Chapter Summaries

Ronan traveled toward the Volcanic Zone to conduct experiments using Magneto-Optical Mica to attract Nibbling Void Bacteria, while coordinating an evacuation with Spring City. He learned that Qiu Wanshan was heading toward Jin City and asked Wen Huilan to investigate the four-city alliance, then obtained coordinates and records for Jin Buhuan’s old battlefield.

• Ronan planned experiments to use Magneto-Optical Mica to intensify spatial-temporal distortions and attract Nibbling Void Bacteria.
• Ronan flew toward the Volcanic Zone and called Vice President Mo, who said Qiu Wanshan had sent an apology and was arranging the site.
• Ronan noticed Qiu Wanshan was traveling east toward Jin City and suspected plans for Lake City, Jin City, Spring City, and Zhan City to form a new alliance.
• Ronan messaged Wen Huilan to gather intelligence on the four-city plan.
• Ronan told Mo Fang he expected to arrive by evening and asked for coordinates to the battlefield where Jin Buhuan had fought.
• Mo Fang offered the compiled firsthand investigation materials from Jin Buhuan’s battle, and the battlefield coordinates were sent to Ronan.

Ronan investigated the persistent time-space distortion beneath the volcanic battlefield and helped Spring City clear people from the area. As he monitored five remaining adventurers, he discovered they were pursuing a periodic signal connected to a dark box and feared its occupant would not survive until the next opportunity.

• Ronan reached the battlefield ruins and traced the ongoing volcanic eruptions to an abnormal time-space scar deep beneath the crust.
• Using the Soul Cape and Magneto-Optical Mica, Ronan surveyed the Volcanic Zone across material, life, and fantasy layers while studying the scar’s history and possible future.
• Ronan spoke with Mo Fang, who reported that most people had been evacuated, and shared a map marking roughly one hundred adventurers still evading the Close Defense Force.
• Ronan noticed five people near the battlefield ruins, erased their marks from the map, and sent the Demon Rune to secretly monitor them.
• The five adventurers argued over whether to return with the Close Defense Force or wait for a periodic signal, while Lady Fei Jin warned that time was running out for the person inside their dark box.

Ronan watched Lady Fei Jin and her team connect a preserved brain called Neo to equipment at a volcanic site to detect a predicted signal. He recognized Neo as a former Slave Miner captured by the Apocalypse Laboratory and suspected the operation’s signal might be connected to the information he knew.

• Lady Fei Jin persuaded Xu Hu and the others to continue their mission, and they set up their equipment on a volcanic cone.
• De Lang opened the briefcase containing Neo’s preserved brain and connected it to a receiver while Fei Jin and Xu Hu stood by.
• Neo suddenly spoke in protest, and Xu Hu punched De Lang to stop him as the equipment registered an alarm.
• De Lang resumed the connection and reported that Neo was sensing information distinct from the broadcast; Fei Jin administered pharmaceutical support through the briefcase.
• Ronan recognized Neo as the Slave Miner once captured by the Apocalypse Laboratory, then hesitated before calling the Martial Emperor.

Ronan waited to see whether the Martial Emperor’s apparent involvement was a deliberate message while De Lang investigated a signal from the Space-Time Scar. When De Lang detected the signal, Fei Jin and Xu Hu seized control of the operation, and De Lang realized the signal contained a memory of a collision between Plane-Time and something attacking from the other side.

• Ronan considered contacting Sun Jiayi, Bai Xinyan, Barty, or Peony, but their connections to the Martial Emperor made her involvement seem suspicious, so he chose to wait and watch.
• Ronan identified the signal’s source as the Space-Time Scar beneath the Upper Mantle and waited as De Lang continued examining Neo’s brain tissue.
• An earthquake shook the Volcanic Zone as magma surged upward, while De Lang declared that the signal had arrived.
• Fei Jin injected the silver briefcase’s instruments with a needle and took over the operation, while Xu Hu restrained De Lang and the two security guards remained motionless.
• De Lang recognized a memory of Neo hearing an impact between Plane-Time, describing it as though demons were pounding on a window, and managed to cry out, “Accomplices!”

