Chapter Summaries

After losing to Zhang Guangmu, Xiang Heiyan discovered an X Simulator that let him preview matches and received a tryout offer from the TUI team. Zhang Guangmu returned to RLG Club to address the lineup vacancies, then saw former jungler Shang Zicheng publicly taunt the team.

• Xiang Heiyan lost his duel with Zhang Guangmu, left in shame, and worried that no club would take him in.
• After hitting a utility pole, Xiang Heiyan discovered an X in his vision and learned it could simulate matches in "Ultimate" to reveal winning openings.
• The TUI team manager offered Xiang Heiyan a tryout after Zhang Baimu recommended him, and Xiang Heiyan eagerly accepted.
• Zhang Guangmu arrived at RLG Club, where Zhang Baimu, Li Xiaoxiao, and Luo Zhuan remained as starters after three players were fired.
• Zhang Guangmu noticed Shang Zicheng's public post taunting RLG's management and claiming the team would never win a championship without him.

After Shang Zicheng publicly criticized RLG, Zhang Guangmu deduced that the former jungler had joined SUO and was helping his new team stir up publicity. His deduction appeared to be confirmed when SUO general manager Wang Tiangang called him.

• Zhang Guangmu projected Shang Zicheng’s statement, angering RLG’s players and staff, while Luo Zhuan posted a question mark beneath it.
• Zhang Guangmu argued that Shang Zicheng’s behavior was out of character and suggested he had already signed with a new team as a substitute jungler.
• Zhang Guangmu concluded that Shang Zicheng was cooperating with SUO or TEA to generate controversy and pledge allegiance to his new employer.
• SUO general manager Wang Tiangang called Zhang Guangmu, who answered on speakerphone while Zhang Baimu recognized that his brother was putting on an act.

Zhang Guangmu negotiated with SUO Club for compensation and requested Wan Senluo, a little-known substitute top laner, for RLG. Wang Tiangang approved the transfer, unaware that Wan Senluo would later become a remarkable marksman.

• Wang Tiangang told Zhang Guangmu that Shang Zicheng had signed an extreme contract with SUO and offered compensation for his role in the public-relations campaign.
• Zhang Guangmu declined money and asked to buy players from SUO’s second team or youth academy, specifically naming Wan Senluo.
• Wang Tiangang suspected Wan Senluo might be a hidden talent and ordered SUO analysts to review his records.
• After consulting the analysts and coaches, Wang Tiangang decided Wan Senluo was an ordinary top laner and approved his transfer to RLG.
• SUO and RLG announced that Wan Senluo had officially joined RLG as a substitute top laner.

Wan Senluo joined RLG as a marksman, where Zhang Guangmu and the team welcomed him and prepared him for a preseason showdown against his former team, SUO. After four secret friendly matches fueled public anticipation, RLG faced SUO in the Season Six preseason opener, with Zhang Guangmu listed as RLG’s starting top laner.

• Wan Senluo arrived at RLG, where Luo Zhuan and Zhang Baimu welcomed him while Li Xiaoxiao remained distant.
• Zhang Guangmu told Wan Senluo he would switch from top lane to marksman and pair with Zhang Baimu, encouraging him before their matches against SUO.
• Wan Senluo learned that Zhang Guangmu would be RLG’s new starting top laner, while Li Xiaoxiao promised to secure lane priority and help him.
• RLG and SUO played four friendly matches that were publicly described as a 50–50 draw, and their recordings were destroyed.
• RLG, led by Zhang Guangmu, faced Shang Zicheng’s SUO in the Season Six preseason opening match, with Zhang Guangmu appearing in RLG’s starting lineup.

Wang Tiangang expected SUO to easily defeat RLG after seeing Zhang Guangmu in the top lane, but Zhang Guangmu surprised everyone by killing Yichuan first. The match was still underway, with Yichuan protesting that Zhang Guangmu’s damage was abnormal.

• Wang Tiangang realized Zhang Guangmu would start as RLG’s top laner and ordered SUO to focus him with aggressive picks and ganks.
• Zhang Guangmu chose the top lane because he believed the current version made top laners the main carries, while Luo Zhuan and Wan Senluo nervously entered hero selection.
• SUO treated the draft casually, and Zhang Guangmu picked Cold Light Human King for the first game.
• Yichuan mocked Zhang Guangmu’s pick and chose Bald Butcher, expecting to kill him before level six.
• Zhang Guangmu solo-killed Yichuan and claimed First Blood, leaving Yichuan insisting that Zhang Guangmu’s damage was strangely fast.

