Chapter Summaries

Chu Fei spent a month designing a modular cultivation method and preparing Abyss Team for its journey into The Inland. After the team announced it would offer protection on a trip toward Jinling City, twelve prospective clients came forward.

• Chu Fei designed a base-4 cultivation method that simulated base 8, adapted spells and techniques for it, and consolidated his abilities.
• Chu Fei inspected the team’s newly built combat motorcycles and decided Abyss Team needed a guide to enter The Inland.
• Abyss Team members discussed what kind of guide and clients to seek, and Li Shaorong proposed offering protection to returning teams in exchange for payment and intelligence.
• The team chose Jinling City as its preliminary destination and announced that it would depart in ten days, accepting one protection mission for two million Inland currency per 100 kilometers.
• Twelve prospective clients approached Abyss Team by evening, and Wang Qianyun received them for Chu Fei.

Chu Fei met with twelve teams seeking an escort into The Inland and held a bidding process to choose a partner for the Abyss Team. He selected the Titanium Alloy Adventurer Group for its mobility and strong roster, then met its leader, Titanium Bear, who asked him to share cultivation advice.

• Chu Fei explained the Abyss Team's plan to enter The Inland and answered the teams' questions about protection, insurance, and cooperation.
• Chu Fei opened bidding, and the Titanium Alloy Adventurer Group and Perpetual Motion Machine Team remained after the price reached 3.2 million per hundred kilometers.
• Chu Fei visited the Perpetual Motion Machine Team and then the Titanium Alloy Adventurer Group, whose members all possessed Awakened abilities.
• Chu Fei chose the Titanium Alloy Adventurer Group for its mobility and refused the Perpetual Motion Machine Team's offer to raise its bid.
• Chu Fei met Titanium Bear, praised his vitality, and agreed to exchange cultivation experiences.

Chu Fei learned from Titanium Bear how a cultivator’s realm shaped their consciousness space and limited breakthroughs near 10.0, then exchanged insights on cultivating that realm. As night fell, Chu Fei watched a struggling bonfire and suddenly entered a state of enlightenment.

• Titanium Bear explained that realm determined the size of a cultivator’s consciousness space and that an insufficient realm could prevent a breakthrough at 10.0.
• Titanium Bear described the Half-step Awakened and the cultivation realms beyond 10.0, along with several uncertain ways to broaden one’s realm.
• Chu Fei shared his insight from watching the sunrise at Dawn Academy, and Titanium Bear asked to try the same practice there.
• Chu Fei and Titanium Bear exchanged ideas about realms throughout the day, with each gaining new understanding.
• As night fell, Chu Fei watched the bonfire struggle to flare up and suddenly entered a state of enlightenment.

Chu Fei and Titanium Bear discussed cultivation, Nanofluid Metal, and the dangers that prevented High Walls from joining into larger settlements. After ten days of preparation, the Abyss Team and the Titanium Alloy Adventurer Group departed for Linjiang City.

• Chu Fei told Titanium Bear that scientific cultivation should understand and respect nature before transforming and transcending it, and Titanium Bear invited him to watch the sunrise at Dawn Academy.
• Titanium Bear explained that Nanofluid Metal was scarce and extremely expensive in The Inland, while Chu Fei realized Liu Tingyun had given him a fortune in material.
• Li Shaorong told Chu Fei he still had two boxes of Nanofluid Metal, and Chu Fei told him to keep them and reminded him to return with the team in ten days.
• Titanium Bear's group failed to gain an insight while watching the sunrise, and Chu Fei invited them to try again during the remaining days before departure.
• Titanium Bear explained that Energy Nodes limited where High Walls could be built and that large settlements attracted aberrations, while High Walls on Energy Nodes avoided them.
• Ten days later, Chu Fei led the Abyss Team and the Titanium Alloy Adventurer Group toward Linjiang City, with Wu Yong riding a motorcycle again.

