Chapter Summaries

Shen Heng and Wang Hai inspected the body of a young officer who had apparently shot himself, but Wang Hai found no missing or damaged organs. They searched the Haiguang Public Security Sub-Bureau for a possible Calamity Beast, while Zhao Wenguo waited anxiously for news.

• Zhao Wenguo led Wang Hai and Shen Heng to the restroom, where they found a young officer dead from a gunshot wound.
• Wang Hai examined the corpse and found no damage to its body, leaving the cause of the apparent suicide uncertain.
• Shen Heng said the two officers’ unexplained suicides still seemed suspicious, and Wang Hai agreed a Calamity Beast might be involved.
• Wang Hai told Shen Heng to listen for signs of a beast and said they would evacuate the staff and call Han Ling and the others if they found one.
• Wang Hai and Shen Heng searched the sub-bureau while Zhao Wenguo waited in his office, then answered a call from Director Wang.

Zhao Wenguo confirmed there were no Calamity Beasts at the Haiguang Public Security Sub-Bureau and tried to ease the strain on his officers, while Shen Heng took Dahuang for a walk at the Supervision Bureau. The chapter ended when Lin Xiaoyu heard a gunshot from Zhou Ting’s restroom stall.

• Zhao Wenguo told the Haiguang Sub-Bureau group that the Supervision Bureau had found no Calamity Beasts there, then called Xiao Yang in to ask about his workload and stress.
• Shen Heng returned to the Supervision Bureau after driving with Wang Hai and agreed to walk Dahuang for Li Jianguo.
• Dahuang stopped Shen Heng and pointed at his pocket, prompting Shen Heng to take out his phone and wonder whether the dog wanted to watch dog videos.
• Lin Xiaoyu and Zhou Ting left their office to use the restroom and get some air.
• Lin Xiaoyu joked with Zhou Ting about her lipstick, then froze when a gunshot sounded from the closed stall and called out to her in disbelief.

Shen Heng and the Linhai Supervision Bureau investigated another apparent suicide at the police sub-bureau and found no physical clues. Wei Leyang proposed two reasons the Calamity Beast might keep hunting there, leaving the team to consider whether the station was its target or its hunting ground.

• Lin Xiaoyu told Wang Hai that she heard a gunshot in the restroom and found Sister Ting dead in a stall.
• Shen Heng searched outside the restroom but found no traces of the Calamity Beast.
• Shen Heng said the beast seemed to influence people from a distance, but its repeated attacks at one location and flight afterward were strange.
• Le Gu Nan explained territorial and roaming hunters, and Wang Hai noted the beast's behavior did not fit the usual patterns.
• Wei Leyang suggested that someone at the station had offended the Calamity Beast or that it treated the station as its hunting ground.

Shen Heng and the others organized shifts at the Haiguang District Public Security Sub-Bureau to watch for the Calamity Beast. During the day shift, Shen Heng encouraged Le Gu Nan to judge principles through her own experience.

• Shen Heng questioned why the Calamity Beast killed only one person at a time, and Wei Leyang suggested it might be killing for amusement rather than hunting.
• Wang Hai moved the team's workplace to the Haiguang Sub-Bureau and assigned Shen Heng, Wei Leyang, and Le Gu Nan to the day shift, with everyone else on nights.
• The next morning, Le Gu Nan asked Shen Heng if she could sit beside him, and he explained that she did not need to ask permission when her actions would have no real effect on someone.
• Shen Heng told Le Gu Nan to use principles to observe and verify, and to trust what she learned along the road she had walked.

As officers abandoned the Haiguang Public Security Sub-Bureau, Shen Heng arranged for a police team to transfer in so the station could keep operating as bait for the Calamity Beast. The incoming officers began their assignments, and Shen Heng told Xu Kai how to alert him to danger.

• Zhao Wenguo told Shen Heng that fewer than half the sub-bureau’s staff were still reporting for work and warned that further departures could endanger civilians.
• Shen Heng told Zhao Wenguo to request a team from the municipal bureau to help steady morale and keep the sub-bureau operating.
• Le Gu Nan asked whether the transferred officers would be taking on danger meant for the absent staff, and Shen Heng acknowledged that someone would have to bear the risk.
• Before lunch, officers from the municipal police team arrived at the sub-bureau to receive assignments.
• Shen Heng told Xu Kai to call his name and explain the situation if he noticed anything wrong, then urged him to stay safe.

