Chapter Summaries

Ke Meng used the Red-Furred Bear to test a fishing rod that pulled a Frog Society member from the sea, then considered how another rod could remove supernatural abilities. He arranged to test it on ten frog-headed patients, who arrived at the beach as he prepared to fish.

• The Red-Furred Bear reeled in a Frog-Headed Person, but suffered a fatal injury when the rod removed its heart.
• Ke Meng questioned the captive with a translation app and learned that the Frog Society was fleeing Crocodile Continent to rebuild elsewhere.
• Captain Luo sent the Frog-Headed Person with Cheng Le for interrogation and ordered increased surveillance of customs and coastlines.
• Ke Meng returned Ao Zhenhai to bureau confinement and decided not to strip away the Car Person's transformation ability while he remained useful.
• Ke Meng requested ten frog-headed patients for an experiment with the other fishing rod, which could remove abilities without range restrictions.
• Director Lei joined Ke Meng at the seaside, where ten patients arrived by military helicopter for the test.

Ke Meng had a frog-headed girl use the Famous Person's Fishing Rod to try to restore her human appearance. She changed back after briefly hooking a terrifying bone monster, which vanished into the sea and left the investigators shaken.

• Ke Meng lent the frog-headed girl his Mighty Gloves and guided her as she cast the Famous Person's Fishing Rod into the sea.
• The fishing rod shook violently, and a tattooed white bone surfaced as the sky darkened and an overwhelming pressure struck the group.
• The bone monster dragged the girl and fishing rod beneath the water, then disappeared as the sea returned to normal.
• The girl realized she had become human again, while Director Lei, Captain Luo, and the others recovered from the monster's terrifying presence.
• Director Lei warned that pulling the dangerous creature out could threaten the Koi Continent, and Ke Meng suspected it came from beyond Blue Star.

Ke Meng and Director Lei continued testing the Celebrity Fishing Rod, which pulled up a series of bottles containing mysterious messages. After Big-Faced Cat examined them inside a Temporary House, Ke Meng gained strange knowledge, confirming the bottles were unusual.

• Ke Meng told Director Lei that Blue Star's will could protect it from dangerous items, and they agreed to continue fishing.
• A frog-headed angler caught a fluorescent bottle, then discovered that the Celebrity Fishing Rod rejected him after he lost his supernatural ability.
• Ke Meng found the message "Will you remember me?" in the bottle and compared it with a similar bottle caught earlier by another rod.
• The third and fourth casts also brought up bottles with messages, prompting Director Lei to warn Ke Meng not to open the fourth one yet.
• Ke Meng entered a Temporary House with the bottles and Big-Faced Cat, whose examination gave him strange knowledge.

Ke Meng investigated five obsession-bearing messages in bottles, but neither the notes nor the bureau’s tests revealed what they did. While the Investigation Bureau searched for the suspected Car Person Ao Zhenhai, an investigator spotted an abnormal figure in surveillance footage.

• Ke Meng read five notes, including the latest message, “I’m coming to find you,” and Director Lei suspected the bottles were a dangerous Wraith-type item.
• Ke Meng returned to the Investigation Bureau, where he used the Angel Wing and holy light, but neither affected the notes.
• Captain Luo reported that one of Ao Zhenhai’s cars had been stolen a month earlier and might be the Car Person.
• Ke Meng began reviewing traffic surveillance footage near Ao Zhenhai’s villa to search for the Car Person.
• Captain Luo told Ke Meng that an investigator had spotted someone abnormal at the Third Street intersection.

Ke Meng tracked a red-clad boy riding a shared electric scooter and learned from the Network Divine Beast that the vehicle had moved without being unlocked or paid for. Suspecting the boy might be the Car Person and possibly connected to Shadow Stream, Ke Meng asked the beast to search surveillance footage across Koi Continent and beyond.

• Ke Meng followed the masked boy through surveillance footage and sensed that he was the Red Car riding the scooter.
• An investigator asked the Network Divine Beast for the scooter's records, which showed no payment or unlock after noon and suggested it had disabled its data upload.
• Ke Meng considered whether the Car Person's appearance was part of a Shadow Stream scheme and traced the boy's route to an area with sparse surveillance.
• After the investigator warned that a month had passed, Ke Meng opened a chat with the Network Divine Beast and requested a continent-wide facial-recognition search, expanding it to other continents if necessary.

