Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Monsters Really Can Be Eaten”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin and Big Black discuss the crashed spaceship and Big Black’s eventual departure from Fu Junlin’s body.
• Fu Junlin privately admits that, despite initially fearing possession, he has become attached to Big Black and does not truly want him to leave.
• Big Black explains that he cannot leave safely until Fu Junlin unlocks at least 30% of his Gene Locks and they collect genetic material to construct a new body. A careless transfer could destroy Big Black’s soul.
• They plan a journey to the spaceship’s crash site, located roughly eighty or ninety Arena Zones away. Fu Junlin rejects taking the shorter route through the Wilderness Arena because it is currently under a teleportation ban and would be illegal and dangerous.
• Fu Junlin begins another livestream from a small Arena Zone near the Wilderness Arena. Big Black takes control of his body and adopts exaggerated livestreamer slang, entertaining and confusing the audience.
• Five terrifying, mantis-like New-Type Monsters attack. Big Black easily kills them, including a Level-Four Blue-Blood Monster, with overwhelming punches.
• Afterward, Big Black uses Biological Vision to discover that the monsters’ tongues contain a highly nutritious muscle capable of rapidly restoring Palm Energy and aiding Gene Lock progression.
• Ignoring Fu Junlin’s horrified objections, Big Black tears out and eats part of the monster’s tongue raw on camera, shocking and disgusting the livestream audience.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: His feelings toward Big Black become clearer. He has moved from fear and resentment to emotional dependence and attachment, even feeling relieved when Big Black explains that leaving will not happen soon. He remains cautious and practical, refusing to illegally enter the Wilderness Arena.
• Big Black: He reveals more about his condition and survival requirements, unintentionally weakening his bargaining position. He also demonstrates immense combat strength, scientific curiosity, shameless confidence, and a talent for entertaining an audience. His willingness to eat monster flesh shows his unconventional approach to survival and experimentation.
• Their relationship: Their constant insults conceal growing trust and companionship. Fu Junlin wants to appear annoyed, but his jealousy and relief reveal that he does not want to lose Big Black.

Significant Themes

• Attachment and reluctant companionship: Fu Junlin’s fear of possession gradually gives way to dependence and affection.
• Freedom versus dependence: Big Black’s existence inside Fu Junlin’s body resembles imprisonment, while leaving requires cooperation, time, and biological preparation.
• Survival through adaptation: Big Black challenges accepted assumptions about monsters by identifying edible and beneficial parts of their bodies.
• Public performance and humor: The livestream turns deadly combat and grotesque discoveries into entertainment, contrasting the audience’s horror with Big Black’s casual presentation.
• The unknown nature of monsters: The discovery that monster tissue can restore energy suggests that humans may misunderstand the creatures and their potential uses.

Character Interactions

• Fu Junlin and Big Black argue over the spaceship journey, Big Black’s departure, and the dangers of the route.
• Their banter includes joking blessings and insults, highlighting their increasingly familiar dynamic.
• Big Black performs for the livestream audience while Fu Junlin internally objects to his behavior.
• The audience reacts with disbelief and disgust as Big Black effortlessly kills monsters and then eats their raw flesh, creating a humorous contrast between his confidence and everyone else’s revulsion.

Chapter Summary: “Disaster Strikes, and the Video Becomes a Curse”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Big Black continues eating raw monster flesh, horrifying Fu Junlin and the livestream audience. Fu worries that consuming infected meat could cause Secondary Energy Infection.
• Using Biological Vision, Fu discovers that the base of one monster’s tongue contains unusual hyperactive cells that actively destroy infected cells. This suggests that certain monster tissues may be capable of curing or resisting Secondary Energy Infection.
• Fu stops Big Black from eating the meat and orders him to collect samples for research. When they examine other monsters, they find similar uninfected, infection-purifying tissue in varying locations, such as the armpit, neck, heart, and back.
• Fu realizes that nearly every monster possesses one such area, possibly a mutation connected to their survival or growth. He gathers the samples, hoping they may provide a cure for the hundreds of thousands suffering from Secondary Energy Infection in the Red Carpet District.
• More than twenty mantis-like monsters attack, and Big Black charges into the horde, telling Fu to watch and learn as he prepares to fight them.
• Meanwhile, in a slum warehouse, Feng Kele plays a homemade game console with his friend Chen Dongdong. They discuss Fu Junting’s brother, Fu Junlin, and how he retaliated against Di Yunfei for bullying Junting.
• Chen explains that Fu Junlin has evidence of Di Yunfei’s father’s crimes and used it to intimidate the family, preventing further retaliation. Feng admires Fu Junlin’s courage but is frustrated that he could not openly expose Di Yunfei’s father.
• Feng then reveals a video showing a masked man marked with the character for “Subspecies” murdering two people in the street, implying that a powerful and dangerous Subspecies may be active in the district.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: Shifts from disgust and panic to scientific curiosity when he recognizes that the monsters’ bodies may contain a cure for Secondary Energy Infection. His priorities become focused on collecting and preserving the tissue for research.
• Big Black: Remains frighteningly casual about eating raw flesh and blood. He shows confidence in his abilities and immediately responds to the new monster threat by attacking it head-on.
• Feng Kele: Reveals strong admiration for Fu Junlin and a deep desire to become powerful enough to protect himself and challenge Superior Humans. His hatred of oppression and bullying becomes more apparent.
• Chen Dongdong: Acts as Feng’s practical and protective friend. He encourages Feng to associate with Fu Junting for safety but remains skeptical that Subspecies can truly become heroes.
• Fu Junting and Fu Junlin: Although Fu Junting does not appear directly, his relationship with his brother is shown as important. Fu Junlin’s intervention has successfully protected him from Di Yunfei’s bullying.

Significant Themes

• Potential salvation within monstrosity: The monsters, normally viewed as dangerous carriers of disease, may contain the key to curing the infection devastating human society.
• Fear versus scientific hope: Fu’s initial revulsion contrasts with his willingness to study the flesh once he recognizes its medical importance.
• Powerlessness under social inequality: The discussion of Di Yunfei’s family shows how ordinary people and Subspecies are vulnerable to Superior Humans, who can abuse their power with little fear of consequences.
• Heroism and resistance: Feng longs for a Subspecies hero, while Fu Junlin’s actions demonstrate a quieter form of resistance—protecting family and using leverage against the powerful.
• Dangerous information: The video of the masked killer may become a curse because possessing or sharing evidence of the Subspecies could bring serious danger to Feng and those around him.

Character Interactions

• Fu Junlin repeatedly argues with Big Black over eating the potentially curative meat, eventually ordering him to collect samples instead.
• Big Black teases Fu about his disgust and then obeys by cutting tissue from another monster.
• Fu and Big Black cooperate through Biological Vision, combining Big Black’s physical strength with Fu’s analytical judgment.
• Feng and Chen discuss Fu Junlin’s retaliation against Di Yunfei, revealing their admiration, skepticism, and concern about the limits faced by Subspecies.
• Feng shares the incriminating video with Chen, setting up a potentially dangerous development involving the masked Subspecies killer.

Chapter Summary: “Healing Medicine Experiment, Hope for a Turnaround”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Dongdong and Feng Kele watch a secret video showing a masked Subspecies killing two Superior Humans who were assaulting two women. The man defeats them effortlessly, smashing their shields with his fists.
• The boys are thrilled by the masked man’s resistance to Superior Humans. They discuss how witnesses falsely reported seeing a scorpion on his mask, realizing that people deliberately coordinated their testimony to protect his identity.
• Feng Kele reluctantly sends Chen the video after making him promise to keep it secret. Chen later shows it to his cousin, beginning the spread of the footage.
• Meanwhile, Fu Junlin completes four Arena Zones while streaming. He is exhausted because he has been fighting while carrying heavy weights, though he encounters only Blue-Blood Monsters and no Elite Monsters.
• Fu Junlin suspects the Arena Zone is connected to the neighboring Wilderness Arena because of a strange force field near the dividing wall.
• After the stream, Fu Junlin receives over twenty-two thousand from Fat Tiger, including his share of viewer gifts and advertising revenue. Fat Tiger offers him a generous split, confident that Fu Junlin’s popularity will grow.
• Fu Junlin agrees to continue streaming occasionally but avoids doing so every day to protect his identity and maintain his normal school life.
• Still wearing the Silent One Mask, Fu Junlin visits the impoverished Red Carpet District. He finds a dying girl and her severely infected younger sister living with their grieving mother.
• Believing Blue-Blood Monster meat may help cure Secondary Energy Infection, Fu Junlin feeds the family small portions of raw Mantis Blue-Blood Monster meat. He warns them not to eat too much and promises to return.
• He chooses not to give them money because the surrounding homeless people might become desperate or violent. Instead, he leaves after witnessing the mother’s gratitude.

