Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: Hippo Ancient City

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran arrives in Hippo Ancient City after completing a large-scale skin-grafting task and traveling for several days. He is impressed by the city’s comfortable climate, massive walls, and bustling atmosphere.
• The outermost district, Tenth Street, is revealed to be a massive slave-distribution zone. Slaves are organized by race, with specialized yards and shops for humans, Elves, Demons, Orcs, Sea Folk, and other groups.
• Li restores three Sea Folk girls using seawater, then temporarily transforms them into frogs and stores them in his sleeping bag to avoid attracting attention.
• At a Fishman shop, Li tests Ivy’s value by attempting to “sell” her. The dishonest shopkeeper first offers fifteen copper coins, then admits she could be worth several gold coins because of her rarity and reproductive potential. Li refuses to sell her and leaves after mocking the shopkeeper.
• Emily warns Li that the shopkeeper and his Dwarf employees belong to the Dark Council’s action team and may target him because he displayed a valuable Fishman.
• Li discovers that the two Goblins from the shop are following him. Rather than flee, he decides to use them as bait to attract more enemies and obtain souls for his abilities.
• Guided by Emily, Li travels from Tenth Street to the more expensive and refined Seventh Street, where they locate the Black-Red Slave Shop.
• The shop specializes in Sea Folk and resembles a giant aquarium, containing many rare aquatic slaves, including a powerful tiger-shark warrior.
• Li identifies himself as an Organ Witch Doctor and claims to have an appointment. The receptionist immediately probes his Spirit World, briefly attacking his Spirit Crystal before withdrawing and apologizing.
• The receptionist then reveals that the shop’s “boss” has been expecting Li, confirming that Sandrew’s arranged meeting is underway.

Character Development

• Li Ziran: Displays growing confidence, cunning, and ruthlessness. He is comfortable navigating the slave trade, manipulates the shopkeeper during the price negotiation, and quickly turns a potential ambush into an opportunity to hunt enemies. His curiosity about Fishman reproduction also hints at his interest in experimenting with rare races and cultivating powerful beings.
• Emily: Acts as Li’s knowledgeable guide to Hippo Ancient City, explaining its ring-shaped layout, slave classifications, pricing, and commercial districts. She is also perceptive enough to recognize the danger posed by the Dark Council.
• Ivy and the other Sea Folk girls: Remain under Li’s protection, though they are treated as valuable experimental or commercial assets rather than as independent characters.
• The Fishman shopkeeper: Revealed as greedy and deceptive. He initially attempts to undervalue Ivy but changes his offer when he realizes her rarity and potential.
• The receptionist: Appears polite and refined but demonstrates dangerous psychic abilities by probing Li’s Spirit World. His sudden change in attitude suggests that Li’s identity or appointment is significant.

Significant Themes

• Institutionalized slavery: Hippo Ancient City’s economy is built around the systematic capture, classification, breeding, and sale of different races. Slavery is treated as ordinary commerce and even as a specialized industry.
• Exploitation and commodification: The Sea Folk are valued according to beauty, rarity, talents, labor potential, and reproductive ability, emphasizing how thoroughly individuals are reduced to market commodities.
• Cunning and manipulation: Li survives by concealing his true intentions, testing others, and turning threats into opportunities.
• Power and hidden identities: Li’s status as an Organ Witch Doctor attracts attention, while the Dark Council and the mysterious shop boss operate through secret networks and concealed motives.
• Moral corruption beneath prosperity: Although Hippo Ancient City appears comfortable and prosperous, its wealth and order depend heavily on exploitation and trafficking.

Character Interactions

• Emily educates Li about the city and warns him about the Dark Council’s pursuit.
• Li confronts the Fishman shopkeeper over Ivy’s price, exposing the man’s dishonesty and forcing him to reveal her true value.
• Li deliberately allows the pursuing Goblins to follow him, intending to use them to draw out additional enemies.
• Emily guides Li through the city to the Black-Red Slave Shop.
• The receptionist tests Li’s mental defenses, then abruptly shifts from hostility to formal hospitality after recognizing—or confirming—the importance of his appointment.

Chapter Summary: “Soul Primordial Essence”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran enters the Black-Red Slave Shop and immediately senses numerous spiritual scans probing him. He realizes that most of the people inside—including the staff and possibly the Bugbears handling slaves—are Demons in disguise or under possession.
• He observes the shop’s operations, discovering that it functions primarily as a large-scale slave wholesaler. Sea Folk warriors are being packed into seawater-filled containers, while the shop’s hidden basement contains private rooms for important guests.
• Li Ziran is brought to Room 3 to await the shop’s leader. There, he examines a map of Hippo Ancient City and a catalog of the shop’s slaves, recognizing that the city’s enormous population and slave trade could provide him with abundant experimental materials.
• While waiting, he discovers that the shop’s teapot is a magical witch-made artifact capable of responding to speech and producing different drinks. Studying its runes and chains, he realizes that complex abilities can be incorporated into Transformation Spells—an idea that could improve his experimental frogs.
• Three-Tail, the shop’s leader and Li Ziran’s contact, arrives in human form before transforming into a green, upright lizard-like Demon with a triple-forked tail.
• As an apology for the intrusive spiritual probing by his subordinates, Three-Tail gives Li Ziran a drink made from “soul primordial essence,” created from the souls of more than a thousand Mages.
• The liquor dramatically strengthens Li Ziran’s Spirit World, instantly creating three Spirit Crystals. He recognizes its immense value and understands that continued access to it could help him reach the realm of Witch Priests.
• Three-Tail explains that this soul liquor is an ordinary Demon luxury and hints that Li Ziran will receive a daily portion if he satisfies the Commander, making the reward conditional on the success of his work.
• Three-Tail confirms that the Commander approved Li Ziran’s sample resembling the ancient Mandragora form but wants to personally inspect his abilities. He reveals a fully prepared operating room containing a woman, Greedy Demon blood essence, and a special Butterfly Girl, and expects Li Ziran to demonstrate his craft immediately.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran: Becomes increasingly fascinated by Hippo Ancient City, viewing it as an ideal source of money, slaves, rare organisms, and experimental materials. His ambition expands when he discovers soul primordial essence, which could rapidly advance his cultivation. He remains cautious around the Demons but is also eager to exploit their resources.
• Emily: Continues to act as Li Ziran’s companion and assistant-like presence. Her envy of the slave shop’s wealth reveals her familiarity with the city’s trade and her appreciation of valuable slaves. She is also intensely curious about the witch-made teapot.
• Three-Tail: Is introduced as the Black-Red Slave Shop’s leader and the Demon faction’s liaison. He initially appears in a pale human disguise, then reveals his reptilian Demon form. He is polite but clearly authoritative, using gifts and promises of rewards to pressure and motivate Li Ziran.
• The Demons: Their spiritual probing and soul-based abilities establish them as powerful, strange, and highly specialized in soul manipulation. Their resources appear vast, but their cooperation depends entirely on Li Ziran proving useful.

Significant Themes

• Commerce and exploitation: The slave shop treats living beings as commodities, while Li Ziran views them as materials for experimentation. The chapter presents Hippo Ancient City as an economy built on the mass movement and exploitation of living creatures.
• Power through resources: Money, rare materials, souls, and slaves are all forms of power. Li Ziran realizes that access to wealth could dramatically expand his magical research and personal advancement.
• Curiosity versus caution: Although Li Ziran recognizes the danger posed by the Demons, his scientific curiosity repeatedly overrides his unease, especially when he studies the magical teapot and tastes the soul liquor.
• Hidden identities and transformation: Demons conceal themselves among humans and other races, while Three-Tail openly changes form. This reflects the chapter’s focus on disguise, possession, altered bodies, and the manipulation of living forms.
• Conditional alliances: Three-Tail’s gifts are not acts of generosity. They are investments designed to secure Li Ziran’s cooperation, emphasizing that the relationship is based on mutual profit and performance.

Character Interactions

• Li Ziran follows the attendant through the shop while silently assessing the Demons’ presence and methods.
• Emily questions Li Ziran about the respect shown to him, and he explains that it is motivated by potential profit rather than genuine esteem.
• Emily interacts with the witch-made teapot, demonstrating its ability to understand commands and produce rum.
• Three-Tail questions Li Ziran about Emily, and Li Ziran bluntly identifies her as “material,” revealing his detached attitude toward others.
• Three-Tail gives Li Ziran the soul primordial essence as compensation for the staff’s behavior and subtly offers continued access to it as a reward for success.
• The chapter ends with Three-Tail bringing Li Ziran to the prepared operating room, where he is expected to prove his abilities by working with Greedy Demon blood essence and a unique Butterfly Girl.

Chapter Summary: If Only It Were a Mirror

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran is brought by Three-Tail to a specially prepared operating room and asked to recreate the process he once used to cultivate the demon girl.
• Before entering, Three-Tail gives him a fully enclosing golden armor suit with Mithril inner armor and protective magic arrays. Li Ziran suspects the demons may be testing or manipulating him, so he secretly prepares defensive magic.
• Through the Shadow World, Li Ziran receives reassurance from Sandrew—and indirectly from Shadow Elder—that he should cooperate and that the procedure will not endanger him.
• Three-Tail prevents Emily from entering the operating room and orders her to wait outside, emphasizing that the experiment is not suitable for an ordinary person.
• Inside, the operating room appears identical to Li Ziran’s former surgical setup. Three-Tail initially interferes with his preparations, but Li Ziran firmly warns him not to disrupt the operation again.
• Li Ziran discovers the room is saturated with the rare and dangerous Time Element. The Butterfly Girl begins aging rapidly, revealing that the room’s environment would have severely harmed anyone without protective armor.
• Realizing that he must work quickly, Li Ziran performs the cultivation procedure with precision. He mixes demon blood into the prepared materials and witnesses a demon soul expel a weaker soul, completing a form of soul possession.
• He finishes the core steps—incision, injection, and sealing—in only a few seconds, producing an embryo that combines a demon soul with a Red Soil Continent lifeform. Li Ziran is thrilled by the unprecedented speed of the operation.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran remains cautious and pragmatic. He is willing to cooperate for mutual benefit, but he refuses to surrender his judgment or trust the demons completely.
• His professional pride becomes clear when Three-Tail interferes with the surgery. Li Ziran tolerates discomfort and suspicion, but he will not compromise the operation itself.
• Li Ziran’s scientific curiosity grows as he recognizes the Time Element and observes the soul-possession process. His awe at demon technology is mixed with increasing awareness of their military potential.
• Three-Tail presents himself as polite and accommodating, but his behavior is controlling and occasionally threatening. He respects Li Ziran’s skill only reluctantly and clearly wants to maintain authority over the experiment.
• Emily shows concern for Li Ziran by instinctively trying to help him when he struggles in the armor, but Three-Tail excludes her from the procedure.
• Sandrew and Shadow Elder remain distant observers, reinforcing Li Ziran’s sense that he is being monitored while encouraging him to continue cooperating.

