Chapter Summaries

Director Chen came to recruit Polaris for the Qiongzhou Strait sea-crossing project, but Director Wang objected to treating her as a resource before she had recovered. Director Chen apologized and offered support and a choice, leaving Polaris’s decision unresolved.

• Director Wang learned that Director Chen had traveled overnight to seek Polaris for the research institute, and he and Sing Sing insisted that her consent came first.
• Director Chen presented plans for the Qiongzhou Strait sea crossing and explained how Polaris’s magnetic abilities could help position immersed tubes and survey the seabed.
• Director Wang confronted Director Chen for pressuring Polaris despite her poor health and traumatic captivity, demanding that he consider her willingness and recovery.
• Director Chen apologized to Polaris and offered her expert status, a formal contract, medical and psychological support, time to recuperate, and the freedom to refuse.
• Sing Sing raised his hand to speak, as the meeting awaited Polaris’s response.

Sing Sing negotiated a cautious, compensated trial for Polaris to help with the Qiongzhou Strait immersed-tube project, with safeguards for her health and autonomy. Polaris agreed to try, provided Sing Sing stayed with her, and Director Chen brought out a temporary consultant agreement.

• Sing Sing proposed that Polaris begin with recuperation and model training, then provide remote design consultation before any brief on-site support.
• Sing Sing insisted that Polaris volunteer, retain the right to pause, pass medical and psychological evaluations, and receive proper pay and protections; Director Wang required the 749 Bureau to manage any secondment.
• Director Chen accepted the safeguards and agreed to begin with model verification before considering a short visit to the Coastal Base.
• Polaris asked about her salary, heard the compensation and benefits, and agreed to give the work a try.
• Polaris asked Sing Sing to stay with her, and Director Chen presented a temporary consultant agreement.

Sing Sing assigned the returning recruits to new jobs, and Polaris traveled to Jiuquan Space City to join its heavy rocket recovery project. After chief engineer Gao Legao rejected her appointment, Sing Sing brought her to the testing hall, where she prepared to fix a costly attitude control valve.

• Sing Sing announced Riptide's firefighting post, Anton's archives job, Polaris's aerospace expert appointment, and Soft Serve's logistics role, then reminded everyone of workplace rules.
• Polaris arrived at Jiuquan Space City and met chief engineer Gao Legao, who doubted her qualifications and ordered her taken to the guesthouse.
• Sing Sing persuaded Gao to bring the group to the testing hall, where engineers described a valve delay that could send a landing rocket fifty meters off course.
• Polaris offered to help and approached the eight-million-yuan valve as an expert warned her not to touch it.

Polaris used her magnetic power to repair a precision aerospace valve, astounding the engineers and earning their eager respect. Sing Sing negotiated protections and generous benefits for her, and Polaris warmed to her new workplace.

• Polaris rearranged the valve’s microscopic metal lattice, and the high-pressure test showed perfect results with zero response delay.
• Chief Engineer Gao nearly knelt to Polaris and asked her to teach at the materials institute, while the other experts crowded around with questions.
• Polaris insisted that she was only an employee, and Sing Sing warned the engineers that she was recovering and could work no more than four hours a day.
• Sing Sing negotiated recovery meals, allowances, and a major breakthrough bonus for Polaris, and Chief Engineer Gao approved the benefits.
• Polaris laughed and joked that she would twist any rocket belonging to someone who made her work unpaid overtime into a pretzel.

Amy began operating an ice cream cart at Space City's family housing compound, where Sing Sing presented her ability as logistical support for researchers and residents. After a weary researcher tried her refreshing mint ice cream, a crowd formed, and Amy found herself busy serving people who appreciated her work.

• Chief Designer Gao arranged a trial ice cream cart for Amy, and Sing Sing insisted that logistics provide an invoice and proper records.
• Sing Sing wrote a menu and explained that Amy's ice cream had been assessed as safe, while Polaris questioned the refreshing mint flavor.
• When few people approached the cart, Sing Sing advertised free samples for overworked researchers, and a researcher who had been awake for three days came to try one.
• The mint ice cream cleared the researcher's exhaustion, so he ordered twelve servings for his team, and Sing Sing recorded the distribution.
• Word spread through Space City, and researchers, experts, and families queued for different flavors as Xiao Wang requested more cups and spoons.
• Amy served the growing line and felt moved by the customers' gratitude and by the feeling that people needed her.

