Chapter Summaries

Cheng Tian and the surviving allies entered the Martian Mothership, fought off Martian defenders, and advanced to the area where General Modern was being held. Cheng Tian found the general being tortured with electric shocks.

• Billy Gates appeared inside the Martian Mothership and offered Cheng Tian a reward for any technology that could be developed into weapons.
• The other survivors entered the mothership, and Cheng Tian led them deeper inside with the Modern Army soldiers and players following.
• Smart Head equipped his shield and gun, while Eileen asked Cheng Tian when to summon the servants; he told her to wait for his signal.
• The group encountered Martians using anti-gravity bullets, which could be countered with other firearms and Flying Waves.
• Cheng Tian followed General Modern's screams and found him in an electric shock torture device.

Cheng Tian watched General Modern get freed from the Martians’ electroshock chamber, then let the Modern Army charge toward the aliens while he stayed behind to carry out a plan. With Wutan and his two Bio-mechanical Dolls probing the mothership’s control panel, the story left the group preparing to exploit the intact console.

• Ma Ergou used the control panel to free General Modern, who pointed the soldiers toward a hatch and ordered them to kill the aliens before collapsing.
• Bald Sergeant Allen led most of the Modern Army soldiers toward the aliens, while Cheng Tian’s Peregrine Falcon Squad 004 stayed behind and other Players followed the main force.
• General Modern’s order changed the Modern Army Players’ Main Quest to killing the Martians, while Cheng Tian’s Government Army quest remained to save Soldier Steve.
• Cheng Tian summoned Bazett and Wutan, and Eileen summoned Mina and the sawtooth crocodile wyvern into the chamber.
• Wutan’s two Bio-mechanical Dolls joined him in pressing their hands to the intact control panel and probing the Martian Mothership’s circuitry.

Cheng Tian sent Cyber Wutan to infiltrate the Martian Mothership’s network while he joined the assault on Root of Mars, hoping to claim the ship. As the human advance stalled against explosive mechanical spiders, the War Elephant Mammoth attacked them with a massive fireball.

• Cheng Tian left a Helion and his Spacesuit helmet with Wutan, then headed to join the battle against wetware Brother Gen.
• Bio-Wutan found the mothership’s fungal-fluid cloning technology and an ancient folder called “Superpowered Dinosaur Project,” which Wutan recognized from familiar names in the files.
• Martian forces sent swarms of Explosive Spiders to block the human army and shield heavier units behind them.
• The Beast King transformed into a werewolf to charge through the spider swarm, but froze when he heard the War Elephant Mammoth trumpeting.
• The War Elephant Mammoth fired an enormous explosive Fireball Projection into the Explosive Spiders.

The War Elephant Mammoth, Cheng Tian, Eileen, Mina, and Smart Head helped the human forces break through the Martian line inside the mothership. Their advance was interrupted when Captain Mars, a clone of Captain America Steve, appeared with a strange mycelium-grown shield.

• The War Elephant Mammoth used fire and lightning to clear Explosive Spiders and helped push the human battle line forward.
• Eileen and Mina protected the mammoth from Martian bouncing rounds while Cheng Tian drove the TEX-33H Rolling Goli and Bazett rode as his co-pilot.
• Smart Head held the line on the mammoth's right as the human forces steadily pushed back the Martian mechanical tide.
• A green disc ricocheted toward Eileen, who shattered it with a spear after it changed direction midair.
• Eileen spotted mycelium at the disc's broken center as a green-glowing human at the end of the corridor grew a shield-like mushroom umbrella and revealed himself as Captain Mars, Steve's clone.

Cheng Tian’s forces broke through the green-skinned Steve clones with Radar and entered a pipeline-filled space, where they found the Martian leader, Root of Mars. The Earth Army faced the enormous Martian as the chapter ended.

• Green-skinned Steve clones used mushroom shields to withstand gunfire and ricochet shields at the Modern Army, forcing Cheng Tian’s side to deploy the Guardian Barrier.
• Cheng Tian remotely drove Radar into the passage while LV Mechas repaired it with gasoline, allowing it to crush through the Steve clones.
• Cheng Tian used Quick Recycle to remove Radar, and the Earth Army advanced through the entrance.
• Cheng Tian’s forces found Root of Mars, an enormous Martian with a glass dome over his head and machinery embedded around his brain.