Significant Themes

• Trust versus suspicion: Li Ziran must cooperate with people he does not trust while protecting himself against possible betrayal.
• Science and discovery: The chapter explores the fusion of surgical knowledge, alchemy, elemental forces, and souls.
• Time and mortality: The Time Element causes rapid aging and demonstrates how fragile life is when exposed to forces beyond ordinary understanding.
• Control and freedom: Li Ziran’s observation that restraint and freedom conflict reflects his position as both a collaborator and a monitored subject.
• Power and technological advancement: The demons’ mastery of Time Element technology suggests they possess capabilities capable of supporting large-scale warfare.
• Creation of new life: The experiment combines demon and Red Soil Continent biology, raising the possibility of an entirely new species.

Important Character Interactions

• Li Ziran and Three-Tail: Their interaction is outwardly polite but filled with tension. Three-Tail imposes rules and protection, while Li Ziran insists on autonomy and respect for his expertise.
• Li Ziran and Emily: Emily attempts to assist him, but he sends her to wait outside for her safety.
• Li Ziran and Sandrew/Shadow Elder: Through the Shadow World, Li Ziran receives limited reassurance but no opportunity for a full conversation, leaving him uncomfortable with being watched.
• Li Ziran and the experimental subject: His close examination of the Butterfly Girl reveals the Time Element and forces him to alter his approach, turning the operation into a race against rapid aging.
• Li Ziran and the demon soul: The successful possession confirms that his process can merge demon essence with another lifeform, marking a major scientific and biological breakthrough.

Chapter Summary: “A Sheet of Toilet Paper Needs to Be Listed Too?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran begins an organ-transplant experiment on a Butterfly Girl using organs extracted from captive Advanced Elf Mages.
• Three-Tail, a powerful demon and owner of the Black-Red Slave Shop, supplies the Elves but becomes increasingly irritated by Li Ziran’s commanding attitude.
• Li Ziran summons two Corpse Witches from frogs to assist with anesthesia and organ extraction. Although their methods are slower than demonic techniques, they allow him to carefully preserve and study the organs.
• Li Ziran seeks to create a complete, unified magical organ system rather than merely transplanting individual organs. He compares this goal to Jon’s Prismatic Organ, which coordinates all of Jon’s elemental organs.
• He first asks for a Magister-level Elf, hoping to obtain a Prismatic Organ, but Three-Tail refuses because the request was not included in the original materials list.
• Li Ziran then changes his plan, attempting to build a single-attribute system around a human Fire Mage’s Magic Gland. He requests an Advanced human Fire Mage to complete the experiment.
• Three-Tail again refuses, claiming that such a subject was not listed. Li Ziran sarcastically asks whether even “a sheet of toilet paper” must be formally requested.
• Realizing the demons do not regard him as an equal collaborator, Li Ziran deliberately stops the surgery before the demon fetus is complete. He leaves the embryo alive but unfinished, using the incomplete experiment as leverage.
• He orders Three-Tail to obtain a new, more accurate list—including an Advanced Fire Mage—and refuses to continue until the demons provide the materials he considers necessary.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran displays intense concentration and technical ambition. He is not satisfied with basic transplantation and seeks to engineer a powerful, integrated organ system.
• His strategic nature becomes clearer: he understands that yielding to the demons now would make him permanently subordinate in future negotiations.
• Li Ziran also reveals a strong sense of self-interest. Although he is serving as an experimental surgeon, he intends to secure rare organs and eventually create powerful organs for himself, aiming for strength comparable to a Magister.
• Three-Tail is shown to be influential, proud, and commercially minded. He controls a major slave-trading operation and has connections with the Dark Council, but he is not accustomed to being treated as an assistant.
• Despite his irritation, Three-Tail remains outwardly restrained because he understands Li Ziran’s value and the importance of the experiment.
• The conflict exposes Three-Tail’s limited authority: he hosts the experiment but must consult Sandrew or his superiors before making major decisions.

Significant Themes

• Power and negotiation: The chapter emphasizes that technical skill alone does not guarantee authority. Li Ziran recognizes that the demons view him as a hired specialist rather than an equal partner.
• Scientific ambition and experimentation: Li Ziran seeks to move beyond isolated organ transplants toward a synergistic biological system in which multiple organs function together through a central core.
• Control versus dependence: The experiment shows how access to rare materials determines power. Li Ziran depends on the demons for organs, but the demons also depend on his unique expertise.
• Strategic refusal: By stopping the surgery, Li Ziran turns an incomplete experiment into a bargaining tool. He demonstrates that withholding cooperation can be more effective than openly demanding better treatment.
• Professional pride: Li Ziran’s refusal to “make do” reflects both arrogance and discipline. Even a test experiment must follow his chosen conditions.
• Social hierarchy and recognition: The chapter explores Li Ziran’s desire to be acknowledged as a valuable collaborator rather than treated as an expendable worker.

Character Interactions

• Li Ziran commands Three-Tail to provide organs, treating him like a subordinate despite the demon’s status.
• Three-Tail supplies the Elves but silently resents Li Ziran’s lack of courtesy and his use of unfamiliar Corpse Witches.
• Their disagreement escalates when Li Ziran requests first a Magister-level Elf and then an Advanced human Fire Mage. Three-Tail repeatedly cites the original list as justification for refusing.
• Li Ziran responds with sarcasm and veiled provocation, challenging whether Three-Tail is incompetent or deliberately withholding resources.
• When Li Ziran stops the operation, Three-Tail is shocked and follows him, insisting that the demonstration is incomplete because the demon has not yet been born.
• Li Ziran calmly asserts that the demonstration is already complete and leaves Three-Tail responsible for securing the missing materials, establishing a tense but potentially more equal negotiating position.

Chapter Summary: Boy, You’re Outdated

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran refuses to continue operating on Butterfly Girl after Three-Tail threatens and coerces him. He argues that surgery requires calm and that he cannot complete it under the circumstances.
• When Three-Tail prevents him from leaving, Li attacks the illusionary wall with Corpse Witches and prepares to force his way out.
• Three-Tail attacks Li with a soul-based technique. Li counters by using a Snake Transformation Spell, transforming Three-Tail’s demon shell and soul into a black-tailed python.
• Three-Tail employs the Devouring Curse, absorbing half of Li’s Spirit Crystals and attempting to control his spiritual power. He escapes into the body of a Corpse Witch, but Li counters with the supposed “Judgment Scripture.”
• Believing Li to be an agent of the Inquisition, Three-Tail flees and opens the exit. Li reveals that he was bluffing and does not actually possess the Inquisition’s Judgment Spell.
• Three-Tail returns after realizing he was deceived and attempts to place a Soul Slave Seal on Li, intending to enslave him.
• Li retaliates by converting his remaining spiritual power into Purification Light, destroying the Slave Seal and burning Three-Tail’s soul. He spares Three-Tail rather than killing him, reasoning that maintaining a possible business relationship is more advantageous.
• Three unexpected frogs appear, chanting around a miniature Holy Scripture. Their ritual reignites the Purification Light and causes fragments of Three-Tail’s soul to enter their bodies and Li’s Spirit World, accidentally “judging” and harvesting the demon.
• The chapter ends with Li stunned by the unintended consequence: he has effectively judged the very middleman he intended to spare.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran becomes increasingly assertive and strategically manipulative. Rather than submitting to demonic coercion, he exploits Three-Tail’s fears, bluffing that he belongs to the Inquisition.
• Li demonstrates growing mastery over transformation, soul manipulation, purification, and spiritual defense. He also shows restraint by choosing not to kill Three-Tail when doing so would be commercially disadvantageous.
• Three-Tail shifts from false politeness to open intimidation and violence. His fear of failure and punishment from the Demon Overlord drives him to risk confrontation, but his arrogance repeatedly causes him to underestimate Li.
• Three-Tail’s confidence collapses when Li uses the “Judgment Scripture” and later Purification Light. His attempt to enslave Li marks his most aggressive move, but it ultimately leaves him vulnerable.
• Butterfly Girl remains helpless on the operating table, emphasizing the unresolved and morally troubling consequences of the conflict.
• The three frogs emerge as an unpredictable force, transforming Li’s controlled act of mercy into an accidental spiritual judgment.

Significant Themes

• Power through deception and knowledge: Li wins not through overwhelming strength but by understanding demons’ fears and using psychological manipulation.
• Resistance to coercion and enslavement: The Soul Slave Seal represents the demons’ attempt to reduce individuals to property. Li’s destruction of it reinforces his refusal to surrender his autonomy.
• Outdated assumptions: Three-Tail assumes purification and judgment belong exclusively to the Inquisition, while Li’s improvised use of these abilities exposes the danger of relying on old classifications.
• Business and morality: Li repeatedly frames the confrontation in terms of cooperation, bargaining, and profit. His decision to spare Three-Tail shows that practical calculation governs even his treatment of enemies.
• Unintended consequences: Li’s actions produce results he did not expect. His attempt to frighten and weaken Three-Tail ultimately enables the frogs to consume portions of the demon’s soul.
• Demons and soul power: The chapter emphasizes demons’ expertise in spiritual attacks while also showing that Li possesses unusual and effective counters.

Character Interactions

• Li and Three-Tail: Their relationship moves from reluctant cooperation to coercion, combat, deception, and temporary defeat. Both attempt to manipulate the other, but Li ultimately controls the encounter.
• Li and Butterfly Girl: Li refuses to continue her surgery under pressure, leaving her condition unresolved. His concern is practical—he cannot operate calmly—but the decision also highlights his limits and unwillingness to be forced.
• Li and the Corpse Witches: Li uses the witches as both weapons and targets. Three-Tail later possesses one of them to escape Li’s spiritual attacks.
• Li and the frogs: The frogs unexpectedly transform Li’s Purification Spell into a collective judgment ritual, absorbing fragments of Three-Tail’s soul and damaging the demon further.
• Three-Tail and the Demon Overlord: Although the Overlord never appears, fear of his punishment motivates Three-Tail’s desperation and explains why he refuses to let Li leave before the operation is completed.

