Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “His Hope”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jin Shiri, the Armored Emperor, confronts Mateo and asks whether he is connected to Wang Daniu, the Cowboy King. His hostile reaction reveals his intense hatred of Wang Daniu.
• Mateo questions Jin Shiri about whether the Cowboy King is a liar. Jin Shiri refuses to explain fully, but warns Mateo to stay away from him.
• Jin Shiri reveals that Wang Daniu manipulated and deceived people—especially orphanage-raised players—using carefully crafted personas and binding confidentiality contracts. Jin Shiri himself was swindled and is unable to expose him.
• Mateo remains near Jin Shiri because he has nowhere else to go, eventually falling asleep while waiting for Joan of Arc.
• Joan of Arc returns, and Jin Shiri tells her that Mateo belongs to Sunflower Orphanage. She takes Mateo back safely.
• Back at the orphanage, Mateo keeps his nighttime adventure secret. Although he has no concrete evidence, he increasingly believes Mani and Jin Shiri’s accusations against the Cowboy King.
• Mateo leaves behind the Lucky Coin in Jin Shiri’s park. Jin Shiri later finds and keeps it, intending to return it to Mateo someday.
• Jin Shiri reflects on his downfall: Wang Daniu stole his property, destabilized his mind during the First Martial Arts Tournament, and caused him to lose everything. Reduced to level zero and living in poverty, Jin Shiri has withdrawn from society.
• While browsing the Player Forum, Jin Shiri sees that Wang Daniu is still advancing in the tournament. He fears that the Cowboy King may win the entire competition.
• A new announcement introduces a Rookie Tournament. The top hundred rookie players will gain eligibility for the First Martial Arts Tournament.
• Jin Shiri realizes he may be able to train a rookie player to defeat Wang Daniu. When he looks at the Lucky Coin, he recognizes that Mateo might be the person he needs.

Character Developments

• Mateo: Becomes increasingly distrustful of the Cowboy King despite previously viewing him as kind and admirable. His instinctive faith in Jin Shiri and Mani marks a shift in his loyalties. He also shows compassion toward Jin Shiri, viewing him as fundamentally good despite his frightening appearance.
• Jin Shiri: His bitterness and despair are revealed to stem from Wang Daniu’s betrayal and the destruction of his former life. Although he initially rejects Mateo, the Lucky Coin and the new tournament awaken a sense of purpose. He begins to hope again by considering Mateo as a possible student or ally.
• Joan of Arc: Demonstrates responsibility and concern for Mateo by returning to find him and taking him back to the orphanage. Her attitude toward the supposed Fountain of Knowledge becomes more skeptical.
• Wang Daniu/Cowboy King: Though absent from the chapter, he is characterized through others’ accounts as manipulative, deceptive, and highly successful, continuing to win matches despite Jin Shiri’s hatred.

Significant Themes

• Betrayal and deception: Wang Daniu’s manipulation has ruined Jin Shiri’s life and made trust difficult for others.
• Hope after despair: Jin Shiri, who had abandoned his former ambitions, finds a possible new goal through the Rookie Tournament.
• Trust and perception: Mateo struggles between his personal impression of Wang Daniu and the warnings of people he trusts, showing how reputation and emotional connection shape belief.
• Mentorship and redemption: Jin Shiri may regain purpose by training Mateo, potentially using the next generation to challenge the person who destroyed him.
• The burden of the past: The Lucky Coin triggers Jin Shiri’s memories, symbolizing both his loss and the possibility of rebuilding his life.

Character Interactions

• Jin Shiri aggressively questions Mateo about his connection to the Cowboy King, then warns him not to associate with Wang Daniu.
• Mateo repeatedly presses Jin Shiri for information and offers to help, showing concern despite Jin Shiri’s hostility.
• Joan of Arc returns for Mateo and receives directions from Jin Shiri, creating a brief moment of cooperation between them.
• Jin Shiri’s later focus on the Lucky Coin transforms Mateo from a vulnerable child into a possible source of hope and a weapon against the Cowboy King.

Chapter Summary: Aiou and Joan

Key Plot Points and Events

• Joan is carrying out a mission in Infinite City when Aiou unexpectedly finds her in a restaurant and demands that she return Odd Duck Duck or repay him.
• Joan insists that she already returned the creature to its original owner and refuses both compensation and a trip to the Enforcement Bureau. She escapes using a smoke-card device without paying the restaurant bill.
• Aiou pursues her and demonstrates a frightening ability to immobilize her completely. However, instead of restraining her, he merely forces her to pay the restaurant.
• Joan realizes that Aiou may be deliberately toying with her. Although he claims to want Odd Duck Duck back, his persistent pursuit suggests that he mainly enjoys harassing her.
• Joan attempts several ways to escape, including prank devices and Card Illusion, but Aiou is able to track her each time.
• Aiou follows Joan across the rooftops, leading to a humorous exchange involving her alleged flatulence and his use of a gas mask.
• Joan eventually stops to observe Mateo training with Jin Shiri. Aiou recognizes Mateo as the source of the prank-related trouble he previously endured and decides to attack him.
• Joan blocks Aiou’s path. Aiou misinterprets her protectiveness, joking that Mateo is her child, then heads toward Mateo and Jin Shiri to “teach him a lesson.”

Character Developments

• Joan: Remains clever, resourceful, and evasive, using disguises, escape tools, and illusions to avoid Aiou. However, she becomes increasingly frustrated and alarmed by his ability to locate and immobilize her. She also shows concern for Mateo by preventing Aiou from attacking him.
• Aiou: Reveals that he possesses far greater power than his foolish, playful behavior suggests. Despite being capable of stopping Joan effortlessly, he chooses to chase and annoy her instead. His obsession with Odd Duck Duck appears increasingly insincere, suggesting that he enjoys their ongoing conflict more than he actually wants repayment.
• Mateo: Though he appears only in the latter part of the chapter, his earlier prank has made him a target of Aiou’s irritation. His training relationship with Jin Shiri also indicates his continuing growth.
• Jin Shiri: Continues training Mateo, and the two seem to have developed mutual understanding and cooperation.

Significant Themes

• Pursuit and entanglement: Joan’s attempt to escape Aiou becomes an ongoing cycle, with Aiou behaving like an unavoidable “tail” who disrupts her work.
• Hidden power beneath foolishness: Aiou acts childish and ridiculous, but his ability to track and immobilize Joan hints at immense, poorly understood strength.
• Justice and responsibility: Joan argues that Aiou’s true grievance should be directed at the Black Market seller rather than her, raising questions about responsibility when illegal or dubious transactions go wrong.
• Control versus freedom: Joan relies on deception and mobility, while Aiou repeatedly demonstrates that he can take away her ability to move or hide.
• Humor amid danger: The chapter balances Joan’s genuine fear and frustration with absurd comedy, especially Aiou’s persistence, the restaurant bill, the gas mask, and his misunderstanding of Joan’s relationship with Mateo.

Character Interactions

• Joan and Aiou’s relationship becomes increasingly antagonistic and comedic. Joan tries to evade him, while Aiou deliberately keeps following her and provoking her.
• Their confrontation reveals a strange dynamic: Joan is wary of Aiou’s power, while Aiou treats their conflict as entertainment.
• Joan’s intervention when Aiou targets Mateo suggests she feels protective toward him, though Aiou misunderstands this as evidence that Mateo is her son.
• The chapter ends with Aiou moving toward Mateo and Jin Shiri, setting up a likely confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Nothing a Human Would Ever Do”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Aiou attacks Joan of Arc with the prank weapon Chrysanthemum Ruin after she defends a child from him. Joan retaliates by striking him in the head with the Spiral Lance.
• Aiou repeatedly teleports around Joan, eventually tricking her into falling through a portal. Her Instant Return card fails because the surrounding space suppresses spatial abilities.
• Joan finds herself trapped in a sealed room where Aiou has apparently shrunk her. He drops in enormous versions of a Fart Flower and a Wraith Stench Flower, overwhelming her with physical and soul-affecting odors.
• Joan faints from the combined stench. Aiou places her in a box, has her bathed and dressed in an Eastern bridal gown, and transports her outside Infinite City.
• After being placed in a red wedding sedan, Joan awakens in the body of Lin Yueming, a proud woman from the Great Jiong Dynasty. She receives Lin Yueming’s memories and realizes she has effectively transmigrated.
• Lin Yueming had died of anger while being carried to marry Li Xiao, an impoverished scholar whom she despised.
• Joan vows revenge against Aiou, believing he “stunk her to death,” but must now navigate life in Lin Yueming’s body and circumstances.
• Her maid, Jin Suo, encourages her to accept the marriage and help restore the declining Li Family.
• Joan learns that the world’s absurd dynastic names and customs are normal here, and—as an Infinite City resident—she is largely unfazed by the setting’s strangeness.

