Chapter Summaries

Qin Xun recognized his childhood friend A-Liang after killing him in the arena, then sought medicine from arena boss He Laowu to save his sick sister. He Laowu promised the medicine for one more fight but secretly planned to make Qin Xun lose and die in his final match.

• Qin Xun recognized A-Liang, who had sacrificed himself rather than kill his childhood friend, and watched him die in the arena.
• Qin Xun asked He Laowu for A-Liang’s corpse and learned that a boss from Zone 189 had arranged their match.
• He Laowu showed Qin Xun the medicine for his sister but withheld it, demanding that Qin win one more match before turning eighteen.
• He Laowu promised Qin a reward and the medicine if he won, then privately ordered his aide to arrange for Qin to lose and be killed.
• He Laowu told Lili that he would kill Qin’s sister after Qin died.

Qin Xun struggled to save his poisoned sister, Xiao Ling, while grieving A-Liang and suspecting He Laowu would betray him. He broke into He Laowu’s office, found the medicine and gold in the safe, and was caught—or about to be caught—when a key turned in the door.

• Qin Xun brought A-Liang’s urn home and checked on his sick sister, Xiao Ling, whose poison he had been trying to suppress with medicine from He Laowu.
• Qin Xun woke from his recurring dream of nine flaming chains and found a note warning that someone would make him lose the next day’s match.
• Qin Xun sneaked into the arena office building late at night and picked the lock on He Laowu’s office.
• Qin Xun opened He Laowu’s safe, took the medicine meant for Xiao Ling, and packed a bag of gold coins.
• Someone turned a key in the office door while Qin Xun held the medicine.

Qin Xun confronted Lin Cheng in He Laowu’s office and refused to surrender the special medicine needed to save his sister, even after Lin Cheng drew a suppressed pistol. At the same time, two thieves entered Qin Xun’s home and were killed by his traps, before a black-uniformed man and woman arrived with orders to take Qin Xun and kill his sister.

• Qin Xun hid beneath the desk in He Laowu’s office when Lin Cheng entered and discovered him.
• Lin Cheng demanded the safe’s contents, and Qin Xun handed over the gold coins but refused to give up the special medicine.
• Lin Cheng aimed a pistol fitted with a suppressor at Qin Xun after Qin Xun threatened to fight for the medicine.
• Two young thieves broke into Qin Xun’s home and were killed by crossbow bolts and a bear trap.
• A man and a woman in black uniforms entered the home, and the man caught a volley of crossbow bolts before ordering them to find Qin Xun and kill his sister.

Qin Xun defeated Lin Cheng, learned that He Laowu had arranged his sister’s poisoning, and prepared to flee Zone 108 with her. On his way home, he encountered a strange blue-eyed dog and a young man who recognized him.

• Lin Cheng tried to take Qin Xun’s gold coins and special medicine at gunpoint, but Qin Xun disarmed and restrained him.
• Lin Cheng revealed that He Laowu had arranged for Qin Xun’s sister to be poisoned and planned to rig Qin Xun’s next match before killing him.
• Qin Xun killed Lin Cheng, treated his gunshot wounds, and took the gold coins, medicine, and pistol to prepare for escape.
• Qin Xun slipped out of the arena office and hurried home through side streets to avoid cameras and patrols.
• A blue-eyed, glowing-marked dog blocked Qin Xun in an alley, where a young man checked a photo and asked if he was Qin Xun.

Xu Chao and Dazhuang found Qin Xun and convinced him that his missing cousin Qin Ashui was alive and had sent them to bring Qin Xun and his sister to safety. As they fled through the alleys, Qin Xun discovered that Xu Chao’s black dog, Mengmeng, could talk.

• Xu Chao told Qin Xun that his cousin Qin Ashui was alive and had sent a group to bring Qin Xun and his sister to him.
• Xu Chao proved his connection to Qin Ashui by showing Qin Xun the purple stone and photograph, and Dazhuang warned that the Guard Team was heading to Qin Xun’s home.
• Qin Xun agreed to leave with Xu Chao and Dazhuang, who said they would take a safe route out of the city.
• Mengmeng alerted Xu Chao to an approaching patrol team, and the group hid until the patrol passed.
• Xu Chao identified a nearby flower as a Bewitching Flower, and Qin Xun was stunned when Mengmeng spoke aloud.

Xu Chao, Dazhuang, and Mengmeng helped the wounded Qin Xun evade the Guard Team’s search through Zone 108. They hid in Qin Xun’s old secret base, where he learned they had promised Brother Shui to bring him and Xiao Ling to safety.

