Chapter Summaries

Humanity mistook Zhang Ming’s rapid return to Earth for a dangerous supernatural anomaly and launched a frantic search, while he tested Earth’s defenses unnoticed. He brought the pelican to a forest reserve, where they admired the ecosystem and the planning that had preserved it.

• Soldiers detected red pixels moving at up to 140 kilometers per second, and human and Snake People forces searched the Demon God's Sea for three days without finding anything.
• Investigators classified the harmless anomaly as the red phantom, and a later high-clearance investigator added a note telling staff to stop investigating it.
• Zhang Ming reached Earth above the Atlantic Ocean with the exhausted pelican and told his companions he would visit a nature reserve before going to Mount Everest.
• Zhang Ming rode the pelican across Earth while invisible, but no defensive forces detected them, and he spotted poachers in a nature reserve.
• The pelican found a lush forest and lake populated by Earth pelicans, and Zhang Ming and Mr. Bai Ze praised the long-term plans that had created the ecosystem.

Zhang Ming helped his companions settle in a vast forest, leaving the World Tree with Earth’s Gaia consciousness and relocating Old Bai Ze’s body so he could help the local Lushu awaken. With most of his companions staying behind, Zhang Ming rested alone beneath the moon, unsure what to do next.

• Pelican Captain joined a wild pelican flock at the Caspian Sea, while Stone Mama encouraged Little White to teach the lake’s turtles the Breathing Technique.
• Zhang Ming planted the World Tree on a hillside and buried demon-god oil nearby, prompting Earth’s Gaia consciousness to share a map of his companions and offer long-distance communication.
• Zhang Ming told Pelican Captain and Little White to kill any poachers who threatened them.
• Bai Ze asked Zhang Ming to spare the local Lushu and help awaken their spirits, so Zhang Ming moved Bai Ze’s true body into a mountain hollow and supplied the materials he requested.
• Bai Ze began planning a formation to help the forest’s animals evolve, while Zhang Ming lay on the grass and felt an unexpected emptiness after his companions settled in.

After returning to Earth, Zhang Ming drifted east on a rotten log while stubbornly waiting for the Exploration Team to rescue him. A fishing family finally spotted him, and although they feared he might be dangerous, Lin Fangqiang prepared an inflatable boat to help.

• Zhang Ming struggled with the feeling that the world had changed, then set off east on a rotten log and insisted he was an ordinary person waiting for rescue.
• Gourd secretly guided the log east, and Zhang Ming drifted for half a month while refusing food and water so he could keep waiting for the Exploration Team.
• As Zhang Ming’s self-imposed month-long limit neared, Gourd drew vitality from the Tree of Eden to attract a large school of fish and bring fishing boats nearby.
• Lin Fangzheng spotted Zhang Ming and wanted to steer over, but Lin Fangqiang and their parents worried he might be a dangerous criminal.
• Lin Fangzheng proposed tossing Zhang Ming a spare inflatable boat, and Lin Fangqiang began inflating it despite his warnings.

Zhang Ming was rescued by the Lin family after drifting out of the Demon God's Sea, and he mistook their cautious kindness for proof that humanity was thriving. As the family waited for the Coast Guard, they caught a valuable mutant fish and realized Zhang Ming might be suffering from Homeless Symptoms.

• Zhang Ming climbed into the Rubber Boat the Lin family threw him and accepted water and compressed biscuits while they secretly called the police.
• Zhang Ming told the Lin family he had escaped the Demon God's Sea, had lost his memory, and remembered only that his surname was Zhang.
• The Lin family kept their distance and fished while waiting for the Coast Guard, hauling in over two thousand jin of fish and a valuable Mutant Red Seabream.
• The Lin family's elderly father recounted how he had once escaped the Demon God's Sea after developing Homeless Symptoms and catching a lucky fish.
• Lin Fangzheng noticed Zhang Ming watching them, and the elderly father guessed that Zhang Ming might also have Homeless Symptoms.

