Chapter Summaries

Xu Le prepared for a Pioneer Mission, received a one-use escape item from Yi Xiaoya, and learned a dangerous Forbidden Warlock art from Ding Ke’s note. After agreeing to join Li Weisi’s team for a woodland mission, he arrived at the Enforcer Hall and encountered a man who resembled him.

• Xu Le questioned Li Qingcheng about team command, equipment, and Heart Energy, then clarified that he had moved on from their past relationship.
• Wang Man left cat snacks for Xu Le, and Yi Xiaoya gave him Planewalker's Fragmented Memories, a one-use ability that returned its user to a remembered place.
• Xu Le copied the Slave of Fate art from Ding Ke’s note, prepared ammunition, and spent the night practicing his abilities.
• Li Weisi brought Xu Le a completed Scarecrow and arranged a woodland mission in the 5-13 Extended Area for the day after tomorrow.
• Xu Le drew the Flower card before the mission and met a surprised man who looked somewhat like him at the Enforcer Hall.

Xu Le joined a Zion pioneering mission with Li Weisi, his newly discovered cousins, Li Qingcheng, and a group of Mercenaries. After the team entered a dense forest, they found a mother bear and cub, and the chapter ended with Xu Le and Li Weisi sensing that something dangerous was nearby.

• Xu Le met his paternal cousins Xu Lei and Xu Ting, learned that Xu Lei was leading the mission, and kept their family relationship at a distance.
• Li Qingcheng arrived to join the team, and Xu Le chose not to speak with her before they departed for the mission area.
• Wang Shu arrived in Zion with Tianrui Lifeng Mercenaries and asked where Zion's Warlocks usually worked before deciding to focus on making money.
• Xu Lei led the ten-person team from the Gobi into a forest, where Li Weisi sent Doll No. 9 to scout and noted that the vegetation was unusually dense.
• Old Six shot and killed a mother bear, leaving its cub beside her body, while Xu Le and Li Weisi sensed that a difficult danger was nearby.

Xu Le and the expedition team encountered a Level 3 Ghost Bear Polluter soon after entering the forest, and Xu Le helped kill it after a mercenary died. The team decided to abandon the mission, but Xu Le accused Old Five of deliberately leaving him and Li Qingcheng exposed; as they faced off, Xu Ting discovered that their return path had disappeared.

• Xu Le inferred that a powerful territorial creature lived in the forest, and the Ghost Bear ambushed the group and killed a Level 2 mercenary.
• Li Weisi bound the Ghost Bear with a Binding Curse while the group fired at it, driving it away temporarily.
• Old Five left a gap in the group when the Ghost Bear attacked again, exposing Xu Le and Li Qingcheng; Xu Le dodged its strikes and used Doll Scorpion No. 9 to help defeat it alongside the others.
• Xu Lei decided the team would retreat and abandon the mission, with the Law Enforcers giving up their share of the spoils as compensation for the dead mercenary.
• Xu Le accused Old Five of wanting him dead, and Xu Ting reported that the route back had disappeared.

Xu Le’s team discovered that their trail had vanished and became trapped in a strange jungle, while the supposedly dead Old Six killed Old Seven. After Xu Le’s divination confirmed a wayless predicament, Xu Lei suddenly scolded him over an apparent romance, leaving Xu Le to suspect that something was wrong.

• Xu Ting reported that the group’s trail had disappeared, prompting Xu Le and Old Five to set aside their dispute and abandon the Ghost Bear’s corpse as they prepared to work together.
• Old Six rose from the dead, took a bear paw, and killed Old Seven when she went looking for him.
• Li Weisi secretly informed Xu Lei that Old Six was alive and Old Seven was dead, and Old Five left the team to look for his missing companions.
• Xu Lei’s group tried to return through the jungle, but their compasses pointed south and Xu Le’s Forest card divination showed they were trapped in a predicament with no way out.
• Xu Lei abruptly accused Xu Le of flirting with Li Qingcheng during the mission, and Xu Le realized that the others’ reactions did not match what he remembered happening.

