Chapter Summaries

Ye Jiang woke from a three-year coma with amnesia and reconnected with her friend Yu Qingyi, who cared for her while she recovered. As Ye Jiang adjusted to life in a damaged world, she heard television noises from an allegedly empty ward and grew concerned about Yu Qingyi’s dirty, torn work clothes.

• Ye Jiang woke in the hospital, and Yu Qingyi explained that they were orphans and best friends who had been together since childhood.
• Yu Qingyi introduced herself again, told Ye Jiang her name, and reassured her that waking up mattered more than remembering.
• A nurse said Ye Jiang’s tests looked good and that she could leave after two more days of observation, while Yu Qingyi returned to work.
• Ye Jiang looked out the hospital window at a prosperous city scarred by ruined buildings and later reported hearing a loud television in the empty neighboring ward.
• Yu Qingyi said she would speak to the supposed neighbor, brought Ye Jiang dinner after a night shift, and left for work again.
• Ye Jiang noticed the tears and dirt on Yu Qingyi’s clothes and lay awake thinking about her friend.

Ye Jiang befriended the polluter haunting the VIP room by watching television with it and treating its attacks as behavior she could correct. The nurse later told her that the supposedly occupied room next door had been empty since its patient was discharged.

• Ye Jiang entered the VIP room, stopped the transparent polluter from grabbing her, and returned to keep it company while watching television.
• The polluter tried to attack Ye Jiang, but she noticed its hand and advised it to stop playing with water, so it removed the water from the room and her clothes.
• Ye Jiang watched television with the polluter until early morning and asked it to invite her over again if it liked her.
• A nurse gave Ye Jiang wedding candy, and Ye Jiang asked for more and wondered whether the friendly patient next door had received any.
• The nurse told Ye Jiang that the room next door was empty and its patient had been discharged long ago.

Ye Jiang stopped Invisible Man from attacking a nurse, and he fled the hospital toward a school damaged by another contaminated. Zhao Yi sensed the A-rank Invisible Man and pursued it to the Zhou Family manor, where he blocked its way and tried to bargain with it.

• Invisible Man drove water through the hospital corridor to chase a nurse, but Ye Jiang confronted him and asked what was wrong.
• Invisible Man remembered fragments of his past, said he was sick and did not want to die, then vanished after Ye Jiang told him to live well.
• Ye Jiang explained to the shaken nurse that the patient next door had been unwell, then went to watch television as the nurse left to notify someone.
• Invisible Man reached a school damaged by a C-rank contaminated, and Zhao Yi sensed its A-rank presence and followed it.
• Zhao Yi tracked Invisible Man to the Zhou Family manor, blocked its entrance with a curtain of fire, and urged it to wreak havoc somewhere else.

Zhao Yi survived an encounter with the A-rank polluter, which spared him after recalling Ye Jiang. The polluter returned to the hospital and brought Ye Jiang books to encourage her to become useful, while City A went into lockdown after the Bureau issued a warning.

• The water-form polluter overwhelmed Zhao Yi, but vanished before delivering a final attack after recalling the human at the hospital.
• The polluter returned to Ye Jiang's ward, accepted candy from her, and watched television beside her before suddenly switching it off.
• The polluter returned with books and told Ye Jiang to work hard and become useful, warning that she would otherwise die.
• Yu Qingyi visited Ye Jiang, learned the patient next door had given her the books, and wore a pink hair clip that Ye Jiang noticed.
• The Ability Control Bureau warned City A about the A-rank polluter, and the city went into lockdown.

After a Grade A polluter appeared in City A, Qin Daichuan’s team struggled to leave the Zhou Family estate until the young master intervened. Later, injured Zhao Yi sensed something strange at the hospital and encountered a pale patient carrying books.

• The Zhou family head blocked the Ability Control Bureau team from leaving, demanding protection and more Grade B ability users.
• Qin Daichuan’s anger triggered a level-one berserk state, summoning lightning, until the Zhou Family’s young master apologized and persuaded him to withdraw.
• In the car, Zhao Yi and Qin Daichuan noted that the Grade A polluter had caused no major incidents, and Zhao Yi suspected the Zhou Family’s young master had a mental ability.
• Qin Daichuan took Zhao Yi to the hospital, where Zhao Yi sensed something unusual on the third floor and went to investigate in a wheelchair.
• Zhao Yi found the third floor seemingly normal, then passed a pale patient carrying books and asked whether anything had happened there.

