Chapter Summaries

Ye Buyu trained relentlessly at Four Symbols Academy and gathered materials to advance before Joint Training began. After exchanging her haul and using mission points awarded for a classified mission, she advanced a tier and prepared to meet her new classmates.

• Si Weijian told He Min to finish screening candidates and said the Bureau would seek outside help if the Thin Mist Priest was right.
• Ye Buyu trained in shooting and martial arts, but her instructors struggled to keep up with her and the martial arts instructor eventually fled.
• With fewer than three days until Joint Training, Ye Buyu remembered she needed breakthrough materials and attacked the school's Calamities to collect them.
• A staff member warned Ye Buyu that the common materials would earn few points, then discovered she already had a large balance from a classified mission.
• Ye Buyu exchanged her points for materials and advanced a tier as Little Whale reminded her that Joint Training was about to begin.

Mu Bingge, Kou Ying, Su Wuwei, Wan Lan, Lou Guanshan, and Ye Buyu prepared to begin classes in Zhaoyang City. Ye Buyu reached the hidden academy fortress, where Su Wuwei greeted her with a strange gift: a pitch-black butterfly egg.

• Mu Yang tried to send Mu Bingge to class with a suitcase of supplies and twelve gifts, but she left without them, and the suitcase broke open.
• Kou Ying left the Great Xia Research Institute Center to attend school as an ordinary Awakened, while Director Yingcao entrusted his safety to Lan Huaiyu and Lin Huaiye.
• Su Wuwei remembered that classes were starting, prepared gifts for his classmates, and headed to the academy.
• Wan Lan and Lou Guanshan left the Social Security Bureau after gaining advancement materials and guidance from Fourth Tier seniors.
• Ye Buyu traveled to the hidden fortress in Zhaoyang City and met Su Wuwei, who gave her a pitch-black butterfly egg as an introductory gift.

Ye Buyu was tricked into becoming the Joint Training Class’s class monitor and found that the students could not leave the classroom after signing in. Shi Can introduced practical training connected to the Thin Mist Priest incident and distributed confidential files, leaving the class to learn what awaited them.

• Ye Buyu signed Shi Can’s appointment letter without realizing it and was named class monitor after reaching tier three.
• The students accepted Ye Buyu’s appointment, and Shi Can explained that signing in barred them from leaving the Designated Classroom during class.
• Ye Buyu took attendance, and Kou Ying arrived late and signed in despite Ye Buyu’s warnings.
• Shi Can announced practical teaching tied to the Thin Mist Priest incident and gave every student a confidential file to read.

Shi Can assigned the class to approach two Cloud Haze figures, Zhu Youcai and Feng Jianyu, and ordered them to form two teams of six. The teams formed, and Wan Lan chose Feng Jianyu as her team's target while Chu Lie asked for information about Zhu Youcai.

• Shi Can explained that the Social Security Bureau had linked the Thin Mist Priest's followers to the secret organization Cloud Haze but lacked evidence to arrest its members.
• Shi Can named Zhu Youcai and Feng Jianyu as targets and told the students to form two teams of six before leaving the classroom.
• Su Wuwei chose Ye Buyu, and Kou Ying joined them; the remaining students split into a second team.
• Wan Lan and Lou Guanshan chose Feng Jianyu, while Chu Lie asked his classmates whether Zhu Youcai was the person they had encountered at the Social Security Bureau.

Ye Buyu explained how Zhu Youcai may have deliberately turned his subsidiary into a place that would attract [Streetlamp], creating sacrifices for the Thin Mist Priest. After the others pressed her for details about her connection to the Priest, the teams named one group Horizon and prepared to plan their approaches to their targets.

• Wan Lan shared a notebook detailing the faults of Zhu Youcai, whose subsidiary had previously been destroyed by [Streetlamp].
• Wei Changming suggested Zhu Youcai may have deliberately attracted [Streetlamp], and Ye Buyu reasoned that the deaths could have served as sacrifices for the Thin Mist Priest.
• Ye Buyu revealed she had survived the [Streetlamp] incident at Zhu Youcai's subsidiary and explained how the Thin Mist Priest's believers might have engineered it.
• Mu Bingge said files linked Zhu Youcai and Feng Jian's abilities to the Thin Mist Priest, then credited Ye Buyu with the most responsibility for killing him.
• The teams finished choosing their targets, and Guan Xiaomei proposed the name Horizon for the first team.

The teams chose the name Hold Up the Heavens and planned to approach Zhu Youcai and Feng Jianyu by having Ye Buyu pose as a tenant. After receiving their mission supplies, Ye Buyu discovered her teammates planned to provoke Feng Jianyu or track him so they could attack him.

