Chapter Summaries

Wang Yi accompanied Qian Yayan to visit her family, where they met her sister Qian Yaqian and brother-in-law Gu Nan. As Gu Nan celebrated a huge new shipbuilding order, Lin Shiqin warned Wang Yi that the Norwegian Ship King might be setting Big Ship Heavy Industry up for a loss.

• Wang Yi and Qian Yayan flew to Shanghai, where Qian Yayan's sister, Qian Yaqian, picked them up.
• Qian Yayan introduced Wang Yi to Qian Yaqian, who had not recognized his name or status.
• Qian Yaqian and Wang Yi met Gu Nan, who said the Norwegian Ship King had given Big Ship Heavy Industry a massive order that would keep the company busy for five years.
• Lin Shiqin told Wang Yi the Norwegian Ship King had demanded a 10% deposit and appeared to be trapping Big Ship Heavy Industry with the order.

Wang Yi accompanied Qian Yayan to her parents’ home, where her mother scolded her and introduced Liu Ming, a wealthy returnee who had made millions through Bitcoin. The chapter left Wang Yi assessing Liu Ming’s success and realizing why Qian Yayan’s family had arranged the meeting.

• Lin Shiqin explained how the Norwegian Ship King planned to exploit contract terms to bankrupt Big Ship Heavy Industry and Daewoo Shipbuilding.
• Wang Yi, Qian Yayan, and Gu Nan arrived at Qian Yayan’s parents’ home, where her mother welcomed Gu Nan but scolded Qian Yayan.
• An older man introduced his son Liu Ming to Qian Yayan, and Qian Yayan realized her family had arranged the meeting to compare him with Wang Yi.
• Qian Yayan’s mother praised Liu Ming for making over ten million US Dollars while studying and criticized Qian Yayan for spending too much.
• Liu Ming said he had earned his money through early Bitcoin investments and planned to invest some of it in real businesses.
• Wang Yi recognized that Liu Ming had profited from Bitcoin’s early growth and had wisely shifted some money into real businesses.

Gu Nan discussed cryptocurrency and shipping investments with Liu Ming, warning him about the risks and offering to connect him with Ship King Zhou Yun. When Liu Ming hesitated and mentioned Qin Xiang, Qian Yayan took out her phone and called him herself.

• Liu Ming pitched cryptocurrency to Gu Nan, who declined because he considered it too risky.
• Liu Ming described plans to buy a private jet and cargo ships, and Gu Nan advised him to start with one ship and learn the business.
• Gu Nan said Umbrella's large ship order had constrained production and offered to connect Liu Ming with Ship King Zhou Yun, who was considering selling ships.
• Uncle Liu suggested Liu Ming ask Qin Xiang about investments, and Liu Ming hesitated before calling him.
• Qian Yayan said she would call Qin Xiang herself and dialed his number in front of the others.

Wang Yi exposed Liu Ming’s attempt to impress the Qian family by revealing his business connections and speaking directly with Ship King Zhou Yun about buying a yacht. After Zhou Yun recognized Wang Yi and offered to help, Qin Xiang called Liu Ming and ordered him to make amends.

• Qian Yayan called Qin Xiang, who became flustered when he learned Wang Yi was with her and offered to contact Ship King Zhou Yun.
• Liu Ming challenged Wang Yi’s claims, and Wang Yi rebuffed him for calling him brother.
• Wang Yi spoke with Zhou Yun, who recognized him, agreed to arrange yacht options, and then spoke with Gu Nan.
• Qin Xiang called Liu Ming, confirmed he had offended Wang Yi, and ordered him to make Wang Yi happy at any cost.

Wang Yi’s identity as Master Yi and his connection to Umbrella Corporation became clear to Qian Yayan’s family and Gu Nan. He warned Gu Nan that the Norwegian Ship King might be shifting assets and urged him to scrutinize their lucrative shipbuilding contract.

• Liu Ming begged Wang Yi for mercy and left with his father, while Qian Yayan’s parents and Gu Nan struggled to react to Wang Yi’s status.
• Qian Yayan prompted everyone to sit down for the meal, then revealed that she was Wang Yi’s secretary at World Company.
• Gu Nan recognized Wang Yi as Master Yi, the Fields Medal recipient and head of World Company, and apologized for failing to identify him sooner.
• Wang Yi cautioned Gu Nan to examine the contract with the Norwegian Ship King carefully, explaining that Umbrella Corporation had noticed unusual terms and possible asset transfers.
• Gu Nan became alarmed as Wang Yi described the small deposit, lump-sum delivery requirement, specified jurisdiction, and the Norwegian Ship King’s apparent asset shifting.

