Chapter Summaries

Kannazuki used a subsidiary Death Note to turn Shrimp into a disposable killer, while Shrimp discovered that writing names caused real deaths and began killing people who had wronged him. As twelve victims died across Linhai City, Chen Lei found no connection between them or Kannazuki and went to examine the bodies, while Shrimp announced his power to the dark web audience.

• Shrimp overcame his fear of Ryuk, wrote Liu Dazhu's name in the diary, and watched him die of cardiac arrest.
• Kannazuki concluded that the subsidiary notebook killed but did not enhance its holder's intelligence, making Shrimp an ideal pawn.
• Shrimp wrote the names of eleven more people who had humiliated him, and they died across Linhai City.
• Chen Lei and Xiao Li found no links among the twelve victims or to Kannazuki, who had appeared to sleep through the deaths.
• Chen Lei left to examine the victims' hearts, while Shrimp removed his gas mask on the livestream and declared that the game had only just begun.

After twelve people died simultaneously of heart attacks, Chen Lei sought provincial help while Kannazuki manipulated the investigation and protected Shrimp. Shrimp publicly claimed responsibility and announced three more killings, prompting Chen Lei to withdraw surveillance from Kannazuki, who warned that the reprieve was temporary.

• Old Qin reported that all twelve victims had died from simultaneous coronary spasms despite showing no medical cause, and Chen Lei requested a provincial special task force.
• Kannazuki intercepted the bureau’s emails, concealed Shrimp’s traces, and said he wanted the authorities’ fear to grow.
• Shrimp posted on the dark web as Blood_Jester, claimed the twelve deaths, and threatened Wang Hong, Li Hai, and Zhang Jianming with cardiac paralysis at noon the next day.
• Chen Lei’s team traced the post to a server at an abandoned military radar station in Siberia, and Chen Lei ordered surveillance on Kannazuki withdrawn while officers protected the three threatened figures.
• Kannazuki saw that the observation post was empty, but warned Ryuk that Chen Lei might eventually follow the trail back to him.

Kannazuki arranged a staged death using the Death Note and a wanted criminal’s body so he could escape Chen Lei’s suspicions. Meanwhile, Xia Ren publicly embraced the Kira identity as L deduced that Kira was operating in Linhai City and took control of the international investigation.

• Kannazuki used the Death Note to make Liu Jianguo move ammonium nitrate to a residential complex basement and trigger an explosion in seven days.
• Kannazuki found Zhao Qiang, a wanted fugitive with a similar build, and arranged for him to die at the center of the explosion so his burned body could pass as Kannazuki’s.
• Xia Ren wrote more names in his diary, celebrated the deaths of notorious criminals, and livestreamed himself declaring that Kira would punish sinners.
• At an international police meeting, L interrupted the conference and explained that Kira’s killing schedule and first victims pointed to Linhai City.
• L announced that he would take control of the Kira case and demanded worldwide cooperation.

Kannazuki tried to divert L while arranging an escape, but L’s broadcast experiment exposed Shrimp’s killing method and narrowed Kira’s location to two districts in Linhai City. Kannazuki realized L was closing in on Shrimp and feared that the notebook would reveal the true Kira behind him.

• L ordered China to send him Linhai City’s unresolved unnatural-death files and recent surveillance data, and Zhao Jianguo instructed Chen Lei to hand over the records on Kannazuki and twelve suspects.
• Kannazuki intercepted Zhao Jianguo and Chen Lei’s conversation, then planted layered proxy disguises around Shrimp’s network address to delay L’s investigation.
• Liu Jianguo delivered ammonium nitrate to the abandoned air-raid shelter, and Kannazuki later inspected the sacks hidden there.
• Shrimp killed Lindsey after Lindsey taunted Kira during a televised press conference, but John and David survived because their displayed names or faces were false.
• L explained that Kira needed a target’s real name and face, and used the limited broadcast area to narrow the search to Linhai City’s South District and West District.
• Kannazuki realized L had used the broadcast to bait Shrimp and feared that L would soon find the notebook and discover that a true Kira was directing Shrimp.

Shrimp’s mass killings drew L’s attention, but L’s profile sent Chen Lei toward the wrong location while Kannazuki prepared to disappear. At the appointed time, Liu Jianguo detonated the explosives beneath the residential complex as Zhao Qiang lit a cigarette in the air-raid shelter nearby.

