Chapter Summaries

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qi, disguised as the Wizard, joins the battle against the monster, using his Mental Power abilities to bargain with Baili Xueyuan and Wu Yong.
• Arthur and Master Ma have their Cybernetic Bodies temporarily removed and are enveloped in flesh and blood, disguising their true forms.
• Arthur and Master Ma attack the monster, displaying their true strengths, while Lin Qi drains Baili Xueyuan and Wu Yong's Mental Power.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi demonstrates his cunning and adaptability, using his Mental Power abilities to manipulate the situation and protect his identity.
• Arthur and Master Ma show their loyalty and determination, enduring immense pain to remove their Cybernetic Bodies and fight the monster.
• Baili Xueyuan and Wu Yong display their trust in Master Ma, allowing Lin Qi to drain their Mental Power despite the risk.

Significant Themes

• Disguise and Deception: Lin Qi uses his abilities to disguise Arthur and Master Ma, as well as manipulate Baili Xueyuan and Wu Yong.
• Trust and Loyalty: Despite the uncertain situation, Baili Xueyuan and Wu Yong trust Master Ma, while Arthur and Master Ma remain loyal to their mission.
• Power and Weakness: The characters' powers and weaknesses are explored, with Lin Qi's Mental Power abilities being both a strength and a weakness, and Arthur and Master Ma's Cybernetic Bodies being a source of strength and vulnerability.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi (disguised as the Wizard) and Baili Xueyuan/Wu Yong: Lin Qi manipulates and bargains with Baili Xueyuan and Wu Yong, draining their Mental Power.
• Arthur and Master Ma: Arthur and Master Ma work together to fight the monster, displaying their true strengths and loyalty.
• Baili Xueyuan and Wu Yong: Baili Xueyuan and Wu Yong show their trust in Master Ma, allowing Lin Qi to drain their Mental Power.

Key Plot Points and Events

• A colossal, tentacled monster, hundreds of meters tall, appears, revealing Rank 5 power.
• Arthur and Master Ma enter the monster's scarlet eye to extract the host, Ning Hao.
• The monster displays Fifth-tier willpower, threatening Arthur, Master Ma, and Liu Xingyuan.
• Lin Qi, controlling a deformed giant, collapses it onto the monster and Liu Xingyuan, then detonates a Holy Light bead to counter the Blood Moon willpower.

Character Developments

• Liu Xingyuan is shocked by the monster's appearance and struggles against it.
• Arthur and Master Ma attempt to extract Ning Hao but are overwhelmed by the monster's Fifth-tier willpower.
• Lin Qi, using the deformed giant and Holy Light bead, tries to restrain the monster and counter its willpower.

Significant Themes

• The power disparity between different life levels (Fourth-tier vs Fifth-tier).
• The use of mental willpower as a weapon.
• The countering of Blood Moon willpower with Holy Light.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi, Arthur, and Master Ma work together to extract Ning Hao.
• Liu Xingyuan fights against the monster but is eventually trapped under the deformed giant.
• Baili Xueyuan observes the battle, ready to intervene if necessary.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Holy Light is used against the monster, surprising Arthur and Master Ma.
• Lin Qi uses his abilities to detach Arthur and Master Ma's Cybernetic Body parts, causing them intense pain.
• Lin Qi absorbs Baili Xueyuan's Mental Power, weakening her.
• Arthur and Master Ma escape, leaving behind the "half-person" of Ning Hao.
• Baili Xueyuan allows Arthur and Master Ma to leave but sets a time limit of half an hour before they will be wanted.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi demonstrates his abilities and cunning, helping Arthur and Master Ma while covering his tracks.
• Arthur shows loyalty to Lin Qi, enduring pain without anesthesia and prioritizing her safety.
• Baili Xueyuan is weakened and outsmarted by Lin Qi, leading to her temporary defeat.

Significant Themes

• Trust and betrayal: Arthur and Master Ma trust Lin Qi, while Baili Xueyuan is betrayed by Lin Qi's actions.
• Power dynamics: Lin Qi uses his abilities to control the situation, while Baili Xueyuan's power is diminished.
• Time pressure: The half-hour time limit adds urgency to Arthur and Master Ma's escape.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi helps Arthur and Master Ma, putting their safety above his own.
• Arthur and Master Ma show loyalty to Lin Qi, enduring pain and prioritizing his safety.
• Baili Xueyuan and Wu Yong work together, but Baili Xueyuan is ultimately outmaneuvered by Lin Qi.
• Arthur and Master Ma escape, leaving behind the "half-person" of Ning Hao, which Baili Xueyuan takes.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qi remembers the S-Artemis neural drive storage prosthesis left behind at the scene of the battle.
• He decides to visit the ruins of United Pharmaceutical, where his former colleagues turned into mindless monsters.
• Arthur and Master Ma, after failing their mission, seek refuge in Red Fruit City and need a reliable underground Cybernetic Clinic to repair their cybernetic bodies.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi reflects on his abilities and combat strategies, realizing his strength below Fourth Rank is formidable.
• Arthur and Master Ma, despite their Tier 4 status, are forced to hide and seek help due to Baili Xueyuan's pursuit.

Significant Themes

• The power and danger of Spiritual Energy Particles, as seen in the fate of United Pharmaceutical's employees.
• The importance of intelligence and information, as demonstrated by the Highest Level Mercenary Group's communication and planning.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi, Arthur, and Master Ma, though not directly interacting, are connected through the Highest Level Mercenary Group chat and their shared experiences in the doomsday world.
• Arthur and Master Ma discuss their situation and decide to visit the Number One Cybernetic Clinic, unaware of Lin Qi's connection to it.

Chapter Summary: “Retaliating Against Baili Xueyuan”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arthur and Master Ma arrive at Doctor Lin’s underground Cybernetic Clinic seeking urgent repairs and reimplantation of their malfunctioning cybernetic prostheses.
• Arthur offers to pay five times the normal fee, persuading Doctor Lin to open the clinic despite its temporary closure. Doctor Lin secretly considers selling information about them to Baili Xueyuan if necessary.
• Arthur requires work on twenty-one S-level European cybernetic implants. Doctor Lin calculates an enormous bill of over eleven million Credit Points after discounts and surcharges.
• Master Ma also needs extensive work on his implants but worries about the cost. He bargains for a discount, though he still cannot immediately afford the procedure.
• Arthur generously agrees to put both surgeries on her tab.
• Master Ma asks for a second doctor so the procedures can happen simultaneously and potentially at a lower cost. Doctor Lin assigns his “son,” Lin Qi, to operate on him.
• Lin Qi appears without his usual disguise. Arthur recognizes him only as the handsome “kept man” mentioned in the news and does not realize he is actually Wizard, a member of the Highest Level Mercenary Group.
• Arthur chooses Doctor Lin to perform her surgery, while Master Ma follows Lin Qi to the operating room.
• Master Ma refuses anesthesia because he distrusts unfamiliar underground doctors and wants to remain conscious.
• During the operation, Master Ma converses with Lin Qi to distract himself from the pain and becomes impressed by Lin Qi’s knowledge and technical skill.
• Lin Qi explains the “King Kong formula” for cybernetic capacity: Y = X(Mm + Bb + E). He claims that the often-overlooked emotional factor, E, can be increased through certain cybernetic implants.
• Lin Qi recommends the entertainment-oriented Shenwei Tie Niu, arguing that it can enhance emotional influence and thus expand cybernetic capacity.
• He proposes a customized modification involving a powerful 1,440-volt electrical stimulation, secretly intending to use the procedure as revenge against Baili Xueyuan.

Character Developments

• Doctor Lin demonstrates his opportunistic and calculating nature. He accepts the dangerous clients because of the huge profit and considers exploiting their possible conflict with the Eastern Alliance.
• Arthur is shown to be wealthy, decisive, and familiar with underground-clinic rules. She handles the negotiation confidently and pays for both herself and Master Ma.
• Master Ma appears cautious and financially conservative despite possessing many powerful implants. He bargains over the price, distrusts Lin Qi at first, and remains conscious during surgery.
• Lin Qi successfully maintains his cover as Doctor Lin’s talented son while operating on Master Ma. He adapts naturally to the role of cybernetic doctor and begins devising a scheme against Baili Xueyuan.
• Lin Qi’s scientific knowledge and persuasive ability become clear as he turns a questionable implant into a supposedly legitimate method of increasing cybernetic capacity.

Significant Themes

• Greed and underground commerce: The clinic operates according to strict mercenary-market rules, where danger and urgency are converted directly into higher prices.
• Deception and concealed identities: Lin Qi hides his identity as Wizard, while Doctor Lin and the clients all conceal information and motives.
• Trust and suspicion: Master Ma’s refusal of anesthesia reflects the dangers of underground medicine, while Lin Qi must carefully appear trustworthy without exposing himself.
• Science mixed with manipulation: Lin Qi presents an unverified theory about emotional influence as technical research, using scientific language to disguise his revenge plan.
• Revenge through ingenuity: Rather than confronting Baili Xueyuan directly, Lin Qi plans to retaliate by exploiting her cybernetic implants and the vulnerabilities of her body.
• Humor and irony: Arthur’s blunt comment about Lin Qi’s attractiveness, her distrust of young doctors, and Master Ma’s concern over prices contrast with the dangerous and covert situation.

