Recaps

Lu Heng used a Weapon Modification Scroll and the Rat King's corpse to transform his Bronze Hunting Blade into the Rat King Bone Knife. He planned to search the King Cobra's lair, deliver supplies and clothes to the Shelter, and went to sleep.

• Lu Heng used the Weapon Modification Scroll to forge the Rat King's bones, claws, and hide into his Bronze Hunting Blade, creating the Rat King Bone Knife.
• Lu Heng examined the knife's armor-piercing and laceration traits, tested its balance with a swing, and stored it in his Wristband Space.
• Lu Heng decided to leave the Mutant King Cobra's corpse intact in case a Weapon Modification Scroll from its lair let him upgrade his Combat Suit.
• Lu Heng set aside five bags of flour and several packets of dehydrated vegetables to deliver to the Shelter the next day.
• Lu Heng planned to collect clothes from town stores on the way to the Shelter, then went to bed.

Lu Heng searched the ruined town, recovered snake eggs and a Bronze Treasure Chest from the Mutant King Cobra’s lair, and brought supplies to Song Yunzhong’s group. He left the Bone Demon to guard them and set off with Song Yunzhong to find the ability to control Zombies.

• Lu Heng collected warm clothes from a clothing store for himself and the children staying with Song Yunzhong.
• He sent the Bone Demon into the flooded lair, where it retrieved two snake eggs and a Bronze Treasure Chest.
• Lu Heng visited Song Yunzhong’s shelter, gave the children candy, and met Song Yunjing.
• He used his Wristband to provide five sacks of flour and warm clothes for the group.
• Lu Heng left the Bone Demon to guard the shelter and took Song Yunzhong deeper into town to find the Zombie-controlling ability.

Lu Heng and Song Yunzhong headed to the town hospital in search of medicine and zombies that might help unlock Song Yunzhong's Corpse-Control Ring. After Lu Heng rescued Song Yunzhong from a ghost's lure near a supermarket, they reached the hospital and entered its grounds.

• Song Yunzhong told Lu Heng that the town's largest zombie concentrations were in the apartment blocks, school, and hospital, and Lu Heng chose the hospital for its medicine supplies.
• Lu Heng stopped Song Yunzhong from approaching a small supermarket, then carried him away when the shop's ghost made Song Yunzhong walk toward it against his will.
• Lu Heng explained that a ghost inside the supermarket had affected Song Yunzhong's body and mind, and they continued toward the hospital.
• Lu Heng and Song Yunzhong approached the hospital through side streets and found a zombie trapped in the locked duty room.
• Lu Heng left the trapped zombie alone, and he and Song Yunzhong entered the hospital grounds.

Lu Heng and Song Yunzhong searched a hospital pharmacy and collected its untouched medicine supplies. As they prepared to leave, they sensed something approaching from behind a half-open door.

• Lu Heng followed Song Yunzhong's advice to move along the corridor walls and watch the dark gaps beneath patient room doors.
• Lu Heng broke a pharmacy window so he and Song Yunzhong could enter the chained-off pharmacy.
• Lu Heng stored rows of medicine in his Wristband Space while Song Yunzhong packed supplies into his backpack.
• Lu Heng heard muted footsteps behind a half-open door and signaled Song Yunzhong to stop.
• Song Yunzhong sensed danger and readied his knife as the door began to open.

Lu Heng and Song Yunzhong faced a Spiderified Zombie that used an ordinary zombie to probe the pharmacy before ambushing Lu Heng from above. Lu Heng identified the mutant and prepared to fight it while Song Yunzhong watched for other threats.

• An ordinary zombie was pushed through the pharmacy door, alerting Lu Heng that something outside was testing them.
• Lu Heng opened the inner door and was ambushed by a wall-climbing zombie that bit and clawed at his bracer.
• Lu Heng struck the attacker with his Ghost Claw and kicked it away, finding that his bracer had stopped its bite.
• Lu Heng used his Wristband to identify it as a Bronze Tier Mutant Spiderified Zombie with rudimentary intelligence and abilities including wall climbing, silk spitting, and venom.
• Lu Heng told Song Yunzhong to watch their surroundings while he prepared to test his abilities against the Spiderified Zombie.

Lu Heng defeated the Spiderified Zombie with Mind Spike and discovered that Song Yunzhong's Corpse-Control Ring could control it while retaining its mutant abilities. As approaching footsteps sounded outside the pharmacy, the group faced an emerging threat.

