Recaps

Chen Ling used the Second District Enforcers’ instructions to justify confronting the survivors of Ice Spring Street, while Chu Muyun discovered that Chen Ling carried a World-Ending Calamity. The chapter ended with Chen Ling entering Black Axe Tavern and asking the hostile survivors to answer his questions.

• Chen Ling resolved not to lower his head after Qian Fan left.
• Chu Muyun used Eye of Tracing and saw scarlet eyes in the void, then identified Chen Ling's Calamity as World-Ending and rated him S+ as a recruitment candidate.
• Chu Muyun and the woman discussed warning the Red King and Gray King, and Chu Muyun wondered whether releasing the Calamity could replace their original plan.
• Chen Ling visited the Second District Enforcers and confirmed that he could use force if Ice Spring Street survivors refused to cooperate.
• Chen Ling went to Black Axe Tavern, where the survivors glared at him, and asked whether they were ready to answer his questions.

Chen Ling investigated the tavern’s residents about the massacre on Ice Spring Street and was attacked by Bone Knife and the armed men there. He defeated them, then forced Li Mang to retract his uncertain claim about seeing the Calamity.

• Chen Ling questioned Bone Knife about his whereabouts during the massacre, and Bone Knife attacked him.
• Chen Ling stabbed Bone Knife’s palm and slammed him into the floor, then fought off the tavern’s gunmen and knife-wielding men.
• Chen Ling subdued thirteen of the fourteen people in the tavern and demanded a whiskey from the one-eyed owner.
• Chen Ling questioned Li Mang, who said he had seen a humanoid Calamity pass by but admitted he was uncertain.
• Chen Ling poured whiskey over Li Mang’s wounds until Li Mang confessed that he had not seen anything.

Chen Ling investigated the Ice Spring Street residents, defeated them, and delivered his report to Qian Fan. The Enforcers discovered the ruined tavern and learned Chen Ling had already left after saying he got off work.

• Chen Ling questioned the Ice Spring Street residents, recorded that there were no witnesses, collected their fingerprints, and tied them together before leaving the tavern.
• Qian Fan and the other Enforcers dismissed the possibility that Chen Ling could handle the assignment and speculated that he might not survive.
• Chen Ling returned with his completed work report and told Qian Fan the residents were still at the tavern.
• Qian Fan and the Enforcers found the tavern wrecked and its residents bloodied, while the owner and Sun Laoliu accused Qian Fan of sending Chen Ling to attack them.
• The tavern owner aimed a gun at Qian Fan, and an Enforcer reported that Chen Ling had left after saying he got off work.

Chen Ling returned home after gaining Audience Expectation Value, where Chen Yan shared his passion for opera and noticed Chen Ling’s bullet-torn coat. That night, Chu Muyun entered the Theater and raised a blade over the sleeping Chen Ling.

• Chen Ling returned to Frost Street with his Audience Expectation Value at 40% after his confrontation at the tavern.
• Chen Ling listened to Chen Yan sing opera and encouraged him to perform at his school’s New Year’s gala.
• Chen Yan noticed the holes in Chen Ling’s coat, and Chen Ling claimed two thugs had shot at him before the Enforcers took them away.
• Chu Muyun questioned how Chen Ling had evaded the gunfire, but Chen Ling concealed his ability and the Theater.
• After dinner, Chu Muyun appeared in the Theater and raised a short blade over the sleeping Chen Ling.

Chu Muyun stopped himself from attacking the sleeping Chen Ling after seeing a warning in the moonlight, while Chen Yan watched from the shadows. Meanwhile, Ma Zhong plotted to kill Han Meng and frame Calamity, and Chen Ling set out for the final day of his Enforcers exam with little hope of passing.

• Chu Muyun saw the words “Go back” and a gray Joker card appear in the moonlight, then concealed his dagger and left Chen Ling’s room.
• Chen Yan emerged from the shadows with a bloodstained Bone-Slicing Knife, wished Chen Ling goodnight, and passed through the wall to return to his room.
• Chang Lin told Ma Zhong that Chen Ling had beaten up Black Axe Tavern’s men, and Ma Zhong decided to target Han Meng rather than Chen Ling.
• Ma Zhong planned to kill Han Meng and make it appear that he died fighting Calamity, then have Chen Ling join the Enforcers under his control.
• Chen Ling woke to Chen Yan’s encouragement, learned it was the last day of his exam, and prepared to leave despite expecting to fail.

