Chapter Summaries

Kesi’s team discovered that fast, coordinated infected were spreading the outbreak in Taiz, and a team member and several local armed personnel died after being infected. The CIA agents revealed that a mysterious survivor was controlling the creatures, but who had supplied them remained unknown.

• During the livestream, Kesi confronted two CIA agents about their investigation, while his team reported coming under attack inside the hospital.
• Kesi’s team fought off fast, skinless creatures that attacked from several entrances and injured local armed personnel and an Alpha team member.
• The infected Alpha team member killed himself, and the wounded local personnel rapidly transformed before the other armed personnel shot them.
• Kesi concluded that the creatures were spreading the infection and had deliberately targeted his team, while the other teams reported scattered attacks.
• Under pressure, the CIA agents said a survivor of a tribe destroyed during the war might be controlling the creatures for revenge, and suggested someone had provided them for an experiment.

Wang Yi defeated Laka, a modified survivor who had unleashed infected creatures on Taiz, and learned that CIA personnel had observed his experiments. He sent the CIA agents away on camera and set off to pursue their lead.

• Wang Yi confronted Laka and learned that he had accepted experimental modifications to take revenge for his slaughtered tribe.
• Wang Yi killed the infected creatures attacking him and threatened Laka until he revealed that the CIA had watched his experiment at the laboratory.
• Wang Yi offered Laka a chance to prolong his life if he proved himself, then ordered him to cooperate.
• Kesi told the two CIA agents to leave, and they departed with their hired armed personnel as viewers watched the exchange online.
• Wang Yi entered the Distortion, mounted the Bone Dragon, and flew off in pursuit of the CIA lead.

Wang Yi used the Bone Dragon’s infrasound Dragon Roar to incapacitate the CIA agents pursuing Laka and then attacked the laboratory in Yemen. The laboratory was left silent after the Bone Dragon’s roar killed or incapacitated the people inside.

• A scarlet figure appeared above the CIA team in Taiz, and the Bone Dragon crushed most of their armed group before knocking out the two agents with infrasound.
• Wang Yi ordered the Bone Dragon to leave the surviving CIA agents for Laka to interrogate and record, intending for Umbrella’s investigation team to find the footage.
• Wang Yi raced toward the laboratory in Yemen while two researchers in protective suits watched Taiz and discussed their escaped test subject and the Sackler family’s work.
• The Bone Dragon appeared above the cave entrance, outlined by dust and blue flames, then unleashed a Dragon Roar that killed the two researchers.
• The Bone Dragon’s sound waves swept through the laboratory, killing people near the entrance and leaving others screaming before the base fell silent.

Kesi’s team reached the laboratory near Taiz and livestreamed evidence of a massacre and cruel human experiments, including records linking the CIA to the operation. The Beautiful Country denied responsibility, and the chapter ended with the world’s powerful states unwilling to pursue the truth.

• Kesi led his team into the cave laboratory, where they found dead personnel and signs of a sudden attack that viewers suspected Umbrella had carried out with an infrasonic weapon.
• Kesi’s team recovered surveillance recordings and found evidence that Yemenis had been subjected to cruel experiments, provoking outrage among viewers.
• The team found footage of Laka’s escape and records identifying her as Specimen 079 and a candidate for Queen Bee.
• Kesi’s team uncovered footage of two CIA agents praising the experiments and discussing their use as a weapon, including the Migratory Bird Plan.
• The CIA and the Beautiful Country called the agents traitors and blamed possible foreign or terrorist conspiracies, while other powers avoided challenging their denial.

Wang Yi reflected on Umbrella’s growing conflict with Beautiful Country while Qian Yayan described the launch of TT Takeout and TT Ride-Hailing. With World Map and the Red Queen guiding riders and drivers, the services adapted unusually well to Mountain City’s complex layout.

• Wang Yi accepted that conflict with Beautiful Country could not be avoided and defended Umbrella’s decision to resist, while noting that Laka had died and returned as a Resentful Spirit before Wang captured him again.
• Qian Yayan told Wang Yi that TT Takeout and TT Ride-Hailing had launched and received positive feedback.
• World Company used World Map, the Red Queen, and photo-based mapping to guide riders, improve delivery efficiency, and adapt orders to their needs.
• World Company offered riders rental electric bikes, insurance, clear performance rules, and legal support while penalizing repeated misconduct by either customers or riders.
• In Mountain City, Kangaroo Takeout riders and Mumu Taxi drivers used World Map alongside their usual apps, while TT’s services expanded there with little difficulty.

The chapter compared TT Takeout’s rider-friendly AI routing with Kangaroo Takeout’s pressure-driven delivery system as customers and riders adjusted to zombie fears and stockpiled supplies. Kangaroo Takeout responded to riders’ dissatisfaction with an incentive plan, but many were already considering switching to TT.

