Chapter Summaries

Chu Sheng and Lu Guan drove the Netherbone Car through the ruined Fragrant City, where Chu Sheng followed a growing supernatural pull to a supermarket. They found two Anomalies and a strange black fireball inside, and Chu Sheng insisted they investigate it for humanity’s sake.

• Chu Sheng surveyed the desolate city and reflected on civilization’s collapse before Lu Guan joked about becoming the Skeleton King.
• Chu Sheng directed Lu Guan through the streets toward a supermarket, claiming they should help survivors and rebuild civilization.
• Lu Guan scouted the supermarket and reported that two Anomalies and a black fireball were inside.
• Chu Sheng insisted they enter the supermarket to investigate the fireball, while Lu Guan regretted his earlier talk about humanity.

Chu Sheng and his companions entered the supermarket to investigate two Anomalies and a mysterious black fireball. After assigning roles, Chu Sheng opened the fight by shooting the Eight-Foot Lady, who roared and charged toward them.

• Lu Guan admitted that human civilization might not need rebuilding, while Chu Sheng insisted he was simply finding a way forward.
• An Xi, A Xin, Zhu Qing, and Lu Guan agreed to enter the supermarket after Chu Sheng explained what he and Lu Guan had discovered.
• A Xin concealed the group's living auras within a thousand-meter radius and said she would wait in the car while the others searched.
• Inside the supermarket, An Xi and Zhu Qing hid from the Eight-Foot Lady, but Chu Sheng pointed out that they would have to fight the Anomalies.
• Chu Sheng assigned Lu Guan to provide support and promised to divide the supernatural materials equally among the four of them.
• Chu Sheng shot the Eight-Foot Lady with the Red-and-White Bow, and she roared and charged toward the group.

Zhu Qing and the Butcher battled the Female Anomaly while An Xi confronted the Freezer Anomaly, whose freezing attacks proved capable of cracking Lu Guan’s Mental Barrier. Zhu Qing held the Female Anomaly at bay as An Xi advanced, and the fight remained unresolved.

• Zhu Qing grew to the supermarket’s height and struck the mentally disoriented Female Anomaly, then fought her at close range as Chu Sheng sent the Butcher to help.
• An Xi approached the humming Freezer Anomaly while Chu Sheng and Lu Guan watched Zhu Qing’s rapid regeneration during the brutal fight.
• Lu Guan briefly shielded Zhu Qing with a Mental Barrier, giving Zhu Qing a chance to slash the Female Anomaly’s throat before continuing to spin her around.
• The Freezer Anomaly launched freezing cola and iced tea at Zhu Qing and An Xi; An Xi destroyed the cola, while the iced tea froze and cracked Lu Guan’s Mental Barrier.
• An Xi advanced toward the Freezer Anomaly with Lu Guan providing barriers, while Zhu Qing and the Butcher struggled to overcome the Female Anomaly’s healing and Zhu Qing shouted for them to hurry.

Chu Sheng absorbed the black flames and completed the Heavenly Craftsman Sequence, advancing to Sequence 8 and gaining the Black Flame ability. He returned to the battle and shot the Freezer Anomaly with a black-flame arrow.

• Chu Sheng approached the black fireball and let its flames surge into his body, enduring intense pain as they merged with his Sequence.
• The flames completed and advanced Chu Sheng’s Heavenly Craftsman Sequence to Sequence 8, granting him Black Flame and separating Shaping into its own ability.
• Chu Sheng tested Black Flame, discovered that it consumed mental energy, and realized his blood had turned into black flame.
• Chu Sheng returned to find Zhu Qing and An Xi still fighting the Female Anomaly and Freezer Anomaly while Lu Guan protected An Xi with barriers.
• Chu Sheng fired a black-flame arrow from the Red-and-White Bone Bow into the Freezer Anomaly.

Chu Sheng and An Xi defeated the Freezer Anomaly, then helped Zhu Qing finish restraining the Female Anomaly until the Butcher dismembered her. After dividing the supernatural materials and resting, the group prepared to load supplies into the Netherbone Car.

• Chu Sheng used Black Flame while An Xi struck the Freezer Anomaly with the Black Jade Bone Spear, causing it to dissolve into black vapor.
• Chu Sheng told An Xi that his Sequence had advanced, then sent her to help Zhu Qing restrain the Female Anomaly while he rested.
• Chu Sheng told Lu Guan that Black Flame came from a sacrificial item that would melt him, and Lu Guan accepted the explanation.
• The Butcher dismembered the restrained Female Anomaly until she vanished, leaving five supernatural materials for the group to divide.
• Chu Sheng chose the condenser, Zhu Qing took the cloth, An Xi took the glass and kidney for A Xin, and Lu Guan chose the skull.
• After resting, An Xi and Zhu Qing stood up to begin gathering supermarket supplies for the Netherbone Car.

