Chapter Summaries

Lin Shuyuan watched Ke Meng’s video pitting the Flawless Sword against dark cuisine and endured a night of fear, disgust, and fascination. Though he vowed to avoid the videos, their lingering effects drew him back to Ke Meng’s profile, where a new edition awaited.

• Lin Shuyuan watched Ke Meng open the Black Pot, and its dark cuisine overwhelmed viewers with horrifying sights and a nauseating stench despite the Flawless Sword’s beauty.
• After the video ended, Lin Shuyuan collapsed into a chair, fell asleep, and continued to be tormented by the sword and the shapeless monstrosity in his dreams.
• Lin Shuyuan woke at dawn, recovered his ability to move, and dreaded the daily video-watching requirements imposed by his workplace.
• By afternoon, the Flawless Sword’s lingering appeal made Lin Shuyuan revisit Ke Meng’s profile, where he found a new video titled “Enhanced mental resistance edition: now with an exquisitely delicious aroma.”
• Lin Shuyuan considered watching the new video but ultimately closed the webpage.

Ke Meng tested a video combining ultimate deliciousness with dark cuisine and discovered that it increased his resistance, prompting him to restrict who could watch it. After reviewing reports on the Despair Animals, he realized the Investigation Bureau had caught them too soon for their despair hearts to form.

• The Investigation Bureau required its staff to watch Ke Meng's sensory-assault videos after work, and Luo Yuan complained about how horrible they were to watch.
• Ke Meng watched his new video, in which the Ultimate Deliciousness Seasoning Bottle and the Dark Cuisine Pot created a clash that overwhelmed viewers and gave him 0.1 resistance.
• Ke Meng ordered an assessment of the viewers and tiered permissions for anyone strongly affected by the video.
• Ke Meng asked the discussion group whether the Flawless Sword could serve as a Beautiful Object to counter the Despair Mist.
• Ke Meng read the Despair Animals report and concluded that the animals had been caught too soon for their despair hearts to develop.

Ke Meng and the Investigation Bureau tested the Flawless Sword video on undercover agents abroad, whose feedback showed that beauty alone could not reliably counter despair. The Director proposed that people needed something beautiful to hold on to, and the meeting began developing plans around hope before Ke Meng went home and read news about the spread of the Poem of Despair.

• Ke Meng and Luo Yuan concluded that the despair heart needed time to form, so they shared the Flawless Sword video with undercover agents abroad for testing.
• Undercover agents repeatedly watched the video and reported that it inspired hope, but many felt it was not dependable enough to overcome despair.
• An agent on Half-Ice Continent reported that pessimism had weakened police forces and described the Flawless Sword as a welcome but insufficient source of hope.
• The Director argued that hope was the opposite of despair and that Koi Continent itself could be a beautiful thing for people to hold on to.
• The meeting's participants developed plans to spread hope beyond the Investigation Bureau, while Ke Meng left to rest at home.
• Ke Meng read a report that five countries had banned the Poem of Despair and criticized the continued publication of news about it.

Ke Meng watched the Network Divine Beast struggle to censor sarcastic comments, then turned his attention to Shadow Stream and learned that human adventurers had developed a Death Domain skill. In his dream, he discovered that the Tentacle Monster had realized he was not the Lord of Shadow Stream and was willing to negotiate, but would not become his believer.

• Ke Meng found that reports and comments encouraging despair had been blocked, while sarcastic users overwhelmed the Network Divine Beast's ability to identify their remarks.
• The Investigation Bureau sent information about the Beautiful Object to a neighboring country's Investigation Bureau and waited for a response.
• Ke Meng entered a deep sleep to investigate Shadow Stream, and a Black Ghost reported that human adventurers had developed a Death Domain skill after dying repeatedly.
• Ke Meng used Synesthesia to observe the Tentacle Monster and noticed Despair Mist staining the Shadow Spear's shadow body.
• The Tentacle Monster told Ke Meng it knew he was not the Lord of Shadow Stream and offered to negotiate, but refused to become his believer.

Unable to communicate across the void, Ke Meng learned that the Tentacle Monster Group Owner’s master, the Lord of Shadow Stream, was interested in him. He secretly followed the monster across the Crocodile Continent to an underground cave, where it left its powerful original body behind.

