Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Commissioned Auction, Memories of the Past”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Starlight Merchant Guild’s invitations allow guests to teleport directly to the auction venue, demonstrating the guild’s mastery of God’s Domain’s rules while excluding anyone without an invitation.
• Zhang Mingzhen, known as Lord Chongxing, arrives and meets Lan Changfeng and his father, the Mysterious Man, in a heavily protected secret room.
• Zhang consigns twelve pieces of Golden Tier equipment and several surplus treasures for auction. He also asks the guild to search for information about dungeons above Level 80, offering Gold Coins or equipment as a reward for reliable clues.
• The Mysterious Man agrees to mobilize both the merchant guild and its scouting team. He hints that the auction may contain something Zhang will want.
• Zhang is escorted to the highest-ranked VIP room, First-Class Number One. The luxurious room hierarchy is clearly designed to emphasize status and encourage wealthy guests to spend more.
• Members of the Legion Guild occupy the neighboring VIP room and closely monitor Zhang and the Starlight Merchant Guild. They suspect the guild is forming alliances and expanding beyond the role of a simple merchant organization.
• The auction begins with Gongzi Su explaining that Gold Coins are the primary currency. The event has two parts: a treasure auction and a later special trading session, introducing a new gameplay system.
• The first item, Level 70 Golden Tier Battlefield Boots, sparks intense bidding and sells to the Rugged Glory Guild for 21,000 Gold Coins.
• Subsequent items include unusual player-created potions, transformation and illusion medicines, formation tools, and Resurrection Medicine.
• A highly valuable Level 76 Golden Tier Frost Crystal Sword for Heavenly Strategists appears. Its powerful attributes trigger fierce competition between rival guilds, especially War Sky and Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven.

Character Developments

• Zhang Mingzhen: Shows his wealth, influence, and practical mindset by auctioning excess Golden Tier equipment rather than hoarding it. His main goal is acquiring information about high-level dungeons, revealing his continued interest in exploration and advancement. He also remains perceptive, suspecting that the Starlight Merchant Guild may know more than it admits.
• The Mysterious Man: Demonstrates strategic foresight and strong organizational resources. He immediately agrees to help Zhang while subtly promoting the auction, suggesting the guild may have valuable hidden motives or items.
• Lan Changfeng: Acts as a respectful and enthusiastic host, personally escorting Zhang and reflecting the special treatment the guild gives him.
• Legion Guild executives: Become increasingly suspicious and resentful of the Starlight Merchant Guild and independent experts like Zhang. Their desire to control powerful players exposes the Legion’s authoritarian attitude.
• Know by Heart: Takes a more cautious, investigative role. Rather than acting rashly, he focuses on discovering the merchant guild’s intentions before deciding how the Legion should respond.
• Gao Linzhi: Reflects nostalgically on the early days of the Skyfall Game, recognizing that the uncertainty and exploration of the pioneering stage were more enjoyable than the predictable “late game.”
• War Sky and Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven: Their old rivalry resurfaces as they compete for the Frost Crystal Sword, showing that their personal competition extends into the auction.

Significant Themes

• Power and independence: The chapter contrasts the Legion Guild’s desire to control powerful players with Zhang and the Starlight Merchant Guild’s independent growth.
• Commerce as influence: The auction is more than a marketplace; it brings major factions together, strengthens alliances, and potentially shifts the balance of power.
• Scarcity and status: Golden Tier equipment, VIP-room rankings, and high prices emphasize the value of rare resources and the social hierarchy developing in God’s Domain.
• Innovation and player agency: Players are adapting original game formulas to create new potions and tools, showing how they are reshaping the world through experimentation.
• Nostalgia and the life cycle of games: Gao Linzhi’s memories highlight the excitement of discovery and the loss of wonder that can accompany becoming powerful and familiar with a game.
• Competition and rivalry: The bidding battles reveal how guild pride, personal preferences, and long-standing rivalries influence economic decisions.

Important Character Interactions

• Zhang negotiates with the Mysterious Man over consigning equipment and obtaining high-level dungeon intelligence.
• The Mysterious Man and Lan Changfeng treat Zhang with exceptional respect, reinforcing their close relationship and possible alliance.
• Legion Guild members debate whether Zhang and the Starlight Merchant Guild have become dangerous rivals.
• Know by Heart moderates the Legion’s more aggressive members and insists that they first uncover the merchant guild’s objectives.
• Auction participants compete for Golden Tier gear, with the Rugged Glory Guild defeating the Divine General Guild for the Battlefield Boots.
• War Sky and Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven reignite their familiar contest over the Frost Crystal Sword, each determined to secure the weapon for their Heavenly Strategist experts.

Chapter Summary: “Shocking Auction: An Item Worth Tens of Millions of Gold Coins!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The auction reaches its most intense stage when War Sky and Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven compete for a powerful golden main-hand weapon. Their rivalry drives the price from 100,000 to 140,000 Gold Coins.
• Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven ultimately wins the weapon. War Sky gives up because the purchase would be for him personally, and he refuses to spend guild reserves needed for supplies.
• Imperial Dynasty Little Princess teases her brother for spending extravagantly on equipment, while he defends the purchase as a necessary investment in combat power.
• The next major item is the Golden Toad, a wonder-quality furniture item that produces pills when fed Gold Coins. Its durability means it must eventually be repaired, creating an ongoing Gold Coin sink.
• After the auctioneer reveals that the Golden Toad can produce pills at least as valuable as the Rebirth Elixir, bidding rises sharply. Zhang Mingzhen wins it for 200,000 Gold Coins, largely because he is curious about whether it can create unknown or new types of pills.
• Other items are auctioned, including a size- and strength-enhancing item that attracts physical classes, especially Shield Guards. The Legion Guild obtains most of the useful special equipment.
• The grand finale is revealed: the Jade Codex Golden Page, a single-use item that allows its user to ask God’s Domain one question and receive a correct answer, provided the question falls within the system’s permitted limits.
• The item cannot answer questions about God’s Domain’s ultimate origin, escaping the game, or destroying its monsters, but it can answer questions about personal advancement, game rules, and fundamental knowledge.
• The starting price is one million Gold Coins, but the bidding rapidly escalates past five million and then ten million. Only several major factions remain, with Room Two bidding 15 million.
• The auction has already succeeded in establishing the Star Vault Merchant Guild’s reputation, though the merchant guild’s decision to sell the Jade Page had initially been controversial internally.

Character Developments

• War Sky is shown as competitive, impatient, and unwilling to rely on vague promises of future rewards. He would rather secure an exceptional weapon immediately than wait for another possible dungeon drop.
• Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven/Yu Tian views equipment primarily as a means of securing survival, damage output, and influence. He believes greater combat power is essential for leading a guild and forming stronger teams.
• Imperial Dynasty Little Princess remains playful and materialistic, valuing attractive possessions, while Yu Tian dismisses appearance in favor of practical strength.
• Zhang Mingzhen demonstrates enormous wealth and increasing curiosity about the deeper mechanics of God’s Domain. Although he originally entered the game to revive his parents, his attention is gradually shifting toward realms, life levels, and the game’s secrets.
• Gao Linzhi is revealed to possess only partial authority over the Skyfall System. He cannot directly obtain or monitor everything within the game, so he plans to manipulate player “chess pieces” into purchasing and using the Jade Codex Golden Page on his behalf.
• The chapter suggests that major players are increasingly motivated by power, survival, and hidden truths rather than their original ideals.

