Chapter Summaries

Zadi stole the Research Institute’s data, set the facility ablaze, and framed Pete while escaping with the help of two subordinates. After killing those subordinates to silence them, he was confronted by He Ao, who had followed him.

• Zadi entered the sixth basement vault, killed two mercenaries, destroyed the corpse’s face, and used stolen tools to copy the Supercomputer’s files.
• Zadi planted bombs, sabotaged surveillance, doused the fifth basement level with gasoline, and started a fire while blaming Pete for the destruction.
• He Ao followed Zadi unseen as the mercenaries fled the burning Institute, and Zadi escaped through a window with two subordinates.
• In a dark path, Zadi admitted he had obtained the data, then stabbed one subordinate and killed the other to keep them from revealing what they knew.
• He Ao emerged from the darkness and confronted Zadi, telling him he should thank someone in person.

He Ao killed Zadi after he used an Enhancement Drug, then returned home with drugs and research data for Roger to study. Roger baptized He Ao as a core believer of the Goddess of Life, allowing him to access the Life Codex, which he began reading to search for possibly lost history.

• Zadi used an Enhancement Drug to transform into a giant, but He Ao struck his Energy Convergence Point and killed him.
• He Ao collected Zadi’s storage device and a pouch containing six Enhancement Drugs, then returned home to Annie and Roger.
• He Ao gave Roger six C-rank Enhancement Drugs, thirteen likely D-rank drugs, nineteen Life Potions, and the research institute’s data to examine.
• Roger gave He Ao a storage device containing the Life Codex and explained the risks of becoming a core believer of the Goddess of Life.
• Roger baptized He Ao, establishing a connection between him and the Goddess of Life and unlocking the Life Codex on the storage device.
• He Ao opened the Life Codex and began reading it in search of possibly lost history.

He Ao read the Life Codex and found accounts of Andaweier, a former servant angel of the Goddess of Life whose name might connect to the Andawei Family. After Annie finished her homework, He Ao examined Zadi’s storage device and discovered it belonged to the Huier Mei Medical Consortium, where he found a report titled “Mars Project—Life Replacement Efficiency Analysis Report.”

• He Ao read the Life Codex and learned that Andaweier had fought the Goddess of Life and later tried to return from death.
• He Ao wondered whether Andaweier was connected to the Andawei Family and concluded that he still needed more clues.
• Annie showed Roger her completed medical homework, and He Ao praised her before she went to wash up.
• He Ao gave Roger the Life Codex and connected Zadi’s storage device to his wristband.
• He Ao confirmed that the device’s security code belonged to the Huier Mei Medical Consortium and opened a report titled “Mars Project—Life Replacement Efficiency Analysis Report.”

He Ao and Roger uncovered how Stars Pharmaceutical’s institute used poor volunteers to cultivate cloned organs, shortening their lives so the organs could extend wealthy clients’ lifespans. After Annie suggested taking the case to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, He Ao faced a possible path forward.

• He Ao read the Life Replacement Efficiency report and searched Reed’s files with Roger for the information removed from it.
• He Ao found evidence of contamination at the institute, learned that Life Potion was formulated there, and identified the Doctor, a qi-producing machine, and Soul-Devouring Pearls as parts of the wider operation.
• Roger analyzed the institute’s data and concluded that volunteers’ organs were cultivated inside them at a steep cost to their lifespans.
• He Ao and Roger realized the institute bought years of life from poor volunteers and sold the resulting organs to wealthy clients.
• Roger described how financial conglomerates could expand the trade by driving more people into desperation, and Annie suggested they go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He Ao and Roger uncovered the institute’s use of souls to make Life Potion and learned that Stars Pharmaceutical had a B-rank mercenary unit stationed outside Limen City. He Ao left the story facing Doctor, Reed, the company’s forces, and the still-undestroyed Fountain of Youth.

• He Ao sent institute evidence anonymously to Nock, the youngest and most driven agent in the Limen City FBI branch.
• Nock brought the evidence to the Director, who revealed that the institute had burned down and Zadi, its security chief, was missing, then said he would report the matter to higher-ups.
• Roger explained that the institute mixed extracted souls into Life Potion and consumed volunteers’ lives to complete it.
• He Ao identified diary clues suggesting Doctor had taken the remaining potions and that the Fountain of Youth was somewhere high up near the source of life.
• He Ao and Roger learned that a B-rank commander led a Stars Pharmaceutical unit stationed outside the city with at least twenty C-rank enhancement potions.
• He Ao considered the odds against him and the fact that the Fountain of Youth had survived even an angel’s attempt to destroy it.