Character Interactions

• Arthur negotiates directly with Doctor Lin and establishes the financial terms of the procedures.
• Doctor Lin subtly evaluates Arthur and Master Ma as both customers and possible intelligence sources.
• Arthur and Master Ma cooperate financially, with Arthur covering Master Ma’s expenses.
• Arthur initially comments on Lin Qi’s appearance but ultimately chooses Doctor Lin because she assumes an older doctor must be more skilled.
• Master Ma and Lin Qi develop a temporary doctor-patient rapport during surgery. Their conversation shifts from casual distraction to serious discussion of cybernetic theory.
• Lin Qi uses Master Ma’s interest in maximizing his cybernetic capacity to promote the Shenwei Tie Niu—and secretly transform it into a weapon for retaliating against Baili Xueyuan.

Chapter Summary: “Lin Qi: You Know Each Other?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qi modifies Master Ma’s cybernetic body, offering an adjustable electric-shock feature. Lin Qi initially intends to use the modification to torment Baili Xueyuan, but Master Ma unexpectedly reveals that he personally prefers pain over pleasure because it may improve his E-value.
• Master Ma pays for his own special modification while charging the rest of the medical expenses to Baili Xueyuan. He secretly emails her for one million Credit Points, and she reluctantly transfers two million despite resenting his irresponsibility.
• Following the battle in Red Fruit City, Baili Xueyuan receives an intelligence report from Yu Xixi. The attackers impersonating the Yellow Bear team are identified as a Fourth Rank Knight and Martial Artist, though they are probably not members of the Holy Corpse Legion.
• Intelligence analyzes “Number Five,” the gigantic cellular-controlled entity that played a decisive role in defeating the monster. Its abilities include cellular manipulation, creating barriers against extraordinary effects, absorbing Mental Power, and escaping through an unknown method. Because these powers match neither known profession, Number Five is suspected to be either a Wizard or Native Transcendent.
• DNA analysis of flesh left behind by Number Five reveals a perfect match with Sister Li, a Third Rank Assassin Alliance member who is currently protecting Lin Xin. Shocked, Baili Xueyuan immediately abandons her meeting with Liu Xingyuan and returns to the cybernetic clinic.
• Baili checks on Lin Xin, who is safe. Lin Xin’s embarrassing remark about pretending Baili is his brother causes an awkward interruption, after which Baili leaves to think through Number Five’s motives.
• Baili concludes that the DNA evidence was deliberately planted as a warning or provocation and speculates that Number Five may be connected to Lin Qi’s mysterious hacker associate.
• In reality, the DNA match was accidental. Lin Qi used Analysis Mimicry and Rapid Growth on Sister Li because she was the only nearby Third Rank Transcendent whose abilities could maximize his combat strength. His identity-concealment plan nevertheless succeeds.
• Master Ma finishes his surgery and enthusiastically praises Lin Qi’s medical skill and cybernetic design. He reports that the electric-shock modification has dramatically increased his cybernetic capacity, potentially forcing him toward a new S-Minus Rank ability.
• Lin Qi and Master Ma return to the reception area, where Master Ma suddenly sees Baili Xueyuan. Both are startled, and Lin Qi deliberately asks whether they know each other, setting up a potentially dangerous and awkward confrontation.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi: Demonstrates cleverness, opportunism, and a mischievous streak. He tries to exploit Master Ma’s unusual preferences for revenge against Baili, then recognizes the chance to build a relationship with a Fourth Rank powerhouse under his real identity. His disguise and identity-protection strategy continue to work.
• Master Ma: Reveals an eccentric preference for pain and appears willing to use extreme stimulation to enhance his E-value. He becomes extremely grateful to Lin Qi after the successful surgery and eagerly seeks further cooperation and contact.
• Baili Xueyuan: Shows deep concern for Lin Xin and reluctantly continues supporting Master Ma despite viewing him as a “deadbeat.” Her investigation skills are strong, but her assumptions about Number Five lead her toward the wrong conclusion.
• Yu Xixi: Acts as a disciplined and cautious intelligence officer, emphasizing the limits of the available evidence and refusing to overstate Number Five’s identity.
• Lin Xin: Remains safe but causes an awkward moment with an inappropriate joke. His safety is important enough for Baili to interrupt major political and investigative obligations.
• Number Five/Lin Qi’s combat identity: Gains significant attention after displaying unprecedented power, though the intelligence community still cannot determine the source or limits of those abilities.

Significant Themes

• Misunderstanding and mistaken identity: Baili incorrectly interprets Number Five’s DNA evidence and links the figure to a calculated warning, while the truth is merely an unavoidable result of Lin Qi’s power.
• Concealment and secrecy: Lin Qi’s identity remains protected because others misread the evidence surrounding Number Five.
• Power and experimentation: Cybernetic modification and extraordinary abilities are treated as tools for pushing personal limits, with Master Ma’s surgery potentially unlocking higher-level power.
• Comic contrast and absurdity: Serious battles and intelligence operations are juxtaposed with Master Ma’s bizarre pain preference, his borrowing money from Baili, and Lin Qi’s eagerness to create awkward trouble.
• Personal relationships versus official duty: Baili struggles to separate her resentment toward Master Ma from her professional responsibilities, while her concern for Lin Xin overrides her obligation to meet Liu Xingyuan.

Important Character Interactions

• Lin Qi and Master Ma: Their doctor-patient relationship quickly becomes a potential business partnership. Master Ma admires Lin Qi’s ingenuity, while Lin Qi sees value in cultivating his friendship.
• Master Ma and Baili Xueyuan: They have a complicated relationship involving financial dependence, resentment, and mutual assistance. Master Ma shamelessly borrows money, while Baili helps him despite calling him a deadbeat.
• Baili Xueyuan and Yu Xixi: Yu Xixi provides careful intelligence reports, while Baili focuses on the implications of Number Five and reacts decisively when Sister Li’s DNA is identified.
• Baili Xueyuan and Lin Xin: Baili acts protectively toward her student and quickly confirms his safety, though Lin Xin’s joking comment creates brief embarrassment.
• Lin Qi, Master Ma, and Baili Xueyuan: The chapter ends with Lin Qi intentionally placing Master Ma and Baili face-to-face and asking whether they know each other, promising an awkward revelation or confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Making a Second S-level Potion”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Baili Xueyuan recognizes Master Ma in Red Fruit City, but Master Ma pretends to be visiting the city to undergo a popular cybernetic modification. Baili mocks him for supposedly being there to install a “Shenwei Tie Niu” body.
• Lin Qi avoids getting involved, tells Master Ma to settle the payment with his father, and returns upstairs. Baili concludes that Lin Qi is probably unrelated to the mercenary group connected to her enemy.
• After the [Gate] cooldown ends, Lin Qi travels to the Doomsday World. He receives ninety-six body-strengthening potions from Wang Ziru—four sets each of L-level and A-level potions—to use as bargaining chips in his deal with Capitalist.
• Lin Qi still owes Capitalist one set of S-level Potions. Producing it will take about twelve days, and completing the trade should allow him to obtain his first Fourth Rank Extraordinary Item, an important breakthrough for his future as a Wizard.
• Before beginning his work, Lin Qi reflects on his existing Extraordinary Items, especially the Dragon Country Medal, which can suppress the Blood Moon Will during S-level potion production. He also considers whether analyzing an Extraordinary Item destroys or fuses with its original function.
• Lin Qi warns Wei Yue through Wang Ziru that he is conducting a dangerous experiment, knowing that making an S-level Potion may attract the Blood Moon Will.
• Using Psychic Vision, Lin Qi processes the remaining Extraordinary Materials with great precision. Rather than using an Extraordinary Item to complete the potion, he chooses to rely solely on additional materials to test whether the Blood Moon Will is caused by Crimson Crystal or by the Doomsday World itself.
• The experiment produces another S-level Potion, but the Blood Moon Will appears again. Lin Qi uses the Dragon Country Medal to release Holy Light, which battles and erases the Blood Moon Will, leaving behind a Holy Light Bead.
• Lin Qi successfully creates two more S-level Potions during the same visit, confirming that his Psychic Vision makes failure nearly impossible.
• Far away in space, the Blood Moon reacts to the repeated creation of S-level Potions. Its surface fissure trembles, but a Fifth Rank Extraordinary Item aboard a nearby spacecraft emits Holy Light, stabilizing the moon and preventing further disturbance.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi: Demonstrates growing confidence, efficiency, and scientific caution. He is now capable of producing S-level Potions rapidly and uses the Doomsday World as a secure laboratory for dangerous experiments. His ambitions also expand as he plans to investigate Wizard communities, acquire more Extraordinary Items, and reach the Fourth Rank threshold.
• Master Ma: Shows resourcefulness and shamelessness by inventing a convincing excuse to conceal his identity and activities in Red Fruit City.
• Baili Xueyuan: Remains suspicious and hostile, but her reasoning leads her to temporarily clear Lin Qi of involvement with the mercenary group she associates with her enemy.
• Wei Yue: Although she does not appear directly, her fear of the Blood Moon Will influences Lin Qi’s decision to warn her before beginning the experiment.
• Wang Ziru: Continues acting as Lin Qi’s reliable assistant, delivering potion supplies and passing along his warning to Wei Yue.

