Chapter Summaries

Li Aoz tried to resolve White Candle Comprehensive University's hunger strike without damaging relations with the Crystal Tower, while student leader Orwell Sigod urged protesters to demand transfers there. After the Crystal Tower requested military cooperation, Li Aoz decided to take the students to Galaxy Eye so they could see the reality of war.

• Li Aoz rejected using force to disperse the students and proposed employment paths in monasteries, the military, and research institutes.
• The government announced recruitment and other student opportunities, but Orwell Sigod dismissed them and pushed the protesters to demand transfer to the Crystal Tower.
• Some students began to waver, while Sigod insisted they keep protesting for foreign residency and student status.
• Li Aoz set out to speak with the students but received a Crystal Tower request for patrol cooperation against the Night Butterfly People.
• Li Aoz decided to take the students to Galaxy Eye to expose them to the realities of war.

Li Aoz used televised negotiations with student leader Orwell Sigod to turn a protest into support for the Lioz government and earn political rewards. He then arranged a battlefield tour and recruitment campaign to draw the students into the expedition project.

• Li Aoz kept Orwell Sigod under watch and offered him a chance to negotiate with the government rather than arresting him.
• Sigod privately warned the government that he would keep protesting unless students gained more rights, and Li Aoz assessed him as a capable speaker and potential ally.
• During a televised debate, Sigod aired the students’ complaints, then shifted to condemning Crystal Tower’s evacuation and expressing trust in President Lioz.
• Li Aoz staged an emotional response through an Implant Equipment Vanguard, winning public support and gaining the Intellectuals as a faction along with government buffs.
• Li Aoz ordered the students to tour the expedition center and a battlefield, with recruitment advertisements and comfortable lodging arranged for their visit.

Li Aoz used a public reconciliation broadcast to strengthen his reputation, secured two rocky planets from Crystal Tower as payment for patrol support, and advanced preparations for an expedition despite growing anti-war opposition. The expedition gained recruits from eager Azure Planet players, while White Candle Star’s economy remained weak and dependent on Li Aoz’s industries.

• A livestream presented the government’s agreement with student representatives as a reconciliation, boosting public support for Li Aoz.
• Li Aoz negotiated patrol missions with Crystal Tower and accepted two uninhabited rocky planets as compensation.
• White Candle Star residents and Intellectuals protested the expedition, while Li Aoz’s business interests and supporters helped the project move forward.
• Li Aoz announced that Yanxia Zone players could join interstellar exploration, prompting a surge of players immigrating to White Candle Star.
• Gamma-rank players joined the military and expedition training, but White Candle Star’s economy remained sluggish and reliant on Li Aoz’s industries.

The X Fleet set out from White Candle Star to explore the Dark Star Territory, backed by Li Aoz’s hidden weapons. When the fleet discovered a Void Creature, Li Aoz learned it was a Void Overlord.

• Li Aoz launched the experimental X Fleet with troops, supply ships, and fifty Implant Equipment Vanguards to gather resources in the Dark Star Territory.
• Li Aoz installed a Biochemical Center aboard the fleet, giving it the means to create a powerful avatar and activate the God Abomination Switch in an emergency.
• Thomas Edison informed Li Aoz that the X Fleet had encountered a Void Creature larva, and Li Aoz ordered the fleet to assess its development and destroy it if necessary.
• Edison reported that the creature the X Fleet had found was a Void Overlord.

Li Aoz weighed mounting expenses and new discoveries while preparing to find an assistant, as X Fleet explored the Crimson Eye system and encountered mysterious fighters. The fleet established a cautious foothold, and its Descender crew remained suited to the dull routines of space travel.

• Li Aoz approved research into crystalline lifeforms and other discoveries despite dwindling funds, then decided to seek commissions to cover the budget gap.
• Nikita told Li Aoz she had found a qualified Zeta-rank (6) assistant, and he asked her to bring the candidate to his office for an interview.
• X Fleet was ambushed by strange fighters in the Crimson Eye system, destroyed them, and watched their wreckage disappear when recovery personnel approached.
• Darian Rio Ning ordered X Fleet to proceed cautiously, and the fleet built an observation station near the system’s primary star and gathered supplies.
• X Fleet’s officers and soldiers endured bland food and limited entertainment during the tedious voyage, while the Descender crew did not pose the same morale concern.

