Recaps

Xu Le rescued Wang Man from two members of the Zion Arts Troupe, then joined Wang Shu to investigate a strange sound and confront the Ancient God Mongoose. The two killed Mongoose, and Xu Le’s unexpected Thorn summon disappeared after trapping it.

• Xu Le stopped the hotel manager and waiter from beating the two suspected rapists to death, arranged for their arrest, and promised the hotel workers Good Samaritan Awards.
• Xu Le carried the unconscious Wang Man out of the hotel with Wang Shu and heard strange noises coming from the place where he had sensed a change in the Dark Rules.
• Xu Le and Wang Shu found Mongoose, a Guyinduo-polluted Ancient God hiding inside a person, and Wang Shu shot it as it emerged.
• Xu Le summoned Thorn instead of White Cicada, and Thorn trapped Mongoose while Xu Le and Wang Shu attacked it.
• Wang Shu beheaded Mongoose, burned its corpse, and remarked that Xu Le’s summons were unusual.

Xu Le used a Guyinduo Card to divine that entering the room would bring good fortune, then followed Wang Shu inside and found a hidden girl among four dead bodies. A warning said an Unknown Aberration would appear soon, and Xu Le noticed a doll casting the shadow from his vision.

• Xu Le realized White Cicada drew a different reaction from others than Toad and suspected that his summons belonged to a different lineage.
• Gu Beichen and Li Shunliu arrived, and the team decided to secure the alley before investigating the rooms as night approached.
• Xu Le drew the White Card-Four-Leaf Clover and saw a vision of a Mongoose killing a family, followed by a shadow approaching a child.
• Xu Le told Wang Shu that a child inside had little time left, and the two entered the room together despite the usual rules.
• Wang Shu found a frightened little girl hiding beneath clothes, while Xu Le identified a doll by the window as the source of the shadow and received a warning that an Unknown Aberration would appear in 1 minute and 52 seconds.

Xu Le and Wang Shu rescued a girl from an illusion created by the Children of Guyinduo, but Xu Le had to destroy the Doll linking the fake girl to the real one before the countdown expired. After the real girl was taken into Guard custody, Wang Shu kept the Teru Teru Bozu Doll as spoils from the operation.

• Wang Shu carried the girl out of the dark house, but the countdown continued, so Xu Le realized she was part of the danger and told Wang Shu to trust him.
• Xu Le traced the Children of Guyinduo’s influence to a Doll inside the house and raced to reach it as darkness closed in and a Night Demon approached.
• Xu Le used the Golden Toad Mark to reach the Doll and snap its connection, while Wang Shu waited outside with his gun ready.
• The illusionary girl dissolved into black water, and Xu Le emerged from the rubble carrying the real girl; she threw stones at Wang Shu but then clung to Xu Le.
• Gu Beichen arrived with the Garrison and arranged for the girl to be taken to an orphanage, while Wang Shu kept the Teru Teru Bozu Doll as spoils.

Xu Le received an unsealed Gundo Relic from the teru teru bozu and brought the drunk Wang Man back to his dorm. His divination suggested Wang Man would return to Zion the next day, while Wang Shu might soon face misfortune.

• Wang Shu comforted Xu Le about the incident and left after warning him not to overindulge with Wang Man.
• Xu Le discovered the teru teru bozu was an SU-class Gundo Relic that could summon a tiny sun, and suspected it might be connected to the Children of Guyinduo.
• Xu Le found Wang Man drunk and Ding Ke covered in chewing gum, then carried them back to his dorm after discovering that homeless men had taken his leftover food.
• Ding Ke tried to attack Wang Man while Xu Le showered, but Xu Le called the cat in to bathe and groom it.
• Xu Le used divination to predict that Wang Man would return to Zion the next day and drew the Jester card while asking about Wang Shu, suggesting misfortune was coming.

Xu Le stayed up practicing divination, while Ding Ke briefly revealed forbidden secrets before returning to its distracted writing. Exhausted at work, Xu Le warned Wang Shu of a coming calamity, which appeared to arrive when Wang Shu left Bai Jing's office bleeding after praising her in the wrong words.

