Chapter Summaries

Yang Yong survived Guancheng’s fall by staying motionless until an Eerie left, then joined Captain Cao’s convoy and agreed to help Zheng Xiaofeng retrieve something in Qinglongzhai Village. As he entered the suspiciously quiet village, his dormant Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace activated and detected three instances of abnormal matter, but it lacked the energy to analyze them.

• Yang Yong waited six hours after an Eerie vanished, then gathered his supplies and escaped on a bicycle.
• Yang Yong hid from a convoy, proved he had no Weirdness Mark, and joined Captain Cao’s group.
• Yang Yong observed Captain Cao, Sister Ying, and Zheng Xiaofeng, then agreed to help Zheng Xiaofeng move something in a village.
• At Qinglongzhai Village, Captain Cao planted a white flag and gave the group thirty minutes to search before the convoy left.
• As Yang Yong entered the village, his furnace activated, detected three instances of abnormal matter, and advised him to collect energy under the Red Moon.

Yang Yong and the convoy searched Qinglongzhai Village for supplies, but an Eerie hunted the villagers and survivors as the ground opened beneath them. The convoy escaped with losses, and Old Cao planned a trip to a nearby supermarket while Yang Yong worried that it might not be safe.

• Yang Yong paired with Li Zhi to search a house in Qinglongzhai Village and found food and a photograph of a family who had vanished.
• After a woman screamed and Yang Yong saw a dark shape behind a window, Zheng Xiaofeng ordered everyone to leave, but some people stayed behind to search for supplies.
• Yang Yong spotted the flag moving despite the still air and fled with Li Zhi; at the village entrance, Zheng Xiaofeng wanted to rescue those still inside, but Sister Ying stopped him.
• A bloodied young man escaped and reported that the ground had opened and swallowed Brother Wang; when the timer ran out, the convoy left Qinglongzhai without the people still inside.
• At the abandoned gas station, Old Cao said the losses were necessary to gather supplies and information, then announced that the convoy would search a nearby supermarket the next day; Yang Yong lay awake doubting its safety.

Yang Yong and Li Zhi searched Huiwanjia Supermarket for supplies but encountered the Slit-Mouthed Woman, who began hunting everyone inside. Sister Ying blocked her attack long enough for the two men to escape, while the survivors remained trapped in the darkness, with sunlight at the entrance their only hope.

• Yang Yong and Li Zhi entered Huiwanjia Supermarket to gather supplies and heard a sinister voice in the dark.
• The Slit-Mouthed Woman found Yang Yong and Li Zhi in the storeroom after Li Zhi accidentally knocked over a can.
• Sister Ying blocked the Slit-Mouthed Woman's claws with her blade and ordered Yang Yong and Li Zhi to flee.
• Yang Yong and Li Zhi reached the main shelves, where Zheng Xiaofeng and the other survivors hid in silence as Sister Ying fought the Slit-Mouthed Woman.
• The Slit-Mouthed Woman forced Sister Ying back while the survivors watched the sunlight at the entrance, and Yang Yong resolved to run and survive.

Yang Yong escaped a supermarket haunted by the Slit-Mouthed Woman after the old woman used him as bait, and Sister Ying and Zheng Xiaofeng held the monster back long enough for everyone to flee. As the convoy escaped, Yang Yong activated his Red Moon-powered bicycle, revealing the furnace that had helped him survive the apocalypse.

• Yang Yong realized the old woman had deliberately shoved him into a shelf to draw the Slit-Mouthed Woman toward him, so he grabbed the old woman and pushed her toward the monster.
• Sister Ying attacked the Slit-Mouthed Woman with her blade, giving the people hiding in the supermarket a chance to run for the exits.
• Zheng Xiaofeng charged the monster in Stone Armor, allowing Sister Ying and Yang Yong to retreat while he and Sister Ying escaped with serious injuries.
• The survivors fled the supermarket in their vehicles, and Yang Yong rode away on his bicycle as the Slit-Mouthed Woman watched them from the entrance.
• Yang Yong activated the bicycle's Red Moon-powered boost, which came from the Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace he had acquired after arriving in the Spiritless World.

After a Skinning Ghost killed a man in the convoy, Yang Yong noticed Wang Ying's repaired blade and Old Cao secretly recording information. As the convoy hurried onward, Yang Yong discovered his bicycle had been stolen and sensed it inside a bus, so he retrieved the iron fragment embedded in it.

