Chapter Summaries

Hela and Keke found a river and met Han Xiaoxiao, who questioned Hela about her symbiosis with [HeLa Cell]. After Hela admitted she had lost all memories from before the symbiosis, Han Xiaoxiao fell silent, and the three continued searching for others as a powerful creature approached.

• Hela led Keke to a river, where Keke drank and they encountered Han Xiaoxiao.
• Keke explained that they were undergoing the instructor's special training and that they were searching for the other recruits.
• Han Xiaoxiao asked Hela whether she remembered forming a symbiosis with [HeLa Cell], and Hela said she had lost her memories from before it happened.
• Han Xiaoxiao asked whether Hela had [HeLa Cell]'s memories, and Hela said she did not; Han Xiaoxiao then set off with Hela and Keke.
• Hela sensed a powerful creature approaching, one whose vitality was stronger than the [Puppet Worm]'s.

Ye Yiqing joined Hela, Keke, and Han Xiaoxiao as they fought off a Variant that emerged from the mist, but Han Xiaoxiao fainted after seeing Hela’s bone whip. Ye Yiqing suspected the sight had brought back memories of Han Xiaoxiao’s family being killed by Variants.

• Thick fog surrounded Hela, Keke, and Han Xiaoxiao, and a Variant appeared with Ye Yiqing caught in its mouth.
• Ye Yiqing damaged the Variant with his broken bone blade, but it attacked the group until Hela struck it with her bone whip, forcing it to flee into the smoke.
• Han Xiaoxiao stared at Hela’s bone whip, cried out about her big brother, and fainted; Hela caught her.
• Ye Yiqing helped Keke and Hela carry Han Xiaoxiao beneath a tree, then listened as Keke explained their special training.
• Ye Yiqing suggested that Han Xiaoxiao’s family had likely been killed by Variants and that seeing the Variant had revived memories of the tragedy.

Han Xiaoxiao woke after fainting and explained that Hela reminded her of the HeLa Cell, who had killed her brother and maimed her. She began recounting the happy life she had shared with her brother and his squad before tragedy struck.

• While the others slept, Hela recalled maiming Han Xiaoxiao and felt guilt, so she stabbed herself in the abdomen to make the feeling stop.
• Han Xiaoxiao woke, and Ye Yiqing explained that she had fainted after a Variant attacked them and Hela intervened.
• Han Xiaoxiao told Ye Yiqing and Keke that Hela reminded her of the HeLa Cell, who had killed her only family member and cut off her right arm and lower left leg.
• Han Xiaoxiao revealed that her brother Han Xuan had raised her and served as a Night Star in Squad 105 in City C, Shan'an.
• Han Xiaoxiao recalled that Han Xuan and his squad had taken her on a picnic, which had been peaceful until evening.

Han Xiaoxiao recounted how [HeLa Cell] killed her brother and left her consumed by hatred, while Ye Yiqing shared how he had reunited with his younger brother. As night approached, the group decided to camp without food, and Hela began sawing at her own forearm with Ye Yiqing’s bone knife.

• Han Xiaoxiao described how [HeLa Cell] killed her brother and how Night Star later told her the Variant was dead.
• Han Xiaoxiao told Keke and Ye Yiqing that she would not blame Hela for her hatred of [HeLa Cell], though she still wanted every Variant dead.
• Ye Yiqing recounted finding his younger brother after waking alone and splitting up to search for new information.
• The group agreed to stay where they were for the night because it was getting late, despite having no food.
• Hela borrowed Ye Yiqing’s bone knife and began sawing at her forearm, prompting Keke to knock her down and try to stop her.

Hela severed and reattached her hand, causing her bracelet to signal that she was in danger until Instructor Hongwei confirmed she was safe. After Ye Yiqing left to find food, Hela bit off her thumb to test whether it could regenerate independently.

• Hela offered her severed forearm to Keke, Ye Yiqing, and Han Xiaoxiao, then reattached it when they refused to eat it.
• Ye Yiqing built a campfire, and Hela and Han Xiaoxiao helped Keke settle beside it.
• Instructor Hongwei arrived, discovered Hela was unharmed, and learned that her bracelet had lit up after she severed her hand.
• Instructor Hongwei confirmed over his walkie-talkie that the recruits were safe, warned Hela not to cut off her hand again, and refused to explain the training.
• Ye Yiqing deduced that Hela's bracelet monitored vital signs, then left to look for food while the others stayed by the fire.
• After Keke asked whether Hela's severed body parts could regenerate on their own, Hela bit off her right thumb to test it.