• The Tentacle Monster Group Owner guessed Ke Meng was sealed in the void and said the Lord of Shadow Stream might help free him.
• The monster stabbed itself with the Shadow Spear to enter a frenzied state and sent a high-energy summons toward the Lord of Shadow Stream.
• Ke Meng used Synesthesia to watch the Lord of Shadow Stream, heard the monster’s faint call reach it, and saw it remain silent.
• The monster posted in the Shadow Stream Home group chat that Elder An would manage things, then left its plain as Ke Meng secretly followed and memorized the terrain.
• After Ke Meng identified the region by spotting crocodiles unique to the Crocodile Continent, the monster entered an underground river and left its original body in a cave while its shadow departed.

Ke Meng located the Shadow Stream Group Owner in a town on Crocodile Continent, and the Investigation Bureau launched a sealing operation. The Group Owner overwhelmed the investigators and escaped capture in hidden fragments, leaving Ke Meng trapped in its motionless viewpoint inside a Sealed Item.

• Ke Meng reported the Group Owner’s location to the Investigation Bureau and drew the town and its surroundings from his dream.
• Director Wu ordered an immediate operation, and Old Shi prepared to teleport to Crocodile Continent as the Bureau marked the target’s locations.
• Ke Meng used synesthesia again and saw a Man of Light pursue the Group Owner through the town with a sealing jar.
• The Group Owner split into fragments to evade the jar, invaded residents and investigators, and forced several investigators to seal themselves inside Sealed Items.
• The Group Owner’s remaining hidden shadows survived the operation, while Ke Meng’s viewpoint became motionless inside a Sealed Item.

Ke Meng entered a fog-shrouded town on the Crocodile Continent to confront the Shadow Stream Group Owner after an Investigation Bureau strike team lost contact. The weakened shadow invaded him, but Ke Meng resisted and failed to capture either it or his own shadow, leaving their struggle unresolved.

• Ke Meng learned from Luo Yuan that the front-line team had lost contact and decided to go to the front line.
• Old Shi warned Ke Meng about the Shadow Stream Group Owner and gave him an item to protect him from the Ghostly Wall before Ke Meng entered the town alone.
• Ke Meng used a Purifying Sun and sunglasses to reveal countless shadow trails throughout the town.
• The Tentacle Monster's shadow invaded Ke Meng, but his resistance prevented it from ejecting his thoughts.
• Ke Meng tried using both hands to grasp his own shadow and the invading shadow, but both attempts met with resistance.

Ke Meng resisted the Tentacle Monster’s invasion while searching the town for Sealed Items, then knocked himself unconscious to enter a dream and fight it there. He collapsed as the Tentacle Monster realized too late what he was attempting.

• Ke Meng roamed the despair-filled town while the Tentacle Monster probed his thoughts and remarked on his unusual strength.
• Ke Meng tried the Scientific Kerosene Lamp against the creature, but its light had no effect.
• After finding a shadowless person, Ke Meng realized the Tentacle Monster intended to devour him rather than rely on sleep to invade and assimilate him.
• Ke Meng gathered nearly all the Sealed Items and decided to knock himself unconscious with a brick so he could enter a dream.
• Ke Meng commanded his resistance to ignore the brick’s blow, struck himself, and fell unconscious.

Ke Meng interrogated the Tentacle Monster Group Owner in Cthulhu’s mind and learned the Shadow Stream cult’s plans and identities before destroying its soul. He returned to his body with the information, then prepared to deal with the monster’s doubles sealed in his items.

• Ke Meng used his control over Cthulhu to suppress the Tentacle Monster Group Owner and question it about the Lord of Shadow Stream and Blue Star.
• The Group Owner revealed that the failed Sacrifice Ritual had brought the Despair Mist to Blue Star instead of summoning the Lord of Shadow Stream.
• Ke Meng extracted the real-world identities of the Shadow Stream Elders and Deacons and learned about their missions.
• The Group Owner asked Ke Meng to let it die, and Ke Meng destroyed its original soul without revealing his identity.
• Ke Meng used Synesthesia on himself, woke in his body with a wound on the back of his head, and healed it with an adhesive bandage.
• Ke Meng gathered his Sealed Items and decided to deal with the Tentacle Monster’s doubles inside them.

Ke Meng used his will to destroy a remnant of the Tentacle Monster hidden in his shadow and learned that many more shadows remained in town. As he continued toward the Ghostly Wall, another remnant appeared beside him and attacked while he slept.

