Chapter Summaries

Wang Hai coordinated emergency police, martial artist, military, and intercity support after a large swarm of Sharp-Horned Rats invaded Linhai. As the rats attacked residents and raced through neighborhoods, a citywide siren warned the population.

• Wang Hai ordered police to patrol in teams and told residents to shelter as Sharp-Horned Rats spread across Linhai.
• Wang Hai asked the Martial Arts Association to issue an emergency hunting mission and recruit available martial artists.
• Wang Hai requested military and intercity reinforcements from Supervision Bureau headquarters, which approved the request and dispatched support.
• A Sharp-Horned Rat killed Old Zhou while he swept the street, then ran off.
• A woman spotted Sharp-Horned Rats outside her home after her daughter mistook them for rhinoceros beetles, and the citywide siren began sounding.

A swarm of Sharp-Horned Rats entered Linhai from the coast, sending residents scrambling for shelter. Chen Ming escaped the park after witnessing an attack, while Zhou Hui took refuge with Uncle Zhang as the creatures approached their shop.

• Linhai issued an emergency warning that Sharp-Horned Rats had entered the city and ordered residents to shelter indoors.
• Chen Ming ran home from a park and saw a Sharp-Horned Rat attack someone before it returned to the park.
• Zhou Hui hurried through the streets to get home to Xiao Lian, but Uncle Zhang called her into his hardware store for shelter.
• Uncle Zhang gave Zhou Hui food and water while they hid upstairs away from the window.
• A Sharp-Horned Rat smashed a nearby roller shutter, and cries from the street stopped as rustling sounds drew closer to the shop.

Zhao Zhi’s police team killed a Sharp-Horned Rat but suffered injuries, and he left to investigate more screams. Chen Hu’s team killed another rat before a Tier 2 Sharp-Horned Rat overwhelmed them, but an inspector arrived and killed it.

• The captain knocked Zhao Zhi out of the Sharp-Horned Rat’s charge, and the officers killed the creature after it wounded another teammate.
• Zhao Zhi sent the injured men to the hospital and rushed toward distant screams while another figure left the vehicle.
• Chen Hu and Xiao Li worked together to kill a Sharp-Horned Rat and prepared to load its body into their vehicle.
• A Tier 2 Sharp-Horned Rat ambushed Chen Hu’s injured team and left him unable to stand.
• An inspector appeared, kicked the Tier 2 rat away, and pinned it to a wall with his saber.

Shen Heng and the other fighters spread out across Linhai City to contain the Calamity Beast attacks, prioritizing the most dangerous Sharp-Horned Rats while accepting that people would still die. As the city remained under threat, civilians tried to escape or hide, and one father lured a pursuing beast away from his child.

• Shen Heng told an injured man to rest for five minutes before taking his squad to the Martial Arts Association or a hospital, then retrieved his saber and left.
• Shen Heng reflected that the team was targeting the most dangerous rats to stabilize Linhai City, while screams continued throughout the city.
• A man packed supplies and persuaded his wife to leave their building after a Sharp-Horned Rat entered it; she suggested crossing to the neighboring building via the roof.
• A father hid his little boy in a trash can and told him to stay silent until a police officer or his father came back for him.
• The father ran off to draw a hazy black silhouette away from the trash can, and muffled grunts sounded after the beast chased him.

Shen Heng arranged for Linhai City’s emergency broadcast equipment and a detailed map to be set up on a rooftop, then began reporting Calamity Beast locations across the city. His broadcasts gave civilians hope and helped combat teams decide where to move as Linhai’s emergency response system came into operation.

• Shen Heng reached Building 7 with Fan Hong and ordered the citywide broadcast equipment and a detailed city map moved to the roof.
• Shen Heng used his heightened awareness to assess the surroundings, then began announcing the locations and dangers of discovered Calamity Beasts.
• A frightened family heard the official broadcast and took comfort in learning where the monsters were, despite the fog preventing them from seeing outside.
• Ye Chengyun and Li Zhen heard about a Late Tier 2 Sharp-Horned Rat near the clock tower, and Deng Ming reset his dislocated arm before the team set out.
• Mei Duo led Lin Xiaoyu and their teammates toward a Tier 1 Sharp-Horned Rat on Yingping Road, while a black-armored figure headed toward three Second Tier Sharp-Horned Rats near Binhai Avenue and Jinhai Road.
• As Shen Heng continued reporting locations, Fan Hong recognized that the broadcasts were guiding combat personnel and helping Linhai’s emergency response system mobilize.