Chen Ling learned that he had passed the Martial Trial and become an official Enforcer, then returned to Frost Street to celebrate with Chen Yan. When Wu Youdong arrived and asked who Chen Ling had been talking to, the candles went out in a sudden, chilling gust.

• Snow fell heavily as Chen Ling traveled to Ice Spring Street, where Qian Fan told him the higher-ups had accepted him as an Enforcer and gave him ten silver coins.
• Qian Fan and the other Enforcers celebrated news that Han Meng had died fighting two Calamities and that Ma Zhong was taking over as chief.
• Chen Ling bought a cake to celebrate his success and hurried home after hearing that the Calamity had been eliminated, fearing Chen Yan was in danger.
• Chen Ling found Chen Yan safe, shared the cake with him, and told him the family would have more money and Chen Yan could return to school.
• Wu Youdong visited and congratulated Chen Ling, then asked who Chen Ling had been talking to; a freezing gust blew out the candles.

Chen Ling realized that his younger brother A-Yan had vanished from his memories and rushed to the back mountain, where the truth was buried. Chu Muyun blamed Wu Youdong for disrupting Chen Ling’s fragile balance, killed him, and prepared a scalpel.

• Chen Ling insisted that A-Yan had been in the house, but Wu Youdong said he had seen Chen Ling talking to himself.
• Remembering that the Gray Realm Convergence had occurred on the back mountain, Chen Ling ran into the snow toward it.
• Chu Muyun arrived and learned that Wu Youdong had questioned Chen Ling about speaking to someone who was not there.
• Chu Muyun accused Wu Youdong of unleashing a monster and beat him to death with a chair.
• Chen Ling crossed the warning line at the back mountain and searched the mass grave for the buried truth.

At Mass Grave, Chen Ling uncovered memories revealing that Chen Yan had been prepared for a heart transplant using his brother’s heart, then drugged and apparently exploited for his organs instead. The memories led Chen Ling to dig at an unmarked grave, where he recalled Chen Tan and another man burying Chen Yan’s discarded body.

• Chen Ling followed a familiar feeling through Mass Grave and knelt at an unmarked mound as memories belonging to Chen Yan surfaced.
• Chen Yan learned that his parents had arranged for his brother’s heart to be used in his surgery and begged the doctors to stop.
• Bone Knife drugged Chen Yan and told him that the heart was not going to be transplanted into him.
• Chen Ling awoke in the snow, addressed Chen Yan, and began digging into the frozen earth.
• Chen Ling remembered Chen Tan and another man discussing how Bone Knife had removed Chen Yan’s organs before they dumped his body in Mass Grave.

Chen Ling realized that Chen Yan had died and that the Audience had made him see his brother, driving him into a furious breakdown. He picked up Qian Fan’s nine silver coins and turned toward the Second District, resolved to put on another show for the Audience.

• Chen Tan and his wife buried Chen Ling’s body and agreed to conceal his death from A-Yan.
• After the Gray Realm Convergence, Chen Ling remembered that he had been resurrected and, controlled by the Audience, had attacked Ice Spring Street.
• Chen Ling dug through the grave until Chen Yan appeared and told him he was dead and present only because of Chen Ling’s power.
• Chen Ling realized the Audience had manipulated his perception of Chen Yan and angrily accused them of using his feelings for entertainment.
• Chen Ling found Qian Fan’s nine silver coins, picked them up, and vowed to put on another show as he looked toward the Second District.

At a celebration hosted by Ice Spring Street’s criminals, Chen Ling arrived in a red opera robe to confront Bone Knife over a stolen heart and his younger brother’s death. He ended the confrontation by thrusting his palm through Bone Knife’s chest.

• Qian Fan and the Ice Spring Street residents celebrated the districts reopening and discussed their criminal businesses, including a shipment of organs sent to Aurora City.
• Bone Knife climbed onto the stage, seized a dancer, and forced her to dance while the crowd laughed.
• Chen Ling entered the residence, ignored Qian Fan’s invitation, and walked toward Bone Knife onstage.
• Chen Ling said he had lost a heart and his younger brother’s life, then pierced Bone Knife’s chest with his palm.

Chen Ling killed Bone Knife and unleashed a massacre at the Ice Spring Street celebration, drawing the attention of the War God Path and Witch God Path. As Qian Fan and the Enforcers struggled to stop him, Qian Fan revealed a severed finger bone wrapped in black cloth.

