Chapter Summaries

After returning to work, Chen Mo was teased by Zhao Min and Xiao Yu about needing a secretary to watch over him, but Building No. 1's security made the idea impractical. He admired the completed Dream Wedding Dress he had made for Xiao Yu, then began his next research project: controlled nuclear fusion.

• Chen Mo returned to the company, where Zhao Min welcomed him and Xiao Yu joined her in joking about finding him a secretary.
• Xiao Yu refused to become Chen Mo's full-time personal secretary, and Chen Mo explained that few people could be trusted to enter Building No. 1.
• Mo Nv told Chen Mo that Xiao Yu's Dream Wedding Dress was finished, and he watched it change through several colors and admired its craftsmanship.
• Chen Mo decided not to tell Xiao Yu about the dress yet because he wanted to surprise her.
• Chen Mo returned to the physics laboratory and told Mo Nv that they would research controlled nuclear fusion.

Chen Mo studied the Star Ring approach to controlled nuclear fusion and considered cooperating with the authorities once the technology was ready. Meanwhile, Ruth’s team planned how to capture him and decided to create an opportunity at a location on his commute routes.

• Chen Mo chose magnetic confinement and studied the Star Ring’s design, materials, and demanding technical requirements.
• Chen Mo concluded that commercial fusion would require cooperation with the authorities and returned to organizing the technical materials with Mo Nv.
• Green Wolf explained that Chen Mo’s changing routes, heavy traffic, and security detail made a direct capture difficult.
• Ruth rejected targeting Chen Mo’s family and warned that the mission had to succeed in one attempt.
• Ruth pointed to a location on the map and proposed creating the conditions for an attack there.

Yan Wenbin, a gambling addict buried in debt, accepted a million in cash to set fire to Ant Army Company’s employee dormitories for a masked man and Ruth. The young man planned to use Yan Wenbin’s greed to ensure he carried out the arson, then withhold the promised remaining three million.

• Brother Jin confronted Yan Wenbin over his 150,000 debt, beat him, and gave him a week to repay it.
• A masked young man and Ruth offered Yan Wenbin one million up front and three million more to set a fire in the employee dormitories.
• Yan Wenbin worried that surveillance would catch him, but agreed after the young man threatened him and mentioned his daughter.
• The young man handed Yan Wenbin the backpack of cash and said his people would watch him until the job was done.
• Ruth asked whether Yan Wenbin might break his word, and the young man explained that his greed would make him cooperate while they would never pay the remaining money.

Ruth’s team prepared to abduct Chen Mo alive and smuggle him out of Huaxia, while Yan Wenbin agreed to carry out a paid attack on Ant Army Company. The attack began with a dormitory fire, and Ruth’s team watched for Chen Mo to leave his villa.

• Ruth briefed her team on capturing Chen Mo and taking him by speedboat from Tiger Head Beach, assigning roles for the ambush on Phoenix Road.
• Yan Wenbin agonized over the crime he had agreed to commit, then accepted a caller’s promise of three million more to attack Ant Army Company.
• Dong Donghui discovered a fire in the dormitory, sounded the alarm, organized the evacuation, and ran upstairs to rescue An Mei from room 503.
• Green Wolf watched the dormitory burn as Ruth ordered the operation to begin and told her team to notify her when Chen Mo left.
• The chatty young man kept watch near Chen Mo’s villa while complaining about being made to work through the night.

After a deadly fire broke out at Ant Army Company's Phoenix North factory dormitory, Chen Mo headed to the hospital while a team carrying out a conspiracy against him began following his convoy. Ruth ordered the next stage of the ambush as Green Wolf deliberately rammed a bodyguard vehicle.

• Zhao Min told Chen Mo that the fire had killed two employees and injured eleven, and that police were investigating its suspicious cause.
• Chen Mo watched footage of the fire, learned that injured employee Dong Donghui had stabilized after surgery, and left with Xiao Yu for Phoenix North Hospital.
• Ruth ordered her team to follow its original plan as Chen Mo's convoy left the villa.
• Black Hawk noticed a suspicious vehicle approaching the convoy and told his driver to block it from getting near Chen Mo's car.
• Green Wolf rammed the bodyguard vehicle, then got out as two bodyguards approached him.
• Ruth ordered Numbers Three and Four to drive Chen Mo into the net and told Number One to hurry over.

Chen Mo’s convoy was ambushed on Phoenix North Road after a dormitory fire drew him out, and his bodyguards fought to clear a path. Chen Mo and Xiao Yu escaped the roadblock as Zhao Min and Li Dong mobilized the police, while Ruth ordered the attackers to close in.

