Chapter Summaries

Yang Bo used his Ninth Mister identity to negotiate with Zhang Bozhen after learning that pirates might target March Star and the Ninth Fleet. Zhang Bozhen agreed to pay for help and intelligence, while Yang Bo saw an opportunity to expand his influence in the Scarlet Federation.

• Yang Bo considered the limits on armed forces in the Empire and Alliance and decided the Scarlet Federation offered a better place to build military strength.
• Butler Niu showed Zhang Bozhen Ninth Mister’s warning that pirates might raise shipping costs to March Star by thirty percent, and Zhang Bozhen concluded the plot could also undermine the Ninth Fleet and benefit the Zhang Family.
• Zhang Bozhen asked Ninth Mister to help counter the threat and offered access to the Zhang Family’s secret treasure trove.
• Yang Bozhen negotiated an eight-billion fee, first pick of the treasure trove’s contents at fifty percent of market value, and fifteen billion for up to three disclosures of Pirate Alliance plans.
• Zhang Bozhen and Ninth Mister agreed to the arrangement, and Yang Bo chuckled over the deal.

Zhang Bozhen learned that a plot involving the Interstellar Pirates and the Ninth Fleet threatened March Star’s shipping route, and he asked Ninth Mister to investigate. He and Butler Niu decided to contact Councilwoman Zhou Rui despite the political danger of linking politicians with the military.

• Zhang Bozhen arranged to deliver the Family Secret Treasure’s location and defenses to Ninth Mister in person, and asked for financial help.
• Zhang Bozhen and Butler Niu recognized that the family had kept the threat secret and suspected outside forces were orchestrating events to implicate the Ninth Fleet.
• Zhang Bozhen concluded that they needed Ninth Mister to investigate and find a way to thwart the Interstellar Pirates’ plan.
• Butler Niu revealed that Zhou Rui was related to General Wang, and Zhang Bozhen ordered him to inform her about the matter.
• Zhang Bozhen and Butler Niu agreed to approach Zhou Rui first, hoping the Ninth Fleet could strike the pirates and protect the shipping route.

Yang Bo arranged for a Spatial Coordinate Energy Stone to be sent to Sky Cloud Star while Zhou Rui faced pressure to connect Young Master Zhang with Wang Muxue. After Zhou Sen warned her of the risks, Zhou Rui asked Yang Bo to serve as an intermediary; Yang Bo understood the request concerned the intelligence he had given Zhang Bozhen but pretended not to know.

• Yang Bo asked Zhou Rui to arrange secure lodging on Sky Cloud Star, and Zhou Rui sent his packaged Energy Stone there through covert channels.
• Butler Niu asked Zhou Rui to contact General Wang, and Zhou Rui feared becoming entangled in Young Master Zhang's risky plans.
• Zhou Sen advised Zhou Rui not to act as the intermediary and suggested she find someone trusted by both sides.
• Zhou Rui identified Yang Bo as a suitable intermediary and arranged to meet him at a seaside park.
• Zhou Rui explained her predicament and pleaded with Yang Bo to help connect Young Master Zhang and Wang Muxue.

Yang Bo agreed to help Zhou Rui connect Zhang Bozhen with Wang Muxue, the Ninth Fleet's chief officer, while keeping their past relationship vague. After Yang Bo confirmed their online romance had ended, Zhang Bozhen asked him to act as an intermediary with the Ninth Fleet.

• Yang Bo agreed to let Zhou Rui present him as someone with a connection to her older female cousin, Wang Muxue.
• Zhou Rui told Butler Niu that Yang Bo was a better intermediary than she was for contacting Wang Muxue.
• Butler Niu reported Zhou Rui's suggestion to Zhang Bozhen, who summoned Yang Bo to his villa.
• Yang Bo confirmed that he had met Wang Muxue online and said they were now ordinary friends.
• Zhang Bozhen asked Yang Bo to help him communicate with the Ninth Fleet.

Zhang Bozhen persuaded Yang Bo to contact the Ninth Fleet’s general about a pirate threat, warning that an attack could harm March Star and the fleet. Yang Bo relayed the request to Wang Muxue, who found Zhang Bozhen’s involvement difficult to handle.

• Zhang Bozhen explained to Yang Bo that a massive pirate bounty threatened March Star, its trade, and the Ninth Fleet, and urged him to contact the fleet’s general.
• Yang Bo agreed to try, while cautioning Zhang Bozhen that he barely knew the general and could not guarantee she would believe him.
• After Yang Bo left, Zhang Bozhen and Butler Niu speculated about how Yang Bo had met the general and praised him as a useful intermediary.
• Yang Bo contacted Wang Muxue, picked her up near the spaceport in disguise, and told her what Zhang Bozhen had said about the pirates and Zhou Rui.
• Wang Muxue said the matter was difficult to handle because Zhang Bozhen had an exceptionally powerful position.