After 151 years in the Demon God's Sea, Zhang Ming was rescued by the coast guard and brought back to human civilization, where officials prepared to investigate his identity and claimed amnesia. As he rested aboard ship, he overheard Lin Fangzheng discussing the challenges of raising mutated creatures and began searching his memories for relevant knowledge.

• Jin Kaixuan used Eagle Eye to assess Zhang Ming, then had his rusty knife inspected before allowing the rescue team to bring him aboard.
• Zhang Ming claimed he had lost his memory and identification after his boat capsized in the Demon God's Sea, and the coast guard locked him in a room for questioning on land.
• Lin Fangzheng gave a statement while Jin Kaixuan explained that officials could use lie detection and biometric scans to identify Zhang Ming.
• Jin Kaixuan told Lin Fangzheng that researching mutated creatures required strength and that farming them was difficult outside the Demon God's Sea.
• After waking from a short sleep, Zhang Ming searched his Memory Library for what he knew about raising mutated fish and recalled that Doctor Little White had researched the subject.

After returning to Earth, Zhang Ming used Gourd to prepare a dream that might help members of the Rescue Team break through their Physique bottlenecks. He reached a coastal town, where local officials investigated his lack of identity and questioned his claim of amnesia.

• Zhang Ming gave Gourd a memory and asked her to write about fish and fabricate a dream about breaking through the Human Limit with the Blood-Clotting Regeneration Physique.
• Zhang Ming arrived at a coastal town with the Rescue Team and reflected on Earth, its recent history, and the changing living conditions near the New Century Defense Line.
• Jin Kaixuan brought Zhang Ming to a government building, where staff found no identity records for him and confirmed that he was human.
• Jin Kaixuan asked officers to question Zhang Ming and check whether he was lying about his amnesia.
• The lie detector showed no alarm as officers questioned Zhang Ming, leaving them unsure whether his memory loss was genuine.

Zhang Ming, who claimed to have escaped the Demon God's Sea with amnesia, passed tests that revealed he was a Super S-Class expert. The local officers tried to recruit him and held him while checking his identity, leaving Zhang Ming planning to escape the next day.

• Zhang Ming told Jin Kaixuan he was at human limit level with three limits, then bent a metal rod with two fingers.
• Zhang Ming accurately counted scattered coins and paper clips, convincing Jin Kaixuan that his physique and perception were at Super S-Class level.
• Zhang Ming claimed he could not remember his age or identity, and Jin Kaixuan decided to verify his identity while explaining the town's talent benefits.
• Jin Kaixuan arranged for Zhang Ming to stay in a room under house arrest, and Zhang Ming decided to escape the following day.
• Zhang Ming read about the changed technology and supernatural society on a computer, reflecting on how life might have differed if he had been born in that era.

While under house arrest, Zhang Ming watched fighting tournament videos and played a game against the Gourd before Lin Fangzheng and Lin Yuyu brought him dinner. The siblings asked to hear his story, and Zhang Ming invited them to ask whatever they wanted.

• Zhang Ming watched coverage of the Elite Tier Top 100 Fighting Tournament and dismissed the young contestants’ abilities.
• Zhang Ming asked the Gourd to create him an identity, then challenged her to a computer game.
• Lin Fangzheng learned that his family had sold the mutant sea bream for 1.1 million and told his family about the Super S-Class man they had rescued.
• Lin Fangzheng and Lin Yuyu brought dinner to Zhang Ming at the Public Security Office.
• Zhang Ming welcomed the siblings’ questions and offered to answer what he could about his story.

Lin Fangzheng shared Zhang Ming’s parasite-fish story on a forum, then woke to find it matched a major research breakthrough and that people thought Zhang Ming was a distinguished professor. Meanwhile, Zhang Ming finished gaming with Gourd Lady and learned she had completed his requested article.

