Chapter Summaries

Zhou Ming found his mother, Yuan Jiali, and sister, Fang Xiaojing, chained and imprisoned by their father, Fang Zhihong, in Steel Well City, and learned how he had trapped them to buy a managerial job. After his infant brother stopped him from killing Fang Zhihong, Zhou Ming rescued his family and left the city, leaving his father behind.

• Zhou Ming and his men searched Steel Well City for five days before finding Fang Zhihong and forcing him to reveal where his family was.
• Zhou Ming found Yuan Jiali and Fang Xiaojing shackled in a Box House, freed them, and learned from Fang Xiaojing how Fang Zhihong had stolen their coins and imprisoned them.
• Zhou Ming ordered Dabiao to kill Fang Zhihong, but Yuan Jiali presented the baby and called him the child’s father, causing Zhou Ming to spare him.
• Zhou Ming left Steel Well City aboard a Maglev Train with Yuan Jiali, Fang Xiaojing, his infant brother, and his men, while Fang Zhihong remained behind.

Over four years, Zhou Ming built Swift Money House into a regional financial power and captured a thousand criminals before buying the police chief position. His victory drew the hostility of Mayor Sha Liangjin and Sha Baojin, who arranged to test a new Shadowless Type 3 Robot on someone they believed was Fang Yuanjie.

• Zhou Ming settled his family in a guarded villa and supported them while keeping their identities hidden from his enemies.
• Swift Money House expanded across more than twenty cities, while Zhou Ming used Skynet and police surveillance to drive Shining Star City's crime rate nearly to zero.
• After Renault's term ended, Zhou Ming outbid Sha Baojin for the police chief position, paying 5,530 in money.
• Sha Baojin demanded that Sha Liangjin kill Zhou Ming, and Sha Liangjin agreed to use the newly arrived Shadowless Type 3 Robot.
• A transparent robot entered a villa, scanned a sleeping man's face, and killed him by destroying his brain before he could scream.

After a third double was killed by a mysterious weapon, Zhou Ming hired Liu Yu of Phantom Kill and learned that Absolute Shadow’s invisible liquid robot was behind the attacks. The robot slaughtered Zhou Ming’s fourth double and dozens of defenders, while Zhou Ming’s raid on Sha Liangjin’s mansion failed to deter him, leaving Zhou Ming facing an enemy willing to sacrifice his own family.

• Zhou Ming contacted Phantom Kill and persuaded Liu Yu to protect him and help kill Mayor Sha Liangjin.
• Liu Yu identified the killer as Absolute Shadow’s powerful liquid invisible robot and advised Zhou Ming to hide behind his doubles and attempt to trap it.
• Sha Liangjin saw Zhou Ming’s double attend a city work conference and decided the robot would kill any double in Zhou Ming’s place.
• The robot overcame the villa’s defenses and traps, killed more than thirty people, and destroyed Zhou Ming’s fourth double.
• Zhou Ming led an assault on Sha Liangjin’s mansion, killed one of Sha Liangjin’s doubles, and captured members of his family as hostages.
• Sha Liangjin dismissed the threat to his family and killed Zhou Ming’s final double with the invisible robot.

The Balancers crushed the Shadowless organization and recovered its fifty-two Shadowless Type 3 Robots, then noticed Swift Money House was creating another imbalance in District 52. Zhou Ming subdued Sha Liangjin with Slave Drug and realized that the Balancers, who had repeatedly shaped events across the game’s rounds, would become his greatest enemies.

• Sha Liangjin assassinated Zhou Ming’s subordinates, paralyzing Shining Star City’s public security system as unrest spread across District 52.
• The Balancers decided to intervene against the Shadowless organization and sent an armed team to its underground base.
• The Balancers’ weapons destroyed the Shadowless robots, forced the organization to surrender, and enabled them to recover all fifty-two Shadowless Type 3 Robots.
• While passing through Shining Star City, a Balancer learned that Swift Money House’s deposits and loans were changing the city’s finances and decided to report it.
• Zhou Ming injected Sha Liangjin with Slave Drug and concluded that the Balancers were behind several major events and would eventually threaten him.

