Chapter Summaries

Lu Yuan’s people made progress against the ghost fog while struggling to find a way to save 180,000 aberration victims. Lu Tiantian resolved to test Blood Guai blood in an isolated missile-silo laboratory, and Lu Linshu warned Lu Yuan that the dangerous experiment might help but could also unleash disaster.

• Lu Yuan learned that the Soul Gem could accelerate Spirit Attribute growth, and he planned for Green Field Paradise to take over its suppression work and share the benefits with workers.
• Humanity settled into a long war of attrition: the Opium Poppy Tree recovered in the first year, researchers built a ghost-fog-filtering Exhaust Fan by the third year, and experts revived more than twenty thousand people with ant chips by the fifth year.
• Lu Tiantian’s team found conventional treatments could not stop the aberration affecting 180,000 people, so they considered using Blood Guai blood to counter it.
• Lu Linshu opposed experimenting with Blood Guai blood because it might provoke the guais and cause another disaster, but Lu Tiantian insisted there was no other chance to save the victims.
• Lu Tiantian volunteered to conduct the experiment in a missile silo in the empty South Island Civilization territory, with a missile and Hydrogen Bomb ready to launch him away if anything went wrong.
• Lu Linshu told Lu Yuan that Blood Guai could affect blood and the soul, making it a possible counter to aberration, but that using it safely would be difficult.

Humanity finalized a treatment plan for the Ancient Insect and sent Lu Yuan’s medical team back underground to carry it out. As they traveled toward the Grotto-Heaven, Lu Yuan discovered that the enormous passage was alive and sealed itself behind the train.

• The Underground Alliance’s Chairman approved treatment for the Ancient Insect despite the risks, and humanity’s experts spent six months preparing a specific plan.
• Humanity’s craftsmen advanced their study of the Small Gear Inheritance, while Lu Yuan allowed the Green Field Mountain insectoids to keep the profits from their mushroom harvests.
• Lu Yuan departed with twenty medical experts, Little Mirage Dragon, and other personnel, then met frontline commander Jin Dongliang at the fortress.
• Little Mirage Dragon carried the group through the insect-filled route to Shi Tong Fortress, where Da Dao Gang arranged their passage into the Grotto-Heaven.
• During the seven-hour Orbital Train journey, Lu Yuan detected that the vast mountain passage contracted and sealed itself after the train passed.

Lu Yuan explored the monster’s shifting cave maze and was attacked by an eye-covered creature that left him with a painful, possibly supernatural eye growing from his shoulder. After cutting it out and burning it, he realized neither he nor Old Cat could reliably distinguish reality from illusion.

• Lu Yuan reasoned that the monster had brought the cave into its territory with Different Dimension, while Old Cat warned that someone was following him.
• Lu Yuan found a Lizardman corpse hidden in the wall and took a bloodstained booklet from its backpack.
• A scarlet eye sprang from the moss as the pursuing creature grabbed Lu Yuan, but Old Wolf’s bite gave him time to cut off its arm and bind it with a vine rope.
• The creature escaped after an eye grew from the rope and snapped it, while a green handprint appeared on Lu Yuan’s shoulder and pain intensified.
• Lu Yuan saw a scarlet eye emerging from his flesh, cut it out, and burned it; Old Cat said it could see the eye too but might also be affected by the monster’s power.

Lu Yuan searched the Meida Civilization’s archives and learned that supernatural abilities could cross the Safe Zone’s boundaries, though he found no information about the Donkey-Head Monster. The next morning, while tending his crops and patrolling, he spotted a vast scorpion migration led by a gigantic Heavenly Scorpion.

