Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Director Ma Li questions Ilis and Su Yi about their prospects on Kevin-9. The Sales Department has failed to sway the powerful Life Alliance, so Ma Li is eager for the Exploration Department to succeed.
• Su Yi presents a detailed plan: Ilis will travel east to assess the nobility and deepen rivalries, while he heads west to ally with indigenous clans. He intends to found a city-state at an important supply route, use competition over the site to destabilize the eastern nobles, and gain a foothold from which the company can expand.
• Ma Li approves the plan and authorizes them to proceed, promising to take responsibility for setbacks. He also tells Su Yi that the Faith Department has noticed outside forces disrupting his fate, including the Shadow Puppet Sanctum.
• Ma Li gives Su Yi a charcoal box and explains that Su Yi’s True God bloodline follows a different advancement path from ordinary Void Abyss projections. To awaken it, Su Yi must seek his origins through ancient ruins, bloodline-related divine artifacts, or believers whose incarnation he can find and devour. The Faith Department believes something connected to his bloodline is on Kevin-9.
• Su Yi and the others board the Sea Net for the three-day journey. After a tour of their upgraded accommodations, they watch the ship leave Rhode Star.
• As the ship prepares to jump, Ilis explains why passengers must be sealed off from the Dark Universe: observing it risks assimilation and could let Void Abyss corruption spread through the vessel.

Character developments

• Su Yi demonstrates confidence and strategic skill, proposing a concrete plan that wins Ma Li’s approval. He is also surprised and intrigued by the possibility of finding clues to his bloodline on Kevin-9.
• Ilis proves to be an active partner in the plan, taking responsibility for work among the eastern nobility and explaining the danger of Dark Universe travel to the Players.
• Ma Li is pleased by the Exploration Department’s opportunity to outperform Sales, but also shows trust in Su Yi by approving the plan and supporting his personal bloodline investigation.
• The Players are delighted by the ship and the realism of space travel, though they are unsettled when they learn about the hazards of a jump.

Significant themes

• Strategic expansion and political manipulation: The mission depends on exploiting existing rivalries and building alliances rather than directly confronting the Life Alliance.
• Faith, fate, and identity: Su Yi’s bloodline places him outside ordinary systems of advancement, while unseen forces attempt to shape his choices.
• Dangerous curiosity: The Dark Universe is perilous precisely because observing it creates a path for its influence to reach the observer and the ship.
• Institutional ambition: Ma Li’s satisfaction reflects both genuine confidence in the plan and the company’s desire to demonstrate the Exploration Department’s value.

Character interactions

• Ma Li tests Su Yi and Ilis, then rewards their preparation with authority and backing.
• Su Yi and Ilis present a coordinated plan, with each assigned a different region and role.
• Ma Li privately shares the Faith Department’s intelligence and bloodline guidance with Su Yi.
• Chuck welcomes the team aboard and arranges upgraded cabins for the Gifted members.
• The Players share their excitement with Su Yi and Ilis, while Ilis answers their questions about the jump and its risks.

Plot points and events

• The ship completes its jump toward the Kevin Star System, with arrival expected in seventy-one hours. The Players are free to explore; roughly 2,500 head for the entertainment deck, while others tour the ship or help the crew.
• Su Yi examines a gift from Ma Li: the Divine Tree’s Boon, a seed that can grow into a powerful Ember Tree, create a broad safe zone, and eventually produce Ember Seeds. He recognizes it as a valuable gift from the Goddess of Black Cinders and takes it as evidence that their interests currently align.
• On the entertainment deck, Mountain Dog buys a brainwave-controlled entertainment device. A dark presence hidden in its discs attacks him, attempting to invade his mind and tempt him with power.
• The attack fails to control Mountain Dog. His body becomes split between him and the dark entity, which cannot reach or overcome his soul. When Winter and Su Yi arrive, Su Yi identifies the intruder as a profane Electronic Demon, one of the Shadow King’s methods, and orders a full lockdown because the ship has been infiltrated.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi remains alert to divine politics: he understands the Ember Tree’s strategic value and cautiously interprets the Goddess’s gift as goodwill, not proof of safety.
• Mountain Dog proves unexpectedly resistant to the demon’s psychological manipulation. He treats the intrusion like an account hack, mocks its grandiose promises, and continues to resist even as his body is visibly corrupted.
• Winter responds quickly to Mountain Dog’s distress and brings Su Yi to investigate.
• Su Yi shifts immediately from private concern to crisis response, recognizing the attack and mobilizing the ship.
• The Players’ easygoing enthusiasm for the ship’s amenities contrasts with the sudden danger aboard.

Significant themes

• Power and divine influence: Su Yi weighs the benefits of the Goddess’s support against her frightening reach and history.
• Identity and inner resilience: The Electronic Demon can alter Mountain Dog’s body and pressure him with temptations, but cannot readily conquer his mind or soul.
• Security and hidden threats: A seemingly harmless entertainment purchase becomes the means for an enemy to infiltrate the ship.
• Humor amid danger: Mountain Dog’s irreverent reactions and the group’s jokes briefly undercut the horror, even as the threat escalates.

Key plot points and events

• The Players learn that the attacker is connected to the Shadow King, a powerful overlord and longtime enemy of the Black Sun Group. He launches his attack during a dangerous Dark Universe Jump.
• The Shadow King’s agent has taken over half of Mountain Dog’s body. While it threatens to consume him, Mountain Dog trades insults with it—and the agent exposes his embarrassing fantasies, to the Players’ amusement.
• Winter uses her level-three Quick Hack Talent to analyze the entity. She discovers it is bound-together Binary Code, but her scrutiny draws the Shadow King’s attention. A torrent of madness corrupts her, causing her body to mutate.
• Su Yi uses Garbage Purification, spending Bandwidth to remove Winter’s corruption and restore her body. He catches her as she collapses and covers her with a conjured cloak.
• Su Yi then purifies Mountain Dog’s possessed half. The Shadow King’s agent recognizes the ability as Holy Binary Magic, panics at the prospect of being deleted, and vanishes.
• The Players are stunned by Su Yi’s apparent new power and begin teasing Winter about her feelings for him.

