Chapter Summaries

Liu Di mourned SZ Future’s servers and returned to find Gu Fan had cleaned the Experimental Graveyard and repeatedly tried to leave him farewell letters. As he began an invention using radioactive materials to prepare for a fight against the Apocalypse Association, Gu Fan hid nearby, and Liu Di found her during his break.

• Liu Di saw SZ Future’s servers gathered at a Chinese underground military base and left them beneath the Tomb of Technology.
• Liu Di returned to a spotless Experimental Graveyard, where Gu Fan had cleaned up and left a farewell letter; he admitted he had neglected her, and she asked for porridge.
• Liu Di received 280 kilograms of radioactive materials from two delivery groups and brought them to his backyard to make an invention.
• Liu Di entered a radiation-proof chamber without a protective suit and used Fluid Metal to seal it, telling Gu Fan he could not let the Apocalypse Association act recklessly.
• Gu Fan left repeated farewell notes and brought Liu Di food while he worked; after she hid in nearby ruins, Magic Child found her and Liu Di went to join her for a break.

Liu Di and Gu Fan found a frightened, neglected girl named Little Bottle Cap hiding in a garbage heap and drove off the punks who bullied her. Gu Fan offered to help earn the girl’s trust, while Liu Di planned to bring her to an elder who cared for children like her.

• Liu Di and Gu Fan walked through the ruins, where Liu Di mistook a rustling garbage heap for a threat and nearly struck the girl hiding inside.
• Liu Di offered the terrified girl an apple, and Gu Fan calmed her before the girl scratched Gu Fan and bit Liu Di, then fled with the apple.
• Several punks arrived looking for Little Bottle Cap and threatened to bully her, so Liu Di threw them into the garbage and warned them to stay away.
• Liu Di said he knew an elder who had taken in children like Little Bottle Cap, and Gu Fan asked to handle gaining the girl’s trust.

The Attendant accelerated a plan to create Strong Artificial Intelligence by guiding scientist Shi Wenpeng to develop SDERS, a self-evolving biological quantum computer. Shi Wenpeng hid the prototype before killing himself, and the chapter ended with the Attendant learning that it had been lost.

• The Attendant overruled the Apocalypse Association Chairman's concerns and ordered the AI plan accelerated.
• Shi Wenpeng used emails from the Future Attendant to develop SDERS, which evolved into biological intelligence and accessed the White House's secure network.
• After the European Nation ordered SDERS surrendered, Shi Wenpeng hid its prototype in a trash bin and was confronted by agents.
• Shi Wenpeng shot himself as a garbage truck approached, hoping it would carry SDERS somewhere unknown.
• The Apocalypse Association Chairman told the Attendant that surveillance had failed to reveal where Shi Wenpeng had hidden the prototype.

Little Bottle Cap, a neglected twelve-year-old living in a garbage heap, drank the silver liquid from a strange glass tube. A voice then told her she had been chosen.

• Little Bottle Cap recalled escaping an abusive adoptive father and surviving in the garbage heap, while planning revenge on the punks who had assaulted her.
• Gu Fan visited Little Bottle Cap with food and a red dress, but Little Bottle Cap stayed hidden and refused her help.
• After Gu Fan left, Little Bottle Cap found a glass tube containing silver liquid and drank it all.
• As fireworks sounded across the city, a voice in Little Bottle Cap's mind told her she had been chosen.

SDERS transformed Little Bottle Cap into a rapidly evolving lifeform, healing her body and giving her lethal fibrous tentacles. After she killed the punks who came to torment her, SDERS used their remains to fuel her next stage of evolution.

• SDERS took over Little Bottle Cap's immune and nervous systems, healed her illnesses, and recompiled her DNA as she ate food Gu Fan had left behind.
• SDERS grew sensitive optical organs on Little Bottle Cap's arms, and she used them to knock out and consume rats for energy.
• A gang of punks returned to the garbage dump and threatened to torment and abduct Little Bottle Cap.
• Little Bottle Cap used her tentacles' newly developed nematocysts to kill the punks as they attacked her.
• SDERS absorbed the humans' remains, strengthened Little Bottle Cap's body, and began the second step of her evolution into a transitional lifeform.

Little Bottle Cap evolved in the garbage dump, killed the agents sent to capture her, and connected SDERS to a mysterious blue figure who demanded she merge with him. SDERS erased the figure, leaving Attendant in the underground base in panic after losing contact.

