Chapter Summaries

Summary: “Knov’s Efficiency”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Knov reports that the convoy has been neutralized using his spatial ability, Fourth Dimensional Apartment.
• The team reaches a hidden room containing the convoy’s three wrecked vehicles. Most of the convoy members are incapacitated, while seven villagers—being used as experimental subjects—survive.
• The villagers show severe physical mutations and increasing aggression. Palm warns that additional anesthetic could kill them, so Bai Zhu restrains them with Bakudo #4: Hainawa.
• The team examines the drugs being distributed to different villages and discovers that each village receives a different formula. Their records track mortality, aggression, physical growth, and Nen-related changes, suggesting a series of controlled experiments.
• Milluki removes the vehicles’ tracking devices and falsifies their signals so the enemy will believe the convoy is still traveling north.
• The prisoners are separated and interrogated. One attempts suicide with a poison capsule, while the other reveals crucial information:
  • The convoy distributes drugs every seven days and collects experimental data.
  • Successful subjects are sent toward a northern base through an underground railway.
  • A monthly-opening door leads to ruins controlled by the Holy Church.
  • The general provides manpower and suppresses outside investigations, while Kakin supplies funding and equipment.
  • The Creation Society has cooperated with the general for at least six years.
  • Villagers undergo withdrawal after distribution stops and may travel north voluntarily, where the Church selects further subjects.
  • The drugs may originate inside the ruins; those sold outside are supposedly defective versions.
• Milluki discovers that the convoy’s driving recorder automatically uploaded footage showing Bai Zhu inside the village. The enemy may therefore already know of their involvement.
• The chapter ends with uncertainty over whether the door to the ruins will open early and whether the team should continue investigating.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Bai Zhu becomes more impressed with Knov’s usefulness, joking that he should bring him along permanently. His admiration emphasizes Knov’s importance to the team.
• Knov demonstrates exceptional precision and practicality, using his spatial ability for transportation, containment, evacuation, and deception. He also prepares escape routes for the group.
• Piyu contributes strategic analysis, recognizing that the different drugs indicate multiple experimental goals. She also helps interrogate the prisoners and organize the investigation.
• Milluki handles technology, vehicle tracking, communications, evidence analysis, and psychological interrogation. His intimidation tactics successfully make one captive talk, though he later blames himself for overlooking the uploaded footage.
• Gela Jiang assists with the convoy’s capture by using the river current and offers to control the waterways during the team’s escape.
• Palm provides medical expertise, identifying the danger of increasing the villagers’ anesthetic dosage.
• The team works efficiently together, combining Nen abilities, technical skill, medical knowledge, and interrogation.

Significant Themes

• Efficiency and teamwork: Knov’s ability demonstrates how a specialized power can transform an entire operation, while the team’s coordinated skills allow them to capture the convoy and preserve evidence.
• Human experimentation and exploitation: The villagers are treated as disposable test subjects in a long-running program designed to induce physical, behavioral, and Nen-related changes.
• Institutional conspiracy: The experiments involve the Holy Church, a military general, the Creation Society, and Kakin, suggesting a broad network of political, religious, and commercial cooperation.
• Surveillance and operational risk: Despite successfully deceiving the convoy’s tracking system, the team’s presence may have been exposed through an overlooked recording, showing how small technological details can undermine a covert mission.
• Control and transformation: The drugs, withdrawal process, restraints, and selection of villagers all reflect attempts to control bodies and behavior while forcing people into unnatural transformations.

Chapter Summary: “Hunters Never Had a Single Normal Brain”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Milluki discovers that surveillance footage clearly captured Bai Zhu’s face during the group’s escape through a village. The recording has already been uploaded, meaning the Creation Society, Kakin, or other authorities may now know Bai Zhu is in the region.
• The group debates whether to withdraw from the valley before checkpoints and pursuit are established or continue north toward the ruins.
• Knov explains that the Hunter Association’s official mission—investigating D1’s production, transportation, experimentation, and distribution—has been completed. Continuing north would be an additional assignment.
• Bai Zhu checks the system map and sees that the hidden objective involving the Soul King’s Pen component lies in the northern ruins, with five months remaining. Although he believes he could return later alone, he initially decides that the group should withdraw.
• Milluki objects strongly, arguing that the ruins contain valuable technology and information about D1 and Nen-related experimentation. He insists that retreat is sensible only after encountering actual danger, not before.
• Piyu refuses to leave because she accepted a mission to protect missing Association investigators, many of whom were sent north from the villages.
• Gela Jiang also chooses to continue, motivated by Morel’s teachings about confronting danger bravely.
• Palm says her crystal-ball ability can monitor the team and detect threats, while Knov argues that withdrawing may be more dangerous because the group has already been exposed and would lose the valley’s terrain advantage.
• Knov ultimately agrees to continue, offering to leave Fourth Dimensional Apartment entrances along the route to ensure an escape path.
• Bai Zhu accepts the decision and assigns everyone specific duties before leading the group north toward the ruins.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu demonstrates caution and responsibility. He prioritizes the group’s survival and initially chooses to abandon the ruins rather than risk everyone for his personal objective. However, he also adapts when the others make clear that they are willing to continue.
• Milluki reveals both his curiosity and his courage. Though usually associated with retreat and self-preservation, he argues that excessive caution can mean abandoning a valuable opportunity. His interest in the ruins’ technology and experiments becomes a major motivation.
• Piyu emphasizes her professional ethics. Her commitment to protecting the missing investigators shows that her involvement is not merely academic or personal.
• Gela Jiang remains lighthearted but proves willing to face danger. His reference to Morel shows how strongly his mentor’s example influences him.
• Palm takes on the role of surveillance and early warning, displaying confidence in her ability to protect the group.
• Knov shifts from detached professionalism to active cooperation. Although his official mission is over, he chooses to continue after evaluating the tactical situation and offers his transportation abilities as essential support.
• The group’s willingness to continue forces Bai Zhu to recognize that they are not passive followers; each has personal reasons and convictions strong enough to accept the danger.

Significant Themes

• Courage versus caution: The chapter questions whether retreat is wisdom or cowardice. Bai Zhu views withdrawal as responsible risk management, while the others argue that refusing an opportunity before danger appears is another form of fear.
• Duty and personal motivation: Each character continues for a different reason—professional responsibility, curiosity, loyalty, mentorship, or strategic judgment. Their shared decision is not based on one unified goal but on overlapping commitments.
• Teamwork and trust: Bai Zhu ultimately converts the group’s determination into a coordinated plan, assigning roles and establishing emergency procedures.
• The Hunter mindset: The chapter portrays Hunters as unusually driven people who willingly pursue danger, knowledge, and opportunity. Bai Zhu’s comment that none of them has “a single normal brain” captures both his frustration and his reluctant admiration.
• Preparation in the face of danger: Continuing north does not mean acting recklessly. The group plans escape routes, maintains surveillance, secures supplies, and establishes clear withdrawal conditions.

Character Interactions

• Milluki and Bai Zhu engage in a comic but revealing argument over the Zoldyck family’s contradictory rules: retreat from danger, but never back down when opportunity is within reach.
• Piyu challenges Bai Zhu’s assumption that the others should withdraw, reminding him of her obligation to the missing investigators.
• Gela Jiang lightens the tension with jokes about food while affirming his decision to remain with the team.
• Palm confidently offers her surveillance abilities, and Knov provides the tactical argument that staying may actually be safer than retreating.
• Bai Zhu moves from being the sole voice of caution to becoming the group’s commander, organizing everyone’s responsibilities and setting strict conditions for evacuation.
• The chapter ends with the team united and moving north, despite the risk that Bai Zhu’s identity has been exposed.

Chapter Summary: “Localized Natural Disaster”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu leads the group through several villages near the ruins, using the Mechanical Dragonfly to scout them before entering.
• The first village is populated by drug-altered people with unstable mutations. Villagers dig through bone-filled soil and chew on the bones, while some have abnormal skeletal growths.
• The second village has been devastated by locusts. Starving villagers catch and eat enormous insects, reinforcing the group’s suspicion that the region’s “natural disasters” are connected to pharmaceutical experimentation.
• The third village appears relatively normal, but its irrigation system diverts polluted floodwater into farmland. The resulting contamination causes the ground to collapse, killing oxen. Piyu explains that ordinary villages are forced to absorb the effects of pharmaceutical waste, pests, drought, and flooding.
• Piyu revises the group’s earlier theory: the villages are not testing separate drug effects. Instead, they represent different stages of exposure to the same drug, with potency and purity varying by location. Villages nearer the ruins contain people with stronger mutations and greater resistance.
• Back at the apartment, the seven captured villagers begin suffering severe withdrawal. Their mutations accelerate after they stop taking the drugs, and one displays uncontrolled Nen release.
• Bai Zhu attempts to heal a villager whose bones are growing abnormally, but his Kaidō cannot overcome the force driving the mutations. The treatment worsens the reaction, forcing him to stop.
• The group discovers that Woodbranch Village contains abandoned supplies and clothing from transferred test subjects. Records reveal that supposedly “missing” villagers were moved through an underground system, renumbered, and sent to different villages after being screened at headquarters.
• A Spider discovers a possibly artificial cave behind the village, suggesting they may have finally located the hidden underground railway connecting the villages to the experimental facility.

2. Character Developments

• Bai Zhu becomes increasingly skeptical and focused. He quickly dismisses the grotesque villages as distractions, but his understanding changes when Piyu uncovers the larger experimental structure. His failed healing attempt also reveals that his abilities have limits against the drug’s effects.
• Piyu demonstrates her value as an analyst. By comparing village numbers, transport records, and mutation levels, she identifies the staged nature of the drug experiments and reconstructs the movement of test subjects.
• Milluki reacts strongly to the villagers’ conditions and contributes through his mechanical Spiders, which help break into the storehouse and uncover evidence.
• Knov takes responsibility for containment, reinforcing the isolation room and explaining the captive’s uncontrolled Nen release.
• Palm monitors the infected villagers through her crystal ball and provides crucial information about their withdrawal symptoms.
• The captured villagers deteriorate rapidly, showing that their dependence on the drugs is both physical and linked to the progression of their mutations.

