Chapter Summaries

Shi Yu and Han He opened Liu Yiyi and Shen Bai’s gifts, finding powerful Pixiu figures and carefully sewn squirrel toys. Later, Shi Yu proposed burying Huang Daye’s rings on a hill the next day, and Han He agreed.

• Shi Yu stopped Han He from surprising him with a little persimmon, then they opened the starter pack Liu Yiyi and Shen Bai had given them.
• Han He identified Liu Yiyi’s iron beasts as a single-horned Tianlu Pixiu and a double-horned Bixie Pixiu, and Shi Yu sensed the power attached to them.
• Han He described the scents of Shi Yu’s power and the Smelting and Tailor powers while they examined the Pixiu and Shen Bai’s stuffed squirrels.
• Shi Yu and Han He put the protective gifts away and spent the evening at home as Han He occasionally tossed fruit at Shi Yu.
• Shi Yu took out Huang Daye’s rings and suggested they bury them on a hill the next day, and Han He agreed.

After repairing the Old Factory wall, Shen Bai and Huo Qiuliang appraised the three newcomers, with Shen Bai praising Shi Yu’s potential and ability to connect the others. He Siying then used her Wind Language Staircase and Hidden Wings to descend unnoticed from a rooftop and join Shen Bai in his car.

• Shen Bai finished repairing the Old Factory wall and sent Liu Yiyi and Huo Qiuliang home while he and He Siying prepared to patrol.
• In the car, Huo Qiuliang asked Shen Bai to assess the three newcomers, and Shen Bai described Han He as decisive and Hu Zihao as upright but simple-minded.
• Shen Bai praised Shi Yu’s abstract Staircase, thoughtful judgment, and potential to help connect Han He and Hu Zihao.
• After dropping Huo Qiuliang off, Shen Bai heard He Siying speak to him through the wind and spotted her on a rooftop.
• He Siying leaped from the rooftop, used Hidden Wings to go unnoticed and the wind to slow her fall, then climbed into Shen Bai’s car.

Shen Bai and He Siying inspected a department store and discussed the growing Netherworld threat and the Taint recovered from a level 4 Evil Sin. Huo Qiuliang reviewed its file and learned that the team planned to trade it for other resources.

• Shen Bai asked He Siying about her visit with Ms. Feng, and they discussed preparing newcomers to work together as Netherworld incidents increased.
• Shen Bai told He Siying that the recovered Taint had been documented and that he and Yiyi planned to exchange it for resources.
• Shen Bai and He Siying inspected a closed department store, found no danger, and locked it again on their way out.
• Huo Qiuliang read Shen Bai’s file describing the Taint, provisionally named Residual Illusion, and its powers to alter memory and cognition or pass through solid matter at personal cost.
• Huo Qiuliang concluded the team intended to trade the Taint, then shut down his computer and went to bed.

Shi Yu and Han He climbed into the mountains to carry out Huang Daye’s final wish by burying his and Huang Qingyang’s rings. After pouring baijiu over the grave, Shi Yu could not find words to address the dead and looked toward the distant school before leaving.

• Shi Yu woke to find his razor cut had nearly healed, then remembered he needed to fulfill Huang Daye’s last wish.
• Shi Yu and Han He ate breakfast, gathered the rings and a small shovel, and set out for the mountains.
• As they climbed an unfamiliar, pathless route, Han He noticed Shi Yu’s practiced movement and stamina.
• Shi Yu led Han He to a high clearing where he had once found refuge, and Han He admired the view.
• Han He dug a hole where Shi Yu indicated, and they buried Huang Qingyang’s rings together.
• Shi Yu poured baijiu over the earth, looked toward the school, and told Han He they should leave.

Shi Yu and Han He returned home as Liu Yiyi and Huo Qiuliang worked to decode a heavily encrypted letter about the trio’s future. The Stars organization approved Shi Yu, Han He, and Hu Zihao to join Snow Cedar, easing Shi Yu’s worries as he decided to stop fretting about what came next.

• Shi Yu found himself added to the Snow Cedar group chat and a second chat named [Concave], then argued with Hu Zihao about its name.
• Huo Qiuliang decoded the letter while Liu Yiyi nervously waited, with He Siying and Shen Bai arriving to help calm her.
• The letter announced that Shi Yu, Han He, and Hu Zihao were approved to join 597 Snow Cedar immediately.
• Liu Yiyi excitedly spun Huo Qiuliang and Shen Bai around, while Shen Bai said the trio could report once their credentials arrived.
• Shen Bai shared the approval in the Snow Cedar group chat, and Shi Yu replied that he understood.
• Shi Yu told Han He he had made up his mind to stop worrying, then took a breather at home.

