Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Ability Grand Stage”

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Wenbin, head of Jiangcheng’s Tianlu Group, claims that the city’s crime rate has risen and police case-solving has fallen because of a surge in ability-related crimes. He reveals that a deadly shopping-street explosion officially blamed on a gas leak was actually caused by a superpowered individual.
• He agrees with the Dimensional Limit Organization that people who create Erosion and use their abilities to commit crimes should be held responsible. However, he rejects the Organization’s view of abilities as a “curse,” arguing that abilities are tools whose morality depends on their users.
• Jiang announces a new citizen-led superpowered defense team. The program is both a competition and a recruitment drive: five selected people will share an annual salary of 100 million yuan, and audience members may also enter the contest.
• Ten contestants are introduced. Chen Xuan scans them and confirms that all possess abilities, with some having several and with abilities ranging from blue to green rarity.
• Contestants introduce themselves to build support. “Octopus,” a former office worker, wins strong audience approval by describing how he used his ability to expose his supervisor’s private resentment and ambition during a meeting.
• The contest will test contestants through combat-themed safety scenarios of varying difficulty. Judges will score their performances, with an audience vote deciding any tie. The Ability King and four others will receive invitations to join the defense team. Audience registration will open during a ten-minute break.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan watches his former boss publicly judge ability users—a strange reversal from his old role as an employee listening to management. He remains composed, though the discussion concerns people like him.
• Lin Qing explains the public reaction to the earlier explosion and reassures Chen Xuan when Jiang criticizes Erosion-makers. She stays physically and emotionally supportive.
• Jiang Wenbin presents himself as a practical civic leader: he condemns ability-enabled crimes while promoting abilities as useful assets. His recruitment plan also turns the show into a public spectacle and publicity campaign.
• Huanxin, the host, tries to steer Jiang back to the program and keep the show moving, then introduces the competition rules.
• Octopus connects with the audience through a relatable workplace grievance, showing how contestants can use personal stories and personality to win public support.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: The chapter distinguishes between having an ability and choosing to misuse it; those who create harm should face consequences.
• Public safety and institutional trust: Rising superpowered crime raises questions about whether existing law enforcement and outside organizations can protect the city.
• Abilities as tools—or threats: Jiang disputes the idea that abilities are inherently cursed, framing them as morally neutral and dependent on their users.
• Spectacle and commercialization: A serious security problem is packaged as a televised contest, with an enormous prize used to attract participants and viewers.
• Public identity and resentment: Octopus’s popularity reflects shared frustration with workplace exploitation and the appeal of using power to challenge authority.

Key plot points and events

• During the intermission, 45 audience members join the competition, swelling the applicant pool beyond the show’s original plan. Chen Xuan doubts the variety-show challenges can meaningfully assess combat abilities.
• Host Huanxin appears to take charge, dismissing the planned events and pushing mannequins offstage. When Director Shen confronts her, Chen Xuan scans her and detects four abilities, including Strong Seize.
• Huanxin knocks Shen through the display screen, revealing that the disruption is no accident. She announces a new rule: applicants must fight a contestant or fight her, with no restrictions and survival as the only condition for winning.
• When people try to leave, Huanxin threatens them with a gas-based attack. She tears away her false face and identifies herself as Lu Lixin, an ability user who can alter gases. She admits to carrying out the recent pedestrian-street mall bombing and addresses Jiang Wenbin directly.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan remains wary and observant. His experience with ability combat makes him distrust the show’s staged tests, and his scan lets him recognize the danger before the others do.
• Lin Qing jokes that Chen Xuan could earn a fortune by competing; he refuses, saying he has no interest in embarrassing himself.
• Huanxin/Lu Lixin shifts from cheerful host to violent attacker, exposing her disguise and revealing both her abilities and her criminal role.
• Director Shen challenges Huanxin’s authority, but she overpowers him and silences his objection.
• Jiang Wenbin is left stunned as Lu Lixin claims responsibility for the bombing associated with his remarks.

Significant themes

• Performance versus reality: A light entertainment show abruptly becomes a real, lethal confrontation.
• The limits of spectacle: The show’s playful tests are inadequate for judging genuine ability combat.
• Deception and hidden danger: Lu Lixin’s disguise and concealed abilities expose the threat beneath the broadcast’s cheerful surface.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Lixin reveals that she and her allies have replaced the studio host and security guards, sealed the exits, and taken control of the live broadcast. She says she killed the original host and invites the trapped audience to call for help, claiming she wants the world to witness what happens.
• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing infer that the attack does not appear in historical records, suggesting it will be prevented. They decide to leave quietly before the Dimensional Limit Organization’s responders arrive.
• Lu Lixin explains that she is acting in the name of the Masked Mentor, whom she reveres, and calls on ability users to unite against the Dimensional Limit Organization and powerful capitalists.
• Jiang Wenbin’s bodyguard attacks Lu Lixin, but she defeats him with corrosive gas, demonstrating the danger of her ability. She then threatens contestant Si Tian and forces the stage participants to choose her as their opponent.
• Chen Xuan decides that Lu Lixin’s cause does not justify her violence. With Lin Qing’s help, he disguises himself and approaches the stage. Lu Lixin senses that he is genuinely dangerous and attacks first with her “Strong Seize” ability, but Chen Xuan anticipates the strike and dodges it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan shifts from planning a discreet escape to intervening when Lu Lixin threatens innocent people. His calm judgment and combat experience are evident in how he reads her ability.
• Lin Qing quickly understands Chen Xuan’s intentions, lends him her sunglasses for his disguise, and prepares to withdraw unnoticed once he acts.
• Lu Lixin presents herself as an idealistic revolutionary, but her rhetoric contrasts sharply with her willingness to kill, terrorize civilians, and use force. Her confidence falters when she senses Chen Xuan’s threat.
• Jiang Wenbin tries to bargain for the audience’s safety and directs his bodyguard to attack, but the attempt fails.
• The bodyguard makes a desperate move against Lu Lixin and is badly injured; the contestants and audience are left frightened and trapped.

