Chapter Summaries

Plot points

• Zhou Fan’s system begins awarding him 0.1 Emotion Points at a time as news of the Lanya Island incident spreads. Although people don’t know he caused it, their reactions to the event still generate points—at a reduced rate of 0.1 for every ten people.
• The system identifies this as a bug and recommends fixing it. Zhou Fan refuses, hoping to keep the unusually profitable glitch.
• By the next morning, the story has spread widely: his total rises from a little over 10,000 to 98,234 Emotion Points.
• Zhou Fan spends 70,000 points redeeming three Wood Release abilities: Cliff Face Technique, World of Flowering Trees, and Wood Golem Technique.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan is baffled by the tiny rewards, then realizes they accumulate quickly and is delighted by the system bug. He remains eager to grow stronger, even though the Rinnegan is still far beyond his current budget.
• Lin Qianqian leaves to train harder after witnessing Zhou Fan’s overwhelming strength during the Lanya Island incident. She also remains under pressure from her system’s penalty task: sleeping with Zhou Fan, with optional challenges that reward increasingly valuable chests. The suggestions infuriate her.
• Zhou Fan admires Lin Qianqian’s diligence, though he believes his own advantages mean she cannot surpass him yet.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: Zhou Fan continues seeking new abilities, while Lin Qianqian responds to his strength by intensifying her training.
• Unexpected consequences and reputation: Even an event whose true cause is concealed can benefit its instigator once the public reacts to it.
• Humorous system manipulation: Zhou Fan treats a harmful-looking glitch as a windfall, while Lin Qianqian’s awkward system obligations provide comic frustration.

Plot points and events

• After spending 70,000 emotion points to obtain three Wood Release techniques, Zhou Fan uses 20,000 of his remaining points to unlock Obito Uchiha as a bond partner.
• Obito offers two abilities: Kamui’s distortion for 50,000 points and intangibility for 100,000. Zhou Fan protests the steep price, but the system refuses to reconsider it.
• Zhou Fan’s recent feat earns widespread attention and pushes him past several achievement thresholds, rewarding him with nine prize draws.
• The prize wheel includes ordinary rewards, powerful ninja tools and techniques, and a new grand prize: the Flying Thunder God Technique.
• Zhou Fan’s draws yield the Rasengan series, the Uchiha Gunbai, and—on his final attempt—the Flying Thunder God Technique, despite several misses and low-value rewards.

Character developments

• Zhou Fan continues prioritizing long-term power growth, unlocking Obito even though it leaves him unable to afford Kamui.
• He is frustrated by the system’s pricing and his early bad luck, but remains persistent and ultimately wins valuable rewards.
• His rising reputation is confirmed by the worldwide attention generated by his recent actions.

Significant themes

• Power has a price: The strongest abilities, especially Kamui’s intangibility, require enormous resources.
• Chance and persistence: Zhou Fan’s draws bring both disappointments and major successes, culminating in an unlikely jackpot.
• Fame as a resource: Public reactions translate into emotion points and achievement rewards, enabling further growth.

Character interactions

• Zhou Fan argues with the system over its pricing and hopes to influence the prize wheel by offering years of his life, but the system provides no special accommodation.
• His interaction with Obito is indirect: Zhou Fan unlocks Obito as a bond partner to gain access to his abilities, though he cannot yet afford to unlock either one.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Fan wins the Flying Thunder God Technique, an S-rank space-time ability that lets him teleport to marked locations. It includes several related techniques, though one has an absurdly long name.
• He is pleased with his recent haul: the Flying Thunder God, Rasengan, Uchiha Gunbai, and several techniques he redeemed earlier.
• At the training ground, Zhou Fan supervises Zhao Qiu and Duan Fei while they train. He sees online footage of his Susanoo splitting Lanya Island and amusedly criticizes the video quality and commenters’ boasts.
• That evening, Zhou Fan notices Xia Qingran’s house is dark and finds it unnaturally cold. Inside, frost covers the rooms, and Xia Qingran is curled up in her bedroom.
• Xia Qingran explains that her ice spirit body has gone out of control and urges Zhou Fan to leave so he won’t be hurt. He refuses to abandon her.

Character developments

• Zhou Fan is thrilled by his new powers and remains carefree and self-satisfied, but his response to Xia Qingran’s crisis shows his loyalty and concern.
• Xia Qingran is frightened and struggling to control her icy spiritual energy; despite her fear, she tries to protect Zhou Fan by sending him away.
• Zhao Qiu and Duan Fei continue following Zhou Fan’s demanding training regimen.

Significant themes

• Power and opportunity: Zhou Fan’s gains from the Lanya Island mission dramatically expand his abilities.
• Public spectacle and online bravado: The island-splitting feat becomes a viral mystery, with people interpreting or boasting about it.
• Loyalty and care: Zhou Fan chooses to stay with Xia Qingran despite the danger.
• Power’s risks: Xia Qingran’s uncontrolled abilities turn her home into a hazardous environment.