• Ke Meng used Big-Faced Cat to identify the Sealed Items, packed them away, and baited the Tentacle Monster's remnants as he walked toward the town's edge.
• A shadow remnant slipped into Ke Meng's shadow, but he fell asleep and destroyed it with his will.
• Ke Meng learned in a dream that the Tentacle Monster had split into tens of thousands of shadows, with about a thousand still roaming town.
• After finding dead shadow children, Ke Meng challenged the hidden enemy, then continued toward the Ghostly Wall when it failed to attack him.
• When another shadow remnant appeared beside him, Ke Meng set out the Anti-Scientific Kerosene Lamp and fell asleep, only to wake with needles at his throat, temples, and eyes.

Ke Meng subdued the Shadow Stream shadows in the town and escaped the barrier with the Sealed Items. After Old Shi checked the items and confirmed Ke Meng had not been replaced, they prepared to leave the area while the remaining threat was contained.

• Ke Meng used the movement-prohibiting wine jar to capture the shadows controlling the town residents, then lured pursuing shadows into a surprise attack and sealed them too.
• Old Shi inspected the recovered Sealed Items and found that two had been forced open, causing their contents to self-destruct and their owners to die.
• Ke Meng recited the Koi Continent Investigation Bureau's core investigator code, and Old Shi's badge showed no sign that Ke Meng had been replaced.
• Ke Meng told Old Shi that the Group Owner of Shadow Stream Home still had remnant shadows in the town, holding about one percent of its former power.
• Old Shi said investigators from both continents would handle the barrier's maintenance, and that they needed to leave because people from Crocodile Continent had noticed them.

Ke Meng unsealed a man trapped inside the Sealed Item and fought the Tentacle Monster Shadow that emerged from him. After defeating the shadow in a dream, Ke Meng woke with his own shadow restored and reunited with Tangyuan and the rescued Investigator.

• Officials from the Crocodile Continent brought the Sealed Item to the Investigation Bureau, where Ke Meng attended its unsealing.
• Ke Meng opened the gift box and removed the tiny man inside, then seized the Tentacle Monster Shadow as it began to attack him.
• The shadow abandoned the man's body and invaded Ke Meng, but Ke Meng kept hold of it while Tangyuan moved the unconscious Investigator into a quarantine room.
• Ke Meng knocked himself unconscious, confronted the Tentacle Monster Shadow in a dream, extracted its information, and crushed it.
• Ke Meng woke with his shadow restored, exchanged passwords with Tangyuan, and received the rescued Investigator.

Ke Meng and the Investigation Bureau prepared to eliminate Shadow Stream’s leader as the organization activated its Kindling contingency plan. The plan sent its members fleeing and erased the usefulness of much of the intelligence Ke Meng had gathered, though the Bureau still hoped to track down Elder Wan.

• The Crocodile Continent Investigation Bureau handed responsibility for Shadow Stream’s leader to Koi Continent, and Ke Meng agreed to destroy the remaining shadow.
• The Group Owner ordered Shadow Stream members to activate the Kindling plan, prompting Deacons to panic as they learned the organization faced possible annihilation.
• Luo Yuan explained that the plan required members to abandon their missions and flee, making at least half of Ke Meng’s gathered identity information useless.
• Luo Yuan noted that Elder Wan was believed to be secluded behind a Door Organization door, but Ke Meng suspected he had emerged after the Monkey who taunted him died.

Ke Meng returned to the isolated town, destroyed a mirror tied to the Shadow Stream Organization, and chased a fleeing Shadow Creature underground. He captured over a hundred split-off shadows in one day, but realized they could keep dividing, leaving him unsure whether he could catch them all.

• Ke Meng found an ominous old house, where a mirror shattered as his reflection tried to step out, and he collected the shards for the Investigation Bureau.
• Ke Meng spotted a concealed Shadow Creature watching the mirror and chased it through the house and into the sewers.
• Ke Meng used a Gopher Doll to burrow underground, caught the Shadow Creature, and sealed it in the Movement-Prohibiting Jar.
• Ke Meng searched the town and caught over a hundred split-off shadows, then realized they could divide repeatedly.

The Investigation Bureau burned the Tentacle Monster’s corpse and prepared to destroy the town where Shadow Stream had infiltrated deeply. Ke Meng and the Flaming Man gathered the residents for evacuation, but many townspeople remained unaccounted for and the crowd required quarantine.

• The Flaming Man used a Zero-Level Item to burn the Tentacle Monster’s body to ashes, leaving a vast crater, then flew to meet Ke Meng.
• The Flaming Man told Ke Meng that they would destroy the town if they could not seal the danger, and Ke Meng asked whether anything had survived the burning.
• The Flaming Man broadcast an evacuation order, and Ke Meng and he gathered the town’s residents in the square.
• Ke Meng inspected the residents’ shadows and counted the crowd, finding that at least a tenth of the town’s residents had not arrived.
• Ke Meng said the gathered residents should be quarantined after evacuation, and the Flaming Man agreed.

