Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Jack’s public scandal causes an uproar, but Investigation Bureau Director Watt Rhode deliberately refuses to intervene, hoping the incident will weaken the increasingly arrogant Kane Family.
• The Kashan Family is in disarray: Pero is dead, Sir Kashan is gravely injured, and his two surviving sons fight over succession instead of managing the crisis. Iron Pillar stays with the family, waiting for Su Yi’s instructions while the rival heirs try to recruit him.
• Jack returns to work furious and humiliated. His eldest brother berates him, while colleagues mock him. Then Shadow Soul Hunters report that the Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf has discovered their border cargo and killed two of their men. The group withdraws from its partnership with Jack.
• Overriding the mysterious voice advising patience, Jack decides to begin his ritual early, despite having only 60,000 people instead of the 200,000 needed for its complete form. He summons his secret followers.
• Su Yi reunites with the Players, rewards their contributions with promised A-rank equipment or Boons, and offers to arrange their promotion sacrifices. He assigns them tasks: some prepare with Evil God and Iron Root, while others alert the White Frost Cathedral and urge it to publicize the crisis and challenge the Noble Alliance and Investigation Bureau.
• Su Yi recruits Enns and the Revolutionary Army to organize border residents, prepare for a possible evacuation, and help maintain order if an attack creates panic. He supplies them with equipment and sends them out.
• Ilis arrives in disguise and announces that she will accompany Su Yi to the front line. Su Yi and his officers must prepare supplies for the expected crisis, while Ilis observes his leadership without revealing her identity.

Character developments and interactions

• Jack becomes increasingly unstable: public humiliation, family hostility, and the loss of his allies push him toward a reckless, premature ritual. He rejects the mysterious voice’s caution and asserts control.
• Su Yi demonstrates strategic leadership, rewarding allies, delegating clear responsibilities, and coordinating Players, the church, and the Revolutionary Army.
• Ilis shows that she is willing to share the danger rather than remain a distant leader. Her trust in Su Yi strengthens their bond, though she also intends to assess his abilities firsthand.
• The Players respond enthusiastically to Su Yi’s generosity and sense of solidarity; Leg Kicker, in particular, feels newly welcomed.
• Enns and the Revolutionary Army readily accept Su Yi’s request, reaffirming their commitment to protecting ordinary people.
• Watt Rhode chooses political advantage over institutional reputation, while the Kashan heirs’ rivalry leaves the family leaderless. Iron Pillar quietly benefits from their dysfunction.

Significant themes

• Reckless ambition versus patience: Jack’s refusal to wait turns a dangerous plan into an even riskier gamble.
• Power struggles and institutional weakness: The Kane and Kashan families, as well as the Investigation Bureau, are shaped by rivalries and self-interest.
• Leadership through trust and preparation: Su Yi builds cooperation by rewarding loyalty, delegating effectively, and preparing civilians for danger.
• Solidarity and responsibility: The Players and Revolutionary Army respond to shared purpose, while Ilis’s decision to join the front line reflects personal responsibility from leadership.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi brings Ilis, a powerful new ally, to Cosmic Alarm Clock Group headquarters. He briefs his team and assigns preparations for a crisis in the Border District: buying weapons and ammunition, securing medicine, moving clinic staff, and organizing logistics and patrols.
• Su Yi explains how he and his allies pressured Jack Kane, expecting Jack to activate the Sacrificial Array that night. Ilis is impressed by Su Yi’s strategy and leadership.
• That night, Jack enters a hidden underground chamber, ignites black powder in a coffin, and uses a magical Finger Candle to perform the ritual, gaining immense power.
• The next morning, Jack has disappeared. Su Yi suspects the ritual has begun and orders his people to mobilize. Reports soon arrive of civilians being attacked by fanatical, unnaturally strong fighters and of people who consumed the black powder bursting into uncontrollable flames.
• Su Yi’s forces work to evacuate and protect residents, treat the injured, and guide refugees toward the prepared Barrett Horus Charity Hospital sites. Church clergy, Players, and reporters arrive; Su Yi asks the clergy to bless ammunition.
• The flames and accumulated souls merge into a gigantic monster bearing Jack’s face. Identified as a level 41 Void Abyss Lord called the Flame Aggregate, it appears as the chapter ends.

Character developments

• Su Yi demonstrates careful planning, decisive crisis management, and a willingness to coordinate his company, gang, church allies, and Players. He is caught off guard by Jack acting earlier than expected, but his preparations limit the damage.
• Ilis shifts from observing Su Yi to expressing confidence in him, impressed by both his leadership and the loyalty of his team.
• Jack Kane moves from a humiliated, unstable young heir to the ritual’s monstrous result, driven by rage and a desire to destroy everyone.
• Su Yi’s team shows strong discipline and loyalty, rapidly carrying out assigned roles despite the disaster.

Significant themes

• Preparedness amid chaos: Su Yi’s advance planning gives people a chance to respond when the crisis comes sooner than expected.
• Power and sacrifice: Jack’s transformation is fueled by a mass sacrifice, turning the suffering of ordinary people into monstrous power.
• Loyalty and leadership: Su Yi’s companions trust him, while his actions earn Ilis’s respect.
• Public image and genuine aid: The charity-hospital banners and filming serve public relations, but the relief work is also real and urgently needed.

Character interactions

• Emma and Dora distrust Ilis and keep watch over her, while Su Yi assures them she is an ally.
• Ilis assesses Su Yi’s staff and their devotion to him, then praises his leadership.
• Su Yi coordinates with Alton, Sefni, Aolong, Mota, Rijia, and Bishop Parker, assigning each group practical duties during the emergency.
• Parker and the clergy join Su Yi’s forces, while reporters document events—just as the Flame Aggregate emerges and threatens everyone.

Plot points and events

• Jack, a level-41 Flame Aggregate, burns the Border District and declares its inhabitants sacrifices for his ascension to godhood. The refugees despair at losing their homes.
• Kilman arrives with forty-six orphaned children. He reminds the refugees that they were not born inferior and can rebuild if they keep hope. Su Yi welcomes the children and puts Kilman in charge of helping everyone.
• As monsters advance, Su Yi invokes Iris Barrett’s ideals and leads the defense. Ilis reveals her identity as Iris, pledging the Barrett family’s honor and promising the people a better future. Her public appearance inspires the refugees and shocks those who knew her undercover.
• With specialized ammunition and reinforcements still half an hour away, Su Yi’s group must hold the line alone. Machine guns stop the weaker attackers, while Su Yi uses two Ember Scions—whose divine flame counters Jack’s fire—to defeat a Flame Giant.
• Su Yi advances toward Jack with help from his allies. The Evil God distracts Jack by projecting humiliating rumors and insults about his past, including claims that he sold his body. Jack’s pride and need for respect make him vulnerable: his form destabilizes as he loses control amid the thoughts of the sixty thousand souls within him.
• The Evil God is killed, but his provocation creates an opening. Su Yi uses a bouncing pad to launch himself into the air and drives his Thornfire Sword into Jack’s forehead, landing a major blow.