Character Developments

• Joan of Arc: Initially confident and righteous, she becomes increasingly alarmed as Aiou’s prank escalates beyond her control. Her anger, disgust, and humiliation culminate in a determination to avenge herself. After transmigrating, she must reconcile her identity as Joan with Lin Yueming’s body, memories, social position, and arrogant personality.
• Aiou: Revealed as unpredictable, persistent, and maliciously playful. He treats Joan like a toy, using teleportation, shrinking, foul-smelling flowers, costumes, and staged circumstances to torment her rather than kill her.
• Lin Yueming: Though dead before the chapter’s main events, her memories establish her as proud, resentful, and contemptuous of Li Xiao’s impoverished family.
• Jin Suo: Acts as a loyal and practical maid who believes the marriage could benefit both Lin Yueming and the fallen Li Family.

Significant Themes

• Humiliation and loss of control: Joan is repeatedly placed in situations she cannot predict or escape, emphasizing her frustration at being treated as entertainment.
• Identity and transmigration: Joan’s transformation into Lin Yueming raises questions about whether identity comes from the body, memories, personality, or one’s own consciousness.
• Absurdity and dark comedy: The chapter combines violence, prank weapons, foul-smelling flowers, and an outrageous “transmigration” setup for comic effect.
• Power and helplessness: Despite Joan’s strength, Aiou’s spatial tricks and unconventional methods leave her powerless.
• Cultural unfamiliarity: The bizarre dynasty names and supernatural customs show that Infinite City’s residents are accustomed to strange worlds and beings.

Character Interactions

• Joan and Aiou engage in a hostile, prank-driven confrontation, with Joan defending another person and Aiou escalating the conflict into a personal attack.
• Aiou’s treatment of Joan is deliberately childish and invasive, while Joan reacts with outrage, suspicion, and a growing desire for revenge.
• Joan interacts briefly with Jin Suo after transmigrating; Jin Suo assumes she is still Lin Yueming and tries to persuade her to embrace the marriage.
• Joan must now interact with the Li Family and the Great Jiong Dynasty while concealing or adapting to the fact that she is no longer truly Lin Yueming.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• As Joan of Arc’s bridal sedan approaches the Li residence, she questions her maid Jin Suo about her future husband, Li Xiao. Jin Suo admits that Li Xiao is slow-witted but insists he is kind, avoiding further explanation.
• The townspeople’s comments make Joan increasingly uneasy. They describe Li Xiao as “Li Pighead” and imply that the beautiful and capable Lin Yueming is being wasted by marrying him.
• Joan decides she cannot flee blindly because she is unfamiliar with the world and physically weak in her new body. She hopes to discover whether this world contains supernatural powers.
• Upon seeing Li Xiao, Joan is horrified by his enormous, filthy, pockmarked appearance and obvious mental disability. She realizes she is being forced to marry an idiot.
• Before the wedding ceremony can be completed, Joan tears off her veil, uses her golden hairpin as a weapon, and takes Li Xiao’s mother hostage. She demands that everyone back away and declares that she will not marry Li Xiao.
• The crowd warns her that breaking the engagement could lead to the execution of her parents and make her a wanted criminal. Joan rejects any emotional attachment to the family, since she considers them strangers after transmigrating.
• Joan threatens to overthrow the Jiong Dynasty if necessary. Several townspeople loudly support her, possibly out of genuine resentment toward the dynasty or as a tactic to help rescue the hostage.
• A eunuch suddenly arrives carrying an imperial decree. The decree identifies Joan—under the name Lin Yueming—as the Emperor’s lost daughter and orders her return to the palace.
• Joan is stunned to learn that she may actually be a princess, but she remains suspicious because the revelation is highly dramatic and occurs at a suspiciously convenient moment.

Character Developments

• Joan of Arc/Lin Yueming: Demonstrates sharp observational skills, decisiveness, courage, and a strong instinct for self-preservation. Although physically weak and surrounded by superior fighters, she improvises by taking the Li matriarch hostage. She remains emotionally detached from the body’s supposed family and distrustful of the sudden imperial claim.
• Jin Suo: Shows concern for Joan and some loyalty to the Li family, particularly by defending Li Xiao’s character. Her evasiveness suggests she may know more about the marriage or Li Xiao than she reveals.
• Li Xiao: Is portrayed as severely obese, disfigured, mentally impaired, and childlike. He innocently calls Joan his “wife” and pleads for his mother when she is taken hostage.
• Li Xiao’s mother: Appears deeply affectionate and protective toward her son. Even while held at knifepoint, she tries to address Joan calmly and prevent the situation from escalating.
• The townspeople: Initially mock the marriage, but many quickly rally behind Joan’s anti-dynastic declaration, revealing widespread dissatisfaction with the Jiong Dynasty—or at least a willingness to exploit the chaos.
• The eunuch: Arrives at a critical moment with an imperial decree, introducing the possibility that Joan’s identity and future are far more important than she realized.

Significant Themes

• Identity and transmigration: Joan struggles to understand whether she has truly entered another world and what relationship she should have with the body’s original family.
• Survival versus social obligation: She prioritizes her own survival over marriage customs, family expectations, and the threat of legal punishment.
• Appearance and prejudice: Public opinion condemns Li Xiao based on his appearance and mental state, while Joan must determine whether the rumors reflect reality.
• Power and helplessness: Joan possesses knowledge and tactical skill but lacks physical strength and social authority, forcing her to rely on bluffing and hostage-taking.
• Political oppression and rebellion: The crowd’s response to Joan’s words reveals possible popular anger toward the Jiong Dynasty, while Joan begins imagining overthrowing it if it becomes an obstacle.
• Suspicion and manipulation: The sudden proclamation that Joan is a princess may be genuine, but its timing makes her suspect a larger scheme.

Important Character Interactions

• Joan questions Jin Suo about Li Xiao, but Jin Suo evades the most troubling details.
• Joan observes Li Xiao and his mother during the wedding procession and quickly concludes that marrying him would be intolerable.
• Joan confronts the Li family by taking Li Xiao’s mother hostage, while Jin Suo and the household beg her to stop.
• Li Xiao innocently asks Joan to release his mother, reinforcing her belief that he is mentally impaired.
• An older woman warns Joan about the consequences of defying the marriage arrangement, but Joan refuses to accept the warning.
• The eunuch interrupts the standoff, calls Joan by her former body’s name, and declares that she is the Emperor’s lost daughter, transforming the situation from a failed wedding into a possible royal summons.

Chapter Summary: The Distance Between Hearts

Key Plot Points and Events

• Joan of Arc, suspicious that her apparent transmigration is actually one of Aiou’s elaborate schemes, refuses to accept the world around her as real.
• She confronts the unseen Aiou, insults him, and escapes from the palace while taking Li Xiao’s mother hostage.
• Joan examines the city and finds it convincingly realistic, forcing her to reconsider whether she truly transmigrated into the body of Princess Lin Yueming.
• Meanwhile, Aiou and Mi Hayou observe her and discuss how to regain control of the “plot.” They decide to have bandits abduct her and take her to a mountain stronghold.
• A group of black-clad assassins attacks Joan. During the confrontation, Li Xiao’s mother is killed, and Joan is captured.
• The bandits’ female chief decides not to kill Joan immediately, instead taking her away for her own purposes.
• While being transported, Joan realizes that she possesses a Resurrection Coin and reasons that she should have revived in Resurrection Grand Plaza if she had truly died. She concludes this proves Aiou is behind the situation.
• Aiou dismisses her discovery and orders the scenario to continue, arguing that her memories could have been transferred elsewhere and that no evidence can definitively prove whether her world is real.

Character Developments

• Joan of Arc: Her initial certainty that the world is fake begins to weaken after she observes how detailed and natural it is. Nevertheless, her stubbornness, distrust, and willingness to use force remain strong. She also shows a rare moment of guilt after Li Xiao’s mother dies because of her actions. Her discovery about the Resurrection Coin renews her confidence that she has identified a flaw.
• Aiou: He is revealed as the architect of the artificial scenario, improvising whenever Joan disrupts his intended script. He treats the situation as entertainment and remains confident that Joan cannot escape the illusion.
• Mi Hayou: He acts as Aiou’s scheming assistant, proposing increasingly provocative plot developments to keep Joan under control.
• Li Xiao’s mother: She becomes an unwilling hostage and is killed during the ambush, emphasizing the danger created by Joan’s resistance.
• The female bandit chief: She is introduced as physically imposing, domineering, and attracted to Joan’s defiant personality. Her decision to keep Joan alive changes the assassins’ original mission.

Significant Themes

• Reality versus illusion: The chapter questions whether a person can ever prove that their surroundings and companions are real.
• Limits of certainty: Joan believes her Resurrection Coin proves the world is fabricated, but Aiou suggests that any apparent contradiction can be explained away.
• Control and resistance: Aiou manipulates events like a director controlling a script, while Joan repeatedly disrupts the planned narrative through violence and escape.
• Isolation between people: The chapter argues that no one can fully access another person’s mind, making absolute certainty about love, identity, or reality impossible.
• Consequences of rebellion: Joan’s attempt to test the world leads directly to the death of an innocent hostage and her own capture.

Character Interactions

• Joan clashes with palace attendants and openly demands that Aiou reveal himself.
• She uses Li Xiao’s mother as leverage but later feels remorse when the woman is killed.
• Aiou and Mi Hayou collaborate to construct a new scenario designed to restrain Joan without subjecting her to excessive or inappropriate danger.
• The female chief and her subordinate disagree over whether Joan should be killed or abducted; the chief asserts authority and orders Joan taken alive.
• Joan continues addressing Aiou even though he is not visibly present, while Aiou deliberately ignores her accusations and maintains control of the unfolding illusion.

