Chapter Summaries

Jiang Yan Hai and Professor Wu Min planned a simulation-training experiment for death-row prisoners and discussed the risks of training the brain beyond the body’s real capabilities. Jiang Yan Hai proposed matching simulated physical data to each prisoner’s scanned body, then began modifying his combat simulation program while the Old Commander’s side considered the application.

• Jiang Yan Hai said he would submit the application and asked Professor Wu Min to help write the program.
• Professor Wu Min explained that simulated training could make the brain command an untrained body to perform dangerous movements, risking injuries and organ emergencies.
• Jiang Yan Hai proposed scanning each participant and using their actual physical data in the simulation to reduce those risks.
• Professor Wu Min agreed to help, and Jiang Yan Hai called the Old Commander to seek approval for the experiment.
• The Old Commander said the application needed discussion and warned Jiang Yan Hai to be careful with his words.
• Jiang Yan Hai had Er Dan export the Illusion Simulation Combat Data and began modifying it after learning that scenes and their elements could be generated from data.

Jiang Yan Hai gained approval to recruit death-row inmates for a new-generation soldier training experiment and chose Scorpion as its first candidate. After receiving Director Wen, Fan Tian Lei, and He Chen Guang’s support, he traveled to Jinling to meet Scorpion.

• Jiang Yan Hai and Old Commander’s group approved a cooperative research project that could reduce participating inmates’ sentences to life imprisonment if they passed.
• Jiang Yan Hai asked Director Wen about Scorpion’s pending execution and explained that Scorpion could join the experiment; Director Wen agreed to contact him.
• Jiang Yan Hai told Fan Tian Lei and He Chen Guang about the project, and both supported using Scorpion to spare soldiers from taking the experimental risks.
• Jiang Yan Hai traveled to Jinling by military aircraft, where Director Wen brought him to meet Scorpion in the heavily guarded prison.
• Jiang Yan Hai was surprised that Scorpion looked fairer and heavier than when they had first met.

Jiang Yan Hai offered Scorpion a chance to cooperate in an experiment in exchange for a reduced sentence and life outside prison in a monitored area. After seeing photographs of his family, Scorpion agreed and asked to receive updates about them.

• Jiang Yan Hai met Scorpion privately and explained that he wanted him to participate in an experiment.
• Jiang Yan Hai offered Scorpion a commuted sentence and residence in a designated area under strict monitoring.
• Jiang Yan Hai showed Scorpion photographs of his partner and children, and told him they were doing well.
• Scorpion agreed to cooperate and asked Jiang Yan Hai to send him photos or videos of his family from time to time.
• Jiang Yan Hai arranged to take Scorpion away and showed Director Wen the miniature electronic bomb intended to keep him from escaping.

Jiang Yan Hai brought Scorpion to Institute 382 to collect physical and neural data for the Illusion Simulation Program. After Professor Wu Min explained how simulated exertion affected internal organs, Jiang Yan Hai began considering a new idea.

• Jiang Yan Hai took Scorpion from prison under Fire Phoenix's protection and monitored him without restraints during the flight.
• Scorpion noticed Fire Phoenix's tension, and Jiang Yan Hai explained that their past setback had taught them caution.
• At Institute 382, Scorpion received a metal security collar and wore a sensor suit while completing military exercises until he neared his physical limit.
• Jiang Yan Hai asked Professor Wu Min about the brain's neural reactions to internal organs, and Professor Wu Min explained that simulated strenuous exercise could affect the organs even when the body was lying still.

Jiang Yan Hai designed a new Golden Body Suit that used microcurrents to simulate muscle movement and pain, then prepared Scorpion to test a military simulation. Scorpion entered the simulation pod unaware of the risks posed by neural interference.

• Jiang Yan Hai proposed adding microcurrent muscle stimulation and simulated pain to the Golden Body Suit, and Professor Wu Min agreed after warning that incorrect programming could be fatal.
• Jiang Yan Hai designed the new bodysuit while Professor Wu Min and the other researchers gathered human-body data and prepared the simulation equipment.
• Within two weeks, Jiang Yan Hai and the researchers completed their preliminary preparations, and Scorpion finished his physical training.
• Jiang Yan Hai explained that Scorpion would test a military simulation with realistic sensations applied by the bodysuit, but did not explain the danger of disrupting brain signals.
• Scorpion put on the integrated helmet and bodysuit, lay in the simulation pod, and had the researchers connect its monitoring cables.

