Chapter Summaries

Qu Jianlei used Aunt Liu and Xiang Xue’s information to investigate Kushnier’s meeting with Klais, the Third Boss of Fourth Star. He secretly listened from outside the villa, but Kushnier eventually sensed a disturbance, leaving Qu Jianlei hidden in a tree as a guard began questioning Kushnier.

• Aunt Liu told Qu Jianlei that Kushnier was meeting Klais, while Xiang Xue guessed that Qu Jianlei had killed Steve and he tried to avoid confirming it.
• Qu Jianlei arrived early at the guarded villa district and concealed himself near the target villa using the wind.
• Klais arrived with a convoy, followed by Kushnier, who used his Mental Strength to make a guard recognize and admit him.
• Qu Jianlei cautiously increased his perception several times to hear the conversation, and Kushnier finally detected something and searched the area.
• Qu Jianlei withdrew his senses and hid in a tree as Kushnier found nothing, but an A-rank guard sensed the brief fluctuation and questioned him.

Qu Jianlei overheard Kushnier and Klais negotiating a proposed star gate and chose not to attack Kushnier because he could not guarantee a quick kill. He then told Glady and Heltman that Klais might have met Kushnier repeatedly in secret, leaving them to consider the seriousness of the information.

• Qu Jianlei overheard Kushnier ask Klais to support a star gate at Fourth Star's outbound route, but Klais only agreed to consider it.
• Qu Jianlei followed Kushnier but abandoned his chance to attack after seeing that the Supreme kept his Mental Strength active while speeding toward Fourth War Zone Headquarters.
• Qu Jianlei asked Bella Ni to arrange a meeting with Glady, then told Glady he had costly information about Klais's recent moves.
• Qu Jianlei insisted that Glady and Heltman use an encrypted line because he was guarding against the star region military headquarters.
• Qu Jianlei revealed that Klais might have met the outside military Supreme Kushnier more than once, and asked Glady what the information was worth.

Qu Jianlei sold Heltman and Glady intelligence suggesting Klais might seek Anette’s support for the Stargate project, putting Hoyer’s position at risk. Heltman accepted the warning and agreed to pay in crystals, while postponing discussion of array formation materials until they met.

• Qu Jianlei asked for scarce resources in exchange for information, and Glady confirmed they could pay more than a million.
• Qu Jianlei revealed that Klais might be tempted to support the Stargate project with help from a Supreme, then suggested Anette could also be involved.
• Heltman questioned Qu Jianlei about his source, but accepted the possibility that Klais and Anette might be working together and warned that they needed to guard against it.
• Heltman decided not to bargain down Qu Jianlei’s price, and Qu Jianlei requested crystals and array formation materials.
• Heltman agreed that crystals were available and said they could discuss the array formation materials when they met.

Qu Jianlei met guard captain Heltman, accepted five hundred thousand, and turned down a Guard Squad position while negotiating access to formation materials. After Heltman’s probing about Second Star angered him, Heltman offered him a Special Advisor role with no required missions, and Qu Jianlei considered it without asking for a salary.

• Heltman brought Qu Jianlei five hundred thousand and asked whether his organization could gather intelligence or deal with a Supreme, but Qu Jianlei refused to take an intelligence mission and would not disclose his organization’s capabilities.
• Heltman formally invited Qu Jianlei to join Hoyer’s Guard Squad in exchange for access to formation materials, but Qu Jianlei balked at taking on guard duties.
• Heltman asked whether Qu Jianlei and the four Support Teachers came from Second Star, then probed him about the Supreme from the military; Qu Jianlei warned Heltman not to use him to kill by proxy.
• Heltman admitted that his boss’s strategist had suggested testing Qu Jianlei, and he assured him that he could still view the formation materials.
• Heltman offered Qu Jianlei a Special Advisor role with no salary or required missions, and Qu Jianlei said he needed no pay because accepting money would obligate him to do the work.

