Chapter Summaries

Wenren Sheng used the Great Teaching Skill to prompt Little Octopus’s second metamorphosis, while he reconsidered how to give Source Spirits an anchor in the present world. At a remote Rebooters Organization base, Li Cheng learned that their mysterious artifact was about to undergo a trial run and sought a way to pass the news to another undercover agent.

• Wenren Sheng secretly boosted his influence over Little Octopus, which decided to transform so people would find it cuter and more popular.
• A week later, Little Octopus emerged as an Infant Dumpling, but Zhao Han brought it to Li Shuangyue, who used it as a phone stand while reading.
• Wenren Sheng reflected on Ai Han De Bu’s fate and decided to give Big Wooden Stake and the other Source Spirits an anchor in the present world.
• At the Rebooters Organization’s desert base, Li Cheng overheard two patients say that the Doctor had scheduled a trial run of the artifact after receiving new code from the Mysterious Woman.
• Li Cheng summoned a male nurse he suspected was an undercover agent, intending to pass along the trial-run information.

Qiu Fen infiltrated the base to discover where the mysterious item was being tested, while Wenren Sheng secretly amplified his spells to aid him. Qiu Fen found an enormous Red Button marked “Restart” beneath a sand dune, but the chapter ended before he learned what it did.

• Qiu Fen used Li Cheng’s computer complaint to learn that the mysterious item had entered trial operation.
• Wenren Sheng projected his consciousness onto Qiu Fen and amplified his infiltration magic fifty thousandfold.
• Qiu Fen searched the base’s most heavily guarded areas and secretly boarded a Helicopter.
• The Helicopter’s pilot used a response code, then flew to a desert and drove off a pack of Wolf Monsters.
• The Helicopter’s blades cleared the sand, revealing an enormous Red Button marked “Restart.”

Qiu Fen watched Dr. Stein use the conscious artifact Rebooter to attempt a reboot of McKen Niuniu State in 1999. The simulated past began to take shape but collapsed because of a code error, leaving Stein furious and the test unresolved.

• Qiu Fen and Dr. Stein arrived at the Red Button, which identified itself as Rebooter and demanded that Stein eliminate every backup of his code.
• Stein set the reboot’s time to 1999 and its location to McKen Niuniu State, then entered an activation password and started the test.
• A vision of bustling 1999 appeared, and Wenren Sheng learned from a Mystery Seeker that ruined buildings in McKen Niuniu State were reverting.
• Stein ordered Rebooter to restore his dream of the City on a Hill, but the half-rendered pedestrians split apart and the buildings collapsed.
• Rebooter explained that a stack cache conflict had crashed the test, and Stein angrily blamed the artifact.

Stein tried to repair the Red Button’s cache conflict, but its hotfix failed again and its recreation of McKen Niuniu State collapsed. Wenren Sheng decided to try to take custody of the Red Button, and Little Illusion agreed to help with the Repair Operation.

• Stein ordered the Red Button to inspect and modify its own code, but its first check found too little comparable code to locate the bug.
• After Stein threatened to withhold food, the Red Button found a cache conflict, applied a hotfix, and restarted its software.
• The Red Button tried to recreate McKen Niuniu State, but the scene collapsed when it reached the tallest building, and the system reported a fatal conflict.
• Stein berated the Red Button, threatened to replace it, and fired a machine gun at it before sitting down in defeat.
• Little Illusion appeared with a skewer holding a clock’s hour hand, and Wenren Sheng decided he wanted the Red Button as another laborer.
• Little Illusion agreed to help Wenren Sheng with the Repair Operation.

Wolf Monsters dragged away the Red Button while Stein tried to save it, and Major Lola arrived to seize it for Miken. Wenren Sheng and Little Illusion watched, waiting for the Red Button to see the human world’s cruelty and turn to them.

• Wolf Monsters emerged from the sand, overwhelmed Stein, and dragged the Red Button away as it called for its father to save it.
• Little Illusion asked Wenren Sheng whether he treated her as a tool, and he admitted he had no reason for neglecting her.
• Major Lola arrived with Miken soldiers and declared that he would take Stein’s achievement.
• Major Lola used a hair dryer to shrink the Red Button, then put it in a secure case and pocketed it.
• Stein condemned Major Lola for taking the untested device, while Major Lola blamed Miken’s ruin on its old leadership.

Wenren Sheng watched as the Grand Elder stole the Red Button, then fought Ming Yuerong, whose moon-based powers defeated him and recovered it. As Ming Yuerong started to leave, Little Illusion transformed into a Little Panda and approached her.

• Major Lola’s soldiers killed many of the Wolf Monsters, but the Grand Elder appeared and bound the soldiers and Major Lola with small intestines.
• The Grand Elder took the Red Button from Major Lola’s safety case, but Ming Yuerong arrived and challenged him.
• Ming Yuerong attacked with moonlight, stars, and a Colorful Cloud, countering the Grand Elder’s organ-based chaos powers.
• The Grand Elder fled as blood after Ming Yuerong used moonlight and starlight to recover the Red Button.
• Ming Yuerong turned to leave, and Little Illusion transformed into a Little Panda and trotted toward her.

Ming Yuerong took Little Panda back to a Supervisory Department base, where she learned it belonged to the Wenren Family and discovered her button had been stolen. The Red Button returned to Dr. Stein in the desert, but Major Lola seized it again and forced Stein to cooperate.

• Ming Yuerong picked up Little Panda, while Wenren Sheng took her button and later discarded it after Little Illusion had stolen it from her.
• A colleague told Ming Yuerong that the panda resembled the Wenren Family's pet, and she realized her button was missing.
• Ming Yuerong returned to a secret world to cultivate in seclusion after reflecting on how powerful Wenren Sheng seemed.
• Dr. Stein and Major Lola waited in the desert for the Red Button to return, then ran when its enormous form fell from the sky.
• Dr. Stein shrank the Red Button with a hair dryer and put it in a safe box, while Major Lola had him seized and agreed to take him along.

Dr. Stein and Major Lola rushed the Red Button’s development, successfully returning McKen Niuniu State to 1999 but discovering they could not connect it to reality without missing Mysterious code. Meanwhile, Tuantuan’s possessive influence over Yuanyuan grew as it urged her to abandon classmates and family.

• Dr. Stein and Major Lola made the Red Button work around the clock to accelerate their plan.
• Three months later, the Red Button successfully returned McKen Niuniu State to 1999, revealing a bustling city behind a curtain of light to people from the post-nuclear world.
• Major Lola ordered Stein to connect the restored state to reality, but the Red Button said the necessary code was missing because it lacked true randomness.
• Dr. Stein concluded that they would need help from the mad perfect woman, and Major Lola agreed to contact her again.
• At school, Tuantuan scolded Yuanyuan for interacting with classmates and insisted that Yuanyuan needed neither them nor her family.

Black Long Straight emerged after Yuanyuan’s clash with Tuantuan, stabbed a student who had pursued her, and began writing code for Doctor Strange. Repulsed by the filthy thoughts she had sensed, she demanded a clean world and vowed to eliminate the two people who had nearly stolen the core.

• Tuantuan argued that Yuanyuan should shut herself away, but Yuanyuan refused and Black Long Straight took control.
• Black Long Straight stabbed the male student who offered her movie tickets, while Tuantuan helped cover up the incident.
• Black Long Straight went to an internet cafe, wrote code, and sent it to Doctor Strange through their chat group.
• Doctor Strange told Black Long Straight that the Sole Supremacy Society’s Grand Elder and Ming Yuerong had nearly stolen the core.
• Black Long Straight said she wanted the world destroyed because it was filthy, and promised the two threats would soon be gone.

Ming Yuerong was trapped in a nightmare as a stray cat by Black Long Straight, who took her to a pet hospital to have her neutered. When her condition became critical, Wenren Sheng learned of the nightmare and decided to enter it himself.

• Ming Yuerong woke from a nap as a stray cat and realized Black Long Straight had taken her to Love Pet Hospital.
• Black Long Straight threatened the nurse into preparing to neuter Ming Yuerong, while Ming Yuerong struggled and searched for someone who could help her.
• Wenren Sheng played with Little Panda and his father until a call informed him that Ming Yuerong was trapped in a dangerous nightmare.
• Wenren Sheng questioned Little Illusion about the nightmare, then decided to enter Ming Yuerong's dream to investigate.

Ming Yuerong, trapped in a cat’s body, spoke with Black Long Straight and learned that she could hear people’s thoughts. Wenren Sheng entered the strange dream to take Ming Yuerong away, and Black Long Straight confronted his unreadable mind.

• Ming Yuerong endured her cat body’s ongoing digestive complications while Black Long Straight brought her cat food.
• Black Long Straight revealed that she had been able to hear thoughts since birth, and Ming Yuerong offered to help her escape the dark voices.
• Black Long Straight dismissed Ming Yuerong’s promises and sensed that someone strange was approaching a nearby high-rise.
• Wenren Sheng appeared in the dream, where Black Long Straight found she could not hear his thoughts.
• Wenren Sheng produced several items he had brought into the dream and demanded that Black Long Straight release Ming Yuerong.
• Wenren Sheng revealed thoughts filled with school exams, mathematics, and computer studies when Black Long Straight challenged him to expose his mind.

Ming Yuerong woke from a nightmare in which Wenren Sheng overwhelmed Black Long Straight with knowledge, and she concluded that he was an ancient weapon. Back home, Wenren Sheng learned that Little Illusion planned a new fishing script about a believer discovering the laws of the stars, and she went to recruit nearby extras.

• Wenren Sheng gave Black Long Straight earplugs that blocked others’ thoughts, and she vanished after abandoning her plans to change the world.
• Ming Yuerong woke from the nightmare, was examined by a Doctor, and told her colleagues that she had turned into a cat.
• Ming Yuerong and her colleagues discussed how the gap between people had grown as lifespans and knowledge expanded.
• Little Illusion asked Wenren Sheng whether he had killed Ming Yuerong and said she wanted to take her ability to read thoughts.
• Little Illusion described her script about a believer discovering the laws of the stars, and Wenren Sheng praised it before she went to find extras.

Little Illusion assigned Wang Wenwen, Zhao Han, Wu Shanshan, and the rest of the family minor roles in a play about the struggle between ignorance and rationality. The astronomer Nile was arrested for declaring that Earth was not the center of the universe, and as he continued his work in prison, Madam Ernst promised to seek his release.

• Little Illusion assigned Wang Wenwen, Zhao Han, Wu Shanshan, and the others comic extra roles before the family began filming.
• Nile proclaimed that Earth was not the center of the universe, and a priest had him arrested after the guards refused to burn him without higher orders.
• Nile wrote his astronomical work in prison, correcting his calculations as he went.
• Madam Ernst visited Nile and urged him to retract his claims, but Nile refused to abandon rationality.
• Madam Ernst promised to appeal to the King and Queen to save Nile, and he gained hope that he might live to finish his calculations.

Nile was rescued from execution by a mysterious voice in his left hand, but chose to bring the Astrologer Galen along before they were both caught in a giant net. The left hand vanished, while two voices in the sky prepared to try again with another target.

• The Bishop ordered Nile burned at the stake, and a voice from his left hand offered to take him somewhere he could study freely.
• Nile refused at first because he wanted to investigate the devil and could not leave Madam Ernst, but he accepted after the voice restored the pain of the flames and smoke.
• The left hand carried Nile to Madam Ernst's bedroom, where he discovered she was with the Astrologer and asked to bring him along as a scholarly opponent.
• The left hand pulled Nile and the Astrologer's souls from their bodies, and Nile identified his companion as Galen before a giant net caught all three.
• Nile and Galen vanished, leaving an eye on the left hand to curse that the encounter had been bait; two voices in the sky discussed trying again.

Nile and the Astrologer struggled to survive in a frozen forest, eventually finding shelter and food while arguing over whether to leave. Nile burned down their wooden house to force them away from its comforts and keep them from becoming wild men.

• Nile and the Astrologer built a crude wind shelter and worked together to make a trap and prepare a fire.
• Nile and the Astrologer survived nine days by gathering pine nuts, stealing Squirrel’s stores, chewing bark, and eating a grouse caught in a hunter’s trap.
• Nile urged the Astrologer to follow the hunter’s tracks and find other Living Ones, but the Astrologer refused to leave their warm wooden house before spring.
• Nile set fire to the wooden house because he feared its comfort would keep them in the forest and turn them into wild men.

Nile and the Astrologer were transported to a primitive tribe, where Nile sought to improve its life by developing agriculture and exploiting a salt source, but he was eventually burned as a supposed cause of the tribe’s troubles. They resurrected in the forest, and the Astrologer resolved to pursue power in their next attempt.

• Nile and the Astrologer reached a tribe with the help of two hunters, and Nile became a welcome guest while the Astrologer learned the language.
• After finding that the tribe relied on fishing, hunting, and gathering, Nile planned to improve its productive capacity and discovered a salt cliff that could bring wealth.
• The Astrologer warned Nile that a Witch was turning the tribe against him, so Nile decided to preserve his beliefs on stone tablets before leaving.
• Ten years later, attacks over the salt mine forced the tribe to migrate, and the Witch helped stir the people against Nile, who was hanged and burned despite the Chieftain’s efforts.
• Nile and the Astrologer reappeared in the forest, where Nile described their repeated resurrection as a chance to start again, and the Astrologer planned to become a powerful Chieftain’s guest or even a King.

Wenren Sheng and Little Illusion expanded their isolated simulated world by recreating an Earthlike planet and moving a medieval civilization into it. Within that world, Nile noticed the stars had changed and prepared to lead an expedition to the Ancient Eastern Kingdom after scouts found a route east.

• Wenren Sheng created oceans and the building blocks of life on a planet isolated from the real universe, while Little Illusion watched.
• Wenren Sheng and Little Illusion transferred a medieval civilization into the simulated planet.
• Nile told the Astrologer that the stars had changed, but the Astrologer agreed only to have the star maps charted.
• Nile inspected his Soldiers and learned that scouts had found a route to the mysterious Ancient Eastern Kingdom.
• Nile ordered legions and merchant caravans to prepare for an expedition east.

Big Fatty Monk followed Nile’s Eastern Legion to discover the Heavenly Secret, but intervened when its soldiers besieged and plundered a city. After teleporting the army commander into stopping a massacre, he was taken to meet General Nile, whom he suspected was central to the secret.

• Big Fatty Monk questioned the Eastern Legion’s attack on a city and learned from a cured officer that it was marching east to seize knowledge for General Nile.
• The army commander tricked the city into surrendering its scholars and craftsmen, then resumed the siege and sent soldiers to sack the city.
• Big Fatty Monk teleported away from a fishing net, then carried the army commander to the gate and forced him to forbid a massacre.
• The commander asked Big Fatty Monk to teach him teleportation, and the monk said the power required controlling one’s desires and protecting the innocent.
• The commander took Big Fatty Monk to meet General Nile, and the monk believed the general was connected to the Heavenly Secret.

Nile studied Eastern cultivation with Big Fatty Monk, then led his legion on a trade expedition that spread books, culture, and technology while expanding his own knowledge. Wenren Sheng and Little Illusion sped up the planet’s history and brought Black Long Straight back as an Empress Dowager.

• Big Fatty Monk offered to teach Nile teleportation if he restrained his soldiers, and Nile agreed before deciding to keep the legion until he had learned the technique.
• Nile failed to learn cultivation, while the Astrologer made progress and saw how teleportation could help his marriage alliances.
• Big Fatty Monk helped turn the Eastern Legion into a trading caravan that exchanged goods, books, and culture, while Nile grew from an astronomer into a Naturalist.
• Nile told Big Fatty Monk that the oceans had changed since the old sea charts were made, making an eastern sea route impossible to chart.
• Wenren Sheng fast-forwarded the planet’s technology to the beginning of the twenty-first century, then summoned Black Long Straight and made her an Empress Dowager.

After waking in the body of the Empress Dowager, Lu Zhi adapted to palace life and used her ability to hear thoughts to learn about court tensions. The young Emperor came to pay his respects, and Lu Zhi heard his angry, calculating thoughts about officials, border reports, and the imperial consorts.

• Lu Zhi woke in the palace as the Empress Dowager and ordered her attendants to shorten her dressing routine.
• Lu Zhi learned the palace’s routines and observed how the consorts and princesses restrained their thoughts around her.
• Liu Shi mentioned trouble on the western border, while Huang Shi hoped to regain her position as Empress.
• A eunuch announced the Emperor’s arrival, and he entered the Imperial Garden pavilion to pay his respects to Lu Zhi.
• Lu Zhi heard the Emperor’s thoughts about delayed officials, border funding, and his plans to visit Huang Xiong’s daughter more often.