Chapter Summaries

Chu Sheng tried to recruit Xingzi as a doctor for the convoy, while the Enclosed Tower’s residents plotted to recruit him instead. As Chu Sheng and An Xi spent the day with Xingzi, a powerful group of anomalies approached the tower, including the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat.

• At the trading fair, Chu Sheng claimed he had encouraged Old Man Li to offer Solar Grass, then told the convoy he wanted to lure Xingzi into joining them as their doctor.
• The Enclosed Tower residents examined Xingzi’s virus-extracting Syringe and urged her to persuade Chu Sheng to stay and help them make sacrificial items.
• Twenty-eight or twenty-nine anomalies followed traces of vitality toward the tower, led at a distance by the immensely powerful Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat.
• The next morning, Xingzi visited Chu Sheng and offered to show him around the Enclosed Tower; An Xi joined them after morning training.
• Chu Sheng and An Xi spent the day with Xingzi, while more than twenty anomalies appeared just over ten kilometers from the tower.

Chu Sheng discovered that Xingzi’s Compass could guide him toward chosen targets, then spotted the approaching Anomalies and hurried the convoy into the Enclosed Tower. As a vastly stronger Anomaly drew near, Chu Sheng and his companions prepared to fight from the Netherworld War Chariot while keeping an escape option open.

• Chu Sheng fused Xingzi’s Compass with the Netherworld War Chariot and learned its Pointer Navigation could guide him south without cost.
• Chu Sheng spotted numerous plumes of black energy and warned the convoy that the Anomalies had arrived.
• Captain Hui ordered everyone into the Enclosed Tower, where Xingzi gathered the survivors in the courtyard.
• Zhou Dun considered joining the Enclosed Tower, while Wu Meng decided she and Wu Jie should stay with the convoy.
• Chu Sheng saw a powerful Anomaly approaching behind the others and arranged for Captain Hui, A Xin, and Old Man Li to join him aboard the Netherworld War Chariot.

Chu Sheng and the others rode away from the Enclosed Tower, claiming they would provide support from a distance, while the Butcher confronted the approaching Anomalies. The Butcher and the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat exchanged devastating blows, leaving the Butcher altered by dark energy.

• An Xi stopped Zhu Qing from following Chu Sheng and quietly told him to wait and flee if the fight turned bad.
• Chu Sheng, Captain Hui, Old Man Li, and A Xin drove the Netherworld War Chariot away from the Enclosed Tower, intending to return after the fighting began.
• Twenty-eight Anomalies and a Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat approached the Enclosed Tower, and Xu An raised a barrier at the entrance.
• The Butcher entered Rampage and charged the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat, while the other Anomalies rushed toward the defenders.
• The Butcher's slashes barely harmed the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat, but his final blow opened a deep wound in its back as its horn pierced his abdomen.
• Dark energy spread from the horn wound, turning the Butcher's skin pitch-black and his scarlet eyes completely black.

Chu Sheng returned to the Enclosed Tower as the Sequence Adepts fought off the Anomalies, but the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat threatened to break through the tower’s barrier. Xu An drove it away from the entrance, while Xingzi stopped the exhausted Xiao Yi from joining the fight and took control of her little ghost.

• Butcher returned to Chu Sheng after the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat dispersed it, and Captain Hui turned the vehicle back toward the Enclosed Tower.
• An Xi, Zhu Qing, Lu Guan, the brawny man, Xue Gui, and Xiao Yi fought the Anomalies, killing most of the original twenty-eight.
• The Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat rallied the seven remaining Anomalies and charged the Enclosed Tower, terrifying the Sequence Adepts.
• Chu Sheng hit the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat with three arrows, slowing it, but it struck Xu An’s barrier and caused cracks to spread.
• Xu An kicked the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat away from the entrance and led the brawny man and Xue Gui outside to fight it.
• Xingzi stopped the exhausted Xiao Yi from joining the battle, then accepted Xiao Yi’s necklace so she could control the little ghost.

The Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat broke into the Enclosed Tower and began capturing and killing survivors while the convoy fought to escape. As the battle continued, Wu Jie stole Liu Fang’s sacrificial saber and killed the survivor who had picked it up, while Chu Sheng prepared to leave with his companions.

• Sister Yan took Xiao Yi’s pendant outside to control the tentacled Anomaly, while Zhu Qing joined the fight against the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat.
• The Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat knocked Xu An unconscious and summoned the other Anomalies toward the Enclosed Tower; the lame old man used earth puppets to restrain some of them.
• The Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat outran the defenders, entered the Enclosed Tower, and used black threads to seize survivors as the crowd fled.
• Cheng Xue, Wu Meng, Zhou Dun, and the others headed for the exit, but Wu Jie turned back to retrieve Liu Fang’s sacrificial saber.
• Wu Jie took the saber from a dark-skinned survivor and stabbed her in the heart before fleeing.
• Chu Sheng decided to pick up Zhu Qing and An Xi and drive away, despite A Xin’s concern for the survivors.

The Netherworld War Chariot helped turn the battle outside the Enclosed Tower, while Xingzi used up her mental energy healing the nearly dead Xu An. Chu Sheng carried the unconscious Xingzi away in the vehicle, and after the Anomalies were defeated, Xu An returned to check on the survivors.

• Zhou Dun evacuated Wu Meng, Cheng Xue, and the Li sisters, then waited for Wu Jie to return; Wu Jie arrived carrying Liu Fang's sacrificial saber, and Wu Meng scolded him for risking his life to retrieve it.
• Chu Sheng used the Netherworld War Chariot's machine gun to kill two Anomalies, though the sweeping fire also struck Zhu Qing before the gun ran out of ammunition.
• Xingzi removed the virus from Xu An, treated his wounds with Regeneration, and collapsed from exhaustion; Chu Sheng caught her and carried her into the Netherworld War Chariot.
• Xu An woke after Xingzi healed him and learned that Chu Sheng had taken her away, then hurried back to check on the battle.
• Chu Sheng's attacks weakened the remaining Anomalies, and Zhu Qing and the others finished them off as thousands of survivors fled the Enclosed Tower.

An Xi, Zhu Qing, and the others entered the Enclosed Tower to find the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat had massacred hundreds of people, and they attacked it while survivors escaped. Outside, Chu Sheng kept the convoy circling safely as the battle continued.

• The Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat killed and tormented scores of people, building a pile of more than five hundred corpses inside the Enclosed Tower.
• An Xi, Zhu Qing, Lu Guan, Xu An, the Intellectual Woman, the Brawny Man, Xue Gui, and the Limping Old Man entered the tower and confronted the Anomaly.
• Zhu Qing ordered the survivors to flee as he and the others attacked the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat.
• An Xi wounded the Anomaly with her Black Jade Bone Spear, while the Brawny Man and Xue Gui attacked it with fire and water as it tried to escape through the barrier.
• The survivors fled the Enclosed Tower while Chu Sheng kept the convoy circling a kilometer away and told Captain Hui to continue calculating.

Chu Sheng and Captain Hui learned that the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat had been playing with the Sequence Adepts and would soon begin slaughtering them. They returned to the Enclosed Tower to rescue An Xi and Zhu Qing, where A Xin warned the fighters that the Anomaly was toying with them.

• Chu Sheng explained why he stayed with Captain Hui’s convoy and kept ready to flee if the danger grew too great.
• Captain Hui divined that the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat was playing and would begin slaughtering the fighters in about ten minutes, so Chu Sheng turned back toward the Enclosed Tower.
• Captain Hui ordered Cheng Xue and the other survivors to stay behind, but a bus and a sedan continued following the Netherworld War Chariot.
• Chu Sheng drove through the debris to the Enclosed Tower and found An Xi and the others facing the wounded Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat.
• A Xin shouted from beyond the rubble that the Anomaly was toying with them and told An Xi and the others to run.

An Xi, Zhu Qing, and Xu An's group realized the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat had only been playing with them and fled, leaving the creature to slaughter hundreds of people from the Bus, Sedan, and nearby shelters. Xu An's group escaped with the Solar Grass and reunited with survivors, while Chu Sheng sped ahead in the Netherworld War Chariot with An Xi and Zhu Qing.

