Chapter Summaries

Edmund learned that the missing Industrial Core was in the western suburbs but chose to delay confronting the West Suburbs Alliance while Qinggang Shelter dealt with the southern suburbs. Xia Zuo’s Wanderer squad set out for Dilonghua Shelter with most of its weapons ruined by rust, leaving the squad poorly equipped and demoralized.

• The Guard Captain told Edmund that the Industrial Core’s signal placed it in the western suburbs, likely at Pingtan Shelter or Giant City Shelter.
• Edmund decided not to attack the West Suburbs Alliance yet and instead planned to finish the southern campaign before taking the alliance over at a more opportune time.
• Jean and the other commanders discussed Pumpkin Kelford Bunker’s alliance request and the growing interest among southern shelters in joining the West Suburbs Alliance.
• Edmund said Qinggang Shelter should let Hunter Tiger keep building above Pingtan Shelter, then take advantage of the work later.
• The Wanderer Legion marched into the southern suburbs, where most squads quickly lost formation after the pre-battle rally.
• Xia Zuo found that rust had rendered most of Squad Forty-Eight’s weapons unusable, but ordered the squad to proceed to Dilonghua Shelter and establish camp.

Xia Zuo led the Wanderer Legion toward Dilonghua Shelter, planning to burn the dry flowers and provoke the Mole People while his squad sought freedom beyond military service. Meanwhile, Pumpkin Kelford Bunker prepared to welcome an envoy from Tian Yuan Shelter, and two scavenger squads set out to inspect the bunker and explore trade.

• Xia Zuo told Black that his squad would ignite the dry dilonghua grass to pressure the South Suburbs Alliance, then retreat to drink at Pumpkin Kelford Bunker.
• The bunker’s Guard Captain, Nat, told residents that Tian Yuan Shelter had fertile farmland and excellent food, and explained that travel there was dangerous without an escort.
• Bunker residents and Wanderers grew eager to visit Tian Yuan Shelter after hearing that it accepted Wanderers and offered the possibility of better food and stable work.
• Feng Tianmin warned the two departing scavenger squads not to reveal information about the game, the disaster, or their routes to the locals.
• Man with Gun and Nuclear Energy Rifle led the two squads, accompanied by shop owners hoping to inspect Pumpkin Kelford Bunker’s market.

A Tian Yuan trade delegation headed for Pumpkin Bunker planned a barter strategy that could open a major new market for the territory. Meanwhile, Xia Zuo’s Wanderer Legion accidentally set fire to the wrong park, drew fire from the shelter guards, and retreated after scoring a hit.

• Dream Seeker explained that Pumpkin Bunker’s residents might have valuable supplies but little money, making barter and carefully balanced pricing a promising trade strategy.
• The delegation agreed to reveal the territory’s strengths and use the bunker’s needs to negotiate favorable trades.
• Xia Zuo’s Wanderer Legion spread gasoline and kindling across Dilonghua Park and started a fire to disrupt the shelter.
• The wanderers realized the shelter was beneath a neighboring park, exchanged distant fire with its guards, and retreated after one guard was hit.
• Commanders watching the blaze praised the Wanderer Legion’s attack and ordered that the squad receive first credit.

A Qinggang Shelter force pursued fleeing Wanderers toward Pumpkin Bunker, where the two sides became embroiled in a chaotic firefight. As a West Suburbs troop carrier arrived, both sides stopped shooting and mistook its passengers for reinforcements.

• Jacob led Dilonghua Shelter guards in a pursuit of the Wanderers, who suffered heavy casualties before Xia Zuo rallied them to fight back from cover.
• The Wanderers' counterattack inflicted losses on the guards, but Jacob ordered his people to keep pursuing them toward Pumpkin Bunker.
• Two armored vehicles arrived, and Jacob's scattered guards reorganized and continued after the fleeing Wanderers.
• Two Times Two is Four, Man with Gun, Bandit, and the others spotted guards and attackers exchanging ineffective fire around Pumpkin Bunker.
• After Nuclear Energy Rifle warned his group not to intervene, the firefight stopped and both sides looked toward the arriving troop carrier, leaving its passengers apparently mistaken for reinforcements.

