Chapter Summaries

After awakening from the Mystery of the Womb in a modern world, Lin Chen discovered that his reincarnated body had lost its cultivation and that the world seemed devoid of transcendental energy. He activated his Order Chip and began assessing how to survive, but a glimpse at his phone raised an unexpected question about He Yun.

• Lin Chen awoke after twenty-one years in the Mystery of the Womb and learned from He Yun that she was his girlfriend.
• Lin Chen examined the modern society around him and worried that ancient beings and forces from the Cultivation World could bring a calamity to this world.
• Lin Chen resolved to gain power, build his forces, and learn more about his life, then activated his Order Chip.
• The Order Chip displayed Lin Chen’s body data and its weakened Nirvana trait, but could not scan his surroundings without equipment or a suitable input terminal.
• He Yun brought Lin Chen traditional medicine, and as he lifted it to drink, he noticed his reflection on his phone and questioned whether he had a girlfriend.

Lin Chen struggled to distinguish scrambled memories from reality, then discovered that his apparent girlfriend He Yun was a blood-eyed Imposter and fled the dormitory. After calling Su Mu for help, Lin Chen faced another Imposter-like threat when Su Mu appeared beside him while the real Su Mu called from an unfamiliar number.

• Lin Chen refused the medicine He Yun offered and searched his phone, finding messages that seemed to confirm she was his girlfriend.
• Lin Chen saw a pair of blood-red eyes watching him through his bedroom door, then lured the creature under a blanket and escaped with a fruit knife.
• Lin Chen fled the dormitory and called Su Mu, warning him not to return before asking him to meet at the southwest corner.
• Su Mu arrived, and Lin Chen prepared to tell him about the Imposter and seek his help.
• An unfamiliar number called, and the voice identified itself as Su Mu, leaving Lin Chen unsure which Su Mu beside him was real.

Lin Chen tried to escape the Imposters by seeking help from his professor, but returned to his dormitory and found Su Mu there. After Su Mu told him the legend of the Imposters, someone outside began trying to enter with an access card, leaving Lin Chen unsure who was real.

• Lin Chen encountered two identical Su Mus who could not see each other, tricked them, and fled while concluding that a race of Imposters was targeting him.
• Lin Chen decided he needed evidence and returned to his dormitory to confront the Imposter he had trapped there.
• Lin Chen found Su Mu showering in his living room and questioned whether he was real after learning that the first pair had taken Su Mu's phone and room card.
• Su Mu described the ancient origins of the Imposters and asked Lin Chen whether he could tell if Su Mu was human or a monster.
• Someone outside began pounding on the door and repeatedly tried to enter with an access card, but the lock rejected it.

Lin Chen exposed and killed an Imposter posing as Su Mu, then discovered its vulnerability and investigated how its blood affected the human body. The evidence connected the Imposters to an Ancient Demon Female Tree and led Lin Chen to suspect that supernatural forces and science were competing to define the world.

• An Imposter knocked on Lin Chen and Su Mu's dorm door, then impersonated the dorm manager when Lin Chen refused to let it in.
• Lin Chen stabbed the false Su Mu, tricked it into revealing itself, and struck its neck before pretending to leave.
• The wounded Imposter revived and planned to report Lin Chen to the newborn Mother Tree, but Lin Chen stayed behind and killed it by piercing the crown of its head.
• Lin Chen examined the Imposter's body and concluded that its brain was woody and its weakness lay at the crown of its head.
• Lin Chen injected himself with the Imposter's blood, and his chip detected genetic changes that could boost physical abilities while damaging brain nerve cells.
• Lin Chen connected the Imposters to an Ancient Demon Female Tree and speculated that science and the supernatural were competing for the right to define the world.

Lin Chen realized the Imposters had framed him for murder and planned to use scientific authority and a corpse's altered appearance to buy time. He reached the sealed Laboratory building and was allowed inside after Professor Fang Changqing recognized him over the radio.

• Lin Chen decided to become a scientist and use scientific definitions to bring supernatural forces under his domain.
• Lin Chen discovered that the corpse in his dormitory wore the face of a classmate, making it appear that he had murdered a human.
• Lin Chen suspected the Imposters had arranged a trap that would force him to face execution or resist the authorities and fight society.
• Lin Chen used advice from a crime-investigation website to plan how to delay the investigation, then left the dormitory without carrying the corpse.
• Lin Chen tried to enter the sealed Laboratory building, and Fang Changqing identified him as his student and ordered the guards to let him in.

At a meeting in Donghai University, seven Civilization Academicians discussed the approaching Calamity of Evolution and how Idealistic Invasion threatened human civilization. After Fang Changqing learned that Lin Chen had encountered an Imposter, he agreed to handle the matter, but Lin Chen was then approached by the International Criminal Police.

