Chapter Summaries

Xu Ye left the Black Market with a favor from Aldrich and an invitation to Cheng Ying'er’s coming-of-age banquet, while Aldrich learned that Xu Ye’s past was tied to a highly classified incident. Meanwhile, Wang Han’s group prepared to attack the Dawn Blade, and Alice warned Xu Ye that the soul Aberrant’s identity would shock him.

• Aldrich thanked Xu Ye for helping him, promised him a favor, and invited him to Cheng Ying'er's eighteenth-birthday banquet.
• Xu Ye bought Great Fiend meat, accepted the invitation, and left to meet Lu Mingwang for hot pot.
• Aldrich told Xiao Liu that Xu Ye’s Coastal City pollution records were accessible only to the top four authorities and shared the same classification as a secret incident from a century earlier.
• Wang Han and Boss Zhao planned retaliation against young Awakened from the Ninth and Eighth Squads, saying they would act before Archbishop Ace of Hearts arrived.
• Alice told Xu Ye that the soul-seizing revealed the true identity of the King Zhou of Shang soul Aberrant, leaving him apprehensive.

Xu Ye was ambushed in the sewer by Wang Han, a follower of the Lord of Darkfall who could liquefy his body. After Xu Ye wounded him from a distance, Wang Han unleashed another talent that overwhelmed Xu Ye and Alice with revulsion as he charged.

• Xu Ye connected the aberrations affecting Zhang Feng and his family to the Eternal Church and considered whether Zhang Feng's unborn sibling could serve as a ritual vessel.
• Xu Ye's heart warned him of an imminent attack, and he used the warning to evade Wang Han's attempted throat-slitting ambush.
• Xu Ye attacked Wang Han with blades from a distance, forcing the assassin to dodge and wounding him near the waist.
• The Bandit Lord identified Wang Han's talents as Liquefaction and Mayfly and warned Xu Ye that Wang Han had a second ability.
• Wang Han changed into a hideous form and charged, provoking nausea and revulsion in Xu Ye and Alice.

Xu Ye defeated Wang Han despite his [Ugliness] talent and captured memories revealing the Eternal Church’s plans for revenge. In those memories, the Lord of Darkfall’s painting seemed to notice Xu Ye, leaving him worried that he had attracted the deity’s attention.

• Wang Han used [Ugliness] and attacked Xu Ye, but Alice provided Xu Ye with sight and he matched Wang Han’s strength.
• Xu Ye plunged the sewer into darkness, saw Wang Han’s soul with [Soul-Seizing], and killed him with the Black Blade.
• Xu Ye captured Wang Han’s memories and learned that the Eternal Church planned to retaliate against Li Yunyao, Zhou Ye, and Lu Mingwang that night.
• Wang Han’s memories showed the Eternal Church worshipping a painting of the Lord of Darkfall, whose mummy opened its eyes and seemed to look directly at Xu Ye.
• The Bandit Lord warned Xu Ye that the painting may have carried the Lord of Darkfall’s presence and that Xu Ye had caught his attention.

Xu Ye used [Shadow Play] to turn Wang Han’s corpse into a controllable puppet and discovered its limits, while Alice eagerly tested the puppet’s movements. The story left off when Wang Han’s phone rang with a call from Six of Spades.

• Xu Ye reviewed the Eternal Church’s planned attack and suspected a mole in the squads, then hid Wang Han’s corpse.
• Xu Ye performed the [Shadow Play] ritual, restoring Wang Han’s appearance and gaining control of his puppet body and preserved Sequence Talent.
• Xu Ye tested the puppet’s limits and learned that controlling it drained his mental energy, required Spiritual Qi threads, and only worked within fifty meters.
• Xu Ye let Alice control Wang Han, and Alice made the puppet dance, use [Liquefaction], and behave provocatively.
• Wang Han’s phone rang, and Xu Ye saw that Six of Spades was calling.

