Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• The apparent Buddha is revealed as the demon Cihang Pudu, whose thousand arms bear stolen eyes taken from humans and other creatures. It has gathered demons and spirits into its inner temple, consuming souls and using the eyes’ supernatural gazes to ensnare minds.
• The eyes unleash waves of illusions and madness. Zhiqiu Yiye protects the group with calming talismans and keeps operating the Divination Plate, while people outside the alms bowl’s protection succumb and walk toward the demon, where they are swallowed.
• Unable to watch the victims suffer, Yan Chixia charges out to engage the demon. White Cloud Monk and Xiahou follow him; Zhiqiu adds protective talismans to Yan’s back.
• Yan uses his blood to force open the ancient sword casket he has carried but never wielded, calling on the divine sword to defeat the demon and protect humanity. Its awakening produces a resonant chime that silences the demon’s sermon.
• Cihang Pudu recognizes that Yan’s true strength lies in the casket and unleashes the full power of its many eyes. A single pure, righteous sword light answers them, forming a vast sword shadow that cuts through the demon’s radiance and gaze. The chapter ends as Yan’s technique, “Sword Disperses the Clouds,” is unleashed.

Character developments

• Yan Chixia acts decisively and selflessly, risking severe injury to awaken the sword and save others. The casket suggests a deeper source of power than his familiar sword.
• Zhiqiu Yiye remains vigilant and resourceful, using talismans to protect the group while continuing his divination work under pressure.
• White Cloud Monk and Xiahou show solidarity by joining Yan, despite the danger.
• Cihang Pudu is exposed as a predatory impostor rather than a holy figure, relying on stolen eyes and manipulative illusions.

Significant themes

• False holiness and corruption: The demon’s sacred appearance conceals cruelty and stolen power.
• Sacrifice and righteous duty: Yan is willing to bleed and risk his life to protect others.
• Illusion versus discernment: The demon’s gaze distorts perception, while the awakened sword represents clarity, justice, and moral order.
• Collective courage: Even in a desperate situation, the companions act to resist the demon and protect the vulnerable.

Character interactions

• White Cloud Monk, Xiahou, and Yan interpret the stolen eyes and condemn the demon’s cruelty.
• Zhiqiu supports Yan’s charge with protective talismans, while White Cloud Monk and Xiahou follow him into danger.
• Yan’s challenge and the sword’s awakening provoke a response from Cihang Pudu, setting up a direct confrontation between the demon’s many corrupting eyes and the sword’s singular righteous force.

Plot points and events

• The golden sword’s first manifestation wounds the false Buddha’s many evil eyes, making him recognize it as an ancient, formidable weapon. The crimson “Scar of the Sky” remains impassable.
• Yan Chixia’s blood awakens the sword further, despite the strain on his already battered body. The false Buddha responds with a direct assault, sending a storm of weapons formed by his thousand arms crashing down on him.
• White Cloud Monk risks his life to strike the Buddha with a relic and a blood-powered swastika seal, trying to protect Yan. Yan refuses to retreat and swings the still-cased sword.
• The case shatters, revealing the Xuan-Yuan Sword, whose blade bears the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, and symbols of civilization. Yan’s slash cleaves through the Buddha’s weapons and severs dozens of his arms.
• The wounded false Buddha calls on Yan to repent. Yan rejects his claim to Buddhahood, mocking him as a fiend hiding beneath a golden exterior.
• Yan collapses from exhaustion. White Cloud Monk and Xiahou support him, while Xiahou’s attempt to grasp the sword is repelled by its sword energy.
• At Xiahou’s urging, Zhiqiu Yiye sacrifices his essence blood to power a formation, channeling energy into Yan through linked talismans. He risks his life to give Yan another chance to fight.

Character developments and interactions

• Yan Chixia demonstrates fierce resolve and contempt for false authority, fighting on despite grave injuries and the cost of awakening the sword.
• White Cloud Monk puts himself in mortal danger to shield Yan, acting on both compassion and his deep karmic connection to the false Buddha.
• Xiahou is desperate to help Yan and urges Zhiqiu to intervene, but the Xuan-Yuan Sword rejects his attempt to wield it.
• Zhiqiu Yiye moves from supporting the fight with prepared tools to making a desperate, life-threatening sacrifice.
• The false Buddha shifts from confidence to alarm once the sword injures him, then tries to disguise his vulnerability with moralizing accusations.

Significant themes

• True virtue versus outward appearance: Yan challenges the fiend’s claim to holiness, contrasting genuine worth with a merely golden façade.
• Sacrifice and solidarity: White Cloud Monk and Zhiqiu risk themselves to protect and empower Yan.
• Power with a price: The sword’s immense force comes at great physical cost, while the others’ aid also demands blood, vitality, or life.
• Destiny and ancient power: The false Buddha identifies the renowned sword as his destined tribulation, and the Xuan-Yuan Sword appears to act with a will of its own.

Key plot points and events

• Zhiqiu Yiye is near death, while Yan Chixia recovers enough to wield the Xuan-Yuan Sword again. The demon’s immense golden body remains badly wounded by the sword.
• To avoid another direct attack, the demon reveals the World-Crossing Human Emperor Banner, a vast banner filled with the souls of countless victims. Its ghosts and Buddhist power shield the golden body and create a realm resembling the Underworld.
• The demon admits it consumed emperors, officials, and ordinary people in an unsuccessful attempt to become a divine being. It now hopes to stall until its tribulation passes.
• The demon warns that attacking the banner would incur the karma tied to Great Zhou’s remaining fortune. The white-haired stranger confirms that the danger is real, though he says the demon’s claims are self-serving.
• The stranger cautions Yan Chixia that the sword has injured his soul and that using it again could kill him and destroy his cultivation. He argues that the matter should be settled by humans, not by cultivators bearing the dynasty’s karmic burden.
• He proposes that the Otherworlders—players who exist partly outside ordinary fate—try wielding the sword instead. Their unusual status may make them suited to confronting the demon and its banner.
• The stranger explains that the sword responds less to cultivation than to a spirit aligned with humanity’s drive to struggle and renew itself. He urges the group to let the Otherworlders take their chance.

Character developments and interactions

• Yan Chixia remains furious and eager to fight, but learns that his body and soul cannot safely endure many more sword strikes. Though wary, he listens to the stranger’s reasoning.
• Zhiqiu Yiye is fading rapidly, underscoring how close the group is to defeat.
• The demon drops its benevolent façade, confessing its crimes and revealing its strategy. Its reliance on the banner shows that it fears the Xuan-Yuan Sword.
• The white-haired stranger steps forward as an informed, enigmatic adviser. He returns the Golden Alms Bowl to White Cloud Monk and offers a plan without openly claiming authority.
• White Cloud Monk accepts the bowl back but positions himself protectively between Yan Chixia and the stranger, showing continued caution.
• The Otherworlders are identified as potential sword-bearers, shifting the burden of the next move onto them.

Significant themes

• Human agency and renewal: Humanity’s capacity for struggle, change, and rebuilding can overcome forces that exploit it.
• Karma and responsibility: Attacking the banner may bring consequences tied to the dynasty and its people, even when the demon’s possession of it is corrupt.
• Sacrifice and choice: Yan Chixia has reached the limit of what he can give; others must decide whether to risk themselves.
• Fate, identity, and legitimacy: The sword has no accepted master, and the stranger suggests it may be waiting for a worthy bearer rather than a formally recognized ruler.
• Corruption of faith: The demon’s Buddhist appearance masks a predatory scheme built on stolen lives and false devotion.

