Chapter Summaries

Sheng An and Qi Lingwu found and killed the Otherkind responsible for the illusions in Stone City, freeing their scattered teammates. At Core Shelter, Li Xin killed an Otherkind who had taken Academician Zhou hostage.

• At Core Shelter, an Otherkind attacked the cultivation laboratory and held Academician Zhou at knifepoint, stopping Li Xin from striking.
• In Stone City, Hao Jingye shot illusions to drain their creator’s energy, while Wu Buyu, Zhuang Fan, Song Linwei, Yu Feng, Long Tianyu, and Li Wanyun encountered illusions and tried to avoid harming one another.
• Sheng An and Qi Lingwu followed Mountain Blossom’s [Loophole] through the illusions and found a woman with an illusion superpower and a man whose psychic interference blocked Qi Lingwu’s shot.
• Sheng An and Qi Lingwu fired together, killing the illusion Otherkind and making the illusions vanish so their missing teammates reappeared.
• At the cultivation laboratory, Li Xin used metal needles to kill the Otherkind behind Academician Zhou, then told him to quit showing off.

Sheng An’s group rescued the surviving members of the Scientific Research Team after Zhang Kun evolved his spatial power to shield them from the Otherkind. With the survivors evacuated to the Core Shelter, Hao Jingye stopped the group from killing the weakened Psychic Otherkind so they could question him.

• Zhao Zhicheng told Gu Qiansheng and Li Xin that the rioting Otherkind had been eliminated and Stone City’s crisis was over, and Jiang Yu asked whether Zhang Kun’s group had been found.
• After the illusion Otherkind died, Sheng An’s group found Zhang Kun, Ke Jiaxue, Liu Yue, Captain Zhuo, Dr. Zhao, researchers, and soldiers surrounded by Otherkind.
• Zhang Kun’s spatial power evolved into a protective barrier, allowing the group to survive until Sheng An arrived; Ke Jiaxue and Liu Yue collapsed when they saw their rescuers.
• Li Wanyun and Long Tianyu killed the Otherkind surrounding Zhang Kun’s group, and Sheng An sent the wounded survivors back to the Core Shelter by helicopter.
• Hao Jingye stopped Qi Lingwu from killing the weakened Psychic Otherkind and asked to interrogate him about how the Otherkind had gathered in Stone City.

Sheng An and her team discovered that the Otherkind who lured them away were powerful figures from Li Wanyun and Long Tianyu’s previous lives, then fought the wave surrounding them. After Sheng An tranquilized the mysterious child, she collapsed from her worsening condition, while a seemingly safe Zhao Zhicheng suddenly attacked Jiang Yu at the Core Shelter.

• The psychic Otherkind summoned reinforcements with a roar, and Hao Jingye realized the Otherkind had lured the team away while the Core Shelter was attacked.
• Li Wanyun and Long Tianyu recognized the dead pair as notorious Otherkind from their previous lives, and the team suspected they had emerged ahead of schedule to seize meteorite fragments.
• As Otherkind surrounded the team, Long Tianyu, Li Wanyun, Wu Buyu, Ji Yani, and the others fought them while Qi Lingwu controlled the battlefield.
• Sheng An tranquilized the unexplained child, then became dizzy and collapsed as fragmented images flashed before her eyes.
• At the Core Shelter, Zhao Zhicheng reassured Li Xin, Gu Qiansheng, and Jiang Yu that the crisis was over, then stretched his arm across the room and snapped Jiang Yu’s neck.

Sheng An and Qi Lingwu killed the reflection Otherkind at the cost of severe reflected injuries, while their teammates realized the Otherkind had planned to eliminate them. At the Core Shelter, Qiu Yu revealed himself as Jiang Yu’s decoy and killed Zhao Zhicheng, foiling another hidden attack.

