Chapter Summaries

Xiang Bitiao, Suzhou City's most wanted criminal, disguised himself among the residents and quietly traded cigarettes for food while avoiding Xu Pingfeng's troops. Deputy Officer Meng recognized him after a chance encounter, and Xu Pingfeng sent the soldiers after him as Xiang Bitiao headed toward the Contamination Zone.

• Xiang Bitiao watched Xu Pingfeng's troops arrest several Awakened and decided to leave the Safe Zone, but then chose to blend in with the crowd instead.
• Xiang Bitiao chatted with an old man in the cafeteria, accepted his extra meal, and gave him cigarettes in exchange for help trading supplies for food.
• After gathering intelligence, Deputy Officer Meng collided with Xiang Bitiao and later recognized him as the wanted criminal.
• Deputy Officer Meng rushed back to the encampment and warned the team that Xiang Bitiao had just left toward the Contamination Zone.
• Xu Pingfeng dismissed Deputy Officer Meng's alarm and ordered the soldiers to chase Xiang Bitiao.

After Tang Xinnuo absorbed the second supplementary material, she grew stronger but did not awaken a Word Spirit Technique, while Su Ze explained how such techniques compared with other abilities. The next day at Su University, Zhang Ran announced that he had mastered a method for Second Awakening and claimed he had already reached Tier 2.

• Tang Xinnuo fused the supplementary materials and absorbed their energy, but did not awaken a Word Spirit Technique.
• Su Ze reassured Tang Xinnuo that failing to awaken one was normal, explained that Word Spirit Techniques varied in strength, and said Awakened could obtain at most three.
• Su Ze monitored Xiang Bitiao fleeing and remained focused on the future power Xiang Bitiao was meant to obtain.
• On Day 71, Tang Xinnuo went to the Public Security Department office, where she learned that Qin Yushi planned to sleep in before the afternoon operation.
• Zhang Ran gathered Awakened at Su University and announced that he had mastered a method for Second Awakening.
• When a student asked whether he had undergone Second Awakening himself, Zhang Ran claimed he had become a Tier 2 Awakened three days earlier.

Zhang Ran announced that he had become a Tier 2 Awakened and claimed to know how to advance others, but Tang Xinnuo challenged his claims and explained that the required formula depended on an Awakened’s incantation. News then arrived that an official team was hunting a wanted Tier 2 Awakened, while Yun Meng and Lu Jing discussed Tier 2 Awakened at the SC-35 Safe Zone cafeteria before Tong Yihua joined them.

• Zhang Ran revealed that he was a Tier 2 Awakened and offered to guide others through the advancement method he had discovered.
• Tang Xinnuo accused Zhang Ran of misleading the crowd and explained that different incantations required different formulas.
• Zhang Ran insisted that his formula worked for Awakened using the 'Enhancement' incantation, but the crowd paid little attention.
• A distant explosion prompted news that an official team was hunting a wanted Tier 2 Awakened in a nearby Contamination Zone.
• At the SC-35 Safe Zone cafeteria, Lu Jing asked Yun Meng about Tier 2 Awakened, and Yun Meng hinted that they had been appearing since the Great Fog.
• Tong Yihua approached Yun Meng and Lu Jing’s table with his tray and asked Lu Jing if anyone was sitting beside her.

Luo Jiaxin publicly revealed that she had become a Tier 2 Awakened while overpowering Tong Yihua, and she told Yun Meng that an official team was fighting a wanted criminal nearby. At headquarters, Sun Xiangkong reviewed intelligence on new Word Spirit Technique candidates, while Yan Jiaojiao urged Professor Yan to build her own circle of influence.

