Chapter Summaries

Luo Man brought the Fan family to an alliance checkpoint while they traveled toward Su Mo’s Tian Yuan Shelter. After learning that they had an invitation from Lord Su, the guards welcomed them and arranged for their information to be registered and for an escort to the shelter.

• Luo Man drove the Fan family through Qinggang City’s ruined outskirts toward the alliance checkpoint.
• Mandler initially refused Luo Man entry because his pass had expired and the Yin Clan Shelter’s quota had not rotated.
• Luo Man explained that the four people in his vehicle were heading to Tian Yuan, and Mandler changed his attitude and called for Ke Si, who spoke Tian Yuan Language.
• Ke Si learned that Fan Fuzheng had received an invitation from Su Mo and said the shelter was several dozen kilometers away.
• Mandler gave the Fan family food and drinks, and Ke Si arranged to register their information and send someone to escort them to Tian Yuan.

Mandler identified Fan Fuzheng and his family as important personnel recruited by Su Mo and placed the guard post under highest alert while awaiting their pickup. Fan Fuzheng’s family remained confined and guarded until an imposing convoy of armored vehicles and self-propelled artillery arrived.

• Mandler contacted Tian Yuan Outpost Base and learned that Fan Fuzheng was one of the important people Su Mo had recruited.
• Mandler ordered the guard post into highest-alert status, while Lei Zha’s guards restrained Luo Man and the people accompanying him.
• Fan Fuzheng studied the weather and geography, concluding that they were likely in the central region near Qinggang City and that Su Mo’s territory was deliberately concealed.
• Mandler told Fan Fuzheng that the guard post was under wartime alert, and Fan’s family stayed inside under guard.
• After about forty minutes, Fan Fuzheng watched more than twenty armored combat vehicles and two self-propelled artillery vehicles approach the guard post.

Wang Qian arrived with the Tian Yuan Army to escort Fan Fuzheng and his family to the Tian Yuan Territory, where Lord Su had summoned him. After the convoy left, Luo Man learned that rescuing the family had earned him 200 Tian Yuan Copper Coins and six months of temporary residency rights for up to four people.

• Wang Qian brought a heavily armed Tian Yuan Army convoy to Mandler's checkpoint and asked for Fan Fuzheng.
• Wang Qian greeted Fan Fuzheng respectfully and explained that he had come by Lord Su's command to escort him and his family to the territory.
• Fan Fuzheng chose to leave immediately with Zheng Yali and the children, and Wang Qian led them away in the command vehicle.
• After the convoy departed, Mandler gave Luo Man a reward application offering 200 Tian Yuan Copper Coins and six months of temporary residency rights for up to four people.
• Luo Man realized the residency document could give the Yin Clan Shelter a valuable connection to Tian Yuan Shelter.

After bringing Fan Fuzheng and his family through the West Suburbs, Wang Qian explained the Alliance’s position and the Blue Star population in Qinggang City. The convoy then approached Tian Yuan Shelter, where Fan Fuzheng discovered its immense, integrated city wall.

• Mandler escorted Luo Man from the checkpoint after registering the four members of the Fan family, and Luo Man thanked the Alliance before returning to Yin Clan Shelter.
• The convoy passed through the West Suburbs, where Fan Jing, Fan Han, and Fan Fuzheng saw a thriving market and learned about policies for scavenger outposts.
• Wang Qian told Fan Fuzheng that Qinggang City held about 2.3 million people across 106 shelters and explained how the Alliance included shelters from the West and South Suburbs.
• Wang Qian said Su had beaten Qinggang Shelter into submission, leaving Fan Fuzheng stunned by the Alliance’s confidence.
• Fan Fuzheng used Route Ability to inspect the immense structure ahead and realized it was a city wall whose entire form appeared seamless and integrated.

Su Mo learned that the Myriad Paths Arena had changed its rules to require five consecutive matches and that foreign contestants could attack after an opponent surrendered. With four territory participants seriously injured, he considered how to protect himself before entering the arena.

• Zero told Su Mo that Fan Fuzheng had entered the territory, and the Alliance later found the other three people it had been seeking.
• Qiao Yuansheng presented Qinggang Shelter’s reconstruction plan, but Su Mo set it aside until spring because it did not explain how reconstruction would be funded.
• Li Hu told Su Mo that four participants had been seriously injured after the arena changed its rules to require five consecutive matches and allow attacks during the surrender period.
• Su Mo warned his staff that foreign races could exploit the rules and wondered whether the arena cleared materials between consecutive matches.