• Zhang Ming told Lin Fangzheng and Lin Yuyu how parasites made mutant fish reproduce in large numbers, adding that he had grilled and eaten the worms.
• Lin Fangzheng posted Zhang Ming’s story on a mutant-creature forum, where commenters questioned whether the worms could reproduce and called for a specimen.
• Lin Fangzheng woke to messages revealing that the Great Xia Academy of Sciences had announced successful mutant sea bream farming using a special parasite, and his post went viral.
• Lin Fangzheng’s classmates and supervisor assumed Zhang Ming was a distinguished professor and asked him to make introductions.
• Zhang Ming gamed with Gourd Lady, deliberately let her win, and learned she had finished the article on the Breathing Technique.

Zhang Ming left the Rescue Team a Dream Seed that could help them learn to break through the Human Limit, then slipped away to explore the city. At breakfast, he heard that scientists had independently developed a parasite-based method to breed Special Fish, and he wondered how the discovery had happened so quickly.

• Zhang Ming and Gourd prepared research notes and a Dream Seed, which could be used about twenty times to teach a Human Limit breakthrough technique.
• Zhang Ming left the Rescue Team a note and the Dream Seed as a small thank-you, then used his Invisibility Cloak to leave unnoticed.
• Zhang Ming wandered through the city at dawn, admired the crowds practicing the Human Breathing Technique, and found he had no money to buy breakfast.
• A diner told Zhang Ming that scientists had bred Special Fish by using parasites to control the fish and increase reproduction.
• Zhang Ming learned the experiment had been completed independently on Earth and that the method required dangerous Big Red Worms and B-Class handlers.

Zhang Ming left the gathering after seeing humanity find its own solutions, then disguised himself as a beggar to sell Lin Fangzheng a handwritten fishing manual containing unusual methods for raising fish in the Demon God's Sea. With his first ten bucks earned, Zhang Ming set out to explore the unfamiliar human world while staying close to ordinary life.

• Zhang Ming quietly left the gathering, pleased that humanity was solving its problems without relying on him.
• Zhang Ming used Gourd to make himself look like a filthy beggar and approached Lin Fangzheng and Lin Yuyu.
• Zhang Ming sold Lin Fangzheng a handwritten copy of Old Zhang's Fishing Diary for ten bucks, then disappeared into the crowd.
• Lin Fangzheng found the manual's methods for cultivating King Fish and mixed-species fish startlingly plausible, while Lin Yuyu urged him to hurry back to the professor.
• Zhang Ming decided to travel slowly toward his final destination, handing out gifts and exploring the human world as an ordinary person.

Zhang Ming tried to earn money through gambling but found the games were computerized, then left a Light and Shadow Stone and notes behind before disappearing. When Captain Jin Kaixuan accessed the stone, its Dream Seed made him fall asleep, while investigators arrived to question Lin Fangzheng about his online post.

• Zhang Ming entered a gambling house, rejected its digital games, and placed ten yuan on contestant No. 12 in a sports lottery.
• Lin Fangzheng and Lin Yuyu told Jin Kaixuan that the rescued man was a professor from Great Xia, but they learned he had vanished, leaving a letter and a Light and Shadow Stone.
• Jin Kaixuan read Zhang Ming’s notes about breaking through the human limit, then activated the stone and was overcome by sleep.
• Lin Fangzheng and Lin Yuyu waited in confusion as Jin Kaixuan fell asleep and three investigators arrived at the compound.
• Old Liang identified himself as an investigator and asked Lin Fangzheng to cooperate with an investigation into his online post.

The Anomaly Investigation Bureau questioned Lin Fangzheng and Lin Yuyu about the missing stranger, suspecting him of corporate espionage after he revealed state secrets. Jin Kaixuan woke from a vivid dream convinced the stranger had shown him how to break through his bottleneck, and prepared to test what he had learned.

• Old Liang told Lin Fangzheng that the stranger had no registered identity and warned him that his online post had revealed high-level state secrets, then ordered him to cooperate with the investigation.
• Old Liang collected the stranger's diary and light and shadow stone, then sensed that Jin Kaixuan's spirit was gathering in a way that resembled a breakthrough.
• Jin Kaixuan woke up delighted, declared that he had understood how to break through the human limit, and was surprised to find Old Liang and his subordinates in his office.
• Jin Kaixuan called the stranger a mental-type Grandmaster who had helped him experience a breakthrough in a dream, while Old Liang doubted that he had truly advanced.
• Jin Kaixuan decided to try the method immediately, drank water, ate mutant-rice food, and went into a nearby room to attempt the breakthrough.