Nock rejected Stars Pharmaceutical’s attempt to recruit him into its effort to capture Zadi and left the FBI office to contact Zadi. He Ao received Nock’s email, leaving him with an ally as he and Roger considered how to solve the mission.

• Stars Pharmaceutical’s lawyer reported Zadi for stealing trade secrets and urged Director Solin to help capture him.
• Nock realized Stars Pharmaceutical knew Zadi had contacted the FBI and saw that his superiors were willing to help the company.
• The lawyer offered Nock an invitation to Stars Pharmaceutical’s charity dinner, but Nock refused and walked out rather than betray Zadi’s trust.
• Director Solin threatened to suspend Nock, then promised the lawyer that another agent would handle the case.
• Nock hurried from his workstation while composing an email, and He Ao received it as Roger asked whether he had a solution.

He Ao and Nock visited Senator Jenos under a fabricated FBI inquiry, hoping to learn about Zadi’s connection to him. The chapter ended with Jenos reacting to He Ao’s question about a land dispute between their fathers.

• He Ao met Nock outside a rundown coffee shop and agreed to go with him to question Senator Jenos.
• Nock presented his FBI credentials at Jenos’s villa, and the butler admitted them.
• Jenos said he did not remember Zadi and claimed he had been in Aines City when asked about his whereabouts on September 15.
• He Ao used a convincing imitation of the FBI recording app, then asked whether Jenos knew about his father’s dispute with Zadi’s father over land in an abandoned park.
• Jenos’s expression changed slightly at He Ao’s question.

He Ao and Nock searched Jenos's father's archived project records for a link to Zadi's case and the senator's assassination, but found no direct evidence. Jenos then led them to the underground intersection where his father had died, and He Ao sensed dense life force at the scene.

• He Ao asked Jenos about his father's records, and Jenos agreed to show them on condition that their contents stayed confidential.
• Jenos led He Ao and Nock to the Archives, where he produced a large collection of paper records but refused to let them scan the documents.
• He Ao rapidly searched the files while Nock assisted, but found no project records directly connecting the abandoned park to the mysterious buyer.
• He Ao asked to see the original crime scene, and Jenos said the servants had cleaned it after the investigation stalled.
• Jenos led He Ao and Nock to the underground intersection where his father had died, and He Ao sensed dense life force there.

He Ao investigated Jenos’s abandoned Underground Garden, found traces of blood and a former Extraordinary Plant, and left before his remaining time ran out. He gave Nock advice about courage, wisdom, and survival, while Jenos decided to travel to Aines to investigate him.

• He Ao examined the Underground Garden and found dark crimson soil and rotten roots that suggested Extraordinary Plants had once grown there.
• He Ao and Jenos discussed their backgrounds as they returned to the first floor, and He Ao left the villa with Nock just before his time limit expired.
• The Old Butler told Jenos that Pete was absent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation archives and that Nock had been suspended; Jenos booked a flight to Aines.
• Nock told He Ao that Ander’s sacrifice had inspired him, and He Ao challenged him to think beyond charging blindly into danger.
• He Ao told Nock that courage and wisdom mattered, and that he had to learn to live before he could give others light.

Nock received access to the Archives from Director Solin and sent He Ao the files on the senator’s assassination. He Ao’s investigation confirmed that the senator had first been killed in the Underground Garden, leaving the Fountain of Youth’s connection to the case unresolved.

• Nock admitted his mistake to Director Solin, who revealed he knew Nock had met someone impersonating Zadi and said Nock was suspended from the case.
• After Nock asked about the senator’s assassination, Solin assigned him temporarily to the Archives and gave him an access card and account access.
• Solin reflected on his past as a Youth while looking at his medals and the promotional documentary chip about Ander.
• He Ao and Roger reasoned that the dead Dream Bell Grass could have survived for decades if nourished by the Fountain of Youth or another source of life force.
• Nock sent He Ao the senator assassination files and Solin’s instructions; He Ao used Eve to fabricate Hacker traces and told Nock to stay at the Bureau.
• He Ao examined the files and confirmed that the senator had been killed inside the Underground Garden, not at the intersection where the body was found.

He Ao investigated the senator’s death forty years earlier and uncovered signs that young Jenos had watched his father’s body with suspicion rather than grief. The cause of the sacrifice ritual remained unclear, so He Ao asked Roger what a ritual aimed at an unconscious higher-level object could accomplish.

