Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu and the Association convoy are ambushed by a bounty squad led by the old-scarred man. The attackers use carefully prepared countermeasures based on Bai Zhu’s known abilities: cryogenic agents to suppress heat, alloy capture nets to restrict movement, paralysis needles, signal jamming, and a live-transport crate.
• The bounty leader reveals that Bai Zhu is wanted for his data and a key, though the squad itself is primarily motivated by money. He assumes Bai Zhu’s abilities are limited to close-range flames activated through his sword.
• Bai Zhu surprises everyone by using Hadō #4, White Lightning, destroying the net’s paralysis mechanisms and disabling the attackers’ equipment without damaging the vehicle.
• He then draws his sword, burns through the remaining restraints, and confronts the bounty squad. When the leader uses quicksand to immobilize him, Bai Zhu crystallizes the sand and reveals that the fire seen at the licensing hall was not the full extent of his power.
• Bai Zhu quickly defeats the attackers: he knocks down the chain wielder, destroys a tranquilizer gun with lightning, incapacitates another fighter with heat-hardened sand, and strikes the fleeing leader in the leg with White Lightning.
• The bounty squad is arrested, and their vehicles and equipment—including Cryo Bombs, nets, and the transport crate—are confiscated. Milluki enthusiastically treats the seized equipment as compensation for damages, while Ging approves the arrangement.
• List formally cites the bounty squad for assaulting an Association team, using restricted equipment, disrupting military communications, and violating transport regulations.
• After the convoy resumes its journey, Piyu repeatedly questions Bai Zhu about his lightning ability, but he refuses to explain it.
• The chapter ends with an urgent report from a military supply station: numerous unknown creatures have appeared around an oasis, though they seem unwilling or unable to leave its boundary.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu demonstrates that the bounty hunters’ intelligence on him is outdated. He possesses more than his apparent flame ability and can use precise lightning techniques without the expected Nen signature. His confidence and combat skill increase his reputation among the observing Hunters.
• He also displays a playful, sarcastic side, mocking the quality of the transport crate and demanding “compensation” for emotional distress, lost wages, and other damages.
• Milluki remains calculating and opportunistic. Even while Bai Zhu is trapped, he is analyzing the enemy equipment and estimating future losses. Once the attack ends, he organizes the confiscation of the bounty squad’s gear.
• Piyu becomes more curious about Bai Zhu’s abilities and increasingly persistent in questioning him. She records the battle and enjoys teasing him, creating a lively contrast to his secrecy.
• Ging continues to observe rather than intervene, apparently confident that Bai Zhu can handle the attackers himself. His approval of the confiscated equipment shows his support without requiring direct involvement.
• List emerges as especially intimidating through his calm, procedural handling of the criminals, while Razor and Dwun watch the battle with detached interest.

Significant Themes

• Overconfidence and flawed intelligence: The bounty squad’s detailed preparations fail because they rely on incomplete information and assume Bai Zhu’s abilities are predictable.
• Adaptability versus preparation: The attackers prepare specifically for Bai Zhu’s flames, but his ability to switch to lightning renders their strategy ineffective.
• Power and reputation: Bai Zhu’s effortless victory changes how the surrounding Hunters view him, transforming him from a “newcomer” into someone treated with caution.
• Humor amid danger: The chapter undercuts the seriousness of the ambush with jokes about compensation, luxury transport, filming rights, and Milluki’s obsession with confiscated equipment.
• Secrecy and curiosity: Bai Zhu protects the details of his abilities, while Piyu’s persistent questioning emphasizes the growing mystery surrounding him.
• Escalating danger: The appearance of creatures at the oasis suggests that the bounty ambush was only a minor threat compared with the larger, unexplained danger ahead.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki exchange sarcastic remarks about Bai Zhu’s predictability, combat methods, and the cost of repairing the convoy. Their relationship is cooperative but full of teasing.
• Bai Zhu and Piyu develop a playful antagonism: she records and interrogates him despite his objections, while he responds with evasive jokes and demands for payment.
• Ging and the bounty leader engage in a psychological standoff, with Ging calmly refusing to intervene while the leader assumes the Association will avoid unnecessary conflict.
• List’s formal legal warning contrasts with Bai Zhu’s irreverent attitude, and Bai Zhu admits that List may be more frightening than he is.
• The surrounding Hunters initially doubt Bai Zhu but become visibly subdued after witnessing his lightning technique and rapid defeat of the bounty squad.

Chapter Summary: “The Oasis Took a Few Steps Forward, and People Vanished”

Key Plot Points and Events

• As the convoy approaches the oasis, Milluki reports several recent border anomalies. The oasis, previously expanding gradually, is now fluctuating more rapidly.
• The group arrives at a crowded encampment filled with opportunistic hunters hoping to profit from the expedition. Many dismiss the military’s warnings and mock the Association team for remaining outside the oasis.
• An ecological hunter extracts a strange blue-edged flower from the border. Bai Zhu senses that something is wrong, while a faint warning prompt briefly appears to him.
• Despite repeated military orders to retreat, several hunters continue testing the border. One Nen user even steps onto the Black Soil to prove that the area is harmless.
• Ging discovers fine black roots spreading beneath the sand and concludes that the oasis is alive. Shortly afterward, the border suddenly expands, swallowing several meters of ground.
• The Black Soil traps multiple people, while roots and vegetation entangle them. Small, upright, teddy-bear-like creatures armed with spears emerge from the forest and attack the stranded hunters.
• The creatures work with frightening coordination: they pin victims, attack vulnerable points, drag people into the oasis, seize equipment, and recover fallen supplies.
• The military orders a wider retreat, while Ging prevents Razor and the other hunters from rescuing those trapped inside, recognizing that intervention would only create more casualties.
• The attacking creatures withdraw in disciplined formation after killing or abducting many victims. One larger creature remains behind to observe Bai Zhu’s group, suggesting intelligence and perhaps a special interest in them.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu continues to present himself as cowardly and survival-focused, but his caution proves justified. He notices danger before most others and immediately retreats when the oasis expands, even dragging Milluki out of harm’s way.
• His humor becomes a defensive weapon. He taunts the arrogant hunters without directly escalating the confrontation and refuses to risk himself rescuing people who ignored the warnings.
• Bai Zhu’s mysterious Silver-White Tail Feather reacts strongly near the oasis and especially when the larger Spear Soldier appears, implying a connection or warning that has not yet been explained.
• Milluki remains sarcastic and self-interested but shows growing trust in Bai Zhu’s instincts. He initially mocks Bai Zhu’s fear, then relies on him for protection when the attack begins.
• Piyu shifts from playful teasing to alert observation. She records the attack and notices the markings on the creatures’ equipment, helping identify them as potentially intelligent beings.
• Ging demonstrates leadership and scientific awareness. He identifies the oasis as a living, expanding entity and makes the harsh tactical decision not to save those already inside the boundary.
• Razor is willing to intervene but accepts Ging’s judgment, dispersing his Nen attack when told that rescue would be futile.
• Satotz recognizes that the creatures are not ordinary beasts because of their organization and apparent intelligence.
• The arrogant red-headscarf hunter and the reckless Nen user serve as examples of overconfidence and disregard for warnings; both become victims of the oasis and its defenders.

Significant Themes

• Survival versus heroism: Bai Zhu prioritizes staying alive over performing a reckless rescue, challenging the expectation that hunters should always act heroically.
• Human arrogance and consequences: The hunters mock the military and ignore repeated warnings, only realizing the danger once the oasis consumes them.
• Nature as a living threat: The oasis is not merely unusual terrain or an ecosystem; it behaves as a living, expanding organism capable of defending itself.
• The danger of underestimating intelligence: The Spear Soldiers operate in teams, use specialized weapons, recover supplies, and maintain formations, suggesting a structured society rather than animal instinct.
• Humor amid horror: Bai Zhu’s jokes about survival, “teddies,” and the creatures’ behavior contrast with the violence, emphasizing his way of coping with fear.
• The limits of intervention: Ging’s refusal to allow a rescue highlights the brutal logic of expedition work—saving one person may endanger everyone else.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki continue their comedic, antagonistic partnership, with Bai Zhu insulting Milluki’s caution while still protecting him.
• Bai Zhu and Piyu trade flirtatious and sarcastic remarks, though both become serious when they sense the oasis is dangerous.
• Bai Zhu verbally provokes the red-headscarf group, but avoids a direct fight and later refuses to rescue their leader.
• Ging and List coordinate the investigation and military handover, while Ging’s discoveries guide the group’s response.
• Ging and Razor briefly clash over whether to attack the creatures, with Ging persuading Razor that intervention would be fatal.
• The final standoff between Bai Zhu’s group and the larger Spear Soldier creates a sense that the creatures—or the oasis itself—may recognize or specifically be watching Bai Zhu.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The group witnesses a tall Teddy Spearman—the apparent leader of the intelligent canine-like creatures—surveying Bai Zhu and the others from within the Black Soil.
• After observing the hunters, the Spearman signals its allies. The other Spear Soldiers retrieve the dead hunters’ bodies and equipment, then carry them into the forest belt.
• The team analyzes footage of the earlier attack. They discover that the creatures possess extraordinary explosive speed, use the Black Soil to enhance their movement, and coordinate their attacks with military-like efficiency.
• The group concludes that the creatures are not mindless monsters but an organized, intelligent “corpse collection team” that deliberately gathers bodies and useful supplies.
• Bai Zhu identifies several weaknesses in their tactics: they rely heavily on the sudden expansion of the Black Soil, prey on careless or inexperienced opponents, and overwhelm victims through coordinated attacks before they can recover.
• The hunters debate whether to retreat or enter the dangerous Oasis. Razor believes the creatures could be defeated in open terrain but warns that the forest’s trees, roots, Black Soil, and hidden dangers would make combat much more difficult.
• Ging asks Bai Zhu whether they should wait outside or pursue the creatures immediately. At the same moment, Bai Zhu receives a system notification offering twenty achievement points for following the “intelligent canine clan,” locating its settlement, and identifying its object of worship.
• Although Bai Zhu strongly wants to avoid the mission, his observations convince the others that the creatures will not emerge again soon and that their return to the forest creates a temporary opportunity.
• Ging orders the group to prepare to enter the Oasis, prompting Bai Zhu’s exasperated protest that the hunters are insane for pursuing the creatures so soon after the massacre.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu remains sarcastic, irreverent, and self-preserving, joking about the Spearman’s appearance and arguing with it despite the danger. However, he demonstrates sharp combat analysis and recognizes the creatures’ limitations and battle patterns.
• Milluki acts as a methodical analyst, studying recorded footage and identifying the Spear Soldiers’ abnormal speed and physical capabilities.
• Piyu notices the creatures’ division of labor and even records Bai Zhu’s strange description of them as an “intelligent corpse collection team.”
• Satotz focuses on the creatures’ intelligence, particularly their ability to recognize and collect valuable supplies.
• Razor evaluates the practical difficulties of fighting the creatures, acknowledging that open-ground combat would favor the hunters but that the forest would neutralize that advantage.
• Ging takes command of the situation and subtly pressures Bai Zhu into participating, recognizing both his experience and his reluctance to abandon the investigation.
• Dwun represents the group’s caution, suggesting that retreat may be the safest option after witnessing the attack.

