Chapter Summaries

Xu Zhi explored Midnight with a lantern, encountered a dangerous shadow and the Black Cat’s attempt to keep her there, then escaped back through the door. The Game Console confirmed the Black Cat could not leave Midnight and told Xu Zhi she had gained a new Familiar species.

• Xu Zhi ventured deeper into Midnight while the Black Cat warned her about the danger and urged her to stay.
• A shadow attacked Xu Zhi but recoiled when it entered the lantern’s light, and the Black Cat explained that it had just awakened.
• Xu Zhi turned back when her sense of danger intensified, but the Black Cat’s questions made the moonlight tilt and the trees’ shadows reach for her.
• A tree shadow touched Xu Zhi and nearly forced her to stop, but the lantern’s light cleared her mind and she rushed to the door.
• The Black Cat lunged toward Xu Zhi as she left, but she shut the door and returned safely to the room.
• The Game Console said the Black Cat could not leave Midnight, warned Xu Zhi to rest, and revealed that she had gained a new Familiar species.

Xu Zhi chose Nightmare, a powerful but aloof black-cat Familiar whose abilities could draw living beings into mental dreamscapes. After learning that another Familiar would require her to transcend ordinary human Life Level, she began trying to earn Nightmare’s trust, but the cat only accepted a Core and continued to ignore her.

• Xu Zhi selected the Level 1 Nightmare Familiar, which appeared as the familiar green-eyed Black Cat from Midnight.
• Xu Zhi checked Nightmare’s attributes and learned that it could create dreamscapes and pull living beings into them, with her ability to influence them depending on Nightmare’s trust.
• The Game Console told Xu Zhi she could not select another Familiar until her Life Level rose beyond that of ordinary humans, and said she might encounter a fitting opportunity.
• Xu Zhi learned that Nightmare was only a blank-slate, super-baby version of the Midnight Nightmare and had none of its memories.
• Xu Zhi tried to pet the aloof cat, then offered it a Moth Attribute Core; Nightmare took the Core but still showed her no affection.

Xu Zhi planned her next moves after discovering that the Black Cat had eaten an Attribute Core without leveling up, while the Narrator evaded her questions about what it was. After finishing her sweep of the Third Ring, she prepared to address her deal with Huo Ze and pursue the survivors and Fanatics beyond it.

• Xu Zhi questioned whether the Narrator was her supernatural ability, but it denied this and refused to explain what it was.
• Xu Zhi planned to gather resources, deal with Yu Shenwei and the Fanatics, return to the Old Residential District, and later rescue survivors in the Second and First Rings.
• Xu Zhi offered the Black Cat two more cores from her palm and planned to build its trust by feeding it herself.
• Xu Zhi continued exploring the Third Ring, collected Mutated Animal eggs and larvae, and observed that Huo Ze's injuries had mostly healed.
• After Xu Zhi finished traversing the Third Ring without helping Huo Ze find his subordinates, Huo Ze asked when she would honor their deal, and Xu Zhi said she was preparing to do so.

Xu Zhi used Huo Ze’s ambition and contempt for Yu Shenwei to make the Saintess question her role as a sacrifice. She asked Yu Shenwei to cooperate with her and become Archbishop, leaving Yu Shenwei to decide whether to accept.

• Xu Zhi fed blood to the unconscious Yu Shenwei, woke her, and summoned Huo Ze.
• Xu Zhi asked whether Huo Ze would kill the Acolyte if he became an Archbishop candidate, and he admitted that he would.
• Huo Ze said Yu Shenwei was only a sacrifice whose organs were meant to pave the way for an Archbishop.
• After Huo Ze left, Xu Zhi suggested that Yu Shenwei should become Archbishop herself and questioned why she should suffer for someone else’s advancement.
• Xu Zhi asked Yu Shenwei to cooperate with her and blink three times if she agreed.

Xu Zhi worked to awaken Yu Shenwei’s suppressed human desires and make her question her loyalty, while planning how to secure more advanced cores for her Familiars. The chapter ended with Xu Zhi reflecting on Zhong Lingfan’s commitment to saving Cloud City’s residents rather than obeying Xu Zhi personally.

• Yu Shenwei panicked when Xu Zhi questioned whether her loyalty to . was genuine, then closed her eyes and fell asleep to avoid thinking further.
• Xu Zhi decided Yu Shenwei had begun to waver and planned to find a believer to make her vocal organs before returning to the Acolyte.
• Xu Zhi fed a [Moth] Basic Core to the Black Cat, which swallowed it and fell asleep as its game screen began leveling up.
• Xu Zhi planned to establish an official trading point where residents could exchange Advanced Cores for lower-tier cores, with Zhong Lingfan in charge and Shen Jinwen supervising.
• Xu Zhi read Zhong Lingfan’s account of the residential district’s shops, mission hall, and team-up hall, and recognized that Zhong Lingfan worked to save Cloud City’s people rather than out of loyalty to her.

