Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu wakes to explosions in the Commoner District and watches the Inspection Bureau’s Mobile Guard Unit attack a residential complex. Helicopters and heavy weapons batter the buildings, while the target fights back with extraordinary force and purple lightning, bringing down many aircraft.
• News reports suggest a surge in newly emerged Transcendents—Martial Artists, Cultivators, and wizards—alongside violent incidents and signs that Tower Climbers are appearing in the city.
• Wu Yu reviews his inventory, including two godheads he cannot place within the Federation’s established Transcendent paths. He considers asking the Star River Group for information.
• He calls his uncle, Wu Yang, and tells him he has become a Qi-Refining Transcendent and passed the Star River Group’s contract verification. Wu Yang is astonished that Wu Yu mastered a difficult technique without enhancements, using spirit stones in only three days.
• Wu Yu explains his plan to bring his family to housing in the Dragonblood Lake Complex. Wu Yang agrees to help collect them but refuses to move there, preferring to remain in the Lower City District, where people rely on him.
• That night, Zhao Xiaoming finds a dying, blood-covered man who gives him a box and directs him to deliver it to Blind Huang on Neon Street. The man dissolves into bloody liquid. Zhao opens the box, finds a chip, and steals the man’s valuable cybernetic equipment, convinced he has struck it rich.
• At dawn, Wu Yu completes a Great Heavenly Circuit of qi refining. He reconnects with Wu Yang, who is leaving a neon-lit room after an encounter with sex workers, and the two arrange to meet. Wu Yu then sees Zhao Xiaoming at the complex entrance; Zhao says he is waiting for an “old bastard,” while Wu Yu remarks that he is waiting for an old fellow too.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu recognizes how much stronger he has become since entering the Tower and watches the city’s violence with confidence rather than fear. He remains curious about the godheads and the Tower’s wider mysteries. He is also trying to take responsibility for his family, though he knows dealing with his parents may be difficult.
• Wu Yang is proud and amazed by Wu Yu’s breakthrough, but steadfastly refuses the comforts of corporate housing because he feels needed in the Lower City. His blunt, irreverent personality is on display both in his call with Wu Yu and his exchange with a sex worker.
• Zhao Xiaoming shifts from anxious resentment over unpaid money to reckless excitement after finding the stranger’s equipment. His choice to keep it may draw him into danger.
• Wu Yu and Wu Yang share an affectionate, teasing relationship: Wu Yu seeks his uncle’s help and worries about him, while Wu Yang supports him but rejects his advice.
• Zhao Xiaoming and the dying stranger have a brief, consequential encounter: the stranger entrusts him with a delivery, but Zhao chooses to take the box and equipment for himself.

Significant themes

• The spread of Transcendents: Unusual powers and Tower-related phenomena are increasingly visible across the city.
• Power and confidence: Wu Yu’s growing abilities change how he responds to danger and uncertainty.
• Family versus duty: Wu Yang refuses a more comfortable life because he feels responsible for people in his neighborhood.
• Greed and risk: Zhao’s sudden windfall may be less a blessing than the beginning of trouble.
• A world where old and new systems collide: Spiritual cultivation, divine artifacts, cybernetic technology, and corporate power coexist, though Wu Yu still lacks knowledge of how some of them fit together.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu meets his neighbor Zhao Xiaoming, who says he plans to become successful and take Wu Yu along. Wu Yu suspects Zhao may be a Tower Climber but keeps the thought to himself.
• Wu Yang arrives in an armored SUV and takes Wu Yu out of River City. He explains that he bought the vehicle cheaply after the Jackal Gang was dismantled.
• Outside the city’s mysterious Black Wall, Wu Yang activates the SUV’s psionic shield and reveals hidden Inspection Bureau weapons: autocannons and a rocket launcher. He encourages Wu Yu to obtain better equipment, explaining that newly emerged Cultivators are less combat-ready than Transcendent Martial Artists.
• On the Wasteland highway, they encounter a roadblock and learn that numerous vehicles and people ahead have been massacred. The deaths were not caused by twisted creatures, and the cause is unknown.
• Drivers block both directions, leaving the travelers trapped. As Wu Yang tries to find a way back, the sky suddenly darkens and a golden glow covers the landscape.
• A phantom city—the Golden City—begins appearing over the highway. Wu Yang says it is another world, reportedly merging with reality and destined to collide with River City, potentially destroying it.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains observant and cautious, considering whether Zhao Xiaoming is a Tower Climber and later suspecting the massacre may be tied to the Tower or other unusual phenomena. He keeps his weapons ready as the Golden City appears.
• Wu Yang is boastful and resourceful, having built a heavily armed vehicle from black-market equipment. His confidence gives way to genuine alarm when he sees the massacre and the Golden City.
• Zhao Xiaoming displays a sudden rise in ambition and confidence, imagining a future wealthy enough to buy a flying car.

Character interactions

• Zhao and Wu Yu share a friendly exchange about future success and helping one another.
• Wu Yang teases Wu Yu, then explains cultivation, combat differences, and the need for better weapons.
• Wu Yang and Wu Yu react together to the highway crisis, but while Wu Yang attempts to turn back, angry drivers’ vehicles block their escape.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and escalating danger: Strange deaths and the Golden City’s appearance suggest that familiar rules are breaking down.
• The divide between civilization and wilderness: The Black Wall marks the boundary between secure urban life and the dangerous Wasteland.
• Power, resources, and survival: Cultivators need weapons and tools to compensate for their early limitations, while black-market access can provide an advantage.
• Ambition amid upheaval: Zhao’s dreams of rising in the world contrast with the looming threat to River City.

Plot points and events

• An enormous phantom city appears across the sky, turning the world dusky yellow. Wu Yang fears it may merge with reality and destroy everything, while people on the highway panic and lose their signal.
• Wu Yu’s Bronze Token identifies the phenomenon as Dusk City, a special Great Ruins under a thirty-minute Omen countdown. Its arrival knocks out Wu Yang and many others, but Wu Yu confirms they are alive.
• Wu Yu investigates a nearby multi-car crash and finds a physical, heavily armored Dusk Knight among the bodies. It attacks him, shrugging off his flying sword and the Mountain Lord’s roar and blows.
• Wu Yu discovers that the Evernight Lamp weakens the knight by dispelling its Dusk Light. He immobilizes it with a Lunar Yin Talisman and destroys it with repeated, enhanced Bi Fang Talismans.
• The knight leaves no Card, frustrating Wu Yu. The Omen eventually ends, Dusk City disappears, and the Bronze Token awards him 10,000 Great Ruins Source Points for surviving and another 10,000 for killing the knight.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains composed despite the apparent catastrophe. He investigates the crash, assesses the knight’s strengths and possible weakness, and adapts his tactics rather than confronting it recklessly.
• Wu Yang reacts with fear to Dusk City’s appearance and collapses when its pressure descends. He is later confirmed to be safe.
• The Dusk Knight is portrayed as a nearly mindless, extraordinarily durable enemy whose supernatural defenses can be undermined by the Evernight Lamp.

