Chapter Summaries

After Hua Country received a message from Ye Lin in the Death Exam Space, Zhang Haiping ordered an immediate response and prepared for contact. He decided that their first question should be how they could help the people trapped there, and ordered preparations for a global broadcast.

• Ye Lin sent Chinese messages identifying himself and confirming that someone in the Death Exam Space was alive, prompting celebrations in the Command Hall.
• Zhang Haiping ordered military units and research stations to respond at full power and prepare to establish contact.
• When foreign governments quickly asked about the messages, Zhang Haiping suspected a leak and said Hua Country would share the information later, while warning other nations not to exploit the situation.
• Experts debated whether to ask Ye Lin for information about the Death Exam Space, a way to escape, or simply offer support.
• Zhang Haiping said their one essential question was what they could do for the people inside and ordered preparations for a global live broadcast.

Ye Lin sent the outside world a vast trove of Death Exam intelligence and asked for help with several mysteries, including what had happened to him and what they found in the grave. As Zhang Haiping prepared to respond, a national security official called for an emergency meeting to reveal something.

• Ye Lin sent the Command Hall information about Death Exam rules, supernatural threats, survival strategies, and advanced technologies.
• The officials and experts were shocked by the intelligence and debated whether to share its valuable technologies with other countries.
• Zhang Haiping set aside the question of international sharing and asked what Ye Lin and the others needed from the country.
• The analysis team reported requests for more elite examinees and investigations into the Mysterious and Subtle, the Nineteenth Layer of Hell, the Immortal Gate, and the Fengdu Instance.
• The team said Ye Lin also asked what had happened to him and what they had found in the grave.
• A national security official wearing a Great Wall Medal urged Zhang Haiping to convene an emergency meeting so he could report something.

Sun Zhenghong warned the officials that Ye Lin might be a monstrous criminal using stolen military codes to lure humanity into the Death Exam, and urged them not to answer his questions. A gray-haired committee member pointed out that Ye Lin had also recorded the names and personal concerns of the dead, leaving the officials to reconsider whether he still had human feelings.

• Sun Zhenghong revealed that Ye Lin was a convicted felon and questioned whether the intelligence he sent was trustworthy.
• Sun Zhenghong warned that Ye Lin might be taking revenge and showed the officials classified photographs of monstrous beings resembling him.
• Zhang Haiping asked whether the Ye Lin in the file was the same person communicating from the Death Exam, and Sun Zhenghong confirmed it.
• Sun Zhenghong urged the officials to distrust Ye Lin’s requests and avoid answering his questions, while Zhang Haiping considered the danger of following false instructions.
• A gray-haired committee member read out messages Ye Lin had recorded about the families and wishes of deceased participants, prompting the officials to reconsider Sun Zhenghong’s warning.

Senior officials debated whether to trust Ye Lin’s information about the Death Exam, with Sun Zhenghong warning it could be a deception and Fang Guoting and Huang Yun arguing that the trainees had earned their trust. Army Commander Zhang Haiping chose to act on the information and ordered officials to support the families of the dead and cooperate with Ye Lin.

• Sun Zhenghong argued that Ye Lin might have fabricated the information or coerced the trainees, and urged the officials not to trust him.
• Fang Guoting recalled how the battlefield had changed him and said he believed Ye Lin still had humanity and wanted to fulfill the dead trainees’ wishes.
• Huang Yun vouched for the code and the trainees, arguing that further delay would cost lives and that their information could help those entering next.
• Zhang Haiping ended the debate, choosing to trust Ye Lin because the authorities had no other way to learn what was happening inside.
• Zhang Haiping ordered regional agencies to find and protect the listed families, reward them, send Ye Lin the information the authorities possessed, and offer him recognition or other assistance.

Sun Zhenghong learned that Huang Yun had sent his own son, Huang Liang, into the Death Exam, while preparations for a worldwide announcement about the Death Exam and humanity’s future began across the globe. The chapter ended with media outlets awaiting Hua Country’s broadcast.

• Commissioner Liang told Sun Zhenghong that Huang Liang had volunteered for the Death Exam and that Huang Yun had personally sent him in.
• Huang Yun mourned Huang Liang, accepted his sacrifice, and boarded a helicopter bound for the global press conference.
• In London, a colleague woke Hans and told him to prepare to present a worldwide broadcast about the missing people.
• Armed soldiers entered the British broadcasting building as officials and reporters gathered, and Hans began to suspect the news was real.
• Media outlets around the world announced that Hua Country would broadcast major news about the Death Exam and humanity’s future in ten minutes.