• After cycling for a day and night, Yang Yong stopped with the convoy, cooked instant noodles, and slept in his tent.
• The next morning, Yang Yong found that the man who had taken a woman into his tent was dead, his skin stripped away.
• Wang Ying identified the killer as a Skinning Ghost, while survivors accused Old Cao and the Transcendents of failing to detect it.
• Wang Ying silenced the crowd by drawing her blade, and Yang Yong noticed it had been restored after breaking the day before.
• Old Cao recorded information in a black notebook, then the Transcendents buried the body and ordered the convoy to leave.
• Yang Yong discovered his bicycle was missing, sensed it inside a bus, and secretly recalled the iron fragment embedded in it.

Yang Yong used the iron plate to power an abandoned van, then absorbed a pair of scissors and forged them into the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors, a Curio. At the convoy’s rest stop, he confronted the bus passengers to demand payment for his stolen bicycle.

• Yang Yong enhanced an abandoned van with the iron plate and drove after the convoy, ignoring a woman who asked for a ride.
• Yang Yong absorbed a pair of ordinary-looking scissors from beneath the van’s passenger seat, and the Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace forged them during the journey.
• Yang Yong received the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors, Curio No. 8991, and realized the furnace could forge equipment from Weird Artifact materials.
• The convoy stopped to rest until noon the next day, and Yang Yong strode toward the bus to settle the score over his stolen bicycle.
• Several burly passengers blocked the bus doorway, and Yang Yong demanded that whoever stole his bicycle step forward.

Yang Yong used the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors to force the people on the bus to return his stolen bicycle, revealing his power to the convoy. After punishing the thief and the woman who had tried to frame him, he returned to his van, expecting the Transcendents to seek him out.

• Yang Yong confronted the bus passengers over his missing bicycle, but the leader denied responsibility and the old woman accused him of bullying them.
• Yang Yong demonstrated the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors by slicing the bus's spare tire, frightening the crowd into silence.
• The bus leader ordered the thief to come forward, and a young man returned Yang Yong's bicycle.
• Yang Yong cut off one hand each from the old woman and the young man, then warned the bus's occupants not to steal from him again.
• Captain Old Cao recognized the scissors as a Curio, while Wang Ying and Zheng Xiaofeng watched Yang Yong with interest.
• Yang Yong returned to his van with the bicycle and anticipated that the convoy's Transcendents would soon approach him.

Yang Yong joined the convoy’s Transcendents by claiming that his Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace meant he had awakened the Artificer Sequence. After learning the convoy planned to meet another group, he woke to find preparations to leave underway.

• Wang Ying brought Yang Yong to Captain Cao Xianming, who explained that he had calculated Yang’s chance of awakening Sequence Transcendence as one hundred percent and had arranged for Wang Ying and Zheng Xiaofeng to protect him.
• Cao Xianming assigned the Transcendents’ supply shares: thirty percent each to himself and Wang Ying, and twenty percent each to Yang Yong and Zheng Xiaofeng; Yang agreed.
• Cao Xianming, Wang Ying, and Zheng Xiaofeng discussed their Sequence abilities and the prices those abilities demanded, while Yang Yong concealed that he had no Sequence Transcendence.
• Yang Yong returned to his van, ignored the wounded old woman and young man, cooked noodles, and slept.
• Xiao Ma told Yang Yong that the convoy would leave in ten minutes to meet another convoy spotted nearby.

Yang Yong traveled with Cao Xianming’s convoy to a river fleet and grew suspicious of its boats and the water beneath them. After the convoy traded for fish and announced its first communal meal, Yang Yong watched uneasily as a giant fish was prepared.

• Cao Xianming led the convoy to a river, where they met the Drifting Boat Fleet and its captain, Li Min.
• Li Min invited Cao Xianming and the others aboard to discuss trading, while Yang Yong examined the boats and sensed something watching him from the water.
• Xiao Ma returned to shore looking pale, and the convoy set up camp beside the river as Yang Yong noticed strange glimmers beneath the surface.
• Yang Yong left the boat for safety, unaware that a strand of black hair brushed his clothes from the gunwale.
• Lao Zhang announced a communal meal, and Xiao Ma traded convoy supplies for a vehicle-load of fish from the fleet.
• The convoy began cooking a person-sized snakehead, while Yang Yong watched and wondered why the meal felt so strange.

Yang Yong saw Lao Zhang drug the convoy’s fish and stayed awake with Old Cao and Wang Ying, who followed Old Cao’s warning to hide in their vehicles because an Eerie was among the Drifting Convoy. During the night, a territorial giant snake attacked the camp and fleet, leaving Yang Yong to realize the fleet was hiding a Transcendent who could mimic an Eerie’s aura.

