Chapter Summaries

Ke Meng learned that the Investigation Bureau’s team had suffered deaths and madness while investigating the mutated animals in the mountains. With the Bureau unable to safely confront the hidden influence, it prepared to request authorization to bombard the area, leaving Ke Meng questioning whether the plan would work.

• Chen Yi used a Level Six spirit-banishing treasure to destroy the Eerie Script Book’s evil spirit, and Director Lei provisionally rated the book at level five before sealing it away.
• Ke Meng returned the Bureau’s portable hard drive, received footage of the Flawless Sword tests, and chose to stay home rather than join the mountain investigation.
• Luo Yuan shared photos and explained that bats summoned by the Jealousy Emotion Object had drained two investigators and driven others mad after one teammate betrayed them.
• Luo Yuan told Ke Meng that the Bureau struggled to protect investigators from hidden influences without weakening Synesthesia, so it planned to seal off the mountain.
• Luo Yuan said the Bureau had requested authorization to bombard the mountain and was preparing items to restore its ecosystem, while Ke Meng wondered whether the strike could reach the bats.

Investigation Team 41 lured the mountain bats out with a jealousy-inducing Special Item while the military prepared a missile strike, and Ke Meng watched the operation through an Investigation Bureau livestream. The bombardment began as the team used Synesthesia inside a defensive barrier, leaving Ke Meng convinced he needed to investigate the mountain in person.

• Ke Meng went to the Investigation Bureau to watch the livestream, bringing a Rational Transcript because his Gnosis was at its maximum.
• Di Ping and Investigation Team 41 activated a defensive sphere and used a strange statue and camera to make caged mice appear as jealousy-filled human creatures.
• The mountain darkened, bats emerged from the forest, and Ke Meng wondered whether the bloodied Whale County Travelogue had caused the foretold bloody calamity.
• The bats drained the mice into dried husks, while Di Ping and his teammates used calming mint leaves to endure the disturbing information they perceived through Synesthesia.
• Ke Meng listened to the livestream from the Investigation Bureau and decided he needed to use Synesthesia at the scene himself.
• The military began the missile bombardment, and the livestream showed the woods burning as the camera shook and the bats' cries overwhelmed the headphones.

After the mountain was destroyed to stop the mutated bats, Ke Meng read the Whale County Travelogue and learned that his Spirit-Sensing Fruit Tree had been upgraded to a Level-One Object. He claimed a Resistance reward, accepted another review task, and went to sleep while White Sugar and Tangyuan stayed up playing.

• After the livestream returned, Di Ping tested white mice outside the white sphere, while Investigation Team 41 sensed no living creatures on the mountain.
• Ke Meng visited Director Lei and examined the Whale County Travelogue as the Holy Light removed the bloodstains from page 54.
• Director Lei told Ke Meng that the Spirit-Sensing Fruit Tree had been reassessed as a Level-One Object and that the Investigation Bureau had prepared him a larger villa.
• Ke Meng claimed the reward for Sand Sculpture's test, increasing his Resistance by fifty points to 130, then accepted a new difficult task requiring two million viewers.
• Ke Meng went to sleep, while White Sugar pinned the Sand-Salt Worm and became engrossed in watching Tangyuan play on a phone.

Ke Meng watched Liu Siting struggle to understand knowledge he had granted her, then saw players begin using the character customization game to become machines. Player Luo Xiaobei flew a supersonic aircraft into the empty sky above the dream world, leaving Ke Meng to consider what might exist beyond it.

• Ke Meng watched Liu Siting experiment with a technique for passing through water, but stopped observing when her confused thoughts began overwhelming her again.
• Ke Meng saw the World Tree and Sky-Piercing Tower growing as players rapidly built factories and an industrial system in the dream world.
• Luo Xiaobei used her manufacturing knowledge to create a supersonic aircraft, then became the plane and learned to control its body in flight.
• Ke Meng sensed that the aircraft was a player and shared Luo Xiaobei's perspective as she accelerated to Mach eight.
• Luo Xiaobei broke through the uppermost cloud layer, found an empty grayish-blue sky, and continued flying after shutting off her engine.

Luo Xiaobei’s post about the character customization game sparked players to create technological machines and fantastical forms in the Dream World. As airplanes and dragons filled the skies and players descended into the sea, Ke Meng realized the deep-sea Great Whale might soon be discovered.