• Xu Le practiced divination through the night and drew the Four-Leaf Clover while asking whether his salary and bonus would reach 500.
• Ding Ke's eyes turned scarlet as it wrote down forbidden secret arts, but the change faded and it resumed scribbling about Xu Le.
• Ding Ke fought with Wang Man during the night, leaving Xu Le exhausted and unable to sleep.
• Xu Le went to the Branch Office and warned Wang Shu that he would suffer a bloody calamity within three days.
• Wang Shu emerged from Bai Jing's office bleeding after telling her she was “fucking awesome,” and Xu Le realized his warning might have come true.

After Wang Yueqin took Team 2’s case files, Bai Jing explained why she believed the mongoose case remained unsolved and urged Xu Le to reflect on how he had changed. Xu Le then went to Gan, who began teaching him the Medium’s final secret art, Spirit Scarecrow.

• Wang Yueqin presented a special order and took Team 6’s Golden Rooster and mongoose case files for Team 2.
• Bai Jing gave a detailed account of the Golden Rooster case while Xu Le memorized its key facts, then told him Team 6 had no leads on the mongoose case either.
• Xu Le asked Bai Jing about the Children of Guyinduo, and she suggested he ask Gan about the term.
• Bai Jing told Xu Le that Lower City Night Watchers had to navigate social power to get by, then dismissed him to review the case information.
• Xu Le visited Gan for further instruction, and Gan offered to teach him the Medium’s combat secret art, Spirit Scarecrow.
• Xu Le eagerly asked Gan to teach him the secret art.

Xu Le learned how the Spirit Scarecrow secret art worked from Gan and saw the scarecrow's combat power. Wang Man discovered Ding Ke's secret notes and decided to tell Xu Le, while Bai Jing assigned Xu Le to the Night Watchers' upcoming Routine Exploration Mission.

• Xu Le entered a calm state as Gan explained that Spirit Scarecrow relied on a Warlock's own spiritual energy and required stable Heart Energy.
• Gan imbued an ordinary scarecrow with spiritual energy, then demonstrated its strength by crushing an iron chair and cutting it in half with a hidden sword.
• Wang Man found Ding Ke's notes about secret arts, but Ding Ke intimidated her into silence; she still kept the paper and resolved to tell Xu Le when he returned.
• Xu Le woke from a nap at the Night Watchers' branch office and learned from Bai Jing that he would join the weekend Routine Exploration Mission.

Xu Le escorted Wang Man to the Airship Grounds, where she confessed her one-sided affection before leaving with the Zion Arts Troupe. Afterward, Xu Le sensed someone watching him, while a wary Ding Ke faced an approaching stranger outside.

• Xu Le brought Wang Man and Ding Ke to the Airship Grounds so Wang Man could board the last airship.
• Chi Xiao arrived from Tianrui Lifeng and passed the guard's visa inspection, concealing her blind left eye beneath her hair.
• Xu Le left Ding Ke outside the waiting room and accompanied Wang Man to the Zion Arts Troupe members.
• Wang Man confessed that she loved Xu Le, gave him Ding Ke's written note, and left without looking back.
• Xu Le sensed someone prying at him and recognized the feeling as Guyinduo Fate.
• Ding Ke bristled as an approaching figure asked who owned the cat.

Xu Le searched unsuccessfully for Ding Ke after the cat vanished from the Airship Grounds, then discovered a note revealing Ding Ke’s knowledge of forbidden arts. Meanwhile, Chi Xiao treated Ding Ke to a feast, and the talking cat explained that its troubles were the jolts of fate.

