Chapter Summaries

Shen Heng used sound waves carrying emotion and inclination to drive most of the Calamity Beasts into attacking one another, helping the inspectors withdraw. As the battle shifted, he and the others turned their attention to the lion on the distant mountain as it rose to its feet.

• Shen Heng told Han Ling to cover the inspectors as they withdrew, and she agreed.
• Shen Heng reflected on how his sound waves could steer Calamity Beasts by planting emotions and inclinations, though the technique consumed mental power and was less effective against stronger beasts.
• Most of the Calamity Beasts fell into madness and attacked nearby living targets, while the inspectors broke away and retreated toward the wall.
• Shen Heng noticed that some Second and Third Tier beasts and a few Fourth Tier beasts had resisted the influence, and realized the lion's earlier ability had enabled most of his success.
• Shen Heng and others looked toward the distant mountain as the immense lion slowly rose to its feet.

The Sixth Tier lion watched the Calamity Beasts fight among themselves, then withdrew into the mountains, effectively ending the battle. As the survivors gathered for a victory banquet, Shen Heng warned Han Ling that the war was only beginning, and Zhang Weijun prepared to speak about the battle.

• The lion silhouette surveyed the battlefield and the base, then vanished into the mountains without attacking.
• Shen Heng told Han Ling that the battle was basically over, though cleanup remained, and warned that this was only the beginning.
• At the victory banquet, several groups of inspectors thanked Han Ling for saving them, and Shen Heng advised her to set expectations about future visits.
• Han Ling followed Shen Heng's advice and asked those thanking her not to come over afterward if a similar situation happened again.
• Zhang Weijun arrived with food and drinks, then began addressing the gathered survivors about the battle.

Zhang Weijun honored the soldiers and inspectors killed in the battle and urged the survivors to keep defending the Erosion Zone so Calamity Beasts could not reach their families and the wider world. The gathering poured wine for the dead, then raised a second bowl to the living defenders as Zhang Weijun asked for their continued support.

• Zhang Weijun announced that the battle had killed more than seven thousand Calamity Beasts, while 127 soldiers and nine inspectors had died.
• Cao Mingyu said the defenders had no way out, and Zhang Weijun argued that they could leave through the Light Gate but would abandon the world to future invasion.
• Zhang Weijun said the fallen had died to keep the fighting inside the Erosion Zone and protect ordinary people and their families.
• Zhang Weijun led everyone in pouring their first bowl of rice wine onto the ground to honor the dead.
• Zhang Weijun raised a second bowl to the surviving defenders and said he would be counting on them.

After the victory, Zhang Weijun warned his guard that the base could not sustain many more battles despite the day’s low casualties. By the bonfire, Han Ling told Shen Heng about the battle’s strongest fighters, including Gu Lingxuan, who had held off the Bone Porcelain Puppet alone.

• Zhang Weijun explained to his guard that victory meant little if the base lacked the people and resources to keep fighting, and he feared it might fall before new fourth tiers could be trained.
• Han Ling recounted the battle to Shen Heng and singled out a fighter with a beast transformation ability and another who coated a long saber in flames.
• Han Ling praised Gu Lingxuan as one of the strongest fighters, and Shen Heng noted that she had held off the Bone Porcelain Puppet alone before help arrived.
• Shen Heng told Han Ling that their different abilities meant she did not need to compare herself with Gu Lingxuan.

Han Ling and Shen Heng discussed possible future mission teams, including the chance that Shen Heng would be paired with Lü Wenrui. After Lü Wenrui complained about being deprioritized for healing, the group learned Han Ling had killed thirteen Fourth Tier Calamity Beasts, and she wondered whether Shen Heng had influenced her outlook.

• Han Ling suggested forming a future team with Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui, while Shen Heng explained he might be assigned to Lü Wenrui again.
• Lü Wenrui arrived injured and complained that the base healer had told him to treat himself because his injuries were not serious and he was not a high priority.
• The inspectors overheard that Wang Hu had killed eight Fourth Tier Calamity Beasts.
• Lü Wenrui learned Shen Heng had killed one and Han Ling had killed thirteen, and praised Han Ling's feat.
• Han Ling reflected on why her many kills brought her little joy and wondered whether Shen Heng's influence had changed her.

Shen Heng warned Han Ling that the Calamity Beasts might use smaller attacks to exhaust the base’s ammunition and wondered whether they, too, feared the Erosion Zone collapsing. He and Han Ling then headed to watch Wang Hu spar with an unknown opponent.