Significant themes

• Composure amid panic: Wu Yu’s careful observation and planning contrast with the crowd’s chaotic reactions.
• Power and countermeasures: Raw strength is insufficient against the knight; identifying the right tool and exploiting its weakness makes victory possible.
• Uncertainty and risk: The Omen’s meaning and the possibility of Dusk City entering reality remain unclear.
• Reward versus effort: Wu Yu receives no Card from the kill, but the event ultimately grants substantial source points.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu reassures himself that Wu Yang and the others are not in mortal danger, then leaves them to investigate the crash.
• The knight silently singles out Wu Yu and attacks. Wu Yu responds with his sword, the Mountain Lord, and finally the lamp-and-talisman combination that defeats it.
• Wu Yu has little direct interaction with the panicked travelers; their reactions establish the scale of the Omen and the contrast with his controlled response.

Key plot points and events

• After Golden City vanishes, Wu Yu and his uncle, Wu Yang, wake among the people on the highway. The crowd confirms that Golden City appeared, though recordings show only ordinary daylight; a massive crater marks where it struck.
• Wu Yu keeps his identity as a Tower Climber secret and conceals his role in the destruction. When the Inspection Bureau questions them, he gives a partial account and uses his Divine Sense to prevent any lie detection from exposing him.
• The Bureau quickly repairs the road with technology or abilities beyond ordinary means, prompting Wu Yu to suspect powerful Transcendents or Tower Climbers are involved. Officials classify the event as routine and continue suppressing online rumors about Golden City.
• Wu Yang drives Wu Yu back to Apocalypse Town, where the locals greet them warmly. Wu Yu shares candy with the children and catches up with neighbors before visiting his parents.
• At home, Wu Yu tells his parents he has reached Qi Refining and that his contract with the company is official. His family is thrilled—especially his mother, who is eager to spread the news—until Wu Yu reveals he has arranged a villa for them in the city’s Rich District.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains cautious and guarded about his extraordinary status, but becomes more open with his family. He wants to improve their lives and asks them to keep his success private.
• Wu Yang is protective and boastful, hiding his vehicle’s illegal weapons before the investigation. He jokes with his brother and takes pride in Wu Yu’s achievements.
• Wu Yu’s parents react with surprise and pride to his cultivation and permanent company employment. His father is stern but supportive, encouraging him to focus on cultivation; his mother expresses affection through cooking and eagerly celebrates his success.
• Liu Yi and her captain represent the Bureau’s public-facing authority. Liu Yi conducts a polite investigation, while her captain suspects illegal equipment may have caused the crater but decides to record the incident as normal.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and surveillance: Wu Yu must conceal his identity, while the Bureau monitors witnesses and controls information about Golden City.
• Power and institutional control: The rapid road repairs hint at capabilities the authorities do not openly acknowledge.
• Family, ambition, and social mobility: Wu Yu’s risky independence has carried him beyond the future his parents imagined, and he now hopes to bring them into a more privileged life.
• Home and belonging: Despite his extraordinary experiences, Wu Yu’s return is marked by familiar neighbors, family warmth, and ordinary home cooking.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu tells his parents that his new company contract provides a villa and city residency. His parents initially resist moving: they are attached to their home and factory work, and worry about city expenses.
• Wu Yu insists they must relocate within a week, warning that the world is becoming dangerous. His father recalls recent brutal incidents at local factories and agrees to move, even abandoning a long-awaited job-grade assessment. Wu Yu offers to ask whether his uncle’s family can join them, though the company’s benefit normally covers only blood relatives.
• The next day, Wu’s father begins resigning and his mother starts packing. Wu Yang leaves to handle other business.
• While his family prepares, Wu Yu cultivates One Qi Becomes Three Pure Ones. He calculates that reaching the next Qi Refining level will take months even with resources, but the contract requires rapid progress and continued recognition as a genius.
• Wu Yu reflects on why he chose Star River Group: its obsession with antiquity made it easier to secure its valuable contract using his knowledge from his previous life. The contract is conditional, however; repeated failure to meet cultivation targets could cost him his specially developed spiritual organs.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shifts from an easygoing son to a firm, protective decision-maker, refusing to let his parents delay despite their reluctance. He is also pragmatic about his corporate deal and privately feels some guilt over exploiting Manager Lin’s illness and his own “ancient knowledge prodigy” reputation.
• Wu’s father initially balks at leaving his job and home, but Wu Yu’s warning and the factory violence persuade him to prioritize safety.
• Wu’s mother worries about money and family obligations, especially her brother’s family, but follows her husband’s decision once he commits to moving.
• Wu Yang treats the family discussion lightly at first, then confirms that trouble is already spreading.
• Wu’s mother later questions Wu Yu about city life and romance, contrasting her everyday concerns with his urgent preparations.

