Recaps

Wei Yan offered Zhang Guangmu a team of five players, claiming they were his relatives, though all five were characters he had created with his new ability and were actually himself. After they crushed RLG's second team in a friendly match, Zhang Guangmu stayed behind with Wei Yan in private, leaving Wei Yan uneasy.

• Wei Yan offered to sell Zhang Guangmu his team for five hundred million and said its members were his cousins and younger brother.
• Wei Yan’s new character-creation ability had let him make five characters, all of whom he controlled as one team.
• Wei Yan brought the five wooden, Wei Yan-like players to RLG’s base, where they introduced themselves and said they would do whatever Wei Yan said.
• The five players defeated RLG’s second team with precise, wordless coordination, and Zhang Guangmu judged them to be Super League level.
• Zhang Guangmu arranged for the team to rest and said they could play RLG’s first team the next day.
• After everyone left, Zhang Guangmu stayed in Wei Yan’s room and shut the door, making Wei Yan tense.

Zhang Guangmu confronted Wei Yan with evidence that his five younger brothers were fabricated selves, forcing Wei Yan to abandon his attempts to bluff. Zhang Guangmu rejected Wei Yan’s offer to sell them cheaply and instead asked to learn the truth about the world.

• Wei Yan mistook Zhang Guangmu’s closed-door conversation for a chance at equal business cooperation, then tried to stay composed by relying on his ability to summon five other selves.
• Zhang Guangmu told Wei Yan he had no younger brother and showed him records indicating that even Wei Yan’s neighbors remembered none of the five supposed siblings.
• Wei Yan tried to explain away the missing memories by describing himself as withdrawn, but Zhang Guangmu revealed that the five selves’ genes matched Wei Yan’s exactly.
• Wei Yan gave up bluffing and offered to sell the five younger brothers to RLG cheaply in exchange for enough money to repay his debts.
• Zhang Guangmu said he was not interested in money and asked Wei Yan to tell him the truth about the world.

Zhang Guangmu questioned why players held such high status in the world, and Wei Lan revealed that games helped protect humanity from Dimensional Erosion. The chapter ended with Wei Yan learning that alien civilizations had intensified their attack on human will.

• Zhang Guangmu questioned why players had such high social status, and the Little White Balls discussed the unusual abilities of Wei Yan's characters.
• Zhang Guangmu asked Wei Lan for an answer, and Wei Lan spoke directly into Wei Yan's mind about the Dimensional Erosion War.
• Zhang Guangmu explained that Wei Lan was the only one of Wei Yan's five characters with a Script Hint and signs of independent thought.
• Wei Yan relayed Wei Lan's explanation that extraterrestrial civilizations had used baleful energy for thousands of years to erode human will and control bodies.
• Wei Yan explained that games generated something capable of wearing away baleful energy, giving players their high status.
• Wei Yan said esports had made playing accessible to ordinary people, but Dimensional Erosion had become more severe as the alien civilizations changed their strategy.

Wei Yan learned that alien possession threatened humanity and that the planet had three years to defeat Li Xiansheng, so he asked Zhang Guangmu to join his team. Zhang Guangmu told Wei Yan to inspect Xiang Heiyan and Shang Zicheng’s recent games, and Wei Yan realized their sudden improvements were suspicious.

• Wei Yan relayed Wei Lan’s information about Dimensional Erosion and learned that the World Will had shaped World's Apex to help protect the planet.
• Wei Yan learned that Li Xiansheng had become an alien-controlled Deceiver and that humanity would be destroyed if he was not defeated within three years.
• Wei Yan asked Zhang Guangmu to join his team, but Zhang Guangmu told him to join instead and asked whether he thought he was the only special one.
• Zhang Guangmu told Wei Yan to review Xiang Heiyan and Shang Zicheng’s recent matches and ranked replays.
• Wei Yan watched the replays and saw Xiang Heiyan play flawlessly and Shang Zicheng predict enemy junglers and secure objectives, convincing him that something was wrong with both of them.