Character interactions

• Zhou Fan casually supervises Zhao Qiu and Duan Fei, then shares dinner with them.
• He jokes to himself about the online footage and its commenters.
• When he finds Xia Qingran in danger, she repeatedly tells him to leave; he insists on staying with her.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Qingran’s ice spirit body suddenly runs out of control, pouring intense cold through the room and making it difficult for Zhou Fan to approach.
• Though Xia warns him to leave, Zhou refuses and uses his skeletal Susanoo to shield himself as he reaches her.
• Zhou discovers her spiritual energy is erupting uncontrollably. He asks the system for help and obtains the Evil-Sealing Method, a sealing technique.
• The seal suppresses about half the rampaging power. Zhou then lends Xia his energy as she tries to contain the rest herself.
• Forcing the cold back into her body damages her meridians. Xia ignores Zhou’s warning, suppresses the spirit body, and spits up blood.
• Her energy stabilizes, but she becomes dangerously cold and loses consciousness. Zhou holds her to give her warmth.

Character developments

• Xia’s usual composure gives way to fear and vulnerability as she loses control, but she remains stubbornly determined to suppress the condition despite the harm it causes her.
• Zhou shows unwavering concern and resourcefulness: he risks the cold, consults the system, and stays with Xia even when the sealing attempt worsens her condition.

Character interactions

• Xia repeatedly urges Zhou to stay away for his own safety; he refuses, reassuring her and trying to help.
• Zhou’s sealing technique and transferred energy assist Xia, but her own determination drives her to push too far.
• After she collapses, Xia instinctively clings to Zhou’s warmth, and he embraces her despite the painful cold.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and care: Zhou chooses to remain beside Xia despite the danger.
• The cost of control: Xia’s effort to master her power succeeds, but seriously harms her.
• Vulnerability and trust: Xia, normally restrained, accepts Zhou’s support when she can no longer endure the crisis alone.

Key events

• Xia Qingran wakes after surviving another dangerous episode in which her flawed Ice Spirit Body went out of control. Zhou Fan stayed beside her through the night, helping warm and stabilize her.
• She explains that using the Ice Spirit Body too much worsens its side effects. Sealing Jutsu can ease an episode temporarily, but there is no lasting treatment.
• Zhou Fan’s hands suffered severe frostbite from holding her, but Hashirama Senju’s cells quickly heal the injuries.
• Xia Qingran scolds him for ignoring her order to leave, warning that her condition could hurt him. Zhou Fan insists he will never abandon her when she is in danger.
• The doorbell interrupts their argument. Zhou Fan answers it and meets Xia Chuan, who says he has come to see his daughter.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Qingran shows tenderness and gratitude toward Zhou Fan for staying with her, but her concern for his safety comes out as anger and a demand that he leave if another episode occurs.
• Zhou Fan remains steadfast and self-sacrificing, prioritizing Qingran’s well-being over his own. His refusal to leave reveals the depth of his loyalty, even as it frustrates her.
• Their exchange blends affection, worry, and conflict: Qingran is moved by his devotion but fears what it may cost him.
• Xia Chuan’s arrival introduces a new figure and sets up a possible family-related development.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and sacrifice: Zhou Fan refuses to abandon Qingran despite the danger.
• Care versus protection: Qingran’s anger reflects her desire to protect Zhou Fan, while he believes staying with her is the right thing to do.
• The cost of power: Qingran’s strength carries increasingly severe physical consequences, with no permanent cure yet.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Chuan, head of the Xia Family, arrives at Zhou Fan’s home to take his daughter, Xia Qingran, back to the Imperial Capital.
• He says her ice spirit body’s instability is affecting her mother, Qin Lin, and warns Qingran she may not get another chance to see her if she refuses. He has also arranged for Principal Xi to stop her from remaining at Xinghai University.
• Though Qingran resists her father, concern for her mother persuades her to return. She tells Zhou Fan she is leaving.
• Qingran packs up and announces that Evening Bell is disbanding because its members cannot accompany her to the Imperial Capital. She leaves on a flying mutant beast, while the others are left to continue training.
• Xi Yan visits Zhou Fan and Lin Qianqian. With Qingran gone, he offers to take charge of their training and provide university resources.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Qingran remains defiant toward her father, but her love for her mother outweighs her resentment and her hopes for Evening Bell. She says goodbye warmly to Zhou Fan and the group, though she forces herself to smile.
• Xia Chuan is authoritative and emotionally restrained. He confronts Qingran over her health and uses the risk to her mother to persuade her to come home.
• Zhou Fan supports Qingran without pressuring her, promises to visit, and feels unsettled by her sudden departure. He then reassures Zhao Qiu and Duan Fei that they can keep training.
• Lin Qianqian, Zhao Qiu, and Duan Fei are surprised and saddened by Qingran’s departure and the abrupt end of Evening Bell.
• Xi Yan steps in as Zhou Fan and Lin Qianqian’s new mentor, presenting the change as both practical support and an opportunity to guide two promising students.

