Chapter Summaries

Qin Xiaoxia confirmed that the scrapyard held an early-stage Corrupted Crystal Mine and prepared to act under cover of a magically summoned storm. As the guard booth began to collapse, the officers fled toward Old Ode's place.

• Su Su reunited with Jenny, Mark, and Joey at the airport and introduced them to Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou.
• Qin Xiaoxia's handshake and words dispelled Mark and Joey's fear and unease.
• Qin Xiaoxia inspected Old Ode's scrapyard and confirmed the crystal mine was corrupted and still growing.
• Su Su, Jenny, Mark, and Joey joined Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou at the mine after nightfall.
• Qin Xiaoxia unleashed his magic power, summoned torrential rain and fierce winds, and rushed toward the guard booth.
• The guard booth shook and began to teeter, so an officer urged the others to flee to Old Ode's place.

Qin Xiaoxia entered the Mine Shaft to destroy the forming Corrupted Crystal Mine, but its corrupted inhabitants buried him beneath them as the tunnel collapsed. After a massive blast shook the area, Doudou saw Burning Purple Tendrils fill the sky and sent Su Su to help Qin Xiaoxia.

• A sudden downpour collapsed the guard booth, forcing three police officers to take shelter at Old Ode's house while Old Ode watched the Mine Shaft.
• Mark, Joey, Jenny, and Su Su took cover in the woods as Doudou said Qin Xiaoxia had gone to the Mine Shaft and Jack and Joseph's fate depended on their luck.
• Qin Xiaoxia entered the Mine Shaft, followed the water underground, and punched through the tunnel floor toward its core.
• Seventeen corrupted figures charged Qin Xiaoxia, and he was pinned beneath them as the underground shaft began to crack and collapse.
• A huge blast and violent shaking hit the area, and Doudou saw Burning Purple Tendrils in the sky and told Su Su to go help Qin Xiaoxia.

Qin Xiaoxia destroyed the Corrupted Crystal Mine, rescued Jack and Joseph and two critically injured men, and escaped with Su Su and the others before the rain stopped. The police and Old Ode later reached the mine and found a small lake where the crystal mine had been.

• Su Su and the others reached the collapsed mine, where Qin Xiaoxia used his magic to contain the blue crystal and sever its link to the corrupted mine.
• Qin Xiaoxia threw the survivors out of the crater, and the group found Jack and Joseph unconscious and not breathing.
• Qin Xiaoxia carried two badly injured men while Su Su, Jenny, Mark, and Joey took Jack and Joseph away through the woods.
• The rain stopped shortly after the group left the scrapyard, and the police officers and Old Ode later went to inspect the mine.
• Old Ode saw a small lake where the mine had been and cried out that his crystal mine was gone.

Old Ode and the police discovered the bodies left by the collapsed crystal mine and called for federal help, while Qin Xiaoxia rescued and transformed four men. The men woke at Su Su’s grandmother’s house, and Qin Xiaoxia welcomed them as newly born knights.

• Old Ode rushed toward the flooded mine, where police stopped him and found naked bodies floating in the pit.
• Police and Hercules Corporation personnel drained the mine and found seven dead people with crystals growing from their heads and six survivors on the shore.
• The Los Angeles police chief ordered officers to notify the Department of Homeland Security because the mine and storm appeared to involve a supernatural threat.
• Su Su brought the four rescued men to her maternal grandmother’s house, where Qin Xiaoxia used his magic power to cleanse and restore their damaged souls.
• Jack, Joseph, Baru, and Otos woke up, and Qin Xiaoxia greeted them as newly born knights.

Qin Xiaoxia explained the history of humanity’s struggle against Anomalies and the origins of Dawn to the newly rescued men and the others. The chapter ended with Su Su learning that the Nine Sages founded Dawn after humanity learned to fight and adapt.

• Qin Xiaoxia reassured the four rescued men that he had dealt with the Corrupted Crystal Mine and described the horrors of having their souls consumed.
• Su Su recounted how Qin Xiaoxia had saved Haohao from an immature Kipello Ghoul, and Qin Xiaoxia explained the creature’s nature and danger.
• Qin Xiaoxia told the group that humanity had faced Anomalies for thousands of years and that the threat had extended to other species as well.
• Qin Xiaoxia explained that early awakened humans learned from one another and from monsters before the Nine Sages established Dawn.
• Su Su realized how Dawn had originated as the first light in humanity’s struggle against Anomalies.

