Chapter Summaries

Chu Zu entered Luciano’s office as Luciano confronted him and Dai Xian over suspected betrayal. Luciano aimed a gun at Chu Zu and fired, leaving his fate unresolved.

• The system offered to sell its usage rights so Chu Zu could buy a three-hour suspended-death item, and Chu Zu let it decide whether to proceed.
• The system sold its usage rights and bought the Physics Divine Beast for Chu Zu as he entered Luciano’s office.
• Hankao brought in Dai Xian, and Luciano accused her of spreading rumors, meeting with rebels, and possessing currency from Chu Zu.
• Luciano confronted Chu Zu as another traitor and asked how he would deal with one, and Chu Zu answered that he would kill him.
• Chu Zu took Hankao’s gun, returned it to Luciano, and instructed him how to aim before Luciano fired at Chu Zu’s forehead.

Luciano accused Chu Zu of betrayal after he let Tangqi go, then ordered him to undergo Mitoli neural-implant surgery. As the procedure began, Chu Zu accepted the risks and asked the system to investigate why two Mitoli children had died.

• Luciano shot Hankao for betraying him and questioned Chu Zu about meeting Tangqi; Chu Zu explained that Tangqi had tried to recruit him, but he had refused.
• Luciano blamed himself for not thinking things through, ordered Chu Zu to undergo an adjustment, and allowed him to take the bloodied Dai Xian with him.
• Chu Zu entered surgery to receive Mitoli technology, while two staff members discussed Luciano’s distrust and Chu Zu’s possible loyalty to Tangqi.
• Chu Zu remained conscious under heavy anesthesia and told the system that Luciano’s suspicion had worked to his advantage.
• Chu Zu asked the system to find information about Mitoli and discover why the two children had died.

After rescuing Dai Xian, Chu Zu told her he intended to take for himself what Luciano had promised him, while giving her the choice to seek out Tangqi. Dai Xian chose to stay and shared a secret about Luciano’s illegitimate son with Chu Zu before he left for work.

• After his lengthy operation, Chu Zu collected Dai Xian from the Esposito Medical Department and took her to one of her homes in the Upper District.
• Chu Zu told Dai Xian she could go find Tangqi, then revealed through his unsettling smile that he intended to become Luciano and claim the promised “best things” himself.
• The next morning, Dai Xian admitted she did not want to die, but said she could not obtain Tangqi’s password and chose to stay with Chu Zu.
• Dai Xian wrote that Luciano had an illegitimate son in the Lower Eighteenth District of Sydney, and Chu Zu destroyed the note after reading it.
• Chu Zu and Dai Xian tore up their written words and dropped them into their drinks, then Chu Zu asked whether she needed anything brought back from work.

Chu Zu carried out Luciano’s assignment while secretly pursuing his own plan, then confronted Luciano about breaking their promises and went to the Lower Eighteenth District. There, Chu Zu and the system found a child who looked almost exactly like Luciano as a boy.

• Chu Zu infiltrated the building, killed Luciano’s target, and learned from reader comments that they pitied him for helping Dai Xian.
• Luciano learned that Chu Zu had bought Confre flowers for Dai Xian and ordered Jeeves to monitor Chu Zu’s movements.
• Chu Zu charged Luciano for more than three hundred bouquets, then told him he was going to the Lower Eighteenth District and accused him of breaking their promises.
• Luciano ordered Jeeves to induce hallucinations and make Chu Zu attack the Lower Eighteenth District if he acted abnormally, despite the risk of leaving him an invalid.
• Chu Zu reached the Lower Eighteenth District with the flowers and found a child who looked almost exactly like Luciano as a boy.

Chu Zu found Luciano’s son, Sydney, in District 18 and decided to take him in despite the risk that his existence could disrupt the main storyline. After disguising the boy, Chu Zu took him onto the train, intending to have Dai Xian raise him.

• Chu Zu realized that Dai Xian’s discovery of Sydney had made it harder to justify waiting for Tangqi to kill Luciano, but the system warned him not to change the main plot.
• Sydney clung to Chu Zu and called him Daddy, and Chu Zu agreed to take him home after noticing Dai Xian’s name on the bouquet card.
• Chu Zu learned that District 18’s blond, blue-eyed residents had adopted their appearance because of a story about an assassin who once resembled Luciano.
• At the black market, Chu Zu dyed Sydney’s hair black and gave him colored contacts, telling him that coming home required him to be useful.
• Chu Zu explained that he wanted to keep Sydney alive and out of the power struggle, then took the boy to the station and used Luciano’s permissions to board the train.

Chu Zu brought Sydney home, where Dai Xian explained the boy’s origins and helped him settle in while he cautiously assessed his new life. Chu Zu registered Sydney as an Upper District resident, and Luciano learned how Chu Zu had spent years in District 18 before agreeing to accept Sydney as his son.

• Chu Zu brought Sydney home, and Dai Xian told him that Chu Zu was his father and had visited him in District 18 until his caretaker died.
• Sydney admitted to Dai Xian that he had been afraid to kill himself, and she promised to pass his feelings on to Chu Zu.
• Sydney adjusted to living with Chu Zu, who let him make his own choices but beat him when he asked to learn how to fight.
• Chu Zu registered Sydney as an Upper District resident, using Esposito’s authority to complete the identity paperwork.
• Jeeves told Luciano about Chu Zu’s years in District 18, prompting Luciano to understand his past and accept Sydney as his son.

Chu Zu settled into a routine of work and caring for Sydney, but Luciano activated a device in Chu Zu’s body, leaving him convulsing and in pain. Sydney found him soaking in ice water and climbed in to hold him, afraid of what would happen if Chu Zu died.

• Chu Zu explained to the system that Luciano’s apparent guilt came from cognitive dissonance and self-interest, then returned home to find Sydney had burned the kitchen while trying to make mango pie.
• Chu Zu and Dai Xian dealt with Sydney’s mischief as he rummaged through Dai Xian’s intelligence and became friends with Bulei, the girl who lived next door.
• Sydney invited Chu Zu to Bulei’s birthday dinner, but Chu Zu failed to arrive, leaving Sydney waiting until after midnight.
• When Chu Zu finally came home, his body convulsed; Dai Xian realized Luciano had activated a device inside him, and Chu Zu said he had to leave for District Thirteen and District Thirty-Two at six.
• Sydney found Chu Zu in the bathtub, asked if his condition was because of him, and climbed into the ice water to hug him and urge him not to die.