Chapter Summaries

Su Mo celebrated Tian Yuan Territory’s growing grain reserves and learned that Zero had completed the First Generation Player System, giving the territory a new tool for the coming conflict. As thick fog returned, Pingtan Shelter’s layer chiefs crowded around Liu Lu to bargain for Tian Yuan’s food and supplies.

• Su Mo calculated that Tian Yuan Territory had enough grain to feed its residents until future harvests and concluded the territory could now participate in the coming war.
• Zero told Su Mo that the player login system had passed verification, and Su Mo agreed to log in as the first player using Zero as his body.
• Thick fog returned to Tian Yuan Territory, where residents complained about disrupted work while Chen Shen announced completed trade with Pingtan Shelter and new orders.
• At Pingtan Shelter, Liu Lu traded Tian Yuan’s flour, rice, and vegetables to layer chiefs in exchange for scrap and other low-value goods.
• Hunter Tiger entered the crowded warehouse area unnoticed as Pingtan residents competed for Liu Lu’s supplies.

Hunter Tiger learned that Liu Lu’s trade with Tian Yuan Shelter exchanged cheap goods for Pingtan Shelter’s industrial waste, then ordered preparations for war after the fog lifted. Meanwhile, Su Mo tested Zero’s player-control system and discussed its limitations and realistic gameplay.

• Hunter Tiger questioned Jin Gu Qiao about Liu Lu’s trade with Tian Yuan Shelter and learned that Liu Lu sold supplies to other layers at a loss while profiting from industrial-waste exchanges.
• Jin Gu Qiao explained that Tian Yuan Shelter wanted discarded machinery and old books for research, and Hunter Tiger approved selling them more waste.
• Hunter Tiger predicted that war among Qinggang City’s shelters would break out after the fog cleared and ordered the army to prepare a first strike in the southern suburbs.
• Zero flew through Hope Village as Su Mo tested its controls, accidentally startling a player who was fertilizing a field.
• Su Mo switched Zero to automated control and criticized the player system’s limited precision, while Zero explained that its realistic simulation made mastery difficult.

Su Mo prepared to launch True World as a realistic virtual world that could help players explore dangerous areas, while Tian Yuan Territory lifted food controls after a successful harvest. As players speculated that newly produced Bionic Bodies would allow them to leave the territory, Nuclear Energy Rifle went to Dragon Rise Village to investigate, with Feng Long secretly asking him to report back.

• Su Mo ordered Zero to prepare True World’s user manual and turn the Void Realm into an Internet café, hoping players could test the Bionic Bodies and help restart exploration of Qinggang City.
• Tian Yuan Territory announced that Mist Poison had returned, lifted Food Management Regulation 1.0, and scheduled major reductions in food prices.
• Nuclear Energy Rifle told Feng Long that duty in the Mist Poison helped him gain experience, while both acknowledged that the Lord might keep the army inside the territory.
• Old Daoist and Dream Seeker told Nuclear Energy Rifle that Netherworld Factory’s Bionic Bodies were ready and invited him to visit Dragon Rise Village.
• Feng Long disappeared and privately instructed Nuclear Energy Rifle to report anything he learned about whether players could leave the territory.

The Four-Man Scavenger Squad rode a new tracked commuter vehicle from Hope Village to Dragon Rise Village to visit the Netherworld Factory. There, No One Knows More Than Me revealed that custom Bionic Bodies would cost two hundred points, leaving Dream Seeker alarmed as he realized they might be Contribution Points.

• Fluttering Moth showed off the steel plant’s powerful new tracked commuter vehicle and drove the group toward Dragon Rise Village.
• The group learned from a Netherworld Factory worker that its Bionic Bodies would be customized for individual customers and that production details would be announced soon.
• Fluttering Moth drove the group to the Netherworld Factory, where No One Knows More Than Me was preparing an initiation ceremony for new employees.
• Old Daoist told No One Knows More Than Me that the group had come to support the factory by placing an order.
• No One Knows More Than Me said custom work cost two hundred points, and Dream Seeker realized the price might mean Contribution Points.

