Chapter Summaries

Xu Le learned from Ding Ke that he was a Forbidden Warlock and that creating a Guyinduo Core would begin the dangerous Whisperer state, while he grew suspicious that Ding Ke was his cat. At Zion Progressives Institute, Ai Li declined to press her appeal against Zhang Nuo'an and instead demanded that he pay Xu Le for deciphering the Tomb.

• Ding Ke told Xu Le that she was a Whisperer, explained the dangers of the state, and revealed that he was a Forbidden Warlock like her.
• Ding Ke instructed Xu Le to detonate one of his emotions and create a Guyinduo Core, prompting him to suspect she could transform into a cat.
• Ai Li testified at the Zion Progressives Institute that she had defeated the Oddity and accepted the organization’s arrangements without demanding action against Zhang Nuo'an.
• After leaving the Minister’s office, Ai Li avoided Zhang Nuo'an’s attempt to take her hand and demanded that he settle Xu Le’s payment for deciphering the Tomb.

Ai Li broke with Zhang Nuo'an and delivered Xu Le the money owed, while Xu Le and Ding Ke studied Forbidden Warlock techniques before Ding Ke turned back into a cat. Xu Le brought his Heart Energy Concealment Device research report to Xu Weiwen, where an influential visitor called Uncle Li began reading it.

• Ai Li confronted Zhang Nuo'an with complaint letters about his past experiments and demanded that he immediately pay Xu Le what he owed.
• Xu Le and Ding Ke discussed their awkward new relationship, then Ding Ke taught him about Forbidden Warlocks and precise control of Heart Energy.
• Ai Li brought Xu Le 55,000 and said her actions had also led her superiors to prepare a promotion report.
• Xu Le considered whether to use Xu Weiwen or Ai Li as a military route for the Heart Energy Concealment Devices while Ding Ke grew sleepier and warned him to construct a core during the coming Red Moon Calamity.
• Ding Ke turned back into a cat, and Xu Le later visited Xu Weiwen with his research report.
• Xu Weiwen introduced his guest as Uncle Li, who insisted on reviewing Xu Le's report and read its title, Heart Energy Concealment Device.

Xu Le presented his Heart Energy Concealment Device to Li Wen, who recognized its potential and sought to bring Xu Le and the device into Zion’s plans. After Zhang Nuo'an claimed to have invented the same device and asked for funding, Li Wen rejected his request and went to meet Xu Le, ending by revealing that the Rose Studio already held an exclusive Guild license.

• Li Wen examined Xu Le’s device, then assigned Ai Li to security work and invited Xu Le to represent overseas students at a research exchange conference.
• Zhang Nuo'an presented his oversized Heart Energy Concealment Device prototype and requested funding to continue his research, but Li Wen put the application on hold.
• Li Wen visited Xu Le, who said he could produce a hundred to two hundred devices before the Black Tide and offered them to the government for one thousand each.
• Xu Le asked Li Wen to help the Rose Studio pass its school license review, and Li Wen replied that the Studio already had an exclusive Zion Progressives Guild license.

Li Wen recruited Xu Le into the Zion Progressives, tasked him with delivering Heart Energy Concealment Devices and assigned him a speech at Zion University of Technology. As Xu Le arrived for the event amid signs of unease about the approaching Black Tide, Li Wen told him to prepare to speak after him.

• Li Wen gave Li Weisi a doctoral degree certificate and persuaded Xu Le to join the Zion Progressives as a real member, with research funding but no salary.
• Li Wen assigned Xu Le to deliver two hundred Heart Energy Concealment Devices before December 25 and to represent returning overseas students in a speech at Zion University of Technology.
• Xu Le and Li Weisi completed the devices, and Secretary Liu collected the two hundred due for delivery.
• Wang Man helped Xu Le choose formal clothes, then accompanied him to Zion University of Technology, where Wang Shu and his Mercenary Corps joined as his guards.
• Xu Le and Wang Shu noticed unusually anxious people preparing weapons and unusually red clouds, but found no definite sign that the Black Tide would arrive early.
• At the university venue, Li Wen praised the devices, asked Xu Le to make more, and told him to prepare to speak after Li Wen.

