Chapter Summaries

Lin An entered the second stage and fought as the monster count rose, while Chen Yangtian pushed the Awakeners to unlock their Gene Locks through self-hypnosis. The method caused horrific mutations and deaths, and as doubt spread, an Evil Spirit Carrier appeared.

• Lin An drew Cain's Blade and charged into the Nightmare with Blood Shadow as the second stage began with 150 monsters.
• New monsters dragged Awakeners into their split chests and killed them while the exhausted fighters struggled to survive.
• Chen Yangtian ordered the Awakeners to imagine themselves as monsters to accelerate their Gene Lock awakenings.
• The Soviet Russia War Zone representative doubted Chen Yangtian's method, recalling that his own Gene Lock had unlocked through a deep desire under life-or-death pressure.
• An Awakener mutated during self-hypnosis, and the Biological Seed Chen Yangtian ordered others to feed him exploded, killing him.
• Chen Yangtian urged the Awakeners not to hesitate as the Evil Spirit Carrier, a cursed Nun and Priest sharing one body, appeared.

Lin An and the others struggled against an endless horde of monsters as their strength and weapons wore down. After Lin An was struck by a giant ax, a Black Dragon erupted from the Corpse Mountain.

• Zhang Tie fought through the monster horde, while Lin An continued battling beneath the Corpse Mountain as Blood Annihilation began to fail.
• Lin An reflected that his abilities suited fighting humans better than fighting the mindless, endlessly spawning monsters, then discarded Blood Annihilation after it broke and took out Chu An's newly crafted weapon.
• Zhang Yong lost confidence as he compared himself to Lin An, and Fiona urged him to focus on unlocking the Gene Lock before everyone died.
• Lin An paused and was struck by a giant ax, prompting Zhang Tie, Bear Dunce, Zhang Yong, and the others to rush toward him.
• Lin An called out to the Black Dragon, which burst through the Corpse Mountain with a furious roar.

Lin An’s Black Dragon devastated the monster horde, revealing his Third Order summoned creature to the stunned survivors. As the Evil God Advent countdown accelerated, Lin An realized killing monsters might be making the phantom more real and began searching for a way to stop the Advent.

• Lin An’s Black Dragon slaughtered the monsters around him, leaving Zhang Yong, Fiona, and the Latin America War Zone Awakeners stunned by its power.
• Fiona questioned why the China War Zone’s higher-ups had underestimated Lin An, while Zhang Yong resolved to report what he had witnessed.
• Bear Dunce checked whether Lin An was safe, and Lin An explained that Avici State would prevent his death for at least nine seconds.
• Lin An warned that the Black Dragon would not last and suspected the monsters’ deaths were making the phantom solidify toward Rose’s appearance.
• The System announced that total deaths had exceeded 90% and accelerated the Evil God Advent countdown to 19 minutes and 59 seconds.

As the battle against the Evil Thought Monsters overwhelmed the team, Zhang Yong unlocked the Gene Lock at the brink of death, while Lin An searched for the key to breaking through the trial. When Lin An froze under attack, Second Lin An reappeared in his mind and warned him not to try self-hypnosis.

• Zhang Yong, gravely wounded and near death, seized an Executioner's axe and unlocked the Gene Lock to save himself.
• Bear Dunce told Lin An that Zhang Yong had unlocked the Gene Lock and worried that continuing to fight might kill him.
• Lin An rejected Zhang Tie's suggestion to use the military's self-hypnosis method, suspecting Chen Yangtian's advice and recalling the China War Zone's losses in his previous life.
• Lin An suddenly froze as monsters attacked him, and Second Lin An reappeared in his mind, warning him not to try self-hypnosis even at the final moment.

Lin An’s Second Will took control during the monster battle and explained that the Perfect Grade trial had been tailored for Lin An, with a way to enter the Phantom Story by killing certain monsters. The Second Will warned that ROSE would kill them once the Evil God descended, leaving Lin An to grasp that he needed to enter the Phantom and stop the story’s progression.

• Second Lin An seized control of Lin An’s body and fought through the monster horde with exceptional skill.
• Second Lin An warned that self-hypnosis was dangerous and that ROSE could kill them after the Evil God’s Advent.
• Second Lin An explained that killing specific Evil Thought Entities could let them enter the Phantom Story.
• Second Lin An argued that the Perfect Grade trial was made specifically for Lin An, so its clues were useful and he needed to reason from his own circumstances.
• Second Lin An pointed out that the monsters appeared at the crime scene, the courtroom, and the church, then killed the Head Spider with one stroke.

