Chapter Summaries

Little Cabbage met researcher Madeline and tried to recruit her for another project, but Madeline refused. Alice challenged the fundamental premise of Madeline’s cell-enhancement research, leaving Madeline arguing that she was already trying to solve its dangers.

• Madeline excitedly welcomed Old Joseph and met Little Cabbage, chairwoman of Little Cabbage Group.
• Little Cabbage asked about Madeline’s gene-programmed Cell Enhancement project, and Madeline exaggerated its progress while pitching its potential profits.
• Little Cabbage asked for a demonstration, then explained that she had come to discuss another project; Madeline refused to join it.
• Alice claimed Madeline’s research direction had been wrong from the start, prompting Madeline to defend her work.
• Alice questioned how Madeline could prevent enhanced cells from becoming more dangerous than cancer, and Madeline said she had been searching for a solution.

Alice demonstrated her transcendent power to Madeline and invited her to see their research, while Madeline remained skeptical about strengthening the body without human test subjects. Meanwhile, Joseph’s return and withdrawal from the election bewildered Morey and Huang Chengde, and Huang Chengde pressed his son to explain what the Yun Mountain Disciples had done to Joseph.

• Madeline dismissed the visitors’ proposal to strengthen the body, believing the research would require human test subjects and vast resources.
• Alice transformed coffee into a solid substance with her power, convincing Madeline that she was a transcendent.
• Madeline refused to join the research, but Alice denied conducting human experiments and invited her to see their work.
• Morey learned that Joseph had returned, cleared up rumors about his disappearance, and withdrawn from the election.
• Huang Chengde abandoned his plan to withdraw his investment and reassured Morey that he would keep supporting him.
• After returning home, Huang Chengde had Huang Shijie brought back from hiding and demanded to know what the Yun Mountain Disciples had done to Joseph.

Madeline was overwhelmed by the New Realm’s vast Tech Tree and wept because she feared she would not have enough time to learn everything. Meanwhile, Old Joseph settled his affairs in Houston and left confident that the Alien Civilization’s rise would soon transform the world and give him a chance to build something greater.

• Madeline confirmed the Tech Tree’s knowledge was genuine, then cried because she could not absorb it all in the time she had left.
• Old Joseph left the research institute and went to city hall to settle matters before his planned death.
• Old Joseph told Morey he was terminally ill and recommended his lawyer John for a position in Morey’s administration.
• Old Joseph urged Morey to restore the Fourth District and value Houston’s medical and manufacturing industries, but Morey responded without committing.
• Old Joseph told Morey he intended to apply for euthanasia and left, believing the Alien Civilization would soon reshape the world and make Houston irrelevant.

Huang Chengde worried that the sect disciples’ disappearance could bring trouble to the Huang family, while Husker continued investigating Joseph despite the canceled case. In the New Realm, Little Cabbage approved Madeline’s four recommended experts and planned to recruit them the next day.

• Huang Chengde ordered Huang Shijie to contact the missing sect disciples and keep watch over them.
• After Joseph announced he had terminal cancer and withdrew from the election, officials canceled their investigation into the Huang family.
• Husker questioned the mismatch in the dates surrounding Joseph’s diagnosis and asked his partner to investigate Joseph’s movements.
• Madeline recommended Maya Anono, Bill Els, Jimmy Carter, and Jose Maria Aznar to help guide the New Realm’s research.
• Little Cabbage decided to set out the next day to bring the four experts to her tribe.

Programmers in C City resigned en masse to earn money in Star Sea, while Pu Yunchuan resolved to build a future in the game but found rising troop prices and competition for Flower Spirit partners blocking his plans. Isabelle spotted a possible opportunity, though she had not yet explained it.

• Nearly ten thousand programmers in C City quit their jobs, many citing bizarre grievances or telling their bosses they were tired of empty promises, and companies soon struggled to find replacements.
• Pu Yunchuan decided to stop loafing after the Kunlun Martial Arts Competition and resigned so he could pursue success in Star Sea and win Isabelle’s respect.
• Pu Yunchuan brought Isabelle to the Main Base to recruit forces for the grasslands, but found that Flower Spirit players had become scarce and demanded large shares and capable partners.
• Isabelle explained that Pu Yunchuan’s twenty thousand points would not cover a viable force, supplies, and equipment, while partnering with a Flower Spirit could leave too little share to recruit skilled developers.
• Isabelle said there might still be an opportunity.