Wei Yan told Zhang Guangmu that Xiang Heiyan and Shang Zicheng had gained inexplicable strength, then speculated that Zhang was hiding a greater role in the coming apocalypse. Director Yan Xiaoxian judged that Wei Yan’s storyline had veered off course and activated Plan D, hoping Zhang would choose self-sacrifice rather than save the story by reversing the crisis.

• Wei Yan called Zhang Guangmu and said Xiang Heiyan and Shang Zicheng had abilities they had never shown before, suggesting they had gained special talents or made deals with extraterrestrials.
• Wei Yan speculated that Zhang Guangmu had hidden his strength because he sensed the three-year apocalypse was near, while Zhang asked him to explain his thinking without confirming it.
• Director Yan Xiaoxian and the Set assistants said Wei Yan’s storyline had revealed important information too early and that Zhang Guangmu had overwhelmed him.
• Director Yan Xiaoxian activated Plan D and hoped Zhang Guangmu would choose self-sacrifice to save his companions and human civilization.

Zhang Guangmu and Wei Yan discussed how to stop Li Xiansheng, whose dimensional-barrier protection made direct attacks impossible, and Zhang Guangmu proposed undermining his teammates instead. As rumors warning that the alien civilization’s World Championship would decide humanity’s fate spread across the Federation, Li Xiansheng’s first preseason victory was followed by more than a million Normal Humans suddenly going mad.

• Zhang Guangmu suggested hiring someone to kill Li Xiansheng, but Wei Yan explained that the dimensional barrier nullified harm and malice directed at him.
• Wei Yan revealed that his five teammates were characters created through his ability and that Wei Lan carried information from the World Will.
• Zhang Guangmu proposed targeting Li Xiansheng’s teammates through their relationships, resources, environment, and mental states.
• Information about the players’ social status and the coming alien threat appeared across the Federation’s internet, while authorities failed to trace or remove it.
• The online posts claimed that only one year remained before the World Championship determined humanity’s survival, and that alien-team victories would cause humans to be possessed.
• After Li Xiansheng’s team won its first preseason match, more than a million Normal Humans suddenly went mad.

As Li Xiansheng’s victories in Forging the Zenith caused more people to become mad, Zhang Guangmu realized that humanity might be doomed if the Demon King Team won the finals. The Federation’s human esports players gathered at the Extreme E-sports Arena under Zhang Guangmu’s leadership to prepare to stop them.

• The Federation discovered that playing games, especially Forging the Zenith, could restrain the mad people, but no treatment could cure them.
• Each victory by Li Xiansheng’s team caused another wave of people to go mad, and attempts to stop the matches or kill the team failed.
• Data specialists predicted that half the planet would be mad by the finals if the trend continued.
• People agreed that Li Xiansheng’s Demon King Team must not win the championship, and some tried unsuccessfully to assassinate him.
• Zhang Guangmu led the creation of the Extreme E-sports Arena, where human esports players gathered to train and defeat Li Xiansheng.

Zhang Guangmu rallied the Extreme E-sports Arena players to train for a world championship against Li Xiansheng and the Demon King Team. As special training began, Xiang Heiyan decided to seek Zhang Guangmu’s help, while Zhang Guangmu gained a Usable Ability Point from a training manual.

• Zhang Guangmu told the assembled players that the arena’s mission was to strengthen them quickly enough to defeat Li Xiansheng and the Demon King Team.
• After Zhang Guangmu left, the players discussed their fear of the Demon King Team and the toll the crisis had taken on their families.
• Xiang Heiyan reflected on Zhang Guangmu’s skill and decided to explain his X Simulator to him after training so he could help humanity’s chances of victory.
• Zhang Guangmu finished exercising in the special training room, sensed that his Usable Ability Points had arrived, and focused on a training manual.
• Crimson Light emerged from the manual and condensed into one Usable Ability Point.

Zhang Guangmu used a Usable Ability Point to raise Acting Skill to 5, gaining finer control over his performance and aura. As he planned to speak with Li Xiaoxiao about his growing worries, Li Xiaoxiao arrived with another person.

