Chapter Summaries

Liu Di rewarded Heidina for arranging investments and a 100-billion credit line by giving her 15% of Witnesses Company and making her its CEO. Meanwhile, international killer Spade 9 arrived in Sea City, got his wallet stolen, and headed off to find women before carrying out his planned assassination.

• Heidina told Liu Di that she had secured equity stakes in five companies and arranged a 100-billion credit line from four banks.
• Liu Di gave Heidina 15% of Witnesses Company, named her its CEO, and said Zhang Tianjia would finalize the arrangements.
• Spade 9 entered China and insulted the country while waiting for his car at Sea City Airport.
• A young hoodlum distracted Spade 9 while a companion stole his wallet, leaving him furious.
• Spade 9 got into his car and ordered the driver to find Chinese women he could pay to ravage before his assassination.

Spade 9 studied Liu Di’s profile and the plans for his remote home, then prepared to assassinate him at midnight. As livestreaming platforms rallied against Gemini, Emperor San announced that his midnight broadcast would be “killing people online” because an assassin had been hired to kill him.

• Spade 9 woke at the Red Rose Guesthouse, realized the private-hire driver had tricked him, and refocused on his mission.
• Spade 9 decoded Liu Di’s identity and memorized detailed diagrams of Liu Di’s home from Faust's War.
• Spade 9 formed an assassination plan and declared that Liu Di would die at midnight.
• Major livestreaming companies rallied their influencers to compete with Gemini at midnight, while netizens wondered why Gemini had made no major move.
• Emperor San announced that he would livestream on Gemini at midnight, then revealed that someone had hired an assassin to kill him and promised to broadcast “killing people online.”

Liu prepared to livestream the assassination attempt against him, drawing a massive audience and exposing Li Daode’s plot. With ten minutes left before the broadcast, Spade 9 remained unaware that Liu’s surveillance system had recorded his every move.

• Emperor San’s post announcing a livestreamed murder went viral, and A Jia arranged full-screen promotions on Gemini at Liu’s instruction.
• Li Daode realized Liu knew about the assassination plan and failed to reach Tiger, who told him to flee because the killer and Poker Club could not be contacted.
• Spade 9 entered the wilderness near the Experimental Graveyard and prepared to kill Liu, believing the area was unobserved.
• A one-armed youth called Little Xia watched Spade 9 from two kilometers away and followed his bro’s instruction not to act yet.
• Liu monitored Spade 9 through Magic Child’s surveillance and prepared to broadcast the captured footage on Gemini Live at twelve.

Liu Di launched Gemini Live by livestreaming the international killer Spade 9’s attempt to assassinate him, drawing tens of millions of viewers. Spade 9 began his timed attack but found the manhole cover he planned to use welded shut.

• Gemini Live launched at midnight, and 35 million viewers joined Emperor San’s room.
• Emperor San played a recording of Li Daode hiring Tiger to arrange his murder and showed evidence identifying Spade 9 as the assassin.
• Emperor San told viewers Spade 9 was hiding outside his home, then revealed Magic Child’s detailed surveillance views of the area.
• Magic Child’s captions exposed Spade 9’s thoughts as he crawled toward a manhole, while Emperor San explained the killer’s mental activity was being inferred.
• Spade 9 started his thirteen-minute-and-twenty-eight-second countdown and tried to open the manhole cover, but it would not budge.

Spade 9 struggled through sealed manholes and a flooded, altered sewer while Liu Di watched and manipulated the route. He eventually reached the basement, where a giant mechanical dog named Wang Wang Dog 2.0 struck him down.

• Spade 9 failed to open several manhole covers before finding one and resetting his countdown.
• Liu Di released a torrent that swept Spade 9 through the sewer, and Spade 9 later found his memorized route blocked by Liu Di's altered blueprints.
• Spade 9 found the correct route, emerged in the cemetery basement, and cautiously advanced after hearing dogs bark.
• Spade 9 kicked away a small mechanical puppy, triggering a giant mechanical dog to emerge and attack him.
• The giant mechanical dog knocked Spade 9 into a wall, and Liu Di introduced it to the livestream as Wang Wang Dog 2.0.

Liu Di’s trap exposed Spade 9 to the police, where the glowing assassin was cornered and defeated by a one-armed youth. Spade 9 was arrested unconscious, while Duan Hua tried to recruit Little Xia and received a warning about Liu Di.