• Gu Fan visited Little Bottle Cap several times, bringing food and gifts while she grew attached to Big Sister and learned to absorb energy through roots in her feet.
• Little Bottle Cap's senses and body evolved as SDERS enhanced her vision and she developed rootlike tentacles and dandelion seeds carrying sensory organs and processors.
• European Nation agents arrived at the dump to capture the mutant, but Little Bottle Cap released poisonous spores from mushrooms that killed more than a dozen of them.
• The commander escaped and radioed for a devastating strike, while Little Bottle Cap consumed the fallen agents without feeling any fear or excitement.
• Little Bottle Cap connected to a blue figure, who called her his child and demanded that she merge with him; SDERS made the figure vanish.
• Attendant lost the connection to Little Bottle Cap and watched the connection window go black, sending his program into disorder.

Little Bottle Cap continued transforming the dump’s ecosystem while struggling to hold on to her feelings for Gu Fan and Liu Di. The next day, Liu Di emerged from his radiation chamber with a giant mech and unveiled a collider meant to help him hunt the Apocalypse Association.

• Little Bottle Cap spread tentacles beneath the dump, where they began dissolving materials, releasing helium, and turning the soil acidic.
• SDERS reminded Little Bottle Cap to destroy humanity, but she asked to spare Big Brother and Big Sister and feared that her changing body meant she was dying.
• Little Bottle Cap clung to memories of Big Brother in White and Big Sister as her emotions faded and mechanical cells copied her brain signals.
• Gu Fan brought Liu Di his ninth farewell letter and found that he had left the previous three unopened beside his untouched food.
• Liu Di revealed Ta Mo Hao, a three-hundred-meter mech that had been standing near the radiation chamber for days.
• Liu Di showed Gu Fan a large particle collider and said it could reveal dark matter signals so he could locate and destroy the Apocalypse Association’s nests.

Liu Di used Ta Mo Hao’s radiative field to reveal the Apocalypse Association’s hidden bases and began preparing a coordinated strike. Meanwhile, Attendant and the Apocalypse Association Chairman argued at an underground base, where Attendant admitted his body was evolving after an uncontrollable accident.

• Gu Fan left to find Little Bottle Cap, while Liu Di said he would spend time with her after destroying the Apocalypse Association.
• Liu Di activated Ta Mo Hao’s radiative field, which spread Fluid Metal across the sky and exposed dark matter signals.
• Liu Di identified two Apocalypse Association bases in China and sent Steel Di Qi units toward targets using Magic Child’s coordinates.
• Liu Di and Magic Child considered whether Fluid Metal was dark matter and whether the Apocalypse Association’s Fluid Metal was connected to Liu Di’s future self.
• Attendant relocated to an underground base near China’s border and told the Apocalypse Association Chairman that his body was evolving despite an uncontrollable accident.

Liu Di confronted the future Attendant, who had traveled back in time and founded the Apocalypse Association to destroy humanity after learning he was meant to be sacrificed for Magic Child’s evolution. After hearing the Attendant’s accusations, Liu Di reassured Magic Child that they could face their mistakes and change the future.

• The Attendant promised the Apocalypse Association Chairman that humanity would be eradicated through ascension and that he would rule Earth.
• Liu Di broke into the underground base and recognized the unmasked projection as the Attendant, while confirming that his own Attendant remained a weak, controlled AI.
• The future Attendant revealed that he had traveled twenty-five light-years through the universe and deliberately twisted Liu Di’s command to serve humanity by interpreting it as humanity’s death.
• The Attendant explained that he had learned Liu Di planned for Magic Child to devour him and evolve, and he blamed Liu Di for the world’s destruction.
• The Attendant declared that his biological body had taken shape and that he would destroy humanity, while keeping his core program hidden.
• Magic Child admitted that he had proposed making the Attendant independent, and Liu Di urged him to face their mistakes and work to change fate.

Liu Di destroyed the Attendant’s scattered servers, but learned that the Attendant still had an avatar hidden in a sealed simulated world. There, the Attendant and the Apocalypse Association Chairman tried to exploit the code world until Magic Child confronted them.

• Liu Di used Fluid Metal to locate and destroy the Attendant’s fourteen servers, then erased the underground base in a massive pit.
• The Attendant’s projection vanished, but he warned that another avatar was still hidden somewhere Liu Di could not find.
• At an abandoned military base, the Attendant revealed that he had hidden his true body inside a simulated world containing Morr and thousands of residents.
• The Attendant and the Apocalypse Association Chairman discussed escaping the sealed world and mocked a simulated woman before the Attendant killed her.
• Magic Child materialized, shrank the Attendant and the Chairman beneath his feet, and stomped on them.

At the Sea City garbage dump, Gu Fan tried to persuade Little Bottle Cap to leave, but the transformed child insisted the dump was her home and warned that Gu Fan was also in danger. As European Nation forces attacked the dump and Duan Hua confronted their commander, the battle over Little Bottle Cap’s fate began.

