Chapter Summaries

Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and Caregiver struggled to defeat Black-Skinned Aoke until Dishwasher removed the cross suppressing his power and unleashed [Gestalt Collapse]. With Dishwasher’s overwhelming attack exposing Black-Skinned Aoke’s weakness, the others killed him, and Dishwasher put the cross back on as his ability’s development rate fell to its original level.

• Black-Skinned Aoke sent increasingly numerous strands of Black Matter at Qin Yiguan, Caregiver, and Underworld, who realized his supply was limited but suffered serious injuries while trying to exploit that weakness.
• Caregiver took a strand through the heart to save Qin Yiguan, and Underworld repeatedly protected Qin Yiguan and Dishwasher as they continued fighting.
• Dishwasher removed the cross he had promised Boss Meng to keep on, and his suppressed [Gestalt Collapse] surged to a 125.54% development rate.
• Dishwasher summoned darkness, demon hands, and endless skeletal demons, forcing Black-Skinned Aoke to exhaust his Black Matter defenses and exposing his unprotected body.
• Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and Caregiver struck Black-Skinned Aoke with a cleaver, a spatial rift, and a silver claw, killing him as his Black Matter returned to AKI.
• Dishwasher put the silver cross back around his neck, and the development rate of [Gestalt Collapse] dropped back to 0.14%.

AKI learned that Qin Yiguan had survived and began planning to strengthen the Aoke Universe and Black Matter before confronting him. Meanwhile, Qin Yiguan and his companions discussed Anti-Source Matter and learned about the cross that had kept Dishwasher alive.

• AKI discovered that Black-Skinned Aoke had died and watched surveillance footage of Qin Yiguan killing him.
• AKI rejected Many-Shadow Aoke's offer to attack Qin Yiguan and instead planned to gather Source Matter, expand the Aoke Universe, and build an Aoke Legion.
• AKI created a castle resembling the official Breath of the Mute castle and ordered Many-Shadow Aoke to continue collecting Source Matter.
• Underworld and Caregiver observed that Black Matter had returned to AKI, and Qin Yiguan worried that AKI was growing stronger while he had no lead on Anti-Source Matter.
• Qin Yiguan asked Dishwasher about the cross on his chest and learned that Boss Meng had left it to suppress his ability and keep him alive.
• Qin Yiguan decided not to borrow Dishwasher's treasured cross, despite suspecting it might relate to Anti-Source Matter.

Qin Yiguan discovered that the fragment hidden in Shangguan Xiaotao’s insulated bottle came from the cross Dishwasher relied on, and pieced together how Boss Meng had made it for him as a child. The vice president of the Qin Variants then called the fragment a key clue to defeating the Ao Council and urged the group to continue investigating.

• Qin Yiguan pried open Shangguan Xiaotao’s insulated bottle and found a metal fragment that matched the broken bottom of Dishwasher’s cross.
• Qin Yiguan read the fragment’s markings and realized it was an ordinary bearing from a Fubei Alloy Manufacturing Plant weeding robot.
• Qin Yiguan recalled how Boss Meng had found the bearing, shaped it into a cross for him, and hidden the marked fragment inside the bottle he later gave Shangguan Xiaotao.
• Qin Yiguan concluded that Dishwasher’s belief in the cross had empowered and restrained his [Gestalt Collapse], and the three agreed not to reveal the truth to him.
• The vice president of the Qin Variants emerged from a blue vortex, called the bearing fragment a key clue to defeating the Ao Council, and told the group to proceed to the next stage of their investigation.

After the vice president vanished without explaining the metal block, Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and Caregiver traveled to Subquark Space to ask Single Horn Aoke to identify it. Single Horn recognized the block as an ordinary alloy bearing, leaving the group without the Anti-Source Matter they hoped to find.

