Chapter Summaries

Ye Lin and the others learned that the Two-Horned Demon had not awarded them kill points, and they feared it had survived the Fuel-Air Explosive Bomb. As Base 053 began collapsing, they armed themselves with portable missiles and searched for the wounded monster, while An Ke remained badly injured and unable to track it.

• An Ke told Ye Lin that no one had received points, and He Zheng rushed to find another Fuel-Air Explosive Bomb until Huang Liang warned that another blast could collapse the base.
• Ye Lin decided they would search for the Two-Horned Demon with man-portable missiles, and the damaged base began issuing evacuation warnings as rubble fell around them.
• Ye Lin learned that An Ke was barely alive, told her to use her Healing Potion, and asked whether she could locate the monster; An Ke said the surveillance equipment was destroyed and she had not sensed it.
• He Zheng and the others brought rocket launchers, and Ye Lin argued that the Two-Horned Demon must have been badly wounded by the bomb.
• Huang Liang wondered whether the Two-Horned Demon was dead and the Patroller had been the one to kill it.

After the thermobaric blast, Ye Lin's team searched the wreckage for the wounded Two-Horned Demon but found no trace of it. Ye Lin realized it had teleported to Zone B to devour the Echo Demon's corpse, and the team raced after it.

• Ye Lin rejected Huang Liang's warning that the Patroller had killed the Two-Horned Demon, and the team reached the edge of the blast crater as the damaged base began to collapse.
• He Zheng jumped into the cavity, and Ye Lin ordered everyone to search together for the Two-Horned Demon.
• The team searched the likely blast zones but found neither the monster nor any remains.
• Ye Lin noticed a sword scrape beneath a concrete slab and deduced that the Two-Horned Demon had teleported away using its massive sword.
• Ye Lin realized the monster was eating the Echo Demon's corpse in Zone B to recover, shouted for the others to move, and sprinted toward it.

Ye Lin and the others searched Sector B for the wounded Two-Horned Demon, but found its corpse split open and realized it had been fusing with other corpses. They rushed to destroy the reassembled Echo Demon, but a supersonic shadow attacked Ye Lin from the ceiling.

• Ye Lin, He Zheng, Huang Liang, and Lin Yu entered Sector B and followed the blood scent to a hall where the Two-Horned Demon had dragged away corpses.
• The group found the Two-Horned Demon's charred corpse with its skull split open, revealing that something had escaped from inside it.
• Ye Lin realized the Two-Horned Demon was fusing with corpses and sensed the Echo Demon ahead in the right-hand passage.
• Ye Lin and the others found the Echo Demon forcibly reassembled from body parts, and Ye Lin urged everyone to blow it apart.
• A black shadow burst through the damaged ceiling at supersonic speed and reached for Ye Lin's head.

Ye Lin, He Zheng, Huang Liang, and Lin Yu fought a fast, heavily armored monster that He Zheng recognized as the Two-Horned Demon. With Ye Lin badly injured and their attacks proving ineffective, He Zheng used Taunt and fired a rocket at the demon while trying to draw it away from the others.

• The Two-Horned Demon severed Ye Lin's right hand and badly wounded his face before Huang Liang shot it and Lin Yu slowed it with four curses.
• He Zheng dragged the demon into range with Odin's Axes and attacked alongside Ye Lin, but their weapons barely pierced its armor.
• The Two-Horned Demon unleashed a sonic wave that incapacitated Lin Yu, Huang Liang, He Zheng, and Ye Lin, then broke free and charged at Ye Lin again.
• He Zheng picked up a rocket launcher, used Taunt to redirect the demon toward himself, and fired as it reached him.

Ye Lin, Huang Liang, An Ke, and their allies fought the badly wounded Two-Horned Demon after a rocket blast failed to kill it. Ye Lin devoured the Echo Demon's remains to gain Hell Echo and shattered the demon with a combined attack, earning the Soul Peace squad a higher rating and triggering penalties for rival factions.

• A point-blank rocket blast tore through He Zheng and the Two-Horned Demon, but the demon survived and burst from the rubble.
• Ye Lin tried to reach the Echo Demon's remains while An Ke restrained the charging demon with Ice Soul Hell.
• Huang Liang and the Hell Vanguard fired on the demon as Ye Lin devoured the remains and struck it with Mental Shock.
• The Two-Horned Demon broke free and attacked An Ke, but Ye Lin gained Hell Echo just as Huang Liang fired another rocket.
• Ye Lin used Hell Echo to shatter the Two-Horned Demon, and the system credited the kill and assists to the squad.
• The Soul Peace squad received a rating increase, while the Demihuman Empire and Starshatterer Alliance received level-two system penalties.

