Recaps

After a dream warned Xu Zhi that advancing her extraordinary level would involve danger, she took her Familiars to the Nanshan Villa District to confront Zhong Lingfan’s people. She left them forced to notify Zhong Lingfan of her arrival, preparing to challenge her on her own terms.

• Xu Zhi dreamed that she was chased through a white forest by an unseen danger and woke after realizing the dream was a premonition about her impending advancement.
• Xu Zhi decided to go to the Nanshan Villa District once her Familiars returned and borrowed a knife from Shen Jinwen.
• Xu Zhi rode Doggie to the villa district while Xiao Zhen scouted from above and Little One hid in the shadows.
• Xu Zhi ordered Little One and the Gyrfalcon to disarm and throw out the people guarding the villas without killing or crippling them.
• Xu Zhi used [Eye of Secrets] to inspect the guards and ordered them to notify Zhong Lingfan.

Xu Zhi overwhelmed Zhong Lingfan’s group at the garden and secured their agreement to leave with her. As they set off for the Old Residential District, Xu Zhi planned to have Zhong Lingfan coordinate the area while she prepared to trade for cores and pursue her own advancement.

• Xu Zhi waited ten minutes after the superhumans reported her arrival, then rode Doggie toward the garden as her Familiars neutralized successive attacks.
• Little One smashed through the garden gate and withstood gunfire and a supernatural attack while Xiao Zhen subdued the shooters and other attackers.
• Xu Zhi reached Zhong Lingfan and confirmed she could control Mutated Animals, then wondered whether the black mist explained Cloud City’s unusually high number of superhumans.
• Zhong Lingfan agreed to leave with Xu Zhi and asked for two hours to organize the group’s belongings and vehicles.
• Xu Zhi led the convoy toward the Old Residential District with Zhong Lingfan, intending to discuss rent and have her coordinate the district.

Xu Zhi established a hands-off system for the Old Residential District and learned more about old and new superhumans from Zhong Lingfan’s research. She then entered the Spirit Vessel to trade with the Special Investigations Office and asked to see the superhumans at its headquarters.

• Xu Zhi appointed Zhong Lingfan as the residential area's administrator, left Shen Jinwen in charge of the neighborhood office, and ordered them to recruit residents while enforcing strict security.
• Xu Zhi reviewed Zhong Lingfan's research, learning that old superhumans' abilities were fixed at awakening while new superhumans appeared to absorb supernatural energy over time.
• Xu Zhi invested cores in [Forge], [Opening], and [Moth], equipped [Eye of Secrets], and entered the Spirit Vessel for a two-hour trade.
• Xu Zhi asked to trade at the Special Investigations Office headquarters, where Lin Zizhen greeted her and explained that the previous representative was away on a mission.
• Lin Zizhen showed Xu Zhi around the headquarters, and Xu Zhi asked to see its superhumans; he agreed, noting that many were away or recovering from injuries.

Xu Zhi toured the facility with Lin Zizhen, assessed the outsiders’ weak extraordinary abilities, and deduced that they wanted access to Cloud City’s Black Fog. She warned Lin Zizhen not to bargain with her, leaving him to reckon with how different the city had become.

• Lin Zizhen showed Xu Zhi the facility’s buildings and offered her Aberration experimental data in exchange for intelligence.
• Xu Zhi used [Eye of Secrets] on Wan Luo’s injured team and judged their extraordinary powers to be weak.
• When the boy challenged her, Xu Zhi admitted she had used an ability, then asked Lin Zizhen to take her to the supervisory department building.
• Wan Luo confronted Xu Zhi, but Lin Zizhen defended her and persuaded him to step aside.
• Xu Zhi told Lin Zizhen that outsiders wanted to enter Cloud City for its Black Fog and warned him to give her what she wanted instead of trying to bargain.

Xu Zhi visited Brocade City's underground facility to inspect three Aberrations and found them far less threatening than the Aberrations in Cloud City. She then negotiated with Lin Zizhen for Attribute Cores, and he agreed to provide eight hundred of the four attributes she specified.

• Lin Zizhen concealed his irritation and agreed to meet Xu Zhi's needs.
• Xu Zhi toured the facility's underground holding area and saw three restrained Aberrations that gave her no sense of danger.
• Xu Zhi concluded that the Aberrations beyond Cloud City differed from those inside it and ended the tour.
• Lin Zizhen explained that the facility could not quickly supply a thousand Attribute Cores of Xu Zhi's specified attributes, so she lowered her demand to eight hundred.
• An older voice instructed Lin Zizhen to accept, and he agreed to Xu Zhi's revised demand.

