Chapter Summaries

Li Qianhuan used her growing plasma ability to devastate the Latin Gang’s attack on her family, while Mark raced toward Clem District. The chapter ended with Mark spotting Wyatt at a barricade and sending a neurotoxin-carrying fly monitor after him.

• Mark watched Li Qianhuan’s plasma attacks kill and injure the Latin Gang members, then ran toward Clem District to support her.
• Joe Morgan learned that Li Qianhuan was a Mutant and ordered his men to keep attacking, but her plasma stopped them from crossing the courtyard wall.
• Michael recognized Li Qianhuan’s ability and canceled the bodyguards’ retreat, ordering them to fight alongside her as she grew weak from exertion.
• Ansel urged Joe Morgan to retreat as the gang’s casualties mounted, but Joe Morgan hesitated because he feared future revenge and the Hand’s censure.
• Mark reached a police barricade, leaped over the abandoned cars, and recognized Wyatt, the Iron Blood Gang’s leader, among the gang members.
• Mark flicked a fly monitor carrying neurotoxin toward Wyatt.

Mark helped drive off the Iron Blood Gang and Latin Gang, then infiltrated Joe Morgan's headquarters to uncover why the Latin Gang had targeted Li Qianhuan and her sister. Joe revealed that The Hand wanted a bone fragment Li Zhan had bought, and Mark killed Joe after learning the truth.

• Alice used the Fly Monitor to inject Wyatt with neurotoxin, killing him and throwing the Iron Blood Gang into chaos.
• Mark charged into the gang members surrounding his home, while the police moved in and Joe Morgan ordered the Latin Gang to retreat.
• Mark followed Joe's vehicle but avoided confronting him during the police response, then tracked him back to Latin Gang headquarters.
• Mark confronted Joe in his bedroom and forced him to explain The Hand's role in founding the Latin Gang and targeting Li Zhan's family over a bone fragment.
• Joe revealed that Madame Gao suspected Li Qianhuan and her sister knew where the fragment was, and Mark killed Joe before leaving.

Mark learned that The Hand had targeted Li Qianhuan’s family over a bone fragment, then helped her use her father’s golden key to retrieve a mysterious fragment from a Florida vault. The chapter ended with Mark and Li Qianhuan looking at the bluish, gold-lit bone fragment in the suitcase.

• Mark questioned and dealt with the Latin Gang leaders, causing the gang to collapse.
• Mark told Li Qianhuan that Joe Morgan had linked her parents’ deaths to The Hand and a bone fragment.
• Li Qianhuan showed Mark the golden key her father had given her, and Alice identified it as likely belonging to a Florida Vault safe deposit box.
• Mark took Li Qianhuan to Lauderdale Castle in Florida after she recovered, and she used the key to open box G-15-4502.
• Mark and Li Qianhuan found a fist-sized, bluish bone fragment with faint golden light inside the suitcase.

Mark obtained the Dragon Bone Fragment from Li Qianhuan and sent it to Killian and Maya to help with their Extremis virus research. After ten days of collecting Sunlight Value, he upgraded Super Physique to LV7 and gained a major increase in strength.

• Li Qianhuan gave Mark the Dragon Bone Fragment, and Mark promised to protect her from The Hand and help her get revenge.
• Killian told Mark that Trask Industries wanted the Extremis research data, and Mark ordered him to refuse while asking about the research's progress.
• Mark arranged for Killian and Maya to study the Dragon Bone Fragment alongside the Extremis virus.
• After returning home, Mark flew west for ten days to gather Sunlight Value and upgraded Super Physique to LV7.
• Mark tested his new strength and found that his one-handed grip exceeded two tons and his arm's pulling force approached four tons.

Mark returned home, completed his exams, and learned that Trask Industries wanted Killian’s Extremis research materials. After Mark arranged extra security at Advanced Idea Mechanics, a Mutant Clone infiltrated the facility and reached the laboratory’s server room.

• Mark returned from his trip, reconciled with Rosalie by giving her gifts, and then completed his exams with Li Qianle.
• Alice told Mark that Killian had refused to give Hopson Hart the Extremis research materials Trask Industries wanted, and Killian reported their conversation to Mark.
• Mark hired two security teams from Global Security Company to protect Advanced Idea Mechanics, and they strengthened the facility’s defenses.
• Lawrence Trask ordered Mutant Clone N-5 to infiltrate Advanced Idea Mechanics and steal the research materials.
• Mutant Clone N-5 slipped past the security systems, passed through the company walls, and entered the server room beside the Extremis laboratory.

