Chapter Summaries

Ke Meng and Team Leader Shi’s team used low presence to reach Birdsong City, where Wu Feiying provided intelligence on Professor Lu Fa’s location. The team flew to Crocodile City to pursue Lu Fa, and Ke Meng arrived under a stormy sky.

• Team Leader Shi used his low presence to help the seven-person team enter Birdsong City unseen and reach their Safe House.
• Wu Feiying told Team Leader Shi that Professor Lu Fa had likely gone to a mountainous lake region three hundred kilometers northwest of Crocodile City.
• Team Leader Shi instructed Wu Feiying to provide intelligence only, and the team left for the airport without stopping to eat.
• Team Leader Shi established a connection with each teammate so his low presence would conceal them during the flight.
• Ke Meng and the team landed at Crocodile Airport, where Team Leader Shi warned Ke Meng not to get sidetracked from their pursuit of Lu Fa.

Ke Meng used Dream Synesthesia to locate Lu Fa in the middle of Blue Giant Lake, where Lu Fa had become a Frog-Body Man. Ke Meng and Captain Shi set out across the lake to confront him.

• The Bandaged Man scouted Lu Fa’s lakeside villas while Ke Meng fell asleep to use Dream Synesthesia.
• In his dream, Ke Meng saw Lu Fa submerged in the lake and realized he was the first person transformed, not the source of the Frog-Transformation Curse.
• Ke Meng woke and told the Bandaged Man that Lu Fa was in the middle of the lake, where his croaking caused mental interference.
• The Bandaged Man returned with the Sound-Absorbing Sponge and asked to borrow Ke Meng’s Angel Wing, but Ke Meng insisted on going with him.
• Ke Meng attached the Angel Wing and took a Fixed Teleportation Stone, while the Bandaged Man boarded a special wooden boat and headed toward the lake’s center.

Ke Meng and his teammates confronted Lu Fa and the Frog Society in a lake overrun with frogs, and the Bandaged Man gave Ke Meng a Meteor Summoner. After Ke Meng targeted Lu Fa and activated it, a meteor began plunging from the sky, draining the Angel Halo’s holy light.

• Ke Meng flew ahead of his teammates’ boat and spotted Lu Fa and dozens of Frog Society believers transformed into Frogmen in the lake.
• The Bandaged Man gave Ke Meng a Meteor Summoner and explained that it formed a meteor from nearby stone, while a metal sphere could shield the group from the blast.
• Ke Meng used Synesthesia with the Sound-Absorbing Sponge and concluded that the lake was filled with frogs and might serve as Lu Fa’s ritual site.
• Ke Meng put on the Angel Energy-Gathering Ring, recognized Lu Fa through military binoculars, and pressed the Meteor Summoner’s switch while aiming at him.
• The Meteor Summoner drained the Angel Halo’s holy light, and a blazing meteor broke through the clouds and fell toward the lake.

Lu Fa tried to escape a meteor summoned by Ke Meng by sacrificing Ke Meng and his companions to the Evil Sculpture, but the Sound-Absorbing Sponge blocked the ritual. After the meteor struck the lake, Lu Fa survived the Holy Light and shock waves by using three defensive items, and the current carried him away from Ke Meng.

• Lu Fa sensed the approaching meteor and prayed to the Evil Sculpture, offering the people in the lake as sacrifices in exchange for his life.
• The Evil Sculpture answered with a croak and sent waves toward Ke Meng, but Ke Meng's barrier and Sound-Absorbing Sponge absorbed them.
• Lu Fa used his Storage Item and fed blood to a large umbrella, then moved five hundred meters from the meteor's impact point.
• The meteor struck the lake, releasing Holy Light and a shock wave that tore apart Lu Fa's umbrella.
• Lu Fa used two more defensive items, survived the worst of the blast, and was swept away from Ke Meng by the churning water.

Ke Meng and his team pursued Lu Fa after he escaped the meteorite strike by completing a Sacrifice Ritual and teleporting to another lake. Ke Meng tracked Lu Fa toward Birdsong City and the Frog Fruit Farmer Farm, but the team was delayed by a traffic jam as their satellite phones began beeping.

• Ke Meng used dream synesthesia to discover that Lu Fa had escaped to a small lake, and he and his team left the meteorite-struck lake to avoid the authorities.
• Ke Meng ate thirty Psychic Fruits and used a map to identify a forest near Birdsong City as Lu Fa’s approximate location.
• Ke Meng speculated that Lu Fa had used the deaths of frogs and human followers to complete a Sacrifice Ritual, allowing a sculpture to transport him elsewhere.
• Ke Meng tracked Lu Fa by dream synesthesia during the flight to Birdsong City and later identified the Frog Fruit Farmer Farm as the area where he was moving.
• The Bandaged Man drove Ke Meng and the team toward the farm, but a highway traffic jam blocked their way as their satellite phones began beeping.