Significant Themes

• Experimentation and controlled risk: Lin Qi carefully changes the potion-making method to isolate the cause of the Blood Moon Will, treating the Doomsday World as a controlled testing environment.
• Power through knowledge: Psychic Vision allows Lin Qi to accomplish in hours what ordinary potion researchers require years of study and repeated failures to achieve.
• The dangers of advancement: S-level Potions offer enormous benefits but trigger the mysterious and dangerous Blood Moon Will, suggesting that higher-level power carries hidden consequences.
• Resource inequality: Cyber World researchers struggle because corporations control scarce Extraordinary Items, while Lin Qi’s access to rare materials and unique abilities gives him a decisive advantage.
• Interworld secrecy and strategy: Lin Qi plans his actions carefully to avoid exposing himself to Fourth-Tier Wizards or attracting the attention of the Eastern Alliance.
• Unseen cosmic consequences: Although Lin Qi’s experiments occur in secret, they affect the distant Blood Moon, implying that his actions may have consequences far beyond his immediate surroundings.

Character Interactions

• Baili Xueyuan and Master Ma: Their tense conversation combines suspicion, mockery, and deception. Master Ma hides his true purpose, while Baili recognizes the absurdity of his excuse.
• Lin Qi and Master Ma: Lin Qi deliberately avoids questioning Master Ma and leaves him to handle the payment, maintaining the appearance that they are merely acquaintances.
• Lin Qi and Wang Ziru: Lin Qi relies on Wang Ziru for supplies and communication, showing the practical trust between them.
• Lin Qi and Wei Yue: Their interaction is indirect but considerate; Lin Qi anticipates her fear and warns her to prevent unnecessary panic.
• Lin Qi and the Blood Moon Will: Their conflict becomes a recurring contest between Lin Qi’s pursuit of potion-making and the Blood Moon’s invasive influence, with the Dragon Country Medal serving as Lin Qi’s countermeasure.

Chapter Summary: “Lin Qi Meets His Father-in-Law?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qi successfully creates three unusually powerful S-level Potions without using Extraordinary Items as catalysts. He confirms that these “over-the-limit-plus” potions contain a higher concentration of willpower than catalyzed versions and believes they may be especially valuable in the Cyber World.
• He decides to give the weaker, previously crafted S-level Potion to Arthur at a discounted price, while giving the stronger potion to Master Ma. Lin Qi favors Arthur because he trusts her and considers her a good person who may become a useful ally if her strength increases.
• Lin Qi orders Wang Ziru to urge Wei Yue to accelerate the production of Extraordinary Materials. He also announces plans to visit Hongshan Camp the next afternoon to negotiate with Ding Yang and possibly obtain Extraordinary Materials and Items through official channels.
• After the Gate’s cooldown ends, Lin Qi returns to the Cybernetic Clinic in the Cyber World and learns that Arthur and Master Ma encountered Baili Xueyuan. Arthur panicked at meeting the powerful Eastern Alliance expert, but Master Ma determined that the encounter was coincidental and that Baili Xueyuan had no intention of exposing them.
• Lin Xin prepares to leave the clinic with Baili Xueyuan, whose mission in the Cyber World has apparently concluded. Baili promises Doctor Lin that she will protect Lin Xin in the Eastern Alliance.
• Lin Qi and Lin Xin exchange farewell emails, revealing that despite their awkward relationship, both care deeply about one another.
• After Lin Xin leaves, Doctor Lin reveals that he installed nearly twenty Cybernetic Bodies in Sister Li, bringing her cybernetization level to roughly seventy percent. His main regret is losing the opportunity to earn more Credit Points from her.
• Lin Qi and Liu Xuan discuss rebuilding United Pharmaceutical’s staff. Rather than relying on rejected candidates from Liu Clan Academy, Lin Qi proposes recruiting experienced researchers from the smaller pharmaceutical companies holding shares in United Pharmaceutical. Liu Xuan agrees that this could restore the company within two days.
• Liu Xuan then tells Lin Qi that her father wants to meet him that afternoon, creating the possibility of Lin Qi meeting his “father-in-law.”

Character Developments

• Lin Qi becomes increasingly confident as a high-level potion maker and strategist. He carefully evaluates the quality and commercial value of his potions, while also thinking politically about alliances, resources, and official negotiations.
• Lin Qi’s relationship with Arthur is shown to be based on trust and personal loyalty. He is willing to give her a better deal because he sees her as honest and believes strengthening her will benefit him later.
• Wang Ziru demonstrates firm loyalty to Lin Qi. His willingness to support Lin Qi—even in extreme hypothetical situations—shows how deeply he depends on and trusts him after Lin Qi saved his life.
• Arthur remains nervous and impulsive when facing powerful enemies, contrasting with Master Ma’s calm judgment.
• Master Ma proves more composed and perceptive, quickly determining that Baili Xueyuan’s appearance was not an attempt to expose them.
• Lin Xin shows strong concern for both her father and brother. Though she remains critical of Lin Qi in person, her farewell email reveals genuine familial affection and a desire to protect him.
• Doctor Lin is revealed to be more motivated by profit than sentiment. His apparent sadness over Sister Li’s departure is actually disappointment at losing potential Credit Points.
• Baili Xueyuan appears powerful, calm, and protective toward Lin Xin, while her tense, silent interaction with Lin Qi suggests mutual distrust or dislike.
• Liu Xuan continues to act as a practical business partner. She accepts Lin Qi’s staffing proposal and also becomes the link between him and her father.

Significant Themes

• Power and resource management: Lin Qi’s potion production, business plans, and negotiations all revolve around accumulating resources and increasing influence.
• Trust and loyalty: Lin Qi rewards Arthur because of personal trust, while Wang Ziru and Lin Xin demonstrate loyalty toward him in different ways.
• Family relationships: The emotional farewell between Lin Xin and Doctor Lin contrasts with Lin Qi’s strained relationship with his sister and his uncomfortable interactions with Baili Xueyuan.
• Profit versus personal feeling: Doctor Lin’s “regret” over Sister Li’s departure humorously reveals how commercial interests dominate his thinking.
• Human enhancement and its dangers: Sister Li’s seventy-percent cybernetization raises concerns about Cyberpsychosis and the risks of excessive reliance on Cybernetic Bodies.
• Building influence in a chaotic world: Lin Qi is steadily expanding from a survivor and researcher into a figure with business, political, and supernatural influence.

Important Character Interactions

• Lin Qi and Wang Ziru: Lin Qi gives Wang Ziru instructions regarding Wei Yue and the Hongshan Camp negotiations; Wang Ziru responds with unwavering support.
• Lin Qi and Arthur/Master Ma: Their chat reveals Arthur’s panic over Baili Xueyuan and Master Ma’s effort to calm her. Lin Qi also plans how to divide his potions between them.
• Lin Qi and Lin Xin: Their brief farewell is tense in person but affectionate through email, showing unresolved sibling friction beneath genuine concern.
• Lin Qi and Baili Xueyuan: They exchange no direct words, but their hostile atmosphere is obvious. Lin Xin deliberately positions herself between them to prevent conflict.
• Doctor Lin and Sister Li: Doctor Lin has treated Sister Li extensively, installing numerous Cybernetic Bodies, but views her departure primarily as lost business.
• Lin Qi and Liu Xuan: They cooperate over United Pharmaceutical’s reconstruction. Their conversation ends with Liu Xuan revealing that her father wants to meet Lin Qi, setting up the chapter’s closing development.

Chapter Summary: The Wizard Fired the First Shot

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Xuan revisits the matter of introducing Lin Qi to her father, Liu Xingyuan. Since the Eastern Alliance has taken the sole carrier, the issue is no longer overshadowed by the crisis in Red Fruit City.
• To reduce Lin Qi’s pressure, Liu Xuan arranges for the meeting with Liu Xingyuan to take place at United Pharmaceutical’s new headquarters rather than at the Liu family residence.
• Green Hair, who has spent three days assisting Doctor Lin at the Cybernetic Clinic, is released. Lin Qi directs him to return to United Pharmaceutical and contribute to the company’s restructuring. His A-level full-body cybernetic implants make him valuable manpower while Red Fruit City’s military strength is weakened.
• Lin Qi opens the Highest Level Mercenary Group’s temporary chat and probes Guangleng about the failed mission to seize the sole carrier.
• Guangleng claims the mission failed because of unexpected variables, says the Black Market has abandoned it, and reveals that the group’s rating has fallen back to T3.
• Guangleng proposes taking missions involving Wizard professionals, including Europe’s Witch Hunt and counterattacks by Wizards. He also warns that only 1.83% more war intensity is needed to trigger a third world-level Corporate War, suggesting that major enterprise alliances may soon act and the mercenary world may undergo major changes.
• Capitalist follows Lin Qi’s probe by insisting that the group prioritize member safety over mission completion. Guangleng agrees to create a member-controlled mission termination mechanism and promises to help members withdraw safely when missions are ended.
• Lin Qi decides not to probe further. He recognizes that Guangleng may be concealing his true motives—or subtly threatening the group—but chooses to preserve the outward alliance until he has enough strength to confront him.
• Lin Qi reflects on revealing his identity as an S-level potion research specialist after distributing his new S-level potions and receiving market feedback. He believes this status would give him influence comparable to Liu Xingyuan’s.
• Liu Xuan quickly rents floors 109–130 of the H3 Skyscraper as United Pharmaceutical’s temporary headquarters. She later confirms that Liu Xingyuan will meet Lin Qi at 3 p.m. in the chairman’s office on the 130th floor and advises Lin Qi to arrive five minutes late.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi: Becomes more strategic and cautious. He actively tests Guangleng’s intentions but stops before exposing the fragile alliance. He prioritizes self-preservation, increased power, and the eventual public revelation of his S-level potion expertise.
• Liu Xuan: Demonstrates efficiency, consideration, and careful planning. She arranges both United Pharmaceutical’s new base and the meeting with her father while deliberately choosing a setting that gives Lin Qi psychological and practical advantage.
• Liu Xingyuan: Remains mysterious, but his willingness to meet Lin Qi at United Pharmaceutical suggests a serious interest in him. Possible topics include potions, company shares, or Liu Xuan herself.
• Green Hair: Shows deep gratitude and loyalty toward Lin Qi after being cured. He transitions from a protected patient into a useful employee and potential combat asset for United Pharmaceutical.
• Guangleng: Appears cooperative but suspicious. He abandons the failed mission, offers new intelligence, and accepts changes to the group’s rules, yet his vague statements may conceal ulterior motives.
• Capitalist: Takes a direct organizational role by challenging the group’s mission priorities and forcing Guangleng to acknowledge the members as partners rather than expendable operatives.
• Master Ma and Arthur: Grow increasingly distrustful of Guangleng. Master Ma analyzes Guangleng’s possible hidden agenda cautiously, while Arthur is more outspoken but ultimately recognizes the danger of opposing someone with control over the Cyber Network.

