Chapter Summaries

World leaders debated how to respond to a rapidly growing dragon that now stretched across several continents, while Tony Stark analyzed its strange size and floated the possibility of piercing it like a balloon. As the meeting settled on attempting contact before attacking, Tony accepted Coulson’s invitation to join the Avengers Alliance as its scientific consultant.

• Lu Xian presented footage of the dragon and urged the Celestial Empire to take responsibility for it.
• The Celestial Empire, British, French, and Russian representatives argued over the dragon’s origin and whether to communicate with it or attack.
• Tony Stark suggested the dragon might have extremely low density and could be punctured like a balloon.
• The leaders agreed to send representatives from each country to make contact with the dragon before deciding whether it was hostile.
• Tony told Coulson he would join the Avengers Alliance as its scientific consultant, but refused to be a team member or answer to an old fossil.

Bai Jing, calling himself the Space Dragon Bai Heng, reassured Ancient One that he would not harm Earth and gave her a strange meteorite as payment for using the planet’s energy. After settling his guilt toward Kamar-Taj, he discovered that his growth had reached its limit.

• Ancient One confronted Bai Jing, and he explained that he needed Earth’s life and spatial energy to mature and had no intention of harming the planet.
• Bai Jing gave Ancient One a mountain-sized meteorite as payment, and she accepted it and returned to Kamar-Taj.
• Bai Jing felt that he had finally repaid his debt to Kamar-Taj and Ancient One, though his power did not increase.
• Bai Jing noticed that the Space Particles were fusing into him more slowly and realized he had reached his limit.

Bai Jing explored his expanded abilities and learned that Earthlings were trying to contact him. He told the representatives of five nations that he planned to collect Earth, warned that he would freeze the planet for transport, and gave humanity one hour before freezing began.

• Bai Jing discovered that his electromagnetic powers let him float, his senses and vocal range had expanded, and his Starry Sky Dragon body had immense potential.
• The representatives of five nations built a giant loudspeaker stage in Arizona to communicate with the dragon.
• Bai Jing lowered his head toward the stage, unleashing fierce winds and dark clouds across parts of America, and answered the representatives in a thunderous voice.
• Bai Jing introduced himself as Starry Sky Dragon Ignil and said Earth was beautiful enough to add to his collection of planets.
• The Heavenly Dynasty representative asked about transporting Earth, and Bai Jing explained that he would freeze it first and thaw it after reaching his treasury.
• Bai Jing told humanity to enjoy its final hour before the freezing began, then returned to the heavens.

As Bai Jing announced that the world would end in an hour, fear and lawlessness spread while governments tried to respond. After U.S. nuclear strikes failed to harm him, superheroes and Wakandan forces arrived, leaving Bai Jing surprised by the scale of the confrontation.

• People across North America turned to violence after hearing Bai Jing announce that the world would end in an hour.
• A Chinese representative deciphered an acrostic in Bai Jing’s message and realized the dragon was teasing them.
• Lu Xian, Coulson, and Tony Stark discussed how to fight Bai Jing, and Tony proposed using nuclear weapons.
• Bai Jing refused Hetu’s suggestion to stop the attack and let the U.S. launch fifteen missiles carrying sixty nuclear warheads.
• The nuclear explosions barely affected Bai Jing, who mocked humanity and invited them to launch more missiles.
• The Fantastic Four, Kamar-Taj mages, and Wakandan forces arrived to confront Bai Jing, who realized he had drawn in numerous superheroes.

Song Shujun discussed broadcasting America’s upheaval as “beautiful scenery” while superheroes and Wakanda confronted Bai Jing’s enormous Starry Sky Dragon. Bai Jing shrank to a more fightable size, but Shuri’s Vibranium electromagnetic cannons only delighted him, leaving the heroes scrambling for another approach.

• Bai Jing told Song Shujun to broadcast America’s chaos as beautiful scenery and forbade livestreaming superheroes in the future.
• The Fantastic Four joined Shuri and Wakanda’s team in space, but Invisible Woman’s attempt to communicate with Bai Jing failed when he blasted them with water.
• Bai Jing shrank from twenty thousand kilometers to thirty kilometers, giving the gathered heroes a clearer chance to attack.
• Shuri fired two Vibranium electromagnetic shells, but Bai Jing controlled electromagnetism, accelerated them into his body, and suffered no apparent harm.
• Bai Jing taunted the heroes and asked them to fire more projectiles, while Invisible Woman raised her hand to try an attack using light energy.

