Chapter Summaries

He Ao went to Nold Building’s Rooftop Plaza for Kiko’s concert and examined the venue while waiting for the show to begin. As the crowd cheered during the warm-up video, he moved to the back and took a Folding Broom and a Folding Plastic Dustpan from his Metal Box.

• He Ao helped a middle-aged woman recover her Concert Ticket, then rode an elevator up to the Rooftop Plaza.
• He Ao looked out over Dawn City from the glass-walled plaza and walked around its perimeter before entering the theater.
• He Ao found his seat at the back of the theater and reviewed a photobook about Kiko while the venue filled.
• When Kiko’s promotional video excited the audience, He Ao went to the back, opened his Metal Box, and took out a Folding Broom and a Folding Plastic Dustpan.

He Ao swept the concert venue while secretly spreading transparent substances and shifting suspicious warning bollards. After challenging Christos to consider who the Federation represented, he left Christos reflecting as Kiko introduced an eight-hundred-year-old version of the Federation’s original national anthem.

• He Ao used his broom to spread a colorless substance while sweeping and nudged suspicious bollards out of position as he memorized where they had been placed.
• He Ao reached the VIP seats and spoke with Christos, who asked whether he should risk everything to pursue a dream that could help many people.
• He Ao asked who could represent the Federation, leaving Christos to question whether it belonged to the people or to corporations.
• Kiko announced that her final song was the original Federation national anthem, “To the Glorious People.”

He Ao secretly repositioned the theater’s yellow pillars and followed Christos backstage, where an apparent attempt to kill Christos turned out to be a trap involving Kiko. As Kiko revealed her identity and stabbed at Christos, a streak of black radiance struck her blade.

• Kiko sang a song honoring the people who sacrificed themselves to preserve civilization, then introduced the Starlight Idol Dance Troupe’s final performance.
• He Ao shifted the remaining yellow pillars and followed Christos through a side door backstage.
• Christos entered the backstage area after receiving a message that Kiko wanted to meet him, then pulled her away from a knife attack.
• The supposed attacker injected Christos with Blood of the Goddess, suppressing his Talent Sequence, and transformed into a seductive woman.
• The woman identified herself as Kiko and attacked Christos with a silver knife, but black radiance struck the blade.

He Ao confronted Kiko, a Dancer from the Witchcraft Church, and learned she had cursed his father after the mission in Kaya City. He revealed a Dead Man's Item that tracked Kiko and advanced on her, while she saw the phantom of Mu Xiu behind him.

• He Ao used Supermemory and his Short Sword to fight Kiko, resisting her seduction and wounding her neck.
• Kiko said she had been an instructor during the mission that killed Inor and admitted she had cursed him to die faster.
• Kiko revealed that Inor had accepted a commission to steal Gene Serum data, and He Ao said he had come to avenge his father.
• He Ao produced a blood-red Dead Man's Item whose needle pointed at Kiko.
• Kiko saw the phantom of Mu Xiu behind He Ao as he walked toward her.

He Ao killed Kiko by enduring her attack and biting through her neck, but the mission remained unfinished. As Christos helped him tend his wounds, someone pressed a gun to He Ao’s head and called him Roy.

• He Ao used the compass to confirm that Kiko was the Dancer and attacked her backstage.
• Kiko’s seductive power overwhelmed He Ao, but he seized her and endured her claws while biting into her neck.
• He Ao drank Kiko’s blood until she died, and Super Memory underwent a mysterious change.
• Christos tried to help He Ao treat his wounds, and He Ao noticed a canary watching the space behind him from a birdcage.
• An unseen person aimed a gun at He Ao’s head and addressed him as Roy.

He Ao confronted Monica after she revealed she belonged to the Witchcraft Church and had betrayed him to Nold Corporation. Monica disclosed the church’s plan to summon the offspring of the Desire Witch, but she died when her disguised gun fired, leaving He Ao and Christos beside the bodies.

• Monica admitted she belonged to the Witchcraft Church and planned to kill Christos, but He Ao sprang up, disarmed her, and pointed her gun at her.
• He Ao asked Monica how Nold Corporation had obtained his business information and anticipated his strategies, and she said she had acted for their future.
• Monica revealed that the Witchcraft Church planned a sacrificial ritual to summon the offspring of the Desire Witch, then tried to persuade He Ao to leave with her.
• Christos warned He Ao as Monica raised a medicine bottle concealing a gun, but it fired and killed her.
• He Ao picked up his Short Sword while Christos examined Kiko’s corpse, whose appearance and brown hair began reverting to their original form.