After Dilonghua Shelter attacked Pumpkin Kelford Bunker, Bandit and Man with Gun led the Tian Yuan Army through the orchard to draw fire and ambush their pursuers. The battle ended with a huge explosion that destroyed the pursuing Armored Vehicle, while Nuclear Energy Rifle had been unable to contact the territory.

• Pumpkin Kelford Bunker’s guards mistook the people in the orchard for West Suburbs Alliance reinforcements, while Jacob and the Dilonghua Shelter soldiers identified themselves and demanded the Wanderer Legion.
• The bunker guards demanded two armored vehicles in compensation for damage and injured residents, and Jacob ordered an assault when they refused to surrender them.
• A signal jammer blocked Nuclear Energy Rifle’s radio call as Dilonghua Shelter’s machine guns and mortars battered the bunker wall and sent its defenders fleeing.
• Bandit and Man with Gun split up the Tian Yuan Army soldiers to draw the pursuing squads into crossfire, and their hidden shooters picked off several Dilonghua soldiers.
• The fleeing Dilonghua soldiers were caught in a one-sided attack until a massive explosion shook the Dense Forest and the Armored Vehicle’s communications signal vanished.

The South Suburbs Alliance’s force destroyed the attackers at Pumpkin Kelford Bunker after an energy-stone engine triggered a devastating explosion, then entered the bunker to rescue survivors. Guard Captain Nat apologized and offered cheap labor and supplies in exchange for a large shipment of weapons.

• An explosion destroyed the Troop Carriers and Armored Vehicle, and the surviving soldiers fled after mistaking it for a tactical nuclear weapon.
• The alliance team discovered that an Electric Wolf Energy Engine had apparently triggered the energy-stone explosion and decided to report the danger to the research institute.
• Old Daoist and the others entered Pumpkin Kelford Bunker, comforted two dying guards, and helped its terrified residents begin rescuing the wounded.
• Man with Gun and Bandit discussed the bunker’s poor combat readiness as survivors emerged from hiding and joined the rescue efforts.
• Guard Captain Nat apologized for involving the alliance in the battle and offered compensation, then asked to buy a large supply of weapons.

After the battle at Pumpkin Bunker, the West Suburbs Alliance envoys learned that its master, Katerina, remained sealed inside a nuclear-proof safe room and was willing to negotiate through a communication device. In Underground City, Su Mo and Lü Kuan considered the enormous explosion at the battlefield and restricted access to the site until morning, leaving its cause and the KF Energy Stone’s potential unresolved.

• Captain Nat welcomed the West Suburbs Alliance envoys to the bunker’s bonfire and explained that Katerina was locked inside a safe room that could only be opened from within by a Cluster Bomb.
• Barry told Old Daoist that the bunker could communicate with Katerina through a device embedded in its walls, and that she was ready to discuss an alliance and an arms order.
• Bandit learned that Katerina considered every person and possession in the bunker her private property, while the envoys questioned the residents’ apparent acceptance of slavery.
• Su Mo received news that the vanguard had survived the battle but lost two Troop Carriers and three sets of Exoskeleton Armor, and he ordered the explosion site kept off-limits until the morning after tomorrow.
• Lü Kuan urged Su Mo to investigate the explosion immediately and argued that the KF Energy Stone might become a powerful deterrent, but Su Mo refused to let him travel at night and planned to send him under protection at dawn.

Su Mo considered how to meet the Pumpkin Bunker’s security needs without selling weapons that would soon fail in the Metal Aging Disaster. The West Suburbs Alliance then arrived with a joint force to reinforce the bunker, while Lü Kuan rushed to investigate the explosion site.

