Chapter Summaries

Ke Meng and the Investigation Bureau used the Demon Map to hunt Shadow Stream members across four cities, capturing those who tried to escape through sewers and other routes. By the third morning, Ke Meng had fallen asleep aboard the helicopter, while the Bandaged Man remained concerned that the deacon-level members were still unaccounted for.

• Xian Zhiyi spotted Ke Meng's golden winged dog and fled in shadow form through the sewage pipes.
• The dog sealed the pipes with a special item, trapping Xian Zhiyi until Ke Meng captured him and placed him in a Sealed Item.
• Ke Meng and the Investigation Bureau continued their operation, capturing Shadow Stream members across four cities over two days.
• The Bandaged Man noted that no deacon-level Shadow Stream members had been found and remained alert for the organization's higher-ups.
• Ke Meng slept aboard the helicopter on the third morning with his head on the bureau's Sweet-Dream Pillow.

Deacon Zhang, a Shadow Stream deacon, received an assignment to investigate Ke Meng and set up surveillance around him, but spotted Ke Meng’s helicopter approaching. He escaped through a destructive spatial transfer, leaving Ke Meng’s team determined to track him down.

• Deacon Zhang accepted an assignment in Shadow Stream Home to investigate Ke Meng and establish an in-person surveillance network.
• Deacon Zhang photographed the helicopter and recognized Shi Jun and Golden Furball among its occupants, then saw that someone aboard carried many Special Items.
• Deacon Zhang sent a warning that Ke Meng had found him and shattered a necklace to activate a spatial transfer.
• Shirley charged into Deacon Zhang’s apartment, but the black spatial opening consumed him and destroyed much of the room before she could reach him.
• Ke Meng and Bandaged Man examined the slash marks, identified the escape as a violent spatial transfer, and decided Deacon Zhang was a major Shadow Stream target they had to catch.

Ke Meng and the Bandaged Man traced a fleeing Shadow Stream Deacon across the provincial border, and Ke Meng caught up with him in Squid City. The Deacon’s tentacle attack vanished into Ke Meng’s palm, leaving the confrontation’s outcome unresolved.

• Ke Meng and the Bandaged Man used Synesthesia to trace the spatial transfer and estimated that the Deacon had fled about 294 kilometers north into a neighboring province.
• The Investigation Bureau mobilized investigators to seal transport routes, while Ke Meng crushed a Spatial Teleportation Stone and traveled to Squid City.
• Ke Meng used the Demon Map to locate red dots, then flew toward the fleeing Deacon in a fighter jet and jumped out over the target area.
• The Deacon hid in a sealed basement and unleashed a tentacled shadow creature when Ke Meng, Tangyuan, and Shirley broke in.
• Ke Meng closed his hand and compressed every shadow tentacle into his palm.

Ke Meng captured Deacon Zhang and used his intelligence to help the Investigation Bureau track down Shadow Stream members across Koi Continent. As the organization’s territory fell, its secret chat group began filling with new members, alarming the remaining deacons.

• Deacon Zhang prepared to fight his pursuer, but Ke Meng repelled his shadow tentacles and sealed him inside the Immovable Wine Jar.
• Ke Meng crippled Deacon Zhang and handed him over for interrogation, where investigators learned about missing time and obtained a map of Shadow Stream members.
• Ke Meng and Bandaged Man used the map to target Shadow Stream members, while Ke Meng suspected their communications erased the memories of participants.
• Over the next few days, Ke Meng’s sweeps helped the Investigation Bureau capture connected Shadow Stream members and dismantle their operations across Koi Continent.
• New accounts flooded into the Shadow Stream Home chat group, and its deacons worried as membership climbed beyond its usual range.

Ke Meng’s prolonged sweep drove Shadow Stream’s remaining members to flee Koi Continent, and he returned home after raising his resistance to 1,000 points. In a dream, he learned that players were slaughtering NPCs in the Third Main City, and he watched the uprising unfold through Synesthesia.