Wang Yi took Qian Yayan to Qiongzhou, where they vacationed while World Company launched a trial of its real-time street-view service, World Map. As Ali responded by acquiring Amap, Wang Yi sailed with Qian Yayan and several girl group members and spotted a whale carcass.

• Wang Yi left Shanghai with Qian Yayan and took her to a beach villa in Qiongzhou, where they chose a yacht for sailing and whale-watching.
• World Company began trial operations for World Map, using TT missions, location data, photos, and algorithms to assemble real-time street views.
• Ali grew wary of World Company's expanding services and acquired Amap for 1.3 billion US dollars to strengthen its map offerings.
• Wang Yi selected a mid-sized yacht and a large luxury yacht through the Ship King and arranged long-term maintenance services.
• Wang Yi steered the yacht with Qian Yayan and several girl group members aboard, then stopped after spotting a whale carcass.

Wang Yi found a humpback whale carcass in deep water and transformed its remains into a magically enhanced Bone Kun. After returning to the yacht, he learned that a storm warning had been issued, so he and the others prepared to head back.

• Wang Yi released four Grass Head Gods to guard him and dove toward the whale carcass while Qian Yayan waited aboard the yacht.
• Wang Yi found a humpback whale with a huge bite wound and suspected that an enormous, possibly magical predator had attacked it.
• Wang Yi used magic to turn the whale's remains into a Bone Kun, implanted a Grass Head God as its core, and added patterns to improve its abilities.
• Wang Yi returned to the yacht, where Qian Yayan expressed relief and told him a maritime notice had warned of a storm.
• Wang Yi agreed to return with Qian Yayan and the Korean Succubi, who had finished swimming and were pleased with their new life.

Wang Yi returned from a yacht trip as a storm approached and agreed to Qian Yayan’s plan to hire female bodyguards and maritime staff. Lin Shiqin reported that Umbrella had disrupted the Norwegian Ship King’s asset transfers and was snapping up his ships to support the Seastead project.

• Wang Yi docked the World at the private marina, where the supervisor removed a man who had mistaken his group of women for a business.
• Qian Yayan suggested hiring female bodyguards and other professionals, and Wang Yi told her to handle it.
• Wang Yi watched the storm approach from the beach villa and sensed Bone Kun nearby through the implanted Grass Head Gods.
• Lin Shiqin told Wang Yi that Umbrella had successfully intercepted the Norwegian Ship King’s assets.
• Umbrella challenged the Norwegian Ship King’s shill companies at auction, forcing them out and turning his planned asset transfer into a fire sale.

John Fredriksen discovered that Umbrella had acquired valuable maritime assets from him at a steep discount, then agreed to exchange port shares for ships and platforms that Umbrella wanted modified. He believed the deal was safe and profitable, unaware that Wang Yi and Lin Shiqin had structured it to leave him with little choice once the modifications were complete.

• John Fredriksen learned that Umbrella had forced his holding company out and bought more than a billion dollars' worth of premium maritime assets for only thirty percent of their value.
• John Fredriksen abandoned plans for retaliation against Umbrella and decided to negotiate an exchange to recover the port shares.
• Wang Yi told Lin Shiqin to accept the exchange on Umbrella's terms, require modifications to the ships, and offer a deposit.
• John Fredriksen reviewed the contracts with his advisers, who concluded that Umbrella's request to modify his vessels was genuine and that the deal posed little risk.
• John Fredriksen accepted the proposed terms, believing Umbrella wanted to refurbish ships and that both sides stood to profit.

John Fredriksen secured Umbrella’s refitting deal and used its deposit to advance Big Ship Heavy Industry more money, while planning to exploit the contract and seize its assets if it went bankrupt. Meanwhile, chipmakers recognized White Queen’s extraordinary design and began organizing an alliance to pay Umbrella for upgraded EDA services and Red Queen’s assistance.

• John Fredriksen arranged for European shipyards to refit the port assets to Umbrella’s specifications and accepted Big Ship Heavy Industry’s request for a 10% larger deposit, intending to use the written agreement against them later.
• Big Ship Heavy Industry’s executives praised Gu Nan for obtaining the additional deposit, while Gu Nan felt relieved that the feared financial disaster had not occurred.
• Umbrella’s White Queen took up the wafer-fab capacity freed by Snapdragon 810’s reduced production, and chipmakers studying its performance concluded that its design surpassed competing 20nm chips.
• Engineers attributed White Queen’s results to unusual design software and suspected Red Queen’s artificial intelligence had helped create the chip.
• Chipmakers proposed pooling money and patents to persuade the three major EDA vendors to offer Umbrella’s upgraded services and Red Queen’s assistance to the industry.

