Chapter Summaries

Qin Siyang learned that touching a Sandworm Scale could transfer the Sandworm’s [Succession Trial], and realized Qian Wendao may have deliberately given him one after passing the trial himself. The Rock Core Being confirmed that transferred trials could begin after a delay, leaving Qin Siyang with no doubt that Qian Wendao’s gift had set the Sandworm on his trail.

• Qin Siyang asked the Rock Core Being whether touching a Sandworm Scale could trigger the [Succession Trial], and learned that a transferred scale could qualify someone else for it.
• Qin Siyang remembered that Qian Wendao had handed him a Sandworm Scale, claiming a God-Hunting Team had found it.
• Qin Siyang concluded that Qian Wendao may have pulled out the scale, passed the Sandworm’s [Succession Trial], and then given him another scale.
• Qin Siyang asked whether the trial began immediately after a scale changed hands, hoping the delay might absolve Qian Wendao.
• The Rock Core Being explained that the Sandworm could begin its hunt immediately or after months, but would eventually come for the scale’s new holder.

Qin Siyang realized Qian Wendao may have targeted him because of his hidden Sequence-[God Eater], then negotiated with the Rock Core Being for information about the Sandworm's [Succession Trial]. The Rock Core Being explained the obscure condition for passing the trial.

• Qin Siyang suspected Qian Wendao had deceived him because of his Sequence-[God Eater], but hid his shock while facing the Rock Core Being.
• Qin Siyang offered the Rock Core Being over a hundred sets of god remains in exchange for help with the Sandworm's [Succession Trial].
• Qin Siyang argued that their deal already broke the rules, since the Rock Core Being could not take the remains of Medium Gods, and persuaded it to share information.
• Qin Siyang promised not to reveal the Rock Core Being as his source, and it agreed to explain the Sandworm's trial.
• The Rock Core Being told Qin Siyang he had to leave the Sandworm with no servants before it caught him, either by outrunning them or eliminating them.

Qin Siyang learned more about the Sandworm's [Succession Trial] and traded a severed arm for a piece of the Rock Core Being. After completing their exchange, the Rock Core Being revealed that it would leave Earth because it had broken too many rules.

• Qin Siyang questioned the Rock Core Being about how it healed and asked for a sample of its body.
• When the Rock Core Being mocked him to cut off an arm for study, Qin Siyang severed his left arm and demanded the promised sample.
• The Rock Core Being gave Qin Siyang a white sphere from its body, saying it admired his resolve and courage.
• Qin Siyang handed over Storage Boxes containing one complete corpse of each of 137 types of Medium God, and the Rock Core Being confirmed the transaction.
• The Rock Core Being told Qin Siyang to take his spoils and friend and leave, then confirmed it would leave Earth because it had broken too many rules.

Qin Siyang escaped the mine with Yu Yongyou after the Rock Core Being let them go, and fell asleep from exhaustion. Elsewhere, the Succession Envoy punished the Rock Core Being for breaking the rules by taking one of its seven eyes, then ordered it to withdraw.

• Qin Siyang asked the Rock Core Being why the Evolutionary Sequence Domain existed and why the gods had descended on Earth, but accepted its warning that answering would kill them both.
• Yu Yongyou woke up, saw Qin Siyang's missing arm, and carried him toward the Safe Zone as Qin Siyang fell asleep.
• The Rock Core Being told the Succession Envoy it would withdraw, but the crow accused it of trying to invest in Qin Siyang and interfering in matters beyond its standing.
• The Rock Core Being pleaded that it had not killed Qin Siyang and had even helped him, but the Succession Envoy insisted it had still broken the rules.
• The Rock Core Being crushed one of its own eyes, then learned from the Succession Envoy that losing an eye was the price of its breach and that it should withdraw with its remaining spoils.

As the World-Destroying Church’s event stirred turmoil in the Sigma District, Olof continued killing cultists while the leaders of the Path of the Believer discussed their weakening strength. 002 concluded that they had to move against the World-Destroying Church rather than wait for the Safe Zone to collapse.

• Residents, fugitives, and United Government officials fled the Sigma District as disorder grew ahead of the World-Destroying Church’s event.
• Liu Yingfeng became district chief, and Olof became office director of the Police Department, where he returned after killing several cultists.
• During a meeting, 002 thanked Olof for hunting cultists while the others urged him to conserve his strength for the coming event.
• 002 announced that another God Illusion on the Path of the Believer had disappeared, and Olof identified it as the eyeball-shaped one.
• 002 warned that the World-Destroying Church could wait for the Path of the Believer to weaken and called for action against the cult.

Gu Weiyang met Ander and Zone 1’s leaders to hear Jin Mian’s proposal amid growing instability and rising costs of maintaining order. Jin Mian revealed he wanted to raise Zone 1’s anti-cult fees, and Gu Weiyang challenged him over who would bear the cost.

