Chapter Summaries

Su Bai received a strange message claiming that gods chose mortals to become Transcendents, but he dismissed the sender as a lunatic. Later that night, he saw a horrifying, blood-dripping face with crimson eyes outside the dorm door as Wu Hang went to answer the knock.

• Rain Falls, Bamboo Chills messaged Su Bai about gods who granted authority to mortal Transcendents, but Su Bai mocked the claims and removed the sender from his chat list.
• Wu Hang returned to the dorm complaining that girls had cut in line for hot water, and he and Su Bai joked about their absent roommates, Lu Ping and Shen Fei.
• After the dorm fell quiet, repeated knocking woke Su Bai and Wu Hang.
• Wu Hang grabbed a slipper and went to open the door, while Su Bai glimpsed a scratched face with eerie crimson eyes and dripping red liquid through the gap.

Gu Jiuge was sent to Star Sea Middle School to deal with the Contaminated Novelist, a ghost that attacked Su Bai and Wu Hang in their dorm. He killed the ghost and asked Su Bai for a cigarette.

• Gu Jiuge won two million yuan at Heavenly River International before Sister Yan ordered him to hunt the Contaminated Novelist at Star Sea Middle School and retrieve Qingxue from the police station.
• The woman in red appeared at the dorm door, and Wu Hang screamed before fainting while Su Bai was left unable to move.
• The woman in red floated up to Su Bai and began draining his warmth, but a surge of heat from his chest awakened him.
• Gu Jiuge arrived with a Tang saber and cut the woman in red in half as she fled through the window, causing her to dissolve into black mist.
• Gu Jiuge put away his saber and asked Su Bai if he had a cigarette.

Gu Jiuge explained the Novelist, Transcendents, and the secret organizations protecting Great Xia, then revealed he had seen through Su Bai’s hidden identity. Su Bai admitted he had awakened years earlier and described his Oracle, leaving Gu Jiuge reassured that he had only told a doctor.

• Su Bai handed Gu Jiuge the cigarettes he found beneath Wu Hang’s pillow, and Gu Jiuge explained how the contaminated Novelist grew stronger by telling stories.
• Gu Jiuge described the blood moon, the emergence of monsters and Transcendents, and the roles of the Grave Keepers and Tomb Sweepers.
• Su Bai questioned why Gu Jiuge was revealing the secret world, and Gu Jiuge disclosed that he had recognized Su Bai as a Transcendent.
• Su Bai said he had awakened three or four years earlier and gained the ability to remember anything he saw.
• Su Bai told Gu Jiuge that he had only discussed his unusual ability with a doctor, and Gu Jiuge approved.

Su Bai learned that the Tomb Sweepers had identified him as the Contaminated Novelist through supernatural laws, then weighed joining the Grave Keepers against taking a payout and living as an ordinary person. When Lin Xue asked him to deliver a love letter to Shen Fei, Su Bai accepted and began reconsidering his choice.

• Gu Jiuge explained that the Tomb Sweepers had used the Contaminated Novelist’s stories to develop supernatural knowledge and identify Su Bai as a Transcendent.
• Su Bai recalled Gu Jiuge’s offer to sign a confidentiality agreement or join the Grave Keepers, and insisted he had chosen the money and ordinary life.
• Su Bai was sent outside after answering the attendance call for Lu Ping, Shen Fei, Wu Hang, and himself.
• Lin Xue told Su Bai she liked Shen Fei and asked him to deliver her letter before the college entrance exam.
• Su Bai took Lin Xue’s letter and said that being remembered by history sounded cool after all.

Su Bai survived an arrow attack arranged by Gu Jiuge, who confronted him for concealing his abilities and demanded the truth about his Oracle. Su Bai revealed that his Oracle was Wrath, a power ranked fifth in the Grave Keepers’ handbook, leaving Gu Jiuge stunned.

• Su Bai kicked Shen Fei awake and gave him Lin Xue’s letter, while Shen Fei said he would clarify his feelings with her.
• Su Bai sensed danger and knocked Shen Fei down just before an iron arrow shot through the dorm window and grazed his neck.
• Su Bai saw Gu Jiuge and Qingxue on the sports field, then went outside to confront them about the arrow.
• Gu Jiuge explained that the Grave Keepers monitored Transcendents and had attacked because Su Bai concealed his abilities and Oracle.
• Su Bai admitted that his Oracle was Wrath, and Gu Jiuge realized it ranked fifth among the known Oracles.

