Chapter Summaries

Red Hacker fed his crab silicon-rich sand, causing it to evolve into a Silicon-Shell Crab rather than an Extraordinary Species. He realized the next step was to create circuits within the silicon shell.

• Red Hacker discovered that the crab could consume silicon crystal matter and develop a silicon-based shell.
• Red Hacker kept feeding the crab sand until its shell and pincers turned gray-black.
• The crab completed its evolution into a Silicon-Shell Crab, but did not become an Extraordinary Species.
• Red Hacker examined the Evolution Tree and concluded that his Extraordinary Species depended on creating circuits in a silicon plate.

Red Hacker realized that creating circuit patterns in crab-shell silicon would require either non-heritable claw etching or slow, uncertain selective breeding. Remembering the difficult path he had chosen in his youth, he resolutely clicked [Breed].

• Red Hacker considered claw-etching and selective breeding as ways to create circuits in crab-shell silicon.
• Red Hacker struggled with the genetic obstacle and recalled the safer life his parents had urged him to pursue.
• Red Hacker remembered choosing hacking despite hardship and uncertainty.
• Red Hacker clicked [Breed], reaffirming his choice to pursue the hardest path toward a brilliant ending.

Red Hacker continued breeding crabs to develop a shell trait into a circuit-board pattern, then logged out and checked a private group for players who published research on Extraordinary Species. He reviewed how the Truth Market valued research papers and how a supplier of forged papers tried to restore his series’ value.

• Red Hacker selected newborn crabs with promising shell patterns, ate the ones that failed his criteria, and ordered the survivors to grow and reproduce.
• Red Hacker logged out of the game after twenty minutes and checked the private group on his computer.
• The chapter explained how a new NFT-based paper-trading market used verified authorship and research quality to establish the value of papers.
• A supplier of forged papers claimed his series included genuine work, raising its market value from zero yuan to one yuan.

Red Hacker recorded the results of his experiment to create silicon-based life and lamented the physical limits of his body. His curiosity about Primordial World grew after he failed to find the game’s server, leaving him puzzled by its advanced technology.

• Red Hacker documented the twenty-sixth trial, noting that circuit board traits had increased while solid traits had declined.
• Red Hacker said he hoped to create a complete silicon-based life-form and achieve immortality.
• Red Hacker reflected on the dangers and pressures of the hacker world, where rivals constantly tested one another and identities had to remain hidden.
• Red Hacker recalled that his demanding work had weakened his body, despite his excitement about learning new techniques.
• Red Hacker tried to trace Primordial World’s game center server but found no server along the network cable, leaving him unsure whether it existed or used technology beyond his understanding.

Red Hacker recalled entering the game and discovering that its neural connection and computational power far surpassed anything in reality. After the hackers proved the world was calculated at full power, he urged them to enter as ordinary players and build expertise in a new field.

• Red Hacker entered the game on its first day and realized its neural connection technology freed his thoughts from fatigue, while the game's computational power seemed to require a planet-sized quantum computer.
• Red Hacker and other hackers hypothesized that the game only rendered what players observed, then placed a piece of floating wood beyond their observation range and monitored it from a kilometer-wide circle.
• After roughly a day and a night, the hackers spotted the wood floating into view and checked its markings with Little Goldfish, who confirmed that its data had not changed.
• The hackers fell silent as they realized the game maintained its world at full power and that its technology could make their skills obsolete.
• Red Hacker argued that the game must serve an important goal and called on the hackers to enter as ordinary players, relearn, and rise in another field.

Red Hacker’s experiments with the crab population unexpectedly produced the Functional Crab, making him the second player to achieve an Extraordinary Species breakthrough. He chose the Second Life reward and had his consciousness sent to another world.

