Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• The Shadow King pressures Su Yi by threatening Maria’s nine-million-strong Sword of Judgment expedition, which the Wall Watchers and Redstone Empire are poised to destroy. In exchange for protecting the fleet, he asks Su Yi to lead forces against Human Alliance Pioneers serving the Wall Watchers—whom he identifies as the old Soulless. He also promises Su Yi a body wielding Divine Authority, with its powers becoming Su Yi’s after the mission. Su Yi accepts and is told he will act as the Shadow King’s avatar.
• Su Yi then joins Great Sage Bell’s expedition into the Great Vortex’s sixth district as the Destruction Tide recedes. Disguised as a researcher, he helps Bell’s team reach a hidden Soulless research base. Bell teleports his small force past the huge crowd searching the exposed ruins; would-be attackers pursuing their valuable equipment are killed by traps left behind.
• Inside the base, Su Yi uses Binary Magic to bypass its security and open a sealed entrance. The team finds an apparently abandoned facility, its supplies scattered and six department doors still powered. While Bell’s researchers try to crack the doors, Su Yi discovers a physical notebook written in familiar letters—apparently pinyin—and reads an entry commemorating “seventh-generation transmigrators.”

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi remains composed when threatened, but the danger to Maria clearly matters to him. Recognizing his lack of leverage against the Shadow King, he accepts the deal pragmatically. At the ruin, his technical ability and familiarity with the base’s systems prove essential.
• The Shadow King demonstrates his power through intimate knowledge of Su Yi’s priorities and willingness to threaten the people he cares about. He offers both protection and a powerful future reward, while making clear that Su Yi will serve as his avatar.
• Great Sage Bell is prepared, confident, and dismissive of the lawless treasure-seekers. He wants to demonstrate his own team’s competence rather than rely entirely on Su Yi, but trusts Su Yi’s skill when the base’s security must be opened.
• Leg Kicker checks on Su Yi after the negotiation; Su Yi says the deal is settled and turns toward helping Leg Kicker’s girlfriend get revenge. Dante is absent, pursuing a fragment of the lost Death Authority.

Significant themes

• Coercion and leverage: The Shadow King frames his offer as a choice, but the threat to Maria’s fleet leaves Su Yi with little real freedom.
• Trust, competence, and partnership: Su Yi and Great Sage Bell cooperate while each retains independence and aims to prove his worth.
• Buried history and identity: The Soulless base’s technology, its apparent abandonment, and the notebook’s reference to transmigrators suggest a deep connection between the Soulless and the story’s larger mysteries.

Key plot points and revelations

• While Great Sage Bell works on the bunker’s security system, Su Yi discovers a journal belonging to Qian Haonan, a researcher and self-described seventh-generation transmigrator.
• Qian’s entries reveal that Earth’s people arrived in this world in vast numbers when “the stars were right.” Su Yi connects them to the Soulless and suspects Earth’s lack of proven supernatural souls explains their resistance to Evil Gods.
• The journal complicates the accepted history: Qian’s research outpost existed before the Great Vortex, and the Ancient Entropy Human Emperor attacked it—contradicting the Empire’s account that the Soulless were the aggressors.
• Qian and his colleagues discover the Unifier of All Things’ Bronze Gate and a vast power drawn from the universe’s laws. The research station’s systems and data are absorbed into the Gate.
• The Human Emperor rescues the researchers, claiming his assault was a rescue. Qian describes him as extraordinarily beautiful and charismatic—far from the faceless, helmeted figure preserved in Imperial images.
• Qian says the Human Emperor misunderstood the Tree Spirit and hoped to imprison it by repairing the World Wall.
• The Lords of the Past visit the facility. Qian reports that they can travel through time and have shaped events across history. Su Yi realizes this could explain the Soulless’ apparent longevity, but wonders how they avoid paradoxes and the risks of altering the past.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi moves from amusement at Qian’s crude complaints to shock as the journal overturns his assumptions about the Soulless, the Empire, and the Human Emperor. He keeps these discoveries to himself, recognizing that Great Sage Bell might destroy the evidence to protect the Empire’s official history.
• Qian Haonan comes across as irreverent, ambitious, and easily bored, but also an ingenious researcher whose work uncovers major cosmic secrets. His fascination with the Human Emperor is intense and comic.
• The Ancient Entropy Human Emperor emerges as a powerful, enigmatic figure: he attacks the outpost, rescues its people, and leaves Qian captivated. His appearance may have been concealed from the wider population.
• Great Sage Bell remains focused on the security system and briefly mistakes Su Yi’s laughter for ridicule.

Significant themes

• Official history versus buried truth: Qian’s firsthand account challenges the Empire’s heroic narrative.
• Identity and origins: The Soulless may be descendants of Earth’s transmigrators, making their nature and history central to the world’s mysteries.
• Power and perception: The Human Emperor’s public image may differ radically from who he really is, especially among people immune to his influence.
• Time, fate, and knowledge: The Lords of the Past suggest that history may be navigated or manipulated, raising questions about causality and paradoxes.

Chapter Summary

Plot points and events

• The group opens the six sealed doors to the Observation Department. Great Sage Bell uses a black casket and chants binary code; the resulting force unlocks the doors, though the automated defenses kill roughly half of the Mechanical Apprentices.
• Inside, the team finds the remains of unusual, genetically engineered Soulless researchers. Great Sage Bell identifies their bodies as specialized research machines, designed for nonstop work, rapid nutrient absorption, and direct connection to equipment.
• The researchers’ workspace is lined with extraordinary Compound-Eye Displays, each containing hundreds of millions of facets. Attempts to access their data cause an improvised receiver to explode, killing three more apprentices, but Great Sage Bell continues investigating.
• In the central hall, the group discovers an empty energy-supply cabinet. Su Yi recognizes traces of energy similar to that used by White Bone Lady, but more concentrated and portable.
• Unable to retrieve the display data, Great Sage Bell asks Su Yi to use his Binary Magic. Su Yi enters a vast data-universe and activates a recording from the Mist Sage.
• The Mist Sage says the recording’s existence means their plan succeeded and the “reboot” is complete. He refers to Unity True God’s Bloodline, the technology and ideas of their “homeland,” and Qian Haonan’s likely role as the new Lord of the Past. Su Yi realizes with shock that the Mist Sage appears to be from Earth and one of the Soulless.

Character developments

• Su Yi remains cautious about the value of the institute’s technology, understanding that his era lacks the scientific infrastructure needed to use it. His Binary Magic nevertheless gives him access to the facility’s hidden data and a major revelation about the Mist Sage.
• Great Sage Bell displays ingenuity and relentless curiosity, successfully opening the doors and pursuing the researchers’ remains and technology despite repeated casualties. His two Doppelgangers compete eagerly to uncover valuable discoveries.
• The Mist Sage is revealed through a recording to have been involved in a long-term plan connected to a successful reboot. His words also suggest Qian Haonan has a significant destiny or position awaiting him.

