Chapter Summaries

Ronan discussed President Ouyang’s use of Format Theory and asked what being labeled a Mind Controller meant, then pressed He Yueyin for protection after headquarters targeted him. The tense gathering was interrupted by He Donglou, whose advances prompted Zhang Yingying to claim she was Ronan’s kept female student.

• Ronan explained that President Ouyang had altered the distribution of Gear Sets, giving An Weng a shortcut to a distant location, and asked what a Mind Controller was.
• Bamboo Pole described Mind Controllers as advanced Hypnotists who guided and controlled people, while He Yueyin and Bamboo Pole joined the group at the sofa.
• He Yueyin told Ronan that President Ouyang had shut down headquarters’ Spirit Wave Network maintenance access and that Gong Qi’s group would leave Xia City the next morning, but offered no concrete security measures.
• Ronan demanded a solution to protect himself, his family, and his Mother’s life work, then fell silent as He Yueyin and the others struggled to reassure him.
• He Donglou arrived with two women, recognized Xue Lei, Xie Junping, and Hu Huaying, and crowded into the sofa corner while making advances toward Tian Si.
• He Donglou turned his attention to Zhang Yingying, who hugged Ronan’s arm and introduced herself as a kept female student with Ronan as her Boss.

At a bar, He Donglou tried to flirt and draw attention while Ronan and the others ignored him, until He Yueyin arrived and made him remove his cosplay military uniform. He Yueyin then led Ronan and the group to the hospital, leaving He Donglou behind to wonder about Ronan and his sister’s closeness.

• He Donglou joined Ronan’s sofa group, teased him about acting like a boss, and flirted with Tian Si while everyone paid him little attention.
• He Donglou noticed the group’s unusual hierarchy and realized the older people watching him might be important figures.
• When Yao Feng called, He Donglou tried to leave, but Rock Blast shoved him back after He Yueyin ordered him to stand.
• He Yueyin told He Donglou to take off his cosplay uniform, and he reluctantly removed it before she asked Ronan to go to the hospital.
• He Yueyin led Ronan and the others away, leaving He Donglou behind; he wondered whether Ronan and He Yueyin were unusually close.

Ronan began a new training day with Rock Blast keeping close under the guise of teaching him, while Xia City's leaders used a heated debate about Ouyang Chen's Logic Boundary to draw attention away from Ronan. The chapter ended when Rock Blast discovered his Cloud Storage had been wiped after Ronan opened the forum page.

• Ronan woke, reviewed his schedule, and completed an intense forty-minute exercise routine before going for a run.
• Rock Blast met Ronan outside his home and joined him on his run, explaining that the lesson also kept an Ability User nearby to protect him.
• Ronan and Rock Blast discussed the growing Internal Forum debate about Ouyang Chen's Logic Boundary and the Xia City Branch's effort to redirect attention away from Ronan.
• Rock Blast revealed that he enjoyed the forum thread because the Martial Emperor and her agency had shared private photos.
• Ronan opened the page through Six Ears, and Rock Blast cried out that his Cloud Storage was gone.

Ronan reflected on how Format Theory had become the conviction he would carry through victory and defeat, while Rock Blast warned him to endure future losses. At home, the family struggled with Grandfather Luo Yuandao’s worsening condition, and breakfast ended with Luo Shuqing jokingly threatening Mo Ya for running away.

• Rock Blast told Ronan that Bamboo Pole’s archive had been destroyed during a file transfer, then praised Ronan for finding his conviction in Format Theory.
• Rock Blast warned Ronan that defeat would test his resilience, and Ronan resolved to carry on with Format Theory despite his family’s past failures.
• Ronan returned home and found the family subdued because Luo Yuandao’s degenerative illness had worsened and Luo Shuqing had seen his condition during a brief visit.
• Luo Shuqing urged Ronan to eat more carefully, then asked the Smart Butler about his weight and discussed his martial arts training with Mo Haihang.
• Luo Shuqing teased Mo Peng about his build and threatened to break Mo Ya’s legs when she returned home.

Ronan went to the West City Repair Center to repair Master Xiu’s damaged Tai Chi Ball component while worrying about how to raise sixty million for the Devil Fish. After the technician inspected the unusual part, he introduced himself as Zhai, leaving Ronan and Rock Blast waiting to hear his explanation.

• Luo Shuqing scolded Mo Ya for staying away from home, while Ronan, Mo Haihang, and Mo Peng concealed that she had secretly returned to visit Ronan.
• Ronan told Luo Shuqing he was going to repair something he had damaged at Master Xiu’s dojo, then rode to West City with Rock Blast.
• Ronan discussed his need for sixty million to buy the Devil Fish, and Rock Blast warned him that Honor Points were valuable and suggested seeking work through Ability User circles.
• Ronan and Rock Blast arrived at Cross-Border Electronic City and submitted the Tai Chi Ball’s central mechanical device to the Repair Center.
• Technician Zhai stopped inspecting the unusual component and introduced himself to Ronan and Rock Blast.

