Chapter Summaries

Tie Qiang reached the Gate of Paradise but was ambushed, and Zhou Ming repeatedly tried to discover how to get him through safely. Tie Qiang learned that entering District 52 required two coins just as an attacker stabbed him in the back.

• Tie Qiang left the Third Mining Area with one coin and traveled to the Gate of Paradise, where eighteen armed attackers surrounded him.
• Tie Qiang gave the attackers his coin, but they attacked him anyway; he fought back before being overwhelmed and killed.
• Zhou Ming reasoned that the attackers were guarding the entrance for money and suspected that more than one coin might be required to enter Paradise District.
• Over the following week, Zhou Ming tried five more runs, but Tie Qiang died in four and reached the gate seriously injured in the last.
• Tie Qiang inserted his coin into the gate, which demanded a second coin to enter District 52, and one of the attackers stabbed him in the back.

Zhou Ming decided to enter the Money Empire instance himself and planned to ask Su Yuxiang to watch over him during his next unconscious spell. He revealed his supposed superpower and the world behind his novel, but Su Yuxiang mistook the story’s romances for his infidelity and attacked him.

• Zhou Ming grew tired of training Tie Qiang and chose to enter the Money Empire instance himself to reach District 52.
• Zhou Ming took Su Yuxiang, her parents, and Song Feifei to Sansha Island while worrying about his next unconscious spell.
• Zhou Ming told Su Yuxiang that he expected to lose consciousness in three days and claimed his brain traveled to another world.
• Zhou Ming showed Su Yuxiang his novel, I'm an Emperor in Another World, and said its events had really happened in the world he called Lord's Dispute.
• Su Yuxiang read the novel and attacked Zhou Ming after finding its many romantic relationships, while he tried to explain that the women were fictional.

Zhou Ming prepared to enter the Money Empire instance while Su Yuxiang cared for him and made him promise to return and remain faithful to her. He entered the game and was born into a mining family, beginning life in the world he had already explored in dreams.

• Su Yuxiang questioned Zhou Ming about his dream-world comas, and he explained that they lasted only a few days in reality and that dying in the dream could wake him.
• Zhou Ming agreed to enter the dream world after Su Yuxiang insisted he stay single there, though he privately expected to seek a wife someday.
• On August 1, Su Yuxiang prepared a bed and medical supplies for Zhou Ming and promised to care for him while he was unconscious.
• Zhou Ming and Su Yuxiang exchanged heartfelt words before he entered the Money Empire instance through the Game Panel.
• Zhou Ming was born in a mine as the son of Tie Man, and he recognized the world and family he had previously encountered in dreams.

Zhou Ming used his knowledge of hidden ores and mechanical repair to build wealth and influence, then trained in the mines and founded the Tie Brotherhood. At eighteen, despite his power across several mining areas, he chose to enter the Hunger Games in the killing competition.

• Zhou Ming persuaded Tie Man to delay sending him into the mines by revealing valuable ore deposits, earning over 13,000 Credit Points for the family.
• Zhou Ming opened the Tie Family Repair Shop, and it grew into a successful business after he repaired Uncle Niu’s rock drill cheaply.
• At nine, Zhou Ming began mining to strengthen his body and recover the combat skills he had lost.
• Zhou Ming fought in mining-area conflicts, defeated numerous opponents, and founded the Tie Brotherhood to keep finding challenges while improving his members’ mining work.
• By eighteen, Zhou Ming had become the Tie Brotherhood’s leader and a powerful figure across several mining areas, but he restrained the gang from provoking the company.
• Zhou Ming signed up for the killing competition and entered the Hunger Games.

Zhou Ming entered the Hunger Games, using his knowledge of the other contestants to kill them and win the arena early. The hosts announced his victory and hailed him as a Great Demon King.

• Zhou Ming left his family in the mining district after reassuring Hong Yan that he would return successful and provide for them.
• Two days later, Zhou Ming entered the arena with fifty other contestants and used his memories of past competitions to assess his opponents.
• Zhou Ming seized a machete and food backpacks, killed the large man who pursued him, and survived in the forest with traps.
• On the sixth day, Zhou Ming defeated the blonde archer after she ambushed him, then took her bow and arrows.
• Zhou Ming searched the arena and killed the remaining contestants, winning on the tenth day and leaving through Victory Gate.
• The hosts celebrated Zhou Ming's victory and called him a Great Demon King as they announced the next Hunger Games.

After returning home, Zhou Ming traveled to Heaven's Gate and survived an ambush by killing all eighteen attackers, but he could not discover where they had hidden their coins. He stole a coin from a newcomer and entered District 52 through the gate, badly dehydrated and in need of water.