• Luo Xiaobei posted that the character customization game had made the World Tree and Sky-Piercing Tower projects obsolete by letting players become machines capable of reaching the sky.
• Players and the Scientific Research General Institute embraced the game, and Orange Star began reorganizing its workforce to recreate advanced industrial machinery in the Dream World.
• Sakata Yue and her boyfriend designed a fifty-meter silver dragon, and she climbed onto him after he appeared in the Dream World.
• The silver dragon flew into the sky, impressing Ke Meng and the pterosaur players as new fantasy creatures and airplanes began filling the Dream World.
• Ke Meng spotted players entering the ocean as whales and unmanned submarines and worried they might soon find the deep-sea Great Whale.

Players discovered the sleeping Great Whale in the Deep Sea, while Rowboat Without Oars entered the dream as an orange ocean and accidentally triggered the whale’s rescue mission. Ke Meng intervened after the whale crashed onto land and killed players, moving it back into the sea.

• Deep-sea players found the enormous sleeping Great Whale and shared their discovery on the Dream Forum.
• Rowboat Without Oars entered the dream as orange seawater and struggled to control the flood as players drowned in it.
• The first player drowned, waking the Great Whale and sending it charging toward the surface.
• The Great Whale leaped onto land to reach the orange flood, crushing players and buildings as it tried to return to the sea.
• Ke Meng entered the joint dream world and used its mental power to move the Great Whale back into the sea.

Ke Meng finished reshaping the Dream World after Orange Star players turned into oceans, then returned to Blue Star and uploaded a demon-slaying video. He joined Investigation Group 49 at Barren Mountain to investigate the aftermath of the bombing.

• Ke Meng turned the Great Whale into a stationary Whale Island, changed the Dream World's weather, and redirected orange water-type players to the blue sea.
• Rowing Guy and other orange seas spread plankton through the blue ocean, while Ke Meng absorbed some of Rowing Guy's chaotic perceptions before it woke and disappeared.
• Ke Meng fed Big-Faced Cat and ordered White Sugar a phone, then finished and uploaded his video titled "[Unboxing review] S l a y i n g d e m o n s" to Bilibili.
• Ke Meng checked reports that investigators had regrown plants on Barren Mountain and that the bloodsucking bats had disappeared.
• Ke Meng and the other three members of Investigation Group 49 arrived at Barren Mountain, where Ke Meng began sensing what the site had originally been like.

Ke Meng sensed jealousy and aversion at the Vampire Bats’ suspected origin point, then heard the Hidden Being’s evil whispers in the original recording. He resisted their temptation and continued listening as the whispers weakened, while Di Ping warned that hidden information should only be discussed at the bureau’s Holy Light Pool.

• Ke Meng sensed that jealousy had burned away at the bat-origin site and given rise to aversion, but he could not detect the chaotic information left behind.
• Ke Meng asked for the original recording, and Di Ping brought the memory module to the mountain.
• Ke Meng heard evil whispers hidden in the bats’ ultrasound, which tempted him with power and promises of equality.
• Ke Meng rejected the whispers, used the Rational Transcript to restore his calm, and gained Resistance.
• Di Ping told everyone not to discuss hidden information aloud and suggested they talk at the Holy Light Pool.
• Ke Meng listened to the recording again and repeatedly resisted the weakening whispers.

Ke Meng endured the chaos whisper, recorded its contents, and helped the Investigation Bureau link the incident to the Shadow Stream Organization. He moved into his new villa and watched the start of his review video for a flawless short sword.

• Ke Meng raised his Resistance to 131.4 by enduring the evil whisper, then wrote down its contents at the Investigation Bureau.
• Director Lei and the bureau chief identified the whisper’s rhetoric as resembling the Shadow Stream Organization’s methods, and the bureau chief offered Ke Meng a commendation and a reward.
• Luo Yuan told Ke Meng that his furnished villa was ready, and Ke Meng moved into the spacious estate guarded by professional soldiers.
• Ke Meng watched his review video, where he introduced a sentient, ten-centimeter silver short sword and viewers speculated about it becoming a sword girl.

Ke Meng posted a video demonstrating the Flawless Sword, using its transformations to theatrically confront an Evil Spirit and boost the video's view count. While browsing other Special Item reviews, he sensed something strange in Lu Benwei's video and realized the source might be the shadow at Lu Benwei's feet.

• Ke Meng showed viewers how the Flawless Sword changed length and demonstrated its dramatic forms in a video.
• Ke Meng used the forty-meter saber to fool the Evil Spirit, then ended the video without showing how the ghost was defeated.
• Ke Meng saw the video's view count reach nine hundred thousand and expected to complete his review task the next day.
• Ke Meng watched Lu Benwei's video about living bandages and sensed that the bandages were not the source of the strangeness.
• Ke Meng repeatedly examined Lu Benwei's video and focused on the shadow at his feet.