Ronan and Rock Blast brought the dojo’s Tai Chi Ball to the repair center, where Zhai Gong recognized Ronan from a previous repair and examined the device. Zhai Gong uncovered a precision-machined, diamond-shaped object inside its gyroscope, leaving Ronan and Rock Blast to wonder whether it was a Central Control Chip.

• Ronan recognized Zhai Gong as the technician who had repaired his Imitation Paper Soft Screen, and Zhai Gong asked whether its board had been fixed.
• Zhai Gong recommended exclusive service for the Tai Chi Ball, and Rock Blast accepted because Paper Cut was covering the costs.
• Ronan and Rock Blast followed the repair consultant to studio 245, where the Tai Chi Ball was transferred to the workbench.
• Rock Blast recognized the device as resembling a Comet III Floating Target, and Zhai Gong noted that it had been heavily modified.
• Zhai Gong removed the metal mesh and dismantled the gyroscope, revealing a diamond-shaped object that Rock Blast tentatively identified as a Central Control Chip.

Zhai Gong investigated the tiny diamond-shaped component from the Floating Target and learned from Xue Lei’s video how the Tai Chi Ball stored and converted kinetic energy. After his initial tests showed no response, he triggered a subtle change in the component by gripping a metal rod connected to the instrument.

• Zhai Gong reassembled the Floating Target without its diamond-shaped component and tested it in a Batwing A-type shell, finding no problems with the drone.
• Ronan described the floating Tai Chi Ball to Zhai Gong, and Xue Lei explained its ability to store and convert force.
• Ronan and the others watched Xue Lei’s video, in which his punches made the heavy Tai Chi Ball float and rotate.
• Zhai Gong tested the diamond-shaped component with simulated impacts and electrical power, but it did not react.
• Zhai Gong gripped a metal rod attached to the instrument, and the component extended several slender filaments.

Ronan and Rock Blast watched Zhai Gong use his ability to examine the miniature rhomboid, then Rock Blast’s stronger interference force caused its tendrils to unfold into a complex pattern. When Rock Blast nearly drove the instrument’s gauge into the red zone, Zhai Gong stopped him and turned to someone else for help.

• Ronan recognized that Zhai Gong was an Ability User and judged his mental power and influence on the Material Layer to be weak.
• Zhai Gong explained that the rhomboid’s six tendrils had not yet formed a complete kinetic-energy structure and asked someone to help him.
• Zhai Gong revealed that Paper Cut sponsored him and that he had remained under evaluation for more than five years.
• Rock Blast gripped the metal handle, causing the tendrils to extend, thicken, and branch into thirty-six filaments that formed a shifting pattern.
• Zhai Gong used the scanner to map the pattern, but Rock Blast’s attempt to add more force nearly pushed the gauge into the red zone.
• Zhai Gong told Rock Blast his interference force was too crude and turned toward someone else.

Ronan investigated the miniature rhomboid in Zhai Gong’s workshop and concluded that the device’s amplification was not suited to his needs. After Rock Blast recognized the object as a Machine Core, Ronan’s mental power resonated with it, revealing its unique presence on the Mental Layer.

• Zhai Gong explained that his Electronic Affinity let him manipulate the miniature rhomboid, while Rock Blast’s physical enhancement interfered with the device’s operation.
• Ronan studied the rhomboid without activating it, then decided to remove it from the device because its amplification focused on intensity rather than depth.
• Zhai Gong described the missing magnetic levitation and energy storage structures and suggested that tendrils might drive the Tai Chi Ball.
• Rock Blast connected the rhomboid’s tendrils and precise structure to a Machine Core.
• Ronan resonated with the Eye Aperture Heart Lamp and focused his mental power on the rhomboid, which trembled and revealed a spiritual light unique to a Machine Core.

Ronan and the others uncovered a hidden, intricate web of filaments within the Machine Core, but Zhai Gong's analysis could not explain its structure or function. Ronan decided to keep the discovery from Master Xiu until he understood it and asked Zhai Gong to teach him engineering so he could work out how to repair the device.

• Zhai Gong used tinfoil to reveal an invisible force around the tendrils, then projected their shadows to expose a dense web containing 1,276 filaments.
• Zhai Gong used the Cross-Boundary supercomputer to analyze the structure but found that its unknown parameters and connection to the Mental Layer made the results inconclusive.
• Ronan asked whether the discovery should be shared with the Association, then chose to consult Master Xiu because the Machine Core was his personal property.
• Ronan asked Zhai Gong to teach him engineering from the beginning so he could understand the technical diagrams.
• Ronan persuaded Xue Lei to keep the discovery from Master Xiu until Ronan understood the Machine Core, while Rock Blast questioned how they could repair it without involving the branch laboratory.

Ronan proposed exchanging cultivation knowledge with Zhai Gong and gave him a Format Theory-based starting point for studying the Machine Core. On the way to obtain more research materials, Ronan received a subcontracting offer from Zhang Yingying that could help him earn money for a Devil Fish, while learning that people were still seeking permission to target him.

• Ronan asked Zhai Gong to teach him repair work in exchange for sharing his mental cultivation knowledge, and Zhai Gong became tempted by the offer.
• Ronan drew nested spheres and a Regular Tetrahedron over the Shadow Spiderweb, suggesting that Zhai Gong try applying Format Theory to the Machine Core.
• Ronan and Rock Blast left the miniature diamond-shaped object with Zhai Gong and headed for the branch laboratory so Ronan could follow its Machine Core research.
• Rock Blast mentioned that Quantum Corporation-backed intermediaries had stopped raising their offers for Machine Cores, and Ronan said Yan Yongbo's position remained precarious.
• Zhang Yingying contacted Ronan and offered him a well-paid subcontracting job, sending him the project details and warning that people were pursuing Martial Emperor's approval to move against him.

After Zhang Yingying tried to cheer him up, Ronan reflected on the pressure and caution that had changed how he approached the Machine Core. While driving with Rock Blast, he learned that the security job he had been reading about involved tracking and eliminating infiltrating Aberrant Species, and decided it suited him.

• Zhang Yingying ended the call after joking with Ronan and Rock Blast, and Rock Blast told Ronan that his stress was normal.
• Ronan admitted he had changed, explaining that he was holding back from seeking answers about the Machine Core because he feared triggering a dangerous chain of events.
• Rock Blast urged Ronan to vent his pressure through studying, and Ronan asked him about Three Gates District and the company in Zhang Yingying's data.
• Ronan discovered that Three Gates Security's work involved scouting for and exterminating Aberrant Species that had infiltrated Xia City's urban areas.
• Rock Blast agreed that Ronan was well suited to scout work, then realized Ronan might not have time for it because of his studies.

Ronan prepared for a city meeting by using a divided-mind incarnation to supervise work while he remained in class. In the Wetland Jungle, Wu Zunliang inspected the damaged ecosystem and North Shore Gear’s repairs as the Carrion Crow watched the construction before flying into the Great Living Area.

• Ronan told Xue Lei that a divided-mind incarnation would handle the meeting while he stayed in class, with the incarnation acting as a supervisor in the Wetland Jungle.
• Wu Zunliang traveled by boat through the damaged Wetland Jungle, complained about the destruction and North Shore Gear’s construction, and spotted a large Carrion Crow.
• Wu Zunliang’s student left the boat to go on a date, while Wu and the two laboratory assistants continued toward North Shore Gear.
• The Carrion Crow watched workers rebuild North Shore Gear and gather detailed data throughout the building.
• The Carrion Crow flew across the devastated Wetland Jungle and left the school grounds for the Great Living Area.

Ronan used Ink to meet Old Jin and his new partner, Peony, while staying hidden during a reconnaissance operation. They reached a hotel parking lot connected to the Recycling Layer, as Ronan reflected on the growing interest in Gear and the forces gathering around it.

• Ronan guided Ink into Old Jin’s SUV, where Old Jin fitted the crow with a communicator and explained how to use it.
• Old Jin introduced Peony, who greeted Ink and Ronan through the communicator and became Ronan’s partner for the operation.
• As the SUV traveled around Cloud Capital Shuiyi, Ronan considered how groups backed by several different interests were observing Gear and exchanging information about it.
• Old Jin drove the group to a business hotel’s underground parking lot, where the Recycling Layer lay beyond a thick wall, then told them he had finished his part.

Peony and Ronan attended a project meeting at San Zha Company, where Peony unsettled the room with her confidence and exposed Long Qi’s earring as something unusual. The meeting began with executive director Wu Bin introducing the operation, but Peony immediately challenged him over the presence of two other professionals despite Youlan Agency’s contract.

