Chapter Summaries

After a giant sea turtle panicked and fled from Zhang Ming, he decided not to chase it and prepared to keep hunting crabs instead. He improved his weapon by attaching a crab leg to a metal pipe, leaving himself better equipped to face the island’s mutated creatures.

• Zhang Ming watched a giant sea turtle eat crab shells, then froze when it noticed him.
• The turtle looked terrified, withdrew into its shell, and raced toward the ocean; Zhang Ming shouted after it, hoping to gain its abilities.
• Zhang Ming chose not to pursue the turtle and resolved to store food scraps far from camp to avoid attracting more monsters.
• Zhang Ming allocated his attribute points and decided to continue hunting crabs because he lacked combat experience.
• Zhang Ming braided strips of a blue dress into rope and attached a pointed crab leg to his metal pipe to make a spear.

Zhang Ming devised a coconut trap to hunt the giant crabs without risking close combat, then hid near their mudflats to prepare. On Earth, viewers debated his abilities and survival choices while Professor Peter Greer urged them to focus on real-world crises, including the plight of refugees in Fusang.

• Zhang Ming rejected direct combat and decided to crush the crabs with giant coconuts.
• Zhang Ming set three giant coconuts atop a boulder, rested, and crept toward the crab grounds.
• Viewers in Great Xia watched Zhang Ming prepare to hunt crabs, while foreign commentators criticized his caution and the turtle’s escape.
• Online commenters argued over whether Zhang Ming had a low-tier strength ability and whether superpower rankings mattered.
• Professor Peter Greer defended Zhang Ming’s survival choices and called attention to the refugees in Fusang.
• People online attacked Greer and complained about emergencies and hardships in their own communities.

Zhang Ming lured a giant crab away from its group and killed it with falling coconuts and repeated Strength Burst attacks, then feasted on its meat and gained stat points. As he listened to news of worldwide disasters and governments building shelters, he wondered whether humanity was nearing war and pleaded for someone to rescue him from the island.

• Zhang Ming used scented shells and a piece of meat to lure a giant crab away from the others, then led it toward a boulder while Earth viewers watched and Simonson commentated on the hunt.
• Zhang Ming climbed onto the boulder and dropped two heavy coconuts onto the crab, then jumped down and smashed its exposed belly until it stopped crying and lay motionless.
• Zhang Ming confirmed the crab was dead, carried it away, and spent the day processing it.
• Zhang Ming roasted and ate the crab meat and roe, which generated stat points but gave him no new abilities.
• Zhang Ming listened as Li Xianfeng reported global disasters, rising tensions, and plans by Great Xia and other major powers to build enormous shelters; he feared war and begged for a rescue that did not come.

Zhang Ming fed crab scraps to a group of supernatural sea turtles and watched them eagerly devour the shells. He finished cleaning up at the shore as the turtles followed and feasted.

• Zhang Ming suspected the radio broadcasts were based on information gathered by satellites and worried that someone might be watching him.
• Zhang Ming discovered several sea turtles hiding near his camp and scared them into retreating into their shells with his gaze.
• Zhang Ming fed crab gills to one turtle, teasing the others until a greedy turtle gained a point of mental energy.
• Zhang Ming carried the crab shells to the shore, where the turtles followed and devoured them.
• Zhang Ming watched the turtles finish the scraps and recalled his grandfather's dog, Wangpi.

Zhang Ming felt the loneliness of being stranded in Mysterious Zone No. 16, while observers debated whether his beach writing was an attempt to communicate. At a Great Xia meeting, Li Xianfeng reviewed the survivors’ situations and identified Mysterious Zones No. 6 and No. 15 as the most critical.

• After the sea turtles left, Zhang Ming worried he might spend his life alone in the Mysterious Zone, though he hoped a rescue team would arrive.
• Foreign spectators lost interest in Zhang Ming’s uneventful survival, while people in Great Xia followed his meals and beach writing closely.
• Researchers wondered whether Zhang Ming knew about the mirage and was trying to communicate by writing on the beach.
• Li Xianfeng told the Special Affairs Processing Department that Zhang Ming’s survival situation was stable and reviewed the conditions in the other Mysterious Zones.
• Li Xianfeng singled out Mysterious Zones No. 6 and No. 15 for constant monitoring because their survivors faced the most critical situations.

