Recaps

Lin Yu asked Old Zheng about the Great Wilderness, and Old Zheng explained that the Barren Realm’s catastrophe was still ongoing. The Great Wilderness was difficult to survive in but rich in alchemical resources, and Lin Yu learned why the City That Never Sleeps sent powerful Pioneer Teams into its dangerous zones.

• Old Zheng and Fu Luo compared what they knew about Fu Luo’s return and agreed that their past affiliations would not prevent them from working together under Lin Yu.
• Lin Yu asked Old Zheng about the Great Wilderness, and Old Zheng said the Barren Realm’s catastrophe was still ongoing while the other known realms had already suffered devastating disasters.
• Old Zheng explained that the Great Wilderness was a vast, impoverished desert where food and water were scarce and finding spiritual oases was difficult.
• Old Zheng told Lin Yu that the Great Wilderness was also rich in alchemical materials, ley lines, mutated life, and naturally formed Alchemical Creations.
• Old Zheng explained that high alchemical activity made equipment unreliable, so the City That Never Sleeps sent powerful Pioneer Teams to face the Great Wilderness with primitive gear and their own skills.

Lin Yu reviewed the dangers of the Great Wilderness and prepared to assess his available equipment. Meanwhile, Nightless Sky Huo Ming studied Supervisor Arthur’s dossier and discovered Nightless Sky Fire Apricot foraging outside her window.

• Lin Yu concluded that the Great Wilderness’s resource shortages and alchemical hazards posed little threat to him, and he considered why the city kept the region’s wealth secret.
• Lin Yu chose not to involve Stiller or reveal his other identities to Fu Luo, then began taking stock of equipment for the Great Wilderness.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming studied John H. Arthur’s dossier and suspected that he had hidden ties to her mother and might be seeking her cooperation as a safeguard.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming heard a noise outside, opened her window, and found Nightless Sky Fire Apricot crouching in her courtyard with an oily bone.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot told Nightless Sky Huo Ming that she was foraging.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot sneaked into Nightless Sky Huo Ming’s room to scavenge leftover roast meat, revealing that she was still under house arrest. After Nightless Sky Huo Ming agreed to help her get meat without alerting the household, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot asked to accompany her to the Great Wilderness.

• Nightless Sky Huo Ming pulled Nightless Sky Fire Apricot in through her window after finding her scavenging a leftover bone from the roast meat.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot explained that she had tracked down and stolen the discarded bone because the household food lacked flavor.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming offered to give Nightless Sky Fire Apricot stored roast meat, but Nightless Sky Fire Apricot revealed she had escaped house arrest.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming agreed to keep quiet and have roast meat sent to Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s courtyard after she sneaked back.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot stopped Nightless Sky Huo Ming and asked to go with her to the Great Wilderness the next day.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot asked Nightless Sky Huo Ming to take her to the Great Wilderness, revealing that she had learned about Huo Ming’s trip through friends in the outer city. Huo Ming resisted because of the rules and their mother’s orders, but Fire Apricot appealed to their shared sense of being outsiders, leaving Huo Ming wavering as Fire Apricot promised she would return before going far.

• Nightless Sky Huo Ming questioned Nightless Sky Fire Apricot about how she learned of Huo Ming’s planned departure for the Great Wilderness.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot explained that her outer-city friends had noticed Huo Ming’s subordinates preparing for the journey and had passed the news along.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot asked Huo Ming to take her along, but Huo Ming refused because Fire Apricot lacked a permit and was under house arrest.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said she had secretly crossed into the Great Wilderness before and suggested their mother might not care much if she went again.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming reflected on how Fire Apricot was also an outsider in the family, while Fire Apricot promised to return before venturing deep into the Great Wilderness.

Lin Yu and Fu Luo set out for the Great Wilderness with Nightless Sky Huo Ming aboard a heavily equipped vehicle, where they met Huo Ming’s inner circle. Lin Yu recognized the disguised Nightless Sky Fire Apricot among the passengers and decided to watch her without revealing that he knew.

• Lin Yu and Fu Luo boarded Nightless Sky Huo Ming’s Giant Rock Transport Vehicle, which began driving toward the city exit.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming introduced her deputy Dongming Shuliu, two advisors, a logistics supervisor, and five Pioneer Team captains aboard the vehicle.
• Lin Yu learned that Huo Ming could directly command eight Pioneer Teams, each much larger than a city action squad.
• Lin Yu sensed that one of the fully masked advisors was Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, the strongest person aboard.
• Lin Yu chose to act as though he had not recognized Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and planned to observe what she would do.