• Shrimp expanded his target list to include critics of Kira, killing fifty people in twelve hours as Ryuk mocked him.
• L analyzed the deaths and used power consumption and network data to identify seven possible locations for Kira.
• Chen Lei rejected L’s profile as inconsistent with Kannazuki’s routine, but he followed the evidence and ordered a raid on the Red Star Abandoned Slaughterhouse.
• Kannazuki destroyed his terminal and its data, cleaned away traces, and prepared to leave the Happy Home residential complex with his Death Note.
• Liu Jianguo stacked ammonium nitrate beneath the building’s load-bearing pillars, while wanted fugitive Zhao Qiang hid in the nearby air-raid shelter.
• At the appointed time, Liu Jianguo detonated gas cylinders as Zhao Qiang struck a lighter, igniting the gas in the shelter.

Chen Lei investigated the explosion that appeared to kill Kannazuki, then closed the case after forensic evidence identified the body as his. Kannazuki survived by using Zhao Qiang as a decoy, adopted the identity Light Yagami, and prepared for L to realize there was more than one Kira.

• Chen Lei abandoned the raid on the Red Star Meat Processing Plant to check Kannazuki's apartment, where an explosion destroyed Building Four's underground garage and hurled him into a tree.
• Old Qin recovered a body from the wreckage, and Chen Lei ordered a DNA comparison with Kannazuki's records.
• The forensic report matched the remains to Kannazuki and showed that the deceased had inhaled carbon monoxide before dying in the fire.
• Xiao Li told Chen Lei that the police had arrested Shrimp while he livestreamed a murder and found a black diary, and Chen Lei closed Kannazuki's case as unrelated to Kira.
• Kannazuki revealed that he had used Zhao Qiang as a decoy, taken the identity Light Yagami, and anticipated that L would discover the existence of multiple Kiras.

Chen Lei interrogated Shrimp, who confessed that a notebook could kill anyone whose name was written in it, but L determined that the notebook was only a vessel and Shrimp was a fall guy. The real Kira remained at large.

• Shrimp claimed to be Kira and boasted that his followers would avenge him, while Chen Lei confronted him with a diary listing 261 victims.
• Chen Lei stopped the surveillance recording and used the Great Memory Recovery Technique until Shrimp broke down and confessed.
• Shrimp said he had found the notebook in a paper bag at mailbox number two in the meatpacking plant and explained its supposed killing rules.
• L learned that the mailbox was in a surveillance blind spot and directed Chen Lei to examine the diary's binding.
• Chen Lei found that the pages had been cut from another source and glued into an ordinary notebook, leading L to conclude that Shrimp was a decoy and the real Kira was still free.

During Shrimp’s interrogation, Chen Lei and L learned the notebook’s rules and heard Shrimp claim a death god named Ryuk had given it to him. When Chen Lei touched the notebook’s pages, Ryuk appeared to him, though the surveillance equipment could not detect the death god.

• Shrimp explained that the notebook required a target’s real name and face, and described its timed rules for writing a death.
• Shrimp claimed Ryuk, a winged death god, had left the notebook in the human world, but L dismissed this as delusion and directed Chen Lei to investigate physical evidence.
• After Chen Lei touched the notebook’s pages, Ryuk appeared behind him and asked for apples.
• Chen Lei aimed his gun at Ryuk, while Shrimp urged the death god to kill the officers.
• L confirmed that Chen Lei was seeing the same creature Shrimp had described and urged him to communicate rather than fire.
• Ryuk pushed Chen Lei’s gun aside, said he had come for Shrimp, and mocked Shrimp’s claim to be a god.

L deduced that Shrimp was a decoy and that the real Kira still possessed the original Death Note. Kannazuki, living under the identity Light Yagami, revealed that Shrimp’s capture had been part of a plan to test L and that he intended to exploit the notebook’s ability to control victims.

• L questioned Ryuk through Chen Lei and learned that torn Death Note pages could kill as effectively as the full notebook.
• L concluded that the real Kira had planted a diary containing glued-in Death Note fragments for Shrimp to find, and ordered Shrimp placed in high-security isolation.
• Chen Lei took the patched notebook and headed to the morgue to examine Kannazuki’s charred body again.
• Kannazuki revealed that he had assumed the identity Light Yagami and expected L to focus on finding a hidden Kira among Linhai’s vast population.
• Kannazuki cut a page from the intact Death Note, hid it in his wallet, and explained that the notebook’s greatest power was controlling victims before their deaths.

