Chapter Summaries

Tang Li and Liu Xuezhi met Pang Tieshan and coordinated the Bureau’s Quick Fire system with the Intelligence Management Center’s Eight Claws system to secure the area. Just as Tang Li ordered suspected illegal modifiers detained, a grenade went off and the group scrambled for cover.

• Liu Xuezhi noticed the Riot Squad had secured the area and that Quick Fire and Eight Claws could be linked to detect threats and illegal modifications.
• Tang Li greeted Pang Tieshan, and the two authorized the systems’ Identification Code exchange and linkage.
• After the scan identified people suspected of illegal modification, Tang Li ordered Ruan Mo to mark them for later detention and handover to Pang Tieshan.
• A grenade detonated, triggering alarms across the vehicles and equipment.
• Liu Xuezhi dove into a bulletproof sedan, while Ruan Mo shielded Tang Li and Pang Tieshan sealed himself inside his Silk Chrysalis armor and rushed for cover.

After attackers who could fool the defense systems wounded Tang Li, he took command and ordered the use of temporary identification codes. He then handed the pursuit to Liu Xuezhi, who organized a wide search as Tang Li asked Pang Tieshan for leads on the attackers.

• Quick Fire intercepted the first grenade, but two more struck near Liu Xuezhi’s armored sedan and wounded Tang Li.
• Liu Xuezhi ordered the white building attacked and sent Ruan Mo’s assault team inside, but the attackers escaped through the ruins.
• Tang Li ordered temporary identification codes activated and told Lao Xiang to take him back to the bureau rather than a hospital.
• Tang Li reviewed surveillance and detection data, marked the attackers’ likely escape route, and handed the pursuit to Liu Xuezhi.
• Liu Xuezhi deployed nearby teams and aerial resources to search for the attackers, while Tang Li asked Pang Tieshan for leads on the high-threat individual.

Pang Tieshan discovered that Li Yisheng had Class B Authority through the military, but Tang Li suspected the credentials concealed illegal modification and evasion of the monitoring system. As Tang Li got out to make a call, Pang Tieshan followed, facing the choice of exposing the military or helping cover up the incident.

• Pang Tieshan searched the system and found records showing that authorized individual Li Yisheng had entered the area and undergone modification procedures.
• Tang Li ordered a search of the bureau database and a check with the Judicial Bureau, then learned Li Yisheng belonged to the military.
• Tang Li questioned why a military man who fired grenades at allied units had not had his authority locked, leading Pang Tieshan to suspect Li Yisheng's credentials were a cover for illegal modification.
• Pang Tieshan realized that Li Yisheng's death or capture could expose both the military and the Intelligence Management Center, while covering up the incident could create trouble during Regular Inspection.
• Tang Li pushed open the car door and went to make a call despite Pang Tieshan telling him to wait, and Pang Tieshan followed him out.

Liu Xuezhi struggled to understand Tang Li’s intentions after Councilor Guo ordered the attacker released, while Tang Li kept the pursuit going and turned his attention to the officers caught in the ambush. At a hotel, Jiang Ke learned that Pawa had escaped for now, and Colonel Tang Yu ordered him to deal with the loose ends and then abandon further investigation of Tang Li.

• Liu Xuezhi received Councilor Guo’s order to release the attacker and wondered whether Tang Li would obey it.
• Tang Li returned to Liu Xuezhi, told him to keep pursuing the attacker, and promised a merit citation if he was captured.
• Tang Li went to question the Scaredy-Cats about how they had contacted the attacker and arranged the ambush.
• Jiang Ke learned from his inside contact that Pawa had escaped for now, then destroyed the communications equipment.
• Colonel Tang Yu ordered Jiang Ke to wait for follow-up personnel and handle the loose ends involving Pawa.
• Colonel Tang Yu told Jiang Ke to investigate Tang Li, then withdrew the order and told him to focus on Pawa instead.

Pawa escaped the police and broke through to a new level, then hid in the outskirts while planning to target Tang Li. He sought a new shell and permissions from Su Ba Tong, who contacted the Resistance Army about performing the surgery.

• Pawa killed a man in hiding and realized his senses had greatly enhanced after he broke through while escaping the police.
• Pawa decided to flee East 725 District after dealing with Tang Li, and spent two days hiding in the outskirts until rain helped him disguise himself.
• Pawa met the black-market merchant Su Ba Tong and asked for a new shell and permissions, since his wanted status had invalidated Li Yisheng's shell.
• Su Ba Tong suggested the Resistance Army might be able to help, and Pawa offered gold and information in exchange for a clean surgery.
• Su Ba Tong contacted the Resistance Army, who said they needed time to consider Pawa's request.

Pawa traded intelligence to secure a cybernetic operation in Su Ba Tong’s workshop, then left East 725 District under cover of the flood. Afterward, Aka Ge and the Ruan brothers discussed Pawa and their evacuation work, deciding their operations must avoid the district for now.