• A TT Takeout rider followed Red Queen’s safe route prompts, delivered an order, and agreed to buy the customer two bags of rice.
• Riders and customers discussed increased requests for daily necessities and the lingering uncertainty about zombies, while the public remained confident in domestic stability.
• TT Takeout riders praised Red Queen for allowing safe, flexible deliveries, while Kangaroo Takeout riders described its time limits and forced assignments as stressful.
• Kangaroo Takeout introduced an incentive plan that kept the old algorithm for participating riders and offered more flexible time limits to those who opted out.

Wang Yi tasked Tamamo-no-Mae with capturing Grass Head Gods across Japan while keeping up her appearance as a pet dog. Meanwhile, Umbrella’s offshore platform project advanced through European shipyards as the Norwegian Ship King considered raising his prices on the completed retrofits.

• Wang Yi praised Tamamo-no-Mae for sealing a Grass Head God and ordered her to capture the rest in Japan.
• Wang Yi asked Tamamo-no-Mae what she knew about Yamata no Orochi and arranged for Yura to help care for her.
• A Gaul engineer examined Umbrella’s offshore platform blueprints and marveled that the proposed Seastead could be built despite its lack of apparent purpose.
• European shipyards completed retrofits on the Norwegian Ship King’s platforms and cargo ships, turning some drilling platforms into engineering platforms.
• The Norwegian Ship King learned that his retrofits had earned him a profit and decided to raise Umbrella’s final payment by ten percent.

Wang Yi and Lin Shiqin prepared for growing pressure from the Beautiful Country while Umbrella dealt with the Norwegian Ship King’s attempt to raise the price of their ship-refitting agreement. The Ship King’s greed left him facing financial ruin after Umbrella canceled the contract, stripped his influence, and publicly exposed the negotiations.

• Lin Shiqin told Wang Yi that the Norwegian Ship King had been brought under control, while warning that congressmen in the Beautiful Country were organizing against Umbrella.
• Wang Yi and Youji arrived at Mount Fuji to ski while preparing to capture Yamata no Orochi.
• The Norwegian Ship King demanded a twenty-percent price increase from Hansen, believing Umbrella was too pressured to refuse.
• Hansen canceled the contract and let Umbrella forfeit its deposit, leaving the Ship King stuck with ships modified to Umbrella’s specifications and no funds to refit them.
• Umbrella revoked the Ship King’s authority to represent its port shares and published the contract and a recording of his negotiations.
• The Ship King realized the announcement had wrecked his standing and feared banks and shipyards would demand repayment.

Umbrella exposed the Norwegian Ship King’s schemes, gained public support, and helped Big Ship Heavy Industry and Daewoo Shipbuilding salvage their orders as the Ship King went bankrupt. Wang Yi then discussed anticipated chip sanctions against Umbrella and the nearly completed upgrade to Red Queen, while Beautiful Country continued weighing its next move.

• Big Ship Heavy Industry and Daewoo Shipbuilding revealed Umbrella’s favorable shipbuilding terms and accused the Norwegian Ship King of trying to bankrupt them by canceling orders.
• Umbrella offered to take over the shipyards’ semi-finished vessels, while the Norwegian Ship King abandoned his planned price hike and promised to honor the original contract.
• Banks and shipyards withdrew support, creditors moved to freeze the Norwegian Ship King’s assets, and Beautiful Country denied that it had instructed him to act against Umbrella.
• At Mount Fuji, Wang Yi told Lin Shiqin to keep watching Beautiful Country and said Red Queen’s upgrade was nearly ready.
• Lin Shiqin predicted Beautiful Country would begin with chip sanctions and might later target TT, while Wang Yi considered the limits of those tactics.

Umbrella acquired the Norwegian Ship King’s impounded platforms and launched immunoglobulins for Hepatitis C and Ebola, while its research on the K virus revealed that treatment was difficult and limited. As pressure grew for Umbrella to share its technology, Beautiful Country threatened sanctions over its culture medium.

• Umbrella bought the Norwegian Ship King’s modified platforms at auction reserve prices, though towing them back to East Asia would take time.
• Purdue Pharma received approval for immunoglobulins targeting Hepatitis C and Ebola, prompting public debate about the Hepatitis C drug’s price and interest in the Ebola treatment.
• Umbrella published research showing that immunoglobulin was nearly ineffective once K virus symptoms appeared, though it might help some patients during the incubation period.
• Media outlets and other parties pressed Umbrella to disclose its K virus technology, while Umbrella said mass-producing immunoglobulin was extremely difficult.
• Beautiful Country’s spokesperson declared Umbrella’s culture medium a global security concern and threatened strong measures and sanctions.

Beautiful Country’s threats and Western media fueled a wave of anti-Umbrella sentiment, while people at home mostly defended the company. The chapter ended with Professor Xu Silong boasting that he could move to Beautiful Country and receiving an offer of help from an agent.

