Chapter Summaries

Zhang Heng’s Blade Technique advanced to Level 4, and he named his new school the Heavenly Blade Style as the dungeon’s historical conflict reached its end. Before leaving, he helped secure a possible escape for Kondo Isami and received a parting gift from Koyama Akane.

• After fighting Okita Soshi, Zhang Heng advanced his Blade Technique to Level 4, created the Heavenly Blade Style, and gained a Mind's Eye skill.
• As the Battle of Toba-Fushimi ended in the New Government’s victory, Zhang Heng arranged through Katsura Kogoro for Kondo Isami to live under a new identity if he surrendered.
• Zhang Heng prepared to leave the dungeon and considered whether to take Juzumaru Tsunetsugu or Kiku Ichimonji Norimune with him.
• At Koyama Dojo, Zhang Heng told Koyama Akane that he had booked a ticket for the following afternoon and explained that the dojo would continue as a partner of the Metropolitan Police Department.
• Koyama Akane gave Zhang Heng an ordinary sword as a parting gift, and he accepted it solemnly before thanking her for her care.

Zhang Heng brought three swords to Kyoto’s most famous sword shop and asked its owner to appraise them. After weighing the history of the famous blades against the feelings attached to the unnamed sword, Zhang Heng was left to choose which one to take back to reality.

• Zhang Heng visited the sword shop with Juzumaru Tsunetsugu, Kiku Ichimonji Norimune, and the unnamed Tachi Koyama Akane had given him.
• The shop owner identified Juzumaru Tsunetsugu as a famous Buddhist sword whose murderous aura had returned, and Kiku Ichimonji Norimune as Okita Soshi’s blade, marked by its former owner’s love and sorrow.
• Zhang Heng asked which famous sword suited him, but the owner insisted on appraising the unnamed Tachi as well and called it utterly mediocre.
• The owner urged Zhang Heng to choose the unnamed sword, saying that its history could be made through Zhang Heng and that it carried his friend’s feelings.
• Zhang Heng suspected the owner wanted him to leave the famous swords in the instance, and the owner reminded him that the choice was his.

After discovering that the Ordinary Sword was only F quality, Zhang Heng decided to have it reforged because it was a gift from Koyama Akane and carried her feelings. He left the sword with Bartender Lady and took a week away from the player world, ending with thoughts of Okita Soshi and their time together in Kyoto.

• Zhang Heng learned that the Ordinary Sword had poor materials and craftsmanship despite its unique Sword Bone trait, and regretted choosing it over two famous blades.
• Zhang Heng told Bartender Lady he wanted to reforge the sword and asked whether he could pay with items; she warned him that the outcome was uncertain and the cost high.
• Zhang Heng left the sword with Bartender Lady for safekeeping and returned to college life, spending a week attending classes, training, and gaming with his dormmates.
• Zhang Heng failed to obtain Okita Soshi in FGO, while Chen Huadong celebrated getting him, prompting Zhang Heng to remember their time together in Kyoto.

After his breakup with Xu Jing, Chen Huadong lamented his lack of a girlfriend until Zhang Heng suggested he meet a Japanese anime fan who wanted Chinese friends. Chen eagerly agreed and went to study Japanese, while Zhang Heng noticed Fan Mei Nan in his messages but chose not to contact her.

• Chen Huadong complained to Wei Jiangyang that he was the only one in their dorm without a girlfriend, and Zhang Heng named five of his good qualities.
• Zhang Heng pointed out that Chen Huadong needed to socialize and mentioned that the film club's senior members had put him off.
• Zhang Heng offered to introduce Chen Huadong to a younger student Hayase Asuka knew, who liked anime and wanted Chinese friends to practice the language with.
• Chen Huadong agreed to meet her, and he hurried to the library to study Japanese.
• Zhang Heng messaged Hayase Asuka, noticed Fan Mei Nan in his contacts, and decided not to message her.

Zhang Heng read forum reports about a Sphinx that challenged players to riddles and injured one who answered incorrectly. After Shen Xixi asked for his help and directed him to meet her at the Time Sculpture in Gourmet Alley, he learned enough about the strange encounters to understand why she had contacted him.

