Chapter Summaries

Ronan agreed to meet his Aunt while seeking a way to secure his drug supply, then checked on Xue Lei and Chen Xiaolin after the fight. Chen Xiaolin showed no sign of the Human-Faced Spider but remained distressed, and Ronan left with Xue Lei, who recognized that they were not ordinary people.

• Ronan agreed to meet his Aunt and asked Zhang Yingying whether Octopus Bro sold his compounded drugs, but Zhang Yingying suspected his motives and scrutinized his eyes.
• Ronan went to the eighty-first floor and found Xue Lei outside the room after Chen Xiaolin had awakened in distress and driven him out.
• Ronan, He Yueyin, and Zhang Yingying checked Chen Xiaolin and found no sign of the Human-Faced Spider; He Yueyin learned that Chen Xiaolin was having a stress response.
• He Yueyin advised Xue Lei to go home, and Ronan persuaded him to leave with him, explaining that Chen Xiaolin needed peace and time to recover.
• In the elevator where Xue Lei had fought Black Wolf, Xue Lei asked if they were all extraordinary, and Ronan replied that Xue Lei was too before they bumped fists.

After waking from a long sleep with withdrawal symptoms, Ronan discovered that his mental perception had become a natural ability with a range of about five meters. He helped his cousin Mo Ya sneak away for a month-long music tour, then watched her leave with her band as he resolved to keep working toward his own goals.

• Ronan woke at 2:27 a.m. on September 30 with painful withdrawal symptoms and realized he had slept through the previous day.
• Ronan tested his mental perception and found he could clearly sense his surroundings within roughly five meters without using the Dark Heavy Chains or Astral Projection.
• Mo Ya entered Ronan's room carrying a huge suitcase and enlisted his help moving it downstairs and outside without waking the household.
• Ronan learned that Mo Ya was leaving for a month-long promotional tour and Music Festival in Full City, despite Aunt's likely objections.
• Ronan helped Mo Ya load her luggage into her band's truck, exchanged encouragement with her, and watched the truck drive away.

After reflecting on Mo Ya’s progress toward her dream, Ronan realized that his own pursuit of proving Grandfather’s Format Theory was no longer stalled. He checked his Wilderness Explorers Association messages and found that his ability origin was listed as System Stream, though the association had marked it for evaluation.

• Ronan reflected on Mo Ya’s progress with her band and compared it with his long struggle to vindicate Grandfather’s Format Theory against Yan Hong and Quantum Corporation.
• Ronan realized that after thirty hours of deep sleep, he could activate Six Ears and connect to the Spirit Wave Network without relying on the Dark Heavy Chains.
• Ronan logged onto the Wilderness Explorers Association homepage and found messages from He Yueyin and Zhang Yingying, along with an operational briefing about the Shuiyi Bluestone Hotel incident.
• Ronan opened his membership confirmation and saw that the association had listed his ability origin as System Stream.
• Ronan read the note questioning that classification and recommending evaluation by the Cultivation Department, then resolved to prove that his abilities came from a coherent theory and system.

Ronan examined the Association’s cultivation-system requirements and reflected on how his father had betrayed his grandfather and mother by handing research to Yan Hong. After receiving a B- operation rating and four Honor Points, Ronan asked He Yueyin how to strengthen his body and eventually become Awakened, and she advised him to focus on balancing his mind and body.

• Ronan learned that a valid cultivation system had to guide ordinary people toward becoming Awakened, and realized his grandfather’s surviving notebook did not explain how to reach that stage.
• Ronan remembered that his father had given Grandfather’s research to Yan Hong in exchange for a lighter sentence, leaving Ronan angry over the betrayal of his family.
• Ronan received a direct call from He Yueyin, who explained that his long sleep was a normal way for psychics to recover energy.
• Ronan read the Association’s operation briefing and learned that he had earned a B- rating and four Honor Points, the highest score among the participants.
• Ronan asked He Yueyin how to balance his mind and body and become Awakened, and she advised him to focus on experiencing the world and accumulating progress before attempting awakening.

Ronan discussed Six Ears training and the Human-Faced Spider crisis with He Yueyin before Aunt Luo Shuqing caught him talking aloud and kept him chatting for two hours. After he went jogging and returned home, Aunt scolded him over Mo Ya’s escape, while Uncle Mo Haihang calmly explained that he knew where she had gone.

• He Yueyin sent Ronan a Six Ears emergency training plan and reported that the Human-Faced Spider incidents had caused five deaths and widespread mental trauma.
• Ronan accidentally spoke aloud while using Six Ears, and Aunt Luo Shuqing caught him and questioned him about staying up late.
• Aunt Luo Shuqing made Ronan keep her company until five in the morning before allowing him to go jogging.
• Ronan spent several hours in a park examining his abilities, then returned home and was scolded by Aunt over Mo Ya’s escape.
• Uncle Mo Haihang told Aunt that he knew where Mo Ya was and had used his SCA resources to track her.