• Chen Shen warned Su Mo that the Pumpkin Bunker’s Guards had suffered heavy casualties, requested reinforcements, and placed a large arms order, but he worried about the coming Metal Aging Disaster and the dangers of the distant trade route.
• Su Mo reasoned that the bunker needed security more than weapons and decided to consider other ways to meet its needs.
• On January 8, Santi led newly recruited Guards on patrol, and Guard Captain Nat offered the West Suburbs Alliance generous compensation and Academy technology in return for stationing troops.
• Man with Gun promised that the alliance would help defend the bunker while awaiting a garrison decision, and Nat received word that reinforcements had arrived.
• A convoy of more than twenty vehicles, including two tanks, reached the bunker as Tian Yuan Army, Pingtan Army, and Great City Army soldiers deployed together.
• Lü Kuan hurried toward the explosion site, escorted by Tian Yuan Army soldiers, while Wang Qian arrived with the Pingtan Army contingent.

The West Suburbs Alliance sent reinforcements to the Pumpkin Kelford Bunker, where they learned how severely the Metal Aging Disaster had crippled its tools, vehicles, and production lines. As the alliance began setting up camp to help defend the bunker, Lü Kuan examined an energy stone fragment and suspected that its aging had caused an explosion.

• Chapman, Wang Qian, and Su Deben arrived with alliance troops and met Bacon and Captain Nat outside the bunker.
• Bacon explained that Wanderers had fled to the bunker after escaping Qinggang Shelter, carrying a Certificate of Allegiance and intelligence about Qinggang’s new city.
• Su Deben’s group chose to camp outside the bunker and help defend it rather than enter or annex it.
• Old Daoist told the alliance leaders that the Metal Aging Disaster had broken most of the bunker’s farming tools, production lines, and outdoor vehicles.
• Su Deben ended the discussion and went into the trees while residents helped the alliance soldiers build a camp near the fruit grove.
• Lü Kuan examined an energy stone fragment at the explosion site and concluded that the stone had aged, possibly causing the explosion.

Lü Kuan discovered that fragments of an exploded energy stone had become highly conductive, prompting him to return to Su Mo for further study. Meanwhile, a group of fugitive players with powerful abilities hunted mutated jackals in Qinggang’s ruins before spotting a tank approaching.

• Lü Kuan tested an energy-stone fragment and found that its properties had changed, including exceptionally high electrical conductivity and the loss of its original energy-storage ability.
• Lü Kuan decided to return to Su Mo, and Su Deben arranged an escort of soldiers and a tank for the journey to Hope Village.
• A group of players led by Old Wang hid in a ruined apartment building while fleeing their pursuers and discussed finding a human territory before their abilities disappeared.
• Old Wang ordered several players to capture nearby mutated jackals, and they defeated five with their powerful fists and ate the beasts raw.
• Old Wang warned that another large-scale experiment was approaching and urged the group to seek shelter, then looked outside and saw a tank in the distance.

Old Wang’s group of refugees was captured by Tian Yuan soldiers and brought toward the territory, where Su Mo learned that a new group of players had arrived. As the prisoners revealed their history with the Academy and the tracking devices in their bodies, Lü Kuan learned that the Academy Research Base lay in a Great Canyon several hundred kilometers away.

• Old Wang’s refugees watched a convoy pass, then decided to seek its Gathering Place, but Tian Yuan soldiers ambushed them with a flashbang and took them prisoner.
• Zero’s rankings showed Spicy Iron Hammer near level ten and life-profession players gaining levels quickly; Su Mo heard that Professor Lu had captured a group of players and ordered Li Hu to prepare for their arrival.
• The awakened refugees woke in the troop carrier, and Old Wang urged them to surrender while Old Cui remained suspicious of their captors.
• Old Cui told Lü Kuan that the Academy had captured them to study their Route Ability and had implanted tracking devices in their bodies.
• Old Cui revealed that the Academy Research Base was several hundred kilometers away in a Great Canyon.

Su Mo learned that an Academy Research Base southeast of the territory had been experimenting on players through brutal Gu Breeding, and that escaped captives had reached the Foundation convoy. The Academy’s guard unit attacked the convoy to reclaim the fugitives, leaving Lü Kuan to identify the Foundation and threaten war.

