Chapter Summaries

After awakening in the body of Xu Ye, a boy who survived a mass suicide at an illegal laboratory, Xu Ye learned that his writhing heart could warn him of future deaths. He avoided a dangerous elevator and climbed toward the contamination site, where an aberrant approached as Sky City’s adjudicators decided to continue testing him and consider him for the Dawn Blade.

• Xu Ye recovered memories of the laboratory’s mass suicide and learned Sky City suspected he had been contaminated.
• Xu Ye’s heart warned him that an aberrant had killed an elderly woman on the eighteenth floor and that he would die during the assignment.
• Xu Ye avoided the elevator after his heart predicted a deadly mirror phenomenon inside it.
• Sky City’s adjudicators debated executing Xu Ye, but a middle-aged man ordered the test to continue and proposed recruiting him into the Dawn Blade.
• Xu Ye climbed the stairwell with a dagger, heard an aberrant approaching near the fourteenth floor, and received no further warning from his heart.

Xu Ye escaped the hungry stairwell only to discover that the stray dog Aberrant had lured him into a trap. He attacked its ordinary dog head during a thunderclap, but the wounded creature kicked him back into the stairwell.

• Xu Ye realized the distorted stairs looped on the fourteenth floor as the Aberrant tried to swallow him.
• Xu Ye escaped into a nearby room and found the stray dog Aberrant waiting there in its true form, with two dog heads and human features.
• The Aberrant offered Xu Ye a bowl of milk containing fingers, and Xu Ye pretended to drink while planning his attack.
• When thunder struck, Xu Ye smashed the bowl over the human-faced dog head and stabbed the ordinary dog head in the neck with his dagger.
• The wounded Aberrant kicked Xu Ye through the door and back into the stairwell.

Xu Ye discovered that Wu Shuyu’s slaughtered dogs had caused the contamination and used a mirror to let the Mirror Spirit kill the stray dog Aberrant. He passed out from his spreading wound, while a final message foretold his rescue, his future with the Dawn Blade, and a world-shaking secret that might let him return home.

• Xu Ye found Wu Shuyu’s corpse and discovered dog remains in her kitchen, realizing she had slaughtered and eaten stray dogs.
• The stray dog Aberrant broke into the apartment and grievously wounded Xu Ye.
• Xu Ye remembered that mirrors attracted a Mirror Spirit and used a fallen mirror to trap and kill the Aberrant.
• Xu Ye kicked the mirror away as the storm cleared, then passed out while the toxin spread through his wound.
• A message predicted that someone would rescue Xu Ye, that he would join the Dawn Blade as an Awakened, and that five years later he would discover a secret that could let him go home.

Xu Ye learned that Wu Shuyu, not the stray dog, caused the mutation and was told he had failed the test, then fought the examiner and fled before a Mirror Spirit killed him. He woke back in the room as the examiner revealed the chase and death had been another test, introduced himself as Meng Chengfei of the Dawn Blade, and declared Xu Ye had passed the second round.

• The suited man played a recording that revealed Wu Shuyu had caused the mutation and said he had killed her before she could kill Xu Ye.
• The man declared that Xu Ye had failed the test, so Xu Ye distracted him with a remark about hemorrhoids and stabbed him with the dagger.
• Xu Ye fled through the night market to escape the nobles, but a Mirror Spirit caught him in a public restroom and demanded to know what Doctor Chen had done to him.
• After the Mirror Spirit twisted Xu Ye's head, he jolted awake in the original room and realized the events had been a test.
• The examiner removed his face, identified himself as Meng Chengfei of the Dawn Blade, and congratulated Xu Ye on passing the second round.

Xu Ye learned from Meng Chengfei that the Dawn Blade handled contamination incidents and that negative emotions could create Aberrants by corrupting a person’s second personality. The chapter left Xu Ye with a clearer picture of the ruined world and the dangers hidden within human minds.

• Meng Chengfei identified himself as the captain of Squad Nine, Dawn Blade, and explained that the agency handled contamination incidents across Sky City and its subordinate cities.
• Meng Chengfei gave Xu Ye a report about the bloodborne contamination source and stray dog Aberrant responsible for three deaths at 150 Dragonbright Street.
• Meng Chengfei explained that a secret event had contaminated most of the world’s population a century earlier, prompting the Federation to launch a global nuclear purge.
• Meng Chengfei described how contamination sources spread through bodily and sensory contact and how they could distort the Heavenly Dao, producing phenomena such as apparitions and Mirror Spirits.
• Xu Ye asked how negative emotions contaminated people, and Meng Chengfei explained that they corrupted a second personality until it destroyed the primary personality and transformed the victim into an Aberrant.