Jin Kaixuan used the dream’s guidance to break through and make his blood-clotting regeneration physique innate, then fought to let his subordinates try the light and shadow stone. As Shi Dongpeng entered the dream, the investigators began reconsidering whether Mr. Zhang was a powerful Dream Entry Master and warned that Old Chen should not provoke him.

• Jin Kaixuan followed the dream’s circulation path, broke through to Grandmaster, and gained an innate blood-clotting regeneration physique.
• Jin Kaixuan emerged after nearly three hours, announced his breakthrough, and demonstrated his rapid healing to the waiting office staff.
• Jin Kaixuan insisted that his subordinates get a chance to use the light and shadow stone, and Old Liang agreed to let those long stuck at a bottleneck try it.
• Shi Dongpeng activated the stone, grew drowsy, and lay down as Old Liang monitored his brainwaves.
• Old Liang and the younger investigator discussed the stone’s apparent Dream Entry ability and urged caution about Mr. Zhang.
• Old Liang realized Old Chen had been sent to apprehend Mr. Zhang and worried that the ordinary perception-type Grandmaster might provoke someone far stronger.

Old Liang’s investigation into Zhang Ming escalated after he learned Zhang’s dream-based breakthrough method might be a civilization-level technology, while Lin Fangzheng decided to publish the fishing instructions he had received. Zhang Ming lost his gambling winnings, then realized the humans might try to arrest him and fled under his Invisibility Cloak.

• Old Liang warned his companions not to act rashly, reported that Zhang might not be a spy, and sought approval to deploy stronger forces as the team reviewed surveillance and waited for Shi Dongpeng to wake.
• Lin Fangzheng connected Old Zhang’s Fishing Diary to Old Zhang’s Fitness Diary and decided to publish the gifted information online so humanity could develop the methods sooner.
• Zhang Ming lost his gambling money, sold advice to other gamblers for 250 yuan, and reflected that the bookies had beaten him.
• Miss Gourd explained that customizing dream breakthroughs for humans required extensive Spirit Flow data and could take Zhang Ming half a year without her help.
• Zhang Ming feared the government would send an army to arrest him, put on his Invisibility Cloak, and ran from town while recalling the cloak’s origins and his lost dogs.

Zhang Ming reflected on his long lifespan and decided to travel home, uncertain what had become of his sister’s family and the ginkgo tree she planted. After hitching a ride north, he reached an unfamiliar city and began busking to earn money, while remaining a fugitive on the government’s list.

• Zhang Ming calculated that his lifespan might reach roughly 180,000 years, but concluded he needed to leave Earth to seek new adventures and breakthroughs.
• Zhang Ming overheard the Lin siblings planning to publish the Dream Seed information and learned that it had attracted powerful people’s attention, so he decided to make himself scarce.
• Zhang Ming set out for home by hitching a ride on a northbound truck, reflecting on old dreams and enjoying the freedom of traveling without a fixed destination.
• Zhang Ming saw his face listed on an electronic screen at a checkpoint, but the staff failed to find him hiding in the truck.
• Zhang Ming arrived in an unfamiliar city, changed his appearance, and decided to earn money by busking rather than taking a job or selling his possessions.
• Zhang Ming played guitar and sang “In the Spring” for passersby, most of whom hurried past after only a brief glance.

Zhang Ming sang in public while the Abnormality Bureau investigated the mysterious Light and Shadow Stones that had helped two people break through, prompting rumors that he might have returned to Earth. After spending the night at a bar and hotel, Zhang Ming set off for home, while the Polaris Team was dispatched to investigate the leaked dream technology.