Caramel Snail produced a colonized body for Li Aoz in the Biochemical Center, and Li Aoz awakened inside it. Li Aoz asked Caramel Snail to travel with him on a 20-day mission, leaving the reason for his concealed strength unexplained.

• Caramel Snail declined invitations from clubs and guilds, deciding to keep pursuing his own plans and rely on Li Aoz for improvement.
• Li Aoz sent Caramel Snail a commission to secretly produce a colonized body at the Biochemical Center.
• Caramel Snail used Li Aoz's authorization to create a weak, adolescent body from Li Aoz's original genes.
• Li Aoz awakened in the body, praised Caramel Snail, and asked him to help obtain money.
• Caramel Snail accepted Li Aoz's invitation to accompany him on a 20-day journey under the side quest "Traveling Together."

Caramel Snail accompanied Li Aoz to Violet Star, where Li Aoz led him to a secluded campsite and shared a quiet meal. Li Aoz explained that his new body lacked extraordinary genes and asked whether Caramel Snail had noticed that his face resembled someone else.

• With Li Aoz's help, Caramel Snail requisitioned an assault craft and flew with him toward Violet Star.
• Caramel Snail worried that Li Aoz always faced things alone, and Li Aoz said he hoped Caramel Snail would be someone he could rely on.
• Li Aoz directed Caramel Snail to land in a forest, where they concealed their craft and traveled through the wilderness together.
• Li Aoz gathered food and herbs and found an abandoned campsite, where Caramel Snail cooked them a meal.
• Li Aoz said his body had no extraordinary genes and asked whether Caramel Snail had noticed that his face resembled someone else's.
• Caramel Snail suggested that Li Aoz's body might contain a woman's genes.

Li Aoz told Caramel Snail that her body contained Yawen’s genes and warned him that her upcoming operation would involve letting innocent people suffer. She asked him to trust and accompany her without demanding the full truth, then went to sleep while dreading the Soul Casino mission.

• Li Aoz revealed that she had used strands of Yawen’s hair to create an implant clone and explained that she had made it as insurance in case Yawen was gone.
• Li Aoz told Caramel Snail that the operation would be morally troubling and asked him to protect her, stay silent, and trust her as they moved forward.
• Caramel Snail said he would destroy defenseless people if their suffering were necessary for his compatriots’ happiness, and Li Aoz told him to sleep.
• Caramel Snail asked Li Aoz not to deceive him, and her Charm check prevented him from doubting her for seven days.
• Li Aoz reflected on the Soul Casino mission’s torment and reviewed its process and Walkthrough before falling asleep.

Xia Beiluo collected bottles and endured a tavern owner's underpayment before riding through a violent rainstorm with her money. The chapter left her sprawled after a fall, crying out for the cash she feared losing.

• Xia Beiluo collected bottles bearing church labels and escaped a thug who harassed her in the back alleys.
• Xia Beiluo delivered the bottles to a tavern owner, who reduced her promised pay from fifty Lingge to forty-three Lingge.
• Xia Beiluo caught the banknotes the owner threw at her, but two five-Lingge notes landed in muddy water.
• Xia Beiluo rode her bicycle home through the downpour, struggling against the rain and treacherous roads.
• Xia Beiluo's front wheel caught in a pothole, throwing her onto the curb, and she screamed about her money.

Xia Beiluo made it home through a storm with her day’s earnings and counted her savings toward tuition, but a sewage flood destroyed all of her money. She recorded the loss and remained determined to keep saving.

• Xia Beiluo pushed her broken bicycle home through the rain and counted 76 lingge, bringing her savings to 526 lingge.
• Xia Beiluo recalled being forced to leave church school and planned to save enough to attend seminary at her own expense.
• A storm caused sewage to flood Xia Beiluo’s apartment, and she raised her suitcase above the water to protect her savings.
• Xia Beiluo found her 526 lingge savings soaked and ruined, then recorded her loss and her new 26,000 lingge goal in her notebook.

Li Aoz led Caramel Snail through the forest toward a city, explaining that he belonged in Star Abyss while concealing his past. Meanwhile, Xia Beiluo headed back to the junkyard for work and overheard Black Serpent Gang enforcers searching for an illegal casino and warning against Rock and Roll.

