Chapter Summaries

Song He outlined experiments to investigate how the longevity fungus formed its cocoon brain, including tests designed to deceive its parasitic filaments. After the students began work, Song He and Xiang Xiaotong discussed how little humanity knew about Earth’s strange species, and he began recounting a reliable way Ivy League professors helped students produce graduation theses.

• Song He proposed testing DNA from different brain regions in the longevity fungus’s cocoon and studying how its filaments reacted to animals without brains.
• Song He suggested substituting other cells for brain tissue to see whether the fungus absorbed them and how it handled mistaken tissue.
• Song He sent the child prodigies to work and said he and Dean Xiang would help them analyze the results.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong left the laboratory and wondered how many other bizarre species lived on Earth.
• Song He recalled Ivy League professors’ reliable method for helping students produce graduation theses and asked Xiang Xiaotong to guess what it was.

Xiang Xiaotong and Song He discussed using auctions for health supplements while protecting life-saving medicine, then watched the Red-haired Gorillas arrive safely at Space City. Xie Yuanxun ended the gala by announcing plans for major expansion and large-scale human settlement in space.

• Xiang Xiaotong explained how Yuanxun Rocket Company could use tiered auctions to make health supplements profitable while donating some proceeds to patients.
• Song He warned that profits could skew research, production, recruitment, and company priorities toward health supplements, and Xiang Xiaotong proposed tying control of that business to achievements in life-saving medicine.
• Xiang Xiaotong and Song He considered rotating control among factions and balancing their strength, while acknowledging that managing the system would require continual adjustments.
• The spacecraft docked at Space City's A Airport, and Teacher Bai led the Red-haired Gorillas into the corridor to report their safe arrival.
• Xie Yuanxun announced plans for five to ten trillion in Space City orders over ten years, expansion to twice its current size, and more than ten thousand people living in space.

Ye Lianghan and Ren Zhiyuan discovered that Song He had used two game accounts to defeat the entire Competition Team, while the Zhuang Family altered the game to make his upcoming BOSS Battle far harder. Ren Zhiyuan said Song He would receive a School-Level Three Merits Student award if he won the championship.

• Ye Lianghan learned that the King of Ten Thousand Poisons and the All-Night God of War had driven the contestants back to the Main City, so Ren Zhiyuan asked Zhuang Can to identify their players.
• Zhuang Can checked the game data and realized both accounts belonged to Song He, who had played all night and completed questions at an extraordinary rate without hacks or account boosting.
• Father Zhuang worried about Song He growing close to Zhuang Qiyan, and Zhuang Can altered the game so Song He would certainly face the Kun Bone King's hidden state in the BOSS Battle.
• Ye Lianghan told Ren Zhiyuan that Song He had controlled both accounts and defeated two Competition Teams alone.
• Ren Zhiyuan said Song He would receive a School-Level Three Merits Student award if he won the championship and asked Ye Lianghan to report the results that night.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong finished reviewing the Consciousness Mainframe’s data, then learned that Xie Yuanxun and Zou Yunshui had won the Nobel Prize in Physics. During a livestream interview, Xie Yuanxun credited Zou Yunshui for leading their award-winning work, but an unexpected phone call changed what he had just said.

• Song He scolded the prodigies for working without sleep and spent the night correcting errors in the Consciousness Mainframe’s data.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong spent the next day reviewing the data and prepared tens of thousands of words of suggestions for improvement.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong saw news that Xie Yuanxun and Zou Yunshui had won the Nobel Prize in Physics, then watched Lu Geng interview Xie in a livestream.
• Xie Yuanxun said Zou Yunshui was the technical backbone of their work and deserved most of the credit for their award-winning paper.
• Xie Yuanxun answered a phone call during the interview, then said he took back his earlier statement, leaving Lu Geng confused.

Song He used artillery and zombies to capture Thorn City, reached Silver Level 99, then doubled back to destroy Lin Village City while Chu Long rushed to the wrong city. Chu Long recognized that the enemy was growing stronger by turning casualties into zombies and issued a new battle strategy.

• Song He's zombie army and artillery overwhelmed Thorn City's mage defenders, destroyed the city wall, and collected the corpses before retreating.
• Chu Long learned that Thorn City had fallen and predicted that Song He would attack White Stone City, so he rushed there to provide support.
• Song He reached Silver Level 99, then chose to attack Lin Village City instead of White Stone City to avoid Chu Long.
• Song He's expanded zombie army and artillery burned Lin Village City to ashes, and Xi Chu Overlord arrived after the attackers had left.
• Chu Long muted the group chat and ordered a strategic adjustment, warning that the zombie army would grow by converting casualties into more zombies.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong decided to attend a planning meeting together because she could not bear to be apart from him, while Song He continued work on the robot-era experiments. At the laboratory, he told Yuan Tiangang, Yang Yu, and Qi Feng to choose one of them to join the Think Tank.