Ye Jiang witnessed a strange disturbance at the hospital, then left for the first time and walked alone through the deserted city. Zhao Yi realized the contaminant had spared the nurses and patients, while the Ability Control Bureau convoy headed toward the outskirts, where the head of the Zhou Family anxiously secured his estate.

• Ye Jiang went to the nurses' station seeking Doctor Lin, but a supernatural disturbance struck and the nurses collapsed as the patient next door appeared and left behind the message, “I've remembered” and “I'm leaving.”
• Zhao Yi rushed upstairs, found the nurses unconscious, and concluded that the Class A contaminant seemed to retain some reason because it had spared its victims.
• Zhao Yi questioned Ye Jiang about the contaminant, then discovered that she had disappeared while every other patient and medical worker on the floor was unconscious.
• Ye Jiang left the hospital alone and walked through the empty streets as dusk fell over the city.
• The Ability Control Bureau convoy sped toward the outskirts while the head of the Zhou Family checked his estate's defenses and regretted letting some people leave.

Ye Jiang set out toward the suburbs to bring her fellow patient back, worried that she would be suspected of stealing the books. As she rested beneath a streetlight, a shadow suddenly charged at her.

• Zhou Bo used hypnosis to make his guards helpless and forced his father to walk to the window and jump to his death.
• Zhou Bo became head of the Zhou family, but a polluter decapitated him moments later.
• The polluter watched from the villa as its bloodlust intensified and the Ability Control Bureau's convoy approached the estate.
• Ye Jiang tried to hitch a ride but was ignored, so she walked toward the suburbs to find her fellow patient.
• Ye Jiang paused beneath a streetlight, dodged a charging shadow, and watched it crash into the lamp behind her.

Ye Jiang fought through contaminated in the city, then commandeered a flying contaminated to reach the manor. As an evolved A-class creature battled Qin Daichuan outside, Ye Jiang entered the villa and confronted the enormous transparent figure on the staircase.

• Ye Jiang kicked aside contaminated pedestrians as she made her way through the city.
• An Ability Control Bureau member encountered a fast-flying contaminated and called for backup after it attacked her with sonic blasts.
• Ye Jiang grabbed the flying contaminated, climbed onto its back, and forced it to carry her toward the outskirts.
• Ye Jiang jumped off as the contaminated crashed into the manor's pool, then entered through the back door.
• The contaminated absorbed the villa's dense contamination, evolved into an A-class creature, and attacked Qin Daichuan, who answered with lightning.
• Ye Jiang entered the villa and saw an enormous transparent figure watching her from the top of the contaminated staircase.

Ye Jiang confronted the enormous polluter in the villa and calmed it after learning how its family had hurt it. The polluter regained control of its contamination, while Qin Daichuan continued fighting outside; Ye Jiang then left through the back door with her fellow patient.

• The polluter accused Ye Jiang of wanting it dead and recalled being rejected by its father when it became sick.
• The polluter attacked Ye Jiang with water and monstrous hands, but she remained unharmed as its rage made it expand and damage the villa.
• Ye Jiang punched the polluter lightly, causing its enormous body to crack apart and shrink until it regained some reason.
• Ye Jiang asked about the stolen hospital books, and the polluter promised to return them while urging her to pursue a career and become useful.
• Ye Jiang asked whether the polluter still hated its family; it said the matter was over, then drew in all its contamination and gained control over releasing it.
• Qin Daichuan sensed the change inside the villa and resumed attacking the birdman polluter as Ye Jiang left through the back door with her fellow patient.

After Qin Daichuan defeated a Class A contaminated at the Zhou estate, he encountered the mysterious nurse Ding Xuan, who vanished before the Bureau arrived. He investigated the estate and uncovered the secret Monster Archives, suspecting Ding Xuan was a newly encountered monster.

• Ding Xuan examined the remains of the Zhou family, then offered Qin Daichuan candy at the courtyard fountain.
• Ding Xuan disappeared at extraordinary speed as Ability Control Bureau members arrived, and Qin Daichuan said a monster had killed the other Class A contaminated.
• The Bureau found the estate’s servants and guards alive, while Qin Daichuan found no trace of the water-controlling contaminated’s body.
• Qin Daichuan called Zhao Yi at the hospital and asked him to investigate nurse Ding Xuan, then returned to the City A Bureau.
• Qin Daichuan opened the confidential Monster Archives and read about Monster No. 8, Writer, which had killed the Class S contaminated Stormbringer and claimed City S.

After the city’s polluter crisis subsided, Ye Jiang learned that Nurse Ding had left and discovered that her hospital treatment cost a fortune. Yu Qingyi discharged her, took her into her home, and gave her an ID card and phone, leaving Ye Jiang to begin life outside the hospital with her friend.