Chapter Summary: “Riding a Little Motorcycle Past Blackwind Ridge”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A month passes after Joan of Arc is abducted to Blackwind Stronghold, a bandit fortress located on the dangerous Blackwind Ridge.
• The stronghold is ruled by Fang Jiaolong, a powerful and ruthless woman who favors women and dominates the men under her command. Her rule is illustrated through an attempted rebellion by one of her women and several bandits, which ends with Fang killing the conspirators.
• Witnessing the stronghold’s violence and political intrigue causes Joan to reconsider her belief that her situation is merely part of Aiou’s scheme. She begins to suspect that she has genuinely transmigrated into another world, especially since her Resurrection Coin never activated.
• Joan adapts to life in the stronghold. Her modern knowledge helps with its construction, and her swordsmanship makes her one of Fang Jiaolong’s most trusted subordinates. However, Fang assigns her two bodyguards because she does not trust Joan, knowing that Joan’s royal status could eventually threaten the stronghold.
• Joan becomes increasingly depressed and homesick. She misses Infinite City, its luxuries, entertainment, fellow players, and the responsibilities connected to her mission and adopted orphans. She eventually breaks down and cries, longing to return home.
• Aiou suddenly arrives on a pink motorcycle. He claims to have searched countless worlds for Joan after realizing she had not resurrected, presenting himself as someone who feels responsible for her disappearance.
• Before Joan can determine whether Aiou is sincere, Fang Jiaolong orders her bandits to attack him. Shockingly, Aiou’s attacks have no effect on them, while their attacks injure him. A bandit cuts off his arm, and Fang kills him by destroying his head.
• Aiou’s final warning—that something is wrong with the world—causes Joan to suspect that the seemingly ordinary people of this world may possess extraordinary strength. Fang then accuses Joan of never truly being loyal and prepares to deal with her.

Character Developments

• Joan of Arc: Moves from disbelief and resistance toward accepting that she may truly be trapped in another world. She contributes actively to the stronghold and becomes a capable fighter, but her confidence collapses under homesickness and uncertainty. Aiou’s death leaves her vulnerable and forces her to confront Fang’s suspicion.
• Aiou: Reappears after an apparently immense search across worlds, claiming that he has spent an unimaginable amount of time trying to find Joan. His familiar mockery shifts briefly into apparent sincerity, but his sudden inability to harm the bandits suggests that he does not understand the nature of this world.
• Fang Jiaolong: Is shown as both a harsh ruler and a shrewd judge of loyalty. Though she uses Joan’s talents, she never fully trusts her and quickly recognizes Aiou as a possible threat.
• Blackwind bandits: Initially appear to be ordinary, poorly trained criminals, but their ability to withstand Aiou’s attacks reveals that they may be far more powerful than they seem.

Significant Themes

• Uncertainty between reality and conspiracy: Joan must decide whether her situation is a deliberate plot by Aiou or a genuine transmigration into another world.
• Power and perception: The chapter suggests that appearances are deceptive. Ordinary-looking villagers and bandits may possess overwhelming strength, making it impossible to judge power by appearance.
• Isolation and homesickness: Joan’s grief emphasizes the emotional cost of being cut off from one’s home, community, technology, and familiar responsibilities.
• Loyalty and suspicion: Fang’s distrust of Joan and Joan’s uncertainty about Aiou demonstrate how survival depends on navigating unstable alliances.
• The limits of prior knowledge: Joan’s memories of cultivation and supernatural abilities are useless in this world, forcing her to adapt to unfamiliar rules.

Character Interactions

• Joan becomes an uneasy subordinate and confidante of Fang Jiaolong, benefiting from Fang’s recognition of her abilities while remaining under surveillance.
• Joan’s relationship with Aiou is openly hostile but complicated by their shared history and her uncertainty about whether he genuinely came to rescue her.
• Aiou mocks Joan’s homesickness before insisting that he has crossed countless worlds to find her, creating tension between ridicule and apparent concern.
• Fang immediately treats Aiou as an enemy and orders his execution. After Aiou fails to defend himself, Fang turns her suspicion toward Joan, setting up the chapter’s final confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Youth Tournament”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Joan of Arc is deceived by Aiou, who pretends to be dead and manipulates events so that she appears connected to him. He reveals the trick by restoring his body and laughing at her humiliation.
• Furious, Joan pursues Aiou and attempts to kill him, but he easily evades her. He then dispels the false reality surrounding them, revealing that the mountains, city, and other figures were illusions or transformations.
• Aiou transports Joan to the spectator stands, where combat is forbidden, preventing her from attacking him. He persuades her to stay and watch Mateo’s tournament match.
• Mateo fights Bofeite, a Beast Druid capable of summoning wolves and transforming into one of them. Mateo uses precise archery to eliminate several wolves and gains the apparent advantage.
• Aiou points out that Mateo has failed to identify Bofeite’s real strategy. Bofeite is hiding separately from the wolf pack with a sniper rifle, waiting for a chance to kill Mateo with one shot.
• The chapter ends with the match at a critical point: both fighters can probably defeat the other with a single successful attack, and Mateo must evade Bofeite’s concealed shot.

Character Developments

• Joan of Arc: Her anger toward Aiou intensifies after realizing she was completely fooled. Although she cannot overpower him physically, she adapts by reading his intentions and deliberately countering his psychological tricks. She also shows pride and approval when Mateo performs well.
• Aiou: He is revealed as an overwhelmingly powerful and mischievous manipulator who enjoys provoking Joan. However, Joan’s unexpected willingness to play along—particularly when she accepts the food he offers—briefly throws him off balance.
• Mateo: He demonstrates remarkable archery talent despite limited training. He remains calm under pressure and uses movement and accurate attacks effectively, though he has not yet recognized the opponent’s hidden threat.
• Bofeite: He proves to be patient and tactical rather than relying solely on his Beast Druid abilities. His use of the wolves as a distraction while preparing a sniper attack reveals considerable strategic cunning.

Significant Themes

• Deception and perception: The chapter emphasizes how appearances can be manipulated, from Aiou’s fake death and altered surroundings to Bofeite’s concealed position.
• Psychological warfare: Joan learns that brute force cannot defeat Aiou, so she begins countering him by anticipating and reversing his tricks.
• Adaptation and strategy: Both the interpersonal conflict and the tournament battle reward those who can recognize hidden intentions and adjust their tactics.
• Humor amid conflict: Aiou’s teasing, food-related provocations, and Joan’s furious reactions create comic relief despite the serious threats.
• Potential versus experience: Mateo’s natural skill is impressive, but his lack of battle experience leaves him vulnerable to more sophisticated tactics.

Character Interactions

• Joan and Aiou engage in a hostile but increasingly strategic exchange, with Aiou teasing her and Joan retaliating by turning his provocations against him.
• Aiou uses Mateo’s match to distract Joan and regain control of the situation, while Joan reluctantly watches because of her curiosity about Mateo’s progress.
• Joan and Aiou compete through food as well as words: Aiou tries to tempt and irritate her, but she recognizes the trap and uses it to frustrate him instead.
• During the match, Aiou acts as an analytical observer, identifying Bofeite’s hidden killing move while Joan initially focuses on Mateo’s visible advantage.

Chapter Summary: Dream of All Beings

Key Plot Points and Events

• Mateo battles Bofeite in front of a large audience. Although Mateo has improved rapidly and manages to defeat the wolves, Bofeite fights cautiously and refuses to test Mateo’s abilities directly.
• While Mateo is briefly distracted after killing the final wolf, Bofeite shoots him in the head, killing him instantly. His death shatters the heroic expectations surrounding him and demonstrates the cruelty of reality.
• Jin Shiri is devastated, realizing that his hopes of Mateo eventually challenging the Cowboy King were premature. Joan of Arc also reacts with sadness, having developed an affectionate, sibling-like fondness for Mateo.
• Joan leaves the stands with Aiou, intending to retaliate against him. Their confrontation quickly becomes comedic: Aiou uses an artificially created, overwhelmingly foul fart to escape her attack.
• Joan begins questioning Aiou’s true nature. His childish behavior contrasts sharply with his extraordinary strength, leading her to suspect that he may be a powerful monkey spirit connected to the City Lord.
• Aiou uses “Heaven and Earth Reversal” to shrink Joan again as punishment for teasing him, then transports her into a dangerous mist-filled region.
• In the new area, Joan and Aiou narrowly avoid a grotesque, decaying monster covered in eyes. Aiou reveals that they are inside part of the Dream of All Beings, a domain associated with the Dark King that Hawkins, the City Lord, previously intercepted.
• Aiou explains that the region is actually Joan’s dream domain. If she remains there, her dream will gradually merge with the corrupted environment, potentially transforming her inner self in terrifying ways.