Significant Themes

• Intelligence versus savagery: The creatures initially resemble monsters, but their coordination, resourcefulness, and deliberate collection of bodies reveal an organized society rather than random violence.
• The danger of complacency: The dead hunters were defeated partly because they stood carelessly, lacked proper Nen control, and misjudged the creatures as passive.
• Risk and curiosity: Despite the obvious danger, the promise of knowledge and achievement rewards drives the hunters toward the Oasis.
• Human recklessness: Bai Zhu repeatedly points out that the group is behaving irrationally, yet even he is drawn forward by the possibility of uncovering the creatures’ settlement and worship practices.
• Environmental advantage: The Black Soil and forest are not merely scenery; they actively empower the Spear Soldiers and shape the tactics of any confrontation.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki clash humorously over Bai Zhu’s crude observations and unconventional thought process.
• Bai Zhu’s comments irritate the more serious members, especially when he jokes about the Spearman appearing interested in him.
• The group collaborates effectively while analyzing the attack, with Milluki, Piyu, Satotz, Bai Zhu, and Razor each contributing a different perspective.
• Ging places responsibility on Bai Zhu by appealing to his experience and implying that he would not truly abandon the expedition.
• Bai Zhu’s reluctant reasoning inadvertently gives the others justification to advance, allowing Ging to make the decision to enter the Oasis despite Bai Zhu’s objections.

Chapter Summary: “Takeout and Carbonated Drinks”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The expedition team prepares to enter the mysterious black-soil forest belt, believed to contain ruins and dangerous unknown entities.
• Ging assigns roles:
  • Satotz records terrain and ruins.
  • Piyu searches for writing.
  • List maps the route and marks explored areas.
  • Razor guards the rear.
  • Dwun monitors everyone’s condition.
  • Milluki remains near the communication range.
• Milluki objects to being left outside, but reveals an extraordinary ability: he can shrink armored vehicles, communications equipment, supplies, and power sources into portable models. This allows the team to carry their “mobile fortress” equipment into the forest.
• Before entering, Ging instructs everyone to use Zetsu to minimize their presence. The group suspects the forest’s inhabitants can detect Nen and may possess other methods of perception.
• Bai Zhu is placed at the front because his feathers may make him recognizable and, with everyone else suppressing Nen, he is the team’s strongest remaining fighter.
• The team crosses the boundary and immediately experiences strange spatial effects: outside sounds become muted, distances appear distorted, and the forest feels disconnected from the desert.
• List places the first marker, while Piyu identifies the route taken by the team that previously recovered corpses—though Bai Zhu objects to her blunt terminology.

Character Developments

• Milluki demonstrates that he is far more useful in the field than the others assume. His shrinking ability lets him transport vehicles and supplies, earning him the joking title of a “high-end warehouse.”
• Bai Zhu continues to act as the team’s reluctant comic relief and practical voice. He defends Milluki, complains about being placed in danger, and reveals that his lack of visible defensive Nen is connected to his ability sealing away his armor.
• Ging takes firm command, assigning everyone specialized responsibilities and making difficult tactical decisions despite the team’s uncertainty.
• Piyu remains observant, playful, and fearless in her teasing. She records memorable remarks despite Bai Zhu’s protests.
• List, Satotz, and Razor establish themselves as methodical and reliable field specialists, while Dwun shows anxiety but remains committed to supporting the group.

Significant Themes

• Preparation versus danger: The team balances careful planning, mapping, communication, and supplies against the unpredictable threats inside the forest.
• The value of unconventional abilities: Milluki’s seemingly impractical power becomes essential, emphasizing that usefulness is not limited to combat strength.
• Trust and teamwork: Every member is given a role, and survival depends on coordinated specialization.
• Unknown perception and vulnerability: Activating Zetsu lowers their defenses, forcing the group to choose concealment over protection.
• Humor amid tension: Banter about takeout, carbonated drinks, and “corpse collection” lightens the atmosphere while highlighting the characters’ relationships.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu repeatedly clashes with Milluki, but also defends and reassures him, creating a teasing but cooperative friendship.
• Piyu enjoys provoking Bai Zhu and documenting his comments; although he threatens her jokingly, he acknowledges that he would not actually harm her.
• Ging’s leadership frustrates Bai Zhu, especially when he assigns him to the front, but Bai Zhu ultimately follows orders.
• Razor’s serious warning that the team should charge forward if separated increases Bai Zhu’s unease about the expedition.
• The group’s casual humor contrasts with their disciplined preparation, reinforcing their growing camaraderie as they enter the dangerous forest.

Chapter Summary: “Doghouse Village”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu, Milluki, Ging, Satotz, Piyu, List, Dwun, and Razor continue through the mysterious Oasis, discovering that the Black Soil itself reacts to movement through hidden roots.
• The forest contains ancient and supposedly extinct plant species, including the Three-Whorl Ancient Leaf and Blue-Veined Broadleaf Tree. Satotz identifies the area as more than an Oasis—possibly an ancient ecological “gene bank.”
• Bai Zhu suggests the Oasis may have been sealed away and recently released, based on its similarities to the spatial distortion around Ring Island. Milluki confirms that communications weaken and are eventually swallowed as they travel deeper inside.
• The group discovers a permanent settlement beside a lake, inhabited by intelligent upright canine creatures called Teddy Spearmen. The village consists of organized huts, tools, decorations, weapons, and a central ritual space.
• Two larger canine creatures, humorously resembling Huskies, act as priests. The settlement performs a ritual involving the corpses of hunters who had previously been dragged away. The Teddies sort the bodies by equipment, blood scent, and residual Nen, suggesting a sacrificial ceremony.
• A gigantic bird-like Phantom Beast descends from the canopy and selects the corpse with the strongest lingering Nen. The group hides rather than fighting, recognizing the danger of their position and the creature’s possible connection to Bai Zhu’s Tail Feather.
• The bird drops a glowing blue crystal into a stone tray. The canine villagers erupt into ritualistic celebration, while the team’s technology malfunctions and Milluki detects energy unlike conventional Nen.
• Bai Zhu’s system identifies the object as a Contract Crystal, capable of forming a power-sharing contract between a Phantom Beast and another party. The crystal is currently associated with the canine species, though the contract target remains unknown.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhu noticing a young Teddy lying beside him and panting “hahaha,” implying that the group may have been discovered or approached unnoticed.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu remains sarcastic and commercially minded, joking about selling extinct plants and mocking the settlement’s “Husky priests.” Despite his humor, he becomes increasingly cautious when the sacrifice and Phantom Beast appear, immediately protecting Milluki and Piyu.
• Milluki serves as the group’s technical specialist and communications support, carrying essential equipment in a large box. His readings reveal the unusual energy surrounding the crystal, though his attempts to record the village nearly expose everyone.
• Ging continues acting as the group’s practical leader, examining the soil and roots, controlling the group’s movement, and preventing premature confrontation with the bird.
• Satotz demonstrates professional integrity and expertise, identifying ancient plants and recognizing the canine settlement as an organized intelligent society rather than a beast nest.
• Piyu documents the expedition but struggles to suppress her amusement at Bai Zhu’s jokes. Her equipment is disrupted when the crystal activates.
• List methodically records discoveries and secretly places a positioning spike, marking the village as a significant point of interest.
• Razor remains quiet and watchful, with his aura shifting briefly before Ging signals him not to act.
• Dwun provides a small emotional contrast by cautiously carrying mint candies, showing concern for the group despite his nervousness.

Significant Themes

• Exploration versus exploitation: The ancient plants are scientifically priceless, but Bai Zhu immediately considers their monetary value, contrasting commercial motives with Satotz’s preservationist ethics.
• The unknown ecosystem: The Oasis is revealed to be a preserved, possibly sealed-off remnant of an ancient world rather than a natural modern environment.
• Intelligent nonhuman civilizations: The Teddy Spearmen possess social organization, rituals, technology, and religious structures, challenging the assumption that they are merely dangerous beasts.
• Power and sacrifice: The canine ritual, corpse sorting, and Contract Crystal suggest a system in which life force, Nen, and Phantom Beasts are exchanged or shared.
• Technology’s limits: Milluki’s equipment and Piyu’s camera become unreliable as the group enters deeper territory, emphasizing that conventional tools cannot fully interpret the Oasis.
• Humor amid danger: Bai Zhu and Milluki’s banter, as well as the absurd appearance of the “Husky priests,” provide comic relief against the chapter’s increasingly ominous discoveries.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki repeatedly bicker, especially over Milluki’s equipment and his role as the group’s “warehouse,” but Bai Zhu also physically protects him when the Phantom Beast attacks.
• Bai Zhu and Satotz clash over the value of extinct plants: Bai Zhu views them as potential commodities, while Satotz insists relic hunters must protect and restore discoveries.
• Ging repeatedly reins in the group, signaling them to move forward, stop joking, remain hidden, and avoid provoking the Phantom Beast.
• Piyu secretly records Bai Zhu’s jokes despite his warning, reinforcing their lighthearted rapport.
• Satotz and List treat the settlement seriously, documenting it as evidence of an intelligent species and organized culture.
• The group collectively chooses restraint when confronted by the giant bird, recognizing that attacking could endanger them and provoke the entire village.