Significant themes

• Family protection versus personal independence: Wu Yu overrides his parents’ preferences because he believes their safety is at stake.
• The spread of social collapse: Factory murders and sightings of a creature suggest that isolated incidents may signal wider chaos.
• Corporate exploitation: The companies offer powerful opportunities but impose harsh conditions and treat people as assets.
• Ambition, deception, and survival: Wu Yu secured his position by crafting a reputation that appealed to Star River Group’s antiquarian fixation, and now must meet the contract’s demanding terms.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu takes a gold-grade Divine Origin Pill, which rapidly converts into spirit power through his “One Qi Becomes Three Pure Ones” technique. His qi sea grows dramatically, raising his spirit power from roughly 100 strands to 350—the equivalent of months of ordinary cultivation.
• Pleased with the result, Wu Yu experiments with several Martial Dao pills, especially a Mountain Lord Thunder Spirit Pill. Its powerful effects improve his body and Divine Sense, but overwhelm him physically; he decides he cannot safely take many pills.
• While Wu Yu is recovering, his mother welcomes her younger brother, Li Erniu, and his family into the home. They have come to stay while Wu Yu’s family is in the city.
• The family shares a meal. Li Erniu’s wife complains about their poor circumstances and the monotonous Energy Blocks they usually eat, while Li Erniu is embarrassed. Wu Yu avoids intruding in their marital dispute.
• Wu notices that his younger cousin Li Yuzhu has changed: she has left school, wears heavy makeup and fashionable clothes, and seems distant and resentful. When her father criticizes her for associating with gang members, she argues that educated people look down on the poor. Li Erniu angrily demands that she apologize to Wu Yu.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu becomes more confident in the value of pills and recognizes his potential to advance quickly, though he also learns that powerful medicines can be dangerous. He is observant and caring toward his relatives but generally reluctant to interfere in their problems.
• Li Erniu is grateful for his sister’s help but ashamed of his family’s poverty. He is worried about his children and tries to correct Yuzhu, though his reprimand escalates into a confrontation.
• Li Yuzhu appears alienated from her family and education. Her defense of people “at the bottom” suggests resentment shaped by class divisions, while Wu Yu suspects something has happened to her in recent years.
• Wu Yu’s mother acts as a generous host and mediator, calming Li Erniu’s wife when she quarrels with him.
• The visit highlights the contrast between Wu Yu’s comparatively comfortable, education-focused life and his uncle’s family’s financial hardship and uncertainty.

Significant themes

• Cultivation through resources: Pills can accelerate progress enormously, but their potency brings physical risks.
• Class and opportunity: Poverty limits the younger cousins’ prospects, while education can create distance and resentment between social groups.
• Family obligation and tension: Relatives help one another, yet affection coexists with embarrassment, conflict, and differing expectations.
• Concern beneath judgment: Wu Yu criticizes Yuzhu’s changes but remains attached to her, recalling their childhood closeness.

Key plot points and events

• Li Yuzhu angrily blames returning university graduates and new taxes for pushing ordinary residents into poverty. Her uncle tries to strike her, but Wu’s mother intervenes.
• Wu Yu’s uncle explains that Apocalypse Town’s new mayor imposed several taxes, while the Underclass Gang charged residents a “resistance fee.” After his wife was scammed, the family had to sell its home and move into the tent district.
• During a family dinner, the uncle learns that Li Yuzhu has been detained at the Wolf Pack Bar after a fight. The bar demands 20,000 yuan in compensation.
• Wu Yu volunteers to retrieve her. His father hesitates because the bar belongs to the gang, but trusts him after seeing his equipment and realizing he has a Space Chip.
• At the bar, Wu Yu senses the gang members’ Bi Fang Sigils and quietly inscribes sigils of his own. He finds Yuzhu upstairs, where she and several girls are being held by gangsters.
• Wu Yu kills the two armed guards outside the room with an invisible force. Inside, he finds Yuzhu threatened by Brother Wang and a massive monk, who inflate the supposed damages and demand as much as 80,000–100,000 yuan. The chapter ends with the confrontation unresolved.

Character developments

• Li Yuzhu is hardened by poverty and resentment, and openly identifies with the town’s underclass. Despite her defiance, she is frightened and vulnerable when Wu Yu finds her.
• Wu Yu remains calm and observant, but shows his growing confidence and power. He uses Divine Sense and Spirit Power to investigate and deal with threats discreetly before acting decisively.
• The uncle is embarrassed by his family’s circumstances and asks Wu Yu’s father for help. His account reveals how taxes, gang exploitation, and a scam ruined the family’s stability.
• Wu Yu’s father initially worries about his son entering gang territory, then trusts his judgment when he sees evidence of Wu Yu’s capabilities.
• Brother Wang and the monk reveal themselves as predatory criminals, using Yuzhu’s detention to extort money and threaten the girls.

Significant themes

• Exploitation of the poor: Taxes and the Underclass Gang’s supposed mutual-aid fees compound the family’s hardship.
• Corruption and false solidarity: The gang claims to protect ordinary people but exploits them for money and power.
• Family loyalty: Wu Yu’s family helps his uncle despite old tensions, and Wu Yu steps in to protect Yuzhu.
• Power and vulnerability: The gang intimidates those with little means, while Wu Yu’s hidden strength shifts the balance.

Character interactions

• Yuzhu clashes with her father over the family’s poverty and the money he once borrowed from Wu Yu’s parents.
• Wu Yu listens to his uncle’s explanation without judging him, while his aunt and uncle express hopes that Wu Yu’s success might improve their lives.
• Wu Yu’s father agrees to help the uncle and ultimately lets Wu Yu go to the bar.
• At the Wolf Pack, guards and patrons mock Wu Yu, but he ignores them and tracks the gang through his Divine Sense.
• In the private room, Wu Yu calmly challenges Brother Wang’s inflated compensation claim, while Brother Wang and the monk threaten Yuzhu and the other girls.

Key plot points and events

• In a bar, Li Yuzhu and several young women are being pressured by Brother Wang and his thugs. Brother Wang claims to represent the [Underclass Gang] and demands Wu Yu’s watch as collateral.
• Wu Yu takes control of the situation, shields Li Yuzhu with a [Diamond Badge], and attacks with the [Tiger-Soul Sword]. The sword kills Brother Wang and the other thugs; their supposed gang affiliation is called into question.
• Fat Monk, a powerful fighter close to transcendence, survives the first attack with a golden-bell defense. Wu Yu disarms and interrogates him after thwarting his attempts to use injections and a hidden weapon.
• Fat Monk reveals that he works for [Spirit Mountain Technology] and came to buy “Holy Maidens”—women recruited from Neon Street as high-end sex dolls. He claims the [Underclass Gang] was formerly the [Azure Wolf Gang], contradicting Li Yuzhu’s belief that it is a mutual-aid group.
• Before Fat Monk can explain more, his body explodes, apparently because of cybernetic modifications. Wu Yu protects himself and Li Yuzhu, then investigates the scene and begins using his communication watch, anticipating consequences.
• A traumatized woman bites at Fat Monk’s remains, then takes Brother Wang’s pistol and kills herself. Wu Yu tells the survivors to clean up and leave; Li Yuzhu helps the others and leads them out.