Xu Zhi negotiated with Lin Zizhen for cores in exchange for information about Cloud City, including why its residents could not escape and the danger of going out at night. She agreed to provide evidence about the nighttime threat in a future exchange, while planning to use Zhong Lingfan's research report as proof.

• Xu Zhi learned that Zhong Lingfan had voluntarily stayed in Cloud City and negotiated compensation for passing along her completed report.
• Xu Zhi told Lin Zizhen that people who entered the Black Fog at Cloud City's boundary became trapped in a ghostly maze and had to return to the city.
• Xu Zhi revealed that nighttime in Cloud City was extremely dangerous, with a threat beyond Aberrations and Mutated Animals.
• Lin Zizhen asked for evidence because the outside group could not verify Xu Zhi's claim, and Xu Zhi agreed to bring evidence for an additional fee.
• Xu Zhi planned to have Zhong Lingfan write a report about Midnight and to remove any information she did not want disclosed.

Xu Zhi negotiated with Lin Zizhen to trade a rare Black Fruit for Attribute Cores, securing an agreement for seventy cores of her specified attributes. After returning from the Spirit Vessel, she planned to use her growing stockpile to strengthen herself and her Familiars while continuing her training and exploration.

• Xu Zhi described the Black Fruit, and Lin Zizhen asked to trade for one, but she refused to exchange it for ordinary cores.
• Lin Zizhen explained the grades of Attribute Cores and offered sixty for a fruit, or one hundred if Xu Zhi relaxed her attribute requirements.
• Xu Zhi demanded seventy cores of her specified attributes, and Lin Zizhen agreed to pay part in advance.
• Lin Zizhen gave Xu Zhi the Basic Cores owed from the current trade and promised another two hundred after receiving the evidence.
• Xu Zhi returned to her original body and planned to advance her supernatural rank, have her Familiars digest the cores, learn swordsmanship from Shen Jinwen, and continue exploring the deep mountains.

Xu Zhi fed her Familiars Attribute Cores, struggled with the Withered Wood’s insistence on calling her Mommy, and learned that Lamp cores caused it pain by conflicting with its Aberration nature. After Xiao Zhen found a Black Fruit and began leveling up, Xu Zhi prepared to practice knife techniques with Shen Jinwen, while the Withered Wood seemed to find comfort in her presence.

• Xu Zhi asked the Game Console about feeding her Familiars cores and gave cores to Little One and Doggie to help them level up.
• The Withered Wood demanded food and called Xu Zhi Mommy, so she told it to call her Big Sis instead.
• Xu Zhi fed the Withered Wood a [Lamp] Attribute Core, and it writhed in pain from the conflict between its attributes.
• The Narrator explained that Lamp cores could suppress Restlessness but that the Withered Wood would have to endure the pain caused by the attribute conflict.
• Xiao Zhen returned with a Black Fruit, and Xu Zhi gave it high-level [Winter] Attribute Cores to help it level up.
• As Xu Zhi prepared to learn knife techniques from Shen Jinwen, the Withered Wood stopped wriggling, and she sensed that her presence comforted it.

Xu Zhi paid Shen Jinwen for swordsmanship lessons, then watched Doggie become the Wolf King and struggled to help Withered Wood level up. After Little One and Xiao Zhen completed their Evolutions, Xu Zhi prepared to raise her own Transcendent level.

• Xu Zhi gave Shen Jinwen ten [Winter] Basic Cores as payment for the Tang Sword and swordsmanship instruction, then learned basic sword stances from her.
• Doggie completed its Evolution, reached Level 20, and awakened the Pack Leader ability as the Wolf King.
• Xu Zhi fed Withered Wood [Cup] Attribute Cores, but its restlessness kept interrupting its progress toward Level 15.
• Little One reached Evolution Level 3 and Xiao Zhen reached Evolution Level 2, while Withered Wood remained below Level 15.
• Xu Zhi told her Familiars to watch over her and wake her if anything went wrong, then prepared high-level [Moth] Attribute Cores to raise her Transcendent level.

After swallowing three high-grade Attribute Cores, Xu Zhi passed a dangerous trial in the Woodland and awakened the extraordinary ability [Moth]. She discovered that her body and energy had changed, and saw that her eyes had turned pale gray.

