Chapter Summaries

Two-Horned Lizard waited with the Calamity Beasts for the Fifth Tier Black Rats to leave the valley entrance, while the Black Rat clan leader dismissed the rebellion as powerless. A huge explosion erupted in the south, and Calamity Beasts throughout Black Stone Valley turned toward the rising mushroom cloud.

• Black Jade Lion and nearly ten Calamity Beasts reported that they had released every beast from the pens and hidden from the Black Rats.
• Two-Horned Lizard told the group to watch the valley entrance for a chance to escape, while keeping the reason for the Fifth Tier Black Rats potentially leaving to himself.
• At the Black Rat clan grounds, the clan leader reassured Broken Tooth that the rioting Calamity Beasts could not escape Black Stone Valley.
• A huge explosion sounded in the south, sending a mushroom cloud into the sky as the Black Rat clan leader, a Coiling Mountain Beast, and Calamity Beasts across the valley looked toward it.

The Black Rat patriarch realized that the Calamity Beasts had detonated the origin ore mine, likely targeting Lord Curly Fur and Lord Gray Whiskers, and ordered his clan to gather information before acting. In the trench, Two-Horned Lizard told the gathered Calamity Beasts that the explosion came from a one-use trump card Lord Feather Owl had given him, though he did not explain how it worked.

• The Black Rat patriarch and Broken Tooth saw the explosion and concluded that the Calamity Beasts had used origin ore to cause it.
• The Black Rat patriarch and Broken Tooth suspected that the explosion had been meant to kill Lord Curly Fur and Lord Gray Whiskers.
• The Black Rat patriarch ordered Broken Tooth to gather information about the Calamity Beasts before deciding what to do next.
• The Calamity Beasts in the trench speculated about the explosion, while Two-Horned Lizard recognized that the origin ore mine had been detonated.
• Two-Horned Lizard said the explosion came from a one-use trump card Lord Feather Owl had given him and reassured the other Calamity Beasts that using it to help everyone was worthwhile.

Two-Horned Lizard and the other Calamity Beasts prepared to exploit a possible transfer of the Black Rats guarding Black Stone Valley’s entrance, while Shen Heng advised Qin Yu and Stone to wait for a safer chance to escape. The Black Rat chief reviewed the uprising and began to suspect that a powerful Calamity Beast was orchestrating it.

• Two-Horned Lizard ordered the Calamity Beasts to watch the valley entrance and assess whether fifth-tier Black Rats left before attempting their escape plan.
• Shen Heng told Qin Yu that the group should wait until the uprising ended and choose their moment based on how the Black Rats patrolled.
• Shen Heng, Qin Yu, and Stone remained hidden as time passed and figures fell from the distant mountains.
• The Black Rat chief heard reports describing the uprising, the attack on the mines, and the deaths of Gray Whiskers and the other Black Rats.
• The Black Rat chief questioned when its clan had captured such a formidable Calamity Beast.

The Black Rat chief organized the search for escaping Calamity Beasts, but Broken Tooth warned that the clan had too few Fourth Tier fighters to stop them. The chief explained that the uprising had been orchestrated from the moment the Black Rats increased the Calamity Beasts’ punishment, and began laying out the signs of the enemy’s plan.

• The Black Rat chief ordered clansmen to search the valley and mountains, returning willing Calamity Beasts and killing those who refused.
• Broken Tooth urged the chief to bring Rotten Claw’s group back from the valley entrance, warning that more than a hundred thousand Calamity Beasts were escaping while only twenty or thirty Fourth Tier Black Rats remained in the valley.
• The chief said transferring Rotten Claw’s group would do little to change the outcome because the Black Rats could no longer meaningfully stop the escape.
• The chief explained that the messengers sent to notify Black Spine, Gray Whiskers, and the others had not reached them in time because the uprising’s leader had anticipated their actions.
• The chief said the plot had begun over ten days earlier, when the Black Rats increased the Calamity Beasts’ daily ore quota, and cited the coordinated revolts across the mines, the deaths of Fourth Tier guards, and the release of the enclosure’s beasts as evidence.

The Black Rat chief deduced that the Rock-Backed Beast had orchestrated the riot and diverted Black Spine and the others, leaving the escaping Calamity Beasts difficult to contain. He dispatched search teams while Broken Tooth and Scar Tail followed separate orders, then flew deeper into the valley himself.