Character developments

• Wu Yu reveals himself as a formidable Transcendent Cultivator and martial artist, combining lethal force, protective measures, and heightened perception. He remains controlled but recognizes that the incident may bring trouble from Spirit Mountain Technology.
• Li Yuzhu shifts from disbelief and anger to shock and conflicted admiration. Her childhood image of Wu Yu is overturned as she sees how powerful and capable he has become.
• Fat Monk is exposed as a calculating corporate contractor rather than a harmless bystander. Even while pleading for his life, he attempts to attack Wu Yu; his sudden death leaves the larger operation unclear.
• Brother Wang is revealed as a violent opportunist, not the defender of the poor he claims to be. The women’s fear and the final suicide underscore the harm behind the group’s exploitation.

Significant themes

• Exploitation hidden behind charitable language: The “mutual-aid” gang label masks abuse and trafficking.
• Technology and bodily control: Spirit Mountain Technology’s injections and cybernetic modifications blur the line between human and machine—and can turn a person into a weapon.
• Power, protection, and responsibility: Wu Yu’s strength lets him intervene, but it also places him in conflict with powerful institutions.
• Disillusionment and trauma: Li Yuzhu’s faith in the gang collapses, while the women’s fear and the woman’s suicide reveal the lasting human cost of exploitation.

Character interactions

• Brother Wang threatens Wu Yu and mocks Li Yuzhu; she challenges his claims, while Wu Yu quietly protects her before retaliating.
• Fat Monk attempts to intimidate, bargain with, and then ambush Wu Yu. Wu Yu responds with restraint at first, then force and interrogation.
• Fat Monk’s accusations unsettle Li Yuzhu, forcing her to confront the possibility that her supposed allies are involved in the trafficking.
• After the violence, Wu Yu gives Li Yuzhu practical help and orders the group to leave; she silently accepts his protection and takes responsibility for calming and assisting the other women.

Key plot points and events

• Li Yuzhu reflects on her cousin Wu Yu, whom she once admired but later believed had become a corporate sellout. After hardship struck her family, she joined the Underclass Gang to protect her parents and oppose corporations.
• Wu Yu finds Yuzhu and her companions at the Wolf Pack bar, a drug den where they had gone to rescue someone. He discovers that Xiao Ye lured them there for money. He tells the group to wait for the Inspectors and leads them out.
• Wu Yu knocks out the doormen and destroys the bar with an explosion, warning the others not to look back. He then leaves to confront two monks connected to Spirit Mountain Technology.
• The monks are trying to recover information from a deceased accomplice’s Decoder, fearing punishment from Spirit Mountain. Wu Yu defeats them, but their cybernetic bodies and Decoder self-destruct, destroying the evidence.
• Yuzhu waits for Wu Yu, and the two head home. She recognizes that her childhood admiration for him has returned.

Character developments

• Li Yuzhu reassesses Wu Yu: her resentment and disappointment give way to renewed admiration as she sees his composure, power, and willingness to protect her.
• Wu Yu is revealed as an exceptionally powerful Transcendent cultivator. He acts decisively to protect Yuzhu and her group, while his investigation into Spirit Mountain Technology remains unresolved.
• Xiao Ye is exposed as having accepted money to bring the group to the bar, though she claims she did not know its true nature.
• The two monks appear frightened and compromised, revealing the reach of Spirit Mountain Technology and their desperation to avoid its retaliation.

Significant themes

• Class conflict and corporate power: Yuzhu’s experience fuels her belief that ordinary people must unite against corporations, while Wu Yu’s actions expose the dangers and influence of corporate-controlled technology.
• Disillusionment and renewed trust: Yuzhu’s assumptions about Wu Yu are overturned, restoring the bond and admiration of their childhood.
• Protection and power: Wu Yu uses overwhelming strength to rescue others, but the destruction of evidence shows that force alone cannot easily uncover the truth.

Character interactions

• Yuzhu’s memories and judgments frame her reunion with Wu Yu; his calm leadership contrasts with her uncertainty.
• Wu Yu questions the group, exposes Xiao Ye’s role, and protects the others without allowing their anger to dictate what happens next.
• The monks’ nervous conversation reveals their fear of Spirit Mountain, before Wu Yu confronts them and eliminates them.
• Yuzhu waits for Wu Yu and follows him home, echoing their childhood relationship.

Key plot points and events

• After Wu Yu defeats the gang members who attacked him, Li Yuzhu explains that the Underclass Gang had once protected her family in the tent district. Wu Yu realizes the gang, like the former Azure Wolf Gang, was likely controlled by Mayor Huang Si.
• Wu reassures Li Yuzhu that he has returned and that her family need not fear the gangs. Back at home, the families share a warm meal and discuss Wu’s father arranging work and a safer home for Li Yuzhu’s father.
• Huang Si learns that Wu Yu destroyed his bar and underground passage, disrupting a major operation involving [Dream Into the Spirit Realm]. He initially orders a violent retaliation—but changes course after discovering Wu Yu’s connection to the powerful Star River Group.
• Huang Si visits Wu Yu’s home with gifts: gold, silver, cash, and the severed head of the Underclass Gang’s leader. He claims he has killed the gang’s leaders to avenge the bullying of Wu Yu, while presenting himself as Wu Yu’s “senior” from the Higher Academy.
• Wu Yu stays composed, declines Huang Si’s offer of a street and a welcome banquet, and promises his relatives that the mayor will no longer trouble them. Afterward, Huang Si privately reveals that the gang’s destruction was staged to conceal his involvement and let him impose new “security fees” on the town.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains calm and confident, using his reputation and connections to deter Huang Si without openly escalating the confrontation. His parents’ distress at the severed head, however, makes him visibly angry.
• Li Yuzhu moves from fear and uncertainty to renewed trust in Wu Yu, whose confidence reassures her.
• Wu’s father is perceptive and appears to suspect the dangers surrounding his son, though he focuses on moving the family and helping Li Yuzhu’s family.
• Huang Si proves to be a calculating, corrupt opportunist. He shifts from threatening Wu Yu to flattering and bribing him once he learns of Wu Yu’s powerful connections.

Significant themes

• Power and intimidation: Gangs and officials exploit vulnerable residents through violence, protection rackets, and fear.
• Corruption disguised as public service: Huang Si portrays the gang purge as protecting the town, while actually using it to hide his own crimes and justify new fees.
• Family and security: The families’ relief at escaping the tent district contrasts with the danger and instability still surrounding them.
• Composure as strength: Wu Yu’s quiet confidence unsettles those who try to intimidate him.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu listens to Li Yuzhu’s account and reassures her without dismissing her fears.
• Wu’s family welcomes Li Yuzhu and discusses practical ways to help her parents.
• Huang Si performs friendliness and respect toward Wu Yu while testing him with the severed head and lavish gifts; Wu Yu accepts neither the intimidation nor the offer.
• After Huang Si leaves, Wu Yu reassures his relatives, while his father handles the disturbing gift and the aunt focuses on the money.

