Chapter Summaries

After waking in the hospital, Qin Xiaoxia learned that the river explosion had killed eleven people and found online rumors about the monster the news had concealed. As his magic stirred again, his body began a transformation that Qin Xiaoxia identified as elvenization, though Doudou sensed something different and unsettling.

• Qin Xiaoxia woke up weak in the hospital, where Doudou and Huang Jiutian cared for him and the patient in the next bed discussed the river accident.
• Qin Xiaoxia watched the news report eleven deaths and more than twenty injuries, then found online accounts claiming a monster had appeared in the Crooked Loach River.
• Qin Xiaoxia noticed that his hair had turned gray, and Huang Jiutian told him that malnutrition and mental exhaustion had caused his condition.
• Qin Xiaoxia explained that he had taken in Doudou after the boy’s family had no one else to raise him.
• Qin Xiaoxia’s magic began flowing again, but instead of consuming his remaining strength, it nourished his body and began a transformation.
• Qin Xiaoxia thought he was undergoing elvenization, while Doudou sensed that his magic and changing body carried an alarming quality.

After Qin Xiaoxia recovered and left the hospital, Huang Jiutian accompanied him and Doudou with Gou Junbao. Meanwhile, officials reviewed strange incidents around the world and concluded that the sudden fire at Qing Town Riverway had destroyed an alien creature.

• Qian Boming examined Qin Xiaoxia, found him recovering well, and said he could be discharged if his test results were normal.
• Qin Xiaoxia, Doudou, Huang Jiutian, and Gou Junbao left the hospital and debated where to eat.
• Zhao Ning and two other officers recounted the river incident to officials from Yue City and higher authorities.
• Special Envoy Tao showed officials videos of disturbing incidents abroad, including black-scaled flesh and a snowbound oasis where people vanished unnoticed.
• Tian Zhuang and Special Envoy Tao concluded that the sudden fire at Qing Town Riverway had appeared on its own and destroyed the alien creature.

Special Envoy Tao presented the theory that anomalous incidents around the world signaled a sweeping transformation, but argued that the fire at the Crooked Loach River showed something could oppose them. He ordered the Zhejiang officials to quietly find the fire’s source, while his promotion and the government’s preparations left him hoping for good news.

• Special Envoy Tao showed the dried, nearly crystallized riverbed and summarized the Crooked Loach River incident for officials in Yue City.
• Tao introduced the tenth man theory and warned that anomalous incidents could mark the end of humanity’s reign or the beginning of a new age.
• Tao identified the deliberately set fire as evidence that something might be helping humanity and urged Zhejiang officials to find its source without provoking it.
• The Zhejiang Provincial Tendering Office and other cities began commissioning civil defense and military reserve projects.
• Tao Xingzhi learned he had been promoted to vice-ministerial rank, reflected on the growing pressure of his work, and left his room hoping for good news.

After Huang Jiutian left for work, Qin Xiaoxia took Doudou to Qiantang's amusement park, where they found the rides underwhelming and wandered into a fortune-telling tent. There, Doudou startled Su Su, the new fortune-teller, who spilled her lunch and ordered them out.

• Huang Jiutian left for Qiantang after his company called him back to work, leaving Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou to visit the amusement park together.
• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou found the roller coaster disappointing and decided not to try the other rides.
• Doudou spotted the House of Destiny and rushed inside before it opened, with Qin Xiaoxia following him.
• Doudou insisted on buying a crystal ball, but Qin Xiaoxia refused because it was expensive and useless.
• Su Su entered the tent, found Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou inside, and spilled her lunch when Doudou leaped toward her and called her a witch.

After Doudou stole Su Su’s treasured crystal ball, it mysteriously reappeared, and Su Su used it to glimpse a sea of purple flames. Convinced that Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou were connected to the vision, she waited at the amusement park entrance and finally found them as they were leaving.

• Doudou revealed that he had stolen a crystal ball from the House of Destiny, and Qin Xiaoxia scolded him and tried to make him return it.
• The amusement park announced that the crystal ball was missing, but it suddenly appeared back on Su Su’s table.
• Su Su focused on the crystal ball and saw a sea of purple flames before pain forced her to stop divining.
• Su Su recovered the crystal ball with the amusement park staff, took leave, and waited at the entrance to find Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou.
• As Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou left the park, they noticed Su Su waiting for them.

Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou met Su Su over the stolen crystal ball, and Su Su revealed she could see its purple flames. At a barbecue restaurant, Doudou spotted a sinister force above the owner, who told them his young son was losing his facial features after developing soul-loss disorder.

• Qin Xiaoxia hurried Su Su and Doudou away from the park after Su Su apologized for the crystal ball incident.
• At the restaurant, Su Su refused to call the matter even and told Qin Xiaoxia she had seen purple flames inside the crystal ball.
• Doudou noticed ominous threads above the restaurant owner, and Qin Xiaoxia recognized them as signs of a soul being corroded by cold, sinister power.
• The owner told Qin Xiaoxia, Doudou, and Su Su that his first-grade son had become unresponsive and that the boy's facial features were gradually disappearing.

Qin Xiaoxia asked Su Su to demonstrate her medium abilities to a barbecue restaurant owner worried about his son, Haohao. After Su Su divined that Haohao was eating raw meat, the owner begged her to help, and Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou agreed to go with her.

• The owner described Haohao's frightening condition, and Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou hesitated to get involved.
• Qin Xiaoxia asked the owner to let them visit his home and introduced Su Su as a foreign spirit medium.
• Su Su performed a divination and saw a boy eating raw meat.
• The owner called his wife, confirmed that Haohao had been tied up, and asked Su Su to help him.
• Doudou asked about the fee, and Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou agreed to help Haohao.

Qin Xiaoxia and his companions visited the barbecue shop owner's home to investigate his son Haohao, whose face had become blurred and who had been eating raw meat. Qin Xiaoxia saw a faceless, tentacled entity attached to Haohao and restrained the boy with magic, demanding that the entity reveal itself.

• The owner closed his barbecue shop and drove Qin Xiaoxia, Su Su, and Doudou to his suburban home, explaining that Haohao had begun eating raw meat.
• They heard Haohao howling and found the owner and his brother-in-law struggling to restrain him in a room.
• Qin Xiaoxia saw a distorted, faceless entity clinging to Haohao and addressed it in magic language.
• Haohao broke free and rushed toward a window, but Qin Xiaoxia caught him and slammed him to the floor.
• Qin Xiaoxia bound Haohao with streams of magic and repeated his demand for the entity to reveal itself.

Qin Xiaoxia used his magic language to bind and forcibly extract the entity possessing Haohao, despite the entity’s violent struggles. The entity appeared to die as it dissipated, while Haohao remained lying on the floor.

• Qin Xiaoxia’s magic language pinned the entity inside Haohao and caused it to writhe in pain.
• Qin Xiaoxia saw purple magic arcs burning away the entity, while the Guo family hoped Haohao could be saved.
• Qin Xiaoxia seized the entity by the neck and pulled its smoky threads out of Haohao as the room shook.
• Qin Xiaoxia spoke his magic language a third time, and the extracted entity stopped moving and began to dissipate.

Qin Xiaoxia defeated the Faceless Yin Ghost parasitizing Haohao and learned it was a juvenile Ghoul from Chippelo. After rescuing Haohao, Qin Xiaoxia warned that the Dam was unstable and that the creature could have caused a major crisis in Qiantang or beyond.

• Qin Xiaoxia identified the Faceless Yin Ghost as a juvenile Ghoul from Chippelo, a parasitic creature that could transform its host and spread lethal contamination.
• Qin Xiaoxia sealed the creature in a beer bottle and told Haohao's family that the boy had been saved, though his face could not be restored.
• Haohao's family thanked Qin Xiaoxia and discussed cosmetic surgery as a possible option for the child.
• Guo Zhenbang drove Qin Xiaoxia, Doudou, and Su Su back to town after paying the exorcism fee.
• Qin Xiaoxia told Doudou that the Dam was unstable and advised Guo Zhenbang to keep the exorcism quiet.
• Qin Xiaoxia reflected that Haohao's condition might have triggered a crisis in Qiantang or a wider region.

Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou went to Huang Jiutian’s apartment for the night, but found him trapped at work on an unusual civil defense design project. Qin Xiaoxia suspected the government was preparing for a threat, though he did not know how much it understood.

• Su Su got Qin Xiaoxia’s WeChat contact before returning to the amusement park, and Lao Guo drove Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou to Fragrant Moon Residential Complex.
• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou found Huang Jiutian’s apartment locked and learned he was working overtime on an urgent project.
• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou bought dinner and went to Huang Jiutian’s company on the eleventh floor to collect the keys.
• Huang Jiutian introduced Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou to the design department’s late-night work and explained that his team was designing a large, unusual civil defense project.
• Qin Xiaoxia connected the mysterious projects to recent events and suspected the government was preparing for a threat.

Su Su searched online for the palm symbol she had seen on Qin Xiaoxia and discovered it was linked to a mysterious organization called Dawn, which she believed protected people from the shadows. She ended the chapter determined to join them someday.

• Su Su returned home excited about being added on WeChat and wondered whether she should contact him first.
• Su Su recreated the symbol from Qin Xiaoxia's palm and used an image search to find historical paintings of it.
• Su Su read an account claiming that Dawn had swindled Count Thomas, but she dismissed it as fraud and kept searching.
• Su Su found a blog describing Dawn as a secretive medieval organization with conflicting accounts of its members.
• Su Su concluded that Dawn still protected people and vowed that she would join it someday.

Qin Xiaoxia concluded that the world was approaching a dangerous upheaval and considered acting through the Dawn Association, whose mark he bore. He decided he would need clear information before making a move, while Doudou watched him uneasily.

• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou returned to Huang Jiutian's apartment as Huang Jiutian's design department was ordered to work overnight on an urgent proposal.
• Qin Xiaoxia reasoned that several otherworldly encounters and his connection to the environment meant the world's power was no longer holding firm.
• Qin Xiaoxia feared the coming change could threaten the world itself and wondered how much humanity's leaders knew or had prepared.
• Qin Xiaoxia examined the Dawn brand on his palm and recalled the association's history and his promise to Old Qin to keep it alive.
• Qin Xiaoxia drew inspiration from Su Su's behavior but decided he would need clear information before acting, while Doudou quietly used Huang Jiutian's computer.

Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou discovered that Qin Xiaoxia’s magic had consumed the Faceless Yin Ghost’s corpse and increased in quantity. After testing the magic, Qin Xiaoxia unsettled Huang Jiutian by bringing up the brand he had praised years earlier.

• Huang Jiutian came home with breakfast and found Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou transfixed by a sealed beer bottle.
• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou realized the Faceless Yin Ghost’s corpse had vanished and the magic inside the bottle had increased.
• Qin Xiaoxia opened the bottle and retrieved his magic, which returned to him freely and seemed to carry a sense of joy.
• Doudou hid behind Huang Jiutian until the magical fluctuations settled, then joined Qin Xiaoxia for breakfast.
• When Huang Jiutian demanded an explanation, Qin Xiaoxia recalled the brand he had received in middle school and asked whether Huang Jiutian had called it cool.

Qin Xiaoxia tried to persuade his childhood friend Huang Jiutian to join Dawn by building a case for supernatural powers and an approaching world war. He ended by showing Huang Jiutian the blazing-sun brand in his palm, leaving him stunned and questioning what he had believed about Qin Xiaoxia.

• Qin Xiaoxia invited Huang Jiutian to sit with him and said his story could change Huang Jiutian’s life.
• Qin Xiaoxia argued that curses and the Qing Town Riverway explosion pointed to supernatural forces, but Huang Jiutian remained skeptical.
• Qin Xiaoxia asked Huang Jiutian to explain why his company and major engineering groups had recently signed nondisclosure agreements and become unusually busy.
• Qin Xiaoxia claimed the beer bottle had contained a dangerous monster from another world, and Huang Jiutian laughed before growing uneasy.
• Qin Xiaoxia revealed the blazing-sun brand in his palm, and Huang Jiutian’s heart raced as he wondered about Qin Xiaoxia’s past.