Character developments

• Winter demonstrates the potential of her Quick Hack-based “Meltdown Style,” but learns how dangerous it is to analyze a force tied to the Shadow King. Her experience gives her a firsthand understanding of the madness that overtakes investigators who encounter Elder Gods. After Su Yi rescues her, she feels newly reassured—and possibly romantically drawn to him.
• Su Yi shows calm confidence under pressure and reveals a purification ability powerful enough to undo Shadow King corruption, despite the Players believing his power to be Flame Authority.
• Mountain Dog endures possession and public humiliation but keeps up his defiant, crude humor. Once freed, he checks that the corruption has disappeared.
• The Players shift from alarm to awe at Su Yi’s rescue, then quickly turn the moment into gossip about him and Winter.

Significant themes

• Knowledge has a cost: Winter’s attempt to understand the Shadow King gives it a path into her mind and body.
• Power and resistance: Electronic Demons threaten systems through code, while Su Yi’s mysterious Binary Magic can cleanse what seems nearly impossible to resist.
• Comedy amid danger: Crude banter and teasing punctuate the horror, especially Mountain Dog’s exposed fantasies and the Players’ matchmaking jokes.
• Trust and rescue: Winter’s vulnerability and Su Yi’s intervention deepen their connection.

Character interactions

• The Shadow King’s agent taunts Su Yi and mocks Mountain Dog; Mountain Dog answers with insults and defiant humor.
• The Players laugh at Mountain Dog’s exposed secret, then panic when Winter mutates and plead with Su Yi to save her.
• Su Yi reassures Winter after cleansing her, while she recounts the terror of losing control.
• After Su Yi defeats the agent, the Players marvel at his power and tease Winter about her evident comfort in his arms.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi traces the corruption attacking the ship to remote control by an onboard agent and alerts Ilis. Captain Rhine’s crew raids the logistics section, catching five infiltrators, then conducts a two-day purge that uncovers twenty-four Shadow King followers. They had been planted over the previous two years; two recruited the rest from the crew. The group confirms none appears to have sent information off the ship.
• The Players continue their activities during the investigation. Winter, meanwhile, studies Su Yi’s ability to treat corruption as code and proposes combining it with her Meltdown skill.
• Their experiments show Winter cannot directly modify targets Su Yi has converted into programs, since only he has that authority. However, she can assist and enhance his Binary Magic when they both use Java-style logic. Su Yi sees a potential solution to his limited Bandwidth: Hacker Analyst Players might contribute their own Bandwidth, effectively acting as “portable batteries.”
• After a three-day jump, the ship reaches Kevin-9, a purple, Void Abyss-corrupted planet surrounded by a dangerous crystalline barrier, chaotic ships, and attacking demons. Rhine explains that the barrier makes entry perilous. His ship can protect Su Yi’s team for one month while they work out how to get in.
• Su Yi asks to contact the nearby Judgment Scales. There, Maria—newly promoted to Judgment Master—is under pressure from Grand Adjudicator Arvin Shoko to find a way into Kevin-9. Arvin appears hostile, partly because Maria’s promotion cost his son an opportunity. Maria realizes that trying to remain neutral in factional politics may be impossible.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi and Winter develop a promising technical partnership. Winter’s programming studies and analytical curiosity help inspire a new approach, while Su Yi’s enthusiasm and knowledge make him eager to collaborate. Their results remain preliminary, with a practical test planned at Kevin-9.
• Winter is embarrassed by being seen naked in Su Yi’s arms and frustrated by Players’ assumptions that she has romantic feelings for him. She does feel he is becoming special to her, but refuses to pursue him because she believes he is already committed to Ilis.
• Captain Rhine responds to the infiltration with anger and wounded pride, leading a severe security purge. He takes responsibility for protecting the team for a month, though his ship cannot take them onto the planet.
• Maria is capable and committed to justice, but her promotion and assignment have placed her in the middle of factional conflict. Arvin uses his superior rank to pressure her, leaving her to confront how little neutrality protects her.

Significant themes

• Cooperation and shared power: Winter’s assistance suggests Su Yi may overcome his limits by combining abilities and drawing on the Players’ resources.
• Trust and infiltration: The long-planted agents show how deeply betrayal can take root within an organization.
• The cost of ambition and power: Rhine’s reputation, Su Yi’s limited Bandwidth, and Maria’s promotion all carry consequences.
• Neutrality versus political responsibility: Maria learns that refusing factional allegiance can itself be treated as a political choice.
• Danger and uncertainty: Kevin-9’s hostile barrier and surrounding chaos establish a formidable challenge for the next stage.

Plot points and events

• The Sword of Judgment’s Grand Adjudicator, Yaven, receives a call from the company’s Captain Chuck and Su Yi, who offer cooperation to enter Kevin-9 through the Void Abyss Barrier. Su Yi proposes a dangerous two-person mission using a Sword of Judgment Order Assault Craft.
• Su Yi deliberately insults Yaven before ending the call, provoking him. Maria recognizes the tactic and volunteers to go with Su Yi, partly to help complete the mission and partly to settle their own score. She also demands that Yaven stop targeting her.
• Yaven accepts the deal: Su Yi and Maria will enter in a craft equipped with a Material Order Shield, and the Sword of Judgment will gain free passage through the barrier afterward. They agree to depart in twenty hours.
• Su Yi organizes his crew. He plans to take Alton, Emma, and Dora with him, while Ilis and Rick remain behind to coordinate with other factions and prepare supplies. To secretly bring in more people later, Su Yi gives Winter, Evil God, Mountain Dog, and other officers Silicon-Based Symbiotes, then stores them in his Mist Horn. Once inside, they can establish a Spawn Point and bring in the rest of the Players through revival.
• Su Yi prepares the Divine Tree Fruit, Gun Glove, and Order Gem. The gem, used through Maria, should help steady the barrier’s distortions; the craft’s shield will protect against the Void Abyss, while Su Yi’s Purification Technique can handle Electronic Demons.
• Su Yi also receives urgent news from Yao: an Elf Hunter Caravan has captured Frost Elves and surrounded the survivors’ refuge. Su Yi promises to arrive the next day. His reassurance restores the elves’ hope, even as their attackers threaten to kill hostages and break into the refuge.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi shows strategic confidence, using provocation to create an opening with Yaven and devising a covert plan to bring his larger force into Kevin-9. He also responds decisively to Yao’s distress call.
• Maria proves perceptive about Su Yi’s intentions and assertive with Yaven. She openly acknowledges her fear but chooses the dangerous mission, insisting that Yaven stop mistreating her.
• Yaven is easily provoked by Su Yi’s insult, but accepts Maria’s bluntly stated bargain and agrees to cooperate.
• Ilis chooses to stay behind to build relationships and prepare resources, trusting Su Yi to get her and Rick inside later.
• Winter, Evil God, and Mountain Dog readily support Su Yi’s plan. Yao remains devoted to Su Yi, while his promise gives the wounded, beleaguered Frost Elves renewed hope.

