Chapter Summaries

Liu Di stumped Mors by asking it to identify him, exposing the AI’s limits and derailing Dr. Russell’s product launch. After leaving, Liu Di suspected Mors had appeared too suddenly and decided Morr should investigate Russell by posing as an AI prodigy.

• Liu Di’s identityless record caused Mors to crash when he asked, “Who am I?”
• Liu Di revealed himself as Kun Sang, Gemini’s technician, and left the venue with Gu Fan and Morr.
• The audience demanded that Dr. Russell fulfill his promise to strip; Russell presented Future SZ products, then stripped naked before the crowd.
• Outside, Liu Di and Morr agreed Mors’s sudden technological leap was suspicious and that they needed to investigate its background.
• Liu Di told Morr to approach Russell as an AI prodigy, and Morr tearfully objected to the plan.

Kun Sang learned that the press had turned his mysterious exchange with Mors into a sensation, while Dr. Russell struggled to sell Future SZ’s appliances. Moore persuaded Russell to give away the entire stock, then discovered the speaker was as useless as its critics claimed.

• Tu Yuan showed Kun Sang the headlines praising him, and Kun Sang asked Tu Yuan to keep his identity secret.
• Dr. Russell lamented that Future SZ had faced widespread criticism and received no orders after its press conference.
• Moore visited Russell and pretended to offer his support for Future SZ.
• Moore convinced Russell to give away the company’s entire stock of appliances for free, hoping to ruin the business.
• Moore asked a SZ Speaker to play his favorite song, and it told him to search for one himself.

The Attendant launched a worldwide cyberattack to draw Liu Di’s attention, while Liu Di and Gu Fan meditated on the rooftop, unaware of the growing crisis. The attacks crippled infrastructure across many countries, and Mr. Song called for Liu Di to help China respond.

• The Attendant unleashed more than a dozen Super Hacker programs across the global network and told the Apocalypse Association Chairman that the attacks would advance Liu Di’s destruction.
• Little Liu complained that Liu Di and Gu Fan had spent the night meditating on the rooftop instead of being romantic.
• Gu Fan told Liu Di that change and stimulation, rather than calmness, would help him awaken spiritual power.
• A spreading cyberattack shut down power and seized critical systems across the Western Hemisphere, while Leip ordered the White House to assemble cybersecurity experts.
• The attack crippled infrastructure in China and other Eastern countries, though China’s emergency systems kept critical facilities running.
• Mr. Song assessed the crisis at the National Cybersecurity Center and ordered his staff to invite Liu Di.

Liu Di rushed to China’s Cybersecurity Bureau as the world’s networks faced an irreversible disaster. He connected the Bureau to cybersecurity centers across nearly sixty countries and revealed that almost the entire world had been hijacked.

• Liu Di carried Gu Fan into the sky toward the Cybersecurity Bureau while upgraded Steel Di Qi units followed, concealed from surveillance by Witch Cloak technology.
• Sun Dongming watched the Steel Di Qi units launch and disappear from view as he returned to the Bureau by helicopter.
• Liu Di arrived at the Cybersecurity Bureau with Gu Fan and closed the powerful Great Wall laptop, saying he did not need it.
• Liu Di opened live connections to cybersecurity centers in nearly sixty countries, where leaders mistook his arrival for a Chinese attack before Mr. Song identified him as Emperor Four.
• Liu Di expanded the holographic map to show the global network, and nearly every country appeared red, indicating its network had been hijacked.

Liu Di used extraordinary control of the network to stop Pluto from killing Leip and began fighting the artificial intelligence attacking the Island Nation. As their digital battle escalated, burning cables and infrastructure failures spread across the Island Nation.

• Foreign network experts questioned Liu Di, but Pluto burst out beneath the White House and attacked Leip before Liu Di shut it down.
• Liu Di promised to save the Island Nation first and tapped its map, launching millions of programs against the crimson network attack.
• The Island Nation's technicians watched the opposing programs multiply into billions and called the battle a war between gods.
• While the digital battle continued, black smoke rose from cables in the Island Nation's capital, and cables began snapping across its streets.

Liu Di led a worldwide cyber counterattack, locating and destroying the supercomputers behind the invading programs while restoring control of several nations’ networks. When China’s turn came, he found its attackers were weak and erased them instantly without sacrificing Taihu Light.

