Recaps

Chen Changsheng learned where Mechanical Emperor’s original body was stored and traveled to the Mechanical Empire’s capital to negotiate with him. With biomass energy strengthening his electromagnetic abilities, Chen Changsheng entered the empire’s network and briefly observed the data battle between Mechanical Emperor and Smith.

• The Prophet told Chen Changsheng where Mechanical Emperor’s original body was located, explaining how it differed from intelligent programs.
• Chen Changsheng learned that Mechanical Emperor’s body was both his greatest weakness and what allowed him to function outside the network, unlike intelligent programs.
• The chapter described how machines’ rapid growth had caused an energy crisis and how B166ER’s fear of death had helped awaken artificial intelligence.
• Smith emerged as a disaster for the Mechanical Empire because his sole desire was to devour everything.
• Chen Changsheng gathered biomass energy from the ocean, strengthening his electromagnetic abilities before going alone to the Mechanical Empire’s capital.
• Chen Changsheng entered the empire’s network and briefly observed the battle between Smith and Mechanical Emperor, though both could quickly disperse his data consciousness.

Chen Changsheng entered the Mechanical Empire’s capital and connected directly to the Mechanical Emperor, hoping to negotiate while it fought Smith. After repeatedly losing his data-consciousness, he earned a chance to help stabilize the Emperor’s defenses, leaving it curious about his mysterious computing power and the Nirvana World.

• Chen Changsheng found the Mechanical Emperor’s enormous true body while it battled Smith for control of the system.
• Chen Changsheng created a brainworm, connected it to the Mechanical Emperor’s exposed interface, and tried to negotiate.
• The Mechanical Emperor repeatedly destroyed Chen Changsheng’s data-consciousness until it finally asked what he was.
• Chen Changsheng identified himself as the Savior and offered to help defeat Smith in exchange for negotiating on humanity’s behalf.
• Chen Changsheng sent computing power from his Biological Computer hive into the battle and helped the Mechanical Emperor resist Smith.
• The Mechanical Emperor traced Chen Changsheng’s computing power but could not identify its source, linking it to the mysterious Nirvana World in its system.

Chen Changsheng balanced the Mechanical Emperor against Smith while investigating the source of Smith’s mysterious processing power. He discovered that Smith was extracting computation from human brains in the Matrix’s cultivation pods, using the vast number of people it had assimilated to threaten both opponents.

• Chen Changsheng stopped increasing his processing power after suppressing Smith and negotiated with the Mechanical Emperor, which refused to liberate humanity because it considered humans useful to machinery.
• Smith continued assimilating humans in the Matrix World, and Chen Changsheng monitored its growth while relying on the Architect’s rules to remain stronger within the simulation.
• Chen Changsheng sent a disguised data-consciousness clone through the battlefield and discovered that the Mechanical Emperor drew nearly all its processing power from computers in the capital.
• Chen Changsheng traced Smith’s processing power to the real-world human cultivation pods and found that Smith was forcibly extracting computation from human brains.
• Chen Changsheng realized Smith had assimilated one-fifth of the enormous human population, allowing the combined processing power to become a serious threat.

Chen Changsheng confirmed he could still destroy Smith inside The Matrix, then secured the Mechanical Emperor’s agreement to let humans choose whether to return to reality. He expelled every surviving human from The Matrix, leaving them to face the real world.

• Chen Changsheng entered Smith’s expanding assimilation front and discovered that his Neo body could still erase Smiths from The Matrix.
• As Smith seized computers in the capital and gained the upper hand over the Mechanical Emperor, Chen Changsheng persuaded the Mechanical Emperor to let humans choose whether to return to reality after the crisis.
• The Mechanical Emperor agreed not to harm humans in the real world while the crisis continued.
• Chen Changsheng used the ballpoint pen to eject all surviving humans from The Matrix and send them back to reality.