• Caramel Snail asked Li Aoz about his origins, but Li Aoz said he had no fixed home and belonged in Star Abyss.
• Li Aoz told Caramel Snail they were going to find someone who played Rock and Roll.
• Xia Beiluo washed her clothes by the river and decided to try her luck at the junkyard after losing her home and savings.
• Xia Beiluo hid near the junkyard and listened as Black Serpent Gang enforcers questioned Pier about a casino.
• Pier drove the enforcers away, and their leader warned him that the church forbade gambling and Rock and Roll.

Xia Beiluo found shelter and work at Peel’s scrapyard, where she cleaned and sorted salvage. While dismantling a wrecked car, she uncovered a sealed guitar bearing the message “Cui is still alive.”

• Peel agreed to let Xia Beiluo stay in his scrapyard garage and watch the place while he handled business.
• Xia Beiluo inspected the scrapyard, salvaged food, and made herself a bed before beginning work.
• Xia Beiluo carefully dismantled two wrecked cars to avoid damaging their spirit-electric converters.
• Xia Beiluo found a sealed containment space in the purple car and removed an intact box from it.
• Xia Beiluo discovered that the box held a guitar and read the carved message, “Cui is still alive.”

Li Aoz and Caramel Snail arrived in Tranquil City, where Li Aoz’s beauty drew the crowds and helped them secure an invitation to a hotel as they searched for a source of rebellious music. Meanwhile, Xia Beiluo opened the guitar case and discovered an unfamiliar electric string instrument.

• Li Aoz and Caramel Snail walked through Tranquil City, and Li Aoz explained that church authority controlled the city’s skills, trades, and commerce.
• Li Aoz’s beauty attracted the entire street, and the crowds showered him and Caramel Snail with gifts and food.
• Li Aoz told Caramel Snail that he had come seeking the music White Candle Star needed to escape its financial difficulties.
• A hotelier invited Li Aoz and Caramel Snail to rest at his establishment, and Li Aoz accepted the invitation.
• Xia Beiluo set up an exorcism formation and opened the guitar case, only to find a strange, violin-like instrument with several ports.

Xia Beiluo found an electric guitar and accidentally awakened the spirit of Igor Tsoi, who took control of her body. As Li Aoz and Caramel Snail searched Tranquil City for Tsoi and his guitar, the returned rocker launched his music across the city.

• Xia Beiluo found an electric guitar in the garage, spoke to its spirit, and strummed its strings.
• Li Aoz and Caramel Snail learned that Tranquil City had been under the Lord of the Undead’s rule for forty years and that Rock and Roll was forbidden.
• Li Aoz told the server he was searching for Igor Tsoi and his guitar.
• Igor Tsoi spoke through a mirror, struck Xia Beiluo, and took control of her body.
• Igor Tsoi left the garage with the guitar, climbed to a rooftop, and announced his return as his music rang across Tranquil City.

Caramel Snail woke at the end of midsummer and met Li Aoz for breakfast, while Xia Beiluo fled Suro City after Igor used her body and guitar to spark a riot against the curfew. Igor explained that he had been a mortal musician who died fifty years ago, but he could not explain what he had become, leaving Xia Beiluo with more questions about his nature.

• Caramel Snail woke after the respawn point reset and joined Li Aoz for breakfast as they read about a fire and disturbances in Suro City.
• Igor argued with Xia Beiluo about the church's curfew and its restrictions on people's rights.
• Xia Beiluo recalled how Igor had controlled her body and used his guitar to incite a citywide riot, then fled Suro City overnight.
• Igor told Xia Beiluo that he had been a poor worker and musician who died in a car accident fifty years ago.
• Igor demonstrated that he could walk in sunlight and remain unseen by others, but said he did not know what he was now.

Xia Beiluo proposed using music to earn money and reach Violet Star’s Diocese Area, but Igor challenged her beliefs about the gods and the church. The chapter ended with an office worker recording Dai Yawen’s details as she prepared to descend into the Abyssal Realm.

