Chapter Summaries

Shen Heng and the others searched the seafood market and the route where a missing person was last seen, but found no traces of a Calamity Beast or the disappearances. Le Gu Nan proposed that the creature might parasitize hosts and send out independent clones, so Shen Heng suggested screening regular market workers as they prepared to stake out the area.

• Shen Heng probed underground while Fan Hong led the team through the seafood market, and they found no Calamity Beasts.
• Fan Hong showed the team the back entrance where a missing person had last appeared, but they found no evidence of what happened to him.
• The team searched the entire market and, with no useful clues, Wang Hai decided they would stake it out.
• Le Gu Nan suggested the Calamity Beast might parasitize a host and send out clones that could observe their surroundings.
• Shen Heng relayed Le Gu Nan's theory to Wang Hai and Han Ling and proposed screening people who worked regularly at the seafood market.

Wang Hai arranged for the seafood market’s staff to be checked for Calamity Beast parasites while the group waited through the night. Le Gu Nan wondered whether Wang Hai and Han Ling liked each other, and the chapter ended as the market opened and the sun rose.

• Wang Hai asked Fan Hong to arrange rooms and coordinate checks of the seafood market’s more than six hundred workers for Calamity Beast parasites.
• Han Ling watched the sea from the rooftop and declined Wang Hai’s suggestion that she take time off.
• Le Gu Nan asked Shen Heng whether Han Ling liked Wang Hai, and he said he thought she did.
• Shen Heng advised Le Gu Nan to either help bring them together or act as though she knew nothing.
• Workers and vendors arrived at the seafood market before dawn, and Shen Heng watched the sunrise over the sea.

Shen Heng posed as a doctor at a seafood market to test workers for signs of Calamity Beast possession. After examining Qiu Rui, a quasi-martial artist who worked at the market, Shen Heng found no problem and continued testing the people who came in.

• The seafood market manager showed Shen Heng the room set up for the blood tests, and Shen Heng listened to the market's surrounding conversations while he waited.
• Shen Heng used Origin Power while pricking a worker's finger, causing the man to shiver, then sent him away with an excuse about being run-down.
• After testing fifty or sixty people, Shen Heng recognized Qiu Rui, who had joined a team searching the city for Calamity Beasts.
• Shen Heng warned Qiu Rui to assess a Calamity Beast's tier before engaging and asked whether he had heard anything strange at the market; Qiu Rui had not.
• Shen Heng checked Qiu Rui for possession, found no signs of a Calamity Beast, and told him to keep the inspection secret to prevent panic.
• Qiu Rui offered to help Shen Heng if needed, then left as Shen Heng resumed testing the people who came in.

Shen Heng continued staking out the seafood market after the Supervision Bureau’s screening failed to find the Calamity Beast. He suspected the creature had sensed their arrival and wondered whether its unusual form of existence explained why he could not detect it.

• Shen Heng and Le Gu Nan ate dinner together while watching the seafood market, and Le Gu Nan reported that no one had gone missing since the previous disappearance five days earlier.
• Shen Heng noted that the Calamity Beast had gone longer without feeding than ever before and suspected it knew the Supervision Bureau had come looking for it.
• After Le Gu Nan left, Shen Heng monitored the market until it closed, confirmed there was no other activity, and went home.
• Shen Heng found Xu Yuqin sitting in the living room, reminded her to keep resting, and ate the chicken soup Shuhua had made.

Yu Jingming and Deng Ming talked while their group searched the city for Calamity Beasts, then encountered an unfamiliar mantis-like beast. They decided to approach cautiously and assess its strength, leaving the trucks to pursue it after it walked away.

• Ye Chengyun invited Yu Jingming to play mahjong, but Yu declined and continued his breathing exercises.
• Deng Ming asked Yu Jingming about his practice, learned that Yu could do breathing exercises for thirty or forty minutes, and discovered that his family ran the Canglan Saber School.
• The group spotted an unfamiliar mantis-like Calamity Beast and debated whether to approach it without knowing its tier.
• Deng Ming proposed testing the beast's reaction with a truck and judging its strength by its Origin Power once they got closer.
• The beast moved away instead of charging, so the twelve members left the trucks and ran after it.

The group lost track of the Calamity Beast, decided to rest, and began leaving the alley. The third-tier beast suddenly appeared, killed Shi Wei, and chased the fleeing survivors.