• Xu Le sensed someone with Guyinduo Fate at the waiting lounge, considered Wang Man’s departure, and left the Airship Grounds.
• Xu Le discovered Ding Ke was missing and repeatedly used Divination, but each reading showed Black Card-Forest.
• Xu Le returned to his dorm, found no sign of Ding Ke, and read Wang Man’s note describing forbidden secret arts and Ding Ke’s ability to write.
• Xu Le suspected Ding Ke had influenced his path to becoming a Forbidden Warlock and began considering how to make a scarecrow for Fate’s Scarecrow.
• Chi Xiao fed Ding Ke at a High-End Tavern, where the cat spoke fluently and said its troubles came from the jolts of fate.

Ding Ke refused Chi Xiao’s offer to return to Owl, explaining that Guyinduo and the Red Moon were eroding her mind and that she stayed with Xu Le because she was more lucid around him. After returning to Xu Le, she destroyed his animated paper figure, and the chapter ended with Xu Le discovering his payday wages were only fifty.

• Ding Ke declined Chi Xiao’s request to return as her partner, and the two fought outside Lighthouse City until Chi Xiao subdued her.
• Ding Ke explained that her powers were consuming her and that being near Xu Le helped her stay lucid, then refused Chi Xiao’s offer to take her back.
• Ding Ke returned to the dorm and destroyed Xu Le’s paper figure after it attacked her.
• Xu Le woke to find Ding Ke back beside him, but neither of them knew what had happened to the paper figure.
• Xu Le went to collect his wages and was shocked to learn his pay was only fifty.

Xu Le learned that his pay had been heavily deducted to repay Old Zhou’s family, then visited Zhou Tingting and learned that both her parents had died. After Zhou Tingting tried to poison him, she stopped him and told him to leave, while Wang Shu revealed that Bai Jing had anticipated the danger and replaced the poison with candy.

• Xu Le questioned Bai Jing about the 900 deduction from his salary and learned that it went toward repaying Old Zhou’s family.
• Xu Le visited Zhou Tingting at her apartment and saw memorial tablets for Old Zhou and his wife.
• Zhou Tingting asked how her father died, and Xu Le told her that Old Zhou had undergone Aberration and he had finished him off.
• Xu Le noticed Zhou Tingting’s rising Heart Energy and realized she had poisoned his water, but she stopped him before he drank it and told him to leave.
• Xu Le found Wang Shu outside, and Wang Shu explained that he had switched the poison for Popping Candy on Bai Jing’s orders.

Xu Le learned that Zhou Tingting would be kept under guard at Lighthouse University and received equipment and reimbursement guidance before his upcoming field duty. Back home, he used a Fear Fruit and the Secret Art—Walker Formation, False Life on a Senyu straw man, whose eyes then ignited with ghostly flames.

• Wang Shu told Xu Le that Zhou Tingting would clean and study at Lighthouse University under the Night Watchers’ watch, and explained that Bai Jing had switched the poison to test their decisions while preventing danger.
• Wang Shu took Xu Le to collect field equipment and explained how to claim reimbursement for Warlock resources.
• Bai Jing and Gan corrected Xu Le’s modest reimbursement form, listing several thousand dollars’ worth of supplies and teaching him to claim benefits within the rules.
• Xu Le received the supplies, returned home, and found that the building manager had replaced his door at a cost deducted from his next month’s pay.
• Xu Le ate a Fear Fruit and used Secret Art—Walker Formation, False Life on a Senyu straw man, causing ghostly flames to appear in its eyes.

Xu Le tested the Fear Scarecrow’s abilities and discovered that Fate Substitute transferred a piercing injury from him to the scarecrow. He left impressed by the skill’s potential to save his life, though the scarecrow’s hand was badly damaged.

• Xu Le examined the Fear Scarecrow’s Fear Aura and judged its strength comparable to a level 1 Warrior, then hid it after it damaged his door.
• Xu Le used Guyinduo Cards to divine whether Fate Substitute could protect him from injuries to his palm.
• After a Four-Leaf Clover appeared, Xu Le stabbed his palm with a Battle Blade, and blue light transferred the damage to the Fear Scarecrow.
• Xu Le saw the scarecrow’s palm crack and crumble, then praised Fate Substitute’s lifesaving potential and asked Ding Ke how they knew the secret technique.