Character interactions

• Great Sage Bell seeks Su Yi’s approval after opening the doors, then invites him to explore the department.
• The two Doppelgangers and Su Yi cooperate uneasily: Bell wants Su Yi’s expertise, while Su Yi agrees partly because he will need Bell’s connections and resources in the future.
• Bell’s researchers eagerly analyze the remains and displays, with Bell focused on extracting knowledge despite the dangers.
• Su Yi’s interaction with the Mist Sage is one-sided—the recording cannot respond—but its message transforms Su Yi’s understanding of the facility and its history.

Significant themes

• Curiosity versus the cost of knowledge: Researchers and explorers accept deadly risks in pursuit of discoveries.
• The limits of technology: Advanced devices are of little practical use without the scientific and industrial systems that support them.
• Humanity and engineered bodies: The Soulless researchers blur the line between people and purpose-built machines.
• Hidden history and identity: The recording links the ancient facility, Earth, the Soulless, and a broader plan involving Su Yi and Qian Haonan.

Key plot points and events

• The Mist Sage’s projection explains that his Earth was almost certainly a different timeline from Su Yi’s. In 2048, Earth’s population was transported to another world; the survivors later summoned the Unifier of All Things. The Mist Sage became the first to pass through the gate and gained the ability to travel through time. Sharing what he learned helped the Soulless develop astonishing technology, but attempts to return home instead sent them into the turbulence of time. His account cuts off before he can explain more.
• Su Yi explores the Soulless observatory and heads toward its experimental area. A simulation of cosmic events knocks Great Sage Bell and his mechanical companions unconscious, as a virtual supernova’s magnetic storm disrupts their bodies. Su Yi protects their minds with Binary Magic, but their bodies are damaged.
• Alone, Su Yi finds a vast simulation of a young universe, apparently running the same cycle for ages. Beyond it, he discovers a towering Bronze Gate. Its eye draws the gate into itself and merges with Su Yi.
• The merger triggers another Mist Sage projection, but it skips crucial parts of its story. Su Yi learns only that the pioneers mastered time, space, and physical laws—and eventually found themselves apparently invincible against the aliens they had prepared to fight.
• The fourth Bronze Gate greatly strengthens Su Yi’s physical capacity: he can control Dark Universe energy, bear more power and authorities, potentially gain more Destruction Authority, and travel through the Dark Universe unaided. He wonders where the gate was originally unearthed and plans to contact the Soulless to learn more.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi grows more powerful but remains intensely curious about the pioneers’ history. His frustration at the projection’s missing dialogue gives the chapter a comic edge.
• Great Sage Bell and his companions are overwhelmed by the experiment. Bell gratefully acknowledges Su Yi’s rescue, then accepts that he cannot safely accompany him farther.
• The Mist Sage offers major historical revelations but is constrained by its protocol and repeatedly cuts off or skips its own account, frustrating Su Yi.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and its limits: The Soulless’ immense data and technology cannot easily be understood or applied, while the Mist Sage’s most important history remains inaccessible.
• Power and risk: The cosmic experiment is both a remarkable scientific achievement and a lethal hazard; Su Yi’s new strength also points toward further, potentially dangerous powers.
• Time, identity, and origins: The different Earth timelines and the pioneers’ journey through time complicate the history of the Returnees and the world they now inhabit.

Key plot points and events

• After absorbing the fourth Bronze Gate, Su Yi gains an inexhaustible source of Dark Matter Energy and awakens the Origin Dharma Form—a vast, law-based body in the Dark Universe. It lets him channel other Deities’ powers without being overwhelmed and may protect him from the Mechanical Father.
• Su Yi tells Great Sage Bell that the simulated universe was built around the Bronze Gate and that he has absorbed it. Bell is disappointed to lose the chance to study the Gate, but accepts the outcome and leads the group to the energy sector.
• The energy sector is a zone of Heat Death: radiation and chaotic heat dissolve matter, and even probe robots melt almost instantly. Bell suspects a catastrophic energy overload caused the facility’s deaths, though the intact bones elsewhere do not fit that explanation.
• Su Yi stays behind and spends five days testing the zone. He realizes he can cross it by using his Origin Dharma Form to create a Dark Matter-and-Destruction shell around his physical body.
• The suit gives him roughly ten minutes. He races through the devastated facility and reaches its central chamber, where a crystal rod—the final fragment of the God-Destroying Eye—is still powering the machinery.
• A message from the Mist Sage reveals that the fragment was brought from the River of Time and refined for more than ten thousand years. It is meant to become Su Yi’s weapon: a blade of destruction, forged through war and nourished by countless souls and blood.
• When Su Yi opens the chamber, the rod responds to his Destruction Authority, breaks free of its restraints, and lands in his hand. Its power is immense and unruly; Su Yi recognizes that it is only a sword blank and must be tempered.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi grows substantially in power and confidence, but remains cautious about what he can control. He keeps his Origin Dharma Form and method of surviving Heat Death private from Bell, then uses his new abilities to reach the Eye fragment.
• Great Sage Bell is curious about Su Yi’s transformation and disappointed that he cannot examine the Bronze Gate. His embarrassment at Su Yi’s openness briefly contrasts with his own hidden schemes, but it does not change his plans. He respects Su Yi’s boundaries and leaves the energy sector to him.
• The Mist Sage, through a recorded appearance, clarifies the fragment’s intended purpose and hints at a woman who has been waiting for Su Yi. His words suggest both urgency and personal regret.
• Su Yi speculates that the woman is the Goddess of White Frost, possibly hidden by the Mist Sage. He connects her energy-related authority to a possible means of countering Heat Death, though this remains a theory.