Chapter Summary: “Dwun, Why the Hell Did You Tease It?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• While spying on the dog-like tribe’s village, Bai Zhu and the others discover that a palm-sized puppy has silently appeared beside them.
• The group freezes, terrified that the puppy might bark and expose their infiltration. The puppy innocently imitates their movements, including Ging’s hand signal.
• The puppy becomes particularly interested in Bai Zhu’s Silver-White Tail Feather and begins moving toward it.
• Dwun attempts to distract and calm the puppy by waving a foxtail grass stalk, drawing on his experience managing emotionally unstable people.
• The puppy pounces for the grass. When Dwun pulls it away, the puppy barks, alerting the entire village.
• The canine villagers immediately stop their work and turn toward the bushes. Bai Zhu throws the puppy back into the village and orders everyone to run.
• Bai Zhu receives a regional achievement notification for following the corpse-collection team, earning twenty achievement points, but has no time to celebrate.
• The group is pursued by Teddy Spearmen, Husky Priests, and larger elite dog soldiers armed with bone axes. The escape becomes a full-scale chase.
• The team abandons stealth and releases their Nen abilities while fleeing. List marks their route, Razor prepares Nen Bullets, and Ging increases his aura.
• Piyu continues filming the pursuit until Bai Zhu threatens to throw her and her phone back as sacrifices. She finally stops recording after a spear nearly hits her.
• Dwun remains distressed and insists that he only intended to keep the puppy quiet.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu: Displays quick reflexes and decisive leadership by grabbing and throwing the puppy away, dragging Milluki to safety, and immediately organizing the escape. His frustration and sarcasm highlight how overwhelmed he is by the situation.
• Dwun: Reveals a well-intentioned but disastrously inappropriate attempt to manage the puppy. His confidence in applying his experience with people to animals directly causes the mission to fail, making him the source of comic tension and guilt.
• Milluki: Shows extreme fear and prioritizes saving his case over himself when forced to choose, reinforcing his anxious but practical personality.
• Ging: Remains observant and composed, recognizing the need to retreat before the others fully react.
• Piyu: Continues to prioritize gathering information even during the escape, demonstrating her dedication to documentation, though she eventually recognizes the danger and stops filming.
• Razor, List, Satotz, and the others: Quickly shift from concealment to combat readiness, showing their teamwork and adaptability under pressure.

Significant Themes

• The danger of small mistakes: A harmless attempt to distract the puppy transforms a careful infiltration into a dangerous chase.
• Stealth versus chaos: The group’s disciplined reconnaissance collapses because of an unpredictable, innocent creature.
• Comedic incompetence under pressure: The characters are highly capable but constantly undermined by panic, conflicting priorities, and Dwun’s ill-timed improvisation.
• Teamwork and survival: Once discovered, the group instinctively coordinates their abilities and protects one another while escaping.
• Curiosity and observation: The puppy’s imitation of the group and interest in Bai Zhu’s feather suggest that the canine tribe may possess unusual intelligence and sensory abilities.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki whisper nervously about remaining still, with Bai Zhu repeatedly trying to stop Milluki from panicking.
• The puppy imitates Ging’s hand gesture, alarming everyone and demonstrating its unusual behavior.
• Dwun tries to calm the puppy with grass, prompting Bai Zhu to angrily reprimand him.
• Bai Zhu throws the puppy back toward the village after it barks, sacrificing their stealth to prevent it from remaining near the group.
• During the escape, Bai Zhu drags Milluki along while Milluki protests about his case.
• Bai Zhu and Piyu argue over her continued filming, contrasting his focus on survival with her commitment to collecting evidence.
• Dwun apologetically asks whether Bai Zhu believes his intentions were good, but his explanation offers little comfort after causing the entire village to pursue them.

Chapter Summary: “I Don’t Want to Be Dog Food”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu and the group flee through the forest while being pursued by intelligent Dog-shaped Spear Soldiers.
• The creatures use coordinated tactics, including flanking, erecting earthen walls, manipulating roots, and attacking from trees. A monster bird also joins the pursuit from above.
• Bai Zhu protects the group several times:
  • He blocks a Bone-Armored Dog Soldier’s axe attack against Satotz.
  • He uses the flat of his blade to knock the creature away instead of killing it.
  • He destroys two spearheads with precise “White Lightning” strikes when Ging is ambushed.
• Bai Zhu realizes that killing enemies triggers a dangerous reaction from the dungeon. The tail feather above his head grows intensely hot whenever he develops killing intent, warning him that the entire forest may target him if he fights too aggressively.
• The group attempts to retreat toward the Positioning Spikes and the dungeon boundary. They reach an apparent route near Positioning Point Three, but the Dog Soldiers block the path.
• Razor blasts open an alternate route through a wall of roots, allowing the group to continue escaping.
• The red-clothed leader of the Spear Soldiers demonstrates command and tactical intelligence, ordering the pack to split up and intercept the group.
• Just as they expect to reach the boundary, Ging discovers that the desert is gone and has been replaced by more forest. List confirms their positioning data is inconsistent, while Milluki’s terminal displays corrupted coordinates.
• The group realizes that the dungeon’s space has looped back on itself, trapping them inside.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu: Becomes increasingly frustrated and alarmed as his combat options are restricted. Though he is capable of eliminating many enemies, he deliberately avoids killing because of the dungeon’s mysterious retaliation. His instinctive protectiveness is also evident as he repeatedly rescues others, especially Milluki and Satotz.
• Milluki: Remains physically unfit and complains constantly, but continues running despite exhaustion. He serves as the group’s technical specialist and identifies the need to return to the Positioning Spikes, later recognizing that the space has looped.
• Ging: Acts as the practical field leader, setting the pace, clearing obstacles, recognizing enemy tactics, and identifying that the boundary has disappeared.
• Razor: Provides rear protection and uses his Nen bullets strategically, first to slow the pursuing horde and later to open an escape route.
• List: Navigates using the route panel and Positioning Spikes, though the dungeon’s spatial distortion eventually makes the data unreliable.
• Dwun: Continues making careless mistakes, nearly stepping into dangerous root zones and forgetting that he is carrying the grass that attracts the creatures. He remains timid but grateful when rescued.
• Piyu and Satotz: Piyu helps save Satotz from the roots, while both begin questioning Bai Zhu’s unusual reluctance to kill.
• The Dog Soldiers: Are established as intelligent, organized enemies rather than mindless beasts. Their commander, marked by red cloth, can assess danger, coordinate formations, and adapt to the group’s movements.

Significant Themes

• Survival versus combat: The group cannot simply overpower the enemies; survival depends on retreat, teamwork, and improvisation.
• The cost of violence: Bai Zhu’s desire to kill is directly punished or restricted by the dungeon, suggesting that violence may trigger greater danger.
• Intelligence among monsters: The Dog Soldiers function as a disciplined society with leadership, strategy, and tactical awareness, challenging the assumption that they are merely animals.
• Teamwork under pressure: Each member contributes different abilities—navigation, combat, technical analysis, leadership, and rescue—though their contrasting personalities also create tension and humor.
• Loss of reliable reality: The disappearing boundary and looping space introduce the theme of disorientation. Even the group’s tools and coordinates can no longer be trusted.
• Humor amid terror: Bai Zhu’s sarcasm, Milluki’s complaints, and Dwun’s mistakes provide comic relief while emphasizing how desperate and chaotic the escape has become.

Important Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu repeatedly argues with Milluki, dragging him to safety while mocking his physical weakness and technical failures.
• Bai Zhu scolds Dwun for carrying the lure grass and for nearly stepping into dangerous zones, while Ging quietly saves him.
• Ging and Razor work together as the group’s tactical core: Ging leads and clears the route, while Razor controls the pursuing enemies.
• Bai Zhu saves Satotz from the Bone-Armored Dog Soldier, then refuses to kill it, prompting questions from Satotz and Piyu.
• Ging and Bai Zhu independently recognize the Dog Soldiers’ flanking maneuver, while Razor creates a new escape path.
• The chapter ends with the group united but trapped, as Ging, List, and Milluki confirm that the dungeon has distorted space and sent them back into an endless forest.

Chapter Summary: Is It Still Too Late to Draw a Card?