Sing Sing returned from Space City with Riptide and brought him to a Beijing fire and rescue detachment, where Captain Zhang doubted he could handle the job. Sing Sing proposed a smoke-clearing bet to prove Riptide’s abilities, and Captain Zhang agreed to test him.

• Sing Sing ended Polaris’s workday, gave her advice about overtime, and said goodbye to her and Soft Serve before returning to Beijing.
• Sing Sing found Riptide Jie reading a dictionary at the 749 Bureau and took him to report to a special-operations fire and rescue detachment.
• Captain Zhang objected to Riptide’s transfer, doubting his strength and refusing to accept him without a physical fitness test.
• Sing Sing explained that Riptide had special abilities and proposed a contest comparing him with the detachment’s exhaust fans.
• Captain Zhang agreed to Sing Sing’s bet to start a fire in a training building and see who cleared the smoke faster.

Riptide demonstrated his wind-controlling abilities during a mock chemical fire drill, clearing the smoke and extinguishing the flames in under a minute. Captain Zhang and the firefighters were left stunned by his performance.

• Captain Zhang arranged the base’s toughest mock chemical fire drill and wagered that Riptide would fail.
• Sing Sing told Riptide that a successful demonstration could earn him a private room with a bathroom.
• The smoke and flames overwhelmed the industrial exhaust fans, and Riptide entered the training ground without protective gear.
• Riptide created a tornado that sucked the smoke and simulated toxic gas out of the training area in less than thirty seconds.
• Riptide formed a second, horizontal tornado that extinguished more than a dozen fires, completing the drill in under a minute.
• Lao Chen told the stunned firefighters that their previous fastest time with the exhaust fans had been twenty-two minutes.

Captain Zhang welcomed Janos Quested, also called A-Ji, into the fire brigade as his deputy captain after seeing his abilities save lives in a simulated chemical fire. Sing Sing secured special accommodations and conditions for him, and the chapter left Janos warmly surrounded by his new colleagues.

• Captain Zhang appointed Janos Quested deputy captain and promised him private quarters, five meals a day, and the highest allowances.
• Janos saluted Captain Zhang, who returned the salute and welcomed him to the brigade.
• Sing Sing asked Captain Zhang to adjust Janos’s training, provide a patient language partner, and approve holiday leave for Janos to reunite with his younger brother; Captain Zhang agreed.
• Sing Sing left after teasing Captain Zhang and refusing to clean up his sunflower seed shells.
• The firefighters welcomed Janos with questions, food, and invitations, while Captain Zhang ordered a celebratory dinner and forbade anyone from giving him alcohol.

Sing Sing brought Toad back from remedial language lessons to his construction job, then ran into Ah Mei and pleaded with her to reconcile. She rejected him and left without paying her café bill, leaving Sing Sing heartbroken and stuck with the charge.

• Sing Sing rescued Toad from Auntie Li’s pronunciation lessons and paid her for her trouble.
• Sing Sing told Toad that his coworkers had requested his return to the Tiankeng Village tunnel construction site to cut the ribbon.
• At Good Luck Comes, Sing Sing mistook a woman seated with her back to him for Ah Mei and begged her to explain why she had left him.
• Ah Mei said they were incompatible because they were on different radio channels, then stormed out of the café.
• The waiter demanded that Sing Sing pay Ah Mei’s sixty-eight-yuan bill, and Sing Sing questioned the charge while Toad watched.

Sing Sing brought Mortimer back to Tiankeng Village, where the workers welcomed him as Master Mo and celebrated his return. After leaving Mortimer at the construction site, Sing Sing reviewed his list of mutants still needing placements and turned his attention to Wandering Girl.

• Comrade Ling Ling Qi gave Toad bags of fried silkworm pupae and spicy grasshoppers, which Toad eagerly ate.
• On the train, Mortimer sang “Unity Is Strength” for Sing Sing, who promised to test him on the second verse next time.
• Sing Sing and Mortimer arrived at Tiankeng Village to a firecracker welcome from Lao Liu and the construction workers, including Lao Li, who told Mortimer his newborn son was nicknamed Mo Mo.
• The workers held a celebratory meal for Mortimer, while Sing Sing checked with Lao Liu that Mortimer’s benefits and workplace recognition were in order.
• The next morning, Sing Sing rated Mortimer excellent on his evaluation form as Mortimer worked across the cliff face, then left for the county town.
• Sing Sing crossed Toad off his placement list and decided he needed to find Wandering Girl a job where she could not drink.