• Shen Heng told Han Ling that the Calamity Beasts might gather smaller numbers to attack and deplete human ammunition.
• Shen Heng recalled the humans’ mission to investigate what the Calamity Beasts were doing in the Erosion Zone.
• Shen Heng considered whether the Calamity Beasts had avoided joining the previous battle because they feared humans would collapse the Erosion Zone.
• Shen Heng sensed people sparring nearby and told Han Ling that Wang Hu was among them.
• Shen Heng and Han Ling reached the sparring group as a tall figure turned and swung his claws.

Shen Heng and Han Ling watched Wang Hu defeat a fellow inspector before Liang Yanhao challenged him. As their fight grew fierce, Ringing Sound summoned Shen Heng to the command center.

• Lü Wenrui told Shen Heng and Han Ling that Han Ling had topped the Calamity Beast kill tally, with Wang Hu second and Liang Yanhao third.
• Lü Wenrui explained that Wang Hu’s first challenger wanted to test how far behind him he was after killing only one beast.
• Wang Hu defeated the challenger, then helped him back to his feet and reassured him.
• Liang Yanhao challenged Wang Hu and coated his saber in flames as they began fighting.
• Shen Heng declined Lü Wenrui’s suggestion that he spar, then received a message from the command center telling him to report there.

Shen Heng met with Zhang Weijun to settle the rewards for his scouting and his role in causing more than twelve hundred Calamity Beasts to slaughter each other. After deductions for state reserves and compensation to other inspectors, he was offered a choice between twenty Fourth Tier Origin Crystals and fifteen Fourth Tier Origin Crystals plus 150,000 points.

• Shen Heng left Han Ling and Lü Wenrui and went to the command center after receiving a call from it.
• Zhang Weijun confirmed Shen Heng had earned 4,500 points for scouting over eight days, including detecting one approaching beast tide.
• Zhang Weijun explained that the state would retain about twenty percent of the Origin Crystals and that inspectors whose injuries had weakened the beasts would receive compensation.
• Zhang Weijun offered Shen Heng either twenty Fourth Tier Origin Crystals or fifteen Fourth Tier Origin Crystals and 150,000 points for his contribution to the battle.
• Shen Heng weighed the two reward options and considered how much Fourth Tier Origin Crystals were worth compared with points.

Shen Heng questioned Zhang Weijun about the base’s chances against future Calamity Beast attacks, then studied how emotions might help him control their behavior. He received a case of Fourth Tier Origin Crystals, while Lü Wenrui set aside some crystals to repay his debt to Shen Heng.

• Shen Heng asked Zhang Weijun whether the base had a plan for the coming battles, and Zhang Weijun acknowledged that the leadership was still struggling to find a solution.
• After Shen Heng left, Zhang Weijun and the other officers turned to discussing how to prevent the Calamity Beasts from launching large-scale assaults.
• In his quarters, Shen Heng searched Ringing Sound’s book list for material on emotions and behavior, then redeemed a book about emotional drives and behavioral control.
• Shen Heng received a silver case filled with pearly white Fourth Tier Origin Crystals.
• Lü Wenrui admired his own Origin Crystals, then reluctantly set aside about a third of them to repay Shen Heng.

Several days after the battle to defend the city walls, Han Ling and Lin Zhaoran sparred while Yu Yanhui watched and wondered why she was improving more slowly. The base’s fighters continued training during the lull, and Yu Yanhui reflected on Wang Hu’s growing reputation before noticing Shen Heng studying a virtual image.

• Han Ling and Lin Zhaoran traded rapid sword strikes, with Lin Zhaoran using an ice barrier to create space when Han Ling pressed her attack.
• Yu Yanhui reflected that she and the others had started close-combat training after realizing that battlefield weaknesses could be fatal.
• Yu Yanhui watched fighters practicing around the training room and saw Wang Hu sparring, recalling how his victories had earned him the nickname “Tiger King.”
• Yu Yanhui noticed Shen Heng studying a pale blue virtual image and remembered how his experience made the group’s gaps in close combat clear when he sparred with them.

Shen Heng studied psychology to refine how he used his emotion-manipulating ability against Calamity Beasts, then noticed new arrivals coming through the Light Gate who emitted faint Origin Power. The chapter left him suspecting that headquarters had found a solution to the crisis.

