Chapter Summaries

Xi Xiu and her team fought the resilient creatures while investigating their behavior, then pulled back when activity surged underground. A white creature with golden leaves emerged as their apparent leader, and A Xian charged toward it after Night Soul Grass reduced an unknown substance in the air.

• Xi Xiu warned the warriors that the creatures could learn from and imitate their attacks, and ordered them to record battle data while staying airborne.
• Ebony crushed the creatures that copied it, and Jiu Dan alerted Xi Xiu to an unknown substance in the air that was later traced to Ebony’s vines.
• After three hours of fighting, Xi Xiu detected intense underground movement and ordered the teams and Ebony to retreat into the air.
• A Xian identified the creatures as having waited for a leader, and Xi Xiu spotted a snow-white individual with golden leaves and golden eyes emerging from underground.
• A Xian judged the golden creature to be artificially created, then warned Xi Xiu about the changing air as Night Soul Grass spread across the ground and reduced the unknown substance.
• A Xian and Shi Ding charged toward the enemy while Xi Xiu ordered the others to remain airborne and continue using their previous tactics.

A Xian confronted a golden half-animal, half-plant individual that claimed the underground as its kingdom and suspected it was connected to the Anvile People. The Night Soul Grass and Shi Ding defeated the creatures with a toxin counterattack, and A Xian captured the golden individual after it revealed that even Wu Jingxi had once been vulnerable to its poison.

• The golden individual greeted A Xian in flawless Anvile and declared the underground its kingdom, while A Xian ordered Shi Ding to analyze the soil.
• A Xian decided to capture the golden individual, and the Night Soul Grass withdrew beneath her feet after she noticed its interest in the grass as food.
• The golden individual talked to distract A Xian while releasing a neurotoxin, but she had the Night Soul Grass absorb it and send it back.
• The golden individual increased the toxin dosage, so the Night Soul Grass added its own substance and Shi Ding spread the mixture throughout A Xian's Protective Shield.
• The creatures collapsed and the Night Soul Grass ate them; the golden individual revealed that not even Wu Jingxi could withstand its toxin, and A Xian bound it.

Wu Jingxian overwhelmed the Golden Individual with her Mental Power and Night Soul Grass, then beat it while demanding answers. The Golden Individual spat out its animal organs and recovered through plantlike healing, preparing to attack A Xian with Exotic Plants.

• Wu Jingxian used Night Soul Grass to drain the surrounding creatures, leaving them as shriveled husks.
• A Xian crushed the Golden Individual with her Mental Power, restrained it, and repeatedly whipped it with a rope for hurting Jing Xi.
• The Golden Individual begged for mercy as A Xian continued beating it, depleting the special substance that kept its eyes golden.
• The Golden Individual warned that stronger foes existed in Jing Su, then spat out its animal-side internal organs.
• Wu Jingxian leaped away but kept hold of the rope as the Golden Individual healed and vowed to kill her with Exotic Plants.

A Xian fought the Golden Individual, discovering it feared Anvile’s golden energy and using her hair to weaken it. She captured its consciousness for Jing Xi and Wu Jingyang to investigate, while the creatures it led fell into chaos.

• The Golden Individual transformed its arms into thorny branches and enclosed itself in a protective sphere as A Xian tried to capture it alive.
• A Xian sent Night Soul Grass leaves and fragments of her golden hair through the branches, and the Golden Individual began suffering as Anvile’s energy destroyed its body.
• A Xian explained that the Golden Individual’s toxin had accumulated in Jing Xi over years before erupting during their later encounter.
• A Xian broke through the branches and used the Consciousness Stripper on the dying Golden Individual to preserve its consciousness for examination.
• The creatures realized they could no longer sense their leader’s aura, and chaos broke out.

Xi Xiu sent Yi Mingda and his team underground to destroy the Transmission Channel while soldiers fought the creatures emerging on the surface. Their first attack was swallowed by the channel, but Liang Jingxian recalculated its shifting position and the second detonation succeeded, with the blast contained by the Protective Shield.

