Chapter Summaries

Louis rejected Huang Ji’s warning to leave Detroit and was crushed when Little Seven’s small force stormed his mansion. As Louis tried to escape with the Arona Family’s Golden Lion Necklace, a hidden attacker struck, and Adams was shot while shielding Veronica.

• After Cat’s Eye helped the police arrest or scatter Louis’s allied gangs, Huang Ji urged Louis to flee Detroit, but Louis had Huang Ji, Old Wang, and Chu Shaojun tied up for opposing him.
• Little Seven attacked Louis’s mansion with fifty men, while Johnny, Adams, and Veronica fought through Louis’s defenders and routed his much larger force.
• Johnny smashed into the mansion as Adams and Veronica advanced inside, and Little Seven fought the remaining gunmen while Louis fled upstairs.
• Louis found a Golden Lion Necklace in his safe and carried it as he tried to escape, prompting Little Seven to recognize it as an Arona Family token.
• A piano burst from the downstairs restroom and knocked Johnny away; an unseen attacker fired at Veronica, and Adams shielded her, took several bullets, and fell.

Huang Ji saved Adams after a staged attack, then used the villa’s secret passage to ambush Little Seven and frame Louis as Temelo’s agent. Little Seven died without exposing Huang Ji, leaving Adams with the Cat’s Eye signet ring and responsibility for Veronica.

• Little Seven killed the remaining attackers, while the S-class assailant escaped after bombing the bathroom and Adams was left gravely wounded protecting Veronica.
• Huang Ji treated Adams, removing the bullets and transfusing him; Adams awakened, and Little Seven accepted him as Veronica’s bodyguard and butler.
• Huang Ji revealed the gym’s secret passage, and Little Seven pursued Louis through it and brought him back.
• Louis identified Huang Ji as the man behind the plot, but Huang Ji paralyzed Little Seven and manipulated Louis into stabbing him before pretending to be thrown from the second floor.
• Little Seven tried to warn Veronica that Huang Ji was the enemy, but Huang Ji confused the warning and implicated Temelo; Little Seven died after entrusting Veronica to Adams and giving him the gang’s signet ring.

With Veronica’s organization under their control, Huang Ji and his allies established Messiah’s base and demonstrated its alien-powered energy system. As the team began planning a path toward spaceflight, Huang Ji turned to treating Lin Li’s advanced cancer, which he had deliberately allowed to spread.

• After Johnny’s assignment ended, Adams, Huang Ji, Old Wang, and Chu Shaojun took over Veronica’s management team, and Messiah recruited additional members.
• At the newly completed base, Heinrich learned Messiah had no other bases and that Huang Ji had fabricated the Ion Thruster’s experimental data, but he chose to stay and design a spaceship.
• Sophia demonstrated the Energy Receiver charging the Antimatter Battery in about a minute, and Huang Ji gave her alien computing materials to help improve production and develop room-temperature superconductors.
• Huang Ji told Heinrich to design a spacecraft around a future Fusion Engine while assigning Sophia energy research and saying he would focus on biology.
• Huang Ji noticed Lin Li collapsing from cancer that had spread, then brought him to the operating room with Alan and Hawkes to prepare treatment using an Anti-Rejection Agent.

Huang Ji transformed Lin Li’s metastatic cancer into a controllable biological system, creating meridians and an energy-storing tumor inside his body. Lin Li would need daily electrotherapy and training in the Low Entropy Technique to eventually control it himself, while Hawkes struggled to process what he had witnessed.

• Huang Ji explained how cancer metastasis resembled a civilization spreading beyond its homeworld and described his plan to control cancer cells as adaptive biological material.
• Huang Ji removed Lin Li’s stomach tumor, gathered his metastatic cancer cells, and implanted cancerous nerve cells into them.
• Huang Ji used electrical stimulation to make the nerve cells revert to normal while keeping the cancer cells controllable, then reshaped the tumor into a spherical mass with branching ducts.
• Huang Ji grew the ducts through Lin Li’s body as energy-conducting meridians and left the spherical tumor attached to his stomach to store energy and supply the system.
• Huang Ji told Lin Li that the meridian system needed eight hours of daily electrotherapy and that he had to learn the Low Entropy Technique to control it himself.
• Hawkes reacted in disbelief after watching Huang Ji domesticate cancer cells.