• Lou Guanshan proposed the World's Number One Team, but the group rejected it and chose Ye Buyu's suggestion, Hold Up the Heavens.
• Kou Ying offered three flawed plans for approaching Zhu Youcai and Feng Jianyu, and Mu Bingge suggested posing as a tenant.
• The team chose Ye Buyu to pose as a tenant because she was a local and seemed like an ordinary college student.
• Shi Can gave the teams badges containing mission materials, intelligence, and lifesaving devices as they left the base.
• Kou Ying gave Ye Buyu a tracker and told her to provoke Feng Jianyu into attacking or track him so the team could attack him.

Ye Buyu posed as a renter to provoke Feng Jianyu into attacking so her teammates could capture him, but he stayed his hand and planned to murder her later. She planted a tracker on him before they parted, giving the team a way to follow him.

• Ye Buyu called Feng Jianyu and arranged to view rentals near Red Star Jiayuan while her teammates watched from a distance.
• Ye Buyu spent an hour rejecting Feng Jianyu's listings and provoking him with her tiny budget and short-term rental needs.
• Feng Jianyu suspected Ye Buyu was not an agent of the Social Security Bureau, then decided to kill her later and use the murder to create chaos for Cloud Haze's escape to the Third Zone.
• Ye Buyu swiped through Feng Jianyu's terminal and secretly planted a miniature tracker inside his hem.
• Ye Buyu's teammates praised her for planting the tracker, and Kou Ying said they would follow Feng Jianyu shortly.

Ye Buyu and her companions learned Feng Jianyu planned to avoid their appointment and went after him that night. They beat and restrained him, but Feng Jianyu protested that the Awakened were breaking the law as he tried to attract help.

• Kou Ying played surveillance audio in which Feng Jianyu called Ye Buyu an idiot and said he would avoid their appointment.
• Wan Lan carried Ye Buyu, Kou Ying, Lou Guanshan, Su Wuwei, and Mu Bingge through the air toward Feng Jianyu.
• Wan Lan attacked Feng Jianyu, and Ye Buyu and the others pursued him when he tried to flee.
• Ye Buyu shot Feng Jianyu, and the group knocked him down, restrained him, and beat him.
• Feng Jianyu recognized Ye Buyu, accused her of being Awakened, and shouted that they were breaking the law, but no neighbors responded.

Ye Buyu and her companions confronted Feng Jianyu, exposed his betrayal, and fought to capture him. After Ye Buyu nearly killed him with lightning bullets before reviving him, Feng Jianyu agreed to talk and begged the others to save him from her.

• Su Wuwei and the others revealed that they had recorded Feng Jianyu admitting his betrayal, and Feng Jianyu recognized that they were students rather than Social Security Bureau agents.
• Feng Jianyu broke free of Kou Ying's restraint and unleashed his Fourth Tier power, but Mu Bingge matched his presence as the others prepared to fight.
• Feng Jianyu fled toward the crowded street and tried to exploit Ye Buyu's role as the team's support, but she shot him with lethal lightning bullets instead of using healing bullets.
• Ye Buyu's attack brought Feng Jianyu close to death, and she repeatedly healed him until he returned to consciousness.
• Feng Jianyu agreed to reveal what he knew and pleaded with Mu Bingge and the others to save him from Ye Buyu.

Feng Jianyu surrendered to the Hold Up the Heavens squad and revealed Cloud Haze’s plans to become a Man-Made Calamity and leave the Present World. As the squad questioned him, Ye Buyu asked who had warned him to watch out for her.

• Feng Jianyu broke down in fear of his fate after death and agreed to tell the squad everything in exchange for being handed to the Social Security Bureau for soul annihilation.
• Wan Lan and Kou Ying restrained Feng Jianyu while Ye Buyu frightened him, and Su Wuwei began questioning him.
• Feng Jianyu revealed that Zhu Youcai’s company was Cloud Haze’s headquarters and that Zhu held the believers’ lists.
• Feng Jianyu said Cloud Haze planned a grand ritual to become a Man-Made Calamity and leave the Present World, but Kou Ying insisted Cloud Haze could not achieve that alone.
• Ye Buyu asked Feng Jianyu who had warned him to watch out for her.

Feng Jianyu revealed what he knew about Zhu Youcai’s cult, while Wei Changming’s team narrowly avoided being trapped inside the company. Xiao Shuo provided login details for the company system and identified Kou Ying as a Great Xia Red Hacker, revealing he had once lost to him.

• Feng Jianyu told Ye Buyu and Lou Guanshan that Zhu Youcai was a powerful fourth-tier cultivator with trusted subordinates at his company, including a receptionist and a security guard.
• Mu Bingge warned Wei Changming that the receptionist and security guard were dangerous, so Wei Changming staged stomach pain to get his team out of the company.
• Xiao Shuo called an ambulance, and the six teammates regrouped at the hospital and learned that Hold Up the Heavens had kidnapped Feng Jianyu for information.
• Xiao Shuo shared the manager’s account details so the team could access the company system and suggested asking Kou Ying to hack it.
• Xiao Shuo revealed that Kou Ying belonged to the Great Xia Red Hackers and that he had lost to him before.