Wang Muxue considered Zhang Bozhen’s offer to help the Ninth Fleet, while Yang Bo weighed how the fleet’s growth would benefit him. On Devon Star, Yang Bo lured an assassin into a meeting, knocked him unconscious, and discovered the man had a soul-attack ability.

• Wang Muxue questioned Zhang Bozhen’s credibility, and Yang Bo told her to decide for herself while concealing his own plans.
• Yang Bo took Wang Muxue to the spaceport, then returned to his villa and considered how the Ninth Fleet’s success could benefit him.
• Yang Bo learned that an assassin who had contacted Bart was willing to meet and arranged to see him alone on an uninhabited island on Devon Star.
• The assassin offered Yang Bo two sets of information, and Yang Bo copied them before accusing him of being an assassin and charging at him.
• Yang Bo knocked the assassin unconscious, put an Inhibition Helmet on him, recognized his soul-attack ability, and planted a Mental Seed in him.

Yang Bo captured Li John, the Dream Manipulator, and planned to exploit his wealth and use his Dream Realm ability to gain skills. Meanwhile, Li John was imprisoned and An An remained under guard, secretly fearing the power that had erased the Mental Power in her mind.

• Yang Bo identified Li John's Dream Realm ability and realized his sunglasses had prevented Li John from using it on Paradise Island.
• Yang Bo ordered Jerry Butler to strip Li John of his wealth, sent an Energy Stone and instructions to Blackstone Star, and planned to use Li John to farm skills later.
• Li John woke in a high-security cell, offered his fortune to buy his freedom, and prompted Jerry Butler to lower the room temperature to pressure him for more.
• An An realized the Mental Power placed in her mind by God Hall had disappeared and feared the people at Bart's estate.
• Yang Bo decided to wait and see whether God Hall could locate the estate before letting An An try to contact it.

Li John was imprisoned by Jerry Butler and forced to return Yang Bo’s money and pay a forty-billion-Blue-Coin fine. After being released near Wan Dao City, he fled the Aquamarine Empire while plotting revenge, and Yang Bo sensed his plans through the Mental Seed.

• Li John begged Bart for mercy and offered his thirty-five billion Blue Coins as an apology.
• Jerry Butler demanded that Li John return the money Bart had transferred and pay an additional forty billion Blue Coins.
• Li John agreed to the payment while secretly vowing to seek revenge on Aquamarine Empire nobles.
• Jerry Butler released Li John near the sea after he transferred the money, and Li John left with his belongings.
• Li John bought a ticket out of the Aquamarine Empire, while Yang Bo sensed his revenge plans through the Mental Seed.

Yang Bo considered using Li John’s identity and the Scarlet Federation’s lawless chaos to build power and develop his abilities. He also thought about reaching Green Devil Star and the Second Game World, then received messages from Zhou Rui and Wang Muxue after returning to March Star.

• Yang Bo judged Li John’s abilities unimpressive but valued his identity, and decided the Scarlet Federation would be the best place to build an armed force and grind skills.
• Yang Bo learned from Li John’s memories about the Scarlet Federation’s corrupt corporations, illegal experiments, and connections to powerful organizations, and planned to seize some influence there.
• Yang Bo resolved to find a route to Green Devil Star for its Mutated Materials and wondered whether the emperor’s Special Investigation Team would know how to access the Second World.
• Yang Bo returned to March Star and told Zhou Rui that he had taken over the situation, declining her invitation for tea and dinner.
• Wang Muxue told Yang Bo that she had agreed to his previous proposal but would meet only him.

Yang Bo brokered an agreement between Wang Muxue and Zhang Bozhen to cooperate against the Interstellar Pirates, while keeping his own role limited to passing messages. Zhang Bozhen then worried that a starship bringing celebrities to March Star might be attacked and considered hiring the mysterious mercenary Ninth Mister for protection.

• Yang Bo agreed to help Wang Muxue and Zhang Bozhen communicate, and Wang Muxue wondered whether he had been the Mecha Pilot she met on Green Devil Star.
• Yang Bo visited Zhang Bozhen and confirmed that Wang Muxue's side had agreed to cooperate, while Zhang Bozhen told him to wait for a signal about the Interstellar Pirates.
• Zhang Bozhen tried to persuade Yang Bo to consider Wang Muxue, but Yang Bo said he preferred Su Wei and declined dinner so he could cook for his girlfriends.
• Zhang Bozhen gave Yang Bo three handbags for his girlfriends and asked him to continue serving as intermediary, while explaining that he had no gift for Wang Muxue because it could be traced.
• Zhang Bozhen and Butler Niu suspected that rivals were obstructing celebrity visits to March Star and might attack the celebrities' starship, so they considered hiring Ninth Mister to protect it.

