Chapter Summaries

On awakening day, Su Bai received a tiny, heavily contaminated divine kingdom with no followers and was mocked and pressured to sign a mining contract. After Shen Yueli gave him a suppression talisman, a hidden system called Ghost Story Creator awakened, and Su Bai rejected the contract while hinting that his future followers could challenge Gu Chengfeng’s berserkers.

• Gu Chengfeng awakened an S-rank Berserk War God Body with an eighty-thousand-square-kilometer wasteland kingdom and tier-two berserkers, while Shen Yueli awakened an A-rank Moonlight Sacred Domain with moonshadow elves.
• Su Bai awakened a ten-square-kilometer divine kingdom with no followers, a degraded wasteland, and a dark matter contamination index of ninety-nine percent.
• Gu Chengfeng mocked Su Bai and offered him a labor contract for the Gu Family’s contaminated mine, while his lackeys joined in.
• Shen Yueli intervened, gave Su Bai a contamination suppression talisman, and explained that Su Bai’s father had once saved her.
• Touching the talisman activated Su Bai’s Ghost Story Creator system, which identified his polluted kingdom as an ideal breeding ground for anomalies and issued a newbie gift pack.
• Su Bai tore up Gu Chengfeng’s contract and warned him that his berserkers might need to run when the time came.

After tearing up Gu Chengfeng’s servitude contract, Su Bai received seven days to prove his contaminated Divine Kingdom could be saved and learned that his system could create rule-based ghost stories. He set out to gather materials for a Female Ghost in Red before Gu Chengfeng’s promised Divine War.

• Su Bai tore up Gu Chengfeng’s contract, and Qin Wan stopped Gu Chengfeng from attacking him in Awakening Square.
• Qin Wan secured Su Bai a seven-day observation period before the school could revoke his enrollment and send him to the Pollution Treatment Division.
• Su Bai consulted the Ghost Story Creator System and received a resentment collector, a rule deduction sandbox, and the blueprint for Midnight Female Ghost in Red.
• Su Bai learned that the ghost story required one hundred corpses, an abandoned building, resentment, and a bloodstained red garment.
• Lin Que told Su Bai that mutated giant rat corpses were piled up at the west-city incineration station and agreed to look for an abandoned school.
• Su Bai headed out to gather materials so he could prepare a midnight surprise for Gu Chengfeng’s mock Divine War.

Su Bai gathered giant rat corpses and their lingering resentment to prepare a red-clothed female ghost for his urban legend. After Lin Que told him about an abandoned school where students had died and strange crying was heard, Su Bai set out to find a bloodstained school uniform before nightfall.

• Su Bai lied to his sick mother that he had awakened a promising hidden divine kingdom and took the family’s 352 Great Xia Currency.
• Su Bai convinced the incineration station gatekeeper to let him take giant rat corpses, then stored 120 of them in his divine kingdom.
• Su Bai used the Low-Level Resentment Collector on the corpses and gathered enough resentment to meet the conditions for creating a red-clothed female ghost.
• Lin Que told Su Bai about abandoned Red Star Middle School, where a dark matter leak had killed students and people reportedly heard a woman crying.
• Su Bai decided to search Red Star Middle School for a bloodstained school uniform before nightfall.

Su Bai investigated the abandoned Red Star Middle School, swallowed a nascent Anomaly, and recovered the bloodstained school uniform needed to create the Midnight Female Ghost in Red. After he left, Bai Lan and the City Appearance Bureau's Abnormalities Handling Section found the scene and began investigating whoever had devoured the Anomaly.

• Su Bai entered the abandoned school and followed Lin Que's intel to Senior Class 2 on the fourth floor of Teaching Building No. 3.
• A Hanged Ghost's Obsession appeared and attacked Su Bai, who opened his divine kingdom passage and swallowed it.
• Su Bai collected the Bloodstained School Uniform of Despair, the final material needed to create the Midnight Female Ghost in Red, then left the school.
• Bai Lan arrived with the City Appearance Bureau's Abnormalities Handling Section and found the pollution source gone and concentrated dark matter residue at the scene.
• Bai Lan ordered her team to investigate who had visited the school, calling the person who devoured the Anomaly a dangerous variable.

