Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Jing Yi successfully creates a New Energy Card, but hides the production process by placing the card in a box, frustrating the livestream audience and commentator Carrot Bro.
• The firewood-gathering group returns, while Wild King brings back mushrooms and water from the cave’s underground lake.
• Jing Yi learns that the cave’s oversized pangolin-like creatures survive on the mushrooms. Because they eat only mushrooms, remain underground, and get little exercise, their meat is unusually tender and free of the typical gamey odor.
• Jing Yi decides to prepare the creatures and mushrooms as the team’s first meal after landing. The mushrooms are used both as food and seasoning.
• The team roasts the skinned creatures over a fire, rubbing them with salt and stuffing them with mushrooms. While the others manage the cooking, Jing Yi continues producing New Energy Cards.
• Carrot Bro becomes increasingly exasperated that the contestants are focused on cooking instead of explaining the galaxy-shaking discovery of the New Energy Cards.
• Jing Yi eventually finishes the roasting process, using the creature’s own fat and mushroom powder to create a golden, fragrant meal.
• The ten men eagerly carve up and devour the large roasted creature. Jing Yi receives a front leg and enjoys the tender, crispy meat.
• Viewers react dramatically: some change channels, others eat snacks while watching, and many become jealous of the team’s unexpectedly luxurious meal.

2. Character Developments

• Jing Yi/Madam Qin demonstrates continued ingenuity and competence. He not only produces multiple New Energy Cards but also efficiently organizes the group’s survival tasks and prepares an excellent meal from unfamiliar ingredients.
• Wild King contributes practically by gathering mushrooms and water, supporting the group’s food and hydration needs.
• The Grey Eagle Squad functions as a cooperative survival team. They gather firewood, prepare the meat, tend the fire, and enthusiastically share the meal.
• Carrot Bro becomes increasingly frustrated and comedic in his role as commentator. He recognizes the importance of the New Energy Cards but is powerless to make the contestants reveal more information.
• The contestants’ morale improves as they enjoy the unexpectedly delicious food, making their harsh landing environment feel temporarily comfortable.

3. Significant Themes

• Resourcefulness and survival: Jing Yi transforms unfamiliar cave creatures and mushrooms into a satisfying meal, showing how adaptability is essential in a hostile environment.
• The contrast between importance and ordinary life: The New Energy Cards may have enormous galactic significance, yet the contestants prioritize immediate needs such as food, fire, and rest.
• Spectacle and audience frustration: The viewers expect a major scientific revelation, but instead witness a cooking scene, creating humor through the mismatch between public expectations and the team’s priorities.
• Unexpected abundance in a harsh setting: Although the cave appears bleak and isolated, it contains clean water, edible mushrooms, and high-quality meat.
• Comfort and morale: Sharing a hearty meal strengthens the group’s sense of satisfaction and camaraderie after landing.

4. Character Interactions

• Jing Yi directs the others in preparing and roasting the cave creatures while trusting them to handle the fire and turning spits.
• Wild King’s gathered supplies enable Jing Yi’s cooking plan, linking his exploration efforts with Jing Yi’s culinary skill.
• The Grey Eagle Squad works together around the fire and later shares the meal, displaying cooperation and mutual reliance.
• Carrot Bro narrates the events for the audience, repeatedly contrasting the team’s casual cooking with the wider galaxy’s desperate interest in the New Energy Cards.
• Jing Yi receives special treatment from Qin Meng, who gives him a front leg during the meal, highlighting the group’s regard for him.
• The contestants’ enthusiastic eating interacts humorously with the audience’s reactions, turning an ordinary survival meal into a galaxy-wide spectacle.

Chapter Summary — Page 242

After eating only one small leg of the cave creature, Jing Yi is satisfied and returns to making Energy Cards. The other nine team members, however, remain hungry because the creature provides far too little meat for their enormous appetites. While they roast more food, they discuss how to complete the mission.
The mission has seven major requirements:

1. Collect five-meter-long back spikes from an adult male Ridge Sword Dragon.
2. Obtain a gastrolith at least half a meter wide from an enormous Long-neck Creek Dragon, whose temperament and destructive tail make it extremely dangerous.
3. Acquire a four-meter Triceratops horn, requiring the team to confront an adult, herd-dwelling species known for its aggression.
4. Mine several rare Planet One minerals, including Kryptonite Ore, Sulfur Gold Ore, Pink Diamond Ore, and Energy Crystal.
5. Gather special plants such as Bewitching Grass roots, Stardust Grass leaves, and Luotian Tree fruit.
6. Protect their collected materials while eliminating rival participants for points.
7. Reach the designated endpoint within the time limit, with earlier arrival earning a higher score.
   In addition to these objective scores, ten off-site judges will evaluate each squad’s overall performance. The team quickly realizes that the mission’s greatest challenges will be locating the scarce resources and competing with other squads for them. Since only a limited number of mission items are available, conflict is inevitable, and success will depend heavily on Qin Meng’s tactical leadership. Ambushes, alliances, opportunistic attacks, and carefully timed interventions are all likely to matter.
   Qin Meng asks the team members for their opinions before calmly creating a complete strategy. He deliberately lowers his voice at key moments, frustrating the audience, who cannot hear the plan. This adds a playful, suspense-building element to the broadcast.
   Meanwhile, Jing Yi completes nine Energy Cards. The commentator explains that Jing Yi—known as Madam Qin—developed the New Energy Card through accidental discovery and later learned to produce Two-Star cards with an exceptionally high success rate, completing one in roughly fifteen minutes. Although the military has not released official data, his performance suggests that the new cards may be superior to conventional Energy Cards.
   Other squads follow the Grey Eagle Squad’s example and hide immediately after landing so they can produce Energy Cards before engaging in combat. However, the Grey Eagle Squad is not the most unfortunate team: five squads are eliminated almost at once. Some are dropped directly among packs of carnivorous dinosaurs and are overwhelmed before they can escape, while others die after lingering near poisonous plants they failed to identify.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Jing Yi demonstrates remarkable productivity and technical skill, quietly producing Energy Cards while the rest of the team plans.
• Qin Meng reinforces his role as the composed and strategic captain. He encourages group input but ultimately takes responsibility for designing the mission plan.
• The nine other team members reveal their huge appetites and practical awareness of the mission’s dangers, recognizing that resources and rival squads will force them into combat.
• Jing Yi and Qin Meng’s relationship is indirectly highlighted through Jing Yi’s title, “Madam Qin,” and his contribution to the team’s preparation.
• The commentator and audience provide comic relief, especially through their frustration at Qin Meng’s intentionally secretive whispers.

Significant Themes

• Survival and competition: Scarce resources make cooperation temporary and conflict unavoidable.
• Strategy and leadership: Tactical planning may be more important than raw strength.
• Preparation versus danger: The teams must balance gathering energy and supplies with the risk of being attacked.
• Technological advancement: Jing Yi’s New Energy Cards suggest a major improvement over existing military technology.
• Nature as a deadly environment: Planet One’s dinosaurs and plants are equally hazardous, emphasizing the need for knowledge and caution.
• Suspense and spectacle: The mission is both a genuine survival contest and a public performance designed to entertain viewers.

Chapter Summary: “A Chance Encounter on a Narrow Road!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The competition on Planet One begins intensely. Five squads are completely wiped out, while thirty-six others survive difficult encounters with varying casualties.
• Viewers from both Mi Star and X-Star become deeply invested in the large-scale live broadcast, especially because the two races use very different combat methods.
• In the X-Star palace, Princess Besser assures the queen that X-Star will win despite the Mi Star people’s discovery of how to produce New Energy Cards. The queen remains uneasy and worries that this development may disrupt their plans.
• Ordinary X-Star citizens react enthusiastically to the broadcast, cheering for favored squads while mocking Mi Star physical traits and expressing concern over New Energy Cards.
• Jing Yi finishes producing nine Energy Cards for the Grey Eagle Squad. Rather than remain safely in place to make more cards, the squad immediately moves out.
• The Grey Eagle Squad is unknowingly advancing near two X-Star squads, creating suspense as both sides approach the same area.
• Wild King and Treasure Rat scout ahead while the rest of the squad travels in a spindle formation. Treasure Rat discovers fresh tracks and dung belonging to a Ridge Sword Dragon.
• The squad begins a stealth pursuit, avoiding herds of Thunder Dragons and Dense-Toothed Sand Dragons. Their transformed, low-profile mechs move quietly through the vegetation and avoid attracting predators.
• After tracking the Ridge Sword Dragon for more than ten minutes, the squad suddenly detects other people nearby and comes to an immediate stop, setting up a likely confrontation.