Xu Le tested his scarecrow and summoned Living Corpse outside the city, measuring their abilities and the cost of Forbidden Summoning. He then activated the Teru Teru Bozu’s Sunny Day Power beside the Living Corpse, uncertain what would happen.

• Xu Le stored Fear Scarecrow in his Medium Space and reasoned that his earlier Heart Energy summonings had used Forbidden Summoning.
• Ding Ke drew Red Moon before curling up to sleep with Xu Le.
• Bai Jing learned Xu Le had gone outside the city alone to test his equipment and decided not to send anyone after him.
• Xu Le tested Fate's Scarecrow’s Fear Aura on rats and found that he could summon a Living Corpse that endured sunlight but weakened over time.
• Xu Le activated the Teru Teru Bozu’s Sunny Day Power while the Living Corpse was nearby.

Xu Le accidentally caused a devastating explosion with the Teru Teru Bozu, then hid his involvement and returned to the Branch Office. After several days of training, he joined Team 6 for his first Pioneer mission, and the squad set out to clear Territory 53.

• Xu Le released a black dot from the Teru Teru Bozu, and its burst of light destroyed Living Corpses before it exploded across the wasteland.
• Xu Le pretended to investigate the blast as a Night Watcher, but Bai Jing suspected he had caused it and assigned him shooting practice.
• Xu Le trained at the range, prepared supplies for Ding Ke, and assembled with Team 6 for the Pioneer mission.
• Bai Jing briefed the team on exploring Territory 53 and divided the Night Watchers into three groups to clear separate streets.
• Xu Le joined Old Niu and Li Shunliu on Third Street as Team 6 prepared to begin the forty-eight-hour operation.

Xu Le joined Niu Yuan and Li Shunliu to explore Block 53, where his Guyinduo Vision helped them survive an attack and led them to a Gundo Relic. The group continued their search and stopped for a break, where Niu Yuan asked Xu Le an awkward question.

• Bai Jing told Xu Le to use his Warlock's authority to make his own decisions if wilderness situations became unclear, and Li Shunliu placed him in the middle of the team.
• Xu Le explained why Guards were unsuited to Pioneer missions, then used Guyinduo Vision to spot a Living Corpse hidden behind glass and helped Niu Yuan kill it.
• The team found three gold bars and a booklet; Xu Le gave up the gold for the booklet, which turned out to be a Fantasy-Filled Ledger that could turn a stone into 100 grams of gold once a month.
• Xu Le, Niu Yuan, and Li Shunliu continued exploring Block 53, cleared several shops, and took a break in the afternoon.
• Niu Yuan asked Xu Le what it meant when Widow Wu snuggled against him in bed and complained of a draft, and Xu Le earnestly suggested wind was coming through a hole.

Xu Le, Niu Yuan, and Li Shunliu explored an abandoned railway station, where Xu Le helped them defeat a mind-controlling level 2 Ghost-Type Oddity and learned how dangerous Guyinduo Oddities could be. After noticing clues that the town’s staff may have died simultaneously, the group continued through town and reached the rendezvous point where Bai Jing and Gan were waiting.

• A Demon Bull bellowed nearby, and Xu Le used divination to determine it was probably not level 4, so the group continued toward the station.
• At the ticket office, a level 2 Journey Guide controlled Niu Yuan and Li Shunliu with its gaze and tried to lure Li Shunliu into answering a ringing telephone.
• Xu Le answered the telephone and distracted the Journey Guide with insults, allowing Niu Yuan and Li Shunliu to break free and destroy it.
• Xu Le found a 9-gram Moonstone and a level 2 ghost remains fragment, while Niu Yuan explained that Guyinduo Oddities could threaten even stronger fighters.
• Xu Le wondered why the town’s staff skeletons had died in the same way, then the group explored farther and encountered nearly ten level 1 Rotting Aberration-Types.
• At dusk, Xu Le, Niu Yuan, and Li Shunliu reached the rendezvous point, where Bai Jing and Gan were waiting.