Jiang Yan Hai and his team tested the Illusion Simulation Program on Scorpion, who found himself inside a realistic battlefield simulation. As Scorpion began testing his surroundings, the team monitored his reactions and prepared for his first simulated death.

• Jiang Yan Hai confirmed that Scorpion and the scanning equipment were ready, then started the program with a countdown.
• Scorpion appeared in a shell crater beside Big Bird and realized he was experiencing a simulation with realistic sights but limited physical sensations.
• Mammoth warned Scorpion that a sniper was nearby, and Scorpion told him to watch for the sniper while he ran a test.
• Jiang Yan Hai and the team observed Scorpion's rising brain activity, adrenaline, and heart rate while his real body remained mostly still.
• Jiang Yan Hai anticipated Scorpion's first death in the simulation and ordered the team to prepare the emergency equipment.

Jiang Yan Hai explained why the illusion simulation’s infrared Induction Mines were so dangerous and watched Scorpion navigate the jungle. Scorpion triggered a mine and was engulfed by its explosion.

• Jiang Yan Hai explained how fear and the body’s physiological responses could cause death even when injuries were not fatal.
• Jiang Yan Hai recalled that the route back through the jungle was covered with linked infrared Induction Mines that could trigger from ten meters away.
• Jiang Yan Hai watched Scorpion move through the simulation and warned everyone as Scorpion entered a mine’s activation range.
• A mine exploded, and Scorpion instinctively dove away, but excruciating pain flooded his body.

Jiang Yan Hai tested the Illusion Simulation Program on Scorpion, who experienced the sensation of dying before medical staff stabilized him. Scorpion identified the program’s shortcomings, while Jiang Yan Hai concluded that smell and taste remained unsolved.

• Scorpion endured intense pain and fear inside the simulation, and his vital signs fluctuated as medical staff prepared to intervene.
• The medical team stabilized Scorpion, while Jiang Yan Hai’s Data Analysis System identified nearly seventy potential improvements to the program.
• After doctors completed Scorpion’s examinations, he asked Jiang Yan Hai whether the test was why he had been spared.
• Jiang Yan Hai said Scorpion’s experience could help save comrades’ lives, and Scorpion praised the technology’s potential for training soldiers.
• Scorpion reported that touch and temperature felt convincing but that he could not smell or taste, and Jiang Yan Hai acknowledged those senses could not yet be safely simulated.

After Scorpion described the problems he experienced in the illusion simulation, Jiang Yan Hai consulted medical professors about its physical and psychological effects. They found no major physical danger from occasional tests, but warned that the simulation could cause severe psychological trauma, leaving Jiang Yan Hai to consider how soldiers' mental health should be protected.

• Jiang Yan Hai handed Scorpion over to specialists, then asked medical professors to assess Scorpion's condition.
• The professors reported that Scorpion had no major physical problems and said occasional extreme tests and weak muscle stimulation should remain within safe limits.
• Jiang Yan Hai said the team could improve simulated touch through better data and continued testing.
• An elderly professor warned that the simulation felt real enough to cause Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, especially because soldiers might believe they had truly died.
• Jiang Yan Hai considered how battlefield actions and civilian deaths could torment soldiers, recalling that the Red Star Republic's special squad had also faced problems on missions with Price and the others.

Jiang Yan Hai and the professors refined Scorpion’s bodysuit and simulation system while discussing the risks of psychological trauma and the shortage of specialists. After a month of testing, the system was ready for preliminary trials with special forces soldiers, and Jiang Yan Hai told Ruan Wenxiong his mission was over.