• Chen Ling stabbed Bone Knife and disemboweled him onstage, killing him in revenge.
• Qian Fan condemned Chen Ling, but Chen Ling challenged the crowd to punish him and vanished from the stage.
• Chen Ling hunted down the fleeing residents, killing several as the celebration turned into a massacre.
• Chu Muyun and a shadowed man observed that both the War God Path and Witch God Path had noticed Chen Ling, and the shadowed man warned that Qian Fan carried the scent of a Ritual Artifact.
• Qian Fan decided the Enforcers had to act and unwrapped a severed finger bone from black cloth.

Qian Fan used a Ritual Artifact to trap Chen Ling in a cage of bones and prepared to shoot him, but three God Paths descended to bestow their favor on Chen Ling. As observers realized the rare blessings would attract attention, a Law Enforcer approached the residence.

• Qian Fan activated his Ritual Artifact, which consumed his blood and raised giant ribs from the ground to pin Chen Ling in a bone cage.
• Qian Fan aimed his gun at Chen Ling while threatening him over the harm he had caused Ice Spring Street.
• Two stars—the War God Path and Witch God Path—sent divine light down to Chen Ling, shocking Qian Fan and the other Enforcers.
• A third star appeared, and the man in the shadows identified it as the Theater God Path.
• Chu Muyun and the man in the shadows discussed Chen Ling's three blessings and learned that a Law Enforcer was nearing the residence.

Han Meng was trapped in a snow illusion by a masked boy who identified himself as connected to the Dusk Society. At the residence, the Audience intervened as Chen Ling tried to choose a God Path, frightening all three paths into withdrawing and leaving him unable to step onto one.

• Han Meng followed the divine radiance toward Ma Zhong’s residence, but a snow illusion kept him from reaching it and erased his footprints.
• Han Meng broke the illusion with a shot, exposing a masked boy who trapped him inside a playing-card pattern and was revealed as an apparent member of the Dusk Society.
• Chen Ling considered choosing the War God Path, the only one of the three God Paths he recognized.
• The Audience erupted in the Theater and sent World-Ending power toward the three God Paths, rejecting their claim on Chen Ling.
• The three God Paths severed their connections and withdrew, stunning Chen Ling and Qian Fan’s group.

After the God Paths withdrew their blessings, Chen Ling begged Qian Fan to kill him and discovered he could survive a single gunshot to the head. Chen Yan appeared to stop him from giving up and revealed vermilion glass, promising to continue the severed path for him.

• The God Paths withdrew their blessings from Chen Ling after the Audience interfered, leaving him despairing and convinced he could not escape their control.
• Chen Ling urged Qian Fan to shoot him, and Qian Fan's bullet shattered half of Chen Ling's head.
• Chen Ling's body began to regenerate, and he demanded that Qian Fan shoot him a second time to kill him.
• Chen Yan appeared and pleaded with Chen Ling to live, but Chen Ling accused the Audience of using Chen Yan's form to manipulate him.
• Chen Yan insisted he was real, then showed Chen Ling pieces of vermilion glass and promised to continue the path the Audience had severed.

Chen Yan sacrificed himself to reconnect the Theater God Path for Chen Ling, who stepped onto the twisted path despite warnings. Chen Ling gained a distorted face-changing skill and ended the chapter aiming a massive pistol at Chu Muyun and the shadowy man.

• Chen Yan revealed he had saved thirty-six fragments of the Theater God Path and used them to reconnect the path for Chen Ling.
• Chen Yan became the foundation of Chen Ling's God Path and urged his brother to walk it before fading away.
• Chen Ling broke free of the bone cage, stepped onto the twisted Theater God Path, and caused it to solidify and vanish beneath his feet.
• Chu Muyun and the shadowy man found Chen Ling imitating their voices and faces as he suffered backlash from his twisted first-step skill.
• Chen Ling tore away a layer of his face, revealing a massive black pistol aimed at Chu Muyun and the shadowy man.

Chen Ling transformed into a red-clad opera figure and killed Qian Fan and the remaining Enforcers before collapsing, and Chu Muyun revealed that the Red King had invited him to join the Dusk Society. Elsewhere, Han Meng escaped Eight of Clubs and confronted a Dusk Society boy, accusing the organization of destroying an entire Human Domain.

