Chapter Summaries

Chen Ling learned that the Calamity that escaped with his Audience could become World-Ending if more Audience members got loose, while his Audience Expectation continued to decline. After hearing that a mysterious Doctor had visited Chen Yan, Chen Ling found a damaged protective talisman bearing his brother’s name in the ruins.

• Qian Fan explained Calamity Domains and told Chen Ling that the Calamity Han Meng fought was classified as Level Five, though Chen Ling knew it had only wielded Level Five power because Audience Expectation was low.
• Chen Ling realized that the escaped Audience could pose a World-Ending threat if they escaped en masse, and saw his Audience Expectation fall to 32%.
• Chen Ling searched the ruins for Calamity traces but found nothing until Wu Youdong told him that Han Meng had visited his home looking for Chen Yan and spoken with a tall man wearing silver-rimmed glasses.
• Chen Ling remembered that he had summoned a Doctor from Aurora City to treat him and hurried home, worried about leaving Chen Yan alone with the stranger.
• Chen Ling crushed a broken brick and uncovered a damaged protective talisman embroidered with the name Chen Yan.

Chen Ling returned home to find Chu Muyun waiting, but refused his offer of an examination because he feared exposing the Calamity inside him. With the Third District sealed, Chen Ling let Chu Muyun stay at his house, then asked him what he knew about the Path to Godhood.

• Chu Muyun introduced himself to Chen Ling as a doctor from Aurora City and offered to examine him, but Chen Ling firmly refused.
• Chu Muyun explained that the Third District was sealed and he could not leave, so Chen Ling agreed to let him stay on the condition that he examine neither Chen Ling nor Chen Yan without permission.
• Chen Yan told Chen Ling that Chu Muyun had turned away Law Enforcer Han Meng, and Chu Muyun explained that Han Meng owed him his life.
• Chen Ling saw that Chen Yan had patched the house’s holes, thanked him, and showed Chu Muyun a room for the night.
• Chen Ling cooked dinner for Chu Muyun and Chen Yan, then asked Chu Muyun how much he knew about the Path to Godhood.

Chen Ling learned from Chu Muyun about God's Blessed, God Paths, and the War God Path, while admitting he could not bring himself to kill. After dinner, he reconsidered Chen Yan's mysterious arrival and feared his brother might no longer be human.

• Chu Muyun explained that Law Enforcers could follow God Paths beyond the War God Path and that Chen Ling could seek an Ancient Treasury if he lacked the right talent.
• Chu Muyun described the War God Path's Judgment path and revealed that he was one of the God's Blessed, following the Medicine God Path.
• Chu Muyun recounted how a God's Blessed perceived and stepped onto a God Path, and Chen Yan compared its swaying shape to a ribbon.
• After dinner, Chen Ling went to Chen Yan's door with the shattered safety talisman and recalled Chen Yan's account of escaping the hospital and crossing the Enforcers' blockade.
• Chen Ling questioned how Chen Yan had traveled so far after surgery and wondered whether his brother had become something other than human.

Chen Ling learned that Chen Yan had killed people on Ice Spring Street after waking there with missing memories, and promised to clear his name. Meanwhile, Chen Yan rejected another divine blessing, while Chu Muyun secretly collected Chen Ling’s hair and skin and contacted a hidden organization.

• Chen Yan admitted to Chen Ling that he had massacred Ice Spring Street, but said he woke there with missing memories after receiving anesthesia for surgery.
• Chen Ling told Chen Yan to stay home, avoid Chu Muyun, and wait until he cleared Chen Yan’s name before visiting their parents.
• Chen Yan crushed the Path to Godhood, rejected God’s Blessing, and added another Divine Path Fragment to a drawer already holding more than thirty.
• Chu Muyun secretly collected Chen Ling’s hair and skin from his bedroom, erased his tracks, and left the house.
• Chu Muyun entered a rundown convenience store, presented the Seven of Spades, and gave the passphrase, “Human civilization... Will never be extinguished.”

Chu Muyun began a Calamity-level assessment of a suspected Fusionist, while Chen Ling searched Ice Spring Street for evidence of Chen Yan. Wu Youdong withdrew from the Enforcer examination after being abused and injured there, and Qian Fan assigned his work to Chen Ling.

• Chu Muyun took a suspected Fusionist into a hidden quiet room and began a diagnosis.
• Chen Ling searched the ruins of Ice Spring Street but found no clues beyond blood and debris.
• Wu Youdong told Chen Ling that locals had beaten him and that Enforcer leadership had sent newcomers to Ice Spring Street as sacrifices.
• Qian Fan arrived, and Wu Youdong withdrew from the Enforcer examination without voicing his accusations to him.
• Wu Youdong limped back toward the Third District, and Qian Fan told Chen Ling to take over his work.

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.