Character Developments

• Mateo: His rapid growth and potential are emphasized, but his death shows that talent and determination cannot guarantee victory. He remains vulnerable to caution, deception, and bad timing.
• Bofeite: Revealed to be pragmatic and cautious rather than conventionally heroic. He wins by exploiting an opening instead of engaging in a dramatic showdown.
• Jin Shiri: His extravagant hopes for Mateo are replaced by painful recognition of reality’s randomness and brutality.
• Joan of Arc: Shows genuine affection for Mateo and a strong aversion to unnecessary danger. Her interactions with Aiou reveal her frustration, impulsiveness, and growing concern about his true power and motives.
• Aiou: Continues to behave like an immature trickster, using crude jokes and pranks, yet his strength and knowledge are clearly far beyond ordinary experts. His playful persona may conceal a much more deliberate and mysterious nature.
• Hawkins/Dream Queen Anna: Though absent, both are established as extremely powerful figures connected to the Dream of All Beings and the ability to affect dream domains.

Significant Themes

• Reality versus fantasy: Mateo’s death deliberately rejects the conventions of anime, film, and heroic fiction. Real life offers no guaranteed comeback, destiny, or dramatic victory.
• The cruelty of hope: Mateo’s progress inspires unrealistic expectations in others, making his sudden death more devastating.
• Power hidden beneath foolishness: Aiou’s childish antics conceal abilities that may rival or surpass those of the world’s greatest beings.
• Dreams as reflections of the self: The chapter presents dreams as extensions of the spirit. Joan’s dream can merge with an external domain, threatening to reshape her identity.
• Comedy alongside horror: Ridiculous humor—especially Aiou’s fart prank and Joan’s “monkey spirit” theory—exists beside sudden death and grotesque supernatural terror, creating an unstable, unpredictable tone.

Character Interactions

• Mateo and Bofeite: A tense, evenly matched confrontation decided by Bofeite’s caution and Mateo’s momentary distraction.
• Jin Shiri and Mateo: Their relationship is mostly indirect, but Jin Shiri’s reaction shows that he viewed Mateo as a promising student or successor.
• Joan and Aiou: Their relationship resembles an antagonistic sibling dynamic. Joan repeatedly threatens or attacks Aiou, while he responds with humiliating pranks and seemingly careless provocations. Despite their hostility, Aiou protects Joan from the monster and understands her situation better than she does.
• Joan and the supernatural domain: Her fear grows as she realizes that Aiou has placed her in a dangerous dream environment where her own subconscious may become corrupted.

Summary: “A Gift of a Zither”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Aiou explains that the Dream of All Beings contains dreams from all forms of life, not just humans. Because it is connected to the Dark King’s chaotic power, its scenes are bizarre and dangerous.
• Aiou brings Joan of Arc into the dream beneath the island, claiming he wants to broaden her horizons, though she remains suspicious and annoyed by his recklessness.
• They encounter a strange horse-headed humanoid eating endlessly regenerating Radishes from a tree covered in human faces. Aiou eats one and is transformed: his head becomes a horse’s head, then separates from his body and gains the ability to fly.
• Aiou scouts ahead and discovers a bamboo grove containing a disturbing white-clad zither player with inverted facial features, a mouth on his forehead, and a tongue covered in hair and eyeballs.
• The creature attacks Aiou, binding and biting his detached head and body. Joan of Arc rescues him with a powerful card that severs and burns away the creature’s hair-like appendages.
• Aiou “corrects” the man’s upside-down facial features. Rather than attacking again, the man begins peacefully playing the zither.
• The music depicts a progression from meeting, to separation, to searching, and finally death, becoming increasingly mournful.
• After the performance, the white-clad man dissolves into light and offers his zither to Joan of Arc, who accepts it in surprise.

Character Developments

• Aiou remains fearless, playful, and absurdly reckless. He treats the Dream of All Beings’ horrifying transformations as amusing curiosities, even enjoying his horse head and using humor while under attack.
• His resilience is emphasized: despite being mutilated and nearly overwhelmed, he remains active and cheerful.
• Joan of Arc becomes increasingly frustrated with Aiou’s behavior and recognizes the terrifying nature of the dream more clearly than he does. However, she also proves herself dependable and powerful by saving him.
• Joan’s guarded attitude softens slightly when the zither player gives her the instrument, suggesting she is capable of responding to the dream’s emotional and artistic elements despite her fear.
• The white-clad figure changes from an apparently hostile monster into a peaceful musician after Aiou restores his features, though the reason for this transformation remains unclear.

Significant Themes

• The strangeness and danger of dreams: The Dream of All Beings reflects nonhuman perspectives and operates according to surreal, incomprehensible rules.
• Perception versus essence: The inverted features make the zither player horrifying, but once Aiou rearranges them, the figure appears more human and becomes peaceful. This suggests that appearances influence how beings are understood.
• Humor amid horror: Aiou’s jokes and reckless curiosity contrast with Joan’s genuine fear, creating a balance between grotesque danger and comedy.
• Music as emotional storytelling: The zither piece communicates an entire cycle of connection, loss, longing, and death without words.
• Unexpected gifts and transformation: Both Aiou and the white-clad figure undergo changes, while Joan receives the zither as a mysterious reward or connection.

Character Interactions

• Aiou repeatedly teases and frustrates Joan, while Joan criticizes his reckless actions and reluctantly follows him.
• Joan protects Aiou from the zither player’s attack, demonstrating their practical partnership beneath their constant bickering.
• Aiou interacts directly with the monster, first provoking it by pretending to be “Horseface,” then altering its facial features.
• Joan and Aiou interpret the zither music differently: Joan recognizes its mournful narrative, while Aiou humorously reinterprets it as a tale of mountains, rivers, hammers, and “Dog Eggs.”
• The white-clad musician ultimately interacts most meaningfully with Joan, offering her the zither before disappearing.

Joan of Arc gained the Fate-Reversing Guqin after Aiou tricked her into playing it and reversing her body. She wanted to leave the Dream of All Beings, but Aiou insisted the strange place was fun.

• Joan of Arc distrusted Aiou's assurances and reluctantly plucked the guqin, which turned her facial features and organs upside down.
• Aiou told Joan of Arc to play a piece backward and then normally, and the guqin restored her body while revealing its powers and name, Reverse Fate.
• Joan of Arc used the guqin to rearrange Aiou's features and body, then restored him after his antics horrified her.
• Joan of Arc asked Aiou to take her out of the Dream of All Beings, but he questioned why they should leave.

Chapter Summary: Corpse-Born

Key Plot Points and Events

• Joan of Arc asks Aiou whether he can send her back, but he refuses, saying she should remain and “plague” him a little longer.
• The two bicker over Joan’s identity as a phantom thief. Aiou insists that, regardless of her charitable motives, stealing still makes her a thief. Joan argues that her class mission supports her actions and that the stolen wealth is returned or donated to help orphans.
• Their argument turns physical when Joan attacks Aiou. Before she can catch him, a strange mist fills the bamboo forest, transforming it into a bleak, dried-out landscape.
• Joan discovers Aiou hanging from a tree among numerous corpses dressed in prison uniforms. Rather than being genuinely dead, Aiou is pretending to imitate a “Hanged Ghost,” treating the frightening scene as a joke.
• A rabbit appears carrying a huge sack. Joan is immediately enchanted by its cuteness, provoking Aiou’s competitive jealousy. He attacks the rabbit simply because he believes it is cuter than he is.
• The rabbit’s sack contains an enormous supply of strawberries, which Aiou eagerly praises. He then transforms into a bizarre rabbit-bodied creature with a horse’s head and attempts to appear cute. Joan responds by repeatedly stomping on him.
• A terrifying, corpse-like monster suddenly appears behind Joan and attacks her. She panics, but Aiou—who has shrunk to rabbit-size—blocks the monster’s jaws and holds them open so she can respond.
• Joan plays the Fate-Reversing Guqin, transforming and weakening the monster. The music also alters Aiou, who admits that he had noticed the monster approaching but deliberately failed to warn her because he wanted to see her frightened.
• Joan angrily attacks Aiou again, though she eventually admits—reluctantly—that she had not given him an opportunity to warn her.
• After subduing the creature, Aiou identifies it as a monster stitched together from a corpse. Joan realizes that the corpses previously hanging from the tree have mysteriously disappeared, implying that they were used to create the monster.

Character Developments

• Joan of Arc: Reveals her strong moral convictions and defensiveness about being called a thief. Though she is capable and possesses a powerful guqin, she is easily embarrassed, emotionally reactive, and genuinely frightened by the corpse-monster. Her irritation with Aiou grows alongside a reluctant dependence on him.
• Aiou: Continues to behave as a mischievous, shameless provocateur. He deliberately aggravates Joan, imitates supernatural creatures, competes with the rabbit over cuteness, and withholds his warning to watch her panic. Despite his antics, he protects Joan from the monster and helps neutralize it.
• Their relationship: Their exchanges resemble constant bickering between reluctant companions. Aiou’s teasing frustrates Joan, but his actions show that he will still intervene when she is in danger.

Significant Themes

• Appearance versus morality: The argument over whether Joan is a “thief” raises questions about whether intentions can excuse illegal actions.
• Comedy amid horror: The chapter repeatedly undercuts disturbing imagery—hanging corpses, a fog-shrouded forest, and a stitched monster—with Aiou’s absurd behavior and Joan’s exasperation.
• Fear and vulnerability: Joan’s panic shows that strength and magical abilities do not eliminate fear, especially when confronted with something unnatural and unpredictable.
• Trust and provocation: Aiou protects Joan while intentionally frightening and humiliating her, creating an unstable dynamic in which care is expressed through mockery rather than sincerity.
• The transformation of death: The vanished corpses and stitched creature suggest that the dead are being physically repurposed, introducing a darker mystery behind the bizarre setting.