Chu Fei returned to Dawn City, retrieved Feathered Serpent, and considered adopting a guarded bodyguard persona for his journey into the Inland. His plans halted when Titanium Bear reported that an aberration had appeared on the road out of Dawn City, prompting Chu Fei to wonder whether aberrations were hunting people.

• Chu Fei led the Titanium Alloy Adventurer Group and Abyss Team from Flying Tiger City to Dawn City, where Zhou Pengyue described the city’s new council and growing tensions with Hong City’s elites.
• Zhou Pengyue asked Chu Fei to share his Living Corpse Crystal Core potion-refining method, but Chu Fei referred him to Wu Yong, who claimed the necessary chip was unavailable.
• Chu Fei retrieved the shedding Feathered Serpent and listened as Wu Yong advised him to avoid a heroic persona and protect himself from moral pressure in the Inland.
• Chu Fei decided to present himself as a slightly wicked, paid bodyguard rather than a good person or villain.
• Titanium Bear and Huang Gang reported that an aberration was blocking the road out of Dawn City, and Chu Fei wondered whether such creatures were hunting people.

Chu Fei investigated the newly appeared insect horde threatening Dawn City, organized research on captured specimens, and identified their abilities and weaknesses. The chapter ended with Dawn City trapped between the insects and the Living Corpse Brood Queen, facing a battle that would consume resources without providing any in return.

• Chu Fei and Titanium Bear discussed theories about the crises and went to the Iron Blood Mercenary Group's square, where they learned that alien insects had cut off Dawn City's western routes.
• Chu Fei examined the captured insects, confirmed their venom and combat adaptations, and bought one specimen to study.
• Zhou Pengyue announced that tens of thousands of insects had surrounded the area and summoned the teams' leaders and researchers to a meeting.
• Chu Fei organized a temporary laboratory and reported that the insects were extraterrestrial worker-like tools with powerful bodies, fast reactions, and no apparent value beyond studying their weaknesses.
• Zhou Pengyue and Wu Yong discussed whether the Higher-Dimensional World was hunting humanity, while Titanium Bear warned that Dawn City was trapped between the insects and the Living Corpse Brood Queen.
• Chu Fei recognized that fighting the insects would drain Dawn City's resources without yielding crystal cores or other recoverable gains.

Dawn City planned a missile strike against a mutant mother nest, but Chu Fei refused to guide the missiles and Hong Yonggang led three other experts toward the target. The team found the nest producing millions of bugs and discovered Blood Raisins growing in the valley, leaving their value and the strike's outcome unresolved.

• Dawn City's leaders agreed to strike the mother nest with missiles before clearing the bugs, despite limited ammunition and potion supplies.
• Chu Fei proposed a wilderness route to Linjiang City, offered to seek help, then refused to guide the missiles because his wings were out of control.
• Hong Yonggang agreed to guide the strike and flew out with Wang Bolong, Jin Haishan, and Feng Yiming.
• Chu Fei estimated that the advancing bugs could number around 1.2 million, including thousands of high-level bugs.
• Hong Yonggang and the others reached the mother nest and saw larvae competing for red grape-like growths that Jiang Shanhai identified as Blood Raisins.

Jiang Shanhai explained the value and uses of Blood Raisins while Chu Fei considered making potions after entering the Inland. A missile strike hit the insect mother nest, but the Sea Lily survived and released larger insects as Hong Yonggang's group retreated.

• Jiang Shanhai described Blood Raisins as rare 10.0 spirit herbs that could produce powerful potions and mature far faster than Spirit Fruit.
• Chu Fei learned about potion formulas and prices, then decided that potion-making could be his livelihood in the Inland.
• The missile team prepared a strike while Hong Yonggang's group fought off flying insects and withdrew to a nearby mountain until the missiles were close.
• The mother nest rose from the lake and formed layers of insect defenses, but Hong Yonggang's group guided all twelve missiles into the valley.
• The Sea Lily survived the explosions and released large insects, prompting Hong Yonggang to order an immediate retreat.

