Chapter Summaries

Tang Li offered Tao Ju a Black Sun Sect Blood Sacrifice invitation while discussing the risks of the ritual and the factions watching them. He also urged Tao Ju to contact Bear Mister of the Virtue Association about recruitment and warned that a powerful Lost Kingdom figure was heading to East 824 District.

• Tang Li explained that compensation slots for relatives of injured men had reached him and offered one to Tao Ju's friend.
• Tang Li said Blood Sacrifice participants needed an opposite-sex partner with whom they had an emotional foundation, and Tao Ju said his friend had a girlfriend.
• Tang Li invited Tao Ju to participate, but Tao Ju declined because his enhancement aligned more with the Virtue Association.
• Tang Li told Tao Ju that Madam Mu had contacted him and that Bear Mister had come to East 824 District to oversee the Virtue Association's work.
• Tang Li instructed Tao Ju to ask Bear Mister about a title in the association and warn him that a powerful Lost Kingdom recruit was traveling to East 824 District before continuing to the Eleventh District.

After Tang Li sent Tao Ju to contact the Virtue Association, Tao Ju reported the encounter to Zuo Tai, who revealed that a new Lost Kingdom powerhouse had badly injured Bear Mister. Meanwhile, Lu Yang erupted in anger over someone’s return and ordered him back to where he had come from.

• Tao Ju called "Madam Mu" to relay Tang Li’s message, but she coldly ended the call before he could speak with Bear Mister.
• A late-night disturbance shook the Military Camp, and Aunt Hu summoned Tao Ju to meet Zuo Tai.
• Tao Ju told Zuo Tai that Tang Li had agreed to help and had asked him to contact the Virtue Association about Bear Mister.
• Zuo Tai revealed that a new Lost Kingdom powerhouse had clashed with Bear Mister, who fled severely injured and missing.
• Tao Ju admitted that Tang Li had also urged him to earn a name in the Virtue Association, and Zuo Tai remarked that Tang Li knew how to make arrangements.
• Lu Yang angrily ordered someone on the phone to return to his post, threatening to make him a Class A Fugitive.

Lu Yang reported Dong Fan’s plans and connections at an emergency meeting of the Twelve Great Districts High-Energy Center. The meeting learned Tang Li had gone to Orange Palace, where the Black Sun Blood Sacrifice’s main venue was underway.

• Lu Yang called Tang Li after realizing the Great District Center had left him to handle the fallout from Dong Fan’s actions.
• At the emergency meeting, Lu Yang explained that Dong Fan had allied with the Lost Kingdom and brought Sang Jue to seek an opportunity for the Black Sun Blood Sacrifice to achieve liberation.
• Lu Yang said Dong Fan had provoked the Virtue Association after Bear objected to his claims of being a god and progenitor.
• Lu Yang told the meeting that Tang Li learned about Dong Fan from Madam Shan Chuan and had gone to Orange Palace to watch over his sister, Tang Zi.
• Ke Wei called Director Zou Ming, who had Tang Li report directly to him, while the meeting remained on standby.
• Tang Li arrived at Orange Palace during the Blood Sacrifice and remarked that few attendees would want to return to the Order Era.

Tang Li questioned Meng Wan about the Black Sun Sect’s Blood Sacrifice and its research as she drove him and his companions into Orange Palace. Meng Wan explained that the ritual relied on live Test Subjects and rare people with special constitutions, and she hinted that Tang Zi could be useful.

• Tang Li asked Meng Wan about the Blood Sacrifice, the venue’s ranking system, and Director Zou’s location as they crossed the checkpoint.
• Meng Wan explained how Orange Palace’s hot spring could supply the villas’ Blood Sacrifice sites and described her research into the Black Sun’s power.
• Tang Li and Meng Wan discussed the Black Sun Sect’s Three Revolutions Theory as the car entered the underground garage.
• Meng Wan said the ritual’s final turn required many live experiments and that guides like Tang Zi, with special constitutions, could regulate the process; Tang Zi looked up at her.

Tang Li questioned Meng Wan about Tang Zi’s unusual resonance with the Black Sun and the sect’s past involvement with her. He insisted that the High-Energy Center retain investigative authority and went with Meng Wan to meet Director Zou Ming, leaving Tang Zi and Du Shicai in the car.