Significant themes

• Family duty versus personal independence: Qingran resists being controlled by her father, yet chooses to return because of her concern for her mother.
• The cost of ambition: Qingran’s dream of challenging the Imperial Capital’s powerful old guard is set aside, and Evening Bell dissolves with her departure.
• Abrupt change and separation: The group must adjust to losing its leader and close companion, while Zhou Fan is left hoping their parting is temporary.

Key plot points and events

• Principal Xi Yan agrees to support Zhou Fan and Lin Qianqian, though he says gifted students should mostly develop their own cultivation methods. They can consult him when they encounter problems.
• Xi Yan offers them two High-Grade Spirit Stones immediately, plus one Supreme-Grade Spirit Stone each per month and access to paid school missions with generous rewards.
• Zhou Fan asks Xi Yan to include Zhao Qiu and Duan Fei in their training. Xi Yan agrees to guide Zhao Qiu and formally admit Duan Fei, making all four his students. Luo Luodong can help when Xi Yan is unavailable.
• Zhou Fan tells Zhao Qiu and Duan Fei about the arrangement. Duan Fei asks whether he can leave now that Evening Bell has disbanded, but Zhou Fan refuses.
• Rather than revive or inherit Xia Qingran’s organization, Zhou Fan decides to create a new one called Dawn.

Character developments

• Zhou Fan shows loyalty toward his friends by securing training for Zhao Qiu and Duan Fei. He also takes initiative as a leader by founding a new organization.
• Xi Yan balances generosity with his responsibilities to the whole school: he offers substantial support but expects students to earn further resources through missions.
• Lin Qianqian accepts Xi Yan’s approach and support without objection.
• Zhao Qiu is enthusiastic about becoming Xi Yan’s student and supports Zhou Fan’s plan to form Dawn.
• Duan Fei remains uncertain about his place after Evening Bell’s dissolution, but Zhou Fan’s decision keeps him with the group.

Significant themes

• Independence and mentorship: Talented students benefit from freedom to explore, while experienced guidance remains available when needed.
• Fairness and responsibility: Xi Yan must balance helping exceptional students against his obligations to the wider student body.
• Loyalty and belonging: Zhou Fan values friendship and makes sure his companions are included.
• New beginnings: The founding of Dawn marks a fresh direction after Xia Qingran’s departure and Evening Bell’s disbandment.

Character interactions

• Zhou Fan humorously challenges Xi Yan over the modest initial reward; Xi Yan recognizes the attempt to provoke him and explains his limits.
• Zhou Fan advocates for Zhao Qiu and Duan Fei, prompting Xi Yan to extend his mentorship to them.
• Duan Fei tests whether he is free to leave, while Zhou Fan asserts that he is part of the new organization.
• Zhao Qiu encourages Zhou Fan’s leadership, and Zhou Fan establishes Dawn as a separate organization rather than taking over Xia Qingran’s Evening Bell.

Key events

• Zhou Fan establishes a new organization, Dawn, naming it for its ideals of hope and light. Zhao Qiu enthusiastically supports the name, while Duan Fei jokingly proposes a Jashin cult instead.
• Dawn begins with Zhou Fan, Zhao Qiu, and Duan Fei as its three members.
• Zhou Fan invites Lin Qianqian to join. She asks what resources the organization offers, and he admits it has none.
• When she refuses, Zhou Fan proposes a fight to decide whether she must join, then threatens that she’ll have to leave the villa if she doesn’t. Lin reluctantly agrees.
• Lin sets two conditions: she and Zhou Fan are equals, and no one else may move into the villa. Zhou accepts both.
• Lin’s system reminds her that she has five days to complete a punishment task: sleep together with Zhou Fan once. Failure will randomly remove one of her previous rewards.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan shows initiative by founding Dawn, but his recruitment methods are blunt and coercive. He readily accepts Lin’s conditions, mainly because securing her membership matters more to him than negotiating details.
• Lin Qianqian is practical and independent: she sees little reason to join an organization that offers no benefits and insists on equal status. Yet she accepts because staying at the villa lets her monitor Zhou Fan and gives her a chance to complete her secret system task.
• Zhao Qiu is an enthusiastic friend and readily joins. Duan Fei joins as well, though his suggestion of a Jashin cult is dismissed as unacceptable.
• Zhou and Lin’s exchange highlights their familiar, competitive dynamic: he tries to pressure her into joining, while she pushes back and conceals her personal motives.

