Chapter Summaries

After Lin An's death, Zhang Tie tried to understand his final instructions and returned to Desolate Village to find whom Lin An had wanted him to kill. There, he recognized Chu Renmei's bracelet on a villager and began to suspect the woman had taken the bracelet Lin An gave her.

• Zhang Tie grieved over Lin An's death, then resolved to bring him back and tried to make sense of his final instructions.
• Zhang Tie reasoned that Chu Renmei had possessed Lin An and gained strength by eating him, while wondering why she had spared him.
• Zhang Tie decided to return to the village and kill its people until he figured out whom Lin An had meant.
• Zhang Tie noticed that the footprints on the road suggested Chu Renmei had been following Lin An before they reached the Buddha Pagoda.
• Zhang Tie charged into Desolate Village, where celebrating villagers asked about Lin An and Village Chief Huang.
• Zhang Tie spotted a bracelet on a village woman and realized it might be the one she had asked Lin An for.

Zhang Tie realized Lin An’s instruction to reenact history meant reversing events, not changing the past, and used the Silver Hourglass to revive the woman who had stolen the bracelet. As the village rewound, the Causality Sequence drained his Vitality, leaving him to face the cost of the reversal.

• Zhang Tie seized the bracelet from the village woman by killing her, then experienced a vision of himself killing every villager without reviving Team Leader Lin.
• Zhang Tie found himself trapped in the empty village a month later and struggled to understand why his attempt had failed.
• Zhang Tie realized the decomposed corpse showed that Lin An’s final instruction meant reversing history, not altering it.
• Zhang Tie found the woman’s remains, activated Causality Reversal with the Silver Hourglass, and restored her to life.
• The Desolate Village began rewinding as the Causality Sequence drained Zhang Tie’s Vitality, and he cursed the system.

Zhang Tie used Causality Reversal and his Beyond Death talent to survive repeated energy drain and rewind time to Lin An’s arrival in the village. After finding Lin An, he attacked a Hunter to try to stop the village’s trap, but Lin An mistook him for a ghost and struck back just as Chu Renmei appeared behind him.

• Zhang Tie survived Causality Reversal’s lethal energy drain when Beyond Death’s invincibility caused the System to take the burden, and he realized the reversal had refreshed his talent.
• Zhang Tie reversed time through the village and saw Chu Renmei give the bracelet to the village woman while glaring at him from the reversed timeline.
• Zhang Tie stopped the reversal at Lin An’s first arrival in the village and announced that he had come to save him.
• On the watchtower, Zhang Tie suddenly smashed the Hunter and destroyed the structure before Lin An could question him.
• Lin An suspected Zhang Tie was possessed and attacked with his sword and Wither Skill as Zhang Tie tried to explain that the village had to be erased.
• Chu Renmei appeared behind Lin An and pressed her face against him as his sword light fell toward Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie destroyed the Desolate Village and killed its last villager, ending the haunting and restoring Lin An’s memories. The System awarded the team Reputation and Secret Realm completion, while Lin An revealed that the attribute reward was his corpse, found in the riverbed.

• Zhang Tie transformed into a Silver Giant Bear and used Earthquake to tear apart the Desolate Village while Chu Renmei’s ghost pursued him.
• Zhang Tie regenerated his limbs as Chu Renmei drained his flesh, then bit the last villager to death.
• Chu Renmei began to disappear, and Lin An regained control of his body as his memories returned.
• The System announced the completion of the Desolate Village Incident and awarded 150 Reputation points and 19% Secret Realm completion.
• Zhang Tie asked about the missing attribute rewards, and Lin An said the reward was his corpse.
• Lin An and Zhang Tie saw over a hundred corpses of Lin An swaying beneath the river.

Lin An found more than a hundred corpses of himself in the river and explained that they came from failed loops in other timelines. He reasoned that the Secret Realm reenacted events by reshaping its own “sand,” but he and Zhang Tie were outsiders whose bodies were not made from that sand, leaving the reason his corpses remained unresolved.

• Lin An used Telekinesis to pull more than a hundred of his corpses from the river.
• Lin An told Zhang Tie that the corpses were versions of himself from other timelines and that he had probably died more than a hundred times.
• Zhang Tie questioned why Lin An’s corpses remained after each loop while he and the villagers had no memories of repeated failures.
• Lin An compared the Secret Realm to sand in a box, explaining that its inhabitants and events were reshaped rather than duplicated.
• Lin An said outsiders were made from real-world matter and carried spiritual energy and System power, then began to explain what that meant.

