Recaps

Wang Yan reunited with Chen Na, who remained with the mysterious organization after receiving medicine that cured her mother’s cancer, while the Short-haired woman warned Wang Yan not to investigate. Guan Tong then read an official announcement about public data and support for the Tertiary Industry before the Eighth Apocalypse Rule arrived.

• Wang Yan met Chen Na in a secret room and learned that Chen Na had joined the organization in exchange for the medicine that cured her cancer.
• The Short-haired woman ended their visit and warned Wang Yan that further investigation could prevent Chen Na from seeing her again.
• Wang Yan left the meeting and resolved to stay alive so she could reunite with Chen Na.
• On December 29th, Guan Tong read an official announcement that the authorities would publish non-core data and encourage private development of the Tertiary Industry.
• Guan Tong considered the measures a response to public distress, and the Eighth Apocalypse Rule arrived as scheduled.

The Eighth Apocalypse Rule required everyone to create or enter a challenge and maintain a World First result for 15 days, with failure reducing their Mind Power Cap. As officials and academy staff considered ways to pass, Shi Jingyi revealed that her prospective teaching assistant had declined her invitation.

• Ascenders around the world discussed creating challenges after the Eighth Apocalypse Rule was released, relieved that failure would not cause death.
• Gao Liangwei directed the research office experts to collect data and work on challenges in their specialties, while they warned that World First results had to be maintained until the rule ended.
• Students at Yong'an Mind Power Development Academy discussed challenge ideas and learned they could not specify particular people in their challenges.
• Dean Zhou Qinfeng asked Zheng Kexue, Ouyang Shanyue, and Shi Jingyi about their chances of passing, and they expressed confidence in their expertise.
• Shi Jingyi told Zhou Qinfeng that her prospective teaching assistant had declined the position, and she confirmed that he was extraordinary.

Guan Tong learned that the Eighth Apocalypse Rule rewarded repeated World Firsts with increases to the Mind Power Cap, and decided to pursue the reward despite the losses others would suffer. He opened Ascendant's Home's Site Owner's Domain and offered vague information about the reward for 50,000 Ascension Coins; organizations and Official Departments ordered their staff to buy it.

• Guan Tong examined the new challenge feature and learned that the Hidden Rule rewarded three World Firsts with 10 Mind Power Cap points, then 5 more for each additional first place, up to 500.
• Guan Tong realized that his gains would come at the cost of other Ascendants who lost their first places, but decided to compete because failures caused Mind Power decay rather than death.
• Guan Tong planned to sell only vague information about the Mind Power Cap reward so buyers would not learn how much he knew about the Hidden Rules.
• Guan Tong opened the Site Owner's Domain and posted an offer to sell secret intelligence about the Eighth Apocalypse Rule for 50,000 Ascension Coins, with delivery after 24 hours.
• The post drew widespread attention, and organizations and Official Departments instructed their staff to buy the information.

As the new challenge rules began, Guan Tong and several other Ascenders designed challenges tailored to their abilities, hoping to secure first place. Lucifer’s challenge to kill the most Ascenders drew attention from Adam and the Wolf Leader, who decided to compete for its top spot.

• Guan Tong created a challenge to travel two hundred kilometers as quickly as possible, then began browsing other people’s challenges.
• Wang Yan created a challenge to convert the greatest number of milliliters of water into oil, while Xu Xiaotian planned to use his healing Instant Noodles in a challenge treating external injuries.
• The king of the Solloma Empire told Adam to pursue as many challenge victories as possible, and Adam learned that Lucifer had created a challenge to kill the most Ascenders during the rules.
• Chen Na resolved to create a challenge suited to her perception ability as she continued preparing to grow stronger and reunite with her mother.
• After learning about Lucifer’s challenge, the Wolf Leader vowed to take first place, while the Tulip Federation’s council planned to use his World First titles to display the country’s strength.

Guan Tong searched for challenges he could win, earned 550,000 Ascension Coins by selling information, and traveled to Zenith Mountain to take first place in a speed challenge. There, he found the challenge creator and his companions guarding the summit stele, and Guan Tong prepared to confront them.

