Chapter Summaries

Yu Mo was brought before the Trial Court while the Ink Pavilion prepared a closed trial, and Sun Yingxiong published a verdict that addressed the veterans, victims’ families, corporate shares, and the Light Group. Yu Mo was sentenced to exile in Sin City for three months, leaving his survival uncertain.

• Shi Guang asked Yu Sheng why he accepted their situation, and Yu Sheng said he understood it as friendship.
• Guard Bureau personnel escorted Yu Mo to the Trial Court as the Light Group watched without intervening.
• Sun Yingxiong held a closed trial, and the Ink Pavilion released a public statement after the courtroom session ended.
• The Ink Pavilion declared the veterans innocent, promised increased pensions and care, and said it would compensate the descendants of those killed by Yu Mo.
• The Ink Pavilion announced that seized corporate shares would be returned in part and that its funds would support veterans, soldiers, and human development.
• The Ink Pavilion sentenced Yu Mo to three months in Sin City, removed him as Light Group leader, and ordered the group reorganized.

After Yu Mo’s downfall, the Human Race restored public confidence, resumed aid and construction, and returned to peace. Yu Mo then prepared to go into exile in Sin City with Yu Sheng and Shi Guang, who warned him that keeping him alive would be difficult.

• Sun Yingxiong promised to oversee Ink Pavilion spending and put people’s livelihoods first, calming the Human Race as supplies were distributed and Veterans' Camp renovations resumed.
• Old White Ape praised Ji Hong’s handling of the Human Race’s crises before arguing with him over plans to control the Thousand-Li Demon Plain.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang presented Yu Mo with an upgraded wheelchair for his exile, and Yu Mo reluctantly agreed to use it.
• Yu Sheng estimated Yu Mo had a thirty-five percent chance of surviving three months with them, or ten percent if he traveled throughout Sin City, and warned they might abandon him if danger threatened them.
• Yu Mo agreed to the terms, and he, Yu Sheng, and Shi Guang set off for Sin City as the Guard Bureau approached.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang took Yu Mo toward Sin City while he questioned their plans and the strange modifications to his wheelchair. They arrived at the city gates at night, where hundreds of people Yu Mo had exiled waited to enter.

• Yu Mo asked Yu Sheng why he was going to Sin City, and Yu Sheng said his job was to keep Yu Mo safe.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang stocked up on supplies and discussed entering Sin City at night, planning to arrive last despite the danger to Yu Mo.
• Yu Mo questioned Yu Sheng about the unknown buttons and features added to his wheelchair, but Yu Sheng told Shi Guang to set off.
• Shi Guang drove through the night as Sin City’s gates came into view.
• Yu Mo, Yu Sheng, and Shi Guang reached the gates, where several hundred people sent there by Yu Mo waited beneath the watch of Sixth Awakening Persons.

Yu Mo persuaded Yu Sheng and Shi Guang to stage a spectacular entrance into Sin City despite the danger. As the gates opened, the prisoners waiting outside focused their hatred on Yu Mo, and a hostile figure sprinted toward the entrance from inside the city.

• Yu Mo insisted that Yu Sheng take him into Sin City, and Yu Sheng agreed only after demanding extra payment for the added risk.
• Yu Sheng drove the car into Sin City's wall, then Shi Guang helped Yu Mo make an imposing entrance among the waiting prisoners.
• Shi Guang used a remote to move Yu Mo's wheelchair forward and spin it, while Yu Sheng explained that the prisoners would wait to ambush Yu Mo inside the city.
• A Sixth Awakening Person ordered the prisoners to enter through the opening gates, and they taunted Yu Mo while anticipating revenge.
• A figure with a savage expression sprinted toward the open gates from inside Sin City.

Yu Mo and the prisoners entered Sin City, where a desperate escape attempt ended in the man’s death. Yu Sheng and Shi Guang then rushed Yu Mo into the city in his wheelchair, while a Sixth Awakening Person demanded their food.

• A prisoner tried to escape Sin City, but a blood-red hand seized and killed him at the gates.
• The prisoners entered Sin City, lost their energy, and vowed to kill Yu Mo.
• Yu Mo discovered Yu Sheng had not pushed him inside as he had expected and asked whether Yu Sheng could keep him alive.
• Shi Guang used the Remote Control to send Yu Mo’s wheelchair charging toward Sin City, with Yu Sheng and Shi Guang following.
• The Sixth Awakening Person demanded the food in their backpacks, but Yu Sheng quickened his pace rather than stopping.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang fought their way through the prisoners at Sin City's entrance to protect Yu Mo, while the Sixth Awakening Person's warning that someone had brought food into the city set the stage for further danger. After the attackers scattered, Yu Sheng and Shi Guang sped away with Yu Mo in his wheelchair.