3. Significant Themes

• Exploitation and dehumanization: Villagers are treated as numbered specimens, transferred and experimented on without regard for their identities or survival.
• Hidden systems of control: The apparent natural disasters and village isolation conceal an organized pharmaceutical and transportation network.
• The cost of experimentation: Drug exposure produces grotesque mutations, addiction, environmental destruction, and uncontrolled Nen.
• False appearances: Villages that seem normal may still be participating in or suffering from the same system. “Natural” disasters are revealed to be consequences of human activity.
• Limits of healing and intervention: Bai Zhu’s failed treatment shows that repairing physical damage cannot necessarily reverse a deeper biological or Nen-based transformation.
• Dehumanization through renumbering: Replacing names with numbers emphasizes how the organization erases individual identity and turns people into interchangeable test subjects.

4. Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu, Piyu, and Milluki debate the meaning of the village conditions, with Piyu correcting their initial assumption about separate experimental purposes.
• Bai Zhu relies on Piyu’s records and map analysis to understand the drug’s progression through the region.
• Milluki and Piyu work together to investigate Woodbranch Village, while Milluki’s Spider uncovers the storehouse and cave.
• Knov and Palm coordinate the containment and observation of the deteriorating captives.
• Bai Zhu attempts to save one villager, but the uncontrollable mutation overwhelms his healing, leaving the group grimly aware that the captives may be beyond rescue.
• The chapter ends with the group poised to investigate the artificial cave and potentially uncover the underground route to the central facility.

Chapter Summary: “The General Wants to Talk”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu prevents the group from immediately entering Knov’s spatial doorway, deliberately drawing out an armed village overseer.
• The overseer is subdued, captured, and taken into Knov’s Fourth Dimensional Apartment. Bai Zhu heals his injured wrist temporarily, then interrogates him.
• The registry and numbered clothing reveal that Woodbranch Village is part of a large, organized system for processing human test subjects.
• The overseer explains that people from surrounding villages are screened, graded according to drug reactions, physical mutations, Nen potential, and obedience, then reassigned under new names and numbers.
• The strongest or most promising subjects are sent to specialized training zones, while a select few become “Gate Offerings” transported to ancient ruins.
• The cave beneath the village connects to both the Holy Church’s drug-production facilities and the general’s military garrison.
• Piyu confirms that missing volunteers, investigators, and residents have been stripped of their identities and reduced to numerical designations.
• After recording the testimony and securing the evidence, Bai Zhu executes the overseer.
• The group enters the underground railway system, discovering a vast network of maintained tracks and branching tunnels monitored by Mechanical Spiders.
• An elderly official and several guards intercept them. He announces that General Zaiyilo wishes to meet Bai Zhu privately and claims the Holy Church and Creation Society are unaware of Bai Zhu’s presence.
• Bai Zhu prepares an escape route with Knov’s help, then agrees to board the general’s railcar, wondering what Zaiyilo intends to gain from the meeting.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu demonstrates strategic foresight, using himself as bait to capture the overseer and carefully verifying the group’s escape route before accepting the general’s invitation. His willingness to execute the overseer emphasizes his ruthlessness and commitment to preventing further harm.
• Knov remains a dependable tactical asset, providing transportation, containment, and a concealed escape route through his spatial abilities.
• Milluki contributes surveillance and technical support through his Mechanical Spiders and recognizes the scale of the underground operation.
• Piyu becomes increasingly affected by the evidence of systematic dehumanization, especially after learning that the missing people’s names have been erased. Nevertheless, she remains professional and records the testimony.
• The overseer shifts from defiance to despair when confronted with the evidence and the traumatized captives, ultimately revealing the structure of the experimentation network.
• General Zaiyilo is established as a calculating political player who acts independently and seeks a private meeting with Bai Zhu.

Significant Themes

• Dehumanization and loss of identity: Victims are stripped of their names and reduced to numbers within an industrialized system of experimentation.
• Institutionalized cruelty: The villages function not as isolated sites but as an efficient assembly line for testing, sorting, training, and sacrificing humans.
• Moral ambiguity and justice: Bai Zhu’s interrogation and execution raise questions about whether violence is justified when confronting a larger system of atrocities.
• Power and manipulation: Zaiyilo’s secret invitation suggests that Bai Zhu may be viewed as a weapon or political tool in a broader conflict.
• Hidden structures: The extensive underground railway symbolizes the concealed scale and organization of the Holy Church’s operations.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Knov coordinate closely, with Bai Zhu creating the opportunity to capture the overseer and Knov securing him and preparing an escape route.
• Bai Zhu pressures the overseer with evidence and the release of tortured captives, forcing him to reveal the truth.
• Piyu and Milluki help corroborate and document the operation, while Piyu’s question about the victims’ names highlights the emotional cost of the discovery.
• The elderly official addresses Bai Zhu directly and attempts to establish a controlled, seemingly diplomatic encounter on behalf of General Zaiyilo.
• Bai Zhu accepts the invitation only after ensuring his group can escape, preserving the balance between cooperation and suspicion.

Chapter Summary: “Underground Kingdom”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu and his companions travel by railcar deep beneath the mountain, entering NGL’s hidden Underground City. Despite NGL’s ban on foreign industrial goods, the city contains electric lamps, railways, workshops, drainage systems, weapons, and large-scale manufacturing.
• Milluki secretly deploys tiny mechanical ants to scout the city. They investigate workshops, drainage routes, warehouses, and upper structures while the group continues inward.
• The Underground City is revealed to be a vast industrial settlement built into a cavern, with multiple levels, bridges, lifts, residential districts, workshops, mines, and fortified areas.
• A large flying magical beast patrols the city. The old man explains that it was bred with the Holy Church’s assistance and functions as a sentinel against invaders and riots, demonstrating the Creation Society’s advanced biological experimentation.
• The group encounters modified humanoid creatures known as Orcs. They possess enhanced strength, reduced pain sensitivity, fungal metabolism, and aggressive battle instincts. They are used as laborers, guards, and combatants in an underground fighting pit.
• One Orc attacks the railcar. Bai Zhu restrains it with Bakudo #4: Hainawa, preventing the guards from shooting it and throwing it back into the pit.
• Milluki’s scouting ants transmit images revealing:
  • Ore-processing workshops containing numbered bone fragments
  • Warehouses holding medicines labeled by batch and village
  • Polluted drainage channels covered in fungal growth
  • A central stone fortress connected to the pharmaceutical district, training district, and northern Black Gate railway
• All four scouting signals are suddenly destroyed by precise bone needles, proving that the city has sophisticated counter-surveillance defenses.
• The group reaches the General’s fortress. They are admitted past armed guards and into a sterile corridor prepared for visitors. The old man announces that the General has arranged a banquet.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu remains cautious and observant, recognizing the Underground City as a major threat rather than merely a hidden settlement. He restrains Milluki from provoking their guide and uses his combat ability efficiently against the attacking Orc.
• Milluki is openly disgusted by the city’s hypocrisy and biological experiments but remains highly useful as a technological scout. His mechanical ants provide valuable intelligence before being detected and destroyed.
• Piyu acts as the group’s methodical analyst, recording the city’s infrastructure and inferring that its pharmaceutical operations and population supply are extensive.
• Knov contributes strategic observations, recognizing that the existence of so many modified laborers implies a reliable source of human subjects.
• Gela Jiang reacts with unease to the city’s industrial scale and treatment of the Orcs, while also showing curiosity about the technology.
• The old man maintains a controlled, emotionless demeanor throughout the journey. He reveals information selectively and hints that the General expected or monitored the group’s actions.
• The General, though not yet seen, becomes an increasingly important and threatening presence. His resources include biological weapons, fortified infrastructure, surveillance defenses, and a private army.

Significant Themes

• Hypocrisy and selective interpretation of laws: NGL’s prohibition on foreign technology contrasts sharply with the Underground City’s extensive use of electricity, railways, firearms, and industrial machinery, justified as locally produced.
• Industrialization beneath idealism: The supposedly naturalist nation conceals a mechanized city dependent on mining, pharmaceutical production, laboratories, and pollution.
• Dehumanization and exploitation: The Orcs are treated as tools, laborers, soldiers, and entertainment rather than people. Their bodies have been altered to serve the city’s needs.
• Surveillance and secrecy: Both sides gather intelligence. Milluki’s ants are countered almost immediately, showing that the city is highly alert to infiltration.
• Science and biological manipulation: Magical beasts, modified organisms, fungal systems, and pharmaceutical production suggest that the Creation Society’s power lies heavily in experimental biology.
• Danger hidden beneath civilization: Although the city functions like an organized society, violence, experimentation, and militarization are embedded in everyday life.
• Approaching confrontation: The banquet invitation places Bai Zhu and the others inside the General’s stronghold, suggesting that diplomacy, manipulation, or conflict is about to begin.

Important Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu repeatedly silences or physically restrains Milluki when Milluki insults the old man or risks drawing attention.
• Milluki and Bai Zhu maintain a sarcastic, antagonistic partnership, with Milluki probing Bai Zhu about his mysterious discoveries and Bai Zhu refusing to explain himself.
• Piyu questions the old man about the modified Orcs, forcing him to acknowledge their role as controllable labor and combatants.
• Gela Jiang challenges the idea that the Orcs are truly “controllable,” expressing moral discomfort with their treatment.
• Knov adds a strategic interpretation to Piyu’s observations, identifying the city’s need for a steady supply of test subjects.
• The old man and Bai Zhu engage in a restrained power struggle: the old man offers limited information and later praises Bai Zhu’s decision to meet the General, while Bai Zhu rejects the flattery and demands to know why the General contacted him secretly.
• The group’s arrival at the fortress shifts the dynamic from exploration to direct negotiation with the General.