Significant Themes

• Wealth inequality and power concentration: The auction reflects how wealthy guild leaders can drive prices to absurd levels, much like wealthy individuals in the real world.
• Capital and exploitation: Background discussions compare guild wealth to modern workplace inequality, where bosses control resources while ordinary employees bear the costs.
• Combat power versus superficial value: Yu Tian argues that practical strength matters more than attractive but useless possessions, especially in a dangerous reality where defeat can mean death.
• Curiosity and uncertainty: The Golden Toad appeals to buyers because of its unknown potential, while the Jade Codex Golden Page is valuable because every faction has unanswered questions.
• Changing ideals: Zhang Mingzhen’s fading focus on reviving his parents illustrates how prolonged exposure to power and competition can corrupt or redirect one’s original purpose.
• Control of knowledge: The Jade Page represents potentially decisive access to truth, while Gao Linzhi’s plans show how powerful figures attempt to manipulate others to obtain information indirectly.
• Economic circulation: Durability costs and repair fees reveal that the game system deliberately removes Gold Coins from circulation to prevent inflation.

Important Character Interactions

• War Sky’s subordinates repeatedly urge him to stop bidding, warning that Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven will continue raising the price.
• Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven apologizes after winning the weapon but refuses to yield, showing that their rivalry outweighs diplomacy.
• Imperial Dynasty Little Princess mocks her brother’s spending, and Yu Tian counters by distinguishing useful combat equipment from her decorative purchases.
• Players debate whether bidding against Zhang Mingzhen or Chongxing might create political consequences, revealing the influence and feared temperaments of major figures.
• Zhang Mingzhen’s bid causes many observers to join the Golden Toad auction, believing that anything he wants must be valuable.
• Gongzi Su carefully reveals the Golden Page’s limitations to control the crowd’s excitement while preserving its extraordinary value.
• Gao Linzhi views the major players as tools and intends to guide them into asking questions about the Skyfall System, immortality, and ultimate power.

Chapter Summary: “A Frenzied Auction, a System-Level Question”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Starlight Auction House’s reputation soars as the auction attracts major guilds and wealthy players. The finale item, the Jade Book Golden Pages, reaches a price of twenty million Gold Coins.
• The Legion Guild appears likely to win until Chongxing unexpectedly bids fifty million Gold Coins. Unable to justify spending so much of its collective funds, the Legion Guild withdraws.
• The auction’s second half introduces a player-commissioned trading system, allowing players to request items, abilities, information, or barter deals through professional intermediaries.
• The first major commission seeks someone capable of converting one attribute into another. A player with a restricted version of the ability is found, and the deal is successfully completed, proving that the new system can produce results.
• Chongxing’s own commission seeks clues about a level-eighty dungeon, offering an extraordinary reward: within reason, he will fulfill one request from whoever provides useful information.
• A swordsman named Haoran reports having encountered a possible prerequisite quest dungeon. Though uncertain, the clue is valuable enough for Chongxing to investigate later in the Sword Cavern of the Seventh Major District.
• Other unusual commissions reveal the creativity of Earth’s players, including searches for rare materials, extraordinary individuals, and equipment suited to unconventional builds such as Luck-based strategies.
• After four hours, the auction ends in triumph. The Starlight Merchant Guild earns enormous wealth, establishes itself as God’s Domain’s foremost commercial power, and announces the creation of the game’s first commercial alliance.
• Returning home, Chongxing discovers that placing the Golden Toad curio in his level-five residence activates a special “Spirit Child System.” He exchanges the curio for a bound Golden Toad Child.
• The child initially calls him “Daddy,” irritating him, but then explains that it can refine and purify medicines. It processes Chongxing’s optimized Great Restoration Pill and produces a visibly superior golden pill.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Chongxing/Zhang Mingzhen continues to demonstrate his independence and enormous personal wealth by outbidding the Legion Guild. He refuses to be pressured by collective interests and remains focused on his own goals.
• Know by Heart recognizes the limits imposed on officials of a large guild. He understands that the Legion Guild’s size and organizational structure prevent it from making reckless individual decisions, even when doing so would secure valuable treasures.
• Gongzi Su proves effective as the auction’s intermediary, managing commissions, filtering messages, and ensuring that trades are completed efficiently.
• Haoran becomes a potential ally or information source for Chongxing after revealing his uncertain connection to a special quest dungeon.
• Gao Linzhi reflects on the vitality created by free experimentation among players and recognizes that the Merchant Guild may occupy an economic and social role comparable to an adventurers’ guild.
• Chongxing and the Golden Toad Child begin with an awkward and hostile dynamic. Chongxing dislikes being called “Daddy” and views the child as an inconvenient ball of flesh, but his attitude softens slightly when it demonstrates a valuable alchemical ability. The child quickly changes its address to “Master” after sensing his displeasure.

Significant Themes

• Individual power versus institutional limitations: Chongxing’s ability to act alone allows him to spend freely, while the Legion Guild’s collective structure makes it cautious and bureaucratic.
• Commercial influence and reputation: The auction establishes that economic power and public trust can rival military strength. The Starlight Merchant Guild becomes a major force through service, reliability, and innovation.
• Player creativity and self-directed development: The commissioned trades reveal countless unconventional talents, builds, and goals. The chapter emphasizes that players can discover new paths when they are not constrained by established systems.
• The “greater good” versus personal interest: Know by Heart questions whether appeals to collective interests still persuade people, especially when powerful individuals often act in their own interests.
• Growth through experimentation: The new trading system and the Golden Toad Child both demonstrate that unexpected mechanisms can create opportunities beyond established knowledge.
• The mystery of God’s Domain’s systems: The activation of the Spirit Child System suggests that advanced homes, curios, and rare NPCs may unlock hidden game mechanics with significant long-term value.

Important Character Interactions

• Chongxing’s fifty-million-Gold-Coins bid directly challenges the Legion Guild and forces it to abandon the Jade Book Golden Pages.
• Legion executives debate whether Chongxing can be persuaded to surrender the item for the guild’s research, but Know by Heart rejects the idea, knowing Chongxing distrusts appeals to the collective good.
• Gongzi Su mediates between players seeking attribute conversion and those offering the necessary ability.
• Gongzi Su relays Haoran’s uncertain dungeon clue to Chongxing, who accepts it rather than dismissing it.
• Chongxing questions the Golden Toad Child’s usefulness, then tests its purification ability by giving it a Great Restoration Pill. The child’s successful refinement hints that it may become an important asset.

Chapter Summary: “A Thunderbolt from the Blue, the Return of Xiao Yan’s Script”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zhang Mingzhen discovers that the Golden Toad Spirit Child can purify potions into a powerful Primordial Chaos Pill, which restores 10% mana per second to the user and up to five companions for one minute.
• The Golden Toad cannot currently brew high-level cultivation pills without rare materials, so Zhang assigns it to purify healing and mana potions. He leaves it one million Gold Coins, which it consumes to restore its vitality.
• Zhang uses the Jade Book Golden Pages to ask how to activate the Netherblood Orb. The answer states that the orb must absorb the life force of a living Level-Two being.
• Gao Linzhi secretly manipulates the Golden Pages, providing Zhang with a truthful answer while using his own authority to investigate the purpose of the Skyfall Game System.
• Gao learns that the system is not designed merely for entertainment or to empower chosen protagonists. Its ultimate purpose is to find a way to prevent the heat death of the greater universe and potentially restart it.
• Zhang chooses Lan Yue as the sacrifice. She is a Level-Two Azurewave Clan member whose body can no longer condense Spirit Cores and who is already approaching death.
• Lan Yue agrees to sacrifice herself in exchange for Zhang’s promise to treat her clansmen better and stop forcing them to exhaust their lives producing Spirit Cores.
• The Netherblood Orb awakens and grants the incomplete Life Drain ability, allowing Zhang to drain other bloodlines and potentially advance beyond Level Two.
• Zhang then commissions the Starlight Merchant Guild to locate Crimson Blood Jiao or similar creatures that might help increase the Azurewave Clan’s population.
• Before he can leave to investigate a dungeon in the Seventh Major District, the system punishes him for killing a Rare Tier NPC after using her. His Yin Yang Messenger talent is sealed for 365 days.
• To restore the talent, Zhang must revive Lan Yue and activate the side quest “Revive Lan Yue.” The system reveals that her revival requires searching dungeons above Level 80.
• Zhang travels to the Seventh Major District and meets Haoran, the player who may know about a prerequisite dungeon connected to Level 80 content.