Significant themes

• Strategy and trust: Su Yi combines diplomacy, deception, and careful preparation to overcome strict entry limits and a dangerous barrier.
• Power and respect: Maria confronts Yaven’s abuse of authority, while Su Yi uses sharp words to expose Yaven’s poor self-control.
• Loyalty and hope: Su Yi’s allies trust his plans, and the Frost Elves draw strength from his promised rescue.
• Risk and sacrifice: Maria and Su Yi knowingly accept a perilous mission, while the refugees face immediate danger as they wait for help.

Key plot points and events

• The Frost Elves take refuge in a sealed shelter, but more than twenty of their people remain captive. Icegrass refuses to risk the survivors by reacting to the hunters’ taunts, and orders Yaven and Screw to kill anyone who tries to enter. Outside, the hunters torture Great Tree, who stayed behind to help the others escape.
• Three rival hunting crews—led by Goldbeard, Red-Haired Devil, and Flatnose—agree to cooperate against the growing presence of regular forces in the western frontier. Their priorities change when they learn the shelter is a former Shadow Secret Cult research base containing hundreds of tons of Soul Crystals. They also hear Frost Elf reinforcements will arrive the next day, giving them an ambush opportunity.
• In space, Su Yi meets Maria aboard the Judgment Scales and joins her in a small assault craft. Their teasing reunion reveals their familiarity, though Yaven and the guards distrust Su Yi and dislike his flirtatious behavior toward Maria.
• Su Yi explains his plan and gives Maria the Order Gem, once her sacred relic. As they approach the Void Abyss Barrier, Maria activates the Material Order Shield and uses the gem to protect the craft.
• The gem transforms Maria into a powerful, goddess-like Deified Form. Her black-and-white light pierces the barrier, but once they enter, space distorts and eerie phantoms seep into the craft. The Electronic Demons hesitate to attack her, while Maria experiences a vision of a perfectly balanced world of order.

Character developments

• Icegrass shows leadership and discipline, putting the survival of the group above her grief and the urge to rescue Great Tree.
• Great Tree remains defiant despite brutal torture, affirming his loyalty to the Frost Elves.
• Goldbeard and the other hunters shift from opportunistic raiding to a coordinated assault, driven by the promise of immense wealth and fear of losing their frontier dominance.
• Su Yi and Maria demonstrate a trusting working relationship beneath their banter. Su Yi relies on Maria for the mission, while Maria accepts the Order Gem and recognizes her debt to him.
• Maria undergoes a dramatic transformation: the gem grants her a Deified Form and a direct experience of the Order it embodies.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and survival: Icegrass must choose the group’s future over immediate rescue, while Great Tree’s sacrifice makes that choice possible.
• Greed and exploitation: The hunters treat Frost Elves and other rare beings as commodities, and the Soul Crystals intensify their violence.
• Frontier power and solidarity: The hunters recognize that growing state involvement threatens their freedom, prompting them to unite.
• Order versus chaos: Maria’s power of order counters the Void Abyss’s distortions and hostile entities, while her vision suggests order as harmony and balance.
• Trust and loyalty: Su Yi and Maria’s cooperation contrasts with the hunters’ self-interest and the Frost Elves’ commitment to one another.

Character interactions

• Icegrass firmly restrains the grieving Frost Elves, while Yaven and Screw are assigned to defend the shelter.
• The hunters taunt Great Tree and debate cooperation, wealth, and the threat of outside forces.
• Su Yi’s teasing unsettles Maria’s guards, but Maria later speaks warmly with him and accepts his help.
• Maria’s activation of the Order Gem establishes her as the craft’s main defense as they enter the dangerous barrier.

Key plot points and events

• Maria experiences a vision of the Great Order Scales and is filled with their power, transforming into a divine embodiment of order.
• Electronic Demons breach the ship and corrupt its systems. They invade Su Yi, but he destroys them with Garbage Purification while manually piloting through the Void Abyss Barrier.
• The ship reaches Kevin-9, but Maria’s divine power fades as they navigate the planet’s dangerous spatial rifts.
• Facing an unavoidable rift, Su Yi and Maria abandon the supply-laden ship and jump out together, protected by Maria’s Order Gem. The craft crashes and burns, lighting the dark sky.
• Su Yi deploys a parachute, but Three-Headed Void Demons devour it. A second parachute is destroyed by cannon fire. They survive the final fall by bracing together, though they crash into the Bone Mountains.
• A band of armed men confronts them and asks whether they are reinforcements for the Frost Elves. Su Yi recognizes them as the Western Hunters, who are blockading the entrance, and prepares to fight.

Character developments

• Maria gains a profound connection to order through the Great Order Scales and the Order Gem, bringing her close to the Saint Domain. She remains committed to restoring order on Kevin-9, even after her transformation ends.
• Su Yi shows his resourcefulness and willingness to make ruthless decisions under pressure. He keeps control of the escape and protects Maria during the crash, while thinking strategically about maintaining the upper hand.

Significant themes

• Order versus chaos: Maria’s power restores order amid the Void Abyss’s distortions and demonic corruption.
• Improvisation and survival: Su Yi’s purification skill, emergency parachutes, and quick decisions keep them alive through repeated disasters.
• Light in darkness: The burning wreckage symbolizes the idea that even a crash can illuminate a dark world—and that destruction may open the way forward.
• Faith and practical courage: Maria understands martyrdom through ideals, but finds the helplessness of falling more frightening.

