Chapter Summaries

Summary of “Life’s Little Peak”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zhang Ping discusses possible positions with Situ Shibai after the Patrol Team’s destruction. He rejects becoming commander and shows little interest in ordinary patrol work because of its demanding schedule.
• Situ Shibai recommends that Zhang Ping become captain of the Investigation Team. The position offers a high salary, housing, medical care, freedom to hunt in the wild, and other benefits.
• Situ reveals his real motive: if Zhang Ping remains in Mingzhu City, the Beast-Taming Zhu Family may hide more deeply because they would fear facing two Infinite-Tier Ability Users. By sending Zhang Ping away on Investigation Team work, the authorities could contact him when needed while making it easier to uncover and attack the Zhu Family.
• To persuade Zhang Ping, Situ creates a Special Action Group that allows him to hold positions in both the Investigation Team and Cleanup Team. Liu Sishan becomes its leader, with Zhang Shouzhong and Cheng Xuejie assisting Zhang Ping. Zhang Ping accepts once he learns he will receive both teams’ benefits.
• After the Heavenly Fox’s disappearance, Mingzhu City remains chaotic for two days. The heads of powerful martial arts schools eventually intervene and select a new Patrol Team commander and city lord.
• Feng Laixian becomes the new Patrol Team commander, while Bai De and graduates of the Beast King Fist Hall join as the first new Patrol Team members. Their presence helps restore order, though many families continue mourning those killed.
• Jin Bo is temporarily appointed city lord because Situ Shibai distrusts the martial arts-school leaders and lacks a better candidate.
• Zhang Ping officially becomes captain of the Investigation Team’s Gui Team. He receives a large house near the city wall, complete with a workshop, as well as the position’s financial benefits.
• Zhang considers having Liu Tiefeng live with him but decides against it because the Beast-Taming Zhu Family remains a threat. This strengthens his determination to destroy them.
• The Gui Team currently has only four members, including Zhang Ping, Liu Sishan, Zhang Shouzhong, and Cheng Xuejie, leaving five vacancies. Zhang plans to recruit support-oriented specialists who can make missions and daily life more efficient.
• After everyone organizes their newly assigned homes, Zhang Ping and the others arrange to meet at Gui Tower, the Gui Team’s office.

Character Developments

• Zhang Ping remains lazy and highly motivated by comfort and material benefits, but he also demonstrates strategic awareness and growing responsibility. His decision to join the Investigation Team reflects both his desire for advantages and his willingness to help eliminate the Zhu Family.
• Situ Shibai proves himself politically strategic and manipulative in a benevolent way. He understands Zhang Ping’s personality and successfully persuades him by combining duty with excellent personal rewards.
• Feng Laixian rises to command the rebuilt Patrol Team, taking on a major leadership role after the previous team’s destruction.
• Jin Bo is pushed into the temporary position of city lord despite the role not being his original focus, largely because Situ Shibai considers him trustworthy.
• Liu Sishan, Zhang Shouzhong, and Cheng Xuejie become part of Zhang Ping’s new Special Action Group, expanding their cooperation with him.

Significant Themes

• Power determines political authority: The selection of Mingzhu City’s leaders is controlled by the strongest Awakened, demonstrating that ordinary citizens have little influence in a supernatural society.
• Duty and self-interest: Zhang Ping accepts an important mission largely because of the benefits, showing how personal motives can coexist with public responsibility.
• Rebuilding after disaster: The city begins restoring its institutions and security, but the emotional and human costs of the Heavenly Fox’s attack remain.
• Trust and hidden threats: The authorities must reorganize while remaining wary of the Beast-Taming Zhu Family, whose continued secrecy makes them a dangerous enemy.
• Leadership and institutional reform: The Patrol and Investigation Teams require new leaders, new members, and structural changes after their failures.

Character Interactions

• Situ Shibai repeatedly negotiates with Zhang Ping, teasing him about his laziness while carefully tailoring the offer to his interests.
• Zhang Ping questions Situ’s motives and correctly realizes that his transfer is intended to draw the Beast-Taming Zhu Family out.
• Zhang tries to recruit Lu Han for his group, but Situ explains that Lu Han will eventually return to Jin Bo’s combat unit.
• Situ and Zhang share a relaxed, optimistic moment overlooking Mingzhu City after finalizing their agreement.
• Zhang and his future teammates begin preparing for their new roles and homes, culminating in their planned meeting at Gui Tower.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Ping and his companions arrive at Gui Tower, their spacious new base in Mingzhu City. They marvel at the organization’s wealth and settle in, with Liu Sishan taking responsibility for the key.
• The group reflects on defeating the Heavenly Foxes. They agree that the Moon King’s defeat was less about his weakness than Zhang Ping’s overwhelming strength and his ability to resist the Moon King’s perception-warping powers.
• When Cheng Xuejie asks Zhang Ping to clean Gui Tower using his Sanctified World ability, he discovers he can no longer contact it. He recalls that the problem may have begun when he first encountered the Moon King.
• Suspecting they may be trapped in an illusion, the group tests one another. Liu Sishan uses a code phrase, while Zhang Ping looks for discrepancies, but they find no convincing evidence beyond his lost connection.
• Situ Shibai suddenly enters through a conjured door. After checking with his own abilities, he also finds no flaws and asks whether Zhang Ping is certain they are in an illusion.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping recognizes that he became complacent after the battle and admits he may have missed the loss of contact for days. His companions reassure him that the deception fooled them all.
• Liu Sishan responds cautiously, proposing a code phrase and deciding to contact the captain. Her vigilance contrasts with Zhang Shouzhong’s joking and initial suspicion.
• Cheng Xuejie emphasizes Zhang Ping’s strength and teases him, while Zhang Shouzhong jokes about the new residence and later tries to comfort Zhang Ping.
• Situ Shibai’s arrival introduces an experienced investigator, but even his tests cannot establish whether the group is truly in an illusion.

Significant themes

• Power and countermeasures: The battle with the Moon King shows that extraordinary abilities can be overcome by the right opposing power—or by overwhelming physical strength.
• Complacency and hidden danger: The group’s comfortable new home may itself be part of a deception, showing how easily success can lower one’s guard.
• Uncertainty and trust: Familiar surroundings and companions offer no proof of reality; the group must rely on limited clues while questioning what they can trust.