Ronan received a hostile call from Black Beetle, then joined his family on a trip to visit his grandfather at An Hai Medical Center. On the drive, he checked the slowly downloading Visualization Icon and discussed his Social Format Chart with Uncle and Mo Peng.

• Black Beetle cursed Ronan and threatened him over the operation involving He Yueyin, and Ronan challenged him about being controlled by the Human-Faced Spider.
• Ronan ate breakfast with Uncle and Aunt, who invited him to visit Grandfather at An Hai Medical Center.
• During the drive, Ronan found that the Visualization Icon download had reached only 2% and that his interface looked darker and unsteady.
• Uncle recalled building a Format Chart model for Luo Zhongheng, while Ronan remained bitter about his father’s disappearance.
• Mo Peng criticized Ronan’s five-tier Social Format Chart, questioning its ranking of priests, technicians, and politicians.

Ronan explained the Social Format Chart’s categories and admitted that his own theory used himself as its standard. At Anhai Sanatorium, Luo Yuandao lectured Ronan and Mo Peng about his belief that he could redefine the nature of things, then fell forward and was caught by Ronan as the block walls collapsed.

• Mo Peng noticed that Ronan’s drawing interface looked submerged, but Ronan closed the notebook and avoided explaining it.
• Ronan described how students, employees, technicians, priests, and politicians related to the Social Format, then said that he himself was the standard for dividing them.
• At Anhai Sanatorium, Luo Yuandao carefully placed a block atop his structure and declared that his theory served him as the center of the universe.
• Luo Yuandao claimed he could change the Root Nature of things and shape his domain as he wished.
• Luo Yuandao dropped a block, lost his balance, and fell forward; Ronan caught him, knocking down the surrounding walls of blocks.

Ronan and Mo Peng witnessed Luo Yuandao’s violent, delusional episode after he saw Ronan’s Paged Notebook, which ended with doctors sedating him. Luo Shuqing reassured the boys and arranged for them to eat, return for Luo Yuandao’s afternoon walk, and try a deep-sleep Nutrient Capsule.

• Nurse Hong and Ronan helped Luo Yuandao upright, but he shoved Ronan away and demanded his “spoils” when Ronan tried to retrieve the Paged Notebook.
• Luo Yuandao examined Ronan’s notebook, dismissed most of its sketches, then paused over a prison drawing and briefly praised Ronan before accusing him of trying to kill him.
• Luo Yuandao raged about his kingdom, kicked down his block creations, and shouted about fire and a New God until Nurse Hong sedated him and a doctor arrived.
• Mo Haihang and Luo Shuqing arrived, and Ronan and Mo Peng were led from the ward while Luo Yuandao was treated.
• Luo Shuqing reassured Ronan and Mo Peng, invited them to eat and accompany Luo Yuandao on his afternoon walk, then suggested they try a deep-sleep Nutrient Capsule.

Luo Shuqing and Dr. Mo Haihang brought Ronan and Mo Peng to a sanatorium to try Nutrient Capsules, but Ronan discovered that his attending physician was Octopus Bro conducting a secret examination. Ronan lay back and let Octopus Bro fake the report while his worried aunt and uncle arrived.

• Luo Shuqing and Dr. Mo Haihang brought Ronan and Mo Peng to the sanatorium’s Nutrient Capsule rooms, where Mo Peng eagerly went in.
• Ronan noticed a strange smell inside his capsule and opened it, confronting a young doctor instead of his caregiver.
• Ronan recognized the doctor as Octopus Bro, who introduced himself as Zhang Yuliang and explained that Luo Shuqing suspected Ronan might be showing signs of schizophrenia.
• Octopus Bro told Ronan he could either explain the examination to his aunt and uncle or lie down and let him fake a report.
• Ronan lay back in the capsule as Luo Shuqing and Dr. Mo Haihang entered, and Octopus Bro prepared to deceive them with the report.

Octopus explained how Ability Users balanced normal-world logic, Inner World logic, and personal logic, and advised Ronan to build connections in the Association. Ronan then asked Octopus to make a psychiatric drug and sent him its molecular formula, leaving Octopus shocked.

• Octopus told Ronan he had persuaded Ronan’s uncle and aunt to accept that his symptoms were not obvious, but warned the explanation might not hold up.
• Octopus explained President Ouyang’s theories about the logic systems of Ability Users and compared their struggle to reconcile them with schizophrenia.
• Octopus used Ronan’s grandfather, Luo Yuandao, as an example of Self Logic failing to overcome external reality.
• Octopus advised Ronan to focus on Inner World logic, join Association activities, and make friends rather than develop Self Logic too early.
• Ronan asked Octopus whether he made custom psychiatric drugs and sent him a molecular formula through Six Ears.
• Octopus began to discuss his high price, then exclaimed in shock after seeing the formula.

