Chapter Summaries

Key plot points

• Shen Bing visits Phantom Immortal Technology’s new factory, where the telescope production lines have just been installed. He orders Wang Dong to finish organizing security and report to the company, hinting at a promotion.
• Shen asks whether Wang Gang has behaved suspiciously. Wang Dong reports that Wang Gang requested leave and is being watched; Shen stresses that the surveillance must not fail.
• Shen inspects the telescope equipment and begins recalibrating it with a small team. Although the machinery is advanced, producing the promised Over-the-Horizon Telescope will require extensive modifications to the molds, lens-grinding process, robotic arms, and assembly procedures.
• A message from Little Doudou prompts Shen to call Wang Sheng and order the company to transfer 500 million yuan to short Heavenly Auspice Special Glass, a competitor he believes helped sabotage Phantom Immortal’s recent bidding event. Wang Sheng doubts the risky move but complies.
• At a Qingliu District government meeting, District Chief Feng is unexpectedly taken away by the Discipline Inspection Commission on suspicion of serious violations. The meeting continues, while officials privately worry about the vacancy and possible fallout.
• Deputy District Chief Zhou Changlin receives a call from the municipal bureau director and leaves to handle a “major case.” He alone understands the connection to Feng’s removal, but keeps it to himself.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing shows confidence in both technical work and high-risk financial decisions. He trusts Wang Dong with security matters and puts Wang Sheng in the difficult position of carrying out an order he considers dangerous.
• Wang Dong is grateful for Shen’s recognition and feels personally loyal to him. He responds promptly to Shen’s instructions, including keeping Wang Gang under surveillance.
• Wang Sheng acts as a cautious professional manager: he challenges Shen’s plan to short the stock, fearing it could ruin the company, but ultimately obeys.
• Zhou Changlin emerges as politically alert and secretive. While other officials are bewildered by Feng’s arrest, Zhou understands more than he reveals.
• Shen’s terse exchanges with Wang Dong and Wang Sheng highlight the contrast between his commanding certainty and the concerns of those around him.

Significant themes

• Power and loyalty: Wang Dong’s gratitude and Wang Sheng’s reluctant obedience show how personal trust shapes workplace relationships.
• Risk and ambition: Shen is willing to gamble company funds on a bold market move while also pushing ahead with technically demanding manufacturing.
• Political uncertainty: Feng’s sudden removal exposes the fear, opportunism, and self-preservation beneath the officials’ public composure.
• Hidden schemes and suspense: Wang Gang’s suspicious leave, Little Doudou’s message, and Zhou’s unexplained departure suggest larger plans unfolding behind the scenes.

Plot points and events

• After District Chief Feng is detained over his role in Lin Zijian’s case, Lin Tianxiang learns that Phantom Immortal Technology is working on a top-secret military project. He realizes his son’s attempt to obtain Dream Glass technology could ruin both Lin Zijian and the family company.
• Lin Zijian returns home drunk. His father slaps and berates him, then questions him about the plot to steal equipment from the Illusion Immortal Glass Factory. Lin Zijian admits that Yu Liang arranged the mercenaries and identifies factory technician Wang Gang as another person involved.
• Before the family can locate Wang Gang, police arrive and take Lin Zijian back to the detention center. Lin Tianxiang retrieves Wang Gang’s phone number and tells his butler to act, hoping to contain the damage. Unknown to him, a hidden kitten has recorded the conversation.
• At an abandoned factory, an attempt is made on Wang Gang’s life. Two security guards from the Illusion Immortal Glass Factory—both veterans—stop the attacker. Wang Gang is taken to hospital under police guard.
• Deputy Director Chang discovers that Lin Tianxiang ordered the attack to silence Wang Gang. Director Zhou explains that Phantom Immortal Technology has supplied police with a video recording of Lin Tianxiang’s actions and words at home. Police prepare to arrest him, and Chang realizes the case’s national-security implications make the Lin family’s situation dire.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Tianxiang shifts from fear for his family to desperate damage control. He lashes out at his wife and son, then tries to distance Lin Zijian from the theft plot and eliminate a key witness.
• Lin Zijian is stunned by the military connection and insists he did not know about it. His carelessness—especially failing to keep track of Wang Gang—deepens his father’s anger and leaves the family exposed.
• Lin Zijian’s mother remains protective of her son and urges her husband to focus on finding a solution.
• Director Zhou and Deputy Director Chang act quickly as the investigation expands. Chang questions the evidence’s admissibility, but Zhou’s response signals that this is not an ordinary case.