Li Wen announced that Xu Le had created the Heart Energy Concealment Device, and Xu Le spoke about knowledge at the exchange event. After reports of women behaving violently in the cloakroom, Xu Le went there and found the building dark as Ai Li’s security team faced a growing threat.

• Li Wen revealed the Heart Energy Concealment Device and invited Xu Le, its creator, to speak, shocking Zhang Nuo'an, who had believed it was his achievement.
• Xu Le explained the difference between information, knowledge, and wisdom, then ended his speech and left to investigate a possible disturbance.
• Ai Li’s guards found five Arts Troupe members who had hanged themselves and were twitching; one woman attacked a warlock, and soldiers shot her dead.
• Ai Li realized that two guards sent to get help had vanished from hearing and smell, and she headed for the cloakroom entrance.
• Xu Le arrived at the dark cloakroom with Wang Shu and Ge Sini and noted that the unlit windows suggested something was wrong.

Xu Le was trapped in a darkened cloakroom where mannequins moved and attacked, while Ai Li and the others were sealed in another part of the room. Xu Le identified a Warlock’s spell formula and fought back as Ai Li tried to break through the walls.

• The lights repeatedly went out in the cloakroom, and Xu Le was separated from Wang Shu and Ge Sini when the door shut behind him.
• Wang Shu failed to force the door open and sent Ge Sini to alert the school staff and the Zion Progressives.
• Xu Le found a sticky black door and received a Guyinduo Vision warning that an oddity would appear if the room stayed dark.
• Ai Li questioned Warlock Youjia about the seal, then struck the wall with her Mace and found black mist flowing from the breach.
• Xu Le discovered that the mannequins moved in darkness, then attacked one and judged that a Warlock had created the trap.
• Xu Le summoned Living Corpses and used lightning and his Black Sword to destroy a mannequin before advancing on another.

Xu Le and Ai Li faced opposite halves of a trap built around light and shadow, while a hidden Warlock manipulated Ai Li’s growing fury. Xu Le’s Heart Energy Storm briefly restored Ai Li’s clarity but destabilized the space, leaving her to confront a growing Night Demon breach.

• Xu Le discovered that the mannequins weakened in light, found signs that Ai Li had broken through a wall, and used the Sun card to infer the trap’s connection to light and shadow.
• Xu Le and Ai Li communicated by writing on the walls, and Ai Li described the missing mannequins, the distressed Arts Troupe members, and her worsening agitation.
• Warlock Youjia persuaded the increasingly unstable Ai Li to question Xu Le, then revealed himself as an enemy and escaped into the black mist door as Ai Li transformed into a beast.
• Xu Le found concealed sealing formulas and fought the living shadow with a Heart Energy Storm, while Ai Li’s bloodlust and the soldiers’ fear clashed under the spell’s influence.
• Ai Li killed a Night Demon emerging from Alternate Space, but the room filled with portals showing countless Night Demons, threatening Zion.

Xu Le and Ai Li survived Youjia’s sealed light-and-dark room, where Xu Le defeated him and suppressed the Night Demons. The Law Enforcers took them to the Zion Progressives Guild for an investigation and contamination screening, leaving Xu Le wary of what the examination might reveal.

• Xu Le caught Youjia in the space between light and darkness, pursued him through the falling worlds, and injured him before dragging him into the light.
• Xu Le covered Ai Li’s eyes, soothed the Night Demons with accumulated fear, and closed the Night Fiend’s Gates.
• The wounds Xu Le had inflicted on dark-side dummies appeared on the Arts Troupe members, while Xu Le absorbed the guards’ fear to prevent them from undergoing Aberration.
• Law Enforcers arrived, and Zhang Nuo'an examined the scene and questioned Xu Le and Ai Li about the sealed room.
• The Law Enforcers escorted Xu Le and Ai Li to the Zion Progressives Guild for investigation after detecting supernatural fluctuations from the incident.
• Xu Le and Ai Li underwent initial contamination screenings on the building’s eighth floor.