Li Xianfeng and the experts discussed communication with Zhang Ming and plans to explore and rescue people trapped in the Mysterious Zones. Their meeting was interrupted when the Zone 15 mirage showed stranded fishermen dancing strangely, and eerie laughter came through the broadcast.

• Li Xianfeng reviewed the disasters in Zones 15 and 6, where stranded crews faced worsening danger.
• Wang Yuheng and Li Xianfeng agreed to send Zhang Ming coconut recipes mixed with other food information and use beach messages to communicate.
• Li Xianfeng proposed tethering equipment to investigate the Mysterious Zones after experts described the dangers and failures of submarine missions.
• Li Xianfeng received a message about Zone 15 and called the experts' attention to its mirage.
• The fishermen on the island danced in contorted movements, and eerie laughter came through the mirage.

Li Xianfeng and the experts watched Mirage 15’s fishermen succumb to an unseen force, while an eerie laughter left observers unable to control their bodies. A magnitude 9.7 earthquake in Great Ang then triggered catastrophic forecasts of methane release, rapid global warming, and rising sea levels, leaving humanity facing disaster as Li Xianfeng drew a little courage from Zhang Ming’s survival in Mirage 16.

• Li Xianfeng and the experts regained control of themselves when Mirage 15 blurred and the laughter stopped.
• The fishermen writhed for half an hour before collapsing and slowly wriggling into the jungle.
• Li Xianfeng called for preparations as experts confirmed that mirages around the world had exposed people to the laughter.
• Satellites detected a magnitude 9.7 earthquake in Great Ang that severely damaged the North Sea oil fields and threatened massive oil and gas leaks.
• An expert warned that the disaster could drive sea levels up sixty meters within ten years, submerging coastal cities and causing food shortages and extreme weather.
• Li Xianfeng looked at Zhang Ming, who was still drying crab meat in Mirage 16, and regained a trace of courage.

After the deaths in Mysterious Zone 15 and the North Sea earthquake triggered worldwide panic, Great Xia announced mass military recruitment and the vast Suiren Project. The chapter left Wang Fumin and Lu Tuyu worrying about the future and whether their message in a bottle would reach the young man in Mysterious Zone 16.

• A North Sea earthquake and the deaths of Mysterious Zone 15's survivors spread panic as eerie laughter threatened people across the world.
• Peter Greer warned that humanity knew little about the world and that war was approaching.
• Great Xia mobilized its government and suppressed images of Mirage 15 while experts assessed the earthquake's consequences.
• Great Xia announced plans to recruit thirty million young people into its armed forces over five years.
• The government revealed the Suiren Plan, which would recruit 130 million workers to build inland cities, shelters, dams, and water-storage lakes.
• Wang Fumin and Lu Tuyu discussed the plans and worried that the young man in Mysterious Zone 16 might die before Wang's message in a bottle arrived.

After a month alone on the island, Zhang Ming had grown much stronger, built up food stores and shelter, and resolved to cross the Pacific if no one came to rescue him. A radio broadcast revealed that Earth’s upheaval continued and that governments were evacuating cities as human civilization adapted to the changing world.

• Zhang Ming endured worsening loneliness over the month and comforted himself by imagining how ordinary life might have gone before the supernatural age.
• Zhang Ming set himself the goal of becoming strong enough to cross the Pacific Ocean and return home.
• After a month of training, Zhang Ming demonstrated his strength by lifting and throwing a three-hundred-jin coconut and jumping five meters into the air.
• Zhang Ming stored crab and coconut products, built a sheet-metal shelter from airplane wreckage, and fenced his camp with pointed crab legs.
• Announcer Li Xianfeng reported that tectonic movement would continue, more than sixty percent of major-city residents had been evacuated, and authorities had announced the Suiren Plan.

Zhang Ming listened to news of financial collapse, shortages, and disasters across Blue Star as governments struggled to keep society functioning. The broadcasts left him wondering about his parents and confronting how easily ordinary people in weak countries were forgotten.

• Zhang Ming heard that Great Xia had imposed monthly withdrawal limits and shifted its banking system toward gold as earthquakes wrecked cities and drove prices skyward.
• Zhang Ming worried about his parents in their county town and realized his 270,000 US dollars had lost much of its value, though he could not bring himself to burn it.
• Li Xianfeng reported that Fusang was relocating its population abroad, while flooding and a chemical leak caused further disasters overseas.
• Zhang Ming considered how disaster reports had numbed him and how poor countries' suffering often went unreported.
• Zhang Ming concluded that ordinary people without a powerful nation behind them had little protection or hope of being heard.