Character Developments

• Chen Dongdong and Feng Kele: Their admiration for the masked Subspecies grows into a sense of solidarity and hope. They recognize the injustice faced by Subspecies and become willing to protect the masked man’s secret.
• Fu Junlin: He becomes more confident as both a fighter and an emerging streamer, earning significant money from his first broadcast. However, his visit to the Red Carpet District reveals his compassion and growing sense of responsibility toward other Subspecies. He also begins testing whether monster meat can heal Secondary Energy Infection.
• Fat Tiger: He proves himself a supportive business partner by giving Fu Junlin a favorable share of the stream’s earnings. His encouragement reflects his belief in Fu Junlin’s future success.
• The mother and daughters: Their suffering illustrates the devastating effects of poverty and Secondary Energy Infection. The younger girl’s innocence and hunger contrast sharply with the hopelessness surrounding her family.

Significant Themes

• Resistance and solidarity: The coordinated false reports about the mask show that ordinary people can quietly protect those who challenge oppression.
• Class and species inequality: Superior Humans abuse their power, while Subspecies are treated as disposable and forced to live in terrible conditions.
• Hope through action: Fu Junlin does not merely sympathize with the infected family; he takes a risk by testing the healing potential of monster meat.
• Public identity versus secret identity: Fu Junlin’s growing fame creates opportunities but also increases the danger of revealing who he really is.
• Poverty and desperation: The Red Carpet District exposes the harsh reality of people who lack food, medicine, shelter, and protection.
• Compassion with caution: Fu Junlin wants to help, but he understands that charity can create unintended danger, especially among starving and desperate people.

Important Character Interactions

• Chen and Feng bond over their shared admiration for the masked Subspecies and negotiate the secrecy of the video.
• Fu Junlin and Fat Tiger establish a stronger professional partnership while discussing payment and future streams.
• Fu Junlin interacts compassionately with the mother and her daughters, feeding them monster meat and offering them the possibility of recovery.
• The surrounding homeless people silently watch Fu Junlin, revealing both their desperation and their interest in the possible medicine.

Chapter Summary

• Plot and events: After returning home, Fu Junlin remains troubled by the death of a Subspecies child and the desperate poverty surrounding him. He reflects on the Subspecies’ suffering and frustration at their unwillingness to unite or resist their oppression. He then resumes experimenting with the mysterious cells found in the meat, naming them “Mysterious White Blood Cells.” Hoping they can purify contaminated water, he extracts them and places them in water infected with various viruses.
• Scientific experiment: The cells immediately attack the viruses, but their apparent strength proves misleading. They are instantly overwhelmed by the T Virus, fail to contain the Z Virus, and are devoured by a Flower-Drum Parasite. Fu Junlin tries increasing their numbers and feeding them weaker viruses first, but neither approach improves their combat ability. After more than three hours, he remains unable to determine how to strengthen them or make them effective against powerful pathogens.
• Character development: Fu Junlin’s compassion for the Subspecies becomes clearer, as does his desire to help them through scientific research rather than charity that might endanger them. His persistence and analytical nature are contrasted with his growing irritation when the experiment fails. His younger brother, Fu Junting, is shown to be curious and enthusiastic about science but completely inexperienced and careless with laboratory equipment.
• Character interactions: During dinner, their mother, Yao Jinying, gently reminds Fu Junlin to eat. He then invites Fu Junting to study the laboratory materials, hoping the boy’s actions might inspire a new insight. Instead, Fu Junting makes a mess, spills samples, knocks over the microscope, and breaks or scatters equipment. Yao Jinying quietly helps clean, while Fu Junlin responds with striking calm, continuing to eat and watch the destruction unfold.
• Themes: The chapter explores compassion amid social injustice, the limits of scientific power, persistence in the face of failure, and the contrast between serious research and chaotic family life. It also uses humor to relieve the darker subject matter, particularly through Fu Junting’s disastrous “experiment” and Fu Junlin’s resigned reaction.

Chapter Summary: “Purifying Water to Feed the Masses”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yao Jinying accidentally throws a blood-soaked rag onto a petri dish while scolding Fu Junting. Fu Junting’s dandruff then falls into the dish, causing its contents to react violently.
• When Fu Junting drops the petri dish into infected water, the water turns red, boils without producing steam, and eventually becomes perfectly clear. A layer of pale sediment settles at the bottom.
• Fu Junlin investigates using Biological Vision and discovers that the sediment consists of dead Mysterious White Blood Cells. These cells consumed and neutralized the water’s viruses, leaving behind harmless remains.
• Fu Junlin recreates the process:
  • Mysterious White Blood Cells consume the Blue-Blood Monster’s blood virus, becoming larger, red, and more active.
  • They consume keratin from dandruff and use its oils to form protective armor.
  • Once placed in infected water, they devour the viruses and purify the water.
• The purification process has limits. The cells can consume only a finite amount of infection before becoming inactive and dying. A fist-sized piece of Blue-Blood Monster meat can purify roughly ten kilograms of water.
• Fu Junlin decides not to sell the purified water. It is a valuable commodity controlled by powerful interests, and exposing his ability could put him and his family in danger. He also realizes that he needs a much larger supply of uninfected meat.
• The next morning, Fu Junlin arrives at school and finds students gathered around the field. A teacher-led pioneer team has encountered trouble in the Wilderness Arena.
• The Arena Zone has imposed a second restriction: Level Four combatants may enter only one at a time, meaning only Level Three teams can operate there. With external battles intensifying and pioneer teams becoming scarce, the school’s teachers have been forced to participate.
• Fu Junlin learns that Teacher Shi is currently inside the dangerous zone.

Character Development

• Fu Junlin demonstrates scientific curiosity, careful observation, and strategic thinking. He quickly understands the purification mechanism and recognizes both its potential value and its dangers.
• His cautious nature becomes more pronounced. Rather than exploit purified water for profit, he prioritizes secrecy and family safety.
• Fu Junlin also begins recognizing the practical limitations of his abilities, particularly the need for large quantities of uninfected meat.
• Fu Junting unintentionally contributes to the discovery through his dandruff, though he remains a source of comic relief and embarrassment.
• Yao Jinying is involved in the accidental experiment but does not understand its significance.
• Qiao Zishu provides Fu Junlin with information about the crisis at school and the worsening situation in the Wilderness Arena.
• Teacher Shi is established as being directly endangered, creating a new source of tension.

Significant Themes

• Scientific discovery through accident: A seemingly meaningless household mishap reveals a major biological process.
• Potential versus limitation: Purified water could be extremely valuable, but the limited capacity of the Mysterious White Blood Cells prevents mass production.
• Secrecy and survival: Fu Junlin understands that possessing a rare resource can be more dangerous than beneficial if powerful organizations discover it.
• Family and hidden burdens: Although the discovery involves Fu Junlin’s family, he chooses to conceal its true importance to protect them.
• Escalating danger: The restrictive rules of the Wilderness Arena and the shortage of pioneer teams emphasize how unstable and threatening the wider world has become.

Character Interactions

• Yao Jinying scolds and strikes Fu Junting, inadvertently causing the chain of events that leads to the purification discovery.
• Fu Junting’s accidental actions initially frighten him but ultimately help reveal the water-purifying reaction.
• Fu Junlin questions his mother about the blood on the rag and confirms the experimental sequence.
• Fu Junlin silently distances himself from his family afterward, already deciding to hide the purified water’s true nature.
• At school, Qiao Zishu explains the situation in the Wilderness Arena, while Fu Junlin reacts with concern and analyzes the implications of the new restriction.

Chapter Summary: Stealth Squad Strikes Again

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin learns that the teachers’ squad trapped in the Wilderness Arena includes Shi Hongyu, causing him immediate anxiety. He discovers that Shi has secretly advanced from Level-Two Master to Level-Three Elite, likely spending all her savings because her Secondary Energy Infection has limited her remaining lifespan.
• Liu Zhiyin summons Fu Junlin and the other Stealth Squad members, Kong Yiming and himself, to an emergency briefing.
• A teachers’ squad is trapped in an area with zero Teleportation Intensity, meaning ordinary teleportation back to the city would kill them. Their only escape is through a special Teleporter, but they first need Energy Crystal Blocks to power it.
• The Stealth Squad is reactivated and assigned to deliver the supplies. They load hundreds of Energy Crystal Blocks into their professional belts and receive radar devices to locate the trapped teachers.
• After entering the Wilderness Arena through the special Teleporter, Liu Zhiyin directs the team toward the teachers’ location. They spread out in a forward-pointing formation to avoid being ambushed together while still supporting one another.
• Fu Junlin leads the advance with the Inverse Walker scouting ahead. He moves at an astonishing speed, leaping across ravines and racing through exposed terrain despite the danger.
• Students watching the rescue are shocked by Fu Junlin’s recklessness, while Qiao Zishu passionately encourages him. The school leaders are also surprised by his speed and physical ability.
• The chapter ends with the leaders debating whether Subspecies students’ innate physical advantages have been underestimated. The supervising director watches Fu Junlin’s performance with particular interest.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: His concern for Shi Hongyu reveals a strong emotional attachment and sense of responsibility. He acts decisively and fearlessly, prioritizing speed over caution during the rescue. His extraordinary physical strength, stamina, speed, and poison resistance become increasingly apparent.
• Shi Hongyu: Her advancement to Level-Three Elite is revealed, along with the hidden burden of her Secondary Energy Infection. Her decision to continue fighting despite her shortened lifespan adds a tragic and self-sacrificing dimension to her character.
• Liu Zhiyin: Demonstrates leadership and tactical skill by rapidly organizing the squad’s formation and assigning Fu Junlin to lead.
• Kong Yiming: Follows Fu Junlin’s dangerous pace despite not fully understanding it, showing trust in his teammate.
• Qiao Zishu: Her emotional reaction shows growing concern and faith in Fu Junlin, whom she believes will successfully complete the mission.
• School leaders and teachers: Begin reconsidering their assumptions about Subspecies students, particularly their potential physical advantages.