Xu Le freed his teammates from a jungle illusion by cutting the threads manipulating their hidden desires, then suspected a connection to Puppet after discovering a missing Guyinduo card. The group’s attempt to escape by following a line led them in a circle, and the Puppet on Strings card reappeared, waving at Xu Le.

• Old Five found Old Seven wounded and agreed with her suggestion to try killing the people trapped in the jungle’s illusions, while the real Old Seven hid nearby and felt a bloody hand land on her shoulder.
• Xu Le resisted an illusion of women, used Guyinduo Vision to spot the threads controlling them, and cut his own thread with Golden Thunder.
• Xu Le freed Li Weisi, Xu Lei, Xu Ting, and Li Qingcheng, then explained that a being in the jungle manipulated hidden desires to create illusions.
• Xu Le noticed that his Black Card-Puppet on Strings was missing and speculated that a Puppet-corrupted Guyinduo Offspring might be behind the illusion.
• The group followed a line of Oddity Ashes and water for over two hours, only to find that their path had curved into a circle.
• When Xu Le dropped a card, he picked up the Black Card-Puppet on Strings and saw its puppet image tilt its head and wave at him.

Xu Le and the Law Enforcers became lost in an endless forest, abandoned their mission, and waited for rescue while Xu Le shared survival advice and prepared for the night. As rabbits flooded the camp and then vanished, Xu Le returned to the [Puppet on Strings] card, whose strange pull continued to trouble him.

• Xu Le repeatedly drew [Puppet on Strings] and resisted its beckoning pull, while Xu Lei argued with Xu Ting about whether she had led the team off course.
• Xu Le proposed burning the forest or climbing above the trees to find a way out; Xu Ting climbed up and reported that the forest stretched endlessly in every direction.
• Xu Lei fired a Red Signal Flare to request rescue, and the team accepted that their mission payment would be canceled.
• Xu Le and Xu Ting dug earthworms for Golden Toad, then arranged four campfires after Xu Le explained why natural fire and layered light helped protect a camp.
• Xu Le found a rabbit stealing his snacks, and the group soon faced a rush of rabbits that eventually passed without an obvious incident.
• Xu Le examined the Guyinduo Cards again and saw [Puppet on Strings] repeatedly; the chapter ended with his smile vanishing as he picked them up.

Xu Le fell asleep and was pulled into Puppet's world, where Puppet revealed that Night Fiend was her master and asked him to find a Guyinduo Fate Fruit in the woods. Puppet sent Xu Le back with unknown help, leaving him to search for the fruit and deliver it to Ai Li.

• Xu Le grew unnaturally sleepy, warned Xu Ting that something might happen, and vanished in a spatial fluctuation when he fell asleep.
• Li Weisi woke and explained that Xu Le had likely been taken by a spatial ability, while Xu Ting and Li Qingcheng waited for him to return.
• Xu Le arrived in Puppet's bright, doll-like world and learned that Puppet had watched him since he touched her fate, but Night Fiend had once removed her thread from him.
• Puppet called Night Fiend her master and confessed that she wanted to turn her into a puppet, then asked Xu Le to find a Guyinduo Fate Fruit in the woods and give it to Ai Li.
• Puppet flicked Xu Le's forehead and sent him back to Xu Ting, and Xu Le remembered her promise of help as he checked the Puppet card.

Xu Le unlocked the Black Card-Puppet on Strings and considered how to pursue the Guyinduo Fate Fruit while weighing his new family connections. When an attacker shot at the camp, Xu Le and Xu Ting moved into the dark forest to draw out the shooter, and Xu Le located the enemy with Guyinduo Vision.

• Xu Le unlocked the Black Card-Puppet on Strings, then discussed Mystic Warlocks and the Law of All Things Are Three with Li Weisi.
• Xu Le drew a Four-Leaf Clover card and considered how his Law Enforcer relatives might help him develop and market his Heart Energy Shielding Device.
• Li Qingcheng tried to reconnect with Xu Le, but he advised her to replace her sword, prompting Xu Ting to join their conversation.
• A gunman attacked the camp, and Xu Le shoved Xu Ting and Li Qingcheng out of the line of fire before pursuing the attacker with Xu Ting.
• Xu Le sent a Living Corpse into the darkness as bait, and after the gunman shot it, Xu Le detected Heart Energy roughly four hundred meters away.