Chapter Summary: “A State Banquet of Cold Dishes”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu and his companions are brought into a banquet hall inside the stone fortress, but instead of a formal meal, they find a table filled exclusively with cold vegetarian dishes. The waiter explains that the capital is observing a temporary “clean diet,” but Milluki suspects the poor meal reflects the general’s lack of sincerity.
• While waiting for the general, the group notices that many of the waiters move with unnatural synchronization. Piyu identifies matching surgical scars on the backs of several waiters’ necks, suggesting that they may have implanted control devices.
• The group discovers that the food and drinks have been drugged:
  • Mushrooms contain a sedative or paralytic agent.
  • Berry juice contains a stimulant strong enough to prevent sleep for several days.
  • Gela Jiang’s wine is designed to slow his reactions.
• The waiters abruptly stop moving after the drugs are detected. The head waiter opens a concealed section of the wall, revealing surveillance equipment and a speaker through which the general communicates.
• Speaking through the wall, the general demonstrates that he has thoroughly investigated Bai Zhu’s group. He knows their abilities, identities, route into NGL, their actions in Woodbranch Village, and even the locations of Knov’s spatial entrances.
• Bai Zhu refuses to be intimidated and makes three demands:
  1. The missing hunters must be shown to them, alive or dead.
  2. They must be given the true D1 production site, not a decoy workshop.
  3. They will then discuss the Black Gate.
• Milluki secretly attempts to deploy a probe while pretending to have dropped food.
• The Stone Gate opens, and General Zaiyilo finally enters. He claims that the poisoned mushroom dish was not ordered by him and immediately commands that the head waiter responsible be taken away.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu remains calm, observant, and confrontational. He eats despite the poisoned food to show that he will not be manipulated, while also setting clear conditions for negotiations. His refusal to accept the general’s psychological tactics establishes him as the group’s primary negotiator.
• Milluki provides comic relief through his complaints about the missing meat, but he also proves technically capable and alert. He identifies the drugs, recognizes the implanted technology, and secretly deploys a probe.
• Piyu demonstrates her sharp observational and analytical skills by noticing the surgical scars and identifying suspicious waiters.
• Gela Jiang remains relaxed and sarcastic, treating the drugged wine as an insult and cooperating with the group’s investigation.
• Knov becomes visibly more cautious once the general reveals knowledge of his spatial entrances. His movement toward the wall suggests he is prepared to act, but Bai Zhu restrains him from escalating prematurely.
• Zaiyilo, the general, is introduced as a highly informed and controlled military leader. His immediate punishment of the head waiter suggests he wants to distinguish himself from the unauthorized poisoning, though his true motives remain uncertain.

Significant Themes

• Manipulation and surveillance: The banquet is a trap designed to test, drug, and psychologically pressure the visitors. The general’s knowledge of their movements highlights the extent of NGL’s intelligence network.
• Control and dehumanization: The synchronized waiters, surgical scars, and possible implanted chips suggest that people in the fortress are being treated as programmable tools.
• Power through composure: Both sides attempt to control the encounter. The general uses surveillance and staged hospitality, while Bai Zhu counters by remaining calm, eating the poisoned food, and making direct demands.
• Deception and mistrust: The group cannot trust the food, the servants, or even the general’s explanation that the poisoning was unauthorized. The chapter emphasizes that every apparent gesture may conceal another motive.
• Technology versus supernatural ability: Hidden cameras, probes, implants, and spatial entrances reflect the conflict between advanced technology and Nen-like abilities.

Character Interactions

• Milluki repeatedly complains to Bai Zhu about the vegetarian meal, while Bai Zhu and Gela Jiang mock his greed and remind him of the food he already took from the Zoldyck estate.
• Piyu quietly shares her observations about the waiters with Bai Zhu and Milluki, strengthening the group’s suspicion that the servants are modified or controlled.
• Bai Zhu and Knov coordinate nonverbally when the surveillance system reveals knowledge of the spatial entrances. Bai Zhu prevents Knov from acting rashly.
• The unseen general attempts to unsettle Bai Zhu by reciting the group’s history and abilities, but Bai Zhu refuses to be intimidated and turns the conversation toward concrete demands.
• Milluki’s probe attempt shows the group working collectively despite their banter.
• Zaiyilo’s first direct interaction is with Bai Zhu, but his first order targets the head waiter, immediately establishing his authority and hinting at internal conflict within the fortress.

Summary of “Zaiyilo’s Deal”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zaiyilo has the foreman removed after the man’s wrist is broken, revealing his willingness to use violence and intimidation.
• During a meal, Zaiyilo presents documents containing records of missing investigation-team members and claims they voluntarily participated in experiments. Piyu challenges the validity of their signatures, arguing they were drugged and imprisoned.
• Zaiyilo claims he never intentionally sold finished D1 drugs overseas, insisting that stolen batches reached the outside world through people connected to the Creation Society.
• Milluki’s surveillance confirms that the workshop, warehouse, and drainage canal are connected to the Black Gate. Evidence also links the operation’s equipment and supplies to Kakin.
• Zaiyilo admits that Kakin funded and supplied the experiments because of its partnership with the Creation Society. Bai Zhu realizes Zaiyilo wants him to attack both the Creation Society and possibly Kakin.
• Zaiyilo shows the group footage of an experiment in which an attempt to open a deeper section of the Black Gate causes nearby D1 subjects to collapse.
• Bai Zhu receives a hidden-objective warning indicating that a component of the Soul King’s Pen may lie beyond the gate and that the area contains a Nen field that will increase reiatsu consumption.
• Zaiyilo asks Bai Zhu to enter the Black Gate and retrieve the object, hoping Bai Zhu’s involvement will break the stalemate between Zaiyilo’s faction and the Creation Society.
• Bai Zhu refuses to be manipulated by Pariston’s reputation or Zaiyilo’s pressure. He demands a concrete reward and warns that Zaiyilo may already be caught in one of Pariston’s schemes.
• Zaiyilo offers several incentives: access to the factories, contact with the missing investigators, a list of major Creation Society members in NGL, and accumulated wealth. Bai Zhu agrees only to meet the Association members first.
• One of the missing investigators is brought before them. Although part of his body has transformed into fungal growths, he insists on remaining at Zaiyilo’s facility because it provides food, medicine, and protection. He rejects returning to the dangerous work of investigating the outbreak.
• Bai Zhu condemns Zaiyilo for creating conditions that led the investigators to this state. Zaiyilo defends himself by claiming they chose their fate freely, drawing a deliberate parallel between their choices and Bai Zhu’s decision about the Black Gate.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu remains skeptical, calculating, and difficult to manipulate. He recognizes Zaiyilo’s attempt to use him as a weapon and insists on receiving meaningful compensation before taking the risk. His interest in the Soul King’s Pen component gives him a personal reason to consider the mission.
• Zaiyilo is revealed as a pragmatic and morally compromised power broker. He justifies experimentation, exploitation, and political betrayal as matters of choice and necessity. He attempts to recruit Bai Zhu by offering information, wealth, and access rather than relying solely on threats.
• Piyu acts as an advocate for the missing investigators, challenging Zaiyilo’s claims that their participation was voluntary. Her anger intensifies when one investigator chooses to remain behind, suggesting the emotional cost of the situation.
• Milluki provides surveillance and technical evidence, identifying the delivery routes and Kakin connection. He also serves as comic relief, especially when Bai Zhu and Zaiyilo clash verbally.
• Knov remains guarded and focused on the spread of D1, pushing Zaiyilo to address the larger threat rather than dwelling on political maneuvering.
• The missing investigator demonstrates how dependency and fear can reshape a person’s sense of freedom. He believes Zaiyilo’s facility offers security even though it has physically and psychologically altered him.

Significant Themes

• Freedom versus coercion: Zaiyilo claims the investigators freely chose experimentation, but Piyu and Bai Zhu expose how drugs, confinement, dependency, and limited alternatives undermine genuine consent.
• Manipulation and political exploitation: Zaiyilo wants Bai Zhu to serve as the force that destroys the balance between rival factions. Bai Zhu recognizes that he is being used and refuses to act without securing his own advantage.
• Moral corruption and shared guilt: The Creation Society, Kakin, Zaiyilo’s faction, and even the institutions supposedly investigating the crisis are implicated. Zaiyilo’s statement that “no one is clean” reflects the chapter’s morally compromised political landscape.
• Survival versus identity: The investigator’s choice to stay reflects how hunger, safety, and medicine can become more important than returning to one’s former life or principles.
• Dangerous exploration: The Black Gate represents both opportunity and extreme risk. Its connection to the Soul King’s Pen gives Bai Zhu a powerful incentive, while the heterogeneous Nen field warns that entering it may carry serious costs.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Milluki exchange playful but revealing banter, showing their familiarity while emphasizing Bai Zhu’s control over the conversation.
• Piyu directly confronts Zaiyilo over the coerced signatures and later questions the transformed investigator, trying to recover the missing team members.
• Zaiyilo attempts to appeal to Bai Zhu through Pariston’s assessment, but Bai Zhu turns the tactic against him by warning that Pariston manipulates everyone involved.
• Milluki’s discoveries provide evidence that supports Bai Zhu’s suspicions about Kakin and the Creation Society.
• Bai Zhu confronts Zaiyilo over the investigators’ condition, while Zaiyilo responds by arguing that all involved—including Bai Zhu—are acting by choice.
• The chapter ends with the central moral and strategic conflict unresolved: Bai Zhu must decide whether the rewards and the Soul King’s Pen component justify entering the Black Gate and becoming part of Zaiyilo’s scheme.

Chapter Summary: “Underground Factory”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zaiyilo tells Bai Zhu that he is no longer restricting his movements, leaving Bai Zhu free to decide whether to cooperate. Bai Zhu agrees to inspect the underground factory before making a final choice.
• Zaiyilo leads Bai Zhu, Piyu, Milluki, Knov, and Palm through a guarded lift beneath the fortress. They pass a waste-processing level and sealed rooms bearing only the General’s Residence’s insignia, suggesting the Holy Church is not directly involved.
• Inside the factory, the group observes the production of D1 tablets from black crystals, vine roots, fungal powder, and bone powder. The factory’s records claim that production is limited to roughly 47,000–58,000 tablets per month for internal use.
• Milluki examines the equipment, workforce, raw materials, and waste. He concludes that the reported production figures are plausible, but the quantity of raw material being used is far greater than the factory’s records account for. A significant portion of the D1 must be going elsewhere.
• The group discovers an isolation area containing people who voluntarily took D1 in hopes of increasing their Nen potential. Haro, previously believed to have disappeared while investigating, is among them.
• Haro confirms that he and the others knowingly participated in the experiments. He still wants to alter human aptitude and believes D1 may allow Nen abilities to continue growing, despite understanding the risks.
• Knov finds no evidence that the isolated subjects are being mentally manipulated, complicating the group’s judgment of the experiments.
• Palm secretly uses her crystal ball and discovers that boxes leaving the production area are switched near the lift. Full boxes of tablets are sent along a concealed transport line rather than through the documented route.
• Milluki reconstructs the hidden route from data gathered by mechanical flying ants. The secret track bypasses the factory and leads toward the edge of the underground complex, protected by multiple Nen interference points.
• Zaiyilo admits that the Creation Society has been stealing D1, diluting it with fillers, and distributing it outside the region. He claims he never authorized outside sales but acknowledges that the Society remains allied with him and that he suspected, though had not confirmed, their activities.
• Zaiyilo reveals the existence of a deeper “Raw Material Zone,” where the original D1 mother liquid and records of the first experiments conducted in NGL six years earlier are stored.
• Haro reacts strongly to the map and demands to be taken there, believing it may contain something capable of further strengthening Nen abilities.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu becomes more openly investigative and skeptical. Rather than accepting Zaiyilo’s explanations, he presses him about the missing production and hidden transport system.
• Zaiyilo is revealed as neither fully innocent nor fully responsible. He did not officially sell D1 outside the border, but he tolerated the Creation Society’s access and failed to control its activities. His knowledge of the hidden route is also incomplete.
• Milluki demonstrates sharp forensic and logistical reasoning, using production capacity, raw-material consumption, waste levels, and underground maps to expose inconsistencies in the factory’s accounts.
• Piyu is emotionally affected by discovering Haro alive and learning that he voluntarily entered the experiments. Her usual investigative composure breaks down, leaving her unable to record his answers.
• Haro is revealed to have willingly pursued the D1 experiments rather than being merely captured or coerced. His goal of changing human potential remains unchanged, but his obsession with increasing Nen power has intensified.
• Palm makes an important covert contribution by using her crystal ball to observe the box exchange and uncover the secret transport route.
• Knov provides an objective assessment, confirming that the test subjects show no signs of manipulation.