As the Sharp-Horned Rat tide ravaged Linhai, fighters struggled to hold the beasts back while Shen Heng coordinated reports and tried to calm the city. Xu Yuqin hid at home, worrying about Shen Heng as gunfire sounded nearby.

• A ponytailed sniper killed a Sharp-Horned Rat pursuing a terrified crowd, then ran on without stopping.
• A team shot a Sharp-Horned Rat off an apartment wall and pursued it after it fled.
• The Wild Grass Squad began losing to a Second Tier Sharp-Horned Rat, but a spiked ball of thread struck and pierced the beast.
• Shen Heng received reports of attacks across Linhai, assessed the dwindling combat squads, and resumed broadcasting to calm residents.
• Xu Yuqin hid in her apartment and worried about Shen Heng, then heard gunfire and wondered whether more beasts had entered a neighboring residential complex.

Xu Yuqin watched Gu Nan kill a Sharp-Horned Rat and save the occupants of an overturned SUV as reinforcements arrived in Linhai. Shen Heng tracked the remaining beasts while the new squads advanced through the fog, leaving the city’s battle still underway.

• Xu Yuqin saw Gu Nan impale a Sharp-Horned Rat with earthen spikes, kill it, and right an overturned SUV.
• Shen Heng exhausted himself calming Linhai’s residents and processing reports while tracking the remaining Sharp-Horned Rats, and wondered where their matriarch was.
• Reinforcements descended into Linhai and received orders to clear their sectors, link up with surviving fighters, and evacuate the wounded.
• A six-person squad advanced through the fog and shot two Calamity Beasts after the leader spotted them.
• A squad on a bridge opened fire on approaching Calamity Beasts, with the barrage overpowering even Tier 3 beasts.

Reinforcements helped drive down the Sharp-Horned Rat swarm in Linhai, but Wang Hai and Shen Heng still could not locate its matriarch. They considered whether it had stayed away from the attack and might be hiding elsewhere.

• Wu Bingzhi told her team that military reinforcements were improving the situation, though more than a hundred Sharp-Horned Rats remained scattered around Linhai.
• Gu Chang identified the source of the citywide location reports as a Linhai agent with Hearing Enhancement who had likely undergone Ability Evolution.
• Wu Bingzhi directed Youyi to drive toward the coast to check for Sharp-Horned Rats still hiding in the water.
• Wang Hai asked Shen Heng whether he had sensed the matriarch, and Shen Heng reported finding no trace of it within five kilometers.
• Shen Heng reasoned that the matriarch probably had not joined the attack, while Wu Cheng suggested it might have used the swarm as bait and hidden elsewhere.

Shen Heng and Wang Hai realized the Sharp-Horned Rat matriarch might be targeting the Linhai Cold Chain Storage Center, where a large quantity of liquid ammonia was stored. Wang Hai ordered an evacuation, assigned Shen Heng to handle the incident, and sought support from headquarters as he rushed west.

• Shen Heng heard an explosion and, connecting the sounds and clues from his interrogation, identified the cold chain center fifteen kilometers west as a possible target of the Sharp-Horned Rat matriarch.
• Wang Hai suspected a leak at the center and told Fan Hong to evacuate people outward, starting there, and coordinate with Shen Heng, who would take over handling the incident.
• Wang Hai informed the military of the arrangements and told Zhao Yonggang at Supervision Bureau headquarters that the rats might damage the facility and release its stored liquid ammonia.
• Wang Hai reported that the rat tide alone had caused at least a thousand estimated casualties, and Zhao Yonggang told him to focus on the cold chain center.
• Wang Hai ended the call and dashed west toward the center.

Zhao Yonggang assigned Lu Zhaoming to respond to the liquid ammonia disaster, while Shen Heng coordinated evacuations and studied the cold-chain center’s layout. At the center, Wang Hai confronted a dark figure with scarlet eyes and began fighting it.

• Zhao Yonggang decided to send Lu Zhaoming to handle the large-scale gas leak in Linhai.
• Shen Heng arranged for Fan Hong to send the cold-chain center’s layout and directed Han Ling, Le Gu Nan, Wu Cheng, and Wei Leyang to help coordinate the evacuation.
• Le Gu Nan asked what they would do if they could not evacuate everyone, and Shen Heng told her they could only give it their all.
• Wang Hai entered the cold-chain center, protected himself with Origin Power, and advanced through the freezing mist.
• A dark figure with scarlet eyes noticed Wang Hai, and the two clashed in a fierce fight.