Su Mo learned that the third day's Elimination Round preserved some crafted materials, then entered the arena as spectators gathered to watch his match. His first opponent was revealed to be Connie, the Wind Lion Race member who had been undercover among the foreign races for a year.

• Li Hu returned with word that players could retain personally processed materials, and Su Mo judged that the challenge could be survived by crafting weapons or armor.
• Su Mo decided that residents who had cleared the previous day's round should skip the third day's Elimination Round because its risks outweighed its rewards.
• Su Mo entered the Ten Thousand Paths Arena as its audience swelled, while Chen Shen and Bao Lei watched from the stands.
• A newly arrived Earth Dog Race member called for Su Mo's death, but other foreign-race spectators drove him away and defended the chance to watch Su Mo fight.
• The game selected a Wind Lion Race opponent for Su Mo, and he recognized her as Connie, his old acquaintance who had gone undercover among the foreign races.

Su Mo and Connie faced each other in the Culinary Arts Competition, where a judge requested Sichuan mala hot pot. Connie gave up and ate while Su Mo cooked, secretly crafting a spear; after the judges tasted his hot pot, it became a sensation among the spectators.

• Su Mo greeted Connie and judged that her strength had grown considerably, while the three judges were all human.
• The game announced a one-hour Culinary Arts Competition, and Connie asked Su Mo whether she should surrender; he told her to wait while he prepared for future matches.
• Judge Inoue Daisuke requested the Sichuan mala hot pot Su Mo had eaten after arriving in the wasteland, and Connie resigned herself to the outcome.
• Su Mo made hot pot and used the spare time to turn a long rolling pin and a blade into a sturdy spear.
• Su Mo submitted hot pot with a weak healing effect, while Connie submitted two potatoes; Inoue Daisuke and spectators enthusiastically ate and bought hot pot.
• Su Mo saw that more than four hundred million portions had sold for twelve billion Disaster Points and wished he could share in the game's profits.

Su Mo won his opening Myriad Paths Competition matches, learned that Connie had built a powerful force among the other races, and anticipated a coming war. After seven days of brutal elimination rounds, only nine hundred humans and four hundred aliens qualified for the main competition, including just three contestants from Tian Yuan Territory.

• Su Mo won the Culinary Arts match against Connie, then used their private five-minute meeting to learn that she led more than eight thousand Ao Clan members in Hundred Yue Canyon and instructed her to keep expanding her influence.
• Su Mo won four more matches against human opponents who surrendered, then concluded that the other races had withdrawn from his bracket to avoid facing him.
• Over the next several days, the elimination rounds grew increasingly difficult and reduced the field to nine hundred human and four hundred alien players.
• At Tian Yuan Territory, Old Daoist, Man with Gun, and Qi Jie were the only three contestants who returned having qualified for the main competition.

After the elimination round ended, Su Mo learned that only 1,435 players had advanced and studied the rules and preview for the main competition, Fog Mountain Summit Contention. The competition would begin in seven days, and Su Mo took heart from learning that contestants could exchange Main Competition Points for outside items.

• Old Daoist, Man with Gun, and Qi Jie discussed how difficult it had been to reach the main competition, then helped carry exhausted competitors to the hospital.
• Su Mo returned to Tian Yuan Underground City and considered the powerful opponents and other races he might face in the main competition.
• At four o’clock, the Game Panel announced the elimination round’s end, issued rewards, and revealed that Fog Mountain Summit Contention would begin in seven days.
• Su Mo watched the preview, which showed contestants crossing nine types of terrain before reaching Fog Mountain and competing to reach its summit.
• Su Mo read the rules restricting assistance and combat, then learned that Main Competition Points could be exchanged for outside items.

During the cold snap, Fan Fuzheng helped Luo Man buy medicinal soup for Yin Clan Shelter and reflected on the Alliance’s fair trade system. The Outpost Base then raised a yellow mobilization alarm as the Expeditionary Force returned after nearly two months away.

• Fan Fuzheng worried that people in his former territory, Taihu Territory, would suffer in the cold, while Leng Arong reassured him.
• Luo Man arrived to buy fifty portions of medicinal soup for Yin Clan Shelter, but he was four copper coins short after the price rose.
• Fan Fuzheng lent Luo Man the missing coins, and the two thanked each other for their earlier help.
• A yellow mobilization alarm sounded at Outpost Base, and undercover guards emerged as an armed procession entered beneath the Warning Wall.
• More than eighty armored vehicles and over a thousand soldiers returned, and the residents recognized them as the Expeditionary Force.