Character developments and interactions

• Kilman emerges as a confident leader, turning his own experience and the orphans’ survival into hope for the refugees. His loyalty to Su Yi is openly affirmed.
• Su Yi shifts from uncertainty about how to comfort the displaced to decisive leadership, rallying the community and taking the fight directly to Jack.
• Ilis/Iris steps out of disguise and publicly commits herself to protecting the underclass. Witnessing the children’s sincere trust in Su Yi also changes how she sees him.
• Jack is revealed as both violently ambitious and deeply dependent on others’ admiration. Public contempt unsettles him more than physical attacks.
• The children, refugees, players, machine-gun crew, and arriving allies form a united defense around Su Yi and Iris.

Significant themes

• Hope and agency: The refugees are urged to rebuild rather than see themselves as helpless or cursed.
• Leadership through trust: Kilman’s loyalty and Su Yi’s support help turn despair into collective action.
• Class and dignity: The chapter contrasts the underclass’s resilience with the contempt of powerful figures like Jack.
• Reputation as power: Jack’s vanity becomes a weakness; ridicule disrupts his control and enables Su Yi’s attack.
• Solidarity against destruction: People from different groups unite to protect the vulnerable and resist Jack’s attempt to sacrifice them.

Key plot points and events

• After Su Yi wounds Jack’s Flame Demon, the creature enters its second phase: it breaks apart into deadly Burning Wraiths, while a small Void Abyss Rift opens at its center and releases hordes of Yin Demons and Brainless Creatures.
• Su Yi orders the defenders into four groups and tasks Winter, the players, and other leaders with holding the lines for twenty minutes. The monsters’ numbers and lethal attacks soon threaten to overwhelm them.
• Winter rallies the Revolutionary Army by reminding its fighters that civilians are counting on them. She charges first, and her courage inspires Enns and the others to fight. The players and Alton’s squads also hold their flanks, while supplies move to the front and civilians shelter safely behind the fighters.
• Su Yi fights across the battlefield, healing the wounded, bolstering weak lines, and attacking the monsters. Despite his efforts, all four fronts begin to buckle.
• Moved by the defenders’ bravery—and recalling her childhood dream of becoming a legendary warrior—Ilis decides to fight rather than remain a bystander. She equips a powerful mimetic-alloy suit and two plasma lightsabers, then rapidly destroys the monsters around Winter and reinforces the other lines.
• The fighters are stunned by Ilis’s strength. The players identify her equipment and learn that it is extraordinarily expensive, prompting jokes about her wealth.

Character developments and interactions

• Winter grows from a determined officer into an inspiring battlefield leader. Her fearless charge gives the Revolutionary Army confidence and earns Ilis’s praise.
• The Revolutionary Army proves it can fight openly, not just rely on ambushes. Its members overcome their fear to defend civilians.
• The players embrace the battle with reckless enthusiasm, leading attacks and helping anchor the front lines.
• Su Yi shows the burden of command by personally acting as attacker, healer, and protector across the battlefield.
• Ilis shifts from admiring the defenders to joining them. She recognizes Su Yi as the person who united and inspired them, and gains a firsthand connection with Winter and the Revolutionary Army.
• Ilis’s rescue and praise strengthen her rapport with Winter; afterward, the players react with amazement—and envy—at Ilis’s costly gear.

Significant themes

• Courage spreads: Winter’s example transforms fear into resolve, and that resolve inspires others to defend their community.
• Leadership through service: Su Yi leads from the front, while Ilis earns admiration by putting herself in danger rather than merely watching.
• Ordinary people becoming heroes: Fighters with modest equipment and little supernatural power stand against terrifying monsters to protect civilians.
• Wealth and power: Ilis’s equipment reveals the vast advantage money can buy, contrasting with the courage and sacrifice of the less-privileged fighters.

Key plot points and events

• While the borderlands battle rages, Ilis’s father, Mata Barrett, convenes an emergency meeting of company executives. He refuses to intervene beyond ensuring Ilis survives, since the battlefield is part of her promotion project. The executives instead discuss the potential value of Thornfire—Su Yi—and the Armed Department’s interest in recruiting him.
• Ilis’s arrival stabilizes the failing fronts, but the defenders have suffered heavy losses. Several of Su Yi’s allies are dead or badly injured, including Girlfriend, Iron Pot, and Leg Kicker. Inspired by the defenders’ courage, civilians leave the safety zone and take up guns despite their fear and inexperience.
• Su Yi argues that these civilians are fighters, not merely displaced people. Their courage helps summon the Star Knights of the Goddess of White Frost, who arrive through teleportation gates led by Commander Rolin Kamal Delfiel.
• The Star Knights turn the battle’s momentum with their combat skill, healing, and Sacred Word Blessing, which restores the Players’ health, stamina, and Bandwidth. The Players eagerly return to the fight after realizing the monsters grant experience and can help them level up.
• Rolin recognizes Su Yi and tries to recruit him, offering him a path to becoming a Bishop. Su Yi declares loyalty to Ilis while affirming his devotion to the Goddess. Ilis and Rolin then exchange pointed remarks, each wary of the other’s interest in Su Yi.
• A level-45 Void Abyss Giant Octopus emerges from the rift. Ilis and Rolin attack its enormous tentacle together, while Su Yi prepares the other fighters to exploit any rewards the monster may drop.

Character developments and interactions

• Ilis takes decisive command on the battlefield and fights fiercely, but feels overshadowed when Rolin’s arrival draws attention. She protects Su Yi from Rolin’s recruiting overture and responds sharply to Rolin’s personal criticism.
• Su Yi remains exhausted but resolute, recognizing the civilians’ newfound courage and inspiring them. He shows loyalty to Ilis without renouncing his faith, and shifts quickly into tactical leadership when the Giant Octopus appears.
• Mata Barrett reveals his disregard for Ilis’s success: he is willing to let her promotion project fail, provided she survives.
• Rolin arrives as a powerful, confident leader whose forces rescue the battle. She admires Su Yi and seeks to recruit him, but her exchange with Ilis exposes a personal and political rivalry.
• The civilians and Players demonstrate different forms of courage: civilians overcome fear to defend their families, while the Players charge back into danger with renewed strength and the prospect of leveling up.