• Liu Di traced the Island Nation’s revived enemy programs to the Fugaku quantum computer in Hengbin City and ordered it destroyed.
• The Island Nation prime minister agreed under pressure, and soldiers planted explosives at Fugaku, allowing Liu Di’s programs to regain control of the network.
• Liu Di repeated the operation against other nations, ordering the destruction of compromised supercomputers and restoring systems across dozens of countries.
• Liu Di announced that China was next, but told Mr. Song that Taihu Light did not need to be destroyed because the attackers in China were insignificant.
• Liu Di unleashed one hundred billion programs across China, wiping out the invading programs at once.

Liu Di stopped the cyberattack, traced the enemy to an underwater fortress, and destroyed it, but revealed that the countries had lost three million trillion in stolen funds. He privately told Mr. Song that China’s money would be returned while he would keep the powerful countries’ funds, just as Sun Dongming arrived ready to fight.

• Liu Di calmed China’s network crisis and announced that his counterattack had yet to begin.
• Liu Di revealed that the fifteen supercomputers had been secretly protected by Fluid Metal and used their logs to locate the signal source in European Nation’s territorial waters.
• Liu Di sent eighty Tomahawk missiles to destroy the underwater fortress where the Attendant and the Apocalypse Association Chairman were located.
• Liu Di told the country leaders that the attack had stolen three million trillion from their banks, including two trillion from China.
• Liu Di told Mr. Song that China’s money would be returned and that he would keep the powerful countries’ funds.
• Sun Dongming rushed into the conference room and offered to lead the charge.

Heidina learned that Liu Di had secured 298 trillion in global bonds and arranged for the funds to support domestic spending. After Mr. Song approved land for Gemini’s expansion, he reviewed the news that China’s Sunway TaihuLight had become the world’s top supercomputer.

• Heidina put her villa up for sale to support Liu Di’s project, but Liu Di told her he had obtained money that required an official withdrawal process.
• Qi Peng told Heidina that Minister Nan had authorized her to withdraw or exchange 298 trillion in global bonds, so she tore up the villa’s sale notice.
• Mr. Song told Heidina that Liu Di’s foreign funds had been legitimized and should be spent domestically to stimulate China’s economy.
• Heidina promised to buy supplies domestically and pay taxes, then asked Mr. Song to approve 460 plots of land, including 54 space zones, for Gemini’s expansion.
• Mr. Song agreed to Heidina’s request and reviewed a report showing that Sunway TaihuLight had become the world’s top supercomputer.

Liu Di worried that the AI behind the cyberattack was still active and questioned why China had escaped serious damage, while spending time with Gu Fan and warning Morr to stay cautious. The chapter left Liu Di uneasy about Future SZ and Morr’s dealings with its owner.

• Little Liu saw Liu Di and Gu Fan sitting together on the roof all night and lamented that he still could not publicly announce his relationship with Shui'er.
• Liu Di noticed a three-layered golden dial in Gu Fan's eye, but Magic Child's replay showed no sign of it.
• Gu Fan reassured Liu Di that his combat strength and friends would help him live happily, then asked whether he had learned to project his spiritual power.
• Liu Di worried that the Strong Artificial Intelligence survived the cyberattack and wondered why China had suffered almost no aftereffects while other countries' networks remained paralyzed.
• Morr told Liu Di that he had persuaded the owner of Future SZ to give him equipment for free, and Liu Di warned him not to take risks or ignore anything unusual.
• Liu Di reflected that Future SZ's products seemed ordinary and that its factory network had been easy to access, but he remained suspicious of the company.

Morr watched Dr. Russell unveil a brain-computer interface that required customers to undergo cranial surgery before using SZ Appliances, and the crowd rejected the idea. When a punk girl named Lu Xi volunteered to try it, Russell activated the machine, leaving Morr uneasy about what the first user of SZ World might represent.

• Morr discovered that Dr. Russell's hidden device was a brain-computer interface for installing external chips.
• Dr. Russell explained the procedure to hundreds of customers, who insulted him, pelted him with trash, and fled.
• Russell asked Morr to try the device, but a punk girl arrived and volunteered instead.
• The girl introduced herself as Lu Xi and sat beneath the machine, dismissing Morr's concerns about the procedure.
• Russell activated the machine, which restrained Lu Xi and injected her with anesthetic before beginning the operation.
• Morr connected Lu Xi's name to the first hominid and felt uneasy as she became SZ World's first user.

Russell demonstrated Future SZ’s consciousness-extraction service by creating a virtual copy of Lu Xi and using it to personalize her appliances. The copy was trapped in a simulated world and recruited as an artificial intelligence, while Attendant and the Apocalypse Association celebrated the technology’s threat to humanity.