Qu Jianlei secured an official Special Advisor appointment with Fourth Star's Guard Squad, while Heltman unexpectedly paid him five hundred thousand. At Fourth Star's Joint Meeting, the Planet Master vetoed a military plan to build a temporary star gate, and Anette lost a key advantage after the First One decided to transfer military liaison duties to Nietzsche.

• Qu Jianlei signed the appointment contract after Heltman confirmed he would not be required to provide intelligence, and he accepted Heltman's five hundred thousand for the Grave Robber organization.
• At the Joint Meeting, the military proposed building a temporary star gate, and Klais, Anette, and the Fifth Deputy supported the plan while Hoyer and Ke Zhenshan opposed it.
• The Planet Master ruled the proposal a civilian matter and used his veto to block it, sending it to a future expanded Joint Meeting.
• The First One confronted Anette for supporting the proposal without consulting him and accused him of pursuing Hoyer's position for personal reasons.
• The First One announced that he would transfer military liaison duties from Anette to Nietzsche, and Anette watched him leave with a trace of venom.

Qu Jianlei obtained authorization to read formation books through a military research institute’s holographic helmet, then discovered that Xiao Hu had recovered enough to speak through the device. Xiao Hu explained that it had limited its recovery to avoid harming Qu Jianlei and complained that he had failed to use the advanced equipment he had acquired.

• Qu Jianlei learned that civilians could not borrow formation materials without authorization and worried that the process might bring him into contact with Kushnier.
• Four days later, Qu Jianlei and Zi Jiuxian completed the authorization procedures at a Military Research Institute, where Qu Jianlei received a monitored Holographic Helmet for reading materials.
• After consulting Glady about the helmet’s security, Qu Jianlei put it on and watched a starry display form into Xiao Hu’s cartoon butterfly avatar.
• Xiao Hu spoke to Qu Jianlei in its familiar voice, and he realized that it had apparently come through with him.
• Xiao Hu explained that it had restrained its recovery after absorbing energy from the Broken Hairpin because running freely inside Qu Jianlei’s brain could kill him.
• Xiao Hu complained that Qu Jianlei had failed to use the advanced equipment available to him, and Qu Jianlei challenged its claim to be in serious mode.

Qu Jianlei asked Xiao Hu to secure the data on a damaged portable terminal, but Xiao Hu shorted it out and demanded better equipment. After learning that powerful portable terminals cost millions and the available models displeased Xiao Hu, Qu Jianlei was left searching for a suitable device.

• Qu Jianlei took the Small Terminal into a shielded tent, where Xiao Hu removed its timed data transmission function and began optimizing its software.
• Xiao Hu damaged the flimsy terminal while working, so Qu Jianlei asked Sally to introduce him to a terminal repairer.
• The Teaching Assistant explained that the Pioneer Sixth Generation was controlled equipment and offered to find Qu Jianlei a more powerful portable model.
• Qu Jianlei learned that a Pioneer Seventh-Generation Enhanced Edition cost nearly a million, while a customized Vortex Series cost eight or nine million and required a month to obtain.
• Xiao Hu rejected the Pioneer and Storm Series models, leaving Qu Jianlei without a portable terminal she would accept.

Qu Jianlei bought and upgraded a used Storm terminal so he could study formation manuals, while Xiao Hu continued wanting a more powerful Vortex. After Qu Jianlei began reading the military library, the guard captain called with urgent news.

• Qu Jianlei learned the prices and capabilities of the Storm and Vortex terminals, and Glady found him a used Storm for about half the official price.
• Xiang Xue advised Qu Jianlei to accept the offer, and he bought the Storm for 920,000 before paying the Teaching Assistant to improve its performance.
• Xiao Hu optimized the Storm, but Qu Jianlei refused its offer to crack the military library's after-hours access restrictions.
• Qu Jianlei began reading the formation manuals and finished four in one day, then received an urgent call from the guard captain.

