Chapter Summaries

Xia Shou entered a strange apartment with a notebook warning him about its dangers, but Alice opened a forbidden door and released a red wax figure. After surviving a vision of drowning, Xia Shou absorbed the figure and gained the Death Road skill.

• Xia Shou read the Death Record Notebook, learned the rules for Alice, and used a mirror to see her mutilated face.
• Xia Shou left the study and found the corridor crowded with bizarre doors, which he refused to open himself.
• Alice opened a door overhead, and a red wax figure fell into the corridor.
• The figure's shriek sent Xia Shou into a vision of sinking beneath crushing seawater, where he saw a red line at 1,300 meters.
• The red wax figure sank into the black liquid covering the corridor, which flowed into Xia Shou's shadow and granted him the Death Road skill.

Xia Shou learned that he had to devour anomalies to stop sinking and followed the notebook’s directions to seek help from the Anomaly Control Bureau. He entered the Bureau with a confident red-haired woman and asked about Shangguan Yan.

• Xia Shou realized Alice had saved him by opening a door and found a notebook entry explaining that devouring anomalies could give him buoyancy.
• Xia Shou followed the notebook’s instructions, took the pocket watch and recommendation letter, and had Alice open the front door to the city.
• Xia Shou reached the Anomaly Control Bureau’s museum and decided to join because his sinking rate left him little time to find anomalies alone.
• A red-haired woman who could see Alice guessed Xia Shou was applying to the Bureau and led him inside.
• As the elevator descended, Xia Shou asked the woman about Shangguan Yan, and she said Shangguan Yan was famous.

Xia Shou toured the Containment Bureau with a red-haired woman who introduced herself as Li Luo and saw the Calamity Crystal Dragon Lizard kill a death-row inmate. He chose Cleaner work in Investigation Department Three, only to learn that his guide was Shangguan Yan, who had been testing him and invited him to join her department.

• Xia Shou asked Li Luo about Shangguan Yan and heard her describe Shangguan Yan as a powerful but exploitative boss.
• Li Luo explained the Bureau’s clerical and Cleaner roles, and Xia Shou chose Cleaner work without hesitation.
• Li Luo showed Xia Shou the high-threat Calamity Crystal Dragon Lizard and explained its anomaly level and feeding requirements.
• The dragon lizard ate a university-educated death-row inmate while Xia Shou watched through the glass.
• Xia Shou filled out a job preference form for Investigation Department Three, and Shangguan Yan revealed her identity and invited him to work for her.

Xia Shou toured the Containment Bureau with Shangguan Yan, learned that his anomaly level was 1, and discovered he had no missions available to him alone. He asked Dr. Modis whether Alice could be tested and how he could get on a mission sooner, but Modis muttered that Xia Shou had been wrapped around a witch’s finger and refused to explain.

• Xia Shou refused Shangguan Yan’s invitation to join her department, so she continued showing him around and took him to the Intelligence Department.
• Xia Shou looked up Dorian Gray’s Pocket Watch and learned that it could absorb some damage for ten minutes, but only for level 1 superhumans.
• Shangguan Yan tested Xia Shou’s anomaly level, and the machine displayed 1.
• Dr. Modis explained that level 1 superhumans could use many Sealed Anomalies, including the pocket watch, and Shangguan Yan introduced him as a scientist specializing in anomaly taxonomy.
• Xia Shou searched for assignments at the Mission Assignment Office, but the system showed none suitable for him because he was not a Cleaner.
• Dr. Modis warned Xia Shou that level 1 superhumans needed to go on missions with a team, while Xia Shou asked whether Alice could be tested and how he could get out on a mission sooner.

After a near-fatal deep-sea hallucination, Xia Shou sought Shangguan Yan’s help to get a mission quickly. She gave him special blood to raise his Anomaly Level and assigned him a mission in exchange for a month of unpaid overtime, while the Ram-Headed Demon warned her about their contract’s taboos.

• Xia Shou recalled that most low-level superhumans had to wait for missions and decided to ask Shangguan Yan for help.
• Xia Shou was drawn into a deep-sea hallucination, where an ominous door appeared as the depth gauge climbed to 1,205 meters.
• Alice released Xia Shou’s throat and woke him before he could enter the door, and he hurried to Shangguan Yan’s office.
• Shangguan Yan offered Xia Shou special blood and a mission in exchange for a month of unpaid overtime after his return.
• The Ram-Headed Demon reminded Shangguan Yan that their contract forbade unreciprocated kindness and concealed affection, and she said Xia Shou would eventually learn the blood’s value.