Su Bai used the bloodstained school uniform, rat corpses, and accumulated resentment to create a powerful rule-based ghost named Hongdou in his divine kingdom. After Gu Chengfeng challenged him to a full-connection divine battle in seven days, Su Bai accepted and warned him to bring more than ten thousand berserkers.

• Su Bai activated the Urban Legend Creation System and fused the bloodstained uniform, giant rat corpses, and resentment to create a first-tier female ghost.
• Su Bai named the ghost Hongdou, and the system locked her loyalty at absolute obedience.
• Lin Que called Su Bai and told him that Gu Chengfeng had posted a public challenge to a full-connection battle in seven days.
• Su Bai learned that Gu Chengfeng had armed his berserkers with second-tier enchanted weapons and that Teacher Qin was trying to cancel the battle.
• Su Bai told Lin Que to reply that he accepted the mock battle and to warn Gu Chengfeng that ten thousand berserkers might not be enough.

Su Bai faced Gu Chengfeng in a full-scale divine war, confident that his preparations would overcome Gu Chengfeng’s ten thousand berserkers. After Hongdou’s eerie bell and song began killing berserkers who looked back, Su Bai declared that Gu Chengfeng had entered his Ghost Story Paradise, and the battle continued.

• Qin Wan warned Su Bai that Gu Chengfeng’s full-scale challenge could destroy his divine kingdom, but Su Bai refused to back down.
• Gu Chengfeng prepared his berserkers to crush Su Bai, while Su Bai spent six days strengthening his divine kingdom and installing a rusty bronze bell as Hongdou’s trigger medium.
• Su Bai arrived at the arena with Lin Que, entered a connection pod, and began the battle against Gu Chengfeng’s ten thousand berserkers.
• Gu Chengfeng’s berserkers charged into Su Bai’s wasteland, where a bell tolled and a woman’s song warned them not to look back.
• A scarlet figure snapped the necks of berserkers who turned around, killing a thousand in ten seconds as Gu Chengfeng watched in disbelief.
• Su Bai told Gu Chengfeng that the deaths followed the rules of his Ghost Story Paradise and that the game had only begun.

Su Bai’s Hongdou devastated Gu Chengfeng’s Berserker Legion with her Death Gaze, then turned the charging troops against one another through Resentment Possession. The battle left Gu Chengfeng unable to control his followers while the spectators realized Su Bai’s rules-based horror power outmatched conventional tactics.

• Hongdou killed berserkers who turned to look behind them, leaving Gu Chengfeng’s expression grim and shocking the spectators.
• Gu Chengfeng ordered his remaining berserkers to close their eyes, avoid turning around, and charge the teaching building.
• Su Bai told Hongdou to stop singing and use Resentment Possession, which let her possess enemies whose fear exceeded fifty percent.
• Hongdou possessed Abbas, who attacked and killed his comrades, spreading panic through the Berserker Legion.
• More berserkers became possessed and slaughtered one another, while Gu Chengfeng’s attempts to command them failed.
• Qin Wan concluded that Gu Chengfeng was fighting a real-time strategy battle while Su Bai was playing a rules-based horror tale.

Su Bai used Hongdou and the abandoned school building’s illusion maze and dark matter contamination to defeat Gu Chengfeng’s berserkers after they became immune to fear. The berserkers collapsed and Hongdou slaughtered them, leaving Gu Chengfeng defeated.

• Gu Chengfeng activated Berserk Blood Boiling, making his surviving berserkers stronger, faster, and immune to fear and mental control.
• The berserkers forced Hongdou out of her possession targets and charged after her into the abandoned school building.
• Su Bai had Hongdou lead the berserkers through the building’s illusion maze, where they blundered into obstacles while Su Bai mocked Gu Chengfeng.
• Dark matter contamination corroded the berserkers and broke their berserk state, leaving them weak, poisoned, and afraid.
• Hongdou appeared in the corridors and slaughtered the helpless berserkers as Su Bai watched their number fall to zero and declared Gu Chengfeng defeated.