Significant themes

• Courage creates hope: the civilians’ decision to fight becomes the turning point that enables the Star Knights to find and reach the battlefield.
• Human dignity under pressure: Su Yi insists that ordinary, displaced people can become fighters when circumstances demand it.
• Loyalty and competing allegiances: Su Yi balances loyalty to Ilis with devotion to the Goddess, while rival factions compete for his talents.
• Ambition and power politics: Ilis’s battlefield is also a promotion test, and the company’s executives treat both the crisis and its promising fighters as matters of institutional advantage.

Plot points and events

• The Giant Void Abyss Octopus unexpectedly activates Division and Reformation, bursting into thousands of fanged tendrils that trap both Caroline and Ilis and begin corroding their armor.
• Su Yi risks his life to rescue Ilis. Using Thornfire to deter the tendrils and his Rift Rune to cut them, he frees her long enough for them to escape. When a massive tentacle catches Ilis’s ankle, she detaches and detonates her armored boot, blasting them clear.
• Ilis lands on top of Su Yi to cushion his fall. As they recover, twenty-five company Elite Troops arrive in orbital drop pods. They form a pentagonal containment field around the rift and expertly use rotating firing lines to hold back the emerging Void Abyss spirits.
• With the rift contained, Caroline rallies her Knights of the Goddess to handle the remaining Burning Wraiths and monsters, determined to show they can contribute alongside the company.
• As Ilis praises Su Yi for saving her, an unseen attacker fires at him. His shield robot stops the first shot, but a second destroys his left hand. Ilis shields his head and heart with her armor and demands to know who attacked him.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi proves his loyalty to Ilis through decisive action, matching his earlier claim that she would not need guards with him around. Ilis recognizes his courage and praises him.
• Ilis shows both tactical composure and personal concern: she sacrifices her armored boot to escape, then protects Su Yi from the sniper even at the cost of exposing herself.
• Caroline and Ilis’s rivalry continues. Caroline is relieved that her own rescue was less costly, but then resolves to prove her faction’s worth.
• The players and Raptor are awed by the Elite Troops’ equipment and discipline, and some begin dreaming of forming comparable units.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and sacrifice: Su Yi risks himself for Ilis, who in turn uses her armor and body to protect him.
• Teamwork and discipline: The Elite Troops’ coordinated defense contrasts with the chaotic monster swarm.
• Rivalry and pride: Ilis and Caroline measure themselves against each other, while Caroline’s faction seeks recognition.
• Sudden danger: The sniper attack abruptly shifts the scene from apparent victory to a new, personal threat.

Key events

• Su Yi is shot in the head during the battle, but Ilis’s Mimetic Armor protects him. He loses a hand, then jokes about having “kept a hand in reserve,” easing the panic of those around him.
• His companions rush to protect him despite the danger. Once they learn he is alive, their fear turns to anger. Su Yi sends them back to their posts, explaining that another attack would violate the unspoken limits that keep large organizations from spiraling into mutual suspicion and open war.
• A Stardust priest heals Su Yi’s wrist. Ilis praises his composure and promises to promote him to L15, authorize him to form an armed force, and send him to Lal City, where he can confront the Navigation Department.
• Rick and the other fighters use a Spatial Stabilizer to close the Void Abyss Rift, then destroy Jack’s diminished Flame Giant. The surviving Void Abyss Monsters are cut off from both reinforcements and escape.
• The Players rush toward Jack’s loot, mistaking their eagerness for recklessness in the eyes of the others. After Ilis permits them through, they collect five drops: three S-Class items, an SS-Class skill, and an unidentified special item.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi reveals both tactical judgment and social poise: he steadies his allies, recognizes the political consequences of further attacks, and deals respectfully with Bishop Parker and Ilis even while injured.
• Ilis is struck by the Players’ and companions’ willingness to risk their lives for Su Yi. Their sincere loyalty contrasts with the calculated treatment she has experienced from others, particularly her father. She now openly supports Su Yi and frames their next moves as a shared effort.
• Su Yi’s companions and the Players show that they regard him as a trusted friend, leader, and comrade—not merely an NPC. Their immediate protective response deepens their bond with him.
• Rick’s fighters respect Su Yi’s battlefield judgment, though they find the Players’ apparent enthusiasm for danger baffling.
• Ilis and Su Yi end their exchange with a shared resolve to burn away the obstacles ahead. The rescued residents celebrate them as saviors, while Ilis takes responsibility for giving the survivors hope and a future.

Significant themes

• Loyalty proven through action: The people around Su Yi risk themselves without hesitation, impressing Ilis and confirming the strength of their bond.
• Leadership and restraint: Su Yi balances anger with strategic thinking, arguing that preserving shared rules matters as much as winning a fight.
• Trust versus calculation: The group’s heartfelt devotion stands out against Ilis’s history of cold, transactional relationships.
• Hope after devastation: Though much of the border region is ruined, the survivors’ celebration and need for a new beacon point toward rebuilding.
• Game-like reward and humor: The Players’ frantic excitement over the boss’s unusually valuable loot provides comic contrast to the deadly battle and its aftermath.

Key plot points and events

• After the Border Defense War, the players celebrate their first true monster loot. Unsure of its value, they entrust the five items to Winter until they can be traded, trusting their contract and Godfather.
• The battle’s survivors are honored, while emergency aid begins. The company and the Church of the Goddess of White Frost provide medical care, supplies, compensation for fallen fighters’ families, and free treatment for severe injuries.
• Ilis announces that the company will build a superfactory and development zone in the devastated region, promising new homes and stable jobs. The Noble Alliance opposes the plan, but the Church identifies Jack Kane as the catastrophe’s mastermind and exposes his worship of an evil god. Using that revelation as leverage, the Church keeps the Alliance at bay and negotiates a deal with the company: construction can proceed, provided the Church may preach freely and retain its privileges.
• Publicity about the battle transforms the reputations of Ilis, Su Yi, and the Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf. Ten days later, Rootvine District and the Development Zone are combined into the Rootvine Development Zone.
• Local forces expand and reorganize: Colt’s Patrol Bureau grows from 50 to 200 officers; the Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf grows to 500 members despite heavy casualties; and Enns’s guerrillas rebuild, strengthen, and expand beyond District 9.
• With Su Yi’s help, nine of the ten beta players reach level ten and advance their Projections to tier two. The players also become local celebrities, giving interviews and receiving awards.
• Ilis completes her promotion trial in three months, spending only 95,000 of her 100,000-coin budget. The Economic Committee awards her a perfect score.