Xia Shou learned that the Blood Demon House had returned and was being sent to investigate it. Outside the house, Zhang Zhengde waited for a Level Three Cleaner to arrive, and Xia Shou stepped out of the transport truck.

• Xia Shou reviewed his abilities and learned that the Blood Demon House resembled a doorway from his dream.
• Zhang Zhengde arrived at the cordon and learned that Zhou Hongjie and five First-Level Cleaners had gone silent inside the house.
• Zhang Zhengde saw the Anomaly Meter reading rise to 1,257 and insisted on one more rescue attempt.
• Zhang Zhengde revealed that the director had invoked special emergency authority to send a Level Three Cleaner, a man with a possessing spirit.
• Xia Shou arrived at the Blood Demon House in a transport truck.

Xia Shou entered the Blood Demon House to investigate the unknown anomaly, relying on Death Road to guide his first attempt. As Zhang Zhengde and the others watched, a second Level Three Cleaner called Tamer arrived with a black panther Grudge Spirit to provide support.

• Zhang Zhengde and the masked man recognized Xia Shou as a Level Three Cleaner and warned him that six Cleaners had entered the Blood Demon House without returning.
• Xia Shou activated Death Road at the villa entrance, saw the most dangerous route marked by a thick red thread, and went inside.
• Zhang Zhengde and the masked man praised Xia Shou's resolve after the villa's front door closed behind him.
• A transport truck arrived, and its black panther Grudge Spirit overwhelmed Zhang Zhengde and the masked man with its pressure.
• Tamer stepped out of the truck and reported that he had come to support the investigation at Investigation Department Two's request.

Xia Shou entered the Blood Demon House, where gravity was inverted, and used his shadow to devour a dead Control Bureau operative. He gained a one-use Physique Enhancement remnant and remained 79 meters from the 1,300-meter mark needed to pay the price for Death Road.

• Zhang Zhengde learned that Xia Shou was a newly joined level-one transcendent and complained to his superior about Shangguan Yan sending him as backup.
• Zhang Zhengde's superior told him the deputy director had approved the assignment and instructed him to use Xia Shou as bait before the house could devour him.
• The Tamer asked whether Xia Shou had already entered the house, then prepared to follow with his black-flamed leopard.
• Xia Shou found the inverted entryway and discovered that objects brought in from outside were unaffected by the house's reversed gravity.
• Xia Shou found and devoured the corpse of a Control Bureau combat operative, gaining a temporary Physique Enhancement remnant.
• Xia Shou checked his depth and found he was still 79 meters from the 1,300-meter mark.

Xia Shou explored the Blood Demon House’s vast, impossible interior while using Death Road to seek a safe route toward the missing Investigator Edward. He encountered an injured girl changing clothes, and she was shocked that he could see her.

• Xia Shou drank Shangguan Yan’s blood vial and entered an enormous office space joined to other unrelated rooms inside the Blood Demon House.
• Xia Shou realized the most dangerous direction was moving, suggesting that a predator actively hunted within the house.
• Xia Shou studied the red lines and decided to use the safest route to search for Edward and gather information.
• Xia Shou crossed the office and entered a café, where he found an injured girl with a nearly two-meter Odachi changing her shirt.
• Xia Shou asked the girl whether she worked for the Containment Bureau, and she froze and excitedly asked if he could see her.

Xia Shou met Su Weiyu in the Blood Demon House and learned that the Blood Demon had killed everyone who entered before them. Su Weiyu guided him to several bodies so he could strengthen his abilities, and they ended at a scorched ruin where his shadow hungered for a charred corpse.

• Su Weiyu introduced herself to Xia Shou and offered to help him escape using Captain Sparrow's Compass.
• Su Weiyu told Xia Shou that the Blood Demon had killed the earlier arrivals and that even [Boy Cutter] had failed to defeat it.
• Xia Shou asked Su Weiyu to lead him to the dead so he could strengthen his ability, and she agreed.
• Xia Shou devoured three bodies in a tilted classroom and gained [Battle Continuation], [Imperfect Vacuum], and [Organ Fixation].
• Xia Shou and Su Weiyu crossed the warped rooms to a scorched ruin, where two fresh bodies lay beside a charred kneeling figure that drew Xia Shou's shadow.

Xia Shou gained skills from devouring the Cleaner Zhou Hongjie, but the ancient charred corpse’s slow devouring left him unable to move. Su Weiyu killed the Tamer who attacked them, and the pair waited as the devouring continued until a strange, bloodlike presence approached.