Chapter Summary: “Evermoon Feigned Sleep”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zhang Ping realizes that Mingzhu City may not be real. Because he cannot contact the Sanctified World and everything feels unnaturally convincing, he concludes that he and the others are trapped in an illusion or dream created by the Moon King.
• Situ Shibai agrees that the entire group may be inside the Moon King’s dreamscape. He creates numerous clones to investigate important locations, while Zhang Shouzhong and Cheng Xuejie prepare to search the city for flaws.
• In the real world, Zhang Ping and the others remain motionless outside Mingzhu City, surrounded by the bodies of countless Heavenly Foxes. Animals entering the area fall unconscious or die, revealing the dangerous influence of the Moon King’s ability.
• Prince Yue escapes from Zhang Ping’s grasp despite severe injuries. He initially intends to attack Mingzhu City and kill humans in revenge for his father.
• The chapter reveals the Moon King’s King-Level ability, Evermoon Feigned Sleep. It consumes all of the Moon King’s Mental Strength and draws every living being within three hundred kilometers into the Evermoon Dreamscape, where time passes one thousand times faster than in reality.
• The dreamscape is almost identical to reality, and death within it causes a person to awaken in the real world with their physical condition synchronized to the dream body. The Moon King cannot directly control the dream, but it can remain asleep until all beings within the dream die of accidents or old age.
• The Moon King realizes that Zhang Ping and the others are beginning to recognize the dream. It burns its own spirit body to manifest briefly and warn Prince Yue to flee before the humans awaken.
• Prince Yue is deeply shaken by his father’s sacrifice. He finally recognizes that his strength and confidence were largely dependent on the Moon King’s protection.
• After promising to avenge his father, Prince Yue flees away from Mingzhu City, consuming sleeping creatures along the way to sustain himself.
• Back in the dreamscape, the people inside Gui Tower grow increasingly anxious about their real bodies and the possibility that the Heavenly Foxes may have killed them.
• Situ Shibai eventually returns with a mysterious dark-skinned man whose face is covered in tiny written stories. He asks the others to interrogate the man for clues about the dream.

Character Developments

• Zhang Ping: Demonstrates strong mental resilience, allowing him to partially recognize that the battle and surrounding events are false. However, he remains trapped in the dream and does not yet understand the full nature of the Moon King’s ability.
• Situ Shibai: Takes command of the investigation, using clones to search for weaknesses in the dreamscape. His calm and methodical leadership contrasts with the group’s growing fear.
• Prince Yue: Changes from a confident and vengeful heir into a frightened survivor. The Moon King’s final warning forces him to acknowledge his dependence on his father and abandon immediate revenge.
• The Moon King: Reveals its willingness to sacrifice itself to protect Prince Yue. Though defeated, it remains resourceful, using its spirit body to communicate one final warning.
• Zhang Shouzhong, Cheng Xuejie, and Liu Sishan: Reflect the group’s different responses to the crisis—active investigation, readiness to search, and calm patience.

Significant Themes

• Reality versus illusion: The chapter emphasizes how difficult it is to distinguish a dream from reality when the dream perfectly reproduces the world and its consequences.
• Sacrifice and parental protection: The Moon King burns its spirit body to save Prince Yue, showing that its concern for its son outweighs its own survival.
• Loss of confidence and dependence: Prince Yue’s defeat exposes how much of his former arrogance came from the Moon King’s protection.
• The danger of time: The thousand-to-one time ratio makes the dreamscape a potential lifetime prison, where years can pass while only moments elapse in reality.
• Survival and revenge: Prince Yue’s desire for revenge conflicts with the need to escape and preserve the Moonfolk’s future.

Character Interactions

• Zhang Ping and Situ Shibai discuss the possibility that the city is an illusion, prompting the group’s investigation.
• Situ Shibai directs Zhang Shouzhong and Cheng Xuejie to remain behind while his clones search for abnormalities.
• The Moon King speaks directly to Prince Yue, admits their defeat, and urges him to flee rather than seek revenge.
• Prince Yue mourns his father, promises vengeance against humanity, and obeys his final command.
• Within Gui Tower, Zhang Shouzhong expresses fear for their real bodies, while Liu Sishan urges everyone to remain calm.
• Situ Shibai brings back a strange, story-covered man, setting up the group’s next attempt to uncover the truth about the dreamscape.

Plot points and events

• Zhang San explains that his ability, Fictional Stories, creates stories on his body that can open illusory spaces. He recognizes that the current world is unreal, though he has no idea how to escape it.
• Zhang Ping appraises Zhang San and learns he is an Intermediate Awakened affiliated with Spring Autumn Hall, a media organization whose stories often portray or allude to the Cleanup Team. Zhang San says he only occasionally copies stories written on his body.
• Liu Sishan keeps Zhang San under observation and reports that his testimony confirms the world is not reality, but provides no solution.
• Zhang Shouzhong jokes about suicide as a way to wake up; Cheng Xuejie responds sarcastically.
• Situ Shibai returns with Li Huatao, another person who has realized the world is unreal. She is terrified and mentally unstable, so the team struggles to question her.
• Zhang Ping appraises Li and discovers her passive ability, Dark Inspiration, grants unusual perceptions but steadily damages her sanity. He produces a Contract Gem and persuades her—by promising not to approach further—to swallow it. She immediately stops trembling and begins to regain clarity.

Character developments

• Zhang Ping remains practical and proactive: he uses appraisal to gather information and takes a forceful risk to help Li.
• Liu Sishan manages the investigation calmly and tries to reassure both Zhang San and Li.
• Zhang San is timid but honest, and his unusual ability gives the group evidence that their surroundings are false.
• Li Huatao begins the scene terrified and near collapse, but the Contract Gem appears to restore her composure.
• Zhang Shouzhong and Cheng Xuejie show familiar friction through dark humor and sarcasm.

Significant themes

• Reality and illusion: Multiple characters can sense that the apparent world is false, but recognizing the deception does not reveal how to escape it.
• Abilities and their costs: Zhang San’s power is unusual but constrained, while Li’s perceptive gift gradually destroys her sanity.
• Trust and intervention: Zhang Ping’s treatment requires Li to trust him despite her terror; he uses a firm, almost threatening approach when gentler reassurance fails.
• Institutional conflict: Zhang San’s connection to Spring Autumn Hall highlights the organization’s uneasy relationship with the Cleanup Team.