• Guan Tong searched the challenge list, bookmarked suitable events, and learned that designated locations appeared as coordinates and could restrict competitors.
• Guan Tong sold information to eleven accounts for 550,000 Ascension Coins, bringing his total to 760,000.
• Guan Tong used Shadow to travel to Zenith Mountain and disguised himself as an elderly man with the Passerby Transformation Device.
• Guan Tong found fifteen or sixteen people camped around the summit stele, where the challenge creator and his companions were blocking challengers.
• The long-haired, dark-skinned fat man claimed the challenge was his and threatened Guan Tong, who said he would teach them to respect the elderly and care for the young.

Guan Tong killed a group of Ascendants who tried to rob him, then claimed World First in the Zenith Mountain challenge. Meanwhile, the Apocalypse Rules Countermeasure Research Office learned that multiple World Firsts would increase Mind Power Caps and debated how to pursue the reward, ending with Gao Liangwei rejecting a coercive proposal.

• Guan Tong used Shadow Thorn to kill the camp's attackers, then shot the long-haired fat man after he threatened to reveal Guan Tong's appearance.
• Guan Tong gathered the camp's supplies and used Shadow and Phase Shift to complete the Zenith Mountain challenge, earning his second World First.
• At 9:00, the webmaster sent the Research Office intelligence that multiple World Firsts would raise Mind Power Caps after the Rule Period.
• Dr. Zhang urged Gao Liangwei to help Bai Xuewu and other Official Squad members win more first places so Bai Xuewu could unlock her mecha's functions.
• Gao Liangwei decided to make the intelligence public, but rejected a proposal to force people to create projects for Official Squads to win.

After the Beixing Nation revealed that multiple first places could raise Mind Power Caps, Ascendants worldwide argued over the rule as ordinary people resisted challenges and powerful groups rushed to exploit it. At Qingmei Base, Han Ling was ordered to use imprisoned Ascendants to create tailored challenges, while the Commander rejected Yu Feiwei’s request and ordered his secret execution.

• The Beixing Nation’s disclosure of Guan Tong’s intelligence triggered global debate, and groups that had not bought the information regretted waiting.
• Ordinary Ascendants called for people to stop creating Rule Challenges, while powerful Ascendants prepared to compete for more first places.
• At Qingmei Base, the Commander told Han Ling to have imprisoned resource bodies create challenges for squad members and prioritized Jiang Ming.
• The Commander denied Yu Feiwei’s request for a tailored challenge and ordered Han Ling to secretly execute him.
• Han Ling learned that more than thirty prisoners had died by suicide and considered asking the Commander to capture more people from wilderness camps.

Guan Tong continued taking first place in distance and speed challenges while ordinary people debated how to protect their rankings from stronger Ascendants. He read a post from a Tulip Federation provider calling on people to expose resource-gathering challenges and help bring down the provider system.

• Guan Tong won first place in a challenge for the greatest underground depth, bringing his total to five first-place finishes and raising his Mind Power Cap by twenty points.
• Guan Tong read forum criticism of his decision to sell the Rules intelligence and left the posts untouched without responding.
• Guan Tong saw people propose placing challenges in government shelters and forming mutual-protection alliances to defend their rankings from outsiders.
• Guan Tong reasoned that he would keep targeting people in the wilderness rather than gathering points, whose residents could protect one another.
• Guan Tong opened a popular post in which a sheep-pack Ascendant in the Tulip Federation urged providers to reveal their assigned challenges so strong Ascendants could take first place and undermine the provider system.

After reading Kaxiu’s account of Gao Xinjian forcing his group to create bicycle challenges for him, Guan Tong decided to intervene. He arrived at the abandoned Heilu County hospital just as Gao Xinjian was about to kill Kaxiu, who identified himself to Guan Tong.

