Chapter Summaries

Li Hai surveyed Relic City's lower region and concluded that its enormous population lived amid pervasive crime and exploitation. He encountered a purple-haired girl with prophecy and mind-reading abilities, who asked him for a lift and wondered whether he was another person with special abilities.

• Li Hai flew above Crow Nest Street and estimated that Relic City's lower region covered 13,000 square kilometers and held about 31.2 billion people.
• Li Hai observed widespread crime and the absence of legitimate schools, hospitals, and companies, and judged the district to be a high-tech Kowloon Walled City.
• A purple-haired girl used telepathy to contact Li Hai from a tower and asked him for a lift.
• Li Hai entered the tower and discovered that the girl possessed Level 4 prophecy-type and mind-type Psionic Power.
• The girl told Li Hai she had never met another person with special abilities in more than ten years, then recognized him as the first one she had encountered.

Li Hai escorted ZM Arc Light from the Old City District toward Lingxuan District and learned about her upbringing and Relic City’s history. Z explained that the city was built after a comet devastated Backroom Star, then revealed the current date as June 21st, Year 18513 of the Sky Canopy Calendar.

• Li Hai explained that Crow Nest Street lay in the Old City District beneath Lingxuan District and offered to take ZM Arc Light upstairs as payment for his help.
• Li Hai flew ZM Arc Light through a window under an Invisibility Force Field, and she wondered whether he was an alien or a member of the resistance.
• Li Hai revealed that he had heard ZM Arc Light’s thoughts through telepathy, which he had awakened after she previously used it on him.
• ZM Arc Light said she had been raised in the Earthfire Gang’s breeding center and had never met her biological parents, whom she wanted to kill.
• ZM Arc Light recounted how Lu Wuyin built the original Relic City to shelter survivors after a comet struck Backroom Star and gave the date as June 21st, Year 18513 of the Sky Canopy Calendar.

Li Hai revealed to ZM Arc Light that Relic City was inside an abandoned spaceship, contradicting her belief about its history and the outside world. After learning the identities of her biological parents, ZM Arc Light asked him to help kill them and offered a memory image of a man Li Hai recognized as an Astartes.

• Li Hai learned that ZM Arc Light believed Relic City had existed for 18,513 years and that leaving it meant certain death, so he told her it was inside an abandoned spaceship above the Wasteland.
• As Li Hai and ZM Arc Light reached the GG canopy, Afei contacted her and revealed that her mother, Huo Hua, worked for the Blood Crow Gang and her father, Heiguang Haiyi, led security at a Rekindle Power Company branch.
• ZM Arc Light told Li Hai she intended to kill both her biological parents and asked him to help, but he refused because her payment was insufficient.
• ZM Arc Light offered another payment and asked Li Hai to read the image in her mind, where he saw a giant man lying in a mechanical coffin.
• Li Hai recognized the man in the coffin as an Astartes, or Space Marine.

ZM Arc Light agreed to help Li Hai obtain a mysterious coffin in exchange for his help killing Sister Spark, then explained how Relic City’s Ancestral Debt system trapped Old City District residents in inherited poverty. She revealed that her biological parents had burdened her with debt, and that her father had escaped to Lingxuan District while her mother remained within reach.

• Li Hai agreed to help ZM Arc Light kill Sister Spark, and she promised to pay him afterward with the coffin’s location file.
• As they traveled toward Eastman Bar, ZM Arc Light explained that Old City District residents inherited debts that could grow across generations and leave them owning nothing.
• ZM Arc Light described how debtors’ bodies and genetic material were controlled, with their children produced and often sold to gang training centers unless parents paid to save them.
• ZM Arc Light said her biological parents were veteran gangsters who passed portions of their Ancestral Debt to her, and that her father had escaped to Lingxuan District while her mother remained in the gang.

Li Hai and ZM Arc Light went to Eastman Bar to find Spark, and Li Hai disabled the cybernetic implants of everyone on the first floor. ZM Arc Light found Spark in a booth and confronted her, but Spark mistook them for members of rival gangs.

• Li Hai and ZM Arc Light arrived at Eastman Bar to search for Spark.
• When a Blood Crow Gang guard barred Li Hai from entering, Li Hai seized him and tortured him until he revealed that Spark was on the first floor and had honeycomb cyber-eyes and three chest-mounted guns.
• Li Hai disabled the implants of the bar's patrons, clearing the floor for ZM Arc Light to search.
• Li Hai directed ZM Arc Light to Spark's red booth, where she found Spark surrounded by other gang members.
• ZM Arc Light confronted Spark, who asked whether she belonged to the Number Gang or the Axe Gang.

