Chapter Summaries

Xu Le took Gu Jianuo through the Lower City to find participants for her experimental medicine, exposing her to poverty and exploitation that challenged her belief in the Upper City's ideals. After hearing Zhang Li describe her life and seeing children work in a gutter, Gu Jianuo asked to return without recruiting anyone.

• Xu Le explained why Lighthouse's population growth and mass production of Warriors could trigger a deadly cycle of Heart Energy, Oddities, and death, while Gu Jianuo revealed her new medicine used a stable power of light.
• Xu Le suggested seeking experimental subjects among people from the Lower City, then took Gu Jianuo to its outskirts to show her the conditions there.
• Xu Le showed Gu Jianuo prostitution, gambling-related exploitation, gang extortion, and blood sellers being cheated at a Health Clinic.
• Xu Le offered volunteers one hundred dollars for trials, and Zhang Li agreed, but she challenged Gu Jianuo's assumptions about education, work, and opportunity in the Lower City.
• Xu Le described the privileged life Gu Jianuo considered ordinary and pointed out children clearing a gutter instead of attending school; Gu Jianuo fell silent and asked to go back.

Xu Le warned Gu Jianuo that her experiment was about to turn a prisoner into a Level 3 Guyinduo Offspring-Forest, then helped her escape when it attacked. After Luo Juya destroyed the Oddity, she took Xu Le aside and offered to help him obtain Gu Jianuo’s Divination Doll, leaving him to ask what she wanted in return.

• Xu Le saw that the prisoner’s heart energy had crossed the Level 1 alert threshold and received a warning that the Children of Guyinduo would cause an unknown aberration.
• Xu Le entered the cell and warned Gu Jianuo, but the prisoner transformed into a Guyinduo Offspring-Forest and attacked them.
• Xu Le dragged Gu Jianuo out of the laboratory, fought the Oddity with his gun, and watched it replace its destroyed head and keep pursuing them.
• Luo Juya arrived and killed the Guyinduo Offspring-Forest with her Darkness Storm Spell Formula, then reprimanded Gu Jianuo and arranged for her to move to the Lower City.
• Luo Juya took Xu Le aside, revealed that she knew he wanted Gu Jianuo’s Divination Doll, and offered to help him obtain it.
• Xu Le asked Luo Juya what she wanted in return for helping him get the Doll.

Xu Le questioned Luo Juya about the Red Moon Calamities and suspected Lighthouse’s accumulated Heart Energy was attracting stronger Oddities, then helped Gu Jianuo move her laboratory to the Lower City. Gu Jianuo resumed human experiments with a new injection called Light’s Guidance Type I, and the first volunteer underwent an Aberration, leaving Xu Le alarmed by what the substance really was.

• Luo Juya told Xu Le that the Children of Guyinduo were behind the worsening Red Moon Calamities and described a force atop Lighthouse’s High Tower that suppressed leaking emotions.
• Xu Le proposed that Lighthouse’s accumulated Heart Energy might spill out during Red Moon Calamities and attract stronger Oddities, and Luo Juya agreed to consult Old Bear while warning Xu Le to keep the theory secret.
• Gu Jianuo moved her laboratory to the Lower City and insisted that her experiments would continue despite the risks, while Xu Le recognized the Divination Doll she had left in front of him.
• Gu Jianuo recruited Zhang Li as an experimental volunteer and injected her with five milliliters of Light’s Guidance Type I while Xu Le and the Night Watchers guarded the laboratory.
• Zhang Li’s physical abilities improved, but she underwent an Aberration and was killed; Gu Jianuo ordered the experiment to continue, and Xu Le realized the injection had been renamed from Life’s Guidance to Light’s Guidance.

Xu Le concluded that Heart Energy, Guyinduo pollution, and the Red Moon could form an aberration formula, while Gu Jianuo’s Light’s Guidance experiments sought to give people supernatural power. As Xu Le prepared to retrieve his divination Doll, Gu Jianuo’s latest test unexpectedly succeeded when the subject Anjie awakened with golden light.

