Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• On Gold Island, Rick notices that a tiny peach-leaf sample may be connected to Phantom Immortal Technology’s Cancer Cure No. 1. He reports directly to the President, who orders him to bring it back to the United States immediately.
• Rick takes the sample to Cold Spring Laboratory, where the President and senior officials await him.
• Professor Watson compares the leaf extract with a scarce sample of Cancer Cure No. 1. After several hours, he confirms that the leaf contains a substance similar to the medicine’s main ingredient, supporting the theory that the cure comes from a remarkable peach tree.
• Watson explains that the substance cannot currently be synthesized. The President hopes to grow the trees and produce the medicine in bulk, but Watson says they need an intact tree sample—and the tiny leaf Rick brought was completely destroyed during testing.
• Since only Phantom Immortal Technology possesses the trees, acquiring one from them seems highly unlikely.

Character developments and interactions

• Rick acts decisively, bypassing the usual Navy reporting chain to alert the President because he recognizes the potential importance of his discovery.
• The President is eager to turn the finding into both a strategic advantage over Huaxia and a major political achievement. His optimism falters when he learns the sample cannot be cloned or cultivated from what remains.
• Watson provides the scientific confirmation and practical limits, calmly correcting the President’s misunderstanding about cloning. He privately judges the President’s ignorance.
• Rick, the President, and Watson share an intense focus on the sample, but their priorities differ: Rick seeks recognition for the discovery, the President wants mass production, and Watson emphasizes what the science actually permits.

Significant themes

• Knowledge versus power: Political ambition cannot overcome scientific and practical constraints.
• The value of scarce resources: A microscopic sample holds enormous medical and geopolitical promise, yet is insufficient to enable reproduction of the cure.
• Strategic rivalry and opportunism: The United States sees the discovery as a way to challenge Huaxia and reduce its dependence on Phantom Immortal Technology.
• Irony of ignorance: The President’s confidence in cloning contrasts with Watson’s expertise and the frustrating reality that the necessary biological material is gone.

Plot points and events

• Watson notes that a whole peach tree may not be necessary: an intact branch or root could grow a replacement. Rick sees a way to obtain one.
• After two days, Rick returns to Gold Island and admits the Americans could not find a matching peach tree. He offers $10 million for it, then proposes $10 billion for all the damage.
• Difu rejects the offers, insisting on compensation for 19,912 damaged plants, rounded up to 20,000—$200 billion under Shen Bing’s terms.
• Rick tries to bribe Difu to underreport the damage. Difu slaps him, furious at the insult to his loyalty. Rick backs down after seeing Difu bend a thick iron bar and realizing violence could destroy the peach tree.
• Rick agrees to the full payment, in exchange for the release of the American personnel, recovery of the two aircraft, and the damaged branches. Difu lets them take the branches.
• The Americans freeze the offshore account after Rick leaves, hoping to reclaim the money, but the funds have already been moved through an immense web of transactions and cannot be traced.
• Difu reports to Shen Bing, who confirms he has received the money and promises Difu a reward.

Character developments and interactions

• Rick shifts from bargaining and attempted bribery to reluctant compliance. Though humiliated and angry after Difu’s slap, he controls himself because retaliation could ruin the mission.
• Difu displays unwavering loyalty to Shen Bing and contempt for corruption. His rough public manner contrasts with his shrewd, respectful demeanor when reporting to his boss.
• Shen Bing remains offstage but directs the compensation terms and emerges as the clear beneficiary, securing both the payment and the valuable branches.
• Rick and Difu’s tense negotiation turns into a contest of leverage: Rick needs the peach tree, while Difu enforces Shen Bing’s uncompromising price.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and integrity: Difu’s refusal to accept a bribe underscores his devotion to his employer.
• Power and leverage: The Americans’ military and financial influence cannot overcome their dependence on the peach tree and its potential medical value.
• Greed and hypocrisy: After agreeing to pay, the Americans immediately try to freeze the money to avoid the cost.
• Strategic deception: Rick obtains the branches by framing them as part of the compensation, while the money’s rapid disappearance thwarts the Americans’ attempt to seize it.

Key plot points

• Shen Bing accepts Difu’s pledge of loyalty and promises him a bottle of Level 2 Gene-Enhancement Drug.
• Shen Bing reveals that the U.S. military’s fighter crash on Gold Island was deliberately engineered. The Americans’ actions played into his plan, but the damaged peach tree is of little concern: it cannot be reproduced through ordinary methods, and its valuable properties differ greatly from those of the original Immortal Peach Tree.
• Shen Bing tells Difu to unload supplies from three incoming cargo ships, expand the island’s workforce by mass-producing standard robots, and postpone full production of specialized robots until the particle accelerator is complete. He also orders construction to remain discreet while necessary upgrades begin.
• Flush with the Immortal Jade earned from the Americans, Shen Bing considers possible purchases and spends some of it on Nine Heavens Divine Talismans and Aperture-Opening Pills.
• He experiments with repeated forced analyses, hoping that enough failures will improve his odds on a valuable item. The strategy—or luck—pays off: he obtains three-star Intermediate Brain Development Technology.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing demonstrates his strategic control over the Gold Island incident and his confidence in the peach tree’s safeguards. His windfall makes him more willing to gamble on the Gate’s analysis system, and he celebrates his eventual success.
• Difu readily accepts Shen Bing’s authority and reports on the island’s progress. He flatters Shen Bing extravagantly, but Shen Bing cuts the conversation short.
• Shen Bing’s plans show a continuing pattern of measured expansion: he wants to strengthen Gold Island without attracting undue attention.

