Chapter Summaries

Ronan considered whether the Red Wheel Six Demons’ attention to the Evil Poison environment threatened the battle and whether he should pursue Doctor Tao Xian, but Gong Shenmang offered no support for acting on his own. Back in the Chang Ying’s laboratory, Ronan began using Great Comprehension to prepare his thoughts, only for Chun Great Lord to contact him unexpectedly.

• Gong Shenmang questioned Ronan about the possible effects of the Red Wheel Six Demons’ attention and asked what he wanted to do; Ronan said he wanted to confirm whether the target was Doctor Tao Xian and settle his own affairs.
• Gong Shenmang told Ronan to continue his Chang Ying mission while he sought instructions from above, and hinted that Ronan would need to prove himself to superiors with sufficient authority.
• Ronan returned to the temporary laboratory, where Meng Xin told him that her junior, Liang Lu, had safely withdrawn to the Second Bureau; Ronan recalled that only seventeen of Mobile Fifth Company’s sixty-one members had been confirmed alive.
• Ronan checked the Nibbling Void Bacteria and entered Contemplation Time-Space to revise his thoughts before possibly contacting Chun Great Lord.
• Chun Great Lord unexpectedly contacted Ronan and said he had become idle after acting too aggressively and having to avoid making matters spiral out of control.

Ronan confided his turmoil about Testing Time-Space to Chun Great Lord, who declined to authorize him to act independently and instead explained the military’s chief threat. Chun Great Lord identified Dream Divine Abomination’s far-reaching connections as the main danger, leaving Ronan to recognize a possible link to the Dream Weaver aboard the Chang Ying.

• Chun Great Lord reassured Ronan that he was not reading his mind and advised him to stop withdrawing into Contemplation Time-Space while on a battlefield.
• Ronan described his conflict over whether to intervene in Testing Time-Space, and Chun Great Lord listened without interrupting.
• Chun Great Lord said Ronan had no clear plan for handling matters himself and offered no authorization, but asked him to listen to his own troubles in return.
• Ronan guessed that the Red Wheel Three Demons were Chun Great Lord’s greatest concern, but Chun Great Lord named Dream Divine Abomination as the real threat.
• Chun Great Lord explained that Dream Divine Abomination had woven connections across the battlefield and beyond, enabling it to reach places such as the Ancestral Court while Nightmare Seeds remained uncleansed.
• Ronan thought of the Dream Weaver in the Chang Ying crew’s Mental Ocean and the Demon Rune it had imitated.

Ronan discussed the Dream Divine Abomination and the Rule Difference with Chun Great Lord, who proposed that they work together to investigate it. Chun Great Lord later assigned Ronan to a field mission to collect living-corpse samples, and Ronan arrived at the meeting point to find the team waiting for him.

• Chun Great Lord explained the dangers of the Dream Net, Nightmare Seeds, and the Dream Divine Abomination’s links to forces beyond the Sky Abyss Empire.
• Ronan asked Chun Great Lord about the Rule Difference, and Chun Great Lord proposed that Ronan get closer to The Other Side to investigate how the Dream Divine Abomination perceived it.
• Ronan agreed to cooperate and potentially become a node in an experiment against the Dream Divine Abomination; Chun Great Lord said Gong Shenmang would explain a later shipment.
• After the conversation, Ronan observed that the Line Six Ant Swarm had become restless and considered how the Rule Difference might affect Nibbling Void Bacteria.
• Yun Bo summoned Ronan to Upper Fourth Deck Area 107 for a field mission to capture living-corpse samples, including a suspected medical officer with Fire Seed traces.
• Ronan arrived at the meeting point, where Field Officer Wang Zhen and more than ten others were waiting.

Wang Zhen led a battlefield inspection and briefing on Specimen No. 1, whose unusual behavior and suspected role in organizing an assault cluster had drawn attention to Ronan. As the team examined whether Ronan’s exercises or mental abilities had attracted the specimen, Ronan recalled that he had released the Dream Weaver into the Chang Ying’s Mental Ocean during the second Shadow Mist exercise.