Ke Meng applied for continent-wide access so the Network Divine Beast could search Koi Continent’s data, while he and Director Lei investigated a mysterious soda bottle. The bottle matched a product from Orange Soda, a manufacturer that had closed ten years earlier, and Director Lei considered whether the bottle had originated then.

• The Network Divine Beast said Ke Meng needed authorization before it could access data across the continent, so Ke Meng submitted an application that was approved.
• Director Lei arrived and told Ke Meng the search of Koi Continent’s data would take an hour or two.
• Ke Meng examined the mysterious water bottle and used the Investigation Bureau’s scanner to create a detailed model.
• A big-data search matched the bottle’s shape to Orange Soda products with 99.9 percent similarity and revealed that the manufacturer had closed ten years earlier.
• Director Lei wondered whether the Special Item had come into existence ten years ago and suggested it had unsuccessfully interfered with the Famous Person’s Fishing Rod on its first cast.

Ke Meng researched the Orange Soda factory and uploaded a fishing video featuring the Red-Furred Bear, which quickly drew a large audience. He also asked Director Lei whether the Network Divine Beast was a real-world supercomputer, but learned he would need to ask Director Wu.

• Ke Meng found that the Orange Soda factory had gone bankrupt and judged its products were probably native to Blue Star.
• Ke Meng edited footage of the Red-Furred Bear using the Unknown Person's Fishing Rod and uploaded it to Bilibili.
• Ke Meng asked Director Lei whether the Network Divine Beast was a real-world supercomputer, and Director Lei told him to ask Director Wu.
• Ke Meng returned to the electronic reading room and saw that his video had gained over a hundred thousand views.
• The video showed the Red-Furred Bear fishing, and Ke Meng explained that a Shadow Stream member possessed the bear and controlled its body.

Ke Meng explained how the public could identify and report possible Shadow Stream invasions, then demonstrated the Unknown Person's Fishing Rod and cooked a foul boot in the Dark Cuisine Pot. The video ended with viewers overwhelmed by the dish's appearance and odor.

• Ke Meng explained that Shadow Creatures usually remained dormant for at least a week after invading a host and advised viewers to take unusually sleepy people to the Investigation Bureau.
• The chapter noted that the Investigation Bureau had recruited civilians and opened special university campuses, while investigators could quickly screen people for suspicious auras and shadows.
• Ke Meng introduced the Unknown Person's Fishing Rod, which caught a censored bottle on its first cast and a stinky boot on its second.
• Ke Meng put the boot in the Dark Cuisine Pot, and the Red-Furred Bear watched expectantly as viewers flooded the screen with warning comments.
• Viewers recoiled from the Dark Cuisine's grotesque appearance and overpowering stench, and some passed out.

Ke Meng’s video warned viewers about the Frog Society and Shadow Stream Organization while its behind-the-scenes footage lifted their spirits. The Network Divine Beast traced the Car Person boy to Seabird City, where he may have escaped by ship, and Ke Meng asked viewers whether they would want the ability to turn into a car.

• The Red-Furred Bear collapsed after fishing up a Frog-Headed Person, and Ke Meng warned viewers that the Fishing Rod could cost them an organ or their life.
• Ke Meng released interrogation footage and information about the Frog Society and Shadow Stream Organization, urging people to watch for Frog Society members and announcing treatment channels for people with Frog Transformation.
• Ke Meng showed Tangyuan and the Big-Faced Cat dealing with the Dark Cuisine made from the fishing haul, and viewers laughed at the cat eating it.
• The Network Divine Beast reported that the Car Person boy had appeared 103 times in surveillance footage and was last seen in Seabird City ten days earlier.
• Director Lei said the boy might have escaped through the cargo port and began drafting a plan for a possible rise in Car People.
• Ke Meng posted a poll asking whether people would want the ability to turn into a car and back into a human.

Shadow Stream members across Koi Continent reacted to Ke Meng’s video exposing their organization, while Deacon Zhu used the secret Shadow Stream Home chat and was ordered to remain on standby. After being removed from the group and losing his memories of the conversation, Deacon Zhu noticed missing time and decided to change identities.