As the collapsing base threatened to bury everyone, Ye Lin helped save He Zheng and then stayed behind to Devour the Two-Horned Demon and search for its greatsword. He also weighed whether to risk his escape to save Aroro, leaving his choice unresolved.

• An Ke warned Ye Lin and Huang Liang that the base was collapsing, and Lin Yu gave them his remaining Healing Potion for He Zheng.
• Ye Lin, Huang Liang, and Lin Yu dug He Zheng out and gave him the potion, stabilizing his condition.
• An Ke and Huang Liang carried He Zheng away with Lin Yu, while Ye Lin stayed behind to Devour the Two-Horned Demon and find its greatsword.
• Ye Lin considered whether to leave the monster and search for the injured Aroro, remembering that Aroro had helped them survive.
• As rubble fell around him, Ye Lin faced the choice of whether to risk his escape for Aroro.

As Base 053 collapsed and a nuclear leak threatened, Aroro lay trapped beneath the Cooling Tower and believed he was about to die. Ye Lin arrived at the last moment, lifted the wreckage with psychokinesis, and rescued him.

• Aroro woke beneath the Cooling Tower and realized the collapsing base had crushed his lower body, leaving him unable to escape.
• He hoped Ye Lin would return, then lost hope and used his final strength to ask Ye Lin to send points to his people so his family could receive food.
• As a metal plate fell toward him, Ye Lin appeared and stopped it with psychokinesis.
• Ye Lin lifted the Cooling Tower, shielded Aroro from falling rubble, and pulled him to safety.
• Aroro sobbed as Ye Lin carried him out of danger.

Ye Lin escaped the collapsing base by using the Hell Sword to teleport out with the gravely injured Aroro, then joined the others in hiding. As An Ke asked about the sword, Ye Lin realized the Two-Horned Demon’s strength came from biotech enhancement.

• An Ke warned Ye Lin that the passage was about to collapse, while He Zheng woke and tried to rush back for him.
• Ye Lin teleported out with Aroro in his arms, and the base collapsed moments later.
• The group hid in a cave, where Lin Yu used a potion to heal Aroro and He Zheng remarked on how quickly he recovered.
• Ye Lin noted that Devour now required far more life force to repair his body as his strength increased.
• An Ke asked about Ye Lin’s teleporting sword, and Ye Lin recognized that the Two-Horned Demon had been enhanced with Bio-Mecha technology.

Ye Lin examined the Hell Sword, a powerful Grade A weapon whose abilities explained the Two-Horned Demon’s speed, durability, and teleportation. The team marveled at the reward but grew uneasy that it might be too generous, especially since the examination was not over.

• Ye Lin displayed the Hell Sword’s information, revealing its fire damage reduction, sound-speed boost, teleportation, vitality drain, and ability to cleanse negative effects.
• He Zheng celebrated the sword’s strength, while An Ke explained that an ordinary person could not withstand its speed or vitality drain.
• Lin Yu envied Ye Lin but recognized the danger and heavy cost of obtaining the weapon from the Echo Demon.
• He Zheng calculated that the Two-Horned Demon had yielded nearly three hundred points, one Grade A rating, three Grade B ratings, and the sword, then worried the rewards were excessive.
• Huang Liang shared He Zheng’s concern and noted that rewards for the Echo Demon and other teams had not yet been counted.

An Ke and Lin Yu explained why team battles brought enormous rewards, while Huang Liang questioned whether their deadly free-for-alls were fair. Ye Lin argued that team battles tested skills fighters rarely got to use and that the system protected teams that had performed well; he then revealed that the Two-Horned Demon’s abilities had exceeded expectations, though its strength seemed abnormal and his perfected one prototype appeared to have evolved.

• An Ke explained that team battles let victors claim opponents’ equipment and items, and described how brutal free-for-alls could become.
• Lin Yu recalled the chaos of his team’s early battles, including a powerful spellcaster being killed by snipers, spells, and curses.
• Huang Liang challenged the fairness of team battles, arguing that they favored fighters and could erase the value of earlier examinations.
• Ye Lin argued that earlier examinations disadvantaged fighters, that teams should prepare for combat, and that high-performing teams could enter later and avoid the worst of the free-for-all.
• Ye Lin considered whether the Death Exam favored examinees who performed well across different situations and whether its punishments and preferential treatment were linked.
• He Zheng asked whether Ye Lin had gained a powerful ability from the Two-Horned Demon, and Ye Lin confirmed he had devoured its abilities but said its strength seemed wrong and his perfected one prototype appeared to have evolved.