Kannazuki distributed Death Note pages to three disillusioned legal experts, triggering a wave of killings that made the world believe Kira had returned. As L tightened his investigation around Linhai University, Kannazuki sought to expose L’s location and publicly defended Kira in a law lecture.

• Kannazuki selected Robert Vaughan, Tanaka, and Hans as recipients for Death Note pages and sent them instructions promoting Kira’s new order.
• L rejected the police bureau’s offer of assistance, activated the Nameless Plan, and identified Light Yagami as one of three people to watch.
• Robert used his page to kill a gang boss, while recipients in Tokyo and Berlin killed other powerful figures, prompting global reports that Kira had returned.
• Kannazuki planted a plan in death-row inmate Zhang Qiang’s future behavior to draw L into an investigation and reveal his location.
• Kannazuki defended Kira’s actions during a law lecture, arguing that Kira could be society’s response to failures of justice, while the professor called it murder and mob rule.

Light Yagami argued in a law lecture that Kira might be a law of nature, exposing his contempt for ordinary authority. L saw the exchange and placed Light under intensive surveillance, suspecting that the apparently perfect student was connected to Kira.

• Light challenged his professor's defense of the legal system by arguing that Kira might be a natural force beyond human oversight.
• Agent 7 secretly recorded Light's debate and sent his observations and physiological data to L's base.
• The professor cut Light off and ordered him to sit down, while Light calmly returned to his textbook and preserved his respectable student image.
• L reviewed Light's background and concluded that he had spoken from Kira's perspective rather than merely debating for effect.
• L put Light on the Class A surveillance list and ordered investigators to examine his movements, finances, and parents' plane-crash case.

Kannazuki used the notebook to force FBI supervisor James Walker to expose the United States’ plan to seize Kira’s weapon before dying. As L faced international fallout and realized the notebook could control people, Kannazuki returned to studying, convinced that L was trapped by the rotten system he served.

• Robert Vaughan, Tanaka, and Hans killed targets across three cities, bringing the global death toll to 112 and prompting widespread support for Kira.
• U.S. officials ordered the Hunters team to bypass L and Linhai City police and seize the notebook.
• L concluded that multiple Kiras were killing simultaneously and rejected foreign governments’ demands for the evidence, suspecting they wanted the notebook for political killings.
• Kannazuki wrote a script compelling James Walker to publicly reveal the FBI’s plan to seize the notebook and use it to threaten other countries.
• James Walker made the confession in Times Square and died of cardiac paralysis at four o’clock, prompting China to order the U.S. agents expelled and drawing worldwide condemnation.
• Kannazuki read about the incident at Linhai University and said L was confronting both an unseen god of death and the rotten system he served.

Kannazuki countered L’s trap by using fabricated Kira confessions and deaths to overwhelm his investigation. As L recognized the deception, he left the bunker for Linhai University to investigate the student Light Yagami, whose reasoning felt familiar.

• L leaked false warehouse coordinates to lure Kira into revealing a digital trace.
• Kannazuki dismissed the warehouse as a trap and wrote Wang Defa’s confession and death into the notebook to create misleading evidence.
• Over the next forty-eight hours, people in several countries died after leaving contradictory claims about Kira.
• L realized Kannazuki was using the notebook’s control rule to poison his investigation with false leads.
• L ordered the surveillance network and ICPO data link shut down, then headed to Linhai University to investigate Light Yagami.

Kannazuki, posing as Light Yagami, was followed across Linhai University by a strange young man who deduced key details about Kira and the Death Note. The man revealed that he was L, leaving Kannazuki to begin a direct contest with the detective.

• Kannazuki noticed a hunched young man following him from his apartment to a campus café and then into his law exam.
• The young man watched Kannazuki during the exam and later confronted him at a university lecture.
• The young man criticized Kannazuki's perfect exam answers as emotionless and said the public Kira suspects and confessions were fabricated.
• The young man deduced that Kira could kill remotely and control victims before their deaths, and Kannazuki concealed his alarm.
• The young man identified himself as L, and Kannazuki shook his hand while hiding his shock.

Kannazuki and L tested each other at Linhai University, but neither revealed a flaw that confirmed their suspicions. L decided to enroll as Light Yagami’s classmate, while Kannazuki saw his move into the open as a chance to discover Le’s real name.