Character Developments

• Zhang Mingzhen becomes increasingly pragmatic and utilitarian. He treats the Golden Toad as a resource and views Lan Yue primarily as a suitable sacrifice, though he offers her clansmen protection in return.
• His confidence in his path toward Immortality briefly increases after activating the Netherblood Orb, but the system’s punishment exposes how dependent he is on external powers.
• Zhang realizes that much of his strength comes from the Game System and that he can be reduced to an ordinary high-level player if the system withdraws its support.
• Lan Yue is portrayed as tragic and resigned. Though she willingly accepts sacrifice, her thoughts reveal bitterness toward a civilization that allows the weak to be discarded after their usefulness ends.
• Gao Linzhi develops as a morally opposed observer. He despises the exploitation and abandonment of people like Lan Yue and is prepared to punish Zhang if he fails to recognize the injustice of his actions.
• The Golden Toad Spirit Child retains its greedy, childlike personality but becomes a useful subordinate whose abilities may grow once rare materials are obtained.
• Gao Linzhi’s investigation reveals a broader, cosmic motivation behind the Game System, expanding the story beyond individual survival and advancement.

Significant Themes

• Exploitation and the morality of power: Zhang’s treatment of the Golden Toad and Lan Yue reflects a world in which weaker beings are valued only for their usefulness.
• The cost of survival: Lan Yue’s sacrifice shows how survival and advancement often require morally troubling decisions.
• Unchecked authority: Gao Linzhi argues that the true evil lies with rulers who possess unlimited power, not with ordinary people forced to endure unjust systems.
• Dependence on external power: Zhang’s talent-sealing punishment demonstrates that his seemingly overwhelming strength is conditional and controlled by the Game System.
• Cosmic mortality: The revelation about the system’s purpose introduces the theme of universal heat death and the possibility of restarting the greater universe.
• Redemption and consequences: The system’s demand that Zhang revive Lan Yue forces him to confront the consequences of discarding her, creating a possible path toward moral correction.
• Human nature and changing priorities: Zhang’s fading concern for resurrecting his parents suggests how quickly personal ideals can be displaced by immediate goals and power advancement.

Important Character Interactions

• Zhang and the Golden Toad negotiate over its abilities, limitations, and food requirements, establishing a master-servant relationship marked by exploitation and comic tension.
• Gao Linzhi secretly interacts with the Jade Book, answering Zhang’s question while pursuing his own investigation into the Game System.
• Zhang and Lan Yue have a final conversation in which he offers her protection for her clan in exchange for her voluntary sacrifice. Her compliance is outwardly obedient but inwardly filled with sorrow and resentment.
• Gao Linzhi observes Zhang’s treatment of Lan Yue and judges him harshly, seeing it as the kind of abuse committed by unchecked rulers.
• Zhang later meets Haoran, who idolizes him as a powerful player. Zhang conceals the fact that his strength has been severely reduced and questions Haoran about the possible Level 80 prerequisite dungeon.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Haoran tells Zhang Mingzhen about a hidden Swordsman-only quest that gave him a key to the Sword Cavern. He had previously entered alone but was instantly killed by the entrance monsters, which led him to suspect the cavern was intended for high-level players.
• Haoran has no guild to turn to, so Zhang invites him to form a party and promises reasonable compensation if the dungeon proves useful. The two enter with Haoran as party leader, since the key is bound to him.
• The cavern turns out to be a difficult, likely level-80 prerequisite or special-quest dungeon. Its monsters emerge from the ground and use Swordsman-like attacks, including knockbacks and combos.
• Zhang is notified that the dungeon contains a clue to reviving Lan Yue. His talent is temporarily unsealed for the first run, but would seal again if he tried to farm the monsters.
• Zhang effortlessly clears the initial enemies and defeats the first guardian, a Swordsman’s remnant soul. Haoran, who is killed almost immediately by the guardian’s sword-energy attack, watches the fight from the ground.
• The party receives a large experience reward and a level-80 gold-grade Lingyuan Belt. Zhang takes and equips it, gaining substantial health and defensive benefits.

Character developments

• Zhang Mingzhen remains outwardly composed, but privately worries about exposing his limitations while his talent is sealed. The temporary unsealing lets him perform at full strength, and the guardian fight reinforces his need for equipment that provides defense, luck, and protection from crowd control.
• Haoran begins skeptical of the rumors about Zhang’s strength, then becomes deeply impressed by his speed and resilience. He accepts that his role is to stay out of danger and is eager to show loyalty, even surrendering the valuable loot without hesitation.
• Haoran’s mention of his disbanded guild hints at painful past events, though Zhang chooses not to press him.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Zhang seems effortlessly powerful to Haoran, but internally he is anxious and depends on the temporary return of his talent.
• Dependence and adaptation: With his talent liable to be sealed again, Zhang recognizes that equipment must compensate for his vulnerability.
• Trust and unequal partnership: Haoran relies on Zhang for protection and rewards, while Zhang brings him along partly because a Swordsman may be useful for the dungeon’s mechanisms.
• The cost of power: The party’s success brings valuable rewards, but the cavern is lethal to ordinary players, as Haoran’s repeated deaths demonstrate.

Character interactions

• Zhang questions Haoran about the quest and offers to compensate him, while respecting his reluctance to discuss his former guild.
• In the cavern, Zhang repeatedly tells Haoran to stay behind him, avoid attacking, and use damage reduction if threatened. Haoran follows these instructions and accepts his limited role.
• Haoran watches Zhang fight with growing awe, while Zhang stays focused on protecting him and clearing the dungeon.
• After the victory, Zhang asks whether Haoran objects to his taking the loot. Haoran immediately agrees and transfers the belt to him.

Key plot points

• Zhang Mingzhen explains that he usually runs dungeons alone and sends his dragonlike Summoned Beast to hunt in the wilderness. Although his talent has been sealed, his pets remain powerful and can gather useful materials, giving him a dependable source of strength.
• He and Haoran reach the second boss, the Fire Pixiu. Most of its attacks target the player holding aggro, but two unavoidable arena-wide attacks instantly kill Haoran. Zhang Mingzhen withstands them and defeats the boss quickly.
• The party receives two million experience and a gold Wisdom Necklace suited to spellcasters. Haoran, as party captain, reluctantly assigns it to Zhang Mingzhen.
• The route onward is unlocked when Haoran inserts the dungeon key into a pedestal, revealing two passageways. They choose the left path, where relentless magical beasts kill Haoran and force Zhang Mingzhen to manage large pursuing packs.
• At a massive stone gate, the two must stand on separate pressure platforms at the same time to open it. Beyond lies a broad jade plaza, where a black-armored Swordsman appears and insults Haoran’s weak cultivation, claiming he is unworthy of the Sword Sect Legacy.

Character developments

• Zhang Mingzhen remains calm and self-reliant, but recognizes that pets and equipment are increasingly important now that his talent is sealed. He also sees Haoran’s usefulness despite his weakness.
• Haoran is impressed by Zhang Mingzhen’s power, alternately envying it and fearing the dungeon’s difficulty. Though often a liability in combat, he contributes by spotting the pedestal, carrying the key, and helping trigger the gate mechanism.