Su Bai defeated Gu Chengfeng by wiping out his berserker legion, then drained much of Gu Chengfeng’s divine kingdom before school officials cut the connection. As Su Bai faced accusations of cheating, Bai Lan arrived and demanded an explanation about the dark matter pollution in his kingdom and a missing Anomaly.

• Su Bai trapped and killed Gu Chengfeng’s ten thousand tier-two berserkers, then used Hongdou to prevent Gu Chengfeng from disconnecting the passage.
• Su Bai’s divine kingdom devoured the berserker corpses and drained more than half of Gu Chengfeng’s origin power before the dean cut the connection.
• Gu Chengfeng was carried away for medical treatment, and Su Bai emerged from his docking pod as Lin Que celebrated his victory.
• Gu Chengfeng’s lackeys accused Su Bai of cheating, and the dean announced that the school would inspect his divine kingdom.
• Bai Lan arrived with the Abnormality Division, identified pollution matching the scene of a missing Anomaly, and demanded that Su Bai explain what he kept in his divine kingdom.

After Su Bai’s victory over Gu Chengfeng, City Appearance Bureau officers inspected his divine kingdom but found no detectable cheating, though they placed him under strict observation. Gu Dehai then tried to attack Su Bai, but Principal Chen Tianxing intervened and forced the Gu Family to leave.

• Bai Lan ordered officers to inspect Su Bai’s divine kingdom after linking its aura to the missing Red Star Middle School Anomaly case.
• The detectors found extreme contamination but no contraband or independent Anomaly, so Bai Lan classified Su Bai as a first-level observation subject and ordered weekly tests.
• Gu Dehai arrived, learned that Gu Chengfeng’s divine kingdom had been severely damaged, and threatened to kill Su Bai.
• Qin Wan blocked Gu Dehai’s attack until Principal Chen Tianxing appeared and ordered Gu Dehai to leave the school.
• Gu Dehai took the unconscious Gu Chengfeng away, and Su Bai’s victory over him became the talk of the school.

After Su Bai defeated Gu Chengfeng, Principal Chen Tianxing warned him about the dangers of his contaminated divine kingdom and urged him to enter the National Deity Academy. Chen also revealed that Su Bai’s father had investigated the Eye of the Abyss before disappearing, while Bai Lan summoned Su Bai to the City Appearance Bureau for a contamination registration and a possible job.

• Lin Que told Su Bai that his thousand-currency bet had won him a hundred thousand, and Qin Wan took Su Bai to meet Principal Chen Tianxing.
• Chen Tianxing warned Su Bai that his contaminated divine kingdom could be destroyed under divine law and explained how an enemy could attack it from outside.
• Chen Tianxing urged Su Bai to place in the top ten at the Provincial Divine Battle Tournament to earn special admission to the National Deity Academy.
• Chen Tianxing revealed that Su Bai’s father, Su Qingshan, had disappeared while investigating the Eye of the Abyss and its research into creating rule-type Anomalies.
• Su Bai accepted the recruitment document and resolved to uncover the truth about his father while strengthening his divine kingdom.
• Bai Lan texted Su Bai to report to the City Appearance Bureau’s Abnormality Division that night for contamination registration and a temporary job.

Su Bai used his betting winnings to buy medicine to stabilize his mother’s illness, then learned about a contaminated unfinished residential complex that could provide material for his urban legends. He accepted Bai Lan’s offer to rescue three missing agents in exchange for a bonus and official consultant status, and prepared to enter the complex.

