Chapter Summaries

Gao Gong entered a stable fusion state and used his enhanced abilities to confront the Hive’s Sawtooth weapon. As Sawtooth prepared another attack, Gao Gong discovered he could manipulate the Purple String Space and cut away more than half the enormous drill.

• Gao Gong fused biological and mechanical energy, entered Great Serpent Mode, and stopped Sawtooth’s first assault with a golden Emperor’s Might barrier, though the earthquake devastated the surrounding city.
• Gao Gong’s barrier shattered as Sawtooth retreated underground, and he discovered that his stable fusion had raised his skills, talents, specialties, and S-rank bloodline.
• Gao Gong used Metal Magnetic Field Manipulation and the Metal Virus to gather metal into a barrier and melt it over Sawtooth.
• Gao Gong expanded the Purple String Space, studied its spatial strands, and realized he could control them beyond using Spatial Traversal.
• When Sawtooth surged upward again, Gao Gong wrapped spatial strands around its drill and made more than half of it disappear, creating Spatial Cutting.

Gao Gong used Spatial Cutting to cripple the Sawtooth, while Scorpion hacked deeper into Dou’s mind and encountered a vast Buddha-like construct. As the construct attacked her, flames appeared and shattered it.

• Gao Gong discovered that Spatial Cutting could strip away physical defenses and permanently damage equipment, but using it consumed immense energy and strained him.
• Ten minutes earlier, Scorpion struggled through the changing virtual space and worried that widespread electronic-brain modification would make hackers vulnerable and expose people’s private thoughts.
• Scorpion pierced a memory-coded brain with her illegal search software and searched for Dou’s true location, believing Dou had created no clones.
• Scorpion used her final hacking method to enter a critical area and found a colossal Buddha-like face resembling Dou’s.
• The Buddha-like face opened its eyes and overwhelmed Scorpion with data pressure, but a spark of flame appeared and shattered it.

Du Mei witnessed top hackers and electronic ascenders intervene in the collapse of the Buddha head, then learned that electronic ascension meant gaining Mother City-level user-management privileges. As the ascenders departed, she asked why they had backed Du High-Tech and accepted that they had no choice.

• Bird of Paradise, Giant Spirit God, and Phantom appeared as the Buddha head and its consciousness packets were cracked and absorbed.
• Personality Simulator confronted Du Mei with memories of their past betrayal and explained that outside forces had turned them against each other.
• Personality Simulator revealed that many top hackers and organizations had gathered to support the operation, alongside three old electronic ascenders.
• Personality Simulator explained that electronic ascension meant obtaining Mother City-level user-management privileges, and the three ascenders entered a doorway formed by black light.
• Du Mei asked why the hackers had bet on Du High-Tech, and she and Personality Simulator agreed that they had no choice.

Gao Gong defeated the Neuro Editing Group, ended its mechanical-brain modification program, and absorbed its assets and personnel into Du Gao Technology. As the group handed over its corporate data, Dandashen pressed the Host Brain to reveal a secret about Dou and the source of Dou’s abnormal talent.

• Gao Gong returned to Hive City with Black Python, Scorpion, Dandashen, and the Host Brain after defeating the Neuro Editing Group.
• Gao Gong ordered the Host Brain to unlock mechanical-brain devices and unify the electronic-brain system with Du Gao Technology’s Virtual Helmet Plan.
• The Host Brain transferred management of artificial data, stopped mechanical-brain modification, and surrendered the group’s personnel roster and corporate credentials.
• Gao Gong acquired the Neuro Editing Group’s blueprints, technologies, mechanical coins, and Mother City trade points.
• Dandashen challenged the Host Brain to disclose the secret about Dou that could reveal the source of Dou’s abnormal talent.

Dugo Technology’s overwhelming military campaign and Experimental Subject No. 550’s ability to infect and control brain-machine users left the opposing corporations on the brink of defeat. As two surviving super mercenaries charged toward Ms. Ye, Xiao Yu stepped forward to defend her.

• Dugo Technology’s mechs and five Tier-3 weapons devastated the battlefield while its forces seized two mechanical cities and converted their artificial data.
• Intelligence personnel identified Experimental Subject No. 550, Ms. Ye, as the source of a mental ability that could spread control among people with similar brain-machine systems.
• Ms. Ye’s control spread through brain-machine modifiers and overwhelmed the opposing side’s electronic defenses in cyberspace.
• Skynet intercepted five enemy drop pods with rockets, destroying three and leaving two super mercenaries alive.
• The two surviving mercenaries charged toward Ms. Ye, and Xiao Yu drew her battleship blade to meet them.

