Chapter Summaries

Lu Xiao was shot by a soldier squad that mistook him for a target, but they discovered he was human and still alive. As Xiao Yu treated his wounds and a terrifying presence approached, Dart ordered an evacuation, and Lu Xiao said he thought he could still be saved.

• Lu Xiao prepared to eat a creature when Dart's squad surrounded him and opened fire.
• Xiao Yu examined Lu Xiao and found that he was human and still breathing, so Dart ordered her to stabilize him.
• Xiao Yu treated Lu Xiao's bullet wounds while the squad detected rising Dark Prison Value and an approaching threat.
• Lu Xiao uncovered his face and tried to help Xiao Yu treat his wounds, but the bleeding worsened as shrill laughter sounded nearby.
• Dart ordered the squad to evacuate, and Lu Xiao told Xiao Yu he thought he could still be saved.

Lu Xiao was carried by Dart’s team toward the door of the Dark Prison while a low-level lizardman pursued them. As a much more dangerous Blood Saw Man closed in, the team faced its greatest threat just short of escape.

• Dart ordered Sly to carry Lu Xiao as the team retreated, and Dart shot a low-level lizardman that emerged from the darkness.
• Xiao Yu’s map showed the door was one kilometer away, and Dart radioed for support and Sequence 069.
• Dart ordered Liuguang to cut off his hand so Sequence 069 could reattach it and spare him a worse price.
• Sly’s scanner warned that a supernatural anomalous creature was approaching, and Xiao Yu reported the door was only three hundred meters away.
• The Blood Saw Man charged the team, shrugged off Dart’s gunfire, and closed to within ten meters as the team neared the door.

Lu Xiao left his containment room with Dart’s team after Blood Saw Man recognized him and withdrew. At the base, the Prison Doctor offered to treat Lu Xiao, but Liuguang volunteered for treatment instead, and the doctor proposed examining him fully.

• Dart ordered Sly to carry Lu Xiao toward the white door while the team held off Blood Saw Man.
• Lu Xiao asked Sly to put him down and called Blood Saw Man “Chainsaw Uncle,” prompting the creature to withdraw into the darkness.
• Lu Xiao chose to go with the team, and Dart led them through the white door to the base.
• At the base, Lu Xiao met the beaked Prison Doctor, who offered to cure his lesion, but Sly warned him not to accept.
• The Prison Doctor asked which team member needed treatment, and Liuguang stepped forward with his severed hand.
• The Prison Doctor said Liuguang had other illnesses and should undergo a full physical examination.

Lu Xiao was brought to a medical facility, where staff cleaned his battered body and began examining him. After Lu Xiao casually cut and stitched his own chest, the doctor questioned him about his recent appearance near the Dark Prison’s Gate.

• The prison doctor took Liuguang away to reattach his severed hand, while Dart reported that Lu Xiao seemed to be in good condition.
• An old doctor inspected Lu Xiao’s wounds and arranged for a bathhouse scrubber to clean him before examining his injuries.
• Lu Xiao offered his flesh for testing, cut a piece from his chest, and stitched himself up while chatting with the staff.
• The doctor explained that his team had found Lu Xiao near the Gate one day earlier, on the outskirts of the Dark Prison.

The doctor classified Lu Xiao as a provisional Safe entity and placed him in containment, where his enormous appetite became clear. Meanwhile, tests revealed that the flesh Lu Xiao had removed from his chest continually regenerated, exciting the doctor.

• The doctor designated Lu Xiao Serial 292 and assigned him a provisional Safe classification after Lu Xiao agreed to containment in exchange for food and shelter.
• The staff took Lu Xiao to a steel containment room, where he discovered the food button and repeatedly summoned hamburgers until he was happily eating from a pile.
• The staff recorded that Serial 292 was emotionally stable and had an enormous appetite, while the doctor realized they had forgotten to remove the bullets from Lu Xiao's body.
• A staff member reported the flesh test results, which showed that its cells continually multiplied, divided, and died.
• The doctor retrieved Lu Xiao's chest tissue, saw that it was still twitching, and began examining a thin slice under an instrument.

Lu Xiao escaped his containment room and tracked down Prison Doctor, while researchers marveled at the regenerative tissue he had left behind. He helped Prison Doctor recapture Liuguang, leaving the field-team member in the doctor’s clutches.