• The vice president left through a blue vortex, and Qin Yiguan decided to seek help from Single Horn Aoke.
• The Boundless One brought Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and Caregiver to Subquark Space, where Caregiver revealed that Child had become his friend.
• Qin Yiguan and the others found Single Horn bound to a tree and being tormented by generations of Aoke.
• Qin Yiguan showed Single Horn the silver metal block and asked him to identify it as possible Anti-Source Matter.
• Single Horn examined the block, rejected his fellow Aoke's calls to rebel against Qin Yiguan, and insisted that it was merely a bearing.

Qin Yiguan and his companions learned that the Ao Council’s anti-source matter research had been lost after several Core Aokes were killed, then traveled to Multiverse No. 999 to investigate another set of coordinates. There they encountered a novelist who could rewrite reality, leaving them face to face with Wang Zilü.

• Qin Yiguan questioned Single Horn and the past Core Aokes about how they had predicted anti-source matter, and learned that the later Core Aokes who might have completed the research were killed by heavenly tribulation.
• Underworld kicked Single Horn unconscious, while Qin Yiguan’s group prepared to explore the next coordinates; the First Generation asked to help them fight AKI and atone for the Ao Council’s past.
• Caregiver read the coordinates for Multiverse No. 999, and Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and Caregiver arrived in a mountainous cultivation world.
• The group watched Zuo Jianfeng overcome the Earth Sword Tribulation, then met a scruffy man who claimed the world was a story he had written.
• When a giant robot attacked and threatened the group, the man stopped it and erased both the robot and Zuo Jianfeng from the story.
• Qin Yiguan asked the man his name, and he introduced himself as Wang Zilü, a novelist.

Qin Yiguan and his companions discovered that the sleazy middle-aged man was an author whose writing could change their surroundings. In the city he had created, they survived a barrage of reader update reminders, and the man revealed that his thick skin powered the city's shield.

• Qin Yiguan recognized the author's name and briefly wondered whether the world was a reality-enhanced creation before the man denied the story about a honey trap.
• The author wrote that he would take Qin Yiguan, the Caregiver, and the Underworld to the city, and the landscape transformed around them.
• The author typed self-aggrandizing descriptions on a laptop, while the Underworld criticized his old plot about a cultivator being crushed by a giant robot.
• Qin Yiguan noticed that the laptop's P keycap was missing and thought of the Ground Mouth in Subquark Space.
• Burning reader reminders descended on the city, but its yellow shield held against increasingly powerful impacts.
• The author said the shield was his thick skin after it survived the attack from three hall-of-fame fans.

Qin Yiguan entered the Secret of the World and learned that the multiverse he had traveled through was a dream created by another Qin Yiguan, who had trapped himself in sleep after his power caused a catastrophe. After the dreamer explained how the novelist and his world fit into the dream, Qin Yiguan appeared as a black-clad young man at Ning Qiandu’s basketball court and asked to join the game.

• Ning Qiandu complained about the Self-Disciplined Old Dog’s missed update before taking his friends to play basketball.
• The uncle brought Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and Caregiver to the Secret of the World, where Qin Yiguan opened the metal cocoon and entered alone.
• Inside, Qin Yiguan met a younger version of himself, who revealed that the multiverse he had visited was a dream and described the catastrophe caused by his Lucid Dream ability.
• The younger Qin Yiguan explained that he had put himself into an endless sleep and dreamed up the novelist and the world he wrote.
• Outside the cocoon, the uncle defended the reality of his created world and said that readers’ expectations kept him writing.
• At the basketball court, a black-clad Qin Yiguan approached Ning Qiandu, introduced himself as an ordinary high school student, and asked to join the game.

Qin Yiguan met the sleeping boy who asked him to protect Uncle’s dream, then sought anti-source matter with his companions and left with three metal characters bearing its name. Back in Subquark Space, Single Horn was so exasperated by their find that he called for AKI to destroy the world.

