Chapter Summaries

Shen Heng learned that the Two-Horned Lizard had been forgotten as the instigator of the last riot, then heard its account of the Lord Speaker’s ancient history and its new intelligence. Meanwhile, Black Spine’s group sought help from the Black Rat God to find the Calamity Beasts planning another rebellion.

• Shen Heng told the Two-Horned Lizard that the survivors of the last riot remembered a call for resistance but not who had started it.
• The Two-Horned Lizard said the Lord Speaker had existed for at least a million years and had last fought the Night Spirit Clan two or three hundred thousand years ago.
• The Two-Horned Lizard reported that the mines’ ban on conversation did not affect outsiders like them.
• Feixu told Black Spine and the other Black Rats that signs of a new resistance movement had appeared across several mines in one day.
• Black Spine rejected killing all the Calamity Beasts and led the Black Rats to a cavern to ask the Black Rat God for help finding the rebels.

Black Spine’s Black Rats repeatedly sacrificed their own kind to learn which Calamity Beasts were planning another riot, but the offering failed until they changed their prayer to ask how to find them. Meanwhile, Shen Heng heard the Two-Horned Lizard’s account of their limited information-gathering, leaving the hidden plotters still unidentified.

• Black Spine ordered repeated sacrifices after the Black Rat God gave no answer, and the Black Rats offered more than thirty Third Tier members and five Fourth Tier members.
• A mine supervisor suggested asking for a way to find the rebel Calamity Beasts instead of asking which ones had joined, and Moya and Lame Claw supported the idea.
• Black Spine prayed for guidance on finding the hidden Calamity Beasts, and faint light revealed several lines of text beginning with “Mine.”
• The Two-Horned Lizard finished recounting the day’s findings to Shen Heng, who recognized that they had gathered little valuable information because the other Calamity Beasts were wary and their time was limited.

Shen Heng and the Two-Horned Lizard discussed how to escape the Black Rat overseers, while the lizard resolved to think more independently and study Shen Heng’s riot plan. The next day, Feixu restored the mine’s old quotas, and the captives’ protests were dismissed.

• Shen Heng told the Two-Horned Lizard they would wait another day before planning to explore outside, and admitted he had no escape method yet.
• The Two-Horned Lizard reflected on Shen Heng’s past successes, decided to think more for himself, and planned to study the riot plan.
• Feixu announced that mining quotas would return to their previous levels, prompting several Calamity Beasts to deny involvement in the escape attempt.
• Feixu silenced the Calamity Beasts and told them they were captives whose lives had been spared because they were useful.
• A Calamity Beast explained that reduced mining hours made the old quota difficult to meet, but Feixu said it was their problem.

Black Rat Feixu announced that the Calamity Beasts had to meet their old mining quota despite shorter work hours, while easing the punishments for falling short and urging them to report escape attempts. Shen Heng told the Two-Horned Lizard to wait until the Black Rats’ heightened vigilance eased and use the time to plan an escape.

• Black Rat Feixu announced the changed mining rules, including reduced punishments for missed quotas, and told the Calamity Beasts to report anyone trying to escape.
• Feixu doubted that the new rules would lure the escape-minded Calamity Beasts out, but trusted the Black Rat God’s divine revelation and waited.
• A Coiling Mountain Beast glanced toward Feixu from the mountain path before continuing onward.
• That night, the Two-Horned Lizard told Shen Heng that the Black Rats had nearly doubled their guards and asked what they should do.
• Shen Heng said they should wait for the Black Rats’ initial vigilance to ease and use the time to work out an escape plan.

Shen Heng and the other disguised Calamity Beasts waited for the Black Rats guarding them to grow less vigilant while they continued mining. During a break, Shen Heng noticed writing carved into his arm and realized he could no longer recognize the script.

• Shen Heng told Two-Horned Lizard and Qin Yu that waiting was their best option until the Black Rats lowered their guard.
• Over the following days, the Calamity Beasts kept mining, shared less and less information, and became skilled enough to meet their quotas.
• Shen Heng observed that some Black Rats were growing less attentive and planned to probe Feixu or encourage him to send the extra guards away.
• While resting in the mine, Shen Heng saw the writing he had carved into his arm and could not recognize the characters.

