Chapter Summaries

He Ao weighed Liu Zhengyun’s offer of a villa or a dangerous ruins slot, then arranged to pursue another way to gain entry with Liu Nan’s help. After returning home, he entered the Life Simulation Game and was matched with Roy, the boss of Inor Restaurant.

• He Ao told Liu Zhengyun he needed until noon the next day to choose between the villa and the ruins slot.
• On the boat ride back, Liu Nan said she wanted to enter the ruins and proposed helping He Ao find another slot in exchange for dinner.
• He Ao agreed to Liu Nan’s terms and decided to pursue the chance to gain both rewards.
• At 11:57 p.m., He Ao returned home and waited for the Life Simulation Game to begin.
• The game matched He Ao with Roy, the boss of Inor Restaurant, and began recounting Roy’s childhood and his parents’ divorce.

He Ao woke in Roy’s body after receiving a mission to sabotage the Witchcraft Church’s plans. He cleaned himself up and left Roy’s apartment after looking at an old family photograph.

• He Ao woke in Roy’s body and saw the mission to sabotage the Witchcraft Church’s plans.
• He Ao struggled to stand and examined Roy’s overweight, unkempt appearance in the bathroom mirror.
• He Ao washed and styled Roy’s hair and beard, then chose loose clothing to conceal his body.
• He Ao noticed an old family photograph of Roy’s parents and himself before leaving the apartment.

He Ao recovered Regit's Short Sword from the alley and returned to Roy's apartment, where he considered how to conceal it. He left the street as protesters called for the mayor to step down, briefly catching Igarie's attention.

• He Ao watched Monica interview Kiko on a street television before heading toward the building where Regit had lived.
• He Ao struggled to pull Regit's Short Sword from the concrete, then activated Hyperthymesia and drew it from the ground.
• He Ao covered the sword with his trench coat and left the alley, passing a protest against the mayor.
• Igarie thought a passing man's aura seemed familiar, but dismissed the impression to Annie.
• He Ao returned to Roy's apartment with the Short Sword and realized its hidden scabbard was gone.

He Ao uncovered a hidden security compartment in Roy’s bathroom by solving a childhood riddle from Roy’s memories. Inside, he found an arsenal and a black box containing two silver test tubes filled with green liquid.

• He Ao suspected Roy’s unusual strength or abilities might be connected to his apartment or restaurant, then noticed the Family Photo frame was fixed to the bathroom sink.
• He Ao recalled his father’s riddle and worked out the sequence for turning the Family Photo, using the family’s three members and the numbers in the clues.
• He Ao found the clasp behind the frame, lowered it, and turned it once clockwise and eight times counterclockwise.
• A hidden security system reset and registered He Ao’s iris and palm prints, then opened a compartment behind the bathroom mirror.
• He Ao entered Roy’s birthday into a black box and discovered two silver test tubes filled with green liquid.

He Ao drank the Talent Sequence 7: Spectator potion in Roy’s father’s secret room and survived the dangerous transformation by using Super Memory to stabilize Roy’s body. The chapter ended with his senses greatly enhanced and Roy’s body visibly strengthened.

• He Ao read the labels for the Spectator and Mercenary potions and recognized them as successive Talent Sequences that offered a path into the supernatural.
• He Ao considered the potion’s risks and his existing Super Memory, then drank the Spectator potion.
• As the potion’s power threatened to tear apart Roy’s muscles and blood vessels, He Ao activated Super Memory and used his martial arts knowledge to strengthen the body.
• He Ao endured a brief loss of perception before his senses returned, enhanced by the Spectator sequence.
• He Ao reduced the sensory enhancement to conserve energy and saw that Roy’s body had become leaner and more muscular.
• He Ao opened the status panel.

He Ao mastered the Spectator enough to investigate Roy’s restaurant, but found no hidden clues there. Bern then claimed he had seen Roy leaving the White Rabbit Dance Hall the previous night, exposing a gap in He Ao’s memories.