Know-it-all Bro and Li Xing invited several scavengers to test the Netherworld Factory’s Bionic Bodies through a new Virtual Reality system called the True World. After paying to enter, the group arrived in a virtual hall and was welcomed by a mysterious figure behind a counter.

• Know-it-all Bro explained the Bionic Bodies’ high price and showed the visitors the factory and its Virtual Reality server cluster.
• Li Xing charged the group fifty copper coins each to test version 1.0 of the True World and showed them several oddly shaped Bionic Body prototypes.
• Wei Ge and the others paid, donned patchwork helmets, and entered the virtual realm.
• Nuclear Energy Rifle recovered first, opened the glass doors into a grand hall, and encountered a mist-shrouded figure that welcomed the warriors to the True World.

Two Wind Bird Helicopters from Qinggang City flew southwest through the Mist Poison to investigate reports of clear weather, while their crews complained and secretly drank beer. In the True World, Nuclear Energy Rifle bought a card, chose a Purple Eagle Bionic Body, and entered a space that appeared to be an Internet café.

• Shi Bin Du and Ai Li Ao Te flew their Wind Bird Helicopters through dense fog on Edmund's reconnaissance mission, despite Shi Bin Du's complaints about the mission and Qinggang New City's new residents.
• Shi Bin Du switched on auxiliary cruise control and shared Black Mulberry Beer with his copilot while the helicopter continued its flight.
• Old Daoist asked the whirlwind figure about the True World, and the Realm Lord explained its identity, payment, and Bionic Body requirements.
• Nuclear Energy Rifle bought a True Card, chose the sky orientation, and selected the Purple Eagle from three available Bionic Bodies.
• Nuclear Energy Rifle entered the game space on the Purple Eagle, then found himself in what looked like an Internet café alongside Man with Gun.

Five players entered True World, learned to control their unusual Bionic Bodies, and began completing reward missions while Know-it-all Bro and Li Xing monitored them. Nuclear Energy Rifle and Man with Gun reached a helicopter-interference mission, where Man with Gun proposed hijacking the simulated helicopter.

• Old Daoist started the computers and showed the others that their True World timers had already begun running.
• Know-it-all Bro and Li Xing watched the players learn the controls and explained that their Bionic Bodies were being tested through assigned missions.
• The players chose unusual Bionic Bodies, and Nuclear Energy Rifle quickly completed flight missions with Golden Eagle while Man with Gun struggled with the Jungle Sapper before switching to assisted control.
• Nuclear Energy Rifle and Man with Gun teamed up for the final mission, which required them to interfere with a simulated helicopter formation.
• After spotting two apparently intoxicated pilots inside a helicopter, Man with Gun suggested that Golden Eagle drop him inside so he could hijack it.

Man with Gun and his companions tried to approach and steal a simulated Wind Bird A-4 while Shi Bin Du and Mo Ke descended to conduct reconnaissance over Tian Yuan Shelter. As the pilots lowered their camera, a golden bird attacked it and a tiny, unsettling figure appeared inside the helicopter with a gun.

• Man with Gun and Nuclear Energy Rifle considered entering the Wind Bird A-4, while Old Daoist admired its advanced construction.
• Shi Bin Du and Ai Li Ao Te discussed their reconnaissance mission, and Ai Li Ao Te warned Shi Bin Du not to land in Tian Yuan Shelter to seek coffee.
• After the helicopters separated, Shi Bin Du and Mo Ke descended through the fog and lowered a camera on a cable.
• A golden bird attacked the camera, prompting Shi Bin Du to order Mo Ke to reel in the cable.
• Shi Bin Du turned to find a tiny black-and-gray creature sprawled across Mo Ke's face, holding a gun.

