Chapter Summaries

After surviving the nuclear blast, Lin An wondered who else had endured the Trial and waited for the next round. The chapter ended with Jiang Hao Chen delaying his exit in hopes of improving his ranking while the bewildered Aqua stood frightened in the West Asia War Zone.

• Lin An survived the nuclear blast by widening the distance, evading its strongest wave, and replenishing his Vitality in Demon Form.
• Lin An saw that five people remained alive and suspected Li Hao was among them, alongside Zhang Tie and two unknown Survivors.
• Jiang Hao Chen crawled out of the Pillow Corpse's mouth after using Meme Split Rebirth, then was shocked that another Survivor remained.
• Jiang Hao Chen considered exiting the Trial but decided to wait for the final countdown in case someone else left first.
• Aqua stood confused and frightened in the Deep Pit, not understanding the System or the Trial and wanting to go home.

As the Constitution Trial countdown neared its end, the remaining Trial Takers withdrew one by one until Lin An alone remained and won first place. The Trial ended before Lin An could face the tenth round, and the Awakeners outside waited to learn who had won.

• Jiang Hao Chen withdrew, convinced he would die if he continued, and Li Hao withdrew rather than risk failing the Capital War Zone’s hopes.
• Aqua, suffering from radiation damage, said he wanted to go home, while Lin An told Zhang Tie to withdraw before the final round.
• Zhang Tie withdrew, leaving Lin An as the only Trial Taker.
• The System announced that all other Trial Takers had withdrawn, ranked Lin An first, and awarded him 200 points for completing the Perfect Grade mission.
• Awakeners gathered outside the Trial Tower watched for Lin An to emerge, while Jiang Hao Chen wondered whether he could have won if he had held on longer.

Li Hao admitted that he had placed fourth in the Constitution Trial because he chose to withdraw, while Zhang Tie emerged in third and Aqua in second. The final masked Trial Taker walked out as the vortex vanished, and the crowd wondered whether it was Lin An, the first-place finisher.

• Li Hao emerged from the trial and told the military Awakened that he placed fourth because he had withdrawn.
• Li Hao acknowledged that the first-place Trial Taker might have been able to continue, and the crowd then saw Zhang Tie emerge in third place.
• War Zone leaders realized Zhang Tie's connection to Lin An and searched the crowd for Lin An.
• Aqua emerged in second place, and several Awakened hurriedly pulled him aside.
• A masked figure walked out as the vortex vanished, prompting the crowd to ask whether Lin An had won first place.

Lin An’s first-place result in the Constitution Type trial shocked the War Zones and revealed how much he had concealed about his abilities. As representatives debated eliminating him, an Awakened from the destroyed Arctic Ocean War Zone revealed that the real-world Cataclysm had already begun.

• Lin An emerged as the Constitution Type trial’s first-place finisher, shocking ordinary Awakened and military leaders who had believed he was Agility-based.
• Li Hao and the China military higher-ups reconsidered their assessments, while Chen Yangtian concluded Lin An might be an All-System Awakened and marked him as a threat to kill.
• Representatives from more than twenty-seven War Zones secretly discussed joining forces against Lin An, arguing that his points could strengthen China in the coming Deathmatch War.
• An anonymous Awakened urged the representatives to act, warning that the Deathmatch War’s outcome would affect the Cataclysm’s severity and that a War Zone had already been destroyed.
• An Awakened from the former Arctic Ocean War Zone revealed that a volcano had erupted and swarms of insects had emerged from the magma, causing his War Zone to disappear.

At an anonymous meeting, representatives from several war zones agreed to join forces against Lin An after hearing that the Deathmatch’s first-place reward could reduce Cataclysm difficulty by 100% for a year. After the trial, Lin An learned his rewards and ordered an investigation into Aqua before the Will Trial and Deathmatch began.