• Shen Xixi called Zhang Heng and asked whether he could drive, then told him to read the forum and meet her at the Time Sculpture in Gourmet Alley.
• Zhang Heng logged into the player forum and found reports about a suspected Sphinx appearing in the city.
• Goldbach Conjecture described answering the Sphinx’s riddle correctly and escaping unharmed.
• A second player reported answering the Sphinx’s riddle incorrectly and being scratched before the creature fled.
• Forum users mocked the second player for failing to guess that the answer was a sheep.

Shen Xixi organized a team to hunt the Sphinx after its attacks on victims around the city, and Zhang Heng agreed to help as their driver. The group prepared to encircle it that night, with Zhang Heng assigned to chase it if it escaped.

• The Sphinx attacked a third victim with its claws but spared his life and disappeared.
• Zhang Heng understood why Shen Xixi had asked for his help and agreed to drive for the operation.
• At Carving Time Café, Zhang Heng met Shen Xixi, Rabbit, Li Bai, and five other team members.
• Shen Xixi explained that answering the Sphinx’s riddle made it disappear and mapped its activity to a triangular area outside the Fourth Ring Road.
• Shen Xixi planned an armed encirclement and warned the team not to answer the riddle correctly.
• Shen Xixi assigned Zhang Heng to stay mobile in a car and pursue the Sphinx if it escaped.

Zhang Heng joined Shen Xixi and 1810’s team in an operation to hunt the Sphinx, while he waited in the car and arranged to have Ordinary Sword reforged. The Sphinx appeared beside Rabbit at a vending machine and posed a riddle.

• Shen Xixi invited Zhang Heng to join her team, but he said he had always played alone.
• Zhang Heng drove Shen Xixi and Rabbit to meet 1810 and his four teammates, and they began the operation with him waiting in the car.
• Bartender Lady told Zhang Heng that Mr. Blacksmith would reforge Ordinary Sword for 4,000 Game Points or items, and Zhang Heng agreed to pay partly with items.
• Rabbit went to a vending machine for a drink and encountered a lion-bodied creature with a woman's head, which asked her to guess a fruit.

Rabbit, Black Swan, Li Bai, and 1810 tried to capture the Sphinx, but tranquilizers and a steel scalpel failed to harm it. The Sphinx began cutting through the fishing net, and Shen Xixi ordered the team to prioritize getting Rabbit to safety.

• Rabbit deliberately gave the Sphinx an incorrect answer while the team moved into position around it.
• Black Swan shot the Sphinx with a tranquilizer dart, and it attacked Rabbit as Li Bai trapped it in a fishing net.
• The Sphinx resisted the tranquilizers and pursued Rabbit, while Black Swan and Li Bai struggled to hold it in the net.
• Rabbit called out the answer, but the Sphinx kept attacking until 1810 arrived and his scalpel bounced off its head.
• The Sphinx cut through the net, and Shen Xixi ordered the team to get Rabbit out of danger first.

Zhang Heng rescued Rabbit from the Sphinx and used the X3 to lead the monster away while coordinating a new ambush with Shen Xixi. The group planned to test whether a Taser Gun and fire could hurt it when Zhang Heng returned it to the original location.

• The Sphinx evaded the action team's attacks and kept pursuing Rabbit, who blinded it briefly with expanding bubble gum.
• Zhang Heng arrived in the X3, picked up Rabbit, and reversed away when the Sphinx lunged at the windshield.
• Zhang Heng drove through an intersection with a drift and began pulling ahead of the Sphinx.
• Rabbit told Shen Xixi over the radio that she was safe with Zhang Heng, who asked whether the team had a Taser Gun and gasoline.
• Zhang Heng and Shen Xixi agreed to bring the Sphinx back to the original location in five minutes so the team could test the Taser Gun and fire.
• Zhang Heng slowed down and led the Sphinx around the city while Shen Xixi's group prepared an ambush.

Zhang Heng suspected the pursuing Sphinx was a primitive robot with fixed behavioral patterns and tested that theory while driving Rabbit through the city. When the Sphinx activated its wings and began flying after them, Zhang Heng raced toward the terrain he could use to evade it and warned Shen Xixi to prepare the Taser Gun.