Kou Ying hacked into Zhu Youcai's Company and uncovered a hidden plan tied to Cloud Haze. Su Wuwei matched a child's drawing to a world map, revealing Cloud Haze's likely targets, and the team prepared to hand the information to their teacher.

• Xiao Shuo admitted Kou Ying had hacked him for a year, and Wei Changming sent Mu Bingge Kou Ying's login details to investigate Zhu Youcai's Company.
• Kou Ying found suspicious company finances and traced the money through a heavily encrypted team-building plan.
• Feng Jianyu revealed that he had been tasked with diverting the Social Security Bureau's attention and recalled Zhu Youcai emphasizing the team-building event and fireworks.
• Kou Ying broke through the plan's encryption and found a child's drawing, which Su Wuwei matched to major cities on a world map.
• Su Wuwei identified the marked cities as Cloud Haze's likely next targets, while Lou Guanshan urged the team to call the police and Wan Lan said they were waiting for their teacher.

Liu Shuai killed Feng Jianyu and destroyed his soul to keep the Abyss from claiming it, then explained the fate awaiting believers and Calamities after death. As the team headed back to base, Ye Buyu learned from her teammates that stronger souls could retain their freedom in the Borderlands.

• Liu Shuai appeared before Hold Up the Heavens, collected the flash drive containing Zhu Youcai's Company map and personnel list, and killed Feng Jianyu after asking whether he regretted his choices.
• When Feng Jianyu's soul was drawn toward the Abyss, Liu Shuai fired again to shatter it and prevent the Abyss from claiming it.
• Liu Shuai explained to the team that believers and Calamities were usually dragged into the Abyss after death, and said he had destroyed Feng Jianyu's soul to deny it to the Abyss.
• Su Wuwei connected Feng Jianyu's fear of Ye Buyu's shot to her ability to show him the world after death, while Little Whale insisted Ye Buyu herself would not be sacrificed to the Abyss.
• Mu Bingge, Kou Ying, and Su Wuwei explained that powerful souls could retain their freedom by becoming vassals of a Major Calamity or Man-Made Calamities, leaving Wan Lan surprised by how much her teammates knew.

After the Hold Up the Heavens Team members revealed their differing goals, they split up to investigate Cloud Haze separately, leaving Ye Buyu confused and ready to go home. She then ran into her former deskmate Zhang Qian, who congratulated her on getting guaranteed admission.

• Wan Lan asked the team what they intended to investigate, and Mu Bingge, Kou Ying, and Su Wuwei each stated their own goals.
• Ye Buyu warned the others that her bad luck attracted high-tier Calamities, but Lou Guanshan and Su Wuwei still wanted her to come along.
• Mu Bingge suggested that nobody had to join her, and the team members agreed to investigate separately.
• Ye Buyu complained that the team should be called the Sky Is Falling Team and refused Little Whale's suggestion to visit the amusement park.
• Zhang Qian recognized Ye Buyu and congratulated her on getting guaranteed admission.

Ye Buyu discovered that Zhang Qian had lured their former classmates to a ritual intended to turn them into Believers, and swallowed a bug-like candy to join them after a stranger warned her not to act rashly. At the same time, the Social Security Bureau raided Zhu Youcai’s company, but Zhu escaped by teleportation, and the manager revealed that the ritual was tied to the Withered Glory Theatre in the Level Six Zone.

• Zhang Qian invited Ye Buyu to meet their old classmates and handed out candy containing crawling insects, claiming it could make them Awakened.
• The lead dancer announced the Dance of Metamorphosis, and Ye Buyu saw the classmates and former square dancers behaving like controlled Believers.
• A stranger stopped Ye Buyu from attacking the lead dancer, and Ye Buyu swallowed the insect candy before being teleported with the others to the Dance Hall.
• The Social Security Bureau raided Zhu Youcai’s company, but Zhu Youcai escaped through a Directional Teleportation Array.
• The manager told Xiao Shuo and Kou Ying that the employees had become Believers of Cloud Haze and named the Withered Glory Theatre in the Level Six Zone as the place to find them before vanishing.

The Withered Glory Theatre intervened in Cloud Haze’s rise toward becoming a Man-Made Calamity and transported people from Zhu Youcai’s Company onto a stage. The chapter left Liu Shuai’s group trapped in a performance watched by powerful Calamities, including Bajiao, while the Theatre framed the conflict as a debate over Cloud Haze’s guilt.

