Chapter Summaries

As Ronan’s dream impact stirred the Mental Ocean and sparked panic and debate, his friends planned an experiment to study its effects. On Sky Ridge, Tu Ge spoke with a hidden ally, who questioned how much Ronan knew about his methods and affiliations.

• Ability users flooded the Association forum with reactions to Ronan’s dream impact and the upheaval surrounding the fallen wall.
• Ronan’s friends discussed his preparations and the Xia City Branch leadership’s decision to observe Lake City before taking further action.
• Octopus, Xue Lei, and Xie Junping agreed to test the dream effect in nutrient pods while Mister Bai monitored them.
• The dream disturbances reshaped the global Mental Ocean and appeared to alter conditions affecting Mental Side abilities.
• On Sky Ridge, an unseen speaker questioned Tu Ge about Ronan’s plans and how Ronan had discovered his methods.
• Tu Ge replied that the wise were not confused, prompting the speaker to ask what Ronan knew about the Star Alliance, All Heavens Divine Kingdom, and Han Guang Autonomous Territory.

Tu Ge explained why he believed Liang Lu had traded his life to create a Deity and concluded that Liang Lu was gone. As a new confrontation approached, Luo Yuan urged Tu Ge to preserve the standoff and pointed to a Fire God Ant as a sign that their opponent was nearing something Tu Ge wanted returned.

• Luo Yuan recounted four past encounters with Liang Lu and asked why Tu Ge was now certain he was gone.
• Tu Ge reasoned that Liang Lu had exchanged his life and old methods for the chance to build a God Seat and nurture a Deity.
• Luo Yuan suggested triggering Tu Ge’s planted trap, but said he wanted to avoid an all-out war and gain time to grow.
• Tu Ge and Luo Yuan argued over whether Luo Yuan should return an inherited item Tu Ge’s boss had lent him.
• Luo Yuan showed Tu Ge a struggling Fire God Ant and said it was drawing closer to the thing Tu Ge wanted back.

Tu Ge and Luo Yuan discussed their information-for-ceasefire deal and the uncertain fate of Liang Lu before a new passage to the Graveyard opened and an electromagnetic field struck the mountains. As Tu Ge fled, Joker pursued him while Li Wei urged him to investigate whether Liang Lu was alive.

• Tu Ge examined the Fire God Ant and agreed with Luo Yuan that their deal had exchanged enough information to avoid a pointless fight.
• Tu Ge warned Luo Yuan that a deity would act in ways he could not predict, then left across the mountains as a gray-white passage to the Graveyard appeared below.
• Blue lightning engulfed Three Peaks, disrupting the Hundred Peaks Monarch's roots and destroying Luo Yuan's temporary connection with Tu Ge.
• Joker emerged from a burning forest and pursued Tu Ge while Li Wei relayed suspicions that the Native God was using his persona masks to mislead others.
• Li Wei reasoned that Liang Lu might have been gravely weakened long ago and urged Tu Ge to use the opportunity to confirm whether Liang Lu was alive.

Long Qi and the others climbed Sky Spine Road and discovered that gray contamination was still leaking into the U-shaped Mountain Range’s central valley. Zhao Xi used the Eye of Knowing Configuration to reveal the contamination and locate its vent, which Fris and Liu Fengming identified as a cave.

• Long Qi, Zhao Xi, and the others found scorched vegetation and grotesque, twitching masses of fused flesh along Sky Spine Road, which Mountain Lord and Mora linked to magnetizing powers and past incidents.
• Mountain Lord spotted tire tracks on the road, and Mora said Tu Ge had been driven away by Luo Yuan.
• Mora and the others noticed grayish-white vapor surging from the central valley, prompting Zhao Xi to ask whether it was Gray Substance contamination.
• Mountain Lord reminded Zhao Xi to use the Eye of Knowing Configuration, and Zhao Xi built a Demon Eye from layered Configurations.
• Zhao Xi’s Demon Eye revealed Gray Substance in the clouds and exposed a vent, which Fris and Liu Fengming identified as a cave.