Huang Ji completed a body-wide nerve network that let him control and store electricity, reaching the peak of human physical ability. He chose not to take his improved Burning Devotion Serum and prepared to travel to New Mexico or Phoenix to obtain research data and a Lizardman Transformation Agent for Hawking.

• Huang Ji taught Hawkes how to implant cancer cells, then directed Hawkes through an operation to modify Huang Ji's body.
• Over nearly three months, Huang Ji built a nerve network throughout his body and learned to store, absorb, and discharge electricity.
• Huang Ji decided not to inject his Perfect Burning Devotion Serum because it could weaken the effects of a future Perfect Human Serum, and chose to give the vial to Lin Li.
• Huang Ji planned to visit New Mexico or Phoenix to acquire Nirvana Serum data and a Lizardman Transformation Agent for Hawking before the end of the year.

Huang Ji tested Lin Li after giving him the Perfect Burning Devotion Serum, but Lin Li’s fear of being hit kept him from using his superior strength in combat. After saving Lin Li and Saiwen from near-fatal injuries, Huang Ji offered Lin Li a painful shortcut to overcome his instincts.

• Huang Ji brought Lin Li to the training ground, where Lin Li’s strength tests showed he had reached the peak of S1.
• Seth defeated Lin Li twice because Lin Li flinched and relied on defense despite his greater physical strength.
• Huang Ji told Saiwen to fight as if Lin Li were an enemy, and their lethal exchange left both men gravely injured.
• Huang Ji used his cancer cells and Bioelectricity to save Saiwen and Lin Li, then explained that Lin Li’s brain instinctively feared death.
• Lin Li vowed to train harder, and Huang Ji offered him a painful shortcut to overcome his combat instincts.

Huang Ji trained Lin Li to overcome his fear of bullets, then led a small team into New Mexico to target the Illuminati. After discovering that casino debtors were funneled into deadly hunting games, Huang Ji planned to enter one and use it to manipulate the gamblers before pursuing Santa Fe and the Osiris Squad.

• Huang Ji subjected Lin Li to repeated near-death injuries and saved him until Lin Li learned to remain calm and dodge or withstand bullets.
• Huang Ji brought Lin Li, Old Wang, and their allies into New Mexico, where Old Wang insisted on joining to avenge his son, Xiao Fan.
• Huang Ji rejected immediate attacks on Santa Fe and the Osiris Squad, then discovered a casino lottery that selected debtors for the Illuminati’s Manor Hunting Game.
• Alan explained that survivors of the hunting games could be sold as human livestock, chosen for experiments as Guinea Pigs, or recruited as mercenaries.
• Huang Ji decided that he, Old Wang, and Alan would enter the game while the others joined the betting pool, with Evil Dragon manipulating the bets using Huang Ji’s signals.

In Las Vegas, Huang Ji arranged a gambling scheme to get himself and his allies admitted to the Santa Fe Life Science Center, where he could study a Lizardman. He planned to enter the game as a contestant and store the Lizardman’s blood inside his body.

• Coyote joined Huang Ji and the others in Las Vegas and agreed to help arrange a gambling game involving Kogas, a Santa Fe Life Science Center director.
• Huang Ji planned for Evil Dragon to propose a final battle-royale game near Santa Fe, with Kogas arranging for a Lizardman to hunt the players.
• Coyote explained that Lizardmen were transformed humans held in Illuminati breeding facilities and that they resisted being controlled.
• Huang Ji said he intended to obtain Lizardman blood for research and revealed that he could store it in an insulating chamber formed by cancer-cell meridians.
• Huang Ji gave his Buddha Bone Armguard to Lin Li and instructed Old Wang and Alan to collect the prize separately the next morning.