ZM Arc Light revealed that Spark was her biological mother and tortured her before Li Hai killed her. Li Hai then followed Z’s recovered memory to a hidden chamber in the Sewer World, where he found a nearly dead Astartes whose interface identified him as Glory of Nine Nails.

• ZM Arc Light told Spark that Spark’s egg created her body and Spark’s debts created her life, then asked Li Hai to kill Spark after she tortured her.
• Li Hai killed the mutilated Spark with a molecular wire blade while the Blood Crow Gang watched.
• ZM Arc Light guided Li Hai through the Sewer World using a recovered memory that pointed to a mechanical coffin containing an Astartes.
• Li Hai found an ancient chamber near Relic City’s foundation and saw a severely injured Astartes preserved inside a coffin.
• Li Hai’s interface identified the Astartes as Glory of Nine Nails and displayed his skills and traits.

Li Hai examined the interface of a nine-nail Space Wolves veteran and learned about the extreme process of creating Astartes and their immense abilities. He reached the description of the veteran’s final power, Wrath of Truth, whose second effect had yet to be explained.

• Li Hai learned that candidates for the Human Empire’s Astartes endured 199 surgeries, with only a tiny fraction surviving selection and the procedures.
• Li Hai discovered that Astartes possessed near-indestructible bodies, enduring minds, long lifespans, and no reproductive ability or ordinary desires.
• Li Hai identified the coffin’s warrior as a veteran of at least nine thousand years, whose nine golden nails placed him at the peak of Level 4.
• Li Hai learned that the warrior could regenerate through Belief Shapes Body and transform into a colossal wolf through the Space Wolves’ Wolf Totem.
• Li Hai read that Wrath of Truth dispelled much of the power of Psionic attacks, but the chapter ended before its second effect was revealed.

Li Hai advanced to the Nine-Pin Astartes level and demonstrated his new strength while protecting ZM Arc Light. The dying veteran’s life-support pod recognized Li Hai and released the veteran’s relics, revealing a complete suit of Space Wolves armor stored inside a pendant.

• Li Hai wondered how the Nine-Pin Veteran had been so badly injured despite his powerful self-healing ability.
• Li Hai advanced to the Nine-Pin level, gaining an Astartes body and the Wrath of Truth skill.
• Li Hai unleashed a devastating shockwave with his fist, then shielded ZM Arc Light from the blast.
• The life-support pod identified Li Hai as a Space Wolves Legion Star Warrior and released Star Warrior Eron Wolf Fang’s relics.
• The Nine-Pin Veteran melted into blood, and a wolf-head pendant attached itself to Li Hai’s neck.
• Li Hai saw that the pendant contained a suit of Star Warrior armor, a Bolter, and a Chainsword.

Li Hai learned that Eron Wolf Fang’s wolf-head pendant stored Star Warrior armor and weapons, then equipped the Heart-Steel armor and discovered their immense capabilities. After receiving information from the pendant, his armor began a recognition-of-master protocol.

• Li Hai used the wolf-head pendant to summon and equip Eron Wolf Fang’s Space Wolves armor.
• Li Hai learned that synchronized Heart-Steel armor grew tougher through battle and weakened if its owner died or disappeared.
• Li Hai discovered that the Bolter could fire near-light-speed rounds and the Chainsword could cut through almost any substance.
• Li Hai considered how a squad of one hundred Star Warriors could threaten the Overlords and Life Gods, and learned that the next Astartes realm was Emperor's Chosen Custodes.
• Li Hai’s gray-black armor trembled as the Heart-Steel Armor began its recognition-of-master protocol.

Li Hai awakened after experiencing Eron Wolf Fang’s life and bonding with his Heart-Steel Armor, then escaped the sewer world with ZM Arc Light. They learned that Crow had captured ZM Arc Light’s friend Afei and demanded Li Hai’s implants, so Li Hai agreed to confront him.

• Li Hai experienced Eron Wolf Fang’s memories, synchronized with the Heart-Steel Armor, and watched its damage repair as its power increased.
• ZM Arc Light told Li Hai that he had stood motionless for a day after putting on the armor.
• Li Hai took ZM Arc Light out of the sewer world and returned with her to the Old City District.
• Crow contacted ZM Arc Light, revealed that his gang had captured Afei and damaged her neural matrix, and demanded that they come to Eastman Bar within ten minutes.
• ZM Arc Light warned Li Hai that Crow wanted his implants, but Li Hai agreed to go and fight Crow’s gang.