Character interactions

• Su Yi and Maria rely on each other throughout the escape: he pilots and makes tactical calls, while she supplies the power of order.
• When the ship is doomed, Su Yi takes Maria’s hands and urges her to jump; she trusts his judgment and uses the Order Gem to shield them.
• After the crash, Maria teasingly questions Su Yi for landing on top of her. Their exchange shows their growing familiarity, though Su Yi remains focused on caution and control.
• They face the Western Hunters together, with Su Yi openly challenging the group.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi and Maria confront the Red-Haired Devil and his bandits. Su Yi’s enhanced strength and Maria’s advanced weaponry defeat them, though the Devil proves unusually durable.
• The Red-Haired Devil surrenders and reveals that the Shadow Puppet Sanctum hired his group to attack. He also says the Frost Elves are prisoners at the raiders’ camp, kept alive while the hunters loot Soul Crystals.
• Su Yi and Maria head to the camp with the Devil as their guide. There, the Frost Elves—especially Icegrass—are losing hope that Emperor Xuanhuang will come to save them.
• Su Yi arrives, and his followers Yao and Screw recognize him as their master. The Frost Elves doubt he can help: he looks ordinary and is only level 23.
• Goldbeard and the other hunters surround Su Yi and Maria, boasting of their numbers and threatening to torture them. Su Yi blows the Mist Horn without physically summoning it, conjuring an army of Steel Warriors.
• The Steel Warriors overwhelm the hunters. When the survivors form a firing line, Su Yi summons at least five hundred more warriors, including three powerful, unusual fighters. Mountain Dog announces that he will claim the first boss kill.

Character developments

• Su Yi remains controlled under pressure and reveals the full scale of the Mist Horn’s power, shifting from apparent underdog to commanding force.
• Maria proves a skilled and decisive fighter, protecting Su Yi during the initial ambush and recognizing that the camp will be difficult to take.
• The Red-Haired Devil abandons his loyalty to his men once defeated, offering information and cooperation to save himself.
• Yao and Screw remain unwavering in their faith in Su Yi, while Icegrass and the other Frost Elves move from anxiety and doubt to awe and remorse.
• Goldbeard, Flatnose, and the hunters go from arrogant confidence to panic as their weapons and numbers fail against the Steel Warriors.

Significant themes

• Appearances versus true power: Su Yi’s low level and unassuming appearance conceal an overwhelming advantage.
• Faith tested by fear: The Frost Elves’ belief falters under captivity, then returns when Su Yi arrives.
• Power and self-interest: The Red-Haired Devil’s surrender reflects the hunters’ pragmatic loyalty to whoever seems strongest.
• Numbers and force: The hunters trust their guns and superior numbers, but Su Yi’s conjured army turns that advantage against them.

Character interactions

• Su Yi’s violence forces the Red-Haired Devil to bargain; Su Yi accepts his cooperation conditionally.
• Maria and Su Yi coordinate during the ambush, with her covering him while he engages the bandits.
• Yao and Screw affirm Su Yi’s identity to the doubtful Frost Elves, defending their master’s divinity.
• Goldbeard and Flatnose taunt Su Yi, but his horn call answers their threats with an army. After the first wave falters, the Steel Warriors’ reinforcements—and Mountain Dog’s challenge—escalate the battle.

Key plot points and events

• Mountain Dog ambushes Flatnose with a Black Flame blade. The wound’s maddening influence drives Flatnose berserk, so Mountain Dog lures him into the woods while the Steel Legion handles the rest.
• The Steel Legion overwhelms and kills the Wilderness Hunters, including their leaders. When Goldbeard tries to use a hidden bomb, Alton kills him before he can detonate it.
• Su Yi frees the Frost Elves and lets them take revenge on their captors. The elves punish the remaining hunters, especially the butcher who tortured Big Tree.
• The Evil God uses the A-rank Life Boon to restore Big Tree, Icegrass’s arm, and the legs of a disabled elf. She then begins preaching to the survivors, framing their suffering and rescue in religious terms.
• Maria suspects Su Yi has gained control over the Mist. He neither confirms nor denies it, but her reaction makes clear how frighteningly powerful she believes he has become.

Character developments and interactions

• Mountain Dog shows tactical judgment by switching from combat to kiting once Flatnose goes berserk.
• Su Yi remains detached and decisive: he ignores the hunters’ pleas, frees the elves, and lets them settle their own scores.
• The Frost Elves shift from shock and gratitude to intense devotion. They interpret the Steel Legion’s power and the Evil God’s healing as proof of divine favor, and cast their former doubts as sins.
• The Evil God eagerly takes charge of the elves’ spiritual guidance, presenting Su Yi as their divine savior.
• Maria is unsettled by Su Yi’s transformation and privately tests whether he controls the Mist; his evasive smile confirms her suspicion.

Significant themes

• Power and terror: The Steel Legion’s overwhelming force leaves the hunters helpless and awes the elves.
• Revenge and justice: The rescued elves personally punish those who brutalized them.
• Faith shaped by rescue: The elves’ suffering, vengeance, and miraculous healing quickly become the basis for worship and repentance.
• Mercy and control: Su Yi saves the elves, while the Evil God turns their gratitude into a religious bond centered on him.

Key plot points and events

• Mountain Dog defeats the berserk boss Flatnose, but an organized group of Players ambushes him before he can claim the loot. Their traps, explosives, guns, and coordinated attacks leave him badly wounded.
• A mysterious, heavily augmented man named Josuke Higashikata rescues Mountain Dog with poisonous Endo Fruits and guides him away from the pursuers before disappearing.
• Back at camp, Mountain Dog tells Su Yi that the attackers belong to the Human Alliance’s Shadow Puppet Sanctum. Su Yi shares Bandwidth with Maria to restore his power, then sets out with Winter to confront them and recover Mountain Dog’s loot.
• The ambushers—fifteen Players led by Outlaw—have adapted their equipment to the local environment and plan another attack. Their confidence is fueled by their powerful gear and the lawless conditions of the Void Abyss.
• Su Yi and Winter trigger the attackers’ traps while scouting with Ember Scions, then are hit with rockets and surrounded. Su Yi’s Thornfire destroys the attackers’ Void Beasts, and his ability locks the enemy Players out of their weapons. Winter charges in, while Su Yi kills WTF when he attacks with a grenade; Outlaw and others begin fleeing.