• Xia Beiluo proposed using Igor’s music to draw crowds, earn money, and eventually study in Violet Star’s Diocese Area.
• Igor questioned why the church governed people in the gods’ names and argued that mortals, not gods, controlled mortal society.
• Xia Beiluo struggled to defend the church’s teachings as Igor claimed the gods existed but did not care about church rules or offerings.
• A woman at the Office of the President of the White Candle Autonomous State recorded Dai Yawen’s information and her destination, Narrative No. 9, “Collapsed Hometown.”

Caramel Snail and Li Aoz traveled toward Suro City, where they learned why the church opposed Rock and Roll and tightly controlled Violet Star. After witnessing the church’s protections and the brutal dangers beyond its reach, Caramel Snail questioned whether its rule was truly wrong.

• Caramel Snail saw how Li Aoz’s extraordinary Charm attracted money and help as they traveled, and gradually recovered from his fear of competition.
• In Suro City, a church medium explained that Igor Cui’s Rock and Roll challenged church authority and encouraged people to reject traditional family and religious rules.
• Caramel Snail killed bandits and monsters in a ruined city, then spoke with Redemption Army soldiers about the church’s efforts to protect Violet Star and restrict dangerous paths.
• Seven days later, Caramel Snail and Li Aoz found the soldiers’ heads impaled by the roadside, including that of the short-haired shaman with bell earrings.
• Caramel Snail reconsidered the church’s limits on technology, movement, and discussion of the stars, and Li Aoz said the church was protecting people.

Li Aoz helped Caramel Snail question why the church made people suffer, while Igor Tsoi explained to Xia Beiluo why he used rock and roll to resist the church’s control and society’s stagnation. Xia Beiluo began to understand Igor’s goal, though he left the future uncertain and urged her never to compromise with the world.

• Caramel Snail questioned why those who claimed to protect people made them suffer, and Li Aoz said their world was not one people could live in.
• Igor Tsoi told Xia Beiluo that the church suppressed human emotions and desires while controlling the population and spiritual entities.
• Igor showed Xia Beiluo Soul Casino, a guitar from Outer Domain Society Pergalai that granted fortune by gambling with its player’s soul.
• Xia Beiluo recognized that Igor wanted humanity to enter the astral realm, but worried that doing so could expose them to enemies.
• Igor recounted his experiences in the Redemption Army and the Diocese Area, arguing that the church had betrayed its ideals and served its elites.
• Igor declared that he opposed stagnation and backwardness, explained that rock and roll called for change, and urged Xia Beiluo never to compromise with the world.

Caramel Snail fought Valena after she admitted to eating a murdered family, then accidentally killed her younger brother as he tried to avenge her. Shaken by the deaths, Caramel Snail vomited in the rain while Li Aoz offered him a handkerchief.

• Li Aoz identified Valena as a talented Overlord Heretic, agreed to cooperate with her, and then had Caramel Snail attack her.
• Caramel Snail fought Valena and killed her with a chained series of sword attacks after she revealed she had eaten the family of travelers.
• Valena’s younger brother appeared and accused Caramel Snail of betraying the Overlord Path, and Caramel Snail accidentally beheaded him with Tsu Shadow Edge.
• Caramel Snail received the quest reward and hidden-condition notification, then struggled to convince himself the killings were only part of a game.
• Caramel Snail vomited in the rain, and Li Aoz handed him a handkerchief and told him not to think about anything.

Caramel Snail questioned whether he had killed an innocent man, and Li Aoz helped him learn the truth before they continued toward Green Jade City. On the way, Caramel Snail discovered the wagon carried drugs, while Li Aoz and Caramel Snail planned to find Rock and Roll Girl Xia Beiluo and take her guitar.

• Caramel Snail asked Li Aoz to revive Valena's younger brother's corpse so he could find out whether the man had eaten people.
• Li Aoz turned the corpse into a dead husk, which said it had not eaten people and had survived on meat stew prepared by its sister.
• Caramel Snail buried the family, then used Eye of Truth to discover that the wagon's supposed potions were drugs.
• Li Aoz and Caramel Snail resumed their journey toward Green Jade City, where they hoped to find Rock and Roll Girl Xia Beiluo and take her guitar.
• Caramel Snail asked Li Aoz for more resources, but Li Aoz told him he would have to manage on his own.