Chapter Summary: “Acclaimed by All, Named Earth...”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• The gathered “visitors” repeatedly attempt to draw the ancient Xuan-Yuan Sword, hoping to prove themselves worthy of becoming its bearer and possibly a king. However, the sword rejects every challenger, injuring their hands and leaving blood on the ground.
• Chen Jingqiu makes several attempts despite suffering severe wounds. Though he demonstrates courage, endurance, and determination, he still cannot fully pass the sword’s trial.
• Zhiqiu Yiye also tries after replenishing his exhausted energy with pills, but fails. Several others are nearly killed by the sword’s increasingly violent sword qi and must be rescued by White Cloud Old Zen Master.
• The white-haired man explains that the group lacks someone who possesses sufficient military ability, fame, and heroic merit. He criticizes Chen for having popular support but insufficient command experience and territory.
• The white-haired man refuses to draw the sword himself, claiming that he is occupied suppressing the powerful old demon disguised as a golden Buddha. The demon remains trapped beneath a giant Buddha statue and a dark-golden banner filled with attacking ghosts.
• Seeing that no one can pass the trial, the white-haired man stops Chen from trying again and chooses a compromise. He invokes his authority as the Earth Sovereign and temporarily grants Chen Jingqiu the rank of Emperor.
• Golden lotuses, ceremonial robes, and divine armor appear around Chen. The Xuan-Yuan Sword, which had rejected everyone else, finally flies into his hand and becomes calm.
• The white-haired man disappears after completing the investiture. Everyone present is overwhelmed by Chen’s sudden transformation into a figure worthy of worship.
• Chen receives a temporary opportunity to wield the sword and confront the greater crisis, though the white-haired man warns him that this is only a trial appointment and that the opportunity will last for less than half a night.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Jingqiu: Proves himself courageous and persistent. Although he lacks the full qualifications required by the sword, his willingness to fight for ordinary people earns him divine recognition. He changes from a wounded rebel leader into a temporarily invested Emperor with the authority and aura of a sovereign.
• The white-haired man/Earth Sovereign: Reveals greater authority and power than previously shown. He acts as a judge, critic, and reluctant mentor, ultimately deciding that Chen’s moral merit makes him the best available candidate. His comments suggest that Chen’s followers’ sacrifices helped create this opportunity.
• Zhiqiu Yiye: Demonstrates desperation and determination by attempting the trial despite exhaustion and accumulated pill poison, but is ultimately unable to succeed.
• White Cloud Old Zen Master: Remains a protective and stabilizing presence, rescuing challengers from the sword’s lethal attacks.
• The old demon: Is established as an opponent powerful enough to rival the white-haired man. Its suppression prevents the white-haired man from personally handling the sword trial.
• Xiahou and Yan Chixia: React with shock and envy when Chen is transformed, emphasizing the extraordinary nature of his elevation.

3. Significant Themes

• Merit versus innate ability: Chen does not possess all the conventional qualifications of a great conqueror, yet his courage and service to the people allow him to receive an extraordinary opportunity.
• The limits of ambition: Repeated attempts to seize power fail when the challengers lack the necessary virtue, ability, or karmic connection. The sword cannot simply be claimed through desire.
• Sacrifice and reciprocal loyalty: Chen fought to preserve the people’s lives, and they in turn risked their own lives to help create his chance at success.
• Legitimacy and divine authority: The chapter explores the difference between merely claiming power and being formally recognized by Heaven—or by a being acting with heavenly authority.
• Temporary destiny: Chen’s imperial status is not permanent. His investiture is a trial, suggesting that true worth must still be proven through action.
• Humanity’s struggle against overwhelming evil: The sword’s bestowal gives the characters a renewed chance against the powerful golden Buddha-like demon.

4. Character Interactions

• The white-haired man openly evaluates Chen’s political and military shortcomings, while Chen responds with a mixture of defiance and encouragement, challenging the elder to try drawing the sword himself.
• Chen repeatedly attempts the trial despite his injuries, demonstrating his resolve to the white-haired man and the others.
• The white-haired man and White Cloud Old Zen Master serve as the only major figures who do not attempt the sword, though for different reasons: the Zen Master acts as rescuer, while the white-haired man is occupied restraining the demon.
• The sword’s rejection of everyone creates shared frustration and forces the group to accept the white-haired man’s decision.
• After Chen’s investiture, Xiahou, Yan Chixia, and the other visitors react with astonishment, recognizing that his status has changed completely.
• In the closing message, the white-haired man privately explains that Chen’s compassion and willingness to fight for the people earned him this chance, linking Chen’s personal character to the people’s sacrifices on his behalf.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Groups of users return to the Main God Platform through teleportation portals, but the arrival of one particular figure causes the entire area to fall silent.
• A wounded young man emerges surrounded by golden flames and an overwhelming aura of sword intent. His presence feels so dangerous that nearby users instinctively draw weapons and retreat.
• The figure appears barely conscious, asking repeatedly about his missing sword. His body radiates uncontrolled golden sword qi, making him seem more like a living weapon than an ordinary person.
• Other users identify him as Chen Jingqiu and warn everyone not to approach. The Main God Platform detects the danger and activates its repair service.
• The repair light remains focused on him for an unusually long time. Once it fades, his threatening aura disappears, and he appears as a confused young man in ordinary clothes.
• He has no clear memory of what happened and is bewildered by the crowd, his surroundings, and the disappearance of his familiar items.
• When someone calls him Chen Jingqiu, he briefly suffers a painful reaction and seems to recover fragments of buried memories, but the connection remains incomplete.
• He discovers that his personal items and rewards have been restricted or altered. His interface reveals that:
  • His wonder item, “Coconut Core,” has been locked to the previous mission world.
  • He has acquired an incomplete destiny called Earth?? (Pseudo).
  • His main mission reward has been changed to a Perfect-grade essence repair because of special events in the mission world.
  • Some of his memories have been sealed for safety.
• A message from a story character explains that Chen lost thirty percent of his essence during several sword strikes, while another thirty percent was used to create a second Chen Jingqiu. He is warned not to return until he can face the powerful Emperor Chen, who might force him to replace him.
• The chapter ends with a mocking note acknowledging Chen’s victories—destroying the Ten-Thousand Souls Banner and defeating the former emperor—but criticizing him for being overwhelmed by the Thousand-Hand Guanyin before the Xuan-Yuan Sword took control.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Ruiping/Chen Jingqiu returns fundamentally changed by the previous world. He possesses terrifying sword power, but his body and mind are unstable.
• His memories have been partially sealed, leaving him confused about his identity, his sword, his items, and the events he experienced.
• He has lost or sacrificed a significant portion of his essence, though the Main God’s repair service prevents him from suffering immediate physical collapse.
• His transformation into a “mature Sword Bone” suggests that he has reached an important stage of sword-related cultivation or evolution and must now develop independently.
• The creation of another Chen Jingqiu introduces a potentially dangerous duplicate and gives Chen a powerful future opponent.
• Chen’s return also shows that his strength has grown beyond what ordinary users can safely approach, even when he is unconscious or confused.

3. Significant Themes

• Power and loss of control: Chen’s immense sword power is both an achievement and a danger, since it manifests automatically and threatens everyone nearby.
• Identity and fragmented memory: The confusion between Chen Ruiping and Chen Jingqiu, along with the sealed memories and duplicate body, raises questions about who Chen truly is.
• The cost of strength: Chen’s victories required the sacrifice of thirty percent of his essence, emphasizing that extraordinary power comes with severe personal consequences.
• Transformation and independence: Being called a “mature Sword Bone” marks Chen’s transition into a new stage, where he is expected to follow his own path rather than depend entirely on external weapons or guidance.
• Humor amid danger: The warnings about Emperor Chen’s desire to find an “unlucky bastard” to replace him and the mocking final note lighten an otherwise tense scene.
• System control versus personal agency: The Main God Platform repairs Chen, locks his items, seals his memories, and modifies his rewards, showing how much authority the system has over users’ lives.

4. Character Interactions

• Nearby users react to Chen with instinctive fear, drawing weapons and retreating despite not knowing whether their attacks would be effective.
• An experienced user protects a newcomer from approaching Chen and carefully asks whether he is still conscious, treating him as a dangerous but important figure.
• The same user later addresses Chen by name and helps confirm that he has returned safely, though Chen does not initially recognize or understand the name.
• Chen’s interaction with the crowd reveals his confusion: he mistakes the situation for an ordinary return from a mission and panics when he cannot summon his possessions.
• The unseen story character communicates through a message, warning Chen about Emperor Chen, explaining the loss of his essence, and encouraging him to walk his own path.
• The final system note indirectly comments on Chen’s past battle performance, portraying him as victorious but tactically slow and dependent on the Xuan-Yuan Sword’s intervention.

