Chapter Summaries

Tang Wulin and Ye Xinglan disguised themselves and set out toward the East Suburban Communications Station while Yun Jingheng prepared their remote support. Yun Jingheng activated Half-Sweet Coffee and began tracking the USB drive and monitoring both agents as they approached the target.

• Tang Wulin silently agreed to proceed, and Yun Jingheng told him and Ye Xinglan to prepare disguises.
• Tang Wulin and Ye Xinglan returned in convincing disguises and received concealed earpieces from Yun Jingheng.
• Yun Jingheng directed them to leave by separate routes and report their positions using a code phrase.
• Yun Jingheng activated Half-Sweet Coffee and instructed it to execute the “Paralyze Skynet” plan.
• Half-Sweet Coffee tracked the USB drive and displayed satellite imagery of the communications station alongside Tang Wulin and Ye Xinglan’s vital signs and locations.

Yun Jingheng coordinated Tang Wulin and Ye Xinglan as they approached the communications station, while Half-Sweet Coffee prepared to hijack its network. Tang Wulin connected the flash drive and escaped under cover as the data stream hijack began.

• Yun Jingheng used Half-Sweet Coffee to monitor the warehouse district and track Tang Wulin and Ye Xinglan as they approached their positions.
• Tang Wulin reported the guard tower’s sentries, and Half-Sweet Coffee calculated a window for him to cross to the sewage pipe entrance.
• Yun Jingheng reduced surveillance facial recognition around Ye Xinglan as she approached the communications station carrying a vegetable basket.
• Tang Wulin crossed the gravel path during a gap in the sentries’ attention and inserted the flash drive into a cable channel inside a bungalow.
• Half-Sweet Coffee began hijacking the data stream, and Yun Jingheng activated Stealth One as Tang Wulin withdrew into the warehouse district.

Yun Jingheng used the flash drive’s exposed signal as a foothold and unleashed Panda Burning Incense Pro Max against Heaven Dou City’s public network. As the attack spread toward Ming Capital, it crippled civilian systems and disrupted Skynet, leaving the Federation Network Security Department facing a growing cyberattack.

• Yun Jingheng guided Ye Xinglan and Tang Wulin through their escape, then plugged in a modified flash drive containing Panda Burning Incense Pro Max.
• Yun Jingheng ordered Half-Sweet Coffee to use the North City Communications Station as a relay and disable Heaven Dou City’s public network.
• The panda virus spread across Heaven Dou City, shutting down public screens, communications, payment devices, and other network-connected systems.
• The Federation Network Security Department in Ming Capital detected a massive attack and found that its backup network was infected and replicating the virus.
• The attack disrupted Skynet’s central scheduling system, severed communications with its engineering department, and left the panda displayed across the security hall’s screens.

Yun Jingheng crippled Skynet with a cyberattack, leaving the Federation’s monitoring systems dark and panda images appearing across Heaven Dou City. Tang Wulin was summoned by the president while Yun Jingheng and Ye Xinglan stayed behind together.

• The Skynet Engineering Department lost control of its systems as firewalls vanished, nodes went dark, and its attempt to contact Parliament was disrupted.
• Yun Jingheng shut down Skynet and spread a virus that displayed pandas offering incense on screens across Heaven Dou City.
• Tang Wulin and Ye Xinglan joined Yun Jingheng, who explained that Skynet would be down for months and Spirit Pagoda’s monitoring towers were disabled.
• A messenger called Tang Wulin to the president’s office, and Yun Jingheng stayed behind to erase the remaining data traces.
• Ye Xinglan offered Yun Jingheng a pear, then he leaned toward her after asking whether she wanted some imported ones.

Yun Jingheng and Ye Xinglan grew closer as he introduced her to Half-Sweet Coffee, but Tang Wulin brought word that Heaven Dou City was becoming dangerous. Zhen Hua gave Yun Jingheng a rare material for his mecha core, and Yun Jingheng prepared to begin the God Trial.