• Spade 9 fled the Mechanical Dog and found Sea City police surrounding the Experimental Graveyard.
• Spade 9 hid among the trees, unaware that fluorescent powder on his clothes made him glow.
• Duan Hua identified Spade 9 beneath the trees, and SWAT officers surrounded the exposed assassin.
• Spade 9 attacked Duan Hua with a dagger, but Little Xia kicked him through a tree and knocked him unconscious.
• Duan Hua asked Little Xia to join his special operations team, but Little Xia refused and warned that his brother had forbidden him from killing Duan Hua.

Little Xia drove off Duan Hua and the police after helping capture Spade 9, while Liu Di’s livestream broke records and secured Gemini Live’s success. The chapter ended with Liu Di reflecting on his adopted siblings’ brutal past and the trust Little Xia placed in him.

• Little Xia told Duan Hua that he had defeated opponents as strong as Spade 9 when he was fifteen, leaving Duan Hua alarmed by how early modified humans had appeared.
• Little Xia blocked Duan Hua from entering the Experimental Graveyard until Duan Hua ordered the police team to withdraw.
• The livestream showed Spade 9 being taken away, then Emperor San distributed millions of red envelopes to viewers and promoted all of Gemini Live’s programs.
• Liu Di thanked the viewers and ended the record-breaking livestream, confident that Gemini Live was secure.
• Little Xia told Liu Di that the police had withdrawn, and Liu Di reflected on how Grandpa Tuo had raised the four children and how they had come to regard him as family.

Liu Di gave Little Xia a powerful mechanical arm and urged him to pair confidence with strength and kindness. After Creator’s decisive victory over Penguin, Gemini’s success brought a wave of attention and growth, while Liu Di prepared a celebratory concert and expanded the company.

• Liu Di told Little Xia that pride was acceptable when backed by strength, then gave him a mechanical arm that could restore his disabled body.
• Liu Di advised Little Xia to keep a kind heart and to name three reasons before deciding someone deserved to die.
• Gemini’s livestream statistics showed it had won 90% of users, and news coverage praised the platform, Emperor San, and Wangwang Dog II as Creator’s valuation reached one trillion.
• Liu Di announced that Creator had beaten Penguin 3:0 and that Emperor Yi would perform with ninety-nine singers at a concert that night.
• Liu Di bought five more floors of office space as Creator staff handled surging demand, while Ruan Liangji and employees prepared equipment on the rooftop for the concert.

Liu Di and Teng Hualong watched as Di Yi’s victory celebration concert began on Gemini Live. A vast sky screen appeared above Sea City, broadcasting the hundred-person performance as Di Yi started to sing.

• Teng Hualong met Liu Di on a rooftop after Penguin Group’s executives were arrested and the company suffered a public-relations crisis.
• Gemini Live’s concert began with ninety-nine contracted singers and musicians performing together, while Di Yi’s window remained dark.
• The performers joined one by one, building the music into a grand ensemble of people pursuing their dreams.
• A giant virtual screen appeared above Rongteng Building and displayed the livestream to Sea City residents.
• Di Yi’s image lit up, and he began singing as viewers across Sea City watched the performance in awe.

Liu Di revealed Magic Gemini during Emperor Yi’s livestream, unveiling a hub that gathered Gemini’s existing services and several new apps. Teng Hualong recognized Gemini’s ambition to become an all-encompassing platform and began advising Liu Di on the companies and resources Creator would need to expand.

• Emperor Yi announced Magic Gemini during the livestream, introducing a feature hub with six services, including Gemini Stage, Gemini Live, Gemini Music, Black Box Virtual KTV, Magic Face Emoji, and Ticket Genie.
• Viewers tried the new features and praised their functions, while Emperor Yi announced that the concert would continue with solo performances from the ninety-nine singers.
• Teng Hualong studied Magic Gemini and told Liu Di that Gemini’s growing user base could help it attract users to apps across the software market.
• Teng Hualong admitted that Liu Di’s technology surpassed Penguin’s and said Creator would need a business acquisition department to bring emerging companies onto Gemini.
• Teng Hualong offered advice on technological manufacturing, explaining that Creator would need technical talent, time, and money to develop and launch products, and Liu Di agreed.

Teng Hualong offered to trade 10% of Penguin’s shares for an equivalent stake in Creator, hoping to secure cooperation with Liu Di. Liu Di revealed that Creator already had a major investment team and access to a vast trove of inventions, leaving Teng Hualong stunned.