• The Civilization Academicians concluded that species were evolving rapidly across Blue Star and warned that a Calamity of Evolution might be linked to Idealistic Invasion.
• The academicians discussed dividing the Federation into autonomous zones and concealing the truth from the public to keep the world's rules aligned with science.
• Fang Changqing received a call from his personal guard and learned that his disciple Lin Chen wanted to speak with him.
• Lin Chen told Fang Changqing that he had encountered an Imposter, and Fang Changqing agreed to handle the case through proper procedures.
• As Lin Chen turned to leave, a person claiming to be with the International Criminal Police asked him to come with them.

Lin Chen endured an interrogation over a murder linked to an Imposter, refusing to give the detectives the answers they sought while planning to use the case to build ties with his mentor and gain influence. He remained in the interrogation room as the investigation continued, aware that his gamble could either advance his future or ruin it.

• Lin Chen resisted a young investigator’s accusations and challenged the detectives’ right to interrogate him without clear evidence.
• An older detective questioned Lin Chen more gently, but Lin Chen denied killing anyone and declined to provide further information.
• The detectives left Lin Chen alone in the room, where he expected cameras and experts to keep observing him.
• Lin Chen reflected that he had entered the investigation deliberately to draw out the Imposter and help his mentor’s research team gain access to the monster’s corpse.
• Lin Chen weighed the risks of his plan, hoping that establishing shared interests with his mentor would help him rise within the Human Civilization Federation.

Su Mu learned that the Imposter incident could be a major Idealistic Invasion, while an old detective investigating Lin Chen's murder case discovered that his partner Xiao Wu was not what he seemed. The chapter ended with the faceless figure in Xiao Wu's seat transforming into the detective's own face.

• Su Mu reviewed footage of an impostor resembling him and learned that the incident could pose B-Class or A-Class danger as an Idealistic Invasion.
• Su Mu received approved A-Class equipment and headed to retrieve it from the Supernatural Research Institute branch.
• The old detective questioned the evidence against Lin Chen and noticed that the deceased's corpse and autopsy report had not been examined.
• The old detective told Xiao Wu to turn back to the station, but realized the car had stopped in a dark alley and Xiao Wu was unresponsive.
• Xiao Wu's neck cracked as he turned his pale, featureless face toward the old detective and transformed it into the detective's own face.

An old detective was attacked by Imposters but was rescued by Su Mu, who arrived in mechanical Exoskeleton Armor and fought them off. Three Imposters escaped under surveillance, while the battle site was secured and covered up.

• The old detective escaped an Imposter posing as his driver, then found himself surrounded by creatures transforming into his likeness.
• As the Imposters attacked, the old detective tried to draw attention to them by shooting at the car’s fuel tank, but one struck him down.
• Su Mu arrived in mechanical Exoskeleton Armor, killed the Imposter about to stomp the old detective, and fought the others with a revolver and blade.
• The car exploded during the fight, and three Imposters fled; a sniper shot one while Su Mu ordered drones and the Skynet System to track the rest.
• Professionals arrived to secure the bloody scene as city residents continued their night unaware of the battle.

Lin Chen learned from Fang Changqing that an Idealistic Invasion was changing the laws of the universe and pushing Human Civilization toward collapse. Fang Changqing argued that studying Supernatural Events might offer a path to survival, and the car stopped at an inconspicuous building.

• Lin Chen deduced that the Federation had prepared for supernatural incidents, and Fang Changqing confirmed that Su Mu had encountered one and joined their organization.
• Fang Changqing gave Lin Chen a top-secret summary describing changes to physical laws, scientific failures, and other signs of an Idealistic Invasion.
• Fang Changqing explained that Human Civilization had no known way to stop the disaster or reach the technological level needed to survive it.
• Lin Chen connected the crisis to the approaching Universe Reset and asked how anyone could escape.
• Fang Changqing argued that humanity could study and systematize Supernatural Events to develop new science, though time was running out.
• The car stopped outside an inconspicuous building as Fang Changqing described their struggle as contending across the river.

Lin Chen learned that the Imposters could evolve by devouring brains and might become an A-Class threat, while Fang Changqing ordered an operation to find and eliminate their nest. Fang Changqing also tasked Lin Chen with leading research into the creatures, and the chapter ended as helicopters launched toward the suspected nest.