• Lu Yuan read a top-secret report about a blood pit whose photograph caused people to bury themselves, and learned that investigators had burned and sealed the affected land.
• Lu Yuan reviewed more reports of bizarre supernatural incidents, showed the documents to the camera, and found no references to the Donkey-Head Monster or demons.
• Lu Yuan went to sleep after telling the large Metal Ball he would talk to it again tomorrow.
• Lu Yuan planted crops and pomegranate seeds, planned a fence, and patrolled the surrounding area for signs of dangerous creatures.
• Lu Yuan spotted tens of thousands of migrating scorpions led by a Heavenly Scorpion nearly 30 meters long, which was likely an Extraordinary Level 4 creature.

Lu Yuan shared his findings about anomalies, glyphs, and the origins of Extraordinary Tinder with humanity and the Lize Civilization, hoping their combined research would advance idealistic science. He left them with a new avenue for studying transferable abilities and the possibility of preparing to face the black cloud.

• Lu Yuan explained that civilizations could capture anomalies for research and described several suspected anomalies found near human cities.
• Lu Yuan introduced glyphs as a key to idealistic science and said the Da Lai Empire had used them to capture anomalies.
• Human branches reacted differently to the news, with East Gold City despairing over its lost Extraordinary Tinder while Diggedit urged Lingbo City to study glyphs.
• Lu Yuan announced that he would share his glyph materials with humanity and the Lize Civilization so they could research them together.
• Lu Yuan transmitted basic glyph knowledge and described the Devil's account of how supernatural abilities could fuse, evolve, and separate.
• Lu Yuan warned that people might learn only around five to nine innate abilities, prompting researchers to consider how they would choose among them.

The Lize Civilization contacted Humanity to confirm that Lu Yuan was alive and pass along his message about the dream. Trapped in a karst cave with the monster, Lu Yuan then asked the Lize people to help devise a way to kill it.

• Human researchers and officials established contact with the Lize Civilization after receiving its request, and Lyon introduced himself as its spokesperson.
• Lyon told Humanity that Lu Yuan was alive and relayed his warning to raise their level before facing risks in the dream.
• Lu Qingqing confirmed the private message about her dress, and Lyon passed along Lu Yuan’s promise to buy her a more expensive one when he returned home.
• Lyon shared recordings and information about Lu Yuan, while Professor Zhang Hui began exploring diplomatic ties with the Lize Civilization.
• In the cave, Taduo told Lu Yuan that the message had reached Humanity, and Lu Yuan asked the group to help find a way to kill the monster.
• Lu Yuan and the Lize people discussed the monster’s layered Different Dimensions, and Taduo questioned why it did not simply trap its victims until they starved.

Lu Yuan was overwhelmed by the Donkey-Head Monster, which used darkness and shadow tentacles to weaken and immobilize him before trying to possess his body. As Lu Yuan faced death, he realized the monster’s telltale clicking might come from a potential ally, and the sound somehow freed his Extraordinary Tinder.

• Lu Yuan fled the Donkey-Head Monster and deduced that fire and dispersed darkness could limit its teleportation.
• The monster attacked with fifteen arms, immobilizing Lu Yuan and draining his attributes while he tried to conceal his Storage Space ability.
• The Donkey-Head Monster emerged from Lu Yuan’s shadow and began trying to possess him with a mass of Black Liquid.
• Pioneer's Eye warned Lu Yuan that the monster intended to seize his body, and Lu Yuan became unable to move.
• Lu Yuan suspected the accelerating clicking came from a potential ally, entered a meditative state, and was struck by the sound until his Extraordinary Tinder broke free.

Lu Yuan and his companions crossed the wasteland toward the rumored Sky City, struggling with heat and dwindling water as they traveled. After reaching an enormous desert and finding no city at the expected coordinates, Lu Yuan decided to press onward in the same direction until their water ran out.

• Lu Yuan led his animal companions out of the hospital on a tricycle, and they set off toward Sky City after replenishing their water at a stream.
• After a month in the dry wasteland, Lu Yuan and his companions conserved water by traveling at night and using the Ice Kirin Core Crystal to condense moisture.
• Two months later, the group reached a vast desert basin after traveling about six thousand kilometers, but they found no sign of Sky City.
• Lu Yuan reviewed the uncertain coordinates from the Meida Civilization and worried that their long journey had been for nothing.
• After resting and bathing, Lu Yuan used the Life Tree to survey the area, then decided they would continue in their original direction until their water ran out.