• Wang Hai suspected the fire and suspicious vehicles were part of a plot after Black Hawk’s car was rear-ended and their route was blocked.
• Green Wolf revealed himself by killing a bodyguard and attacking Black Hawk, who reported that the convoy was under attack.
• Wang Hai ordered A Nan to clear the road, and A Nan shot out a truck tire so Chen Mo’s car could get through.
• Chen Mo protected Xiao Yu with a bulletproof vest and asked Mo Nv to contact Zhao Min.
• Zhao Min told Li Dong that Chen Mo was under attack, and Li Dong sent nearby police to Phoenix North Road.
• Ruth spotted Chen Mo’s car and ordered her people to close the net.

Chen Mo and Xiao Yu were caught in a coordinated ambush as their bodyguards fought attackers in the woods. Xiao Yu spotted Ruth aiming at Chen Mo and threw herself in front of him as Ruth fired.

• A Nan and Wang Hai’s teams were attacked by a speeding SUV and heavy trucks, forcing them to abandon their cars and retreat toward the woods.
• Black Hawk and his bodyguards rushed to support Chen Mo, but a heavy truck rammed their car off the road.
• White Pearl shielded Chen Mo and Xiao Yu as they escaped into the woods, while Wang Hai exchanged gunfire with the truck’s driver.
• Chen Mo called Mo Nv for reinforcements, and he reassured the frightened Xiao Yu as the bodyguards tried to hold off the attackers.
• Xiao Yu spotted Ruth aiming at White Pearl, then saw Ruth turn her gun toward Chen Mo and threw herself at him as Ruth fired.

Xiao Yu was shot during an ambush, and Chen Mo was forced to surrender to Ruth when she took him hostage. Ruth led Chen Mo out of the grove while Xiao Yu and White Pearl remained wounded and awaiting rescue.

• White Pearl fired toward the attacker and shielded Chen Mo as Xiao Yu collapsed from a shoulder wound.
• Wang Hai ordered his team to support Chen Mo and Xiao Yu, but a heavy truck driven by Fly interrupted his fight with the white man.
• Ruth threw smoke grenades as Chen Mo carried Xiao Yu out of the grove, then shot White Pearl and cornered Chen Mo at gunpoint.
• Ruth threatened Xiao Yu and forced Chen Mo to leave her behind, while he told her to wait for rescue.
• Two bodyguards confronted Ruth as she escorted Chen Mo out, but Chen Mo ordered them to stand aside and get Xiao Yu and Pearl to the hospital.

Chen Mo was kidnapped after an ambush, while Xiao Yu was shot and his allies mobilized to pursue the kidnappers. Mo Nv tracked Chen Mo and sent self-driving vehicles to rescue him, and Black Hawk’s car caught up with Ruth’s group as they headed toward their escape route.

• Ruth’s group kidnapped Chen Mo and escaped in a red Land Rover after Wang Hai reported that Xiao Yu had been shot.
• Zhao Min learned of the kidnapping and Xiao Yu’s injury, and Director Li ordered a citywide lockdown and a helicopter pursuit.
• Mo Nv hacked satellite, SkyNet, and City Brain systems to locate Chen Mo and sent three self-driving vehicles toward him.
• Chen Mo tried to learn why he had been kidnapped, but Ruth and the chatty young man refused to reveal their motives.
• Black Hawk’s car caught up with the kidnappers, and Black Hawk shot the white man in the arm as he tried to fire back.
• Ruth ordered the driver to shake off the pursuers, and the chatty young man handed her a bag of equipment.

Chen Mo’s captors tried to get him to a ship while Black Hawk and Mo Nv’s autonomous cars pursued them. After the vehicles forced a crash, Chen Mo seized a knife and attacked Ruth as she escaped from the car.

• Black Hawk pursued Ruth’s car, but caltrops damaged his tires and let the kidnappers escape.
• Ruth ordered the driver to hurry toward the ship while Chen Mo quietly looked for a chance to escape.
• Mo Nv’s red supercar arrived, and it and another car trapped the kidnappers’ vehicle between them.
• Ruth realized the pursuing car was driving autonomously just before the cars collided and stunned everyone inside.
• Chen Mo took the military knife from the unconscious white man and stabbed at Ruth, who rolled out of the car.
• The driver grabbed a fallen gun as Chen Mo lunged through the open door.