• Xu Chao had Dazhuang turn Qin Xun’s gunshot wound to stone while Mengmeng covered the scent of his blood.
• Xu Chao led Qin Xun and Dazhuang through a residential district as trucks and search patrols moved through the city, then discovered their route out was blocked.
• Xu Chao decided they needed to hide until the search eased, and Qin Xun led the group to a secret base he had once shared with A-Liang.
• Qin Xun told Xu Chao that A-Liang had died by his hand the previous day, and the group settled into the underground hideout.
• Qin Xun offered Xu Chao special medicine to deliver to Xiao Ling if he died, but Xu Chao refused and said they had promised Brother Shui to bring both siblings to him safely.

Xu Chao and Dazhuang told Qin Xun that Qin Ashui was a wanted Psionic Power user hiding in a Fallen Zone and had sent them to protect Qin Xun and his sister. As they hid from the Guard Team, Xu Chao prepared to stay behind if they were discovered so Dazhuang could take Qin Xun to safety.

• Xu Chao and Dazhuang explained that they were helping Qin Xun because they had promised Qin Ashui, and Qin Xun told them about his life and his ninety-nine victories in the Killing Arena.
• Xu Chao said Qin Ashui was a famous wanted man hiding somewhere in a Fallen Zone, and that he had sent them because his identity had been exposed and Qin Xun and his sister were in danger.
• Xu Chao told Qin Xun that he and Dazhuang had killed two Psionic Power users who tried to kill his sister, but withheld who had sent them.
• Qin Xun learned that Qin Ashui had been a Psionic Power user since Zone 108, then fell asleep and dreamed of nine flaming chains forming a ring of fire.
• Xu Chao returned with buns and reported that the Guard Team was searching for them; he said he would stay behind if they were found so Dazhuang could take Qin Xun away.

Qin Xun’s fever worsened, and Xu Chao and Dazhuang removed the bullet from his arm and treated his wounds. With the city under lockdown, Qin Xun proposed taking He Laowu hostage to force a way out, and said he could find him.

• Xu Chao and Dazhuang told Qin Xun how Brother Shui had rescued them and earned their loyalty.
• Xu Chao noticed Qin Xun had a high fever and an infected gunshot wound, and Qin Xun passed out.
• Xu Chao removed the bullet from Qin Xun’s arm while Dazhuang disinfected and bandaged his wounds.
• Xu Chao proposed boldly walking out through the guarded city gate, but Qin Xun and Dazhuang rejected the idea.
• Qin Xun suggested taking He Laowu hostage to escape Zone 108 and said he could find him.

Qin Xun, Xu Chao, and Mengmeng tracked He Laowu to Drunken Moon House, hoping to seize him when he left. Inside, He Laowu plotted to sell Lili and discussed the stolen gold coins and medicine, while Xu Chao sensed someone approaching outside.

• Qin Xun led Xu Chao and Mengmeng through the civilian district, relying on Mengmeng to avoid patrolmen and Guard Team members.
• Qin Xun told Xu Chao that He Laowu often visited Drunken Moon House and that his car outside would confirm he was there.
• Qin Xun spotted He Laowu's black sedan outside Drunken Moon House and proposed waiting for him to leave.
• Xu Chao's forehead lit with blue light, and he warned Qin Xun that someone was coming, prompting them to leave.
• Inside Drunken Moon House, He Laowu complained about Qin Xun stealing gold coins and special medicine and said he planned to sell Lili to repay her debts.

On his eighteenth birthday, Qin Xun received roses from Xu Chao, Dazhuang, and Mengmeng while they waited to ambush He Laowu. When He Laowu arrived early, Xu Chao blocked his car and Qin Xun took down He Laowu’s four bodyguards, leaving He Laowu at their mercy.

• Xu Chao gave Qin Xun a red rose for his eighteenth birthday, and Dazhuang and Mengmeng gave him roses as well.
• Qin Xun and Xu Chao waited on a rooftop for He Laowu, who unexpectedly drove toward home earlier than usual.
• He Laowu offered his driver Xiao Zhang an assistant position while pressuring him to give up his younger sister.
• Xu Chao dropped into the road and forced He Laowu’s car to stop.
• Qin Xun dropped from the sky and crushed the throats of He Laowu’s four bodyguards before they could draw their pistols.

Xu Chao, Dazhuang, and Qin Xun captured He Laowu and forced him to arrange their escape from the city. He Laowu obtained the District Chief’s approval, but Qin Xun’s sly smile left him suspecting that something was wrong.

