Chapter Summaries

Cao Xianming detected an approaching variable just before an enormous Corpse Mass reached the Island and began assimilating everything it touched. The Island monster fled across the sea with the Survival Convoy on its back, while Wang Ying questioned whether Cao Xianming’s promised way out was real.

• Cao Xianming announced that a variable was coming and warned the convoy that they had to stay alive until it arrived.
• An enormous Corpse Mass reached the Island and began turning its soil, rocks, and vegetation into corpses.
• The Island monster revealed its true form and fled across the sea, with the Corpse Mass pursuing it.
• The Corpse Mass attacked a Sea Serpent, a giant octopus, and a Rotting Corpse Turtle, assimilating parts of them and driving them away.
• The Survival Convoy clung to the Island monster as it fled, and Wang Ying asked Cao Xianming where their way out was while Yang Yong looked around blankly.

The Survival Convoy was trapped with the island monster as four giant creatures closed in, but Cao Xianming revealed that their escape route was a colossal maw opening beneath the sea. After it swallowed the Corpse Mass, Cao Xianming ordered the convoy to enter the maw.

• Giant sea monsters surrounded the island monster, leaving Yang Yong and the Survival Convoy with nowhere to flee.
• Cao Xianming ordered Yang Yong to store all the vehicles, then counted down while the monsters closed in.
• A colossal maw opened beneath the sea and swallowed the Corpse Mass as the other monsters tried to escape.
• Cao Xianming pointed to the maw and told the stunned Survival Convoy that they had to go inside.

The Survival Convoy escaped the giant monsters by plunging into the enormous creature’s mouth and was carried through darkness to a vast pool, where most survivors washed ashore and collapsed. A group of locals found them and, after learning outsiders had arrived, gathered with harpoons to attack them while they were unconscious.

• Cao Xianming, Zheng Xiaofeng, Wang Ying, Xiao Xuan, Yang Yong, Mang Dabiao, and the rest of the Survival Convoy let go and were swept into the giant creature’s mouth; Li Haijian followed with his sister just before it closed.
• The giant creature returned to the deep sea, and the sea serpent, flesh-like monster, octopus-headed monster, and island monster retreated to their territories.
• Yang Yong and Mang Dabiao were flushed through a dark passage into a vast pool, swam to shore, and fell asleep from exhaustion.
• The other convoy members plunged into the pool and were swept toward land; most passed out on the beach, while a few drowned before reaching shore.
• A fisherman found the survivors and called for the Transcendent after Xiao Zhu ran inland to report that outsiders had arrived.
• The locals gathered harpoons and headed for the beach, agreeing to kill the unconscious outsiders.

Xiaoju led a burly man toward the shore, where fishermen mistook Yang Yong and his companions for monsters and tried to attack them. After Yang Yong's group revealed their strength, a gunshot interrupted the confrontation.

• Xiaoju told the burly man that unconscious outsiders had appeared on the shore, and he grabbed a submachine gun and hurried after her.
• A fisherman tried to stab Yang Yong, but the Little Girl Eerie slapped him and turned him into a doll.
• The fishermen attacked the others, but Zheng Xiaofeng's body deflected a harpoon, and Cao Xianming got up and called for Yang Yong to wake.
• Yang Yong's group stood and released a murderous aura, while Yang Yong summoned Heavenly Dragon Slash and aimed a throwing knife at one of the fishermen.
• A gunshot rang out just as Yang Yong's knife was about to strike.

The Survival Convoy encountered Chen Gen, a Sequence Transcendent whose living gun had nearly sparked a fight before he recognized Zheng Xiaofeng as his childhood friend. Chen Gen revealed that they were on an island inside the belly of a whale Eerie, and the chapter ended with Yang Yong wondering why the island’s plants seemed unaffected by the Blood Moon’s aura.

• Yang Yong and the convoy prepared to fight after Chen Gen aimed a gun grown from his flesh at him.
• Chen Gen and Zheng Xiaofeng recognized each other, embraced, and introduced Chen Gen as Zheng Xiaofeng’s childhood friend.
• Chen Gen told the stunned convoy that they were inside the Whale Lord, an enormous whale Eerie.
• Chen Gen led Zheng Xiaofeng and the convoy toward the island’s center, while Cao Xianming said the area would be safe from Eerie attacks for three days.
• Yang Yong tasted a familiar weed and wondered why the island seemed untouched by the Blood Moon’s aura.