• Wu Buyu attacked the child and suffered reflected wounds, while Hao Jingye identified the child’s reflection ability and Qi Lingwu killed the remaining Otherkind.
• Song Linwei amplified Sheng An’s power, and Sheng An called for Qi Lingwu and Mountain Blossom to help kill the child.
• The child’s reflection struck Sheng An and Qi Lingwu, leaving both gravely injured, but Song Linwei said they were still alive as the team rushed them to the aircraft.
• Song Linwei and Hao Jingye concluded the Otherkind had planned to trap and destroy their team, and Sheng An believed they had won as the aircraft returned to Capital City.
• At the Core Shelter, Qiu Yu revealed himself as Jiang Yu’s decoy, killed Zhao Zhicheng, and reported that Hidden Otherkind No. 13 had been eliminated.

After the purge of hidden Otherkind in the Core Shelter and Stone City, Sheng An and Qi Lingwu returned gravely wounded, while the Research Institute began investigating the organized attacks. Sheng An remained unconscious as the group speculated that her superpower had revealed the Reflecting Otherkind’s threat, and she finally woke that evening.

• Qiu Yu killed the Otherkind who had taken Zhao Zhicheng’s body, ordered Jiang Yu back into her space, then left to hunt down more hidden Otherkind.
• At dawn, the group learned that Sheng An and Qi Lingwu were returning gravely wounded after eliminating more than two hundred Otherkind, and the nightlong purge ended in a human victory.
• Gu Qiansheng, Li Xin, and Jiang Yu went to the hospital, where Wu Buyu and others worried over Sheng An and Qi Lingwu’s life-threatening injuries.
• Hao Jingye explained that the Otherkind’s coordinated attacks targeted humanity’s foundations, and the group realized the Reflecting Otherkind had nearly destroyed half of humanity’s hope.
• Hao Jingye said the Research Institute suspected Sheng An’s superpower was connected to her knowledge of the Reflecting Otherkind’s danger.
• Qi Lingwu woke the following morning, and Sheng An regained consciousness that evening.

Sheng An and Qi Lingwu recovered from their near-fatal injuries as the Research Institute explained that the Otherkind operation had been coordinated by a powerful, unidentified leader designated Code Name M. The group suspected M might be connected to the force opposing “It,” and the chapter ended with Doctor Yan hinting that humanity might possess powers capable of matching M.

• Sheng An woke beside the injured Qi Lingwu, and Director Wang and Doctor Yan reprimanded them for getting out of bed while recovering.
• Doctor Yan explained that the attacks on the Core Shelter and Sheng An's team had been coordinated with a larger assault in Stone City.
• The Research Institute designated the unknown planner Code Name M, who had coordinated the Illusion Otherkind and Psychic Otherkind and might control or command Otherkind.
• Hao Jingye suggested M could be the hidden force opposing “It,” while the group acknowledged they had no evidence.
• Doctor Yan said humanity also possessed unusual, powerful abilities and looked toward Sheng An as he suggested humanity might match M's strength.

Doctor Yan explained the new star-ranking system and revealed that Sheng An’s special-factor concentration reached nine stars, though she was excluded because she could not use her power. Sheng An explained that the Reflecting Otherkind had been preparing to explode and destroy Stone City, then suggested she had experienced the deadly outcome rather than foreseen it.

• Doctor Yan described how blood tests measured superpower ranks and listed the group’s rankings, with Qi Lingwu at seven stars and Sheng An’s factors at nine.
• Doctor Yan clarified that Sheng An was not assigned a rank because her unusable power made her actual strength impossible to assess.
• Sheng An wrote that the Reflecting Otherkind could explode with enough force to destroy Stone City and kill everyone there.
• Hao Jingye and Song Linwei realized M’s forces had lured them to Stone City while the Psychic Otherkind stalled them and the Reflecting Otherkind gathered energy.
• When Hao Jingye asked how she knew, Sheng An wrote that she might not have seen the explosion but had experienced it.

Sheng An’s desperate action was revealed to be a brief experience of the next moment, leading Doctor Yan and the others to conclude that her power was connected to time. The group accepted the risks of helping her recover her ability, while the explanation of how her power might work remained a hypothesis.