Significant themes

• Hope and idealism: Dawn’s name expresses Zhou Fan’s aspiration to bring hope and light.
• Power and persuasion: The chapter humorously contrasts ordinary recruitment through benefits with Zhou Fan’s reliance on fighting and leverage.
• Hidden motives and awkward intimacy: Lin’s outward reasons for staying mask her concern about tracking Zhou Fan’s strength and fulfilling a private system requirement.

Key plot points and events

• Lanya Island has become a popular sightseeing destination since Zhou Fan split it in half during a battle.
• Outdoor streamer Chen Ya explores the island while livestreaming. She encounters a group of pale, foreign men; one, Raymond, reveals himself as a vampire and drains her blood, then destroys her phone.
• Raymond’s team investigates the spiritual traces left by the island battle. He identifies nine opponents and learns they were Espers from Xia Country. Seeking revenge for the defeat and humiliation of their vampire squad, he orders an infiltration of Xia Country to find and kill them.
• At Xinghai University, Luo Luodong summons Zhou Fan and Zhao Qiu for a reconnaissance mission. They will undertake it as Principal Xi Yan’s students, so they will receive a reward.
• The target is She Wan, an S-Rank wanted criminal who conducted human experiments and previously tried to possess Zhou Fan. The authorities have located a possible hideout and want Zhou Fan and Zhao Qiu to investigate it.

Character developments

• Raymond is established as a ruthless, bloodthirsty vampire driven by resentment over his squad’s defeat.
• Zhou Fan and Zhao Qiu take on a new mission together as Xi Yan’s students, giving them a chance to earn a reward.
• She Wan remains a dangerous unresolved threat from Zhou Fan’s past.

Significant themes

• The consequences of public displays of power: Zhou Fan’s battle has turned Lanya Island into a tourist attraction, but its aftermath also draws hostile attention.
• Revenge and escalating conflict: the vampires plan retaliation against Xia Country’s Espers.
• Exploitation and danger: Chen Ya’s livestream exposes her to a threat she cannot recognize or resist.

Character interactions

• Chen Ya engages warmly with her viewers, who encourage her to stay safe, before approaching the strangers on the island.
• Raymond’s subordinate reports the battle’s traces and intelligence, prompting Raymond to declare his plan to infiltrate Xia Country.
• Luo Luodong briefs Zhou Fan and Zhao Qiu, who recognize She Wan from their earlier encounter.

Plot points and events

• The Execution Department has located one of She Wan’s underground hideouts after a long search. Because he has abducted Xinghai University students and previously targeted Zhou Fan, the university considers stopping him its responsibility, alongside the Esper Bureau.
• Luo Luodong warns Zhou Fan that She Wan may be at the hideout and offers him the option to skip the mission. Zhou Fan refuses, insisting he is not afraid.
• The team—Zhou Fan, Zhao Qiu, and three Execution Department members—is assigned to a reconnaissance mission led by Black Wolf. Luo Luodong stays behind.
• The group flies to a forest ten kilometers from the hideout, lands a kilometer away, and approaches stealthily. Black Wolf finds a hidden entrance leading underground.
• At a fork in the passage, the team splits: White Horse and Black Horse take the left route; Black Wolf, Zhou Fan, and Zhao Qiu take the right.
• Zhou Fan senses no one nearby, suggesting She Wan is absent. His group reaches a heavy door and opens it to find a laboratory.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan readily accepts the danger, showing confidence and a willingness to confront the person who targeted him. Luo Luodong trusts his ability, especially after his earlier performance on Lanya Island.
• Zhao Qiu questions why university students are involved and is uneasy about She Wan, later voicing his anxiety about something lurking in the dark.
• Luo Luodong explains the university’s duty to protect its students and its philosophy of building resilience through real trials, while still allowing Zhou Fan to choose whether to participate.
• Black Wolf takes command in the field, directing the team cautiously and dividing it at the underground junction.

Significant themes

• Facing fear and building resilience: The university believes Espers grow by confronting danger rather than being constantly shielded.
• Duty and protection: She Wan’s attacks on students make the threat a university concern, not solely the Esper Bureau’s.
• Confidence versus caution: Zhou Fan is assured, while Zhao Qiu remains wary; Black Wolf balances both attitudes with disciplined precautions.
• Abuse of power: She Wan’s human experimentation is presented as a grave, forbidden crime.

