Chapter Summaries

Qin Siyang chose to keep forging ahead despite Li Tianming’s concerns, and Zhao Longfei gave them the report on Yamamoto Taro’s memories. The report revealed Yamamoto had worked for the World-Destroying Church’s Assassination Division and that the Church planned to raise the reward for killing Qin Siyang a hundredfold.

• Qin Siyang reconciled Li Tianming and Zhao Longfei, then told Li he had decided to keep moving forward and accept the risks.
• Zhao Longfei handed Li Tianming the report on Yamamoto Taro’s memories and explained that he had erased the memories of Yamamoto’s fight with Qin Siyang.
• Qin Siyang and Li Tianming read that Yamamoto had taken assignments from the World-Destroying Church’s Assassination Division and supported his mother and younger sister.
• Zhao Longfei said Yamamoto’s family had relocated and revealed that Yamamoto had been promised two thousand bottles of Sequence Potion to kill Qin Siyang.
• Zhao Longfei told Qin Siyang the World-Destroying Church planned to increase the bounty on his head a hundredfold, shocking him.

Qin Siyang learned that the World-Destroying Church had raised the price for assassinating him to an astronomical level, but Zhao Longfei warned him that threats were part of rising to prominence. After reviewing more memories, Qin Siyang discovered that someone had placed a mission on Chu Baxing and decided to help him when trouble came.

• Zhao Longfei explained that the World-Destroying Church demanded two hundred thousand bottles of Sequence Potion to assassinate Qin Siyang, making the mission too costly for anyone to accept without offering exceptional benefits.
• Li Tianming warned Qin Siyang that prominent figures faced assassination attempts and urged him to choose a safer path, but Qin Siyang refused to back down.
• Qin Siyang said he was gathering offerings with Hu Chan's help and intended to embark on the Path of the Believer before classes started.
• Qin Siyang reread the report and noticed that the assassin had been sent to Sigma District to collect a reward after killing him.
• Qin Siyang found a memory showing that someone had posted a mission to kill Chu Baxing, and he decided to wait until Chu Baxing was in trouble before helping him.

Qin Siyang prepared to hunt gods outside the Safe Zone with Hu Chan while waiting anxiously for Wen Shu’s Gaokao results. Just as the results were announced and Qin Siyang tried to message her, Wen Shu arrived at his door.

• Li Tianming told Qin Siyang to consult him before opening the Path of the Believer, then left to pick up Xiaofei.
• Qin Siyang learned from Zhao Longfei that Guo Jiuxiao’s apparent presence at Central Glory’s Laboratory Building was a fake, and decided to press Hu Chan for Zhang Yingrui’s memory extraction.
• Qin Siyang arranged for Hu Chan to establish himself at Nine Dragons College before they left the Safe Zone over the weekend to hunt gods.
• Qin Siyang packed supplies and potions for a potentially prolonged trip, then waited for news of Wen Shu’s Gaokao results.
• After a forum post announced that regular students’ results were out, Qin Siyang began composing a message to Wen Shu, but she knocked on his door.

Wen Shu told Qin Siyang that she had placed eighth in the Safe Zone’s Gaokao and had secured admission to Nine Dragons College, delighting him after briefly making him think she would leave the area. A few days later, Qin Siyang set off underground with Hu Chan, insisting that the day’s auspicious calendar entries promised a successful hunt for gods.

• Wen Shu visited Qin Siyang and teased him by claiming she might not get into Nine Dragons College, prompting him to offer help with her travel and living arrangements.
• Wen Shu revealed that she had placed eighth across the Safe Zone and was certain to enter Nine Dragons College, and Qin Siyang reacted with amazement.
• Wen Shu returned to her room and told Grandmother Xu that she had informed Qin Siyang of her admission.
• Qin Siyang traveled underground with Hu Chan in a Drill Pod and argued that the calendar’s auspicious entries meant they would reap rewards from hunting gods.

Qin Siyang took Hu Chan beyond the Safe Zone and explained his belief that large gods rarely attacked humans unless provoked. After revealing that he had once survived three hundred kilometers outside the Safe Zone and found valuable materials, he left Hu Chan eager to venture even farther.

• Qin Siyang drove the Drill Pod toward territory two hundred kilometers beyond the Safe Zone while Hu Chan worried about encountering large gods.
• Qin Siyang used the bird to prove that he had once gone three hundred kilometers beyond the Safe Zone on foot and explained that he had gotten lost.
• Qin Siyang argued that large gods outside the Safe Zone usually did not attack humans unless provoked, and Hu Chan realized his own theft of the Vine Heart had triggered the sacrificial giant vine.
• Hu Chan decided to wait until he unlocked the path of the believer before adventuring, but Qin Siyang mentioned finding a titan reed inner leaf fragment and a Corrosive Fluid Sac while lost.
• Hu Chan eagerly urged Qin Siyang to drive toward four hundred or even five hundred kilometers beyond the Safe Zone.