Xiao Yu and Miss Ye defeated Marubeni Technologies' mercenaries, then Miss Ye clashed with Raven over the Sacred Brain Group's demands and suffered a mysterious injury. In the Hive, Gao Gong began explaining why Dou had failed the Cyber Trial Grounds.

• Xiao Yu used the ship-splitting blade to defeat two level-50 mercenaries, and Miss Ye examined the strange black sigil on her forehead.
• Miss Ye told Xiao Yu to notify her people that the war was over and contact Miss Du, then confronted Raven about tracking her and the board's demand for a physical examination.
• Miss Ye rejected the board's demands and threatened to leave the Sacred Brain Group if it interfered with her campaign to conquer the Northern Hemisphere.
• Miss Ye's cheek split open and bled black blood before she stitched it back together with mental threads.
• In the Hive, Gao Gong asked the host brain why Dou had failed the Cyber Trial Grounds and said that greed and offending him were not the real reasons.

Gao Gong and the Mainframe Brain searched Dou’s consciousness and discovered that the Pipe Sovereign had created his No. 0 Brain Region. With help from the Simulated-Sensation Queen, Gao Gong obtained the final profession knowledge and fused it into Mechanical Brain Technology.

• Gao Gong explained that the Mother City would never let Consciousness Package Technology win the corporate war because it consumed too much computing power, and he ordered the Mainframe Brain to work for him.
• Gao Gong and the Mainframe Brain entered Dou’s consciousness through brain-networking mode and used memories to reach a steaming pool that powered Dou’s Genius personality code.
• The Mainframe Brain recognized the pool as Dou’s No. 0 Brain Region, while Gao Gong identified the hidden pipe supplying it as the work of the Pipe Sovereign.
• Gao Gong persuaded the Mainframe Brain to pledge allegiance and give him its knowledge of brain ecology, then called on the Simulated-Sensation Queen for help.
• Gao Gong received Brain Ecology and No. 0 Brain Region (Core), fused his profession knowledge, and obtained the Mechanical Brain Technology knowledge chain.

Gaogong connected the planet’s Collapse Forms to an ancient civilization’s long-term experiment and decided to profit from companies gathering to resist Vinos Life Security Group. As the Electronic Brain Project plunged the modified zone into chaos, an ancient voice announced the birth of Number Thirteen.

• Gaogong reasoned that Mechsplit Star’s civilization systems and corporate wars had been developed to cultivate the thirteen Collapse Forms and their cosmic relic.
• Gaogong learned that Dour had gathered brain-machine companies to oppose Vinos Life Security Group and decided to ask them for money.
• The Electronic Brain Project spread through the modified zone, causing people to vanish into digital labyrinths, lose their consciousness, or encounter viruses in the human world.
• Fragments of human brains began forming crude operating systems to keep brain machines functioning, but most corporations ignored the development.
• An ancient voice from beneath the ocean announced that Number Thirteen had finally been born.

Gao Gong met with dozens of companies worried about the biochemical brain-computer interface outbreak and used their fears to bargain for support. He left the meeting with fifty billion in sponsorship pledges and a demand for technical assistance.

• The Host Brain introduced Gao Gong as the new president of the Neural Editing Group, and the companies questioned him about the outbreak and its containment.
• Gao Gong claimed he knew nothing and had no authority, while the attendees discovered his many credentials and tried to persuade or pressure him to help.
• Gao Gong cited his company’s obligations to the Sacred Brain Group and hinted that he would need greater compensation to act.
• The companies pooled fifty billion in sponsorship fees to keep the biochemical brain-computer interface contained on the continent.
• Gao Gong said his group also needed technology for upgrades and asked the companies to provide technical support.

Gao Gong proposed a research foundation to unite thirty-three companies against Vinos Life Security Group and secure access to their foundational technologies. The companies agreed in principle but delayed contributing their technologies until Du Gao Technology defeated the biochemical brain-computer interfaces, and Gao Gong planned to face the threat with only the Host Brain and himself.

• Gao Gong explained that the mercenary group would not fight Vinos Life Security Group for small favors and proposed a shared research foundation funded with 50 billion mechanical coins and one foundational technology from each member.
• Gao Gong privately reasoned that he needed the companies’ expertise to collect the many professional skills he lacked and to achieve his goals in the corporate war.
• Representatives from thirty-three companies returned to the conference and agreed in principle to establish the foundation, provided the technical materials were contributed only after Du Gao Technology dealt with the biochemical brain-computer interfaces.
• Gao Gong accepted the companies’ condition and asked the Host Brain to oversee the foundation’s contracts and their filing with three Mother Cities.
• When the Host Brain asked about moving forces from the Northern Hemisphere, Gao Gong said only he and the Host Brain would handle Vinos Life Security Group.