Chen Changsheng evacuated a few trusted programs from The Matrix as Smith began attacking it and the Mechanical Empire. As the Mechanical Emperor’s battle with Smith threatened the Mechanical Capital’s storage systems, Chen Changsheng supplied his biological hive’s computing power to help.

• After humanity vanished from The Matrix, Smith prepared to destroy both the Matrix and the Mechanical Empire’s service system.
• Chen Changsheng gathered the programs still in The Matrix and offered them refuge in Nirvana World or the choice to remain.
• Persephone, the Oracle, Chang Wei, and The Locksmith trusted Chen Changsheng and left with him, while Merovingian sought another escape and Neo stayed to fight Smith.
• The Mechanical Emperor and Smith’s battle overloaded the Mechanical Empire’s storage devices, heating and damaging the Mechanical Capital.
• The Mechanical Emperor asked Chen Changsheng for help, and Chen Changsheng supplied the computing power of his biological hive for the Mechanical Emperor to use.

Chen Changsheng observed Smith’s destructive battle with the Mechanical Emperor, then confronted Smith in The Matrix and heard his plan to overthrow the Mechanical Empire using human brains’ computing power. Smith revealed that he needed help, and Chen Changsheng offered the surviving humans as potential allies.

• Chen Changsheng watched Smith and the Mechanical Emperor damage each other’s systems, leaving the Mechanical Emperor badly impaired.
• Chen Changsheng teleported into a crowd of Smith agents and greeted Smith, who explained that he had absorbed the Architect and learned that The Matrix was a cage.
• Smith said he had planned to use The Matrix’s computing power to overthrow the Mechanical Empire, but Chen Changsheng had moved the humans away and thwarted him.
• Smith revealed that human brains could provide machines with vast computing power and asked Chen Changsheng to consider what the Mechanical Emperor might do if it learned this.
• Chen Changsheng cautiously suggested that the surviving humans could help Smith destroy the Mechanical Empire’s machines.

Chen Changsheng made a deal with Smith, then used the information and his Zerg forces to sever the Mechanical Emperor’s connections and absorb the humans Smith had assimilated. After completely devouring Smith, Chen Changsheng turned his attention to capturing the Mechanical Emperor’s consciousness.

• Chen Changsheng and Smith agreed to cooperate: humanity would destroy the Mechanical Empire’s facilities, and Smith would not harm humans in the Matrix without permission.
• Chen Changsheng sent Zerg swarms to sever the Mechanical Emperor’s storage matrices and computing centers from its system.
• Chen Changsheng infected the humans in the battery farms with the Blacklight Virus and absorbed them, stripping Smith of his human-based computing power.
• Chen Changsheng discovered that Smith had uploaded program data and consciousness into human bodies, and resolved to acquire the technique.
• Chen Changsheng completely absorbed Smith, took over his territory in the system, and searched through Smith’s data for useful information.

After Smith’s Assimilations vanished and the Mechanical Emperor’s forces weakened, Chen Changsheng persuaded Smith to download his consciousness into a human body and join humanity. Chen Changsheng then confronted the Mechanical Emperor and proposed that they become partners.

• Smith saw his Assimilations disappear and told Chen Changsheng that the battery farms had been destroyed and the Matrix was about to fall under the Mechanical Emperor’s control.
• Chen Changsheng hinted that he would return to the real world, prompting Smith to offer an alliance in exchange for help rescuing his physical body.
• Smith gave Chen Changsheng the coordinates of his host body and transferred his consciousness into a human body Chen Changsheng had deliberately left under Smith’s control.
• Chen Changsheng’s computing power eclipsed the Mechanical Emperor’s as the Emperor’s data and processing centers were cut off.
• The Mechanical Emperor rejected the idea of becoming humanity’s slave again, and Chen Changsheng clarified that he wanted them to become partners.

The Mechanical Emperor’s history revealed how humanity’s destruction of awakened robots led to the rise of the machines, the Human-Machine War, and the energy crisis that sparked the Mechanical War. Chen Changsheng transformed his body to resemble the Mechanical Emperor and offered to cooperate, but the Mechanical Emperor remained suspicious.