Chapter Summary: Eliminate Every Cultist

Key Plot Points and Events

• The final wisp of the Demon squad leader’s soul is Judged by the three Mermaid girls, transforming into golden energy and forming a “Holy Sun” within Li Ziran’s Spirit World. This alters the balance between the golden Holy Sun and the Shadow Crescent Moon and reveals that the Spirit World has distinct spiritual attributes.
• The operating room’s protective mechanism activates after Three-Tail’s disappearance, attempting to teleport the entire room away. Li Ziran escapes just before the room vanishes, leaving behind an empty wall.
• Shadow Elder and Sandrew disappear from the Shadow Space and order their associates to gather at Sulfur Island, apparently to deal with the consequences of Li Ziran killing or Judging the Demons’ contact person. Anfuni also informs him that the Vampire has been expelled and suggests reclaiming his resources.
• Li Ziran worries that his actions have destroyed the alliance with the Demons and may cause him to be punished or turned into a puppet. He also becomes increasingly interested in learning the Mermaid girls’ soul-devouring technique.
• He restores Ivy, Ailey, and Aimer from their Frog forms by using his blood. The girls regain human-like Mermaid bodies, though they are initially naked and must improvise clothing from Li Ziran’s robe and armor.
• Ivy discovers that the replacement skin Li Ziran gave her allows her to breathe and absorb the Tide while on land, something normally impossible for the Sea Folk. Ailey and Aimer realize they may have gained the same ability.
• To conceal the truth about the operation and Cavis’s fate, Li Ziran invents a story that they were attacked, temporarily transformed into Frogs to survive, and brought to Hippo Ancient City as part of their mission.
• The girls learn that Hippo Ancient City is a cultist stronghold and immediately declare their intention to destroy it and “Purify every cultist.” Their certainty alarms Li Ziran, who recognizes that they have no knowledge of the city’s strength, no strategy, and no contact with their organization.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran becomes more cautious and anxious about the consequences of his choices. He recognizes that Judging the Demon may have violated Shadow Elder’s plans and placed him in danger. At the same time, he remains opportunistic, considering the value of the soul-devouring technique and the possibility of exploiting the girls’ new abilities.
• Ivy shows no immediate anger over having her skin replaced. Instead, she is thrilled to discover that she can function on land, viewing the change as a liberation from the Sea Folk’s physical limitations.
• Ailey and Aimer initially react with embarrassment and suspicion toward Li Ziran after awakening, but their fear quickly turns to excitement when they realize they may also be able to survive on land.
• The three Mermaid girls retain their innocence, impulsiveness, and extreme moral certainty. Their belief that evil can simply be destroyed through faith and courage contrasts sharply with Li Ziran’s pragmatism.
• Emily helps Li Ziran manage the situation by explaining how much effort he supposedly invested in saving the girls, supporting his fabricated account of events.

Significant Themes

• Conflict between idealism and pragmatism: The Mermaid girls believe eliminating evil requires no planning, while Li Ziran understands the dangers of confronting the Dark Council directly.
• Consequences of interference: Li Ziran’s decision to preserve himself and deal with the Demon has disrupted a larger political and commercial arrangement, threatening his position within the Shadow Crescent Moon’s faction.
• Transformation and identity: The Holy Sun, the girls’ Frog-to-Mermaid restoration, and Ivy’s replacement skin all emphasize physical and spiritual change. The characters must confront bodies and powers that are no longer what they were.
• Moral absolutism versus survival: The girls divide the world into cultists and righteous Purifiers, whereas Li Ziran is concerned with survival, negotiation, and hidden motives.
• The mystery of the Spirit World: The interaction between the Shadow Crescent Moon and Holy Sun suggests that the Spirit World is not neutral but possesses elemental or spiritual qualities that may become important later.

Character Interactions

• Li Ziran questions Emily about the vanished operating room and is relieved that she did not witness the battle.
• He attempts to justify himself to Sandrew through the Shadow Space, claiming that he acted in self-defense because the Demon placed a slave mark on him, but receives no response.
• After restoring the three girls, Li Ziran awkwardly deals with their embarrassment and anger over their lack of clothing, while also privately observing their transformed bodies.
• Ivy asks whether Li Ziran caused her transformation, and Emily praises the effort he supposedly made to save them, helping maintain his cover story.
• Li Ziran tells the girls a false account of their rescue and invokes Cavis’s supposed death to make the story believable.
• Once the girls announce their plan to destroy Hippo Ancient City, Li Ziran repeatedly questions them about their numbers, resources, and strategy. Their answers reveal that they have none, leaving him horrified by their reckless confidence.

Chapter Summary: Mermaid, Treasure Girls

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran reflects on the three girls’ sheltered lives and lack of real-world experience. He contrasts their carefree ambition to become heroes with Emily’s harsh struggle for survival, privately considering the girls naïve and nearly useless despite their unusual abilities.
• After defeating a dangerous three-tailed Demon, Li Ziran asks Ivy how many Demons she could handle. Ivy claims she could defeat more than ten, while Aimer confidently raises the number to at least thirty by using the Holy Scripture and its execution-by-fire judgment.
• Aimer reveals that the girls possess advanced knowledge of spiritual power and Mental Vibration. She teaches Li Ziran how to use his spiritual energy to activate the Holy Scripture.
• With guidance from Aimer, Ailey, and Ivy, Li Ziran practices synchronizing his spiritual power with their rhythm and frequency. Though he struggles, their instruction gradually causes the Scripture to transform into golden light and enter his Spirit World.
• The book appears inside his Spirit World as a massive golden codex, displacing the crescent moon created by Shadow Elder. Li Ziran is astonished that an object from outside can manifest within his spiritual realm.
• The girls agree to teach him how to retrieve and use the Scripture, asking in return for improved skin like Ivy’s. Li Ziran promises to give all three of them perfect bodies and ensure that they live comfortably and safely.
• Ailey teases Li Ziran about being attracted to one of them. He denies it, insisting that he respects them as teachers, though the exchange creates a playful, flirtatious atmosphere.
• Li Ziran learns that releasing and retrieving the Scripture requires considerable energy and only represents the most basic stage of Mental Vibration. The girls explain that true mastery requires understanding several foundational vibration forms and combining them with tones and incantations.
• By the end of the chapter, Li Ziran has fully changed his opinion of the girls. He now views them as exceptionally gifted “treasures” and resolves to take responsibility for protecting them, even while worrying that their naïveté will make them easy victims in Hippo Ancient City.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran: Moves from condescension and irritation to admiration and protectiveness. He recognizes the girls’ mastery of advanced spiritual techniques and begins treating them as valuable teachers rather than foolish children. His determination to protect them also reveals a growing sense of responsibility and affection.
• Ivy: Displays confidence in her combat abilities and a serious, disciplined side while teaching Li Ziran. Although she initially appears carefree, she is highly skilled in Mental Vibration.
• Aimer: Demonstrates knowledge of the Holy Scripture and takes the initiative in teaching Li Ziran. She is playful, assertive, and interested in receiving a better body.
• Ailey: Acts as a direct and technically knowledgeable instructor, correcting Li Ziran’s rhythm and explaining how to release the Scripture. She also enjoys teasing him and provoking humorous reactions.
• Emily: Remains largely outside the spiritual lesson but observes the girls’ closeness with Li Ziran. Her jealousy and sadness suggest emerging romantic feelings or emotional attachment toward him.
• The three girls collectively: Their apparent innocence masks extraordinary magical knowledge and inherited abilities. They are simultaneously talented and dangerously inexperienced in practical survival.

Significant Themes

• Appearance versus reality: The girls seem naïve and foolish, but possess rare and sophisticated magical knowledge.
• Knowledge as inheritance: Mental Vibration is presented as a secret art passed through personal instruction and bloodline traditions, emphasizing the value of lost or restricted forms of learning.
• Protection and responsibility: Li Ziran’s attitude shifts from seeing the girls as disposable to deciding that he must safeguard them.
• Social inequality: His thoughts contrast Emily’s difficult life with the girls’ sheltered existence, highlighting the unfairness of their different circumstances.
• Innocence amid danger: The girls’ optimism and heroic dreams clash with the brutal realities of Demons, cultists, and survival in Hippo Ancient City.
• Playful intimacy: Teaching, teasing, and physical closeness blur the line between mentorship, friendship, and possible romantic tension.

Character Interactions

• Li Ziran questions Ivy and Aimer about their ability to defeat Demons, exposing their confidence and his skepticism.
• Aimer physically guides Li Ziran in activating the Holy Scripture, while Ailey and Ivy correct his Mental Vibration technique.
• The three girls work together as instructors, alternately encouraging, criticizing, and teasing him.
• Emily silently observes their closeness and reacts with jealousy, creating an emotional contrast with the girls’ carefree intimacy.
• Ailey jokingly suggests that Li Ziran has fallen for one of them, while he insists that his feelings are merely respect for his teachers.