• Yun Jingheng introduced Ye Xinglan to Half-Sweet Coffee and gave her the same command authority as his own.
• Tang Wulin reported that the Federation had made Heaven Dou City a priority investigation zone, and Zhen Hua warned Yun Jingheng to finish his business or flee within half a month.
• Tang Wulin gave Yun Jingheng a bronze key and relayed Zhen Hua's invitation to meet that night, while Yun Jingheng said he would begin the God Trial the following night.
• Zhen Hua gave Yun Jingheng Moonfall Star Marrow, explaining that it could serve as the foundation for a mecha core and help him pursue a path beyond Mu Ye's.
• Yun Jingheng accepted Zhen Hua's gift and left the study, while Zhen Hua recalled that Yun Ming had once defied the Federation for Ya Li.

Yun Jingheng began the Lunar Moon God’s eighth trial while Ye Xinglan kept watch over him through a tense week in Heaven Dou City. As Federation agents began recognizing Tang Wulin, Zhen Hua and Mu Ye planned to send him to the Far North.

• Yun Jingheng accepted the eighth trial, which required him to purge his evil thoughts and murderous nature and entrust his evil corpse to the three-legged spirit toad.
• Ye Xinglan kept watch as Yun Jingheng endured unstable moonlight and violent shudders during the trial, while Tang Wulin brought food and news that Xie Xie and Yuan En had returned.
• Zhen Hua told Mu Ye that plainclothes agents had followed Tang Wulin and appeared to recognize him.
• Zhen Hua rejected Mu Ye’s plan to use a red-rank mecha and decided to escort Tang Wulin out of Heaven Dou City by an underground route toward the Far North.
• Zhen Hua asked Mu Ye to guard the association and Yun Jingheng while Tang Wulin traveled to the Far North and contacted the Blood God Legion.

Tang Wulin left Heaven Dou City to draw the Federation’s forces away, entrusting Yun Jingheng’s safety to Ye Xinglan. After staging a loud attack on a southern garrison, he led the pursuing troops south and raced toward the Far North.

• Tang Wulin told Ye Xinglan to protect Yun Jingheng and gave her three Cold Flame Signal Flares before leaving through the underground passage.
• Ye Xinglan watched over the sleeping Yun Jingheng as Tang Wulin slipped out of the city before dawn.
• Tang Wulin used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to evade sentries, then attacked a southern garrison with his Blue Silver Grass and Golden Dragon power.
• Tang Wulin fled south while making sure the pursuing troops could follow him, drawing forces away from Heaven Dou City.
• Tang Wulin told Ye Xinglan and Yun Jingheng that the rest was up to them, then vanished into the night toward the Far North.

Dai Tianling weighed Star Luo’s options while the Federation’s Skynet remained crippled and ordered a discreet letter from Gu Mei to Ye Xinglan. He hoped the family connection would reveal Shrek’s stance and open a path to cooperation, though Gu Mei and Ye Xinglan had a strained relationship.

• A Star Luo Intelligence Bureau agent reported that Skynet had been disabled and the Federation had shifted its forces north after the Heaven Dou City incident.
• Star Luo’s generals urged Dai Tianling to exploit the Federation’s confusion and seize the East Sea, but Elder Xu warned against a premature invasion.
• Dai Tianling decided to contact Shrek and learn who had disabled Skynet before choosing Star Luo’s next move.
• Dai Tianling identified Gu Mei, Ye Xinglan’s mother, as a discreet link to Shrek through Ye Xinglan and Yun Jingheng.
• Dai Tianling ordered an agent to approach Gu Mei through old Gu Family acquaintances and deliver a letter only if it could be done without alerting the Federation or Spirit Pagoda.

At the Ye family estate, Gu Mei received a letter from a Star Luo spy and burned it rather than let Star Luo draw her daughter Xing Lan back into danger. She remembered why she had pushed Xing Lan away and ended the night hoping her daughter was alive and would not blame her.