• A Shadow Stream member in Koi Continent saw Ke Meng’s video and remembered his name but stayed hidden because his mission had been suspended.
• Shadow Stream members and deacons across Koi Continent watched the video, while Deacon Huo’s trouble in Octopus City had led to many members being captured.
• Deacon Zhu accepted an invitation to Shadow Stream Home and asked whether anyone recognized the human shadow in the Red-Furred Bear’s video.
• The group told Deacon Zhu to remain on standby, then removed him and erased his memories of the chat.
• Deacon Zhu noticed several minutes had passed, searched his surroundings, and began wiping his computer and preparing to change identities.

Ke Meng planned to lure Shadow Stream Members and Car People into revealing their malice so he could track them down during a nationwide cleanup. After falling asleep at the Investigation Bureau, he followed the Message in a Bottle’s thread of fate and saw its destined person, a strange girl in a red dress.

• Ke Meng prepared to travel across the Koi Continent and use the Summon Demon Map to locate Shadow Stream Members and any Car People who developed malice toward him.
• Director Lei arranged for Bandaged Man and investigators to accompany Ke Meng, and Ke Meng went to sleep at the Investigation Bureau under heavy protection.
• Ke Meng entered Cthulhu’s body in his dream and sensed a red thread connecting him to the Message in a Bottle’s destined person.
• Ke Meng followed the thread across time and space and saw a translucent-legged girl in a red dress floating through a busy modern street, unseen by the pedestrians.

Ke Meng used dream synesthesia to identify a powerful female ghost who was heading toward him, and he and the Bandaged Man prepared an ambush for the next morning. As Ke Meng tracked her from R'lyeh, she suddenly lost her way.

• Ke Meng woke after seeing the female ghost in a dream, and the Bandaged Man helped him sketch her appearance.
• Ke Meng located the ghost in Octopus City and estimated that she would reach him the next morning, so he and the Bandaged Man planned to reduce their presence with Ke Meng's Angel Wing.
• The Black Ghost reported that 1.06 million people had become Cthulhu Followers, and Ke Meng told him to continue.
• Ke Meng tracked the female ghost through dreams and watched her travel toward him.
• The female ghost stopped and appeared confused, as though she could no longer find her way.

Ke Meng realized the Bandaged Man’s zero-presence effect had made his real body impossible to find with Synesthesia, leaving him stranded in Cthulhu’s dream until he woke or the bandages were removed. Meanwhile, Orange Star pushed its fight against the game boss to an extreme, with fifty million players grinding around the clock as researcher Li Shen urged them onward despite his failing health.

• Ke Meng failed to use Synesthesia to sense his real body and concluded that the Bandaged Man’s zero-presence effect had erased the information needed to find him.
• Ke Meng reasoned that he would have to wait for his body to wake or for the Bandaged Man to withdraw his bandages.
• The Orange Star Authorities sent fifty million citizens into World to defeat the sentient New Game Plus Boss and avert the threat to humanity.
• Li Shen proposed using tubes to handle players’ bodily needs so they could remain in their Game Pods and play around the clock.
• Li Shen sat in a Psychological Treatment Room, closed his bloodshot eyes, and insisted that he had not fallen yet.

As zero-star reviews exposed sinister changes in the NPC quests, Orange Star’s researchers concluded that the game had mutated and the Cthulhu cult had infiltrated its storylines. Li Shen proposed abandoning NPC quests and leveling by killing monsters, while the eerie voice in his head continued to torment him.

• New players complained that quests included disturbing worship and faith-related elements, and zero-star reviews began piling up.
• Orange Star researchers examined the complaints and realized the NPC quests no longer matched the original game and could steer players toward worship.
• A senior figure from the Scientific Research General Institute ordered the servers shut down while the researchers planned their next move.
• Li Shen arrived at the conference and proposed abandoning NPC questlines so players could level up by grinding monsters.
• After speaking, Li Shen felt wrenching pain as the eerie voice returned and intensified his urge to kill Liu Siting.

Ke Meng used Synesthesia to eavesdrop on a meeting of Orange Star researchers after the game announced another server shutdown. He learned that players were preparing to level up and kill him, but the shutdown may have left them unable to change classes.

• Ke Meng suspected the Orange Star People had begun a major move and used Synesthesia to listen in on researchers at the Scientific Research General Institute.
• Ke Meng heard researchers discuss optimized leveling routes, dividing players between fast-track teams and ordinary monster farming.
• Researchers called Cthulhu a shameless evil god and said they planned to kill him once they reached the maximum level, leaving Ke Meng confused and determined not to wait passively for them.
• Ke Meng heard that players could no longer change classes or learn skills, and suspected the server shutdown had prevented class-change NPCs from returning.
• Ke Meng realized the loss of class changes could weaken the players and benefit him.