Character Developments

• Jing Yi demonstrates both technical skill and confidence by producing nine New Energy Cards, enough to equip the entire squad. His decision to leave rather than continue crafting suggests a willingness to take calculated risks.
• Qin Meng takes an active leadership role in the hunt, evaluating Treasure Rat’s findings and ordering the squad to pursue the Ridge Sword Dragon under stealth conditions.
• Wild King and Treasure Rat show complementary scouting abilities: Wild King searches for danger, while Treasure Rat identifies mission targets through tracking.
• The Grey Eagle Squad as a whole displays remarkable coordination, especially when all nine mechs halt simultaneously without losing formation or control.
• Princess Besser remains openly confident in X-Star’s superiority, while the queen’s unease reveals that the New Energy Cards may represent a serious strategic threat.

Significant Themes

• Competition and survival: The early eliminations establish the danger of the contest and the high cost of mistakes.
• Technological advantage: New Energy Cards have altered the balance between Mi Star and X-Star, creating anxiety among X-Star leaders and curiosity among the public.
• Public spectacle: The competition is not merely a military contest but a massive entertainment event watched by both civilizations.
• Confidence versus foreboding: Besser’s certainty contrasts with the queen’s ominous intuition, hinting that X-Star’s plans may encounter unexpected complications.
• Teamwork and precision: The Grey Eagle Squad’s success depends on specialized roles, stealth, discipline, and flawless coordination rather than brute strength alone.

Character Interactions

• Princess Besser reassures the queen that X-Star will win, but the queen challenges her confidence by raising concerns about Mi Star’s New Energy Cards.
• X-Star viewers debate which squads will win and ridicule the Mi Star contestants, while also worrying about Mi Star’s technological progress.
• Within the Grey Eagle Squad, Wild King and Treasure Rat perform separate scouting duties, Qin Meng directs the pursuit, and Jing Yi travels with the team after supplying its Energy Cards.
• The chapter ends as the squad encounters nearby competitors, bringing the different teams into potential conflict.

Chapter 244 Summary

Key plot points and events

The Grey Eagle Squad discovers a group of X-Star competitors nearly two kilometers away in a concealed hollow. The X-Star team is distracted, using primitive methods to manufacture medicine by crushing, chopping, mixing, and rolling various ingredients into large resin-bound balls. Their poor security leaves most of their mechs unattended while only four scouts watch the surroundings.
Qin Meng orders the Grey Eagle Squad to observe rather than attack immediately. Once he understands the X-Star team’s vulnerable position, he organizes an ambush. Stone and Lone Wolf, along with Brown Bear and Wrench, are assigned to lure away the scouts, while Qin Meng leads the remaining members in a direct rush to disable the unmanned mechs. Monkey and Wild King initiate the assault at top speed.

Character developments

Qin Meng demonstrates patience, tactical awareness, and strong leadership by restraining his squad’s eagerness to fight and carefully assessing the enemy before acting. The Grey Eagle members, now fully rested and supplied with energy, regain their confidence and aggression after earlier being humiliated by the Sawtooth Dragon. Their discipline is also evident in their decision to avoid firearms, preserving energy and concealing their capabilities.

Significant themes

The chapter emphasizes strategy over brute force, showing how observation, concealment, and timing can create an overwhelming advantage. It also highlights resource management: despite having abundant energy, the Grey Eagle Squad avoids unnecessary firearm use because of its noise, energy cost, and potential to attract predators or rival teams. The contrast between advanced technology and the X-Star team’s primitive medicine-making adds a theme of ingenuity and forgotten knowledge.

Character interactions

The Grey Eagle members initially urge Qin Meng to attack immediately, but he firmly orders them to wait and watch. Once he gives the command, the squad responds enthusiastically and coordinates into specialized groups. Meanwhile, the livestream audience recognizes the impending ambush, with Mi Star viewers cheering and X-Star viewers reacting angrily to their team’s lack of vigilance. The chapter ends as Monkey and Wild King launch the attack, with the Grey Eagle Squad moving to separate the scouts and destroy the unattended mechs.

Chapter Summary: “An Eerie Battle”

• The Grey Eagle Squad launches a surprise attack on the Snow Wolf Squad just as the latter is completing its preparations. Monkey and Wild King lead the charge, forcing the four Snow Wolf guards to open fire and intercept them while warning their teammates below.
• Snow Wolf Captain Eve is caught off guard. She had chosen to work in the open rather than search for a cave, rejecting warnings that the location might be unsafe. Her decision was based on speed: she wanted to exploit the brief period when other teams were still making Energy Cards.
• The Snow Wolf Squad is dangerously exposed. Only six members are outside their mechs, rolling special “pills” made from gathered materials. The pills require one final step—activation through the X-Star people’s unique psychic power. The six cardmakers are only minutes away from finishing, but they must now carry the unfinished pills back to their mechs.
• Both sides activate their mechs at extreme speed. The Snow Wolf guards rush to delay Grey Eagle, hoping to give the unarmed cardmakers time to escape. The Grey Eagle members expend enormous amounts of energy by using Extreme Mode, a berserk setting that lets mechs cover two kilometers in roughly three seconds but consumes seventy or eighty Energy Cards.
• Eve believes the Snow Wolf Squad can outlast Grey Eagle. Although she is alarmed by Grey Eagle’s reckless energy expenditure, she remains confident because X-Star squads possess major resource advantages. Their teams usually include three or four cardmakers, and a newly discovered energy material allows them to create Energy Cards with twice the normal capacity.
• The chapter begins revealing the purpose of the mysterious pills. X-Star squads typically hide first, rapidly produce Energy Cards and food, then gather plant roots, leaves, and parts of particular animals—such as horns, blood, bones, and organs—to crush, mix, roll into balls, and infuse with psychic power. These preparations appear to be an important part of their combat strategy.

Character Development and Interactions

• Eve is established as proud, commanding, and risk-tolerant. She dismisses caution from her teammates and personally assumes control of the squad. Her thoughts show both frustration at Grey Eagle’s attack and confidence in X-Star’s superior resources.
• The Snow Wolf guards act defensively and cooperatively. They immediately move to intercept Grey Eagle, prioritizing protection of the exposed cardmakers over attacking the enemy.
• Grey Eagle Squad demonstrates aggression and coordination. Monkey and Wild King spearhead the assault while the rest of the squad uses extreme speed to exploit Snow Wolf’s moment of vulnerability.
• The opposing squads embody different strategic attitudes: Grey Eagle relies on sudden violence and massive energy expenditure, while Snow Wolf relies on preparation, numbers of cardmakers, and superior energy technology.

Significant Themes

• Risk versus caution: Eve’s decision to save time by avoiding a cave creates the opening Grey Eagle exploits.
• Resource advantages and hidden technology: The X-Star Region’s doubled-capacity Energy Cards give its teams a powerful strategic edge.
• Preparation versus surprise: Snow Wolf has carefully prepared unusual consumable weapons, but its preparations are threatened by Grey Eagle’s perfectly timed attack.
• The cost of power: Extreme Mode provides overwhelming speed but burns energy at an unsustainable rate, raising questions about whether immediate advantage is worth long-term vulnerability.
• Uncertainty and escalation: The purpose of the hand-rolled pills remains mysterious, suggesting that the coming battle will involve more than ordinary mech combat.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Grey Eagle Squad continues its mission without urgency, despite having an unusually high number of card makers and seemingly weak combat coverage. Jing Yi’s value as the team’s “healer” depends on his ability to replenish mech energy, and public criticism is temporarily silenced by the astonishing New Energy Card he created.
• The Grey Eagle Squad launches a surprise attack on the Snow Wolf Squad. Monkey and Wild King rapidly break through an attempted encirclement, while Brown Bear, Lone Wolf, Stone, and Wrench follow and engage four opposing mechs.
• The battle is heavily uneven: eight Grey Eagle members confront only four Snow Wolf combatants. Qin Meng, carrying Jing Yi in his mech, stays mostly defensive but repeatedly exploits openings, helping disable the enemy mechs.
• The Grey Eagle members continue dismantling the disabled mechs even after their opponents have lost combat capability, provoking frustration and humiliation among the Snow Wolf members.
• Most of the Snow Wolf team—including its four card makers—is prevented from reaching its mechs. Captain Eve manages to board hers, but Monkey destroys its power compartment before it can fully start. The remaining disabled mechs are similarly dismantled.
• The Snow Wolf Squad eventually raises white flags and surrenders, forcing Grey Eagle to stop attacking under the rules.
• Grey Eagle’s members complain that the victory was unsatisfying because the Snow Wolf fighters surrendered too easily instead of resisting or fighting to the death as expected.