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu and Milluki discover that the space around them has “folded back,” trapping them in the forest and returning them toward the monster horde rather than allowing them to escape the Oasis.
• They are pursued by coordinated enemies, including Bone-Armored Dog Soldiers, Spear Soldiers, a Red-Cloth Spearman, Husky Priests, and a monster bird.
• The enemies use bone spears, underground Black Roots, traps, and the Oasis’s black soil to restrict their movement. The Husky Priests’ barking causes the soil itself to rise and fall, showing that the monsters are drawing power from the environment.
• Bai Zhu carries and drags Milluki through the forest while desperately searching for a way to escape without provoking an even greater threat.
• Bai Zhu refuses to unleash his most destructive abilities because he believes the pursuing dogs are merely guardians of a more powerful entity they worship. Killing them could summon or anger that “thing.”
• He considers several alternatives—using White Lightning, fire, his blade, or even Milluki’s Shrinking Box as bait—but each option carries serious risks.
• When two Spear Soldiers block the path, Bai Zhu finally uses White Lightning to destroy one soldier’s bone hook and create an opening, taking care to disable rather than kill them.
• The pursuit intensifies, and Milluki’s box is damaged, threatening his backup power supply.
• At the chapter’s climax, Bai Zhu notices a translucent system panel and remembers that he still possesses one unused Kidō draw, awarded after completing the Meteor City mission. The chapter ends as he realizes this forgotten resource may be their best chance.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu demonstrates caution and strategic thinking despite being under extreme pressure. He restrains his overwhelming abilities because he senses that the forest and its monsters operate under dangerous rules.
• His fear of provoking the entity worshipped by the dogs reveals that he is capable of recognizing threats beyond direct combat. He prioritizes survival over brute force.
• Bai Zhu also shows flashes of humor and practicality, joking about Milluki’s box and insisting that he has “principles,” even while considering using it as bait.
• Milluki becomes increasingly panicked and physically exhausted as Bai Zhu drags him through the forest. Despite his fear, he remains observant and challenges Bai Zhu’s decisions.
• Milluki’s attachment to the Shrinking Box—and especially its backup power supply—highlights both his technical priorities and his tendency to focus on equipment even while in mortal danger.
• Their survival depends heavily on Bai Zhu’s combat ability, but Milluki continues to question him and push for a solution rather than becoming completely passive.

Significant Themes

• Power versus restraint: Bai Zhu has enough destructive power to potentially clear the enemies, but using it recklessly could trigger a much greater disaster.
• The dangers of unfamiliar rules: The Oasis is not a normal dungeon. Its environment, monsters, and apparent governing laws punish straightforward violence.
• Survival under pressure: The characters are forced to keep moving while making decisions with incomplete information.
• Resourcefulness and forgotten potential: Bai Zhu’s unused Kidō draw represents an overlooked opportunity that may completely change the situation.
• Humor amid danger: The banter between Bai Zhu and Milluki provides comic relief while emphasizing their contrasting personalities and the absurdity of their predicament.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu treats Milluki roughly but protectively, dragging him out of danger and repeatedly maneuvering him around roots, spears, and traps.
• Milluki complains about being dragged, his damaged equipment, and Bai Zhu’s suspicious ideas, but he continues relying on Bai Zhu’s judgment.
• Their arguments reveal mutual familiarity: Bai Zhu remains sarcastic and focused, while Milluki openly panics and criticizes him.
• Bai Zhu’s interaction with the pursuing monsters is cautious rather than openly aggressive. He disables enemies when necessary but avoids killing them to prevent attracting the attention of their unknown master.
• The chapter closes with Bai Zhu silently confronting the forgotten Kidō draw, setting up a possible turning point in the chase.

Chapter Summary: “Dankū”

Key Plot Points and Events

• While fleeing a pursuing pack of supernatural dog creatures, Bai Zhu realizes he had forgotten to use the gacha system.
• He urgently spins the gacha, hoping for an ability that can either help them escape or block their pursuers.
• The pack divides into flanking groups, increasing the danger. Milluki panics and repeatedly urges Bai Zhu to act.
• The gacha produces Bakudō #81: Dankū, a defensive spell that creates a transparent barrier capable of blocking attacks below Hadō Level 89.
• Bai Zhu stops running and performs the spell’s full incantation just as the dog soldiers are about to attack.
• Dankū successfully blocks the creatures:
  • The leading Labrador Spearman crashes into it, shattering its mask and spear.
  • Other spearmen and Bone-Armored Dog Soldiers slam into the barrier, while their weapons break or bounce off.
  • Blue attacks from the Husky Priests produce only harmless ripples.
  • Black Roots attempt to bypass the barrier, but Bai Zhu cuts one back.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki gain a temporary reprieve and prepare to continue retreating.
• However, when Bai Zhu turns to call for Ging, Piyu, and the others, he discovers that they have mysteriously vanished.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhu and Milluki realizing they may have been separated from the rest of the group—or transported into a different “scene.”

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu: Demonstrates quick thinking and resourcefulness under pressure. Although initially careless about using the gacha, he successfully draws exactly the defensive ability needed. His confidence and humor return once Dankū works, but his mood shifts sharply to concern when he discovers the others are missing.
• Milluki: Remains frightened and overwhelmed throughout the chase, acting as the voice of urgency and panic. His attitude toward Bai Zhu shifts from irritation to stunned dependence and reluctant admiration after witnessing Dankū’s effectiveness.
• Ging, Piyu, and the others: Their sudden disappearance creates a major mystery. Piyu’s distant, muffled voice shortly before vanishing suggests that an unseen force or spatial distortion may have separated the group.

Significant Themes

• Luck and preparation: Bai Zhu’s survival depends on a lucky gacha result, but also on his ability to recognize the correct moment to use it.
• Improvisation under pressure: The characters survive not through a prearranged strategy but through rapid decisions and desperate adaptation.
• Humor amid danger: Bai Zhu’s jokes and Milluki’s exasperation provide comic relief during a terrifying pursuit, making the sudden disappearance of the group more unsettling.
• Temporary safety versus hidden danger: Dankū appears to solve the immediate threat, but the group’s separation reveals that escaping one danger may expose them to a more mysterious one.
• Uncertainty and distorted reality: The ending raises the possibility that the characters have crossed into a different environment, scene, or supernatural space.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki argue while fleeing, with Milluki demanding that Bai Zhu reveal a plan and Bai Zhu insisting he is relying on the gacha.
• After Dankū succeeds, Bai Zhu celebrates and taunts the trapped dogs, while Milluki is too shocked to fully reprimand him.
• Their brief exchange shows their contrasting personalities: Bai Zhu is reckless, irreverent, and confident, while Milluki is anxious, practical, and increasingly dependent on Bai Zhu’s abilities.
• The chapter closes with their dynamic becoming more serious as both notice the absence of their companions and confront the possibility that reality itself has changed around them.

Chapter Summary: “Not My Escape—It Brought Me In”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu and Milluki remain trapped behind Dankū, a barrier Bai Zhu repeatedly reinforces to keep the pursuing dog pack and Spear Soldiers at bay.
• The pack includes Labradors, Husky Priests, and other armed creatures. Although they initially attack the barrier, they eventually stop and begin retreating, suggesting they know Bai Zhu and Milluki are already trapped.
• Bai Zhu climbs a tree to scout the area, expecting to see the surrounding desert, military camp, or signs of Ging’s group. Instead, he discovers that the landscape beyond the forest is completely different:
  • A vast green environment
  • A lake
  • A mysterious structure resembling both a pyramid and an unfinished Black Tower
• Milluki reviews footage recorded during their escape. The video reveals that the forest and ground manipulated their route:
  • Roots opened paths before Bai Zhu reached them and closed afterward.
  • Apparent turns were caused by the landscape stretching and redirecting them.
  • Bai Zhu had not been running outward at all; the Oasis had been guiding him inward.
• Milluki concludes that the Oasis is a living, conscious environment. Its plants, soil, and possibly the entire terrain can move and observe intruders. The ground aided the dog pack while preventing Bai Zhu and Milluki from escaping.
• Milluki further theorizes that the giant bird, the Blue Crystal at the altar, Bai Zhu’s Silver-White Tail Feather, and the mysterious tower are all connected.
• Realizing that the ground cannot be trusted, Bai Zhu proposes escaping through the air. However, this is dangerous because the giant bird still watches the area.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu shifts from assuming he is simply escaping to recognizing that he has been deliberately drawn deeper into the Oasis. Although disturbed by the discovery, he maintains his usual composure and humor.
• He also begins to acknowledge Milluki’s usefulness. Despite previously treating him as little more than a burden or “advanced warehouse,” Bai Zhu recognizes that Milluki’s technical analysis is valuable.
• Milluki demonstrates strong analytical and technological abilities by studying recorded footage and environmental data. He correctly identifies the Oasis as a living, intelligent system rather than merely a distorted space.
• Milluki remains anxious and money-conscious, but his fear does not prevent him from contributing important deductions. His practical concerns also provide comic relief during the crisis.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki’s relationship develops through their banter: they argue constantly, but they are increasingly dependent on each other’s abilities.

Significant Themes

• The illusion of escape: Bai Zhu believes he is fleeing danger, but the environment is secretly controlling his movement and bringing him closer to the Oasis’s center.
• Nature as an intelligent threat: The forest is not passive scenery. The plants, soil, and terrain behave like a coordinated organism capable of watching, manipulating, and trapping intruders.
• Loss of control: Bai Zhu’s speed and combat ability are undermined by a landscape that can alter routes and direct him wherever it chooses.
• Adaptation and cooperation: Survival depends on combining Bai Zhu’s combat instincts with Milluki’s technological analysis.
• Humor under pressure: Their sarcastic exchanges—especially Bai Zhu’s comments about Milluki being an “intelligent warehouse” and Milluki’s complaints about money—relieve tension while reinforcing their growing partnership.
• Unresolved supernatural connections: The bird, Blue Crystal, Tail Feather, and Black Tower appear to be linked, hinting at a larger mystery surrounding the Oasis.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu gives Milluki orders and reassurances while scouting, but Milluki repeatedly questions his decisions and warns him about the risks.
• Milluki uses the terminal to prove that Bai Zhu was redirected by the Oasis, leading to a heated but humorous argument about Bai Zhu’s sense of direction.
• Bai Zhu initially mocks Milluki’s role but privately recognizes that his deductions are impressive.
• Both immediately become serious when the Husky Priest speaks, showing that they understand the dog pack remains an active threat.
• Their final exchange about escaping through the sky highlights their contrasting personalities: Bai Zhu is reckless and action-oriented, while Milluki is cautious, financially practical, and terrified of the dangers involved.