• The boy in pajamas told Qin Yiguan that he wanted to remain asleep and asked him not to reveal to Uncle that he was part of a dream.
• Qin Yiguan left the metal cocoon and told Uncle it contained a secret, while Uncle chose to keep pursuing the answer himself.
• Caregiver asked Uncle for anti-source matter, and Uncle created three metal characters spelling its name.
• Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and Caregiver each carried one of the metal characters away, leaving Uncle trying to break into the cocoon.
• Single Horn saw the characters in Subquark Space and shouted for AKI to destroy the world.

After discovering that a month had passed while he was in Multiverse No. 999, Qin Yiguan hurried to the third set of coordinates, worried about how much AKI had developed. In Multiverse No. 008, he and his companions found a silent city filled with skeletons, while a cheerful billboard described it as a peaceful spring day.

• Single Horn told Qin Yiguan that he had been gone for almost a month, and Qin Yiguan realized AKI had had that time to develop.
• The vice president appeared in a blue vortex, congratulated Qin Yiguan on his progress, and told him to head to the next coordinates without explaining what he had gained.
• Caregiver and Underworld accompanied Qin Yiguan to Multiverse No. 008, where Caregiver asked about Underworld's combat ability and Underworld said it was called Hack Hack Hack.
• Qin Yiguan noticed a dirty, thin black cat with a pet tag as the three entered a quiet alley.
• The three emerged onto a deserted street lined with hundreds of skeletons, while a billboard cheerfully announced April 22, 2123, and a kite dragged a skeletal arm into view.

Qin Yiguan investigated a silent city where everyone had been killed by a cut to the throat, while Underworld flew a crashed aircraft to scout the area. The discovery that the aircraft’s pilot had also been killed mid-flight left Qin Yiguan facing the possibility of a supernatural killer whose power reached across the entire street and into the sky.

• Qin Yiguan examined the skeletons scattered along Shouning Street and found that each had died from a forceful cut to the throat.
• Underworld started the crashed aircraft by pressing its buttons at random and flew off to scout the city.
• Caregiver caught a piece of the aircraft’s nameplate as it fell from the sky and identified it as a high-speed test prototype.
• Qin Yiguan deduced that an outsider had killed the residents instantly, possibly using a supernatural ability that covered the three-kilometer street.
• Qin Yiguan examined the pilot’s remains and realized that the pilot had also died from a cut to the throat while the aircraft was in the sky.

Underworld returned from surveying the multiverse with evidence that its human population had been slaughtered, and Qin Yiguan led him and Caregiver toward Mirage City’s Dark Sky Eye to uncover what happened. Meanwhile, Many-Shadow Aoke arrived in the same multiverse and began searching for Qin Yiguan.

• Underworld reported finding cities full of skeletons and brought back remains from across the multiverse.
• Qin Yiguan determined that the victims had all had their throats slit at around the same time, two years earlier.
• Qin Yiguan explained how surveillance systems in his home universe worked and led Underworld and Caregiver to the Dark Sky Eye in Mirage City to find footage of the slaughter.
• Many-Shadow Aoke arrived in Mirage City, confident in his strength and intending to surprise AKI by hunting down Qin Yiguan.

Qin Yiguan and his companions restored the Dark Sky Eye’s surveillance system and reviewed footage to find when humanity had been killed. The recordings showed that everyone had died within a five-second window, but no killer appeared.

• The Caregiver cut open the alloy door to the base’s core, where Qin Yiguan asked God's Abandoned to restore the dormant surveillance system.
• God's Abandoned reconnected to the network, bringing the Dark Sky Eye online and displaying live footage of the empty world.
• Qin Yiguan reviewed random footage from two years earlier and saw that the world had been populated and lively before its inhabitants were massacred.
• Qin Yiguan narrowed the time of the massacre by comparing footage, while the Caregiver and the Underworld struggled with the horrific images.
• The footage showed people alive five seconds before they were found dead with their throats slit, but the killer was nowhere to be seen.