• The doctor and researchers discovered that Lu Xiao’s sliced-off tissue stayed fresh as its cells continually renewed, and the doctor concluded that the finding could mean Lu Xiao would live forever.
• Lu Xiao ate the hamburgers, opened his room, and read a notice identifying him as serial number 292, a human lost in the Dark Prison who should not be provoked.
• Lu Xiao contacted a surveillance staff member and asked for directions to Prison Doctor’s room, serial number 069.
• Lu Xiao reached Prison Doctor’s room and found him restraining Liuguang for treatment.
• Liuguang tried to flee, but Lu Xiao grabbed him and held him for Prison Doctor, who seized him and thanked Lu Xiao.

Lu Xiao helped the prison doctor perform a surgery on Liuguang, improvising when the doctor lacked anesthetic and tools. The operation ended smoothly, but staff watching the surveillance questioned whether Lu Xiao was still human.

• The prison doctor brought Liuguang into the operating room, and Lu Xiao restrained him on the table.
• Lu Xiao reminded the prison doctor to use anesthesia, but the doctor had none and agreed to postpone the surgery.
• Lu Xiao knocked Liuguang unconscious, and the prison doctor praised him before beginning the operation.
• The prison doctor cut a tumor from Liuguang's heart, and Lu Xiao used his cotton shirt to absorb the blood filling Liuguang's chest.
• The prison doctor and Lu Xiao completed the operation, while surveillance staff watched in stunned silence and wondered whether Lu Xiao was still human.

Lu Xiao helped the prison doctor remove a Ghost-Faced Moth Larva from Liuguang and ate it, then showed the doctor his bizarre wounds. The prison doctor discovered Lu Xiao could tear open his body and heal rapidly, and warned that his condition was more serious than he had imagined.

• The prison doctor revealed that Liuguang's tumor was an egg containing a Ghost-Faced Moth Larva, removed the larva, and fed it to Lu Xiao.
• The doctor watching the surveillance feed identified the larva and ordered an investigation into where the team member had been.
• The prison doctor praised Lu Xiao's scars, and Lu Xiao said his friend had operated on him with a chainsaw.
• The prison doctor removed Lu Xiao's chest sutures, and Lu Xiao's wounds appeared healed, prompting him to tear open his skin and remove the bullets inside.
• Lu Xiao's wounds knitted themselves closed, and the prison doctor told him his condition was more serious than he had imagined.

Lu Xiao trusted the prison doctor and Ivan to treat the powerful curse in his blood, agreeing to have his skeleton extracted under anesthesia. The operation succeeded, but Liuguang woke to the gruesome sight and promptly fainted again.

• The prison doctor smelled a rare, powerful curse in Lu Xiao's blood and warned that its previous victim had turned into a mindless puddle of rotten meat.
• A doctor watching the surveillance feed recorded the conversation and marveled at Lu Xiao as a precious specimen.
• The prison doctor brought Ivan, an inhuman skeleton surgeon, to help remove the curse from Lu Xiao's marrow.
• Lu Xiao agreed to the procedure, and the prison doctor anesthetized him before cutting him open and extracting his skeleton.
• Liuguang woke, saw Lu Xiao's extracted skeleton hanging on a rack, and fainted from fright.

Ivan carved an alchemical circle into Lu Xiao’s bones to suppress his deep-rooted curse, and the Prison Doctor completed the surgery. Lu Xiao was taken for recovery as the doctor confirmed his rapid healing and became eager to dissect him.

• Ivan carved intricate patterns into Lu Xiao’s bones, creating an alchemical circle that could suppress but not eradicate his curse.
• The Prison Doctor reassembled Lu Xiao’s body and stitched him closed, then realized he had forgotten to put the vocal cords back.
• A squad of soldiers carried the unconscious, feverish Lu Xiao from the containment room after the Prison Doctor assured them he would recover, and they also took another unconscious person.
• The doctor examined Lu Xiao in nutrient solution, noted that his cellular activity had returned to a normal range and his wounds were healing quickly, then revealed his desire to dissect him.

After Liuguang agreed to submit to questioning over the Ghost-Faced Moth larva found inside him, the doctor arrived with Lu Xiao and an emergency order to investigate Colonel Enzo. Lu Xiao declared that Enzo had not been contaminated by an anomaly because Enzo himself was one.

