Chapter Summaries

After Gu Huai was abducted en route to the Special Investigation Bureau, Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan traced the red thread left in the vehicle to an abandoned freight station connected to Green Egret. They arrived at the warehouse, where Fake Shen Cheng appeared to be waiting for them.

• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan learned that Gu Huai had vanished after an attack on his transport vehicle, and they suspected the abductor wanted the Marriage Contract Line.
• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan heard Gu Huai's unsent warning to Madam Gu, then reached the crash site and questioned her.
• Xu Zhihan followed a red thread toward the old freight road, and the Deputy Captain identified an abandoned freight station rented by a Green Egret shell company.
• Lu Wenchuan gave Xu Zhihan medicine before leading the team to the freight station, where they found Gu Huai's presence and red threads in the innermost warehouse.
• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan prepared to enter the warehouse, realizing Fake Shen Cheng was waiting inside.

At the Freight Station, Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan forced Gu Huai, Zhao Huaide, and Xu Chengyuan to acknowledge their parts in three tangled lines. They survived Fake Shen Cheng’s attack, but the next round targeted Ji Heng.

• Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan found Gu Huai bound inside a formation that joined the marriage contract, Photo Studio, and well-side lines, while Xu Mingji confronted Gu Huai about their past.
• Gu Huai admitted he had known about the marriage contract and the Photo Studio’s past, and Zhao Huaide was found hidden nearby and confessed to his role in the children’s disappearance.
• Fake Shen Cheng merged the three lines and threatened Xu Zhihan with Lu Wenchuan’s pain, so Xu Mingji, Gu Huai, Zhao Huaide, and Xu Chengyuan acknowledged their debts and the lines fell back.
• Lu Wenchuan’s wound eased as the lines retreated, but the warehouse went dark and a message announced that the third round would involve Ji Heng.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan investigated Ji Heng’s sealed belongings after the third round named him, and Fake Shen Cheng used Ji Heng’s death to attack Lu Wenchuan with a Black Line. Lu Wenchuan rejected the accusation and left with Xu Zhihan to pursue the Black Line as it fled Headquarters.

• After the warehouse incident, Lu Wenchuan learned that Ji Heng’s sealed belongings included a Student ID engraved with his name, and Xu Zhihan went with him to retrieve them.
• In Evidence Room Three, Lu Wenchuan found Ji Heng’s message on the Student ID: “Don’t look back. Keep going.”
• Fake Shen Cheng’s words accused Lu Wenchuan of causing Ji Heng’s death, and a Red Line pierced Lu Wenchuan’s palm.
• Lu Wenchuan acknowledged his debt to Ji Heng but insisted that Ji Heng had chosen to save him and that he would keep living; the Black Line stopped and the accusation faded.
• A hidden note from Ji Heng told anyone using his death to pressure Lu Wenchuan to punch them, while Xu Zhihan forced the Black mist in the cabinet back.
• The Deputy Captain located the Black Line in the Evidence Room ventilation duct, and Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan pursued it as it fled Headquarters.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan investigated the residual threads in the Old Combat Room and found a metal box Ji Heng had sealed with Thunder Talismans. They contained the box without opening it, and Lu Wenchuan planned to read Ji Heng’s note back at the base with someone beside him.

• Song Zhixia treated Lu Wenchuan’s reopened wound and warned that neither he nor Xu Zhihan could touch the threads in the Old Training Area.
• Xu Zhihan sent the Deputy Captain to inspect the Old Combat Room with a Detection Sphere while the team watched from outside.
• Lu Wenchuan recognized an old blade mark from his childhood training with Ji Heng and spotted a metal box hidden beneath a sandbag.
• Fake Shen Cheng taunted Lu Wenchuan with the claim that the box held Ji Heng’s gift and the real cause of his death, but Lu Wenchuan ordered the feed recorded instead of opening it.
• The Deputy Captain sealed the box in an Isolation Box, and Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan read Ji Heng’s note telling Lu Wenchuan to open it only with someone beside him.