Chu Sheng’s group left the supermarket with a cargo hold full of supplies as the Blood Moon strengthened both Anomalies and Sequence Adepts. Li Feifei’s convoy fled its pursuers until the Anomalies stopped at an unseen boundary, where patches of dirt began appearing across the road.

• Chu Sheng reshaped the Netherbone Car’s cargo compartment, loaded supplies, and planned to keep half of his companions’ shares as a storage fee.
• An Xi, Zhu Qing, and Lu Guan returned to the vehicle, and exhausted Zhu Qing fell asleep before Chu Sheng noticed the Black Blade Gloves in his pocket.
• Chu Sheng’s convoy set off after eleven at night beneath the Blood Moon, which strengthened Anomalies with black energy and nourished Sequence Adepts with pure moonlight.
• Li Feifei guided her convoy away from pursuing Anomalies while Zhou Qi and Wei Haoran worried about their dwindling food and hoped Chu Sheng’s group had escaped.
• After Zhou Qi blasted back an Anomaly, the pursuers stopped at an unseen barrier as the convoy reached a road where patches of dirt interrupted the concrete.

Qi Yu created a screen that displayed known survivors and let them contact one another, while Chu Sheng's group returned safely from Fragrant City. The chapter ended when Zhou Qi reached An Xi through the screen and she recognized him.

• Li Feifei collapsed after the convoy reached a place where the Anomalies had stopped pursuing them, and Zhou Qi and Wei Haoran announced a temporary rest.
• Captain Hui and Old Man Li waited for Chu Sheng's group, then learned they had returned safely with supplies but no explanation for why the Anomalies remained in Fragrant City.
• Qi Yu showed Zhou Qi and Wei Haoran a screen of known people, filtered it to display Sequence superhumans, and marked Zhu Qing's unanswered call red.
• Zhou Qi called An Xi through the screen, and she appeared on it while Chu Sheng's group watched; An Xi recognized Zhou Qi.

Chu Sheng’s convoy reconnected with Zhou Qi’s group, and Chu Sheng explained the Anomaly Realm while offering to craft sacrificial items for supernatural materials. After the call, An Xi went to Chu Sheng to demand the unfinished service she had paid for, and he began attending to her.

• Zhou Qi’s group contacted Chu Sheng’s convoy, and Qi Yu startled everyone when she saw Lu Guan’s skeleton form on the screen.
• Chu Sheng explained that Zhou Qi’s group was in the Anomaly Realm’s overlapping zone and offered to craft sacrificial items for two supernatural materials each.
• After the call, Zhou Qi warned Qi Yu that Chu Sheng was no good, while Wei Haoran confirmed their group would keep gathering supernatural materials.
• Chu Sheng returned Zhu Qing to his vehicle, summoned Butcher to stand guard, and tried to rest.
• An Xi left A Xin’s vehicle to visit Chu Sheng, claiming he still owed her a service, and Chu Sheng picked her up and began attending to her.

Chu Sheng woke beside An Xi and explained that his Black Flame sacrificial item had changed what he left inside her. Later, An Xi saw that extreme heat had killed or sickened many convoy followers and distributed purified water to the survivors, leaving them with renewed hope.

• Chu Sheng woke, told An Xi their encounter was over, and explained that Black Flame had replaced his blood after his Sequence advanced.
• An Xi decided to make or strengthen two sacrificial items using her supernatural materials, then changed the sheets as the convoy continued through the heat.
• The convoy stopped, and Chu Sheng saw that more than twenty bicycle riders had died while dozens of other survivors suffered heatstroke.
• An Xi brought out purified water and gave each survivor one mouthful, prioritizing the bicycle riders and those with heatstroke.
• A gaunt young man drank An Xi's purified water, recovered from heatstroke, and left grateful that the convoy had given him hope without demanding tribute.

Chu Sheng and the others discussed how the extreme heat had expanded the real world, then divided their recovered supplies. He revealed that the Netherbone Car could keep stored goods from getting moldy by placing the Freezer Anomaly’s condenser in its skull.

• Lu Guan estimated that the extreme heat region stretched for more than a thousand kilometers, and Captain Hui concluded that the world had changed completely.
• Lu Guan and Zhu Qing discussed collecting and burying one another’s bodies if they died.
• Chu Sheng repeated the agreed supply shares, giving Captain Hui five percent, and showed the group the goods stacked in the Netherbone Car.
• Chu Sheng explained his storage fee and refused Captain Hui’s suggestion to give away supplies to survivors.
• Chu Sheng activated his ability, and the group saw the Freezer Anomaly’s condenser installed inside the Netherbone Car’s skull.