Qin Xiaoxia recounted Dawn’s origins, the sacrifices of its founders, and the Knights’ role in humanity’s victory over Demons and otherworldly threats. He named the four men prospective newborn Knights and asked whether they were willing to fight for Dawn, triggering a surge of heat from them.

• Qin Xiaoxia explained that Dawn began humanity’s resistance but struggled to Awaken people, and its members endured deadly experiments and persecution from both Demons and other humans.
• Su Su translated Qin Xiaoxia’s account and declared that Dawn’s heroes had refused to give up despite pressure from their enemies, humanity, and their own hearts.
• Qin Xiaoxia described how Dawn developed Magic Power and the Knights, who helped humanity defeat High-Rank Demons and Demon Gods in the Final Battle.
• Qin Xiaoxia recited the oath of the Silent Knight and told the four men that their condition resembled the Knights of old.
• Qin Xiaoxia called the four men newborn Knights and asked if they would fight for Dawn, and a scorching surge of air erupted from them.

Qin Xiaoxia recruited the four men he had saved and the others present into Dawn, while realizing their transformations might offer a path to power. Meanwhile, the 19th Special Organization Department mobilized to investigate the Los Angeles incident, and Qin Xiaoxia rested at Mark’s house with the raw crystal.

• Qin Xiaoxia’s encouragement awakened power in the four transformed men, and all four swore they were willing to become knights of Dawn.
• Qin Xiaoxia asked Su Su, Jenny, and the others to join Dawn, and they responded enthusiastically.
• Qin Xiaoxia considered studying the transformed bodies and the association’s laboratories, while resolving to avoid deliberately damaging anyone’s soul.
• Colonel Norton received an emergency call and led the 19th Special Organization Department’s response, ordering his team to investigate the crystal-covered corpses and the missing ore.
• The four prospective knights planned to pose as unconscious victims around Los Angeles to gather intelligence, while Qin Xiaoxia rested at Mark’s house with the raw crystal and Doudou.

Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou spent a leisurely day in the United States, while Norton’s team investigated the mine collapse and crystalline corpses. Norton found signs of a fight in the mine and wondered whether a human had been involved.

• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou tried American KFC and complained that it tasted worse than the fried chicken back home.
• Norton rushed to the recycling yard with his team, where Homeland Security and disease-control personnel had secured the site.
• Norton warned his team about the deadly Siberian expedition, in which a parasitic fungus infected and killed many people.
• Norton’s team examined the seven crystalline corpses and took over some of the testing.
• Norton went into the mine and found fist marks amid the cave-in, raising the possibility that a human had fought there.

Norton’s team learned that four missing men had been found alive and questioned Baru, a former Navy SEAL, about what happened. Baru tested Norton’s understanding of the supernatural threat and left more concerned after receiving an evasive answer.

• The Los Angeles police chief informed Norton that four missing people had been found conscious, and Norton’s team hurried to City Hospital.
• A patrol detective identified the survivors as Jack, Joseph, Baru, and Otos and located them more than five kilometers from Old Ode’s salvage yard.
• Norton reviewed Baru Gersonier’s impressive military record before doctors confirmed that the four survivors were stable and able to communicate.
• Baru anticipated being questioned and resolved to earn a Dawn Seal as a Silent Knight.
• Baru asked Norton whether America was ready to face the horrors they had encountered, and Norton gave an official reassurance that revealed little.
• Baru interpreted Norton’s answer as evidence that the department might not understand the threats ahead and grew more concerned.

Baru recounted how a supernatural mineral vein tormented him and how three black-robed humans rescued him and the other survivors. He hinted that Dawn avoided contacting the government because it did not trust it, leaving Norton to decide how to respond to the warning.

• Baru told Norton that Jack and Joseph had warned everyone to flee the mine shaft before a melody drew people toward the mineral vein.
• Baru described feeling the vein consume his soul until three black-robed figures arrived through the rain and fought it.
• The vein used the survivors’ bodies to entangle one of the figures before collapsing and being blasted apart underground; the black-robed figures carried the injured survivors away for treatment.
• A patrol officer said the emergency call had come from a roadside phone booth, leaving Norton without a way to trace the caller.
• Baru said he had overheard references to darkness returning and remaining forces being recalled, then suggested the black-robed figures might not trust the government.