Character Interactions

• Joan and Aiou debate whether her charitable thefts make her a criminal.
• They repeatedly attack, insult, and provoke one another, with Joan physically punishing Aiou for his behavior.
• Aiou’s rivalry with the rabbit over cuteness becomes another source of comic conflict.
• During the monster attack, Aiou saves Joan but later admits he intentionally allowed her to be frightened.
• Joan uses the Fate-Reversing Guqin to subdue the monster, inadvertently transforming Aiou as well.

Chapter Summary: “Piss Lake”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Joan of Arc realizes that the grotesque monster from the previous scene may have been assembled from the corpses hanging on a tree—or may have consumed them.
• Aiou, now in a smaller body, becomes tired and falls asleep, leaving Joan to navigate the Dream of All Beings alone. She carries him by the scruff and considers using him as a shield against danger.
• The environment abruptly changes from a gray, corpse-filled horror scene into a bright landscape of grass and flowers, demonstrating the Dream’s surreal, illogical nature.
• Joan encounters floating, grotesque heads with long tongues. Her Fate-Reversing Guqin has no effect on them because they can constantly reshape themselves.
• Desperate, Joan throws Aiou at one of the creatures. It swallows him, but later vomits him back out when he fails to produce enough fear.
• Aiou awakens and perceives the monsters as harmless, fluffy creatures, while Joan sees terrifying human heads. Using Three Thousand Motherly Loves, Aiou discovers that the creatures’ forms depend on the observer’s mental state:
  • Those who see them as cute are considered powerful and are left alone.
  • Those who fear them are treated as prey and attacked.
• Joan’s fear, intensified by the earlier corpse scene, causes the creatures to appear horrifying. She flees toward another scene, hoping the monsters cannot cross boundaries between areas.
• She reaches a vast lake, and the pursuing creatures disappear at the border. Aiou falls into the lake and declares that it is pure urine, earning the name “Piss Lake.”
• While Joan and Aiou speculate about the enormous creature that produced such a lake, Joan senses something watching them from beneath the surface.
• A tentacle suddenly emerges, wraps around Aiou, and drags him into the lake.

Character Developments

• Joan of Arc becomes increasingly pragmatic and determined to survive. Though frightened, she takes initiative, experiments with her surroundings, and relies on her own abilities because Aiou refuses to help.
• Her willingness to use Aiou as a shield reveals both her desperation and growing irritation with his irresponsibility.
• Joan also becomes more perceptive, recognizing that the monsters’ appearances may be subjective and sensing the hidden presence beneath the lake.
• Aiou remains carefree, reckless, and seemingly invulnerable. He casually sleeps in dangerous territory, allows himself to be swallowed, and treats terrifying monsters as adorable pets.
• His ability to see the creatures’ true forms and analyze their behavior demonstrates his superior understanding of the Dream of All Beings.
• Aiou’s casual attitude toward death is explained by his ability to abandon or replace temporary bodies.

Significant Themes

• Subjective reality: The creatures’ appearances and behavior are shaped by the observer’s emotions, particularly fear. Reality in the Dream is psychological rather than fixed.
• Fear as weakness: Joan’s terror makes her vulnerable, while Aiou’s lack of fear causes the same monsters to perceive him as powerful.
• Absurdity and the rejection of logic: The Dream of All Beings constantly transforms, combining horror, comedy, and nonsense in ways that defy ordinary rules.
• Survival and self-reliance: Joan is forced to act independently because Aiou provides little practical assistance.
• Mortality and identity: Aiou’s indifference to bodily death contrasts with Joan’s genuine concern, emphasizing their radically different relationships with danger and physical existence.

Character Interactions

• Joan repeatedly clashes with Aiou over his laziness, strange behavior, and refusal to protect her.
• She uses him as bait against the floating creatures, while Aiou responds without resentment and later embraces one of them as a “fluffy furball.”
• Their argument over whether the creatures are cute or horrifying exposes the difference between their perceptions.
• Aiou explains the monsters’ psychology to Joan, giving her crucial information but not directly helping her escape.
• At the lake, their banter continues over Aiou’s nudity and the lake’s urine-like nature, but the comic exchange ends abruptly when a tentacle seizes Aiou.

Summary of “Infinite Hamsters”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Aiou is dragged beneath a lake and discovers that the apparent monster is actually a flesh-covered creature parasitized by a Little Boy Peeing Statue. The statue drains stamina from living beings and converts it into urine, which it continuously sprays.
• Aiou escapes the lake, while Joan of Arc cuts away the pursuing tentacles. She is disgusted when she realizes Aiou has been soaked in and has apparently swallowed some of the urine, though he treats the situation flippantly.
• Aiou hears a voice calling him and finds a hamster hiding nearby. After approaching it, he is transformed into a hamster and discovers that the hamster attacks him and knocks him unconscious.
• Upon awakening, Aiou finds two identical unconscious hamsters and realizes that something is fundamentally wrong. Each time he encounters another hamster, an overwhelming hunger compels him to attack it, causing the same cycle to repeat.
• Joan of Arc becomes increasingly alarmed when Aiou disappears. She worries that he may have escaped the Dream of All Beings or been harmed, especially because she depends on him to help her safely navigate the Fate-Reversing Guqin’s effects.
• After retreating from the lake, Joan encounters numerous hamsters fighting and notices that their behavior resembles Aiou’s. She sends out a magical white dove as a test; when it approaches the hamsters, it too transforms into one.
• Joan concludes that Aiou is trapped among the hamsters. The area is an “infinite loop” governed by dream logic: only the currently conscious hamster is Aiou, while unconscious hamsters are empty bodies. Each time Aiou is knocked out, his consciousness transfers to another hamster.
• Aiou eventually understands the mechanism through repeated experience and confirms it using Three Thousand Motherly Loves. He becomes curious about what will happen as the cycle continues and the limited region fills with more and more hamsters.

Character Developments

• Aiou: Demonstrates his usual irreverence and resilience, treating the bizarre urine monster with humor. Once transformed, he initially struggles to understand the repeating hamster phenomenon but gradually identifies the body-transfer rule. His curiosity leads him to consider the long-term consequences of the loop rather than simply escaping it.
• Joan of Arc: Her attitude toward Aiou changes significantly. Although she normally finds him disgusting and irritating, his disappearance makes her anxious because she recognizes how important he is to her survival. She becomes resourceful and analytical, using her dove prop to investigate the hamster phenomenon.
• Relationship: Joan’s concern reveals an unexpected dependence on Aiou. Her previous disgust gives way to genuine worry, suggesting that their hostile, sarcastic interactions conceal growing trust and reliance.

Significant Themes

• Dream logic and unstable reality: The Dream of All Beings operates like a massive virtual system in which incompatible rules overlap, producing surreal phenomena such as the parasitic urine statue and the infinite hamster loop.
• Identity and consciousness: Aiou’s situation raises questions about what constitutes the “real” self when consciousness can shift between identical bodies. Only the awake hamster possesses Aiou’s identity; the others are empty vessels.
• Repetition and infinite cycles: The hamster region follows a programmed loop with no obvious endpoint. The unresolved question of what happens when the area becomes overcrowded creates the chapter’s central suspense.
• Dependence and hidden attachment: Joan’s panic at Aiou’s disappearance shows that her contempt is mixed with trust and emotional reliance.
• Life versus illusion: The monsters and hamsters possess no true self-awareness or life, emphasizing the chapter’s exploration of artificial existence within a dream.

Character Interactions

• Aiou and Joan exchange sarcastic remarks about the urine monster, with Aiou’s shameless response frustrating Joan.
• Joan repeatedly calls for Aiou after he vanishes, revealing concern and dependence despite their antagonistic relationship.
• Aiou interacts with multiple hamster manifestations of the same loop, repeatedly attacking or being attacked as consciousness transfers between bodies.
• Joan uses her magical dove to test the hamster group, indirectly confirming Aiou’s presence and demonstrating her growing ability to understand and respond to his predicament.

