Chapter Summaries

The Traffic Light Trio rescued Baron Dallas from a rebel-blockaded planet, where Warp-tainted beasts had killed his bodyguards. After recovering aboard the Golden Road, Dallas became demanding and violent, and the Trio reported his behavior to Li Qinwu.

• Baron Dallas's bodyguards recognized Li Qinwu as a Living Saint and tried to evacuate him, but rebels blocked escape routes and seized his ship.
• The bodyguards fled to the grasslands, where Purity Seals helped protect Dallas from rising Warp energy and contaminated wildlife.
• The Traffic Light Trio flew through rebel missile fire, rescued Dallas from a herd of armored rhinos, and returned with him to the Golden Road.
• After recovering, Dallas first thanked the crew, then began demanding luxuries and attacking people, including the Trio.
• When Li Qinwu finished handling Inquisitor Thraxol's estate, the Traffic Light Trio escaped Dallas and reported his behavior to him.

Chapter Summary: “Piglet Snorts”

Key plot points and events

Li Qinwu learns that Baron Dallas has repeatedly slapped and mistreated the Traffic Light Trio, who tolerate his abuse because Dallas is the powerful Solar Lord’s son and their potential source of enormous rewards. Li Qinwu agrees to deal with Dallas and visits the captain’s cabin, which Dallas has vandalized by destroying its decorations, plants, and furnishings. Dallas behaves arrogantly, demanding assistance, food, and servants while insulting everyone around him. When the chef serves him spicy noodles with scallions, Dallas dumps the bowl over the chef’s head and demands a replacement. He then insults the food and mocks Li Qinwu’s physique. Unable to tolerate the final insult, Li Qinwu moves with incredible speed and smashes a wheat-juice bottle over Dallas’s head. Dallas, covered in blood, finishes his noodles before fainting and snorting like a pig.

Character developments

Li Qinwu initially tries to suppress his anger for the sake of the promised wealth, showing restraint and consideration for the Traffic Light Trio’s circumstances. However, Dallas’s cruelty toward the chef and personal insults finally push him past his limit, revealing Li Qinwu’s fierce temper and immense speed and strength. The Traffic Light Trio are portrayed as patient, pragmatic survivors who endure Dallas’s abuse to protect their future interests. Baron Dallas is established as spoiled, gluttonous, violent, arrogant, and completely lacking in manners or gratitude.

Significant themes

The chapter emphasizes greed versus dignity, showing how the promise of wealth forces people to endure humiliation. It also contrasts power and social status with actual character: Dallas’s noble background protects him from consequences until his behavior provokes Li Qinwu. The scene uses exaggerated comedy and physical violence to mock aristocratic entitlement and expose the limits of patience.

Character interactions

Li Qinwu comforts and defends the Traffic Light Trio, while they repeatedly restrain him and urge him to think of the rewards. Dallas treats the trio as slaves, abuses the chef, and insults Li Qinwu. Their increasingly tense interaction culminates in Li Qinwu’s sudden attack, ending the chapter with Dallas unconscious after being struck.

Chapter Summary: “Nuclear Industrial Chain”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qinwu and the Traffic Light Trio panic after Li Qinwu blasts apart the head of the “Little Sun,” the youngest son of the Solar Lord.
• To prevent retaliation, Li Qinwu injects him with a Green Needle and has the Tech-Priests place him in a hibernation pod. He plans to deliver the sedated man to his father on Terra in exchange for benefits.
• Li Qinwu resumes managing internal affairs and visits the warship factory to inspect the new armor being developed for the Fleet Iron Guard.
• The Iron Skull Archmagos presents a prototype Heavy Mortal Power Armor:
  • It stands 2.5 meters tall and uses modular, replaceable armor sections.
  • It has thick armor exceeding that of Astartes armor.
  • Its arms are weapon mounts rather than mechanical hands, allowing weapons to be operated through neural commands.
  • It can use Terminator-grade or even light-vehicle weapons.
  • It can run at 70 kilometers per hour and operate either on cheap batteries or an expensive nuclear-reactor backpack.
• The Archmagos warns Li Qinwu that he lacks a Nuclear Industrial Chain. Without nuclear production capabilities, he cannot fulfill his promise to eventually manufacture Titans.
• Li Qinwu recalls the Dark Age of Technology colony ship and its AI, Zero, which requires 100,000 tons of helium-3 to restart its fusion engines.
• He decides that obtaining the colony ship and unlocking nuclear technology is worthwhile because it would enable nuclear weapons, power stations, advanced engines, personal power packs, Titan systems, and Void Shield energy sources.

Character Developments

• Li Qinwu demonstrates his usual pragmatism and ruthlessness by turning a dangerous political incident into a future bargaining opportunity. He also shows growing strategic ambition, recognizing that advanced industrial infrastructure is essential to his long-term goals.
• The Traffic Light Trio remain fearful of the Little Sun but cooperate with Li Qinwu because they too want relief from his abuse and humiliation.
• The Iron Skull Archmagos has been reduced from a powerful enemy to a subordinate dependent on Li Qinwu. Despite his fall from power, he works efficiently and pressures Li Qinwu to honor their agreement regarding Titan production.
• The Fleet Iron Guard are positioned to become much more powerful through the new armor, compensating for their inferior combat speed compared with Astartes.

Significant Themes

• Pragmatism and manipulation: Li Qinwu treats even a dangerous enemy as a resource he can trade for future advantages.
• Industrial and technological advancement: Military strength depends not only on soldiers but also on manufacturing, energy, and supply chains.
• Power through infrastructure: The Nuclear Industrial Chain represents a major technological threshold, enabling both weapons and large-scale civilization-building.
• Contracts and consequences: The Archmagos’s reminder about their agreement emphasizes that Li Qinwu’s promises carry serious consequences.
• Humanity versus superior warriors: The armor is designed to help ordinary humans survive against Astartes through protection, firepower, and endurance rather than superior reflexes.

Character Interactions

• Li Qinwu reassures and directs the Traffic Light Trio after the Little Sun is incapacitated, while they reluctantly assist in sedating and imprisoning him.
• Li Qinwu and the Iron Skull Archmagos discuss the armor’s design, capabilities, limitations, and energy requirements.
• The Archmagos challenges Li Qinwu to establish nuclear manufacturing and fulfill his promise to create Titans.
• Li Qinwu internally connects the Archmagos’s demand with Zero’s stranded colony ship, setting up his next major objective: acquiring helium-3 and reviving the Dark Age vessel.