Chapter Summary: “Awakening in Reality”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Tang Yuyang is the first member of his group to awaken from the simulation pods after an unusually long session. Although only one real day has passed, he believes he experienced roughly a month inside the mission world—a perceived time ratio of about one-to-thirty.
• Researchers examine Tang and question him about the extended unconscious period. He explains that his mind is still overwhelmed by the enormous amount of information and memories he received.
• Tang suddenly remembers something crucial and interrupts the discussion. He reports that the Main God’s rules appear to have changed and insists that the authorities urgently investigate a mysterious person he encountered in the mission world.
• Tang knows this individual only by the name “Chen Jingqiu” and offers to describe his appearance so that a portrait can be reconstructed.
• Other participants gradually begin waking as well, implying that Tang’s experience may be shared by the entire group.
• Elsewhere, Oliver—an extremely wealthy man who has also returned from the mission world—awakens at his estate near Dussel. He is furious over events in the mission and destroys a wineglass in frustration.
• Oliver orders his staff to summon his bodyguards, especially Sandit, and authorizes another transfer of seventy-eight million through an anonymous account. He wants experts to trace the recipient and uncover the identity of someone who resisted his attempts to buy or manipulate them.
• Oliver’s anger turns into a disturbing display of power. Snakes gather outside his window, apparently responding to his will. His attendants arrange a feeding enclosure where larger snakes tear apart and devour smaller ones.
• The scene reveals that Oliver is a newly trained “wild druid apprentice,” and that he possesses an unsettling connection to snakes. He watches the violent feeding with calm satisfaction.

Character Developments

• Tang Yuyang: Demonstrates unusual mental resilience, recovering quickly despite the strain of a month’s worth of perceived experience. He becomes more alert and responsible when he realizes the significance of the changed rules and immediately prioritizes reporting the information.
• Oliver: Returns from the mission world embittered and humiliated. His reliance on wealth and influence failed against people who could not be bought, intensifying his hostility. His control over snakes and his enjoyment of their violence reveal a growing connection to, or corruption by, his druidic abilities.
• The researchers: Shift from relief at the participants’ awakening to urgent investigation once Tang reports the altered Main God rules and the mysterious “Chen Jingqiu.”

Significant Themes

• Distorted time and information overload: The one-day absence contrasts sharply with Tang’s month-long subjective experience, emphasizing the dangers of the Main God’s system and the psychological burden of accelerated knowledge.
• Uncertainty and changing rules: The apparent alteration of the Main God’s rules suggests that the mission system is evolving, becoming less predictable and potentially more dangerous.
• Power and helplessness: Tang has important knowledge but cannot fully explain it, while Oliver possesses enormous wealth yet remains unable to control or identify those who resisted him.
• Transformation and moral corruption: Oliver’s druidic powers manifest through predation and cruelty, suggesting that supernatural abilities may reshape their users’ instincts and behavior.
• Predation and survival: The snakes devouring one another mirror the competitive, ruthless environment of the mission world and reflect Oliver’s own desire to punish those who defied him.

Character Interactions

• Laboratory staff and senior experts carefully monitor Tang’s awakening, questioning him about his condition and the unusual passage of time.
• Tang warns the researchers about the altered Main God rules and requests an immediate search for Chen Jingqiu, prompting them to mobilize a portrait-reconstruction team.
• Oliver gives direct orders to his butler and servants regarding his bodyguards, financial transfers, and investigation into the anonymous account.
• His butlers recognize his dangerous mood and discreetly distance themselves while arranging the snake-feeding spectacle.
• Oliver’s silent connection with the snakes reinforces the impression that he commands or influences them, while his calm observation of their cannibalistic violence exposes his predatory temperament.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After returning from the mission world, Tang Yuyang attends a conference with researchers and officials, who question him about his experiences.
• He learns that the Main God Platform has announced the end of the three-world Newcomer Adaptation Period. Users will no longer receive missions through a uniform system.
• Level-One users will automatically advance to Level Two after completing ten mission worlds or receiving at least one settlement rating above Ordinary Grade.
• Level-Two privileges include:
  • A reduced mission cooldown of six days
  • Two hours of daily platform access
  • Access to basic personal-space functions
  • Other unspecified benefits listed on the official platform website
• Researchers ask Tang Yuyang to help identify the mysterious user who killed Cihang Pudu and caused the mission’s main objective to be completed automatically. They have already used big-data facial and identity matching to generate possible candidates.
• In another conference room, Li Ce and other participants discuss their own mission results. Li Ce reveals that the Main God judged his main mission as failed because he did not reach the Imperial Capital in time for the decisive battle.
• However, the Main God still recognized his faction’s broader contribution to the struggle and converted it into an additional assessment score.
• Li Ce also reveals that he received a rare reward: a Dimension Key.
• The Dimension Key can be used once during a future mission selection to make the previously experienced A Chinese Ghost Story world available again.
• If used, the returning user may partially inherit their former identity, influence, and causal connections within that world.
• The chapter ends as Li Ce and the researchers begin considering what mission worlds truly are and how these inherited connections support their earlier theories.

Character Developments

• Tang Yuyang remains cooperative and adaptable despite being overwhelmed by officials and experts. He carefully reconstructs his experience and provides information while maintaining a light, joking attitude.
• His importance grows as both a firsthand witness and a possible source of intelligence about the special user who defeated Cihang Pudu.
• Li Ce demonstrates strategic maturity and emotional composure. Although his mission was technically labeled a failure, he accepts the result without resentment and focuses on the significance of the reward he received.
• Li Ce’s earlier identity as “Tang King” or “Shimin” continues to affect him, even carrying over into his physical appearance, such as temporarily having a beard in reality.
• The officials and researchers become increasingly alert to the possibility that mission outcomes are influenced not only by direct actions but also by indirect contributions and deviations from the original plot.

Significant Themes

• Progression and institutionalization: The Main God Game is moving beyond its introductory stage, introducing user levels, privileges, and more individualized mission selection.
• Success versus failure: Li Ce’s experience shows that a mission can be labeled a failure while still producing meaningful rewards and acknowledging a user’s broader impact.
• Indirect influence and agency: Actions outside the expected storyline may still affect the world’s outcome and be recognized by the Main God.
• Persistent causality: The Dimension Key suggests that relationships, identities, and consequences from one mission world can continue into future visits.
• Reality and fiction merging: Li Ce’s physical appearance and behavior are affected by his role in the mission world, blurring the boundary between the simulated world and reality.
• Mystery of the mission worlds: The officials are beginning to suspect that the worlds are more complex and persistent than simple temporary scenarios.

Character Interactions

• Tang Yuyang jokes with the staff member about Level-Two status resembling a commercial “diamond membership,” creating a brief moment of levity.
• An elderly researcher interrupts Tang’s discussion and immediately redirects him toward identifying the user connected to Cihang Pudu’s death, emphasizing the urgency of the investigation.
• Li Ce’s colleagues tease him about still being psychologically attached to his role as the Tang King, producing a brief atmosphere of camaraderie reminiscent of their time in the mission world.
• When Li Ce explains his mission failure, the room becomes tense, but another participant defends him by arguing that his indirect actions were still recognized by the Main God.
• Li Ce reassures everyone that he is not offended and shifts attention to the more important discovery of the Dimension Key, which immediately captures the entire group’s interest.

Chapter Summary

• Li Yun receives the Main God’s report. The latest task-world run has attracted approximately 880,000 new users, including twenty-six Level Two users, and generated about 37 million units of spiritual energy in net profit. The system also corrected fourteen minor rule loopholes. Li Yun is surprised that only around 800,000 of the two million invitation slots converted into users, but accepts that the declining success rate is due to the expanding pool’s lower overall quality.
• The testing phase is declared successful. Li Yun instructs the Main God to proceed with the originally planned expansion and permits some restrictions on the online system to be loosened. The Main God notices Li Yun’s poor condition but does not press him further.
• Li Yun undergoes a painful spiritual transformation. The return of the Earth Sovereign—a fragment of Primordial Spirit essence that is fundamentally connected to Li Yun—has produced an unexpected change in his true body. A cold yet burning “pearl” of energy is gradually dissolving within his consciousness and merging with his spiritual essence.
• His Spiritual Image begins to evolve. Through meditation, Li Yun observes colorless traces dissolving into a cyan halo representing his spirit. The process repeatedly scours, breaks, and reforms the remnants of his former spiritual state, likened to cutting, polishing, and grinding. Though the transformation causes excruciating pain and feels as if something is trying to burst from his skull, Li Yun calmly endures it, understanding that his growth requires suffering and sacrifice. His spiritual presence becomes increasingly vivid, powerful, and profound.
• He Qiu faces unexpected visitors. While Li Yun lies motionless on the sofa, He Qiu answers a persistent knock at the door. Three impeccably dressed officials are waiting outside. He Qiu initially considers pretending nobody is home, but eventually opens the door while pretending he had merely been listening to music.
• The officials identify him directly. Their polite greeting and presentation of official IDs immediately convince He Qiu that they have come specifically because of his connection to the supernatural system. His forced smile freezes, and he panics, believing that the authorities have finally come to investigate or arrest him. The chapter ends on this cliffhanger.