After the Black Cat reached Level 2, Xu Zhi prepared to return to the Acolyte’s stronghold and take control of the believers. She gave Huo Ze a Parasitic Seed fruit, then set out with him and Yu Shenwei, leaving Huo Ze reassured by her promise to make him an Archbishop candidate.

• The Black Cat completed its upgrade to Nightmare Lv2, raising its Spirit to 150.
• Xu Zhi had the Little Aberration produce a Parasitic Seed fruit and made Huo Ze swallow it, teasing him that it might be poisonous.
• After resting, Xu Zhi woke Huo Ze and Yu Shenwei and announced that she would take them back to kill the Acolyte’s followers.
• Huo Ze worried that Xu Zhi could not defeat more than a hundred believers, but she claimed they would kill anyone who refused to obey and make her chosen person an Archbishop candidate.
• Xu Zhi drove through the fog with Huo Ze and Yu Shenwei, playing loud music that drew the attention of Guardians as she warned them to brace for a sharp turn.

Xu Zhi brought Huo Ze and Yu Shenwei to the Acolyte’s headquarters and asked why Huo Ze had not been chosen. The Acolyte met them with her followers, and Xu Zhi pressed her to explain who had been selected instead.

• Xu Zhi dodged gunfire while driving toward the outskirts, then left one Fanatic alive when his group blocked their way.
• Xu Zhi asked Huo Ze to summon the Acolyte, but the Fanatic called him a traitor; Yu Shenwei then persuaded the believer to deliver the message.
• The Acolyte’s followers gathered around Xu Zhi’s group, and an old woman approached to question her.
• Xu Zhi explained that she was a Moth Attribute Transcendent who had brought Huo Ze and Yu Shenwei to investigate why Huo Ze was not chosen.
• The old woman asked whether Xu Zhi had helped kill the Fanatics pursuing Huo Ze, and Xu Zhi asked who had been chosen in his place.

Xu Zhi killed the Acolyte’s chosen Archbishop candidate and pushed Huo Ze to attempt the ritual in his place. As the Acolyte ordered the Fanatics to attack, Xu Zhi held Yu Shenwei close and told her to watch what happened next.

• Xu Zhi used her power to kill A-Lin, the candidate the Acolyte had chosen for Archbishop, and the enraged Fanatics’ attacks failed to harm her.
• Xu Zhi proposed replacing A-Lin with Huo Ze, and the Acolyte insisted that Huo Ze lacked the necessary aptitude.
• Xu Zhi offered to kill the Acolyte so Huo Ze could activate the prepared ritual, and Huo Ze agreed, accusing the Acolyte of favoring her son.
• The Acolyte ordered the Fanatics to attack Xu Zhi and reclaim Yu Shenwei.
• Xu Zhi pulled Yu Shenwei closer and whispered that the Fanatics were using their god for selfish ends, then told her to watch the show begin.

Xu Zhi used Little One, Doggie, and Little Cat to overcome the Acolyte’s defenses and kill her. With the Fanatics charging in a frenzy, Xu Zhi ordered Yu Shenwei to control them and preserve living sacrifices for the ritual.

• Little One blocked the gunfire and drove back the Fanatics while Xu Zhi ordered Doggie to kill the Acolyte.
• Doggie’s attack was stopped by the Acolyte’s red supernatural shield, which Xu Zhi identified as an ability fueled by the Acolyte’s energy.
• Xu Zhi enlisted Little Cat and used her Moth to make the Acolyte misjudge Doggie’s attack timing.
• The Acolyte activated her shield too early, and Doggie tore her in half.
• The Fanatics charged Xu Zhi after sensing the Acolyte’s death, so Xu Zhi ordered Yu Shenwei to calm them and preserve sacrifices for the ritual.

Xu Zhi learned that Huo Ze planned to use the ritual to extract the flesh, blood, and souls of everyone inside its range except the person at its core. After Yu Shenwei exposed the scheme, Xu Zhi calmly inspected the ritual site and left, allowing preparations to continue.

• Xu Zhi learned that the other high-ranking believer had died as a sacrifice, then ordered Huo Ze to begin the ritual.
• Huo Ze explained that the ritual would cover a large area and use Yu Shenwei’s stored organs.
• Yu Shenwei revealed that the ritual would extract everyone’s flesh, blood, and souls except the person at its core.
• Xu Zhi accused Huo Ze of having a vicious plan but stayed calm and continued to the ritual site.
• Xu Zhi inspected the crude ritual setup at a residential complex’s basketball court and left Huo Ze to prepare.