Chapter Summary: Heavy Power Armor Manufacturing

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qinwu asks Iron Skull Archmagos about the cost and production rate of the newly developed Heavy Power Armor.
• With the current factories operating at full capacity, one suit can be produced every three days.
• Each suit costs approximately 80% as much as a Leman Russ tank because Li Qinwu’s Nuclear Industrial Chain is incomplete and cannot yet produce power packs. Once completed, the cost could fall to roughly half that of a Leman Russ.
• The armor allows an ordinary human who has undergone Dual-Track Neural Augmentation to fight at approximately 70% of an Astartes warrior’s effectiveness.
• Li Qinwu decides the armor’s high cost is acceptable because his troops are not engaged in constant warfare, meaning equipment losses and resource consumption will remain limited.
• Iron Skull provides the armor’s blueprints on a USB drive and orders Li Qinwu to oversee production.
• After being assigned the task of establishing a Nuclear Industrial Chain, Li Qinwu returns to the Hideout, kills himself through an extreme squat, resurrects aboard the Explorer, and checks on the progress of Astartes augmentation training.

Character Developments

• Li Qinwu recognizes that his main military weakness is not troop numbers but troop quality. He sees Heavy Power Armor as a temporary solution while his Astartes forces are still developing.
• He adopts a long-term strategy in which Astartes will eventually command mixed teams of four or five Fleet Iron Guard soldiers, maximizing the Astartes’ intelligence and leadership abilities rather than using them in isolated squads.
• Iron Skull Archmagos demonstrates his value by successfully designing the Heavy Power Armor, but becomes impatient because Li Qinwu has made no visible progress toward building a Titan.
• Iron Skull clarifies that he will only continue contributing major technological assistance if Li Qinwu advances through the required technology tree.

Significant Themes

• Quality versus quantity: The chapter emphasizes that large numbers of ordinary soldiers are ineffective against Warp corruption, monsters, demons, and powerful area attacks. Superior equipment and elite troops are essential.
• Technological progression: Titan construction is presented as a long-term objective requiring successive developments, beginning with a Nuclear Industrial Chain and later a Planetary Forge capable of producing Adamantium.
• Pragmatic resource management: Although the armor is expensive, Li Qinwu prioritizes combat effectiveness over production cost because his forces are not fighting wars of attrition.
• Military integration: The future combination of Astartes leaders and Fleet Iron Guard soldiers highlights the efficient use of elite abilities within larger formations.
• Mutual obligations and bargaining: Iron Skull’s cooperation depends on Li Qinwu honoring their agreement to work toward constructing a Titan.

Character Interactions

• Li Qinwu and Iron Skull argue over the pace of the Titan project. Iron Skull dismisses Li Qinwu’s excuses and demands concrete progress.
• Iron Skull sets the Nuclear Industrial Chain as the next benchmark of sincerity. After that, Li Qinwu must construct a Planetary Forge to refine Adamantium.
• Li Qinwu agrees to pursue these goals, recognizing that each stage will provide useful benefits—such as reactors, industrial power, and advanced armor—even before Titan production becomes possible.
• Iron Skull ends the conversation by withdrawing to study the Machine Truth, while Li Qinwu gives the armor plans to Busi for implementation.

Chapter Summary: Astartes Enhancement Progress

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qinwu awakens aboard the Explorer, which is traveling toward a distant Dark Age of Technology colony ship beyond Imperial territory.
• He views the journey as an opportunity to conduct secret and potentially heretical experiments without Imperial interference. His ambition is to build a powerful Astartes army and eventually become an Astartes warlord.
• Li visits the Astartes training grounds to inspect ten recruits created from the unusual Gene-seeds he supplied.
• The recruits have grown into enormous, powerful warriors between 2.1 and 2.5 meters tall and are training to control their enhanced strength.
• Saint Raiser, the last survivor of the Broken-Winged Angel Chapter, now inhabits a sophisticated bionic body that allows him to move and train the new Astartes.
• Saint Raiser reveals that all ten recruits have successfully completed six enhancement procedures—Secondary Heart, Ossmodula, Biscopea, Haemastamen, Larraman Organ, and Catalepsean Node implantation—with no rejection symptoms.
• This represents an unprecedented 100% success rate. Normally, Astartes candidates experience dangerous rejection reactions, require extensive medication, or die or become permanently disabled.
• Tests also reveal that the recruits possess unusually high Warp readings. Although normal mortals register between 0.1 and 1, and ordinary Astartes between 100 and 200, these recruits already exceed 300 after only six surgeries.
• Strange glands have developed beneath each recruit’s shoulder blades. Saint Raiser suspects they are previously unknown organs connected to Psychic Power.

Character Developments

• Li Qinwu becomes increasingly confident and ambitious. He sees the recruits not merely as survivors or experiments, but as the foundation of a future Astartes army under his command.
• Saint Raiser is thrilled that his nearly extinct Chapter has gained new blood, but his excitement is tempered by deep suspicion. His extensive experience as an Apothecary tells him that the Gene-seeds’ behavior is completely abnormal.
• The ten recruits demonstrate remarkable physical development and compatibility with the enhancement process, suggesting that they may be fundamentally different from ordinary Astartes candidates.

Significant Themes

• Ambition and power: Li Qinwu dreams of rising beyond the status of a Chapter Master and becoming an Astartes warlord.
• Science versus forbidden experimentation: The remote location gives Li freedom to pursue dangerous genetic and biological experiments outside Imperial oversight.
• The unknown consequences of enhancement: The recruits’ perfect compatibility appears beneficial, but the emergence of new organs and elevated Warp readings introduces possible dangers.
• Evolution and transformation: The Gene-seeds seem to adapt to the recruits rather than forcing the recruits to adapt to them, hinting at an entirely new form of Astartes development.
• Psychic potential and risk: The recruits may all possess extraordinary Psychic Power, raising the possibility of tremendous strength as well as future Warp-related threats.

Character Interactions

• Li Qinwu questions Saint Raiser about the recruits’ progress, expecting confirmation of their success.
• Saint Raiser instead confronts him about the unexplained mutations caused by the Gene-seeds.
• Li responds optimistically, focusing on the benefits and reduced costs of the perfect enhancement success rate.
• Saint Raiser remains cautious, explaining the normal dangers of Astartes implantation and warning that the recruits’ abnormal Psychic readings and shoulder-blade glands may have unpredictable consequences.
• Their exchange highlights the contrast between Li’s enthusiasm and ambition and Saint Raiser’s cautious, experience-based concern.