• Sheng An wrote that she had experienced a moment less than five seconds ahead, explaining why she had acted so urgently to stop the reflection Otherkind’s attack.
• Doctor Yan connected Sheng An’s experience, her depleted power, her fevers, and other clues to a time-related ability, and Hao Jingye wrote the word “Time.”
• Doctor Yan proposed that Mountain Blossom’s Loophole, Qi Lingwu’s Anchor, and Sheng An’s Time ability could open a loophole, preserve memories and abilities, and rewind time.
• Doctor Yan warned that a larger meteorite fragment might help Sheng An recover faster but could endanger her and attract Otherkind, and Sheng An handed him her small fragment.
• Sheng An chose to carry the larger fragment, and Doctor Yan asked Group B to protect her until her ability recovered.

After Doctor Yan left, Sheng An and the others discussed whether she had chosen them in a previous life, then let her rest. As the Capital City’s defenses rose and superpower rankings came into use, Group B teased Lou Mingwei about Sheng An’s nine-star test result.

• Doctor Yan left after sharing his analysis, and the others wondered whether Sheng An had chosen them in a previous life; Jiang Yu also pondered why she seemed different.
• The group left Sheng An to rest, and Jiang Yu saw Qi Lingwu kiss her forehead before Hao Jingye led Jiang Yu away.
• Jiang Yu decided to secretly grow fruit in the new strip of land added to her space and share some with Sheng An.
• Hao Jingye and Song Linwei explained that construction of the Capital City base would take four months because it needed extensive defenses and facilities amid worsening disasters.
• Lou Mingwei complained that his superpower test rated him five stars, and Jiang Yu and Li Xin repeatedly reminded him that Sheng An had scored nine stars.

Sheng An’s Group B received a mission to travel to the dangerous Southwest Region, rescue a newly discovered Healing-Type Superpower Person, and retrieve meteorite fragments for research. The group began preparing to depart, with Zhang Kun and Jiang Yu eager to join.

• Sheng An praised Lou Mingwei’s lightning ability, leaving him blushing and delighted while Group A and Group B stared in disbelief.
• After Hao Jingye received a mission alert, Elder Zhang briefed Group B on disasters across the country and the crash of aircraft sent to the Southwest Region.
• Elder Zhang revealed that a pilot’s final message reported endangered shelters, many meteorite fragments, and a Healing-Type Superpower Person in the southwest.
• Doctor Yan explained that the Research Institute wanted to collect fragments to study how they produced Superpower People and Otherkind, and Sheng An agreed to lead the mission.
• Elder Zhang approved Zhang Kun to accompany Group B, and Jiang Yu excitedly asked whether she could go as well.

Jiang Yu learned that she would join the expedition with both research teams, then discovered that the researchers had tracked the strawberries she secretly planted in her space. After harvesting them, she understood that her space’s yields could be predicted from her work and superpower use.

• Elder Zhang initially refused to let Jiang Yu join the expedition, but Sheng An and Hao Jingye explained that both the wasteland agricultural and meteorite research teams would travel with Group B.
• Jiang Yu returned to the Agricultural Research Institute and reported that she had finished planting the experimental fields and Hope planting area, while Yu Litian and Chen Jiaojiao worked in her space.
• Academician Zhou gave Jiang Yu a yield estimate that included the strawberries she had planted, explaining that statistics experts had calculated the crop’s yield from her superpower use and work schedule.
• Jiang Yu, Yu Litian, and Chen Jiaojiao harvested and weighed the strawberries, finding that the yield matched the estimate exactly.
• Jiang Yu found and tasted one misshapen strawberry left behind, then looked across her space and suddenly understood.

Jiang Yu announced that others could enter her space and discovered that Sheng An and the research team had already known about it and planned to use it. She learned she could stop laboring in the fields, receive rewards, and join missions, leaving her both relieved and regretful about how hard she had worked.

• Jiang Yu decided to reveal that other people could enter her space, but Sheng An, Academician Zhou, and Hao Jingye reacted as if the news was unsurprising.
• Jiang Yu brought the researchers, Sheng An, and Hao Jingye into the space, where the researchers discussed their existing plans to study and expand it.
• Sheng An told Jiang Yu she no longer needed to work in the fields, would keep her benefits, and would receive a plot of her own.
• Jiang Yu realized Academician Zhou and Academician Huang had already planned research trips and that she could join missions.
• Sheng An admitted they had known about the space for a long time, and Jiang Yu cried over how much she had unnecessarily toiled.