Xu Pengfei tried to warn Sky City that Painted Skin monsters were approaching, but the emperor used Truthful Lies to turn the defenders and the Undying Giant Turtle against the city. Lu Yuan ordered an emergency evacuation and artillery strike, breaking the monsters’ control and driving the Human Skin Monsters into flight.

• Xu Pengfei followed Sha Sanli’s group and swam ahead to warn Sky City, but the monsters reached the dock before he could alert anyone.
• The Mandala Empire’s emperor used Truthful Lies to make Sha Kaner, the soldiers, and the Undying Giant Turtle believe they belonged to his empire.
• Lu Yuan learned of the infiltration through the Opium Poppy Tree’s surveillance, ordered everyone to shelter, and prepared the defenses.
• The emperor persuaded the Undying Giant Turtle to carry the monsters toward Seashell, while Lu Yuan’s forces bombarded them with artillery.
• The explosions weakened the emperor’s control, and Sha Sanli, Sha Kaner, and King Insect Lu Da began to recover as monsters fled in their Human Skin forms.
• Lu Yuan ordered the soldiers and Insectoid Warriors to sweep the fleeing monsters with machine guns.

Lu Yuan won the wager by using a field on a puppet to grow mushrooms in gray soil, leaving the Underground Alliance stunned and Lu Lun eager to learn more about their shared Gear Inheritance. The human delegation celebrated Lu Yuan’s breakthrough, while an exhausted Lu Yuan headed off to sleep.

• Lu Yuan demonstrated that his field let mushrooms grow rapidly in a Flower Pot filled with gray soil from the rift.
• Lu Lun admitted defeat after recognizing the Valley Locust had reached Legendary Level, and Lu Yuan encouraged him to keep learning.
• Lu Yuan showed Lu Lun a Gear Civilization jade pendant, revealing they were fellow disciples of the Gear Inheritance.
• The Underground Alliance struggled to appraise the field, while Da Dao Gang considered how to use the fellow-disciple connection.
• Guo Dafeng and the human diplomatic delegation applauded Lu Yuan’s breakthrough, and Lu Yuan left exhausted to sleep.

Humanity and the Underground Alliance exchanged information and arranged wager battles to test their civilizations’ strengths. The Underground Alliance chose Niu Ba for the first cold-weapon contest, and his impressive equipment left the human delegation uncertain as the battle was about to begin.

• Human diplomats explained the dangers of the outside world and introduced Spirit Rhyme and wager battles while the Underground Alliance revealed its underground mushroom stockpiles.
• Lu Yuan learned that the mushrooms could not grow outside their native rift and considered how humanity might demonstrate its strengths in the contests.
• Da Dao Gang urged the Underground Alliance to prepare contestants, and representatives of twelve races met to assess humanity’s disclosures and the risks of losing.
• The Underground Alliance selected Niu Ba for the first cold-weapon battle, Mr. Lu Lun for a Strange Object Forging contest, and a snake person for a later treasure-hunting challenge.
• Niu Ba entered the drill ground carrying a powerful-looking axe and wearing high-quality armor, making the human colonels question whether their equipment was superior.

Officials from seventeen cities watched a device reveal a human named Lu Yuan living on Pangu Continent, while he remained unaware that anyone could see him. They identified him as a Yunhai City resident and saw him move the device into sunlight beside a huge dead lizard before he turned it off.

• Lu Yuan complained that the device was broken, discovered it could serve as a clock, and dug up a crimson crystal from the Fire Lizard’s remains.
• Zhang Hui and his colleagues confirmed the footage was real and identified the human as Lu Yuan, a twenty-four-year-old programmer from Yunhai City.
• Li Chunhong ordered the discovery kept secret as officials watched Lu Yuan with a group of Pangu Gray Wolves and wondered how he had crossed the Safe Zone.
• Zhang Hui and the staff tried to speak to Lu Yuan, but the device appeared unable to receive their messages.
• Lu Yuan moved the device into the sunlight beside a giant dead lizard, then shut off the image despite the officials’ protests.