Fris, Liu Fengming, and Zhao Xi identified a possible cave beneath Sky Ridge as the group continued toward the wind turbine and questioned Mora about the negotiations that ended the fighting. Long Qi confronted Wen Huilan over her role in the Wintergreen Clause and the treatment of vagrants as they neared the landmark.

• Fris, Liu Fengming, and Zhao Xi described a cave on the ridge whose features partly resembled the Bottomless Pit in Huai City, and Zhao Xi located it about three hundred meters below them.
• Mora led the group along the old Sky Ridge road toward a silent figure beside the surviving wind turbine and explained that the fighting had ended through negotiations.
• Mora asked Wen Huilan about returning to Sky Ridge, and Wen Huilan said she was glad the fighting had stopped, Lake City had been spared, and old friends had withdrawn safely.
• Long Qi accused Wen Huilan of betraying her teammates and condemned the Wintergreen Clause for keeping vagrants confined to settlements, while Zhao Xi pulled him back.
• As they approached the wind turbine, Long Qi asked whether Wen Huilan had been acting on a director's orders when she helped sell out the vagrants.

Mora questioned Wen Huilan about her past with Tu Ge, but Wen Huilan pointed out that Mora was not a director. A battered Tu Ge then appeared on Sky Ridge without Ronan, and Mountain Lord and Mora fled as Tu Ge charged toward the group.

• Mora teased Long Qi about his past and pressed Wen Huilan to describe Tu Ge's time serving her.
• Wen Huilan calmly told Mora that she had not become a director, prompting Mora to call out to the unseen Director Ronan to ask about Tu Ge.
• A huge, cloud-shrouded figure approached beneath the windmill blades, and the group recognized him as a badly wounded Tu Ge.
• Long Qi realized Ronan was missing and Tu Ge seemed to have just fought a brutal battle.
• Tu Ge lunged at the group, Long Qi rolled away, Mountain Lord and Mora leaped into the clouds, and Zhao Xi remained in Tu Ge's path.

Tu Ge overwhelmed the Burners elites on Sky Ridge, stripping Zhao Xi’s and Fris’s Exoskeleton Armor and suppressing Long Qi with his Formatting Domain. After rearming himself, Tu Ge attacked the two Extraordinary Species, Mora and Mountain Lord, while Long Qi and Wen Huilan could only watch.

• Tu Ge blasted Zhao Xi away, tore apart his Exoskeleton Armor, and kicked him toward the abyss.
• Fris charged Tu Ge with Format Fire and explosive warheads, but Tu Ge stopped him, stripped his armor, and knocked him beneath Sky Ridge.
• Tu Ge’s Format Fire disrupted Long Qi’s internal energy, while Liu Fengming was pulled into the fight and returned with the animated armor assembly.
• The Root System knocked Lao Yao down, and Wen Huilan was left standing near the edge of the Sky Ridge Old Road as the storm subsided.
• Tu Ge made Sky Ridge seem to writhe, then sent two armored figures into the sky to fight Mora and Mountain Lord.

Long Qi watched Tu Ge battle Mora and Mountain Lord before Ronan revealed the Dark Seclusion Wheel and ended the simulation. Mora identified Wen Huilan’s scarf as a core item of the Hun Dun Order and warned her that the person she feared had already doomed her chances.

• Tu Ge controlled the battlefield with airflow blades while fighting Mora and Mountain Lord, forcing Long Qi to lie low amid the destruction.
• Mountain Lord charged through the blades and shattered an Exoskeleton Armor, then struggled to suppress an injury as Mora called out to Ronan.
• The armor fragments gathered behind Ronan as the Dark Seclusion Wheel, and Ronan explained that he had been using the area to assemble material from Tu Ge’s memories.
• Wen Huilan collapsed, and the blood from her bitten finger revealed shifting images on her scarf before Mora recognized it as a core-level Hun Dun Order item.
• Mora returned the scarf to Wen Huilan and warned her that her fear strengthened the methods used against her, leaving her no chance of winning.