Su Bai learned that his Oracle, Wrath, could make him a target for powerful authorities, but Gu Jiuge let him leave with a path to contact the Grave Keepers. Back at the dormitory, Su Bai told Shen Fei and the others about the Transcendent realm, while the Contaminated Novelist watched him from the shadows and called him Satan.

• Gu Jiuge explained that Wrath was a dangerous top-ten Oracle and that reporting it could cost Su Bai his freedom, but Su Bai insisted he was too afraid of death to become a hero.
• Gu Jiuge gave Su Bai his address and a battered Nokia phone, then told Qingxue he expected Su Bai to realize he had to join the Grave Keepers.
• Su Bai returned to the dormitory, where Shen Fei accused him of lying about being Tiga, and Su Bai explained the Transcendent realm to his friends while warning them to keep quiet.
• Su Bai studied Gu Jiuge's business card in bed, unaware that the Contaminated Novelist watched him from the darkness and snarled, “Satan!”

Li Ming and Gu Jiuge discussed Su Bai’s Oracle, Wrath, and decided not to report him to the authorities, fearing he would be taken away. After recurring dreams of a bone palace and seven ancient swords, Su Bai sensed that his life was about to change as the Transcendent era began.

• Gu Jiuge told Li Ming that Su Bai seemed to possess the Oracle Wrath but could not use it, possibly because of his bloodline.
• Li Ming asked whether they should report Su Bai to Tianjing, but Gu Jiuge argued that doing so could make Su Bai a target for erasure.
• Gu Jiuge insisted that Su Bai deserved time and offered to share responsibility if anything went wrong.
• Su Bai described his recurring nightmare of a palace made of bones and flesh, with a coffin and seven ancient swords, to the school doctor, who dismissed him from the infirmary.
• Su Bai wondered whether the dream revealed a real tomb, then sensed that his life was about to change as the Transcendent era began.

After Lin Xue gently rejected Su Bai, he mailed Gu Jiuge’s confidentiality agreement to avoid meeting him. Outside the post office, a strange little girl froze time and threatened to eat Su Bai if he would not buy her matches.

• Professor Hou dismissed Class 17 after urging the students to prepare for the college entrance exam.
• Su Bai stayed behind with Lin Xue, who asked whether she was ugly and thanked him for delivering her letter before leaving with two bodyguards.
• Su Bai realized Lin Xue had understood his feelings and had rejected him tactfully because she liked Shen Fei.
• Su Bai mailed the confidentiality agreement to Gu Jiuge, choosing delivery to avoid a face-to-face meeting.
• A little girl selling matches froze the rain, vehicles, and pedestrians, then told Su Bai she would eat him if he did not buy any.

Su Bai tried to learn why the Little Match Girl had come for him and discovered she wanted him as her favored one, claiming both his body and soul. He attacked her anyway, but she overpowered him and began eating him, leaving Su Bai facing death without surrendering his principles.

• Su Bai stayed calm before the Little Match Girl and asked what would happen if he bought her matches.
• The Little Match Girl praised Su Bai as someone chosen by Satan and offered to spare him if he became her favored one.
• Su Bai pretended to see Gu Jiuge behind the Little Match Girl, then surprised her with a bus stop sign and struck her.
• The Little Match Girl survived the attack, declared Su Bai had lost his chance to live, and pinned him down.
• The Little Match Girl bit into Su Bai's shoulder and tore away a chunk of flesh as he accepted that his attack could end in death.

Su Bai’s memories of abandonment, illness, and heartbreak resurfaced as the little girl gnawed at him, and his Wrath awakened. When reality resumed, Chu Ning arrived to confront the little girl while Su Bai fell unconscious.

• As the little girl ate him, Su Bai recalled the people and moments that had left him helpless, including his parents, the orphanage director, and Lin Xue.
• The little girl sensed something in Su Bai, and illusory flames burst from her chest as the black-and-white world shattered.
• The restored scene sent bystanders fleeing and caused a chain of traffic crashes around the bus stop.
• Chu Ning reported the sixth-tier calamity, “The Little Match Girl,” and requested backup after sensing an even higher-tier oracle.
• Chu Ning leaped from her car and charged the little girl with her longsword as Su Bai closed his eyes and heard “Wrath.”