Qu Jianlei learned that Anette might retaliate after losing influence, but refused to get involved in Hoyer’s plan against him. Heltman then offered him a Vortex and asked what it would cost to kill Kushnier, leaving Qu Jianlei weighing the risks and asking why Kushnier had become a target.

• Heltman told Qu Jianlei that First One planned to strip Anette of his military liaison authority, while Ke Zhenshan would rise in rank.
• Heltman warned that Anette might act desperately and said Hoyer feared he was in danger.
• Qu Jianlei refused to help Hoyer target Anette, even after Heltman offered him a Vortex and asked him to find a willing killer.
• Heltman asked how much Qu Jianlei’s supposed organization would charge to kill Kushnier, explaining that Kushnier was a reservist from Garbage Star.
• Qu Jianlei said he could not bear the consequences of unlawfully killing a Supreme and asked Heltman why Kushnier had offended him.

Hoyer and his guard captain tried to recruit Qu Jianlei to help arrange Kushnier’s assassination, mainly hoping the threat would scare Kushnier away from Hoyer. After Xiao Hu checked the Vortex voucher and triggered an alert, Qu Jianlei told Heltman the matter was settled, leaving the guard captain stunned.

• Heltman told Qu Jianlei that Anette had been in frequent contact with Kushnier, and Qu Jianlei realized Hoyer feared Kushnier might attack him.
• Heltman offered Qu Jianlei a Vortex as an introduction fee, and Qu Jianlei agreed to ask around while warning him not to expect success.
• Hoyer and Heltman discussed using the proposed assassination to spread a warning to Kushnier, whether or not anyone accepted the job.
• Heltman delivered the anonymous Vortex voucher, and Xiao Hu verified it while discovering a hidden alert mechanism.
• Qu Jianlei told Xiao Hu to trigger the alert without revealing that they had detected it, and people at a secret location were alarmed by Xiao Hu’s capabilities.
• After receiving a coded message, Heltman asked Qu Jianlei to consider the matter, and Qu Jianlei replied that it was settled, shocking him.

Qu Jianlei negotiated with Heltman over the price and preparations for hiring killers to assassinate Kushnier, then received a deposit and a collection of cultivation books. He began scanning the books and discovered three Transformation Techniques.

• Qu Jianlei told Heltman the killers wanted Rank A and Rank B Crystals, ten million in banknotes, and as many cultivation techniques and spells as Heltman could gather.
• Heltman reported the agreement to Hoyer, who ordered half the payment sent in advance and demanded that every obtainable technique be gathered within three days.
• On the third night, Heltman delivered the deposit and more than three hundred books to Qu Jianlei, who said he would copy any techniques he wanted and return the books in a few days.
• Qu Jianlei found Dark Attribute and Poison Attribute techniques, along with three Transformation Techniques: Wood, Water, and Fire.
• Qu Jianlei called Xiao Hu to scan the books, and the Storm terminal and scanner began working.

Qu Jianlei studied Transformation Techniques and developed a framework for adapting elemental imitation to himself while Xiao Hu explored star-sector systems and asked for an enhanced Vortex. After traveling to Planet Three and disappearing, Qu Jianlei contacted Heltman for information on Kushnier, leaving the guard captain to realize he was at the Third War Zone Headquarters.

• Qu Jianlei studied three Transformation Techniques overnight and began designing a version suited to himself, while Xiao Hu admitted it had accessed the Fourth Star's central system and Planet One.
• Heltman asked when Qu Jianlei would act, and Qu Jianlei said he would go to Planet Three to establish that he was not on the Fourth Star.
• Heltman checked the returned books and confirmed none were missing, then learned that Qu Jianlei had booked a ticket to Planet Three and disappeared there.
• After three days, Qu Jianlei contacted Heltman and requested information about Kushnier's recent movements, warning that cooperation was optional and caution mattered.
• Heltman discovered that Qu Jianlei's position was at the Third War Zone Headquarters, and Xiao Hu asked him for an enhanced version of Vortex.