Zhou Ming prepared Swift Money House for a legal crackdown on lending, survived a devastating bank run, and redirected his ambitions toward healthcare. He founded Vitality Medical Company and planned to use his stored medical research and longevity materials to transform District 52’s medical industry within five years.

• Zhou Ming halted Swift Money House’s expansion, tightened its lending rules, and raised funds before a new anti-usury provision made most loans unrecoverable and triggered a bank run.
• Zhou Ming covered Swift Money House’s losses by selling assets, auctioning Coins, and using profits from his food businesses; the money house displayed its reserves, regained depositors’ trust, and retained only secured Coin Loans.
• Zhou Ming established Vitality Medical Company and built a 100-story headquarters opposite Eastern Hospital, while its director, Kang Jinkai, dismissed Zhou Ming’s promise to destroy the hospital within ten years.
• Zhou Ming inspected Vitality Building, confirmed that its equipment, staff, and research plans were ready, and told his managers to nurture Gu Naifeng, whose cancer research focused on longevity.
• Zhou Ming retrieved his medical technology materials and planned for Vitality Healthcare to master them within three years, then develop stronger longevity technology over the following two years.

Zhou Ming led Vitality Healthcare to develop the Balance Factor, a treatment that could extend lifespans by decades, then secured Shining Star City's mayoral position after his rivals were eliminated. As he took office, Yang Mingqiang was killed in a bombing, and Zhou Ming sensed a greater crisis was approaching.

• Wang Dawei examined more than five thousand medical technology files, and Zhou Ming ordered Vitality Healthcare to prioritize longevity research.
• Zhou Ming led the Ageless project, whose researchers discovered the Balance Factor and synthesized a version that could greatly extend human lifespans and reduce cancer risk.
• Zhou Ming silenced the research team and kept the life-extending technology secret while Vitality Healthcare expanded its business.
• Zhou Ming pursued the mayoral position after Sha Liangjin's term ended, while three rival bureau directors died in apparent accidents or attacks.
• Zhou Ming outbid Yang Mingqiang for the mayoralty, and Yang threatened him before Zhang Guangyang killed Yang with a bomb to avenge his father.

After consolidating control of Shining Star City, Zhou Ming faced a conspiracy by Kang Jinkai and other opponents to bring down Fang Yuanjie by spreading claims that Swift Money House had lost hundreds of billions in customer deposits. The rumor incited more than three hundred thousand citizens to surround City Hall, and Zhou Ming began a citywide broadcast as the crisis escalated.

• Zhou Ming took control of the Tax Chief position after assassins frightened Pan Chaoqing into abandoning his job, consolidating his authority over Shining Star City.
• Kang Jinkai gathered Pan Chaoqing, Yang Xuebo, and other opponents in secret, where they rejected assassination and other plans to kill Fang Yuanjie.
• Kang Jinkai argued that Fang Yuanjie had covered Swift Money House and Vitality Healthcare's losses by misusing customer deposits, and urged the group to spread the accusation.
• The next morning, more than three hundred thousand angry citizens surrounded City Hall and demanded that Fang Yuanjie return their money.
• Zhou Ming heard that the police could no longer hold the crowd, activated the citywide broadcast system, and began addressing the citizens.

Zhou Ming used Vitality Healthcare’s longevity treatment and a new financial plan to quell Swift Money House’s deposit crisis and attract billions in new investments. Kang Jinkai watched Eastern Hospital lose its customers and began calling allies to fight back against Fang Yuanjie.

• Zhou Ming reassured citizens that Swift Money House had not lost 10 trillion and said depositors could withdraw their money after three months.
• Vitality Healthcare’s video showed 500 elderly trial participants rejuvenated by its treatment, which the company claimed could extend life by at least thirty years for 20 money.
• Qian Dalang introduced the Longevity Financial Plan, allowing depositors with more than 10 million Credit Points to fund a future treatment, and warned customers against breaking contracts.
• More than 200,000 customers applied for Longevity Financial Plans within two weeks, committing over 2 trillion Credit Points, while other customers asked for cheaper plans.
• Kang Jinkai saw crowds at Vitality Healthcare and an empty Eastern Hospital, then vowed to rally others against Fang Yuanjie.

