Chapter Summaries

With Li Tianyang’s whereabouts still uncertain, Ye Lin weighed his Grade A Tyrant Gene options ahead of the team battle. After his teammates offered to cover his weaknesses, he chose to exchange for abilities instead and planned to upgrade his bloodline after the next round.

• The group concluded that Li Tianyang had likely entered the Makeup Examination alone and agreed to wait for him to return.
• Ye Lin compared the Aberrant, Virus King, and Corpse Emperor branches, considering their strengths and drawbacks for the upcoming team battle.
• An Ke admitted she could not advise Ye Lin, while He Zheng and Huang Liang promised to buy area attacks and heavy weapons to support the team.
• Ye Lin decided to spend his points on physical attributes and complementary abilities, then upgrade his bloodline after the next round.

Ye Lin chose Deathmatch and Bladebreaker as enhancements, then discussed An Ke’s request to retrieve a letter from a dangerous examination instance. He planned to wait until he reached Grade A before entering, but He Zheng interrupted them and pulled Ye Lin to a meal and a surprise.

• Ye Lin spent his points on physical enhancements and redeemed the Grade A ability Deathmatch and the Grade C ability Bladebreaker.
• An Ke asked Ye Lin to enter an examination instance to retrieve a letter and an examinee’s belongings.
• Ye Lin warned that the instance held an unknown entity and was at least Grade A, and said he would consider entering once he reached Grade A.
• An Ke apologized for using her resurrection item early, but Ye Lin said he understood and remained curious about the letter.
• He Zheng interrupted their conversation, dragged Ye Lin out to eat, and said they had prepared a surprise for him.

After surviving another round, Ye Lin and his teammates gathered for a meal and discussed their new abilities and equipment. An Ke revealed a two-use Position-Swap Command that could exchange her location with a teammate, leaving Ye Lin surprised and He Zheng curious about how she had afforded it.

• He Zheng served a fish-head meal and said he had been dreaming about the Fish-Head Monster, prompting Yang Qiao to ask about Zhang Tie and Hu Jia.
• He Zheng told Yang Qiao that Zhang Tie and Hu Jia had returned to their hometowns, then the group fell quiet over their deaths and Li Tianyang’s unanswered messages.
• Ye Lin asked about the team’s redeemed abilities, and He Zheng described his modified Axe, Demonic Claw, Magnetic Chain, Whirlwind Slash, and Taunt.
• An Ke explained that she had redeemed Grade B Ice Soul Hell and spiritual power detection to restrain enemies and scout living creatures within a kilometer.
• An Ke showed the team a Position-Swap Command that could exchange her with a teammate within a thousand meters, and He Zheng began asking how she had enough points to buy it.

The team strengthened its abilities and celebrated Ye Lin's birthday, but he realized the celebration might be an illusion created by the missing Three-Soul Ghost. The chapter left Ye Lin facing the ghost's apparent return.

• An Ke explained that she had redeemed a survival item for her teammates, and Huang Liang thanked her.
• Ye Lin reassured Huang Liang that his earlier actions had helped and urged him to keep getting stronger.
• Huang Liang described his new Hell Paratrooper enhancement, Bombardment Order ability, and explosives as the team planned how to coordinate.
• He Zheng and the others surprised Ye Lin with a birthday cake, and Ye Lin thanked them despite not knowing his real birthday.
• Ye Lin spotted a long white candle among the birthday candles and realized the illusion-making Three-Soul Ghost might have returned.

Ye Lin doubted whether he and the others had escaped an illusion, so he used a mathematical calculation to verify that the system was real. After confirming it, he confronted He Zheng about the Candle, and the others reacted with horror at Ye Lin.

• Ye Lin considered whether the Candle and the people around him were real, then rejected using He Zheng to test the Candle because a ghost could fabricate the result.
• Ye Lin reasoned that a mathematical problem could reveal whether the system was genuine and chose a calculation whose answer even he did not know in advance.
• Ye Lin asked the system for the first thirty digits of the square root of Euler's Number e and spent three minutes and twenty-three seconds verifying the result himself.
• Ye Lin confirmed that his calculation matched the system's answer and concluded that he was in reality.
• Ye Lin asked He Zheng where the white Candle had come from and pointed out that it matched the one they had thrown away; the others froze in horror at Ye Lin.