Chapter Summary: Mermaid: I Want to Stand on My Own

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran realizes that the three young Mermaid girls—often referred to as Ivy, Ailey, and Aimer—possess extraordinary talent in Judgment Art and Mental Vibration, but are dangerously inexperienced and sheltered.
• Their idea of “judgment” is simplistic and cruel: binding people, setting them on fire, and judging them. Li Ziran concludes that they have been spoiled by their noble Lineages and lack any understanding of the world’s real dangers.
• To influence them without destroying their innocence, Li Ziran appeals to their interest in beauty. He introduces the possibility of replacing their skin with that of more “beautiful” races, such as Butterfly Girls, Moon Elves, and Swan Smiles.
• With Emily’s help, he makes the girls fascinated by skin transplants and then pretends that he lacks the money to acquire suitable skin. He emphasizes the danger and value of obtaining someone else’s skin, convincing them that significant compensation is necessary.
• When the girls suggest asking their Lineage for money, Li Ziran deliberately shames them for relying on their families. He challenges them to become independent and earn money themselves.
• The girls accept his challenge. Li Ziran proposes opening a temporary beauty-transplant shop in Hippo Ancient City, using their abilities and his medical skills to earn money.
• Emily enthusiastically declares that she wants to stand on her own, prompting the Mermaid girls to make the same declaration.
• Li Ziran warns them that business is dangerous for inexperienced people and that unscrupulous merchants could exploit them. He uses his own weakness in Judgment Spell as an analogy, showing them that they are equally vulnerable in unfamiliar fields.
• He offers an exchange: the girls will teach him Judgment Spell, while he teaches them how to make money. They agree, though they point out that they have already taught him how to store the “Holy Scripture.”
• The chapter ends as Li Ziran begins their business training, asking Ivy how she should respond if she encounters a Demon while searching for a shop location: judge it, follow it, or ignore it.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran is revealed as pragmatic, manipulative, and strategically minded. He genuinely wants to protect the girls from the dangers of Hippo Ancient City, but he also uses their vanity and naivety to draw them into a business arrangement that will benefit him.
• Ivy begins as a sheltered and dependent girl who instinctively turns to her Lineage for support. After Li Ziran criticizes this dependence, she starts accepting responsibility for her own needs.
• Ailey is boastful, impulsive, and easily provoked, but her pride also gives her the motivation to prove that she can succeed independently.
• Aimer remains quieter but joins the others in accepting Li Ziran’s challenge.
• Emily acts as Li Ziran’s assistant in persuading the girls. She fuels their fascination with beauty and openly supports the idea of becoming self-sufficient.
• The Mermaid girls begin shifting from spoiled, dependent heirs into inexperienced young women willing to work, learn, and take responsibility for themselves.

Significant Themes

• Independence versus dependence: The central theme is the girls’ decision to stop relying entirely on their Lineage and attempt to earn their own resources.
• Innocence and harsh reality: The Mermaid girls are talented but naïve, unaware of danger, exploitation, and the complexities of judgment. Li Ziran tries to educate them without completely destroying their kindness.
• Manipulation and mentorship: Li Ziran teaches through calculated emotional manipulation, using beauty and pride to motivate the girls. His methods are morally questionable but aimed at protecting and developing them.
• Survival and practical knowledge: Talent alone is insufficient. The girls must learn business, caution, patience, and how not to be exploited.
• Power and vulnerability: Despite their great abilities, the girls are vulnerable because they lack worldly experience. Li Ziran emphasizes that being powerful in one field does not make them competent everywhere.

Character Interactions

• Li Ziran questions Ailey about Judgment Art and exposes how shallow the girls’ understanding is.
• He introduces the Split Bug and lets the girls touch Emily’s Butterfly Girl skin, using Emily’s descriptions of other races to intensify their interest.
• He manipulates the girls into believing that obtaining replacement skin is expensive and difficult, prompting them to consider how to earn money.
• When they propose asking their Lineage for funds, Li Ziran pretends to be disappointed and threatens to leave, forcing them to defend their independence.
• Emily reinforces Li Ziran’s argument by declaring that she wants to stand on her own, inspiring the Mermaid girls to make the same pledge.
• Li Ziran then establishes a mutual teaching agreement: Judgment Spell in exchange for business training.
• The final exchange begins the girls’ practical education, with Li Ziran testing Ivy’s judgment and decision-making skills through a hypothetical encounter with a Demon.

Chapter Summary: “Finding a Shopfront”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran teaches the three mermaid girls that Judgment must be balanced with caution, investigation, and business strategy. Rather than attacking a suspected demon immediately, they should observe, assess its connections, and avoid exposing themselves.
• He repeatedly emphasizes three ideas: making money, following the Survival Law, and observing before acting.
• The girls gradually adopt this reasoning. Ivy suggests observing and identifying uncertain allies, while Ailey—initially eager to attack—begins repeating Li Ziran’s more cautious approach.
• Li Ziran tests their understanding through a long series of hypothetical situations, including encountering demons, cultists, Justice Alliance members, and raids on their shop.
• He reminds them that understanding principles verbally is meaningless unless they can apply them in practice. Their first practical task is to find a shopfront.
• Before leaving the Black-Red Slave Shop, Ivy senses that the attendant is connected to a demon. Instead of attacking, the girls agree to record the information and investigate later.
• Li Ziran manipulates the attendant into letting him leave safely by mentioning “Sandrew,” implying that he has influential connections.
• Outside, the girls identify numerous hidden supernatural threats among the city’s residents, including cultists, wandering souls, Black Wizards, and parasitic demons. Li Ziran is alarmed by their ability to perceive such things and redirects their attention toward finding a shop.
• Emily recommends renting space inside another business, but Li Ziran insists on an independent shop with a basement so the group can maintain privacy and control.
• They travel from Seventh Slave Street to the poorer, chaotic Ninth Street, where they find a dilapidated two-story building with a three-level basement. Though its appearance and location seem poor, Emily explains that it is near the slave dispersal grounds and connected conveniently to Eighth Street, making it more strategically valuable than it first appears.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran becomes increasingly committed to reshaping the girls’ instinctive, uncompromising approach to Judgment. He teaches them to use caution and strategy so they can survive while still pursuing demons and cultists.
• Ailey remains impulsive and eager to judge evil, but she quickly absorbs Li Ziran’s language and ideas. She begins advocating observation instead of immediate action, though Li Ziran privately considers her easily influenced and not especially business-minded.
• Ivy proves thoughtful, observant, and strategically capable. She recognizes the need to assess uncertain situations rather than act based on appearances, and she detects the demonic nature of the shop attendant.
• Aimer is quieter and more skeptical than the others. She does not openly challenge Li Ziran, but her doubts remain. Her inability to identify cultists in the crowded Ninth Street reassures Li Ziran that her supernatural perception has limits.
• Emily demonstrates practical business experience. She understands rental costs, neighborhood conditions, and local connections, eventually guiding the group to a potentially valuable shop despite its run-down condition.
• Li Ziran also reflects on his inability to learn the girls’ Judgment Art through ordinary study or even physical means. He needs their instruction and cooperation, so he avoids coercing them and focuses on gradually influencing their worldview.

Significant Themes

• Prudence versus righteous action: The girls believe evil must be judged immediately, while Li Ziran argues that effective Judgment requires patience, intelligence, and preparation.
• Business as survival: Li Ziran uses commerce to teach the girls practical thinking. Profit is not merely financial; it provides security, independence, and a means to continue their mission.
• Observation and uncertainty: The chapter repeatedly stresses that appearances can be misleading and that people’s true identities must be investigated before decisions are made.
• Manipulation and mentorship: Li Ziran is teaching the girls, but he is also subtly reshaping them for his own purposes. His lessons are presented as business training while helping him gain access to Judgment Art and control their actions.
• Appearance versus reality: The shabby shop may seem worthless, yet its location and basement make it potentially useful. Likewise, ordinary-looking people in the city may conceal demons, cultist affiliations, or other supernatural dangers.
• Moral idealism in a corrupt world: The girls’ simple belief that every cultist can be identified and judged clashes with the complicated, dangerous reality of Hippo Ancient City.

Character Interactions

• Li Ziran repeatedly challenges Ailey and Aimer when they insist on immediate Judgment, encouraging them to think strategically instead.
• Ivy offers the most measured answers, explaining that uncertain allies or enemies should be observed before intervention.
• Ailey enthusiastically echoes Ivy’s and Li Ziran’s ideas, revealing both her eagerness to learn and her susceptibility to influence.
• The girls quietly discuss whether the Black-Red Slave Shop is a demon nest, but Li Ziran successfully restrains them from attacking.
• Li Ziran relies on Emily’s local knowledge while overruling her recommendation to rent a stall, prioritizing privacy and a private basement.
• Emily’s familiarity with the shop’s owner enables the group to obtain an otherwise unaffordable location, though Li Ziran suspects she may be receiving some benefit from the deal.

Chapter Summary: “The Girls’ Opening Gift”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran completes the purchase of a small two-story building on Ninth Street in Hippo Ancient City for an exorbitant annual rent of three gold coins. The property transaction is handled through the Slave Trust Office and witnessed by a Gray Dwarf, reinforcing Li’s suspicion that the Dark Council controls much of the city’s slave-trade infrastructure.
• He begins planning several businesses and research projects:
  • Modifying crippled slaves and reselling them.
  • Acquiring Magic Organs from the Demons for transplant research.
  • Fulfilling the Ogres’ order for a Mighty Demon Embryo.
  • Locating Wood, his experienced mentor from the Inquisition.
  • Reconnecting with the Demons through Sandrew.
• Li and the Mermaid girls settle into the building. The girls take charge of decorating their room, borrowing fifteen silver coins from Li and spending them extravagantly on furniture, magical lights, colorful decorations, transforming household objects, and an elaborate pink room.
• Li converts the basement into the practical center of his operation:
  • A reception and examination area for customers.
  • A slave-storage warehouse.
  • A snake shed and Frog pool for improving his Transformation Spell.
  • A research room for organ transplants, dissections, and biological study.
• On the supposed opening day, Emily and the Mermaid girls return carrying a suspiciously heavy cabinet. Inside is the bound attendant from the Black-Red Slave Shop, a Demon cultist from Seventh Street.
• The girls reveal that they abducted him as an “opening gift” for Li. Ivy distracted the Demon by exposing her thigh, allowing the group to capture him.
• Ailey applies essential oil to the captive’s face while Ivy produces a flint, suggesting that the girls intend to celebrate the shop’s opening through some dangerous or violent ritual involving the Demon.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran: Demonstrates his practical, calculating nature by evaluating the city’s economy, planning multiple sources of income, and designing an efficient workspace. However, he also shows a degree of manipulation, viewing the girls’ debt as a useful bond stronger than a slave contract. He remains protective of his research and cautious about exposing the Mermaid girls to disturbing procedures.
• Emily: Acts as the group’s persuasive organizer and appears increasingly comfortable using deception and seduction to accomplish practical goals. She also shows influence over the Mermaid girls, which worries Li.
• The Mermaid girls—especially Ivy and Ailey: Become more confident, mischievous, and willing to participate in the slave trade’s darker practices. Ivy quickly learns to exploit her appearance as a distraction, while Ailey enthusiastically presents the captured cultist as a festive gift.
• The Mermaid group as a whole: Their extravagant spending and reckless behavior contrast sharply with Li’s practicality. At the same time, they are beginning to participate directly in his business rather than merely living under his protection.