Vitality Healthcare’s Golden 30 Years package devastated Eastern Hospital’s business, while Zhou Ming considered how to protect his growing empire. After Kang Jinkai was ousted and abducted, Zhou learned the Cross-Realm Bureau controlled Ascender purification services and decided to take over Eastern Hospital with Kang’s help.

• Vitality Healthcare and Swift Money House attracted millions of customers with the Golden 30 Years package and its financing plan, capturing 98% of the life-extension market.
• Zhou Ming credited his success to his prior-life preparations, lower treatment costs, and political and financial influence, while remaining wary of the Balancers and upper-class nobles.
• Six months later, Eastern Hospital removed Kang Jinkai as chief director, cut his shares and froze his dividend and voting rights as the hospital faced collapse.
• Two people abducted Kang after he entered a bar, and Zhou Ming questioned him under P-10 Truth Serum about Eastern Hospital’s treatment of Ascenders.
• Kang told Zhou that the Cross-Realm Bureau controlled Ascender purification services, took most of the allocated funds, and held 11% of Eastern Hospital’s shares.
• Zhou proposed acquiring Eastern Hospital, restoring Kang as chief director, and removing the Cross-Realm Bureau’s influence; Kang agreed.

Six months later, Zhou Ming profited from the Cross-Realm Bureau's collapse and continued his struggle against the Balancers, whose violent attempts to shut down Vitality Healthcare led to mass casualties and a prolonged uprising. After negotiations, the two sides reached an agreement that preserved much of Zhou Ming’s business empire, and he visited a cemetery to honor a woman who had sacrificed herself to save him.

• Vitality Healthcare bought Eastern Hospital, and the Cross-Realm Bureau’s purification business collapsed, leading to Luo Liangpeng and Luo Yingjun being kidnapped by Zhou Ming’s crew.
• Zhou Ming demanded 4,400 Money from Luo Yingjun for the 44 Money he had stolen, and Luo Yingjun was shot dead after pleading for his life.
• The Balancers blockaded Vitality Healthcare, and their troops killed thousands of protesters before withdrawing after a hunger strike by Zeroed children and heavy losses from failed assassination attempts.
• The Balancer diverted forces to suppress the Steel Well City uprising, which spread across seventeen cities, while Zhou Ming gained control of District 52’s medical industry.
• Zhou Ming and the Balancer negotiated an agreement that raised treatment prices, divided Vitality Healthcare, provided technology and compensation, and delayed the dissolution of Swift Money House.
• Zhou Ming stood among more than a million tombstones and remembered the woman who had sacrificed herself to save him.

After securing an enhanced slave drug and arranging for his vast District 52 assets, Zhou Ming entered the Upper District under the identity Zhao Yu. The welcoming staff took him to Paradise Island, where he glimpsed a vast golden city as the story left him nearing his new destination.

• Zhou Ming obtained five hundred thousand doses of an enhanced slave drug and silenced the medical team that developed it.
• Zhou Ming signed a Hundred Year Agreement assigning managers and family members shares in his nearly fifty-trillion-Credit-Point business empire if he failed to return to District 52 within a century.
• Zhou Ming reached the Ascension Gate, paid the entry fee, and entered the Upper District using the name Zhao Yu and the identity of a wealthy farm owner.
• Staff from Angel Hospital welcomed Zhou Ming and flew him toward Paradise Island, assuring him that he would love it there.
• Zhou Ming saw Paradise Island's beautiful wilderness and a vast golden city resembling an ancient divine temple.

Zhou Ming completed most of his Longevity Treatment in Game City and learned about the Upper District from nurses Aili and Lanna. Lanna introduced him to the city’s Death Game betting, and he discovered that even Aili enjoyed wagering on contests.