Ye Lin explained that the Echo Demons’ small bodies had piloted advanced Bio-Mecha, revealing that their technology came from outside the Death Exam. Huang Liang realized they might be able to bring powerful equipment into future Exams and left the group determined to survive, while He Zheng asked Ye Lin about his new abilities and whether they could defeat the remaining teams.

• Ye Lin explained that each Echo Demon had an actual Imp body inside a Bio-Mecha, with the mecha stronger than its pilot, and that sonic attacks had reached the hidden Imps.
• An Ke understood why the Echo Demons had seemed to lack vital spots, while Huang Liang realized the Bio-Mecha had been brought into the Exam from the demons’ reality.
• Huang Liang grabbed Ye Lin’s arm and asked him to confirm the Bio-Mecha had not come from a system exchange.
• Ye Lin confirmed it, explaining that the system had given no notification when he touched the mecha and that devouring it had granted him a separate ability.
• Huang Liang thanked Ye Lin and began checking his weapons, resolved to survive and send the information back to reality.
• He Zheng asked Ye Lin what abilities he had gained and whether they could kill the other two teams.

Ye Lin revealed that he could fight the Two-Horned Demon alone with a thirty percent chance, then learned from Aroro that the demon had been only an unusually weak intermediate Third Tier. Aroro warned that the Starshatterer Alliance would send terrifying hunters after Ye Lin, leaving him to consider ability fusion as his last trump card.

• Ye Lin told the group he had a thirty percent chance of killing the Two-Horned Demon alone, and explained that he had grown stronger through Devour.
• Ye Lin noticed the perfected one prototype’s warning that further Devour could cause physical or mental collapse, while its temporary Directed Fusion ability had one use remaining.
• Aroro woke and insisted that the Two-Horned Demon had been an intermediate Third Tier, then described the immense speed, durability, and strength of higher Third Tiers.
• Aroro told Ye Lin that Third Tiers had shared information about his hunt and warned that the Starshatterer Alliance would spare no cost to kill its targets.
• Ye Lin asked whether an advanced Third Tier would come next, but Aroro could not say and only wished for Ye Lin to survive.
• Ye Lin silently concluded that ability fusion was his remaining trump card.

Aroro explained that hunters targeted examinees who repeatedly earned full marks because their corpses were valuable, but revealed that their real aim was to prevent anyone from passing the tenth examination. He left the reason for stopping examinees at the tenth exam unanswered as Ye Lin and the others demanded an explanation.

• He Zheng asked Aroro why hunters pursued them despite the risks of the Death Exam.
• Ye Lin suggested that hunters saw them as future competitors, but Aroro said that was not the main reason.
• Aroro explained that examinees who earned full marks in few examinations could become special, and hunters fought over their valuable corpses.
• Ye Lin wondered whether the hunters could gain something from devouring him, then concluded that his own origin did not match Aroro's description.
• Aroro revealed that the hunters' real goal was to keep anyone from passing the tenth examination, shocking the group.
• An Ke pressed Aroro to explain what happened after the tenth examination, but he had not yet answered.

Ye Lin and his team learned that Aroro knew little about the tenth exam, then Ye Lin deduced that the Echo Demons had brought in a dismembered advanced Third Tier being as their Bio-Mechas for an unknown purpose. The system warned that the Demihuman Empire Team was about to enter the exam.

• Aroro admitted he did not know what would happen in the tenth exam or whether anyone had passed it, and He Zheng apologized for frightening him.
• An Ke suggested capturing members of other factions for information, but Ye Lin warned that enemy teams could mislead them with false intelligence.
• While the team recovered, Ye Lin concluded that the four Bio-Mechas belonged to one advanced Third Tier individual whom the Echo Demons had dismembered and brought into the exam.
• Ye Lin suspected the Echo Demons had a hidden objective connected to the exam and the dark sun, but he could not determine what it was.
• The system announced that the Demihuman Empire Team was about to enter the exam and ordered all examinees to prepare.

After learning the demihuman squad would enter twelve hours after the Echo Demons, Ye Lin argued they might be less powerful than the timing suggested and that weapons could give the team an advantage. The team rested for fifteen minutes before continuing to search for the puzzle’s solution, while Ye Lin privately looked grave.

• The announcement that the demihumans would enter twelve hours after the Echo Demons made the team fear they would face advanced third-tier enemies.
• Ye Lin reasoned that the Echo Demons’ Bio-Mecha had raised their apparent strength, so the demihumans might only reach intermediate third tier, and said the team could prepare with powerful weapons.
• He Zheng and Huang Liang speculated that other military bases might contain weapons, but An Ke warned that the demihumans would be alert and urged the team to solve the puzzle and escape.
• Ye Lin agreed to rest for fifteen minutes and then search for clues, saying he needed to test a few things.
• The exhausted team settled down to rest, while Ye Lin’s relaxed expression gave way to grave concern.

