Chapter Summaries

At the Herta Space Station, Black Tower tried to persuade Lin Nai to let her examine his data, but he refused and recalled how she had once threatened him when he was a child. The chapter ended with Black Tower pulling out a hammer and insisting on testing him.

• Black Tower called Lin Nai the most inscrutable oddity in her collection and said she still did not understand how he survived drifting through space without equipment.
• Lin Nai joked that his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut had something to do with eating jelly, then complained that Black Tower's coffee was bitter.
• Black Tower accused Lin Nai of refusing to let her test his data despite his comfortable life and friendship with Topaz.
• Lin Nai reminded Black Tower that she had threatened to throw him out of the Space Station when he was a helpless child, while she defended herself by saying she had only been scaring him.
• Black Tower insisted Lin Nai owed her because she had provided his food and lodging, then pulled out a hammer when he refused to be examined.

After another examination produced almost no new findings, Herta discussed Lin Nai’s strange abilities and the possibility that he might follow a Path. Lin Nai recalled seeing mysterious figures while drifting through space, while Herta remained intrigued by the secrets she could not uncover.

• Herta reviewed Lin Nai’s latest examination results and found that only his height and weight had changed, while Lin Nai admitted he had been eating too many sweets.
• Herta warned Lin Nai not to use his golden Disc Blade recklessly after he had once split her desk with it.
• Herta wondered which Path Lin Nai might follow, and Lin Nai said he might not follow one at all.
• Lin Nai remembered seeing several strange figures, including a shadowy figure holding masks, while drifting through space before Herta found him.
• Herta recalled that other Genius Society members, including Ruan Mei, had failed to uncover Lin Nai’s secrets, though Lin Nai had chatted pleasantly with them.

After Herta finished examining Lin Nai, she kicked him out of her office, and he met Asta in the Core Passage. Asta relayed Topaz’s offer for him to join the Interastral Peace Corporation’s Special Debt Collection Group, but Lin Nai refused.

• Herta told Lin Nai to leave so she could return to studying the Simulated Universe, and he complained before leaving her office.
• Lin Nai met Asta, who reassured him that Herta cared about him and playfully kneaded his face.
• Asta told Lin Nai that Topaz had asked whether he wanted to work for the Interastral Peace Corporation’s Special Debt Collection Group.
• Lin Nai refused the offer, saying he did not want to work for the corporation.

Lin Nai refused to join the company to avoid becoming entangled in its politics and worried that his involvement would drag Asta back into trouble. He and Asta went to the cafeteria, where they discussed Topaz and Lin Nai remembered how he had persuaded Herta to improve the Space Station’s food.

• Lin Nai explained why he would not work for the company, and Asta agreed to help him turn down Topaz.
• Asta and Lin Nai left for the cafeteria, and she told him that many researchers had seemed listless lately.
• Asta teased Lin Nai about how often Topaz invited him to spend time together, and Lin Nai said they were friends who talked about pets and played Aetherium Wars.
• Lin Nai recalled that he had met Topaz after she caught him sneaking up on Zhazha to check whether the Trotter dropped coins.
• At the cafeteria, Lin Nai remembered how he had persuaded Herta to improve the Space Station’s food by threatening to starve himself.

Lin Nai and Asta discovered that an Alien Water Sprite had impersonated chef George and tried to poison Lin Nai. After Lin Nai captured it in a gourd, he headed to the laboratory that had made its explosives.

• George approached Lin Nai and offered to make him beef noodles, but Lin Nai recognized him as an Alien Water Sprite and told Asta he would handle the Curio later.
• Asta offered to bring Lin Nai food and teased him about his lessons and having run away from the Space Station.
• The Alien Water Sprite served Lin Nai suspicious noodles and urged him to eat, but Lin Nai refused and punched it after revealing he did not eat beef.
• The Alien Water Sprite revealed explosives and claimed it had been sent to kill Lin Nai, but Lin Nai sucked it into a gourd and sealed it inside.
• Lin Nai asked those nearby about the explosives and set off for the laboratory that had manufactured them.

Lin Nai discovered the bomb threatening the Alien Water Sprite was a prank made by researcher Joey, then brought the curio to the Containment Zone. He wondered whether a displayed Wind Glider belonged to a traveler from another world.

• Lin Nai went to the laboratory and found researcher Joey pretending to work while watching a comedy sketch.
• Lin Nai released the Alien Water Sprite, and Joey claimed he could handle the bomb.
• The Alien Water Sprite activated the bomb, but it fizzled out and revealed itself as Joey's fake prank device.
• Lin Nai knocked out the Alien Water Sprite, contained it, and left while Joey's smile faded after he was alone.
• Lin Nai visited the Containment Zone and asked the System whether a displayed Wind Glider belonged to a traveler from next door.

After finding little evidence in the Curio rooms and surveillance room, Lin Nai returned to his dorm, where the System gave him a new passive skill that could make defeated enemies drop gold coins. Silver Wolf then persuaded him to join her for a game, and he launched it as her voice call came through.