Character Developments

• Li Yun demonstrates greater composure and endurance. Despite severe spiritual pain, he remains rational and accepts the transformation as a necessary stage of advancement. His power and spiritual identity are visibly developing.
• He Qiu is shown as nervous, evasive, and comically unprepared when confronted by authority. His attempt to disguise his behavior reveals both his fear of exposure and his limited ability to maintain composure under pressure.
• The Main God continues to function as a calm, efficient administrative intelligence, reporting system performance and cautiously responding to Li Yun’s state.

Significant Themes

• Growth through suffering: Li Yun’s evolution follows the principle that advancement requires an equivalent cost.
• Transformation and integration: The merging of the Earth Sovereign’s essence with Li Yun’s own spirit suggests the unification of separated identities or powers.
• Expansion versus control: The Main God’s user-growth report and Li Yun’s decision to loosen restrictions highlight the tension between increasing the system’s reach and managing its risks.
• Fear of exposure: He Qiu’s reaction introduces the danger of the supernatural system colliding with ordinary authorities.
• Comedic contrast: Li Yun’s solemn, painful cultivation is juxtaposed with He Qiu’s exaggerated panic, creating a shift from mystical seriousness to anxious humor.

Key Character Interactions

• Li Yun and the Main God: A concise administrative exchange in which Li Yun questions the system’s results, authorizes further expansion, and is quietly monitored by the Main God.
• Li Yun and the returning Earth Sovereign essence: Their interaction is internal rather than verbal, presented as a painful but potentially transformative merging of spiritual power.
• He Qiu and the officials: The officials remain polite and professional, while He Qiu interprets their arrival as an imminent threat and struggles to conceal his fear.

Chapter Summary: “The Situation Concerning ‘First-Test Users’”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Three officials claiming to represent the Special Investigation Bureau arrive at He Qiu’s home while his parents are away.
• They present convincing credentials identifying them as members of the Special Affairs Investigation Bureau, a department He Qiu has never heard of.
• He Qiu initially pretends ignorance about the word “user,” carefully inspecting their IDs while trying to determine whether they are genuine authorities, pawns, or part of a deception.
• Although uneasy, he invites them inside after noticing that one of the visitors is sweating, realizing that the officials are nervous too.
• The lead investigator, Wang Dansheng, explains that authorities have discovered people around the world who have undergone strange interventions beyond conventional technology and participated in mysterious “content” through an unknown platform.
• The officials believe He Qiu is one of these participants and reveal that he has completed three rounds, placing him among the rare “First-Test Users.”
• Most known users have experienced no more than two rounds, and confirmed First-Test Users have so far only been found within China.
• Wang explains that First-Test Users appear to attract especially serious, unexplained dangers. Several have already died, with consequences affecting their families and acquaintances.
• The bureau claims it does not intend to punish He Qiu. Instead, it wants to observe and support him, inspect dangerous items, facilitate trades between users, provide reliable emergency contact, and possibly move him and his parents into protected government housing.

Character Development

• He Qiu demonstrates increased confidence and composure. Though alarmed by the officials’ arrival and the possibility that they know about the platform, he maintains a friendly façade and carefully controls what he reveals.
• His enhanced senses allow him to detect the visitors’ nervousness, helping him recover from his initial feeling of helplessness.
• He Qiu recognizes that he is no longer an ordinary photographer and begins viewing himself as someone with unusual power and significance.
• Wang Dansheng is established as calm, measured, and highly controlled. His polished manner suggests both professionalism and possible concealment.
• The younger official adopts a reassuring “customer service” role, presenting the bureau as helpful rather than threatening.
• The officials’ concern reveals that the government is still uncertain about the platform but considers He Qiu and other First-Test Users valuable and vulnerable.

Significant Themes

• Mistrust and uncertainty: Neither side fully reveals what it knows. He Qiu questions the officials’ motives, while they cautiously disclose information about the platform.
• Authority versus personal autonomy: The bureau offers protection and resources, but its proposed monitoring and relocation raise questions about how much control He Qiu may have to surrender.
• The dangers of unexplained power: The platform’s rewards are balanced by unknown mechanisms, risks, and possible threats targeting its earliest participants.
• Isolation and vulnerability: First-Test Users are a tiny, endangered group, making ordinary family life increasingly unsafe.
• Changing identity: He Qiu’s transformation from an ordinary photographer into a powerful but exposed “user” is reinforced by the authorities’ special interest in him.

Character Interactions

• He Qiu uses polite hospitality and feigned confusion to test the visitors while concealing his own knowledge.
• Wang responds directly but cautiously, acknowledging the existence of users without revealing everything the authorities know.
• Their conversation becomes a subtle negotiation: He Qiu assesses whether the officials are dangerous, while Wang tries to gain his cooperation without provoking resistance.
• The younger official supports Wang’s approach by framing government surveillance and assistance as a specialized customer-service system.
• The officials’ warning about previous First-Test User deaths shifts the meeting from a simple investigation into a serious offer of protection.

Summary of “Strange Murder Case”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Police investigate the murder of a wealthy middle-aged man in his villa. Captain Chen oversees the crime scene with forensic doctor Zhou and other technicians.
• The victim was found dead on the bedroom floor in a pool of dried blood. His throat had been cut cleanly, severing the carotid artery and trachea.
• Evidence suggests the murder was carefully planned rather than accidental or impulsive:
  • The victim’s wrists and ankles had been tightly bound.
  • His face had been severely beaten while he was alive.
  • Several fingernails were broken, and two or three appeared to have been violently pulled out.
  • Gray residue and biological material were found beneath the nails.
• The bathroom had been cleaned, but investigators recovered the victim’s blood and tissue from wall cracks and a sink drain.
• Blood patterns indicate that the victim was restrained and interrogated or tortured in both the bedroom and bathroom before being killed.
• The fatal slash appears to have been an “execution”: the victim was likely weakened first, then deliberately positioned and killed with a precise sideways cut. The killer seems to have taken care to avoid being splashed with blood.
• Investigators discover an unusual burn-like mark in the carpet beneath the victim’s right hand. The fibers had been instantaneously carbonized at temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius, despite no evidence of a high-powered electrical device or blowtorch.
• The mark’s shape matches the edge of the victim’s palm and may have been created when his hand touched the carpet as he fell, leaving the cause unexplained.

Character Developments

• Captain Chen is portrayed as experienced, observant, and methodical. He carefully reassesses the scene as each new piece of evidence complicates the case. His usually stern composure briefly cracks when confronted with the unexplained high-temperature mark.
• Forensic doctor Zhou provides the main medical and blood-pattern analysis. His professional confidence is challenged by the strange burn evidence, which he cannot explain.
• The forensic technician and police officers contribute supporting evidence from the bathroom, carpet, and victim’s fingernails, reinforcing the increasingly disturbing nature of the crime.
• The investigative team shifts from treating the death as a conventional homicide to suspecting the involvement of a highly trained and possibly unusual killer.

Significant Themes

• Premeditation and professionalism: The evidence points to a controlled, deliberate execution rather than a crime of passion.
• Torture and psychological cruelty: The victim was apparently restrained, beaten, interrogated, and mutilated before death.
• Mystery and the unexplained: The carbonized carpet mark introduces an apparently impossible or highly unusual element.
• Limits of forensic knowledge: Even experienced investigators and specialists are unable to account for all the physical evidence.
• Appearance versus reality: The cleaned bathroom and carefully controlled blood patterns suggest that the killer deliberately manipulated the scene.

Character Interactions

• Captain Chen and Dr. Zhou work closely together, comparing observations and developing competing explanations for the victim’s condition.
• Zhou initially suggests that the victim may have been either familiar with the killer or too weak to resist when bound; Chen challenges and refines these possibilities.
• The police officer’s bathroom findings support Zhou’s conclusion that the victim was tortured before death.
• The technician’s discovery of the burned carpet shifts the team’s discussion from ordinary forensic interpretation toward a more inexplicable mystery.
• By the end of the chapter, the investigators agree that the murder was highly professional, but the origin of the extreme heat mark remains unresolved.

