Chapter Summaries

At Binhai International Airport, a zombie-like monster appeared beneath the mysterious examination screen, prompting a military lockdown and emergency containment. Minister Huang Yun revealed that disappearances had spread beyond schools and warned that humanity faced extinction if officials could not uncover what was happening inside the examination.

• Soldiers cordoned off Binhai International Airport after flights were canceled and terrified passengers reported a monster attacking people.
• Special forces found the decomposed, bullet-riddled monster beside two passengers it had bitten, and the infected victims rose again before the military killed them.
• Minister Huang Yun ordered the airport news suppressed, exposed personnel quarantined, and the monster sealed for study.
• Huang Yun told the colonel that the government had received almost no communication from inside the examination and might soon declare a nationwide wartime footing.
• Huang Yun revealed that eligible people across the country had begun disappearing regardless of their proximity to schools, putting humanity on a countdown to extinction.

Huang Yun faced the apparent impossibility of rescuing the Death Exam participants while hoping his son Huang Liang could send back information. In the Death Exam Space, Ye Lin and the others discovered that the Exam encompassed countless civilizations, then learned that multiple battle zones were querying his information.

• Huang Yun's subordinates demanded to know why the leadership was abandoning those trapped in the Death Exam, and the guard revealed that Huang Yun had sent his own son, Huang Liang, inside.
• Huang Yun said he would accept Huang Liang's death if his son could send back information, and watched the countdown while fearing humanity would collapse into despair without hope.
• In Hanseong, a man declared the coming end of the world and urged people to die, while crowds jumped from a skyscraper and fires spread across Earth.
• He Zheng, An Ke, and Ye Lin examined the new rankings and learned that their team was first in the Earth Battle Zone, with Ye Lin marked by three asterisks.
• Ye Lin realized the Death Exam might involve thousands of civilizations and far more participants than he had imagined.
• System notifications announced that numerous battle zones were viewing Ye Lin's information, and he sensed that something was wrong.

Ye Lin hid the Soul Peace Team’s leaderboard information after suspecting that the queries came from teams with a dangerous motive, though the others wondered if his three perfect scores had drawn attention. As Ye Lin reviewed their points and the global rankings, he spotted something wrong with the leaderboard and turned sharply to An Ke.

• Ye Lin ordered the system to hide the Soul Peace Team’s information after nineteen queries, and he warned that the unknown teams might have a reason for spending points to find them.
• Ye Lin explained that teams from other combat zones might be much stronger, but he was not worried about their learning the team’s current abilities because he planned to enhance himself before the next round.
• He Zheng counted the leaderboard’s perfect-score stars and found that Ye Lin was the only person with three, while at least twenty-three teams had two.
• An Ke said the global spread of perfect scores was unsurprising, and Huang Liang reacted oddly when she mentioned the Green Mountain Team but did not explain why.
• Ye Lin reviewed how luck and his teammates had helped him earn perfect scores, noted that the team had 219 points, and then noticed that the leaderboard seemed to be missing people.

Ye Lin, An Ke, and He Zheng discovered that the region-wide leaderboard showed no teams beyond Grade B, leading them to fear that earlier examinees had died. Ye Lin encouraged He Zheng and went to unlock a book, while He Zheng asked An Ke why his invitation to Li Tianyang had been delayed until the next round.

• An Ke and the others searched the leaderboard and found none of the teams from earlier batches, including teams that had survived seven or eight rounds.
• Huang Liang pointed out that Li Tianyang's team was listed at around rank eight hundred with a Grade B rating, despite Li having survived five rounds.
• An Ke argued that earlier teams would have appeared on the region-wide leaderboard unless they had died, and the group fell silent at the possibility that all earlier examinees were dead.
• Ye Lin considered two possible explanations for the missing teams but kept his theories to himself because there was too little information.
• Ye Lin reassured He Zheng that they could survive, then picked up a book to unlock it after the system's functions were restored.
• He Zheng regained his confidence, followed Ye Lin, and asked An Ke why the system had told him to wait until the next round before inviting Li Tianyang.

Ye Lin unsealed the first layer of the dark gold book and discovered it was the Grade A special item Eternal Page, bound to his soul. The page revealed a Light and Shadow ability, while its remaining seals required more points, rounds, and strength to unlock.