Significant themes

• Idealism versus extremism: Lu Lixin claims to seek freedom for ability users, yet her violent methods undermine that cause.
• Power and responsibility: Chen Xuan rejects the idea that opposition to the organization excuses harming innocents.
• Impersonation and distorted legacy: Lu Lixin invokes the Masked Mentor’s name, while Chen Xuan questions her right to claim that legacy.
• Fear and perception: Lu Lixin’s instinctive reaction to Chen Xuan reveals that true danger is recognized beyond appearances or bravado.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lu Lixin attempts to threaten Chen Xuan with her Strong Seize ability and poisonous gas balloons during the televised Ability Showdown.
• Chen Xuan avoids close contact, recognizing that Strong Seize requires physical contact and that Lu Lixin’s gas manipulation could be dangerous.
• After positioning himself to see the entire studio, Chen Xuan uses the Divine Eye Method to slow his perception of time and targets nine people—Lu Lixin’s guards and stagehands—with Fission and Fusion.
• Because his Seed of Flesh and Blood is at Level 9, he can activate the fusion ability without paying its usual cost. The ability fuses the targets with nearby objects:
  • A stagehand merges grotesquely with the floor.
  • Lu Lixin fuses with a damaged mannequin, leaving only part of her brain and tongue intact.
  • The guards merge with the studio doors.
• The horrific scene causes the audience to panic and flee, disregarding the poison balloons and Lu Lixin’s orders.
• Chen Xuan escapes backstage, returns to his shop using the Scanner Gun, and brings Lin Qing with him.
• Lin Qing reveals that she hacked and erased the TV station’s surveillance footage, preventing the authorities from recovering the night’s recordings.
• The chapter then shifts to the Dimensional Limit Organization’s response. Honglian, Zhang Yingzi, and Wang Baihu arrive at the TV station and learn that ten people died, though nine were criminals involved in the incident.
• The authorities discover that the studio’s surveillance system has been hacked and that many witnesses escaped, leaving the exact sequence of events unclear.
• The team is warned that the bodies of the nine dead criminals are extremely disturbing.

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan demonstrates greater tactical maturity. Rather than relying on direct attacks, he carefully observes the battlefield, avoids Lu Lixin’s abilities, and uses his rule-based fusion power when all targets are within sight.
• His fusion ability is shown to be extraordinarily powerful: once activated and paid for, it functions almost like an unavoidable natural law.
• Chen Xuan is disturbed by the brutality of the result, despite having deliberately caused it, suggesting that he retains moral discomfort and emotional sensitivity.
• Lu Lixin is exposed as both manipulative and dangerously ideological. Her concern during the crisis is initially focused on controlling the show and punishing people for disobedience rather than protecting lives. She realizes too late that Chen Xuan has attacked her.
• Lin Qing proves resourceful and technically capable by hacking the studio’s surveillance network. Her concern for Chen Xuan also reveals trust and emotional closeness, especially when she checks whether he sacrificed part of his body to use his ability.
• Honglian continues to maintain an emotionally distant attitude, but she recognizes her new colleagues as reliable and competent. Her resentment toward the organization’s leadership and the removal of her former superior remains unresolved.
• Zhang Yingzi and Wang Baihu provide a more informal, human contrast to the grim incident through their banter, while also showing professional concern about the unusually high death toll.

Significant Themes

• The terrifying nature of rule-based abilities: Chen Xuan’s fusion power does not depend on physical contact or conventional combat. Once its conditions are fulfilled, the outcome is absolute, emphasizing how abilities can function beyond ordinary logic.
• The growing danger of ability users: The incident demonstrates how a single empowered individual can threaten hundreds of civilians, reinforcing the social instability caused by the spread of abilities.
• Moral ambiguity and justified violence: Chen Xuan kills Lu Lixin and her accomplices to prevent a larger massacre, but the grotesque method forces him—and the reader—to confront the horror of his actions.
• Order versus chaos: The audience’s panic, the collapse of the televised event, and the authorities’ difficulty gathering evidence all show how fragile public order has become.
• Surveillance and information control: Lin Qing’s hacking prevents the authorities from reconstructing the incident, highlighting the importance of technology, secrecy, and competing control over information.
• The consequences of erosion and awakening: Chen Xuan acknowledges that the spread of erosion will produce more ability users, including dangerous extremists like Lu Lixin. Public safety will likely worsen as these powers become more widespread.

Character Interactions

• Lu Lixin tries to engage Chen Xuan as a potential participant and subtly prepares to attack him, but he ignores her and uses her own staging arrangement against her.
• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing discuss his ability afterward. She worries that he sacrificed a body part, while he explains that he activated the power without paying a physical price.
• Lin Qing’s hacking complements Chen Xuan’s escape, showing their cooperation: he handles the immediate threat while she protects them from later investigation.
• Honglian, Zhang Yingzi, and Wang Baihu exchange information at the crime scene. Their conversation mixes professional investigation with humor, particularly over the surprisingly high number of deaths and the fact that most victims were criminals.
• The task force’s arrival establishes the organization’s growing role in managing ability-related crimes and sets up further investigation into the studio massacre.

Key plot points and events

• Honglian, Wang Baihu, and Zhang Yingzi inspect the aftermath of an attack in a filming hall. One attacker has been grotesquely rearranged and fused into a door; his vital signs persist, but he cannot speak or respond.
• Captain Xiao Kanong explains that the attackers had filled the ceiling with poison-gas balloons, trapped the audience, and held a detonator. An unidentified male ability user stopped all nine attackers almost instantly, likely preventing a mass-casualty event. Some victims were injured by corrosive gas.
• The Organization has little information about the rescuer beyond his approximate height and gender. Xiao considers even a person who saved lives potentially dangerous until they know more, and says the Organization should bring him under its guidance.
• The team surveys the hall, where abandoned belongings and bloodstained seats show the audience’s panic, though the spacious venue prevented a stampede.
• Near the stage, they find ringleader Lu Lixin fused with a mannequin—an impossible physical transformation that horrifies the investigators. Honglian examines the fusion and sees what appear to be pulsing organs inside it.
• Honglian recognizes streamer Si Tian among the people speaking with police. Wang Baihu recalls that she recently came to the Organization to have her ability tested.