Xu Le reported clues from the office workers’ deaths to Bai Jing, then joined her in searching for the overdue Gu Beichen and Wang Shu group. In the darkness of the Third Street Block, Xu Le detected a possible lead in a house basement.

• Xu Le told Bai Jing that the white-haired office workers appeared to have died together under a powerful force or rule.
• Bai Jing explained that the team should flee overwhelming enemies and decided to search for Gu Beichen and Wang Shu with Xu Le.
• Bai Jing and Xu Le entered the dark Third Street Block, conserving their lights while Bai Jing cut down three Oddities.
• Xu Le used Guyinduo Vision to locate a possible lead in a house about nineteen hundred meters ahead, likely in its basement.

Xu Le and Bai Jing split up to rescue their trapped teammates, and Xu Le descended underground with Fate's Scarecrow to save Gu Beichen, Wang Shu, and Zhou Zimo from a swarm of Ghost Forms. When Zhou Zimo's White Skeleton contamination threatened to turn him into a level 3 Oddity, Xu Le had his infected leg severed and burned, then confronted Gu Beichen over his indecision.

• Bai Jing went to fight three level 2 Ghost-Type Oddities on the rooftop while Xu Le entered the clinic through a broken window and followed a hole underground.
• Gu Beichen defended Wang Shu and the badly injured Zhou Zimo from countless Ghost Forms as Zhou Zimo's exposed shinbone became contaminated with White Skeleton.
• Fate's Scarecrow descended and used Fear Aura to scatter and destroy much of the Ghost Form swarm, allowing Xu Le to reunite with Gu Beichen and Wang Shu.
• Xu Le learned that Zhou Zimo would become a level 3 White Skeleton in just over three minutes, and he ordered Fate's Scarecrow to sever the contaminated leg before burning it.
• Gu Beichen challenged Xu Le for acting without considering another solution, and Xu Le accused Gu Beichen of letting friendship prevent him from making a necessary decision.

After Xu Le amputated Zhou Zimo’s leg to stop him from becoming a White Skeleton, Bai Jing reprimanded Gu Beichen for failing to make the necessary call and decided the team should leave the dangerous Health Clinic. As they headed back, a mysterious girl contacted Xu Le from far away, recognized him as a Medium, and revealed that she might have lived for hundreds of years.

• Xu Le explained that he had amputated Zhou Zimo’s leg to prevent a fatal mutation, and Bai Jing agreed that he had acted correctly.
• Bai Jing told Gu Beichen that a captain had to make hard decisions instead of yielding responsibility to his teammates.
• After seeing the corpse-filled Health Clinic and sensing danger deeper in the cavern, Bai Jing asked Xu Le what the team should do.
• Xu Le recommended moving back toward the other group, and Bai Jing carried Zhou Zimo as the team left the clinic.
• While traveling, Xu Le gradually drew Heart Energy from Zhou Zimo, whose condition began to stabilize.
• A mysterious girl spoke to Xu Le from the Health Clinic, called him a Medium, and suggested she had lived from the Third Era into the Fourth.

Xu Le reported a mysterious voice and a Guyinduo Tree in White Haze Town’s health clinic, prompting Bai Jing’s team to abandon its original mission plan and prepare to search the clinic. The voice thanked Xu Le for agreeing to help and promised him fruit.

• Bai Jing and Xu Le returned to camp with the injured Zhou Zimo, and Bai Jing discussed the town’s dangers and whether the team should abandon its Pioneer mission with Gan.
• Wang Shu explained that White Haze Town’s white-haired residents suffered from a rare bloodline disease that shortened their lives, and that the health clinic contained research into it.
• Xu Le recommended returning to the health clinic to investigate the disease and told Bai Jing about the girl’s voice, which called him an “Honored Medium.”
• Xu Le revealed that he had sensed a Guyinduo Tree in the health clinic’s underground chamber, and Bai Jing assembled the team to decide what to do.
• The team unanimously chose to search the health clinic the next morning, and the mysterious voice thanked Xu Le and promised him fruit.