Chu Fei prepared Dawn City’s defenses for the advancing mutant insect army and boosted morale by promising rewards for kills. When the insects attacked, Abyss Team’s precise fire held its section of the wall, but other sections were already being overrun.

• Chu Fei reviewed footage showing that the missile strike had barely damaged the mother nest, while mantis-like mutant insects destroyed the drones.
• Dawn City mobilized its forces as the insects advanced, and Chu Fei identified lesser elites by their unusually long antennae.
• Hong Yonggang and the other three returned without useful data, and Chu Fei offered potion rewards to encourage his soldiers to conserve ammunition and fight effectively.
• Chu Fei ordered artillery to target the lesser elites and waited until the insects came within four hundred meters before having Abyss Team open fire.
• Abyss Team’s barrage suppressed the insects in front of them, but within ten minutes insects had climbed the High Wall three kilometers away.

Chu Fei helped hold the Abyss Team’s section of Dawn City’s wall as the bugs broke through the defenses and attacked from both sides. After killing a powerful bug and discovering its crystal core, he judged he could survive inside the swarm and decided to take the risk.

• Chu Fei used N5-filled grenades to stop bugs from overrunning a breach, then examined their steel-hard shells as the Abyss Team held its section of the wall.
• More than a thousand flying bugs crossed the High Wall and began slaughtering people inside Dawn City, while Chu Fei kept his team focused on defending their position.
• Over a hundred elite bugs attacked the Abyss Team from inside the city as thousands more pressed from outside, and Chu Fei organized the team and shot down the elites with a 25mm autocannon.
• Chu Fei identified and killed a powerful bug carrying a blood-red crystal core, and the nearby bugs fell into chaos after its death.
• Chu Fei shared his findings over the public channel, assessed his chances of surviving among the bugs, and decided to venture into the swarm.

Chu Fei flew alone through the insect swarm to investigate the mother nest, where he discovered how the mutants cultivated Blood Raisin. After concealing himself long enough to reach the planting grounds, he launched an attack to seize mature Blood Raisin and stored his haul in his Portable Space.

• Chu Fei distributed Supernatural Potions to his subordinates, left Huang Gang, Long Tengwu, and Li Shaorong in charge of the defenses, and flew toward the mother nest.
• Chu Fei used his flight control and combat calculations to evade the insects, then slipped through the mountain forest and reached the valley undetected.
• Chu Fei concealed himself near the valley and watched beetle-like insects plant Blood Raisin using crystal cores and larval blood.
• Chu Fei decided to steal mature Blood Raisin, struck a beetle that noticed him, and swept into the planting grounds with his blade.
• Chu Fei cut through Blood Raisin vines and larvae, gathered the plants in a mesh bag, and sent the bag into his Portable Space.

Chu Fei harvested Blood Raisins, then fought his way through a swarm of insects and escaped their territory. He reached a quiet valley with Blood Raisins and other supplies, ready to experiment with cultivating them.

• Chu Fei destroyed the remaining Blood Raisins with grenades and sprinted into the forest to escape the pursuing insects.
• Chu Fei used Spiritual Perception to detect more than twenty mantis-like insects encircling him, then killed several with his blade and whip.
• Chu Fei fought off the encirclement with his whip, Liquid Metal armor, and a grenade, opening a gap to escape.
• Chu Fei used a twin-linked 25mm autocannon to wound twenty-one super insects, then finished them off and stored their bodies.
• Chu Fei ran south through the forest, killed more than a hundred pursuing insects, and flew beyond their territory.
• Chu Fei reached a quiet valley and took out Blood Raisins and other items to begin his cultivation experiment.

Chu Fei studied the Blood Raisin, found a way to germinate its seed with an activated crystal core, and returned to Dawn City as the city was overwhelmed by mutant insects. After learning that evacuation was slow and promised reinforcements had not arrived, he faced a choice about what to do next.