• Su Bai gave Lin Que ten thousand yuan from their winnings and transferred the remaining ninety thousand to himself.
• Su Bai bought a three-month supply of Heart-Clearing Life-Prolonging Powder from Ghost Hand to stabilize his mother’s condition.
• Ghost Hand told Su Bai about an unfinished residential complex where a rat plague had killed vagrants and stray dogs and City Appearance Bureau agents had gone missing.
• Su Bai gave his mother the medicine, then went to meet Bai Lan at the City Appearance Bureau’s Abnormalities Handling Section.
• Bai Lan explained that a suspected second-tier spatial labyrinth Anomaly had trapped three agents and offered Su Bai a hundred-thousand-yuan bonus and external consultant status for rescuing them.
• Su Bai accepted the temporary agent bracelet and prepared to enter the complex.

Su Bai entered the contaminated Sunshine Waterfront complex to investigate a suspected spatial-maze Anomaly and collect materials for his divine kingdom. After Hongdou killed a mutated stray dog, Su Bai entered Building No. 3 to search for three missing agents and the promised reward.

• Su Bai left his taxi and entered the gray-mist zone around Sunshine Waterfront despite the contamination warning.
• Su Bai crossed the complex boundary, confirmed that spatial folding had isolated the site, and called Hongdou for backup.
• Su Bai headed toward Building No. 3 while collecting contaminated construction debris for his divine kingdom.
• A mutated stray dog attacked Su Bai, and Hongdou reached through a spatial rift and killed it.
• Su Bai entered Building No. 3, where the last distress signal from the missing agents had come from.

Su Bai discovered that the unfinished building’s mist created a spatial loop and found three City Appearance Bureau operatives trapped inside. When a Resentment Contractor attacked them, Su Bai kicked the monster away, interrupting its strike.

• Su Bai collected resentment from the lobby walls and found that passing through the mist between the third and fourth floors sent him back to the first floor.
• Su Bai confirmed the spatial loop and began recording notes about how he might use the mechanism in his divine kingdom.
• Su Bai found Captain Bai Lan’s three missing operatives, who had been trapped in the building for three days and were badly injured and exhausted.
• A Resentment Contractor appeared and raised its steel bar to attack the bearded captain.
• Su Bai kicked the monster into the corridor wall while holding a half-eaten roujiamo.

Su Bai rescued Zhang Lei and the other agents by summoning Hongdou, who killed the second-tier Anomaly derivative. When they found the stairs trapped them in a spatial loop, Su Bai tore out a staircase and absorbed it into his divine kingdom, then set out to take every staircase in the building.

• Su Bai summoned Hongdou, who bent the monster’s rebar and killed the Resentment Contractor with her Death Gaze.
• Su Bai absorbed the monster into his divine kingdom and introduced himself to Zhang Lei and the other agents as a garbage recycler.
• Zhang Lei and Xiao Li explained that the stairs looped endlessly because of a spatial rule, trapping them in the building.
• Su Bai opened his divine kingdom rift and ripped the staircase and its spatial loop rule out of the building.
• The system reported progress toward completing the urban legend blueprint ‘The Thirteenth Step,’ and Su Bai announced he would take every staircase in the building.

Su Bai pushed through the unfinished building’s maze-like Domain, using the pollution from his divine kingdom to destroy its walls and absorb its materials. At the rooftop, he opened the passage to the wasteland and ordered it to devour the Anomaly’s core.

• Su Bai persuaded Zhang Lei and the agents to follow him upstairs, claiming he was clearing illegal construction for the City Appearance Bureau.
• The fourth floor transformed into a maze, where the building’s Anomaly attacked the group with flesh-and-concrete tentacles.
• Su Bai released his 99.5%-purity wasteland pollution, dissolving the tentacles and walls while the system reported rising Thirteenth Step fusion progress.
• Su Bai reached the rooftop and confronted the peak second-tier Anomaly, Resentment Real Estate Development, whose spatial pressure pinned Zhang Lei and the other agents down.
• Su Bai opened his divine kingdom passage at full power and ordered it to devour the rooftop as Hongdou appeared in the wasteland and a bell rang.