Isabelle proposed that Pu Yunchuan travel to a surviving city near the Black Goat Diagram and use her status as an imperial duchess to gain its soldiers. Xi Ye allowed the risky plan to proceed while discussing the need to keep Star Sea’s game and its expansion secret until its defenses improved.

• Pu Yunchuan worried that he lacked enough points and troops to establish a foothold on the grasslands, and Isabelle suggested seeking soldiers in the Empire’s north.
• Isabelle explained that survivors remained in cities between the Black Goat Diagram’s two centers and proposed stabilizing one city to command its soldiers.
• Pu Yunchuan agreed enthusiastically after Isabelle revealed that her title as an imperial duchess could win the soldiers’ trust.
• Xi Ye considered forbidding the expedition but let Pu Yunchuan go because a foothold near the Black Goat Diagram could support future expeditions and research.
• Xi Ye learned that the Central China authorities would cover for the game’s unusual cases but delayed their request for military participation until the Particle Protection Layer was ready.

Gondolin's city lord, Mike, feared that dwindling supplies and tensions with the mutated soldiers would destroy the city, so he decided to strike first. Pu Yunchuan and Isabelle arrived in Gondolin and found its guards welcoming but its residents hostile.

• The expanding Mutated Forest and waves of beasts drove refugees into Gondolin, tripling its population and straining the city's food reserves.
• Mike worried that the calm, mutated soldiers had formed a force capable of challenging his authority as hunger sharpened tensions with Gondolin's residents.
• Mike decided to strike first against the danger he believed the mutated soldiers posed.
• Pu Yunchuan and Isabelle traveled safely to Gondolin with Isabelle guiding them around Mutation Zones, though they witnessed terrifying creatures and the forest's expansion.
• Gondolin's mutated guards offered Pu Yunchuan and Isabelle food and hot water, but residents looked at them with hostility, and Isabelle said something was wrong with the city.

Pu Yunchuan and Isabelle discovered that the food given to them in Gondolin was poisoned, while City Lord Mike publicly defended the mutated soldiers and claimed to be sacrificing supplies for the city’s survival. The chapter ended with Mike visiting a secret laboratory where soldiers were being cruelly experimented on.

• Pu Yunchuan and Isabelle settled into the crowded Tent Area, where Isabelle detected heavy-metal toxins in the food brought by their guide.
• Isabelle said the poison was likely intended for the soldiers, and Pu Yunchuan pretended to understand her reasoning.
• City Lord Mike reprimanded Chai Kovsky for insulting the mutated soldiers and ordered supply cuts to residents, inner-ring soldiers, and his own guards.
• The White Scale General Wesker urged the mutated generals to wait and avoid bloodshed, while the minister of finance learned they had no immediate plans for violence.
• Mike visited a hidden laboratory beneath the City Lord Manor, where dismembered soldiers were still alive and being tested.

Marin told Mike that the poison would weaken Wesker and his soldiers within two days, while Isabelle discovered the increased dosage and warned Pu Yunchuan that an attack was imminent. Pu Yunchuan returned to Mars Base with a poisoned flatbread sample so Xi Ye could arrange an antidote.

• Marin reported that the soldiers' organs were blackening and said the poison would take effect in about two days, weakening Wesker to around forty percent of his strength.
• A hidden Shadow Master claimed he could defeat Wesker even without the poison, and the mage realized Mike had recruited a notorious assassin alongside Marin.
• Isabelle identified the poisoned food as an alchemical toxin and, after comparing the flatbreads, concluded that its dosage had increased and the attackers would likely move within two days.
• Isabelle told Pu Yunchuan to take a sample to Xi Ye for an antidote while she stayed behind to make other preparations.
• At Mars Base, Xi Ye asked the system whether its analyzer could produce an antidote, and the system said it could analyze the toxin.

Pu Yunchuan waited for Isabelle to return while discovering that the soldiers in the Barracks were suffering from metal toxins and facing hostility from the city’s civilians. As the City Lord’s Guard surrounded the food line, he feared the soldiers were about to be attacked and worried that Isabelle’s absence would leave his men in danger.

• Pu Yunchuan found Isabelle still missing the next morning and went to collect food with Jack, noticing that Jack and the other soldiers looked ill.
• Jack explained that civilians despised the mutated soldiers, while Black Sheep and Black Bear complained that the soldiers protected the city despite being treated like monsters.
• Pu Yunchuan revealed that he could enlarge his arm and promised to teach the soldiers how to control their mutations.
• Pu Yunchuan noticed the City Lord’s Guard surrounding the food distribution area and realized civilians might be preparing to attack.
• Pu Yunchuan worried that Isabelle was still gone and that his elite soldiers would be in danger without her.

