Chapter Summaries

Jiang Hao ran out of money after opening twelve bank accounts in Munich and struggled to find work because he was on a tourist visa. He secured a chef job at a bar, then learned its head chef had recently quit and the two remaining cooks were still trainees.

• Jiang Hao opened twelve bank accounts and used most of his money to make deposits, leaving himself with only a little over a hundred Euros.
• Jiang Hao failed to find work at several shops because his tourist visa made their owners unwilling to hire him.
• Jiang Hao impressed a bar owner by cooking five dishes and accepted a job as the bar’s chef for 1,200 Euros a month, with meals included.
• Jiang Hao wrote a ten-dish menu and met the two kitchen workers, who welcomed him as their new head chef.
• Jiang Hao learned that the previous head chef had quit two days earlier and the two workers could only make simple dishes.

Jiang Hao settled into his tavern job in Munich while preparing to place World Cup bets across hundreds of accounts. He grew closer to Ukrainian server Valentina Kurilko, who invited him to explore the city, and their conversation ended with her expressing hope that Yulia Tymoshenko would lead Ukraine’s recovery.

• Jiang Hao met Valentina Kurilko at the tavern and agreed to help her learn Chinese.
• Jiang Hao registered more than three hundred betting accounts and spread them across his twelve bank cards as he prepared for the World Cup.
• Jiang Hao’s cooking drew more customers to the tavern, while Valentina often visited the kitchen to talk with him.
• Valentina invited Jiang Hao to tour Munich, and he happily accepted.
• Jiang Hao and Valentina toured Munich and discussed Ukrainian politics, including Valentina’s admiration for Yulia Tymoshenko.

Jiang Hao ended his tavern job and said goodbye to Valentina as they prepared to follow separate paths during the World Cup. He used his knowledge of the tournament to bet on Germany’s opening match, won by predicting the exact score, and wagered his remaining money on Ecuador’s next game.

• Jiang Hao and Valentina agreed to spend three months together before she returned to Ukraine, and they enjoyed their time in Munich.
• Jiang Hao resigned from the tavern as the World Cup approached, while Valentina quit her restaurant job to work as an assistant interpreter for Ukraine’s national team.
• Jiang Hao spread eight €200 bets across gambling websites on Germany to beat Costa Rica 4–2.
• Germany defeated Costa Rica 4–2, and Jiang Hao celebrated winning more than €80,000.
• Jiang Hao bet his remaining €2,400 on Ecuador to defeat Poland 2–0.

Jiang Hao used his World Cup betting winnings to relocate to Hong Kong and hire a security company. He arranged personal protection and proposed spending 100 million US Dollars on a mission to stop Japan’s dolphin slaughter.

• Jiang Hao won more than 100 million Euros through cautious World Cup bets and left for Hong Kong after destroying his other belongings.
• In Hong Kong, Jiang Hao bet on Ukraine to beat Saudi Arabia 4–0 and stood to win more than 13 million Euros.
• Jiang Hao hired BENI Tal to provide a four-person security detail after saying he feared investigation over his casino winnings.
• Jiang Hao asked William to arrange an illegal mission in Japan to stop dolphin slaughter without necessarily killing anyone.
• Jiang Hao offered 100 million US Dollars to begin the mission, and William agreed to have headquarters evaluate his request.

Jiang Hao hired a security company to protect him and agreed to fund a plan using the Japanese Yakuza to disrupt dolphin hunting. He learned that stopping the hunt completely would likely require billions of dollars, leaving him determined to earn more money.

• Jiang Hao reasoned that paying mercenaries well would help secure their loyalty and keep gambling companies from becoming his enemies.
• William took Jiang Hao to the BENI Tal International Security Company, where Jiang Hao hired a team of four former Israeli Special Forces soldiers for one year.
• William explained that the company proposed using the Japanese Yakuza to pressure fishermen who hunted dolphins.
• Jiang Hao agreed to pay 80 million US Dollars for the plan's first three months and said the partnership could end if too few dolphins were saved.
• William said completely ending Japan's dolphin hunt might take international and domestic pressure and cost billions of US Dollars, and Jiang Hao resolved to make more money.

