Chapter Summaries

Zhou Xuan gathered signatures to argue that Shen Heng should not be punished for the operation, but Wu Hao refused to sign because his squad had lost teammates. After learning what Zhou Xuan was doing, Shen Heng decided to handle the matter himself.

• Wang Hu agreed to sign Zhou Xuan's statement in hopes of reducing or overturning Shen Heng's punishment.
• Liang Yanhao signed and urged Zhou Xuan to seek signatures from those who had lost teammates as well.
• Zhou Xuan approached Wu Hao and Zhao Gang, but Wu Hao refused to sign, troubled by the teammates who had died.
• Han Ling told Shen Heng that Zhou Xuan was collecting signatures to protest his punishment, and Shen Heng said he would take care of it.

Shen Heng went to apologize to Wu Hao, Zhao Gang, and the other inspectors whose teammates had died, instead of asking them to sign the statement. After tearing up the document and accepting Wu Hao’s grief and anger, he called Zhou Xuan to the city wall for a beer and asked whether he knew what Shen Heng had gone to do.

• Zhou Xuan told Shen Heng that Wu Hao and Zhao Gang had refused to sign the statement, and Shen Heng took the document from him.
• Shen Heng visited Wu Hao and Zhao Gang and apologized for Zhou Xuan’s actions and for bringing them the statement.
• Wu Hao agreed to sign, but Shen Heng said he had come to apologize, then tore up the document in front of Wu Hao and Zhao Gang.
• Wu Hao admitted that he had wanted to blame Shen Heng for the deaths of his teammates, and Shen Heng told him he could place the blame on him.
• Shen Heng visited the other inspectors on the list, then invited Zhou Xuan to sit with him on the city wall and asked what he thought Shen Heng had done.

Shen Heng explained to Zhou Xuan why challenging the base’s punishment could divide the inspectors and provoke the authorities, then learned about Zhou Xuan’s Miao upbringing and watched him perform Nuo opera. Days later, a persistent beast tide arrived at the base, leaving Shen Heng facing a far greater threat than expected.

• Shen Heng told Zhou Xuan that appealing the punishment could be seen as pressuring the base and make the consequences more serious, though he appreciated Zhou Xuan’s support.
• Zhou Xuan described growing up in a Miao community deep in the mountains, where he learned to hunt and took part in traditions such as Nuo opera.
• Zhou Xuan performed a Nuo opera dance for Shen Heng, who reflected on the burden of responsibility and the difficulty of advancing his ability beyond B-Class.
• Over the following days, other inspectors began greeting Shen Heng and his teammates respectfully, while exploration teams waited for a possible Calamity Beast counterattack.
• Shen Heng noticed that an unexpectedly large and persistent beast tide had arrived.

More than half a year after the Anchor Points were destroyed, Shen Heng trained saber techniques with Li Daoyi and learned that he still had a long way to go before mastering their deeper stages. Li Daoyi warned that a major change might follow the next beast tide, while the recurring attacks continued to trap the base.

• Shen Heng sparred with Li Daoyi, who praised his progress but said he was not yet proficient in all the saber techniques he had studied.
• Li Daoyi explained the five stages of skill and said Shen Heng would need to practice many techniques to integrate them into a cohesive whole.
• Li Daoyi told Shen Heng that reaching the realm of smoke rising from the purple palace could speed his progress, but reaching the next realm would take more than time.
• Li Daoyi warned Shen Heng to prepare for a major change that might come after the next beast tide.
• Shen Heng reflected that massive Calamity Beast attacks had trapped the base and prevented its people from going out to destroy more Anchor Points.

After more than six months of fighting, humanity remained trapped in its base despite inflicting heavy losses on the Calamity Beasts. Shen Heng learned that Cao Mingyu had reached the Fifth Tier, reflected on the spread of combat techniques, and prepared for a meeting after another beast tide retreated.

• Shen Heng met Cao Mingyu, who had recently advanced to the Fifth Tier, and they discussed the strength of their squads.
• Cao Mingyu left to teach at the Martial Academy, while Shen Heng considered how Flow and other Origin Power techniques had spread among inspectors.
• Shen Heng reviewed his combat progress, including his Fifth Tier advancement, Sevenfold Force, and Fluid Battle Armor.
• Several days later, Shen Heng watched more than ten thousand Calamity Beasts retreat after a battle.
• Ringing Sound announced that all inspectors should rest and refit before an evening meeting in the main conference room.

At a base meeting, Zhang Weijun explained why the war against the Calamity Beasts had become a siege and revealed that two overseas bases had been forced out of their Erosion Zones. The Joint Management Committee planned to assemble forces and fight to reclaim them, while Shen Heng considered whether the Calamity Beasts were deliberately signaling their intentions.