Lu Wenchuan, Xu Zhihan, and Song Zhixia uncovered Ji Heng’s letter and recording, which revealed his warnings about the Old Gods Society, the anchor, and the investigation into Shen Cheng. A hidden note in Ji Heng’s locker showed that the anchor could be reversed to locate the Society, giving them a lead on Fake Shen Cheng’s real body.

• Song Zhixia opened the iron box and found a letter, a cassette, and a key, while Lu Wenchuan read Ji Heng’s message telling him not to blame himself for Ji Heng’s death.
• Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan read that Ji Heng had altered Lu Wenchuan’s Fate Line into an anchor and had asked them to keep one another from giving in to despair.
• The cassette revealed that Shen Cheng was dead, someone in Green Heron had taken his identity, and Ji Heng had hidden materials in the Number Zero Cabinet while warning them about the Divinity Fragments and the Anchor-Breaking Array.
• Song Zhixia identified the key as belonging to locker D3-17, and Lu Wenchuan opened the locker to find a childhood photograph and a hidden note.
• Xu Zhihan concluded that the anchor could be reversed to find the Old Gods Society, and Lu Wenchuan identified Fake Shen Cheng’s real body as their next target.

Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan used Ji Heng’s Anchor Reverse-Pull to trace Fake Shen Cheng to a sealed maintenance shaft beneath North City’s Old TV Tower. After discovering at least twenty-one people inside, they prepared to go there while recovering from the dangerous formation.

• Song Zhixia set a strict time limit as Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan began the reverse-pull using the evidence linked to their fate line.
• The gray thread led Xu Zhihan to a faceless figure and revealed a TV Tower Maintenance Badge, number C-49, identifying a sealed shaft in Area C of the Old TV Tower.
• Lu Wenchuan severed the thread to end the formation, and Song Zhixia treated him and Xu Zhihan after their instruments showed dangerous readings.
• The Deputy Captain reported that the shaft was secured but contained at least twenty-one living people, prompting Lu Wenchuan to order the Seventh Team to scout ahead.
• Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan took medicine and prepared to head to the TV tower in ten minutes, intending to confront Fake Shen Cheng.

Lu Wenchuan's team found living captives behind the C-49 door beneath the old television tower, where Fake Shen Cheng had trapped them with lines tied to the door. As Lu Wenchuan reached the entrance, he discovered the Face Archive held names and lines linked to him, Xu Zhihan, and others.

• Lu Wenchuan and the team arrived at the television tower and found that living-person signals were increasing underground.
• The Detection Sphere reached the C-49 door, where someone inside answered Lu Wenchuan's call with four knocks.
• Fang Yan warned the team not to open the door and said Fake Shen Cheng had no face and had tied lines to the captives' wrists.
• Fake Shen Cheng spoke through the door, and Xu Zhihan provoked him while Lu Wenchuan ordered the teams to prepare a rescue.
• Lu Wenchuan descended to the C-49 door as Xu Zhihan gave him a golden talisman and warned him not to touch it.
• Fang Yan warned Lu Wenchuan that names had been written inside the door, and red light revealed a wall of names connected by lines as Fake Shen Cheng welcomed them to his Face Archive.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan rescued twelve of twenty-four living Shells in the Old TV Tower by weakening the White Membranes and cutting Black Buckles. The faceless figure demanded Lu Wenchuan enter the corridor in exchange for the remaining captives, and Lu Wenchuan stepped inside after Xu Zhihan granted him thirty steps.

• Xu Zhihan used the Golden Mark to slow a White Membrane while Lu Wenchuan cut a Black Buckle, allowing the first four captives to be rescued.
• Fang Yan told Lu Wenchuan that the faceless person changed faces in the Broadcast Room, and Xu Zhihan ordered the team to locate it and dig for a sealed backup entrance.
• Xu Zhihan had the captives speak their names, helping the team rescue twelve people from the corridor.
• The faceless person appeared at the Broadcast Room and demanded Lu Wenchuan enter in exchange for the twelve captives still inside.
• Lu Wenchuan agreed to go in but promised not to enter the Broadcast Room, and Xu Zhihan allowed him thirty steps as Lu Wenchuan crossed the iron door.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan rescued all twenty-four captives from the maintenance corridor and sealed the Faceless Man inside the Broadcast Room. A scrap of skin bearing True Shen Cheng’s “Thanks” revealed that the last fragment of his soul remained trapped within the Faceless Man.