• He Ao realized his physical fitness had risen by 20 and estimated he would master the Spectator by midnight.
• He Ao familiarized himself with the firearms, concealed a short sword in his father’s windbreaker, and left the apartment.
• He Ao visited Inor Restaurant and found no suspicious mechanisms or other clues.
• Naomi greeted He Ao at the restaurant, while Bern appeared unusually exhausted and admitted he had gone to Elysium.
• Bern told He Ao he had seen him leave the White Rabbit Dance Hall the previous night, but He Ao had no memory of going there.

He Ao stopped a drugged customer from threatening Naomi, then traveled through Aston District to visit the White Rabbit Dance Hall. On the way, he saw the violence and poverty surrounding a new school and arrived at the dance hall’s building.

• Bern warned He Ao that a tattooed customer was reaching for Naomi, and the customer pulled a gun when Naomi insulted him.
• He Ao disarmed the customer, forced him to pay his bill, and sent him out of the restaurant.
• He Ao noticed a disguised silver-haired girl leaving, then took a taxi toward Elysium District.
• The taxi driver told He Ao that the Crocodile Gang’s leader had died and its factions were fighting over Aston District.
• He Ao watched workers build a school for homeless children amid gang violence and poverty.
• He Ao reached the building and took the elevator to the White Rabbit Dance Hall on the seventy-eighth floor.

He Ao visited White Rabbit Dance Hall to investigate Roy’s past connection to the Dancer Qi Rui, whose performance triggered fragmented memories of Roy growing weak and disoriented. After briefly mistaking a red-dressed figure for the imprisoned Witchcraft Church priest, He Ao left uncertain and still needing to confirm the Dancer’s whereabouts.

• He Ao used Roy’s membership records to learn that Qi Rui was performing in Hall 18 and bought admission.
• He Ao watched Qi Rui dance, recalled Roy’s disturbing memories, and tucked a folded hundred-dollar bill into her thigh strap as an invitation.
• He Ao told Qi Rui he would wait at the first-floor café, then left the hall.
• He Ao glimpsed someone in a red dress near the elevator and rushed back, but found only a waitress at Mons Dance Hall.
• He Ao suspected he had seen the Dancer, the priest who had murdered Mu Xiu’s family, and resolved to confirm her current situation.

He Ao confronted Qi Rui and discovered that the Witchcraft Church had ordered her to interrogate him about his father and kill him if she failed. After learning the church’s next gathering would take place that night atop the Nold Building, He Ao shot Qi Rui when she pulled a gun on him, then addressed someone nearby.

• He Ao led Qi Rui to a secluded alley and accused her of being connected to the Witchcraft Church’s ritual.
• Qi Rui’s twisting dance attempted to invade He Ao’s mind, and he restrained her and threatened her with a dagger.
• Qi Rui admitted that the church had ordered her to question He Ao about his father and kill him if she could not get the information.
• Qi Rui revealed that the church’s next gathering would take place that night on the top floor of the Nold Building.
• After He Ao let her go, Qi Rui pulled a pistol, and He Ao shot her before telling someone to come out.

He Ao learned from Vianna how Talent Sequences exuded from dead extraordinaries could be collected and made into potions. Vianna brought him to her hidden workshop to return Inor’s heirloom, where He Ao discovered an old book about Talent Sequences.

• He Ao pressed Vianna to explain why she had followed him, and she said she knew his grandfather Inor and had an heirloom for him.
• Vianna collected Qi Rui’s exuded Listener Talent Sequence and explained how Talent Sequences could be recovered and used to make potions.
• He Ao accepted the Listener sequence as his spoils of war and learned that the Witchcraft Church had been hunting Vianna.
• Vianna led He Ao to an underground workshop, where she revealed her silver hair and mechanical exoskeleton arms.
• He Ao spotted a worn book titled Talent Sequences on a bookshelf and touched it.

He Ao received the Butcher pistol, a Transcendent Item inherited from his father, and learned about Inor’s death and Vianna’s past. The chapter ended with He Ao asking whether Vianna had discovered why the Witchcraft Church attacked her research institute.

