Chapter Summaries

After the Trial Tower’s early opening accelerated the apocalypse, Lin An blamed himself for pushing humanity into a disaster it was unprepared to face, but Chu An argued that the crisis could also spur survivors to grow stronger and unite. Lin An described surviving a nuclear explosion, and the chapter ended with Gao Tian asking what awaited them in the Trial Tower.

• Bear Dunce tried to comfort Lin An as the team gathered at the Spiritual Energy Core after the Global Announcement.
• Lin An worried that his rapid advancement had accelerated the disaster and plunged humanity into a threat it could not yet withstand.
• Chu An argued that the harder, earlier crisis could awaken survivors’ potential, unite factions, and bring Third Order strength sooner.
• Lin An explained that he had endured a low-yield nuclear explosion by using Avici State, Demon Form, Nether River Breath, and the Causality Sequence, though his combat power nearly collapsed afterward.
• Lin An teased Bear Dunce by suggesting Chu An train Zhang Tie as a target, easing the tense atmosphere.
• Gao Tian asked Lin An about the Trial Tower and whether the team should enter when it opened in a week.

Lin An urged his team to reach their Limit Values before advancing and confronted Chu An about his suspicions involving the Secret Realm. Chu An revealed that he knew Lin An was a reincarnator and promised to explain everything, leaving Lin An to decide whether to trust him.

• Lin An told his teammates to delay advancing until they had reached their Limit Values, especially urging Gao Tian to complete more missions.
• Bear Dunce volunteered to go to the Trial Tower with Lin An, while Lin An considered who else might qualify to enter.
• Lin An and Chu An asked to speak privately after the other team members left.
• Lin An activated the Sand of Time and the Fool skill as he prepared to question Chu An about the Secret Realm and the First Ascetic.
• Chu An stopped Lin An and asked him not to use those abilities, then revealed that he knew Lin An was a reincarnator and promised to answer his questions.

Chu An explained how the Sandworm incident led him into the Secret Realm, where the First Ascetic entrusted him with the Causality Sequence and he later guided Lin An. He revealed that he had created Mo Ling by giving her a Vengeful Infant’s body and combining several supernatural abilities, while Mo Ling remained outside the base, frustrated by her weakness and determined to grow stronger.

• Chu An said the Sandworm had escaped its seal at Baiyang Town, teleported soldiers to the granary, and carried the sealing gem to Lin Jiang College’s Academy Back Mountain.
• Chu An explained that he had entered the Secret Realm, met the First Ascetic at the Blood Corpse Base, received the Causality Sequence, and later guided Lin An toward the Weapon Research Institute.
• Lin An questioned Chu An about the Ghost Infant, and Chu An revealed that it was the child from the well, whose body he had replaced with that of a Vengeful Infant.
• Chu An admitted that he had stitched the Sandworm’s memories onto the Vengeful Infant and made Mo Ling possess spatial abilities, the Ghost Infant’s Meme, and a Symbiote.
• Outside the base, Mo Ling complained that she was weak, ordered the Heartless Puppet to eat zombies, and vowed to become strong enough to flatten Bear Dunce.

Lin An agreed with Chu An to launch a satellite from the Jiuquan War Zone after his Trial Tower trip and investigate the disappearances in downtown Lin Jiang City. He planned to go alone that afternoon, while Dragon An Base reached its next level and unlocked new Spiritual Energy Buildings.

• Lin An shook hands with Chu An and accepted that Chu had been honest with him.
• Chu An proposed launching a military satellite from the Jiuquan War Zone, and Lin An agreed to make the trip after the Trial Tower and brought out a Heavenly Base Cannon.
• Chu An told Lin An that six supply teams, including eighty-three Awakened and twelve ordinary people, had gone missing near downtown Lin Jiang City over the past two weeks.
• Lin An connected the disappearances to the suspected Third Order presence in the city and agreed to investigate alone that afternoon.
• Lin An told Chu An to train Zhang Tie to use the Undying Asura physique properly.
• Dragon An Base leveled up and unlocked Spiritual Energy Buildings for the next stage.

Dragon An Base leveled up, boosting the spiritual energy it provided and unlocking powerful Spiritual Energy Technology, including exoskeleton armor. Lin An decided to focus more on developing the base, and Chu An revealed he had already secured supplies for its expansion.