• Xu Le confronted Gu Jianuo about putting the Illuminati’s power into Light’s Guidance Type I, and she admitted that she intended to control the power despite the risks.
• Xu Le drew a Four-Leaf Clover card, received three golden potions from Wang Shu, and speculated to Wang Shu and Gu Beichen that the High Tower might be a luminous tree and that the Lighthouse’s Heart Energy helped cause the Black Tide.
• Xu Le told Wang Shu and Gu Beichen that Guyinduo pollution, the Red Moon, and Heart Energy formed an Oddity’s aberration formula, warned them not to drink the higher-ups’ potions, and assured Wang Shu he remained part of Night Watchers’ Team 6.
• Xu Le planned to sneak into Gu Jianuo’s room to recover his divination Doll, then spent the following days cultivating and waiting for her to leave the laboratory.
• On September 28, Gu Jianuo injected a seemingly dead test subject, and Xu Le sensed that an unpredictable aberration might occur within thirty seconds.
• The test subject woke and identified herself as Anjie, while her fingers glowed faintly gold; Gu Jianuo and her assistant recognized that the experiment had succeeded.

Xu Le stole Gu Jianuo’s Divination Doll from the laboratory and discovered that damaging it hurt him through their shared Spell Formula. After destroying the doll in the Mother Tree Realm, he made a replacement and returned to the Temporary Research Institute, where Wang Yueqin confronted him.

• Gu Jianuo left with Anjie after declaring her experiment a success, while Xu Le waited for night to steal the Doll.
• Xu Le used summoned Living Corpses to distract Night Watchers Team 2 and retrieve the potted Doll, but Wei Kui caught him and pursued him across rooftops.
• Xu Le used his abilities to defeat Wei Kui and brought him to Wang Shu, who agreed to keep him confined until after the Black Tide.
• Xu Le tested the Doll in the Mother Tree Realm, suffered its reflected damage, and blasted the Doll apart while leaving the flowerpot intact.
• Xu Le bought a replacement doll and potted plant, returned to the Temporary Research Institute, and faced Wang Yueqin’s questions.

As the Red Moon Calamity approached, Xu Le prepared for the Black Tide while Gu Jianuo revealed that she had learned to control Heart Energy and used Anjie to kill her spying assistant. Gu Jianuo joined Xu Le and the Night Watchers at the Wall District, where she offered soldiers Light's Guidance and Colorless potions to create Warriors with the Power of Light.

• Xu Le resisted Wang Yueqin's questioning about Wei Kui, then stocked weapons, medicine, and a new Fate's Scarecrow for the coming Black Tide.
• At the Upper City laboratory, Gu Jianuo withheld the final Light's Guidance results from Xiong Zemo and obtained a hundred more Life's Guidance doses for her planned front-line test.
• Gu Jianuo told Xiao Li that she had learned Heart Energy Release from Xu Le, exposed Xiao Li's betrayal, and had Anjie kill and burn her.
• After returning to the temporary research institute, Gu Jianuo heard about the Bull Demon and Living Corpses, inspected her room, and left with Xu Le and the Night Watchers for the Wall District.
• At the Wall District, Gu Jianuo presented Light's Guidance Type I and Colorless Potion, saying they could make Warriors who possessed the Power of Light.

As the Black Tide reached Lighthouse, Gu Jianuo’s potions gave Ruan Di and other officers powerful golden abilities, but the light attracted deadly Level 4 Oddities. Xu Le realized the potion users were in grave danger as a Sleepless Warrior attacked Gu Jianuo and Anjie, and he urged Wang Shu and Gu Beichen to flee.

• Gu Jianuo explained her Aberration formula to Xu Le and gave thirteen officers paired Light’s Guidance and Heart Energy potions.
• The Black Tide began, and Lighthouse’s artillery and gunfire held back waves of Oddities until Ghost-Type Oddities approached the wall.
• Ruan Di injected the potions, gained golden branching powers, and purified the Ghost-Type Oddities while defending the line.
• After an explosion sounded inside Lighthouse, Ruan Di ordered the field officers to take their potions, and they did.
• A Living Corpse Dragon and a Black Knight attacked the defenders, while a Sleepless Warrior charged toward Gu Jianuo and Anjie.
• Xu Le realized the light powers attracted high-level Oddities and shouted for Wang Shu and Gu Beichen to run.

Xu Le tried to pull Gu Jianuo away from the Black Tide and challenged her faith in Light's Guidance and her own fate. After showing her a vision of the fate that awaited her, he watched her break free of its threads, and she agreed to leave with him.

