Chapter Summaries

The Warden violently attacked Shadow, then abruptly returned to his usual self and resumed fighting the marine creatures. Shadow explained that the violent Warden was Li Changqing’s original personality, corrupted after years of slaughtering chickens, and began recounting his past misdeeds.

• The Warden pulled his spine from his mouth and tried to slash Shadow, but became confused when Shadow still had both arms.
• The Warden threatened Yi Hao, but Feis shielded him; after scratching his head bloody, the Warden spoke to himself and then dove away to attack the marine creatures.
• Lu Xiao asked Shadow what had happened to the Warden, while Yi Hao covered his ears and Feis listened.
• Shadow told them the violent personality was the Warden’s original self, Li Changqing, once a fast chicken butcher known as the Chicken Overlord.
• Shadow explained that Li Changqing had become corrupted and listed several of his past crimes, prompting Yi Hao to realize the stories seemed aimed at him.

Shadow explained how Li Changqing became the Warden and revealed that his Mind Prison ability could trap souls and use their power. Lu Xiao learned he might develop an ability after completing the deification ritual, while Li Changqing went on a killing frenzy nearby.

• Shadow told Lu Xiao that he had arrested Li Changqing seven times, and Chief Bai Xuedong had released him six times.
• Yi Hao blurted out that the seventh part Li Changqing had threatened to cut off was a man's pride, then tried to cover his mistake.
• Shadow explained that Li Changqing's corrupted personality had been sealed away by a second personality, leading him to take the codename Warden.
• Shadow told Lu Xiao that Mind Prison could imprison other people's souls and let Li Changqing draw on their power, but using it risked losing control.
• Shadow said Lu Xiao might develop an ability after completing the deification ritual, as Li Changqing went on a killing frenzy and stained the seawater red.

Shadow, the Warden, and Yi Hao reached the edge of the fog after fighting through the sea creatures. Shadow warned Yi Hao that he could face suspicion and offered him two choices, leaving the decision unresolved.

• The Warden slaughtered sea creatures as Feis led the group toward shore on a huge wave.
• Shadow confronted the Warden’s violent alter ego, who backed down and returned to his calmer self.
• Shadow and the others reached the shore at the edge of the fog and discussed what awaited them beyond it.
• Shadow told Yi Hao he could face suspicion and detention until their identities were proven, or appear to die to distance himself from the incident.

Shadow gave Yi Hao a choice between helping prove their identities and allowing Shadow to contaminate C01, and Yi Hao agreed to support the first option. Yi Hao then told the garrison a fabricated story that framed Shadow as a traitor, leaving the officers furious and the Warden facing the accusation.

• Shadow told Yi Hao that he would infiltrate C01 and contaminate everyone there if they could not prove their identities within two days.
• Yi Hao chose to cooperate with Shadow, while Lu Xiao and Feis joked together in the mist.
• Yi Hao emerged from the mist and told the Warden outside that the mission had failed and his teammates had died in the Great Sea.
• At the garrison command post, Yi Hao recounted Shadow's invented story about a traitor controlling schools of fish and killing the team.
• An officer called Yi Hao's account bullshit, and Yi Hao insisted to the Warden that Shadow had betrayed humanity.

Yi Hao insisted that Shadow had defected, while the Warden tried to protect him from the garrison officers and arrange a lie-detector test. The officers demanded the test be done on-site, and the deputy commander challenged the Warden's suggestion that Yi Hao might have been contaminated by the Gray-White Mist.

• The hot-tempered brigadier general threatened to shoot Yi Hao, but the Warden stopped him and warned that he would report the incident.
• Yi Hao reaffirmed that he had seen marine creatures crowding around Mr. Shadow, and the Warden proposed taking him for a lie-detector test.
• The garrison officers opposed the Warden taking Yi Hao away, and the deputy commander argued that the test should happen in front of them.
• Yi Hao secretly realized Shadow had predicted the confrontation and believed the officers would keep him safe from the Warden.
• The Warden suggested that Mr. Shadow might have been contaminated by the Gray-White Mist, and the deputy commander countered that the Warden might have been contaminated too.

The deputy commander questioned Yi Hao privately about the Mist Event and explained the military's secrecy and the records it kept of fallen soldiers. He warned that if Warden could not prove Yi Hao was lying within a day, Yi Hao would be prosecuted for undermining military morale.