• Zhou Ming received respectful care at Angel Hospital, where Doctor He questioned why he had left District 52 so early despite having decades of life remaining.
• Zhou Ming learned that Nurse Lanna was struggling to support her family on her salary and offered to lend her money in exchange for information about the Upper District.
• Lanna told Zhou Ming that Game City had more than two million residents and hinted that he would soon learn why the city had its name.
• Zhou Ming watched nurses bet on a Death Game, where Lanna lost her wager on One-Eyed Dragon and was mocked by her coworkers.
• Lanna pulled Zhou Ming aside and taught him about betting on games, while Aili privately warned him that Lanna was a gambling addict with terrible luck.
• Zhou Ming learned that Aili also enjoyed betting on the Maze Hero killing competition.

Zhou Ming used his knowledge of past killing-game contestants to help Nurse Lanna win a huge betting payout, then left Angel Hospital after his treatment ended. He explored Game City, bought an apartment in the southern district, and began settling into life in the Upper District.

• Zhou Ming persuaded Lanna to bet 200 Golden Coins on the blond contestant, who survived the arena and killed the exhausted final opponent, earning Lanna 5,400 Golden Coins.
• Zhou Ming explained that he recognized the winner as Lucky Blondie from his previous life and learned that cities in the Upper District could be bought for a few million Golden Coins.
• After completing his twenty-day Longevity Treatment, Zhou Ming left Angel Hospital and told Lanna to bet on a skilled female contestant in the next Hunger Games.
• Zhou Ming walked through Game City, noticed its residents' unusual fashions, ate at a restaurant, and toured the city by hovering taxi.
• Zhou Ming bought an apartment on the thirty-third floor in the southern district for 800 Golden Coins.

Zhou Ming reunited with Ye Tianlong in South City and learned how his four other subordinates had fared in the Upper District. After hearing that Hao Fei had been eliminated in a forced Zero-Sum Game, Zhou Ming recognized the danger of gambling and told Ye Tianlong to keep their meeting secret while he continued investigating.

• Zhou Ming changed a crescent mark in a remote alley, and three days later Ye Tianlong followed the signal to meet him.
• Ye Tianlong told Zhou Ming that he worked as a chauffeur, while Jin Biao had become an aircraft mechanic and pilot and Baboer worked as a game-company security guard.
• Ye Tianlong reported that Chen Chao had married a wealthy tycoon and wanted no contact, and Zhou Ming said they should respect her choice.
• Ye Tianlong explained that Hao Fei had gambled his way to ten million in assets, then lost everything in a forced Zero-Sum Game and was taken by the Zeroed.
• Zhou Ming warned Ye Tianlong to hide his identity, avoid contacting him unless necessary, and keep his arrival secret from Jin Biao and Baboer.

Zhou Ming concluded that betting games were the most practical way to amass the money needed to buy resources, then spent three years betting in Game City. After winning 30 million money on a War Games match, he had 48 million money and recognized that lottery-style bets offered the biggest chance of a sudden fortune.

• Zhou Ming estimated that buying the world’s listed resources would cost about one billion money, but price increases and competition could push the cost much higher.
• Zhou Ming planned to earn money through betting games, buy cities or districts, and avoid dangerous Zero-Sum Games unless necessary.
• Three years later, Zhou Ming watched the 133rd War Games match and won 30 million money by correctly predicting the survivors and their contestant numbers.
• Zhou Ming noted that his betting accuracy had fallen below 30 percent as events diverged from what he remembered, and that War Games’ large prize pools offered the best chance of a major win.
• Zhou Ming left with 48 million money, having earned 18 million over the previous three years and made a further 30 million from the match.

Zhou Ming attended an upper-class clothing banquet in Game City, where his unusual outfit earned him a reputation and an invitation to gamble. He saw through Luo Gaibi’s setup, won 2 million Money, and left with no intention of returning.