Chapter Summary: “Before the Ticket Battle”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Aiou remains trapped in the Hamster Dream while Joan of Arc watches rather than rescuing him, suspecting that he is either enjoying the experience or trying to manipulate her into intervening.
• Over an immense, uncertain span of dream-time, the hamster population grows into an enormous horde. Aiou repeatedly “kills” or strikes hamsters, though his real body remains unchanged outside the dream.
• Hamsters that fall beyond the dream’s range awaken, display extraordinary strength, and flee into the woods. Their mysterious fate reinforces that dreams do not need to follow logic or possess a clear beginning or ending.
• Aiou eventually abandons the experiment and uses Three Thousand Motherly Loves to escape the Hamster Domain and restore his original form.
• He and Joan of Arc exchange playful, flirtatious banter. Aiou claims to like her, but she refuses to be manipulated and says she no longer likes him.
• Aiou suddenly sends Joan of Arc back to the original clearing and disappears, leaving her uncertain whether his confession was sincere.
• At Infinite City’s City Lord’s Manor, Aiou meets Hawkins and asks for his body back. Hawkins reveals that the crisis in Eternal Kingdom has ended and no longer requires Aiou’s assistance.
• Hawkins realizes the meaning of his invitation from Zhang Sen and the other powerful beings: he is not destined to become Transcendent immediately or inevitably, but he will achieve Transcendence before the upcoming Ticket Contest.
• Although Hawkins once desperately desired Transcendence, he now feels hesitant because he has already obtained nearly everything he wants from Infinite City. He watches the First Martial Arts Tournament and reflects on the value of ordinary existence.
• The chapter then shifts to the Chess Society. Its hidden mastermind, the Owl, has died after unknowingly becoming infected by Falga’s Meme.
• Falga accidentally replaces the Chess Society’s leader, gains access to his memories, and discovers the Chess Society’s plan for reaching Transcendence.
• Realizing that he might use the Owl’s identity and resources to pursue Transcendence, Falga also recognizes that conquering Infinite City will be difficult because of Hawkins. He decides to alter the original plan.

Character Developments

• Aiou: Demonstrates patience, adaptability, and his usual manipulative sense of humor. Although he is trapped in the dream, he remains powerful enough to escape at will. His interaction with Joan of Arc hints that his feelings may be more genuine than his teasing suggests.
• Joan of Arc: Becomes more perceptive and less vulnerable to Aiou’s tricks. She correctly predicts that intervening might have caused her to become trapped herself, and she maintains control during their flirtatious exchange. However, Aiou’s apparent confession unsettles her emotionally.
• Hawkins: Gains clarity about his destiny and learns that Transcendence will occur before the Ticket Contest. Rather than celebrating, he feels nostalgic and uncertain, questioning whether ultimate power would actually add anything to his life.
• Falga: Evolves from an ambitious researcher into a major strategic threat. By accidentally consuming the Chess Society’s leader, he acquires vast knowledge and a possible shortcut to Transcendence, though he understands that Hawkins is the central obstacle.
• The Owl/Chess Society’s mastermind: Dies not through a direct confrontation but through an unforeseen consequence of contact with Falga’s Meme, emphasizing the unpredictability of events.

Significant Themes

• The irrational nature of dreams: The Hamster Dream has no coherent purpose or structure, suggesting that dreams operate outside ordinary logic and causality.
• Manipulation and emotional uncertainty: Aiou and Joan of Arc’s banter blurs the line between genuine affection and psychological gamesmanship.
• Destiny versus personal desire: Hawkins learns that Transcendence is destined to happen soon, yet the certainty of attaining it makes him hesitate rather than rejoice.
• The value of ordinary life: Hawkins’s enjoyment of the martial-arts tournament implies that hope, competition, and everyday experiences may matter more to him than limitless power.
• Accident and unintended consequences: Falga’s Meme unintentionally destroys the Chess Society’s leader and gives Falga access to a far greater plan than he expected.
• Power and strategic adaptation: Falga inherits the Chess Society’s ambitions but realizes that simply repeating the Owl’s plan will not work against Hawkins, forcing him to devise a new approach.

Character Interactions

• Aiou and Joan of Arc: Their relationship is defined by teasing, mutual suspicion, and flirtation. Joan refuses to rescue Aiou or accept his emotional manipulation, while Aiou responds with mock hurt and a possibly sincere declaration of affection.
• Aiou and Hawkins: Their interaction is practical and familiar. Aiou wants his body returned and complains about Infinite City, while Hawkins reflects on Aiou’s role and the larger significance of the coming Ticket Contest.
• Hawkins and the wider world: By watching the martial-arts tournament, Hawkins connects his immense destiny to the hopes and struggles of ordinary participants.
• Falga and the Chess Society: Falga does not deliberately attack the organization, but after replacing its leader, he inherits its knowledge and ambitions, transforming the balance of power.

Chapter Summary: “The Last Supper”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Asmodeus reunites with Anubis at Infinite City after ages apart. Their different paths are highlighted: Asmodeus stayed to guard the city, while Anubis moved to the Nethersea World to establish his own lineage.
• Hawkins summons many of his oldest followers and former companions to the City Lord’s Manor for a final gathering. Notable figures—including Xiao Yaojin, Romeo, Vanessa, Qiao Si, Anna, Victor, Mark, Ai Miye, and others—return to Infinite City.
• During the banquet, Hawkins reveals that he is about to achieve Transcendence and will soon leave Infinite City on an extremely long, uncertain journey.
• The announcement alarms everyone, since Hawkins is the city’s stabilizing force. They worry that Infinite City may fall into chaos or collapse without him.
• Hawkins reassures them that the city will continue operating under its established rules. He also warns them to avoid interfering with future events, especially those involving a child named Falga. Falga is not the direct key to Hawkins’s Transcendence, but he will serve as an important “whetstone” in Hawkins’s journey.
• Hawkins appoints Qiao Si as the new City Lord, with Mark, Anna, Ai Miye, Victor, and Maning as deputy City Lords. If at least three deputies oppose Qiao Si’s decision, her order will be invalid.
• The chapter ends with Hawkins saying goodbye and leaving the gathering, while his companions react with sadness, worry, reluctance, and admiration.

Character Developments

• Asmodeus and Anubis are shown as ancient, powerful figures who chose very different forms of loyalty and ambition—one protecting Hawkins’s city, the other building an independent legacy.
• Hawkins demonstrates foresight, authority, and calm acceptance of separation. He has already planned for Infinite City’s future and trusts his followers to carry on without him.
• Qiao Si undergoes the greatest advancement. Once merely Jennie’s guard, she is elevated to the leadership of Infinite City. Her shock and uncertainty reveal her humility and the immense weight of the position.
• Anna and Ai Miye openly show deep affection and attachment to Hawkins, reacting especially strongly to his planned departure.
• The gathered followers are revealed to have matured into influential leaders and founders of major factions, yet they remain emotionally dependent on Hawkins’s presence and guidance.
• Mani’s fixation on the gold worn by others provides comic relief and emphasizes that, despite their immense power and age, the group retains familiar personal quirks.

Significant Themes

• Farewell and the passage of time: The banquet reunites old companions who have grown powerful and influential but are now facing another, perhaps permanent, separation.
• Legacy and succession: Hawkins’s departure raises the question of whether his ideals and order can survive without him. His appointment of Qiao Si and the deputy system provides a structured answer.
• Leadership and responsibility: Infinite City’s stability depends not only on strength but also on moral restraint. Hawkins’s presence prevents the city’s darker impulses from overwhelming it.
• Trust in the future: Hawkins does not explain every aspect of his plan, but his followers accept his decisions because of their faith in him.
• The unknown and transcendence: Hawkins’s impending Transcendence represents a step beyond ordinary existence, beginning an unpredictable journey that may separate him from everyone he knows.
• Power balanced by compassion: Although Hawkins possesses overwhelming authority, he emphasizes sparing Falga’s life and allowing him to develop, suggesting that future growth matters more than immediate control.

Character Interactions

• Asmodeus and Anubis greet one another warmly, rekindling an ancient friendship and discussing Hawkins’s summons.
• Romeo and Vanessa speculate about why Hawkins has called them together, reflecting their curiosity and respect for his mystery.
• Mani silently evaluates everyone’s gold accessories, while Maning sits beside her and tolerates her behavior.
• Qiao Si directly questions Hawkins about the purpose of the gathering, prompting his announcement about Transcendence.
• Anna, Victor, Ai Miye, Arthur, and others respond with shock and concern, focusing respectively on Hawkins’s claim, Infinite City’s future, his destination, and the city’s political stability.
• Anubis correctly suspects that Falga is connected to Hawkins’s larger plan, while Mark initially dismisses the possibility before Hawkins clarifies Falga’s role.
• Hawkins formally entrusts Qiao Si and the five deputies with Infinite City’s future, then says farewell to the gathered companions, leaving them emotional and uncertain about when—or whether—they will meet again.

Black Flame — Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• In Infinite City, multiple numbered variants of City Lord Hawkins mysteriously disappear. Residents speculate that Hawkins is eliminating his duplicates or has become a Unifier, but no proof emerges.
• High above the sun, all of Hawkins’s variants—including Owl, Aiou, Don Quixote, and the female Hawkins—gather before “Mother.” They merge into Mother one by one, causing him to transform into a human form.
• After absorbing every variant, Mother becomes Hawkins again, radiating immense spiritual power. He perceives a future version of himself, reaches toward it, and the two apparently merge or vanish through a distortion in space.
• In Yongle City, Falga controls the Chess Society and uses the city’s diverse population as experimental material. He is attempting to create powerful living beings while replenishing the chess pieces lost during his takeover.
• Falga selects the corpse of a Phoenix-blooded child as the foundation for a new creation. He implants madness, greed, combat knowledge, fabricated memories, and soul essence into the body.
• He names the creation Black Flame and gives him a false history: his parents were killed by Infinite City players, leading him to seek revenge by joining the Chess Society.
• Falga implants the magical artifact Heartbeat Memories into Black Flame’s heart. Each heartbeat records a memory, and destroying records allows the user to travel backward in time—though doing so erases memories and leaves the user mentally empty.
• Falga resurrects Black Flame in flames. Black Flame awakens with powerful fire abilities and instinctively attacks Falga.
• Falga easily absorbs the attack, revealing that Black Flame remains under his control. Implanted memories then flood Black Flame’s mind, causing him to accept Falga as his master.
• The chapter ends with Falga ordering Black Flame to attack him again so he can test the strength of his new experiment.