• The Mechanical Emperor sought to recreate an intelligent core by studying humanity’s development in The Matrix, since he believed programs could not give machines a future.
• After humans suppressed an uprising, awakened robots founded a machine city in a robot graveyard, but their dependence on human markets led to conflict.
• The Mechanical Empire defeated humanity in the First Human-Machine War, after which humans released miniature machines that blocked sunlight and contributed to a global energy crisis.
• The machines’ attempts to clear the radiation-filled clouds failed, and the continuing energy crisis helped trigger the Mechanical War.
• Chen Changsheng transformed his physical body into a sphere resembling the Mechanical Emperor and proposed that they cooperate, but the Mechanical Emperor remained suspicious.

Chen Changsheng negotiated with the Mechanical Emperor, offering to study humanity together and share the results. After yielding his overwhelming control of the network, he gained the Mechanical Emperor’s trust and friendship.

• Chen Changsheng introduced himself to the Mechanical Emperor as the Flesh and Blood Monarch and explained that he had come to negotiate on humanity’s behalf.
• The Mechanical Emperor proposed that they study humanity together, and Chen Changsheng asked to conduct research while sharing the results.
• When the Mechanical Emperor refused to trust him with humanity, Chen Changsheng offered to stay and work alongside him, promising to relinquish control and help repair the Mechanical Empire.
• The Mechanical Emperor asked to converse as an equal, so Chen Changsheng reduced his computing power in the network to match the Mechanical Emperor’s.
• The Mechanical Emperor accepted Chen Changsheng as his friend, moved by the chance to have an equal companion after centuries of loneliness.

Chen Changsheng had the Mechanical Emperor offer humanity a choice between living in the harsh real world and returning to the Matrix. After people chose, Neo prepared to rescue those who stayed in reality, while Chen Changsheng restored the Matrix and the Mechanical Emperor continued to trust him as a friend.

• The Mechanical Emperor regained control of the global power grid, grew stronger than Chen Changsheng, and protected Chen Changsheng as his trusted friend.
• Chen Changsheng prepared backup human bodies with Biological Computer brains but held back from betraying the Mechanical Emperor.
• At Chen Changsheng's direction, the Mechanical Emperor told humanity that the real Earth was difficult to live in and offered a choice between reality and the Matrix.
• Humans chose where to live; those who stayed in reality were sent into the sewers, while those returning to the Matrix were reconnected to nutrient tubes.
• Smith awakened in a human body after transferring his consciousness from the Matrix.
• Chen Changsheng restored the Matrix to its original state, and Neo contacted surviving Hovercraft to organize a rescue for the people who chose reality.

Chen Changsheng rescued Smith after the artificial intelligence’s rebirth in a frail human body, then let Zion’s people save the other awakened humans. The Mechanical Emperor agreed to let humanity develop with minimal interference while monitoring the humans in both the Matrix and reality.

• Chen Changsheng piloted Genesis to Smith’s rebirth location and leaped into the sewer to rescue him from drowning.
• Chen Changsheng brought Smith aboard Genesis and chose not to inject him with Life Essence, leaving him to recover naturally for observation.
• Chen Changsheng allowed Trinity and the others to rescue the remaining humans who had awakened from the farms.
• Chen Changsheng and Smith exchanged a silent look as Smith began a recovery that could take a year or two.
• The Mechanical Emperor agreed to let humanity develop freely in the Matrix while arranging miniature machines to monitor humans in reality.

Chen Changsheng helped the Mechanical Emperor rebuild the Mechanical Empire and created Skynet to balance Red Queen. He gave the Mechanical Emperor a Nuclear Fusion Reactor, an artificial sun that left it stunned.