• Meng Wan explained that Tang Zi’s resonance with the Black Sun was rare, and Tang Li connected her unusual constitution to his sister’s missing child.
• Meng Wan said the child disappeared in 80, before the current Black Sun Sect was established in 85, and named the former person in charge as Luo Yuan.
• Tang Zi said she did not know Luo Yuan because the sect’s leaders used the title “Mentor,” while Du Shicai stifled a cough.
• Meng Wan said Tang Zi’s future arrangements depended on investigating what Luo Yuan and others had done with her, and asked for her cooperation.
• Tang Li refused to hand the investigation to the sect and asserted that the High-Energy Center should handle the case.
• Tang Li left Tang Zi and Du Shicai in the car and followed Meng Wan toward Director Zou Ming’s villa.

Tang Li met Zou Ming at the Black Sun Blood Sacrifice and learned that meeting Reclamation Corps official Mr. Iseki required screening and approval. Just as Tang Li agreed to be screened, Zou Ming said the opportunity had been missed.

• Tang Li and Meng Wan entered the Black Sun Sect’s Blood Sacrifice venue, where Tang Li observed the crowd and discussed the gathering with her.
• He Xiang led Tang Li to a tea room, where he met Zou Ming, director of the Great District High-Energy Center.
• Tang Li and Zou Ming discussed Fang Weixian, Cybernetic Modification, and Zou Ming’s reasons for attending the Blood Sacrifice.
• Zou Ming told Tang Li that he could meet Mr. Iseki after a physical examination, Soul Detection, Ability Identification, and Mr. Iseki’s approval.
• Tang Li agreed to undergo screening, but Zou Ming received word that the opportunity had been withdrawn.

After Zou Ming withdrew Tang Li’s chance at Rapid Promotion, Tang Li discussed district affairs with him and learned that Chairman Cong Kuan of the Giantwood Consortium still posed a threat to his investigation. Tang Li then learned the Blood Sacrifice would end by the second of next month and believed Zou Ming had agreed to pursue a plan for Tang Zi’s special constitution afterward.

• Zou Ming discussed Tang Li’s work and praised the East 725 District High-Energy Center’s information gathering, while Tang Li shared credit with Director Lu Yang.
• Tang Li passed Cong Kuan, and He Xiang warned him that the Giantwood Consortium had pressured Zou Ming over the Si Yuan Building case and that the investigation needed to proceed cautiously.
• Tang Li rejoined Meng Wan and complained that losing the Rapid Promotion opportunity had left him without a near-term path forward.
• Tang Li told Meng Wan that Zou Ming had said to submit a proposal about Tang Zi’s special constitution after the Blood Sacrifice, with the High-Energy Center leading and Meng Wan providing support.
• Meng Wan said the Blood Sacrifice would end no later than the second of next month, after the sunspot peak and three further days of safety measures.

Tang Li, Tang Zi, and Du Shicai followed Meng Wan to a Black Sun Blood Sacrifice site, where Meng Wan explained the ritual and its restrictions. The chapter left them facing the blood-filled hall as the sacrifice began, with Du Shicai realizing this time would be different from the brutal rituals he had endured before.

• Meng Wan explained that the ritual was riskier before sunrise and that Du Shicai's curse might require stronger Black Sun power.
• Tang Li questioned why the sect and other Enhancement Streams were restricted, and Meng Wan said their practices were human-made rather than ordained by heaven and earth.
• Meng Wan led the group into a hall filled with bloody water and kneeling attendants whose wounded hands fed the pool.
• Tang Li criticized the ritual's grisly design, while Meng Wan agreed that it looked too much like an Evil Cult.
• Tang Zi linked arms with the trembling Du Shicai and led him toward the heated bloodwater as he recalled the violent sacrifices he had survived.

Tang Li and Meng Wan discussed the Black Sun Sect, the High-Energy Tide, and how cultivation could let people seize authority through “Self-Definition.” As Du Shicai suffered in the blood pool, Tang Li questioned whether Earth’s special powers could overcome the Reclamation Corps’ restrictions and the gap between civilizations.