Significant Themes

• Consent versus exploitation: The subjects chose the experiments, but the chapter questions whether informed consent is meaningful when people are driven by desperation or ambition.
• The corruption of alliances: Zaiyilo’s cooperation with the Creation Society allows dangerous actions to continue beyond his control, showing how political alliances can enable abuse.
• Truth hidden beneath official records: The factory’s legitimate production data is accurate in isolation, but it conceals a second supply chain and a larger operation.
• The pursuit of power: Haro and the other subjects accept severe consequences in the hope of transcending natural limitations, emphasizing the dangers of ambition without restraint.
• Responsibility and complicity: Zaiyilo may not have directly sold D1, yet his knowledge, tolerance, and failure to investigate make him partly responsible for the wider crisis.
• Industrialized experimentation: The factory’s rigid shifts, standardized processing, and repetitive labor contrast with the human cost seen in the isolation ward.

Important Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu challenges Zaiyilo repeatedly, forcing him to explain the discrepancy between the factory’s official output and the D1 circulating outside.
• Milluki’s technical investigation exposes the factory manager’s incomplete accounting and turns the tour into an interrogation.
• Piyu reunites with Haro and struggles to reconcile her former colleague’s voluntary participation with the dangers of D1.
• Haro speaks with Bai Zhu about his original goal of changing human aptitude, revealing that the drug has not altered his ambition.
• Palm and Knov cooperate in uncovering and verifying the hidden shipment route.
• The chapter ends with Haro directly appealing to Zaiyilo, making the Raw Material Zone the group’s likely next destination and linking the factory’s present crimes to the original D1 experiments.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu questions Haro about what he saw in the Raw Material Zone, specifically mentioning the mother liquor, experimental records, and the Black Gate. Haro reacts strongly when the Black Gate is mentioned, confirming that he has been there.
• Piyu calls the names of several investigators held in isolation, including people whose families are still waiting for them. None agree to leave, showing their fear, resignation, or unwillingness to betray what they know.
• Bai Zhu examines the prisoners’ fungal infections and notices that, unlike the deranged Orcs outside, their growths are localized and orderly. They retain their memories and sanity despite having taken D1.
• Bai Zhu, Milluki, and Piyu theorize that the prisoners may have discovered a way to control D1’s dosage, encountered a stabilizing substance, or learned its true purpose.
• Bai Zhu demands that Zaiyilo take them to the Raw Material Zone. Zaiyilo refuses, explaining that the area is controlled by the Holy Church and heavily guarded by Nen users. He wants the hunters to act independently so the General’s Residence cannot be blamed.
• Bai Zhu counters by demanding intelligence on the Creation Society’s members and a complete route through the Raw Material Zone. He also refuses to promise that he will retrieve anything from the Black Gate—or hand it over if he does.
• When Zaiyilo’s guards draw their weapons, Bai Zhu, Knov, Gela Jiang, and Piyu prepare to fight. Bai Zhu threatens to abduct Zaiyilo into Knov’s Fourth Dimensional Apartment and interrogate him.
• Unexpectedly, Zaiyilo immediately accepts all of Bai Zhu’s conditions and orders sealed files to be brought.
• The files contain detailed information on the Creation Society’s personnel, though much of the Nen-related data is missing. Three individuals are marked in red with no identifying information; Zaiyilo says Bai Zhu will encounter them inside the Raw Material Zone.
• Bai Zhu realizes the files were prepared in advance and suspects Zaiyilo has a larger hidden plan. Before leaving, he calls to Haro and asks whether he still intends to enter the Raw Material Zone. Haro suddenly regains focus, implying that he may agree to go.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu becomes increasingly wary of Zaiyilo’s political maneuvering. He recognizes that Zaiyilo wants to exploit the hunters while avoiding responsibility and responds by forcing him to provide useful intelligence.
• Zaiyilo is shown to be calculating and politically cautious, but his immediate acceptance of Bai Zhu’s demands suggests he anticipated this outcome or has an ulterior motive.
• Haro is revealed to have firsthand knowledge of the Raw Material Zone and the Black Gate. Though initially withdrawn and emotionally distant, he reacts strongly to the possibility of returning.
• Piyu displays empathy by appealing to the prisoners through their families, while also taking a protective and tactical role when the guards threaten violence.
• Milluki contributes analytical observations about the fungal growths and D1, while his joking comment about Bai Zhu having the advantage briefly lightens the tension.
• Knov and Gela Jiang quietly demonstrate their readiness for combat, reinforcing the group’s coordination and strength.

Significant Themes

• Manipulation and political expediency: Zaiyilo wants the Creation Society dealt with without exposing the General’s Residence to danger or blame.
• Information as power: Bai Zhu uses the threat of force to obtain intelligence, while Zaiyilo’s prepared files suggest that information is being offered as part of a broader scheme.
• The mystery of D1: The different effects of the drug raise questions about its true purpose, the possibility of controlled use, and the existence of a stabilizing agent.
• Trauma and silence: The imprisoned investigators refuse to respond even when reminded of their families, suggesting deep fear, guilt, or psychological conditioning.
• Trust and hidden motives: Neither side fully trusts the other. Bai Zhu suspects Zaiyilo’s cooperation is deliberate and connected to plans beyond the stated mission.
• Choice under pressure: Haro’s final reaction suggests that confronting the Raw Material Zone may be tied to his past and unresolved knowledge.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu interrogates Haro indirectly, using specific references to provoke a reaction rather than relying on direct questioning.
• Bai Zhu and Zaiyilo engage in a tense negotiation in which both attempt to control the risks and terms of cooperation.
• The hunters coordinate nonverbally during the confrontation: Knov prepares his spatial ability, Gela Jiang readies his water-based weapon, and Piyu positions herself to protect the prisoners.
• Milluki’s humor irritates Bai Zhu but also highlights the imbalance in the negotiation after Zaiyilo unexpectedly agrees.
• Bai Zhu’s final appeal to Haro changes the prisoner’s demeanor, suggesting that Haro may become essential to the expedition.

Chapter Summary: God of Bullshit

Key Plot Points and Events

• Haro is released from isolation and disguised under a coat to hide the fungal growth covering his body.
• Bai Zhu’s group secretly travels through the Underground City to a safe apartment using Knov’s spatial rift.
• Milluki compares a list of Creation Society members with records from Meteor City, Totorro Port, and Kakin.
• Bai Zhu interrogates Haro about the Underground City, the ruins, and the Raw Material Zone. Haro claims the ruins are the resting place of the “God of Bullshit,” whom he describes as a god of evolution and biological transformation.
• Haro demonstrates that his fungal body can regenerate: he tears off his own arm, revealing mycelium that slowly rebuilds flesh. He insists this is not a mutation but a “second body” granted by the god.
• Haro explains that the original solution transforms only those chosen by the god, while diluted versions merely bring others closer to it. He intends to enter the Raw Material Zone and complete his transformation into “God’s apostle.”
• His knowledge comes from a dream involving a door, a voice, and the Raw Material Zone as a final altar. Bai Zhu concludes that Haro is largely delusional, though the physical evidence makes his claims impossible to dismiss entirely.
• Milluki identifies three important Creation Society figures:
  • The Silver Candle Envoy, active in Meteor City and involved in transporting Nen Beasts, bone fragments, and test subjects.
  • The Golden Candle Envoy, connected to Kakin and Totorro Port, responsible for equipment, negotiations, and shipments.
  • The mysterious Holy Seat Proxy, whose authority exceeds the Envoys’ and who can access the Raw Material Zone, the Black Gate, and the Church’s core.
• The Holy Seat Proxy is suspected to be the Creation Society’s Pope, directing both Envoys and moving between the Raw Material Zone and Black Gate.
• Convinced that the group has located the organization’s leadership, Bai Zhu orders Haro to guide them to the Raw Material Zone.

Character Developments

• Haro is revealed as completely devoted to the fungal transformation. His beliefs are religious and increasingly unstable, but his regenerative abilities prove that his condition is genuinely supernatural or biologically abnormal.
• Bai Zhu remains skeptical and irreverent, mocking Haro’s beliefs while aggressively testing his claims. Despite dismissing Haro as a lunatic, he recognizes the strategic value of his knowledge and abilities.
• Piyu reacts with growing alarm and fascination, especially when Haro demonstrates regeneration. Her impulse to record the event conflicts with her horror at what she is witnessing.
• Milluki provides the crucial investigative breakthrough, using accumulated records to identify the Creation Society’s hierarchy and likely Pope.
• Knov and Palm demonstrate the team’s careful infiltration methods, with Knov providing escape routes and Palm monitoring patrols.
• Gela Jiang remains a quiet observer, visibly disturbed by Haro’s self-mutilation and regeneration.

Significant Themes

• Faith versus rationality: Haro interprets biological transformation as divine selection, while Bai Zhu treats it as illness or manipulation. The chapter leaves open whether Haro is deluded, partially correct, or both.
• Body horror and transformation: Regeneration, fungal growth, and self-amputation emphasize the loss of ordinary human identity and the frightening possibilities of biological evolution.
• Manipulation through belief: Haro’s “god” may represent a literal entity, a controlling force, or an ideology used by the Creation Society to recruit and exploit subjects.
• Investigation and conspiracy: The comparison of records reveals a hidden hierarchy, connecting activities across several locations and pointing toward the Creation Society’s central leadership.
• The unknown as a weapon: Haro’s vague dream and the unexplained powers of the Envoys create uncertainty, while the group must act before the organization can conceal its operations.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu interrogates Haro, alternating between threats, skepticism, and physical demonstrations of control over the fungal growth.
• Piyu challenges Haro about D1, the transformation process, and the fate of other investigators.
• Milluki criticizes Bai Zhu for questioning Haro so long, then delivers the intelligence that identifies the suspected Pope.
• The team collectively reacts with shock and discomfort to Haro’s regeneration, while Bai Zhu uses the severed arm to test whether the fungal material is responsive.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhu taking command and ordering Haro to lead the group into the Raw Material Zone.