• Shadow Stream’s owner ordered members to evacuate Koi Continent and warned those linked to Deacon Huo or Deacon Zhang to disguise themselves and relocate.
• Ke Meng continued catching Shadow Stream Members until the remaining mentors and liaisons had fled, then ended his sweep after finding no targets for half a month.
• Ke Meng tested experimental items and obtained secret items during the sweep, bringing his resistance to 1,000 points before returning home to rest.
• A Black Ghost told Ke Meng that adventurers had massacred NPCs in a human main city, while Cthulhu’s latest instruction was to wait.
• Ke Meng used Synesthesia to observe Cthulhu-aligned players attacking NPCs in the Third Main City after the Black Ghosts made the NPCs vulnerable.

Ke Meng watched players develop skills through repetitive practice after they destroyed the Third Main City and learned why they had turned against quest-giving NPCs. He decided to hinder the players and seek someone with insider knowledge about a possible Plot Kill, then received an Evil Thought Orb from Po Wu as a proposed way to evade his seal.

• Players killed the last quest-giving NPC in the Third Main City and began practicing movements to develop their own skills.
• Ke Meng realized that players had replaced NPC skill mentors with self-training and were following Researcher Li Shen’s plan to eliminate quest-giving NPCs.
• Ke Meng traced the change in the players’ course to Orange Star researchers’ decisions and the Cthulhu Followers’ mass proselytizing.
• Ke Meng decided to target players and capture someone with insider knowledge to learn whether the game contained a Plot Kill.
• Ke Meng accepted his followers’ sacrifices, and Po Wu offered him an Evil Thought Orb that could split his personality and put the secondary one in a substitute.

Ke Meng rejected Po Wu’s wish for hair and used the Evil Thought Orb to send two quests to the eight believers. Po Wu discovered the legendary quests, while his seven companions demanded an explanation.

• Po Wu sacrificed the Evil Thought Orb and asked Cthulhu to restore his hair, angering the other seven believers.
• Ke Meng declined Po Wu’s wish and infused the orb with information for two quests: disrupt players’ skill creation and find someone who knew about the “plot kill.”
• Ke Meng left the church, and the believers found the orb in the polluted Purification Pool.
• Po Wu saw that his hair had not grown and assumed the ritual had failed, but the orb’s aura drew him toward it.
• A ding revealed the two legendary quests to Po Wu, and the seven other players confronted him for an explanation.

Po Wu and seven other Cthulhu followers accepted two Legendary Missions from Ke Meng, one targeting players’ skill creation and the other seeking someone who knew about a plot kill. After sharing the missions in their group chat, Xia Mu Weiliang persuaded the followers that their Lord needed them to help overcome the game’s restrictions.

• Po Wu and the other followers touched the Evil Thought Orb and received two golden Legendary Missions.
• Ke Meng watched the group accept the missions and ordered them to recruit more followers to search for someone who knew about plot kills and disrupt players’ skill development.
• Po Wu shared screenshots of the missions in the followers’ group chat, prompting debate about whether Cthulhu could be killed by the plot.
• Xia Mu Weiliang reframed the mission as a chance to help Cthulhu break free of the game’s restrictions, and the followers rallied behind the idea that their Lord needed them.

Ke Meng examined a pumpkin mask and used it to transform Tangyuan into a floating, crying Pumpkin Festival monster. Tangyuan remained unable to resist the mask’s effects as Ke Meng observed its new appearance.

• Ke Meng considered ways to slow the highest-level players and prepared an Evil Thought Orb to carry his mission intent to his followers.
• Tangyuan photographed White Sugar hiding its head in its wings, and Shirley saw the silly picture posted online.
• Ke Meng learned that the pumpkin mask transformed its wearer into an invulnerable but harmless, crying Pumpkin Festival monster for 24 hours, followed by a 24-hour cooldown.
• Ke Meng put the mask on Tangyuan, transforming the golden dog into a pale, ghostly cat with a pumpkin face.
• Tangyuan began crying uncontrollably while Ke Meng explained that it could not resist an item from a level 200 area.

Ke Meng tested Tangyuan’s new ghostly pumpkin-cat form, then prepared to investigate the Car People gathered in Whale City. He arrived at the Whale City Investigation Bureau to assess them and determine their characteristics.