• Teng Hualong proposed exchanging 10% of Penguin’s shares for 10% of Creator’s shares and argued that Penguin could support Creator’s products and research.
• Liu Di said he had established the investment company Witnesses, whose offices were in the building below them.
• Liu Di introduced Heidina as Witnesses’ CEO, and she confirmed that more than a hundred investment experts had joined her and were connecting with over a hundred internet app companies.
• Teng Hualong asked whether Liu Di also had a research team, and Liu Di explained that the Sky Screen came from a university student’s invention, which she had joined Witnesses to develop.
• Liu Di claimed he had a warehouse containing inventions, including at least a thousand that could shock the world after minor adjustments, leaving Teng Hualong speechless.

Liu showed Teng Hualong a wristwatch that projected a phone interface and explained how Gemini could eventually disrupt the technology industry, but he said he would avoid destabilizing society and would not destroy Penguin. He then asked Teng to announce publicly that Penguin was bowing in submission to Gemini.

• Liu projected a phone interface from his watch and showed Teng Hualong that it could access Gemini and a livestream.
• Liu said he could make Gemini a factory-standard app and disable other companies' apps, leaving Teng convinced Penguin could be wiped out.
• Liu explained that he would not launch the technology aggressively because mass bankruptcies and job losses could throw society into chaos.
• Liu said Penguin's financial and gaming businesses served people and deserved to continue, and Teng thanked him for sparing the company.
• Liu told Teng to log into his Gemini account and announce that Penguin was bowing its head in submission to Gemini.

Teng Hualong confessed that he had arranged Li Daode’s assassination and revealed that powerful elites were modifying their bodies to gain strength. Liu Di demonstrated even greater strength, killed a sniper who had come for him, and asked Heidina to call the police.

• Teng Hualong resisted posting on Gemini to admit defeat, but Liu Di warned him not to break their wager.
• Teng Hualong admitted that he had allowed Li Daode to assassinate Liu Di and explained that he wanted to surpass him physically.
• Teng Hualong revealed that he had modified his body and crushed a copper lighter to demonstrate his strength.
• Liu Di effortlessly compressed the lighter into a smooth metal ball, showing that his strength exceeded Teng Hualong’s.
• Liu Di hurled the metal ball across a hundred meters and struck a sniper hiding on a nearby rooftop.
• Liu Di told Heidina to call the police after the sniper fell, and she ran to the office in a panic.

After Creator’s spectacular livestream and Witnesses’ explosive growth made Emperor San a global force, Creator announced a one-year countdown before its next changes. Yan Hongxin arranged to meet Liu Di to repair the Yan Family’s relationship with him, but a truck struck his car and left his fate unknown.

• Liu Di demonstrated his strength to Teng Hualong, who gave him a black ring and posted a message conceding defeat to Creator.
• Creator’s four-hour livestream captivated audiences across China, and Teng Hualong’s post about Penguin following Creator became an online sensation.
• Witnesses’ investments and the livestream drove three apps to hundreds of millions of users, revealing Creator’s technology and investment network as a powerful growth chain.
• Emperor San announced that Creator would strengthen its foundation and introduce new changes after a one-year countdown.
• Yan Hongxin messaged Liu Di asking to meet, received his agreement, and was then critically injured when a cement truck rammed his sedan.

Liu Di hypnotized Spade 7 and learned how the Poker Club used its coded language, Apocalypse, while examining the group's mysterious metal cards. After Old Master Yan was critically injured in a car accident, Liu Di found Yan Yiwen waiting outside his ward and discovered that her sketchbook contained Apocalypse code.

• Liu Di hypnotized Spade 7 and learned that the Poker Club trained its killers separately and sent messages through raised and recessed dots called Apocalypse.
• Magic Child identified the metal cards' unknown black substance as a rare material that could transform and release energy, and Liu Di persuaded Duan Hua to lend him the evidence.
• Liu Di learned that Old Master Yan had been critically injured in a car accident and went to Yingzhi Hospital with Duan Hua.
• Liu Di found Yan Yiwen crying outside Old Master Yan's intensive care ward and suspected her involvement in the accident.
• Liu Di examined Yan Yiwen's sketchbook and found Apocalypse code embossed in its pages.

Liu Di deciphered Yan Yiwen’s coded messages and confronted her about the Poker Club, its orders, and the child it was using to control her. When Old Master Yan’s brain activity began to fail, Liu Di revived it by speaking the name Liu Manwen and revealed that she was a vegetative patient he had searched for decades.