Gao Gong learned that a biochemical brain-computer virus had spread beyond the cities and could infect both humans and radiation beasts. After discovering that the virus had infected his Super-Eyed Crow, he decided to prepare to wipe out its spreaders.

• A group of Futurists hunted a mutated deer in the forest and talked about their lives in the cybernetic era.
• The Super-Eyed Crow watched the Futurists, marked them with a faint red sign, and carried its observations back to Gao Gong.
• Gao Gong realized the biochemical brain-computer virus had spread to settlements and could infect people regardless of their genes.
• The Super-Eyed Crow developed a blood mark, and Gao Gong found that the virus had incorporated trace metals into a biomechanical brain-computer.
• Gao Gong told the Mainframe Brain they needed to prepare to wipe out the virus's spreaders.

After discovering that the Brain-Computer Virus had spread through most of the settlements, Gao Gong headed for the only unaffected mechanical city, the Necropolis, suspecting it held something that could restrain the virus. Someone attacked him with missiles, but he destroyed them and continued toward the city as the Venos Life Security Group’s biological network began activating.

• Gao Gong learned that more than half of the ten settlements he visited showed signs of infection and set out for the last unaffected mechanical city, the Necropolis.
• Gao Gong and the Mainframe Brain speculated that the Necropolis might contain a way to restrain the Biochemical Brain-Computer and discussed reports of undead there.
• Gao Gong flew toward the Necropolis under radiation stealth, but more than a dozen missiles targeted him along the way.
• Gao Gong used upgraded curved energy rays to destroy the missiles and suspected that Venos Life Security’s wireless biological brain-computer network had detected him.
• Gao Gong and the Mainframe Brain continued toward the Necropolis while unseen eyes watched them, and the Brain-Groove Mechanical City activated its Brain-Computer Local Area Network and Biological Management System.

Highgore defeated the A-rank radiation beasts sent against him and explored the Pale Forest for clues about what was disrupting the Biochemical Brain-Machine Virus. After finding abandoned human outposts, he connected to Du Gao Technology’s classified base to speak with someone.

• At Vinos Life Safety Group, Cain Vinos and four executives connected themselves to the Mainframe Brain as they watched Highgore fight.
• Highgore defeated the A-rank Crimson Fiend, though its irradiated blood damaged his memory-metal wires, and he gained four gene slots.
• Highgore reasoned that Vinos Life Safety Group was unlikely to control more A-rank beasts and suspected the brain-machine struggled to control radiation beasts.
• In the Pale Forest, Highgore captured a white-skinned beast and absorbed its genes while he searched for human settlements.
• Highgore found three abandoned sites containing tools and ammunition, then suspected the missing people were connected to the dead or to a phenomenon the Mainframe Brain had mentioned.
• Highgore connected to Du Gao Technology’s classified base and told the person who appeared to stop playing around because he needed to talk.

Gao Gong asked Gao Yuanyuan to investigate the City of the Dead for advanced information that might help her superbrain counter the biochemical brain-machine. After waking, he discussed the Mainframe Brain’s cyborg modifications and proposed that it lead a project on purebred mechanical lifeform perception systems.

• Gao Gong reunited with Gao Yuanyuan in the virtual world and promised to separate the virtual world from Du Gao Technology after the corporate war, placing her in charge of its computing power.
• Gao Gong asked Gao Yuanyuan to investigate possible information residual phenomena in the City of the Dead, and she agreed to go.
• Gao Gong explained how advanced information could let Gao Yuanyuan influence reality through her superbrain, and she asked him to promise her something if he lost.
• Gao Gong woke and questioned the Mainframe Brain about its modified brain and cyborg-like experience.
• Gao Gong offered the Mainframe Brain leadership of a future project developing perception systems for purebred mechanical lifeforms.

Gao Gong and the mainframe were destroyed by a biological attack from the Venus Life Safety Group, but Gao Gong had anticipated the enemy’s trump card and revived them in mechanical bodies. They headed toward the Undead City, while Gao Gong identified the attack as a powerful biological-computing system.

• Gao Gong explained his plan to disguise his technological development as a mechanical civilization and build high-level mechanical soldiers.
• Gao Gong and the mainframe saw flesh flowers bloom across a tree, and Gao Gong revealed that he had brought the mainframe to test whether a mechanical brain could be infected by the brain-machine virus.
• The flesh flowers disintegrated Gao Gong and the mainframe, while the Venus Life Safety Group’s executives revived and said their biological system would digest a War God in one hour.
• Gao Gong revived the mainframe in a mechanical skeletal body and explained that the enemy had used biological computing far more advanced than his own.
• Gao Gong and the mainframe set off for the Undead City, and the mainframe questioned the gaudy color of Gao Gong’s new mechanical body.