Sheng An led a convoy from the Capital City toward the Southwest Region to collect meteorite fragments and reach a shelter with a healing-type Superpower Person. As the convoy approached the cut-off B11 Shelter, its leaders revealed that a powerful Space Esper named Tang Tao had stolen its supplies and was threatening its residents.

• The Capital City Base Director, Elder Zhang, and Group A saw Sheng An’s team off, and Qiu Yu promised to keep the Capital City safe.
• Sheng An’s convoy set out with soldiers, Superpower Persons, a research team, supplies, and communications vehicles, following a route past shelters to collect meteorite fragments.
• The team screened officials at several shelters, found infected hidden Otherkind among them, and discussed how removing the fragments might help address the threat.
• Hao Jingye warned that the convoy was nearing B11 Shelter, which had lost contact along with a previous supply convoy.
• At B11, Tian Mingcheng told Liu Zhao that Tang Tao was recruiting people by force and had hijacked the supply convoy, leaving the shelter without food or medicine and causing dozens of deaths.

Liu Zhao and Captain Tan tried to stop Tang Tao from taking B11’s Superpower People and able-bodied residents, but Tang Tao promised food and a chance to awaken powers. As people began joining him, Liu Zhao warned that leaving would expose their families to the Otherkind.

• Liu Zhao left to confront Tang Tao, and Tian Mingcheng followed him.
• Captain Tan accused Tang Tao of stealing the Shelter’s food and abandoning its vulnerable residents, while Tang Tao argued that the weak should not consume scarce supplies.
• Captain Tan revealed that Tang Tao’s group had seized reserve weapons and food, using a poison-fog ability to overpower the garrison and occupy the First-Level Shelter.
• Tang Tao announced that he could strengthen Superpower People and give ordinary people a chance to awaken powers, prompting residents to consider joining him.
• Liu Zhao warned the crowd not to trust Tang Tao’s offer, but people began lining up after Tang Tao promised meals and possible powers.
• Liu Zhao cautioned that the Otherkind could attack their families if everyone left, and some residents hesitated before Tang Tao said their families would starve anyway.

Tang Tao seized recruits from B11 Shelter and planned to starve its remaining people into submission. As Sheng An’s convoy approached, her team discovered that Tang Tao’s group intended to rob them, and the chapter ended with the convoy stopping beside the would-be attackers.

• Tang Tao threatened Captain Tan and took recruits from B11 Shelter, while Liu Zhao insisted the shelter would hold on until help arrived.
• Dong Jiahuan and Tang Tao discussed collecting meteorite fragments, and Tang Tao explained that he planned to starve B11’s people before recruiting them as laborers.
• Wu Buyu spotted people near B11, and Wan Yuan heard Tang Tao’s group discussing robbing the approaching convoy.
• Sheng An’s convoy crossed fissures using earth- and metal-based powers, impressing Tang Tao and Shi Lin.
• Tang Tao told his group not to attack yet, and Sheng An’s convoy stopped beside them.

Sheng An and the Special Affairs Office uncovered Tang Tao’s lies and arrested him after he attacked them. At the B11 Shelter, they learned his theft had left people starving, and Sheng An shot him while ordering the team to collect the stolen supplies.

• Tang Tao introduced his group to Sheng An and claimed they had received the government’s food and killed every Otherkind, while Dong Jiahuan tried to conceal the truth about her ability.
• When an ordinary person accused Tang Tao of oppressing the shelter, Sheng An ordered him to lead them back; Tang Tao instead commanded his team to attack, but the Special Affairs Office subdued them.
• After Tang Tao’s group left, an Otherkind killed more than a dozen people at the shelter before Captain Tan’s team killed it, leaving Captain Tan injured and Liu Zhao devastated.
• Sheng An arrived at the shelter with Tang Tao captured and asked Liu Zhao whether Tang Tao had robbed the food delivery; Liu Zhao confirmed it and said people had starved.
• Sheng An pinned Tang Tao down, shot him, and ordered the Special Affairs Office to collect the supplies.