Chapter Summary: “Black Rage”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Saint Raiser evaluates the ten recruits and identifies their potential roles within the nearly extinct Broken-Winged Angel Chapter.
• Genpei is revealed to possess ancient “giant” genetic traits linked to the Dark Age of Technology. Already 2.5 meters tall, he may grow beyond three meters after completing his augmentations and could become a future Chapter Master.
• Little Andrew displays extraordinary mathematical, mechanical, and learning abilities. He has secretly modified War Bee drones and mechanical dogs and is identified as a potential chief technical officer, possibly deserving advanced study on Mars.
• Hunter, raised in an industrial-world gang environment, is skilled at infiltration, stalking, and assassination. Saint Raiser believes he could become the Chapter’s chief assassin if equipped with Stealth Power Armor.
• Yamashita Maru is criticized as unruly and lacking special abilities apart from his tremendous arm strength. He overhears the insult and threatens Saint Raiser, leading to a brief, humorous argument between them.
• Saint Raiser explains that the recruits will mature in roughly two years. Although Astartes normally require a century of training before becoming full warriors, the Chapter’s desperate condition forces it to accelerate the process.
• The recruits will initially use salvaged armor and weapons from fallen Astartes. Their matured gene-seed glands will later allow the Chapter to cultivate new superhuman organs and expand its numbers.
• Li Qinwu promises to develop production facilities for Power Armor and weapons, adapting existing Fleet Iron Guard manufacturing technology to produce Astartes equipment.
• The conversation turns to the Chapter’s history. Saint Raiser reveals that the Broken-Winged Angels began with 1,000 warriors and fought for over 5,000 years, saving 136 Imperial worlds without receiving meaningful support from the Imperium. All of his comrades have died, leaving only his damaged body.
• Saint Raiser asks Li Qinwu to have Terra’s Bell of Lost Souls toll 999 times for the fallen Chapter, believing the mourning bells will guide their souls back to the Golden Throne. Li Qinwu agrees to try.
• At the chapter’s close, one recruit—referred to as Ahriman/Aman—suffers a violent physical and mental episode after training. Genpei approaches him, but the recruit suddenly roars the name “Horus!”, suggesting the emergence of the Black Rage or another dangerous inherited psychic/biological trauma.

Character Developments

• Saint Raiser: Acts as a mentor and evaluator, demonstrating deep knowledge of genetics, combat potential, and Chapter organization. His proud yet sorrowful account reveals his unwavering loyalty despite the Imperium’s abandonment of his Chapter.
• Li Qinwu: Takes on greater responsibility as the Chapter’s future leader and logistical provider. He commits to producing armor and weapons and honoring Saint Raiser’s fallen brothers.
• Genpei: Is established as a physically exceptional recruit with the potential to become a giant and eventually a Chapter Master. He also shows concern for fellow recruits by noticing Ahriman’s distress.
• Little Andrew: Emerges as a technological prodigy whose intelligence may be crucial to rebuilding the Chapter’s infrastructure.
• Hunter: Is defined as a hardened, stealth-oriented fighter whose criminal upbringing has been transformed into a potential military asset.
• Yamashita Maru: Provides comic relief through his defiance and volatile personality, while his physical strength remains his primary recognized talent.
• Ahriman/Aman: Undergoes a disturbing transformation, revealing that beneath his training lies a powerful, uncontrollable rage connected to the name Horus.

Significant Themes

• Loyalty without recognition: The Broken-Winged Angels served the Imperium for millennia despite receiving no reinforcements or material support.
• Sacrifice and remembrance: Saint Raiser’s request for 999 bell tolls emphasizes the need to honor those who died forgotten.
• Rebuilding and survival: The Chapter must abandon traditional Astartes timelines and methods because extinction leaves no room for patience.
• Inheritance and genetic destiny: The recruits’ bloodlines, mutations, and gene-seed determine their possible futures, linking ancient history to the Chapter’s rebirth.
• Hope amid decline: Although the original Chapter is gone, the ten recruits represent the possibility of restoring its strength and legacy.
• The danger within: Ahriman’s outburst introduces the threat that the recruits may inherit not only Astartes abilities but also devastating psychological or genetic curses.

Important Character Interactions

• Saint Raiser and Li Qinwu cooperate closely, discussing the recruits’ abilities, future roles, accelerated training, and the industrial requirements for rebuilding the Chapter.
• Saint Raiser and Yamashita Maru exchange insults and threats, showing the recruit’s rebellious nature and providing a humorous contrast to the chapter’s otherwise tragic tone.
• Saint Raiser and Li Qinwu share a solemn moment over the Broken-Winged Angels’ forgotten dead, with Li Qinwu agreeing to seek Terra’s formal mourning ritual.
• Genpei attempts to help Ahriman/Aman after noticing his distress, but the encounter ends with the recruit’s terrifying cry of “Horus,” foreshadowing a major threat.

Chapter Summary: Black Rage 2

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter explains the origin of the Blood Angels’ Black Rage: the psychic connection between Sanguinius and his genetic descendants allowed the pain of his death at Horus’s hands to pass into the Blood Angels’ gene-line.
• When triggered, the Black Rage causes an Astartes to hallucinate Sanguinius’s final battle aboard the Vengeful Spirit. The afflicted sees Horus as an enormous enemy, loses all awareness of reality, and attacks anything nearby.
• Recruit Aman suddenly cries out Horus’s name, alerting Saint Raiser that he has fallen into the Black Rage.
• Saint Raiser tackles and restrains Aman, but Aman’s strength increases so dramatically that even Saint Raiser struggles to hold him.
• Li Qinwu, Genpei, and Yamashita Maru join the effort. Together, the four men barely manage to keep Aman pinned down as he thrashes and screams.
• Saint Raiser explains that the Black Rage triggers extreme hormonal release, removes normal physical limitations, and mutates the victim’s Warp essence, making ordinary restraint and medicine ineffective.
• A sedative injected into Aman has no effect. Saint Raiser concludes that Aman is effectively doomed unless he can somehow escape the hallucination himself.
• Saint Raiser cites Lord Mephiston as the only known Blood Angel to overcome the Black Rage, emphasizing how nearly impossible such resistance is.
• Despite Saint Raiser’s despair, Li Qinwu believes Aman may still be saved because the gene-seed used in his modification was sanctified before the Emperor Shrine. He begins speaking directly into Aman’s ear, attempting to reach him.

Character Developments

• Recruit Aman completely succumbs to the Black Rage, becoming vastly stronger but mentally consumed by rage and delusion. He is unable to distinguish allies from enemies.
• Saint Raiser demonstrates extensive knowledge of the Black Rage and reacts immediately to protect the others. His attempts to save Aman reveal both his practical expertise as an Apothecary and his emotional exhaustion from witnessing many recruits die this way.
• Li Qinwu emerges as more hopeful and compassionate than Saint Raiser. Rather than accepting Aman’s death as inevitable, he searches for a possible exception and personally tries to reconnect with Aman.
• Genpei and Yamashita Maru assist in physically restraining Aman, showing their willingness to cooperate during the crisis.
• Lord Mephiston is introduced as an exceptional historical figure whose immense willpower allowed him to defeat the Black Rage and gain even greater psychic and physical power.

Significant Themes

• Inherited trauma: The Black Rage represents the literal transmission of Sanguinius’s death-pain through generations of Blood Angels.
• Madness versus identity: The victim’s sense of self is overwhelmed by a psychic illusion, raising the question of whether the person can still be reached beneath the rage.
• Fate versus hope: Saint Raiser views Aman’s condition as an unavoidable death sentence, while Li Qinwu believes sanctification and human intervention may offer a chance of salvation.
• The cost of power: The Black Rage grants tremendous strength, but only by destroying the victim’s sanity and potentially turning him against his allies.
• Exceptional willpower: Mephiston’s survival establishes an almost impossible standard, highlighting both the rarity of overcoming inner demons and the possibility—however remote—of doing so.