• Xu Le urged Gu Jianuo to flee, but she stayed while Anjie fought the Black Knight; Gu Jianuo's Corrosion Refinement weakened it, and Wang Shu and Gu Beichen killed it.
• After Night Watcher Team Two helped Ruan Di defeat the Living Corpse Dragon and the Sleepless Warrior, stronger Oddities flew toward Lighthouse's central High Tower.
• Xu Le argued that Light's Guidance drew Oddities to Lighthouse and accused Gu Jianuo of having selfish motives; when her Doll Spell Formula failed to control him, he gave her a Guyinduo Fate Card.
• Xu Le drew Gu Jianuo into the world of fate, where she saw herself bound as a puppet before the Black Tide and tore apart the Threads of Fate by resisting them.
• Back in reality, Gu Jianuo looked toward Ruan Di and the Golden Tree People, then told Xu Le, "Let's go."

Xu Le and the Night Watchers were ambushed by Gu Jianuo and Xiong Zemo after they uncovered the High Tower’s secrets. Gu Jianuo’s betrayal turned into a last stand that bought Xu Le time to complete his Moon Ritual, and the chapter ended as he used his newly awakened Guyinduo power against Xiong Zemo.

• Gu Jianuo petrified the Night Watchers and ordered the Golden Tree People to attack, killing Zheng Wen, Wu Shana, Wang Yueqin, and others while Wang Shu and Gu Beichen escaped the formation.
• Xu Le confronted Xiong Zemo, who revealed that he was killing those who learned the High Tower’s secrets to protect the Lighthouse and its God.
• Gu Jianuo turned against Xiong Zemo, and Wang Shu and Gu Beichen joined her assault while Xu Le drew the Moon Ritual in his blood.
• Xiong Zemo defeated Wang Shu and froze Gu Beichen before breaking Gu Jianuo’s bones, but she confirmed that she had bought Xu Le enough time to finish his ritual.
• Xu Le completed his Fate Jester ascension, used Heart Energy to make the Golden Tree People fear him, and cast Fate Jester Technique-Four-Leaf Clover on Xiong Zemo.

Xu Le killed Xiong Zemo’s puppet but was killed in turn by the real Xiong Zemo, who also slaughtered Gu Jianuo, Wang Shu, and Gu Beichen. Xu Le later revived in a budget inn, while Wang Shu and Gu Beichen also survived, and Xu Le prepared to leave Lighthouse after realizing the Upper City’s secrets were part of the divide between classes.

• Xu Le used Fateweaving, the Four-Leaf Clover, and the Little Sun to destroy Xiong Zemo’s puppet, then found Gu Jianuo dead and tried to revive Wang Shu with a Light Guide Potion and a Guyinduo fruit.
• A second Xiong Zemo emerged from the shadows, stabbed Xu Le, took the Sun Ring, and killed Xu Le, Gu Jianuo, Wang Shu, and Gu Beichen before leaving.
• The real Xiong Zemo met Luo Juya on a rooftop, gave her the Sun Ring, and said Xu Le and the others had been formidable opponents.
• Hours later, Wang Shu rose from the battlefield and left, while Gan found Gu Beichen re-forming from the ice and urged him to train at the Red Moon Holy Temple before going to Tianrui Lifeng.
• Xu Le reappeared in a budget inn through the Black Card, found his Relics preserved, and told Ding Ke he had advanced but failed to save his companions.
• Xu Le disguised himself as a student and prepared to move elsewhere, believing that class involved both strength and the secrets the Upper City had kept from the Lower City.

Xu Le survived the Red Moon Calamity, escaped Lighthouse for Zion, and entered the Mother Tree Realm, where he secretly took a wolf fruit after avoiding Luo Juya. Chi Xiao then selected her own fruits, and Xu Le frowned when he saw an intermediate Golden Thunder fruit among them.

• Xu Le bought a second-class ticket to Zion and sensed a dangerous cloaked man who was traveling to Tianrui Lifeng.
• Gan and Gu Beichen bought tickets to the Red Moon Holy Temple, then passed Xu Le and the cloaked Wang Shu without recognizing them during a Guard inspection.
• Xu Le boarded the airship to Zion and fell asleep in the restroom, sending his consciousness directly into the Mother Tree Realm.
• Luo Juya asked Chi Xiao for an intermediate fruit to restore her husband Xiong Zemo, and Chi Xiao agreed to meet her near Lighthouse.
• Xu Le revealed that Xiong Zemo had killed him, then selected a Lesser Creature-Wolf fruit from the Mother Tree.
• Chi Xiao selected five fruits, and Xu Le reacted with surprise when he saw an Intermediate Element-Golden Thunder among them.