• Zhang Weijun questioned the inspectors about the Calamity Beasts' goals and why the base continued to hold its position in the Erosion Zone.
• Xu Yu answered Zhang Weijun's questions about the war's strategy, and Zhang praised him before he sat down.
• Zhang Weijun announced that the Calamity Beasts had forced bases in two overseas Erosion Zones to retreat.
• Zhang Weijun explained that the Calamity Beasts had replaced their lower-tier forces with hundreds of fifth-tier beasts, overwhelming the bases while their sixth-tier martial artists were occupied.
• Zhang Weijun said the Joint Management Committee was coordinating forces to attempt to retake the two Erosion Zones.

Zhang Weijun announced that the base would abandon its defensive strategy and counterattack by building multiple cities outside the base to threaten the Calamity Beasts’ Anchor Points and Eyes of Earth Marrow. Shen Heng understood that the plan could draw enemy forces away from the base, but it would likely cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

• An inspector asked whether the Erosion Zone could already support hundreds of fifth-tier Calamity Beasts, and Zhang Weijun explained that its growth depended on features such as Anchor Points and Eyes of Earth Marrow.
• Zhang Weijun said the base had to change its strategy and counterattack instead of remaining entrenched.
• Zhang Weijun proposed building cities outside the base, while Zhou Zhenguo explained that multiple cities would pressure the Calamity Beasts to defend their important locations.
• Shen Heng realized the strategy would require cities to withstand attacks while other forces struck Anchor Points and Eyes of Earth Marrow, likely at a huge human cost.
• Shen Heng looked at Li Daoyi, Zhang Weijun, Zhou Zhenguo, and Wang Yuanshan and feared the Erosion Zone would claim hundreds of thousands of lives.

Zhang Weijun announced a plan to establish ten fortified cities in the Erosion Zone, assigning inspectors to three of them under Wang Hu, Gu Lingxuan, and Shen Heng. As personnel transfers began, the inspectors worried about attacks by sixth-tier Calamity Beasts, while Lü Wenrui feared he might eventually be sent outside.

• Shen Heng considered whether guerrilla warfare could work but concluded that fortified cities could better hold off Calamity Beasts and threaten the Anchor Points.
• Zhang Weijun announced that the base would establish ten cities of about five thousand people each and supply them with weapons and equipment.
• Zhang Weijun assigned inspectors in three cities to Wang Hu, Gu Lingxuan, and Shen Heng, and said the plan would begin after the next beast tide if all went well.
• An inspector asked whether sixth-tier Calamity Beasts might attack the cities, and Zhang Weijun said he could not guarantee they would stay away.
• Lü Wenrui worried about defending the cities, and Shen Heng told him he probably would not be sent at first, while Zhou Xuan warned he might be transferred later.

Shen Heng prepared for the coming battle by buying an Azure Talisman Jade and having Li Daoyi inscribe a one-use sixth-tier attack in it. At the command center, the leaders assigned commanders to the three cities and base, and Zhou Zhenguo chose to team up with Shen Heng.

• Han Ling asked Shen Heng whether the strategy could win and what preparations were needed, and he told her to carry on as usual.
• Shen Heng spent five hundred thousand points on an Azure Talisman Jade and asked Li Daoyi to inscribe a sixth-tier attack in it.
• Li Daoyi agreed to inscribe the attack, which would destroy the jade after one use.
• Zhang Weijun, Zhou Zhenguo, and Wang Yuanshan assigned the base and three cities to their commanders, including Li Boyuan.
• Zhou Zhenguo chose to team up with Shen Heng.

Zhao Ming and Kuang Jie prepared to join a large operation outside the city, discussing the dangers and scarce resources facing the academy’s students. After checking in, they encountered a young man studying the operation’s personnel and vehicle information and asked who would be in charge.

• Zhao Ming reflected on his path from police officer to Third Tier academy student and lamented having to save Origin Crystals for a Fourth Tier breakthrough.
• Kuang Jie told Zhao Ming that nearly half of the earliest inspectors had been killed or wounded, shocking him.
• Zhao Ming and Kuang Jie went outside the city, checked in, and left their luggage at their assigned vehicle among the assembled convoy.
• Kuang Jie approached a young man viewing the operation’s projected information, which listed 5,327 people, and asked who was in charge of their side.

Shen Heng spoke with Kuang Jie and Zhao Ming at the base before leaving with an elderly general, and the two realized he was the well-known Shen Heng. During a journey with Zhou Zhenguo, Shen Heng learned that the cities were designed as fortified strongholds against beast tides, though the danger posed by high-tier Calamity Beasts meant they could not be built just anywhere.

