Chapter Summaries

Li Si defeated Carl with a sudden display of close-combat strength, alarming the Hound leaders and making Sen Angus fear that Angus had created superior replacements. Sen Angus resolved to secure a larger share, while Li Si and Max’s performances continued drawing him deeper into believing they were genuine.

• Li Si stopped Carl’s dagger, twisted her arm, and slammed her several meters across the arena.
• Cyril Cross and Dilu Modar realized Li Si’s strength far exceeded what a newcomer should possess and feared Angus had made a technological breakthrough.
• Sen Angus connected Li Si’s strength to his claim of being their replacement and feared the original Hound members might be discarded.
• Sen Angus decided he had to secure a larger share and use the moment to prove himself.
• Li Si and Max’s performances had already shifted Sen Angus’s focus from questioning their identities to figuring out how to protect himself.

Li Si helped the wounded Yu Le after Yu Le defeated Carl Cross, then challenged Yu Le’s belief that Gun Kata was impossible for ordinary humans. Sen Angus thanked Li Si for protecting one of his top men, while Li Si left Yu Le with the possibility that Gun Kata could be learned through training.

• Li Si announced Yu Le as the winner and supported him off the arena platform as he struggled with a severe shoulder wound.
• Yu Le dismissed his victory as luck and said Gun Kata was only a concept that humans could not perform, except perhaps Lord Angus.
• Li Si argued that repeated training could turn Gun Kata’s calculations into acquired instinct, just as practice let Yu Le shoot accurately without conscious calculation.
• Yu Le fell silent rather than challenge Li Si, and Sen Angus sent men to help take him away.
• Sen Angus thanked Li Si for protecting Yu Le, one of his strongest long-range fighters.

After Lee defeated his opponent, he warned Sen Angus to send a stronger close-combat fighter and refused to explain how he had become so skilled. As the Hound Organization prepared the next match, Lee realized the Thunder King Battle Suit had badly strained his body and considered leveling up before continuing.

• Lee warned Sen Angus that he needed to send a stronger close-combat fighter after losing more matches.
• Dilu Modar asked Lee how he had become so strong, but Lee called the information classified and urged everyone to continue the matches.
• Hound Organization members dismantled the damaged arena and marked out a makeshift ring while Lee returned to his seat to rest.
• Lee recognized that the Thunder King Battle Suit’s strength boost had caused muscle injuries and severe exhaustion, despite his use of Regeneration Serum.
• Lee reviewed his character panel, noted his accumulated General Experience and skill levels, and decided to level up in case his physical condition worsened.

Li Si raised the Commoner Template to LV8 and began an Intelligence breakthrough assessment called Endless Sea of Questions. He recognized the exam’s wording as a brain teaser, passed in five minutes, and left the other examinees to catch on.

• Li Si spent 65,000 general experience to raise the Commoner Template to LV8 and started the breakthrough assessment.
• The system sent Li Si and other Players into a classroom exam requiring one thousand consecutive correct answers within eight hours.
• Li Si found the test questions baffling at first, then realized the instructions hinged on answering them “correctly” rather than solving their difficult content.
• Li Si rapidly wrote on his paper and passed the assessment after about five minutes.
• The other Players realized the exam was a brain teaser and began writing their own answers.

Lee Stein completed a breakthrough assessment, raised his Commoner Template to level eleven, and conserved his remaining experience before resuming the Hound Organization’s arena matches. Pochi Modar defeated Carl by forcing her out of the arena.

• Lee Stein passed the breakthrough assessment and spent sixteen thousand universal EXP to raise his Commoner Template to level eleven.
• Lee Stein admired his improved attributes, then decided to save his remaining EXP for research, equipment, and unexpected situations.
• Dilu Modar called Pochi Modar to fight, while Cyril Cross again sent Carl into the arena.
• Pochi Modar used powerful psychokinetic charges to knock Carl out of the arena, and Lee Stein declared Pochi the winner.
• Carl returned to Cyril Cross, glaring at Pochi Modar and Lee Stein but saying nothing.