Character Developments

• Jing Yi: Although regarded publicly as a weak card maker, he gains credibility through the mysterious New Energy Card that makes him strategically indispensable. His presence inside Qin Meng’s mech also limits Qin’s movements during the battle.
• Qin Meng: Demonstrates both tactical restraint and overwhelming combat ability. Rather than launching fully aggressive attacks while protecting Jing Yi, he guards the perimeter and strikes opportunistically.
• Monkey and Wild King: Their speed and agility are decisive. They break through the enemy formation and prevent most of the Snow Wolf team from reaching their mechs.
• Brown Bear and the Grey Eagle fighters: Reveal a ruthless, almost bullying attitude by dismantling already-disabled mechs. Their disappointment at the easy victory suggests they expected a much harsher and more honorable battle.
• Eve: As Snow Wolf’s captain, she reaches her mech but is quickly neutralized by Monkey, leaving her unable to change the battle’s outcome.
• Snow Wolf Squad: Their unexpected surrender contrasts sharply with their previous reputation for fierce, uncompromising combat.

Significant Themes

• Appearances versus reality: Jing Yi is labeled a weak healer, yet his New Energy Card may be one of the team’s greatest advantages. Likewise, the supposedly formidable Snow Wolf Squad proves unexpectedly vulnerable.
• Team composition and specialization: The chapter compares card makers to healers in a game, emphasizing the importance—and potential danger—of balancing support roles with combat strength.
• Rules and morality in combat: Grey Eagle technically follows the rules by stopping after the white flags are raised, but their continued destruction of disabled mechs exposes the difference between legal conduct and sportsmanship.
• Public perception and propaganda: Audiences on both sides interpret the battle according to their loyalties. Mi Star viewers celebrate, while X-Star viewers condemn the ambush despite their team’s defeat.
• Expectation and disappointment: Grey Eagle expects a brutal confrontation based on the Snow Wolf Squad’s past behavior, but the enemy’s cowardice and rapid surrender leave them frustrated rather than triumphant.

Character Interactions

• Monkey and Wild King coordinate their breakthrough, while Brown Bear, Lone Wolf, Stone, and Wrench follow to engage the enemy directly.
• Qin Meng protects Jing Yi while supporting the attack through opportunistic strikes.
• Monkey specifically targets Eve’s mech, destroying its power compartment and ensuring her defeat.
• The Grey Eagle members communicate afterward through their team channel, collectively criticizing the Snow Wolf Squad for surrendering instead of providing a satisfying fight.

Chapter Summary: “Lying Through Their Teeth”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• After signaling their surrender, the defeated Snow Wolf Squad is collected by the Inspection Team and taken away in a saucer-shaped spacecraft.
• Before leaving, the Snow Wolf members angrily throw the remaining Big Pills toward the Grey Eagle Squad.
• Suspecting a possible trap, the Grey Eagle members destroy every pill with laser fire before any can reach them.
• Qin Meng notices that the Snow Wolf Squad’s final expressions seem strangely smug rather than genuinely angry and orders the team to leave quickly.
• His suspicion proves correct: the destroyed pills—or their contents—trigger a dramatic reaction among the surrounding predators.
• Hundreds of massive creatures from different species suddenly become enraged and charge the Grey Eagle Squad from every direction, forming a complete encirclement.
• The squad fires on the advancing beasts, killing and wounding several, but the injured creatures only become more aggressive and continue attacking without fear.
• Escape by air is also impossible because flying predators block the sky. The Grey Eagle Squad is trapped and faces an imminent close-range battle against overwhelming numbers.

2. Character Developments

• Qin Meng demonstrates caution and strong tactical instincts. He recognizes that the Snow Wolf Squad’s final actions may have been deliberately deceptive and immediately attempts to withdraw.
• Brown Bear and the other Grey Eagle members show discipline and quick reflexes by destroying the thrown Big Pills without waiting for orders.
• The Snow Wolf Squad shifts from apparent rage to concealed satisfaction, revealing that their surrender and final gesture may have been part of a calculated plan.
• Jing Yi interprets the approaching attack through a military analogy, realizing that the squad must prevent the beasts from reaching close range or risk being overwhelmed.

3. Significant Themes

• Deception and hidden motives: The title reflects the Snow Wolf Squad’s false appearance of defeat and anger; their apparent retaliation conceals a trap.
• The danger of underestimating an enemy: The Grey Eagle Squad celebrates victory, only to discover that the defeated team has created a far more dangerous situation.
• Tactical awareness versus overwhelming force: Skill and powerful weapons can handle a few predators, but numbers and coordinated attacks threaten to overcome even an elite squad.
• Loss of natural instinct: The beasts’ refusal to retreat or fear death makes them especially terrifying, suggesting that they have been unnaturally manipulated or driven into a frenzy.
• The consequences of competition: Although the Snow Wolf Squad is eliminated, it still finds a way to influence the contest and endanger its opponents.

4. Character Interactions

• The Inspection Team deliberately avoids communicating with the Grey Eagle Squad to comply with competition rules, emphasizing the strict separation between competitors and officials.
• The Snow Wolf Squad communicates its hostility through the act of throwing the Big Pills, while its hidden smiles imply deliberate manipulation.
• Qin Meng’s warning directs the Grey Eagle Squad’s response, and the others immediately act in accordance with his tactical leadership.
• The team works together under pressure, firing on the encircling predators, but the worsening attack leaves them facing a desperate collective struggle.

Chapter Summary

• Qin Meng’s team is surrounded by extraordinarily powerful dinosaurs, including armored Triceratops, Megaraptors, Terror Horn Dragons, and massive Thunder Dragons. These creatures are far stronger than Earth’s prehistoric dinosaurs, powerful enough that their bones and horns are used to build Bio-Mechas.
• Suspecting that the “Big Pills” thrown by the X-Star Snow Wolf Squad caused the dinosaurs’ sudden frenzy, Qin Meng quickly arranges his eight Bio-Mechas in formation and orders them to break out toward the northwest at a thirty-five-degree angle. He chooses that route because it is close to their original path and contains fewer predators.
• The escape becomes a violent battle involving metal Bio-Mechas, blood, and enraged dinosaurs. Qin’s group is forced to expend large amounts of energy to survive.
• Viewers from Mi Star react furiously during the livestream. They conclude that the Big Pills were a deliberate trap: the X-Star team expected Qin’s group to destroy unfamiliar objects, releasing a smoke or substance that provoked the dinosaurs.
• The Mi Star audience accuses the X-Star people of violating the rules and demands that the Inspection Team intervene. They point out that Mi Star had previously shown restraint—disabling opposing Bio-Mechas without killing anyone and honoring a white-flag surrender—while the X-Star side has apparently attacked after the match should have ended.
• Speculation grows that the Big Pills may allow the X-Star teams to control or avoid the dinosaurs’ aggression. If so, the pills would provide an enormous and unfair advantage, especially because the X-Star teams may all have access to them.

Character Development and Interactions

• Qin Meng demonstrates tactical judgment and leadership under pressure. Rather than fighting aimlessly, he rapidly identifies the safest escape direction and gives precise orders to his squad.
• Qin Meng’s team works as a coordinated unit, relying on formation and collective force to survive the dinosaur assault.
• The Mi Star viewers act as an outraged collective, defending Qin’s team and condemning the X-Star squad. Their discussion shifts from immediate protest to concern over a larger conspiracy involving every X-Star team.
• The X-Star/Snow Wolf Squad is portrayed as calculating and possibly deceptive, using the Big Pills to manipulate the planet’s native predators while exploiting the opponents’ caution.