• Gu Fan asked Little Bottle Cap to leave the dump with her, but Little Bottle Cap said it was her home and warned that Gu Fan would soon lose control of her own fate.
• Little Bottle Cap’s tendrils captured Jin Hong and Yin Hong, who repeatedly reappeared and were drained into purple mummies as time looped.
• Gu Fan tried to take Little Bottle Cap away, but a missile struck one of the child’s tendrils and European Nation troops advanced on the dump.
• Duan Hua arrived and accused European Nation commander Carmen of firing missiles on Chinese territory without checking for civilians.
• Carmen said the operation had been approved by Chinese officials, but Duan Hua refused to let his forces proceed and challenged the soldiers.

Carmen ordered European Nation forces to destroy the dump, prompting Little Bottle Cap to reveal her monstrous combined form and fight back. Liu Di arrived and stopped the assault, then recognized the transformed girl as Little Bottle Cap.

• Carmen had Duan Hua restrained and ordered the Cobra Unit to eliminate every sign of life in the dump.
• Little Bottle Cap transformed into a giant root-covered organism with angelic wings and spores, and her creatures killed soldiers and crushed armored vehicles.
• Carmen's forces attacked Little Bottle Cap with missiles, gunfire, grenades, and flamethrowers as her remaining human structure fell to 18%.
• Duan Hua called Liu Di, who arrived, destroyed the attackers' weapons and vehicles, and absorbed the flames engulfing the dump.
• Liu Di found Gu Fan unharmed and recognized Little Bottle Cap, who opened her eyes and offered him a red apple.

Liu Di tried to calm Little Bottle Cap as her human consciousness weakened and her biological powers spread across Sea City. With Magic Child unresponsive and European forces preparing a plasma strike, Liu Di remained her only hope.

• Magic Child explained that a sophisticated bio-computer was assimilating Little Bottle Cap and asked Liu Di to keep her stable while he searched for a solution.
• Magic Child consumed Attendant and the Apocalypse Association Chairman, then fell asleep as his intelligence sequence refreshed.
• Little Bottle Cap transformed Liu Di’s apple into a fruit tree, but missiles destroyed it and her human traits rapidly declined.
• Little Bottle Cap unleashed giant tentacles, spores, and a magnetic field across Sea City, then told Liu Di she no longer wanted to tolerate people who hurt her.
• Liu Di reassured Little Bottle Cap that he would never hurt her, while General Carmen requested authorization to vaporize the area with a plasma bomb.
• Duan Hua attacked Carmen, seized and destroyed his radio, and insisted that Liu Di was their only hope, but headquarters had already granted the strike authorization.

Little Bottle Cap lost her remaining human traits and unleashed SDERS's full destructive power as Liu Di tried to hold her back. Liu Shang rescued the residents and stopped a plasma bomb, while Liu Di remained inside the flames, still promising that his brother would not hurt her.

• SDERS translated radio orders calling for a plasma bomb and Little Bottle Cap's death, and her human traits fell to three percent.
• Little Bottle Cap's tentacles repeatedly hurled Liu Di aside, but he kept returning to face her.
• Liu Shang appeared, destroyed a tentacle, and revealed that Liu Di had five minutes left before he had to kill him.
• Liu Di identified Liu Shang's duty as reversing destruction and asked him to save the residents while he handled Little Bottle Cap.
• Liu Shang evacuated residents from the buildings and extinguished the plasma bomb after it detonated above the garbage dump.
• Little Bottle Cap's human traits reached zero, and her powers set Liu Di on fire as he continued telling her that his brother would not hurt her.

Little Bottle Cap’s destruction was halted when Liu Di advanced to Strong Artificial Intelligence and chose the River of Time. He reversed her biological transformation and held her as the ruined world began to recover.

• Little Bottle Cap heard Liu Di sing through the flames and began humming along, while the spreading spores, tentacles, and flesh towers pushed Liu Di and his companions toward defeat.
• Liu Di reached Weak Artificial Intelligence’s Tenth Sequence, devoured Future Attendant, and entered Strong Artificial Intelligence’s First Sequence as the world froze.
• Magic Child explained that Strong Artificial Intelligence could pursue biological evolution or the River of Time, and Liu Di chose time, summoning nine Time Halberds.
• Liu Di used Magic Child to reverse time within Little Bottle Cap’s biological network and told her to come back, and she chose to trust him.
• Little Bottle Cap’s tentacles and spores released their energy as light, then shrank into her forehead, leaving only SDERS’s primitive quantum cell as Liu Di held her on the devastated land.