Chen Mo used his fighting skills and modified Intelligent Robots to defeat Ruth and her accomplice after they ambushed him and injured Xiao Yu. He killed Ruth, vowing to find and take revenge on whoever was behind the attack.

• Ruth attacked Chen Mo, but he blocked and dodged her strikes before countering with a kick that forced her back.
• Chen Mo's Intelligent Robots arrived, freed his hands, and surrounded him as Ruth tried to capture him.
• The robots used electric shocks to overpower Ruth, while cars and robots blocked the attackers' escape.
• Chen Mo confronted Ruth about the attack on his company dormitory and Xiao Yu, then shot her when she refused to reveal who was behind it.
• Chen Mo shot Ruth in the forehead and declared that he would take revenge on her and the person behind her.

Chen Mo returned safely to Phoenix North Hospital after escaping his attackers, and learned that Xiao Yu had survived surgery. Zhao Min publicly denied reports that Chen Mo had been kidnapped and offered a reward for information about the attack.

• Zhao Min anxiously waited at the hospital until Chen Mo arrived and embraced him.
• Chen Mo visited Xiao Yu, and Liu Xueqin told him that her surgery had succeeded and she would recover after resting.
• Chen Mo told Zhao Min that he had killed the three attackers and had vomited because it was his first time killing anyone.
• Zhao Min left Chen Mo to stay with Xiao Yu and went to handle the aftermath of the attack.
• Zhao Min told reporters that Chen Mo was safe, denied that he had been kidnapped, and announced a twenty-million reward for information.

After Chen Mo returned safely, he waited anxiously at Xiao Yu’s bedside until she woke and learned that his bodyguards had suffered heavy losses. Xiao Yu’s family and Chen Mo’s parents gathered at the hospital, while Li Chengzhi took Chen Mo aside to talk.

• Zhao Min announced that Chen Mo was safe, but rumors spread because Ant Army Company gave no details about his condition.
• Chen Mo learned that four bodyguards had died and White Pearl remained in intensive care, then ordered Mo Nv to investigate the attackers.
• Xiao Yu woke, and Chen Mo comforted her and helped her drink water.
• Liu Xueqin examined Xiao Yu and said her condition was stable, while warning her to rest and protect her injured arm.
• Zhao Min, Li Ruoxi, and the families visited Xiao Yu, and Shao Xuemei scolded Chen Mo for not contacting his parents.
• Li Chengzhi asked Chen Mo to step outside and talk, and Chen Mo agreed.

Chen Mo told Lin Zhengguo how he escaped his kidnappers, while the investigation found the attackers’ identities and intended escape route remained unclear. Li Chengzhi offered Chen Mo a future project, homes for his relatives, and additional protection, and Chen Mo resolved to make the mastermind pay.

• Chen Mo told Lin Zhengguo that he had killed two kidnappers and described their plan to take him abroad by boat.
• Lin Zhengguo ordered his assistant to investigate nearby docks and suspicious vessels after Chen Mo identified the likely escape route.
• Chen Mo answered questions about possible motives, but Lin Zhengguo left without finding major clues.
• Li Chengzhi told Chen Mo that seven people had participated in the attack, including Gu Qinghai and five foreign operatives, all of whom had died.
• Li Chengzhi offered Chen Mo a special project for discussion at next month’s Artificial Intelligence Conference and gave him keys and cards for three homes in Huacheng.
• Chen Mo accepted Li Chengzhi’s offer of homes and potential bodyguards, and said he would visit the capital next month while vowing to punish the attack’s mastermind.

After Xiao Yu began recovering at home, Chen Mo returned to Ant Army Company and learned that the attack’s perpetrators had been identified. He asked Mo Nv to reveal their identities, leaving his next move unresolved.

• Chen Shanhe and the other relatives accepted Chen Mo’s keys and access cards to the Huacheng Military Region Compound before returning to Huacheng, while Xiao Yu’s mother and Xiao Man stayed to care for her.
• Mo Nv told Chen Mo that the criminals responsible for the attack had been identified, and Chen Mo left for company headquarters despite Xiao Yu’s improving condition.
• Chen Mo’s return reassured Ant Army Company employees, and he asked Wang Hai about Zhen Zhu’s recovery and Zhao Min about arrangements for the deceased bodyguards’ families.
• Zhao Min told Chen Mo that the injured and bereaved factory workers had received assistance and that supervisor Yan Wenbin had been found and would face prosecution for intentionally setting the fatal dormitory fire.
• After Zhao Min left, Chen Mo asked Mo Nv to display the identities of the criminals behind the attack.