• The Black Rat chief explained that Calamity Beasts had lured Black Spine and the others away, preventing them from receiving orders to stop the escapees.
• The Black Rat chief warned that the Calamity Beasts had spread toward the valley’s edges and ordered the Black Rats to search for the Tier 2 Rock-Backed Beast who organized the riot.
• The Black Rat chief praised Broken Tooth’s suggestion and sent him to ask Rotten Claw to spare thirty percent of his clansmen for the search.
• The Black Rat chief ordered Scar Tail to search along the mountain walls and kill most Calamity Beasts he found, while sparing the Rock-Backed Beast.
• Scar Tail judged that climbing out of the valley offered the Rock-Backed Beast the best escape route and flew toward the mountains.
• The Black Rat chief flew deeper into the valley instead of following Scar Tail.

A Black Rat killed a horned rabbit that had tried to hide among the escaping Calamity Beasts, then Black Rat Scar Tail questioned another captive about the Rock-Backed Beast’s escape route. He learned nothing and remained angered by the captives’ defiance.

• A horned rabbit hid in the grass while Black Rats searched the woods, then emerged after the sounds faded.
• A Black Rat confronted the horned rabbit, who claimed it had only stayed behind to persuade the escaped beasts to return.
• The Black Rat mocked the horned rabbit’s excuses and killed it, then noticed that many escapees had already reached the area.
• Black Rat Scar Tail questioned a Calamity Beast about which way the Rock-Backed Beast planned to escape.
• The Calamity Beast refused to answer and died, leaving Scar Tail frustrated by its defiant attitude.

Scar Tail and Black Spine tried to stop the scattered Calamity Beasts from climbing out of Black Stone Valley, but the beasts kept reaching the summit and escaping. The Black Rat clan chief watched the uprising worsen and considered the damage to the clan’s mines and reputation.

• Scar Tail killed Calamity Beasts across the cliff face but struggled to control their scattered climb.
• A Tier 3 Molten Fire Ape reached the summit and celebrated its freedom before Black Spine knocked it down and threatened the climbers.
• Black Spine intercepted Calamity Beasts that continued upward, while others retreated under its threat.
• Black Spine realized that escaping beasts were inspiring the rest to climb faster and that it could not stop the uprising.
• The Black Rat clan chief watched Calamity Beasts leap from the mountain and judged that the uprising threatened the clan’s mineral output and reputation.
• The Black Rat clan chief turned its attention to the Steel-Mane Bear at its feet.

The Black Rat Chief tried to make the Steel-Mane Bear reveal where the Rock-Backed Beast had gone by offering him a chance to escape. After agreeing to the deal, the bear reached a mountain summit and saw a dense fog marking the world's boundary.

• The Black Rat Chief pinned the Steel-Mane Bear and demanded the Rock-Backed Beast's location and the group's plan.
• The Chief offered to carry the bear to a summit and let him escape if he wrote down where the Rock-Backed Beast had fled.
• The Steel-Mane Bear hesitated because he hoped Lord Two-Horned Lizard would survive, then agreed to indicate the direction the leaders had gone.
• The Black Rat Chief warned the bear not to lie, carried him to a mountain summit, and released him.
• The Steel-Mane Bear stared across the grassland at the dense fog that shrouded the world's boundary.

The Steel-Mane Bear questioned the Black Rat chief about an exit from the fog-enclosed world, prompting the chief to realize it could no longer remember the places beyond its surroundings. After the bear gave contradictory answers about when it had been captured, the Black Rat chief concluded that it was not from this world.

• The Steel-Mane Bear asked the Black Rat chief where the portal out of the world was, but the chief did not understand what it meant.
• The bear asked where the Black Rat Clan went to capture Calamity Beasts, and the chief found that it could no longer remember the places or routes beyond the fog.
• The Black Rat chief asked when the bear had been captured, and the bear gave several inconsistent estimates.
• The Black Rat chief challenged the bear’s confused answers, then declared that it was not from this world.

Two-Horned Lizard organized the Calamity Beasts’ escape from Black Stone Valley while Black Rats guarded the entrance and might search the valley. As daylight arrived, Steel-Mane Bear had still not returned, and Two-Horned Lizard faced the possibility that he had been captured.

• Black Jade Lion told Two-Horned Lizard that he had warned the other Calamity Beasts to climb the cliffs and escape while the Black Rats remained at the entrance.
• Two-Horned Lizard explained that the Black Rats might search the valley and that the escaping Calamity Beasts could draw their attention away from those still hiding.
• Two-Horned Lizard and Black Jade Lion waited for Steel-Mane Bear, who had gone to scout from a high place.
• As the sky grew fully light, Black Jade Lion urged Two-Horned Lizard to leave, and Two-Horned Lizard concluded that Steel-Mane Bear might have been caught by the Black Rats.