Ye Lin realized the white candle was visible only to him because he had brought the Sacrificial Ritual dagger out of the Examination. After Zhang Tie disconnected and a special scenario unlocked, the candle and the dagger’s warning vanished, leaving the group in the Death Exam Hall with the danger unresolved.

• Ye Lin rejected the idea that the candle was a hallucination after He Zheng, An Ke, and Huang Liang said they could not see it and recalled that he had talked to himself before.
• Ye Lin inspected the Sacrificial Ritual dagger and realized he alone could see the candle because he had taken the dagger out of the previous Examination.
• The system announced that Zhang Tie had disconnected and unlocked the special [Nine-Eyed The Mysterious and Subtle] scenario at an unknown difficulty.
• The candle vanished, the dagger’s warning disappeared, and Ye Lin and the others entered the Death Exam Hall.
• An Ke connected the candle to the dagger and urged Ye Lin to throw it away in the next Examination.

Ye Lin and his teammates discussed the Dagger’s unexplained effects, then set aside their questions to prepare for the next team battle. He Zheng, An Ke, and Huang Liang gave Ye Lin armor for his birthday, leaving him to reconsider the value of having teammates.

• Ye Lin told He Zheng, An Ke, and Huang Liang that the system had erased the Dagger’s dangerous contents, though he still suspected its effects were connected to his forgotten memories and the Nine Eyes instance.
• He Zheng, An Ke, and Huang Liang urged Ye Lin to stop dwelling on the mystery and focus on surviving the next round, and Ye Lin agreed to train with them.
• He Zheng remembered that they had not given Ye Lin his birthday presents and returned with a set of black light armor.
• An Ke explained that the armor could be imbued with psychokinesis and mental power to improve Ye Lin’s mobility, and the others wished him a happy birthday.
• Ye Lin accepted the armor and reflected that, although he could not promise to risk his life for his teammates, having them might not be so bad.

Ye Lin and his teammates waited for the Fourth Examination after strengthening themselves, but the Leaderboard and system warnings revealed that powerful teams were hunting highly rated examinees. As the difficulty surged to S-Rank, the four were transported into the examination, facing an unknown threat.

• He Zheng worried that Li Tianyang might have died, so Ye Lin checked the Leaderboard and found him still ranked, with a higher score.
• Ye Lin noticed that teams near their strength had hidden their information while second-tier teams had not, which made him uneasy.
• The countdown began, and the four gathered to be transported to the Fourth Examination.
• The system warned that multiple powerful teams had tracked Ye Lin and forced entry, while Hera's team had been wiped out; the examination difficulty climbed to S-Rank.
• Ye Lin realized the teams were massacring highly rated examinees, and white light transported him, He Zheng, An Ke, and Huang Liang away.

Ye Lin and his team woke inside an abandoned underground shelter after entering a Team Battle Examination and reasoned that rival teams were targeting highly rated groups. They concluded their pursuers were likely weaker and that the Examination had given them a favorable starting point, but a premature system notification interrupted An Ke before she could finish assessing their chances.

• Ye Lin, An Ke, He Zheng, and Huang Liang woke in an abandoned underground shelter and found no nearby enemies.
• He Zheng cursed the system for allowing three rival teams to pursue them, while An Ke suspected they were tracking highly rated teams.
• Ye Lin explained that the pursuers had likely chosen to enter because their Examination was a Team Battle and that they had timed their entry deliberately.
• An Ke and Ye Lin reasoned that the pursuers were probably weaker than their team and that the underground starting point favored them.
• A system notification sounded before An Ke could finish estimating their chances of survival.

Ye Lin and his squad began an S-Rank team-battle examination, learning that enemy squads would arrive later and that they could return by killing an enemy examinee. After fleeing a system marker, they emerged into a frozen wasteland beneath a sun almost entirely obscured by a black mass.