Character Interactions

• Saint Raiser immediately tackles Aman and repeatedly urges him to reject the illusion.
• Li Qinwu helps restrain Aman, argues with Saint Raiser about whether he can be saved, and challenges the assumption that Aman must die.
• Genpei and Yamashita Maru join Saint Raiser and Li Qinwu to prevent Aman from escaping.
• After the sedative fails, Li Qinwu takes a more personal approach, speaking softly to Aman and trying to restore his awareness, ending the chapter on a moment of uncertainty and potential hope.

Chapter Summary: “Black Rage 3”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Recruit Aman falls completely into the Black Rage, hallucinating that he is fighting Warmaster Horus. He ignores everyone’s attempts to reach him and struggles violently.
• Li Qinwu realizes that Aman can still hear him despite his madness and begins a form of verbal therapy, exploiting the improved sanctified Gene-seed.
• Li tells Aman that Horus is already dead, having been destroyed by the God-Emperor, and that Sanguinius’s death has already been avenged. This weakens Aman’s rage.
• Li then guides Aman to notice that he is seeing himself as Sanguinius, his Gene-Father. Focusing on Sanguinius’s beauty, perfection, and angelic form further calms him.
• Aman gradually stops resisting, allowing Saint Raiser to restrain him with ease. The observers realize that Li’s method may offer a way to counter the Black Rage, a condition that has tormented the Blood Angels for nearly ten thousand years.
• To completely break Aman’s fixation, Li makes a deliberately irreverent joke about Sanguinius being so perfect that even his testicles would hang at exactly the same height.
• The absurd statement shatters the hallucination. Aman repeats the idea reverently—“Lord Sanguinius is perfect”—and then collapses from exhaustion, fully recovered.
• Li proudly declares that he has solved the Black Rage and proposes using the same method on all future recruits.
• Genpei points out that Saint Raiser appears so furious at Li’s blasphemy that he may be close to entering the Black Rage himself.

Character Developments

• Li Qinwu demonstrates creativity, confidence, and a willingness to disregard tradition in order to save Aman. His unconventional understanding of the sanctified Gene-seed allows him to discover a potential treatment for the Black Rage.
• Recruit Aman moves from violent, irrational rage to calm admiration of Sanguinius, eventually escaping the hallucination and losing consciousness peacefully.
• Saint Raiser shifts from despair and skepticism to excitement when Li’s therapy works, seeing enormous potential benefits for the Broken-Winged Angel Chapter. However, his excitement turns into barely contained anger over Li’s blasphemous comments.
• Genpei acts as an observer and comic commentator, recognizing both the danger of insulting Sanguinius and Saint Raiser’s growing fury.

Significant Themes

• Tradition versus unconventional thinking: Li succeeds where ten thousand years of Blood Angels tradition and research have failed by using an irreverent, improvised approach.
• The psychological nature of the Black Rage: The episode suggests that the condition can be influenced by redirecting the sufferer’s hallucinations and emotions rather than relying solely on physical restraint.
• Reverence and blasphemy: Sanguinius is treated as a sacred, perfect figure, making Li’s joke dangerously offensive. Yet the blasphemy paradoxically becomes the key to saving Aman.
• Comedy amid grim circumstances: The horrifying Black Rage is defused through absurd humor, creating a sharp contrast between the chapter’s grim setting and Li’s ridiculous solution.
• Hope for the Chapter’s future: If the method can be repeated, the Broken-Winged Angel Chapter may no longer lose recruits or be limited by the Black Rage.

Character Interactions

• Li repeatedly speaks directly to Aman, guiding him away from visions of Horus and toward an awareness of himself as Sanguinius.
• Saint Raiser initially warns Li that communication is useless, but becomes astonished when Aman begins responding and urges Li to continue.
• Li silences Saint Raiser’s interruptions so that the therapy will not be disrupted.
• Genpei reacts with horror to Li’s disrespectful description of Sanguinius and later warns that Saint Raiser is becoming dangerously enraged.
• The chapter ends with Li celebrating his success while Saint Raiser silently struggles with the outrage caused by Li’s “treatment.”

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Aboard the Explorer, Li Qinwu and Saint Raiser observe Astartes training and discuss recruit Aman’s recovery from the Black Rage. Aman’s physical strength increased by 30%, and his Psychic Power rose to 400 after surviving the episode.
• Li Qinwu proposes deliberately triggering the Black Rage in recruits so they can overcome it and become stronger, jokingly naming the process the “Trial of the Eggs.”
• Saint Raiser is enraged because Li Qinwu’s vulgar “Double-Egg Equal-Height Perfection Theory” helped save a recruit, despite later evidence suggesting Aman’s mutated Gene-seed was the main reason he survived. Saint Raiser therefore refuses to speak to Li Qinwu directly and communicates through Genpei.
• Li Qinwu explains to Yamashita Maru that a harmonious family needs a “father” and “mother”: he is the father who handles outside affairs, while Saint Raiser is the mother who manages training and internal matters. He then insults Saint Raiser by claiming Saint Raiser is the “mother” because he no longer has “eggs.”
• Saint Raiser overhears the remark, becomes furious, and chases Li Qinwu and Yamashita Maru through the ship’s training corridor.
• Yamashita Maru attempts to appease Saint Raiser by declaring the theory wrong, but his correction only makes the insult worse. Saint Raiser reveals that his mechanical hands have been upgraded into Power Fists and threatens him.
• Li Qinwu escapes using a fake “Wall-Piercing Technique,” killing himself by smashing his head into a wall and leaving behind his empty armor through a resurrection-like ability.
• Saint Raiser continues chasing Yamashita Maru. What begins as revenge turns into a physical endurance test. Yamashita Maru, terrified, runs for three days and more than 400 kilometers.
• Saint Raiser eventually admits that he was testing Yamashita Maru’s limits and is impressed by his stamina and the potential of the new Gene-seed.
• When Saint Raiser asks whether Yamashita Maru’s feet are numb, Yamashita Maru misinterprets the question suggestively, then finally calls Saint Raiser “Mother,” provoking another furious reaction.

Character Developments

• Li Qinwu: Remains irreverent, provocative, and scientifically curious. He treats dangerous biological phenomena as opportunities for experimentation and constantly mocks Saint Raiser, relying on humor, bravado, and his unusual resurrection ability to escape consequences.
• Saint Raiser: His anger over Li Qinwu’s theory reveals his deep attachment to the Chapter’s traditions and the seriousness of the Black Rage. Despite his fury, he prioritizes the survival and development of recruits, eventually transforming his anger into a demanding endurance test for Yamashita Maru.
• Yamashita Maru: Demonstrates exceptional physical endurance and develops from a confused observer into a recruit capable of running for three days under extreme pressure. His fear and comedic misunderstandings also reinforce his vulnerable but determined personality.
• Genpei: Serves as the unwilling intermediary between Li Qinwu and Saint Raiser, highlighting the extent of their childish feud.