• An Ke explained to He Zheng why the team had to wait for the next examination round before inviting Li Tianyang.
• Ye Lin pushed the dark gold book into the vortex and paid 10 points to break its first seal.
• The unsealing showed the group a vision of black-robed priests receiving the book in a temple after it crossed the stars.
• Ye Lin opened the book and learned it was the Grade A Eternal Page, with one of four seals broken and Light and Shadow unlocked.

Ye Lin tested the Eternal Page’s ability to simulate opponents and repeatedly fought He Zheng, An Ke, and Huang Liang, but could not defeat all three together. He returned to the Death Exam Space and discussed the results with He Zheng, who wondered how the ability would simulate the Immortals’ corpses.

• Ye Lin used the Eternal Page to simulate He Zheng, An Ke, and Huang Liang and fought them in repeated battles.
• Ye Lin killed He Zheng and An Ke in one fight but was fatally shot before he could escape.
• Ye Lin awoke in the Death Exam Space after four simulated deaths and told He Zheng he could defeat two opponents but not all three.
• He Zheng praised Ye Lin’s performance and asked whether he had tried simulating anything else, including the Immortals’ corpses.

Ye Lin and the others discussed the Eternal Page’s limits and how they could use its simulations to master their abilities before the next examination. After returning to the system space, Ye Lin wondered why the page had been left in the Scripture Pavilion and concluded that no immortal had put it there.

• Ye Lin said simulating immortals or Little Child Ghost would drain nearly all his mental energy, while he could currently simulate at most a Grade A target once.
• An Ke suggested using the Eternal Page to test ability combinations, learn their limits, and gain combat experience through repeated simulations.
• Ye Lin decided the group should train in the page before the next examination, even if they used system points to restore their mental energy.
• He Zheng wondered whether the page’s locked second ability, Projection, might eventually let them summon simulated targets.
• After the exhausted group returned to their rooms, Ye Lin stayed awake and reasoned that the Sacrificial Dagger and Eternal Page did not belong to The Mysterious and Subtle scenario, so no immortal had placed the page in the Scripture Pavilion.

Ye Lin theorized that the examination scenarios might be real disasters and that his team was only one part of a larger process, leaving him troubled by the system’s unknown purpose. He reviewed his combat weaknesses and limited upgrade points before He Zheng woke him and urged him to find An Ke.

• Ye Lin reasoned that another team had entered the examination first, and their deaths could explain the ghost’s knowledge and the extra candle in the Ancestral Hall.
• Ye Lin considered that the examinations might use real disasters rather than scenarios controlled by the system, but he had no evidence to confirm his suspicions.
• Ye Lin decided to stay alive and look for clues in the examinee’s letters, understanding why An Ke cared about them.
• Ye Lin assessed his combat shortcomings, including limited range and area attacks, and weighed upgrading his bloodline, redeeming abilities, or buying equipment with his 219 points.
• Ye Lin fell asleep at the table, then woke when He Zheng pounded on the door and called him to go find An Ke.

An Ke brought Ye Lin, He Zheng, and Huang Liang to her lavish vacation world to relax after surviving, but Ye Lin declined her invitation to surf. Huang Liang then told Ye Lin he had uncovered the Death Exam Space's secret and knew where they were.

• He Zheng, Ye Lin, and Huang Liang stepped out of An Ke's villa and discovered her world recreated a beach, snowy mountains, and horse-racing grounds.
• An Ke provided clean beachwear, and the group changed before relaxing by the shore with food and drinks.
• He Zheng teased Huang Liang for being stiff and complained that an expensive Macallan tasted worse than erguotou.
• An Ke invited Ye Lin to surf, but he refused because he disliked the ocean and its unpredictability.
• He Zheng went to fish, while Huang Liang stayed behind and told Ye Lin they might have to redeem the communication item.
• Huang Liang told Ye Lin he had uncovered the Death Exam Space's secret and knew where they were.

Huang Liang explained that the Death Exam Space was likely within the Solar System and that distance caused communication attempts to fail. He argued that its movements and the timing of exam rests proved it remained in their own reality, and Ye Lin considered whether it might eventually approach Earth closely enough for contact.

