Chapter Summaries

Sun Hai let Hela sleep in his bedroom while he rested on the couch, then woke to find his teammates visiting. Hela cautiously came out to observe them, and Sun Hai brought her over to show them she was doing fine.

• Sun Hai carried the sleepy Hela to bed, covered her with a blanket, and went to sleep on the couch.
• Hela decided she would stay with Sun Hai until she found a chance to leave, while Sun Hai resolved to find someone else to care for her.
• Sun Hai's teammates Si Xiaobei, Liu Xiaogang, Feng Xuan, and Brother Nan arrived noisily, and Sun Hai knocked Feng Xuan unconscious after he joked about the captain and Hela.
• The teammates asked where Hela was and learned that Sun Hai had slept on the couch while she used his bed.
• Hela peeked out at the visitors, and Sun Hai gently brought her over to show the team that she was doing fine.

Sun Hai's team discussed the newcomer Xing Lan, while Hela began responding to Si Xiaobei and Liu Xiaogang fell in love with her at first sight. Sun Hai planned to personally test Xing Lan's strength next week despite being suspended, leaving the team to prepare for her arrival.

• Sun Hai slapped Liu Xiaogang unconscious for asking whether Hela was an adult, then punched Feng Xuan for laughing at him.
• Si Xiaobei invited Hela to sit beside him, and the team realized she could understand him.
• Nanming told the team that Xing Lan, a nineteen-year-old High Rank ability user, would arrive next week.
• Liu Xiaogang saw Hela up close and became convinced he had fallen in love with her.
• Sun Hai said he would personally test Xing Lan's strength next week and told the team to prepare for a lively visit.

After Si Xiaobei and the others left, Sun Hai went shopping while Hela stayed home and watched TV. When he returned, Hela understood his words for the first time, though she still could not speak Chinese.

• Si Xiaobei, Nanming, Feng Xuan, and Liu Xiaogang left Sun Hai’s apartment after saying goodbye to Hela.
• Sun Hai turned on the TV for Hela and went out to buy groceries, where Granny Li gave him a bag of dumplings.
• Sun Hai returned and changed the channel after finding Hela watching a mating program.
• When Sun Hai said he would cook dumplings and told Hela not to grab them with her hands, Hela nodded, startling him by showing she understood.
• Hela thought that she had learned to understand Chinese in two days but still found speaking it too difficult.

Nanming and Si Xiaobei met Xing Lan at a café to discuss her joining the Special Investigation Squad. Despite learning that the squad had a sixty percent mortality rate, Xing Lan remained determined, and the group prepared to meet the captain—after she asked to eat first.

• Si Xiaobei sensed Xing Lan approaching, and Nanming waited with him at the café.
• Xing Lan arrived in a conspicuous disguise and sat at the wrong table before Si Xiaobei identified her as a member of the Special Investigation Squad.
• Nanming told Xing Lan that Night Stars did not need to be secretive, and she drew the café's attention when she sprang up in surprise.
• Nanming asked Xing Lan if she still wanted to join after explaining that the Special Investigation Squad's mortality rate was sixty percent, and she firmly agreed.
• Nanming said her acceptance depended on the captain and led the way to meet them, but Xing Lan stopped the group to ask if they could eat first.

Xing Lan joined Nanming and Si Xiaobei on their way to the Special Investigation Squad’s hidden base, mistaking its barbershop entrance for a place to make a dramatic debut. In the basement, she met Captain Sun Hai, who asked whether she was an awakened one or a symbiote.

• Nanming led Xing Lan and Si Xiaobei to the squad’s disguised base, Star Barbershop, while Xing Lan excitedly talked about their secret headquarters.
• Xing Lan burst into the barbershop to announce herself, startling Feng Xuan into accidentally shaving a customer’s hair off.
• Feng Xuan learned that Xing Lan was the new recruit and led her, Nanming, and Si Xiaobei downstairs to the squad’s basement.
• Si Xiaobei spotted Captain Sun Hai emerging from the darkness, and Sun Hai asked Xing Lan whether she was an awakened one or a symbiote.