Character developments and interactions

• Ilis emerges as the central political and business strategist. She coordinates relief, negotiates with the Church and the Alliance, and turns the company’s image from an agent of forced eviction into a visible force for recovery and employment.
• Su Yi gains recognition for his courage and leadership. He supports the players’ advancement and helps Colt, the guerrillas, and Rootvine’s postwar reconstruction.
• The players feel pride in having fought on the front line and are treated as heroes. Their decision to place the loot with Winter reflects their trust in one another and in Godfather.
• Colt benefits from the Patrol Bureau’s wartime performance, gaining a larger jurisdiction and greater authority.
• Alton and his lieutenants maintain discipline as the Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf rapidly recruits, while Winter and 108 help establish the guerrillas’ credibility as capable fighters.
• The White Frost Church shifts from relief provider to power broker, using its investigation of Jack Kane to pressure the Alliance and secure influence in the new development zone.

Significant themes

• Recovery as opportunity: Disaster recovery brings housing, jobs, medical care, and a chance for the poor to improve their lives.
• Reputation and public perception: The battle recasts the company, Su Yi, and the gang as charitable and courageous, while undermining the Alliance’s standing.
• Power through negotiation and leverage: The Church and Ilis convert evidence, aid, and political bargaining into lasting influence.
• Sacrifice and recognition: The fallen are commemorated and their families supported, while the surviving fighters’ service changes how the public views them.
• Organizational growth: The Patrol Bureau, gang, guerrillas, and players all emerge from the war larger, stronger, or more capable—but must adapt to their new responsibilities.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi attends a headquarters promotion review with Ilis, who insisted on bringing his case before the central committee after he was attacked. His missing left hand remains unreplaced; after the review, Ilis offers to submit an application for a Divine Tree-based hand suited to Thornfire.
• Ilis earns an S rating for her work on Rhode Star and is promoted from L25 to L26, becoming director of expansion in the Operations Department.
• The committee reviews Su Yi’s many achievements: building alliances, taking control of the Patrol Bureau, improving conditions in Rootvine District, establishing schools and hospitals, strengthening ties with the White Frost Church, undermining the Noble Alliance, and helping turn the battle against the Flame Aggregate. He is promoted from L7 to L17, becoming head of the Development Armed Department—a rare ten-rank leap.
• Ilis says Su Yi will join her at a Lal City project meeting in three days, where he will receive his objectives. The situation there appears difficult, so he is told to prepare his subordinates.
• In Human Resources, they encounter Navigation Department member Charlie Cairns mistreating junior employees. Ilis uses her new rank to make Cairns formally acknowledge her authority. Su Yi recognizes the last beta tester he had not yet met: Call Me Madman, who is stuck carrying Cairns’s belongings.

Character developments

• Su Yi moves from a low-ranking team leader to a manager with substantial authority. He is surprised by the scale of his promotion and accepts it with a public pledge of loyalty to the Goddess and the company. His composure and political skill are underscored by the committee’s account of how he turned opportunities, rivalries, and opponents’ weaknesses to his advantage.
• Ilis gains real departmental power with her promotion. Her protectiveness of Su Yi continues, and she uses her new status to confront Cairns.
• Rick recognizes Su Yi’s new standing, telling him he can call him “Colonel” rather than “sir.”
• Call Me Madman is revealed to be working under Cairns as a low-ranking lackey, but is visibly excited to see Su Yi.

Significant themes

• Power, rank, and recognition: Promotions grant real influence, and the committee’s evaluation transforms Su Yi’s and Ilis’s accomplishments into formal authority.
• Ambition through strategy: Su Yi’s success comes not only from combat, but from alliances, political maneuvering, publicity, and exploiting opponents’ weaknesses.
• Institutional loyalty and faith: Both characters frame their advancement as service to the company and the Goddess.
• Protection and hierarchy: Ilis’s concern for Su Yi and her public rebuke of Cairns show how rank can be used both to shield allies and enforce obedience.

Character interactions

• Ilis and Su Yi share the review, with Ilis supporting his case and later arranging his Lal City assignment and hand application.
• The L40 committee chair praises Su Yi’s appearance, reviews his record, and announces his exceptional promotion.
• Rick welcomes Su Yi as a near-equal after the promotion.
• Ilis confronts Cairns for mistreating junior staff, then demonstrates her superior rank; Su Yi backs her with a teasing compliment.

Plot and key events

• Ilis’s rapid promotion to L26 catches Supervisor Cairns off guard. Su Yi receives his own badge, jumping ten ranks to L17, and pointedly credits Cairns’s “support” for the success.
• Cairns demands evidence for Su Yi’s insinuations, but Su Yi keeps up the mockery. Ilis laughs, while Madman—who has endured menial treatment from other supervisors—quietly celebrates Su Yi’s defense of him. Cairns leaves angrily.
• Su Yi and Ilis complete their promotion paperwork. Su Yi learns his new pay and benefits, including an expanded Data Card, a Swift-A300 aircraft, Ash-X1000 Powered Armor, access to recruit ten L9 guards, and higher equipment-logistics access.
• Human Resources replaces Su Yi’s implanted Data Card, raising his bandwidth to 1,450, and gives him the aircraft’s control ring and a terminal for managing his guards.
• Rick tells Su Yi that Ilis has returned to work and reminds him that his new authority lets him judge people who harm the company’s reputation; some matters remain to be settled.
• Su Yi collects his aircraft from the Equipment Logistics Department and learns its systems and layout. He names it Thorn, after Thornfire, which has become central to his plans.
• In the aircraft’s armory, he inspects the S-class Ash-X1000 Powered Armor, decorated with flaming thorns and company insignia. He is thrilled to finally have equipment befitting his new status.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi uses humor and calculated provocation to unsettle Cairns, while his new rank grants him tangible authority and resources. His excitement over the armor reflects both ambition and a sense that he has finally risen above his former low standing.
• Ilis is pleased by Cairns’s discomfort and shares Su Yi’s amusement, but quickly returns to her departmental responsibilities.
• Cairns is shaken by Ilis’s unexpected promotion and Su Yi’s success, then leaves vowing to remember the slight.
• Madman feels seen when Su Yi winks at him. His gratitude turns into a desire to retaliate against the supervisors who humiliated him.
• Rick acts as a messenger, emphasizing Su Yi’s new power to address misconduct.