• The system granted Ye Lin's squad benefits while penalizing three unauthorized enemy factions, and announced that the Echo Demon squad would arrive in twelve hours.
• Ye Lin warned his squad to contact local factions carefully and avoid creating enemies on multiple fronts.
• The system announced the [Transcendence] question, the team-battle rules, and two possible return conditions.
• Ye Lin spotted a red pillar marking their location and led An Ke, Huang Liang, and He Zheng out of the air-raid shelter.
• The squad saw a frozen wasteland, a distant black city, and a sun covered almost entirely by another celestial body.

Ye Lin and his team headed for the city, planning to solve the question and gather points while evading the three teams tracking them. They encountered a nonhuman squad in the ruins, which turned toward them and shrieked.

• Ye Lin explained that the pursuers could track them even without the pillars of light, and He Zheng refused to abandon him.
• An Ke calculated that the penalized teams would need to kill many people to earn enough points to return, making a fight to the death likely.
• Ye Lin said they could not survive for a hundred and twenty hours and planned to search the city for clues while earning points.
• Huang Liang began asking whether the question was connected to the celestial crisis, but Ye Lin and An Ke spotted a nonhuman squad nearby.
• He Zheng asked whether they should fight or flee, and the nonhuman squad turned toward them and shrieked.

Ye Lin and his team fought a group of Red Star Goblins, discovering that the enemies were much weaker than they appeared and earned them kill points. After the surviving goblins fled, Ye Lin caught the Purple Goblin while his teammates pursued the others.

• An Ke sensed four approaching monsters, and Ye Lin chose to attack while assigning his team their roles.
• Huang Liang shot the lead Red Star Goblin, whose shield popped and whose head burst; Ye Lin, He Zheng, and the others quickly killed the rest.
• The system awarded Ye Lin, Huang Liang, and He Zheng kill points for defeating the Red Star Goblins.
• More Red Star Goblins emerged from the ruins and fled, while a Purple Goblin escaped on a rocket.
• Ye Lin caught the Purple Goblin and told An Ke, He Zheng, and Huang Liang to capture the fleeing goblins.

Ye Lin interrogated Aroro, a purple goblin who understood human speech, about the goblins and a powerful team. Aroro revealed that Hera knew Ye Lin was searching for her and had warned him to run for his life.

• Ye Lin deduced that the purple goblin was hiding its ability to understand human speech and threatened to kill it unless it confessed.
• Aroro admitted he could speak human language and explained that sixteen weak goblins counted as one team, while the fire-breathing goblin had only faked its fire and used detection abilities.
• Aroro declared that he was the legitimate 1,387th in line to the Red Star Goblins' throne.
• Ye Lin asked whether Aroro had seen the powerful team hunting Hera and her companions.
• Aroro addressed Ye Lin by name and said Hera had told him to warn Ye Lin to run for his life.

Ye Lin questioned Aroro about Hera after deducing how the goblin had identified the Soul Peace Team. Aroro described Hera’s efforts to unite the factions and revealed that she and her teammates had suddenly died, leaving Hera’s final warning for Ye Lin.

• He Zheng tried to attack Aroro, but Ye Lin stopped him and explained how Aroro had deduced their identities.
• Ye Lin demanded that Aroro explain what Hera had done, how she died, and what had happened during the examination.
• Aroro said the examination had lasted over sixty hours and that Hera had united much of the human faction and persuaded other teams to work together.
• Aroro revealed that Hera’s teammates had suddenly died, after which fighting broke out between the factions.
• Aroro said Hera had died soon afterward and warned Ye Lin not to search for her or the Wanderer, and to escape if he could.

Ye Lin explained why Hera entrusted her last words to Aroro and inferred that she had given him a valuable spatial item in exchange for delivering them. The group remained uncertain whether Aroro had conveyed Hera’s words accurately or why she had left no clues to solving the question.

• He Zheng and An Ke questioned whether Aroro’s account of Hera’s death and the Patroller could be trusted.
• Ye Lin argued that Hera had to entrust her message to a weak Goblin so the Patroller would not target her allies.
• Ye Lin deduced that Hera had given Aroro a valuable item, likely a spatial item, to ensure he delivered her message.
• Huang Liang asked how they could know Aroro had not altered Hera’s words and why she had left no clues to the question.