• Beautiful Country’s officials hinted at targeting Umbrella, and analysts and media began framing the company’s control of its culture medium as the cause of the zombie crisis.
• Western media and online posts spread contradictory claims about Umbrella, while Umbrella deleted outright slander and pursued legal action but otherwise let the debate continue.
• People at home largely expressed support for Umbrella, though influencer and professor Xu Silong called for sanctions and urged the country to cooperate with Beautiful Country.
• Xu Silong argued with critics online, bragged about his wealth and plans to obtain a Green Card, and received a message from an agent called “Job Hunting in Beautiful Country.”

Umbrella deliberately provoked the Beautiful Country into accelerating its sanctions while preparing a new product launch amid the controversy. Meanwhile, Wang Yi captured Yamata no Orochi, and Umbrella revealed the Red Queen wristband, leaving Apple executives alarmed just before their own watch launch.

• Lin Shiqin explained that Umbrella had published its paper to trigger the Beautiful Country's sanctions early and keep their rollout manageable.
• Wang Yi and Youji entered the cave on Mount Fuji, where Yamata no Orochi confronted them.
• Wang Yi drew Yamata no Orochi into his silver accessory, adding the intelligent Grass Head God to his collection.
• Umbrella began its new product presentation with Red Queen appearing as a 3D projection.
• Red Queen unveiled a screenless Red Queen wristband, and Apple executives watching the launch worried about their upcoming Apple Watch release.

Umbrella unveiled a wristband that projected and controlled a connected phone interface, then used the Q&A to defend its handling of the K virus outbreak. The chapter left Umbrella openly confronting the Beautiful Country Authorities as companies anticipated sanctions and prepared to buy Umbrella’s technology if needed.

• Red Queen demonstrated how the wristband projected a 3D phone interface and let users operate connected devices with gestures.
• Red Queen showed a finished demonstration in which several wristbands projected her image, and she explained that the projection worked about as well as a phone screen in bright sunlight.
• Apple executives concluded that Apple should buy Umbrella’s technology and prepare for possible sanctions targeting chips.
• Red Queen answered public questions about Umbrella’s culture medium and K virus research, asserting that Umbrella had led the investigation and accusing the CIA of covering up the outbreak’s source.
• Umbrella openly confronted the Beautiful Country Authorities, saying they had brought the conflict upon themselves.

After the U.S. Department of Commerce barred companies using U.S. technology from supplying Umbrella with high-end chips, the sanctions fueled public anxiety and prompted influential bloggers to encourage people to leave the country. Umbrella said it had prepared to make chips itself, while companies tied to its technology and business interests publicly supported it.

• The U.S. Department of Commerce announced a ban on supplying Umbrella with high-end chips made using any U.S. technology.
• Professor Xu Silong announced that he had sold his home and planned to move to Beautiful Country, urged people to boycott Umbrella, and received public support from Xue Chuan, who also said he would leave.
• The posts by Xu Silong and Xue Chuan encouraged some followers to seek visas or consider dangerous illegal routes into Beautiful Country.
• Umbrella announced that its acquisitions of Nikon lithography technology and wafer equipment from Four Star and Toshiba were part of its preparations to make chips itself.
• Apple, Four Star, LG, Panasonic, Toshiba, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and groups tied to Purdue Pharma spoke in Umbrella's favor, seeking to protect their interests and avoid a confrontation with Umbrella.

Umbrella faced sanctions from Beautiful Country but kept selling its wildly popular Red Queen Band while refusing to license its technology. As rivals waited for Umbrella to run out of chips, they discovered that its band shipments kept growing and its chip supply seemed inexplicably vast.

• Four Seas as Home explained that Beautiful Country’s sanctions targeted chips to pressure Umbrella, and that Umbrella was buying chips and preparing for the restrictions.
• Xu Silong mocked Umbrella from Beautiful Country while boasting about his Green Card plans, despite having his wallet stolen and praising the experience.
• Umbrella’s applications and protests failed, but it continued shipping Red Queen Bands as the product’s sales diverted attention from the Yemen zombie incident.
• Ma Dong unboxed and tested the Red Queen Band on livestream, praising its wireless charging, comfort, projection, and smooth controls.
• The Red Queen Band sold out in successive batches, while Apple, Four Star, and other companies waited for Umbrella to run short of chips and pressed it for licenses.
• Rivals discovered that the Red Queen Band’s three-dimensional imaging system used White Queen chips and could not explain how Umbrella had enough chips to sustain its enormous shipments.

Wang Yi completed a 300-qubit quantum computer from mana-solidified silver and considered how it could upgrade Lin Shiqin’s vessel. He outlined his long-term plan to use quantum computation and biological research to transform his own cells, while Umbrella prepared to reveal its lithography technology.