After hearing a broadcast about mutated creatures and the risks of eating them, Zhang Ming assessed his growth from a month of eating crabs and decided to seek new food. That evening, a group of giant sea turtles visited his shelter, including one that tried to eat his fence.

• Li Xianfeng broadcast research findings about alpha enzymes, warned listeners about dangerous mutated creatures, and explained that consuming their flesh could sometimes awaken abilities.
• Zhang Ming realized he needed to be cautious about what he ate and noted that other people could not gain attribute points from mutated flesh as he could.
• Zhang Ming reviewed his attributes, which had risen by fifty points from eating crabs, and concluded that he might be one of the strongest humans.
• Giant sea turtles gathered by Zhang Ming's shelter to listen to the radio and look for food.
• A gigantic sea turtle tried to eat crab legs on Zhang Ming's fence, and Zhang Ming warned it to stop while privately wishing for turtle meat.

Zhang Ming listened to news of supernatural disasters around the world while removing barnacles from a giant turtle and discovering they offered a strong bodily boost when eaten. The clever little white turtle drew a cryptic picture suggesting there were blocks or buildings at the island’s center, leaving Zhang Ming wary of the danger there.

• Zhang Ming heard a radio report about global supernatural threats and wondered whether the island’s unexplained safety meant a powerful creature controlled it.
• The little white turtle led Zhang Ming to the giant turtle, and he used a heated bone knife to remove its barnacles while the other turtles tried to steal them.
• Zhang Ming collected the barnacles, roasted one, and found that it produced a stronger warm current in his body than crab meat.
• Zhang Ming asked the turtles about the island monster, and the little white turtle drew crooked pictures that seemed to indicate blocks near the island’s center.
• The little white turtle happily practiced drawing before Zhang Ming took back his pen and sent the turtles off to sleep.

Zhang Ming returned to his hut, where loneliness led him to sleep early, while a large expedition prepared to investigate the Pacific Ocean’s Mysterious Zone and locate him. The chapter left the expedition facing a single chance to launch a satellite as Professor Peter Greer contacted Li Xianfeng.

• Zhang Ming returned to his hut, reflected on his loneliness, and went to sleep.
• Li Xianfeng reviewed reports aboard a military vessel as a fleet of twenty-six ships prepared to investigate the Mysterious Zone.
• Wang Yuheng explained that the zone disoriented investigators, swallowed drones and submarines, and had yielded no known land or clear dangers.
• An expert proposed launching a satellite to locate Zhang Ming’s island, and Li Xianfeng insisted the rocket launch had to succeed.
• Li Xianfeng spoke with Professor Peter Greer, who noted that Zhang Ming’s survival could spare Great Xia from serious damage.

Li Xianfeng and Professor Peter agreed to share research on the Mysterious Zone, and Great Xia received an American report on supernatural phenomena in Hawaii. The experts reviewed its findings on superpowers and mutant flesh, while Li promised to seek funding for more experiments.

• Professor Peter proposed cooperation with Li Xianfeng, including sharing research and data from the next satellite survey, and Li forwarded the offer to his superiors.
• An elderly official approved the cooperation, and the American research file, "Tracking and Investigating Supernatural Phenomena in the Hawaii Region," arrived by satellite.
• Li Xianfeng and the experts read that the Americans estimated at least ten percent of people could possess superpowers, most of them physical abilities.
• The experts discussed how people with superpowers might serve in research, policing, or the military as disasters weakened society and its economy.
• The report said that eating mutant creatures' flesh could sometimes activate superpowers, a finding Great Xia had already tested based on Zhang Ming's message from Mysterious Zone 16.
• Li Xianfeng promised to request more funding for experiments and urged the experts to continue taking Zhang Ming's information seriously.

Professor Peter and other experts discussed how people with supernatural powers might cultivate, and Li Xianfeng ordered Great Xia to share satellite data with the United States. On the deserted island, Zhang Ming set out to explore the beach and mangrove forest for food and seasonings, leaving the island's dangerous interior alone.

• Professor Peter argued that an ancient cultivation method must have existed, since mutated creatures could awaken powers but could not steadily strengthen them.
• Li Xianfeng ordered the experts to send the United States satellite data and finish preparing for the next day's launch.
• Zhang Ming checked his barnacles, gathered his crab spear and backpack, and began searching the beach for food and useful ingredients.
• Zhang Ming followed the coast past the giant crabs and rocky slope, avoiding the deep bay and its unknown dangers.
• Zhang Ming entered the mangrove forest to look for seasonings and a sago palm while watching for mutated insects.