Ronan shared his grandfather’s molecular formulas with Octopus, who recognized their extraordinary complexity and began preparing them. As the family left the sanatorium, Ronan agreed to let Octopus supply the formula and saw a chance to restore his grandfather’s reputation through a paper.

• Octopus examined Ronan’s formula, inferred its purpose, and agreed to make it after Ronan promised to provide an original version.
• Ronan sent Octopus away through the window before Lady Luo Shuqing and the others arrived, then pretended their meeting had gone normally.
• Octopus began working in his laboratory and told Ronan that the formulas reflected an astonishing understanding of neurological changes over time.
• While accompanying Luo Yuandao on his walk, Ronan reconsidered what praise and recognition could mean to his grandfather as his condition worsened.
• As the family prepared to leave, Octopus offered to deliver the formula regularly and asked Ronan to obtain permission to publish a paper based on the formulas.
• Ronan welcomed Octopus’s proposal as a possible way to restore his grandfather’s standing in the Association.

Ronan agreed to let the Wilderness Explorers Association handle Grandfather’s notes and discussed Ability Users and training with Octopus. On the ride home, he asked Aunt Luo Shuqing how much time Grandfather had left so he could plan a drawing that would make him happy.

• Ronan agreed to Octopus’s proposal and chose He Yueyin as his notary for the authorization documents.
• Ronan asked Octopus to look after Grandfather, and Octopus offered to help recover the lost notes and share medical research materials.
• Ronan asked whether a verified Self Logic could be valid regardless of how strange it was, and Octopus warned him not to let his imagination run wild.
• Octopus praised Ronan’s plan to train his body and promised to send beginner research notes and find Mental Enhancement training methods.
• Ronan asked Luo Shuqing how long Grandfather had left and explained that he wanted to draw a picture that would make him happy.

On the way to see his critically ill grandfather, Ronan reconsidered Luo Yuandao’s strange theories and examined how his Psychic Map of the Social Format had changed. He found that Xie Junping, Cat’s Eye, and the Human-Faced Spider remained within its structure, leaving him with clues about what mattered in the Emotional Turbid Current.

• Ronan got Aunt’s agreement, then read Luo Yuandao’s diagnosis and realized his grandfather could die at any time.
• Octopus sent Ronan notes from the Association’s beginner training program, but Ronan saved them without studying them closely.
• Ronan concluded that Luo Yuandao’s Social Format followed a clear, self-centered logic that normal explanations could not capture.
• Ronan examined the Psychic Map interface and found that the figures he had arranged in the five-tier Gestalt had scattered through the Emotional Turbid Current.
• Ronan saw Xie Junping and Cat’s Eye still within the Student Layer, while the Human-Faced Spider’s Demon Rune remained in the Technician Layer.

Ronan examined how the Dark Black Chains connected people to his five-layer Gestalt and realized its structure resembled the ranks of Secret Cults. He left the question of what he might become unresolved as his family neared home.

• Ronan concluded that the Gestalt admitted only people and things directly connected to his Self Format, with Xie Junping and Cat Eye on the Student Layer and Demon Rune on the Technician Layer.
• Ronan connected the Gestalt’s layered structure to the ideas of gods and divine kingdoms in Grandfather’s ravings.
• Ronan searched the Spirit Wave Network for information on Secret Cults and found an article describing their four ranks of believers.
• Ronan recognized the article’s author, Bamboo Pole, and saw that the four cult ranks aligned with the Gestalt’s four lower layers beneath Politician.
• Ronan wondered if he was an underdeveloped deity, then told his uncle he was hungry as the family neared home.
• Mo Peng objected when Ronan’s uncle suggested asking Old Mo to cook a meal.

Ronan wondered whether his family's Format Theory aligned more with the Secret Cults than with the Association, but he found no answers before the family reached a restaurant. There, he ran into Zhou Hu and learned Rock Blast was also present, while an unidentified newcomer abruptly left after seeing him in the restroom.

• Ronan read Bamboo Pole's article about the Association's ability system and the Secret Cults, and wondered whether his family's Format Theory belonged more to the cults' system.
• Ronan joined his family at a restaurant and continued thinking about why Grandfather's theory matched the Secret Cults' structure.
• Ronan met Zhou Hu in the restroom and learned that Rock Blast was at a private gathering with former comrades-in-arms.
• Mo Peng entered the restroom and told Ronan that his father had also run into someone he knew.
• An unidentified man saw Ronan in the mirror, jolted, and immediately walked back out.