Pochi defeated Angus's Zhaolin in the second round, then fought Carl to a standstill before knocking her out of the arena and giving Cross the third-round victory. Sen Angus faced a depleted lineup with no clear fighter capable of stopping Pochi.

• Sen Angus sent Zhaolin to fight Pochi, who defeated him with a single exchange.
• Pochi stayed in the arena as Carl launched repeated fast attacks, but his telekinesis and resilience kept her at a disadvantage.
• Pochi seized an opening and knocked Carl out of the arena, though she wounded his arm with her dagger.
• Pochi tried to attack the fallen Carl, but Li Si and Dilu Modar stopped him and declared Cross the winner.
• Sen Angus looked over his remaining fighters and realized none seemed capable of defeating Pochi.

After four consecutive losses, Sen Angus stepped into the ring himself to stop Cross and Modar from claiming most of the mineral resource. Li Si watched as Sen Angus, driven by shame and pressure, fell into the situation Li Si had anticipated, and the match was about to begin.

• Trick lost to Pochi Modar, giving Cross and Modar their third consecutive victory.
• Dilu Modar defeated the Angus contestant in the fourth round, and Sen Angus struggled to find a willing fighter among his demoralized subordinates.
• Sen Angus announced that he would fight personally, prompting Cyril Cross and Dilu Modar to mock his decision.
• Sen Angus entered the ring, while Li Si reflected that Sen Angus’s choice had played into his plans.
• Li Si started the countdown and stepped outside the circle as Sen Angus prepared to fight.

Sen Angus killed Vigis in the arena, then was wounded by debris manipulated by Dilu Modar, triggering a tense confrontation. Sen Angus stopped Li Si from escalating the dispute and asked Dilu Modar and Cyril Cross who would go first in the final round.

• As Li Si counted down, Vigis activated his combat suit's invisibility and rushed to evade Sen Angus's attack.
• Sen Angus used impact and freezing rounds to expose and restrain Vigis, then blasted him apart with an explosive round.
• Debris from the explosion struck Sen Angus, and Li Si and Sen Angus suspected Dilu Modar had used telekinesis to cause it.
• Sen Angus and the Angus Hounds aimed their guns at Dilu Modar as Li Si confronted him, while Dilu Modar denied tampering and threatened the group.
• Sen Angus stopped Li Si from attacking Dilu Modar, removed the debris from his wounds, and asked Dilu Modar and Cyril Cross who would go first in the final round.

Li Si volunteered to fight Dilu Modar after Sen Angus was injured, and borrowed Sen’s pistols before entering the arena. Yu Le suspected Li Si planned to demonstrate Gun Kata and feared he would be blamed if the stunt failed.

• Sen Angus refused to let his injured Angus Hound members take the final match and prepared to face Cyril Cross or Dilu Modar himself.
• Li Si offered to fight, telling Sen Angus that a loss would not implicate him.
• Dilu Modar chose to fight Li Si first, while Cyril Cross sat back to conserve his strength.
• Li Si borrowed Sen Angus’s multifunction pistols and told Yu Le Angus to watch carefully.
• Yu Le guessed Li Si intended to demonstrate Gun Kata and worried that Li Si would take out his frustration on him if he failed.

Li Si faced Dilu Modar in the arena, using Pandora’s calculations to demonstrate how he could fight with Gun Kata. As Dilu Modar charged, Sen Angus believed Li Si had already lost, but the impact rounds’ effect remained unresolved.

• Li Si instructed Pandora to calculate the arena’s conditions and Dilu Modar’s movements so he could use Gun Kata.
• Dilu Modar launched stones at Li Si and charged forward with telekinetic force.
• Li Si fired impact rounds to blast the incoming stones aside.
• Dilu Modar rushed into close range, and Li Si fired more impact rounds at him.
• Sen Angus thought Li Si had missed his chance to evade and was about to be crushed by Dilu Modar.

Li Si used Gun Kata to make impact rounds amplify one another, then launched Dilu Modar into the air with a chained kick and recoil-assisted attack. Dilu Modar landed and sprang back up, leaving the fight underway.