• The Sixth Awakening Person attacked Yu Sheng with energy, but Yu Sheng pushed through and entered Sin City as the man loudly warned residents that someone had brought food inside.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang adapted to their weakened bodies and attacked the prisoners surrounding Yu Mo, killing many as Shi Guang maneuvered the wheelchair through the crowd.
• A hidden crossbow shooter struck attackers approaching Yu Mo, causing many prisoners to flee into the city streets.
• Yu Mo asked Yu Sheng what they should do next, and Yu Sheng said they needed to run because danger remained.
• Shi Guang started the wheelchair, and Yu Sheng and Shi Guang jumped onto its rear footboard as it sped forward with Yu Mo.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang returned to Sin City with Yu Mo and fought off residents who tried to steal their supplies. They continued through the outskirts after the attackers gave up, while Chu Huai lost another chance to leave the city.

• Veterans recognized Yu Sheng and Shi Guang and withdrew, while newcomers who did not know their reputations prepared to attack.
• Yu Sheng dodged a crossbow bolt aimed at Yu Mo, and Shi Guang shot the hidden attacker.
• Figures emerged from the darkness to ambush Yu Sheng and Shi Guang, who killed several attackers while protecting their supplies.
• Some attackers targeted Yu Mo to create an opening, but Shi Guang maneuvered his wheelchair to keep him out of reach.
• The remaining attackers retreated, and Yu Sheng, Shi Guang, and Yu Mo continued through the quiet streets of Sin City's outskirts.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang brought Yu Mo to the Inner City, where they waited for a blind old man at the gate. After warning Yu Mo not to destroy Sin City's roots and demanding double rations for bringing him, the old man let them pass, and Shi Guang pushed Yu Mo into the Inner City.

• As they traveled deeper into Sin City, local residents recognized Yu Sheng and Shi Guang and stayed hidden.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang stopped before the Inner City gate, where a blind old man sat beside a candle lantern.
• After waking, the old man asked why Yu Sheng and Shi Guang had returned, and Yu Sheng gave him food and water.
• The old man demanded double rations because they were bringing Yu Mo, then warned him never to destroy Sin City's roots.
• Yu Mo bowed and promised to be cautious, and Shi Guang pushed his wheelchair into the Inner City.

Yu Sheng, Shi Guang, and Yu Mo entered the Inner City, where the residents seemed more sociable than those in the Outer City. After a newcomer attacked Yu Sheng and died, Yu Mo asked about the Inner City's customs as they continued toward home.

• Yu Sheng told Yu Mo that a mysterious man in the Inner City collected tolls, though he did not know what happened to anyone who refused to pay.
• As Yu Sheng pushed Yu Mo and Shi Guang walked toward their home, Inner City residents discussed robbing them and a smiling boy lured a scarred burly man into attacking them.
• Yu Sheng killed the burly man, and the boy thanked him before offering half a sweet potato as payment and dragging the body away to bury it.
• Shi Guang collected the sweet potato while Yu Sheng watched the onlookers, and Yu Mo asked why Inner City residents buried bodies when Outer City residents did not.

Yu Sheng, Shi Guang, and Yu Mo traveled into Sin City, where Yu Mo’s authority over the rules drew attention. After learning that Yu Sheng and Shi Guang had received slots to leave the city from Yu Mo, the owner of their former home demanded those slots for the people watching from the darkness.

• Yu Mo learned that Shi Guang had set the rule against blood and asked about Yu Sheng’s rules as a boy covered blood with dirt after burying a body.
• The boy sold Yu Mo half a sweet potato, and Shi Guang recorded its price as two hundred thousand in outside currency.
• The old man traded two sweet potatoes and information about the boy for the assets of the man the boy had killed, warning him that Sun Pan had joined Chu Huai and might target him.
• Yu Sheng pushed Yu Mo through the inner city to the house he and Shi Guang had once lived in, where its current owner confronted him about returning.
• Yu Sheng said he would leave the city without taking the owner’s slot, but Yu Mo revealed he had given slots to Yu Sheng and Shi Guang.
• The owner asked Yu Mo for the slots, saying the people hiding nearby needed them to leave the city.

Yu Sheng returned to his old room in Sin City and claimed it from Chu Huai without giving him a chance to save face. As Chu Huai's allies wondered why he backed down, he calmly asked what he would gain by winning.