• The Ability Control Bureau lifted the city restrictions after the water-controlling polluter failed to reappear, though it remained only suspected dead.
• A nurse told Ye Jiang that Nurse Ding had left, and Ye Jiang continued taking medicine for contamination.
• Invisible Man told Ye Jiang that the Zhou Family fortune had been confiscated and that treating her illness would cost over a million.
• Ye Jiang insisted on leaving the hospital, and Yu Qingyi arrived to discharge her and brought her flowers.
• Yu Qingyi took Ye Jiang to her studio apartment, explained how to use the home, and gave her an ID card and phone.

Yu Qingyi taught Ye Jiang to use a phone and planned to explain the dangers of the world, while Zhao Yi tried to recruit Ye Jiang for an upcoming trial. After Ye Jiang left home despite being told to stay, she found a job at a restaurant and overheard students discussing trial slots.

• Yu Qingyi taught Ye Jiang how to use a phone, told her to stay home, and promised to explain the world’s dangers after work.
• Zhao Yi told Qin Daichuan that Ye Jiang had resisted an A-rank polluter’s pollution, and Qin Daichuan gave her a slot for the upcoming trial.
• Zhao Yi went to the hospital to find Ye Jiang but learned that she had been discharged and could not obtain her information.
• Ye Jiang went out, compared the restaurant’s pay with other offers, then returned and accepted a server job for two hundred a day.
• A freckled student celebrated receiving a trial slot, and Young Master Jin revealed that he had received a notification but would not participate.

Ye Jiang struck Jin Hong with a plate of snacks after he shoved her, and the restaurant owner stopped his classmates from retaliating. Jin Hong backed down because his family had warned him not to provoke the owner, while she told Ye Jiang not to return to work so she could avoid him.

• Jin Hong complained about the Ability Control Bureau and grew angry when classmates praised Ming Xia’s test scores.
• Jin Hong shoved Ye Jiang for serving him, and she pressed a plate of snacks onto his forehead.
• The restaurant owner revealed her blood moon mark as Jin Hong’s classmates threatened to attack Ye Jiang and trash the shop.
• Jin Hong stopped his classmates and left after remembering his family’s warning about the owner.
• The owner shared the leftover ribs with Ye Jiang, then told her not to come back to work because Jin Hong was dangerous.

Ye Jiang continued working at the restaurant while waiting for her new trial-grounds assignment, and she overheard students trying to keep Ming Xia from attending. The chapter ended as Gao Peng’s group threatened to cripple Ming Xia before she could reach the trial grounds.

• Ye Jiang kept waiting tables despite having to report for her well-paid trial-grounds task in three days.
• As business remained poor, her boss asked whether she could cook, then grew distracted by thoughts of someone she missed and the stone in her pocket.
• Ye Jiang collected her wages and noticed that people across City A were frequently talking about the Blood Moon and the trial grounds.
• Near a school, Ye Jiang saw Gao Peng and other students surround Ming Xia and urge her to give up her place at the trial grounds.
• Ming Xia rejected Gao Peng’s false concern, and his companions threatened to break her legs because she had not awakened despite her double-A potential.

Ye Jiang unknowingly subdued a group of students while collecting flowers from a contaminant, then delivered them to Invisible Man and left for a part-time job. At the trial-ground departure station, Gao Peng arrived late and exhausted after his encounter with the Bone Joint Flower, while the students prepared to board.

• Ye Jiang plucked flowers from the Bone Joint Flower, whose pollen had knocked out Ming Xia, Gao Peng, and the other students, and left the contaminant badly weakened.
• Ye Jiang gave the flowers to Invisible Man at the hospital, and he told her he had found a place to live next door to her.
• Zhao Yi searched the hospital for the promising student he had noticed but failed to find her, then turned his attention to the trial ground opening the next day.
• Ye Jiang left a note saying she would be back in half a month, packed clothes, and went out for a part-time job.
• At the station, Yan Pei and three assistants organized 107 students for the trip to Trial Ground No. 165, while three students were still missing.
• Gao Peng arrived late after being treated for Bone Joint Flower pollen exposure, and Yan Pei scolded him as he apologized.

Ye Jiang joined the students and assistants traveling to Examination Ground 165, where the students began their contamination trials. Assigned to supervise Trial Chamber A, she watched as the students faced a captured C-rank corrupted and stayed behind while only Ming Xia and Jin Hong endured the exposure.