Zhang Guangmu used a fast combo with [Cold Light Human King] to repeatedly kill SUO’s top laner and jungler, while RLG took the dragon and built a lead. SUO’s Yichuan retreated to farm under his turret, hoping his team’s advantage in the bottom lane would carry them through team fights.

• Zhang Guangmu solo-killed Yichuan in the top lane before either side reached level two, prompting SUO to become more cautious.
• Zhang Guangmu read SUO’s planned top-lane gank and sent Luo Zhuan to take the dragon instead.
• Yichuan and The Blind ganked Zhang Guangmu, but he killed both of them with a combo that used [Ignite] to refresh [The Supreme].
• RLG’s players praised Zhang Guangmu as Li Xiaoxiao recognized that his talent stacks and animation-canceling explained the combo’s abnormal damage.
• After conceding three kills and losing the dragon, Yichuan’s confidence and play deteriorated, so he stayed beneath his turret and waited for team fights.

Zhang Guangmu led SUO to surrender with Cold Light Human King, prompting Wang Tiangang to send Shang Zicheng into the next game against his former team, RLG. Shang Zicheng entered confident and planned to focus his early ganks on Zhang Guangmu.

• Zhang Guangmu used Cold Light Human King's ultimate and charged Q-flash to kill SUO's marksman, after which SUO surrendered.
• Wang Tiangang decided to ban Cold Light Human King and use the preseason to test substitute jungler Shang Zicheng.
• Wang Tiangang sent Shang Zicheng onto the field for SUO's next game against RLG.
• Shang Zicheng promised his teammates he would carry and said he would focus on ganking Zhang Guangmu early.
• Shang Zicheng planned to sacrifice jungle resources to gank Zhang Guangmu repeatedly and vent his anger at his former team.

Zhang Guangmu and Shang Zicheng faced off in the second match between RLG and SUO, with Shang relying on his cheat that guaranteed important dragon steals. Zhang dominated the top lane early, but Shang controlled the jungle and led SUO to start the major dragon, confident RLG could not steal it while he was alive.

• The Little White Balls explained that Shang Zicheng’s cheat combined a Global Cheat with a guaranteed dragon-steal effect, and Zhang Guangmu reasoned that killing Shang’s team first could counter it.
• SUO banned Zhang’s Cold Light Human King, and Zhang chose the Wolf Fortress Lord while Shang picked the weak early-game Weeping Pharaoh jungle.
• Zhang Guangmu killed Yichuan’s General with a Giant Axe at level one using an A-flash, leaving Yichuan determined to play safely under his tower.
• Shang dismissed Yichuan’s early death and said he would secure the first minor dragon while the top laner held back.
• Shang outplayed RLG’s jungler, secured the Fire and Earth minor dragons, and stole the Earth Dragon from Luo Zhuan.
• Shang led SUO to start the major dragon and declared that RLG could not steal it while he remained alive.

Shang Zicheng’s SUO team secured Baron after Luo Zhuan’s steal attempt failed, but Zhang Guangmu turned the ensuing fight into a pentakill. He answered Shang’s boastful chat message by claiming that he was the true Chosen One.

• Shang Zicheng led SUO to start Baron, and Luo Zhuan flashed into the pit to steal it but used Smite just too early; Shang secured Baron, and Luo and Zhang Baimu died.
• Shang typed, “I came! I saw! I conquered!” and “I'm the Chosen One! I'm the Only One!” in public chat, then canceled his recall when he saw Zhang Guangmu approaching.
• Shang attacked Zhang with his Weeping Pharaoh, but Zhang blocked the control effect and reflected it, then killed Shang with a rapid Wolf Fortress Lord combo.
• Zhang charged forward with Li Xiaoxiao and Wan Senluo, and RLG wiped out SUO as Zhang secured a pentakill.
• Zhang replied in public chat that he might be the person Shang had called the Chosen One.

Shang Zicheng’s SUO team lost to RLG after Zhang Guangmu’s split pushing and RLG’s decisive attack overwhelmed them. After the match, Zhang Guangmu received a call from Wei Yan, the final Reserve Protagonist, who proposed a business deal.

• Shang Zicheng led SUO to secure map resources but gave RLG a chance to take a Total Annihilation, allowing them to build a decisive advantage.
• Shang Zicheng ordered three teammates to help catch Zhang Guangmu while their mid laner defended, but Zhang Guangmu retreated and RLG killed the mid laner instead.
• RLG destroyed SUO’s base, and Shang Zicheng left the match in defeat before shaking hands with Zhang Guangmu.
• Zhang Guangmu treated the RLG staff to a lavish feast after their victory over SUO.
• Wei Yan called Zhang Guangmu and offered him a business proposition.

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.