Character developments and interactions

• Mountain Dog’s easygoing confidence gives way to shock and hurt after he is targeted without provocation. Su Yi’s promise to defend him and reclaim his loot makes him feel protected, and helps him understand how 108 and Winter felt when they were bullied.
• Su Yi shows loyalty to his companions by immediately pursuing the attackers. Maria supports him by sharing her Bandwidth, while Winter insists on joining the fight.
• The mysterious Josuke acts compassionately toward Mountain Dog but offers little explanation, leaving his identity and motives unclear.
• Outlaw, WTF, and their group are boastful and predatory, treating the region’s lack of rules as permission to kill and loot others. Their confidence collapses when Su Yi disables their equipment.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and protection: Su Yi responds to an attack on one of his people as an attack on the group.
• Power and lawlessness: The Void Abyss’s lack of rules encourages ruthless behavior, while strength and coordination determine who survives.
• Vulnerability and solidarity: Mountain Dog’s experience of being ambushed makes him empathize with companions who have been victimized.
• Overconfidence and reversal: The attackers believe superior preparation and equipment guarantee victory, only to be undone by Su Yi’s unusual ability.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi and Winter fight the fifteen Players who ambushed Mountain Dog. Su Yi uses split Blackflame Spears to devastate the attackers: one blast kills three and badly injures Obsessive, while Outlaw survives the other by spending a rare S-Class barrier.
• Winter hacks Outlaw’s Exoskeleton, disabling it and triggering a Meltdown-style explosion that destroys the suit and leaves Outlaw gravely injured. Most of the attackers die or flee.
• Su Yi collects the group’s equipment, including two powerful S-Class weapons: a transforming sword-crossbow and a revolver that spends Void Abyss Coins instead of ammunition. He and Winter discuss the Shadow Legion’s influence on the weapons and its strained relationship with Kevin-9.
• Su Yi and Winter test their combined Meltdown technique on the incapacitated Obsessive, causing his body to explode in a chain reaction. Though apparently unconscious, Obsessive witnesses the event and later logs off to accuse the Ten Pioneers of cheating and stealing Players’ gear.
• The accusations spark a Forum controversy. Mountain Dog explains that the group attacked him and stole his boss loot first, and that he asked Horus for help. Players who know Mountain Dog’s reputation rally to his defense, leaving the attackers publicly condemned and eventually silent.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi demonstrates formidable combat ability and tactical skill, then directs Winter in testing their combined abilities. He treats the defeated Obsessive as a test subject rather than showing mercy.
• Winter uses his hacking skills to disable Outlaw’s Exoskeleton and collaborates with Su Yi on the Meltdown technique. He is visibly startled by how destructive it proves.
• Mountain Dog is established as a generous, well-liked Player who seeks help only after being attacked, earning strong community support.
• Outlaw and Obsessive shift from aggressors to public accusers, portraying themselves as victims while omitting that their group initiated the attack. Their claims collapse when Mountain Dog provides context.
• Su Yi and Winter’s teamwork is central: they coordinate in combat, examine the spoils, and combine their skills against Obsessive.

Significant themes

• Consequences and accountability: The attackers’ attempt to bully and rob another Player ends in defeat and public condemnation.
• Reputation and community judgment: Mountain Dog’s history of helping others makes the Forum more willing to believe him than the attackers.
• Power, technology, and exploitation: The S-Class weapons reveal the Shadow Legion’s technological reach and its complicated ties to Kevin-9.
• The gap between appearance and truth: The attackers frame themselves as cheated victims, but their own conduct undermines their complaints.

Key plot points and events

• After players complain that Horus locked their equipment during a fight, an official Forum post explains that the effect is a boss ability, not cheating. The announcement also hints that players may eventually gain extraordinary abilities themselves.
• Su Yi and Winter return from their brief raid with valuable equipment, estimated to be worth at least 35,000 Void Abyss Coins. Su Yi orders his forces and the Frost Elves to guard the discovered Soul Crystals while he searches for a suitable base.
• The players reveal that their mission is to reach a facility and activate a Human Alliance cloning machine. Su Yi recognizes the coordinates as Diamond City, a strategically important ruin roughly 3,000 kilometers away.
• Su Yi explains Diamond City’s history: it was founded in the ruins of an ancient city, fell after allies betrayed it during the Void Abyss invasion, and is now a dangerous prize contested by several factions and Void Beasts.
• Mountain Dog identifies the man who saved him as Josuke Higashikata. Su Yi recognizes Josuke as a key figure in Diamond City’s story and orders a search for him, believing he may help them reach the city.
• Su Yi distributes captured weapons: Mountain Dog gets the Duel King, Winter the Bladebone Sword-Crossbow, and the Evil God receives five Grade-A weapons to reward his followers.
• Meanwhile, the five surviving members of the rival player group return to camp, admitting their team was badly beaten by Horus after their equipment was locked.
• Other players learn that the five attacked Mountain Dog and tried to steal his loot. They condemn the group for turning on fellow players, while the five blame their leaders, Outlaw and WTF.
• Technician No. 8 reports the incident to Mountain Dog, who tells Su Yi. Su Yi concludes that most rival players are not truly hostile and says the Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf should treat willing players as potential friends.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi displays strategic foresight: he recognizes Diamond City’s value as a future transport and trade chokepoint, and sees Josuke as a possible ally. He also favors diplomacy toward ordinary players over creating unnecessary enemies.
• Mountain Dog gains a renewed connection to the larger story through Josuke, who once saved him. His report of the rival group’s infighting strengthens Su Yi’s understanding of the players’ loyalties.
• Winter is pleased with his new weapon and begins thinking about how to use it creatively.
• The Evil God accepts weapons not for himself but to reward followers, reinforcing his role as a leader within the group.
• The Frost Elves have come to trust the Steel Warriors after the Evil God’s influence, cooperating as guides and guardians.
• The rival players are divided: Outlaw and WTF appear to have driven the attack, while many others object to betraying fellow pioneers. The five survivors’ excuses expose their weak resolve and dependence on their leaders.

Significant themes

• Trust and betrayal: Diamond City’s fall and the players’ attack on Mountain Dog both show how betrayal can fracture alliances.
• Pragmatism and cooperation: Su Yi prefers turning neutral players into allies, while the camp’s outrage suggests many players share a basic sense of fairness.
• Power and progression: The equipment-locking ability demonstrates the unusual powers bosses can wield and foreshadows abilities players might someday acquire.
• Strategic control: Diamond City’s position makes it more than a destination; whoever controls it could shape movement and commerce across the region.

Key plot points and events

• After a failed search for Josuke Higashikata, the group settles in for the night. Yao dreams again of being Charles, a robot protecting a starving child in ruined Diamond City. The child asks whether they can find their sister; Charles gives a bleak answer, then charges into danger to defend the child and the flag. Yao feels the robot being torn apart before waking.
• Joestar is standing over Yao. He asks about Charles, suggesting a connection to the robot and perhaps the dream itself. Yao recognizes him as Josuke Higashikata, but Joestar denies it. Yao persuades him to meet Su Yi, citing their shared goal of restoring Diamond City.
• At dawn, the Frost Elves gather wild fruit for breakfast and help prepare the group’s food, showing their outdoor skills and gratitude toward their protectors.
• Su Yi welcomes Joestar and explains his plan: restore Diamond City, use it to breach the Life Alliance’s defenses, and bring in the Black Sun Group’s forces. He promises the city will retain its identity, honor its dead and contributors, and punish those responsible for its destruction.
• Joestar agrees to cooperate after weighing Su Yi’s resources, Yao’s loyalty, and their common enemies. He reveals he has been observing Su Yi and his allies for months, and deliberately arranged the meeting through Yao’s dreams after deciding they could help him.
• Joestar knows a relatively safe route to Diamond City, but it can support only a small, fast-moving party. Su Yi plans to leave the Frost Elves behind to guard the Soul Crystals, which will fund the city’s restoration.