Yang Yong and his companions learned that Chen Gen lived inside the Whale Lord and heard how the whale grew enormous after consuming a strange object and sea monsters. Chen Gen revealed that he had awakened both the mechanic and keeper Sequences and maintained the Whale Lord by removing impurities from it.

• Cao Xianming tried to deduce the nature of the space, saw a terrifying eye in his mind, and collapsed from exhaustion, so Yang Yong had Xiao Ma carry him.
• Chen Gen brought the group to his wooden home and introduced himself as a mechanic who specialized in firearms, showing them his Flesh-and-Blood Submachine Gun.
• Chen Gen explained that the Whale Lord had once been a gentle little whale he befriended at South Sea Base, but experiments and its consumption of sea monsters made it grow enormously.
• Chen Gen said the Whale Lord swallowed him during its attack on South Sea Base and brought him to the inner space instead of its digestive stomach.
• Chen Gen revealed that the Whale Lord had grown huge after eating a strange object, and that he had awakened both the mechanic Sequence and the keeper Sequence.
• Chen Gen explained that he entered a door behind the sun to remove the Whale Lord’s impurities, while its fish and shrimp sustained the people living inside it.

Yang Yong and the Survival Convoy arrived in Chen Gen’s refuge inside the Whale Lord, where food was scarce and the group learned the dangers of their shelter. The Whale Lord watched the newcomers with curiosity, leaving them in a tense, temporary safe haven.

• Chen Gen explained that the refuge inside the Whale Lord was safe from the Eerie but had growing food shortages and mutated fish.
• Yang Yong used his Nine Nether Yuanchen White Bone Ring to fill a house with sweet potatoes, and Chen Gen called Old Man Xia to try growing them.
• Chen Gen warned the convoy not to approach the Inner Core, go outside in the second half of the night, or step on pulsing flesh-red ground.
• Cao Xianming asked whether Chen Gen could communicate with the Whale Lord, and Chen Gen sensed that it was curious about the newcomers.
• Cao Xianming called the refuge a temporary safe house, while Yang Yong saw what seemed to be a giant scarlet eye blink behind the Inner Core.

Yang Yong followed a man surnamed Liu into the darkness after the island's residents warned the Survival Convoy not to go outside at night. He realized the island was inside a living whale, and the Three-Yang God-Sealing Banner in his hand grew red-hot.

• The Survival Convoy settled on Chen Gen's island, where Yang Yong and Cao Xianming remained wary of Chen Gen's secrets and the food's strange energy.
• Yang Yong and the convoy ate a plentiful dinner of sweet potatoes and fish, then were repeatedly warned not to go outside during the second half of the night.
• Unable to sleep amid the island's unnatural silence, Yang Yong left his room to check on the convoy and heard a wet, squelching sound outside.
• Yang Yong spotted a stiff-moving man surnamed Liu, followed him despite the warning, and noticed a briny smell like oysters.
• As the man surnamed Liu walked into the darkness, Yang Yong felt himself being drawn upward and realized the island was inside a living whale.
• Yang Yong hurried after the man surnamed Liu as the Three-Yang God-Sealing Banner in his hand grew hot as red-hot iron.

Yang Yong followed the man surnamed Liu and watched him transform into a Sea Demon at the shore. Chen Gen stopped Yang Yong from attacking, and they witnessed thousands of Sea Demons emerge from the water.

• Yang Yong followed the man surnamed Liu and discovered that his body was secreting sticky fluid filled with tiny, wriggling creatures.
• Yang Yong watched the man shed his skin and grow gills, webbing, a shark fin, and scales as he transformed into a Sea Demon.
• Chen Gen surprised Yang Yong, pulled him into a concealed pit, and signaled him to stay quiet and observe.
• The transformed Sea Demon silently called toward the water, and thousands of Sea Demons emerged from the shore.

Yang Yong and Chen Gen waited for the Sea Demons to leave, then Chen Gen explained how eerie parasites inside the Whale Lord could infect anyone who had entered his body and eventually turn them into monsters. Chen Gen stabbed his arm to check that he could still feel pain, leaving Yang Yong alarmed by the threat of infection.

• Yang Yong watched the Sea Demons communicate, then saw them return to the water with the transformed man surnamed Liu.
• After confirming the monsters had gone, Chen Gen asked Yang Yong why he had come out during the second half of the night.
• Chen Gen explained that the Whale Lord could not expel what he could not absorb, so eerie things had accumulated inside him and taken root like parasites.
• Chen Gen warned that anyone who had entered the Whale Lord's body might already be infected and could eventually transform into a monster.
• Chen Gen stabbed his own arm to check whether he still felt pain, explaining that parasitized people lost their sense of pain during the second half of the night.