• Ke Meng watched Tangyuan discover that its ghostly form could pass through objects and fly, while White Sugar and Shirley were startled by it.
• Ke Meng filmed Tangyuan posing in its pumpkin-cat form and uploaded the video to Bilibili.
• Ke Meng reviewed the results of his poll about transforming into a car and considered how Car People might contribute to Koi Continent.
• Ke Meng returned his pets to the Storage Scarf and drove to the Whale City Investigation Bureau, where Car People from other provinces had been gathered for his spiritual assessment.

Ke Meng questioned the captured Car People and found that most were fit to return to society after education. A young woman who could transform into a bus asked him to remove her ability so she could become an ordinary person again.

• Ke Meng arrived at the Investigation Bureau's underground garage, where Captain Luo and Cheng Le showed him the captured Car People.
• Ke Meng deployed the Temporary House and questioned the bus woman, who explained that she had avoided transforming because she feared trouble over her license plate and could control nearby cars.
• Ke Meng used his spirituality to assess the Car People, and after questioning all fifty-four, he found that only five still needed further education.
• Ke Meng offered to strip away the Car People's abilities, and the bus woman firmly asked to become an ordinary person because hearing cars' emotions had become agonizing.

Ke Meng and the Investigation Bureau brought the captured Car People under supervision and used the Famous Person's Fishing Rod to remove Si Chuncui's ability. Si Chuncui confirmed she could no longer hear cars or transform, and felt a sense of loss.

• Ke Meng agreed to help a Car Person give up her ability and set conditions for the Car People who joined the Investigation Bureau.
• Ke Meng read the interrogation records and learned the Car People had a discreet group chat that could help investigators track members who had fled abroad.
• Si Chuncui drove Ke Meng and the investigators to a parking lot, where Ke Meng prepared a washbasin for a fishing rod test.
• Si Chuncui used the Famous Person's Fishing Rod and fished a thick, brick-like phone out of the basin.
• Ke Meng told Si Chuncui to test her powers, and she found she could neither hear cars nor transform into a bus.

Ke Meng identified the brick phone as a Sand Sculpture Netizen Call Device and gave it to White Sugar, who used it to chat with a randomly selected netizen. Meanwhile, the Car People gained official protection and the Investigation Bureau monitored their group chat.

• Ke Meng studied the brick phone and learned that it could call and chat with Sand Sculpture netizens without internet access.
• Ke Meng gave the device to White Sugar, and a technician helped charge it.
• White Sugar recognized the device’s Sand Sculpture Script, and Ke Meng discovered that touching the screen let him understand its translated text.
• The device randomly connected White Sugar with a netizen named Day and Night, and they began chatting.
• The Car People found a place in society under Investigation Bureau protection, which also monitored their social media group.

Chen Momo watched Ke Meng’s video of Tangyuan transformed by the Pumpkin Mask, then heard a strange sound near her mirror. After consulting her Trainee Investigator handbook, she resolved to trust her instincts, though the sound’s source remained unexplained.

• Chen Momo watched Ke Meng’s new video, in which Tangyuan wore the Pumpkin Mask and turned into a crying white cat.
• Chen Momo heard a clunk in her bedroom and traced it to her full-length standing mirror, but found nothing unusual.
• Chen Momo read her Trainee Investigator handbook’s warnings about dangerous information heard by people with high gnosis.
• Chen Momo recalled the handbook’s advice to trust her intuition when a strange sound made something feel wrong.

Chen Momo suspected her full-length mirror was a special item and booked an Investigation Bureau inspection, then fell asleep. Her mirror double escaped into the room and left the bedroom, only to hear someone in the bathroom.

• Chen Momo called the Investigation Bureau hotline about the mirror, and an operator booked an inspection within three days.
• Chen Momo fell asleep, while her mirror double watched her for an hour from inside the mirror.
• The mirror double discovered she could pass through the mirror, stepped into the real room, and considered touching Chen Momo's neck before leaving the bedroom.
• Outside the bedroom, the mirror double heard wet slippers tapping and saw a blurry figure emerge from the dark bathroom.

A sentient mirror copy of Chen Momo tried to pass as her while encountering Mrs. Chen during a midnight bathroom trip. The copy returned to Chen Momo’s bedroom door, where Mrs. Chen reached for the handle and the two ended up gripping it together.