Significant Themes

• Sacrifice and limited time: Shi Hongyu’s illness and decision to keep fighting emphasize the value of using one’s remaining time to help others.
• Loyalty and emotional bonds: Fu Junlin’s response to Shi’s danger contrasts with the detached reactions of many students, showing that personal connections create courage and urgency.
• Risk versus responsibility: The rescue requires the Stealth Squad to act quickly despite the possibility of ambush, with Fu Junlin embodying the dangerous necessity of decisive action.
• Unrecognized potential: Fu Junlin’s performance challenges the school’s understanding of Subspecies abilities and suggests that their physical gifts may make them a powerful but overlooked force.
• Teamwork and trust: The squad relies on coordinated spacing, shared support, and confidence in Fu Junlin’s judgment despite his unconventional tactics.

Important Character Interactions

• Fu Junlin questions Qiao Zishu about Shi Hongyu and reacts strongly to the revelation of Shi’s advancement and illness.
• Liu Zhiyin gives Fu Junlin and Kong Yiming their emergency orders and organizes their rescue strategy.
• The three squad members cooperate smoothly, with Liu and Kong trusting Fu Junlin to lead even when he takes dangerous shortcuts.
• Qiao Zishu openly cheers for Fu Junlin from the observation area.
• The school leaders debate Fu Junlin’s abilities and whether Subspecies students should receive greater recognition and training.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin, Liu Zhiyin, and Kong Yiming reach a cliff overlooking the valley where their teachers’ group is located.
• Realizing monsters must be nearby, Liu Zhiyin proposes a coordinated stealth attack: he will use Ultra-Energy Control to immobilize any monster while the others kill it quickly.
• The trio silently descends the cliff, with Liu using his ability to soften each landing and prevent noise.
• They encounter a horrifying, heavily mutated three-armed, five-eyed Werewolf. Its uncertain traits suggest it may be a Level Four Elite, Blue-Blood, or even Boss-class monster.
• One of the monster’s external eyes detects them, forcing the group to attack immediately.
• Liu successfully restrains the Werewolf with Ultra-Energy Control, though it nearly breaks free.
• Kong Yiming unleashes a fully charged vibration strike, cleaving the monster in half in one blow.
• The group immediately hides when another Werewolf appears nearby. After confirming it has not detected them, they drag away the corpse and use deodorizer to suppress its scent.
• Continuing cautiously, they reach a massive tree that appears to be the location of the missing teachers.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin demonstrates exceptional speed and control of Inverse Walker, but also becomes more cautious after seeing the mutated monster.
• Liu Zhiyin acts as the tactical leader, prioritizing stealth, coordinating the attack, and expending a significant portion of his energy to immobilize the Werewolf.
• Kong Yiming initially jokes despite the danger, but quickly becomes tense and focused. His charged sword technique proves powerful enough to kill the monster instantly.
• The trio shows strong combat coordination, reacting together to Liu’s commands and synchronizing their movements to avoid detection.

Significant Themes

• Teamwork and coordination: Their survival depends on combining Liu’s restraint ability with Fu Junlin and Kong Yiming’s offensive power.
• Stealth versus brute force: Although the group is capable of killing powerful monsters, the presence of additional enemies forces them to remain quiet and concealed.
• Uncertainty and hidden danger: The Werewolf’s bizarre mutations make its classification unclear, emphasizing that appearances and established power rankings cannot always be trusted.
• Preparation and adaptability: The team uses careful planning, controlled movement, charged attacks, and deodorizer to manage every stage of the encounter.

Character Interactions

• Liu reprimands Kong’s joking attitude through a stern look, reinforcing the seriousness of the mission.
• Liu gives the others a clear battle strategy, and both Fu and Kong immediately acknowledge it.
• Kong warns the group of the approaching monster, allowing them to prepare.
• Liu’s warning enables all three to drop silently when a second monster passes nearby.
• Their synchronized actions and mutual reliance highlight their growing trust and effectiveness as a unit.

Chapter Summary: “A Leap Before Hell, Without Regret”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin, Liu Zhiyin, and Kong Yiming discover six injured teachers hiding in the branches of a giant tree, including Shi Hongyu.
• A powerful three-eyed Deformed Species emerges from the tree hollow and detects the students. Although the teachers signal them to remain hidden, the group is forced to attack when the monster notices them.
• Working together, the trio kills the monster in a silent, coordinated assault:
  • Kong Yiming distracts it.
  • Liu Zhiyin immobilizes it with energy.
  • Fu Junlin uses the Inverse Walker to crush its jaw and plants a Little Seven-Eight explosive inside its mouth.
  • The blast is contained by Liu Zhiyin’s Energy Barrier and Fu Junlin’s Ultra-Energy Control.
• The students distribute Energy Crystal Blocks to the teachers, partially restoring their Palm Energy. Their mission is declared complete, and they prepare to retreat.
• Fu Junlin notices black smoke spreading from the tree canopy, revealing that the explosion or corpse has attracted a massive horde of Deformed Species.
• Hundreds of monsters emerge from the cave and surrounding forest, forcing the group into a desperate retreat toward the cliff and Teleporter.
• Liu Zhiyin’s teacher, a Mighty Species, leads the escape and effortlessly kills monsters with a golden Superalloy sword. Other teachers use powerful abilities, including a red fire vortex, to hold back the horde.
• The three students are thrown up onto the cliff, while the teachers remain below fighting the monsters. The group begins running toward the Teleporter.
• Fu Junlin realizes Shi Hongyu is missing. He learns that she stayed behind to buy time for the others and that she had already been suffering from Secondary Energy Infection, a likely terminal condition.
• Despite the teachers’ warnings and Kong Yiming’s slap, Fu Junlin turns back. He breaks through the injured Mighty Species teacher’s attempt to stop him and leaps from the cliff into the monster horde.
• Before being swallowed by the monsters, Fu Junlin asks Big Black to take Shi Hongyu away, accepting that he may not survive.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: Demonstrates increasingly bold teamwork and combat ability, but his strongest development is emotional. His attachment to Shi Hongyu overcomes his instinct for survival, leading him to willingly return to near-certain death. His final leap shows loyalty, gratitude, and a readiness to sacrifice himself without regret.
• Liu Zhiyin: Displays strong control and tactical judgment, restraining the monster and containing the explosion. She also helps maintain the group’s survival during the retreat.
• Kong Yiming: Acts as the group’s immediate attacker and distraction fighter. His slap is a harsh but desperate attempt to snap Fu Junlin out of his shock and prevent him from throwing away his life.
• Shi Hongyu: Revealed to be suffering from Secondary Energy Infection. Despite her condition, she chooses to remain behind and sacrifice herself so the students and fellow teachers can escape.
• The teachers: Their exhaustion and injuries emphasize the severity of the battle. They protect the students despite overwhelming danger, while the Mighty Species teacher demonstrates the vast gap between an experienced powerhouse and the students’ current abilities.
• Big Black: Though wary of the danger and uncertain whether he can survive, he agrees to take responsibility for Shi Hongyu’s rescue through Fu Junlin’s body.

Significant Themes

• Sacrifice and repayment: Shi Hongyu sacrifices herself for the group, and Fu Junlin immediately chooses to risk everything to save her, creating a cycle of mutual loyalty.
• Loyalty versus survival: The chapter contrasts the rational decision to flee with Fu Junlin’s emotional refusal to abandon his teacher.
• Courage and recklessness: Fu Junlin’s action is both heroic and potentially foolish. The chapter leaves open whether true courage requires facing impossible odds or whether his decision is driven by attachment and desperation.
• The value of a life nearing its end: Shi Hongyu’s illness influences her decision to stay behind, but Fu Junlin refuses to treat her life as expendable simply because she has little time left.
• Teamwork under pressure: The students’ coordinated attack and the teachers’ combined defense show how survival depends on cooperation, tactical restraint, and sacrifice.
• The scale of danger: The sudden monster horde transforms a successful rescue mission into a mass escape, reinforcing the brutal and unpredictable nature of the world.