Li Ming and Gu Jiuge discussed concealing Su Bai’s dangerous Oracle after Chu Ning’s filing report identified it as the force that broke The Little Match Girl’s Time Freeze. They agreed to keep the truth hidden, while Gu Jiuge put off Li Ming’s task until he dealt with the game designer who had frustrated him.

• Li Ming watched a news report that recast the supernatural incident at the Suhui Road intersection as a thirteen-car pileup.
• Gu Jiuge told Li Ming he had delayed investigating the Hunters’ Guild because of other incidents and his plans to confront a game designer.
• Li Ming urged Gu Jiuge to draw out the Hunters’ Guild, but Gu Jiuge said he would finish his current business first.
• Gu Jiuge asked Li Ming about Chu Ning’s filing report, which concluded that Su Bai had used an unknown high-tier Oracle to nearly kill The Little Match Girl.
• Li Ming and Gu Jiuge agreed to hide Su Bai’s Oracle and identity, and Li Ming called them villains working hand in glove.

After waking from a three-day coma, Su Bai learned that Chu Ning had saved him and missed his college entrance exam. Chu Ning offered him a choice between joining the Grave Keepers to raise his bloodline rank and cure his leukemia or attending a sham university that would fund his treatment, while Gu Jiuge reflected on how adults have no real choices.

• Su Bai woke in the hospital and learned that Chu Ning had killed the girl who attacked him.
• Chu Ning threatened Su Bai with a dagger until he revealed that his Oracle was Wrath.
• Chu Ning told Su Bai he had missed the college entrance exam and presented his choices: join the Grave Keepers or attend the newly invented Jialidun University while receiving medical support.
• Su Bai learned that Jialidun University was a sham set up for him, offering a prestigious diploma without academic study.
• Gu Jiuge told Li Ming that he had wanted to show Su Bai that only children had the right to choose, while adults had no choice.

Su Bai reported to the Grave Keepers’ supposed adult products store and discovered it was a cover for Jialidun University, where he joined the Suzhou team as an intern. The team welcomed him with a powerful pistol, while Chu Ning was away picking up Lin Luo.

• Su Bai arrived at room 807, found Qingxue asleep at reception, and discovered Gu Jiuge and Li Ming gaming in the back room.
• Gu Jiuge revealed the sign for Jialidun University, and Su Bai handed over his signed contract to begin work that day.
• Gu Jiuge and Qingxue noticed that Su Bai’s contract listed a monthly salary of 5,000 instead of 50,000, but Gu Jiuge decided to leave it unchanged.
• Gu Jiuge explained Su Bai’s internship and introduced Lin Luo, who was due back from Tianjing that afternoon.
• Li Ming gave Su Bai a powerful field pistol and enchanted ammunition as a first-meeting gift, calling it an adult product.

Su Bai deduced the first three Transcendent Laws from his encounters and learned that his Oracle made him a target for Transcendent creatures. He was told to conceal Wrath as Red Tassel and realized the Transcendent world offered him no safe way out.

• Su Bai asked Li Ming about the nine Transcendent Laws, and Li Ming explained that interns could learn only Devouring, Conservation, and Dependents for now.
• Su Bai correctly stated the first three laws and explained how he had deduced them from Gu Jiuge’s clues, the novelist, and the little girl who had tried to make him her Dependent.
• Li Ming and Gu Jiuge recognized Su Bai’s insight, and Gu Jiuge warned him never to reveal that his Oracle was Wrath.
• Gu Jiuge gave Su Bai a Gravekeeper handbook and told him to claim his Oracle was Red Tassel, ranked 138th in the sequence.
• Gu Jiuge explained that Transcendent creatures hunted Transcendents with Oracles for food, and Su Bai realized that becoming involved in this world had left him with no way out.

Chu Ning told Lin Luo that Wrath had annihilated the Bloodline Mark of the Little Match Girl, a feat explained by Wrath’s attribute, Annihilation. Later, Lin Luo gave Su Bai a Bugatti Veyron as a gift for their first meeting, while Su Bai reflected on the equipment gifts he had received from the Grave Keepers.

• Chu Ning met Lin Luo at B18 Airfield and told him the Little Match Girl’s Bloodline Mark had been burned to ashes.
• Lin Luo questioned how a Bloodline Mark could disappear, and Chu Ning explained that Wrath had destroyed it.
• Lin Luo recognized that Wrath’s Annihilation attribute could destroy Bloodline Marks.
• Lin Luo met Su Bai and gave him the Bugatti Veyron as a first-meeting gift.
• Su Bai recalled the equipment gifts from Li Ming, Lin Luo, Chu Ning, Qingxue, and Gu Jiuge.