Two-Horned Lizard led the Calamity Beasts out of their trench to flee, but they saw a scarlet spread across the horizon. In the Sacred Temple’s false human world, Feather Owl watched another group of transformed beasts attack their teacher while a short-haired boy asked whether he had found any leads.

• Black Jade Lion urged Two-Horned Lizard to leave before the captured Steel-Mane Bear could endanger them, and Two-Horned Lizard agreed.
• Two-Horned Lizard led the Calamity Beasts out quietly, planning to find high ground and choose a route as they went.
• Two-Horned Lizard and the others looked up as scarlet rapidly spread from the distant horizon.
• Feather Owl awoke in the false human world and recognized that he had experienced the classroom scene several times before.
• Zhao Pengsheng and other transformed beasts identified themselves and decided to seize the teacher for questioning.
• Zhao Pengsheng attacked the teacher while Feather Owl watched, and a short-haired boy asked Feather Owl whether he had found any leads.

Feather Owl and Profound Crystal Griffin planned to lure the school staff out by staging a student’s death, hoping to find a way to escape before repeated dorm inspections left them trapped in the world. As they discussed recruiting two surviving Calamity Beasts, Zhao Pengsheng turned to confront an elderly security guard who had rushed into the classroom.

• Profound Crystal Griffin explained that the school reset every midnight and that being caught by the staff would mean the outsiders could not return after a reset.
• Feather Owl proposed pushing a student from a building to draw the teachers out of the administration building.
• Feather Owl planned to target a lone student on the seventh floor of Building Three during the break after second period, then report the incident.
• Profound Crystal Griffin agreed to recruit two other surviving Calamity Beasts and warned that the operation would leave them only two daytime breaks for free movement.
• An elderly security guard entered the classroom and ordered Zhao Pengsheng to stop attacking a teacher, so Zhao Pengsheng put the teacher down and approached him.

An old man in a blue uniform stopped Zhao Pengsheng and the other Calamity Beasts from attacking Teacher Lin, allowing class to resume. Elsewhere, Wang Hu chose to eat a slain Calamity Beast to survive, asking Han Ling to kill him if he began to undergo Distortion.

• The old man struck Zhao Pengsheng down, then beat three more Calamity Beasts and chased two fleeing ones from the classroom.
• Teacher Lin stood up despite her injuries and continued the lesson while the students returned to their seats.
• Han Ling questioned Wang Hu about eating the Calamity Beast, and he explained that they needed to survive and find a way out of the palace.
• Wang Hu asked Han Ling to kill him if he showed signs of Distortion, and she agreed.
• Wang Hu transformed into his tiger-man form and ate a piece of the Calamity Beast despite his missing left arm.

Shen Heng and Two-Horned Lizard suddenly found themselves back in the mine, where Calamity Beasts had returned to numb, obedient mining. Two-Horned Lizard witnessed a Scalearmor Lizard accused of trying to escape and killed by a Lord Black Rat, leaving it fearful and unsure what had happened.

• Shen Heng realized he had returned to the mine and considered possible causes, then saw an unfamiliar Sickle-Claw Beast becoming numb after he questioned it.
• Two-Horned Lizard also returned to the mine and worried that escaping would now be even harder.
• A Calamity Beast accused a Scalearmor Lizard of trying to escape after it had only asked the time.
• The Lord Black Rat accepted the accusation and killed the Scalearmor Lizard despite its protests.
• Two-Horned Lizard watched the accuser display the same numbness as the miners, then resumed mining while fearing what was happening.

After a strange disruption in the mine, Shen Heng found that the Calamity Beasts were mining less and could not talk inside the tunnels, then had to return in a group under Black Rat supervision. At the resting place, he discussed the changes with Stone and Qin Yu and suspected the Two-Horned Lizard’s side was involved.

• The Sickle-Claw Beast heard the repeated word “mine” in its mind, then resumed mining beside the Coiling Mountain Beast while Shen Heng wondered why they could not talk.
• Shen Heng noticed that the Calamity Beasts had mined far below their previous quotas, but they handed in their ore as usual and Feixu approved it.
• Shen Heng spotted a Tier 3 Shadow Wolf searching the line, then collected his food and waited with the other Calamity Beasts to leave together.
• Stone followed Shen Heng back to the resting place, where they found Qin Yu and discussed the mine’s reduced quota, stricter supervision, and ban on talking.
• Shen Heng said the disruption was likely connected to the Two-Horned Lizard, and Stone revealed that he had not realized talking in the mine was forbidden.