• The group found that the Calamity Beast’s trail ended at a walled alley, and Ye Chengyun arranged for everyone to rest for two days.
• Shi Wei advised Ye Chengyun to let the martial artists assess a beast’s tier before deciding whether to fight or retreat.
• As the group left, Yu Jingming spotted a new shadow, and everyone saw the third-tier Calamity Beast clinging to the wall.
• The Calamity Beast attacked Shi Wei, knocked him down, and killed him in front of the group.
• The survivors ran from the alley as the Calamity Beast pursued them amid gunshots and clashes.

Yu Jingming and the others escaped the alley as a Calamity Beast slaughtered the people left behind, then called the Supervision Bureau for help. At the scene, Shen Heng found no sign of the beast or any bodies and questioned whether the unrecorded black Calamity Beast had eaten the missing people.

• Deng Ming urged everyone to escape, and Yu Jingming used his saber to help them climb over the alley wall.
• Yu Jingming and the others ran from the alley, leaving behind people being attacked by the Calamity Beast.
• Deng Ming told Yu Jingming to report the attack to the Supervision Bureau, and Yu Jingming called Shen Heng.
• Fang Yunshu agreed to wait with the inspectors while they questioned survivors and assessed the scene.
• Shen Heng arrived, searched the area, and learned that five people were missing and no bodies had been found.
• Shen Heng wondered whether a pitch-black Calamity Beast absent from the bestiary had eaten the missing people.

After a Third Tier Calamity Beast escaped, Shen Heng warned Yu Jingming that his group was unprepared and should prioritize survival, while the remaining members decided whether to continue hunting. Days later, Shen Heng received word of another Third Tier Calamity Beast on Linping Avenue in Kaiping District and hurried to respond.

• Shen Heng learned that no one had seen which way the Calamity Beast fled and advised Yu Jingming to consider leaving the team and to check a beast’s tier before engaging.
• Deng Ming, Qiu Rui, and Yu Jingming agreed to keep searching for Calamity Beasts, while Fang Yunshu declined to continue.
• Shen Heng watched the seafood market for several days but found no signs that anyone in Linhai had gone missing or that the beast had hunted for food.
• Yu Jingming called Shen Heng to report another Third Tier Calamity Beast on Linping Avenue in Kaiping District, and Shen Heng rushed out to help.

After a Nightwalking Wolf that appeared to be Tier 2 turned out to be a Third Tier Calamity Beast, Shen Heng found no trace of it and learned that three people had died. Two days later, he spotted Qiu Rui at the seafood market and felt alarm as he connected the visit to the recent incidents.

• Shen Heng searched Linping Avenue for the Calamity Beast but could not locate it, then called Yu Jingming and told him to return with the others.
• Yu Jingming, Deng Ming, Ye Chengyun, and Qiu Rui returned, and Ye Chengyun reported that three people had died after their Nightwalking Wolf turned out to be Third Tier.
• Shen Heng noticed that the beast’s unusual size, the missing bodies, and its vanished trail raised questions, but the investigation produced no answers.
• Wang Hai disbanded Yu Jingming’s team and told them to avoid going out at night after they had encountered Third Tier Calamity Beasts twice.
• Two days later, Shen Heng saw Qiu Rui enter the seafood market and felt a jolt of alarm as he connected the testing there with the lack of incidents and the team’s repeated encounters.

Shen Heng connected Qiu Rui to the seafood market disappearances and two Calamity Beast attacks, then arranged to question him. He approached Qiu Rui at his family’s stall under the pretense of buying fish, leaving his suspicions concealed.

• Shen Heng suspected that the Calamity Beasts in the three incidents might have been one shape-changing beast, with Qiu Rui passing it information or helping it avoid detection.
• Shen Heng told Wang Hai his theory and requested that Qiu Rui be requisitioned for questioning; Wang Hai agreed to prepare Han Ling and the others.
• Shen Heng entered the seafood market and approached Qiu Rui’s family stall, where Qiu Rui hid his alarm at seeing him.
• Shen Heng pretended to shop for fish and asked Qiu Rui’s mother for a recommendation to help his frail mother’s health.

Shen Heng brought Qiu Rui to the Supervision Bureau and questioned him about the Calamity Beast called Shadow Erosion. Qiu Rui described its abilities and began explaining how he first found it, leaving the circumstances of their relationship unresolved.