Sheng An and the Special Affairs Office killed Tang Tao and his accomplices, then began judging the survivors at the shelter. After Liu Zhao said the remaining members had committed no crimes deserving death, Wu Buyu and Qi Lingwu suddenly killed several more, leaving everyone shocked.

• Sheng An shot Tang Tao, and his death released a huge pile of emergency shelter supplies that Li Wanyun stored.
• Yu Feng, Li Xin, and Jiang Yu subdued Tang Tao's accomplices and drove them before the shelter's survivors.
• Sheng An asked Liu Zhao and Captain Tan to identify who deserved execution, and Qi Lingwu warned the crowd not to object.
• Captain Tan named Dong Jiahuan and Liu Zhao named Shi Lin, so Sheng An and Li Xin executed them before the survivors listed other accomplices' crimes.
• Liu Zhao said the remaining people had committed no crimes deserving death, but Wu Buyu and Qi Lingwu killed seven or eight of them, prompting the crowd to scream.

Sheng An’s team secured B11, exposed the danger of Tang Tao’s meteorite fragments, and began restoring communications and the shelter. As Jiang Yu brought the Planting Research Group out of her space, Liu Zhao was stunned by the people who appeared out of thin air.

• Sheng An revealed that many people in B11 were Otherkind after Tang Tao used meteorite fragments to awaken and enhance superpowers.
• Sheng An explained the fragments’ risk, and the superpower people rejected using them; she agreed to collect the fragments for the Research Institute.
• Sheng An assigned the Special Affairs Office to search for Otherkind, restore communications, repair the shelter, and distribute supplies.
• The people of B11 received supplies and joined the shelter repairs, while Wan Yuan investigated how meteorites had isolated the area.
• Sheng An asked Jiang Yu to work with the Planting Research Group to study the area and try planting there.
• Jiang Yu brought the Planting Research Group out of her space, startling Liu Zhao.

After contact with Capital City returned, Sheng An and the researchers discovered that five meteorite fragments had enclosed B11 and amplified their effects, worsening the soil’s toxicity. The group resolved to collect the fragments, but Old Qin woke with a cryptic warning that everything was wrong.

• Wan Yuan restored contact with Capital City after the obstruction blocking the signal disappeared, and Liu Zhao went to speak with Elder Zhang.
• Hao Jingye connected the restored signal to Qi Lingwu and the others collecting meteorite fragments around the area.
• Qi Lingwu marked five fragments on a map, and Doctor Yan determined that their overlapping radiation ranges had cut off B11 and amplified their effects.
• Doctor Yan explained that storing the fragments in spaces did not weaken their influence, and he insisted they had to be collected to find a cure.
• Academician Zhou reported that the soil was becoming more toxic, though the increase slowed after Qi Lingwu collected the fragments, and Sheng An agreed they must gather the rest.
• Old Qin woke and said that something was wrong as someone staggered over the pitted ground.

The group debated whether collecting the meteorite fragments was the mistake in Qin Xuan’s prophecy, since they could neither destroy them nor leave them scattered without dooming humanity. Sheng An chose to keep seeking the truth rather than let uncertainty stop them, insisting that humanity should not simply accept extinction.

• Old Qin suggested that Qin Xuan’s prophecy might mean collecting the fragments was wrong, prompting the others to suspect him until Wu Buyu read his thoughts and confirmed he was only speculating.
• Doctor Yan explained that the fragments were too hard to destroy and that leaving them scattered would continue poisoning the world, while Li Xin confirmed he could not control them with his power.
• Song Linwei and the others considered whether the prophecy referred to collecting the fragments, and Wan Yuan questioned how fragments so indestructible could have broken apart.
• Hao Jingye asked whether they should continue collecting the fragments, and Qi Lingwu asked Sheng An for her decision.
• Sheng An said she would not let fear keep them from uncovering the truth, and she rejected Old Qin’s suggestion that they simply accept humanity’s eventual death.