Xing Lan revealed that she was a symbiote bonded with a City Destruction Level Star Moon Butterfly, and Sun Hai tested whether she was strong enough to stay. Their fight left Xing Lan's starry wings shattered after Sun Hai caught her by surprise.

• Nanming explained that symbiotes fused with Variants and were often hostile toward humans, before Xing Lan announced her bond with a Star Moon Butterfly.
• Sun Hai challenged Xing Lan to a strength test, and she accepted eagerly, drawing her saber.
• Xing Lan traded attacks with Sun Hai, then summoned starry butterfly wings and took to the air.
• Xing Lan pursued Sun Hai with volleys of stars, but he used a thrown blade to distract her and reappeared behind her.
• Sun Hai struck Xing Lan's wings repeatedly, shattering both pairs into scattered starlight.

Xing Lan lost her spar with Sun Hai but was accepted into the Special Investigation Team. As Feng Xuan explained the team’s members and Sun Hai’s strength, Xing Lan learned that Sun Hai had defeated her without using his abilities.

• Xing Lan fell after Sun Hai defeated her, and Sun Hai accepted her into the team by telling Nanming to assign her a dorm room.
• Xing Lan celebrated by hugging Si Xiaobei so tightly that he nearly passed out, and Nanming carried him to the infirmary.
• Feng Xuan introduced himself as the team’s logistics specialist and Liu Xiaogang as a combatant without abilities.
• Liu Xiaogang showed Xing Lan her empty dorm room, while he and Feng Xuan quietly recognized each other’s feelings for someone.
• Feng Xuan told Xing Lan that Sun Hai was a Transcendent who had beaten her using only fighting skills and physical strength, without using his abilities.

Feng Xuan explained the Night Stars and introduced Xing Lan to her squadmates before Captain Sun Hai took her to his apartment. He handed her Hela and a note about her, leaving Xing Lan confused and responsible for taking care of her.

• Feng Xuan explained the Night Stars’ duties and the Special Investigation Squad’s high-risk work, but Xing Lan said she was excited to join it.
• Feng Xuan introduced Si Xiaobei and Nanming to Xing Lan and explained their roles in the squad.
• Sun Hai arrived and told Xing Lan to come with him; Feng Xuan and Liu Xiaogang shared the story of how Sun Hai’s childhood dog was killed by a mutant.
• Sun Hai drove Xing Lan to his apartment, where he handed her Hela and a note with information about her, then told Xing Lan to take good care of her.

Xing Lan took Hela shopping and brought her back to the Star Barbershop. That night, a young man rented a cheap basement room, where a monstrous presence killed him, and the elderly landlady cleaned up the blood the next morning.

• Xing Lan read that Hela had suffered a shock and lost her memory, then excitedly hugged her and hurried away after noticing onlookers.
• Xing Lan spent the afternoon shopping with Hela, bought her various belongings, and made Hela carry most of them back to the Star Barbershop.
• A young man looking for a cheap place to stay found an elderly landlady and rented a room in her basement.
• After noises from a rolling shutter kept him awake, the young man struck it with a mop and shouted for whoever was inside to stop.
• The shutter rose, and a huge hand dragged the terrified young man into the darkness as he tried to escape.
• The next morning, the elderly landlady cleaned up the blood and remarked that her dear one was still messy.

Xing Lan spent the night with Hela, then woke early to train at the Special Investigation Squad. The chapter left Xing Lan sparring with Liu Xiaogang while Si Xiaobei taught Hela Chinese and Nanming prepared breakfast.

• Xing Lan started a pillow fight with Hela, then fell asleep cuddling her after Feng Xuan sent them to bed.
• Xing Lan got up at five thirty and slipped out of the dorm, telling Si Xiaobei she was going to train.
• Xing Lan heard someone cursing at a game, then startled Liu Xiaogang in the basement while announcing her arrival.
• Xing Lan challenged Liu Xiaogang to a spar, and he agreed to train the newcomer as the captain had instructed.
• Si Xiaobei taught Hela Chinese while Nanming served them millet porridge and showed Hela how to cool it by blowing on it.