Significant themes

• Power through transformation: Su Yi’s new strength comes from moving beyond a human form and drawing directly on cosmic forces.
• Destruction and creation: Heat Death is an all-consuming end, while White Frost may redistribute energy and enable renewal. Su Yi imagines destruction as something that could be countered—or redirected—by another force.
• Preparation across time: The Mist Sage’s long effort to refine the fragment shows how past actions and contingencies shape Su Yi’s present mission.
• Trust, secrecy, and competing agendas: Su Yi is unusually candid, while Bell continues to guard his own plans; both recognize the limits of what they can demand from each other.
• The cost of forging a weapon: The God-Destroying Eye fragment is not ready to wield. Its intended transformation demands immense destruction, conflict, and sacrifice.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi absorbs the remaining power of the Primordial Destruction Sword Embryo, discovering that it contains the ruined remains of the God-Destroying Eye, devoured by the Dreamwalker. The eye’s last remnants are ownerless, allowing Su Yi to absorb its Divine Authority of Destruction and greatly expand his ability to destroy both physical and intangible things.
• The sword embryo merges into Su Yi. He anticipates that the gods’ powers—and the bodies and souls of countless beings—will forge it into a formidable Ancient Artifact.
• Su Yi emerges from the Heat Death laboratory after its destructive zone collapses. Great Sage Bell is astonished and eager to preserve the still-working containment apparatus. Su Yi leaves the research team to study the ruins and prepares for a major coming battle.
• Back at Cultured Company, Su Yi learns that the Toynbee Family is recovering: it has reclaimed research bases, struck at the Sainz Family’s communications systems, and begun building its own communications business. His Human Alliance Pioneers have also discouraged potential enemies.
• The Shadow King invites Su Yi to a prewar meeting in two days, promising to announce his status and give him a Divine Authority Doppelganger. Su Yi suspects the offer is a political maneuver and decides to turn the Shadow King’s schemes into a larger game.
• The chapter shifts to Aishome Star, where the Shadow King’s diverse Demigod servants gather by projection. They bicker and accuse one another of hypocrisy before the Shadow King appears and rallies them for the coming war against the Eternal Wall’s expedition.
• The Shadow King introduces a new servant. The gathered faction leaders are stunned when Su Yi appears—especially Darkfire, his former opponent.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi gains a deeper, more complete mastery of Destruction, becoming more powerful while remaining composed. He moves between research, business, and political maneuvering, treating the upcoming alliance with caution rather than trust.
• Great Sage Bell shifts from disbelief at Su Yi’s success to practical excitement about salvaging the laboratory’s apparatus. He respects Su Yi’s power and composure.
• Aisha is shown as alert and capable, quickly reaching for her weapon and alarm when Su Yi appears unexpectedly. She reports the family’s recovery and the progress of his forces.
• Dante confidently assures the Undertakers that Su Yi can be trusted and will become an important ally, despite their suspicion of him.
• The Shadow King’s servants reveal deep rivalries despite their shared allegiance. The Spider-like servant and Three-Heads trade accusations, while other leaders criticize them; their infighting contrasts with their unified obedience when the Shadow King arrives.
• The Shadow King asserts authority over his followers and frames the coming campaign as retaliation against those who dare attack his territory. Su Yi’s sudden appearance as a supposed new servant shocks the assembled leaders.

Significant themes

• Power gained through destruction: Su Yi’s new authority comes from absorbing the remains of a once-mighty divine being, turning ruin into strength.
• Alliance and mistrust: Su Yi and the Shadow King both appear to be maneuvering for advantage; promises of loyalty coexist with hidden agendas.
• Unity versus factional rivalry: The Shadow King’s followers share a cause but distrust and insult one another, suggesting their coalition may be fragile.
• Escalating conflict: The chapter builds toward a major war, with Su Yi’s new power and unexpected place among the Shadow King’s forces raising the stakes.

Plot and key events

• Su Yi joins the Shadow King’s faction, despite the Darkfire Prince’s protests that he is a deceitful former enemy. Su Yi claims his vendetta against the Goddess of Black Cinders is now his priority. The Shadow King ends the dispute and assigns the group to hunt forces entering the Bloodburn Star Sector.
• The Shadow King divides his lieutenants among the sector’s four domains: Behemoth, Forge, Sacrifice, and Transmutation. He gives Su Yi the War Command Armor, appoints him battlefield commander, and orders him to reinforce the domains and exploit his connections to sow discord among the invaders.
• The armor contains the Shadow King’s power and can elevate its wearer beyond Demigod rank, withstand powerful attacks, enable rapid movement through darkness, wield Shadowfire, and create a localized Dark Universe Storm. As Su Yi puts it on, it tries to corrupt and bind him. He resists by using his Unity Divine Authority to analyze and assimilate its power. The armor also greatly expands his ability to project his awareness, allowing him to sense old allies—including Maria—but he withdraws before contacting them.
• After Su Yi leaves, the Shadow King’s followers discuss him with contempt and anticipate his eventual corruption. The Shadow King intends to absorb Su Yi and use the power gained to advance his Divine Authority.
• Meanwhile, the Human Alliance mobilizes for its largest campaign yet: an assault on the Shadow King’s stronghold, with the ultimate goal of killing a god. Players learn that the Bloodburn Star Sector is divided into four domains and that new mechanics include a Rally Core system for summoning Demigods and a Divine Authority system that lets them forge powers from boss drops.
• The Watchful Elder and other Wall Watchers obtain the Shadow Legion’s plans and lineup. They assume Su Yi has joined the Shadow King out of rage or to protect Maria, and see the infighting among the Shadow King’s lieutenants as an advantage.
• The enemy roster is posted to the player forum. Players eagerly discuss the bosses and the sector’s creatures, then discover Su Yi listed as a “Special hidden boss: Warmaster Horus.” They are shocked and excited, wondering whether he is under the Shadow King’s control and how to unlock and defeat him.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi presents himself as a loyal recruit but privately resists the armor’s influence, using his Divine Authority to protect his autonomy. His apparent defection sets up a conflict between his public role and his true intentions.
• The Shadow King treats Su Yi as both a valuable commander and a potential source of power to consume. His followers’ confidence that the armor will absorb Su Yi contrasts with Su Yi’s resistance.
• Darkfire Prince openly distrusts Su Yi and tries to warn the Shadow King, but is silenced when the Shadow King accepts Su Yi.
• The Shadow King’s lieutenants show jealousy at Su Yi’s special appointment, though they are reassured by the armor’s corrupting nature. Their comments reveal their selfishness and cruelty.
• The Wall Watchers, especially Withered Branch, interpret Su Yi’s motives differently from the Watchful Elder: she suspects he may be acting to protect someone, while the Elder dismisses him as foolish.
• The Players react to Su Yi’s reveal with a mix of disbelief, admiration for his new armor, and enthusiasm at the prospect of fighting him.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and deception: Su Yi’s apparent allegiance is uncertain, and several factions try to read his motives.
• Corruption versus self-determination: The War Command Armor is designed to make its wearer part of the Shadow King, but Su Yi resists its control.
• Power and exploitation: The Shadow King views allies and enemies alike as resources to absorb, while the players’ new systems turn defeated bosses’ power into their own.
• War as both strategy and spectacle: The coming campaign combines enormous military stakes with game-like mechanics, boss hunting, and player excitement.