Shen Heng discovered that he was losing memories and feared that continued forgetting would leave him unable to escape Black Stone Valley. He confirmed that Qin Yu had also lost some memories, though Stone believed he had forgotten nothing important.

• Shen Heng realized he had forgotten the characters carved into his arm and identified other gaps in his memories, including the original owner's memories and people from his high school in Linhai.
• Shen Heng concluded that he needed to escape before forgetting left him confused and unable to act, and wondered whether the divine revelation and increased Black Rat supervision were connected.
• Shen Heng asked Stone whether he recognized the carved characters, and Stone said he did.
• Shen Heng asked Qin Yu whether she recognized the characters and had forgotten anything; Qin Yu confirmed she had lost memories mainly from before middle school.
• Stone realized that he might have forgotten some memories too, but thought losing memories of prey and past dangers would not change his life as a beast.

Shen Heng concluded that the group was gradually forgetting memories and might eventually believe they were Calamity Beasts, so he proposed daily reminders and exploring outside. Qin Yu offered to go out at night, and Shen Heng said he would accompany her; the Two-Horned Lizard then asked what he planned to do.

• Shen Heng explained that the forgetting had begun after the riot and was intensifying, potentially causing them to forget their identities.
• Shen Heng proposed that they remind one another daily of important information and find a way to explore outside.
• Shen Heng warned Qin Yu and Stone that reminders might fail once they forgot enough to doubt what they were told.
• Qin Yu offered to explore outside at night, and Shen Heng said he would go with her despite the danger of hiding them from the Black Rats.
• The Two-Horned Lizard considered the danger of the escalating memory loss and asked the human what he planned to do.

Shen Heng negotiated with the Two-Horned Lizard to distract the Black Rats so he and Qin Yu could scout a route out of captivity. Though the Two-Horned Lizard suspected they might escape without him, he ultimately agreed to let the two humans go.

• Shen Heng asked the Two-Horned Lizard to draw the Black Rats' attention away while he scouted the mountain route out.
• Shen Heng argued that they could not afford to wait because their memory loss might worsen and unexpected dangers could arise.
• The Two-Horned Lizard accused Shen Heng of using the plan to escape, and Shen Heng offered to leave Stone-that Stone-Armored Beast behind as reassurance.
• The Two-Horned Lizard proposed that he and another Calamity Beast accompany Shen Heng and Qin Yu, but Shen Heng said he needed the Two-Horned Lizard's help distracting the guards.
• The Two-Horned Lizard considered the risk and agreed to let Shen Heng and Qin Yu go scouting.

Shen Heng and the Two-Horned Lizard agreed that Shen Heng would investigate outside while the lizard helped divert the Black Rats’ attention. At the Black Rat camp, a fight among the enslaved Calamity Beasts drew everyone’s attention, and Broken Tail prepared to deal with it.

• The Two-Horned Lizard explained why Shen Heng should investigate alone and said they needed to trust each other despite being enemies.
• Shen Heng asked the Two-Horned Lizard to distract the Black Rats, and they agreed to return to the mine during the day before leaving together.
• The Two-Horned Lizard agreed to the plan but worried that repeated distractions would alert the Black Rats.
• Broken Tail watched the enslaved Calamity Beasts and noticed several of them start fighting.
• The Calamity Beasts and Black Rats gathered their attention on the fight, and Broken Tail stood up to intervene.

Shen Heng and Qin Yu explored the forest at night but found no danger, then investigated whether they could escape Black Stone Valley over its surrounding high mountains. After observing frequent Black Rat patrols, including a fourth-tier one, Shen Heng concluded that escaping that way would be almost impossible with only the two of them.

• Qin Yu and Shen Heng entered the forest before dawn to investigate the suspected danger, but found nothing unusual as daylight arrived.
• Shen Heng and Qin Yu saw groups of Calamity Beasts heading outward and decided to check whether they could escape over the ring of high mountains.
• Shen Heng and Qin Yu reached the mountains and hid to watch Black Rat patrols pass at regular intervals.
• Shen Heng saw that climbing out would take nearly half a day and reasoned that the patrols and Qin Yu's limited ability made escape almost impossible.