Qin Siyang and Hu Chan searched the wasteland for gods, collecting Blood Moon Spiders and Abyss Hounds as offerings. After days of uneven progress, they encountered a group of Multi-Headed Weasels, and Hu Chan urged Qin Siyang to flee.

• Qin Siyang and Hu Chan traveled away from the Safe Zone, with Hu Chan searching for gods while Qin Siyang waited in the Drill Pod.
• Hu Chan found an underground nest and returned with more than two hundred Blood Moon Spiders, helping Qin Siyang build up their disc carapace collection.
• They continued hunting despite frequent empty outings and fleeing from a doom octopus, then Hu Chan brought back more than a hundred Abyss Hounds.
• Qin Siyang told the exhausted Hu Chan to rest, and they took turns keeping watch before setting out again.
• After Hu Chan insisted they keep searching, he spotted a dozen Multi-Headed Weasels and shouted for Qin Siyang to escape.

Qin Siyang hesitated over hunting Multi-Headed Weasels because the Nightmare Lantern Tree was nearby, but offered Hu Chan a share of his rare potions to help with the research. Hu Chan agreed to hunt without payment and asked to research with Qin Siyang in the future, leaving Qin Siyang trying to refuse.

• Hu Chan warned Qin Siyang that Multi-Headed Weasels meant a Nightmare Lantern Tree was nearby and urged him to flee.
• Qin Siyang considered whether his Pure-Brightness Bracelet could protect them from the Nightmare Lantern Tree, but Hu Chan said it could not contend with a Large God.
• Qin Siyang recalled Professor Hao Liang’s kindness and weighed whether to hunt the Multi-Headed Weasels for research.
• Qin Siyang offered Hu Chan a third of his high-grade potions if he joined the hunt, and Hu Chan was amazed by the potions and Qin Siyang’s apparent talent.
• Hu Chan agreed to hunt the Multi-Headed Weasels without payment and asked Qin Siyang to let him do research with him in the future.
• Qin Siyang refused, worried that Hu Chan would discover he was not truly a researcher.

Qin Siyang took Hu Chan to hunt Multi-Headed Weasels, insisting that Hu Chan drive the Drill Pod while he attacked alone. After using two potions to disable the creatures without damaging their many heads, Qin Siyang kept hunting as Hu Chan shouted unheard warnings from inside the soundproof pod.

• Qin Siyang refused Hu Chan's request to join his research and agreed to hunt Multi-Headed Weasels in exchange for one-third of the potions.
• Qin Siyang chose a Quick-Knowing Potion and a Precision Potion, then told Hu Chan to drive the Drill Pod and pick him up after the hunt.
• Qin Siyang rushed the Drill Pod toward the Multi-Headed Weasels, swallowed the potions and God Remains, and flashed out to attack.
• Qin Siyang used precise strikes to disable and kill the Multi-Headed Weasels while keeping their heads intact for Hao Liang's research.
• Hu Chan shouted for Qin Siyang to stop after collecting a dozen or so creatures, but the soundproof Drill Pod kept Qin Siyang from hearing him.

Qin Siyang and Hu Chan fled the Nightmare Lantern Tree after Qin Siyang finished hunting the Multi-Headed Weasels, but the Drill Pod broke down and left them stranded. A lantern fruit containing Qin Siyang’s own face appeared inside the vehicle.

• Qin Siyang killed the remaining Multi-Headed Weasels and began collecting their bodies despite Hu Chan’s pleas.
• Qin Siyang spotted the Nightmare Lantern Tree approaching and raced back to the Drill Pod while its branches and mist pursued him.
• Hu Chan opened the hatch and drove away at full power, leaving the Nightmare Lantern Tree behind for a time.
• The Drill Pod stopped after Hu Chan crushed its accelerator, and Qin Siyang and Hu Chan argued about the damage as the tree watched nearby.
• A dark-gold lantern fruit appeared inside the Drill Pod, and Qin Siyang recognized his own twisted face trapped within it.

After Qin Siyang was enveloped by a lantern fruit from the Nightmare Lantern Tree, he awoke as a baby in an unfamiliar world, unable to remember his past. He grew up as the beloved son of affectionate parents, still troubled by tangled memories, and reached age ten as a high-achieving student.

• Qin Siyang recognized the lantern fruit as a threat, but his attempt to push it away failed, and its dark golden light enveloped him.
• Qin Siyang awoke as a baby in a hospital, where his new mother and father welcomed him and celebrated when he grasped his father's finger.
• Qin Siyang gradually gained energy and learned to think and communicate, while his parents wondered why he often seemed troubled.
• Qin Siyang's parents took him to the hospital several times, but doctors found him physically healthy and mentally normal.
• Qin Siyang started elementary school and later told his parents that he had placed second in his grade, behind Wen Shu.
• At age ten, Qin Siyang's parents praised and fussed over him, while he protested that their affection embarrassed him.