• The anonymous speaker told war-zone representatives that Deathmatch rewards included Cataclysm difficulty reductions for the top finishers, and urged them to unite against Lin An.
• Representatives questioned how the rewards would be shared, but the speaker claimed recipients could distribute them freely and warned that China would keep its reward for itself.
• Several representatives agreed to join forces, while neutral war-zone representatives reluctantly accepted the situation.
• Bear Dunce told Lin An that he had seen fragments of the Stitcher’s memories, including a disheveled woman emerging through a green door at Wanda Mall.
• Lin An told Zhang Yong to investigate Aqua before the Deathmatch, suspecting a problem with Aqua’s talent.
• The Trial Announcement said the Will Trial would begin in one hour and the Deathmatch War would follow.

As the Final Trial approached, Lin An prepared for the Deathmatch War and decided that only Fiona would accompany him into the Will Trial. The System began the trial and locked all Awakeners inside the Trial Tower until the Deathmatch ended.

• The Trial Tower turned crimson as Lin An anticipated a brutal Deathmatch War and suspected the China War Zone might face coordinated enemies.
• Zhang Yong reported that Aqua’s companions had prevented him from communicating, then proposed allying with the Soviet Russia War Zone for the Will Trial.
• Lin An told Zhang Yong that the Deathmatch would not be a problem and warned him against sending the whole team into a trial too dangerous for non-specialists.
• Lin An refused to let Zhang Tie enter the Will Trial because his low Willpower made him ill-suited to it, and prepared to enter with Fiona alone.
• Fiona asked Lin An whether points mattered and whether he still needed many, and Lin An answered that he did before the System started the Final Trial and locked the Trial Tower.

Lin An and Fiona entered the Dogura Magura Townhouse Area for the Brain Marrow Hell trial, where all attributes and equipment bonuses had been removed except Willpower. Inside the house, they found Awakened Ones who recognized Lin An and seemed to have been waiting for him.

• The System announced that the Brain Marrow Hell trial had begun with 1,193 trial takers and ordered them to enter the nearest building.
• Lin An recovered from the loss of his physical attributes and helped Fiona stand, explaining that her high Mental Strength was overwhelming her weakened body.
• Lin An and Fiona approached the old Japanese-style house after he found his Mental Strength could reach less than half a meter.
• Lin An pushed open the gate and was told they had entered the Dogura Magura Townhouse Area.
• A middle-aged Trial Taker opened the house door, recognized Lin An, and drew the attention of around twenty Awakened Ones inside.

Lin An and Fiona arrived in a trial where the stranded participants had waited twenty-one days for enough people to activate the task. Lin An deduced that a killer had left them one person short, and the group remained trapped, waiting for another Trial Taker.

• Agassi, an Awakening user from the Ksanmia War Zone, invited Lin An and Fiona to team up.
• Fiona asked how long the group had been there, and a white-haired young man said they had waited twenty-one days and six hours.
• Lin An deduced that the task required a set number of participants and that someone had killed others before it could begin.
• Agassi confirmed that the task required thirty people and that the group was still one person short, with no safe way to find more nearby.
• Agassi thanked Lin An for giving the stranded group hope as they continued waiting for the final Awakening user.

Lin An and the other Awakened waited for the final participant to arrive before the trial began. The first volunteer challenged the old woman to rock paper scissors, but she killed him, leaving the others to face the game.

• Ron arrived at the house, where the trapped Awakened and masked Lin An were waiting for him.
• The old woman announced the trial’s rock paper scissors game, and the System told the participants to survive and enter the next round.
• A middle-aged Awakened who had arrived early volunteered, hoping to win the first-place reward.
• The old woman told him what she would throw, and he won the first two rounds by choosing the winning gestures.
• When the old woman announced she would throw rock in the final round, the light went out; she then dragged out the man’s headless corpse and looked for the next player.

After an Awakener died despite apparently winning the Hag’s game, the group debated what had gone wrong. A blond Awakener argued that they had broken the Role-Playing Rules by winning too quickly, but another participant challenged his theory as dangerously naive.