Fei Jin and Xu Hu completed a brain-replacement operation and left the Volcanic Zone, while Ronan identified the hidden operator as Sosedo and connected the operation’s clues to the Divine Cloak. He considered how to use what he had learned in a future conversation with the Martial Emperor and wondered what another use of Great Comprehension at the site might reveal.

• Fei Jin assessed De Lang’s mental erosion and explained that Sosedo’s method had replaced his brain with Neo’s remaining brain tissue.
• Xu Hu destroyed the equipment and briefcases, while Fei Jin disconnected De Lang’s cable and led the group out of the Volcanic Zone.
• Ronan identified the possessor of Fei Jin’s Soul Attachment Clone as Sosedo, an LCRF executive, and learned that he had been sent to supervise the operation.
• Ronan reasoned that Sosedo had used Neo’s memories and emotions to preserve a framework for gathering information about the Thirteenth District or its spacetime passage.
• Ronan linked Neo’s strange remembered sound and the Space-Time Scar to the Divine Cloak, and wondered what would happen if he used Great Comprehension at the site again.

Ronan reviewed data from the Jin Buhuan Battlefield and began reconstructing its spacetime, while investigating traces at the Fire God Ant Nest. His thoughts led him to suspect that a power like the Lord of Illusory Nightmares might be concealing the Divine Cloak and misleading those beneath it.

• Mo Fang evacuated the Fire God Ant Nest site and handed Ronan the battlefield inspection data before leaving for Spring City.
• Ronan used Auntie Kui, the Inner Universe Simulator, and Mirror Appraisal to analyze the data and begin constructing a Spacetime Bubble of the Jin Buhuan Battlefield.
• Ronan asked Mo Fang and other contacts to search for physical remnants from the battle, which could improve his reconstruction.
• Ronan exposed Madam Harold's Heart Burning Blade Qi Mechanism inside the Fire God Ant Nest and sent Fire God Ants carrying Void-Gnawing Fungus to mark nearby spacetime passages.
• Ronan considered whether an Overlimit Master could use dreamlike power to conceal the Divine Cloak and make people believe the world was shrouded in darkness.

Ronan investigated a dangerous Space-Time Scar and used Demon Rune to question the Nibbling Void Bacteria, whose instincts pointed to other anomalous sites, including one in Xia City. Suspecting the recent earthquakes were connected to changing space-time interactions, he asked Mora to arrange access to global monitoring data, leaving her to respond by the next day.

• Ronan discovered that Nibbling Void Bacteria vanished when they tried to feed inside the Volcanic Zone's Space-Time Scar, then observed the Scar's turbulence weaken as its periodic signal passed.
• Ronan had Demon Rune translate the Nibbling Void Bacteria's collective consciousness and learned that its instinctive map marked dangerous scars and distorted structures across several worlds.
• Ronan noticed Xia City on the map and connected a possible Space-Time Scar near Mangzhong to the area's recent earthquakes and Mora's earlier remark.
• Mora asked Ronan whether he knew why the Abyss Zone's environment and space-time abilities were changing, and Ronan pressed her for the information he had requested.
• Ronan asked Mora to broker access to the West Pacific Observation Center's global space-time monitoring data, and he told her to give him an answer by the next day.

Ronan used the Seismograph to map the unstable relationship between the Mist Labyrinth, Earth Local Time-Space, and the Deep Blue World, then reconsidered what might lie beyond the periodic Space-Time Scar at the Jin Buhuan Battlefield. He sought physical evidence from an earlier Xia City rift, and Zhang Yingying’s answer made him recall Mora’s actions at the scene.

• Ronan enhanced Dean Wan’s Seismograph with new parameters and used its results alongside the Nibbling Void Bacteria’s perceptions to model the neighboring space-times as three restless cats.
• Ronan concluded that the periodic Space-Time Scar likely connected to another plane and considered whether the Deep Blue World and the God Cape were involved.
• Ronan called Zhang Yingying to ask about samples from the Xia City earthquake that had damaged the Spirit Wave Network.
• Zhang Yingying said the collected samples were stored in a branch laboratory and recalled that an injured Aberrant Species had left only an aura behind.
• Zhang Yingying suggested asking Mora for help, and Ronan narrowed his eyes as he remembered what Mora had done at the scene.