• Xu Zhi swallowed three high-grade Attribute Cores and lost consciousness, entering the Woodland in a dream.
• Xu Zhi followed a glowing moth through the Woodland, caught it, and woke as the ground vanished beneath her.
• The Narrator told Xu Zhi she had passed an initial trial and found a dangerous special path.
• Xu Zhi sensed her body had become lighter, her extraordinary energy had nearly tripled, and she had gained the ability [Moth].
• Xu Zhi tested [Moth] and learned it could attract and influence creatures, then noticed her eyes had turned pale gray in the mirror.

Xu Zhi spent over a week feeding cores to her Familiars, greatly raising their levels while carefully managing the Little Aberration’s hunger and pain. With one black fruit left, she decided to feed it to the Little Aberration despite not knowing what would happen.

• Xu Zhi learned that the strange manifestation in her eyes was a normal sign of powerful extraordinary beings, then continued feeding cores to her Familiars.
• Little One reached level 27, Doggie reached level 22, and Xiao Zhen reached level 24 as Xu Zhi used up most of her basic cores.
• Xu Zhi struggled to manage the Little Aberration’s hunger and pain, and it reached level 18 with 21 mental power and a rapidly growing Agony trait.
• After Xiao Zhen found three black fruits, Xu Zhi decided to give one to the Little Aberration, though neither she nor Narrator knew what would happen.

Xu Zhi discovered that feeding a Black Fruit had changed her Aberration’s color and deepened its connection to Midnight, then agreed to investigate a missing search team. She set out with Xiao Zhen to find the team and planned to reassure the residents by bringing them back publicly.

• Xu Zhi sent Zhong Lingfan a letter asking her to recruit residents and prepare a survival handbook, and Zhong Lingfan agreed to finish it within a week.
• After eating a Black Fruit, Xu Zhi’s Aberration turned black, and its status panel revealed no evolution points despite its strange, irreversible change.
• Zhong Lingfan told Xu Zhi that a team sent to contact living people had gone missing without sending word or returning.
• Xu Zhi accepted the search request, called Xiao Zhen back, and set out with Xiao Zhen and the Aberration toward the team’s last known location.
• Before leaving, Xu Zhi asked Zhong Lingfan to steady the residents and make sure everyone saw the search team when they returned.

Xu Zhi followed a woman who was luring people to a suspicious gathering place, hoping to find the missing residents. She discovered the woman was a Fanatic and entered a freezing residential complex, where the Fanatics led her toward their central building.

• Shen Jinwen gave Xu Zhi basic driving lessons, and Xu Zhi drove to the place where the residents had vanished while Xiao Zhen searched from above.
• Xu Zhi sensed someone watching her and pretended to pick the lock on a convenience store to draw them out.
• A woman approached Xu Zhi and invited her to a gathering place, and Xu Zhi used [Eye of Secrets] to identify her as a Fanatic.
• The woman led Xu Zhi into a residential complex where the temperature dropped sharply, then brought her to the central building.
• A black-eyed man and the woman remarked that something might be wrong with Xu Zhi's head, while Xu Zhi complained and soothed the Aberration in her pocket.

Xu Zhi was taken to a rooftop where Fanatics prepared a blood ritual, but she broke free and fought back with Xiao Zhen. The ritual began draining blood from everyone except Xu Zhi, and she faced a Fanatic whose wounds healed as the ritual empowered him.

• Xu Zhi was brought to a rooftop, where she saw a blood ritual pattern and three unconscious supernatural beings tied up nearby.
• The Fanatics blindfolded and bound Xu Zhi, and she overheard that they needed one more person for the ritual.
• Xu Zhi snapped her bonds, called for Xiao Zhen, and Xiao Zhen killed the Fanatic standing closest to her.
• The Fanatics began the ritual by pouring red liquid onto the array, and a crimson beam rose as Xu Zhi resisted the mental contamination.
• The ritual drained the blood of the captives and Fanatics, killing the three supernatural beings, while Xu Zhi and the commanding man remained alive.
• Xu Zhi and Xiao Zhen attacked the man, but the array healed his wounds and empowered him through red threads connected to his heart.

Xu Zhi’s Aberration parasitized the ritualist, devoured his energy, and evolved into a stronger Familiar with a new ability. Though its agitation made it attack Xiao Zhen and threaten Xu Zhi, she discovered it still responded to her commands and offered it her blood.