Significant Themes

• Trust and hidden motives: The mercenary group members cooperate despite suspecting that Guangleng may have created or manipulated the mission for personal reasons.
• Self-preservation versus profit: The group begins redefining its purpose, emphasizing member survival rather than unquestioning completion of contracts.
• Power and leverage: Lin Qi’s future status as an S-level potion specialist could provide him with social and political influence strong enough to rival major corporate leaders.
• Approaching global conflict: The warning about a possible third Corporate War establishes a larger geopolitical threat and implies that the mercenary group must prepare for rapid changes.
• Strategic restraint: Lin Qi and the others understand that confrontation is premature. Maintaining alliances and appearances is necessary until they possess enough strength to act independently.
• Home-ground advantage and social negotiation: Liu Xuan’s decision to host the meeting at United Pharmaceutical reflects the importance of environment, confidence, and subtle diplomacy in high-stakes interactions.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi and Liu Xuan: Their exchange shows mutual trust and consideration. Liu Xuan actively protects Lin Qi from unnecessary pressure, while Lin Qi accepts her arrangements and values her judgment.
• Lin Qi and Green Hair: Lin Qi treats Green Hair’s gratitude pragmatically, interrupting his dramatic pledge and assigning him work. Their relationship shifts from rescuer and patient to leader and subordinate.
• Lin Qi and Guangleng: Lin Qi initiates a cautious interrogation disguised as a practical question. Guangleng responds with broad explanations and alarming intelligence rather than fully clarifying his motives.
• Capitalist and Guangleng: Capitalist directly challenges Guangleng’s leadership philosophy and successfully pressures him into granting members more control over mission termination.
• Master Ma and Arthur: Their discussion reveals differing temperaments—Master Ma is guarded and analytical, while Arthur is blunt and impulsive—but both recognize Guangleng as extremely dangerous.
• Lin Qi and Liu Xingyuan: Their upcoming meeting is positioned as the chapter’s next major development, with possible consequences for Lin Qi’s company, personal alliances, and public standing.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qi arrives five minutes early to meet Liu Xingyuan, showing his sincerity and respect.
• Lin Qi buys back his old flying vehicle for 9,100 Credit Points, leaving him with 322 Credit Points.
• Lin Qi arrives at the H3 Skyscraper, United Pharmaceutical's new location, and waits for Liu Xingyuan.
• Liu Xingyuan arrives six minutes late, and a tense conversation ensues between them.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi demonstrates his punctuality and respect for elders, but also his assertiveness and wit in dealing with Liu Xingyuan.
• Liu Xingyuan, though a Tier 4 Extraordinary, shows his human side by being late and is caught off guard by Lin Qi's early arrival.

Significant Themes

• Respect and seniority: Lin Qi shows respect but also stands his ground, while Liu Xingyuan's tardiness undermines his authority.
• Power dynamics: Despite Liu Xingyuan's strength, Lin Qi's background and abilities allow him to hold his own in the conversation.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi and Liu Xingyuan have a tense exchange, with Lin Qi subtly challenging Liu Xingyuan's authority.
• Liu Xinglu mediates the situation, trying to keep the peace between the two.
• Liu Xuan, though not present, sends messages to Liu Xinglu, trying to influence the situation remotely.

Chapter Summary: “Don’t Advance to Fourth Rank”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qi meets Liu Xingyuan and Liu Xinglu in United Pharmaceutical’s new office after the Red Fruit City incident. The atmosphere is tense, and Liu Xinglu struggles to get either side to speak openly.
• Liu Xinglu reveals that Liu Xuan plans to increase Lin Qi’s stake in United Pharmaceutical to 40%, making him the company’s largest shareholder. Lin Qi realizes this is not necessarily a disadvantage to Liu Xuan, since she would retain 60% of the voting rights and therefore control of the company.
• Lin Qi promises to produce United Pharmaceutical’s first S-level Potion within a month, hoping to restore confidence in both United Pharmaceutical and Liu Heavy Industries after the public fallout.
• Liu Xingyuan asks Lin Qi for his opinion of the Liu Group. Lin Qi praises Red Fruit City’s safety and Liu Clan Academy’s accessibility, recognizing the Liu Group’s positive influence on ordinary citizens.
• The conversation shifts from business to Liu Xuan’s feelings for Lin Qi. Lin Qi admits that he has feelings for her and, after reflection, accepts that they may amount to love.
• Liu Xingyuan then reveals that he does not believe Liu Xuan’s feelings are ordinary love. He identifies Lin Qi as a Wizard, despite Lin Qi’s attempt to deny it.
• Liu Xingyuan explains that Liu Xuan was once an extraordinary engineering prodigy. As a child, she could design A-level equipment, and by age twelve she had created an S-level implant operating system. Because she lacked Wizard talent, however, she was excluded from consideration as the Liu Group’s heir.
• Determined to understand the difference between Wizards and ordinary people, Liu Xuan conducted a dangerous experiment. An accident occurred, drawing Lin Qi into the incident and apparently explaining the mysterious Mental Power storm and the subsequent changes in Liu Xuan’s behavior toward him.
• Liu Xingyuan refuses to reveal the experiment’s exact consequences, warning that the truth would place the Liu Group in a vulnerable position.
• He urges Lin Qi and Liu Xuan to maintain a “cooperative relationship”, implying that their connection has important personal and possibly supernatural consequences.
• Lin Qi challenges him, asking whether this cooperation is purely business-related and suggesting that he could leave for the Eastern Alliance or Nanyun Pharmaceuticals if necessary.
• When Lin Qi hints that he wants to deepen his relationship with Liu Xuan, Liu Xinglu angrily accuses him of taking advantage of her devotion. Lin Qi ignores the outburst and demands an answer from Liu Xingyuan.
• Liu Xingyuan states that if Lin Qi reaches Fourth Rank, he will understand why Liu Xingyuan opposes Lin Qi becoming more involved with Liu Xuan. He promises not to interfere if Lin Qi reaches that stage and still holds the same feelings.
• The chapter ends with Liu Xingyuan warning Lin Qi that Wizard Professionals should avoid advancing to Fourth Rank, because doing so is “not a good thing.”

Character Developments

• Lin Qi: Demonstrates greater confidence and strategic control. He openly acknowledges his feelings for Liu Xuan but remains wary of the Liu Group’s motives. He also reveals his willingness to leave United Pharmaceutical, ensuring that he is not trapped by the company’s offer.
• Liu Xingyuan: Shifts from corporate negotiator to concerned father and experienced Wizard. His questions reveal that he knows far more about Lin Qi and Liu Xuan than expected. He appears neither hostile nor fully supportive, instead trying to prevent Lin Qi from making a dangerous personal choice.
• Liu Xinglu: Acts as an intermediary but becomes increasingly confused and emotional. He is shocked by Liu Xingyuan’s personal questioning and reacts protectively when Lin Qi suggests pursuing Liu Xuan.
• Liu Xuan: Though absent, she is central to the chapter. Her planned transfer of shares, past experiment, hidden genius, and apparent feelings for Lin Qi drive the entire conversation.

Significant Themes

• Love versus manipulation: Lin Qi must determine whether his feelings for Liu Xuan are genuine and whether her feelings for him are truly love or the result of the earlier experiment.
• Business and personal interests: The chapter repeatedly blurs the line between corporate cooperation and intimate relationships.
• Hidden truths and identity: Lin Qi’s Wizard status and the secret behind Liu Xuan’s experiment suggest that both characters’ lives may have been shaped by concealed supernatural forces.
• Power and control: Although Lin Qi receives a large share in United Pharmaceutical, Liu Xuan retains voting control. Likewise, Liu Xingyuan attempts to influence Lin Qi without directly opposing him.
• The dangers of advancement: Liu Xingyuan’s final warning introduces a major mystery surrounding Fourth-Rank Wizards and implies that higher advancement may carry severe personal or metaphysical consequences.

Important Character Interactions

• Lin Qi and Liu Xingyuan: Their guarded business discussion evolves into a probing conversation about love, Wizard identity, Liu Xuan’s past, and the danger of Fourth Rank.
• Lin Qi and Liu Xinglu: Liu Xinglu tries to mediate but later confronts Lin Qi angrily over his treatment of Liu Xuan. Lin Qi refuses to be distracted.
• Lin Qi and Liu Xuan: They do not meet directly, but their long-standing emotional bond and the unexplained consequences of Liu Xuan’s experiment form the chapter’s emotional center.
• Liu Xingyuan and Liu Xinglu: Liu Xinglu is repeatedly surprised by Liu Xingyuan’s openness and hidden knowledge, especially regarding Liu Xuan’s experiment and Lin Qi’s identity.