• Pawa waited for Su Ba Tong to arrange C-Rank authorization from The Other Side in exchange for intelligence about the Intelligence Management Center’s Regular Inspection.
• Pawa secretly watched Su Ba Tong’s contact point and workshop before undergoing an awake operation by the Intelligent Machine Master.
• Pawa paid Su Ba Tong, recognized the workshop’s injured patients as useful cover, and left through the flooded slums despite the bodyguard watching him.
• Ruan Cheng Jun and Ruan Cheng Hui met Aka Ge after his operations, and Aka Ge identified Pawa as the wanted criminal Li Yisheng.
• Aka Ge learned that the survivors along their route had been evacuated, and Ruan Cheng Jun said their group should build a sound organization rather than pursue revenge and assassinations.

Aka Ge and his companions waited for the traitor while the Intelligence Management Center swept through East 725 District, and Ronan celebrated a year in the Inner World with Xia City Branch friends. After agreeing to guide Zhang Yingying into the Fantasy School, Ronan noticed the Cloak app download had advanced, suggesting he had encountered something related to the Cloak Dedicated Computer in the Outer Earth.

• Aka Ge argued that the group should focus on rescuing or silencing Lao Bao and adapt its organization to the threat posed by the Reclamation Corps rather than rush to kill the traitor.
• Aka Ge, Da Ruan, and Xiao Ruan changed identities and waited in the western city slums, then declined to attack when the traitor left isolation because the security response might be bait.
• Da Ruan noted that the Intelligence Management Center's Regular Inspection had destroyed the group's contact points and that Pawa's subordinate had been strangled near the city boundary.
• Celestial Master Gao and Xia City Branch members toasted Ronan at Shuiyi Bluestone Hotel to mark his anniversary of entering the Inner World.
• Ronan agreed to guide Zhang Yingying into the Fantasy School and advised her to study steadily without rushing to become an Extraordinary Species.
• Ronan noticed that the Cloak app download had advanced from 19.9% to 22% and suspected he had encountered a Cloak Dedicated Computer element in the Outer Earth.

Ronan, inhabiting Tang Li’s shell, settled into his new role as acting director of the East 725 District High-Energy Affairs Management Center and considered how to use the position to investigate Outer Earth’s secrets. After reviewing the Center’s duties and assessment materials, he prepared to attend a gathering with the Internal Affairs Bureau.

• Ronan reflected on how his appointment brought him closer to High-Energy Tide research and the Reclamation Corps, and considered creating a small, temporary High-Energy Tide.
• Ronan examined possible links between Outer Earth, the Cloak app, the Mist Labyrinth, the Tattered God Cape, and the Rebirth Divine Artifact.
• Lang Jin delivered the annual Great District assessment indicators and rankings to Tang Li and explained that the office would keep updating them.
• Ronan reviewed the High-Energy Center’s four main assessment areas: handling enhanced individuals, screening High-Energy Tide warnings, infiltrating or targeting hostile groups, and managing registered powerful individuals.
• Ronan told Lang Jin to accompany him to that evening’s gathering with the Internal Affairs Bureau.

Tang Li hosted Internal Affairs Bureau officials to strengthen ties and learned that the High-Energy Center’s dangerous field assignments shaped its leadership rivalries. After Lang Jin noticed a guest had spent an unusually long time in the restroom, Tang Li emerged and the guest left, leaving Lang Jin uneasy.

• Tang Li invited the High-Energy Center’s deputy directors and selected Lang Jin and Qu Wan to help host the Internal Affairs Bureau delegation.
• At the gathering, Liu Xuezhi and Mei Zhu described hazardous assignments maintaining core equipment in remote districts, revealing the risks and rivalries inside the High-Energy Center.
• Tang Li realized that Lang Jin had once led the technical Operation Monitoring and Feedback Office before transferring to general affairs.
• Tang Li went to the restroom, and Lang Jin waited outside as another guest entered and remained inside for an unusually long time.
• Tang Li emerged and told Lang Jin to go ahead; Lang Jin entered the restroom, saw the guest leaving, and watched him depart with suspicion.

Lang Jin investigated the suspicious man from the restaurant and discovered that he was Pawa, a wanted criminal who had nearly killed him before. Pawa later recognized Lang Jin with a strange word, leading Lang Jin to suspect that he was a sleeper agent planted inside the High-Energy Center.

• Lang Jin reviewed the restaurant’s surveillance footage and saw that the man had deliberately misled him before approaching Tang Li in the restroom.
• Lang Jin compared footage of the man with wanted-criminal records and found a strong resemblance to Pawa, who had nearly killed him with grenades.
• Lang Jin spotted Pawa across an intersection, but Pawa watched him and then disappeared into the crowd.
• Tang Li called Lang Jin to arrange a meeting about the Center’s October work priorities and asked him to come to the office the next morning.
• Pawa appeared near Lang Jin again, said “Longtail,” and Lang Jin answered “Lizard,” realizing that Pawa might have recognized him as a sleeper agent.

