Recaps

The Imperial Observatory withdrew after Gao Linzhi defeated one of its level-100 experts, while the Game System made his livestream the center of public attention. As other players prepared to sacrifice gold for buffs, Gao Linzhi asked the headmaster for powerful evil targets to hunt for event rewards, and she began naming them.

• The Fourth Prince learned that Zhang Shouyi had been defeated and feared the Imperial Observatory would withdraw from its operations against the players.
• Imperial Observatory agents withdrew from multiple locations, allowing battered streamers to escape seals by force quitting or choosing death.
• The Game System broadcast Gao Linzhi's livestream across electronic devices, and viewers saw his score rise to 1.55 million points.
• Players confronted Skyfall's Most Handsome about their inability to buy event items, and he offered to unlock a Method of Sacrifice that exchanged gold for buffs.
• Gao Linzhi used a Substitute Puppet to continue livestreaming while he visited the headmaster to ask for evil figures above level 100 to hunt.
• The headmaster recommended the Black Madman of the Thousand Islands Sea and a dangerous mermaid south of Capital Island.

Gao Linzhi exploited the Game System’s enhancement items to strengthen his Blade Intent enough to kill powerful BOSSes, then traveled to the Thousand Islands Sea to target the Black Madman. After learning about the tyrant’s brutal gladiator scheme, Gao Linzhi spotted two talented youths whose selection would likely draw the Black Madman out in person.

• Gao Linzhi chose the Black Madman as his target and used fifty Blade Intent Enhancement Talismans to gain temporary Heavenly Dao-level Blade Intent with the power of a Level 150 God of Blades.
• Gao Linzhi traveled to the Thousand Islands Sea, where the Black Madman ruled through a gladiator scheme that deceived gifted youths and killed or enslaved them for entertainment.
• Gao Linzhi arrived on an island during a selection competition and watched Zhang Xiaoshan, Li Si, and Xiao Mei travel toward the city.
• Gao Linzhi recognized Zhang Xiaoshan and Li Si as exceptionally talented youths who could reach the finals and draw the Black Madman out in person.

Gao Linzhi followed Zhang Xiaoshan, Li Si, and Xiao Mei to a city, where he secretly helped them by disguising constitution-boosting items as fruit. As the three entered the city to prepare for the arena competition, two champions began a match before a cheering crowd.

• Gao Linzhi overheard the players Xiaoyao Tianshang, Xiaoyao Dixia, and Xiaoyao Shanzhong discussing their quest to find Black Madman's true form, and decided to let them follow the three young people too.
• The six followers reached a prosperous city governed by Black Madman, where Zhang Xiaoshan and Li Si both bought flowers for Xiao Mei.
• Gao Linzhi disguised constitution-boosting items as Fragrant Fruits; Zhang Xiaoshan ate several, then secretly gave Xiao Mei some that increased her strength.
• Li Si returned with a Short Sword, argued with Zhang Xiaoshan over Xiao Mei, and then the three agreed to enter the city and visit the arena.
• Two fighters entered the arena as the announcer told the crowd that winning 108 matches in a row would earn an audience with the gods and the title of island lord.

Zhang Xiaoshan, Li Si, and Xiao Mei ate Zhang Xiaoshan’s fortune fruit, broke through their limits, and entered a brutal team battle at the arena. After defeating three successive challenges, they earned the nobles’ applause.

• Zhang Xiaoshan caught Li Si trying to flee the arena and persuaded him to stay by warning that their village would be punished if they failed to register.
• Xiao Mei urged Zhang Xiaoshan to share his fortune fruit with Li Si, and all three locals underwent dramatic breakthroughs.
• Gao Linzhi realized that, as an undigitized player, he could combine game attributes with the locals’ cultivation methods to keep developing his real body.
• The trio entered the team battle and used Zhang Xiaoshan’s shield, Li Si’s chain, and Xiao Mei’s twin blades to defeat twelve armored guards.
• The three killed two armed Brown Bears and then survived a complex array of blades, fire jets, and falling cages, earning a standing ovation from the nobles.