Zhang Ming entered the mangroves, witnessed a golden eel kill a giant red toad, and returned safely with unfamiliar plants. His encounter made him determined to find a way to kill the eel and gain its electric ability, while people watching Mirage No. 16 worried until he came back.

• Zhang Ming explored the mangroves cautiously and encountered a giant red toad that hunted fish with its long tongue.
• A golden eel leaped from the sea, struck the red toad with lightning, and ate it before Zhang Ming could react.
• Zhang Ming realized the mangroves were full of powerful mutated creatures and decided to devise a careful plan to kill the eel and obtain its ability.
• Zhang Ming withdrew from the mangroves with mud on his body and gathered unfamiliar plants to take back.
• Li Xianfeng and others feared Zhang Ming had been lured into danger, then relaxed when he returned alive three hours later.
• People watching Mirage No. 16 discussed Zhang Ming's plant-gathering and hoped to see more of his food experiments.

Li Xianfeng led a rocket launch from a warship inside the Mysterious Zone, where the crew experienced an intense sense of homesickness and discovered that Earth was invisible from within. The rocket could not escape the Zone’s unusually deep, turbulent atmosphere, so Li ordered the satellite’s fairing jettisoned to gather data before it burned up.

• Li Xianfeng approved the launch and led the warship into the Mysterious Zone, tethered to ships outside by a steel cable.
• The crew encountered strange spatial ripples, could not see Earth, and felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness.
• Li warned the crew about possible superpower awakenings and ordered preparations for the rocket launch.
• The rocket launched, but Academician Ge reported that unexpected drag and powerful winds kept it trapped in the atmosphere.
• Li ordered the fairing jettisoned and the satellite’s detection systems activated before the rocket ran out of fuel.

Li Xianfeng’s team saw a seemingly endless, lifeless ocean from a satellite and returned toward Earth, troubled by the possibility that the Mysterious Zone was a resting place for worlds. In Mysterious Zone 16, Zhang Ming found pottery and a worked stone slab, suggesting that someone—or another civilization—had been on the island.

• A satellite image revealed a flat, silent ocean that seemed to bury the histories of many worlds, leaving Li Xianfeng and the control room overcome with grief.
• The satellite burned up, and Li Xianfeng ordered everyone to return to Earth.
• Zhang Ming returned from the mangroves carrying a backpack full of unfamiliar plants and wondered how the island’s monsters ranked in strength.
• Zhang Ming found an ancient pottery shard and wondered whether humans or another intelligent civilization had visited the island.
• Zhang Ming searched nearby and discovered a regularly shaped bluestone slab that appeared to have been worked by hand.

Zhang Ming discovered a ruined valley covered in supernatural fungi and barely escaped their mind-controlling influence. Back at camp, he recovered his mental strength while wondering whether the ruins held a valuable legacy and whether a national expedition might explore them.

• Zhang Ming followed the Great Bluestone and discovered fungal colonies covering ruined hills and a colossal, damaged tower marked by blood that warned him to run.
• The fungi’s whispers drove Zhang Ming to bite his own arm, breaking their hold long enough for him to flee the valley.
• Zhang Ming returned to his coconut-grove camp and found comfort in the sea turtles and the radio broadcast from Comrade Li Xianfeng.
• Zhang Ming checked his mental stat, transferred attribute points into it, and gradually recovered from the valley’s influence.
• Zhang Ming concluded that an intelligent civilization had once lived on the island and considered whether its ruins held treasures worth a national expedition exploring.

Zhang Ming tested plants with the sea turtles’ help and discovered fragrant bark and an intensely spicy green fruit that gave him a powerful surge of warmth. He diluted some chili water and offered the first taste to the little white turtle.

• Zhang Ming raised his spirit by transferring attribute points and decided to grow stronger by eating plants.
• When the sea turtles refused the plants, Zhang Ming acted out poisoning himself until the little white turtle helped sort out the poisonous ones.
• Zhang Ming tested the safe plants, finding fragrant bark that worked as seasoning and a foul-smelling leaf that reduced his spirit.
• Zhang Ming tasted a fiery green chili and gained a powerful surge of warmth, along with several spirit points.
• The sea turtles begged to try the chili, so Zhang Ming diluted its juice in water and fed some to the little white turtle.