• Military officers took Yi Hao to the deputy commander's office, where the deputy commander showed him his personal record and called him a brigadier general under his command.
• Yi Hao insisted he was first and foremost a Prison Warden and refused to change his account of what happened in the mist.
• The deputy commander described the military's secret work, the fallen soldiers whose service went unrecognized, and how the Mist Event had boosted enlistment and morale.
• The deputy commander said Military Headquarters did not care about the struggle between the Prison Wardens and the military, and that it could tell the troops the commander had died in battle.
• The deputy commander warned Yi Hao that if Warden failed to establish within one day that Yi Hao was lying, Yi Hao would be prosecuted for undermining military morale.

Shadow returned with Lu Xiao and met with the Deputy Commander, who tested Shadow’s identity by recalling supposed shared memories. After hearing Yi Hao’s accusations and visiting the Warden, Shadow became suspicious of what had happened in the Mist, while the Warden’s mention of “292” alarmed Shadow and Yi Hao.

• A soldier announced that Shadow had returned and was under quarantine observation, so the Deputy Commander took Yi Hao to see him.
• Shadow told the Deputy Commander that he and Lu Xiao had been lost at sea, while the Deputy Commander tested him with false memories of serving together.
• Shadow asked what had happened while he was missing, and the Deputy Commander recounted Yi Hao’s claims that Shadow had betrayed them and controlled monsters to attack other Sacrificial Ones.
• Shadow asked Lu Xiao whether he had noticed anything unusual in the Mist, then suggested they visit the Warden.
• At the Warden’s office, the group exchanged accounts, and the Warden said Shadow was fortunate to have had 292 with him, alarming Shadow and Yi Hao.

Shadow questioned Yi Hao’s account of the attack and argued that the survivors’ escape made little sense if he had controlled the marine creatures. He suggested that another version of himself might be in the fog, leaving the Warden to consider the possibility.

• Lu Xiao returned a seawater-soaked slip to the Warden and pressed him about the promised seafood feast, while Shadow stopped Lu Xiao from acting on his appetite for the Warden.
• The Warden proposed taking Shadow to the C01 Containment Facility for a genetic test, but the deputy commander insisted that Yi Hao first undergo a lie detector test.
• Shadow agreed that Yi Hao should be tested and questioned him about seeing Shadow alone among the marine creatures and about the squad’s ability to fight them.
• Shadow argued that if he had controlled the creatures, he would have left no survivors, then asked the Warden whether another version of him could be in the fog.

Shadow and the Warden agreed to prove their identities after the deputy commander questioned whether either could be an impostor. Shadow suspected the fake Warden was a Researcher, possibly the missing Jailer, and the chapter ended as the deputy commander asked the Warden how he had traveled to the camp during the Mist Event.

• The Warden challenged Shadow to explain how he could prove he was really himself if identical people could appear in the mist.
• Shadow’s plan put him, Lu Xiao, and the Warden on equal footing, while Shadow inferred from the fake Warden’s use of Lu Xiao’s number that he was a Researcher, perhaps the missing Jailer.
• The deputy commander told Shadow and the Warden that both needed to prove their identities and offered to witness their answers.
• Shadow gave the military identification number from his officer’s ID as 0130906.
• The deputy commander asked the Warden what transportation he had used to reach the camp during the Mist Event.

Shadow and Lu Xiao left the Warden’s office after Shadow hinted that the Warden was an impostor and suggested a Last Supper-style plan. Back at their quarters, they found themselves surrounded by soldiers, and Shadow explained that Old Zhang had already noticed something strange about the Warden.

• The Deputy Commander left with Yi Hao after saying they would wait for the lie detector results within two days.
• Lu Xiao suggested killing the Warden, but Shadow refused because it would prevent them from clearing their names and surveillance cameras might record them.
• Shadow challenged the Warden about the Sacrificial One and asked whether he had read the Gospel of Matthew before leaving with Lu Xiao.
• Lu Xiao guessed that Shadow planned to act against the Warden that night, but Shadow said he might let him have another breakfast or lunch first.
• Soldiers surrounded Shadow and Lu Xiao’s quarters, and Shadow said they were probably Old Zhang’s men and that Old Zhang suspected the Warden was a fake.
• Shadow explained that Old Zhang’s remark about the Warden’s memory being “beyond human” revealed his suspicion, leaving Lu Xiao wondering why Old Zhang had claimed both men seemed genuine.