• Xi Xiu ordered Yi Mingda, Liang Jingxian, Nan Hejia, Huang Chuanhu, and Xia Wentao to destroy the underground channel while Flora and the others held back the creatures above.
• Xi Xiu warned the soldiers to withdraw before the demolition and messaged A Xian that the blast would shake the ground but would not reach her.
• Yi Mingda assigned Nan Hejia to deploy weapons, Huang Chuanhu and Xia Wentao to set up the barrier, and Liang Jingxian to analyze the channel.
• Nan Hejia and Yi Mingda launched weapons at Liang Jingxian's initial coordinates, but the channel swallowed them without detonating.
• Liang Jingxian recalculated the channel's shifting position, and Yi Mingda's team launched a second attack that detonated inside the Protective Shield.

Xi Xiu and A Xian returned to Xu Zhuming’s laboratory after the creatures withdrew underground, bringing evolved specimens and news that their leader could produce a toxin affecting the central nervous system. Xu Zhuming revealed that the creatures developed along animal or plant paths and that thousands of genetic profiles traced back to the same male and female pair.

• After the second explosion collapsed the passage, Xi Xiu directed the cleanup and kept soldiers on watch while Xu Zhuming planted miniature recorders to study the creatures’ reproduction.
• Flora and He Yinlei coordinated in battle, and Xi Xiu withdrew the soldiers at night after the creatures burrowed into the soil.
• A Xian told Xi Xiu she had captured the enemy leader, removed its consciousness, and planned to send it to Anvile for copying and study.
• Xi Xiu and A Xian warned Xu Zhuming that the leader had ambushed the Grand Princess with a toxin that could threaten soldiers with weaker Mental Power.
• Xu Zhuming explained that the creatures could develop as animals or plants, with plant individuals ten times stronger, and confirmed that 3,000 genetic profiles came from one male and one female.

A Xian and Xi Xiu learned how the underground creatures reproduced, while Xu Zhuming began testing their leader and developing ways to stop them. A Xian secretly sent evidence to Anvile, where Jing Xi prepared to investigate the creature that had ambushed her.

• Xu Zhuming explained that the creatures reproduced by shedding paternal and maternal genetic information into the soil, and said he had a lead on how to stop them.
• A Xian gave Xu Zhuming a copy of the leader's consciousness and its body for analysis, explaining that it could produce a toxin that attacked the central nervous system.
• Xu Zhuming provided preliminary reproductive countermeasures and identified an unknown substance, while Xi Xiu reassured A Xian that Night Soul Grass was probably safe.
• A Xian secretly sent the evidence to Anvile with her guard, then shared images of the creatures with Jing Xi, who did not recognize them.
• Jing Xi raised Anvile's defense level and began coordinating with Wu Jingyang to find the creature that had ambushed her; Xi Xiu said researchers had not yet identified the creatures' paternal and maternal lines.

Xi Xiu and Jing Xi discussed A Xian’s account of the creature linked to Jing Xi’s past ambush, while Anvile prepared for threats and Xi Xiu considered her team’s possible transfer to Liuning Fortress. The next morning, Xi Xiu examined the creatures’ behavior and visited Xu Zhuming’s laboratory, where researchers had identified the toxin’s direction but still lacked an antidote.

• Jing Xi questioned A Xian about who knew of the creature and learned that only Xi Xiu had been told; Xi Xiu and A Xian then recounted what they had experienced.
• Xi Xiu reflected that her team might transfer to Liuning Fortress after the mission and decided she should give her soldiers time to choose whether to go with her.
• Xi Xiu reviewed overnight underground data and noticed the creatures stayed active, shrank, and ate adults that had completed Genetic Information Exchange.
• Xi Xiu checked on the camp and its recovering warriors before going with A Xian to Xu Zhuming’s laboratory.
• Xu Zhuming told Xi Xiu that his team had identified the toxin’s direction but had not found an antidote.