Ronan recovered from an assault by Fallacy Seeds, External Demons, and Evil Poison, then pursued a lead on unusual material from the Jin Buhuan Battlefield. Bao Hongliang told him that a wounded comrade had sold a black shard to an unknown collector, and named retired officer Zhou Hu as the person who arranged the sale.

• Ronan used the sound of "I," the Service Demon Scroll, and Mirror Appraisal to break apart the Fallacy Seeds and External Demons and clear the Evil Poison.
• Ronan emerged from the viewing corridor feeling weak but clearer, with less rejection from Local Time-Space.
• Mo Fang reported that the branch had kept no Jin Buhuan Battlefield samples and connected Ronan with Bao Hongliang.
• Bao Hongliang told Ronan that his comrade had sold a black, obsidian-like fragment from the Volcanic Zone for seven hundred thousand Credit Points.
• Bao Hongliang identified retired Xia City Sea Defense Forces officer Zhou Hu as the person who arranged the sale.

Ronan investigated the sale of a damaged fragment and asked Rock Blast to find out whether Zhou Hu was involved, while expanding Dream Game with new instances and elements of Three Cats Under the Cape. An Dongsheng contacted him about collecting fragments, and Ronan ended the chapter by proposing they discuss the Anxia Line instead.

• Ronan suspected the Zhou Hu connected to the fragment sale might be He Yueyin's former bodyguard, so he asked Rock Blast to make contact on his behalf.
• Ronan invited Mora to Dream Game in Xia City and offered to discuss Raven, then embedded the Jin Buhuan Battlefield bubble into Dream World and generated three instances.
• Ronan added new structures to Dream Game, causing instability and earthquakes, and considered how a collapse could endanger Dream Ingressors and other intelligent life.
• Rock Blast confirmed that Captain Zhou was the intermediary and that the person behind him wanted to speak directly with Ronan.
• An Dongsheng called Ronan to discuss collecting fragments from the Wilderness, and Ronan suggested they talk about the Anxia Line instead.

Ronan proposed discussing the Anxia Line with An Dongsheng and arranged to meet him in Huai City the following Monday. He then asked Cat's Eye and He Yueyin for support, leaving He Yueyin to help prepare for negotiations and consider how Number One Underground Cave could fit into the plan.

• Ronan explained why he supported the Anxia Line and arranged to meet An Dongsheng in Huai City the following Monday.
• An Dongsheng offered to send Ronan a collectible trinket, and Ronan shared his coordinates so it could be delivered.
• Ronan asked Cat's Eye about the project, but she referred him to He Yueyin and ended their call after criticizing his treatment of her.
• Ronan contacted He Yueyin in Xia City, asked her to verify information from Mora about the Deep Blue World and the Thirteenth District, and described his conversation with An Dongsheng.
• Ronan asked He Yueyin to gather information and support talks with Xia City's leaders and officials, and proposed inviting Number One Underground Cave to observe.

Mora explored the chaotic Dream Game in Xia City, then went to the Subway Station to meet the unknown target. After sensing a terrible presence beneath the station, she reached the arranged meeting place and found Yue Yin Shimei.

• Mora toured Xia City with Zhong Man, discussed the Dream Game’s changes, and killed a random attacker.
• A system notification announced an unknown target and three newly loaded instances, and Mora left to search for the target.
• Mora entered the Subway Station during an earthquake and killed several people who had insulted her.
• Mora sensed that the Dream Game’s residents might reflect real people and felt a dangerous presence beneath the station.
• Mora reached the designated location and greeted Yue Yin Shimei.

Ronan brought He Yueyin into his meeting with Mora to review her intelligence on the Deep Blue World while he discussed possible cooperation with the Western Pacific Observation Center. He Yueyin identified two major revelations in Mora’s report, including technology brought to Earth by escaped Slave Miners.