• Zhang Heng varied the X3's speed and turns while explaining to Rabbit that the Sphinx's simple behavior suggested it was an AI-driven robot.
• Zhang Heng reasoned that a high-voltage Taser Gun could damage the Sphinx's internal electronics, though its outer defenses were strong.
• The Sphinx stopped, spread its wings, and took flight after the X3, rapidly closing the distance.
• Zhang Heng told Shen Xixi that the Sphinx had activated flight mode, and Shen Xixi asked him to keep it low enough for the Taser Gun to hit.
• Zhang Heng floored the accelerator, then drove through roadside greenery and into an underground tunnel to use the terrain against the flying Sphinx.

Zhang Heng and Rabbit lured the Sphinx to Shen Xixi’s group, where a Taser Gun finally stopped it. Shen Xixi suspected someone had created the Sphinx as a trial run, leaving the group uncertain what other creations might follow.

• Zhang Heng drove X3 through the streets as the Sphinx chased them, pinning it against a wall once but failing to stop it.
• The Sphinx caught up again and attacked through the car windows while Zhang Heng drove toward Shen Xixi’s group.
• Zhang Heng parked X3, and Shen Xixi’s group struck the Sphinx with a Taser Gun, bringing it down.
• 1810 and the others bound the motionless Sphinx with iron chains.
• Shen Xixi said the Sphinx was not a robot made with current technology and suspected a player or another entity was behind it.

After the team led by 1810 took the captured sphinx, Zhang Heng warned Shen Xixi that its shutdown might only be temporary and left to make his own way home. The team ignored the warning’s source but activated precautions in their van as they headed to a safe house to dismantle the machine.

• 1810 claimed the sphinx under his team’s agreement with Shen Xixi and loaded it into their van despite Shen Xixi warning that its owner might be able to track it.
• Shen Xixi offered Zhang Heng points for helping defeat the monster, but Zhang Heng declined and warned that the sphinx might only be in overload protection.
• Zhang Heng left after promising Rabbit another thrilling drive if she got into a first-tier university.
• 1810’s team celebrated their capture and planned to dismantle the sphinx at their safe house, while Black Swan dismissed it as a low-rank machine.
• After 1810 received Shen Xixi’s warning, he activated a signal jammer and checked that the sphinx was chained and could be stunned again if it moved.

After reflecting on how the game had eroded his emotions, Zhang Heng arranged payment for a commissioned blade and learned that the Proxy War would begin within half a month. Bartender Lady also revealed that someone she revered as her master would soon return.

• After dealing with the Sphinx, Zhang Heng rode a yellow bike back to school and noticed in his reflection that his emotions were steadily diminishing.
• Zhang Heng decided to prioritize a trip to Greenland because he felt an unsettling closeness to the emptiness beyond his fading emotions.
• Zhang Heng brought items taken from the Guanghu group to Bartender Lady, who valued them and told him he still needed roughly 1,600 to 1,700 Game Points for the blade.
• Bartender Lady told Zhang Heng that her master would soon return, describing him as her faith and the meaning of her existence.
• Bartender Lady warned Zhang Heng that the Proxy War would begin in no more than half a month.

Zhang Heng entered the single-player instance Chewing Tobacco and Horseshoe, where he had to settle in Lincoln County and find the Lucky Horseshoe. Stranded in a desert, he spotted a railway and headed toward it in search of people.

• Zhang Heng entered the eighth-round instance, Chewing Tobacco and Horseshoe, with a mission to settle in Lincoln County and find the Lucky Horseshoe.
• Zhang Heng checked his character panel and reviewed his possessions, skills, and upgraded combat evaluation.
• Zhang Heng recognized the setting as the American West and decided he needed to find a populated place before pursuing the mission.
• Zhang Heng climbed a red rock, spotted a railway, and headed toward it, reasoning that towns were likely to lie along the tracks.

Zhang Heng crossed the scorching Gobi and reached a deserted railway town, where he entered its saloon seeking water. A bearded customer told him the saloon owner could hear him but did not care, then recounted how he had killed two Chinese shopkeepers over a dispute about payment.