• When Xu Zhi tried to flee, the Aberration leaped from her pocket, burrowed into the ritualist’s heart, and began consuming his blood and energy.
• Xu Zhi ordered Xiao Zhen to break the ritualist’s hand while the Aberration rapidly leveled up and entered metamorphosis.
• The Aberration’s growth severed the ritual’s energy lines, killed the ritualist, and awakened its Parasitic Seed ability.
• The agitated Aberration lunged at Xiao Zhen, but Xu Zhi stayed nearby because the game warned her not to let it leave her side.
• Xu Zhi approached the Aberration and found it would threaten her but not attack; she ordered it to stay still and offered it her blood.

Xu Zhi rescued survivors after punishing the Little Aberration for losing control, then decided to search Cloud City for more survivors and investigate the Fanatics’ ritual. Before leaving on her tour of the city, she planned to choose a new Familiar.

• Xu Zhi fed the Little Aberration her blood and a high-level [Lamp] Attribute Core to suppress its [Agitation], then scolded and kicked it for acting without permission.
• Xu Zhi used Xiao Zhen to find around fifteen survivors stranded on rooftops and had the Little Aberration carry them downstairs.
• Xu Zhi asked Zhong Lingfan to bring a convoy for the survivors and to make clear that Xu Zhi had rescued them from the Fanatics.
• Xu Zhi told Zhong Lingfan she would spend one or two months searching Cloud City for survivors and rational Fanatics while investigating the failed ritual.
• Xu Zhi summoned her Familiars and prepared to leave, deciding to choose a new Familiar first.

Xu Zhi learned that she needed a special Lantern before she could enter Midnight, then set out to gather its materials and found a wary group of survivors. The chapter left her suspecting that something was wrong with the people and their unmutated dogs.

• Xu Zhi learned that her next Familiar selection would come later and that she was close to entering Midnight, but first needed a Lantern to shelter her there.
• Xu Zhi unlocked the Lantern blueprint by investing ten high-level Lamp Attribute Cores and learned that it required branches from a level 25 Aberration, two Moths, snakeskin, a bird feather, and spider web.
• Xu Zhi set out in her car with her Familiars to search for the Lantern materials and new people, while the Narrator told her she still had to enter a house at night.
• On the third morning, Xiao Zhen spotted living people outside a villa near Cloud City's northern outskirts, and Xu Zhi drove over to meet them.
• Xu Zhi saw a short-haired girl with several unmutated mongrels and greeted the group, but their unusually tense reaction to her questions made her suspect something was wrong.

Xu Zhi confronted a family hiding the truth about a relative who had become a Fanatic. She found him restrained but partly lucid, with eyes that showed an unusual, incomplete transformation, and asked why he had retained his sanity.

• Xu Zhi questioned a group of survivors, and Xiao Zhen and Doggie disarmed and intimidated them after they aimed a rifle at her.
• The short-haired girl admitted that her cousin had killed someone and gone mad, and that the family had tied him up at home.
• Xu Zhi followed the girl to a room where her cousin was chained to a bed and saw that his eyes were only partly transformed.
• The cousin asked what had happened, and Xu Zhi asked him why he could retain his sanity.

Xu Zhi questioned Qin Qin and her brother about his bouts of madness, learning that he heard an irresistible call urging him toward a great goal. She promised them safer shelter and help developing Qin Qin’s purification ability, then prepared to send them to the Old Residential District and inform Zhong Lingfan.

• Xu Zhi discovered that Qin Qin had the [Heart] attribute and could use a purification ability to temporarily help her [cup] brother remain rational.
• Xu Zhi offered the siblings shelter and help in exchange for answering her questions, and gave Qin Qin two [Heart] Attribute Cores as a gesture of good faith.
• Qin Qin’s brother described a compelling goal and an indescribable voice calling to him and others whenever he lost his reason.
• Xu Zhi confirmed that he was cooperating honestly, promised to honor her offer, and asked them to pack while she wrote a letter to Zhong Lingfan.

Xu Zhi discovered a Mutated Spider nest while driving and set its webbing ablaze to obtain better-quality spider silk. She and her Familiars fought off the swarm, finding the spiders weaker than expected as the battle continued.

• Xu Zhi sent Xiao Zhen to escort the group to the Old Residential District, then continued driving around the edge of the Third Ring.
• Xu Zhi noticed spider silk covering the car and learned from the Game Console that better-quality silk lay deeper in the area.
• Xu Zhi cleared the silk around her car with Little Aberration, set the surrounding webs on fire, and drew the Mutated Spiders out of their nest.
• Dozens of Mutated Spiders charged Xu Zhi, and her [Eye of Secrets] revealed that they all had the [Opening] attribute.
• Xu Zhi ordered Little One and Doggie to fight while Little Aberration guarded her, then used her Tang saber to kill spiders that got through.