Ke Meng identified a Shadow Stream member hiding in Lu Benwei’s shadow and insisted on joining the investigation despite Director Lei’s concerns. The team awakened the intruder inside a vehicle, where it seized control of Lu Benwei’s body and tried to choke him.

• Ke Meng recognized that Lu Benwei’s shadow showed signs of a Shadow Stream invasion and reported the video to Director Lei.
• Director Lei confirmed the victim’s location and advised Ke Meng to remain in the rear, but Ke Meng revealed his Shadow-Grasping Hand and insisted on going.
• Ke Meng went to Kehua Residential Community, where Director Lei, Investigation Group 49, and special forces soldiers were waiting.
• Director Lei used a flower petal to make Lu Benwei pass out, and the investigators carried him into a vehicle equipped with lighting items.
• The lights awakened the Shadow Stream member in Lu Benwei’s shadow, which found no escape route and took control of his body to choke him.

Ke Meng captured a Shadow Stream member and helped the Investigation Bureau interrogate him, uncovering his mission to recruit in Whale City. After Ke Meng returned home, two shadows discussed a complication involving him.

• Lu Benwei's shadow went berserk in the light, so Ke Meng scooped it up and returned Lu Benwei's own consciousness to his body.
• Director Lei took Ke Meng and the captured shadow back to the Investigation Bureau, where investigators chose Di Ping to wear the Freedom Dance Headscarf during the interrogation.
• Ding Yangyun resisted at first but soon gave up information about his work as a Shadow Stream mentor and recruiter in Whale City.
• The Investigation Bureau arrested Ding Yangyun's apprentice, who was too weak to escape their light-based restraints.
• Ke Meng returned home at four in the morning, while two shadows met and named him as someone they needed to investigate.

Ke Meng explored the Dream World as players filled it with stranger creations, while villagers from Detective World entered the dream and were frightened awake. Recognizing Detective World as a new source of dreamers, Ke Meng suspected Orange Star’s artificial intelligences were also hidden among them behind barriers that blocked Synesthesia.

• Ke Meng watched orange oceans battle through their plankton, then saw enormous players fight until Orange Star’s people made them stop.
• Ke Meng surveyed the Dream World from the perspective of a player nearly ten thousand meters tall and saw its oceans stretch without end.
• Villagers from Detective World entered the dream, fainted at the sight of a giant spider, and later gathered to share their frightening dreams.
• Ke Meng recognized the villagers as a new source of dreamers and credited Little Peach with spreading knowledge of the Dream World to Detective World.
• Ke Meng sensed barriers around the villagers that blocked Synesthesia and concluded that Orange Star’s artificial intelligences were probably hidden among the dreamers.

Three Black Ghosts abducted players in the third major city and indoctrinated them into Cthulhu’s faith, then began recruiting more adventurers through secretive tactics. The new followers returned to their quests while quietly gathering, and the ghosts continued spreading their faith.

• Three Black Ghosts entered the third major city and approached the bard Kong Zhihuan, who tried to protect Tu Ke'aisi and Ziqiong before a ghost passed through him and reduced his HP to zero.
• The ghost knocked Tu Ke'aisi and Ziqiong unconscious, carried them to the city sewers, and indoctrinated them for two hours while the other ghosts kept watch.
• Tu Ke'aisi and Ziqiong woke with their memories of the abduction missing, but Ziqiong recalled strange ritual knowledge and neither reported her interest in spacetime stone powder.
• The Black Ghosts began capturing players in pairs despite the Orange Star Authorities requiring parties, and the number of Cthulhu Followers in the city grew.
• The Black Ghosts taught the new followers to conceal their faith and wear robes and masks only during Sacrifice Rituals.

Ke Meng received a sacrifice from the Crystalfolk, granted them knowledge of Water: Mirror Traversal, and examined their offerings. He discovered that the Crystal Knife was a weapon called the Crystal Scalpel that could harm evil spirits and automatically strike a visible enemy when thrown.

• Black Ghost followed a Cthulhu Follower’s advice and sent black ghosts to target the Fourth Main City and other main cities by converting their locals.
• Ke Meng answered the Crystalfolk’s sacrifice, accepted their offerings, and transmitted the knowledge of Water: Mirror Traversal to them.
• Ke Meng found a hundred Crystal Level-Up Fish, Crystal Blocks, and a Natural Crystal Knife among the offerings.
• Ke Meng identified the knife as the Crystal Scalpel, learned that holding it increased spiritual perception while causing pain, and stored it after testing its effects.