Chapter Summary: “No-Fly Zone”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Milluki deploys a Mechanical Dragonfly to map the area around Dankū and locate the dog pack. The drone initially produces a topographical map, but the terrain constantly shifts: forests become lakeshores, routes move, and Positioning Points appear in incorrect locations.
• Milluki realizes the problem is not faulty equipment or signal interference; the spatial coordinates themselves are changing.
• When he raises the drone above the canopy, the screen briefly reveals the surrounding landscape before being overwhelmed by a gigantic supernatural eye in the sky. The drone is destroyed, confirming that the area is an aerial restricted zone.
• Milluki unsuccessfully attempts to contact Ging, List, Piyu, and the others. All signals vanish almost immediately, as though something is consuming them rather than blocking them.
• Bai Zhu argues that the others are experienced enough to survive and concludes that everyone will likely converge on the most obvious landmark: the Black Tower.
• The dog pack, which had stopped pursuing them, appears to encourage Bai Zhu and Milluki to move deeper into the area. The two reluctantly decide to head toward the tower.
• Before they leave, Bai Zhu’s Silver-White Tail Feather gives him a powerful warning. He sees a massive black bird spreading its wings atop the distant Black Tower.
• A system panel warns that a main-quest-related area is being confirmed and that the holder of the Contract Crystal is changing. Bai Zhu realizes the crystal may not belong to the dogs after all.
• The dog priests and the pack bow or lie down, clearing a path for a small puppy carrying the Blue Crystal. The chapter ends as the puppy approaches them.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu remains sarcastic and composed, but the appearance of the eye and the black bird genuinely alarms him. His awareness of the supernatural danger deepens, and he begins questioning the true nature of the Contract Crystal and the dungeon’s hierarchy.
• Milluki demonstrates strong technical skill by operating the drone, recalibrating maps, and attempting multiple communication methods. He is protective of his equipment and easily irritated by Bai Zhu’s mockery, but he continues supporting their survival.
• Their survival partnership becomes more defined: despite constant insults, Bai Zhu and Milluki rely on each other’s judgment and proceed together toward the Black Tower.
• The dog pack, especially Red-Cloth Labrador and the priests, shifts from appearing hostile to acting as if it is guiding or warning the protagonists.
• The puppy is introduced as a potentially important figure because it carries the Blue Crystal and appears to be treated with reverence by the adult dogs.

Significant Themes

• The environment as an active threat: The dungeon is not merely dangerous because of creatures; its geography, communication systems, and airspace are all controlled by unknown forces.
• Limits of technology: Milluki’s advanced equipment cannot overcome the shifting spatial laws or the entity watching from above.
• False assumptions and hidden authority: Bai Zhu discovers that the dogs may not be the true owners of the Contract Crystal, suggesting a deeper power structure behind the Canine Tribe and the Black Tower.
• Humor amid danger: Bai Zhu and Milluki use insults and dry banter to manage fear and tension, strengthening their uneasy camaraderie.
• Guidance and submission: The dogs’ behavior suggests that the puppy—or whatever possesses the crystal—holds a higher status than the pack, overturning the characters’ previous understanding of who controls the area.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu repeatedly mocks Milluki’s oversized backpack and expensive equipment, while Milluki angrily defends his inventions and threatens him with Zoldyck “etiquette.”
• They argue over responsibility for the destroyed drone, with Milluki blaming Bai Zhu for suggesting the test and Bai Zhu dismissing the complaint.
• Bai Zhu reassures Milluki that Ging and the others are capable survivors, though he humorously singles out Dwun as especially vulnerable.
• Their conversation shifts from joking to serious cooperation when Bai Zhu identifies the Black Tower as their likely meeting point and later senses a major supernatural threat.
• The dogs’ coordinated submission to the puppy introduces a new, silent interaction: they appear to recognize the puppy as an authority figure and deliberately present it to Bai Zhu and Milluki.

Chapter Summary: “What, This Little Thing Was the Boss?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A small puppy emerges from the canine tribe carrying the blue crystal obtained through their sacrifice.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki expect the puppy to be stopped by Bai Zhu’s Dankū barrier, especially after the other dogs injured themselves trying to break through it.
• Contrary to expectations, the puppy passes straight through the barrier without resistance. The red-clothed Labrador and the two Husky priests are later able to cross as well.
• Bai Zhu realizes that the blue crystal changes the barrier’s targeting conditions, allowing those associated with it to treat Dankū as if it were not there.
• The puppy delivers the crystal directly to Bai Zhu. Though suspicious that accepting it might involve a hidden obligation, Bai Zhu eventually picks it up.
• A system prompt appears, confirming that the crystal’s holder has been transferred to Bai Zhu and granting him Sacred Ground access.
• Once Bai Zhu takes possession of the crystal, the surrounding black roots retreat and the oppressive sensation beneath the ground weakens. The entire dog pack bows in submission or respect.
• Bai Zhu jokingly imitates the puppy’s bark, leading to a humorous exchange that makes Milluki suspect Bai Zhu may have accidentally been treated as an honored guest.
• Milluki points out that the dogs’ hostility likely came from Bai Zhu previously grabbing and throwing their clan chief back toward the altar. Bai Zhu insists it was merely a safe “return” and claims he controlled his strength.

Character Development

• Bai Zhu remains irreverent, suspicious, and quick-witted, but he also shows caution when faced with the crystal’s unknown implications. His acceptance of it marks a major change in his status, giving him access to the dogs’ sacred territory.
• Milluki acts as the practical observer, repeatedly identifying how absurd and dangerous the situation is. He becomes increasingly exasperated by Bai Zhu’s reckless behavior and sarcastic explanations.
• The little puppy is revealed to be far more important than it first appeared. Its authority over the dog pack and ability to deliver the crystal suggest that it is their leader or “boss,” despite its harmless appearance.
• The red-clothed Labrador and Husky priests shift from apparent enemies to submissive followers. Their behavior confirms that the crystal and puppy possess great authority.
• The canine tribe transitions from aggression to reverence once Bai Zhu receives the crystal, implying that he has been recognized as an authorized visitor or ally.

Significant Themes

• Appearances versus true identity: The puppy’s cute, harmless appearance conceals its high status and authority.
• Authority and recognition: Bai Zhu is not merely given an object; the crystal formally recognizes him as its holder and grants him access to sacred territory.
• Misunderstanding and absurdity: Bai Zhu and Milluki repeatedly misinterpret events, while Bai Zhu’s casual actions—especially throwing the clan chief—have serious consequences that he refuses to acknowledge.
• Unexpected alliance: What initially appears to be a confrontation with a hostile dog tribe becomes a formal exchange and possible diplomatic recognition.
• Power operating through rules: The barrier does not fail; instead, the crystal changes its conditions. This suggests that the world’s powers function according to hidden systems and permissions rather than simple strength.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki debate why the puppy can cross Dankū, with Milluki offering logical explanations and Bai Zhu responding with sarcasm.
• The puppy repeatedly urges Bai Zhu to accept the crystal, while Bai Zhu jokingly questions whether the exchange involves debt or hidden contractual obligations.
• The Labrador silently pressures Bai Zhu to complete the transfer, though it remains wary of him.
• Bai Zhu imitates the puppy’s bark, creating a comic moment of apparent communication between them.
• Milluki confronts Bai Zhu about his reckless treatment of the canine clan chief, while Bai Zhu defensively reframes the incident as a controlled and harmless rescue.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu successfully exchanges the Blue Crystal for official passage rights from the dog pack guarding the area.
• Red-Cloth Labrador indicates that Bai Zhu should wear the crystal visibly, suggesting it functions as a license or identification token.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki realize that the crystal must be displayed to prevent the dungeon’s creatures from treating them as illegal intruders.
• Milluki reluctantly uses one of his gold bars to forge an elaborate gold chain and setting for the crystal.
• Bai Zhu proudly wears the oversized necklace, treating it as a symbol of status. The crystal immediately causes a nearby Spear Soldier to retreat, confirming that the license has authority.
• The Black Roots no longer attack Bai Zhu and Milluki; instead, they part to clear a path for Bai Zhu. Their navigation markers also return to normal.
• Rather than heading directly to the Black Tower, Bai Zhu decides to search for Ging and the others first while testing the extent of their newly acquired privileges.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu becomes increasingly confident and opportunistic after obtaining the crystal. He quickly turns a practical identification token into a flashy status symbol and embraces his new authority.
• Milluki remains cautious and skeptical, but he cooperates by crafting the gold chain. His frustration grows as Bai Zhu repeatedly exploits his resources and mocks his concerns.
• Red-Cloth Labrador is established as an important intermediary, communicating the proper use of the crystal through gestures.
• The little puppy develops a friendly rapport with Bai Zhu, even responding enthusiastically when Bai Zhu imitates its bark.

Significant Themes

• Authority and social status: The crystal grants legal recognition, while Bai Zhu’s insistence on a gold chain reflects his belief that authority must also be visibly impressive.
• Improvisation and survival: Bai Zhu turns a dangerous situation into an opportunity by negotiating with the dogs and adapting to the dungeon’s rules.
• Trust and cooperation: Although Milluki distrusts Bai Zhu’s plans, the two continue working together and depend on each other’s skills.
• Comedy through contrast: Bai Zhu’s shameless confidence contrasts with Milluki’s practicality, creating humor as they argue over gold, luxury, and risk.
• Civilization within danger: The idea of “licenses,” status symbols, and civilized exchange is humorously applied to a hostile, living dungeon.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu pretends the puppy’s affection proves the dog pack accepts him, despite the Labrador’s doubtful expression.
• He and Milluki argue over how to display the crystal, with Bai Zhu demanding something luxurious and Milluki insisting on practicality.
• Bai Zhu repeatedly teases Milluki about his gold and equipment, while Milluki threatens to turn the necklace into a dog collar.
• Their banter continues as Bai Zhu claims that everything belonging to Milluki is effectively his, prompting Milluki’s exasperated response.
• Despite their arguments, Milluki follows Bai Zhu closely, and the newly opened path confirms that Bai Zhu’s plan may actually be working.