• An Xi and Zhu Qing fled with Lu Guan, and Xu An's group followed after realizing the Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat was merely playing with them.
• An Xi gave Lu Guan the Black-Heart Off-Road Vehicle as a sacrificial item, while Chu Sheng activated Rampage and drove the Netherworld War Chariot away at eight hundred kilometers per hour.
• The Unicorn Spectral Horse-Cat transformed, pursued the slower Bus and Sedan, and suspended more than two hundred people in the air with black threads.
• Xu An's group escaped with the Solar Grass, reunited with Middle-Aged Man and Xiao Yi, and learned that roughly two or three thousand people had survived; Xu An also lamented that Xingzi was with Chu Sheng's group.
• Chu Sheng's Netherworld War Chariot raced past Cheng Xue's convoy, and Lu Guan later caught up to the convoy in the Black-Heart Off-Road Vehicle.

Chu Sheng reunited the Netherworld War Chariot with the convoy and explained that his upgraded Compass could navigate to any chosen target. An Xi and A Xin asked him to take them to the City of Dawn.

• The Netherworld War Chariot devoured a small Anomaly on the road, and Chu Sheng lamented the supernatural materials lost at the Enclosed Tower.
• Chu Sheng spotted Lu Guan's convoy, rejoined it, and asked A Xin to erase their life aura and conceal their trail.
• Zhu Qing joked about becoming a giant who carried the group through the Apocalypse, then stopped when An Xi threatened him.
• Chu Sheng revealed that Xingzi's Compass had been fused with the dashboard and could point toward the convoy as a chosen target.
• An Xi asked whether the Compass could locate a place known only by name, and Chu Sheng said it could.
• An Xi grabbed Chu Sheng's hand and declared that she wanted to go to the City of Dawn.

An Xi explained why she had sought the City of Dawn, and Chu Sheng’s Pointer Navigation confirmed that the mysterious place existed despite failing to show a direction. The group imagined futures there, while Lu Guan revealed his immortality and fear of outliving humanity, and Chu Sheng encouraged him to believe humanity could survive.

• Chu Sheng led the convoy to a dead forest, where An Xi explained that her Sequence had shown her the City of Dawn and urged her to find it.
• Chu Sheng entered the City of Dawn into the Pointer Navigation, whose pointer spun wildly before curling into a dot; he concluded the place existed even though it gave no direction.
• A Xin reasoned that the City of Dawn might be hidden from Anomalies, while Captain Hui, Old Man Li, Zhu Qing, and Lu Guan shared what they hoped to do there.
• Lu Guan revealed that his white bone Sequence meant he was already dead and could not die again, and he described his fear of enduring endless loneliness if humanity vanished.
• Chu Sheng challenged Lu Guan’s despair by pointing to the power awakened Sequences could attain, and Lu Guan still insisted he would collect everyone’s corpses.

Lu Guan asked Chu Sheng to fuse his supernatural materials into sacrificial items, producing conches that could transmit voices and a cigarette that calmed the mind. The chapter ended with Chu Sheng examining the new items, including a mostly useless wig and the Calming Li Ji Cigarette.

• Lu Guan brought out his supernatural materials and asked Chu Sheng to fuse the Li Ji, wig, and conch, offering the flashlight, phone screen, and key as payment.
• Lu Guan had Chu Sheng combine the conch with a phone, creating a Magic Conch that could divide into smaller conches and transmit voices between them.
• Lu Guan distributed the divided conches among Chu Sheng and the others, and Captain Hui praised them as a solution to the convoy's lack of walkie-talkies.
• Chu Sheng examined the fused wig, which could stay attached to its wearer and change color but had little practical use.
• Chu Sheng examined the Calming Li Ji Cigarette, which relieved mental stress and replenished its supply daily but could cause a full-body massage and orgasm.

Chu Sheng's group tested Li Ji, traded for supernatural materials, and prepared to rest before the Anomalies caught up. Captain Hui left Cheng Xue stunned with a story about a Flood Dragon Sequence Adept who married the shark he impregnated.