• Xia Shou’s shadow devoured Zhou Hongjie’s corpse and yielded [Everlasting Wound], then began devouring the charred corpse and immobilized Xia Shou.
• The Tamer arrived, mistook Xia Shou’s shadow for an anomaly, and attacked him while Xia Shou could neither move nor speak.
• Su Weiyu cut off the Tamer’s arms and then beheaded him, while he failed to perceive her or react normally to her attacks.
• Su Weiyu waited beside Xia Shou as the charred corpse’s devouring progress slowly increased, and Xia Shou wondered whether her ability affected only humans.
• A powerful, strangely warm and sweet stench of blood suddenly filled the ruins.

Xia Shou waited for the Blood Demon while Devouring the Tamer’s corpse, as Su Weiyu lured the monster away and was mortally wounded. After Devouring reached completion, Xia Shou gained a new skill and turned to Alice, who killed him as he had expected.

• Su Weiyu tried to carry Xia Shou away, but Alice stopped her, and Su Weiyu later ran off as the Blood Demon’s scent faded.
• Xia Shou continued Devouring the corpse until a black-flamed Ghost Leopard appeared and mourned the Tamer.
• The Blood Demon attacked the Ghost Leopard and filled the ruins with scarlet crystal spears.
• Xia Shou saw Su Weiyu suspended in the Blood Demon’s blood threads, gravely mutilated but still trying to hand him the Compass and warn him to run.
• Devouring reached 100%, and Xia Shou gained the skill [Reach the Pinnacle Where No One Is!].
• Alice awakened and warned Xia Shou that turning around would get him killed, then snapped his neck when he turned to look at her.

Xia Shou rewound time and planned a faster route through the Blood Demon House, using Death Road to avoid the Blood Demon while gathering strength to save Su Weiyu. Outside, Zhang Zhengde received an order to seal off the house after the Containment Bureau learned the Blood Demon could possess intruders and escape; Xia Shou began devouring the classroom corpses ahead of schedule.

• Xia Shou returned to the moment he entered the Blood Demon House, and Alice remained awake after the rewind because of her bond with him.
• Xia Shou explained why he had rewound instead of fighting, then mapped the maze and planned a direct route to devour the six corpses while avoiding the Blood Demon.
• Zhang Zhengde received headquarters' order to seal off a one-kilometer perimeter and learned that the Blood Demon could possess intruders and escape the house.
• Zhang Zhengde ordered the others to withdraw and prepare the Death Row Barrier in case a Level Five Transcendent had to confront the Blood Demon.
• Xia Shou reached the classroom ten minutes earlier than on his previous attempt and devoured all three corpses there.

Xia Shou completed the Devouring and gained the deadly skill Peak Perfection in Solitude, then prepared for the final stage. In the café, Su Weiyu’s Compass stopped pointing ahead, and she raced to find the person she had sought for three years.

• Xia Shou observed the Blood Demon and Ghost Leopard’s positions through Death Road and waited for the Devouring to finish.
• Xia Shou completed the Devouring and acquired Peak Perfection in Solitude, a skill that could kill him if any locked-on target survived its one-minute effect.
• Su Weiyu reflected on her isolation and how she had followed Captain Sparrow’s Compass for three years, hoping to find someone who could see her.
• The Compass’s needle stopped and pointed ahead, so Su Weiyu chose to trust it again and sprinted across the café ceiling with her Odachi.

Su Weiyu followed the Compass through the Blood Demon House and found Xia Shou facing the Blood Demon with a dying Tamer and his Black Panther. Xia Shou activated [Peak Perfection in Solitude] as he advanced to fight the seemingly invincible monster.

• Su Weiyu entered an upside-down church, where she saw the Tamer and his Black Panther fighting the Blood Demon.
• The Blood Demon overwhelmed the Black Panther and struck the Tamer with crystal spikes, while Su Weiyu discovered that Xia Shou could see her.
• Su Weiyu urged Xia Shou to flee, but he declared that he would stay and kill the Blood Demon.
• The Tamer gave Xia Shou an Obsidian Necklace for the Second Division Director and chose to cover Xia Shou's retreat with his partner.
• Xia Shou walked toward the Blood Demon and activated [Peak Perfection in Solitude].

Xia Shou used Peak Perfection to unleash his full combat strength and fought the Blood Demon while Alice blinded it and the Tamer helped divert its attacks. A Blood Spear Forest killed Xia Shou and the others, triggering his death rewind.