• Liuguang woke after treatment, and Dart questioned how a Ghost-Faced Moth larva could have infected him despite his months at the base.
• Colonel Enzo arrived with the Warden Investigation Group and ordered Liuguang to come with him for questioning.
• When Dart challenged the order, Enzo threatened to execute him, and Liuguang agreed to go with the investigation group.
• The doctor arrived with Lu Xiao and presented Enzo with an emergency investigation order backed by authorization from the Warden Supreme Office.
• Lu Xiao examined Enzo and announced that he was an anomaly, not someone contaminated by one.

Lu Xiao rejected Enzo’s offer to transfer and identified him as an anomalous creature, but left the doctor to seek proof from the Prison Doctor. Enzo revealed his monstrous form in the training room, where Lu Xiao confronted him and forced him to the floor, prompting Enzo to recognize him as a Higher Being.

• Enzo offered to transfer Lu Xiao to the U01 Containment Facility, but Lu Xiao refused and warned that Enzo was not human.
• Lu Xiao left and told the doctor to ask the Prison Doctor for proof, while Enzo shot at the doctor and Dart pinned him down, taking a bone spike through his body.
• The doctor ordered C03 Containment Facility to activate its emergency protocol, and the alarms sounded as steel doors sealed the corridors.
• Enzo broke free, spread bone wings, and threatened to kill Lu Xiao, who appeared clinging to the ceiling and then crawled toward him.
• Lu Xiao’s peculiar aura forced Enzo to crash to the floor, and Enzo recognized him as a Higher Being.

Lu Xiao revealed his monstrous strength, killed and prepared Enzo to eat, and startled the squad and doctor with his explanation. The Prison Doctor arrived to treat the dying Dart, while the doctor resumed asking Lu Xiao whether Enzo tasted good.

• Enzo panicked over Lu Xiao's suppressive power, and Lu Xiao insisted that he was human while twisting his neck unnaturally.
• Lu Xiao identified Enzo as a recently turned vampire and, after the doctor gave permission, tore him apart and arranged his remains for eating.
• The doctor asked whether Enzo tasted good, shocking Liuguang, Sly, and Xiao Yu.
• The Prison Doctor arrived and began operating on Dart, whose internal organs were severely damaged.
• The doctor returned to his conversation with Lu Xiao, who reminded him that he had asked whether the vampire tasted good.

Lu Xiao’s cursed blood helped the prison doctor repair Dart, prompting the Doctor to consider its healing potential. After investigating the Ghost-Faced Moth incident, the Doctor told an authority figure he suspected a plot to seize Sequence 09 and requested a Cursed Toy Gunpowder Pistol and permission to use Sequence 292’s abilities.

• Lu Xiao ate a large meal while the prison doctor stitched Dart’s organs together, then provided a drop of cursed blood that might heal him.
• The Doctor realized Sequence 292’s blood could potentially heal injuries, though the prison doctor warned it might also cause mutations.
• The Doctor reported that a Ghost-Faced Moth infestation could have brought down the C03 Containment Facility if the infected guard had gone unnoticed.
• The Doctor suspected the incident was a plan to attack C03 and transfer Sequence 09 - Corrupted Creator.
• The Doctor asked to obtain Sequence 097 - Cursed Toy Gunpowder Pistol and proposed borrowing Sequence 292’s abilities to contain anomalies.

The Doctor concealed evidence that Lu Xiao’s flesh might contain divinity and ordered a box experiment to study him. On the experiment’s second day, Lu Xiao broke through the observation window and tore out Old Wang’s tongue for disturbing his rest.

• The Doctor hid a report suggesting Lu Xiao’s flesh contained divinity, then wrote that Lu Xiao’s abnormal cells might be cursed and ordered the box experiment for Sequence 292.
• Staff placed Lu Xiao in the smallest room of a nested containment chamber for seven days, and he slept through the first day.
• Two death row inmates, Old Wang and another man, were placed in the adjoining room and loudly discussed their cases.
• Lu Xiao shattered the window and asked the two men to lower their voices.
• Old Wang grabbed Lu Xiao by the collar and threatened him, so Lu Xiao tore out his tongue.