• Xu Chao and Dazhuang seized He Laowu after killing his bodyguards, while Qin Xun came down from the rooftop with Mengmeng.
• Qin Xun confronted He Laowu over his past crimes and demanded that he help them leave the city.
• He Laowu proposed disguising Xu Chao and Dazhuang as his bodyguards and hiding Qin Xun in the trunk, but Dazhuang warned that the Guard Team might search them.
• Qin Xun made He Laowu call the District Chief and request permission for their party to leave the city.
• The District Chief approved the request and promised to notify the Guard Team, while He Laowu grew uneasy at Qin Xun’s sly smile.

Black Crow reasoned that Qin Xun and the Psionic Power users were still hiding in Zone 108 and learned that He Laowu might be helping them escape. He ordered Group One to approach the city gate discreetly while the Guard Team continued searching and guarding the other exits.

• Black Crow argued that Qin Xun was likely still in Zone 108, and he rejected underground tunnels, climbing, and flying as plausible escape routes.
• Black Crow told the young man to intensify the search inside and outside the zone, while Zhong Tianshou arrived with a lead from He Laowu’s suspicious phone call.
• Zhong Tianshou deduced that Qin Xun’s group had taken He Laowu hostage and forced him to help them leave the zone.
• Black Crow agreed that the group was likely still inside and warned against moving too many guards to the city gate, lest they leave other exits vulnerable or alert the fugitives.
• Black Crow ordered Group One to reach the city gate quickly and discreetly while the Guard Team continued its search.

Xu Chao’s group tried to exploit He Laowu’s tip-off to escape Zone 108, but Black Crow saw through their gambit and ordered every exit sealed. The group’s escape plan remained uncertain as Black Crow prepared to wait for the demon hounds and search the zone.

• Xu Chao explained that he had let He Laowu alert the District Chief so the Guard Team would gather at the city gate, leaving other exits less protected.
• Xu Chao planted a supposed miniature bomb on He Laowu, and Qin Xun sent him toward the city gate while the others sought another escape route.
• Xu Chao admitted the bomb was a bluff, and Qin Xun warned that Black Crow might anticipate their plan before revealing he had another plan.
• Black Crow realized the group might be trying to draw guards away from the city gate, then concluded that their real escape route was still the gate.
• After District Chief Zhong Tianshou reported that the city gate was fortified, Black Crow ordered the remaining patrols and guards to heavily defend every exit and wait for the fifty demon hounds.

Qin Xun revealed that his apparent attempt to escape through the city gate was a decoy meant to draw the Guard Team's attention away from the nobles' district. He led Xu Chao, Dazhuang, and the dog into the district to create panic, where Qin Xun recognized a Guard Team member connected to an old man's death.

• Qin Xun explained that He Laowu's tip-off and trip to the city gate were meant to convince the Guard Team that the group was escaping through the commoners' district.
• Qin Xun led Xu Chao, Dazhuang, and the dog toward the nobles' district while the Guard Team focused on the commoners' district.
• The group climbed the wall into the nobles' district, and Qin Xun ordered them to kill guards and destroy cameras to frighten the residents.
• Dazhuang smashed cameras with rocks, and Xu Chao killed one of two first-tier Guard Team members who came to investigate.
• Qin Xun stopped Xu Chao from killing the other guard and recognized him as the man who had broken an old man's leg, contributing to the despair that led the old man and his wife to die by suicide.

Qin Xun and his companions attacked the noble district to make its leaders recall guards from the civilian district, then escaped disguised as guards. Their plan appeared to work, and Dazhuang carried the wounded, exhausted Qin Xun toward the nearest exit.

• Qin Xun interrogated a guard about the noble district's defenses, killed him, and continued through the district with Dazhuang and Xu Chao.
• Dazhuang destroyed an electrical cabinet, plunging part of the noble district into darkness as the group killed more guards.
• Black Crow warned Zhong Tianshou that the attack was a diversion, but Zhong ordered guards recalled to protect the nobles.
• Qin Xun ended the raid, had the group disguise themselves in guards' clothes, and fired into the sky before they escaped over the wall.
• Trucks headed toward the noble district, confirming that the diversion had drawn guards away, and Dazhuang carried the wounded Qin Xun toward an exit.

Qin Xun, Xu Chao, Dazhuang, and Mengmeng escaped Zone 108 through a backup exit after killing the guards stationed there and smashing open the gate. Black Crow left to pursue them, while District Chief Zhong Tianshou stayed behind, satisfied that he had protected the nobles.