Chapter Summary: A Sudden Look Back, and There He Was Amid the Fading Lights

Key Plot Points and Events

• Haro reveals a hidden route into the raw-materials area through a drainage channel beneath the wastewater facility. Using Palm’s crystal ball to track patrols, the group—Bai Zhu, Haro, Piyu, Gela Jiang, Knov, Milluki, and Palm—successfully bypasses several checkpoints.
• Knov’s short-distance portals become increasingly difficult to open because the surrounding space has been disturbed. Bai Zhu notices that maintaining his defensive abilities also consumes more Reiatsu than usual.
• Haro’s severed arm continues producing fungal tendrils that pull him toward the Black Gate. The others become wary of him, especially Piyu, while Bai Zhu forcibly suppresses the fungus when it reaches toward him.
• The group discovers a massive Black Gate embedded in the mountain. Piyu identifies its inscriptions as belonging to the same sealing system found in earlier ruins. The Creation Society has altered most of the original seal, using bone fragments and Artificial Nen Sigils to create channels linking the gate’s interior to the outside world.
• Bai Zhu’s map reveals that the Soul King’s Pen component is behind the gate. Its movement suggests that it is being carried by a living creature, though it remains confined to the gate’s vicinity. The surrounding Nen field continues to intensify, increasing Reiatsu consumption.
• From an abandoned building, the group observes the fortress guarding the gate. Cultists process and repackage D1 pills, confirming the operation’s connection to the Creation Society.
• Bai Zhu recognizes the white-robed Silver Candle Envoy—the same enemy who escaped him in Meteor City—and nearly attacks. Piyu restrains him, warning that the Golden Candle Envoy and the Holy Seat’s representative have not yet appeared. She persuades him to locate every escape route before launching an assault.
• Milluki deploys mechanical insects to scout the fortress. Most are destroyed by a three-meter-tall, fungus-covered monster whose speed nearly matches Bai Zhu’s full-power Shunpo and whose corrosive pus damages the machines.
• The group confirms two underground exits and learns that similar monsters patrol the fortress. Palm records the people entering and leaving, giving the group a way to identify the remaining major targets.
• With the fortress mapped and the important enemies potentially trapped inside, Bai Zhu begins the assault. He releases his Zanpakutō, Hozukimaru, and announces that it is time to kill.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Bai Zhu remains controlled and tactical, but his recognition of the Silver Candle Envoy exposes his lingering anger and desire for revenge. He accepts Piyu’s strategic advice, delaying his attack to prevent the enemies from escaping.
• Haro becomes increasingly unstable as the fungus in his arm responds to the Black Gate. His claim that “God is calling” suggests growing influence from the entity or power beyond the gate. The team’s trust in him declines.
• Piyu takes on a protective and pragmatic leadership role. She physically stops Bai Zhu from acting impulsively and keeps watch over Haro, demonstrating both strategic judgment and distrust.
• Palm proves essential through her surveillance abilities and crystal-ball mapping. Bai Zhu’s praise deeply affects her, briefly encouraging romantic fantasies before the impending battle refocuses her.
• Knov is strained by the damaged space, while Milluki suffers a costly setback when most of his scouting machines are destroyed. Both nevertheless contribute crucial intelligence.
• Gela Jiang and Piyu subtly position themselves to restrain Haro if necessary, showing that the group now treats him as a possible threat.
• Haro’s fungal arm repeatedly reacts to the Black Gate, linking him emotionally or physically to the hidden entity and intensifying the tension between him and the rest of the team.

Significant Themes

• Containment versus corruption: The Black Gate was designed to separate the inside from the outside, but the Creation Society has modified it into a conduit, symbolizing the breakdown of protective boundaries.
• Strategic patience versus revenge: Bai Zhu’s urge to confront his old enemy is balanced by Piyu’s insistence on gathering information first.
• Loss of control and transformation: Haro’s fungus represents his growing connection to an unknown power and the danger of becoming something other than himself.
• Surveillance and preparation: Palm’s mapping and Milluki’s reconnaissance emphasize the importance of knowledge before direct confrontation.
• Hidden threats: The fortress, altered seal, mobile Soul King’s Pen component, and mushroom monsters all suggest that the visible enemies are only part of a larger danger.

Overall Significance

The chapter shifts the story from covert infiltration to imminent open conflict. The group identifies the Black Gate, confirms the fortress’s escape routes and defenses, locates the Silver Candle Envoy, and prepares to attack. Bai Zhu’s decision to draw Hozukimaru marks the transition from reconnaissance to battle.

Chapter Summary: “Who Brings Their Own Speakers to a Fight?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu rejects Piyu’s cautious plan to infiltrate the fortress through a drainage channel. Believing his strength is overwhelming against human enemies, he decides to attack through the main entrance.
• Milluki supports the frontal assault, arguing that the Creation Society is too dangerous and connected to too many schemes to justify continued sneaking. Palm is already monitoring the exits, while Knov’s spatial abilities make a direct assault more practical.
• To create a dramatic entrance, Milluki carries Bai Zhu’s enormous, newly upgraded concert speakers. Bai Zhu selects the loudest song and orders him to play it at full volume.
• The music shakes the underground facility, disrupting workers and guards. A rail cart crashes, crates of D1 medicine spill, and the fortress goes on alert.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki openly approach the fortress while Piyu, Knov, and Gela Jiang follow. Gela and Milluki even discuss the usefulness of loudspeakers for maritime work, adding comic relief amid the attack.
• The Silver Candle Envoy recognizes Bai Zhu and immediately tries to flee through an emergency passage. Bai Zhu intercepts him at the gate and mocks him for refusing to greet an old acquaintance.
• The Envoy attacks with a Nen-enhanced iron whip, but Bai Zhu blocks it easily. The Envoy then activates “Flame Light,” causing the fortress’s inscriptions to produce a pillar of white light that continuously erodes Bai Zhu’s Reiatsu.
• Bai Zhu’s Reiatsu rapidly regenerates as it is consumed, leaving him largely unaffected. He taunts the Envoy, who attempts to escape through the passage.
• The Envoy activates another mechanism, releasing six towering, grotesque mushroom-headed creatures. They burst through crates and structures and charge Bai Zhu from all sides.
• The chapter ends as one monster leaps through the Flame Light and brings its pus-covered claw down toward Bai Zhu’s head.

Character Development

• Bai Zhu demonstrates extreme confidence in his own power. He has shifted from fearing the unknown dangers of the ruins to treating human opponents as largely incapable of threatening him. His reckless directness is both tactical and theatrical.
• Piyu acts as the practical, cautious member of the group. Her disbelief at Bai Zhu’s plan—and embarrassment over the speakers—shows her growing awareness of how chaotic his methods are, though she remains concerned for his safety.
• Milluki reveals a willingness to abandon stealth when facing the Creation Society. His technical competence is highlighted by his inspection and handling of the heavy sound system, while his cooperation with Bai Zhu develops into an amusing partnership.
• Knov remains restrained and pragmatic. Although his Nen reserves are depleted, he recognizes that a frontal assault may actually be more efficient than continued infiltration.
• Gela Jiang adapts to the absurd situation with surprising practicality, considering whether loudspeakers could improve communication aboard ships.
• The Silver Candle Envoy is shown to be fearful and desperate to escape Bai Zhu. Despite possessing powerful abilities and access to the fortress’s defenses, he avoids direct confrontation until forced to fight.

Significant Themes

• Strength versus strategy: The chapter contrasts Piyu’s careful planning with Bai Zhu’s belief that overwhelming power makes elaborate strategy unnecessary.
• Theatricality and intimidation: The speakers transform the assault into a performance. Bai Zhu is not merely attacking; he is making a dramatic entrance designed to unsettle the enemy.
• Comedy amid danger: The absurd image of Milluki carrying concert speakers into battle, the discussion of maritime loudspeakers, and Bai Zhu’s casual taunts offset the increasingly dangerous situation.
• Confidence and recklessness: Bai Zhu’s regenerative Reiatsu reinforces his confidence, but his decision to remain inside the destructive light leaves him vulnerable when the hidden monsters appear.
• Hidden defenses and escalation: The fortress is more than a guarded base. The Envoy’s activation of the monsters reveals that the Creation Society prepared deeper layers of defense, raising the stakes of the assault.

Character Interactions

• Piyu tries to restrain Bai Zhu and proposes infiltration, but he dismisses her concerns. Knov quietly validates part of Bai Zhu’s reasoning.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki bond over their shared dislike of the Creation Society, with Bai Zhu approving Milluki’s more aggressive attitude.
• Their speaker-related exchange creates a comedic “battle partnership”: Milluki handles the equipment while Bai Zhu provides the dramatic entrance.
• Gela Jiang joins the conversation by treating the speakers as potentially useful equipment rather than an absurdity, surprising Piyu.
• Bai Zhu confronts the Silver Candle Envoy directly, turning their previous history into a taunting exchange. The Envoy responds with violence and escape attempts rather than conversation.
• Piyu reacts with alarm when Bai Zhu is trapped in Flame Light, but Knov stops her, recognizing that Bai Zhu is not yet in serious danger.