The Mutated Soldiers discovered that they had been poisoned, and Wesker admitted his mistakes before deciding to capture Mike. As Mike confronted Wesker with armed guards, Wesker revealed that he had secretly reached Golden Knight level and advanced on him.

• Jack and the soldiers realized they were unusually weak and suspected something terrible was about to happen.
• Black Scale accused Wesker of leading thousands of soldiers into danger, and Wesker apologized before proposing they capture the ringleader.
• City soldiers surrounded the Barracks, and Wesker demanded that Mike face the Mutated Soldiers.
• Mike arrived with the secretary, who explained that he had betrayed Wesker to protect his ordinary family members.
• Wesker revealed that Mike's Silver Knights were no match for a Golden Knight, causing Mike to retreat as Wesker advanced bare-handed.

Old Wesker led an assault on Old Mike, but a hidden General Rank assassin wounded him and killed Black Scale’s companions. As Wesker charged again and the Mutated Soldiers joined the fight, Lady Isabelle arrived in Golden Dragon Armor and blocked his killing blow against Mike.

• Old Wesker shattered the guards’ swords and charged toward Old Mike while Black Scale and the others prepared to follow.
• A hidden assassin stabbed Wesker from behind, and Black Scale and the others fell with their throats slit.
• Wesker refused to surrender and unleashed his remaining battle aura to attack Old Mike, prompting Jack and the Mutated Soldiers to charge.
• Pu Yunchuan watched as Wesker broke through the shield soldiers and caught up with Mike, who fell and braced for death.
• Lady Isabelle appeared in Golden Dragon Armor and blocked Wesker’s killing blow, astonishing both Mike and Weix.

Isabelle arrived at the standoff between City Lord Mike’s guards and Wesker’s soldiers, then took command when Giant Snakes attacked Gondolin. Her swift response rallied the troops and left Mike with no chance of retaining control.

• The soldiers recognized Isabelle, whose reputation and imperial rank made the battlefield fall silent, while Wesker knelt before her.
• Old Mike suspected Isabelle’s arrival had been planned and tried to signal the Black Shadow assassin, who refused to act.
• When Mike asked which side Isabelle supported, Giant Snakes appeared among the guards and began attacking residents in the city.
• Isabelle killed a Giant Snake, calmed the soldiers, and ordered the School Officers to organize their troops and clear the monsters.
• The soldiers followed Isabelle’s orders, and Mike realized the crisis had shifted control of the city to her.

After the serpent disaster, Isabelle used the battle to bring the soldiers together and encouraged those beginning to mutate to accept their changes as marks of bravery. She executed Mike for treason, leaving Wesker unsettled by the sense that she and Mike were the same kind of person.

• Isabelle reassured the frightened soldiers that their mutations were signs of honor and revealed her own scales to them.
• Wesker admired Isabelle’s leadership, while Mike suspected she had secretly unleashed the serpent to unite the soldiers and strengthen her hold on Gondolin.
• Isabelle confronted Mike and sentenced him to death under wartime authority, stripping him and the Van der family of their titles and privileges.
• Mike begged for mercy and said he had acted to protect himself; Isabelle told him she believed him, then beheaded him.
• Wesker saw Mike’s head land at his feet and felt that Isabelle was somehow the same kind of person as the executed city lord.

As Pu Yunchuan grappled with Isabelle’s role in the tragedy at Gondolin, seeing a mutated soldier rejected by his frightened son and accepted by his wife helped him understand her sacrifice. He raced after Isabelle, while Xi Ye arranged to tell him he could locate her for thirty thousand points.

• Pu Yunchuan helped recover the dead after the giant snakes’ attack and struggled with the losses despite Gondolin’s powerful new force.
• Isabelle admitted to Pu Yunchuan that she had lured the snakes into Gondolin, and he shouted for her to stop before she walked away.
• Pu Yunchuan watched a mutated soldier turn to leave after his son recoiled in fear, but the soldier’s wife embraced him and reassured him.
• The soldier’s wife’s acceptance made Pu Yunchuan remember Isabelle’s scales and consider the dangers she had faced to lure the snakes into the city for him.
• Pu Yunchuan raced after Isabelle, and Xi Ye told the system to offer him her coordinates for thirty thousand points.

Isabelle turned back after Pu Yunchuan apologized, and the two reconciled. Xi Ye then assigned Pu Yunchuan a task to preserve and develop Gondolin, leaving him and Isabelle to decide whether to accept it or abandon the city.