• Dragon An Base's upgrade increased spiritual energy recovery, prompting Survivors to celebrate and outsiders to envy its advantages for Awakening.
• Lin An asked Chu An about his research, the modified aircraft, and the Supernatural Event in the Wangjiang Military Region.
• Chu An explained that the aircraft had been a casual project and showed Lin An the newly unlocked Spiritual Energy Exoskeleton Armor and other advanced weapons.
• Lin An considered how the technology could strengthen his Awakened forces and decided to devote more attention to developing Dragon An Base after the Trial Tower.
• Chu An told Lin An he would handle the development and had already traded for the necessary supplies.

Lin An walked through Dragon An Base and saw how it had flourished, then returned to An Xia’s home to spend the day with her. There, Zhang Tie fled before Lin An could send him back to Senior Colonel Chu for the dangerous experiment.

• Lin An received grateful greetings from Survivors as he walked through Dragon An Base and reflected on its growing reputation and orderly districts.
• The Sandworm rushed toward Lin An, and he used Mental Strength to tell it to keep working.
• Lin An recalled Senior Colonel Chu’s plan to use Amoeba Protoplasm to give people long-distance emotional transmission and realized his Unbroken talent still secretly absorbed positive emotions.
• An Xia ran to Lin An and embraced him, and he promised to spend the day with her.
• Zhang Tie rubbed You Wei’s head and slipped out the back door to avoid Lin An, fearing he would be returned to Senior Colonel Chu for an experiment.

At an emergency meeting, Lin Zhan ordered the Capital Military Region to send a large force of Awakeners into the Trial Tower after Lin An triggered its mission. He prepared to fill the defensive lines with senior generals, including himself, as the region faced mounting threats.

• Lin Zhan told the officers that Dragon An Base had become a D-Level Safe Zone and Lin An had triggered the Trial Tower mission, leaving six days to prepare.
• The officers reported that the Military Region had 874 Second Order Peaks and 17,022 Advanced Second Orders, many of the Underground City Awakeners bearing defects from cooperation with 'them.'
• Lin Zhan proposed sending 600 Second Order Peaks and 13,000 Advanced Second Orders into the Trial Tower, but Wang Tian warned that weakening the defensive lines risked disaster.
• Lin Zhan defended the plan, saying the Military Headquarters would send high-ranking generals to the front and force officials who had hoarded equipment and supplies to fight.
• Lin Zhan said he would join the frontline battles himself, finalized the orders, and raised one last matter concerning Lin An.

Lin Zhan told the military leadership that Lin An was expected to join their team in the Trial Tower, despite objections from officers who considered him an enemy. He argued that cooperation would protect the Capital Military Region’s public image and that intelligence suggested Lin An was less powerful than his famous sword strike implied; the military planned to contact him and press him to accept their help.

• Lin Zhan announced that the higher-ups wanted Lin An to join their Trial Tower team because they expected the tower to involve dangerous battles against Zombies and other threats.
• Internal Defense Force Awakened protested that Lin An was their enemy and suggested killing him in the Trial Tower, but Lin Zhan said they had to appear united with him to preserve the China War Zone’s standing.
• When an officer worried that Lin An would refuse, Lin Zhan argued that Lin An would need protection from foreign war zones seeking his equipment.
• Lin Zhan revealed that intelligence attributed Lin An’s devastating sword strike to a charged equipment ability that he could use only once more, and assessed his defense as vulnerable to hundreds of Second Order Peak combatants.
• Lin Zhan ordered his people to contact Lin An, explain the dangers of refusing their help, and persuade him to cooperate.

An External Intelligence Department officer reported that Lin An had survived a nuclear blast in Busan and retaliated with another nuclear bomb, but Lin Zhan and the others dismissed the account as implausible. The officer remained unsure after everyone left, remembering that their agents had seen a Dragon An fighter jet cross between the War Zones.

• An intelligence officer told Lin Zhan that the Busan War Zone had detonated two nuclear bombs and that reports blamed Lin An.
• Lin Zhan grabbed the officer and accused him of spreading rumors, but another senior officer confirmed he had no ties to the Neutral Faction.
• Lin Zhan reasoned that Lin An could not have been in Busan because Dragon An Base was upgrading at the time of the explosions.
• Lin Zhan concluded that the Great Korean War Zone had fabricated Lin An’s involvement to save face or shift blame, and the meeting attendees left.
• The intelligence officer recalled that agents had seen a Dragon An fighter jet cross between the War Zones, but he doubted what they had witnessed.

Lin An rode into Lin Jiang City to investigate the missing Search Squad’s route and the area near the Broadcast Building. At the building, a wounded father tried to feed his silent daughter Xiao Xuan, who rejected the meal.