• Peony arrived at the conference room with Ink and calmly observed the other attendees, making them uncomfortable.
• Long Qi sat beside Peony, guessed that she was connected to Zhi Xing Institute, and discussed esports with her.
• Peony flirted with Long Qi, then removed and inspected his silver earring; Long Qi took it back and grew tense.
• Wu Bin opened the meeting and introduced himself as San Zha Company’s executive director and the project’s organizer.
• Peony asked Wu Bin to explain why two other professionals were on the team when Youlan Agency’s contract named it as the sole professional advisor and commander.

Wu Bin’s team briefed Peony and Long Qi on their operation to track dangerous Aberrant Species, beginning with the Winged Bloodbats and a list of twenty-four potential targets. Peony questioned the scale and purpose of the project, while she and Long Qi ultimately toasted to Earth’s future.

• Wu Bin introduced Long Qi, whose radiation-related ability made him a specialist for the operation, and Peony insisted that her office retain control of scouting and target-locking.
• Long Qi and Peony described their abilities and experience, then E Tu began presenting the operation’s intelligence and materials.
• E Tu explained that Winged Bloodbats were social, virus-carrying Aberrant Species that became especially dangerous during mating season and might even influence infection or aberration.
• E Tu detailed possible routes into Xia City and showed a display listing twenty-four potential Aberrant Species targets across four threat tiers.
• Peony questioned why the team was pursuing so many targets instead of issuing a red alert, and Wu Bin cited efficiency, phased bonuses, and special rewards.
• Peony and Long Qi clinked glasses after Long Qi remarked on modern technology, toasting to Earth’s future.

Ronan withdrew most of his attention from a long meeting about Aberrant Species and warned Xue Lei about infection risks. Zhang Yingying urged him to take charge of the project through Ink, leaving him considering whether the crow could serve as a mask.

• Hu Huaying called Ronan and asked him to inspect Gear's repaired underground facilities.
• Ronan withdrew from the seven-hour meeting, told Xue Lei about biohazard risks, and warned him not to spread the information widely.
• Ronan reflected on what he had learned by observing Peony, Long Qi, Wu Bin, and the others negotiate during the meeting.
• Zhang Yingying criticized Ronan for staying quiet and reminded him that the project depended on his psychic sensing ability.
• Zhang Yingying told Ronan that Ink could act as a mask, and Ronan paused over the idea.

Ronan tried to understand how to relax and realized how disconnected he felt from the people around him. He arrived at Gear with Xue Lei and Hu Huaying to inspect the project, while Xie Junping remained away practicing an ascetic routine.

• Zhang Yingying urged Ronan to use a mask and a performance persona to let go, then hung up when he suggested she was jealous of newcomer Peony.
• Ronan sent Zhang Yingying an apology and thanks, though he still doubted that relaxing would make any difference.
• After a football struck the tram window, Ronan heard students discuss Clark and Jungle Owl and realized he knew little about campus life.
• Ronan and Xue Lei arrived at Gear, where Hu Huaying said Xie Junping had been keeping an early schedule with Du Yong.
• Ronan listened as the supervisor and project manager explained Gear's installation and maintenance, but remained suspicious of the supervisor.

Ronan let construction inspectors examine Gear while keeping his concerns about the building’s security to himself, then secretly followed Peony after her meeting. Peony’s report identified Long Qi as a likely Deep Blue Walker and tentatively named him as Snake Seven of Tianqing Security.

• Ronan told Hu Huaying that Gear mattered too much to him for its security to be left to outsiders, then examined the building’s enormous atrium with Hu Huaying and Xue Lei.
• Ronan sensed Peony’s signal and traveled to her location, where he learned the meeting would continue the next day and that she would upload its materials and minutes.
• Ronan reviewed Peony’s annotated meeting notes and report in the Cloud Space after returning to Gear.
• Peony’s report linked Long Qi’s memory-alloy earring to Burners and concluded that he was likely a Deep Blue Walker.
• Peony identified Long Qi as Snake Seven of Tianqing Security, a subsidiary of Quantum Corporation.

After learning how thoroughly Snake Seven’s identity had been exposed, Ronan feared that intelligence agencies were also tracking him. He discovered that the Gear Building was packed with surveillance devices, destroyed them in anger, and left the building in darkness as Bamboo Pole checked in.

• Ronan read Peony’s report and the newly updated details about Snake Seven, then worried that agencies would compile similarly invasive files about him.
• Ronan declined Xue Lei’s offer to wait for him and settled his agitation by cultivating the God Wheel and Body Wheel.
• After meditation, Ronan heard the Gear Building’s orderly rhythm disrupted by radio waves from surveillance equipment throughout the building.
• Ronan spotted a camera and sensed surveillance devices all around him, then destroyed them, causing the lights and backup systems to fail.
• Xue Lei called to check Ronan’s location, and Bamboo Pole messaged him on the Spirit Wave Network, asking whether he was angry.