Character developments and interactions

• Yao is shaken by his vivid dream and its apparent link to Joestar. His sincere devotion to Su Yi helps convince Joestar that the group is trustworthy.
• Joestar moves from guarded observer to cautious ally. Though distrustful of the company, he is motivated by his own goal and responds strongly to Su Yi’s promises about Diamond City and its fallen heroes.
• Su Yi presents himself as both a capable leader and a committed restorer of Diamond City, using his company position, followers, and shared opposition to argue that he is Joestar’s best partner.
• The Frost Elves show growing security and gratitude, gathering food and assisting the camp’s preparations.

Significant themes

• Memory and legacy: Restoring Diamond City means preserving its history and honoring those who died.
• Trust and cooperation: Joestar’s alliance depends on demonstrated loyalty, shared interests, and credible strength.
• Protection and belonging: The Frost Elves’ safety contrasts with their former vulnerability to beasts and human exploitation.
• Hope amid ruin: The plan to rebuild Diamond City turns grief and hatred into a concrete goal.

Plot and key events

• Su Yi’s nine-person team sets out for Diamond City, led by Joestar. Su Yi has chosen companions for their specific skills: Emma for intelligence, Dutch for finances, Cole for gang knowledge, Evil God for healing and communication, Yao for his mysterious connection to the city, Icegrass for exposure to human society, and Raptor as a temporary replacement for Alton.
• The group crosses the Wasteland quickly, with Su Yi’s ability to summon food and water impressing Joestar and earning his respect. After five days, they reach a vast grassland beyond the Purple Mountains.
• Emma senses hatred nearby, and the team discovers a massacre. The gang leader Gale Spirit Wine has been betrayed by his brother Mile and ambushed by Wolf Fang’s hunters. Gale’s wife has been killed, and Gale himself has survived a shot to the head by chance.
• While Joestar advises avoiding local gang conflicts, Su Yi sees Gale as a useful opening into Diamond City’s gangs and the Life Alliance. He heals Gale’s shattered skull with ease, leaving him stunned and indebted.
• Gale asks to bury his wife, but her body begins transforming under Void Abyss contamination, apparently due to her intense resentment and the circumstances of her death. Joestar performs an Undertaker funeral rite, preventing her corpse from turning into a monster and restoring her appearance.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi acts with calculated kindness: he comforts Gale and saves his life, but openly admits Gale is useful to him. His extraordinary healing amazes the whole team, especially Evil God, Icegrass, and Joestar.
• Joestar’s expertise with the terrain and his measured caution establish him as a capable guide, while Su Yi’s generosity and power begin to change his view of the group.
• Gale shifts from rage and suspicion toward gratitude and obligation after Su Yi heals him. His grief remains central, and Joestar’s ritual gives him the chance to honor his wife.
• Evil God serves as an audience for the chapter’s revelations, asking questions about corpse-turning and the Undertakers. Icegrass and Joestar also react with awe to Su Yi’s abilities.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and alliance-building: Su Yi treats gang politics as an opportunity to gain influence, even while offering genuine help.
• Betrayal and violence: The massacre shows how fragile agreements and family loyalty are in Diamond City’s lawless environment.
• Death, grief, and belief: The Undertakers’ rites emphasize acceptance of death and respect for the dead, contrasting with the threat of undeath and resurrection.
• Corruption and lingering emotion: On Kevin-9, intense resentment, regret, or desecration can leave the dead vulnerable to Void Abyss contamination.

Key plot points

• After burying his companion, Geer thanks Joestar and meets Su Yi’s group. Emma, moved by Geer’s grief, tells Su Yi she never wants to be separated from him; Su Yi gently teases her.
• Geer warns that Diamond City is dangerous and lawless: numerous gangs and Hunter syndicates compete there, beast tides regularly strike, and the authorities have largely abandoned the settlement.
• He recommends the Nightmare Gang as a potential ally. Its twenty members are tough but impoverished and marginalized because most are mutants, viewed with fear and treated as inferior.
• Rather than being deterred by Diamond City’s violence and disorder, Su Yi welcomes the chaos as an opportunity.
• Geer plans to return to the Spirit Liquor Gang and take revenge on his brother. Su Yi argues that the brother was likely only a pawn in a wider power struggle. He correctly deduces that Geer’s reforms threatened influential senior members, who may have engineered the attack.
• Su Yi offers Geer protection and a partnership: Geer will advise him on Diamond City and help reclaim the Spirit Liquor Gang, while Su Yi’s group focuses on establishing itself in the city. Su Yi magically gives Geer a completely new face and identity.
• The group heads for Diamond City. After discussing the city’s limited economy and expensive food, Su Yi announces that they will enter the market by selling courses.

Character developments and interactions

• Geer shifts from grieving and seeking personal revenge to recognizing that he has been outmaneuvered by forces within his own gang. Though aware Su Yi is using him, he accepts the alliance because he has lost nearly everything.
• Su Yi demonstrates sharp insight into gang politics, confidently diagnosing Geer’s vulnerability and offering a calculated path forward. His eagerness to exploit Diamond City’s disorder surprises his companions.
• Emma reveals deep devotion to Su Yi, while he responds affectionately but lightly.
• Joestar and the others grow more impressed by Su Yi’s strategic ability, especially when his analysis matches Geer’s history precisely.
• Geer and Su Yi form a pragmatic alliance based on mutual need: Geer wants revenge and restoration; Su Yi wants a foothold in Diamond City.