• Li Hu told Su Mo, Feng Tianmin, and Chen Shen that an Academy Research Base lay roughly eight hundred to fifteen hundred kilometers southeast and had studied players through Gu Breeding.
• Old Wang explained that the Academy imprisoned players, forced them to fight for levels, and selected high performers for dangerous experiments; he and the others escaped during the aging disaster.
• Lü Kuan questioned Old Wang about how the captives had advanced, then learned that the Academy had pursued them to conduct experiments on their bodies.
• An Academy guard unit attacked the Foundation convoy with a missile, overturning Lü Kuan’s troop carrier, and demanded that the vehicles stop and release the fugitives.
• Lü Kuan identified the convoy as belonging to the Foundation and warned the Academy captain that the attack could start a war.

Lü Kuan stalled the Academy Guard squad led by Becky Bernie and returned to Tian Yuan Territory with the rescued refugees. Su Mo learned the Academy was experimenting on players and decided not to surrender them, while the Game Panel revealed that keeping them could unlock a Rare Route.

• Lü Kuan convinced Becky Bernie to delay exchanging the wanted refugees for three days, then led the convoy back toward Tian Yuan Territory.
• The territory’s residents assembled at the Warning Wall, expecting the Academy, but the returning convoy arrived instead.
• The refugees saw Tian Yuan Territory’s defenses and recognized Su Mo as the lord who had welcomed them.
• Lü Kuan told Su Mo that the Academy Guard squad had about twenty members and more than a dozen Motorcycle Airships.
• Su Mo refused to hand over the refugees after the Game Panel offered a Rare Route for keeping them as residents for thirty days and paying 2,000 Disaster Points.

Su Mo accepted a group of escaped players from the Academy’s experimental base only after screening them and restricting their ability to communicate, then turned his attention to a strange fragment found at an explosion site. The chapter ended as his Survival System finished appraising the fragment and revealed its analysis.

• Wang Dazhi introduced himself and offered information about the Academy’s biological laboratory and its defenses, but Su Mo initially refused to take the group in.
• After one escapee pleaded to avoid returning to the Academy, Su Mo sent him to the Labor Camp; seven others volunteered to go as well.
• Wang Dazhi promised to share information about raising route levels and succeeding in First Evolution, and Su Mo arranged for the group to rest.
• Su Mo disabled the visitors’ chat-channel privileges, assigned guards to watch them, and told Li Hu and Feng Tianmin to increase patrols.
• Lü Kuan showed Su Mo an energy-stone-like fragment found at the center of an explosion, and Su Mo used the Survival System to appraise it.

Su Mo learned that the strange ore amplified energy and turned his attention to preparing for a coming conflict with the academy. The Game Panel then announced the Metal Sigh disaster, which would rapidly age useful metal and force survivors to rethink weapons, machines, and industry.

• Su Mo examined the ore fragment and concluded that it amplified energy, while Lü Kuan took it back to the research institute to investigate how it had formed.
• Su Mo decided to seek information from the owner of the Pumpkin Bunker before the expected clash with the academy's branch base.
• Bernie and his guards arrived in Qinggang City, saw battles raging across the suburbs, and chose to camp on a high-rise rather than risk getting involved.
• The Game Panel announced that the Metal Sigh disaster would begin in seven days and accelerate the aging of metal according to its use and importance.
• Hammer Bro protested the disaster's effects, while Madman Bro dismantled his factory machines to preserve them as metal without a purpose.

The Metal Aging Disaster announcement destabilized deep-sea settlements, while leaders debated how to adapt and where to seek safety. Su Mo had already prepared nonmetal weapons for Tian Yuan Territory and set off for the Pumpkin Bunker to investigate the academy.

• At the Giant Tree Root Relay Station, Bao Lei and Zhang Chao heard that the manager wanted to secure his rule, but their group refused to risk their lives protecting his supplies.
• At the Tundra Shelter, Lu Yongyi held a vote, and the radical faction won; he ordered unfinished migration ships converted into armed ships and asked Liu Neng to contact Su Mo about reaching the New Continent.
• At Hope Village, Su Mo relied on stored K21 high-strength plastic but chose simple cold weapons rather than modern firearms, which the disaster would age regardless of their material.
• Su Mo rode a remotely controlled motorcycle toward the Pumpkin Bunker to speak with its sealed owner about the academy and consider destroying its branch base.