Huang Ji and eleven other supposed lucky winners were lured into a deadly gambling game, where Number Plates represented their chances of survival. As the first round was about to begin in an underground prison, Huang Ji understood the hidden rules and the trap designed to make the contestants panic.

• Huang Ji met Luther at the casino banquet, while Honey Badger mocked them and the other supposed winners arrived.
• The casino manager announced a three-round game with a hundred-million-dollar prize, and Huang Ji, the Magician, and Honey Badger grabbed all twelve Number Plates between them.
• Huang Ji gave plates to Old Wang and Luther, while Alan took another; Honey Badger and the Thug fought over the remaining plates as the contestants began forming an alliance.
• The contestants were anesthetized and transported from Las Vegas to an underground prison, where they were locked in separate cells and fitted with explosive collars.
• Huang Ji pretended to be unconscious and realized that the first round would force the contestants to exchange chair passwords through surveillance feeds while electric currents threatened to kill them.

The captives were forced into an electric-chair password game while wealthy spectators placed bets on who would die or escape first. Conflicting password reports and panic led Honey Badger to enter the wrong code, and his collar exploded.

• Host Jin explained that the captives had to share one another’s passwords before the rising current killed them, then started the game.
• Spectators bet on the captives, and many wagered that Huang Ji would die first because he appeared to remain asleep.
• The Magician tried to organize password reports, but Old Wang, Alan, and others gave conflicting answers and split the captives into rival groups.
• As the current intensified, Honey Badger heard people repeatedly tell him that his password was 5917 but doubted them because he had also heard 8384.
• Honey Badger entered 8384, and the collar around his neck exploded.

Huang Ji woke during the password game and, unaware that it was a death game, entered the password Old Wang gave him, becoming the first to free himself. He helped free the others, leaving Honey Badger as the only casualty, while the wealthy spectators watched and Huang Ji considered the next games.

• Magician realized the prisoners needed to free one person first and tried to guide the Tan-skinned Beauty, but she struggled to enter her password through the electric current.
• Huang Ji woke, asked for his password, and entered 0369 after Old Wang called it out in Chinese, freeing himself and ending the current.
• Host Jin explained to the wealthy spectators that Huang Ji’s ignorance of the rules had kept him calm and helped him avoid the group’s confusion.
• Huang Ji reported passwords and opened the cell doors, allowing Magician, Old Wang, Alan, Luther, and the other prisoners to rescue one another.
• The Blonde Sickly Woman also freed herself, and the group saved everyone except Honey Badger, who had died after entering the wrong password.
• Magician and Luther told Huang Ji that the group was trapped in a death game, and Huang Ji pretended to process the news while thinking about the next two games.

After escaping the first game, Magician distributed Number Plates and led the survivors into the second game, Prison Break. The host explained three possible escape methods, leaving the group trapped in a game that forced them to choose between cooperation, sacrifice, and betrayal.

• Magician gave Number Plates to Wheat-skinned Beauty and Black-haired Little Sister, then persuaded Thug to share Honey Badger's plates with the remaining players.
• The survivors explored the corridors, entered a prison square, and heard the host announce the second game, Prison Break.
• The host explained that players could serve sentences by generating electricity, trigger a collective release by choosing Rehabilitation or Pardon votes, or escape alone with a hidden Guard Key.
• Magician urged the players to avoid choosing cells until they could discuss the consequences, while the group agreed that nobody should seek the Guard Key.
• The host revealed that anyone escaping with the Guard Key would cause everyone else to be executed, then introduced anonymous reporting votes that could be used to execute suspected escapees.

The prisoners debated the anonymous execution vote, then split between the Red and Blue Buildings after Magician learned that people of opposite colors could not enter each other’s buildings. Once the lights went out and the game began, Huang Ji quietly advised Old Wang to keep his chosen identity slip and collect others, especially Wrongfully Imprisoned identities.