Meng Chengfei explained contamination and the dangers of becoming an Awakened, then persuaded Xu Ye to drink the awakening serum. As Xu Ye fell asleep, Sky City's Ten-Person Council ordered Meng Chengfei to kill him after learning that Xu Ye had slaughtered everyone in Doctor Chen's laboratory.

• Meng Chengfei described how second personalities controlled sequence talents and could cause Awakened to lose control and mutate.
• Meng Chengfei revealed that he had two personalities and two sequence talents, then urged Xu Ye to awaken so he could protect himself.
• Xu Ye agreed and swallowed the serum, immediately falling into a deep sleep.
• The Ten-Person Council told Meng Chengfei that repaired footage showed Xu Ye had killed everyone in Doctor Chen's laboratory and ordered him to kill Xu Ye.

Meng Chengfei defied the Ten-Person Council’s order to kill Xu Ye and waited for him to awaken. Xu Ye discovered his Mayfly Sequence Talent and saw his second personality hatch as a white cat, whom he immediately subdued.

• Meng Chengfei received orders to kill Xu Ye but chose to trust Doctor Chen’s note and protect him as a member of the Dawn Blade.
• A noble ordered Meng Chengfei to withdraw so armed forces could kill Xu Ye, but Meng Chengfei invoked his authority and the forces backed down.
• Xu Ye woke and learned that his Sequence Talent was 9-666, Mayfly, which enhanced his agility and movement.
• Xu Ye’s second personality appeared as a white cat and claimed she had awakened the powerful 9-003, Soul-Seizing.
• Xu Ye used a black tentacle to grab and repeatedly slam the cat, while Meng Chengfei watched and suspected Xu Ye had gone mad.

Xu Ye joined the Dawn Blade after Meng Chengfei confirmed that he had awakened without signs of contamination, despite his unusual cat-like second personality, Alice. On the way to investigate a case, Xu Ye learned about the origins of sequence talents and heard that Doctor Chen, whom he suspected was connected to his transmigration, had supposedly returned from death many times.

• Squad Nine reported that Xu Ye had awakened with stable mental output and no signs of contamination, while Meng Chengfei considered the possibility that his second personality was genuinely unusual.
• After Alice returned to Xu Ye's mind, Xu Ye hid details about the cat from Meng Chengfei, who accepted the explanation and welcomed him to the Dawn Blade.
• Meng Chengfei brought Xu Ye along to investigate a new case and explained that sequence talents were thought to be divine power that eroded Awakened people, leading them to develop second personalities.
• Xu Ye recognized Doctor Chen's name and suspected the researcher was connected to his transmigration, but Meng Chengfei withheld what he knew about the laboratory.
• When Xu Ye lamented that Doctor Chen was dead, Meng Chengfei said Chen had died and returned to life more than a dozen times and might possess a high-tier divine sequence.

Xu Ye learned about divine sequences and received equipment for his first mission, then arrived at Night Spirit City's Sixth Mental Hospital. Alice explained that his heart could simulate the future ten times a day, and a distressed young man ran out of the hospital and mistook a recycling bin for his grandfather.

• Meng Chengfei explained that divine sequences were believed to originate from a god's organs and gave Xu Ye a pistol, phone, earbuds, and badge.
• Xu Ye asked about pay, expenses, benefits, and whether he could retreat from a dangerous mission; Meng Chengfei said missions offered bonuses of at least thirty thousand.
• Xu Ye arrived at Night Spirit City's Sixth Mental Hospital and wondered why his heart was no longer writhing.
• Alice told Xu Ye that his heart could simulate the future ten times a day and that he had used all ten chances before midnight.
• A distressed young man charged past Xu Ye, embraced a recycling bin, and cried out to it as his grandfather.

Xu Ye interviewed Li Kang, who described how a string of supernatural missing-person notices drove him to kill anyone who claimed him as their grandson. The consultation ended with Li Kang turning on Xu Ye and calling him Grandpa.

