Chapter Summaries

Su Mo toured Origin Territory, learned about its harsh conditions and the mysterious power enforcing its rules, and weighed how to investigate the territory and recruit its people. After returning to Three Source Inn, he heard Feng Long report that his investigation had uncovered three unusually strange official institutions.

• The Lord of Origin Territory arrived at Main Peak Restaurant, where Huang Bing told Su Mo that people who caused trouble inside the territory mysteriously disappeared overnight.
• Huang Bing guided Su Mo through Origin Territory, and Su Mo saw how residents struggled through multiple jobs and meager food rations.
• Su Mo sent his two warriors out to buy food and gather information while he returned to Three Source Inn under the watch of suspected Bounty Hunters.
• Su Mo found Feng Long, Guan Yu'an, and another companion examining their investigation results, and Feng Long described three strange official institutions.

Su Mo and his team uncovered signs that the Origin Territory’s weapons depot was empty and supplies were being moved outside, prompting Su Mo to suspect a scheme that could leave thirty thousand people defenseless. As curfew began, the team prepared to investigate further while Su Mo tasked Du Shi with finding the missing Marshal Wang, who might know more about the territory’s secrets.

• Feng Long showed Su Mo photographs proving that the guarded military depot contained only stones instead of its listed weapons and ammunition.
• Guan Yu'an presented evidence that masked guards escorted carts of supplies out through the territory’s western gate after curfew, and Su Mo ordered the team to watch their movements that night.
• Su Mo connected the empty depot, the forced adoption of Origin Coins, and the outgoing supplies, then warned his team not to jump to conclusions before investigating further.
• After curfew, Su Mo reviewed the day’s reports and learned that Marshal Wang had led a small group in killing the lords of three peaks but had disappeared nine days earlier.
• Su Mo praised Du Shi for seeking information from the Bounty Hunters, instructed him to keep searching for Marshal Wang, and warned everyone not to clash with anyone before the investigation was complete.

Su Mo and his team tracked three supply convoys leaving the exchanges and watched the Third and Second Exchange convoys pass through the East Gate. Huang Bing accepted cigarettes and waved the Second Exchange convoy through after a cursory inspection, then spotted bread among its cargo that was missing from the transport order.

• Feng Long detected the hidden sensor in a flour sack and tracked the three exchange convoys as they set out on different routes.
• The Third Exchange convoy reached the East Gate, where Huang Bing inspected its cargo and transport order before letting it through.
• The Second Exchange convoy arrived behind it, and Liu Kai slipped Huang Bing cigarettes while asking to be inspected first.
• Huang Bing shared cigarettes with the other guards, who hurriedly approved the Second Exchange cargo without finding anything suspicious.
• Huang Bing noticed boxes of bread on a passing cart and realized the transport order had not listed any bread.

Su Mo’s team tracked a smuggling operation at Origin Territory’s gate, where Huang Bing discovered unlisted goods and struggled to decide whether to expose the convoy. As the final vehicle was inspected, a familiar voice called Huang Bing’s name, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• A hidden Adventure Mechanoid recorded Black Fox and another man discussing how they were secretly moving supplies out of Origin Territory.
• Feng Long and Guan Yu’an watched the recording as Su Mo realized the Second Exchange team was shifting food and other goods between its vehicles before leaving the city.
• Feng Tianmin identified the convoy’s plan to distract the guards, while Feng Long spotted expired bread that was missing from the transfer manifest.
• Su Mo ordered the mechanoid to contact Huang Bing as Huang Bing noticed the unlisted bread and stopped the convoy at the gate.
• Liu Kai offered Huang Bing a full pack of cigarettes, and Huang Bing agonized over whether to accept the bribe or report the smuggling.
• As the final vehicle remained, a familiar voice called to Huang Bing, who turned toward it in alarm.