Character interactions

• Liu Sishan questions Zhang San, while Zhang Ping quietly appraises him and identifies his affiliation.
• The team debates possible ways out, with Zhang Shouzhong’s suicide suggestion met by Cheng Xuejie’s biting reply.
• Liu Sishan attempts to comfort Li, but her fear prevents communication.
• Zhang Ping addresses Li directly, offers the Contract Gem, and secures her cooperation through a promise that he will keep his distance.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Ping’s gem stabilizes Li Huatao’s reason, preventing her Dark Inspiration ability from driving her mad. She is now exceptionally calm and rational.
• Li Huatao reveals that she can perceive everyone’s Mindscape and sense a will within the moon. The Dreamscape is nearly indistinguishable from reality, but destroying the moon will make it collapse.
• Since no one can destroy the moon alone, Zhang Ping proposes uniting Mingzhu City’s strongest people. The group accepts that this is their only apparent way out.
• Situ Shibai returns with a thin captive. When told the moon must be destroyed, even he admits the feat is beyond his power alone.
• The group worries that the Dreamscape may have advanced time so much that they will emerge aged. Situ Shibai explains that he can measure thought speed: time in the Dreamscape is moving 1,000 times faster than in reality. This suggests the Dreamscape reflects the city’s future after the Heavenly Fox is dealt with—making it effectively a precognitive dream.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Huatao gains control over her condition through Zhang Ping’s gem. Her calmness comes at the cost of emotional expression, but she uses her unusual perception to identify the Dreamscape’s weakness.
• Zhang Ping takes the lead, proposing a collective effort to destroy the moon. He also raises the unsettling possibility that time may have passed differently outside the dream.
• Liu Sishan supports Zhang Ping’s plan and quickly grasps the significance of Situ Shibai’s time-ratio explanation.
• Zhang Shouzhong and Cheng Xuejie question whether destroying the moon is possible and worry about what the dream means for their future.
• Situ Shibai provides reassurance and explains that the Dreamscape accelerates their thoughts rather than making real time pass rapidly. He also addresses doubts about what their future positions might be.

Significant themes

• Reason versus madness: Li Huatao’s restored rationality protects her from her ability’s effects, though it leaves her emotionally detached.
• Cooperation against overwhelming odds: Escaping may require the entire city to unite for an impossible-seeming task.
• Uncertainty about reality and the future: The Dreamscape blurs present experience with possible future events, while the characters struggle to understand what their actions and roles will mean outside it.
• Time and perception: Subjective time can race ahead while little time passes in reality, turning the Dreamscape into a glimpse of a possible future.

Plot points

• Situ Shibai explains that the dream reflects events his powerful will intends to bring about, so its future may be unavoidable—but the group can still escape by waking. They decide to try destroying the moon.
• Situ Shibai leaves to gather the other Awakened, while Liu Sishan leads the group to the central plaza.
• Zhang Shouzhong proposes using the dream’s accelerated time and a staged conflict to draw out the Zhu Family. Liu Sishan cautions that the dream is an enemy’s trap, not a true precognitive vision. The group speculates about the Moon King’s motive, including whether dream-time aging could affect them in reality, but has no answers.
• Feng Laixian and Bai De arrive with the Patrol Team. More Awakened gather, and the crowd discusses how to reach or destroy the moon.
• Zhang Ping estimates the moon is roughly 380,000 kilometers away. The others reject the figure as implausibly large, and Zhang cannot prove it.

Character developments and interactions

• Situ Shibai remains confident and directs the group’s focus toward escape rather than worrying about what follows.
• Zhang Ping urges practical action over speculation. His knowledge from another life informs his estimate of the moon’s distance, though he lacks evidence to persuade anyone.
• Liu Sishan questions Zhang Shouzhong’s plan and highlights the uncertainty surrounding the Moon King’s purpose.
• Cheng Xuejie raises the possibility that the dream’s altered passage of time could have consequences in reality.
• Zhang Shouzhong is eager to wake up and return to his real home; he also suggests provoking the Zhu Family.
• Feng Laixian and Bai De joke with the group about unpaid patrol work, easing the tension as the Awakened assemble.

Significant themes

• Fate versus agency: Situ Shibai’s intentions may make the dream’s events inevitable, but escape remains possible.
• Uncertainty and limited knowledge: The group cannot determine the Moon King’s motives or even the moon’s distance with confidence.
• Practical action amid fear: Despite unsettling theories, Zhang Ping insists that their immediate goal is to break out of the dream.

Plot points and events

• Situ Shibai and Jin Bo arrive at the square, where Jin Bo takes charge of the group’s effort to escape the Dreamscape by destroying the moon.
• The Awakened consider the dangers of flying to the moon—including Mutated Beasts, thin air, and extreme cold. Liu Sishan proposes an earth-built road, and Jin Bo endorses the plan.
• Earth Element Awakened raise a stone pillar while others reinforce it. The group divides into teams to tackle construction, protection from cold and low air, food, and the means to destroy the moon.
• Zhang Ping worries that creating a powerful weapon such as a nuclear bomb would be dangerous, especially if members of the Zhu Family are among the Awakened. He has no better solution, however.
• The Awakened’s varied abilities prove useful in unexpected ways, and their cooperation rapidly advances the plan. On the fifth day, the builders report that they have nearly reached the moon—only a few hundred meters away.
• Zhang Ping is astonished, while Zhang Shouzhong concludes that the moon must not be very far away. The episode underscores that ordinary scientific assumptions may not apply inside the Moon King’s Dreamscape.

Character developments and interactions

• Jin Bo emerges as the group’s practical leader, organizing discussion, assigning roles, and backing the pillar plan despite its apparent absurdity.
• Zhang Ping remains skeptical and thinks through the risks, especially the danger of creating a nuclear weapon. Yet he cannot offer a workable alternative and eventually falls silent as the plan succeeds.
• Liu Sishan makes the bold proposal to build a road to the moon; Jin Bo takes it seriously, and the group acts on it.
• Zhang Shouzhong contributes observations about altitude and later voices confidence in the builders’ progress.
• The Awakened work collectively, pooling abilities and adapting them to unusual tasks. Zhang Ping is both impressed by their resourcefulness and bemused by the eccentric ways some have developed their powers.