Character developments and interactions

• Honglian questions the harsh treatment of the door-bound attacker and challenges Xiao’s assessment of the unknown rescuer, emphasizing that he saved the audience. She remains skeptical of the police’s usefulness in ability-related cases.
• Wang Baihu is shaken by the grotesque scenes and intimidated by Xiao, but supports the Organization’s plan to locate and guide the powerful rescuer. He also recognizes Si Tian.
• Zhang Yingzi provides the team with details about the attacker’s condition, acknowledges the horror of the scene, and takes a pragmatic view of ordinary people using abilities to earn money.
• Xiao Kanong balances praise for the rescuer’s decisive action with caution about his power and unknown motives. He leaves to greet police officials, underscoring the Organization’s cooperation with them.
• The exchange between Honglian and Xiao reveals tension: she suspects his concern about control may undervalue the rescuer’s lifesaving act, while Xiao insists that protecting ability users also requires monitoring them.

Significant themes

• Power, danger, and control: The Organization sees powerful ability users as risks even when they act heroically.
• Moral ambiguity: The attackers’ brutality makes the rescuer’s extreme violence understandable, but its horror still troubles the investigators.
• The limits of ordinary reality: The attacker fused with a mannequin demonstrates how abilities can violate physical laws.
• Fear and human vulnerability: The scattered belongings and bloodied seats evoke the audience’s desperate flight, while the absence of a stampede offers a narrow measure of relief.

Chapter summary

• At the scene of Lu Lixin’s death, Honglian and Wang Baihu discuss the danger posed by the unknown man who killed her. They find no sign of a struggle, suggesting Lu Lixin died before she could defend herself. Wang fears the man may belong to the same group as the Masked Woman; Honglian points out that they do not yet know whether he is an enemy.
• Wang’s unusually anxious rambling reveals how frightened he is. Honglian reassures him in her teasing way, promising to take the lead if they face danger. Their banter shows their close, familiar partnership.
• Zhang Yingzi brings them surveillance footage. It reveals that Lu Lixin attacked the masked man first, using the Strong Seize Technique. He dodged her attack with astonishing strength and control, then stopped and turned toward the audience. Lu Lixin immediately collapsed, apparently crushed by an ability that can strike targets within his field of vision with little or no warning.
• The investigators recognize the man’s apparent power as exceptionally dangerous, though they hope it has limitations. They also note that his disguise suggests caution rather than arrogance.
• Police questioning and audience photographs provide a promising lead: witnesses recognized the man, and several had photographed him with a very cute female companion. Unlike him, she was not disguised, giving the investigators a clear image of her appearance.

Character developments and interactions

Honglian remains perceptive and composed, analyzing both the footage and the man’s behavior while keeping Wang’s fear in check through humor. Wang’s bravado gives way to genuine anxiety, though his joking exchanges with Honglian affirm their loyalty and affection as partners. Zhang Yingzi contributes evidence and offers a psychological interpretation of the suspect’s disguise; the three work together to revise their understanding of the attack.

Significant themes

The chapter highlights the unpredictability and danger of ability users, especially when an ability appears nearly impossible to evade. It also emphasizes the value of careful observation: reviewing the footage changes the investigators’ assumptions about who initiated the attack. Finally, the contrast between the man’s concealment and his companion’s unguarded appearance raises the possibility that his disguise may be his weakness—and a crucial lead.

• Police investigation: Honglian, Wang Baihu, and Zhang Yingzi examine a photograph of a woman seen with Chen Xuan. Captain Xiao Kanong says the police will quietly upload her face to the Skynet facial-recognition system rather than publish the photo, both to avoid public backlash and to prevent anyone from provoking a dangerous ability user. Wang Baihu admires the woman’s looks and guesses at her age, build, and modest fashion choices, while Honglian tries to keep him focused.
• Xiao’s grim mercy: Xiao approaches a criminal whose body has fused into a horrifying, apparently fatal state. He touches her exposed brain, hastening her death. Honglian is shocked, but Xiao says he only ended what was inevitable and asks them to keep it quiet. He calls it an act of kindness toward “our kind.” The others, though unsettled, accept that the victims were beyond saving.
• Lin Qing’s disguise: Back at Chen Xuan’s shop, Lin Qing reveals that the police are looking for her because the photographer who took her picture informed her. Chen Xuan trusts her ability to handle the situation. She explains that she altered her facial contours and makeup before the photo was taken: the changes are subtle to human observers but disrupt the facial landmarks used by recognition algorithms. Chen Xuan realizes the woman in the image looks similar to Lin Qing but is not readily identifiable as her.
• Lin Qing’s abilities and condition: Lin Qing says most of her prosthetics have recovered, though her weapon systems and reinforced central spine remain broken; she is about seventy percent restored. She then demonstrates optical camouflage, making her body disappear while her clothes remain visible. The suit she normally wears can camouflage itself too, and the effect can also block infrared detection. She playfully drapes herself over Chen Xuan as an invisible “ghost warrior.”
• Interruption: Liu Shuyue suddenly comes downstairs calling for Chen Xuan. Lin Qing’s clothes drop to the floor, leaving her unseen, and the scene ends on the awkward moment.
  Character developments and interactions: Xiao’s willingness to end the criminal’s suffering reveals a severe, pragmatic compassion—and a sense of solidarity with people like himself. Lin Qing is playful and confident in her advanced technology, but her careful defenses and concealment show how wary she remains. Chen Xuan responds with trust and curiosity, while Honglian is startled by Xiao’s act and Wang Baihu’s admiration of the photographed woman gives the tense investigation a moment of levity.
  Significant themes: The chapter contrasts machine identification with human perception, showing how technology can both track and evade people. It also explores the ethics of mercy when survival is impossible, the secrecy required when powerful abilities are involved, and the blurred boundary between a person’s “real” appearance and a technologically altered one.