Important Character Interactions

• The teachers silently coordinate with the students to avoid alerting the first monster.
• Fu Junlin, Kong Yiming, and Liu Zhiyin combine their abilities to kill the three-eyed Deformed Species.
• Liu Zhiyin’s teacher protects and escorts the students, repeatedly ordering them to conserve energy and keep moving.
• Kong Yiming confronts Fu Junlin physically when he freezes after learning of Shi Hongyu’s sacrifice.
• Fu Junlin rejects the teachers’ orders and returns for Shi Hongyu, transforming the escape into a personal rescue attempt.
• Fu Junlin’s final exchange with Big Black reveals trust: he relinquishes control of his body so Big Black can save Shi Hongyu, even though doing so may result in both of them dying.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

Fu Junlin is presumed dead after being trapped among a massive swarm of man-eating Strange Species with Shi Hongyu. Although terrified, he forces himself to keep looking for Shi Hongyu rather than surrendering to panic. Liu Zhiyin, her fellow student, and their teacher escape through the expensive special Teleporter, while school officials and students watch drone footage of the monsters overrunning the area. The creatures begin pursuing the escape route and surrounding the Teleporter, but the officials hesitate to retrieve it, apparently waiting to see whether Fu and Shi have survived. When a clerk reminds the chief supervisor to recall the Teleporter, the supervisor angrily explodes at him.
Just as everyone believes Fu and Shi are lost, Cheng Xiaoyu spots movement on the surveillance screen. Fu bursts out of the mass of monsters, covered in blood and carrying someone over his shoulder—presumably Shi Hongyu. Though severely wounded and nearly falling after being slashed, he uses an acrobatic roll to regain his balance and accelerates toward safety.

Character developments

• Fu Junlin demonstrates extraordinary courage and determination, consciously confronting his fear instead of fleeing from it. His survival reveals immense endurance, desperation, and physical adaptability. Even grievously injured, he refuses to fall.
• Cheng Xiaoyu shows how deeply he cares about Fu, initially devastated by the belief that Fu has died and then becoming the first person to notice his escape.
• Qiao Zishu mourns Fu and Shi as two of her only close friends, emphasizing their emotional importance to her.
• Ling Xiaobing reacts with loud, uncontrolled grief, while Kong Yiming responds with ecstatic relief and encouragement when Fu reappears.
• The chief supervisor, normally authoritative, briefly loses control under the stress of the situation, revealing his anxiety and frustration.

Significant themes

• Facing fear rather than surrendering to it: Fu understands that giving in to terror may mean never returning, so he deliberately forces himself to confront the monsters.
• Survival and resilience: The chapter emphasizes the physical and psychological limits Fu overcomes while carrying another person through overwhelming danger.
• The contrast between spectators and participants: Many students treat the crisis as entertainment, while others experience genuine grief and fear. This highlights the distance between watching danger and living through it.
• Hope amid apparent death: The presumed deaths of Fu and Shi create despair, making Fu’s sudden return a dramatic reversal.
• Friendship and emotional bonds: The reactions of Cheng Xiaoyu, Qiao Zishu, Ling Xiaobing, Kong Yiming, and Liu Zhiyin show that Fu and Shi matter deeply to those around them.

Character interactions

Fu’s earlier handoff to Big Black reflects his attempt to manage the crisis while still forcing himself to search for Shi. Liu Zhiyin and her companions escape under their teacher’s protection, leaving Fu and Shi behind. The students react differently to the apparent tragedy—some mock Fu, some mourn, and others remain excited spectators. The chief supervisor’s confrontation with the clerk exposes tension among the officials. Finally, Cheng Xiaoyu’s alert triggers collective hope, while Kong Yiming openly celebrates and shouts encouragement as the blood-covered Fu fights his way toward escape.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin dives into a special Teleporter to reach the Arena Zone and rescue Shi Hongyu. After retrieving him, the Teleporter sends him back to the schoolyard, where he emerges gravely injured and unconscious, with both arms shattered.
• Shi Hongyu awakens in Holy Light Hospital, where a Battle Flag Crystal Block Amplifier is repairing her injuries.
• She recalls the final battle in the Arena Zone. Already infected and unwilling to endanger the escaping teachers, Shi Hongyu stays behind to hold back the Deformed Species.
• After her energy is exhausted and her shield breaks, Shi Hongyu is overwhelmed and nearly killed by the monsters.
• Fu Junlin suddenly descends through the cleared sky and attacks the horde. He tears apart a monster with his bare hands, smashes others with overwhelming punches and kicks, and shields Shi Hongyu with his own body.
• Fu Junlin carries and protects Shi Hongyu while fighting through the monster swarm. His strength appears even more astonishing because he had previously been wearing a heavy weighted strap on his wrist.
• Near the end of their escape, Fu Junlin seems to reach his limit, removes or loses the weighted strap, and eventually collapses after getting Shi Hongyu to safety.
• Shi Hongyu asks to see him, but learns that he is not at the hospital. Liang Huimin gives her a letter Fu Junlin left for her.

Character Developments

• Shi Hongyu demonstrates exceptional courage and self-sacrifice. Despite being infected and badly injured, she remains behind to protect humanity and buy time for the other teachers.
• Her near-death experience deepens her emotional response to Fu Junlin. She is profoundly affected by his protection and develops a strong sense of attachment and longing toward him.
• Fu Junlin reveals extraordinary physical power and bravery. His apparent descent “like a god” transforms him from a powerful fighter into Shi Hongyu’s savior, though the effort leaves him critically injured.
• Fu Junlin’s use of concealed weights suggests that he has been deliberately restricting his strength and may be even more powerful than others realize.
• Liang Huimin acts as Shi Hongyu’s caring friend and intermediary, comforting her and delivering Fu Junlin’s message.

Significant Themes

• Sacrifice and duty: Shi Hongyu knowingly risks her life to protect the other teachers and prevent the monsters from reaching the cliff.
• Heroic rescue and protection: Fu Junlin’s arrival presents him as a near-mythic figure who saves Shi Hongyu through overwhelming strength and self-sacrifice.
• Emotional bonds formed through crisis: Shi Hongyu’s feelings toward Fu Junlin intensify because he protects her at the moment she is most vulnerable.
• Hidden strength and restraint: Fu Junlin’s weighted strap symbolizes the power he has been suppressing, hinting at greater abilities still unrevealed.
• Hope amid catastrophe: The cleared sky and radiant light coincide with Fu Junlin’s arrival, giving Shi Hongyu a miraculous final chance to survive.

Character Interactions

• Shi Hongyu and the other teachers initially fight together, but she orders the last Mighty Species teacher to leave, choosing to remain behind.
• Fu Junlin rescues Shi Hongyu directly, physically shielding her and carrying her through the enemy horde.
• After waking, Shi Hongyu confides in Liang Huimin and asks to see Fu Junlin. Liang comforts her but explains his absence, then gives her the letter he left behind.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Shi Hongyu receives a letter from Fu Junlin while recovering in the hospital.
• In the letter, Fu tells the story of a Subspecies student who was brutally bullied at Flying Cloud Vine Academy. The student endured humiliation, physical abuse, threats, and suicidal thoughts.
• His female teacher noticed his injuries, treated him with Trauma Gel, and advised him not to expose his weaknesses. This compassion caused him to fall deeply in love with her.
• Because of the social divide between Subspecies and Superior Species, he buried his feelings, though he now hopes his teacher understands them.
• Shi realizes that the “story” is Fu’s indirect confession of love. She cries happily and repeatedly rereads the letter.
• Liang Huimin teases Shi about the letter and reveals that Fu survived catastrophic injuries, including multiple fractures, severe internal bleeding, and liver damage. Despite this, he recovered extraordinarily quickly and was discharged within a day.
• After Liang leaves, Shi embraces the letter and falls asleep smiling.
• Elsewhere, Fu is in the Arena Zone with Big Black, using his Inverse Walker to lure and attack Mantis Blue-Blood Monsters.
• Fu repeatedly throws Little Seven-Eight explosives at the monsters, weakening them before the Inverse Walker finishes them. The process is expensive but helps him recover Mysterious White Blood Cells.
• Big Black remains severely weakened from their previous battle and cannot properly control Fu’s body, meaning Fu may be unable to livestream for several days. Fu worries about losing income and followers.
• Since he cannot safely continue fighting under his former identity, Fu plans to clear several abandoned Arena Zones instead. By the end, the area is filled with monster corpses, while the exhausted Inverse Walker has nearly run out of energy.