Plot points

• Zhou Fan, Black Wolf, and Zhao Qiu discover a laboratory filled with grotesque mutant-beast hybrids and human test subjects. Black Wolf identifies the humans as notorious A-rank criminals rather than missing students; they have been altered with animal parts.
• The team finds no sign of She Wan, and Zhao Qiu questions why an experimenter would leave so many subjects behind.
• She Wan appears as a snake-bodied clone and reveals he has prepared an ambush: the laboratory’s glass tubes shatter, releasing twenty or thirty third-tier monsters.
• Zhou Fan traps the clone in his Sharingan Genjutsu, then uses Mangekyō Sharingan and Tsukuyomi to overwhelm it. Because the clone is mentally linked to She Wan’s real body, the effect reaches him as well.
• Elsewhere, She Wan’s real body suffers the backlash. Rather than fear Zhou Fan, he becomes more obsessed with obtaining Zhou Fan’s body and eyes.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan remains focused and taunts She Wan, then turns the clone’s connection to its real body against him with a powerful Genjutsu.
• Black Wolf recognizes the wanted criminals and feels no sympathy for their fate, given their violent pasts.
• Zhao Qiu reacts with disgust to She Wan’s snake form and is the first to question the apparent abandonment of valuable test subjects.
• She Wan openly covets Zhou Fan’s body and ocular power. His clone’s defeat demonstrates that Zhou Fan’s abilities can affect him across their mental link, but only intensifies his fixation.
• The group initially faces the released monsters together, but Zhou Fan quickly targets She Wan’s clone.

Significant themes

• Human experimentation and dehumanization: She Wan turns both criminals and beasts into experimental material.
• Obsession with power: She Wan’s desire for Zhou Fan’s body and eyes overwhelms any concern about the danger Zhou Fan poses.
• Cunning and connection: Zhou Fan exploits the hidden link between clone and original, turning She Wan’s own technique into a vulnerability.

Key plot points and events

• She Wan learns that laboratory test subjects have come to life and decides to use them as “gifts” for the intruders, while planning the next stage of his experiments. His attention is also fixated on obtaining She Wan’s eyes.
• In the laboratory, Zhao Qiu and Zhou Fan face a group of mutant creatures. Zhao Qiu unveils a new ability, Life Shackles, which temporarily releases limits on the body to increase strength. He explains five stages: Muscle, Tendon and Bone, Metabolism, Internal Organ, and Origin locks.
• Zhao Qiu can currently release only the first lock, but it gives him enough power to send several mutants flying with one punch. He and Zhou Fan join Black Wolf in the fight and quickly knock down the creatures.
• The fallen mutants suddenly surge with fiery red energy, each forming a tail-like shape. The sight suggests a Tailed Beast Cloak and leaves the fighters facing a new threat.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhao Qiu reveals ingenuity and pride in having created a superpower through training rather than deriving it from his existing ability. His confidence is tempered by the fact that he has unlocked only its first stage.
• Zhou Fan is impressed by Zhao Qiu’s achievement and quietly pleased for him, though he teases him about his limited progress. He prefers close-quarters combat for the visceral satisfaction of landing punches.
• Black Wolf is frustrated when the other two pause to talk while he holds off a large group alone. Zhao Qiu and Zhou Fan then fight alongside him, working effectively as a team.
• She Wan is established as a fanatical scientist, more interested in experimentation than combat, and driven by an unsettling desire to acquire She Wan’s eyes.

Significant themes

• Human potential and self-imposed limits: Life Shackles represents the idea that the body holds strength in reserve to protect itself.
• Innovation and achievement: Zhao Qiu’s self-created ability marks a personal accomplishment, even if it is still developing.
• Science without restraint: She Wan treats living beings as experimental material, contrasting sharply with the heroes’ immediate struggle to survive.
• Camaraderie and combat styles: The banter between Zhou Fan and Zhao Qiu gives way to teamwork, while their shared preference for hand-to-hand fighting defines their approach to battle.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Fan recognizes that the mutants attacking the group are wearing Four-Tails’ Tailed Beast Cloaks. He concludes that She Wan has somehow divided Four-Tails’ spiritual energy among his experimental beasts, effectively mass-producing the cloaks and boosting each mutant’s strength by one star.
• Zhao Qiu’s Muscle Lock reaches its limit, leaving him weakened by the technique’s physical strain. Zhou Fan takes over and tests his newly learned Flying Thunder God technique, using marked knives and flash bombs to defeat twenty or thirty cloaked mutants within seconds.
• The group searches She Wan’s laboratory, collects its contents and mutant corpses, and returns to Xinghai University to report the mission. Luo Luodong promises to have the specimens studied and rewards each team member with a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone.
• Luo Luodong tells Zhou Fan that Principal Xi Yan wants to see him. Xi Yan gives him two bottles of Nine Flame Liquid, a cultivation aid made from fire-attribute mutant cores and suitable for Espers at the Fourth Tier or below. One bottle is for Zhou Fan and the other for Lin Qianqian.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan is impressed by She Wan’s scientific talent, despite their antagonism and She Wan’s desire to take over his body. He also demonstrates a new level of speed and technique in battle.
• Zhao Qiu trusts Zhou Fan as a dependable ally. He is briefly jealous of Zhou Fan’s rapid growth but is ultimately happy to have such a powerful friend to rely on.
• Xi Yan’s gift shows support for both Zhou Fan and Lin Qianqian, while Luo Luodong recognizes the team’s success and acts on the evidence they bring back.