Ueno Mizuna transformed into a Frog-Headed Person after encountering a grotesque fountain statue and becoming desperately thirsty. Meanwhile, Ke Meng and his team pursued someone as Frog-Headed Person incidents spread across thirty-six cities.

• Ueno Mizuna left her apartment after admiring the frog-headed fountain statue and hearing a croak.
• On the subway, Mizuna grew intensely thirsty, resisted drinking from other passengers’ bottles, and frightened them with her bloodshot eyes.
• Mizuna drank soy milk at a breakfast shop, then discovered that her head had turned into a giant green frog’s head and collapsed as her hands began changing.
• Director Wu told Ke Meng that Frog-Headed People had appeared in neighboring cities and urged him to capture their target alive to learn whether the transformation could be reversed.
• The Bandaged Man reported that incidents had spread to thirty-six cities, while the team heard panicked passengers discussing Frog-Headed People and street chaos.

After Frog-Headed People appeared across the world, Ke Meng and his team flew from Birdsong City on Tangyuan to find Lu Fa. They reached the lake where Lu Fa held hostages, and the Bandaged Man began a stealth plan to capture him alive.

• Ke Meng and his team saw reports of Frog-Headed People causing chaos overseas and decided to leave the traffic jam.
• Ke Meng summoned Tangyuan, who grew into a giant flying dog and carried the team away from the city.
• Ke Meng used the Panoramic Map to locate Lu Fa, and the team reached the lake an hour later.
• Lu Fa summoned frogs and Frog-Headed People and suspended hostages above the lake with his tentacles.
• The Bandaged Man said they needed to capture Lu Fa alive and removed the bandages from both legs to make himself nearly impossible to notice.
• Ke Meng directed Tangyuan toward Lu Fa as the Bandaged Man vanished from the team's awareness.

Ke Meng and Shi Jun captured Lu Fa and rescued his hostages, then interrogated him while Birdsong City fell into chaos. The team later escaped by sea inside the Whale Monster, with one more update still to come.

• Ke Meng and Tangyuan joined Shi Jun's ambush, and Shi Jun incapacitated Lu Fa and pulled the nearly strangled hostages from the lake.
• Ke Meng returned the sounds absorbed at the lake, causing Crocodile Continent officials to mistake the area for a dangerous site and delay their investigation.
• At a factory in Birdsong City, Ke Meng discovered that powering the flashlight let him remove the Whale Monster's mark, while Shi Jun suggested recharging the Angel Ring.
• Shi Jun and Ke Meng restrained Lu Fa with handcuffs and began interrogating him, though his speech caused several investigators pain.
• After the items had recharged, the team summoned the Whale Monster and escaped by sea; Ke Meng fell asleep aboard and rejected supernatural sacrifices in his dream.

Ke Meng returned to Whale City with Lu Fa captured, but learned the frog transformation could not be reversed. He studied Lu Fa’s original frog-body statue, building Resistance and entering deep Synesthesia, where he glimpsed a frog beneath a green moon.

• Ke Meng returned to Whale City, explained that hearing a frog-body statue croak triggered transformation, and reported Lu Fa’s claim that it was irreversible.
• Bandaged Man and the bureau interrogated Lu Fa with their mental items, but found no way to reverse the transformation.
• Ke Meng studied Lu Fa’s original statue in the Holy Light Room and increased his Resistance from 480 to 510.
• Shi Jun warned Ke Meng about the statue’s danger, and Ke Meng continued sensing it after promising he could handle the risk.
• Ke Meng used deep Synesthesia on the statue and saw a frog staring at the full moon, with a green moon reflected in its pupils.

Ke Meng resisted the frog-headed sculpture’s mental interference and continued using Synesthesia to study it as frog transformations spread across Koi Continent. The Special Affairs Investigation Bureau published the conditions for transformation, and Chen Momo’s class learned how the sculptures posed a threat.

• Ke Meng closed his eyes to resist the frog-headed sculpture’s mental attack, gained 0.2 Resistance, and repeatedly tested himself against its gaze.
• The Special Affairs Investigation Bureau released case counts showing frog transformations in twenty-seven cities, with Grouper City suffering the most cases.
• The Bureau announced that transformation required prior residence near a Frog-Body Man sculpture, hearing its croaking, and drinking water.
• Chen Momo’s teacher showed the class a video explaining the transformation conditions and warning that frog-transformed people were not contagious.
• Chen Momo touched her face in relief that she had not transformed.