Significant themes

• Cooperation and ingenuity: Different abilities become effective when organized toward a shared goal.
• Uncertainty and adaptability: The Dreamscape’s strange rules undermine familiar scientific expectations, requiring the characters to act without certainty.
• Power and responsibility: Zhang Ping’s reluctance to create a devastating weapon reflects the risks of turning extraordinary abilities toward destructive ends.
• Perspective and humility: The near-impossible moon-reaching pillar challenges Zhang Ping’s assumptions—and reminds him that this world cannot be judged by ordinary logic.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Ping compares the moon’s distance in the Dreamscape—just 300 kilometers—to the 384 million meters he remembers from his previous life. He suspects something is wrong, since a moon so close should fall.
• Liu Sishan dismisses the discrepancy, joking that an ancient Emperor may have made the moon. The pair discuss the plan to destroy it.
• Zhang Ping flies up the immense, reinforced pillar leading to a platform near the moon. After briefly startling a hostile climber, he reaches the top, where Jin Bo, Feng Laixian, and other Awakened have gathered.
• Situ Shibai confirms that the moon is the flaw in the Dreamscape: it is far closer than a real moon should be, though most people accept it as normal.
• For safety, Situ sends Zhang Ping away from the platform before the attack. Zhang Ping watches from outside the city in a thousand-meter giant form, joined by Cheng Xuejie, Zhang Shouzhong, and Liu Sishan.
• The strongest Awakened launch a coordinated assault, strengthened by support teams. Feng Laixian’s Chaos Breath Cannon, Jin Bo’s Golden Shockwave, and other attacks damage the moon; Situ Shibai delivers the final, enormous blow.
• The moon cracks apart. A hoarse, anguished wail sounds, and the Dreamscape collapses.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping remains curious and skeptical, comparing the Dreamscape with his past-life knowledge. He accepts Situ Shibai’s decision to keep him safe, but finds another way to observe the battle.
• Liu Sishan is calm and confident about the plan, treating the moon’s closeness as part of the Dreamscape’s strange logic.
• Situ Shibai recognizes the moon as the Dreamscape’s weakness and protects Zhang Ping by sending him away before the attack.
• Cheng Xuejie and Zhang Shouzhong join Zhang Ping to watch, mixing concern and excitement; Cheng worries the moon might fall, while Zhang Shouzhong hopes the attackers succeed.
• Jin Bo, Feng Laixian, and the other Awakened coordinate their strength with support personnel, showing how collective effort enables the assault.

Significant themes

• Truth versus shared belief: The moon’s impossible position is obvious to Zhang Ping and Situ Shibai, yet most people accept it.
• Cooperation and sacrifice: The strongest fighters rely on support teams to amplify their powers and carry out the plan.
• Curiosity balanced with protection: Zhang Ping wants to witness the danger firsthand, while Situ Shibai prioritizes his safety.
• Breaking an illusion: Destroying the moon exposes the Dreamscape’s vulnerability and brings the false world to an end.

Key plot points and events

• Several days after the rescue of Mingzhu City, Zhang Ping relaxes by the lake at Gui Tower. His chair is made from the Moon King’s bones and fur, partly as a way to provoke the escaped Prince Yue and track him if he reacts.
• Zhang Shouzhong wonders whether they have too much leisure. Zhang Ping jokes that they might still be in a dream, though he knows they are in the real world.
• They discuss Earth Element Awakened who plan to build a tower reaching the moon. Zhang Ping has heard that City Lord Jin Bo intends to add a new position to the Investigation Team, but warns the others not to spread the rumor because the role may make enemies.
• Little Sairon appears and playfully bounces on Zhang Ping. Cheng Xuejie tries to hold him, but Sairon’s spirit companions intervene before the group runs off to play by the safe lakeshore.
• Chen Shuang serves Red Melon. Zhang Shouzhong enthusiastically eats several slices, joking that he will help Chen Shuang by taking down Zhu Jiuyang.
• Zhang Ping leaves for a walk, practicing his Nether Mist ability by shaping it into opaque clothing. He learns that the city’s residents have gone to watch construction of the Moon Landing Tower.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping remains vigilant despite his relaxed mood: he keeps Prince Yue in mind, gathers rumors through his Wind Whisperer ability, and continues training even during ordinary activities. He says recruitment for the new Investigation Team position will begin the next day.
• Zhang Shouzhong is restless and curious about the team’s plans, but readily plays along with the group’s banter. His growing Fat Energy makes eating a source of strength.
• Cheng Xuejie is energetic and openly affectionate toward Little Sairon, though he avoids being held.
• Chen Shuang shows warmth and independence as Zhang Ping’s Servant Spirit, willingly sharing food with Zhang Shouzhong.
• Little Sairon is playful and commanding, leading his spirit companions around the lakeshore.

Significant themes

• Leisure alongside vigilance: The group enjoys a rare peaceful interval, but threats and political complications remain in the background.
• Everyday life as training: Zhang Ping turns even relaxing and walking into opportunities to refine his abilities.
• Power, rumor, and politics: The proposed Investigation Team role may provoke opposition, while the Moon Landing Tower reflects the city’s ambitions and uncertainty about the wider world.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Ping is delighted to run into Wang Jieming and Qiu Qiang, who have returned to Mingzhu City after hearing it was safe. He invites them home for a meal.
• Qiu Qiang asks about Liu Tiefeng. Zhang Ping explains that Liu must remain hidden outside the city because enemies could target him to control Zhang. Zhang promises to take Qiu to visit him in a few days.
• Before Wang leaves, Zhang offers to help him join the Investigation Team’s Gui Team. Wang accepts, and Zhang plans to seek a reward for his friend’s past contributions.
• Liu Sishan arrives with a case for the Gui Team: weapons merchant Zhou Dahao has been found dead in a locked room, apparently crushed by a living creature. Zhou was also the former Gui Team’s consultant and weapons sponsor.
• Zhang and Liu head to investigate. Liu suspects Zhou’s death may connect to the Beast-Taming Zhu Family, whose members made up the original Gui Team. Zhou’s business role was legitimate, but his ties make the case suspicious.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping shows affection and responsibility toward his close companions. He protects Liu Tiefeng by keeping his location secret, supports Wang’s career, and recognizes Wang’s earlier service to their group.
• Qiu Qiang is relieved to see Zhang but remains anxious about Liu Tiefeng’s safety, wanting to confirm Liu is alive and well himself.
• Wang Jieming returns eager to rejoin city life and welcomes the chance to enter the Investigation Team. His friendship with Zhang is grounded in the risks he previously took to help Zhang’s group.
• Liu Sishan takes charge of the unusual murder investigation and explains its broader significance: it may reveal links to the Zhu Family and help the team find a new consultant and materials buyer.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and gratitude: Zhang’s concern for his friends and his intention to reward Wang reflect enduring bonds and reciprocal support.
• Protection through secrecy: Liu Tiefeng’s continued isolation shows how personal connections can become vulnerabilities in a dangerous political climate.
• Connections and influence: Mingzhu City operates largely through personal relationships, shaping both recruitment and the transfer of cases.
• Suspicion beneath ordinary business: Zhou’s respectable public roles may conceal consequential ties, making the murder investigation a path toward larger political truths.