Lin An realized that he had to kill the Evil Thought Monsters in the order shown in the Phantom Story to enter ROSE's Inner World. The Second Will explained that Lin An's Gene Lock was already unlocked and urged him to open the Memory Seal containing the Dragon An Plan to learn the true nature of his power.

• Lin An deduced that killing the Janitor, Rubber-Suited Man, Head Spider's true body, and nurse in story order would earn ROSE's favor and let him enter the Inner World.
• The Second Will said he did not take over Lin An's body because they were essentially one, and warned Lin An that Chu An had tampered with him and wanted the Second Will dead.
• Lin An asked how to unlock the Gene Lock while dodging the nurse monster's axes and killing it with Cain's Blade.
• The Second Will explained that the Strength Trial revealed what a person's power fought for and why they sought power.
• The Second Will revealed that he had unlocked the Gene Lock long ago and told Lin An to open his Memory Seal and read the Dragon An Plan.

Lin An relived memories of joining the Dragon An Plan and the military experiments that followed, while the Second Will guided him through the recollections. The chapter ended as Lin An prepared to learn the true nature of the Second Will’s power.

• The Second Will used the Sand of Time to accelerate Lin An’s thoughts and told him to let Fiona enter the illusion first.
• Lin An watched his younger self agree to join the classified Dragon An Plan after a clerical officer promised it was safe and would last two years.
• At the military base, Lin An and a fellow soldier endured blood tests and experiments until alarms announced an unknown attack.
• Lin An recognized that the apparent field hospital and urgent mission were scenes from a virtual experiment, then asked the Second Will about the erased memories.
• The Second Will acknowledged that Lin An had endured solitary confinement and extreme despair, and told him to keep watching to understand its power.

Lin An began emotional testing and watched his simulated mother get shot, while the Second Will revealed the brutal experiments it had endured. The Second Will ended by describing how the researchers repeatedly destroyed its relationships, dignity, and attempts to resist.

• Researchers praised Lin An's combat record but noted his deteriorating mental state, and one injected him with a sedative as he woke from a simulation.
• The Second Will told Lin An that emotional testing was beginning and that the peaceful scenes were sealed memories.
• Lin An relived a meal with his mother, then watched a bullet kill her in the simulated home.
• The Second Will explained that the tests forced it to witness loved ones die and endure countless lives designed to provoke extreme reactions.
• The Second Will accused the researchers of repeatedly destroying its bonds, dignity, strength, and attempts to fight back.

The Second Will showed Lin An how brutal emotional and obedience tests had made him kill innocents, including people close to him, leaving Lin An to understand why he had feared recovering his memories. It then described the extreme monster trials that forced it to unlock the Gene Lock, ending with its regret that it had not been strong enough to kill its tormentors after waking.

• The Second Will showed Lin An memories of being ordered to kill a frightened child and assassinate a protest leader.
• The Second Will recounted how the tests escalated until Lin An killed An JingTian, An Xia, his father, and other innocent people on command.
• Lin An collapsed under the returning memories and realized he had feared facing the suffering and guilt, not being overtaken by the Second Will.
• The Second Will helped Lin An up and described facing monsters and repeated deaths in trials that pushed him beyond his limits.
• The Second Will said those extreme trials unlocked its Gene Lock, but it had been too weak then to kill its tormentors after waking.

Lin An learned that the Dragon An Plan’s later experiments had been altered by a mysterious man who emerged from behind a door, though the Second Will warned that Lin An’s theories about the apocalypse and Remnants remained unproven. The Second Will revealed that his power came from despair and revenge, and Lin An ended by questioning whether their conversation was itself another experiment.

• The Second Will told Lin An that the original Dragon An Plan had not included supernatural encounters or extreme thought experiments, and that the tests changed after researchers received new instructions.
• The Second Will said the new scenarios included a Zombie outbreak and that a man who came from behind a door had changed the plan and gained the higher-ups’ trust.
• The Second Will cautioned Lin An that the evidence did not prove the military knew of an apocalypse cycle or that Huang Shao Hua was a Remnant, and suggested the man might instead be a Plane Inspector who brought everything to their world.
• Lin An recognized that the Second Will’s power came from despair, unwillingness, fury, and revenge against the man and those behind the Dragon An Plan.
• Lin An asked how he could know whether he was still in a simulated experiment or whether the Second Will was testing him, as the memory space sank into darkness.