• Lu Wenchuan followed Xu Zhihan’s directions to sever the isolation bags’ clasps, freeing all twenty-four captives without entering the Broadcast Room.
• Xu Zhihan forced the Faceless Man to confront the stolen identities, while Lu Wenchuan destroyed the microphone and cut down the black lines attacking the survivors.
• Lu Wenchuan retreated as Xu Zhihan held the Faceless Man back, and the Deputy Captain sealed the iron door with everyone rescued.
• The Faceless Man declared that the Old Gods Society had no names and warned that Heavenly Judgment would awaken and Xu Zhihan would return to the Divine Throne.
• Lu Wenchuan found a scrap of skin marked “Thanks,” and Xu Zhihan identified its handwriting as True Shen Cheng’s, confirming that a fragment of his soul remained trapped inside the Faceless Man.

Xu Zhihan and the others confirmed that the scrap bearing “thanks” held traces of the real Shen Cheng’s soul and found his remnant trapped inside the Faceless Man. The Faceless Man cut off their view and started a ten-minute countdown, planning to trade Shen Cheng’s soul for a face that could leave the Broadcast Room.

• Song Zhixia confirmed the scrap of skin contained the real Shen Cheng’s soul traces, and Xu Zhihan proposed using it with Shen Cheng’s Work Badge to locate him.
• The Deputy Captain pressed the Work Badge to the iron door, and Shen Cheng answered with a knock and a palm print.
• The team opened the door a crack and sent the Detection Sphere into the Broadcast Room, where they saw Shen Cheng’s remnant soul tangled in the Faceless Man’s chest.
• The real Shen Cheng warned them not to enter, and Xu Zhihan realized the Faceless Man was trying to lure Lu Wenchuan into opening the door.
• The Faceless Man destroyed the Detection Sphere’s feed and announced a ten-minute countdown; Xu Zhihan concluded he intended to trade Shen Cheng’s soul for a face that could escape.

With the countdown running, Lu Wenchuan’s team entered the Old TV Tower’s ventilation shaft and opened the route to the broadcasting room, where the faceless man was holding Shen Cheng’s remnant soul. Shen Cheng revealed the faceless man’s name as Xie Wu, provoking an eruption of black lines as the countdown neared its end.

• Fang Yan told the Deputy Captain that a face lock guarded a door behind the broadcasting room, and Lu Wenchuan agreed to enter the ventilation shaft while Xu Zhihan stayed aboveground.
• Lu Wenchuan and the Deputy Captain reached the three locks, and Lu Wenchuan broke the iron and face locks while Xu Zhihan restrained the black lines remotely.
• The face lock imitated Ji Heng, but Lu Wenchuan recognized the deception and destroyed it; he then pulled the Deputy Captain away from the faceless man’s attack and cut a line from his hand.
• Lu Wenchuan saw the faceless man holding Shen Cheng’s remnant soul, and Xu Zhihan asked Shen Cheng whether he could escape by himself.
• Shen Cheng said he needed the faceless man’s name and revealed it as Xie Wu, causing the faceless man to react as black lines erupted throughout the broadcasting room.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan freed Shen Cheng’s remnant soul from Xie Wu, but Xie Wu triggered the Oracle Tower’s bell and escaped there in part. Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan decided to pursue him to the Oracle Tower.

• Xie Wu revealed that he had been the Old Gods Society’s first Vessel for the Divine Oracle and used Shen Cheng’s remnant soul as a shield against Lu Wenchuan.
• Lu Wenchuan cut Xie Wu’s main Black Line while Xu Zhihan commanded Xie Wu to return the faces he had stolen, freeing Shen Cheng’s remnant soul into the Work Badge.
• Xie Wu summoned the Oracle Tower’s bell, and Xu Zhihan began to lose himself until Lu Wenchuan brought him back with a crushed Mint Candy and reminded him of their promise.
• Xie Wu burned his remaining Shell and tried to escape to the Oracle Tower, but Xu Zhihan’s golden light and Lu Wenchuan’s Thunderfire pinned half of him while the other half fled through a concealed pipe.
• The Deputy Captain’s footage showed a cracked white mask marked “Oracle Tower,” and Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan set off to pursue Xie Wu.