Key plot points

• Players learn that Su Yi has entered the game as War Commander Horus. Many former opponents eagerly prepare to fight him, while Wang Sanguang and the Ten Pioneers discuss how to respond. Mountain Dog suggests that opposing sides might still find ways to cooperate.
• A group of senior Players heads to the Cassini Star System to seize a tablet bearing the Human Emperor’s Saint Mark, judging this more important than joining the coming war.
• Nine Blades explains why the Shadow King is bound to the Bloodburn Star Sector: modern Void Abyss Gods depend on their followers, territory, sacrifices, and Faith Power to maintain their strength.
• Su Yi uses his armor to extend his reach and contact Maria, whose ship is suffering sabotage, equipment failures, and supernatural attacks during a Dark Universe jump. The Radiant Light Saint and a team of elite engineers help keep the ship running. The Shadow King protects the fleet from a catastrophic storm under an agreement with Su Yi.
• Two months later, the Redstone Empire and Molten Alliance lead a vast coalition into the Bloodburn Star Sector. Withered Branch declares war on the Shadow King, and the Human Alliance’s Players charge into the hostile Mist.
• Red Dragon opens a path through the Mist. The coalition’s forces then find themselves scattered across distorted layers of space, facing monsters, mental assaults, and traps. A well-equipped Player unit fights its way forward, accepting some trap deaths as a means of learning how the dangers work.

Character developments

• Su Yi appears increasingly confident and strategic. He warns the Shadow King’s followers to attack the coalition’s vanguard immediately, though they dismiss his advice.
• Maria is exhausted and anxious after five days without sleep, but Su Yi’s appearance reassures her. Her concern for the cost of the Shadow King’s protection shows her distrust of bargains with powerful beings.
• Wang Sanguang hopes for a return to the old order under Godfather, but begins considering Mountain Dog’s idea that former opponents may still cooperate.
• Withered Branch presents the campaign as a rescue mission, emphasizing the suffering caused by the Shadow King’s followers.
• Red Dragon takes a bold frontline role, while Green Grass is established as a celebrated healer capable of reviving the recently dead.

Character interactions

• Mountain Dog and Winter advise Wang Sanguang on the Players’ role in the conflict; Mountain Dog encourages him to look for common ground even between enemies.
• Nine Blades explains the Shadow King’s dependence on his territory to Kilman, linking the god’s motives to the structure of divine power.
• Su Yi and Maria reunite through his projection. She initially mistakes him for an impostor because of his armor, then recognizes him through a private shared memory. He promises to help stabilize the ship and explain matters later.
• At the final war meeting, Su Yi urges the Shadow King’s commanders to strike early, but Darkfire and others reject his plan because they want the enemy to enter their territory and provide spoils and souls.

Significant themes

• Power and dependence: The Shadow King’s strength is tied to territory, followers, sacrifices, and Faith Power.
• Cooperation across opposing sides: The Ten Pioneers’ doctrine suggests that conflict does not rule out mutually beneficial alliances.
• War as spectacle and game: Players treat deadly monsters and trap-induced deaths as sources of points, information, and tactical advantage.
• Trust and protection: Maria’s relief at seeing Su Yi is tempered by worry over the mysterious price of the Shadow King’s intervention.
• Ideology and propaganda: Withered Branch frames the invasion as a campaign to rescue civilians and destroy an evil cult, galvanizing the Players before battle.

Plot and key events

• The Human Alliance’s Players rapidly clear territory using Spatial Stabilizers, which block the Void Abyss and create safe supply routes. The Shadow King’s commanders are shocked by their strength and suspect their secrets have been leaked.
• In Hunger’s territory, two million Players prepare to trap the Demigod with mines and Strong Magnetic Chains. Their commander, Obsessive, sends five craft of logistics personnel ahead as bait, apparently seeking revenge on Su Yi’s former allies.
• A21 and Chuck realize they have been betrayed. As Hunger’s worms attack their craft, the two rally their doomed comrades and affirm their faith in the supposedly dead Su Yi.
• Su Yi, hiding nearby, hears their loyalty and intervenes. He rescues and heals them, then sends their ships toward Maria’s fleet. To protect them, he redirects Hunger toward the Players’ main force.
• Hunger ambushes the Players, but their technology and knowledge of its abilities let them bind it with Strong Magnetic Chains and overwhelm it with concentrated fire. As Hunger nears defeat, it calls for Horus to save it.
• Su Yi reveals himself as Horus and unleashes a devastating Darkness Glaive attack. The storm destroys most of the force: fewer than 20,000 of nearly two million Players survive, and their supply ships are wrecked.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi shifts from concealed observer to active protector of his former comrades. Their faith moves him, while Obsessive’s betrayal hardens his resolve to retaliate.
• A21 and Chuck face death with courage, condemning the betrayal and declaring their trust in Su Yi. Their reunion with him confirms that loyalty still binds them to their former leader.
• Obsessive is exposed as ruthless and vindictive, willing to sacrifice allied logistics troops to settle a grudge. His plan fails when Su Yi redirects Hunger.
• Hunger begins confident in its ability to devour the invading force, but is trapped, wounded, and reduced to pleading for Horus’s help.
• The Players demonstrate boldness, coordination, and effective use of technology, but their confidence collapses when Horus’s overwhelming power turns the battle into a massacre.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and betrayal: A21 and Chuck’s steadfast faith contrasts sharply with Obsessive’s willingness to sacrifice his own side.
• Technology and adaptation: Stabilizers, mines, magnetic chains, and shared intelligence give ordinary forces the means to challenge a Demigod.
• Power and vulnerability: Hunger’s immense strength proves insufficient against preparation, while the Players’ apparent advantage is erased by Su Yi’s extraordinary intervention.
• Faith and identity: The soldiers’ devotion helps Su Yi recognize them as old comrades and prompts him to save them.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi’s attack unleashes a vast storm of destruction, wiping out nearly all the Players. The rear support fleet, commanded by a Molten Alliance captain, panics and retreats.
• The attack combines the Shadow King’s power with Su Yi’s Metal and Destruction Divine Authorities. Unity then gathers the victims’ scattered essences and uses them to temper Su Yi’s destructive power, creating a cycle that may transform his weapon into a new primordial force.
• The strike also kills Hunger, a Demigod. Su Yi absorbs Hunger’s Devouring Divine Authority and turns its jawbone-like remains into a treasure he names the Sky-Swallowing Gourd.
• Obsessive survives and fuses with about three thousand Players, transforming into a giant, spiderlike creature. He attacks Su Yi with Ember Divine Flame and Nightmare power.
• Su Yi breaks free of the nightmare and counters with two artifacts: bone rune-chains that restrain Obsessive’s limbs, and the Moonlit Parasol, whose spine-blades carry Soulless technology. That technology disrupts Obsessive’s Nightmare Web.
• Su Yi destroys Obsessive with his Blackfire Halberd. He then shatters Obsessive’s Withered Branch, recognizing it as power from Dreamwalker that he cannot safely absorb.
• After recovering most of his swords, Su Yi withdraws. He reflects that the Wall Watchers’ and Redstone Empire’s involvement—and their use of spatial-stasis technology—may work to his advantage.