Yang Bo arranged a covert satellite acquisition, prepared for the coming investigation and wedding threats, and trained with Ning Xue and Bai Lu. When the Empire’s Special Investigation Team arrived on Devon Star, Bart confronted its members and demanded a firm timetable for answers.

• Yang Bo negotiated with Zhang Bozhen to intercept a top-grade reconnaissance satellite and reserve a private area aboard its transport ship for his plans.
• Yang Bo rewarded Jerry Butler, ordered him to monitor the investigation team and its contacts, and defeated Ning Xue and Bai Lu in a mecha match.
• Yang Bo and Ning Xue discussed threats against their wedding, and Yang Bo promised to deliver her family’s Ultra-High Temperature Material quota promptly.
• Li Zhenggang led the Empire’s Special Investigation Team to Devon Star and arranged to meet Bart.
• Bart showed the investigators recordings of the attack, demanded a response deadline, and threatened to stop them from leaving until the case was solved.

Viscount Bart berated the Imperial investigation team and demanded a result within ten days, while the investigators struggled to find usable evidence. Back in Bart Territory, Yang Bo planned an attack on the team to deepen the crisis and obtain a Spatial Coordinate for the Second World.

• Bart accused the Empire of failing to protect him, listed potential suspects, and challenged the investigators to solve the case within ten days.
• The investigation team confirmed Bart appeared truthful and discussed using Soul Secret Methods on the two Modified Humans despite the risks and weak odds of finding evidence.
• Li Zhenggang worried the investigation was doomed because the evidence had been erased and Great Nobles could evade responsibility.
• Yang Bo returned to Bart Territory and decided to attack the investigation team that night, targeting Vicki and the other powerful investigator with Alliance-made Mecha Bombs.

Yang Bo used the manor’s Butler and an imperial intelligence agent to learn the investigators’ movements and plans, including their intent to use the Soul Secret Method on a Modified Human. He left the manor to prepare an attack, having found a lead on the imperial department overseeing the Second World but not its exact location.

• The Special Investigation Team reviewed Bart’s footage and discussed the failed search for the Terrorist Attack’s mastermind.
• Li Zhenggang agreed that the investigators would use the Soul Secret Method on a Modified Human the next day, despite doubts it would work.
• Yang Bo entered the manor in Stealth and planted a Mental Seed in the Butler to learn the investigators’ locations and movements.
• Yang Bo planted a Mental Seed in a middle-aged investigator and discovered that he was an imperial intelligence agent who knew about the Second World department.
• Yang Bo decided to kill the agent to prevent the imperial household from discovering the Mental Seed, then left the manor to wait for the investigators to return to their rooms.

Yang Bo attacked the manor where the Imperial Special Investigation Team was staying, killing members of the team and the manor butler while gathering their skills and memories. He learned that the Soul Secret Method could detect his Mental Seeds, then returned to his laboratory, where Jerry Butler told him the team had suffered a terrorist attack.

• Yang Bo planted a Mental Seed in Vicki and attacked his room, where Vicki and Su Youde were together, leaving both critically injured as he searched Vicki's memories.
• Yang Bo left a Mecha Bomb in Vicki's room, then killed the manor butler with another bomb and gained Mind Control and Mind Perception skills.
• Yang Bo broke into the royal spy's room, killed him, and planted a third bomb before escaping with Space Movement.
• Yang Bo concluded that the Soul Secret Method could detect Mental Seeds and could backfire against a stronger soul, though it was less effective for reading memories than his Mental Seed.
• Jerry Butler called Yang Bo and reported that the Imperial Special Investigation Team had suffered a terrorist attack involving a suicide bombing.

Yang Bo watched the Empire reel from a bombing of the Special Investigation Team’s estate, while the Emperor ordered a furious investigation. Yang Bo planned further attacks and waited for the casualty report to identify who had given him the Mind Reading skill.

• Jerry Butler told Yang Bo that a clown-armored attacker had used two Space Boxes and Mecha Bombs to strike the investigation team’s estate, prompting Devon Star’s garrison fighters to arrive.
• Yang Bo ordered his territory’s defense systems sealed and watched online speculation about the attack and its suspected masterminds spread.
• The Emperor smashed his teacup, demanded an investigation, and refused to meet with ministers as officials struggled to respond.
• The Devon Star Garrison Fleet sealed off the attack site, but people online mocked the operation and doubted it would produce results.
• Yang Bo planned to attack the Zhang Family’s and Wu Family’s estates, then decided to use the casualty figures to find who had given him Mind Reading.

Yang Bo learned how the Emperor had eliminated the Former Grand Steward and how Vicki had used Soul Secret Methods to gather information about Su Wei. Meanwhile, the Garrison Fleet searched a sealed manor for Clown, but the killer vanished before the operation was complete.