Chapter Summary: Walking Through the Forbidden Zone Wearing a Dog Tag

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu and Milluki continue traveling through the Forbidden Zone with the Blue Crystal. Bai Zhu refuses to lend Milluki his knife, arguing that even brothers need boundaries, while the crystal causes the thorny vines and Black Soil to move aside for them.
• Milluki discovers several valuable and seemingly extinct resources:
  • The Blue-Veined Tree, known only from ancient murals.
  • A fruit with an extremely durable shell that could potentially revolutionize protective materials.
  • He carefully collects samples rather than damaging the plants, revealing both his scientific knowledge and profit-driven instincts.
• The pair encounters Teddy Spearmen, who immediately lower their weapons and make way after seeing Bai Zhu’s Blue Crystal. Bai Zhu jokingly tries to negotiate extra chicken legs for them, while Milluki warns him against causing a diplomatic incident.
• They also encounter Red-Cloth Labrador, whose cracked mask shows it was injured in an earlier confrontation. Bai Zhu greets it casually and shows off his gold chain, while Milluki interprets the creature’s reaction as disdain.
• Milluki discovers that the Blue Crystal is only a temporary pass. Although it prevents the Oasis from directly attacking them, the paths continue subtly drawing them toward the Black Tower, suggesting that the area—or its “Landlord”—is deliberately attracting Bai Zhu.
• Bai Zhu believes the giant bird atop the Black Tower wants to see him. Milluki worries that this may mean they are being led toward danger or even toward becoming prey.
• While searching for Ging’s group, Milluki deploys low-flying Mechanical Spiders and tiny detectors. They find:
  • Damage from Razor’s Nen Bullet.
  • A broken Positioning Spike belonging to List.
  • Evidence associated with Piyu’s equipment.
  • A Dog Tribe bone spear cleanly cut in half by what appears to be a human tactical dagger.
• These clues reveal that Ging’s group was not merely being chased by the Dog Tribe; they fought another organized group of humans inside the Forbidden Zone.
• A powerful Nen explosion suddenly erupts. Bai Zhu instinctively protects Milluki from Razor’s Nen Bullet by forcing him into the Black Soil, though Milluki complains that Bai Zhu keeps “planting” him in the mud.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki finally locate Ging, Razor, List, Piyu, Satotz, and Dwun. Everyone is alive but clearly struggling.
• Their opponents are a large, professional group of camouflage-clad Nen users. The intruders use coordinated tactics, silenced rifles, Nen Threads, and canisters spraying gray powder that suppresses the Oasis’s roots.
• The enemy targets Piyu while she is slowed by the roots. Seeing them about to fire, Bai Zhu realizes the attackers are deliberately provoking a lethal confrontation and prepares to intervene.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu remains confident, irreverent, and socially fearless. He treats the Forbidden Zone’s creatures almost like ordinary acquaintances, but his quick reaction to protect Milluki and his growing suspicion of the human intruders show his strong instincts and responsibility.
• Milluki continues to combine greed, technical expertise, and caution. He is fascinated by rare biological specimens and immediately considers their commercial potential, yet he avoids reckless collection and recognizes the danger of the environment. His concern deepens as he realizes the Blue Crystal cannot fully protect them.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki’s relationship becomes more clearly defined as a bickering but cooperative partnership. Their arguments about boundaries, money, diplomacy, and survival conceal mutual trust, particularly when Bai Zhu repeatedly shields Milluki from danger.
• Ging’s group is shown to be battered but still active. Their scattered equipment and injuries indicate that they have been forced into a serious battle against highly organized opponents.
• Piyu appears especially important because of her analytical abilities, but she becomes a primary target of the enemy when her movement is restricted.
• Razor remains a major combat threat, using powerful Nen Bullets while defending the group.
• Red-Cloth Labrador is revealed to have been injured, suggesting that the conflict in the area has already affected the local creatures as well.

Significant Themes

• Boundaries within brotherhood and partnership: Bai Zhu’s refusal to give up his knife establishes that loyalty does not eliminate personal limits.
• Profit versus survival: Milluki views the Forbidden Zone as both a deadly environment and a source of priceless scientific and commercial resources. His attitude reflects the tension between curiosity, greed, and caution.
• Temporary safety and hidden control: The Blue Crystal provides protection but not freedom. The environment still guides the characters toward the Black Tower, implying that apparent sanctuary may be another form of manipulation.
• Human intrusion into a hostile ecosystem: The camouflaged Nen users bring weapons and technology designed to suppress the Oasis, contrasting with the characters’ attempts to move through and understand the environment.
• Cooperation amid danger: Bai Zhu and Milluki’s humor and arguments help them function as a team, while Ging’s group must coordinate under pressure against a tactically superior enemy.
• The unknown threat beyond the Dog Tribe: The chapter expands the danger of the Forbidden Zone from supernatural creatures and environmental hazards to organized human adversaries with unknown motives.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki repeatedly tease and challenge each other, especially over the knife, the valuable plants, and Bai Zhu’s attempts to communicate with the Teddy Spearmen.
• Bai Zhu treats Red-Cloth Labrador familiarly, calling it “Old Lab” and boasting about his gold chain, while Milluki mocks his interpretation of the creature’s reaction.
• Bai Zhu protects Milluki from Razor’s Nen Bullet, reinforcing their underlying loyalty despite their constant arguments.
• The Teddy Spearmen recognize the Blue Crystal and defer to Bai Zhu, demonstrating his unusual access or status within the Forbidden Zone.
• The human attackers engage Ging’s group with coordinated military tactics, turning the chapter’s final scene into an imminent rescue or counterattack situation as Bai Zhu sees Piyu about to be shot.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• An armed camouflaged team ambushes Bai Zhu, Ging, Piyu, Milluki, and the others in the Oasis.
• Ging demonstrates exceptional combat ability, seamlessly copying enemy techniques and defeating or disrupting several attackers. Bai Zhu recognizes him as a top-tier Hunter with an unpredictable, adaptable fighting style.
• Milluki joins the battle by deploying Mechanical Spiders and Mosquitoes. His machines interfere with enemy communications and movements, allowing List and Razor to land attacks and break apart the opposing formation.
• Bai Zhu uses Reiatsu techniques—including White Lightning and Dankū—to destroy a Nen-thread trap and block incoming Nen bullets.
• The attackers attempt to retreat, but first create a hydrogen-filled fog through electrolysis. The resulting fuel-air explosion devastates part of the forest, forcing Bai Zhu to expand Dankū around the entire group for protection.
• The attackers escape, leaving behind damaged equipment. List identifies a fragment as belonging to the Specialist Association, suggesting that the ambush was organized by a powerful and well-equipped faction.
• Bai Zhu suspects Pariston or the Specialist Association is manipulating events, though Ging warns that the organization may contain multiple factions.
• The Black Tower responds with a mysterious bird call. Bai Zhu’s Blue Crystal reacts, and a system notification announces that the Black Tower Outer Ring has opened.
• A hidden objective appears: reach the Lakeheart Ritual Gate before the outsiders, with a one-hour countdown. The ground then carries the group deeper into the Oasis.

Character Developments

• Ging is established as an extraordinarily versatile fighter. He quickly analyzes and reproduces enemy techniques, protects allies, and coordinates naturally in battle. His interest in Bai Zhu’s Dankū also hints at his constant curiosity and ability to learn.
• Bai Zhu shows both tactical skill and growing responsibility toward the group. He uses increasingly powerful Reiatsu techniques to protect everyone, but the effort drains him heavily. His humor remains intact, though his attitude turns serious when the Specialist Association is mentioned.
• Milluki moves from complaining about the ambush to actively supporting the team with his inventions. Despite his greed and constant focus on reimbursement, he proves to be a valuable battlefield strategist.
• Piyu remains comically fearless and more concerned with recording the battle and protecting her phone than with personal danger. Her behavior reinforces her eccentricity and confidence.
• Razor, List, Satotz, and the others function effectively as a coordinated team. Razor provides powerful ranged support, List uses tracking technology to guide attacks, and Satotz begins to recognize the attackers as something far more dangerous than ordinary smugglers.
• Bai Zhu’s connection with the Dog Tribe becomes more important. His gold chain and Blue Crystal act as signs of local affiliation and may be linked to the Oasis’s supernatural mechanisms.

Significant Themes

• Adaptability versus preparation: The attackers have carefully prepared weapons, Nen abilities, and environmental tactics, but Ging and the protagonists adapt quickly and overturn their advantage.
• Technology and supernatural power: Mechanical insects, firearms, Nen, Reiatsu, and ancient Oasis forces all operate together, creating a battlefield where modern technology and mystical abilities overlap.
• Hidden factions and manipulation: The Specialist Association’s involvement suggests that the expedition is part of a larger political or strategic conflict. The characters are beginning to realize they may be pawns in someone else’s plan.
• Humor amid danger: Piyu’s filming, Milluki’s equipment invoices, and Bai Zhu’s jokes about his gold chain contrast with the lethal ambush and explosive destruction.
• The Oasis as an active force: The forest, roots, Dog Tribe, Blue Crystal, Black Tower, and shifting terrain appear interconnected and responsive, making the environment itself a participant in the unfolding conflict.
• Competition and urgency: The countdown to the Lakeheart Ritual Gate transforms the next stage into a race against the mysterious outsiders.