Xu Zhi killed a nest of Mutated Spiders, collected their silk and eggs, and devised a plan to raise Mutated Animals as a hunting ground for Transcendents. As she continued through Cloud City, she found and sent surviving Transcendents to the Old Residential District, but discovered that only a little over a hundred sane people remained after she had crossed nearly a third of the Third Ring.

• Xu Zhi and her Familiars killed more than a thousand Mutated Spiders and gathered their Attribute Cores and usable spider silk.
• Xu Zhi found over three thousand spider eggs and decided to raise them in a supervised hunting ground for the Old Residential District’s Transcendents.
• Xu Zhi continued traveling, collecting other Mutated Animal eggs and using her Familiars to escort surviving Transcendents to the Old Residential District.
• Xu Zhi realized that after traveling nearly a third of the Third Ring, she had found only a little over a hundred living people who retained their sanity.

After her car ran out of gas, Xu Zhi met a rational Fanatic who offered to help her find fuel in exchange for information about a survivor settlement. He led her to his injured childhood friend, and Xu Zhi began removing the girl's bandages to inspect her eyes.

• Xu Zhi searched parked cars for gasoline and met a young man whose heart showed the red flame of a rational Fanatic.
• The young man offered to help her find fuel and asked about a survivor settlement, claiming his injured friend needed a doctor.
• Xu Zhi agreed to meet the friend, confident she could handle any danger and that Xiao Zhen would soon return.
• The young man led Xu Zhi to a house, where she found a bandaged girl whose heart also showed a red flame.
• Xu Zhi questioned the young man's story, then approached the girl and began unwrapping the bandages over her eyes.

Xu Zhi discovered that a boy had not gouged out his injured companion’s eyes and learned that they had escaped from a gathering of [Cup] believers. The boy explained the believers’ hierarchy and revealed that an Acolyte was trying to repair a flawed ritual, but he could not explain what the believers worshipped.

• Xu Zhi saw that the girl’s eyes had been gouged out and questioned the boy, who denied doing it.
• The boy attacked Xu Zhi, but a black shadow struck him down; Xu Zhi gave him a [Cup] Attribute Core to heal so she could question him.
• The boy told Xu Zhi that he and the girl had escaped and that few living people remained across the sealed region.
• The boy explained that believers had an instinctive hierarchy, with mindless believers at the bottom and an Acolyte above believers like him.
• The boy said the Acolyte was trying to repair flaws in a ritual, but he could not explain what the believers worshipped.

Xu Zhi learned that the cult planned to sacrifice believers to create a bishop and needed a saintess’s heart to build an Archbishop. After sparing the boy for now, she used the Game Console to craft a pair of supernatural eyes from his eyeballs, moths, her blood, and Cup Attribute Cores.

• The boy told Xu Zhi that the Acolyte planned to create the first bishop by sacrificing superhumans and believers, and that he had fled because he resented being chosen as a sacrifice instead of a bishop candidate.
• The boy explained that the girl was a rare saintess whose body preserved her heart, which the cult needed to create an Archbishop.
• Xu Zhi learned that the boy did not know an Archbishop’s abilities, took the hideout’s location from him, and decided not to kill him yet.
• Xu Zhi sent the boy outside and asked the Game Console how to craft a pair of eyes from her two moths.
• Xu Zhi took the boy’s eyes and used them with her blood and ten Cup Attribute Cores to craft a red pair of Moth’s Eyes.

Xu Zhi tested whether she could influence Cup believer Cup by replacing her eyes with Moth-made eyeballs and feeding her a Cup Attribute Core. The girl developed a severe rejection reaction, and Xu Zhi tried giving her blood to help her body accept the eyes.

• Xu Zhi discussed her plan with Narrator, which explained that Archbishops were powerful Cup followers and that Xu Zhi could not currently contend with one.
• Xu Zhi placed the Moth-made eyeballs in the girl's empty sockets and fed her a Cup Attribute Core.
• Red veins connected the eyeballs to the girl, but she began twitching and bleeding from her seven orifices.
• Narrator identified the symptoms as a rejection reaction and suggested Xu Zhi give the girl some of her blood.
• Xu Zhi cut her palm and forced blood into the unconscious girl's mouth.