Plot points and events

• Liu Shuyue brings Chen Xuan to the Myriad Mountain Great Wilderness after the Pioneer Team uncovers something strange inside Mountain Pillar No. 99.
• The team blasted through a thin layer of rock and found a large, human-made structure buried within the mountain. Its cement walls, metal plating, and construction are far beyond the capabilities of the Great Qi Kingdom.
• Inside a vast chamber, they find rows of enormous, sealed iron boxes and grooves running through the floor. No one knows what the boxes contain or what the room was used for.
• Chen Xuan advises against forcing the boxes open and suggests lighting and clearing the area before investigating further.
• The group discovers a sealed door leading to a smaller space, a dry well, and stairs running both upward and downward. Chen Xuan recognizes a likely elevator shaft and concludes that the mountain contains a hidden building.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Xuan shifts quickly from casual shopkeeper to cautious investigator. His modern-world knowledge helps him recognize the structure’s artificial construction, but he avoids rushing into potentially dangerous actions.
• Liu Shuyue demonstrates responsibility and sound judgment: she checks that there are no Demons before ordering the breach, and she asks Chen Xuan for help interpreting the discovery.
• Lin Qing insists on joining the expedition, presenting herself as friendly and eager to remain close to Chen Xuan and Liu Shuyue. She also spots the floor grooves that others had missed.
• The three work cooperatively: Liu Shuyue provides the opportunity and practical support, Chen Xuan assesses the site, and Lin Qing contributes an important observation.

Significant themes

• The collision of worlds and technologies: Modern construction materials and engineering appear in a remote fantasy wilderness.
• Curiosity tempered by caution: The explorers want answers, but Chen Xuan insists on understanding the site before damaging or opening anything.
• The wilderness’s hidden past: The discovery suggests that the seemingly remote mountain conceals a much larger, unknown structure.

Key plot points and events

• The Dimensional Limit Organization reviews the television-station massacre: all nine people involved died, including Lu Lixin, who had survived the initial incident but later succumbed to infection.
• Lu Lixin’s background is revealed. Born Lu Sisi, she had been neglected by her divorced parents, drifted into crime, and was recently released from prison. During the following six months, she received more than 3.5 million in transfers and used it to recruit eight criminal accomplices.
• The money came from the Gospel Society, an overseas group of ability users opposed to the Organization’s control. Its involvement confirms that the rumored resistance group is real.
• Captain Xiao Kanong reveals that headquarters has identified the person who dealt with the criminals as a dangerous Wanderer, though his identity remains unknown.
• Xiao presents a newly declassified videotape showing a city beyond an Erosion Point. It depicts an empty, decaying city, grotesque growths of flesh and tentacles, and thousands of people worshipping blankly. Even a rifle-carrying figure joins them. The recording ends abruptly.

Character developments and interactions

• Honglian questions the gap between Lu Lixin’s criminal past and her apparent revolutionary fervor, and challenges Xiao Kanong over his seemingly enthusiastic response to rising disorder.
• Xiao Jiu voices the team’s curiosity about both Lu Lixin’s motives and the declassified footage.
• Xiao Kanong is openly ambitious and provocative: he sees escalating chaos as an opportunity for the Organization and laments that his team did not get credit for stopping the massacre. He also uses the briefing to emphasize the threat posed by Wanderers.
• Wang Qianduan reports the investigation’s findings, while other team members react with a mix of regret, skepticism, and concern.

Significant themes

• Neglect and exploitation: Lu Lixin’s troubled history helps explain her vulnerability, while the Gospel Society’s funding shows how resentment can be deliberately cultivated.
• The costs of power and control: The Organization’s monopoly over ability users is already provoking organized resistance, with more opposition expected.
• Ambition amid crisis: Xiao’s view that disorder creates opportunity contrasts with his team’s concern about public safety.
• The unknown horror beyond Erosion Points: The tape suggests that other worlds may be physically corrupted and their inhabitants psychologically—or religiously—subjugated.

Key plot points

• Organization staff watch footage from World No. 9, a radically altered world where a powerful being appears to control human minds and turn people into servants. The cameraman returned from the world as an empty shell; the rescue mission cost many agents.
• Headquarters suspects the unusually capable man they are pursuing is a Wanderer: someone who has traveled between worlds and acquired abilities that help him survive. His apparent normality may itself be a reason for suspicion.
• The man is officially classified as an S-Class Wanderer. The Jiangcheng branch is ordered to capture him—alive if possible, but by any means necessary—and is warned that locating and defeating him will be difficult.
• With the branch understaffed, Xiao Kanong announces plans to recruit externally and more than double its size. Newcomers will be contractors with different compensation, while current agents retain lifelong staff positions.
• Honglian tries to suggest a change at work, but Xiao Kanong anticipates that she wants the time clock removed and refuses, adding that cameras will also be installed in the smoking room.
• At lunch, Honglian, Wang Baihu, and Xiao Jiu see a middle-aged woman being forced away from the complex entrance. Honglian heads toward the disturbance.

