Chapter Summaries

Jiang Yan Hai’s team took the gravely wounded Commander Shao away for treatment, while Lin Mei assumed command of the Shadowless Imperial Guard. After learning more about the Guard’s ancient role and traditions, Jiang Yan Hai promised reinforcements could reach the Great Wall within one shichen, as William proposed capturing a Taotie for testing.

• Jiang Yan Hai explained that Commander Shao needed surgery, and Lin Mei and the other generals entrusted him to the medical team.
• The medical Armored Vehicle departed with Commander Shao, and Jiang Yan Hai judged that modern treatment could save him unless the Taotie’s bite carried an unknown threat.
• An envoy from the Song Dynasty emperor arrived with records about the Taotie, including detailed documents from more than sixty years earlier.
• Lin Mei explained the Shadowless Imperial Guard’s succession customs and long history, then assigned Jiang Yan Hai a personal guard and asked how quickly his forces could reinforce the Great Wall.
• Jiang Yan Hai said reinforcements could arrive within one shichen, while William proposed capturing a Taotie to test the lodestone’s effects.

Jiang Yan Hai watched William and his team capture a Taotie in the unnatural dense fog, while recognizing that the Taotie were pursuing a larger plan by digging tunnels. He weighed whether to intervene, knowing China had to keep its activities in other worlds secret until its technological advantage grew strong enough.

• Jiang Yan Hai noted that dense fog was nearly impossible in the Gobi Desert and that powerful magnetic interference kept the drones from investigating the Taotie's location.
• William and his teammates charged into the fog to capture a Taotie as the Shadowless Imperial Guard fired volleys of fireballs and whistling arrows; General Chen said their safety had been left to fate.
• Jiang Yan Hai concluded that the Taotie had not attacked at full strength and were likely digging tunnels, but the drones had failed to detect the work among the cliffs and ravines.
• Jiang Yan Hai considered intervening to stop the Taotie, then worried that their breakthrough might prevent Lin Mei and the others from killing the Beast King.
• Jiang Yan Hai reasoned that China had to limit the people sent to other worlds and treat their inhabitants well to preserve secrecy while developing a technological advantage over the next ten years.
• Jiang Yan Hai recalled that China was already researching a third-generation electromagnetic interference warhead for the Phantom interceptor missile.

Jiang Yan Hai watched Lord Shen take the captured Taotie to the capital and asked Commander Lin whether she would allow his forces to intervene against the Taotie threat. She declined for now, citing the Emperor’s secret decree and their plan to exploit the Taotie’s weakness to magnets, while Jiang Yan Hai warned that the Taotie were learning.

• Lord Shen took the captured Taotie away under an imperial decree, and Jiang Yan Hai watched the convoy depart with Commander Lin.
• Commander Lin explained that she could not stop Lord Shen because his supplies were essential to the defense effort, though she had sent elite Deer Army soldiers to guard him.
• Jiang Yan Hai offered to let his forces intervene against the Taotie, but Commander Lin said the Emperor had forbidden them to seek help unless the situation became extremely urgent.
• Commander Lin said the defenders believed magnets could help them kill the Beast King and keep the situation under control, so Jiang Yan Hai agreed not to intervene yet.
• Jiang Yan Hai reminded Commander Lin that the Taotie were learning and becoming smarter.

Jiang Yan Hai learned that the Taotie had tunneled beneath the Great Wall and were racing toward Bianliang, so Commander Lin sent a risky hot-air-balloon expedition to stop them. Twenty-eight hours later, an urgent message reported that Commander Lin and her group had killed the Beast King and eliminated the Taotie.

• Jiang Yan Hai received word that Commander Shao had awakened, but kept the news from Commander Lin as Shao had ordered.
• The Taotie tunneled through the rock beneath the Great Wall, slipped past the eastern defenses, and headed toward Bianliang while a small group distracted the guards.
• Commander Lin chose to send hot-air balloons toward Bianliang, despite many catching fire, while General Deng set off with cavalry.
• Commander Lin asked Jiang Yan Hai to help if the expedition failed, and Jiang Yan Hai warned her to eliminate the remaining Taotie even if killing the Beast King stopped them.
• Jiang Yan Hai stayed behind, and an urgent courier later reported that Commander Lin and her group had killed the Beast King and eliminated every Taotie.

Jiang Yan Hai remained wary despite reports that the Beast King and Taotie had been destroyed, while the Great Wall defenses were reinforced and Commander Lin returned from Bianliang. Commander Lin told Jiang Yan Hai that the person he had allowed to choose between taking Black Powder or his companion had chosen his companion and left.