• Lu Heng fought the Spiderified Zombie, severed two of its legs, and dodged its sticky web before it escaped onto the ceiling.
• Lu Heng used Mind Spike to incapacitate the Spiderified Zombie, killing its consciousness without physically destroying its body.
• Lu Heng tested whether Song Yunzhong's Corpse-Control Ring could control the mutant, and Song Yunzhong successfully raised its corpse while preserving its abilities.
• Lu Heng and Song Yunzhong heard several sets of footsteps approaching the pharmacy from deeper in the corridor.

Lu Heng and Song Yunzhong tested the Spiderified Zombie’s strength, then followed the webs to a laboratory where they found a Bronze Treasure Chest. Seeing it, Song Yunzhong connected Lu Heng’s knowledge and equipment to the chest and asked whether their world was merely a game and its people NPCs.

• Lu Heng asked Song Yunzhong to test the Spiderified Zombie, which slaughtered the ordinary zombies flooding the corridor.
• Song Yunzhong felt mentally tired but insisted he could continue exploring with Lu Heng.
• Lu Heng and Song Yunzhong followed the spiderwebs to a laboratory and found the remains of a giant spider the zombie had likely devoured to mutate.
• Lu Heng uncovered a Bronze Treasure Chest in the laboratory, prompting Song Yunzhong to suspect Lu Heng came from another world.
• Song Yunzhong asked Lu Heng whether they were NPCs in a game and what their world really was.

Lu Heng explained to Song Yunzhong that he could not stay in Song Yunzhong’s world and gave him medicine for the children. After warning Song Yunzhong to remain vigilant, Lu Heng left the shelter to find a way to kill the danger in the supermarket.

• Lu Heng told Song Yunzhong that his own world had collapsed and that he would eventually leave, while Song Yunzhong’s world was real but undergoing unknown changes.
• Lu Heng and Song Yunzhong returned to the shelter with the Spiderified Zombie, which frightened Song Yunjing and the children until Song Yunzhong reassured them he could control it.
• Lu Heng warned Song Yunzhong that the Corpse-Control Ring could not protect him if a threat occupied the zombie, and Song Yunzhong said his military experience had taught him to stay alert.
• Lu Heng shared medicine with Song Yunzhong, telling him to take supplies the children might need.
• Lu Heng told Song Yunzhong he was leaving to find a way to kill the thing in the supermarket, and Song Yunzhong wished him well and offered help if he returned.

Lu Heng returned to the Shelter after settling his debt to Song Yunzhong and opened two Bronze Treasure Chests, gaining several useful items, including a reconnaissance drone and climbing boots. After equipping the boots, he looked at the bedroom wall and considered testing them.

• Lu Heng returned to the Shelter with Bone Demon after finally repaying his debt to Song Yunzhong.
• Lu Heng harvested the Star Tears in the Planting Room before opening the Bronze Treasure Chest from the snake nest.
• The snake nest chest contained an Equipment Modification Scroll, a Blood Beast Pill, and ingredients for snake bone salve.
• Lu Heng opened the hospital laboratory chest and found Spider-Shadow Climbing Boots, a Spider Reconnaissance Drone, and another Blood Beast Pill.
• Lu Heng put on the climbing boots and looked at the bedroom wall, wondering whether to test them.

Lu Heng dismantled the Mutant King Cobra, using its Energy Core to activate the Shadow Spider Reconnaissance Drone and its snakeskin to upgrade his Combat Suit. After replenishing his Geothermal Talisman's energy in the Geothermal Valley, he resolved to charge into the eerie supermarket that night.

• Lu Heng failed to climb the Shelter wall, then dismantled the Mutant King Cobra and fitted its Energy Core into the Shadow Spider Reconnaissance Drone.
• Lu Heng tested the drone's quiet, ground-level movement and night-vision feed, then used the cobra's snakeskin to create a Snake-Pattern Combat Suit.
• Lu Heng considered his previous encounter with the supermarket's butcher and cashier and suspected they might have been wary of him.
• Lu Heng left the Shelter with the Bone Demon and reached the Geothermal Valley, where his Geothermal Talisman began restoring its energy.
• Lu Heng weighed the unknown dangers inside the supermarket against his desire to explore it, then decided to charge straight in.

Lu Heng discovered that the Starlight Meditation Method could passively strengthen his mind while he slept beneath the stars. He then used a reconnaissance drone to map the supermarket’s monsters and uncovered a rune array that bound them to their posts.