At the Old TV Tower, Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan discovered an unregistered shaft leading to the Oracle Tower and opened its gate using Xie Wu’s name and True Shen Cheng’s Work Badge. They sealed the entrance after the First Layer appeared and True Shen Cheng warned them not to let Xu Zhihan listen too long.

• Fang Yan’s maintenance plans revealed an unregistered Lift Shaft beneath the tower, which Xu Zhihan suspected was the First Gate.
• The team uncovered a Copper Plate whose inscription explained that the Oracle Tower admitted Vessels who had forsaken their faces.
• True Shen Cheng told them to use Xie Wu’s name and his Work Badge, and the gate opened when Lu Wenchuan repeated Xie Wu’s name.
• A Detection Sphere found numbered faceless outlines and names in the shaft before reaching a gate that displayed the message, “First Layer, Hear the Bell.”
• The gate opened to reveal a tower, and True Shen Cheng warned them not to let Xu Zhihan listen too long before his Work Badge went dark.
• Xu Zhihan ordered the entrance sealed, admitted he could still hear the bell a little, and exchanged Mint Candy with Lu Wenchuan before returning to Headquarters.

Heavenly Judgment learned that the Bell-Listening Chamber held the shadow of the fourth Fragment and discovered that its bell could lure people with memories of their loved ones. After the shadow revealed that the Fragment was hidden inside, Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan agreed to enter the chamber.

• The Director ordered the Seventh Team to scout the tower's outer door while Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan stayed outside, and True Shen Cheng warned them to avoid the white stairs and seek the shadow beneath the bell.
• The Bronze Bell rang during reconnaissance, and Liu Hang started toward the door after hearing what sounded like his dead father calling him; Xu Zhihan talked him out of entering, and the Deputy Captain pulled him back.
• The bell rang again in the monitoring room, and Xu Zhihan saw the white staircase and heard someone call him back until Lu Wenchuan blocked his view of the screen.
• The recovered white powder formed a tiny bell, and a golden gleam identified itself as the shadow of the fourth Fragment before displaying that the Fragment was hidden in the Bell-Listening Chamber.
• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan agreed that they would have to enter the chamber.

Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan entered the Bell-Listening Chamber and retrieved the fourth Fragment’s shadow as a Bell Seal before escaping ahead of the third chime. The actual fourth divinity fragment was located at the abandoned clock tower in the city center, identified as the Oracle Tower’s second entrance.

• Song Zhixia finalized the plan and had Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan inject medicine before entering the tower shaft.
• Xu Zhihan found a new inscription stating that Lu Wenchuan’s Anchor line was intact, and the pair continued down to the Bell-Listening Chamber.
• Inside the chamber, Lu Wenchuan cut the black lines connecting the chime’s false figures while Xu Zhihan used the Golden Mark to draw out the fourth Fragment’s shadow.
• When the second chime caused the golden light to shift toward Lu Wenchuan, Xu Zhihan rejected Lin Wan’s false shadow and kept working on the Fragment.
• Xu Zhihan formed the Fragment’s shadow into a Bell Seal, and Lu Wenchuan pulled him out before the third chime sounded.
• The Technical Team located the actual fourth divinity fragment at the abandoned clock tower, the Oracle Tower’s second entrance.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan entered the Old Clock Tower, which had overlapped with the Oracle Tower, and found evidence that Dai Yun had become trapped there after hearing an oracle. They destroyed a mirror replay of Xie Wu’s past and continued toward the fourth Fragment with only a minute and a half left in their round.

• Song Zhixia warned Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan about the tower’s temporal distortions and ordered them not to use blood or fuse with the fourth Fragment.
• Xu Zhihan used the Bell Seal to open the clock tower’s door, where the clock-face pattern marked 1:17 remained dark.
• Lu Wenchuan found Dai Yun’s repair form and heard his voice warn them about the white light and a face inside it.
• Xu Zhihan concluded that Dai Yun was still trapped in the clock tower and explained that Xie Wu had become a Vessel while Dai Yun had been made into a doorbell.
• Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan shattered a mirror replaying Xie Wu’s past and headed upstairs toward the fourth Fragment as Song Zhixia reported that one and a half minutes remained.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan recovered the fourth Divinity Fragment from the clock tower after severing the threads attached to Lu Wenchuan. As they tried to escape, the tower’s white light entered Lu Wenchuan’s Fate Line, and a snow-white Divine Throne appeared in his eyes.

• Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan found Dai Yun’s screw and learned from the photographs that the fragment was behind the third-floor clock, where they had to avoid the oracle and its white light.
• After leaving the tower briefly for treatment, they returned and followed the photographs’ directions to the clock chamber’s maintenance ladder.
• Xu Zhihan identified the threads linking the fragment to Lu Wenchuan, and Lu Wenchuan cut them with his Short Knife despite the pain.
• Xu Zhihan pulled the fourth Fragment from the clock, and the pair retreated as the tower rang and white light filled the chamber.
• The white light attacked Lu Wenchuan and entered his Fate Line, revealing a snow-white Divine Throne in his pupils.

Lu Wenchuan was pulled into the Divine Throne’s judgment, where he rejected the Sin Lines assigned to him while Xu Zhihan helped pull him back. They escaped the Bell Chamber with the fourth Fragment, but learned the Oracle Tower’s next level would target Lu Wenchuan directly.

• Lu Wenchuan entered the center of judgment, where the Divine Throne ordered him to bear other people’s Sin Lines.
• Xu Zhihan reached Lu Wenchuan through their Fate Line and urged him to reject the debts of Xu Chengyuan, Zhao Huaide, the Gu Family, Ji Heng, and Lin Wan.
• Lu Wenchuan walked back along the Fate Line as Xu Zhihan held on, and Xu Zhihan used Lu Wenchuan’s crumpled Mint Candy to help bring him out of the judgment.
• Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan escaped the Bell Chamber with the fourth Fragment, and Dai Yun’s photograph thanked Lu Wenchuan before turning to ash.
• The Deputy Captain reported that the Oracle Tower’s Third Entrance had opened at the Old Air-Raid Shelter, marked for Anchor Severing, and Song Zhixia gave Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan Medicine.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan entered the old air-raid shelter to open the third layer, which sought Lu Wenchuan’s fate line and showed him a vision of his death. They reached a trial room that tied them both to a chair, and the door closed behind them as the lines tightened.

• Song Zhixia led the team to the shelter and ordered the equipment to go in first after something knocked from behind the iron door.
• The Detection Sphere found a message directing them to sever the anchor, and Xu Zhihan warned that the layer was searching for Lu Wenchuan’s fate line.
• The team saw a false Lu Wenchuan on the monitor, while True Shen Cheng explained that the layer would show the anchor what he looked like after death.
• Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan entered the passage, where Xu Zhihan stepped into a reflection of Lu Wenchuan’s corpse and made it disappear.
• They reached a door bearing Lu Wenchuan’s name and entered the Severed Anchor Trial Seat, where two lines bound them to the chair before the door shut.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan resisted the White Room’s Trial Seat, which tried to make them sacrifice themselves for the fourth Fragment and Lu Wenchuan’s anchor. After they destroyed the chair, the third layer opened, leaving them facing its next danger.

• The White Room showed Xu Zhihan a vision of Lu Wenchuan dying and showed Lu Wenchuan a vision of Xu Zhihan being taken, while the chair’s threads tightened around them.
• Xie Wu’s remnant image offered to spare one of them pain if the other sat in the Trial Seat, but Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan refused.
• Xu Zhihan set down the case holding the fourth Fragment, and he and Lu Wenchuan realized the room wanted the Fragment and the anchor near the chair.
• Lu Wenchuan dismantled the Trial Seat while Xu Zhihan held the Fragment in place, and a black iron nail struck Lu Wenchuan’s shoulder.
• Xu Zhihan crushed Xie Wu’s remnant image and gave Lu Wenchuan the candy he had received from him as the White Room went dark.
• A door marked for the anchor to enter the third layer appeared, and Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan told Song Zhixia they were alive but could not leave.