Zhao Hongbin repaired a city screen just as Ye Lin's broadcast from the Death Exam Space reached the world, prompting 137 nations to declare a state of war and Hua Country to launch Operation Rescue. Ye Lin then studied the Military's analyses of the Nineteenth Layer of Hell and Fengdu, gaining clues about possible threats and survival strategies for future examinations.

• Zhao Hongbin refused to leave Linjiang City and defended the hope that his missing son was still alive as he repaired the television station's outdoor screen.
• Ye Lin's message, broadcast across 193 countries in 110 languages, confirmed that he and the other examinees were still alive, and the world erupted in response.
• Hua Country launched Operation Rescue as 137 major nations declared a state of war, while Ye Lin ended his communication with Earth and noted the growing delay.
• Ye Lin read the Military's analysis that the Nineteenth Layer of Hell might be Chen Tuan's nightmare and considered how The Mysterious and Subtle, its eyes, and the layers of hell might be connected.
• Ye Lin studied the Military's three possible Fengdu scenarios and its warnings about the Great Emperor of Fengdu and his envoys, along with suggested ways to exploit the realm's rules.

Ye Lin studied the Military’s analysis of the Fengdu Instance and its exchange-value calculations, which suggested prioritizing abilities and attributes over bloodlines. He turned to the Military’s final findings on equipment, where an unexpected option had been highlighted.

• Ye Lin reviewed the Military’s uncertain information about the Fengdu Instance and memorized its possible dangers.
• Ye Lin read the Military’s calculations, which rated abilities and attributes as better point investments than most bloodlines.
• Ye Lin compared the calculations with his experience and concluded that early bloodline exchanges had still helped him, while later ability exchanges had proved useful.
• Ye Lin turned to the Military’s conclusions about weapons and equipment and saw that they highlighted something he had never considered.

Ye Lin learned that healing items were among the best ways to spend points, then received a Military message warning that information about the secret surrounding him was infectious and could not be transmitted. As he tried to understand the warning, examinee Li Tianyang initiated a communication request.

• Ye Lin read the Military's advice to spend at least a quarter of his points on healing supplies and realized he had underestimated their value.
• Ye Lin reflected on the alien civilizations' accumulated knowledge and felt overwhelmed by the gap between them and himself, but resolved to keep fighting and pursue a risky experiment.
• The Signal Station decrypted a Military message explaining that information concerning Ye Lin could not be transmitted because contact with it had driven the First Contact Group mad and killed them.
• Ye Lin read that the Military had sent personnel into the Death Exam with a sealed file and urged him to avoid the information if he had not already encountered it.
• Ye Lin struggled to make sense of the warning when the system announced that examinee Li Tianyang, ID [18712], was requesting communication.

Ye Lin and Li Tianyang discovered that their experiences in The Mysterious and Subtle had unfolded at different times, and Li Tianyang could not remember what had happened to him. When Ye Lin noticed Li Tianyang’s system ID had lost its letter, both feared that the caller might not be human.

• Li Tianyang called Ye Lin after emerging from The Mysterious and Subtle, and they realized they had come out at different times.
• Ye Lin learned that Li Tianyang had just finished the fifth examination, while Ye Lin and the others had already completed the next one.
• Li Tianyang said he had lost his memory, had not seen Zhang Tie, and wanted to leave the dark Death Exam Space to meet Ye Lin.
• Ye Lin hesitated when Li Tianyang asked to come over and pointed out that his system ID was missing its letter.
• Li Tianyang checked his ID, panicked, and suspected that he had died.
• Ye Lin questioned whether the caller was really Li Tianyang or a ghost imitating him.

Li Tianyang returned from The Mysterious and Subtle after losing his memories and undergoing unknown changes, so Ye Lin tested whether he was still human and recognized by the system. After the tests cleared him of other problems, Ye Lin asked what he remembered from entering the Immortal Gate and warned that he might have spent many years inside.

• Li Tianyang contacted Ye Lin, insisting he was not a ghost and explaining that he had returned alone with missing memories and a sense that something was wrong.
• Ye Lin reconsidered his suspicion, invited Li Tianyang to the Soul Peace Team’s space, and prepared to test him.
• Li Tianyang severed his right hand and transferred ten points to Ye Lin, demonstrating that the system still recognized him.
• Li Tianyang’s Perfect Repair scan detected only limb damage, and Ye Lin used his Level One Privilege to arrange a free Simple Repair.
• Ye Lin asked what Li Tianyang remembered after entering the Immortal Gate and told him that he might have spent many years in The Mysterious and Subtle.

Ye Lin and Li Tianyang compared their memories and discovered that Li Tianyang had completed an unfamiliar special round after being left behind the Immortal Gate. They found that Li Tianyang’s Death Exam Space had not received an update, and Li Tianyang glimpsed a hazy memory of walking among countless immortal corpses beneath a bloodied sky.