• The copy of Chen Momo met Mrs. Chen in the dark hallway and imitated Chen Momo’s explanation for being awake.
• Mrs. Chen questioned why Chen Momo had not turned on the bathroom light, then watched from outside as the copy pretended she could not pee.
• The copy flushed and left the bathroom after Mrs. Chen urged her back to bed.
• Mrs. Chen followed the copy to Chen Momo’s bedroom and offered to open the door when the copy fumbled for its handle.
• The copy grabbed the handle first, and Mrs. Chen’s icy hand rested on hers as they froze in place.

Mother Chen killed an impostor who had replaced Chen Momo, but then discovered that the real Chen Momo had no reflection in the mirror. After learning that Chen Momo and her family had vanished inside a special field, Ke Meng went to investigate the residential complex.

• Mother Chen strangled the fake Chen Momo, whose body disappeared, then found her real daughter awake in her room.
• Mother Chen and Chen Momo noticed that Chen Momo was missing from the mirror, leaving Mother Chen suspicious and panicked.
• Ke Meng woke to find new strange items and learned from Captain Luo that a special field had appeared at Chen Momo's residential complex.
• Captain Luo told Ke Meng that Chen Momo and her family had gone missing and that investigators suspected a mirror had vanished from the scene.
• Ke Meng put on his Special Operations Uniform and traveled to the cordoned-off complex, where Captain Luo greeted him.

Ke Meng joined Captain Luo and the investigators at the residential complex where Chen Momo lived, searching for the source of a special field that had resisted their efforts to shut it down. In Chen Momo’s room, he glimpsed a mirror and two terrified figures before the vision vanished, then continued investigating Mrs. Chen’s bedroom.

• Ke Meng entered the special field with Captain Luo and learned that the Bureau had evacuated the residents but could not locate the source of the field.
• The investigators showed Ke Meng evidence that a mirror had been removed from Chen Momo’s bedroom.
• Ke Meng sensed the presence of Chen Momo and a stranger outside the bathroom, and detected three presences in her bedroom.
• Ke Meng saw a brief vision of a glowing mirror reflecting two people who clutched their heads and screamed in fear.
• After half an hour without further impressions, Ke Meng went to Mrs. Chen’s bedroom and began meditating to sense the room.

Ke Meng and the investigators found a hidden letter Mrs. Chen had written years earlier, after his Synesthesia and sixth sense led them to a compartment beneath her vanity. The letter revealed that Mrs. Chen had experienced strange, familiar memories and wondered whether death might be another beginning, leaving the team with new questions.

• Ke Meng sensed a vision of Mrs. Chen speaking to herself while possessed by a Shadow Stream Member and realized it dated back two or three months.
• Ke Meng told Captain Luo and Di Ping that Mrs. Chen might have left a final letter, then searched the room with them.
• Ke Meng found a dusty envelope hidden beneath Mrs. Chen's vanity, and Tangyuan carefully cut open its seal with a hair.
• Ke Meng read Mrs. Chen's letter, written fifteen years earlier, in which she described unusual memories, an unseen call, and the possibility that death was another beginning.
• Captain Luo and the other investigators received a flood of visions from the letter and looked away to avoid being overwhelmed.

Ke Meng investigated the supernatural disappearance of Chen Xin and Chen Momo, discovering that their home contained a sealed envelope and an undetectable door linked to an unknown place. Unable to locate the door, he began Dream Synesthesia from Chen Momo's bed, while Black Ghost sensed Great Cthulhu awakening in R'lyeh.

• Ke Meng used Big-Faced Cat to identify the old envelope as a Special Item that sealed spirituality until opened.
• Ke Meng reviewed the family’s records and learned Chen Xin had been seventeen when she gave birth to Chen Momo, while the father’s name was absent from the records.
• Ke Meng used Big-Faced Cat again and discovered a closed door whose interior connected to an unknown place, but he could not find it in the house.
• Chen Xin’s relatives told Ke Meng and Captain Luo about her early motherhood, and Chen Xin’s mother pleaded with Captain Luo to save her daughter.
• Ke Meng chose to try Dream Synesthesia from Chen Momo’s bed, and Black Ghost sensed Great Cthulhu awakening in R'lyeh.