Invisible Woman, the Fantastic Four, and Kamar-Taj's mages failed to stop Bai Jing in space. After he discovered the Living Tribunal's scepter strengthened him instead of hurting him, he sent the mages and spaceship flying and was left searching for a stronger challenge.

• Invisible Woman focused sunlight into a blazing beam, but Bai Jing endured it without harm.
• Mordo attacked Bai Jing with the Scepter of the Living Tribunal, whose lashes nourished and strengthened Bai Jing instead of punishing him.
• Mordo stopped whipping Bai Jing, so Bai Jing struck the magical artifact carrying the four mages toward Earth with his tail.
• Bai Jing sent the Fantastic Four's spaceship flying with another tail strike after asking them to fire the Electromagnetic Cannon again.
• Bai Jing surveyed the empty space and lamented that his opponents were too weak to challenge him.

Bai Jing fought Carol Danvers in a livestreamed battle, transforming into a human form as neither could injure the other. Shuri proposed using the Tesseract to overload the Vibranium in Bai Jing’s scales, giving Carol a chance to strike.

• Bai Jing seized the Scepter of the Living Tribunal, then sensed Carol Danvers arriving to defend Earth.
• Bai Jing shrank and transformed into human form, and Hetu broadcast his battle with Carol to nearly a billion viewers.
• Bai Jing and Carol exchanged hundreds of blows, but their defenses absorbed or resisted every attack.
• Tony Stark and Coulson watched the fight and discussed how they could help Carol.
• Shuri explained that Vibranium could be damaged once its energy storage limit was reached and suggested using the Tesseract to overload one of Bai Jing’s scales.
• Coulson asked how Shuri knew about the Tesseract, and the camera revealed that the mages had told her.

Reed, Shuri, Banner, and Tony built a device in Wakanda that unleashed a massive burst of Tesseract energy at Bai Jing while he fought Carol Danvers. The blast shattered one of his scales and weakened his defenses, allowing Carol to pierce him and send him crashing toward Earth.

• Wang brought Reed, Shuri, and Bruce Banner to help Tony and Coulson devise a way to trigger the Tesseract's energy.
• Bai Jing continued fighting Carol Danvers while monitoring the scientists' work through Hetu.
• The four scientists studied the Tesseract and built an energy activation device in Shuri's Wakandan laboratory.
• The device struck Bai Jing's reverse scale, shattering it and expanding his Gravity Field as the scientists concluded they had damaged his defenses.
• Carol Danvers seized the opening, pierced Bai Jing with Hell Stab · One Hand Pierce, and sent him crashing toward Earth in dragon form.

Bai Jing trapped Carol and drove them into the Fourth Fleet, causing a colossal explosion that destroyed the fleet and devastated the surrounding sea. Carol survived and was found unconscious on a deserted island, leaving Coulson convinced the Avengers Alliance could soon take shape.

• Bai Jing transformed into human form, restrained Carol, and said he would die above Earth rather than let her stop him.
• Bai Jing and Carol accelerated through the atmosphere and struck the Fourth Fleet off the Cape of Good Hope, triggering an enormous explosion that wiped out the fleet and sent towering waves across the oceans.
• Mages from Kamar-Taj, the Fantastic Four, Wakanda, and S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived through a portal and searched for Carol.
• Reed's instrument led Invisible Woman and Human Torch to Carol, who lay unconscious on a deserted island with her clothes destroyed but her body unharmed.
• Invisible Woman carried Carol back in spare clothes, and Coulson saw her survival as a major step toward forming the Avengers Alliance.

After Bai Jing returned to the Order Society, Hetu reported that his attack had destroyed America’s Fourth Fleet and five additional aircraft carriers, leaving American naval power badly weakened. Governments denied the dragon and blamed terrorists, while another power announced it would send its fleet to the Tiawan Bay as America struggled to recover.

• Bai Jing told Song Shujun that Captain Marvel would likely come after them because Bai Jing had killed Nick Fury.
• Bai Jing revealed that the blast had come from a hydrogen bomb he had made, not from his own self-destruction.
• Hetu reported the Fourth Fleet’s annihilation and listed five more destroyed carriers, predicting that the Indian Ocean balance of power would soon change.
• A Washington spokesperson denied that a dragon existed and blamed terrorists for detonating nuclear warheads aboard the Fourth Fleet’s ships.
• A Foreign Ministry spokesperson denied any monster attack and announced that the Nanyang Fleet would escort merchant ships through Tiawan Bay while America rebuilt its fleet.