• Lu Heng slept in Geothermal Valley beneath the stars, and the Starlight Meditation Method activated on its own.
• At dawn, Lu Heng found that his Mental Strength had risen from 20 to 22 and deduced that starlight had passively nourished his mind.
• Lu Heng left Geothermal Valley with the Bone Demon and went straight to the supermarket to scout it rather than enter recklessly.
• Lu Heng guided the Shadow Spider Reconnaissance Drone through the supermarket and observed monsters guarding the checkout, bulk weighing, and fresh produce areas, along with a patrolling monster.
• Lu Heng spotted hidden runes in the walls, floors, and pillars and concluded that a Rune Array bound the monsters as puppets within a prison.

Lu Heng entered the supermarket and fought the Cashier Wraith while taking care not to damage the Sealing Runes that restrained four wraiths. He killed the cashier without provoking the others, then remained alert as he prepared to face the danger still inside.

• Lu Heng studied the Sealing Runes and decided to fight the wraiths one at a time, retreating if the runes showed signs of damage.
• Lu Heng entered the supermarket and approached the entrance checkout, where the Cashier Wraith demanded, "Where are your goods?"
• Lu Heng attacked the Cashier Wraith as the supermarket’s surveillance cameras turned toward him.
• Lu Heng severed the wraith’s arm and struck its neck, killing it before it could finish speaking.
• Lu Heng saw that the Stocker Wraith, Greengrocer Wraith, and Patrolling Wraith had not reacted, but he continued monitoring the Sealing Runes.

Lu Heng killed the cashier creature and the butcher creature, acquiring Soul Crystals and equipment while the Sealing Runes’ energy continued to drain. He headed for the bulk goods section to confront the stock clerk creature, unaware that the store’s surveillance cameras had turned toward him.

• Lu Heng repeatedly cut down the cashier creature, then used Mental Energy to destroy it before it could revive again.
• Lu Heng collected the cashier creature’s Soul Crystal and Cashier’s Towel, then absorbed the Nightmare Chest it dropped.
• Lu Heng confirmed the other creatures had not reacted to the fight and hurried toward the meat section as the checkout Sealing Runes went dark.
• The butcher creature’s skilled attacks drove Lu Heng back until he infused his Miao Dao with the Geothermal Talisman’s energy and killed it with dark red flames.
• Lu Heng collected the butcher creature’s Soul Crystal and Boning Knife, then headed toward the bulk goods section to face the stock clerk creature.
• As Lu Heng left the fresh food section, the surveillance cameras turned toward him and eerie smiling faces appeared inside their lenses.

Lu Heng fought off the shelf stocker creature and the weighing clerk creature at the same time, then collected their drops. As he prepared to leave the bulk goods section, eerie laughter came from beyond a half-open iron door, and he sensed a far greater threat lurking in the darkness.

• Lu Heng found the shelf stocker creature ahead of him and the weighing clerk creature behind him, and realized they had trapped him between them.
• Lu Heng combined mental energy with the Geothermal Talisman’s power and killed the shelf stocker creature after dodging attacks from both enemies.
• Lu Heng turned to face the weighing clerk creature and destroyed it and its kitchen knife with his Miao Dao.
• Lu Heng collected the Bronze Tier Soul Crystals, the shelf stocker's glove, and the weighing clerk's apron, then sensed that the supermarket was not truly cleared.
• Lu Heng heard eerie laughter and saw darkness writhing behind a half-open iron door at the end of the bulk goods section.

Lu Heng discovered that the supermarket’s owner had arranged for the four Anomalies to be sealed there so he could use their resentment to break through his bottleneck. After Lu Heng eliminated them, the owner began absorbing their power and declared that Lu Heng had outlived his usefulness.

• After Lu Heng defeated the four Anomalies, a powerful presence emerged from behind the iron door, and the supermarket’s runes activated.
• The middle-aged man identified himself as the supermarket’s owner, and Lu Heng’s Appraisal classified him as an unknown Silver-rank entity.
• The owner overwhelmed the supermarket with mental pressure, but Lu Heng resisted with Starlight Meditation.
• The owner explained that he had imprisoned the four evil people as Anomalies and waited for an outsider to eliminate them so he could absorb their resentment.
• The supermarket’s binding runes converged on the owner as he prepared to absorb the resentment and kill Lu Heng.

Lu Heng fought the supermarket shopkeeper, who revealed that he had cultivated four evil Anomalies and confessed to becoming evil in response to a lifetime of being feared and judged. After secretly restoring his psychic power with a Soul Crystal, Lu Heng confronted him, and the shopkeeper unleashed the formation’s stored resentment as their battle began.