Significant Themes

• Fair play versus manipulation: The chapter questions whether the X-Star team has turned the environment itself into a weapon.
• Environmental regulation and ecological balance: The five major planets are intended to remain clean and natural. Weapons that cause mass ecological damage are forbidden because they could destroy both the creatures and the economic value of the hunting grounds.
• Profit and self-interest as restraints: The rules are upheld not only by morality but also by economics. Destroying the ecosystem would eliminate valuable prey and make hunting unprofitable.
• Fear of a technological advantage: If the Big Pills can reliably influence predators, they function like a “cheat code,” threatening the established balance between the two sides.
• Uncertainty and paranoia: Since the pills’ exact nature is unknown, viewers begin imagining increasingly alarming possibilities, including the idea that the X-Star people have prepared the same tactic across all their teams.

Chapter Summary: “The Power of the New Energy Card!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Grey Eagle Squad is placed at a severe disadvantage after the Snow Wolf Squad uses newly developed X-Star pills that cause giant beasts to attack their enemies.
• Public outrage erupts, with many accusing the Snow Wolf Squad of cheating and demanding that the match be stopped.
• The Mi Star Federal Government formally protests to Prince Mishela, the X-Star representative, and threatens to terminate the competition unless she explains the incident.
• Prince Mishela offers a carefully worded defense:
  • The pills were developed by X-Star but made from local materials, which she claims is permitted under the competition rules.
  • She argues that Snow Wolf Squad captain Eve did not intentionally attack the Grey Eagle Squad; the pills had already been prepared and were supposedly thrown away after Snow Wolf surrendered.
  • She insists the event was caused by a misunderstanding and says Eve need only apologize, not accept blame for unfair competition.
  • She further claims that openly revealing the pills demonstrates X-Star’s peaceful intentions, since secretly giving the technology to mercenaries could have caused mass casualties across the Five Planets.
• Mishela’s statement leaves the audience stunned. Although many view it as shameless propaganda, others admit that her argument contains a twisted form of logic.
• The incident makes mercenary groups realize how devastating the pills could be if used in a real conflict. If the giant beasts can be directed toward enemies without harming allies, the technology could potentially annihilate entire squads.
• Debate breaks out over whether to end the competition, abandon the peace talks, condemn X-Star, or focus on Mi Star’s own technological shortcomings.
• The chapter ends with someone pointing out that the spectators are arguing about politics and fairness while failing to pay attention to the actual outcome of the Grey Eagle Squad’s battle.

Character Developments

• Prince Mishela demonstrates exceptional composure and political skill. She presents an aggressive display of X-Star’s technological superiority as an act of peace and sincerity, revealing her ability to manipulate public opinion without appearing openly hostile.
• Eve, captain of the Snow Wolf Squad, is placed in a morally ambiguous position. Mishela frames her actions as accidental or defensible, while the public largely believes the Snow Wolf Squad used the pills deliberately.
• The Grey Eagle Squad is portrayed as having been forced into an extremely dangerous and humiliating situation, emphasizing the destructive power of the new technology.
• The Mi Star people and officials become divided between anger at X-Star, fear of the pills, and self-criticism over Mi Star’s failure to develop comparable technology.
• Mercenary groups across the Five Planets gain a new awareness of their vulnerability and begin considering the strategic implications of the pills.

Significant Themes

• Technology as a weapon and political message: X-Star’s invention is both a battlefield advantage and a demonstration of power.
• Propaganda and twisted logic: Mishela reframes a potentially underhanded attack as evidence of peace, exposing how political rhetoric can distort events.
• The blurred line between competition and warfare: The battle reveals how easily the contest can become a test of military technology with consequences beyond the arena.
• Fear of technological imbalance: The mercenaries’ reactions show how a single invention can destabilize relations among entire civilizations.
• Self-reflection versus scapegoating: Some Mi Star citizens blame X-Star, while others argue that Mi Star should improve its own science instead of merely condemning its rival.
• Peace backed by force: X-Star’s supposed peace initiative appears increasingly like a warning: it is willing to negotiate, but it also wants everyone to understand its military capabilities.

Character Interactions

• The Mi Star Federal Government confronts Prince Mishela, demanding an explanation and threatening to stop the match.
• Mishela responds publicly, defending X-Star, protecting the Snow Wolf Squad, and challenging the Mi Star people to view the incident from a more “rational” perspective.
• The public and mercenary community react angrily, accusing the Snow Wolf Squad and X-Star of cheating and provocation.
• Other voices defend Mishela’s reasoning, arguing that openly revealing the pills may indeed be less dangerous than secretly deploying them.
• The chapter closes by shifting attention back to the unresolved battle between the Grey Eagle and Snow Wolf Squads, suggesting that the competition’s actual result may be more important than the surrounding political controversy.

Chapter Summary — Page 250

Key Plot Points and Events

• Viewers initially assume the Grey Eagle Squad has been disastrously eliminated after seeing them surrounded by enormous dinosaurs with only one Energy Card each. Many blame Colonel Qin for poor leadership and for personally finalizing an inadequate Master List.
• Moments later, the battle results reveal that the Grey Eagle Squad escaped completely unharmed.
• With assistance from the Snow Wolf Squad, the Grey Eagle Squad successfully completes the first three missions:
  • Collecting Ridge Sword Dragon thorns
  • Collecting Long-neck Creek Dragon gastroliths
  • Collecting Triceratops horns
• They gather far more than the required quantities, making the Snow Wolf Squad appear to be a “treasure delivery squad” helping the Grey Eagle team.
• Viewers are astonished by the Snow Wolf Squad’s repeated switching between War Mode and Extreme Mode, their advanced skills, and their enormous energy expenditure. Estimates suggest they used more than 10,000–20,000 units of energy.
• This leads to speculation that Qin Jing Yi’s newly created Energy Cards possess unprecedented capabilities and may represent a revolutionary technological breakthrough.
• After watching the replay, the audience is deeply moved by the teams’ coordination, combat skill, loyalty, and willingness to fight through an immense dinosaur horde.
• The battlefield is portrayed as a horrific killing field, with dinosaur corpses covering the land and blood staining the vegetation. Although the dinosaurs are non-intelligent resources, the violence unsettles viewers.
• The narrative raises questions about responsibility: the Grey Eagle Squad fought in self-defense, but the Snow Wolf Squad initiated the conflict by using the Big Pill, an invention now seen as exceptionally cruel.
• The page ends with a uniformed man approaching the anxious Eve and informing her that His Highness wishes to see her.

Character Developments

• Colonel Qin: Initially ridiculed for supposedly incompetent planning, he is indirectly vindicated when the Grey Eagle Squad survives and completes its missions. His reputation benefits from the team’s success, though the controversy surrounding his Master List remains.
• Qin Jing Yi: Her innovative Energy Cards become the focus of widespread attention. Their extraordinary efficiency suggests that she may have created technology capable of changing the military landscape.
• The Grey Eagle Squad: They shift from apparent failures to resilient heroes. Their survival and completion of the missions earn renewed admiration.
• The Snow Wolf Squad: Their combat ability, teamwork, and generosity are celebrated, though their use of the Big Pill also causes observers to question their methods.
• Eve: She appears uneasy at the end of the chapter, suggesting anxiety about being summoned by His Highness and setting up a forthcoming political or personal confrontation.

Significant Themes

• Appearances versus reality: The audience’s initial belief that the Grey Eagle Squad has been defeated is overturned by the actual results.
• Heroism under extreme pressure: The teams are praised not merely for winning, but for their unity, courage, and refusal to abandon one another.
• Technological innovation: Qin Jing Yi’s Energy Cards may signal the beginning of a new era, highlighting the power of scientific advancement.
• The morality of violence: The chapter distinguishes necessary self-defense from excessive or indiscriminate slaughter, encouraging readers to question the ethics of the competition.
• Public opinion and media judgment: Viewers rapidly shift from condemnation to celebration once they learn the truth, demonstrating how easily reputations can be shaped by incomplete information.
• Responsibility and unintended consequences: The destructive power of the Big Pill prompts concern over whether inventions should be used simply because they are effective.