Jiang Hao settled into a rented Hong Kong villa while preparing a security-backed campaign to protect dolphins in Japan. He used his knowledge of World Cup results to earn 680 million Euros after taxes, leaving him with funds to pay for the operation and consider investing in Chinese real estate.

• Jiang Hao rented a villa in Beverly Hills Villa, Mid-Levels, Tai Po, and had David install alarms while his bodyguards stayed downstairs.
• Jiang Hao approved Cohen's plan to use the newly established Dolphin Home Protection Organization as cover for the campaign, which would launch in September.
• Jiang Hao placed bets on World Cup matches through many bookmakers and accumulated over 800 million Euros in his accounts by July 9.
• Jiang Hao bet on the final between Italy and France, which ended 1:1 before Italy won 6:4 on penalties, and made 930 million Euros in profit across the tournament.
• Jiang Hao received 680 million Euros after taxes and rejected banks' investment offers, considering buying buildings in major Chinese cities instead.

After the World Cup, Jiang Hao visited Valentina in Kyiv and surprised her by buying her a villa and a car. Valentina eagerly moved into her new home with him.

• Jiang Hao hired William and BENI Tal to investigate possible threats from betting companies, and they concluded he was safe.
• Jiang Hao traveled to Kyiv, where Valentina greeted him and learned that his companions were bodyguards.
• Valentina showed Jiang Hao around Kyiv and described the country's economic troubles and her modest living conditions.
• David brought Jiang Hao and Valentina to a renovated villa that Jiang Hao had bought for her for 340,000 US Dollars.
• Jiang Hao gave Valentina the villa keys and the Volvo SUV, and she excitedly decided to move in that night.

Jiang Hao returned to Hong Kong, funded William’s campaign against Japanese whaling, and traveled with him to Taiji Town to witness a staged protest. The chapter ended as Jiang Hao watched Yakuza members and naked women attract reporters with anti-dolphin-hunting demonstrations.

• Valentina accepted Jiang Hao’s bank card and asked him to remember his little lover in Ukraine.
• Jiang Hao returned to Hong Kong, heard William’s preparations for the operation, and transferred him another twenty million.
• William took Jiang Hao and his four bodyguards to Japan and brought them to Taiji Town the next day.
• Jiang Hao saw tattooed Yakuza members protest dolphin hunting and heard one give a dramatic account of being saved by a dolphin.
• Jiang Hao saw naked women holding anti-whaling signs as reporters gathered to photograph them.

Jiang Hao and William watched their staged dolphin-protection protest in Taiji Town escalate into a fight between the naked protesters and angry village women. The police struggled to control the brawl as reporters filmed the chaos.

• William told Jiang Hao that two thousand protesters had been deployed across Japanese dolphin-hunting villages to shape public opinion.
• Taiji Town villagers met and decided to drive the protesters out to protect their fishing industry and income.
• More than a hundred village women confronted the protesters in the square, and the two groups traded insults.
• One village woman charged, and the village women overwhelmed and beat the protesters.
• Police tried to intervene, but an officer fell onto a woman as reporters crowded in to film the disorder.

Jiang Hao inspected Golan’s dolphin-protection operation aboard a yacht and learned how its fleet would interfere with Japanese fishermen. After resting, he was summoned at five in the morning because the fishermen had made their move.

• Police broke up the fight between the village women and the social workers, sending the injured women to the hospital and taking more than a dozen villagers for questioning.
• William took Jiang Hao to a yacht, where Golan introduced him to the Operations Command Center and its plan to use twenty fishing boats to disrupt dolphin hunts.
• Golan explained that the rented boats would be crewed by local gang members and dispatched as soon as the fishermen headed to sea.
• Jiang Hao watched news coverage of the protests and the fight before falling asleep in his cabin.
• A camouflage-clad young man woke Jiang Hao at five in the morning and told him that the fishermen had made their move.

Jiang Hao and Golan’s team disrupted Taiji Town fishermen’s dolphin hunts, saving nearly a thousand dolphins in five operations. The command room prepared to intercept boats from another village as the day’s rescues continued.