• Wang Zhen assembled the field team, and they flew out aboard a Touring Sun Flying Shuttle to inspect the battlefield and discuss the investigation.
• Xuan He presented thirty-five hours of tracking data showing Specimen No. 1 repeatedly hiding among battlefield creatures before changing its behavior and heading toward the Chang Ying.
• Xuan He reported that Specimen No. 1 communicated with armored targets and other creatures, later joining an assault cluster after Ronan appeared in Area 92.
• Wang Zhen asked the team to examine whether events aboard the Chang Ying, including Ronan’s Shadow Mist exercises and Huo Fa’s contamination, had drawn the specimen’s attention.
• Ronan remembered that during the second Shadow Mist exercise he had released the Dream Weaver to weave an inferior Altar Spiderweb inside the crew’s Mental Ocean.

Ronan reviewed the evidence about Specimen No. 1 and concluded that Doctor Tao Xian might still be in a dangerous battlefield area. He urged the inspection team to land there early, arguing that her Fire Seed and Harbinger Bird were reacting to multiple targets and that the area might be producing living corpses.

• Ronan connected the Dream Weaver and Altar Spiderweb's possible Mental Side effects to Specimen No. 1, whom he increasingly believed was Doctor Tao Xian.
• Ronan reviewed evacuation records and found that Doctor Tao Xian had been listed as not evacuated forty-two hours earlier, while Yun Bo challenged the team's data analysis and urged them to capture Specimen No. 1.
• Field Officer Xuan He reported that Specimen No. 1 had returned to Eastern Hemisphere Quadrant 2, Area 55, near the Coiling Demon's territory, and the team debated whether a landing operation was too risky.
• Ronan insisted that they go to Area 55 because he believed Tao Xian had a reason to remain there, and he suspected the area was producing living corpses.
• Ronan explained that Tao Xian's Fire Seed was fluctuating violently and that the Harbinger Bird within her was reacting with multiple targets, a disturbance he could sense through its effect on nearby Nibbling Void Bacteria.

Ronan argued that the team should urgently capture Specimen No. 1 in East 2, Area 55, and the meeting shifted toward carrying out his recommendation. With the First Bureau Executive Office Action Department's Combat Team nearby and Specimen No. 1 apparently looking toward them, Ronan proposed leading the operation and asked the Tranquil Underworld Bureau for additional support.

• Ronan explained how he had identified Specimen No. 1 using Great Comprehension, though his detailed account relied partly on guesswork and theoretical models.
• Field Officer Wang Zhen called for a preliminary plan, while Field Officer Jie Hu urged caution and suggested coordinating the disposal with the next offensive.
• Yun Bo reported that Team Leader Du Yu and the First Bureau Executive Office Action Department's Combat Team were standing by near Area 55.
• Ronan said the team should begin the landing disposal that day when the Touring Sun Flying Shuttle reached Area 55, as Specimen No. 1 had already noticed them.
• Ronan volunteered to handle Specimen No. 1 himself, outlined his Isolation Suit and Shadow Mist preparations, and asked the Tranquil Underworld Bureau for additional support.

Ronan joined the Air Support Team aboard the Flying Disc and demonstrated his ability to coordinate the platform before its high-speed launch. As it dived toward the battlefield, he reconstructed the target zone and sensed faint points of radiance buried in the ruins.

• Yun Bo, Shi Fan, Ronan, Bei Ou, and Jie Hu prepared the Flying Disc for the airdrop while Bei Ou cautioned against staying too long.
• Ronan used the platform’s information feeds and his Configuration-based perception to adjust the Flying Disc before launch.
• Yun Bo bet that Ronan could direct docking within a two-percent error margin, or the team would use the five-breath contingency plan.
• Ronan confirmed the coordinate points and the platform’s Configuration conditions, then began the activation countdown.
• The Flying Disc launched at nearly ten times the speed of sound, and Ronan reconstructed the battlefield while sensing radiance deep in the ruins.

Ronan and the Combat Team deployed the docking platform and used the Flying Disc’s cables to brake near the target area, then spread Shadow Mist over the battlefield. Ronan left the platform and advanced toward Specimen No. 1, which had noticed him.