Character Interactions

• Online viewers argue intensely over Colonel Qin’s leadership and the Grey Eagle Squad’s chances, then collectively celebrate when the team escapes.
• The Snow Wolf Squad effectively supports the Grey Eagle Squad by helping them secure mission materials, creating an alliance marked by cooperation and mutual benefit.
• The audience admires the teams’ battlefield unity but also debates the Snow Wolf Squad’s responsibility for triggering the massacre.
• At the conclusion, a uniformed messenger formally approaches Eve on behalf of His Highness, introducing a tense new interaction and possible political consequences.

Chapter Summary: “Points-Grabbing Battle”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Eve, captain of the Snow Wolf Squad and secretly a marquis, is brought before Princess Mishela after her failed plan involving beast-attracting pills.
• Mishela angrily slaps and condemns Eve for exposing the pills openly, underestimating the Mi Star people, and using tricks even after surrendering.
• Eve admits she hoped the enraged beasts would destroy the Mi Star forces, but argues that the plan at least forced them to reveal their hidden trump card. Mishela rejects her pleas and has her taken away.
• Afterward, Mishela acknowledges that Eve’s reckless operation did achieve one useful result: it exposed the Mi Star people’s trump card. She worries, however, that their victory may depend on Jing Yi being an exceptionally talented card maker.
• Meanwhile, the Grey Eagle Squad rests after a brutal battle. They prepare food in a cave, grilling thin slices of Pearl Dragon meat over lemongrass on a heated stone slab.
• The Pearl Dragons had been driven into a frenzy by the mysterious beast-attracting pills. Although they are normally stealthy, dangerous ambush predators, the entire swarm was defeated without causing casualties among the Grey Eagle Squad.
• Despite surviving, the squad is exhausted and ravenously hungry. They eat some leftover low-level “pangolin” jerky, but it barely satisfies them.

Character Developments

• Eve: Her arrogance, impulsiveness, and poor judgment are exposed. Although she attempts to defend herself and claim strategic value in her actions, she is unable to escape blame and is removed from authority.
• Mishela: She displays ruthless discipline and strong concern for the larger conflict. Her anger comes from Eve’s recklessness endangering the entire X-Star side, but she is also pragmatic enough to recognize the information Eve’s failure revealed.
• Jing Yi: Though he does not appear directly, he becomes strategically important. Mishela suspects that his abilities as a card maker may be the key to the Mi Star people’s unexpected strength.
• Grey Eagle Squad: The group demonstrates resilience and teamwork. Their lack of casualties despite fighting frenzied predators highlights their combat effectiveness, though the battle leaves them physically drained.

Significant Themes

• Responsibility and consequences: Eve’s failure is judged not merely as a failed tactic but as a reckless act that endangered the entire group.
• Strategy versus impulsiveness: Mishela contrasts careful, large-scale planning with Eve’s arrogant belief that a risky trick could solve everything.
• Hidden strength and uncertainty: Both sides are trying to identify the opponent’s true capabilities, especially Jing Yi’s potential role.
• Survival amid hardship: The Grey Eagle Squad’s exhaustion, improvised cooking, and dependence on local creatures emphasize the harshness of the battlefield.
• Pragmatism in defeat: Even a disastrous operation can produce valuable intelligence, showing that war often turns failure into limited strategic gain.

Character Interactions

• Mishela confronts Eve directly, physically punishing and verbally condemning her for the failed beast-attracting scheme.
• Eve pleads for forgiveness and a chance to redeem herself, but Mishela refuses to engage and orders her removal.
• Mishela later discusses the operation with her subordinate, admitting that Eve unintentionally succeeded in exposing the Mi Star people’s hidden advantage.
• The Grey Eagle Squad members cooperate after battle by resting, reviewing the fight, and sharing available food.

Chapter Summary

After collecting the necessary loot, Qin Meng orders the Grey Eagle Squad to stop and rest. Since the inspection team has still not arrived, the squad assumes the authorities have accepted the X-Star faction’s cover-up. Unable to contact the outside world, they decide to focus on completing their mission rather than worrying about the situation.
Diandian searches the ruined battlefield and selects a Pearl Dragon and a Triceratops for food. The Pearl Dragon is grilled for immediate consumption, while the Triceratops is prepared as durable jerky. Under Jing Yi’s guidance, the squad builds a makeshift earthen oven and successfully roasts the meat using the Zhang Qiu Huang family barbecue method. The result is exceptionally tender and flavorful, highlighting the rich natural quality and high energy content of the alien creatures’ meat.
While the others cook, Jing Yi continues making Energy Cards. He produces three more cards, demonstrating major improvement in both skill and concentration despite having been in the competition for less than a day. Qin Meng eventually interrupts him and insists that he eat and rest. Jing Yi praises the squad’s cooking, while Brown Bear jokingly credits himself as a “great teacher,” and the others enthusiastically agree that Jing Yi’s instructions made their success possible.
The entire squad enjoys the feast around a bonfire, using chopsticks—another technique Jing Yi has taught the Mi Star members. The meal restores their stamina and may even help improve their physical constitutions because of the meat’s immense energy content. The relaxed, celebratory atmosphere contrasts sharply with the violence of the earlier battle. Energized and satisfied, the squad members declare that they will soon confront the X-Star people for their suspected treachery.
The livestream then contrasts the Grey Eagle Squad’s comfortable feast with the miserable conditions of other teams. One Mi Star squad is fleeing, another is struggling to cook barely edible meat, and an X-Star squad is being chased by Raptors. Even the X-Star team’s relatively competent barbecue looks pathetic beside the Grey Eagle Squad’s expertly prepared meal.

Character Development and Interactions

• Jing Yi shows rapid growth as an Energy Card maker, producing more cards and developing exceptional concentration. He also becomes an instructor and cultural influence, teaching the squad both cooking techniques and the use of chopsticks.
• Qin Meng acts as the squad’s practical leader, prioritizing rest and nourishment while keeping the group focused on its larger mission.
• Brown Bear and the other squad members display growing confidence and camaraderie. They proudly apply Jing Yi’s lessons and tease one another during the meal.
• Jing Yi and Qin Meng interact in a caring, team-oriented way: Qin Meng stops Jing Yi from overworking, while Jing Yi contributes skills that benefit everyone.
• The squad’s shared meal strengthens their unity and transforms the aftermath of battle into a moment of celebration.

Significant Themes

• Teamwork and mutual dependence: The group survives and thrives by combining Qin Meng’s leadership, Jing Yi’s technical knowledge, and everyone’s practical abilities.
• Adaptation and cultural exchange: Jing Yi introduces Mi Star customs and skills, such as chopsticks and specialized barbecue methods, while adapting to the alien environment.
• Reward after hardship: The feast represents the squad’s ability to turn the spoils of a dangerous battle into comfort, recovery, and morale.
• Competition and contrast: The livestream emphasizes how far ahead the Grey Eagle Squad is compared with the disorganized, starving, or endangered teams.
• Suspicion and impending conflict: Although the squad temporarily relaxes, their anger toward the X-Star people remains, foreshadowing a confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Unbeatable at Robbing and Looting”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter opens by emphasizing the danger of the competition’s five planets. A Mi Star squad is forced to retreat after losing two mechas, while an X-Star squad is unexpectedly attacked and crippled by a stampede of crazed Sawtooth Dragons.
• In contrast, the Grey Eagle Squad enjoys a comfortable life after hunting a Triceratops. They cook and divide the enormous amount of meat, demonstrating their plentiful supplies and energy reserves.
• Qin Meng concludes that the X-Stars are deliberately using pills to drive ferocious beasts into a frenzy. Since every X-Star squad may possess such pills, the Mi Star teams are vulnerable to surprise attacks.
• The Grey Eagle Squad decides to move left and locate other Mi Star squads, both to warn them and to form alliances. Qin Meng recognizes that the Grey Eagles cannot defeat every enemy alone if all the other Mi Star squads are eliminated.
• The squad also realizes that simply collecting mission items and reaching the finish line will not guarantee victory. Points are awarded for defeating contestants, and the mission objectives are scattered across the competition area.
• Qin Meng therefore announces the beginning of the “Great Points-Grabbing Operation.” The Grey Eagle Squad intends to defeat every enemy squad they encounter, especially the X-Stars, while sparing cooperative Mi Star allies.
• The chapter explains the competition’s arrangement: 120 squads are positioned evenly around a circular course, with the mission turn-in point in the center. Mi Star and X-Star teams alternate, ensuring that neighboring squads are enemies.
• Moving diagonally toward the front left, the Grey Eagle Squad eventually encounters the Cheetah Squad, another Mi Star team.
• The Cheetah Squad’s captain, Tang Wan, has a past grudge against Qin Meng. However, both men recognize that cooperation against the X-Stars is more important than their personal conflict. They exchange communication frequencies and share intelligence.