Hela demonstrated that she could create and control a separate living body from her flesh, leading Han Xiaoxiao and Keke to realize she might survive even if her main body died. After Ye Yiqing returned with a rabbit, the group shared a meal, and Keke watched Ye Yiqing and Han Xiaoxiao together while fretting over a love triangle.

• Hela transformed her severed thumb into an insect, which grew after eating candy and then changed into a small black snake.
• Han Xiaoxiao and Keke learned that Hela could control the creature, share its vision, and potentially create another Hela that could survive independently.
• Ye Yiqing returned with a rabbit, dressed it, roasted it, and shared the meat among the four.
• Han Xiaoxiao gave her rabbit leg to Ye Yiqing so he would have the strength to protect them, and he accepted it.
• Keke watched Ye Yiqing and Han Xiaoxiao sitting together, then worried to herself about a love triangle.

Ye Ciqing saw through a flower demon’s illusions and was lured into trouble by the demon and her double. Ye Yiqing sensed his little brother was in danger and set out to help with Hela, Han Xiaoxiao, and Keke.

• Ye Ciqing impaled an illusion of Yan Wusheng and kicked it away, revealing it was a vine.
• Ye Ciqing attacked an illusion of Ye Yiqing, traced its roots to a flower demon, and confronted her.
• The flower demon and her identical double surrounded Ye Ciqing and used their fragrance to daze him.
• Ye Yiqing woke from his sleep, sensed Ye Ciqing was in trouble, and prepared to go to him.
• Hela, Han Xiaoxiao, and Keke joined Ye Yiqing as he led them through the woods to help Ye Ciqing.

Ye Yiqing rescued Ye Ciqing from a flower Variant that had bewitched him, but the creature’s roots escaped and its true body remained uncertain. The flower demon later joined forces with an injured giant wolf and planned to attack the strongest member of the group, while suspecting Hela was a Variant.

• Ye Yiqing cut Ye Ciqing free from the vines and discovered that the flower-bud Variant’s roots escaped into the soil before its severed bud withered.
• Ye Ciqing woke, learned that he had appeared to enjoy being wrapped in vines, and fled in embarrassment.
• Ye Yiqing asked Keke, Han Xiaoxiao, and Hela to keep the incident secret, then discussed the flower Variant’s possible connection to Hela’s regenerative ability.
• Ye Yiqing led the group away to find a safer place to rest, while the flower demon met an injured giant wolf in the woods.
• The flower demon and the giant wolf agreed to join forces and target the strongest person in the group first, and the flower demon identified Hela as a Variant and declared her hatred of traitors.

Han Xiaoxiao dreamed that her dead brother Han Xuan returned and urged her to flee the Night Stars with him. Ye Yiqing woke to Hela making an intimate advance, while Keke found herself reunited with her loving parents and ate breakfast with them.

• Han Xiaoxiao saw Han Xuan, wept in his arms, and agreed to run away with him because the Night Stars were too dangerous.
• Han Xuan took Han Xiaoxiao by the hand, and they ran off together.
• Ye Yiqing woke to find Hela lying on top of him and declaring that she liked him.
• Keke woke in her childhood home, where her father spoke gently to her and told her that her mother was cooking.
• Keke saw her parents preparing breakfast, thanked them tearfully, and ate with them.

Hela resisted the flower demon girl's pollen illusion and destroyed her hidden flower bud, while Ye Yiqing recovered and went after Han Xiaoxiao. At the cliff, Ye Yiqing confronted the giant wolf Variant impersonating Han Xiaoxiao’s brother, but Han Xiaoxiao remained convinced the figure was real.

• The flower demon girl tried to bewitch Hela with pollen, but Hela located and shattered the flower bud, absorbing its energy.
• Ye Yiqing recovered from the illusion and learned that Han Xiaoxiao had run off, so he left Hela to watch Keke and went after her.
• At the mountaintop cliff, Han Xuan urged Han Xiaoxiao to leave with him, then tried to attack her when she hesitated.
• Ye Yiqing arrived and struck at Han Xuan, but Han Xiaoxiao stepped between them and stopped his blade.
• Ye Yiqing told Han Xiaoxiao that Han Xuan was the smoke Variant, but she refused to believe him, and Han Xuan charged at Ye Yiqing.

Ye Yiqing fought the giant wolf with his broken blade while Han Xiaoxiao struggled to accept that the brother she saw was an illusion. After Han Xiaoxiao recognized the truth, the illusion shattered, but Ye Yiqing was badly wounded and nearing his limit as the wolf taunted him.