• The Flying Disc barreled through Karmic Poison Living Entities and Extraterritorial Species as it approached the target area at dangerous speed.
• Field Officer Du Yu launched the docking platform, and Ronan linked all sixteen Conducting Cables to the Flying Disc after the platforms docked.
• Yun Bo took control of the Flying Disc while its cables repeatedly anchored into the Permafrost Stratum to slow the platform.
• The Flying Disc deployed six Shadow Mist canisters over the target area, and Ronan, Field Officer Bei Ou, and Field Officer Jie Hu exited the platform.
• Ronan expanded the Shadow Mist with his Soul Power and walked toward the target, who looked back at him.

Ronan approached Specimen No. 1, who remained unresponsive as he scanned her and removed the Fire Seed from her chest. He put it back, causing her armor to ignite, and the chapter ended with Ronan asking whether she had broken up with Netherworld Highness.

• Ronan advanced toward Specimen No. 1 despite Field Officer Bei Ou's warnings, while Doctor Ye Guo restrained Bei Ou from taking over the handling.
• Ronan scanned all fourteen suspected targets and learned that their Configurations and vital-energy links appeared to be driving one another.
• Ronan removed Specimen No. 1's Fire Seed without resistance, then returned it to her chest despite Bei Ou's warning.
• The Fire Seed flared, and Blazing White Light erupted from Specimen No. 1's ruined armor as Bei Ou accused Ronan of violating battlefield discipline.
• Ronan restrained Bei Ou and asked him to listen to the melody coming from Doctor Tao Xian's armor; Zhong He identified it as “A Journey Beginning from the Boiling Sea.”
• Ronan looked at the stars and asked whether Doctor Tao Xian had been the one to break up with Netherworld Highness.

After destroying Specimen No. 1, Ronan was confined to the Main Base’s Little Black Room and told to prepare to become a Special Node. He entered Wargame Mode, where the system began generating a Chess Path as his consciousness rose above the battlefield.

• Yun Bo and Field Officer Bei Ou escorted Ronan into the guarded Little Black Room after his unauthorized destruction of Specimen No. 1.
• Ronan simulated the Harbinger Bird Version Service Demon Scroll, and Gong Shenmang visited him to discuss his breach and the agreement to make up for the Special Node role.
• Ronan told Gong Shenmang that the Tranquil Underworld Bureau could consult him about the contaminated Fire Seed and its key scenes.
• Ronan decided to use his confinement to enter Wargame Mode and asked Auntie Kui to activate it.
• The system began calculating battlefield progress and loading a Chess Path, while Ronan’s consciousness rose over the Main Base and surveyed the battlefield and its surrounding space.

Ronan chose the Hidden Thunder Chess Path in War Chess Mode, prioritizing an attempt to find a spy on the asteroid battlefield over the straightforward Special Node mission. The system began rapidly evolving Testing Time-Space as Ronan left the Mirror Image Zone.

• Auntie Kui explained that Ronan could prioritize either fulfilling his promise to Chun Great Lord or investigating a possible spy, though both paths would evolve for 150 hours.
• Ronan chose Hidden Thunder because it would keep him connected to the outside world and let him investigate the Han Guang Star System, even with a very low predicted success rate.
• The system described Ronan’s plan to simulate the battlefield’s organizational structure and search for a Hidden Thunder, while warning that the simulations could leave an opening for the Red Wheel Three Demons.
• Ronan watched the Hidden Thunder path begin to advance and realized Testing Time-Space would rapidly simulate events while he was away.
• Auntie Kui activated War Chess Mode, and Ronan’s Form and Spirit Framework flowed out of the Mirror Image Zone.

Bao Hongliang’s convoy traveled into the Volcanic Zone, where crowds and competing teams had gathered around the Fire God Ant Nest. Ronan appeared unexpectedly in their vehicle, asked about the area, and learned it was September 6th.

• Bao Hongliang rode with his team through the Volcanic Zone, where they discussed the rush to investigate the Fire God Ant Nest and the upheaval caused by Dream World.
• The convoy reached a crowded area near the Volcanic Zone, and Bao Hongliang and his companions discussed tourism, bodyguard jobs, and the changing world.
• Ronan suddenly appeared in the back seat and asked what was happening near the Fire God Ant Nest.
• Bao Hongliang offered to connect Ronan with his boss, and Ronan revealed that he remembered borrowing Bao’s equipment.
• Bao Hongliang told Ronan it was September 6th, and Ronan said the date confirmed his guess.