• Yu Yanhui watched Shen Heng study and wondered how his strength compared with Wang Hu and the others.
• Shen Heng reviewed psychology theories about emotional states, suggestion, and covert intervention, considering how to adapt his ability to different Calamity Beasts.
• Shen Heng concluded that emotional manipulation worked best when it matched a target’s instincts and that complex commands required weakened psychological defenses.
• Shen Heng saw a military transport arrive through the Light Gate and unload a large group of people.
• Shen Heng sensed spatial distortion and faint Origin Power from the newcomers, and wondered whether they were headquarters’ solution.

Shen Heng realized the base was bringing in large numbers of low-tier personnel to limit the Calamity Beasts in the Erosion Zone. After confirming the plan with Zhang Weijun, he began identifying the problem caused by it.

• Shen Heng reasoned that the Erosion Zone had limits on both the strength of energy and the total amount it could contain, and suspected headquarters was using low-tier personnel to reduce the number of Calamity Beasts.
• The base announced that a beast tide might attack over the next two days, puzzling Han Ling, Lin Zhaoran, and Yu Yanhui.
• Shen Heng went to the command center, where he found Li Daoyi and asked Zhang Weijun about the influx of personnel.
• Shen Heng revealed that he had sensed spatial fluctuations indicating the Erosion Zone was nearing its capacity, surprising Li Daoyi and the officers.
• Zhang Weijun confirmed the personnel plan had initially succeeded, then invited Shen Heng to explain its drawback; Shen Heng began saying that the Calamity Beast had stopped gathering more Calamity Beasts.

Shen Heng was assigned to scout beyond the city for the approaching Calamity Beasts so the base could target them with nuclear strikes. As the leadership prepared for battle, it also planned to test the Calamity Beasts’ limits rather than risk provoking them into collapsing the Erosion Zone; Shen Heng and Li Daoyi then headed into the mountains.

• Zhang Weijun told Shen Heng that the Calamity Beasts would attack ahead of schedule and asked him to scout outside the city and report their exact location.
• Zhang Weijun explained that the military would use more powerful nuclear missiles, calibrated with equipment developed by the Research Department to measure how much energy the Erosion Zone could withstand.
• Li Daoyi agreed to accompany Shen Heng and take a prefabricated shelter outside the city.
• Zhang Weijun told the old general and the slightly plump officer that the higher-ups had shelved plans to completely drive out the Calamity Beasts and would instead test how much pressure they could tolerate.
• Shen Heng and Li Daoyi flew beyond the base toward the mountains, where Li Daoyi went on ahead and Shen Heng descended to begin his work.

Shen Heng and Li Daoyi discussed intelligence headquarters had gathered about the Ruins Realm from captured Calamity Beasts. The realm appeared to be a loose jungle governed by territorial strength, though a higher organization might direct some beasts, and the invasion had begun when a Sixth Tier beast recruited lower-ranked territorial rulers.

• Shen Heng set up a prefabricated shelter and used his heightened perception to listen to the surrounding wilderness.
• Li Daoyi arrived carrying an unconscious Cloud-Rending Eagle he had found about a hundred and fifty or sixty li away.
• Shen Heng asked whether Li Daoyi had brought the eagle back for questioning, but Li Daoyi said he had only meant to bring it back for food.
• Li Daoyi explained that captured Calamity Beasts described the Ruins Realm as a loose jungle where lower-tier beasts roamed and Fourth Tier and 5th Tier beasts guarded territories.
• Li Daoyi said headquarters suspected an organization at the top of the Ruins Realm directed some Calamity Beasts while ignoring others.
• Li Daoyi reported that a Sixth Tier beast had ordered two 5th Tier beasts to bring the Calamity Beasts in their territories and follow it, threatening to make them food if they refused.

Shen Heng tested whether his emotion-manipulation ability could hypnotize the Cloud-Rending Eagle, then used it to make the beast follow his commands. Later, while waiting alone at night, he sensed a beast tide approaching and alerted the command center.

• Shen Heng explained to Li Daoyi how he could suppress a target's conscious mind with intense emotion and plant an idea in its subconscious.
• Shen Heng hypnotized the Cloud-Rending Eagle and ordered it to circle the base, surprising himself with how precisely it obeyed.
• Qin Ye and Xu Ruiyu spotted the Cloud-Rending Eagle above the base, but the command center told them Li Daoyi had brought it back and to leave it alone.
• The Cloud-Rending Eagle returned to the clearing and attacked Shen Heng and Li Daoyi after its confusion gave way to terror and rage.
• Shen Heng waited alone at night, sensed an approaching beast tide, and told Ringing Sound to contact the command center.

