Chapter Summaries

Chu An revealed that he had kept the Amoeba Instance Dungeon running by secretly reviving Zhang Tie there, and planned to use it as a vast granary. Lin An learned that Chu An’s plans also treated rescued Survivors as potential resources, leaving him unsettled by how many secrets remained.

• Chu An reassured Lin An that he was the plan’s absolute core, then explained that a prestige pen let him contact Klein through the letter in the Amoeba Instance Dungeon.
• Lin An realized Chu An intended to grow Spiritual Energy Crops in the dungeon, but questioned how that was possible if it had reset.
• Chu An revealed that the dungeon had never reset because Klein revived Zhang Tie inside it, interrupting the System’s reset process after the real-world Zhang Tie left as a USB drive.
• Chu An explained that the two versions of Zhang Tie could repeatedly enter and leave the dungeon, allowing Klein to grow food there in exchange for avoiding a reset.
• Lin An asked what else Chu An had concealed, and Chu An said the food would help keep Survivors obedient while infected or troublesome people could be eliminated or used as fuel.

Lin An met Mo Ling at her solitary home in the Dragon An base and learned how she used Heartless Puppet to control a Licker. Mo Ling admitted she felt lonely and feared Lin An had abandoned her, then insisted on joining his upcoming trip to the East Three War Zone.

• Lin An found Mo Ling living alone in a metal bungalow behind the military camp, where she led a Licker on an iron chain.
• Mo Ling explained that Heartless Puppet ate and converted energy into Mental Strength, allowing her to control Mutants such as the Licker.
• Lin An warned Mo Ling not to let the Blood Corpse grow stronger than she could control, and she defended her method.
• Mo Ling confessed that she felt isolated from the base's Survivors and complained that Lin An had not taken her along recently.
• Lin An apologized, and Mo Ling demanded to join his trip, arguing that her abilities would protect him from Paranormal Entities.

Capital Military Region officials struggled to reconcile Lin An’s overwhelming victory in the Trial with the military’s poor results and worried about losing public trust. Lin Zhan ordered them to conceal the full truth, promote Lin An and Li Hao carefully, and decide how to reward Lin An despite the military’s limited resources.

• A senior Hawks representative angrily questioned how the military’s Trial teams had earned only thirty-one kill points while Lin An defeated every enemy.
• Lin Zhan rebuked the officials for doubting Li Hao and the returning warriors, then redirected the meeting toward how to explain the results to China.
• An Awakened argued that Lin An had reached roughly Third Order strength through earlier Trial advantages and suggested Andrew had withdrawn to preserve his own interests.
• The officials worried that news of the Deathmatch would undermine confidence in the military and the Underground City Project.
• Lin Zhan ordered the military to suppress the full truth, present Lin An as a highly classified military project, and promote him alongside Li Hao while limiting his influence.
• The Awakened asked what reward or military position to give Lin An, and Lin Zhan made a final decision.

Lin Zhan agreed to Dragon Security’s trade demands and proposed granting Lin An a Self-Built Military Region, while the Military Headquarters planned around its own interests. Nie Ping explained to Zhang Yong that the Capital’s hostility toward Lin An stemmed less from resentment than from the need to keep strength near the Capital as it faced its own crisis.

• Lin Zhan accepted Dragon Security’s conditions in exchange for Spiritual Energy Building blueprints and a large supply of Spiritual Energy Food, and proposed granting Lin An the title of a Self-Built Military Region.
• Nie Ping discussed the military’s announcement about Lin An’s honors with Zhang Yong, who questioned why the Military Headquarters still distrusted and opposed Lin An.
• Zhang Yong argued that Lin An could help humanity more than the Underground City Project and asked why the military continued to undermine him.
• Nie Ping told Zhang Yong that the higher-ups understood Lin An’s potential, but that his strength was far from the Capital and could not resolve its immediate danger.
• Nie Ping explained that the stronger Lin An became, the more of the war zone’s strength would gather around him, leaving the Capital to rely on the Underground City Project to survive.

Lin An visited Dragon Security Base’s expanding industrial and military facilities and watched a new spherical aircraft reach Mach five before exploding. His appearance caused a frenzy among the base’s residents and officials, who rushed to surround him and secure the area.

• Lin An surveyed Dragon Security Base’s factories, defenses, aircraft, troops, and population, marveling at how quickly it had become a powerful fortress.
• Lin An watched a spherical aircraft accelerate to five Mach during a test flight, then crash and explode a few seconds later.
• Lin An asked a nearby researcher what the aircraft was, and the startled researcher recognized him as Lord Lin An.
• Workers and survivors crowded around Lin An after the news spread, while more than a thousand soldiers arrived to control the scene.
• Base officials learned that Lin An had come to inspect the aerospace project, and the entire Inner City went into action around his location.

