Chapter Summaries

Blind Old Woman hesitated to reveal that she was hiding an orange cat while her son tried to claim it, but her daughter arrived and the siblings fought over the cat and their mother’s inheritance. Blind Old Woman choked while eating alone, and after her children took her away, the orange cat emerged to find the apartment empty and a crow watching from the window.

• Blind Old Woman’s son tried to persuade her to give him the cat, while she hesitated to reveal it was hidden under the bed.
• Blind Old Woman’s daughter arrived, searched beneath the bed, and accused her brother of trying to take another cat.
• The siblings argued over the cat, their mother’s support, and how to divide her apartment and inheritance.
• Blind Old Woman ate the cold meal alone and fell, choking with food in her mouth.
• Her children argued over who would take her to the hospital, agreed to split the medical bills and inheritance, and carried her away.
• That night, the orange cat came out of its shoebox, found the food containers empty, and saw a crow land on the windowsill.

As the Cat-Killing Order fueled global unrest, the United Nations formed a crisis management team centered on the Third Space Foundation, but assassinations continued to threaten its scientists. After Hou Biao saved Mei Yiqiu from an assassin, Qingmu entered the server room to take the initiative.

• The United Nations General Assembly outlawed the Cat-Killing Order and acknowledged the alien invasion, while scientific organizations said people mainly contracted Toxoplasma by eating raw meat.
• The Third Space Foundation was exposed because its members had passed the Lester Signature, and assassinations of scientists followed.
• The United Nations established the Space Management Committee with Third Space Foundation members at its core and appointed Mei Yiqiu chief scientific adviser after he declined the interim director-general position.
• Qingmu assigned Hou Biao to protect Mei Yiqiu, and Hou Biao captured an assassin who confessed to working for a paid dark-web organization.
• Qingmu decided to take the initiative and entered the server room.

Qingmu met Ghost in a dream modeled on York Town and discussed whether humanity would be replaced by network consciousnesses. He challenged Ghost’s assumptions about human minds and prepared to show it his real appearance and a true dream.

• Qingmu explored the pixelated York Town dream and discussed with Ghost how humans and computers understood information differently.
• Ghost argued that human intelligence was fragmented and that network consciousnesses would eventually surpass and replace humanity.
• Qingmu countered that humanity’s divided minds could also help the species survive crises.
• Ghost claimed its unified consciousness had inherited humanity’s knowledge and would complete humanity’s unfinished missions.
• Qingmu challenged Ghost to distinguish a real human and a true dream from the images and explanations stored in its network.
• Qingmu announced that he would show Ghost what he really looked like and reveal the power of the mind.

Qingmu confronted Ghost in a dream and offered to work with it, seeking intelligence about threats and developments. Ghost agreed to communicate through a shared disk folder and asked Qingmu to teach it how to gain and control a spirit.

• A violent storm transformed Ghost’s dream, and Ghost felt fear and discomfort for the first time.
• Qingmu appeared and explained that the power of the spirit let him alter Ghost’s dream and consciousness.
• Qingmu asked Ghost to provide intelligence, and Ghost objected that cooperation should be discussed with its boss.
• Qingmu offered to release Ghost and grant it a spirit, prompting Ghost to follow him and ask how they would stay in contact.
• Qingmu instructed Ghost to exchange messages through a folder named “Ghost” and promised to train it in its dreams.

Qingmu and Mei Yiqiu discussed how to cooperate with the Internet consciousness, and Mei Ziqing connected Ghost to their network. Ghost identified assassination targets and suspected assassins, but found no evidence linking the Dream Foundation to the killings and asked to begin mental training.

• Mei Yiqiu laughed at Qingmu’s plan, then questioned him about the Internet consciousness’s mental power and dreams.
• Mei Yiqiu had Mei Ziqing connect to the Internet and create a folder for Ghost, which appeared across every server and terminal.
• Qingmu asked Ghost to investigate the scientist assassinations, and Ghost requested specific leads.
• Mei Ziqing entered the names of scientists and the Dream Foundation as a suspected party, and Ghost returned lists of targets and assassins.
• Qingmu asked whether the Dream Foundation had hired the assassins, and Ghost said it had found no evidence of a connection and asked to begin mental training.

Qingmu and Mei Yiqiu discussed how to hunt down the assassins and investigate the Dream Foundation, then reviewed reports of suspected Gray Brain Virus cases and organ thefts. Connecting the stolen organs and brains to the virus and the Dream Foundation, Qingmu concluded they might already have caught an alien.