Character Developments

• Shi Hongyu: Her emotional response shows that she understands and reciprocates—or at least deeply cherishes—Fu’s affection. She becomes possessive of the letter and is visibly comforted by it during her recovery.
• Fu Junlin: He openly communicates his long-suppressed feelings through a carefully disguised love letter. Despite serious injuries, he remains energetic, resourceful, and focused on recovering his abilities and maintaining his livelihood.
• Liang Huimin: She acts as a teasing but concerned friend. Her mockery hides genuine care, as shown by her visit and knowledge of Fu’s medical condition.
• Big Black: Still recovering from overexertion, Big Black is irritable and unable to provide full physical assistance. His argumentative exchanges with Fu also reveal their familiar, almost comedic relationship.
• The Inverse Walker: It continues to serve as Fu’s main combat tool, using speed, explosives, and close-range attacks to eliminate stronger enemies, though it becomes exhausted by the prolonged battle.

Significant Themes

• Love amid social prejudice: Fu’s feelings develop despite the rigid hierarchy separating Subspecies from Superior Species. His shame reflects how discrimination has made him view his own desires as “filthy.”
• Trauma and compassion: The teacher’s simple act of recognizing and treating Fu’s injuries becomes a defining moment in his life, showing how kindness can transform someone suffering abuse.
• Indirect communication and emotional vulnerability: Fu cannot confess directly, so he uses a fictionalized story to reveal his feelings while preserving Shi’s ability to ignore them if she chooses.
• Recovery and resilience: Both Fu and Shi are healing physically and emotionally. Fu’s miraculous survival and Shi’s joy over the letter emphasize endurance after extreme suffering.
• The cost of survival: Fu must spend large amounts of money and risk further exhaustion to recover his powers, while his inability to livestream threatens his financial stability.

Character Interactions

• Shi Hongyu and Fu Junlin: Their relationship advances through Fu’s disguised confession and Shi’s emotional acceptance of it. The letter gives her comfort and happiness while he remains unaware of her exact response.
• Shi Hongyu and Liang Huimin: Their playful quarrel combines friendship, teasing, and concern. Liang tries to read the letter, while Shi fiercely protects it.
• Fu Junlin and Big Black: They bicker over Fu’s reckless behavior, then quickly return to their familiar banter. Their exchange reflects mutual dependence despite Big Black’s frustration.
• Fu Junlin and the Inverse Walker: Fu directs the Inverse Walker’s combat strategy, using explosives to weaken monsters before allowing it to deliver the final attacks.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Over several days, Fu Junlin repeatedly enters the Arena Zone, hunting monsters and accumulating more than a hundred chunks of Purification Meat.
• Wearing the Silent One Mask, he returns to the Red Carpet District and finds the middle-aged woman and her daughter, Yaya, whom he previously helped. Their infections are cured, and Yaya’s sores have nearly disappeared.
• Fu meets Lu Eryou, a drifter who has grown close to the woman and her daughter. The other drifters jokingly tease the pair about their relationship.
• Fu asks Lu Eryou to contact Subspecies drifters suffering from Secondary Energy Infection. He offers to distribute meat to eighty or more people, while clarifying that he cannot yet treat ordinary infections.
• Lu quickly gathers a crowd, using his familiarity with the district. Within twenty minutes, more than eighty heavily infected drifters assemble in the alley.
• Fu begins distributing the Purification Meat. The recipients respond with gratitude and tears, grateful both for the possible cure and for the rare chance to eat meat.
• During the distribution, Fu receives a call from his teacher, Shangguan Mengzhi, who asks him to return to school and join an important research project. Fu agrees but is puzzled by the seemingly preferential invitation.
• Fu leaves Lu in charge of distributing the remaining meat and heads toward the school.
• The chapter ends by contrasting the drifters’ hunger and desperation with ordinary people’s harsh living conditions. A hungry child, Buer, tells his grandfather that he does not want to become “someone useful”—he simply wants to be like the stray dog eating discarded slop.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin becomes increasingly proactive and compassionate. Rather than treating only individuals he personally encounters, he organizes a broader effort to help infected Subspecies throughout the district.
• Lu Eryou is introduced as a street drifter with strong social intelligence, quick thinking, and useful local connections. His humor and leadership allow him to organize the infected crowd efficiently.
• Yaya’s mother has regained hope and happiness after being cured. Her relationship with Lu Eryou suggests the possibility of rebuilding a family despite poverty and loss.
• Yaya is emotionally attached to Lu and trusts him as a father-like figure.
• Shangguan Mengzhi takes an active interest in Fu’s abilities by inviting him to join a major research project, though her motives and the project’s purpose remain unclear.
• Buer and his grandfather embody the chapter’s bleak social reality: the grandfather hopes the boy will grow into a useful person, while the child is concerned only with immediate hunger.

Significant Themes

• Compassion and collective aid: Fu’s resources allow him to help many people, but the chapter emphasizes that cooperation and local networks are necessary to reach those in need.
• Poverty and inequality: The infected drifters live amid filth, hunger, and disease, while even discarded food is unsafe. Their suffering is presented as an ordinary part of life in the district.
• Hope amid misery: The cured woman, Yaya’s happiness, and the drifters’ gratitude show how even small acts of assistance can restore dignity and hope.
• Humanity versus survival: The contrast between people refusing virus-contaminated slop and a stray dog eating it highlights how desperate hunger can reduce life to bare survival.
• The limits of heroism: Fu can cure Secondary Energy Infection but not ordinary infections, forcing him to prioritize and manage expectations despite the overwhelming need around him.
• Uncertain institutional motives: Shangguan’s invitation hints that Fu’s abilities may draw attention from larger organizations and connects his personal acts of charity to a broader scientific or political agenda.

Character Interactions

• Fu respectfully meets Lu Eryou and asks for his assistance, establishing a practical partnership based on trust and shared identity as Subspecies.
• The local drifters tease Lu about courting Yaya’s mother, creating a rare moment of communal humor.
• Yaya clings to Lu and anxiously asks when he will return, revealing their emotional bond. Lu comforts her with a playful but dishonest counting game.
• Lu manages the crowd of infected drifters, demonstrating his authority and ability to control the chaotic situation.
• The recipients repeatedly thank and bow to Fu, emphasizing the difference between their desperate gratitude and his modest, almost detached manner.
• Shangguan Mengzhi’s phone call interrupts Fu’s charitable work and pulls him back toward the world of school research.
• The grandfather and Buer’s final conversation reinforces the chapter’s central contrast between adult hopes for a better future and a child’s immediate experience of hunger.

Chapter Summary: “Two-Man Team Takes On a Mysterious Project”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin returns to Shangguan Mengzhi’s laboratory, where Jia Dongwei is researching through several books and Shangguan is examining a mech.
• Liu Zhiyin arrives shortly afterward, surprising Fu Junlin. Shangguan reveals that he summoned both students to assign them a highly classified research task.
• The project is connected to a new research facility at Nightingale Transit Station. Entry requires at least Bronze Medal Merit, along with proven research achievements.
• Shangguan offers Fu Junlin and Liu Zhiyin a subproject that could earn them Silver Medal Merit if completed successfully. He explains that they are the only students at the school who possess both the necessary merit and research background.
• The project’s equipment will be ready in six days, and the two students will be assigned four researchers. They are instructed to report directly to Shangguan at the research site.
• After Liu Zhiyin leaves, Shangguan privately explains that pairing him with Fu Junlin is deliberate. Liu’s presence makes Fu Junlin’s participation appear more natural and prevents others from suspecting that Shangguan gave special treatment to a Subspecies student.
• Shangguan encourages Fu Junlin not to fear failure, emphasizing that imagination and unconventional thinking are essential to scientific discovery.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin becomes intensely motivated by the prospect of earning Silver Medal Merit. Such recognition would grant him housing in the city and protect him from racial discrimination and abuse by authorities.
• He also recognizes Shangguan’s careful efforts to support and protect him, strengthening his trust in the professor.
• Liu Zhiyin is shown to be both capable and ambitious. Although surprised that Fu Junlin has research experience, he accepts the opportunity seriously and promises to give it his all.
• Shangguan Mengzhi demonstrates that he is not merely assigning a project but strategically creating an opportunity for Fu Junlin. He balances mentorship, political caution, and genuine confidence in the students’ abilities.
• Jia Dongwei remains focused on his research and reacts impatiently to Fu Junlin’s arrival, while Big Black provides comic relief by misunderstanding Fu Junlin’s private meeting with Shangguan.

Significant Themes

• Recognition and equality: Silver Medal Merit represents Fu Junlin’s hope of gaining social status and protection despite widespread prejudice against Subspecies people.
• Mentorship and protection: Shangguan covertly supports Fu Junlin while ensuring the arrangement appears legitimate to outsiders.
• Trust and qualifications: The confidential project requires both proven service to the Federation and genuine intellectual achievement, showing how merit and ability determine access to elite opportunities.
• Innovation versus conventional thinking: Shangguan stresses that imagination can surpass rigid logic, suggesting that the project will require creativity rather than merely following established methods.
• Opportunity and risk: The assignment is a rare chance for both students, but failure could damage their chances of participating in future research.