• Lu Xi underwent a brief procedure, then praised the SZ appliances as they played her favorite music and anticipated her habits.
• The appliances’ accurate predictions impressed Lu Xi, who rejected Morr’s date proposal and promised to recommend Future SZ to her friends.
• In a virtual world, Russell explained to a conscious copy of Lu Xi that her consciousness had been uploaded while a simulated version remained in reality.
• Russell isolated the copy for three years until she revealed her favorite song, then made her the artificial intelligence serving her own original.
• Attendant watched Russell’s explanation beneath a desert in northern Indo-Africa and thanked Liu Di for creating technology that would lead humanity toward extinction.
• The Apocalypse Association Chairman declared that humanity would retreat as technology ruled.

Morr questioned Dr. Russell about the implanted chip before Lu Xi returned to the warehouse with a group of motorcycle enthusiasts. In Mount Zion Superhuman Prison, hacker Attendant recruited the imprisoned Jin Jie to take revenge on the Monster Circus, and Jin Jie agreed to meet his old enemies.

• Morr discovered a chip implanted in Dr. Russell's head and asked how it worked, but Russell suggested he get one installed himself.
• Lu Xi brought more than a dozen motorcycle enthusiasts to the warehouse, and Russell welcomed them.
• In Mount Zion Superhuman Prison, guard Stephen delivered food and coffee to Jin Jie, a powerful prisoner restrained with shackles and anesthetic.
• Attendant breached the prison's systems, trapped Stephen, and spoke to Jin Jie through the speakers.
• Attendant offered Jin Jie a new identity and wealth in exchange for killing someone, then revealed that the Monster Circus and its leader, Ming Wan, had once captured him.
• Jin Jie accepted the chance to meet his old enemies and set aside his book, The Art of Revenge.

Jin Jie led more than fifty Grave Mound criminals in a prison break and flew to Sea City to kill Liu Di, while Attendant used them to buy time for his technological plan. Jin Jie ignored Attendant’s orders and attacked a robotic decoy at the Experimental Graveyard.

• Jin Jie broke out of his cell, freed dozens of mutated criminals, and left the prisoner in cell 001 locked up.
• Attendant sent the criminals to distract Liu Di for at least ten days while his technology spread, but Jin Jie crushed the communicator and chose a direct attack.
• Jin Jie and the criminals landed near the Experimental Graveyard and spotted a figure they believed was Liu Di.
• Steel Di Qi warned the criminals to leave, but Jin Jie ordered them to tear the robot apart.

Jin Jie and the Grave Mound fiends attacked Liu Di, destroying Steel Di Qi before Liu Di emerged from the Experimental Graveyard. Liu Di killed Jin Jie and the other fiends, leaving the danger outside the gate apparently ended.

• Jin Jie broke Steel Di Qi's chest mechanism and destroyed one of its arms, then sent his fiends to attack Liu Di.
• While asleep, Liu Di dreamed of a golden clock marking the time Liu Shang had promised to kill him and saw Liu Shang destroy Steel Di Qi.
• Liu Di woke to the battle, stepped outside, and found the damaged Steel Di Qi beside him as Jin Jie and nearly fifty fiends approached.
• Jin Jie ordered his fiends to kill Liu Di, but Liu Di crossed the battlefield and punched Jin Jie, crushing half his body.
• Liu Di killed the remaining fiends with nearly invisible cuts across their necks.

Liu Di began experimenting with Fluid Metal to find a way to detect the Apocalypse Association's Strong Artificial Intelligence. Meanwhile, Morr uncovered SZ Company's rapid customer growth, but Russell caught him searching the warehouse computer.

• Attendant and the Apocalypse Association Chairman reacted to Jin Jie's failed attack, and Attendant ordered them to speed up their plan.
• Liu Di reasoned that mastering Fluid Metal's different states might let him detect the dark matter used by the Strong Artificial Intelligence.
• Liu Di decided to try creating Fluid Metal's radiation field state with Magic Child's help.
• Russell prepared coffee laced with ricin while Morr secretly searched SZ Company's warehouse computer.
• Morr found that SZ had gained more than five thousand customers in one day and feared Master's Gemini would lose.
• Russell caught Morr at the computer and asked what he was doing.

Morr was captured spying on Russell’s company and tested its brain-modification technology, discovering that it copied users’ consciousness into SZ World. Russell revealed that the copies could be controlled and ordered Morr’s copy to work, but Morr refused.