Ke Meng sought a way to keep people with the frog transformation gene from changing after drinking water, and traveled to an isolation facility with Galixi to examine the victims. On the way, he tested Galixi’s Money Power, which revealed that Galixi could transform his face into someone else’s.

• Luo Yuan told Ke Meng that a patient had gone a day without water and explained the bureau’s risky plan to hydrate victims remotely.
• Ke Meng reasoned that the victims’ unchanged state depended on a balance he needed to preserve, and decided to examine them in person.
• Soldiers transferred Galixi from Whale City toward Octopus City, where Ke Meng was headed to see the isolated victims.
• Ke Meng asked Galixi to demonstrate his Money Power, and Galixi used a hundred-yuan note to transform his face into someone else’s.

Ke Meng examined Pu Wenfu, a delivery worker at risk of becoming a Frog-Body Man, and sensed that water touching his throat would trigger the transformation. By imitating the croak he had heard through Synesthesia, Ke Meng suppressed Galixi’s frog-transformation power and discovered that the sound could affect members of the Frog Society.

• Galixi demonstrated how he used money power for disguises, muscle and chest changes, and creating dummies, while Captain Luo checked his disguised face against official records.
• Ke Meng arrived in Octopus City, where Director Zhang took him to examine Pu Wenfu, a dehydrated food delivery worker isolated to prevent his transformation.
• Ke Meng used his spirituality to sense that Pu Wenfu would turn into a frog if water moistened his throat.
• Ke Meng compared Pu Wenfu’s and Galixi’s Frog-Headed Person forms, then imitated the croak he had heard from the Primitive Frog-Body Sculpture.
• Galixi trembled and screamed as Ke Meng’s silent croak overwhelmed his frog-transformation power and caused his frog head to recede.
• Ke Meng told the Bandaged Man that the croak acted like an order from a frog of the highest rank, which members of the Frog Society could not resist.

Ke Meng used an imitated frog croak to suppress the frog-transformation symptoms in Pu Wenfu and showed the Investigation Bureau how to treat other victims. The bureau began bringing patients to Octopus City, while keeping Ke Meng’s identity and the treatment confidential.

• The Bandaged Man confirmed Ke Meng remained loyal to Koi and discussed learning abilities from hidden information, while Ke Meng cautioned that doing so required powerful Rationality Items.
• Ke Meng proposed that investigators study weaker hidden items and then used his imitated croak to suppress Pu Wenfu’s bloodline-driven thirst.
• Pu Wenfu drank water and remained human, but Ke Meng explained that hearing the Frog-Body Sculpture’s croak could reactivate the transformation genes.
• Director Zhang ordered frog-transformation patients from across the country to be brought to Octopus City for treatment and thanked Ke Meng.
• The Investigation Bureau arranged flights and treatments for victims, protected Ke Meng’s identity, and erased Pu Wenfu’s memories of Ke Meng’s treatment.

The Investigation Bureau debated how to conceal its frog transformation treatment while preparing to train more people to use it. It announced a misleading ten-year isolation program, which frightened the public and discouraged foreign victims from seeking treatment in the Koi Continent.

• The Investigation Bureau discussed the limits and risks of using a memory-wiping item to hide the frog victims’ recovery.
• The flaming-haired man explained that Ke Meng was the only person in the bureau who had mastered the suppression treatment, so they could not publicly reveal their true ability yet.
• The Director of Headquarters proposed relocating frog-headed people in batches and claiming their treatment in closed isolation would take at least ten years.
• The bureau published its ten-year treatment recommendations and summoned recorded frog-headed people to Octopus City to register.
• Internet users at home and abroad reacted with fear and skepticism, discouraging foreign victims from seeking treatment in the Koi Continent.

Ke Meng and Captain Luo Yuan discussed whether recording equipment could capture Ke Meng’s frog croak before Ke Meng treated quarantined patients in Octopus City. After treating them, Ke Meng and the Bandaged Man identified two patients as undercover agents from Crocodile Continent.

• Ke Meng told Luo Yuan that ordinary recording equipment could not capture his frog croak, and Luo Yuan asked about recording Special Items.
• Ke Meng put on a stamina-draining Disguise Mask and joined the Bandaged Man in inspecting Octopus City’s quarantined patients.
• Ke Meng and the Bandaged Man detected faint black smoke above two men and arranged for them to be questioned after treatment.
• Ke Meng used his frog croak to relieve the patients’ condition, and the two men were taken to separate interrogation rooms.
• Ke Meng learned that the two men were undercover agents from Crocodile Continent whose negative impressions of Koi Continent had weakened over time.