Significant themes

• Innate talent versus acquired strength: With his talent restricted, Zhang Mingzhen must rely on pets, gear, and accumulated resources.
• Power and vulnerability: Haoran’s low defense leaves him unable to survive unavoidable attacks, while Zhang Mingzhen’s exceptional stats let him endure them.
• Worth and recognition: The leader’s contemptuous judgment of Haoran sets up the question of whether strength alone determines someone’s right to inherit a legacy.

Character interactions

• Haoran asks Zhang Mingzhen about his Summoned Beast and leveling; Zhang explains his approach and dismisses Haoran’s complaints about experience requirements.
• Zhang repeatedly tells Haoran to stay safe, while Haoran watches from the sidelines and follows his lead.
• Haoran’s practical contributions become essential to progressing through the dungeon, despite his limited combat ability.
• The chapter ends with the dungeon leader directly belittling Haoran, leaving him stunned and humiliated.

Key plot points and events

• Haoran is effortlessly killed by the Sword Cavern’s third-stage guardian, Sword Thirteen. He briefly imagines gaining doubled stats, equipment, and skills, but even in the fantasy he loses. Gao Linzhi concludes Haoran lacks the patience and resilience needed to become a useful pawn.
• Sword Thirteen enters a more powerful berserk state. Zhang Mingzhen suspects the dungeon is a remnant of an old Sword Dao sect, and that its guardians retain fragments of their former identities. Because Zhang is a priest rather than a swordsman, the guardian initially ignores him.
• Once Zhang attacks, Sword Thirteen turns hostile and fights with teleportation, adaptive sword techniques, and a coordinated formation of colored sword spirits. Zhang identifies their roles, eliminates the healing spirits first, then overwhelms the remaining formation and defeats the guardian.
• Sword Thirteen dies declaring, “Sect master! Sword Thirteen takes his leave!” He leaves a key and a level-85 golden sword, the True Self Sword. Zhang cannot use it, while Haoran covets it.
• Haoran gives up on receiving the weapon as a gift and contacts Ling Ran, a recruiter for the Starlight Army. He offers to join if the guild invests three million in him, arguing that the sword and his undisclosed talent justify the gamble. He decides that becoming powerful is the best way to protect his independence.
• Zhang stores the key and continues deeper into the dungeon. The route includes a dangerous, widening chasm that nearly separates Haoran from the party. At the next platform, they encounter what appears to be the fourth guardian: a colossal sword embedded in the ground. Zhang attacks it, and it begins forming a red-energy phantom.

Character developments

• Zhang Mingzhen remains observant and calculating. He studies the guardian’s tactics, exploits the formation’s weaknesses, and treats the valuable sword pragmatically, despite his frustration that it does not suit him.
• Haoran shifts from resentment and wishful thinking toward ambition and action. Rather than wait for Zhang’s generosity, he seeks institutional backing and is willing to disclose his talent to advance—though he still measures the opportunity in terms of power and status.
• Gao Linzhi is revealed to be evaluating Haoran as a potential pawn, but rejects him for lacking the temperament to endure failure.

Significant themes

• Talent versus perseverance: Haoran’s imagined advantages prove useless without resolve, while Zhang’s success comes from patience, observation, and adaptation.
• Power and opportunity: Haoran recognizes that strength can provide freedom, influence, and security—but also that missed chances may only become clear in hindsight.
• Strategy and cooperation: The sword spirits’ class-based roles and coordinated attacks make the battle a contest of tactics, not merely raw strength.
• Self-interest and value: Zhang sees the weapon as an asset to sell; Haoran sees it as a path to recognition. Their differing priorities shape their interaction.

Character interactions

• Zhang dismisses Haoran’s hope of receiving the sword, prompting Haoran to pursue his own route through the Starlight Army.
• Haoran negotiates with Ling Ran, emphasizing both the sword’s market value and his potential talent.
• During the perilous crossing, Haoran follows Zhang and narrowly avoids falling into the expanding chasm, underscoring their continued dependence on one another as they advance.

Key plot points and events

• In the fourth stage of the Sword Cavern, Zhang Mingzhen discovers that a giant sword is the true guardian. It summons a fast, hard-hitting red phantom whenever its health drops by 10%; the sword itself cannot be damaged while the phantom is alive. The phantoms grow stronger below half health, but Zhang Mingzhen defeats them and destroys the sword.
• The sword leaves a chest containing a Level 82 Platinum pair of boots with strong attributes and a short-range Teleportation ability, plus a key. The system confirms the guardian, Sword Soul, has been defeated and awards two million experience.
• Haoran reaches Level 74, entering the upper ranks of players. While Zhang Mingzhen fought, Haoran also negotiated with the Starlight Army, which accepted him as a core member and promised resources and expert guidance.
• Haoran offers to buy the Level 80 Gold True Self Sword. Zhang Mingzhen gives it to him instead, treating it as payment for Haoran’s help getting into the dungeon—and as a way to settle a prior promise without owing him another favor.
• With the two keys, Haoran finds a hidden wall niche that opens a stairway to the next stage. They fight increasingly dangerous sword spirits before reaching an armored commander, Jian Fangming.
• Haoran recognizes Jian Fangming from the dungeon’s history as the Sword Sect’s founder and a legendary swordsman. The sect once flourished, then disappeared; its members were said to have fallen into an abyss. Zhang Mingzhen suspects they were remnants of a defeated civilization. The chapter ends as Jian Fangming declares intruders must die and Zhang Mingzhen attacks.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Mingzhen remains observant and strategic, learning the guardian’s mechanics before committing to a faster approach. Though his talent is sealed, the Platinum boots offer a welcome boost. He also shows pragmatism and generosity by giving Haoran the weapon rather than prolonging negotiations.
• Haoran moves from being an incapacitated observer to securing a major opportunity: military backing, a dramatic level increase, and a valuable weapon. He is impressed by Zhang Mingzhen’s power and becomes increasingly deferential, while carefully weighing when to accept a favorable offer.
• Zhang Mingzhen and Haoran maintain a cooperative but transactional partnership. Haoran brings dungeon knowledge and access; Zhang Mingzhen provides protection and equipment. Both accept the arrangement for their own reasons.
• The narration notes that Zhang Mingzhen’s old reputation still protects him: the military and guilds regard him as overwhelmingly powerful, unaware that his sealed talent has made him vulnerable to a sufficiently strong group.

Significant themes

• Power and perception: Zhang Mingzhen’s reputation remains formidable even as his actual defenses have weakened, showing the gap between public image and present reality.
• Cooperation and self-interest: The partnership benefits both characters, but each also considers personal advantage.
• Knowledge and adaptation: Understanding the sword’s mechanics, dungeon clues, and historical records is essential to progressing safely.
• The cost of defeat: The Sword Sect’s disappearance hints at the harsh stakes of the wider struggle over God’s Domain, foreshadowing the danger facing the protagonists.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Mingzhen (Chongxing) and Haoran fight Jian Fangming, the Sword Cavern’s fifth-floor boss. Jian wields two swords, combining physical and magical attacks with dangerous red damage zones and blue crowd-control fields.
• Lacking a tank—and hampered by anxiety over his talent having been sealed—Zhang struggles to fight at range while dodging. He survives a near-fatal magma attack through his enormous health and priest healing, then learns to save super armor and speed skills to escape the boss’s control effects.
• Zhang defeats Jian Fangming. In his final moments, the boss regains awareness and regrets that Zhang is not a swordsman, so he cannot pass on the Sword Sect Legacy. Haoran, despite being a swordsman, also fails to qualify.
• The clear unlocks a level 80–89 weekly dungeon and earns the party achievement points. The chest contains platinum equipment and a swordsman-exclusive skill book, Dual Sword Art. Haoran assigns both rewards to Zhang before realizing the skill book’s importance.
• Zhang shares the skill’s description publicly: it lets designated attacks use both swords in succession for a double effect. Swordsmen and guilds immediately argue over how to obtain it.
• Zhang ignores the uproar and focuses on the Judgment Ring, whose strong stats and damage bonuses could help compensate for his sealed talent. He views equipment as a way to remain powerful while seeking to free himself from the system’s control.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Mingzhen adapts to the boss’s mechanics, but the fight exposes how much easier it would be with a dedicated tank. His resolve to make his talent permanent and escape the system’s constraints grows stronger.
• Haoran feels ashamed of being ineffective in combat and vows to bring another party through the punishing fight someday. He records the boss’s mechanics for his guild, then impulsively gives Zhang the loot without checking it.
• Jian Fangming shifts from an apparently mindless enemy to a conscious figure at death, revealing the hidden possibility of a Sword Sect inheritance.
• Players and guilds react to the rare skill book with rivalry and speculation, while Zhang remains detached from their competition.