• Lu Guan smoked Li Ji and discovered that its Calming effect led to an orgasm even for a skeleton.
• Captain Hui said the Anomalies would catch up an hour after A Xin's ability ended, giving the group six hours to rest.
• Zhu Qing traded a scrap of cloth to Chu Sheng for Lu Guan's key so he could try to make a universal key and get a vehicle.
• An Xi fed blood to the Black Jade Bone Spear and offered more to the Lesser Thunderclap Temple for incense power.
• An Xi and A Xin discussed searching for the City of Dawn while resting with Xingzi in their vehicle.
• Captain Hui told Cheng Xue that a Flood Dragon Sequence Adept had impregnated a shark, married it, and was fleeing with their child, then told her to go have fun if she wanted.

After the Enclosed Tower collapsed, Xingzi woke in A Xin and An Xi’s vehicle and learned that Chu Sheng was safe while Xu An’s group had been left behind. As Xu An’s group began building a hidden settlement, the Intellectual Woman’s Book of Omniscience recorded Solar Grass for the first time.

• A Xin told Xingzi that the battle was over, the Enclosed Tower had collapsed, and Chu Sheng was safe.
• An Xi explained how Chu Sheng had carried the unconscious Xingzi to his car before she and A Xin moved her into theirs and fled with the convoy.
• An Xi described the convoy’s Sequence Adepts, rules, and contracts to Xingzi, who accepted that she would join them.
• Xu An’s group chose a hidden cliff near Fragrant City as their new home, and Old Li began building a perimeter wall.
• Xue Gui and Xu An discussed the group’s food shortage while the Intellectual Woman calculated Solar Grass’s yields and properties.
• The Intellectual Woman’s Book of Omniscience recorded an image and description of Solar Grass.

Xu An told the survivors what he remembered from a copied diary while Chu Sheng’s convoy rested and prepared to travel toward Poyang Lake. Chu Sheng persuaded Xingzi to join the convoy and signed her to his contract, but kept her at a distance, leaving An Xi jealous and Chu Sheng as distrustful as ever.

• The survivors confirmed Solar Grass’s properties and asked Xu An to recount the diary he had copied before the Enclosed Tower was lost.
• Captain Hui planned for the convoy to leave once A Xin’s ability wore off, then continue toward Poyang Lake to exchange diaries with another fleet.
• Chu Sheng took Xingzi aside, apologized for bringing her along without permission, and convinced her that he had acted to protect her.
• Xingzi signed Chu Sheng’s Iron Hoop Contract and asked to stay in his vehicle, but he refused and directed her to share with An Xi and A Xin.
• An Xi confronted Chu Sheng over Xingzi, then spent the night with him in the Vigorous Bedroom; by daylight, Chu Sheng kicked her out of the Netherbone Car.

In the mist-shrouded Poyang Lake region, Chu Sheng’s group struggled to stay warm and discussed the danger of prolonged exposure. During their rest, Chu Sheng fused his Black Flame with Gu Hao’s lighter to create the Eternal Flame, whose flame settled as a mark between his brows.

• Lu Guan, Old Man Li, Captain Hui, and Zhu Qing failed to start a fire in the soaking mist while discussing the region’s extreme weather.
• Chu Sheng used his Black Flame to dry the wood, allowing Captain Hui to light an ordinary fire.
• Xingzi warned that prolonged exposure to the mist could cause serious lung illnesses, and Captain Hui said he could not divine the size of the mist-covered area.
• Chu Sheng returned to the Netherworld War Chariot and found that its living flesh absorbed the mist inside.
• Chu Sheng fused his Black Flame with Gu Hao’s lighter and created the Eternal Flame, a Sacrificial Item with no cost for him to use.
• Chu Sheng activated the Eternal Flame, and its orange-red flame became a mark between his brows.

After merging with the Eternal Flame, Chu Sheng gained relief from fear and uncertainty, then helped the convoy deal with an Anomaly near a dock. Captain Hui divined that the dock ahead was clear of lower-sequence Anomalies, so Chu Sheng prepared to drive there and investigate.