• Wang Yi advanced construction of the Tokyo Mage Tower, which was intended to link Shudian and Qiongzhou and serve as a Pacific network node.
• Lin Shiqin warned Wang Yi that wristband sales had outstripped their chip supply and that the Mage Tower could no longer stay secret, and he approved announcing and selling Umbrella’s DUV Lithography Machines.
• Wang Yi created a mana-powered quantum computer with roughly 300 highly accurate silver-atom qubits.
• Wang Yi planned to connect the quantum computer to Lin Shiqin’s vessel and use its calculations with Umbrella’s biological laboratories to optimize DNA.
• Wang Yi aimed to eventually make his cells function as qubits, while acknowledging that this goal remained far beyond his current capabilities.

Apple, other chipmakers, and government agencies struggled to explain Umbrella’s wristband supply until Umbrella announced it could mass-produce 20nm chips and sell its lithography machines. After rival manufacturers unveiled 14nm products, Umbrella revealed that it had reached 14nm as well, leaving the industry stunned.

• Apple executives questioned an analyst about Umbrella’s unexpectedly large supply of Red Queen wristbands, and he concluded Umbrella must be mass-producing 20nm chips at its own fabs.
• Four Star and ASML watched Umbrella’s progress closely, while ASML discussed whether it could obtain one of Umbrella’s lithography machines.
• Umbrella officially announced its lithography breakthrough, offered foundry services, and began selling lithography machines, prompting online mockery of critics who had predicted its failure.
• Four Seas as Home apologized for underestimating Umbrella, while Xu Silong was exposed for being scammed by an agent who had promised help with an asylum application.
• Major manufacturers announced new 14nm chips and flagship phones, and Rabbit began stockpiling Umbrella’s lithography machines as Great Bear and Persia also sought contact.
• Umbrella accepted orders for lithography machines from wafer fabs and ASML, then announced its own 14nm chips and flagship phones.

Umbrella’s DUV machines helped explain how it had reached mass production of 20nm chips while stockpiling 14nm chips, even as sanctions and warnings from the Beautiful Country drew ridicule. Wang Yi upgraded Lin Shiqin with quantum computing and advanced his research plans, while Yuriko and Gu Qianqian discussed the captured killer, who received a visit from an organization-backed lawyer promising his release.

• Wafer-fab engineers found Umbrella’s DUV lithography machines less advanced than ASML’s in precision but more stable, efficient, and productive, with higher yields that helped Umbrella enter the top tier.
• The Beautiful Country’s spokesperson warned Umbrella not to sell advanced technology to Dongfang, provoking an uproar because Umbrella itself faced sanctions from the country.
• Wang Yi installed a quantum-computing case at Umbrella’s Mexico data center, greatly enhancing Lin Shiqin and allowing her to accelerate DNA calculations while keeping the technology restricted.
• Wang Yi told Lin Shiqin to prioritize finding an optimal DNA sequence and consider enhanced nutritional meals for employees, while Lin Shiqin reported that Seastead assembly and production preparations were progressing.
• Gu Qianqian admired the Red Queen Band, and Yuriko said the killer was in custody while Xiuming continued surveilling him with Shikigami.
• A lawyer visited the serial killer in a Japanese prison and told him the organization would get him out.

Yamada learned that the organization would help him escape custody but warned him not to target Wang Yi, the man who had nearly killed him. Meanwhile, Xiuming spotted the lawyer and sent a Shikigami to follow him as Lin Shiqin ordered continued surveillance until Wang Yi returned.

• Yamada blamed the girl and her detective for his arrest and demanded revenge against them, her neighbor, and Wang Yi.
• The lawyer explained that the organization had once covered up Yamada’s crimes but could no longer suppress the cases, and warned him not to provoke Wang Yi.
• Yamada agreed to rely on the organization for help escaping detention and focused his revenge on the woman and her neighbor.
• Xiuming sent a Grass Head God to follow the lawyer and informed Lin Shiqin that a new target had appeared.
• Lin Shiqin told Xiuming to keep watching the situation until Wang Yi returned, while Yuriko continued work at the Japanese branch.

Wang Yi learned that an organization was linked to powerful Japanese industrial conglomerates and discussed Umbrella’s limited security presence in Japan. Meanwhile, Mori Ryuichi tried to send Gu Qianqian away before a visit from Teacher Shion, but the person at his door had a familiar, bloodshot gaze.

• Lin Shiqin traced the lawyer connected to the organization to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, and Komatsu Ltd.
• Wang Yi asked about Umbrella Security’s approval in Japan and told Lin Shiqin to have Yuriko watch Gu Qianqian more closely.
• Mori Ryuichi gave Gu Qianqian an arcade pass so she would leave while he prepared for Teacher Shion’s visit.
• Mori Ryuichi swallowed a blue pill and opened his door to someone with familiar bloodshot eyes.