Chapter Summaries

Lee Stein sought to take Oscorp private despite its enormous debt, while Harry Osborn’s public accusation against Mendel Stromm reignited the scandal and sent Oscorp’s reputation and stock price into another crisis. Thunder Industries and other buyers kept Oscorp’s market value near a hundred billion as protests gathered at its entrance.

• Lee Stein told investors he wanted to take Oscorp private, and Gwen warned him about the risks of its debt.
• Harry Osborn posted an apology about Dr. Connors and claimed Mendel Stromm was responsible for the Max Dillon incident.
• Harry Osborn attached an audio clip in which Mendel Stromm discussed hiding the accident, and listeners identified Stromm’s voice.
• The renewed accusations provoked public outrage and protests that blockaded Oscorp’s entrance.
• Oscorp’s stock price swung sharply as investors rushed to sell, while Thunder Industries and other buyers purchased shares to keep its market value near a hundred billion.

Li Si arrived at Oscorp Tower with Pepper Potts and his advisers to take Oscorp private, offering shareholders a twenty-percent premium. After Mendel Stromm opposed the deal, the other shareholders approved it, and Li Si left Pepper to handle the remaining business.

• Li Si arrived at Oscorp Tower with Pepper Potts and a team of financial and legal advisers as employees speculated about his takeover.
• Li Si offered to buy back all of Oscorp's shares at a twenty-percent premium and called for a vote.
• Mendel Stromm angrily opposed the acquisition, but Li Si cracked the conference table with a slap and Stromm sat back down.
• Several shareholders supported Li Si's offer, and the rest followed, approving the acquisition.
• Li Si asked Pepper Potts to handle the remaining arrangements and left in a good mood.

After merging Thunder Industries and Oscorp into the Stein Group, Li Si purged spies and players from the company and began choosing leaders for its new research divisions. Otto Gunther accepted Li Si’s offer to head the new energy division, with the chapter ending as Li welcomed him aboard.

• Li Si used Appraisal to identify players and spies among Oscorp employees and removed them from sensitive positions.
• Li Si met with Gwen, Max, and Otto Gunther at Stein Tower for an informal meeting.
• Li Si offered Otto Gunther leadership of the new energy division and five percent of the Stein Group as compensation.
• Otto Gunther accepted the offer, and Li Si welcomed him aboard.

Li Si awarded shares to Otto Gunther, Max, and Gwen while organizing the Stein Group’s research departments. He also arranged for Harry Osborn to receive his father’s prototype Green Goblin Armor, leaving the company’s lab reorganization in Gwen’s hands.

• Li Si gave Otto Gunther five percent of the Stein Group, binding the scientist to the company through shared interests.
• Li Si offered Max five percent of the shares and appointed him to lead the Power Department; Max accepted after Li Si assured him the shares could be reclaimed if he failed in the role.
• Li Si gave Gwen a share-transfer agreement, then asked her to have Felicia retrieve the prototype armor from the CJ-2042 Laboratory and deliver it to Harry Osborn.
• Gwen agreed to arrange the armor’s delivery, and Li Si told her to prioritize reorganizing the company’s laboratory departments before adjourning the meeting.

Li Si punished Hulk for wrecking his living room, while Felicia delivered Norman Osborn’s next-generation military armor to Harry as a keepsake. After replacing the damaged furniture, Li Si checked the generous rewards he had earned by disrupting the events of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

• Li Si came home to find Hulk had smashed the sofa and coffee table, then sentenced the dog to six hours of simulated combat training.
• Felicia delivered a box from Li Stein to Harry Osborn and said it contained a keepsake from his father.
• Harry opened the box, recognized Norman Osborn’s next-generation military armor, and stored it in the basement.
• Li Si had Bumblebee clean the living room, ordered replacement furniture, and opened his status panel to review his rewards.