Significant themes

• Strategic deception and control: Shen Bing turns the U.S. military’s choices into part of a prearranged trap.
• Technology as power: The chapter contrasts genetic enhancement with brain development, suggesting that intelligence-enhancing technology could be even more disruptive and dangerous.
• Risk, probability, and luck: Shen Bing treats repeated failures as a possible route to success, though he cannot tell whether his tactic or chance produced the breakthrough.
• Secrecy and restraint: Despite his growing resources and capabilities, Shen Bing avoids expanding Gold Island too conspicuously and keeps the most consequential technology from public release.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing’s team’s new ability to observe and synthesize dark matter and dark energy lets them advance rapidly in several research fields, including cancer treatment, gene enhancement, and brain enhancement.
• After analyzing many Nine Heavens Divine Talismans, Shen Bing obtains three-star Charged Particle Cannon Manufacturing Technology. He sends its information to Qiuqiu so the team can study its broader scientific applications.
• Shen Bing transfers out ten Aperture-Opening Pills, empowers ten researchers, and sends them with assistants to Gold Island. The site will host research into gravity control, energy weapons, weather control, and related fields, while spreading the company’s research across more than one location.
• The Wind God Type 1 returns from its round-the-world journey without landing at major airports, confirming its nuclear-powered capability. A second completed aircraft is also spotted, and two planes soon take off—apparently for military delivery.
• The military renames the aircraft War God and plans to modify it for stealth. It will serve both as a deployment platform for Patrol Units and as a strategic weapons carrier.
• Phantom Immortal Technology announces that it is entering the civil aviation market, ensuring its aircraft plant will not rely solely on military orders.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains ambitious and relentlessly busy: even after reaching his main research goal, he keeps analyzing talismans, expands his research operation, and plans the company’s commercial future.
• Qiuqiu supports Shen Bing’s work by receiving the new technology, selecting researchers, and helping coordinate their reassignment.
• Thorne escorts the empowered researchers and assistants to Gold Island.
• The military’s adoption of the aircraft transforms Shen Bing’s invention from a commercial and technological achievement into a major national defense asset.

Significant themes

• Scientific advantage: System-provided principles and new dark-matter methods give Shen Bing’s team a head start over conventional researchers.
• Power and deterrence: The War God’s stealth, range, and payload are presented as tools that could shift the balance of power and discourage aggression.
• Strategic resilience: Moving researchers to Gold Island reflects the value of distributing resources rather than concentrating everything in one vulnerable location.
• Commercial ambition: Shen Bing wants Phantom Immortal Technology to serve both military and civilian markets, not become solely a defense contractor.

Plot points and events

• Phantom Immortal Technology’s Wind God Type 1 heavy transport plane triggers worldwide concern and excitement. Airbus and Boeing fear a new competitor, while critics question the plane’s safety and its quick entry into commercial aviation.
• The company’s subsidiary, Phantom Immortal Transport, announces a 100-billion-yuan order for twenty planes, implying a price of five billion yuan each. Other airlines hesitate because the aircraft has not completed certification testing.
• Phantom Immortal Technology says little publicly, continuing military production while expanding its assembly plant to build at least four aircraft at once.
• A U.S. carrier fleet leaves Gold Island, wary of the island’s mysteries, the unexplained F-35 crashes, and Phantom Immortal Technology’s stealth capabilities.
• Cargo ships deliver sealed equipment to Gold Island. Spy satellites reveal that the island’s population appears to be growing.
• At the island’s center, Difu sees a newly installed holographic display showing Shen Bing. He reports that 800 Standard Robots were made in two days: 200 are assembling an ion accelerator, and 600 are working on a spaceship.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing treats the Wind God Type 1 as a straightforward money-making product, not a strategic priority, and orders the factory to expand production capacity.
• Difu is astonished by the holographic technology and reports the robots’ rapid production and assignments to Shen Bing.
• Airbus, Boeing, and U.S. military leaders respond cautiously to Phantom Immortal Technology’s growing power, while airlines remain unwilling to risk buying an uncertified aircraft.