Plot points and events

• Zhang Ping, Liu Sishan, Cheng Xuejie, and Zhang Shouzhong investigate Zhou Dahao’s unusual, birdcage-like home, nicknamed the Fishing House.
• In the courtyard, Zhang Ping uses his Analysis ability to uncover bones beneath flourishing flowerbeds. They belong to Corpse-Eating Apes, not humans.
• The group finds Zhou Dahao’s body in a hidden vault beneath the pool, surrounded by wealth and rare materials. He appears to have been crushed from above while alive, and died four days earlier.
• Zhang Ping initially suspects an Awakened killed him without leaving evidence. Liu Sishan points out that the Moon King’s Dreamscape occurred four days ago, and people killed there have died mysteriously in the real world as well.
• Their main purpose is not to solve the murder, but to determine whether Zhou Dahao was connected to the Beast-Taming Zhu Family. The vault’s valuable hoard suggests he may have been preparing to flee.
• Outside, a ragged man arrives in an excited state and speaks of the King offering people a new choice between living as humans or beasts. He drinks from a vial despite Patrol Team members ordering him to stop; his body turns red and rapidly chars.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping demonstrates both his investigative Analysis ability and his willingness to endure the gruesome crime scene. He and Liu Sishan reason together about the Dreamscape as a possible explanation for the death.
• Zhang Shouzhong and Cheng Xuejie cannot tolerate the corpse’s appearance or smell, so they hide in their Storage Contracts. Zhang Ping considers doing the same, but Liu Sishan insists he remain.
• Zhang Shouzhong identifies the valuable Reverse Scale and suggests Zhou Dahao was ready to escape.
• Liu Sishan keeps the group focused on its actual mission rather than letting them get sidetracked by the murder.

Significant themes

• Uncertain boundaries between dream and reality: Deaths in the Moon King’s Dreamscape appear to produce real-world deaths, complicating ordinary investigations.
• Humanity versus beastliness: The stranger’s declaration frames transformation into a beast as a choice or new possibility granted by the King.
• Wealth and fear: Zhou Dahao’s hidden fortune and rare supplies imply both immense resources and possible desperation to flee.

Key plot points and events

• A man empowered by a mysterious “king” attacks two Patrol Team guards with fiery serpent-like appendages. Zhang Ping, Liu Sishan, and the Alloy Overlord emerge from the swimming pool area and intervene.
• Zhang Ping blocks the man’s fireballs, knocks him down, and cuts off the serpents. The severed serpents regenerate and kill their own master; his body then explodes, devastating the Zhou Residence and damaging neighboring homes.
• The investigators find no useful evidence at the residence or fishing house. Bai De reports that Zhou Dahao’s weapon shop has also been burned, suggesting someone is destroying evidence.
• Zhou Dahao’s wife, Zhao Lifang, vanished after being taken to the hospital. Liu Sishan reveals that Zhou had a younger brother, Zhou Xiaohao, an adventurer who helped finance the shop. Bai De sends people to find him.
• Zhang resumes searching the house and discovers Zhou Dahao and Zhao Lifang’s marriage certificate, prompting him to reconsider what he knows about her.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping acts decisively in the fight but is left wary after seeing the attacker’s serpents turn on him. He notices the man was terrified—not willingly sacrificing himself—deepening his doubts about who controlled him.
• Zhang Shouzhong protects Liu Sishan during the explosion and checks on Zhang Ping afterward.
• Liu Sishan contributes a lead through her inquiry with Manny and suspects Zhou Dahao had an undisclosed connection to the Beast-Taming Zhu Family.
• Cheng Xuejie questions that theory, arguing the conspicuous attack does not fit the Zhu Family’s usual approach. Zhang and Liu agree the evidence is uncertain.
• Bai De admits he mishandled the crucial information about Zhao Lifang’s disappearance, revealing the Patrol Team’s inexperience and frustrating Zhang.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and suspicion: The attacker’s true allegiance and the reason for the attack remain unclear.
• Evidence destruction and a widening mystery: The burned shop, vanished wife, and missing records suggest a deliberate effort to conceal the truth.
• Power and control: The attacker’s flames initially seem like a gift from the king, yet the serpents ultimately kill him, raising questions about who—or what—was really in control.

Key plot points and events

• Liu Sishan confirms that Zhou Dahao’s wife was named Zhao Lifang. Zhang Ping realizes she is likely Zhao Lili, an Earth Element Awakened who had hidden her identity while helping build in the Evermoon Dreamscape.
• Zhang Ping suspects Zhao Lili may have killed Zhou Dahao by crushing him with a stone arm, so he leads the group to a construction site outside Mingzhu City.
• There, Zhao Lili is helping build a new tower intended to create a two-way passage to the moon. She tries to blend into the crowd, but Zhang Ping stops her and questions her privately.
• Zhao Lili says Zhou Dahao told her to change her name and flee if he ever died. She also recalls him recently seeming excited and saying that one day everyone would be Awakened.
• Because the shop has been burned and someone has attacked the Zhou Residence, Zhang Ping warns her that someone may be eliminating witnesses. The group remains unsure whether Zhao Lili is truthful or involved.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping uses his unusual knack for picking up stray information to identify Zhao Lili, then takes charge of the investigation. He stays cautious, neither accepting her account nor declaring her guilty.
• Zhao Lili appears terrified and claims ignorance, but reveals that Zhou Dahao anticipated his possible death and had recently spoken about universal awakening. Her fear does not resolve whether she is innocent.
• Liu Sishan initially agrees that Zhao Lili is a strong suspect, then becomes less certain after questioning her. She and Zhang Ping privately discuss how to assess the woman’s story.
• Zhang Shouzhong supports Zhang Ping’s caution, noting that Awakened abilities and physiology make outward appearances unreliable.
• Cheng Xuejie questions why Zhao Lili would kill her husband and then approach the Patrol Team, highlighting the gaps in the theory.