• Zhou Ming promised his hometown that he might open Heaven's Gate for them someday, and Hong Yan sent him off with her blessing.
• Zhou Ming questioned Captain Lu about the coins and asked the soldiers to take him to Heaven's Gate, but they refused and left him behind.
• Zhou Ming used poisoned darts to kill the eighteen attackers who ambushed him, but the final two killed themselves before revealing where the money was hidden.
• Zhou Ming waited near Heaven's Gate for three days, killed a tattooed newcomer, and took the coin the gate returned when the man tried to enter with only one coin.
• Zhou Ming inserted two coins into Heaven's Gate and entered District 52 as the gate opened.

Zhou Ming entered District 52 and underwent extensive treatment that repaired his radiation damage, infections, Genetic Defects, and other health problems. After discovering that some nurses looked down on people from the Lower District, he was discharged with an identity card, 500 Credit Points, and a warning to protect his money, then stepped into the world above.

• Doctors and soldiers took Zhou Ming from the gate, disinfected him, and subjected him to two days of medical examinations.
• The medical report revealed severe radiation exposure, seventeen pathogens, thirteen Genetic Defects, and an estimated lifespan of fifty-five years, but a doctor promised to cure him for one coin.
• During two months of treatment, Zhou Ming tried to learn about the Paradise District from Nurse Wu Lili, but she dismissed him and called him a filthy Rat from the Lower District to other nurses.
• Zhou Ming overheard Wu Lili and Sun Qinqin discussing how they had deceived people from the Lower District, making him wary of the supposed paradise.
• After completing treatment, Zhou Ming received one returned coin, blue clothes, an identity card, and a payment card loaded with 500 Credit Points.
• A staff member warned Zhou Ming never to lose his money, and Zhou Ming left the hospital to face the world above.

Zhou Ming struggled to find work in Shining Star City, where jobs were bought through a job exchange and employers demanded his gold coin as an introduction fee. After defeating Fat Boss and taking his Credit Points and clothes, he reached the Job Exchange to look for a position.

• Zhou Ming explored Shining Star City, spent much of his money on food, transport, and lodging, and decided to find work.
• Zhou Ming asked more than a thousand stores for a job, but employers refused or demanded his gold coin as an introduction fee.
• Zhou Ming slept in a park until Fat Boss and his men confronted him, then beat them and forced them to transfer over 8,000 Credit Points.
• Zhou Ming exchanged his hospital-issued rat suit for a delinquent's clothes and took a hover taxi to the Job Exchange.
• Zhou Ming saw that the Job Exchange listed positions for sale, including unsold jobs costing gold coins or large amounts of Credit Points.

Zhou Ming tried to earn a living in Shining Star City through woodcarving and street performances, but people admired his art without paying for it. After losing most of his savings, he left for Baowan Town to seek work in agriculture.

• Zhou Ming learned that money determined status and survival in District 52, and he refused to spend his last coin despite having more than 8,000 Credit Points taken from Fat Boss and his gang.
• Zhou Ming tried selling wood carvings, refunded half the price to the Pigeon Egg Face Girl, and left after Xiao Min's mother demanded a refund too.
• Zhou Ming performed songs for large crowds but received no tips, then was fined 300 Credit Points by a police officer for excessive noise.
• After several failed attempts at freelance work depleted his savings, Zhou Ming bought a Maglev Train ticket to Baowan Town to look for agricultural work.

Zhou Ming arrived in Baowan Town seeking temporary harvest work to survive, while Gu Naihui struggled to save Gu Family Restaurant from a rival restaurant’s Intelligent Kitchen Robot. The chapter ended with Gu Naihui posting a notice to recruit two kitchen workers under unusual conditions.

• Zhou Ming arrived in Baowan Town and decided that taking temporary labor jobs was his only viable way to survive.
• Gu Naihui watched Du Family Restaurant draw customers away from Gu Family Restaurant after it began using an Intelligent Kitchen Robot.
• Gu Dawei fell seriously ill after failing to borrow the two money units the family needed to buy their own robot.
• Gu Naihui posted a notice recruiting two kitchen workers, prioritizing applicants under eighteen who had cooking experience and no family members.

Zhou Ming joined Gu Family Restaurant and tried to save it by introducing new dishes, beginning with Small Steamed Buns. After the buns became a hit, Gu Family Restaurant defeated Du Family Restaurant in the breakfast rush.

• Zhou Ming won a kitchen job at Gu Family Restaurant by impressing Gu Naihui and Gu Naifeng with his Egg Fried Rice.
• At a staff meeting, Zhou Ming urged Gu Naihui to develop new dishes to attract customers before Baowan Town's harvest season, but she dismissed his plan and left for Shining Star City.
• While Gu Naihui was away, Zhou Ming spent his Credit Points on ingredients and steamers and made Small Steamed Buns, earning the support of Gu Naifeng, Zhang Peizhen, and Jin Dazhuang.
• The next morning, Gu Family Restaurant offered customers Small Steamed Buns and Corn Porridge, selling more than three hundred steamers' worth and drawing far more breakfast customers than Du Family Restaurant.