Lin An explained that the Secret Realm’s restorations copied the participants and their equipment, and that their memories came only from timelines in which they survived. The copied gear could not leave the dungeon, and Lin An left Zhang Tie with his theory that failed cycles were erased and the Secret Realm would restart after their deaths.

• Lin An explained that the System used restorations to copy participants, with Zhang Tie’s Causality Sequence drawing on the System’s energy to enable the copies.
• Zhang Tie realized the many Lin An corpses meant their equipment had also been duplicated and eagerly asked whether the Doomsday Ring was among it.
• Lin An confirmed that the equipment, Death God Crystal, and Black Dragon had been copied, but said the duplicates were marked as unable to leave the Secret Realm.
• Lin An proposed that the participants might have died or repeated cycles before waking, while retaining memories only from the timeline in which they survived.
• Lin An compared failed timelines to discarded takes in a repeatedly reshot movie and said the Secret Realm would begin another cycle after they died.

Lin An explained that Zhang Tie’s repeated deaths against Chu Renmei had built up resistance, while the System’s copied bodies had left power the Death Seed could absorb to raise attributes. Lin An reached the physique Limit Value of 40 and discovered his body had become so tough that Blood Annihilation barely pierced his arm.

• Lin An explained that Zhang Tie’s growing resistance to Chu Renmei’s attacks had let him survive this cycle.
• Lin An clarified that the Death Seed could absorb power from System-reconstructed bodies, and Zhang Tie realized his corpse had fused into later copies.
• Lin An activated the Death Seed and released its stored energy, raising both his and Zhang Tie’s physique.
• Lin An reached his physique Limit Value of 40 and endured a painful bodily transformation.
• Lin An tested his enhanced durability by slashing his arm with Blood Annihilation, which became lodged in his flesh and left only a tiny wound.

Lin An and Zhang Tie reached the Limit Value of 40 in physique, gaining immense defensive power as they survived their transformations. After completing the Desolate Village mission, Lin An headed toward the county town to gather information, pursue further attribute missions, and investigate the Secret Realm’s hidden truths.

• Lin An considered his new ability to withstand heavy weapons and wondered how Zhang Tie’s defenses would change after his enhancement.
• Zhang Tie transformed violently into a silver-black giant bear and reached a physique of 40.
• After recovering, Zhang Tie urged Lin An to test his new defenses with the Electromagnetic Cannon, but Lin An refused and collected the corpses and equipment instead.
• Lin An said he planned to seek missions for the other three attributes and investigate the Secret Realm’s humans and secrets.
• The Secret Realm recorded the Desolate Village Incident as complete and raised exploration progress to 19%, while Zhang Tie suspected Lin An planned to change the world’s emperor.

Lin An and Zhang Tie reached a seemingly peaceful town after leaving Desolate Village, but Lin An suspected the town’s normal appearance hid dangers. They seized soldiers on the city wall, and Lin An began questioning one of them about the town, Blood Corpses, and the world around them.

• Zhang Tie and Lin An raced toward a town and noticed the strange flesh-colored dawn and purple soil beyond Desolate Village.
• Lin An explained that Desolate Village seemed separated from the rest of the Secret Realm and wondered why the town showed no fear of Blood Corpses.
• Lin An decided to enter the town openly and charged toward its walls with Zhang Tie.
• Lin An vaulted onto the wall, grabbed an archer, and demanded answers while Zhang Tie subdued the Squad Leader.
• Lin An asked the archer about the town’s name, Great Xia, other countries, Blood Corpses, and the enemies they faced.

Lin An questioned a soldier in Southern Wilderness Town and learned about Great Xia, the Blood Corpses, and the powerful Ascetic Cultivators. When the town chief confronted him, Lin An demonstrated his power and demanded answers, leaving the chief at his mercy.

• Zhang Tie broke the city guards’ spears and knocked several soldiers unconscious as Lin An questioned a captured soldier.
• The soldier identified the town as Southern Wilderness Town and said Great Xia fought the Blood Corpses at its northern border, while Sesha lay to the west.
• Lin An learned that Ascetic Cultivators were powerful military figures who could fly and helped Great Xia resist tens of millions of Blood Corpses.
• The town chief arrived with several hundred soldiers, mistook Lin An for an Ascetic Cultivator, and demanded his identity.
• When the town chief tried to attack Lin An, Lin An shattered his halberd with a Mental Strength shockwave and threatened to kill him unless he answered.