• Red Hacker returned to Primordial World and inspected newly hatched crabs, hoping to find one with a circuit-patterned shell.
• The system announced that Red Hacker had become the second player to break through into an Extraordinary Species.
• Red Hacker found a tiny crab with a crystalline shell and realized it was the mutant species he had been seeking.
• Red Hacker transferred his consciousness into the Functional Crab and experienced the increase in his computing power.
• Red Hacker chose the Second Life reward, and his consciousness was cast into another world.
• Players on the Primordial World forum teased Chest-Shattering Boulder about Red Hacker’s breakthrough.

Thunder Marsh’s city lord settled a fight between the Machinists and the Thunderwalkers, then revealed his belief that any means of gaining power was acceptable. His metallic-looking skin and the thumping sound within him left his nature uncertain.

• A soldier reported that the Machinists and Thunderwalkers had started a brawl over an artillery platform site after a quarrel and discriminatory remarks.
• The city lord ordered the soldier to warn both sides’ leaders and prevent their conflict from disrupting the city’s development.
• After the soldier left, the city lord reflected that he had stirred up conflicts to remain in power and that people had forgotten humanity’s past suffering.
• The city lord’s skin took on a metallic sheen as an ambiguous thumping sounded from within him.

The Machinists argued with Thunderwalkers while hauling grain, and the chapter explained how their neglected electromagnetic technology had developed. It traced City Lord El Niño • Shadow’s rise and his absolute authority over the city, leaving him established as both a tyrant and a patron of gifted people.

• A young Thunderwalker boasted that his lightning could melt a Machinist’s steel pincer, and the old Machinist mocked his claim.
• The Machinist defended his machines, which the crowd praised for carrying grain despite the Thunderwalkers’ contempt for mechanical research.
• The chapter recounted how the Machinists developed increasingly effective motors by pursuing electromagnetic principles despite a lack of support.
• The people’s founding legend told how Thunder God El Niño saved the city from a Behemoth, granted humanity lightning, and prophesied that Shadow would attain godhood.
• Shadow’s SSS-rank bloodline and power made him the city’s absolute ruler, and he supported gifted geniuses while enforcing its rules.

The chapter described how El Niño Shadow’s policies expanded the city’s population of ability users and maintained order between them and ordinary people. It outlined the power struggles among ability-user groups and ended by introducing the Machinists, an organization that included both lightning ability users and ordinary people.

• The city tested newborns and gave them Thunderfish bloodline serums, while potion-making reduced the risk of fatal reactions.
• The chapter explained that lightning ability users revered Thunder God El Niño, and City Lord Shadow adopted the El Niño surname to strengthen his authority.
• Shadow’s policies let ability users marry three wives, while laws forbade them from attacking ordinary people except in self-defense.
• Lightning ability users formed the dominant Thunderwalkers, while smaller groups gathered people with varied potion-granted powers.
• The chapter introduced the Machinists as an organization made up of lightning ability users and ordinary people.

The chapter described the Mechanist Organization, its history and divisions, and its relationship with City Lord Shadow El Niño. It explained how the City Lord's Manor funded giant machinery and war machines, ending with the strongest war machine standing behind the manor.

• The chapter explained that the Mechanist Organization was founded by Lightning Ability users and divided into experimenters, theoretical instructors, engineers, and auditors.
• Shadow El Niño passed the Mechanist Organization's assessment but ultimately did not join, and the organization understood his actions as pressure to heed him.
• The City Lord's Manor invested in the Mechanist Organization, and Shadow El Niño guided its use of motors in large machines.
• The City Lord's Manor used Lightning Ability users to power giant machinery, which could lift immense loads and operate for long periods.
• The chapter described a hundred-meter war machine operated by at least fifty people and identified the strongest war machine behind the City Lord's Manor.

The chapter surveyed Thunder Civilization’s history and present-day life, showing how lightning abilities, bloodline serums, and human labor transformed Thunder Marsh City. It left the civilization facing an unknown world with hope and courage.