Lin An departed Dragon An Base aboard Chu An’s heavily armed Spiritual Energy Warplane for the East Three War Zone. As the warplane took off, Chu An continued working with the B-grade Authority and addressed Klein.

• Lin An inspected Chu An’s inexpensive A1 Individual Flight Vehicle and considered its uses against human opponents.
• Lin An examined the completed Spiritual Energy Warplane, which could reach Mach 6 and carried missiles, an electromagnetic cannon, and a nuclear warhead.
• Lin An chose Yun Tian to operate the warplane and took Mo Ling and Yun Tian on the mission, leaving Zhang Tie behind.
• The warplane launched from Dragon An Base under more than 15g of acceleration as Wen Ya and An JingTian watched with concern.
• In the underground chamber, Chu An worked beside the Spiritual Energy Node and the spreading Black Hole before saying, “Hello, Klein.”

Lin An reflected on his uncertain path beyond Third Order while testing the Starcaller Set aboard his luxurious Spiritual Energy Warplane. The Second Will urged him to examine his SSS-Rank Death Natural Disaster skill, and an unnatural thunderstorm suddenly formed along the plane’s route.

• Lin An successfully connected to a small celestial object through the Starcaller Set and received its monthly attribute increase, but found that contacting larger bodies nearly drained his Mental Strength.
• Zhang Tie explored the warplane’s lavish cabin, while Lin An reviewed the Savior System’s mission requiring him to reach High Third Order within three months.
• Lin An admitted to the Second Will that he could not see a path beyond Third Order or understand how to advance to Fourth Order.
• The Second Will suggested that Lin An investigate the strange limitations of his SSS-Rank Death Natural Disaster skill.
• A vast, newly formed thunderstorm appeared along the warplane’s flight path, and Yun Tian struggled to control the aircraft as it plunged into the storm.

During a thunderstorm, Lin An used Cataclysm to gather a massive storm and examined how the skill formed. At the Second Will’s urging, he spent his saved A-Grade exchange on Eye of Truth and saw a vast microscopic world of particles, confirming the Second Will’s suspicion about Cataclysm.

• A thunderstorm struck the warplane, and Lin An recognized it as a System-generated Chaotic Zone.
• Lin An activated Cataclysm on the thunderstorm and ordered Yun Tian to slow the warplane and hover as dark clouds gathered ahead.
• Lin An observed the skill forming and discussed with the Second Will how Cataclysm differed from conventional skills.
• The Second Will urged Lin An to exchange his unused A-Grade reward for Eye of Truth, and Lin An activated the perception skill.
• Lin An saw countless blue-white particles in his Mind Space, and the Second Will exclaimed that its suspicion had been confirmed.

The Second Will explained that Cataclysm skills directly alter reality at the level of particles rather than producing effects through the System. It revealed that, through repeated virtual experiments and a trace of mental strength, it had learned to transform its own material structure.

• Lin An watched his psionic energy compress particles until their collisions formed an electric field, and realized Cataclysm skills manifested fantasy directly in reality.
• The Second Will explained how ordinary skills relied on the System to generate effects, while Cataclysm skills revealed the underlying principles of power.
• Lin An asked whether he could study the Cataclysm skill to reproduce its effects without the System, but the Second Will rejected the idea.
• The Second Will recalled that the military’s later Dragon An Plan experiments placed it against fantasy-based enemies in virtual simulations.
• The Second Will said repeated deaths and a trace of mental strength let it transform its body’s material structure, then demonstrated a brilliant light at its fingertip.

Lin An learned that the Death Natural Disaster's use of Spiritual Energy might reveal how to affect matter directly through the Electromagnetic Force and other fundamental forces. The Second Will explained the Four Great Forces, and Lin An began considering the immense abilities they could grant.

• Lin An asked whether he could study the Death Natural Disaster's Spiritual Energy use and modify his body, and the Second Will agreed but said he was only half right.
• The Second Will described its thousands of failed attempts to strengthen and alter its own body, then argued that Lin An had better tools and faced lower risks before modifying his brain.
• The Second Will explained that skills and Mental Strength did not represent humanity's true power because they relied on artificial systems to produce effects.
• The Second Will revealed that the Death Natural Disaster's Spiritual Energy manifested the Four Great Forces, identifying its molecular manipulation as the Electromagnetic Force.
• Lin An recalled the potential applications of Gravity, the Strong Interaction Force, and the Weak Interaction Force as the Second Will described them.