• Lin An left after spending the night with An Xia, took a prestige motorcycle exchanged by Zhang Tie, and headed into the city.
• Lin An altered his appearance with Milai's Scalpel and rode toward the Broadcast Building, following the route of the missing Search Squad.
• Lin An used three Mental Shocks to destroy several Zombies, then drove through a larger Zombie Crowd.
• At the Broadcast Building, a middle-aged man brought food to Xiao Xuan and gently urged her to eat.
• Xiao Xuan swept the plate to the floor, and the man left, asking if she blamed him and promising to make it up to her.

Lin An investigated the Broadcast Building area and found evidence that a group of Awakened had tortured and killed a young couple for their supplies. As he followed signs of a body being dragged, a gang spotted his motorcycle and prepared to ambush him.

• Lin An found a Dragon An Base security uniform and a woman's severed head at the tavern, then entered to search for clues.
• Lin An examined the bodies of a young couple and reconstructed how at least six Awakened attackers had assaulted them and stolen their supplies.
• Lin An used Mental Strength to reduce the couple's bodies to powder, then noticed traces of a body being dragged near the back door.
• A braided Awakened spotted Lin An's motorcycle and told his Boss that a lone man had entered the tavern.
• The Boss gathered his underlings and set out to ambush Lin An, warning them not to damage the motorcycle.

Lin An ambushed the nine Awakeners who had been lying in wait for him and used Telekinesis to tear away their limbs, leaving their leader alive to answer questions. The terrified survivors realized they had encountered another monster, and Lin An began interrogating the boss.

• Lin An left the tavern and noticed nine men hiding in nearby shops, waiting to ambush him.
• The squad leader ordered the men to attack Lin An as he approached his motorcycle.
• Lin An immobilized the attackers and used Telekinesis to rip off their hands and feet, sparing the boss one hand.
• Lin An told the terrified boss to answer his questions.

Lin An used Telekinesis to turn Yang Zhengang into a weapon and sent him into the Broadcast Building to investigate the Survivors and the monster inside. Yang Zhengang fought through the building’s defenders, while Lin An remained outside and controlled his every movement.

• Lin An learned from Yang Zhengang that a monster seemed to be keeping Survivors inside the Broadcast Building and had frightened them into staying nearby.
• Lin An healed Yang Zhengang with the Death Seed’s power and controlled him with Telekinesis, testing whether he could use a human body as a weapon.
• The Broadcast Building’s Survivors fired at Yang Zhengang as he charged, but Lin An controlled him to evade the bullets and deflect them with his spear.
• Yang Zhengang broke into the building and struck down the armed Survivors, while Lin An watched the interior through Mental Strength.
• The building’s Awakeners attacked with Fireballs and an acid-like skill, but Lin An forced Yang Zhengang to charge through them, leaving him badly burned and injured as he advanced toward a floor in Lin An’s blind spot.

Yang Zhengang, controlled by Lin An, entered a corpse-filled hall and questioned its Survivors about a monster and the missing Dragon Security members. When Lin An attacked the group’s leader, the Red-Clad Mutant emerged and confronted him, drawing the Black Dragon into battle.

• Lin An controlled Yang Zhengang as he climbed to the seventeenth floor, broke through a chained gate, and entered a hall filled with corpses.
• Lin An spotted cut-up bodies but no Dragon An Soldier corpses, while a haggard middle-aged man urged Yang Zhengang to leave.
• The middle-aged man denied that the Survivors ate people and said Xiao Xuan could not take action, prompting Lin An to attack him to force the monster to appear.
• A red figure erupted through the building, crushed Yang Zhengang with Mental Strength, and fixed its gaze on Lin An.
• The Black Dragon awakened and charged toward the building as the Red-Clad Mutant, a little girl in a red dress, attacked it with Mental Shock.

Lin An and the Black Dragon fought the Red-Clad Mutant, which showed far greater intelligence and defensive power than expected. As Lin An’s attack failed to kill her, she healed her wound and unleashed a crimson light.

• The Black Dragon attacked the Red-Clad Mutant, but she dodged and used Mental Strength to hurl glass and buildings at it.
• Lin An realized the Survivors might be living under the Mutant’s protection and joined the fight, intent on killing her.
• Lin An struck the Red-Clad Mutant with Cain’s Blade as the Black Dragon moved in to swallow her, but the blade barely cut through her defenses.
• The Red-Clad Mutant looked toward the wounded man who called her Xiao Xuan, then grabbed Cain’s Blade and pushed it away as her wound healed.
• The Red-Clad Mutant told Lin An that he had fallen for it and released a crimson light that dyed half the sky red.