Yang Yong and Chen Gen returned to the cabins and told the team about the sea monster and the unknown parasite. Cao Xianming identified the parasite’s effect as an irreversible “Molt,” but the team could not determine what triggered it or whether anyone was infected.

• Yang Yong cut his arm to show Chen Gen that he could still feel pain, and Chen Gen concluded that newcomers had not yet been infected.
• Yang Yong and Chen Gen found that the ground had absorbed all the sea monster’s mucus before they could collect it.
• Back at the cabins, Yang Yong and Chen Gen shared what they had seen and learned with the gathered team.
• Cao Xianming used his Data Model and determined that the impurity was an Eerie whose essence was “Molt,” which forcibly transformed its host into something else.
• Cao Xianming said Molt was irreversible and its trigger was unknown, while Wang Ying noted that Yang Yong and Chen Gen could still feel pain.
• Xiao Xuan asked what the team should do, but no one had an answer.

Yang Yong watched the settlement continue its grim routine while investigating the island and noticing that the Inner Core’s light behaved unpredictably. Chen Gen, Cao Xianming, and Zheng Xiaofeng returned from searching the Whale Lord’s body without finding any parasites, leaving the group unsure what had changed.

• A woman discovered her husband Liu was missing, unaware that Yang Yong had seen him transform into a sea monster and leap into the water.
• Chen Gen sent Cao Xianming and Zheng Xiaofeng to clear parasites from the Whale Lord, assigned Yang Yong to work with Old Man Xia, and had the others watch the villagers.
• Yang Yong left the fields and searched the village and island, but the Ten-Thousand-Forged Primordial Furnace found nothing unusual to refine.
• Yang Yong observed that the Inner Core shifted west and dimmed after only about twelve hours, unlike the previous day’s thirty-six-hour light.
• Chen Gen, Cao Xianming, and Zheng Xiaofeng returned early and reported that they had traveled far without seeing a single parasite; Wang Ying asked whether they had taken the wrong route.

After Chen Gen found the route clear of the creatures, Yang Yong feared they had all found human hosts and prepared for the night. As the darkness fell, Auntie Liu transformed into a monster and fled, leaving the villagers wondering who would change next.

• Chen Gen told Yang Yong that the route where he usually saw creatures was completely clear.
• Yang Yong feared the creatures had returned to the Whale Lord or found human hosts, and Chen Gen ordered everyone to stay awake that night.
• Yang Yong, Chen Gen, Cao Xianming, Wang Ying, Mang Dabiao, Hu Xian'er, Huang Xiaojuan, and Zheng Xiaofeng gathered in the largest wooden house and waited in silence.
• Auntie Liu appeared at the doorway with scales, gills, and altered eyes, then split open as a monster emerged from her back and ran into the darkness.
• The villagers watched in terror and wondered whether Brother Liu, Auntie Liu, or they themselves would become monsters.

After seeing Auntie Liu transformed into a man-eating monster, the survivors panicked and rushed to confront the Transcendents, fearing they might be infected too. They found Chen Gen and the other Transcendents armed and waiting inside the central house, while Old Man Xia sent the crowd away without giving them answers.

• The survivors fled their houses and hurried toward the central wooden house, convinced that the Transcendents were hiding the truth about people turning into monsters.
• The first man to enter saw Chen Gen and the other Transcendents gathered with weapons, tense and ready for danger.
• The crowd gathered outside the house and froze when they saw the armed Transcendents.
• Old Man Xia told everyone to go back, saying the Transcendents had noticed the danger and were discussing what to do.
• A young man demanded answers, but another survivor silenced him and apologized to Old Man Xia.
• The crowd dispersed, still frightened and without knowing who might transform next.

After calculating through the night and morning, Cao Xianming could not identify the Eerie that mutated Auntie Liu, but he determined it spread through the air. The survivors were left facing an invisible threat with no way to know who would be infected next.

• Cao Xianming spent the night and morning calculating while the Transcendents waited anxiously for answers.
• Cao Xianming stopped calculating and told Chen Gen, Yang Yong, Wang Ying, and the others that he had found nothing.
• A frightened survivor returned to his family and complained that the Transcendents were hiding what they knew.
• Cao Xianming explained that the Eerie did not match any known Sequence Eerie and defied conventional logic.
• Cao Xianming revealed that the Eerie's transmission route was the air.