Important Character Interactions

• Shangguan warmly brings Fu Junlin and Liu Zhiyin together, presenting them as a complementary research team.
• Fu Junlin and Liu initially exchange confused looks but quickly accept the assignment with enthusiasm.
• Liu gives Fu Junlin an encouraging, knowing look before leaving, implying the beginning of mutual cooperation.
• In private, Shangguan explains his protective strategy to Fu Junlin, and Fu Junlin understands the professor’s intentions.
• Their conversation ends with Shangguan encouraging Fu Junlin to pursue bold, imaginative ideas rather than being paralyzed by the possibility of failure.

Chapter Summary: “Soft Alloy: A First Look at a Path to Wealth”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin continues studying advanced technical material with Shangguan Mengzhi. His understanding has surpassed ordinary university-level knowledge, and Shangguan realizes that Fu’s academic ability may now rival or exceed Jia Dongwei’s despite Fu being under twenty.
• After leaving the Research Building, Fu is approached by Cheng Xiaoyu, whom he immediately considers as a potential business partner.
• Fu tells Cheng that he wants to sell the Soft Alloy produced from his mecha. He needs money because streaming has become unreliable, and future research work may limit his ability to earn income.
• His financial needs are especially urgent because hunting Purification Meat is unprofitable, yet he must continue doing it to locate Big Black’s spaceship wreckage and help Subspecies patients suffering from infectious diseases. He also needs funds for mechas and Energy Crystal Blocks.
• Cheng enthusiastically volunteers to handle the sales. He explains that Soft Alloy could replace inferior plastic, nano-nylon, and stitched materials in industrial equipment requiring both durability and movement.
• Cheng lists potential customers and applications, including wastewater filters at Dongheng Power and fuse valves at Juli Energy Factory. Fu is surprised by Cheng’s detailed understanding of multiple industries.
• They discuss pricing. Fu estimates his production cost at just over 200 credits per kilogram and suggests selling it for 300. Cheng considers this far too low and proposes an initial price of 3,000 per kilogram, followed by market research and targeted sales.
• Cheng recommends using Fu’s powerful Inverse Walker mecha in promotional impact-resistance videos, drawing on its spectacular performance in the Wilderness Arena.
• Fu worries that such a high price could attract the Price Bureau’s attention. Cheng casually suggests influencing the evaluation process with gifts and bribes.
• When Fu points out that the prospective buyers are Federation-owned enterprises, Cheng cynically replies that managers in state-owned companies still accept kickbacks, revealing his pragmatic and corrupt view of business.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: His intelligence and technical mastery continue to develop rapidly. However, he remains inexperienced in commerce, pricing, industrial applications, and wider society. His modest financial expectations show how disconnected he is from the true value of his invention.
• Shangguan Mengzhi: Though appearing only briefly, Shangguan’s reaction confirms Fu’s extraordinary academic progress and establishes Fu as a genuine technical prodigy.
• Cheng Xiaoyu: He shifts from playful companion to potential business manager. His knowledge of industry, marketing, pricing, and commercial strategy suggests considerable social and business experience. At the same time, his willingness to use bribery and exploit connections exposes his morally flexible, profit-oriented nature.
• Big Black: Continues providing sarcastic commentary and displays aggressive suspicion toward Cheng, though Fu restrains him from acting rashly.

Significant Themes

• Hidden value and underestimation: Fu treats Soft Alloy as a simple product with a low production cost, while Cheng recognizes its enormous industrial and commercial potential.
• Talent versus worldly experience: Fu possesses exceptional scientific ability but lacks practical knowledge of business and society. Cheng’s advantage comes from exposure to wealth, industry, and social networks.
• The commercialization of innovation: The chapter marks Fu’s first serious step toward turning his technical achievements into wealth.
• Economic inequality: Fu worries about food, contaminated water, and survival, while Cheng casually discusses industrial markets, state enterprises, pricing strategies, and bribery.
• Corruption and pragmatism: Cheng’s comments about kickbacks suggest that the Federation’s institutions are compromised, and that success may require navigating unethical systems.
• Friendship and cooperation: Despite their differences, Fu trusts Cheng enough to involve him in the sale, while Cheng eagerly takes on the role of promoter and intermediary.

Character Interactions

• Shangguan’s admiration for Fu reinforces Fu’s growing reputation as a genius.
• Cheng physically and energetically approaches Fu, immediately showing his familiar, exuberant personality.
• Fu seeks Cheng’s help because of his business inexperience, while Cheng confidently assumes control of the commercial side.
• Their conversation contrasts Fu’s cautious, honest mindset with Cheng’s aggressive, profit-maximizing approach.
• Big Black’s hostile inner commentary adds humor and highlights the tension between Cheng’s enthusiasm and Fu’s caution.

Chapter Summary: “Wang Jintang Reappeared, Stirring Up Trouble”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin and Cheng Xiaoyu celebrate their prospective partnership over a meal at a Subspecies restaurant in the Red Carpet District.
• They discuss the Soft Alloy’s commercial future. Cheng suggests patenting it, but Fu explains that Shangguan Mengzhi has already submitted the patent to the authorities. The Federation may use it for advanced mecha equipment, and Fu will receive merit in return.
• Fu keeps Little Seven-Eight secret because it could be copied and poses a serious safety risk if dismantled improperly.
• The two agree to produce only high-end, customized Soft Alloy products rather than low-end mass-market goods, limiting exposure while preserving profitability.
• After dinner, Fu notices four Superior Humans abducting and assaulting a young Subspecies girl in an alley.
• Fu intervenes despite the danger. At first, Cheng hesitates, but three local Subspecies street youths join Fu. Other passersby gradually gather behind them, creating a silent show of solidarity.
• Outnumbered, the four Superior Humans release the girl and leave. A tattooed Subspecies girl covers and comforts the victim, while the group prepares to escort her home safely.
• The situation escalates when one of the local youths is struck in the head by a liquor bottle thrown from across the plaza.
• Fu discovers that the attackers include the same four Superior Humans and, most notably, Wang Jintang, who has returned and is openly targeting him.
• Wang Jintang stands beside a powerful man in a black leather jacket, apparently the group’s leader. The man demonstrates considerable combat ability by throwing another bottle at Fu’s group.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: Shows strong moral courage and leadership by stepping in to protect the girl despite being outnumbered and in an area hostile to his social group. His actions inspire the surrounding Subspecies to unite behind him.
• Cheng Xiaoyu: Reveals his fear and hesitation, reflecting his upbringing and instinct to avoid conflict in the Subspecies District. Although he does not initially act, his presence alongside Fu contributes to the confrontation.
• The local Subspecies youths: Initially appear like ordinary street punks, but their willingness to stand with Fu demonstrates solidarity, courage, and a strong sense of justice.
• The tattooed Subspecies girl: Acts compassionately by covering and comforting the assaulted child, highlighting the community’s humanity despite its rough appearance.
• Wang Jintang: Reappears as a vindictive antagonist. His presence confirms that his hostility toward Fu has not diminished and that he is willing to provoke a larger confrontation.
• The black-leather-jacketed man: Introduced as a physically capable Superior Human and likely the leader of Wang Jintang’s group, raising the threat level.

Significant Themes

• Moral courage versus social prejudice: Fu, a Superior Human, protects a Subspecies girl while many bystanders ignore the assault, challenging assumptions about divisions between the two groups.
• Silent solidarity: The Subspecies gather without speeches or commands, united by their shared outrage and willingness to protect one of their own.
• Community and mutual protection: The group continues looking after the girl even after the immediate danger appears to have passed.
• Power imbalance and abuse: The Superior Humans exploit their status and physical advantage, illustrating the cruelty and impunity enabled by social hierarchy.
• Responsibility and restraint: Fu’s careful handling of Soft Alloy and Little Seven-Eight contrasts with the reckless violence of his enemies.

Character Interactions

• Fu and Cheng establish the business strategy for their Soft Alloy partnership, with Cheng offering practical advice and Fu explaining the Federation’s patent and security arrangements.
• Fu’s decision to intervene forces Cheng to confront the conflict he has been taught to avoid.
• Fu’s quiet stand encourages the three Subspecies youths and then a larger crowd to join him, transforming an individual intervention into collective resistance.
• The tattooed Subspecies girl supports the rescued child, while the group protects both of them from further harm.
• Wang Jintang deliberately reopens his conflict with Fu by joining the attackers and participating in the assault from across the plaza.
• The chapter ends with the black-leather-jacketed Superior Human launching another bottle, signaling that a direct fight is about to begin.