• Xu Ye watched Li Kang embrace trash cans before nurses sedated him and brought him to a consultation room.
• Xu Ye examined Li Kang and learned from Alice that spiritual energy lingered around him.
• Li Kang explained that he and his brother had used missing-person notices to scam elderly people, then robbed and killed them.
• Li Kang said supernatural notices began appearing daily, forcing him to call rats, animals, objects, and other beings Grandpa or face their attacks.
• Li Kang confessed that he had killed his brother after his brother called himself Li Kang's grandpa, then turned his head around and called Xu Ye Grandpa.

Xu Ye distracted the polluted Li Kang with absurd stories, restoring his reason and persuading him to lead investigators to the dumped bodies. Just as Xu Ye left with him, his heart squirmed and a warning appeared that Li Kang would ambush him after mutating, while Alice would take over his body.

• Meng Chengfei warned Xu Ye that Li Kang was polluted but had not yet mutated, and told him to keep Li Kang calm while they traced the pollution source.
• Xu Ye posed as a doctor and told Li Kang ridiculous stories about romance, baby talk, and climate change, distracting him from his own condition.
• Li Kang’s neck returned to normal, and he thanked Xu Ye for making him feel clearheaded.
• Xu Ye convinced Li Kang to lead them to the bodies he had dumped, while Meng Chengfei dispatched a special operations team to follow them.
• Xu Ye’s heart began to squirm, and a warning appeared describing Li Kang’s planned ambush and Alice’s takeover of Xu Ye’s body.

Xu Ye fought and seemingly killed the mutated Li Kang, but Alice discovered after devouring his soul that the corpse was not Li Kang. The chapter left Xu Ye facing uncertainty about who he had killed and where Li Kang was.

• Xu Ye fired at Li Kang, recovered from his mental attack with Alice's help, and shot him repeatedly.
• Li Kang shed his ruined arm, which turned into cockroaches, then tried to escape before Xu Ye dragged him back with a tentacle.
• Xu Ye shot Li Kang in the head and belly as the man's body produced blood that turned into cockroaches.
• Meng Chengfei told Xu Ye the target had been eliminated and instructed him to investigate where Li Kang had dumped the body.
• Alice devoured the corpse's soul to absorb its strength and memories, then revealed that the man was not Li Kang.

After discovering that the supposed Li Kang was actually the woman he had assaulted, Xu Ye used his heart’s simulations to uncover dangers awaiting him at the body dump site. He joined Meng Chengfei’s team to investigate the mountain, where the group sensed an imminent threat.

• Alice found that the person was not Li Kang but the woman Li Kang had assaulted, while Xu Ye wondered where the real Li Kang was.
• Xu Ye’s heart simulated a future in which a truck hit him on his way back, and another in which he died after entering a cabin near the body dump site.
• Meng Chengfei told Xu Ye that the team had located Li Kang’s home and the mountain where he dumped the body, and Xu Ye chose to go along.
• Xu Ye met Zheng Chengdong and the new recruit Zhou Ye on the drive to the mountain as Meng Chengfei and Zheng Chengdong traded barbs.
• At the mountain, Meng Chengfei ordered everyone on alert, and Alice warned Xu Ye that tens of thousands of people seemed to be watching them as movement stirred in the darkness.

Xu Ye disrupted a mountain-wide illusion by singing horribly, saving the Ninth Team from being killed while they were entranced. With the strange phenomena gone, the team found a wooden cabin beside a pool that Xu Ye suspected contained the Pollution Source.

• Zhou Ye stood in front of Xu Ye as Zheng Chengdong explained that ordinary people were treated as cannon fodder to protect the Awakened.
• Rats, trees, and other living things across the mountain called out for Grandpa, drawing the Ninth Team into a growing chorus.
• Xu Ye sang loudly to break the chorus's rhythm, and the creatures stopped to curse at him before the illusion shattered.
• Meng Chengfei realized the team had been trapped in an illusion and said Xu Ye's singing had likely saved them from being wiped out.
• Xu Ye noticed that the strange phenomena had vanished, leaving a wooden cabin beside a pool, and suspected the Pollution Source was inside.

Meng Chengfei's Ninth Team fought a second-stage Aberrant after blowing up the cabin, but the monster's attack trapped several team members and threatened a third mutation. As the team stood between Xu Ye and the danger, he began a Heart Simulation with seven uses left.