Character development

• Su Yi demonstrates growing mastery of Destruction and Unity, learning to turn destruction’s spoils into fuel for further refinement. He remains calculating rather than merciful: he spares ordinary soldiers partly so they can report the battle and might later serve him.
• Obsessive becomes consumed by hatred after his plan to amass enough Players for overwhelming power collapses. His desperation drives him to fuse with the survivors and attack prematurely.
• The Molten Alliance captain and support crews lose faith in the supposed strength and discipline of the Human Alliance Players, fleeing in fear.
• Hunger’s defeat marks a major gain for Su Yi, who takes a Demigod’s authority and converts it into a useful artifact.

Significant themes

• Destruction and renewal: Su Yi’s destructive power annihilates matter, while Unity gathers its essence and tempers destruction into something new.
• Adaptation and preparation: Su Yi survives Nightmare power and Obsessive’s attacks because he has prepared counters, including the bone chains and Soulless-infused swords.
• Power and desperation: Obsessive’s failed strategy leaves him with less power than intended, yet rage pushes him into a reckless transformation.
• Strategic opportunity: Even devastating battles can produce political and military advantages; Su Yi sees outside intervention as a promising development.

Character interactions

• The fleeing captain and chief of staff discuss the attack and condemn the Players’ apparent recklessness and weakness.
• Su Yi deliberately leaves the support soldiers alive, treating them as future witnesses—and potentially future followers.
• Obsessive confronts Su Yi with Nightmare and Ember powers, while Su Yi answers with prepared artifacts and tactical deception.
• Su Yi’s victory over Obsessive highlights the clash between Dreamwalker’s nightmare influence and the disruptive Soulless technology embedded in the parasol’s blades.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi reflects on how his changes to the timeline forced the Wall Watchers into the open early. Their intervention exposed their plans and their control over the Redstone Empire, while also alerting the Void Gods that the Wall Watchers may eventually target them.
• Su Yi reports the death of Hunger to the Shadow King. The Shadow King focuses on the Wall Watchers’ use of their technology and the Redstone Empire’s broken nonaggression covenant, then orders Su Yi to continue his duties while another servant takes over Hunger’s sector.
• Su Yi discovers that Black Widow’s territory is under assault. A force of about thirty thousand Players, including familiar sixth-batch veterans, is trapped by swarms of venomous spiders and two enormous Behemoths. Their route appears deliberately dangerous compared with other Players’ missions.
• As the Players face annihilation, Big Shark, Cute Qiqi, and others call for Su Yi’s help. Su Yi sends his Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf Banner. Its electrical power destroys the surrounding spider hordes and drives the Behemoths away, saving the survivors.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi remains alert to the Wall Watchers’ strategy: he suspects they are trying to create new Player leaders who hate him and discredit those who were once close to him. He acts decisively when he sees the endangered Players.
• The Shadow King responds pragmatically to Hunger’s death and continues to assume Su Yi is ultimately bound to him through the Armor of Dominion.
• The Players move from anger and despair to awe, relief, and gratitude. Veterans such as Double Gold in Ten Pulls, Veteran MT, Fake Person, Undead Kitty, Leren, Big Shark, and Cute Qiqi trade complaints and encouragement while fighting. Some initially doubt that Su Yi would help, but his rescue changes their view.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and divided loyalties: The Wall Watchers appear to be steering Player groups onto unequal paths to shape opinion and cultivate hostility toward Su Yi.
• Faith and reputation: The Players’ belief that Su Yi will answer them is tested by the crisis, then powerfully reinforced by his intervention.
• Despair transformed into devotion: The banner’s sudden arrival turns near-certain defeat into rescue, inspiring even skeptical Players to follow Su Yi.

Key plot points and events

• Horus’s Azure Wolf Banner reaches the surviving Players and delivers a recording exposing how Obsessive and the Eternal Wall sent A21, Chuck, and others to their deaths as bait. Su Yi also warns that the Eternal Wall attacked him alongside the Molten Alliance, and says Alton and Winter have joined Kilman to form the Light Empire.
• The Players react with fury, condemning Obsessive’s treatment of respected NPCs and questioning which faction can be trusted. Many decide that Kilman is the safest choice, seeing him as the likely hero of the unfolding conflict.
• After leaving the Bloodburn Star Sector, Big Shark’s group learns that Horus has destroyed a force of nearly two million Players in one strike. Obsessive and his allies use the incident to stir up anger and demand Horus’s death, while the crowd remains unaware of the full context.
• Cute Qiqi advises her group not to argue on the Eternal Wall’s home ground. They instead join God of Fun Above and other troublemaking Players, who plan to reveal their evidence at the most effective moment rather than immediately.
• Su Yi waits in the Silk-Thread Star Domain for Black Widow, a Demigod and Shadow King subordinate. She intercepts the Azure Wolf Banner, briefly tries to claim it as compensation for her slain “children,” then releases it.
• Black Widow recognizes that Su Yi is beyond the Shadow King’s control and suggests that he, like her, is waiting for the Shadow King’s downfall.

Character developments and interactions

• The Players shift from shock and confusion to anger at the Eternal Wall, while many rally around Kilman as a trusted figure.
• Big Shark’s group chooses caution and secrecy; Cute Qiqi steers them away from a public confrontation.
• God of Fun Above takes on the role of strategist, intending to turn the Players’ discontent and the evidence into a dramatic public reveal.
• Black Widow tests Su Yi’s limits but quickly backs down, revealing both her caution and her willingness to oppose her master.
• Su Yi remains composed and confident, warning Black Widow not to mistake a powerful artifact for something she can safely control.

Significant themes

• Trust and factional betrayal: The Eternal Wall’s conduct makes it unclear whom the Players can rely on.
• Manipulation and public opinion: Competing sides use dramatic events to shape the Players’ understanding of Horus and the conflict.
• Loyalty and defection: Black Widow’s past and present suggest that allegiance to the Shadow King may not last.
• Hero narratives: The Players interpret Kilman’s background and rise as signs that he is the story’s likely protagonist.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi confronts Black Widow about her past appeal to the Goddess of Black Cinders. She admits she wants to survive the coming war and asks him for protection, offering herself in return.
• Su Yi gives her a single-use device imbued with his Divine Authority. It will repel nearby enemies and alert him to come help, though he warns her to use it only in a genuine emergency. Black Widow accepts, still uncertain whether she can trust him.
• Allied commanders conclude that Gheros has been largely overtaken by the Shadow King through the Dominion Armor, which can grant its wearer the Shadow King’s power but eventually assimilates them. Withered Branch orders Red Dragon to attack Black Widow’s territory, intending to draw out Gheros and damage enemy morale.
• Players, furious after Horus’s attack killed two million of their number, demand retaliation. Their leaders amplify the anger, and Red Dragon publicly promises to lead a campaign against the Shadow King’s forces.
• Five days later, Red Dragon arrives in the Bloodburn Star Sector with a massive fleet and millions of Players. Using coordinated deployments and Nightmare-powered assembly cores, the Alliance breaks through enemy defenses and reaches Black Widow.
• Red Dragon’s forces use Nightmare power to catch Black Widow off guard. Red Dragon then tears into her, and their battle begins with him holding a clear advantage.