Xu Kai and Tian Xingwen began work at the police station amid fears about the Calamity Beast, while Shen Heng watched Le Gu Nan comfort a distressed child. When Shen Heng noticed Lin Xiaoyu acting strangely and called out to her, she turned with a gun aimed at him.

• Xu Kai and Tian Xingwen discussed their slim chances of joining the Supervision Bureau as they headed to their new assignments.
• Xu Kai tried to reassure worried officers by telling them the Supervision Bureau had someone who could detect disturbances caused by the Calamity Beast.
• Lin Xiaoyu abruptly left Ding Xiao, saying she had remembered something she needed to do downstairs.
• At the police station, Shen Heng watched Le Gu Nan comfort Xiao Nuo after the girl’s parents argued over who had failed to pick her up.
• Shen Heng noticed Lin Xiaoyu moving suspiciously and called out to stop her.
• Lin Xiaoyu turned toward Shen Heng with a gun, and he suddenly dropped to the side.

Shen Heng stopped Lin Xiaoyu from shooting civilians and realized a Calamity Beast was parasitizing her body. He used the Realm-Suppressing Stake to halt her escape, then ran outside to confront the beast.

• Lin Xiaoyu shot at Shen Heng, who deflected her bullets with a steel stool and chased after her.
• Lin Xiaoyu aimed at Zhou Mingyuan and his family, but Shen Heng knocked Zhou Mingyuan out of the bullet's path.
• Shen Heng realized the Calamity Beast was parasitizing Lin Xiaoyu and that she was trying to escape outside.
• Le Gu Nan handed Xiao Nuo back to her parents and joined Shen Heng, who decided not to chase Lin Xiaoyu directly.
• Shen Heng activated the Realm-Suppressing Stake, stopped the fleeing footsteps outside, and ran out with his saber as someone asked through his earpiece whether he had activated it.

Shen Heng identified the Calamity Beast as a parasite that could move between human hosts, while Le Gu Nan tried to evacuate civilians and keep it from escaping the Haiguang Public Security Sub-Bureau. The chapter ended with Wu Yongfeng encountering a figure in the corridor as he hurried toward the entrance.

• Shen Heng told Wei Leyang that the Calamity Beast parasitized people and could switch hosts, but he could not identify which person it controlled.
• Le Gu Nan left the other inspectors to warn and evacuate people in the reception hall, then told officers to hide and distrust anyone they saw from then on.
• Le Gu Nan stopped two officers from running down the corridor together and used a silver-gray construct to make them halt.
• Wu Yongfeng ran toward the entrance instead of hiding, then stopped when a figure appeared around the corridor corner.

Wu Yongfeng realized Wu Zhenyu might have known he was not the Calamity Beast, while Shen Heng investigated the chaos and subdued an officer who appeared to be under its control. Shen Heng left the officer unconscious and wondered whether he could still be saved.

• Wu Zhenyu told Wu Yongfeng he wanted to escape, and the two headed for the stairs after Wu Yongfeng accepted his identity check.
• Wu Yongfeng realized Wu Zhenyu had not asked him to prove his identity, suggesting Wu Zhenyu knew he was not the Calamity Beast.
• Shen Heng heard cries and commotion from several places and suspected the Calamity Beast was causing widespread disorder to hide itself.
• Shen Heng ordered Di Hong into a room, then confronted the pursuing officer, who charged at him with a meaningless roar.
• Shen Heng knocked the officer down and used Origin Power on the back of his head, leaving him limp.

Shen Heng warned the police officers about the Calamity Beast’s mind-control ability and continued searching the area. After stopping an apparent attack, he realized the rescued man might be the beast in disguise.

• Shen Heng explained that Origin Power could erase the Calamity Beast’s influence and cautioned the officers to protect themselves when making contact.
• Di Hong described seeing a red, segmented worm emerge from a woman’s head, then followed Shen Heng’s instructions to hide in a room.
• Shen Heng ran toward a gunshot and intercepted a shot aimed at a plump man, deflecting the bullet with his saber.
• Shen Heng wounded and subdued the armed figure, then used Origin Power to make it go still.
• When Shen Heng asked to check the plump man, the man objected, making Shen Heng suspect that the Calamity Beast had lured him into a trap.