Zhang Xiaoshan, Xiao Mei, and Li Si faced Black Madman in the arena’s final stage, where Li Si was killed and Gao Linzhi struck down the villain’s puppet body. Gao Linzhi then pursued Black Madman’s escaping soul to a hidden Crystal Palace beneath the sea.

• Zhang Xiaoshan, Xiao Mei, and Li Si reached the arena’s final stage, where Black Madman appeared and trapped them with a giant hand.
• Black Madman crushed Li Si, then reached for Xiao Mei while Zhang Xiaoshan struggled to save her.
• Gao Linzhi attacked Black Madman with Blade Intent, splitting his puppet body and forcing his soul to flee underground.
• Gao Linzhi used the Game System’s Minimap to track Black Madman to an underwater Crystal Palace hidden beneath an Undersea Anomaly.
• The three players received a quest to revive Li Si as Gao Linzhi entered the Crystal Palace’s deep-sea surroundings.

Gao Linzhi killed the Black Madman in its hidden seabed lair and used a Soul-Cleansing Talisman to destroy its remaining soul, earning a huge loot drop. Back at the arena, three unfamiliar players arrived and discussed the apparent scripted death, while Xiaoyao Tianshang mistook them for game operators.

• Gao Linzhi broke into the Black Madman's Secret Room and defeated it with repeated blade strikes despite its attempts to resist and surrender.
• Gao Linzhi used a million-Skyfall-Stone Soul-Cleansing Talisman to purge the Black Madman's residual soul, then collected its equipment, items, and Skyfall Stones.
• At the arena, Zhang Xiaoshan and Xiao Mei prepared to bury their dead companion as Xiaoyao Tianshang, Xiaoyao Dixia, and Xiaoyao Shanzhong returned and approached them.
• Three strange newcomers emerged from the collapsed stands, and Xiao Mei explained that a powerful blade aura had killed the mastermind controlling the event.
• The newcomers speculated that an NPC had stolen the Black Madman's scripted death and discussed their inability to obtain the game event items needed to defeat it.
• Xiaoyao Tianshang concluded that the newcomers were mysterious game operators who had entered the game to hunt the Black Madman.

Gao Linzhi returned to the arena and defeated the three operator players who had trapped Zhang Xiaosan and Xiao Mei, then turned them to stone. The Carefree trio watched in fear and questioned whether the operators truly had the power to ban players.

• The operators bound Zhang Xiaosan and Xiao Mei, and the man in the short jacket used his cards to predict that their pursuer would return.
• After collecting Black Madman's drops, Gao Linzhi accepted the revival quest and returned to the arena, where Zhang Xiaosan warned him of an ambush.
• The three operators confronted Gao Linzhi, revealed they knew he was Canxue, and threatened to cripple him and wear down his revivals.
• Gao Linzhi destroyed the short-jacket man's saber with a curse, pierced the beautiful woman's shoulder, and cut the silver-armored man and his wolf apart with blade aura.
• When the operators threatened to ban him, Gao Linzhi tapped each of them and turned them to stone.
• The Carefree trio watched the defeat and guessed that the operators were outsourced customer-service workers rather than powerful administrators.

Summary of "The Laboratory's Inquiry, The Truth of the Game"

Key Plot Points and Events

• Gao Linzhi encounters three players (Free and Unfettered, and two others) who reveal their quests: finding Black Madman's true identity and reviving a companion.
• Gao Linzhi takes the three stone statues (operators) to the Shrine Safe Zone's underground laboratory for interrogation.
• The operators reveal they are game administrators, with Number Seven predicting player behavior, Number Twelve managing main storylines, and Number Ten overseeing operations.
• They confess to being from a secret company's research lab, having died and uploaded their consciousness into the game.
• Number Ten reveals it's an anomaly, not human, and has been observing and learning from humans since ancient times.

Character Developments

• Gao Linzhi: Realizes the true nature of the Skyfall Game and his role within it. He understands that the game is invading worlds and plundering their origins, using players as tools for conquest.
• The Operators: Reveal their true origins and purposes, showing their loyalty to the game and their belief in its goals.