Character developments and interactions

• Black Widow reveals a rare, sincere-seeming fear of being sacrificed, but her reputation for deception leaves Su Yi wary. Their bargain is pragmatic: she seeks a chance to live, while he gives her a way to summon aid.
• Su Yi remains composed and skeptical, using Black Widow’s lack of options to secure her acceptance of the device rather than offering unconditional trust.
• Red Dragon moves from commander to active combatant, leading the operation and demonstrating formidable strength against Black Widow.
• Withered Branch directs the strategy and appears confident that the attack will draw Gheros out.
• Leo Stowe and Cassiss clash over the Goddess of Black Cinders after Leo mocks her; Silent Grass intervenes before the dispute escalates.
• The Players turn grief and outrage into enthusiasm for retaliation, though their crude jokes about Black Widow contrast with the deadly stakes.

Significant themes

• Survival and compromised alliances: Black Widow’s offer reflects the desperate choices powerful figures make when defeat seems inevitable.
• Power and loss of agency: The Dominion Armor grants immense strength but gradually turns its wearer into the Shadow King’s puppet, echoing the broader threat of domination.
• Morale as a weapon: The Alliance uses public promises, coordinated attacks, and the prospect of killing Horus to rally its forces and weaken the enemy.
• Collective strength versus individual power: Nightmare-powered Player formations let ordinary combatants contribute at Demigod scale, even as Red Dragon’s personal strength dominates the battlefield.

Plot points and events

• As Red Dragon’s forces prepare to fight Black Widow, Players worry that they may receive no credit or reward if the faction leader claims the victory. Black Widow suddenly uses a bag Su Yi gave her to summon help.
• Red Dragon anticipated the move: his spiked gloves absorb the magnetic blast and trace it back to Horus. With Black Widow’s help, he forces Horus—Su Yi—out of hiding and traps him with Black Widow’s burning webs and the forces of eight assembled demigods.
• The trap appears successful. The demigods shatter Su Yi’s Darkness Authority, and Red Dragon moves in to seize him. But the magnetic power in the bag also carried hidden Soulless anti-Void Abyss fragments. These disrupt Red Dragon’s Authority, letting Su Yi counterattack with a mechanical sword.
• Two demigods rescue Red Dragon by warping reality. Su Yi then raises the Azure Wolf Banner and opens the Moonlit Parasol, unleashing a vast magnetic storm, Mist, mutated Metal-Boring Beetles, and anti-Void Abyss flying swords. The storm disables the Players’ communications and ship systems and turns their metal equipment into more weapons.
• The six remaining demigods try to stop Su Yi’s Blackfire Halberd, but the attack is weakened. As the battlefield fills with thunder, Mist, and flying swords, Su Yi begins assembling an overwhelming, world-destroying formation.

Character developments and interactions

• Red Dragon is confident that his plan has cornered Horus, but his certainty collapses when Su Yi’s hidden countermeasure cripples his power. His control of the battle proves temporary.
• Su Yi/Horus reveals that he anticipated betrayal and used the bag as a trap. Though briefly captured, he turns the ambush around and demonstrates the scale of his prepared arsenal.
• Black Widow openly admits she used Su Yi and chose the Goddess of Black Cinders over him, prioritizing her survival. Her betrayal helps Red Dragon locate Horus, though it does not secure his victory.
• The Players shift from worrying about loot and recognition to excitement at the apparent capture of Horus, then shock at Su Yi’s reversal and awe at the spectacle of his formation.
• Red Dragon’s forces work together to capture Horus, while Black Widow’s alliance with them stands in direct opposition to her former arrangement with Su Yi.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and shifting alliances: Black Widow’s partnership with Su Yi was always transactional, and she changes sides when she believes another power offers better odds of survival.
• Preparation and hidden counters: Red Dragon’s trap seems decisive, but Su Yi has prepared for the Wall Watchers’ methods and turns their own tactic against them.
• Power and vulnerability: Even demigod-level strength can be undermined by specialized technology and careful planning.
• Spectacle versus consequences: The Players initially view the battle through the lens of game rewards and cinematic excitement, but the escalating attacks threaten them and their equipment directly.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi unleashes a vast magnetic storm that disrupts communications, blocks supernatural perception, and turns hundreds of thousands of exposed players into steel swords.
• Combining the Azure Wolf Banner, Moonlit Parasol, and Unity Sword, Su Yi directs the storm’s swords at Red Dragon. The eight player-made Demigods meant to protect Red Dragon freeze in confusion and internal conflict instead.
• Red Dragon cannot escape: Anti-Void Abyss Shards cripple his powers, the Void Abyss will not open to him, and his allies fail to respond. Su Yi’s attack destroys Red Dragon’s body, soul, and consciousness in under a second.
• A crimson “Molten Heart,” containing Red Dragon’s essence and Ember Divine Authority, remains behind. The players rush for it, but Su Yi takes it and stores it in the White Bone Gourd rather than handling it directly.
• Su Yi escapes, leaving the stunned Black Widow to face the eight enraged player Demigods. The remaining players react less with grief than amusement: Number Eight Match-Fixer announces, “The first kill is in! But Horus killed Red Dragon!”

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi demonstrates careful preparation and tactical control, anticipating Red Dragon’s escape routes and the players’ likely reactions. He defeats Red Dragon, secures the Molten Heart, and uses his authority over darkness to reposition Black Widow as he withdraws.
• Red Dragon loses his composure as his defenses and escape options fail. He dies cursing Su Yi and invoking his master, whom he claims will avenge him.
• Obsessive and the other player-made Demigods prove unable to coordinate. Their shared minds fracture over whether to protect Red Dragon, attack Su Yi, or claim the reward, leaving them helpless during the decisive strike.
• Number Eight Match-Fixer recognizes and exploits the players’ resentment toward both NPCs and powerful players. His earlier arguments help fuel the Demigods’ infighting.
• The ordinary players reveal how little loyalty they feel toward Red Dragon. Many see themselves as expendable cannon fodder and respond to his death with laughter rather than mourning.
• Black Widow is left isolated and frightened, suddenly facing the player Demigods’ fury.