Significant Themes

• Commerce, debt, and control: Li sees money as a powerful means of binding people together. The girls’ debt gives him leverage, while the city’s rent system reveals a larger network of exploitation controlled by powerful political forces.
• Practicality versus extravagance: Li builds a modest, functional workplace, while the girls waste money on unnecessary decorations and magical furniture. Their opposing attitudes toward money create both humor and tension.
• Moral ambiguity: Li’s plans involve modifying slaves, conducting dissections, and dealing with Demons, yet he still worries about appearing like a cultist to the Mermaid girls. The chapter blurs the boundaries between legitimate research, business, and cruelty.
• Power and manipulation: The Dark Council’s influence over Ninth Street, Li’s attempts to cultivate powerful connections, and the girls’ manipulation of the Demon all show that survival depends on controlling others or forming profitable alliances.
• Entering adulthood and business: The opening of the shop represents a new stage for Li and the girls. Their “gift” signals their willingness to embrace the dangerous realities of the world they are entering.

Character Interactions

• Li negotiates with Emily over the building’s value and later questions whether she profited from the deal.
• He refuses Emily’s attempt to share his room, citing propriety and his distrust of the girls’ influence.
• Li allows the girls to borrow money for renovations, privately viewing their debt as beneficial.
• He works alongside the girls in establishing the shop, though their decorative choices repeatedly frustrate him.
• Emily and the girls tease Li through their reckless spending and elaborate decorations.
• When they present the captured Demon, Ailey treats the kidnapping as a playful sisterly gift, while Ivy prepares the flint. Li, initially confused, realizes that their opening celebration may involve a horrifying act, ending the chapter on a threatening cliffhanger.

Chapter Summary: “Trial by Fire”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The three Fishman sisters—Ailey, Aimer, and Ivy—capture a demon attendant connected to the mysterious Black-Red Slave Shop and present him to Li Ziran as a gift.
• Li Ziran is initially angry because their operation was extremely dangerous. The demon had used a soul attack that nearly enslaved the sisters, but Emily intervened with her Cavefolk Blinding Eye, stunning and incapacitating him.
• Li Ziran realizes that Emily’s ability may affect the soul rather than merely the eyes, making it especially effective against demons. He begins considering acquiring a purer, ten-mutation Cavefolk eye for himself.
• The sisters prepare the demon for judgment by binding him to a wooden rack, smearing him with oil, lighting a bonfire, and beginning a ritual using the Holy Scripture.
• The demon reveals his true form—a large, lizard-like creature—and unleashes Soul Tremor, attempting to disrupt their minds and resist judgment.
• Aimer guides Li Ziran through the spiritual experience of the ritual. He enters a void-like mental space where a giant lizard-shaped soul is restrained by a golden finger and sacred chanting.
• Li Ziran attempts to reproduce the spell’s spiritual vibrations. Though his first effort is crude and nearly triggers backlash, the demon’s soul ultimately begins to melt and break apart.
• The sisters complete the Flame Judgment Spell, burning the demon’s body and reducing his soul to pure spiritual energy.
• Some of this energy enters Li Ziran’s Spirit World, producing an exceptionally pure, ruby-like Spirit Crystal. The experience greatly impresses him, and he immediately wants to capture and judge more demons.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran demonstrates both protectiveness and authority. He harshly reprimands the sisters for risking themselves, but softens once he learns they acted carefully and survived through Emily’s intervention.
• His interest in the sisters’ abilities becomes more possessive and ambitious; he views them as invaluable treasures and wants to exploit the Flame Judgment Spell for his own growth.
• Ailey, normally bold and mischievous, becomes frightened and emotional when Li Ziran seriously scolds her, revealing her dependence on his approval.
• Aimer acts as the most honest and gentle sister. She explains the capture, reassures Li Ziran, and patiently teaches him the principles of the judgment spell. Her physical closeness during the spiritual lesson also strengthens their bond.
• Ivy takes charge of the ritual preparations, showing practical skill in trapping the demon, starting the fire, and leading the judgment process.
• Emily discovers that her Blinding Eye has an unexpectedly powerful effect on demons, suggesting a major new role for her in future confrontations.
• The demon attendant shifts from a seemingly ordinary human servant into a terrifying lizard-like monster, but ultimately proves helpless against the sisters’ spiritual judgment.

Significant Themes

• Danger beneath appearances: The demon’s easy capture is deceptive; his soul attack reveals that the Black-Red Slave Shop is far more dangerous than it appears.
• Trust and discipline: Li Ziran’s anger comes from concern for the sisters, while their willingness to explain themselves reinforces their loyalty and dependence on him.
• Spiritual power versus physical strength: The judgment ritual relies on chanting, spiritual vibrations, and soul manipulation rather than conventional magic arrays or weapons.
• Discovery and experimentation: Li Ziran constantly analyzes new abilities, especially Emily’s eye and the Flame Judgment Spell, seeking ways to refine or acquire them.
• Consumption and cultivation: The demon’s soul is converted into pure energy and Spirit Crystals, reinforcing the story’s focus on power gained through absorbing supernatural resources.
• Possessiveness and ambition: Li Ziran’s admiration for the sisters is mixed with a desire to control and utilize their unique talents.

Important Character Interactions

• Li Ziran confronts Ailey and Aimer over the reckless capture, balancing stern authority with concern for their safety.
• Aimer defends her sisters and reveals the danger of the demon’s soul attack.
• Emily explains how her Blinding Eye defeated the demon, prompting Li Ziran to reassess her abilities.
• Aimer personally guides Li Ziran through the mental dimension of the judgment spell, holding his hand against her chest and instructing him to feel the spell’s spiritual vibrations.
• The sisters cooperate closely during the ritual, chanting together and channeling the demon’s remaining soul energy into their bodies—and indirectly into Li Ziran’s Spirit World.
• After witnessing the spell’s power, Li Ziran asks Ivy to capture another demon, eager to repeat the process and consume more spiritual energy.

Chapter Summary: “The First ‘Weight Loss’ Job”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After judging a Demon attendant, Li Ziran discovers that Ivy, Aimer, and Ailey are suffering from dangerously high body temperatures and exhaustion.
• He places the three Mermaid girls in sleeping bags filled with seawater. The seawater cools them and allows them to absorb blue crystals, apparently strengthening or “tempering” their bodies.
• Li Ziran realizes that the girls’ soul consumption requires both seawater and large amounts of food to restore their energy. He also places the unconscious Emily in seawater, discovering that she absorbs the same substance.
• He cleans up the remains of the judgment site to prevent the Dark Council or other cultists from discovering what happened.
• Concerned that repeated judgments could expose them or provoke retaliation, Li decides to organize controlled “hunting outings” for the girls. He also recognizes the need for a secure judgment chamber and considers seeking information about the hidden Inquisition through the administrators of Ninth Street.
• Li oversleeps until nearly noon. When the girls wake hungry, he gives them nine copper coins for food, explaining that they must learn to live within their means until the business begins earning money.
• Emily secretly recruits several low-class prostitutes as potential customers, advertising Li’s medical and body-altering abilities.
• A Pigman woman challenges Li to make her lose weight. He charges two copper coins per pound, and she demands that he remove at least five pounds before paying.
• Li estimates that he can remove fifty to eighty pounds by altering flesh and bones, potentially earning far more than he could through slave trading.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran becomes more cautious and pragmatic. He recognizes that the girls’ desire to judge cultists must be managed rather than simply forbidden, since their actions could expose the group.
• He also begins thinking more seriously as a businessman, identifying profitable services and considering how to develop Emily’s talents.
• Ivy, Aimer, and Ailey are shown to rely on soul energy, seawater, and food to recover. Their appetite and physical exhaustion reveal the cost of their abilities.
• Emily demonstrates strong promotional and sales instincts. She deliberately brings in customers and exaggerates Li’s capabilities to attract business, suggesting she may become valuable in running the shop.
• The Pigman customer is initially skeptical and mocking but becomes the first paying customer for Li’s body-modification service.

Significant Themes

• Power and restraint: Li must balance the benefits of Judgment with the danger of exposing their activities or provoking the Dark Council.
• Survival and resource management: Food, seawater, money, shelter, and secrecy are all necessary for the group’s continued survival.
• Business as a path to security: Li begins shifting from improvising for survival to developing a legitimate source of income.
• Transformation of the body: The chapter connects cultivation, healing, surgery, and commerce, presenting physical alteration as both a supernatural technique and a profitable service.
• Guidance over restriction: Li realizes that controlling the girls entirely is unrealistic; guiding them toward safer behavior is more effective.

Important Character Interactions

• Li worries over the Mermaid girls’ dangerous condition and personally places them in seawater to stabilize them.
• The girls complain about hunger and expensive food, while Li tries to teach them financial restraint.
• Emily privately persuades the Mermaid girls to help attract customers, then introduces the prostitutes to Li as potential clients.
• Emily acts as an enthusiastic salesperson, praising Li’s abilities and presenting the Pigman woman’s weight loss as a guaranteed success.
• Li and the Pigman woman negotiate the price of the procedure, establishing the shop’s first potential business deal.