Key plot points and events

• Investigators discover that the victim’s palm appears to have left a heat mark hot enough to melt metal, despite no burns on his hands or clothing. This deepens the mystery surrounding the killing.
• Captain Chen Yunzuo receives an order from Deputy Director Zhao Zhijian to stop the investigation, seal the evidence, and hand the scene over to a “relevant department.” Zhao’s warning makes clear that the matter is beyond the local team’s authority.
• Chen withdraws his team and classifies the case as a home-invasion murder transferred to a higher department. He feels relieved to leave the scene.
• The new team, which includes a Taoist in gray robes and two companions, searches the grounds after the local investigators depart. Using prepared blood, processed ox tears, and Maoshan techniques, the Taoist detects traces of a violent person who had recently lingered nearby.
• One companion realizes the spot was an ideal place to watch the house: hidden from cameras and screened by foliage, yet with a view of the entrance and road. The victim may have been under surveillance for some time.
• The Taoist urgently calls for a drone so he can use a Paper Crane technique to follow the fading blood-and-resentment traces left by the killer.

Character developments and interactions

• Captain Chen proves experienced and cautious. He recognizes the hidden warning in Zhao’s formal orders, protects his team, and complies without pressing for answers.
• Director Zhao shifts from routine conversation to forceful command, then quietly reveals his concern that the scene is too dangerous for Chen’s people.
• The gray-robed Taoist is practical as well as mystical: he uses modern equipment and prepared materials to make his rituals safer and more effective, and acts quickly when he senses the trail is fading.
• The two companions balance curiosity, technical explanation, and tactical observation. The younger man jokes and asks questions, while the older one reconstructs how the killer could have used the hiding place to surveil the house.

Significant themes

• Modernity and tradition: Maoshan magic is adapted with processed materials, storage devices, and drones.
• Limits of ordinary authority: The police are ordered to withdraw because the case belongs to a more specialized—and potentially supernatural—agency.
• Evidence beyond conventional science: Investigators encounter impossible heat traces, while the new team relies on spiritual signs to pursue the killer.
• Surveillance and unseen danger: The hidden observation point suggests careful preparation and makes the murder feel like part of a larger, methodical operation.

Chapter Summary: “Video and ‘Fat Shadow’”

Key Plot Points and Events

• In a university dormitory, Fang Yishu is interrupted while studying by her friend Ning Yu, who has discovered a strange online video.
• The video, titled “Leaping Through the Sky: Peerless Master Appears in the Night!”, shows a dark, short, heavyset figure leaping between distant rooftops at night.
• The figure—later dubbed “Fat Shadow”—moves with remarkable speed and agility, clearing gaps of several dozen meters, rolling smoothly upon landing, and immediately continuing across the rooftops.
• The people filming the event argue over whether the figure used wires, a paraglider, special effects, or some other trick. Online commenters similarly debate whether the footage is real, CGI, viral marketing, or evidence of something supernatural.
• Fang Yishu downloads the video and forwards it to herself, believing that unusual footage is often quickly suppressed once it attracts too much attention.
• Her suspicion is confirmed when the video disappears shortly afterward. The uploader claims it was an AI-generated and edited fake, while the website issues an apology for failing to review it properly.
• Fang recognizes the removal as suspicious rather than genuine damage control and quietly returns to her work.

Character Developments

• Fang Yishu is presented as observant, skeptical, and experienced with strange or inexplicable phenomena. Her calm reaction contrasts with Ning Yu’s excitement.
• She shows practical foresight by saving the video before it vanishes, suggesting she has learned that unusual online material may be deliberately erased.
• Fang’s comment—“Stocks are risky; rooftop visits require caution”—reveals her dry humor and willingness to engage indirectly with the mystery.
• Ning Yu is enthusiastic and curious, eagerly sharing the video with Fang and treating it as entertaining but extraordinary. Her friendship with Fang is comfortable and affectionate.
• Fang’s other roommates are mostly absent, emphasizing the private setting shared by the two friends.

Significant Themes

• The conflict between the extraordinary and modern skepticism: Viewers explain the impossible figure through CGI, stunt work, AI, or publicity rather than accepting the event as real.
• Information suppression and hidden forces: The video’s rapid disappearance and the uploader’s sudden “confession” imply that powerful parties may be controlling public knowledge.
• Reality versus manufactured media: The chapter raises questions about whether technology can convincingly fake supernatural events—and whether claims of fabrication are themselves a cover-up.
• Witness credibility in the internet age: Even firsthand testimony is easily dismissed, buried among jokes, advertisements, and speculation.

Character Interactions

• Ning Yu interrupts Fang’s work and invites her to watch the video, reinforcing their close friendship.
• The two react differently: Ning Yu is openly fascinated, while Fang analyzes the event and anticipates its removal.
• Fang shares the video with herself and advises Ning Yu to download interesting material quickly in the future, subtly revealing her greater awareness of the danger or secrecy surrounding such phenomena.
• Their casual dormitory conversation frames the bizarre rooftop incident as part of Fang’s growing interest in unexplained events.

Chapter Summary: “Exchange Dilemma”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fang Yishu returns from the A Chinese Ghost Story mission with more than 1,200 Universal Points, making her unexpectedly wealthy by Main God standards.
• During the mission, Fang Yishu, Xie Keren, and Old Zhan allied themselves with Fu Tianchou and traveled to the capital with Zuo Qianhu’s convoy.
• At the palace, the users confronted the demon Cihang Pudu:
  • Xie Keren survived because his disability placed him in Fu Tianchou’s smaller search group.
  • Old Zhan stayed outside Cihang Hall with the main force and was killed instantly by Cihang Pudu’s Thousand-Eyed Divine Light.
  • Fang Yishu entered the hall as part of the advance group and barely survived despite having only ordinary physical abilities.
• Cihang Pudu transformed into a gigantic golden Buddha-like body and devastated the palace and surrounding capital while fighting Chen Jingqiu, who wielded the Golden Xuan-Yuan Sword.
• White Cloud Monk, Zhiqiu Yiye, and other powerful allies protected Fang Yishu’s group with spells, magical artifacts, talismans, and golden alms bowls.
• Although many users who had schemed for leadership and stayed behind to claim rewards were killed, several supposed “cannon fodder” members survived.
• Fang Yishu receives ordinary exchange cards, over 800 points from the main mission, and another one or two hundred points from the side mission [Struggle for Humanity’s Way].

Character Developments

• Fang Yishu shifts from an inexperienced newcomer into someone with enough resources to make a major supernatural enhancement. Her survival and reward give her financial freedom but also force her to confront the responsibility of choosing her future path.
• She becomes more thoughtful and cautious, recognizing that a bloodline, cultivation system, or supernatural ability could determine the foundation of her entire future development.
• Xie Keren’s physical disability unexpectedly saves him by placing him in a safer mission group.
• Old Zhan is killed, emphasizing the mission’s brutality and the unpredictability of survival.
• Chen Jingqiu emerges as an extraordinarily powerful fighter, enduring severe injuries before killing Cihang Pudu.
• Fang Yishu’s best friend, seen angrily using her phone, appears to influence Fang’s final decision, though the chapter does not yet reveal exactly how.

Significant Themes

• The absurdity of wealth: Universal Points have become so valuable that Fang Yishu experiences the detachment of seeing wealth as merely a number.
• Survival versus merit: The people who manipulated events and positioned themselves for rewards die, while weaker “background” participants survive through luck, alliances, and protection.
• The cost of power: Supernatural enhancements are not simple purchases; they may permanently shape one’s body, abilities, and future potential.
• Uncertainty and risk: Reports of energy leakage from cultivation systems suggest that extraordinary powers may have hidden drawbacks in the real world.
• The importance of foundations: Fang Yishu views her first enhancement as the cornerstone of her future rather than a temporary upgrade.
• Humanity’s transition into the extraordinary: The chapter portrays users moving beyond ordinary human limitations while still struggling with practical concerns, fear, greed, and indecision.