Su Mo met Katerina, a Level 2 Academy researcher hiding in Pumpkin Bunker, and learned how the Academy’s professors and research bases operated. When Katerina explained the limits of conventional Gene Awakening research, Su Mo revealed knowledge of directional gene stimulation, leaving her stunned.

• Su Mo arrived at Pumpkin Bunker and asked Su Deben to oversee the West Suburbs Alliance camp.
• Su Deben warned Su Mo that Katerina seemed unusually unenthusiastic about the Academy and might not want to return to one of its research bases.
• Su Mo met Katerina, who introduced herself as a Level 2 Biotechnology researcher and explained that she wanted to return to the Academy in Holy City Bock Luo Zhi.
• Katerina explained that the Academy had one central institution, while professors ran separate research bases such as Professor Earnest's base in Jiu Zhou Great Rift Valley.
• Su Mo asked Katerina about Gene Awakening and described using special molecular bodies to create a controlled environment for directional gene evolution, stunning her.

Su Mo discussed gene-awakening research and learned from Katerina how the Academy had formed and operated. Katerina agreed to help his shelter with biotechnology, but an airship fleet from the Great Rift Valley Base arrived after detecting her signal.

• Katerina explained that the Jiu Zhou Great Rift Valley Base had made progress researching the rapid gene changes seen in players, and Su Mo offered evidence from escaped researchers.
• Katerina described the Academy’s origins in the Planetary Academic Alliance, its wartime transformation, and its ongoing reliance on artificial intelligence for research.
• Su Mo learned that Academy researchers could work beyond artificial intelligence’s restrictions and thanked Katerina for explaining the organization.
• Katerina offered Su Mo a choice of her biotechnology projects, but he instead asked her to help advance his shelter’s incomplete research.
• Katerina accepted the offer, and Guard Captain Nat reported that an airship fleet from the Academy had arrived from the south.
• Katerina realized she had left her signal transmitter on, and Su Mo recognized the arrivals as people from the Great Rift Valley Base.

Su Mo and Katerina agreed to work together to keep Captain Bernie’s guards occupied while concealing Katerina’s presence. Bernie accepted a lucrative offer to meet her, but Su Mo knocked him unconscious as soon as he entered the room.

• Bernie arrived at Pumpkin Bunker with five other guards after following the Academy distress signal, and Bacon verified his identity.
• Katerina warned Su Mo that she wanted to keep her identity hidden and offered to help him trap the guards in exchange for keeping them there.
• Su Mo agreed to cooperate and asked Katerina to lure Bernie into the bunker.
• Nat told Bernie that Katerina would pay five thousand Academic Coins to have information carried to Holy City, and Bernie eagerly accepted.
• Nat brought Bernie to the room where Su Mo was waiting, and Su Mo knocked him unconscious before Bernie could finish speaking.

Su Mo captured Bernie and all twenty-four guards sent from the Jiu Zhou Great Rift Valley Base, then arranged for the captives and their tracking chips to be identified. Bernie warned him that Blue Star factions were studying Earth people’s powers, confirming that conflict between the two sides was growing unavoidable.

• Su Mo disarmed Bernie, held him at gunpoint, and persuaded him to call his squad into Katerina’s manor by promising to spare them and keep them detained temporarily.
• Su Mo and Katerina questioned Bernie about the convoy attack, and Bernie agreed to bring in his men one group at a time.
• Su Mo’s warriors and scavenger players captured the remaining guards with fishing nets and High Voltage Electricity, taking all twenty-four guards and twelve Motorcycle Airships.
• Su Mo awarded the participants contribution points, promised a forty-percent discount on the airships, and called for people to identify the captives and investigate their tracking chips.
• Bernie warned Su Mo that major Blue Star factions were researching Earth people’s powers and might recruit them as soldiers, prompting Su Mo to recognize the coming conflict between Blue Star and Earth.