The Second Will explained that Cataclysm Power was Electromagnetic Force and described how mastering it could transform the body and eventually matter itself. As Lin An experimented aboard Yun Tian’s fighter jet, his attributes rose without the System, marking humanity’s first non-System enhancement since the apocalypse.

• The Second Will revealed that Cataclysm Power was Electromagnetic Force and outlined its potential stages of mastery.
• Lin An suspected the Second Will had witnessed the power of the person Beyond the Gate, rather than merely finding information about them.
• The Second Will proposed that beginner mastery could strengthen cells, intermediate mastery could reorganize matter, and advanced mastery might involve space, time, or the other Great Forces.
• Yun Tian warned that the fighter jet could not withstand the storm unless they changed altitude, so Lin An ordered him to lower the aircraft and speed up.
• Lin An used psychic energy to accelerate the cells in his right hand, and after one hour and two minutes, his Strength, Physique, attack speed, and explosive power increased.

Andrew argued that the Transatlantic Sixth Fleet should abandon technological restoration and devote its resources to Awakened cultivation, citing Lin An’s power as proof that conventional forces would not withstand stronger Mutants. The officials then watched footage of the Chloe strategic nuclear submarine being destroyed by a Third Order Mutant tentacle, identified as part of Siren Kexain, which measured 4,717 meters long.

• Andrew dismissed the military’s plans to restore industry and ordered all resources redirected toward Awakened and new mutation projects.
• Andrew showed Lin An’s Sword Stream Storm and argued that even a Second Order Awakened could devastate conventional forces.
• Andrew left a recording for the officials, who discovered it documented the Chloe strategic nuclear submarine’s final mission.
• The recording showed an unidentified shadow attacking and breaking the submarine in half at a depth of 771 meters.
• A reconnaissance drone was destroyed by a tentacle, and the intelligence report identified it as belonging to the 4,717-meter Third Order Mutant Siren Kexain.

The Cataclysm erupted across the world as Shinjuku survivors faced a deadly threat and Jerusalem was struck by a tsunami carrying an immense Zombie horde. The China Military Region learned that billions had already died and expected its own Cataclysm to arrive in a year.

• In Shinjuku, a survivor shot himself, and floating heads outside turned toward the izakaya beneath a giant face in the sky.
• In Jerusalem, evacuation warnings sent survivors fleeing as a 270-meter tsunami carrying an Endless Corpse Tide swept toward the city.
• The China Military Region reported that nineteen War Zones had requested support, three had lost contact, and Iceland had announced its destruction.
• An officer estimated that the Cataclysm had killed 2.757 billion people and that more than two billion Survivors would die in the next stage.
• The Command Room realized that the China War Zone still had a year before its Cataclysm.

Chen Yangtian contacted the being beyond the Gate and reported that Lin An might be a Perfected One. The being ordered a powerful force to kill Lin An, leaving Chen Yangtian stunned and wondering what a Perfected One truly was.

• Chen Yangtian passed the Underground City checkpoints and secretly contacted the Gate as Corpse Snake.
• A being beyond the Gate examined Chen Yangtian’s memories after he requested to report B-Level intelligence.
• Chen Yangtian identified Lin An as a likely Perfected One and said he could not kill him alone.
• Chen Yangtian requested three Mid Third Order individuals or six Low Third Order individuals, plus a Space Lockdown Item.
• The being ordered three Mid Third Order individuals and one High Third Order individual to ensure Lin An’s death, and Chen Yangtian asked what a Perfected One was.

Chen Yangtian learned from the existence Beyond the Gate that Perfected Ones were vessels for civilizations’ last struggle against entropy, and realized Lin An was humanity’s hope. He left the Capital Military Region with four Awakened Ones, heading toward Dragon An Base on a special mission.

• The existence Beyond the Gate explained that civilizations concentrated their remaining power into Perfected Ones when facing annihilation.
• Chen Yangtian realized Lin An’s strength came from the power of humanity’s dead and that killing him would sever civilization’s hope.
• Chen Yangtian reflected that humanity mistakenly viewed Lin An as an enemy and believed his death would leave the civilization with little hope.
• Chen Yangtian showed his pass at the Capital Military Region’s exit and said he was leaving the Capital Defense Perimeter on a special mission.
• Chen Yangtian headed south toward Dragon An Base with four Awakened Ones following him.