Significant themes

• Rank and status: Promotions bring not just prestige but salary, equipment, access, and authority.
• Power and resentment: Cairns’s influence is challenged, while Madman’s accumulated humiliation fuels thoughts of revenge.
• Recognition and loyalty: Su Yi’s small gesture toward Madman creates a strong sense of allegiance.
• Preparation for future dangers: The aircraft and Powered Armor are practical tools for the missions and space travel ahead, not merely symbols of status.

Key plot points and events

• Newly promoted Level 12 Pure Blade captain Leg-Kicker returns to White Frost Academy. He confronts the former dorm leader who bullied him, beats him and his accomplices, but stops short of killing them and orders them removed.
• At the White Frost Cathedral’s Great Library, Leg-Kicker studies accounts of the White Frost Goddess and the Mist Sage. A mysterious old man called the Shadow Puppet Prisoner questions him about the Goddess’s decision to freeze thousands of worlds to fight the Void Abyss.
• Leg-Kicker argues that she should have sacrificed even more worlds to destroy the threat completely. The old man gives him a scroll directing him to Lal City and instructing him to travel with Su Yi, guide him to a treasure, and eventually kill him. The reward is an SSS-Class artifact, the Gate of Unity.
• Leg-Kicker and the other eight Players discuss the suspicious quest offline. They suspect an Evil God is trying to manipulate them into killing Su Yi, perhaps as part of a broader plot against him. They unanimously reject the quest, though they agree to tell Su Yi about it.
• The Players are also excited to learn that Su Yi plans to take them into a dungeon and reward them for their contributions.
• Meanwhile, Su Yi senses a threat: chains and shadows seem to form a net around him, watched by five terrifying presences. He suspects the Shadow Puppet Sanctum is involved.

Character developments and interactions

• Leg-Kicker has risen from a bullied student to a powerful, self-assured captain. Though he takes revenge, he shows restraint by not killing his former tormentors.
• His blunt, extreme answer about the Goddess reveals his willingness to accept terrible costs to eliminate a threat.
• Winter leads the Players’ analysis, connecting the quest’s timing to their recent defeat of the Primordial Evil God King of Frenzied Fire. The others build on her theory and rally around protecting Su Yi.
• Su Yi remains composed after sensing the supernatural threat, suggesting he is alert to the enemies gathering around him.

Significant themes

• Power and revenge: Leg-Kicker can now punish those who once abused him, but chooses limits rather than simply repeating their cruelty.
• Sacrifice and moral judgment: The Goddess’s destruction of countless worlds—and Leg-Kicker’s harsher alternative—raise questions about what is justified to save the universe.
• Trust and loyalty: The Players reject a tempting reward because they suspect it is a trap and value their bond with Su Yi.
• Manipulation and hidden threats: The quest and the shadowy forces surrounding Su Yi suggest that enemies are exploiting knowledge of the Players and their relationships.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi notices that the Players have all logged off at once and suspects the Shadow Puppet Sanctum may already be trying to influence them. He believes the Players will trust him more.
• The ten Players meet at Border Warriors’ Square to discuss loot from their recent mission. They cannot use the valuable SS-Class Flame Authority skill, so Mountain Dog suggests selling it to Su Yi and using the money to buy the three pieces of S-Class Data Equipment.
• Su Yi arrives in a new black-and-red aircraft, revealing that he has been promoted from L7 team leader to L17 head of the Development Armed Department. The Players are amazed by the ship and its automated comforts.
• Su Yi tells them he has not forgotten their contributions and intends to reward them, though the Players say they are already grateful for his support and their advancement.
• Leg Kicker presents a quest scroll involving the Shadow Puppet Sanctum. Su Yi recognizes it as part of a future storyline in which the Sanctum’s scheme leads Players toward a resurrected version of him.
• Su Yi reveals that the Sanctum hired the Shadow Soul Hunters, who transported Yin Demon Bone Powder used in the sacrifice that killed 60,000 innocent people. The Players realize the quest may be a trap designed by the very organization they are meant to investigate.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi demonstrates strategic foresight: he uses the Players’ trust in him to shape their understanding of the Sanctum and turn them against it, while carefully limiting what he reveals about his knowledge of the future.
• The Players show growing camaraderie through teasing and joking, but their humor gives way to anger and grief when reminded of the victims. Their shared history and battlefield service make them receptive to Su Yi’s warning.
• Mountain Dog earns a rare moment of respect by proposing the practical solution of selling the unusable skill, though the group quickly returns to mocking him.
• Winter speaks for the group in expressing their gratitude to Su Yi, highlighting how much they value his help with their advancement and opportunities.
• The Players’ personal connections to the victims—especially Evil God and Winter’s familiarity with the residents—make the revelation feel immediate rather than abstract.

Significant themes

• Trust and manipulation: Su Yi anticipates the Sanctum’s attempt to steer the Players and counters it by framing the evidence first.
• Justice and memory: The deaths of 60,000 people motivate the Players to oppose those responsible; they refuse to treat the victims as mere numbers.
• Camaraderie and loyalty: The Players’ joking friendship coexists with deep gratitude and shared commitment to Su Yi.
• Power and progress: Su Yi’s promotion and aircraft contrast with the Players’ modest means, while their loot and rewards reflect the uneven gains of their recent success.

Key events

• Su Yi agrees to help the Players complete a mission from the Human Alliance, assuring them that their interests can overlap even though they serve opposing sides. He says they can cooperate, share information, take jobs, and even rob Alliance nobles together.
• The group asks Su Yi to oversee the division of their loot. He buys the SS-rank Blackflame Spear skill for 60,000 Void Abyss Coins, and the Players split the payment among themselves. They then purchase three pieces of Data Equipment: Mountain Dog takes the Blackflame Blade, 108 the Burning Eye, and Iron Pot the Flame Shield Robot.
• Su Yi explains that the Mediating Finger can contact spirits, souls, and even Deities—but warns that contacting the wrong entity could invite something dangerous that may be impossible to escape.
• He gives each Player a personalized career guide outlining advancement requirements, compatible Divine Authorities, and useful skill combinations. The Players are thrilled by how much these guides could save them in time and resources.
• The group decides not to publish the guides yet, fearing new Players would suspect them of being official shills. They plan to memorize the information and share it selectively.
• At the end, the second batch of Players arrives at an ancient, radiation-filled battlefield in the Alliance’s wasteland. A mysterious being welcomes them and urges them to use their chaotic power to change the future.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi demonstrates strategic generosity and candor: he pays well for the Players’ loot, explains the Mediating Finger’s risks honestly, and gives them valuable career advice. The Players increasingly regard him as a trusted mentor and ally.
• Winter takes the lead in organizing the group. He decides to keep the guides private for now and argues that new Players should be allowed to choose their own paths, both to avoid suspicion and to assess who might prove reliable later.
• The Players grow more excited about their possible futures. Several discover their professions have far greater potential than they imagined: Iron Pot may command Void Abyss dragons, Iron Pillar may become giant-sized, Winter may edit reality through code, and Evil God may summon a Flesh Legion rather than merely support allies.
• The group’s banter shows their camaraderie and enthusiasm as they prepare to meet the newcomers, while Su Yi privately hopes they have not noticed that the guides resemble Winter’s writing.