After Shi Yu and his friends received instructions to report to a team, they prepared to set out together for the meeting place. The chapter ended as Shi Yu refused to walk between Hu Zihao and Han He.

• Shen Bai told Shi Yu and Han He that their paperwork was ready and that they should meet at a location the next morning.
• Shi Yu discovered that Han He had secretly gathered many materials, including pungent dried leaves, and warned him not to bring anything dangerous into the house.
• Han He explained that he gathered materials at night and felt uneasy without enough supplies around him.
• Hu Zihao arrived at Shi Yu's home the next morning, visibly bulkier after awakening his Staircase, and joined Shi Yu and Han He on their walk.
• Shi Yu opened the stairwell door, then stopped and said he would not walk in the middle.

Shi Yu, Hu Zihao, and Han He arrived at the Abandoned Factory and were caught off guard by an attack that Shi Yu stopped with his Psychokinesis. He Siying revealed it was a test and invited them to attack her, leaving their trial just beginning.

• Shi Yu checked the map and led Hu Zihao and Han He into the quiet Abandoned Factory to meet Liu Yiyi and Shen Bai.
• Han He noticed the unnatural silence, and the three prepared for danger as the factory doors burst open and a powerful gust hurled planks at them.
• Shi Yu used Psychokinesis and probability alteration to knock the planks off course before they could hit him.
• He Siying emerged and explained that the attack was part of a test to learn their abilities and that they had already passed its first stage.
• He Siying invited the three to attack her, checked her pocket watch, and started the test.

Shi Yu, Hu Zihao, and Han He fought He Siying and were decisively defeated despite Shi Yu’s clever use of dust and Han He’s prepared Talisman. After praising their instincts, Shen Bai invited them inside to discuss their abilities and give them IDs, cards, and access to subsidies.

• Hu Zihao charged He Siying, but she redirected his attack and threw him beneath a falling iron frame.
• Shi Yu caught the iron frame with Psychokinesis and used dust to irritate He Siying’s eye, spending 90% of his Origin without changing the fight’s outcome.
• Han He used a Talisman and Shi Yu’s Thoughts to penetrate He Siying’s wind, but she tossed him into the air while a cyclone knocked Hu Zihao down.
• He Siying praised the three newcomers, and Hu Zihao asked her to teach him her fighting techniques.
• Liu Yiyi, Shen Bai, and Huo Qiuliang arrived; Shen Bai checked the three for injuries and invited them inside to receive IDs, cards, and access to subsidies.

Shi Yu and the others received their credentials, bank cards, and standard-issue guns after joining Stars as Anomaly Handling Specialists. Shen Bai kept them at the factory for basic tests and an explanation of their work, while Liu Yiyi went on duty and Huo Qiuliang was reminded of his extra training.

• Shen Bai led Shi Yu, Han He, and Hu Zihao through the abandoned factory to an unusually clean office, where Liu Yiyi and the others joined them.
• Shen Bai gave the three men police credentials that granted them one-rank-higher authority in incidents involving supernatural phenomena.
• Shen Bai explained that their two bank cards covered their salaries and work allowances, and Shi Yu eagerly put them away.
• Shen Bai had Huo Qiuliang distribute standard-issue guns and explained that they could hurt low-level Evil Sins, while future equipment would be customized to suit their fighting styles.
• Shen Bai assigned Liu Yiyi to duty and kept the others for basic tests and a briefing, then reminded Huo Qiuliang that his training would be doubled.

Shi Yu completed his first day as an Anomaly Handling Specialist, training with his new colleagues and then celebrating with Hu Zihao and Han He. The injured students and teachers were recovering, and Shi Yu realized someone from Stars had helped them.

• Shi Yu failed the stamina tests, and Han He used the Ninth Art to ease his exhaustion.
• Shen Bai stopped Huo Qiuliang from running after he had deceived himself into ignoring his fatigue, and Huo Qiuliang complained about his punishment.
• Shen Bai drove Shi Yu, Hu Zihao, Han He, and Huo Qiuliang back, then dropped Shi Yu, Hu Zihao, and Han He off in the city.
• Hu Zihao told Shi Yu that the hospitalized students and teachers were recovering, though doctors had not identified what had harmed them.
• Shi Yu inferred that someone from Stars had intervened to help the hospitalized survivors, and he, Hu Zihao, and Han He toasted to being seventeen.