Chapter Summaries

Gao Gong discovered that Venus had copied part of her spark to him, making a tiny machine call him its father, then secured Tianwei’s communication code before leaving Cybertron. On the train, Gao Gong alone saw a pink data gate and walked through it into an unknown data space.

• A tiny machine identified Venus as its mother and claimed Gao Gong was its father because she had copied part of her spark to him.
• Tianwei escorted the battered Fortress and Deep Web delegations away from Cybertron while the Little Bumblebee reported its success to Venus.
• Gao Gong obtained Tianwei’s communication code, and a mechanical flagship set out after their departing train.
• The Fortress and Deep Web groups rode together, and Gao Gong considered attacking the wounded Xiao Yuanjun.
• Gao Gong saw a pink data gate that everyone else ignored, then stood up and walked through it.

The Simulated Queen visited Highworker, rewarded him for his adult virtual-product projects, and warned him about nothing directly, while he considered the limits of her protection. After Highworker returned to Arasaka Tower and contacted an old man, a Decepticon warship targeted him to make Venus a widow.

• The Simulated Queen questioned Highworker about his actions on Cybertron and his connection to Alisha, then demanded updates to his Rich Woman Love-Love and Male Incubus series.
• Highworker agreed to release uncensored content, and the Simulated Queen blessed him with increased attributes and the Hereditary Fusion specialty.
• After the Simulated Queen left, Highworker reasoned that she supported the adult market and had avoided recruiting him because of his connection to the Mother of Data.
• The interstellar train returned to Arasaka Tower, where Tong and the Collider departed, while Chernobyl logged off to search for a way to repair its source code.
• Highworker called an old man and said he had obtained what the man wanted.
• A Decepticon warship locked onto Highworker, and its crew discussed killing him so they could marry Venus.

Gao Gong revealed the Memory Matrix and the Ascension Faction’s information contamination to Aramaki, who hurried to warn Lady Deep Net. When a Cybertron warship began tracking Gao Gong, he rejected Director Du’s advice to flee and proposed capturing it instead.

• Gao Gong shared the Memory Matrix data with Aramaki, whose electronic eye exploded as he experienced severe information interference.
• Aramaki realized the Ascension Faction consisted of infected people acting on instinct and hurried to warn Lady Deep Net about the threat.
• Bean Sprout told Director Du that another signal was monitoring Gao Gong, and her hackers failed to breach its powerful defenses.
• Director Du identified the signal-defense system as likely belonging to a Cybertron warship and warned Gao Gong that he was being followed.
• Gao Gong rejected Director Du’s suggestion to escape to a crowded location and proposed capturing the warship.

Gao Gong prepared to steal the Cybertronian warship Scimitar as the Corporate War drew near, while Du Zhaodi mobilized Du High-Tech’s defenses and launched its forces. The chapter ended with Gao Gong transforming into the Radiation Throne above the ship’s shield.

• Gao Gong planned to exploit the coming Corporate War and hinted that the Knights’ Mechanical Aberration storyline would suit his players.
• Du Zhaodi activated Du High-Tech’s defenses, awakened Dangerous Mechanical Body No. 404, and deployed Valkyrie and her legion.
• Gao Gong’s mechanical body teleported to confront the Scimitar as the warship fired its planet-level energy cannon.
• Gao Gong reached the Scimitar’s shield and unleashed the Radiation Throne bloodline.

Gao Gong breached the Great Scimitar’s defenses and killed its Cybertronian guards while the Valkyrie Legion infiltrated the ship. The Liquid Weapon Printer began possessing the starship’s modules, leaving the remaining Cybertronians unable to escape easily.

• The Cybertronians linked themselves to the Great Scimitar’s controls and raised its defenses to withstand the beast tide.
• Gao Gong teleported through a crack in the shield and destroyed the ship’s shield activators as the Cybertronians attacked him.
• Gao Gong used a magnetic field and his Divine Flower and Tyrannical Monomolecular Wire constructs to disable and kill four level-60 Cybertronian robots.
• The remaining Cybertronians activated the ship’s internal defenses and tried to start the sublight engines, while more than a hundred Valkyries appeared aboard the ship.
• The Valkyries’ red dye spread through the Great Scimitar’s modules, revealing the Liquid Weapon Printer’s possession of the starship.

Gao Gong showed Du Zhaodi the Da Wan Dao and agreed to let her merge with the starship, while Cybertron’s factions argued over its disappearance. Qin Chunzi entered the Fortress to register for the Corporate Championship and witnessed its crowd brainwash a corporate manager.