Significant themes

• Disruption and competition: Phantom Immortal Technology’s technological leap threatens established industry leaders.
• Public trust versus capability: The plane’s performance inspires confidence, but its lack of certification fuels safety concerns.
• Secrecy and uncertainty: Gold Island’s unexplained events and growing population unsettle outside observers.
• Scale and efficiency: The mass production of robots and expansion of aircraft manufacturing show the company operating at an extraordinary pace.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing orders increased robot production, aiming for a workforce of at least ten thousand at Ocean City. Difu suggests liquid-metal bodies; intrigued, Shen Bing assigns Qiuqiu’s team to explore the technology using materials from the fallen alien spaceship.
• Shen Bing tells Difu to oversee Gold Island and strengthen its defenses. Difu considers its existing weapons, Dark Matter Shield, and Gravity Control Technology enough to make it nearly invincible, but Shen Bing remains cautious.
• Shen Bing reviews plans for a 100-satellite positioning system intended eventually to serve the Moon and other planets. Satellite construction is progressing, while producing Antigravity Devices remains the main technical obstacle.
• In the Gate to the Immortal Realm, Shen Bing visits the pristine but inactive Yama Hall with Little Nine. Little Nine explains that restarting it requires King Yama, whose whereabouts are unknown. A system hint reveals that finding the Judge’s Brush, Book of Life and Death, and Yama King’s Seal will awaken him.
• Before investigating the treasures, Shen Bing notices a new quest: Wind Granny’s Wind Bag has been stolen. Though she suspects Great Sage Sun because of a Monkey Hair found on her clothing, Shen Bing realizes Sun probably is not responsible.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing delegates more research rather than trying to handle everything himself, while balancing ambitious real-world projects with the Gate’s quests. He remains cautious about threats despite Difu’s confidence in Gold Island.
• Difu proposes more advanced combat robots and argues that Gold Island is already exceptionally secure. Shen Bing hears him out but keeps his deeper concerns to himself.
• Little Nine provides guidance about Yama Hall and the Underworld, but admits even powerful beings may not know what happened to King Yama.
• Wind Granny is introduced through the quest as quick to suspect Great Sage Sun, partly because of his earlier theft of her Wind Bag. Shen Bing questions that assumption.

Significant themes

• Delegation and ambition: Shen Bing aims to build organizations and systems capable of advancing without his constant direct involvement.
• Security and uncertainty: Gold Island’s defenses may seem overwhelming, yet Shen Bing believes caution is necessary.
• Exploration and technological progress: The satellite network reflects plans extending beyond Earth, while alien materials and antigravity research offer further possibilities.
• Mystery and investigation: Yama Hall’s revival depends on recovering lost treasures, and the Wind Bag quest begins with a misleading-looking clue that Shen Bing doubts.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing suspects that the monkey hair found on Wind Granny’s stolen Wind Bag belongs not to Sun Wukong, but to the elusive Six-Eared Macaque.
• He uses the quest’s teleport option, expecting to arrive near Wind Granny, but instead appears in a wilderness—and is immediately killed by a staff strike.
• The system identifies his killer as the Six-Eared Macaque. Shen Bing revives elsewhere, teleports nearby, and confronts him while holding a powerful divine talisman.
• The Macaque is baffled when Shen Bing’s corpse vanishes and then Shen Bing appears again. He senses a deadly threat and fears Shen Bing could kill him.
• Shen Bing demands compensation for the unprovoked attack, eventually asking to inspect the Macaque’s staff. The Macaque hesitates, since the staff is essential to him.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing is resourceful and persistent: he turns an apparent death into an opportunity to locate and confront the suspect. Though furious, he restrains himself because his talisman might kill the Macaque outright.
• The Six-Eared Macaque is shown as powerful and quick to react to danger, but also confused and unnerved by Shen Bing’s mysterious revival and threatening presence.
• Their encounter shifts from sudden violence to an uneasy negotiation. The Macaque tries to explain himself and offers compensation, while Shen Bing refuses to let the attack pass without redress.

Significant themes

• Identity and mistaken appearances: The Macaque looks almost exactly like Sun Wukong, making the monkey hair misleading.
• Uncertainty and mystery: Shen Bing’s unexpected teleportation and revival leave both characters searching for explanations.
• Power and leverage: Although the Macaque easily kills Shen Bing once, Shen Bing’s ability to return—and his dangerous talisman—reverses the balance between them.
• Consequences and compensation: Shen Bing insists that even a mistaken attack must be answered for.

Plot points and events

• The Six-Eared Macaque recognizes the purple lightning as the Heavenly Dao’s Violet Sky Divine Thunder and, frightened, throws Shen Bing his life-bound Compliant Iron Rod.
• Shen Bing uses the system’s trading function to claim the rod. The Macaque loses his connection to it and suffers damage, but assumes an unseen powerhouse has taken it.
• Shen Bing lets the Macaque believe he is backed by a hidden force, then demands more treasures to settle the matter.
• Shen Bing hopes the system will accept the rod as a legitimate acquisition because the Macaque first killed him with it, establishing cause and effect. The rod enters his inventory without a quest-item restriction.
• When the Macaque tosses him another treasure, the system does not open a trade window. Shen Bing catches it with the Immortal Realm Gate Character, but the unidentified sphere has no description and appears unusable.

Character developments

• Shen Bing grows bolder after successfully acquiring the rod, using the threat of divine thunder to bluff the Macaque and probe the system’s limits. He is still uncertain how far he can push either.
• The Six-Eared Macaque shifts from aggression to fear and caution. Convinced a powerful hidden figure is involved, he conceals that suspicion and tries to avoid provoking Shen Bing further.

Significant themes

• Power and intimidation: The threat of divine punishment shapes the encounter, even though Shen Bing’s apparent control is partly a bluff.
• Cause, effect, and fairness: The system’s rules prevent Shen Bing from simply taking possessions; the Macaque’s attack may justify the rod’s transfer.
• Misunderstanding and deception: Shen Bing’s system-driven success looks to the Macaque like the work of an unseen powerhouse, allowing a false impression to govern their choices.

Character interactions

• The Macaque throws the rod at Shen Bing hoping to make its weight or impact harm him; Shen Bing instead claims it through the system.
• Shen Bing accuses the Macaque of trying to reclaim the rod, while the Macaque insists he gave it willingly and hides his belief that someone else intervened.
• Shen Bing demands further payment under threat of another confrontation. The Macaque offers a sphere, but the system’s failure to recognize it leaves Shen Bing with an object he cannot identify or use.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing cannot store or analyze items unless they enter his backpack, so he pretends the Six-Eared Macaque’s valuable sphere is worthless and sends it back.
• Under the threat of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, the Macaque reluctantly empties his Mustard Seed Space, tossing treasures to Shen Bing. Most are returned, but some mysteriously disappear.
• The Macaque suspects Shen Bing may also be the powerful figure he imagined was hidden nearby, though he cannot prove it.
• A Water Mirror Talisman, marked as a quest item, disappears into Shen Bing’s inventory. The Macaque recognizes it and regrets throwing it away, but the thunder overhead prevents him from reclaiming it.
• Shen Bing accuses him of trying to take the talisman back and demands further compensation. The Macaque continues surrendering treasures.
• Another trade window appears, offering Wind Granny’s Wind Bag—the objective of Shen Bing’s quest. Shen Bing immediately accepts, securing it in his backpack.

Character developments

• Shen Bing remains calculating and opportunistic, masking his interest in the treasures while exploiting the Macaque’s fear and uncertainty. He prioritizes obtaining quest items, especially the Wind Bag.
• The Six-Eared Macaque shifts from defiance to anxious compliance. He grows increasingly suspicious of Shen Bing’s identity and frustrated by the unexplained losses, but recognizes that his earlier attack has left him vulnerable.

Significant themes

• Power and coercion: The threat of divine lightning forces the Macaque to obey.
• Uncertainty and mistaken assumptions: The Macaque cannot tell whether Shen Bing is responsible for the vanished treasures, and Shen Bing’s feigned surprise deepens the confusion.
• Retribution: The Macaque sees his predicament as payback for striking Shen Bing with his rod.
• Greed and opportunism: Shen Bing exploits the situation to acquire valuable items and complete his quest.

Character interactions

• Shen Bing manipulates the Macaque by returning most treasures while concealing which ones he wants.
• The Macaque tries to interpret Shen Bing’s behavior and recover the lost talisman, but Shen Bing rebuffs him and demands more offerings.
• Their exchange is dominated by Shen Bing’s threats and the Macaque’s reluctant, increasingly bewildered obedience.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing reveals that he took the Six-Eared Macaque’s Compliant Iron Rod, Wind Bag, and Water Mirror Talisman. The Water Mirror Talisman contains recordings of the Macaque impersonating Great Sage Sun and causing trouble among the Immortal Realm’s gods.
• Shen Bing intends to bring the Macaque to the Heavenly Court, both to recover the Wind Bag for Wind Granny and to complete Great Sage Sun’s quest by arranging a confrontation between the two monkeys.
• The Macaque tries to buy his freedom with treasures, but the system does not recognize the offers as trades. Shen Bing refuses to let him go, despite the Macaque’s escalating bribes.
• The Macaque attacks. Shen Bing freezes his giant claw with Nine Heavens Divine Thunder and kills him with a lightning strike. The ancient demon dies without learning who Shen Bing is.
• Shen Bing uses the Water Mirror Talisman and discovers footage proving the impostor was the Six-Eared Macaque. The recordings reveal his sabotage was part of a Demon Realm mission to undermine the Immortal Realm.
• Although Shen Bing has recovered the Wind Bag, the system gives no teleport prompt. He decides to find Great Sage Sun first and ask where Wind Granny can be found.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing shifts from smugly negotiating to firmly prioritizing his quests. He is briefly shaken by the reality of killing an ancient being, then regains his composure and celebrates the unexpected evidence.
• The Six-Eared Macaque moves from confidence to alarm as he realizes Shen Bing has caught him with stolen property and incriminating recordings. His attempts to bargain fail, and he resorts to violence, which proves fatal.
• Their interaction is marked by a comic but tense mismatch: the Macaque expects negotiation and fairness, while Shen Bing’s quest-driven resolve—and the system’s refusal to accept bargains—makes compromise impossible.

Significant themes

• Power and consequence: A single use of Shen Bing’s divine lightning ends the life of a supposedly indestructible, primordial demon.
• Identity and deception: The recordings expose the Macaque’s impersonation of Great Sage Sun and turn his own habit of filming his exploits against him.
• The system’s arbitrary rules: Shen Bing’s plans and rewards are constrained by an opaque quest system that cannot be negotiated with.
• The surreal nature of Shen Bing’s world: His brief doubts about whether the Immortal Realm and its gods are real underline the unsettling weight of his actions.
• Unintended gains: The Macaque’s death prevents Shen Bing from bringing him to the Heavenly Court, but the recovered footage may still satisfy Great Sage Sun’s quest.

Key plot points and events

• Secretary Jiang urgently summons Shen Bing to Capital City for a meeting with the Chief and other national leaders. Shen Bing flies there in his supersonic private plane and is escorted through the city and a heavily secured military compound.
• At the meeting, General Qiu presents satellite images showing a new, perfectly square structure protruding from the far side of the moon. Its regular shape makes a natural origin seem unlikely.
• Shen Bing agrees that the object is probably artificial. He considers the United States and Russia but doubts either is responsible: the United States would likely publicize such an achievement, while Russia lacks the resources for a project on that scale.
• The leaders ask whether Phantom Immortal Technology—or its supposed secret research team—could have built it. Shen Bing realizes they have taken seriously a story he once invented to explain his company’s advanced inventions.
• He firmly denies any involvement and suggests the structure may not have been made by Earthlings. His suggestion shocks the leaders, who had already considered that possibility.

Character developments

• Shen Bing remains confident and composed, even among the country’s top political and military leaders. He is quick to analyze both the lunar images and the leaders’ suspicions, but privately recognizes that his own fabricated explanation for Phantom Immortal Technology’s breakthroughs has become difficult to escape.
• Li Xiao shows concern that the summons might be dangerous and suggests preparing for contingencies. Shen Bing reassures him, and Li Xiao regains confidence in their ability to protect themselves.
• The Chief and other leaders take Shen Bing’s capabilities seriously. Their meeting reflects both their trust in their working relationship with him and their uncertainty about the true source of his company’s technology.

Significant themes

• The consequences of deception: Shen Bing’s invented “mysterious research team” has shaped the government’s understanding of him and now complicates an already serious conversation.
• The unknown and the limits of human knowledge: A possible artificial structure on the moon raises the prospect of technology or intelligence beyond Earth.
• Power, trust, and national security: Shen Bing’s extraordinary assets make him strategically important, but mutual confidence keeps the relationship between him and the authorities intact.
• Composure under pressure: Shen Bing’s calm contrasts with the gravity of the discovery and the importance of the people questioning him.

Character interactions

• Secretary Jiang conveys the urgency of the summons and arranges Shen Bing’s rapid arrival.
• Shen Bing reassures Li Xiao that neither the leadership nor any likely threat should be feared.
• The Chief directs General Qiu to brief Shen Bing, then invites his assessment and probes whether his company might be involved.
• Shen Bing’s denial and suggestion of a non-Earthly origin shift the meeting from a question of human responsibility toward the possibility of something beyond Earth.

Plot points and events

• After Shen Bing rules out Earthly origins for the artificial-looking black spot on the Moon, the leaders conclude that aliens are the likeliest explanation. Shen puts the chance of a supernatural cause below one percent.
• He links the spot to an alien spacecraft that crashed on the U.S. East Coast, arguing that its appearance and the lunar structure are unlikely to be coincidental. The craft is now at a Huaxian military research base.
• The leaders agree they must investigate the Moon while preparing for the possibility of hostile aliens and consulting other major powers.
• Shen urges an accelerated crewed Moon landing. When officials worry about the danger and assume he means Huaxia’s existing program, the chief reveals that Shen’s company has a separate plan.
• Shen says his company has spent nearly a hundred billion building a true spaceship, now in final assembly. He expects it to be ready within about twenty days, making a lunar landing feasible. The chief and Chief Zhou vouch for him, citing the company’s advanced aircraft technology and the chief’s prior trust in Shen.
• The meeting ends with the leaders considering a dire question: whether nuclear weapons could be used against the aliens.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing is confident in his assessment and pushes for action, presenting his company’s spacecraft as a way to uncover the truth. He is moved by the chief’s public support.
• The chief backs Shen despite never having seen the spacecraft firsthand, and steers the room away from arguments about risk.
• Chief Zhou supports Shen’s assessment and redirects the leaders toward practical planning.
• The other leaders and generals shift from seeking reassurance to confronting the possibility of an alien threat. General Chen urges caution, while another general argues that danger is unavoidable.
• Shen’s exchanges with the leaders reveal both their uncertainty about the Moon’s structure and their growing reliance on his technology.

Significant themes

• Fear of the unknown: The possibility of alien contact inspires dread more than excitement.
• Preparation versus caution: Leaders debate whether to move quickly despite the risks.
• Trust and technological dependence: Huaxia’s response may depend on Shen’s privately developed spacecraft.
• Global cooperation and survival: The leaders consider sharing information with other powers and preparing for a potentially hostile civilization.

Plot points

• At a confidential meeting, officials consider nuclear weapons as a last resort against the apparent alien presence on the Moon, but recognize the danger and practical limits of such an attack.
• Shen Bing leaves Kyoto convinced the aliens have arrived and likely have hostile intentions. His knowledge of a genetic code studied at the Underground Research Base strengthens his suspicion.
• Doubting humanity’s ability to respond through existing institutions, Shen decides to make a small reconnaissance craft and personally investigate the Moon’s far side. He mentally designs a basic one-person spaceship using his command of Phantom Immortal Technology’s research.
• Yun Xue and Yuan Wei ask Shen Bing for a separate laboratory, frustrated by having to conceal their enhanced abilities at the Research and Development Center. He agrees and invites them to see his experimental area at Villa No. 2.

Character developments

• Shen Bing shifts from worrying about the alien threat to taking practical action, choosing to investigate the Moon himself. He also shows trust in Yun Xue and Yuan Wei by welcoming them into his private research space.
• Yun Xue wants to pursue intelligent control, especially improvements to the Spirit Immortal Robot’s movement and control systems.
• Yuan Wei moves from neurobehavioral research toward human genetics, hoping to improve health at its source rather than merely treat symptoms.
• Both women become more confident in their abilities and eager for work that challenges them.

Character interactions and themes

• The officials’ secret discussion highlights the tension between preparing for catastrophe and avoiding panic.
• Shen Bing supports Yun Xue’s and Yuan Wei’s chosen fields without directing them, giving them freedom to follow their interests.
• The chapter emphasizes the looming danger of alien contact, the limits of human power, and the need for initiative. It also explores trust and partnership: Shen’s invitation to his laboratory signals that the two women are becoming part of the most important sphere of his life.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing takes Yun Xue and Yuan Wei to a vast research base hidden hundreds of meters beneath his bedroom. Villa No. 2, they realize, is only a public-facing front for his much larger operation.
• Qiuqiu, a holographic little-girl avatar, startles the visitors by appearing through a wall. Shen explains that the facility’s holographic technology is real and far beyond public systems. Qiuqiu is also a far more advanced AI than Dragon Scale or Aili, which are merely simplified offshoots.
• The women tour the facility and see exceptionally advanced laboratories and researchers at work. Shen invites them to join the research team if they wish; Yuan Wei is visibly excited, and both follow Qiuqiu on the tour.
• Shen heads to the Central Control Center and asks Qiuqiu to refine a design he has conceived, then send it to Lu Shiyi and Lu Twelve for rapid production.
• Qiuqiu questions the design’s usefulness, suggesting it is too small for interstellar travel and could barely reach Mars on nuclear fuel. Shen feels dismissed: “I’ve been snubbed.”

Character developments and interactions

• Yun Xue and Yuan Wei move from fear and disbelief to wonder as they grasp the scale and sophistication of Shen’s hidden research base. Their confidence in his abilities deepens; Yuan Wei shows particular enthusiasm for working there.
• Shen Bing is proud of his technology but casually treats its revelations as only a fraction of what the women will see. His confidence is briefly punctured by Qiuqiu’s blunt technical criticism.
• Qiuqiu is playful and teasing, calling the visitors Shen’s “mistresses,” yet also functions as a formidable AI capable of advanced design work and simulation.
• The women’s awe contrasts with Qiuqiu’s matter-of-fact skepticism, which turns the chapter’s final moment into a joke at Shen’s expense.

Significant themes

• Hidden technological superiority: Publicly celebrated innovations are portrayed as primitive derivatives of Shen’s secret work.
• Wonder and shifting perspective: Each discovery forces Yun Xue and Yuan Wei to revise their sense of what is technologically possible.
• Collaboration and expertise: Shen recognizes Qiuqiu’s superior ability in simulation and delegates design refinement to her.
• Humor through deflation: Shen’s grand ambitions meet Qiuqiu’s practical doubts, ending the chapter on comic “snubbing.”

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing clarifies that he plans to send someone—not himself—to investigate the Moon’s far side. He suspects the aliens have already arrived there.
• Qiuqiu proposes sending an Intelligent Robot made with adamantium alloy. It could withstand more damage than a standard robot, test the aliens’ capabilities, and transmit findings to Earth.
• Shen Bing approves. Demon Puppet Artisans rapidly build the robot’s adamantium-alloy frame, a small spacecraft, and compact nuclear-powered engines.
• The completed craft, the A2 Fighter Aircraft, is a miniature stealth-bomber-shaped vehicle under five meters long. Shen Bing orders Ghost No. 1, the newly activated humanoid robot, to pilot it.
• Old Ban arrives, and Ghost No. 1 climbs into the A2. The craft begins to rise.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing is cautious: he wants useful intelligence but refuses to risk himself, and he weighs the possibility that the aliens could defeat even adamantium alloy.
• Qiuqiu shifts from joking about the Moon and Chang’e to offering a practical mission plan, showing its usefulness despite its cheeky manner.
• Ghost No. 1 is introduced as a powerful, weapons-equipped robot who confidently confirms that he has memorized his orders.
• Shen Bing directs the operation, consulting Qiuqiu’s suggestion and then instructing Ghost No. 1 to pilot the craft. Thorne brings Old Ban to the launch area.

Significant themes

• Preparation for an unknown threat: Shen Bing seeks intelligence before deciding how humanity might respond.
• Technology and capability: The chapter contrasts Earth’s ordinary manufacturing limits with the rapid production enabled by the Demon Puppet Artisans.
• Risk and uncertainty: Adamantium alloy may protect the robot, but Shen Bing recognizes that the aliens’ strength remains unknown.
• Human contradiction: Shen Bing wants the aliens to be powerful enough to make the mission interesting, but not so powerful that humanity is doomed.

Key events

• Shen Bing tests the nearly silent A2 fighter and loads it onto Old Ban, the Immortal Carriage, which can transport the aircraft using its magical storage-like space.
• Yun Xue and Yuan Wei, after exploring the Underground Base and learning about its advanced research and living facilities, tell Shen Bing what work they want to pursue.
• Yuan Wei sticks with genetic research and will first study the field’s materials. Yun Xue switches from robotics to developing human-compatible mecha, arguing that human judgment may make mecha more suitable than robots for future individual combat.
• Shen Bing approves, warning that the alien mecha they possess offers little usable guidance and that designing one for humans will be close to starting from scratch.
• He instructs both women to work at the base only during normal hours and spend the rest of their time outside, because they are his wives, not merely researchers.

Character developments and interactions

• Yuan Wei shows firm commitment to genetic research; Yun Xue displays confidence and a persistent enthusiasm for combat-related technology.
• Shen Bing is impressed by Yun Xue’s reasoning but suspects she ultimately wants to build a mecha for herself—and challenge him.
• The women accept Shen Bing’s explanation for how the base was established and where its researchers came from, and are more interested in their projects and working conditions.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts the base’s extraordinary technological edge with ordinary industry, while Shen Bing jokes that comparing them is like “picking on little kids.”
• Scientific ambition and personal choice drive the women’s career decisions.
• Shen Bing’s final instruction highlights the tension between work and private life: despite the base’s research culture, he wants his wives to maintain lives outside it.

Key plot points and events

• Yun Xue and Yuan Wei accept Shen Bing’s invitation to join the R&D team and are eager to begin their research. They agree to celebrate afterward with hot pot.
• Shen Bing reflects that, although he has two girlfriends, he is deliberately taking their relationship slowly. He sees their shared life as a trial period and wants Yun Xue and Yuan Wei to feel fully comfortable with it before anything changes.
• Thorne launches the A2 fighter from the invisible Immortal Carriage, Old Ban. The craft accelerates to 200 times the speed of sound and heads toward the moon, transmitting live images back to Phantom Immortal Technology.
• Watching the moon grow larger on the holographic display, Shen Bing sees the company’s first lunar journey unfold—though privately, rather than as the public spectacle he had originally envisioned.

Character developments

• Yun Xue and Yuan Wei are excited by scientific discovery and increasingly committed to working together. Their willingness to treat one another as family is developing gradually.
• Shen Bing balances playful frustration about his romantic life with a serious respect for his partners’ feelings, choosing patience over rushing the relationship.
• Thorne takes command of the A2’s maiden journey, while the successful test demonstrates the remarkable capabilities of Phantom Immortal Technology’s craft.

Significant themes

• Discovery and ambition: For gifted researchers, pursuing knowledge is a source of joy; the moon mission embodies technological ambition.
• Patience and consent in relationships: Shen Bing believes intimacy should wait until both women genuinely accept their unusual arrangement.
• Private achievement versus public recognition: The secret lunar journey contrasts with Shen Bing’s original dream of a celebrated, world-watched landing.

Character interactions

• Yun Xue and Yuan Wei respond together to Shen Bing’s questions and share his invitation to celebrate, showing growing ease with one another.
• Shen Bing encourages their research, teases them about the celebration, and privately considers how best to build their relationship.
• Thorne directs the A2’s launch; Shen Bing follows the flight remotely through the images it sends back.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing sends the A2 aircraft to survey a dark region on the Moon, first checking for other anomalies before approaching the site.
• The survey reveals a square complex of black, castle-like buildings and several fast-moving objects. Shen Bing cannot tell whether they are armored alien creatures or robots.
• At the complex’s center, a black, rippling halo appears to function as a portal. Three objects emerge before it smooths over and becomes inactive.
• Shen Bing theorizes that the halo is a wormhole whose opening depends on unstable dark matter. If so, the visitors’ civilization may not have fully mastered the technology.
• Keeping A2 invisible, Ghost No. 1 lands more than ten kilometers away and heads toward the buildings to investigate and find a target to capture.
• As Ghost No. 1 nears the complex, bright lights appear above it, and several strange beings or machines leap down and converge on it.

Character developments

• Shen Bing is shaken by the discovery but responds analytically, weighing the possible technology and its limitations rather than assuming the aliens are invincible.
• He is also exhilarated by Ghost No. 1’s lunar landing, recognizing the significance of a new human-made footprint on the Moon.
• Ghost No. 1 acts cautiously, choosing a distant landing site to avoid alerting the unknown inhabitants, then proceeds to investigate.

Significant themes

• The unknown and the limits of knowledge: The moving figures and portal remain unexplained, forcing Shen Bing to distinguish observation from speculation.
• Scientific reasoning and technological uncertainty: Shen Bing compares wormholes with quantum teleportation and considers what the portal’s behavior might reveal about its mechanisms.
• Exploration and risk: The excitement of reaching the Moon gives way to danger as Ghost No. 1 approaches the alien structure.
• Human ambition: The landing symbolizes humanity’s expanding reach, even as it enters territory it does not understand.

Character interactions

• Shen Bing directs Ghost No. 1 through A2’s systems and evaluates the images it sends back.
• Ghost No. 1 follows Shen Bing’s investigative plan while making cautious operational choices. Its approach draws the attention of the beings or machines guarding the complex.

Key events

• Shen Bing sends Ghost One to investigate the alien machines on the Moon. Three metal, gorilla-like constructs attack him.
• Ghost One rapidly disables all three in hand-to-hand combat, then cuts them open. Shen Bing confirms they are mechanical and use electrical circuitry.
• Before Ghost One can investigate further, an unseen attacker hits him with an electron beam. The system rates its intensity at 3—powerful enough to destroy a heavy tank.
• Ghost One recovers and charges the attacker, dodging a sustained barrage. Shen Bing spots a more human-shaped, white-armored figure wielding a gun-like weapon. It discards the weapon and prepares to fight Ghost One directly.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing shifts from confidence to caution: Ghost One’s easy victory initially makes the aliens seem weak, but the beam attack reveals their more advanced capabilities. He also realizes he should have ordered Ghost One to preserve a specimen.
• Ghost One displays exceptional speed, strength, and predictive intelligence, fighting without fear and adapting quickly under fire.
• Shen Bing observes and directs the encounter remotely, while Ghost One acts as his probe and combatant. The two have no direct dialogue, but Shen Bing’s assessment changes as the battle unfolds.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence and reassessment: A seemingly weak enemy may possess more dangerous technology than first appears.
• Technology and uncertainty: The aliens’ constructs are mechanical and use electricity, but their true nature, energy sources, and intentions remain unknown.
• Exploration through risk: Shen Bing must push deeper into the alien presence to learn whether it contains living beings or is merely a probe.

Key plot points and events

• Ghost One receives mysterious signals from an alien-looking figure, but before he can make sense of them, several aliens ambush him with electron beams.
• The beams cannot pierce Ghost One’s adamantium-alloy shell, but their repeated impacts disrupt his systems and force him to reboot.
• When he comes back online, Ghost One is restrained against a wall in an alien cell. He pretends to remain incapacitated while listening to the aliens’ discussion.
• The aliens debate whether Ghost One is an intelligent being or merely a machine. Unable to destroy him, they decide to keep him imprisoned while they consider their next steps.
• Their conversation reveals that they intend to capture intelligent life-forms and obtain their bodies. They also discuss accelerating preparations for an attack on Earth, though some fear acting too hastily.
• Ghost One reports that he can break free, but Shen Bing tells him to stay put so they can learn more.
• Shen Bing concludes that the three weak mechanical units Ghost One first encountered were likely alien labor machines, and that the aliens’ intentions toward humanity are dangerous.

Character developments

• Shen Bing shifts from surprise at Ghost One’s apparent durability to cautious strategic thinking, choosing intelligence gathering over an immediate escape.
• Ghost One proves resilient and disciplined: despite being able to escape, he follows Shen Bing’s order and continues observing the aliens.
• The aliens show both confidence and uncertainty. They are willing to attack Earth, yet the failure of their weapons against Ghost One makes them wary of underestimating their opponents.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Ghost One’s exterior remains unharmed, but the force of the attack still causes internal system failure.
• Technology and vulnerability: Even advanced machines can be disabled without being physically destroyed.
• Caution and intelligence gathering: Shen Bing and Ghost One prioritize learning the enemy’s plans over acting impulsively.
• Threat of invasion and exploitation: The aliens’ plan to obtain bodies and potentially attack Earth raises the stakes for humanity.

Character interactions

• Shen Bing and Ghost One coordinate remotely: Ghost One gathers information and asks whether to escape, while Shen Bing directs him to remain captive for now.
• The aliens argue over Ghost One’s nature and what to do with him, revealing their limited understanding of his capabilities.
• The aliens’ disagreement over whether to attack immediately or prepare more carefully exposes their internal uncertainty.