Lin Yu and Fu Luo left the City That Never Sleeps with a Truth Company team to investigate possible sites linked to the Fear Project. They set out for a hilly area near Divine Power Group mining regions, where they expected to arrive within a few hours.

• The Truth Company transport vehicle passed through the city gates and entered the Great Wilderness, whose vast, barren landscape stunned Lin Yu.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming and the team discussed their early return to work, and Huo Ming told Dongming Shuliu to begin a wide-area scan and head for their first destination.
• Lin Yu and Fu Luo chose the destination from several possible sites near the route they believed Gao Shan and Fu Luo had taken out of the city with the Turbine Gang.
• Huo Ming warned that the destination lay outside Truth Company territory and that they might need to negotiate with the Divine Power Group.
• Dongming Shuliu said he knew the explored regions well and estimated they could reach the destination in about two and a half hours if nothing unexpected happened.

Lin Yu and the others were attacked while traveling through the Great Wilderness in Nightless Sky Huo Ming’s Giant Rock Transport Vehicle. After the vehicle was overturned and its systems disabled, Lin Yu identified the attackers as fifteen Great Wilderness People lying in ambush nearby.

• Dongming Shuliu listed the dangers of the Great Wilderness, and the group discussed the vehicle’s warning systems and countermeasures.
• The vehicle’s alarm sounded as a large Alchemy Weapon locked onto them, and the attackers opened fire before the group could prepare.
• The blast flipped the Giant Rock Transport Vehicle, disabled its equipment, and left Lin Yu and Fu Luo with only minor injuries.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming blamed the Solence Family and prepared her team to fight, while Dongming Shuliu identified the weapon as a Universal Trade Association Breakpoint model.
• Lin Yu used his Mental Power to locate fifteen attackers five hundred meters away and determined that they were Great Wilderness People, though he did not know how they obtained the weapon.

Nightless Sky Huo Ming’s forces ambushed the Great Wilderness People with ranged attacks, but the attackers charged into close combat and tried to reach Lin Yu and Sherlock. Lin Yu defeated three of the four men who targeted them and caught the last one’s bayonet, then promised to help Nightless Sky Huo Ming.

• Nightless Sky Huo Ming deployed her forces and ordered them to fire every usable ranged weapon at the ambushers Lin Yu had located.
• The barrage forced the Great Wilderness People out of their tunnels, but thirteen attackers charged through the gunfire and engaged Nightless Sky Huo Ming’s group in close combat.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming fought off four attackers while three Great Wilderness experts used an obsolete Alchemical device to weaken her subordinates and free four more attackers.
• The four freed attackers circled around toward Lin Yu and Sherlock, prompting Nightless Sky Huo Ming to warn Lin Yu.
• Lin Yu knocked down three of the attackers, caught the last man’s bayonet with one hand, and told Nightless Sky Huo Ming he would help her shortly.

Lin Yu effortlessly defeated the Great Wilderness People who attacked the group, leaving them alive for Nightless Sky Huo Ming’s team to restrain. Huo Ming questioned how a B-1 researcher had such combat strength, and Lin Yu explained that he still needed her support to handle the dangers of the Great Wilderness.

• Lin Yu knocked down the last Great Wilderness Person and rushed to reinforce the main battlefield.
• Lin Yu used his Items to defeat the attackers surrounding Nightless Sky Huo Ming and Dongming Shuliu, leaving them seriously injured but alive.
• Huo Ming told Shuliu and the other branch officials to restrain the fallen Great Wilderness People.
• Huo Ming asked Lin Yu why a research-oriented B-1 supervisor had combat skills that could rival elite fighters.
• Lin Yu said he had gained combat experience during dangerous investigations but still relied on Huo Ming’s team and could not withstand a large-scale assault alone.

After the Great Wilderness attackers revealed they had been hired, Lin Yu suspected their employer used a locator that could bypass his disguise and traced it to technology resembling Mist Island’s Previous Civilization. Nightless Sky Huo Ming agreed to strike back at the attackers’ village, and a support squad was expected to arrive soon.

• Dongming Shuliu reported that the Great Wilderness attackers had been paid by an unknown employer, who gave them a locator and ordered them to intercept their targets.
• Lin Yu suspected the employer was connected to Sherlock’s murderer and wondered how they had tracked his concealed identity.
• Dongming Shuliu showed Lin Yu the confiscated locator, and Fu Luo recognized it as resembling Mist Island technology capable of locking onto souls.
• Lin Yu asked Old Zheng to identify the device and asked Nightless Sky Huo Ming where the attackers’ village was located.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming agreed to make the attackers’ home pay for the ambush, and Dongming Shuliu reported that the Seventh Squad would arrive within fifteen minutes.