• Lin Nai found a Mask of the Fool watching him in the Curio room, but he left without discovering any other clues.
• Lin Nai found the real George gagged in a cafeteria corner and notified the Security Department before returning to his dorm to rest.
• Lin Nai received the passive skill Explode Gold Coins, which could make enemies drop gold coins when defeated.
• Lin Nai reviewed the assorted items he had stored in the System Space and lamented that he had few powerful combat skills.
• Silver Wolf asked Lin Nai to join her for a dungeon, and he agreed after she mentioned a new banner featuring a big-breasted woman with a pet.

Lin Nai teased Silver Wolf during a call as she pulled on a new banner, first encouraging her to keep trying after she ran out of resources and then boasting that he got the character in one pull. Silver Wolf grew furious and challenged him to a duel.

• Lin Nai joked with Silver Wolf about preferring the banner’s characters and blamed Herta for making him annoying.
• Silver Wolf said she had not pulled on the banner yet, then excitedly began wishing for the character.
• Silver Wolf quickly ran out of resources without getting a gold pull, and Lin Nai urged her to try again.
• Lin Nai got the character in one pull and hid his laughter as Silver Wolf accused him of mocking her.
• Silver Wolf, enraged by Lin Nai’s boasting, challenged him to a duel.

Silver Wolf challenged Lin Nai to a game and accused him of cheating after he staged a comeback. She hacked into his computer to uncover his secret, only to find a video that played “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

• Silver Wolf started a game against Lin Nai and quickly took the lead.
• Lin Nai made an unexpected comeback, prompting Silver Wolf to accuse him of turning on cheats.
• Silver Wolf disconnected and hacked into Lin Nai’s computer to inspect his “Study Study Files” folder.
• Silver Wolf opened a password-protected folder named “Don’t Look” and found a video inside.
• Silver Wolf played the video and heard “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

Lin Nai celebrated tricking Silver Wolf and discovered that provoking her produced gold coins, then Asta misunderstood a Belobog specialty she found in his hand. After falling asleep, Lin Nai woke in a bizarre dream world resembling Teletubbies.

• Silver Wolf grew furious after seeing Lin Nai's taunts and tried to call him, but Lin Nai hung up and ignored her messages.
• Lin Nai discovered that his prank on Silver Wolf had produced several gold coins through his Explode Gold Coins passive, and decided to test whether he could trigger it again.
• Asta walked in while Lin Nai was holding Black Silk, misunderstood the situation, and left after telling him to wash his hands.
• Lin Nai fell asleep and woke on a rock beneath a laughing face in the sun, then saw a three-horned doll clapping nearby.

Lin Nai experienced a bizarre series of attacks and hallucinations, then released his power and collapsed as his body began to burn and freeze. Herta woke him and promised to examine him the next day, while her puppet secretly continued monitoring him.

• Lin Nai dodged a punch, a speeding car, and gunfire in a strange shifting world where bizarre scenes appeared and vanished.
• Lin Nai sensed energy in his body and unleashed it, causing the surroundings to disappear into an empty space.
• Lin Nai began choking as his body burned and his hands and feet turned cold, then blacked out.
• Herta woke Lin Nai and explained that he had shouted strange phrases, glowed, and shown worrying physical symptoms.
• Herta told Lin Nai to visit her office the next day and warned him to spend less time with Silver Wolf.
• After Lin Nai fell asleep, Herta praised him as her proudest collection, wondered about his taste in stockings, and left the puppet monitoring him.

Lin Nai received a new skill and two items from the System, then learned that someone had tried to enter his dream before the System forced him awake. After Herta found no clear physical cause for his abnormal symptoms, exhausted medical staff carried Lin Nai to the medical bay, where he treated them with energy.

• Lin Nai woke to the System’s rewards: Moon God Digitization, a Card Case, and an Extraordinary Creator VRX Cassette.
• The System said someone had tried to enter Lin Nai’s dream, and admitted it had caused his pain to wake him.
• Herta examined Lin Nai and found no detectable physical problem, though she remained concerned about his symptoms and sent his report to Ruan Mei and Screwllum.
• Researchers carried Lin Nai to the medical bay because its staff were overwhelmed, while Asta declined to rescue him and promised to bring lunch.
• Lin Nai channeled energy into the exhausted medical staff, treating them while resentfully recalling the station’s many recent accidents and collapses.

Lin Nai treated injured researchers at the Herta Space Station and learned their accident came from a dream machine designed to make people study while asleep. Three days later, Herta examined Lin Nai again but found no explanation for his changing abilities.

• Lin Nai treated injured staff in the medical bay and asked one regular patient what experiment had caused the latest accident.
• The staff member explained that researchers had built a machine for lucid dreams that allowed studying but not experiments, since dreams could make imagined results come true.
• Lin Nai joked that reading dirty magazines could count as studying, leaving the staff member confused, then messaged Silver Wolf to ask if she was available to explode gold coins.
• Three days later, Herta gave Lin Nai a follow-up physical examination after his strange dream, but his results still showed an ordinary person despite his changing strength and abilities.