• The Eternal Flame soothed Chu Sheng's uncertainty, and he discovered he could control it as a floating flame.
• Captain Hui warned Chu Sheng that an Anomaly had emerged near a dock, and Chu Sheng joined Xingzi, An Xi, and Zhu Qing to face it.
• Chu Sheng recognized that the Eternal Flame's courage could make him reckless, while Zhu Qing quickly killed the Anomaly and claimed its supernatural materials.
• Captain Hui divined that the Anomaly had spotted the convoy through the mist rather than sensed its life force, and Chu Sheng fused two keys into a Decryption Key for Zhu Qing.
• Captain Hui divined that a dock lay two hundred meters ahead with no Sequence 9 or Sequence 8 Anomalies, and Chu Sheng offered to drive the convoy there.

Chu Sheng fused Zhu Qing’s Wuling Hongguang with a fishing boat, creating an awkward amphibious vehicle that Zhu Qing accepted despite the cost. Back at the convoy, Captain Hui warned that they would encounter an unusual fleet the next morning and told everyone not to act rashly.

• At the abandoned dock, Zhu Qing asked Chu Sheng to fuse a car and a boat, and Chu Sheng agreed in exchange for one and a half pieces of supernatural material.
• Zhu Qing brought back a Wuling Hongguang, and Chu Sheng fused it with the larger fishing boat into a strange vehicle that could travel on land and water.
• Zhu Qing carried his new boat-car back to the convoy while Chu Sheng, An Xi, and Captain Hui rode in the Netherworld War Chariot.
• Xingzi worried about Chu Sheng’s group while she waited at the camp, and A Xin reassured her that they would be fine.
• Captain Hui told the group that they would encounter an unusual fleet the next morning and warned them not to act rashly.

Chu Sheng offered the Eternal Flame to the convoy, explaining its powers, cost, and the supernatural material required to obtain it. Xingzi and An Xi accepted flames, while the others declined, leaving Chu Sheng smugly pleased that he could condemn them as unwilling to sacrifice themselves for civilization.

• Chu Sheng explained the Eternal Flame to Xingzi and warned that it would consume anyone who lacked the resolve to sacrifice themselves for civilization.
• Xingzi traded her Tumbler Doll for a flame, which strengthened her courage and resolve as she prepared to confess her feelings to Chu Sheng.
• An Xi interrupted Xingzi, obtained a golden Eternal Flame after promising to pay Chu Sheng later, and gained an unwavering determination to find the City of Dawn.
• Xingzi pulled An Xi away before she could speak to Chu Sheng, and the two sat together while A Xin watched their rivalry with interest.
• Chu Sheng offered flames to Captain Hui, Old Man Li, A Xin, Zhu Qing, and Lu Guan, but they all declined or lacked supernatural materials.
• Captain Hui, An Xi, and others questioned how Chu Sheng had qualified for the Eternal Flame, while Chu Sheng walked away secretly delighted to condemn them.

Chu Sheng spotted a fleet enslaving survivors and argued over whether to attack, ultimately deciding against it after Captain Hui warned of a powerful explosive Sacrificial Item. As the fleet approached the Dock, its five Sequence Adepts noticed Chu Sheng’s group and considered making contact.

• Chu Sheng spotted five boats carrying enslaved survivors, including a woman who whipped Brother Long and ordered a young man to heal him with a Peace Pendant.
• Captain Hui identified the fleet as having five Sequence Adepts and more than a hundred and thirty survivors, and advised Chu Sheng’s group to avoid a fight and try trading journals.
• Chu Sheng initially called for attacking the fleet, then changed his position after Captain Hui warned that one of their Sacrificial Items could explode across a hundred meters.
• Xingzi praised Chu Sheng’s changing arguments, while An Xi mocked him.
• The five Sequence Adepts gathered on one boat, and the scrawny boy estimated that Chu Sheng’s group had eight Sequence superhumans.
• The woman with the whip and the other Adepts considered making contact and possibly inviting Chu Sheng’s group to join them.