Nightless Sky Huo Ming took command of the squad and led Lin Yu to K3 District to confront the Great Wilderness People responsible for the attack. After arriving at their settlement, Bandi ordered a cannon strike to wash the town with Emotion Energy, leaving the assault underway.

• Nightless Sky Huo Ming took command of the Seventh Squad and ordered the captives brought along to K3 District.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming apologized to Lin Yu, and the two exchanged goodwill as their cooperation grew closer.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming's team arrived at the crowded settlement in K3 District.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming ordered the important figures kept alive, while Bandi directed the squad to bombard the town with the Weather Alchemy Weapon Group.
• The heavy cannons fired blue Emotion Energy into the sky, where it burst into a torrential downpour over the settlement.

Lin Yu warned Nightless Sky Huo Ming that a mysterious enemy could alter people’s cognition, and they staged an interrogation to break the prisoners’ suggestions. Baron Shaka offered information in exchange for his children’s lives, but Nightless Sky Huo Ming remained determined to destroy the town.

• Nightless Sky Huo Ming’s forces captured the Great Wilderness residents and cleared the town after the Emotion Energy rain exposed them.
• Lin Yu told Nightless Sky Huo Ming that someone had altered the Turbine Gang’s and the Great Wilderness People’s cognition, and proposed using their emotions to break the influence.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming and Lin Yu staged a harsh interrogation, leading Baron Shaka to offer a confession about the person who hired the fifteen attackers.
• Baron Shaka explained his City That Never Sleeps connections and pleaded for mercy, but Nightless Sky Huo Ming said the town would be destroyed regardless.
• Baron Shaka accepted that he and the town might die, then asked to trade his own life for his children’s.

Lin Yu recovered the tracking device and considered whether the obstacles left by the Copper Furnace were meant to lower his guard. As Nightless Sky Huo Ming punished the Great Wilderness settlement, Lin Yu and Fu Luo discussed the deaths and their differing views on the rights of the Ten Realms’ natives.

• Lin Yu used Nightless Sky Huo Ming’s presence to break Baron Shaka’s defenses, and Baron Shaka revealed where he had hidden the tracking device.
• Lin Yu discovered that the device was locked onto Fu Luo and suspected the Copper Furnace had anticipated Fu Luo’s resurrection or transformation.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming executed nearly a hundred people involved in the attack, disarmed the remaining Great Wilderness People, and released them.
• Fu Luo questioned whether the deaths were justified, and Lin Yu argued that the Great Wilderness People had knowingly risked other lives and that the Barren Realm required different judgments.
• Fu Luo explained Order’s debate over the rights of the Ten Realms’ natives, contrasting Grandmaster’s indifference with the Professor’s efforts to limit Players’ impact.
• Lin Yu said he could treat everyone equally, while acknowledging that he might calculate or sacrifice natives, Players, or people from his own world when necessary.

Lin Yu and Fu Luo reached a Divine Power Group mining area, where Lin Yu planned to investigate secretly. After securing Nightless Sky Huo Ming’s permission and arranging contingencies, he slipped away unseen and began infiltrating the site.

• Lin Yu told Nightless Sky Huo Ming he would investigate the mining area with Sherlock while she negotiated with Divine Power Group.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming agreed to let Lin Yu proceed and said she would prepare for the possibility of a conflict.
• Lin Yu refused Truth Company's elite equipment and left the transport vehicle with Fu Luo.
• After leaving Huo Ming’s surveillance range, Lin Yu stored Fu Luo in the [Ancient Notebook], released Hannah, and concealed himself.
• Lin Yu used his abilities to reach the mining area and passed through its concrete wall with [Gray Spirit Eye]'s Spirit Body Transformation.

Lin Yu disguised himself as Vice President Gelt and entered Divine Power Group’s mining area with Old Zheng and Fu Luo to investigate conditions at the site. His questioning drew out local administrators, who recognized him and forced him to deny his identity.

• Lin Yu released Old Zheng and Fu Luo, had them disguise themselves as elite professionals, and changed his own appearance with [Mask].
• Lin Yu led his companions through the mining area and questioned workers about their employers, the manager’s attendance, benefits, and conflicts between company staff.
• Fu Luo recorded the workers’ answers as Lin Yu prepared to continue to another mining area.
• Local administrators hurried over and addressed Lin Yu as President Gelt, and Lin Yu denied being Vice President Gelt despite their recognizing his face.