After Ronan’s staged battle on Sky Ridge ended, Long Qi and the others regrouped at the Supply Point and realized the fight had been designed to extract memories of Tu Ge. Ronan proposed a joint Mist Labyrinth exploration across several cities, leaving the others to return to Lake City while he stayed behind to contact Hundred Peaks Monarch.

• Zhao Xi told Long Qi that the others had survived the Sky Ridge battle and were back at the Supply Point, prompting Long Qi to recognize the fight as another of Ronan’s staged scenarios.
• Long Qi helped Lao Yao to his feet and questioned Ronan about extracting memories, while Ronan explained that he wanted to compare accounts of Tu Ge from different perspectives and emotional states.
• Ronan asked Mountain Lord to move his exploration plan from Huai City to Lake City and proposed simultaneous excavation at several sites, including locations near Spring City and on the plateau.
• Ronan invited Mora, Mountain Lord, and other Extraordinary Species to help explore the Mist Labyrinth, explaining that their Information Chain Network could help investigate its structure and its connection to Earth Local Time-Space.
• Ronan said he would consult the Star Alliance Committee, the military, and Lake City officials before proceeding, then arranged for Mora and the others to ride back with Lieutenant General Joseph while he stayed on Sky Ridge to contact Hundred Peaks Monarch.
• Wen Huilan agreed that Lake City would receive the visitors, as Ronan looked toward the clouds north of Sky Ridge.

Yuan Wuwei invited Songkan and Long Qi to explore the Dream Game, and they followed Long Qi’s account of surviving repeated card-game battles to Heart Degree Yoga. There, Long Qi discovered a detailed post explaining how dreamers could escape combat and receive missions, including one to help others break free from the game’s Cutscene Animation.

• Yuan Wuwei and Songkan discussed the public reaction to God Ronan’s declaration and the Dream Game before Long Qi joined them.
• Yuan Wuwei invited Long Qi to explore the Dream Game, and Long Qi agreed after explaining that he had spent the week playing card games with the Extraordinary Species.
• Long Qi described how repeated battles in the card game had taught him the hazards and layout of Lake City.
• Yuan Wuwei and Songkan brought Long Qi to Heart Degree Yoga, where he recognized Raven from its promotional poster.
• Long Qi read a popular post on Raven’s Demi-Plane describing how its author used Enter Stillness to escape dream battles and explore Xia City.
• Long Qi learned that the post’s author had received a mission from the Standard Bearer at Zhi Xing Institute to help more people break free from the game’s Cutscene Animation.

Long Qi joined Yuan Wuwei, Li Taisheng, and the others at a yoga studio to enter Ronan’s Dream Game, where he discovered a vast course network and learned about a dangerous mission involving Tu Ge’s traces in Lake City. After the group entered the dream and disengaged from combat, Long Qi saw the dream’s depiction of Hundred Peaks Monarch’s Blessing Power and learned Yuan Wuwei wanted to enjoy their freedom before attempting the mission.

• Long Qi discussed the Dream Game’s enormous map and computing power with Yuan Wuwei before Li Taisheng and Liu Chengzai joined them.
• Long Qi passed the Dream Game’s test by imitating Raven’s Breathing Technique and entered the group’s reserved room at Heart Degree Yoga.
• Long Qi discovered a sprawling course tree, and Yuan Wuwei realized the game had updated to include a large network of lessons.
• Yuan Wuwei shared the team’s mission to find traces of Tu Ge in Lake City, with the Black Flood Season of the 80 Year marked as a sensitive turning point.
• Li Taisheng urged the group to enter the dream, and they safely disengaged from combat and skipped the cutscene animation.
• Long Qi saw lines of Hundred Peaks Monarch’s Blessing Power in the dream, while Yuan Wuwei insisted that they enjoy their freedom before starting the mission.

Long Qi questioned Li Taisheng and Yuan Wuwei about how the Dream Game worked, learning that it closely followed reality but ran on different time and energy rules. Li Taisheng raised unanswered questions about what would happen as more people entered the game.