• Liu Di translated Yan Yiwen’s Apocalypse messages and used his overwhelming presence to stop her from attacking him.
• Liu Di confronted Yan Yiwen about refusing the Poker Club’s assassination orders and learned that the club had threatened her with access to a child.
• An alarm sounded as Old Master Yan’s brain activity declined, and doctors warned that he might die or remain comatose.
• Liu Di asked Magic Child for help, then tested names from Old Master Yan’s past until Liu Manwen’s name halted the decline and restored stable brain activity.
• Liu Di told the Yan sisters to bring Liu Manwen from the Hengzhou City Vegetative Patient Care Center, explaining that she was Old Master Yan’s long-lost love and was also in a vegetative state.

Liu Di explained that Old Master Yan’s love for Liu Manwen had given him the will to survive, then rejected the claim that the crash was an ordinary accident. He identified the white-clad figure in the surveillance footage as Qiu Beiming.

• Liu Di said that recalling Liu Manwen had awakened Old Master Yan’s will to live and explained how he had tracked her down.
• The Yan Family’s four daughters regretted failing to understand their father’s devotion, while Yan Kaikai thanked Liu Di.
• Yan Qingwen showed Liu Di surveillance footage of a white-clad figure near the crash and a message from Old Master Yan asking to meet him.
• Duan Hua said the truck driver had confessed to causing an ordinary accident, but Liu Di insisted it was no accident and named Qiu Beiming as the figure in white.

Liu Di confronted Yan Yiwen about Qiu Beiming and uncovered their hidden relationship, her child, and Qiu Beiming’s role in the attacks on Old Master Yan. Yan Yiwen warned Liu Di that Qiu Beiming was exceptionally powerful and that Poker Club had ordered all its modified assassins to kill him.

• Liu Di named Qiu Beiming and demanded that Yan Yiwen explain why he had been at the scene of the car accident.
• Yan Yiwen chased Liu Di into the corridor and begged him not to go after Qiu Beiming.
• Liu Di deduced that Yan Yiwen had loved Qiu Beiming, borne his child abroad, and become an assassin under Poker Club’s control, while Qiu Beiming secretly killed her targets.
• Liu Di told Yan Yiwen that Old Master Yan had known about her child and had searched for the child, leaving Yan Yiwen overwhelmed with guilt.
• Yan Yiwen revealed that Qiu Beiming was above B-Class and warned that Poker Club’s fifty-plus modified assassins had received orders to kill Liu Di.

Liu learned that Qiu Beiming was a B+ Class modified human with a brainwave-based hypnotic ability and confronted him at Yan Yiwen’s villa. Qiu’s hypnosis failed to affect Liu, who refused his command to smash his own skull.

• Liu warned Yan Yiwen to fulfill her filial duty to Old Master Yan and leave before he changed his mind, then walked away.
• Yan Qingwen questioned Yan Yiwen about Liu and Qiu Beiming, then teamed up with Duan Hua to investigate Qiu before heading to Hengzhou to find Liu Manwen.
• Magic Child explained the modified human rankings and offered to help Liu briefly experience the power of a New Human.
• Liu used security footage to discover Qiu Beiming watching Ouyang Fengyu asleep at Yan Yiwen’s villa and went there to confront him.
• Qiu Beiming invited Liu to join him in destroying the Yan Family, then used brainwaves to command Liu to smash his own skull.
• Magic Child explained that Qiu’s hypnosis did not work on Liu, who asked what would happen if he refused.

Liu watched Qiu Beiming use Brain Corrosion, but Magic Child studied the technology while Liu remained unaffected. When King of Spades arrived to capture Qiu Beiming and Yan Yiwen, Magic Child released Combat Awareness, and Liu instantly killed him with a single strike.

• Qiu Beiming intensified Brain Corrosion, believing Liu had lost the ability to act, while Magic Child analyzed the device’s radio waves through Liu’s senses.
• Yan Yiwen returned and pleaded with Qiu Beiming to stop killing people, but Qiu Beiming insisted he was protecting her and their child.
• King of Spades burst into the bedroom and revealed that he had followed Yan Yiwen for three days to capture her, Qiu Beiming, and Emperor San.
• King of Spades dispersed Qiu Beiming’s Brain Corrosion and threatened Liu, who revealed that he had never been incapacitated.
• Magic Child released Combat Awareness through The Right Eye, sharpening Liu’s perception and changing how he judged King of Spades.
• Liu crossed the room in an instant and struck King of Spades beneath the chin, killing him.