• Tong Yihua complained about the Safe Zone’s food and insinuated that Yun Meng received better food from Chen Keqing, prompting Yun Meng to confront him.
• Luo Jiaxin arrived, lifted Tong Yihua by the neck, and announced that she had recently become a Tier 2 Awakened.
• Luo Jiaxin told Yun Meng that an official team had fought a wanted criminal in the nearby Contamination Zone, and Tong Yihua backed down when she challenged his muttering.
• Sun Xiangkong received news that Xu Pingfeng’s team had pursued the number one wanted criminal and read Professor Yan’s report about two promising Word Spirit Technique candidates.
• Yan Jiaojiao asked Professor Yan whether the wanted criminal was about to be caught and encouraged her to cultivate loyal supporters, then left to meet a young man for chess.

Su Ze investigated the copied magic book and monitored the injured Xiang Bitiao, while the Security Team gathered at Su University for a group advancement operation. The team prepared to collect three spell formulas as it waited for Minister Qin to arrive.

• At Avalon, Qin Yushi told Qi Xiaoye that Su Ze had gone to check on the magic book at Windsor Castle after someone copied its contents.
• Su Ze visited Windsor Castle, noted that someone had copied the magic book, and suspected the method might be related to how Xiang Bitiao gained power in the simulation.
• Su Ze used his Connection Talent and Domain Talent to find Xiang Bitiao injured and vomiting blood in the sewers, then decided to keep watching until the next day.
• At Su University, Zhang Ran joined the Security Team's group operation despite not being on the list, and Tang Xinnuo told him they planned to collect the Enhancement, Heavenly Eye, and Imagination formulas.
• Tang Xinnuo explained that formulas could be assembled by testing supplementary materials around a chosen main ingredient, and someone announced that Minister Qin had arrived.

Zhang Ran helped a group of Awakened gather materials in a Contamination Zone, where Xiang Xinyu’s brother advanced to Tier 2 and gained a Word Spirit Technique. Xiang Bitiao appeared and effortlessly defeated Zhang Ran and the others, then declared that it was time for the prey and hunter to switch places.

• Zhang Ran used the terrain, a sign, and his blade and handgun to kill the monsters pursuing him, then distributed the material they dropped according to plan.
• Xiang Xinyu thanked Zhang Ran, who learned her name and silently resented her praise of Minister Qin and Su Ze.
• Xiang Xinyu’s brother absorbed the material, advanced into a Tier 2 Enhancement Awakened, and gained a Word Spirit Technique.
• Xiang Bitiao appeared behind Zhang Ran, who recognized him as the number one wanted criminal and charged at him for merit.
• Xiang Bitiao sent Zhang Ran flying, then charged into Xiang Xinyu and the others and knocked them down.
• Xiang Bitiao struck Xiang Xinyu’s brother through a bus stop sign, then declared that the prey and hunter were about to switch places.

Qi Xiaoye feared that Su Ze’s childhood dog story hinted she might be a Contained Object, while Chen Keqing received word that military officials had come to meet Su Ze. Xu Pingfeng’s unit learned that Xiang Bitiao had survived and grown stronger, and Zhang Ran found Xiang Xinyu’s brother dying after an attack in the Contamination Zone.

• Qi Xiaoye told Chen Keqing about Su Ze’s dog story and worried that he suspected she was a Contained Object.
• Yun Meng told Chen Keqing that military officials had arrived seeking Su Ze, who said he would return after dealing with a troublesome Contained Object.
• Xu Pingfeng and Deputy Officer Meng discussed their mission and the possibility that Xiang Bitiao had died in an explosion.
• A sentry reported that Xiang Bitiao had survived, become incredibly powerful, and killed someone, so Xu Pingfeng ordered the unit to pursue him.
• Zhang Ran recovered from his injuries and found Xiang Xinyu’s classmates hurt and her brother lying near death.

Qin Yushi arrived to find the student team injured and Xiang Xinyun apparently dead after Xiang Bitiao attacked them. Su Ze revived Xiang Xinyun, then said he would leave the rest to Qin Yushi and go deal with the wanted criminal.