Significant themes

• Factional distrust and self-interest: The players’ competing ambitions prevent them from working together, while their resentment of leaders outweighs loyalty to their faction.
• Power and exploitation: Ordinary players feel used by both NPCs and elite players, and their shared minds turn that grievance into direct sabotage.
• Preparation versus force: Su Yi’s layered planning and coordinated equipment overcome Red Dragon’s power and the numerical advantage of the player Demigods.
• The reversal of status: Players who once opposed elites for monopolizing resources begin reproducing the same hierarchy once they gain power.
• Detachment from leadership: Red Dragon’s aloofness and failure to earn the players’ trust make his death an occasion for mockery rather than grief.

Plot points and events

• Black Widow discovers too late that Su Yi is far stronger than she believed: he kills Red Dragon instantly. Already injured and exposed as a suspected traitor, she is attacked by eight enraged Demigods.
• Su Yi hides nearby and watches the fight. The Shadow King demands Red Dragon’s Demigod heart so he can safely pass the Goddess of Black Cinders’ Divine Authority to Su Yi. When Su Yi refuses, the Shadow King’s armor begins attacking him.
• Black Widow detonates her lair, binding the Demigods long enough to escape. They then merge into a monstrous entity and summon the Watchful Elder, leader of the Wall Watchers. Su Yi withdraws as the Shadow King confronts the Elder.
• Su Yi contacts Winter, who reports that the Light Empire is ready to recruit Human Alliance Pioneers. With help from Kilman, Molly, Nine Blades, and others, the faction has established reliable resurrection bases.
• To attract recruits, the Light Empire will give each newcomer a free shapeshifting “Dragon Lady Companion,” built using modified Radiants, advanced genetic technology, and modules from the Human Emperor’s laboratory. Su Yi approves and offers to help spread the announcement.
• Meanwhile, the remaining Players flee the battle. They condemn the Eternal Wall’s Assembly System after realizing Players can be controlled, merged, and used as expendable fuel. A Void Abyss storm then engulfs their fleet, but the Azure Wolf Banner appears and breaks through the darkness.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi remains confident and calculating, refusing to surrender his spoils to the Shadow King and leaving the battlefield once the Elder occupies him. He also backs Winter’s recruitment plan.
• The Shadow King reveals his willingness to use subordinates as expendable resources and attempts to take the Demigod heart—and possibly attack Su Yi—to increase his power.
• Black Widow shifts from scheming to desperate survival, escaping through the chaos she creates.
• Winter demonstrates growing leadership and technical capability, coordinating the faction’s launch and recruitment strategy. Her affectionate exchange with Su Yi hints at their intimacy.
• The Players lose faith in the Eternal Wall’s leaders and compare their treatment unfavorably with Su Yi and the Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf’s more egalitarian leadership.
• The Watchful Elder is enraged when the Players abandon him, while the Shadow King becomes his opponent.

Significant themes

• Exploitation versus solidarity: The Eternal Wall treats Players as disposable components, contrasting with leaders who fight alongside them and regard them as allies.
• Power and mistrust: Su Yi and the Shadow King’s alliance is strained by competing interests and mutual suspicion.
• Recruitment through protection and reward: The Light Empire builds its appeal around dependable resurrection technology and tangible benefits.
• Hope amid catastrophe: The Azure Wolf Banner’s arrival transforms the storm’s despair into a symbol of rescue and resistance.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi arrives amid the Void Abyss storm under the Azure Wolf Banner and stabilizes the survivors’ ships, saving more than three million Players.
• Rather than attack them, he invites the Human Alliance Pioneers to join the newly founded Light Empire, led by Kilman. He argues that Eternal Wall resembles the criminal Shadow Puppet Sanctum.
• The Players recognize similarities between Eternal Wall’s methods and the Sanctum’s, including its powers and connections to former Sanctum associates.
• Winter appears by hologram and presents the Light Empire’s new reward: customizable Shapeshifting Dragon Girls, modified from Insect Girls with dragonkin genes. The offer overwhelms the Players with excitement.
• Nearly all the survivors pledge themselves to Su Yi and the Light Empire. Su Yi promises a temporary military-merit event while they await transport ships, with earned points redeemable for Dragon Girl customization. He tells them to communicate through the Human Alliance Pioneer System and keep the arrangement secret from Eternal Wall.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi/Horus shifts the Players’ view of him: although many remember him as a terrifying enemy who recently killed millions, saving them and offering them a place in the Light Empire makes him seem more like a protector and leader.
• The Players, especially Furmora, initially distrust Su Yi’s motives. Their suspicions give way to enthusiasm as they independently connect Eternal Wall to the Shadow Puppet Sanctum and become dazzled by Winter’s presentation.
• Winter serves as the Light Empire’s persuasive representative, combining evidence against Eternal Wall with an enticing picture of the Players’ future.
• The Players’ banter and rapid declarations of loyalty show how quickly their priorities shift: they joke about abandoning Eternal Wall and eagerly volunteer to serve Su Yi.

Significant themes

• Trust and persuasion: Su Yi lets the Players draw their own conclusions rather than pressing his accusation, then wins them over through action and an appealing offer.
• Power and loyalty: His rescue demonstrates overwhelming power, while his promise of rewards turns that power into a basis for allegiance.
• Different ideas of leadership: Eternal Wall’s self-importance and secrecy contrast with the Light Empire’s responsiveness to what the Players value.
• Game-like motivation: The Players interpret Su Yi’s offer as a hidden quest, blending their role as participants in a larger conflict with their desire for rewards and adventure.

Plot points

• Su Yi treats his agreement with the three million Players as a public challenge to the Wall Watchers, not as a secret operation. Winter explains the policy to the Players as their fleet leaves the Bloodburn Star Sector.
• The wounded Black Widow flees toward the Beast King’s territory, but Su Yi traps her with rune-covered bone chains. Her powers cannot break free, and Su Yi absorbs her body, soul, and Divine Authorities using his newly acquired power of Unity.
• Expecting the Shadow King to turn against him after the Watchful Elder’s battle, Su Yi destroys and absorbs his Command Armor, then escapes. He intends to combine the Black Widow’s and Red Dragon’s compatible powers with other devouring abilities to forge a powerful new Ancient Artifact.
• The Watchful Elder ends his battle with the Shadow King after the Players leave. The Shadow King consumes the mindless Nightmare Tentacle, then discovers Su Yi has severed his connection to the Command Armor and erased all traces of his escape. He vows to hunt Su Yi and block the Human Alliance’s advance.
• News of the Red Dragon’s death spreads across the allied front, shocking both Players and ordinary personnel. The death of a celebrated warrior in what seemed like a routine operation leaves the frontline demoralized and bewildered.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi reveals that he has gained the ability to impose Unity on others. He remains calculating and unsentimental: despite the Black Widow’s pleas, offers of treasure, and promise of service, he kills and absorbs her.
• The Black Widow shifts from feared Demigod to desperate fugitive. She tries to bargain with Su Yi, calling him “master,” but her earlier flight and lost opportunity make her pleas futile.
• The Shadow King is confident after defeating the Watchful Elder’s summoned threat, but Su Yi’s escape unsettles him. He cannot explain the loss of the armor connection or the disappearance of Su Yi’s trail, and turns his frustration into threats.
• The Watchful Elder chooses to concede rather than prolong a costly fight once his audience has dispersed.
• The returning Players and frontline personnel react to the Red Dragon’s death with disbelief, underscoring how much his reputation had mattered to the war effort.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Even formidable Demigods can be rendered helpless when faced with superior abilities or artifacts.
• Betrayal and shifting alliances: Su Yi’s fragile arrangement with the Shadow King collapses, while the Black Widow’s attempt to switch sides comes too late.
• Strategic deception and reputation: Su Yi’s public dealings with the Players serve a broader political purpose, while the Red Dragon’s sudden death damages morale far beyond the battlefield.
• Absorption and transformation: Su Yi turns defeated enemies and shattered equipment into resources for greater power.