Lin Yu impersonated President Gelt to investigate a Divine Power Group mining area and coaxed its managers into revealing signs of Sherlock’s earlier infiltration. The chapter ended when a Truth Company transport vehicle, possibly carrying Nightless Sky Huo Ming, was spotted outside the site.

• Lin Yu posed as President Gelt and criticized the mining area's security while Old Zheng reinforced his authority.
• Lin Yu told the operations manager that Sherlock had been near the mine a week earlier, prompting the manager to recall equipment failures and a malfunctioning perimeter gate.
• Lin Yu claimed Sherlock's party had come for Azure ore but said the reason was beyond the manager's level.
• A security officer reported that a Truth Company transport vehicle from the Lingxi Detachment was parked outside and might be carrying Nightless Sky Huo Ming.

Lin Yu impersonated Vice President Gelt to learn about the mining district and evade Nightless Sky Huo Ming, then discussed how the killer may have helped disable the equipment during Fu Luo’s earlier Instance. Old Zheng argued that the killer planned to silence Fu Luo and Captain Gao Shan from the start.

• Lin Yu told the division manager to receive Nightless Sky Huo Ming normally, conceal his visit, and give him time to leave.
• Lin Yu departed with Old Zheng and Fu Luo, then discussed the information they had uncovered.
• Lin Yu concluded that the mining district was connected to Fu Luo’s earlier [Clearance Conditions] and that the Instance was likely a puzzle-solving or survival type.
• Fu Luo and Lin Yu suspected the killer had helped disable several alchemical devices, while Old Zheng suggested the killer could have hidden a crude sabotage method with Cognitive Disturbance.
• Old Zheng reasoned that the killer had intended to silence Fu Luo and Captain Gao Shan, so Fu Luo’s suspicions had never mattered to him.

Lin Yu realized the killer’s apparent carelessness was a deliberate provocation and questioned Old Zheng about a Soul Locator used to track Fu Luo. Old Zheng revealed that Princess Bai Yue had given him the device, leaving Fu Luo to accuse him of giving away a gift from his lover.

• Lin Yu recognized that the killer had deliberately left clues and provoked him after completing preparations for another attack.
• Old Zheng identified the device as a Soul Locator from Mist Island’s Previous Civilization, which recorded a soul’s unique mental frequency.
• Lin Yu learned the locator could track Fu Luo because the killer had recorded Sherlock’s mental frequency while they fought together.
• Old Zheng admitted the locator had first belonged to him, then said he had passed it to Lacan, who likely gave it to another Psychology Society member.
• Lin Yu deduced Old Zheng had hesitated because Princess Bai Yue had given him the locator, and he explained to Fu Luo that Bai Yue was Old Zheng’s lover.
• Fu Luo accused Old Zheng of being inhuman for giving Lacan an item his lover had given him.

Lin Yu, Fu Luo, and Old Zheng found that the prototype Item offered no way to identify who had used it, leaving them with only a weak lead. Lin Yu rejoined Nightless Sky Huo Ming, and the group left the mining area for a Universal Trade Association outpost.

• Old Zheng explained that the Item recorded only one soul frequency at a time and could not reveal previous users, while Fu Luo and Lin Yu criticized his past decision to sell it.
• Lin Yu changed back into John H. Arthur, reunited with Fu Luo, and returned to the heavy vehicle to wait for Nightless Sky Huo Ming.
• Nightless Sky Huo Ming returned from meeting the mining-area personnel and said the Divine Power Group representatives had seemed unusually meek.
• Bandi offered Nightless Sky Huo Ming a new Truth Company beverage, whose packaging featured numerous photographs of Paris and amused the group.
• The heavy vehicle departed the mining area and headed for a Universal Trade Association sentry outpost about two hours away.

Nightless Sky Huo Ming brought her Pioneer Team to a Universal Trade Association outpost, where Lin Yu and Old Zheng uncovered signs of a secret battle between Players. The disguised Nightless Sky Fire Apricot revealed himself to Lin Yu and said no one had died there during the past week.

• Nightless Sky Huo Ming requested paid maintenance and supplies at Outpost No. 095, and Lin Yu agreed to investigate while the team rested.
• Lin Yu and Old Zheng detected traces of a Mist Island Item in the lounge and concluded that two Players had secretly fought there.
• Fu Luo examined the lounge and found signs of a brief, restrained battle, while Old Zheng said the witnesses' memories had been deleted and might contain traps.
• A disguised adviser told Lin Yu that no one had died in the battle or during the past week, then revealed himself as Nightless Sky Fire Apricot.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said Nightless Sky Huo Ming knew he had joined the expedition but thought he had come to the Great Wilderness just to fool around.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot used alchemy and the [Ancient Notebook] to recover memories from seven mice in the lounge, revealing that Fu Luo and Gao Shan had once discussed delivering ritual materials to the Great Wilderness People. Old Zheng identified a powerful candidate behind the interference as “Tycoon.”