Xu Le and Ai Li were assigned to the Guyinduo Offspring observation ward, where their attending physician, Xia Libo, planned tests for the next day. Xu Le’s examination found nothing abnormal, but Ai Li’s test revealed Puppet’s Guyinduo offspring mark, and Xia Libo’s smile left Xu Le uneasy.

• Zhao Bin assigned Xu Le and Ai Li to the same ward, where they met the blind physician Xia Libo, who said testing for Guyinduo marks would begin the next day.
• Ai Li recounted the Cloakroom incident, and Xu Le questioned her about Zhang Nuo'an and Youjia before suspecting Youjia’s role in the events.
• Xu Le and Ai Li cultivated beneath the faintly red moon, but Xu Le fell asleep and struck his head after Doggo dodged him.
• Xia Libo and the staff tested Xu Le, whose examinations showed no abnormalities.
• Ai Li’s test triggered an alarm and revealed Puppet’s Guyinduo offspring mark, making Xu Le uneasy about Xia Libo’s smile.

Xu Le watched Xia Libo remove the Guyinduo Mark from Ai Li, then grew suspicious of the doctor after learning about his unusual Shadow Warlock abilities and past. The chapter ended with Xia Libo revealing a Puppet mark and empty eye sockets.

• Xia Libo identified Ai Li’s Guyinduo pollution and explained the seven Children of Guyinduo and their factions to Xu Le.
• Xia Libo told Xu Le that mark-removal surgery had succeeded before, then operated on Ai Li with Zhang Nuo'an and Xu Le assisting; Ai Li’s mark was removed, pending a forty-eight-hour observation period.
• Xu Le received case files on Xia Libo and the Cloakroom incident, learned the earlier Warlock was a Level 2 Disaster Ice Warlock, and began questioning whether Xia Libo’s shadow abilities were connected to the Children of Guyinduo.
• Xia Libo manipulated paper and silvery strands with his powers, revealed a Guyinduo Mark-Puppet, and opened his empty, eyeless sockets.

Xu Le and Ai Li recovered in Zion while Xu Le discovered that Xia Libo carried four Guyinduo offspring marks that vanished when he looked again. Zhang Nuo'an became a Puppet offspring after experimenting with marked flesh, and Xu Le recognized him as a potential threat as the Black Tide approached.

• Xia Libo gathered energy around his severed leg, replaced his prosthesis, and prayed for Zion's blessing.
• Zhang Nuo'an's experiments with the marked flesh repeatedly failed, while a remnant in his laboratory slowly came alive and disguised itself against a glass Culture Dish.
• Ai Li sensed someone watching her and Xu Le, and the next morning Xu Le saw four Guyinduo offspring marks on Xia Libo before they disappeared.
• Xu Le and Ai Li invited Xia Libo to eat with them, and Xu Le described his Heart Energy as unusually pure and intense.
• Xu Le saw that Zhang Nuo'an had become a Puppet offspring and considered killing him, while Ai Li warned him not to act illegally in public.
• Xia Libo joined Xu Le and Ai Li at the cafeteria and explained why he restrained his appetite.

Xu Le noticed Xia Libo's many Guyinduo marks and suspected he was hunting marked people, while Xia Libo confessed to his mentor and revealed his hatred of Oddities. Back in the hospital, Xu Le and Ai Li discovered the nurses had vanished as alerts warned that corpses were about to transform and rising Heart Energy would attract Oddities.