Xu Zhi tested how Aberrations reacted to the ritual’s red light and sent Little Aberration to consume some of its energy while Yu Shenwei underwent the ceremony. The ritual drained the Fanatics and its materials, and Xu Zhi ordered her Familiars to retrieve Little Aberration as the red light faded.

• Xu Zhi left Little One at the formation’s boundary to test whether the red light affected Familiars, then ordered Little Aberration to make the parasite inside Huo Ze eat him.
• Huo Ze collapsed as a black, branch-like creature burst from his chest, and Yu Shenwei used his blood to complete the ritual’s preparations.
• The creature dragged Huo Ze’s corpse away, and Yu Shenwei stepped into the formation’s core without sacrificing her heart.
• Xu Zhi confirmed that Aberrations were unaffected by the red light and sent Little Aberration to consume two-thirds of the ritual’s energy, with Xiao Zhen and Little One watching it.
• The ritual lifted Yu Shenwei into the air as Fanatics sacrificed their flesh, blood, and souls; after nearly half an hour, Xu Zhi ordered her Familiars to bring Little Aberration out as the light weakened.

Xu Zhi’s intervention in the ritual left Yu Shenwei alive but unconscious, while Little Aberration surged to Level 29 after absorbing energy. Xu Zhi brought Yu Shenwei and her Familiars back to the residential district, where she waited for Yu Shenwei to wake and reveal what the ritual had done to her.

• Xiao Zhen and Little One pulled Little Aberration from Yu Shenwei, and the ritual’s red light vanished as Yu Shenwei fell unconscious with her wound healed.
• Xu Zhi checked Little Aberration’s status and found it had reached Level 29, then fed it her blood and [Lamp] Attribute Cores.
• Narrator told Xu Zhi that Yu Shenwei was alive and had likely gained some of the Archbishop’s abilities, though the flawed ritual had made her a reserve candidate rather than a true Archbishop.
• Xu Zhi carried Yu Shenwei on Doggie and took Little Aberration and Little One with her toward the residential district.
• Xu Zhi returned in less than a week and found that Yu Shenwei remained unconscious but no longer needed blood or Attribute Cores to stay alive.

Xu Zhi returned to the Old Residential District and settled into the villa Zhong Lingfan had prepared for her. She asked Zhong Lingfan to arrange a breeding ground for Mutated Animal eggs, then was told to dry her hair before they continued talking.

• Xu Zhi arrived at the Old Residential District, passed through its new guarded entrance, and drove to the villa Zhong Lingfan had reserved for her.
• Xu Zhi entered the clean villa with Doggie and Yu Shenwei, then discovered that Zhong Lingfan had come to discuss the room’s cleaning arrangements.
• Xu Zhi asked Zhong Lingfan to arrange a breeding ground where residents could hunt Mutated Animals and pay fees that would earn Xu Zhi cores.
• Zhong Lingfan said she knew a suitable location but that setting it up would be difficult, then asked Xu Zhi to dry her hair.

Zhong Lingfan explained the residential district’s problems and her preliminary classification of superhuman ranks to Xu Zhi. She left off describing Level Two superhumans, and Xu Zhi wondered how the system applied to her.

• Xu Zhi agreed to clear Mutated Animals from the planned plantation area and subdue powerful superhumans who might challenge the residential district’s management.
• Zhong Lingfan asked Xu Zhi to retrieve laboratory equipment from the Second Ring, then explained that the girl who accompanied the follower could sever a target’s connection to the mysterious.
• Xu Zhi agreed that Zhong Lingfan could use the girl’s ability.
• Zhong Lingfan introduced a new rank system, explaining that newly awakened superhumans were Level One and that most advanced to Level Two after developing through their dreams and absorbing superhuman energy.

Zhong Lingfan explained the dangers of superhuman advancement and how abilities changed at higher levels, then discussed her dream and Xu Zhi’s faction. After learning about the core exchange station, Xu Zhi prepared to meet a group, while Zhong Lingfan asked about the unconscious Yu Shenwei.

• Zhong Lingfan described the risks of advancing to Levels Three and Four and how superhuman abilities improved at Level Four.
• Zhong Lingfan recalled a dream of “Radiance and Woodland,” and Xu Zhi suspected the woodland might relate to the track Narrator had mentioned.
• Zhong Lingfan identified Xu Zhi’s faction as Chaotic Neutral after Xu Zhi chose chaos and neutral.
• Xu Zhi urged Zhong Lingfan to charge for her booklet on superhumans, and Zhong Lingfan agreed to seek funding through cores.
• Zhong Lingfan reported that the core exchange station was doing well, and Xu Zhi asked to be directed to a group she wanted to speak with.
• Zhong Lingfan pointed to the unconscious Yu Shenwei and asked Xu Zhi who he was.