Significant themes

• Truth versus appearances: Zhao Lili’s fear seems genuine, but the investigators refuse to treat it as proof of innocence.
• Suspicion and uncertainty: Unusual abilities make both murder methods and deceptive behavior difficult to judge.
• Awakening and social change: Zhou Dahao’s remark that everyone might one day become Awakened hints at a larger development behind the murder and the moon-bound construction project.

Key plot points and events

• The Cleanup Team is the most powerful of Mingzhu City’s three major organizations, operating beyond ordinary rules under Situ Shibai. The Patrol Team handles the city, while the Investigation Team works outside it, though personal connections can blur those boundaries.
• With no evidence clearing Zhao Lili, Zhang Ping detains her at Gui Tower. He and Liu Sishan decide to investigate Zhou Dahao’s neighbors and business contacts; Zhang Ping admits the case is far beyond the detective stories he once relied on.
• Men watching Gui Tower report back to the Great Power Faction: Bucktooth Qiang is dead, and the Patrol and Investigation Teams are cooperating. One of their people has recognized Zhao Lili as Zhou Dahao’s wife.
• The faction fears its secrets will be exposed. Zhou Dahao, a sponsor rather than a member, knew something about the group, so they had arranged for Bucktooth Qiang to burn his home and shop after his death.
• Elder Ma consults the Might King, the faction’s supposed founder and powerful researcher. The King initially appears concerned about Zhou Dahao’s connections, but the truth is revealed: he is a weak Awakened with harmless glowing eyes, not a scientist. He obtained the faction’s power-granting potions by chance and has been pretending to be a great leader while living off the farmers’ money.
• Realizing that the investigation may expose him, the Might King decides he must flee.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping shifts from confidence to frustration, recognizes his limits, and commits to investigating in person.
• Liu Sishan remains composed and takes the initiative to seek leads; Zhang Ping joins her.
• Elder Ma is devoted to the faction and treats the Might King with reverence, even as he brings troubling news.
• The Might King is exposed as a fraud: his authority rests on deception, borrowed potions, and the faction’s belief in his abilities.
• The Patrol and Investigation Teams’ cooperation creates the threat that unites the chapter’s two threads: the official investigation and the faction’s efforts to hide its involvement.

Significant themes

• Power and corruption: Mingzhu City’s organizations operate through influence and exceptions to the law, while the Great Power Faction is built around a false promise of power.
• Appearance versus reality: The Might King’s grand title and laboratory conceal his incompetence; the humble-looking farmers conceal an organized faction.
• Investigation under uncertainty: Zhang Ping’s assumptions about familiar detective stories fail in a world where superpowers can erase ordinary clues.

Chapter Summary: “Con Artist”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter reveals the true identity and history of Might King: his real name is Wang Wei, and his supposedly impressive power is actually a Useless Tier ability that offers little more than slightly enhanced physical fitness.
• Wang Wei has survived through decades of deception:
  • He once impersonated an Appraiser before faking his death to avoid exposure.
  • He worked at a detective agency, pretending that his flashing eyes could reveal clues.
  • With support from a wealthy widow, he opened his own agency, but was later exposed by one of her Appraiser lovers.
  • He eventually ran a black-market stolen-goods business, which led to his arrest during Mingzhu City’s Great Cleanup Operation.
• After being released from prison and losing everything, Wang Wei discovers a flawed potion capable of granting ordinary people abilities. Using his experience as a swindler, he develops the idea of posing as the powerful Might King and creating the Great Power Faction.
• Wang Wei realizes that the faction’s hope is based entirely on a lie. He secretly abandons the group, using an escape passage he had ordered built under the pretense of helping them.
• After disguising himself, Wang Wei drinks heavily and confesses to himself that he is only a con artist trying to survive. He feels guilty about destroying the faction’s dreams but believes he has no alternative.
• Meanwhile, Zhang Ping and Liu Sishan finish investigating Zhou Dahao’s neighbor. With no clear leads, Liu considers the case likely to become a cold case.
• Zhang Ping spends the night patrolling Mingzhu City as the masked Reaper, absorbing fear and anger to strengthen his abilities. He helps several drunk people and escorts a runaway girl to safety.
• Near the end, Zhang finds Wang Wei drunk and unconscious beside a suitcase. When Zhang wakes him, Wang Wei sees the terrifying Reaper’s Mask and immediately faints.

Character Developments

• Wang Wei/Might King is exposed as neither powerful nor heroic, but as a resourceful, experienced, and morally conflicted con artist. His schemes are driven primarily by survival rather than malice.
• Wang Wei’s history shows his adaptability: despite having a nearly useless ability, he repeatedly reinvents himself through deception, observation, and practical skills.
• His departure from the Great Power Faction reveals his guilt and emotional attachment to its members. Although he has deceived them, he wishes they could retain their hope.
• Zhang Ping continues developing into a more capable and independent figure. He is not merely hunting criminals; he also protects vulnerable people and assists strangers.
• Zhang recognizes the importance of developing abilities beyond Metal Eater, especially Nethermist Body, because relying on one powerful ability could leave him vulnerable to counters.
• Liu Sishan remains pragmatic and cautious, accepting that some supernatural crimes may be too dangerous or difficult to solve immediately.

Significant Themes

• Hope versus deception: The Great Power Faction’s hope is revealed to be manufactured, raising questions about whether false hope can still have value.
• Survival and morality: Wang Wei lies and exploits others to survive, yet he is not portrayed as entirely evil. His guilt suggests that morally questionable actions can arise from desperation.
• Appearance versus reality: Might King’s reputation contrasts sharply with Wang Wei’s true weakness, emphasizing how easily power can be fabricated through performance and belief.
• The limits of power: Even Zhang Ping’s powerful Metal Eater ability has weaknesses, making versatility and preparation essential.
• Human behavior in the city: Nighttime Mingzhu City exposes people’s fear, anger, kindness, recklessness, and criminality, while Zhang’s patrol reveals both its dangers and its occasional compassion.

Character Interactions

• Zhang and Liu discuss the stalled investigation and Zhang’s authority as a member of both the Investigation and Cleanup Teams.
• Wang Wei internally reflects on the Great Power Faction and apologizes for abandoning the people who trusted him.
• Zhang encounters Wang Wei while he is drunk and attempts to wake him, unintentionally terrifying him into unconsciousness.
• The chapter ends with an ironic encounter: the powerless “Might King” is frightened by Zhang’s masked identity, while Zhang remains unaware of the con artist’s true significance.