• Shen Heng bought a grouper from Qiu Rui's mother, then invited Qiu Rui to talk and drove him to the Supervision Bureau.
• Wang Hai questioned Qiu Rui, who confirmed Shadow Erosion was the Calamity Beast that had attacked his team twice and said it had named itself.
• Qiu Rui described Shadow Erosion as a black, liquid creature that could change shape but not color and dissolve people it enveloped.
• Shen Heng asked how Qiu Rui had first encountered Shadow Erosion, and Qiu Rui said it had been caught with his family's fishing haul as a tiny, ragged piece.

During Shen Heng’s interrogation, Qiu Rui explained how he had found the Calamity Beast and agreed to help it in exchange for sensing Origin Power. He confessed that he had later lured martial artists to it under threats against his family, leaving the Supervision Bureau to consider his account.

• Qiu Rui told Shen Heng that he had found the injured Calamity Beast while fishing and kept it in a tank until it spoke to him.
• Qiu Rui admitted he hesitated to report the beast after it promised to help him sense Origin Power and cultivate.
• Qiu Rui said he initially only answered the beast’s questions about humanity and the Supervision Bureau, while it secretly ate two people.
• Qiu Rui explained that the beast later stalked people from the seafood market and ate them, then attacked his team after Shen Heng warned it.
• Qiu Rui confessed that the beast threatened his family, so he lured martial artists to it and agonized over whether to tell the Supervision Bureau.

After learning that Shadow Erosion had been hiding in the seafood market’s water pipes, Shen Heng and the others tracked it down and prepared a coordinated attack. Their first strike hit the pipe, but Shen Heng felt resistance from his saber, leaving the result uncertain.

• Qiu Rui told Wang Hai and the others that Shadow Erosion lived in the water pipes near his family’s seafood stall, and Shen Heng realized his inspection had missed the liquid-type Calamity Beast.
• Wang Hai assigned Zheng Anlin to watch Qiu Rui, who asked about his likely punishment and requested a chance to contact his parents.
• Shen Heng used Echolocation to find an unusual sluggishness in the seafood market’s pipes, and the team waited until midnight before entering.
• Shen Heng located the stretch of pipe containing Shadow Erosion, and Wang Hai ordered everyone to spread out and attack together.
• The team struck the water supply pipe, and Shen Heng felt unmistakable resistance through his saber.

Shen Heng and the Linhai Supervision Bureau confronted Shadow Erosion, a powerful octopus-like Calamity Beast that emerged from a broken pipe. After discovering its tentacles could regenerate, Wang Hai ordered the team to close in and behead it.

• Shadow Erosion formed from black liquid pouring out of a broken pipe and asked whether the Supervision Bureau had been sent by Qiu Rui.
• Shen Heng claimed the team had tracked Shadow Erosion for days, and it offered to leave Linhai without killing anyone on the way out.
• As footsteps approached, Shen Heng warned the team and Wang Hai abruptly ordered an attack.
• The team attacked Shadow Erosion, and Shen Heng severed one of its tentacles, but another tentacle absorbed the piece and restored it.
• Wang Hai called for the team to close in and behead Shadow Erosion.

Shen Heng and Wang Hai led the team in a close-range assault on Shadow Erosion, but discovered that its nervous system was spread throughout its body, limiting the effect of Shen Heng’s sonic attack. The team regrouped around Wang Hai, who ordered them to kill Shadow Erosion head-on.

• Shen Heng and Wang Hai pressed toward Shadow Erosion while the others attacked its tentacles and cleared their path.
• Shen Heng used Sound Stacking: Thousand Waves to stagger Shadow Erosion, giving Wang Hai an opening to strike with Tiger Piercing.
• Shadow Erosion blocked Wang Hai with two tentacles, and the clash sent both fighters flying back.
• Shen Heng concluded that Shadow Erosion had no central brain, and Le Gu Nan explained that its distributed nervous system could let parts of its body move independently.
• Wang Hai ordered the team to kill Shadow Erosion head-on.

Shen Heng and the Linhai Supervision Bureau fought Shadow Erosion together, testing whether they could kill it by cutting it apart. They learned it had no vital points and powerful regeneration, and the battle continued as they pressed their attack.