• 007 argued that killing Zone 1’s people would do more good than killing the World-Destroying Church, but 002 and 009 said Zone 1 was still necessary to maintain the system.
• Gu Weiyang agreed to meet Ander in Zone 1 and passed identity and memory-continuity checks to enter.
• Gu Weiyang joined Ander and the remaining leaders at their table, where they discussed the deaths that had reduced their group’s numbers.
• Ander asked Jin Mian to present his proposal, and Gu Weiyang interrupted his speech and demanded its point.
• Jin Mian proposed raising Zone 1’s anti-cult fees, and Gu Weiyang accused him of planning to bleed the states, cities, and factions dry.

Gu Weiyang argued with Jin Mian and Zhou Bi over rising stability levies and the resources Zone 1 demanded, while they disputed the sacrifices and choices that had shaped the Safe Zone. The argument ended with Gu Weiyang saying he only wanted to be human.

• Jin Mian defended increasing stability maintenance contributions, but Gu Weiyang accused Zone 1 of draining poorer regions while shielding factions from direct levies.
• Gu Weiyang argued that Zone 1 needed fewer resources because its leaders had lost their convictions, and accused them of failing to help stop the World-Destroying Church.
• Zhou Bi recounted the deaths and sacrifices of the first chosen ones during the Safe Zone’s construction, the fight against the World-Destroying Church, and the conflict with Zhang Yang.
• Zhou Bi accused Gu Weiyang of ignoring their past service and slaughtering them for disagreeing with him, and insisted they deserved resources to grow stronger.
• Gu Weiyang challenged Zhou Bi’s account by asking whether the Safe Zone should have been left unbuilt, whether the World-Destroying Church should have been allowed to manipulate its followers, and whether Zhang Yang’s feudal system should have been restored.
• Gu Weiyang said he did not want to be a saint and only wanted to be human.

Gu Weiyang challenged Jin Mian and Zhou Bi over funding policies that burdened ordinary people and repeatedly provoked conflict with powerful factions. He refused to sign the proposed document or manage the consequences, leaving them to clean up their own mess.

• Gu Weiyang argued that ordinary people were being denied the means to survive and proposed waiving some fees for State 13 and State No. 14 while increasing District 2's share.
• Jin Mian defended the policies as necessary to preserve stability, while Yang Xian criticized the fees as unfair.
• Gu Weiyang recounted how Zhou Bi and Jin Mian's previous attempts to tax factions had led to killings, unrest, and repeated crises he had to resolve.
• Zhou Bi and Jin Mian looked to the sleeping black cat for support, but he did not respond.
• Gu Weiyang refused to sign the document or handle its fallout, then left and told them to clean up their own mess.

After recovering at Yu Family Mining, Qin Siyang struggled with Qian Wendao’s betrayal and found that reading the [Apocalypse Fragment] intensified his negative emotions. He sought Shan En to ask about contacting someone outside Sigma District, but learned there was no safe way to call from within.

• Yu Yongyou gave the unconscious Qin Siyang a Limb Regeneration potion, restoring his severed arm.
• Qin Siyang woke and tried to read the second part of the [Apocalypse Fragment], but its first line triggered agitation and blurred vision.
• Qin Siyang reflected on his history with Qian Wendao and felt wounded by the betrayal.
• Qin Siyang left Yu Family Mining and waited for Shan En at Old Johnny's tavern.
• Qin Siyang asked Shan En for a safe way to call someone outside Sigma District, and Shan En said there was none.
• Qin Siyang declined to leave Sigma District to contact his friends and concluded that some things had been rotten at the root.

Qin Siyang saw a giant bird-shaped phantom in the Starry Sky and suspected that the [Apocalypse Fragment] had made it visible to him. Shan En told him he had secured four permanent Underground City shops by impersonating Snake Cards Wanted Criminals, but the World-Destroying Church was watching the lucrative shop opened under [Yu Gu]'s identity.

• Qin Siyang noticed a huge bird-shaped phantom overhead, suspected it was connected to the [Apocalypse Fragment], and felt some of his worries ease.
• Shan En told Qin Siyang he had impersonated ten Snake Cards Wanted Criminals to apply for Underground City shops, succeeding with [Zhang Yidao], [Yan Zifei], [Claire Invi], and [Yu Gu].
• Shan En explained that the World-Destroying Church was secretly watching the shop secured under [Yu Gu]'s identity, while the other three shops had opened for business.
• Qin Siyang and Shan En discussed closing [Yu Gu]'s shop to avoid attracting attention, but Shan En explained that [Yu Gu]'s reputation could make it exceptionally profitable.
• Shan En estimated that [Yu Gu]'s shop could earn about as much as the Yu Family's mining revenue in Sigma District.