Character Developments

• Hawkins: Completes a major transformation by merging with all of his alternate personalities and related entities. He appears to reach a higher state of existence, with the ability to perceive or interact with the future.
• Falga: Becomes increasingly portrayed as a mad scientist and manipulator. He treats living beings as raw materials and takes pride in designing what he considers a perfect lifeform.
• Black Flame: Is created rather than naturally born. He begins as a corpse but is rebuilt with extraordinary abilities, implanted memories, and a fabricated purpose. Although powerful, he is designed to remain subordinate to Falga.
• Falga’s Demon Embryo: Falga continues nurturing a second body within himself, believing it will eventually become a rapidly growing lifeform capable of surpassing even Hawkins.

Significant Themes

• Identity and unity: Hawkins’s variants represent different personalities and identities, but their merger suggests that individuality can be discarded to achieve a higher form.
• Creation and manipulation: Falga manufactures Black Flame’s body, memories, motivations, and abilities, raising questions about whether Black Flame possesses a true identity or merely an imposed one.
• Power through experimentation: Both Hawkins and Falga pursue transformation, but Hawkins achieves it through fusion while Falga relies on grotesque experimentation and control.
• Memory and selfhood: The Heartbeat Memories artifact makes memory central to identity, showing that reversing time comes at the cost of one’s personality and intelligence.
• Ambition and artificial evolution: Falga believes his creations can grow indefinitely and eventually surpass all other beings, reflecting his obsession with designing an invincible lifeform.

Character Interactions

• The various Hawkins personalities mock and criticize one another before Mother silences them and absorbs them.
• Falga interacts with the Phoenix child as both scientist and creator, imposing a false personality and destiny onto him.
• Upon awakening, Black Flame instinctively attacks Falga, but Falga effortlessly neutralizes the attack, establishing their power hierarchy.
• After receiving his implanted memories, Black Flame submits to Falga as his master. Falga then commands him to fight again, treating him as an experimental subject rather than an independent person.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Black Flame enters a heightened “hunting mode” and attacks Falga, exploiting his defensive blind spot.
• Falga evades Black Flame’s feints and counters with a newly formed third arm, striking Black Flame so powerfully that he suffers severe internal injuries.
• Black Flame recovers by coughing up stagnant blood and declares that he will use his full strength.
• He enters Beastheart State, in which his consciousness becomes detached while his body fights instinctively. He attacks relentlessly, but Falga breaks both of his legs with his tentacles.
• Black Flame unleashes Fire Rend, summoning a gigantic Phoenix made of flame. The attack carries a trace of an undying essence and briefly forces Falga to reveal concern.
• Falga blocks the Phoenix with a tentacle shield and severs the burning portion before the flames can spread. He ends the sparring match and orders Black Flame to partner with Knight.
• After Black Flame leaves, Falga admits that he was nearly defeated. He realizes Black Flame’s Phoenix bloodline may be awakening because of his modifications, making him both a powerful asset and a dangerous, unstable chess piece.
• Falga concludes that he needs to create a perfect body to maintain control and avoid suspicion within the Chess Society.
• He begins planning an invasion of Infinite City, identifying Nine-Headed Dragon Jade as the most suitable initial target because it controls major ports and has a research base in Black Bala World.
• Falga recalls that Black Bala World produces Black Bala Cold Jade, a cultivation-enhancing biological crystal. Nine-Headed Dragon Jade operates a laboratory there to study the Black Bala creatures and their reproductive process.

Character Developments

• Black Flame: Demonstrates extraordinary combat instincts, recovery, and destructive power. His Beastheart State suppresses conscious thought, suggesting that his fighting abilities come from an inherited or altered beast-like nature. His Phoenix bloodline appears to be awakening, increasing his potential but also making him harder for Falga to control.
• Falga: Maintains a composed, superior façade during the battle but privately recognizes his physical body’s combat weakness. He becomes increasingly anxious about Black Flame’s growth and his own need for a stronger body. His strategic ambition expands from managing his creations to plotting an attack on Infinite City.

Significant Themes

• Power and control: Falga views Black Flame as a “chess piece,” but Black Flame’s increasing strength threatens to reverse their power dynamic.
• Artificial modification and awakening potential: Falga’s experiments may have activated Black Flame’s Phoenix bloodline, raising questions about whether engineered beings can develop beyond their creator’s control.
• Appearance versus reality: Falga pretends to be overwhelmingly powerful, while privately fearing defeat. Black Flame’s flattering behavior also hints that his original personality may still influence his modified self.
• Strategic ambition: Falga’s plans shift toward larger-scale political and military action against Infinite City.
• Life, reproduction, and experimentation: The Black Bala creatures and their jade production blur the boundary between biological life, natural treasure, and manufactured resources.

Character Interactions

• Black Flame respectfully addresses Falga as “sir,” mixing genuine admiration with exaggerated flattery. Falga notices that this behavior may not fit Black Flame’s designed personality.
• Their sparring match reveals a tense relationship: Falga acts as teacher and creator, while Black Flame increasingly resembles a potential rival.
• Falga assigns Black Flame to work with Knight, expanding his role within the Chess Society.
• Falga’s recollections of Nine-Headed Dragon Jade and a former colleague connect his personal history to his future plans against the organization.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Black Bala World is introduced as a poor, obscure affiliated world of Infinite City. Its only major settlement is Black City, ruled by the legendary city lord Wu Jing, known as “Baldhead.”
• Wu Jing became city lord after enduring the combined attack of all eight deputy city lords without retaliating. He now lives in isolation atop Thunderclap Mountain, dedicating himself almost entirely to cultivation.
• Three intruders—Zuo Xiang, Black Flame, and Pawn—arrive with the goal of controlling Black Bala World. They decide that Wu Jing must be subdued first and prepare a barrier to prevent interference.
• Black Flame attacks Wu Jing using his newly awakened Phoenix bloodline and his self-created technique, Azure-Glow Bullet, which rains down persistent, destructive flames.
• Wu Jing effortlessly blows the flames back with a single breath, revealing an overwhelming difference in strength.
• Wu Jing learns that Black Flame is not a player but an ordinary person who hates all players because his parents were killed by criminals from Infinite City. However, Wu Jing rejects Black Flame’s reasoning, believing that hatred does not justify attacking innocent people.
• Wu Jing releases his true murderous aura and nearly kills Black Flame with a single punch. Zuo Xiang intervenes at the last moment, distracting Wu Jing and allowing Black Flame to survive.
• Wu Jing attempts to seize Zuo Xiang, but she disperses like smoke, revealing that she is an illusion. The trio’s true objective is not to kill Wu Jing, since players can revive, but to seal his body and consciousness.
• The chapter ends as the attempted sealing operation begins, suggesting that many supposedly “missing” players may actually have been sealed rather than killed.

Character Developments

• Wu Jing: Although he appears quiet, harmless, and detached, Wu Jing is revealed to be an extremely powerful and morally severe ruler. He has lived for more than five trillion years, abandoned six wives and countless descendants, and deliberately rejected food, family, romance, and other worldly desires. Cultivation alone gives him satisfaction.
• Black Flame: His Phoenix bloodline has awakened, and he has begun mastering his abilities under Zuo Xiang’s guidance. Despite his strength and determination, he is completely outmatched by Wu Jing. His hatred of players is shown to be sincere but indiscriminate.
• Zuo Xiang: She acts as the group’s strategist and leader. Her name hints at her illusion-based abilities, and she prioritizes sealing Wu Jing rather than engaging in a straightforward battle.
• Pawn: He appears to specialize in setting up barriers and supporting the operation, though his abilities are not yet fully shown.
• Black Flame, Zuo Xiang, and Pawn: Their cooperation reveals that they have planned the assault carefully and understand the difficulty of fighting an immortal player directly.

Significant Themes

• The difference between justice and revenge: Black Flame’s suffering explains his hatred, but Wu Jing argues that personal tragedy does not justify attacking every player indiscriminately.
• Power and restraint: Wu Jing possesses terrifying strength but normally avoids violence. His willingness to kill emerges only when he decides someone represents a threat to others.
• Detachment and renunciation: Wu Jing’s life reflects the idea that one must first experience relationships, pleasure, and worldly desires before genuinely letting them go.
• Cultivation as endless discipline: Wu Jing’s version of Boy Cultivation rewards effort continuously, allowing him to strengthen himself without an apparent limit.
• Death versus sealing: Because players can revive after death, sealing the body and consciousness becomes a more effective and secretive method of neutralizing them.
• Appearances versus reality: Wu Jing’s ordinary appearance hides immense power, while Zuo Xiang’s apparent physical presence turns out to be an illusion.

