhao Bai shielded them from arrows and prepared to fight. A hooded girl appeared and ordered the dead soldiers to stop, leaving the two facing an unknown figure.

• Mei drew the Beichen Blade and asked Zhao Bai to watch the blade technique she had developed while cutting beef.
• Sixteen dead soldiers attacked, and Zhao Bai's electric barrier destroyed the arrows fired by the eight bow-wielders.
• Zhao Bai advanced against the scythe-wielding dead soldiers while Mei followed behind him with her blade.
• A hooded girl appeared at the subway entrance and ordered the dead soldiers to stop.
• The dead soldiers retreated into the emergency passage, and Zhao Bai saw that the girl's skin was corpse-pale and black-purple crystals flickered on her cheeks.