Chapter Summaries

Guan Tong discovered that Rule 18’s hidden rule could grant immunity to Microplastics at the cost of permanent infertility, and he sold the intelligence to eight buyers. He brought the Source Tracing Brigade members into his clean shelter and established the organization’s three rules, leaving the group prepared to face the month ahead together.

• Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi left the plastic-filled mall and entered Guan Tong’s expanded Page Shelter to avoid Microplastics.
• Guan Tong read Hidden Rule Eighteen, learned that Plastic Activation could purify Microplastics but permanently eliminate fertility, and offered the information for sale on Ascendant's Home.
• Eight buyers paid Guan Tong 500,000 Ascension Coins each for the hidden-rule intelligence.
• Guan Tong invited Black Star, Bai Xing, and the still-unconscious Allen into the shelter, where they settled in and discussed using its clean water to help people outside.
• Guan Tong gathered the brigade members and declared that they must protect one another, pursue the truth behind the rules, and reject traitors.

The Key of the Moon joined Chief Jie’s isolated prairie tribe as its shaman, believing prophecy had led her to her Promised Land. As the new Microplastics rules triggered global panic, a woman in a North Star shelter died from organ failure after using facial cleanser that contained Microplastics.

• The Key of the Moon arrived at the Argan Prairie tribe, and Chief Jie welcomed her and named her shaman after hearing about her prophecy ability.
• Hua offered the Key of the Moon a place in her tent, and Jie asked her to demonstrate her ability and tell the tribe about the outside world.
• People around the world argued over the risks of Plastic Activation and how to protect themselves from increasingly toxic Microplastics.
• A woman in a North Star shelter suffered multiple organ failure, and medical personnel tried to treat her as her roommates explained that they had removed the plastic items from their dormitory.
• The shelter administrator found facial cleanser in a glass bottle and explained that the liquid itself contained Microplastics; medical personnel then confirmed that the woman had died.

The UHC discussed the deadly effects of Microplastic Infringement, food shortages, and the competition for chairmanship. At the Page Shelter, Guan Tong’s team reaffirmed its plans before he learned that Shadow might have found the person they were searching for.

• Gao Liangwei presented research showing Microplastics had become over a thousand times more destructive and that physical isolation was the main available protection.
• Mary shared Suoloma’s tests showing common food and bottled water were dangerously contaminated, then offered limited food aid in exchange for support for the Solloma Empire as Chairman Country.
• Mary proposed high-density Microplastic injections for people without clean food, arguing that a 50% chance of gaining immunity was better than certain death despite the loss of fertility.
• Bai Xing and Black Star told Guan Tong they would keep working as middlemen to use their Xisiya network for intelligence and to help the Brigade acquire Mind Power.
• Guan Tong learned that Shadow had found a possible target in a Warehouse District and left with Shangyuan Zi to investigate.

Guan Tong captured Wei Huo in an abandoned Yunhua City warehouse, but she killed herself with poison before he could question her. Her death exposed Han Qiu as a surviving member of Commander Jiang Lanying’s faction, and he escaped the Countermeasure Research Institute before the authorities could detain him.

• Guan Tong found Wei Huo in a supply warehouse and subdued her after resisting her Void Mirror and using Scarlet Fear against her.
• Wei Huo refused to answer Guan Tong’s questions and died after biting a poison-filled false tooth, revealing that she served Commander Jiang Lanying’s faction.
• Guan Tong told Shangyuan Zi and contacted Zhang Minglu, who helped Gao Liangwei discover that Han Qiu had disappeared from the institute.
• Gao Liangwei ordered a Global Warrant for Han Qiu after learning that he had escaped during his confidentiality clearance period.
• Han Qiu revealed that he had fled North Star after Wei Huo’s capture and chose to seek refuge in the Suoloma Empire while pursuing his own plan to clear Fire Thief’s game.

After food and clean water shortages spread under the new rule, Guan Tong learned Han Qiu had defected to Solloma and agreed to supply clean water to the authorities. He sent Black Star to Xisiya with water to build connections among independent Ascendants.

• North Star and Solloma announced different food policies, and Solloma's Senate discussed the Plastic Activation Reaction and Han Qiu's offer to defect.
• Li Meng told Guan Tong that Han Qiu had grown up with Han Ling and likely sought revenge for her, and that a Global Warrant had been issued for him.
• Guan Tong offered the authorities more than ten tons of clean water per day and arranged to deliver it in Pinglu using a borrowed spatial item.
• Guan Tong returned to Pinglu, filled the authorities' metal barrels with clean water, and gave Black Star Silver Hunter and a Protective Suit.
• Black Star proposed taking water to the Twin Star Bar base in Xisiya to give it to independent Ascendants and build relationships, and Guan Tong agreed.

In Yingqi, Gaoqiao’s rainforest camping group discovered a man dead after he had buried cigarettes containing plastic filters. Meanwhile, Guan Tong traced Adam’s last known coordinates to the ocean and prepared to search for him with Shangyuan Zi, who planned to build an intelligence network in Banzhen afterward.

• Gaoqiao led a dozen young people into the rainforest, where they built a shelter and made camp to avoid Microplastics.
• A man lit a cigarette, and Gaoqiao warned the group that its plastic filter could spread Microplastics, so the man buried his cigarettes away from camp.
• During the night, the group found the man dead, and Gaoqiao confirmed he had stopped breathing.
• Guan Tong traced Adam’s account to coordinates in the ocean and decided to honor his agreement with the Key of the Moon by searching for him.
• Shangyuan Zi told Guan Tong she planned to establish an intelligence network in Banzhen, then offered to accompany him to Adam’s ocean coordinates.

After Microplastics and fear drove Gaoqiao’s group to abandon two sick companions, one returned to take revenge, leaving the survivors shaken as they continued deeper into the Rainforest. Meanwhile, Adam infiltrated Eden Island to rescue his wives and children, but Bruce’s warning left him intent on destroying the island if they had been moved.

• Gaoqiao’s group found bomb craters and human remains in the Rainforest, then fled after two members developed severe symptoms they feared were caused by Microplastics.
• The group voted to leave the sick man and woman behind, and the abandoned man secretly followed them to camp and attacked them with a shovel.
• Gaoqiao and the others killed the attacker, but three more people died; the frightened survivors followed Gaoqiao deeper into the Rainforest rather than risk returning alone.
• Adam used his field-manipulating ability to walk across the ocean floor and reach Eden Island, intending to rescue his wives and children.
• Adam found Bruce’s warning note on the beach and decided to destroy Eden Island if Bruce had moved his family.