Xu Ye uncovered an Eternal Church plot against Lu Mingwang and warned him to protect his parents. Lu Mingwang escaped his apartment just before explosive sparrows attacked, while Boss Zhao watched the blast from nearby.

• Xu Ye decoded Wang Han's message, replied using their secret code, and warned Lu Mingwang, Zhou Ye, and Li Yunyao before failing to reach the captain.
• Lu Mingwang received Xu Ye's warning and tried to take his parents to safety, but they initially resisted.
• A flock of sparrows carrying explosives smashed into Lu Mingwang's apartment, and he pulled his parents into the corridor before the bombs detonated.
• Boss Zhao listened to the news in an alley near the Rose Residential Complex and held a sparrow as the storm clouds gathered.
• Boss Zhao said it was time, and an explosion erupted on the building's twenty-third floor.

Boss Zhao and the Eternal Church’s followers prepared to exploit the explosion and storm in Night Spirit City, while Xu Ye hunted them down. The chapter ended as Zhou Ye and Li Yunyao narrowly avoided an exploding piece of flesh on their way to Lu Mingwang’s home.

• Boss Zhao learned that Lu Mingwang had survived the explosion and sent Two of Spades toward the Rose Residential Complex while ordering his accomplices to kill Li Yunyao if she appeared.
• Two of Spades headed through the burning complex, but Xu Ye confronted and killed him, then moved toward another van used by the Eternal Church.
• Zhou Ye encountered Li Yunyao on the way to Lu Mingwang’s home, and she told him that Xu Ye had warned her about the situation.
• Zhou Ye and Li Yunyao saw the burning building and leaped aside as a piece of flesh landed between them and exploded.

Li Yunyao and Zhou Ye fought Ten of Spades until He Li intervened and revealed his identity and abilities, but he escaped using a Taboo Object. Elsewhere, Wang Han ambushed two people in a car, killing the woman and confronting the man beneath a Big Black Umbrella.

• Ten of Spades attacked Li Yunyao and Zhou Ye, but Li Yunyao pierced his spleen with her sword.
• Ten of Spades transferred the wound to his hand and bombarded them with Flesh Bombs, injuring Zhou Ye and forcing Li Yunyao to defend them both.
• Zhou Ye charged Ten of Spades, but a sniper's bullet interrupted the attack and gave them a reprieve.
• He Li identified Ten of Spades as Deng Lin, described his crimes and abilities, and watched as he escaped with a Taboo Object.
• Wang Han climbed into a car, killed the woman in the back seat, and confronted the man who had fled beneath a Big Black Umbrella.

Xu Ye defeated Qiu Fangqiang and confronted Boss Zhao, who defended the Lord of Darkfall’s cause as a path to rebirth. After Boss Zhao threatened Xu Ye’s friend and escaped, Xu Ye rushed toward the Rose Residential Complex.

• Xu Ye severed Qiu Fangqiang’s hand, learned his name, and killed him while Alice controlled Wang Han as a puppet.
• Boss Zhao realized his operation had been disrupted, spotted Xu Ye on the sedan’s roof, and tried to recruit him by revealing that Sky City’s nobles wanted him dead.
• Bandit Lord identified a sparrow as the source of Boss Zhao’s animal-control ability, and Xu Ye shot it down.
• Xu Ye questioned how the Lord of Darkfall’s ideals of darkness and corruption could align with hatred of the world’s decay, and Boss Zhao called mass death a necessary sacrifice for rebirth.
• Boss Zhao threatened that Xu Ye’s friend was still alive but might soon die, fired at Xu Ye, and escaped; Xu Ye headed for the Rose Residential Complex.

Lu Mingwang rushed through the burning Rose Residential Complex to rescue an elderly resident, then confronted four killers waiting in the stairwell. Xu Ye intervened, but the last Follower detonated the explosives strapped to his body, leaving the rescue in immediate danger.