Significant themes

• Power and accountability: Lin Tianxiang’s wealth and connections prove insufficient once the investigation reaches national-security matters.
• Escalating consequences: A scheme to steal technology grows into a family-wide crisis and an attempted murder.
• Desperation and moral collapse: Lin Tianxiang’s efforts to protect his son lead him to consider—and apparently order—silencing a witness.
• Surveillance and evidence: The hidden recording exposes Lin Tianxiang’s plans, turning his attempt at secrecy against him.

Key plot points and events

• After arranging a murder through his steward, Lin Tianxiang is arrested on suspicion of murder. He fears the timing makes the connection obvious, but hopes his eldest son, Lin Shaogong, can protect the family’s business and reputation.
• Shen Bing spends the afternoon and night calibrating equipment at the Illusion Immortal Glass Factory, preparing a production line for his new military telescope.
• The next day, he orders security measures and starts a trial production run. The automated line efficiently assembles telescopes from alloy bodies, precision-ground lenses, and electronic components. Workers pack the products without inspecting them, since testing could reveal the telescopes’ confidential capabilities.
• Shen tests the first sample and is pleased: the telescopes can identify faces at a distance of up to twenty kilometers. He appoints Dong Qiang factory director and leaves Wang Dong responsible for security.
• On the drive home, Shen calls Gao Jingchuan, jokes suggestively about his panting while he trains military dogs, then offers him a telescope sample for military testing.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Tianxiang faces the collapse of his position but clings to the hope that his son can manage the family’s affairs.
• Shen Bing demonstrates extraordinary technical skill and confidence, while also taking strict steps to protect his company’s products and military secrets.
• Dong Qiang is delighted by his promotion and promises to safeguard the factory.
• Gao Jingchuan is training two unusually strong military dogs using Shen’s drug. He is briefly caught off guard by Shen’s teasing, then focuses on the practical offer of a telescope.
• Shen’s teasing, familiar banter with Gao contrasts with his disciplined, businesslike approach at the factory.

Significant themes

• Innovation and technical prowess: Shen’s rapid calibration and the seamless production line show how his unusual abilities drive industrial progress.
• Secrecy and security: The factory’s guards, confidentiality agreements, and concealed testing procedures reflect the strategic importance of the telescopes.
• Power and family legacy: Lin Tianxiang’s arrest exposes his dependence on his family’s wealth and his hopes for his son to preserve it.
• Ambition and military collaboration: Shen is building a high-tech business while offering the military a demonstration of its value.

Plot points and events

• Heavenly Auspice Special Glass’s stock collapses after online reports reveal its chairman has been arrested on suspicion of murder and expose the company’s alleged dark history. The company’s attempts to steady the price fail, and it must disclose the arrest.
• Shen Bing learns that Phantom Immortal Technology has already made nearly ¥50 million by shorting the stock, with the price likely to fall further. The Nancy Group has also paid a ¥200 million deposit for Dream Glass, giving Shen a path toward raising the ¥800 million needed to acquire Super Artificial Intelligence Technology.
• Yuan Wei arrives to begin work as Shen’s housekeeper. She asks whether he paid for her meal recently; Shen confirms, explaining that he was moved by what he overheard about her situation. He invites her to ride with him, but she refuses to let him walk, so they walk together while the driver takes the car.
• As they enter Shen’s exclusive residential compound, Yuan Wei wonders whether her wealthy employer has ulterior motives. She asks if he lives alone; Shen says he lives with his driver, Li Xiao.
• A group of luxury cars pulls up, and an arrogant young man gets out and confronts Shen, calling him a “little bastard.” The chapter ends as the conflict begins.