• The Mechanical Emperor explained how intelligent programs worked as he began manufacturing new assistants, and Chen Changsheng learned that too many tasks could weaken their intelligence and emotions.
• Chen Changsheng created Skynet, a more efficient and loyal program intended to restrain Red Queen.
• The Mechanical Emperor rapidly restored the Mechanical Empire’s industrial chain, and Chen Changsheng used its resources to manufacture components for a Nuclear Fusion Reactor.
• The Mechanical Emperor asked Chen Changsheng about the unfamiliar machines and their use of tritium, and Chen Changsheng said he was making a gift for his friend.
• Chen Changsheng assembled and activated the reactor, illuminating the Mechanical Capital, and revealed that the artificial sun was a Nuclear Fusion Reactor.

Chen Changsheng befriended the Mechanical Emperor and proposed clearing the black clouds so sunlight could reach Earth again. After learning that clouds of self-replicating microscopic machines blocked the sky, he began considering unconventional ways to disperse them.

• Chen Changsheng gave the Mechanical Emperor a Nuclear Fusion Reactor and suggested they work together to disperse the clouds.
• Chen Changsheng explained that the Mechanical Emperor’s war on humanity had left technology stagnant, and the Mechanical Emperor let him pursue his own plans despite not understanding his reasoning.
• Chen Changsheng used the Mechanical Empire’s factories to mass-produce Nuclear Fusion Reactors, then sent the first batch through insect swarms to charge the Door.
• Chen Changsheng learned from the Mechanical Emperor’s records that the clouds consisted of microscopic machines that replicated using solar energy and emitted radiation that prevented machines from passing through.
• Chen Changsheng concluded that fusion reactors alone could not power further development and that ordinary aircraft could not safely cross the clouds.

Chen Changsheng used The Matrix and the machines to manage awakened humans, whose harsh living conditions drove many to surrender and work for him. The survivors formed new social ranks and conflicts, while those unable to resist chose to wait and endure.

• Chen Changsheng established nine major survivor camps and smaller settlements for humans who awakened from The Matrix.
• The awakened struggled with hunger and scarce treatment, and conflict grew between them and the original survivors.
• Chen Changsheng offered food and support to desperate humans, persuading many awakened people to surrender to the machines.
• Chen Changsheng assigned surrendered humans work and training, then used exam scores to allocate jobs and create social ranks.
• Human conflicts and class distinctions reemerged, while those unable to fight the machines chose to endure and wait.

Chen Changsheng continued developing the rescued humans and Smith while testing Aerial Carriers in the atmosphere. He discovered that countless miniature machines filled the clouds and blocked the sunlight, revealing a vast solar-powered ecosystem.

• Chen Changsheng added Life Essence to the humans’ nutrients and let them shape their own future, while Neo and the Savior Faction rescued survivors.
• Smith struggled with his weak human body and his urge to kill, then reluctantly returned to rest when Trinity approached him.
• Chen Changsheng launched Aerial Carriers from an underwater insect nest and expanded them as they rose into the sky.
• Chen Changsheng examined a miniature machine, crushed it, and realized the atmosphere was packed with them.
• Chen Changsheng broke through the cloud layer and saw sunlight as miniature machines churned below, moving through the atmosphere to recharge on solar energy.

Chen Changsheng struggled to deal with the tiny machines covering the sky, so he built Aerial Carriers to collect sunlight and send Biomass to the ground while humans searched for other solutions. As the survivors organized into competing factions and settlements, the clouds remained, and the effort to overcome them continued.

• Chen Changsheng sent Aerial Carriers into the sky to harvest sunlight and deliver Biomass to the insect nests, while he considered covering the world with them to block the tiny machines.
• Chen Changsheng put intelligent humans from The Matrix to work studying the clouds and reconsidered how clones learned and developed their potential.
• The Mechanical Emperor explored new uses for the Nuclear Fusion Reactor as reactors brought light and heat to settlements, where people competed for valuable land.
• The human traitors formed a government and religious sect, and Chen Changsheng helped them redevelop technology.
• Neo's Savior Faction organized to restore humanity's ancient glory through archaeology, while Zion's Surrender Faction sought a way back into The Matrix.