Umbrella secured EDA services, patents, and funding, strengthening its place in the semiconductor and smartphone industries while managing the political risks of its rapid growth. Wang Yi directed the company to recruit researchers and expand its investments, then rejected Lin Shiqin’s suggestion to pursue exclusive longevity technologies for the powerful.

• Siemens’s representative signed the agreement and reflected on how Umbrella had broken into the EDA market.
• Umbrella reached an arrangement in which EDA firms bought its optimization services and Red Queen connectivity, while chipmakers and EDA firms jointly paid and exchanged patents with Umbrella.
• Media outlets praised Umbrella’s growing influence in smartphones, chips, batteries, and artificial intelligence, even as suspicions and hostility toward the company increased.
• Lin Shiqin reported that Umbrella faced restrictions on investments and that powerful interests were wary of its sudden rise.
• Wang Yi told Lin Shiqin to prioritize recruiting researchers, expand ship-platform investments, order precision machine tools, and continue sharing profits through Purdue Pharma.
• Lin Shiqin suggested developing longevity technology to attract influential people, but Wang Yi rejected the idea.

Wang Yi returned from Qiongzhou and learned that researchers at his alma mater had developed a way to produce Li-Ag alloy using purely physical methods. After helping them raise their yield, he left for Japan to continue his plans there.

• Wang Yi created a Bone Dragon from a blue whale carcass and used psionic chips to give Lin Shiqin limited control over his constructs.
• After returning to Shudian, Qian Yayan told Wang Yi that Umbrella’s World Map had overtaken competing products, and he left the business in her hands.
• Wang Yi received data on Li-Ag alloy production through a discreet contact and realized researchers had used centrifuges and powerful magnetic fields to approximate Umbrella’s material.
• Wang Yi calculated improved production parameters with Lin Shiqin, raising the alloy yield from thirty percent to ninety percent, and returned the results to the researchers.
• Wang Yi flew to Japan, impressed that the researchers had produced a magical material through purely physical means.

Using a new Korean identity, Wang Yi went to Japan to help Gu Qianqian investigate the spirit haunting her. He discovered the spirit was living next door and attacked him, so he dragged it out in front of Gu Qianqian.

• Wang Yi met Gu Qianqian at the airport in his new identity, Quan Yong-en, and asked what she had learned about the spirit.
• Gu Qianqian showed Wang Yi a photograph and records identifying the spirit as Murakami Yuriko, an orphan whose death had been ruled a suicide.
• Wang Yi sensed Murakami Yuriko in the bathroom of the apartment next door and realized she could move freely beyond the well where she had died.
• As night fell, Murakami Yuriko attacked Wang Yi with her hair, and he grabbed it and threw her spirit body at Gu Qianqian's feet.
• Gu Qianqian shut her eyes and wildly waved her bracelet at Murakami Yuriko.

Wang Yi helped Yuriko become Gu Qianqian’s strange new companion, then set out to investigate locations Gu Qianqian had found. Meanwhile, Mori Ryuichi returned to his apartment building, where he unknowingly shared an elevator with a man as news announced that a serial murder case had resurfaced.

• Wang Yi explained that Yuriko meant no harm and encouraged her to befriend Gu Qianqian, who protested while Yuriko followed her.
• Wang Yi made Yuriko a Silver vessel that let her move freely in sunlight, and Yuriko happily stayed close to Gu Qianqian.
• Gu Qianqian gave Wang Yi a map of more than a dozen places where she sensed spirits, and he planned a route to investigate them and gather Grass Head Gods.
• Mori Ryuichi reminisced about meeting Teacher Shion at an event as he walked home, then bumped into Wang Yi outside his apartment building.
• Mori Ryuichi entered the elevator with a masked man headed for the fifteenth floor, as a news report announced that a serial murder case had resurfaced and requested public clues.

Gu Qianqian learned that Detective Kinda had been killed and that Yuriko had been murdered by the same person now targeting her. Wang Yi stopped the attacker, but discovered he had abnormal vitality and had survived a blow that should have killed him.

• Gu Qianqian received a call from the police saying Detective Kinda was dead and they wanted to ask her about the investigation she had hired him to conduct.
• Gu Qianqian asked Yuriko whether she had killed Detective Kinda, and Yuriko revealed that she had been murdered and suspected her killer had targeted the detective.
• Mori Ryuichi saw a masked man carrying a dagger approach Gu Qianqian's apartment and warned her while calling the police.
• The leather-jacketed attacker kicked Gu Qianqian's door, but Wang Yi arrived by elevator and intercepted him.
• Wang Yi broke the attacker's hand and threw him to the ground, then realized the man had survived despite suffering a blow that should have been fatal.