Chapter Summary: Lin Qi’s Dirty Tactics, Winning the “People’s Hearts”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Xingyuan meets Lin Qi and asks him not to advance to the Fourth Rank yet, though he does not explain why. Lin Qi agrees outwardly but decides to investigate the reason independently.
• Liu Xingyuan and Liu Xinglu reveal that their main concern is Lin Qi’s relationship with Liu Xuan, whose Cyberpsychosis and unstable Suppressor have made them wary.
• After they leave, Lin Qi acknowledges that he has fallen in love with Liu Xuan. He resolves to cure her atypical Cyberpsychosis, believing her recent choices are not entirely the result of her illness.
• Lin Qi uses his blood-manipulation ability and Psychic Vision to secretly retrieve the S-Artemis Neural Drive Storage Cybernetic from the ruins of the H4 Skyscraper. He transports it through underground pipes, smuggles it into his Flying Vehicle, and conceals it inside his arm cybernetic.
• This brings Lin Qi’s collection of Third Rank Extraordinary Items to three, giving him more options for obtaining additional extraordinary abilities and eventually advancing to the Fourth Rank.
• In the mercenary group’s chat, Lin Qi learns that Arthur and Master Ma are hiding underground while the Large Enterprise Alliance searches Red Fruit City for them. Guangleng has taken control of the city’s networked devices to help them evade surveillance.
• Lin Qi announces that the S-level Potions for Arthur and Master Ma, as well as the lower-level potions ordered by Capitalist, are ready. He begins arranging the first-stage transaction.
• Guangleng suggests conducting the exchange offline in the underground pipes, seemingly to reduce shipping costs but also exposing that several members are currently in Red Fruit City.
• Lin Qi publicly offers Arthur two S-level Potions—one weaker experimental version and one standard version—in exchange for testing and feedback.
• The gift causes the other mercenary members to reassess the balance of power between Lin Qi and Guangleng. Lin Qi deliberately uses generosity to improve his standing and cultivate loyalty within the group.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi: Becomes more honest with himself about his love for Liu Xuan and takes responsibility for finding a cure for her illness. He also demonstrates increasingly calculating and manipulative behavior, using stolen resources, misinformation, and gifts to strengthen his position.
• Liu Xingyuan: Appears less concerned with material benefits than with protecting Liu Xuan. His cryptic warning about Lin Qi’s advancement to the Fourth Rank remains unresolved, suggesting hidden knowledge or a larger threat.
• Liu Xinglu: Attempts to ease relations with Lin Qi and offers assistance in Red Fruit City because of Liu Xuan.
• Liu Xuan: Does not appear directly, but her relationship with Lin Qi becomes central. Lin Qi rejects the idea that her behavior is merely the product of Cyberpsychosis.
• Arthur: Is delighted by Lin Qi’s gift and readily accepts the testing assignment, showing his straightforward and trusting nature.
• Master Ma: Recognizes Lin Qi’s manipulation and the complicated motives of the mercenary group members, but Arthur misunderstands his criticism.
• Capitalist: Continues probing Lin Qi for information about his potions and capabilities, though she becomes more cautious after his evasive responses.
• Guangleng: Reveals that he can control Red Fruit City’s network, but his casual exposure of everyone’s locations makes the others question his trustworthiness.

Significant Themes

• Love versus illness and judgment: Lin Qi refuses to reduce Liu Xuan’s choices to her Cyberpsychosis and commits himself to curing her so that her true feelings and intentions can emerge.
• Power and hidden motives: Liu Xingyuan’s warning suggests that advancement carries unknown risks, while Lin Qi’s theft and secrecy show that everyone is pursuing concealed objectives.
• Manipulation through generosity: Lin Qi uses the valuable potions not merely to help Arthur but to influence the entire group’s perception of him.
• Trust and loyalty: The mercenary group’s alliances begin shifting as members compare the tangible benefits Lin Qi offers with Guangleng’s more utilitarian support.
• Information warfare: Probing, misinformation, surveillance control, and strategic disclosures are as important as supernatural strength.
• Moral ambiguity: Lin Qi casually steals an extraordinary item and manipulates his allies, yet frames these actions as reasonable or necessary. Master Ma recognizes that the group’s methods are morally questionable but difficult to openly condemn.

Important Character Interactions

• Lin Qi and Liu Xingyuan: Their conversation is outwardly cordial but filled with concealed intentions. Lin Qi agrees to Xingyuan’s demand while privately planning to uncover its meaning.
• Lin Qi and Liu Xinglu: Xinglu offers assistance because of Liu Xuan, and Lin Qi accepts politely without pretending the offer is based on personal loyalty.
• Lin Qi and Liu Xuan: Though she is absent, Lin Qi’s realization of his feelings and determination to cure her marks a major emotional turning point.
• Lin Qi and Capitalist: Lin Qi deliberately feeds Capitalist misleading information about mass-produced potions, frustrating her attempts to investigate him.
• Lin Qi and Guangleng: Guangleng’s suggestion reveals sensitive location information, while Lin Qi responds by proposing the underground pipes and quietly countering Guangleng’s influence.
• Lin Qi and Arthur: Lin Qi gives Arthur two S-level Potions, publicly creating goodwill and making Arthur more favorable toward him.
• Master Ma and Arthur: Master Ma sees through Lin Qi’s “dirty” strategy, but Arthur defends Lin Qi as a good person. Master Ma humorously claims he was criticizing Capitalist instead, preserving the group’s outward harmony.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Guangleng, having taken control of the local network, offers to block surveillance and communications so Lin Qi can safely distribute the potions.
• Lin Qi delivers ninety-nine potions through the underground pipelines:
  • One S-level Potion for Master Ma
  • Two S-level Potions for Arthur
  • Four L-level and four A-level sets for Capitalist
• After receiving their supplies, the mercenary group discusses the failed mission and evacuates safely. Guangleng prepares to close the temporary chat while fighting hackers from the Eastern Alliance.
• Arthur tests one of Lin Qi’s S-level Potions and discovers that it is extraordinarily powerful—far stronger than comparable potions from the Si Clan. He estimates its value at over 120 million Credit Points, with stronger versions worth more than 160 million.
• Arthur realizes Lin Qi exchanged twelve such potions to Capitalist for a single Fourth Rank Extraordinary Item and protests that Lin Qi was severely cheated.
• Capitalist agrees to reduce the trade to four S-level Potions, acknowledging their enormous market value. Lin Qi instead offers to exchange future potions for Fourth Rank Extraordinary Items, even accepting prices up to double the normal value because he still needs three more items.
• The chapter contrasts Lin Qi’s seemingly extravagant spending with Capitalist’s and King Kong’s even greater investment in King Kong’s cybernetic advancement.
• Capitalist orders King Kong to accelerate his potion consumption using a special metabolism-enhancing Extraordinary Item, despite its cost in cellular lifespan. King Kong accepts the risk out of loyalty and gratitude toward her.
• Lin Qi plans to produce Capitalist’s remaining potions, obtain more Extraordinary Materials from Ding Yang in the Doomsday World, and select his final Third Rank abilities.
• Lin Qi exchanges secure emails with Liu Xuan. He agrees to remain involved with United Pharmaceutical and help it become a major corporation, while trying to determine whether Liu Xuan personally wants him to stay in Red Fruit City. Though she avoids answering directly, he concludes that she does not want him to leave.
• After Liu Xuan reveals that the company will resume work the next day, Lin Qi ends their late-night conversation to prevent her from exhausting herself.
• Once the Gate’s cooldown ends, Lin Qi returns to the Doomsday World, spends twelve hours in Golden Meditation, and then prepares for a formal visit to Hongshan Camp.
• Wang Ziru meets him with documents, plans, a vehicle, three accompanying squads, and two Extraordinary users, signaling that the visit will involve serious negotiations and implementation work.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi continues balancing his identities, resources, and alliances. He remains cautious about Guangleng’s suspicions and protects the secrecy of the Doomsday World, while becoming increasingly willing to leverage its resources openly.
• Guangleng demonstrates overwhelming control over the Cyber Network but remains unable to uncover the truth behind Lin Qi’s unusual supplies and rapid growth. Their relationship is based on mutual usefulness and cautious noninterference.
• Arthur becomes an enthusiastic supporter of Lin Qi, testing the potion immediately and defending Lin Qi’s interests by pointing out the unfairness of the original trade.
• Capitalist shows her preference for fair, sustainable exchanges rather than exploiting Lin Qi. She reduces her order and remains positioned for future mutually beneficial trades.
• King Kong displays extreme loyalty to Capitalist. He is willing to sacrifice his already limited lifespan to fulfill her expectations and repay her for saving him.
• Liu Xuan appears emotionally attached to Lin Qi and wants him to remain connected to United Pharmaceutical, though she expresses this indirectly and focuses conversations on the company.
• Wang Ziru functions as Lin Qi’s practical representative and organizer, efficiently translating broad agreements into formal operations.