Lin An questioned whether his life and memories were real, but the Second Will reassured him that his apocalypse, death, and reincarnation had truly happened. The Second Will revealed that Lin An’s initial Strength Burst was actually the manifestation of Gene Locks, not an Awakener Talent, and that he had been a special type of Player and Pseudo-Third Order.

• Lin An spiraled into doubt about whether his memories and existence were real, and the Second Will told him that his death and reincarnation had been real.
• Lin An distinguished the sensation of his reincarnation from the repeated deaths and restarts he experienced in the Desolate Village Secret Realm.
• The Second Will showed Lin An his initial System panel and explained that Strength Burst came from unlocking all four Gene Locks, not from a Talent or the Doomsday Ring.
• The Second Will explained that Combat Instinct came from his combat consciousness and that the System had treated Lin An as a special type of Player rather than an Awakener.
• The Second Will concluded that Lin An had been Pseudo-Third Order after his reincarnation.

Lin An rejected the Second Will’s claim that they were the same person and realized he wanted revenge on the force behind the apocalypse, not only those who had harmed him. He left the Memory Space resolved to challenge even a god, then returned to his body and killed a venomous creature.

• The Second Will argued that Chu An had engineered Lin An’s Secret Realm trials to restore his System recognition and use the Second Will to strengthen him.
• Lin An accused the Second Will of hiding that he lacked memories of the apocalypse, making them separate people with different motives.
• Lin An declared that he sought power to end the apocalypse and prevent its suffering from happening again, while the Second Will only wanted revenge on those behind the Dragon An Plan.
• Lin An recalled the clash between the Savior System and the Apocalypse System and vowed to kill even a god.
• Lin An left the Memory Space, regained control of his body, and cut off a venomous creature’s head.

Lin An recognized that Second Will had erased his emotions to survive the military’s tests, while Fiona tried to save Rose by appealing to a lawyer in the phantom. Fiona’s evidence failed when the lawyer dismissed Rose’s innocence and made a predatory advance.

• Lin An concluded that Second Will had pretended to pass the Dragon An Plan tests by killing his loved ones without showing emotion, and reminded himself that he was still human.
• Fiona realized she had lost her powers and equipment inside the phantom, then decided to use the court to stop Rose’s execution.
• Fiona told the lawyer that Rose was innocent and presented evidence that she had been abused and framed.
• The lawyer dismissed Fiona’s evidence, insisted Rose was possessed by an evil spirit, and propositioned Fiona.

Lin An sent Zhang Tie into the church phantom to stop Rose’s revenge from turning her into the Evil God, while Fiona finally joined the fight. As Lin An strained to hold off the monster horde, the countdown to the Evil God’s Advent fell below two minutes.

• Lin An ordered Zhang Tie to enter the phantom and kill the guilty, insisting that stopping Rose required action rather than reasoning.
• Zhang Tie interrupted the priest’s abuse of Rose, brutally attacked him, and told Rose that Lin An had sent him to help her get revenge.
• Zhang Tie fought the cultists and Town Militia while urging Fiona to join him and worrying that Lin An was being overwhelmed outside.
• Fiona threw a barrel of kerosene into the densest part of the crowd and set it alight.
• Lin An kept converting Vitality into Mental Strength as monsters poured down from the sky, and the Evil God's Advent countdown reached 1 minute 59 seconds.

The Awakened survivors watched Lin An endure the Black Curtain’s monster horde while Zhang Yong urged his team to make sure the higher-ups recognized Lin An if he survived. At the hospital ruins, Chen Yangtian struggled to rally the Awakened against the fused Evil Spirit and ordered Miyamoto Kura and Kim Jae-eun’s war zones to attack first.

• Zhang Yong’s team and the Latin American survivors watched Lin An fight on, and Zhang told his team to persuade the higher-ups to stop ignoring him if Lin An completed the mission.
• Zhang Yong estimated that Lin An’s Strength exceeded thirty points and perhaps thirty-five.
• Chen Yangtian watched the Evil Spirit kill Awakened despite their activated Gene Locks and urged the survivors to charge together.
• The North American leader reluctantly agreed to cooperate with Chen Yangtian, who ordered Miyamoto Kura and Kim Jae-eun’s war zones to go first.

Lin An and his companions survived the church’s Evil God mission, while Chen Yangtian’s group completed the hospital trial and believed theirs was the only mission cleared. The trial ended with the System announcing Lin An’s completion and rewards, leaving the survivors stunned as Lin An collapsed unconscious.