The Root of Mars confronted the Earth Army in its mothership and offered to spare General Modern if they handed over Cheng Tian. The soldiers refused, and Cheng Tian taunted the Martian ruler about fleeing the Venusians, provoking a violent reaction.

• The Root of Mars used telepathy to demand that the Earth Army surrender Cheng Tian in exchange for General Modern's safe departure.
• Bald Alan and the Modern Army opened fire on the Root of Mars, honoring the Great Commander's order to kill it.
• Cheng Tian was surprised that the soldiers rejected the offer and felt warmed by their response.
• Cheng Tian insulted the Martians as fleeing, weak bullies who had run from the Venusians.
• The Root of Mars's brainwaves became violently disrupted by Cheng Tian's taunts.

Cheng Tian’s mention of the Venusians triggered Chosen Space to reveal why the Martians had fled Mars and were hiding on Earth. As the Root of Mars attacked him, Cheng Tian turned its own energy against it and ordered controlled Martian clones to strike its brain dome.

• Chosen Space established that the Venusians had driven the Martians from Mars and would track them to Earth if the Root of Mars could no longer conceal them.
• Cheng Tian explained that the Martians planned to infiltrate the Modern Army or use ghoul radiation to weaken humanity before occupying Earth.
• The Root of Mars grew enraged and fired a powerful energy sphere at Cheng Tian after he mentioned the Venusians.
• Cheng Tian blocked the sphere with a Mind Barrier, reflected it with the Soul of Yamata, and spent additional MP to activate his next move.
• Cheng Tian used Dominion to transform five of the ten Ork Steves into ghouls, whose High-Pressure Blood Pillars attacked the Root of Mars’s brain-case shield.

Cheng Tian used five ghoulified Steve clones to strike Root of Mars, severely damaging it during its energy attack. He then triggered Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, creating the Demonic Unit Undead Legion from the clones and nearby corpses.

• Cheng Tian seized control of five Steve clones and drained their HP to power High-Pressure Blood Pillar.
• The five clones hit Root of Mars while its exposed brain matter was charging an energy sphere, lowering its HP from 50,000 to 37,755.
• Root of Mars’s remaining Steve clones attacked the ghoulified clones, killing four and leaving one barely alive.
• Cheng Tian infused the surviving clone with Psychic Power, causing nearby clones and corpses to gather around it.
• Cheng Tian used Night Parade of a Hundred Demons and summoned the Champion Template Demonic Unit Undead Legion.

Cheng Tian completed the Undead Legion and remotely controlled it to confront Root of Mars in a clash of attacks. Their beams collided, wrecking the BOSS Room and feeding the Legion with fallen Martians as the battle continued.

• Root of Mars targeted the forming Undead Legion with repeated energy balls, but failed to stop it.
• Cheng Tian used nearly all his mana to build Mind Barriers and Mirror Reflections, helping the Undead Legion survive its early stage and reach Champion-class strength.
• Cheng Tian repeatedly rerolled the Cloned Steve Ghouls’ retained skills until dozens possessed High-Pressure Blood Pillar.
• Root of Mars gathered a massive Super Dreadnought Psychic Energy Sphere while Cheng Tian prepared the Undead Legion to face it.
• The Undead Legion fired an Ultimate High-Pressure Blood Pillar at Root of Mars’s energy sphere, and their beam clash shook the BOSS Room apart.
• The shockwaves killed surviving Martians, whose bodies replenished the Undead Legion’s shell and HP; Bald Alan had already ordered his soldiers to withdraw.

Cheng Tian and six human-faction players attacked Root of Mars together, helping the Undead Legion overpower its psychic energy sphere before a massive explosion buried the BOSS Room. Cheng Tian and his companions were thrown into a chamber where they discovered the abducted Steve Rogers template body suspended in a biological sac.

• The Beast King brother, Little White Dragon, Sharp Teeth, Weida Tian, Benten, and Eileen struck Root of Mars with their skills from different directions.
• Root of Mars divided its attention among the attacks, giving Cheng Tian an opening to command the Undead Legion to strengthen its High-Pressure Blood Pillar.
• The blood pillar drove back the Super Dreadnought Psychic Energy Sphere, and the combined attacks triggered a massive explosion that blasted everyone from the BOSS Room.
• The explosion buried the BOSS Room and Root of Mars beneath debris, while Cheng Tian and several companions landed in a chamber covered in flesh and fungal carpet.
• Cheng Tian saw the abducted Steve Rogers template body floating in a biological sac filled with transparent green fluid.