• Zhang Guangmu named Scholar's comic-style depiction of his fifty-to-one victories over Xiang Heiyan the Noob-Stomping Picture.
• Zhang Guangmu spent one Usable Ability Point to raise Acting Skill to 5 and kept one point in reserve.
• Zhang Guangmu felt he could shift naturally between different personas and project a more convincing aura.
• Zhang Guangmu noticed Li Xiaoxiao seemed increasingly troubled despite RLG securing a place in the world championship.
• Zhang Guangmu planned to have a heart-to-heart with Li Xiaoxiao, but Li Xiaoxiao arrived with another person.

Xiang Heiyan revealed his special ability to Zhang Guangmu, who had already deduced how it worked from his gameplay. After Zhang Guangmu compared Xiang Heiyan’s ability with those of Wei Yan and Shang Zicheng, Xiang Heiyan agreed to follow his lead.

• Xiang Heiyan told Zhang Guangmu that he had a special ability, and Zhang Guangmu identified it as a simulation that let him explore possible match outcomes.
• Zhang Guangmu explained that he had noticed Xiang Heiyan’s dramatic improvement and inferred that an external force was involved.
• Zhang Guangmu compared Xiang Heiyan’s ability with Wei Yan’s One Man Army and Shang Zicheng’s Map Hack and Guaranteed Dragon Steal, arguing that Xiang Heiyan still needed strong teammates to challenge the Demon King Team.
• Zhang Guangmu’s criticism wore down Xiang Heiyan’s remaining pride, and Xiang Heiyan agreed to follow his arrangements.

Xiang Heiyan accepted Zhang Guangmu’s leadership after Zhang’s words convinced him that human civilization needed strength and sacrifice. Li Xiaoxiao revealed that he and Li Xiansheng were Chosen Players, then explained Li Xiansheng’s God Template ability and left Zhang Guangmu wondering why Li Xiansheng’s habits matched his own exactly.

• Zhang Guangmu persuaded Xiang Heiyan to serve as an ordinary RLG team member and use his strength against the Demon King Team.
• Zhang Guangmu stopped Xiang Heiyan and asked him to stay while Li Xiaoxiao shared important information.
• Li Xiaoxiao revealed that Xiang Heiyan, Shang Zicheng, Wei Yan, Li Xiansheng, and he were humanity’s five Chosen Players.
• Li Xiaoxiao explained that his Freeze Time ability passively stretched time and let him evade non-targeted skills.
• Li Xiaoxiao disclosed that Li Xiansheng’s God Template let him load God-tier players’ attributes, talents, and techniques.
• Zhang Guangmu said Li Xiansheng’s habits and details in play were exactly the same as his own.

Zhang Guangmu explained that Li Xiansheng had used his Character Card this year, prompting Xiang Heiyan to realize Zhang Guangmu was the stronger player and to worry about his own place on RLG. After Xiang left, Li Xiaoxiao revealed that she was not a traitor but an undercover agent.

• Li Xiaoxiao explained to Xiang Heiyan that Li Xiansheng had used Zhang Guangmu's Character Card, which accounted for their matching playstyles.
• Xiang Heiyan concluded that Zhang Guangmu was the true demon king, but Zhang Guangmu clarified that Li Xiansheng had only used his Character Card this year and stressed the need to defeat the Demon King Team.
• The Little White Balls reacted to the revelations and debated the cast's abilities and the danger to human civilization.
• Zhang Guangmu urged Xiang Heiyan to train because he could earn a place among RLG's starters, and Xiang left worrying about which position he might play.
• Zhang Guangmu told Li Xiaoxiao he knew she could never be a traitor, and she revealed that she was an undercover agent.

Li Xiaoxiao revealed that he had been an alien spy since childhood and was forced to betray RLG, but Zhang Guangmu refused to treat him as a traitor. Li Xiaoxiao collapsed from his terminal illness after sharing intel and advice, and RLG reshuffled its roster as the world championship began.