• Chen Ling changed into a gun barrel, then into a female opera role resembling Chen Yan, and attacked Qian Fan and the Enforcers.
• Chen Ling killed Qian Fan and the two fleeing Enforcers, then returned to his original appearance and fell unconscious.
• Chu Muyun showed the shadowy man an envelope bearing a red [JOKER] card and said the Red King was behind the invitation to Chen Ling.
• Han Meng broke out of Eight of Clubs and aimed his gun at a boy from the Dusk Society, who invited him to join.
• Han Meng cited the Human Convention's order to kill Dusk Society members and accused the boy's organization of exterminating an entire Human Domain.

Han Meng found that the Dusk Society had slaughtered everyone at the Ice Spring Street celebration, while Chen Ling woke in the Theater and gained the skill [Mystic Eye]. The Theater then announced that he had completed the production and earned a designated draw as a new story began.

• Han Meng shot the boy, who faded into a portrait before vanishing, and then found twenty-two victims and nine silver coins at the residence.
• Chen Ling woke on the Theater stage and saw that his Audience Expectation had fallen from 77% to 27% after his connection was lost.
• Chen Ling used his unlocked bonus draw and received Chu Muyun's [Mystic Eye] skill from the Medicine God Path's [Blood Slaughter] path.
• Chen Ling read that he had completed the production, reached a highest Audience Expectation of 78%, and earned a designated draw.
• New lines of text appeared across the table, beginning with “Who... am I?” as a thunderstorm scene started.

Chen Ling reviewed the script of his recent experiences in the Theater, then woke and confronted Chu Muyun about his knowledge of Chen Yan and Chen Ling’s Fusionist identity. Chu Muyun revealed that he belonged to the secretive Dusk Society and tried to recruit Chen Ling, who remained wary.

• Chen Ling read a script that recorded his experiences, discovered it showed only scenes he had witnessed, and placed it on the Theater’s bookshelf as “Heartless.”
• After the intermission ended, Chen Ling woke in a room with Chu Muyun and held a blade to his throat, demanding to know why he had pretended that Chen Yan was real.
• Chu Muyun said he knew about Chen Ling’s fusion with a World-Ending Calamity and asked how Chen Ling had remained rational.
• Chu Muyun revealed that his miracle-doctor identity was fabricated and that he worked for the Dusk Society, a secret organization infiltrating the Human Domains.
• Chu Muyun offered Chen Ling high pay and help with the God Path, but Chen Ling refused to join before hearing more about the Society’s ideals.

Chen Ling declined Chu Muyun’s offer to join his organization and returned to Frost Street, where Han Meng confronted him about his connection to Chu Muyun and his dead brother. Chen Ling admitted that he could still see Chen Yan and accused Han Meng of failing to protect ordinary people.

• Chen Ling accepted a silver cube from Chu Muyun but said he needed time to consider the offer, then left Xiaofang Grocery Store and headed for Frost Street.
• Wu Youdong thanked Chen Ling for Chu Muyun’s miraculous treatment, saying his injuries had healed and he had grown taller.
• Chen Ling noticed signs that someone had entered his house and found Han Meng inside investigating.
• Han Meng questioned Chen Ling about Chu Muyun, Chen Yan’s death, and the extra bowl in the house.
• Chen Ling admitted that he saw Chen Yan as alive and accused Han Meng of failing to stop the killings on Ice Spring Street, leaving Han Meng silent and looking away.

After Han Meng left, Chen Ling mourned A-Yan at the Mass Grave and discovered that Chu Muyun’s silver square was a USB drive that transported him to his original world. He saw that a crimson meteor had just passed Earth and caused widespread destruction, leaving his return amid a disaster.

• Han Meng told Chen Ling he had passed the Martial Trial, could report to Enforcer headquarters, and had earned entry to the Martial Way Ancient Treasury before leaving.
• Chen Ling visited A-Yan’s grave, shared a cake with him, and worried about the World-Ending Calamity and whether to join the Enforcers.
• Chen Ling found the USB drive Chu Muyun had given him and inserted it into the snow, whereupon dark green code appeared and he fainted.
• Chen Ling woke in a modern restroom, recognized the mall around him, and realized he had returned to his original world.
• A giant screen reported that a crimson meteor had grazed Earth and triggered earthquakes and building collapses that had killed more than two thousand people.