Cheng Tian’s group fought through the Martian clone production line as the Undead Legion used the virus-infected Steve clones to rebuild itself. Utan hacked the production system and turned new clones into allies, revealing that the Root of Mars had left the mothership’s core.

• Cheng Tian’s group entered the clone production line, where armed Steve clones kept emerging to attack them.
• The Undead Legion drew in the virus-infected clones and used them to restore its size and combat strength.
• Eileen asked Cheng Tian about his connection to Steve, and Cheng Tian considered what might happen when his Captain America template was rescued.
• The clone production line paused, then produced Steve clones that registered as allies and resisted the Undead Legion’s influence.
• Utan used his Bio-mechanical Dolls to hack the mothership network and take control of the clone production line.
• Cheng Tian realized that Utan’s success meant the Root of Mars had detached from the mothership’s core.

Cheng Tian used World’s Data Tampering to preserve the Captain America/Steve Rogers template in Captain America’s Shield and embed it in the Black Grail as a Holy Relic. The new abilities let him summon or recruit Steve Rogers and other candidates through Chosen Space, and Cheng Tian was left considering how to use this recruitment authority.

• Captain America vanished while his shield remained, and the Black Pearl, Yamata no Orochi Original Gene, Soul of Yamata, and shield began to resonate.
• Cheng Tian drew the items together, and World punched them with Data Tampering, transforming the Black Pearl into a Black Grail entwined with a living Yamata no Orochi.
• Captain America’s Shield shrank and embedded itself in the Withered Earth/Rider snake head as a Holy Relic.
• Space Prompts informed Cheng Tian that the shield could preserve and summon Steve Rogers, guide Chosen Space recruitment, and unlock new contract and template-plundering options.
• Cheng Tian examined the shield’s combined attributes and realized he could use Holy Relics to guide Chosen Space in recruiting candidates directly from game NPCs.

Cheng Tian confirmed that Brother Gen had escaped and the Martian Mothership was without its control core, then returned to the ship’s central area. He used the cleared space to begin building Hammond Innovation Laboratory aboard the mothership.

• Cheng Tian concluded that Brother Gen had escaped and that Wutan had taken action, leaving the mothership leaderless.
• Cheng Tian ordered his group to clear the rubble and head back toward the ship’s core.
• Xiao P broke through the debris with his upgraded Golden Hammer and reunited with Cheng Tian’s group.
• Cheng Tian asked Wutan whether a Large Feng Shui Engine could power the mothership, then proposed building his laboratory aboard it.
• Cheng Tian used God's Perspective to place Hammond Innovation Laboratory in the cleared core area and began construction with the ship’s fragments and fungal carpet.

Cheng Tian’s Large Feng Shui Engine restored power to the Martian Mothership and gave him partial control over it. As he connected to the ship through a psychic helmet, Root of Mars’s hidden psychic back door activated.

• The Large Feng Shui Engine took Root of Mars’s place as the Martian Mothership’s core and began recharging the ship.
• Cheng Tian’s group entered the newly constructed Hammond Innovation Laboratory Metal Slug Branch, while the other players reacted with astonishment.
• Xiao P and Little White Dragon explained how portable bases and buildings could be constructed aboard sufficiently large spaceships.
• The Doll Unit guided the chosen elites to Cheng Tian, who had connected himself to the mothership using a psychic helmet.
• Cheng Tian’s Psychic Power and Master of Tanks talent spread through the ship, triggering Root of Mars’s psychic back door.

Cheng Tian fought the Martian Mothership’s machine soul in a psychic battle and overcame its superior power with The World and a terrifying Venusian illusion. When he opened his eyes, he had taken control of the mothership.

• Cheng Tian triggered Root of Mars’s psychic backdoor and was pulled into the mothership’s Mental Space to face its machine soul.
• The machine soul rallied surviving Martians to attack Cheng Tian, intending to destroy his consciousness and use his body as Gene-Prime.
• Cheng Tian used The World to stop the Martian attackers’ bullets and created a psychic image of a Venusian that frightened them into submission.
• Cheng Tian transformed his six Silver Surfboard-derived Crystal Heartscapes into copies of The World and sent all seven to attack the machine soul.
• Cheng Tian opened his eyes in reality after the brief psychic battle, and the Martian Mothership changed owners.