Ye Lin recognized that the generous rewards might conceal a trap and prepared for the Demihuman Empire and Starshatterer Alliance to arrive while he tested his Devour abilities. In the Simulation Space, he activated Star God Demon and transformed into a powerful, star-charged monster.

• Ye Lin realized the demihuman squad might also bring a Bio-Mecha and that fighting among survivors could hasten the arrival of the Demihuman Empire and Starshatterer Alliance.
• Ye Lin entered the Simulation Space to test Hell Echo, Hellfire, and Star God Demon, and he suspected the Echo Demon had a secret purpose for entering the examination.
• Ye Lin activated Star God Demon and endured intense pain as his body grew to three meters and changed form.
• Ye Lin discovered that his new form radiated immense power, and its drifting starlight annihilated the ground beneath him.

Ye Lin tested the Star God Demon transformation and found it gave him overwhelming strength and near-immunity to conventional attacks, but drained his energy so quickly that it lasted only seconds in combat. He considered fusing his remaining abilities to improve it, then chose to prioritize finding clues and a way to escape, while questioning what the Echo Demons were and what they were trying to do.

• Ye Lin transformed and killed an Echo Demon with a single strike, then tested his enhanced speed, strength, mental power, and durability against attacks.
• Ye Lin realized the transformation converted his vitality and mental power into starlight, making it end within seconds when he took damage.
• Ye Lin briefly considered hunting the pursuers for their abilities, but suppressed his greed and kept the search for clues and an escape as the priority.
• Ye Lin predicted that fusing Star God Demon with Hell Echo would grant a star shield, while fusing it with Hellfire would grant starfire attacks and mental-damage resistance.
• Ye Lin decided not to fuse either ability because neither addressed the transformation's short duration, and questioned whether the Echo Demons belonged to a different species and what they were trying to do.

Ye Lin’s team spotted fellow human examinees being massacred by half-orcs and decided to intervene, with Ye Lin ordering them to kill the most valuable Orcs and capture the rest. As they rushed in, Huang Liang saw the opposing team’s leader prepare to detonate an explosive charge with the monsters.

• Ye Lin left the Simulation Space after He Zheng reported a fight ahead and saw one team fleeing another in the distance.
• Huang Liang recognized the fleeing group as fellow countrymen pursued by half-orcs, and Ye Lin’s team watched an Orc sever and begin eating a wounded boy.
• The fleeing team turned back to rescue their fallen companions, and the girl leading them fought off three Orcs while her teammates tried to help.
• He Zheng and the others urged Ye Lin to save the group and take supplies, and Ye Lin ordered them to kill the most valuable Orcs while capturing the others if possible.
• As Ye Lin’s team charged toward the fight, Huang Liang spotted the girl preparing to detonate an explosive charge alongside the Orcs.

Ye Lin and his team arrived in time to rescue a group of Chinese examinees from an orc squad, and Ye Lin swiftly overwhelmed the attackers. The survivors recognized Ye Lin as the Soul Peace Team, leaving their first meeting with him in stunned excitement.

• Ye Lin ordered Huang Liang to fire, and the wounded girl fled toward the gunshot before an orc struck her down.
• Ye Lin killed the orc pursuing the girl with a shot, while the Orc Team Captain fled after recognizing his strength.
• Ye Lin crushed one orc with a stomp and killed the fleeing captain with Mental Shock.
• He Zheng and An Ke stopped the two remaining orcs, ending the fight in seconds.
• Ye Lin asked the rescued survivors whether they were Chinese, and the girl identified him as Ye Lin of the Soul Peace Team.

Ye Lin's team rescued Han Yuer and the White Jade Team, then demanded their potions and information about the Safe Zone. Before they could learn more, a hidden foreign girl appeared and warned them that time was running out.

• Han Yuer recognized Ye Lin and thanked him for saving the White Jade Team.
• He Zheng told the White Jade Team that Ye Lin had passed three examinations and reached the intermediate level of the third tier.
• Ye Lin asked for the team's remaining potions and questioned them about the Safe Zone's abnormalities and the examination question.
• Han Yuer ordered her teammates to hand over their potions, but Ye Lin sensed movement in the nearby shadows and drew his sword.
• A foreign girl in mechanical armor appeared, said she was not hostile, and warned Ye Lin that it would be too late if he did not shut something down.