• Lu Mingwang escaped the first explosions with his parents, then returned upstairs to rescue an elderly neighbor while Lu Kun and Liu Xiang hurried downstairs.
• Lu Mingwang carried the old lady through the burning floors and sensed four people waiting for him near the second-floor landing.
• Lu Mingwang tried to catch the killers off guard, but one dodged his kick and struck him, while the others raised their guns.
• Xu Ye attacked the killers, killed one Follower, and slammed their leader into the wall.
• The wounded leader recited a prayer to Darkfall, ignited his explosives, and prepared to blow himself up.

Xu Ye rescued Lu Mingwang from the burning Rose Residential Complex, but discovered that all three buildings were engulfed in flames that could not be extinguished. Investigations revealed a terrifying presence underground, and the chapter ended with Dawn Blade detecting a massive coffin beneath the complex.

• Xu Ye shielded himself and Lu Mingwang from a suicide bomber’s blast, then escaped the burning building with Lu Mingwang and an elderly woman.
• Xu Ye learned that explosions had started fires in all three buildings, while patrol officers struggled to contain the flames and evacuate residents.
• The Bandit Lord revealed that the Eternal Church’s true target might be something underground, and Alice sensed a presence more terrifying than the Three-Eyed Giants.
• Xu Ye ordered Liang Liang to withdraw the patrol officers and shared information about the disaster with Li Yunyao and He Li as Dawn Blade personnel arrived.
• Dawn Blade researchers measured the underground presence at over ten thousand energy units and detected a coffin roughly three hundred meters long and two hundred meters wide.

After the Rose Residential Complex burned down, Xu Ye learned that something beneath it carried the aura of an Ancient Sage. Boss Zhao later told the remaining Spades that the operation’s true purpose had been to bring the Ancient Sage back into the world as nourishment for His descent ritual in Night Spirit City.

• Xu Ye and Alice discussed the Ancient Sage aura detected beneath the ruined residential complex, while Lu Mingwang fainted over the loss of his collectibles.
• An Eighth Team Awakened reported that Captain Ye had been ambushed by a Sequence 7 member of the Eternal Church.
• Boss Zhao met with Three of Spades, Ten of Spades, and Four of Spades after the operation, then explained that Xu Ye had disrupted their revenge plan and killed four Spades.
• Boss Zhao revealed that Li Kang had stolen pages from the Eternal Holy Book and attempted a failed ritual in the Forbidden Zone.
• Boss Zhao told the remaining Spades that their operation had succeeded in bringing the Ancient Sage beneath the complex back into the world, where the being would serve as fuel for His descent in Night Spirit City.

After the Eternal Church’s attack, Xu Ye returned home and learned that Zhang Feng’s unborn child might be connected to the Church’s coming ritual and Night Spirit City’s impending disaster. Alice suddenly began transforming, as her shed fur enveloped her in glowing layers.

• Boss Zhao told Deng Lin that the Eternal Church would kill Dawn Blade Chief Captain Cheng Tianming next month and use his blood to guide the Lord’s descent.
• Xu Ye returned home, found that Meng Chengfei had kept the place clean, and slept until the following morning.
• Meng Chengfei entered Xu Ye’s dream and heard his account of the attack, then revealed that Zhang Feng’s mother had reported hearing a voice inside her head.
• Xu Ye linked the baby’s expected birth to his simulated visions of Night Spirit City being bombed, but decided to examine Sun Xiufei before drawing conclusions.
• After Xu Ye woke, Alice began shedding clumps of fur, and the glowing hairs wrapped around her as her transformation began.

Xu Ye visited Zhou Ye in the hospital, where Li Yunyao revealed that a Taboo Object fruit had once helped secondary personalities and was taken by Han Xi. The Bandit Lord warned Xu Ye that Li Yunyao’s aura had changed, and Xu Ye left after learning Zhang Feng’s pregnant mother had arrived.