• Yu Sheng challenged Chu Huai for the room, then asked him to clean it and move aside when Chu Huai refused to yield.
• Shi Guang's arrival made Chu Huai step aside, and Yu Sheng and Shi Guang entered the room with Yu Mo in his wheelchair.
• Yu Sheng said Chu Huai was a coward who could recruit help, and Chu Huai overheard the insult before Yu Sheng shut the door on him.
• Chu Huai cursed outside the room, then walked away after Yu Sheng and Shi Guang ignored him.
• A woman in red lipstick urged Chu Huai to attack while Yu Sheng and Shi Guang protected Yu Mo, but Chu Huai asked what he would gain if he won.

Chu Huai concealed his strength by ordering his people to spread a story that Yu Sheng had defeated and humiliated him, while Yu Sheng and Shi Guang secured their room with traps. The chapter then shifted to Ji Hong and Old White Ape as they staged a confrontation that hid a plan to kill their own Demon Beasts for their Demon Crystals and Demon Cores.

• Chu Huai warned his team that risking their lives for face was foolish and ordered them to spread a false account of Yu Sheng defeating him and taking his house.
• Yu Mo asked Yu Sheng whether Chu Huai had been afraid, and Yu Sheng explained that Chu Huai maintained a cowardly image despite showing no fear.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang set bells, crossbows, and iron nails as traps in their room while Yu Mo wondered what Chu Huai would become outside Sin City.
• Old White Ape accused Ji Hong of betraying the Mountain Lord, and the two faced each other as their Demon Beasts began fighting.
• Old White Ape and Ji Hong quietly agreed to kill each other's forces and collect their Demon Crystals and Demon Cores.

Ji Hong and Old White Ape slaughtered Demon Beasts in a staged clash, leaving Old White Ape to denounce Ji Hong and flee to Eagle Ravine Mountain. In Sin City, Yu Sheng began explaining the city's dangers to Yu Mo, starting with the Outer City.

• Ji Hong and Old White Ape discussed stabilizing the Demon Plain and staging an offensive to satisfy Skyvault Ravine.
• Old White Ape provoked Ji Hong while they killed Demon Beasts, then swore to seek the Mountain Lord's judgment and flew toward Eagle Ravine Mountain.
• Ji Hong collected the Demon Cores and returned to Stone Mountain as the surviving Demon Beasts grew more fearful of him.
• The Mountain-Guarding Old Man lamented his failed attempt to imbue an Azure Bird egg with energy and roasted it.
• Yu Mo asked Yu Sheng about formidable people in Sin City, and Yu Sheng began describing the Inner City and Outer City, calling most Outer City residents ordinary cannon fodder.

Yu Mo questioned Yu Sheng and Shi Guang about Sin City’s survival rules and the mysterious Prison Guards who enforce population limits. After learning about the city’s deadly customs, he joined them for breakfast and discovered their careful way of eating came from having known hunger.

• Yu Mo asked Yu Sheng and Shi Guang how people earned entry to the Inner City, and Shi Guang explained that without the old man at the gate, anyone could enter if they survived.
• Shi Guang described a mysterious Outer City resident with chains around his arms, an endless supply of food, and a house no would-be intruder had left alive.
• Yu Sheng explained that the strange resident, the blind old man, and a singing scholar were Prison Guards who remained in Sin City and sometimes intervened to control its population.
• Yu Sheng told Yu Mo that Exodus Day allowed unrestricted killing, while the blind old man imposed a three-month Kill Limit Order after killing three escape candidates in half a minute.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang ate their compressed biscuits without wasting a crumb, and Yu Mo copied them before learning they ate that way because they had once been terrified of hunger.

Yu Mo visited Chu Huai with Yu Sheng and Shi Guang, but Yu Sheng’s legal lecture and the group’s weapons turned the attempted meeting into a tense standoff. Chu Huai was shocked to see Yu Sheng carrying guns and revealed that he was not a native of Sin City.

• Yu Mo decided to visit Chu Huai, and Yu Sheng and Shi Guang accompanied him to Chu Huai’s villa.
• Chu Huai invited Yu Mo inside, but Yu Sheng entered first and lectured Chu Huai about the laws against robbery and unlawful possession.
• Shi Guang used the wheelchair’s remote to bring Yu Mo inside after Yu Mo accidentally raised its front mudguard.
• Chu Huai blocked Yu Sheng and Shi Guang from entering, while his armed men appeared on nearby rooftops and aimed crossbows at them.
• Yu Sheng put away his crossbow, then drew two pistols, shocking Chu Huai, who revealed he was not a native of Sin City.