• Lin Chen followed Fang Changqing into the heavily secured Tianhai City branch of the Supernatural Research Institute and examined its report on the Imposters.
• Fang Changqing explained that the Imposters could acquire memories, instincts, and genes by devouring brains, potentially evolving into a disaster comparable to [The Name of Si Sui].
• Fang Changqing ordered staff to locate the Imposters' nest and prepared the Exoskeleton Armor Special Forces Team, with heavier weapons as a contingency.
• Fang Changqing offered Lin Chen a promotion to [Researcher] if he researched the Imposters and incorporated their traits into technology, and Lin Chen accepted the assignment.
• Staff identified a likely nest location from simulated routes, and Fang Changqing ordered the operation to begin as helicopters departed for the site.

Fang Changqing’s forces identified Kangdong Pork Slaughterhouse as the Imposters’ nest, but more than a hundred D-Class scouts entered and sent back no word. After considering the possibility that the nest used an ability compatible with their universe’s rules, Fang ordered a Special Forces Team to enter while prioritizing communications, and the team advanced into the silent, pitch-black slaughterhouse.

• Fang Changqing confirmed Kangdong Pork Slaughterhouse as the Imposters’ nest and sent D-Class personnel inside to scout.
• Su Mu and the field team waited outside, but ten minutes passed without any signal or sound from the slaughterhouse.
• Fang Changqing and Lin Chen discussed whether the Imposters’ unexplained ability might follow their universe’s rules and be usable as technology.
• Fang Changqing ordered the Special Forces Team to enter, making reliable communications their first priority and forbidding deep contact if signals failed.
• Su Mu’s team deployed by helicopter and infiltrated the dark slaughterhouse in coordinated groups.

The Special Forces team attacked the slaughterhouse’s supernatural growth while Fang Changqing explained how Civilization Academicians used technologies derived from supernatural events to gain combat power. After the team destroyed the apparent Mother Body and found survivors, several members recognized people from their past, leaving the mission’s apparent success in doubt.

• Su Mu and the captain chose to push deeper into the slaughterhouse, where the Special Forces eliminated the Imposters.
• At the Supernatural Branch, Fang Changqing told Lin Chen that he had used [Tai Sui] to develop the [Biological Printer] and [Clone Cultivation Pod], and that he would enter the factory himself if the team failed to report in.
• The Special Forces found a Flesh and Blood Forest and destroyed its apparent Mother Body with explosives and fire.
• The team discovered twenty or thirty pale survivors, and the captain ordered them isolated and monitored for thirty days.
• Su Mu and other team members recognized several survivors as old acquaintances, who in turn recognized them.

Su Mu’s memories of his past life as Daoist Yimu returned, revealing that a Female Tree was using electromagnetic waves to make everyone mistake faceless monsters for people they knew. The entire operation was compromised, and the connected forces began transmitting a report to Headquarters, where the chapter ended as contact was requested.

• Su Mu and the Special Forces Members chatted warmly with apparent friends and relatives among the survivors, while the growing crowd and their shared confusion went unnoticed.
• The command post judged the scene safe and ordered the survivors observed, but staff hesitated to report abnormal radio-wave readings as the teams escorted a huge crowd outside.
• Su Mu collapsed as his memories returned and realized the people around him were faceless monsters and that the supposed classmate was not in his memories.
• Su Mu recognized the Female Tree of human brains as the source of the ongoing electromagnetic influence, but could not stop everyone from deciding to report to Headquarters.
• The Female Tree’s brains sent invisible ripples through the connected signals, and the Tianhai City Supernatural Research Institute Branch received a request from the on-site command post to make contact.

Fang Changqing authorized contact with the frontline teams after preparing the branch to preserve its findings if the call proved dangerous. The call revealed that the Female Tree was attacking through communications by altering brainwave frequencies, and Lin Chen collapsed as the staff turned against him.

• Fang Changqing weighed the risk of answering the restored communications and ordered the branch’s information backed up and sealed if everyone was killed.
• Lin Chen chose to stay with Fang Changqing and the staff rather than leave the branch.
• Fang Changqing ordered the field command and frontline teams connected, and they reported that the Imposters had been dealt with and survivors rescued.
• Lin Chen’s EEG alarm detected abnormal brainwave modulation, and he warned everyone to end the call.
• The staff turned toward Lin Chen with eerie smiles and laughed as the Female Tree’s influence lowered his brainwave frequency and caused changes in his brain cells.
• Lin Chen tried to reach the control equipment but was overwhelmed by darkness.

Lin Chen recognized the Female Tree’s invasion and sent the chip into Su Mu’s consciousness so he could wake and destroy its vulnerable body. Su Mu began forcing his brainwaves back to consciousness inside the slaughterhouse, where the Female Tree’s Imposters were harvesting human brains.