Lang Jin recalled how he had become a hidden piece after a mysterious person saved him and concealed his capture, then tried to understand what Pawa’s coded message meant for his future. At a meeting, Tang Li ordered the High-Energy Center’s divisions to visit the Great District Center in rival territory, leaving Lang Jin to plan the trip and wonder what political consequences it would bring.

• Lang Jin lay awake remembering his rise from child soldier to High-Energy Center director and how a mysterious person had saved him after he was captured in 2096.
• Lang Jin spent the next day handling Tang Li’s requests, including retrieving travel reimbursement records and accompanying him on inspections and meetings.
• Tang Li held a middle-management meeting and listened as department heads reported their work plans.
• Tang Li announced that divisions should visit the Great District Center more often and said he would travel there that week to report and learn about directives.
• Lang Jin noted the order and considered how to arrange the trip, while attendees wondered why Tang Li would approach a center in Executive Officer Wu’s territory.

Tang Li traveled with Lang Jin and two Internal Security Section members to East 824 District to visit the Great District High-Energy Center. The chapter ended with Tang Li asking about the district’s history as Wang Peilie explained the Wu Family’s connection to the First Generation Executive Officer.

• Tang Li offered to travel with any leader heading to the Great District Center, and Mei Zhu volunteered before Tang Li asked him to remain behind and hold down the fort.
• Tang Li said he would consider hiring outside help for Core Equipment Maintenance Management and reserved the annual team-leading assignment for himself if nothing changed.
• Less than forty-eight hours later, Tang Li, Lang Jin, Lao Sun, and Wang Peilie arrived in East 824 District.
• Wang Peilie said people thought Tang Li had come to avoid further trouble from Pawa, and Tang Li joked about the district’s corpse collectors.
• Tang Li invited the group to dinner and asked who knew the area best as they rode the elevator.
• Lang Jin said East 824 District was the Wu Family’s base and a legacy of the First Generation Executive Officer, and Wang Peilie added that the officer’s adjutant had been surnamed Wu.

Tang Li led Lang Jin, Wang Peilie, and Lao Sun through a cautious hotel change and an unsuccessful visit to the Great District Center. After their meeting yielded little, Tang Li decided they would stay through the weekend and try again the following week.

• Tang Li noticed a hotel guest heading to the lobby manager, prompting Lang Jin to move the group to a more secure hotel.
• Lang Jin arranged a safer hotel, where Tang Li accepted taking turns keeping watch and slept through the uneventful night.
• Tang Li and his team visited the Great District Center, but its director was out of town and Director Lu offered no details about task allocations.
• Lang Jin drew on his technical experience to sustain the meeting, then privately sounded out contacts and spoke with Director Lu.
• After the Great District Center declined Tang Li's banquet invitation, Tang Li decided the group would stay for two more days and pay another visit the following week.

Tang Li split the group to pursue contacts in East 824 District while Lang Jin and Lao Sun tried to gather information at the Great District Center. After Lao Sun spotted soldiers apparently tracking them, Section Chief Xing warned Lang Jin to leave, but armed men raided their hotel suite before they could escape.

• Tang Li assigned Lang Jin and Lao Sun to arrange an evening gathering with Lang Jin’s contacts while he and Wang Peilie looked around East 824 District.
• Lang Jin’s gathering produced no clear answers or useful intelligence, and he and Lao Sun returned to the hotel late that night.
• Lao Sun recognized a military-plated SUV that had appeared at the restaurant and suspected it had followed them from the Great District Center.
• Lang Jin confirmed the SUV was not associated with the Great District Center, then received flight details from Section Chief Xing warning him to leave immediately.
• As Lang Jin moved to alert Tang Li, armed men kicked open the suite door and announced a room inspection.

The Other Side raided the Wanhua Hotel, shot Lang Jin’s hand, and searched for Tang Li while claiming they were acting over remarks about Wu Executive. Tang Li returned with Major Tao at gunpoint and exposed Tao’s connection to Wu Executive, leaving the soldiers’ raid in a sudden standoff.

• Lang Jin tried to identify himself as High-Energy Center staff, but a soldier struck him and an officer ordered a burst of gunfire that badly injured his hand and pierced the bedroom door.
• Soldiers searched the bedroom and reported that Tang Li had escaped through the open window, while the officer ordered them to watch the beach and bring Lang Jin and the two guests next door downstairs.
• Lang Jin refused to be shackled and suspected Major Tao was setting up Lieutenant Tie Ze or the captives for an accident.
• Tang Li entered in a bathrobe with Major Tao held at gunpoint and asked Lang Jin which former vice-minister the current Executive Officer had served under.
• Lieutenant Tie Ze declared that Major Tao was Wu Executive’s godson, and Tang Li pointed out that this revealed the connection the group had supposedly lacked.