Significant Themes

• Value and perception: Lin Qi views the potions as inexpensive because he can produce them with Doomsday World resources, while others see them as unbelievably valuable commodities.
• Hidden identities and secrecy: Lin Qi’s unexplained abilities and supplies create mutual suspicion between him and Guangleng, highlighting the danger of exposing the Doomsday World.
• Fair exchange versus exploitation: Capitalist’s decision to reduce the trade emphasizes the importance of maintaining long-term trust rather than maximizing a single transaction.
• The cost of power: Advancement requires enormous material resources, money, physical sacrifice, and even shortened lifespans, particularly for King Kong and high-level Wizards.
• Loyalty and obligation: King Kong’s willingness to sacrifice himself for Capitalist and Lin Qi’s decision to support Liu Xuan and United Pharmaceutical show how personal bonds influence strategic choices.
• Practical ambition: Lin Qi prioritizes immediate combat strength and useful abilities over abstract potential, reflecting his increasingly pragmatic approach to advancement.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi and Guangleng cooperate through secure email, with Guangleng providing network protection while respecting Lin Qi’s secrets.
• Arthur praises Lin Qi’s potion quality and challenges the terms of Lin Qi’s deal with Capitalist.
• Capitalist responds fairly, reducing her potion order and offering future opportunities to trade for Extraordinary Items.
• Capitalist and King Kong’s relationship is based on investment, loyalty, and mutual dependence; she pushes him toward rapid advancement, and he willingly accepts the danger.
• Lin Qi and Liu Xuan engage in a prolonged, indirect exchange about his future with United Pharmaceutical. Neither states everything openly, but both understand the emotional and strategic implications.
• Lin Qi and Wang Ziru resume their operational partnership as they prepare for formal negotiations with Hongshan Camp.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qi visits Hongshan Camp with Wang Ziru to negotiate urgently needed resources for Magic University Camp.
• He requests:
  • Third- and Fourth-Rank Extraordinary Items
  • A wide variety of Extraordinary Materials
• In exchange, Magic University Camp offers potions, cybernetic bodies, potion formulas, and technical assistance to restore power and build temporary nuclear reactors across the Modu camps.
• Ding Yang reveals that Third-Rank Items are relatively obtainable, but the General Headquarters possesses only one known Fourth-Rank Extraordinary Item. Fourth-Rank Monsters are usually destroyed with nuclear weapons, which also obliterate their valuable items.
• Ding Yang suggests that Magic University Camp provide S-level Weapons so the military can hunt Fourth-Rank Monsters with fewer casualties. Lin Qi rejects this, publicly emphasizing that he does not want soldiers sacrificed.
• Lin Qi privately realizes that he can obtain Fourth-Rank Items indirectly by cultivating Wang Qiang into a powerful hunter and “super thug,” rather than personally fighting monsters or exposing S-level Weapons.
• Ding Yang promises to secure the first batch of Third-Rank Items from the General Headquarters within three days.
• After leaving Hongshan Camp, Lin Qi learns that Wang Qiang is in poor condition from implanting an Extraordinary Item directly into his body. Wang Qiang has isolated himself at the East Gate security office and ordered the guards to kill him if he loses control.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi: Becomes more strategically calculating and increasingly aware of the need to reach Fourth-Rank power. He adopts a compassionate public image while privately planning to use Wang Qiang as a controlled proxy for acquiring Extraordinary Items.
• Ding Yang: Demonstrates strong trust and gratitude toward Lin Qi, defending Magic University Camp against internal criticism and promising official support.
• Wang Ziru: Acts as Lin Qi’s practical negotiator and remains focused on Magic University Camp’s survival and independence. He is relieved that Lin Qi refuses to reveal or trade S-level Weapons.
• Wang Qiang: Is portrayed as self-sacrificing, stubborn, and dangerously unstable. Despite his suffering, he voluntarily isolates himself to protect others, convincing Lin Qi that he is both morally reliable and suitable for dangerous missions.

Significant Themes

• Power and strategic advancement: Lin Qi urgently seeks higher-level Extraordinary Items because Third-Rank strength is no longer sufficient in light of threats from the Cyber World.
• Indirect control and delegation: Rather than personally pursuing every objective, Lin Qi decides to cultivate capable agents who can act on his behalf.
• Trust versus suspicion: The General Headquarters remains cautious about Lin Qi, while Ding Yang argues that Lin Qi’s past actions have already proven his loyalty to humanity.
• Technology as leverage: Magic University Camp uses its advanced potions, cybernetics, and energy technology to negotiate for resources and strengthen its political position.
• Public image versus private motives: Lin Qi presents himself as compassionate and protective of human life, while privately pursuing a calculated plan to obtain rare power.
• Sacrifice and humanity: Wang Qiang’s willingness to endure extreme pain and risk insanity contrasts with the military’s reluctance to sacrifice soldiers for Extraordinary Items.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi and Ding Yang maintain a respectful, cooperative relationship rooted in Magic University Camp’s past assistance to Hongshan Camp.
• Lin Qi and Wang Ziru work closely together, with Wang Ziru handling negotiations and protecting Lin Qi’s reputation.
• Ding Yang argues with Hongshan Camp’s leaders, insisting that Lin Qi should not be tested or distrusted as long as he continues supporting humanity.
• Lin Qi’s discussion of Wang Qiang reveals that he now views the man not merely as a dangerous fighter, but as a potentially loyal and useful agent.
• The chapter ends with Lin Qi preparing to meet Wang Qiang and assess whether he can be transformed into the powerful monster-hunter Lin Qi needs.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• At Magic University Camp, Lin Qi visits Wang Qiang, a Third Rank extraordinary individual suffering terribly from an Extraordinary Item implanted in his body by General Headquarters.
• Lin Qi offers Wang Qiang a new chance at life: he will remove the item, then provide Wang Qiang with high-level cybernetic prostheses so he can hunt Fourth Rank Monsters and collect their crystal cores for the camp.
• Wang Qiang immediately accepts, viewing the offer as both relief from his torture and an opportunity to continue serving Dragon Nation.
• Lin Qi removes the item in advance using Blood Control and Rapid Growth, replacing much of Wang Qiang’s contaminated blood, marrow, flesh, and tissue. The procedure is grotesque but successful.
• The extracted Extraordinary Item is revealed to be only First Rank, useful mainly as a material source through the Funnel Infusion Method. Lin Qi sends it to Wei Yue for processing.
• Back in the Cyber World, Lin Qi decides he needs an S-level set of cybernetic prostheses for the Doomsday World and considers obtaining one through the Black Market. He then rests before returning to work.
• United Pharmaceutical officially moves into H3 Skyscraper. The relocation brings in employees from the small enterprises that now hold shares in the company.
• Lin Qi encounters Xiao Gu and other representatives from the Pharmaceutical Small Enterprise Alliance, who are preparing to attend United Pharmaceutical’s board meeting and help assign positions to the newly transferred personnel.
• Liu Xuan is already at the company but is handling another matter: a young representative from Nanyun Pharmaceuticals, a major Eastern Alliance company with extensive S-level Potion production capabilities, has come to meet Lin Qi.
• Liu Xuan privately warns Lin Qi that the visitor is not simply a threat. Because the Eastern Alliance may intercept communications, she communicates only indirectly through email.
• Using Psychic Vision, Lin Qi observes the visitor, Xu Qinghe, while she rides the elevator with Liu Xuan. Xu Qinghe unexpectedly senses his scrutiny, suggesting she may herself be an extraordinary individual.
• Xu Qinghe jokingly wagers an S-level Potion that Lin Qi will be asleep in his office, while Liu Xuan defends him as hardworking and praises his A-level achievements in both potion research and cybernetic prosthesis engineering.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi: Demonstrates compassion, medical skill, and strategic thinking by saving Wang Qiang and turning him into a future asset. He also continues expanding his influence in both the Doomsday World and corporate world. His caution toward Xu Qinghe shows that he recognizes the political danger surrounding Nanyun Pharmaceuticals.
• Wang Qiang: Moves from despair and near-collapse to renewed hope. His willingness to accept cybernetic prostheses shows his continued loyalty to Dragon Nation and his determination to remain useful despite the torture he endured.
• Liu Xuan: Reveals greater control over United Pharmaceutical and its affiliated companies than her public shareholding suggests. She manages the company’s restructuring, tests Xu Qinghe before Lin Qi meets her, and carefully protects sensitive information from possible Eastern Alliance surveillance.
• Xu Qinghe: Introduced as lively, confident, and seemingly playful, but her ability to detect Lin Qi’s Psychic Vision implies hidden power or unusual perception. Her true purpose remains unclear.
• Xiao Gu and the alliance representatives: Their dependence on United Pharmaceutical becomes clear. Although they retain shares, their companies are effectively under Liu Xuan’s control, making their relationship with Lin Qi primarily one of shared economic interests.