• Zhang Ran and the injured students were attacked by cursed creatures, but Qin Yushi destroyed them with ghost fire and learned Xiang Xinyun had been killed by Xiang Bitiao.
• Xiang Xinyu begged Qin Yushi to save her brother, and Qin Yushi comforted her while hinting that help might still be possible.
• Su Ze appeared, checked that Xiang Xinyun's body was still warm, and revived him with a sweeping gesture.
• Xiang Xinyun woke up unharmed, and Su Ze told Qin Yushi to handle the others while he went to deal with Xiang Bitiao.

Xiang Bitiao defeated Xu Pingfeng’s team, but Xu survived and reported that Xiang’s power fluctuated and sometimes backfired. The battered team returned to SC-35 Safe Zone, where rumors spread that Xiang might come after them.

• Xiang Bitiao knocked Xu Pingfeng from the overpass and left him for dead.
• Xu Pingfeng woke up and told his team that Xiang’s power fluctuated and had appeared to backfire during the fight.
• Xu Pingfeng ordered the team to retreat to Safe Zone 35 and said he had directed Xiang’s revenge toward Representative Sun, Sun Xiangkong.
• Xu Pingfeng urged his team to warn headquarters about Xiang before they were caught off guard.
• The injured team returned to SC-35 Safe Zone, alarming residents who saw their battered condition.
• A rumor spread that Xiang Bitiao might pursue the team all the way to the Safe Zone.

After Xiang Bitiao defeated Xu Pingfeng’s squad and headed for Safe Zone 1, panic spread among the residents and Sun Xiangkong prepared to face him. At midnight, Xiang Bitiao encountered an unfamiliar figure on the road to SC-1.

• Residents feared Xiang Bitiao would attack the Safe Zone, while Xu Pingfeng and Deputy Officer Meng denied spreading the rumors.
• Yun Meng asked Chen Keqing about Su Ze’s response, and Chen Keqing assured her that nothing serious would happen.
• Sun Xiangkong learned that Xu Pingfeng’s squad had been defeated and decided to confront Xiang Bitiao with an eight-trigram formation and heavy weapons.
• Alarms sounded across the Safe Zone as residents prepared to fight or evacuate, and Professor Yan took Yan Jiaojiao and her two friends into her vehicle.
• At midnight on the seventy-second day of the apocalypse, Xiang Bitiao encountered an unfamiliar figure on his way to SC-1.

Su Ze confronted and killed Xiang Bitiao, who had gained extraordinary power from a mysterious woman and was seeking revenge and greater influence. Afterward, Su Ze saw a vision revealing that the woman had tasked Xiang Bitiao with killing Tao Yaoyao, a genius scientist.

• Xiang Bitiao tested his fluctuating power and attacked Su Ze, but Su Ze dodged his punch.
• Su Ze questioned Xiang Bitiao about his power and offered to help with his revenge in exchange for information.
• Xiang Bitiao defended his revenge and ambitions, while Su Ze pointed out that his victims could seek revenge on him.
• Su Ze revealed a towering Dharma manifestation and killed Xiang Bitiao with a single descending finger.
• Su Ze saw Xiang Bitiao's dream, in which a mysterious woman named Tao Yaoyao as her target and warned him against indiscriminately killing innocents.

Deputy Officer Meng realized Xu Pingfeng had leaked the news to test Su Ze, who returned with a dead enemy, while stories of Su Ze reviving Xiang Xinyun spread across Su University. The chapter left students marveling at Su Ze’s healing ability and learning he had also captured a wanted criminal.

• Manager Wang reassured Deputy Officer Meng that Su Ze had promised the Safe Zone would be fine.
• Deputy Officer Meng saw Su Ze return with a corpse and realized Xu Pingfeng had leaked the news to test Su Ze.
• Students at Su University spread the story that Su Ze had revived Xiang Xinyun after he died in the Contamination Zone.
• Teacher Cheng told the Awakened that Su Ze had cured Professor Shao’s granddaughter more than ten days earlier.
• A student announced that Su Ze had captured the officially wanted criminal and handed him over to the authorities.