• Alice transformed into an egg, and the Bandit Lord told Xu Ye that she was not his second personality and urged him to absorb her.
• Alice overheard the Bandit Lord’s plan and threatened him, so Xu Ye cut off their contact.
• Xu Ye visited Zhou Ye at the hospital with bananas and found Lu Mingwang mourning his lost figurines.
• The Bandit Lord noticed that Li Yunyao’s aura had changed, while Li Yunyao explained that Han Xi had taken a fruit that could soothe secondary personalities.
• Xu Ye learned that Han Xi was the father of Han Li, then left with Lu Mingwang after hearing that Zhang Feng’s pregnant mother had arrived.

Xu Ye examined Sun Xiufei, whose family had suffered a series of disasters and who had begun hearing her unborn child urge her to kill. His simulation failed but showed that Li Yunyao would fall into a coma and Night Spirit City would be destroyed by the Starry Sky Ship two months later, leaving Xu Ye searching for a connection.

• Xu Ye questioned Sun Xiufei about her family’s deaths, her husband’s disappearance and debts, and the voices she heard from her unborn child.
• Lu Mingwang calmed Sun Xiufei with poetry, while the Bandit Lord sensed no strange aura or problem with the fetus.
• Xu Ye simulated the future and saw a failed simulation predict Li Yunyao’s coma and Night Spirit City’s destruction by the Starry Sky Ship.
• The Bandit Lord suggested Sun Xiufei might be a way to uncover the enemy’s plan, and Xu Ye told her to return weekly to speak with Dr. Lu.
• After Sun Xiufei left, Xu Ye teased Lu Mingwang that he might need his parents’ approval and should prepare to become a father.

Xu Ye and Li Yunyao found no new leads on the Eternal Church’s ritual, then learned the Awakening Potion allocated to the Eighth Team had disappeared. Meanwhile, Gu Muhan tortured a Heart Lineage agent for information and suspected Bishop Ace of Hearts was preparing to coordinate with the Spades Lineage.

• Xu Ye, Lu Mingwang, and Li Yunyao reviewed the Rose Residential Complex discovery and newspaper stories but found no clear lead on the Eternal Church’s plans.
• Li Yunyao told Xu Ye that Zheng’s wife and daughter had been killed during the incident ten years earlier, and that he imagined them as a way to cope with his grief.
• A Ninth Team staff member reported that the Awakening Potion delivered from headquarters and allocated to the Eighth Team had gone missing.
• Gu Muhan tortured a captured Heart Lineage woman by inflicting injuries through his painting, then learned that the Bishop had ordered her to approach him as an inside agent.
• Gu Muhan considered whether Bishop Ace of Hearts was coming to coordinate with the Spades Lineage.

Xu Ye wondered whether the Eternal Church’s ritual had drawn him into its incidents as a witness, while he accompanied Anderson through the Refugee District to deliver money. He learned that the boy he had intended to help had died under crushing debt and reflected on how poverty and lost hope trapped the district’s residents.

• Xu Ye met Anderson in the Refugee District, and Anderson joked that Xu Ye might be an Eternal Church follower, prompting Xu Ye to consider whether someone had been arranging events around him as part of a ritual.
• The Bandit Lord speculated that Xu Ye might be either part of the ritual or a witness selected because of his unusual identity, while Xu Ye joked inwardly that disaster followed him everywhere.
• Anderson told Xu Ye that Senior Red Dragon might have been corrupted and that Gu Muhan had returned from the Front Lines.
• Xu Ye went to deliver money to the blond boy but learned from the landlord that the boy had died after borrowing heavily, falling into debt, and selling his blood.
• Xu Ye told Anderson that the district’s residents had been stripped of hope by poverty, rigid class divisions, and consumer debt.

Xu Ye and Anderson visited the Refugee District, where they found Zhong Little Hua struggling to care for her mother, Chen Yu, who had kidney cancer. Chen Yu blamed contaminated water from the Victory Sewage Treatment Plant, a property belonging to Anderson’s mother, and Xu Ye connected the plant to a disturbing earlier mystery.