Wang Yi caught the serial killer who had targeted Gu Qianqian and suspected the man’s abnormal vitality was connected to the Sublimation Potion or Seoul University’s K virus. Meanwhile, Umbrella published extensive research on its newly approved drug Anxon, startling Purdue Pharma’s former shareholders with its confidence in the drug.

• Wang Yi let the detectives take the leather-jacketed serial killer into custody and arranged for Yuriko to watch him for clues about his unusual vitality.
• Gu Qianqian praised Wang Yi’s fighting and thanked Mori Ryuichi for warning her, while Wang Yi told her to be careful.
• Wang Yi connected the killer to Yuriko’s murder and Gu Qianqian’s investigation, then continued searching Tokyo shrines for Grass Head Gods.
• Umbrella’s reorganized Purdue Pharma received approval for Anxon, an over-the-counter painkiller that also showed promise for depression and insomnia.
• Umbrella published papers disclosing Anxon’s mechanism, manufacturing process, and trial data, prompting former Purdue Pharma shareholders to realize it might truly be confident in the drug.

Pharmaceutical companies confirmed that Umbrella’s Anxon was an unusually effective, minimally toxic pain reliever that could disrupt many existing drug markets. When Bai Bing suffered menstrual cramps, she learned about Anxon at a pharmacy and bought a smaller box after balking at its price.

• Huanuo researchers praised Anxon’s effects and warned executives that it could displace painkillers, cold medicines, antidepressants, and insomnia drugs.
• Huanuo’s executives realized Anxon threatened major parts of the company’s drug business, while pharmaceutical companies broadly recognized its likely dominance.
• Bai Bing suffered menstrual cramps at work, and her Boss gave her the day off to rest.
• A pharmacy clerk recommended Umbrella’s Anxon to Bai Bing, who first rejected the expensive thirty-tablet box.
• After hearing Anxon lasted over twelve hours and could help with insomnia, Bai Bing bought a ten-tablet box using her medical insurance card.

Bai Bing discovered that Umbrella’s new medicine quickly relieved pain and helped her sleep, while doctors began testing it on patients with depression, gout, and trigeminal neuralgia. Its effects persuaded the trigeminal neuralgia patient to leave the hospital rather than undergo surgery.

• Bai Bing woke before four in the morning feeling refreshed after taking Umbrella’s medicine, then realized she had forgotten to change into overnight clothes.
• An attending physician offered the medicine to a depressed young man recovering from a fall, and the patient’s pain eased as he became more lively and asked for his phone.
• Doctor Huang persuaded a rheumatology doctor to give Anxon to a gout patient, whose pain subsided and who soon fell asleep.
• Doctor Huang and a neurosurgeon gave Anxon to a patient with trigeminal neuralgia before his planned surgery, and the medicine suppressed his pain.
• The trigeminal neuralgia patient chose to complete his discharge procedures and leave the hospital that night.

Anxon gained explosive popularity after a medical student’s mouse experiment and laboratory research suggested it was non-addictive, safe in excess, and metabolized into nutrients. Purdue Pharma’s sales potential strengthened Umbrella’s ties with investors, while Wang Yi continued recruiting employees in Tokyo.

• Studying Medicine in Switzerland fed Anxon to one group of mice and compared them with mice eating sugar or a normal diet.
• After a week, the mice showed no preference for Anxon, and examinations found that they were healthier than the other groups, while the sugar-fed mice had developed health problems.
• A Johnson & Johnson laboratory paper reported that excess Anxon was metabolized into amino acids, including essential amino acids.
• Public attention sent Anxon’s popularity and projected sales soaring, making investors who held Purdue Pharma shares expect rapid returns and giving Umbrella potential allies.
• While videos, papers, and patient accounts drove Anxon’s popularity, Wang Yi continued recruiting employees in Tokyo.

Wang Yi investigated a pachinko parlor in Tokyo after sensing a growing aura of the dead and discovered its machines were being affected by a spirit. The owner explained that someone had died at one machine, while Wang Yi realized the shop had already hired an Onmyoji to handle the problem.

• Wang Yi sensed a dense aura inside a nearly empty pachinko parlor and went to investigate.
• Two employees told Wang Yi that the owner had hired someone to deal with the shop's problem.
• The owner mistook Wang Yi for the invited Onmyoji before Wang Yi clarified that he had come on his own.
• Wang Yi found the machine with the strongest aura and asked whether someone had died in front of it.
• The owner said the machines had behaved strangely ever since the death, driving away customers despite having no mechanical faults.