• A spy delivered Gu Mei a letter from Star Luo using a half copper coin as a sign of recognition.
• Gu Mei refused to read the letter and told the spy to warn His Highness not to set his sights on Xing Lan, who was at Shrek and was no one's blade.
• Gu Mei burned the letter and a ginkgo leaf in a charcoal stove.
• Gu Mei remembered Xing Lan awakening the Stargod Sword, hiding her sword practice, and eventually leaving for Shrek.
• Gu Mei recalled hearing that Shrek had fallen and that Xing Lan might still be alive but her whereabouts were unknown.
• Gu Mei touched a childhood mark on the ginkgo tree and begged her absent daughter not to blame her.

Ye Xinglan kept watch over Yun Jingheng as memories of her family and longing for home overwhelmed her. Half-Sweet Coffee revealed that Yun Jingheng had arranged for it to monitor and comfort her, and the chapter left Ye Xinglan quietly assuring him she was not afraid.

• Ye Xinglan stood by the window while Yun Jingheng meditated, remembering her childhood at the Ye Family Estate and realizing she could no longer clearly recall her mother's voice or tune.
• Ye Xinglan remembered that the explosion a month earlier might have led her family to believe she was dead, and that she could not return home without being recognized.
• Half-Sweet Coffee told Ye Xinglan that her emotional fluctuations indicated longing and explained it had been monitoring her for her safety.
• Half-Sweet Coffee revealed Yun Jingheng had anticipated that Ye Xinglan might stay awake, forget to eat, and miss home, and had asked it to let her know someone was there.
• Half-Sweet Coffee relayed Yun Jingheng's message, “Xinglan, don't be afraid,” and Ye Xinglan held back her tears and said she was not afraid.

Ye Xinglan learned that an unidentified team was watching the Ye Family residence, but the Federation network collapse prevented her from confirming who they were or why they had come. She chose to keep Yun Jingheng uninformed and prioritized protecting his location while checking on the household’s safety.

• Half-Sweet Coffee told Ye Xinglan that a team of four to seven people had been surveilling a residence east of Heaven Dou City for weeks.
• Ye Xinglan recognized the residence as the Ye Family home, and Half-Sweet Coffee reported that the watchers might be connected to the Federation's Eastern Frontier Trade Route Inspection Bureau.
• Ye Xinglan asked Half-Sweet Coffee to identify the watchers and their motives, but it could not access current records because the Federation network had largely collapsed.
• Ye Xinglan ordered Half-Sweet Coffee not to tell Yun Jingheng and rejected attempts to contact old intelligence nodes that might expose their location.
• Ye Xinglan asked whether Half-Sweet Coffee could confirm the safety of the people inside the Ye Family home, and it agreed.

Ye Xinglan discovered that Holy Spirit Cult lookouts were monitoring the association and ordered Half-Sweet Coffee to keep watch while she stayed hidden. She also learned Yun Jingheng might awaken between the sixth and tenth weeks of his God Trial, though the timing remained uncertain.

• Half-Sweet Coffee showed Ye Xinglan a young man with a red wrist cord watching the association and identified him as a Holy Spirit Cult lookout.
• Ye Xinglan concealed herself, closed the curtains, and told Half-Sweet Coffee to monitor the lookouts while they waited.
• Half-Sweet Coffee reported that two watchers had met a gray-robed man near a rice shop and traced the red earth on his foot to North Suburb Quarry.
• Ye Xinglan asked Half-Sweet Coffee to check for similar markings near the Ye Family, and it found only Federation trade-route watchers there.
• Half-Sweet Coffee estimated Yun Jingheng might awaken between the sixth and tenth weeks of his God Trial, but said the timing could not be reliably measured.

Yun Jingheng awakened after fifty-six days of meditation and learned that the Holy Spirit Cult had been watching the association while Federation forces were drawn away. He suspected a Federation insider had enabled the cult and planned to leave openly to trace the communications and identify the person who had opened the door for them.