Shen Heng and Qin Yu confirmed that Black Rat patrols stopped at night, but suspected the forest itself was dangerous after dark. With the valley entrance and mountain route effectively blocked, they cautiously ventured deeper into the woods to investigate a possible way to escape, where an unknown voice noticed them.

• Shen Heng and Qin Yu observed Black Rat patrols around the mountains and forest throughout the day.
• After waiting through the night, Shen Heng concluded that the Black Rats probably patrolled only during daylight.
• Qin Yu realized the lack of night patrols might mean the Black Rats were certain no one could escape after dark, and Shen Heng connected this to the mines closing at sunset.
• Shen Heng decided to wait until the patrols were confirmed absent, then take Qin Yu into the forest to investigate the danger there.
• Shen Heng and Qin Yu moved silently deeper into the quiet forest until an unseen voice wondered why they were still outside so late.

Shen Heng discovered that the voices following him and Qin Yu through the woods came from living trees, which planned to catch them if they failed to return in twenty minutes. He led Qin Yu back toward the mountain, leaving them fleeing an unknown danger.

• Shen Heng heard nearby voices discussing whether to catch him and Qin Yu, but could find no other creatures around them.
• Shen Heng realized the voices came from trees that were alive at night, and the trees agreed to give the pair twenty minutes to find their way back.
• Qin Yu asked Shen Heng what was happening, and he told her to head back toward the foot of the mountain.
• Qin Yu and the voice in her mind concluded that the danger was probably not the Black Rats, though they did not know what it was.

Qin Yu and Shen Heng fled through the night forest as unseen voices called them bad children and a Calamity Beast manipulated vines and branches. As they neared the mountain where they had previously found shelter, the forest grew darker and a far larger mass of vines rose to block their path.

• Qin Yu and Sister Liya suspected danger had already targeted them as Shen Heng led her at a run through the woods.
• Vines and branches surged toward them, but Shen Heng changed course slightly and they passed without being attacked.
• Qin Yu concluded that a distant Calamity Beast was controlling the trees and focused on escaping rather than fighting it.
• The trees whispered about the two as bad children while Shen Heng decided returning to the guarded resting area was too dangerous and instead headed for the mountain.
• As they approached the mountain, the forest darkened and the vines and branches surged again in far greater numbers.

Qin Yu and Shen Heng fought their way through a forest of attacking trees while trying to escape an unseen Calamity Beast. As they neared the mountains, Qin Yu said she might be able to hide from a Fifth Tier pursuer, but probably not a Sixth Tier one.

• Qin Yu and Shen Heng charged through the vines and branches, breaking through the trees’ first assault before they resumed chasing them.
• Qin Yu asked Sister Liya about Calamity Beasts that could control forests, but Liya could not identify one that matched the clues.
• Qin Yu tried to conceal herself and Shen Heng, but the trees kept pursuing them, suggesting the Calamity Beast was too high-tier for her ability.
• Shen Heng said his Tier 2 sound waves could not yet detect the Calamity Beast and asked whether Qin Yu could hide from it if given a brief opportunity.
• Qin Yu said she might be able to evade a Fifth Tier Calamity Beast with her full ability, but likely could not hide from a Sixth Tier one.

Shen Heng and Qin Yu fled the pursuing trees toward the Radiant Stone Mine, but realized they would not reach it in time. Shen Heng used Profitable Golden Spear to create an explosion and began gathering sound waves to attempt a desperate countermeasure as vines pierced the dust around them.

• Shen Heng changed their route toward the Radiant Stone Mine because the trees continued pursuing them and returning to the resting place would mean facing the Black Rats.
• Qin Yu and Shen Heng found the pursuing trees growing faster and more violent, while Liya admitted she could not fight using Qin Yu's Gray Stone Snake body.
• Shen Heng concluded they would not reach the mine and told Qin Yu to prepare to use her ability while he tried to lure the trees away.
• Shen Heng detonated Profitable Golden Spear, filling the forest with dust as the trees continued attacking them with vines.
• Shen Heng gathered sound waves before his left claw and swung the distorted mass toward the trees.

Shen Heng and Qin Yu hid from the Calamity Beast’s tree-controlled forest by distracting it with sound and masking their presence. After the branches swept over them repeatedly without finding them, dawn arrived and the woods fell quiet.