• Guan Tong found Kaxiu’s post describing how Gao Xinjian had coerced more than twenty people into creating bicycle challenges and took their first-place rewards.
• Guan Tong searched the challenge list, confirmed the similar bicycle projects, and decided to travel to Heilu County.
• Gao Xinjian’s group had settled in the abandoned county hospital, where he used threats and violence to force others to support his bicycle challenges.
• Gao Xinjian caught Kaxiu checking the replies to his post, destroyed his phone, and had his subordinates pin him down after Kaxiu attacked with a dagger.
• Guan Tong arrived and asked for Kaxiu, and the young man surnamed Wang shouted that he was the person Guan Tong had come to find.

Han Ling took Chen Na to complete a challenge project, but Gu Fei made her question whether the organization’s supporters were truly volunteers. Meanwhile, the Official Countermeasure Research Institute decided to prepare action against large supporter systems in the wilderness.

• Han Ling took Chen Na to a guarded wilderness camp, where Chen Na completed a challenge project funded by people seeking the organization’s protection.
• Gu Fei told Chen Na that Han Ling might be hiding enslaved supporters beneath the base, leaving Chen Na uncertain about whom to trust.
• Chen Na returned to her room and found that the base’s computers had no internet access, deepening her doubts about Han Ling’s explanations.
• At the Official Countermeasure Research Institute, Gao Liangwei and the experts discussed the spread of large supporter systems and agreed that the authorities should intervene.
• Dr. Zhang proposed deploying the Official Squads and Armed Forces to sweep challenge-project sites, and Gao Liangwei said he would report the proposal while keeping preparations confidential.

Guan Tong rescued Kaxiu from Gao Xinjian and his men, then claimed their abandoned bicycle challenges for himself. Back at Mingdao Mountain, he reflected on the provider system and reviewed news about Lucifer and celebrity Ascendants before deciding to keep dismantling domestic provider systems.

• Guan Tong confronted Gao Xinjian at Heilu County Hospital and killed him and the men restraining Kaxiu with his Shadow Blades.
• Guan Tong freed Kaxiu, warned the gathered people against taking Gao Xinjian’s place, and left the hospital.
• Guan Tong had Shadow transform into a bicycle and won the first-place spots in Gao Xinjian’s challenges.
• Guan Tong returned to Mingdao Mountain and read Kaxiu’s grateful update on the website.
• Guan Tong read a report that the Solloma Empire had declared Lucifer a serial killer and begun a manhunt, then considered the popularity of celebrity Ascendants.
• Guan Tong decided to keep pursuing first places and destroying domestic provider systems, though he did not feel guilty about exposing the hidden rules.

The authorities launched a nationwide crackdown on wilderness Provider Organizations while Guan Tong learned that Chen Na was imprisoned by one of them. He contacted Chen Na through her friend Qing Jin and prepared to speak with her while disguised as a young woman.

• Liu Yuqiang recalled Qingmei Base’s supply collection teams and suspected Han Ling’s urgent order was connected to the authorities’ response to Provider systems and Yu Feiwei’s disappearance.
• The authorities began Operation Wild Storm, destroying Provider Organizations with armed squads and air strikes as reports of the raids spread online.
• Guan Tong saw Qing Jin’s post about her imprisoned friend and recognized Chen Na from the challenge project names, then hid the thread to protect her.
• Guan Tong gave Qing Jin a tradable [Communication Scroll], and Qing Jin used it to contact Chen Na and send Guan Tong her Personal Terminal numerical ID.
• Guan Tong added Chen Na as a friend and used the [Passerby Transformation Device] to disguise himself as a young woman before using a [Communication Scroll] to contact her.

Chen Na secretly contacted Guan Tong through Qing Jin and revealed that her organization imprisoned Ascendants and possessed substantial weapons. Guan Tong located and infiltrated the mountain base, discovered nearly two thousand prisoners and hundreds of armed personnel, and prepared to eliminate the organization’s leaders and guards.

• Chen Na used a Communication Scroll to tell Guan Tong about her base, its weapons, and the Ascendants held there.
• Guan Tong decided not to alert the authorities and sent Shadow to search for the base near Nanlin Village.
• Shadow found the hidden facility inside the Yongzhou Mountain Range and infiltrated it past extensive surveillance.
• Guan Tong discovered that the base held nearly two thousand Ascendants in prison cells and employed roughly two hundred armed personnel and eighty guards.
• Guan Tong identified Han Ling as a likely manager and saw prominent entrepreneurs serving in leadership roles before deciding to eliminate the base’s worst offenders.