Significant Themes

• The nature of reality and illusion: The operators reveal that the game is reality for the players, challenging Gao Linzhi's (and the readers') perception of the game's nature.
• Manipulation and free will: The operators explain that players' choices are within predictive models and algorithmic guidance, raising questions about free will and autonomy.
• Conquest and civilization: The game is revealed to be a form of civilization conquest, with players unknowingly aiding in the invasion and plunder of worlds.

Character Interactions

• Gao Linzhi interacts with the three players, offering his contact information for their quests.
• Gao Linzhi interrogates the three operators, learning about their origins and the game's true nature.
• The operators interact with each other, showing a hierarchical structure with Number Ten as the superior.

Gao Linzhi exposed the operators’ conflicting claims, then focused on cultivating with his real body and studied the Indestructible Diamond Technique. He sold Li Gun enhancement talismans and watched his livestream as the imperial court’s Sea Suppression Bureau approached Li Gun’s island.

• Gao Linzhi deduced that the three supposed operators were peripheral members who had mixed truth with lies, and he returned his attention to strengthening his real body.
• Gao Linzhi studied the Indestructible Diamond Technique and began sensing and influencing the probability-based Mysterious Energy within him.
• Gao Linzhi saw that Can Xue Waves Across the Map led the Sanction Rankings, while Li Gun had reached third place, and Li Gun asked to buy items for an impending fight.
• Gao Linzhi sold Li Gun twenty Staff Intent Enhancement Talismans and joined his livestream to observe the situation on the island.
• Li Gun identified the approaching force as three hundred elite Sea Suppression Bureau warriors led by Yue Zhongshan, a first-rank martial artist.

Yue Zhongshan’s brutal tax collection and the Iron-Faced Man’s scripted confrontation turned the villagers against the court, while Gao Linzhi studied their battle and traveled into the real world to investigate the livestream’s operators. He found a city where business confidence had collapsed, though supplies remained plentiful and some industries were thriving.

• Yue Zhongshan crushed the villagers with his power and dismissed their complaints about exorbitant taxes, prompting anger among livestream viewers.
• Li Gun sent the Iron-Faced Man to challenge Yue Zhongshan, who defended the court’s Mandate of Heaven as the Iron-Faced Man argued that courts existed to protect people from disasters and had failed these villagers.
• The Iron-Faced Man’s words emboldened the villagers to reject the court, and Yue Zhongshan attacked them before the Iron-Faced Man blocked his saber.
• Yue Zhongshan and the Iron-Faced Man fought for three days and three nights as the Black Armored Guards used an Ocean-Sweeping Formation; Gao Linzhi studied their Mysterious Energy and sent a Substitute Puppet to observe in person.
• Gao Linzhi went to the real world to investigate the operating company and saw businesses struggling as consumer confidence fell, while shelter construction and gold-related industries prospered.

Gao Linzhi rescued Qiu Changsheng from an aberration by giving him a modified Clear Mind Jade Pendant, and Qiu Changsheng escaped with a new advantage. Gao Linzhi then observed how people were preparing—or failing to prepare—for the dangers ahead.

• Gao Linzhi watched people debate gold shelters and survival as a livestream of Li Gun played on a street screen.
• Qiu Changsheng declared that the crisis offered a chance to seek Immortality, but an aberration's pale hand emerged from the screen and trapped him with mental suppression.
• Gao Linzhi gave Qiu Changsheng a modified Clear Mind Jade Pendant, allowing him to move again and repel the aberration.
• Qiu Changsheng escaped, tested the pendant, and learned that it raised his mental attributes to 100, strengthened his resistance to mental attacks, and repelled anomalies below Blue Tier.
• Gao Linzhi observed that most people kept working through fear, while some fled to the countryside or organized shelters with partners and supplies.

Gao Linzhi watched the Dream Eater spread terror through the city and entered a subway shelter to observe the anomalous entities. There, he witnessed the white-robed player Bai Ze defeat a monster using physical laws and leave behind a consultation card.