• Ye Yiqing wounded the giant wolf and used its injuries to make it wary, then lost his chance to attack when Han Xiaoxiao blocked him.
• The giant wolf bit Ye Yiqing's left arm, and Ye Yiqing told Han Xiaoxiao that her brother Han Xuan had died saving her from [HeLa Cell].
• Han Xiaoxiao remembered Han Xuan's death, accepted that the brother before her was an illusion, and watched the scene shatter to reveal the giant wolf.
• Ye Yiqing continued fighting the wolf, but his injuries, broken blade, and lack of oxygen left him close to collapse.
• The giant wolf mocked the wounded Ye Yiqing as he gasped for breath and touched his bloodstained eyepatch.

Ye Yiqing and Han Xiaoxiao killed the giant wolf, though Han Xiaoxiao lost consciousness and both were thrown by its final blast. Elsewhere, Ye Ciqing joined Wang Canxin’s group to hunt the Mirror Dream Flower and arrived at their camp, where Yan Wusheng greeted him with a jab.

• Han Xiaoxiao stopped Ye Yiqing from attacking the giant wolf, then stabbed its eye with his broken saber and gave him an opening to strike its neck.
• The giant wolf unleashed a blast of fog, but Ye Yiqing carried Han Xiaoxiao out of its path; after it died, he hacked off its head and collapsed beside it.
• Ye Ciqing sensed that Ye Yiqing was safe, then agreed to help Wang Canxin and twenty-five others eliminate the illusion-creating Mirror Dream Flower.
• Ye Ciqing reached Wang Canxin’s camp with him and made a dramatic entrance before Yan Wusheng criticized him from a corner.

Keke relived a happy family memory while trapped in an illusion, and Hela helped her awaken. Meanwhile, Wang Canxin and Ye Ciqing fled a group of delirious recruits before Wang Canxin’s trap caught them in a net.

• Keke received an admission letter to Shangjing No. 1 Key High School and celebrated with her parents by folding paper cranes.
• Hela shook Keke and tried to make her realize the scene was fake, but Keke asked to spend more time with her family.
• Keke acknowledged that the scene was fake, then came around and thanked Hela as a tear rolled down her cheek.
• Ye Ciqing and Wang Canxin ran from the delirious recruits, and Ye Ciqing gave Wang Canxin a throwing knife.
• Wang Canxin cut a rope beside a tree, triggering a vine net that caught the pursuing recruits.

Wang Canxin explained how the [Mirror Dream Flower] used its buds as clones and revealed that he had secretly tracked its true body with [Divine Detective]. As the flower-demon escaped into an illusion, Wang Canxin and Ye Ciqing exposed and attacked it, while Yan Wusheng separately blasted another Mirror Dream Flower.

• Wang Canxin left the recruits trapped in the net and led Ye Ciqing to a disguised [Mirror Dream Flower], but Ye Ciqing attacked and destroyed the flower-demon before Wang Canxin could stop him.
• Wang Canxin explained that the buds were clones and that only the true blooming flower could be destroyed, then revealed he had used [Divine Detective] to locate it.
• The flower-demon revealed that it had more than one true body, while Wang Canxin hinted that he had been keeping it talking for a reason.
• Yan Wusheng blasted a hidden [Mirror Dream Flower] and its surroundings, then wondered why the flower had not withered immediately.
• The flower-demon vanished and changed the scene into an illusion, but Wang Canxin pinned it with a bone knife and Ye Ciqing trapped it in a skeletal hand before striking at its roots and stems.

After Ye Yiqing defeated the giant wolf, Hela knocked him unconscious and ate the corpse while he slept. When he woke, she claimed ants had eaten the wolf, then helped carry Han Xiaoxiao back to Keke.

• Hela confirmed Han Xiaoxiao was alive, then struck Ye Yiqing and knocked him unconscious.
• Hela ate the giant wolf’s eyes and tongue, and later became covered in blood.
• Ye Yiqing woke beside Hela and noticed she had grown taller, while Hela said she had fallen into blood.
• Ye Yiqing found the wolf’s corpse missing, and Hela told him ants had eaten it.
• Hela carried Han Xiaoxiao as Ye Yiqing led them back to Keke, who ran over to greet them.

After Ye Yiqing recovered from his injuries, Hela kept the group fed until the instructors announced the end of the wilderness training. The recruits returned to camp, where the instructors began debating their scores, including Ye Ciqing’s.