Significant themes

• Scientific progress and its dangers: She Wan’s ability to enhance many mutants suggests powerful applications, but his experiments on living subjects make that talent disturbing.
• Rapid growth and rivalry: Zhou Fan continues to outpace other young talents, prompting admiration and unease about how difficult it will be for anyone—even Lin Qianqian—to match him.
• Loyalty and reliance: Zhao Qiu’s trust in Zhou Fan turns friendly competition into support, while the group works together to gather intelligence and prepare for She Wan’s eventual capture.

Key plot points and events

• Principal Xi Yan gives Zhou Fan and Lin Qianqian bottles of Nine Flame Liquid, a cultivation aid whose alcohol-based preparation makes it intensely intoxicating. He advises them to drink it before bed.
• Zhou gives Lin her bottle when she returns from training. He privately puzzles over her inconsistent manner toward him and incorrectly decides she must have a split personality.
• Zhou drinks his entire bottle. The liquid burns, is absorbed immediately, and leaves him overheated, restless, and dizzy.
• Lin’s system warns that only 25 hours remain to complete her punishment task: sleep together with Zhou Fan, or risk losing previous rewards.
• Unable to figure out how to approach him, Lin takes a small sip of the Nine Flame Liquid for courage. Feeling tipsy, she resolves to go to Zhou’s room and complete the task.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan admires Lin’s talent, strength, and beauty, regarding her as his only worthy rival. His confusion about her behavior leads him to an unfounded diagnosis rather than recognizing the real reason for her mixed signals.
• Lin Qianqian is disciplined and determined, but the system’s intimate task leaves her embarrassed and anxious. She ultimately acts despite her reluctance, using the liquid to overcome her hesitation.
• Their interactions remain indirect: Zhou gives Lin the cultivation drink and misreads her behavior, while Lin silently struggles with the task involving him.

Significant themes

• Comic misunderstanding: Zhou confidently invents an explanation for Lin’s inconsistent warmth and coldness.
• Duty versus embarrassment: Lin’s system-imposed task pressures her to do something she finds difficult.
• Courage and intoxication: The Nine Flame Liquid serves both as a cultivation aid and, for Lin, a source of disinhibition—though its effects are unusually strong.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Qianqian nervously goes to Zhou Fan’s room to complete a system penalty task: she must sleep beside him for at least two hours.
• She finds Zhou Fan asleep after he has drunk the entire bottle of Nine Flame Liquid. The system also offers bonus rewards for giving him a lap pillow, sleeping in his arms, and kissing him goodnight.
• Too anxious to climb into bed, Lin Qianqian drinks the rest of her own Nine Flame Liquid to steady her nerves, then cautiously lies beside him.
• Zhou Fan rolls over in his sleep and rests his head on her bare thighs, with his arms around her legs. The system confirms this counts as the lap-pillow challenge.
• Lin Qianqian decides not to move him and lets him remain there. As she watches him, he begins stroking her thigh unconsciously.

Character developments

• Lin Qianqian struggles with embarrassment and fear, but pushes herself to act. Her growing comfort with Zhou Fan is apparent: she realizes that, after their past experiences together, his closeness feels less unacceptable than she expected.
• Zhou Fan remains asleep and unaware of the situation, but his natural movements bring them into more intimate contact.

Significant themes

• Awkward intimacy and growing trust: Lin Qianqian’s discomfort is balanced by her increasing acceptance of closeness with Zhou Fan.
• Courage and self-consciousness: She uses the Nine Flame Liquid to overcome her nerves, though she remains acutely aware of her boundaries.
• Unintended consequences: Her carefully planned, controlled approach is upended when Zhou Fan rolls onto her lap.

Character interactions

• Lin Qianqian quietly enters Zhou Fan’s room and lies beside him while he sleeps.
• Zhou Fan unknowingly uses her thighs as a pillow and holds her legs; Lin Qianqian checks with the system, then chooses to let him stay there.
• The chapter ends as Zhou Fan begins stroking her thigh in his sleep, intensifying Lin Qianqian’s conflicted reaction.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Fan falls asleep with his head on Lin Qianqian’s lap. When his hand brushes her thigh, she suspects he is pretending to sleep, but eventually decides he is genuinely unconscious.
• Lin Qianqian endures the remaining five minutes to complete the lap-rest task and earns a Bronze Chest.
• The system recommends that she give Zhou Fan a “goodnight kiss.” Though tempted by the reward and emboldened by the alcohol in the Nine Flame Liquid, she cannot bring herself to kiss him while he is asleep.
• Just as she tries to leave, Zhou Fan rolls over in his sleep, pulls her close, and their lips meet. In his dream, he imagines kissing a blurred girl he loves.
• Zhou Fan’s sleeping kiss grows more intimate. Lin Qianqian eventually pushes him away, completing the kiss task and earning a Gold Chest, but feels embarrassed and upset rather than pleased.