Chu Sheng transformed the Netherbone Car into the Netherworld War Chariot, gaining powerful new abilities as his convoy watched. Four hundred kilometers away, Old Xu and a small group of survivors struggled with dwindling food and water and wondered whether any convoys remained.

• Chu Sheng used the Extreme Cold Fan to keep the cargo box at minus forty degrees and charged the convoy for storing their supplies.
• After counting his Supernatural Materials, Chu Sheng fused several into the Netherbone Car and used Shaping to remake it.
• The vehicle became the Netherworld War Chariot, with reinforced construction, a devouring ram, writhing flesh, and spider legs; Chu Sheng warned the others about its dangers.
• An Xi, Zhu Qing, Lu Guan, and Captain Hui examined the new vehicle while Chu Sheng explained its features.
• Four hundred kilometers away, Old Xu and six Sequence superhumans discussed their dwindling food, lack of rain, and the possibility that the convoys had been wiped out.

Chu Sheng explained that Survival Points were harvested mental power from Anomalies and quantified the costs and effects of his abilities. After he pitched upgrading An Xi’s Black Jade Bone Spear, she wanted the service but had no supernatural materials to pay him with.

• An Xi asked Chu Sheng to fuse a small tower and a wooden stick, offering a piece of glass as payment.
• Chu Sheng offered to upgrade An Xi’s Black Jade Bone Spear and explained how sacrificial items could develop conceptual abilities as their rankings rose.
• Chu Sheng revealed that Survival Points represented mental power released by Anomalies and showed An Xi his updated panel and ability costs.
• Chu Sheng refused to upgrade An Xi’s spear for free, and An Xi admitted she had no spare supernatural materials.

Chu Sheng fused a Lesser Thunderclap Temple and upgraded the Nether War Chariot’s windows into supernatural Adaptive Glass, leaving the vehicle with few weaknesses as the convoy set out. Along the way, Lu Guan studied the Female Anomaly’s skull while Zhu Qing reacted to his strange interpretation of beauty and demonstrated his ability to crush his own heart.

• Chu Sheng fused the little pagoda and wooden stick into the Lesser Thunderclap Temple, then gave it to An Xi, who stormed off after learning its cost and hearing his remarks about her chest.
• Chu Sheng fused the Nether War Chariot’s glass into Adaptive Glass, which could isolate the interior from mental power and repair itself after shattering.
• Chu Sheng filled a bucket with water for Captain Hui and the others before the convoy set off, with Lu Guan traveling alongside Zhu Qing in exchange for his share of the supplies.
• Lu Guan examined the Female Anomaly’s skull and described his contemplation of its beauty as a way to experience the myriad forms of sentient beings.
• Zhu Qing complained about Lu Guan’s strange tastes, then punched through his chest and crushed his own heart.

Captain Hui divined information about a nearby refuge with six thousand survivors and eight Sequence Adepts, including someone with a ghost-taming sequence. After reviewing the findings, An Xi and the others decided to visit the refuge, which might reveal how it stayed safe from Anomalies.

• Zhu Qing deliberately crushed and regenerated his heart to advance his giant sequence faster while the convoy traveled onward.
• Captain Hui divined that thousands of survivors were living in an enclosed building and learned that its guardian, Old Xu, sensed his investigation.
• Old Xu gathered the seven Sequence Adepts at the building's entrance after detecting someone spying on them.
• Captain Hui identified the eight sequences in the refuge, including the ghost-taming sequence, and recorded information about its survivors.
• Captain Hui told Chu Sheng and the others about the refuge, and An Xi persuaded the convoy to visit it to investigate how it avoided Anomalies.
• A Xin began to believe that the City of Dawn An Xi sought might truly exist.

The convoy reached the Enclosed Tower, where both groups approached each other warily before An Xi made contact with Xu An. Their conversation eased tensions, and Captain Hui divined that the Tower’s people had likely never encountered another convoy; the chapter ended with An Xi bringing Xu An and the other Sequence Adepts over to Chu Sheng’s group.

• The convoy rested before continuing toward the Enclosed Tower, and four bicycle-riding survivors caught up while the rest were presumed dead.
• Xu An and the seven other Sequence Adepts at the Tower watched the approaching convoy and prepared for trouble, while Chu Sheng’s group inspected the Tower and its defenders.
• An Xi flew forward alone, displaying her strength before introducing herself and assuring Xu An that the convoy meant no harm.
• Xu An introduced himself as the Tower group’s leader, and both sides relaxed as they began talking.
• Captain Hui divined that the Tower’s people had not encountered another convoy, while Lu Guan said he had passed nearby without seeing the Tower.
• An Xi returned with Xu An and the other Sequence Adepts to meet Chu Sheng’s group.