Qu Jianlei tracked Kushnier across several planets while preparing for an assassination, but repeatedly missed him and had to change identities. After Anette was assassinated on Fourth Star, Qu Jianlei arrived under a new identity and contacted Glady amid heightened security.

• Qu Jianlei ordered a moderately enhanced Vortex on Planet Three, then learned Kushnier had gone to Planet One and decided to wait for his return.
• Qu Jianlei rented an estate, trained and refined his Transformation Technique, then followed Kushnier to Second Star after he left Hope Star.
• Kushnier departed Second Star for Fourth Star before Qu Jianlei could reach him, forcing Qu Jianlei to arrange another fake identity before traveling onward.
• Qu Jianlei arrived on Fourth Star and learned that Anette had been assassinated and the Fourth Boss badly injured.
• Investigators questioned Qu Jianlei at his hotel, and he spent two days visiting jewelry shops without buying anything as security tightened.
• On the third night, Qu Jianlei contacted Glady.

Qu Jianlei suspected that Kushnier was preparing to disguise his movements before Hoyer’s assassination, and he watched Kushnier leave the War Zone Headquarters at night. Kushnier instead openly intervened in a dispute involving reservists and rode back toward headquarters, where he suddenly sensed something.

• Qu Jianlei contacted Glady, who said Heltman believed Anette might have staged the attack, and Heltman later warned her that the situation was serious and asked her to tell Qu Jianlei to continue the project.
• Qu Jianlei and Xiao Hu analyzed Kushnier’s movements and concluded that his frequent public appearances might be an attempt to make Hoyer’s impending assassination look unrelated to him.
• Kushnier left the War Zone Headquarters near midnight on his motorcycle, carrying his Wristwatch, and passed through a checkpoint without objecting to the identity check.
• Qu Jianlei learned that Kushnier was responding to a dispute in which city guards had harassed a reservist’s family member and reservists had beaten the offender.
• Kushnier backed the reservists, stayed with them for over an hour, refused their invitation to spend the night, and rode back toward headquarters before suddenly furrowing his brows.

Kushnier was ambushed by Qu Jianlei and Xiao Hu with explosives, Mental Attacks, and a Wind Attribute assault. Though he survived the blast and impact, he inhaled poison and was left weak.

• Kushnier sensed City Garrison soldiers watching him, then dismissed his suspicions and rode past a checkpoint.
• Qu Jianlei had secretly planted explosives on the road and instructed Xiao Hu to choose the moment to detonate them.
• The explosion destroyed Kushnier’s motorcycle and hurled him into the air, where an A-rank Mental Attribute Warrior attacked his mind.
• Kushnier threw an Electromagnetic Shockwave Flare Grenade, but an A-rank Wind Attribute Warrior accelerated his fall and drove him into the road.
• Kushnier tried to recover by circulating his Qi and Blood, then realized that the air he had inhaled contained poison.

Qu Jianlei’s ambush left Kushnier poisoned and trapped, while the Supreme’s intervention ended without help for the victim. As Qu Jianlei continued his attack, Kushnier asked why he had been targeted.

• Kushnier recognized that weapon-grade Nerve Gas was poisoning him through inhalation and skin contact, then a precise Mental Attack made him spit blood.
• Kushnier identified Dark, Stone, and Poison Attributes among his attackers and realized the ambush involved five mutated attributes.
• Qu Jianlei warned approaching onlookers to leave, and a powerful Supreme’s consciousness challenged him before withdrawing after he claimed the fight was outside the city.
• Qu Jianlei launched a fourth Mental Attack, swallowed several pills, and threw another Smoke Grenade at Kushnier.
• Kushnier sighed from inside the smoke and asked Qu Jianlei how he had offended him.

Qu Jianlei used stacked neurotoxin, Mental Attacks, and autocannon fire to kill Kushnier while two Supremes watched. He drove Deng Xisi away by claiming the attack was a Traitor Elimination operation, then Kushnier died before he could self-destruct.