• He Ao read the case file and learned that investigators had concluded the senator died during a failed Connecting Sacrifice Array, then closed the case as a cultist assassination.
• He Ao reviewed archived footage and photographs, found the bloodied pool where the sacrifice had occurred, and ruled out the Fountain of Youth as the liquid in it.
• Roger explained that the Goddess of Life favored offerings with strong vitality and that her church would not make a senator a core believer, leaving the identity of the senator’s god uncertain.
• He Ao noticed that young Jenos repeatedly watched his father’s corpse with vigilance and avoided facing the cameras, then found that Jenos’s family had collected the body.
• He Ao asked Roger to consult his senior brother about sacrifices aimed at an unconscious higher-level object rather than an Evil God.

He Ao investigated the old senator’s sacrifice and the Fountain of Youth, suspecting that an unknown third person had gained control of it decades ago. After identifying Stars Pharmaceutical’s growing influence over Fortress City No. 146, he activated the King of the Night Character Card.

• Roger told He Ao that a modified Sacrifice Array could connect its user to a high-level existence or Transcendent Item, and that sacrifices had to be strongly connected to the sacrificer.
• He Ao reviewed the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s surveillance records and considered whether an unseen third person had completed the old senator’s ritual forty years earlier.
• Annie brought He Ao and Roger Small Cakes, and He Ao recalled the cakes Annie’s mother had made before she died.
• He Ao searched for a cremation report from thirty-nine years earlier and reviewed news about Fortress City No. 146, where Stars Pharmaceutical had become the leading investor.
• He Ao told Roger that corporations were needed to deal with corporations, then went to his bedroom and used his last Exchange Star to load the King of the Night Character Card.

He Ao awakened in Vian’s body after six months of sleep and reviewed how Nolanka Group had fared under Lina and Danny’s leadership. He left the underground laboratory and reunited with the tearful Old Butler Danny, while the group remained financially strained despite its progress.

• Eve welcomed He Ao back as Vian, and he asked her to gather Nolanka Group’s reports and records from the time he had been asleep.
• He Ao learned that Roger had brought a box to Kaya City and wondered whether it contained Joey’s body, which might explain why Joey’s Character Card had survived.
• He Ao reviewed reports showing that Lina and Old Butler Danny had expanded employment, housing, and commerce in Kaya City, while Nolanka Group’s large investments kept its cash flow strained.
• He Ao rode the elevator to the top floor and passed a young woman who dropped her documents when she recognized him.
• He Ao entered the secretary’s office and embraced the tearful Old Butler Danny.

Jack and Aisha enjoyed the improved life in Kaya City and celebrated Aisha’s birthday as He Ao returned to lead the Nolanka Group. After hearing about the group’s financial and medical-industry problems, He Ao considered seeking an ally and asked what Dawn City’s new mayor had been doing.

• Jack and Aisha’s family benefited from lower living costs and better jobs in Kaya City, where Aisha bought discounted synthetic steaks from a Nolanka Group company.
• Jack surprised Aisha with a silver bracelet for her birthday, and they embraced as he promised their lives would keep improving.
• Lina confirmed that He Ao was alive and accepted that he was the Vian she remembered.
• Dannylo briefed He Ao and Lina on the Nolanka Group’s cash-flow problems, unsold products, outdated technology, and the Medical Consortium Alliance’s efforts to block its reforms.
• He Ao decided the group needed a powerful ally and asked Dannylo what Dawn City’s new mayor had been doing.

He Ao prepared to challenge Stars Pharmaceutical by moving the Nolanka Mercenary Group toward Fortress City 146 while arranging a large loan from the Nold Corporation. After parting from Annie and Roger, he returned to Kaya City to coordinate the plan as the Nolanka Group’s advance began affecting Stars Pharmaceutical’s stock.

• He Ao discussed Christos’s medical reform efforts and decided to use the Nolanka Mercenary Group’s presence near Fortress City 146 to open a new market.
• He Ao arranged for Roger to return to Kaya City and asked him to help with one last task before Annie and Roger departed together.
• The Nolanka Mercenary Group announced a field exercise near Fortress City 146, accompanied by a trade caravan, and Stars Pharmaceutical’s stock began to fall.
• He Ao traveled to the Stars Pharmaceutical Building, then returned to Kaya City and learned that his reconnaissance unit had spotted the Mercenary Group moving toward Fortress City 146.
• He Ao ordered the Old Butler to prepare collateral and seek a large loan from the Nold Corporation, explaining that it would do business for profit.