• Wu Cheng, Han Ling, Wang Hai, and the others coordinated to cover Shen Heng and Wang Hai as they charged Shadow Erosion.
• Shen Heng cut off Shadow Erosion’s tentacles while Han Ling’s explosive shot blasted a hole in its head, which quickly regenerated.
• Shen Heng explained that Shadow Erosion had no brain or vital points and suggested cutting it into pieces, with burning it as a last resort; Wu Cheng agreed to help if needed.
• Shen Heng and Wang Hai dodged and endured the tentacles’ attacks as they advanced toward Shadow Erosion.
• Han Ling, Le Gu Nan, and Wu Cheng kept attacking from above, gradually damaging and weakening Shadow Erosion.

Le Gu Nan and Han Ling devised armor-piercing rounds that disrupted Shadow Erosion, allowing the group to coordinate a powerful attack. Shadow Erosion’s head exploded, but its black liquid splashed onto Shen Heng, the captain, and Wei Leyang.

• Le Gu Nan suggested using Han Ling’s ability and prepared metal cores to make armor-piercing bullets, and Han Ling agreed to try it.
• Le Gu Nan assembled five bullets, and Han Ling fired them at Shadow Erosion, disrupting its attacks and creating an opening for Wang Hai and Shen Heng.
• Shadow Erosion retracted and flailed its tentacles as it tried to block Han Ling’s shots, while Wei Leyang dropped from an overhead beam and bound its main tentacles with silver threads.
• Wang Hai, Shen Heng, Han Ling, Le Gu Nan, and Wu Cheng struck Shadow Erosion together, destroying its head.
• Shadow Erosion’s black liquid splashed onto Shen Heng, the captain, and Wei Leyang.

Shadow Erosion survived its destruction and incapacitated the group with a mental attack, but Shen Heng resisted by overwhelming his mind with sound and began moving his unconscious companions toward safety. As the Calamity Beast reformed, Shen Heng contacted Fan Hong and asked if he was nearby.

• Shen Heng and the others removed Shadow Erosion's remains, but the black liquid began swelling and attacking again.
• Shadow Erosion inflicted intense pain on the group's minds, causing Han Ling, Le Gu Nan, Wu Cheng, Wei Leyang, and Wang Hai to collapse.
• Shen Heng endured the attack by channeling Origin Power and flooding his mind with countless sounds, then tore the liquid from his legs.
• As Shadow Erosion reformed into an octopus, Shen Heng carried Wu Cheng and Wei Leyang toward the gate by throwing them clear of the battlefield.
• Shen Heng contacted Fan Hong and asked whether he was nearby.

Shen Heng sent Fan Hong to evacuate the unconscious fighters and stayed behind to face Shadow Erosion. After refusing its offer to become an Erosion Servant, he fought its tentacles and felt the overwhelming strength of a near-S-Class Calamity Beast.

• Shen Heng told Fan Hong that he was the only one still able to fight and ordered him to take the unconscious captain, Han Ling, and the others away.
• Shen Heng faced Shadow Erosion, which explained that its Pain Resonance contained the pain it had suffered throughout its life.
• Shadow Erosion offered Shen Heng an Erosion Servant bond that would let it restore him, in exchange for occasional obedience and a conscious clone in his head.
• Shen Heng refused the offer, drew his saber, and prepared to hold Shadow Erosion off until Fan Hong evacuated the others.
• Shen Heng parried Shadow Erosion's relentless tentacle attacks and recognized the pressure of fighting a near-S-Class Calamity Beast.

Shen Heng held Shadow Erosion off while Fan Hong and the others carried the injured out of the seafood market. Shadow Erosion threatened to attack the nearest settlement, forcing Shen Heng to stay and fight as its assault grew fiercer.

• Shen Heng dodged Shadow Erosion's tentacles and bought time while Fan Hong and the others searched for and carried the injured toward the exit.
• Shadow Erosion noticed the escaping group and pursued them, but Shen Heng intercepted its tentacles and urged Fan Hong to keep running.
• Tian Xiangwen reached the seafood market entrance with someone on his back and saw Shen Heng still fighting Shadow Erosion.
• Shadow Erosion threatened to attack the nearest place where people lived if Shen Heng left, and Shen Heng stopped retreating.
• Shadow Erosion launched a faster barrage of attacks, and Shen Heng struggled to deflect its tentacles as his arm grew numb and his breathing quickened.