Tang Li subdued Major Tao and questioned him about an apparent plot tied to his fourth brother, Wu Sigong. After deciding to confront Wu Sigong, Tang Li warned that the story could be twisted against them, just as roaring engines and powerful lights arrived outside the hotel.

• Tang Li held Major Tao at gunpoint, pressured him for help reaching the Great District Center's leaders, and ordered Lang Jin to clear the armed soldiers from the room.
• Lang Jin forced the soldiers to withdraw, and Major Tao explained that his mother was Fourth Madam and that contacting top leaders might require kidnapping his godfather.
• Tang Li learned that Major Tao's fourth brother, Wu Sigong, had brought him there, possibly to arrange an accident, though Major Tao did not know whom it was meant to benefit.
• Tang Li decided to go find Wu Sigong and warned Major Tao that the incident could be reported as his death and the elimination of terrorists.
• As Tang Li changed clothes, he asked about Executive Wu's fleet near Wanhua Hotel, then the lights went out and loud engines and powerful beams approached the suite.

A Ladybug Platform attacked the Wanhua Hotel while Major Tao tried to prove the hostages were alive and reach Zuo Tai. As drones struck the executive suite, Major Tao escaped through a window, and Wang Peilie followed with the injured Lao Sun.

• A Ladybug Platform hovered outside the hotel and ordered the occupants to surrender, while Tang Li urged Major Tao to wave and show he was unharmed.
• Major Tao called Aunt Hu and begged to speak to Zuo Tai as the platform opened its miniature docks and launched drones.
• The drones attacked the executive suite, shattering its windows and knocking Major Tao down as explosions and chaos spread through the building.
• Major Tao fled through the corridor, broke into a neighboring room, shot out its window, and jumped toward a lower-floor ledge.
• Wang Peilie escaped through another window with the dazed Lao Sun and caught a ledge as flames and shockwaves engulfed the hotel.

Major Tao survived the Ladybug Platform’s attack and learned that Tang Li and Lang Jin had escaped the drone swarm by jumping from the hotel. Tang Li dragged him toward a confrontation with Wu Sigong, leaving Major Tao frightened by the uncertain future ahead.

• Major Tao called Zuo Tai for help as the Killer Bee Swarm dove at him, then grabbed a ledge and survived when the drones stopped pursuing him.
• After the hotel fire was extinguished, Major Tao encountered Tang Li, who appeared unharmed, and learned that he and Lang Jin had jumped from the executive suite to escape the drones.
• Tang Li questioned Major Tao about Zuo Tai’s control of the city’s autonomous weapons, while Lang Jin cautioned him against speaking so openly in Occupied Territory.
• Tang Li hauled Major Tao away to confront Wu Sigong, and Major Tao worried about the danger and the political role he might be forced to play.
• When Major Tao argued that Wu Sigong would be difficult to find, Tang Li told him to call and ask where he was.

Tang Li forced Major Tao to confront Wu Sigong over the attack, but Wu Sigong and Bambi dismissed him and left him without a way to respond. Tang Li then ordered Lang Jin to locate the Steel Jade and Pei Lie to secure a boat so they could go after Wu Sigong.

• Tang Li ordered Major Tao to call Wu Sigong, who pretended to be drunk and invited him aboard the Steel Jade to celebrate.
• Major Tao recognized Wu Sigong's act but did not challenge him, and Wu Sigong ended the call without revealing the ship's location.
• Tang Li made Major Tao call Bambi, who advised him to lie low and blamed him for mishandling the night's events before hanging up.
• Tang Li mocked Major Tao as Basong and told him they would find the Steel Jade and confront Wu Sigong.
• Tang Li ordered Lang Jin to request the Steel Jade's location through the Great District Center and Pei Lie to find a boat, setting their departure for ten minutes later.

Lang Jin and Wang Peilie took Tao Ju out to sea with Tang Li to search for the Steel Jade, despite the Great District Center not yet granting authorization. As Tang Li steered them toward the Ladybug Platform’s suspected carrier, someone spotted a ship ahead.

• Lang Jin contacted Mei Zhu, who advised him to stall for time, complete the search-authorization procedures, and stay close to Tang Li.
• Lang Jin applied for authorization while Wang Peilie rented a yacht, but the Great District Center had not replied before Tang Li ordered them to set sail.
• Tang Li directed Wang Peilie southeast, claiming the Ladybug Platform had flown that way and that its carrier might be nearby.
• Tang Li reassured the frightened Tao Ju as the yacht crossed the dark, rough sea.
• Someone aboard spotted a ship ahead.