• Shen Heng and Qin Yu used sound to lure the attacking trees away, then stayed hidden because moving could draw the trees back to them.
• The giant trees searched the woods, and Shen Heng and Qin Yu remained still as branches and vines surged in every direction.
• The branches swept over Shen Heng and Qin Yu twice, but their concealed presence went undetected.
• After the woods stayed silent for a long while, dawn arrived, and Shen Heng and Qin Yu rose, wondering if they were safe.

Shen Heng and the Two-Horned Lizard searched for a way to escape the valley after the mountain route proved nearly impossible. They considered escaping in ore crates, but Shen Heng identified too many unknowns to trust the plan.

• Shen Heng told Qin Yu that they should return after finding the valley's escape routes blocked by Black Rats and strange trees.
• The Two-Horned Lizard asked Shen Heng whether they could escape over the mountains, and Shen Heng said the chances were extremely low.
• The Two-Horned Lizard proposed digging through the mountains, but Shen Heng warned that the tunnel could take too long and collapse.
• The Two-Horned Lizard suggested hiding inside ore crates carried by the Black Rats, and Shen Heng considered testing how the rats handled the crates.
• Shen Heng rejected the ore-crate plan because they did not know when or where the crates would be delivered, or who would receive them.

The Two-Horned Lizard and Shen Heng agreed to investigate the Black Rats’ ore shipments, though they still did not know what happened to the ore after it left the fake world. Shen Heng arranged for Qin Yu to take the lizard out for five days, while they planned a distraction that might expose Calamity Beasts to the Black Rats’ scrutiny.

• The Two-Horned Lizard proposed watching the valley entrance to learn the Black Rats’ shipment patterns, and Shen Heng agreed to try its plan.
• Shen Heng said Qin Yu would take the Two-Horned Lizard out, and the two settled on a five-day investigation despite the lizard asking for more time.
• The Two-Horned Lizard planned to have a Calamity Beast pretend to be unwell to distract the Black Rats while it left that night.
• Shen Heng insisted that one of the two Calamity Beasts involved in the previous fight should approach the Black Rats, warning that those already seen by them could later face scrutiny.
• The Two-Horned Lizard accepted that some Calamity Beasts might attract the Black Rats’ attention and said it knew how to handle the risk.

The Two-Horned Lizard failed to find an ore shipment that could help the group escape Black Stone Valley, then searched for other ways out with Shen Heng and the Calamity Beasts. After rejecting several impractical plans, it approached a Tier 2 Scalearmor Lizard, which seemed surprised to be asked for ideas.

• Shen Heng told Stone that the Two-Horned Lizard might learn when ore was transported, but escaping that way would be difficult.
• The Two-Horned Lizard reported that it had found no ore shipments, and Shen Heng told it to think of another way out.
• The Two-Horned Lizard proposed burning the valley's trees, but Shen Heng explained that the Black Rats could patrol at night and spot them without cover.
• The Two-Horned Lizard and the other Calamity Beasts considered plans involving an explosion and an airplane, but neither offered a workable escape.
• The Two-Horned Lizard asked a Tier 2 Scalearmor Lizard whether it had thought of any methods, and the Scalearmor Lizard asked, "Are you... asking me?"

The Two-Horned Lizard told Shen Heng and the others that a Calamity Beast had forgotten their recent acquaintance, suggesting the mysterious memory loss had reached the last few years. The group remained trapped with no safe way past the Black Rats, and the Two-Horned Lizard was left frustrated by Shen Heng’s lack of a solution.

• The Two-Horned Lizard reported that one of its Calamity Beasts had forgotten it, and Shen Heng and Qin Yu realized the forgetting had reached recent memories.
• The Two-Horned Lizard explained that it had reminded the Calamity Beast of their shared circumstances, allowing it to confirm they were allies despite still not remembering their acquaintance.
• The Two-Horned Lizard asked Shen Heng for a solution, but he said he had none and explained that they could not safely cross the mountains while the Black Rats could detect them.
• The Two-Horned Lizard proposed fighting the Black Rats, then accepted that the idea was desperate and remained irritated that it had no one to comfort it.