• The Awakeners examined the dead man’s apparent victory and considered whether he had made a mistake or whether the rules were at fault.
• Fiona asked Lin An whether the three-win condition was the problem, and Lin An signaled her to stay quiet.
• A blond Awakener claimed the Hag’s words meant they had to play obedient grandchildren and accused the dead man of breaking the Role-Playing Rules by winning too quickly.
• The blond Awakener offered to go first, and the group praised his theory while he privately intended to use their trust to protect himself.
• An Awakener with a swollen baby-like head challenged the theory, warning that losing even once would mean death.

The blond man tried to survive the Hag’s game by matching her throws and forcing draws, while Lin An stayed silent. After two apparent draws, the Hag killed the blond man in the third round, leaving the other Awakeners terrified.

• The blond man persuaded the Awakeners that repeated draws would buy time, then volunteered to play the Hag.
• Fiona privately asked Lin An whether they should compete for second place, but he did not answer.
• The Hag took the blond man to the Storage Room and declared that she would go easy on him.
• The blond man matched the Hag’s rock and scissors throws, believing they had drawn twice.
• When the blond man matched the Hag’s scissors in the third round, she split open his skull and dragged his corpse out of the Storage Room.

The Awakeners struggled to solve the Hag’s deadly rock-paper-scissors game as exhaustion and repeated deaths shattered their morale. A young Awakener proposed that the Hag’s moves followed a repeating pattern and began to explain how it revealed a path to survival.

• Agassi prayed and wept, while the exhausted Awakeners continued agonizing over the game’s rules.
• A dark-skinned middle-aged Awakener entered the Storage Room and died after trying to make random moves against the Hag.
• A thin middle-aged Awakener suggested that the group might have misunderstood the rules, but others rejected his idea.
• A previously silent Asian youth observed that the Hag repeated her moves every third round and said the pattern was the System’s hint to survival.
• The youth argued that the apparent no-win game was a misleading trap and announced that he had found the key.

Li Shouyi argued that the Survivors had to use three different gestures to win against the Hag, but Lin An exposed the possibility that the Hag could repeat one gesture three times and challenged his reasoning. Li Shouyi defended his theory by claiming the System’s clues had to be combined, leaving the Survivors unsure whether to trust him.

• Li Shouyi presented his theory that each gesture had to win once and said the Survivors needed a draw to stall for time.
• Li Shouyi taunted Fiona and drew attention away from Lin An, while Baseball Cap Man rushed toward the Hag and Ron charged for the Storage Room.
• Lin An opened his eyes and warned the Survivors that the Hag could throw the same gesture three times, making Li Shouyi’s plan unsafe.
• Li Shouyi admitted that three identical throws were theoretically possible but argued that the System would not give them a mission with no way to survive.
• Li Shouyi explained that the Hag’s dialogue, the game’s three gestures, and the Third Round’s danger had to be combined to find the solution.

Lin An entered the Storage Room despite Li Shouyi’s warning and appeared to choose moves that would leave him trapped in the Hag’s game. He emerged alive as the First Stage Trial’s winner, leaving Li Shouyi and the other Survivors desperate to learn how he had survived.

• Li Shouyi argued that the System would not let the Hag make three moves in a row and urged the Survivors to gamble on going first.
• Lin An dismissed Li Shouyi’s reasoning, entered the Storage Room, and began the task while Fiona watched in alarm.
• During the game, Lin An chose scissors against paper and then paper against rock, seemingly setting himself up to die in the next round.
• As the Hag announced her next move, the lights flickered and the door opened, revealing Lin An alive with the Hag behind him.
• The System declared Lin An the First Stage Trial winner, and Li Shouyi demanded to know what he had played.

Lin An explained that the Hag switched her gesture in the dark third round, and that the Chain of Suspicion made rock the winning move. After some Awakened accepted his demand for half their future points, others rushed into the Storage Room without him, where the Hag called scissors and the chapter left their fate uncertain.

• Lin An told the crowd that the Hag played scissors when she called rock in the third round, so they could survive by playing rock.
• Li Shouyi challenged Lin An's reasoning, but Lin An explained that the Chain of Suspicion would lead the Hag to choose scissors.
• Lin An asked the Awakened to give him half their points from later missions, and Agassi and others agreed.
• Two Awakened refused Lin An's demand and rushed into the Storage Room, while Fiona stayed outside.
• The Hag stood up and called out that she wanted to play scissors.