• Huang Liang told Ye Lin that the stars visible when the rankings appeared matched constellations seen from Earth, suggesting the Death Exam Space was inside the Solar System.
• Huang Liang reasoned that communication signals could take too long to travel across the distance, causing the call to time out before anyone on Earth could reply.
• Ye Lin pointed out that they could not leave the Death Exam Space and questioned whether the similar stars and timing might belong to another world.
• Huang Liang used the dates of An Ke's and He Zheng's exam entries and their rest periods to argue that exam instances passed quickly while the Death Exam Space returned them to reality.
• Ye Lin asked whether the Death Exam Space's movement could bring it within communication range of Earth and allow the Military to locate it.

Huang Liang warned Ye Lin that the Death Exam might be approaching reality and that they had only twenty days before a possible tenth examination. Ye Lin challenged parts of his theory and decided their immediate priority was surviving the next examination.

• Huang Liang argued that the Death Exam was drawing closer to reality and urged Ye Lin to contact the Military before the tenth examination.
• Huang Liang told Ye Lin that only twenty days remained and feared that disaster and social collapse were unfolding in the real world.
• Ye Lin questioned Huang Liang's theory using Hu Jia, Zhang Tie, Little Chubby, and He Zheng as examples, suggesting the Death Exam's rules were changing.
• Huang Liang proposed that age requirements might explain when some Examinees entered the examinations.
• Ye Lin acknowledged the uncertainties but told Huang Liang that they had to survive the next examination before pursuing the truth.

After a night of drinking and music, Ye Lin examined the mysterious Nineteenth Layer of Hell and questioned what had happened at the Immortal Gate. He Zheng revealed that Yang Qiao had died in the real world and said that bringing her back was now his reason for living.

• Huang Liang drank himself unconscious while He Zheng and the others learned that he had long wanted his family's approval.
• An Ke sang for the group while Ye Lin studied the System Exchange and the hidden Nineteenth Layer of Hell exam.
• Ye Lin suspected that the corpse in the Seventh Heaven might not have been one of the Three Pure Ones and that the scene had been staged as a warning.
• He Zheng told Ye Lin that the Death Exam had given him experiences and connections he would never have had in his old life.
• He Zheng revealed that Yang Qiao had died after being hit by a car while bringing him food, and said he wanted to bring her back.

He Zheng told Ye Lin he wanted to resurrect Yang Qiao and asked him to take her out of the Death Exam if he ever escaped. After a brief respite, the four returned to training ahead of the fourth exam, whose question was due that afternoon.

• He Zheng told Ye Lin that people could be resurrected in the Death Exam and asked him to help Yang Qiao escape if he survived.
• Ye Lin kept He Zheng's confession from An Ke and deflected her questions about his feelings by saying she was useful to him.
• An Ke concluded that Ye Lin considered them teammates, not merely a transaction, and relaxed beside the sea.
• After dinner, the four returned to the Eternal Page's simulation space at two in the morning to train for the coming exam.

During the sixth simulation, He Zheng demonstrated how he used Leaping Slash to launch and throw his axes at plasma Mutants, then recalled them to attack again. The group learned that his axes responded differently depending on whether he intended to attack or discard them, and He Zheng considered new ways to exploit their return path.

• He Zheng summoned five plasma Mutants and launched himself from a rooftop, throwing his axes to kill two of them midair.
• He Zheng called the axes back; they struck another Mutant on the return flight, and he threw them again to kill the remaining enemies.
• Ye Lin praised He Zheng's move, while An Ke questioned how he could throw and recall axes he had previously been unable to discard.
• He Zheng explained that the axes returned instantly if he meant to discard them but flew back if he intended to keep fighting.
• An Ke asked whether He Zheng could modify his axes, such as by attaching a hook.

After He Zheng's returning axe sparked ideas for modifying their abilities, Ye Lin realized the Death Exam punished examinees who failed to master their enhancements as its difficulty rose. He began considering how to exploit the tyrant gene and telekinesis before the next examination.

• Ye Lin noticed that a special rule recalled He Zheng's axe, and He Zheng, Huang Liang, and the others discussed adding hooks, explosives, and an electrified chain to it.
• Ye Lin concluded that the Death Exam tested how examinees used their abilities, and that their growing enhancements could become liabilities if they did not learn to control them.
• Ye Lin reasoned that He Zheng had survived by maximizing a few enhancements, while An Ke's strategy of keeping her rating low could become dangerous when their power surged.
• Ye Lin considered ways to address the tyrant gene's need for flesh and blood and the vitality cost of Blood Shadow Impact.
• Ye Lin turned to the Sacrificial Dagger and considered using psychokinesis to control bombs, weapons, or poison.