Han Ling and the base prepared for the approaching beast tide as Shen Heng watched a missile strike from the mountain forest. The blast triggered a severe spatial distortion across the Erosion Zone, and when it ended, Shen Heng found that the mass movement of living creatures had gone silent.

• Han Ling and Lü Wenrui watched a single missile launch from the base, and Han Ling told him Shen Heng had gone outside.
• Shen Heng observed the missile streak toward the beast tide from nearly fifty kilometers away.
• The missile's impact caused space to twist throughout the Erosion Zone, disorienting people at the base and Shen Heng in the forest.
• Li Daoyi tried to counter the distortion with white cloud vapor, but his attempt had little effect.
• The distortion subsided, and Shen Heng sensed that the beast tide's collective noise had vanished, leaving only separate, heavy panting sounds.

The Calamity Beasts discussed the nuclear strike, with Blazing Skull suggesting it may have been a probe of their limits. At the underground command center, Zhang Weijun learned the beast tide had withdrawn and ordered the strike data sent to the Research Department before discussing their next strategy.

• The Calamity Beasts gathered at the blast zone, and Blazing Skull said its injuries were minor.
• Blazing Skull argued that the strike was likely an accident or a probe of the space’s boundaries and the Calamity Beasts’ bottom line.
• The Calamity Beasts decided to return and report the incident to the court council.
• A staff officer told Zhang Weijun that the nuclear strike had killed most of the beast tide and the remaining Calamity Beasts had withdrawn.
• Zhang Weijun and the two generals concluded the strike had nearly caused the space to collapse, and realized they were the first to test the Research Department’s equipment data.
• Zhang Weijun ordered the staff officer to compile and send the strike data, then turned to discuss their future strategy.

After the beast tide was quelled, Shen Heng returned to the base and explained that the nuclear bomb had killed or injured roughly five or six thousand Calamity Beasts. He and Han Ling discussed the spatial disturbance caused by the attack and how they might face enemies with spatial or temporal abilities.

• A sentry on the wall spotted Han Ling waiting and then saw Shen Heng approach across the wasteland carrying the folded building block.
• Shen Heng flew onto the wall, and Han Ling confirmed he was unharmed before asking how the outing had gone.
• Shen Heng said the nuclear bomb had killed or injured roughly five or six thousand Calamity Beasts, effectively quelling the beast tide before it arrived.
• Han Ling asked about the sensation of visual displacement, and Shen Heng explained that the attack had made space inside the Erosion Zone unstable and might have brought it close to collapse.
• Han Ling considered how they could deal with enemies with spatial or temporal abilities, and Shen Heng suggested keeping their distance and using offense in place of defense.

After more than a month of fighting and negotiation, a fragile balance formed between the base and the Calamity Beasts, whose attacks intensified whenever the human population crossed an apparent threshold. Shen Heng reached the middle of the fourth tier and wondered what constrained the beasts before Ringing Sound summoned him to a meeting with the director-general.

• Han Ling considered how difficult space-time abilities were to counter, and Shen Heng wondered whether the Calamity Beasts would accept the base’s plan to bring in more people.
• Over a month later, Shen Heng absorbed his fourth-tier Origin Crystals and assessed himself as having reached the middle of the fourth tier.
• Shen Heng worried that advancing at higher tiers would require too many Origin Crystals or take so long that he might die before progressing.
• Shen Heng recalled that beast tides intensified whenever the base’s personnel approached or exceeded an apparent limit, then eased when the population fell below it.
• Shen Heng suspected the Calamity Beasts had deliberately allowed the fragile balance, and Ringing Sound notified him that the director-general’s meeting would begin in thirty minutes.

Shen Heng and Han Ling attended a meeting while Lü Wenrui tried to persuade Shen Heng to bet on sparring matches to earn Origin Crystals. After warning Lü Wenrui not to mistake bad luck for his ability at work, Shen Heng asked Tang Yuanyang what the meeting was about.

• Shen Heng and Han Ling watched black snow swirl away from the base, then headed to the meeting hall.
• Lü Wenrui told Shen Heng about betting on sparring matches and encouraged him to join, but Shen Heng declined.
• Han Ling cautioned Shen Heng against gambling, while Lü Wenrui explained that he saw winning or losing as potentially beneficial because of his luck-related ability.
• Shen Heng warned Lü Wenrui not to blame ordinary bad luck on his ability and keep betting.
• Lü Wenrui asked Shen Heng what the meeting was about, and Shen Heng turned to Tang Yuanyang for his thoughts.