Xu Le and Xu Ting killed Mercenary Old Five after his illusions and Hyena Fruit transformation nearly endangered Xu Ting. At dawn, a polluted wolf pack gathered around the camp, mutated into Oddities, and stared toward a surge of Ancient Yin Duo Energy that Xu Le identified as a ripened fruit.

• Xu Le shot Old Five twice with Heart Energy bullets, while Xu Ting approached and found him trapped in an illusion with two rotting Oddities.
• Old Five transformed with his Hyena Fruit and attacked Xu Ting, but Xu Le wounded him with another shot and Xu Ting killed him at close range.
• Xu Le and Xu Ting rejoined the team, and Xu Ting explained Old Five's illusion while Xu Le said it had drawn out his desire to betray them.
• As dawn approached, the team climbed trees to avoid a large pack of polluted Wasteland Wolves gathering around their camp.
• After five minutes, the wolves aberrated into several kinds of Level 1 Oddities and tore apart the malformed creatures among them.
• The wolves turned toward a distant surge of Ancient Yin Duo Energy, and Xu Le said a fruit on a tree had ripened.

Xu Le’s group followed the wolf pack to the Guyinduo Tree, where they fought a Level 4 Mirage Dragon that had been killing the wolves. After the Law Enforcers blasted it apart with alchemical rounds, Xu Le spotted Puppet Strings still attached to its corpse and warned everyone to retreat.

• Xu Le persuaded the group to follow the wolves toward the Guyinduo Tree and had No. 9 Doll Scorpion capture the wounded Mercenary Old Seven, whose Puppet Strings led toward the blue radiance.
• The group reached the tree and watched a Mirage Dragon emerge from the hillside, killing the wolves with transparent tendrils and deadly ripples.
• Xu Le’s group fired on the Mirage Dragon, then used alchemical rounds to blast its body apart after it charged them.
• Xu Le saw Puppet Strings running through the Mirage Dragon’s corpse and shouted for everyone to fall back.

Xu Le defeated the Guyinduo Offspring controlling the Mirage Dragon and wolf corpses, killed the transformed Mercenary Old Six, and obtained the Guyinduo Fate Fruit. He returned toward camp as Zion’s rescue team set out, with Wang Shu boarding its vehicle.

• The Mirage Dragon reassembled from corpses and attacked, forcing Xu Le and the others to fight while Li Weisi held back the wolf-corpse mass.
• Xu Le used Old Seven as bait to locate the controller, then joined Golden Toad in attacking the Guyinduo Oddity hiding beneath a tree.
• Xu Le shattered the frozen Mercenary Old Six and burned his body, revealing and killing the Level 3 Moth of Desire that controlled the corpses.
• After the Mirage Dragon and wolf-corpse mass collapsed, Xu Le collected the Guyinduo Fate Fruit and gave Golden Toad a Fear Fruit before it departed.
• Zion’s understaffed rescue team set out with recruited Mercenaries, and Wang Shu boarded its combat vehicle and moved toward the back.

Wang Shu joined a rescue mission in Zion and learned that Xu Le was among the people needing help, then reunited with him over noodles after the mission. Their conversation ended with Xu Le confirming that Wang Shu had truly come back to life without showing signs of Aberration.

• Wang Shu questioned Ge Sini about the rescue mission and discovered that Xu Le was among the ten people needing rescue in Area 5-13.
• Xu Le returned to Xu Lei, Xu Ting, and Li Qingcheng, claimed the pink fruit was a Guyinduo Fruit-Lust, and said he would visit his relatives after they returned.
• A rescue team arrived, and Xu Le noticed a familiar dark green cloak among the mercenaries accompanying them.
• After returning to Zion, Xu Le and Wang Shu met at a noodle shop, where Wang Shu explained that he had become a mercenary because he lacked a legitimate identity.
• Xu Le recalled finding Wang Shu as shredded flesh and concluded that the Light Potion had brought him back to life without causing Aberration.