Ye Lin explained how Hera had left a warning about the roamer, and An Ke reasoned that Hera had died because her kindness kept her from eliminating potential threats. With the team facing the roamer, the Echo Demon, and powerful enemy factions, Ye Lin turned to an unexpected plan for questioning Aroro.

• Ye Lin explained that Hera’s final message was genuine because only she knew about the pursuers and trusted someone like him to interpret her warning.
• An Ke suggested that Hera had been killed after allowing opposing teams to join her efforts, giving the roamer a chance to hide among them and ambush her.
• Huang Liang, He Zheng, and An Ke reflected on Hera’s death and the danger facing the remaining Examinees.
• Three minutes later, He Zheng asked Ye Lin what they should do, and Ye Lin told him to take Aroro’s pants off.

Ye Lin reasoned that Hera may have run out of time rather than failed to find clues, and that the exam’s real difficulty lay in the teams competing to escape. He suspected Aroro’s hidden possessions were connected to a goblin solution for leaving, and the chapter ended with his companions realizing the goblins might know how to solve the question.

• He Zheng seized Aroro’s spatial necklace, and Huang Liang found only a small space filled with the goblin’s junk.
• Ye Lin argued that Aroro had no reason to hide exam clues and suggested Hera might have run out of time.
• Ye Lin explained that the question itself was likely manageable, while the danger came from teams killing one another and blocking others from escaping.
• He Zheng proposed killing the remaining goblins, but Ye Lin stopped him and said they were still useful.
• Ye Lin asked why Aroro had risked dying to protect his hidden belongings, leading An Ke to suspect the goblins had solved the question and knew how to get out.

Ye Lin persuaded Aroro to work for him in exchange for a promise of points, and Aroro revealed that Goblins could transfer points to people in the real world. Huang Liang and the others learned that the transfer did not let anyone escape the Death Exam, but Aroro’s talent gave them a possible way to send information and technology outside.

• Ye Lin offered Aroro a choice between working for him and being killed, promising to take him along when they left.
• Aroro agreed to answer Ye Lin’s questions if he received items to earn points, and Ye Lin accepted.
• Aroro revealed that Goblins could transfer points to people in the real world, though they could not leave the Death Exam or contact anyone directly.
• Huang Liang realized that transferred points might let them send messages and technological blueprints to the outside world.
• Aroro timidly explained his talent, leaving Huang Liang, An Ke, and He Zheng with grim expressions.

Aroro explained that his people entered the Death Exam because their planet had been devastated and its survivors faced starvation. He told Ye Lin he needed points to feed his family and other goblins, then proudly revealed how much he had earned.

• Aroro explained that goblins could trade items through System Exchange vortices and send earned points to their world, a method the humans could not replicate.
• Aroro said the goblins entered the Death Exam voluntarily because their planet had been destroyed by environmental catastrophe and they had no food or water.
• Aroro explained that goblins sent nearly all their points home because each point could feed thousands, and that his siblings had given him their fingers to eat before he entered.
• Aroro asked Ye Lin to give him points as promised, and Ye Lin silently agreed.
• Aroro told Ye Lin that he had survived four rounds and earned 113 points, which he had used to feed many goblins.

Ye Lin gave Aroro and the other Red Star Goblins a chance to survive by making them potential participants in the Examination’s reward, while preparing explosives as a fallback. As the group set out for the city, Aroro warned them that something was wrong there.

• He Zheng and the others respected Aroro’s sacrifice but initially prepared to kill the other Goblins and spare him from watching.
• Ye Lin had Huang Liang attach remote-detonation grenades to the Goblins so they could potentially earn points and buy their lives with a reward.
• Ye Lin freed Aroro, who thanked the group and agreed to help them in exchange for the chance to live.
• Aroro explained that the system disguised other races as humans to the local inhabitants, which helped Ye Lin understand how Yuan had appeared in the second Examination.
• He Zheng carried Aroro as the group prepared to enter the city, but Aroro warned them that something might be wrong there.