• Li Xiaoxiao told Zhang Guangmu that he had been born with a fatal genetic disease and became an alien spy at age three in exchange for a thousand years of life.
• Li Xiaoxiao said he could no longer fight for RLG, but Zhang Guangmu argued that revealing his identity early had helped the team rather than betrayed it.
• Li Xiaoxiao explained that he had acted to survive and chose his teammates over a solitary life, then urged Zhang Guangmu to defeat Li Xiansheng and the Demon King Team.
• Li Xiaoxiao handed Zhang Guangmu a handbook of the enemy team's weaknesses and mid-lane advice before collapsing as his illness worsened.
• RLG moved Zhang Guangmu to mid lane and brought Xiang Heiyan back as its top laner, then began the Apex world championship.

As the world championship approached, Director Yan Xiaoxian recognized Li Xiaoxiao’s sacrifice as groundwork for Zhang Guangmu’s eventual choice and reflected on Li Xiansheng’s role as both final boss and potential protagonist. After the Demon King Team crushed Shang Zicheng’s team, Shang secretly offered to betray RLG and join Li Xiansheng.

• Yan Xiaoxian called Li Xiaoxiao the first Devotee and viewed his sacrifice as foreshadowing Zhang Guangmu’s own possible sacrifice for humanity.
• Yan Xiaoxian realized Li Xiansheng embodied his own past regrets and had been given a powerful player template based on Zhang Guangmu.
• The Demon King Team won its Group Stage matches, and ordinary humans around the world increasingly went mad as they followed the championship.
• In the quarter-finals, the Demon King Team defeated Shang Zicheng’s SUO team in the first two games, leaving Shang convinced he could not win.
• Shang Zicheng privately offered Li Xiansheng a place on the Demon King Team, promising to throw matches and eventually sabotage RLG from within.

Shang Zicheng tried to bargain with Li Xiansheng to preserve his sanity, but Li rejected him and called him useful only as a pawn against human resistance. After Shang Zicheng’s team lost and its manager went mad, Yan Xiaoxian looked ahead to Zhang Guangmu’s coming final showdown with Li Xiansheng.

• Shang Zicheng secretly offered to join Li Xiansheng’s side if Li guaranteed he would retain his sanity, but Li rejected the deal and said Shang’s only value was as an Actor who could damage human morale.
• The Little White Balls watched Shang Zicheng rage over Li’s refusal and condemned his attempt to betray human civilization.
• Shang Zicheng’s team lost its third round to the SUO team, and he smashed his equipment as the defeat became clear.
• Shang Zicheng left his booth and found Wang Tiangang mad and staring at a projected game screen after the disturbance outside was put down.
• Yan Xiaoxian noted that Shang Zicheng’s actions were spontaneous and that the Production Team could not shift blame for them, then anticipated Zhang Guangmu’s final showdown with Li Xiansheng.

Yan Xiaoxian resolved to defeat Zhang Guangmu by relying on the Demon King Team’s overwhelming strength, while Wei Yan sought help from Wei Lan after RLG took a 2:0 lead. The chapter ended with Wei Yan shamelessly asking Zhang Guangmu to let his team win two games so they could reach 2:2.

• Yan Xiaoxian reflected on the risks of being a Subconscious Actor but decided he still wanted to become one as great as Zhang Guangmu and declared that he would win.
• Yan Xiaoxian reasoned that Zhang Guangmu’s claim about Li Xiansheng imitating him was probably true, then recalled how his own mediocre subconscious strength had led him to become a Subconscious Director instead.
• RLG, led by Zhang Guangmu, crushed Wei Yan’s one-man team 2:0 in the Apex world championship semifinals, leaving Wei Yan close to losing his top-player status.
• Wei Yan contacted Wei Lan, who explained that Wei Yan had misused One Man Army and could have used it to train his movements into instinctive responses.
• Wei Yan asked Zhang Guangmu in public chat to let his team win two games, claiming it would give RLG time to train its new lineup.