Character Developments

• Qin Meng emerges as both strategic and aggressive. He understands the larger threat posed by the X-Stars and prioritizes forming alliances, but he also embraces the competitive goal of collecting points through combat.
• Qin Meng’s leadership style is revealed through his balance of pragmatism and confidence: he wants to protect Mi Star squads while turning the competition into an organized campaign against their enemies.
• Tang Wan is shown to be mature and practical. Despite previously wanting to challenge Qin Meng, he immediately suppresses his resentment when cooperation becomes necessary.
• The Grey Eagle Squad is portrayed as unusually well-equipped, confident, and ruthless compared with the other squads. Their abundant food and supplies give them a major advantage.

Significant Themes

• Cooperation against a common enemy: Former rivals must set aside personal disputes to resist the X-Stars’ coordinated and dangerous tactics.
• Strategy and survival: Victory depends not only on completing objectives but also on understanding the competition’s layout, conserving resources, warning allies, and anticipating enemy plans.
• Competition versus solidarity: The Grey Eagles are eager to defeat opponents for points, yet they distinguish between enemies and potential allies within their own faction.
• Abundance and power: The Grey Eagle Squad’s plentiful food and energy reserves symbolize their superior preparation and growing dominance.
• Fairness versus manipulation: Although the competition is designed to be fair in its distribution of squads and mission items, the X-Stars undermine that fairness through their use of beast-frenzy pills.

Character Interactions

• Qin Meng and the Grey Eagle Squad discuss the X-Stars’ conspiracy and the necessity of finding allied Mi Star teams.
• The squad members work together to hunt, cook, preserve, and distribute Triceratops meat, reinforcing their unity and self-sufficiency.
• Qin Meng and Tang Wan initially approach one another cautiously because of their history, but both quickly adopt a cooperative attitude.
• Their squads exchange communication channels and intelligence, establishing a temporary alliance against the X-Stars.

Chapter Summary — Page 254

• Qin Meng reports the Grey Eagle Squad’s success: Qin Meng tells Tang Wan that his team eliminated the Snow Wolf Squad and possesses powerful pills that may be part of a larger scheme. Tang Wan feels embarrassed and jealous because Qin Meng’s team has achieved far more than his own, which has only gathered two mission items and supplies. Nevertheless, he recognizes the danger and agrees that the X-Star teams must be dealt with quickly.
• A surprise-attack strategy is formed: Tang Wan proposes ending encounters swiftly and preventing X-Star teams from igniting their pills. Since the pills only activate when burned, both squads agree not to use laser weapons against them. Tang Wan privately resolves to prove his superiority to Qin Meng during their next battle.
• Night approaches: The allied squads continue moving diagonally across Planet One. With the planet’s long day nearing its end, they have only about two hours before nightfall. Night is dangerous because predators emerge, yet the teams cannot afford to spend the entire night hiding and losing valuable competition time.
• Jing Yi detects an enemy presence: Jing Yi suddenly orders everyone to stop and hide. Qin Meng immediately trusts him, though Tang Wan is skeptical after his own scout finds nothing. Qin Meng explains that Jing Yi sensed traces of an X-Star squad. Tang Wan becomes furious when Qin Meng ignores his questions, but remains concealed.
• The Luotian Fruit discovery: Soon, Tang Wan hears movement and sees an approaching X-Star squad. The team discovers several Luotian Fruit Trees, whose fruit can enhance embryonic genes and potentially improve a child’s Genetic Level. The fruit is extremely rare, expensive, and an important competition objective. Tang Wan grudgingly realizes that Qin Meng was correct to detect the enemies early and decides to release his frustration through the coming attack.
• The Spider Squad is ambushed: As the X-Star squad, marked with the Spider emblem, celebrates after gathering the fruit, the allied Mi Star squads launch a sudden attack from above. Caught off guard and facing two rested teams, the Spider Squad is defeated even more decisively than the Snow Wolf Squad.
• Audience reactions and the pill dilemma: Mi Star viewers enthusiastically celebrate the ambush, while X-Star viewers angrily criticize the Spider Squad for its incompetence. After recovering, the Spider Squad members attempt to throw out their powerful pills. However, they are unaware that their teammates have already revealed how the pills work, setting up an absurd confrontation over whether the pills can still be successfully activated.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Tang Wan becomes increasingly competitive and resentful toward Qin Meng, but his concern for the mission forces him to cooperate. He also begins to acknowledge Qin Meng’s superior judgment after Jing Yi’s warning proves correct.
• Qin Meng demonstrates confidence, decisiveness, and trust in Jing Yi. His willingness to ignore Tang Wan’s challenges further aggravates Tang Wan.
• Jing Yi proves to be an exceptionally perceptive scout, detecting enemy traces before anyone else.
• The allied squads work together effectively, using concealment and a coordinated surprise attack to overwhelm the Spider Squad.

Major Themes

• Rivalry and wounded pride: Tang Wan struggles with Qin Meng’s achievements and feels compelled to prove himself.
• Teamwork versus individual ego: Although Tang Wan wants recognition, the mission’s success depends on cooperation and trusting specialized abilities.
• Strategy and information: Jing Yi’s detection skills and the knowledge of the pills’ activation method give the allied squads a major tactical advantage.
• Competition and resource scarcity: Rare items such as the Luotian Fruit have enormous value, making ambushes and opportunistic alliances central to survival.

Chapter Summary: Mural from Ancient Times

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Grey Eagle and Cheetah Squads team up against the Spider Squad. Using a coordinated two-on-one strategy, they bat away the Spider Squad’s basketball-sized pill projectiles with various melee weapons while the other squad attacks.
• The Spider Squad’s ultimate move is completely neutralized, and they are defeated in under five minutes. The Inspection Team removes the dazed members from the battlefield.
• Grey Eagle and Cheetah divide the defeated team’s supplies and decide to continue hunting other squads to gain points.
• After night falls, the allied squads travel through the dangerous jungle for several hours, encountering glowing-eyed creatures, signs of combat, and multiple ambushes. They successfully repel every attack.
• They search for the next team, expecting it to be a Mi Star squad, but find no opponents. The missing squad may have already been eliminated or may have moved elsewhere.
• Tang Wan wants to continue competing with Qin Meng, but realizes that his squad’s Energy Cards are running low. Prioritizing his soldiers’ safety over personal pride, he orders a rest.
• Qin Meng agrees and leads both squads to a hidden cave. Although its entrance is tiny, it opens into a large, gourd-shaped cavern with several branching tunnels. The teams inspect the passages and discover that two lead to additional large chambers.
• The chapter hints that these caves are not naturally common terrain. Their repeated discovery is due to Diandian, a “cheating” device connected to Qin Meng and Jing Yi, suggesting that they possess an unfair but advantageous resource.

Character Developments

• Tang Wan: Demonstrates maturity and responsibility. Although frustrated by Qin Meng’s apparent superiority, he refuses to endanger his squad merely to preserve his pride. His decision to rest shows that he values his people’s survival above rivalry.
• Qin Meng: Continues to display confidence, tactical skill, and familiarity with the terrain. He readily accepts Tang Wan’s decision and guides the combined group to a secure cave, behaving as though he knows the area exceptionally well.
• Jing Yi: Her apparent creative inspiration returns after witnessing the battle, suggesting that the events may inspire new comics or artistic ideas.
• Spider Squad: Their confidence collapses after their main tactic is easily countered, leaving them helpless and humiliated.
• Grey Eagle and Cheetah Squads: Their cooperation becomes increasingly effective, evolving from temporary collaboration into a smoothly coordinated alliance.