Character Interactions

• Ging repeatedly protects Piyu and the team while coordinating with Razor and Satotz during the fight.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki trade sarcastic remarks, especially over Milluki’s damaged machines and demands for compensation.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki’s combined flank attack disrupts the enemy’s formation and changes the course of the battle.
• Piyu’s filming frustrates Bai Zhu, while Milluki mocks both her recklessness and Bai Zhu’s attempts to keep his Dog Tribe connection secret.
• Ging becomes curious about Bai Zhu’s gold chain and the “little puppies” of the Dog Tribe, prompting teasing explanations from Bai Zhu and Milluki.
• List’s discovery of the Specialist Association fragment shifts the group’s mood from casual banter to suspicion and alarm.
• Ging urges caution about blaming the entire Specialist Association, while Bai Zhu openly connects the ambush to Pariston and their earlier troubles.
• The chapter ends with the Oasis itself intervening, forcing the entire group into the next stage of their mission.

Chapter Summary

• The Black Soil transports the group: Instead of attacking, the Black Soil beneath Bai Zhu and the others becomes a fast-moving platform, carrying them toward Oasis’s “employee check-in point.” Bai Zhu confirms that his Blue Crystal remains safe, while Milluki warns him not to provoke the environment into adding more “services.”
• Oasis appears to guide and protect them: The moving ground automatically avoids dangerous areas, including a patch of roots that instantly devour a thrown wood chip and a region filled with violently moving vines. The Blue Crystal seems to help navigate, suggesting Bai Zhu has become more than an intruder—he is now treated as a temporary visitor.

Group reactions and interactions

• Dwun regrets mocking dogs after being terrified by the moving terrain.
• Piyu enthusiastically films the phenomenon and Bai Zhu’s conspicuous gold necklace.
• Satotz scientifically analyzes the Black Soil’s behavior, while Bai Zhu repeatedly asks him to speak plainly.
• Milluki complains about Bai Zhu using his gold to make the necklace and mocks Bai Zhu’s habit of treating everything as family.
• Ging notices that Oasis’s attitude toward Bai Zhu has changed, and Bai Zhu jokingly calls the transport a landlord-provided private car service.
• Razor and his fourteen devils guard the group, while List records and analyzes the route.
• The Black Soil accelerates: Bai Zhu asks the ground to move faster, jokingly testing whether it can understand him. It immediately speeds up, nearly throwing several people off. Ging observes that the environment—or something within it—seems eager to get them somewhere quickly, creating a sense of urgency and danger.
• Discovery of the anomalous lake: The forest opens onto an enormous lake whose blue surface and spatial distortions make distance unreliable. The Black Tower appears to stand at its center, but the lake is divided into seemingly overlapping stretches of water.
• Extinct creatures appear: The shore is inhabited by ancient beasts, including an Armored Ridgehorn Beast that Satotz identifies as extinct for over twenty thousand years, as well as a strange deer-like phantom beast. Milluki’s scans reveal that creatures from vastly different eras coexist unnaturally, suggesting Oasis does not follow normal ecological or temporal rules.
• Spatial folding blocks the route: List’s probe disappears before touching the water and reappears elsewhere, proving that the lake folds space. A direct route to the tower could loop endlessly, while going around the lake would take at least three hours—far longer than the remaining countdown.
• Ending predicament: Bai Zhu realizes that Oasis’s transportation service has brought them to the lake but offers no obvious way across it. He sarcastically complains that the “private car” service ends just before the most difficult part, leaving the group facing an impossible-looking crossing under severe time pressure.

Character Development

• Bai Zhu shifts from joking and provoking the environment to serious concern as the countdown decreases. His connection with the Blue Crystal and Oasis becomes increasingly significant.
• Ging remains observant and perceptive, recognizing both the environment’s intentional behavior and the possibility that something is driving them forward.
• Milluki remains cynical and practical, but his fear grows as the lake’s spatial distortions and impossible ecosystem challenge his understanding.
• Satotz is fascinated by the scientific implications, while Piyu treats the discoveries as invaluable documentation.
• Dwun becomes comic relief through repeated fear and regret, while Razor and List provide calm protection and analysis.

Significant Themes

• Oasis as a conscious or responsive environment: The terrain behaves like a helpful but mysterious caretaker or landlord.
• The limits of human knowledge: Extinct animals, impossible ecosystems, and spatial folding undermine conventional science.
• Humor amid danger: Bai Zhu’s sarcasm and the group’s banter relieve tension while emphasizing how bizarre and threatening the situation is.
• Time pressure and unreliable reality: The countdown forces urgency, while the lake makes ordinary ideas of distance and travel meaningless.
• Changing status and belonging: Bai Zhu’s transition from “illegal intruder” to “temporary visitor” suggests that his relationship with Oasis is developing and may determine whether the group survives.

Chapter Summary: “Local Connections”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A gigantic, over-ten-meter-long swift descends from the sky near the lake, creating powerful winds that knock Dwun down and alarm the group.
• The Blue Crystal confirms that the bird is not connected to the Dog Tribe, but Bai Zhu approaches it anyway. The swift accepts his touch and allows the group to ride on its back.
• Bai Zhu becomes the group’s informal guide and negotiator, joking that his Blue Crystal and previous connections give him “local connections.” Despite Milluki’s doubts, he successfully convinces everyone that the bird is safe.
• The group flies across the lake toward the Black Tower. From the air, they discover that the lake is composed of countless shifting regions, each containing different landscapes, islands, pillars, and ruins from various historical eras.
• Milluki realizes that the lake’s coordinates reset whenever they cross between layers, making ordinary navigation impossible. The swift therefore provides a crucial means of crossing the lake.
• Satotz enthusiastically records the ancient structures, identifying pillars associated with multiple dynasties. Piyu films the journey, while the others react with varying degrees of fear and fascination.
• Ging recognizes the Black Tower as resembling a structure from an ancient rubbing that was sealed away by the Association, but refuses to explain further.
• A massive aquatic creature briefly pursues the swift before sinking back beneath the lake, apparently allowing the group to pass.
• After nearly half an hour, the swift reaches the Black Tower’s central island. The tower is revealed to be a huge black pyramid surrounded by circular platforms and broken pillars carved with symbols of birds, dogs, roots, and eyes.
• The swift departs after landing. The system announces that a hidden achievement has been completed, though no reward is given. Bai Zhu ignores the notification and leads the group toward the ruins.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu demonstrates increasing confidence and adaptability. He takes the initiative with the unknown swift, uses humor to calm the group, and effectively becomes the party’s practical leader during the flight.
• Milluki remains fearful and skeptical, especially about riding the giant bird, but follows Bai Zhu’s lead and contributes useful technical information through his terminal.
• Ging becomes noticeably more serious and withdrawn as the group approaches the tower. His recognition of the structure hints at hidden knowledge and a deeper connection to the mystery.
• Satotz shifts from cautious observer to enthusiastic scholar, becoming absorbed in documenting the lake’s ancient ruins.
• Piyu continues treating the expedition as valuable footage, enthusiastically filming even while others are frightened.
• Dwun reacts comically to danger by pretending not to see it, reinforcing his nervous and evasive personality.
• Razor remains observant and practical, assessing the swift’s size and capabilities before boarding.

Significant Themes

• Trust and adaptation: The group must rely on Bai Zhu’s willingness to test the unknown and trust the Blue Crystal’s guidance.
• Exploration and ancient history: The layered lake and mismatched ruins reveal a vast, complex history that challenges conventional geography and chronology.
• Humor amid danger: Bai Zhu’s jokes, Milluki’s complaints, and Dwun’s fear provide comic relief while emphasizing the expedition’s real risks.
• Hidden knowledge and foreshadowing: Ging’s recognition of the Black Tower suggests that the Association knows more about the site than it has revealed.
• Access and belonging: Bai Zhu’s “local connections” symbolize how specialized knowledge, magical permissions, or relationships can grant passage through otherwise hostile environments.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu repeatedly teases and reassures Milluki, who complains that Bai Zhu has effectively become the expedition’s master.
• Piyu treats Bai Zhu as both a useful guide and a subject for her camera, even asking him to move so she can film the swift properly.
• Satotz and Piyu share excitement over the discoveries, while Milluki focuses on the lake’s impossible navigation and Dwun tries to avoid acknowledging the dangers.
• Bai Zhu questions Ging about the tower, but Ging gives only a guarded answer, creating tension and anticipation for what lies ahead.
• The group’s differing reactions—fear, curiosity, scholarship, and humor—highlight their complementary roles as they enter the Black Tower ruins.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu reaches the Black Tower Outer Ring and receives a vague notification that a hidden achievement has been completed, but no reward or explanation follows.
• The group explores ancient ruins surrounding the tower. The structures contain multiple layers of inscriptions, mechanical slots, and signs of a highly advanced but unknown civilization.
• Satotz and Piyu examine and document the carvings. They identify three distinct layers: later additions, possible migration records, and an older pictorial writing system.
• Ging confirms that the ruins may be older than the accepted origins of civilization, suggesting that history may need to be reconsidered.
• Milluki deploys Mechanical Spiders to scout the area while remaining unusually cautious. Bai Zhu notices that Tail Feather and the Blue Crystal are not reacting strongly, creating an unsettling sense that the area is permitting their presence.
• Bai Zhu discovers a mural depicting a figure standing on a giant one-eyed owl while forming a hand seal. The pose strongly resembles techniques from his own knowledge of other worlds, particularly the Great Fireball Technique and “Second Pillar.”
• Troubled by the resemblance, Bai Zhu climbs a ruined wall for a better view of the Black Tower. Its three-tiered pyramid structure and surrounding ring corridors remind him of a massive imperial burial complex.
• He begins to suspect that the unusual artifacts, murals, and powerful entities connected to the island may be linked to someone—or something—that understands the system and has imported elements from multiple worlds.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu: His confidence and humor give way to genuine suspicion and fear. He moves from treating the world’s strange phenomena as coincidences to questioning the origin and reliability of his system-granted abilities. He wonders whether his rewards are truly generated by the system or are remnants placed there by an earlier traveler.
• Milluki: Remains practical and irritated by Bai Zhu’s behavior, but shows increased caution by using low-profile scouting devices. His exchanges with Bai Zhu retain their sarcastic, transactional tone.
• Satotz: Demonstrates intense scholarly focus, carefully analyzing and copying the inscriptions despite physical exhaustion.
• Piyu: Enthusiastically documents the ruins and interprets them through archaeological and historical frameworks, sometimes exaggerating their importance.
• Ging: Provides restrained but significant assessments, recognizing the extreme age of the ruins while warning Piyu not to overstate the evidence.