Lin An learned that a soldier believed he could reverse the flow of time, while Gao Tian brought Chu An urgent news that Lin An's fiancée was being held at the Jinbei Military Region. Chu An said he already knew and handed An JingTian a tube of Amoeba Protoplasm to inject into Tang Wan.

• Lin An struck the ground with his halberd, frightening the soldier, who mistook him for an ancient ascetic cultivator able to reverse time.
• Dragon An Base expanded rapidly as Survivors worked to build its Outer City and strengthen its defenses.
• Gao Tian returned from clearing Mutants and hurried to the Core Fortress to tell Chu An that Lin An's fiancée had been detained at the Jinbei Military Region.
• An JingTian learned that Wang Meng's group had captured Lin An's fiancée and sent her to the Jinbei Military Region.
• Chu An said Gao Yan had already told him about the situation, then gave An JingTian a tube of Amoeba Protoplasm and ordered him to find Tang Wan and inject it.

Chu An revealed that he had improved the Amoeba Protoplasm to help fix the range limit on Lin An’s emotion-absorbing talent, though a materials problem remained. He said Lin An had given him instructions about Tang Wan, then returned to his laboratory without explaining further.

• Chu An reassured the group that they did not need to worry about Tang Wan, while Wang Meng left after being signaled to go.
• Gao Tian challenged Chu An for planning to inject the Amoeba Protoplasm into Lin An’s fiancée and took the test tube from An JingTian.
• Chu An explained that the improved protoplasm could transmit emotions across any distance and partly address the range limit on Lin An’s talent, but its production materials were a major obstacle.
• Wen Ya and the others reacted with surprise to the potential impact of Chu An’s work, and Chu An said he had instructions from Lin An about Tang Wan.
• Chu An returned to the laboratory, while Wen Ya privately suspected Tang Wan had a bad relationship with Lin An.

Chu An secretly dissected a corpse and waited for Lin An to return, while Lin An and Bear Dunce traveled toward Great Xia Royal City and investigated what he had learned about the Ascetic Cultivators. Lin An remained unable to revive the dormant Black Dragon, whose copied stone form could not absorb the Death Seed’s energy.

• After everyone left, Chu An dissected a corpse while thinking about Tang Wan and his decision not to tell Lin An what he had seen in Lin An’s memories.
• Chu An opened a wall to reveal thousands of corpses and said he was waiting for Lin An and Cain's Blade to return.
• Lin An and Bear Dunce raced from Northern Border Town toward Great Xia Royal City, still lacking information about the Blood Corpses and Ascetic Cultivators.
• Lin An recalled that Ascetic Cultivators gained extraordinary powers through decades or centuries of extreme self-inflicted suffering, and that Great Xia Royal City was a frontier war fortress.
• Lin An studied the copied Black Dragon’s dormant stone form but found that it could neither move nor absorb energy from the Death Seed.

Lin An and his companions continued their exhausting journey toward the Great Xia Imperial City, then encountered a procession of Ascetic Cultivators making a bloody pilgrimage across the wilderness. The chapter left Lin An studying the group as they continued their ritual without acknowledging him or Zhang Tie.

• Lin An calculated that the Great Xia Imperial City was still about 22,000 kilometers away, while Bear Dunce complained about having to run the whole way.
• Lin An checked the Secret Realm information and found its world name obscured, with the exploration progress at 19%.
• Zhang Tie spotted a line of people kneeling and prostrating as they advanced, and Lin An ordered him to approach and observe them.
• Zhang Tie landed in front of the procession, but the Ascetic Cultivators ignored him and mechanically continued their prostrations.
• Lin An and Bear Dunce saw that the pilgrims were covered in infected wounds, including a child with a broken leg, and Lin An compared their ritual to real-world pilgrims.

Lin An and Zhang Tie encountered ascetic cultivators whose strange, emotionless prostrations continued despite injury and death. The line of followers crushed one another as it advanced, ending with a lame boy kneeling toward the last corpse, blood across his forehead.

• Lin An sensed faint mental fluctuations and a trace of Causality Sequence in the ascetic cultivators, though he could not understand how their practice worked.
• Bear Dunce grabbed the lead cultivator, who struggled to resume prostrating and accidentally broke his own neck.
• The next cultivator struck Zhang Tie’s feet, and the dead leader’s body blocked his attempt to rise.
• The followers behind repeatedly smashed their heads into those ahead, killing them while continuing their prostrations.
• The lame boy at the end of the line staggered toward the final corpse and raised his bloodied forehead in devotion.