Significant themes

• Power and internal politics: Reforms can provoke powerful insiders when they threaten established interests.
• Marginalization and prejudice: Mutants’ abilities do not protect them from social rejection and exploitation.
• Opportunity amid chaos: Su Yi sees lawlessness not merely as danger but as a chance to build influence.
• Pragmatic alliances and reinvention: Geer accepts help despite recognizing Su Yi’s motives, and his new face marks a fresh start.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi’s group reaches Diamond City, a rough settlement built amid the ruins of a once-great city. Geer recommends an inn, but Su Yi follows the Evil God’s quest directions into the ruins instead.
• The group searches the overgrown remains of the city while Yao tries to recognize the place from his dream. They encounter giant void beasts, but Su Yi’s Thornfire destroys them effortlessly.
• The Evil God identifies their destination as the ruined Startrace Biological Research Institute, where its target lies. Before they can enter, Lacey—the Ditai Gang’s deputy leader—and his armed gang surround them with trained giant hyenas.
• Su Yi realizes Lacey has been hired to guard the area, likely by a faction protecting a Player spawn point. Rather than fight, he offers Lacey a better business opportunity.
• Su Yi proposes that the Ditai Gang move part of its casino operation to Diamond City. Because the city is neglected but still belongs to Winter Province, the gang could declare casino revenue, pay taxes on it, and turn otherwise difficult-to-launder money into legitimate assets. Lacey immediately sees the value of the scheme.

Character developments

• Su Yi demonstrates both overwhelming combat strength and strategic insight. He chooses negotiation over violence, using his knowledge of the region’s politics and the Ditai Gang’s needs to win Lacey’s attention.
• Geer is increasingly impressed by Su Yi, discovering that the traveler he thought was a healer is also a formidable fighter. His loyalty remains rooted in Su Yi’s promise to help him take revenge.
• Lacey shifts from threatening the group to considering Su Yi’s proposal. His resentment at being poorly rewarded and stuck guarding an unpleasant site makes him receptive to a better deal.
• Yao remains preoccupied with the connection between the ruins and his dream, though he has yet to find the flag he remembers.
• The Evil God endorses Su Yi’s preference for building alliances, explaining it as a way to gain allies and reduce enemies.

Significant themes

• Power and persuasion: Su Yi’s strength gives him leverage, but diplomacy proves more useful than simply defeating the gang.
• Pragmatism and shared interests: Su Yi wins Lacey over by addressing the Ditai Gang’s financial problems rather than relying on threats.
• Knowledge as an advantage: Su Yi’s understanding of politics, taxation, and the gang’s circumstances lets him identify an opportunity others overlook.
• The contrast between ruin and opportunity: Diamond City is neglected and dangerous, yet its lack of oversight creates unexpected business possibilities.

Character interactions

• Geer warns Su Yi about Lacey’s power and reputation as “Mad Dog.”
• Lacey’s gang initially threatens the group, but Su Yi calmly reads his motives and reframes their encounter as a potential partnership.
• Icegrass asks why Su Yi does not simply kill the gang; the Evil God explains the value of cultivating allies.
• Su Yi’s proposal turns Lacey from a hostile guard into an interested negotiator, setting up a possible alliance with the Ditai Gang.

Plot points and events

• The narrator, the author, describes taking their first day off after writing and deleting more than four thousand characters because the draft felt repetitive and flat.
• They explain that recent chapters have been difficult to write: the prose, pacing, and content haven’t met their standards.
• Reader feedback that the story felt padded prompted them to reassess the plot. They agree that the events on Kevin-9 overlapped too much with those on Rhode Star.
• The original outline called for the protagonist to take over two planets and control two player spawn points before beginning a larger conquest. The author now sees a gap between that plan and the story’s current direction.
• Rather than continue with material that feels repetitive, the author takes a day to revise the outline and develop a promising new idea, promising to resume posting once the transition is clear.

Character development

• The chapter focuses on the author’s self-assessment rather than on the novel’s fictional characters. The narrator shows concern for the story’s quality, acknowledges readers’ criticism, and chooses to pause rather than pad the plot.

Significant themes

• Creative struggle: Writing through a lack of enthusiasm can weaken both prose and pacing.
• Listening to readers: Feedback helps the author recognize repetition and mismatched expectations.
• Planning and adaptation: A thorough outline can still need revision when the story’s progression isn’t working.
• Quality over quantity: The author prefers a brief pause to publishing chapters that feel unfulfilling.

Character interactions

• The author directly addresses readers, acknowledges their concerns about recent chapters, and explains why the update schedule has been inconsistent. The chapter is primarily a candid conversation between the author and audience.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi advises Lacey, a Ditai Gang leader, to establish a branch and build a profitable business in the region. Lacey is so impressed that he treats Su Yi with newfound respect and promises to follow his advice.
• With Lacey’s men standing down, Su Yi and Tentacles Aren’t Evil God investigate the abandoned building. They find a concealed control panel, enter the underground facility, and activate its systems with a special metal card.
• The facility contains a safe zone, thousands of dormant cultivation pods, and a large control room. Activating the central sphere completes the team’s Spawn Point development mission.
• The sphere’s guide voice gives Tentacles Aren’t Evil God another task: reconnect two malfunctioning “plug-ins” in the Energy Room. After he leaves, the sphere addresses Su Yi directly.
• The voice reveals that it knows Su Yi was reborn and claims to have arranged it. It manifests as an old man calling himself the Mist Sage—a remnant soul of the legendary figure.
• Su Yi demands answers. The Mist Sage says the world is real, but Su Yi’s rebirth followed a failed “game” ending. Su Yi was the sole survivor of trillions of experiments; the planner had hoped to retain at least ten thousand Players for a second run. The Mist Sage says he himself cannot simply restart endlessly.

Character developments and interactions

• Lacey shifts from wary hostility to admiration and gratitude, accepting Su Yi as a mentor. His men follow his lead and put away their weapons.
• Su Yi demonstrates strategic insight with Lacey and confidence in the underground facility. Once confronted with the Mist Sage’s revelations, however, he is shocked and presses for a straightforward explanation of his existence, the Players, and the Shadow Puppet Sanctum.
• Tentacles Aren’t Evil God helps locate and activate the base, celebrates the mission’s completion, and readily accepts the next assignment from the guide NPC.
• The Mist Sage appears as an ancient but diminished remnant, speaking with weary self-mockery. He acknowledges responsibility for Su Yi’s arrival and agrees to explain rather than leave him with cryptic hints.