Ke Meng and Flaming Man evacuated the town’s residents and searched for anyone left behind before Flaming Man unleashed a destructive flame. They escaped the physically isolated town as Ke Meng’s Spiritual Perception warned that it was about to explode.

• Ke Meng and Flaming Man moved most of the town’s residents into an alternate space, then used a life-location scanner to search for those who remained.
• Ke Meng forced entry into homes and knocked out residents who refused to leave, while pets helped the two investigators search.
• Ke Meng rode Tangyuan as the transformed dog smashed through buildings, and the Demon Map revealed only two people who harbored malice toward him.
• Ke Meng and Flaming Man confirmed with Bureau personnel that the town had been isolated from the outside world.
• Flaming Man released a tiny flame into the sky, and he and Ke Meng fled as Ke Meng sensed the town was about to explode.

Ke Meng watched Flaming Man use the Zero-Level Item Heartflame Candle to destroy the town sealed behind the Ghostly Wall. As the town burned, Flaming Man explained the candle’s cost and his need to find a successor, while a pitch-black shadow emerged from the flames.

• Ke Meng asked Flaming Man about the flame, and Flaming Man explained that it was a primer for the Zero-Level Item and showed him the tiny candle.
• Flaming Man lit the candle by burning his heartflame and sent its flame into the town, then pulled Ke Meng away from the barrier.
• The isolated town erupted into a sea of fire, and Ke Meng and Flaming Man felt its immense heat from outside the barrier.
• Flaming Man told Ke Meng that using the candle consumed his soul and that its side effects could not be cured, so he would eventually need a successor.
• A pitch-black shadow formed amid the flames and let out a shriek.

Ke Meng confirmed that the Tentacle Monster had died in the Heartflame Candle’s fire but had left a faith-linked legacy in two people, which he removed with lightning. After the team prepared to leave, Ke Meng and the Flaming Man inspected the burned town and found a seemingly endless, airless black void where it had stood.

• Ke Meng entered a dream and watched the Tentacle Monster burn to ash while two unconscious humans and other evil presences endured the flames.
• Ke Meng released the two humans and realized the Tentacle Monster had planted a subtle faith-linked legacy in them rather than hiding in their shadows.
• Ke Meng used the Thunder Lord’s Ring to cleanse the legacy seeds, while the Flaming Man watched and suggested shocking the town’s residents too.
• Ke Meng ordered the team to check the scene and prepare to return after the heartflame had burned away the town and the Tentacle Monster.
• The Flaming Man sent a pet into the isolated town, then he and Ke Meng entered and found only an airless black expanse, which Ke Meng suspected was the Void.

After Flaming Man sensed a fading presence in the sealed void, he guarded it until the space healed, and Ke Meng returned home to rest. In his dream as Cthulhu, Ke Meng realized players had learned to resurrect one another and were leveling up again, while he pondered how to stop them; the joint dream’s make-up update had also finished.

• Flaming Man sensed that an unknown presence had watched the quarantined space and stopped Ke Meng from approaching it until the void healed.
• Ke Meng and Flaming Man confirmed the space had sealed, completed the handover, and returned to Whale City.
• An Investigation Bureau member found the Shadow Stream Elder’s secluded-cultivation building deserted, while Ke Meng went home to rest.
• Ke Meng dreamed as Cthulhu in R'lyeh and learned players were using self-taught resurrection skills to survive and level up together.
• Ke Meng reflected that players had reached level 240 and considered how to break their momentum.
• Ke Meng recalled that the joint dream’s make-up update was complete and that two more updates would follow.

Ke Meng learned that unexplained transformations had spread among Orange Star residents, then reconsidered how to handle the virtual-game players and made breaking his seal his top priority. He ordered the Black Ghost to find a way to free him.

• Orange Star residents began transforming after repeatedly dreaming of a strange woman's voice, and Ke Meng learned that tens of thousands had been affected.
• Ke Meng worried that the virtual-game players might eventually become strong enough to kill gods, but decided to keep his most drastic countermeasures in reserve.
• Ke Meng shifted his focus from suppressing the players to finding a way to break the seal.
• When the Black Ghost approached R'lyeh to report on recent events, Ke Meng ordered it to make breaking the seal its highest priority.
• The Black Ghost accepted the order, completed its report, and left to pursue a way to break the Elder God's seal.