• Vianna gave He Ao the Butcher pistol, which could switch between pistol, rifle, and sniper rifle modes but required a kill within every seven shots.
• He Ao asked about his father, and Vianna explained that Inor had left his Talent Sequence to be made into secret medicine for He Ao.
• Vianna recounted how the Witchcraft Church attacked her grandfather’s research institute, killing him and fatally wounding Inor as he helped her escape.
• Vianna explained that she later established a secret base, was captured by the Crocodile Gang, and was eventually rescued by a grandpa who later died fighting mutated beasts.
• He Ao asked Vianna whether she had uncovered why the Witchcraft Church attacked the research institute.

Vianna told He Ao how her grandfather developed the Gene Serum and why she suspected the Witchcraft Church was connected to his death. He Ao planned to enter Nold Building during Kiko’s concert, borrowed her book, and promised he would return; its first page suggested that Talent Sequences followed a pattern.

• Vianna explained that her grandfather had created a Gene Serum prototype to transfer weakened extraordinary powers and had refused to work with medical corporations researching similar products.
• He Ao proposed asking the Witchcraft Church directly and learned from Vianna that its gathering would take place during Kiko’s concert on the top floor of Nold Building.
• Vianna offered to write a program to obtain a ticket from the next official sale, and He Ao borrowed her grandfather’s book after confirming her connection to the Secret Potions.
• Vianna asked whether He Ao would come back, and he promised that he would.
• In a taxi, He Ao opened the book titled “Talent Sequence” and read that Talents followed a specific pattern.

He Ao read a book describing the Talent Sequence Periodic Table and learned about its suspected rules and the researcher who developed it with Elunsk. After evading any pursuers and returning home, he mastered the Spectator talent and went to the green secret medicine in his secret room.

• He Ao read fragmented notes about the ranks, families, and advancement paths of Talent Sequences, including the researcher's struggle to understand the Rank C cycle.
• He Ao searched for Elunsk and found an encyclopedia entry identifying him as a founder of the Federation and the first mayor of Dawn City.
• He Ao considered how the Federation's internet filtered information and steered users toward purchases.
• He Ao left the taxi, checked that nobody was following him, and returned to his apartment.
• He Ao mastered the Spectator talent, opened the secret room through the bathroom mirror, and approached the remaining green secret medicine.

He Ao advanced from Spectator to Mercenary, gaining greatly enhanced physical abilities and adapting his body to his combat skills. He found hidden communication equipment and contacted Vianna about tomorrow’s ticket, while considering how Talent Sequences could overwrite or devour one another.

• He Ao drank the Mercenary potion and endured its painful transformation, strengthening his body and brain.
• He Ao tested his improved speed and coordination, then saw that Mercenary had replaced Spectator on his attribute panel while Spectator’s abilities remained.
• He Ao wondered whether higher-ranked Talent Sequences could devour lower-ranked ones and whether Hyperthymesia belonged to the same pathway as waiter.
• He Ao found a concealed switch beneath the potion platform and uncovered a black wristband and a sports car key.
• He Ao put on the wristband and messaged Vianna to contact him after buying tomorrow’s ticket; Vianna replied that he was still awake.

He Ao used the Witchcraft Church’s lack of surveillance to retrieve Roy’s hidden sports car and met FBI inspector Selina at Dumeier National Cemetery. He offered information about Dancer and the Church’s planned attack, asking Selina to help him borrow something from the FBI.

• He Ao secured Roy’s apartment, then left with a suitcase after confirming no one had attacked him overnight.
• He Ao uncovered Roy’s father’s hidden sports car, loaded the suitcase, and drove away.
• Selina visited Ander Stickovich’s grave at Dumeier National Cemetery.
• He Ao approached Selina and claimed he had seen Dancer in Elysium despite her prison sentence.
• He Ao offered Selina information about the Witchcraft Church’s planned action in a crowded area that night and asked her to help him borrow something from the FBI.