Significant Themes

• Tradition versus innovation: Saint Raiser rejects Li Qinwu’s crude theory, yet its success forces the Chapter to consider preserving and using it.
• The cost and potential of the Black Rage: The episode suggests that overcoming the curse may strengthen an Astartes, raising ethical questions about deliberately provoking it.
• Family and mentorship: The “father and mother” metaphor humorously reframes Li Qinwu and Saint Raiser’s opposing roles as external provider and internal disciplinarian.
• Fear as a source of growth: Yamashita Maru reaches extraordinary physical limits because Saint Raiser’s pursuit convinces him that he is in mortal danger.
• Comedy amid grim warfare: Vulgar jokes, misunderstandings, and exaggerated physical comedy contrast with the dark setting of gene-seed curses, bodily modification, and Chapter survival.

Character Interactions

• Li Qinwu and Saint Raiser communicate indirectly because Saint Raiser is offended by Li Qinwu’s theory and insults.
• Li Qinwu teases Saint Raiser by assigning him the role of “mother,” leading to a chase.
• Yamashita Maru becomes caught between them, first questioning their communication habits and then becoming Saint Raiser’s unwilling target.
• Saint Raiser’s pursuit shifts from punishment to mentorship, as he deliberately maintains pressure to test Yamashita Maru’s potential.
• The chapter ends with Yamashita Maru embracing the “mother” joke, while Saint Raiser once again loses his temper.

Li Qinwu planned to build a nuclear industrial chain to equip his children’s Knight Guard, and Nightingale suggested mining helium-3 on Agricultural Planet 496b’s moons. Li Qinwu realized the moons could support nuclear industry and said he could establish it within five years.

• Li Qinwu reviewed the Knight Guard roster and approved Nightingale’s plan to recruit twenty thousand soldiers with generous benefits.
• Li Qinwu proposed granting Knight Guard members Longevity Surgery and considered using their families’ ties to strengthen his control over future Astartes recruits.
• Nightingale pressed Li Qinwu to provide the children’s Knight Guard with tanks, armored vehicles, and Squire Mechs.
• Li Qinwu explained that he was researching the nuclear industrial chain so the planet could eventually produce Plasma Reactors for Knight Mechs.
• Nightingale suggested mining helium-3 on the planet’s two moons and building a Nuclear Factory there to avoid polluting the planet.
• Li Qinwu embraced Nightingale and declared that he could establish the nuclear industrial chain in five years instead of fifty.

Li Qinwu asked the Iron Skull Archmagos to use his knowledge of Industrial World 496A to secure resources for Agricultural World 496B’s nuclear industrial chain. He proposed threatening the new archmagos with a complaint to Mars unless he cooperated, and the Iron Skull Archmagos agreed.

• Li Qinwu returned to the Golden Land after spending two days with his family and found the Iron Skull Archmagos working in the mechanical laboratory.
• Li Qinwu explained that normal trade would take fifty years to build the nuclear industrial chain on Agricultural World 496B’s moon and asked the Iron Skull Archmagos to use his assets, technology, and connections.
• Li Qinwu explained how the new archmagos had exiled the Iron Skull Archmagos’s backup consciousness and taken over his position and property.
• Li Qinwu proposed threatening to expose the new archmagos’s actions to the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars unless he supplied money, resources, and technology.
• The Iron Skull Archmagos considered the plan and agreed that it could work.

Chapter Summary

Key Points and Events

• The author explains that his standard schedule consists of two regular chapters per day, totaling about 4,000 words. Bonus chapters are written afterward in response to reader tips and are clearly labeled.
• He asks readers to verify this themselves through the table of contents rather than accusing him of disguising regular chapters as tip-funded bonuses.
• Because tips can exceed his daily writing capacity, some bonus chapters remain outstanding. He records larger tips with screenshots and intends to repay all of them, including more than thirty outstanding bonuses for the Goblin novel.
• The Goblin novel has surpassed three million words and entered a difficult creative phase, but the author feels its storyline has recently improved. He promises to resume producing its bonus chapters after clearing those owed on the Warhammer side and expects the novel to reach at least four million words, possibly five million.
• He denies using AI to write his novels, joking that the frequent typos and distinctive style prove the writing is human-generated.
• He clarifies that chapters average around 2,000 words, though individual chapters may range from roughly 1,000 to 2,800 words. A tip of approximately 100 earns one bonus chapter, while smaller tips are acknowledged collectively because they are harder to track.
• The author explains that he may take one monthly day off provided by Tomato Novel. Readers should not assume he has died if no chapter appears; he has even taught his family how to post a notice if that ever happens.
• He emphatically rejects readers’ interpretation that the T’au are equivalent to “Old Zhong.” He admits that an intended ideological confrontation accidentally became an overabundance of monster enemies. He summarizes the T’au’s role metaphorically: some people resist direct violence but surrender when offered attractive incentives.
• Outside the novel, the author and several group moderators—including the group owner, Big Greenskin—had their phone numbers apparently leaked. They were repeatedly subjected to waves of verification-code bombardment, with one moderator receiving dozens of codes in a minute.
• Although the attack was inconvenient, the author jokes that it shows he has become successful enough to attract jealousy. He playfully teases one moderator who was not targeted and suggests the group should “make up” the missed bombardment themselves.

Character/Author Development

• The author presents himself as conscientious and professionally responsible, emphasizing that he tracks tips and intends to fulfill every promised bonus chapter.
• He acknowledges creative fatigue and temporary reluctance toward the Goblin novel, but expresses renewed confidence in its direction and commitment to completing it.
• His humor remains self-deprecating and irreverent, particularly regarding typos, AI accusations, death rumors, and the verification-code attack.
• The group moderators are portrayed as loyal companions who share the harassment and respond with humor rather than panic.

Significant Themes

• Professional integrity and trust: The author repeatedly asks readers to judge his update and tip practices through verifiable records.
• Creative labor and exhaustion: The chapter highlights the limits of daily word production, the burden of maintaining multiple novels, and the need for occasional rest.
• Reader-author reciprocity: Tips are framed as financial support that creates obligations, with the author carefully recording and repaying them.
• Authenticity and individuality: The denial of AI use reinforces the author’s distinctive, imperfect writing style.
• Humor as resilience: Both creative criticism and online harassment are defused through exaggerated jokes and absurdity.
• Ideological temptation: The T’au discussion contrasts resistance to overt force with susceptibility to appealing material incentives.