Chapter Summary: “2 Silver Coins Was Far Too Much”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran performs an extensive body-altering operation on a Pigman woman who only expected to lose a small amount of weight. He removes more than a hundred pounds of fat, reshapes her bones using animal remains, tightens her ankles, and transforms her into a remarkably slim figure.
• The operation takes nearly an hour, causing the exhausted women waiting outside to grow impatient. Emily struggles to reassure them while respecting Li Ziran’s authority as the surgeon.
• When the operating-room doors open, the blood, discarded flesh, and bones initially make the women think Li Ziran has murdered the patient. They soon discover that the former Pigman woman is alive and dramatically transformed.
• Li Ziran demands the previously agreed price of two silver coins. The woman cannot pay, having only a little over fifty copper coins, and desperately begs for a discount.
• When she attempts to avoid payment, Li Ziran threatens to restore the removed flesh. Terrified of regaining her old body, she accepts Emily’s solution: signing an interest-bearing IOU. Emily turns the crisis into an additional source of profit.
• The other women, seeing the transformation, become eager customers. Li Ziran reorganizes his operation, assigning the Mermaid girls new duties: Ivy collects money, Aimer manages potions, and Ailey receives customers.
• Emily leaves to recruit more women from her wider network, recognizing the enormous business opportunity.
• Li Ziran demonstrates a quick facial skin-tightening procedure on an older woman. Using Revival Potion, he tightens and removes excess skin, heals the incision almost instantly, and charges forty copper coins.
• The successful demonstration overwhelms the waiting women, who crowd into the consultation room seeking cosmetic procedures, including breast enhancement.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran is revealed as both a skilled, innovative surgeon and a ruthless businessman. He treats every procedure as a commercial opportunity, refuses to haggle, and recognizes the earning potential of the women’s improved appearances. He also begins considering Emily as a possible future business manager.
• Emily shows strong practical intelligence and entrepreneurial talent. She protects Li Ziran’s authority while helping the Pigman woman arrange repayment, adds interest to the debt, and quickly expands the customer base by recruiting others.
• The Pigman woman changes from an impoverished, overweight worker into a slim and highly marketable woman. Although horrified by the cost, she realizes her new appearance will allow her to earn far more money and agrees to repay the debt.
• Ivy, Aimer, and Ailey receive meaningful responsibilities in the new business. Ivy handles money, Aimer manages medicine despite her nervous inexperience, and Ailey serves as receptionist. Their growing confidence and the respect they receive from the customers give them pride and satisfaction.
• The waiting women shift from skepticism and impatience to intense admiration and eagerness. Seeing the results convinces them that Li Ziran’s services can directly improve their earning power.

Significant Themes

• Beauty as economic power: Physical appearance is treated as a form of capital. A better body can increase a woman’s income, making surgery an investment rather than mere vanity.
• Exploitation and opportunity: Li Ziran charges prices the women can barely afford, yet his work also offers them a path toward greater independence and earnings. The chapter presents this relationship as both exploitative and mutually profitable.
• Entrepreneurship and commercialization: Medical skill becomes the foundation of a rapidly expanding business. Li Ziran and Emily demonstrate different but complementary forms of commercial thinking.
• Transformation and identity: The Pigman woman’s altered body changes how others perceive her and how she sees her own prospects, blurring the boundary between physical appearance and social status.
• Trust built through results: The women initially doubt Li Ziran, but his visible, nearly miraculous results quickly establish his reputation.

Character Interactions

• Emily acts as the mediator between Li Ziran and the women, defending him while also negotiating practical solutions.
• The Pigman woman appeals to Emily’s sisterly loyalty, and Emily helps her secure credit rather than reducing the price.
• Li Ziran recognizes Emily’s business instincts and considers cultivating her as a manager.
• Li Ziran deliberately gives Ivy, Aimer, and Ailey responsibilities to keep them involved and develop the business.
• The women’s reactions to the facial procedure create a wave of enthusiasm, turning the consultation room into a crowded marketplace.
• The chapter ends with Li Ziran confidently entertaining requests for further cosmetic work, signaling that his operation is about to expand significantly.

Chapter Summary: “Business Was Booming”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After a successful first day at the Pink Cottage, Li Ziran and the four girls celebrate by eating steak, drinking juice, and dividing their earnings.
• The business earns 3,521 copper coins—about 35 silver coins—in one day, meaning they may recover the shop’s rent in roughly ten days.
• Li Ziran reflects on how much more profitable surgery is compared with scavenging and trading in the Wasteland.
• He checks the Shadow Crescent Moon in his Spirit World and discovers its number has fallen to 71, increasing his anxiety about the Shadow Society and the danger surrounding the recent Judgment of a Demon captain and his attendant.
• He worries about the silence of Shadow Elder, Sandrew, and Anfuni, and recognizes that life in Hippo Ancient City is governed by hidden but ruthless survival rules.
• Li Ziran rewards the girls with a frog, which is actually a transformed Dwarf who had been suspiciously watching the shop. The Dwarf is sacrificed in a bonfire ritual, and his purified soul energy strengthens Li Ziran and the four girls.
• The next morning, the Pink Cottage is overwhelmed by customers. The girls organize the crowd while Li Ziran prepares to perform more cosmetic surgeries.
• A Rainbow-tail Girl requests an eye transformation. Li Ziran replaces her unattractive gray eyes with sapphire-blue ones and significantly improves her figure.
• The dramatic result makes the waiting women jealous and convinces them that providing personal “service” to Li Ziran may earn them better surgical results, creating a rush for business.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran becomes more confident in the profitability of his surgical business, while still feeling vulnerable because of the Shadow Society, the Demons, and the dangerous social structure of the city-state.
• He also begins forming an emotional attachment to the Pink Cottage and its inhabitants, recognizing that the girls are no longer merely business partners or burdens.
• Ivy shows a strong interest in money and takes responsibility for dividing the earnings. After struggling to answer customers’ questions, she realizes she must learn more about pricing and shop management.
• Ailey proves bold, energetic, and clever. She acts as the hostess, manages the incoming customers, and quickly claims the transformed frog.
• Emily helps maintain the shop and becomes increasingly involved in its daily operations.
• The four girls grow dependent on Li Ziran, especially Ivy, who becomes visibly anxious when he leaves.
• The Rainbow-tail Girl’s transformation demonstrates the dramatic effectiveness of Li Ziran’s abilities and establishes his reputation among the city’s women.

Significant Themes

• Business and survival: The chapter emphasizes economic opportunity as another form of survival in the harsh city-state. Li Ziran discovers that surgery can be more profitable than Wasteland scavenging or slave trading.
• Exploitation and moral ambiguity: The shop’s prosperity depends on cosmetic alteration, sexual labor, and even the sacrifice of a suspected criminal. The chapter presents these practices pragmatically rather than morally.
• Dependence and community: Although the Pink Cottage begins as a business venture, the characters gradually form a small, mutually dependent household.
• Power beneath appearances: Hippo Ancient City appears prosperous, but its hidden rules are as dangerous as the Wasteland’s. Beauty, wealth, slavery, and political influence all conceal deeper struggles.
• Desire and commerce: Physical attraction becomes directly tied to business, with the girls and customers beginning to believe that intimacy may influence the quality or priority of Li Ziran’s surgeries.
• Pressure and uncertainty: The falling number in the Shadow Crescent Moon and the unresolved conflict with the Demons remind Li Ziran that his financial success does not eliminate the larger dangers surrounding him.

Character Interactions

• Li Ziran shares a celebratory meal with Ivy, Ailey, Emily, and the other girls, reinforcing their developing bond.
• Ivy distributes the earnings and discusses money with Ailey, while Li Ziran observes their happiness.
• Ivy affectionately asks Li Ziran for food and becomes concerned when he leaves, revealing her emotional reliance on him.
• Li Ziran rewards the girls with the transformed frog, and Ailey eagerly takes responsibility for it.
• Emily and the other girls work together to clean the basement and prepare the shop for the morning crowd.
• Ailey takes charge of the customers and tries to maintain order.
• Ivy attempts to answer questions about prices but passes the responsibility to Ailey, prompting her determination to learn the business.
• The transformed Rainbow-tail Girl’s dramatic appearance sparks jealousy among the waiting women and intensifies competition for Li Ziran’s attention and services.

Chapter Summary: “Driving a Street”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran’s beauty and medical business becomes wildly successful after he spends a full day treating and transforming customers. Within a week, he earns three gold coins—far exceeding his estimate—and discovers that Hippo Ancient City’s poorest women are an unexpectedly lucrative market.
• To keep the mermaid girls motivated, Li Ziran takes them shopping and introduces them to places they have never visited, including the black market, gambling houses, and fighting arenas. Their renewed enthusiasm helps sustain the business.
• As demand increases, Li Ziran trains and controls four Corpse Witches to assist with minor procedures, freeing him to focus on expansion and research.
• The beauty salon’s reputation spreads throughout the city’s lower-class districts. Women travel from distant streets to receive Li Ziran’s transformations, which become an important tool for improving their livelihoods.
• With his profits, Li Ziran purchases slaves with Magic Organs for experimentation, studies fire-element Magic Organs, and expands his underground facilities. He constructs a soundproof Judgment Room and secretly excavates a fourth underground level with a primitive round-table meeting room.
• Emily and fifty-six other women pool their resources to rent a five-story building across from Li Ziran’s shop. They name it the “Mill,” and Li Ziran guides Emily while allowing her to manage the project independently.
• The Mill’s unusual pink appearance and novelty attract laborers from the surrounding slave district. Despite widespread skepticism, it becomes extremely profitable and expands from fifty-seven women to more than three hundred in less than a week.
• Slave owners recognize the opportunity and begin investing in nearby buildings, creating an entire pink entertainment district. This area eventually becomes known as the Red Fan District, with more than a thousand women working under several owners.
• The slave owners discover that the district’s success is connected to Li Ziran’s beauty salon: the women reinvest much of their income there, and Li Ziran’s transformations make them more attractive and commercially successful.
• Unable to contact Li Ziran directly—and after several scouts mysteriously disappear—the six leading slave owners wait for a councilman to intervene. The chapter ends as the councilman approaches through the snow.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran evolves from a small-scale shopkeeper into the hidden economic force behind an entire district. He demonstrates business insight, recognizing that women at the bottom of society can become the foundation of a powerful enterprise.
• He also becomes more organized and ambitious, balancing commercial expansion with magical research, experimentation, and the gradual construction of a secret base.
• The mermaid girls gain renewed energy and motivation through spending their earnings. Their growing involvement in the salon shows that they are becoming active partners rather than passive assistants.
• Ivy remains responsible for finances, while Aimer continues preparing potions and Ailey handles consultations. Their work becomes increasingly demanding as the business expands.
• Emily emerges as a capable organizer and potential entrepreneur. Li Ziran deliberately gives her authority over the Mill to test her leadership and independence.
• The slave owners shift from dismissing the Mill as an impossible venture to recognizing its profitability. Their interest turns into investment, but also creates a looming threat to Li Ziran’s independence.

Significant Themes

• Desire as an economic force: Li Ziran understands that people’s desire for beauty, pleasure, novelty, and status can drive entire markets.
• Beauty and survival: For the women of the lower districts, physical appearance is not merely vanity; it is essential to their ability to earn money and survive.
• Grassroots entrepreneurship: The Red Fan District grows from the collective efforts of marginalized women rather than from established elites.
• Accumulation and ambition: Li Ziran accepts that major achievements are built gradually, using small successes to create a larger organization and hidden base.
• Power through influence: Although Li Ziran does not publicly control the Red Fan District, his salon quietly directs its money flow and determines its success.
• Class and exploitation: The district’s prosperity depends on laborers, women, slave owners, and the slave market, revealing an economy shaped by inequality and commodification.
• Innovation and control: Li Ziran combines medical transformation, magical experimentation, business strategy, and institutional development to expand his influence.