Lu Yuan explained the new talent evaluations and resource-trading rules as humanity embraced the reforms. As Sky City explored the ocean, Shu Tongtie helped Lu Ying improve treasure hunting, while a pod of killer whales caused trouble near the shore.

• Lu Yuan answered forum questions about evaluations and extraordinary-resource trading, and he dismissed Rat Master’s complaint that Ratfolk artisans received only Level B ratings.
• Humanity began implementing the new system, and the three Level S talents were Lu Yuan, Conch, and the Undying Giant Turtle.
• Sky City sailed into the ocean, where Lu Ying found that the treasure-hunting teams were earning very little from their monthly hauls.
• Shu Tongtie gave Lu Ying a Ratfolk Periscope and advised him to develop deep-diving equipment and raise intelligent aquatic animals.
• Lu Ying rushed to confront a pod of mutated killer whales after they tossed several Level Three soldiers into the air.

Lu Yuan fought Shadow of Zhao from inside the Different Dimension, using the fire in the vault to burn away the monster’s body and expose its Black Liquid form. He left the chapter sacrificing his injured arm to keep the monster from escaping while the flames weakened it further.

• Lu Yuan hid in the Different Dimension as Shadow of Zhao burned and failed to break through the sealed metal door.
• Shadow of Zhao’s body fell apart, leaving its skull as equipment and revealing Black Liquid gathering in a dark corner.
• Lu Yuan thrust his arm out of the Different Dimension and slapped the skull away to keep Shadow of Zhao from teleporting through the darkness.
• Shadow of Zhao used black threads to trap Lu Yuan’s arm, and its exposed Black Liquid form revealed that the fire had reduced it to Level 1.
• Lu Yuan decided to endure the heat and hold on to the monster rather than sever his arm, hoping the flames would destroy the Black Liquid.

Lu Yuan began reclaiming farmland at his new home near Sky City, planting the Life Tree and preparing a greenhouse. Seashell persuaded the wolves and Chicken Snake to help plant corn, and Lu Yuan discovered that she could follow their emotions to get them working.

• Lu Yuan broke ground beside the pond, mixed compost into the soil, and planted the Life Tree, which had grown to fifteen meters after consuming four anomalous corpses.
• Lu Yuan planned four mu of farmland, chose drought-resistant crops, and built a greenhouse with a scarecrow to protect the crops.
• Lu Yuan told Seashell that farming was satisfying and recalled how fighting a lizard had helped him recover from depression.
• Seashell persuaded the wolves and Chicken Snake to dig holes, plant corn seeds, water them, and fertilize them.
• Lu Yuan asked how Seashell had gotten the animals to help, and she explained that she had followed their emotions.

After surviving the Donkey-Head Monster, Lu Yuan treated his wounds, reunited Mother Bear with her cubs, and fell asleep while the little metal ball and Old Wolf guarded him. Meanwhile, humanity’s leaders studied the knowledge he had shared and were startled when he pranked them with a monster’s eyeball.

• Lu Yuan found mutated plants in Fire Lizard Valley, including medicinal aloe, and used its gel to treat his burns and severed arm.
• Lu Yuan brought Mother Bear back to her cubs, gave them corn, and left her to recover near her den.
• Lu Yuan returned to camp, treated his wounds, and placed the black Soul Gem in a high-temperature furnace before asking the little metal ball and Old Wolf to guard him.
• Lu Yuan dreamed that Pangu Continent held countless Yao Demons and Guai Monsters, and that people had to rely on themselves rather than a savior.
• Humanity’s leaders discussed translating Lu Yuan’s documents, and Professor Zhang Hui offered to use a Whisperer to help.
• Lu Yuan startled the meeting room by aiming a photograph of a ferocious eyeball at the camera, then laughed and waved.