Qin Xiaoxia revealed Dawn’s history and his magic to Huang Jiutian, then asked him to help rebuild the association against threats from other worlds. Huang Jiutian joined Dawn as a probationary peripheral member and took on a task to investigate the Civil Defense Projects.

• Qin Xiaoxia explained that the mark on his hand was the Dawn Seal, which honored people recognized by Dawn’s leader.
• Qin Xiaoxia used magic to conjure flames, then admitted that he had caused the Crooked Loach River eruption and nearly died controlling it.
• Qin Xiaoxia told Huang Jiutian that threats from other dimensions had returned and asked him to help rebuild Dawn.
• Huang Jiutian agreed to join Dawn, though he would need to awaken his magic power before Qin Xiaoxia could inscribe him.
• Qin Xiaoxia tasked Huang Jiutian with investigating the progress of the Civil Defense Projects through his professional contacts.

Su Su learned from Jenny that a strange crystal mine had appeared beneath Old Ode’s scrapyard near Los Angeles, while four young men tried to sneak in and discovered the guards had entered naked and vanished. The four decided to leave rather than investigate further.

• Su Su waited for a message from Qin Xiaoxia, then answered a call from her friend Jenny in Los Angeles.
• Jenny told Su Su that Old Ode had found a crystal mine beneath his scrapyard and that the crystals were unusually large and sometimes glowed.
• Jenny said Jack, Joseph, and their friends planned to sneak into the mine, while she noticed shoppers stockpiling food at the supermarket.
• Jack, Joseph, and two other youths approached the scrapyard at night but found it guarded by armed men and floodlights.
• The four watched five guards strip, leave their weapons behind, and enter the mine, but none returned after half an hour.
• The four youths agreed to leave the scrapyard.

The Hercules Security Company investigated the disappearance of five guards at Old Ode’s mine but found no trace of them. Jack and Joseph returned to watch the scrapyard that night and were caught by Baru’s concealed guards.

• Baru and two Hercules managers inspected the guards’ clothes and weapons, while a search squad found no sign of the missing men in the mine.
• Baru asked Old Ode about enemies and debts, then promised to lead a new team guarding the scrapyard that night.
• Jack and Joseph watched the investigation from a nearby tree and decided to return after seeing the new guards take up positions.
• That night, Jack and Joseph watched the scrapyard again, but concealed Hercules guards seized them before they could eat.
• A Hercules guard reported the two suspicious individuals to Baru, who ordered them brought over.

Baru’s investigation into the mine shaft led to more disappearances, including Jack and Joseph, while Su Su learned of the incident and urgently sought help. The chapter left Qin Xiaoxia staring at a flood of messages from Su Su as he cleaned the old house with Doudou and Huang Jiutian.

• Baru questioned Jack and Joseph after his guards captured them, and they warned that people had entered the mine shaft and never come out.
• The next day, Hercules Security Company and Old Ode found more clothes by the shaft and called the police after fifteen security guards and two civilians disappeared.
• After two days without news of Jack or Joseph, Joey and Mark told Jenny about the mine shaft, and Su Su recognized their story as a supernatural warning.
• Su Su urged Joey and Mark to stay away from the mine shaft and said she would find help.
• At the old house in Qing Town, Qin Xiaoxia received repeated urgent messages from Su Su while cleaning with Doudou and Huang Jiutian.

After Su Su reported that her friends had vanished inside a Corrupted Crystal Mine in Los Angeles, Qin Xiaoxia decided to help despite Dawn’s lack of a local branch. He used Doudou’s wish to obtain travel documents and reach Los Angeles quickly, where Su Su’s friends awaited the reinforcements.

• Su Su told Qin Xiaoxia that Jack, Joseph, and fifteen security guards had disappeared in a Corrupted Crystal Mine in Los Angeles.
• Doudou revealed that the mine might contain a raw mother crystal capable of producing magic crystals, and Qin Xiaoxia agreed to travel there.
• Qin Xiaoxia used Doudou’s wish for efficiency to obtain a passport and visa within hours and book a direct flight with Su Su.
• Qin Xiaoxia and Su Su arrived in Los Angeles the next morning, where Jenny, Mark, and Joey waited for them.