Sun Xiangkong learned that Su Ze had killed Xiang Bitiao alone, while Yan Jiaojiao celebrated the crisis ending. Two days later, Tao Yaoyao kept Su Ze’s secrets and proposed a special department to investigate anomalous individuals like Beak Doctor.

• Sun Xiangkong received word that Su Ze had killed Xiang Bitiao by himself and realized he had badly underestimated Su Ze’s abilities.
• Yan Jiaojiao returned to the vehicle with news from her mother that the danger had passed, then urged her friends to celebrate.
• At a North City research meeting, scientists reported that they still had no leads on Beak Doctor.
• Tao Yaoyao concealed what she knew about Beak Doctor and proposed establishing a special department to investigate anomalous individuals.

Tao Yaoyao proposed a special department to investigate dangerous anomalous entities, while news of Su Ze’s unusual case in Suzhou City reached the researchers. Back in SC-35 Safe Zone, Qi Xiaoye and Yun Meng discussed Su Ze joining the authorities, and Yun Meng pressed Qi Xiaoye about her feelings for him.

• Tao Yaoyao argued that the Beak Doctor was part of a wider class of dangerous anomalous entities and proposed a department to handle them.
• A researcher presented a report about the unusual Awakened person Su Ze from Suzhou City, which Tao Yaoyao ignored while thinking about his sweets.
• Qi Xiaoye and Yun Meng shared Chen Keqing’s sweets and talked about Tao Yaoyao’s admiration for Chen Keqing’s desserts.
• Yun Meng mocked Tong Yihua and discussed how Su Ze had intimidated people who criticized Awakened in the Safe Zone.
• Qi Xiaoye told Yun Meng that Su Ze would definitely join the authorities, though his role was not yet known.
• Yun Meng asked whether Qi Xiaoye had been flirting with Su Ze, and Qi Xiaoye denied it nervously before Yun Meng asked what their relationship was.

Qi Xiaoye decided to make Su Ze see her as a mother so he would not abandon her, while Su Ze used the simulator to locate the Mythical Grade Contained Object called the Penrose Stairs. The simulation showed him how to destroy it, and he left to pick up Tao Yaoyao.

• Qi Xiaoye told Yun Meng she planned to establish a mother-son relationship with Su Ze, possibly by using a Contained Object to alter his memories.
• Su Ze simulated exploring the Penrose Stairs with Qi Xiaoye, where they descended through endless stairways and heard eerie cries in the darkness.
• After his attacks struck a human face hidden in the darkness, the space collapsed and Su Ze destroyed the Penrose Stairs.
• Su Ze considered strengthening his God Summoning talent to improve his chances against Mythical Grade Contained Objects.
• Qi Xiaoye ran into Avalon, and Su Ze overheard her thoughts about calling him Mom before leaving to pick up Tao Yaoyao.

Tao Yaoyao visited Su Ze and shared a new Death Memory in which a mysterious Purple-haired Lady asked to meet him. Su Ze agreed and considered using the Penrose Stairs, whose entrance connected to every Parallel Blue Star, to reach her.

• Tao Yaoyao met Su Ze, Chen Keqing, and Qi Xiaoye at Avalon and discussed the evidence she would give the officials about the Beak Doctor and the statue.
• Su Ze told Tao Yaoyao that the mysterious woman was not on their Blue Star, while Tao Yaoyao worried the woman would still target her.
• Tao Yaoyao experienced a new Death Memory about an Awakened who was betrayed and killed during a survivor power struggle.
• A Purple-haired Lady appeared in the Death Memory, apologized for her earlier actions, and asked to meet Su Ze soon.
• Su Ze agreed to meet the Purple-haired Lady and considered using the Penrose Stairs to reach another Parallel Blue Star.