• Ronan introduced He Yueyin as a reviewer for Mora’s documents and opened a temporary channel for transferring files from the Dreamscape Game.
• Mora told Ronan that Bald Jeff had proposed joint projects with the Western Pacific Observation Center to develop standards for spacetime observation, beginning with a study of changes since the Deformation Era began.
• Ronan approved the proposal in principle and asked Mora to have someone with decision-making authority represent the other side.
• He Yueyin categorized Mora’s intelligence and highlighted the distinction between the True Soul Order and the Pseudo-Soul Order as key information.
• He Yueyin reported that escaped Slave Miners had brought unknown technology and equipment to Earth in the late eighties, which the Military AB Group used for body-and-soul modification techniques.

Ronan reviewed evidence about the Thirteenth District and questioned Mora about her past encounter with Aberrant Species. He pressed her for answers about the force that activated Kitty, and Mora agreed to talk after sensing the abyss’s terrifying presence.

• He Yueyin explained that escaped Slave Miners had little knowledge of the Thirteenth District, while their equipment suggested technology more compatible than Deep Blue World’s.
• Ronan examined He Yueyin’s findings, including the Thirteenth District’s hostile defenses and the uncertain origins of its Modified Human hunters.
• Ronan asked Mora about a proposed Aberration Era Great Reshaping project, and she agreed to discuss reshaping the Subway Station during the Xia City Earthquake.
• Ronan confronted Mora about her earlier response to residual Aberrant Species aura and asked what could activate Kitty.
• Mora saw countless hostile beings in the abyss and agreed to tell Ronan what she knew.

Mora revealed that Baiji Pope had commissioned her to erase traces left by an escaped Test Subject, and Ronan questioned whether the incident involved the Deep Blue World or another planar power. As the conversation turned to the Thirteenth District and a hidden Fantasy Configuration, Ronan’s final question left Mora feeling as if the rift were dragging her under.

• Mora confessed that Baiji Pope had asked her to clean up traces left by a recaptured Test Subject, and she suspected the Deep Blue World had been involved.
• Ronan examined Mora’s unusually sharp perception and reflected on how his Rift Demon Eyes embodied dangerous remnants of the Tomb of Hundred Gods.
• Ronan asked Mora to investigate the Test Subject’s circumstances and Baiji Pope, then Mora and He Yueyin discussed Mora’s bounty and whether she or Luo Yuan could obtain plea bargains.
• Ronan questioned which of the Deep Blue World, Earth, or Mist Labyrinth would prevail, and asked which one the Thirteenth District belonged to.
• Ronan asked whether Mora still wanted Hundred Peaks Monarch’s reversed-causality Fantasy Configuration and said Raven had revealed its location; Mora cursed him as the rift seemed to seize and drag her down.

Ronan explained that he knew the location of Hundred Peaks Monarch’s bait and wanted Mora to help test a route through the Mist Labyrinth. He then told He Yueyin he planned to explore the labyrinth on a large scale and proposed focusing their efforts on the Anxia Line.

• Mora recalled what she knew about Hundred Peaks Monarch’s bait and realized Ronan had caught her interest in it.
• Ronan used Mora’s curiosity and confusion to recruit her to test a path through the Mist Labyrinth, while waiting for the Rift Demon Eye to develop.
• Mora left the Dream Game to calm herself, leaving Ronan and He Yueyin at the Subway Station.
• He Yueyin asked whether Ronan planned to explore the Mist Labyrinth on a large scale, and Ronan confirmed that he did.
• Ronan reflected on the need to give people a concrete direction and told He Yueyin he wanted to begin with the Anxia Line.

Ronan investigated what Thirteenth District might be and began connecting Deep Blue World to decades of mass disappearances and human trafficking. He asked Wen Huilan to investigate the people behind those operations and ended by questioning whether the proposed Cross Cut would gut the Great Golden Triangle.