Shen Heng exposed and wounded a Tier 2 parasitic Calamity Beast, which escaped through the ventilation ducts. It found a new host at the police station, and Wei Leyang prepared to intercept it as Shen Heng hurried there.

• Shen Heng distracted the plump figure, then stabbed him and revealed a short, injured parasitic worm emerging from his mouth.
• The Calamity Beast crawled into a ventilation duct, and Shen Heng chased it and slashed through the duct, injuring it again as it escaped upward.
• Shen Heng told Wei Leyang the beast’s location and sent him to the fifth floor while he ran toward the stairs.
• Shen Heng explained over the earpiece that the Tier 2 parasite was relatively weak because its human host had been an ordinary person.
• The Calamity Beast found someone being held at the police station and parasitized them, while Wei Leyang insisted he could fight it and went to intercept it.

Shen Heng and the Linhai Supervision Bureau squad discovered that the Calamity Beast had survived and burrowed into Wei Leyang. The team gathered in the holding cell, but every proposed way to extract it risked letting it reach Wei Leyang’s brain.

• Wei Leyang reported that he had killed the Calamity Beast, but a short red worm burst from the corpse and bit his ankle.
• Shen Heng reached the holding cell and found Wei Leyang holding the worm back with Origin Power as it moved beneath his chest toward his head.
• Shen Heng recognized the corpse as Huang Shaohua but focused on finding a way to save Wei Leyang.
• Han Ling, Le Gu Nan, Wang Hai, and Wu Cheng arrived, and Wu Cheng suggested cutting Wei Leyang open or using their Origin Power to force the worm out.
• Wang Hai explained why each proposed method could let the Calamity Beast burrow deeper, leaving Wu Cheng frustrated that they could do nothing.

As the Calamity Beast moved through Wei Leyang’s body, Wu Cheng proposed that Wei Leyang try evolving his ability to bind it. The others prepared to consider the risky attempt, while Shen Heng learned for the first time that abilities could evolve.

• Wei Leyang said the Calamity Beast had burrowed into his body and that only he could affect it, then joked that it might help him like a creature inside an anime protagonist.
• Shen Heng considered negotiating with the Calamity Beast but remained unwilling to trust it, and the team admitted their earlier rescue plans had failed.
• Wu Cheng suggested that Wei Leyang evolve his ability so he might generate threads inside his body and restrain the Calamity Beast.
• Wu Cheng pointed to the third-tier Origin Crystal on Le Gu Nan’s Realm-Suppressing Stake, and Wang Hai considered approving the risky attempt.
• Shen Heng asked what ability evolution meant, and Han Ling explained that abilities could rise to a higher rank before asking Wang Hai whether he had told Shen Heng about it.

Wang Hai explained that abilities could evolve after body and ability Synchronization, and Shen Heng realized his passive Hearing Enhancement had already synchronized. After Wang Hai agreed to request Origin Crystals for Shen Heng to attempt evolution, Shen Heng suggested his evolved ability might help with Wei Leyang and reminded the group of the Maimed-Tail Disaster Beast.

• Wang Hai explained that extensive ability use built Synchronization, which allowed an ability to evolve when stimulated with Origin Power.
• Shen Heng connected his past weariness and smoother Hearing Enhancement to completing Synchronization, then told Wang Hai his ability was ready to evolve.
• Shen Heng explained that Hearing Enhancement consumed little Origin Power and ran passively, leaving Wang Hai surprised but willing to request Origin Crystals from headquarters.
• As the group turned back to the ashen Wei Leyang, Shen Heng asked them to wait and recalled the Maimed-Tail Disaster Beast they had encountered.

Shen Heng evolved his ability and discovered he could see and emit sound waves. He used his new power against the Calamity Beast inside Wei Leyang, but the outcome remained unknown.

• Han Ling and Le Gu Nan recognized that Shen Heng might use sonic attacks to fight the Calamity Beast inside Wei Leyang.
• Wang Hai ordered Le Gu Nan to remove the Origin Crystal from the Realm-Suppressing Stake so Shen Heng could evolve.
• Shen Heng absorbed the Origin Power, endured severe pain, and gained the ability to see sound waves.
• Shen Heng emitted a sonic pulse, briefly clouding the minds of everyone nearby, and confirmed his attack worked.
• Shen Heng approached Wei Leyang, focused on the ripples around the Calamity Beast, and said, “Silence.”