Qin Siyang built a successful business career, married Sally, and spent a long life with his family and friends before collapsing at the cemetery. He awoke in a strange dark golden world beneath a tree, where two figures stood.

• Qin Siyang excelled in school, moved overseas with his parents, and later became a prominent businessman after graduating from an elite university.
• Qin Siyang met Sally at a Miracle Society ball, married her, and eventually took over his father's multinational business.
• Qin Siyang returned to Huaguo with Sally and their children, funded improvements at his former schools, and learned from the principal that Wen Shu had died about five years earlier.
• Qin Siyang and Sally retired after their children took over the business, and he spent his later years with Qi Jiangnan and Gu Yunpeng.
• Qin Siyang collapsed while visiting the cemetery with his children, then awoke in a dark golden world and approached a tree where two figures stood.

Qin Siyang faced a choice between reliving a harsh life of struggle in the Safe Zone and enjoying a comfortable life with a loving family. Despite the pain and repeated attempts to sway him, he chose the life on the left.

• Qin Siyang examined two versions of himself and saw one life marked by danger and hardship and the other by family happiness and success.
• A voice from a strange tree told Qin Siyang that he had to choose one life to repeat forever or perish in agony.
• His left-hand self urged him to choose struggle and growth, while his right-hand self urged him to choose a life of happiness.
• Qin Siyang nearly chose the life on the right, but the pain eased and he reconsidered before answering.
• Qin Siyang repeatedly chose the life on the left despite the tree's renewed pain and offers to change his mind.

Qin Siyang and Hu Chan recovered from the Nightmare Lantern Tree’s dream after more than two days unconscious, remembering only fragments of the lives they had imagined. They discussed why they chose to return to the Safe Zone, and Qin Siyang ended by teasing Hu Chan over no longer calling him President Qin.

• Qin Siyang awoke in the Drill Pod and remembered that the perfect life he had experienced was a dream caused by the Nightmare Lantern Tree.
• Hu Chan explained that he had awakened a few hours earlier and that they had been unconscious for a little over two days.
• Qin Siyang and Hu Chan compared their hazy dream lives and recalled choosing to return to the Safe Zone instead of remaining in the dream.
• Hu Chan explained that his dream had included doing something wrong that made him happy, while Qin Siyang claimed he had chosen reality through calm reasoning.
• Qin Siyang used Truth to test Hu Chan, then complained that Hu Chan no longer called him President Qin.

After escaping the Nightmare Lantern Tree’s dream, Qin Siyang explained why he chose his Safe Zone life, and he and Hu Chan discovered the Drill Pod had been repaired. Qin Siyang drove them away from the danger, but dark-gold light suddenly appeared again.

• Qin Siyang explained that the Safe Zone life was real because its memories stopped at eighteen, while the Nightmare Lantern Tree’s dream showed a complete lifetime.
• Hu Chan said the Drill Pod had been working normally when he woke, leaving Qin Siyang uncertain whether its earlier accelerator failure had been real.
• Qin Siyang used Truth to test Hu Chan about whether the Nightmare Lantern Tree had left materials, angering him when he admitted he had switched it on deliberately.
• Qin Siyang checked the Drill Pod’s systems and drove away rather than returning to search for materials.
• Dark-gold light suddenly illuminated the Drill Pod again as Qin Siyang and Hu Chan talked.

Qin Siyang and Hu Chan discovered that the Nightmare Lantern Tree had left mysterious seeds bonded to them, then continued hunting gods despite Hu Chan’s exhaustion. Aboveground, a Black Bird watched the tree before it fled in the opposite direction from them.

• Qin Siyang and Hu Chan watched lantern-shaped seeds emerge from their foreheads and become tangible in their owners’ hands.
• Qin Siyang and Hu Chan sensed that the seeds affected their minds and discovered that neither could touch the other’s seed.
• Qin Siyang and Hu Chan hid their seeds in their Storage Boxes and agreed to keep them secret from Yu Ziying, Li Tianming, and Zhao Longfei.
• Qin Siyang persuaded the exhausted Hu Chan to continue hunting gods by promising him titan reed inner leaf fragments.
• A Black Bird flew away from the Nightmare Lantern Tree, which then fled in the opposite direction from Qin Siyang and Hu Chan.

Hu Chan persuaded Qin Siyang to hunt farther from the Safe Zone and build a genuine partnership, while revealing what he knew about yellow-silver star ore. They headed toward a site fifty kilometers from the Safe Zone, where Hu Chan warned that Professor Zhong Dingming’s children had disappeared after he obtained the rare material.