• The host explained that anonymous votes could accumulate until they were enough to execute someone, and Thug proposed forbidding anyone from seizing or trading Number Plates.
• Alan knocked Thug down with one punch, then warned the group against using violence or voting for him; Magician helped restore order by urging cooperation.
• Magician asked why the prison had Red and Blue Buildings, and the host revealed that prisoners could not enter the building assigned to the opposite color.
• Huang Ji argued against letting Magician’s group and Thug combine their votes in one building, and the prisoners formed groups of five in Red and six in Blue.
• Huang Ji, Old Wang, and the others entered the Blue Building, chose cells as the lights went out, and began pedaling their generators.
• Huang Ji secretly told Old Wang to keep his identity slip and collect identity slips from other rooms, preferably those marked Wrongfully Imprisoned.

After the eleven prisoners discovered that every one of them was marked Wrongfully Imprisoned, they believed they could escape through collective rehabilitation. Huang Ji secretly voted for a pardon, then confronted the Bangs Youth and revealed that he had done the same, leaving him shaken and dependent on Huang Ji.

• The prisoners stopped pedaling to discuss escape, and the Magician urged them to charge the battery in stages.
• The Blonde Sickly Woman revealed her Wrongfully Imprisoned slip, and the others discovered that all eleven had the same status.
• The group agreed to cast rehabilitation votes, but Huang Ji secretly cast a pardon vote instead.
• Huang Ji found the Bangs Youth voting and deduced that he had also cast a pardon vote.
• Huang Ji confronted the Bangs Youth, claimed to understand his fears and motives, and ordered him to follow Huang Ji if he wanted to survive.

Huang Ji and the other prisoners revealed that all eleven had prepared criminal identification slips after the pardon vote failed, while Magician tried to keep the group united. As the lights faded and arguments over their escape options intensified, Blonde Sickly Woman secretly prepared to kill a Blue Building prisoner to protect her own chances of survival.

• The broadcast announced that Collective Pardon had failed, with seven pardon votes and four rehabilitation votes, shocking all eleven prisoners.
• Alan admitted he was a criminal, and the others—including Luther—revealed criminal slips, while Magician explained that everyone had prepared identities for both possibilities.
• Wheat-skinned Beauty accidentally exposed herself as Wrongfully Imprisoned, and Magician publicly promised not to vote for her.
• Blonde Sickly Woman, Drunkard, Thug, and Alan rejected pedaling bicycles and supported Full Pardon, while Middle-parted Youth restrained himself from joining them at Huang Ji's urging.
• Huang Ji recognized that Blonde Sickly Woman was actually Wrongfully Imprisoned and had declared her stance to draw out a Blue Building target she could attack as the lights went out.

Huang Ji explained that the vote targeted changeable number plates, not fixed people, as Drunkard was killed after stealing Magician’s plate and voting for Number Three. The survivors realized that holding plates made them vulnerable, while someone without one could not be voted against, leaving Thug burdened with five plates.

• Middle-parted Youth learned that Number Three had received votes, but Huang Ji told him not to vote and predicted the vote count would reach nine.
• Huang Ji revealed that Drunkard, not Wheat-skinned Beauty, had died because people could swap number plates.
• Magician lured Drunkard into stealing his plate, while Wheat-skinned Beauty secretly voted for Number Three; Drunkard’s vote then caused his own death.
• Alan and Thug realized that number plates could change holders, and Magician accused Thug of taking plates from Drunkard’s body.
• Alan handed Thug his own plate, and Thug realized that holding plates made him vulnerable while having none could make someone immune to the vote.

The Magician persuaded the Red Building to unite its votes and target the Blue Building, but the first vote ended in a tie when the Blue Side also coordinated all six votes. The Magician realized their opponents had organized far sooner than expected and decided they needed to negotiate.