Li Hai and ZM Arc Light confronted Crow and the Blood Crow Gang at Eastman Plaza, where signal disruptors were meant to disable Li Hai’s hacking implant. When thousands of gang members charged, Li Hai activated his Peregrine Acceleration Mechanism and began slaughtering them.

• Li Hai took ZM Arc Light to Eastman Plaza, where ten thousand Blood Crow Gang members had gathered.
• Crow revealed that his gang had installed signal disruptors and ordered his men to bring Afei and the blue-haired woman to him.
• Crow admitted he wanted Li Hai’s implant and ordered his gang to tear Li Hai and ZM Arc apart.
• Li Hai activated his Peregrine Acceleration Mechanism, slowing time, and attacked the crowd with plasma blades.
• Li Hai massacred every Blood Crow Gang member on one side of the plaza in barely half a second.

Li Hai massacred the Blood Crow Gang and condemned Crow to drift through the sewers before reuniting with Bai E at Eastman Plaza. Bai E revealed that Li Hai and ZM Arc Light were Psionic nobles and said she had come to bring them to the Sky Canopy District to join the Escape Plan.

• Li Hai used the Peregrine Acceleration Mechanism and the Mysterious Legion to kill the Blood Crow Gang across Eastman Plaza and its elevated bridges.
• Li Hai mutilated Crow, carried his mechanical head into the underground sewers, and threw it into the filthy river.
• Li Hai returned to Eastman Plaza and found Bai E waiting by ZM Arc Light.
• Bai E revealed that she, Li Hai, and ZM Arc Light were nobles of Relic City, and said the Supreme Council had sent her to bring them to the Sky Canopy District and the Escape Plan.

Li Hai learned that Psionic Nobles periodically devastated humanity on Backroom Star to prevent it from challenging them, and discovered Bai E came from far beyond Relic City. He was left stunned to learn the Human Empire had ruled for four million years and controlled most of the Laniakea Supercluster.

• Bai E told Li Hai and ZM Arc Light that Psionics saw ordinary humans as NPCs and periodically destroyed civilizations to keep humanity from becoming powerful enough to resist them.
• Bai E explained that the apocalypse three hundred years ago was the planet's fourth, triggered when human civilization neared a technological explosion.
• Bai E revealed she had arrived about 1,650 years earlier from Restan Colony Planet 9 Hive City, two million light-years away.
• Bai E said their star system lay outside the C744 Galaxy, 36 million light-years away, though it had once been part of the Human Empire's territory.
• Bai E revealed the Human Empire had existed for four million years and occupied seventy percent of the Laniakea Supercluster, leaving Li Hai shocked.

Bai E took Li Hai and ZM Arc Light to Lingxuan District, explaining that a Chaos Demon’s appearance meant the two universes would soon separate and the star system would become vulnerable. She revealed that the Supreme Council planned to flee into the other universe, prompting Li Hai to recognize it as the Backrooms universe.

• Li Hai asked Bai E about the Human Emperor, and she said he had sat on the Golden Throne for more than three million years.
• A tractor beam arrived at Eastman Bar, and Bai E led Li Hai and ZM Arc Light toward Sky Canopy District to escape the impending end of their world.
• Bai E explained that the Chaos Demon’s arrival foretold the end of the two universes’ intersection and the return of Warp to the star system.
• The group reached Lingxuan District, where Bai E told ZM Arc Light that becoming a Noble would void her debts.
• Bai E said the Supreme Council planned to take Psionic Power users into the other universe, and Li Hai identified it as the Backrooms universe.

Li Hai learned how Bai E had entered the Backrooms and survived there for decades before reaching Backroom Star. After arriving above Lingxuan District, he sought Divine Pharmaceuticals as a target, while Bai E revealed that most of the Supreme Council’s powerful Psionics were elsewhere and would gather after Lu Wuyin returned.

• Li Hai recognized Bai E’s references to levels and entities as evidence that Backroom Star was connected to the Backrooms, and Bai E confirmed the connection.
• Bai E explained that spacetime rifts had swept her from a slave ship into the Backrooms, where she spent thirty years on Level 81 before exploring other levels and eventually reaching the convergence zone.
• Bai E and Li Hai arrived in the Sky Canopy District, where Bai E mourned losing control of the humans living below in Lingxuan District.
• Li Hai asked Bai E to locate Divine Pharmaceuticals so he could retaliate for its space laser attacks, but Bai E refused because the Supreme Council considered it important.
• Li Hai asked how many V-Zhentians and high-level Psionics the Supreme Council had, and Bai E said most of its nobles were scattered among nearby shipwrecks and would return after Lu Wuyin came back.