• Li Tianyang recounted events up to entering the Immortal Gate, and Ye Lin found that their memories diverged after that point.
• Ye Lin questioned why Li Tianyang had thought they were still inside the exam despite hearing the return notification.
• Li Tianyang explained that he woke in the Death Exam Space with no memory of an extra round and showed Ye Lin the reward notification for completing the special round [Cleansing].
• Li Tianyang told Ye Lin that his space felt as if it would disappear and that only his room would open.
• Ye Lin and Li Tianyang noticed that their Death Exam Spaces looked different, and Ye Lin realized Li Tianyang’s space had not received the update.
• Li Tianyang recalled a hazy image of walking among immense heaps of immortals’ corpses beneath a dim sky as blood and thunder filled the ruined world.

Ye Lin examined Li Tianyang’s unexplained ankle mark and proposed that a ghost or another team might have used him and erased his memories after the Examination. He then revealed that he had contacted the real world, leaving Li Tianyang stunned by the news.

• Ye Lin questioned Li Tianyang about changes to his body after returning, and Li Tianyang showed him a ghostly handprint on his ankle.
• Ye Lin concluded that the mark was not from a ghost at the Taoist Temple and suggested that a ghost might have clung to Li Tianyang as he flew into the Immortal Gate.
• Li Tianyang wondered whether the Little Child Ghost had used them to reach the Immortal Gate, and Ye Lin outlined three possible explanations involving ghosts and other teams.
• Ye Lin said the Military believed the Macrocosmic The Mysterious and Subtle beneath them might be an eye and the nightmare of Chen Tuan, the Sleeping Immortal.
• Li Tianyang froze when Ye Lin said he had contacted the real world and demanded to know what he meant.

Ye Lin told Li Tianyang that An Ke and the others had died and warned him about the aliens hunting promising examinees. Though Ye Lin expected Li Tianyang to leave for his own safety, Li Tianyang joined the Soul Peace Team, giving Ye Lin a new companion before the next exam.

• Li Tianyang excitedly asked Ye Lin about contacting reality, but Ye Lin told him An Ke and the others were dead and that aliens had killed his team in the last exam.
• Ye Lin warned Li Tianyang to hide his personal information and explained that powerful aliens were targeting him, making the upcoming exams extremely dangerous.
• Li Tianyang insisted on staying with Ye Lin despite the danger, saying he did not want to lose another person he cared about.
• Ye Lin accepted Li Tianyang into the Soul Peace Team.

Ye Lin and Li Tianyang considered whether to improve their bloodlines or spend their points on attributes, abilities, and potions before entering the Fengdu Instance. Ye Lin revealed he still had over five hundred points and began considering a path built around powerful S-Rank abilities.

• Li Tianyang hesitated over advancing his celestial master bloodline to Grade A, and Ye Lin advised him that abilities and potions would offer more flexibility against third-tier threats.
• Ye Lin decided to improve his attributes and seek abilities first, postponing upgrades to Interferer and Tyrant until bloodline costs fell.
• Li Tianyang gave up on the bloodline route and offered Ye Lin some of his points, worried that Ye Lin had lost resources when An Ke and the others died.
• Ye Lin showed that he still had over five hundred points, leaving Li Tianyang stunned and wondering if he had killed a fourth tier.
• Ye Lin browsed S-Rank abilities, including Heavenly Demon Disintegration, Power of Destruction, Heavenly Tribulation, and Immortal Sin, as a path of bloodshed began to take shape in his mind.

Ye Lin weighed whether to build his abilities around desperate bursts of power or calculated escape, then reconsidered after Li Tianyang chose a dangerous power to help him face the coming Fengdu Instance. Inspired by Li Tianyang’s willingness to stake his life, Ye Lin headed for the redemption vortex ready to do the same.

• Ye Lin analyzed his advantages and considered choosing either near-death burst abilities or escape abilities supported by the Eternal Page.
• Li Tianyang showed Ye Lin his plans to redeem Spirit Coffin and Yin-Yang Reversal for the paranormal Fengdu Instance.
• Ye Lin warned that Spirit Coffin could drain Li Tianyang’s life force and let a ghost possess him, but Li Tianyang insisted on becoming strong enough to be a useful teammate.
• Li Tianyang redeemed the abilities, explaining that he would treat the next exam as his last and accept the risks.
• Ye Lin reconsidered his cautious approach, decided that escaping could only delay defeat against overwhelming enemies, and walked toward the redemption vortex.

Ye Lin raised his willpower to suppress the Perfected One Prototype’s side effects, but the system capped the attribute at 80 and refused to explain why. Unable to eliminate the remaining effects, he prepared to exchange abilities and committed to the first path, staking his survival on a dangerous fighting style.