Man with Gun and the other players hijacked a Wind Bird Helicopter after knocking out its co-pilot, while Shi Bin Du tried to escape and then surrendered. As the players forced him to unlock the controls, an enemy-invasion alarm sounded across the Industrial Zone.

• Man with Gun used the miniature pistol to knock Mo Ke unconscious while the players watched from the Netherworld Factory.
• Shi Bin Du offered to surrender the Wind Bird Helicopter, but secretly tried to release his safety restraints and escape.
• Golden Eagle flew into the cockpit and stopped Shi Bin Du, while Old Daoist translated his words for the players.
• Man with Gun accepted Shi Bin Du's surrender on the condition that he teach them to operate the helicopter.
• The players made Shi Bin Du unlock the controls, and Nuclear Energy Rifle awkwardly flew the helicopter while they studied its systems.
• Li Xing and Know-it-all Bro heard an enemy-invasion alarm echo across the Industrial Zone.

Five players testing True World hijacked a helicopter from Qinggang Shelter and landed it in Dragon Rise Village Industrial Zone, where Lu Zhou recognized Wen Jin and the others. Su Mo learned that the players had captured the aircraft and two pilots, leaving the unexpected mission under Tian Yuan Territory’s control.

• Lu Zhou ordered Dragon Rise Village guards to prepare anti-aircraft guns but hold their fire as a helicopter entered Tian Yuan Territory and attempted to land.
• Shi Bin Du realized the players had hijacked the helicopter, then helped guide its landing while the players marveled at True World’s realism.
• Lu Zhou’s guards surrounded the landed helicopter, and Lu Zhou recognized Wen Jin after the players explained they were controlling Bionic Bodies in a simulated mission.
• Su Mo reviewed his signal-amplification research and heard that five testers had given True World perfect scores for realism and entertainment.
• Zero told Su Mo that the players had hijacked Qinggang Shelter’s Windbird helicopter, captured two pilots, and parked it in Dragon Rise Village Industrial Zone.

Su Mo’s players captured a Qinggang helicopter, giving Tian Yuan Territory its first aircraft, while news arrived that nearly two hundred humans from overseas had reached the territory. In Qinggang New City, footage of the hijacking revealed intelligent Radiation Beasts, and the revelation spread through the city before evening.

• Su Mo learned that the players had brought down and captured a Wind Bird helicopter, and Zero explained that signal shielding had prevented him from detecting it.
• Su Mo told Zero to ignore the helicopter’s transmitted footage and considered the consequences of Qinggang learning about Tian Yuan Territory.
• Chen Shen reported that nearly two hundred overseas humans had arrived outside the territory, and Su Mo eagerly welcomed the news.
• Ai Li Ao Te returned to Qinggang New City and told Feiqi that Radiation Beasts had hijacked the other helicopter.
• Feiqi watched footage of a dwarf entering the aircraft and a giant bird piloting it, then ordered the crew and witnesses isolated for psychological observation.
• A psychiatrist leaked the footage, and news that Radiation Beasts possessed human-level intelligence spread across Qinggang New City.

Edmund pushed the surface officers to support an Emergency Awakening of Hades so he could force the underground administrators to open the passage. At Tian Yuan Territory, Qi Qin welcomed Qi Jie’s refugee group, offered treatment for their illnesses, and sent tracked trucks to retrieve the Hell Flower patients they had left behind.

• Edmund demanded that the surface officers support the Emergency Awakening Proposal and used Hades’s pistol to threaten the underground administrators.
• Qi Jie and the refugees entered Tian Yuan Territory after secretly watching its guards and learning it was built by humans from Earth.
• Qi Qin gave the refugees a bitter medicinal decoction and kept them from entering the village because of their infectious illnesses.
• Qi Jie revealed that the group had left Hell Flower patients along the road, and Qi Qin told him to bring them back because Dean Yan could treat the virus.
• Three tracked trucks emerged from the fog as Qi Qin returned from the Game Panel.