• Yan Pei let Gao Peng and Jin Hong proceed together, then confronted Ye Jiang when she arrived, but left after she called him annoying.
• Ye Jiang rode with the students to Examination Ground 165, a mountain resort converted into a trial site.
• Yan Pei warned the 107 students about the risks of daily contamination exposure before they were assigned to their trial chambers.
• Ye Jiang led the high-potential students into Trial Chamber A, where fungal threads from a captured corrupted began wrapping around them.
• As students became overwhelmed, Ye Jiang escorted them back to their dormitories until only Ming Xia and Jin Hong remained.
• Jin Hong showed signs of distress but kept watching Ming Xia while Ye Jiang sat nearby and brushed away the fungal threads.

Ye Jiang brought the injured Mushroom Man to her room, where the student tentatively interacted with her while Ye Jiang remained focused on games and her routine. After Ming Xia warned Ye Jiang that Jin Hong and Gao Peng might seek revenge, Ye Jiang dismissed the threat; the next morning, she found mycelium covering her bed and several patterned stones beneath her.

• Ye Jiang had knocked Jin Hong unconscious and dragged him out of the trial room, while Ming Xia left on her own when she began feeling unwell.
• Ye Jiang let the Mushroom Man rest in her room, but brushed away her mycelium when it repeatedly wound around her feet.
• The Mushroom Man guided Ye Jiang’s hands as she played a phone game, though neither of them managed to improve.
• Ye Jiang gave the Mushroom Man a meal box, and Ming Xia came by to warn her that Jin Hong and Gao Peng might retaliate.
• After Ye Jiang went to sleep, the Mushroom Man spread mycelium over her bed; in the morning, Ye Jiang found several patterned stones beneath her and put them away.

Ye Jiang continued supervising the students while secretly caring for the gentle C-rank polluter from Trial Room A. After a week, the students began feeling unwell in the trial room, and Ye Jiang’s cool touch seemed to relieve them, leaving Jin Hong increasingly isolated and unable to last as long as before.

• Yan Pei angrily ordered Ye Jiang to return the polluter she had brought out, and she led it back to Trial Room A, where it obediently entered its cage.
• Jin Hong resented Ye Jiang for knocking him out during the previous trial and blamed her for losing to Ming Xia, while Ye Jiang ignored his hostility.
• Ye Jiang continued taking the polluter to her room at night, and it returned to the trial room on its own each morning as the students’ trials continued without losses.
• A week later, a student became dazed during the trial, and Ye Jiang touched her forehead, apparently easing her discomfort.
• Several students asked Ye Jiang to touch them too, and most of them enjoyed the experience, while Jin Hong refused and grew increasingly excluded.
• Jin Hong left the trial room unsteadily before matching his previous duration, then struggled even more the following day as his classmates continued seeking Ye Jiang’s touch.

Jin Hong’s worsening performance and obsession with practice culminated in his transformation into a Class B corrupted, whom Yan Pei killed. Meanwhile, Ye Jiang helped the mushroom person resist its violent urges by inviting it back to their game, while the cause of Jin Hong’s transformation remained unexplained.

• Jin Hong grew increasingly distressed as he lasted less time in the trial chamber and his classmates surpassed him.
• Jin Hong wandered toward the trial chamber at night, transformed into a corrupted, and attacked Yan Pei.
• Ye Jiang defeated the mushroom person at Go, caught it cheating, and sent it to face the wall.
• The mushroom person’s suppressed pain stirred its violent urges, but Ye Jiang invited it to keep playing, and it returned to the board.
• Yan Pei crushed the newly transformed Jin Hong beneath a massive rock, and his assistants learned the corrupted had been the young master of the Jin Family.
• Yan Pei and the assistants wondered how Jin Hong had become corrupted, since corrupted contamination was not known to transform humans.

After Jin Hong disappeared, the students speculated about his fate while Ming Xia investigated the previous night's events and was attacked by mycelium. The mushroom person recognized an ordinary trilobite fossil and was overcome by hazy memories, as Ming Xia reached Ye Jiang to warn her that Jin Hong might be dead.

• Yan Pei rejected the assistants' concerns about trial room A and focused on explaining Jin Hong's transformation to the Jin Family.
• The students learned Jin Hong had withdrawn from the trial and secretly discussed his disappearance and their experiences in trial room A.
• Ming Xia found bloodstained fabric from Jin Hong's clothes and dodged an attack by remotely controlled mycelium.
• The mushroom person stopped its attack when Ming Xia dropped a trilobite fossil, then experienced hazy memories and an intense emotion.
• Ming Xia arrived at Ye Jiang's room covered in mud and warned her that Jin Hong might already be dead.