• Zhang Heng walked for hours through the Gobi, suffering from thirst and sunburn, until he spotted a town.
• Zhang Heng found the town empty except for its saloon and went inside to ask for water or liquor.
• The saloon fell silent when Zhang Heng entered, and the lame owner ignored his requests in English, French, and Spanish.
• A bearded customer questioned Zhang Heng about where he came from and offered to share whiskey.
• The bearded man described killing two Chinese shopkeepers after they asked him to pay for goods and settle his debts.
• The bearded man explained that Randall was not deaf but simply did not care about Zhang Heng's requests.

After being threatened by armed men in a bar, Zhang Heng killed them and the bar owner in a matter of seconds. He sat down with the surviving Bear-like man and began questioning him.

• Zhang Heng recognized that his attempt to be friendly had failed and raised an empty glass in a toast to the Bear-like man.
• Zhang Heng smashed the glass into the Bear-like man's face, then drew his revolver and killed the armed men as they attacked.
• Zhang Heng killed the final drunkard and the bar owner, who had reached for a revolver beneath the counter.
• Zhang Heng drank whiskey, sat before the wounded Bear-like man, and asked him to answer some questions.

Zhang Heng learned that Lincoln County lay far to the south, then killed Richie after discovering his account was full of lies. He prepared to leave the ghost town for Lincoln County, but faced the problem of choosing a horse for the journey.

• Richie told Zhang Heng that Lincoln County was at least two days away on horseback and explained that the town had been abandoned after its copper mine ran dry.
• Zhang Heng used the Oath Ring to realize Richie was lying, then shot him and reclaimed the ring.
• Zhang Heng searched the bar, ate, patrolled the ghost town, and slept in a nearby house.
• The next morning, Zhang Heng changed into the dead men's clothes, took two Colt Revolvers and supplies, and collected their money.
• Zhang Heng set fire to the bar and considered the eight horses, but found them wary and difficult to approach.

Zhang Heng chose a docile, shabby horse and began riding across the desert toward Lincoln County. On his second evening, a marshal approached his camp, and Zhang Heng disarmed him with a warning shot before the man asked if he was Indian.

• Zhang Heng selected a shedding brown horse, released the other horses, and practiced riding around town.
• Zhang Heng set out for Lincoln County at a cautious pace and estimated the journey would take five to seven days.
• Zhang Heng traveled through the desert, enduring sore muscles and saddle friction on his first day.
• On the second evening, Zhang Heng spotted a badge-wearing rider approaching and drew his Colt Revolver.
• The marshal reached for his gun, but Zhang Heng shot it out of his hand and kept his weapon trained on him.
• The marshal identified himself as a lawman, moved toward the campfire, and asked Zhang Heng if he was Indian.

Zhang Heng met Marshal Morton in the wasteland and learned that Morton was hunting the gang Zhang Heng had already killed, unaware of their encounter. The two rested together overnight, and Zhang Heng received basic riding advice before continuing toward Lincoln County.

• Morton approached Zhang Heng at his campsite, introduced himself, and shared Zhang Heng’s cornmeal porridge.
• Morton described the Bright Silver Town bank robbery and asked whether Zhang Heng had seen the suspected fur traders.
• Zhang Heng recognized the gang as the men he had killed but concealed what he knew, especially the missing forty kilograms of gold.
• Morton warned Zhang Heng that the gang was dangerous and told him to report any information to the sheriff in Lincoln County.
• Zhang Heng and Morton spent the night together, and Zhang Heng asked Morton for basic horsemanship advice.

Zhang Heng arrived in Lincoln County after improving his riding and naming his horse Carrot. He confronted locals who harassed him, but realized that settling in a hostile town would be harder than he had expected.

• Zhang Heng learned riding basics from Morton and continued practicing on the road, where his skills steadily improved.
• Zhang Heng named his horse Carrot and reached Lincoln County after an uneventful journey.
• An old man spat near Carrot, and two cowboys told Zhang Heng that Easterners were unwelcome.
• Zhang Heng shot the old man's hat and cup, then threatened the cowboys until they backed down.
• The sheriff arrived and asked Zhang Heng to put away his guns, and Zhang Heng complied.
• Zhang Heng recognized that intimidation would not protect him indefinitely and that settling in Lincoln County would be difficult.