• A researcher told Meng Chengfei that the cabin held a second-stage Aberrant that spread pollution through missing person notices, and Meng Chengfei ordered it blown up.
• An old man in a black robe emerged from the destroyed cabin, searching for his grandson, and Meng Chengfei warned Xu Ye to stay out of the fight.
• Zheng Chengdong attacked the Aberrant with an E-Rank Taboo Object while Meng Chengfei struck it with [Iron Block].
• The Aberrant unleashed a mental shock wave and used its toes to seize four team members, including Zhou Ye, while Xu Ye avoided the attack.
• Meng Chengfei and Zheng Chengdong prepared to keep fighting as the team urged Xu Ye to survive, and Xu Ye began a Heart Simulation.

Xu Ye realized the old man’s mutation might be slowed by recalling the cause of the pollution, so he joined Meng Chengfei and the Ninth Team in a desperate attack. As Xu Ye dodged the old man’s strikes and closed in, the old man attacked from above and below at once.

• Xu Ye’s simulation showed that attacking the old man directly would get him killed, while Alice urged him to escape.
• Xu Ye recalled that every mutation had a cause and considered restoring the old man’s memories to slow his mutation.
• After two Ninth Team members died, Xu Ye decided to fight alongside Meng Chengfei and called for the team to work with him.
• Xu Ye merged with Alice, used Mayfly to dodge the old man’s attacks, and charged toward him as the Ninth Team provided cover.
• When Xu Ye came within thirty meters, the old man’s buried toes burst from the ground as his fingers attacked from above, and someone shouted for Xu Ye to jump.

Xu Ye risked his life to reach the old-man Aberrant and used Soul-Seizing to restore a memory of the man’s grandson. The Aberrant stopped attacking and left, while Xu Ye collapsed in relief.

• Meng Chengfei and Zheng Chengdong supported Xu Ye as he dodged the old-man Aberrant’s attacks and charged toward him.
• Xu Ye used a tentacle to escape a bone spike, then broke another tentacle and freed Zhou Ye.
• As the Aberrant’s attacks closed in, Xu Ye activated Soul-Seizing and recreated the image of the old man’s grandson.
• The memory briefly restored the old man’s senses, halting his attacks and preventing his domain from closing.
• The old man picked up the Missing Person Notice and disappeared into the night, and Xu Ye collapsed after the danger passed.

Xu Ye recovered after helping the Ninth Team survive the battle, while the team mourned its dead and the Dawn Blade Eighth Team took over the aftermath. He woke in a hotel the next day to find He Li in his room and Alice perched on her.

• Zheng Chengdong praised Xu Ye for completing the mission and reported that four team members had died.
• The Ninth Team cremated the dead at the scene, and Zheng Chengdong explained that their families would be told they died in Patrol Team service.
• Meng Chengfei told Xu Ye he would write the report, crediting the Witch's Lens with stopping the Aberrant's third mutation, then collapsed.
• The Dawn Blade Eighth Team arrived and took over the scene while Xu Ye and the others went to a hotel to rest.
• Xu Ye woke the next day and met He Li, a member of the Dawn Blade Ninth Team, while Alice excitedly perched on her.

He Li visited the injured Xu Ye to explain the Dawn Blade and the Awakened, then arranged his upcoming tests and training. Xu Ye asked her for money as he considered what to do before the joint training began.

• He Li joked with Xu Ye about her breakup, revealing that she had been dating all seven of her former boyfriend’s sons.
• He Li gave Xu Ye a computer and explained the Five Great Safe Zones, the Dawn Blade’s teams, and the danger levels of pollution incidents.
• He Li told Xu Ye that the Ninth Team’s Awakened had died in a Disaster Level incident ten years earlier and explained how killing an Awakened could pass on their talent.
• He Li explained that Aberrants mutated faster by devouring Awakened and told Xu Ye to come to the team base for tests and training the day after tomorrow.
• He Li said Xu Ye would attend centralized training with new Awakened from the five major powers in a month, and Xu Ye asked her for money.

Xu Ye used money borrowed from He Li to repay people harmed by the original owner’s family tragedy, then learned that Heavenly Dao distortions were spreading and would eventually doom the world. The chapter ended with Xu Ye facing the revelation that the world was heading toward collapse.

• Xu Ye borrowed twenty thousand from He Li and visited three households to repay people whose family members had died rescuing him from a fire.
• Xu Ye explained that he had spent years tutoring and giving his earnings to the survivors of the rescuers who died, and He Li was moved by his story.
• He Li told Xu Ye that the captain had arranged for him to live in the apartment building where the previous day’s incident occurred.
• He Li explained that Heavenly Dao distortion was irreversible, spread over time, and accompanied severe polluted-world incidents.
• He Li told Xu Ye that the distortions would eventually consume the entire world.