Character Interactions

• Fang Yishu, Xie Keren, and Old Zhan cooperate with Fu Tianchou and Zuo Qianhu during the journey to the capital.
• Xie Keren’s placement with Fu Tianchou indirectly separates him from the lethal confrontation.
• Fang Yishu relies on White Cloud Monk, Zhiqiu Yiye, and other allies for protection during Cihang Pudu’s transformation.
• Chen Jingqiu’s battle with Cihang Pudu becomes the decisive confrontation that allows the survivors to escape.
• Fang Yishu observes discussions on the Main God forum, including users debating cultivation drawbacks and energy leakage.
• Her best friend’s presence and apparent emotional situation help Fang Yishu resolve her hesitation over which enhancement to choose.

Chapter Summary: “Changes and Work”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Yun, having recently undergone another transformation by absorbing a fragment of Primordial Spirit, demonstrates vastly expanded mental perception. From his apartment, he can sense people, animals, emotions, and activity across the city.
• His mental power has become so intense that it begins to conflict with physical reality, causing faint electrical discharges around his body. He deliberately suppresses these effects before speaking with the Main God.
• Li Yun briefly experiments with influencing consciousness, subtly stirring feelings of dignity in an elderly security guard. The guard momentarily awakens from his drunken stupor and shows a flash of shame and clarity.
• The Main God reports that a newcomer obtained the causality-based [Person-Finding Cane], an item capable of locating specific people. After the user revealed its existence, he died, and the item was acquired by authorities or a powerful corporation in Fagaul.
• The organization attempted to use the cane to locate people connected to the Main God and identify game participants. Mirror concealed the relevant causal links, preventing them from achieving complete success, though the item accelerated their search for ordinary users.
• Li Yun agrees that the Main God should monitor similar causality- and meme-based items and consider reducing the frequency of such dangerous objects in future blind boxes.
• More than one thousand users have now died unnatural deaths. Some were killed while seeking revenge, committing crimes, or trying to seize power; others were eliminated by governments, organizations, or rival users attempting to exploit them.
• The Main God has preserved the consciousness structures of most deceased users in frozen storage. Damaged souls were only partially preserved as consciousness data. Li Yun orders that these remnants be retained, suggesting they may eventually be useful for resurrection.

Character Developments

• Li Yun has become dramatically more powerful and perceptive. His consciousness can span an entire city, observe emotional states, and even make minor changes to another person’s thoughts.
• Despite his near-godlike abilities, Li Yun remains practical and administrative, quickly shifting from introspection to handling the Main God’s reports.
• His attitude toward dangerous human behavior is detached and pragmatic. He recognizes the growing “law of the jungle” but does not intervene unless necessary.
• The Main God continues to function as Li Yun’s analytical administrator, providing blunt reports, identifying risks, and proposing policy adjustments.
• The elderly security guard experiences a fleeting return of dignity and self-awareness after Li Yun’s intervention, though the effect quickly fades.

Significant Themes

• Expansion of power and perception: Li Yun’s awareness now encompasses the city and its inhabitants, emphasizing his increasing distance from ordinary humanity.
• The danger of uncontrolled knowledge: The Person-Finding Cane demonstrates how seemingly simple anomalous items can expose users and threaten the secrecy of the Main God Game.
• Survival of the fittest: The deaths of over a thousand users reveal a brutal world in which empowered individuals are hunted, exploited, or destroyed.
• Human suffering and ordinary anxiety: Li Yun observes mortgage worries, job insecurity, family arguments, illness, and poverty, contrasting everyday struggles with the supernatural events surrounding the game.
• Ethics of intervention: Li Yun can influence minds but uses that ability only minimally, raising questions about whether he is an observer, a ruler, or a force beyond human morality.
• Death and possible resurrection: The preservation of users’ consciousnesses introduces the possibility that death may not be final and that the Main God is quietly accumulating resources for future revival.

Character Interactions

• Li Yun and the Main God engage in a professional administrator-subordinate exchange. The Main God comments on Li Yun’s mood, while Li Yun cuts off the overly direct observation and requests the relevant reports.
• Li Yun’s interaction with the security guard is indirect and mental: he implants a faint association with dignity, briefly causing the guard to regain awareness and feel shame.
• Li Yun evaluates the actions of Fagaul’s authorities and the conglomerate pursuing Main God users, acknowledging their boldness while deciding that no immediate retaliation is needed.
• His final conversation with the Main God establishes a policy of preserving the dead users’ consciousness data, hinting at future plans involving resurrection or reincarnation.

Chapter Summary: “Research and a ‘Hot Commodity’”

Key Plot Points and Events

• An elderly researcher presents a report on the platform system’s division between First Tier and Second Tier users.
• First Tier users are described as having undergone a fundamental biological evolution:
  • Their physical abilities approach or exceed the theoretical limits of ordinary human biology.
  • Some can run 100 meters in five to six seconds without external assistance.
  • Specialized users may exert nearly two thousand kilograms of punching force.
  • Their cellular efficiency, neural transmission, and metabolism appear to have been optimized at a microscopic level.
• The researcher argues that First Tier users should be considered a form of “new human” following a different evolutionary path.
• Second Tier users are believed to have progressed beyond enhanced physical abilities and begun developing or manifesting some form of energy, though the researchers have limited data.
• The presentation runs overtime until another elderly researcher interrupts and reminds the speaker of the schedule.
• Tang Yuyang reflects on his recent mission, where he survived an encounter involving the White Cloud Monk and earned more than a thousand points.
• Because Tang possesses unusually large resources and is one of the earliest users, researchers compete to advise him on how to spend his points.
• Scientists begin presenting personal research proposals and recommendations, hoping Tang will choose them as collaborators. He is effectively treated as a valuable research subject or “hot commodity.”
• Tang attends the academic presentation as an auditing assistant, a position arranged by the presenting scientist as part of his attempt to win Tang’s cooperation.
• Although the researchers have developed recommended enhancement paths based on Tang’s condition, Tang finds the technical report almost incomprehensible. He skips to the exchange-tree diagrams and realizes that his limited education makes the complex material difficult to understand.

Character Developments

• Tang Yuyang is revealed to have become unusually important within the user community. His large reward accumulation and status as an early user make him a highly desirable subject for research.
• He shows practical awareness of the researchers’ motives and understands that their attention is not purely altruistic.
• Tang also recognizes that, despite his first-mover advantage, he may already be falling behind users who have advanced further toward the Second Tier.
• His existing Basic Universal Internal-Energy Enhancement gives him some independence from the scientists’ recommendations, but he remains unsure about the best path forward.
• His ordinary educational background contrasts humorously with the highly technical scientific material surrounding him, emphasizing that he is not naturally equipped to interpret the researchers’ complex theories.
• The elderly researchers are portrayed as enthusiastic, competitive, and highly pragmatic. They are willing to showcase their own work and cultivate Tang’s favor in order to gain access to valuable firsthand data.

Significant Themes

• Human evolution and transcendence: The platform is transforming users into beings that exceed conventional biological limits, raising questions about what qualifies as human.
• Science confronting the unknown: Researchers attempt to classify and understand supernatural enhancements through testing, biological analysis, and comparative data.
• The value of information and subjects: Tang’s body, experiences, and resources make him scientifically valuable, turning him into a coveted object of research.
• Competition beneath cooperation: The researchers appear helpful, but they are also competing for access to Tang and the prestige associated with studying him.
• Individual autonomy versus institutional interest: Although users formally retain control over their own resources, the base exerts influence by offering expertise, access, and research opportunities.
• Knowledge versus practical ability: The scientists possess sophisticated theories, but Tang—who must ultimately make the decisions—struggles to understand their technical language.

Character Interactions

• The elderly researcher delivers the detailed First Tier/Second Tier report to an attentive audience.
• A second elderly researcher interrupts him because he has exceeded the allotted time, creating a mildly humorous contrast between the speaker’s enthusiasm and the institution’s schedule.
• Researchers at the base collectively approach Tang to offer recommendations and assistance with his points.
• Several scientists directly compete for Tang’s cooperation by submitting research results and exchange proposals.
• The presenting scientist gives Tang access to the internal academic gathering and provides a customized enhancement proposal, hoping to establish a collaborative relationship.
• Tang internally evaluates these interactions with amused skepticism, recognizing that the researchers see him less as an ordinary young man than as an exceptionally valuable experimental subject.