Su Mo and Feng Tianmin tracked the Exchange convoys suspected of smuggling supplies from the Origin Territory, while Su Mo secretly recruited Huang Bing to help uncover their destination. After the convoy brought out heavy trucks and headed beyond the mechanoids’ sensing range, Su Mo raced ahead to pursue them, reaching an astonishing 46 km/h.

• Su Mo secretly told Huang Bing that the Second and Third Exchange teams were smuggling supplies and instructed him to let them leave without raising suspicion.
• Huang Bing accepted cigarettes from both convoy captains, allowed their teams out of the city, and later erased Su Mo’s message in the dirt before deciding he had to serve him.
• Feng Long and Feng Tianmin tracked the convoys as they circled the Origin Territory, and the group waited for them to reveal where the stolen supplies were hidden.
• Six heavy trucks appeared, so Su Mo left Guan Yu'an monitoring the First Exchange team and took Feng Long and Feng Tianmin to pursue the other convoy.
• Su Mo raced ahead with a control tablet while Feng Long and Feng Tianmin followed, and the tablet showed Su Mo moving at 46 km/h.

Su Mo followed a supply convoy to a hidden entrance in a snowy cliff and waited for evidence about what lay inside. An Adventure Mechanoid returned with footage confirming that the Cliff Interior was a large ruin, leaving Su Mo poised to investigate it.

• Su Mo transformed into a Rapid Road Lizard, caught up with the convoy, and tracked it through winding mountain roads using the Adventure Mechanoids’ map.
• The convoy entered a snowy cliff, and Su Mo’s trackers and position marker lost contact, so he waited outside rather than risk entering blindly.
• Feng Long and Feng Tianmin arrived and reported that another group had tried to erase the convoy’s tracks.
• A truck emerged from the cliff before dawn with the two Resource Captains and a masked guard, while an Adventure Mechanoid reconnected with Su Mo.
• Su Mo watched the mechanoid’s recorded footage and confirmed that the Cliff Interior was a ruin seemingly larger than Liangfang Town.

Su Mo entered a mysterious ruin hidden inside a cliff and secretly followed a convoy to investigate where stolen supplies were going. He discovered the destination was a huge trading market rather than an enemy stronghold, then triggered a series of game notifications when he returned to human form.

• Su Mo watched the convoy footage and decided to enter the ruin alone, while Feng Tianmin arranged for reinforcements to arrive in a few hours.
• Su Mo transformed into the Thorn Treant and entered the cliff, crossing a turbulent void where he saw signs that the ruin might collapse within days.
• Su Mo passed through the portal, concealed himself as roots, and slipped past the checkpoint guards without alerting them.
• Su Mo transformed into the Rapid Road Lizard and raced past two more checkpoints to follow the convoy's route before dawn.
• Su Mo reached the destination and found a large market with thousands of people and more than twenty trucks instead of an enemy base.
• Su Mo returned to human form, opened the Game Panel, and received a string of accumulated notifications.

Su Mo learned that his territory's disaster rewards had brought a mysterious building, professional settlers, and Fishmen, while an error had upgraded the Fishmen's Bond reward. He discovered that he was inside a ruined Gold Rank Trading Realm and concluded that Sun Bahu's group, rather than ancient Yan Country survivors, had seized the Origin Territory and enabled its corruption.

• Su Mo read the delayed game notices and realized the mysterious building and Fishmen had arrived through his disaster-survival reward draws.
• Su Mo reviewed the territory's receipt notices and learned that the ruined Trading Realm would remain open until shortly before the next disaster, but could only be exited through its original entrance.
• Su Mo concluded that the stolen supplies were too difficult to track down before the Great Cooling and worried that the Origin Territory's thirty thousand people would lack enough provisions.
• Su Mo reflected on Sun Bahu's incompetent rule and the thefts, then decided that Sun Bahu and his armed followers—not Yan Country remnants—had taken power in the Origin Territory.
• Su Mo struck the ground in anger as he recognized how ordinary people could misuse sudden power in the apocalyptic world.