Wang Hai fought the Sharp-Horned Rat Matriarch amid the wreckage of the tank farm, while Shen Heng warned him to avoid damaging the storage tanks. The Matriarch hurled a frost-covered tank at Wang Hai, who stopped it and flung it toward open ground.

• The battle between Wang Hai and the Sharp-Horned Rat Matriarch devastated the tank farm and spread hundreds of meters around it.
• Shen Heng warned Wang Hai over his earpiece that further damage to the tanks could accelerate the leak, and Wang Hai acknowledged him.
• Wang Hai used Fivefold Force: Tiger Piercing to strike the Matriarch and send it tumbling across the ground.
• The Matriarch broke a tank’s supports, ran behind it, and hurled the frost-covered storage tank at Wang Hai.
• Wang Hai braced against the tank, stopped it, and flung it toward open ground.

Wang Hai fought the Sharp-Horned Rat matriarch inside the cold-chain center and suffered a shoulder wound from its horn. At the command center, Fan Hong and the others accepted that the facility was doomed, while Nie Xingping challenged a fellow professor’s fear of dying.

• The Sharp-Horned Rat matriarch pierced Wang Hai’s left shoulder with its horn after he shoved a storage tank aside.
• Wang Hai kicked the matriarch’s jaw, pulled free of its horn, and used Origin Power to stop his wound from bleeding.
• Wang Hai and the matriarch resumed their fight amid the cold air, crashing metal, and cracking ice.
• Fan Hong and the assembled specialists watched drone footage and pronounced a death sentence on the cold-chain center.
• A Linhai University professor asked Nie Xingping what they should do, and Nie Xingping asked if he was afraid of dying.

Fan Hong reassured the requisitioned technicians that their families had priority evacuation rights, though they would need to reach transfer points themselves. As everyone called home, he reflected on the Supervision Bureau’s rules requiring key personnel to stay through the disaster while ensuring their families could leave safely.

• Fan Hong promised the technicians that they would be kept safe and evacuated with priority if necessary.
• When a cold-chain center technician asked about their families, Fan Hong said they had the same priority rights but would need to reach transfer points on their own.
• Fan Hong advised families living near the outskirts to leave directly by car or through vehicles organized by their neighborhood administration.
• Fan Hong said the families should already have received evacuation notices, and everyone began calling home to confirm.
• Fan Hong recalled that the Supervision Bureau classified personnel by their importance to the response and prioritized evacuating the families of those required to remain until the end.
• Fan Hong noted that key personnel could flee if they saw no hope, but they would face dismissal and imprisonment afterward.

Shen Heng met with Nie Xingping and the experts on Linhai’s rooftop to hear an assessment of the cold-chain center disaster. Nie Xingping explained that a pressure collapse could trigger explosions and spread a deadly ammonia cloud throughout the city.

• The chapter outlined three categories of people affected by the evacuation, including responders and experts whose families could receive priority evacuation rights.
• Fan Hong brought Nie Xingping and the other experts to meet Shen Heng on the rooftop.
• Shen Heng thanked the group and asked for an overview of the situation.
• Nie Xingping reported that failed safeguards had caused pressure collapse and cascading refrigerant leaks at the cold-chain center.
• Nie Xingping warned that exploding storage tanks could trigger further blasts and spread a lethal low-temperature ammonia cloud across Linhai.

Shen Heng confirmed that the cold-chain center’s explosion could not be prevented or delayed and ordered the evacuation of Linhai. He asked the experts to determine where the cryogenic cloud would spread, leaving them to explain the problems involved.

• Shen Heng asked Nie Xingping and Engineer Liu whether the leak or tanks could be stopped or moved, and they explained that any intervention risked triggering an explosion.
• Nie Xingping estimated that the explosion could occur in as little as forty-five minutes or within two hours, while Fan Hong said Linhai could evacuate roughly three hundred thousand people per hour.
• Shen Heng ordered Fan Hong to begin evacuating everyone in the city.
• Le Gu Nan arrived on the rooftop after Shen Heng called her to join the discussion.
• Nie Xingping said the explosion could not be delayed, and Shen Heng asked whether the direction of the cryogenic cloud’s spread could be predicted.
• Nie Xingping said predicting the cloud’s direction was theoretically possible but involved two unavoidable problems.

Shen Heng learned that the cold chain center disaster could not be stopped with the available time, manpower, or equipment, and that diverting its ammonia cloud would only delay and weaken it. He reported the situation to Wang Hai as the team faced the prospect of mass casualties in Linhai.

• Nie Xingping explained that an explosion at the cold chain center would send a concentrated ammonia cloud east toward Linhai or south toward the sea, where sea breezes could blow it back.
• Nie Xingping said directing the explosion’s energy and leaked material required unavailable specialists, equipment, and time, leaving no way to stop the disaster.
• Shen Heng accepted Nie Xingping’s conclusion and contacted his captain, Wang Hai, to report that the explosion could no longer be prevented.
• Shen Heng summarized the cloud’s likely spread and the obstacles to redirecting it while Wang Hai fought the Sharp-Horned Rat Matriarch.
• Han Ling worried that many people in Linhai might die, while Wei Leyang watched people fleeing in traffic and wondered how events had gone so far off script.

As the Sharp-Horned Rat Matriarch fought Wang Hai, Shen Heng explained that an unavoidable explosion could spread a lethal low-temperature cloud and proposed sheltering civilians. Wang Hai and Wu Cheng chose to try guiding the energy despite the likely cost, leaving Han Ling and Le Gu Nan devastated as the danger loomed.

• Shen Heng warned Wang Hai that even the best-case explosion could spread the low-temperature cloud across nearly a quarter of the area, and proposed sealing people inside reinforced shelters with oxygen and heat supplies.
• Wang Hai asked how soon the explosion might occur and said he and Wu Cheng could guide the energy without the personnel or equipment Shen Heng thought necessary.
• Wang Hai called on Wu Cheng, who asked if they would die; Wang Hai answered that they probably would.
• Han Ling begged Wang Hai not to go through with the plan, but he cut off communications after telling her that some things had to be done.
• Shen Heng realized Wu Cheng’s fire seeds could guide the energy only if Wu Cheng stayed nearby, while Wang Hai would have to face the Sharp-Horned Rat Matriarch.
• Le Gu Nan wept beside Shen Heng, and a frightened little girl asked Han Ling whether everyone was going to die.

Shen Heng arranged for Nie Xingping and the experts to draw up an intervention plan to save people at the cold-chain center, while Fan Hong organized underground shelters. Le Gu Nan used her reconstruction ability to create a three-dimensional model that helped the experts refine their calculations, as the captain called to ask how much longer the plan would take.

• Han Ling comforted a little girl before receiving a message through her earpiece.
• Shen Heng told Nie Xingping that the team would solve the problems and asked him to draw up an intervention plan; Fan Hong contacted specialists and arranged underground shelters.
• Le Gu Nan asked Shen Heng if there was another way, then joined the experts despite his admission that he wished there were.
• Le Gu Nan reconstructed a detailed three-dimensional model of the cold-chain center, helping Nie Xingping and the experts adjust the intervention calculations.
• The captain contacted Shen Heng and asked how much longer the detailed plan would take.

Shen Heng struggled with the weight of loss until Wang Hai reminded him that their sacrifices protected the land and its people. Wang Hai appointed Shen Heng as the next director of the Linhai City Supervision Bureau and asked him to care for Little Bell, leaving Shen Heng to carry on in his place.

• Shen Heng told Wang Hai that he expected to be gone in about twenty minutes.
• Wang Hai recalled his first teammate's death and how his captain taught him that unknown sacrifices still protected the land and its crops.
• Shen Heng repeated Wang Hai's words and regained his resolve.
• Shen Heng brought up Han Ling, and Wang Hai said she should not be with someone like him.
• Wang Hai named Shen Heng the next director of the Linhai City Supervision Bureau and told him to lead everyone onward.
• Wang Hai asked Shen Heng to look after Little Bell, and Shen Heng agreed.

Shen Heng approved the intervention plan to redirect the blast from the cold-chain center and ordered the evacuation of the experts and residents. As the operation reached its final stage, Wu Cheng confirmed the preparations while Wang Hai fought the Rat Matriarch and said there would be no next time.

• Nie Xingping gave Shen Heng the detailed plan for redirecting the shock wave from the storage tanks, and Shen Heng sent it to Wu Cheng after Le Gu Nan confirmed it.
• Shen Heng ordered Fan Hong to arrange transport for the experts; Nie Xingping chose to stay, and Shen Heng agreed before ordering everyone else to evacuate.
• Police officers, community workers, volunteers, and bus drivers guided Linhai residents east along Jianshe Road and loaded them onto buses.
• A dark figure moved through the cold-chain center, touching storage tank supports, pipeline valves, and load-bearing structures before heading toward the center.
• Wu Cheng told Wang Hai that the preparations were complete, and Wang Hai drove the Rat Matriarch back before saying there would be no next time.
• An explosion began as Wang Hai and the Rat Matriarch fought amid the freezing currents.