Character Interactions

• The author directly addresses readers, asking them to inspect the table of contents and trust his records rather than repeat accusations.
• He thanks readers who provide tips, affectionately calling them his “cyber godfathers.”
• He discusses his relationship with the Goblin and Warhammer readerships, promising to balance obligations between the two novels.
• He describes coordination with his family, who know how to manage his publishing account in an emergency.
• He recounts the group moderators’ shared experience of being bombarded with verification codes, turning the incident into a collective joke—especially at the expense of the moderator who was inexplicably left out.

Li Qinwu prepared an extortion scheme against the Industrial World while waiting for the envoy from Terra to investigate the Chaos corruption on Purple Diamond Star. After meeting Lord Ricardo, he received permission to travel to Terra and was told to fulfill Inquisitor Thraxol’s final request by taking his Abhuman daughter there, while keeping her away from Thraxol’s father.

• The Iron Skull Archmagos helped Li Qinwu send a Cogitator Array to the Industrial World with demands and arranged to complain to Mars if its new Archmagos did not cooperate.
• An envoy from Terra arrived, investigated Purple Diamond Star and questioned Li Qinwu after half a month.
• Li Qinwu met Lord Ricardo, who was accompanied by the Pale Baron, and explained how Inquisitor Thraxol died and his body was cremated.
• Li Qinwu told Ricardo that Thraxol had asked him to take his daughter to Terra and help secure her future.
• Ricardo refused to take responsibility for Thraxol’s Abhuman daughter but granted Li Qinwu and his crew permission to travel to Terra, warning him to keep her away from her grandfather.

Chapter Summary: “Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the Sol System!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After two months of travel, Li Qinwu’s fleet—led by the Golden Road and accompanied by Armed Merchant Ships and the Mine Snail—emerges from the Gate of Bliss near Uranus and enters the Sol System.
• The Gate of Bliss is revealed as a colossal ancient structure, three thousand kilometers wide, built during humanity’s technologically advanced past. The modern Imperium no longer understands how to create such devices and can only maintain and use them.
• The gate is heavily protected by the Sol System fleet, Star Fortresses, space cannons, the Imperial Navy, Astra Militarum, and Astartes. Traffic is immense, with warships, merchant vessels, and pilgrimage ships constantly passing through.
• Because of Ricardo’s high-priority travel permit, the fleet waits only half a month before receiving permission to proceed toward Terra, which is five days away.
• The travelers become intensely excited at the prospect of reaching Terra, viewing the pilgrimage as an almost sacred honor.
• While traveling through the crowded Sol System, the fleet passes numerous fortresses, docks, and artificial megastructures.
• The Iron Skull Archmagos unexpectedly comes to the bridge and points out Mars, identifying it as the Adeptus Mechanicus’ holy homeworld and humanity’s greatest Forge World.
• Li Qinwu and the captain admire Mars’s enormous shipyards, which produce powerful vessels such as Gloriana-class Battleships.
• Inspired by the sight of these massive warships, the captain suggests that Li Qinwu acquire a larger ship. Li Qinwu agrees that they should pursue a cruiser, though he considers a battleship financially unrealistic for now.
• Li Qinwu plans to reach Terra first and sell or exchange valuable items in order to fund the upgrade.

Character Developments

• Li Qinwu remains ambitious and opportunistic. His awe at Mars’s shipyards quickly turns into practical thinking about improving his fleet and acquiring a cruiser.
• The captain displays both loyalty and greed. He praises Li Qinwu’s “heroic brilliance” while openly coveting a larger, more powerful command ship.
• The Iron Skull Archmagos reveals a rare emotional vulnerability. His description of Mars suggests that he once trained there and may still wonder whether his former mentor survives.
• The fleet’s ordinary crew members show how deeply the Imperium’s religious culture affects them. Merely entering the Sol System fills them with overwhelming excitement and devotion.

Significant Themes

• The decline of human civilization: The Gate of Bliss represents humanity’s lost technological greatness, while the modern Imperium survives by using relics it no longer understands.
• Religion and pilgrimage: Terra functions as both humanity’s birthplace and a holy destination. Believers sacrifice their wealth and endure extreme hardship for the chance to see it.
• Scale and power: The Sol System is depicted as a center of immense military, industrial, and religious power, filled with fortresses, fleets, shipyards, and artificial megastructures.
• Nostalgia and lost history: The Archmagos’s reaction to Mars highlights the personal and emotional weight of humanity’s ancient institutions.
• Ambition and material advancement: Li Qinwu’s admiration of the warships reinforces his desire to rise in power and transform his fleet into a stronger military force.

Character Interactions

• The crowded bridge brings Li Qinwu, his aides, and crew members together as they collectively marvel at the Sol System.
• The Iron Skull Archmagos takes control of the bridge’s instruments and shares his knowledge of Mars, briefly revealing his personal connection to the planet.
• Li Qinwu examines Mars’s shipyards after the Archmagos leaves, bonding with the captain through their shared envy of the enormous vessels.
• The captain flatters Li Qinwu and proposes acquiring a larger ship, while Li Qinwu privately recognizes that the captain is motivated partly by his own desire to command it.

Chapter Summary: “Stall TV 2.0”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Qinwu’s fleet reaches Terra’s outer defensive zone and joins thousands of pilgrim ships waiting for permission to land.
• The fleet undergoes an exhaustive ten-day inspection by several thousand Arbites. Because Li Qinwu has hidden all questionable items and beings in the Vault, the inspectors find no biological or Warp contamination.
• Although cleared to proceed, Li Qinwu learns that Terra is severely overcrowded, with more than 300 billion inhabitants despite a stated capacity of 280 billion. Ships at the front of the queue have already waited three years, and Li Qinwu’s fleet is expected to wait another three to five years.
• The Arbites present Li Qinwu with a bill for administrative and orbital docking fees totaling four million Thrones.
• Li Qinwu reveals that the Solar Lord’s youngest son, “Little Sun,” is aboard his fleet after being rescued. The Arbites officer immediately promises to report the matter, hoping to secure special treatment or a shorter wait.
• Li Qinwu then discovers that even after docking, every individual must pay 100 Thrones for a ticket to descend to Terra’s surface. With approximately 70,000 people in his fleet, visiting Terra would cost seven million Thrones.
• Despite the enormous expense, Li Qinwu decides that everyone should have the chance to set foot on humanity’s birthplace. He prioritizes morale and the once-in-a-lifetime experience over financial prudence.
• To raise money, he resumes his old stall-selling tactics, publicly advertising heavily discounted Power Swords. He falsely claims that the Iron Skull Archmagos abandoned workers without wages, forcing them to raid the Mechanicus warehouse.
• The Iron Skull Archmagos hears the broadcast and angrily curses Li Qinwu.