Significant themes

• Talent versus self-reliance: Zhang distrusts dependence on a system-controlled talent and looks for ways to secure his own power.
• Team roles and vulnerability: Fighting without a tank forces Zhang to divide attention between damage and survival, showing the limits of individual strength.
• Adaptation and knowledge: Understanding attack patterns and managing defensive skills turns a dangerous fight into a winnable one.
• Power and competition: The rare skill book and valuable equipment spark intense guild rivalry, reflecting how strongly players prize damage and advantage.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Mingzhen lets the Starlight Merchant Guild auction the first Advanced Swordsman skill book, trusting the guild to handle the sale.
• Bidding surges as players and guilds recognize the skill book’s rarity. Dragon Diagram Frenzy, the guild’s Swordsman leader, wins it for six million Gold Coins.
• Frenzy believes the book may be one of very few high-level manuals available and wants his guild to secure an early advantage. Zhang privately suspects the book’s drop rate is exceptionally low and gains additional concessions from the sale, including priority access to future equipment and dungeon information.
• Zhang focuses on his next attempt at the level-80 Sword Cavern. He discovers a one-time Legendary (Unique) difficulty and decides to risk his sole entry, despite his talent, Yin Yang Messenger, being sealed.
• He defeats the first-stage Sword Spirit Body using his previous strategy and receives a platinum Laurel Necklace, improving the quality of his equipment and reducing his reliance on the sealed talent.
• At the second stage, he learns that the Fire Pixiu’s roar repeatedly increases its own defense-breaking effect. A slow fight would become increasingly dangerous, so he relies on offense and potions.
• The Golden Toad’s newly developed Flash Potion offers a chance to evade attacks, but it never activates during the fight.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Mingzhen remains pragmatic and composed despite the talent seal and the risks of Legendary difficulty. He makes calculated choices, uses his experience in the dungeon, and compensates for his weakness with equipment and consumables.
• Dragon Diagram Frenzy shows ambition and strategic foresight by paying heavily for the skill book, betting that its rarity will make it valuable to the guild.
• The Golden Toad proves useful as a purifier and potion developer, giving Zhang a possible way to offset his weakened defenses.
• Gao Linzhi, observing Zhang alongside Haoran, judges Zhang to be remarkably resilient. He notes that Zhang has been mentally changed by hardship but has not collapsed as Haoran might have.
• Zhang’s dealings with the Starlight Merchant Guild reflect mutual strategic interest: he uses the auction to gain money and future privileges, while remaining curious about the guild’s hidden resources and methods.

Significant themes

• Scarcity and competition: The skill book’s perceived rarity drives an intense auction and gives its buyer a possible advantage.
• Strategy over raw power: Zhang adapts to his sealed talent by using experience, potions, and careful assessment of boss mechanics.
• Risk and opportunity: The one-time Legendary challenge forces Zhang to gamble for potentially unique rewards and clues.
• Control of resources: Zhang values information, access, and rare goods as much as Gold Coins, and prefers to keep valuable supplies rather than sell them indiscriminately.

Plot points and events

• Zhang Mingzhen defeats the Fire Pixiu and receives a Platinum Phoenix Feather Hat, whose defenses and Fortune effect could help him resist control. He must wait until level 85 to equip it.
• The next two bosses give experience but no useful gear for Zhang. Sword Thirteen drops a powerful Platinum belt for melee classes, which he refuses to let a rival have; Sword Soul’s priest off-hand is inferior to his growth weapons, so he stores both items.
• After a difficult fight with the final boss, Jian Fangming, Zhang reaches level 84 and becomes the first player to clear the unique Legend-difficulty Sword Cavern. The dungeon is then permanently closed. He equips three level-84 items and feels his strength surge.
• The final boss also drops Zhang’s first Shining Grade item, a level-85 garment with strong defensive stats and improved resistance to control. It is especially well suited to a priest, and Zhang becomes eager to level up and equip it.
• Despite losing his talent’s doubled attributes and bonuses from a second equipment set, Zhang’s remaining stats are still exceptional. He believes he can defeat other players easily and resolves to uncover the system’s secrets.
• The achievement draws widespread attention. Guild leaders ask about a Skill Book, but none dropped. Dragon Diagram Frenzy, meanwhile, reveals that he has used the Two-Handed Sword Skill Book and plans to develop Thrust as a powerful attack.
• To find suitable high-level monsters and reach level 85, Zhang consults the Starlight Merchant Guild’s “Know-It-All” service. Its Mysterious Man provides directions to several nearby areas with level-87-or-higher monsters.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang grows more calculating and possessive about powerful gear, preferring to store useful items rather than let others benefit. Gao Linzhi observes that power is making him increasingly selfish and ruthless, though not yet wholly villainous.
• Zhang’s talent seal frustrates him, but it also strengthens his determination to investigate who controls the system. Gao Linzhi sees this curiosity as useful, viewing Zhang as a pawn who may help reveal larger secrets.
• Zhang and the Mysterious Man maintain a guarded business relationship: the latter insists on discussing confidential matters in person and appears able to obtain information on demand.
• Dragon Diagram Frenzy turns his Skill Book into a strategic opportunity, while other guilds regret not competing harder for the first book.

Significant themes

• Power and corruption: Zhang’s gains make him stronger but also more suspicious and self-serving.
• Knowledge and control: Gao Linzhi reflects that knowledge creates vast inequalities, even determining who can approach immortality; Zhang’s quest to understand the system begins to challenge that imbalance.
• Progress and ambition: Rare equipment, skill specialization, and experience gains drive characters to compete for advantage.
• Public reputation versus private weakness: Zhang’s public triumphs conceal the effects of his sealed talent, reinforcing his legend while masking his vulnerability.