Shadow explained why Old Zhang might be trying to strip him of command authority, while Feis visited Yi Hao during the night. The Warden then broke into Yi Hao’s room and rushed him out of the camp, warning that the fake Warden planned to manipulate him during the Lie Test.

• Shadow told Lu Xiao that Old Zhang might have surrounded them both to protect or surveil them and to remove Shadow’s authority, though he said they would learn more after the Lie Test.
• Lu Xiao and Shadow joked as they lounged with their feet on the Commander’s desk.
• Feis entered Yi Hao’s room through the wall and admitted he had come because he was bored and had nowhere else to go.
• The Warden broke into Yi Hao’s room, warned that the fake Warden would tamper with him during the Lie Test, and hurried him outside.
• The Warden led Yi Hao through the camp’s shadows, saying they had three minutes to escape before the dead guards were discovered; Yi Hao stopped, sensing something was wrong.

Yi Hao turned back toward the camp after learning that the lie test might be rigged against Shadow, intending to alert him. After soldiers arrested him, the Deputy Commander recognized that Yi Hao had surrendered deliberately and agreed to wait for the test rather than question or torture him.

• The Warden warned Yi Hao that the Deputy Commander and a fake Warden planned to tamper with his lie test to target Shadow, then ran off when Yi Hao hesitated.
• Yi Hao sent Feis to follow the Warden and returned to the camp so Shadow could prepare for the suspected tampering.
• Soldiers spotted Yi Hao and arrested him after he surrendered without resistance; Feis pursued the Warden.
• The Deputy Commander realized Yi Hao had let himself be caught and brought him to his office.
• Yi Hao refused to explain and told the Deputy Commander to wait for the lie test, and the Deputy Commander said he would not torture him while he remained a brigadier general.

Shadow learned that Yi Hao had been arrested after a guard squad was killed, but suspected Yi Hao had not committed the murders and had been deliberately caught to warn him about the person trying to take him away. The chapter ended with Shadow wondering who that person was and why Yi Hao had chosen to signal him.

• The Deputy Commander ordered a guard to keep Yi Hao under close watch overnight, and Yi Hao dismissed the guard’s threats.
• Shadow invited a guard named Li to smoke with him and asked what had happened outside.
• Li told Shadow that a guard squad had been found with their throats slit and that Yi Hao was suspected of desertion and falsifying military intelligence.
• After Li left, Lu Xiao asked why the Sacrificial One would run, and Shadow reasoned that someone else had killed the guards to extract Yi Hao.
• Shadow concluded that Yi Hao had probably allowed himself to be caught to warn him that he suspected the identity of the person taking him away.

Shadow deduced that someone had lured Yi Hao out of camp before Yi Hao deliberately let himself be caught to send a warning. After discussing the missing Jailer and the impostor Warden with the real Warden, Shadow reflected on how carefully he had to act despite his near-divine power.

• Shadow reasoned that the Warden had most likely taken Yi Hao from camp, using the Lie Test or help proving Shadow and Lu Xiao’s identities as bait, before Yi Hao noticed something was wrong and allowed himself to be caught.
• Shadow called the Warden, who said he had searched the camp for Jailer except for the building where the fake Warden was staying.
• Shadow advised the Warden to search that building during the Lie Test, and privately considered whether the impostor might be Jailer.
• Shadow told Lu Xiao that his immense power could not be used freely because he had to protect the world’s stability, then recalled that he had given his cigarettes to a guard as a bribe.

Yi Hao underwent a mirror-room lie test about his accusation that Shadow had betrayed humanity, and the test confirmed that accusation was false. As Yi Hao began recounting his time in the Mist, Shadow and Lu Xiao mocked the Warden over his assumptions about detecting lies, but the Deputy Commander redirected everyone to continue questioning Yi Hao.

• Staff built a mirrored room and connected Yi Hao to equipment monitoring his body as the Warden prepared to question him.
• Yi Hao lied when asked whether he had personally seen Shadow betray humanity, and the test detected the lie.
• Shadow stopped the Deputy Commander from leaving and asked Yi Hao to recount what he had experienced in the Mist.
• Yi Hao said he had entered the Mist early with a Hell Creature, found no trace of Shadow at first, and later followed the creature to Shadow.
• The Warden questioned Yi Hao's darting eyes, but a microexpression expert explained that looking around could mean someone was recalling events.
• Lu Xiao mocked the Warden about lying, and the Deputy Commander interrupted them and ordered the test of Yi Hao to continue.