Chapter Summary: “What Are So-Called Perfect Organisms Capable Of, Anyway?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu battles several Mushroomhead “perfect organisms” on a trestle bridge. Their bodies can rapidly regenerate: severed halves are reconnected by spreading mycelium, and wounds quickly begin to close.
• Remembering that heat weakened the mycelium in Haro’s severed arm, Bai Zhu identifies fire as the creatures’ vulnerability. He releases Ryujin Jakka, transforming Hozukimaru into a flaming Guan Dao.
• Using the weapon’s flames, Bai Zhu kills or severely burns several organisms, preventing their regeneration.
• The remaining creatures release clouds of spores. Piyu warns everyone not to inhale them, while Gela Jiang creates a water barrier to trap the spores and Knov opens dimensional portals to remove the remaining contamination.
• Piyu observes that the organisms are capable of coordinated tactics. They protect the fleeing Silver Candle Envoy and deliberately position themselves to block Bai Zhu’s pursuit.
• Bai Zhu leaves the others to contain the monsters and chases the Silver Candle Envoy through the fortress’s transport passage.
• He intercepts the Envoy just before he can activate an emergency gate, crippling him and rejecting his offer to reveal the Creation Society’s secrets.
• The Envoy admits knowledge of the Golden Candle Envoy, the Holy Seat Proxy, and the Black Gate, but Bai Zhu states that he is pursuing him because he hates human experimentation and is reminded of painful experiences from his past.
• Bai Zhu executes him with Ryujin Jakka. The flames destroy the mycelium attempting to regenerate his body.
• Milluki confirms the corpse as the Silver Candle Envoy, though his true name remains unknown.
• Immediately afterward, a red dot on the system map begins moving rapidly toward the Black Gate. A powerful explosion shakes the fortress, and the ancient inscriptions and Artificial Nen Sigils on the Black Gate begin activating.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu: Demonstrates sharp combat awareness by deducing the organisms’ weakness to fire. He becomes more decisive and ruthless, refusing valuable information in favor of killing the Envoy because of his personal hatred of human experimentation. His past is briefly revealed as a source of emotional motivation.
• Piyu: Shows analytical skill by recording the battle and recognizing that the organisms are acting under coordinated direction rather than attacking randomly.
• Gela Jiang: Uses his control over water creatively to neutralize the spore attack and support the team.
• Knov: Protects the group from the spores with dimensional portals, but the increasing interference strains him physically and limits how long the team can remain engaged.
• Haro: Watches from outside the flames and reveals indirectly that he, too, has fungal growth within his body. The heat suppresses his regenerative mycelium, suggesting a connection between him and the perfect organisms.
• Silver Candle Envoy: Is portrayed as desperate and opportunistic. Even when defeated, he attempts to bargain with information about the Creation Society, but his willingness to use humans as experimental material makes him irredeemable in Bai Zhu’s eyes.

Significant Themes

• The limits of “perfect” life: The organisms possess extraordinary regeneration and teamwork, but their supposed perfection has a critical weakness—fire.
• Human experimentation and moral outrage: Bai Zhu’s actions are driven less by strategic gain than by disgust toward the Creation Society’s treatment of people as raw materials.
• Adaptation versus control: The organisms can coordinate and regenerate, implying intelligence or external direction. Their behavior raises questions about whether they are autonomous beings or tools controlled by someone else.
• Knowledge versus justice: The Envoy offers information that could help Bai Zhu’s mission, but Bai Zhu chooses execution over interrogation, prioritizing moral judgment and personal conviction.
• Escalating danger: The activation of the Black Gate and the fortress’s shaking suggest that the battle is part of a larger ritual or catastrophe now reaching its next stage.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu relies on Piyu, Gela Jiang, and Knov to contain the organisms and spores while he pursues the Envoy.
• Piyu communicates her observations directly to Bai Zhu, helping him understand the monsters’ coordinated behavior.
• Gela Jiang and Knov combine their abilities to protect the team from the spore cloud.
• The organisms work together to shield the Silver Candle Envoy, confirming his importance to them or to whoever controls them.
• The Envoy attempts to negotiate with Bai Zhu, but Bai Zhu rejects the offer and kills him.
• Milluki provides practical confirmation of the Envoy’s identity after the execution.

Chapter Summary — Dungeon Rampage

Key Plot Points and Events

• A second massive boom shakes the Underground City as red warnings flood Bai Zhu’s system. The forces trapped behind the Black Gate surge forward, forcing him to abandon looting the corpses and rush back toward the gate.
• Bai Zhu’s Shunpo consumes increasingly large amounts of reiatsu as the Artificial Nen Sigils around the Black Gate activate. The fungal growths embedded in the gate pulse violently, causing tremors throughout the city.
• Haro begins transforming into a monstrous fungal creature. His arm is replaced by a huge mass of mushrooms and mycelium, ending in deformed talons. Piyu also displays signs of transformation, with a phantom rabbit leg emerging from her body.
• Knov uses his spatial ability to trap Haro inside an empty room. Haro nearly escapes by hooking the edge of the closing portal, but Knov seals it just in time.
• Multiple similar roars erupt throughout the Underground City, revealing that many other infected subjects are transforming. The city descends into widespread chaos.
• The control devices implanted in the Orcs suddenly fail. The Orcs break free of the Holy Church’s control and begin attacking guards, watchtowers, rail lines, and fortifications.
• The Mushroomheads inside the Raw Material Zone fort also break free from their restraints by destroying the bone rings controlling them. They attack Gela Jiang, Palm, Milluki, and the others.
• Piyu helps Palm and Knov retreat into the fort while Gela Jiang uses water to restrain a Mushroomhead. Milluki deploys explosive mechanical insects, blasting one monster backward and buying the group time.
• Bai Zhu reaches the vicinity of the Black Gate as explosions erupt behind him, but Milluki urges him to continue with his mission rather than stop and help.
• Orc hordes converge on the Raw Material Zone fort from multiple directions, while other groups attack the center of the Underground City. Gunfire breaks out near Zaiyilo Stone Fort, dividing the city into violent battle zones.
• The conflict disrupts transportation and industry: rail carts overturn, D1 pills spill into wastewater, pharmaceutical facilities lose power, and Holy Church and General’s Residence forces exchange fire.
• With the fort about to be overrun, Milluki orders everyone inside. Gela Jiang creates a wall of wastewater to slow the Orcs, while the group retreats and seals the fort’s side entrance.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu becomes increasingly urgent and focused. He abandons immediate rewards and pushes his reiatsu to its limit to reach the Black Gate before the advancing threat breaks through.
• Haro undergoes a horrifying transformation, losing his human appearance and becoming a fungal monster. His condition suggests that the infection or mutation is spreading among multiple test subjects.
• Knov demonstrates courage and determination by risking himself to contain Haro. Despite being covered in Haro’s saliva, he remains focused until the portal is fully sealed.
• Piyu shows signs of her own mutation but remains capable of protecting others. She takes charge during the retreat and helps get Palm and Knov into the fort.
• Milluki acts decisively under pressure, using his explosives and mechanical insects to repel the Mushroomheads. He also recognizes when the group can no longer defend the exterior and orders a retreat.
• Gela Jiang proves crucial to the defense, manipulating wastewater into restraints and barriers to slow the advancing Orcs.
• The Orcs and Mushroomheads shift from controlled test subjects or weapons into independent, uncontrollable threats once their control mechanisms fail.

Significant Themes

• Loss of control: The destruction of the Orc and Mushroomhead control devices turns controlled weapons into autonomous dangers, causing the entire city’s security system to collapse.
• Transformation and dehumanization: Haro’s mutation and Piyu’s emerging phantom limb emphasize the physical and psychological consequences of the fungal infection.
• Crisis and survival: The characters must abandon earlier objectives, cooperate, and retreat as every defensive line begins to fail.
• Escalating chaos: The disturbance spreads from the Black Gate to the fort, rail lines, industrial facilities, and military strongholds, suggesting a city-wide catastrophe.
• Sacrifice and prioritization: Bai Zhu continues toward the Black Gate while the others hold the fort, illustrating how different characters must focus on separate survival-critical tasks.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu commands Milluki to protect the group and prevent enemies from escaping, then leaves to investigate the Black Gate.
• Piyu alerts Knov to Haro’s transformation, prompting Knov to use his spatial doorway to imprison him.
• Knov and Piyu coordinate during the retreat, with Piyu physically helping move Palm and Knov into the fort.
• Milluki and Bai Zhu briefly exchange words after Milluki’s explosion; Milluki insists that Bai Zhu continue toward the Black Gate.
• Gela Jiang protects Palm by pulling a Mushroomhead away with a water rope and later creates a water barrier for the retreat.
• Milluki, Gela Jiang, Piyu, Knov, and Palm combine their abilities to survive the assault, ultimately withdrawing behind the fort’s sealed doors.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Milluki, Gela Jiang, Piyu, and members of the Creation Society form a temporary alliance when mutated Orcs attack the fortress.
• Milluki takes command of the defense, positioning the heavy crossbow, directing gunfire, and using Mechanical Flying Insects to control the Orcs’ movements.
• The Creation Society guards reluctantly cooperate with Milluki, acknowledging that their immediate goal—survival—takes priority over their hostility toward him.
• As the battle continues, Milluki questions the whereabouts of the fortress’s Holy Knight. The group discovers that several Holy Knights are undergoing a horrifying transformation, with fungal hyphae spreading through their bodies while they struggle to resist.
• Palm uses her crystal ball to locate the Golden Candle Envoy, who is secretly retreating through the fortress with a mysterious black box. The box interferes with Palm’s clairvoyance and is suspected to contain an important core sample rather than supplies.
• Piyu decides to pursue the Golden Candle Envoy before the group reaches the Black Gate. Knov opens a spatial passage, allowing Piyu, Milluki, Gela Jiang, Palm, and guards to bypass the Orc attack.
• In the lower corridors, they encounter a transformed Holy Knight. Its fungal growths deflect bullets, retaliate against attacks, and track heat sources.
• Milluki devises a tactic using leaking pipes and a heat-emitting Mechanical Flying Insect to lure the Holy Knight away, allowing the group to escape.
• Palm locates the black box again: it has been transferred to an unmarked transport track leading directly to the Black Gate. Milluki orders everyone to pursue the Golden Candle Envoy, leaving the Holy Knight behind after triggering another explosion.

Character Developments

• Milluki emerges as a highly capable battlefield strategist. Though distrusted by the Creation Society, he earns temporary authority through practical decisions, tactical awareness, and his willingness to place himself in danger.
• Piyu takes on a decisive leadership role, prioritizing the pursuit of the Golden Candle Envoy and the core sample over remaining with the defensive group.
• Gela Jiang demonstrates loyalty and bravery by staying behind to help hold the fortress’s breach, despite the danger. His humor helps maintain morale.
• Palm proves essential as the group’s scout and clairvoyant. She becomes visibly shaken when a transformed Holy Knight detects her presence, but continues using her ability to track the enemy.
• Knov is exhausted by repeatedly opening spatial gates but still supports Piyu’s plan, showing his reliability under pressure.
• The Holy Knights are revealed to be losing their humanity as fungal organisms invade their bodies and minds. Some still resist the transformation, while others have become dangerous, nearly mindless creatures.
• The Creation Society guards shift from outright hostility toward reluctant cooperation, recognizing that the Orc attack creates a shared enemy.