• Jiang Hao arrived at the command room, where Golan showed him Taiji Town fishermen heading out to sea to hunt dolphins.
• Twelve Taiji Town boats encircled a pod of more than two hundred dolphins and began driving them toward shore.
• Golan sent Action Team Boats One through Ten to disrupt the hunt, and their boats forced the fishermen to abandon the pursuit as the dolphins escaped.
• Jiang Hao received a system notification confirming that 239 dolphins had been saved, and he praised the successful operation.
• Golan ordered a second action group to prepare for boats from another fishing village, and the team disrupted that hunt along with several more operations.
• Jiang Hao received five rescue notifications for the day, with nearly a thousand dolphins saved.

Jiang Hao and Golan watched villagers drive the Yakuza out of Taiji Town, then sent an action team to disrupt the whaling fleet. The fishermen charged the team after more than six hundred dolphins escaped, and the lead captain ordered them to surround and sink the interfering boats.

• Hundreds of Taiji Town villagers confronted the Yakuza, and police intervened before a fight broke out and the gangsters left.
• Jiang Hao won a one-hundred-dollar bet with Golan that the villagers and Yakuza would not fight.
• The next morning, Jiang Hao and Golan ordered the action team to harass the whaling boats as the fishing fleet headed out to sea.
• The fishermen charged the interfering boats, but the action team kept disrupting the fleet and allowed a pod of dolphins to escape.
• After Jiang Hao received notifications that more than six hundred dolphins had been saved, the lead-boat captain ordered the fishermen to surround and sink the action team.

Jiang Hao ordered Glenn’s team to ram the Japanese fishermen’s boats, forcing them to retreat and abandon their dolphin hunt. After saving more than 10,000 dolphins, Jiang Hao chose to stay and pursue more points, and Glenn reported another successful intervention.

• Jiang Hao stopped Glenn from retreating and ordered him to make the Japanese fishermen fear the team, promising to cover the damage costs.
• Glenn sent the action team’s boats back against the pursuing fishermen, and they damaged several fishing boats and injured a boat owner.
• The Japanese fishermen retreated without catching any dolphins, while the gang continued protesting at the village entrance.
• Twelve days later, Jiang Hao received a system notification that he had saved 10,023 dolphins and completed the mission.
• Jiang Hao decided not to return yet and went to the command room, where Glenn told him they had stopped another hunting operation.

Jiang Hao paid Goran’s security company to burn the fishing boats in eighteen Japanese villages after government pressure stopped their efforts to block dolphin hunting. The fires prevented further fishing operations, and the system credited Jiang Hao with indirectly saving 25,613 dolphins.

• Jiang Hao told Goran to hire more people and boats to stop dolphin hunting, spending heavily as protests and clashes between fishermen and gang members escalated.
• After gang members were beaten to death and the government deployed Self-Defense Force vessels, Goran told Jiang Hao their operation could not continue.
• Jiang Hao checked his mission panel, saw that he had already exceeded the dolphin-saving target, and ordered Goran to burn the fishing boats.
• Goran’s company agreed to burn the boats in all eighteen villages for 54 million US dollars and later gave Jiang Hao access to a livestream.
• A team poured gasoline over the boats and set them ablaze, while coordinated teams burned boats in other villages at nearly the same time.
• The system notified Jiang Hao that the action had indirectly saved 25,613 dolphins.

Jiang Hao completed the dolphin rescue mission and received an animal communication ability and a potion that could infect dolphins with a virus harmful to people who ate them. In the Maldives, he secretly gave the potion to a bottlenose dolphin, rode her in front of astonished tourists, and returned to shore promising to play with her again.

• Jiang Hao completed the rescue mission and claimed the rewards of animal communication and an animal gene potion.
• Jiang Hao traveled to the Maldives and found a bottlenose dolphin near Kandima Island.
• Jiang Hao used his new ability to communicate with the dolphin, fed her fish, and poured the potion into her mouth.
• Jiang Hao rode the dolphin across the water as tourists watched and recognized him.
• Jiang Hao returned to the island and told curious tourists to communicate with their hearts.

After a quiet stretch in Binhai, Jiang Hao saw reports of widespread mercury poisoning in Japan. The government traced the poison to dolphin meat from Taiji Town, and the chapter ended with the public blaming dolphin hunting for provoking the dolphins’ revenge.