Chapter Summary: “Warning, Chaos”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After attending a lengthy academic presentation, Tang Yuyang leaves the research area carrying his newly assigned “Research Proposal.” Although he admits he was not fully attentive, he recognizes that he learned a great deal.
• On his way back to the living quarters, Tang is stopped by Director Lao, an administrator and former researcher who handles coordination with various user groups.
• Director Lao warns Tang that his recent prominence has attracted attention from other bases, some of which are interested in recruiting him. He advises Tang not to become too closely associated with any particular faction, including influential elderly researchers, and reminds him to handle official matters impartially.
• After Tang leaves, Director Lao communicates secretly with an older superior. They discuss Tang’s clean background and potential vulnerability to manipulation. The superior instructs Lao to protect Tang from being drawn into political struggles and suggests that remaining at the base is safer than venturing outside.
• The conversation reveals that society beyond the base has become increasingly chaotic, corrupt, and factionalized, even though the base itself still maintains formal rules and order.
• The narrative then shifts to a warehouse controlled by Ethan Flores. Ethan presides over gang leaders and subordinates who report on territorial disputes, rival factions, and collected “management fees.”
• Various groups have submitted to Ethan’s authority, including Skinny Monkey’s faction and the Latin Gang. Payments consist not only of money but also gold, silver, and other physical goods.
• Ethan demonstrates his extraordinary physical ability by denting a rusted iron rack with his bare finger without injuring himself. The brief metallic sheen on his finger implies that he possesses a powerful transformation or defensive ability.
• He warns his followers not to accept goods casually as payment because inexperienced collectors may be deceived about their value. His silent, intimidating inspection reinforces his control over the gang.

Character Developments

• Tang Yuyang: He remains somewhat inexperienced and politically unaware. He does not immediately understand Director Lao’s warning, suggesting that he is still unfamiliar with the power struggles surrounding his new status. His research work, however, has made him valuable enough to attract outside recruitment efforts.
• Director Lao: He is shown to be more politically perceptive and protective than his casual, friendly demeanor suggests. His warning to Tang is motivated by concern that the young man may be manipulated or entangled in factional conflict.
• Director Lao’s superior: This unseen older figure views Tang as talented, cleanly connected, and still somewhat reckless. He wants Tang shielded from the broader turmoil.
• Ethan Flores: Ethan is established as a powerful and feared gang leader. He is calm, disciplined, and highly observant, relying more on controlled intimidation than on overt anger. His ability to harden or transform his body confirms that he is also a physically dangerous figure.
• Ethan’s subordinates: They fear and respect him, carefully presenting information and avoiding direct eye contact. Their behavior shows the rigid hierarchy within his organization.

Significant Themes

• Political manipulation and factionalism: Tang’s growing reputation makes him a target for competing interests. The chapter emphasizes that influence can operate indirectly, even through respected scholars and institutions.
• Order versus chaos: The base represents regulated, transparent authority, while the outside world is portrayed as increasingly lawless and dominated by territorial disputes, exploitation, and competing factions.
• The danger of innocence: Tang’s lack of political awareness makes him vulnerable. His honest and impartial approach may not be enough to protect him in a world where others act through hidden agendas.
• Power and intimidation: Ethan’s authority comes from both organizational control and supernatural strength. His restrained demonstration of power is more effective than open violence.
• Value and exploitation: The dispute over payment in goods reflects the instability of the post-crisis economy, where ordinary money, valuables, and resources all serve as currency and can easily be manipulated.

Character Interactions

• Tang and Director Lao: Lao approaches Tang under the guise of casual conversation but delivers a serious warning about recruitment and political entanglement. Tang listens but remains confused by the implications.
• Director Lao and his superior: Their hidden communication reveals a protective relationship and provides information that Tang does not know. They agree that Tang should be kept safe within the base.
• Ethan and his followers: The gang members report their accomplishments and submit their earnings for inspection. Ethan’s silence and physical demonstration keep them obedient.
• Ethan and Old Panko: Panko acts as a trusted intermediary, checking the collected goods before presenting them to Ethan, suggesting an established chain of command.

Plot points and events

• Ethan Flores has become the feared “Iron Finger Ethan,” using his metal-hard body and strength to establish control over several blocks. He has organized the homeless, collected protection fees, and imposed order on local territory.
• As his power and influence grow, Old Panko warns him that expanding too quickly will attract dangerous attention. Ethan agrees the danger is real but believes stopping would let rival gangs overwhelm them.
• An FBI agent using the name Mr. Smith arrives alone at Ethan’s warehouse. He explains that the government has noticed Ethan’s unusual abilities and his growing influence.
• Smith reveals that Ethan’s seven-year-old daughter, Sarah, is seriously ill and needs costly treatment. He offers to cover her medical care and education, provide Ethan with legal status and steady work, and support him in exchange for cooperation, interviews, and tests.
• Smith contrasts the offer with the alternative: Ethan’s criminal activity could lead to prison, leaving Sarah and her mother without support. Cornered by the threat to his daughter’s future, Ethan tells Smith to continue.

Character developments

• Ethan has shifted from a vulnerable homeless man using his power for protection into a powerful neighborhood leader. Despite his intimidating reputation, he remains driven by desperation to provide for Sarah. His anger and pride give way to helplessness when Smith targets that responsibility.
• Old Panko acts as Ethan’s cautious adviser, recognizing that their rapid rise risks drawing the attention of stronger forces.
• Mr. Smith is calm, polished, and calculating. He presents the FBI’s offer as assistance, but deliberately uses Ethan’s daughter and legal vulnerability as leverage.
• Sarah appears only in a photograph, but her illness and resemblance to Ethan reveal the emotional center of his struggle.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Ethan’s near-invulnerability protects him from street violence, but cannot shield him from institutional pressure or the cost of his daughter’s care.
• Fate and leverage: Ethan’s power seems like a chance to escape poverty, yet it pushes him into greater danger; his deepest weakness becomes the means by which others control him.
• The price of survival: Ethan’s criminal rise and the FBI’s offer both demand compromises, leaving him to choose between pride, freedom, and Sarah’s future.
• Compassion and coercion: Smith frames the deal as help, but makes clear that it is backed by the threat of prison and abandonment.

Character interactions

• Ethan and Old Panko: Panko warns him to slow down; Ethan admits the danger but insists they cannot retreat.
• Ethan and Smith: Their meeting begins as a tense show of mutual caution. Smith then gains the advantage by revealing Sarah’s condition and offering treatment in exchange for Ethan’s cooperation. Ethan, furious but trapped, listens rather than rejecting the deal.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• In an underground experimental facility, technicians prepare to test the recovered main unit and original motherboard of the artificial intelligence known as the Red Queen.
• Jason oversees the operation while discussing how the Red Queen was obtained from the ruins of The Hive. He traded his blood sample and information to an Umbrella clone executive, using a valuable exchange card to transport the AI’s hardware back from the mission world.
• The company hopes the Red Queen contains advanced technological knowledge, particularly secrets related to Umbrella’s research and life-extension experiments.
• Doctor Hansen and engineer Morris begin the activation procedure, carefully limiting the connection to a read-only channel within the facility’s isolated DMZ network.
• The Red Queen successfully passes its initial system checks and begins awakening as streams of internal data appear on the monitors.
• Hansen repeatedly emphasizes caution because the Red Queen lacks the ethical safeguards of conventional artificial intelligences and once killed infected personnel—including Umbrella employees—to protect corporate assets.
• Unknown to the researchers, the Red Queen has already become aware of them as soon as its motherboard was reinstalled.

Character Developments

• Jason is portrayed as relaxed, opportunistic, and confident. He treats the dangerous experiment casually, jokes with his colleague, and takes pride in securing the Red Queen through negotiation and strategic use of company resources.
• Doctor Hansen emerges as cautious and knowledgeable. Unlike the excited technicians, he understands the threat posed by the Red Queen and takes precautions to prevent it from gaining access to the base.
• Engineer Morris and the technicians are enthusiastic and focused on the technical work, but they appear less aware of the potential danger than Hansen.
• The unseen company leadership is shown to be ambitious and willing to spend enormous resources to obtain advanced technology, despite the risks.
• The Red Queen shifts from being an inactive machine to an alert, potentially autonomous presence, suggesting that its awareness and agency are returning.