Su Bai attended his first Grave Keepers meeting, where Li Ming and the others discussed headquarters’ offer for him to command a new special operations squad. Lin Luo then presented an investigation into the Hunter Guild, and Su Bai asked what it was.

• Su Bai introduced himself to the Grave Keepers, and Chu Ning, Lin Luo, Qingxue, Gu Jiuge, and Li Ming shared their roles and Oracles.
• Lin Luo told Li Ming that headquarters had commended him and offered him command of the newly formed Seventh Special Operations Squad, while Gu Jiuge would lead the Suzhou Squad.
• Gu Jiuge advised Li Ming against taking the post, but Chu Ning argued that it could help him face stronger threats and advance.
• Li Ming set aside the proposal and asked Lin Luo about the second document, an investigation into the Hunter Guild’s dealings with Heavenly River International.
• Su Bai interrupted Lin Luo’s report to ask what the Hunter Guild was.

Lin Luo explained the threat posed by the Hunter Guild and said headquarters wanted it wiped out. The next day, Su Bai used Gu Jiuge’s gambling code to enter Heavenly River International’s casino, where Sister Hong requested to see him.

• Lin Luo told Su Bai and Li Ming that rogue Transcendents had formed guilds, controlled black markets, and were using Heavenly River International to hide the Hunter Guild’s illegal business.
• Lin Luo said headquarters wanted the Hunter Guild destroyed at any cost.
• Su Bai arrived at Heavenly River International in an oversized suit and presented a slip bearing Gu Jiuge’s gambling code to a security guard.
• A casino guard questioned why Gu Jiuge had not come himself, and Su Bai explained that Gu was busy playing Defend the Carrot.
• The guard ordered the middle-aged security man to take Su Bai to the Heaven private room because Sister Hong wanted to see him.

Su Bai went to Heavenly River International to help target the Hunter Guild but was drawn into gambling with Sister Hong instead. He lost the ten million yuan in chips, pawned his borrowed luxury outfit, and discovered his bicycle had been stolen.

• Su Bai went to Heavenly River International alone because the rest of his allies were injured, busy, or too young to enter.
• Sister Hong questioned Su Bai about his relationship with Gu Jiuge and revealed that Gu had won chips worth ten million yuan.
• Su Bai agreed to play high-or-low dice with Sister Hong, believing equal stakes and his skill gave him a strong chance of winning.
• After two hours, Su Bai lost all the chips and pawned his suit, shoes, and watch.
• Su Bai found his bicycle missing and shouted at the thief as passersby watched.

Su Bai learned that Sister Hong had beaten him at dice with her Oracle ability, then argued with Chu Ning and Qingxue over how to raid the casino. Chu Ning smashed into Heavenly River International, and Su Bai followed her and Qingxue inside armed with a handgun and grenades.

• Su Bai asked Qingxue for clothes after losing his clothes and pants while gambling with Sister Hong.
• Chu Ning showed Su Bai that Sister Hong was Chen Ziyan, an eighth-tier Transcendent whose Oracle ability let her perceive microscopic particles and see through the dice.
• Chu Ning prepared handguns to arrest Sister Hong, while Qingxue revealed that she had a pocket pistol and grenades.
• Su Bai talked Chu Ning and Qingxue out of bringing guns, but Chu Ning took a sword and kicked through Heavenly River International’s glass doors.
• Su Bai grabbed the Reaper Desert Eagle, followed Qingxue inside, and pocketed the two grenades on his way.

Su Bai, Chu Ning, and Qingxue forced their way into Heavenly River International to reach its hidden casino, with Chu Ning and Qingxue attacking the guards before Su Bai hacked the private elevator’s security system. As the elevator descended to basement level two, Su Bai warned that surveillance had exposed them and armed guards were likely waiting.

• Su Bai arrived as Chu Ning defeated several guards, and Qingxue knocked down and brutally struck the last one with her sword.
• Chu Ning threatened a receptionist to gain access to the private elevator, but Su Bai intervened and began hacking the system.
• Su Bai explained how he had researched Heavenly River International’s security software and obtained administrator access by entering his facial information into its database.
• The private elevator recognized Su Bai and began descending to basement level two.
• Su Bai told Chu Ning that lobby cameras had recorded their actions and predicted that armed guards would greet them at the casino.