• Tang Li questioned Meng Wan about the Black Sun Sect’s beliefs and heard her explain that she was reconsidering how the Black Sun related to the real sun and the High-Energy Tide.
• Meng Wan described how exploration and High-Energy Tide enhancements stood outside the existing order, while Tang Li challenged her account of the Reclamation Corps’ costs and motives.
• Du Shicai fell into the scalding blood water, and Tang Zi pulled him farther in before removing her stained robe and watching him struggle.
• Meng Wan said Du Shicai’s curse involved advanced “Self-Definition” and identified Councilor Guo as a means through which the curse’s creator had acted.
• Tang Li speculated that combining the Enhancement Stream with other power systems might let Earth’s natives challenge the Reclamation Corps, then asked Meng Wan how much the special space-time environment could narrow the civilizational gap.

Tang Zi killed Du Shicai in the Black Sun Blood Sacrifice while Tang Li and Meng Wan discussed how Black Sun’s power worked. Tang Li entered the blood pool to examine its effects, leaving Tang Zi coldly watching him.

• Du Shicai clung to Tang Zi in the boiling blood pool and tried to warn her that Tang Li had changed.
• Tang Zi told Du Shicai that it would be better if he died, then used the Black Sun’s power to kill him.
• Du Shicai convulsed and sank beneath the blood as the pain affected the people gathered around the pool.
• Tang Li entered the blood pool and touched Du Shicai’s shoulder to study Black Sun’s destructive effects.
• Tang Li told Meng Wan that Black Sun seemed to trigger its power through human desires.

Tang Li and Meng Wan discussed the Black Sun Blood Sacrifice and the sect’s investigation as staff recovered Du Shicai’s body from the blood pool. After Mentor Pu Rong arrived, Tang Li let the Black Sun Sect take the corpse and suggested they contact Du Shicai’s family about any examination.

• Tang Li pulled Tang Zi from the blood pool and questioned Meng Wan about her authority, the sect’s clients, and its supply of Spirit Blood Flesh.
• Meng Wan explained that the sect’s surveillance had quickly detected the incident, while Tang Li pressed her about the Black Sun Three Turns and the sect’s interest in the Lost Kingdom.
• Mentor Pu Rong arrived and demanded to know what had happened; Tang Li guessed that the Black Sun Curse had punished Du Shicai for taking part in the ritual.
• Tang Li questioned Meng Wan about the curse’s categories of thieves, heretics, and outsiders, but Pu Rong cut him off and warned him to mind his words.
• Meng Wan offered to handle the loss of Spirit Blood Flesh and explained how the client’s remains were usually dealt with.
• Tang Zi said Du Shicai’s family would not come, and Meng Wan decided that the Black Sun Sect would take his body.

Tang Li and Meng Wan agreed to let the Great District Center handle the deaths quietly, and Tang Li was sent out of East 824 District with Tang Zi and an expert group. On the plane, Du Shicai appeared alive and warned Tang Li about the dangers surrounding his daughter before transforming into Luo Yuan.

• Meng Wan and Tang Li let the Great District Center suppress the incident and arrange Du Shicai's body transport.
• Tang Li, Tang Zi, Lu Yang, and other specialists boarded a private plane bound for East 725 District, with a stop in East 726 to deliver Du Shicai's body.
• Tang Li went to the rear lounge and found Tang Zi watching the clouds in silence.
• Du Shicai emerged from the restroom and offered to answer Tang Zi's questions about her daughter and herself.
• Tang Li struck Du Shicai with a juice bottle, and Du Shicai warned him about Wan Kui, the dream ability, and his revealed Trump Card before transforming into Luo Yuan.

Luo Yuan explained to Tang Zi that her daughter Tang Yi was born from a failed reincarnation experiment and had later moved to Inner Earth, while Tang Li challenged Luo Yuan about the Reclamation Corps and the nature of Extraordinary Power. The chapter left Luo Yuan facing Tang Li’s questions about the Corps, Meng Wan, and their reinforcements.