The Expeditionary Force returned to a transformed Outpost Base, where Feng Long and his companions witnessed the territory’s expanding prosperity and military strength. Fan Fuzheng learned that Su Mo had summoned him to discuss the Myriad Paths Competition and headed toward Hope Village with his family.

• The Expeditionary Force’s convoy of eighty war chariots passed through the Outpost Base’s bustling districts as Feng Long and Su Deben admired its growth and disciplined guards.
• Veterans from Pingtan Shelter discussed joining Tian Yuan Territory after reflecting on how the expedition had changed them.
• Fan Fuzheng watched the convoy pass before administrators told him his quarantine had ended and that Su Mo had summoned experts, including him, to discuss the Myriad Paths Competition.
• Fan Fuzheng said goodbye to Luo Man and Leng Arong, then packed with his family and boarded a shuttle to Hope Village.
• Yu Lingjie introduced the territory’s long road network to the shuttle passengers as they traveled toward Hope Village.

Fan Fuzheng arrived at Tian Yuan Territory with his family and was impressed by its thriving industries, contribution system, and carefully designed Hope Village. He hurried to meet the lord in the Underground City, where its ordinary-looking entrance unsettled him when his Structural Vision seemed to fail.

• Yu Lingjie described Tian Yuan Territory's farms, factories, housing, and Contribution Point system to Fan Jing and Fan Fuzheng's family.
• Fan Fuzheng learned that reaching 500 Contribution Points allowed newcomers to live in the Underground City and saw ways his architectural skills could earn points.
• The bus reached Hope Village, where Fan Fuzheng used Structural Vision to recognize the streets and buildings' hidden defensive design.
• The Guard Captain escorted Fan Fuzheng toward the Underground City while his family stayed behind to explore and rest.
• Fan Fuzheng arrived at the Underground City's exposed entrance and tried to inspect it with Structural Vision, but the ability appeared to fail.

Fan Fuzheng toured the Underground City, where he witnessed the alliance’s dealings with nearby shelters and experienced its advanced virtual reality. Su Mo brought him into discussions about temporary camps and veterans as Tian Yuan Territory’s potential surpassed one thousand.

• Fan Fuzheng saw Walsh negotiate a construction loan with Song Yanhua by offering guards and their families as collateral.
• A Guard Captain guided Fan Fuzheng down to B6, where a passage transported him through a virtual version of Mist Island.
• Su Mo met Fan Fuzheng in a simulated café and explained that the experience used technology obtained from the Blue Star people.
• Su Mo introduced Fan Fuzheng to a discussion about temporary camps, veterans, and the territory’s development.
• Su Mo checked the territory panel and saw Tian Yuan Territory’s potential reach 1001.4.

Su Mo reviewed Tian Yuan Territory’s rapid growth and planned to use its saved Territory Points to restore Qinggang City’s western suburbs after winter. As Volunteer Soldiers joined the territory, he warned that war with the other races would follow the Myriad Paths Competition and vowed to win it and strengthen humanity’s advantage.

• Su Mo saw Tian Yuan Territory’s Potential Index surpass 1,000 and considered saving Territory Points to restore Qinggang City’s western suburbs and provide housing.
• Su Mo returned to the gathering discussing the Myriad Paths Competition and considered using its rules to promote Energy Stone Technology.
• After the expedition, all Volunteer Soldiers signed settlement agreements, but none chose to join the Tian Yuan Army.
• Feng Tianmin asked Su Mo to assign him the Volunteer Soldiers, but Su Mo said both they and the reserve recruits needed training.
• Su Mo predicted war with the other races after the competition and vowed to win and expand humanity’s advantage.

Su Mo entered the Myriad Paths Main Competition with three teammates and discovered that its first terrain was a vast desert rather than the expected plain. After choosing a map to locate a teammate, he read the rules and learned that the competition would last thirty days for the players, with survival points and recurring disasters shaping the challenge.

• Su Mo reassured Su Chan that he was ready for the competition, then met his teammates Yi Liangfu, Yu Ao, and Qi Jie before they were transported at eight o’clock.
• Spectators entered the viewing arena and discovered they could watch the competition from viewpoints above the terrain.
• Su Mo arrived alone in a scorching desert and chose the handbook reward showing the location of another player from his territory.
• Su Mo saw that the teammate was nineteen kilometers away and realized gathering the team in the desert would be difficult.
• Su Mo read the competition rules, learning that players had thirty days to cross nine terrains, began with 500 points, and would face disasters every three, six, and nine days.