• Kou Ying explained that the Withered Glory Theatre could give Cloud Haze the recognition and philosophy needed to become a Man-Made Calamity.
• Liu Shuai ordered the Horizon Team back to base as the Withered Glory Theatre’s fireworks and citywide projection announced its performance.
• The Theatre’s blurred figure snapped their fingers and transported everyone inside Zhu Youcai’s Company onto an enormous stage, where Ye Buyu found herself among the masked audience.
• Two narrators presented opposing arguments about whether Cloud Haze’s followers deserved sympathy or punishment, while Su Wuwei discovered that he could not move.
• The Theatre introduced the Tsunami Lord, Rift Lord, Wind and Thunder Lord, and Bajiao as invited audience members and sponsors, alarming the people onstage.

Zhu Youcai tried to persuade the audience that becoming Believers offered ordinary people a way to gain abilities, while Ye Buyu and Liu Shuai challenged him over the cost and deception. As the audience split over whether the bargain was worth it, Wan Lan angrily warned that Believers became weapons for the Abyss against the Present World.

• The narrator began the performance again, and Zhu Youcai told the audience that Cloud Haze had discovered a way for ordinary people to gain abilities.
• He Min and Si Weijian recognized that Zhu Youcai’s claims could inflame the divide between ordinary people and the Awakened.
• Ye Buyu interrupted Zhu Youcai, exposed the supposed candy as maggots, and challenged him for hiding the cost of becoming a Believer.
• Liu Shuai warned that Believers’ souls were marked by the Abyss, while members of the audience argued over whether they regretted becoming Believers.
• Wan Lan confronted the audience, declaring that Believers chose the Abyss and would become enemies of the Present World.

Wan Lan defended ordinary people and condemned those who treated becoming Awakened as the only meaningful life, while the Narrator revealed that Great Xia’s Azure Dragon Division had attacked the Calamity Lords’ lairs. Su Wuwei then exposed the risk of death for Awakened and challenged the Cloud Haze Believers to face the consequences of their choices.

• Wan Lan argued that ordinary people’s work mattered and refused to let Awakened become weapons for the enemy.
• The Lords praised the young people, while Bajiao pressed the Narrator to continue the performance.
• The Narrator announced that the Azure Dragon Division had attacked the Calamities’ lairs to settle the score for targeting Great Xia’s students.
• The Tsunami Lord and the Rift Lord reacted with alarm, and the teams realized their guardians had taken the fight to the enemy.
• Su Wuwei explained that the River of Forgetfulness could restore only ordinary people caught up in Calamities, while Awakened who died stayed dead.
• Su Wuwei challenged the Cloud Haze Believers for courting danger and expecting others to save them.

Ye Buyu and the audience faced a forced final performance as Zhu Youcai's Believers and the other actors fought for their souls. Outside the theatre, ordinary people and Awakened argued over responsibility and salvation, while Zhang Jian chose to confront Zhu Youcai's group with Zhang Qian.

• Ye Buyu questioned whether she had awakened before or after Little Whale revived her, and Little Whale blamed her for exploiting a revival bug.
• Zhu Youcai urged ordinary people and Awakened to pursue power and self-preservation, promising Believers could control their souls if they grew strong enough.
• The narrator turned the audience into an empty stage and announced that the winning side's Best Actor would take their souls, prompting Zhu Youcai to object.
• Zhu Youcai's group and the opposing actors fought while Calamities cheered, and people watching the giant screens condemned the Present World's infighting.
• Ordinary people told the Awakened they wanted to help save themselves and support them, and Zhang Jian admitted his choices had endangered others.
• Zhang Jian took Zhang Qian toward the stage to attack Zhu Youcai's group, and both were struck down in a flash of blood.

Ye Buyu witnessed the audience’s deaths and learned that she could not heal Believers or save their souls. As Calamities and the Hold Up the Heavens Team fought over the vessel containing those souls, Little Whale revealed that changing the River of Forgetfulness might help—but would turn it into another Man-Made Calamity.

• Zhang Qian died, and her drifting soul was absorbed into the vessel as the audience’s choices turned the theatre into a slaughter.
• The Narrator revealed that only someone with Calamity power could hold a vessel containing Believers’ souls, prompting Bajiao, the [Tsunami Lord], and the [Rift Lord] to seize the thumb ring from Zhu Youcai.
• Liu Shuai asked the Hold Up the Heavens Team to lend him power, and the group joined the struggle for the ring while the surviving audience despaired that their choices could not change their fate.
• Ye Buyu tried to heal the Believers but discovered that her healing harmed them because their souls could not return to the Present World.
• Little Whale explained that the River of Forgetfulness would have to change its system to accept Believers’ souls, then asked whether Ye Buyu wanted to become a Blessed One of the [Whale of Wailing].