Ronan arrived at the Fire God Ant nest and met Spring City Branch vice president Mo Fang, who tried to welcome him and defuse any potential conflict. As they traveled toward the inner circle, Ronan explained that he wanted to correct the direction of Fire God Ant research and discuss the Jin Buhuan Incident, leaving Mo Fang to consider the incident’s place in Spring City’s history.

• Researchers and treasure hunters watched the sealed-off core of the Fire God Ant nest while Spring City Branch staff kept order and shared monitoring data.
• Qiu Wanshan and Mo Fang learned that Ronan was arriving, and Qiu contacted Brother Ouyang while Mo Fang sought advice from Celestial Master Gao.
• Mo Fang waited for Ronan’s convoy and greeted him, then invited him to ride together and discuss Jin Buhuan.
• Ronan told Mo Fang that the Fire God Ant research route needed correction and said he was interested in the Jin Buhuan Incident because of his ties to Spring City.
• Mo Fang shared what he knew about Jin Buhuan’s Wilderness restaurant, and Ronan brought up the defense lines established in East Asia during the 1980s.

Ronan questioned Mo Fang about Jin Buhuan’s activities among the Wanderers and explained that he was using the Volcanic Zone incident to investigate Li Wei and the possibility of an assassination. He arrived at the Volcanic Zone, met Qiu Wanshan and Doctor Wang Xiu, and began a careful conversation about its history and the Fire God Ant Nest.

• Ronan told Mo Fang that Jin Buhuan’s restaurants among the Wanderers might have conflicted with the Vagrant Return to City movement, and said he was investigating whether Li Wei was involved in the incident.
• Mo Fang contacted Qiu Wanshan to prepare for Ronan’s arrival as they entered the camps outside the Volcanic Zone.
• Ronan greeted Qiu Wanshan’s delegation and recognized Doctor Wang Xiu, who was working on the Fire God Ant project.
• Ronan sensed there was something unusual about Qiu Wanshan but began by discussing Jin Buhuan and the Volcanic Zone’s history.
• Qiu Wanshan described the zone’s rare, landscape-altering conflicts as Ronan joked that the president seemed to be criticizing him.

Ronan used his interest in the Jin Buhuan Incident to stir public attention and ease the tension surrounding his arrival in Spring City. At the Fire God Ant Aberrant Nest, he announced that he needed to correct his research direction and began preparing to verify his new understanding, then asked Qiu Wanshan for a private favor.

• Ronan discussed the Jin Buhuan Incident with Qiu Wanshan, who offered him Spring City's backed-up investigation materials.
• Ronan used the topic to set public interest and local rumor in motion, hoping to shape the human currents around him.
• Ronan told the group that his earlier research on the Fire God Ants' evolutionary pattern might be wrong and needed on-site verification.
• Ronan and the others reached a viewing passage overlooking the Fire God Ant Aberrant Nest, where the ants continued their Bloodfire Litany.
• After the officials withdrew and Qiu Wanshan prepared to leave, Ronan stopped him and said he wanted to ask him something.

Ronan and Qiu Wanshan discussed the Bleeding Season and the Fire God Ant colonies, and Ronan proposed investigating an unknown medium linking the ants to their environment. Qiu agreed to have Spring City's Branch gather research materials, while Ronan's conversation also established a standard for Spring City's protection of the Volcanic Zone and his broader public influence.

• Ronan asked Qiu Wanshan about the patterns and changing intensity of Spring City's Bleeding Season, and Qiu said its intensity had fallen in recent years.
• Qiu described the Wheel Hypothesis as a vast wheel rolling through time-space, with its tracks in Spring City and its thunder reaching Xia City.
• Ronan discussed the Fire God Ant colonies' shared consciousness and suggested that an unknown medium might connect them to the surrounding environment.
• Ronan said he wanted to study environmental changes and time-space disturbances around the Volcanic Zone, and Qiu offered Spring City's Branch's help collecting materials.
• Ronan and Qiu discussed the Dream World game, then Qiu took his leave after Ronan thanked him for Spring City's protection of the Volcanic Zone.