After the King of the Night card expired, He Ao left the hotel and continued his plans against Stars Pharmaceutical, using the confrontation near Fortress City 146 to draw the Federation’s attention. As damp clouds spread over Limen City, he found a small cake from Annie in his pocket, reminding him he was not entirely alone.

• He Ao reviewed the standoff between the Nolanka Group and Stars Pharmaceutical near Fortress City 146 and the legal claims each side had made.
• He Ao gathered his weapons and enhancement drugs, then left the hotel to pursue a plan that used the standoff to draw attention away from certain people.
• He Ao noticed unusually heavy, cold moisture spreading through Limen City as gray clouds covered the sky.
• He Ao watched a girl and her father pass a cake shop, then realized he had not eaten all day.
• He Ao found a small cake in his coat pocket with Annie’s note telling her silly dad to remember to eat.

He Ao infiltrated Stars Pharmaceutical Building by hiding among a shipment of living mutated beasts and discovered that the company drained their blood alongside human bodies for its research. He reached the Blood Analysis and Testing Laboratory and confronted the familiar middle-school classmate who had recruited Pete as a volunteer.

• He Ao used the fog and Nightwalk to slip into a cargo container filled with chipless, sleeping mutated beasts, then passed multiple security checks into Stars Pharmaceutical Building.
• He followed the beasts through an automated processing facility, where machines drained their blood into a Blood Pool containing human corpses.
• He Ao spotted a familiar figure among the laboratory staff, disguised himself in a lab coat, and located the Blood Analysis and Testing Laboratory.
• He entered the laboratory and recognized its person in charge as Pete’s middle-school classmate, who had once recruited Pete as a volunteer.
• He Ao revealed himself, called the man his old classmate, and watched him look up in recognition.

He Ao infiltrated the Blood Pool, forced an old classmate to reveal its computer network and laboratory locations, then fought his way through researchers transformed into Claws and Teeth. He reached the thirty-second floor, discovered the Life Potion production process and a machine that generated martial arts qi, and began climbing it to investigate before the instance ended.

• He Ao made Pete unlock the computer, learned that the Blood Pool had thirteen main computers, and found the Life Potion laboratory on the thirty-second floor and Doctor on the top floor.
• Pete tried to attack He Ao, but He Ao killed him and then fought the transformed researchers after they turned on him.
• He Ao killed a suspicious man by the elevator, entered it, and went up to the thirty-second floor.
• He Ao saw dense fog covering the city outside and inspected the enormous machine producing qi for Life Potions.
• He Ao recognized used Soul-Devouring Pearls being fed into a machine that made specialized test tubes, then climbed a pipe on the qi-producing machine to look inside.

Roger returned to Kaya City with Annie, while He Ao infiltrated Stars Pharmaceutical’s machine and discovered it was using living people to produce qi. After gaining new divine consciousness from the qi and the despairing souls’ final gift, He Ao continued toward the machine’s lower level, where a silver-haired man followed him after killing two researchers.

• Lina welcomed Roger and Annie at Kaya City Airport and took them to meet Mr. Dannylo at the Nolanka Group Building.
• He Ao opened an inspection hatch in Stars Pharmaceutical’s machine and descended inside, absorbing the qi leaking through the mist.
• He Ao found young people trapped in Glass Containers, where their fading souls and bodies were being used to produce qi.
• He Ao fashioned a mask, absorbed the qi offered by the despairing souls, and condensed a new strand of divine consciousness.
• A silver-haired man killed two researchers, found the open hatch, and descended after He Ao as an alarm sounded.

He Ao descended through the machine, killed the silver-haired supervisor, and absorbed the concentrated qi in the pool to strengthen his divine sense. After setting the high-energy batteries to explode and fighting his way past the transformed researchers, he entered the elevator and headed for the top floor.

• He Ao followed the fog to a C-Rank monster stitched together from many souls and killed it by striking its left chest.
• He Ao found and opened a concealed hatch, then escaped the silver-haired man's ambush by dropping to the machine's lowest floor.
• He Ao lured the silver-haired man into the qi-filled pool, used his bayonet and Short Sword to kill him, and absorbed enough qi to gain thirty-nine strands of spiritual awareness.
• He Ao sabotaged the high-energy batteries, fought through the researchers transformed into monsters, and escaped the machine as the batteries exploded.
• He Ao entered the elevator, watched the remaining souls dissipate, and pressed the button for the top floor.