• Ye Lin calculated the high cost of raising attributes and gradually increased his willpower, finding that the Perfected One Prototype’s side effects faded as his mental power became easier to control.
• The system announced that Ye Lin’s willpower had reached its upper limit at 80, despite his belief that the limit was 90.
• Ye Lin queried the system about raising his willpower further, but the system refunded his points and refused to answer a question about System Exchange.
• Ye Lin accepted that he could not fully remove the side effects, though they had weakened enough for him to use his mental power.
• After choosing the first path, Ye Lin narrowed his list of S-Rank abilities from thirty-nine to nine and prepared to exchange, knowing the path would stake his life on every battle.

Ye Lin weighed S-Rank abilities for a combat system built around draining his health, bursting with power, and recovering through life steal. He ruled out abilities that risked mental collapse and hesitated over Power of Destruction, ending with Heavenly Tribulation and Immortal Sin as his remaining alternatives.

• Ye Lin outlined a four-part combat system that would trade falling health for greater damage and recovery.
• Ye Lin considered combining Heavenly Demon Disintegration with Demon Seed, but set it aside because its permanent attribute loss could worsen his mental-collapse danger.
• Ye Lin examined Soul Burning Ritual and its potential synergy with Divine Descent, then rejected it because it also risked mental collapse.
• Ye Lin assessed Power of Destruction as a cheap, destructive opener whose bodily cost could be limited, but hesitated over spending his points on it.
• Ye Lin considered his remaining options, Heavenly Tribulation and Immortal Sin, and recognized that both had problems.

Ye Lin considered exchanging for Heavenly Tribulation as part of a near-death combat setup, and Li Tianyang realized how it could combine with Ye Lin’s other abilities. Li Tianyang then remembered a cheap exchange that might protect Ye Lin from Heavenly Tribulation and let him absorb its thunder.

• Ye Lin explained to Li Tianyang that he was considering Heavenly Tribulation and wondered whether Deathmatch would make it target him when he was near death.
• Li Tianyang questioned whether Ye Lin could survive long enough for Heavenly Tribulation to form, so Ye Lin demonstrated Star God Demon and explained his planned combination.
• Li Tianyang understood that Star God Demon and Deathmatch could let Ye Lin endure Heavenly Tribulation while growing stronger as he neared death.
• Ye Lin admitted that he could not yet complete the setup because stronger near-death abilities and life-steal abilities were too expensive or limited.
• Li Tianyang recalled an exchange that could protect against Heavenly Tribulation and might absorb its thunder to strengthen Ye Lin.

Ye Lin and Li Tianyang discussed combining Heavenly Tribulation with a Grudge Casket to produce Heavenly Crystals and with a Thunder-Answering Ring to store lightning. Ye Lin decided to prioritize Heavenly Tribulation and recovery potions, but Li Tianyang was startled when Ye Lin mentioned Immortal Sin.

• Li Tianyang explained that a Grudge Casket contained a difficult-to-purify remnant soul that could yield a Heavenly Crystal when destroyed by Heavenly Thunder.
• Ye Lin realized the Grudge Casket and Heavenly Tribulation could provide a cheap way to obtain Heavenly Crystals and potentially farm exchange points.
• Li Tianyang offered Ye Lin his remaining points, but Ye Lin refused and considered whether the system encouraged combining seemingly useless items.
• Li Tianyang showed Ye Lin a Thunder-Answering Ring that could store Heavenly Thunder, and they discussed its potential as a battle trump card.
• Ye Lin told Li Tianyang to spend his remaining points on Recovery Potions, postponed buying the ring, and chose Heavenly Tribulation over Immortal Sin for the next round.
• Li Tianyang froze and asked what Immortal Sin was when Ye Lin brought it up.

Ye Lin discovered an ominous S-Rank ability, Immortal Sin, that only he could see and weighed its power against its unknown dangers. The chapter left him undecided between exchanging for Immortal Sin and choosing Heavenly Tribulation.

• Li Tianyang told Ye Lin that his exchange panel showed only Heavenly Tribulation, revealing that he could not see Immortal Sin.
• Ye Lin wrote down Immortal Sin’s description, including the Sin of Greed’s matter absorption, healing, particle torrent, and warnings about irreversible risks.
• Li Tianyang questioned Ye Lin about the ability and warned that its many dangers might bring terrible consequences.
• Ye Lin considered Immortal Sin’s offensive, defensive, and healing potential, along with the possibility of collecting all seven sins.
• Ye Lin compared the unknown risks of Immortal Sin with Heavenly Tribulation and remained uncertain which ability to exchange for.