• Yang Yong saw Lao Zhang add sleeping pills to the fish, and most of the convoy—including Lao Zhang and Xiao Ma—fell asleep after eating.
• Old Cao showed Yang Yong and Wang Ying his calculations, warned that an Eerie was in the Drifting Convoy, and told them to stay silent inside their vehicles until dawn.
• Yang Yong, Wang Ying, and Old Cao sealed themselves inside their vehicles as a chilling presence moved through the camp.
• A giant snake attacked the camp, and Li Min identified it as territorial before his voice abruptly stopped.
• The fleet’s lead boat sounded its whistle and charged away as the snake struck the Van and apparently attacked the boats.
• Yang Yong connected Old Cao’s warning about being double-crossed to the possibility that a Transcendent in the Drifting Boat Fleet could mimic an Eerie’s aura.

Yang Yong survived the night by trusting Cao Xianming’s calculations and discovered that meditation let him absorb Red Moon energy. The Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace drew him into a strange inner space, where he began deciphering its inscriptions before pain forced him back to reality at daybreak.

• Yang Yong realized that staying still gave him the best chance of survival as the huge Eerie pursued the Drifting Boat Fleet.
• He endured the night without moving, then entered meditation and sensed himself absorbing Red Moon energy.
• Yang Yong focused on the Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace and found himself inside a misty space with inscriptions on a curved wall.
• A red light transformed the unreadable inscriptions into traditional Chinese characters, but reading them triggered intense pain and dragged Yang Yong back to his van.
• At daybreak, Yang Yong uncovered the van’s window and set out to find Cao Xianming with questions.

After the Great Snake pursued the convoy, Yang Yong abandoned his slow Van and used the piece of iron to boost his bicycle. He caught up with a hostile motorcyclist, but the Great Snake’s roar sounded behind them as the rider crashed.

• Yang Yong woke to find the survivors packing up and several new graves, then learned the convoy had to flee the Great Snake’s territory.
• Old Cao warned that anyone who fell behind would die, and the convoy raced down the highway while the vehicles gradually spread apart.
• When the Great Snake caught sight of Yang Yong’s Van at the rear, he removed the piece of iron, merged it into his little blue bicycle, and sped ahead.
• A motorcyclist threw a fire axe at Yang Yong to stop him from passing, but Yang Yong used the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors to cut the axe in two and shred the motorcycle’s tire.
• The motorcyclist toppled onto the road, and a deafening roar erupted behind him.

Yang Yong escaped the Two-Headed Great Snake by cycling with the convoy for three days, then reached a lakeside camp and recovered from exhaustion. After waking to a bowl of fish soup, he sat down beside Old Cao, ready to ask him questions.

• Yang Yong pedaled ahead of the Great Snake, caught up with the Bus, and passed it to follow the Off-Road Vehicles.
• The convoy fled for three days and nights before stopping at a lakeside meadow, where Yang Yong collapsed from exhaustion.
• Wang Ying checked Yang Yong and found him asleep, while the convoy settled into camp without the Great Snake catching up.
• Yang Yong woke during the night, cut down trees with the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors, and built a treehouse to sleep in.
• Xiao Ma brought Yang Yong fish soup, and Yang Yong joined Old Cao beside the camp.

Yang Yong and Cao Xianming’s convoy took shelter beside a lake that had replaced Qing City, where Cao explained that the Apocalypse might be caused by two worlds merging. The lake revealed mysterious winged horses, while Cao’s calculations showed the huge snake still guarded the shore, forcing the group to stay for three days.

• Cao Xianming showed Yang Yong that the convoy was at the former center of Qing City, now a lake the huge snake feared to approach.
• Cao Xianming explained his theory that the Apocalypse began when the Eerie World merged with their world, changing its terrain and creatures.
• Yang Yong and the survivors ate fish, then watched a herd of pegasi fly through mist rising from the lake.
• Cao Xianming pointed out that Yang Yong had not awakened Sequence Transcendence, and the two agreed not to pry into each other’s secrets.
• Cao Xianming said leaving the lakeshore in the next three days carried a 100% chance of an attack, and revealed that calculating the lake’s secrets had exhausted his transcendent power.
• Yang Yong wondered what lay beneath the lake, then stopped himself from acting on his curiosity.

Yang Yong, Wang Ying, Zheng Xiaofeng, and Cao Xianming caught giant mutated carp at the lakeside while the convoy waited for Cao Xianming to recover his abilities. After three days of fishing and watching mirages, Cao Xianming led the convoy onward, and they traveled safely for a full day.