• Cole Holling ordered Japan and Korea’s Awakeners to fight, while Lin An struggled to hold out as the church mission countdown neared its end.
• Lin An reversed his injuries to regain his peak strength and unleashed a storm of weapons that slaughtered the monsters around the church.
• Chen Yangtian killed the Evil Spirit, and the System announced the Eighth Floor Trial’s completion and awarded participants points and rewards.
• Chen Yangtian told Colin Hall that the Evil God mission was impossible and assumed Lin An had either died or hidden; the survivors prepared to leave as the countdown reached zero.
• The System announced that Evil God Rose’s Extreme Danger Grade mission had been completed, shocking the hospital survivors as they were teleported away.
• Fiona freed Rose, Bear Dunce and Zhang Tie gathered around them, and Lin An received Perfect Grade trial rewards before collapsing unconscious.

The Strength Trial survivors returned to the Tower’s entrance, where they reported that the mission had been completed despite heavy losses and that survivors could advance to the Third Order. The survivors revealed that someone had also completed an Evil God-level mission, leaving Li Hao and Chen Yangtian suspecting Lin An as they tried to understand how he could have done it.

• The Strength-based Awakened emerged from the Trial Tower, and leaders from the War Zones discovered that many of their people had died or been wiped out.
• Chen Yangtian told Li Hao that the survivors had completed the mission and could advance to the Third Order, though they had been shaken by the Trial.
• The survivors disclosed that someone had completed an Evil God-level mission and earned a reward of two hundred points and other special rewards.
• Li Hao and Chen Yangtian suspected Lin An’s group, since they were among the few survivors and had not joined the main force.
• Chen Yangtian wondered whether Lin An had completed the mission, but said that even a Mid Third Order might be needed to defeat an Evil God.

While Lin An remained unconscious, Chen Yangtian and Li Hao debated who had completed the mission, and Zhang Yong's team decided to hide Lin An's role from the military. The chapter left Chen Yangtian preparing to explain his Gene Lock abilities while Zhang Yong's group guarded Lin An and feared the consequences of revealing their success.

• Li Hao suggested the mission might have been completed without killing the Evil God, and Chen Yangtian reconsidered who its completer could be, wrongly ruling Lin An out.
• Li Hao questioned how Chen Yangtian had helped people activate their Gene Locks, and Chen Yangtian calmly prepared to explain himself.
• Zhang Yong refused the military's requests and ordered his team to keep Lin An's identity and the mission's circumstances secret until Lin An woke up.
• Zhang Yong told his team that Lin An's power and potential made him their hope, and the group agreed that his value far exceeded the Underground City Project.
• Zhang Yong explained that they feared others would resent their mission rewards after more than three thousand people had died, while Zhang Tie angrily challenged anyone who might blame them.

After the Strength Trial, Lin An woke from a second collapse caused by Mental Strength exhaustion and inspected his powerful new passive rewards. He learned that points could no longer improve his attributes, but could be traded or spent to upgrade a skill reward, leaving him tempted by the chance to obtain a unique SSS-Grade Skill.

• Bear Dunce, Zhang Yong, and Fiona worried that others might target Lin An during the next trial, while Zhang Yong kept his suspicions about Chen Yangtian and the capital to himself.
• The System announced that the Agility Trial would begin in three hours and warned that Awakened who advanced to the Third Order before the Deathmatch War ended could not enter the Trial Tower.
• Lin An woke after collapsing from Mental Strength exhaustion and checked the rewards he had received: Constancy Burst, Constancy Critical Hit, and Constancy Crushing.
• Lin An discovered that he could no longer exchange points for attributes and that killing Evil Thought Entities earned only 10 points, but he found that points could be traded.
• Lin An saw that he could spend points to upgrade an S-Grade skill reward, with 9,999 points offering a unique SSS-Grade Skill, and his pupils contracted.

After completing the Evil God quest, Lin An received an SSS-Grade reward but discovered that acquiring the points to obtain it would be extremely difficult. He learned that the skill was Death Natural Disaster, leaving him to decide whether its power justified the extreme methods he was considering to gather points.

• Lin An examined Zhang Tie's Epic Equipment, Curse of the Lingchi Executioner, and A+-Grade skill, Transcendent Bear's Roar, and judged both well suited to him.
• Lin An reviewed his own rewards: the Enemy of the Evil God title and the Evil God Ritual Ceremony, but no equipment.
• Lin An considered how to obtain enough points for the SSS-Grade reward and wondered whether he could cheat, since other Awakened would not willingly sell their points.
• Lin An queried the System about available skills and dismissed the listed S-Grade and SS-Grade options as less useful than his existing abilities.
• The System revealed that the SSS-Grade Skill was Death Natural Disaster.