Plot points and events

• Zhang Mingzhen buys information from the Starlight Merchant Guild about a dangerous, unexplored region. The guild’s “map” comes from a Jade Toad that answers one question about God’s Domain per day for a fee. He pays the one-million-Gold-Coin consultation charge rather than accept the guildmaster’s attempt to make the information a favor.
• Returning home, Zhang discovers that his Golden Toad has created a Stamina Pill, which adds an hour to a player’s full-efficiency stamina period. Since wild-monster experience drops sharply after six hours, the pill could make extended leveling worthwhile. However, the Toad has made only one, so Zhang orders it to produce two per day.
• Zhang searches the three marked areas for a suitable place to level. The first is crowded with flying Warcraft, which are difficult to gather and kill efficiently.
• The second, the Firefly Flower Sea, has level-88 monsters and offers solid experience. With help from his Flower Spirits and summoned beast, Zhang estimates he can gain levels quickly there, though his growth-type equipment consumes much of his experience.
• The final site, the Strange Stone Forest, contains level-89 Stone Armor Demons with high health, strong defenses, and a protective skill. Zhang discovers they can drop Stone Armor Source Stones, a previously hidden material used—along with Fusion Agent—to upgrade Gold-rank-or-better garments into battle armor. He lacks enough materials to upgrade his garment, so he postpones farming the area.
• Zhang spends the following days leveling in the Firefly Flower Sea for eight hours daily, finding the schedule exhausting.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang remains pragmatic and independent: he insists on paying for information, assesses each hunting area by efficiency, and delays collecting rare crafting materials until after reaching level 85.
• His relationship with the Golden Toad is comic but demanding. He is pleased by its useful discovery, then berates it for producing only one pill and pressures it to work harder. The Toad eagerly seeks approval but admits its limited output.
• The Mysterious Man presents the Jade Toad’s service as modest while charging a high price, revealing his commercial instincts. Zhang recognizes the guild’s profit from controlling scarce information and avoids becoming indebted to it.
• The chapter also highlights Zhang’s growing reliance on his household companions—especially the Golden Toad, Flower Spirits, and summoned beast—to support his advancement.

Significant themes

• Information as a commodity: Rare knowledge gives the guild leverage and commands a steep price.
• Efficiency and strategic choice: Zhang weighs experience gains against monster difficulty, travel, and crafting opportunities.
• Hidden systems and discovery: The battle-armor upgrade is not explained outright; players must uncover mechanics through exploration and experimentation.
• The cost of advancement: Powerful growth requires sustained effort, while game rules and experience-hungry equipment limit even Zhang’s rapid progress.

Key plot points and events

• With level-80 players seeking his help, Zhang Mingzhen (Chongxing) agrees to delay Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven’s dungeon run—but only in exchange for help gathering rare materials. The guild mobilizes its members to collect netherworld grass and unparalleled crystals, quickly amassing thousands of portions.
• Chongxing gives some of the materials to Golden Toad to test as potion ingredients, then takes the rest to the Undersea Dragon Palace. Xichen discovers that both may benefit the Azurewave Holy Relic: the herb could awaken new clanspeople early, while the crystal powder may help them mature.
• A system notification rewards Chongxing for preserving the rare race by reducing the time his talent remains sealed by one-third. He entrusts the materials and Jade Coral Conch to Xichen, who outwardly agrees but secretly vows revenge for the dead Holy Maiden.
• At the start of the week, Chongxing sets out to clear the level-80 dungeon. He brings a small party of top players and guild leaders, charging a substantial fee and negotiating for exclusive guild-made items. He wants to reach level 85, study the dungeon, and build useful relationships.
• The party debates the value of an Image-Projection Bee, a drone-like scout that sends its offspring’s vision to a mother bee in real time without consuming mana or mental energy. Dragon Diagram Frenzy mocks Raphael’s claim that it is a major invention, and the two argue until Chongxing orders them to focus.
• The chapter ends as the group enters the dungeon. The leaders watch Chongxing’s tactics and hope to bid on valuable drops; Frenzy, the party’s only swordsman, is especially interested in how the run will affect his role.

Character developments and interactions

• Chongxing uses his influence pragmatically: he trades dungeon access for labor, information, and favors, while pushing to raise his life level and recover his sealed talent. He is wary of overburdening the Azurewave people after Lan Yue’s death.
• Imperial Dynasty Defies Heaven accepts the gathering assignment in exchange for a chance to run the dungeon with Chongxing, then directs his guild to do the work using contribution-point incentives.
• Xichen remains obedient in public but resents Chongxing’s oppression of the Azurewave Clan and privately plans to kill him.
• Shius has taken responsibility for the Azurewave people’s daily care, while Xichen’s formal duty is to collect Spirit Cores.
• Raphael and Dragon Diagram Frenzy clash over whether the Image-Projection Bee is truly impressive and over their guilds’ secrecy. Chongxing shuts down their argument.
• The other party members treat the dungeon as both a learning opportunity and a chance to acquire rare equipment or Skill Books.

Significant themes

• Power, labor, and transactional loyalty: Chongxing’s help comes with conditions, and guild members are mobilized through rewards and hierarchy.
• The growing gap between life-forms: Chongxing sees life-level advancement as essential to matching higher races whose strength and potential far exceed humanity’s.
• Consequences for supposedly “minor” characters: Xichen’s hatred underscores that the Azurewave people have their own agency and motives, not merely roles in a player’s story.
• Knowledge and competition: The dungeon party studies mechanics and pursues scarce inventions, equipment, and Skill Books, while guilds guard their advantages closely.

Key plot points and events

• The dungeon contains repeated clues pointing to the Swordsman class, so Berserker suspects it was designed for Swordsmen and hopes another class-specific Advanced Skill Book will drop. No new book appears; the final loot is a Platinum magic-class belt and several pieces of equipment.
• Chongxing reaches level 85, equips upgrades that sharply increase his attributes, and passes 100,000 combat power. He plans to gather Unparalleled Crystals to improve his armor.
• The team argues over two physical-class items. Berserker, already resented for winning the earlier Skill Book, is outbid by Qin Xiao Youhui and War Sky, and accuses the others of deliberately excluding him.
• News that Berserker’s was the only Advanced Skill Book to appear makes other players regret missing it. Berserker flaunts his advantage, prompting challenges from Dishitian and Swordsmen across the districts.
• In the Twelfth District, Shen Qiao’s six-person team encounters a level-75 Elite Bloodthirsty Bug while leveling. The monster summons more bugs, the team panics, and its members abandon one another before being wiped out.
• After they revive and return to retrieve their equipment, the bugs are gone. In reality, however, the Elite Bug has appeared in Shen Qiao’s room and spawned ordinary bugs that kill him. His teammates disappear in similar incidents, and a later visitor also vanishes after logging out to investigate.
• Authorities arrive too late: everyone on the residential floor has been killed. Gao Linzhi recognizes that the attack exposes a growing danger: game monsters are invading Earth.

Character developments and interactions

• Berserker is proud of his rare skill and enjoys provoking other players, but his success makes him a target for resentment and coordinated bidding against him.
• Chongxing remains focused on progression, equipment, and preparing for future upgrades; his rapid gains highlight the contrast between his resources and those of ordinary players.
• Shen Qiao, initially confident enough to mock a teammate’s ambitions, takes command when the Elite Bug appears. Under pressure, however, his team’s bonds prove fragile: the Priest protects his longtime Shield Guard partner, while other members prioritize saving their own equipment.
• Gao Linzhi understands more about the danger than most and recognizes that Earth is becoming increasingly like the game world.
• The incident reveals how unequal information and misplaced trust can determine who survives: many people mistake self-designated shelters for system-protected safe zones.

Significant themes

• Unequal access and resentment: powerful players’ equipment and skills fuel envy, while hidden knowledge about safe zones has far graver consequences.
• Self-interest under pressure: the dungeon team’s apparent camaraderie collapses when members face possible death.
• The boundary between game and reality eroding: monsters can now attack players in the physical world, making in-game danger lethal.
• False security and information control: a place people merely believe is safe offers no system protection, yet many do not know the difference—or conceal it from others.