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot claimed no expert or Otherworlder had died at the outpost and proposed extracting memories from the lounge’s mice instead of the outpost personnel.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot used her alchemical modifications to extract the mice’s memories and the [Ancient Notebook] to restore them.
• Lin Yu and the others watched the mice’s memories until they heard Gao Shan and Fu Luo discussing gathered materials and delivering them to the Great Wilderness People conducting a ritual.
• Fu Luo concluded that the unknown person had strong ties to Mist Island and the Barren Realm and had earned his and Gao Shan’s trust.
• Old Zheng named “Tycoon” as a candidate for the person behind the interference.

Lin Yu and the others watched a Memory showing an attacker luring Gao Shan away by appearing to be the dead Captain Gong Xian. They suspected corpse manipulation, and Lin Yu said he knew an expert in the Barren Realm who could do it.

• Lin Yu argued that Tycoon was probably not the culprit, though he would investigate him if decisive evidence emerged.
• In the Memory, Fu Luo told Gao Shan that the bounty issuer had anonymously offered an Earth Scroll that remained safely stored with the Nightless Sky Family.
• A disguised attacker burst into the lounge, struck Gao Shan with a Mental Power attack, and accused him and Fu Luo of prying into forbidden secrets.
• Gao Shan overpowered the attacker and tore off their hood, revealing someone who appeared to be Gong Xian, whom Gao Shan believed had sacrificed himself.
• The apparent Gong Xian fled, and Gao Shan chased after him despite Fu Luo's warning that it might be a trap; Fu Luo followed.
• After the Memory ended, Fu Luo suspected the Mortician, while Lin Yu said he knew an expert in the Barren Realm skilled in corpse manipulation.

Lin Yu questioned Nightless Sky Fire Apricot about the corpse-manipulating attacker and concluded that the assault on Captain Gao Shan could have involved disguise or cognitive interference instead. He prepared to investigate the second battlefield with Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, but was shocked when her raccoon, Captain, spoke.

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot jokingly lunged at Lin Yu with a retractable toy knife after he connected her corpse-manipulating ability to the attack.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot explained how she created her corpse-manipulating alchemy and said someone might have copied it, though she had taught it to no one.
• Lin Yu reasoned that the attacker might have used a disguised living person or cognitive interference to make Captain Gao Shan recognize a dead acquaintance as Gong Xian.
• Lin Yu decided to investigate the second battlefield in the wild and invited Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, who brought her raccoon, Captain.
• Captain thanked Lin Yu for letting him join the operation, leaving Lin Yu astonished that the raccoon could talk.

Lin Yu and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot set out into the Great Wilderness to find Gao Shan, and Lin Yu used a compass to choose their direction. As they traveled, he steered their conversation toward the privileges and responsibilities of being Chosen of God, hoping to persuade Nightless Sky Fire Apricot to take on that role.

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot explained that her Supreme Alchemy had granted Captain wisdom by nourishing its soul with her own knowledge, but that the process had many limits.
• Lin Yu left the bar with Fu Luo, Old Zheng, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, and Captain to search for Gao Shan in the Great Wilderness.
• When the wind had erased Gao Shan's tracks, Lin Yu used a compass-like Item to point them toward the direction he wanted to investigate.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot explained that Chosen of God could use Supreme Alchemy more easily because they borrowed divine power, and that the role brought other blessings as well.
• Lin Yu suggested that being Chosen of God might be carefree if the family head handled daily duties, pressing Nightless Sky Fire Apricot on whether the role's responsibilities were optional.

Lin Yu found the place where Captain Gao Shan had died and discovered that an enemy had turned his corpse into a monster. Nightless Sky Fire Apricot revealed that the depression held about nine hundred activated corpses, leaving the group facing a vast undead threat.

• Lin Yu and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot discussed how becoming a Chosen of God could give her the freedom she wanted.
• Lin Yu used the [Compass] to lead Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, Fu Luo, and Old Zheng to the abandoned mining site where Gao Shan had died.
• Fu Luo began searching for Gao Shan’s remains as Lin Yu considered whether Gao Shan might still be alive or have been spared by the culprit.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot spread life force while Old Zheng released his Mental Power, causing a buried figure to rise as a monster made from Gao Shan’s corpse.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot discovered that the depression contained about nine hundred activated corpses.