Vianna collected two tickets for Kiko’s concert while He Ao bought an unusual extraordinary material from Doctor Roger. After someone photographed Vianna, the Red Skirt Woman recognized her and ordered the remaining debt collected, while He Ao received a sudden bracelet call.

• Vianna collected the concert tickets, mistook a boy’s greeting for a threat, and messaged He Ao that she had them.
• He Ao visited Doctor Roger’s shop and bought a colorless, odorless material with a trace of flesh-like properties.
• Vianna sensed people watching her after stopping at a bakery to buy a donut.
• The Red Skirt Woman saw a photograph of Vianna and told her companion to collect the remaining thirty percent of a five-year-old debt, noting the gang fights in Aston District.
• He Ao returned to his car with the metal box, and his bracelet suddenly rang.

He Ao drove Marku and the Loach Gang out of Roy’s restaurant after they threatened Naomi, then added an extra month of wages for Naomi and Bern. The chapter left him with a message from his niece saying someone was following her, along with her location.

• The news reported that impeachment proceedings against Mayor Vent had begun, while Naomi said she was more concerned about her and Bern’s situation.
• Marku arrived with armed Loach Gang members and demanded an explanation because Naomi had beaten his younger brother the day before.
• He Ao disarmed and intimidated Marku and his men, then ordered them to leave the restaurant.
• Naomi told He Ao that the gang had only just arrived and had scared away the customers, and He Ao promised to cover her wages.
• He Ao added an extra month of pay for Naomi and Bern, then received a message saying someone was following his niece, with a location pin attached.

He Ao left the restaurant after asking Naomi to hire the Money Rat Gang for protection, then rescued Vianna from gangs preparing to attack her. He had Vianna drive as they sped away under fire, leaving her terrified as he assembled equipment in the passenger seat.

• He Ao told Naomi to hire the Money Rat Gang to protect the restaurant, then left.
• Vianna avoided returning to the Safehouse as Black Shadows and members of the Loach Gang and Hyena Gang tracked her.
• He Ao sent Vianna a message to look right and told her to get into his convertible.
• He Ao moved into the passenger seat, had Vianna drive, and opened a suitcase of metal components.
• He Ao accelerated the car as gang members shot at them and pursued in other vehicles.
• He Ao switched the car to full manual operation and track mode while Vianna shouted for him to stop.

He Ao and Vianna fled the Hyena Gang in a sports car while He Ao prepared a heavy sniper rifle to stop their pursuers. Elsewhere, a golden-haired girl rescued a child from the gang’s gunfire before being driven away to her concert, where she wondered when her caged canary would be free.

• Vianna drove the sports car through the streets as He Ao assembled an M73B2 sniper rifle and loaded it with high-explosive rounds.
• He Ao and Vianna pulled ahead of most of the Hyena Gang’s vehicles, while the gang’s armed Youths fired at pedestrians from a modified jeep.
• A golden-haired girl rescued a little girl from the jeep’s path as He Ao’s shot destroyed the vehicle and killed its driver.
• The child’s mother thanked the golden-haired girl, who hid her identity and left in an MPV with her companion.
• The golden-haired girl watched her caged canary and wondered when it would gain its freedom.

He Ao and Vianna escaped the pursuing gangs, and He Ao went alone to Nold Building with a ticket and a metal case. As night fell, he passed the entrance inspection and entered the building, while Vianna revealed a mechanical arm holding a tube of gray liquid.

• He Ao shot three pursuing vehicles, creating a burning roadblock, and Scarface turned back with the remaining pursuers.
• The Red Skirt Woman learned that a sniper in a sports car had saved the girl and decided to deal with them at the concert that night.
• At the underground parking garage, He Ao gave Vianna the suitcase and told her to return to the Safehouse while he went alone to Nold Building.
• After He Ao entered the elevator, Vianna revealed a mechanical arm holding a silver test tube filled with gray liquid.
• He Ao reached Nold Building and passed its security inspection by explaining that the Kiko photobook in his case was for his daughter.
• The sun set as He Ao entered Nold Building and the doormen joked about Kiko.