Su Mo discovered that the stolen supplies had passed through a ruined Trading Realm and led his warriors in capturing its guards, but the Origin Territory’s corruption and a sudden flood derailed efforts to trace the goods. As the rain exposed Sun Bahu’s exploitation of ordinary people and the investigation reached a dead end, Su Mo could only wait for the Great Cooling and the chaos it would bring.

• Su Mo returned from the Trading Realm and told Feng Long and Feng Tianmin that thousands of people traded there and that the stolen supplies could not be reclaimed through another entrance.
• Su Mo divided thirty-six warriors into three groups and led them to capture the Trading Realm’s guards, obtaining evidence and names connected to the thefts.
• Heavy rain flooded the Origin Territory, where Sun Bahu prioritized warehouses, the armory, and paying districts while conscripting thousands of ordinary people to clear water.
• After the gunfire at the main peak, Sun Bahu promised workers extra wages and meat soup, but the Three Source Inn’s staff withheld much of the soup from the ordinary people and served it to guests.
• Su Mo and his companions learned that the rain had exposed the hidden supplies, driven Sun Bahu’s associates to flee or die, and left the stolen goods impossible to trace.

Su Mo wrestled with whether to abandon Origin Territory’s refugees after its leaders’ corruption left them without enough food for the coming Great Cooling. After surveying two mountain peaks and witnessing the refugees’ suffering, he decided to save as many people as he could.

• Su Mo predicted Sun Bahu would flee with the territory’s remaining supplies, while Feng Tianmin, Feng Long, and Guan Yu'an urged him to leave before Origin Territory descended into lawlessness.
• Su Mo dismissed the idea of bringing in supplies from his own territory or asking the system for help, since neither could support thirty thousand people in time.
• Su Mo slipped out of the Three Source Inn and climbed Turning Peak and Nine Bends Peak to investigate how the residents were living.
• Su Mo saw starving, cold refugees and heard them make plans to survive, while they remained unaware that Sun Bahu might flee with most of the remaining supplies.
• Su Mo concluded that he could not save everyone but chose to help as many people as possible.

Su Mo chose to rescue the ordinary refugees in Origin Territory and assigned his allies to seize intelligence, watch Sun Bahu, search for missing people, and infiltrate the Guard Team. As Su Mo left Three Source Inn to prepare for the territory’s coming chaos, Hou Tielong planned to flee with his supplies but was confronted at gunpoint.

• After seeing the crowds gathering to exchange Origin Coins, Su Mo decided to save diligent ordinary residents while leaving some people to fend for themselves.
• Su Mo gave Feng Long, Feng Tianmin, Guan Yu'an, and Du Shi separate missions to capture the Bounty Hunter, watch Sun Bahu, search for Guan Shan and Wang Yuanshuai, and infiltrate the Guard Team.
• Su Mo left Three Source Inn with five warriors as unrest began to spread through Origin Territory.
• Hou Tielong prepared to evacuate his supplies and intelligence at night, then considered killing his subordinates to conserve supplies and seize their belongings.
• An intruder kicked open Hou Tielong's door, pressed a weapon to his forehead, and asked whether he was Hou Tielong.

Hou Tielong was captured by armed soldiers, while Du Shi recruited Huang Bing to help seize control of the Guard Team Department. In the mountains, Feng Tianmin discovered that Sun Bahu’s men were smuggling supplies out disguised as refugees and ordered a squad to intercept the next one.

• Hou Tielong surrendered to an armed man, offered supplies and information, and was bound along with his captured subordinates.
• Du Shi persuaded Huang Bing to help infiltrate the Guard Team Department, and Huang Bing agreed after realizing he might not be able to exchange his Origin Coins for supplies in time.
• Feng Tianmin spotted a suspicious limping refugee and sent Osprey and two soldiers to capture him.
• The refugee resisted, seriously wounded one soldier, and was killed; the team found two cubic meters of supplies in his Storage Space.
• Feng Tianmin realized Sun Bahu’s men were moving supplies disguised as refugees and ordered a ten-man squad to intercept the next one.