Yi Hao’s account confirmed that the Warden in the room was an impostor, and Shadow and Lu Xiao confronted him. The impostor revealed that he had been buying time, while Shadow questioned him about the entity in the Mist and the ruins of Japan.

• Yi Hao recalled finding Shadow, Lu Xiao, and the Warden inside the Mist, then learning that the Warden outside was likely an impostor.
• Yi Hao said the Omniscient Mirror had claimed the Sacrificial Ones were already dead, and the lie detection team confirmed he was telling the truth.
• The Deputy Commander ordered the Warden arrested, but Shadow warned that the guard could not handle him and approached with Lu Xiao.
• The Warden said his goal had been to buy time, while Shadow accused him of helping the entity in the Mist target humanity and asked about the ruins of Japan.
• Shadow offered the Warden a cigarette, and Lu Xiao pointed out that the pack had somehow appeared in the Warden’s hand.

Shadow interrogated the fake Warden, who revealed that he was Artisan and had sent Lu Xiao’s group to Japan’s ruins to trap them in the Dark Prison. Shadow identified himself as Liu Guang, a Pioneer who founded the Prison Wardens, and called for Artisan’s former teacher to come find him.

• Shadow suppressed the fake Warden and forced him to explain that he had sent the group to Japan’s ruins for revenge, hoping they would enter the Dark Prison and die.
• The fake Warden said he was Jailer, then revealed that he had killed the real Jailer and taken his identity to get close to the Warden.
• He connected Lu Xiao to his grudge by recalling that Lu Xiao had spared an old man at the J01 Containment Facility and taken 012 from him.
• Shadow deduced that the fake Warden was Artisan, who admitted he had planned to replace the Warden and lead Huaxia while secretly consuming its space.
• Shadow revealed that he was Liu Guang, codename Shadow, a Pioneer and the founder of the Prison Wardens.
• Shadow contacted someone and told him to stop searching for his student and come to Artisan.

Shadow identified Artisan as the mastermind who had impersonated Warden’s student, Jailer, and alerted the Director that C04 Base’s location had been exposed. Warden showed little outward distress, leaving Artisan unsettled as he asked whether his teacher had anything to say.

• As artillery sounded from the shore, Artisan waited for Warden to arrive, while Yi Hao asked Deputy Commander Zhang who would remember the Prison Wardens’ sacrifices.
• Yi Hao asked Shadow about Feis, and Shadow said Ding Dan’s mark would protect him and bring Ding Dan to his aid if he faced danger.
• Warden arrived and, after Shadow identified Artisan, tore off Artisan’s human-skin face and saw that he had been impersonating Jailer.
• Warden notified the Director that C04 Base’s location had been exposed, then calmly told Artisan he understood what had happened.
• Artisan asked Warden whether he had anything to say, and Warden replied that he did not understand what there was to say.

The Warden explained Faceless Man’s history after Artisan revealed he had fused with him, while Artisan tried to escape. Ding Dan arrived with Feis, who had eaten Artisan’s deity ally and saved a piece of its brain for Lu Xiao.

• The Warden explained that Faceless Man could make masks from his flesh and blood, but had been considered too weak to remain a Contained Anomaly.
• Artisan angrily tried to leave and called for his lord to help him withdraw.
• Ding Dan appeared carrying Feis, who revealed that he had eaten Artisan’s deity ally.
• Feis offered Lu Xiao a piece of the deity’s brain, and Lu Xiao refused, saying he would not eat handouts.

The Warden tortured Artisan inside his Mind Prison, hoping Li Changqing could vent his rage and the Warden could merge with that personality. Shadow gave Zhang Deputy Commander his support to take command, while Feis tried to share a Deity’s brain with Yi Hao as a way of fitting into his world.

• The Warden pulled out his spine, tortured Artisan, and then locked him inside his Mind Prison for Li Changqing to torment.
• Shadow warned the Warden not to push himself too hard, then offered Zhang Deputy Commander a cigarette and urged him to take command and remember his duty.
• Ding Dan flew away alone, leaving Feis and Yi Hao behind.
• Feis offered Yi Hao a Deity’s brain and explained that Lu Xiao had taught him to share good things.
• Yi Hao refused to eat the contaminated brain, despite recognizing that mutation could provide power.