Significant Themes

• Sacrifice and renewal: Wang Qiang’s suffering is answered through the creation of a new body and a renewed purpose.
• Power and exploitation: General Headquarters used Wang Qiang as a test subject, contrasting with Lin Qi’s attempt to save and employ him.
• Corporate consolidation: United Pharmaceutical’s expansion is also a takeover of smaller companies, revealing how alliances, ownership, and personnel transfers consolidate power.
• Political distrust and espionage: Liu Xuan’s guarded emails and concern over interception emphasize the tense rivalry between major alliances.
• Hidden strength and appearances: Xu Qinghe appears to be a playful young researcher, yet her ability to notice Lin Qi suggests that appearances conceal significant abilities.
• Profit-based relationships: Lin Qi recognizes that his connections with the small enterprises are maintained largely through mutual benefit rather than personal loyalty.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi offers Wang Qiang both treatment and future employment, creating a relationship based on trust, service, and mutual benefit.
• Lin Qi warmly acknowledges Xiao Gu’s past assistance but keeps emotional distance from the other alliance representatives once their business interests become clear.
• Liu Xuan communicates strategically with Lin Qi, giving him enough information to prepare while avoiding details that could be intercepted.
• Lin Qi and Xu Qinghe make an indirect first contact through Psychic Vision, with Xu Qinghe apparently detecting him.
• Liu Xuan praises Lin Qi to Xu Qinghe, while Xu Qinghe teases her by suggesting that Lin Qi is lazy and likely asleep, setting up a light but potentially competitive first meeting.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xu Qinghe challenges Liu Xuan to a bet: if Lin Qi notices her approach to his office, Liu Xuan must give her an S-level Potion; if he does not, Xu Qinghe will give Liu Xuan one.
• Liu Xuan accepts, believing Lin Qi will not lose the bet. Xu Qinghe is confident because of her clairvoyant ability and expects to win a rare, potentially collectible potion.
• As Xu Qinghe approaches Lin Qi’s office, Lin Qi suddenly stops pretending to sleep and gets up to drink water. Xu Qinghe realizes he sensed her presence, causing her to lose the bet.
• Xu Qinghe gives Liu Xuan the S-level Potion but maintains her dignity by knocking before entering Lin Qi’s office.
• Liu Xuan introduces Xu Qinghe to Lin Qi, explains that Xu Qinghe was sent by the Eastern Alliance, and leaves to chair a board meeting.
• Alone with Lin Qi, Xu Qinghe introduces herself as a twenty-two-year-old S-Minus Rank pharmaceutical researcher who has already produced seventeen S-level Potions.
• Lin Qi reveals that he is nineteen and expects to obtain S-Minus Rank certification within the month. His understated comparison unsettles Xu Qinghe, who currently holds the record as the youngest researcher of that rank.
• Xu Qinghe explains that the Eastern Alliance wants Lin Qi to obtain certification within seven days rather than one month. The Alliance considers this important to its upcoming strategic plans.
• Lin Qi suspects the request is part of a larger test or strategic maneuver and questions the lack of a clear explanation.
• Xu Qinghe offers a deal: if Lin Qi sells her one of his future S-level Potions at the internal price—and publicly labels it his first potion—she promises to help him obtain certification within seven days.

Character Developments

• Liu Xuan: Shows confidence in Lin Qi’s abilities and judgment. She cleverly exploits the bet’s terms and appears pleased when Xu Qinghe realizes Lin Qi detected her. She also entrusts Lin Qi with handling the Alliance-related negotiations himself.
• Xu Qinghe: Initially confident and eager to profit from Lin Qi’s supposed inattentiveness, she is embarrassed and frustrated when he wins the bet. Her pride is further challenged by Lin Qi’s age and potential. Although boastful about her achievements, she demonstrates professionalism by accepting her loss and knocking before entering. Her clairvoyant ability also leads her to suspect that Lin Qi possesses a similar perception-based power.
• Lin Qi: Demonstrates extraordinary awareness, likely using his hidden abilities while presenting them as clairvoyance. He remains calm and emotionally unaffected by Xu Qinghe’s beauty or provocations. He carefully conceals his true potion-making ability, planning to publicly appear only slightly more talented than other geniuses. He also becomes suspicious of the Eastern Alliance’s motives.

Significant Themes

• Hidden abilities and deception: Lin Qi conceals his true Wizard abilities behind the explanation that he is a Native Transcendent with limited clairvoyance. Xu Qinghe likewise possesses a secret perception ability.
• Competition and pride: Xu Qinghe’s confidence is repeatedly challenged by Lin Qi, creating an undercurrent of rivalry between the two gifted young researchers.
• Strategic secrecy: Lin Qi deliberately hides the number and quality of potions he has produced, understanding that revealing too much could expose his advantages.
• Power and political influence: The Eastern Alliance’s urgency suggests that pharmaceutical certification may be tied to broader military or political plans.
• Trust and testing: Lin Qi interprets the Alliance’s offer as potentially another test, reflecting the wider uncertainty surrounding his growing importance.

Character Interactions

• Xu Qinghe and Liu Xuan: Their wager begins playfully but becomes a contest of confidence and perception. Liu Xuan’s composure contrasts with Xu Qinghe’s growing anxiety.
• Xu Qinghe and Lin Qi: Their first meeting is marked by mutual suspicion, awkwardness, and hidden assessment. Xu Qinghe’s clairvoyance causes an embarrassing moment, while Lin Qi realizes she may be able to see through things. Their conversation quickly turns into a professional and competitive negotiation.
• Liu Xuan and Lin Qi: Liu Xuan treats Lin Qi as capable of handling major matters independently, while Lin Qi trusts her enough to accept the introduction and continue the discussion after she leaves.
• Lin Qi and the Eastern Alliance: Though the Alliance is not directly present, its demand places Lin Qi under pressure and raises questions about why his rapid advancement is strategically important.

Chapter Summary: “Forgery? Truth and Lies, Certifying an S-level Pharmacology Researcher”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xu Qinghe proposes helping Lin Qi obtain his S-level pharmacology researcher certification through fraud. She offers a semi-finished S-level Potion that appears to be only A-level to ordinary observers and even to instruments.
• During the certification, she plans to secretly exchange Lin Qi’s potion with the semi-finished one. Once a First Rank Extraordinary Item is added, it will transform into an S-level Potion and pass the reviewers’ inspection.
• To accomplish the switch, Xu Qinghe reveals a pair of Third Rank Extraordinary Item stickers that can exchange two similarly sized and weighted objects when activated with Mental Power.
• Lin Qi questions how the deception can succeed despite full multi-angle recording and cross-blind review by multiple S-level researchers. Xu Qinghe explains that the exchange stickers will make the substitution undetectable.
• Xu Qinghe admits that representatives of the Eastern Alliance encouraged her to use “unconventional means” to get Lin Qi certified early. This makes Lin Qi suspect that the Alliance has a larger plan for him.
• Lin Qi agrees to the scheme, but negotiates a trade: Xu Qinghe must give him the semi-finished potion, while he will eventually provide her with one of his own S-level Potions. She claims the Alliance’s payment to Nanyun Pharmaceuticals only covers guidance, not the potion she personally crafted.
• Xu Qinghe asks Lin Qi to produce between 150 and 160 materials during the demonstration so the process appears plausible. If anything goes wrong, they can attribute his success to luck rather than genuine ability.
• Lin Qi contacts Liu Xuan to arrange access to United Pharmaceutical’s laboratory, acquire enough Extraordinary Materials, and obtain a First Rank Extraordinary Item under the company’s name.
• Liu Xuan announces to the board that Lin Qi will undergo S-level certification. The directors are shocked and excited, viewing his certification as a major step toward making United Pharmaceutical a powerful enterprise.
• The board suggests allowing A-level researchers to observe the process. Liu Xuan agrees to ask Lin Qi and proposes displaying the laboratory footage in the boardroom.
• Lin Qi and Xu Qinghe head toward the pharmacology laboratories on the 129th floor, preparing to begin the certification.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi: Remains calm and strategically minded throughout the discussion. Although he recognizes that the plan is technically cheating, he feels no guilt because he believes he already possesses the ability to become an S-level researcher. He also intends to use the Alliance’s mistaken belief that he is weak or dependent on Xu Qinghe to conceal his true capabilities and separate his powerful potions from his public identity.
• Xu Qinghe: Reveals herself to be well-connected, opportunistic, and highly familiar with pharmacology certification procedures. She is eager to recover the S-level Potion she lost to Liu Xuan and hopes to obtain a valuable collectible from Lin Qi. Despite her scheming, she has a carefree, pampered personality and quickly recovers from jealousy by convincing herself that Lin Qi’s future success will make his potion more valuable.
• Liu Xuan: Demonstrates trust in Lin Qi and supports his rapid certification. She handles the practical arrangements and considers how the event can strengthen United Pharmaceutical’s unity and reputation.
• The United Pharmaceutical board: Moves from surprise to enthusiasm, recognizing Lin Qi’s certification as evidence that the company is becoming a major force.
• The Eastern Alliance: Remains mysterious. Its willingness to endorse forgery suggests that Lin Qi’s certification serves an important political or strategic objective.

Significant Themes

• Truth versus appearances: The certification will officially prove Lin Qi is an S-level researcher, but the public process will be based on a manipulated demonstration. The chapter questions whether the certification is truly false when Lin Qi is already capable of achieving the rank naturally.
• Political influence over institutions: The Eastern Alliance can quietly direct certification procedures, showing that official standards may be bent to serve larger strategic interests.
• Talent, effort, and recognition: Xu Qinghe reflects that high-level pharmacology requires both talent and sustained effort. Lin Qi’s apparent “shortcut” does not erase his genuine ability.
• Reputation and strategic deception: Lin Qi deliberately allows others to underestimate him so he can protect his strongest abilities and avoid attracting suspicion.
• Commerce and personal advantage: Even while participating in an Alliance-backed operation, Xu Qinghe insists on treating the potion exchange as a business deal, highlighting the overlap between favors, politics, and profit.
• Emotional resilience: Xu Qinghe’s ability to quickly overcome insecurity and jealousy contrasts with Lin Qi’s analytical observation of her emotions.