Captain Hui and Chu Sheng negotiated with Xu An’s group at their Enclosed Tower, using the threat of pursuing Anomalies and a staged information trade to secure a two-day stay. They left Xu An’s group considering the convoy’s journal and a trading fair, while Chu Sheng’s group had learned how little the tower’s residents knew about the wider situation.

• An Xi reported that Xu An’s group meant no harm, and Captain Hui agreed that the convoy would rest outside their Enclosed Tower for the night.
• Captain Hui warned Xu An that more than twenty Anomalies were following the convoy, and a scholar-sequence woman explained that her Seclusion ability hid the tower from Anomalies.
• Xingzi asked Chu Sheng’s group to stay and help deal with the Anomalies, and Captain Hui agreed to remain for two days after Chu Sheng backed her request.
• Captain Hui refused to share the convoy’s intelligence without an equivalent exchange, while he and Chu Sheng implied that their journal contained vital information.
• Xu An admitted that the tower’s residents could not grow food and believed the same conditions held everywhere, revealing their isolation to Chu Sheng’s group.
• Chu Sheng proposed a trading fair for that evening, where Xu An’s group could trade for the convoy’s journal.

Chu Sheng and the Enclosed Tower survivors prepared to trade supernatural materials and supplies, while Old Man Li revealed a crop that could grow in the drought. At the Blood Moon market, Chu Sheng sold Purifying water, and Xingzi invited him to join her group before An Xi interrupted.

• Chu Sheng agreed to trade with Xu An's group and offered to forge sacrificial items for two supernatural materials each.
• Old Man Li revealed his Solar Grass, which matured every three days and could provide a food source for the Enclosed Tower survivors.
• Xu An and the others planned their trades, decided against spying on Chu Sheng's convoy, and began preparing for the evening market.
• Chu Sheng set up a stall with five bottles of Purifying water, which he demonstrated to Xingzi by letting her drink some.
• After feeling the water's cooling effect, Xingzi invited Chu Sheng to join her group, but An Xi interrupted and moved her aside.

Chu Sheng traded purified water to Xingzi for supplies created by her healer sequence, then offered more water to the other convoy members. A bricklayer from the architecture sequence proposed expanding space inside Chu Sheng’s vehicle, and Chu Sheng began negotiating the price.

• Chu Sheng traded five bottles of purified water to Xingzi for two syringes of Adrenaline and thirty rolls of bandages.
• Xingzi explained that her healer-sequence creations included bandages that stopped bleeding and Adrenaline that boosted the body temporarily.
• Chu Sheng poured the convoy members a free mouthful of purified water, and they experienced its cooling effects.
• The middle-aged man offered to build a bedroom inside Chu Sheng’s vehicle by expanding a space tenfold.
• Chu Sheng pretended he had little water left and counteroffered three bottles for the bedroom.

Chu Sheng had Uncle Li build an expanded bedroom inside the Netherworld War Chariot, gaining powerful restorative effects from the supernatural materials he fused into it. He then began crafting a sacrificial syringe for Xingzi, who was increasingly drawn to him, while An Xi watched with growing jealousy.

• Chu Sheng agreed to pay Uncle Li purified water to build a bedroom in the Netherworld War Chariot and fused a dog whip and a kidney into its construction.
• Uncle Li completed the Vigorous Bedroom, whose property certificate granted increased energy and stamina at night and faster mental power recovery at all times.
• Chu Sheng retrieved eight bottles of purified water from the cargo compartment and paid Uncle Li for the bedroom.
• Xingzi asked Chu Sheng to make her a sacrificial item from her hollow bone, syringe, Tumbler Doll, and Compass, and Chu Sheng accepted only the Compass as payment.
• Chu Sheng transformed Xingzi's syringe into a sacrificial item with a bone needle while Xingzi blushed at his claim that she was one of his own.

Chu Sheng gave Xingzi a Bone Needle Syringe, and she discovered her healer abilities let her use it without suffering its three-day fever cost. Back at the trading fair, Old Man Li traded Solar Grass for most of the Enclosed Tower’s supernatural materials, while Chu Sheng defended the deal as still profitable.

• Chu Sheng gave Xingzi the Bone Needle Syringe, and Xingzi used it to extract viruses from her body without ill effects.
• Xingzi told Chu Sheng and An Xi about the other trades and sequences, including puppets, Sister Yan’s teaching knowledge, and Xiao Yi’s ghost-taming abilities.
• Chu Sheng, Xingzi, and An Xi returned to the trading area and found the Enclosed Tower’s people gathered around Old Man Li’s Solar Grass.
• Captain Hui told Chu Sheng that Old Man Li had traded one Solar Grass for twenty of the group’s twenty-four supernatural materials, with more to come if the plant bore fruit.
• Chu Sheng told Captain Hui he was not angry because Old Man Li would still need him to craft sacrificial items, then loudly praised bringing out the Solar Grass to help the Enclosed Tower survive.