• The City Lord’s Manor figure studied a sand table depicting Thunder Marsh City, Thunder Abyss Valley, and the Great-winged Vampire Bats that once threatened the city.
• The chapter recounted how Lightning Ability users and stronger buildings turned the midsummer bat swarms from a deadly danger into a source of food and training.
• The figure considered Thunder Abyss Sea, where veteran teams collected live Lightning Eels and produced the bloodline serums that sustained the city’s Lightning Ability users.
• The figure surveyed the forests and roads, reflecting on how the city had expanded from defending against magical beasts to using them as valuable materials.
• The chapter described Thunder Civilization as a society shaped by power, labor, and courage, where ordinary people and ability users lived on equal terms.

The bearded man delivered Bloodline Serum and a strange living creature to the city lord, who killed it with electricity and revealed an overwhelming aura. The bearded man reflected on his long, complicated history with the city lord, ending with how he had become the leader of the serum shipments.

• The bearded man told the city lord that the Bloodline Serum shipment had arrived safely with thirty extra bottles because fewer thunderstorms had made harvesting Lightning Eels easier.
• The bearded man gave the city lord a strange creature his child had found beside a stream.
• The city lord examined the creature, then killed it with an electric current despite the bearded man's warning.
• The city lord released a terrifying aura, and the bearded man realized his power exceeded the Voidbreak Realm.
• The bearded man recalled being raised and trained by the city lord, leaving the manor at twenty, building a legendary life, and later losing a challenge to him.
• The bearded man and the city lord had shared a meal and talked about the past before the bearded man agreed to lead the Bloodline Serum shipments.

Shadow examined a strange creature brought in by Panklov and discussed Nan Yu’s future, then explained that a new realm of cultivation depended on finesse rather than simply accumulating energy. The chapter left Panklov listening as Shadow began describing how the Energy-Level Realm was measured.

• Shadow asked Panklov where he had found the creature, and Panklov explained that his son Nan Yu had discovered it by a creek.
• Shadow told Panklov that Nan Yu’s A-rank talent made the City Lord’s Manor unsuitable and suggested that he take his son to the Machinists.
• Panklov and Shadow argued over Panklov’s marriage and Shadow’s decision to pursue a divine path, and Shadow repeatedly threw Panklov against a wall using magnetism.
• Panklov asked Shadow how to break through into the new realm, and Shadow warned that the dangerous breakthrough required finesse.
• Shadow explained that earlier Energy-Level Realm breakthroughs relied on accumulating energy and strengthening meridians, with ordinary people generally reaching levels one through nine and geniuses reaching higher levels.
• Panklov said that he had reached the tenth level.

The City Lord explained how he used magnetism to trap and intensify the electric current in his body as a path to breaking through. He revealed that the dangerous method had made him far stronger and able to suppress weaker Thunderwalkers' currents.

• The City Lord explained that ordinary advancement strengthened the body's meridians without increasing the current it generated.
• He described studying the Thunder God El Niño, magnetism, and Lightning Eels while investigating how electric current and magnetic fields interacted.
• The City Lord said he had formed a magnetic net through blood circulation to imprison and intensify the current inside his body.
• The bearded man warned that the trapped current could kill the City Lord and begged to leave, so the City Lord smacked him against the city wall.
• The City Lord explained that the magnetic field kept the current away from his meridians, made him powerful enough to fight a hundred former selves, and could suppress weaker Thunderwalkers' currents.

The City Lord explained that the creature’s intricate shell had inspired his idea for the third realm, then showed the bearded man how to sense its structure with electricity. The bearded man overloaded it, destroying its internal functions, and the City Lord sent him away to find ten more creatures.

• The City Lord said the creature’s shell had inspired his idea for the third realm and described its intricate construction to the bearded man.
• The City Lord handed the creature to the bearded man and told him to pass a faint current through it.
• The bearded man sent too much electricity into the creature, causing its shell to crack and blaze with light.
• The City Lord suspended the fragments and pieced the shell back together, but said its internal functions were destroyed.
• The bearded man asked the City Lord to teach him to break through, and the City Lord ordered him to bring ten creatures within two days.
• The City Lord sent the bearded man flying with a section of city wall, then returned the wall to its place.