• Song He considered the Think Tank assignment and woke Xiang Xiaotong, who clung to him as she stirred.
• Song He asked Xiang Xiaotong to attend the meeting in his place, but she insisted they go together rather than be separated.
• Song He agreed to go with Xiang Xiaotong, and they planned to tackle more laboratory problems and select a Child Prodigy for the Think Tank.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong entered the experiment building, where Yuan Tiangang, Yang Yu, and Qi Feng were monitoring the robot prototypes.
• Song He told Yuan Tiangang, Yang Yu, and Qi Feng that one of them had to join the Think Tank and asked them to decide who would go.

Song He studied how the Longevity Fungus combined fungal and animal brain genes, while Xiang Xiaotong watched Earth pass outside their window. They watched Ice Cream Sister’s new video about a student who died while using Lighthouse’s Dream Helmet, and she warned that it lacked the Dream Control Helmet’s safety monitoring.

• Song He concluded that the Longevity Fungus organized foreign animal genes into its Cocoon Brain while keeping control of the process.
• Xiang Xiaotong pointed out that the Siberian Cold Current had turned a large area of Earth white, and she and Song He discussed whether to spend New Year on Earth or in orbit.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong watched Ice Cream Sister report that a master's student had died after spending more than ten hours a day using a Dream Helmet.
• Ice Cream Sister said the student's death might have resulted from a weak heart or severe brain damage, and the helmet had continued running after he died.
• Ice Cream Sister contrasted the Dream Helmet with the Dream Control Helmet's health monitoring and emergency safeguards, then warned that the Dream Helmet had none of them.

Song He explained an enzyme-based method that could make artificial blood more compatible across blood types, and Lu Chengen realized it might also expand organ-transplant options. The team began planning mouse and human-blood experiments to test the idea.

• Song He explained that two enzymes extracted from mice altered blood-cell antigens and reduced cross-type agglutination by roughly 98%.
• Lu Chengen asked whether the enzyme method could cause problems like large transfusions of O blood, and Song He said it might reduce risks by producing more consistent artificial blood cells.
• Lu Chengen suggested that the method could enable organ transplants between patients and donors with different blood types, potentially increasing successful matches several times over.
• Song He cautioned that the idea still required testing and ordered the team to begin mouse and human-blood experiments.
• Fan Tao asked where the team would obtain human blood for the experiments.

Dewitt told Song He about Quincy’s years in the Mental Hospital, where he filled three chests with mathematical manuscripts before working himself to death. After mathematicians plagiarized the first chest, Quincy’s friends kept the remaining manuscripts private, and Dewitt had not yet explained why.

• Dewitt recounted how sedatives, restraints, and lost mathematical insights tormented Quincy during his first six months in the Mental Hospital.
• Quincy stabilized when doctors supplied him with paper and pens, then spent his final four years writing by day and revising his own work at night.
• Dewitt explained that Quincy died after sleeping only a few hours each night, and that he told Teacher Lambert he had completed God’s mission.
• Quincy left three chests of manuscripts, but mathematicians plagiarized work from the first chest after claiming they could not understand it.
• Dewitt said Quincy’s friends kept the remaining two chests private, and Song He questioned why they had not published them under Quincy’s name.

Song He watched public opinion shift in his favor after Zlokovic was exposed for academic fraud, but the dispute remained evenly divided. Two days later, whistleblower Stephen King revealed further evidence of Zlokovic's misconduct, prompting an NIH investigation and giving Song He’s side a decisive advantage.

• News reports exposed Zlokovic for falsifying research and linked his papers to failed Alzheimer's drugs, while Song He's team continued its laboratory work.
• As reports connected Zlokovic's fraud to his accusations against Song He, public opinion split roughly evenly between supporters of Song He and Jin Shunlu.
• Song He told Xiang Xiaotong he was satisfied with the draw, and Xiang Xiaotong said a decisive event such as a retraction or admission could turn the dispute.
• Two days later, Song He learned that Irema Laboratory had sheltered Stephen King, the whistleblower who compiled evidence of Zlokovic's fraud and fled to Gaul after his home caught fire.
• Irema Laboratory's post said Stephen King had witnessed falsified drug-trial data, and that the NIH had suspended Zlokovic's funding and sealed his laboratory for investigation.
• Song He realized the revelations had settled the dispute in his favor and saw that Stephen King was about to livestream more evidence.

Xia Wansan and visiting princes were trapped in their vehicles by a massive swarm of strange, flea-like insects at Field No. 99. The pesticides failed to kill the swarm, leaving Xia Wansan facing the princes’ growing suspicion.

• Xia Wansan spotted a huge insect swarm approaching and urged the princes to retreat, but the leading prince chose to stay inside the sealed vehicles and watch.
• The swarm covered the vehicles’ windows, and the insects repeatedly splashed sticky green liquid across the glass.
• Xia Wansan assured the princes that pesticide would control the pests and called for drones to spray the fields.
• The first round of pesticide failed as the insects on the vehicles’ hood revived and began hopping again.
• Xia Wansan ordered nearly a hundred drones to spray a stronger dose, but most of the insects survived, and the princes looked at him suspiciously.

Song He received the Su Buqing Applied Mathematics Award for his work in brain science and continued trying to prove the Dewitt Conjecture. With Deng Puhe’s help, he got Dewitt to undergo surgery for Neuron Mechanical Legs, and Dewitt arrived at the Summit Venue walking the next day.

• Xiang Xiaotong told Song He he had won the Su Buqing Applied Mathematics Award for his brain-science work, while Xie Yuanxun had won for developing a new engine.
• Song He worked on the Dewitt Conjecture during the day, then showed Dewitt his attempted proof at dinner; Dewitt explained that it had no substantial breakthrough.
• Neuron Company staff brought Dewitt’s custom mechanical legs, but discovered he needed an operation first because his bones had become deformed.
• Dewitt refused the surgery, so Deng Puhe pushed his wheelchair to a Neuron Company vehicle while Song He accompanied them, prompting onlookers to mistake the scene for a kidnapping.
• After the operation, Dewitt posted that he had received two Neuron Mechanical Legs and complained that Deng Puhe and Song He had forced him into the hospital.
• Dewitt walked into the Summit Venue the next day, drawing a crowd of mathematicians, and that evening was the final DeWitt Dinner.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong discovered that Hormone No. 5 caused powerful hallucinations in octopuses and monkeys, so they paused their experiments to register it. Three days later, Song He was researching hallucinogens at the university library when someone greeted him.

• Xiang Xiaotong gave the monkey a much stronger dose of Hormone No. 5, and it began singing and thrashing.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong concluded that Hormone No. 5 was probably a hallucinogen and suspended experiments until they could register it.
• Song He asked Zhao Yiyi to collect the octopuses so they could recover at the zoo.
• Three days later, Song He researched hallucinogens at the university library and considered their possible medical uses.
• An unfamiliar fellow student greeted Song He as he read.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong watched Neuron Company’s new product launch and discussed the rivalry between Neuron and Chenghuang. As CEO Liu Chang began introducing a controversial product meant to reduce workloads, he recounted how a results-based work policy had not gone as expected.

• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong discussed why Neuron and Chenghuang’s fans fought online, and Xiang Xiaotong explained how brands encouraged the rivalry.
• Liu Chang opened Neuron Company’s launch event as the livestream audience surpassed ten million viewers.
• Liu Chang presented several upgraded products, which Song He dismissed as unimpressive.
• Liu Chang introduced a controversial new product intended to reduce workloads for students and office workers.
• Liu Chang described replacing fixed work hours with weekly task quotas, then began explaining why the policy did not work as he had expected.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong announced major donations and expanded medical-school admissions before the press conference ended. They then watched the first Mature Cloud Piercer test succeed with an unprecedented energy loss of just 0.2%.

• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong announced that five companies would donate fifty trillion to build three Vacuum Tube Railway Lines across Eurasia.
• Xiang Xiaotong announced five million additional medical-school admissions to train Hibernation Doctors, with strict entrance and graduation standards.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong ended the press conference and boarded their private plane, where they contacted Xie Yuanxun in Space City.
• Xie Yuanxun and the technical specialists began the Mature Cloud Piercer ground-to-space transmission test between the Gobi Desert station and the Space City station.
• Xie Yuanxun reported that the transmission succeeded with 99.85 percent efficiency and only 0.2 percent energy loss.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong celebrated how Liu Li'an had contained the orangutans' ambitions, while Liu Li'an revealed to his confidants that the Mars Project had been a deliberate performance. He explained that he had staged the scheme to reassure Song He, leaving his subordinates to recognize how thoroughly they had been fooled.

• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong discussed Liu Li'an's handling of the orangutans and went to bed instead of continuing to organize data.
• Liu Li'an met with Apple, Orange Juice, and Ham and showed them a homemade detector that had revealed listening devices in his room.
• Liu Li'an told his confidants that he had known Song He was listening and that the Mars Project had been staged for him.
• Liu Li'an criticized the three gorillas for missing clues, including how the supposed secret had been shared with an ever-growing group.
• Liu Li'an explained that he had used an absurd, controlled scheme to convince Song He that he understood the orangutans and could safely watch them fail.

Lu Geng, Cha Xinran, and Yu Banmeng failed to buy Interstellar Bank’s financial products after they sold out almost instantly. Lu Geng then saw how Dream City and Interstellar Bank had sparked a worldwide rush, leaving the bank poised for explosive growth.

• Song He told Xiang Xiaotong that Durian had confessed its ambition to control humanity and asked him to watch whether Xuanzhu would report it.
• Lu Geng, Cha Xinran, and Yu Banmeng tried to buy Yemo City Data Center Bonds, but found the bonds and other available financial products had sold out.
• Lu Geng read headlines reporting Interstellar Bank’s rapid asset growth, a surge in registered accounts, and restrictions on deposits and transfers in several countries.
• Lu Geng browsed forums filled with people recruiting workers and starting businesses in Dream City, while helmet shortages fueled fears of missing out.
• Forum users discussed the turmoil around Interstellar Bank, with some predicting that its ties to Dream City and Human Hibernation could give it worldwide financial power.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong celebrated the successful long-distance energy transmission test while waiting for Chuan Yun’s anti-missile test, which would determine whether its technology could break nuclear deterrence. Song He checked the global reaction to the Brain-like Chip Company’s launch and found widespread excitement over Teacher Bai’s low price and large planned production.

• Song He called Xie Yuanxun’s attention to the upcoming anti-missile test after Xie celebrated the success of Chuan Yun’s energy transmission technology.
• Xie Yuanxun said the anti-missile test would begin in half an hour while the troops finished preparing.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong ate and drank while they waited, then Song He checked online discussions about the New Product Launch Event.
• People around the world praised Teacher Bai’s 460,000 price and the plan to produce 200 million units annually.
• Investors in the Lighthouse stock market reacted uneasily, sending several listed robotics companies’ share prices swinging wildly.

Song He learned that he had been selected for the National College Entrance Examination Question Setting Group and prepared to cut off contact for two months. Before he left, he revealed that he and Chu Long had proved the Small Lin-Gar Conjecture, then joked that he would make this year’s exam brutally difficult.

• Xiang Xiaotong told Song He that he had been selected for the National College Entrance Examination Question Setting Group and would soon be taken into seclusion.
• Song He gave Xiang Xiaotong the proof showing that he, Chu Long, and Professor Deng Puhe had proved the Small Lin-Gar Conjecture.
• Song He messaged his family, Wei Liqun, Chu Long, Zhao Yiyi, Lu Chengen, Ji Tianhe, and the class representatives to explain his absence or make arrangements.
• Xiang Xiaotong promised to arrange cover for Song He’s classes and laboratory while he was away.
• Song He declared that he would make the college entrance examination so difficult that only immortals could pass.

Dewitt announced that Evariste Galois, Katerina, and Tang Jiang had earned seats at his dinner, and Song He was revealed to be Tang Jiang. After discussing the dinner’s remaining opportunities, Dewitt began a lecture on recent mathematical research and moved on to Song He.

• Dewitt announced Evariste Galois and Katerina as the first two scholars selected for his dinner.
• Dewitt named Tang Jiang as the third scholar, and Song He stood to accept the invitation.
• San the Pan-Fried Bun asked Song He to introduce him to Dewitt, while Katerina and Xie Kefu discussed Song He's appearance and video-call filters.
• Lou Jinghui told Ning Mo, Zhang Zhilei, Zhao Yiyi, and Ding Yangze how prestigious Dewitt was and urged them to brag about Song He's invitation.
• Dewitt said the problem had four solutions and offered more dinner invitations for scholars who found new methods.
• Dewitt reviewed recent mathematical work, praised Xiang Xiaotong's Collatz research, and then introduced Song He.