Key plot points and events

• Town Chief Huang Si complains that he must share profits with powerful city companies. He and an associate decide to manipulate Wu Yu: if Wu Yu cooperates, they will recruit him as a subordinate; otherwise, they will kill him.
• The local Inspection Bureau receives a bribe and debates whether to investigate Wu Yu’s actions. The captain decides to look the other way, wary of powerful corporations and the town’s other dangers.
• Before leaving home late at night, Wu Yu exchanges a brief, uneasy farewell with his father, who stays behind smoking and waiting.
• At Huang Si’s lavish gathering, a tax notice from Deep Space Bank reminds him that even he cannot evade its reach. When Wu Yu arrives, Huang Si tries to placate him with money, cultivation supplies, and the Bunny Girls, while secretly preparing his weapons.
• Wu Yu refuses to negotiate. He uses the Tiger-Soul Sword to break Huang Si’s Psionic Shield. Huang Si throws a bomb and escapes through a window, but a hidden mark ignites him in golden flames, killing him.
• Wu Yu knocks the Bunny Girls unconscious rather than harming them, explaining that he is a “clean freak,” then leaves.
• Inspectors arrive but choose not to confront him. The captain orders them to report that Huang Si died in gang gunfire, concealing what really happened.

Character developments

• Wu Yu shows confidence and overwhelming power, defeating Huang Si without losing his composure. His refusal to exploit the Bunny Girls hints at personal restraint despite his ruthless handling of enemies.
• Huang Si shifts from arrogant schemer to frightened, desperate victim. His attempts to bargain and flee expose how poorly he understood Wu Yu’s strength.
• The Inspection Bureau captain prioritizes self-preservation over enforcing the law, turning a blind eye and arranging a false official account.
• Wu Yu’s father appears worried about his son, quietly waiting in the dark after their brief exchange.

Significant themes

• Power and impunity: Wealth, political position, and institutional authority offer little protection against greater power.
• Corruption and complicity: The inspectors accept bribes and conceal a killing rather than risk opposing influential forces.
• Fear beneath arrogance: Huang Si’s confidence collapses when confronted with Wu Yu’s true abilities.
• Moral restraint amid violence: Wu Yu kills his adversary but avoids taking advantage of the vulnerable women.

Character interactions

• Huang Si and his associate plan to control or eliminate Wu Yu, underestimating him.
• The inspectors debate whether to protect a prospective corporate employee, but their captain ultimately directs them to stay out of it.
• Huang Si tries to win Wu Yu over with gifts and appeals to seniority; Wu Yu rejects the offer and attacks.
• The inspectors exchange uneasy greetings with Wu Yu, then let him pass and fabricate a cover story.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu returns home with a substantial haul: five million in cash, three genuine and twelve inferior doses of Nine Dragons’ Might, plus other valuable injections. Though tempted, he decides not to use them: he is already transcendent, has recently taken a pill, and the injections would be less effective for him.
• He reflects on his demanding cultivation technique, One Qi Becomes Three Pure Ones, and the costly milestones required by his Star River Group investment contract. With the Tower’s arrival and growing upheaval, he wonders whether he will rise to the challenge or be left behind.
• The next morning, Wu Yang helps Wu Yu’s parents and uncle’s family prepare to move into the city. Wu’s Mother is reluctant to leave behind ordinary household goods, but Wu Yu reassures her that they can replace them easily.
• Wu Yu says goodbye to his cousin Li Yuzhu, who has abandoned her heavy makeup and flashy clothes. He gives her the address of his new home.
• The family travels through the increasingly militarized Wasteland, passing helicopters, scanning drones, checkpoints, and armored patrols. They reach the city safely and cross into the Rich District, then take a sponsored flying-car service to Dragonblood Lake Complex in the Upper City District.
• As the family takes in the spectacular cityscape, a radio broadcast reports that City Hall was attacked overnight and that Mayor Gao will make a major announcement about a mysterious tower.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shows restraint by storing the injections instead of chasing an advantage he no longer needs. He remains focused on cultivation and recognizes that his success depends on meeting the company’s expectations.
• Wu’s Mother is practical and attached to familiar belongings, but gradually accepts the move when Wu Yu explains the conveniences of city life. She is awed by the Upper City.
• Wu’s Father says little, but the move and its implications visibly occupy him.
• Wu Yang handles the move briskly and reveals the class divide through his explanation that people from poorer areas were regarded as “rats.”
• Li Yuzhu appears to be making a fresh start in her appearance and asks Wu Yu to keep in touch.

Significant themes

• Resource inequality and social class: cultivation supplies, housing, and access to technology distinguish the wealthy from ordinary people.
• Modernity and progress: advanced techniques and technology have improved on ancient cultivation traditions, complicating the idea that the past was superior.
• Change and uncertainty: Wu Yu’s reflections and the family’s move unfold against rising unrest, military activity, and the Tower’s mysterious arrival.
• Family and adaptation: the move requires Wu’s relatives to leave familiar routines behind and adjust to a radically different life.

Key events

• Wu Yu and his family travel through the City of Ten Thousand Rivers to Dragonblood Lake, their new residence in the exclusive Dragonblood Lake Complex.
• On the way, they encounter a protest against the planned privatization of public hospitals. A protester uses a mind-influencing spell to recruit them, but Wu Yu detects and breaks it, injuring the caster. Wu Yang suspects the protest was orchestrated by Ascension Technologies.
• At the complex, security registers Wu Yu and his parents. Uncle Wu Yang declines to move in, preferring his clinic and familiar life.
• A guide drone tours Wu Yu and his parents through Villa No. 18, explaining its facilities and the complex’s powerful protective and Spirit-Gathering formations.
• Wu’s parents worry that Wu Yu could lose the villa if he fails his company’s cultivation requirements. He reassures them that his progress is well ahead of target.
• Manager Lin arrives in a wheelchair with an attendant. He praises Wu Yu for reaching the introductory level of One Qi Becomes Three Pure Ones in only three days. Wu Yu hints that he gained a fortuitous opportunity, leading Lin to realize that he has entered the Tower.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shows increasing confidence and strength: he protects his family from the spell, remains unfazed by the company’s demanding contract, and hints to Lin that his rapid progress comes from an extraordinary opportunity.
• Wu’s parents are awed by the city and their lavish new home, but remain anxious about their son’s security and contractual obligations. They trust his assurances.
• Wu Yang remains independent and attached to his lower-city life, turning down the chance to join the household.
• Manager Lin is impressed by Wu Yu’s advancement and quickly connects his cryptic hint to the Tower.
• Wu Yu’s family bond is evident in his care for his parents and their concern for his future; the guide drone offers practical reassurance that they can still communicate with Wu Yang remotely.