Qin Siyang persuaded Shan En to open Yu Gu’s shop in the Underground City, hoping to profit from the district’s wealthy customers while keeping Chang Tianxiong’s identity secret. Their opening drew a crowd, but someone demanded proof that Shan En was Yu Gu.

• Shan En explained that the shop could earn as much as the Four Major Mining Companies in Sigma District, convincing Qin Siyang to risk opening it.
• Qin Siyang told Shan En they did not need to fool the World-Destroying Church because they really were Yu Gu.
• Shan En led Qin Siyang and their companions to the shop at a busy Underground City intersection, where they cleaned the premises.
• Shan En impersonated Yu Gu while Qin Siyang blended in with the servants and watched his back.
• Shan En announced that the shop would sell god materials and tools and accept advance and custom orders, drawing an eager crowd.
• A person stepped forward and challenged Shan En to prove that he was Yu Gu.

Shan En opened a shop under the identity of [Yu Gu], and the Underground City crowd quickly flocked to buy its wide selection of goods. Qin Siyang managed the busy shop, exposed a customer from the Reincarnation Church who tried to pay with fake coins, and killed him.

• Shan En killed a man who questioned his identity and announced that his shop was opening.
• Shan En’s servants stocked the shop, and he left as the crowd rushed inside to trade.
• Qin Siyang disguised himself as a servant, kept order, and calculated that the shop had earned at least five gold coins in two hours.
• Qin Siyang caught a fat man trying to pay with copper coins disguised as silver and identified his [Deceiver] sequence.
• The fat man admitted that the Reincarnation Church had sent him to test the shop, and Qin Siyang killed him.

Qin Siyang killed a Reincarnation Church spy and used the shop’s strength to intimidate the Underground City’s onlookers. World-Destroying Church members assumed [Yu Gu] was dead and decided to avoid confronting the impostor while they proceeded cautiously ahead of the year-end affair.

• Qin Siyang killed the Reincarnation Church’s [Deceiver] with one punch and reprimanded a servant for carelessly collecting payments.
• Onlookers concluded that [Yu Gu]’s shop represented a powerful force, while Qin Siyang expected the World-Destroying Church to accept the impostor’s identity rather than risk a conflict.
• A servant hung the bodies of Shan En’s victim and the [Deceiver] outside the shop, and Qin Siyang checked the surveillance and emergency barrier before slipping away.
• Two World-Destroying Church members discussed [Yu Gu]’s presumed death and wondered whether the shop’s impostor had killed him.
• Wang Zhongming said he would not demand an explanation because the year-end affair had drawn Zone 1’s attention and the Yusi had ordered caution.

As the Safe Zones prepared for the World-Destroying Church’s December 31 meeting, Qin Siyang secretly read the second part of the [Apocalypse Fragment]. He found its guidance confusing and suspected his copy was fake, then suffered a sudden, mysterious cramp after cursing its maker.

• Qin Siyang withdrew to his room at Yu's Mining and set up protections before reading the second part of the [Apocalypse Fragment].
• Qin Siyang learned about the [Path of Self-Verification], the [Origin Sequence], and the requirements for advancing along the Paths of the Believer and Self-Verification.
• Qin Siyang found the fragment’s explanations unhelpful and doubted that paving his path could raise his [Origin Sequence] level.
• Qin Siyang suspected Yu Bianwei had left him a bootleg fragment and cursed whoever had made it.
• Qin Siyang’s muscles cramped and he fell stiffly onto the bed as a giant eye among the stars slowly closed.

After suffering a dangerous mental backlash, Qin Siyang read the third part of the [Apocalypse Fragment] and discovered it addressed him directly, praised him for advancing his [origin sequence], and promised a gift. He could only read its repeated opening passage, but realized that further advancement might reveal the rest just as new points of starshine appeared along his path of self-validation.

• Qin Siyang recovered from convulsions caused by insulting the [Apocalypse Fragment] and drank three mental-boosting potions to continue reading.
• The third part praised Qin Siyang for seeing through the false information about advancing his [origin sequence] and promised him a gift for further improvement.
• Reading the passage filled Qin Siyang with crushing nihilism, but he forced himself to continue despite the mental pressure.
• Qin Siyang found that the third part appeared to repeat the same passage whenever he focused on it, though the blurred lines seemed different.
• Qin Siyang guessed that advancing his [origin sequence] again would let him decipher more and possibly claim the promised gift, then noticed glittering points of starshine on his path of self-validation.

Qin Siyang received six extra primordial starshine after deciphering the third part of the [Apocalypse Fragment], then realized the fragment might reveal different information to different people. When Li Tianming and Zhang Kuang arrived, Qin Siyang told them he had figured out how the Apocalypse began and could end Zhang Kuang’s memory-rewriting torment.