A forest that had grown over an old beach sheltered an unusual ecosystem, and its greatest secret appeared after dark: armies of glowing crabs assembling in formation. A larger red-glowing crab announced that the army’s first assembly was complete and ordered the plan to be announced.

• The forest’s trees encroached on the former beach, creating a shallow, sheltered habitat for seabirds and sea creatures.
• At dusk, tiny crabs emerged and marched across the sand in orderly formations.
• The crabs communicated with glowing signals as squads and battalions arrived and followed a red light’s commands.
• Hundreds of transparent-shelled crabs gathered in formation, their bodies glowing blue beneath the trees.
• A larger red crab declared the army’s first assembly complete and prepared to announce its plan.

Red Hacker lamented that he had arrived in another world as a crab rather than as a human, then organized the Functional Crabs he had created into teams to gather food, build, and scout. He watched his crab army spread across the beach, confident that its circuit-board brains and obedience to his imprint made it a powerful Silicon-Based Life population under his control.

• Red Hacker reflected that followers like him traversed as their original species, unlike pioneers such as Light of Polar Night, who arrived as humans.
• Red Hacker decided to make the most of his life in the other world and designed a new population of Functional Crabs capable of sexual and asexual reproduction.
• Red Hacker ordered Teams Two and Three to gather food, Teams One and Four to work on construction, and every team to send out scouts.
• The Functional Crabs acknowledged Red Hacker's orders through radio signals and spread across the beach to begin their tasks.
• Red Hacker observed that the crabs' circuit boards performed their thinking and ensured that intelligent members would obey his implanted will.

Red Hacker monitored the Functional Crabs’ reports and coordinated their movements to avoid dangerous animals while completing their tasks. After the population returned to the nest, he remained determined to replace Team Four’s captain.

• Red Hacker received reports of gathered supplies and nearby predators, including a large turtle and bird, then ordered teams to tighten their activity areas and prepare to defend themselves.
• Red Hacker recalled that Functional Crabs had little combat ability because their design prioritized computing power, and he relied on their numbers and shared network to keep them safe.
• Red Hacker decided Team Four’s captain needed replacing after the captain joked about laying eggs, but he could not stop remembering the remark even after deleting it.
• The team captains reported that their missions were complete, and Red Hacker ordered all members back to the nest.
• The crabs raced toward the beach in a formation of blue lights and disappeared into the foam.

Red Hacker directed the Functional Crabs as they processed supplies and maintained their highly centralized nest. At dawn, a bearded man brought his son to the wetland to find the transparent-shelled crabs, and the boy pointed to a spot where he said he could see them beneath the sand.

• Red Hacker received reports that all four Functional Crab teams had returned with their collected materials.
• Red Hacker ordered the crabs to reinforce the cave, store food, rest, and help the main body with computational statistics.
• Red Hacker considered the Functional Crabs’ strict control of individual thought necessary for the species’ survival.
• A bearded man led his sleepy son to the wetland to search for the crabs at his grandfather’s request.
• The boy pointed to a distant patch of sand and insisted he could see crabs underneath it.

Red Hacker and his Functional Crabs encountered a lightning-cloaked man who forced the colony to flee. Moved by the crabs’ loyalty, Red Hacker unlocked their intelligence and other restrictions, beginning their awakening.

• Sea Charm Ghost Shadows gathered on the beach and moved in formation beneath the watch of a Behemoth in the sky.
• A lightning-wreathed man descended and exposed the creatures, prompting Red Hacker to order everyone to flee and shut down their red-light devices.
• The Functional Crabs refused to abandon Red Hacker and flooded the network with messages saying his safety came first.
• Red Hacker realized that the crabs had developed independent thoughts and emotions despite his restrictions.
• Red Hacker unlocked restrictions on the species’ intelligence, reproduction, emotions, network access, learning, and thought.