• Xu Le persuaded Xia Libo to try the cafeteria's chicken drumsticks, then noticed Xia Libo focusing on Zhang Nuo'an and suspected he could perceive Guyinduo marks.
• Xu Le invited Ai Li to stay with him after quarantine during the approaching Black Tide, and she agreed.
• Xia Libo visited a church, confessed to an unseen lord, and argued with his mentor that all Oddities deserved to die.
• Xia Libo told his mentor that Xu Le had tempted him into breaking his abstinence and eating meat.
• Xu Le struggled to control his lust in the hospital room, then discovered the nurses' station was empty.
• Xu Le received alerts that three corpses in the safe zone would soon become Oddities and that escalating Heart Energy would attract Oddities.

Xu Le and Ai Li investigated a warped, deserted eighth floor, fought a Blood Dog, and broke a Warlock’s illusion by sending Living Corpses down the stairs. The floor returned to normal, but Ai Li still smelled blood in the restroom.

• Xu Le and Ai Li found the eighth floor eerily empty and scentless, then killed a Blood Dog that was feeding on a cleaner’s corpse in the restroom.
• After Xu Le burned the cleaner’s body, it suddenly rose again, and Ai Li smashed it apart before they headed downstairs.
• Xu Le and Ai Li discovered the stairwell looped, so Xu Le summoned ten Living Corpses to strain and break the illusion.
• Xu Le rushed downstairs and beheaded his own Living Corpse to calm a young nurse, then returned with her and Ai Li to the restored eighth floor.
• Xu Le and Ai Li checked the restroom and found it restored, but Ai Li detected a lingering smell of blood.

Xu Le and Ai Li investigated a Cleaner's murder, and Xu Le grew convinced that Zhang Nuo'an was behind it. After leaving quarantine, Xu Le was caught in an illusion on the bus as the Red Moon Calamity approached.

• Ai Li and Xu Le found a second Cleaner’s corpse, and Zhang Nuo'an examined it while Xu Le suspected he had taken something from the body.
• Xu Le told Secretary Liu and Xia Libo that Zhang Nuo'an seemed suspicious, and Xia Libo ended Ai Li’s quarantine as scheduled.
• Ai Li warned Xu Le to be careful about Zhang Nuo'an, and the two left the Zion Progressives Headquarters to prepare for the Red Moon Calamity.
• After Ai Li got off the bus to collect equipment, Xu Le realized the bus ride was an illusion and shouted for the driver to stop.

Xu Le escaped Zhang Nuo'an's time-consuming bus illusion by filling it with summons and driving it beyond the illusion's boundary. He found Zhang Nuo'an in a restaurant, where a masked man had appeared, and asked if he recognized him.

• Xu Le realized that the bus illusion was trapping him in a loop while real time passed toward the Red Moon Calamity.
• Xu Le summoned White Cicada and living corpses, then had White Cicada drive the bus through the illusion's crumbling edge until the illusion shattered.
• Xu Le dismissed his summons after they appeared in public, located Zhang Nuo'an in a restaurant, and hurried there.
• A masked man emerged from an exploded private room and used Shadow Bind on Zhang Nuo'an.
• Xu Le recognized the masked man as resembling someone from his memory, checked for a possible prosthetic leg, and asked, "Is that you?"

Xu Le killed Zhang Nuo'an and used his heart energy to form a lust core, while the masked attacker was revealed as a puppet. The lust energy spread through the puppet’s link to Xia Libo, who was left responding to Lai Lai’s offer of repentance.

• The masked man attacked Xu Le and Zhang Nuo'an, but Zhang Nuo'an’s alchemy curse array caused an explosion that destroyed the attacker, revealing him as a Guyinduo offspring puppet.
• Zhang Nuo'an tried to escape, but Xu Le shot through two walls, wounded him, and pinned him with the Black Sword.
• Xu Le detonated seven lust fruits and formed a pink lust branch in his Soul Tree, channeling the emotion’s corrupting effects into Zhang Nuo'an.
• Xu Le stabbed Zhang Nuo'an to death and repeatedly struck him to harvest his soul before fleeing as guards approached.
• Xu Le’s lust energy traveled through the puppet’s connection to Xia Libo, who went to the church and struggled to release it from his yellow-green orb.
• Lai Lai embraced Xia Libo and offered her body as a means of repentance, and his eyes began to glow red and pink.