• Gao Linzhi saw the city company delay its alarm while executives fled, then watched residents crowd into shelters as the Dream Eater appeared and grew stronger from their fear.
• A giant eye manifested in a subway shelter, killing and transforming people as it learned to create new forms of fear.
• Gao Linzhi went to a shelter where monsters made by the giant eye were hunting through the tunnels.
• Bai Ze faced a monster assembled from human faces, anchored it in reality with a rune, and used a fire hydrant’s water to wash it away.
• Bai Ze offered a consultation card to the unseen Gao Linzhi, who took it and passed it to a stunned white-collar worker.

Gao Linzhi observed Bai Ze and the Anomalous Phenomena Consulting and Handling company as they responded to a Dream Eater threatening the city. After the company mobilized people to sedate those in the shelters, the anomaly weakened, and Gao Linzhi concluded that the real world’s laws of physics rapidly rejected strange entities without a supply of fear.

• Gao Linzhi followed Bai Ze to the Anomalous Phenomena Consulting and Handling office and watched its four employees refuse to help with the Blue Tier anomaly.
• A senior assistant from Longjing Corporation hired Bai Ze for 500 kilograms of gold, and Bai Ze accepted despite the other players’ refusal to join him.
• Bai Ze confronted the Dream Eater and realized it grew stronger by feeding on people’s fear.
• Bai Ze told the assistant to make people stop being afraid, and she mobilized company security and hospital staff to inject sedatives into people at the shelters.
• As the sedatives suppressed fear, the white anomaly rapidly weakened, and Gao Linzhi concluded that physical laws in the real world caused strange entities to crumble without psychic energy.

Gao Linzhi discovered that the real world naturally rejected anomalies, while people organized futile defenses and considered fleeing to space. As another city fell to the Dream Eater, Federation leaders debated how to coordinate an emergency response.

• Gao Linzhi found the anomaly in Bear City reduced to one crowded building and realized it survived by drawing mental energy from people and relying on a company's support.
• Gao Linzhi returned to the earlier city and watched its anomaly and the White Mist disappear as residents celebrated, blamed the delayed warning, and began organizing around ancestral shrines.
• Gao Linzhi understood that shrines could not protect people under the real world's laws, while company executives allowed residents to build them as potential bait.
• Gao Linzhi read forum reports that the Dream Eater had ruined Great Goose City, and he considered whether mental isolation might make Space Stations safer from anomalies.
• At the Federation headquarters, Shi Zhongsheng urged senior executives to establish an emergency response system, but they struggled to secure funding and participation from major companies and high-level players.

Shi Tiansheng gathered company leaders and rogue players to decide how to coordinate the fight against anomalies, as the companies debated central government versus a specialized response body. At the meeting in Dragon City, the attendees began favoring a Special Tier institution, but no final decision was reached.

• Shi Tiansheng proposed appointing a temporary king to coordinate the companies, but executives argued over whether to centralize power or create a specialized anomaly-response organization.
• The executives invited leaders of the five major companies and powerful rogue players, including Gao Linzhi, to a meeting in Dragon City.
• Gao Linzhi accepted the invitation to learn about the balance of power and gather information, then traveled to the meeting a week later.
• Shi Tiansheng reported that a Thousand-Faced Mother had killed forty-seven people in Longcheng before being contained.
• Su Hongxiu offered ten level-80 experts from Aomori Company, and Shi Tiansheng asked whether the companies should form a powerful central authority or a Special Tier institution focused on anomalies.
• The attendees began expressing support for the specialized institution, while Gao Linzhi recognized that Shi Tiansheng had steered the discussion toward that option.

Shi Tiansheng and the company representatives established the Anomalous Events Countermeasures Bureau, while Gao Linzhi refused a leadership position and planned to secretly turn the Bureau into a tool for pursuing Immortality. A week after its formation, the Bureau swiftly contained a city-destroying anomaly.

• Shi Tiansheng negotiated the Bureau’s funding, authority, leadership, and structure with the five major companies, which agreed to protect Rogue Players who obeyed the law.
• Gao Linzhi rejected Shi Tiansheng’s nomination for Deputy Director of the Action Group, citing the companies’ past persecution of Rogue Players and refusing to serve as cannon fodder.
• Gao Linzhi privately planned to manipulate the Countermeasures Bureau into helping him pursue Immortality.
• The Countermeasures Bureau was established a week later with headquarters in Dragon City and on Wolf Snake Island.
• The Bureau dispatched powerful personnel and game items within ten minutes of an emergency call and sealed a city-destroying anomaly in half an hour.