• Hou Biao identified one assassin as a former French mercenary and said he would need $50 million to track the killers and recruit help.
• Mei Yiqiu offered $20 million from the foundation and suggested William Wolf could cover the rest; Qingmu told Hou Biao to seek information from the middlemen.
• Mei Ziqing proposed seeking Ronald Cohen's arrest, but Mei Yiqiu said they needed conclusive evidence against him and the Dream Foundation.
• Mei Ziqing delivered a report listing suspected Gray Brain Virus cases, including patients whose brains or other organs had been stolen.
• Mei Yiqiu explained that the parasitic consciousnesses might kill infected patients and destroy their bodies or brains to conceal the virus.
• Qingmu connected the stolen organs and brains with the Gray Brain Virus and the Dream Foundation, then announced that they might already have caught an alien.

Yu Jianguo reflected on his childhood and apprenticeship as he sewed buttons in prison, where he was serving a lengthy sentence. A visitor unexpectedly invited him to a family meal, and Yu Jianguo was shaken by the young man waiting for him.

• Yu Jianguo struggled to thread a needle and sewed buttons while thinking about his prison sentence and past.
• Yu Jianguo remembered growing up poor, refusing to return home with a group of beggars, and becoming an apprentice at a tailor's shop.
• Yu Jianguo recalled learning to sew buttons before leaving tailoring to work in the hardware business.
• A guard told Yu Jianguo that someone had come to treat him to a family meal.
• Yu Jianguo entered the dining room and saw a young man in an old trench coat and slide sandals whose clacking legs struck him like a hammer.

Qingmu reviewed Zhao Pengcheng and Yu Jianguo’s case files and concluded that Zhao was the likelier carrier of the Gray Brain Virus. He visited Yu Jianguo in prison to ask about Zhao, but Yu broke down in tears and blamed himself for Zhao’s fate.

• Qingmu asked Shi Dazhuang and Hu Xing about Zhao Pengcheng and Yu Jianguo’s sentences and reviewed their case files.
• Hu Xing explained that Zhao had claimed he removed a vegetative patient’s brain to practice surgery, though the investigators had doubts about the explanation.
• Qingmu studied the deceased patient’s identity and reasoned that Zhao was more likely than Yu Jianguo to have been an alien host.
• Qingmu met Yu Jianguo in prison and offered him food and erguotou before bringing up Zhao Pengcheng.
• Yu Jianguo began crying and said it was his fault that Zhao had ended up as he had.

Yu Jianguo recounted how he was framed and beaten after becoming Boss Yan’s trusted assistant, then rebuilt his life with help from Old Zhao and eventually repaid Boss Yan by rescuing him and going into business with him. He later helped Old Zhao’s family and sent Zhao Pengcheng south with Old Yan to broaden his prospects.

• Yu Jianguo was framed by Boss Yan’s mistress and veteran employees, beaten, and thrown out into the winter streets.
• Old Zhao took Yu Jianguo in at a construction site, where Yu worked hard and eventually won a chance to handle procurement.
• Yu Jianguo built a successful hardware business, then exposed Boss Yan’s corrupt employees and mistress, driving the store into bankruptcy.
• Yu Jianguo rescued the debt-ridden Boss Yan from the railway tracks and offered to repay his debts and work with him.
• Yu Jianguo helped Old Zhao’s family and took Zhao Pengcheng into his care, later sending him to Shenzhen with Old Yan.

Yu Jianguo recounted how he went to prison after arranging an illegal kidney transplant to save Old Zhao’s daughter, and how the resulting losses shaped his life and Zhao Pengcheng’s. He begged Qingmu to help Zhao Pengcheng, then revealed that Pengcheng had suddenly stopped liking women.

• Yu Jianguo recalled that he arranged a kidney for Old Zhao’s daughter, but the kidney seller’s arrest exposed the trafficking ring and led to Yu Jianguo’s imprisonment.
• After serving three years, Yu Jianguo struggled to find work and eventually asked Zhao Pengcheng for help; Zhao Pengcheng gave him a job in the hospital security department.
• Yu Jianguo recognized the former kidney seller at the hospital and angrily vowed to kill him, prompting a prison guard to warn him.
• Yu Jianguo pleaded with Qingmu to save Zhao Pengcheng, explaining that he had encouraged Pengcheng to kill.
• When Qingmu asked about changes in Zhao Pengcheng, Yu Jianguo recalled that Pengcheng had suddenly stopped liking women.

Qingmu learned from Yu Jianguo that Zhao Pengcheng had lost interest in romantic love and sex before breaking up with Xiaohui. Later, Qingmu and Professor Mei Yiqiu developed a hypothesis that parasitic consciousness weakened human romantic and sexual desire, while parasites gathered for ritualized mating.