• Keke saw that Hela had grown taller and developed a larger chest, while Ye Yiqing rested after fighting through the previous day and night.
• Hela shared her last fruit candy with Ye Yiqing, and they split it between them.
• Han Xiaoxiao woke up, apologized to Ye Yiqing, and accepted his apology; Hela then took over finding food while Ye Yiqing recuperated.
• Drones announced the end of the special wilderness training, and Hela paused to eat the deer she had caught before rejoining the others.
• Instructor Li Hu welcomed the recruits back, provided food and water, and gave them a day off at camp.
• The instructors began discussing the recruits’ scores, with Instructor Hongwei proposing sixty points for Ye Ciqing and Instructor Chuan Cheng arguing that his contributions deserved more.

The instructors finalized the recruits’ scores, giving Hela the top score of ninety-nine, while questioning what happened to the Fog Barrier Wolf’s missing corpse. Hela went with Keke to see the rankings and found herself in first place.

• The instructors awarded Ye Ciqing eighty points, Ye Yiqing ninety-six, and Hela ninety-nine.
• The instructors reviewed the training footage and noted that the Fog Barrier Wolf’s corpse had vanished, deciding to ask the recruits about it.
• Hela rested in the dormitory while digesting the energy from the Variant she had eaten, and Keke invited her to check the scores.
• Hela and Keke went to the crowded bulletin board, where Hela found her name at the top with ninety-nine points.

Hela ranked first among the recruits, then learned that Wang Canxin had discovered her identity as [HeLa Cell] and confronted her with the revelation. Wang Canxin explained that the dying [Mirror Dream Flower] had exposed her as a Variant, leaving Hela facing a dangerous bargain he had yet to describe.

• Hela saw herself in first place on the rankings, with Ye Yiqing second and Wang Canxin third, while Ye Ciqing slapped a recruit for insulting him.
• Ye Ciqing privately told Hela to claim that vines had dragged away the [Fog Barrier Wolf]'s corpse if the instructor asked about it.
• Wang Canxin approached Hela and invited her to talk in a cafeteria corner without surveillance, saying he wanted to make a deal.
• Wang Canxin asked Hela whether she was [HeLa Cell], and Hela's bone whip burst from her back and stopped just short of him.
• Wang Canxin warned that killing him would expose Hela to an investigation and explained that the dying [Mirror Dream Flower] had revealed her identity as a Variant.

Wang Canxin tricked Hela into confirming she was the [HeLa Cell], then made a deal with her for information and one future favor in exchange for keeping her secret. He later told Han Xiaoxiao that Hela was a victim rather than the [HeLa Cell], while Instructor Hongwei brought Hela to the instructors’ office.

• Wang Canxin used [Mirror Dream Flower] to prompt Hela to reveal that she was the [HeLa Cell], then asked about her motives, emotions, and ability to sense Variants.
• Hela told Wang Canxin she wanted to live, felt no hatred toward humans or Variants, and had a strange feeling toward Han Xiaoxiao; she agreed to owe him one favor in return for his silence.
• Instructor Hongwei interrupted Wang Canxin and Hela, escorted Hela away, and left Wang Canxin to speak with Han Xiaoxiao.
• Wang Canxin told Han Xiaoxiao that Hela had no memories of the [HeLa Cell] and was on humanity’s side, but Han Xiaoxiao admitted she still hated Hela because of her losses.
• Instructor Hongwei brought Hela to the instructors’ office, where Qin Gucheng dismissed Ye Yiqing, who gave Hela a discreet look as he left.

After the instructors questioned Hela about the Fog Barrier Wolf, she returned to training and repeatedly tried to kill Wang Canxin, whose detection ability let him evade every attack. Months later, Hela and Keke packed to leave the dorm and received their phones back.

• Hela told Li Hu and the other instructors that vines had dragged the Fog Barrier Wolf's corpse underground, and they accepted her explanation.
• Hela worried that Wang Canxin might reveal her identity and decided to kill him before he could expose her.
• Hela threw her saber at Wang Canxin during training, but he dodged, and Ye Yiqing caught the blade before it could hit him.
• Ye Yiqing agreed to teach Han Xiaoxiao his saber techniques because he understood her desire to protect her loved ones.
• Over the next several months, Hela repeatedly attempted to attack Wang Canxin, but his Divine Detective ability let him evade her each time.
• Hela and Keke packed their belongings, collected their phones from an instructor, and Hela turned hers on.