Character developments

• Shen Bing remains calculating and ambitious, viewing the stock collapse and Nancy Group’s deposit as opportunities to fund his technology plans. Around Yuan Wei, however, he is considerate and modest, treating his earlier payment as a small favor.
• Yuan Wei is grateful to Shen but wary of his intentions. Her financial hardship and her mother’s illness have eased somewhat, yet she remains uncertain about her new employer and self-conscious about entering his wealthy world.
• Li Xiao continues as Shen’s dependable driver and is described as stern-looking but good-hearted toward those on his side.

Significant themes

• Power of public scandal: online revelations swiftly damage a company’s market value, showing how reputation and disclosure can shape a publicly listed firm’s fortunes.
• Ambition and financial leverage: Shen uses the crisis and new business opportunities to pursue a major technological acquisition.
• Class disparity and vulnerability: Yuan Wei’s anxiety about wealth, employment, and her mother’s medical care contrasts with Shen’s resources.
• Kindness and suspicion: Shen’s generosity offers Yuan Wei relief, but her circumstances make it difficult for her to trust that it comes without strings.

Character interactions

• Shen receives enthusiastic market and business updates from Wang Sheng, then shifts from strategic calculation to a polite, reassuring exchange with Yuan Wei.
• Yuan Wei’s gratitude is tempered by embarrassment and concern about propriety; Shen tries to put her at ease through small courtesies.
• The encounter with the flashy young man abruptly interrupts their walk and sets up a likely confrontation.

Plot points

• Shen Bing and Yuan Wei encounter Zhou Zhengwen, whom Shen Bing previously beat, along with a group of his wealthy friends.
• Zhou and his companions surround them, taunt Shen, and boast that a friend’s father—a deputy district chief—can protect them from the police. Yuan Wei is frightened but offers to help Shen escape.
• Zhou also harasses Yuan Wei. Shen steps between them and challenges the group, despite being outnumbered.
• Shen appears not to move, yet the gang’s clothes suddenly disintegrate, leaving most of them exposed. As they scramble to cover themselves, the crew-cut ringleader orders them to attack Shen and take his clothes.
• The ringleader promptly falls face-first into a pile of cat waste. Shen mocks him, and the group begins to suspect Shen—and the kitten he is holding—caused the strange events.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains calm and taunting under threat, stepping in to protect Yuan Wei and using humor to unsettle his attackers. His apparent supernatural power becomes harder for the group to ignore.
• Yuan Wei is kind and courageous despite her fear: she urges Shen to run and tries to stop him from confronting the larger group.
• Zhou Zhengwen is still resentful of his earlier beating and tries to restore his pride by relying on his friends, but Shen’s confidence unnerves him.
• The crew-cut young man leads the confrontation and boasts about the group’s connections, then becomes the first to suffer a humiliating mishap.
• The gang’s initial bravado gives way to terror and suspicion as the bizarre incidents unfold.

Significant themes

• Arrogance and entitlement: The rich youths assume their status and connections let them intimidate others without consequences.
• Courage and protection: Yuan Wei’s offer to help and Shen’s defense of her contrast with the gang’s predatory behavior.
• Power and uncertainty: Shen’s unexplained abilities turn the group’s numerical advantage into fear.
• Humiliation and comic justice: The gang’s aggression is answered with public embarrassment, while Shen’s sarcastic commentary reinforces the reversal of power.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing and Yuan Wei encounter Zhou Zhengwen, a wealthy young man Shen Bing had previously beaten, along with a group of his friends.
• Zhou Zhengwen threatens Shen Bing and mocks him for lacking his bodyguard. When he notices Yuan Wei, he makes lewd advances toward her.
• Shen Bing shields Yuan Wei and warns the group off. His friends boast that one of them is the son of Longquan District’s deputy chief, implying the police will not help.
• Zhou Zhengwen dares Shen Bing to attack, expecting the group to overwhelm him. Instead, Little Doudou—the kitten Shen Bing has been carrying—leaps at Zhou and claws him.
• The group tries to catch Little Doudou, but the kitten evades them and tears their clothes and leaves them scratched and bleeding. After five chaotic minutes, the exhausted group is left frightened and disheveled.
• Little Doudou returns calmly to Shen Bing, while the attackers are too hurt and afraid to continue.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains cool and taunting under pressure. He protects Yuan Wei and lets Little Doudou handle the confrontation, showing confidence in the kitten’s abilities.
• Yuan Wei is frightened but selfless: she urges Shen Bing to escape and offers to hold the group off. She is later stunned by Little Doudou’s strength and agility.
• Zhou Zhengwen begins aggressively, emboldened by his friends and their connections, but his confidence collapses as Little Doudou attacks him and his companions.
• Little Doudou is revealed to be far more capable and dangerous than its small size suggests. It follows Shen Bing’s instruction to hold back, yet still easily overwhelms the group.
• Zhou’s friends reinforce his threats and try to intimidate Shen Bing, but their bravado gives way to panic and exhaustion once the kitten turns on them.