As the Survivors ignored Lin An’s warning and sent someone into the Storage Room, the Hag killed him despite his following Lin An’s instructions. The survivors turned to Lin An for the real answer, but Li Shouyi claimed the trap was a Chain of Suspicion and then realized Lin An had anticipated his accusation.

• The Dwarf tried to push toward the Storage Room, determined to seize a reward without relying on Lin An.
• A Survivor entered during the Third Round and played scissors, but the Hag electrocuted and killed him.
• The Hag emerged carrying half the Survivor’s corpse, and the terrified crowd realized Lin An had warned them not to enter.
• An Awakened woman from the Brahma War Zone and a man from the Europe War Zone pleaded with Lin An to reveal the answer, but he said he had told them the truth.
• Li Shouyi accused Lin An of overlooking the Chain of Suspicion, arguing that the Hag would adapt after hearing the solution, then recognized Lin An’s mocking look.

Lin An explained that the Hag could read and predict the Trial Takers’ thoughts, and that they could survive by locking their minds and forcing her into a Superposition State. The others reeled at his deduction, and Fiona anxiously asked what he had been thinking about afterward.

• Lin An rejected Li Shouyi’s and the blond Awakener’s theories, arguing that their conclusions relied on unsupported assumptions.
• Lin An combined the reliable clues and concluded that the Hag cheated by reading thoughts and that the Trial Takers had to use Mental Strength to lock their thoughts in place.
• Lin An explained that becoming a mirror for the Hag would make her predict herself, trapping her in a Superposition State and preventing her from making a lethal move.
• Agassi questioned how the Third Round could avoid an infinite draw, and Lin An said the System would force the Hag out of superposition and leave her following only basic rules.
• Fiona gripped Lin An’s arm and asked what he had been thinking about after telling her not to overthink the mission.

Lin An led 19 Survivors into the Second Round, where the System bound them in a line and challenged them to identify the Vengeful Skull above their own heads. A projection of a previous trial showed that even a correct answer could be fatal if a Trial Taker said anything beyond “human” or “Zombie.”

• Lin An led the Survivors through the underground passage to the prison entrance, and the System announced the Skull of the Dead trial.
• The System explained that each Trial Taker would see only the skull above the person ahead of them and would die for turning around or answering incorrectly.
• Prison guards bound the 19 Trial Takers in a line as humans and Zombies watched from the cells.
• The System allowed them one minute to choose their positions and warned that only “human” or “Zombie” could be spoken.
• A projection showed a previous trial in which the first Awakener guessed “human” correctly but died after saying “Hum-human?” instead.

Lin An explained that the System treated shouting as extra information, closing off signaling strategies for the skull-guessing game. The projection ended with all of Team Number 6 dead, while Lin An reassured Fiona and Agassi took heart from his confidence.

• The red-haired No. 2 guessed “Zombie” correctly but was killed because she shouted and revealed extra information.
• Lin An explained that the System’s rule forbade extra information, including changes in volume.
• Li Shouyi and Fiona realized their plans to signal answers through volume or word spacing would violate the rule.
• Lin An nodded to the discouraged Fiona and told her not to worry, exciting the watching Agassi.
• Every member of Team Number 6 died, leaving their headless corpses scattered across the ground.

Lin An solved the skull trial and led Team No. 7 through several more trials at increasing speed by drawing on the Second Will’s memories. He sensed that something was spying on him and pushed the team toward the Final Trial, leaving Li Shouyi wary of Lin An’s confidence.

• Lin An explained how Li Shouyi’s even-or-odd announcement could let the others identify their skulls, while Li Shouyi realized Lin An had left his own survival in Li Shouyi’s hands.
• Li Shouyi announced the correct count, and all 19 members of Team No. 7 survived the skull trial and received rewards.
• Lin An led the team through the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Trials, quickly solving each and earning points.
• Lin An used fragments of the Second Will’s memories and Super Thinking to solve the trials, while the Second Will recognized that Lin An sensed something spying on him.