• Jiang Yan Hai warned General Deng that the Taotie might not have been eliminated and urged the Great Wall to stay on alert.
• The Tiger Army’s engineers reinforced the Great Wall’s foundations, then used Black Powder to collapse the Taotie tunnels without seriously damaging the wall.
• The Shadowless Imperial Guard developed a new defense strategy, concluding that the Taotie could not readily tunnel through other sections of the Great Wall.
• Five days after killing the Beast King, Commander Lin, the Deer Army cavalry, and the surviving Shadowless Imperial Guard returned to the Great Wall, and Lin received the honorary title of Grand General of Cavalry.
• Commander Lin told Jiang Yan Hai that the person he had given a choice between Black Powder and his companion had chosen his companion and left.

Jiang Yan Hai warned Commander Lin that the Taotie might have another Beast King, and three days later a vast Taotie force attacked the Great Wall. The Guardian Taotie formed a rising ramp toward the wall, leaving the defenders preparing for close combat as the assault escalated.

• Jiang Yan Hai questioned why the Beast King had fed on the battlefield and remained exposed to repeated attacks, concluding that the Taotie would return and might have more than one Beast King.
• Commander Lin arranged to speed up the transport of Taotie corpses and strengthen patrols along the Great Wall.
• Three days later, Jiang Yan Hai and Commander Lin saw thousands of Guardian Taotie advancing behind a defensive barrier of Bone Shields.
• Commander Lin ordered the trebuchets to fire, but most of the flaming stones failed to break through the shields, and he withdrew the Crane Army from grappling attacks.
• The Guardian Taotie stacked themselves into layers with ordinary Taotie supporting them, rapidly building a slope toward the Great Wall.

The Shadowless Imperial Guard fought to stop the Taotie from completing a bridge over the Great Wall as ordinary Taotie swarmed the defenses. Jiang Yan Hai hurled a Flashbang Grenade at the bridge, uncertain whether it would affect the beasts.

• Commander Lin ordered the Bear Army and Deer Army to prepare for close combat while Siege Crossbows attacked the Guardian Taotie's exposed sides.
• Eagle Army soldiers used Black Powder bombs, and the Siege Crossbows killed Guardian Taotie, weakening the Taotie bridge and briefly halting its construction.
• Ordinary Taotie surged toward the wall, and some climbed the half-built slope as Bear Army and Deer Army soldiers fought them at terrible cost.
• Jiang Yan Hai used precise rifle fire to kill Guardian Taotie and undermine the bridge's support structure.
• Jiang Yan Hai noticed his Flashbang Grenades, then threw one toward the lower side of the Taotie wall.

Jiang Yan Hai helped turn back the Taotie assault, then agreed to Commander Lin’s request for Great Qin Empire assistance. He warned that his forces might need control of the main battlefield, leaving Commander Lin astonished at the prospect of their taking the casualties.

• Jiang Yan Hai used a Flashbang Grenade to disorient the Guardian Taotie, killed four, and helped collapse their slope, breaking the Taotie advance.
• The Eagle Army bombarded the exposed gap, causing the slope to collapse and forcing the Taotie to retreat with their dead and fallen Shadowless Imperial Guard soldiers.
• Commander Lin ordered General Wu and General Chen to organize rescue efforts and recover usable arrows and supplies.
• Commander Lin told Jiang Yan Hai that the defenders likely could not withstand another attack and asked whether his people could stop the Taotie; he answered that they could.
• Commander Lin requested Great Qin Empire assistance on behalf of the Shadowless Imperial Guard and the Song Dynasty, citing the Emperor’s written authorization, and Jiang Yan Hai agreed.
• Jiang Yan Hai said his forces might need to take control of the main battlefield, and Commander Lin stared at him in astonishment.

Jiang Yan Hai secured Commander Lin’s permission for Great Qin’s troops to intervene against the Taotie while keeping control of their combat mission. As the city prepared the wall for their arrival, a huge modern convoy emerged from the Star Gate and stunned the defenders.

• Jiang Yan Hai agreed to Commander Lin’s offer of support, asking him to open the city gate and clear space outside the residential area while not interfering with the battle.
• Jiang Yan Hai called Great Qin’s command center and ordered level-one war status after the other side permitted intervention.
• Great Qin’s troops mobilized a convoy with three thousand soldiers, twelve self-propelled howitzers, twelve rocket launchers, and supply vehicles.
• Jiang Yan Hai told Commander Lin to clear the enemy-facing wall and lower the Crane Army’s mechanisms, and Commander Lin ordered the Tiger Army to comply.
• Commander Lin saw the convoy approach through a cloud of dust and realized its steel machines vastly outnumbered the ones he had seen before.

Jiang Yan Hai’s forces entered the city and began preparing its defenses against the Taotie. The long-range artillery deployed beyond the Great Wall, while Chinese soldiers and the Shadowless Imperial Guard installed heavy machine guns along the wall.