Xu Le learned that Wang Shu could not have the Power of Light removed without dying and that investigating Lighthouse’s secret would get him killed. He returned to consider whether to give the Guyinduo Fate Fruit to Ai Li as Puppet had instructed, leaving his next move unresolved.

• Wang Shu told Xu Le he did not attract Oddities on ordinary days, and Xu Le explained that he had saved Wang Shu with Light Guide Potions and the Oddity Formula.
• Xu Le warned Wang Shu that the next Black Tide could kill him, then persuaded him to pursue revenge and agreed to seek a way to save him.
• Xu Le returned to the workshop, collected the Guyinduo Fate Fruit, and went to the Mother Tree Realm to ask Chi Xiao for advice.
• Chi Xiao said the Power of Light could not be expelled without killing Wang Shu and warned that learning Lighthouse’s secret would cause Xu Le’s death.
• Xu Le confirmed that a Guyinduo Person of Fate belonged to Guyinduo’s faction and could approach the Children of Guyinduo.
• Back in the real world, Xu Le questioned whether eating the Fate Fruit would make someone Puppet’s pawn and considered what would happen if he disobeyed Puppet’s order to give it to Ai Li.

Xu Le visited Night Fiend to tell her Life of Pi and gained her approval and permission to act as he wished about Puppet’s threat. He then went to meet Wang Shu, where he intimidated Ge Sini before Wang Shu stepped in to protect her.

• Xu Le reopened the portal to Night Fiend’s world and told Night Fiend the story of Life of Pi, which she preferred to his previous story.
• Night Fiend told Xu Le that he could do what he wanted about Puppet’s threat and asked him to bring another story next time.
• Xu Le left to find Wang Shu at the inn, but Ge Sini intercepted the attendant who came to alert Wang Shu and went downstairs to question Xu Le herself.
• Xu Le claimed that Wang Shu was a Lighthouse Night Watcher and said that he was one too, then used electricity and heart energy to frighten Ge Sini.
• Wang Shu arrived and pulled Ge Sini behind him, while he and Xu Le exchanged annoyed remarks.

Xu Le gave Wang Shu a Fruit of Fate to protect him during the Red Moon Calamity, but the fruit belonged to Puppet and left Wang Shu unable to sense Xu Le’s fate. After Puppet rewarded Xu Le for giving the fruit to a human, Xu Le returned to Wang Shu, explained the danger, and absorbed the energy from five Puppet offspring to earn Night Fiend’s approval.

• Xu Le gave Wang Shu the Fruit of Fate, but Wang Shu could not sense its power, and Xu Le vanished from the alley into Puppet’s secluded paradise.
• Puppet confronted Xu Le for giving her Fruit of Fate to Wang Shu, revealed that it was her fruit, and rewarded him with five little dolls.
• Xu Le returned to the alley and told Wang Shu about the Red Moon Calamity, the Mother Tree Realm, and the different origins of their Fruits of Fate.
• Xu Le warned Wang Shu to keep his Fate identity secret and asked him to spread word within the Mercenary Corps that they were Night Watchers.
• Xu Le identified the dolls as living Puppet offspring, killed all five with the Black Sword, and absorbed their energy, changing the Black Staff’s attributes to Night Fiend’s Approval.

Xu Le tested the Black Staff’s improved abilities, sacrificed the Red Moon Greatshield to nourish the Mother Tree, and began following a new cultivation method. Meanwhile, Wang Shu revealed his Night Watcher past to Ge Sini, and Xu Le sought work and information through his Law Enforcer relatives, ending with Xu Ting distracted during a sparring match.

• Xu Le tested the Black Staff’s enhanced energy attacks, then returned to the studio and found Ding Ke’s cultivation notes, including a crossed-out instruction to sacrifice a chicken drumstick.
• Xu Le nourished the Mother Tree with the Red Moon Greatshield and sensed its delight, but stopped thinking about the Golden Radiance Tree and the Illuminati after a sudden warning of danger.
• Xu Le tried releasing Ascended Heart Energy, saw a warning that the Night Demon might appear, and stopped to practice absorbing Red Moon Spirit instead.
• Wang Shu told Ge Sini that he and Xu Le had been Lighthouse Night Watchers, asked her to keep his identity secret, and rejected her attempt to seduce him.
• Xu Le and Li Weisi went to the Area 5 Enforcer Hall to look for Pioneer Missions and contact Xu Le’s Law Enforcer relatives.
• Xu Le found Xu Ting sparring with two Law Enforcers, and she was kicked when his arrival distracted her.