• Ye Xinglan noticed Yun Jingheng waking and told him he had been asleep for fifty-six days.
• Yun Jingheng heard Ye Xinglan and Half-Sweet Coffee's reports about Tang Wulin's diversion, the Holy Spirit Cult's sentries, and surveillance of the Ye Family.
• Yun Jingheng connected the cult's rapid arrival to advance knowledge of Tang Wulin's route and suspected someone inside the Federation was supplying communications equipment or access.
• Half-Sweet Coffee reported that the quarry and the Ye Family were both linked to the Eastern Frontier Trade Route Inspection Bureau.
• Yun Jingheng decided to leave through the front door rather than expose himself through a window, and ordered Half-Sweet Coffee to monitor and intercept nearby encrypted shortwave signals for forty-eight hours.

After waking from fifty-six days of sleep, Yun Jingheng comforted Ye Xinglan and ordered Shrek's scattered members to appear publicly before going back into hiding, creating the impression that Shrek's survivors were disorganized and fleeing. Luo Guixing received the order and headed to a crowded morning market to carry it out.

• Yun Jingheng reassured Ye Xinglan that her family would be safe and said he would draw the watchers away.
• Yun Jingheng instructed Half-Sweet Coffee to send staggered, varied orders to fifty-four Shrek members, telling them to appear publicly without gathering and then find new hiding places.
• Half-Sweet Coffee sent the first eleven messages as daylight approached.
• Luo Guixing received an encrypted order warning that Holy Spirit Cult lookouts were nearby and directing him to show himself publicly before relocating.
• Luo Guixing packed his tools and headed toward the town's busy morning market to make Shrek's scattered survivors seem visible and disorganized.

Yun Jingheng learned that Federation personnel were searching the Blacksmith Association with Soul Power detectors, so he left Ye Xinglan behind to protect her and her family. When the searchers detected him, he blasted through a door, confronted Zhen Hua and Mu Ye, then escaped by leaping through a window.

• Half-Sweet Coffee warned Yun Jingheng that six Federation personnel were searching the association and would soon reach his floor.
• Yun Jingheng told Ye Xinglan to hide in the bathroom and stay with Half-Sweet Coffee, then ran toward the stairs alone.
• Ye Xinglan retreated into the bathroom as Yun Jingheng headed out to draw the searchers away.
• Soul Power detectors alerted the Federation personnel, and Yun Jingheng blasted through the door with Moon Crescent Blades, injuring several of them.
• Yun Jingheng introduced himself to Zhen Hua, asked to borrow metals, and leaped through the viewing window to escape.

Yun Jingheng fought Mu Ye in the streets outside the association while pretending to flee, using the clash to conceal his escape north. Mu Ye and Zhen Hua returned to the association, leaving Xing Lan there as Yun Jingheng disappeared into the northern alleys.

• Yun Jingheng escaped the association by landing on a goods shed and sprinting north, while Holy Spirit Cult members followed him from a distance.
• Mu Ye jumped from the seventh floor and pursued Yun Jingheng, who summoned Good Corpse and Evil Corpse to fight him.
• Mu Ye and the three Yun Jinghengs exchanged attacks until Yun Jingheng stopped his sword just short of Mu Ye's throat and quietly warned him about reinforcements.
• Yun Jingheng told Mu Ye to stay behind because Xing Lan was still at the association, then fled north as Mu Ye staged an angry pursuit.
• Mu Ye returned to the association, where Zhen Hua confirmed that the girl was still there, while Holy Spirit Cult scouts followed Yun Jingheng north.

Yun Jingheng escaped his pursuers in Tiandou City and met Ye Xinglan’s contact to collect supplies. He refused to return to the Association, instead sending Ye Xinglan to protect their allies and the Ye Family while he planned to draw the enemy’s attention.