• The Magician explained to the thug that the Red Building could survive by concentrating its number plates and votes, while Alan agreed to cooperate with the group.
• The Magician, Alan, and the thug planned to exploit the Blue Building’s lack of coordination by targeting its numbers, and the thug chose Luther’s No. 7 plate.
• The thug and the Wheat-skinned Beauty reported No. 7, bringing the number of votes against Luther to six.
• The broadcast announced six votes against No. 4 as well, tying the vote after the Blue Side united against the Magician’s hidden number plate.
• The Magician speculated about who had organized the Blue Side and concluded that the Red Building would need to negotiate with them.

Huang Ji united the Blue Building by convincing the others to pool their Number Plates, then countered the Red Building’s six-vote attack by having the Black-haired Little Sister cast six votes against Number Four. After the opposing sides agreed to meet, the Black-haired Little Sister proposed putting the Red Building’s group at risk, but Huang Ji warned that she would die if she voted; she ran away, leaving the Blue Building’s alliance uncertain.

• The Middle-parted Youth gave Huang Ji his Number Plate, and Huang Ji revealed that Old Wang had already joined them, giving him three plates.
• Huang Ji drew the Blonde Sickly Woman, Luther, and the Black-haired Little Sister together, explained that people without Number Plates could not be voted to death, and urged them to pool their plates.
• The Blonde Sickly Woman handed her plates to the Black-haired Little Sister after the Red Building cast six votes against No. 7, and the Black-haired Little Sister answered with six votes against Number Four.
• The Magician called for both buildings to meet, and Huang Ji agreed to a discussion after ten minutes of charging power.
• The Black-haired Little Sister proposed casting votes against multiple Red Building members to test their unity, but Huang Ji warned that voting could get her killed; she ran away.

Huang Ji explained how Magician had manipulated the vote and predicted Black-haired Little Sister’s death after she gained seven votes. Her death triggered a hidden rule that redistributed the Number Plates, leaving both buildings unable to identify who held which numbers as Huang Ji urged the survivors to discuss their identities.

• Huang Ji deduced that Magician was probably wrongfully imprisoned, had coordinated with Wheat-skinned Beauty, and arranged Drunkard’s death to shift the balance of the game.
• Huang Ji predicted that Black-haired Little Sister would accept a Number Plate from Wheat-skinned Beauty and use seven votes to kill someone in the Red Building.
• Black-haired Little Sister gained seven votes and killed Thug, then cast seven votes against No. 1; because Thug’s remaining plates transferred to her, she killed herself.
• Huang Ji explained that the Number Plates could not become ownerless, so Black-haired Little Sister’s eleven plates were randomly reassigned among the eight survivors.
• Blonde Sickly Woman doubted that the survivors could trust one another’s claims, while Huang Ji told them to pedal and said the lights would soon come on.

After the latest vote revealed six wrongfully imprisoned people and only two criminals remained, Huang Ji rejected Magician’s plan to kill suspects and uncovered another way to win: the wrongfully imprisoned could commit the crimes on their slips and become criminals. The group disclosed their identities and prepared to try the newly understood approach, though Luther questioned whether every listed crime could be carried out.

• Everyone voted again, and the announcement revealed two pardon votes and six rehabilitation votes, showing that only two criminals remained.
• Magician proposed redistributing the remaining number plates and using majority votes to choose and kill suspects, but Huang Ji refused.
• Huang Ji revealed that crimes were duplicated across opposing factions’ slips and argued that wrongfully imprisoned people could become criminals by committing the crimes written on their documents.
• The group examined and disclosed their slips, revealing their identities and charges; Luther remained silent until the others identified him as wrongfully imprisoned by elimination.
• Luther objected that some charges could not be committed in the prison, but Huang Ji said both voting to kill and committing listed crimes could satisfy the game’s rules and entertain its organizers.
• Magician accepted the new interpretation and asked who would go first.