Su Mo crossed the scorching Earth Fire Desert and reunited with Qi Jie, who had found a merchant selling scarce supplies. They gathered three other contestants and bought water, a tent, and a directional coupon, only to discover their teammates were hundreds of kilometers away.

• Su Mo studied the desert's tasks, then set out toward the glowing point on his handbook while contestants reported finding no shade or oases nearby.
• Su Mo met Qi Jie, who shared water and explained that a merchant nearby sold supplies and directional coupons for points.
• Su Mo and Qi Jie reached the merchant, where they encountered Guan Mao, Zhang Jun, and Xi Ruyue, then agreed to travel together under Su Mo's payment terms.
• Su Mo bought two bottles of water and a single-person tent, while Qi Jie bought a Friend Finding Directional Coupon to locate their remaining teammates.
• The coupon revealed that the glowing points for their teammates were 775 kilometers away, shocking Su Mo and Qi Jie.

Su Mo and Qi Jie led their group through the scorching desert, covering nearly 60 kilometers before stopping for the night. With everyone nearly out of water, Su Mo used his upgrade system to inspect ways of collecting water and prepared to upgrade three empty bottles.

• Su Mo decided to head for the closer lower-right desert exit instead of trying to reunite with the distant Old Daoist and Man with Gun.
• Su Mo, Qi Jie, Xi Ruyue, Mao Mao, and A Jun trekked through the desert all day, while spectators watched the contestants struggle to advance.
• Su Mo led the exhausted group to a sheltered hollow and helped set up their Windproof Tent as their water supplies ran low.
• Su Mo examined an empty bottle with his upgrade system and discovered several water-collection options, including an academy-made 'Adventurer' Water Generator.
• Su Mo decided to spend points upgrading three bottles, choosing options that included the expensive 'Adventurer' water generator.

Su Mo used Survival Points to create water collectors and a powerful water generator, easing the group's thirst and completing his daily mission. After he and Qi Jie rested, spectators learned that the collectors had produced far more water than expected, while Su Mo planned to search for food and a rapid-movement device.

• Su Mo upgraded three bottles into water-making devices, paid Survival Points to power the insulated-cup generator, and drank enough to complete the Survival Allowance mission.
• Su Mo gave Qi Jie water and ordered him to rest inside the tent; Qi Jie drank from the collectors, recognized their value, and kept quiet about their source.
• Su Mo examined the desert map, concluded that the terrain might change every 120 kilometers, and decided to seek food and a rapid-movement device.
• Su Mo and Qi Jie took turns keeping watch, buried the collectors, and slept through the night; Su Mo awoke the next morning and prepared to travel.
• Spectators reported that three contestants had been eliminated and discussed Su Mo's water collectors, doubting they could work in the desert.
• Qi Jie checked the buried collectors as spectators watched, and the World Channel erupted when they saw that one bottle was more than half full.

Su Mo led Qi Jie, Guan Mao, Zhang Jun, and Xi Ruyue across the barren desert, relying on water collectors and pushing toward the first-stage boundary. They reached a merchant and found that he sold no water, only a costly Modular Micro-Studio, leaving the group without the supplies they needed.

• Qi Jie showed Guan Mao, Zhang Jun, and Xi Ruyue the freshwater collected by two devices, and Su Mo told them to drink before setting out.
• Su Mo produced more water in private, studied the map, and urged the group onward by promising that the next stage might contain resources and a merchant.
• Su Mo and the others reached the desert boundary and found two Centaur Aliens already standing near the merchant.
• Xi Ruyue discovered that the merchant sold no water or basic supplies, and Su Mo learned that the only listed item was a Modular Micro-Studio costing a thousand points.

Su Mo discovered that the merchant sold valuable modular items but no food or water, and realized he could build wealth by selling water to other contestants. After identifying the dangerous Earth Fire Reed and selling water to Xi Ruyue, he turned his attention to the two Centaurs as potential customers.

• Su Mo examined the merchant’s list of modular goods and decided to earn points by selling supplies, especially water.
• Su Mo identified the Earth Fire Reed and learned that eating it rapidly consumed the body’s water and could be fatal.
• Xi Ruyue asked Su Mo for water, and he sold her a bottle for one hundred points.
• Su Mo sent Qi Jie to set up the tent and collect the bottle while Guan Mao and A Jun considered buying water too.
• Su Mo’s points rose to six hundred, and he eyed the two Centaurs as his next potential customers.