• Gao Gong piloted the Da Wan Dao to the Du Gao Technology base, where Du Zhaodi explored the ship and said she wanted to become one with it.
• Gao Gong agreed to let Du Zhaodi absorb the Da Wan Dao, expecting the ship’s core to strengthen her industrial intelligence.
• Cybertron’s factions debated who had taken the Da Wan Dao, and Venus told Tianwei she suspected Gao Gong was involved.
• Qin Chunzi walked through the Fortress to register for the seventeenth Corporate Championship, following its rules not to look back, stop, or hesitate.
• A corporate manager confronted a passerby, was brainwashed into the crowd, and was pushed into Qin Chunzi.

Qin Chunzi registered Du Gao Technology for a massive corporate war and encountered Scott Reddy, who offered to cooperate with her. Meanwhile, High Engineer attempted to replace the Great Scimitar’s artificial intelligence with Du Zhaodi’s data while Director Du’s neural connections fed into the ship’s engine.

• Qin Chunzi registered Du Gao Technology, marked its Virtual Helmet project, and confirmed its alliance with Sacred Brain Group.
• Qin Chunzi confronted Scott Reddy, who revealed that he worked for Dark Realm and questioned her company’s unusual technological path.
• False Lady Deep Web announced a planet-wide brain-computer war involving human modification across every settlement in the thirtieth district.
• Scott Reddy offered to cooperate with Qin Chunzi, and she asked whether he meant with him or with Dark Realm.
• Valkyrie watched as High Engineer operated on Director Du and tried to replace the Great Scimitar’s artificial intelligence with Du Zhaodi’s data, while the ship resisted.

Gao Gong helped Du Zhaodi absorb the Big Scimitar’s systems and evolve, then took charge of Du Gao Technology’s corporate war while she remained unconscious. After hearing the executives’ plan for the Pharmaceutical Zone, he announced that he would adjust it.

• Gao Gong used radiation energy to help Du Zhaodi withstand the Big Scimitar’s mechanical energy as she devoured its shipboard AI and broke through to Tier Two.
• Gao Gong summoned a force of cyber hackers through a hyperlink protocol to attack the Big Scimitar’s virtual defenses while Du Zhaodi integrated with the starship and began evolving toward Tier Three.
• With Du Zhaodi unconscious, Gao Gong assured Secretary Douya that he would handle the corporate war and took her place at a Du Gao Technology executive meeting.
• Qin Chunzi explained that Du Gao Technology had to reach a 50% modification rate among forty million artificial data subjects in the Pharmaceutical Zone, while facing Venos Life Security Group and other rivals.
• Gao Gong interrupted Qin Chunzi’s account of Director Du’s plan and said he would make a slight adjustment.

Hive City began a Corporate War as mechanical bee robots forcibly modified residents’ brains to connect them to a neural network, while the figures overseeing the operation prepared to deal with threats. In Dragonhead Street, the gang leader faced Single Deity, who announced that he had come to purge her.

• Hive City shut down as the Corporate War began, and bee robots surgically modified residents by removing parts of their brains and installing network hardware.
• The Doctor reported that more than ten thousand linked-brain virtual machines were online and that the corporate will was gaining computing power.
• The Supervisor warned that viruses from the hive-type drug could infect the brain-machine network, and the Doctor said they had prepared for them.
• A biochemically modified gang leader stood amid destroyed bee robots on Dragonhead Street.
• Single Deity, a super-mechanical soldier and Combat Supervisor at Editing Technology, appeared and declared that he would purge her.

Shan Shen slaughtered underground forces and fought through mutated creatures while Dou focused on expanding the Neural Editing Group’s brain-computer network. In Puppet City, Gao Gong uncovered that biological personality implantation was being used to create the New Replicated Humans, leaving the city’s operators exposed to his suspicion.

• Shan Shen, the former Martial God and a Gear Warrior, killed underground gang leaders on his way to the corporate district.
• Shan Shen encountered mutated creatures left behind by the biological giants and showed signs of distress at the sight of them.
• The Doctor warned Dou that the Neural Editing Group’s brain-computer modification was progressing slowly and urged him to obtain military support.
• Dou argued that expanding the neural network was more important than recruiting warriors, then agreed to bring over the special-grade engineering vessel Sawtooth.
• In Puppet City, Gao Gong learned that its residents used implanted personalities and confronted his contact with the claim that the city was creating the New Replicated Humans.