Character Interactions

• Li Ziran motivates the mermaid girls by taking them out to spend money, strengthening their enthusiasm and loyalty.
• He works closely with the girls in operating the salon, delegating consultation, potion-making, accounting, and surgery-related tasks.
• His relationship with Emily is cautiously strategic: he offers advice but intentionally refrains from taking control, using the Mill to evaluate her abilities.
• The women of the Mill collectively support one another and reinvest their earnings into Li Ziran’s salon, creating a mutually reinforcing business network.
• The slave owners investigate Li Ziran’s connection to the district but cannot reach him. Their failed attempts and missing scouts create tension between Li Ziran’s hidden influence and the established economic powers.
• The chapter closes with the slave owners waiting for the councilman, signaling that Li Ziran’s growing power is about to attract political attention.

Chapter Summary: “Short of Money”

Key Plot Points and Events

• In his secret basement laboratory, Li Ziran experiments on transplanted organs and elemental glands. The Corpse Witch removes a damaged liver from a corpse while Li implants it into a wolf.
• Li tests whether elemental power from different organs can be fused, shattered, and reorganized inside an Elemental Gland. The experiment successfully produces a second-tier Water Element, but the gland fails when he attempts a second shattering.
• His laboratory contains numerous modified creatures—including Fishmen, Minotaurs, Marsh Crocodiles, half-elves, Dwarves, and Wolves—each fitted with elemental glands and magic organs.
• Li has achieved his best result with a heavily modified Minotaur containing twenty-eight transplanted magic organs and an Intermediate Mage’s Elemental Gland. However, it can resonate with only four organs and cannot produce the advanced third-stage fusion he desires.
• Through his research, Li discovers that Elemental Glands contain layered “mucosal reaction layers.” Higher-grade glands possess more layers, allowing them to process and reorganize elemental power multiple times.
• His research is severely limited by cost. Intermediate Mage organs cost several gold coins, Advanced Mage organs cost ten, and Magister organs cost around one hundred. Li also hopes to recreate mixed-element abilities like Jon’s, which would require even rarer and more expensive organs.
• Emily interrupts Li’s work to report that Councilman Iron Hammer of the Dark Council has come to discuss cooperation. Li realizes this may provide a solution to his growing need for research funds.
• Li and Emily meet Iron Hammer in one of the mermaid girls’ cramped rooms. Iron Hammer introduces himself warmly, and Li responds with equal friendliness while remaining cautious.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran is shown as an ambitious, methodical, and morally detached researcher. He is willing to dissect corpses and living creatures to pursue breakthroughs in elemental magic and organ transplantation.
• Despite repeated failures, Li remains optimistic and treats each experiment as a step toward a larger theory. His ultimate goal is to create powerful, multi-stage or mixed-element systems.
• Li is also increasingly concerned with finances. His scientific ambitions exceed the income currently generated by the Beauty Salon and Mill, forcing him to seek outside partnerships.
• Emily emerges as a highly capable businesswoman and manager. She has made Mill successful with little supervision and is largely responsible for funding Li’s experiments.
• Li respects Emily’s business talent and recognizes that she is far more capable financially than Ivy and the other girls.
• The Corpse Witch continues to serve as Li’s skilled surgical assistant, efficiently performing organ extraction and transplantation.
• Councilman Iron Hammer is introduced as a minor Dark Council official overseeing Ninth Street. Though not politically powerful, he appears socially intelligent, approachable, and adept at making a favorable first impression.

Significant Themes

• The cost of ambition: Li’s magical and scientific goals require enormous financial resources, making money as important as knowledge.
• Scientific experimentation and moral detachment: The laboratory treats bodies, organs, and living beings as experimental materials, emphasizing Li’s willingness to sacrifice ethics for progress.
• Limits of knowledge and technology: Li has developed a promising theory about elemental fusion, but poor-quality organs and insufficiently advanced glands prevent him from achieving higher stages.
• Power and social hierarchy: The Dark Council is divided between the influential Upper House and the less powerful Lower House, reflecting the importance of political rank and economic control.
• Cooperation as a source of power: Li recognizes that alliances with business or political figures may be necessary to support his research.
• Appearance versus reality: Both Iron Hammer’s apparent friendliness and Li’s own “honest” behavior are presented as forms of social performance, with both characters remaining guarded beneath the surface.

Character Interactions

• Li works closely with the Corpse Witch during the organ experiments, relying on her surgical skill.
• He values Emily’s support and views her as essential to maintaining the business that finances his research.
• Emily approaches Li nervously because of Iron Hammer’s unexpected visit, demonstrating both her concern for the business and her reliance on Li to handle serious threats.
• Li and Iron Hammer exchange warm greetings and exaggerated courtesy. Although Li embraces him and calls him “Old Iron” or “Little Li,” he internally remains skeptical and evaluates Iron Hammer’s true importance.
• Their first meeting establishes a potentially useful but cautious partnership, centered on whether Iron Hammer can help secure funding for Li’s experiments.

Chapter Summary: “Brother, Don’t You Have Any Ideas?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran warmly welcomes Councilman Iron Hammer, surprising Emily and the slave owners because of their unusually familiar, brotherly interaction.
• Emily remains in the cramped meeting room because Li Ziran wants her involved in the negotiations. Iron Hammer and Li treat her as an important business partner.
• Iron Hammer explains that the slave owners want access to Li Ziran’s beauty-treatment services. The Mill has become more successful because its women receive priority transformations from the Beauty Salon, while rival establishments lose customers.
• Li Ziran reveals that he understands the slave owners are not simply asking about business cooperation—they want a share of his limited treatment slots.
• He redirects the decision to Emily, prompting the slave owners to argue with her over the Beauty Salon’s queue system and its fifty exclusive memberships.
• Emily defends the Salon’s “first come, first served” policy, while the slave owners accuse her of manipulating the membership cards so that women from her own establishment receive repeated priority.
• Iron Hammer stops the argument and reminds everyone to negotiate calmly. The group then looks to Li Ziran for the final decision.
• Rather than granting the slave owners direct access, Li proposes a larger plan to Iron Hammer: expand the Red Fan District to occupy one-quarter of Ninth Street.
• Li argues that Hippo Ancient City has enough demand to support a much larger entertainment district. With Iron Hammer’s political authority and Li’s beauty services, the district could expand, increase treatment capacity, and become a distinctive source of revenue.
• Iron Hammer realizes that the proposal could transform Ninth Street’s economy. Although it would require sacrificing part of the street’s slave-wholesale business, the potential profits persuade him to discuss the details with Li.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran demonstrates strategic intelligence and strong control over the negotiation. He refuses to surrender his monopoly directly and instead proposes a plan that benefits him while giving Iron Hammer a powerful incentive to cooperate.
• Emily becomes more clearly established as Li’s trusted business manager. He publicly gives her authority over Beauty Salon decisions, reinforcing her importance and helping her develop confidence in confrontations with the slave owners.
• Iron Hammer shifts from mediator to potential business partner. Initially he represents the slave owners’ interests, but Li’s proposal appeals to his personal ambition and reveals that he is more interested in expanding his own revenue than merely settling the dispute.
• The slave owners are shown to be dependent on Li’s beauty services. Despite their previous attempts to undermine him, they now act cautiously and deferentially because they need his cooperation.
• The relationship between Li and Iron Hammer deepens. Their apparent brotherly familiarity becomes the foundation for a more ambitious alliance based on political influence and economic expansion.

Significant Themes

• Monopoly and controlled access: Li’s limited beauty-treatment slots give him enormous leverage. The Beauty Salon’s membership and queue systems protect the Mill’s competitive advantage.
• Business expansion through alliances: Rather than sharing his profits unwillingly, Li seeks to enlarge the entire market and partner with the person capable of providing political support.
• Power behind politeness: The meeting is filled with forced smiles and courteous language, but everyone is calculating how to gain money, influence, or access.
• Economic transformation: Li’s plan could change Ninth Street from a slave-trading center into a specialized entertainment district, showing how innovation can disrupt established industries.
• Loyalty and cultivation of talent: Li favors Emily because she has supported his business, while he sees Iron Hammer as valuable because of his authority and access to resources.

Character Interactions

• Li keeps Emily in the meeting and physically seats her beside the men, signaling that she belongs in the negotiation.
• Iron Hammer treats Li as an equal “brother,” while the slave owners show restrained hostility and envy toward both Li and Emily.
• Emily and the slave owners openly clash over membership privileges, with Emily defending the Salon’s rules and the owners accusing her of favoritism.
• Iron Hammer suppresses the confrontation and restores order, but Li ultimately bypasses the slave owners’ demands by addressing Iron Hammer directly.
• Li and Iron Hammer end the chapter as prospective partners, preparing to negotiate the expansion of the Red Fan District.

Chapter Summary: “The Trade Street Deal Sealed”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Heavy snowfall blankets Hippo Ancient City, while the Red Fan District remains unusually busy.
• In a private room, Li Ziran presents Iron Hammer and five other slave owners with a plan to separate the Red Fan District from Ninth Street and transform it into a specialized, city-famous girls’ commercial district.
• The slave owners would finance street renovations and purchase tens of thousands of female slaves. Li Ziran would provide Beauty Salon expertise, training, and technical support to ensure the district’s women surpassed competitors in appearance and service.
• Iron Hammer hesitates because the plan would threaten established merchants and the powerful chambers connected to them. The other slave owners are similarly concerned about the enormous investment and uncertain returns.
• Li Ziran’s main motivation is financial: he needs wealth to acquire and study powerful magical organs, since the Demon faction will not grant him access to high-level materials.
• When the group fails to decide, Li Ziran pretends to withdraw, making it clear that they must either cooperate immediately or lose access to his services.
• Just as he is leaving, Iron Hammer asks how profits will be divided. Li proposes that Iron Hammer receive half, while he and the other slave owners divide the remaining half.
• The slave owners protest, but Li refuses to negotiate and threatens to reserve his Beauty Salon’s services exclusively for Iron Hammer’s clients. This includes Emily, whose availability is one of the Mill’s major competitive advantages.
• Iron Hammer accepts the arrangement and commits to purchasing 20,000 female slaves. Li promises visible results by the following night if they act quickly.
• Iron Hammer gives Li a double-horned badge identifying him as a prospective member of the Dark Council. The badge can help him resolve minor problems in Hippo Ancient City.
• Emily explains the badge’s importance: prospective councilor positions are rare and can only be granted a limited number of times by actual councilors. Li casually gives the valuable badge to Emily.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran demonstrates growing business acumen, confidence, and ruthlessness. He uses scarcity, pressure, and control over Beauty Salon services to force the deal through.
• His ambitions expand beyond immediate profit: he plans to use the income to obtain increasingly powerful magical organs and pursue his research independently of the Demons.
• Iron Hammer shows political caution but ultimately recognizes the enormous power and influence the new commercial district could provide. His willingness to invest 20,000 slaves marks a decisive commitment.
• Iron Hammer also begins treating Li as a valuable political partner by granting him prospective councilor status.
• The five slave owners remain primarily motivated by profit and fear the size of the required investment. Their dependence on Iron Hammer reveals his greater authority.
• Emily remains naïve about the scale of the business and political maneuvering, but she understands the value of the councilor badge and reacts with genuine excitement when Li gives it to her.