Significant themes

• A changing social order: News of the Tower, emerging Tower Climbers, and proposed policy changes foreshadows upheaval and potential violence.
• Power and manipulation: The protest shows how political causes may be exploited through corporate schemes and supernatural influence.
• Privilege and dependence: Wu Yu’s new home brings extraordinary comfort, but it is tied to company performance demands.
• Opportunity and ambition: Wu Yu’s Tower experience has accelerated his cultivation and may reshape his prospects.

Plot points and events

• Wu Yu admits he entered the Tower twice. Manager Lin confirms that this does not violate their contract and promises the company will honor it.
• Lin explains the danger posed by the possible arrival of the Golden City, which could overlap with and destroy the human city. Meanwhile, the Tower is helping cultivators advance: the company has already found three new Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Wu Yu asks for his Qi Refining investment in advance so he can use a Training Room. Lin agrees to deliver the remaining 80,000 spirit stones and warns him to keep his talent secret, since powerful methods exist to expose people’s secrets.
• Lin describes Wu Yu’s cultivation support: he practices the elite technique One Qi Becomes Three Pure Ones and will receive nine [Innate Spirit Aperture] implants from the company, installed as he advances.
• After leaving, Lin and his aide discuss Wu Yu’s extraordinary progress. The aide recognizes that Wu Yu has reached Transcendence in all three paths—Essence, Qi, and Spirit—and may possess gold-level talent. Lin considers securing him a place with the [Star River Group] and taking him to [Deep Space City] if he achieves “nine apertures become a dragon.”
• Back home, Wu Yu reflects on Lin’s improved condition and the intimidating strength of Lin’s aide. Realizing that powerful people are everywhere, he resolves to use Divine Sense more cautiously, then begins cultivating with a spirit stone.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shows honesty toward Lin, accepts his advice without excessive flattery, and takes his advancement seriously. He also becomes more alert to the dangers of revealing his abilities or probing others.
• Lin Shouyuan treats Wu Yu warmly and honors their agreement, while acting as a mentor who warns him about secrecy, cultivation, and rising prices. He sees Wu Yu as a potential future asset to the group.
• The Man in Blue reveals his formidable power and recognizes Wu Yu’s rare, three-path progress. His loyalty to Lin is evident: he credits Lin with saving his life and supports him despite Lin’s illness.
• Wu Yu’s parents grow comfortable with Lin’s friendliness and the high-tech home, then go out to meet neighbors while Wu Yu stays behind.

Significant themes

• Opportunity and danger: The Tower offers rapid advancement but brings uncertainty, competition, and the threat of catastrophe.
• Secrecy and trust: Wu Yu’s candor earns Lin’s respect, but Lin warns that extraordinary talents must be guarded even from loved ones.
• Merit and corporate power: Advancement depends both on personal ability and on access to corporate resources, implants, and elite organizations.
• Ambition and loyalty: Lin’s willingness to advocate for Wu Yu contrasts with his regret over years of unsuccessful investments and his aide’s steadfast gratitude.

Summary

Wu Yu finishes a cultivation cycle using the Three Pure Ones Group’s top-tier One Qi Becomes Three Pure Ones technique. His physique, soul, and qi sea have all reached the transcendent level, and he decides to keep investing in the cultivation paths he already has while seeking better martial techniques later. He also plans to spend his Great Ruins Source Points on his next Tower visit and sell some illicit goods.
Meanwhile, his parents happily recount meeting their new neighbors in the Dragonblood Lake complex. Wu Yu is amused by their old-fashioned judgments about the residents, but recognizes that the neighbors are likely far more formidable than his parents realize. He reassures himself that the secure, company-affiliated complex is safe.
A mayoral livestream announces the creation of River City’s Investigation Division to manage the Tower crisis. Mayor Gao introduces Liu Zheng as a promising young Inspector, praising his accomplishments and presenting him as the city’s new hope. Wu Yu is less interested in the ceremony than in the news that the bureau alone has three thousand Tower Climbers; he suspects the total in the city may be much higher and decides to stock up on supplies immediately.
At the crowded Holy Maiden Shopping Plaza, Wu visits the Spirit Treasure Shop and insists on buying Nine-Turn Injections, which he knows are more reliable than the store’s heavily promoted alternatives. He purchases all 160 in stock, then continues buying spirit-power restoration medicine elsewhere. As stores react to rising demand by abruptly increasing prices—at one shop, by as much as 200 percent—Wu realizes the Tower crisis is already driving a citywide shortage and price surge. Planning to buy technological weapons upstairs, he spots someone familiar: Ye Tian.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains cautious and pragmatic. He prioritizes genuine, dependable products, distrusts exaggerated marketing, and responds quickly to evidence that the Tower crisis is worsening.
• Wu Yu’s parents are delighted by their new neighborhood and eager to socialize, while Wu Yu watches over them and quietly assesses the risks around them.
• Mayor Gao publicly frames the new Investigation Division as a response to the Tower’s deadly impact and elevates Liu Zheng as a civic hero.
• The shop attendant and manager illustrate the commercial scramble: the attendant celebrates a large sale, while the manager responds to depleted stock by ordering steep price hikes.
• Wu Yu’s encounter with Ye Tian at the chapter’s end sets up a likely new development.