• Jiang Hao returned to Binhai from the Maldives and resumed his quiet daily routine, briefly chatting with Zhou Xinyan during a morning run.
• Half a month later, Jiang Hao noticed news about Minamata disease as diners across Japan collapsed after eating whale and dolphin meat.
• Japanese hospitals identified the victims’ illness as severe mercury poisoning, and reports of cases spread throughout Japan.
• Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced that the victims had eaten dolphin meat from the same Taiji Town catch, which contained two thousand times the mercury found in ordinary animal meat.
• A Japanese biologist criticized the government for ignoring earlier warnings, while netizens worried about poisoned school meals and called the outbreak the dolphins’ revenge on humanity.

After Jiang Hao’s Animal Gene Potion was linked to mercury poisoning in dolphins, reports of contamination caused countries to restrict Japanese seafood and devastated dolphin fishing. Jiang Hao tested his Animal Communication Ability on pets at a market and continued on to the bird section.

• News of Minamata disease spread from Japan to Norway, Iceland, and South Korea, prompting countries to inspect and restrict Japanese seafood imports.
• A marine biology research institution reported that eight dolphin species had extreme organic mercury levels, while other marine creatures showed no mercury poisoning after eating dead dolphins.
• Jiang Hao called a sparrow to his window and sensed its curiosity, fear, and desire to approach.
• Jiang Hao visited Binhai City’s flower, bird, fish, and insect market and sensed the thoughts of a Golden Retriever, a Shar Pei, and a husky.
• Jiang Hao passed through the pet stalls and reached the bird section.

Jiang Hao bought a lark at a bird market and used his Animal Communication Ability to calm her and set her free. The lark flew away but returned to his shoulder, leaving the cage seller astonished.

• Jiang Hao learned that parrots and elaborate birdcages could cost far more than he wanted to spend.
• Jiang Hao bought a lark for one hundred fifty yuan, then discovered that the old man sold cages separately.
• Jiang Hao used his Animal Communication Ability to calm the wild lark and learned she had only recently been caught and tamed.
• Jiang Hao told the lark she could live freely and released her, despite the old man warning that she would not return.
• The lark flew back and landed on Jiang Hao’s shoulder, stunning the old man.

Jiang Hao brought Little Lark home and used his Animal Communication Ability to teach her to imitate the calls in Thirteen Calls of the Lark. The next morning, Little Lark joined him at the riverside park, where she amazed Zhou Xinyan and other joggers with her singing.

• Jiang Hao left the bird market with Little Lark perched on his shoulder and taught her about her new home, food, and safety.
• Jiang Hao played Thirteen Calls of the Lark, and Little Lark quickly learned to imitate dog barks and other calls.
• The next morning, Little Lark flew alongside Jiang Hao as he ran to the riverside park and waited for Zhou Xinyan.
• Jiang Hao and Zhou Xinyan ran and chatted before Little Lark landed on his shoulder and surprised Zhou Xinyan.
• At Jiang Hao's request, Little Lark performed several calls for Zhou Xinyan and the other joggers, who applauded her singing.

Jiang Hao and Zhou Xinyan grew closer after sharing a playful moment with Little Lark, while Zhou Xinyan privately wondered whether she was falling for him. She invited him to a countryside equestrian estate as her pretend boyfriend, and they set off together, with Zhou Xinyan asking if he had ever ridden a horse.

• After the park crowd dispersed, Jiang Hao let Zhou Xinyan hold and pet Little Lark, and they said goodbye until the next day.
• After Jiang Hao left, Zhou Xinyan reflected on her feelings for him and worried that their age difference and friendship might keep them apart.
• Zhou Xinyan invited Jiang Hao to join her company's weekend outing as her pretend boyfriend, explaining that Gao Tian would also be there and might pester her.
• The next day, Jiang Hao picked Zhou Xinyan up, and they noticed their brown jackets and casual outfits looked like matching couple clothes.
• Jiang Hao chose to drive his GLE400 toward the countryside, and Zhou Xinyan asked whether he had ridden a horse before.