• Wang Ying killed a giant carp with her blade, and Zheng Xiaofeng hauled its halves ashore for the convoy.
• Yang Yong demonstrated his abilities by riding a branch across the lake and killing a second giant carp with golden scissors.
• The convoy ate fish for three days and smoked the leftover meat, while strange mirages appeared in the lake fog each noon.
• As the seventy-two-hour limit approached, the survivors waited anxiously for Cao Xianming to recover and choose their route.
• Cao Xianming regained his usual state, calculated a safe path along the lakeshore, and led the convoy through a day without encountering any Eerie.

Cao Xianming led the convoy along Mirage Lake while a Great Snake pursued them, then chose to risk entering an unknown world rather than remain trapped by the lake. After the survivors crossed the dense mist, Yang Yong received a notification that spiritual energy had been detected and charging had begun.

• Cao Xianming explained that the Great Snake was following the convoy and presented turning back or entering an unknown world as their two options.
• Cao Xianming, Wang Ying, and Zheng Xiaofeng voted to go forward, and Yang Yong reluctantly joined them.
• Zheng Xiaofeng led the convoy toward the unknown world as the mist thickened until the survivors could barely see.
• Cao Xianming announced that the convoy was ten meters from the edge of the mist, and the vehicles took three hours to cross that distance.
• Yang Yong emerged from the mist and received a notification that spiritual energy had been detected and charging had begun.

Yang Yong and the convoy’s Transcendents investigated their new world, but an eerie chant from the lake began controlling the survivors and drawing them toward a mist-shrouded figure. The Fog Gate dimmed as even unconscious survivors rose and struggled toward the lake, leaving Zheng Xiaofeng barely able to restrain one.

• Yang Yong hoped the new world contained spiritual energy and studied the cultivation manual while the convoy made camp.
• Cao Xianming assigned Wang Ying, Zheng Xiaofeng, and Yang Yong to keep watch, and the night passed quietly until chanting drifted from the lake.
• Cao Xianming warned everyone to block their ears, but several survivors emerged from their tents in a trance and walked toward the lake.
• Yang Yong and Zheng Xiaofeng tried to stop the entranced survivors, while mist rose over the lake and a strange figure began speaking into their minds.
• Cao Xianming identified an Eerie controlling the survivors and ordered them tied up, but the unconscious survivors rose again and Zheng Xiaofeng struggled to hold one down.

After a night of surviving the Eerie at Mirage Lake, Cao Xianming led the convoy away and told them to follow the transparent wall in hopes of finding a passage back to their original world. They traveled safely for a day, but night fell beneath a vast Blood Moon.

• Yang Yong and Zheng Xiaofeng kept the survivors bound and watched them through the night while Cao Xianming studied the lake.
• Wang Ying returned after resisting the Eerie's power to magnify unfulfilled longings, and Cao Xianming ordered the convoy to leave immediately.
• Cao Xianming admitted he could only choose the route with the best chance of survival and urged everyone to stay alive.
• Cao Xianming told the convoy to follow the transparent wall, explaining that other passages between worlds might appear.
• The convoy traveled beside the wall for a day without incident, then reached their first night beneath the Blood Moon.

Cao Xianming ordered the convoy to leave unexpectedly and warned everyone not to trust any voice, even his own. When an Eerie outside began imitating familiar voices and begging for the door to be opened, Yang Yong tried to keep the bus's frightened passengers silent and under watch.

• Cao Xianming ordered everyone to get into their vehicles and move out in the middle of the night.
• Cao Xianming warned the convoy not to believe any voices they heard, including his own.
• An Eerie beside the bus window imitated Cao Xianming's voice and begged someone to open the door.
• Yang Yong ordered the passengers to stay quiet, wake their sleeping companions, and watch anyone who might speak.
• The Eerie imitated the voices of Wang Ying, Lao Zhang, and people from the passengers' memories, while Yang Yong watched everyone on the bus.

Yang Yong fought a woman in red who appeared inside the bus after a survivor answered an eerie voice, using the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors and the iron token to keep her at bay. He resolved to hold her off until dawn, though he prepared to abandon the survivors if he could not.

• Eerie voices outside the bus nearly drew survivors into answering, and a grieving woman had to be stopped from responding to a child’s cries.
• A young man answered a seductive voice, and a woman in red appeared inside the bus and killed him by snapping his neck.
• Yang Yong attacked the woman in red with the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors, channeling energy from his iron token.
• The woman in red was forced to defend herself as blood-red moonlight continuously replenished the token’s power.
• Yang Yong focused on suppressing the ghost and considered fleeing alone if he could not last until dawn.