• Yu Le regretted arguing with Li Si about Gun Kata as Li Si’s first four impact rounds produced an unexpectedly amplified blast.
• Sen Angus realized the blast had likely resulted from deliberate calculations rather than coincidence and questioned whether Li Si’s group had developed Gun Kata.
• Li Si fired more impact rounds beneath Dilu Modar, whose stacked explosions lifted him off balance and into the air.
• Li Si kicked Dilu Modar while using the recoil from an impact round and an armor-piercing round to overcome his telekinesis and send him nearly two meters upward.
• Dilu Modar landed, rolled with the momentum, and sprang back up.

Li Si used aerial strikes and expertly timed shots to overcome Dilu Modar’s telekinesis, then pressed a gun to Dilu Modar’s temple after he landed. The Angus crowd erupted in cheers, celebrating Li Si as a hero.

• Li Si struck Dilu Modar in midair and fired a barrage of bullets, forcing him to deflect them with telekinesis.
• Li Si stacked the momentum of successive armor-piercing rounds to break through Dilu Modar’s defense and nearly hit his head.
• Li Si’s ricocheting bullet curved toward the back of Dilu Modar’s head, prompting Dilu Modar to unleash telekinesis in every direction and blast it away.
• Li Si stopped firing and waited for Dilu Modar to land, then pressed his gun to Dilu Modar’s temple.
• The Angus fighters cheered for Li Si after he defeated Modar’s leader and demonstrated his Gun Kata.

Li Si defeated Dilu Modar in the shooting round, then entered the close-combat round against Cyril Cross with a Max-powered thermal staff. With Pandora processing his sensory input, Li Si began fighting at a speed he could barely track.

• Li Si forced Dilu Modar to concede by pressing a gun to his temple, then returned the nearly empty Hunter T30s to Sen Angus.
• Sen Angus warned Li Si that Cyril Cross had a physical advantage, but Li Si declined the guns and told Yu Le that humans could master Gun Kata through study and practice.
• Cyril Cross entered the arena with daggers while Li Si assembled a metal staff and powered it with Max until it glowed like a thermal blade.
• Cyril Cross charged at high speed, and Li Si ordered Pandora to process his sensory data so he could keep up with the attack.

Li Si, fighting as Jack, used two laser swords to keep the nimble assassin Cyril Cross at bay, but the bout became a draining contest of stamina and focus. Sen Angus feared Jack would eventually tire first, leaving the outcome dependent on whether Cyril made a mistake.

• Li Si adapted his martial arts to wielding two laser swords and forced Cyril Cross to retreat whenever he threatened to close in.
• Cyril Cross used his speed and flexible, evasive fighting style to avoid the swords and search for an opening.
• The match turned into a battle of attrition, with both fighters spending stamina and concentration on each movement and attack.
• The Angus group watched anxiously as Jack appeared to hold the initiative, while Dilu Modar predicted Sen Angus would suffer a narrow defeat.
• Sen Angus privately judged Jack likely to lose because Cyril had superior attributes and stamina, and hoped Cyril would expose an opening.

Li Si outlasted Cyril Cross in a prolonged duel by secretly using his suit’s injections and Pandora’s assistance. Cyril’s defeat gave the Angus Hound group the final twenty percent of the mineral output.

• Sen Angus watched the fight drag on and grew increasingly worried as Jack showed no signs of tiring.
• Cyril Cross attacked harder when Jack closed his eyes and tracked him by sound, but Jack’s stamina remained steady.
• Li Si secretly used Regeneration Serum, nutrient fluid, and other suit systems while Pandora analyzed Cyril’s movements.
• After more than forty minutes, Cyril exhausted himself in a final attempt, and Li Si blocked him and held both laser swords to his neck.
• Li Si declared that Cyril had lost, securing the final twenty percent of mineral output for the Angus Hound group.

After earning the Angus Hounds’ trust, Li Si learned they knew little about Earth OL and expected to profit from their mining operation. A sudden mine collapse interrupted his plan to turn on them, and the Hounds discovered an empty metallic underground cavity.