Ronan used Great Comprehension near the Volcanic Zone to examine Earth Local Time-Space and search for the Nibbling Void Bacteria. He confirmed that the bacteria existed there, gathered mostly around time-space Edge Ridges, but were much quieter and weaker than in the Testing Time-Space.

• Ronan reflected on how his commitment to Earth distinguished him from Li Wei, Tu Ge, Liang Lu, and the Martial Emperor.
• Ronan restrained the Soul Power spread of the Transmitter Tower and chanted his Ceremonial Ancient Script Little Essay to reinforce Great Comprehension without disturbing the surrounding ecology.
• Ronan perceived the sounds and breaths of life across Earth and the wider Solar System, then focused his observation on the Volcanic Zone.
• Ronan used the Magneto-Optical Mica Soul Cape and Great Comprehension to identify time-space Edge Ridges where other planes and Demi-Planes contacted Earth Local Time-Space.
• Ronan detected the Nibbling Void Bacteria around the Edge Ridges and found them weaker and less active than those in the Testing Time-Space.

Ronan used Great Comprehension to trace the Nibbling Void Bacteria and concluded that Liang Lu had likely cultivated them to monitor and infiltrate nearby planes. He found signs of a substantial nested structure inside the Deep Blue World, but its nature remained unknown.

• Ronan concluded that the Fire God Ants were carriers and puppets of the Nibbling Void Bacteria, which Liang Lu had likely cultivated and directed.
• Ronan used Great Comprehension to map the bacteria across the Mist Labyrinth and recognized that their markers could guide his exploration of its stable regions.
• Ronan considered whether Li Wei could also perceive the Mist Labyrinth's layout and wondered how this related to the Sun Wheel Absolute Prison.
• Ronan detected Nibbling Void Bacteria penetrating the Deep Blue World and used their presence to glimpse signs of life within it.
• Ronan found a dense bacterial accumulation around what appeared to be an irregular spherical structure nested inside the Deep Blue World.

Ronan discovered that the Deep Blue World’s mining records listed no Thirteenth District, despite his memory of Black Jack and Yan Yongbo discussing it as a site tied to Core Technology and the Soul Order. At the Lakeside Hotel, Mora and Death Witch began discussing a possible alliance, and Ronan joined them with bargaining chips of his own.

• Ronan compared Mora’s Deep Blue World intelligence with his observations of the Nibbling Void Bacteria and connected their suspected location to the Stone Shell Sun.
• Ronan noticed the mining districts were numbered only from One to Twelve and recalled Black Jack and Yan Yongbo mentioning Thirteenth District during their dispute over Core Technology.
• Mora confronted Star Witch at the Lakeside Hotel and learned that Death Witch had come to negotiate a possible collaboration.
• Death Witch explained that she wanted to discuss bargaining chips despite events unfolding in Spring City, while Mora warned that her timing might itself be part of the bargain.
• Ronan entered the pavilion and offered to compare his own bargaining chips, saying he wanted to thwart Luo Yuan’s plans.

Fris, Zhao Xi, and Liu Fengming were reunited with Yuan Wuwei and an injured Long Qi, who brought news that Ronan had returned to the Lakeside Hotel. Ronan met Mora and Constance at the Lakeside Pavilion and began discussing Mora’s business plans.

• Fris noticed something on his wristband and told Zhao Xi and Liu Fengming to form a space and lock onto the other side.
• Gray Substance mist rose through the courtyard, and Yuan Wuwei arrived with Long Qi in a wheelchair, saying they had been ordered to attend Ronan.
• Yuan Wuwei took Long Qi toward the Lakeside Pavilion, while Fris and the others learned Ronan was already at the hotel.
• Ronan welcomed Constance, who sat beside Mora, and he advised Mora to focus on her intelligence value rather than her unreliable startup.
• Mora accused Ronan of wanting to disrupt her plans, and Ronan asked whether getting rid of Luo Yuan was her proposed solution.