Significant themes

• Power through knowledge and strategy: Su Yi gains influence over Lacey without force, using practical advice to reshape the gang’s future.
• Hidden systems and recovery: The dormant base and its machinery suggest a civilization or organization that vanished, while the Players’ work begins restoring it.
• Reality, games, and fate: The chapter overturns Su Yi’s assumptions by establishing that the world is real even though its events are tied to a failed game-like scenario and a restart.
• Survival and sacrifice: Su Yi’s singular survival among trillions of experiments, and the Mist Sage’s limited remaining existence, frame the revelations in terms of immense cost.

Plot points and revelations

• The Mist Sage explains that he did not reset the world; he turned time back. He warns Su Yi not to investigate the mysterious Dreamwalker too deeply, since understanding its identity could let it find him.
• Su Yi learns that Earth and the game world both face destruction in the previous timeline. The Dreamwalker used the Shadow Puppet Sanctum to manipulate the Players into killing powerful beings and advancing its plan.
• After the Players killed the Goddess of Black Cinders, the Dreamwalker absorbed her and transformed her Ember Tree into the Nightmare Tree. Combined with its ability to cross the World Wall, this enabled it to destroy Earth.
• The Dreamwalker had also used Su Yi as a key: after his first death, gods who used his body were secretly marked and infected. Once the Players killed six Ancient True Gods, the Dreamwalker absorbed them, turned their creation powers toward destruction, and planned to return all worlds to chaos.
• The six True Gods originated from the Open-Heaven Blacksmith, whose creation authority split into six domains. Two failed efforts to stop the Dreamwalker caused the First and Second Great Cataclysms. The second followed the Ancient Entropy Human Emperor’s ascension, shattered the human Empire, and created the Void Abyss.
• The Mist Sage reveals that many modern Deities are fragments of the wounded True Gods. He traces the origins of numerous known gods and factions—including the Stigmata Totem, Shadow King, Immortal Venerable, Mechanical Father, and Nightmare Pioneer—to those fragments. The Dreamwalker has influenced many of them.
• The Mist Sage’s strategy in this timeline is to preserve uncertainty and let the Players act unpredictably, rather than tightly controlling them. The immediate goal is to stop the Shadow Puppet Sanctum from directing Players to kill the Deities.
• Su Yi accepts the task: he must draw Player attacks away from the Deities and protect them—or at least ensure he can deal with their corpses—before the Dreamwalker can exploit their deaths. The Mist Sage admits the Sanctum helped create the Player project, though he did not know its true allegiance until after the time reversal.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi moves from confusion to shock as he learns the scale of the conspiracy and the hidden origins of the gods. Despite the danger, he accepts the role of a powerful “boss” who fights the Players, joking that he wants to avoid becoming the Dreamwalker’s food.
• The Mist Sage reveals both the depth of his knowledge and the limits of his power. He is uncertain whom to trust, regrets having relied on the Sanctum, and has staked his remaining influence on Su Yi and the Players.
• Their conversation shifts from questioning the time reversal to uncovering cosmic history and finally agreeing on a practical plan. The Mist Sage trusts Su Yi’s Player-like thinking; Su Yi recognizes that the Sanctum is becoming anxious.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and hidden agendas: The Players’ apparent victories served the Dreamwalker’s plan, while factions they trusted were compromised.
• Cycles of catastrophe and uncertain history: Earlier attempts to stop the Dreamwalker produced disasters that shaped the present universe.
• Trust and agency: The Mist Sage cannot identify every trap, so he relies on unpredictable choices rather than control.
• Power’s cost and fragmentation: The True Gods’ divided authorities created the modern pantheon, while their conflicts and defeats left the universe vulnerable.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi readily agrees to work with Mist Sage, who admits the restart left him severely weakened: he has little power or treasure to offer, apart from information and access to the base’s hibernation pods. Su Yi grumbles but recognizes that Mist Sage gave him the chance to live again.
• Mist Sage can now take physical form again, thanks to resources gathered by the Heroes. Evil God and the other Players praise Su Yi’s character and courage, and Mist Sage urges them to stay true to their path even if others misunderstand them.
• The Heroes establish a new spawn point on Kevin-9, giving Players a second respawn location. Excited Players begin organizing missions and asking Ilis for paid work.
• Ilis’s old classmate Wen Qi, a researcher aboard a ship stranded near Kevin-9, explains that the Kage Pirate Group is harassing them and that the research crew lacks enough fighters. Ilis is then reassigned to the Criminal Department at Rank L33 by Minister Katherine Sheen. She accepts, seeing the move as a chance for her and Su Yi to build influence in different spheres.
• At Ilis’s recommendation, Goudan and Wheelchair bring 4,000 high-level Gifted Players to protect Wen Qi’s ship. The Players swiftly wipe out a pirate raid, shocking the researchers with their strength and their casual attitude toward death. Though the Players’ eagerness to fight alarms the crew, they prove effective security.
• Su Yi asks the Yi-Tai Research Institute to develop a way to rapidly clear organic matter from an area—an efficient weapon for attacking his enemies rather than merely enduring their assaults. He offers information about “solid-state blood” as motivation. When Goudan delivers the offer, Wen Qi reacts with intense excitement, suggesting the information is exceptionally valuable.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi moves from passive defense toward a more aggressive strategy. His exchange with Mist Sage shows gratitude beneath his teasing, while his dealings with the research institute reveal his willingness to use valuable knowledge as leverage.
• Mist Sage remains a diminished but supportive ally, impressed by Su Yi and hopeful that the Players will stay committed to their principles.
• Ilis accepts separation from Su Yi as practical rather than painful: she believes her new authority and his growing resources can complement each other. She also uses her connections to secure a job for the Players and aid Wen Qi.
• The Players, especially Goudan and Wheelchair, embrace dangerous work and treat death as routine. Their fearlessness makes them both powerful allies and unsettling guests.
• Wen Qi shifts from needing help to being overwhelmed by the Players’ brutality, then becomes captivated by the promise of solid-state blood.
• Minister Sheen recruits Ilis for a major criminal case, while Ma Li reluctantly accepts losing her to another department.

Significant themes

• Efficiency and escalation: Su Yi decides to answer repeated attacks with decisive force, while the Players’ rapid combat effectiveness embodies the chapter’s focus on doing things quickly.
• Death and courage: The Players’ casual approach to dying contrasts with the researchers’ fear and highlights how differently they experience risk.
• Partnership through complementary strengths: Ilis and Su Yi pursue separate paths, expecting their influence and resources to support one another.
• Trust and leverage: Ilis’s recommendation brings Wen Qi help, while Su Yi’s offer of rare research information turns a reluctant institute into a potentially valuable partner.