After Wei Yan’s One-man team lost to RLG, Li Xiaoxiao died after transferring his Time Freeze power to Luo Zhuan. The next day, RLG entered the high-dimensional battlefield for the final against Li Xiansheng’s Demon King Team, where Li Xiansheng promised Zhang Guangmu a crushing defeat.

• Wei Yan’s One-man team lost the match, and Shang Zicheng went mad and was shot dead by security personnel.
• Wei Yan feared that Zhang Guangmu might have agreed to throw games and leave him to face Li Xiansheng’s Demon King Team, but Zhang Guangmu ignored him.
• Li Xiaoxiao died in the hospital after placing a blue-cyan mark on Luo Zhuan’s hand, transferring his Time Freeze power.
• RLG’s members mourned Li Xiaoxiao, then set out for the Final Battle the following day.
• Zhang Guangmu and RLG entered the high-dimensional battlefield and encountered Li Xiansheng, who vowed to defeat him.

The RLG team faced a higher-dimensional real-world battlefield with unfamiliar rules and only one match to decide the winner. As Li Xiansheng and the Demon King Team arrived, Zhang Guangmu tried to steady his teammates by asking how effective his rhetoric was.

• The announcer explained that the final would use a higher-dimensional map, no selectable heroes, equipment chosen by the contestants, five revives each, and a BO1 format.
• Luo Zhuan and Xiang Heiyan discovered that their special abilities still worked, giving the worried RLG team some hope.
• Li Xiansheng taunted Zhang Guangmu and urged the RLG team to choose their equipment before the match began.
• Li Xiansheng snapped his fingers, summoning the rest of the Demon King Team, whose imposing presence intensified RLG's fear.
• As his teammates struggled to stay composed, Zhang Guangmu asked, "How effective is my rhetoric?"

Zhang Guangmu exposed that Li Xiansheng had empowered his teammates with temporary templates, then faced him in the middle lane. Li Xiansheng charged with the Sword God Harlodrich’s eighty years of swordsmanship at his disposal.

• Zhang Guangmu mocked Li Xiansheng’s claim that his influence came from Leader’s Charm, and Li Xiansheng confirmed that he had granted his teammates temporary templates.
• Zhang Guangmu provoked the Demon King Team and correctly inferred that Li Xiansheng had shared power with them, upsetting the four players.
• Li Xiansheng summoned five phantom God-tier templates for his team, then left with them after his attempt to undermine RLG’s morale failed.
• The RLG players chose their equipment and split into groups, while Zhang Guangmu headed down the middle lane behind his Bionic Robotic Soldiers.
• Li Xiansheng challenged Zhang Guangmu and charged at him, relying on the eighty years of swordsmanship inherited from Sword God Harlodrich.

Zhang Guangmu faced Li Xiansheng in the Divine Aura battlefield and claimed First Blood by trading injuries for experience while clearing minions. Li Xiansheng returned to the lane hoping to exploit Zhang Guangmu’s refusal to heal, but Zhang Guangmu killed him again, leaving The Deceiver visibly afraid.

• Li Xiansheng attacked Zhang Guangmu, but Zhang Guangmu deflected his sword and fought while clearing the Bionic Robotic Soldiers.
• Zhang Guangmu endured Li Xiansheng’s strikes, killed most of the minions, then disarmed and beheaded him to claim First Blood and Wealth Essence.
• Li Xiansheng revived and rushed back to the middle lane, where he found Zhang Guangmu still fighting without healing or upgrading his equipment.
• Li Xiansheng reached Level 3 and attacked Zhang Guangmu, but Zhang Guangmu blocked and dodged his sword through dozens of clashes.
• Zhang Guangmu struck Li Xiansheng’s head with his hand and shattered his skull, making The Deceiver show fear.

Zhang Guangmu dominated the Final Battle by defeating Li Xiansheng in lane and roaming to help RLG gain advantages across the map. Facing a collapsing Demon King Team, Li Xiansheng used the God-Demon Zhang Guangmu template to find a way to break the deadlock and ordered his teammates to return to base for a decisive strike.