Character developments and interactions

• Honglian is shaken by the footage and newly appreciates the safety of Jiangcheng. Despite her fear of the S-Class threat, she reassures Wang Baihu that she will protect him if danger arises. Her instinct to intervene in the woman’s mistreatment shows her compassion and readiness to act.
• Wang Baihu voices fear for his life, then gratefully promises not to argue with Honglian over who is the group’s best agent. He also supports concerns that recruitment could attract people motivated only by money.
• Xiao Kanong explains headquarters’ assessment and lays out the capture order and recruitment plan. He balances concern for the branch’s future with teasing authority, especially toward Honglian.
• Xiao Jiu asks questions about the footage and worries that longtime agents might lose their staff status; Xiao Kanong assures him they will not.
• The agents debate whether generous pay and benefits might undermine the Organization’s ideals. Their discussion highlights the difference between their original reasons for joining and their private enjoyment of the benefits.

Significant themes

• The danger of the unknown: Other worlds can be far more alien and threatening than agents expect, and apparent normality may conceal a serious threat.
• Power and moral distance: Wanderers’ experience across worlds may make them formidable and less attached to any one place, raising fears about their regard for human life.
• Duty versus self-interest: Agents want to protect the world, yet also value secure, generous employment; the recruitment plan tests how the Organization can uphold its mission while expanding.
• Compassion in action: The chapter ends by contrasting workplace banter with a public injustice, as Honglian moves to help the woman without hesitation.

Plot points and events

• Honglian meets Mother Lu, who has been trying to enter the Dimensional Limit Organization. Mother Lu confirms that her daughter, Lu Lixin, is dead—but immediately asks for half of Lu Lixin’s money.
• Honglian explains that Lu Lixin’s earnings were illegally obtained and have been seized; any legitimate funds would have gone toward compensating the victims. Lu Lixin’s actions injured sixteen people, many still hospitalized.
• Mother Lu objects, arguing that Lu Lixin was only an accomplice and that the Organization should pursue her boss. She reveals that Lu Lixin visited her more than a month earlier, boasting that a powerful “big boss” had promised to help her become famous and wealthy.
• Mother Lu says Lu Lixin was still short of money in August, suggesting she gained her powers only recently. Honglian realizes this timing makes Lu Lixin’s apparent skill with her abilities—and her use of the Strong Seize Technique—suspiciously advanced.
• Honglian suspects someone from the Gospel Society may have personally trained Lu Lixin and supported the sabotage operation. She plans to report the lead to Captain Xiao.

Character developments and interactions

• Honglian begins by trying to handle Mother Lu calmly, but becomes angry at her apparent focus on money rather than her daughter’s death or the victims. Despite her frustration, she recognizes the importance of the information and turns to investigating it.
• Mother Lu is portrayed as self-interested and estranged from her daughter. Their last meeting was a bitter argument, during which Lu Lixin bragged about her future power and success. Mother Lu nevertheless insists that Lu Lixin’s employer bears greater responsibility.
• Wang Baihu and Xiao Jiu wait for Honglian and later hear her account. Wang Baihu reflects that a mother like Lu Lixin’s might have made him even more unstable; both colleagues take Honglian’s suspicion seriously.

Significant themes

• Accountability and victim compensation: Lu Lixin’s death does not erase the harm she caused, and her remaining money is directed toward victims rather than family.
• Family estrangement and self-interest: Mother Lu’s demand for money contrasts sharply with Honglian’s concern for the injured and the seriousness of Lu Lixin’s crimes.
• Hidden influence and unfinished investigations: Lu Lixin’s rapid mastery of her powers suggests outside training and points to a larger organization still operating behind the scenes.

Key plot points and events

• The survey of Building No. 99 is nearly complete. It is a seventy-five-floor structure embedded in a mountain, and similar buildings have been found nearby, suggesting the wilderness once contained a city.
• The building’s upper floors could offer Mala Village a practical answer to its looming winter housing shortage. Its explored residential area could house hundreds to thousands, though the elevators and other systems remain unexplained.
• Liu Shuyue proposes using an obscure sect spell to detect devices that absorb Spiritual Energy. By adapting the family’s Smoke-Soul Pillar, she hopes to locate any spiritually powered mechanisms in the building and test whether villagers can operate them.
• Back at the shop, Chen Xuan and Lin Qing hear a televised announcement: the Dimensional Limit Organization is forming Jiangcheng’s first professional emergency response team for ability users, with police support and public oversight. Recruitment is set to begin on Saturday.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan focuses on the practical potential of the mountain buildings as safe, comfortable housing. He is also reassured that Liu Shuyue’s ability, Callousness, has not made her emotionally distant.
• Liu Shuyue responds to past uncertainty by taking initiative: she enthusiastically applies her sect knowledge to help the village. Chen recognizes her enduring sense of responsibility and care for its people.
• Lin Qing shares Chen’s relief at seeing Liu Shuyue regain her spirits, while acknowledging that the buildings’ unfamiliar technology is beyond her expertise.
• The three discuss the building’s former purpose and how to investigate its machinery, combining Chen’s practical reasoning, Lin’s caution, and Liu’s specialized knowledge.

Significant themes

• Rebuilding and adaptation: The villagers seek to repurpose ancient infrastructure to meet immediate needs.
• Responsibility and service: Liu Shuyue remains committed to protecting people despite doubts about her past beliefs.
• Past meets present: The mysterious buildings hint at a lost urban civilization, while modern Jiangcheng begins organizing its own response to new dangers.
• Public trust and cooperation: The emergency-team announcement signals growing official recognition of ability users and the importance of accountability.

Key plot points and events

• The Dimensional Limit Organization announces public recruitment in Jiangcheng, a major departure from its past secrecy and a change Lin Qing believes may reshape history. Lin suspects the Organization is using media coverage to build public support for its role in handling ability-related crimes.
• Seeing recruitment as a chance to obtain inside information, Lin proposes infiltrating the Organization. She explains that a newly emerging Erosion Point connects to a highly advanced future world containing technology vital to the Organization’s war prosthetics—and potentially the equipment she and Miss Liu need.
• Chen Xuan refuses to let Lin apply: her prosthetic body could expose her, and discovery could endanger both her and the Ability Store. Lin argues that the Organization’s temporary openness offers a rare chance to reach the Erosion Point before it is heavily guarded.
• Chen agrees that infiltration could be valuable, but proposes sending other applicants equipped with abilities from the store. They can gather information without involving Lin directly. He shows Lin a livestream of a young woman being harshly mocked, whom Lin recognizes as Si Tian, a participant in Ability Showdown.