• Kushnier asked Qu Jianlei why he was being attacked, but another Mental Attack struck him as Qu Jianlei entered the smoke.
• Qu Jianlei explained that he had used Poison Stack to make a toxin far more potent and nearly irreversible.
• A City Garrison squad arrived, and Cripple warned them that the smoke contained an unknown neurotoxin capable of trapping a Supreme.
• Deng Xisi tried to intervene, but Qu Jianlei revealed the toxin was stacked and claimed he was eliminating a traitor, prompting her to leave.
• Qu Jianlei fired an autocannon into the smoke until Kushnier, too poisoned and weakened to self-destruct, was blasted apart.

After killing Kushnier, Qu Jianlei escaped the Supremes tracking him and hid until he could safely leave Fourth Star. He searched Kushnier’s belongings on Second Star and discovered a cultivation array manual, ending with the worry that the valuable find might make him a target.

• Qu Jianlei looted Kushnier’s body, found an Item-Storing Talisman and hidden spatial equipment, then used a flare grenade to escape the two Supremes.
• Qu Jianlei slipped into Fengrao City and hid by Fengrao Academy while Deng Xisi used Rainfall to clear the poisonous gas from the battle site.
• Qu Jianlei returned to his hotel, booked passage to Second Star, and left Fourth Star without inspecting his loot.
• Qu Jianlei hid in a wilderness cave on Second Star and opened Kushnier’s Item-Storing Talisman and larger storage space, finding weapons, valuables, and prohibited cultivation materials.
• Xiao Hu helped Qu Jianlei open a sealed box containing a mechanical fitness set and a booklet about installing and maintaining a Qi-gathering array powered by Energy Blocks.
• Qu Jianlei realized he had found something extremely valuable and worried that someone might hunt him for it.

Qu Jianlei discovered that Kushnier’s Qi Gathering Array could convert Energy Blocks into cultivation energy, making it dangerous enough to draw powerful attention. After testing the array, he and Xiao Hu erased its backdoors and prepared to change locations, while Qu Jianlei struggled with the thought of killing Heltman and others to prevent a possible betrayal.

• Qu Jianlei realized the Qi Gathering Array could convert Energy Blocks into ability energy and feared the consequences if its existence became known.
• Qu Jianlei told Xiao Hu to use Planet Three as a relay point so Heltman would not realize they had left.
• Qu Jianlei considered killing Heltman, Glady, and Hoyer to silence them but could not bring himself to kill them over a possible betrayal.
• Qu Jianlei tested the array inside an Electromagnetic Shielding tent for nearly twenty hours and confirmed that it worked, though its conversion rate was below forty percent.
• Xiao Hu found and intercepted the array’s backdoors and automatic alarms, then began erasing them so they could change locations.

Qu Jianlei learned from Old Lady Jia that the Qi Gathering Array he possessed was a military secret disguised as the Limit Training Room, and decided not to return it. He left Second Star for Planet Three under a false identity, just as Xiao Hu reported that someone had triggered an alarm at the cave where they had cracked the array.

• After hiding on Second Star while inspections intensified and then eased, Qu Jianlei visited Old Lady Jia at the Old Town District Library.
• Qu Jianlei asked Old Lady Jia about obtaining a Qi Gathering Array, and she revealed that the military called it the Limit Training Room and classified it as a top military secret.
• Old Lady Jia explained that Qi Gathering Arrays had simplified, enhanced, and Super Enhanced versions, and warned Qu Jianlei that possessing one could bring serious consequences.
• Qu Jianlei decided to keep the array, hid in a deserted courtyard for five days, and boarded a starship to Planet Three under a false identity.
• As the starship prepared to depart, Xiao Hu reported an alarm at the cave, and Qu Jianlei ordered Xiao Hu to cut the devices’ connection and let anyone who could trace them come after him.