Qin Yiguan and his companions watched footage of a multiverse’s population being slaughtered by identical shadow figures, then searched the Dark Sky Eye for Anti-Source Matter and found no match. Outside the base, Many-Shadow Aoke attacked and multiplied into an army of Black Matter-armored copies, prompting Qin Yiguan to suspect he had caused the mass killing.

• Qin Yiguan watched footage showing shadow figures silently slashing the throats of nearly eight billion people across the multiverse, then disappearing as their victims died.
• Qin Yiguan questioned what power caused the slaughter and whether his counterpart had survived, while God's Abandoned searched the Dark Sky Eye for Anti-Source Matter and found no match.
• Many-Shadow Aoke broke through the base’s perimeter wall, and Qin Yiguan, Caregiver, and the Underworld went outside to confront him.
• The access control system identified Qin Yiguan as an S2-level Dark Sky Eye employee who had worked there for over four years.
• Many-Shadow Aoke explained that his Many-Shadow Armor let him clone himself and his Black Matter armor, then divided into tens of thousands of copies.
• Qin Yiguan suspected Many-Shadow Aoke had used his multiplying ability to slaughter the multiverse’s population.

Qin Yiguan, Caregiver, and Underworld faced more than sixty thousand Many-Shadow Aoke clones, each protected by Black Matter armor. Their attempt to strike Aoke’s exposed eyes failed, and the chapter left them under a rain of Black Matter blades.

• Many-Shadow Aoke multiplied to 65,536 clones, all wearing Black Matter armor, and declared that he had to kill Qin Yiguan.
• Qin Yiguan reasoned that the original Many-Shadow Aoke might be the key to making the clones collapse, while Caregiver and Underworld warned that the armor made the fight nearly impossible.
• Qin Yiguan tricked Many-Shadow Aoke into turning his head by claiming that Qin Yiguan’s counterpart had arrived, then restrained him as Caregiver and Underworld attacked his exposed eyes.
• Many-Shadow Aoke’s Black Matter reacted fast enough to shield his eyes, and he used tentacles to fling Qin Yiguans, Caregiver, and Underworld away.
• The Many-Shadow Aoke clones formed spinning Black Matter blades and sent them raining toward Qin Yiguan and his companions.

Many-Shadow Aoke overwhelmed Qin Yiguan, Caregiver, and Underworld with blades, but a red silk scarf halted his finishing strike and triggered Underworld’s memories of a bar singer. The chapter left Underworld reliving the night he first saw the woman wearing the scarf.

• Caregiver used shifting spatial cubes to divert Many-Shadow Aoke’s blades, while Underworld struck them aside with his machete.
• Many-Shadow Aoke recalled that his blades automatically returned, attacked again, and wounded Caregiver, Underworld, and Qin Yiguan as their defenses broke.
• Many-Shadow Aoke formed a huge blade and prepared to kill Qin Yiguan, but a red silk scarf settled on it and made him pause.
• Underworld recognized the scarf and sank into a memory of visiting the Queen of the Night Bar as a rising gang boss.
• The bar owner offered Underworld a new singer and hinted that her drink had been drugged, but Underworld watched her sing and noticed the red scarf at her neck.

Red Silk repeatedly resisted Underworld’s attempts to win her over, while he secretly helped her and eventually took her to ride the Eye of Mirage City Ferris wheel. The feared underworld rising star then abandoned his criminal work to spend his days with her.

• Red Silk threw liquor in Underworld’s face after refusing to drink with him, and Underworld stopped his underlings from retaliating.
• The next day, Red Silk found her former harassers beaten and Underworld waiting alone in the bar to hear her sing.
• Underworld returned over the following days, making crude threats and denying that he had helped with Red Silk’s mother’s surgery or music-school admission.
• Red Silk offered herself to Underworld, but he rejected her and left until she invited him to ride the Eye of Mirage City Ferris wheel.
• Red Silk and Underworld rode the Ferris wheel together, and Underworld began neglecting his underworld duties to spend time with her.