Tian Da Dong found a Tian Yuan Territory soldier while searching for help for the Hell Flower-infected refugees, and the territory promised to shelter them. The refugees who had reached the territory were given temporary housing and told they could receive free meals while registering for identity information and awaiting formal employment.

• Wei Xian Chao told Tian Da Dong that Qi Jie was unlikely to return, while the twenty-six Hell Flower-infected refugees sheltered in the valley faced worsening illness.
• Tian Da Dong helped the dying Lao Liu leave the shelter, then found footprints and followed them through the rain-soaked forest.
• An armed Tian Yuan Territory soldier confronted Tian Da Dong, recognized him as one of Qi Jie's abandoned refugees, and promised that the territory would shelter people from Earth.
• Qi Jie led several people to search for the infected refugees, while the rest of his group settled into temporary shelters at the Red Spider Merchant Group's campsite.
• Yang Feng welcomed the refugees, promised hot free meals until they obtained formal employment, and began registering their identity information.

Xiao Yang welcomed Yu Lingjie and the deep-sea refugees to Tian Yuan Territory, where they received temporary Identity Cards, a hot meal, and promises of medical care. Su Mo questioned Qi Jie about the Harvest Tribe’s journey and the pirates at sea, and Qi Jie realized the territory’s lord was the famed figure he had heard of.

• Xiao Yang surveyed Yu Lingjie, recorded her ailments, and gave her a temporary Identity Card while the other refugees offered supplies.
• Xiao Yang explained that Chef Apprentices would feed the refugees in exchange for experience, and the newcomers eagerly ate steamed buns, rice, and other dishes.
• Su Mo met Qi Jie after the Harvest Tribe’s infected members were rescued, and Qi Jie recounted how pirates had attacked the tribe and its leader had died protecting them.
• Qi Jie explained that the pirates had entered the deep sea from the New Continent’s coast and that ocean currents made sailing toward the continent faster than traveling against them to major human factions.
• A guard told Qi Jie that he was in Tian Yuan Territory, and Qi Jie recognized the name and began asking whether Su Mo was the person he suspected.

Su Mo learned from Qi Jie about deep-sea communication networks and planned to recruit residents discreetly through carrier pigeons and Transit Stations. Tian Yuan Territory welcomed 309 arrivals from the Harvest Tribe while preparing for the Thousand Illusions Mist to end in twenty-five days.

• Su Mo revealed his identity to Qi Jie, secured his promise to keep Tian Yuan Territory’s location secret, and asked about conditions in the deep sea.
• Qi Jie described Transit Stations and special carrier pigeons that could carry messages up to four thousand nautical miles, giving Su Mo a way to publicize recruitment without drawing widespread attention.
• Su Mo arranged for Qi Jie’s people to receive treatment and join the territory as residents, then asked Qi Jie to prepare written records of his information.
• Tian Yuan Territory announced the arrival of 309 people from the Harvest Tribe and planned to hold their welcoming ceremony alongside the New Year celebration after they recovered from an infectious disease.
• Territory residents discussed the approaching end of the Thousand Illusions Mist, which was expected to disappear on Wasteland Calendar, Year Two, January 6.

Su Mo learned that Triumphant Hospital had found a way to treat the Hell Flower Virus using Psionic Water to provoke an early immune response. After Osmon praised Tian Yuan Territory’s free care for residents, Su Mo realized the treatment could attract infected wanderers and help recruit new people.

• Su Mo visited Triumphant Hospital, where Yan Xiaqing reported that Psionic Water had rapidly improved two severely ill patients and that others were receiving treatment.
• Yan Xiaqing explained the Stimulation Immunity Method, which triggered the virus’s symptoms early so the body could develop antibodies with Psionic Water’s support.
• Su Mo met Osmon, who had recovered from the Hell Flower Virus and described how he had become infected.
• Osmon praised Tian Yuan Territory for sheltering wanderers and providing free medical care, and argued that news of the treatment would draw people from Qinggang City.
• Su Mo realized that publicizing Hell Flower treatment could make Tian Yuan Territory a last hope for infected wanderers and bring in enough newcomers to help the territory grow.