Lin An and the Black Dragon fought the Red-Clad Mutant, whose Scarlet Tide nearly overwhelmed Lin An with mental and Zombie Virus damage. As the battle dragged on, the Black Dragon threatened the middle-aged man the Mutant seemed to care about, forcing her to shield him.

• The Red-Clad Mutant's Scarlet Tide struck Lin An, but he escaped its reach with Judgment and Unbroken while the Black Dragon remained unaffected.
• Lin An recovered with Demon Form and attacked from the air with Judgment and Death God Declaration, while the Black Dragon relentlessly battered the Mutant.
• Lin An realized the Third Order Mutant was too tough to kill quickly and feared that more Mutants and Zombies would arrive if the fight continued.
• The Black Dragon changed its attacks and drove the Mutant toward the building, aiming its Dragon's Might and shockwave at the middle-aged man.
• The Mutant, called Xiao Xuan by the man, spread her arms to protect him as the Black Dragon's claw reached for him.

Xiao Xuan’s father remembered her final days in the hospital as Black Dragon and Lin An attacked the Red-Clad Mutant, whom Lin An believed had once been Xiao Xuan. Lin An kept the father alive to question him, while the battle left the mutant gravely wounded and her human emotions fading.

• Xiao Xuan’s father remembered her illness, the doctor’s warning that treatment was futile, and her mother selling their house to pay for care.
• The father and mother wept outside Xiao Xuan’s room, and he later decided to buy her a doll for her birthday.
• Black Dragon crushed the father’s legs under Dragon’s Might, but Lin An ordered Black Dragon to leave him alive after suspecting he was Xuan Ziyi’s father.
• Lin An activated Dual Form and Avici State, then joined Black Dragon in attacking the Red-Clad Mutant and tearing apart the building.
• The father tried to crawl toward the battle and begged the attackers to kill him, but Lin An pinned him with Mental Strength.
• As Lin An and Black Dragon continued their assault, the humanlike emotions in the Red-Clad Mutant’s eyes gradually disappeared.

Lin An fought the Red-Clad Mutant through its Second Form and nearly killed it, but a newly awakened man took his final sword strike to protect his daughter. Lin An recognized the dying man as someone he had saved early in the apocalypse, who had once begged him to rescue his daughter from a school.

• The Red-Clad Mutant revealed its Second Form and blasted Lin An and Black Dragon with a devastating sonic attack.
• Lin An summoned a replayed version of Black Dragon and unleashed a storm of enchanted swords, stripping the Mutant down to its exposed brain.
• The Mutant detonated a Mental Explosion as Lin An struck its brain, leaving both of them gravely weakened.
• Lin An prepared to finish the Mutant, but an ordinary middle-aged man stepped between him and the girl and used an awakened ability to take the sword strike.
• The man recognized Lin An and begged him to spare his daughter, reminding Lin An that he had saved him from a Zombie near the start of the apocalypse.

Lin An halted his attack on the Red-Clothed Girl after she warned that another, stronger Third Order would hunt him if she died. She revealed that the creature had implanted an Obsidian Shard in her brain and was heading west with a Zombie Tide.

• Lin An recognized the wounded man as someone he had once saved, but rejected his plea to spare the Red-Clothed Girl and attacked her again.
• The girl stopped Lin An's sword and warned that killing her would draw a stronger Third Order that could kill him.
• The girl explained that the Zombie Tide stayed away because of the other Mutant's aura, and showed Lin An the fragment it had implanted in her brain.
• Lin An identified the fragment as the missing piece needed to complete the Soul-Devouring Hand and questioned the girl about the Mutant and its plans.
• The girl said the Mutant had gone west with many Zombies and looked like a little boy with a matching fragment embedded in its chest.

Lin An discovered that Xuan Ziyi had not killed the people at Dragon Security and decided to take her and her father, Xuan Haicheng, back to the base under restraint. He remained wary of the Unknown Mutant connected to the shrapnel and planned to use Xuan Ziyi’s power to feed Black Dragon.

• Lin An saved the wounded Xuan Haicheng with energy from the Death Seed, but warned him that he might still kill Xuan Ziyi.
• Xuan Haicheng pleaded for his daughter and explained that the Beetle-like Mutant had killed Dragon Security’s people and taken their equipment, while Xuan Ziyi had not eaten anyone.
• After seeing Xuan Haicheng’s wound and hearing his account, Lin An reconsidered killing Xuan Ziyi.
• Lin An gave Xuan Ziyi an Electromagnetic Imprisonment device and kept the Death Seed inside her to limit her power.
• Lin An brought Xuan Ziyi and Xuan Haicheng back toward the base, intending to avoid alerting the Unknown Mutant and use her energy to strengthen Black Dragon.