Li Shen suffered a severe headache at the Orange Star conference, and Ke Meng realized he might still be affected by Liu Siting’s chaos whisper. Ke Meng accepted his followers’ sacrifice of the Strongman’s Hair, enhanced them, and returned to his modern surroundings.

• Li Shen cried out in pain during the conference, and a medical robot sedated him as Orange Mother recorded the proceedings.
• Ke Meng listened to Li Shen and suspected that his strong spiritual perception kept him exposed to Liu Siting’s chaos whisper.
• Ke Meng answered a ritual in the ruins, where black-robed players offered him the Strongman’s Hair.
• Ke Meng accepted the offering, considered giving it to the injured and bald Tang Jin, and enhanced his followers at their request.
• Ke Meng later saw a modern ceiling and incandescent light as Tangyuan rolled over beside him.

Ke Meng and the Bandaged Man began hunting the female ghost while using the Bandaged Man’s bandages to erase their presence. Ke Meng discovered that zero presence removed every trace of them from the world, and after claiming a mission reward, he wondered whether his resistance could counteract the effect.

• Ke Meng told the Bandaged Man that the female ghost had wandered in circles before leaving, and confirmed that zero presence could confuse her.
• Ke Meng, the Bandaged Man, and the investigators flew from Whale City toward Octopus City to search for the female ghost.
• Ke Meng noticed that people ignored their helicopter and found that his online accounts, videos, and browsing history had vanished.
• The Bandaged Man explained that unwinding his bandages erased their traces, and said that wrapping them back on would restore those traces.
• Ke Meng claimed the reward for his completed fishing video mission, felt his resistance increase, and considered using it against zero presence.

Ke Meng tested the Strongman's Hair and let the Bandaged Man examine it before using dream synesthesia to locate the female ghost in a hospital morgue. After waking, Ke Meng led the investigators into the hospital to subdue her quietly.

• Ke Meng tried to resist the Bandaged Man's presence and raised his resistance points from 615 to 665.
• Ke Meng offered the Strongman's Hair to the investigators, but they declined because of its permanent baldness side effect and their existing weapons.
• The Bandaged Man used Synesthesia on the Strongman's Hair and judged it to contain immense power.
• Ke Meng dreamed that the female ghost was asleep in a morgue drawer, then woke when the others shook him.
• Ke Meng attached the Angel Wing to Tangyuan, who carried several investigators into the hospital as Ke Meng and the group headed for the morgue.

Ke Meng and the investigators opened the female ghost’s mortuary cabinet and captured her in the Broken Bowl, but her ten years of accumulated power began cracking the vessel. The Bandaged Man prepared to use Ke Meng’s Explosive Hair as the ghost fought to break free.

• Ke Meng found no red dots on the Black Parchment and joined the investigators in preparing to capture the female ghost.
• The Bandaged Man opened mortuary cabinet No. 96, and the Red-Clothed Female Ghost awakened and attacked Ke Meng.
• The Flag suppressed the ghost while an investigator’s Bagua Mirror burned her with a beam, and the Bandaged Man captured her in the Broken Bowl.
• Ke Meng realized that the female ghost had grown for ten years by devouring the fated matches she caught with the Message in a Bottle.
• The female ghost slashed at the Broken Bowl with her hair until it cracked, and the Bandaged Man gripped the Explosive Hair he had borrowed from Ke Meng.

Ke Meng and his team defeated the ghost from the Message in a Bottle after Bandaged Man used the Explosive Afro Wig and Peachwood Sword. They resumed their search for Shadow Stream, and red dots finally appeared on the Demon Map near the tenth city.

• Bandaged Man put on the Explosive Afro Wig, gained immense speed and strength, and smashed through a wall as the ghost emerged from the broken bowl.
• Ke Meng threw the Exorcism Scalpel at the ghost, but she healed from the cut and attacked the investigators with her black hair.
• Bandaged Man used the Peachwood Sword to wound and kill the ghost, whose body burned away in white flames.
• Ke Meng and the others left the morgue, then flew out to search cities for Shadow Stream members.
• The team’s plane surveyed ten cities, and red dots appeared on the Demon Map near the outskirts of the tenth city.