Character Developments

• Li Qinwu remains practical and profit-conscious, but his concern for his followers becomes increasingly evident. Although shocked by the docking and ticket fees, he ultimately chooses to spend millions so his people can experience Terra.
• His entrepreneurial instincts quickly return under financial pressure. Rather than accept defeat, he immediately devises a dramatic sales campaign to replenish his funds.
• The head Arbites officer is portrayed as bureaucratic but somewhat sympathetic and pragmatic. He complains about Terra’s overcrowding and expense while taking interest in Li Qinwu’s tobacco and reacting strongly to the news about Little Sun.
• The captain acts as Li Qinwu’s source of practical information, learning about Terra’s landing fees through communication with nearby merchant ships.
• The Iron Skull Archmagos becomes the target of Li Qinwu’s fabricated advertising and reacts with fury, reinforcing their antagonistic relationship.

Significant Themes

• Bureaucracy and commercialization: Terra, supposedly humanity’s holiest and most important world, is presented as an overcrowded tourist destination dominated by fees, permits, queues, and administrative charges.
• The absurdity of pilgrimage: Visitors spend fortunes and wait years merely to reach an overcrowded planet where the main attractions are people, pollution, and basic bodily functions.
• Leadership and morale: Li Qinwu recognizes that denying his followers the chance to visit Terra could damage morale for years, so he sacrifices financial resources for their emotional well-being.
• Entrepreneurship and improvisation: Li Qinwu repeatedly turns crises into business opportunities, using exaggerated advertising and questionable claims to fund his plans.
• Satire of the Imperium: The chapter humorously contrasts Terra’s sacred status with its dysfunctional administration, inflated prices, congestion, and exploitative tourism system.

Character Interactions

• Li Qinwu negotiates with the head Arbites officer about the fleet’s inspection, waiting time, and possible preferential treatment because Little Sun is aboard.
• The Arbites officer’s reaction to Little Sun transforms the situation from routine bureaucracy into a potentially high-priority matter.
• Li Qinwu and his captain discuss the additional cost of descending to Terra, forcing Li Qinwu to weigh financial loss against the morale of his people.
• Li Qinwu uses the fleet’s public communications system to attack and exploit the reputation of the Iron Skull Archmagos, prompting an enraged response from the absent Magos.

Li Qinwu expanded the Golden Land’s sales from Power Swords and Masterwork Lasguns to custom ship repairs and manufacturing, earning money from pilgrims whose vessels needed supplies. After advertising the new services, he attracted more merchants with repair requests, including one whose damaged Macro Cannons still needed inspection.

• Li Qinwu sold his stock of Power Swords and large quantities of Masterwork Lasguns, while only selling a dozen or so Bipedal Sentinel Mechs.
• A merchant ordered one hundred air-recycling pistons, and Busi modified the production lines to make them; Li Qinwu completed the sale and realized the surrounding pilgrim ships offered a major market for repairs and parts.
• Li Qinwu broadcast that the Golden Land offered custom parts manufacturing, Macro Cannon clearing, equipment repairs, and warship maintenance.
• A merchant ordered twenty thick alloy armor plates to repair a decades-old breach, and the Mine Snail produced them in just over an hour.
• A merchant asked Li Qinwu to repair two Macro Cannons damaged by space pirates, and Li Qinwu offered to send technicians aboard to inspect them.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Li Qinwu, Busi, and nearly a hundred technical workers travel by Shuttle to an Armed Merchant Ship waiting near Terra.
• The merchant ships are packed tightly together under Terra’s strict military control. Any unauthorized engine activation or shield deployment would provoke immediate weapons fire.
• The merchant’s vessel is first in the queue, though he has already waited three years for permission to enter Terra and make his pilgrimage.
• Li Qinwu inspects the ship, an aging but functional 800-meter vessel equipped with a Warp Engine, Geller Field, Void Shield, Macro Cannons, and Lances. Its defensive and offensive systems are weak, but its engines and cargo capacity are adequate for trade.
• The merchant reveals that his cargo is an entire shipload of naturally sourced water from a Feudal World. Although synthesized water is common, he hopes Terra’s elites will pay a premium for “natural” water.
• He then explains that he is the son of a planetary governor whose uncle murdered his father and usurped the position. Forced to flee with only the ship and his loyal crew, he has almost no capital and is attempting to rebuild his fortune through trade.
• His plan is to sell the water for roughly one million Thrones, purchase industrial goods on Mars, and spend decades trading until he can regain enough wealth to return home and take revenge.
• Li Qinwu worries that the merchant may not even be able to afford the repairs he came to perform, but the merchant insists that he has money and begs him not to leave.

Character developments

• Li Qinwu remains practical and profit-conscious, evaluating both the ship and the merchant’s business decisions. He is also frustrated by the possibility that he may have to wait years to visit Terra himself.
• The merchant is revealed to be a dispossessed noble and survivor rather than merely an eccentric trader. His seemingly foolish water shipment is actually the desperate first step in a long-term plan to regain power and avenge his father.
• The merchant’s loyalty to his 5,000-person crew is emphasized: they are his only remaining assets and remain devoted to him after his exile.

Significant themes

• Rigid control and militarization: Terra’s crowded ship queues and readiness to fire without warning show how order is maintained through intimidation and overwhelming force.
• Survival and rebuilding: The merchant must begin again with almost nothing, using whatever resources are available.
• Trade and economic hierarchy: Natural goods command prestige and profit despite advanced technology, while access to Terra and Mars is tightly restricted.
• Revenge and ambition: The merchant’s commercial plans are ultimately motivated by his desire to reclaim his inheritance and punish his uncle.
• Class and privilege: Even a governor’s son is powerless without money or political connections, while Terra’s elite can afford luxuries such as natural water.

Character interactions

• Li Qinwu and the merchant discuss Terra’s pilgrimage system, the ship’s condition, and the value of different cargoes.
• Li Qinwu questions the merchant’s decision to transport water, while the merchant initially defends it as a profitable luxury product before confessing his desperate financial circumstances.
• When Li Qinwu begins to leave after realizing the merchant may be impoverished, the merchant physically stops him and reassures him that he can pay for the repairs.

Chapter Summary: “Local Specialties”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Busi inspects the port-side Macro Cannons of a damaged armed merchant ship and determines that both are beyond repair—one barrel is shattered, while the other cannon and its firing chamber were catastrophically destroyed.
• The merchant captain worries that losing the guns will leave the ship vulnerable on its port side, especially because large spacecraft are difficult to turn and depend on full defensive coverage.
• Busi proposes salvaging two 1000mm Macro Cannons recovered from destroyed traitor warships and installing them in the damaged chambers. The replacement would cost 300,000 Thrones, but the merchant can afford only 50,000.
• Li Qinwu and Busi develop a cheaper alternative: replacing the destroyed cannons with four 300mm, twenty-tube Rocket Launchers. The launchers have shorter range but can fire eighty rockets rapidly at close range, making them effective against pirate shuttles and raiding craft.
• The merchant accepts the plan, receiving 500 spare rockets, and pays immediately. Busi’s workers begin converting the gun chambers and installing the new launchers.
• While the work proceeds, Li Qinwu asks the merchant about profitable goods to sell on Terra and valuable Terra-made exports.
• The merchant explains that natural products—including tobacco, alcohol, timber, animals, leather, flowers, and plants—are extremely valuable on Terra because the planet’s natural environment has been almost entirely destroyed.
• Terra has little industry or agriculture and depends heavily on imports. Its main exports are cultural or bureaucratic artifacts such as sculptures, calligraphy, paintings, and official documents associated with powerful nobles.
• The merchant concludes with an unusual piece of advice: if Li Qinwu sees actual soil on Terra, he should collect it immediately because even dirt is rare and valuable there.