Ke Meng tested the Crystal Scalpel on Mi Jingyun’s shadow and discovered that it could sever part of her when she was outside her body. His Demon Map then revealed four moving sources of malice, so he alerted Director Lei and showed him the map, which ended with Director Lei suggesting an ambush.

• Ke Meng used Tangyuan to restrain Mi Jingyun and tested the Crystal Scalpel on her shadow, severing one of its arms when she was outside the ant’s body.
• Ke Meng summoned the Demon Map and saw new red dots appear as hostile beings moved into its detection range.
• Ke Meng called Director Lei, who arrived at his house with defensive Special Items and a backup group.
• Ke Meng showed Director Lei the Demon Map while concealing the red dots for Mi Jingyun and her companion, leaving two hostile dots visible.
• Director Lei pointed out the red dot approaching them and suggested that they set an ambush.

Ke Meng and the Investigation Bureau tracked a Shadow Stream member, Xi Zhishi, as he fled into a mall. After investigators found an unconscious person without a shadow, Ke Meng noticed a mosquito in the elevator and suspected it might be connected to the fugitive.

• Director Lei deployed investigators around Ke Meng’s villa, and Ke Meng used the Demon Map to track a hostile red dot as it fled.
• The Traffic Bureau traced the suspect to a taxi, while Xi Zhishi received a danger warning and forced the driver to stop near a mall before escaping inside.
• Police surrounded the mall and detained everyone inside while investigators searched for Xi Zhishi.
• Ke Meng joined the search because his Shadow-Grasping Hand could counter Shadow Stream members, and investigators found an unconscious person without a shadow in a fifth-floor restroom.
• Ke Meng noticed a mosquito in the elevator, prompting Director Lei to realize it could be significant.

Ke Meng captured the Shadow Stream member, but a green parasite released inside the mall killed an investigator and took over his body. Director Lei transformed with the Toy Wand and began rescuing the unconscious guards as the parasite threat unfolded.

• Ke Meng caught the Shadow Stream member after it escaped into a mosquito, and he and Director Lei left the mall with the captive.
• An explosion-like bang sounded inside the mall, and a drone feed showed a green parasite infecting an investigator after the guards on the fifth floor collapsed.
• Ke Meng glimpsed a vision of the Shadowless Person exploding into green sludge and killing the investigator, then showed Director Lei his Crystal Scalpel.
• Director Lei ordered the building evacuated, but the green-skinned investigator crushed the drone and cut off its signal.
• Director Lei activated the Toy Wand, transformed into a figure glowing with white light, and rapidly rescued the unconscious soldiers.

Ke Meng watched Director Lei destroy the green parasite, then returned to the Investigation Bureau and learned that the shadow Xi Zhishi had been sent to investigate him. Ke Meng doubted Xi Zhishi had revealed everything and began a silent interrogation with the Crystal Scalpel.

• Tang Jin used his Seven-Story Exquisite Pagoda to capture four unconscious people and promised to protect Ke Meng if Director Lei failed.
• Director Lei killed the parasite possessing an investigator, collected its green remains, and withdrew to a dark car as his transformation caused severe photophobia.
• Ke Meng and the others returned to the Investigation Bureau, where Luo Yuan explained that its barrier could not detect objects sealed inside Special Items.
• Ke Meng released the shadow from his hand, and the investigators learned through interrogation that Xi Zhishi had been sent by his liaison, Eagle, to investigate Ke Meng.
• Ke Meng suspected Xi Zhishi was withholding something and entered the interrogation room with the Crystal Scalpel to examine him himself.

Ke Meng used heightened spiritual perception and the scalpel to expose the true consciousness hidden beneath a Shadow Coat. The investigation revealed that Eagle’s agents planned to breach the Investigation Bureau’s light barriers and release its contained items, leaving the Bureau with crucial new intelligence.

• Ke Meng sensed that the captured Shadow Stream member’s shadow was hiding something and requested Spirit-Sensing Fruits to strengthen his perception.
• After eating a fruit, Ke Meng detected a sealed layer, pinned the shadow down, and used the scalpel to shave off its true self.
• The exposed shadow tried to invade Ke Meng, but his power repelled it, and Ke Meng sent the shadow to another interrogation room.
• Di Ping performed the Freedom Dance before the shadow, prompting it to reveal how Shadow Coats concealed its members’ consciousness.
• The shadow disclosed that Eagle had organized an attack to find the Bureau’s dangerous contained items and release them, while dormant agents planned to shed their Shadow Coats and break through the light barriers.
• The Investigation Bureau reviewed the new intelligence, and Luo Yuan praised Ke Meng for earning more credit.