Li Si reviewed the achievements he had earned and received the Entrepreneur Template after founding the Stein Group and raising its evaluation to Grade A. The template’s Red-Hat Merchant skill offered a way to earn universal experience by selling goods through the Trading Company System.

• Li Si saw that several hidden achievements had raised his achievement points by eight and wondered how he had earned Hoeing Mastery.
• Li Si identified likely causes for the Dawn of Despair, Discerning Eye, Business Tycoon, Villain Collector, and Stand Still, Let Me Handle This achievements.
• The system awarded Li Si the Epic Entrepreneur Template because he had established the Stein Group and met its Grade A evaluation requirement.
• Li Si examined Red-Hat Merchant, which let him establish a shop using achievement points and universal experience and granted official protection for system transactions.
• Li Si concluded that selling his research and products to players could help him earn more universal experience than he spent.

Li Si considered how the Entrepreneur Template could let him profit from player transactions, then opened a Special Achievement Gift Pack earned by preventing The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He selected five reward categories, choosing experience, achievement points, and knowledge experience, then narrowed the remaining choices to equipment and items and miscellaneous items.

• Li Si recalled how conglomerates had used the Entrepreneur Template to run stores and act as intermediaries for transferring general experience.
• Li Si suspected the template could offer benefits greater than a Legendary Template, but set the idea aside to inspect his reward.
• Li Si opened the Special Achievement Gift Pack he had earned by preventing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and its related villains from changing the plot.
• The gift pack offered eight reward categories, and Li Si chose general experience, achievement points, and knowledge experience.
• Li Si ruled out talent skills, template clues, and general skills, leaving equipment and items and miscellaneous items as his final two categories.

Li Si opened his Special Achievement Gift Pack and received experience, knowledge, an electromagnetic defense device, and blood from a superhuman. He identified the blood’s owner as Hentai Kamen and was disgusted by the bizarre way the man’s powers worked.

• Li Si chose categories for his gift-pack rewards and confirmed the draw.
• Li Si received 120,000 General Experience, 5 Achievement Points, technical knowledge, an Electromagnetic Deflection Field Generator, and a vial of blood.
• Li Si inspected the generator and found it could deflect ranged projectiles within a two-meter radius, but could not stop melee attacks or beams.
• Li Si appraised the blood and learned it came from a superhuman who wore used panties over his head.
• Li Si recognized the blood’s owner as Hentai Kamen and realized the man’s abilities increased when he became aroused.

Li Si organized the Glory Type III Wireless Power Base technology and considered how it could support Bumblebee and let Max travel through power grids. He spent resources to establish a personal shop and ordered Engineering Robots for its underground projection base.

• Li Si stored the Blood of Hentai Kamen in his underground laboratory and studied the wireless power base technology.
• Li Si considered using the wireless power bases to keep Bumblebee charged and let Max travel quickly while replenishing his energy.
• Li Si activated the Red-Hat Merchant skill and learned that his personal shop needed a real-world property as its projection base.
• Li Si ordered Bumblebee to send the Engineering Robot blueprints to the group's factory and have a hundred robots made.
• Bumblebee relayed the order through its AI copy, which monitored the Stein Group's systems and factories.

Li Si used his Engineering Robots and Rapid Construction to expand his underground workspace, then received a visit from Colonel Jonathan, who asked about the promised Transforming Robots. Jonathan revealed that the military urgently needed heavy weapons to hunt the Hulk, whose strength and ability to hide among people made him difficult to fight.

• Li Si directed a hundred Engineering Robots to dig and expand the underground passage, then used Rapid Construction to increase their work efficiency.
• Bumblebee used an Engineering Robot to tell Li Si that Colonel Jonathan had arrived, and Li Si invited him to wait in the living room.
• Jonathan told Li Si that the general wanted the promised Transforming Robots immediately.
• Li Si asked whether the military was at war, and Jonathan explained that it was hunting a green-skinned monster called the Hulk.
• Jonathan said the Hulk was stronger and tougher than the Green Lizard, could disguise himself as an ordinary human, and could not be stopped with missiles or small-scale combat.