Significant themes

• Cooperation across opposing sides: Su Yi treats political allegiance as less important than shared interests and mutual benefit.
• Trust through honesty and generosity: His fair dealings and warnings strengthen the Players’ loyalty.
• Power carries danger: The Mediating Finger offers extraordinary reach, but contact with supernatural beings can have lasting, catastrophic consequences.
• Fate and the future: The mysterious entity’s arrival speech frames the new Players as a possible force for breaking a grim cycle and changing history.

Key plot points and events

• The 200 newly arrived Players hear the game’s introductory speech: humanity must reunite after centuries of catastrophe, and they are meant to help rebuild the Human Alliance.
• They arrive in a wasteland beneath the wreckage of a massive Warship and meet nine experienced Players. Impressed by their levels and equipment, the newcomers crowd them with questions.
• Winter explains that the world behaves like a real society: NPCs can die permanently, actions have lasting consequences, and factions may respond with hostility. Players can choose their own path, but the first batch supports Order and will oppose destructive behavior.
• Leg Kicker explains the Players’ current role in the Rhodes Alliance’s resistance to the Black Sun Group, while emphasizing that Players may choose their own allegiances.
• Winter leads the newcomers to witness an execution, while Su Yi coordinates with the company’s Criminal and Investigation Departments to act against employees who have been harming the company’s reputation and border relations.
• Su Yi orders Aolong to arrest everyone on a list. Aolong leads a force of armed personnel to capture Orlando Perry and his subordinates. The operation expands into a sweep of the company district, ultimately capturing more than a thousand people.
• Among the arrested are Robert, Marn, and others who previously bullied Aolong. As they beg or threaten him, Aolong confronts them over their past treatment of him and looks forward to their execution.

Character developments

• Winter acts as a guide and moral voice for the new Players, encouraging them to treat the world as a second life rather than a consequence-free game.
• The new Players shift from excitement and disbelief to a more thoughtful understanding of the world’s risks and possibilities.
• Su Yi uses his authority and alliances with company departments to address misconduct before it further damages the company’s standing.
• Aolong has risen from a humiliated employee to a powerful official carrying out Su Yi’s orders. He remains disciplined toward his superiors, but takes satisfaction in confronting former tormentors.
• Orlando and Aolong’s former bullies lose their confidence when arrested; their earlier arrogance gives way to fear, pleading, and regret.

Significant themes

• Consequences and responsibility: Unlike ordinary games, choices have lasting effects on people and factions.
• Second chances and self-reinvention: The world offers Players opportunities to pursue meaningful lives and make up for past regrets.
• Power, justice, and revenge: Aolong’s rise allows him to punish those who once mistreated him, while the crackdown is framed as protecting the company’s interests and reputation.
• Order versus chaos: The experienced Players advocate responsible conduct, even as newcomers are free to choose their own paths.

Character interactions

• Winter and Leg Kicker brief the newcomers, answer their questions, and set expectations about the world and the Players’ role.
• The newcomers respond with awe to the veteran Players’ equipment, then listen as Winter urges caution and moral reflection.
• Su Yi consults company department heads, then entrusts Aolong with the arrests.
• Aolong confronts Orlando with the charges and later taunts Robert and Marn, forcing them to face the consequences of their past actions.

Key plot points

• Su Yi arrives at Hero Square as Aolong United Company security forces bring in 1,240 members of the corrupt Debt Collection Company for a public trial.
• Su Yi apologizes for the company’s failures, explains that an investigation uncovered the abuse, and personally executes project manager Orlando Perry. Company personnel then execute the remaining prisoners. Residents cheer at first, though the scale and violence eventually overwhelm the crowd and many Players.
• Cleanup crews rapidly remove the bodies, leaving the square spotless. The Players disperse to begin exploring the world.
• Su Yi files an incident report, which is approved with an excellent rating, then flies beyond the city. He spots a Sand Dragon attacking a small caravan.
• Su Yi rescues the travelers with a spear of black flame, annihilating the monster. A bandaged passenger recognizes him as a “Heretic of the King of Frenzied Fire” and calls him a prophet.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi presents himself as an accountable leader, but his public apology is followed by a brutally decisive display of authority. His rescue of the caravan reveals the terrifying scale of his combat power.
• The residents move from anger and grief toward relief and approval of the company, though the executions’ brutality eventually silences even many supporters.
• The Players react in varied ways: some are sickened, while Big Watermelon enthusiastically celebrates. Wheelchair, newly able to move freely in the game, watches with intense attention and wonder, treasuring the experience.
• Enns interprets the executions as proof that the company is committed to helping ordinary people; Wrench is disturbed by the mass killing.
• The caravan’s merchants beg Su Yi for help and are stunned by his effortless defeat of the Sand Dragon. The bandaged passenger, watching from the truck, appears to recognize Su Yi and may have a connection to the King of Frenzied Fire.

Significant themes

• Justice and spectacle: The company uses public punishment to answer residents’ grievances and restore trust, but the scale and violence raise questions about justice as political theater.
• Technology and second chances: The game gives disabled Players freedom of movement and a renewed sense of possibility.
• Power and fear: The company’s efficient cleanup and Su Yi’s black-flame weapon demonstrate the overwhelming reach of advanced technology and supernatural force.
• Unintended consequences: Su Yi’s public actions attract attention from a mysterious observer who interprets his powers through a religious or ideological lens.