After discovering the CIA had ordered the failed attempt to kidnap him, Chen Mo decided to retaliate without exposing himself. He used Mo Nv to obtain the agency’s agent files and planned a cyberattack under the Joker Organization’s identity, ending with a cryptic announcement of a new circus performance.

• Lina Peel deleted the files and backups connected to Falcon Operation, unaware that Mo Nv had already copied them for Chen Mo.
• Chen Mo learned the attackers were linked to the CIA and decided to avenge Xiao Yu and the people killed in the operation.
• Chen Mo ordered Mo Nv to infiltrate the CIA’s internal network and copy its agent files, which Mo Nv retrieved almost immediately.
• Chen Mo instructed Mo Nv to attack the CIA’s network as the Joker Organization, using concealed routes and the Joker Virus.
• Chen Mo told Mo Nv to post the message, “My heart is like this face: half pure white, half shadow. I can choose to let you see it, or insist on keeping it hidden from you. A new circus performance is about to begin.”

Dennis Moran and the CIA cybersecurity team fought off a massive attack, only to discover that the Joker Organization had breached their systems through another channel. Linna ordered the agency to trace the organization and crack its virus after the Joker announced that a new performance was about to begin.

• Dennis and the CIA cybersecurity team battled a wave of attacks from a hacker organization using IP addresses around the world.
• Dennis declared the attack handled, but the red dots vanished and the Joker mask appeared on the office’s LCD screen.
• Dennis ordered the network disconnected as every CIA computer displayed the Joker mask, but the organization had already infiltrated their systems.
• Linna learned the attack had been a feint and ordered the team to crack the virus and determine what the CIA had lost.
• A CIA employee showed Linna the Joker Organization’s Twitter post announcing a new circus performance, and Linna ordered an all-out search for the group.

Berick spotted the Joker Organization’s return on Twitter, as news spread that it had paralyzed the CIA’s computer systems. CIA technicians restored the computers but discovered that agent records and classified files had been copied, and Linna ordered a desperate search for the organization’s members.

• Berick saw the Joker Organization post a familiar message on Twitter and reposted it through his company’s news account.
• Media outlets reported the organization’s return and revealed that it had attacked and paralyzed the CIA’s computer systems, sparking worldwide panic.
• Linna pressed CIA technicians to restore the systems, and an employee announced that he had cracked the virus.
• Linna rebuked the employee and ordered the team to check whether the attackers had stolen important data.
• A technician reported that the Joker Organization had copied agent files and classified materials, nearly causing Linna to faint.
• Linna ordered the CIA to use every available method and person to find the Joker Organization’s members.

Chen Mo, acting through the Joker Organization, monitored the fallout from its attack on the CIA while spending a relaxed evening with Xiao Yu and their friends. The next morning, as authorities worldwide hunted the organization, Chen Mo ordered Mo Nv to demand a $500 million ransom from the CIA.

• Mo Nv told Chen Mo that the CIA had cracked the virus, and he said the attack was only beginning.
• Xiao Yu called Chen Mo out of the study to join a barbecue and karaoke gathering with Zhao Min, Xiao Man, Zhang Xinxin, and Xiao Yu’s friends.
• The women teased Chen Mo about an embarrassing incident involving a movie he had watched in the library, while he grilled food for them.
• The next morning, Zhao Min warned Chen Mo that people online suspected his company and its Chinese Character Programming Language of being connected to the Joker Organization.
• Mo Nv reported that the United States had offered a $20 million reward, intelligence agencies were searching for the Joker Organization, and its original members wanted their Twitter account back.
• Chen Mo ordered Mo Nv to post that the Joker Organization had stolen CIA files and would demand $500 million in Bitcoin within two days.

The Joker Organization threatened to sell the CIA agent files, sending the agency into crisis as Director Linna resisted paying a ransom. The chapter ended with Linna fainting after seeing a list the Jokers published on Twitter.

• Chen Mo learned that five Deep Web accounts from New York, Osaka, Moscow, Donghai, and Tehran wanted to buy the CIA files, and he ordered Mo Nv to monitor the CIA's response.
• Linna learned that the Joker Organization had accessed the agent files and erupted in anger after the president reprimanded her.
• CIA intelligence personnel met by hologram, but they found no way to identify the Jokers or stop the files from being leaked.
• Linna rejected paying the ransom and ordered the primary agents to withdraw and protect unlisted intelligence personnel.
• An assistant interrupted the meeting to report that the Joker Organization had published a list on Twitter, and Linna fainted after reading it.