• Yun Jingheng disguised himself, used Dark Moon Concealment to evade three pursuers, and slipped out of Tiandou City.
• Half-Sweet Coffee connected Yun Jingheng with Ye Xinglan, who reported that she and Uncle Zhen Hua were safe and told him where she had hidden supplies.
• Yun Jingheng retrieved clothes, water, biscuits, and shoes from beneath a loose brick behind a general store.
• Yun Jingheng told Ye Xinglan not to return to him; he asked her to buy metal from Uncle Zhen Hua, help move the Ye Family, and report when she was ready.
• Yun Jingheng said he would make a bigger scene to draw attention away from Ye Xinglan and the others.

At the Sea God Pavilion, Yun Ming and the others learned that Yun Jingheng had escaped after fighting Mu Ye in Heaven Dou City and concluded that he had drawn attention onto himself to protect Ye Xinglan. The Tang Sect agreed to support them from the outskirts as Ye Xinglan returned to the Ye Family, while Yun Jingheng remained on the run.

• Cai Yue'er reported that more than twenty Shrek students had deliberately revealed themselves and then gone silent or left their homes.
• Long Yeyue reported that Yun Jingheng had fought Mu Ye at the Heaven Dou City Blacksmith Association and escaped Federation forces.
• Ya Li reasoned that Yun Jingheng had exposed himself on purpose and that Ye Xinglan was likely safe because the report did not mention her.
• Yun Ming concluded that Yun Jingheng had diverted the Federation and Holy Spirit Cult's attention and ordered the Sea God Pavilion to stay put.
• Zang Xin suggested that Ye Xinglan had returned to the Ye Family to rescue people, and Yun Ming approved Tang Sect support from the outskirts.

Seven Percent Sugar, an unfinished backup terminal left by Jing Heng, revealed that it could contact him through a private satellite and print messages he sent back. The Sea God Pavilion prepared to supply it with power and a printer, while Ya Li learned that Jing Heng was safe but his location remained secret.

• Seven Percent Sugar activated in the Council Hall and told Yun Ming that Jing Heng had left it as a terminal capable of contacting him through a private satellite.
• Seven Percent Sugar explained that the satellite could contact only Jing Heng and that each communication was limited to ninety seconds.
• Ya Li asked about Jing Heng, and Seven Percent Sugar confirmed that he was safe and uninjured but could not reveal his location.
• Yun Ming asked Seven Percent Sugar to tell Jing Heng that the Tang Sect would secretly support Xing Lan and that they knew about Heaven Dou City.
• Seven Percent Sugar requested a stable power source and a printer so it could receive and print Jing Heng's encrypted messages, and Tang Yinmeng and Lan Muzi went to retrieve them.

Tang Yinmeng and Lan Muzi restored Seven Percent Sugar’s power and printer, allowing Yun Jingheng to send a report exposing a Holy Spirit Cult smuggling route and a likely Federation mole in Heaven Dou City. After reading his warning not to pursue him, Yun Ming sent back that everyone at Shrek was waiting for his return.

• Tang Yinmeng and Lan Muzi connected a Level 5 energy battery and printer to Seven Percent Sugar, which confirmed it could receive and print messages from Yun Jingheng.
• Lan Muzi asked about the first AI, and Seven Percent Sugar said it was not part of the operation and had not been designed for information transmission.
• Yun Ming ordered guards posted and barred outsiders from entering or leaving the Council Hall while Seven Percent Sugar and the printer remained there overnight.
• Before dawn, Seven Percent Sugar printed Yun Jingheng’s report describing Holy Spirit Cult cargo moving from a quarry to an eastern grain shop through an underground route, with help from someone inside the trade inspection bureau or city defenses.
• Yun Jingheng warned the group not to act or send anyone after him, said he would return to the quarry and meet Xing Lan at the Ye Family, and requested only a brief acknowledgment.
• Yun Ming told Seven Percent Sugar to send, “Read. Everyone at Shrek is waiting for your return,” and the printer confirmed the message was sent to Half-Sweet Coffee.