Chapter Summary

• The Frenzied Fire proves dangerous: After testing his new skill, Su Yi returns to Vine City with his palm burned, twitching, and growing abnormal flesh. Healing Runes repair the damage, but the lingering movement reveals that the fire’s madness and corruption can harm an ordinary human body. Su Yi realizes he will need a way to use the power safely.
• Su Yi prepares for his absence: His employees celebrate his promotion and inspect his private aircraft. At a staff meeting, he announces an upcoming assignment in Lal City and leaves Aolong and Alton in charge of local operations. He selects Emma and Dora—whose stealth abilities are especially useful—as two of his ten personal guards. A dinner with allies and local officials strengthens the group’s ties.
• Self-Gratification reaches a new level: On May 3, Su Yi’s daily use of his Self-Gratification skill triggers a major breakthrough. The skill advances to Level 2, increasing his maximum Bandwidth by 100 points for 24 hours. He realizes he has used it every day for thirty days. His Ember Branch also grows and forks, raising its daily Bandwidth bonus from 200 to 400 and upgrading its granted ability from Thornfire to Thornfire Tree. Su Yi wonders whether it may eventually grow into a full Ember Tree.
• Emma and Dora react to the breakthrough: The women find Su Yi unconscious after the upgrade and worry he may need medical help. Dora has already cleaned the room, while Emma scolds her for her teasing. Su Yi brushes off the awkwardness, tells them he is stronger, and leaves them to bicker.
• Su Yi checks on the school and hospital: Before departing, he visits the expanded border school, now serving 400 students with 60 teachers, and praises its standout pupils. Kilman’s earlier speech had inspired many children to join. Su Yi also checks that the hospital is operating smoothly, then gathers Kilman, Mota, Rijia, Alton, Emma, and Dora for a trip north.
• The group heads to the Void Abyss Mountains: Su Yi explains that he intends to improve his companions’ combat strength before leaving, fulfill a reward promised to Mota, and help Kilman awaken dormant bloodline power. He brings them to the dangerous mountain range, where a vast, warped Void Abyss Maze contains ancient war equipment and other treasures. Su Yi knows the route from a past Player event in which millions of lives were spent mapping safe paths. His two goals are to find useful treasures for his companions and unlock Kilman’s potential.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Su Yi remains confident and playful, but his experiment with Frenzied Fire shows that his new powers carry serious physical risks. His daily self-rewarding routine produces a major advancement, and he takes responsibility for preparing his people before his journey.
• Emma and Dora compete to serve as Su Yi’s personal guards, and their contrasting reactions—Emma’s embarrassment and Dora’s shameless teasing—keep their relationship lively. Emma also shows genuine concern for Su Yi.
• Kilman is thrilled to learn that his speech helped during the crisis and that he will receive a reward. Su Yi’s plan to awaken his bloodline signals his growing importance.
• Alton and the other trusted staff are entrusted with responsibilities while Su Yi is away, reinforcing his confidence in them.

Significant Themes

• Power and its cost: Frenzied Fire offers great strength but threatens Su Yi’s body and mind.
• Progress through persistence: Su Yi’s daily routine yields a breakthrough, while the maze’s safe routes were discovered through repeated failures.
• Leadership and loyalty: Su Yi delegates authority, rewards allies, and works to strengthen those who depend on him.
• Opportunity amid danger: The Void Abyss Maze is lethal, yet its risks are tied to exceptional treasures and potential growth.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi leads the group through the shifting Void Abyss Maze, warning everyone to stay close and hold hands. He navigates its unstable routes with apparent ease, while the others learn that a wrong turn could lead to the Void Abyss, a monster, an apocalyptic planet, or open space.
• The group survives an attack by Ice Soul Birds, which Su Yi identifies as creatures from the ancient Frost Empire, homeland of the Goddess of White Frost.
• Su Yi guides them across an invisible bridge spanning a vast chasm. They find a monster preserved in ice; when it crumbles, it leaves behind an A-rank teleportation skill. Rijia learns Particle Teleportation and successfully uses it, though he immediately complains about the cold.
• In a vine-infested passage, Su Yi burns away the attacking plants and leads the group to an overgrown underground ruin. There they find enormous bones, scattered experimental equipment, and a giant in golden armor.
• The armor bears the Six-Winged Fire Phoenix, emblem of the Ancient Entropy Empire. Su Yi explains that, roughly twenty thousand years earlier, humanity ruled the cosmos under the Human Emperor and allied with six True Gods. In that era, humanity—not its alien enemies—was the dominant force feared across the universe.
• While Kilman is transfixed by the armor, Su Yi retrieves another A-rank skill, Life Benediction, and gives it to Mota. The expedition has now secured core skills for Rijia and Mota; Su Yi hopes the next area will trigger Kilman’s awakening.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi acts as the group’s calm, trusted guide and demonstrates extensive knowledge of the maze, its creatures, and forgotten history. He protects the group while distributing valuable skills to its members.
• Rijia gains teleportation and successfully tests it, becoming the target of affectionate laughter when he reappears complaining of the cold.
• Mota receives a powerful healing skill and is visibly grateful, though Su Yi teases him for nearly crying.
• Kilman is deeply affected by the ancient armor’s emblem. His vision of humanity’s former cosmic power suggests a possible connection between him and the Ancient Entropy Empire, though he has not yet awakened.
• Molly uses her Rune Deconstruction Talent to assess the ice creatures and the ruin’s remains. Emma contributes knowledge from the Sisters’ Society records, prompting Su Yi to praise the organization’s historical research.
• The group shows strong trust in Su Yi, following his instructions closely and relying on him to manage dangers they cannot understand.

Significant themes

• Humanity’s forgotten greatness: The revelation that humanity once dominated the cosmos reverses the group’s present-day view of alien species as the ultimate threat.
• Trust amid the unknown: The maze’s shifting routes and lethal possibilities make the group’s reliance on Su Yi central to their survival.
• Power, legacy, and awakening: The ancient armor and Kilman’s reaction hint that the past may hold clues to present characters’ abilities or destinies.
• Progress through cooperation: Su Yi’s discoveries strengthen the group by giving Rijia and Mota abilities suited to their roles, while the expedition continues in hope of unlocking Kilman’s potential.

Key plot points and events

• After identifying the previous chamber as a laboratory, the group examines a golden-armored warrior. Kilman removes its helmet and, in a moment he cannot remember, explains that the warrior’s four eyes were “celestial eyes” used to perceive energy and track movement. Su Yi tells Kilman to keep the helmet, suggesting it may prove important to him.
• In another ruined research base, the group finds Solid-State Blood, an experimental substance created by the Yi-Tai Research Institute to counter the Wildfolk’s Silicon-Based Symbiote. It can merge with blood and reshape the body. Su Yi demonstrates its power, then gives it to Alton, whose symbiote makes him especially compatible with it. Alton learns to transform his hands into weapons and is delighted to receive a power that helps him keep pace with his brothers.
• The group reaches a battlefield littered with golden- and purple-armored warriors, apparently former allies who turned against one another. Kilman recognizes the two dead captains’ names and is overcome with grief and confusion.
• Kilman’s distress triggers a vision of the Ancient Entropy Human Emperor, whose immense presence appears to the group and then vanishes. Su Yi concludes that the Emperor ascended to godhood, triggering a catastrophe that destroyed the empire and caused the Second Great Cataclysm.
• Kilman awakens a Golden Projection and grows taller and stronger. His new Reverse Entropy Bloodline ability lets him absorb heat to enhance his body and soul. Though he has recovered few memories, Su Yi is pleased that he remains teachable. The party prepares to leave with their discoveries.