Guan Tong infiltrated Qingmei Base, subdued its manager Han Ling, and began hunting the staff who knowingly served the organization. After confronting Liu Yuqiang, he demanded to know whether he knew the Commander Han Ling had mentioned.

• Guan Tong used Shadow to kill the surveillance staff, disguised himself in a uniform, and photographed the surveillance room.
• Guan Tong entered Han Ling's office after an EMP Bullet stopped her alarm transmitter, then pinned her down despite her defensive artifact.
• Guan Tong learned Han Ling believed false intelligence that Shadow was an old man, and he fed her the claim that Shadow was a group before knocking her unconscious and binding her.
• Guan Tong took Han Ling's Highest Authority card and killed staff in nearby offices as he moved through the base.
• Guan Tong confronted Liu Yuqiang, blocked his attack with Shadow, and threatened to kill him unless he identified the Commander.

Guan Tong learned that the Green Plum Association’s elderly leader, Big Sister, was behind the kidnapping and exploitation of High Mind Power Users, while Liu Yuqiang took his own life after revealing what he knew. At the Countermeasure Research Institute, officials debated the risks of pursuing first-place finishes before dispatching forces to a large Provider Organization near the capital, only to be ordered to stand down.

• Liu Yuqiang told Guan Tong that Big Sister of the Green Plum Association had orchestrated kidnappings and used captives to provide Ascension Coins, items, and customized rules.
• Liu Yuqiang traded his Ascension Coins and Tradable Items to Guan Tong, named Han Ling as the link to Big Sister, and then shot himself.
• Gao Liangwei learned that Bai Xuewu had obtained only about twenty first-place finishes because she opposed taking other people's Mind Power, while Dragon Soul's team had collected many more.
• Dr. Zhang warned Gao Liangwei that pursuing first-place finishes might cause hidden consequences after the rule ended, and Gao Liangwei told him not to pressure Bai Xuewu.
• An intelligence officer reported a Provider Organization with more than two thousand victims in the Yongzhou Mountain Range, and Gao Liangwei dispatched First Squad with a five-hundred-man armed force.
• An unnamed caller ordered Gao Liangwei to withdraw the dispatched force, but Gao Liangwei said the troops had already boarded their aircraft.

Guan Tong confronted Jiang Ming in the Qingmei Base squad dormitory after rescuing Chen Na. He discovered the limit of Jiang Ming’s Mind Power absorption and nearly killed him, but Jiang Ming escaped by teleporting away as the base alarm sounded.

• Guan Tong entered Chen Na’s room and told her to stay inside while he cleared the threats from the base.
• Jiang Ming confronted Guan Tong, whose Shadow Line failed against Jiang Ming’s ability to absorb Mind Power attacks.
• Guan Tong used smoke, Living Dead, and a Great Axe Warrior empowered with 500 points of Reserve Mind Power to attack Jiang Ming and uncover the limit of his absorption ability.
• Guan Tong’s Shadow Blade severed Jiang Ming’s legs, but Jiang Ming escaped through a mirror Teleportation Item, leaving the mirror shattered.
• Gu Fei and Chu Xiaoyuan emerged from their rooms as an invasion alarm sounded throughout Qingmei Base.

Guan Tong destroyed the base, rescued its imprisoned Ascendants, and confronted Han Ling, who died by poison before she could reveal the Commander’s plans. Guan Tong left with Chen Na, while the organization’s true mastermind remained unknown.

• Gu Fei and Chu Xiaoyuan attacked Guan Tong in the dormitory corridor, but Guan Tong killed them with Shadow and Silver Hunter.
• Guan Tong used Shadow Lines to kill the armed personnel on the middle level and the guards in the prison sector.
• Guan Tong opened the prison cells and freed the Ascendants, then brought Chen Na to confront Han Ling.
• Han Ling accused Chen Na of betrayal and threatened Guan Tong, but she took poison and died before he could question her.
• Guan Tong told Chen Na that the base was destroyed and the imprisoned Ascendants were safe, then prepared to leave with her.