• Shi Dongpeng broke through his bottleneck after experiencing the Light and Shadow Stone’s breakthrough process in a dream, and Old Liang reported the result to his director.
• The director and higher-ranking officials discussed the mysterious Dream Seeds and whether the man called Old Zhang was Zhang Ming, then ordered the Polaris Team to investigate and arrest the culprit.
• Zhang Ming sang at a bar, where the owner invited him to perform and shared how he had overcome betrayal and despair.
• Zhang Ming told the bar owner that his family had died while he was away at the Demon God's Sea and said he planned to open a restaurant called Big Rice Bucket Restaurant.
• Miss Gourd explored the hotel room and listened in on nearby guests while Zhang Ming showered and later sang and drank at the bar.
• The bar owner gave Zhang Ming a red envelope for his performance, and Zhang Ming accepted it before setting off for home.

Lin Fangzheng and Lin Yuyu found a video lead that might reveal Zhang Ming’s whereabouts, while the Anomaly Investigation Bureau escalated its search and Saiya’s divination suggested that the person who made Zhang Ming’s gifts was a woman. Meanwhile, Zhang Ming learned about humanity’s history of corruption, the Blue Era, and the spread of privately developed abilities.

• Lin Yuyu spotted a familiar gourd charm and voice in a schoolmate’s video, and she and Lin Fangzheng decided to visit the bar where Zhang Ming had been seen.
• The Anomaly Investigation Bureau questioned townspeople but failed to locate Zhang Ming, while Old Liang and Jin Kaixuan considered whether he had an invisibility ability.
• The Polaris Team arrived, and its superiors ordered the local investigators to assist while suggesting Zhang Ming might be tied to Blue Era or Old Zhang.
• Saiya examined Zhang Ming’s diary and Light and Shadow Stone, then divined that their creator was a woman despite the bureau’s evidence that Zhang Ming was male.
• Zhang Ming listened to townspeople discuss the Blue Era’s purge and the reforms that followed, then reflected on how humanity’s open instruction in abilities surpassed the Flamehorn Civilization’s system.

Zhang Ming traveled toward Tiepan City while humanity's Anomaly Investigation Bureau tracked him, and he was finally confronted at a train station. He limited his strength and prepared to test the investigators as their first attack smashed Zhao Daxian's stall.

• Zhang Ming and Gourd Lady discussed the Blue Era, divination, and how information could be traced through the Dimensional Rift.
• The Lin Family siblings learned from the bar owner that Zhang Ming was headed to Tiepan City and decided to follow him.
• Diviner Saiya told the Anomaly Investigation Bureau that she had located Zhang Ming near Huangjing City, and the group split between investigating the Dream Seed and pursuing him.
• Zhang Ming searched for a phone at a train station, then returned to Zhao Daxian to ask about buying one without an ID.
• Five Anomaly Investigation Bureau agents surrounded Zhang Ming and ordered him to surrender, while he disabled his supernatural abilities and limited his combat power.
• A burly agent struck Zhang Ming with Diamond, and Zhang Ming dodged by leaping onto Zhao Daxian's stall, smashing it to powder.

Zhang Ming fought the Anomaly Investigation Bureau’s Polaris Team, using Dream Entry and Indestructible to incapacitate three members before the others escaped. As the Bureau scrambled to identify him, the Coast Guard workers who had rescued him worried that they might have been hypnotized and began testing the Dream Seed.

• Zhang Ming fought five Polaris Team members while Great Immortal Zhao filmed from a flower bed.
• Zhang Ming used a prepared Dream Seed to put Beishan to sleep, then defeated two more team members as the squad’s formation collapsed.
• Saiya ordered a retreat, and two Polaris Team members escaped while Zhang Ming left the injured with Great Immortal Zhao.
• Zhang Ming boarded a train home and discussed the team’s weaknesses and Earth’s fighting abilities with Gourd Monster.
• The Anomaly Investigation Bureau heard that the Polaris Team had suffered major casualties and launched an investigation into Old Zhang’s return.
• Jin Kaixuan and the other Coast Guard workers feared Zhang Ming might have hypnotized them, but they began testing the Dream Seed for humanity’s safety.