• Chu Fei tested a Blood Raisin, discovered that its violent energy could forcibly unlock bodily limits, and reasoned that its Hyper-Dimensional properties were key to refining it.
• Chu Fei used an activated level 10.0 crystal core to soften the Blood Raisin seed’s shell, germinated it, and stored the sprout with a mutant insect corpse in his Portable Space.
• Chu Fei upgraded Dawn 7.1 to Dawn 7.2, then flew back to Dawn City and found the city’s defenders fighting insect swarms after the High Wall defense line fell.
• Chu Fei reunited with Zhao Hongyue and learned that the Abyss Team was intact, the thousand-man unit had dwindled to fewer than three hundred, and children and teenagers were being evacuated underground.
• Wang Qianyun explained that evacuation would take many more hours, while Li Shaorong suggested the promised reinforcements were waiting for Dawn City to weaken the insects; Chu Fei weighed survival, integrity, and profit.

Chu Fei decided to turn Dawn City’s crisis into an opportunity by developing alchemical techniques and earning influence without hoarding crystal cores. After negotiating a contract to lead the experts on hunts for abnormal species, he returned to Abyss Team as nightfall brought a larger and more dangerous insect threat.

• Chu Fei told Abyss Team to conserve their strength, prepare to flee, and retrieve their motorcycles before he went to Dawn City’s conference hall.
• Chu Fei revealed a red-agate abnormal species crystal core, and the experts judged it could be more valuable than Blood Raisins used in the Crimson Flame Potion.
• Li Long asked Chu Fei to teach the experts Motorcycle Team tactics, and Chu Fei demanded a share of the hunting profits before agreeing to lead them and share his combat techniques.
• Chu Fei and the experts agreed that he would receive two 10.0 abnormal species crystal cores, excluding anything he hunted himself, for leading them near the valley and teaching them.
• As night fell and more powerful abnormal insects appeared on the High Walls, Chu Fei returned to Abyss Team’s defensive line.

As mutant insects launched an aerial assault, Chu Fei led Abyss Team’s Motorcycle Team in a flashbang-supported counterattack that exploited the insects’ inability to shut their eyes. After collecting hundreds of valuable crystal cores, the team raced toward its next target, leaving Wang Qianyun’s former teammate’s distress call unanswered.

• Chu Fei recognized that the insects were preparing an aerial attack, and the swarms flew over the defensive line into the city.
• Chu Fei told Huang Gang to use the Motorcycle Team’s flashbang tactics, then led 120 riders into the insect swarm while the rest of Abyss Team guarded the factory.
• The riders used flashbangs to disorient the insects and charged through the city, encouraging other defenders to fight back.
• Chu Fei spotted 821 level 9.0 insects near the High Wall, and the Motorcycle Team killed or scattered most of them with machine guns, motorcycles, and blades.
• Chu Fei ordered riders to retrieve the crystal cores and then directed the team toward another target.
• Wang Qianyun received a distress message from a former teammate, but Chu Fei ordered her to ignore it because she was now with Abyss Team.

Chu Fei led the experts in fighting a swarm of advanced insects, then agreed with Jiang Shanhai to attack the mother nest that night to draw the insects away from Dawn City. Their volunteer force set out for the western city gate, but found it shut.

• Chu Fei refused to rescue Wang Qianyun's acquaintance and led the Abyss Team away from more than a hundred Level 11.0 insects pursuing them.
• Chu Fei and the experts joined forces against the swarm, and Chu Fei killed six insects while Jiang Shanhai and the others fought alongside him.
• As the insects flew toward central Dawn City and casualties mounted, Jiang Shanhai proposed attacking the mother nest that night, and Chu Fei agreed.
• Jiang Shanhai gathered twenty-seven volunteers, and the group collected standard motorcycles for the mission.
• Chu Fei led the volunteers toward the western city gate, but they discovered that it was still shut.