Dragon Soul’s team investigated a mountain base where Shadow had killed its armed personnel and freed thousands of imprisoned Ascendants. The authorities began piecing together the kidnapping operation and Shadow’s identity, while Guan Tong slipped away unseen.

• Dragon Soul and First Squad reached the Yongzhou Mountains, where they met escaped prisoners and learned they had fled after someone killed the base’s guards.
• Dragon Soul’s team entered the mountain base and found its enormous blast-proof entrance open, while Guan Tong watched the authorities arrive and then vanished using Phase Shift.
• Guan Tong left Chen Na behind so she could explain the truth to the authorities and potentially return to her normal life.
• Dragon Soul reported that Shadow had raided the base, and investigators learned that Shadow’s appearance in the footage was female despite prior intelligence describing him as male.
• Dragon Soul revealed Shadow’s recorded claim that Shadow was a group, while Li Meng connected the rescued victims to the task force’s serial kidnapping investigation.
• The investigators discussed the unknown founders, the dead administrator Han Ling, and Shadow’s extraordinary power and Mind Power.

Chen Na reunited with Wang Yan and agreed to stay at the Countermeasure Research Institute base, where she would join the official training program. Meanwhile, the organization’s Commander ordered a search for Shadow and a way to restore Jiang Ming’s legs, while the Eighth Apocalypse Rule ended on January 15.

• Wang Yan reunited with Chen Na, and Dr. Zhang offered them protection at the base in exchange for Chen Na joining the Official Team’s Ascendant training program.
• The Commander learned that Shadow had destroyed Yongzhou Base and ordered Han Ling to find Shadow and seek a way to regenerate Jiang Ming’s severed legs.
• The Commander declared that Chen Na would be punished for betraying the organization and resolved to make her grandson Jiang Ming the strongest Ascendant.
• A popular Ascendant's Home post reported that Shadow had destroyed the Yongzhou organization’s base and freed more than a thousand providers, and the website administrator confirmed it.
• Guan Tong reviewed the chaos caused by the Eighth Rule as it neared its end.
• Fire Thief announced that the Eighth Apocalypse Rule had ended on January 15.

After the Eighth Apocalypse Rule ended, Guan Tong reviewed his rewards, upgraded his shelter, and weighed offers from organizations seeking his intelligence. He found a prophecy warning that those who seize others’ Mind Power would suffer a punishment of the mind, leaving him concerned about the cost of raising his Mind Power Cap.

• Guan Tong checked his status and inventory, confirmed his Mind Power Cap had risen to 309, and bought twenty Bio-Signal Detectors from the Ascension Shop.
• Guan Tong chose not to write anything on the Wordless Book’s fifth page, then recalled and resummoned the All-Function Shelter, transforming it into a larger stone house at the cost of 300 Mind Power.
• Guan Tong read private messages from clients and organizations seeking future intelligence or deeper cooperation, but declined to compromise Ascendant's Home’s independence.
• Guan Tong read a chat post claiming a Tulip Federation wolf had exceeded a 600-point Mind Power Cap, then opened a prophecy warning that those who seize others’ Mind Power would suffer a punishment of the mind.

After the Eighth Rule, Guan Tong discovered that his Mind Power Cap had stopped growing, a condition the authorities called Mind Lock. He decided to use the [Wordless Book] to try to remove it, but stopped after the first stroke consumed his Mind Power and part of his reserves, leaving him to wait for his power to recover before the Ninth Rule.

• Guan Tong rested after the Eighth Rule, then noticed his Mind Power Cap remained at 309 instead of increasing naturally.
• Guan Tong found that other Ascendants who had used the Eighth Hidden Rule were also unable to grow their caps, a problem named Mind Lock.
• Guan Tong resolved to use the [Wordless Book] to resist Fire Thief's Rule and unlock his Mind Power Cap.
• Guan Tong ignored private messages from organizations angry that he had not warned them about Mind Lock.
• Guan Tong began writing "open" on the fifth page of the [Wordless Book], but the first stroke consumed all 309 Mind Power and more than two hundred points of Reserve Mind Power.
• Guan Tong stopped writing and planned to wait five days for his Mind Power to recover before trying again.