Character developments

• Lin Qing shifts from excitement about the Organization’s recruitment to an urgent desire to infiltrate it, driven by strategic concerns and the possibility of obtaining technology to repair and upgrade herself and help Miss Liu.
• Chen Xuan remains protective of Lin but shows strategic flexibility: rather than abandoning the infiltration plan, he looks for a safer way to pursue it through recruited informants.

Character interactions

• Lin presses Chen to support her plan, while Chen repeatedly rejects her personal involvement on safety grounds. Their exchange mixes serious tactical disagreement with familiar humor and affection.
• They ultimately find partial common ground: Lin accepts that carefully chosen applicants may be a workable alternative, and Chen introduces Si Tian as a possible candidate.

Significant themes

• History and changing futures: The Organization’s new openness may disrupt the future Lin knows.
• Intelligence and infiltration: Inside information could determine whether the protagonists can act before the Organization secures the Erosion Point.
• Risk versus necessity: Lin is willing to endanger herself for a rare opportunity; Chen favors a less direct approach.
• Technology and dependence: The future world’s equipment could restore Lin and provide crucial tools for Miss Liu.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Siqi ends her livestream after viewers mock her for her panicked, humiliating reaction during the recent attack on a television studio. Although she survived, viral footage has made her a target of ridicule.
• The experience leaves her angry and ashamed, but also more sympathetic toward people she once criticized for being frightened. She recognizes that the man who intervened saved everyone, even as she resents how his actions exposed her weakness.
• The incident has sharply increased her audience, giving her a chance to profit from the attention. But Jiang’s real ambition is not simply fame: she wants to become a genuine superpowered hero.
• She receives a message asking whether she wants to join the Dimensional Limit Organization, which is publicly recruiting. Doubting that her abilities are strong enough to pass selection, she initially declines.
• After noticing the sender’s unusual internal account and a contract attached to the message, she reads a “Superpower Rental Contract” from the World Ability Center. It offers her one or two abilities in exchange for recording her life and work after joining the Organization; a deeper partnership could eventually make the abilities permanently hers.
• Assuming it is a prank, Jiang selects the option to rent two abilities and signs as “Si Tian.” The contract then vanishes, followed by a strange, eerie video and a notice that it has taken effect.
• Jiang discovers that she has gained two abilities, and instinctively knows how to use them: the Deity-Summoning Art and the Bone-Corroding Heart-Burning Curse.

Character developments

• Jiang moves from fury and humiliation toward self-reflection. She understands the terror of being publicly mocked after a traumatic experience and recognizes her own past cruelty toward others.
• Her confidence is shaken by the contrast between her limited fire magic and the powerful ability user who saved the studio. Still, she clings to her aspiration to be a hero rather than just a viral entertainer.
• Her decision to sign the contract, despite believing it is fake, marks a leap of faith—or impulsiveness—that immediately transforms her prospects.

Character interactions

• Jiang’s relationship with her livestream audience is adversarial: viewers mock her, but their attention also boosts her popularity.
• She feels conflicted toward the man who intervened in the studio attack, resenting him for making her look foolish while acknowledging that he saved her and the others.
• Her exchange with the anonymous Organization-linked sender is brief: she declines the invitation, then discovers the attached contract. The sender’s identity and motives remain unclear.

Significant themes

• Public shame and online cruelty: A frightening ordeal becomes entertainment for viewers, exposing the gap between spectators’ mockery and the victim’s lived experience.
• Fame versus purpose: Jiang can exploit her sudden notoriety, but her deeper goal is to become a capable hero.
• Power and opportunity: The contract reframes abilities as something that can be rented, traded, and earned through cooperation—not merely gained by chance.
• Fear, empathy, and self-worth: Jiang’s experience forces her to reconsider how she judges others and whether her current weakness defines her future.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Siqi verifies the supernatural abilities described in her new contract. She can use the Deity-Summoning Art to animate light objects by drawing on their natural properties, and can produce and manipulate flames.
• She tests the Bone-Corroding Heart-Burning Curse on herself. The curse causes extreme pain and leaves her unconscious for two hours, convincing her that it is far more dangerous than she expected.
• Siqi wonders about the secretive World Ability Center, which signed her contract, and resolves to keep its existence confidential while recording her work as requested.
• At the weekend recruitment fair for the Dimensional Limit Organization, Siqi livestreams the crowded event. Her audience recognizes her as a rising minor internet celebrity.
• Her biggest patron, “World Ability Center,” enters the stream. Watching from a shop, Chen Xuan realizes Siqi’s warm greeting is directed especially at him; Lin Qing teases him for being her “top-ranked patron.”

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Siqi shifts from disbelief to exhilaration as she confirms her powers. Her confidence grows, though her self-inflicted curse test reveals how easily it could seriously harm someone.
• Chen Xuan watches Siqi’s stream and seems surprised by how much attention she gives him.
• Lin Qing observes Siqi’s obvious fondness for Chen Xuan and jokes that her fans mistakenly think her smile is for them.
• Siqi and her viewers interact through the lively livestream chat, while Siqi’s greeting to Chen Xuan stands out as unusually personal.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: Siqi’s abilities offer thrilling new strength but can cause severe harm, even to herself.
• Secrecy and trust: The World Ability Center remains hidden, and Siqi willingly agrees to protect its confidentiality.
• Public attention and private affection: Siqi’s growing online fame contrasts with the special attention she reserves for Chen Xuan.