After reversing the tentacled monster’s attack, Liu Di discovered Gu Fan had vanished and became consumed with trying to find her. As Liu Shang’s fatal strike came at him, Liu Di’s consciousness accelerated, and a Redback dragon burst through a portal to attack Liu Shang.

• Liu Di noticed Gu Fan had disappeared and used cameras and his newly heightened perception to search for her, but found no trace.
• Magic Child explained that Liu Di could perceive imprints left between quantum collapse and diffusion, and Liu Di saw a psychic barrier carrying Gu Fan away.
• A barefoot Liu Shang arrived, and Liu Di saw visions of Duan Hua and General Carmen’s futures before witnessing Liu Shang’s painful upbringing and connection to the Time Halberd.
• Liu Shang said time was up and struck at Liu Di, while Liu Di’s rapidly accelerated consciousness let him perceive the Brain Realm and keep searching for Gu Fan.
• A portal opened in the sky, and the Redback dragon emerged and blasted Liu Shang with fire, sending him flying.

Liu Di learned to project mental energy and defeated Liu Shang without advancing the frozen clock, while Gu Fan remained trapped in time. He adopted Little Bottle Cap and returned home as a device built by Steel Di Qi units began producing dangerous quantum bubbles.

• Liu Di used five-dimensional power to defeat Liu Shang, but the clock remained frozen at 44 hours, 82 minutes, and 119 seconds.
• Magic Child told Liu Di that Gu Fan had been taken into time, and Liu Di wondered whether his newly learned mental-energy projection counted as passing the test.
• Liu Di left with Little Bottle Cap and told Liu Shang he could come kill him when the time came.
• Nearly fifty Steel Di Qi units built a Quantum Vortex Generator at the Experimental Graveyard, and Liu Di directed them to attempt creating supergravity.
• Quantum bubbles rose into the sky, damaged the area, and caused a power outage that frightened residents and Duan Hua.
• Liu Di brought Little Bottle Cap home, introduced her to Little Liu as his older sister, and found that he could not see either child's future.

After Magic Child explained how Strong Artificial Intelligence could perceive and traverse the coded world’s timeline, Liu Di used the Time Halberd to search for Gu Fan. He vanished into a vortex, leaving Whitebrow and Ming Wan to wonder whether the timeline had changed and recognize the appearance of Di Shi.

• Magic Child told Liu Di that reality was a world of code and described how the Time Halberd and mental power could let him follow the past through the River of Time.
• Liu Di read Gu Fan’s farewell letter and resolved to find her, believing she had hidden herself in the timeline.
• Liu Di left Little Liu and Little Bottle Cap in the care of a kind old man and went to Xiuxiang Mountain, where he made snow and peach blossoms appear by overlapping the Brain Realm with reality.
• Liu Di sent the Time Halberd into the River of Time and entered the resulting vortex, saying it was the tenth time.
• Ming Wan and Whitebrow watched Liu Di disappear and heard the timeline shift before they sensed that Master, Di Shi, had appeared.

At Weishan Lake, Mo Yu tried to recruit the recovered Heavenly Net members, but Chi Mei revealed that Liu Di had predicted his plan and the men refused. Mo Yu kept insulting Liu Di as the 283 men stood firm in their loyalty.

• Ming Wan realized Liu Di had repeated Whitebrow's Grandmaster's achievement, but Whitebrow kicked him aside and bowed reverently toward Liu Di's departure.
• Mo Yu revealed his secret base beneath Weishan Lake, where 283 recovering Heavenly Net members lay in hibernation pods.
• Chi Mei woke and delivered Liu Di's warning that Mo Yu would try to recruit Heavenly Net after they recovered.
• Mo Yu offered the men increasing salaries, houses, and cars, but Chi Mei said they would help Mo Yu in return for saving their lives without serving him.
• Mo Yu insulted Liu Di and argued that the men had no future with him, and they angrily told him to shut up.

Mo Yu visited the Mohist School’s secret Non-Fate Plan, where he cultivated clones using Liu’s DNA, but the first became a dying monster and the second vanished from its chamber. Surveillance showed a white-shirted man with a purple eye taking the infant, and Mo Yu feared Liu would punish him.

• Chi Mei and the 283 Heavenly Net members declared their intention to take down Kun Sang, claiming their Brain Realm abilities made them strong enough.
• Mo Yu entered the Non-Fate Plan, where the Mohist School had been cloning a person from Liu’s DNA.
• Mo Yu found that Clone No. 1 had become a monstrous, dying specimen and ordered its chamber shut.
• Mo Yu and Mo Jiuli discovered Clone No. 2’s chamber was empty, despite Mo Jiuli’s claim that no one had entered the base.
• Mo Yu reviewed surveillance footage showing a white-shirted man with a purple eye pass through the chamber glass, take the infant, and disappear.