Xu Le negotiated with Chi Xiao for the Intermediate Element-Golden Thunder Fruit and received it early, then ate it on the airship and gained golden lightning. As the airship neared Zion, he tried to connect with fellow students from his hometown and prepared to build a new identity there.

• Xu Le told Chi Xiao he wanted Golden Thunder, and offered three future fruit selections in exchange; Chi Xiao agreed to the deal and left the fruit for him in the Mother Tree Realm.
• Xu Le asked Chi Xiao to give him the fruit immediately, and after hearing his long explanation, she let him take it in advance while reminding him to care for Ding Ke.
• Xu Le ate the Golden Thunder Fruit in the airship toilet as passengers pounded on the door, then emerged covered in fruit juice and the fruit’s foul smell.
• Xu Le confirmed that his electrical current had turned golden, and decided to study his new power and seek resources after settling in Zion.
• Xu Le met Zion students on the observation deck and greeted them, then rebuked a burly student who mocked him for the smell from the restroom.

Xu Le returned to Zion after earning a degree in Lighthouse, learned about Zion’s new focus on red moon technology, and arrived to find the city thriving. After using his ledger to turn a stone into gold, he attracted the attention of Zion Enforcers, one of whom recognized him and asked if he had returned.

• Xu Le introduced himself as a Lighthouse University graduate to Zion exchange students and learned from Liu Jia about Zion’s Five-Ring Technology Act and research into red moon technology.
• Xu Le spent the airship journey discussing Zion with Liu Jia, then changed his appearance before the airship reached the city.
• Xu Le passed the arrival screening by explaining his studies and expressing his desire to help Zion develop.
• Xu Le used his Fantasy-Filled Ledger to turn a stone into 100 grams of gold outside the airship grounds.
• Zion Enforcers detected the alchemical energy from Xu Le’s relic and followed him; a female enforcer recognized him and asked, “Xu Le, you’re back?”

After returning to Zion, Xu Le reunited briefly with his former girlfriend Li Qingcheng, then sought work that would bring him into contact with paranormal research. He chose a research assistant position at Rose Studio and arrived to meet its elderly director, Yi Xiaoya.

• Li Qingcheng recognized Xu Le at the airship grounds, questioned him about a suspicious alchemical device, and let him leave after searching his belongings.
• Xu Le exchanged his gold for money, bought a map, and went to Zion University of Technology to seek a job using his Lighthouse credentials.
• Xu Le rejected a well-paid practical position and chose research work to enter Zion's paranormal technology circles.
• After reviewing the available openings, Xu Le selected the research assistant position at Rose Studio despite the advisor's warnings that it was strange and might soon close.
• Xu Le reached Rose Studio in District 5 and met Yi Xiaoya, whose elderly appearance contrasted with the title of Miss.

Xu Le joined Yi Xiaoya’s strange Rose Studio, where Li Weisi handled its lone research project and warned that the studio could be shut down by year’s end. After settling in with Ding Ke, Xu Le’s return was revealed to Wang Man by Li Qingcheng.

• Yi Xiaoya welcomed Xu Le into Rose Studio and gave him a badge that was hot enough to make him drop it, then vanished through a door that was no longer there.
• Xu Le met Li Weisi, learned he was Yi Xiaoya’s descendant and the studio’s only researcher, and heard that the studio faced closure without results by year’s end.
• Yi Xiaoya repeatedly appeared and disappeared through impossible doorways, while Li Weisi insisted she was gentle and said she liked Xu Le.
• Li Weisi agreed to let Xu Le familiarize himself with the studio, and Xu Le brought Ding Ke inside, calling the place their new home.
• Li Qingcheng met her late-arriving friend Wang Man for dinner and told her that Xu Le had returned.

Wang Man advised Li Qingcheng to leave Xu Le alone, while Xu Le settled into Zion and weighed how to build the Rose Studio. At Li Weisi’s workshop, Xu Le learned about Zion’s worsening Black Tides and strict research licensing before discovering that Li Weisi was a Level 2 Puppet Warlock with two Dolls.