• Yang Bo learned that the Former Grand Steward had been removed and killed after the Emperor grew wary of his power, and that Vicki had searched servants' memories for information about Su Wei.
• The Garrison Fleet commander waited for authorization while the manor remained sealed and everyone inside was treated as a possible suspect.
• After receiving orders, the commander sent drones and robots through the manor and sealed its other exits to prevent Clown from escaping in Camouflage.
• The search marked the entire building as secure, but Clown had disappeared; the commander ordered everyone else evacuated in monitored Life Pods.
• The commander discovered that only five people were missing and could not explain where the killer had gone.

The Devon Star Garrison Fleet and military experts investigated the attack on the royal family’s estate, where four investigators and the Butler had vanished and three Mecha Bombs had exploded. They reconstructed Yang Bo’s route but could not determine his fate or the attack’s motive, and the Emperor was left dissatisfied with the unresolved report.

• The Garrison Fleet commander ordered robots and drones to search the sealed estate and scan for traces of the killer, while experts analyzed the evidence.
• Military experts concluded that the killer entered through Vicki’s room, where both Vicki and Su Youde had been present, and reconstructed Yang Bo’s movements from the damage and explosive residue.
• The experts identified major unanswered questions about the killer’s targets, the third Mecha Bomb, and whether the killer had self-destructed or remained among the survivors.
• The experts reported their findings to the Military Department and recommended that two Soul Secret Method specialists investigate the survivors and the sealed estate.
• The Emperor watched the simulation, questioned the Butler’s failure to respond to the alarm, and demanded a better explanation from the Minister of Military Department.

The Emperor investigated the bombing of the Special Investigation Team estate and concluded that the attack targeted him and the royal family. Yang Bo watched the official announcement frame the killer’s death as a suicide, while the Empire sent a second investigation team whose members and movements were classified.

• The royal Grand Steward discovered that the estate manager had used games to transmit intelligence and that several victims, including Sean, had secret identities.
• The Emperor reviewed the blast footage, accepted that the killer had detonated a Mecha Bomb, and suspected forbidden drugs had fueled his strength.
• The royal Grand Steward argued that the killer had targeted Vicki and Su Youde, silenced an insider, and killed Sean to provoke the Emperor; the Emperor agreed the royal family had been attacked.
• The Emperor received evidence that the estate manager had transmitted intelligence but could not identify which family he served, so he sent the report to other departments.
• The Devon Star Garrison Fleet announced that the killer had blown himself up and offered ten billion Blue Coins for information, while the Empire dispatched a second classified Special Investigation Team.
• Yang Bo recognized that the suicide story concealed his escape using Space Movement and suspected the Emperor would retaliate.

After the attack on Devon Star, the Empire’s Great Nobles condemned the incident while the Carter, Wu, and Zhang Families feared the Emperor’s response. Yang Bo reflected on the fallout and his plans for the Zhang Family’s treasure, then learned the City Lord wanted to meet his game character about a title and rewards.

• The Great Nobles condemned the attack, and the Carter, Wu, and Zhang Families worried that the investigation could expose their past actions or draw the Emperor’s anger.
• Yang Bo watched the reports and thought that the attack had muddied the waters, while waiting to learn which dead investigator had granted him Mind Perception.
• Yang Bo planned to use Li John’s return and the Spatial Coordinate Energy Stones to raid the Zhang Family’s hidden treasure, then destroy the scene with bombs.
• Yang Bo returned to March Star and saw Alliance reports linking the Devon Star attack to the Clowns and proposing counterterrorism cooperation with the Empire.
• Su Wei told Yang Bo that the City Lord wanted to see him in the Second Game World about granting him a title and other rewards.
• Yang Bo used Mind Perception to tell that Su Wei and the other women did not mean their objections to him joining them to wash, then followed them upstairs.

Yang Bo learned his game character had become a Viscount and gained land near Green City, then prepared Energy Potions for Wang Muxue’s pirate operation. On Devon Star, he arranged a secure property on Sky Cloud Star and ordered Small Hydrogen Bombs for his planned attack on the Zhang Family.

• Yang Bo explored the winter market outside Green City before learning from the City Lord that Handy had become a Viscount and would receive land, an orchard, farmland, and more than two hundred residents.
• Yang Bo and Su Wei discussed the Empire’s growing fear after the attacks on Devon Star, and Yang Bo later made high-quality Energy Potions for Wang Muxue’s upcoming pirate operation.
• Yang Bo told Lin Yue to buy a highly secure property on Sky Cloud Star where she could store an Energy Stone for the Space Beacon.
• Yang Bo inspected Bart Territory’s weapons reserves with Jerry Butler and asked about obtaining powerful bombs.
• Yang Bo ordered Small Hydrogen Bombs through unofficial channels, intending to use Empire-produced weapons in his planned attack on the Zhang Family.