• Commander Lin ordered the city gates opened as the self-propelled howitzers, rocket launchers, and support vehicles entered.
• Jiang Yan Hai explained that the artillery would deploy beyond the residential district to attack from a distance.
• Yang Rui reported that the troops were ready, and Jiang Yan Hai ordered them to follow the battle plan and work with the Shadowless Imperial Guard.
• Chinese soldiers and the Shadowless Imperial Guard carried ammunition and equipment to the wall.
• The troops mounted two hundred rotary machine guns and installed a 20mm Rotary Cannon for roughly every five machine guns.

Jiang Yan Hai prepared Great Qin’s modern weapons and ammunition to defend the city against the Taotie, shocking the local generals with the firepower of the Shadowless Imperial Guard. He left the mines in reserve, planning to use them after the Taotie adjusted their tactics.

• Jiang Yan Hai told General Deng and General Chen that the Shadowless Imperial Guard’s weapons were standard issue and powerful enough to resist the Taotie.
• The guards finished bringing ammunition onto the city walls, and Jiang Yan Hai asked Commander Lin’s soldiers to help assemble ammunition belts.
• General Wu and the Tiger Army agreed to assist with the ammunition belts, while Jiang Yan Hai’s people would teach them how.
• Jiang Yan Hai led the generals below to inspect the larger ammunition stores and outdated mines.
• Jiang Yan Hai decided to save the mines for a later Taotie attack and rely on the abundant ammunition for now.

Jiang Yan Hai demonstrated a manual machine for loading bullets into disintegrating ammunition belts, explaining how China could now afford better ammunition and equipment. Commander Lin and the Shadowless Imperial Guard generals watched as he quickly loaded a belt, leaving them impressed by the machine’s precision.

• Jiang Yan Hai and Commander Lin arrived at the plaza, where Commander Lin worried that the Taotie might attack.
• Jiang Yan Hai assured Commander Lin that they were monitoring the Taotie and could retreat, while drones reconnoitered overhead.
• Jiang Yan Hai explained the advantages and history of different ammunition belts to the assembled generals.
• Jiang Yan Hai demonstrated the loading machine by placing bullets in its inlet and turning the crank.
• Commander Lin and the generals watched as Jiang Yan Hai rapidly loaded bullets into the belt and marveled at the result.

Jiang Yan Hai’s forces showed the Shadowless Imperial Guard how to operate a machine that linked ammunition, and the guard agreed to help. At a commanders’ meeting, General Wu explained why the other side’s weapons and materials were far beyond their ability to reproduce.

• General Wu tried operating the ammunition-linking machine, then offered the Tiger Army’s help.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered soldiers to teach members of the Shadowless Imperial Guard to make Ammunition Belts while the rest of his force prepared for the night.
• Commander Lin asked General Wu to assess the force, and he praised its discipline and the soldiers’ training.
• General Chen asked whether they could reproduce the ammunition equipment, and General Wu showed the generals a durable metal link.
• General Wu demonstrated a spring’s strength and resilience, leaving the generals astonished by the other side’s materials.

Commander Lin and the generals learned how abundant Jiang Yan Hai’s army’s supplies were and prepared to support its defense of the Great Wall. The Taotie arrived at dawn, and Jiang Yan Hai positioned the troops as the enemy approached.

• General Wu told Commander Lin that Jiang Yan Hai’s army had repaid five pigs with at least five hundred pigs and offered to trade food for resources.
• Commander Lin ordered the Tiger Army to assist Jiang Yan Hai’s troops if the Taotie attacked, while the other forces prepared to join the defense if needed.
• Jiang Yan Hai’s soldiers and Tiger Army troops spent the night ready on the wall as drones watched for the Taotie.
• Drones spotted a vast horde of Taotie emerging from distant caves just as breakfast was served, and Jiang Yan Hai ordered everyone to combat positions.
• Jiang Yan Hai assigned attack groups, autocannon teams, and snipers their tasks while Commander Lin and the generals watched from the wall.

Jiang Yan Hai waited until the Taotie reached the Great Wall before ordering the rotary machine guns to fire. The barrage slaughtered the advancing Taotie and left Commander Lin and the other generals stunned by the weapons’ power.

• Jiang Yan Hai refused Commander Lin’s suggestion to attack the Taotie from a distance, choosing to test the Guardian Taotie’s Bone Shields at closer range.
• The Guardian Taotie advanced in formation with their shields raised, while ordinary Taotie followed behind them.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered the soldiers to fire when the Taotie reached roughly one hundred meters from the wall.
• The rotary machine guns tore through the Guardian Taotie and the ordinary Taotie behind them, piling up a wall of corpses.
• Commander Lin and the generals watched in shock and fear as the barrage stopped the Taotie tide.