Plot points and events

• Zhang Ping discovers that the apparently unconscious Wang Wei is pretending and confronts him while wearing the frightening Reaper’s Mask.
• Terrified, Wang Wei confesses that he leads the Great Power Faction, a group that used a potion to deceive ordinary people into joining. He says he fled because sponsor Zhou Dahao had died and two major organizations were investigating.
• Wang Wei claims he does not know how Zhou Dahao died and insists the Great Power Faction was not responsible. Zhang Ping takes him to Gui Tower for detention.
• The confession suggests the Flame Serpent Potion itself killed the attacker at the Zhou Residence: it turns on users when they become afraid or consider surrendering. Zhang Ping therefore rules out the potion group and Zhao Lili as suspects, leaving the Beast-Taming Zhu Family as his strongest lead.
• At Gui Tower, Chen Shuang and Cao Bing joke that Zhang Ping may have arrived for a midnight visit to a female colleague. Zhang Ping leaves Wang Wei in their custody and heads home.

Character developments

• Zhang Ping shows good judgment by seeing through Wang Wei’s feigned unconsciousness and extracting useful information. Though uneasy about how terrifying the mask makes him, he is pleased to see Chen Shuang and Cao Bing joking and behaving more naturally.
• Wang Wei is exposed as a frightened, deceptive faction leader. His panic is so intense that he actually faints when Zhang Ping says he must come along.
• Chen Shuang and Cao Bing display growing ease and playfulness, suggesting they are recovering from earlier emotional distress.

Significant themes

• Fear as a weapon: The Reaper’s Mask overwhelms Wang Wei, while fear also triggers the Flame Serpent Potion’s deadly backlash.
• Deception and accountability: Wang Wei’s scheme preyed on ordinary people, but his confession gives Zhang Ping a new lead.
• Recovery and hope: Zhang Ping sees the guards’ teasing as evidence that they are emerging from their gloom.

Character interactions

• Zhang Ping intimidates Wang Wei into revealing his organization’s history and the potion’s flaws, then brings him to Gui Tower.
• Chen Shuang and Cao Bing tease each other over Zhang Ping’s visit; Chen defends him, and Cao admits he was only joking.
• Zhang Ping overhears them and interprets their banter as a welcome sign of recovery.

Plot and events

• The Great Power Faction discovers that its leader, the Might King, Wang Wei, is missing. Members panic and argue over whether he was captured or kidnapped.
• Cheng Xuegong assures them Wang Wei will return, then leaves. Ma Cheng privately suspects Wang Wei has fled and worries about losing the power and status he gained through the faction.
• Cheng’s apparent loyalty is a deception: he is already an Awakened and joined the faction to lend Wang Wei credibility and draw people into an experiment.
• Cheng senses Wang Wei at Gui Tower and realizes the Investigation Team has captured him, likely exposing the faction. He reports this to his master, a grotesque figure whose body is covered in dark-green liquid.
• The master blames Cheng for ruining his experimental “field,” but gives him one last task: poison the faction’s drinking water to intensify its members’ anger and provoke them into attacking Gui Tower, where Wang Wei is held.
• Cheng warns that Zhang Ping—the “Giant God,” whose enormous, armored form is feared even by Awakened—is with the Gui Team. The master nevertheless orders the plan to proceed, then tells Cheng to flee the city and meet him at Pearl-Watching Peak.
• As Cheng leaves with the vial, the master packs to escape Mingzhu City, hoping the faction’s attack will distract others while he retrieves more of his belongings.

Character developments and interactions

• Cheng Xuegong is revealed as a calculating double agent, not a potion-created follower of Wang Wei. He remains submissive to his master despite being powerful, and his warning about Zhang Ping shows both caution and fear.
• Ma Cheng is increasingly anxious about the faction’s survival and reluctant to return to ordinary life.
• The master is ruthless and focused on experimentation, but Zhang Ping’s strength forces him to abandon his work and flee. He still uses the faction as a disposable diversion.
• The faction members see Wang Wei as their savior, while Cheng and his master view them as experimental subjects.

Significant themes

• Deception and manipulation: Cheng’s public reassurance hides his real allegiance, and the faction is being steered toward violence.
• Power and dependence: Members have tied their hopes and identities to Wang Wei, while Ma Cheng fears losing the privileges power brought him.
• Human beings as expendable material: The master treats the faction as “lab rats” and deliberately plans to turn their anger into a weapon.
• Fear of overwhelming strength: Zhang Ping’s reputation shapes everyone’s decisions, even those who have never faced him directly.

Chapter Summary: “A Contingency Plan”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zhang Ping wakes before dawn feeling directionless after defeating Heavenly Fox and losing track of the Beast-Taming Zhu Family.
• He returns to familiar routines—practicing the Dough-Kneading Forging Technique, preparing knife-cut noodles, and running through the quiet streets of Mingzhu City.
• Passing Pearl Ability Academy, he reflects on his difficult past there and the students killed by Prince Yue. The school and many city shops display white flowers in mourning.
• During his run, Zhang Ping encounters a silent, angry crowd of ordinary farmers. Their emotions contain unusually powerful hope, faith, and resistance to an ordinary life.
• Disguising himself as a farmer, Zhang Ping joins the crowd and discovers through Appraisal Technique that they are members of the Great Power Faction heading toward Gui Tower.
• Realizing they may be planning to attack Wang Wei, Zhang Ping contacts Instructor Bai De through his consciousness and warns him to send help. Their exchange includes some light teasing about Bai De’s wife.
• Within the faction, the Third Elder worries that the Investigation Team will kill them if they attack Gui Tower. Ma Cheng insists that the large number of civilians will prevent the authorities from acting decisively.
• Cheng Xuegong, observing from hiding, realizes the potion he previously gave the farmers has not produced demons as expected. Determined to create chaos and possibly get Wang Wei killed, he releases six additional vials of potion into the morning mist.
• The potion affects the leaders at the front of the crowd. Ma Cheng begins mutating with frog-like traits, while Gong Qiang transforms into a three-meter-tall giant. Other faction members start mutating as well.