Key plot points and events

• At a Dimensional Limit Organization recruitment event, Jiang Siqi ignores a crowd’s taunts and takes the initial ability screening. The test measures ability strength, though its technology cannot reliably identify the specific abilities someone has.
• Lin Qing explains to Chen Xuan that applicants are expected to disclose their powers themselves; the Organization’s detection equipment is limited, and later combat increasingly relied on cybernetic bodies rather than abilities.
• Jiang’s score is 178, a dramatic rise from her barely passing score of 52. The result astonishes the crowd and livestream viewers, many of whom recognize her from a variety show and begin supporting her.
• Jiang completes an application form, honestly listing her three abilities but giving a false awakening date. She is selected in the first group to advance, making her feel unusually successful compared with her past experiences.
• The second screening is a written test led by the Jiangcheng branch captain, Xiao Kanong. He says applicants may use phones, AI, and discussion, emphasizing sincere answers. The first question asks whether ability users differ from ordinary people and, if so, which group is superior. Jiang turns to her viewers for conversation but intends to answer in her own words.

Character developments

• Jiang Siqi moves from suppressing her irritation and enduring ridicule to gaining confidence as her score and early selection validate her. She remains cautious about what she reveals publicly, while choosing honesty on the application’s ability list.
• Lin Qing provides practical insight into the Organization’s imperfect assessment methods and its shift toward cybernetic combat.
• Xiao Kanong presents himself as an unconventional, enthusiastic captain who values frankness; his pink suit draws immediate criticism from the livestream audience.

Character interactions

• Jiang faces mockery from other applicants but refuses to react, mindful of her sponsor and livestream.
• Lin Qing answers Chen Xuan’s questions about ability detection, explaining both its limitations and the Organization’s procedures.
• The applicants’ initial competition gives way to a more tentative sense of shared identity as they wait together.
• Jiang engages her livestream audience for help with the written test, using the exchange to entertain viewers while intending to form her own answer.

Significant themes

• Public humiliation and validation: Jiang’s impressive score transforms ridicule into support.
• Honesty versus concealment: The test demands sincerity, yet applicants can hide information, and Jiang falsifies one detail on her form.
• Limits of measurement: The Organization’s machines can estimate strength but cannot fully explain what a person can do.
• Talent and self-worth: Jiang’s relief at becoming a frontrunner reflects her long history of feeling overshadowed by naturally gifted peers.

Key plot points and events

• During the Organization’s recruitment exam, Captain Xiao Kanong tells his assistant Xiao Jiu that the test is a psychological game: the questions are improvised, the papers will be discarded, and the real purpose is to make applicants reveal their thoughts under scrutiny.
• The Organization’s secret weapon is Wang Qianduan, who can hear people’s inner voices when they are intensely focused. Xiao has arranged substantial security to identify hostile applicants and possible infiltrators.
• Jiang Siqi submits her paper. Xiao recognizes her from Ability Showdown and reassures her that fear is natural; what matters is finding the courage to stand back up. Encouraged, she leaves with renewed confidence.
• Wang reports four suspicious applicants. One harbors strong hatred toward the Organization, which Xiao hopes will lead them to a wider hostile group. The other three are trying to hide their identities or deceive the Organization; Xiao orders that they be followed and leaves action to the intelligence team.
• Two applicants particularly interest Xiao: a French woman who appears to be a Non-Wanderer Crossing searching for someone called Demon, and a man whose only thought is a repeated prayer to be selected. Xiao laughs at the latter’s single-mindedness.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Kanong reveals himself as playful and unconventional, but also perceptive and strategically cautious. He treats recruitment as both screening and an opportunity to expose threats, while remaining open to helping the French applicant if she is willing to serve the Organization.
• Xiao Jiu is baffled by Xiao’s “game” and his exam methods, reinforcing her view of him as an odd, unreliable captain.
• Jiang Siqi moves from embarrassment and lingering fear to confidence after Xiao validates her feelings and praises her courage.
• Wang Qianduan efficiently supplies intelligence but remains detached from Xiao’s enthusiasm and broader reasoning.

Significant themes

• Fear and courage: Fear is normal; resilience means recovering and continuing despite it.
• Deception and observation: People trying to present a polished image may reveal themselves when they believe they are being evaluated.
• Security and hidden motives: Recruitment is also a way to detect spies, enemies, and the networks behind them.
• Unconventional judgment: Xiao is willing to consider applicants with unexpected motives rather than relying only on conventional standards.

Plot points and events

• Jiang Siqi is brought into a room with four other applicants and told by Wang Baihu that all five have passed the second screening. They are provisionally considered agents of the Dimensional Limit Organization.
• Wang explains that the group must complete a six-month probationary period. The Organization will assess whether they can adapt to its work, and there are no limits on how many may pass or fail.
• The five applicants agree to sign their contracts. Jiang Siqi leaves the talent market elated, relieved that she has been recognized despite the possibility of later dismissal.
• Afterward, her personal phone receives a WeChat request from the mysterious benefactor who granted her abilities. The benefactor congratulates her and says they will communicate through that account; in six months, her ability will become permanently hers.
• In a separate conversation, Honglian tells Wang Baihu she dislikes the new recruits—not because of their individual qualities, but because Captain Xiao assigned them to her team without consulting her. She is especially frustrated that a high school student was included.

Character developments

• Jiang Siqi moves from uncertainty to exhilaration and renewed confidence. She understands that the real test may involve dangerous work, but is determined not to fail as she did before.
• Honglian is revealed as protective of her team and resentful of decisions made without her input. Her concerns reflect the trust and compatibility required among people who may depend on one another in combat.
• Wang Baihu acts as a calm intermediary, explaining the probation rules and trying to soften Honglian’s objections.
• The other recruits are sketched through their reactions: an excited high school student hopes to avoid university entrance exams; a competitive, stud-wearing man sizes up Jiang Siqi; an office worker focuses on promised benefits; and a quiet foreign girl draws Jiang Siqi’s curiosity.