Su Bai and Hongdou defeated the peak second-tier Anomaly Resentment Real Estate Development, and Su Bai absorbed it into his Divine Kingdom. He created the second-tier urban legend The Thirteenth Step, then left the restored complex with Zhang Lei and the other operatives after accepting compensation.

• Hongdou used Death Gaze to twist the flesh mountain monster’s enormous eyeball, leaving it unable to fight back effectively.
• Su Bai opened his Divine Kingdom’s rift and devoured the monster, absorbing its Spatial Labyrinth rule origin and construction materials.
• Su Bai completed the blueprint fusion and created The Thirteenth Step, a second-tier Spatial Labyrinth-type urban legend attachment.
• Su Bai discovered that his Divine Kingdom had expanded from ten to fifteen square kilometers after absorbing the Anomaly.
• Zhang Lei, Xiao Li, and the female operative thanked Su Bai for saving them, and Zhang Lei gave him a black card containing fifty thousand yuan.
• Su Bai led the three operatives out of the complex, looking forward to breakfast and his total earnings of 150,000 yuan.

Su Bai rescued Zhang Lei and the other members of the third squad, eliminated the second-tier Spatial Labyrinth, and received payment and an external consultant ID from Bai Lan. Meanwhile, Gu Qingshan hired the Shadow Guild to kill Su Bai, who headed home unaware and eager for potential attackers.

• Su Bai emerged from Sunshine Waterfront with Zhang Lei and two squad members after the Anomaly vanished, and Bai Lan confirmed they were safe.
• Bai Lan paid Su Bai and gave him a City Appearance Bureau consultant ID, then ordered his danger rating raised to S-rank.
• Gu Dehai told Gu Qingshan that Gu Chengfeng had lost most of his divine kingdom's origin and fallen to C-rank.
• Gu Qingshan decided against openly attacking Su Bai and ordered a three-million bounty placed on him through the Shadow Guild.
• Su Bai rode home in a taxi, pleased by the money and unaware of the manhunt, while welcoming the prospect of collecting corpses for his Thirteenth Step.

Su Bai used a precious potion to ease his mother's illness, then learned that the Gu Family's feud had led to a three-million bounty on him. Though his teacher urged him to hide, he left determined to turn the assassins into resources for his divine kingdom.

• Su Bai gave his mother a dose of Heart-Clearing Life-Prolonging Powder, which eased her symptoms, though he still needed far more money to cure her radiation sickness.
• Su Bai showed Hongdou the Thirteenth Step in his divine kingdom and planned to use it as a trap and frontline defense against intruders.
• At school, Lin Que told Su Bai that classmates were speculating about how he had defeated Gu Chengfeng's berserkers, while Shen Yueli warned him to avoid side streets and gave him her number.
• Qin Wan announced an upcoming school assessment for the provincial tournament and later showed Su Bai an anonymous three-million bounty posted on the Shadow Guild's internal network.
• Qin Wan urged Su Bai to stay in the school dormitory, but he resolved to face the assassins and use their corpses to strengthen the Thirteenth Step.

Su Bai turned the assassin Venomous Bee’s ambush into a trap, using the contamination pouring from his divine kingdom passage to seize control of the encounter. He dragged Venomous Bee and his followers into his wasteland divine kingdom, where the assassin faced a ruined staircase at Su Bai’s invitation.

• Venomous Bee waited for Su Bai at the Night Owl Market, convinced the high schooler would be an easy target, and followed him after he bought contaminated junk.
• Venomous Bee attacked Su Bai in a secluded alley, but Su Bai stopped the poisoned blade and unleashed highly concentrated contamination from his divine kingdom passage.
• A pale hand from Su Bai’s passage grabbed Venomous Bee, who broke free and summoned shadow assassins before Su Bai ordered Hongdou to release him.
• Venomous Bee surrounded Su Bai with fifty shadow assassins inside a dark barrier, but Su Bai opened his divine kingdom domain and overwhelmed the barrier.
• Su Bai transported Venomous Bee and his assassins into his wasteland divine kingdom, then told Venomous Bee to climb a ruined staircase before trying to kill him.