• Jiang Yan Hai asked the professors whether psychologists could help soldiers with postwar trauma, and they said trained specialists were needed but scarce.
• Jiang Yan Hai decided to report the need for experts to higher-ups but said psychological risks would not justify abandoning Scorpion or refusing to use him.
• Jiang Yan Hai spent a month analyzing data and running nightly simulations to test the bodysuit and its effects on the human body.
• Jiang Yan Hai and the team improved Scorpion’s physical condition and bodysuit until the system was ready for preliminary testing with actual special forces soldiers.
• Jiang Yan Hai told Ruan Wenxiong that his mission was over, and Ruan Wenxiong asked what would happen next.

Jiang Yan Hai offered Scorpion a choice between life imprisonment and working in a mining area under strict restrictions, and Scorpion chose the work. After waking in an unfamiliar town, Scorpion took the name Wen Xiong and began exploring his new home.

• Jiang Yan Hai explained that Scorpion would be punished despite his death sentence being waived, then offered him life imprisonment or restricted mining work.
• Scorpion chose the mining work and confirmed that their earlier agreement still stood.
• After being injected and losing consciousness, Scorpion woke in a plain room with his restraints removed and work clothes waiting for him.
• Scorpion read the rules limiting him to a five-kilometer area and the mining site, with a wrist device warning him when he neared the boundary.
• Scorpion wrote Wen Xiong on his work ID, changed into the clothes, and explored the empty house and its small yard.

Scorpion explored the modern-looking settlement where he had been left and learned that he was expected to work for New Sea Mining. Wang Hai’s description of the Great Qin Empire and the Red Mad Wolf disaster left Scorpion wondering whether he had somehow arrived in another world.

• Scorpion found that his courtyard was part of a newly built row of identical homes and met his neighbor, Yang Wen.
• Yang Wen told Scorpion to follow Great Qin’s mining requirements and mentioned that Manager Wang was coming to see him.
• Wang Hai introduced himself as New Sea Mining’s HR manager and took Scorpion to complete his hiring paperwork.
• As they walked, Wang Hai explained that Scorpion would start work the next day and should study the factory rules.
• Scorpion asked about the Empire, and Wang Hai explained that the Great Qin Empire had defeated the Red Mad Wolf disaster and entered a new era.

Scorpion examined the strange town and its customs, and concluded that he had arrived in another world where the Great Qin Empire's government was secretly China. The chapter left him alone in his new house, still wondering how he had come there.

• Scorpion completed his registration with Manager Wang and received a work card and card-reading device.
• Manager Wang explained Scorpion's wages and housing, offered to introduce him to a woman, and warned him to work hard.
• Manager Wang gave Scorpion two hundred yuan and led him around the town, where Scorpion noticed its walls and soldiers carrying old-fashioned rifles.
• Scorpion bought food at the supply and marketing cooperative and returned to his house, where Manager Wang left him alone.
• Scorpion examined the old-style currency and concluded that the town was not on Earth and that the Great Qin Empire's government was China behind the scenes.

Scorpion settled into his new life in the small town, realizing that China’s control was far greater than he had imagined while appreciating the freedom he had been given. After a week, Jiang Yan Hai received a report that Scorpion had stayed within the designated area and worked diligently.

• Scorpion concluded that his captors were confident he could never escape and reflected that his restricted freedom was still better than prison.
• Yang Wen invited Scorpion to eat at his home and insisted he share meals with his family until he received his wages.
• Scorpion ate with Yang Wen and his sister-in-law, recognizing the warmth and optimism he associated with China’s early years.
• Jiang Yan Hai asked about Scorpion, and Black Hawk reported that he had behaved well and worked diligently during his first week in town.

Jiang Yan Hai kept Scorpion under strict surveillance at the mine while ordering Dark Blade to assemble twelve former Special Forces 1st Battalion members and deploy the Thunderbolt Commando Unit and Fire Phoenix Special Operations Unit. The twelve veterans flew home, wondering whether Jiang Yan Hai planned to send them back to training.

• Jiang Yan Hai told Black Hawk to keep watching Scorpion, who had settled into the mine after a week without causing trouble.
• Jiang Yan Hai contacted Bei Chen Xiang and ordered twelve former Special Forces 1st Battalion members to report back, along with the Thunderbolt Commando Unit and Fire Phoenix Special Operations Unit.
• The Thunderbolt Commando Unit and Fire Phoenix Special Operations Unit arrived first, while the twelve former battalion members began their return from overseas.
• Zhang Qi, Pan Ye, and the others recognized the ominous prospect of being gathered together again and speculated that Jiang Yan Hai might send them back for retraining.