Cao Xianming revealed that airborne Corpse Worms could infect nearly everyone, but Xiao Xuan’s power could purge them and Yang Yong had a 0% chance of parasitization. The chapter left Yang Yong suspecting that the deeper force of the Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace protected him.

• Cao Xianming explained that Corpse Worms spread through the air, infect people, and had already infiltrated the Wooden House.
• Cao Xianming identified Xiao Xuan as having the lowest risk because her Fierce-Eyed Guanyin power countered the Corpse Worms.
• Xiao Xuan released golden light and circled the room, burning away the Corpse Worms and clearing the air.
• Cao Xianming announced that Yang Yong had a 0% chance of being parasitized because something inside him would devour the worms.
• Yang Yong considered whether the Evil Eye or the Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace within him was responsible for his immunity.

Yang Yong considered using an Evil Eye to suppress the Corpse Worms, while Cao Xianming warned him of the danger and then judged the plan might work inside the Whale Lord’s small space. Chen Gen told the Wooden House district about the infection and organized an investigation, but on returning to the main house he saw the terrifying Evil Eyes covering Yang Yong’s left hand.

• Yang Yong considered removing an Evil Eye and using it to cleanse the Corpse Worms, but Cao Xianming warned that unleashing one could cause catastrophe.
• Yang Yong reminded Cao Xianming that they were inside the Whale Lord, and Cao Xianming concluded that the space could help suppress the Evil Eye, though anyone treated would have to remain there.
• Chen Gen told the Wooden House district that invisible Corpse Worms caused Auntie Liu’s transformation and asked everyone to investigate where they first appeared.
• Chen Gen assigned Old Man Xia to lead groups searching the routes and haunts of the man surnamed Liu, while ruling out Auntie Liu’s limited movements.
• Chen Gen returned to the main house and saw the Evil Eyes beneath Yang Yong’s sleeve, which nearly overwhelmed him with terror.

Xiaoju began mutating from the Corpse Worms, and Yang Yong hesitated over whether to use an unverified method to save her. As her transformation advanced, Chen Gen urged Yang Yong to try the plan before it was too late.

• Chen Gen slapped himself to break free of the Evil Eye's mental enthrallment and moved away from Yang Yong.
• The Transcendents waited through the night for another mutation to begin.
• Xiaoju entered the Wooden House with food, then discovered Corpse Worms spreading through her hands and cried for help.
• Yang Yong hesitated over using the unverified method while Cao Xianming continued his calculations.
• Chen Gen saw Xiaoju's mutation advancing and urged Yang Yong to try the method.

Yang Yong grafted an Evil Eye onto Xiaoju to try to suppress her Corpse Worm mutation. The gray membrane on her palm began growing much more slowly, and Yang Yong started documenting the changes as the survivors saw hope that the method could save them.

• Chen Gen urged Yang Yong to try the risky Evil Eye graft, and Xiaoju begged them to save her.
• Yang Yong removed an Evil Eye from his arm and warned Xiaoju that the procedure could not be undone; she agreed.
• Yang Yong cut between Xiaoju’s eyebrows and pressed the Evil Eye into the wound, where tendrils burrowed into her flesh.
• The gray membrane spreading across Xiaoju’s palm slowed, prompting Chen Gen, Wang Ying, Zheng Xiaofeng, Xiao Xuan, and the others to realize the graft could suppress the mutation.
• Yang Yong recorded Xiaoju’s symptoms in a notebook and ordered the White-Clothed Love Letter Ghost to capture every change.

Xiao Xuan used golden light to purge the Corpse Worms from Xiaoju, leaving permanent marks but saving her life. Cao Xianming finished his calculations and confirmed that grafting Evil Eyes to expel the worms was viable.

• Xiaoju’s body expelled countless Corpse Worms, and Xiao Xuan burned them away with golden light while Yang Yong watched.
• Xiaoju endured hours of pain as the worms left her body, then collapsed and wept when Xiao Xuan confirmed they were gone.
• Yang Yong observed the Evil Eye between Xiaoju’s brows and concluded that the grafting method could work inside the Whale Lord’s protected space.
• Cao Xianming finished his calculations, and Chen Gen and the other survivors waited for his assessment.
• Cao Xianming declared the method viable, filling Chen Gen with joy.