Gao Gong launched a citywide operation in Puppet City, where mechanical eavesdroppers began placing virtual helmets on residents while claw-men targeted city administrators. At a heavy machinery factory, Black Python rushed out to protect his wife and daughter, and two biological hunters later tracked the powerful modified life-form he had become.

• Gao Gong questioned Sacred Brain Group representative Mr. Brain Bridge about its drug-based control scheme, then ordered the operation to begin.
• Mechanical claw-men spread monomolecular wires across Puppet City and targeted administrators, while mechanical eavesdroppers anesthetized residents and fitted them with virtual helmets.
• Gao Gong explained that virtual-machine modules would give helmet wearers deep, vivid dreams, then vanished after noticing something interesting.
• Black Python stopped a crane arm from crushing factory equipment, saw combat drones filling the sky, and rushed off to find his wife and daughter.
• Two level-35 biological hunters followed a trail of destroyed machines and identified their attacker as a powerful artificially modified life-form.

Gao Gong found Black Python, Scorpioness, and their android daughter hiding from the corporate war, then recruited the couple by offering protection from the Brain-Computer Project. They packed to leave with him after Scorpioness heard his claim about their daughter, while Black Python learned about Black Dragon’s past and faced his wife’s anger.

• Black Python returned to his family as Scorpioness hacked their household records and prepared to flee the corporate war.
• Gao Gong revealed that Black Python was the former underworld king Black Dragon and identified his wife as the hacker Scorpioness.
• Gao Gong warned Scorpioness about the Brain-Computer Project and offered the couple work and virtual helmets from Du Gao Technology.
• Gao Gong quietly told Scorpioness something about Nannan, and she agreed to work for him after hearing it.
• Black Python asked Gao Gong about Scorpioness’s past, then learned Black Dragon had many wives and mistresses, prompting Scorpioness to attack him.

Gao Gong agreed to send Dugo Technologies’ forces to support Lady Ye in the Corporate War, but led Mr. Brainstem toward Hive City instead. Meanwhile, Cybertron attendants Tianwei and Venus were blocked from entering the planet by its mechanical defenses, which cited an ongoing experiment.

• Black Dragon and Scorpion joined Dugo Technologies, and Gao Gong received a mission to place among the top three in the Seventeenth Corporate War.
• Mr. Brainstem urged Gao Gong to deploy his armed forces to support Lady Ye, and Gao Gong agreed to set out with him for Hive City.
• Mr. Brainstem witnessed Gao Gong’s vast military force mobilizing across the sea, sky, and ocean depths.
• Tianwei and Venus arrived near Cracked Planet, but mechanical octopuses denied them entry and said the Seventeenth Social Modification Experiment prohibited interference.

Dou learned that Venus Life Security Group had unleashed a biological virus that forced people into a zombie-like state and enabled biological brain-computer interfaces. As Dou sought allies to study the virus and defend Hive City, Gao Gong and his companions arrived to meet him.

• Dou awoke from a consciousness-upload experience as the Doctor warned him that Venus Life Security Group had begun its electronic brain project in a third mechanical city.
• The Doctor showed Dou footage of people tearing open their scalps and explained that a level-eight virus created a zombie tide while paving the way for biological brain-computer interfaces.
• Dou worried that the virus could reach Hive City, called for more data, and asked corporations pursuing mechanical modifications to cooperate in studying it.
• Gao Gong, Mr. Brainstem, and their companions arrived at Hive City, where Security Department officer Shan Shen escorted them to meet Dou.
• Black Python saw the bloody results of Hive City's mechanical modifications and recoiled at the sight of people with half-mechanized heads.

Gao Gong brought Scorpion and Black Python into Hive City’s mechanical mainframe, where Scorpion worked to secure their network connection. He warned Mr. Dou and the Doctor that Venus Life’s brain-computer virus could spread across the pharmaceutical district, then proposed discussing a plan with them.

• Scorpion warned Gao Gong that the powerful simulated-sensory field could let their enemies trap and kill them in virtual space, then began cracking the corporate firewall.
• Gao Gong, Scorpion, and Black Python entered Hive City’s mechanical mainframe, where its mist converted their bodies into simulated-sensory signals.
• Gao Gong met Mr. Dou and the Doctor, who questioned him about Director Du and her absence.
• Gao Gong explained that Venus Life’s brain-computer virus spread through biological magnetic fields and could infect an entire region in under one hundred hours.
• Gao Gong proposed discussing a plan with Mr. Dou and the Doctor.