• Long Qi watched Li Taisheng investigate the dream city and learned that High Priest Lanier had been the leading expert in Dream Entry Methods.
• Li Taisheng explained that explorers could meet in the dream, while Songkan and Yuan Wuwei described how they had met and researched the game.
• Li Taisheng and Yuan Wuwei told Long Qi that dream time passed at least seven times faster than real time, but players could only stay connected for a few hours.
• Li Taisheng said that people across the world might supply energy to the Dream Game, including those trapped in its Cutscene Animation.
• Li Taisheng wondered whether the game had a player limit, how its stability would change as more people joined, and what its missions were meant to teach.

Long Qi, Yuan Wuwei, and Li Taisheng discussed how the Dreamscape Game gathered energy before responding to a Magnetized Puppet threat. After identifying the puppet as a card Long Qi recognized, they prepared to learn more about the game’s Character Cards.

• Li Taisheng explained how the Secret Cult drew energy from the Mental Ocean and used it to strengthen connections among the Faithful.
• A system alert announced an unknown threat harvesting people who might awaken, and the group formed a team to share information about it.
• The team learned that the threat was a Magnetized Puppet, a biochemical creation with Great Monarch potential, and Long Qi connected it to Character Cards in the real-world card games.
• Yuan Wuwei called out the Magnetized Puppet, which noticed the group and withdrew into a building.
• Long Qi recognized the puppet as a card named Ma something, and Yuan Wuwei asked which other figures appeared on Character Cards.

Long Qi, Li Taisheng, Yuan Wuwei, and the others discussed the Dreamscape Game’s Character Cards, Transcendental Species, and their plan to investigate the Hundred Peaks Monarch. Yuan Wuwei then warned that the Energy Supply Chain could connect people through the Mental Ocean and transform humanity, the Abyss Zone, and the world.

• Long Qi explained the Character Card categories and warned that B-Rank Magnetized Puppets and Transcendental Species could complicate the Dreamscape Game.
• Li Taisheng pointed out that weaker Magnetized Puppets could summon companions, while Yuan Wuwei argued they could not summon Transcendental Species without making the game pointless.
• Long Qi and Li Taisheng spotted the Hundred Peaks Monarch and agreed to investigate the Transcendental Aberrant Nest.
• Li Taisheng and Long Qi joked about their competing plans and the disrupted livestream before Yuan Wuwei redirected the discussion to the Energy Supply Chain.
• Yuan Wuwei outlined how the Energy Supply Chain could connect billions through the Mental Ocean and potentially produce collective consciousness, affect the Abyss Zone, and change humanity’s environment.

After their disastrous Dream Game session at Hundred Peaks Monarch, Long Qi and Li Taisheng discovered that their reckless actions had advanced the team’s mission concerning Tu Ge. Back in reality, they encountered Mora, who demanded to hear about their experience, and Long Qi prepared to report the new development.

• Long Qi, Li Taisheng, and Liu Chengzai fought their way through Hundred Peaks Monarch, counter-killed the Magnetized Puppet and its reinforcements, then charged Three Peaks Top to return to the respawn point.
• Long Qi and Li Taisheng woke in Heart Degree Yoga and learned that the team mission concerning Tu Ge had advanced by about 2%.
• Li Taisheng showed Long Qi a system record linking their assault on Three Peaks Top and their exposure to suspicious spores with clues about Tu Ge.
• Long Qi, Li Taisheng, and Liu Chengzai met Mora in the hallway with Songkan and Yuan Wuwei.
• Mora asked Long Qi and the others what they had gained from the Dream Game, and Long Qi said he had a new development to report.

Long Qi and the others regrouped in the Dream Game, where Mora revealed she had escaped a battle with Gao Wenfu. She chose to lead the group straight to Three Peaks Top, and as they waited for a rental car, a stranger offered to sketch Mora.