Xi Xiu learned that a creature's toxin could paralyze the central nervous system, but Doctor Xu Zhuming had prepared an antidote that had to be taken within ten seconds. She returned to camp to brief the soldiers and plan their response before the next battle.

• Xi Xiu asked Xu Zhuming for protection against the toxin, and he explained that the antidote worked only within ten seconds of detection.
• Xu Zhuming agreed to prepare five thousand doses, while he and his assistant worried that the soldiers might not have enough time to use them.
• Xi Xiu and A Xian returned to camp, and A Xian estimated she could send a warning two seconds after detecting the toxin.
• Xi Xiu called an all-hands meeting and told the soldiers about the toxin and the emergency antidote.

Xi Xiu organized an assault squad to enter the battlefield and gather data about the toxins while the laboratory continued testing. She left Yi Mingda and Flora to guard the camp and led the squad toward the battlefield’s center, where creatures had gathered.

• Liang Jingxian reported that the warriors could have eight seconds to take medicine after an alarm, but Xi Xiu warned that confirming who had been poisoned would be difficult.
• Xi Xiu announced that the team would scout the battlefield while Xu Zhuming worked to obtain accurate toxin data by that night.
• Su Jinbao and several warriors volunteered to join Xi Xiu, while Yi Mingda stayed behind to guard the camp and Flora helped with camp affairs.
• Xi Xiu distributed medicine capsules and instructed the squad to bite them only if they noticed signs of poisoning.
• Xi Xiu led A Xian and the assault squad toward the battlefield’s center, where Combat Robots had multiplied and creatures were gathered.

Xi Xiu and her team baited the Golden Individuals with a fragment of their leader’s Consciousness Backup to study their toxins while fighting them. When several creatures released an undetectable toxin, Xi Xiu fired a dispersal light cannon to warn the soldiers.

• Xi Xiu learned that the Golden Individuals would recognize whoever recovered their leader’s Consciousness Copy as their new leader, so she and A Xian used a fragment of the backup as bait.
• Xi Xiu coordinated a trap with Yi Mingda and the others, then entered the battlefield with A Xian, He Yinlei, and the soldiers behind a protective barrier.
• The Golden Individuals tried to overwhelm the team and target Ebony, but Xi Xiu and Ebony cut down the attackers while a cunning creature secretly maneuvered closer to Ebony.
• Xi Xiu detected several Golden Individuals’ leaves turning pale gold as they released an astringent, sweet-scented toxin that reached her central nervous system.
• Xi Xiu fired a dispersal light cannon into the air to alert the soldiers to the toxin they could not detect.

Xi Xiu’s team survived the poison attack, gathered valuable data, and returned to camp with Ebony’s captured creatures. Xu Zhuming received the samples and symptoms to begin developing an antidote.

• Su Jinbao and the other poisoned team members bit through their emergency capsules and recovered, while Xi Xiu and A Xian recorded their symptoms.
• Xi Xiu ordered the team to withdraw after confirming everyone was safe and the mission data was sufficient.
• Ebony dragged its captured creatures toward camp, and the jolts along the way fatally injured the creature it had bound first.
• Xi Xiu delivered the captured creatures and poisoning data to Xu Zhuming at the laboratory outside the Protective Shield.
• Xu Zhuming thanked Xi Xiu and said his team would handle the remaining work on the antidote.

Xi Xiu and the warriors prepared a trap to lure the underground creatures into a grassland and attack them, while Xu Zhuming’s team struggled to develop an antidote. The trap was ready by nightfall, and the researchers hoped for help from the Moda People as the next day’s battle approached.