Gao Gong and the Mainframe Brain investigated the City of the Dead for signs of the brain-machine virus and headed toward the hospital’s quiet building where the dead were kept. Meanwhile, Gao Yuanyuan used her Hyperlink Girl abilities to trap the city’s inhabitants and an advanced information entity inside a vast memory labyrinth.

• Gao Gong visited Golden Formula Hospital, where a doctor diagnosed his pain as a hallucination and prescribed medication.
• Gao Gong told the Mainframe Brain that the lack of brain-machine interfaces among the living suggested the city’s residents were either immune or uninfected.
• Gao Gong explained that they needed to examine the dead and went with the Mainframe Brain toward a quiet building behind the hospital’s inpatient department.
• Gao Yuanyuan used her Hyperlink Girl template to link the city’s inhabitants’ memories and create a labyrinth that trapped everyone, including the advanced information entity.

Gao Gong discovered that Night Shift Ward was a phenomenon-type reality information that trapped patients in an illusion and performed lethal or nonlethal surgeries. After resisting its attacks and testing how its determinations worked, he called for his sister to help him escape or defeat it.

• Gao Gong entered the silent inpatient building and used virtual life-forms to reveal that its wards were full of patients and staff in an illusion.
• Night Shift Ward sent a data life-form to an operating table, where a lethal surgery killed it; another survived surgery but lost an arm, helping Gao Gong identify its death and amputation determinations.
• Gao Gong realized Night Shift Ward removed patients’ biochemical brain-machines, stopping the brain-machine virus from spreading, and he killed the doctors and nurses who attacked him.
• After another data life-form lost a leg, Gao Gong turned his mechanical body into golden mist to recover from the simulated damage and concluded that he was trapped inside the phenomenon space.
• Gao Gong called out to his sister for help.

Gao Gong and Gao Yuanyuan explored the hospital behind the advanced information phenomenon and discovered two intertwined sets of rules: a patient-list surgery system and a director who could authorize fatal operations. Gao Yuanyuan defeated the director and reconstructed him with Gao Gong’s face, leaving Gao Gong alarmed by his new role.

• Gao Yuanyuan led Gao Gong through her maze to a deserted hospital and showed him a patient list that allowed surgeries on seriously ill people within range.
• Gao Yuanyuan explained that her maze could pull patients in from farther away, while the list recorded their symptoms, surgical sites, and trial medications.
• Gao Yuanyuan revealed that the director could authorize fatal surgeries, and Gao Gong realized the hospital contained two complementary advanced information phenomena.
• The director signed Gao Gong’s name for a fatal surgery, but Gao Yuanyuan blocked the operation by making the two surgical groups collide.
• Gao Yuanyuan trapped the director in her maze, crashed him, and reconstructed him using some of Gao Gong’s information, giving the director Gao Gong’s face.

Gao Yuanyuan showed the High Engineer her growing surgical abilities and a trove of biological brain-computers, while he prepared to use her power in his plans. As corporate leaders debated the unexplained movement between cities, the High Engineer appeared at the Venos Life Security Group’s base and killed Cain Venos.

• Gao Yuanyuan revealed that she had gained five levels, uncovered biological brain-computers, and could perform excision surgeries on up to ten thousand people at once.
• The High Engineer arranged how Gao Yuanyuan would cooperate with him before the Night Shift Ward illusion faded.
• The High Engineer sent the mainframe brain back to Hive City, leaving military satellites and corporate analysts baffled by his sudden relocation.
• Corporate executives discussed their poor prospects against the virus and whether they could survive by becoming suppliers to biological engineering firms.
• Cain Venos and Judy considered whether Dugo Technology had spatial deployment technology, and Judy realized it could enable surprise attacks on executives.
• The High Engineer appeared at the Venos base and crushed Cain Venos under his foot.

Gao Gong fought a networked army of biochemical brain-machine modifiers whose combined computing power turned the pharmaceutical zone into a cyber-space. After surviving their devastating viral attack by regenerating, he struck down Cain again.

• Gao Gong teleported among the executives and split Judy, Hailona, and others’ skulls, then destroyed the employees who transformed into brain-machine-connected corpses.
• Gao Gong used magnetic field manipulation, powered by his X-type reactors, to tear the building apart while military satellites recorded him.
• The biochemical brain-machine modifiers networked across the pharmaceutical zone, concentrating billions of people’s computing power into a vast cyber-space.
• The network’s high-concentration biological viruses dissolved Gao Gong’s mechanical body, but his repair ability rebuilt him from a pool of metal liquid.
• Gao Gong released golden virus mist across the neural network, reformed aboard a sky carrier, and exploded Cain’s head again when Cain threatened him.