Sing Sing used milk tea to curb Wandering Girl’s alcohol withdrawal and proposed her for a job at the 749 Bureau. He teleported with her to Ma Weiguo’s office to deliver a top-secret document, leaving Ma Weiguo startled and demanding they use the door.

• Sing Sing returned to the courtyard and found Wandering Girl suffering from alcohol withdrawal while Xiao Liu enforced Director Wang’s ban on drinking.
• Sing Sing gave Wandering Girl pearl milk tea and taro boba, which she eagerly drank as he calculated the cost of using milk tea as an alcohol substitute.
• Sing Sing proposed milk tea as a way to manage Wandering Girl and accepted Director Wang’s test: she had to deliver a top-secret envelope to Major Ma Weiguo within an hour.
• Sing Sing persuaded Wandering Girl to deliver the envelope by promising her daily milk tea, and she locked onto the Northwest Military Region’s coordinates.
• Wandering Girl teleported Sing Sing and herself into Ma Weiguo’s office, startling him as he reached for his pistol before recognizing Sing Sing.

Sing Sing and Wandering Girl delivered a document to Ma Weiguo, securing her official post as a 749 Bureau breaking news photojournalist. After she received her work ID, Sing Sing planned to recruit more displaced Mutants around the world.

• Sing Sing and Wandering Girl reached Ma Weiguo's office in the Northwest Military Region in minutes, delivered the document, and took five meat buns from the mess hall.
• Ma Weiguo signed the receipt, and Sing Sing returned with it and two buns to Director Wang, who approved Wandering Girl's official post and a two-thousand-yuan milk tea allowance.
• Edith received a 749 Bureau work ID naming her as a specially appointed breaking news photojournalist, and Sing Sing gave her a congratulatory milk tea.
• Sing Sing crossed Wandering Girl's name off his notebook's recruitment list and resolved to find more Mutants and offer them employment contracts.

Sing Sing persuaded Wandering Girl to teleport him to the United States for an investigation into the special talent market, despite having no exact destination or real contingency plan. She transported them to a casino instead of New York, leaving Sing Sing stunned amid the slot machines.

• Sing Sing bribed Wandering Girl with milk tea and food to take him to the United States and save the organization airfare.
• Wandering Girl agreed to handle transportation only, while Sing Sing claimed they were investigating the special talent market in the western United States.
• Sing Sing left with Wandering Girl before Xiao Liu could report their vague travel plan to Director Wang.
• Wandering Girl teleported them without exact coordinates, and they arrived in a casino surrounded by slot machines and gamblers.
• Sing Sing asked Wandering Girl where she had taken him.

Sing Sing tracked down Gambit at a Las Vegas casino and pretended to be his cousin before helping him escape a confrontation with casino security. Sing Sing fled with the stolen cash and valuables, leaving Gambit baffled by his behavior.

• Wandering Girl teleported away after telling Sing Sing that the wind and the smell of capitalism would lead him to Las Vegas.
• Sing Sing entered the VIP buffet, spotted Gambit winning at poker, and called him his cousin while grabbing some of his chips.
• When casino security confronted them, Sing Sing accused Gambit of cheating and stealing his aunt’s pension, and both men were taken to the manager.
• Gambit blasted the manager’s coffee table with a charged playing card, and Sing Sing knocked the manager unconscious with an ashtray.
• Sing Sing gathered cash and the manager’s watch, cut a hole in the door, and told Gambit to cover their escape as he crawled out.

Gambit confronted Sing Sing in an alley, but Sing Sing tried to recruit him as an infrastructure blasting expert instead of discussing their powers. When Boneforge and his gang attacked, Gambit fought back while Sing Sing recorded Boneforge’s abilities and dodged the thugs.

• Gambit challenged Sing Sing to a card game, but Sing Sing proposed Dou Dizhu and offered to teach him.
• Sing Sing analyzed Gambit’s explosive powers and urged him to return to China for a well-paid infrastructure job.
• Boneforge arrived with a gang of thugs, demanded Gambit’s winnings, and threatened to kill him and Sing Sing.
• Gambit warned Sing Sing that Boneforge absorbed kinetic energy, then attacked him with explosive cards while Boneforge’s armor withstood the blasts.
• Sing Sing dodged the thugs until their belts snapped, leaving several of them clutching their pants on the ground.
• Boneforge charged at Gambit and Sing Sing, and Gambit yelled for Sing Sing to get out of the way.