After the Mine Shaft incident, the Nineteenth Organization Department investigated the survivors and warned superiors about the possible return of darkness. Meanwhile, Baru attended the funeral for the dead employees, Qin Xiaoxia headed home, and Cui Ying noticed a disturbing photograph posted to her media group.

• Norton and the Nineteenth Organization Department investigated the survivors’ conflicting memories and submitted a fourteen-page report recommending preparations for the return of darkness.
• Baru and the other survivors attended the funeral for seven Hercules Corporation employees, whose crystallized bodies remained in government custody.
• Qin Xiaoxia flew home while Jenny and the others stayed in the United States to rebuild Dawn and retained strands of his magic power for protection.
• Cui Ying, a reporter and founder of the independent outlet The Oriole's Pursuit, saw an administrator post a photograph of a child with much of his face apparently ground away.

Cui Ying and Lu Manfeng traveled to Qiantang to investigate Haohao’s mysterious recovery and interview Lao Guo’s family. They secured the family’s cooperation by arranging a plastic surgery appointment, then heard Lao Guo’s account of the exorcism and left wondering about the mysterious master.

• Cui Ying contacted Doctor Manhattan, whose real name was Lu Manfeng, after learning that a mage had cured Haohao.
• Cui Ying and Lu Manfeng traveled to Qiantang and visited Lao Guo’s family to ask about the boy’s illness and treatment.
• Lao Guo angrily rejected their interview request until Cui Ying and Lu Manfeng offered a gold card that secured Haohao an earlier plastic surgery appointment.
• Lao Guo described how the master had pulled a transparent evil ghost from Haohao and destroyed it during the exorcism.
• Cui Ying recalled the master’s instruction to say only that the family had hired a master for an exorcism and questioned why he had phrased it that way.

Cui Ying and Lu Manfeng verified Lao Guo’s account and shaped it into the first installment of The Oriole’s Pursuit’s new supernatural section, “Strange Tales.” After reading the horrifying story, Big Head and his roommates were left wondering whether the editorial office’s offer to help implied that the events were real.

• Cui Ying and Lu Manfeng checked Haohao’s hospital visits, train tickets, and neighbors’ accounts, confirming that his condition had frightened people nearby.
• The editorial staff worked the verified details into a horror story, unsettled by how closely it matched Lao Guo’s account.
• The Oriole’s Pursuit published “The Changing Face,” a diary-style story about Dongdong’s worsening condition and the experts who saved his family.
• Big Head read the story aloud to his university roommates, who grew frightened as Dongdong’s symptoms worsened.
• Big Head and his roommates reacted nervously to the editorial office’s offer to help anyone facing similar events and decided to play a game.

Cui Ying’s new article drew readers’ interest because it implied the supernatural events were real, while Qin Xiaoxia struggled to find a way to grow magic crystals. After Doudou’s advice and Wish ability failed, Qin Xiaoxia decided to build Kormir’s Statue to communicate with truth, but still needed a craftsman who could work with its unusual materials.

• Cui Ying and the editorial team told trusted readers that most of The Oriole's Pursuit’s story was faithfully reconstructed, though they could not currently contact the exorcist.
• Qin Xiaoxia’s attempt to use Doudou’s Wish to learn how to grow magic crystals failed, and he punished Doudou for giving bad advice.
• Huang Jiutian cleaned the old Dawn Association house, which Qin Xiaoxia considered nearly ready to live in despite its lack of running water and outdated wiring.
• Qin Xiaoxia worried that he could not awaken Huang Jiutian’s magic power or fulfill promises he had made to others.
• Qin Xiaoxia decided to build Kormir’s Statue to communicate with truth, but he still needed to find a craftsman able to shape its unusual materials.

Qin Xiaoxia struggled to find a manufacturer for his statue project, but Gou Junbao found a possible sculptor in his cousin Nan Feng. Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou met Gou Junbao and Nan Feng for lunch at Maple Court, where Doudou and Qin Xiaoxia eyed the buffet eagerly as they waited for the others.

• Qin Xiaoxia watched the news while Doudou finished his chips and tried to sneak money from Qin Xiaoxia’s drawer, but Qin Xiaoxia caught him.
• Gou Junbao called Qin Xiaoxia to say he had found a wealthy young man interested in sculpture, and Qin Xiaoxia invited him to lunch.
• Gou Junbao met his cousin Nan Feng, who had come looking for work, and learned that Nan Feng’s father planned to fetch him and take him home.
• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou arrived at Maple Court, paid for four seats, and went inside to wait for Gou Junbao and Nan Feng.

Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou met Gou Junbao’s cousin Nan Feng at a barbecue buffet to discuss having his team sculpt a statue at a supposedly haunted old house. They settled on discussing a daily rate, while their enormous appetite drew attention from the restaurant staff.

• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou ate at Maple Court while Gou Junbao went to bring Nan Feng to their table.
• Gou Junbao introduced Nan Feng as a craftsman with experience in metal forging, ceramics, and clay sculpting.
• Qin Xiaoxia asked whether Nan Feng’s team could work in shifts and handle sculpting at an old house that villagers called haunted.
• When the restaurant restocked its seafood, Doudou and Qin Xiaoxia hurried to bring several plates back to their table.
• Nan Feng asked about payment, and Qin Xiaoxia proposed a daily rate with a possible bonus, arguing that he would provide the workspace, materials, lodging, and meals.
• Maple Court’s staff noticed the table’s growing pile of empty plates, but the floor manager saw that the diners had eaten everything.

Qin Xiaoxia hired Nan Feng and his friends to make Kormir's Statue, choosing inexperienced young workers partly because they would be easier to manage if strange phenomena arose. After a gluttonous buffet meal, Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou took Nan Feng to the Dawn Association's old house, where its grand architecture impressed him.

• Qin Xiaoxia decided Nan Feng and his friends would make Kormir's Statue and discussed the agreement with Nan Feng.
• Qin Xiaoxia, Doudou, Nan Feng, and Gou Junbao spent over two hours eating at Maple Court's buffet, leaving the staff relieved when they finally departed.
• Qin Xiaoxia invited Nan Feng to stay at the old house and take a look at the site, while Gou Junbao returned to his office.
• Qin Xiaoxia persuaded Gou Junbao to drive them to Qing Town, and Nan Feng was awestruck by the Dawn Association's old house.

Nan Feng toured Qin Xiaoxia’s old house and agreed to bring his two artist friends there to work on Kormir’s Statue. After they arrived, the group settled into the house despite its lack of electricity, running water, toilets, and internet.

• Qin Xiaoxia showed Nan Feng the old house and confirmed he could stay there, though it had no electricity, running water, or modern toilet.
• Nan Feng told his two artist friends they would be paid daily wages to work on a sculpture, and they agreed because they had no other commissions.
• The next evening, Gou Junbao drove Gu Hao and Zhang Ruliang to the old house while Qin Xiaoxia went shopping for bedding.
• Gu Hao admired the house’s unusual architecture and grew curious about the mysterious figure sculpture.
• Qin Xiaoxia served dinner by candlelight and explained that power would be connected soon, but the artists would have to manage without modern facilities in the meantime.

Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou completed a small Mystic Realm Inscription Spell Formation to prepare a protected, ordered space for sculpting Kormir's Statue. As Qin Xiaoxia began weaving it, his Banshee's Howl woke Nan Feng and his companions, who feared a ghost had appeared.

• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou laid out the Mystic Realm Inscription in the empty hall using improvised shaping substance and magic power.
• Qin Xiaoxia explained that the Mystic Realm, called “Fall of the Red Banshee,” would protect the house and grounds and provide an environment suited to sculpting Kormir's Statue.
• Doudou doubted he could help repair the Mystic Realm, but Qin Xiaoxia encouraged him to trust his wish magic and sent him outside the Inscription.
• Qin Xiaoxia began weaving the Mystic Realm, and his incantation produced a magical Banshee's Howl.
• Nan Feng and his two companions woke to the terrifying scream and silently wondered whether a ghost was in the house.

Qin Xiaoxia activated the Mystic Realm, summoning the Red Banshee, whose song spread through the building and revealed her tragic longing to become human. The three young men heard the song and experienced a vision of the Sea Nymph’s past, ending the chapter in tears.

• Zhang Ruliang, Nan Feng, and Gu Hao nervously barricaded their bedroom door after hearing Qin Xiaoxia’s scream.
• Qin Xiaoxia discovered the Red Banshee standing within the Spell Formation and continued weaving the Mystic Realm despite the disturbance.
• Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou watched the Spell Formation spread through the building as the Red Banshee opened her eyes and began to sing.
• Nan Feng, Gu Hao, and Zhang Ruliang heard the song and saw a vision of the Red Banshee’s longing to walk on land and her appeal to Komir.
• The Red Banshee’s sorrowful song overwhelmed the three young men, who huddled beneath their blankets and wept.