An intruder used a Trask Industries satellite connection to steal research data from the lab’s Supercomputer, unaware that Alice had replaced the real files with deceptive data and traced the breach. The security teams killed the intruder, whose corpse then burst into flames and turned to ashes.

• The intruder connected the Supercomputer to Trask Industries’ satellite network, and a hacker began uploading its files.
• Alice detected the breach, tracked the intruder, and alerted Mark and the security personnel.
• The security teams surrounded the lab after Alice displayed the intruder on the surveillance screens.
• The intruder turned semi-transparent and tried to escape through a wall, but Alice warned the guards that she was a Mutant.
• The security captain used a flashbang to force the intruder out of the wall, and the guards shot her.
• The security captain confirmed the intruder was dead, but her corpse burst into flames and became ashes.

Mark watched Trask Industries destroy a failed Mutant clone and learned that its attempt to steal Extremis research had yielded flawed data. After Alice detected a Trask Industries team heading for Ian Knight’s house, Mark suspected they were going to capture the three Mutants living there.

• Lawrence confirmed that Clone N-5’s genes and brain chip had been destroyed, and Trask Industries had recovered only about seventy percent of the Extremis research data.
• Mark had Alice search for Trask Industries’ secret laboratory, but she found no clues in the company’s servers.
• Lawrence learned the stolen Extremis data was genuine but dangerously flawed, so he ordered all related materials destroyed and abandoned interest in Advanced Idea Mechanics.
• Mark kept security teams on alert, then had the damaged laboratory repaired and allowed Killian and Maya to return to work.
• Alice alerted Mark to six armed Trask Industries personnel leaving the company building, and he tracked them to a rundown house in Fair Street.
• Mark learned that Ian Knight and two women lived in the house and suspected all three were Mutants Trask Industries intended to capture.

Mark warned Ian that Trask Industries was coming to capture him and his companions, prompting the three Mutants to flee and fight back. They escaped into the darkness, while the wounded Trask operative recovered and ordered his team to pursue them.

• Mark called Ian and warned him that armed Trask Industries personnel would reach his home in three minutes.
• Ian woke Olive and Harumi Cangtian, and the three tried to escape through the back of the house.
• Ian shook the ground and collapsed the house on the pursuing flat-haired young man, but the man clawed his way out and continued the chase.
• Olive fought the young man while Harumi Cangtian used an illusion to make the armed personnel shoot him instead of Olive.
• Olive climbed over the wall with Ian and Harumi Cangtian, and the three fled into the darkness.
• The flat-haired young man recovered after receiving an antidote and ordered his team to pursue the fugitives.

Mark helped Ian, Olive, and Harumi Cangtian escape Trask Industries’ pursuit and offered them work after revealing that he was a Mutant. He sent them to a safe house while Alice misdirected their pursuers, and Trask Industries responded by cutting its satellites’ external connections.

• Mark watched the trio’s escape on surveillance footage and considered recruiting them for their courage and abilities.
• Ian told Olive and Harumi Cangtian that Mark had warned him about the hounds, then Mark called to warn them that Trask Industries’ pursuers were closing in.
• Mark offered to help them in exchange for future work, and Olive agreed to the arrangement if he proved he was a Mutant.
• Mark directed the trio to a safe house at 67 Punk Street and used Alice to alter the satellite’s location signal, sending the pursuers after the wrong vehicle.
• President Lawrence berated Trask Industries’ information department and ordered it to disconnect the satellites from external communications while fixing the security flaw.

Mark hired Ian, Olive, and their companion as Mutant employees, arranging firearms training before returning home for Christmas 1999. After reaching Super Physique Level 9, he learned that Killian and Maya had been invited to a technology summit in Bern where Tony Stark would appear.

• Mark met Ian and the others at the safe house, proved that he and Li Qianhuan were Mutants, and offered them employment contracts.
• Mark told the three to stay at the safe house and improve their abilities, then assigned Sean to teach them firearms and tactical skills.
• Over the next six months, Mark raised Super Physique to Level 9 and returned home for Christmas at Rosalie's insistence.
• Killian told Mark that he and Maya had invitations to a technology summit in Bern where Tony Stark would attend, and Mark approved their plans to go.

Mark arranged for Maya to bring Extremis research to Tony Stark for guidance while managing family and business affairs at home. The Bern International Technology Summit began, and Tony arrived and noticed Maya Hansen.