Feng Long discovered that Hou Tielong’s tunnel led to a hidden supply route and learned that Sun Bahu possessed a powerful high-tech arsenal, including three vehicles like the Climbing Cars. Su Mo went to question Hou Tielong at Snow Mountain Main Camp, where Hou Tielong recognized him and his giant dog.

• Feng Long led Hou Tielong and his seven aides through the tunnel and learned Hou Tielong had used a Terrain Modification Card to create it.
• On the icy climb to Snow Mountain Main Camp, Hou Tielong told Feng Long that Sun Bahu owned three snow-climbing vehicles, including one that carried thirty people.
• Feng Long reported that Sun Bahu had equipment from a high-tech ruin, including forty-five specialized vehicles, and Su Mo hurried to question Hou Tielong.
• Hou Tielong’s aides argued about their capture while Hou Tielong realized the camp’s real target was Sun Bahu.
• Su Mo entered the prison tent with Oreo, and Hou Tielong recognized them and began to cry out in surprise.

Su Mo confronted Hou Tielong, who offered to atone by helping him deal with Sun Bahu and revealed how Sun Bahu gained control of a weapons-filled ruin. The chapter ended with Su Mo examining photographs of the ruin’s equipment and recognizing a Mecha.

• Su Mo revealed his identity to Hou Tielong, who begged for forgiveness and agreed to help them oppose Sun Bahu in exchange for a chance at release.
• Hou Tielong explained that he had once belonged to the Su Supporter army and that his organization had started as wilderness adventurers before becoming Bounty Hunters.
• Hou Tielong said Sun Bahu had led a group to a ruin left by the previous players from Yan Country, where most of the explorers died and Sun Bahu’s people obtained advanced equipment.
• Hou Tielong secretly followed Sun Bahu to the ruin and discovered that it contained trials granting access to weapons and equipment, with Sun Bahu gaining ten percent authority after passing the first trial.
• Hou Tielong showed photographs of the ruin’s contents to Su Mo, who recognized one item as a Mecha.

Su Mo learned that Sun Bahu had taken control of powerful Old World weapons and began preparing ways to assess and counter them. Feng Tianmin returned with captured Shelter Cores, but his team had suffered injuries while intercepting Sun Bahu’s people.

• Su Mo examined photographs of eight mechas and a Sky Dome Barrier, then learned that the barrier’s first question was “What is machinery?”
• Hou Tielong described Sun Bahu’s forces and weapons, warning that the relic equipment could make ordinary people extremely dangerous.
• Su Mo decided to use Heaven Stealing Secret to investigate the future and wrote twenty-three plans for testing Sun Bahu’s weapons and defeating his forces.
• Feng Tianmin reported that his team had killed five people transporting supplies and taken their Shelter Cores, while four warriors had been injured in the fighting.

Su Mo examined five unusually resilient corpses and learned that they had been modified along a mechanical-organism evolution branch, strengthening his resolve to move against Sun Bahu. As Origin Camp’s supply crisis worsened, Su Mo assigned his team the next stage of their plan and left Feng Tianmin responsible for carrying out twenty-three detailed operations.

• Shen Hao reported that the five corpses retained heat and muscle activity, and Su Mo used the system to identify them as humans evolving into mechanical organisms.
• Su Mo concluded that Sun Bahu might have obtained human-modification technology from the ruins and decided to accelerate plans against him.
• Feng Tianmin reported that nearly sixty percent of Origin Camp’s residents had failed to obtain supplies, while Guan Yu'an returned without finding anything on the subsidiary peaks.
• At the meeting, Su Mo assigned Hou Tielong, Feng Long, and Guan Yu'an to investigate the ruins, ordered Feng Tianmin to execute his plans, and told Du Shi to continue infiltrating the city gates without provoking conflict.
• Su Mo spent three hours explaining his twenty-three plans to Feng Tianmin, who promised to lead the next day’s operation.