• Zhang Guangmu killed Li Xiansheng twice, forcing him to play cautiously and fall further behind in the mid lane.
• Director Yan Xiaoxian and the Production Team realized Zhang Guangmu's combat ability far exceeded their collected data, while Yan regretted that his planned hidden survival path might go unused.
• Zhang Guangmu roamed across the map and helped RLG's lanes gain the advantage as the Demon King Team struggled to withstand his frequent ganks.
• Li Xiansheng tried to support his teammates but was intercepted and killed by Zhang Guangmu, then equipped the God-Demon Zhang Guangmu template to use its Super Wisdom.
• Li Xiansheng found a way to turn the situation around and ordered the Demon King Team to abandon the minion waves and return to base.

Li Xiansheng decided to kill his teammates to gain Wealth Essence and strengthen himself against Zhang Guangmu. After murdering the Demon King Team in their fountain, he prepared to exploit their revival timers, but RLG vanished after one of its members was caught.

• Li Xiansheng realized teammates could damage one another and devised a plan to kill his teammates for Wealth Essence.
• The Demon King Team members rejected his proposal to spend their revives feeding him, fearing they might die permanently.
• Li Xiansheng revoked the teammates’ temporary abilities and killed all four of them in the fountain.
• He spent the Wealth Essence on stronger equipment and one-use items, then planned to avoid Zhang Guangmu and time his teammates’ revivals.
• After one RLG member was caught, the entire RLG team disappeared, making Li Xiansheng suspect something was wrong.

Li Xiansheng concluded that Zhang Guangmu had sacrificed himself to equip RLG, then killed his own teammates to gain power and prepared to face the team alone. He charged the four RLG members, convinced that Zhang Guangmu was gone and victory was assured.

• Li Xiansheng returned to base and decided his frightened teammates could not be trusted to fight together.
• Li Xiansheng killed all four Demon King Team teammates, gaining power and completing a six-item build.
• Li Xiansheng pushed down the mid lane and used Azure Sun Immortal Sand to reveal the area around the four RLG members.
• Li Xiansheng mistook RLG's advanced equipment and Zhang Guangmu's absence as proof that Zhang Guangmu had sacrificed himself for them.
• Li Xiansheng charged the four RLG members, believing no one remained who could threaten him.

RLG defeated the Demon King Team in the special-edition World Championship final after Zhang Guangmu killed Li Xiansheng and led the push on the enemy base. Despite the victory and the apparent end of the story, the world of "Unparalleled: King of E-sports" did not solidify, and Yan Xiaoxian did not Wrap Up Filming.

• Li Xiansheng killed Xiang Heiyan, Luo Zhuan, Zhang Baimu, and Wan Senluo, but the fight left him weakened and consumed several of his items.
• Zhang Guangmu soloed the Dragon and waited for Li Xiansheng, who rushed to the Dragon pit after hearing its death roar.
• Zhang Guangmu defeated Li Xiansheng in their duel, and Li Xiansheng revived at his fountain as RLG advanced to his base.
• Li Xiansheng refused to leave the fountain and killed himself, while RLG destroyed the Demon King Team's base and won the final.
• The world did not solidify after RLG's victory, and Yan Xiaoxian chose not to Wrap Up Filming.

RLG defeated the Demon King Team and won the championship, but Zhang Guangmu recognized that humanity still faced a collapsing world. He crushed the trophy and confronted the extraterrestrial forces behind the game, freezing the world with Dimensional Erosion.

• RLG celebrated its victory over the Demon King Team, while Zhang Guangmu remained solemn and Luo Zhuan and the others followed his lead.
• Zhang Baimu realized that half of humanity had gone insane and that the world faced chaos despite RLG's victory.
• Director Yan Xiaoxian hesitated to end the story as Zhang Guangmu examined the trophy and explained that the invaders had to abide by relative fairness.
• Zhang Guangmu shrank and crushed the trophy, summoning projections of people who all had his face.
• Zhang Guangmu looked toward the sky, declared that he had found the enemy, and triggered Dimensional Erosion, freezing the world of Apex: King of E-sports.