Significant themes

• Arrogance and privilege: Zhou and his friends assume money, numbers, and family connections make them untouchable.
• Hidden power: Little Doudou’s modest appearance conceals extraordinary ability.
• Protection and loyalty: Shen Bing steps between Zhou and Yuan Wei, while Yuan Wei is willing to risk herself for Shen Bing.
• Reversal of power: The group that came expecting to humiliate Shen Bing becomes the one humiliated.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing has decisively beaten Zhou Zhengwen’s group, leaving them battered and nearly without clothes in the winter cold. The crew-cut man threatens revenge, but Gao Jingchuan arrives before the confrontation can continue.
• Gao is stunned by the scene and immediately takes control. He orders the group to explain themselves, has clothes brought for them, and listens as the crew-cut man recounts what happened.
• Gao condemns them for retaliating when they were in the wrong. When the group regains some confidence after dressing, Shen mocks them, noting that they could not even defeat his cat, Little Doudou.
• Gao’s authority silences the group. Shen allows them to leave, but Gao warns that any further trouble will bring harsher consequences—and his father, a powerful military commander, may get involved.
• Gao orders the group to keep the incident secret and forbids them from driving while injured, telling them to leave their cars and call an ambulance. They obey and hurry away, blaming Zhou Zhengwen.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains relaxed and self-assured. He lets Gao handle the aftermath, but his remark—“No need, I’ll handle it myself”—leaves the group uncertain about what he might do if they return.
• Gao Jingchuan shows a forceful, commanding side. He protects Shen, disciplines the offenders, and makes clear that Shen has powerful connections.
• Zhou Zhengwen and his companions shift from aggression to fear and obsequiousness once they realize they may have provoked someone connected to Gao’s influential family.
• Shen and Gao share an easy rapport: Shen calls him “Old Gao,” and Gao treats Shen’s safety and wishes as important. Shen also deliberately draws attention to Little Doudou’s unusual strength, leaving Gao to deal with questions about the cat.

Significant themes

• Power and intimidation: The group’s bravado disappears when faced with stronger authority and the possibility of serious consequences.
• Consequences for wrongdoing: Gao insists that being in the wrong does not excuse retaliation.
• Hidden strength and connections: Shen’s calm confidence, Little Doudou’s abilities, and Gao’s family influence all make the group realize they badly underestimated their opponent.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing and Gao Jingchuan discuss the rebellious young men they encountered. Gao explains that he knows their families and says the youths are not truly wicked. Shen learns that Gao’s father is a military-region commander, though he teases Gao about being “a dog-raiser” at a military dog-training base.
• Gao asks to see Shen’s remarkable telescope. At the rooftop of Shen’s villa, he tests it and discovers that it can show distant objects in extraordinary detail, with an unusually wide field of view and near-instant automatic focusing.
• Shen describes its sensors, chip, lenses, and magnetic-field-based focus adjustment, though his explanation leaves Gao baffled.
• Gao recognizes the telescope’s enormous military and commercial potential. He asks about its price and whether anyone could copy it. Shen says the stripped-down civilian model costs 20,000 and offers the complete technology package for one billion—not U.S. dollars—while warning that owning the design does not guarantee the ability to manufacture it properly.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains confident, teasing, and dismissive of status. He needles Gao about his job and intellect, while revealing that his company can mass-produce technology far beyond ordinary standards.
• Gao Jingchuan moves from excited curiosity to awe and commercial enthusiasm. Despite his high-ranking family connections and military role, he is repeatedly outmatched by Shen’s knowledge and sharp remarks. His awareness of Lin Zijian’s failure makes him understand the risks of copying Phantom Immortal Technology.
• Yuan Wei, following quietly, is impressed by Shen’s composure and playful confidence around Gao and begins imagining him as an ideal boyfriend.