• Ronan asked He Yueyin for greater access to Thirteenth District intelligence, then considered whether the district lay inside or beyond Li Wei's control of the Deep Blue World.
• While negotiating with Local Time-Space in Spring City, Ronan developed a clearer quasi-space-time perspective as its returning Nibbling Void Bacteria brought back more details.
• Wen Huilan submitted an outline for the Peak Conference and told Ronan that Nick and Water Tank had been linked to eliminating Deep Blue World traitors and possibly trafficking people.
• Wen Huilan questioned whether deaths and disappearances during past disasters and Nick's city massacres had been exaggerated to conceal mass abductions, and Ronan asked her to investigate earlier decades as well.
• Ronan connected the suspected trafficking route to the Deep Blue World's slave miners, the False God Materialized True Seed Ritual, and the possible involvement of powerful Earth factions.
• Ronan approved Wen Huilan's outline, asked her to include population disappearances, and asked whether the Anxia Line and Pingjin Line would gut the Great Golden Triangle.

Ronan approved Wen Huilan’s plans for the Anxia and Pingjin Lines and considered making Huai City an entry point for expanding the Luo System and investigating Fugitives from the Thirteenth District. After An Dongsheng’s adjutant delivered an Obsidian Shard, Ronan connected it to Local Time-Space, which resonated with the shard and shattered it.

• Ronan approved Wen Huilan’s proposal to develop the Anxia and Pingjin Lines together and requested intelligence on Huai City, while ordering Fris and the others to return from Lake City.
• Ronan reviewed what he knew about the Thirteenth District, its escape routes, and the Fugitives, then considered searching the channels of Earth’s military, political, and capital forces.
• Mo Fang told Ronan that An Dongsheng had sent a gift, and Ronan confirmed that it was the shard associated with Bao Hongliang’s comrade.
• Ronan recognized that Deputy Yu’s history closely matched his model of a Fugitive and realized that major forces might have been tracking such survivors for years.
• Ronan examined the Obsidian Shard and found that its analysis showed no unusual properties, but he sensed that Local Time-Space was connected to it.
• Ronan spent hours trying to communicate with Local Time-Space, until their information resonated with the shard, which burst into dust as Local Time-Space projected, “Mine, mine, still mine!”

Ronan investigated an Obsidian Shard’s connection to local time-space and visited Luo Yuandao and Xiu Shenyu at the An Hai Recuperation Center. He left with a clearer understanding of Xiu Shenyu’s failing condition and the danger of entering the Dreamscape Game, though he knew he could help.

• The Obsidian Shard exploded, and Ronan observed local time-space distinguish between dust it considered its own and dust it did not.
• Ronan separated the dust into two crystal-like storage spaces so he could use it to investigate local time-space’s reaction further.
• A duty doctor told Ronan that Luo Yuandao’s health had improved, while Xiu Shenyu’s condition remained unchanged.
• Ronan examined Xiu Shenyu’s Life Wheel and found severe, tangled bodily damage that would be difficult to treat even with advanced methods.
• Xiu Shenyu told Ronan that he had nearly choked while attempting to enter the Dreamscape Game using Raven’s Breathing Method.
• Ronan explained that the game was not suitable for everyone yet and realized that Xiu Shenyu’s condition made entering it dangerous, though Ronan could help.

Ronan discussed Master Xiu’s failing body, cultivation, and the sacrifices behind advancement, then realized Xiu was asking him to make use of his body and altered memories. The chapter left Ronan considering how to help Xiu and preserve value from the sacrifices of the past.

• Ronan considered whether he could maintain Xiu Shenyu’s Form and Spirit Framework and concluded that any intervention would only offer temporary relief and might worsen his condition.
• Ronan and Xiu Shenyu discussed cultivation, the Golden Cells, and the sacrifices required for a civilization to advance.
• Xiu Shenyu urged Ronan to seek Li Wei’s experimental records so they could reduce needless sacrifices in the future.
• Xiu Shenyu asked Ronan whether he could treat his damaged brain and its tormenting Memory Fragments, and Ronan promised to think about it.
• After leaving, Ronan realized Xiu Shenyu’s words about past sacrifices were a request to use his body and memories, perhaps under a body-donation document.