Significant Themes

• Temporary alliances and conflicting loyalties: Former enemies cooperate because survival requires it, though neither side trusts the other.
• Humanity versus transformation: The Holy Knights’ resistance to the fungal infection highlights the struggle to retain consciousness and identity.
• Control and adaptation: Milluki repeatedly adapts to changing battlefield conditions, using technology, environmental hazards, and enemy behavior to gain an advantage.
• Hidden agendas and secrecy: The Golden Candle Envoy’s unmarked group and mysterious black box suggest a covert mission connected to the Black Gate and the fortress’s experiments.
• Sacrifice and divided objectives: Some characters remain behind to delay the Orcs or the Holy Knight, while others pursue the more strategically important target.

Character Interactions

• Milluki and the Creation Society guards argue over authority, but his effective commands gradually make them follow him.
• Milluki openly challenges the guard captain’s claim that they are allies, emphasizing that their cooperation is only temporary.
• Piyu and Palm work closely together, with Piyu relying on Palm’s visions to identify the Holy Knights and track the Golden Candle Envoy.
• Piyu persuades Knov to open a spatial gate despite the danger and his exhaustion.
• Gela Jiang and Piyu exchange a brief, affectionate farewell before she leaves him to defend the breach.
• Milluki and Piyu cooperate tactically during the pursuit, with Milluki handling traps and distractions while Piyu leads the group toward the Black Gate.

Chapter Summary: Beyond the Black Gate

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu reaches the Black Gate, which is cracking and destabilizing amid explosions and falling rubble.
• A red target marker on his map indicates something twenty meters behind the gate. The marker mirrors Bai Zhu’s movements, suggesting that the entity inside can sense or track him.
• When Bai Zhu touches the gate, it forcibly drains his Reiatsu. The ancient inscriptions briefly activate, stabilizing the failing seal, but the process consumes nearly forty percent of his energy.
• Bai Zhu tests the presence behind the gate by knocking. The entity imitates his knocks, then appears to split into two overlapping targets. One marker briefly manifests at Bai Zhu’s feet before disappearing when he stomps on it.
• He concludes that the entity is not merely a relic component but an intelligent or semi-intelligent part of the Soul King’s Pen using the gate to observe the outside world.
• Bai Zhu considers cutting through the gate but receives a warning that forcing it open would release the Heterogeneous Nen Field, drain his remaining Reiatsu, and disable his Kidō, Shunpo, and Zanpakuto abilities indefinitely or for an unknown period. He abandons the idea.
• Examining the gate’s altered inscriptions, bone fragments, fungal fluid, and Artificial Nen Sigils, Bai Zhu realizes that the Creation Society converted the gate’s original sealing mechanism into a conduit. Living flesh, Nen, and fungal matter can be used to open the gate.
• He suspects that Haro’s group retained control of D1 because the fungal growths served both as experimental material and as a key to opening the Black Gate.
• The presence inside continues tracking Bai Zhu through the stone and extends a long black appendage against the inner surface, leaving a mark that causes three unfamiliar symbols in an incomplete inscription to illuminate.
• Explosions erupt near the fortress, signaling that Milluki and the others have begun their assault. Bai Zhu decides to find the Golden Candle Envoy and the acting Holy Seat, whom he believes know how to open the gate.
• As he leaves, the Golden Candle Envoy is thrown from the smoke, wounded and bleeding while clutching the cracked black box. A heartbeat-like sound comes from inside it.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu: Becomes more cautious and analytical. Although he is willing to use force, he recognizes when the risks outweigh the benefits and refuses to sacrifice his abilities by breaching the gate. He successfully deduces the gate’s biological and Nen-based opening mechanism and shifts his strategy toward finding someone who can operate it.
• The entity behind the Black Gate: Is established as responsive, observant, and potentially intelligent. It tracks Bai Zhu’s location, imitates his knocks, manipulates or projects target markers, and may be attempting to communicate through the gate’s inscriptions.
• Golden Candle Envoy: Appears seriously injured but still determined to protect or retain the black box. Her possession of the damaged box makes her central to the unfolding conflict.
• Milluki and the others: Their attack on the fortress begins offscreen, changing the situation from investigation to open confrontation.

Significant Themes

• The danger of forbidden knowledge and power: The gate’s mechanisms promise access to something powerful but exact a steep cost in Reiatsu and abilities.
• Observation and mutual surveillance: Bai Zhu studies the entity, but the entity is also studying him, creating tension over who truly controls the encounter.
• The fusion of technology, biology, and supernatural forces: Artificial Nen Sigils, fungal fluid, bone fragments, ancient inscriptions, and the Soul King’s Pen combine into an unnatural system.
• Restraint versus aggression: Bai Zhu’s decision not to attack the gate emphasizes strategic patience over reckless strength.
• Seals and boundaries: The Black Gate is both a physical barrier and a living interface between worlds, with the altered seal now guiding matter and energy rather than simply keeping them apart.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu conducts a cautious, almost conversational exchange with the unseen entity by knocking and speaking to it.
• The entity responds indirectly through imitation, movement, and the glowing inscription, suggesting communication without spoken language.
• Bai Zhu infers that the Golden Candle Envoy and the acting Holy Seat possess knowledge necessary to open the gate, linking his investigation to the wider conflict.
• The chapter ends with Bai Zhu confronting the wounded Golden Candle Envoy, setting up an imminent exchange over the cracked, heartbeat-like black box.

Chapter Summary: “I’m Here”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Golden Candle Envoy crashes near the railway tracks while carrying the cracked Black Box. Each pulse from the box widens the crack in the Black Gate and draws the Soul King’s Pen component closer.
• Despite suffering a massive abdominal wound, the Golden Candle Envoy remains functional and attempts to drag the Black Box to the Black Gate.
• Gela Jiang and Milluki pursue her. Gela uses water cords to restrain her, but the Envoy repeatedly shifts her position through a spatial-distortion ability, making her extremely difficult to capture.
• Bai Zhu uses Hadō #12: Fushibi to expand his sensory perception across the fortress. He identifies that the Envoy’s ability alters the positions of both herself and incoming attacks.
• Gela changes tactics, spreading water attacks from multiple angles, but the Envoy continues slipping through gaps in space.
• Elsewhere, Knov and Piyu battle the Holy Seat Proxy, a massive fungal creature assembled from multiple bodies. Piyu attacks it physically while Knov uses spatial lines to sever its limbs and flesh.
• The Holy Seat Proxy regenerates rapidly, producing new limbs and repeatedly relocating its core within its body. Milluki uses Mechanical Flying Insects to detect its heat sources and help Knov target the core.
• Knov eventually cuts deeply through the monster’s chest, but it survives and continues regenerating. His exhaustion becomes increasingly apparent.
• The Golden Candle Envoy extracts a blood-like thread from her abdominal wound and connects it to the Black Box and the Black Gate. The Soul King’s Pen component is pulled sharply toward the gate.
• A human face begins forming on the surface of the Black Box, suggesting that something inside is awakening or emerging.
• Bai Zhu kills a Fungalized Orc blocking his path and charges toward the Golden Candle Envoy, declaring, “I’m here!”
• As he reaches her, the Black Box pulses violently. Its crack widens, and a black spike thrusts outward toward Bai Zhu, ending the chapter on a cliffhanger.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu: Demonstrates improved combat awareness and tactical perception through Fushibi. He quickly deduces the Envoy’s spatial ability, coordinates indirectly with the others, and personally rushes to intercept her when the situation reaches a critical point. His declaration signals a decisive commitment to stopping her.
• Golden Candle Envoy: Reveals extraordinary endurance and pain tolerance. Her ability to manipulate spatial positions makes her elusive, while her willingness to dig into her own wound and use her blood-thread connection shows both desperation and determination. She appears to be acting as a conduit or controller for the Black Box.
• Gela Jiang: Adapts quickly after learning how the Envoy’s ability works, changing from direct restraints to multi-directional attacks. Although frustrated, she remains focused on preventing the Box from reaching the gate.
• Milluki: Supports the battle through technological surveillance and heat detection. His coordination helps Knov locate the Holy Seat Proxy’s shifting core, though his sarcastic exchanges show his growing stress.
• Knov: Displays powerful and precise spatial combat abilities, repeatedly dismembering the Holy Seat Proxy. However, the amplified energy consumption caused by the Heterogeneous Nen Field is visibly exhausting him.
• Piyu: Continues acting as Knov’s close-range partner, using speed and physical attacks to disrupt the Proxy and create openings.
• Holy Seat Proxy: Is established as a highly resilient, constantly regenerating enemy whose mobile core makes it difficult to kill permanently.

Significant Themes

• Persistence despite injury: The Golden Candle Envoy’s continued movement despite her devastating wound emphasizes the chapter’s focus on unnatural endurance and unwavering purpose.
• Spatial control and instability: The Envoy’s shifting body, Knov’s cutting portals, and the Black Gate’s widening crack all reinforce the theme of space being manipulated and destabilized.
• Escalating danger: The pulsing Black Box, the emerging face, and the approaching Soul King’s Pen component suggest that the conflict is moving toward a major supernatural breakthrough.
• Teamwork under pressure: The characters combine perception, technology, water manipulation, spatial techniques, and physical combat to address multiple threats at once.
• Regeneration versus exhaustion: The Holy Seat Proxy’s limitless recovery contrasts with Knov’s steadily diminishing stamina, highlighting the cost of prolonged combat.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu warns Gela Jiang about the Envoy’s ability, allowing Gela to alter her attack strategy.
• Milluki repeatedly directs the group’s priorities, stressing that stopping the Black Box is more important than simply capturing the Envoy.
• Knov and Piyu coordinate closely, with Piyu distracting and injuring the Proxy while Knov delivers precise spatial cuts.
• Milluki’s Mechanical Flying Insects provide Knov with the heat-source information needed to track the Proxy’s moving core.
• The Golden Candle Envoy’s final confrontation with Bai Zhu becomes the chapter’s central interaction: just as he reaches her, the Black Box itself reacts and attacks him.