Si Xiaobei taught Hela to speak while the Special Investigation Squad gathered for breakfast after Xing Lan returned injured from training with Liu Xiaogang. Xing Lan recovered enough to join the meal, where the squad bickered and she fed Hela.

• Si Xiaobei praised Hela for learning to say hello and continued teaching her over breakfast.
• Xing Lan returned from training with Liu Xiaogang bruised and limping, and Si Xiaobei took her to the infirmary.
• Si Xiaobei treated Xing Lan's injuries and told her that Liu Xiaogang had gone easy on her.
• Xing Lan joined the squad for breakfast and snatched a meat bun from Feng Xuan and Liu Xiaogang before giving it to Hela.
• Liu Xiaogang bragged about his strength as a Transcendent, and Feng Xuan mocked him while they argued over breakfast.

Nanming’s Special Investigation Squad received a suspected Variant case in Guangshen and flew there to investigate. Meanwhile, Dr. Hong studied a rapidly regenerating Variant, named it [HeLa Cell], and secured it, while Hela reacted at the Star Barbershop.

• Nanming summoned the squad after receiving notice of a suspected Variant case in Guangshen, and Xing Lan eagerly prepared to go.
• Feng Xuan revealed the squad’s stealth fighter, and the team flew from City D to Guangshen.
• Xing Lan jumped from the plane without a parachute, followed by Liu Xiaogang, Si Xiaobei, and Nanming.
• At an experimental base, Dr. Hong observed a cell rapidly regenerate and grow after absorbing glucose.
• Dr. Hong named the Variant [HeLa Cell] and froze it in a special container for storage.
• Back at the Star Barbershop, Hela’s eyes trembled slightly.

After returning from a mission, Xing Lan reunited with Hela and later took her shopping during a rare break. When Xing Lan’s phone died and they couldn’t afford a hotel, they searched the streets for somewhere to stay and spotted an old apartment building.

• Xing Lan returned with the others after killing a Beast King-level Variant, and Feng Xuan scolded her for charging in without checking its strength or telling the group.
• Nanming prepared extra dinner after the group realized Hela had been left alone without food, and Xing Lan later climbed into Hela’s bed to sleep beside her.
• Over the next month, Xing Lan and Hela trained and went on six missions, while Si Xiaobei helped Hela learn to understand speech and express herself.
• Xing Lan took Hela shopping, but her phone ran out of battery, leaving them unable to find their way back.
• Xing Lan and Hela couldn’t afford a hotel room, so they continued searching for somewhere to stay until Xing Lan noticed an old-fashioned apartment building.

Xing Lan and Hela rented a basement room from an old woman, and Xing Lan searched the house for a supposed hidden treasure. After Hela spotted something behind a rolling shutter, a giant withered hand reached out and grabbed at Xing Lan.

• Xing Lan persuaded the old woman to let her and Hela stay the night in a basement room for fifteen a day.
• The old woman locked the basement gate after showing them to their room.
• Xing Lan and Hela searched their room for a Strange Artifact or cultivation technique but found nothing.
• Xing Lan stopped searching the other rooms, but Hela pointed out a rolling shutter and said there was a big head behind it.
• Xing Lan approached the shutter after hearing strange noises, and a huge withered hand reached out of the darkness and grabbed at her.

Xing Lan fought a powerful spider-like Variant in the basement, but an elderly landlady’s interference let it reach Hela and cut her in half. As the Variant moved to kill a grief-stricken Xing Lan, Xiaogang arrived and stopped it with a spear.

• Xing Lan attacked the spider old man and realized its strength and defense were formidable, though it was slow and clumsy.
• The elderly landlady grabbed Xing Lan and begged her not to hurt her husband, allowing the spider old man to charge at Hela.
• The spider old man cut Hela in half, leaving Xing Lan devastated and unable to react.
• The spider old man prepared to kill Xing Lan, but Xiaogang arrived and shattered its forelimb with a silver-white spear.
• Xing Lan recognized Xiaogang and began telling him that Hela had been killed.

Liu Xiaogang killed the spider old man after seeing Hela apparently cut in half, but Hela regenerated and returned unharmed. The group realized the old man was a [Puppet Worm] using the grieving old woman to lure people in, and Nanming ordered her to come with them for sheltering a Variant.