Significant themes

• Technological superiority and strategic power: The telescope’s capabilities could transform military surveillance and disrupt the global market.
• Knowledge versus practical capability: Having a technology package does not mean being able to reproduce a working product.
• Status and wit: Gao’s influence and excitement do little to shield him from Shen’s teasing or intellectual edge.

Shen Bing demonstrated an extraordinary telescope to Gao Jingchuan, who recognized its military potential and wondered whether Phantom Immortal Technology could be challenged. The chapter ended with Shen Bing offering to sell the technology while warning that possessing it would not guarantee anyone could manufacture a working telescope.

• Gao Jingchuan explained that the young men Shen Bing had encountered were connected to his father, and Shen Bing realized Gao Jingchuan was the son of a military district commander.
• At Villa No. 3 on Dragon Lake Ring Island, Shen Bing handed Gao Jingchuan the telescope, and Gao Jingchuan saw clearly across more than 20 kilometers with instant autofocus.
• Shen Bing described the telescope's sensors, chip, lenses, and magnetic-field-based adjustments, while Gao Jingchuan struggled to understand how it worked.
• Gao Jingchuan asked about pricing and learned that the civilian version would cost 20,000 and include autofocus as standard.
• Shen Bing offered Gao Jingchuan the complete technology for one billion, but warned that Phantom Immortal Technology's designs might still be impossible for others to manufacture successfully.

Key plot points

• Gao Jingchuan explains that the military has investigated Phantom Immortal Technology and still cannot reproduce Dream Glass or understand Shen Bing’s unusual capabilities. It rejects coercive tactics, recognizing that protecting Shen Bing and maintaining trust in innovation are more important.
• Gao and Shen Bing negotiate over Shen’s high-performance telescope. Gao offers 100,000 yuan per unit and promises an initial order of 10,000. Shen says that price requires a prepaid order of 20,000; otherwise, the price doubles to 200,000 per unit. The effective minimum deal is therefore two billion yuan.
• Shen names the telescope the Eagle Eye Type 1. Gao takes the sample back to seek approval, leaving excited about its potential but frustrated by the price.
• Shen looks ahead to using the proceeds to obtain the Demon Puppet Artisan from the Gate to the Immortal Realm, which he considers more useful to Phantom Immortal Technology’s current manufacturing focus than super artificial intelligence.
• At the villa, Shen discovers Yuan Wei has prepared an impressive meal. He praises her cooking and learns she developed the skill through her love of food and from her mother. He goes to fetch Li Xiao himself, since Li is exercising in his underwear.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Jingchuan is impressed by Shen’s technology but has to balance that enthusiasm against the enormous purchase cost. He tries appealing to their friendship, then realizes Shen is steering the negotiation toward a two-billion-yuan commitment.
• Shen Bing remains confident and commercially shrewd: he protects the perceived value of his invention while thinking strategically about how a major sale could advance his company. In private, he is also pleased with Yuan Wei’s cooking and shows consideration by not sending her into Li Xiao’s workout space.
• Yuan Wei emerges as a capable cook as well as the villa’s housekeeper. Her shy exchange with Shen hints at a warm, respectful rapport.
• The chapter’s main interaction is the playful, tense bargaining between Shen and Gao; its quieter closing scene shifts to Shen’s easygoing domestic interactions with Yuan Wei.