Character Developments

• Zhang Ping: Although emotionally adrift after his recent victory, he finds stability in routine and running. His encounter with the angry crowd awakens his curiosity and sense of responsibility. He acts decisively by infiltrating the group and alerting Bai De rather than immediately treating the civilians as enemies.
• Bai De: Despite being disturbed from sleep and jokingly irritated by Zhang Ping, he takes the warning seriously and prepares to respond.
• Ma Cheng: Presents himself as calm and strategic, but his confidence that the authorities will hesitate because of the crowd reveals a willingness to exploit ordinary people.
• The Third Elder: Shows fear and regret over participating in the attack, suggesting that he is less committed and more cautious than Ma Cheng.
• Cheng Xuegong: Becomes increasingly ruthless and pragmatic. When his original plan fails, he abandons restraint and uses stronger potions on the crowd, prioritizing chaos and Wang Wei’s possible death.
• The ordinary faction members: Initially appear united by anger and hope, but they are unknowingly being manipulated by Wang Wei and Cheng Xuegong.

Significant Themes

• Purpose after crisis: Zhang Ping struggles with emptiness after completing a major objective, but routine and helping others begin to restore his sense of direction.
• Manipulation of ordinary people: The Great Power Faction’s civilians are being used as tools in a conflict they do not fully understand.
• Anger as power: The crowd’s collective emotions possess strength comparable to those of Awakened individuals, emphasizing the potential force of shared belief and resentment.
• Moral responsibility: Zhang Ping distinguishes between the civilians and the people exploiting them, choosing to protect or warn them rather than condemn them outright.
• Chaos and contingency plans: Cheng Xuegong adapts when his first scheme fails, demonstrating how hidden forces manipulate events through backup strategies.
• Mourning and aftermath: The white flowers throughout the city and academy reflect the continuing consequences of violence and the community’s grief.

Character Interactions

• Zhang Ping briefly connects emotionally with the mourning atmosphere at Pearl Ability Academy before moving on.
• He infiltrates the faction crowd and observes Ma Cheng and the Third Elder discussing the planned assault.
• Zhang Ping contacts Bai De telepathically, warning him about the attack. Their serious exchange is softened by Zhang Ping’s joke about Bai De’s wife.
• Ma Cheng reassures the anxious Third Elder, though their conversation exposes differing levels of confidence and commitment.
• Cheng Xuegong acts from the shadows, manipulating the faction members with potion-laced mist and triggering the chapter’s final mutations.

Plot and key events

• Zhang Ping’s eyes begin changing, and he accidentally fires twin red beams into the clouds. Around him, members of the Great Power Faction undergo bizarre physical mutations after exposure to a purple mist: people grow animal heads, horns, tails, unusual limbs, and abilities such as breathing fire.
• Zhang Ping checks his status and discovers a new ability, Mutation Eye. His eyes mutate every second; repeated mutations grow stronger, and different eye powers activate automatically in response to his emotions.
• By deliberately changing his mood, he tests the ability. When happy, he gains star-shaped pupils and can see purple vapor, allowing him to trace it to its source.
• Zhang suspects the mist is connected to a black-market drug Wang Wei bought, but believes Wang was likely only a scapegoat—and that the timing may be linked to the Great Power Faction’s plan to attack Gui Tower.
• Patrol Team members arrive and surround the mutated faction members. Ma Cheng rallies his people to resist, but Zhang draws a line with a warning beam and reveals he controls the situation.
• Gong Qiang ignores the warning and charges Bai De. Zhang shoots through Gong’s calf, stopping the attack and threatening to aim for the neck next time.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping shows greater confidence and control than a novice would: he quickly senses that emotions trigger his eye abilities, experiments with them, identifies the mist, and uses his power to deter violence. His authority becomes clear when the faction recognizes him.
• Ma Cheng tries to maintain leadership and rally the newly mutated members, but Zhang’s threat and status undermine his resolve. His mutations also make his speech louder and frog-like.
• Gong Qiang acts impulsively, challenging the Patrol Team despite Ma Cheng’s hesitation, and is immediately incapacitated.
• Bai De takes command of the Patrol Team’s arrest effort, ordering the faction to surrender.
• The mutated faction members shift from confusion and panic to brief defiance, then freeze under Zhang’s warning and the Patrol Team’s arrival.

Significant themes

• Uncontrolled transformation: The sudden mutations bring physical danger, confusion, and comic distress.
• Power and self-mastery: Zhang’s unusual ability is volatile, but emotional control lets him use it deliberately.
• Hidden manipulation: The mist’s timing and its connection to Wang Wei’s drug suggest a larger scheme behind the apparent outbreak.
• Authority and intimidation: Zhang and the Patrol Team suppress the faction’s resistance through coordinated commands and a credible show of force.

Plot points and events

• After the Great Power Faction surrenders, its ordinary members are arrested and newly empowered members are detained at Gui Tower.
• During questioning, leader Ma Cheng begins rapidly aging and suffering excruciating pain. Zhang Ping discovers that the new abilities are draining their users’ life force; the effect cannot be stopped while the ability remains.
• Dying, Ma Cheng warns that something is wrong with Cheng Xuegong, the faction’s fourth elder, and asks Zhang Ping to end his suffering. Zhang does so, then orders a full search for Cheng Xuegong.
• The detained members are undergoing the same fatal decline. Zhang goes from room to room, ending their suffering.
• Zhang tells Cheng Xuejie that the victims were misled and exploited, and vows to avenge them. He then confronts Wang Wei, who reveals he knew the potions had side effects but claims he warned the recruits. Overwhelmed with guilt, Wang gives Zhang his remaining three vials and offers to cooperate.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ping shifts from investigator to grieving, determined avenger. Though angry at the faction’s organizers, he recognizes the recruits’ desperation and treats their deaths as the result of exploitation rather than simple villainy.
• Ma Cheng faces death with terror and pain, but uses his final moments to expose suspicion about Cheng Xuegong and ask for a merciful end.
• Wang Wei changes from a guarded prisoner to a remorseful informant, confessing his role in recruitment and offering everything he has.
• Cheng Xuejie worries about Zhang and shares his anger at those who preyed on the powerless. Zhang Shouzhong helps coordinate the search, while giving Ma Cheng’s death a troubled look.

Significant themes

• Power has a price: the potions grant abilities by consuming their users’ lives.
• Exploitation of the desperate: ordinary people seeking escape from an unfair, “ordinary” life are manipulated into becoming test subjects.
• Mercy and accountability: Zhang must relieve unbearable suffering while also seeking justice for those responsible.