Character developments

• Lin Qianqian remains proud and combative, but the incident reveals her vulnerability: she is flustered by Zhou Fan’s closeness and troubled that the kiss was her first. She is also conflicted between her reluctance and her desire for the system’s rewards.
• Zhou Fan is unaware of what is happening. His restless sleep and romantic dream bring him into intimate contact with Lin Qianqian, but he neither wakes nor consciously chooses to kiss her.

Significant themes

• Consent and blurred intentions: Lin Qianqian considers initiating a kiss, but the actual kiss happens accidentally while Zhou Fan is asleep, leaving her unsettled.
• Comedy through misunderstanding: Her suspicion that Zhou Fan is pretending contrasts with his genuine sleep and dreamlike behavior.
• Reward versus personal boundaries: The system’s incentives push Lin Qianqian toward actions she is unsure she wants to take.

Character interactions

• Lin Qianqian cautiously watches over the sleeping Zhou Fan, then tries to distance herself from him.
• Zhou Fan’s unconscious gestures—resting on her lap, touching her arm, and pulling her into an embrace—repeatedly disrupt her attempts to keep things under control.
• Lin Qianqian ultimately stops the kiss when it becomes too intimate, while Zhou Fan remains asleep throughout.

Plot points

• Lin Qianqian regrets that, after misunderstanding the system’s “goodnight kiss” mission, she lost her first kiss to Zhou Fan. She blames him for the mishap, though she had misread the task, which only required a kiss on the forehead.
• The system gives her a second bonus challenge: sleep in Zhou Fan’s arms for at least two hours. Since Zhou Fan is already holding her, and this overlaps with her punishment mission, she decides to stay rather than risk waking him.
• After a period of anxious resentment, the effects of the Nine Flame Liquid make Qianqian drowsy. She wraps her arms around Zhou Fan and falls asleep in his embrace.
• Zhou Fan, still asleep, dreams that he is becoming intimate with a girl. As he fondles her, a sound from Qianqian seems to blur the line between dream and reality.
• At dawn, Zhou Fan wakes to find Qianqian sleeping face-to-face with him. He realizes his hand is on her breast and pulls away in alarm. He can remember little from the night and is left wondering how she ended up in his room.

Character developments

• Lin Qianqian shifts from anger and embarrassment to reluctant acceptance, choosing to endure the required two hours. Her exhaustion eventually overcomes her vigilance.
• Zhou Fan wakes confused and concerned. Though he had been acting unconsciously while asleep, he recognizes the possibility that his dreamlike experience was real and worries about what happened.

Significant themes

• Misunderstanding and unintended consequences: Qianqian’s mistaken interpretation of the kiss task triggers an embarrassing chain of events.
• System-imposed challenges and personal boundaries: The missions push Qianqian into intimate situations she would not otherwise choose.
• Dream versus reality: Zhou Fan’s hazy dream becomes difficult to distinguish from what actually happened.
• Vulnerability and uncertainty: Both characters are affected by sleep, alcohol, and limited awareness, leaving the night’s events unclear.

Character interactions

• Qianqian remains in Zhou Fan’s arms to fulfill her missions, privately resenting him over the kiss while trying not to wake him.
• Zhou Fan unknowingly touches Qianqian while asleep, prompting her to stir; when he wakes and understands what he is doing, he immediately withdraws.
• The chapter ends with Zhou Fan and Qianqian still in bed together, but without either understanding exactly how the night unfolded.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Fan wakes to find Lin Qianqian asleep in his bed, with no memory of how she got there. He assumes they both drank Nine Flame Liquid, became intoxicated, and she wandered into the wrong room.
• Worried about having to explain the situation, Zhou Fan carries the sleeping Lin Qianqian back to her room without realizing she is awake and pretending to sleep.
• Once he leaves, Lin Qianqian admits she had planned to stay only two hours but accidentally slept until morning. She kept pretending to be asleep because she couldn’t explain why she was in his bed.
• The system confirms that Lin Qianqian completed her punishment mission and the extra challenge, awarding her an S-rank superpower book, a permanent high-grade item, and a silver chest. Because she again lost a comparison to Zhou Fan, the next comparison is postponed by six months, with a harsher punishment threatened if she loses again.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Fan is confused but quick to settle on an innocent explanation. He carefully returns Lin Qianqian to her room, believing she never woke up.
• Lin Qianqian takes advantage of his misunderstanding to preserve the appearance that nothing happened. Though she says she’ll pretend the incident never occurred, she remembers that Zhou Fan took her first kiss and touched her chest while she pretended to sleep. Embarrassed and angry, she vows to get even.
• Their interaction is shaped by crossed assumptions: Zhou Fan thinks Lin Qianqian wandered into his room while drunk, while she knows she was there for a mission and conceals that she was awake.