• Mark told Killian to have Maya bring Extremis research materials and ask Tony Stark for guidance, warning him that Tony was arrogant and untrustworthy.
• Mark spent Christmas with Rosalie, learned that Daphne seemed sorrowful, and watched Rosalie’s standing rise until she became honorary chairwoman of the district committee.
• Silas reported strong sales and user growth for Mark’s games and apps, and Mark ordered Panda Chat to introduce paid memberships alongside the browser game Happy Farm.
• The Bern International Technology Summit began in Switzerland, where Tony Stark delivered a speech on new energy and greeted the gathered scientists.
• Tony’s eyes lit up when he saw Maya Hansen at the summit.

At the tech summit, Tony Stark met Maya and mistook her invitation to her room for romantic interest, but she wanted his help with the Extremis virus. After Happy accidentally triggered an exploding plant, Tony began working out a solution and asked JARVIS to investigate Maya’s employer, Future Pharmaceuticals.

• Tony Stark met Maya at the summit and agreed to visit her room after she invited him to discuss the Extremis virus.
• Aldrich Killian caught Tony in the elevator and tried to ask him about genetic cell inheritance, but Tony brushed him off and promised to meet him on the rooftop in five minutes.
• Maya showed Tony her Extremis research, and Happy accidentally snapped a branch from an explosive plant, coating all three of them in green fluid.
• Tony sent Happy away, identified an imbalance between energy consumption and regeneration as the virus’s key flaw, and began calculating a solution.
• As Maya washed up, Tony deduced a biological equation and told JARVIS to investigate Future Pharmaceuticals.

Tony discovered that Maya and Aldrich Killian worked for Mark’s company, then apologized to Killian and gained respect for his scientific ability. After the summit, Mark learned that Maya had received the key equation and Killian had not turned against Tony, but Rosalie soon told him that something had happened at Aunt Daphne’s house.

• JARVIS told Tony that Rosalie Payne was Future Pharmaceuticals’ majority shareholder and that Mark had funded the company, while Maya Hansen and Aldrich Killian held smaller shares.
• Tony left Maya’s room after realizing she worked for Mark, then remembered Killian was waiting for him on the rooftop.
• Tony apologized to Killian for keeping him waiting, and they discussed biology until the cold drove them back inside.
• Tony came to admire Killian’s research, and Killian’s admiration for Tony deepened after their conversation.
• Mark heard from Killian that the summit had gone well, then spent the next two days celebrating New Year with Rosalie.
• Rosalie received a troubling phone call and told Mark that something had happened at Aunt Daphne’s house.

Mark told Rosalie that Future Pharmaceuticals was nearing human trials for a treatment that could cure Daphne’s mother’s terminal lung cancer, giving Daphne hope. After helping Daphne, Mark returned to work and considered establishing an online bank to improve payments.

• Rosalie told Mark that Daphne’s mother had late-stage lung cancer and that Daphne had borrowed money for her treatment.
• Mark called Killian and learned that the Extremis virus had passed animal testing, with human trials expected to begin in thirty days, though its neural suppressant had serious potential side effects.
• Mark told Daphne that Future Pharmaceuticals might treat her mother, and Daphne accepted the risks and thanked him.
• Daphne stopped pursuing treatment at other hospitals and focused on her mother’s hospitalization and recuperation while waiting for the trial.
• After winter break, Mark returned to school, secured three more weeks of leave, and boarded the Falcon as Silas reported that Panda Chat’s membership system and Happy Farm had launched.
• Mark considered establishing an online bank because poor online payment options were limiting game revenue.

Mark arranged to acquire a small private bank and oversaw Future Pharmaceuticals’ clinical trials while the media condemned the company. The trials cured eighteen of twenty terminally ill patients, including Daphne’s mother, and reporters rushed to investigate the unexpected results.

• Mark hired a financial law firm to find a small private bank he could acquire and obtain its operating license.
• Killian told Mark that Future Pharmaceuticals had begun testing and treatment for Daphne’s mother and twenty terminally ill volunteers, while the media criticized the trial.
• Silas reported that Panda Chat memberships had brought in over five million dollars in monthly revenue as rival chat apps struggled to compete.
• Killian told Allison Windsor and Daphne that Allison’s cancer cells had disappeared and her lungs had returned to normal.
• Future Pharmaceuticals’ trial cured eighteen patients, while two died, and the reporters waiting outside swarmed the survivors and their relatives.