• Xia Shou activated Death Road, crushed the remnants he had collected, and used Everlasting Wound before charging the Blood Demon.
• Xia Shou wounded the Blood Demon and suppressed its regeneration, while the Tamer chose to sacrifice himself and Little Black to aid him.
• Xia Shou endured devastating injuries with Battle Continuation and Physical Body Fixation as Alice kept the Blood Demon blind and the Tamer redirected its blood blades.
• Xia Shou read the Blood Demon's attack patterns, but its Blood Spear Forest impaled Xia Shou, the Tamer, and Su Weiyu.
• Xia Shou died, and his rewind triggered.

Xia Shou used his enhanced body and the remnants of the dead to defeat the Blood Demon before Death Road wore off. He survived with a final gauge reading of 1,301 meters and finally read the name beneath the sea: Sea of Unceasing Blood.

• Xia Shou told Su Weiyu to flee and warned the black-cloaked caster to get above the chapel before fighting the Blood Demon.
• Xia Shou discovered that the Blood Demon could form new limbs but lost blood volume whenever he severed them, and he destroyed its head, ending the Tamer and Little Black’s support.
• Xia Shou drew on the fallen predecessors’ final wishes and struck the Blood Demon with a powerful punch that shattered half its body.
• Xia Shou continued pummeling the weakened Blood Demon until it dissolved into a pool of blood, surviving just before Death Road went on cooldown.
• Xia Shou saw that his gauge had stopped at 1,301 meters and recognized the words beneath the sea as “Sea of Unceasing Blood.”

Xia Shou tried to escape the dangerous depths beneath the church while Shangguan Yan suffered and reversed a mysterious backlash. Outside the Blood Demon House, the Execution Squad arrived and prepared to confront the suspected host, with the Calamity Crystal Dragon Lizard as backup.

• Xia Shou spread his shadow over the church dome, hoping the blood inside would provide buoyancy as he tried to rise.
• Shangguan Yan was struck by countless wounds, then ordered the blood to return to her body and decided she would need a few days off.
• Zhang Zhengde saw the anomaly reading fall below 1,000 and concluded that the Blood Demon had taken the Tamer as its host.
• Five Execution Squad members arrived, and one explained that the Blood Demon's level was likely below five after taking a host.
• The Execution Squad planned to negotiate with the host first, then open a Dimensional Wormhole so the Calamity Crystal Dragon Lizard could attack if negotiations failed.

Xia Shou finished devouring the Blood Demon and gained two blood-related skills, though he could digest only half of its power. When the Execution Squad tried to kill him outside the Blood Demon House, Su Weiyu intervened and persuaded the Calamity Crystal Dragon Lizard to leave him alone.

• Xia Shou completed the Blood Demon's devouring, gaining [Heal Wounds with Blood] and the limit-breaking skill [Blood Rampage], but learned that he had digested only 50%.
• Xia Shou left the Tamer's corpse behind as a misleading clue and returned to the Entrance Hall, where Su Weiyu was waiting.
• As Xia Shou exited the house, the Execution Squad ambushed him, but Su Weiyu severed every executioner's arms before they could hurt him.
• The Execution Squad used a wormhole to summon the Calamity Crystal Dragon Lizard, which seized Xia Shou and prepared to eat him.
• Su Weiyu negotiated with 678, offering double food and a month of reading books aloud, and the Dragon Lizard withdrew without attacking Xia Shou.
• The Execution Squad was stunned that 678 had abandoned its agreement to devour Xia Shou.

Xia Shou concealed that he had killed and devoured the Blood Demon, letting the Containment Bureau believe the Tamer had dealt with it. As he waited with Su Weiyu, he learned that her anti-meme ability made others ignore her, explaining her intense attachment to him.

• The Execution Squad questioned Xia Shou about the missing Curse Power, but a detector began registering the Blood Demon's death, and a masked man argued the Blood Demon would have possessed the stronger Tamer instead.
• Xia Shou told Zhang Zhengde that the Tamer was dead and handed over the Tamer's obsidian necklace, claiming the Tamer had gone to confront the Blood Demon.
• Xia Shou agreed to wait for the Execution Squad and told Su Weiyu he had concealed the truth because the Containment Bureau must not learn about his ability.
• Xia Shou considered joining the Containment Bureau to gain access to its resources while seeking a way to improve his standing as a Level-one employee.
• Xia Shou asked Su Weiyu to keep what happened in the house secret, and she promised she would.
• Xia Shou realized Su Weiyu's ability made people overlook her, and she explained that the Containment Bureau classified it as an anti-meme that axiomatized the effects of her actions on others' awareness.