Lin An’s team landed their Spiritual Energy Warplane on National Highway 109 and continued toward a distant Gathering Place by road, hoping to investigate a suspected Black Domain and avoid a dangerous Third Order Mutant. The chapter ended as Lin An received an unexpected Savior Mission update.

• Lin An decided to leave the warplane in automatic hovering alert mode and lead the team toward the Gathering Place on the ground.
• Bear Dunce complained about leaving the aircraft, but Zhang Tie climbed into the Off-road Vehicle rather than risk being sent back to Crazy Chu.
• Yun Tian drove the group along the highway while Bear Dunce shot Zombies and Zhang Tie chatted with Lin An.
• Lin An studied his real-time map and planned to seek clues about the nearby Black Domain at the nearest Safe Zone.
• The System notified Lin An that his Savior Mission had been updated.

Lin An received a vague Savior System warning that he would face a deadly crisis within twenty-four hours, but he concealed it from his team. Meanwhile, Chen Yangtian killed the fighter jet’s pilot and split his forces to attack Lin An and Dragon An Base.

• Lin An saw the temporary mission warning him to survive an immense danger within twenty-four hours, then told Mo Ling and Zhang Tie only that the road ahead might be dangerous.
• Chen Yangtian killed the pilot in the fighter jet, burned his body to ashes, and took control of the aircraft.
• Chen Yangtian used the Corpse Snake scent he had planted on Lin An to track his general direction and learned he had left Dragon An Base.
• Chen Yangtian ordered Liang Cheng to attack Dragon An Base while Wu Shaoguang, Zhang Ming, and Yan An accompanied him to hunt Lin An.
• The fighter jet flew through the Zombie Tide as the nearby Zombies and Mutants watched it pass without attacking.

Huang Xia delivered rice gruel to the Awakened guarding a convoy bound for the Mount Lao Safe Zone, where the survivors struggled with hunger and scarce resources. The group discussed Huang Xia’s losses and bleak chances of entering the Safe Zone as the convoy continued onward.

• The Awakened on the cargo truck complained about dwindling food and the difficulty of surviving outside the Safe Zone.
• The middle-aged sword-wielding Awakened rebuked the group and reminded them that ordinary people depended on their protection.
• Huang Xia climbed onto the truck with a bowl of rice gruel, which the hungry Awakened quickly shared and finished.
• The Awakened discussed Huang Xia’s wealthy past, her parents’ deaths, and her younger sister’s death from a fever.
• The middle-aged man objected when another Awakened suggested Huang Xia might attract someone inside the Safe Zone, and the group continued traveling.

Wang Kun and the Long Sword Man argued over whether entering a Safe Zone was worth the danger, while the convoy continued through the wilderness. They encountered Lin An’s clean, well-armed group in an Off-road Vehicle, leaving the convoy stunned by how different they looked.

• Wang Kun argued that the Safe Zone offered food, safety, and strength, while the Long Sword Man warned that powerful Awakened Ones could abuse those who entered.
• The Long Sword Man urged Wang Kun to stop dismissing the danger and said their group would still try to save people when they could.
• A blue minivan honked to alert the convoy to a black Off-road Vehicle approaching from behind, and the convoy’s Awakened Ones prepared for a possible attack.
• The Long Sword Man cautiously asked whether the vehicle’s occupants were returning to the Safe Zone, and Zhang Tie asked Lin An whether they should stop and question the convoy.
• The convoy saw Lin An, Mo Ling, and the others inside the vehicle and stared at their clean clothes and appearance.

Lin An and Yun Tian joined a convoy and questioned its leader about the Mount Lao Safe Zone and the Black Domain. They learned that the Black Domain was a resource-rich region of repeated supernatural events, and Yun Tian reacted with astonishment as Lin An considered the information.

• Yun Tian introduced himself and Lin An as Yun Tian and Chu An, concealing Lin An’s real name from the convoy.
• Yun Tian told the convoy that they were passing through on their way to the Mount Lao Safe Zone, prompting its Awakeners to speculate that they had fled a destroyed Safe Zone.
• Lin An asked who was strongest in Mount Lao and whether any Third Order Mutants had appeared nearby.
• The convoy leader said Yuan Feng had recently become a Third Order Awakener and ranked 307th in Combat Power across the China War Zone.
• The convoy leader explained that the Black Domain contained many Supernatural Events and Memes, and that Mount Lao teams entered it for supplies, equipment, and rewards.
• Yun Tian was astonished to learn that people could repeatedly enter the Black Domain and return with rewards.