• Tang Li mocked Luo Yuan and told Tang Zi to hear him out despite warning her not to trust him.
• Luo Yuan said Tang Zi became one of the chosen when she conceived and that Tang Yi resulted from Liang Lu’s failed reincarnation experiment.
• Luo Yuan told Tang Zi that Tang Yi had entered Inner Earth’s intelligence system and suggested Tang Li could explain why she moved there in 1980.
• Luo Yuan speculated that Tang Zi might seek her daughter to gain the Black Sun’s power, and Tang Li accused him of showing off tricks learned from the Reclamation Corps.
• Tang Li asked whether Extraordinary Power came from the Black Sun and demanded information about Luo Yuan’s allegiance, Meng Wan, the Reclamation Corps, and its reinforcements.

Tang Li exposed Luo Yuan’s temporary body as a puppet and disrupted it by using the sleeping passengers’ dreams to pull him into the Dream World. Luo Yuan fell through Outer Earth and was swallowed by magma in the Thirteenth District, where he saw the Aberrant Tube Jellyfish before his thoughts froze.

• Tang Li questioned Luo Yuan about his lack of knowledge, and Luo Yuan’s attempt to dissolve himself was blocked by the lounge’s hidden force.
• Luo Yuan realized the lounge was an illusion sustained by the sleeping passengers, while Tang Zi lay unconscious at their feet.
• Tang Li distorted the dream, and Luo Yuan fell through the clouds toward Outer Earth as Dream World elements began altering his Form and Spirit Framework.
• Luo Yuan recognized that Ronan had transferred him into the Dream World and spotted someone he remembered from Li Wei’s test subjects in the Deep Blue World.
• The ground opened beneath Luo Yuan, and magma swallowed him as voices spoke of the Sanctuary.
• Luo Yuan recognized the Thirteenth District and saw the Aberrant Tube Jellyfish before his thoughts froze.

Ronan used linked Dream Relays and the Veil of Silence to remove Luo Yuan’s Flesh Puppet from the plane and seal it in the Gate of Rebirth’s abandoned area. Tang Li escaped into the eastern forest, but after removing the Veil, his Cybernetics devices sounded an alarm.

• The plane was forcibly redirected after the Abyss Zone Monitoring System detected a Class A High-Energy Incident, and Lu Yang and Lang Jin discovered that Tang Li was missing.
• The jet landed at a military airfield, where the passengers were screened and sent back to East 824 District for questioning alongside an empty ice coffin.
• Tang Li hid in the eastern forest under the Veil of Silence while he reviewed how Ronan had used four Dream Relays and Lava Island’s Time-Space Expressway to seal Luo Yuan’s Flesh Puppet.
• Ronan planned to search the memories of Luo Yuan’s Flesh Puppet and later compare them with Tu Ge and Water Tank’s incomplete memories.
• The Other Side shifted the search west after the Veil of Silence defeated repeated scans, but Tang Li removed the Veil and triggered alarms from his Cybernetics devices.

Ronan’s Dream Relay left Tang Li’s body on the verge of collapse before he vanished into the void, leaving only ruined Cybernetics behind. As officials investigated the wreckage and questioned his associates, Zou Ming ordered continued containment and interrogation while confronting a power model and a set of unfamiliar clues he could not yet explain.

• Ronan used the Veil of Silence and New Wildfire’s technical support to carry out Dream Relay through Tang Li’s body, deceiving Tang Li’s Cybernetics in the process.
• After the Veil of Silence was removed, Tang Li’s body began to disintegrate; his Cybernetics fell apart, and he entered the void before the detection systems returned.
• An Intelligence Management Center team examined Tang Li’s ruined equipment and concluded that it had been within standards before the operation, leaving Zou Ming to recognize an unfamiliar power model.
• Ke Wei reported that Lang Jin knew little about the incident but had secretly sent Tang Li years of maintenance records and had contact with the bandit army.
• Zou Ming ordered continued questioning and containment of Lang Jin and Tang Zi, authorized coordination on memory extraction, and forbade further measures without his approval.
• Zou Ming reviewed interrogation records containing unfamiliar concepts and names, including Black Sun, the Reclamation Corps, and Luo Yuan.