Important Character Interactions

• Lin Qi and Xu Qinghe: Their conversation is a negotiation disguised as cooperation. Xu Qinghe attempts to tempt Lin Qi with fame and convenience, while Lin Qi probes her motives and the Alliance’s intentions. He eventually adapts his approach to her childish, profit-oriented personality and persuades her that the exchange benefits her.
• Lin Qi and Liu Xuan: Lin Qi relies on Liu Xuan to organize the laboratory, materials, and Extraordinary Item needed for the certification. Their interaction shows mutual trust and the practical partnership behind United Pharmaceutical.
• Liu Xuan and the board: Liu Xuan presents Lin Qi’s certification as a company-wide milestone. The board’s enthusiasm demonstrates how Lin Qi’s achievement is becoming a symbol of United Pharmaceutical’s rise.
• Lin Qi and Xu Qinghe’s internal contrast: While Xu Qinghe worries about losing her status as the youngest S-level researcher, Lin Qi calmly views the event as merely accelerating an inevitable achievement. Her self-comfort and his emotional perception provide the chapter’s closing humor.

Chapter Summary: “What a True Genius Looks Like”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qi and Xu Qinghe inspect the unfinished 129th-floor laboratory at United Pharmaceutical, which is intended to become a cutting-edge pharmacology facility.
• Xu Qinghe worries that the outdated equipment and seven-day deadline will make Lin Qi’s fake S-level certification difficult. She explains that producing an S-level Potion normally requires more than 150 materials, extensive testing, and a low success rate.
• Lin Qi clarifies that he needs real Extraordinary Materials and Items to make the certification believable, since the S-level Pharmacology Association’s blind reviewers would detect impossible procedures.
• He accesses the Association’s website and independently installs the required surveillance, imaging, and recording equipment, revealing his competence as an engineering researcher.
• Four hundred Extraordinary Materials and one First Rank Extraordinary Item arrive. Xu Qinghe prepares to secretly exchange Lin Qi’s potion if necessary, while monitoring him to prevent suspicious combinations.
• As Lin Qi begins production, observers on the 130th floor praise his past achievements and eagerly watch the process.
• Lin Qi rapidly preprocesses the materials using techniques from pharmacology literature. He then combines them at extraordinary speed, inspecting the potion only once every ten additions instead of following the usual step-by-step testing procedure.
• Within minutes, the potion reaches L-level and then A-level quality. Xu Qinghe becomes convinced that Lin Qi is not merely highly practiced but possesses exceptional intuitive talent exceeding her own.
• Xu Qinghe takes pride in recognizing their similarity as “geniuses” and imagines writing a research paper about his unusual abilities.

Character Development

• Lin Qi: Demonstrates that his apparent pharmacological skill is far greater than anyone realizes. His perfect memory, Psychic Vision, and accumulated knowledge allow him to work with astonishing speed and confidence. He remains calm, dismissive of conventional limitations, and largely unconcerned with the observers’ reactions.
• Xu Qinghe: Initially views the certification as a fraudulent operation requiring her intervention. After seeing Lin Qi work, she shifts from skepticism and supervisory concern to amazement and admiration. She begins to believe he may be a greater natural genius than herself, though she still assumes he will ultimately need her help to pass.
• Liu Xuan and United Pharmaceutical: Their investment in the laboratory and certification effort becomes more credible as the necessary equipment and materials are delivered, while the company’s primitive facilities highlight the difficult conditions Lin Qi has overcome.
• Si Li: Used as a contrast to Lin Qi. His low potion-production ability and poor success rate suggest that his S-level reputation may be undeserved or inflated.

Significant Themes

• True genius versus formal resources: Lin Qi’s talent allows him to outperform researchers with better equipment and more privileged backgrounds.
• Intuition and mastery: The chapter contrasts ordinary researchers’ reliance on instruments with geniuses’ ability to sense a potion’s condition directly.
• Class and hardship: Lin Qi’s practical versatility reflects the survival demands of Cyber Society’s lower classes, while Xu Qinghe’s dependence on assistants reveals the limitations of privilege.
• Appearances versus reality: Lin Qi is officially only an A-level researcher and is supposedly faking his certification, but his actual abilities may already surpass those of many legitimate S-level researchers.
• Institutional credibility and deception: The certification process requires enough authentic procedure to withstand expert scrutiny, showing how Lin Qi must balance genuine skill with the planned fraud.

Character Interactions

• Xu Qinghe repeatedly urges Lin Qi to begin quickly, while Lin Qi patiently points out that the materials have not yet arrived.
• Lin Qi’s effortless installation of the laboratory equipment impresses Xu Qinghe and makes her reconsider his abilities.
• Xu Qinghe secretly prepares to replace Lin Qi’s potion if his process becomes suspicious, but his performance quickly makes her question whether such assistance is necessary.
• As Lin Qi works, Xu Qinghe interprets his rapid, intuition-based methods through the lens of her own talent, concluding that they belong to the same rare category of pharmacological genius.
• Lin Qi notices Xu Qinghe’s rapidly shifting emotions but remains focused on the experiment, viewing her enthusiasm with mild amusement.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qi continues preparing an S-level Potion, adding Extraordinary Materials while secretly monitoring the potion through Psychic Vision.
• After reaching one hundred materials, he deliberately slows down and pretends to struggle, wanting to conceal how easily he can produce high-level potions. He stretches the process to roughly twelve hours so his performance appears believable to the cameras and future reviewers.
• The researchers observing him praise his “caution” and “mastery,” while Liu Xuan quietly recognizes that he is merely stalling.
• After adding 149 materials, Lin Qi produces a potion that reaches the highest A-level limits in the Cyber World’s testing data.
• At the final stage, Xu Qinghe secretly activates the Exchange Sticker and swaps Lin Qi’s nearly completed potion with another one. Lin Qi then adds the provided Extraordinary Item, causing the potion to become an S-level Potion.
• The potion passes testing, and Lin Qi submits the full preparation footage and data to the S-level Pharmacology Association. Five randomly selected S-level researchers will conduct the blind review, meaning his certification should arrive within three hours.
• United Pharmaceutical celebrates, believing Lin Qi’s certification will help the company qualify as a major corporation.
• Xu Qinghe later retrieves the potion she secretly took. She discovers that it is not merely an ordinary or incomplete potion, but a perfect S-level Potion made from exactly 150 materials without relying on an Extraordinary Item.
• Lin Qi reveals that this perfect potion was actually his true first S-level Potion. Xu Qinghe becomes distressed—not because of his overwhelming talent, but because the potion is worth far more than the one listed in his certification materials.
• She insists on returning it, believing she will lose billions in Credits because the “goods do not match the listing.” Lin Qi agrees to give her an ordinary S-level Potion instead.

Character Developments

• Lin Qi: Demonstrates extraordinary pharmacological ability, completing a perfect S-level Potion in about twelve hours. He also reveals his cunning and caution by deliberately disguising his talent, manipulating the observers’ expectations, and allowing Xu Qinghe’s scheme to proceed.
• Xu Qinghe: Successfully helps Lin Qi obtain certification through the potion swap, but is later overwhelmed by jealousy and financial regret when she realizes his genuine ability far exceeds what she expected. Her obsession with Credits remains stronger than her admiration for his achievement.
• Liu Xuan: Quietly understands that Lin Qi is intentionally delaying his work. Her subtle smile suggests confidence in him, although the other researchers mistake his behavior for careful craftsmanship.
• United Pharmaceutical’s employees: Become intensely optimistic about the company’s future, believing Lin Qi’s certification will elevate them into a major corporation.

Significant Themes

• Concealing true ability: Lin Qi hides his extraordinary talent to avoid attracting suspicion and preserve the freedom to create even more powerful potions later.
• Appearance versus reality: The researchers interpret Lin Qi’s deliberate stalling as caution and professionalism, while the audience knows it is an act.
• Wealth and ambition: Xu Qinghe evaluates even a miraculous potion primarily in terms of its market value, making financial gain a major source of humor and conflict.
• Corporate advancement: Lin Qi’s certification is important not only personally but also for United Pharmaceutical’s transformation into a major corporation.
• Luck, legitimacy, and reputation: Lin Qi plans to let others believe his success resulted partly from luck, knowing that an apparently imperfect genius will attract less scrutiny than someone who seems impossibly capable.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qi carefully performs for Xu Qinghe and the recording equipment, while Xu Qinghe initially believes he is only slightly more talented than herself.
• Xu Qinghe secretly exchanges the potions and urges Lin Qi to add the Extraordinary Item, helping him create convincing certification evidence.
• Afterward, she congratulates him and reassures him that the secret operation will not be exposed.
• Lin Qi realizes that the potion in Xu Qinghe’s possession is actually his genuine masterpiece and tells her he has already fulfilled his promise to give her his first S-level Potion.
• Xu Qinghe reacts with disbelief and financial panic, returning the perfect potion because she believes its superior quality will cause her to lose potential profits. Lin Qi, confused by her priorities, promises to replace it with an ordinary S-level Potion.

Key Plot Points and Events

• The protagonist is suffering from a severe cold, experiencing a throbbing headache throughout the day.
• They decide to take a day off from their usual activities to rest and recover.

Character Developments

• The protagonist demonstrates self-care and prioritizes their health by taking a day off.
• They show responsibility by not wanting to spread their illness to others.

Significant Themes

• Health and Self-Care: The chapter emphasizes the importance of taking care of one's health and not pushing oneself too hard.
• Responsibility: The protagonist shows consideration for others by not going to work and potentially infecting them.

Character Interactions

• There are no significant interactions mentioned in this chapter, as the protagonist is alone and resting.