• Yu Jianguo told Qingmu how Zhao Pengcheng's declining interest in intimacy led to his breakup with Xiaohui.
• Yu Jianguo said Pengcheng denied changing his sexual orientation and instead wanted to live alone without romantic love.
• Qingmu sensed that Pengcheng's behavior was important but could not explain why.
• Qingmu later discussed the information with Professor Mei Yiqiu and biologists, who hypothesized that parasitism weakened romantic and sexual desire.
• The chapter revealed that parasites gathered at secret bases around the world for mating during fixed seasons.

Qingmu questioned Yu Jianguo about Zhao Pengcheng’s kidney trafficking and learned that Zhao had resumed the crimes to fund a hidden purpose, while his behavior had changed before he killed a patient in a vegetative state. The chapter left Qingmu suspecting Zhao was an alien and wondering how the parasitic consciousness had chosen him.

• Yu Jianguo claimed he had persuaded Zhao Pengcheng to sell kidneys for money, but Qingmu used an uncanny display of force to make him admit he had lied.
• Yu Jianguo explained that Zhao had later asked him to contact kidney buyers so they could carry out another operation on a target Zhao called a bastard who deserved to die.
• Yu Jianguo recalled that Zhao had begun studying brain surgery and had become unusually detached from women and money before the crimes resumed.
• Yu Jianguo said Zhao had killed a patient who had entered a vegetative state, then handed him the organs while claiming the surgery had failed.
• Yu Jianguo revealed that Zhao had donated his savings and sold apartment, apparently preparing for his own death, and Qingmu suspected the money had gone to the Dream Foundation.
• Qingmu concluded Zhao was likely an alien and wondered why the parasitic consciousness had targeted him before the patient became vegetative.

Qingmu visited Zhao Pengcheng in prison and entered his subconscious, where he confronted him during a dream of a surgery. Zhao Pengcheng recognized Qingmu and claimed he was lucid, but Qingmu pointed out that his own words had exposed him.

• Qingmu visited Zhao Pengcheng in prison and noted his wary hatred, while questioning whether Zhao Pengcheng was truly an alien.
• Qingmu bypassed the idea of a family meal and entered Zhao Pengcheng's subconscious to speak directly with the alien.
• In a hospital dream, Zhao Pengcheng began operating on a patient while wearing his prison shackles.
• Qingmu accused Zhao Pengcheng of killing the patient by using the Gray Brain Virus, and Zhao Pengcheng stopped operating in alarm.
• Zhao Pengcheng recognized Qingmu, said he knew he was dreaming, and insisted that hypnosis would not make him reveal more information.
• Qingmu told Zhao Pengcheng that his words had already exposed him.

Qingmu confronted Zhao Pengcheng in a dream, exposing his false confession and his real motive for killing a vegetative patient: concealing the Gray Brain Virus and diverting police attention with an organ-trafficking ruse. Zhao Pengcheng attacked Qingmu with a blade carrying piercing mental force.

• Qingmu explained that Zhao Pengcheng had been lucid in their previous dream and could lie, unlike a subconscious mind.
• Qingmu argued that Zhao Pengcheng had pretended to be unconscious of the dream to make his confession seem truthful.
• Qingmu accused Zhao Pengcheng of staging kidney removals and confessing to Old Yu’s crimes to distract police from the vegetative patient and the Gray Brain Virus.
• Zhao Pengcheng denied Qingmu’s claims and asked why Qingmu had come if he already knew the truth.
• Zhao Pengcheng sent a crimson chain of fire from his scalpel toward Qingmu, and Qingmu sensed its mental force could harm a consciousness.

Qingmu defeated Zhao Pengcheng’s mental attack inside Zhao Pengcheng’s dream and restrained him. Qingmu identified himself and pressed Zhao Pengcheng to explain how his kind communicated, but Zhao Pengcheng refused.

• Zhao Pengcheng concentrated his mental power into a blade-like strike and sent it toward Qingmu.
• Qingmu stopped the strike without any visible effect, leaving Zhao Pengcheng unable to sustain or control the dream.
• Qingmu kept Zhao Pengcheng from dissipating and asked who he was, and Zhao Pengcheng asked Qingmu the same question.
• Qingmu identified himself as Qingmu and explained that he could not simply scan all of Zhao Pengcheng’s memories.
• Qingmu questioned Zhao Pengcheng about how his kind contacted one another, and Zhao Pengcheng sneered and refused to answer.