Li Si considered General Ross’s request for forty Transforming Robots to help capture Hulk and weighed the risks of joining the hunt. He planned to deliver the robots the next day, but decided the best chance to capture Hulk would come when Bruce Banner purged the gamma energy from his body.

• Jonathan told Li Si that General Ross wanted the Transforming Robots delivered by the next day to help hunt Hulk.
• Li Si agreed to have the factory finish the robots by tomorrow evening and accompany Jonathan.
• After Jonathan left, Li Si checked the Hulk side quest and decided that neither helping Hulk escape nor capturing him through direct force offered an easy path to faction rewards.
• Li Si reasoned that Hulk’s transformations depended on stored gamma energy and that Bruce Banner would be weakest after purging it.
• Li Si concluded that the forty Transforming Robots could overwhelm Hulk if they attacked while Banner was depleted.

Li Si finished an underground supermarket and set it as the location for his personal shop, stocking it with equipment and card-opening machines. Meanwhile, Li Ritian and Ye Xi launched Haotian Daily by reporting on a coming clash between Kratos and Luo Han.

• Li Si inspected the newly excavated supermarket and kept the Engineering Robots to serve as its staff.
• Li Si configured the supermarket as his personal shop, stocked it with goods, and confirmed its opening.
• Li Ritian and Ye Xi introduced the first episode of Haotian Daily at an unfinished building complex.
• Li Ritian identified Kratos and Luo Han as former rivals who had met again on opposing sides of a Hulk faction quest.
• Li Ritian boasted about his connection to the Merchant and recommended couple's Thunder King Battle Suits, prompting Ye Xi to glare at him.

Li Ritian and other players received a notice that the System Shop had opened, and he entered its virtual supermarket to investigate for his livestream. He found players crowding around rare equipment and suits that had previously been difficult or impossible for many of them to obtain.

• Li Ritian, Ye Xi, Kratos, and Luo Han received a notice announcing the new Lee Stein Industries System Shop.
• Li Ritian read his livestream chat and agreed to visit the shop while broadcasting.
• Li Ritian selected Virtual Mode and found himself in a crowded, empty-shelved supermarket alongside other players.
• Ye Xi joined Li Ritian, and they explored the virtual space while he filmed the crowd.
• Players discussed the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, hoverboards, and newer suits available for purchase with general experience.

Luo Han searched for a way to buy a customizable Transformer to improve his chances against Kratos, but discovered that the listed price covered only a bare unit and its attachments cost extra. Li Ritian claimed he could show Luo Han how to buy Universal Experience, and led him off to explain.

• Luo Han studied a customizable Transformer and decided its weapon restriction lift and Shadow Follow Mode could help him defeat Kratos, but he lacked the required Universal Experience.
• Li Ritian approached Luo Han and pointed out a second whiteboard listing the costly prices of the Transformer's optional attachments.
• Luo Han realized that 50,000 Universal Experience bought only the bare Transformer and that he could not afford it anyway.
• Li Ritian told Luo Han that Universal Experience could be bought through an in-game transaction, then led him away to show him how.

Li Ritian and Luo Han discovered Merchant’s special services at the card-pack machines, including a costly way to transfer general experience. Luo Han bought nearly ninety thousand general experience from players and spent it all upgrading his equipment, while the muscular Kratos disappeared in a beam of white light.

• Li Ritian and Luo Han found robots offering special services among the card-pack machines.
• Luo Han objected to the 25% transfer fees but paid a robot to announce that he was buying general experience with real-world currency.
• Players and professional gamers gathered to sell experience, and Luo Han bought nearly ninety thousand general experience after bargaining over the price.
• Luo Han spent all his experience upgrading his weapons and system components, delighting in the purchases.
• Li Ritian lamented Luo Han’s spending habit as Kratos quietly vanished in a beam of white light.