• Qin Siyang found six primordial starshine above the Path of Self-Verification, thanked the [Apocalypse Fragment], and refined them, nearly tripling his strength.
• Qin Siyang counted 190 white light points still surrounding him and suspected the six starshine had been an extra gift that did not consume his points.
• Qin Siyang questioned how the [Apocalypse Fragment] knew he had found his breakthrough without outside help and wondered whether different people saw different contents.
• Li Tianming and Zhang Kuang came to Qin Siyang’s stone chamber, and Li Tianming activated Conversation Shielding before speaking.
• Qin Siyang interrupted Li Tianming and told Zhang Kuang he had figured out how the Apocalypse came about, so Zhang Kuang would no longer suffer rewritten memories.

Qin Siyang revealed both parts of the [Apocalypse Fragment] to Zhang Kuang and Li Tianming, explaining the apocalypse’s true history and the path of self-verification. Zhang Kuang realized he could restore his memories, while Li Tianming revealed that he had already reached the [origin sequence].

• Qin Siyang told Zhang Kuang and Li Tianming that the apocalypse had begun a year before they arrived and that their memories of its arrival had been altered.
• Zhang Kuang and Li Tianming questioned Qin Siyang about the memory protections, and Qin Siyang argued that they would retain what he told them because the United Government feared the [Apocalypse Fragment] being revealed.
• Zhang Kuang decided he could undo the changes he had made to his memories, and Li Tianming hoped this would improve Zhang Kuang’s mental state and keep him from dying young.
• Qin Siyang revealed the second part of the [Apocalypse Fragment] and explained the path of self-verification to Zhang Kuang.
• Zhang Kuang said it was too late for him to abandon the path of the believer, but the path of self-verification suited Li Tianming; Li Tianming then said he had already reached the [origin sequence].

Li Tianming explained his rare [Mimic] sequence and the research that let him use several sequences’ skills at once, despite the strain it placed on his body. After breaking through to [Origin Sequence], he said he could finally stand against Guo Jiuxiao in battle.

• Qin Siyang learned that Li Tianming had successfully completed his God-Worship Ritual, while Zhang Kuang revealed Li had left farewell letters before the risky breakthrough.
• Li Tianming told Qin Siyang that his [Mimic] sequence could perfectly copy a sequence’s skills after he understood them, and that he could modify the skills he copied.
• Li Tianming explained that his research let him combine skills from multiple sequences, while Zhang Kuang praised his work as unmatched among Safe Zone researchers.
• Li Tianming revealed that using several sequences at once strained his body, so he used rare materials to strengthen and repair himself and build a vessel for multiple sequence abilities.
• Li Tianming said his breakthrough to [Origin Sequence] let him mimic skills that other sequences awakened on the path of the believer, and declared that he could finally fight Guo Jiuxiao.

Li Tianming explained that Guo Jiuxiao’s breakthrough let him control multiple [Mirror Image] doubles, making him a formidable rival. Learning Guo Jiuxiao might use the [Apocalypse Fragment] to escape to the Next Safe Zone, Li Tianming vowed to stop him.

• Qin Siyang was shocked that Li Tianming could barely fight Guo Jiuxiao, and Zhang Kuang explained the standing of the top researchers on the Tiger Cards.
• Zhang Kuang named Lei Xiaoting, Guo Jiuxiao, and Li Tianming as the research community’s three exceptional talents, then described Guo Jiuxiao’s secret research as similar in direction to Li Tianming’s.
• Li Tianming explained that Guo Jiuxiao’s [Person in the Mirror] ability let him control other people and that Guo Jiuxiao could now likely control multiple [Mirror Image] doubles at once.
• Qin Siyang urged Li Tianming to wait until they were stronger before seeking revenge, but Li Tianming said Guo Jiuxiao might use the [Apocalypse Fragment] to reach the Next Safe Zone in twelve years.
• Li Tianming recalled how Guo Jiuxiao had hurt Ye Hongqing and Xiaofei and torn his family apart, then vowed never to let him leave.

Li Tianming told Qin Siyang that Hao Liang had disappeared and left him a box of solvents, then relayed Principal Zhao’s findings about the poison gas attack. Qin Siyang learned that the Qin Character Legion had targeted his troops and that its spy had met Qin Chunchang.

• Qin Siyang accepted that Li Tianming was determined to fight Guo Jiuxiao and asked whether their allies would help.
• Li Tianming said Chang Tianxiang had withdrawn, Wu Yu was outside the Safe Zone, and Hao Liang had vanished after leaving Qin Siyang a Storage Box of solvents.
• Qin Siyang realized Hao Liang was unlikely to return and was left wondering why he had gone without a message.
• Li Tianming relayed Principal Zhao’s investigation, which found that the spy gathering intelligence on Qin Siyang’s troops also worked for the Qin Character Legion.
• Li Tianming said the spy had met Qin Chunchang, and Qin Siyang reacted with disbelief that Qin Yingguang had ordered the attack.