Xu Le visited Xu Ting’s family, met his uncle Xu Weiwen and young Nuomi, and established that he had returned to Zion without seeking family help. He then asked Xu Ting to take him to Zion’s Black Market, where his Heart Energy warnings predicted a Level 3 Succubus would emerge.

• Xu Ting defeated an opponent in training, and Xu Le asked her to take him to visit her family.
• Xu Le met Xu Weiwen and Nuomi, played a military board game with his uncle, and shared a meal with the family.
• Xu Le told Xu Weiwen he would find his own work and said he had severed ties with Li Qingcheng.
• Xu Ting drove Xu Le to a Black Market near Zone 5 after he asked to see one.
• Xu Le detected dangerously high desire Heart Energy in the area and received a warning that a Level 3 Succubus would emerge in under six minutes.

Xu Le and Xu Ting tracked a level 3 Succubus named Rose in Zion’s Red-Light District and fought her after she killed two people. Rose escaped, and Xu Le followed her trail deeper into the district while Xu Ting waited for backup.

• Xu Le warned Xu Ting that a level 3 Heart Energy Oddity would manifest in the Red-Light District, and she requested support from her colleagues.
• Xu Le found a Succubus draining a man in a dark alley and identified her as Rose, a level 3 Guyinduo Polluter.
• Xu Ting and Xu Le attacked Rose, but her mist ability let her evade their strikes and nearly kill Xu Ting.
• Xu Le used his Black Sheep Girl card to wound Rose, but held his fire near pedestrians as she escaped.
• Xu Le cautioned Xu Ting about attacking stronger Oddities recklessly, then followed Rose’s blood and scent deeper into the district while Xu Ting waited for backup.

Xu Le killed a Succubus in Zion’s Red-Light District and discovered that its Heart Energy could create a lust fruit. After the Law Enforcers released him, he went looking for a Black Market and tried to draw attention by loudly claiming Zion had none.

• Xu Le followed the Succubus’s aura into a nightclub, where he recognized the disguised girl from earlier and questioned her about how Succubi converted Heart Energy.
• The Succubus attacked Xu Le with a blue energy blast and tried to escape, but he used a Spider card to drag her from the void and killed her with the Black Gun.
• Xu Le absorbed the resulting lust Heart Energy and formed a lust fruit, while horrified nightclub patrons screamed and the Law Enforcers arrived to arrest him.
• Xu Ting and Li Qingcheng explained that the Law Enforcers avoided conflict with the Tianrui Lifeng Mercenaries in the Red-Light District, and Li Qingcheng identified their prohibited drug as Blue Light.
• Xu Le headed to a trading area with Xu Ting and Li Qingcheng, then loudly complained that Zion had no real Black Market to provoke the stallholders into responding.

Xu Le learned about a well-paid, confidential Ancient Ruins mission and a private trading venue, but rejected Li Qingcheng’s offers to avoid owing her a favor. Meanwhile, Ai Li investigated the Succubus’s death, clashed with Zhang Nuo'an over their relationship, and grew curious about Xu Le’s abilities as she headed to Rose Studio.

• Xu Le failed to find a black market in Zion, then heard from Li Qingcheng about a well-paid Ancient Ruins decipherment mission and anonymous trading venues.
• Li Qingcheng offered to recommend Xu Le for the mission and help him trade privately, but Xu Le declined both offers and asked Xu Ting to apply for his 500-dollar Good Citizen Award.
• Ai Li inspected Succubus blood and photographs of Li Qingcheng with Xu Le, then reported to Zhang Nuo'an that someone had killed the Succubus.
• Zhang Nuo'an urged Ai Li to cultivate Li Qingcheng’s connections, but Ai Li challenged him to make their relationship public and left after he refused.
• Ai Li burned photographs and Xu Le’s information, reconsidered after reading his background, and drove to Rose Studio to investigate him.