Significant themes

• Preparation amid crisis: Wu Yu treats the Tower’s growing presence as a practical danger that demands immediate planning.
• Trust and exploitation: His preference for the proven Nine-Turn Injections contrasts with the shop’s exaggerated claims and the sellers’ opportunistic price increases.
• Public image and authority: The mayor’s presentation of Liu Zheng turns a government response into a public spectacle, while Wu Yu remains focused on the underlying numbers and risks.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yu visits Holy Maiden Shopping Plaza, where he finds Ye Tian arguing with a martial artist who claims a batch of injections was defective. Captain Liu intervenes, and the man leaves. Ye Tian explains that the dispute was likely a ploy by one of Captain Liu’s subordinates to pressure him into joining the captain’s faction.
• Wu Yu asks Ye Tian to inspect injections he acquired through “gray-area” dealings. Ye Tian discovers they contain a spirit-energy virus and buys them back after accounting for purification, fees, and tax. Wu Yu receives 7.2 million.
• Wu Yu shops for equipment, but the plaza’s corporate stores mainly carry outdated or restricted products. Since he already owns powerful gold-grade gear, he buys only practical supplies such as talismans and new technology.
• After nightfall, the plaza transforms into a transcendent nightlife district. Wu Yu intimidates a group of tattooed men who mock him, then notices Tower Climbers setting up stalls to trade Cards from different worlds.
• Seeing Cards from martial, magic, cultivation, technological, and other worlds, Wu Yu recognizes that the Tower’s public disclosure is already reshaping commerce. With no standard prices established, he seeks out cultivation-related items, hoping to trade for qi-refining resources.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu is increasingly resourceful and commercially alert. He turns unusual loot into money, judges ordinary merchandise against his superior equipment, and cautiously investigates the new Tower Card market.
• Ye Tian shows confidence in defending his family’s shop, while resisting Captain Liu’s recruitment pressure. He helps Wu Yu identify the injections’ contamination and buys them back. His joking invitation to visit the plaza’s adult entertainment is declined.
• Captain Liu appears friendly toward Ye Tian but is pursuing his own interests, using pressure through a subordinate to gain influence over the shop.
• Wu Yu and the tattooed men have a brief, one-sided confrontation: his aura reveals his transcendent strength, and they quickly apologize and retreat.
• Tower Climbers from different worlds begin gathering and trading their wares, creating a new point of contact between Wu Yu and the Tower’s wider multiverse.

Significant themes

• Corporate monopoly and inequality: Major companies control access to markets and limit ordinary buyers to outdated or restricted goods.
• Power changes opportunity: Becoming transcendent lets Wu Yu earn sums that once seemed impossible, though such windfalls are rare.
• Public knowledge transforms society: Once the Tower is revealed, its cross-world goods and trade rapidly enter everyday urban life.
• Caution and adaptation: Wu Yu avoids reckless probing and hasty purchases, instead observing the new market and looking for fair prices.

Plot points and events

• Tower Climbers gather at River City’s Holy Maiden Shopping Plaza to trade Cards and supplies after the Tower is made public. Wu Yu buys spirit stones with Federation Currency, finding no cultivation techniques worth purchasing.
• He trades [Vitality Pills] and [Yellow Dragon Vitality Pills] to a martial artist from a cultivation world in exchange for spirit stones. The man recounts being persecuted by local cultivators and escaping a Foundation Establishment Adept with help from his Advanced Magnetic Cybernetic Body.
• As wealthy buyers arrive, prices rise and the plaza grows disorderly. A Four Seasons Technologies representative offers to buy Wu Yu’s Great Ruins Source Points at a premium, but Wu Yu claims he has none left and accepts the representative’s contact Card.
• Outside the plaza, Wu Yu sees Yu Tiezhu speaking with a girl—apparently his daughter—after she has been caught selling stolen Cards again. Inspectors mock Yu Tiezhu and his family. Wu Yu feels uneasy but leaves without intervening.
• Returning to his complex, Wu Yu meets Liu Tianming, a Foundation Establishment Adept and his parents’ acquaintance. Liu recognizes Wu Yu as a Tower Climber and welcomes him informally. They discuss Wu Yu’s demanding top-tier cultivation contract; Liu hints that modern cultivators with Psionic Prosthetics can overpower ancient cultivators.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu shops strategically, bartering ordinary medicines for spirit stones and quietly preserving his resources. He reflects on how random and dangerous Tower destinations can be. His reaction to Yu Tiezhu’s family suggests concern, though he does not act.
• The martial artist stallholder is blunt and boastful, but his story reveals the prejudice he faced in an ancient cultivation world and the role his cybernetic body played in his escape.
• Yu Tiezhu appears protective and gentle toward his apologetic daughter despite her repeated wrongdoing, while other Inspectors ridicule them.
• Liu Tianming treats Wu Yu warmly and informally, offering perspective on the demands of his cultivation path and the advantages of modern technology.

Significant themes

• The Tower’s public opening is reshaping society, drawing ordinary people, climbers, and corporations into a rapidly changing marketplace.
• Cross-world clashes reveal how cultural status and power differ between societies—and how technology can challenge traditional cultivation hierarchies.
• Wu Yu’s cautious pragmatism contrasts with the uncertainty and danger of Tower exploration, while the scene with Yu Tiezhu hints at social judgment and family hardship.

Key plot points and events

• Liu Tianming explains that joining the [Star River Group] can grant access to psionic prosthetics with nine [Innate Spirit Apertures]. A person’s company eligibility—not merely money or cultivation level—determines access to more advanced technology. He also hints that the Group’s true reach extends far beyond River City.
• Liu confirms that he has entered the Tower once and recognized Wu Yu because Wu Yu could see him. He leaves after praising Wu Yu’s parents, though their enthusiasm for sharing rare meat with the neighbors amuses Wu Yu.
• Chen Lingling receives a report that the [Underclass Gang] has established branches in 52 of the 100 towns outside the city. Some branches and local gangs are abusing its name, so she orders them eliminated and reorganized. After learning that [Spirit Mountain Technology] agents, the local gang, and the town chief were killed in Apocalypse Town, she sees an opportunity to make the town a Resistance Army base. Most of the Inspection Bureau squad there are already her people.
• The next morning, Wu Yu consumes a [Spirit-Flesh Unification Pill] obtained from an Eerie God. It dramatically increases both his blood qi and soul power: his divine sense expands to 25 meters, and he can temporarily grow to about two and a half meters tall. He worries that continued enhancement may make him monstrous, though he also demonstrates improved telekinetic control.
• At Dragon Blood Lake, Wu Yu sees Zheng Ru burst from the water and rocket away. Liu Tianming explains that she practices immortal-martial dual cultivation and has psionic prosthetics, and that she may be responding to events involving [Golden City].
• Liu says [Golden City] is an overlap of worlds. Tower Climbers may enter, but Foundation Establishment Adepts cannot; they begin with Silver Tokens. Wu Yu infers that this means no Foundation Establishment Adepts will be present in [Dusk City], easing his concern.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu learns more about the Star River Group’s hierarchy and becomes more cautious around powerful cultivators. The pill greatly strengthens him, but its dramatic physical effects raise concerns about what further growth could do to his body.
• Liu Tianming acts as an informative, relaxed mentor figure, explaining corporate technology, Tower access, Zheng Ru’s abilities, and Golden City.
• Chen Lingling emerges as a decisive Resistance Army leader: she is willing to use force to discipline corrupt affiliates and quickly exploit openings for expansion.
• Wu Yu’s parents are shown as sociable and warmly integrated into their neighborhood, especially through his mother’s generous hospitality.
• Wu Yu and Liu Tianming continue their candid, friendly exchange; Wu Yu carefully uses Liu’s knowledge to assess the risks surrounding Golden City.