Significant Themes

• Teamwork over individual strength: The Spider Squad is defeated because the allied teams coordinate their attacks and exploit their numerical advantage.
• Preparation and adaptability: The pill attack fails because it lacks destructive force and can be countered with simple weapons. The battle emphasizes the importance of anticipating an opponent’s response.
• Practical leadership versus pride: Tang Wan’s choice to conserve energy shows that responsible leadership requires abandoning personal competition when the group’s safety is at stake.
• Resource management: Energy Cards are precious, and survival depends on balancing pursuit of points with the need to preserve strength for future dangers.
• Hidden advantages and unfair systems: The caves’ accessibility is revealed to depend on Diandian, implying that certain contestants possess concealed assistance unavailable to others.
• Appearance versus reality: The caves seem naturally widespread, but the narration reveals that this impression is misleading, emphasizing how limited information can distort perceptions.

Character Interactions

• The Grey Eagle and Cheetah Squads cooperate closely, alternating attacks while one squad distracts or strikes the Spider Squad.
• The spectators from Mi Star celebrate the apparent defeat of an X-Star strategy, while X-Star viewers react with embarrassment.
• Tang Wan and Qin Meng experience quiet rivalry but ultimately reach an understanding when Tang Wan calls for rest.
• Qin Meng’s knowledge and confidence guide the group, while Tang Wan’s caution balances Qin Meng’s aggressive forward momentum.

Page 256 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Grey Eagle Squad continues to benefit from remarkable luck, finding an excellent wind-sheltered cave and successfully hunting an Ornithomimus while other squads struggle to find food and shelter.
• The newly allied Cheetah Squad is impressed—and slightly embarrassed—by Grey Eagle’s efficiency. Determined not to rely on them for food, the Cheetahs go hunting as well.
• While the campfire is lit, Jing Yi uses his alloy dagger to carve drawings into the cave wall and helps prepare the freshly hunted meat.
• Diandian detects an approaching X-Star team and estimates there is an 80% chance they will discover the cave.
• Jing Yi silently signals Qin Meng, who immediately orders everyone to extinguish the fire, hide the meat, camouflage the area, and retreat into a concealed inner passage.
• The squads successfully hide before the X-Stars arrive. The newcomers discover the cave entrance and send two scouts inside.
• The X-Stars notice fresh bloodstains and assume a carnivorous creature occupies the cave. Rather than being frightened, they are pleased, believing the cave may provide valuable shelter for their exhausted team.

Character Developments

• Jing Yi demonstrates practical awareness and tactical caution by recognizing the approaching danger through Diandian’s warning and signaling Qin Meng.
• Qin Meng reinforces his role as a trusted leader. Because the others respect his judgment, they obey his orders immediately without questioning how he knew danger was coming.
• The Grey Eagle Squad continues to appear highly capable, coordinated, and resourceful in hunting, preparing food, and securing shelter.
• The Cheetah Squad shows growing cooperation with Grey Eagle while retaining its independence and pride by hunting for its own food.
• The X-Star team is portrayed as exhausted but opportunistic, viewing the apparently dangerous cave as a potential advantage.

Significant Themes

• Luck versus competence: Grey Eagle’s success looks like extraordinary luck, but their efficient hunting and quick reactions also reveal considerable skill.
• Trust and leadership: Qin Meng’s authority allows the group to respond quickly during a crisis, while Jing Yi’s warning highlights their mutual understanding.
• Cooperation and competition: The Cheetahs work alongside Grey Eagle but still feel the need to prove themselves.
• Survival and resourcefulness: Food, shelter, concealment, and environmental awareness remain essential to the contestants’ survival.
• Appearance versus reality: The X-Stars believe the bloodstains indicate a dangerous creature, unaware that the cave is occupied by hidden contestants.

Character Interactions

• The Grey Eagles and Cheetahs share shelter and food, with the Cheetahs admiring Grey Eagle’s abilities while trying not to become dependent on them.
• Jing Yi helps process the meat and alerts the group to danger through Qin Meng.
• Qin Meng gives the evacuation order, and Tang Wan reinforces it by instructing the others to follow him.
• The entire group cooperates silently to extinguish the fire, hide the supplies, camouflage the cave, and conceal themselves from the approaching X-Stars.
• The X-Star captain directs two scouts to investigate the cave, unknowingly bringing the enemy close to the hidden contestants.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• After two teammates are eliminated, an exhausted eight-person X-Star squad searches desperately for shelter. They discover a large cave containing an extinguished fire pit and the lingering smell of blood.
• The scouts consider two possibilities: the cave may contain an enemy ambush, or it may be occupied by a hidden carnivorous beast. Since the squad is too tired and damaged to continue traveling, the captain chooses the riskier-looking option and orders everyone inside.
• The squad relights the fire and searches the cave. They discover strange murals carved into the rock and speculate that primitive humans may once have lived on the planet.
• The livestream audience realizes that the murals were deliberately created as a decoy by Qin’s side. Before fleeing, Qin’s “male god” had even smeared dust over the carvings to make them appear ancient and conceal the fact that they were newly made.
• Viewers from Mi Star celebrate the deception, while X-Star audiences complain about their team’s bad luck and repeated failures.
• The broader competition remains heavily influenced by the X-Stars’ prepared “Big Pill,” which gives them a major advantage whenever the two sides meet. Mi Star teams often suffer losses or can only force draws.
• Mi Star fans take comfort in the strong performances of the Grey Eagle and Cheetah Joint Squad, treating their victories as a source of national pride.

Character developments

• The X-Star captain demonstrates pragmatic leadership. Though he suspects the cave could be a trap, he prioritizes the exhausted squad’s survival and makes a calculated decision between two dangerous possibilities.
• Qin’s group is shown to be highly resourceful and meticulous. Their deception is not limited to carving fake murals; Qin also anticipates how the evidence might be interpreted and disguises its freshness with dust.
• The X-Star squad members appear increasingly worn down, frightened, and vulnerable after repeated battles and losses.

Significant themes

• Strategy and deception: The fake cave murals reveal how small details and psychological manipulation can outmatch direct strength.
• Survival under pressure: Exhaustion forces the X-Star captain to choose the lesser of two risks, emphasizing the brutal conditions of the competition.
• Luck versus competence: Viewers repeatedly debate whether X-Star’s failures come from stupidity or bad luck, while Qin’s success reflects careful planning rather than chance alone.
• Nationalism and fandom: Spectators identify emotionally with their teams. The achievements or failures of competitors directly affect the confidence and pride of entire populations.
• Fairness in warfare: The opposing forums argue over whether the X-Stars’ use of the “Big Pill” is legitimate strategy or shameless exploitation, highlighting different ideas of honor and fair competition.

Character interactions

• The scouts report their findings honestly to the captain, who weighs their concerns before issuing the order to enter.
• The squad members react nervously to every sound and quickly gather around the teammate who discovers the murals.
• Livestream viewers interact through jokes, praise, and criticism, reconstructing Qin’s earlier actions and admiring his thoroughness.
• Mi Star and X-Star audiences exchange insults across forums, with Mi Star condemning the X-Stars’ tactics and X-Star supporters accusing Mi Star of being unable to accept defeat.
• Mi Star fans unite in enthusiastic support of the Grey Eagle and Cheetah Joint Squad, viewing them as symbols of hope against the X-Star advantage.

Chapter Summary

Plot Points and Events

• The Grey Eagle Squad’s fans are delighted by the team’s appearance and career prospects on screen.
• Several X-Stars discover a series of simple rock paintings made by Jing Yi. The paintings depict his imagined alter ego, “Grandmaster Jing Xiaoyi,” as an invincible martial-arts hero.
• The paintings show a Long-neck Creek Dragon mother gravely wounded while a Sawtooth Dragon threatens her unborn hatchling.
• Grandmaster Jing Xiaoyi dramatically descends from a mountaintop, appearing to fly or walk across treetops, a lake, and grass.
• He defeats the enormous Sawtooth Dragon with a single kick to its jaw, despite his tiny size.
• The dragon mother dies after nudging her newly hatched baby toward Jing Xiaoyi. He then takes the hungry hatchling home, where another human-like figure awaits.
• The paintings end unfinished because Jing Yi ran out of time. His intended story would have followed the dragon’s growth and Jing Xiaoyi’s adventures as a heroic dragon rider wielding twin swords.