Ye Lin discovered that his psychokinesis could lift him into the sky by carrying him on metal, revealing flight as its true use. His newfound speed led him to reconsider how he had been using Blood Shadow Impact.

• Ye Lin tested his psychokinesis by lifting and crushing an abandoned sedan, then explained that its force weakened against living beings.
• Huang Liang suggested Ye Lin could use psychokinesis to control weapons, but Ye Lin realized it had another, more important use.
• Ye Lin joined metal sheets together beneath his feet and flew into the sky at tremendous speed.
• Ye Lin estimated that he could travel at over a hundred meters per second and realized psychokinesis was suited to flight.
• He Zheng and An Ke reacted with shock as Ye Lin entered the Interferer state and began reconsidering Blood Shadow Impact.

Ye Lin tested ways to split Blood Shadow Impact into separate attacks, discovering that he could launch blood at a distance but struggled to control how much of his body the ability consumed. He then used psychokinesis to divide the blood mist into three streams, whose colliding shock waves produced a massive explosion across the city.

• Ye Lin considered how to use Blood Shadow Impact without moving his whole body and confirmed that psychokinesis could control his blood.
• Ye Lin launched blood from his right shoulder at a building, blasting through its wall, but the attack consumed half his body and left him badly injured.
• Ye Lin realized that precise control required greater mental strength and decided to continue testing the ability in the simulation space.
• Ye Lin used psychokinesis to split his blood mist into three streams and sent them to collide at the same destination.
• The three shock waves compounded in a huge explosion, shattering windows across a hundred-meter radius and sending a crimson column into the sky.

Ye Lin tested ways to use Blood Shadow Impact in the simulation space, repeatedly dying while refining three combat techniques. After his companions stopped him from pushing himself further, the group waited nervously for the fourth examination prompt, which began to appear in red light.

• Ye Lin's Blood Shadow Impact produced a massive explosion and crater, but he died when his blood shadows reassembled and then reappeared in the simulation space.
• Ye Lin explained the failed experiment to An Ke, He Zheng, and Huang Liang before continuing his tests.
• After sixteen deaths, Ye Lin figured out how to survive Blood Shadow Splitting and identified three distinct uses for his blood-shadow techniques.
• An Ke and He Zheng stopped Ye Lin from continuing to simulate because he was nearing his limit and the next examination prompt was due soon.
• He Zheng worried the team might face the Three Major Events on his seventh examination, but An Ke explained that the team's average examination count was still low.
• The vortex accelerated and glowed red, and Ye Lin warned the others that the examination prompt was arriving.

The group learned their fourth examination would be a team battle set during a celestial crisis, and debated what the scenario and their first-place ranking meant. Just as He Zheng invited Li Tianyang to join them, a new system notification stunned everyone.

• The system announced that the fourth examination was a team battle in a doomsday scenario called celestial crisis.
• An Ke reassured He Zheng that “special” described something unusual about the scenario rather than a special examination type.
• He Zheng boasted about the group’s strength, while An Ke and Huang Liang urged him to remain wary of strong opponents and potentially hidden teams.
• Huang Liang questioned whether teams with hidden rankings could challenge them, but Ye Lin and An Ke found little evidence that such teams existed.
• He Zheng invited Li Tianyang to join the team, but another system notification appeared and froze his smile.

He Zheng, An Ke, Huang Liang, and Ye Lin tried to explain why the system reported Li Tianyang had entered an Examination early. Ye Lin proposed that Li Tianyang might never have returned from the previous Examination, leaving the group unsure what had happened to him.

• He Zheng saw a failed-message notice saying Li Tianyang had entered an Examination before the next one was due to begin.
• An Ke and Huang Liang suggested Li Tianyang might have entered a solo or replacement Examination to avoid joining the group.
• An Ke wondered whether Li Tianyang had deliberately avoided them, but Ye Lin questioned whether he had been able to send messages at all.
• Ye Lin explained that Li Tianyang might have entered early because time inside an Examination flowed differently from time in reality.
• Ye Lin proposed that Li Tianyang might never have come out of the previous Examination, though he believed Li Tianyang was still alive.
• He Zheng, An Ke, and Huang Liang were shaken as Ye Lin wondered why Li Tianyang had not been transported back after the Immortal Gate countdown.