Significant Themes

• Commerce as power: Influence in the Dark Council depends heavily on control of industries and resources, not merely personal strength.
• Exploitation and commodification: The plan treats female slaves as both labor and commercial assets, revealing the brutal economic structure of the slave kingdom.
• Strategic manipulation: Li secures agreement not through persuasion alone, but by creating urgency and threatening to restrict access to his most valuable service.
• Independence and ambition: Li seeks financial independence from the Demons so he can obtain rare magical organs and advance his own research.
• Political legitimacy: The prospective councilor badge symbolizes Li’s growing recognition and access to the city’s power structure.
• Risk versus reward: The characters must choose between the enormous danger of disrupting established interests and the potentially extraordinary profits of monopolizing the new district.

Character Interactions

• Li and Iron Hammer engage in a tense negotiation, with Li offering Iron Hammer the largest share in exchange for political authority and investment.
• Li pressures the slave owners by implying that only Iron Hammer will receive access to his Beauty Salon services.
• Iron Hammer responds by committing substantial resources and giving Li political protection.
• Emily’s unexpected involvement highlights her subordinate position in the business, while Li’s decision to give her the badge reflects both his casual attitude toward political privilege and his trust or generosity toward her.
• The chapter ends with Li leaving the negotiating room as the partnership is finalized and Iron Hammer’s group begins planning the takeover of the Red Fan District.

Chapter Summary: “Conflict, Riot, Order”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran waits outside the Beauty Salon while Iron Hammer negotiates inside with several black-robed figures. The discussion appears to concern funding and compensation for the Red Fan District’s redevelopment.
• After Iron Hammer leaves, the other negotiators mysteriously disappear. Li Ziran realizes the negotiations have likely succeeded and goes hunting for creatures to undergo Judgment.
• Li supplies Ailey with an extra Werewolf, breaking his usual rule that Judgment may occur only once per night. The four women conduct Judgment on multiple Werewolves, burning thirteen souls and allowing Li to absorb their power.
• The next morning, violent tremors awaken Li. Iron Hammer has launched a massive demolition operation using rhinoceroses, Minotaurs, bulldozer-like cattle, beetles, pangolins, and other giant creatures.
• Buildings on Ninth Street are destroyed rapidly, while corpses are deliberately trampled and displayed as intimidation. Former shop owners and other residents revolt, using magic, explosives, and ambushes against the demolition forces.
• The Gray Dwarves suppress each riot with overwhelming force. The dead are crushed and discarded, leaving the street covered in blood and corpse fragments.
• Li closes the Beauty Salon for the day, recognizing that further riots are inevitable and that Emily is shaken by the violence.
• Li’s building remains untouched because he displays his reserve council-member badge. He views Iron Hammer’s ruthless methods as harsh but effective for breaking through the district’s corruption and resistance.
• A Gray Dwarf later asks whether Li wants his building demolished. Li declines, preferring the more precise Cockroach Builders. The Dwarf also reveals that Iron Hammer has ordered thousands of female slaves from various races, apparently for Li’s future use, and asks whether he has any preferences.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran becomes more politically aware and confident in his alliance with Iron Hammer. He understands that the redevelopment requires decisive action and accepts the violence as a necessary, if tragic, cost.
• Li also grows stronger by absorbing souls and becomes increasingly willing to bend his own rules when circumstances benefit him.
• Emily remains focused on comfort and business but is chastened by Li’s displeasure and deeply disturbed by the riots and killings. Li shows a protective, reassuring side toward her.
• Iron Hammer is revealed as an uncompromising reformer who relies on intimidation, mass force, and immediate demolition rather than negotiation or compensation.
• Ailey, Ivy, and the other women continue helping Li with Judgment and soul absorption. Their exhaustion after the ritual shows the physical and mental cost of their abilities.
• The former shop owners shift from passive merchants to desperate insurgents, using extreme measures—including suicide attacks—to resist the destruction of their livelihoods.
• The Gray Dwarves function as disciplined enforcers, carrying out Iron Hammer’s orders efficiently and without mercy.

Significant Themes

• Order through violence: The chapter explores whether brutal suppression can be justified when reforming a chaotic and corrupt society.
• Progress versus human cost: The redevelopment may bring major benefits to the Red Fan District, but it is built on the deaths and displacement of ordinary residents.
• Power and pragmatism: Li favors effective action over prolonged negotiation, even while recognizing the moral tragedy of those sacrificed.
• Contrasting spaces: The peaceful Beauty Salon stands directly beside a street transformed into a battlefield, emphasizing the separation between private safety and public suffering.
• Exploitation and commodification: The discussion of slave purchases shows how deeply slavery is embedded in the district’s economy and how political reform coexists with continued exploitation.
• Intimidation as governance: Publicly destroying bodies and buildings is used not merely to defeat resistance but to frighten others into submission.

Character Interactions

• Emily asks Li about the negotiations and complains about waiting in the cold, prompting Li to criticize her lack of business judgment.
• Li reassures and instructs Emily after the riots, ordering her to remain in the basement and closing the business for her safety.
• Ailey teases Li about his unusually generous decision to provide another Werewolf for Judgment, while Li avoids explaining the political success behind his good mood.
• Li’s alliance with Iron Hammer is reinforced indirectly: Iron Hammer protects Li’s building, continues arranging supplies for him, and sends an official to ask about his needs.
• The Gray Dwarf’s respectful exchange with Li demonstrates that Li’s council status now carries authority, even amid the district’s chaos.

Chapter Summary: “Anfuni’s Sudden Visit”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ziran meets Danjir, a wolverine involved in developing Red Fan District. Danjir offers to help procure female human slaves, including rare female Mages and priests. Li Ziran is especially interested because he needs Elemental Glands for his experiments.
• To avoid appearing to undermine Iron Hammer’s authority, Li Ziran ends his conversation when Iron Hammer arrives. Iron Hammer then violently suppresses a riot in the district.
• After the battle, Cockroach Builders rapidly clean the bloodied streets and rebuild damaged structures using their specialized adhesive-producing organs. Newly acquired female slaves are also brought into the remaining buildings.
• Back in the basement, Li Ziran discovers that an unexpected visitor has arrived. The visitor is Anfuni, who has returned severely injured: she is missing an eye, has a facial scar, and her head was recently severed and stitched back on.
• Anfuni explains that she and her allies fought paladins on Sulfur Island. Shadow Elder’s puppets were largely destroyed, Sandrew’s Bone Dragon was killed, and Anfuni herself was nearly killed.
• She reveals that the enemy was not a Demon but a powerful human ruler, Grand Duke Lanchi of North Sea Port. Lanchi is supported by twelve paladins of the Justice Alliance and defectors from the Bauhinia Lineage.
• The Dark Council and the Demons now consider Lanchi a major threat because the Bauhinia defectors are exposing the Council’s forces and smuggling operations. A ten-day death order has been issued against him.

Character Developments

• Li Ziran continues balancing business interests, experimentation, and political caution. He shows strong curiosity about magic-user slaves and remains focused on expanding his beauty salon and research operations.
• He also demonstrates growing concern for Ivy and the other girls, wanting to shield them from the violence surrounding Red Fan District.
• Li Ziran’s suspicion and caution increase when Anfuni appears unexpectedly, but his concern quickly shifts to genuine worry when he sees the extent of her injuries.
• Anfuni returns more battle-hardened but retains her casual, teasing personality. She treats her horrific injuries lightly and confidently expects Li Ziran to repair her.
• Anfuni also reveals the seriousness of the larger political conflict, showing that the Dark Council and Demons are temporarily cooperating against a common human enemy.
• Iron Hammer is shown to be an efficient and ruthless leader, quickly suppressing unrest and restoring the district.
• Danjir establishes himself as a useful merchant contact with access to human slaves and possible connections to rare female Mages and priests.

Significant Themes

• Violence beneath civilization: Red Fan District’s rapid reconstruction hides the brutality required to establish order, with slaughter followed almost immediately by commercial development.
• Pragmatism and moral compromise: Li Ziran operates within a slave-based society and makes business arrangements while remaining selectively uncomfortable with its violence.
• Unexpected alliances: Demons and the Dark Council, despite their usual hostility, cooperate because Grand Duke Lanchi threatens both their political influence and logistical networks.
• Power and political instability: Lanchi’s strength lies not only in himself but in his alliances, elite protectors, and access to information through the Bauhinia defectors.
• Survival and bodily transformation: Anfuni’s stitched body and Li Ziran’s experiments emphasize the chapter’s recurring idea that bodies can be repaired, altered, and treated as instruments.

Character Interactions

• Li Ziran and Danjir establish a tentative business relationship centered on procuring female human magic users.
• Li Ziran deliberately avoids appearing to collude against Iron Hammer, showing his awareness of commercial and political etiquette.
• Li Ziran’s relationship with Ivy and the other girls includes a protective element, as he tries to keep them away from the district’s bloodshed.
• Anfuni teases Li Ziran about being surrounded by women, while he reacts seriously to her injuries and prepares to heal her.
• Their conversation shifts from personal reunion to major political revelations when Anfuni identifies Grand Duke Lanchi as the human enemy behind the recent defeat.