After passing their language exam, Jin Dongliang and his brothers were offered positions in glyph studies and education, while Jin Dongliang interviewed to become a Cultivation Instructor. Lu Yuan’s civilization selected a team of cultivation teachers and prepared to begin raising 53,000 children.

• Jin Dongliang and his four brothers learned they had passed the Level 6 Mandarin Chinese exam and were invited to report to the Education Department for new jobs.
• Soldiers offered Jin Dongliang a Cultivation Instructor position, and he accepted the opportunity, believing in Lu Yuan’s efforts to care for the children.
• Jin Dongliang interviewed with Lu Yuan about cultivation and education policy, alongside other applicants seeking high-end positions.
• After a month, Lu Yuan’s civilization selected two Level 6, four Level 5, and twelve Level 4 experts as Cultivation Instructors.
• The Secretary told Lu Yuan that Green Field School, its teachers, and the Opium Poppy Tree were ready for the children’s arrival the next day.
• Lu Yuan worried about raising 53,000 children, but he and the Secretary joked together in the office.

Scientists from several cities discussed Lu Yuan’s treasure chest and concluded that God rewarded civilizations for completing milestones. They examined the remaining milestone list and wondered whether Yunhai City could end its citywide chaos, but Zhang Hui concealed how bad conditions were there.

• Zhang Hui joined the scene and connected with scientists from other cities after seeing evidence of supernatural interference.
• Professor Edward explained that his assistant Jacob could not contact Lu Yuan through telepathy without having met him face-to-face.
• Scientists debated whether Lu Yuan’s treasure chest was a trick or a genuine reward and concluded that civilizations could earn rewards by completing milestones.
• The scientists inspected the milestone list, which showed ending citywide chaos and becoming a Stable Civilization as the first milestone.
• Zhang Hui asked whether other cities had restored order, then falsely claimed Yunhai City’s government was maintaining order.

Fifty-two years later, Lu Yuan and Seashell visited a bustling job fair that showcased humanity’s thriving glyph-based industries and the opportunities available to graduates. Lu Yuan pranked Hai Zhiyun’s recruitment team with a fake certificate and a display of his glyph skill before they recognized him.

• Hai Zhiyun and Hai Dafu set up a high-standard recruitment booth for their semiconductor research institute, and Hai Zhiyun added a position for a Level 2 glyph engraver after a student presented her certificate.
• A masked man asked to join the institute, demonstrated an advanced glyph technique, and claimed to hold a Level 6 certificate before a masked woman dragged him away as a supposed mental patient.
• Hai Zhiyun recognized the visitors by their voices and revealed their identities to his companions, who complained that they had been fooled again.
• Lu Yuan and Seashell toured the job fair, where Lu Yuan observed the growth of glyph technology and used his fake Level 6 certificate to tease students.
• A hazy, indistinct intent suddenly enveloped Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan announced that Green Field City would establish a Trading Market near the Ulan Clan, prompting rival civilizations to plan how to profit from the opportunity. He left the city’s citizens with a two-year timeline to awaken from the dream and return to reality, while warning that settlement was temporary and their long-term goals remained ahead.

• Lu Yuan announced that Green Field City would relocate to a mine near the Ulan Clan, buy Civilization Points, and open a market with rules against slave trading and addictive drugs.
• Brayton Gravedigger decided to withdraw his clan’s Civilization Points, buy weapons, and conquer the other goblin clans before they could react.
• Ta Gang and the Ulan Clan planned to prepare land, food, roads, and businesses to serve the incoming market, while Luo Boke advised Mai Luo City to wait until the Dwarf Clan’s expected wager duel was settled.
• Lu Yuan told Green Field City’s citizens that their settlement was temporary, urged them to keep pursuing their larger goals, and announced that everyone was expected to awaken from the dream in two years.