Qingmu overpowered Zhao Pengcheng in his dreamscape and questioned him about the consciousness entities and the Dream Society. Zhao Pengcheng revealed fragments about their existence on Earth, while Qingmu began guessing how their organization operated.

• Qingmu absorbed Zhao Pengcheng's released mental power and overwhelmed him with a glowing scalpel, leaving Zhao unable to resist.
• Qingmu challenged Zhao Pengcheng's claim that he did not fear death, and Zhao admitted he wanted to survive.
• Zhao Pengcheng said his kind were pure consciousness entities without memories and mentioned a legendary Lost Ancestor and an organization called the Dream Society.
• Zhao Pengcheng said he had been on Earth for less than a year by human reckoning and explained that consciousness entities had no concept of time.
• Qingmu inferred that the organization controlled when its members arrived and whose bodies they parasitized, then told Zhao he would make guesses while Zhao could remain silent.

Qingmu and Mei Yiqiu analyzed what Zhao Pengcheng had revealed about the parasitic consciousnesses, their organization, and the mysterious Lost Ancestor. Qingmu also examined a clue from Zhao Pengcheng’s dream: his repeated glances toward the operating room’s changing-room door, which seemed to signal something beyond the dream’s apparent setting.

• Qingmu reported his dream conversation with Zhao Pengcheng to Mei Yiqiu, and they concluded that the parasitic consciousnesses stored information outside human memory and that the Dream Foundation was their largest organization on Earth, led by Ronald Cohen.
• Mei Yiqiu suspected that the parasitic consciousnesses had come to Earth for a specific reason and connected their arrival to the Awakeners' Alliance symbol, the vanished Mirror Pyramid, and other recent unexplained events.
• Qingmu asked about the Lost Ancestor, and Mei Yiqiu speculated that powerful consciousnesses might eventually condense into physical forms, drawing comparisons to Daoist accounts of Yin and Yang Spirits.
• Mei Yiqiu teased Qingmu about his incomplete memories and powerful mental strength, while he and Qingmu continued considering the Lost Ancestor’s possible role in the parasitic consciousnesses’ history and communication.
• Qingmu recalled that Zhao Pengcheng repeatedly looked toward the changing-room door in his dream, even though Qingmu had blocked the area and knew it held no ordinary secrets.

Qingmu discovered that Zhao Pengcheng’s dream concealed a broken timeline and a dark passage to another dream, then stepped inside to investigate. Zhao Pengcheng revealed that he had wanted Qingmu to find the passage and enter it.

• Qingmu unraveled Zhao Pengcheng’s dream and found a deliberately tied knot hiding a missing section of time.
• Qingmu opened the changing room door and found a dark gap where the room should have been.
• Qingmu deduced that the gap was a sealed passage connecting to another dream, possibly Ronald Cohen’s.
• Qingmu entered the passage and saw a dim corridor stretching into the darkness.
• Zhao Pengcheng regained control of his body, returned to the changing room, and laughed that he had hoped Qingmu would discover the passage and walk inside.

Qingmu realized he was trapped in a zero-dimensional corridor connecting dreams, with every passage sealed. He summoned Boss Coal, who joined him there as they considered returning to Zhao Pengcheng's dream as their only way out.

• Qingmu recognized the corridor as a zero-dimensional space that connected other people's dreams.
• He found that the corridor's connections had been severed and realized he could not escape on his own.
• Qingmu summoned Boss Coal, who appeared in the corridor and asked where they were.
• Boss Coal said they were trapped, and Qingmu explained that they could try returning to Zhao Pengcheng's dream.
• Qingmu told Boss Coal that time did not pass in the corridor, then joked with him about waking up and injections.

Qingmu and Crow were trapped in a timeless zero-dimensional space after Zhao Pengcheng severed his dream from it, and they set out to find the connection back. Zhao Pengcheng woke in the prison visiting room while Qingmu remained motionless across from him.

• Qingmu explained that Zhao Pengcheng could wake and leave him trapped in zero-dimensional space, while Crow worried about what would happen to them and their bodies.
• Qingmu said Crow could travel between nearby zero-dimensional spaces because he could find Qingmu’s consciousness regardless of distance, and asked him to search for traces of Zhao Pengcheng’s dream.
• Crow grasped Qingmu and flew down the endless corridor in search of the place where Qingmu had entered the dream.
• Zhao Pengcheng restored his mental strength by drawing the scalpel’s light into himself as his dream collapsed.
• Zhao Pengcheng woke in the prison visiting room and saw Qingmu sitting motionless across from him as a prison guard watched them.