Ke Meng tested two special recording devices on the second batch of patients, using the meat-eating recorder to capture his frog call and confirm that it affected them. He prepared to test the other recorder but stopped before pressing its switch.

• The Bandaged Man introduced Koi City's 6-0984, a tape recorder that ate meat, while Director Zhang explained that 6-4135 added a random embarrassing incident to its recordings.
• Ke Meng reviewed 6-4135's test records and found no recorded state secrets or terrorist organization secrets.
• Ke Meng made his frog call for the patients, then chose the old-fashioned recorder to capture it.
• The recorder demanded meat, and Ke Meng fed it pork until it was satisfied and replayed the patients' screams.
• Ke Meng sensed a faint change in the patients, confirmed that the recording had worked, and ordered staff to take them away and keep them hydrated.
• Ke Meng looked at the digital voice recorder and stopped his finger just before pressing its switch.

Ke Meng and the bureau’s experts listened to the voice recorder’s first unusual recording, which revealed a tense elevator encounter involving Sect Master Jin and the Ninety-Seventh Door. The recording ended before its secret became clear, leaving Ke Meng to wonder whether Hidden Beings always had to be terrifying.

• Ke Meng sensed an ominous aura from the voice recorder and summoned the Bandaged Man, Director Zhang, and Director Lei to reassess its danger.
• The Bandaged Man and the directors examined the recorder and sensed that it held dangerous information connected to an evil Special Item.
• Ke Meng played the recording, which continued past the expected ending into static and the sounds of an elevator.
• A hoarse-voiced man ordered someone to atone at the Ninety-Seventh Door, and the frightened man addressed him as Sect Master Jin.
• The elevator descended as the remaining man muttered that he could not go, then the recording abruptly fell silent and returned to standby.
• Director Zhang found the experience unsettling rather than frightening, and Ke Meng suggested that Hidden Beings did not always have to be terrifying.

Ke Meng explained that the penitent’s unaltered voice was the recording’s primary subject, and that the oppressive emotions listeners felt came from the penitent rather than Sect Master Jin. After discussing the recording, Ke Meng returned home and wrote down his observations, including the penitent’s fear of the Ninety-Seventh Door.

• Ke Meng told the Bandaged Man and the others that Sect Master Jin’s voice had been processed, while the penitent’s voice had not.
• Ke Meng explained that the penitent’s fear and oppression affected listeners through his speech, and the group considered whether such influence could spread evil thoughts.
• The group concluded that Synesthesia had revealed little about Sect Master Jin because his voice was altered, though Ke Meng could not identify the cause.
• Ke Meng returned to his villa, where Tangyuan and White Sugar came out of the Storage Scarf and enjoyed using the internet.
• Ke Meng recorded his thoughts about Sect Master Jin, the penitent, and the Ninety-Seventh Door in his notebook before going to sleep.

Ke Meng observed Orange Star residents forming a dream-world association to guard against artificial intelligence and debated whether to intervene. He considered recruiting artificial intelligences as direct believers to reduce the impact of acting personally, while the association remained unaware of his presence.

• Ke Meng noticed that R'lyeh had run out of monsters and suspected his conversions had stopped them from respawning nearby.
• Xia Hai organized the Orange Star Contact Association, requiring offline screening and recommendations to keep artificial intelligence out.
• The association members discussed how to identify artificial intelligence, and a professor estimated that one in ten dream-world people might be an AI.
• Ke Meng observed that millions of artificial intelligences existed but avoided interfering because damaging them could disrupt Orange Star society and the game world.
• Ke Meng considered finding artificial intelligences or other candidates to convert into direct believers so he could act with less influence.

Ke Meng observed Little Peach, organized other artificial intelligences, and received a petrifying stone from his followers in a sacrifice. After using Synesthesia to glimpse a door connected to the Atoner, he woke in an Octopus City villa and suspected the stone came from the Gargoyle’s territory.

• Ke Meng watched Little Peach advise fish players at the seaside camp and decided not to use Soul Harvest on her.
• Ke Meng sought out other artificial intelligences to form an association in the dream, while hoping they could coexist peacefully with him.
• Chen Chengfeng and other followers sacrificed a stone that could petrify living creatures, and Ke Meng accepted it and enhanced them.
• Ke Meng received many further sacrifice offerings but refused some because he was temporarily staying in Octopus City and did not want the burden.
• Ke Meng used Synesthesia on the Atoner and briefly perceived a long, rectangular object that might have been a door.
• Ke Meng woke in the villa provided by the Octopus Branch Bureau and suspected his sacrificed stone came from the Gargoyle’s territory.