Xu Zhi asked Zhong Lingfan to identify the unconscious Yu Shenwei after she woke, then left her under the black cat’s watch while Xu Zhi went to confront four powerful outsiders who had refused to join the residential district’s management system. Xu Zhi challenged them to a fight and led them toward the square, where they agreed to stop before anyone was seriously hurt.

• Xu Zhi asked Zhong Lingfan to check Yu Shenwei’s faction after she woke, but Zhong Lingfan said she needed eye contact to identify it.
• After Zhong Lingfan left, Xu Zhi told the black cat to watch Yu Shenwei and set out to confront four extraordinary people who had not joined the management system.
• Xu Zhi found the four men in their building and challenged them to fight, saying they would have to join and work for her if she won.
• Xu Zhi agreed to the men’s proposal to stop the fight before anyone was seriously hurt and suggested they go to the square.

Xu Zhi fought a team of four Level 4 supernatural beings in the Old Residential District’s sparring court and overwhelmed them with her strength, wooden blade, and healing. When one asked why she had not used her supernatural ability, she said that doing so would be picking on them.

• Xu Zhi entered the basketball court to fight the four-person team, and the guard started the match as onlookers gathered.
• A Blade-attribute fighter numbed Xu Zhi and struck at her with a lightning-charged fist, but she blocked him and knocked him unconscious with her wooden blade.
• Xu Zhi fought the remaining opponents despite Winter’s slowing effect and a wound inflicted by the Heart-attribute fighter, then healed faster than he did.
• One of the fighters asked why Xu Zhi had not used her supernatural ability, and she replied that using it would be picking on them.

Xu Zhi subdued three supernatural beings, then found Yu Shenwei awake and healing rapidly after her awakening. Yu Shenwei remained unable to speak and struggled with whether to reveal what had changed, while an unfamiliar supernatural jealousy surfaced when someone approached Xu Zhi.

• Xu Zhi used a gray moth to overwhelm the three supernatural beings, who surrendered and agreed to report for work.
• Xu Zhi returned to the villa and found Yu Shenwei awake, then watched her broken hand heal within seconds.
• Xu Zhi offered to find Yu Shenwei higher-ranking believers to replace her failed vocal organ, and Yu Shenwei nodded.
• Yu Shenwei hesitated when Xu Zhi asked what had changed, but Xu Zhi let her keep the information to herself.
• Yu Shenwei felt rejection toward the supernatural being speaking with Xu Zhi, then recognized it as an instinctive [Jealousy] from her supernatural ability.

Yu Shenwei awoke with intense jealousy toward anyone who interacted with Xu Zhi, and Zhong Lingfan identified her alignment as wavering between lawful evil and chaotic evil. Narrator explained that Yu Shenwei was the Archbishop of Jealousy and that an incomplete ritual had anchored her jealousy to Xu Zhi, leaving her unable to escape Xu Zhi’s influence.

• Yu Shenwei followed Xu Zhi while clearing the plantation, showing intense jealousy whenever Xu Zhi spoke to someone else.
• Xu Zhi finished clearing the plantation, spread Mutated Animal eggs across it, and asked Zhong Lingfan to identify Yu Shenwei’s alignment.
• Zhong Lingfan said Yu Shenwei was jealous of her, demonstrated Yu Shenwei’s killing intent, and warned Xu Zhi that Yu Shenwei’s evil alignment was wavering.
• Narrator told Xu Zhi that Yu Shenwei was the Archbishop of Jealousy, one of seven Archbishops associated with the seven deadly sins.
• Narrator explained that the incomplete ritual had anchored Yu Shenwei’s jealousy to Xu Zhi, making Xu Zhi the source of her power and influence.

Xu Zhi returned to the Federation and joined Lin Zizhen on a raid against a Fanatic hideout, where she found the believers and Aberrations weaker than those in Cloud City. The chapter ended with Xu Zhi suspecting that something was wrong with the hideout.

• Xu Zhi agreed that helping Yu Shenwei absorb more Jealousy would let her study and keep Yu Shenwei close.
• Xu Zhi traveled to the Federation after two months away, where Lin Zizhen told her that supernatural beings were overwhelmed by attacks and that his colleague had died on a mission.
• Xu Zhi asked to see what the Federation had been dealing with, so Lin Zizhen took her to a Fanatic hideout targeted for a raid.
• Wan Luo recognized Xu Zhi and mistook her for a sheltered little princess, then warned Lin Zizhen not to let her get in the way.
• Xu Zhi entered the hideout with Lin Zizhen and used the Eye of Secrets, noticing that its believers and Aberrations were weaker than those in Cloud City and suspecting something was wrong.