Zhang Qi and the others suspected Jiang Yan Hai had recalled their twelve-person group for a challenging mission, though they did not know what awaited them. Lei Zhan and Tan Xiao Lin went to the airport to collect the incoming arrivals, where a new Yun-50 transport aircraft landed.

• Zhang Qi and his comrades speculated that Jiang Yan Hai had a special purpose for transferring their group, and Qiao Dong and Ma Dang Xian admitted they were worried.
• Tan Xiao Lin asked Lei Zhan what was happening, and Lei Zhan said he expected no good to come of it.
• Lei Zhan and Tan Xiao Lin waited at the airport to collect the scheduled arrivals.
• A Yun-50 transport aircraft arrived, and the chapter described its advanced capacity, range, and performance.

Jiang Yan Hai gathered twelve officers at a secure research institute for an unspecified training assignment. Before he could explain the purpose, the Old Commander arrived and said he had come specifically to see them.

• Twelve officers, including Zhang Qi, arrived by transport aircraft and greeted Tan Xiao Lin and Lei Zhan.
• Tan Xiao Lin showed the group their rooms and the research institute, which had military security and training facilities.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered Tan Xiao Lin and Lei Zhan to assemble everyone at Training Ground Number 1.
• Jiang Yan Hai welcomed the assembled officers and began explaining that he had transferred them there for training.
• The Old Commander arrived with a group, and Jiang Yan Hai saluted him before the Old Commander said he had come specifically to see them.

Jiang Yan Hai was promoted to Senior Colonel and officially appointed commander of the Dark Blade Special Operations Brigade. He then prepared Zhang Qi and eleven others for a dangerous experiment beginning the next day, while Lei Zhan and Fire Phoenix waited for equipment to be completed.

• The Old Commander announced Jiang Yan Hai’s promotion and appointment, then personally replaced his insignia.
• Jiang Yan Hai told the teams he had called them back to participate in a dangerous experiment that could affect their lives.
• Zhang Qi and the other eleven agreed to go first, while Lei Zhan and Fire Phoenix were told to wait about a week for their equipment.
• Jiang Yan Hai checked the teams for injuries, confirmed they were fit, and returned to the research institute, where Professor Wu Min and the others teased him about his new rank.

Jiang Yan Hai’s promotion to Senior Colonel and appointment as Dark Blade’s brigade commander stunned his comrades, while Zhang Qi and his team began testing a realistic simulated-battlefield training system. The chapter ended with the twelve men deployed in a virtual jungle, alert for enemies.

• Jiang Yan Hai’s promotion drew astonishment from both brigades, and his former teammates reflected on how quickly he had risen above them.
• Zhang Qi and his twelve men signed up for Jiang Yan Hai’s experimental training and arrived at the training site the next day.
• Jiang Yan Hai explained the simulated battlefield and warned the men to withdraw immediately if they experienced unusual symptoms.
• The researchers placed Zhang Qi and his men in simulation pods, where they found themselves equipped for combat in a remarkably realistic jungle.
• Zhang Qi ordered his men to spread out, conceal themselves, and watch for enemies as Jiang Yan Hai observed their response from outside.

Zhang Qi’s team began a simulated withdrawal under enemy fire, and Ma Dang Xian was killed in the exercise before Jiang Yan Hai reminded the others that the scenario could have been real. After leaving the simulation pod, Ma Dang Xian praised the system’s training value despite the shock of experiencing death.

• Zhang Qi briefed his twelve-man team on their mission to withdraw safely after enemy forces discovered and encircled them.
• Artillery shells struck near the team, and a blast hurled Zhang Qi and the others through the rainforest.
• A sniper shot killed Ma Dang Xian in the simulation, terrifying the team until Jiang Yan Hai told them to continue training.
• Ma Dang Xian exited the simulation pod and told Jiang Yan Hai that the system could improve soldiers’ combat experience, though dying in it felt unpleasant.
• Jiang Yan Hai explained that the costly system would be limited to elite units and small-scale Special Forces training for now.