Gao Linzhi profited from the response to emerging anomalies and saved his free attribute points after winning the Punishment Ranking event. Meanwhile, the players and the Heavenly Wolf Empire remained locked in a tax dispute, and the Fourth Prince learned that the court would rather wait for the players to leave than provoke them.

• Gao Linzhi expanded his trade in sealing supplies and game items but told Wuliao that daily store purchase limits prevented them from increasing production.
• Gao Linzhi took first place in the Punishment Ranking event, earned the title Grand General of the Universe, and kept his 930 Free Attribute Points in reserve.
• The court cut taxes to divide the villagers from the players, leaving both sides in a tense standoff as villagers urged the players not to rebel.
• The Fourth Prince discussed using players to target independent players with Player One, Player Two, and Player Three, but the court rejected his plan and chose to wait for the players to leave.

The Fourth Prince and three players devised a plan to use an anomaly against players, trapping them when they logged in or out. Gao Linzhi identified the court’s attack, reached East Wolf Village safely, and the Game System launched a quest to resolve the spatial anomaly.

• Player One warned the Fourth Prince that powerful players might eventually rebel, and Player Three proposed winning players over with shared resources.
• When the Fourth Prince said openly recruiting players could make the court suspicious, Player One proposed offering bounties to make players kill one another, while Player Two suggested using an anomaly to block hostile players from entering.
• The Fourth Prince and the Imperial Observatory found an anomaly that could detect players’ login points and drag them into its own space.
• Hardest Rock and other players were forced offline or trapped, while Gao Linzhi used an Anomaly Story Instance Ticket to log in at East Wolf Village.
• Gao Linzhi told players the imperial court was using the anomaly to cut off travel between worlds, and the Game System activated the temporary quest Resolve the Mysterious Spatial Anomaly.

Gao Linzhi realized the operators could not control the Game System and refused to risk himself against the space-based strange entity, instead advising and supplying the players who took on the quest. More than a hundred thousand players gathered on Wolf Snake Island, where they organized into teams as Corporate Players sought to prove their value to the game developers.

• Gao Linzhi recognized that the operators could not obtain limited shop items directly and had used the temporary quest to draw players to his strange story instance.
• Players flocked to Wolf Snake Island, and Zheng Dong allowed a group of high-level representatives into East Wolf Village to meet Gao Linzhi.
• Gao Linzhi warned the players about the entity, learned its origins from Li Gun, and sold them supplies without raising prices.
• The representatives shared their grievances about being controlled by Company Executive Players and prepared more than a hundred thousand players to enter the instance in organized teams.
• Some players considered deliberately failing the quest to pressure Gao Linzhi, but others rejected the plan because their corporate backers needed to demonstrate that Corporate Players were essential.

Gao Linzhi watched players struggle against a supernatural dungeon that stripped away their senses while he continued cultivating in the real world. After a week of failed attempts, The World's Laziest Person cleared the instance, banishing the monster and restoring normal logins.

• High-level players discussed how the game favored corporate players and speculated about Gao Linzhi’s precautions against being exploited.
• Gao Linzhi dismissed warnings that players planned to fail the mission to pressure him, then returned to cultivating Skyfall World techniques.
• Cannon-fodder players entered the dungeon and died after losing their sight, hearing, and speech, while elite players later reported thorn traps, a constricting creature, and mental attacks.
• Players inferred that the monster’s story involved a betrayed husband and theorized that finding a Wu Song figure would clear the dungeon.
• After three days of failed attempts and lingering effects on players, The World's Laziest Person cleared the dungeon, and the game increased BOSS drop rates as compensation.

After a Rogue Player’s sleeping talent accidentally exhausted an anomaly’s resentment, Shi Tiansheng persuaded the authorities and game operators to protect Rogue Players. The chapter ended with a mysterious building in a metropolis that no one could see.