Underworld relived how Red Silk’s murder drove him to become Mirage City’s most powerful gangster, then explained that her memory triggered the violent condition now taking hold of him. Qin Yiguan recognized it as the unnamed Maniac Syndrome Dr. House had described.

• Underworld recalled how Red Silk had cared for him as a child and how he recognized her at the Queen Bar, where he gave Shangguan Xiaotao the stage name Red Silk.
• Red Silk hinted that she was ready to go home with Underworld, but the next day he found her murdered in the bar’s dressing room.
• After Red Silk’s burial, Underworld hunted her killer, Bei Mang, and rose through the gangs, only for Bei Mang to die before Underworld could take revenge.
• In Multiverse No. 008, Underworld said Red Silk’s death had left him with a condition that was now about to flare up.
• Qin Yiguan recalled Dr. House’s explanation of Maniac Syndrome, in which overwhelming trauma could trigger a delusional, uncontrollable urge to kill.

Underworld awakened his Higher Self, Slaughterer, and defeated Many-Shadow Aoke by breaking Black Matter and cutting through his clones. Watching the battle, Qin Yiguan understood that Underworld’s second ability was Slaughterer.

• Red silk reminded Underworld of the murdered girl, driving him into uncontrollable rage as Many-Shadow Aoke’s face became Bei Mang’s.
• Underworld summoned a thirty-meter black figure and transformed his broken machete into a flaming blade as Many-Shadow Aoke identified the ability as Higher Self.
• Many-Shadow Aoke threw his Black Matter saber and fled, but Underworld’s strike shattered the saber and helmet and cut him in half.
• Underworld and the giant shadow attacked the clones, splitting their Black Matter armor and setting their bodies alight.
• Qin Yiguan watched Underworld slaughter the clones and realized that his second ability was Higher Self, Slaughterer.

Underworld slaughtered Aoke's clones after red silk roused the Slaughterer within him, while Qin Yiguan traced the silk to a masked boy who vanished after delivering a cryptic prophecy. In Qin Yiguan's home universe, a black sun then appeared over the Gemini Metaverse and began descending at a child's beckoning.

• Underworld lost control and massacred Many-Shadow Aoke's clones, while Qin Yiguan headed east to find who had sent the red silk.
• Qin Yiguan encountered a boy in a ceramic rabbit mask, who disappeared into a strange space after a sacred hymn declared that the boy upon whom all hopes rested would fulfill his mission.
• Qin Yiguan wondered whether the prophecy referred to him as Aoke's clones screamed that Lord AKI would avenge them.
• In Multiverse No. 0573, an old man told his grandson about the real world and the vast universe beyond the Gemini Metaverse.
• The grandson spotted a black sun in the sky, pulled at the air to draw it closer, and watched black snow fall over the artificial garden.

Qin Yiguan and his allies discovered that Underworld had killed Many-Shadow Aoke’s hidden true body, after which AKI announced that their final showdown was near. Back in Qin Yiguan’s home universe, AKI’s black sun appeared over Mirage City and sparked widespread panic as it began consuming Black Matter.

• Underworld hurled his machete through a tear in the sky and killed Many-Shadow Aoke’s true body, then collapsed from exhaustion.
• AKI’s avatar gathered the Black Matter, warned that the final showdown with Qin Yiguan was near, and vanished.
• Qin Yiguan received a message from Officer Wang about a dangerous new species and admitted that he was in Multiverse No. 008.
• Qin Yiguan asked Caregiver and Underworld whether they should join the fight against AKI or keep searching for Anti-Source Matter.
• In Multiverse No. 0573, a huge black sun appeared above Mirage City as Black Matter poured through a breach in the barrier and fed it.
• The black sun revealed a vast face resembling the Gemini Superbrain, prompting terrified people to seek shelter.