• Isabelle headed toward Gorus City, but Pu Yunchuan caught up and apologized, and she agreed to stay with him after warning him not to repeat his mistake.
• Xi Ye discussed the players' difficulties on the grasslands and ordered the Main Base to send Pu Yunchuan his reward and a new task.
• The Main Base awarded Pu Yunchuan points and a Micro Base, then tasked him with preserving the Gondolin teleportation link and developing the city as a support base.
• Pu Yunchuan asked Isabelle whether they should accept the task or abandon Gondolin, and Isabelle said they would not actually lose out by refusing it.

Isabelle explained why Gondolin’s original evacuation plan would have abandoned most of its residents, then weighed the risks and potential profits of accepting the Main Base’s mission to turn the city into a strategic point. Pu Yunchuan agreed to try to defend the city, promising to follow Isabelle’s judgment if the danger became too great.

• Isabelle told Pu Yunchuan that the original plan would have taken only a small group out of Gondolin, leaving the rest without enough food to survive.
• Pu Yunchuan reproached himself for realizing that, like the powerful people he once criticized, he might sacrifice ordinary residents for practical reasons.
• Isabelle explained that the Main Base’s strategic-point mission could bring substantial profits from players’ need for local services and supplies, since teleportation was costly.
• Xi Ye praised Isabelle’s insight and confirmed that establishing a strategic point would help reduce his teleportation expenses.
• Isabelle warned Pu Yunchuan that mutated creatures and the forces behind the Black Goat Diagram made staying dangerous, and suggested they could leave for the two-hundred-thousand-point reward.
• After Pu Yunchuan pointed out the families gathered in Gondolin, Isabelle agreed to try the mission, making him promise to follow her decision if the situation became critical.

Isabelle and Pu Yunchuan chose the Zaun Civilization for Gondolin, aiming to rapidly develop its mutated population and recruit beastfolk. They also agreed to divide the largest share equally, leaving their partnership on warm, trusting terms.

• Isabelle compared the available civilizations and recommended Zaun because Gondolin's mutated residents could better accept its biological evolution, while its focus on genetics could help humans and beastfolk live together.
• Isabelle explained that Gondolin would need to expand north into the grasslands to recruit beastfolk from the Black Stone Tribe and the Twilight Hammer Clan.
• Pu Yunchuan accepted Isabelle's recommendation and chose the Zaun Civilization.
• Isabelle reminded Pu Yunchuan that he had nine recruitment slots and that they needed to allocate shares carefully.
• Pu Yunchuan proposed that he and Isabelle share fifty percent equally, with ten percent reserved for newcomers, and Isabelle accepted.

Pu Yunchuan struggled to recruit Floral Art players until the system revealed that many were high-achieving professionals seeking leisure in the game. Isabelle screened candidates and sent him to approach an ophthalmologist and a senior judge, warning him to offer no more than twenty percent of the shares.

• Pu Yunchuan failed to recruit Floral Art players, who outmaneuvered him in negotiations and nearly convinced him to give away half the shares.
• Pu Yunchuan pressured the system into showing him the players' backgrounds and learned that many were accomplished professionals burdened by demanding careers.
• The system explained that players often transformed according to what they most longed for, so people seeking peace and leisure became Floral Art players.
• Isabelle selected Wen Xiaojing, an ophthalmologist, and Su Yunchang, a judge in a municipal High People's Court, as candidates to recruit.
• Isabelle told Pu Yunchuan to approach the candidates and hold firm at twenty percent of the shares, and he hurried back to the base.

Pu Yunchuan recruited Old Judge after Isabelle maneuvered him into negotiating with the judge, then learned that other experts had only been bargaining for better terms. He began recruiting an alchemy specialist and planned to ask Little Cabbage about researchers, but the city’s basic needs remained urgent.

• Pu Yunchuan failed to recruit Wen Xiaojing, then approached Old Judge and secured his agreement for a twenty-percent share after describing his bad experience the previous day.
• Xi Ye recognized that Isabelle had steered Pu Yunchuan toward Old Judge, whose management and legal experience could help establish the city’s administration and judicial system.
• Several days later, Pu Yunchuan turned down experts who had previously dismissed his faction, while Isabelle laughed at his smug replies.
• Pu Yunchuan recruited a Developer Expert player specializing in the Alchemy Department and planned to consult Little Cabbage about overseas researchers.
• Pu Yunchuan focused next on providing food, drink, and waste services for the city’s tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians.