Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• The House of Loving Kindness defeats roughly 150,000 Metal-Boring Beetles by feeding them a corpse. The beetles’ metal bodies corrode and crumble after eating it. Jon then searches the chamber for the Heretics’ base, but finds it is a recently excavated dead end, with no trace of their escape route.
• On the flight back, Jon thanks Alton and the four new players but offers no immediate reward. Su Yi later ensures they receive both their borrowed equipment and 100 Void Abyss Coins each.
• At the Rhodes Alliance camp, Mountain Dog sees Bathing Emperor and a group of blacklisted players planning to claim a 500,000-coin bounty on Su Yi. They underestimate him and prepare an ambush.
• Su Yi realizes that the Mist Horn—an ancient divine artifact capable of creating Iron Mist, summoning steel troops, and storing them—is already in Lal Town. He believes Maria and Mokaka’s real mission is to obtain it, and sees it as vital to hiding and expanding his Steel Warriors.
• When Su Yi takes logistics chief Michael out alone, the bounty hunters attack with grenades and gunfire. Su Yi remains unharmed and counters with a Black Flame Spear, killing all sixteen attackers in one blast. Because they had already used their quick revivals, they must wait six in-game days to return.

Character developments and interactions

• Alton continues to act as a generous, dependable leader, rewarding the new players and letting them keep their equipment. The players’ admiration for Horus and Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf grows.
• Jon is grateful for the help but frustrated that the Heretics’ site leads nowhere.
• Su Yi shows strategic ambition: he recognizes the Mist Horn’s value and turns the bounty hunters’ attack into an opportunity to demonstrate his power and potentially bring Michael under his control.
• Michael is unsettled when Su Yi raises his inability to awaken a Void Abyss Projection, then panics when the ambush begins.
• Bathing Emperor and his companions mistake Su Yi for an easy target. Their confidence turns to confusion and disbelief after their instant defeat, while onlookers mock their recklessness.

Significant themes

• Brutality and survival: Battles involve grotesque weapons, mass casualties, and extreme violence.
• Power and overconfidence: The bounty hunters’ assumption that guns and numbers can defeat Su Yi proves disastrously wrong.
• Loyalty and reward: Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf’s concrete generosity contrasts with Jon’s initially empty thanks.
• Strategic control: The Mist Horn represents the power to conceal, transport, and multiply Su Yi’s forces, making it a major prize in the coming conflict.

Plot points

• Su Yi demonstrates his power to Michael by letting him experience a metallic transformation that makes him nearly invulnerable and superhumanly strong. He offers Michael the chance to gain this power permanently, urging him to choose between remaining a subordinate and pursuing greatness.
• Before Michael can decide, a cloaked attacker strikes Su Yi with lightning. Su Yi defeats and captures the attacker, a damaged mechanical warrior named Screw.
• Screw admits she attacked because she mistook Su Yi’s use of the King of Frenzied Fire’s power for evidence that he was one of its followers. She had been summoned by Yao, who had asked the Steel Brotherhood for help investigating suspected blasphemy.
• Screw explains that the Brotherhood’s Prophet foresaw a vague disaster on Rhode Star: the Fire of Madness would engulf the Primordial Fire. Yao connects this warning to the Holy Body Cult’s plans.
• Su Yi realizes the Fire of Madness may be powering the Mist Horn, rather than destroying it. This gives him a likely way to find the artifact: follow the source of the King of Frenzied Fire’s power.
• Yao commits to their plan. Su Yi arranges for Screw’s damaged body and equipment to be repaired, prepares his allies and gear, and plans to investigate the site himself. He suspects Lal City is a decoy and intends to claim the Mist Horn.

Character developments and interactions

• Michael is shaken by Su Yi’s overwhelming strength and then becomes intensely tempted by the power he briefly experiences. Su Yi deliberately gives him space to choose, appealing to his frustration with age, illness, and a stagnant life.
• Su Yi shows both strategic persuasion and restraint: he uses power to reveal an opportunity to Michael, but does not force a decision. He also treats Screw’s attack as a misunderstanding once the facts are clear.
• Screw, a socially anxious but fervent Steel Brotherhood Punisher, acts rashly on incomplete information. Once she learns Su Yi is not an enemy, she is embarrassed and grateful for his help repairing her.
• Yao reveals the extent of his investigation only after deciding he can trust Su Yi. Their cooperation strengthens as he confirms that the Holy Body Cult may be exploiting the King of Frenzied Fire’s followers.
• Michael witnesses Su Yi’s fight with Screw and calls security; Yao then vouches for Su Yi, helping resolve the confrontation.

Significant themes

• The temptation of power: Michael’s brief transformation exposes how strongly extraordinary power can appeal to someone who feels his future is limited.
• Faith, prophecy, and misinterpretation: The Prophet’s warning is real but imprecise, and Screw’s assumptions turn it into a mistaken attack.
• Power as a resource: Su Yi reframes the Fire of Madness as energy that may sustain the Mist Horn, transforming a religious warning into a practical clue.
• Trust and cooperation: Yao’s growing confidence in Su Yi and Su Yi’s willingness to aid Screw build alliances needed for the coming investigation.

Key plot points and events

• On the night of the Tidal Surge, Su Yi enters Lal City through the mist while Yao and Screw draw the steel monsters’ attention outside.
• Disguised as a mutated steel person, Su Yi blends into the city. He sees how the Steel Virus has robbed many residents of their reason and learns that the statue’s flower basket is protected by a lethal electrical defense.
• At the Hound Gang headquarters, he finds evidence of a massacre. Lisa is horribly mutilated, and Cole lies split in two with a hole through his chest.
• Cole is still barely alive. Su Yi uses the Silicon-Based Symbiote to suppress the virus’s mental effects, restoring Cole’s memories and control without reversing his metal transformation.
• Su Yi repairs Cole’s body and explains that steel bodies can heal and that their parts are interchangeable. Cole regains control of his body and pledges himself to Su Yi.

Character developments

• Su Yi shows patience and ingenuity, using disguise and caution to reach the gang headquarters. He also turns his knowledge of the symbiote and Steel Virus into a way to rescue Cole.
• Cole moves from near-death despair to renewed hope. Though he cannot become human again, he accepts his steel body as a source of strength and commits himself to Su Yi.
• Yao and Screw support Su Yi’s infiltration by creating a distraction outside the city.
• Lisa’s fate remains uncertain: she is found severely mutilated, but the chapter does not establish whether she is alive.

Significant themes

• Identity and survival: The Steel Virus changes bodies, but Su Yi’s intervention can preserve the minds and wills within them.
• Transformation as evolution: Cole’s metal body is presented not only as a curse but as a durable, adaptable form with unusual regenerative properties.
• Hope and loyalty: Su Yi’s rescue gives Cole a future when he believes he has none, inspiring intense gratitude and allegiance.
• Violence and resistance: The Hound Gang’s slaughter suggests they fought back against the Holy Body Cult, though the cult’s responsibility is Su Yi’s inference.

Character interactions

• Yao and Screw worry about Su Yi’s safety, then work with him to execute the diversion.
• Su Yi approaches the statue cautiously after witnessing its defense, then enters the Hound Gang base and subdues two attackers.
• Su Yi speaks to Cole as a friend, reassures him, treats his infection, and explains how his altered body works. Cole responds with gratitude and finally kneels, offering Su Yi his service.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi rescues Cole and Lisa, two tortured Hound Gang officers, by using Silicon-Based Symbiotes to remove the Steel Virus and restore their damaged bodies. Both pledge loyalty to him.
• Cole and Lisa explain how Lal City fell: rival gangs uncovered ancient ruins, accidentally activated a device, and released the mechanical Holy Body Cult. The cult distributed infected pills, gathered the resulting black flames, and then flooded the city with Mist that transformed residents into steel beings. The cult controls the weak-minded victims and crushed the gangs’ resistance after their leader betrayed them.
• Su Yi tells the pair to stay hidden and help guide his forces to the two ruins when he attacks the following day. He warns them that their restored condition must remain secret, since it may be the only hope of saving their comrades.
• Su Yi learns that Mist disrupts the cult’s communications as well as his own, leaving the cult with poor surveillance outside Lal City. He returns to his Aircraft, then enters the Void Abyss to investigate an ancient ruin.
• At the Molten Fire Temple, Su Yi retrieves a Thornfire Sword and binds the temple to himself. The temple lets him extend his awareness through the Ember Tree’s branches, find Void Abyss Projections, and bring people together to communicate. Its activation also deepens his understanding of the Void Abyss and raises him to level 18.
• Su Yi summons Call Me Madman to the temple. Madman recognizes the place as “Firelink Shrine.”

Character developments and interactions

• Cole and Lisa move from despair and fear to hope after Su Yi restores them. Their faith in him leads them to pledge absolute loyalty and agree to assist his coming attack.
• Su Yi demonstrates both strategic ambition and compassion: he recruits the Steel Virus survivors, gathers intelligence, and secures a powerful communication tool for future use.
• Cole and Lisa comfort one another during Lisa’s recovery and reaffirm their hope together afterward.
• Emma and Dora wait for Su Yi’s return. Once they confirm he is safe, they leave to use their monthly opportunity in the Void Abyss.
• Su Yi and Call Me Madman meet through the temple’s newly activated communication power, setting up a new contact.

Significant themes

• Hope through restoration: Su Yi’s treatment gives victims of the Steel Virus a chance to recover physically and mentally.
• Betrayal and resistance: The gangs’ defeat stems not only from the cult’s superior power but also from their leader’s treachery.
• Power, trust, and allegiance: Cole and Lisa choose Su Yi because he offers both practical help and a path to fight back.
• Communication as strategic power: The cult’s signal problems expose a weakness, while the Molten Fire Temple gives Su Yi a far-reaching means to connect with others.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi, appearing as Gheros, meets Madman and praises him for maintaining his company cover despite being left behind by the other closed-beta players. Madman explains that he could not accept gifts from his allies without risking exposure.
• Su Yi takes Madman to a bell tower surrounded by a lake of dangerous purple insects. Using the Thornfire Tree’s divine flame, he clears a path and directs Madman to complete the tower’s trial.
• Madman endures the trial and earns the A-rank Ripple Bell, a Void Abyss relic that grants Void Abyss Ripple. It can detect nearby living beings in the real world and, more importantly, predict storm conditions across a region in the dream world.
• Su Yi helps Madman advance from level seven to level nine and asks him to monitor the Navigation Department. Madman realizes his new ability could make him valuable there.
• At work, Madman reports directly to Deputy Supervisor Cairns, who is struggling to complete a new route with little budget and no prospect of promotion. Impressed by the relic’s navigation ability, Cairns promises to take Madman to the front line and promote him if he proves useful.
• Meanwhile, Su Yi attends preparations for a second assault on Mist. The team reviews supplies and new close-fitting insect-proof netting. The apparent netting upgrade is a decoy: it has been modified to trigger a powerful thermite explosion when struck.
• Su Yi reveals the real tactical advantage: the House of Loving Kindness has developed Insect Incense, which disguises its wearer as one of the Metal-Boring Beetles, allowing allied troops in powered armor to move through the mist without being attacked. The explosive netting is retained as a contingency.

Character developments and interactions

• Madman shifts from an overlooked, under-equipped employee to a hopeful potential asset. Su Yi rewards his loyalty with a relic and levels, while Madman responds with deep gratitude and renewed determination.
• Su Yi acts as both benefactor and strategist. He protects Madman from exposure, gives him a path to advancement, and keeps the assault’s true plan hidden from most participants.
• Cairns sees Madman’s boon as a chance to rescue his failing assignment and regain professional standing, especially as he compares himself with the successful Ilis.
• Jon learns that the conspicuous netting is a feint rather than the main solution; Su Yi entrusts him with the secret of the Insect Incense.
• Skola, Michael, Maria, and the other allies contribute equipment, ammunition, and planning, while Maria’s brief question about supplies reinforces the trust developing between the company and its allies.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and delayed reward: Madman’s perseverance in an unrewarding undercover role is finally recognized.
• Trust and secrecy: Su Yi must conceal his identity and the assault’s true preparations, while allies rely on one another with limited information.
• Turning weakness into usefulness: Madman’s apparent lack of progress becomes an advantage once his specialized relic fills a crucial navigation need.
• Deception and contingency planning: The attack combines a disguise that neutralizes the insects with explosive netting kept as a hidden backup.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi leads a large, heavily armed company force toward Lal City, backed by artillery, Engineering Armors, and Gifted allies Maria and Mokaka. The Players watch from the perimeter, expecting to enter only after the company clears a path.
• Su Yi’s opening bombardment destroys or pins down threats in the Mist, while Mokaka’s Lahr Flowers help reveal traps. The troops advance through steel enemies and hazards with few losses; the Players realize that conventional Gifted abilities are overwhelmed by modern military firepower.
• In Lal City, Kendis and a mysterious ally discuss the Holy Father’s Furnace and the need for death and destruction to fuel Madfire. Kendis is ordered to weaken the attackers and returns with reinforcements.
• Su Yi’s troops breach the city wall. When the Mist Horn sounds, thousands of mechanical fighters—including steel giants, monkeys, and Mechanical Cultivators—materialize and surround them.
• Su Yi anticipated the ambush. The second artillery line fires electromagnetic shells into the area, using conductive beetles to spread electricity through the Mist. The troops protect themselves with insulating cloaks, while the enemy is immobilized and then devastated by gunfire and explosive shells.
• Kendis suspects a traitor exposed the Mist Horn’s secret. He escapes Su Yi’s and the allies’ attacks, but the chapter ends as the Blackflame Spear races after him.

Character developments

• Su Yi shows decisive leadership and strategic foresight. He uses the initial assault to conceal his real plan: striking the summoned reinforcements with timed electromagnetic artillery.
• Maria feels reassured by the supplies and transport Su Yi provides, recalling that better support could have saved her wounded subordinates before.
• Mokaka is determined to succeed this time and contributes by coordinating with the steel Lahr Flowers to locate hazards.
• Kendis shifts from arrogance to alarm as his carefully prepared ambush is neutralized. He becomes convinced there is a traitor in his ranks.
• The Players recognize their limited usefulness against organized, high-powered military forces.

Significant themes

• Technology versus individual power: Heavy weapons and coordinated tactics make lower-level Gifted nearly irrelevant in a large-scale battle.
• Preparation and intelligence: Su Yi’s knowledge of the Mist Horn and disciplined planning turn a seemingly overwhelming ambush into a counterattack.
• The cost of war: The enemy explicitly seeks to use death, souls, and suffering as fuel for its plans.
• Trust and command: Su Yi’s troops follow his harsh orders willingly because his previous actions have earned their confidence.

Character interactions

• Su Yi rallies the company troops and gives Maria and Mokaka’s forces distinct roles in the advance.
• The Players discuss the scale of the operation and how ordinary their own abilities seem beside the company’s firepower.
• Kendis confers with a tall ally about the Furnace, Madfire, and the need to feed the coming ritual.
• Kendis taunts Su Yi during the assault; Su Yi refuses to engage verbally and answers with firepower.
• During the final clash, Su Yi’s forces and allies coordinate attacks on Kendis, who narrowly escapes as the Blackflame Spear pursues him.

Key plot points and events

• Kendis survives Su Yi’s attack by sacrificing an arm made of White Frost ice, whose explosive collision with the Blackflame Spear devastates the surrounding area. The blast also injures buildings and knocks nearby fighters back, though Su Yi and his companions survive.
• The group destroys a mist-producing device hidden in a statue’s flower basket. With the mist clearing, they continue searching Lal City for missing company employees, but find neither them nor any trace of the transformed residents.
• Company forces move in to secure the city. The Rhodes Alliance, ordered to support the Prophet, also enters Lal City.
• At the Hound Gang headquarters, Su Yi finds messages from Cole and Lisa. They say they were compelled by a summons to attend a greater sacrifice, warn that the Underground Ruins are a trap, and leave the cryptic clue “Spatial transfer…”
• Leg Kicker notices that Lal City’s map appears to contain another Lal City. Su Yi realizes the city is a trap and orders an evacuation. The company retreats, but tens of thousands of Rhodes Alliance troops enter Lal City.
• Their arrival triggers a citywide spatial transfer. The city and everyone still inside vanish. Su Yi saves several logistics supervisors by whipping them beyond its boundaries, but he and others—including Supervisor Gheros—are taken.
• The survivors report the event to L23 Department officials, warning that the crisis may threaten the entire planet. In the transferred space, Evil God awakens in a vast, twisted realm of steel and gears.

Character developments

• Su Yi remains decisive and protective, quickly recognizing the danger and prioritizing the evacuation. He risks staying behind to investigate, ultimately saving several colleagues but being caught in the transfer himself.
• Mokaka and Maria cooperate with Su Yi and share his determination to pursue the culprits, though their earlier attempt to investigate the statue’s device leaves their motives somewhat uncertain.
• Leg Kicker proves perceptive by spotting the duplicated city on the map, helping Su Yi uncover the trap.
• Cole and Lisa are revealed to have been summoned against their will. They resisted using Su Yi’s treasure but chose to follow the summons to investigate the sacrifice.
• The Rhodes Alliance, especially Jerry, misreads the company’s retreat as an opportunity to share in victory and unknowingly triggers the trap.

Significant themes

• Deception and false victory: Lal City’s apparent capture is a setup, and the company’s easy success conceals a larger plan.
• Coercion and sacrifice: The Mist Horn can compel transformed people to obey, while the promised “greater sacrifice” suggests an escalating threat.
• Leadership and responsibility: Su Yi’s evacuation orders and rescue efforts show the burden of protecting others amid incomplete information.
• Escalating danger: What begins as a city-level operation becomes a possible planet-wide catastrophe.

Character interactions

• Su Yi questions Mokaka about the statue, then joins forces with him and Maria to continue the search.
• Su Yi coordinates with Ilis and receives support from the company’s personnel, while the Players debate whether the swift victory is suspicious.
• Cole and Lisa address Su Yi through their hidden messages, warning him about the summons and the trap.
• Leg Kicker’s map discovery prompts Su Yi’s urgent warning; Su Yi then clashes with Maria and Mokaka’s skepticism as he insists they flee.
• Su Yi sacrifices his chance to escape to get Michael, Liu Na, and Skola out of the city before it disappears.

Plot points and events

• The Evil God and several others are trapped in the Steel Foundry, where the Steel Virus is turning their bodies to metal and eroding their minds. Dutch, already nearly fully metalized, believes they are doomed.
• Su Yi arrives and uses a piece of his SSS-Class Silicon-Based Symbiote to halt the virus in the Evil God and restore Dutch’s body and mental clarity. He then continues rescuing other infected prisoners.
• The Evil God persuades Dutch that Su Yi is the divine incarnation of the Supreme Radiant Judgment Emperor of the Void. Dutch, overwhelmed by Su Yi’s rescue and powers, joins the Zeroing Society and vows to serve him.
• Su Yi gathers a group of fifteen survivors. When three Mechanical Cultivators attack, he disables them with a Ring of Repulsion and melts them with Thornfire, intensifying the survivors’ belief in his divinity.
• Su Yi asks the Evil God to contact Leg Kicker and have 108 inform Iris Barrett that he is safe. The communication reassures Iris, who learns more about the situation from Michael and decides to return and help those close to Su Yi.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi acts decisively and compassionately, saving people while revealing formidable abilities. He remains unaware that the Evil God is recruiting followers in his name.
• The Evil God survives through Su Yi’s symbiote and turns Dutch’s gratitude into religious devotion, presenting Su Yi’s abilities as proof of his divine status.
• Dutch moves from despair to renewed hope, then to fervent belief and membership in the Zeroing Society.
• The rescued survivors likewise become devoted to Su Yi after witnessing his mercy and power.
• Iris is initially displeased that Su Yi used her private number for someone else, but relief replaces her concern once she learns he is safe. She resolves to look after his associates.

Significant themes

• Faith born from rescue: Desperate people interpret Su Yi’s kindness and power as signs of divinity.
• Power and perception: His extraordinary abilities bolster the Evil God’s religious claims, whether or not Su Yi intends to inspire worship.
• Hope amid despair: The symbiote restores not only bodies but also minds and the will to live.
• Loyalty and protection: Su Yi saves the trapped group, while the Evil God, 108, and Iris coordinate to protect and support him.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi reunites with Winter, Leg Kicker, and several company employees inside the Steel Foundry. He gives them Silicon-Based Symbiotes, which grow unusually quickly in the Foundry, and uses Leg Kicker’s map to lead the group toward his missing allies.
• As they travel, they rescue selected virus-infected people—especially company employees and former Lal Town residents—and gather supplies. Su Yi intends to turn the rescued residents’ despair into loyalty through the Evil God’s influence.
• The group finds Maria badly infected and facing Kendis, who has lost both arms. Su Yi restores Maria with a symbiote, giving her a powerful steel-like body that resists weapons and restores her fitness.
• Kendis tries to flee, but Rijia ambushes him and knocks the gem from his chest. Su Yi captures him, and Maria kills him with her sword, advancing to level 30. She thanks Su Yi and promises to remember what he did.
• Mota, Rijia, and the Moon-Drinking Azure Wolf brothers rejoin the group. They discover a gigantic, unfinished figure being sustained by black flames in a central furnace—the god the Mechanical Cult is trying to create. Since waking it would be suicidal, Su Yi decides to damage the Foundry while escaping.
• The group rescues more potential Steel Warriors and gathers supplies. Su Yi rallies them to destroy the machinery that enslaves them, using Insect-Proof Netting and Thornfire to trigger a massive explosion. The blast wrecks structures and starts a chain of alarms and further destruction.
• The group encounters the remains of a clash between the House of Loving Kindness and Mechanical Cultivators. Both sides suffered heavy losses; Jon, apparently the House’s last survivor, prepares a final attack against Su Yi’s group.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi acts as a rescuer and commander, building loyalty among the newly freed and deciding to sabotage the Foundry rather than risk confronting the nascent god.
• Maria moves from despair and near helplessness to renewed strength and confidence. Her gratitude toward Su Yi is mixed with a more complicated, personal feeling.
• Rijia proves his value by striking Kendis at the crucial moment, enabling Su Yi to seize the chest gem.
• The rescued Steel Warriors shift from enslaved victims to fervent followers, protected from the Mechanical Cultivators’ command ability by their symbiotes.
• Kendis dies defiant, still invoking the Mechanical Father, while Jon’s threatened last stand sets up the next confrontation.

Significant themes

• Hope as liberation: Su Yi’s “Boon” gives victims both physical survival and the possibility of reclaiming their lives.
• Loyalty and influence: Rescue becomes the basis for devotion, though Su Yi deliberately uses the Evil God’s talent to secure allegiance.
• Resistance through solidarity: The freed Steel Warriors unite to destroy the systems that enslaved them.
• Escalating danger: The unfinished god, collapsing infrastructure, and Jon’s last resort all signal that escape is becoming more perilous.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi’s group rescues the badly wounded Jon. Maria kills the high-level cultivator about to execute him, and the group follows a map toward an exit.
• A force of more than four hundred Steel Warriors blocks their way. Su Yi recognizes Cole and Lisa—and senses the Silicon-Based Symbiotes among the crowd—so he calls for the Steel Warriors to charge. More than a hundred turn on their Mechanical Cultivator leader, giving Su Yi and Maria the chance to kill him. Maria’s newly strengthened Anti-Order Power tears him apart.
• Cole and Lisa reunite with Su Yi and explain that they used the symbiotes he gave them to help others. Steel Warriors from both groups find relatives among one another, turning the rescue into a family reunion. Su Yi’s party, now more than six hundred strong, escapes by blasting through a sealed passage with Insect-Proof Netting and Thornfire.
• As they flee, a horn sounds and a voice from the mist calls them insects disturbing a “savior’s ritual.” Winter brings Su Yi and Maria back to their senses before the mist overtakes them. The group reaches an underground hatchery filled with desiccated bodies and escapes to the Dawn Mountains.
• Back in Vine City, a planetary emergency alert is underway. Ilis tells Su Yi that the Life Devourers are approaching, possibly drawn by the spatial disturbance caused by Lal City’s large-scale transfer. Su Yi and Maria are ordered to return to the fleet and help prepare the defense.
• Maria reveals that the Holy Body Cult’s god-making scheme centers on the Ancient Artifact called the Mist Horn. They have apparently fused someone with it to create a new Demigod by combining steel soldiers, souls, and Metal-Boring Beetles. Such a being would lack Divinity and retain human weaknesses, but defeating it would still require enormous firepower—possibly a planet-busting cannon.
• Maria returns Su Yi’s Silicon-Based Symbiote, thanks him, and leaves for her duty. Su Yi sends the rescued Steel Warriors to the border outpost, explaining that their Steel Virus infection may prevent them from returning to human society.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi shows strategic leadership: he uses the Steel Warriors’ divided loyalties to turn the enemy’s own force against its commander, then prioritizes escape and organizes the refugees.
• Maria proves a powerful ally, killing Jon’s attacker and helping defeat the Mechanical Cultivator. Her Anti-Order Power has grown substantially after reaching level 30. Though she must return to duty, she repays Su Yi with intelligence about the Mist Horn.
• Jon, near death, regains hope and fervently credits the rescue to the “Loving Father.”
• Cole and Lisa have become organizers among the desperate, using the symbiotes to help people they trust. Their reunion with Su Yi is echoed by the emotional reunions between Steel Warriors and their relatives.
• The rescued Steel Warriors accept that they may no longer be able to live as ordinary humans, but take comfort in being alive, retaining their minds, and being reunited with loved ones.
• The Players tease Winter about her supposed affection for Su Yi after Maria kisses him goodbye; Winter angrily denies it.

Significant themes

• Hope and solidarity in despair: The Steel Warriors’ survival and reunions show how community can give people reason to keep going.
• Sacrifice and duty: Maria gives up the chance to stay with Su Yi and returns to serve in the coming planetary defense.
• The danger of unchecked ambition: The Holy Body Cult’s attempt to manufacture a god has helped summon a greater threat.
• The cost of survival: The rescued people are alive and still themselves, yet their infection leaves their future uncertain.
• Escalating danger: The escape from the Foundry leads directly into a planetary crisis, while the mysterious Mist Horn and its “savior” hint that the cult’s plan is still unfolding.

Key plot points and events

• The Steel Warriors pledge themselves to Su Yi, grateful for the power and purpose his Boon gave them. Su Yi lets Evil God, Rijia, and Dutch continue building religious influence, recognizing that faith could help him gather support.
• On the way back through Rhodes Alliance territory, the group finds gray mist spreading from the sewers and poor residents transformed into steel monsters. Su Yi abandons his earlier plan to deal with the Alliance gradually: it must now be destroyed. Jon rages at the Holy Body Cult but cannot undo the devastation.
• Vine City is mobilizing for war, while the company concentrates on an approaching invasion from the Life Devourers. Su Yi reunites with his anxious team and apologizes to Ilis for the losses caused by his recent actions.
• Ilis and Su Yi agree the Rhodes Alliance must be confronted while the company’s main forces are occupied. Ilis proposes that her Business Development Department handle it without drawing on the Planetary Defense Department.
• Their private moment is interrupted when the Rhode Emperor, Salan Rhode, hijacks communications across the planet. He announces that he has ascended and calls people into his mist, claiming it will grant eternal life. Ilis explains that he is still a Demigod: to complete his ascension, he needs the recognition of thirty million people and the Planetary Dragon Vein. The incoming Life Devourers are part of his plan to appear as the planet’s savior.
• At an executive meeting, Ilis stakes her department’s forces against the Rhode Emperor. She reveals she has made an irreversible Soul Contract with the Goddess: if she fails, her soul will be consumed. Ryan supports her, and the committee approves the plan.
• Ilis resolves to win her freedom from her father’s control or die trying.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi grows more decisive, committing to the destruction of the Rhodes Alliance and backing Ilis’s dangerous plan. He comforts Emma and Dora when they reunite, then shares a moment of mutual trust and near-confession with Ilis.
• Ilis moves from strategic leader to open defiance. Her willingness to risk her soul reveals how desperate she is to escape her father’s control, rooted in memories of her mother’s suffering.
• Mata Barrett tries to silence and control Ilis, but her plan—and Ryan’s support—undermines his authority.
• Jon expresses furious grief over the transformed residents, while the Steel Warriors’ pledge shows how strongly they depend on Su Yi.
• Su Yi and Ilis repeatedly show their alignment: they independently reach the same strategic conclusion and exchange confidence before committing to the battle.

Significant themes

• Faith as power: Religious devotion can mobilize people, while the Rhode Emperor exploits belief and fear to advance his ascension.
• Power and manipulation: The Emperor uses a manufactured crisis to gain recognition; Ilis resists her father’s attempts to control her.
• Sacrifice and loyalty: The Steel Warriors pledge themselves to Su Yi, and Ilis accepts a potentially fatal cost for her plan.
• War amid human suffering: The looming invasion and political struggle leave little capacity to help civilians already consumed by the mist.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi organizes a counterattack against Salan Rhode, the self-proclaimed Lord of Soulsteel. He obtains Winter’s dangerous mediating finger, then gives the Evil God and Rijia a demanding, undisclosed task. He also recruits Bishop Martin and his allies, who are already inside Rhodes territory.
• The Life Devourers arrive above Rhode Star as twelve enormous flesh spheres, unleashing swarms of adaptable monsters against the company’s forces in space.
• Salan reveals his ascended form atop a massive altar, summoning steel creatures and announcing himself as Rhode Star’s savior. The group realizes that Jack Kane had only been a test; Salan is the real threat.
• Ilis arrives with reinforcements and reveals her plan: use an SSS-class Mirror of Deception to rewrite Salan’s memories and soul, triggering a mental collapse. She needs the others to distract him while she gets close enough for him to see his reflection.
• Su Yi keeps his own strategy secret but promises Ilis he will not let her be endangered. The coalition agrees to teleport her and an assault force into the palace, despite having no route back.
• Meanwhile, Martin’s group witnesses the regime’s atrocities: commoners are turned into steel monsters, their souls consumed by black flame, and their bodies recycled into materials. Martin vows revenge but waits for an opening.
• At dawn, a large coalition assembles, including the Moon-Drinking Azure Wolves, guerrillas, the Patrol Bureau, Star Knights, House of Loving Kindness, White Frost clergy, believers, company forces, and Su Yi’s steel fighters.
• Salan is temporarily unable to move because Su Yi’s earlier sabotage damaged the Steel Foundry, but he remains confident. He welcomes the approaching attackers, hoping to capture Ilis and humiliate the company. He is preparing for his ascension ceremony even as the Life Devourers return.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi takes charge of the response, balancing cooperation with Ilis’s plan while concealing a second, hazardous strategy. His confidence steadies the others.
• Ilis shows resolve and trust in Su Yi, volunteering to approach a demigod with a powerful but single-use artifact. Her ability to draw on two deities is revealed as the source of her reward.
• Bishop Martin turns religious zeal into determination to punish the regime, though his group must first find a chance to strike.
• Salan Rhode is exposed as cruel, arrogant, and vindictive: he devours steel-transformed civilians and sees Ilis’s capture as a way to assert dominance. Even his subordinate cautions him about his conduct, but Salan rejects the criticism.
• The coalition’s leaders accept the danger of a one-way assault, while Caroline reassures them that Su Yi can control the steel fighters.

Significant themes

• Resistance through cooperation: rival factions and organizations unite against a planetary threat.
• Power and dehumanization: Salan’s rule turns civilians into fuel, weapons, and raw materials.
• Faith and competing divine forces: Ilis’s artifact and the religious factions’ involvement place divine influence at the center of the coming battle.
• Sacrifice and uncertainty: the attackers face overwhelming odds, limited time, and no guaranteed escape, while Su Yi’s undisclosed plan adds further suspense.

Key plot points and events

• Ilis insists on leading the assault in person, believing she can get close to Emperor Salan by exploiting his attraction to her. Rick reluctantly agrees to protect her, while Su Yi promises to do the same.
• Su Yi rallies the defenders for a last stand against Salan and the forces threatening Rhode Star. Players volunteer to sacrifice themselves for a paid mission, detonating their gear to clear a landing zone inside the Imperial Palace.
• Rick’s eighty armored Elite Troops and Alton’s five hundred Steel Warriors pour through the portal and fight their way across the palace’s front courtyard. Su Yi, Ilis, and the remaining allies join them as the battle escalates.
• In the central courtyard, modified steel monsters and Mechanical Cultivators inflict heavy casualties. Salan empowers the monsters with black Fire of Madness, making them strong enough to pierce the armored troops’ shields. Jon’s fanatical believers sacrifice themselves, releasing corrosive mist that destroys many enemies.
• A fifty-meter steel giant arrives and shrugs off conventional fire. Alton orders the Steel Warriors to merge; two soldiers blow themselves up to cripple the giant, and the remaining warriors combine into a thirty-meter-tall, forty-meter-long Steel Direwolf. The Direwolf pins and attacks the giant, giving the others a chance to advance.
• The group reaches the rear courtyard, where Salan waits by the altar. His golden-armored Iron Guards attack immediately. One spear pierces Rick’s electromagnetic shield and armor, hurling him into a wall.

Character developments and interactions

• Ilis demonstrates resolve and a willingness to risk herself to avenge her mother. Rick’s protective concern reflects his promise to Ilis’s mother; he ultimately supports Ilis and commits to guarding her.
• Su Yi acts as a rallying leader, coordinating the assault while preparing for the possibility of losing control. He asks Kilman to stay close and tells Leg Kicker to kill him if necessary; Leg Kicker is initially horrified but agrees to trust him.
• Alton emerges as a decisive commander of the Steel Warriors. His ability to unite them into the Steel Direwolf turns an impending defeat into an opportunity to advance.
• The Players show striking enthusiasm for repeated self-sacrifice, treating the dangerous task as a lucrative and exciting mission. Their actions earn Rick’s admiration for Su Yi’s leadership.
• Rick and Su Yi’s forces cooperate closely: the Players open the route, Rick’s troops secure it with firepower, and Alton’s warriors lead the push.
• Salan remains confident and amused by the attackers, regarding their resistance as entertainment—even as the Steel Direwolf briefly challenges his forces.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and shared purpose: Soldiers and Players alike accept death to protect their allies and home.
• Leadership and loyalty: Su Yi inspires the coalition, while Rick and Alton earn their followers’ trust through commitment and decisive action.
• Unity as strength: The Steel Warriors’ literal fusion embodies the power of collective effort.
• Escalating resistance: Each obstacle—from hordes to empowered monsters to colossal enemies—forces the defenders to adapt, though the final spear strike suggests the assault remains perilous.

Key plot points and events

• Emperor Salan’s golden-armored guards devastate Rick’s elite guard; ordinary weapons cannot pierce their Ancient Entropy Empire armor. Su Yi’s Lahr Flowers and the grotesque Bishop Martin—now a mass of fused bodies—bind and infect the guards, buying the others time to escape.
• Mountain Dog and Mokaka hold the imperial guards back while the group reaches the palace square. There, they witness the sixty-meter-tall Salan devouring citizens as a display of power.
• Salan declares his intention to make Ilis his servant and orders the others killed. His divine body nullifies the group’s attacks, and a single command kills nearly all the guards, leaving Rick gravely injured.
• The White Frost Church arrives with three warships and briefly pierces Salan’s barrier, but he destroys the ships with a storm of tormented steel souls.
• Ilis uses a quicksilver mirror to make Salan see his own reflection, disrupting his identity and driving him mad. Rather than weakening, his powers spiral out of control, creating a catastrophic vortex of black flames and souls.
• With everyone helpless, Su Yi invokes the Mediating Finger and joins hands with Kilman, using his blood and his own Divine Fire to commune with his bloodline. He enters a vast cosmic realm and encounters a colossal eye set into a Bronze Gate.
• Su Yi’s body transforms into a many-eyed, ancient being. Its aura counters Salan’s madness long enough to free the others’ souls. Ilis identifies the transformation as Su Yi’s Deified Form.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi repeatedly protects the group, first through his Lahr Flowers and later by risking an unknown transformation to save them. He comforts Ilis and confesses his love before invoking the Mediating Finger.
• Ilis takes the lead against Salan with her mirror, but admits she miscalculated when the plan worsens the crisis. In a rare moment of vulnerability, she apologizes to Su Yi and Rick. Seeing Su Yi’s sacrifice strengthens her conviction that he is her chosen partner and a divine blessing.
• Kilman readily helps Su Yi complete the ritual, offering his blood and clasping Su Yi’s hand.
• Rick defies Salan and fights to protect the group, but is overwhelmed and left in uncertain condition.
• Salan shifts from composed tyrant to a deranged, unstable figure after seeing his reflection, though his power remains immense.
• The White Frost Church, led by Caroline’s communication, intervenes to defend its territory, but its military force is destroyed.

Significant themes

• Power and tyranny: Salan uses his divine status and the public slaughter of citizens to demand submission.
• Sacrifice and loyalty: Su Yi and Kilman risk themselves for the group, while Ilis’s plan reflects her determination to confront Salan.
• Identity and madness: The mirror destabilizes Salan’s sense of self, turning his authority into uncontrolled destruction.
• Hidden inheritance and transformation: Su Yi’s communion with his bloodline reveals a cosmic origin and a form powerful enough to resist Salan’s madness.

Plot and key events

• After briefly perceiving the universe’s secrets, Su Yi returns to the battlefield in a monstrous, many-eyed form. He transforms into a lava-like eyeball and opens an ancient Bronze Gate, declaring, “Lead you home!”
• Twenty towering warriors in golden armor emerge: the Human Emperor Heavenly Soldiers of the Ancient Entropy Empire. They recognize Kilman as the Empire’s Holy Son, explain that they were sent to find him, and ask him to return and help restore the Empire.
• Kilman agrees to leave with them eventually, but first orders Emperor Salan killed.
• The soldiers overwhelm Salan’s forces. Their golden power repels his flames and souls; their weapons pierce and pin his enormous body, and their captain’s lightning prevents him from healing.
• The captain exposes Salan as a grotesquely obese, mechanically modified man inside a giant body—not a true god. After Kilman orders his execution, the soldiers kill him. They also destroy a level-29 Mechanical Cultivator attempting to escape.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi briefly experiences an overwhelming, inaccessible vision of the universe and instinctively summons the gate and soldiers, though he cannot recall what he saw.
• Kilman is revealed to be the Ancient Entropy Empire’s Holy Son and a potential leader in its restoration. He calmly accepts the soldiers’ allegiance and insists that Salan be dealt with before he departs.
• The captain obeys Kilman, directs the attack, and bluntly dismisses Salan’s claims to divinity as fraudulent.
• Caroline and Zorn, initially despairing, recognize the legendary soldiers with astonishment; the captain’s attack leaves them unconscious.
• Winter, Evil God, Leg Kicker, Ilis, Ruijia, Mota, and the others watch in shock. Several compare the soldiers’ power to familiar warriors and mock Salan once his supposed godhood is exposed.
• Salan shifts from a terrifying, boastful demigod to a helpless, pleading man once his powers and mechanical body are disabled.

Significant themes

• Inherited duty and restoration: Kilman’s identity ties him to the fallen Empire and its future.
• Appearance versus reality: Salan’s divine image conceals a dependent, mechanically enhanced human.
• Ancient power and loyalty: The soldiers’ disciplined strength and enduring devotion contrast with Salan’s false authority.
• Judgment and retribution: Kilman chooses justice before accepting his place in the Empire’s plans.

Plot points and events

• After Salan dies, the black storm vanishes and the remaining steel monsters abruptly become inert. Alton and the Steel Warriors realize Su Yi has won, though the battle has cost them Hou Ting, Mokaka, 108, Mountain Dog, Girlfriend, Wheelchair, and others.
• Kilman says farewell to Winter, Mota, and the others. He is summoned away with the Human Emperor Heavenly Soldiers, promising to train and return. The Bronze Gate begins to close, and the ancient Power of Time fades.
• Su Yi appears in a terrifying Deified Form called the Eye of Unity. Looking at him drives the Players toward madness, and he has lost control, attacking those nearby with devastating spatial rifts.
• As Alton and the Steel Warriors praise Su Yi, their faith reaches him while he is stranded among immense, predatory beings. Their belief guides him back toward the world.
• Leg Kicker attacks Su Yi with Mountain Dog’s Blackflame Blade, burning away the strange mutated runes spreading across Su Yi’s body. The group calls Su Yi by his names, and he regains control.
• Su Yi’s Deified Form recedes. He returns to normal, discovers he has reached level 20, and sees major increases to his health and bandwidth, along with an upgraded Talent: Matter Programming.

Character developments and interactions

• Kilman leaves his friends in tears, showing how deeply he values them and the people who helped raise him. He asks them to pass on farewells to Sir, his family, Molly, and his fellow trainees.
• Winter and the others grieve Kilman’s departure but encourage him, promising they will meet again.
• Alton and the Steel Warriors turn their loyalty into a force that helps bring Su Yi back, praising him when he is most vulnerable.
• Leg Kicker acts decisively despite being grievously wounded, using Mountain Dog’s blade to help suppress Su Yi’s corruption.
• Ilis protects the Players from Su Yi’s overwhelming form and helps distract him; once he returns, she rushes to check on him.
• Su Yi experiences terror and helplessness in the vast darkness, but the warmth of his companions’ faith reconnects him to life and home.

Significant themes

• Faith and belonging: The group’s belief is not merely symbolic; it becomes a literal lifeline for Su Yi.
• Sacrifice and loss: Victory comes at a terrible cost, while Kilman’s departure adds a more personal sorrow.
• Found family and attachment: Su Yi’s fear of dying stems from the relationships and future he has found.
• Power and corruption: Su Yi’s Deified Form is immensely powerful but dangerous, threatening both his mind and everyone around him.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi survives the confrontation after the Stigmata Runes attempt to take control of his body. His allies’ actions—including Leg Kicker’s attack—help destroy the mark, though Su Yi is left nearly powerless.
• Iris carries Su Yi to the remains of Salan’s Mechanical Divine Body, where he searches for a silver-gray horn. Rijia finds it: the Mist Horn, an Ancient Artifact.
• Su Yi binds the artifact by disguising himself as a metal lifeform, supplying enough energy, and imprinting his Void Abyss Projection. The horn accepts him and merges into his skin.
• The Mist Horn grants powerful abilities, including teleportation through Ancient Mist, reshaping itself as a weapon or shield, moving assimilated metal lifeforms, and releasing vast quantities of war mist.
• The Players find no useful loot in Salan’s wreckage and conclude that destroying a boss’s giant mech may destroy the most valuable rewards along with it.
• With Salan dead, the black storm over the Imperial Palace dissipates, and the organized steel monsters lose their threat. The company’s forces on Rhode Star can now exploit the opening.
• Ryan orders troops to seize the Rhodes Alliance’s munitions factories, using Salan’s aggression and death as justification for intervention.
• Iris’s victory alarms both her father, Mata, and John, who fear her growing influence. John orders his people to withdraw from Iris’s expansion efforts and suggests Mata take control of the Alliance; Mata says his forces are already moving.

Character developments

• Su Yi survives the attempted possession and gains a formidable Ancient Artifact, though its most powerful ability requires enormous energy. His confidence and opportunism remain evident.
• Iris shows care for Su Yi and trust in his privacy, while her success elevates her status and makes her a political threat to powerful figures.
• Leg Kicker and Winter gain a moment of vindication after turning the battle at a crucial point, despite having contributed little earlier.
• Rijia, Evil God, Mota, and Alton display concern and loyalty toward Su Yi; Mota also tends the wounded.
• Mata and John reveal their controlling instincts: rather than celebrate Iris’s achievement, they focus on containing her influence and claiming control of its consequences.

Significant themes

• Power and its price: The Mist Horn offers extraordinary capabilities, but its strongest effect demands immense energy and comes with a long cooldown.
• Trust and autonomy: Iris respects Su Yi’s boundaries, contrasting with the efforts of Mata and John to control Iris and her accomplishments.
• Victory as political opportunity: Salan’s defeat ends an immediate threat but creates an opening for corporate intervention and a struggle over succession.
• Pragmatism and consequences: The Players’ discussion of boss loot underscores how victory can destroy valuable resources, while the company weighs military gains against legitimacy and political cost.

Character interactions

• Iris comforts and carries the weakened Su Yi, while the Players tease them about their apparent closeness.
• Su Yi directs his allies to search for the horn, then binds it himself as Iris and the others watch.
• The Players compare theories about the artifact and later joke about the poor rewards from Salan’s mech.
• Ryan praises Iris’s success and acts on it by ordering an advance into Alliance territory.
• John and Mata coordinate politically, but their conversation centers on controlling Iris’s achievement rather than supporting her.

Plot and key events

• Michael, Liu Na, and Skola agree to help Su Yi after Molly offers them access to the Steel Virus’s secrets. Su Yi tells them to keep following their current orders until he returns.
• Su Yi and Ilis discuss the company’s likely plans for the Steel Warriors and infected civilians: containment and experimentation. Su Yi instead offers the Steel Warriors refuge inside the Mist Horn, a space where they can sleep safely and be summoned later.
• The Steel Warriors enthusiastically accept. Activating the horn, Su Yi draws in 24,333 steel people and more than a hundred million Metal-Boring Beetle larvae. He learns the space has limited capacity and cannot rescue more before company forces arrive.
• Fifteen company transports descend on the Imperial Palace. The company quickly takes control, secures its Apocalypse-Class weapon, and begins destroying the ruined districts and remaining steel monsters.
• At the altar, the surviving White Frost Church members regroup with company personnel. Ilis’s father, Mata Barrett, takes charge of the recovery operation but dismisses Ilis without recognizing her achievements.
• Su Yi challenges Mata publicly, defending Ilis’s performance and condemning his personal treatment of her. When Mata orders Su Yi arrested, Su Yi manifests Thornfire and warns him that attacking a newly celebrated god-killer could ruin Mata’s standing with the company.
• Su Yi’s defiance silences the gathered staff and deeply moves Ilis.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi emerges from the battle with new confidence and authority. He protects the Steel Warriors by giving them sanctuary, then stands up to Mata on Ilis’s behalf, using both his accomplishments and his political leverage to resist him.
• Ilis recognizes that Su Yi has voiced the grievances she has long been unable to express against her controlling father. Her admiration and emotional attachment to Su Yi intensify; she privately regards him as the “Flame of Light” sent by her goddess.
• The Steel Warriors show profound devotion to Su Yi, seeing the Mist Horn as a divinely granted home and willingly entrusting themselves to him.
• Mata is shown as capable and efficient in his work but domineering and dismissive toward his daughter. His attempt to assert authority over Su Yi backfires when Su Yi publicly confronts him.
• Michael, Liu Na, and Skola choose cooperation in exchange for knowledge of the Steel Virus, while Rick and the surviving church members remain among the wounded survivors.

Significant themes

• Protection versus exploitation: The company views the infected as potential experimental subjects, while Su Yi offers them safety and belonging.
• Power and legitimacy: Su Yi’s lower rank contrasts with his extraordinary deeds and newly gained power, allowing him to challenge a superior who abuses authority.
• Recognition and control: Ilis’s conflict with Mata reflects her longing for acknowledgment and independence; Su Yi’s defense gives her suppressed feelings a voice.
• Faith and devotion: The Steel Warriors’ worshipful loyalty, alongside Ilis’s religious interpretation of Su Yi, highlights how rescue and protection can become sources of faith.

Summary

The author announces a return to a regular schedule of two chapters per day, totaling about 8,000 Chinese characters. Although reader support encouraged them to publish as much as possible, the pressure to produce 12,000–16,000 characters daily has hurt the story’s prose and pacing. In 21 days since the book went premium, the author has written nearly 320,000 characters, but says the rushed middle sections set in Lal City lacked careful outlining, compelling developments, and effective foreshadowing.
The author plans to slow down, improve the writing, and build a backlog. Having extra chapters ready will provide time to refine pacing, details, continuity, and plot hooks. The author hints that, after the protagonist defeats two old enemies, he will travel to another planet and cause major trouble.

Character and interaction notes

• The author reflects on the strain of rapid updates, takes responsibility for the story’s decline, and commits to improving it.
• The readers are thanked for subscribing, following updates, and offering support; their engagement is described as the author’s main motivation.
• The protagonist is mentioned only in a teaser about defeating two enemies and moving on to a new planet.

Themes

• Quality versus speed: A relentless publishing pace can weaken a story.
• Planning and revision: A backlog allows better pacing, continuity, and foreshadowing.
• Author–reader relationship: Reader support motivates the author, while the author aims to deliver better work in return.

Key plot points and events

• After Su Yi displays the Thornfire and the shattered Demigod body, Mata backs down. Realizing Su Yi is too influential and powerful to oppose, he abruptly switches from threatening him to praising him and orders the staff to resume work.
• Su Yi asks that the Divine Body’s destruction be credited to his department, emphasizing the effort involved. The technicians are astonished by evidence that the body was physically pierced and cut apart.
• Su Yi and Ilis leave together. Their side has won the Godslayer War, and they are welcomed by their allies as heroes. The company’s forces remain busy, but news of the Evil God’s defeat and incoming reinforcements steadies morale.
• At home, Su Yi discovers that the ritual has greatly strengthened his body—he can crush a phone with his bare hand. He then falls asleep and enters the Void Abyss, where his growing magma-eye form receives a prayer from Screw.

Character developments and interactions

• Mata reveals himself as a shameless political opportunist. Once he recognizes Su Yi’s value and the danger of opposing him, he tries to turn the confrontation into an apparent test and begins flattering him.
• Ilis is deeply disappointed by her father’s capitulation, seeing that the powerful figure she remembered is merely a self-serving executive. Su Yi’s defense helps her feel that she has finally released long-suppressed anger. She asks him to use her name in private, marking a warmer, more equal relationship.
• Su Yi remains confident and politically astute, choosing not to openly fight Mata while securing credit for the victory. He and Ilis discuss their plans, including pursuing promotions through the Exploration Department and using the Silver Snake Bandits to build their merits.
• Kilman has left, and Su Yi reflects that the young man was good but belonged to a different world.
• Screw arrives through a prayer ritual and mistakes Su Yi for a deity’s avatar, astonished that she can reach him through his temple in the Void Abyss.

Significant themes

• Power and opportunism: Mata’s sudden change of face shows how company officials adapt their principles to protect their careers.
• Trust and emotional liberation: Su Yi’s support helps Ilis confront her disillusionment with her father and deepen her trust in Su Yi.
• Rising status and hidden identity: Su Yi’s growing strength, divine associations, and apparent ability to receive prayers suggest his influence is expanding beyond ordinary company politics.
• Achievement and recognition: The heroes’ victory brings public acclaim, while Su Yi also ensures their work is formally credited.