Lin An and Zhang Tie traveled toward the Great Xia Royal City, witnessing countless ascetics obsessively follow fixed routes and die rather than break their rituals. Along the way, they learned that the Great Xia Dynasty had fought the Blood Corpses for centuries, though the monsters’ abilities left Lin An unsure what they truly were.

• Lin An and Zhang Tie watched the last of a group of ascetics die, and Lin An guessed that their rigid rituals were meant to pursue eternity before deciding to continue to the Great Xia Royal City.
• Lin An and Zhang Tie encountered hundreds of thousands of ascetics converging on the Royal City, while many died from starvation, collisions, or following their routes off cliffs.
• Zhang Tie questioned a captured tax official about the Blood Corpses, and Lin An learned that the monsters were scarlet, powerful, and capable of controlling flying creatures and flame.
• Lin An compared the Blood Corpses to enormous Lickers and suspected they were powerful mutants rather than ordinary Zombies.

Lin An and Bear Dunce approached a war fortress near the Royal City, learning more about the Ascetic Cultivators and deciding to enter by following a supply caravan. An explosion near the fortress prompted them to investigate, where soldiers cried that the Blood Corpse had infiltrated.

• Lin An concealed his and Bear Dunce’s auras and disguised them as Ascetic Cultivators after seeing their immense power and learning about their rigid cultivation rituals.
• Lin An assessed the heavily guarded fortress near the Royal City and decided they needed to capture a caravan to enter without drawing attention.
• Bear Dunce suggested following Ascetic Cultivators into the city, but Lin An rejected the plan and proposed waiting for a supply caravan instead.
• An explosion erupted near the fortress, and Lin An led Bear Dunce toward it after suspecting another Player was involved.
• Troops leaving the fortress shouted that the Blood Corpse had infiltrated and ordered their formation to spread out and dodge its attacks.

Lin An and Zhang Tie investigated a Blood Corpse that attacked an army with technological weapons, while Lin An’s Eye of Judgment failed to identify the creature. The Blood Corpse emerged from the smoke and tore through the cavalry, revealing a body that combined machinery and flesh.

• Lin An and Zhang Tie heard an explosion and realized that the Blood Corpse was using technological weapons.
• Lin An and Bear Dunce approached the battlefield and saw an Ascetic Cultivator absorb explosions while rapidly regenerating from severe injuries.
• Lin An used the Eye of Judgment to identify the soldiers and nearby bioforms, but its reading of the Blood Corpse became garbled.
• The Blood Corpse burst from the smoke, bypassed the Ascetic Cultivator, and attacked the cavalry with its claws.
• Lin An saw mechanical firing ports embedded in the Blood Corpse’s exposed muscle and wondered whether it was a Flesh Mecha.

Lin An watched the army lose ground to the Blood Corpse and the Zombies it created, unsure why the Ascetic Cultivator and soldiers expected him to intervene. Two missions then triggered, assigning him opposing roles in the conflict.

• The Ascetic Cultivator blocked the Blood Corpse while soldiers attacked it, but Lin An noticed that fallen soldiers were rising as Zombies.
• Bear Dunce realized the soldiers' armor was meant to protect against Zombie bites as the undead overwhelmed the cavalry and casualties mounted.
• Lin An judged that the army would soon be wiped out and remained wary of the nearby War Fortress.
• The Ascetic Cultivator ordered Lin An to help because it was his duty, and the cavalry officer insisted that the time had come for him to slay the Blood Corpse.
• Two System Notifications triggered the Epic Rank mission The Beginning War and the Legendary Rank mission The Ending War.

Lin An and Zhang Tie received opposing missions from the Apocalypse System and Savior System, and Lin An accepted both before attacking a Blood Corpse. He discovered that the apparent monster was a human infant operating a flesh-made mech.

• Lin An and Zhang Tie received missions to join opposing factions and pursue contradictory goals.
• Lin An chose to accept both missions, gaining Blood Corpse and Ascetic disguises.
• Lin An drew Cain's Blade and struck a charging Blood Corpse, wounding it without killing it.
• Lin An's Eye of Judgment identified the Blood Corpse as a biochemical mutant with a flesh-and-bone apparatus.
• Lin An saw a human infant inside the Blood Corpse's flesh Exoskeleton Armor.