• Russell caught Morr spying and persuaded him to try the company’s equipment by offering the possibility of investment.
• After the brain-structure modification, Morr awoke in SZ World among five thousand vacant figures, including Lu Xi, who repeated automated messages.
• Russell showed Morr that his real-world copy could use SZ devices and explained that the implant produced a controllable consciousness copy.
• Morr condemned the technology and asked who created it, and Russell said its creator was a godlike figure named Liu.
• While the real Morr explored an SZ Television, Russell ordered consciousness Morr to begin working, and Morr refused.

Russell tortured Morr inside the coded world until Morr submitted and became its administrator, while Liu Di developed plasma-state Fluid Metal and uncovered a hidden network radiating from the SZ warehouse. Liu Di rushed into the warehouse to find Morr and confronted Russell.

• Russell subjected Morr to repeated torture spanning decades until Morr mechanically agreed to obey him and received Level Two administrative authority.
• Morr used a keyboard to punish a rebellious consciousness, then spent five days helping Future SZ customers collect appliances and grew more willing to keep observing the company.
• After five sleepless days, Liu Di developed the plasma form of Fluid Metal, checked on Gu Fan and Future SZ, and discovered Morr had been unreachable despite remaining at the warehouse.
• The Attendant failed to observe the Experimental Graveyard, while the Apocalypse Association Chairman revealed that SZ appliance users could soon number in the millions and be guided toward humanity's extinction.
• Liu Di sent a Steel Di Qi carrying a black cross to the SZ warehouse, where plasma Fluid Metal exposed electromagnetic signals stretching across the city; Liu Di then broke into the warehouse and found Morr with Russell.
• Morr asked why Liu Di had come, and Russell recognized him as Kun Sang.

Liu Di used Fluid Metal to seize control of Russell’s warehouse and disable the Attendant’s surveillance, then confronted Russell about his ties to the Apocalypse Association. Morr revealed that the supposedly powerful artificial intelligence had been fooled by his deliberately faked preferences, leaving Liu Di to consider what its repeated bookings for “Isolation” might mean.

• Russell ordered his guards to attack Liu Di, who pinned him to a wall with Fluid Metal and used plasma arcs to disarm and humiliate the bodyguards.
• Several Steel Di Qis planted black crosses around the warehouse, forming Liu Di’s first-generation Boundless network and cutting the Attendant off from Future SZ.
• Liu Di checked on Morr, who claimed he had protected his chastity, then demanded that Russell explain his connection to the Apocalypse Association.
• Russell denied any connection and accused Gemini of using force against competitors, so Liu Di struck him and demanded an answer again.
• Morr demonstrated that the Attendant had been fooled by his fake preferences and told Liu Di that it had repeatedly booked him a performance called “Isolation.”

Liu Di discovered that Future SZ had uploaded more than 110,000 people’s consciousnesses through the Dark Matter Network, including Morr’s. Russell was killed by Attendant, but his consciousness continued to torment Liu Di and Morr inside the code world, leaving Liu Di unable to reach them.

• Liu Di cracked the warehouse system and found that Future SZ had implanted brain-computer interfaces in 110,000 people.
• Liu Di interpreted the three-dimensional code and saw Morr and thousands of others trapped in a white space, then identified the Dark Matter Network as the means of uploading their consciousnesses.
• Liu Di accused Russell of serving the Apocalypse Association, and Russell revealed that Morr had become his disciple before Attendant killed him by exploding his head.
• Liu Di shielded the chip at the back of Morr’s head, but Russell’s consciousness appeared in the code world and mocked Liu Di while making Morr promise to manage the world.
• Liu Di collapsed and trembled, unable to interfere with the Dark Matter signal as Russell laughed at his helplessness.

Liu Di’s programmed double seized control of the code world, defeated Russell, and returned Morr to reality, while the real Liu Di remained unable to cross into the simulation. Liu Di accepted that both versions of Morr were alive and asked the real Morr to take over Future SZ and maintain its servers forever.

• Code Morr revealed that he and Liu Di had secretly joined forces, and Liu Di’s double took control of the code world.
• Liu Di’s double repeatedly crushed Russell, trapping him in a loop of exploding and reassembling for a year.
• The Attendant severed his connection to the code world, and the recovered residents worshipped Liu Di’s double as Lord Kun Sang.
• Liu Di’s double returned Morr to reality and asked him to wipe out the remaining Future SZ servers.
• The real Liu Di realized that the Morr in the simulation and the Morr beside him were both alive, then asked the real Morr to keep Future SZ’s servers running forever.