Significant Themes

• Ancient history and hidden civilizations: The ruins may predate accepted human civilization, suggesting that the known history of the world is incomplete or false.
• Cross-world connections: The mural’s hand seal appears connected to Bai Zhu’s knowledge of other fictional or supernatural systems, raising the possibility that multiple worlds or power systems have been combined.
• The nature of the system: Bai Zhu questions whether his abilities and rewards originate from an impartial system or from an older intelligence manipulating events.
• Unease beneath apparent safety: The group faces no immediate attack, but the lack of danger feels deliberate, as though the Black Tower or its surrounding force is observing and permitting them to advance.
• Interpretation versus reality: Satotz, Piyu, and Milluki offer rational explanations for the mural, while Bai Zhu recognizes details that challenge those interpretations.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu jokes with Milluki about becoming rich and compares his Mechanical Spiders to scouting cockroaches; Milluki responds with annoyance and threatens to raise his fee.
• Satotz and Piyu collaborate closely on analyzing the inscriptions, with Piyu filming while Satotz reconstructs their historical layers.
• Ging tempers Piyu’s excitement and offers careful observations about the ruins’ age.
• Milluki asks Bai Zhu about his fixation on the mural, while Piyu provides conventional interpretations of the figure as a priest or ritualist.
• Bai Zhu silently rejects their explanations, realizing that the mural may represent something far more familiar—and far more dangerous—than an ancient religious ceremony.

Chapter Summary: “Specialist Association? Hey, Just One Profession”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu and Milluki discover thermal traces showing that another group recently moved through the ruins before them. The evidence suggests these people may be connected to the Specialist Association or possess another way to enter the Black Tower.
• While the group investigates the outer ring, Bai Zhu is attacked by an enemy who can emerge from walls and shadows. The attacker uses corrosive Nen and moves between stone surfaces, making him difficult to track.
• A hidden sniper fires Nen-coated bullets from distant, changing positions. Bai Zhu realizes the sniper may have a teleportation ability, potentially explaining how the hostile group reached the ruins so quickly.
• Milluki becomes a secondary target because of the valuable equipment he carries. He is struck by an attacker emerging from his shadow and later targeted by a sniper.
• Bai Zhu protects Milluki with his defensive technique, Dankū, while simultaneously fighting the wall-based assailant and deflecting additional bullets.
• The attackers exploit the group’s scattered formation and the broken walls, creating a coordinated ambush that prevents Ging, Razor, and the others from immediately assisting.
• Bai Zhu is wounded by corrosive Nen but suppresses the damage with Reiatsu. Rather than becoming angry, he becomes energized by the challenge.
• Milluki begins tracing the sniper’s location and asks Bai Zhu to survive for ten seconds. Bai Zhu accepts, finally abandoning his joking attitude and preparing to fight seriously.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu: Initially uses humor to hide his unease, joking about the Black Tower and teasing Milluki. Once the ambush begins, he demonstrates sharp tactical awareness, quickly identifying the enemies’ abilities, protecting Milluki, and analyzing their coordinated strategy. His injury awakens excitement rather than fear, and he decides to stop treating the expedition like sightseeing.
• Milluki: Though annoyed by Bai Zhu’s constant jokes, he remains observant and quickly recognizes that Bai Zhu is acting strangely. Under attack, he relies on his technology and begins tracking the sniper’s location. Despite being injured and frightened, he continues working under pressure.
• Ging, Razor, List, Piyu, Satotz, and Dwun: Their separation while investigating the ruins leaves them vulnerable to the ambush. Ging and Razor recognize the danger and begin responding, but the enemies’ timing prevents immediate intervention.

Significant Themes

• Professionalism versus playfulness: The attackers operate with discipline and precision, contrasting with Bai Zhu’s earlier joking and casual behavior. Their professionalism forces him to become serious.
• Trust and cooperation: Bai Zhu and Milluki depend on each other—Milluki uses technology to locate the sniper while Bai Zhu buys him time and protects him.
• Preparation and tactical advantage: The enemy’s ambush succeeds because they study the group’s movements, exploit their separation, and attack from multiple concealed positions.
• Hidden danger beneath exploration: What initially resembles an expedition through ancient ruins becomes a deadly conflict, emphasizing that the Black Tower is not merely a historical site.
• Excitement in adversity: Bai Zhu’s reaction to being wounded reveals that danger stimulates rather than discourages him, suggesting a deeper combat-oriented nature beneath his relaxed façade.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki exchange sarcastic insults, with Milluki criticizing Bai Zhu’s appearance and attitude while Bai Zhu jokingly calls him the Zoldyck family’s “premium warehouse.”
• Their banter shifts into practical cooperation when Milluki is attacked and Bai Zhu repeatedly saves him from the wall user and sniper.
• Milluki angrily complains that the enemies are targeting him, while Bai Zhu responds with humor before continuing to defend him.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhu directly acknowledging the attackers as professionals and preparing to reveal his full strength.

Chapter Summary: “Outrageous Learning Ability”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu attempts to unleash a powerful Reiatsu attack through Hozukimaru, but the Association specialists flood the ruins with dense fog mixed with Nen and dust.
• Realizing the fog may contain hydrogen produced through electrolysis, Bai Zhu suppresses his flames to avoid causing a massive explosion.
• The fog severely disrupts Reiatsu and Spirit Sight, leaving the group vulnerable to coordinated attacks:
  • A sniper fires from concealment.
  • The Mirror Man moves through the black stone walls.
  • A shadow-based fighter attacks from beneath the group.
  • Nen Threads and explosive powder further restrict movement and perception.
• Bai Zhu repeatedly uses Dankū to protect Milluki, Piyu, Satotz, and himself. He blocks bullets, but the enemies deliberately target equipment, documents, and weaker members rather than attacking recklessly.
• Milluki uses his Mechanical Spiders and relies on vibration and heat feedback after abandoning visual camera feeds. Despite his injuries, he successfully tracks enemy movements and warns Bai Zhu of attacks.
• Ging demonstrates exceptional adaptability by studying the enemy’s shadow technique and immediately using a similar move to strike the Mirror Man.
• Bai Zhu realizes that Ging and Milluki are reading the fog through sound, movement, heat, and disturbances rather than relying solely on supernatural senses.
• Following Ging’s example, Bai Zhu withdraws Spirit Sight and Reiatsu, using ordinary sounds and shifts in the mist to detect an enemy emerging behind him.
• He catches and partially disables the Mirror Man, but a sniper shot interrupts him. The Mirror Man then exploits the opening, striking Bai Zhu with a powerful vibrating punch and pinning him against a wall.
• As the enemy reaches for Bai Zhu’s pendant, Milluki’s zombie-like hand intervenes and forces the attacker back. Bai Zhu and Milluki exchange sarcastic insults despite the danger.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu: Learns that overwhelming power and Spirit Sight are not always reliable. He becomes more observant, temporarily abandoning his enhanced senses to interpret physical clues in the environment. Although he manages to trap the Mirror Man, his weak close-quarters combat is exposed.
• Milluki: Proves far more capable than Bai Zhu assumes. Even while injured, he maintains control of his Mechanical Spiders, analyzes nonvisual data, identifies enemy positions, and saves Bai Zhu at a crucial moment.
• Ging: Displays extraordinary combat intelligence and rapid learning. He copies the enemy’s shadow-based technique after seeing it only once and teaches Bai Zhu to treat the fog as useful information rather than merely an obstacle.
• Piyu: Remains focused on protecting her phone and footage, even when targeted by gunfire, emphasizing her unusual priorities.
• Satotz: Attempts to protect the ruins and documents, but is forced to prioritize survival as the specialists attack both him and the artifacts.
• The Association specialists: Their professionalism becomes clear. They coordinate without unnecessary communication, use controlled attacks, and exploit the terrain, fog, and group separation with precision.

Significant Themes

• Adaptability versus raw power: Bai Zhu’s superior abilities are limited by the environment, while Ging and Milluki succeed by adjusting their methods.
• Learning through observation: Ging’s rapid imitation of the shadow technique and Bai Zhu’s eventual shift in perception highlight the value of studying an opponent.
• Teamwork and mutual reliance: Each character contributes differently—Bai Zhu provides defense, Milluki provides detection, and Ging provides tactical insight.
• Humility and mistaken assumptions: Bai Zhu is forced to reconsider his dismissive view of Milluki and acknowledge Ging’s greater combat intelligence.
• Professionalism and controlled violence: The enemies’ restrained, targeted attacks contrast with Bai Zhu’s instinct to solve problems through large-scale destructive force.
• Perception beyond supernatural senses: The chapter emphasizes sound, vibration, heat, airflow, and physical disturbance as equally important forms of awareness.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki argue constantly, with Milluki criticizing Bai Zhu’s reckless attacks and Bai Zhu mocking Milluki’s concern for his Mechanical Spiders. Their banter masks genuine cooperation.
• Bai Zhu protects Piyu and Satotz with Dankū, though he is frustrated by Piyu’s insistence on safeguarding her footage.
• Ging advises Bai Zhu to rely less on his abilities and more on his intelligence, prompting Bai Zhu to change tactics.
• Ging uses the enemy shadow fighter’s own technique against the Mirror Man, impressing and unsettling Bai Zhu.
• Milluki warns Bai Zhu of attacks throughout the battle and ultimately saves him from being captured, reinforcing that his practical skills are indispensable.