Significant themes

• Misunderstanding and concealment: Both characters avoid an awkward explanation, allowing Zhou Fan’s mistaken version of events to stand.
• Embarrassment, resentment, and intimacy: The mission brings the pair physically closer, but Lin Qianqian experiences the outcome as a costly loss rather than a victory.
• Competition and consequences: The system’s comparison and punishment cycle continues, raising the stakes for Lin Qianqian’s next challenge.

Plot points and events

• Lin Qianqian argues with her system, frustrated that it seems pleased whenever she loses to Zhou Fan. Though she is training hard, she feels his rapid growth makes catching up nearly impossible without powerful rewards.
• She examines two new rewards:
  • S-Rank Paper Element: lets her imbue paper shikigami with wind, fire, water, lightning, and earth damage, including combinations of multiple elements.
  • Permanent Angel Shield: creates protection equal to twice her strength and can be used once every 24 hours. Its defense will improve as she grows stronger.
• Qianqian recognizes that Zhou Fan can also use all five basic elements and is currently too powerful for her shield to stop. She resolves to use him as her benchmark and find ways to close the gap before their next comparison in six months. She also opens three treasure chests earned through extra challenges.
• Meanwhile, Zhou Fan secretly returns Qianqian to her room after she sleeps beside him. Believing she does not remember, he decides not to tell her and lets them act as if nothing happened.
• With no missions or training scheduled, Zhou Fan visits Xinghai University’s facilities, especially its Tower of Trials. The thirty-floor tower has never been fully conquered; its record is the twenty-fifth floor. Zhou Fan sees it as a chance to test his strength.

Character developments

• Lin Qianqian is discouraged by her repeated losses but remains determined. Her new powers give her hope, though she understands that rewards alone will not erase the disparity with Zhou Fan.
• Zhou Fan remains secretive about the night he and Qianqian spent together. He is also confident enough to seek out a major test of his abilities.

Significant themes

• Competition and self-improvement: Qianqian turns her frustration into a plan to train and grow.
• Power and potential: The Angel Shield’s value lies less in its current strength than in how it scales with its user.
• Secrecy and unspoken intimacy: Zhou Fan’s decision to conceal what happened leaves an unresolved private tension between the two.
• Strength measured through trials: The Tower of Trials represents the university’s hierarchy and the challenge of surpassing established records.

Character interactions

• Qianqian clashes verbally with the system over its encouragement, then reflects on Zhou Fan as both her rival and primary measure of progress.
• Zhou Fan quietly handles Qianqian’s return to her room and chooses not to discuss their night together, preserving an outwardly ordinary relationship.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Fan arrives at Xinghai University’s Tower of Trials, attracting attention as the university’s strongest freshman.
• He discovers that Lin Qianqian secretly challenged the tower and reached floor 24, placing second overall despite being only a third-tier Esper.
• After reviewing the tower’s rules—one attempt, with a failed floor forcing a restart—Zhou Fan enters, eager to test himself.
• He races through the early floors, clearing the first five in about a minute and reaching floor 10 in five minutes. He passes the major thresholds at floors 15 and 20 with little trouble.
• The later floors are much harder, filled with groups of fourth-tier Mutant Beasts, slowing his pace. He reaches floor 24, matching Lin Qianqian’s record; the excerpt ends before revealing whether he advances further.

Character developments

• Zhou Fan shows confidence and enthusiasm for difficult challenges. His extraordinary speed and strength astonish the observers, though the chapter leaves his final result unresolved.
• Lin Qianqian is revealed to be exceptionally strong and ambitious: she reached floor 24 without telling Zhou Fan, and stands out as the only freshman—and the only third-tier Esper—among the leaderboard’s top ten.

Significant themes

• Strength and achievement: The tower measures not only raw power but also the ability to endure a long sequence of increasingly difficult fights.
• Competition and reputation: Zhou Fan’s public challenge is watched as a test of whether he can surpass the university’s best.
• Hidden accomplishments: Lin Qianqian’s secret attempt shows that even people close to Zhou Fan may have achievements he doesn’t know about.

Character interactions

• Students discuss Zhou Fan’s reputation and predict how far he will go, comparing him with Lin Qianqian and the tower’s record holder, Jiang An.
• Zhou Fan reacts with surprise to Lin Qianqian’s result and privately notes that she challenged the tower without telling him.
• Inside the tower, Zhou Fan fights alone; outside, the crowd tracks his progress on the display and increasingly marvels at his pace.