Key plot points and events

• Coalition leaders meet after Red Dragon’s sudden death. Cassiss demands an explanation, fearing the loss will shatter morale and confidence in Withered Branch’s command.
• Withered Branch learns that two enemy Demigods, Hunger and Black Widow, have also fallen. She presents their deaths as a major victory and Red Dragon’s sacrifice as meaningful.
• Combat footage shows that Su Yi—called Gheros or Horus by different factions—used mysterious Soulless technology to suppress Red Dragon before killing him. The coalition uses this explanation to reassure its soldiers and portray Su Yi as a dishonorable enemy.
• Players, however, spread their own accounts through their shared channel. They describe Su Yi’s impressive fighting, his rescue of players, and the newly founded Light Empire led by Kilman. News of customizable dragon girls and powerful gear makes the Empire especially attractive.
• Some players remain suspicious, arguing that Su Yi is a villain boss who killed two million players. Fun God’s allies release footage showing that Obsessive’s group had used A21, Chuck, and others as bait—and that Su Yi intervened to save them.
• Further evidence links Obsessive and his associates to suspicious dealings with the Eternal Wall and the Shadow Puppet Sanctum. Players conclude that their own leaders may have been treating them as expendable cannon fodder.
• Su Yi’s longtime followers argue that his apparent villainy was a cover to deceive the Shadow King and the Eternal Wall. They announce a point-based campaign in which players can earn rewards from the Light Empire, including dragon-girl parts and legendary equipment.

Character developments

• Cassiss shifts from furious condemnation toward cautious relief once he hears that Red Dragon was defeated through an unexpected technological advantage rather than in a fair contest of strength.
• Withered Branch is forced to manage both the military consequences of Red Dragon’s death and the coalition’s morale. She quickly turns the deaths of enemy Demigods into a public narrative of victory.
• Su Yi/Horus gains standing among players as a potential ally: his rescue of A21 and Chuck, and of other players, challenges the villain label attached to him.
• Obsessive and his associates are exposed as cruel and self-serving, causing players to distrust their leadership and ties to the Eternal Wall.
• The player community moves rapidly from uncertainty to anger at Obsessive’s faction, while Su Yi’s loyal followers become more confident that his hostile image is a strategic disguise.

Significant themes

• Control of the narrative: Coalition leaders and players offer sharply different explanations for Red Dragon’s death and Su Yi’s actions.
• Trust and betrayal: Evidence of players being used as bait turns suspicion toward their own leadership, while Su Yi’s rescue of NPC heroes earns him renewed trust.
• Morale and propaganda: Both sides frame battlefield events to influence their followers.
• Self-interest and incentives: The Light Empire’s rewards—customizable dragon girls and powerful gear—help draw players toward its cause.
• Heroism versus villainy: Su Yi’s actions complicate his official status as a villain, suggesting that appearances may conceal a larger strategy.

Key plot points

• In the Time Rift, Ilis and Leo Stowe report that Su Yi’s victories have shifted the balance. The Deceiver of Yore praises their work, then makes a rare move: it forms a solemn old man from mist and casts him into the river of history as the next piece in its plan, the “Creation Undertaking.”
• On Earth, Fun God and his brother, Number Eight Match-Fixer, discuss their campaign to turn Players against the Eternal Wall. With mass defections already underway, Fun God plans to help Players earn points, weaken the Shadow King’s support, and ultimately help Horus kill him.
• The game forum erupts after Players learn that some expedition members were manipulated by Obsessive and others, then sacrificed as fuel for Demigods. Obsessive’s arrogant response intensifies the backlash. The usual moderator, Watchful, is conspicuously absent.
• Game Planner Mist suddenly returns, claiming to have been on sick leave. The Ten Pioneers suspect he is the supposedly dead Mist Sage, while the return sparks renewed activity among their supporters.
• Winter announces the Light Empire’s founding and shares images of Shapeshifting Dragon Girl, thrilling Players who want to join the new faction. She then uses Binary Magic to contact Ilis on Sacred Tree Star.
• Ilis learns from Winter that Mist Sage is alive and that the Wall Watchers’ influence over many Pioneers has been contained. Though Ilis remains unable to leave the Mountain River Star Sector, she vows to bring down the Shadow King.

Character developments and interactions

• Ilis is relieved by Su Yi’s progress and exhilarated by the Deceiver’s intervention. Her conversation with Winter confirms that the larger plan is advancing, but she remains committed to acting from the Mountain River Star Sector.
• The Deceiver of Yore moves from passive observation to direct, mysterious intervention, entrusting Ilis and Leo with further work toward its hidden objective.
• Fun God adapts his strategy as events develop, relying on opportunism rather than a fixed master plan. His brother helps steer Players’ discussions and spread distrust of the Eternal Wall.
• Winter acts as a link between the Players’ movement and Ilis, using the forum to spread news and Binary Magic to reach Sacred Tree Star.
• Obsessive loses control of the forum debate through his hostility and condescension, while Mist’s return raises questions about the Game Planner’s identity and the Wall Watchers’ past actions.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and resistance: Players are pushed into conflict by powerful factions, but shared anger and new information help them organize and defect.
• Hidden plans and indirect influence: The Deceiver, Fun God, and Winter each shape events through carefully timed interventions rather than open confrontation.
• Trust and betrayal: The revelation that Players were exploited and sacrificed deepens their hostility toward the Eternal Wall and its allies.
• Hope amid upheaval: Su Yi’s victories, Mist’s return, and the Light Empire’s emergence suggest that the balance of power is beginning to change.