Bai Jing defended his role in the chaos in America, while Carol Danvers decided to assess the Order Society before treating it as an enemy. Natasha brought Carol into the Society’s headquarters, where its orderly, prosperous streets and advanced autonomous traffic contrasted sharply with the unrest outside.

• Bai Jing told Ancient One that he felt no guilt for the crimes committed during the panic and promised not to harm the world.
• Coulson recruited Human Torch into the Avengers Alliance, but Carol refused to kill Bai Kunlun before learning whether he would defend Earth against future threats.
• Carol asked about the Order Society and agreed to visit it with Natasha, who drove her from Washington to New York.
• Natasha showed Carol the boarded-up shops and unrest outside Manhattan’s District Thirty-Four, then drove through the Order Society’s guarded gate.
• Carol saw that Erlang Shen controlled the Society’s autonomous traffic and noticed that the headquarters was orderly and thriving, unlike the surrounding city.

Carol confronted Bai Jing over Nick Fury’s death, but he challenged her view of S.H.I.E.L.D. and left her uncertain about where she stood. After Carol asked the Order Society to help defend Earth from more dragons, Bai Jing agreed—then proposed that the Avengers Alliance join his Order Society instead.

• Natasha explained that the Order Society’s cameras, patrols, and strict controls had made Hell’s Kitchen safer, while Carol became interested in recruiting the group.
• Bai Jing sensed Carol approaching, decided he could not fight her without exposing his abilities, and teleported away to buy tea before returning to meet her.
• Carol demanded to know why Bai Jing had killed Nick Fury, and Bai Jing argued that Fury had served American interests while Natasha acknowledged that agents killed others on orders.
• Carol questioned her own position, then set aside the dispute and asked Bai Jing for help against the other powerful monsters that would come to Earth after Ignil’s death.
• Bai Jing agreed to help protect Earth, but when Carol invited the Order Society to join the Avengers Alliance, he proposed that the Avengers Alliance join the Order Society instead.

Bai Jing argued that the Order Society could protect the world more fairly than the American-led Avengers Alliance, but Carol Danvers refused to join. Afterward, Carol realized the Order Society’s public support made it impossible to condemn without first confronting America’s own failures, leaving her questioning how the country had gone wrong.

• Bai Jing challenged the Avengers Alliance’s American leadership and argued that its national loyalties would prevent it from protecting every country equally.
• Bai Jing promoted the Order Society as an independent organization that served the people and invited Carol Danvers to join.
• Carol declined, warning Bai Jing that she would hold the Order Society accountable if it failed to protect Earth.
• Carol Danvers and Natasha left, and Carol wondered whether she was only good at fighting; Natasha said Bai Jing was simply too cunning.
• Carol reflected that the Order Society had won popular support by making Hell’s Kitchen safe and prosperous, while America faced unrest and crime.
• Carol concluded that America needed reform before the Order Society could be eliminated, then wondered how the country had gone wrong.

Bai Jing ordered the Order Society to prepare an independence referendum and join the United Nations, while using spatial power to strengthen his allies. He then traveled to South Africa to help victims of the Hydrogen Bomb explosion and avoid leaving its consequences unresolved.

• Bai Jing told Song Shujun to organize an independence referendum and pursue United Nations membership, then gave him the Power of Space.
• Bai Jing ordered Hetu to send records of crimes to local security bureaus so stolen property would be returned.
• Bai Jing analyzed Captain Marvel's spatially fused body and used the Power of Space to strengthen Lumira Iro Pavlichenko and Jessica Jones.
• Hetu informed Bai Jing that Captain Marvel had left, and Bai Jing went to South Africa to treat people injured by the Hydrogen Bomb explosion.

Bai Jing used his new dragonkin powers to heal people in South Africa and optimize the bodies of people across China, while events in 2109 reshaped public opinion and strengthened the Order Society. By March, the Celestial Empire’s population had collectively evolved, and Hell’s Kitchen’s residents increasingly identified with the Order Society as economic turmoil spread outside it.

• Bai Jing reached South Africa as a dragonkin and used his Gravity Field to heal injured residents and restore their eyesight.
• Bai Jing traveled across China, optimizing people’s bodies region by region, and the authorities extended the Lunar New Year holiday so the process could continue.
• The Celestial Empire’s people credited their collective evolution to their dragon ancestry, while anger toward Captain Marvel and the American heroes who killed the White Dragon grew.
• The financial crisis deepened as Chrysler and General Motors collapsed, while Hell’s Kitchen remained secure and attracted residents and businesses.
• Hell’s Kitchen residents increasingly called themselves members of the Order Society, and a group began seeking independence for it.