Gu Naihui returned to find Zhou Ming’s Small Steamed Buns drawing customers, but she planned to steal the coins from the two Kitchen Workers and had ordered a superior Intelligent Kitchen Robot. As the Zeroed began removing people without coins during the approach to Harvest Day, Gu Naihui tried to have Zhou Ming and Da Zhuang taken away too.

• Gu Naihui came back to the busy Gu Family Restaurant, saw Zhou Ming’s Small Steamed Buns bringing customers back, and went upstairs with a plan to take coins from the two Kitchen Workers.
• That night, Gu Naihui entered Zhou Ming and Da Zhuang’s room, searched it, and swapped the coin in Da Zhuang’s locket for another before taking a second coin hidden in the ceiling light; Zhou Ming pretended to be unconscious and followed her.
• As Harvest Day neared, the Zeroed arrived in Baowan Town and seized a teenage child whose parents could not provide him with a coin.
• Zhou Ming recognized the Zeroed from Shining Star City and returned to the kitchen rather than intervene, recalling that he had been unable to stop them before.
• Gu Naihui told the Zeroed that Zhou Ming and Da Zhuang had no money and asked them to take the two men away, while Zhou Ming watched her with contempt.

Zhou Ming exposed Gu Naihui’s attempt to frame him and Jin Dazhuang with counterfeit coins, then confronted her after discovering she had lost the money she had hidden. Gu Naihui was left furious and financially trapped after learning she could not cancel the Intelligent Kitchen Robot order or recover her deposit.

• Gu Naihui told Gu Naifeng that she had planned to replace Zhou Ming and Jin Dazhuang with an Intelligent Kitchen Robot, and he realized she had used the money for the purchase.
• Zhou Ming’s coin passed the Zeroed’s verification, and Jin Dazhuang’s coin also proved genuine, so the Zeroed threatened Gu Naihui and left without arresting them.
• Gu Naihui found her hidden money missing and read Zhou Ming’s note warning her not to oppose him.
• When Gu Naihui attacked Zhou Ming, he subdued her and forced her to submit, though she continued to hate him.
• Gu Naihui tried to cancel the robot order and recover her deposit, but Oriental Kitchenware Company refused, leaving her crying and cursing Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming turned Gu Family Restaurant around with new dishes and took control of its kitchen, while the Gu family schemed to recover their coins and keep him there. As harvest season brought more customers, Du Qihui became alarmed by his restaurant’s losses and decided to taste Zhou Ming’s cooking himself.

• Zhou Ming explained that he planned to use his food knowledge to build a Gourmet Empire, then developed breakfast and regular menus for Gu Family Restaurant.
• Gu Dawei returned to work, and customers praised the restaurant’s improved dishes, giving the Gu family confidence in Zhou Ming’s cooking.
• The Gu family failed to find their stolen coins and began hoping Zhou Ming would stay; Gu Naihui rejected her family’s suggestion that she marry him.
• During Baowan Town’s harvest season, Zhou Ming worked long hours as Gu Family Restaurant drew customers away from Du Family Restaurant.
• Du Qihui, shocked by the loss of customers and reports that Zhou Ming’s food tasted better than the Intelligent Kitchen Robot’s, decided to dine at Gu Family Restaurant in disguise as an ordinary customer.

Du Qihui visited Gu Family Restaurant to challenge the Gu family, but Zhou Ming’s cooking convinced him that the restaurant’s food surpassed the Intelligent Kitchen Robot’s dishes. Du Qihui tried to recruit Zhou Ming for Du Family Restaurant, but the Gu family drove him out, and Gu Naihui realized he had not paid his bill.

• Du Qihui entered Gu Family Restaurant, demanded service, and claimed he would eventually take over the restaurant.
• Zhou Ming told Gu Naifeng to give Du Qihui the menu, and Du Qihui ordered more than ten dishes.
• Du Qihui tasted the dishes and reluctantly recognized that Zhou Ming’s cooking was better than the Intelligent Kitchen Robot’s food.
• Du Qihui offered Zhou Ming shares and profit dividends to join Du Family Restaurant, then grabbed his hand and tried to lead him away.
• Gu Naihui grabbed Zhou Ming’s other hand while Gu Naifeng dragged Du Qihui outside; Zhou Ming returned to the kitchen, and Gu Naihui went after Du Qihui for the unpaid bill.

After the harvest rush ended, Gu Family Restaurant counted its profits, and Zhou Ming decided its earnings were far below his ambitions. As the Gu family celebrated, Zhou Ming agreed to buy Gu Naifeng a new communicator, while Gu Naihui’s guarded feelings toward him continued to soften.