Sing Sing killed Boneforge after Boneforge murdered a security guard, then mourned the bloodstain on his suit and demanded workplace compensation. Gambit was left unnerved by Sing Sing’s sudden shift from ruthless killer to complaining worker.

• Boneforge threw a security guard at Sing Sing and used the distraction to attack, but the guard died from his injuries.
• Sing Sing condemned Boneforge for killing an ordinary worker and advanced on him as Boneforge threatened to murder people across the street.
• Sing Sing crippled Boneforge by cutting his tendons and disabling his joints, then beheaded him after Boneforge threatened his family and friends.
• Gambit warned Sing Sing that Boneforge had dangerous connections, but Sing Sing killed him anyway.
• Sing Sing worried that blood had ruined his white suit and asked Gambit whether workplace injuries qualified for compensation.

Sing Sing and Gambit escaped the armed pursuers through the sewers after Sing Sing harvested Boneforge’s bone spurs. At a Las Vegas hotel, Sing Sing introduced himself as Ling Ling Qi, a director in China’s 749 Bureau, leaving Gambit to learn who had intervened in his life.

• As armed pursuers approached, Sing Sing removed three of Boneforge’s strongest bone spurs and packed them in his suitcase despite Gambit’s protests.
• Gambit blasted the alley entrance with charged playing cards and led Sing Sing into a sewer, where he repeatedly complained about its construction.
• Sing Sing and Gambit reached a Las Vegas hotel, where Sing Sing raided the snacks and tried to pack the minibar’s liquor into his suitcase.
• When Gambit demanded to know who he was and what he wanted, Sing Sing offered him a business card identifying himself as Ling Ling Qi of China’s 749 Bureau.

Sing Sing tried to recruit Gambit to China’s 749 Bureau by showing him how Riptide, Polaris, and Toad had found work and acceptance there. He offered Gambit a job as a directional blasting engineer, but Gambit remained cautious and asked for proof that the offer was genuine.

• Sing Sing showed Gambit recent photos and videos of Riptide, Polaris, and Toad living and working in China.
• Sing Sing explained how the three Mutants had used their abilities to help Chinese workplaces and communities.
• Gambit considered his lonely life in Las Vegas and questioned whether China could offer him a safe place to live.
• Sing Sing offered Gambit a position as a specially appointed chief directional blasting engineer and presented a bilingual labor agreement.
• Gambit examined the contract for hidden traps, then asked Sing Sing how he could know the offer was real.

Avalanche attacked the Four Seasons Hotel to kill Gambit and Sing Sing, collapsing its west wing. Sing Sing rescued Gambit and protected the unsigned contract, and the two fled as Avalanche’s people closed in.

• Avalanche ordered his men to kill Gambit and Sing Sing and bring down the hotel’s west wing.
• As the Four Seasons began collapsing, Sing Sing insisted that Gambit sign the contract and grabbed him before he fell through the floor.
• Sing Sing carried Gambit through the collapsing building and escaped with him into the landscaped strip across the street.
• Sing Sing lamented the lost hotel freebies, checked that the contract survived, and assessed Avalanche’s demolition abilities.
• A dozen SUVs arrived, and Gambit ran to find a powerful ally while Sing Sing reminded him that he still had not signed.

Gambit and Sing Sing drove north across the Nevada desert to recruit a stubborn Mutant named Logan Howlett. They found him at the Severed Finger Bar, where Logan warned Sing Sing not to come closer.

• Gambit and Sing Sing abandoned their broken-down car, bought hot dogs, and stole a pickup from a man Sing Sing knocked unconscious with a piece of gravel.
• Gambit told Sing Sing that Toad was working at a construction site in Guizhou and had earned the workers’ trust by saving a man who fell off a cliff.
• Gambit drove Sing Sing to the Severed Finger Bar, where Sing Sing photographed its battered exterior as inspiration for a redevelopment project.
• Sing Sing recognized the man drinking alone as Wolverine, also known as Logan Howlett, and approached him with a recruitment contract.
• Logan warned Sing Sing that he would have six more holes in him if he took another step.