Significant themes

• Corporate power and inequality: Advanced prosthetics and cultivation opportunities depend on institutional status and eligibility, not simply wealth.
• Power and its costs: Wu Yu’s rapid growth brings greater strength but also the risk of physical distortion.
• Organized resistance and corruption: Chen Lingling’s movement seeks influence among ordinary people, yet its name is already being exploited by opportunists and violent gangs.
• Uncertain boundaries between worlds: Golden City’s overlapping-world phenomenon introduces new dangers, while token classifications determine who can enter.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Liu Tianming tells Wu Yu about the mysterious Golden City, which overlaps spatially with a city in the Zhu Xia Federation and is believed to be connected to the Tower. He regrets that he will not get to explore it.
• Wu Yu leaves his parents’ complex and returns to the academy, where news of the Tower’s arrival is already circulating. Most people accept the revelation, though some suspect a large-scale corporate experiment.
• In class, Wu Yu learns that Qi Refining cultivators can project mental power to interfere with communications and steal data, though doing so is illegal.
• Wu Yu attends a public lecture on the Martial Dao’s Divine Strength Realm. The instructor explains that martial artists condense full reserves of blood qi into strands of divine strength: one strand for each of the realm’s nine tiers. Reaching the ninth tier allows a breakthrough into the Divine Astral Realm.
• The lecture clarifies why modern martial artists have become formidable: their cultivation is direct and focused on raw power, and can be augmented by combat-oriented cybernetics and advanced serums.
• Wu Yu realizes his blood qi is already at capacity and that he needs a Divine Strength cultivation technique. Given his unusual enhancements, he expects his potential limit to be high.
• At the end of the day, Wu Yu receives an urgent message from his advisor summoning the class to a meeting—likely about the Tower. Chen Feng arrives with a swollen eye and dirty clothes, suggesting he has been in a fight.

Character developments

• Wu Yu remains observant, pragmatic, and focused on improving himself. He gains a clearer understanding of the Martial Dao and sees a path toward advancing his own cultivation.
• Chen Feng insists that he is serious about Li Qingqing and has supposedly cut contact with other women. He is idealizing her and plans to use his own or his family’s resources to support her, despite Wu Yu’s warnings.
• The Martial Dao instructor is blunt and domineering, but proves to be an effective teacher whose practical explanation greatly improves Wu Yu’s understanding.

Character interactions

• Wu Yu watches Chen Feng defer to Li Qingqing and worries that their relationship is unequal. He challenges Chen Feng’s intentions and warns him against spending resources or sacrificing opportunities for someone who may not return his feelings.
• Chen Feng dismisses Wu Yu’s concerns, praises Qingqing’s work and accomplishments, and claims she has implied that she wants to be with him.
• Wu Yu jokes with Chen Feng about his devotion to Qingqing, while remaining unconvinced by his romantic assumptions.
• Wu Yu exchanges greetings with classmates at the advisor’s meeting, where Chen Feng’s battered appearance draws attention.

Significant themes

• Power and advancement: The chapter contrasts Qi Refining with the Martial Dao and presents divine strength as a powerful, relatively straightforward path based on condensing blood qi.
• Changing social order: The Tower’s arrival and the rise of martial artists reflect a world reshaped by extraordinary forces, technology, and new opportunities.
• Naivety and self-interest: Chen Feng’s romantic idealism contrasts with Wu Yu’s practical skepticism about money, loyalty, and unequal relationships.
• Power, rules, and privilege: Wu Yu reflects that institutions may fail to protect the vulnerable from powerful companies, and that he now benefits from a system that once disadvantaged him.

Plot points and events

• Academic Advisor Zhou Yuan briefs the class on the mysterious Tower and the Great Ruins, where Tower Climbers are drawn into dangerous worlds containing everything from martial arts and magic to advanced technology.
• The Academy urges climbers to register so it can provide supplies, maps, and support. Students remain silent, and Wu Yu suspects the Academy’s offer comes with strings attached, including surveillance and control over supplies.
• An Jiaye confirms that corporations have already begun recruiting Tower Climbers, suggesting that powerful interests are quietly competing for influence.
• An Jiaye privately warns Chen Feng to stay away from Li Qingqing after asking about Chen’s courtship. Chen dismisses the warning as jealousy, while Wu Yu suspects Chen’s behavior is unusually obsessive.
• A massive explosion destroys the Psionic Laboratory. Zhou Yuan orders students to leave and keep quiet, but an elderly Academy “True Person” freezes the gates and seals the grounds with a Spirit Net, trapping everyone inside.
• A fire-covered figure—possibly a student—bursts from the burning lab and is quickly captured by the True Person. The Academy later claims the blast was caused by experimental materials, and students are eventually allowed to leave.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yu remains cautious and observant. He distrusts the Academy’s aid program, notices the campus lockdown’s true purpose, and protects himself by staying behind others when the gates are frozen.
• Chen Feng is bruised and downcast, then jokes about his supposed “talents.” His fixation on Li Qingqing deepens: he interprets An Jiaye’s warning as jealousy rather than considering that Li may feel harassed.
• An Jiaye shares what he knows about Tower Climbers and corporate recruitment, then privately questions Chen about his pursuit of Li. During the emergency, he records and sketches events while muttering about human nature.
• Zhou Yuan tries to organize and inform the class, but becomes tense after the explosion and gives only a tentative explanation.
• The True Person demonstrates formidable power by sealing the Academy’s exit and swiftly containing the burning figure.

Significant themes

• Institutional control and distrust: The Academy’s support for climbers is tied to registration, recording, and centralized supply distribution; the lockdown and secrecy deepen suspicion.
• Corporate power: Major companies are already recruiting climbers, foreshadowing a struggle between institutions, corporations, and independent climbers.
• Danger and uncertainty: The Great Ruins are lawless, while the explosion reveals that extraordinary threats may also exist within the Academy.
• Self-deception and human nature: Chen refuses to question his assumptions about Li, while Wu Yu and An Jiaye reflect on the motives people conceal.