Chu Fei led his group out of Dawn City and raced toward the mother nest, where they encountered a new kind of magical insect. As the chapter ended, the insects cast Slow Spell on Jiang Shanhai and the fighters, and Chu Fei opened fire to rescue them.

• Chu Fei and the twenty-seven fighters fought through the besieged city and opened the western gate by wiring its controller to his motorcycle.
• Chu Fei led the group through the wilderness, explaining how mother nests consumed insects that had fed on humans and learning more about mutants from Jiang Shanhai.
• After traveling more than eighty kilometers, Chu Fei spotted unfamiliar longhorn-beetle-like insects with protective auras and shimmering patterns.
• Jiang Shanhai identified the insects as magical beasts and threw a flashbang, but Chu Fei sensed an unusual energy fluctuation and warned the group.
• The insects dodged the fighters' attacks and cast Slow Spell on Jiang Shanhai and the others, so Chu Fei shot them and gave the group time to retreat.

Chu Fei discovered how to interfere with the mutated insects’ magic and helped the experts turn the battle in their favor. After breaking the insects’ spells with an explosive display that badly injured his hands, he faced Jiang Shanhai’s urgent question about how he had done it.

• Jiang Shanhai organized the experts into rotating groups after they retreated from the insects, and Chu Fei traded Elementary Revival Potions for Living Corpse Crystal Cores.
• Chu Fei charged an insect on his motorcycle, used his mental-strength pulses to collapse its Slow Spell, and killed it with his sword.
• Chu Fei and Feng Yiming fought together, with Chu Fei helping them overcome the insects’ magic and target their weak points.
• Chu Fei smashed two Level 10.0 Abnormal Species Crystal Cores together, breaking the magic across the battlefield and mangling his hands in the resulting blast.
• Jiang Shanhai’s group counterattacked and killed the weakened insects, then Jiang Shanhai asked Chu Fei how he had broken the magic.

Chu Fei explained how to use crystal cores to disrupt magic, earning a share of the team’s spoils, then guided Jiang Shanhai’s force through an insect encirclement and a dangerous battle. After they cleared most of the attackers and continued onward, they reached the valley containing the mother nest.

• Chu Fei explained that activating and bursting crystal cores could disrupt magic, and Li Long confirmed the technique worked.
• Jiang Shanhai awarded Chu Fei five percent of future spoils, and Chu Fei warned that released crystal-core energy could briefly encourage new magic.
• Chu Fei detected an encircling swarm, and Jiang Shanhai led the team around it before they fought the insects head-on.
• Mantis-shaped insects trapped two Motorcycle Riders in webs, and both men were killed as the team escaped a charge by twenty-six longhorn beetles.
• Jiang Shanhai led three return charges against the swarm, and the team killed nearly seventy percent of the insects before moving on.
• Chu Fei declined to commit to joining the Wind and Thunder Mercenary Group, and the team eventually reached the mother nest’s valley.

Chu Fei led twenty-five Motorcycle Riders through the insect swarm to a patch of Blood Raisins, where the team harvested fruit and seedlings while fighting off the insects. As Chu Fei sensed a deadly threat and took to the air, Sea Lily tentacles erupted from the hillsides and enclosed the entire valley.

• Jiang Shanhai, Hong Yonggang, and Chu Fei led the Motorcycle Riders diagonally through the insect swarm and reached the valley after Chu Fei guided their formation.
• Chu Fei observed the mother nest's cycle of feeding on returning insects, producing stronger larvae, and sustaining rapidly growing Blood Raisins.
• The riders charged toward the Blood Raisins and fought the longhorn beetles, while Chu Fei used flashbangs to rescue three fallen riders.
• Jiang Shanhai assigned four riders to harvest the Blood Raisins and dig up seedlings as the others fought off larvae, beetles, and mantises.
• Chu Fei warned that no new alien insects had appeared since the missile attack, then spread his wings and abandoned his motorcycle as his sense of danger peaked.
• Sea Lily tentacles burst from the surrounding hillsides and enclosed the entire valley before the team could escape.