Chapter Summaries

Li Yun and Fatty Yuan discussed the upheaval caused by New Humanity, including refugees crossing borders and the difficult aftermath of users killed on forced true body missions. Watching a checkpoint standoff, they saw how spiritual materials could buy entry and how disorder was spreading, while Li Yun regarded it as nothing new.

• Li Yun observed that refugees were risking their lives to cross borders into developed regions, worsening tensions with local residents and destabilizing order.
• Fatty Yuan told Li Yun that he was struggling to manage the estates, families, and bodies of users killed on their first forced true body mission, as relatives disagreed over freezing or cremation.
• Li Yun and Fatty Yuan watched soldiers confront refugees at a checkpoint, where a man offered a spiritual plant and was escorted across the defensive line with several companions.
• Fatty Yuan remarked that reports of the Amerika Federation's states considering secession seemed credible as unrest spread.
• Li Yun said the turmoil was perfectly normal and that there was nothing new under the sun.

Chai Ming was detained over an unauthorized database download, but investigators suspected a supernatural being had manipulated him. Meanwhile, Old Li attended a research conference where fourth-tier user Di Wanxin proposed that supernatural abilities were shadows cast by a higher-dimensional “Main God,” leaving the theory open for further discussion.

• Chai Ming let Special Investigation Bureau officers search his apartment and escorted him into custody after they presented suspension and investigation notices.
• Interrogators confronted Chai Ming with surveillance photographs and recovered download records showing someone had used Section Chief Zhang Duo’s account to access user data.
• Chai Ming claimed a cloaked skeleton with green flames for eyes had manipulated him, and a Special Appraisal Division assessment found signs of mental confusion and outside spiritual erosion.
• A middle-aged investigator said Chai Ming might be telling the truth and noted that the stolen data involved local first-test users and a possible fourth-tier figure.
• Old Li and his companions attended an internal research conference after Professor Xin exchanged research-project returns for tickets.
• Di Wanxin proposed that the Main God was like a higher-dimensional beam of light and that users’ abilities were shadows shaped by their supernatural tiers.

At an internal research conference, Bishop Di presented a conjecture about how perceptions of the divine might shape reality, and fourth-tier user Tiance demonstrated his theories about enhancements. The conference then moved to a social scientist’s presentation on collective cognitive worship and mission worlds.

• Bishop Di proposed that consciousness and perceptions of divinity could influence the forms people perceived, drawing applause from the audience.
• Bishop Di distributed a revised draft of his doctrine, which emphasized the Lord while leaving its central framework open to interpretation.
• Tiance demonstrated transformations between different forms and attributes, then explained that enhancements combined materiality and mentality in varying proportions.
• Li Yun recognized Tiance as Li Ce and took notes on his explanation of energy, matter, and mentality.
• A Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher began a presentation on the suspected connection between collective cognitive worship projection and mission worlds.

At a research seminar, Li Yun listened to experts debate the changes caused by users and the Main God before a researcher’s proposal to loosen restrictions was cut short. She handed her remaining time to Li Yun, who revealed his fourth-tier strength and took the stage, where he entered the title “Preliminary testing experience with rune patterns.”

• Li Yun listened to research presentations and inferred that Yanjing’s academic authorization system reflected growing regional and resource tensions.
• A woman researcher argued that restrictions on users should be relaxed, drawing enthusiastic support from users and younger researchers.
• After staff shortened her presentation, the woman invoked the procedure to transfer her remaining time to another speaker and directed the spotlight toward Li Yun.
• Li Yun rose and revealed a naturally manifesting spiritual halo, prompting the audience to recognize him as a fourth-tier expert and applaud.
• Li Yun accepted the microphone and entered “Preliminary testing experience with rune patterns” as his presentation title.

At a research gathering, Li Yun gave an impromptu demonstration of a blood-drawn rune pattern and explained how spirituality and intention gave talismans their effects. His display won him attention and invitations from researchers and local users, while he warned Professor Xin not to arrange another surprise opportunity like this.

• Li Yun suspected the gathering’s organizers had maneuvered him into speaking, but he took the stage and announced a talk on rune patterns.
• Li Yun drew a three-dimensional rune pattern in the air with his blood, and the completed design made nearby numinous spark respond sluggishly.
• Li Yun explained the difference between numinous spark and spirituality and said rune patterns required spiritual energy shaped by a person’s mind, not mere copying.
• Li Yun declined the researcher’s offer to continue speaking, returned to his seat, and attracted invitations from local users and research institutes.
• Professor Xin admitted that several people had helped arrange the speaking opportunity, and Li Yun told him it should not happen again.

As the second Forced True Body Mission approached, Qian Yisheng inspected the underground preparations in Chengdu's High-Tech Development Zone while millions of Main God Users gathered on the Azure Platform. Li Yun separated from his companions, leaving Fatty Yuan and Ruan Chenggang to decide how the less experienced users around them should form teams.

• Qian Yisheng traveled to the High-Tech Development Zone and checked that users in the underground sleep pods were stable and ready for the mission.
• Fatty Yuan and Ruan Chenggang gathered with their companions on the Azure Platform, where massive factions and powerful users dwarfed smaller groups.
• Li Yun revealed the spiritual radiance of a fourth-tier user, exchanged brief greetings with other fourth-tier beings, and left to enter the mission alone.
• Old Li and several others chose to split into solo or small teams, following lessons from the previous True Body Mission.
• Fatty Yuan and Ruan Chenggang were left weighing whether to team up with less experienced companions or accept offers from unfamiliar users.