Future Pharmaceuticals became a target for powerful investors after its treatment cured terminal illnesses, but Mark refused to sell shares and had prepared supplies for the company. Tony Stark publicly backed the company and protected its supply lines, while Mark returned to check on Ian, Olive, and Harumi Cangtian.

• Patients and their families described Future Pharmaceuticals' successful clinical trials to reporters, causing its valuation to soar and attracting investors.
• Mark rejected all investment and buyout offers, and told Declan Lyle that the company had enough raw materials for six months despite Trask Industries' threats.
• Capital groups joined forces to spread negative stories about Future Pharmaceuticals and pressure its suppliers into cutting off materials.
• JARVIS informed Tony Stark that Trask, Osborn, and other groups planned to bankrupt Future Pharmaceuticals and seize its shares and treatment formula.
• Tony ordered Pepper Potts to announce a strategic alliance with Future Pharmaceuticals and provide its needed materials through Stark Group, ending the public attacks and supply blockade.
• Mark resolved to guard against further attacks and visited Ian, Olive, and Harumi Cangtian at their safe house.

Mark hired Ian, Olive, and Harumi Cangtian as official employees of Payne Security Company and assigned them to protect Future Pharmaceuticals. He also agreed to shelter two Mutant brothers, while Grayson welcomed the three guards at the company.

• Mark learned that Ian, Olive, and Harumi Cangtian had completed six months of firearms and tactical training, then gave them official contracts with higher salaries.
• Mark told the three that he owned Future Pharmaceuticals and assigned them to its security team through Payne Security Company.
• Ian asked Mark to take in the Mutant brothers Nathan Friend and Kieran Friend, and Mark agreed to offer them internship contracts and training under Sean.
• Grayson Cant objected to adding three people to his security team, but agreed after Mark explained that they were Mutants with firearms training.
• Ian, Olive, and Harumi Cangtian arrived at Future Pharmaceuticals, where Grayson greeted them and questioned whether they were the special talents Mark had described.

Mark arranged security for Future Pharmaceuticals, chose Carol Bank for acquisition, and traveled to Tokyo. An alert from Alice then indicated that Killian had lost consciousness and was being taken from his home toward the suburbs.

• Grayson assigned Ian, Olive, and Harumi Cangtian to an independent squad, and Olive distributed Mark’s safety wristbands to security staff and important company personnel.
• Obadiah questioned Tony about supporting Future Pharmaceuticals, then ordered an investigation into Mark and his connection to Tony.
• Mark left Los Angeles and selected Carol Bank from three acquisition candidates recommended by Jones Financial Law Firm.
• Mark arrived in Tokyo, where Alice alerted him that Killian’s heartbeat was abnormal and played a recording of Killian struggling before falling silent.
• Mark checked Killian’s tracking data and found that he had been moved from his home toward the suburbs.

Grayson led a rescue team to intercept Killian’s captors, where they encountered a mutant with bone claws and extraordinary healing. Ian trapped the attacker in a pit, and Olive used Mark’s Electromagnetic Gun to shoot him, but his wounds rapidly healed.

• Grayson took Ian, Olive, and Harumi Cangtian to intercept the black Jeep carrying Killian.
• The vehicles collided, and both teams exchanged gunfire while Killian remained unconscious inside the Jeep.
• A buzz-cut young man with bone claws emerged from the Jeep and charged through the gunfire without slowing.
• Harumi Cangtian confused the attacker with her ability, and Ian opened a pit beneath him and sealed it with Earth Spikes.
• Olive assembled Mark’s Electromagnetic Gun and shot the trapped attacker three times, but his severe wounds healed rapidly.

Olive, Ian, and Harumi Cangtian defeated the attackers who had kidnapped Killian and rescued him. After learning that X-8 had been killed, Trask Industries president Lawrence ordered operations against Future Pharmaceuticals suspended.

• Olive identified X-8's eyes as his weakness, and Ian used an Earth Spike to launch him into the air and expose his eyes.
• Olive shot and killed X-8 with two electromagnetic gun shots, breaking the attackers' will to fight.
• Harumi Cangtian made the five armed men mistake one another for enemies, and they shot each other dead.
• Grayson and his security personnel rescued Killian from the Jeep, though he remained unconscious from the anesthetic.
• Mark concluded that Ian, Olive, and Harumi could protect Future Pharmaceuticals, while Lawrence learned of X-8's death and suspended operations against the company.