• Mengmeng led Qin Xun, Xu Chao, and Dazhuang through the residential district while residents locked themselves inside and patrolmen avoided risking their families to protect the nobles.
• The group reached the backup exit, where armed guards mistook Xu Chao and Dazhuang for fellow guards before recognizing them as fugitives.
• Xu Chao ordered the guards to move, but they opened fire, and glowing stones killed all six guards with headshots.
• Dazhuang hurled a boulder at the iron gate, smashing it open so the three men and Mengmeng could escape Zone 108.
• Black Crow watched the escape on the monitoring room screens and blamed Zhong Tianshou, who defended his decision to prioritize the nobles' safety.
• Black Crow threatened Zhong Tianshou and left with his subordinate to pursue the escapees.

After escaping Zone 108, Qin Xun and his companions crossed the Misty Forest while evading their pursuers. Qin Xun suffered a painful episode involving the chains from his dreams, then learned from Xu Chao how Psionic Powers were created as they rested.

• Dazhuang and Xu Chao reassured Qin Xun that his sister and the others were waiting in Zone 96.
• Mengmeng led the group away from green-eyed creatures, and Qin Xun heard scraping chains in his mind before blacking out.
• Qin Xun woke at dawn in a forest clearing after Xu Chao pinched his gunshot wound to rouse him.
• Xu Chao explained that opening a Qi Gate let people cultivate Spiritual Qi, which became Spiritual Power.
• Xu Chao and Dazhuang explained how Psionic Powers were shaped by a person's abilities, focus, and interests, and Xu Chao said he hoped to develop Mengmeng's power until Mengmeng could transform.

Qin Xun learned that his chances of becoming a Psionic Power user depended on whether his Qi Gate could be opened, then Black Crow cornered the group while pursuing him. Dazhuang stayed behind to hold Black Crow off, and Xu Chao carried an unconscious Qin Xun onward as Dazhuang faced death.

• Xu Chao explained that Qin Xun might have a Qi Gate or a Death Gate, and Dazhuang promised to help him check once they found Brother Shui.
• Mengmeng sensed danger, and Black Crow appeared with black feathers surrounding the group and demanded Qin Xun.
• Dazhuang chose to stay and fight Black Crow while Xu Chao took Qin Xun away through the feathers.
• Xu Chao knocked Qin Xun unconscious and carried him onward as Dazhuang was overwhelmed by Black Crow's feathers.
• Dazhuang condemned Black Crow as a Demon Clan lapdog and declared that people would remember him as a human hero before Black Crow shot a feather into his forehead.

Xu Chao and Qin Xun fled through the Misty Forest, but two Night Raven Psionic Power users trapped them with a pack of puppet Ghost Wolves. As Xu Chao was overwhelmed and Qin Xun suffered a violent awakening, a flaming ring opened into a dark passage and a red-hot chain emerged from it.

• Xu Chao told Qin Xun that Dazhuang would meet them in Zone 96 and hurried onward despite the poison and exhaustion from their escape.
• A middle-aged man and a girl in a red dress ambushed Xu Chao, revealing themselves as Night Raven members who had followed them.
• The girl used her Psionic Power to control more than twenty Ghost Wolves and strengthen them, and the wolves swarmed Xu Chao.
• Xu Chao ordered Mengmeng to take Qin Xun away, but the wolves bit and overwhelmed him as the girl threatened to make Mengmeng her puppet.
• Qin Xun clutched his head as flaming chains appeared in his mind, and a huge ring of fire opened before him with a red-hot chain emerging from it.

Qin Xun’s chains dragged the Ghost Wolves into a fiery ring, petrifying them and flooding him with energy until a vortex absorbed it. Xu Chao carried the exhausted Qin Xun away, while Qin discovered he could control the chains and kept their existence secret.

• Qin Xun’s fiery chains seized more than twenty Ghost Wolves and petrified them inside a dark space, while the energy from the process overwhelmed him.
• A vortex appeared inside Qin Xun and absorbed the violent energy, and the chains threatened the little girl and the middle-aged man as Xu Chao carried Qin Xun away.
• The chains withdrew into the vanishing ring of fire, and Qin Xun found that he could now direct all nine chains with his thoughts.
• Xu Chao decided to flee the forest and head to Zone 96, hoping Dazhuang was out of danger.
• Qin Xun told Xu Chao that his head had hurt and concealed what he had learned about the chains.