• L scrutinized Kannazuki’s physical reactions during a handshake, but Kannazuki kept his body calm and explained his composure as respect for classified matters.
• L admitted he was hunting Kira and challenged Light Yagami to guess why he had sat beside him; Kannazuki identified the suspicion and warned that L’s alias could not protect his real name.
• Kannazuki left for the library, while Ryuk watched the exchange and remarked that L seemed like a real madman.
• After Agent Four reported no irregularities in Light Yagami’s records, L decided to enroll in Linhai University’s Law School to become his classmate.
• At the library, Kannazuki reasoned that L had abandoned his remote investigation and resolved to find Le’s real name.

L tested Kannazuki Yagami by exposing him to gruesome crime-scene photographs, but Kannazuki convincingly acted horrified and left L uncertain whether he was innocent or controlling his reactions. After class, L asked to study with him and said he would keep following him, and Kannazuki welcomed him.

• L joined Kannazuki's class as an exchange student from Cambridge and confronted him about his suspiciously clean record.
• L let bloody crime-scene photographs fall beside Kannazuki to test his reaction, and Kannazuki feigned fear and disgust before returning them.
• L struggled to reconcile Kannazuki's apparently genuine physical reactions with his suspicion that Kannazuki was Kira.
• Ryuk saw L's real name and remaining lifespan but kept them to himself as he watched the pair.
• After class, L asked Kannazuki for help with his studies and said he would keep following him, and Kannazuki welcomed him.

Kannazuki and L discussed the supposed Kira confessions over lunch, and Kannazuki calmly dismantled a confession L presented as evidence. The chapter left L more convinced that Kannazuki was Kira despite his flawless rebuttal.

• L sat across from Kannazuki in the cafeteria with ten slices of strawberry cake and asked whether he had watched reports about people claiming to be Kira.
• Kannazuki dismissed the claims as copycats and argued that the killings could be explained through ordinary criminal methods rather than supernatural powers.
• L showed Kannazuki a confession from Wang Defa, who claimed to possess a notebook that killed people and then died of heart paralysis in police custody.
• Kannazuki identified contradictions in the confession's timeline, motive, and account of the notebook's rules, concluding that the real killer had used Wang Defa as a pawn.
• Ryuk watched from the ceiling fan as L silently reconsidered Kannazuki, then asked whether Kannazuki was laughing at him inside if he was Kira.

L challenged Kannazuki to a tennis match at Linhai University, using intense exercise to test whether Kannazuki would lose control of his disguise. Kannazuki matched L’s professional-level play with precise, effortless returns, and L watched him closely as the rally continued.

• L threw a tennis racket at Kannazuki, who caught it and agreed to play.
• L served from a crouch with professional speed, but Kannazuki returned the ball into the baseline corner.
• L revealed that he had won the All-UK University Tennis League championship and served again.
• Kannazuki and L exchanged increasingly fast shots as students gathered to watch.
• After twenty minutes of rallies, L was soaked and gasping for breath but kept his bright eyes fixed on Kannazuki.

Kannazuki and L played an exhausting tennis match that ended in a six-six tie, while L tested Kannazuki by sending his racket flying at him. After L left the court, Ryuk warned Kannazuki that L’s increasingly direct probes would soon become a deeper investigation.

• L and Kannazuki played a grueling tennis match until the score reached six-six.
• L deliberately let his racket fly toward Kannazuki while hitting a difficult shot, testing how he reacted to sudden danger.
• Kannazuki dodged the racket with a backhand stance and returned the ball, choosing to keep playing rather than protect himself.
• L questioned Kannazuki’s choice, then ended the match and walked to the changing room.
• Ryuk told Kannazuki that L had been testing him and that L would likely use his authority to investigate him more deeply.

Kannazuki accepted Jiang Shiyu’s public confession to make himself seem less like a reclusive serial killer under L’s scrutiny. L congratulated him but privately found the sudden romance suspicious, while Ryuk noted that Jiang Shiyu had plenty of lifespan left and hinted at uncertainty about L.

• L questioned Kannazuki about his shampoo and continued collecting everyday details for his profile.
• Jiang Shiyu confessed her feelings to Kannazuki in the crowded library, watched by L and hundreds of students.
• Kannazuki calculated that accepting would make him seem more socially normal, then told Jiang Shiyu he liked her too and exchanged WeChat details.
• The students celebrated, and Kannazuki returned to his research while L congratulated him and privately marked the acceptance as suspicious.
• Ryuk watched from a bookshelf, observed that Jiang Shiyu had plenty of lifespan left, then turned his attention to L.