Character developments and interactions

• Kilman displays unexplained knowledge of the ancient soldiers, then awakens his bloodline when confronted with the ruins of his people. He thanks Su Yi, who reassures and encourages him.
• Alton gains Solid-State Blood and new shapeshifting abilities. His earlier fear of being left behind by his stronger brothers gives way to confidence and gratitude toward Su Yi.
• Su Yi continues to guide the expedition, reward his companions, and interpret the ruins. He deliberately withholds some painful historical details from Kilman.
• Molly identifies the site as a laboratory and reports the Silicon-Based Symbiote’s interest in Solid-State Blood. She also tries to comfort Kilman, but Su Yi assures her he is all right.
• Dora envies Molly’s praise from Su Yi and hopes to earn similar recognition.

Significant themes

• Ancient history and catastrophe: The ruins reveal how a powerful civilization may have collapsed through the Emperor’s mysterious ascension.
• Inheritance and awakening: Kilman’s buried bloodline and memories surface through contact with the remains of his people.
• Power and belonging: Alton’s new abilities ease his fear of becoming less useful to the group.
• Science and the uncanny: Experimental technology blurs the boundaries between machinery, biology, and supernatural power.

Key plot points and events

• Kilman takes a two-meter Ancient Entropy Empire sword from the purple-armored corpse. Its security system recognizes him, and the sword contracts into an armguard. He also activates a helmet that reshapes to protect his head and shoulder. Su Yi notes that such equipment is normally unusable by Players, though its deeper functions remain sealed.
• Su Yi gives Molly a research backpack equipped with eight mechanical arms. As the group leaves the Void Abyss Maze, the maze begins to twist and tremble. Su Yi suspects the Holy Body Cult caused it, and the group escapes to Rootvine District.
• At an urgent company meeting, Ilis announces that a strange Mist has engulfed Lal City and transformed all 321 members of the Marketing Department’s advance team into monsters. The Development Department will take charge of the city project.
• Su Yi and Armed Department deputy Dan Lalde are assigned to lead an initial force of 2,000 personnel, backed by a budget of four million Void Abyss Coins. Rival factions and several hostile organizations are also heading toward Lal City.
• Su Yi gathers Emma, Dora, Kilman, Molly, and four of Kilman’s trusted young fighters. Yao, leader of the Ironclad Gang, asks to join them. Su Yi agrees, proposing that Yao help him reach the Holy Body Cult by tunneling.

Character developments and interactions

• Kilman displays extraordinary compatibility with Ancient technology and carries Molly out of the maze without tiring. Su Yi hints that Kilman’s awakening is still incomplete.
• Molly eagerly embraces her new research backpack and is expected to play an important role in Lal City.
• Ilis demonstrates authority and confidence as meeting chair, directing the company’s response and keeping the focus on Su Yi despite Lalde’s challenge.
• Lalde resents Su Yi’s leadership and openly vows to assert control of the Armed Department.
• Yao returns after an absence, apparently seeking to atone for past failures by opposing the Holy Body Cult. Su Yi redirects his desire for self-sacrifice toward a practical alliance.

Significant themes

• Power and legitimacy: Ancient equipment responds to Kilman in ways it does not to ordinary users, suggesting his unusual nature.
• Corporate ambition amid crisis: The company treats Lal City’s catastrophe as an opportunity, even as it prepares for danger.
• Rivalry and uneasy alliances: Internal competition between Su Yi and Lalde parallels the cooperation Su Yi proposes with Yao.
• Transformation and hidden threats: The Mist’s monstrous effects and the maze’s disturbance signal that Lal City’s crisis may involve forces beyond the company’s understanding.

Plot points and events

• Five powerful off-world factions gather at Lal City, where company forces are establishing a large, well-equipped camp. Although the factions distrust one another, the company’s arrival gives them common cause to resist it.
• Deputy Supervisor Lald claims Lal City as company property and threatens the factions. They challenge his authority, questioning the company’s ownership and mocking its coercive treatment of locals.
• The mist throws the metal-transformed bodies of employees from an earlier expedition into the company camp, confirming that Lal City is extremely dangerous. The factions laugh at the company’s losses.
• Lald’s confrontation turns into a humiliating defeat: a young girl and her living vines disable him and his squad. Newly arrived Supervisor Su Yi prevents the company troops from escalating the fight.
• Su Yi calmly frees the trapped employees and heals two injured ones, earning their gratitude and respect. He then meets the girl, who reveals she belongs to the Elf Empire and tries to recruit Kilman as her mount. Kilman refuses with a deadpan joke about his age.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi demonstrates restraint, judgment, and practical compassion. Unlike Lald, he avoids provoking stronger opponents and protects his employees, quietly displaying powerful abilities in the process.
• Lald is exposed as arrogant and inexperienced. His resentment toward Su Yi—whom he sees as an undeserving rival—helps explain his reckless attempt to assert company authority.
• The five faction leaders set aside their mutual hostility long enough to agree on minimizing infighting in the ruins so the company cannot profit from their conflict. Maria Judgment is especially direct in confronting Lald.
• The pink-dressed girl is playful and mischievous, but clearly powerful: her vines overpower the company squad, and she can apparently raise Kilman’s level. Her teasing recruitment pitch contrasts with the danger she represents.
• Kilman remains loyal to Su Yi and responds to the girl’s advances with dry humor. Su Yi and Kilman cooperate smoothly, while Su Yi also instructs Emma and Dora to guard the rest of their group.

Significant themes

• Corporate power versus independent factions: The company asserts ownership and authority, but its threats carry little weight among powerful outsiders.
• Arrogance versus competence: Lald’s bullying fails, while Su Yi’s restraint and helpful actions build trust.
• A dangerous, unpredictable frontier: The metal-mutated corpses and the girl’s supernatural attack signal that Lal City’s ruins pose a threat to every group.
• Rivalry and uneasy cooperation: The factions dislike one another, yet the company’s presence encourages a temporary alliance.