• Lu Heng combined the Geothermal Talisman’s heat with his psychic power to strike the shopkeeper, but the shopkeeper blocked the blade wave with a psychic barrier.
• The shopkeeper explained how he had enabled the butcher, cashier, human trafficker, and medicine dealer to commit evil and accumulate resentment.
• As the shopkeeper recounted his past, Lu Heng secretly absorbed the energy of a Soul Crystal to restore his psychic power.
• The shopkeeper revealed that his father and others had treated him as evil because of a supposed violent gene, so he had chosen to become evil incarnate.
• Lu Heng told the shopkeeper he was no longer human, and the shopkeeper agreed that he had abandoned his humanity.
• The shopkeeper unleashed the resentment stored in the Sealing Formation, beginning the fight in earnest.

Lu Heng fought the shopkeeper inside the supermarket’s Ghost Domain, but his strongest attack struck an illusion and left him helpless. The Geothermal Talisman shattered itself to save him, destroying the shopkeeper and unlocking Shelter construction, while the supermarket’s second floor remained unexplored.

• The shopkeeper unleashed his Ghost Domain, and Lu Heng used his remaining Geothermal Talisman energy and two pills to launch a desperate attack.
• Lu Heng’s powerful slash tore through the Ghost Domain but hit only the shopkeeper’s illusion, after which the shopkeeper seized him and suppressed his strength.
• As Lu Heng neared death, the Geothermal Talisman shattered and released a torrent of scorching origin energy that clung to and destroyed the shopkeeper.
• The shopkeeper’s death collapsed the Ghost Domain and disabled the Sealing Runes, while the supermarket began restoring itself.
• Lu Heng’s Survival Bracelet announced that killing the area boss had unlocked construction permissions for an exclusive Shelter, and the restored staircase revealed the way to the still-unknown second floor.

After defeating the shopkeeper, Lu Heng discovered that the Geothermal Talisman's power had permanently strengthened his high-temperature talent. He uncovered the shopkeeper's records and the remains of his victims, then found an indestructible family portrait that preserved the villain's last trace of kindness and could improve survivors' recovery.

• Lu Heng recovered from the battle and found that the destroyed Geothermal Talisman's heat had permanently advanced his Survival Talent.
• Lu Heng entered the second floor and realized the unidentified meat from the Butcher Area had been made from human remains.
• Lu Heng burned the victims' remains to ash and confirmed that the shopkeeper had masterminded the Four Great Anomalies' crimes.
• Lu Heng read the shopkeeper's records, took a Nightmare Chest, and found a family portrait bearing evidence of the shopkeeper's conflicted feelings toward his parents.
• Lu Heng appraised the indestructible portrait and stored it in his Wristband after learning it doubled stamina and mental energy recovery in a bedroom-sized area.

Lu Heng left the ruined supermarket after refusing its supplies, gathered usable notebooks and pens, and burned the building in tribute to its victims. Back at his Shelter, he slept until he had recovered and laid out the four unopened Nightmare Chests from the battle.

• Lu Heng found the Bone Demon's skeleton destroyed and searched the supermarket, but took none of its supplies because he could not trust them.
• Lu Heng collected blank notebooks and usable pens, then set fire to the supermarket and watched the building collapse.
• Lu Heng reviewed the battle's losses and gains before returning through the World Light Curtain to his Stone Cave Fortress.
• Lu Heng placed [The Villain's Family Portrait] in his Modified Exclusive Bedroom and fell asleep from exhaustion.
• Lu Heng awoke fully recovered and arranged the four Nightmare Chests left by the Cashier, the Bulk Goods Clerk, the General Merchandise Clerk, and the Shopkeeper.

Lu Heng sorted the supermarket spoils and opened four Nightmare Chests, gaining rare equipment and supplies that brought the Shelter closer to a base upgrade. He sacrificed the unneeded relics at the Star Altar, where a new card appeared.

• Lu Heng kept the Silver Tier Heart of Evil and decided to sacrifice the other supermarket relics for construction resources.
• Lu Heng opened all four Nightmare Chests and received a Furniture Puppet, a Kiss of Nightmare, a Dream Heart, materials, equipment, and a skill orb.
• Lu Heng sorted the rewards and recognized that his accumulated supplies could support building the base and upgrading the Stone Cave Shelter.
• Lu Heng carried the unneeded items to the Star Altar and sacrificed them.
• Lu Heng knelt before the Star Altar and took a card that had appeared from the offerings.

Lu Heng learned that the Star Altar allowed survivors to strengthen their Talents with compatible materials during major breakthroughs, and he planned to stockpile resources for his future advancement. He used the Companion Pact to bind the Mutant King Cobra egg, gaining a companion that could fight alongside him or conceal itself as a tattoo.