• Kuang Jie and Zhao Ming discussed the inspectors’ list and why the base did not release records of beast-tide performances.
• Shen Heng introduced himself to Kuang Jie and Zhao Ming, then left with the elderly general; the two recognized his distinctive armband and realized who he was.
• Zhou Zhenguo woke during the journey and told Shen Heng that officers were barred from cultivating so they could focus on the invasion and avoid misusing Origin Crystals.
• Zhou Zhenguo explained that cities were built as fortified strongholds because most Calamity Beasts were low-tier and could be countered with firearms and missiles.
• Zhou Zhenguo noted that the presence of high-tier Calamity Beasts meant the cities could not be built just anywhere.

Shen Heng and Zhou Zhenguo discussed how natural barriers could help defend a new city from Calamity Beasts, then arrived at Solid Rock Mountain. During the mountain construction effort, Kuang Jie and Zhao Ming worried Shen Heng had heard them say they wanted to follow Instructor Wang Hu, but he simply warned them about a slippery stretch of path.

• Zhou Zhenguo explained that defensible terrain, strategic positions, and routes mattered when building a city, though natural barriers were the most useful against Calamity Beasts.
• Shen Heng learned that the destination of the city-building expedition was Solid Rock Mountain, a solitary peak named by the reconnaissance team.
• Kuang Jie and Zhao Ming carried construction materials up the mountain and remarked that its height could help hold off Calamity Beasts.
• Shen Heng overtook them while carrying a construction robot, prompting them to worry that he had heard them say they wanted to follow Instructor Wang Hu.
• Shen Heng warned Kuang Jie and Zhao Ming that the path was slippery, then continued toward the summit.

Shen Heng oversaw the construction of a mountain city and explained how its defenders would handle water, food, and a planned bombing of the Anchor Point. As the city neared completion, a beast tide approached the base, where Zhang Weijun decided its forces would keep holding on despite the expected losses.

• Shen Heng stayed on the summit after his fifty-seventh trip carrying supplies and helped prepare the site for the city.
• Xu Yu asked Shen Heng about water, food, and the risk of Calamity Beasts surrounding the mountain, and Shen Heng explained that members with special abilities could provide water and secure food underground.
• At night, Shen Heng told the Seventh Vanguard Squad they would wait for the city to be completed and for the base's planes to arrive and bomb the Anchor Point.
• A siren sounded as a beast tide surged toward the base, and Zhang Weijun told Li Daoyi that the operation would still begin in three days.
• Zhang Weijun refused to intervene, warning that doing so could provoke sixth-tier Calamity Beasts and reveal the base's situation, and accepted that more people would be sacrificed.

Lin Shuo flew a bomber toward a mountain crowned by a white palace, where a Sixth Tier Calamity Beast guarded the summit. As he approached, he lost control and dropped a nuclear bomb, while Shen Heng and Zhou Zhenguo confirmed that the operation at Number Three City had ended.

• Lin Shuo flew beyond radio range and followed the onboard map to the enormous mountain, where Calamity Beasts gathered below the summit.
• Lin Shuo saw the white palace and the Sixth Tier Calamity Beast guarding it, then hesitated over whether to continue the mission.
• Lin Shuo discovered that his body was mutating and realized he was losing control after his failed awakening attempt with Origin Crystals.
• Lin Shuo laughed uncontrollably, shouted that they should die together, and released the bomber's nuclear bomb toward the palace.
• Shen Heng and Zhou Zhenguo saw a spatial ripple and identified it as the end of the operation at Number Three City.
• Zhou Zhenguo told Shen Heng that the two bombers were not carrying nuclear bombs and explained that the earlier strike was meant to make Sixth Tier Calamity Beasts guard important locations.

Shen Heng and Zhou Zhenguo waited for the bombers to return after their mission, while Bedrock City braced for a possible beast tide. Lin Zi explained why he was saving his Origin Crystals for his struggling family, then joined his comrades on the walls as a beast tide approached.

• Shen Heng told Zhou Zhenguo that his expanded hearing and sound-control range could help guide the bombers home, and both aircraft returned safely a little over three hours later.
• Lin Zi told his comrades he was saving his points to sell Origin Crystals and support his parents, whose health and medical needs made it difficult for them to work.
• Lin Zi decided to sell his Origin Crystals during his next leave after his comrades warned that prices could fall as more crystals entered the market.
• A siren sounded in Bedrock City, and Lin Zi and his comrades put out their fire, prepared their equipment, and took positions on the city walls.
• Lin Zi saw a dark beast tide surge out of the mountain forests toward the city.

Lin Zi and the soldiers held off a beast tide until a nuclear bomb flattened the battlefield, while the remaining Calamity Beasts withdrew. A month later, Shen Heng learned from Zhou Zhenguo that the strategy had worked and only five cities had fallen.