Cheng Tian seized control of the Martian Mothership, turning it into a Portable Fortress and making himself an independent faction leader eligible for large expeditionary missions. After scanning the ship and confirming who remained aboard, he flew it toward Earth, where it confronted the descending Root of Mars.

• Cheng Tian received confirmation that the Martian Mothership had become his Portable Fortress, with its own command, combat, and laboratory areas.
• Cheng Tian learned that summoning the fortress would make him an independent faction leader able to recruit NPCs, accept Players, and participate in large expeditionary missions.
• Cheng Tian scanned the mothership, confirmed the remaining Martians and stranded Government Army and Modern Army forces, and set course for Earth.
• Root of Mars descended toward Earth beneath a Psychic Power barrier as Cheng Tian's mothership charged its Annihilation Laser Cannon at it.

Root of Mars confronted Cheng Tian aboard the captured Battle Fortress and prepared to fight, but Cheng Tian threatened the Martians under his control to force a surrender. Root of Mars instead ate a Super Mushroom and began growing larger, while Cheng Tian scanned the ship for the hidden Martian faction member.

• Root of Mars realized the Battle Fortress had survived and fallen under someone else's control, then unleashed a Telekinetic Shockwave against the charging ship.
• Cheng Tian projected himself through the Annihilation Cannon and demanded Root of Mars surrender, showing the Martian units held at gunpoint by Doll Unit and Modern Army soldiers.
• Root of Mars pulled out a red-and-white-spotted mushroom and ate it in response to Cheng Tian's threat.
• Root of Mars began expanding rapidly, and Cheng Tian identified the mushroom as a Super Mushroom from the Mario dungeon and scanned the ship for the hidden Martian faction member.

Cheng Tian recognized that a hidden Outsider had infected the Martian captives with fungal zombies and directed the defenders to fight them safely. As Uta deployed Clone Steves across the ship, a mysterious Mushroom Hat-wearing figure appeared by the emergency exit terminal.

• Cheng Tian deduced that an Outsider had given Root of Mars a Super Mushroom and was likely still hiding aboard the mothership.
• Most of the captured Martian units transformed into Sound-Seeking Ones infected by fungal spores.
• Cheng Tian warned everyone about the zombies’ senses, weaknesses, and infection risks, then Eileen, Bazett, the War Elephant Mammoth, and Smart Head attacked them.
• Uta activated the Mycelial Fluid Clone Production Line, sending Clone Steves through the ship.
• A pudgy figure wearing a Mushroom Hat appeared in the vehicle deployment area, but the emergency exit terminal stopped him.

Cheng Tian found a hidden target aboard the mothership and continued battling Root of Mars, but used Midnight Blessing to transform a Martian into the first female Martian. Root of Mars surrendered after the transformation sparked an unexpected attraction and hope for his species.

• Cheng Tian used Steve clones to herd the hidden intruders toward open emergency exits and located one near the vehicle deployment area.
• Cheng Tian left the newly found target alone while Brother Gen's Telekinetic Shockwaves battered the mothership during his fight with Root of Mars.
• Cheng Tian remembered his quest and used Midnight Blessing on an uninfected Martian prisoner, transforming it into a pink, feminine-looking Martian.
• The quest notification confirmed completion, and the transformation introduced a new female Martian into the species' background setting.
• Root of Mars felt a powerful attraction to the transformed Martian and surrendered to Cheng Tian.

Cheng Tian heard Root of Mars’ conditions for surrender and learned that it wanted him to eliminate the Venusian threat and help Martians find a new reproductive method. After Cheng Tian revealed that a virus was altering Martians at the genetic level, Root of Mars charged after the suspected culprit.

• Root of Mars demanded that Cheng Tian protect the Martians from the Venusians and help them develop a new way to reproduce.
• Root of Mars explained that Martian spores produced large numbers of people whose genetic coding limited them to three occupations, leaving the race without a way to develop new leaders.
• Cheng Tian warned Root of Mars that many Martians had been infected with a targeted virus and showed it images of their altered heads.
• Root of Mars realized the virus could destroy the Martian type at the genetic level and demanded to know who was responsible.
• Cheng Tian showed Root of Mars a mushroom-capped man working at a terminal, opened an emergency escape door, and Root of Mars charged after him as he was sucked outside.