As the Forty Degrees Below Zero Cooling approached, Su Mo endured the worsening cold at Snow Mountain Main Camp while worrying about Hope Village. There, Chen Shen and the village management prepared for the disaster and tried to keep the residents’ spirits up as they waited for Su Mo to return.

• Su Mo woke before dawn in the freezing Snow Mountain Main Camp and looked toward the village, wishing he could be home.
• Hope Village residents struggled with anxiety over Su Mo’s long absence as powerful winds and snow signaled the approaching cooling.
• Li Hu told Chen Shen that villagers had tried to sneak away to search for Su Mo, but Chen Shen urged everyone to hold on another day.
• Chen Shen checked that the Merman tribe’s boiler room was ready and that its construction fees had been paid.
• Shen Ke reported that the southern refugees were being monitored, and Chen Shen agreed to arrange supplies for them during the cold.
• Chen Shen ended the meeting by urging the village to endure its first disaster without Su Mo, and the gathered managers drew strength from the resolve he had left behind.

Su Mo fused the Heaven Stealing Secret talisman paper with Guan Shan's Golden Small Disc, revealing that the repaired item could pierce past and future nodes. He left its dangerous time-altering possibilities for later as Feng Tianmin's mission got underway.

• Feng Long led Guan Yu'an, Hou Tielong, and their squad west toward the ruins, while Feng Tianmin prepared to depart with fifty soldiers.
• Su Mo drew the Heaven Stealing Secret talisman paper from the void and discovered that its evaluation hinted it was part of another item.
• Su Mo retrieved Guan Shan's Golden Small Disc and brought it together with the talisman paper, causing the two objects to fuse.
• Su Mo appraised the fused Heaven Stealing Secret and learned it was 15% complete, with expanded energy storage and the ability to pierce past and future nodes.
• Su Mo considered the dangers of changing the past, then set those possibilities aside and focused on the mission plan already underway.

Feng Long’s team discovered Sun Bahu’s formidable war machines and narrowly escaped his attack, while Su Mo used repeated deductions to study the failed plans against him. At Origin Camp, a shell struck the crowded settlement, and a steel force advanced as Du Shi watched in horror.

• Hou Tielong identified the sixteen weapons and machines outside the ruins, and Feng Long’s team planned to investigate and photograph them.
• Sun Bahu emerged from the ruins with a heavily modified body, sensed the observers, and a bomb destroyed the mountaintop after Feng Long’s team retreated.
• Feng Long ordered his group to scatter and warned that Sun Bahu had set a trap, while he hurried back to report the threat.
• Su Mo recorded the failure of his tenth assassination plan, reviewed the deduction’s intelligence about Sun Bahu, and began another attempt.
• A shell struck the crowded Origin Camp, killing many people and devastating the settlement as Du Shi watched helplessly.
• Du Shi and the soldiers saw a steel tide approaching the camp.

Sun Bahu’s forces seized control of Origin Camp, killed civilians, and announced that only fifteen thousand of the thirty thousand survivors could earn the right to live through winter. After Sun Bahu’s convoy departed, Du Shi recognized that it was heading toward Snow Mountain Main Camp and rushed to warn Su Mo.

• A shell struck Origin Camp, killing thousands, and Sun Bahu arrived with an armored convoy to take control of the gates.
• Sun Bahu humiliated and killed Shi Shou, then ordered the camp’s residents to surrender and announced that most supplies had been stolen.
• Sun Bahu’s broadcast said supplies could sustain only ten thousand people, but his lord would provide enough for fifteen thousand to survive the winter.
• Sun Bahu offered survival qualifications for valuable items or information and ordered Du Shi to keep the East Gate closed, promising weapons and a share of the spots.
• Du Shi recognized that Sun Bahu’s convoy was heading toward Snow Mountain Main Camp and hurried to notify Su Mo.