He Ao freed Kiko’s canary, confirmed Kiko was dead, and discovered that absorbing her Talent Sequence had strengthened and changed Super Memory. After gunfire broke out, he rushed into the theater as FBI agents arrived to disrupt the Witchcraft Church’s failed sacrifice.

• He Ao released the canary from its cage and reflected that Kiko’s death might have been a kind of freedom.
• He Ao confirmed Kiko was dead and learned from Christos that she might have held Talent Sequence 61: Dancer.
• He Ao found that absorbing Kiko’s Talent Sequence had raised Super Memory to D-Rank and given it the ability to perceive lingering shadows, though using it brought faint whispers and increased its soul-power cost.
• Christos asked whether Kiko could have become a kind singer in a different world, and He Ao told him to try to make that world himself.
• He Ao and Christos heard gunfire and rushed toward the theater, where the Witchcraft Church’s sacrifice array had failed and its leader worried about Kiko and Monica.
• FBI agents arrived by helicopter, and their commander ordered teams to separate the stage from the audience and guide civilians to the exits.

He Ao and Selina led the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s raid on the Witchcraft Church at the theater, fighting the cultists while protecting the audience. The subdued cultists sacrificed themselves, activating a ritual array matching the one He Ao had destroyed.

• Selina presented an arrest warrant and ordered the Witchcraft Church members to surrender, but an unseen attacker blew apart the stage with an explosive shot.
• He Ao rescued Selina, shot the attacker hidden on the theater ceiling, and told the seductive woman that Kiko and Monica were gone and the arrays had been destroyed.
• The seductive woman and the other Witchcraft Church members charged the audience, and Selina and He Ao fought to protect the crowd and stop the attackers.
• The seductive woman sacrificed herself, and the subdued cultists followed by stabbing themselves with their weapons.
• Purple ritual patterns appeared on the cultists’ bodies, matching the array He Ao had destroyed.

A silver-haired girl broke into Nold Building while He Ao and Selina confronted Witchcraft Church believers sacrificing themselves to summon a subordinate of the Desire Witch. The cocoon around the regenerating woman opened, revealing a radiant, butterfly-winged figure whose arrival stopped the evacuation and filled He Ao’s mind with whispers.

• A silver-haired girl forced her way into Nold Building’s restricted elevator and rode it toward the upper floors while mechanical arms worked inside her suitcase.
• He Ao saw purple light from the dead Witchcraft Church believers gather around the woman who had killed herself first, and he attacked her as she regenerated.
• Selina told He Ao that Smith was away investigating something in the wilderness and that she had no powerful Contaminants available.
• Selina fired her Laser Cannon at the floating woman, but the woman dodged it as the cocoon began to split open.
• A butterfly-winged figure emerged amid purple radiance, silenced the world, stopped the fleeing crowd, and overwhelmed He Ao with whispers.

He Ao resisted the Desire Witch's mental influence and defeated her subordinate by setting up a ricochet shot. The subordinate's light and shadow fused with the sexy lady, who remained transformed and floating above the theater.

• He Ao recognized that a god was trying to choose him as a favored one and pulled his consciousness back into his body.
• He Ao broke free of the Desire Witch's control, then fired a carefully planned sequence of shots to force her subordinate into the path of a ricochet bullet.
• The ricochet bullet pierced the Evil God Subordinate's heart, causing her to shatter into radiance and merge with the sexy lady.
• He Ao woke Selina and saw that the sexy lady had become a holy-looking, purple-eyed figure with Purple Radiance spilling from her back.

He Ao and Selina attacked the Evil God Subordinate, damaging the organ that powered her Mind Control, while He Ao used his blood to reload the Butcher Pistol. As the wounded enemy pressed her attack, Vianna arrived with a sniper rifle and charged her, leaving He Ao aiming for a final shot.