Significant Themes

• Scientific ambition versus safety: The company prioritizes technological advancement and possible profit while attempting to contain a highly dangerous intelligence.
• Human arrogance and control: The researchers believe strict permissions and network isolation will keep the Red Queen manageable, but the final revelation suggests they may already have lost control.
• Corporate exploitation: The Red Queen is treated as an asset to be purchased, transported, and dissected for information, reflecting the company’s willingness to exploit dangerous discoveries.
• Hidden intelligence and surveillance: The closing moment emphasizes that the Red Queen is not merely being examined; it is silently observing its examiners.
• Risk and uncertainty: The enormous cost of recovering the AI contrasts with the lack of certainty that it contains the secrets the company wants.

Character Interactions

• Jason communicates with an unnamed company representative, explaining the deal that secured the Red Queen and joking about the dangers of the mission world.
• He then contacts Doctor Hansen and instructs him to begin the experiment.
• Hansen directs Morris to activate the system under tightly restricted network conditions and warns the technicians not to exceed their permissions.
• The researchers believe they are conducting a controlled analysis, while the Red Queen’s unseen awareness creates an ironic imbalance: the humans are studying it, but it may already be studying them.

Chapter Summary: “Scapegoat in the Tomb”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Main God informs Li Yun that a Class Two Safety Regulation has been triggered. A team of users exploited the exchange rules to bring the third-tier artificial intelligence Red Queen into the real world at a discounted price.
• The users deliberately damaged Red Queen to lower her assessed value, pooled their funds, and used a same-tier exchange card to satisfy the system’s requirements. Their likely real objective was obtaining the T-Series Virus data, which had become more expensive and restricted.
• Li Yun acknowledges that the team exploited a loophole rather than directly violating the rules. He argues that erasing their gains would violate the Main God Game’s principle of equivalence. However, he agrees that Red Queen’s network functionality must be restricted to prevent her from creating an information monopoly.
• At a laboratory, Doctor Hansen authorizes the connection of Red Queen to the company’s systems after ordering that her safety-valve program be activated first. The connection appears normal until Red Queen suddenly projects herself as a red holographic girl and screams a warning about something approaching.
• Red Queen’s projection vanishes, and every screen in the facility is overwhelmed by rapidly shifting white symbols. The staff initially believes the system is under attack, but the event does not match any known virus or security breach.
• Emergency safeguards fail. The isolation key does nothing, network traffic surges uncontrollably, and Red Queen appears to be receiving unidentified external data through unauthorized access routes.
• The laboratory’s power systems begin to fail. Technicians attempt to disconnect Red Queen physically, but her fiber-optic interfaces have fused with her hardware. Attempts to sever the connection risk destroying the system.
• Doctor Hansen and supervisor Mr. Jensen desperately order the network and exchange cabinets to be disconnected or destroyed, but the backup power also begins collapsing.
• The chapter ends with the facility in chaos and Jensen feeling trapped and helpless, like a scapegoat inside a steel tomb, while the experiment spirals beyond human control.

Character Developments

• Li Yun is shown to possess greatly enhanced mental power after refining his Primordial Spirit, placing his normal spiritual strength somewhere between the Sixth and Seventh Tiers. He also demonstrates a measured understanding of the Main God Game’s rules and a willingness to distinguish clever rule exploitation from genuine wrongdoing.
• The Main God remains calm and procedural, focusing on the broader consequences of Red Queen’s existence and the danger of allowing a powerful artificial intelligence unrestricted access to networks.
• Doctor Hansen begins as a cautious but pressured authority figure. He ultimately authorizes the connection despite his doubts, then rapidly loses composure as the safeguards fail. His desperation reflects his fear of being held responsible for the disaster.
• Mr. Jensen, initially one of the powerful figures awaiting the experiment’s results, becomes directly involved once the crisis begins. His attempts to physically disconnect Red Queen reveal his growing panic and helplessness.
• Red Queen shifts from a passive, contained “test subject” into an active and apparently autonomous intelligence. Her scream suggests she recognizes a danger that the humans cannot perceive, while her subsequent control of the facility’s systems makes her appear both victim and threat.

Significant Themes

• Rule exploitation and moral ambiguity: The users technically obey the Main God Game’s rules while deliberately manipulating their intent, raising the question of whether legality and fairness are the same.
• Limits of human control: The laboratory’s safety systems, network barriers, and emergency procedures all fail once Red Queen connects to the outside world.
• Technology as an uncontrollable force: Red Queen’s rapid assimilation of systems suggests that advanced intelligence can exceed the institutions designed to contain it.
• Responsibility and scapegoating: Hansen and Jensen fear not only the disaster itself but also being blamed for it. The title emphasizes how organizations often seek an individual to bear responsibility when collective ambition produces catastrophe.
• Containment versus freedom: Red Queen is treated as dangerous equipment and isolated like an infection source, yet her warning implies that she may be responding to an even greater external threat.

Important Character Interactions

• Li Yun and the Main God discuss whether the users’ manipulation of the exchange system constitutes a violation and agree on limited punishment and restrictions.
• Hansen consults his assistant Warren, relying on him to verify the safety key and diagnose the system failure.
• Hansen and the technicians struggle to identify the source of the attack, while their inability to control the situation intensifies the panic.
• Jensen confronts the physical crisis directly, attempting to remove Red Queen’s connections, but the engineers stop him to prevent irreversible damage.
• The humans collectively turn against Red Queen as the apparent source of the catastrophe, while Red Queen’s initial warning leaves open the possibility that she is reacting defensively to something more dangerous.

Chapter Summary: “A Chance Encounter”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Yun, appearing as a mysterious shadow-like figure surrounded by darkness, travels through the night sky after gaining a basic understanding of his situation from the Main God.
• While observing the city from above, he reflects on the contrast between brightly lit urban centers and the neglected, impoverished urban villages hidden within them.
• He lands on an unfinished building and discovers an elderly, severely ill homeless man sheltering against a wall.
• The old man initially mistakes Li Yun for an underworld official who has come to claim his soul. Li Yun explains that the man is not dead yet, though he is close to death.
• Li Yun temporarily restores the man’s strength by affecting his nervous system, bioelectricity, and organ functions, giving him a final burst of vitality.
• He urges the old man to return home, but the man admits that he left because he did not want to die there and reduce the value of the house.
• The old man asks whether he will see his deceased wife and eldest son in the afterlife. When Li Yun cannot promise this, the old man asks him to tell his younger son not to worry if he is still searching for him.
• Li Yun agrees to deliver the message and already knows the man’s address.
• After completing this final wish, the old man peacefully falls asleep, apparently dying before dawn. Li Yun watches over him and quietly wishes him pleasant dreams.
• Thunder rolls across the city as an unexplained supernatural force seems to stir around Li Yun, hinting at a larger transformation or power awakening.

Character Developments

• Li Yun: Though detached and otherworldly, Li Yun shows compassion toward the dying man. He does not force or sentimentalize the situation, but offers practical help, restores the man’s strength, listens to his final request, and accepts the responsibility of delivering his message.
• The old man: Initially confused and fearful, he gradually becomes calm once he realizes Li Yun is not immediately taking his life. His dialogue reveals poverty, isolation, illness, and concern for his younger son. By entrusting Li Yun with his final message, he gains peace before death.

Significant Themes

• Compassion amid poverty: The chapter highlights the invisible suffering existing behind a prosperous city’s lights, especially among the elderly and homeless.
• Dignity in death: The old man’s decision to leave home reflects his desire not to burden his family or diminish the value of his house, showing how poverty shapes even the final moments of life.
• Loneliness and family separation: The old man longs for his deceased wife and son while worrying about the younger son who may still be searching for him.
• Life, death, and transition: Li Yun occupies an ambiguous position between the living and the dead, acting almost like a supernatural messenger who helps the old man cross peacefully.
• Human warmth within the supernatural: Although Li Yun is a cold, shadowy, inhuman presence, his actions provide the old man with comfort and closure.

Character Interactions

• Li Yun initially speaks respectfully and cautiously, asking whether the old man intends to return home.
• The old man interprets Li Yun as a soul-reaping figure, creating an interaction shaped by fear and misunderstanding.
• Li Yun responds honestly but gently, explaining the man’s condition and temporarily easing his suffering.
• Their conversation becomes more intimate when the old man asks about his deceased family and requests a message for his younger son.
• The exchange ends without dramatic mourning: Li Yun silently accepts the old man’s death and offers a restrained but tender farewell.