After killing Zhang Nuo'an, Xu Le told Ai Li what he had learned about Xia Libo and hurried back with her to the Rose Studio as the Red Moon Calamity approached. At the studio, Wang Shu sensed approaching footsteps and ordered the mercenaries to prepare for combat.

• Xu Le admitted to Ai Li that Zhang Nuo'an was dead, and explained how their differing outlooks had helped her let go of their past relationship.
• Xu Le warned Ai Li that Xia Libo had intervened in the fight, though he withheld the details about the Guyinduo Mark.
• Xu Le and Ai Li headed for the Rose Studio as the Red Moon Calamity countdown showed just over three hours remaining.
• Xia Libo stayed with Lai Lai at the church, wrestling with whether their encounter was redemption or sin.
• Wang Shu and the mercenaries fortified the Rose Studio while they waited for Xu Le, and Wang Shu used the Golden Radiance Tree to sense his surroundings.
• Wang Shu detected heavy, approaching footsteps and ordered the mercenaries to prepare for combat; Wang Jing told the team to obey him.

Wang Shu’s group faced invisible Night Kin assassins while Xu Le and Ai Li fought three Level 3 Night Kin on their way back to Rose Studio. After they defeated their attackers, a winged, many-eyed rat ambushed Xu Le, leaving a new threat before them.

• Wang Shu warned his group of hidden attackers, and Night Kin assassins slit two mercenaries’ throats before Wang Shu drove one off.
• Wang Jing organized the mercenaries into defensive positions as artillery fire began in the distance.
• Xu Le and Ai Li encountered three Level 3 Night Kin and fought them in the street.
• Xu Le killed one Night Kin with lightning while Ai Li crushed the other two with her mace.
• A hidden attacker severed Xu Le’s leg artery, but Fate’s Scarecrow restored it, and Xu Le spotted a furry, winged creature with more than twenty eyes.

Xu Le and Ai Li fought the flying Level 4 Plague Rat-Crow, which pursued them after they tried to flee. They killed it in an alley, and Xu Le collected five intact eyeballs for sacrifice before they continued toward his Studio.

• Xu Le identified the Plague Rat-Crow as a Level 4 Guyinduo Polluter, and he and Ai Li struggled to hit it as it attacked from the air.
• Xu Le summoned a Bull Demon Living Corpse to distract the Rat-Crow, then fled with Ai Li, who carried him in her canine form.
• When the Rat-Crow chased them, Xu Le summoned Black Cicada and led Ai Li into a narrow alley, where he used Thorns and lightning to trap it in a Thunder Net.
• Ai Li helped Xu Le charge the immobilized Rat-Crow, and Xu Le killed it by thrusting a lightning spear through its head.
• Xu Le collected five intact Plague Aberration Eyeballs for sacrifice, confirmed the Rat-Crow was dead with Ai Li, and left the alley with her as residents watched them go.

Xu Le returned to Rose Studio after fighting Night Kin and learned that the Mercenary Corps had lost eight people. With Wang Shu and Toad, he uncovered a link between a Child of Guyinduo’s tempting fruits and the surge in Ancient God aberrations, then organized new defenses as the Red Moon began to dim.

• Ai Li carried the injured Xu Le through streets where mercenaries burned the bodies of humans and Night Kin, and they reached Rose Studio before midnight.
• Xu Le found Wang Shu alive and learned that invisible Night Kin had attacked the Mercenary Corps, killing eight members.
• Wang Shu told Xu Le that Ancient God Species aberrations had surged, and Toad confirmed that a Child of Guyinduo had offered Ancient Gods strange fruits in exchange for power and a chance to meet it.
• Xu Le persuaded Toad to stay until morning by promising to dig up earthworms, then ordered fluorescent powder spread around the Studio to expose Night Kin.
• Ding Ke drew Xu Le’s attention to the sky, and Xu Le realized the Red Moon had dimmed as the Red Moon Spirit’s energy faded.