Plot points and events

• Repeated surprise attacks by Warcraft have caused enormous casualties worldwide. Authorities conclude that players killed in-game may create a spatial link that allows Warcraft to locate and attack them in reality.
• Players grow fearful of dying in the game, since death itself—not lost experience—is now the real penalty. Authorities urge caution and promise patrols, while rumors spread about places where monsters cannot appear.
• The government has developed costly defensive gaming pods, but gives them first to officials and top-ranked fighters. The secrecy and favoritism provoke public anger; authorities cannot yet produce enough pods for everyone.
• Zhang Mingzhen receives a pod but doubts it can protect him from a powerful Warcraft. He reduces his Flower Spirits’ hunting trips and keeps one nearby as a guard, relying on his own precautions.
• During a patrol of an apartment building previously attacked by Bloodthirsty Bugs, team members begin vanishing without warning. Captain Wind and Rain See You Home orders a retreat, but a tentacled shadow snatches another patrol member as they escape.
• The military evacuates the area and sends a high-level team led by renowned swordsman Know by Heart. Their Shield Guard, Zhang, scouts the building and is ambushed by a crimson tentacle from the ceiling. He survives behind his shield, and the team regroups.
• Unable to identify or reach the creature, Know by Heart gets approval to use Monster-Luring Incense. The team sets it up on the rooftop to draw the hidden monster out; the chapter ends as the lure takes effect.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Mingzhen remains outwardly treated as Earth’s strongest fighter, though his talent is secretly sealed and his actual strength is far lower. He distrusts official protection and takes practical steps to guard himself.
• Wind and Rain See You Home responds decisively to the patrol’s disappearances, prioritizing withdrawal and reporting the threat rather than risking the whole team.
• Know by Heart is confident in his elite team but recognizes the creature’s unusual danger. He coordinates with command and chooses a strategy to expose it.
• Zhang, the Shield Guard, acts as the team’s vanguard, withstands the ambush, and protects the group while the team prepares to fight.

Significant themes

• The collapse of safety: A game has become a source of lethal danger in reality, making ordinary play a life-or-death choice.
• Inequality in crisis: Powerful and connected people receive scarce protective technology first, widening resentment among ordinary players.
• Fear and adaptation: Players and authorities alter how they play, patrol, and protect themselves as the threat escalates.
• Uncertainty and hidden danger: The creature’s invisibility and unexplained attacks show that even organized, well-equipped teams remain vulnerable.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• A level-79 Bloodthirsty Bug King bursts into a building where Know by Heart’s squad is operating. It is identified as the source of attacks on local residents and the missing teammate, Little Zhang.
• The squad coordinates its attack, with troops below instructed to eliminate the smaller bugs the boss summons. After more than ten minutes, they kill it.
• The Bug King drops a rare Mutated Evolution Serum—the first time an individual monster in the real world has dropped an item. Tests show that tiny amounts greatly increase strength and cell vitality, so the discovery is classified and investigated.
• Zhang Mingzhen, whose material supply has run low, learns through the Starlight Merchant Guild that the Legion Guild has obtained a substance associated with life energy. He negotiates directly with Qin Xiao Youhui.
• The Legion Guild trades its sole dose of Evolution Fluid for the first Advanced Skill Book Zhang obtains from his next level-80 dungeon clear, provided it is not a priest book, plus a week of skill instruction on Zhang’s schedule.
• Zhang uses the fluid on the Azurewave Clan’s Holy Relic. It greatly advances the Jade Coral Conch’s next gestation, and the system halves the remaining duration of the seal on his talent. He still faces 180 days of sun exposure.
• Meanwhile, monster invasions continue worldwide. Shaluo, already devastated by enormous population losses, relies on Safe Zones and orders its military commander to investigate the source of the attacks—without openly declaring war on whoever controls the game.

Character developments

• Know by Heart proves a capable commander: he quickly assesses the Bug King’s threat, directs a coordinated assault, and responsibly submits the unexpected drop for research.
• Zhang Mingzhen remains resourceful and ambitious, using his merchant connections and direct negotiation to secure the fluid. Though tempted to encourage monsters to evolve for more drops, his previous punishment makes him restrain himself.
• The Legion Guild’s leadership sees Zhang as both valuable and dangerous. They dislike his growing demands but agree to trade because of his usefulness and the risk of refusing him.
• Lu Zheng argues for cooperation, while other officials discuss the possibility of trapping or killing Zhang if he overreaches.
• The Mysterious Man presents guild espionage as routine and implies that organizations constantly monitor one another.

Character interactions

• Know by Heart directs his squad and coordinates with troops downstairs during the boss fight.
• The Mysterious Man briefs Zhang on the Legion Guild’s discovery; Zhang then negotiates directly with Qin Xiao Youhui.
• Qin relays the Legion Guild’s terms, and Zhang accepts with limits on the promised book and skill-training schedule.
• The Legion Guild’s senior officials debate how to handle Zhang, revealing their distrust even as they decide to accommodate him.
• Shaluo’s supreme leader presses the military commander to investigate the invasion’s origins.

Significant themes

• Safety and vulnerability: Real-world buildings and human-made shelters offer limited protection; system-provided Safe Zones appear to be the most reliable refuge.
• Power and survival: Monsters grow stronger by killing humans, while humans depend on combat, coordination, and scarce resources to survive.
• Secrecy and surveillance: Guilds spy on one another, discoveries leak quickly, and even governments struggle to uncover the forces behind the game.
• Ambition and restraint: Zhang’s desire to accelerate his growth clashes with his awareness that crossing certain limits could bring severe consequences.
• Global crisis: The invasions have become an international catastrophe, forcing governments to organize defenses and reconsider what security means.

Key plot points and events

• Shaluo is being devastated by vast swarms of Mosquito Beasts, which have killed nearly half the population. Their coordinated attacks suggest a hidden Beast King, but Shaluo’s forces cannot locate it.
• Shaluo secretly seeks Monster-Luring Incense from the Dragon Kingdom, hoping to draw out the leader. It also asks whether Dragon Kingdom players can help, but officials reject sending forces because their own regions are under threat.
• After debate, the Dragon Kingdom agrees to tell Chongxing—Zhang Mingzhen—about the crisis and lets him decide whether to go. Zhang Yu worries about Ling City losing its strongest defender, but Zhang Mingzhen is eager to hunt a likely leader-class monster.
• Zhang Mingzhen agrees to travel to Shaluo with the incense. A pharmaceutical specialist, Wang Chaoming, accompanies him. Shaluo’s leaders and ordinary citizens welcome the news, though for very different reasons.
• On the flight, Wang explains that hundreds of thousands of Mosquito Beasts occupy a maze of tunnels beneath Shaluo’s capital. A direct assault risks mass casualties and damage to the city. He also mentions Shaluo’s rare Floating Fish, whose consumption limit does not overlap with ordinary fish, sparking Zhang Mingzhen’s interest.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Mingzhen remains focused on growth and combat, but the chance to face a Beast King excites him more than danger or payment. He also perks up at the prospect of the unusual Floating Fish.
• Zhang Yu conceals that Chongxing is already traveling and is uneasy about Ling City’s vulnerability while he is away. He defends Chongxing from being casually volunteered for a dangerous mission.
• Lu Zheng and the Dragon Kingdom officials prioritize domestic security but allow Chongxing to choose for himself, avoiding a direct order.
• Shaluo’s leadership publicly praises Chongxing, while privately some officials regard his aid as foolish and mock the Dragon Kingdom’s generosity. Ordinary Shaluo players, by contrast, express sincere gratitude and hope.
• Wang Chaoming briefs Zhang Mingzhen respectfully, explaining the danger and suggesting that Shaluo may offer valuable rewards.