Bai Jing left Earth and built a palace on Mercury to absorb solar energy, but found the energy gain too small for his needs. He set off toward the Trisolaris System, passing through the Solar System and discovering life on Jupiter before reaching its outer regions.

• Bai Jing shaped Mercury's iron into a palace and tried to absorb solar energy, but decided the yield was insufficient and dropped the palace onto the planet.
• Bai Jing transformed into a dragon and flew faster than light toward the Trisolaris System, passing Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and Jupiter.
• Bai Jing scanned Jupiter and discovered filamentous ammonia-based organisms, collecting some for research.
• Bai Jing flew past Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, then searched the Kuiper Belt for two theorized black holes but found none.
• Bai Jing continued toward the Oort Cloud at the edge of the Solar System.

Bai Jing traveled to the Trisolaris System to expand his power and found a dense, steel-like planet he named Lingxiao Battle Star. He began cultivating filamentous bacteria there and started devouring one of the system’s suns, expecting the process to take millions of years.

• Bai Jing flew faster than light toward the Trisolaris System and briefly tried to observe Earth’s past by catching up to its old light, but saw too little to learn anything.
• Bai Jing arrived at the Trisolaris System and discovered a dense planet nearly twice Earth’s size among the three stars.
• Bai Jing named the planet Lingxiao Battle Star, carved out a mountain laboratory, and prepared two environments for the evolution of filamentous bacteria.
• Bai Jing released the bacteria and, unwilling to wait millions of years for natural evolution, decided to use Time Acceleration.
• Bai Jing entered the nearest star and used Black Hole Devour to consume its matter, calculating that the process could take around two million years as his Gravity Field expanded.

Bai Jing created a blazing, star-fueled form intending to become a Phoenix, but the sun transformed him into a Three-Legged Golden Crow with the Innate Divine Ability of Stellar Power. He rested inside the sun until 2011.

• Bai Jing designed a Phoenix-shaped body made of matter undergoing Nuclear Fusion and began transforming while hidden in the sun.
• Bai Jing grew to 6,500 kilometers long and unexpectedly developed a third leg, becoming a Three-Legged Golden Crow.
• Bai Jing gained Stellar Power, which let him absorb solar energy, grow stronger, and recover from severe injuries while beneath the sun.
• Bai Jing found the sun comfortable and rested there as time passed.
• The Order Society's first independence referendum failed in August 2009, and Tony Stark encountered Ivan Vanko in 2010.
• Bai Jing woke again in 2011.

Bai Jing arrived in Mexico, where he found Thor’s hammer and learned that people resented him because China’s economy had surged after his Gene Optimization. He left the hammer untouched until the main characters arrived, pleased by China’s rise.

• Bai Jing traveled from the Trisolaris System to Earth using the Golden Crow Transforms into Rainbow Technique and arrived at a church in Mexico State.
• Bai Jing disarmed the Priest after the Priest insulted him and attacked him, then left the church.
• Bai Jing discovered that the people outside town were trying to lift Thor’s hammer, which weighed six billion tons unless it chose to become lighter.
• Bai Jing decided not to take the hammer before the main characters arrived and went to a newsstand to learn why people disliked him.
• Bai Jing read that China’s economy had grown rapidly after Awakening Day, when he had used Gene Optimization across the country, and he felt delighted by the news.

Bai Jing confronted Thor and Jane near the fallen hammer, then killed Lou Yue and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents after condemning her for joining the organization. Thor and Jane challenged his claim of self-defense, and Bai Jing turned toward an arriving acquaintance.

• Bai Jing tried to attack the sleeping Thor with a golden umbrella, but Thor dodged and then introduced himself while Jane warned that Bai Jing was an Old Asian.
• Bai Jing questioned Lou Yue about joining S.H.I.E.L.D. and accused her of carrying Celestial genetic code after undergoing the Dragon Baptism.
• Bai Jing killed Lou Yue with a finger flick, and the surrounding agents fired at him before his next attack stopped them.
• Thor and Jane confronted Bai Jing, who explained his air-based attack and argued that he had acted in self-defense.
• Thor accused Bai Jing of bullying the weak, and Bai Jing lowered his hand before noticing an acquaintance arriving nearby.