Xu Le and Bai Jing concluded that the voice luring them to the Health Clinic might be setting a trap, so they agreed to proceed cautiously. The team reached the clinic the next morning, where Bai Jing ordered everyone to rest outside while Xu Le suspected Gan had heard the voice too.

• During his watch, Xu Le used the Guyinduo Cards to show Bai Jing that repeated draws all revealed Puppet on Strings, then reasoned that the voice could hear their plans and was exploiting their greed to lure them to the Health Clinic.
• Xu Le and Bai Jing considered whether to abandon the Guyinduo Tree, but decided to delay entering the clinic and preserve their options; Xu Le later drew Four-Leaf Clover.
• The next morning, Gu Beichen claimed responsibility for amputating Zhou Zimo's leg, and Zhou Zimo appeared to accept his explanation despite still feeling anger and hatred.
• Bai Jing led the team back to the Health Clinic and ordered everyone to rest outside instead of entering immediately.
• Xu Le watched Gan glance between him and Bai Jing and suspected that Gan had heard the mysterious voice as well.

Xu Le and Bai Jing’s squad exposed the underground cavern to sunlight, then entered it to search for clues about the white-haired disease and the Guyinduo Tree. A notebook revealed that the town’s disease had been created through human experimentation and recorded its owner’s desperate efforts to save his daughter, Lan.

• Xu Le and Bai Jing waited until noon, then Bai Jing ordered the squad to blast open the ground and bring sunlight into the cavern.
• The sunlight drove the ghosts away from the corpse compartments, while Gan objected to further blasting because it could destroy research materials or the Guyinduo Tree.
• Bai Jing accepted Gan’s objection and led most of the squad down into the pit, leaving Wang Xu to guard Zhou Zimo.
• The squad cleared debris and searched the preserved documents, and Wang Shu found a handwritten notebook that Bai Jing passed around.
• Xu Le and the others read the notebook’s entries about human experimentation, the manufactured disease, and its owner’s attempts to save his daughter Lan.

Xu Le and the Night Watchers fought through Ghost Forms and discovered a Guyinduo Tree bearing an Electric Guyinduo Fruit. Grudge Demon Lan revealed herself, and Gan admitted he had manipulated Xu Le to complete his advancement as a Red Moon Warlock, leaving Xu Le facing his teacher’s betrayal.

• Bai Jing led the team in blasting, burning, and shooting the Ghost Forms before they advanced into the next room.
• Xu Le and the others found a Guyinduo Tree with a lower-tier Electric Guyinduo Fruit growing on it.
• Lan appeared as a level 3 Grudge Demon, revived the Ghost Forms, and used Voicing Grievances to immobilize everyone except Xu Le and Gan.
• Gan asked Lan for the fruit, then revealed that he had planned everything to make Xu Le believe and break through the limits of life.
• Gan completed his advancement as a level 2 Red Moon Warlock, Psychologist, while Lan asked if they could begin, and Xu Le realized Gan had betrayed him.

Xu Le, Gan, and the Night Watchers fought Yuanmolan for the Elemental Lightning Fruit, and Gan appeared to die after helping defeat her. Gan then revealed he had survived through Guyinduo Fate: Calamity Evasion and explained the requirements for advancing to a level 2 Red Moon Warlock.

• Xu Le and Gan summoned Golden Toad and Gu Huo Bird, then worked with Bai Jing and the others to make Yuanmolan vulnerable and seize the Elemental Lightning Fruit.
• Yuanmolan overwhelmed the team with her defenses and mental attacks, but Gan detonated accumulated Heart Energy and Bai Jing severed Yuanmolan's head.
• Yuanmolan's head entered Ghost Form, but Xu Le shot and destroyed it before it could escape.
• Gan appeared to succumb to his wounds, then used Guyinduo Fate: Calamity Evasion to heal himself, leaving Xu Le embarrassed by his tears.
• Gan explained the thirty-day accumulation needed for Calamity Evasion and revealed the five requirements for advancing to Red Moon LV2-Psychologist.