Significant themes

• Trust and ethical progress: The military rejects forceful appropriation, viewing it as damaging to both Shen and the country’s innovation climate.
• Technology and strategic value: Shen’s inventions are difficult to reproduce, and their worth extends beyond materials and manufacturing costs.
• Money versus friendship: Their joking exchange makes clear that business terms still govern even a friendly relationship.
• Ambition and practical priorities: Shen chooses the manufacturing-focused Demon Puppet Artisan as the most valuable next step for his company, despite the greater power of super AI.

Chapter Summary: “A Secret Meeting”

Key plot points and events

• Heavenly Auspice Special Glass shares hit the daily lower limit again. The company’s failure to promptly disclose its chairman Lin Tianxiang’s arrest has deepened investor distrust, while reports of the company’s past shady dealings add to the crisis.
• Lin Tianxiang’s eldest son, Lin Shaogong, is left struggling to defend the company. Public criticism ties the allegations to his father’s apparent willingness to commit murder, leaving him with few effective ways to respond.
• Shen Bing’s company, Phantom Immortal Technology, has made nearly 100 million yuan from the falling shares. Wang Sheng urges him to cash out, but Shen Bing wants to wait for a larger profit. He also asks whether the military has responded to its proposed lens purchase; there is no news yet.
• Shen Bing rewards Wang Sheng and the department managers with generous budgets for company cars, seeing luxury vehicles as useful for projecting strength in business negotiations.
• Shen Bing reviews the game system’s quests and new shop items. He rejects a dangerous quest requiring a trip to the Spirit Ruins, where magic is suppressed and ancient monsters must be faced through physical strength. He also discovers the next system upgrade requires twenty completed quests and 20,000 Immortal Jade. The newly available Dragon-Tiger Pill promises great physical strength, while the Nine Heavens Divine Talisman can call down divine thunder; both are costly.
• Commander Gao arrives in the capital with two military escorts and a briefcase. He proceeds to a high-level government compound for a confidential meeting with the nation’s chief, arranged within two hours because the matter is considered urgent and important.

Character developments

• Shen Bing is increasingly confident in his company’s finances and thinks strategically about both business and the military project. At the same time, he is frustrated by the system’s costly upgrade requirements and uncertain how to tackle its more difficult quests.
• Wang Sheng is enthusiastic about Shen Bing’s stock-market decision and accepts the company-car budget, understanding the business value of a strong corporate image.
• Lin Shaogong is shown as overwhelmed and effectively powerless as public suspicion compounds Heavenly Auspice Special Glass’s existing troubles.
• Commander Gao displays the gravity of the coming meeting through his tense grip on the briefcase and nervousness despite his senior military rank.

Significant themes

• Reputation and accountability: Heavenly Auspice’s lack of transparency worsens its financial crisis, while public distrust makes even explanations ineffective.
• Power and preparation: Shen Bing weighs expensive supernatural tools against their potential usefulness, while the government’s swift response to Commander Gao signals the importance of his information.
• Ambition and risk: Shen Bing seeks bigger profits and more powerful opportunities, but the quests and items he encounters carry substantial costs or danger.

Character interactions

• Wang Sheng praises Shen Bing’s stock strategy and discusses whether to sell; Shen Bing holds off and checks on the military’s potential purchase.
• Shen Bing uses company wealth to reward and equip his executives, reinforcing his authority and the firm’s public image.
• Commander Gao is escorted by military personnel, then greeted by Secretary Jiang, who leads him to the chief’s office. The brief, carefully arranged encounter emphasizes the secrecy and urgency of their meeting.

Key plot points and events

• Commander Gao presents the Eagle Eye Type 1 telescope to the Chief, who is astonished by its capabilities.
• The telescope can observe aircraft at up to 30 kilometers, with an exceptionally wide, high-definition field of view. Its images can be transmitted for computer analysis, potentially revealing aircraft that radar misses—including stealth planes.
• Commander Gao proposes pairing the telescopes with radar and using them to improve surveillance satellites and high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.
• After reviewing Shen Bing’s background, the Chief stresses that the government should protect and reward people who serve the country. He approves a large purchase: the original order of 10,000 telescopes is expanded to 20,000.
• The military plans to work with Phantom Immortal Technology on modifications that could create a nationwide aerial-surveillance network dubbed the “Eye of God.”