• He Ao drew the Evil God Subordinate's attention while Selina struck her back with a laser and a blast of electricity, damaging her shoulders and dimming her Purple Radiance.
• He Ao stabbed the Evil God Subordinate's right shoulder, then caught Selina as she fell and fed his blood into the Butcher Pistol to reload it.
• The Evil God Subordinate charged He Ao, who fought her with his Short Sword and fired six shots, hitting her rear right side with five bullets.
• The Evil God Subordinate dodged He Ao's final shot, grew bone armor, and attacked him as he searched for a stronger weapon.
• Vianna rushed into the theater, threw He Ao a sniper rifle, and transformed her mechanical arms into Exoskeleton Armor and a blade before charging the Evil God Subordinate.
• He Ao caught the sniper rifle, braced it, and aimed at the Evil God Subordinate as Vianna collided with her.

He Ao helped evacuate the plaza as the weakened Evil God Subordinate advanced, then chose to stay behind and face her alone. After remembering Roy’s dream of becoming a hero, he stopped her attack at the edge of the fleeing crowd.

• Vianna joined He Ao’s fight, revealed she was an E-rank Craftsman, and gave him an unstable Gene Serum she had developed.
• Christos used a mental ability to calm the panicked crowd, and He Ao carried Selina and Vianna to him as the FBI agents resumed attacking the Evil God Subordinate.
• He Ao gave Vianna the car keys and told her to leave, while she pleaded with him to return and Selina insisted they go together.
• He Ao ordered the agents to evacuate Selina and chose to stay behind because the crowd could not wait for the FBI reinforcements.
• He Ao recalled Roy’s childhood ambition to become a hero, then leaped in front of the fleeing crowd and blocked the Evil God Subordinate’s bone blade.

He Ao injected Vianna’s Gene Serum and fought the Evil God Subordinate with the strength it gave him, despite the cost to his body and lifespan. He pinned her at the center of the theater and activated the hidden array, summoning Yezuola’s destructive power as his mission ended and he began returning to his original world.

• Christos evacuated the theater while He Ao injected the Gene Serum, raising his Physical Fitness from 227 to 377 and battling the Evil God Subordinate.
• He Ao endured the Evil God Subordinate’s final transformation and attacks, then retrieved his Short Sword and led her toward the theater’s safety exit.
• Christos fired the Miniature Gauss Cannon and urged He Ao to leave, but He Ao charged back and pinned the Evil God Subordinate to the stage with his sword.
• He Ao revealed the ritual array and its arranged objects, then invoked Yezuola as the Gene Serum’s effects faded.
• A destructive force swept through the array and threw Christos against a wall, while He Ao’s mission completed and he began returning to his original world.

After the attack on Nold Building, Selina agreed to help Christos seek a Dawn Medal for Roy, while Christos resolved to become mayor and change Dawn City. Roy’s lawyer told Naomi that Roy had left his assets to a charitable foundation managed by Naomi and Vianna, leaving Naomi to realize that Roy was dead.

• Igarie and Annie passed the ruined Nold Building, and Annie said their school for stray children was nearly finished.
• Selina found Roy’s Short Sword among the ruins and agreed to help Christos apply for a Dawn Medal for Roy.
• Christos told the silver-haired man and the Tall Man that he would become Dawn City’s mayor and change the city.
• Roy’s lawyer informed Naomi that Roy had left his property and savings to a charitable foundation for her and Vianna to manage.
• Naomi asked whether Roy was dead, and the lawyer and Vianna answered with silence.

He Ao reviewed his S overall evaluation and traced how the Witchcraft Church's plans connected the events of the first and third official missions. The system offered him three upgraded rewards, and he had not yet chosen one.

• He Ao saw his S evaluation, with an SS side mission and an SSS hidden mission for killing the Desire Witch's offspring and fulfilling Roy's wish.
• He Ao reasoned that the main mission could have been completed without killing the offspring, but doing so would have left the audience, Selina, and Dawn City at greater risk.
• He Ao pieced together how Inor's attempt to steal Vianna's Grandpa's Gene Serum research and Mu Xiu's actions in Kaya City connected the first and third official missions.
• The system granted He Ao the Score Control Master achievement and added a random bonus item to his mission reward.
• The system presented He Ao with three rewards: the Mercenary sequence and Assassin formula, a prosthetic body and laser cannon device, or Heaven and Earth Two Qi with Primordial Qi.