Shen Heng, Qin Yu, and Stone discussed the rules imposed on the Calamity Beasts and the Black Rats’ changed mining practices. Shen Heng questioned whether the Black Rats could control the rule-making power attributed to Jörmungandr.

• Stone asked what would happen if they spoke to other Calamity Beasts, and Qin Yu said the beasts would call for Black Rats and report them unwillingly.
• Shen Heng suggested that triggered rules forced Calamity Beasts to follow fixed procedures, and Qin Yu explained that she had concealed her presence before a beast could shout again.
• Qin Yu linked the reduced mining quota, stricter supervision, and speaking ban to the riot, then speculated that the Black Rats were trying to avoid nightfall.
• Shen Heng told Qin Yu to delay sneaking away because it would be dangerous, then asked why the mining rule had appeared.
• Qin Yu said the rule-making power belonged to Jörmungandr, and Shen Heng asked whether the Black Rats could control that power.

Shen Heng and Qin Yu considered whether the Black Rats could use a power tied to a new world rule, then gathered information about the incident. Two-Horned Lizard revealed that the Steel-Mane Bear had survived questioning by the Black Rat Chief and returned, leaving Shen Heng puzzled about why the Black Rats had not pursued them.

• Qin Yu and Shen Heng discussed whether the Black Rats could use the power through a special rule, and Shen Heng told Qin Yu to gather information carefully.
• Shen Heng met Two-Horned Lizard, who confirmed that the incident had started on their side.
• Two-Horned Lizard explained that the Steel-Mane Bear had encountered the Black Rat Chief, who went mad after learning the world might be fake.
• Two-Horned Lizard said the Black Rat Chief had not killed the Steel-Mane Bear, which had returned alive after coming to its senses.
• Shen Heng wondered why the Black Rats had left both the Steel-Mane Bear and Two-Horned Lizard alone, while Two-Horned Lizard reported that it had found five others so far.

Shen Heng and Two-Horned Lizard agreed to gather information before choosing how to escape Black Stone Valley, while Two-Horned Lizard suspected the humans had concealed an escape option. The next day, Shen Heng went to the mines with Stone, but the Black Rats remained nearby instead of dispersing, alarming the herd.

• Shen Heng told Two-Horned Lizard to have the Calamity Beasts watch for unusual developments as they sought a way out of Black Stone Valley.
• Two-Horned Lizard said he had spared Steel-Mane Bear and planned to conceal the source of the escape information from the other Calamity Beasts.
• Two-Horned Lizard suspected the humans had kept a third escape option from them, then noticed many more Calamity Beasts were missing.
• On the way to the mines, Shen Heng told Stone to observe carefully and said he wanted to question the Shadow Wolf who had once followed him, if the wolf was still alive.
• At the mountain’s foot, the Black Rats stayed close and watched the herd, prompting the Calamity Beasts to realize something was wrong and grow tense.

Shen Heng reported to Black Rat Feixu and proposed increasing the punishments and rewards for information about escape plots. Feixu listened to his suggestion, while the Calamity Beasts reacted with suspicion.

• Feixu announced that seven Calamity Beasts had plotted an escape in the mine the previous day and demanded information.
• The Calamity Beasts stayed silent despite Feixu's threats, and Shen Heng realized the seven escapees were likely newly arrived outsiders.
• Shen Heng raised his hand and reported, prompting the other Calamity Beasts to back away from him.
• Shen Heng denied involvement in the plot and suggested that the escapees might recruit carefully or stop recruiting after the failed attempt.
• Shen Heng proposed increasing the rewards for reporting and the punishments for escape plots, while Feixu judged his analysis acceptable but his solution obvious.

Shen Heng increased the Black Rats’ awareness of him as groundwork for possibly gathering information, then questioned a Shadow Wolf about a missing tier 3 lord. He reported to Two-Horned Lizard what he had learned about the Calamity Beasts’ memories and the riot, but his explanation ended before he described what happened afterward.

• Black Rat Feixu raised the Calamity Beasts’ daily ore quota to eighty percent of the original amount as punishment for the escape attempt.
• Shen Heng told Stone he was making the Black Rats remember him in case he needed to obtain information from them later.
• Shen Heng approached a tier 2 Shadow Wolf, asked about the missing tier 3 lord, and heard that the lord had been with him before the earlier riot.
• Shen Heng declined the Shadow Wolf’s invitation to team up, then told Two-Horned Lizard that the current time was over a month after the riot and that the other Calamity Beasts remembered little about it.
• Shen Heng explained that the Calamity Beasts had joined the riot because they believed the Black Rats would keep imposing the increased ore requirement, but he had not yet finished recounting what happened afterward.