Li Hai and ZM Arc Light entered Sky Canopy District, where the psionic nobles’ luxury rested on the exploitation of humans, and received castles and servants. While investigating the district, Li Hai collected all seven psionic systems and discovered their greater potential, then withheld an attack on Lingxuan District as he prepared to act later.

• Bai E confirmed that Councilman Lu Wuyin had faked his death and reached psionic level LV25.
• Li Hai and ZM Arc Light toured Sky Canopy District, attended noble rank-advancement ceremonies, and received cloudtop castles, bionic servants, and human servants.
• Li Hai warned ZM Arc Light not to abandon his humanity, and ZM Arc Light promised he would always remain human.
• Over the next ten days, Li Hai investigated Sky Canopy District and gathered skills from its psionics users, completing his collection of all seven psionic systems.
• Li Hai realized that the seven systems might combine to form a small Warp capable of reshaping the universe’s fundamental forces, but his power was not yet strong enough to achieve it.
• Li Hai considered bombarding Lingxuan District with plasma but decided to wait rather than alert his enemies.

Li Hai killed ZM Arc Light for betraying her promise, then sealed off the starship and began hunting the Psionic Nobles inside. He left the Sky Canopy District in ruins as he charged onward, slaughtering nobles and demolishing buildings.

• ZM Arc Light returned to Li Hai and told him that Speaker Lu and the other high-ranking Nobles had arrived in Sky Canopy District.
• Li Hai recognized that ZM Arc Light had embraced Noble life and no longer considered herself human.
• Li Hai transformed into an armored Astartes and reminded ZM Arc Light that she would die if she broke her promise.
• Li Hai killed ZM Arc Light and used his psychokinetic power to seal the entire starship.
• Li Hai drew his Chainsword and charged through the district, destroying buildings and killing the Psionic Nobles inside.

Li Hai rampaged through Relic City, slaughtering psionics users as they panicked at the sight of the Astartes. Meanwhile, Lu Wuyin reassured the Supreme Council’s Nobles about their planned retreat into the Backrooms while secretly preparing to sacrifice everyone in Relic City and on the Wasteland planet to ascend.

• Li Hai’s approach triggered a psychic warning that brought psionics users running, but he killed the terrified defenders and pursued the fleeing crowd.
• Lu Wuyin addressed the Supreme Council’s Nobles, praising the Father of Wisdom and describing the possible disappearance of the worlds’ connection.
• Lu Wuyin told the Nobles that the Supreme Council had prepared safe communities in the Backrooms where they could escape the coming crisis.
• Lu Wuyin privately revealed that the Backrooms were dangerous and drained psionic abilities, so he had abandoned the plan to flee there.
• Lu Wuyin planned to use Warp arts to sacrifice everyone in Relic City and on the Wasteland planet in exchange for ascension.

Lu Wuyin’s attempt to sacrifice the Psyker nobles and make himself a god failed when a Psychokinetic Field erased the ritual lines across Relic City. Li Hai stormed the Supreme Council Hall, devastated the gathering with a single strike, and began shooting the surviving high-level Psykers.

• Lu Wuyin’s ritual lines spread across Relic City but were burned away by a Psychokinetic Field surrounding the battleship.
• Li Hai blasted through the council hall doors, entered in bloodstained armor, and declared the Psykers would die for desecrating an Imperial battleship.
• Li Hai struck at Lu Wuyin, vaporizing the hall and almost all the Psyker nobles, including Lady Bai.
• Lu Wuyin survived the strike but lost ninety-nine percent of his psychic power to Li Hai’s Wrath of Truth.
• Li Hai fired his Bolter at the fleeing Level 4 Psykers.

Li Hai fought Lu Wuyin as Relic City collapsed, killing Psykers and V-Zhentian-class cybernetic warriors while gathering Stronger Fragments. After the city’s upper districts and Old City District crumbled, Lu Wuyin revealed his greatest trump card.

• Li Hai identified Lu Wuyin as a Tzeentch worshipper and learned his valuable skills, including Demigod Physique, while refusing to learn Art of Infinite Change.
• Li Hai’s enhanced strength forced Lu Wuyin to one knee, and they plunged into the collapsing Lingxuan District as the falling Sky Canopy District crushed the city below.
• Li Hai and Lu Wuyin fought through the falling ruins, with Li Hai pressuring Lu Wuyin and repeatedly forcing him to retreat and recover.
• Li Hai shot V-Zhentian-class cybernetic warriors among the debris, collecting roughly two hundred Stronger Fragments in total.
• After Relic City’s districts collapsed into ruins, Lu Wuyin brought out his greatest trump card.