• Lu Heng received the Companion Pact, which bound a creature to him as a controllable companion that grew with his strength.
• The Star Altar revealed that survivors could use Talent-compatible materials to improve their foundations and refine their Talents during major breakthroughs.
• Lu Heng decided to collect compatible Flesh Cores, Energy Cores, and special plants for future breakthroughs.
• Lu Heng used the Companion Pact on his Mutant King Cobra egg, and a young snake hatched as his companion.
• Lu Heng learned that the snake could conceal itself as a tattoo, share its senses, and lend him its resistance to potent venom.
• Lu Heng concluded that he had gathered enough supplies to upgrade and renovate the Stone Cave Shelter.

Lu Heng chose the Sunlight Pearl, Moonlight Pearl, and Star Tear as candidates for upgrading the Cliffside Shelter, then used the Heart of Evil and nightmare stone to build a main base in the Suburban Park. The new base unlocked powerful features and privileges, and Lu Heng confirmed it could teleport him back to the Cliffside Shelter, where the isolating light barrier had disappeared.

• Lu Heng assessed his construction materials and ruled out the Heart of Evil, Nightmare Bell, Purifying Water Lotus's Lotus Seed, and Family Portrait of the Evil for upgrading the Cliffside Shelter.
• Lu Heng selected the Sunlight Pearl, Moonlight Pearl, and Star Tear as his provisional supplementary materials and decided to save night stone for offensive equipment.
• Lu Heng traveled to the Suburban Park and used the Base Blueprint exclusive to the Otherworld, the Heart of Evil, and nightmare stone to construct a main base in the Lakeside Stone Pavilion.
• The new base unlocked two-way fixed-point teleportation, disguise, malice detection, supernatural repulsion, and global transportation, information exchange, and trading functions.
• Lu Heng found the World Public Channel empty except for himself and realized he was the only survivor in the ruined town who had unlocked a high-tier main base.
• Lu Heng tested the teleportation door and returned to the Cliffside Shelter, where he saw that its isolating light barrier had vanished.

Lu Heng upgraded his Cliffside Shelter into a three-story fortress, unlocking an Observatory and an Armory with the help of the Sun, Moon, and Stars set and his stored materials. The fortress was complete, but his Wristband then detected unknown hostile intent near the hidden main base in the town's central lake.

• Lu Heng used five hundred units of ore and the Sunlight Pearl, Moonlight Pearl, and Star Tear to upgrade the Cliffside Shelter, while reserving his Night Stone for future weapons.
• The Shelter transformed into a three-story fortress with expanded defenses, a Planting Room, living quarters, storage, and an armory.
• The upgrade unlocked an Observatory that gathered sunlight, moonlight, and starlight energy and improved meditation and cultivation.
• Lu Heng inspected the expanded perimeter fence and watchtower, noting that the alarm system still warned him of approaching threats.
• Lu Heng's Wristband detected unknown hostile intent outside the hidden main base in the town's central lake.

Lu Heng used the Mutant King Cobra to defeat mutant fish threatening the lake-center base, then harvested their meat and considered the base’s lack of defenses. Back at the Fortress Shelter, he made handmade noodles and decided not to give Song Yunjing his revolver unless an opportunity arose.

• Lu Heng discovered two nest-guarding Blackfish and a school of Ink-Scaled Fish beneath the lake-center base, where the base’s foundations had disrupted the blackfish nest.
• Lu Heng sent the Mutant King Cobra to kill the Blackfish and several Ink-Scaled Fish, though some of the smaller fish escaped into gaps between the rocks.
• Lu Heng gathered the fish carcasses, dismantled them into meat and bones, and noted that the lake-center base needed aquatic defenses.
• Lu Heng returned to the Fortress Shelter and prepared dough for handmade noodles while considering whether to give Song Yunjing his revolver.
• Lu Heng put away the revolver, deciding he would give it to Song Yunjing only if the right opportunity arose, then began rolling out the rested dough.

After enjoying a proper meal, Lu Heng cultivated on the Nightmare Bed in the astrology room and bonded with the Big Dipper. He awakened the constellation’s killing nature, and its first star began to light up.

• Lu Heng fried fish and cooked noodles, then savored the meal in the Shelter.
• Lu Heng placed the Nightmare Bed in the astrology room and began cultivating with the Starlight Meditation Method.
• Lu Heng entered a vision of constellations and followed an instinctive pull to the Big Dipper.
• Lu Heng learned that the Big Dipper had seven stars, each unlocking special energy, and that it would imprint its character on his meditation method.
• Lu Heng sensed the Big Dipper’s decisive, slaughtering power and emerged from meditation as its first star began to light up.