Yu Mo and Yu Sheng negotiated with Chu Huai in Sin City, where Yu Sheng’s gun gave their group leverage. After Yu Mo revealed a startling proposal, Chu Huai accepted it, leaving the terms undisclosed to Yu Sheng and Shi Guang.

• Yu Sheng aimed his gun at the people surrounding the villa, and Yu Mo and Chu Huai eased the standoff by proposing friendship.
• Chu Huai served Yu Mo scarce tea and learned that he was a descendant of the Yu Clan.
• Yu Mo told Chu Huai to prove his group’s value and wrote a proposal on the table.
• Chu Huai reacted with disbelief, then agreed to Yu Mo’s offer.

Yu Mo, Yu Sheng, and Shi Guang visited Third Master Zhou, the old man Yu Mo had noticed the previous night, after leaving Chu Huai behind. Third Master Zhou recognized Yu Mo from childhood, and his homegrown tomato prompted Yu Sheng to question whether vegetables could grow in Sin City.

• Yu Mo left Chu Huai, who called him a madman and wondered whether things outside Sin City were about to change.
• Yu Mo asked Yu Sheng and Shi Guang to find the old man with a cane, and Yu Sheng identified him as Third Master Zhou.
• Yu Sheng explained that the unaffiliated survivors in the Inner City were dangerous because they had little to lose, and he and Shi Guang stayed alert as they crossed the area.
• Yu Sheng led Yu Mo and Shi Guang to Third Master Zhou's room, where the old man greeted Yu Mo and recalled holding him as a child, before Yu Mo lost his legs.
• Third Master Zhou offered Yu Mo a tomato he had grown himself, and Yu Sheng reacted strongly and asked whether vegetables could grow in Sin City.

Yu Mo offered Third Master Zhou a chance to leave Sin City, but the old man refused and directed him to seek out a Confucian scholar. After a day of recruiting in the Inner City, Yu Mo planned to visit the boundary between the Inner and Outer Cities, while Sun Wen investigated corruption in Chun County.

• Yu Mo offered Third Master Zhou one of the scarce slots to leave Sin City, but Third Master Zhou declined and advised him to find a Confucian scholar.
• Yu Sheng told Yu Mo that Third Master Zhou was known for making friends and had avoided trouble despite others’ attempts to target him.
• Yu Mo visited people in the Inner City throughout the day, then asked Yu Sheng to take him to the Inner City–Outer City boundary the next day.
• In Er City, Li Zi brought Sun Wen files on Chun County Guard Bureau personnel, and Sun Wen circled several names for focused investigation.
• Sun Wen asked Li Zi to request a Sixth Awakening fighter to help handle the Chun County case.

Sun Wen and Li Zi visited Er City’s Guard Bureau under the Light Group’s cover, where they acted like careless guests while probing the middle-aged official. The visit left them aware that the hotel room was under surveillance, and Li Zi quietly warned Sun Wen as he pretended to sleep.

• Li Zi told Sun Wen that the Sixth Awakening senior had arrived, and they set out for Er City.
• A middle-aged Guard Bureau official ordered his subordinates to hide any wrongdoing and arranged an elaborate welcome for Sun Wen.
• Sun Wen greeted the official warmly while Li Zi slipped away, then reappeared with daily necessities to preserve their cover.
• At lunch, Sun Wen pretended to complain about his rewards and drunkenly claimed the Ink Pavilion belonged to his family because his grandfather was Sun Yingxiong.
• Li Zi helped the apparently unconscious Sun Wen back to the hotel and whispered that cameras and a listening device were hidden in the room.

A suspicious middle-aged man monitored Sun Wen while Ink Academy students pursued their own investigations, and Yu Mo was sent into the woods to meet a deranged scholar. The scholar noticed Yu Mo among piles of bones, while Yu Sheng and Shi Guang watched remotely without being able to hear them.

• A middle-aged man watched the sleeping Sun Wen on a surveillance feed, ordered his younger brother to keep Sun Wen and the Light Group under close watch, and demanded that he find the report’s author.
• Mu Yu tied a man to Gravestone and hung him outside the Ink Pavilion Branch with a sign inviting reports of his crimes, prompting people to come forward.
• Yu Mo left the Inner City in his wheelchair as Yu Sheng and Shi Guang watched from a tree and remotely guided him into the woods.
• Yu Mo heard a strange song and found a disheveled scholar among piles of bones; after Yu Mo respectfully greeted him, the scholar ignored him before turning to stare and laugh madly.
• Shi Guang told Yu Sheng that their remote-control screen could show images but could not pick up sound, leaving them unable to hear the scholar or Yu Mo.