Yuan Gang pushed ahead with a supply-aid plan for Suzhou City’s Safe Zones despite Sun Xiangkong’s objections, then announced that Sun would be replaced. Outside the meeting, Xu Pingfeng concealed Su Ze’s strength, while Li Miaor arrived at Su University and heard Qin Yushi credit Su Ze for the Tier 2 Awakened there.

• Yuan Gang presented the supply routes and said the first aid mission could be completed within a week.
• Sun Xiangkong opposed sending supplies, warning that they could empower dangerous Awakened like Xiang Bitiao, but Yuan Gang said the plan was settled and that Minister Qian would replace him.
• Xu Pingfeng told Deputy Officer Meng that Sun Xiangkong had asked about Su Ze, and admitted he had downplayed Su Ze’s power so Sun would not involve him in the dispute.
• Li Miaor visited Su University and praised its control over resources and its many Tier 2 Awakened.
• Qin Yushi told Li Miaor that Su Ze had found the materials used for advancement and deserved the credit.

Su Ze used the Classic Simulator to investigate the Purple-haired Lady and learned that she called herself a demigod, an existence above Mythical Creatures. The simulation left him with new information about her and Qi Xiaoye, whom the Purple-haired Lady also identified as a demigod.

• Li Miaor realized Su Ze was responsible for the Security Team members’ Second Awakenings, and Qin Yushi teased her about trying to win Su Ze over.
• Li Miaor told Qin Yushi about survivors and acquaintances at the authorities’ main base.
• At Avalon, Qi Xiaoye tried to knit gloves for Su Ze while Chen Keqing served Tao Yaoyao new desserts.
• Su Ze began a Classic Simulator run and saw that someone had used his incantation to seek his power, then received a small amount and used it to kill enemies.
• In the simulation, Su Ze and Qi Xiaoye entered the Penrose Stairs and met the Purple-haired Lady, who said she could observe fate and called herself a demigod.
• The Purple-haired Lady told Su Ze that Qi Xiaoye was also a demigod.

Su Ze learned that the Purple-haired Lady claimed to be a demigod but lacked demigod-level strength, then ended his simulation without discovering more about demigods. When an old man’s ritual summoned his attention, Su Ze realized he could freeze time while deciding whether to grant power, and the old man was left wondering why the sacrifice had failed.

• Su Ze considered how the Purple-haired Lady had identified Qi Xiaoye as a demigod and noted that both women had gaps in their knowledge and abilities.
• Su Ze simulated two more days, saw that Suzhou City officials feared him and that someone had reached a Transcendent Grade Contained Object first, then ended the simulation.
• An elderly white man recited Su Ze’s spell over a bound, unconscious freckled girl, and Su Ze froze time to inspect their ritual.
• Su Ze decided the old man’s sacrifice held no value, withdrew his attention, and realized he could freeze time while considering whether to grant a petitioner power.
• The old man sensed Su Ze’s presence but received no power, then suspected that the freckled girl had been the wrong sacrifice.

Su Ze planned to meet the Purple-haired Lady and learned that the Suzhou City authorities had invited him to a banquet. Meanwhile, Representative Sun blocked a planned supply deployment, while Professor Yan and Xu Pingfeng suggested that the political standoff had deeper support.

• Su Ze reassured Tao Yaoyao that he would meet the Purple-haired Lady in a few days and offered to let her join him.
• Su Ze mentioned the authorities' banquet to Qi Xiaoye, who eagerly asked to attend.
• Yan Jiaojiao learned that Representative Sun had blocked the team scheduled to depart before six, preventing the planned movement of supplies.
• Professor Yan told Yan Jiaojiao that Representative Sun had visited her and implied that his refusal to return had Minister Qian's approval.
• Xu Pingfeng told Deputy Officer Meng that the unit was stuck because of Representative Sun's order and expected to see Su Ze the next day after Representative Sun invited him.