The Countermeasure Research Institute discussed ways to break the Mind Lock, and Shi Jingyi proposed that cultivating Mind Power Circulation might overcome it. Guan Tong, who confirmed he was restricted, continued trying his own method while monitoring reactions to the rule.

• Ouyang Shanyue, Zheng Kexue, and Shi Jingyi discussed possible ways to remove the Mind Lock with Gao Liangwei and the institute’s researchers.
• Zheng Kexue suggested testing unusual abilities and items, but Zhang Minglu reported that a concept-modifying Ascendant could not alter widely shared concepts.
• Shi Jingyi explained that she had avoided taking other people’s first places and conjectured that Mind Power Circulation could help break the restriction; she revealed that her Mind Power Cap naturally grew by one point every two days.
• Shi Jingyi called Guan Tong and learned that he was restricted, then advised him to keep practicing Mind Power Circulation if his own approach failed.
• Guan Tong spent the next three or four days repeatedly exhausting his Mind Power to write in the [Wordless Book], while searching online for reports of anyone breaking the lock.
• Guan Tong saw public denunciations of the Mind Lock and reports that Ascendants with greatly increased Mind Power Caps were demanding more power and causing conflicts abroad.

Guan Tong discovered that the Wordless Book’s “open” character could strike the Mind Lock but could not break it before the Ninth Apocalypse Rule began. The rule brought poisonous, corrosive fog and hunting Nightmare Beasts to Tianshui Star, while the Countermeasure Research Institute began preparing defenses.

• Guan Tong used the Wordless Book’s “open” character and confirmed that it could affect the Mind Lock, though his attempt to unlock it failed.
• Fire Thief announced the Ninth Apocalypse Rule, “Nightmare Beasts in the Fog,” which would last 30 days and award survivors Ascension Coins, a Silver Grade Survival Chest, and an invitation to the Second Ascendant Challenge.
• Purple-green fog spread across Tianshui Star, and Ascendants who entered it screamed and disappeared.
• Researchers at the Countermeasure Research Institute learned that the fog was corrosive, neurotoxic, and disruptive to electronic navigation equipment.
• Gao Liangwei directed the researchers to develop countermeasures as experts called for protective gear, armed forces, and reinforced gathering points.

Guan Tong examined the hidden rule about finding a fragment at the source of the fog and decided he would explore despite the danger. After learning the fog was corrosive and toxic and that Nightmare Beasts were attacking shelters, he began planning to send Shadow ahead to scout.

• Guan Tong read Hidden Rule Nine and considered whether the unknown fragment was worth risking his life to find.
• A creature scratched at Guan Tong's door and struck his window, while Coal Ball reacted with fear.
• Guan Tong declined to sell information about the hidden rule because he wanted to find the fragment himself.
• Guan Tong read the official warning that the fog was corrosive and neurotoxic and learned authorities were preparing protective equipment and armed operations.
• Guan Tong considered sending Shadow into the fog to scout and decided to prepare for his own expedition.

Yu Hong and Zhao Yu climbed Mingdao Mountain through the poisonous fog to seek shelter, but Zhao Yu was driven to jump from a cliff, leaving Yu Hong alone at Guan Tong’s sealed shelter. Meanwhile, Combat Team Alpha-A entered the fog to fight Nightmare Beasts and discovered that conventional weapons could kill them.

• Yu Hong and Zhao Yu left their jeep and climbed Mingdao Mountain after the fog disabled their navigation, protecting their exposed skin from the poisonous mist.
• Zhao Yu began acting as if he were lost and jumped from a cliff despite Yu Hong’s attempt to stop him.
• Yu Hong reached the mountain camp and knocked on Guan Tong’s door, but her plea for help abruptly fell silent before he opened it.
• Combat Team Alpha-A drove into the fog on a mission to investigate and fight Nightmare Beasts, then lost its navigation equipment while radio communications continued working.
• The convoy’s vanguard encountered Nightmare Beasts, and soldiers found that gunfire, shells, and flamethrowers could kill the creatures.