• Lin Zi recovered enough from a mental attack to hear that soldiers were trying to bring down a sixth-tier Calamity Beast above the battlefield.
• The brigade commander announced that the nuclear bomb would detonate in one minute, and the soldiers answered with a vow for humanity to endure.
• The nuclear blast leveled the battlefield, and the surviving Calamity Beasts eventually departed with a firearm taken by a tentacle.
• A month later, Shen Heng was summoned from Bedrock City's wall to meet Zhou Zhenguo at the command post.
• Zhou Zhenguo told Shen Heng that the strategy had worked, with only five cities marked fallen and the Calamity Beasts dispersed to the Anchor Points and the Eye of Earth Marrow.

Shen Heng decided to launch an offensive against the Anchor Points before the Calamity Beasts fully redistributed their forces, and Zhou Zhenguo agreed to provide troops for the attack. Meanwhile, a Sky-Skimming Harrier arrived at a ruined city and waited as Lord Sky Weasel summoned something, leaving its own message from the Lion King undelivered.

• Shen Heng and Zhou Zhenguo discussed how the Calamity Beasts had begun splitting their forces after eight cities were destroyed, costing forty thousand people their lives.
• Shen Heng chose to attack the Anchor Points before the Calamity Beasts completed their strategic shift, since the ultimate goal was to destroy the Anchor Points and the Eye of Earth Marrow.
• Zhou Zhenguo offered two-thirds of the inspectors and two battalions of soldiers, bringing Shen Heng's force to two thousand, and scheduled the operation for two days later after another bomber strike.
• A Sky-Skimming Harrier flew to a ruined city beside a great river and landed among a group of Sky-Sundering Kamaitachi.
• The Sky-Skimming Harrier knelt before Lord Sky Weasel to deliver an order from the Lion King, but Lord Sky Weasel ignored it and waited for something to be brought to him.

Shuofeng tested captured humans to find one willing to teach it their language, then learned from the Sky-Skimming Harrier that human cities contained cultivators. Confident that its forces could defeat them, Shuofeng prepared to attack another city.

• Shuofeng ordered the Echo Beast to translate for captured humans and killed the ones who refused to teach it their language.
• After twenty or thirty humans were killed, one agreed to teach Shuofeng, and Shuofeng ordered the remaining captives killed.
• The Sky-Skimming Harrier warned Shuofeng that human cities had cultivators, including two or three at the fifth tier.
• Shuofeng struck the Sky-Skimming Harrier for calling it Lord Sky Kamaitachi instead of Shuofeng, then let it leave.
• Leiya questioned whether the beasts should wait for reinforcements, but Shuofeng and the others persuaded it to proceed with the attack.

Xu Yu urged Shen Heng to pursue the fleeing Calamity Beasts for their resources, but Shen Heng weighed the costs against the mission’s purpose of establishing a foothold outside Bedrock City. He left the decision framed around whether a costly pursuit would put the city at risk.

• Xu Ruiyu ran out of ammunition while defending against the Calamity Beasts, and Qin Ye covered him until he reloaded.
• A snow-white blade flash struck the Rock Marrow Centipede, and the Calamity Beasts fled as the battle turned in the humans’ favor.
• Xu Yu called for the team to chase and eliminate the fleeing beasts, but an order came through to clear the battlefield and return to Bedrock City.
• Xu Yu challenged Shen Heng’s order, arguing that the corpses and Origin Crystals were worth the costs of pursuit.
• Shen Heng explained that casualties and ammunition losses could endanger the city and reminded Xu Yu that their mission was to establish a foothold outside, not simply gather resources.

After the battle, Shen Heng returned to Bedrock City, where he discussed his decision not to pursue the fleeing Calamity Beasts and learned he would receive priority access to resources. Meanwhile, Shuofeng encountered a gray moth fleeing the death of the Rock Marrow Centipede at Anchor Point No. 7 and asked when it had happened.

• Xu Yu accepted Shen Heng's order not to pursue the fleeing Calamity Beasts and told his people to follow it.
• Shen Heng reported that the battle had killed about two thousand Calamity Beasts, including two fifth-tier and over a hundred fourth-tier beasts, and ordered the battlefield cleared before the group returned to base.
• Shen Heng and Zhou Zhenguo reviewed the casualties in Bedrock City and discussed Shen Heng's choice to abandon the pursuit; Zhou Zhenguo urged him to study military treatises.
• Zhou Zhenguo told Shen Heng that Bedrock City would give him preferential access to resources, including the main share of the current batch of Source Cores.
• Shuofeng stopped its beast tide, summoned a gray moth, and learned that the moth's group was fleeing after the Rock Marrow Centipede at Anchor Point No. 7 had been killed.