Zou Ming ordered a thorough investigation of everyone connected to Tang Li and prepared to deal with Dong Fan, while Zuo Tai brought Tao Ju toward the Great District High-Energy Center. During the convoy ride, the driver incapacitated Tao Ju’s bodyguards, and Tao Ju recognized him as Pawa.

• Ke Wei asked whether they should report the sensitive information to the Reclamation Corps, and Zou Ming said the invited figure had already left after learning about the Class A Incident.
• Zou Ming ordered the team to investigate Tang Li’s connections and business, prioritize East 725 District, and prepare measures against those involved in East 725 and East 824 District.
• Cui Qia warned that confronting Dong Fan could trigger another Class A Incident, but Zou Ming insisted that Dong Fan’s emergence during Tang Li’s tenure made him suspicious.
• Zou Ming told Ke Wei to assign Lu Yang to invite Dong Fan out and ordered him to handle Tao Yang’s son, whom Zuo Tai was bringing with her.
• A heavily made-up woman entered the meeting room and asked for Director Zou Ming.
• During the drive to the Great District High-Energy Center, the driver incapacitated Tao Ju’s bodyguards without triggering the vehicle’s systems, and Tao Ju recognized the driver as Pawa.

Pawa rescued Tao Ju and drove him into the escalating battle between the Great District High-Energy Center and Zuo Tai's convoy, declaring Tao Ju the leader who would fill the coming power vacuum. The chapter ended with Pawa and Tao Ju surviving an explosion as rare winter snow fell over the district.

• Pawa told Tao Ju that they were natural partners and drove him toward the High-Energy Center while discussing Zuo Tai, Zou Ming, and Tang Li.
• Tao Ju realized they were approaching the High-Energy Center's new office and tried to make Pawa turn around, but the vehicle was locked onto.
• An explosion tore through the building, and two enhanced fighters battled in midair as Zuo Tai's convoy became trapped in the chaos.
• Ke Wei crashed beside the convoy, and Pawa killed him with a blast of White Light before declaring that the Center's upper ranks had been wiped out and Zuo Tai was doomed.
• Pawa pulled Tao Ju from their burning vehicle and proclaimed him the leader who would uphold justice as an explosion engulfed them both.
• Tao Ju emerged unharmed, and Pawa celebrated the rare winter snow falling over East 824 District as God's will.

As snow and fighting engulfed the Central Business District, Pawa dragged Tao Ju toward Zuo Tai while The Other Side battled the Orange Palace Guard and Mora fought Zou Ming. The Ladybug Platforms arrived and unleashed a swarm of drones, leaving Zou Ming and Mora swallowed by an aerial explosion.

• Pawa forced Tao Ju to move toward Zuo Tai as Zuo Tai’s convoy broke through the traffic and entered the High-Energy Center’s underground garage.
• The Orange Palace Guard formed a defensive line against Pawa and Tao Ju, while Pawa dragged Tao Ju through the barrage toward cover.
• Tao Ju spotted approaching Ladybug Platforms and warned Pawa that Zou Ming must not link up with them.
• Zou Ming broke away from Mora and flew toward a new route as the Ladybug Platforms released more than a thousand drones.
• Zou Ming charged into the incoming drones, and the resulting explosions engulfed him and Mora in the snowy sky.

Pawa attacked the Orange Palace Guard while Zou Ming fought Mora in the sky, using nearby Cybernetics to assemble armor and turn the battle against her. After the Ladybug Platform’s cannon destroyed Mora’s main body, her severed arm struck Zou Ming, who entered the platform—only for it to suddenly malfunction and swallow him.

• Pawa charged the Orange Palace Guard, seized one of its members, and dismantled the captive’s Exoskeleton Armor to equip himself.
• Zou Ming changed his flight posture and used nearby Cybernetics to assemble combat equipment, slowing Mora with drones and improvised obstacles.
• Zou Ming’s supersonic darts pierced Mora and severed her right forearm, but she accelerated and lunged toward him.
• The Ladybug Platform fired its main cannon, dissolving Mora’s body, while the surviving portion of her severed arm slashed Zou Ming’s face.
• Zou Ming entered the Ladybug Platform, but it erupted in flames and cracked open before closing around him, abruptly ending the battle.