• World's Laziest Person explained that he had slept through the anomaly, and players concluded his talent had kept him alive until the anomaly’s resentment ran out.
• Gao Linzhi decided to have Wuliao test the sleeping talent while he continued cultivating.
• The Fourth Prince learned that the anomaly had vanished after repeatedly attacking the sleeping player until it exhausted its resentment.
• Shi Tiansheng urged the company executives to protect Rogue Players because the variety of their talents could help humanity survive future anomalies.
• Two days later, the game announced restrictions on player hunting and PK, expanded the Safe Zone, and penalties for repeatedly hunting other players.
• A building in a major metropolis appeared that was invisible to everyone else.

Three hidden Skyfall Game operators admitted that Rogue Players were vital and proposed protections for them, despite their limited control over the Game System. The system accepted their suggestions, and Gao Linzhi realized its frequent updates reflected a surge in power after the court’s retreat.

• The three operators discussed how relying on Corporate Players had endangered the Game System and decided to prioritize protecting Rogue Players.
• They proposed offline protections and several game changes, including beginner safeguards, Return Scrolls, and three free revives each day.
• Two hours later, the Game System announced that all players would receive three daily free revives and could choose a Safe Zone to return to.
• Players noticed that Wolf Snake Island was among the recommended Safe Zones, making it famous as a refuge from company hunters.
• Gao Linzhi observed the Game System’s increasingly frequent updates and concluded it had gained World Source by repelling the court’s attack.

A major update protected solo players and let them bring family members into the Skyfall World, prompting Gao Linzhi to expand East Wolf Village and verify its Safe Zone against a recurring anomaly. When Rogue Players proposed founding a country, Gao Linzhi refused, leaving them to pursue the plan themselves.

• The update introduced village-wide Safe Zones, three free resurrections, and the Visitor Module, while solo players celebrated and discussed forming an alliance to settle their families on islands.
• Three weeks later, Gao Linzhi surveyed construction plans in East Wolf Village as a recurring Faceless Man approached and the expanded Safe Zone dispersed its mist.
• Gao Linzhi considered the village's capacity and supply needs, then left development applications to Wuliao and his other subordinates.
• Wuliao told Gao Linzhi that Rogue Players wanted to found a country, but Gao Linzhi refused to join, reasoning that its government would attract resentment and anomaly attacks.
• The Rogue Players mocked Gao Linzhi's refusal and decided to recruit visitors and build their own power.

Rogue Players began organizing to found a dynasty and build a city-state, while Bai Ze and his boss weighed how the plan could affect their company and its ties to the major companies. The founding meeting revealed that the organizers had seized dozens of island Safe Zones and wanted Rogue Players and their visitors to relocate there.

• Rogue Players debated founding a dynasty, arguing that free revivals, Safe Zones, visitors, and online commerce gave them the means to unite.
• Bai Ze read reports of the plan and warned his boss that a united Rogue Players faction could target Corporate Players for revenge.
• Bai Ze and his boss discussed whether a Rogue Players city-state could succeed, noting its need for real-world food, energy, and anomaly-free production.
• Gao Linzhi considered how the game update had given Rogue Players the revivals and Safe Zones needed to organize against Corporate Players.
• Gou in Skyfall opened a public founding meeting and called for Rogue Players to control at least ten islands before establishing a city-state.
• Gou in Skyfall announced that the organizers had taken control of dozens of island Safe Zones and urged players and visitors to move there and build their new home.

The five major companies decided to build online dynasties through puppet kings to counter the Rogue Players, but their first candidate, Li Gun, refused. They then considered turning Company Executive Player Empty 2086 into an independent player and potential ruler.

• Rogue Players discussed founding a nation, organizing a mobile government in East Wolf Village, and seeking supplies from offline cities, while Gao Linzhi remained focused on pursuing Immortality.
• The five major companies debated the risks and benefits of founding dynasties, then agreed to control puppet kings from behind the scenes and let them bear the dangers.
• The companies chose Li Gun as their first candidate because of his reputation, but he saw through their plan and refused to become king.
• After learning Li Gun would not cooperate, Zhou Xuantong of Canglong wondered who else they could recruit.
• Su Hongxiu proposed turning Company Executive Player Empty 2086 into an independent player and using him as a potential puppet king.