Lu Xiao was classified as a peaceful S-class subject after showing no desire to escape or harm people, provided he received enough food. The Prison Keeper Organization began testing his combat abilities by deploying Sequence 077 - Butler, while Lu Xiao accidentally shot a staff member and the doctor rang a strange bell.

• Lu Xiao welcomed three workers who cleaned his room, confirming that he would not attack people without cause.
• When food was withheld, Lu Xiao stayed calm until a banquet was set up in the second room, where he ate his fill before returning to his room.
• The doctor classified Lu Xiao as S-class, recorded his rapid healing, and ordered combat data collection using Sequence 077 - Butler.
• Lu Xiao agreed to cooperate with the combat test and asked for a pistol, then accidentally wounded a staff member while firing at the ceiling.
• The doctor shook a clapperless handbell, which rang as the wounded staff member withdrew.

Lu Xiao fought Butler, an anomaly whose illusory body could not be harmed by conventional weapons, and tore off his legs with his bare hands. The doctor ended the fight before Lu Xiao could eat Butler, then brought Butler back for an experiment using Lu Xiao’s blood.

• The doctor summoned Butler and ordered him to kill Lu Xiao, who fired at Butler without effect.
• Lu Xiao used his curse and lizardman movement technique to evade Butler’s cutlery and rip off both of his legs.
• The doctor concluded that Lu Xiao’s curse let his body harm anomalies and provisionally rated his combat capability at level 1.
• The doctor recalled Butler with the bell before Lu Xiao could eat him, then questioned Lu Xiao about how he had hurt Butler.
• The doctor took Lu Xiao’s flesh and blood to the laboratory, summoned Butler again, and asked him to help with an experiment.

Lu Xiao visited Ivan to thank him for the surgery and comforted him over the persecution that had left him regretting his art. Ivan, moved by Lu Xiao’s praise, said he wanted to give him a gift.

• The Doctor confirmed that S292’s flesh and blood could injure anomalous beings, then began considering how to use that discovery.
• Lu Xiao worried that his appetite had declined, and the Prison Doctor explained that his suppressed curse meant he needed less food.
• The Prison Doctor brought Lu Xiao to Ivan’s containment room so Lu Xiao could thank him for the surgery.
• Ivan showed Lu Xiao his bone carvings and described how people had tortured and killed him after learning his dolls were made from human bones.
• Lu Xiao praised Ivan’s art and reassured him that the people who rejected it were the ones who should regret their actions.
• Ivan thanked Lu Xiao for helping him feel better and decided to give him a gift.

Lu Xiao learned that the curse in his bone marrow, called apotheosis, could transform him into a higher-dimensional mass of rotten flesh, and that he had about a year to find a solution. He asked the doctor to let him go to the human world, and the doctor offered to send him on missions to contain anomalies, subject to one more condition.

• Ivan gave Lu Xiao an intricately carved bone spike and warned him that his curse would worsen soon.
• The prison doctor said Lu Xiao might become a mass of rotten flesh next month, but their surgery had delayed it by a year, and advised him to seek a solution in the human world.
• After Lu Xiao left, the prison doctor explained to Ivan that returning to the Dark Prison might help resolve the curse but would accelerate its corruption; he called the curse apotheosis.
• Lu Xiao returned to his containment room and asked the doctor to take him to the human world.
• The doctor offered to let Lu Xiao accompany the Prison Wardens on missions to contain anomalies, warning that harming a human could lead to Lu being designated Class D and the doctor being put on trial.

Lu Xiao agreed to let the Doctor extract his hematopoietic stem cells so he could produce blood for use against anomalies. Meanwhile, the Cityfire Squad prepared to raid Boss Liu’s manor, where a magic mirror had warned that seven intruders were coming through the sewers.

• Lu Xiao offered the Doctor his blood, and the Doctor extracted much of his hematopoietic stem cells before promising to contact him about a mission.
• At Boss Liu’s manor, a magic mirror demanded pure flesh and blood in exchange for information, and Boss Liu offered it a bound teenage girl.
• The mirror consumed the girl and told Boss Liu that seven people were coming and that his bodyguards should watch the sewers.
• Boss Liu warned his bodyguards about the sewer entrance and promised them a bonus, while six members of the Cityfire Squad crawled through the sewers toward the manor.
• Xiao Yu monitored the manor from outside and told the captain that every sewer exit was guarded.