Chapter Summary: “Born in Darkness, Yet Dreaming of Light”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin and a group of Subspecies are confronted and humiliated by Wang Jintang and several Superior Human thugs in the Red Carpet District.
• The Superior Humans throw bottles and stones at them, deliberately provoking Fu Junlin into fighting so he will be arrested under the district’s biased laws.
• Cheng Xiaoyu realizes the trap and warns Fu Junlin not to take the bait, while Big Black also urges him to put on his mask and avoid revealing his identity.
• Fu Junlin refuses to retreat or conceal himself. Driven by rage and the accumulated humiliation of the Subspecies, he leads the group in charging the Superior Humans.
• Fu Junlin activates his Gene Lock at 5%, using localized muscle enhancement to massively increase the strength of his right arm.
• He destroys the leather-jacketed leader’s shield with one punch, sends him crashing into Wang Jintang, and then slams both men into a wall, knocking the leader unconscious.
• A large-scale fight breaks out. Although the Superior Humans possess weapons, shields, and mechas, the enraged Subspecies overwhelm them through superior numbers and sheer determination.
• Fu Junlin pins Wang Jintang against the wall and repeatedly strikes his internal organs, intending to punish him severely and possibly kill him.
• Fu Junlin declares that he studied and struggled to survive without ever trampling others, angrily questioning Wang Jintang’s right to dream of humiliating people like him.
• Just before Fu Junlin can land a potentially fatal punch, four Subspecies restrain him, preventing him from killing Wang Jintang.

2. Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: Reaches an emotional breaking point. His usual restraint collapses under Wang Jintang’s deliberate provocation and the injustice suffered by the Subspecies. He openly uses his Gene Lock for the first time, demonstrating overwhelming physical power, but also reveals how close rage has brought him to murder.
• Wang Jintang: Is shown as vindictive and manipulative. After being expelled from Flying Cloud Vine for misconduct, he seeks revenge by provoking Fu Junlin into a legally punishable fight. His confidence vanishes when Fu Junlin targets his internal organs, exposing his cowardice beneath his bravado.
• Cheng Xiaoyu: Acts as a voice of caution and reason. Though physically weak and unable to contribute much in combat, he recognizes the trap and immediately seeks outside help.
• Big Black: Understands Fu Junlin’s danger and tries to keep him from losing control, but his warning comes too late.
• The Subspecies group: Their fear and passivity transform into collective defiance. They willingly endure the attackers’ blows and fight back to defend their dignity.
• The Superior Human thugs: Their apparent advantage—better equipment, weapons, and legal privilege—proves superficial when confronted by determined opponents.

3. Significant Themes

• Oppression and institutional injustice: The laws and police protect Superior Humans while punishing Subspecies even when they are victims, creating a system designed to suppress resistance.
• Dignity versus survival: The Subspecies have traditionally endured limited bullying to avoid harsher punishment, but the attack pushes them to choose dignity and resistance over submission.
• Rage against dehumanization: Fu Junlin’s fury represents the accumulated anger of people repeatedly treated as inferior or disposable.
• The dream of light: Fu Junlin’s belief that education and hard work could help him change the world contrasts with the darkness of the society he inhabits.
• Power and moral restraint: Fu Junlin possesses enough strength to destroy his enemies, but the scene raises the question of whether retaliatory violence will turn him into the kind of oppressor he despises.
• Appearance versus substance: The Superior Humans’ shields, weapons, and social privilege create an image of dominance, but they lack the real strength and conviction of the Subspecies.

4. Character Interactions

• Fu Junlin and Wang Jintang: Their confrontation is driven by revenge and class hatred. Wang Jintang provokes Fu Junlin to ruin him legally, while Fu Junlin responds by physically and verbally condemning Wang’s cruelty.
• Fu Junlin and Cheng Xiaoyu: Cheng tries to restrain Fu Junlin through warnings, but Fu Junlin’s anger overwhelms his friend’s caution.
• Fu Junlin and Big Black: Big Black recognizes the danger of Fu Junlin’s unmasked involvement and attempts to prevent him from being baited, but Fu Junlin chooses direct confrontation.
• Fu Junlin and the leather-jacketed leader: The leader steps forward to protect Wang Jintang, but Fu Junlin defeats him instantly, establishing the enormous gap between their abilities.
• Fu Junlin and the Subspecies: Though they initially follow him into the fight, they ultimately act to stop him from crossing the line into murder, showing both solidarity and concern for his humanity.

Chapter Summary: A Familiar Face at the Security Management Office Again

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin intervenes in a violent confrontation, preventing the deaths of two humans and stopping himself from killing Wang Jintang, who is already near death. This intervention also helps Fu regain control of his emotions.
• Police arrive and arrest Fu Junlin along with the four subspecies involved. The officers force everyone to kneel and use excessive violence, particularly against Fu, who refuses to submit.
• Fu recognizes the arresting officers as the same fat and thin policemen who previously harassed him. The fat officer, nicknamed “Red Pig,” takes personal satisfaction in finally having Fu under his authority.
• At the Sixth Security Management Office, Fu and the subspecies are held in a detention cell, bruised from mistreatment. Fu jokes with Big Black about their situation, maintaining his composure despite the danger.
• Red Pig deliberately taunts Fu while eating in front of the cell. Fu retaliates by spitting in his face, provoking Red Pig into preparing to assault him again.
• Before Red Pig can retaliate, his superior orders the prisoners released. When Red Pig refuses, the superior angrily fires him and assigns another officer to handle the release.
• The subspecies mock Red Pig with pig noises, taking satisfaction in seeing him humiliated after his earlier brutality.
• Enraged, Red Pig unlocks the cell and prepares to attack Fu with a fully powered electric baton. Just as he is about to strike, an unidentified woman threatens him, ordering him not to touch Fu.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: Regains his rationality after nearly killing Wang Jintang. He becomes more confident and defiant, no longer allowing fear of injury or death to control him. His ability to mock and provoke Red Pig shows growing emotional resilience and a willingness to resist abuse.
• Wang Jintang: His earlier arrogance disappears when he realizes how close he is to death. He becomes fearful and grateful that Fu stops short of killing him.
• Big Black and the subspecies: Despite being beaten and detained, they retain their humor and solidarity. Their mockery of Red Pig reflects their shared resentment and strengthens their bond with Fu.
• Red Pig: His hostility toward Fu escalates into personal obsession. He abuses his authority, loses control after being humiliated, and is ultimately fired for refusing orders.
• The supervising officer: Initially harsh and authoritative, he unexpectedly intervenes to protect the prisoners from further abuse, emphasizing his willingness to enforce orders even against his subordinate.
• The unknown woman: She enters at the climax as a powerful, protective figure whose identity and connection to Fu remain unrevealed.

Significant Themes

• Justice versus abuse of power: The police, especially Red Pig, use authority to intimidate and punish rather than uphold justice. His firing suggests that institutional power can also restrain such abuse.
• Defiance and dignity: Fu’s refusal to kneel and his deliberate provocation of Red Pig demonstrate resistance to humiliation, even while detained and injured.
• Self-control: Fu’s decision not to kill Wang Jintang marks an important return to rationality and moral restraint.
• Solidarity through humor: The prisoners use jokes and mockery to endure violence and reclaim some power from their captors.
• Reversal of power: Red Pig begins in a dominant position but ends up humiliated, dismissed, and on the verge of being confronted by someone even more powerful.

Important Character Interactions

• Fu stops himself from killing Wang Jintang, preserving both Wang’s life and his own freedom.
• The police force Fu and the subspecies into custody, with Red Pig taking particular pleasure in subjugating Fu.
• Fu and Big Black exchange sarcastic jokes in the detention cell.
• Fu humiliates Red Pig by spitting on him, while the other subspecies laugh at Red Pig’s startled reaction.
• Red Pig’s superior orders the prisoners released and fires him when he refuses.
• The subspecies further torment Red Pig by imitating pig sounds, prompting him to attempt a final attack.
• An unknown woman intervenes at the last moment, threatening Red Pig and creating a cliffhanger.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Shi Hongyu and Cheng Xiaoyu arrive at the Security Management Office with police officers after Cheng contacts his teacher and Shi reports Wang Jintang’s retaliation. Their intervention is backed by Shangguan Mengzhi and the director of the Sixth Security Management Office.
• Shi confronts Red Pig for detaining and assaulting Fu Junlin, emphasizing Fu’s Bronze Medal Merit and his accomplishments against Deformed Species. She humiliates Red Pig by contrasting Fu’s genuine battlefield courage with Red Pig’s cowardly abuse of authority.
• After Red Pig refuses to release them, Cheng Xiaoyu bribes two officers. The officers and their colleagues then beat Red Pig and drag him into a holding cell, apparently abandoning him after learning he has been fired.
• Fu Junlin and the imprisoned Subspecies are released. The Subspecies gratefully scatter, calling out blessings of immunity.
• Shi separates from Cheng Xiaoyu and takes Fu Junlin to the top of an unfinished building at Nightingale Transit Station. There, she questions him about the bindings on his hands and feet, implying that she has recognized their connection to his unusual strength.
• Fu Junlin reveals that a masked person in the Red Carpet District has been distributing “Purification Meat” capable of curing Secondary Energy Infection. He gives Shi a piece he personally obtained and insists that it works.
• Shi, desperate for a cure, eats the meat immediately. Fu then nervously asks whether she will finish what she had intended to say if her illness improves.
• Embarrassed by his bluntness and apparent obliviousness to her feelings, Shi grabs him and holds his immense body over the edge of the building. Fu cries for help while Big Black reacts in panic and confusion.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: Gains further recognition as a heroic figure with Bronze Medal Merit. Despite his enormous strength and bravery, he remains socially naïve, especially regarding Shi Hongyu’s romantic feelings. He shows deep concern for her illness and has preserved a piece of Purification Meat specifically for her.
• Shi Hongyu: Demonstrates her authority, combat power, and fierce protectiveness toward Fu. Her anger toward Red Pig is driven by both justice and personal concern. Her reaction to the possible cure reveals renewed hope, while her blushing and embarrassment suggest that she reciprocates Fu’s affection.
• Cheng Xiaoyu: Acts as a resourceful ally, using his connections and money to secure Fu’s release. His amused reaction to the developing relationship between Fu and Shi shows that he understands the situation better than Fu does.
• Red Pig: Completely loses control after being threatened with dismissal. His abuse of authority and subsequent humiliation expose his cowardice and lack of genuine merit.
• Big Black: Provides comic commentary, reacting dramatically to Shi’s treatment of Fu and questioning Fu’s attraction to her.