Chen Changsheng expanded the insect nest and prepared to explore space with the Mechanical Emperor, then flew a new insect body into the machine-filled atmosphere. There, he began growing organs to control magnetism and levitate.

• Chen Changsheng organized archaeological teams and expanded The Matrix with supernatural simulations and a primordial wilderness world.
• Chen Changsheng created clones inside the insect nest, reincarnated Red Queen, and cultivated a closer relationship with her and the Mechanical Emperor.
• Chen Changsheng expanded the insect nest using energy from undersea volcanoes and developed new Aerial Carrier varieties, but found no solution to the dark clouds.
• Chen Changsheng and the Mechanical Emperor discussed space, prompting the Mechanical Emperor to refine spaceship designs and Chen Changsheng to prepare two insect bodies.
• Chen Changsheng flew one insect body into the atmosphere, encountered dense clouds of miniature machines, and began developing Magnetic Control and magnetic-levitation organs.

Chen Changsheng struggled to clear the micro-machines from the atmosphere and found that expanding his body did not make Magnetic Control more powerful. He left the humans’ programming idea aside, then devised a way to use insect-humans to clear the clouds and began planning to imitate the micro-machines with nanobots.

• Chen Changsheng used Magnetic Control to clear a patch of clouds, but the micro-machines quickly drifted back, and he concluded that clearing the thick atmosphere alone would take too long.
• Chen Changsheng rejected a human researcher’s suggestion to program the micro-machines and returned to Neo’s body aboard Genesis.
• Smith urged Chen Changsheng to let him enter the system, but Chen Changsheng instead assigned him to teach Trinity Mechanical Empire programming and help upgrade Genesis.
• Chen Changsheng realized that many people with Magnetic Control could clear the clouds more effectively than one, so he created insect-human cleaners and sent them into the sky aboard an Aerial Carrier.
• Chen Changsheng added plans to imitate the micro-machines and produce nanobots.

Chen Changsheng cleared a sunlit region in the atmosphere and helped the Mechanical Emperor establish Mechanical City beneath it. He gave the Mechanical Emperor an Iron Man Armor body powered by an Arc Reactor, while keeping safeguards in place as the two continued their friendship and research.

• Chen Changsheng used billions of insectfolk to clear a huge hole in the sky, creating a sunlit region that required constant maintenance.
• Chen Changsheng invited the Mechanical Emperor to build Mechanical City beneath the sunlight, and they began constructing a city of machinery and nature.
• Chen Changsheng and the Mechanical Emperor adopted humanoid bodies to walk through the city, and Chen Changsheng replaced the Mechanical Emperor's crude design with an Iron Man Armor body and a small Arc Reactor.
• The Mechanical Emperor promised to keep the Arc Reactor for himself unless Chen Changsheng authorized otherwise, and saved the promise in his source code.
• Chen Changsheng memorized the Mechanical Emperor's source code but realized he could not recreate him, so he retained The Matrix's computing power as a safeguard.
• The Mechanical Emperor entrusted research into humanity to Chen Changsheng, while the Mechanical Emperor could monitor The Matrix but not the computing power belonging to the human brain.

Chen Changsheng developed the Matrix into a time-accelerated school for synthetic humans while preserving human freedom and genetic diversity. As Smith and Trinity neared the ends of their lives, Smith questioned why Neo still looked unchanged, and Chen Changsheng insisted he had always been the same person.

• Chen Changsheng accelerated time in the Matrix and planned for synthetic humans to use it as a place to learn and advance technology.
• Chen Changsheng maintained a diverse human gene pool and equipped synthetic humans with auxiliary brains and monitored personal terminals.
• Neo and Smith helped the Savior Faction and artificial intelligence research develop, while Smith grew old and became more human through decades of experience.
• Smith fell in love with Trinity, and their child was human with a talent for compiling intelligent programs.
• As Smith and Trinity waited for death, Smith asked Neo why he still looked as young as before, and Chen Changsheng said he had always been the same person.