Significant themes

• Self-interest versus solidarity: Governments weigh their own survival, while individuals differ over whether helping another country is worthwhile.
• Unequal perspectives: Shaluo’s leaders view aid cynically, while ordinary people experience it as genuine hope.
• Power and dependence: Ling City’s safety relies heavily on Chongxing, making his independence both valuable and unsettling.
• Ambition and opportunity: Zhang Mingzhen sees the crisis not chiefly as a humanitarian mission but as a chance to confront a powerful monster and advance his own goals.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Mingzhen travels to Shaluo to eliminate a swarm of Poisonburst Mosquitoes in an abandoned mine. In exchange, he demands thirty Floating Fish, while Shaluo offers its stock and information about how to obtain them.
• He rejects local military support and has the surrounding area evacuated, keeping the operation—and his abilities—private.
• Using Monster-Luring Incense, a slowing potion, and attacks from himself and his summoned companions, Zhang fights through an unexpectedly vast swarm. After killing roughly a million mosquitoes, he draws out and defeats their level-80 leader, the Poisonburst Mosquito King.
• Zhang returns safely, reports the mine cleared, and receives Shaluo’s full reserve of twenty-six Floating Fish. On the flight home, he orders Dragon Han’s research institute to develop a way to breed them within twenty days.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Mingzhen is efficient, guarded, and confident, but remains cautious in combat. He prioritizes secrecy and treats the rescue as a negotiated exchange rather than a favor.
• Qiao Luo, Shaluo’s commander, is anxious about the danger and initially offers support, then honors Zhang’s conditions and delivers the country’s entire Floating Fish supply.
• Wang Chaoming backs Zhang’s authority and negotiates for Dragon Han’s interests. His confidence reassures Shaluo’s officials, though it rests partly on his incomplete knowledge of Zhang’s circumstances.
• Zhang’s companions—the Flower Spirits and summoned beast—help contain and destroy the swarm. Afterward, he presses Wang and the research institute to secure a continuing Floating Fish supply.

Significant themes

• Power and reputation: Zhang’s legendary status shapes others’ expectations and gives him leverage in negotiations.
• Pragmatism and secrecy: He accepts help only on his terms and prevents outsiders from learning more than necessary.
• Human ingenuity versus nature: The swarm’s enormous numbers and rapid reproduction expose how difficult it is to control resilient pests.
• Resource competition and cooperation: Shaluo’s rare fish become bargaining currency, while Dragon Han seeks to turn a limited supply into a sustainable resource.

Key events

• Zhang Mingzhen continues secretly hunting boss-level warcraft in disaster zones to obtain evolution potions. He deliberately waits until the invading monsters have killed enough players to produce a boss, then intervenes to kill it. Though other players praise “Chongxing” as a selfless protector, Zhang’s real motive is personal power.
• He trades rewards from territory-war chests to the Starlight Merchant Guild for intelligence on disaster zones. His next target is Sol City in the Nether Kingdom, where a locust invasion is intensifying.
• While preparing in the real world, Zhang maintains his game progress: the Jade Coral Conch fully recovers its energy, Spirit Cores push his life level past 50%, he reaches level 86, and he improves two spirit garments using accumulated materials.
• A vast swarm of golden locust demons darkens Sol City. The city’s mayor, Bolton, and elite player captain Garcia await reinforcements, including help from Chongxing, but none arrives. Garcia decides to lead his thirty-person squad out; Bolton refuses to abandon the city’s people.
• Zhang watches from nearby and recognizes that the apparent gap in the swarm is a trap. The chapter ends as Garcia’s squad charges toward it, unaware that stronger warcraft are waiting to surround them.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Mingzhen has grown openly selfish and pragmatic, dismissing public opinion and justifying his willingness to let others die for his own advancement. He contrasts this with his earlier values and treats power as the only reliable safeguard.
• Garcia is a capable but self-interested leader, prioritizing his squad’s survival over Sol City’s civilians. He argues that they have fulfilled their duty and offers to take Bolton along.
• Bolton shows unexpected resolve, choosing to remain with his city’s players rather than flee. He also corrects Garcia’s misquoted proverb.
• The Starlight Merchant Guild’s mysterious contact supplies Zhang with disaster intelligence in exchange for game rewards. Meanwhile, players mistakenly celebrate Zhang as a hero and even suggest sparing his game territory so he can level.

Significant themes

• Power and moral erosion: Zhang’s strength has replaced his former reverence for others and weakened his concern for moral judgment.
• Public image versus private motive: Players praise Chongxing’s apparent sacrifice, unaware that he is pursuing evolution materials.
• Survival and responsibility: Garcia and Bolton embody opposing responses to crisis—self-preservation versus loyalty to one’s community.
• Patience and manipulation: Zhang’s strategy depends on waiting for disaster to create a boss, while the locusts use a false opening to lure fleeing players into danger.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The locust beasts attack with unnerving coordination, convincing Zhang Mingzhen that they have an intelligent leader. The assault devastates Garcia’s squad: the archers, mages, priests, and swordsmen are killed, leaving only Garcia and a few others to resist.
• The level-80 Golden Locust Flying Insect King reveals itself and uses Raging Wingstorm to expose invisible players. Garcia urges the still-hidden assassin Gaso to escape, but then uses his Spatial Swap skill to trade places with him. Gaso is trapped and killed, allowing Garcia to survive the ambush—though his teammates’ deaths leave him grieving and guilty.
• The Insect King pursues Garcia as he flees. Zhang Mingzhen arrives but waits until Garcia has taken the leader’s attack before joining the fight; he has no intention of rescuing him. Once Garcia dies, Zhang binds the Insect King with vines and overwhelms it with his summons. Dragonfire and the Flower Spirit’s petals wipe out nearly the entire locust swarm.
• From Sol City, Bolton watches the locusts suddenly converge outside the walls and disappear into the battle. He discovers that Chongxing—Zhang Mingzhen—has destroyed the plague. News spreads, and players elsewhere eagerly invite the celebrated fighter to visit their regions.
• In Ling City, Zhang Yu grows anxious about Chongxing’s absence as the city’s defenses become harder to manage. The Legion Guild’s leadership criticizes Zhang Yu’s self-serving use of “the greater good” and his expectation that Chongxing will shoulder the burden.
• Lu Zheng urges the group to contact Chongxing about troubling anomalies: magical-beast attacks in the real world are increasing, and the beasts can grow stronger by hunting players.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Mingzhen proves both highly capable and ruthlessly pragmatic. He defeats the swarm decisively, but refuses to save Garcia, reasoning that helping someone could invite betrayal. Gao Linzhi, who prefers a more trusting pawn, becomes less impressed with him.
• Garcia reveals a coldly self-preserving side: he sacrifices his team, including Gaso, to secure his own escape. Yet he is also distressed by their deaths and clings to a guilty sense of relief.
• Gaso obeys Garcia’s order to flee, believing he may protect the fallen teammates’ families. Garcia’s swap turns that escape into a death sentence.
• Bolton moves from fearing Sol City’s destruction to recognizing that Chongxing has ended the crisis. The public, meanwhile, elevates Chongxing into an admired, almost mythic figure, unaware of his motives.
• Zhang Yu is exposed to criticism from fellow administrators, who resent his hypocrisy and dependence on Chongxing. Lu Zheng shares the urgency to bring Chongxing back, but is especially concerned about signs of a larger coming upheaval.

Significant themes

• Survival versus loyalty: Garcia and Zhang Mingzhen prioritize themselves over rescue or sacrifice, while the chapter questions the cost of such choices.
• Intelligence and power: The locusts’ coordination turns them from a mindless threat into a disciplined force, and their leader’s death collapses the entire attack.
• Public image versus private character: Chongxing is celebrated as a heroic savior, though he acts from self-interest rather than altruism.
• Hypocrisy and resentment: Zhang Yu’s appeals to collective duty ring hollow because others see him as personally benefiting from the sacrifices he demands.
• Looming danger: Increasing real-world monster attacks and other anomalies suggest that the locust crisis is only part of a wider threat.