• Xu Ye challenged Anderson’s assumptions about the poor and explained how poverty and circumstance trapped people at the bottom of society.
• Xu Ye and Anderson found that a nursing home had closed because it could no longer afford its rent, then continued into the Refugee District.
• They encountered Zhong Little Hua scavenging for food, and she told them that her mother had kidney cancer and their family had lost their home to pay for treatment.
• Zhong Little Hua led Xu Ye and Anderson to Chen Yu, who explained that pollution from the Victory Sewage Treatment Plant had caused heavy metal poisoning and kidney cancer among local residents.
• Anderson recognized the plant as one of his mother’s properties, while Xu Ye connected it to Zhang Jian, the man sealed inside a wall, and a terrifying message.

Xu Ye used Soul-Seizing to uncover that Xiao Meng had died after meeting a suspicious man, then pursued him with Anderson. The man revealed himself as Lu E, who had come to Night Spirit City searching for treasure and sensed an impending disaster.

• Chen Yu told Xu Ye and Anderson that pollution had killed many refugees and that she planned to take Zhong Little Hua to the Land of Exiles.
• Zhong Little Hua learned that Xiao Meng had died, and Xu Ye joined Chen Yu, Anderson, and Zhong Little Hua at the grieving family’s home.
• Xu Ye used Soul-Seizing to see Xiao Meng’s final memories and discovered that she had suffered severe abdominal pain after visiting a rough-looking man.
• Xu Ye signaled Anderson to pursue the suspicious man, who slipped away from the crowd with unusually skilled movements.
• At 234 Daffodil Street, the man peeled off his skin and revealed herself as Lu E, who said she had come to search for treasure and sensed disaster in Night Spirit City.
• Lu E saw Xu Ye and Anderson appear in her mirror.

Lu E, an Awakened from the Mature Women's Society, escaped Xu Ye and Anderson after inflicting [Labor Pains] on them. Xu Ye later gave money to Chen Yu and her mother, while Zhou Ye watched his master enter the Grand Bell Tower with an alluring woman and spotted Xu Ye and Anderson nearby.

• Lu E recognized that Awakened were tracking her and left her shared rental in disguise.
• Xu Ye recognized Lu E's suitcase, and she used [Labor Pains] on him and Anderson before escaping atop a truck.
• Anderson identified Lu E as a member of the Mature Women's Society and explained the group's beliefs and talents to Xu Ye.
• Xu Ye gave Chen Yu and her mother all ten thousand he had before leaving.
• Zhou Ye followed Zheng Chengdong to the Grand Bell Tower, saw him enter with an alluring woman, and spotted Xu Ye and Anderson nearby.

Zheng Chengdong confronted Belin in the Grand Bell Tower over the betrayal of his squad, but she overpowered him after revealing her role in his family’s tragedy. Xu Ye and his companions searched for Zheng, while the Bandit Lord warned Xu Ye that danger waited on the sixth floor.

• Zheng Chengdong knocked out a noblewoman and entered Belin’s suite to question her about the Ninth Squad’s operation being leaked ten years earlier.
• Belin revealed she was a Sequence 8 Awakened who could spread viruses through her blood, then claimed she had dissected Zheng Chengdong’s unborn child and aimed his gun at him.
• Xu Ye, Zhou Ye, and Anderson entered the Grand Bell Tower looking for Zheng Chengdong, and the Bandit Lord warned Xu Ye not to enter room 403 after sensing danger.
• Xu Ye realized Lu E, a Sequence 7 Awakened from the Young Wives’ Club, had infiltrated the tower using another woman’s skin, and he stopped before reaching her room.
• The Bandit Lord sensed traces of Xu Ye’s Dawn Blade [Silent Forest] on the sixth floor, while Lu E reflected that someone nearby was about to die.