• Xi Xiu returned from the laboratory and reviewed Yi Mingda and Flora’s trap model, adding more locations for the leader’s Consciousness Copy.
• Xi Xiu, Su Jinbao, and the others improved the plan with decoy buildings and assigned teams to their positions.
• Yi Mingda and his team prepared a grassland with fast-growing seeds while Xi Xiu led the construction of fake laboratory buildings.
• The warriors took their positions in researcher uniforms, while the outer-perimeter teams rested in space before the next day’s battle.
• Xu Zhuming and his assistant continued working on the medicine and considered seeking help from the Moda People.
• The researchers reported that a growth inhibitor was already working underground, while a medicine to kill the creatures’ genetic information was expected the next day.

Xu Zhuming and his assistant worked through the night to develop a suppressant that would stop the creatures from evolving, while reflecting on the soldiers’ courage and the importance of their own work. By morning, Yi Mingda and the others had lured the hungry creatures onto the grassland with the treated grass, preparing to capture them.

• Xu Zhuming told his assistant that battlefields were dangerous and cautioned him not to underestimate Hong Xixiu, whose abilities and connections suggested she had other identities.
• The assistant admitted his earlier assumptions about the soldiers had been wrong and resolved to help protect them through his research.
• Yi Mingda and the others used a wind-generating device to spread the grassland’s scent toward nearby creatures while remaining concealed.
• The laboratory delivered a suppressant that would prevent the creatures from evolving if they ate the treated grass.
• Despite their suspicions, the hungry creatures rushed onto the grassland and began eating.

Xi Xiu’s forces fought off the creatures seeking to reclaim their leader’s Consciousness Copy after Xu Zhuming’s team found a way to filter their toxins. As the creatures began choosing safer targets and showed signs of growing smarter, Xi Xiu and A Xian planned to draw them in by exposing more of the copy.

• The creatures sensed the released fragments of their leader’s Consciousness Copy and split up to search for them, while Xi Xiu warned the squad captains to watch their movements.
• Xu Zhuming told Xi Xiu that soldiers could filter the toxins with reagent boxes, so she rushed production and organized shifts to keep the battlefield staffed.
• The soldiers and Ebony defeated the attacking creatures, whose bodies dissolved in their white fluid, but the Golden Individuals tried to ambush He Yinlei from underground.
• He Yinlei shot several Golden Individuals, and the survivors fled toward the squad captains instead of Xi Xiu and A Xian.
• Xi Xiu proposed increasing the exposed Consciousness Copy to two-thirds, while A Xian offered to take the entire copy and lure the creatures herself; Xi Xiu agreed and warned her to act before they transformed into plants.

A Xian confronted the Golden Individuals and recorded their transformations and combat abilities while fighting them with help from the Night Soul Grass. When several revealed purer gold in their eyes, she suspected Qin Hongjun had used Anvile genes to create them, leaving her Protective Suit increasingly damaged as she searched for proof.

• A Xian went to confront the Golden Individuals, who tried to evolve into plants by pulling out their organs and consuming them.
• Several Golden Individuals transformed into lethal, vine-covered plants, and A Xian summoned Shi Ding while the Night Soul Grass plunged into the white liquid.
• A Xian recorded the plants' transformation and fought them with gunfire, dodging their vines and cutting them as they tried to bind and drown her.
• The plants' tangled vines drained their energy, but several individuals' eyes deepened to a purer gold and their attacks grew stronger.
• A Xian suspected Qin Hongjun had experimented on Anvile People and mixed Anvile genes into the Golden Individuals, while her Protective Suit neared its limits.

A Xian and Shi Ding defeated the plant-like organisms, captured survivors, and arranged for them to be studied near Anvile. As Xi Xiu and A Xian reviewed Qin Hongjun’s threat, Xu Zhuming searched for a way to make the medicine before dawn, while the investigation into the organisms continued.