• Wang Man told Li Qingcheng not to contact Xu Le or involve his relatives, arguing that Li Qingcheng should let him live independently.
• Xu Le returned to the Rose Studio with little money and considered whether to move on or develop the studio into his own base.
• Xu Le visited Li Weisi, who explained that Zion’s Black Tides had worsened and that authorities were offering increased payouts for Pioneer Missions.
• Li Weisi warned Xu Le that research required a legal license because accidents involving Guyinduo could devastate Zion, and he identified the 345 Floating City Plan as a major incident.
• Li Weisi introduced his Dolls, Sha and Shengzan, and told Xu Le that he was a Level 2 Rune Warlock specializing in puppetry.

Xu Le persuaded Li Weisi to abandon his stalled Moonstone saber project and proposed a Heart Energy Shielding Device to save the studio. After testing whether a Guyinduo leaf could conceal Heart Energy, Xu Le received repeated warnings that a Level 1 Ghost-Type Oddity would appear at midnight.

• Xu Le learned about Li Weisi’s Dolls, the Zion Progressors’ Guild, and the studio’s failing Moonstone saber project.
• Xu Le convinced Li Weisi that the saber project was too commonplace and proposed focusing the studio on research that could improve productivity.
• Xu Le explained that a Heart Energy Shielding Device could protect people from sudden Heart Energy spikes, and Li Weisi agreed to help secure money on a Pioneer Mission.
• Xu Le used a Guyinduo leaf to conceal Heart Energy and confirmed that the test worked.
• Xu Le received three warnings that a Level 1 Ghost-Type Oddity would appear at midnight in the workshop.

Xu Le encountered the Ghost-Type Oddities living with Yi Xiaoya and left Ding Ke on the terrace, where Yi Xiaoya hinted at Ding Ke’s feelings. He then trained in the Mother Tree Realm to master Golden Thunder, but his first attempt ended with his neck snapping.

• Xu Le met two child ghosts at the studio and followed them to Yi Xiaoya’s terrace, where a female ghost played music and Ding Ke was spending time with the ghosts.
• Ding Ke refused to return to Xu Le’s room, so Xu Le left her with Yi Xiaoya; after he returned to check on her, Ding Ke eventually headed back when he mentioned her canned food.
• Xu Le reviewed his plans to improve his combat skills, drew the Coin card, and entered the Mother Tree Realm to practice Golden Thunder.
• Xu Le found Chi Xiao forging her metal prosthesis with Molten Fire Fist and began practicing elementalization while she watched.
• Xu Le tried to transform into Golden Thunder, but his neck snapped and he fell to the ground.

Xu Le learned a safer way to train Elementalization, then used the Black Staff to obtain the Lord of Slaughter sniper rifle without paying for it. The next day, Wang Man insisted on taking leave to see the cherry blossoms at Jiming Temple despite her troupe leader’s objection.

• Chi Xiao warned Xu Le that repeatedly shattering his soul during training could damage it and taught him to switch between higher and lower elemental states.
• Ding Ke wrote down the Forbidden Warlock LV2 secret art Slave of Fate, then bit Xu Le after hearing him praise a Tifa Doll in his sleep.
• Xu Le demonstrated his improved Elementalization after returning from the Mother Tree Realm, then went to Gun Shop Street and admired the Lord of Slaughter rifle.
• Xu Le touched the Lord of Slaughter in the shop, then transformed the Black Staff into the rifle and returned to the Studio without buying it.
• Wang Man asked Lisa for leave to see the cherry blossoms at Jiming Temple, but the troupe leader rejected her request.

Wang Man sought out Xu Le after learning he had returned to Zion, and the two reunited with Li Qingcheng before sharing a meal. Xu Le questioned Li Qingcheng about the Enforcers’ field missions and their mixed teams, then asked whether a recruit could command one.

• Lisa approved Wang Man’s leave to visit Jiming Temple, believing the cherry blossoms signaled that Xu Le had returned.
• Wang Man encountered Li Qingcheng near Rose Studio, then stopped Xu Le as he tried to pass them unnoticed.
• Wang Man invited Xu Le and Li Qingcheng to eat with her, though Xu Le’s business questions soon left Wang Man and Ding Ke occupied while he spoke with Li Qingcheng.
• Li Qingcheng explained the Enforcers’ entry requirements and described their ten-person field teams, which included Zion Enforcers, Wilderness Warlocks, and Mercenaries from Tianrui Lifeng.
• Xu Le considered the complications of mixed teams and asked Li Qingcheng whether a recruit could take command.