Chapter Summary: “Why Did You Have to Be a Blood Person?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu intervenes when the Black Box releases black spikes, shielding the Golden Candle Envoy and using Bakudō No. 30: Sanku to pin the box shut with three golden nails.
• Gela Jiang attacks the Golden Candle Envoy with a water trident, but her mysterious defensive ability alters the direction of incoming attacks, causing the strike to miss her vital organs.
• Bai Zhu realizes that her power does not block attacks outright; it distorts their trajectories within a limited range. He exploits this by delivering a powerful downward strike with Hozukimaru.
• The blow appears devastating, cutting through her body and armor. However, the Envoy’s body collapses into an empty skin husk, revealing that she is actually a humanoid mass of blood containing a rotating bone core.
• The blood-bodied Envoy breaks free from Sanku, grabs the Black Box, and races toward the Black Gate. Even when Bai Zhu cuts her in half, the separated blood reunites.
• Gela Jiang discovers that his ability cannot directly affect the blood of a living person, but because the Envoy has become nothing but blood, he can manipulate her body using surrounding wastewater, droplets, and spilled blood.
• Working together, Gela restrains the blood person while Bai Zhu once again uses Sanku to pin the Black Box down.
• At the same time, the Holy See Proxy breaks through the final spatial barrier and continues attacking Knov and the others. Piyu intercepts it, stepping onto its reaching arm as the chapter ends.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu demonstrates tactical insight by identifying the limits of the Golden Candle Envoy’s spatial-deflection ability and adapting his attacks accordingly. He remains focused on preventing her from escaping with the Black Box.
• Gela Jiang shifts from frustration to confidence after realizing that the Envoy’s transformation makes her vulnerable to his water-manipulation powers. His remark about her becoming “nothing but a puddle of water” highlights both his humor and his determination.
• The Golden Candle Envoy is revealed to be far more abnormal than she initially appeared. Her humanoid form is only an outer shell, while her true body is blood animated or controlled by a bone core.
• Knov is visibly exhausted and injured from repeatedly containing the Holy See Proxy, though his regenerative mycelium continues reconstructing his body.
• Piyu remains protective and decisive, physically stepping in to defend Knov.
• The Holy See Proxy continues regenerating and pressing forward despite repeated attacks, establishing it as a persistent threat.

Significant Themes

• Adaptation and tactical cooperation: Bai Zhu and Gela succeed by combining their abilities and exploiting the Envoy’s weaknesses rather than relying on raw strength.
• The instability of identity and physical form: The Golden Candle Envoy’s apparent body is revealed to be disposable, emphasizing the chapter’s imagery of bodies as shells and blood as the true self.
• Power limitations and loopholes: Gela’s inability to manipulate living blood becomes an advantage once the Envoy is no longer technically alive in a normal human sense.
• Persistence and regeneration: Both the blood person and the Holy See Proxy repeatedly recover from devastating injuries, turning the conflict into a struggle of containment and endurance.
• The danger of the Black Box: Despite being repeatedly restrained, the box remains the central objective and appears to be the source of the Envoy’s urgency and power.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Gela Jiang coordinate their attacks, with Bai Zhu immobilizing the Black Box while Gela targets and restrains the Envoy.
• Gela’s surprise and laughter at the Envoy’s true nature lead directly to his realization that he can control her blood-based body.
• Bai Zhu and Gela communicate mostly through timing and exchanged glances, showing their growing combat cooperation.
• Knov’s struggle with the Holy See Proxy prompts Piyu to intervene, reinforcing her role as his protector.
• The chapter ends with the two conflicts converging: Bai Zhu and Gela contain the Golden Candle Envoy, while Piyu and Knov face the advancing Holy See Proxy.

Chapter Summary: “Hanging the Pope from His Belt”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu arrives to confront the Holy Seat Proxy, a massive fungal creature composed of mycelia, bone, and embedded human faces.
• Piyu and Milluki determine that the central pope’s face is the creature’s true body or contains part of the pope’s consciousness. They warn Bai Zhu not to touch it because it may still contain Post-Mortem Nen.
• The Holy Seat Proxy launches a barrage of fungal spears, but Bai Zhu’s Reiatsu protects him. He counters with rapid Shunpo movements and precise Zanpakuto strikes.
• Bai Zhu repeatedly attacks the Proxy’s blind spots, cutting off its limbs, severing its regenerative tissue, and preventing its human faces and fungal flesh from reconnecting.
• The creature’s regeneration progressively weakens. Its hidden bony core attempts to evade Bai Zhu, but he continues dismantling the body layer by layer.
• After an extended assault, Bai Zhu delivers a final two-handed strike that shatters the core. The remaining fungal body collapses, leaving only the pope’s head intact.
• The pope’s head confirms that it can understand Bai Zhu by blinking. Bai Zhu binds it with Bakudō and ties it to his belt.
• When fungal threads attempt to parasitize Bai Zhu and possibly self-destruct, he seals the head with Hadō #96: Ittō Kasō.
• Bai Zhu decides to keep the pope alive as a guide to the mysterious Black Gate, reasoning that the pope and the Golden Candle Envoy both fled there and therefore know how it can be opened.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu demonstrates overwhelming combat skill, combining Reiatsu defense, Shunpo, swordsmanship, and precise spellcasting. He remains calm and methodical even while fighting a monstrous opponent.
• His pragmatism and ruthlessness become especially clear when he refuses to kill the pope immediately, instead preserving the head as a source of information.
• Piyu acts as the cautious and analytical observer, identifying the pope’s face as the likely true consciousness and warning Bai Zhu about Post-Mortem Nen.
• Milluki continues to provide technical support through his terminal and mechanical insects. His dark humor contrasts with the horror of the situation, though he becomes unsettled by Bai Zhu’s treatment of the severed head.
• Knov is exhausted from the earlier battle and withdraws, recognizing that Bai Zhu is better suited to finish the fight.

Significant Themes

• Pragmatism over morality: Bai Zhu treats the pope’s severed head as a tool rather than a person, prioritizing information about the Black Gate over mercy.
• The persistence of consciousness: The pope’s face retains awareness despite the destruction of its body, raising questions about identity, remnants of consciousness, and Post-Mortem Nen.
• Control versus regeneration: Bai Zhu defeats the Proxy by constantly interrupting its ability to regenerate and reunite its parts, emphasizing precision and discipline against uncontrolled growth.
• Horror and dark humor: The grotesque fungal body, embedded faces, and parasitic attacks are balanced by Milluki’s sarcastic remarks and Bai Zhu’s casual “trophy” treatment of the head.
• The mystery of the Black Gate: The destroyed Proxy and the Golden Candle Envoy are linked to the gate, suggesting that the pope may hold essential knowledge about accessing it.

Character Interactions

• Piyu warns Bai Zhu not to touch the pope’s face, but he has already engaged the creature.
• Milluki and Piyu exchange sarcastic remarks about the lack of music for Bai Zhu’s dramatic battle.
• Bai Zhu and the pope interact directly after the fight: he tests whether it understands him, restrains it, seals its attempted attack, and explains why he intends to keep it alive.
• Milluki is disturbed by Bai Zhu’s behavior, while Piyu questions whether the pope should simply be killed. Bai Zhu rejects both concerns, viewing the head as a useful guide.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Zhu’s group finishes defeating the acting Holy See’s fungal manifestation. The fortress is collapsing as Orcs continue breaking through its walls, and Gela Jiang’s water barrier is weakening.
• The Golden Candle Envoy’s remaining form—a blood mass surrounding a rotating bony core—is still trying to escape through cracks in the Black Gate tracks. Gela Jiang struggles to contain it with water.
• Bai Zhu, Gela Jiang, and Knov work together to trap the blood creature in a sealed medicine jar. Bai Zhu reinforces the jar with the sealing technique Ninety-Six: Ittō Kasō, suppressing the creature and preventing it from escaping.
• Knov stores the sealed jar in his dimensional ability so it can be taken back to the Hunter Association for study.
• Bai Zhu heals Gela Jiang’s wounds and fatigue with Reiatsu, leading to lighthearted banter about Bai Zhu opening an expensive illegal clinic.
• Bai Zhu retrieves the Black Box from the Black Gate platform. The Pope’s severed head reveals that the Black Gate was not the true entrance; the actual “door” is inside the Black Box.
• The Pope’s cryptic explanation causes confusion and frustration. Milluki repeatedly slaps the head to force a clearer explanation, while Bai Zhu demands to know how the box can be opened.
• Before the group can obtain further information, the fortress suffers another collapse. The Orcs have reached the perimeter, leaving the group only moments to act.
• Bai Zhu takes the Black Box and leads everyone onto the transport tracks, deciding that they must proceed immediately.

Character Developments

• Bai Zhu demonstrates decisive leadership, combining physical force, sealing techniques, and healing abilities. He remains pragmatic and composed despite the deteriorating situation, while also showing a ruthless willingness to intimidate the Pope’s head.
• Gela Jiang is shown pushing his abilities to their limit to restrain the blood creature. His exhaustion and injuries emphasize his determination and reliability as a teammate.
• Knov contributes essential support by creating portals to assist with containment and storing the dangerous jar safely.
• Milluki continues his blunt, aggressive, and comedic approach to interrogation, becoming impatient with the Pope’s evasive speech.
• Piyu acts as the group’s voice of restraint, recognizing that Bai Zhu and Milluki’s shared tactics are excessive and counterproductive.
• The Pope’s head remains frightened and uncooperative, but finally reveals a crucial clue about the Black Box, suggesting that it contains the true entrance.

Significant Themes

• Cooperation under pressure: The group combines different abilities—water manipulation, sealing, dimensional storage, healing, and physical strength—to contain the blood creature.
• Time and impending collapse: The failing fortress creates urgency, forcing the characters to act before they can fully investigate the Black Box.
• Hidden truths and deceptive appearances: The Black Gate appears to be the entrance, but the Pope reveals that the real door is concealed inside the Black Box.
• Humor amid danger: Milluki’s slaps, the Pope’s frightened reactions, and the banter between Bai Zhu and Gela Jiang provide comic relief during a life-threatening crisis.
• Control versus escape: The blood creature’s constant attempts to infiltrate cracks contrast with the group’s increasingly elaborate efforts to seal and contain it.

Character Interactions

• Bai Zhu and Gela Jiang coordinate closely to capture the blood creature, with Bai Zhu creating an opening and Gela Jiang forcing it into the jar.
• Bai Zhu heals Gela Jiang, and the two exchange friendly sarcasm about medical treatment and payment.
• Milluki interrogates the Pope’s head through repeated slaps, while Bai Zhu intensifies the questioning by demanding practical instructions for opening the Black Box.
• Piyu criticizes Bai Zhu and Milluki’s shared tendency toward unnecessary intimidation.
• Knov provides logistical support and urges the team to move when the fortress begins to collapse, prompting Bai Zhu to lead the group onward.