• A Xian blinded and severed the plant-like organisms, Night Soul Grass consumed their white liquid, and Shi Ding captured several survivors for research.
• Wu Jingyang prepared a laboratory near Anvile, while A Xian told Xi Xiu that her mission was complete and Xi Xiu reported that the trap had destroyed most of the Golden Individuals.
• Xi Xiu and Yi Mingda decided to set another trap the next day, and Xu Zhuming found a breakthrough in his calculations and began working toward making the medicine before dawn.
• Xi Xiu reinforced the camp’s defenses and explained to A Xian that Qin Hongjun sought to destroy Anvile and remake Jingsu, warning that his long preparations suggested he believed he was ready to act.

Xi Xiu and A Xian prepared to leave for Liuning as the Huovian people infiltrated planets in the Ningkui Star System, while scientists developed an antidote for the creatures’ toxin. Li Zhengfeng reported that Eternal Robot star pirates were resurfacing across the Alliance and raiding for energy and supplies.

• Xi Xiu explained that Qin Hongjun was gambling on rebuilding the rules, and A Xian decided to leave the matter to Wu Jingyang.
• Xi Xiu told A Xian that Huovian infiltrators were suspected on three populous planets near the Ningkui Star System’s border defenses, and they discussed dealing with them at Liuning Fortress.
• Yi Mingda repositioned his traps, while the laboratory developed medicine that could counter the creatures’ toxin even after it reached the central nervous system.
• Xi Xiu informed the soldiers that an antidote was ready, then reminded them to kill the creatures and collect data on their mutations before battle.
• Li Zhengfeng reported that star pirates were again plundering energy and supplies across the Alliance, and that the active pirates were Eternal Robots bearing names from hundreds of years ago.

Li Zhengfeng’s report led Xi Xiu and Qing Zhixun to uncover how Qin Jian had secretly communicated with the outside world and caused unknown entities to enter the Central Brain’s Virtual Network. The Central Brain identified Qin Jian’s hidden backup systems as the source, while Qin Jian remained in custody and his allies’ next move was unknown.

• Li Zhengfeng told Xi Xiu that unregistered people and objects were appearing in the Virtual Network, so Xi Xiu alerted Qing Zhixun and asked Lei Qingru and Deng Guanghuai to investigate Qin Jian.
• Qing Wenxu and Qing Shichen reviewed Qin Jian’s surveillance and found that he appeared calm, but Qing Shichen noticed him repeatedly touching the same characters in a book.
• Qing Shichen decoded those characters into coordinates for a planet near Ningkui Star, and Qing Wenxu sent personnel to investigate while deciding not to move Qin Jian.
• The investigators found that Qin Jian’s resources had already been removed, and the Central Brain reconstructed an image of a large computing system that resembled an earlier copy of itself.
• The Central Brain concluded that Qin Jian’s backups had bypassed surveillance, leaked footage of his detention, and created the data entities entering its Virtual Network.
• Qing Zhixun relayed the findings to Xi Xiu, who realized Qin Jian still had hidden agents and that some might inform Qin Hongjun.

Xi Xiu and the others suspected Qin Hongjun might use Qin Jian’s coordinates to rescue him through a Teleportation Channel, while the Central Brain investigated the risk. After the battlefield was cleared, Xu Zhuming’s findings showed the creatures had reached the planet through transplanted plants, and Su Jinbao found both old and new addresses in the channel data.

• The Central Brain told Xi Xiu and Qing Zhixun that Qin Jian had backed up its data, and Xi Xiu warned that Qin Hongjun could cooperate with Qin Jian and use his coordinates to reach him.
• Xi Xiu asked the Central Brain to analyze whether the channel could be built in reverse, then returned with A Xian to the battlefield as the medicine wiped out the creatures.
• The soldiers cleared the battlefield before evening, and Xu Zhuming traced the creatures’ arrival and showed Xi Xiu their movement routes in an animation.
• Yi Mingda pointed out that the planet had received many transplanted plants, suggesting the creatures’ first generation had arrived among their roots and later transmitted the planet’s coordinates.
• Su Jinbao compared the Teleportation Channel data and told Liang Jingxian that it contained both old and new addresses.