Chen Ling returned to his former world in a vision that showed his family mourning his death, but he was pulled back to Mass Grave before he could reach his mother. Carrying the USB drive, he went to Xiaofang Grocery Store to demand answers from Chu Muyun about the Dusk Society.

• Chen Ling saw news about the Crimson Meteor and discovered that his [Slaughter Waltz] abilities had returned with him.
• Chen Ling reached his family’s apartment and saw his relatives mourning him while his mother held his photograph.
• Chen Ling tried to return to the ninth floor, but the elevator plunged as a notice said his time limit had expired and interrupted his reading.
• Chen Ling woke in Mass Grave, took the USB drive, and ran down the mountain.
• At Xiaofang Grocery Store, Chen Ling confronted Chu Muyun and demanded a proper talk about the USB drive.

Chu Muyun explained to Chen Ling how the Great Cataclysm began with humanity’s technological regression and self-destruction before the Ash Realm invaded. He then revealed that the Dusk Society sought to reverse the era and restart the world.

• Chu Muyun told Chen Ling that the USB drive showed the world before the Great Cataclysm, revealing that Chen Ling had traveled through time rather than between worlds.
• Chu Muyun explained that, 379 years earlier, a Crimson Meteor triggered the collapse of human technology and nations waged war to protect their power and resources.
• Chu Muyun recounted how the Ash Realm invaded the devastated world, survivors formed nine bases, and those bases eventually became the nine Domains.
• Chen Ling realized that his parents and nearly everyone he had known might have died in the Great Cataclysm, though he could do nothing about it.
• Chu Muyun said the Dusk Society gathered people who had despaired of the era and declared their purpose was to reverse the era and restart the world.

Chen Ling learned that the Dusk Society planned to restart the world using a recreated save file, and he joined the organization as [Red Heart 6]. Chu Muyun warned him about his unusual God Path and gave him a mission from the Red King before leaving for Aurora City.

• Chu Muyun explained that the Dusk Society had recreated a two-hour period from the era when the Red Star descended and hoped to use it to restart the world.
• Chen Ling chose to join the Dusk Society to try to return to his former life and protect his family and friends.
• Chen Ling chose the identity [Red Heart 6], and Chu Muyun explained the society’s loose rules and the save file’s limits.
• Chen Ling demonstrated his ability to transform into Chu Muyun and named his God Path skill [Formless].
• Chu Muyun warned Chen Ling that advancing his twisted God Path could cause brief mental confusion, then gave him a mission personally assigned by the Red King.

After deciding to grow stronger and find a way home, Chen Ling accepted the Dusk Society’s mission to steal a Martial Way Dao Foundation Fragment from the Martial Way Ancient Treasury. A disturbing dream revealed that advancing along his Twisted God Path required a deadly performance, and he wondered whether the Ancient Treasury mission could fulfill it.

• Chen Ling resolved to become stronger and considered joining the Law Enforcers while hiding his Dusk Society identity.
• Chen Ling read the Red King’s instructions to infiltrate the Martial Way Ancient Treasury and steal a Martial Way Dao Foundation Fragment, then burned the letter.
• Chen Ling dreamed that a blood-red God Path led toward home and that its next step required a performance involving at least fifty people with no survivors.
• Chen Ling woke and wrote down the condition, suspecting it was the price or requirement for advancing along his Twisted God Path.
• Chen Ling wrote “Martial Way Ancient Treasury” beneath the condition with a question mark as the Grand Theater’s audience shadows seemed to laugh.

Chen Ling took his oath as an Enforcer and learned that Han Meng had purged the Third District’s rebellious Enforcers, leaving the organization in turmoil. On his first patrol of Frost Street, Chen Ling bought peaches from an old woman and warned her that the infant on her cart had a fever, then found residents watching to see who would now control the street.

• Chen Ling received his Enforcer uniform and ID, took the oath, and was assigned to patrol Frost Street.
• Chen Ling overheard Enforcers say Han Meng had killed Ma Zhong, two other Law Enforcers, and more than fifty Enforcers tied to them, leaving only Han Meng and Xi Renjie as Law Enforcers in the Third District.
• Chen Ling bought two pounds of peaches from an old woman and used his Secret Eye to warn her that the infant on her cart had a fever.
• Chen Ling arrived on Frost Street and asked Boss Li why residents were watching him, and Boss Li explained that they wanted to see who would have the final say on the street.