• Li Si celebrated with the Angus Hounds and found that Sen Angus and the others knew little about Earth OL or its secrets.
• Sen Angus invited Li Si to Three Rivers Base, and Li Si hinted that he had another surprise for the Hounds.
• A violent rumble shook the area, and Li Si and Sen Angus joined the other Hound leaders at the mine entrance.
• The Hounds found that the back half of the mine had collapsed and worked together to clear the passage.
• Li Si followed the leaders to a silver-metallic underground cavity, where they found no apparent contents.

Li Si discovered that the collapsed mine contained Star Gold Ore with spatial properties and seized a glass sphere depicting Skull Island. Sen Angus mistook Li Si for the organization’s Jack and held off the others so Li Si could escape with the sphere.

• Li Si appraised the silver-white ore and identified it as Star Gold Ore, a rare mineral containing the power of space.
• Sen Angus, Cyril, and Cross noticed a floating glass sphere depicting Skull Island and began eyeing one another warily.
• Li Si plucked the sphere from the air, and Dilu Modar and Cyril Cross lunged at him.
• Sen Angus attacked Dilu Modar and Cyril Cross, believing Li Si was Jack and telling him to take the item to Lord Angus.
• Li Si thanked Sen Angus, fought through the Hound members blocking his way with metal cards, and fled the cave carrying the sphere.

Sen Angus escaped the mine but ran into Lee Stein changing clothes at the entrance, where a dead Cross member’s awkward pose led to a misunderstanding. Lee killed Sen Angus to silence him, then learned Pandora had reconnected to the satellite network after he obtained the bead.

• Sen Angus collapsed the mine tunnel with a grenade and fled toward the entrance while Cyril Cross and Dilu Modar pursued him.
• Sen Angus found Lee Stein half-dressed beside a dead Cross member and misunderstood what he was doing.
• Lee Stein killed Sen Angus with a metal card after Sen Angus rejected his explanation, while Sen Angus died believing Lee had killed him over the embarrassing scene.
• Lee Stein removed the combat suit so he could put on the Project Armor and prepare to fight the pursuers.
• Pandora told Lee Stein that the island’s interference had ended when he obtained the bead and that she had reconnected to the satellite network.

Lee Stein revealed his Project Armor after Dilu Modar and Cyril Cross tried to seize the orb, then overwhelmed them with the armor and a barrage from the Multi-Function Combat Platform. The dust settled over a devastated battlefield, with no living creatures or mine tunnels visible.

• Lee Stein refused to hand over the orb, and Dilu Modar attacked while Cyril Cross charged him.
• Metal armor assembled around Lee Stein, revealing him as the famed Lee Stein and activating Pandora.
• Dilu Modar and Cyril Cross attacked together, but Lee Stein struck Cyril Cross with an ion-powered punch and blasted Dilu Modar into the cliff.
• Lee Stein ordered Pandora to deploy the hovering devices, which rained electromagnetic and ion fire over the battlefield.
• The bombardment ended with the ground and cliff shattered, and no living creatures or mine tunnels remaining in sight.

Lee Stein escaped the Hound Organization’s attack on Skull Island and met Tony Stark in the stratosphere. He refused Tony’s offer to share the island and continued preparing to deal with the Hound Organization and conceal Skull Island.

• The Hound Organization attacked Lee Stein with guns, cannons, and telekinesis, but his armor and ion thrusters let him break free and fly beyond their reach.
• Lee Stein refused Max’s offer of help because the Hound Organization’s energy weapons might drain him or its telekinesis might counter him.
• Lee Stein rose into the stratosphere and discovered that Skull Island’s spatial barrier had vanished after he took the glass sphere.
• Tony Stark arrived in his Iron Man Armor and proposed exploring Skull Island and splitting ownership with Lee Stein.
• Lee Stein claimed the island as his territory, rejected Tony’s offer, and ordered Pandora to continue their operation as his armor’s components converged around him.