Shen Heng used his newly evolved Sound Wave Manipulation to kill the Calamity Beast inside Wei Leyang, then tested the ability’s attack, defense, and sound imitation functions. As Le Gu Nan came to call him for dinner, she caught him making a pig’s oink and stared at him in surprise.

• Shen Heng manipulated sound waves to stop the Calamity Beast inside Wei Leyang, and the others thanked him after confirming it was dead.
• Shen Heng assessed Sound Wave Manipulation’s limited attack and defensive strength in his training room.
• Shen Heng discovered he could imitate other people’s voices and sounds, including the voices of Wang Hai and Han Ling.
• Li Jianguo told Le Gu Nan that it was time to eat, so she and Dahuang went to fetch Shen Heng.
• Le Gu Nan opened the training-room door and heard Shen Heng making a pig’s oink, leaving him to turn toward her stiffly.

Shen Heng asked Le Gu Nan to keep secret that he had been testing his upgraded ability by imitating pig noises, and she agreed while finding it cute. Over dinner, the group discussed his abilities and passive state, and Le Gu Nan began explaining how unusual that state was.

• Shen Heng explained his new sound-imitation ability to Le Gu Nan and asked her to keep his pig noises secret; she agreed and teased him affectionately.
• Dahuang mimicked Shen Heng's oinks in the dining room, and Shen Heng told everyone he had stepped on the dog's tail.
• Wang Hai asked Shen Heng to join him after dinner for an ability-grade assessment and registration.
• Wei Leyang thanked Shen Heng and Le Gu Nan for saving his life, while Han Ling and Wei Leyang remarked on Shen Heng's rapid progress.
• Wu Cheng pointed out that Shen Heng's ability was passive, and Le Gu Nan began explaining that passive states required very special abilities.

Le Gu Nan explained why most abilities would be harmful if passive, and Shen Heng described the burden of hearing sounds around him constantly. Shen Heng then sparred with Wei Leyang, ending the match instantly with his newly evolved Silence ability, and Wei Leyang demanded a rematch.

• Le Gu Nan explained that passive abilities could interfere with daily life and said Shen Heng's constant distant hearing could be overwhelming.
• Shen Heng told the group his hearing reached two hundred meters normally and five kilometers at its limit, and that he had endured it for six months.
• Han Ling suggested Shen Heng spar with someone to test his ability, and the group gathered in the training room as he faced Wei Leyang.
• Wang Hai started the match, and Shen Heng rushed Wei Leyang before using Silence to knock him unconscious.
• Shen Heng stopped his wooden saber beside Wei Leyang's neck, and Wei Leyang woke up, realized he had forgotten to defend himself with Origin Power, and asked for one more try.

Shen Heng fought Wei Leyang again, using his Flow technique and sound attacks to hold him off before Wei Leyang won by trapping him with threads. Wang Hai then tested Shen Heng’s evolved ability, which still ranked D, and Shen Heng asked whether ability ranks rose gradually or depended on luck.

• Shen Heng agreed to fight Wei Leyang again and charged when Wang Hai called the start.
• Wei Leyang protected his head with Origin Power, resisted Shen Heng’s sound attacks, and eventually trapped him with threads to win.
• Wang Hai and Han Ling remarked on Shen Heng’s unusual physical fitness, and Shen Heng explained that he had developed the Flow technique.
• Wu Cheng found that Flow was a B-rank technique costing 3,500 points on Martial World Easy Exchange, though Shen Heng said it required Fourth Tier to practice.
• Wang Hai tested Shen Heng’s evolved Sound Wave Manipulation, which registered as D-rank, and Shen Heng asked how ability ranks advanced.

Wang Hai explained the risks and possible outcomes of Ability Evolution to Shen Heng. In November, Shen Heng completed his saber instruction with Yu Jingming, who said further practice would help him approach the instructor’s skill.

• Wang Hai told Shen Heng that an ability user who attempted evolution before Synchronization and failed would lose control and mutate into a monster of Origin Power.
• Wang Hai explained that each evolution could raise an ability by up to three grades and might produce enhancement, derivative, or mutation abilities.
• Shen Heng and Yu Jingming clashed with wooden sabers in the training room on the last day of instruction.
• Yu Jingming told Shen Heng he had taught him all he could and that daily practice could bring Shen Heng close to his skill within six months to a year.
• Shen Heng thanked Instructor Yu and bowed to him.