Character Developments

• Li Qinwu demonstrates practical judgment and business flexibility. Rather than pressuring the impoverished merchant into an impossible purchase, he works with Busi to create an affordable defensive solution.
• He also begins thinking more seriously about trade opportunities, recognizing that his stocked supplies of tea, tobacco, alcohol, and other agricultural products could bring enormous profits on Terra.
• Busi is shown as both technically skilled and resourceful. He uses salvaged military equipment and designs an economical replacement suited to the merchant ship’s likely enemies.
• The merchant captain is revealed to be financially desperate after fleeing an uncle who seized power and threatened his life. Despite his poverty, he remains cautious and commercially minded, negotiating over price and asking about ammunition supplies.

Significant Themes

• Practical adaptation: Damaged military equipment is repurposed rather than discarded, and the defensive system is tailored to the ship’s actual threats.
• Commerce and survival: The merchant’s limited funds reflect how political upheaval and piracy affect ordinary traders, while Li Qinwu’s willingness to negotiate strengthens a potentially useful business relationship.
• Scarcity and value: Terra’s environmental devastation has made ordinary natural products luxury goods, illustrating how economic value depends on local conditions.
• Bureaucracy and political power: Terra’s lack of productive industry contrasts with its enormous administrative class, while official documents gain value because of their connection to powerful—and sometimes disgraced—leaders.
• Irony and absurdity: Terra’s “local specialties” are largely bureaucratic memorabilia, and even soil is treated as a valuable commodity.

Character Interactions

• Busi reports the cannons’ condition directly to Li Qinwu and proposes the salvaged-cannon solution.
• Li Qinwu mediates between Busi and the merchant, asks about the merchant’s budget, and helps negotiate a workable alternative.
• The merchant bargains over the repair cost and confirms that 500 spare rockets are sufficient before paying for the installation.
• While smoking together, Li Qinwu and the merchant shift from ship repairs to business discussion, exchanging information about Terra’s imports, exports, nobility, and political history.

Li Qinwu learned about the political and financial value of Terra Soil, then Dorodo asked him to help reclaim the throne stolen by his uncle. Li Qinwu considered expanding into mercenary work while earning a fortune repairing ships, and the Solar Lord sent someone to collect his Little Sun.

• Dorodo told Li Qinwu that Terra Soil was extremely valuable and revealed that his uncle had killed his father and seized his realm.
• Dorodo asked Li Qinwu to help him reclaim his Planetary Governor's throne, and Li Qinwu accepted the possibility while taking Dorodo's route and home-planet information.
• Li Qinwu returned to the Golden Road and organized his workers into teams to repair ships and manufacture replacement parts.
• Li Qinwu's workers soothed a troublesome machine spirit with prayers, adding a paid spirit-soothing service to his business.
• Li Qinwu's savings approached a hundred million Thrones, and the Solar Lord sent someone to collect his Little Sun.

Chapter Summary: “Scalper Tickets”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A luxurious golden Shuttle arrives at the Golden Road, carrying the Solar Lord’s family and twenty elite Solar Kasrkin Guards.
• Li Qinwu presents the rescued Jiahao, who is still safely preserved in a hibernation pod.
• Jiahao’s mother reacts hysterically, accusing Li Qinwu of imprisoning her child and ordering the guards to kill him. The guards ignore her command, while the family’s butler calmly thanks Li Qinwu and gives him one million Thrones as compensation.
• The family retrieves Jiahao and leaves immediately, making it clear that they regard Li Qinwu as an insignificant outsider despite his service.
• Frustrated that he cannot use the Solar Lord’s influence to bypass Terra’s three-year queue, Li Qinwu learns that Dorodo—the ship currently at the front—has begun selling tickets to Terra for ten thousand Thrones each.
• Li Qinwu decides that he and Nova will buy “scalper tickets” and travel to Terra, while the rest of his crew remains behind to earn money through ship repairs.
• The captain warns that the crew is running out of steel because of the enormous amount consumed repairing ships. He proposes smelting abandoned ancient space stations near Terra into usable metal, simultaneously supplying the crew and helping Terra clear space debris.

Character Developments

• Li Qinwu becomes increasingly pragmatic and impatient. Although disappointed by the Solar family’s arrogance, he quickly shifts focus toward finding another way to reach Terra.
• Jiahao’s mother is revealed to be entitled, volatile, and fiercely overprotective, mirroring the outrageous behavior previously associated with her son.
• The butler demonstrates controlled politeness but maintains an unmistakably condescending attitude, using money to close the matter without forming a relationship with Li Qinwu.
• The captain continues to act as a practical manager, identifying both the crew’s dwindling resources and a profitable solution involving abandoned space stations.
• Nova is positioned as Li Qinwu’s companion for the upcoming trip to Terra, though she does not actively participate in this chapter.

Significant Themes

• Class arrogance and social hierarchy: The Solar family’s wealth and status allow them to treat Li Qinwu as disposable, even after he saves their child.
• Money replacing gratitude: The one-million-Throne reward is generous but emotionally insulting to Li Qinwu because it is clearly intended to end the relationship rather than express genuine respect.
• Pragmatism and opportunity: Rather than remain trapped by bureaucracy, Li Qinwu exploits the unofficial ticket market to reach Terra sooner.
• Resourcefulness and mutually beneficial trade: The proposed space-station salvage plan turns a problem—Terra’s abandoned space junk—into a source of steel for the crew.
• Bureaucracy and loopholes: Terra’s queue system regulates how many people arrive, not their identities, creating a tolerated market for front-of-the-line passage.

Character Interactions

• Li Qinwu and Jiahao’s mother clash immediately over the use of the hibernation pod, with her hostility contrasting against his restrained irritation.
• The Solar Kasrkin captain silently defers to the butler rather than obeying the mother’s reckless assassination order.
• The butler and Li Qinwu maintain outwardly polite but socially unequal relations, with the gold card serving as both payment and dismissal.
• Li Qinwu and his captain discuss the Terra journey, the repair business, and the shortage of steel, ultimately agreeing on a division of labor: Li Qinwu and Nova go to Terra while the crew continues operating and salvaging materials.