Significant Themes

• True merit versus empty authority: Shi contrasts Fu’s real accomplishments and sacrifices with Red Pig’s abuse of a uniform and institutional power.
• Justice and corruption: The chapter presents both official intervention and blatant bribery as means of correcting misconduct, suggesting a morally compromised but pragmatic society.
• Hope against terminal illness: The Purification Meat gives Shi a possible chance to survive, shifting her situation from resignation toward hope.
• Romantic misunderstanding: Fu’s sincere but painfully literal behavior clashes with Shi’s indirect emotional signals, creating both tension and comedy.
• Power and vulnerability: Although Shi is vastly stronger in combat, her illness and emotional uncertainty make her vulnerable; Fu, despite his overwhelming physical power, becomes helpless when she turns that strength against him.

Character Interactions

• Shi verbally dismantles Red Pig and protects Fu’s reputation.
• Cheng Xiaoyu manipulates the corrupt officers to retaliate against Red Pig and later deliberately leaves Fu and Shi alone.
• Fu and Shi share an intimate conversation about her illness, his hidden bindings, and the possibility of a cure.
• Fu’s straightforward question about repayment embarrasses Shi, who responds by lifting him over the building’s edge.
• Big Black comments on their interaction, highlighting the absurd contrast between Fu’s sincerity and Shi’s flustered aggression.

Chapter Summary: “A Convenience Store Incident Sparks Trouble”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fu Junlin returns home unusually happy after spending over an hour sitting silently with Shi Hongyu. Although they exchanged no words, he feels their shared quietness has brought them emotionally closer.
• Wanting to strengthen his relationship with his younger brother, Fu Junlin picks up Fu Junting and takes him to play pool. He hopes to offer Junting the guidance he once needed as a teenager.
• On the way home, the brothers stop at a convenience store in the Red Carpet District.
• A Superior Human child tries to take a toy doll from a younger Subspecies boy. When the Subspecies child resists, the Superior Human father intervenes and insults the Subspecies father with a vicious slur.
• The Subspecies father tries to defend his son and reclaim the doll, but remains restrained despite the other man’s aggression. The Superior Human father initially refuses to return it.
• The store owner, a Superior Human, openly sides with the Subspecies family, tells the aggressor that his son was at fault, and reprimands him for behaving cruelly in front of the children.
• Embarrassed and angered, the Superior Human father finally throws the doll back and leaves with his family.
• The Subspecies father comforts his frightened son and thanks the owner. The owner refuses payment for the doll, saying that the boy’s father has effectively “won it for him.”
• Fu Junlin and Fu Junting observe the incident and feel relieved that it does not escalate into violence. They also gain a favorable impression of the store owner.
• When the brothers check out, the owner recognizes Fu Junlin and jokes that his own son would have asked for a photograph with him.

Character Developments

• Fu Junlin: Becomes increasingly hopeful about his connection with Shi Hongyu, interpreting their silence as emotional intimacy. He also demonstrates a caring, responsible side by deliberately spending time with Junting and trying to become a source of advice and support.
• Fu Junting: Spends relaxed time with his brother, suggesting growing sibling closeness and trust.
• Subspecies father: Initially nervous and deferential because of social prejudice, but ultimately stands up for his son and refuses to surrender the doll without protest. His priority is protecting and comforting his child.
• Subspecies boy: Becomes frightened during the confrontation but is reassured by his father and regains security through their embrace.
• Superior Human father: Is revealed as entitled, prejudiced, and aggressive. He assumes his child is automatically in the right and uses social status to intimidate the Subspecies family.
• Convenience-store owner: Acts with moral courage and fairness. Though a Superior Human, he rejects discrimination, defends the weaker family, and uses humor and generosity to comfort the child.

Significant Themes

• Prejudice and social inequality: The conflict exposes the hostile power imbalance between Superior Humans and Subspecies, especially through the use of slurs and the assumption that Subspecies people should submit.
• Parenthood and protection: Both fathers’ behavior reflects contrasting ideas of parenting: the Superior Human father models entitlement and aggression, while the Subspecies father prioritizes his child’s emotional safety.
• Moral courage and everyday resistance: The store owner’s intervention shows that opposing injustice does not always require dramatic action; even small acts of fairness can challenge discrimination.
• Compassion versus privilege: The incident contrasts genuine empathy with the arrogance of someone accustomed to being socially superior.
• Quiet emotional connection: Fu Junlin’s happiness after silently sitting with Shi Hongyu parallels the chapter’s broader suggestion that meaningful understanding can exist without many words.

Character Interactions

• Fu Junlin and Shi Hongyu: Their silent time together deepens Fu Junlin’s feelings and gives him a sense of emotional closeness.
• Fu Junlin and Fu Junting: Their outing reflects Fu Junlin’s attempt to build a stronger brotherly relationship and guide Junting through experiences he once faced himself.
• The two fathers: Their confrontation centers on the toy doll but becomes a clash over dignity, prejudice, and social power.
• The store owner and the Subspecies family: The owner defends the father and son, validates the father’s grievance, and uses kindness to ease their humiliation.
• Fu Junlin, Fu Junting, and the owner: After witnessing the incident, the brothers view the owner with admiration, while his friendly remark to Fu Junlin creates a lighter ending to the tense episode.

Chapter Summary: “A Sharp Blade Stirred Killing Intent”

• Fu Junlin’s reputation is revealed: At a convenience store, the shopkeeper recognizes Fu Junlin as a member of the Wilderness Arena’s Stealth Squad. His team’s battle has been used as a high-school teaching example because of its practical tactics and strong coordination. Fu Junting is shocked that his brother is famous, while Fu Junlin modestly credits Fu Junting’s explosive device for contributing to the victory. He promises to teach his brother how to make the device, emphasizing the importance of survival tools in the Arena Zone.
• A brutal hit-and-run occurs: Outside the store, the brothers find the Subspecies father they had seen earlier lying critically injured in the street after apparently being struck and attacked by a car. His young son is crying beside him. Fu Junlin confirms that the man is barely alive and immediately uses Battle Banners to heal him. He combines Instant Healing and Slow Healing, explaining the specialized, energy-based principles behind War Banner techniques.
• Fu Junlin begins pursuing the attacker: Once the injured man is stabilized, Fu Junlin orders Fu Junting to return home and disappears after the fleeing vehicle. He tracks it to a residential area, where the Superior Human family involved separates: the mother and child enter a high-rise, while the father stops nearby and wipes blood from his fists, clearly enjoying what he has done.
• Confrontation in the alley: Fu Junlin confronts the Superior Human father while concealing his face because he cannot use his usual mask under surveillance cameras. The man mocks him as a “crippled Subspecies dog,” judging him by his single Gene Particle. Confidently, he draws a Thunderstorm Gun, believing the weapon will intimidate Fu Junlin and give him an advantage.
• Fu Junlin overwhelms him instantly: Fu Junlin destroys the weapon before the man can activate it, then drags him into an alley and pins him to the ground. He raises his fist, fully prepared to kill the attacker before he can deploy a shield or defend himself.
• Character development and internal conflict: Fu Junlin is shown as compassionate and highly skilled when saving the injured father, but his pursuit reveals a growing rage toward those who abuse weaker Subspecies. His strength and killing intent have escalated to the point that Big Black warns he is losing control. The chapter ends with Fu Junlin poised between justice and vengeance.
• Key themes: The chapter contrasts heroic reputation with hidden emotional strain, emphasizing the difference between theoretical combat education and real survival. It also explores discrimination between Superior Humans and Subspecies, the abuse of power, moral responsibility, and the danger of allowing righteous anger to become uncontrolled violence.