Engineer Gao attacked Dou and pursued him into a battlefield where a cyber network corporation had turned reality into cyberspace. With Scorpion breaking the virtual space, Engineer Gao uncovered its connection to the Electronic Brain Project, but the chapter ended as the fog transformed into a galaxy-like neural network.

• Engineer Gao seized Dou and demanded that he hand over the neural editing group's artificial data, but Dou escaped using human information transmission.
• Engineer Gao grabbed the chief scientist and broke through the floor to pursue Dou, then used the Emperor's Radiance to destroy swarms of mechanical bees.
• The host brain altered reality parameters, trapping Engineer Gao and his companions in a cyber space filled with white fog and faces linked to mechanical-brain users.
• Engineer Gao used the Source Code Killer to destroy one face and deduced that he might need to kill all mechanical-brain users to escape.
• Scorpion sent Widow Scorpions to attack the virtual space's code, transforming the fog and pillars into a vast, luminous neural network.

Scorpion hacked into Dou’s brain to escape the virtual space, but the group emerged into a distorted Hive City where cyberspace and reality had merged. As mechanical bees hunted them and High Artisan’s level fell, Mainframe Brain revealed that consciousness packet technology had stopped Scorpion’s hack.

• Scorpion broke into Dou’s brain and led Black Python, High Artisan, Mr. Brainstem, and Mainframe Brain through a crack in the data network.
• The group emerged onto Hive City’s streets, but the mechanical hive was missing, showing they were still trapped in a virtual space.
• Mainframe Brain explained that the Electronic Brain Project had torn the boundary between cyberspace and reality, allowing Dou to manipulate people’s senses and harm their physical bodies.
• Mechanical bees appeared in the sky as High Artisan discovered his level had fallen to twelve and his strength had dwindled.
• Scorpion demanded to know why her hack had failed, and Mainframe Brain answered that Dou had used consciousness packet technology.

Scorpion used a dangerous virtual-world procedure to send Gao the Engineer back into reality, where his senses and body redeveloped and he gained the Data Development specialty. The group remained trapped in the virtual space as Gao awakened in the ruins of Hive City.

• The Mainframe Brain explained that consciousness packets could preserve a person’s memories and enable widespread personality duplication, and said Dou’s data personality would be embedded in the project.
• Scorpion split the mechanical-bee swarm with a disk virus, then warned that the enemy could keep multiplying layers of virtual space and might soon separate their senses.
• Scorpion decided to send Gao the Engineer back to reality and stung him, raising his virtual reproductive modification rate before wrapping him in code silk.
• Scorpion said she had given birth to Gao again, leaving Black Python staring at the tiny placenta and phantom.
• Gao the Engineer awakened in the real world with his senses restored, permanent biological modification increases, and the Data Development specialty, then complained that Scorpion could have caused him a smaller problem.

Gao Gong descended through Hive City’s mechanical mainframe after freeing himself from virtual space and fought Single God, a powerful mercenary guarding the lower floors. Single God revealed himself as a primitive Construct, and Gao Gong began transforming into one as well.

• Gao Gong found Black Python, Scorpion, Mr. Brainstem, and the others unconscious, moved them to safety, and continued down alone.
• Gao Gong disabled the mainframe’s defenses and descended toward Dou, whom he tracked on the sixth floor.
• Single God challenged Gao Gong, and the two exchanged attacks across the floor.
• Gao Gong absorbed Single God’s energy cannon with his new mechanical arm, returned fire with particle beams, and pierced him with a spear made from monomolecular wires.
• Single God transformed into a powerful mechanical mutant, and Gao Gong began revealing his own Construct form.

High Engineer defeated Single God, learned that Dou had unleashed the civilization weapon Sawtooth, and headed into the Hive to stop it. He entered Great Serpent Mode with Metal Heart activated as the weapon threatened the Hive from underground.

• High Engineer defeated Single God, who revealed that he had joined the Neural Editing Group to suppress his construct’s killing instinct.
• Single God warned High Engineer that Dou had activated Sawtooth, a modified ancient tunnel-boring machine and civilization weapon.
• High Engineer transported Single God and the other guests to a rooftop, where Single God disclosed that Dou’s extraordinary talent came from an unknown object inside him.
• High Engineer decided to confront Sawtooth himself and vanished toward the Hive’s lowest level.
• High Engineer activated Great Serpent Mode with Metal Heart, gaining a silver-metal body that passed through and consumed a metal wall.