Ronan and Mo Peng returned to their table and found Yan Yongbo meeting with Luo Shuqing, her husband, and Lawyer Zhu about transferring ownership. Yan Yongbo recognized Ronan, provoking Luo Shuqing’s anger, while Lang Ding and the Construction Club members realized their expected Seven Colors Fund representative was Yan Yongbo.

• Ronan recognized Liu Tao as an acquaintance of Xie Junping and overheard the Construction Club members gossiping about him.
• Lang Ding left the private room to welcome the delayed representative from the Seven Colors Fund.
• Ronan spotted a dark-faced Burner bodyguard outside his reserved table and approached Yan Yongbo, who was discussing an ownership transfer with Lawyer Zhu and Ronan’s relatives.
• Yan Yongbo greeted Ronan by recalling how small he had been as a baby, and Luo Shuqing angrily shouted his name.
• Lang Ding recognized Yan Yongbo, leaving the Construction Club members surprised by their sponsor’s identity.

Yan Yongbo returned to Zhi Xing Institute’s orbit as the Seven Colors Fund’s head and confronted Luo Shuqing and Ronan over Gear. After threatening Ronan with his Prototype Format and the Burners, he turned back to the institute’s bid and asked Lawyer Zhu how to manage Ronan’s review rights.

• Yan Yongbo apologized to Luo Shuqing for his remarks and said he had acquired Gear to restore his father’s laboratory’s former glory.
• Yan Yongbo taunted Ronan about his origins and Senior Sister Qingwen, then used the Prototype Format and the Burners to overwhelm him and insult his dead Old Man.
• Luo Shuqing rushed to embrace Ronan after Yan Yongbo left, while the Construction Club executives followed Yan Yongbo out of the restaurant.
• Yan Yongbo asked Lawyer Zhu about the institute’s bid, learned Ronan could request a review and delay proceedings, and grabbed Lawyer Zhu while demanding to know the bigger picture.
• Yan Yongbo cited fifteen earthquakes in Xia City over the past ten days and asked Lawyer Zhu to help him control his urge to kill.

Yan Yongbo accepted Lawyer Zhu’s plan to create a conflict of interest with Ronan, while Ronan’s family left the restaurant worried about his silence and distress. Ronan turned inward through the External Neuron and saw his turbulent Mental Layer reflected in the drawing interface, where the Technician Layer’s Demon Rune glowed red.

• Lawyer Zhu proposed suing Ronan over his grandfather’s patents so Ronan’s objections to the Gear bidding process could be dismissed as self-serving, and Yan Yongbo approved the idea.
• Lang Ding and the others ushered Yan Yongbo into a private room, while Ronan’s family remained in the restaurant under the attention of onlookers.
• Luo Shuqing urged the family to leave for home or the hospital, but Ronan said he was hungry and began eating.
• On the drive home, Luo Shuqing angrily condemned Yan Yongbo and his father, then fell silent when Mo Haihang told her that Ronan appeared to be asleep.
• Ronan explained inwardly that he was seeking quiet, opened the drawing software through the External Neuron, and saw his Mental Layer’s river in turmoil while the Technician Layer’s Demon Rune blazed red.

Ronan’s rage awakened the Demon Rune and triggered an Astral Projection, allowing him to uncover clues about Yan Yongbo’s connection to the old laboratory. He realized the Human-Faced Spider could help him control his projected soul, then encountered his pet crow Ink near Blue Bay Community.

• Ronan’s agitation fed the Demon Rune, which formed a Human-Faced Spider and propelled him into Astral Projection.
• Ronan’s soul howl startled hundreds of crows and helped him calm down enough to consider Yan Yongbo’s knowledge of the wilderness laboratory and its unrest.
• Ronan concluded that Yan Yongbo may have joined Luo Yuandao’s research team near the project’s turbulent final period and could have been involved in the preparations behind Yan Hong’s plagiarism.
• Ronan learned that the Human-Faced Spider’s power enabled his Astral Projection and decided to explore using summons as part of his Self Format.
• Ronan rode the Human-Faced Spider through the void and recognized Ink, his pet crow, near Blue Bay Community.

Ronan used his new spirit-wave connection with Ink and answered Rock Blast’s call to track the Seven Colors Fund and the Construction Club after their gathering. As Rock Blast followed their vehicles through Xia City, Ronan arrived in his Soul Body by crashing through the rear window of Rock Blast’s car.

• Ronan discovered that Ink could sense his Soul Body through the Dark Heavy Chains and communicate with him more clearly than hypnosis allowed.
• Six Ears connected Ronan’s Astral Projection to Rock Blast, who confirmed that the restaurant gathering had ended and the others were leaving.
• Ronan asked Rock Blast to follow the departing group and share his location while he made his way over.
• Rock Blast tailed the group in his car while Ronan used Ink to reach him.
• Ronan messaged Rock Blast that he had arrived, then crashed through the car’s rear window as a black shadow.