Lin Nai investigated why Asta had been looking at him strangely and went to ask Arlan for answers. At the Security Department, he found the staff exhausted from bizarre dreams and gave Abraham a mysterious potion.

• Lin Nai told Herta that Asta had recently been giving him a strange, complicated look, and Herta suggested he ask Arlan about it.
• Lin Nai left Herta's office and headed to the Security Department to find Arlan.
• Lin Nai found Abraham and several other security staff exhausted at their desks, and Abraham described a strange dream involving Peppy and fighting robots.
• Lin Nai pulled a skull-marked potion from his System Space and gave it to Abraham, who drank it.

Lin Nai discovered that sleepiness was spreading across the Herta Space Station and that Arlan had not appeared on surveillance footage. With Herta away and Silver Wolf yet to reply, Peppy led him to Asta’s room, where no one answered the door.

• Lin Nai searched for Arlan in the Security Department, but staff said they had not seen him.
• Lin Nai reviewed surveillance footage and found that nearly every department’s staff had become unusually sleepy, with symptoms first appearing about a week earlier.
• Lin Nai discovered that Herta had left the Space Station, then messaged her and contacted Silver Wolf while planning to check the Curios and the Stellaron.
• Peppy tugged Lin Nai to Asta’s room, and Lin Nai entered after she failed to answer his knocks.

Lin Nai investigated why Asta and other Space Station staff had fallen into an unexplained deep sleep, but his healing abilities could not wake her. After checking on Arlan and searching the Curio Storage Room, Lin Nai suspected the Mask of the Fool was watching him.

• Lin Nai tried to wake Asta with Gauss Force and the Dolphin Magician Ring, but neither worked, so he took her to the Medical Bay.
• Joan told Lin Nai that staff had been falling unconscious for days and that the Medical Bay could not identify the cause.
• Lin Nai learned that Arlan had also fallen into a deep sleep and visited him before leaving the grieving Security Department staff behind.
• Lin Nai checked the Curio Storage Room for signs of entry and found none, then accused the Mask of the Fool of watching him.

Lin Nai visited the laboratory that made the dream-entry machine, hoping to find clues about Asta’s coma, and tried its new Sleep Pod. The dream library began to blur and vanish, leaving him beneath a baby-faced sun as the universe flashed through his mind.

• After finishing Asta’s work, Lin Nai went to the laboratory and asked its lead researcher about dream-related materials.
• The lead researcher showed Lin Nai the new Sleep Pod, which used books to teach knowledge during sleep.
• Lin Nai entered the machine and explored a dream library filled with categories of books.
• Lin Nai searched for a dirty book but found himself calm and without worldly desires, so he put it aside.
• The library blurred and disappeared, and Lin Nai watched a baby-faced sun rise as the universe flashed through his mind.

After a strange dream showed someone trying to enter it, Lin Nai suspected the Mask of the Fool was involved and decided to test his theory. He left the Curio Containment Room after provoking Aha and planned to lure it into his dream, while the system went to find backup.

• A van struck Lin Nai in his dream, and the system told him someone had tried to enter it.
• Lin Nai woke violently from the Sleep Pod and learned that lab staff had observed strange images in his brain-wave readings.
• Lin Nai questioned the researchers about the calming potion and learned that Joey had made it and helped design the Sleep Pod.
• Lin Nai traveled through mirrors to the Curio Containment Room and confronted the Mask of the Fool.
• Lin Nai challenged Aha to enter his dream, then asked the system for protection; the system went to find backup.

Lin Nai entered his dream prepared to fight Aha, but Aha dodged his attacks and instead brought him into a bedroom scene featuring a disguised Topaz. Lin Nai saw through the disguise, and Aha admitted the trick was meant to surprise him.

• Lin Nai gathered dream and brainwave research materials, took calming medicine, and fell asleep to confront Aha.
• Lin Nai arrived in his familiar dream world, where Aha appeared as the Mask of the Fool and dodged Lin Nai’s Disc Blade attacks.
• Aha told Lin Nai that he had watched him enter the dream and offered to show him Asta’s dream.
• Aha transported Lin Nai to a bedroom, where a figure dressed as Asta appeared wearing Topaz’s face.
• Lin Nai recognized that the figure was Aha in disguise, and Aha admitted that the disguise had been an oversight.

Lin Nai learned that Aha had set up a stage in Asta’s dream, but he had no way to reach it, so he stayed up reading research materials for clues. The next morning, he remembered his Moon God Digitization skill and headed to the lab to borrow a machine, only to find the staff arguing about work and tea.

• Aha revealed that he had prepared a stage in Asta’s dream and then sent Lin Nai back to his own body.
• Lin Nai concluded he could not enter Asta’s dream yet and spent the night reading the lab’s research materials.
• Lin Nai used Gauss Acceleration to read faster, then remembered that Moon God Digitization could enter dreams.
• Lin Nai went to the laboratory to borrow a machine and found the staff arguing over whether to work or have tea.