• Hu Chan argued that teams of sequence level five ability users would push god-hunting farther from the Safe Zone, and Qin Siyang agreed to stop the Drill Pod fifty kilometers out.
• Qin Siyang gave Hu Chan a third of the potion they had earned hunting Multi-Headed Weasels, while Hu Chan asked him to honor his promise about the titan reed inner leaf fragment.
• Qin Siyang collected another chunk of yellow-silver ore, and Hu Chan showed him a piece of yellow-silver star ore obtained from Zhong Dingming.
• Hu Chan explained that Zhong Dingming was the only known source of yellow-silver star ore and suggested Qin Siyang speak with him about how it was made.
• Hu Chan told Qin Siyang that Zhong Dingming’s eldest son disappeared after he became a Top Sequence Artifact Research Professor, and his other two children vanished after he announced obtaining yellow-silver star ore.

Qin Siyang and Hu Chan discussed Zhong Dingming’s missing children and the risks of trusting strangers before continuing their search for offerings outside the Safe Zone. They gathered hundreds of Blood Moon Spider and Abyss Hound disc carapaces, but the mixed point values left each offering one tile short of completion.

• Hu Chan explained that Zhong Dingming’s three children had likely been kidnapped and killed to pressure him for information about Yellow-Silver Star Ore, while Qin Siyang considered trying to coax the truth from him.
• Qin Siyang examined the Nightmare Lantern Tree seed and found that it remained corporeal when struck with the Heaven-Splitting Halberd.
• Hu Chan led Qin Siyang to a Blood Moon Spider nest, where they collected enough carapaces to bring every point value to over ninety.
• Qin Siyang and Hu Chan hunted a pack of Abyss Hounds and gathered enough carapaces to bring each of their point values to over ninety as well.
• Hu Chan pointed out that the carapaces needed to match in point value and carry Qin Siyang’s aura, leaving most of their more than eight hundred carapaces unusable for completing offerings.

Qin Siyang and Hu Chan discussed the United Government’s secrets and continued hunting for offerings despite days of bad luck. After Qin Siyang prayed to his ancestors, Hu Chan returned from his first hunt with a Blood Moon Spider and an Abyss Hound from the same nest.

• Qin Siyang questioned Hu Chan about disc carapaces, and Hu Chan warned him that researching them could challenge the United Government’s authority.
• Qin Siyang speculated that the Military could make its own Sequence Potions and planned to question Chu Baxing about it.
• Qin Siyang refused to return to the Safe Zone before collecting all the small-god disc carapace offerings, but he and Hu Chan found nothing for several days.
• After the Drill Pod ran out of fuel and Qin Siyang used up his Sequence Potions, he returned to the Safe Zone to restock.
• Qin Siyang apologized to his ancestors and prayed for luck before setting out with Hu Chan again.
• Hu Chan returned with a Blood Moon Spider and an Abyss Hound that he had found together in one nest.

Qin Siyang returned to Nanrong University with the offerings needed to advance on the Path of the Believer and a titan reed fragment for Hu Chan. The professors gathered to welcome him, and Wu Yu gave him a new Tier-Four God-Hunting Artifact, while Hao Liang eagerly waited to hear what Qin had brought back.

• Qin Siyang showed Hu Chan that he had collected the complete set of small god offerings and gave him a titan reed inner leaf fragment as payment for their cooperation.
• Qin Siyang refused Hu Chan's request to borrow the Drill Pod and drove them back to Nanrong University.
• Qin Siyang sent Hu Chan out of the Miracle Building, then called the professors together and learned that Li Tianming was welcoming a returning friend and Lu Daoxing was still researching God-Hunting Artifacts.
• Wu Yu gave Qin Siyang a Tier-Four ring that identified likely sequence abilities and inferred others from its database.
• Hao Liang asked Qin Siyang whether he had brought back a Multi-Headed Weasel.

Qin Siyang returned with over a hundred Multi-Headed Weasels, and Professor Hao revealed that their blood could erase ownership traces from disc carapace or produce Sequence Potions. Hao warned that researching them threatened the United Government’s control, leaving Qin Siyang to suspect Hao had a dangerous purpose for requesting them.

• Qin Siyang showed the professors more than a hundred fresh Multi-Headed Weasel corpses and confirmed he had seen the Nightmare Lantern Tree.
• Hao Liang pulled Qin Siyang into a laboratory, apologized for putting him at risk, and promised to be honest with him.
• Hao Liang explained that Multi-Headed Weasel blood contained a multi-brain molecule that could erase traces from disc carapace or dissolve it into a Sequence Potion.
• Hao Liang warned that these uses could disrupt the United Government’s points verification and control over Sequence Ability Users.
• Qin Siyang realized the danger of the research and began to suspect Hao Liang’s reason for asking him to obtain the Multi-Headed Weasels.