Su Mo tasked Yan Xiaqing with developing a way to delay Hell Flower symptoms so infected survivors could reach the Tian Yuan Territory, while planning to spread word of the territory’s treatment. He then reviewed the territory’s progress toward the Bronze Age and decided to use its artificial silk reserves to provide new clothes for residents, leaving the civilization upgrade close to completion.

• Su Mo asked Yan Xiaqing to develop a method to delay Hell Flower symptoms until infected people could reach the territory, and she agreed to prepare a plan before the new year.
• Su Mo arranged for Feng Long to collect Osmon’s gift and thank him for his contributions as a hospital test subject.
• Su Mo reviewed the Bronze Age requirements and saw that the territory still needed more silk fabrics, houses, and a large battle, while its wonder wall was nearing completion.
• Su Mo decided to use artificial silk to make a new outfit for every resident and learned that the warehouse held enough for everyone.
• Number Zero showed Su Mo a miniature husky projection and reminded him that it had been studying; Su Mo promised to build it a large data-processing server cluster once the building opened.

Su Mo received Ai Jianfeng’s mass-produced, simplified Adventurer Terminal, whose functions included health monitoring, work tasks, a wallet, messaging, and map gathering. Its wireless networking capabilities promised to connect distant settlements, and Su Mo began planning to distribute the first units as New Year event prizes.

• Ai Jianfeng presented Su Mo with a lighter, customizable terminal that his team had manufactured using the Decomposition Recycler.
• Ai Jianfeng explained that the terminal retained practical functions for monitoring, work, currency, messaging, and map collection while omitting costly features.
• Ai Jianfeng revealed that terminals could relay signals across long distances to form a wireless network, and Su Mo recognized their potential for connecting territory residents.
• Ai Jianfeng said his team could produce three hundred terminals immediately and nearly twenty thousand with enough gold, while Su Mo agreed to seek the needed metal.
• After Ai Jianfeng left, Su Mo considered exploring Qinggang City for gold and decided to let residents choose the terminal’s name through the New Year event.

Edmund forced Qinggang’s underground leaders to provide an Industrial Core and resources for rebuilding the Industrial Zone, averting a fight and starting construction. Meanwhile, Su Mo dismissed Qinggang New City’s demands, reviewed Tian Yuan’s progress, and began preparing for the New Year ceremony as the year’s end approached.

• Edmund threatened to breach the Firewall and force a vote on awakening Hades, prompting Tang En and the underground elders to negotiate rather than risk rebellion.
• Edmund secured an Industrial Core and resources from Tang En in exchange for holding back unrest, then ordered the Industrial Zone rebuilt and promised wanderers three meals a day.
• Su Mo dismissed Qinggang New City’s demand for tribute and told Chen Shen that Tian Yuan would continue on its own course.
• Chen Shen reported on Tian Yuan’s development, and Su Mo directed the territory to begin preparing for the New Year ceremony.

Tian Yuan Territory celebrated the final day of the first Wasteland year with a festive gathering, free food, and prize games. As Su Mo sat down to breakfast, the Survival System announced that he had met the requirement for its first major update and would lose access to its functions for 48 hours.

• Tian Yuan Territory decorated Hope Village and opened free food, baths, and prize activities for New Year's Eve.
• Su Mo learned that Li Hu had won the first prize by achieving full marks in all three shooting competitions.
• Su Mo revealed that the event's special grand prize was one of five upgraded Exoskeleton Armors and ordered Chen Shen to announce it at noon.
• Wasteland Bone Village held its own New Year ceremony after asking Chen Shen for advice.
• At breakfast, Su Mo received a Survival System notice offering an offline update to v1.1 and warning him to spend his Survival Points before they lost universal use.