• During the harvest season, Du Qihui repeatedly tried to recruit Zhou Ming with increasingly generous offers, but Zhou Ming put him off until someone dragged him out of the restaurant.
• After the harvest ended, Gu Family Restaurant reviewed its eighteen-day results: 889,300 Credit Points in revenue and about 290,000 in net profit.
• Zhou Ming judged the restaurant’s earnings inadequate and concluded that higher prices and better dishes would be needed to overcome customers’ frugal spending habits.
• Gu Naifeng asked Gu Naihui to buy him a 50,000-Credit-Point communicator, but she and Gu Dawei criticized him for wanting such an expensive gift.
• Zhou Ming offered to let Gu Naifeng use his s17 and pay for the new communicator, leaving Gu Naihui jealous of how kindly he treated her brother.

Zhou Ming persuaded Gu Dawei to test four expensive signature dishes, and their overwhelming popularity proved that Gu Family Restaurant could attract high-end customers. The restaurant’s revenue and reputation rose as wealthy patrons began arriving, laying the groundwork for its move upmarket.

• Zhou Ming proposed raising prices and targeting high-end customers, but Gu Dawei worried that the restaurant would lose its regular customers.
• Zhou Ming suggested testing four dishes priced above 100 Credit Points, and Gu Dawei agreed after Gu Naihui supported the idea.
• Zhou Ming and Gu Naihui traveled to more than ten cities to find ingredients, and Zhou Ming developed Spicy Crayfish, Country Grilled Fish, Yam and Black Chicken Soup, and Braised Wild Boar.
• At the August 18 tasting event, townspeople devoured the samples and immediately demanded more of the four dishes.
• On August 19, nearly a thousand customers came for the new dishes, bringing Gu Family Restaurant 158,000 Credit Points in revenue.
• Over the following days, Mayor Yang Liangping, Guo Changfu, Han Lei, and Ya Lan praised the dishes, while more wealthy patrons arrived and the restaurant’s business grew.

Zhou Ming pushed ahead with a major price increase and plans to expand Gu Family Restaurant despite protests from customers and Gu Dawei. As September approached, the Gu family faced a more urgent problem: finding five money for Gu Naifeng’s university registration fee, while Zhou Ming held all their liquid money.

• Zhou Ming announced that Gu Family Restaurant would raise its prices by 20% to 30% starting September 1, prompting angry customers to threaten to leave.
• Du Qihui responded by offering a 5% discount at Du Family Restaurant and welcomed customers who objected to Gu Family Restaurant’s price hike.
• Gu Dawei begged Zhou Ming to cancel the increase, but Zhou Ming defended the plan and proposed expanding the restaurant with more floors, private rooms, staff, and smart kitchen equipment.
• Gu Dawei calculated that even if most customers left, the restaurant could retain roughly its earlier daily revenue with less work, and he accepted Zhou Ming’s decision.
• The Gu family worried about Gu Naifeng’s upcoming enrollment at Banhua Medical University because his registration required five money and 500,000 Credit Points, while Zhou Ming held the family’s liquid money.

Zhou Ming gave Gu Naihui five coins to fund Gu Naifeng’s university enrollment, then used the opportunity to investigate the world’s advanced medical technology. Gu Naifeng departed for university in Banhua City, while Gu Naihui hoped Zhou Ming would forgive her and become close to her family.

• Gu Naihui pleaded with Zhou Ming for five coins and tried to seduce him, but he stopped her and gave her the enrollment money.
• Zhou Ming returned to his room, confirmed that his system storage could move items between instance worlds, and considered how the coins had revealed this ability.
• Zhou Ming planned to learn about the world’s medical technology through Gu Naifeng, whose education could lead to a coveted medical career.
• On September 1st, Zhou Ming saw Gu Naifeng off at the station as he left with his parents for university in Banhua City.
• Gu Naifeng asked Zhou Ming to forgive Gu Naihui, and Zhou Ming wished him well as he boarded the Maglev Train.

Zhou Ming rebuilt Gu Family Restaurant and developed more than thirty tofu dishes to win back customers after they boycotted its price increase. The restaurant reopened with improved facilities and affordable new dishes, and business soon surged beyond its capacity.

• After Gu Family Restaurant lost nearly all its customers, Zhou Ming decided to invest in expanding and renovating it, while assuring Gu Naihui he could bring customers back.
• During the month-long renovation, Zhou Ming developed more than thirty tofu dishes, and the Gu family regained confidence in his plan after tasting them.
• On October 7, Gu Family Restaurant reopened with a tofu tasting event, and townspeople were drawn in by the dishes, reasonable prices, and upgraded dining space.
• Gu Family Restaurant's customer numbers and revenue climbed through October, prompting Zhou Ming to hire more kitchen workers and waiters.
• On October 28, Gu Family Restaurant began offering free home delivery on orders of at least 50 Credit Points after customer demand exceeded its capacity.