• Liu Xiaogang rushed at the spider old man and shredded him after seeing Hela apparently cut in half.
• Hela walked back unharmed, and Xing Lan embraced her in relief while Si Xiaobei and the others reacted with shock.
• Liu Xiaogang explained that Hela's upper and lower halves had joined back together, and Hela confirmed his account.
• Feng Xuan identified the spider old man as a [Puppet Worm] that parasitized corpses and used the deceased's family to conceal itself.
• Nanming told the old woman that sheltering a Variant violated Great Xia Nation's laws and ordered her to come with them.

Sun Hai investigated Hela’s unusual regeneration and suspected she was a Symbiote linked to the murderous [HeLa Cell]. He arranged to test Hela’s abilities, leaving her to decide whether to reveal them.

• Nanming gave Sun Hai records about regenerative abilities and [HeLa Cell], and Sun Hai compared them with the team’s account of Hela rejoining her severed body parts.
• Sun Hai suspected [HeLa Cell] had entered into symbiosis with Hela after both were gravely injured, though he also considered that Hela herself might be [HeLa Cell] in another form.
• Xing Lan, Liu Xiaogang, and Si Xiaobei protested when Sun Hai placed a knife on the table, then learned he only wanted to test Hela’s regeneration.
• Xing Lan tried to cut Hela’s hand, but the knife tip only indented her skin before it sprang back without leaving a wound.
• Hela understood that demonstrating her regenerative ability might strengthen Sun Hai’s suspicion, and she pondered whether to reveal it.

Hela demonstrated that she could regenerate her severed hand and use the [HeLa Cell]'s energy to grow a copy of her arm. Sun Hai concluded that Hela should become a Night Star, but her friends disagreed over the danger, leaving Xing Lan uncertain.

• Hela cut off her own left hand, then quickly regrew it while everyone panicked.
• Hela made the severed hand clench and heal, confirming to Sun Hai that she was a [Symbiote] sharing a symbiosis with the [HeLa Cell].
• After Hela said she was hungry, Xing Lan gave her three candies, and the severed hand grew into a forearm.
• Hela swallowed the forearm, horrifying the others and prompting Nanming and Liu Xiaogang to remark on the [HeLa Cell]'s influence.
• Sun Hai said Hela should become a Night Star, while Liu Xiaogang argued she should live as an ordinary girl.
• Feng Xuan supported Sun Hai, but Xing Lan remained conflicted about whether Hela should fight alongside her.

Hela agreed to join the Night Stars and signed an application to attend recruit training camp. Nanming revealed that a mysterious young man may have given the old woman the means to turn her husband into a [Puppet Worm], raising suspicions about the Light God Society, while Xing Lan took Hela to begin training.

• Sun Hai asked Hela whether she wanted to join the Night Stars, and she agreed after realizing she could fight and eat more Variants.
• Hela signed the application form, and Sun Hai told the squad to train her during the two months before recruit training camp began.
• Nanming reported that a masked young man had given the old woman an insect egg to revive her husband as a [Puppet Worm].
• Nanming said the man might belong to the Light God Society, an organization of [Symbiotes] that had attacked the Night Stars before.
• Sun Hai left to report the suspected Variant-control ability to his superiors, while Xing Lan took Hela and Liu Xiaogang to the basement to train.

Liu Xiaogang and Xing Lan tested Hela’s strength and speed, discovering that she could lift a hundred-kilogram barbell and run quickly once she learned proper form. They decided to teach her fighting skills, with Xing Lan insisting that she help.

• Liu Xiaogang tested Hela with increasingly heavy weights, and she lifted a hundred-kilogram barbell after her arms briefly grew muscles.
• Liu Xiaogang timed Hela’s hundred-meter run, and she first ran on all fours in 15.71 seconds.
• Xing Lan taught Hela to run on two legs, and Hela completed the hundred meters in 9.66 seconds.
• Liu Xiaogang said Hela needed to learn fighting skills, and Xing Lan insisted on helping teach her despite his doubts about her own skills.