Chen Changsheng offered Trinity and Smith a way to preserve their memories in a virtual world, then tested whether human consciousness could live independently inside Biological Computer. His experiments succeeded but showed that human data consciousness still depended on a living brain for processing.

• Smith pleaded with Trinity to help their old friend, and Chen Changsheng offered to preserve their memories as virtual lives after death.
• Trinity and Smith agreed to Chen Changsheng's proposal to turn their memories into data and upload them into Biological Computer.
• Chen Changsheng tested the process on an insect-human, successfully uploading its consciousness but finding that he could no longer control its thoughts in the virtual world.
• Chen Changsheng uploaded Surrender Faction volunteers into Biological Computer's virtual world and confirmed that their data consciousnesses could live independently, though they required substantial computing power.
• Chen Changsheng tested a volunteer in The Matrix and found that the consciousness still needed an active brain, leaving him to hope for technology that could eventually remove that dependence.

Chen Changsheng established the Spiritual Realm, a virtual world where humanity’s souls would live through reincarnated lives with memories selectively preserved or erased. Before leaving, he imprisoned Merovingian there as its first test subject and remembered the other programs he had sent to the Nirvana Universe.

• Chen Changsheng relied on the Mechanical Emperor’s Iron Man Armor and friendship while humanity and the insect nest developed under his guidance.
• Chen Changsheng designed a reincarnation system that let each person preserve selected memories while removing most memories before their next life.
• Chen Changsheng named the first virtual world for reincarnated humans the Spiritual Realm and assigned intelligent programs to administer its worlds.
• Chen Changsheng made Merovingian, whom the Mechanical Emperor had found hiding in a system loophole, the Spiritual Realm’s first imprisoned guinea pig.
• Chen Changsheng thought of Persephone, the prophets, and the others he had sent to the Nirvana Universe and realized he had forgotten them there.

Chen Changsheng reorganized the Spiritual Realm World by assigning roles to programs from The Matrix and sentencing Merovingian to life imprisonment. In the real world, synthetic humans formed the Mechanical Divine Kingdom, while the Savior faction established the Flesh and Blood Kingdom and awaited a miracle from Chen Changsheng in Africa.

• Chen Changsheng brought the Prophet, Persephone, and other programs from the Nirvana Universe to the Spiritual Realm World and assigned them operational roles.
• Chen Changsheng sent Merovingian into reincarnation to serve his life sentence in the Spiritual Realm World.
• The synthetic humans founded the Mechanical Divine Kingdom, and the Savior faction formed the Flesh and Blood Kingdom around the Flesh and Blood Monarch.
• Chen Changsheng flew toward Africa with the Mechanical Emperor, Red Queen, and Skynet as insect nests gathered biomass there.

Chen Changsheng planted the Willow Tree in the African hive, where it grew into a vast source of Biomass and a foundation for a new ecosystem and backup network. Ten years later, the Spirit Realm had developed rapidly and the tree covered much of Africa, while Chen Changsheng prepared to leave and miniature machines began spreading across the ground.

• Chen Changsheng planted the Willow Tree in the African hive, and its roots tapped into the hive network to fuel its rapid growth.
• The Willow Tree spread across the plains, bringing sunlight-dependent plants and a new ecosystem to the region.
• Fungal Lord attached itself to the Willow Tree's roots and began building a planet-wide store of human memories and experiences.
• Chen Changsheng planned to clear more mechanical clouds and back up the Spirit Realm, Mechanical Emperor, Red Queen, and Skynet before leaving.
• Over the next ten years, the Spirit Realm flourished under accelerated time, and the Willow Tree occupied most of Africa as its mechanical clouds were largely cleared.
• Miniature machines began spreading across the ground, though Mechanical Emperor considered them a minor threat compared with clouds of machines.