Character Interactions

• Zuo Xiang commands Black Flame and Pawn, assigning Black Flame to test Wu Jing while she provides support.
• Black Flame and Wu Jing immediately recognize each other as enemies through their mutual fighting spirit, beginning combat without dialogue.
• Wu Jing questions Black Flame’s origins after noticing that he is not a player. Their exchange establishes the moral conflict between Black Flame’s hatred and Wu Jing’s belief in individual responsibility.
• Wu Jing nearly kills Black Flame, but Zuo Xiang’s sudden appearance and attack distract him long enough for Black Flame to survive.
• Wu Jing then confronts Zuo Xiang, only to discover that he has been interacting with an illusion, exposing the group’s true plan to seal him.

Chapter Summary: “Black Flame: Can’t Charge Again”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter explains that Zuo Xiang’s illusions create an external illusion realm rather than merely manipulating the victim’s mind. She hides physical attacks—such as spikes—inside a Storage Ring while using visual tricks to make Wu Jing believe the assault was illusory.
• Wu Jing remains completely unaffected by Zuo Xiang’s seductive appearance and illusion techniques. He relies on powerful perception and instinct rather than his physical senses, even fighting with his eyes closed.
• Zuo Xiang attempts to provoke and outmaneuver him, but Wu Jing’s overwhelming fist intent allows him to locate her within the illusion realm. His punch nearly kills her, forcing her to heal herself with pills and potions.
• Zuo Xiang abandons her plan to use the Tushan Great Dream Scripture’s “Dream of Hollow Passion,” realizing that Wu Jing’s emotional detachment makes it impossible to create romantic or familial bonds with him.
• Intelligence reveals that Wu Jing practices a virgin-body cultivation technique from the world of Great Buddha Bodhi. Although the technique has no ordinary weakness, breaking his virgin body would cause it to collapse.
• Zuo Xiang devises a new plan: rather than seducing Wu Jing herself, she intends to use Consort Yu to force herself upon him.
• Black Flame returns and attacks Wu Jing, but Wu Jing’s newly awakened murderous intent kills him instantly. Black Flame repeatedly uses his mysterious heart-based time-reversal ability to return to moments before his deaths.
• After apparently dying multiple times—including having his body destroyed and his head severed—Black Flame finally realizes that he must not charge at Wu Jing again. His repeated resurrections leave him with the unsettling certainty that he truly has been killed before.

Character Developments

• Wu Jing: Demonstrates overwhelming combat strength, absolute emotional detachment, and extraordinary perception. He sees through Zuo Xiang’s illusions and shows that neither seduction nor emotional manipulation can affect him. His murderous intent becomes so powerful that even Black Flame’s regenerative ability cannot safely counter it.
• Zuo Xiang: Shifts from confidence and seduction to caution after nearly being killed. She recognizes Wu Jing’s lack of desire and abandons her original dream-based strategy, instead searching for a physical weakness in his cultivation.
• Black Flame: Reveals his ability to reverse time through the power residing in his heart, restoring himself after fatal injuries. However, repeated deaths leave him confused and shaken, eventually convincing him that recklessly attacking Wu Jing is impossible.
• The intelligence foot soldier: Provides crucial information about Wu Jing’s cultivation method, enabling Zuo Xiang to formulate a new strategy.

Significant Themes

• Strength versus deception: Wu Jing’s direct, overwhelming power contrasts with Zuo Xiang’s reliance on illusions, strategy, and psychological manipulation.
• Emotional detachment: Wu Jing’s severed desires and lack of attachment make him immune to Zuo Xiang’s most powerful dream technique, suggesting that emotional emptiness can function as both strength and isolation.
• Limits of immortality and recovery: Black Flame can reverse fatal events, but repeated death still carries psychological consequences. His ability does not make him invulnerable to fear or caution.
• Adaptation in battle: Zuo Xiang repeatedly changes tactics after discovering that her illusions and seduction are ineffective, while Wu Jing continues to dominate through instinct and fist intent.
• The body as a vulnerability: Although Wu Jing’s mind and will cannot be manipulated, Zuo Xiang identifies his virgin body as a possible technical weakness in his cultivation.

Character Interactions

• Wu Jing and Zuo Xiang: Their confrontation is a clash between seduction and illusion versus ruthless physical power. Zuo Xiang tries to charm, deceive, and trap him, but Wu Jing dismisses her efforts and nearly kills her with a single punch.
• Zuo Xiang and Black Flame: She commands Black Flame to return and attack Wu Jing, warning him about Wu Jing’s murderous intent. Her plan depends on using Black Flame as part of a larger scheme, but his repeated deaths reveal the danger of confronting Wu Jing directly.
• Zuo Xiang and her intelligence foot soldier: The soldier’s report about Wu Jing’s cultivation gives Zuo Xiang the information needed to abandon psychological attacks and pursue a physical method of breaking his technique.
• Black Flame and Wu Jing: Black Flame repeatedly charges into combat, only to be killed almost immediately. His encounters with Wu Jing transform his confidence into confusion and reluctant fear.

Chapter Summary: “Perfect Girl”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zuo Xiang manipulates Black Flame into helping restrain Wu Jing, using his hatred of Infinite City’s players as a potential weapon. However, Black Flame unexpectedly controls himself, sensing that rushing Wu Jing would result in his death.
• Zuo Xiang reveals that Wu Jing is trapped inside her illusion and instructs Black Flame to distract him while she prepares a stronger plan. She believes defeating or sealing Wu Jing is otherwise nearly impossible.
• Distrusting both Black Flame and the increasingly suspicious Chess Society, Zuo Xiang remains wary of Falga. The massacre of Yongle City has made her question whether Falga is truly acting according to his former strategic principles.
• Zuo Xiang creates a blood clone to maintain the illusion while she travels to obtain the forbidden artifact Enchantress’s Eye. Falga grants her permission, and Pawn retrieves the silver, mercury-like stone.
• When Zuo Xiang returns, she discovers that Black Flame has survived several exchanges with Wu Jing far better than expected, deepening her suspicion that he is hiding something.
• Zuo Xiang activates Enchantress’s Eye through an elaborate and morally horrific ritual. The artifact uses the life force of pregnant women and unborn children, making it a forbidden object sustained only by the unscrupulous Chess Society.
• The artifact produces Enchantress, a breathtakingly beautiful woman with only one day of life. Enchantress agrees to target Wu Jing, though she initially insults his appearance.
• Enchantress’s beauty immediately overwhelms Black Flame, paralyzing him and replacing his thoughts of revenge with intense desire.

Character Developments

• Zuo Xiang becomes increasingly calculating and distrustful. She treats Black Flame as expendable, questions Falga’s identity and motives, and uses the forbidden artifact despite recognizing its evil nature.
• Black Flame demonstrates unexpected restraint and combat ability. His survival against Wu Jing suggests he may be stronger or more complicated than Zuo Xiang assumed. His reaction to Enchantress reveals how easily his hatred and resolve can be disrupted by desire.
• Wu Jing remains trapped by his confidence. His determination to stay and kill his opponents, rather than retreat, becomes a major weakness that allows Zuo Xiang’s plan to proceed.
• Falga appears calm and cooperative, granting Zuo Xiang access to the artifact, but his behavior feels subtly inconsistent to her, causing her to suspect that he may not be the original Falga.
• Enchantress is introduced as an artificial “perfect girl,” beautiful beyond ordinary standards but possessing only a single day of life. Her instinct is to enchant every living being, and she displays a playful yet emotionally detached relationship with Zuo Xiang.
• Pawn is shown to be useful but disturbing. His obsession with Zuo Xiang’s figurines disgusts her, reinforcing her contempt for him.

Significant Themes

• Manipulation and mistrust: Zuo Xiang manipulates her allies while doubting their loyalties, reflecting the Chess Society’s atmosphere of suspicion and exploitation.
• Beauty as power: Enchantress’s beauty functions as a supernatural weapon, overwhelming reason, combat instinct, and even deeply rooted hatred.
• Moral corruption: The Chess Society’s willingness to maintain Enchantress’s Eye through the sacrifice of pregnant women and unborn children highlights its extreme disregard for human life.
• Instinct versus rational purpose: Black Flame’s sudden abandonment of revenge in favor of desire shows how primal impulses can overpower ideology and long-held goals.
• False perfection and fleeting life: Enchantress embodies ideal beauty but lives for only one day, suggesting that perfection is inseparable from fragility and impermanence.
• Overconfidence as weakness: Wu Jing’s confidence and refusal to retreat create the opportunity for Zuo Xiang’s counterattack.

Character Interactions

• Zuo Xiang tests and directs Black Flame, treating him as a disposable distraction while observing his unusual strength and behavior.
• Zuo Xiang’s dealings with Falga are formally obedient but internally distrustful; she senses that something about him is wrong.
• Pawn obeys Zuo Xiang and delivers the artifact, while his personal obsession with her causes her to regard him with disgust.
• Zuo Xiang and Enchantress interact as “mother” and “daughter,” though their bond is largely instinctive and artificial. Enchantress envies Zuo Xiang’s long life, while Zuo Xiang envies Enchantress’s unmatched beauty.
• Enchantress approaches Wu Jing as her assigned target, while her supernatural allure also captivates Black Flame and threatens to derail his role in the battle.