• Zhou Ming wore the Emperor's New Clothes to a clothing banquet and impressed a guest who asked him to design a similar outfit.
• Zhou Ming’s growing fame in upper-class society earned him the titles “Noble Zhao” and “Music Star.”
• Luo Gaibi and four companions coaxed Zhou Ming into playing Show Hand, and Zhou Ming pretended to be an inexperienced, lecherous gambler.
• Zhou Ming won 2 million Money over the course of the night while the other players lost heavily.
• After leaving the castle, Zhou Ming dropped his act and recognized the gambling invitation as a trap he had turned to his advantage.

Zhou Ming used his winnings to buy Steel Well City and Underground Mining Area 51, the place he called home. He took ownership of Steel Well City first, then received Area 51’s intelligent manager along with a hostile warning from its former holder.

• Zhou Ming recalled losing money at gambling and explained that Lightning Liu had taught him enough to improve, but not enough to make gambling safe.
• At the Resource Exchange, Zhou Ming bid on Steel Well City in District 52 and Underground Mining Area 51.
• Steel Well City’s owner quickly accepted Zhou Ming’s bid, while Area 51’s owner matched his offers four times before agreeing to sell at three million.
• Zhou Ming celebrated gaining control of Area 51, whose mining zones, miner families, and Mining Company were now under his authority.
• Zhou Ming completed the ownership binding for Steel Well City, then received Area 51’s intelligent manager from its former holder, who warned him that he had offended someone dangerous.

Zhou Ming hired Ban Gongyu to manage Area 51 and experimented with reforms in both the district and Steel Well City despite their poor returns. Seeking a safer base away from Game City, he bought land from Long Shengguang and built Hope Fortress, where he could settle and develop his power.

• Zhou Ming hired the experienced Ban Gongyu to manage Area 51, and Ban advised that districts with limited resources could be controlled by reducing the population through sustained conflict.
• Zhou Ming hired guards for Ban Gongyu, then recognized that Area 51 and Steel Well City were costing him money and chose to lower Steel Well City's taxes, invest in public services, and test reforms.
• After Luo Gaibi's men tried to seize him in Game City, Zhou Ming turned the two attackers into bodyguards and decided to establish a private base outside the city.
• Zhou Ming visited Long Shengguang at Dragon Blue Castle and leased Plot 66 on District 11's coast for one million money.
• Zhou Ming bought service and security robots, an electric aircraft, and a pilot, then completed his ten-story castle, Hope Fortress, at a total cost of 2.5 million money.

A woman related to Earl Shengguang secretly painted Hope Fortress, where Zhou Ming encountered her and felt that her gaze exposed his innermost secrets. She left him the painting and flew away, leaving Zhou Ming intrigued by the strange encounter.

• A woman arrived near Hope Fortress by aircraft and painted her imagined version of the castle.
• During a morning run, Zhou Ming reflected on his loneliness, his long life, and whether he should risk using the Slave Drug in the Upper District.
• Zhou Ming recognized the woman’s painting style from Dragon Blue Castle and suspected she was Earl Shengguang’s daughter or granddaughter.
• The woman’s gaze left Zhou Ming feeling as though she had seen through his soul.
• Two bodyguards arrived to take the woman back, and she gave Zhou Ming the completed painting before departing.

Zhou Ming grew close to Lan Mengxin, an isolated Innate Mind Reader, and learned that her father had imprisoned her after she confessed her hatred of him. After warning Zhou Ming that her father planned to kill him, Lan Mengxin said goodbye and left him behind.

• At Earl Shengguang’s banquet, Zhou Ming met Lan Mengxin again, and she revealed that she could see he did not belong to this world.
• Zhou Ming sought Lan Mengxin’s company, shared comics and outings with her, and secretly injected her two bodyguards with Slave Drug to get them out of the way.
• Lan Mengxin told Zhou Ming she was a ninety-three-year-old Innate Mind Reader who had never made friends or had a relationship.
• Lan Mengxin confessed that she wanted to kill her father because he had killed her mother, and explained that an implanted chip prevented her from escaping.
• Lan Mengxin warned Zhou Ming that her father planned to kill him, kissed his cheek, and left after telling him not to visit her again.