Jiang Yan Hai’s forces broke the Taotie assault with machine guns and 20mm Rotary Cannons, killing thousands and driving the survivors back to their caves. After the firing stopped, he ordered troops to mine the battlefield, recover Taotie corpses, and establish distant sensors as he prepared for another attack.

• Jiang Yan Hai watched the machine guns batter the Taotie and saw the Guardian Taotie form a shield wall under orders from the Beast King.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered the 20mm Rotary Cannons to fire, and their shells shattered the Bone Shields and broke the Taotie defensive line.
• Jiang Yan Hai commanded all rotary machine guns to fire, slaughtering the retreating Taotie across distances of more than a thousand meters.
• General Wu noticed the Taotie had left their corpses behind, and Jiang Yan Hai said their overwhelming firepower had prevented the enemy from collecting them.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered Yang Rui’s demolition team to lay remotely detonated mines and retrieve Guardian and ordinary Taotie corpses for the medical team.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered snipers and motorcycle teams to deploy infrared sensors and Monitoring Devices five to eight kilometers from the Great Wall, while Commander Lin’s men joined the recovery effort.

Jiang Yan Hai discussed recovering Taotie corpses and the possibility of breaching the city wall to pursue the creatures to their source. By evening, biologists reported that the Taotie appeared to be self-evolving biological weapons with bodies more advanced than humans’, leaving Jiang Yan Hai astonished by the discovery.

• Jiang Yan Hai and the others recovered several intact Taotie corpses and sent them to the rear for dissection.
• Commander Lin considered the deaths caused by the Taotie and recognized that her forces could not blame Jiang Yan Hai’s side for the outcome.
• Jiang Yan Hai asked Commander Lin and the generals for permission to blow open part of the wall so his troops could enter the Taotie cave if the next attack failed.
• Jiang Yan Hai offered to help restore the wall after the breach, and Commander Lin said they would discuss the proposal.
• Biologists reported that the Taotie resembled biological weapons capable of evolving and reproducing, with advanced organs and birdlike lungs that supported dual respiration.

Jiang Yan Hai reviewed research showing that Taotie had extraordinarily advanced bodies and were controlled by a Beast King, making them more like biological weapons than animals. He and Yang Rui concluded that the Taotie likely came through a stargate and planned to request equipment to locate and possibly close it.

• Jiang Yan Hai read a report comparing Taotie anatomy with humans and learned that Taotie had highly efficient lungs, armored ribs, resilient hearts, and powerful eyes.
• Jiang Yan Hai noted that researchers wanted a Beast King corpse but understood that capturing one alive could trigger a mass Taotie attack.
• Jiang Yan Hai and Yang Rui discussed the likelihood that more Taotie would attack and that a stargate in the cave explained their enormous numbers.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered Yang Rui to report the stargate theory to headquarters and request a scanning device, with the goal of finding and closing the gate.

Jiang Yan Hai and the defenders prepared for another Taotie attack by planting a remote-detonated minefield, then raised the alarm when the Taotie emerged at night. The Taotie advanced behind a new type of heavily armored shield bearer, and sniper fire failed to pierce their Bone Shields.

• Yang Rui's men planted roughly a thousand remotely detonated mines across a five-hundred-meter zone outside the Great Wall.
• Jiang Yan Hai told Commander Lin that the Taotie would likely attack that night, and headquarters soon reported that they were pouring out of the caves.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered a battle alarm, and soldiers launched illumination flares that lit up the gorge.
• Jiang Yan Hai and the defenders saw a new Taotie type advancing in three rows with massive Bone Shields and thick back armor.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered the snipers to test the Bone Shields, and He Chen Guang reported that an armor-piercing round had embedded in one without penetrating.

Jiang Yan Hai’s forces used cannons and a minefield to devastate the advancing Taotie, but a vastly larger horde continued charging the Great Wall. After learning that nearly two million Taotie filled the valley and more were emerging, he ordered the second echelon’s long-range firepower into action.

• He Chen Guang and the other snipers reported that their bullets could not penetrate the Taotie’s bone armor, so Jiang Yan Hai ordered a Rotary Cannon to test its fire.
• The cannon shells pierced and then shattered a Taotie’s Bone Shield, killing the creature, and Jiang Yan Hai waited until the Taotie neared the end of the minefield.
• The demolition team detonated the mines, killing tens of thousands of Taotie, but the creatures behind them surged toward the Great Wall.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered his forces to open fire as waves of Taotie charged, and the battle stalled roughly four hundred meters from the wall.
• The command center reported that nearly two million Taotie filled the valley and more were pouring from the cave, so Jiang Yan Hai ordered the second echelon to deploy long-range firepower.