• Yuan Wuwei told Long Qi that he had known Mora in the Apocalypse laboratory, where she had been kept in a Life Support Pod, and that he had also known Tu Ge.
• Mora returned from the Cutscene Animation scenario, saying that Gao Wenfu had been thrown at her and that she had fought her way out.
• Li Taisheng proposed continuing the team mission toward Three Peaks Top, and Mora decided they would go there directly with her protecting the group.
• The group chose the northern Guang Lin Line and sent Songkan to rent a car while they waited at a transfer platform.
• Long Qi sang along with a street performer, and a stranger approached Mora and offered to sketch her.

Long Qi and the others discovered that the street artist Ronan was the Magnetized Puppet and watched him battle Mora, whose fight shattered the transfer platform and damaged a skyscraper. The system quest identified Magnetic Light Mica as the force behind the puppet, while Ronan and Mora continued fighting inside the darkened building.

• Long Qi recognized Ronan just as the system announced that the Magnetized Puppet had noticed the group, and Ronan attacked Mora with his Electronic Pen and drawing board.
• Mora and Ronan fought at close range, then exchanged attacks amid Format Fire and explosions that wrecked the platform and shattered nearby glass.
• Mora sent Ronan crashing into the building wall before pursuing him inside, where another explosion plunged the area into darkness.
• Long Qi, Li Taisheng, and Liu Chengzai read the quest, which said Magnetic Light Mica had sent the puppet to make everyone conform to its tastes and urged them to show it where it had gone wrong.
• Long Qi and Li Taisheng discussed the fighters' strength and whether Mora could draw on the Abyss Zone as further blasts shook the building.

Mora, Long Qi, and Li Taisheng watched Ronan’s fight end as the Dreamscape Game revealed a task requiring the defeat of a hundred billion Magnetized Puppets. After realizing the count was rising through a shared faction quest, Mora ordered the group to leave and force others to help with the task.

• Mora struck Ronan as he entered Fourth Gear, and the Magnetized Puppet collapsed during its adjustments and burned to ash.
• The system offered to share debugging results and reveal a secret if the group helped complete the Magnetized Puppet’s current stage.
• Long Qi and Li Taisheng discovered that the task required defeating a hundred billion targets, while its completion count continued rising.
• Mora criticized Luo for passing the problem to them and ordered the group to leave and bring everyone else into the effort.

Yuan Wuwei discussed the Dreamscape Game’s mission and argued that its scale could reveal how its creator was managing resources and costs. Star Witch and Constance Dahle arrived, and Yuan Wuwei eagerly reminded them that they had met before.

• Long Qi and Li Taisheng compared reports on the Dreamscape Game, including its growing player base and slow mission progress.
• Yuan Wuwei explained that Transcendental Species were debating whether to help the mission or avoid getting drawn into a larger conflict.
• Star Witch and Constance Dahle arrived by electric sightseeing cart, prompting Long Qi and Li Taisheng to recognize the two influential Transcendental Species.
• Yuan Wuwei argued that the mission’s enormous scale required production resources and that its system could reveal the creator’s costs, resources, and condition.
• Star Witch praised Yuan Wuwei’s reasoning, and Constance remembered him as the major with Spacetime sensing ability.

Long Qi and the others entered the Dream Game through a newly established Dreaming Point, where Yuan Wuwei and Long Qi encountered Mora and Constance. As they prepared to travel to Three Peaks Top, Long Qi received an open letter titled “People who want to change the world, unite!”

• Yuan Wuwei, Long Qi, Li Taisheng, and Liu Chengzai entered the Dream Game at Lakeside Hotel’s new Dreaming Point.
• Long Qi found the observation room empty, and Yuan Wuwei argued that the Dream Game’s refreshed scenery supported the idea that its designer wanted to influence the Real World.
• Mora and Constance arrived, and Yuan Wuwei apologized after Constance overheard his comments about her.
• Mora and Constance explained their plans to study Hundred Peaks Monarch and the Dream Game’s spacetime connections, and Yuan Wuwei went to arrange transport to Three Peaks Top.
• Long Qi checked the system prompts and received an open letter titled “People who want to change the world, unite!”