Luo Han bought and customized a Transformer Autobot, prompting Kratos to flee rather than confront him. Meanwhile, Li Si learned that Luo Han had made the purchase and reflected on how the two players’ rivalry had carried over from Star Wars Era.

• Luo Han had Engineering Robots customize his Transformer Autobot while players watched, then left the underground mall with Li Ritian and Ye Xi.
• Luo Han spotted Kratos after they returned to the open area, but Kratos ran when the gold-plated Autobot appeared beside Luo Han.
• Li Ritian urged Luo Han to chase Kratos and film a fight, but Luo Han declined to attack.
• Kratos escaped, complained that Luo Han kept getting lucky, and regretted not ambushing him before the Autobot arrived.
• Li Si learned that someone had bought a Transformer Autobot, recognized Luo Han and Kratos in the surveillance image, and recalled their long-running rivalry.

Li Si used his merchant system to sell armed Transformers while collecting player combat data and intelligence through hidden backdoors. He discovered he could use the system’s delivery service to teleport Bumblebee to himself, opening the possibility of sending weapons and robot troops across the globe.

• Li Si trusted the Red-Hat Merchant passive to shield him from accountability for selling weapons and planned to use the sales to gather data and intelligence.
• Li Si considered how backdoors in player equipment could let him monitor users and take control of their weapons if they threatened him.
• Li Si opened the shop in panel mode and bought the exclusive Bumblebee item for one universal experience.
• Li Si confirmed the delivery fee, and Bumblebee appeared in his garage through spatial transmission.
• Li Si realized the delivery service could teleport weapons, supplies, and even robot armies over long distances.

Li Si traveled with Jonathan and a convoy to Johnsonburg Air Force Base, then joined a military flight carrying reinforcements to Brazil. He learned that players made up at least half of the elite Thunder King Battle Suit force as the jets took off.

• Jonathan led the convoy through checkpoints into Johnsonburg Air Force Base, where personnel began preparing the robots and support force for Brazil.
• Li Si slept at the base, woke early, and boarded a fighter jet with Jonathan and soldiers wearing 0 Version Thunder King Battle Suits.
• Jonathan explained that General Ross had sent three jets carrying around sixty or seventy reinforcements to Brazil.
• Li Si observed that at least half the soldiers aboard were players selected for General Ross's special forces.

In Porto, Kratos’s ambush for Bruce Banner was ruined when solo players attacked the Hulk, sparking another chaotic battle. At the military base, Li Si told General Ross that several Transformers might defeat the Hulk, though he could not judge whether they could kill him.

• Kratos’s squad waited to capture Bruce Banner, but solo players opened fire and forced him to transform into the Hulk.
• The solo players fought the Hulk with Vertical Maneuvering Equipment while Kratos decided his squad should withdraw before more factions arrived.
• Kratos told his teammates that Luo Han had bought a fully equipped Transformer, prompting the Anti-Pay-to-Win Alliance members to joke about leaving the alliance.
• At the United States military’s temporary base, General Ross asked Li Si whether the Transformers could defeat the Hulk.
• Li Si told General Ross that a few Transformers might beat the Hulk but that he could not determine whether they could kill him.

Lee Stein learned that Blonsky wanted a more powerful suit and subtly directed him toward General Ross, hoping Blonsky would undergo the Super Soldier transformation. Lee planned to obtain Abomination’s hybrid genes for his Bio-Colonial Armor research.

• General Ross ordered Lee Stein’s control system used to capture the Hulk alive, and Lee left the command room.
• Blonsky asked Lee for a stronger Thunder King Battle Suit, but Lee warned that a human body could not withstand its power.
• Lee suggested Blonsky speak to General Ross, then told him to keep their conversation secret.
• Lee used Appraisal and discovered that Blonsky had not yet received the Super Soldier Serum.
• Lee decided that Blonsky’s future combination of Super Soldier Serum and Hulk genes would be more useful for his research than ordinary Hulk genes.