Character Developments

• Jing Yi is revealed as imaginative, self-aggrandizing, and fond of heroic martial-arts fantasies. His crude but expressive drawings portray himself as compassionate, overwhelmingly powerful, and destined for adventure.
• The X-Star squad captain initially interprets the paintings seriously as historical records. His curiosity turns into amazement when he believes the primitive figure may be capable of flight.
• The Long-neck Creek Dragon hatchling becomes the object of Jing Xiaoyi’s compassion and is adopted as his future companion.
• The dragon mother is presented as a tragic, protective parent whose final act is entrusting her child to Jing Xiaoyi.

Significant Themes

• Imagination versus reality: Jing Yi’s simplistic drawings are mistaken for evidence of an advanced prehistoric civilization and supernatural abilities.
• Heroism and justice: The paintings embody a classic martial-arts fantasy in which a powerful hero rescues the innocent and punishes evil.
• Evolution and lost abilities: The X-Stars’ reaction to the apparent depiction of flight evokes their cultural anxiety about having evolved away from their ancestors’ wings.
• Comedy through misinterpretation: The captain’s earnest scholarly analysis clashes with the absurd reality that the paintings are merely Jing Yi’s unfinished self-insert adventure.
• Compassion and companionship: Jing Xiaoyi’s rescue of the hatchling establishes the emotional foundation for his imagined future as a dragon rider.

Character Interactions

• The X-Star squad studies and debates the meaning of the paintings, with the captain guiding their interpretation.
• The captain consults the person who first discovered the drawings, sharing his surprise that the depicted primitive humans may have been able to fly.
• In Jing Yi’s imagined narrative, Grandmaster Jing Xiaoyi confronts and kills the Sawtooth Dragon, receives the dying mother’s trust, and brings the hatchling home to meet another human companion.

Chapter Summary: “Inhumane Revenge”

Plot and events

Jing Yi is forced to add Qin Meng to the livestream after Qin Meng demands more screen time. Their quiet display of affection charms—or overwhelms—the audience, but their moment is interrupted when an eight-person X-Star squad enters the cavern. The X-Star captain excitedly interprets Jing Yi’s rock painting as proof that X-Star ancestors once settled on Planet One and were powerful enough to kill predators without mechs. Unaware that the Joint Squad is hiding inside, the X-Stars believe they have found a suitable shelter.
The Joint Squad had deliberately used the cave as an ambush site: its low ceiling prevents mech deployment, and the enclosed space gives their nineteen fighters a two-to-one advantage. They plan to capture the X-Stars in close combat while avoiding noise that might attract native predators. When one X-Star investigates the entrance, the Joint Squad silently drags him inside and incapacitates him. The remaining seven are then confronted, leading to a short, violent battle that the Joint Squad wins overwhelmingly. Jing Yi remains behind the fighters, unable to participate, visibly furious as the livestream records everything.

Character development

• Jing Yi is shown as both artistically dedicated and easily irritated when his creative work is interrupted. His affection for Qin Meng is evident, but he becomes increasingly resentful when the X-Stars misinterpret his painting and steal attention from his artistic moment.
• Qin Meng is possessive and persistent about appearing on-screen, yet his relationship with Jing Yi is affectionate and intimate.
• The X-Star captain is enthusiastic and self-important, interpreting the painting as a major historical revelation. His excitement makes him appear foolish to both the audience and the Joint Squad, especially once the ambush begins.
• The Joint Squad demonstrates patience, planning, teamwork, and tactical superiority by turning the cave’s limitations into an advantage.

Significant themes

• Strategic intelligence versus brute force: The Joint Squad wins by choosing the battlefield and exploiting the cave’s low ceiling rather than relying on mechs.
• Humor through misunderstanding: The X-Star captain’s grand historical interpretation contrasts sharply with the actual situation and makes him the subject of ridicule.
• Public image and livestream spectacle: Private affection, military conflict, and embarrassing mistakes are all exposed to the watching audience.
• Revenge and humiliation: The title reflects the Joint Squad’s satisfaction in trapping and defeating the X-Stars, while Jing Yi experiences a more personal “revenge” through the disastrous consequences of his painting being misunderstood.

Character interactions

Qin Meng pressures Jing Yi into joining the broadcast, and their affectionate exchange delights the viewers. The X-Star captain enthusiastically explains the painting to the livestream audience, unknowingly insulting himself through his exaggerated interpretation. The Joint Squad silently coordinates to seize an investigating X-Star, then attacks the remaining squad in a tightly organized group assault. Jing Yi watches the battle from the sidelines, frustrated that the intruders disrupted his moment and that he cannot personally take part in their defeat.

Chapter Summary — Page 260

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Meng and the Grey Eagle Squad defeat the Wild Boar Squad in less than a minute, with Qin Meng overpowering the enemy squad leader and tying him up.
• The livestream’s editing repeatedly cuts between Qin Meng’s decisive victory and Jing Yi’s furious, ashen expression, causing the audience to laugh at Jing Yi’s visible anger rather than sympathize with him.
• Jing Yi approaches the captured Wild Boar squad leader, who recognizes him from the banquet incident in which Jing Yi humiliated Prince Mishela with an ant dish.
• The squad leader also realizes that Jing Yi participated in defeating his team and glares at him resentfully. Jing Yi nearly kicks him because the man had insulted his paintings, but restrains himself to avoid appearing abusive or giving the enemy an opportunity to gain public sympathy.
• Jing Yi instead has the prisoners ignored and gagged with grass while the joint squad prepares food and gathers supplies.
• The team discovers a small spring-fed lake inside the cave. Diandian confirms that its mineral-rich water is safe to drink and cook with.
• They butcher the ornithomimus into large pieces, season the meat, and prepare to roast it. Jing Yi experiments with local fruits, roots, and large spicy leaves as seasoning and wrapping.

Character Developments

• Jing Yi remains highly sensitive about criticism of his art, but demonstrates growing self-control. Although enraged by the Wild Boar squad leader’s insults, he deliberately suppresses his urge to retaliate.
• He also shows practical leadership and culinary ingenuity by organizing the gathering of ingredients and creating a flavorful method of preparing the meat.
• Qin Meng is shown as overwhelmingly capable in combat, defeating the opposing squad leader personally and leaving him badly beaten.
• The Grey Eagle Squad displays strong loyalty to Jing Yi and Qin Meng. They understand Jing Yi’s mood without explicit instructions and cooperate in humiliating and containing the prisoners.
• The Wild Boar squad leader and his teammates shift from defiant anger to helpless resignation as they realize they have been defeated and are being deliberately ignored.

Significant Themes

• Public image and livestream spectacle: The audience interprets events through the broadcast’s comedic editing, turning Jing Yi’s anger into entertainment.
• Self-control versus retaliation: Jing Yi’s decision not to kick the prisoner reflects his awareness that emotional revenge could damage his reputation and benefit his enemies.
• Loyalty and solidarity: The Grey Eagle Squad protects Jing Yi emotionally as well as physically, acting together to support him.
• Humiliation and reversal of power: The Wild Boar Squad, once aggressive and insulting, is reduced to helpless prisoners while Jing Yi calmly directs preparations around them.
• Resourcefulness and survival: The team uses the cave, spring water, local plants, and available game to sustain themselves.

Character Interactions

• The livestream audience mocks Jing Yi’s furious reaction rather than sharing his anger.
• The Wild Boar squad leader glares at Jing Yi after recognizing him, while Jing Yi internally debates whether to retaliate.
• Jing Yi communicates indirectly with Qin Meng by raising concern about the prisoners’ noise; Qin Meng’s squad immediately understands and gags them.
• The Grey Eagle members collectively ignore the prisoners’ attempts to surrender, allowing Jing Yi time to calm down.
• Jing Yi takes charge of the group’s food preparation, directing the use of local ingredients while Qin Meng and the others support his plans.