• Lin Chen used the chip to analyze his condition and realized the Female Tree was controlling people through synchronized brainwaves.
• Lin Chen perceived the Female Tree’s horrifying body and identified its present-world carbon-based form as a vulnerable target.
• Lin Chen sent the chip into Su Mu’s consciousness, sacrificing his own control so Su Mu could carry out a decapitation operation.
• Su Mu awakened, learned his brainwave frequency had fallen to 4 hertz, and ordered the chip to stimulate his body despite the risk of damage.
• Su Mu saw Imposters harvesting human brains and attaching them to the Female Tree in the slaughterhouse.

Su Mu launched a one-minute assault on the Female Tree with his overloaded Exoskeleton Armor, but its influence over brainwaves disrupted his attack and threatened to kill him. As the Female Tree and a fused giant trapped him, he activated the armor’s escape pod and self-destruct, and a small sun erupted in the slaughterhouse.

• Su Mu ordered the Exoskeleton Armor to overload, deploy Micro Drone bombs, and activate the Superconducting High-Frequency Light Sword.
• The bombs blasted the attacking Imposters apart, and Su Mu charged into them, cutting dozens in half with his first sword strike.
• The Female Tree disrupted Su Mu’s brainwaves and drove him into a pork grinder, but he ordered the AI to take control and continued attacking.
• The AI-guided armor carried Su Mu beneath the Female Tree, where a giant formed from fused Imposters seized him and the Female Tree’s Nerve Bundles wrapped around the armor.
• With the armor failing and his consciousness fading, Su Mu ordered the escape pod and self-destruct systems activated.
• The Female Tree and the fused giant tried to stop the armor, but it exploded and lit the slaughterhouse like a small sun.

After the Female Tree’s destruction, Lin Chen experienced its memories and discovered how the real space-time, illusory worlds, and encroaching darkness were connected. He returned to reality with the Female Tree dead and set out to claim its inheritance.

• The Female Tree’s destruction freed the minds of those it had controlled, but Lin Chen awoke in the Chaos Sea within the Female Tree’s memories.
• Lin Chen saw how the Cultivation World’s sealed spaces had entered the present world and how the Soul Returning Tree created countless illusory space-times.
• Lin Chen realized that only his Modern Society was real, and that ancient beings entering it could be truly killed under its material laws.
• Lin Chen traced the collapse of physical laws to the dark abyss, whose ghosts and sinking power corrupted the illusory worlds and threatened the real space-time.
• Lin Chen concluded that humanity’s souls and collective transcendence were key to stabilizing the world, while the darkness continually sought to consume them.
• The Female Tree’s memories revealed that it had died in the real space-time; Lin Chen returned to reality and went to claim its inheritance.

At a hidden Tianshan research base, Civilization Academicians studied the Evolution Virus and feared it would accelerate a global species explosion while humans struggled to adapt. Fang Changqing sent a clone to rescue Su Mu, then received a report of a supernova outbreak in an extraterrestrial galaxy.

• Four researchers confirmed that the Evolution Virus rapidly altered organisms but could not normally infect humans, and that human will might determine whether an infected person evolved or died.
• The academicians connected widespread species evolution and supernatural events to a looming Idealistic Invasion and named the crisis the Calamity of Evolution.
• Fang Changqing learned that Female Tree, the Imposter, and Su Mu had been hit, and ordered a clone to take the Biological Printer and Clone Cultivation Pod to Tianhai City to save Su Mu.
• Fang Changqing left the Imposter and Female Tree's cases to Lin Chen and two others, while dismissing concerns about interference from the damaged Tianhai institute's headquarters.
• A clone delivered a top-secret report from the Civilization International Astronomical Center, and Fang Changqing and the other academicians reacted in shock to news of a supernova outbreak.

Lin Chen woke from a near-vegetative state after the chip forcibly restarted his body, then learned that the Supernatural Research Institute had suffered catastrophic losses and that Su Mu might be revived despite his devastating injuries. After spotting an anomalous forest and an unusually bright star outside his hospital window, Lin Chen chose to rest and focus on rising in the institute.

• Lin Chen used the chip to restore his bodily functions and woke in a heavily fortified hospital, where Fang Zhengyang told him the Tianhai City Supernatural Research Institute had suffered severe casualties.
• Fang Zhengyang explained that Su Mu had lost half his body and stopped breathing while defeating the supernatural monster, but Fang Changqing believed he could be revived if most of his brain's nerve cells survived.
• Lin Chen learned that Su Mu was being treated in a laboratory and considered the institute's depleted ranks an opportunity to advance.
• After Fang Zhengyang left, Lin Chen noticed an unfamiliar, lush forest outside the hospital and a brilliant star with a halo in the eastern sky.
• Lin Chen decided not to dwell on the unexplained phenomena and resolved to rest and climb higher in the institute.