Character interactions

• Wang Baihu explains the provisional status and contract terms to the applicants, while Jiang Siqi asks what “in a sense” means and learns about the six-month assessment.
• The stud-wearing recruit singles out Jiang Siqi as a rival, while the office worker’s practical concern about benefits earns her private approval.
• Honglian vents to Wang Baihu about Captain Xiao’s unilateral staffing decision. Wang tries to reassure her, though she remains unhappy.
• The benefactor’s brief message reconnects Jiang Siqi to the source of her power and sets a six-month deadline for making it permanently her own.

Significant themes

• Recognition and insecurity: Selection gives Jiang Siqi a strong sense of worth, but her status remains conditional.
• Responsibility and danger: The Organization’s work is unlike ordinary employment and may require recruits to face lethal combat.
• Team trust and authority: Honglian’s objections highlight the importance of choosing compatible teammates—and the tension between leadership decisions and team members’ input.
• Power and dependence: Jiang Siqi’s abilities are not yet fully hers; her future ownership depends on the mysterious benefactor’s promise.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Xuan ends his conversation with streamer Jiang Siqi, explaining that keeping their relationship distant will make it easier to cut ties later. Lin Qing confirms that she has hacked Jiang’s phone; the earlier contract was only a pretext for secretly monitoring her organization.
• Boss Xu calls Chen Xuan to ask for help treating the seriously ill daughter of a powerful business family. The patient’s family owns Dingsheng Pharmaceuticals, and the president of the mysterious Northern Heaven Institute has promised to make anyone who helps an honored guest.
• Chen Xuan learns that Northern Heaven Institute is a hidden sect with a legendary history, said to descend from Medicine King Sun Simiao. Even powerful people seek its medicines, but the institute has been unable to cure the patient.
• Though he lacks medical knowledge and does not promise a cure, Chen Xuan agrees to visit, partly to repay Xu’s past kindness and settle his debt. He then discovers the patient and institute are both on Foothill Mountain in Jiangcheng—near his home.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Xuan remains pragmatic and guarded: he limits personal contact with Jiang Siqi, recognizes the surveillance plan behind the contract, and carefully qualifies his promise to treat the patient. He also shows gratitude toward Xu for past help.
• Lin Qing is capable and confident, having hacked Jiang’s phone with Little Green, and teases Chen about whether he is unusually cold.
• Xu Wangxian acts as a broker between Chen and the traditional-medicine elite. He appeals to Chen’s abilities, offers to conceal his role if necessary, and hopes success will benefit his pharmacy.
• Chen and Xu maintain a relationship of mutual obligation: Xu seeks access to Chen’s unusual capabilities, while Chen agrees to help in return for Xu’s earlier kindness.

Significant themes

• Trust and manipulation: The signed contract masks covert surveillance, and Chen deliberately keeps emotional distance from Jiang.
• Debt and reciprocity: Chen’s decision to help Xu is motivated by gratitude, even though he is uncertain about the task.
• Old institutions meeting new powers: A secret ancient sect turns to an ability user after conventional and traditional treatments fail.
• Pragmatism and ambition: Xu’s request is both a favor and an opportunity to gain standing in influential circles.

Plot points and events

• Chen Xuan joins pharmacy owner Xu Wangxian on a trip to Northern Heaven Institute, where they have been invited to assess the illness of the Gu family’s young daughter. She has been sick for over a month, and doctors have not identified the cause, though the situation is not described as immediately life-threatening.
• They travel through a guarded, secluded part of Foothill Mountain to the Institute’s extensive traditional-style compound. Xu explains that its recognition once helped his pharmacy, Hundred Herbs Hall, gain access to influential business channels.
• In Green Grass Hall, they encounter a tense scene: a muscular Institute disciple, Yue Beifeng, has beaten a supposed healer who tried to treat people with fortune-telling and exorcism. Yue’s refined-looking companion warns the assembled practitioners that illness must be treated seriously and dismisses anyone who uses fraudulent methods.
• Xu and Chen meet Wang Haitao, a hospital associate director specializing in neurology and neurosurgery. Wang recognizes Xu’s Blood Orange medicine and praises its rapid ability to stop severe bleeding; his hospital keeps it available despite its uncertain regulatory status.
• The chapter ends as Wang explains who Yue is and why the earlier visitor was attacked, while the invited practitioners begin taking turns to examine the patient.

Character developments

• Xu Wangxian is eager to deepen his ties with Northern Heaven Institute. Though his business has benefited from its recognition, he remains on the circle’s fringes and privately hopes to gain access to its deeper teachings—and perhaps cultivation.
• Chen Xuan is observant and increasingly aware of the Institute’s power. He also keeps his role in making medicines discreet: Xu introduces him as a pharmacology and toxicology specialist rather than revealing that he refines pills.
• Wang Haitao appears to be a credible medical professional who values Blood Orange’s practical effect and its potential to save lives.
• Yue Beifeng is forceful and quick to punish perceived fraud, while his gentler companion tries to manage his temper and uphold the Institute’s standards.

Significant themes

• Credibility and responsibility in medicine: The Institute rejects fraud and insists that treating illness is serious work.
• Influence and access: Recognition from powerful institutions can open business networks, but does not necessarily grant full acceptance or deeper knowledge.
• Practical healing versus regulation: Blood Orange’s effectiveness earns it a place in hospital emergency rooms even as its formal status remains unclear.
• Secrecy and ambition: Xu’s hopes of advancing within the Institute contrast with Chen’s careful concealment of his pill-making role.

Character interactions

• Xu welcomes Chen and guides him through the Institute, sharing both its importance and his personal ambitions.
• Yue’s companion repeatedly reins him in, then addresses the gathered practitioners with a stern warning; Yue’s intimidation makes the room fall silent.
• Xu introduces Chen to Wang, who praises Blood Orange and speaks with Xu about its use and reimbursement.
• Wang’s account of the beaten visitor frames the Institute as protective of its medical reputation—and willing to enforce its standards forcefully.