He Ao chose Heaven and Earth Two Qi and used it to strengthen his body to the Rank E limit while attempting a safer martial arts breakthrough. He gathered two forces that seemed to be his own, but could not merge them into qi before dawn arrived.

• He Ao rejected Mechanical Modification and chose Heaven and Earth Two Qi, deciding that martial arts offered a greater improvement than the Mercenary sequence.
• He Ao guided the reward’s energies through his body, raising his Physical Fitness to 100, the Rank E limit.
• He Ao circulated and transformed the energies through his body and internal organs, gathering five kinds of energy below his navel.
• He Ao compressed the accumulated energies into two balanced forces that obeyed his will, but could not merge them into qi.
• Dawn broke as He Ao searched for an opportunity to overcome the balance and reach Rank D.

He Ao completed Essence Refining Qi Transformation, gained a clearer sense of his connection to the world, and saw his Physical Fitness exceed E-Rank. He called Zhang Anxia to ask to participate in the Ruins Selection, and Zhang Anxia invited him to discuss it in person.

• He Ao used the first strand of Heavenly Qi to merge the powers within him and achieved Essence Refining Qi Transformation.
• He Ao checked his status panel and found his Physical Fitness had reached 101 and his martial arts had reached D-Rank.
• He Ao saw that the next Copy World would open in about forty-one hours, then called Zhang Anxia.
• Zhang Anxia joked about He Ao's past schemes and asked whether he had dealt with his Corpse Flower and the mithril box.
• He Ao asked to participate in the Ruins Selection, and Zhang Anxia told him to come over to discuss it.
• Forty minutes later, He Ao arrived at West Capital City Third Mental Hospital.

He Ao accepted Liu Zhengyun’s offer of a ruins entry quota and chose to join the Research Institute as a Special Appointed Researcher. Zhang Anxia took him underground to test his talent, where He Ao encountered Ni Yu and a sleep-deprived Liu Nan.

• He Ao told Zhang Anxia that Liu Zhengyun had offered him a choice between a ruins quota and a twenty-million villa, and Zhang Anxia tacitly approved his choice of the quota.
• Zhang Anxia explained that He Ao would need to join the Research Institute and share intelligence in exchange for using its ruins quota; He Ao chose the Special Appointed Researcher form for its freedom.
• Zhang Anxia took He Ao to the underground Talent Detection Room, where Ni Yu greeted them and confirmed that the room was ready.
• He Ao ran into Liu Nan as she left the library with a stack of books, and she hurried upstairs after greeting him.
• Liu Nan sent He Ao an encouraging sticker, and he replied before following Zhang Anxia onward.

He Ao underwent talent detection at the Research Institute, where he discovered that his abilities included D-Rank Super Memory and an unexplained power identified as [Kingdom]. He chose the codename Mercenary and left with Zhang Anxia for the Special Appointed Researcher selection.

• Zhang Anxia showed He Ao the mithril talent detection device and explained that only He Ao would see his results.
• He Ao looked into the device and saw his talent listed as [Super Memory], D-Rank, before the detector identified his martial arts power as [Kingdom].
• He Ao told Zhang Anxia that he was fine and kept the unusual [Kingdom] result to himself.
• He Ao chose Mercenary as his Research Institute codename after Zhang Anxia explained the naming requirements.
• Zhang Anxia completed He Ao's paperwork and took him to the Special Appointed Researcher selection.

He Ao joined the Special Appointed Researcher selection wearing a KFC paper bag over his head and entered the fighting event. He left the story standing alone in the ring after knocking the first challenger unconscious with a single slap.

• Zhang Anxia explained that the selection had fighting, shooting, and pollution-resistance events, and He Ao chose a KFC takeout bag as a mask.
• He Ao and Zhang Anxia entered the venue, where nine other candidates were waiting for the fighting event.
• A burly candidate volunteered to fight first, then mocked He Ao as “KFC Mr.” and challenged him.
• Zhang Anxia explained the king-of-the-hill rules, and He Ao climbed into the ring as the first challenger.
• The burly candidate charged He Ao with a punch, but He Ao redirected it and slapped him unconscious out of the ring.
• Zhang Anxia checked that the burly candidate was alive while He Ao waited in the ring.