Character developments

• The Chief shifts from delighted amazement at the telescope to strategic planning. He also reveals concern that the country under-recognizes its researchers and argues that Shen Bing should be treated as a valued contributor.
• Commander Gao becomes increasingly impressed with the telescope’s national-security potential and revises his opinion of his son, Gao Jingchuan, recognizing his good judgment in identifying Shen Bing.
• Shen Bing, though absent, is established as a talented, trustworthy young entrepreneur whose technology may make a major contribution to national defense.

Significant themes

• Technology and national security: Innovative optical surveillance could overcome the limits of radar and stealth technology.
• Recognition of talent: The Chief argues that researchers and entrepreneurs who benefit the country deserve both protection and reward.
• Vision and judgment: The chapter contrasts the narrow practical view of issuing telescopes to troops with the broader strategic plan to integrate them into a national system.

Character interactions

• Commander Gao demonstrates the telescope to the Chief, then explains its military applications; Secretary Jiang watches but is gently held back from interrupting the Chief’s excitement.
• The Chief questions Shen Bing’s background, and Commander Gao reassures him that Shen is trustworthy and rooted in Rongcheng.
• The Chief teases Commander Gao by asking whether Gao Jingchuan is his son, then praises the younger Gao’s judgment through his decision to pursue Shen Bing’s technology.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing is furious when Gao Jingchuan calls him in the middle of the night with news that the military has approved a two-billion-yuan purchase of Eagle Eye Type 1 telescopes. Shen treats the deal as routine, hangs up, and turns off his phone, leaving Gao frustrated and sleepless.
• The next morning, Gao catches Shen at the company and explains that the contract will be signed at the military district headquarters. Shen focuses on when the payment will arrive.
• Shen, his colleagues, and military representatives negotiate the contract’s practical terms. Afterward, Shen signs it and expects to leave, but the military asks to discuss the telescope’s capabilities privately.
• In a top-secret meeting, Director Liu Jie asks whether the telescope can be adapted to record and transmit real-time, high-definition video from thirty kilometers away. Shen says it can, though a custom version would cost more. The military representatives, impressed, immediately ask how soon a prototype can be made.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains blunt, commercially minded, and unfazed by the enormous contract. He is also confident in Phantom Immortal Technology’s abilities and recognizes the military’s need before they explain it.
• Gao Jingchuan is exasperated by Shen’s indifference but remains his friend and business intermediary. Their teasing, argumentative rapport continues the next morning.
• Commander Gao and Liu Jie shift from formal negotiators to eager prospective clients once Shen indicates the advanced surveillance problem may be solvable.
• Yuan Wei is briefly shown caring for her mother while balancing her duties at Shen’s home. She appreciates Shen’s flexible arrangement and kindness, though he does not realize how much it means to her.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts Shen’s casual attitude toward huge sums of money with the military’s formal, detailed procurement process.
• Advanced technology creates new opportunities and leverage: the telescope sale leads to a potentially more valuable surveillance project.
• Trust and gratitude appear in the parallel between Shen’s considerate treatment of Yuan Wei and her growing appreciation of him.
• Humor comes from the characters’ mismatched priorities—especially Gao’s desire for a dramatic reaction and Shen’s impatience to sleep, get paid, or return to his own interests.

Key plot points

• Shen Bing tells Commander Gao and Director Liu that developing a vastly superior CCD image sensor will take no more than three months, shocking them after experts estimated at least ten years.
• He explains that the technology already exists in the complete version of his telescope-manufacturing plans. The Eagle Eye Type 1 uses less capable, commercially purchased sensors because Phantom Immortal Technology previously lacked the equipment and funding to make advanced ones.
• Shen Bing can build a sophisticated production line with the help of Lu Xian, a Demon Puppet Artisan, once the promised two billion arrives. His plans include extremely dense CCD chips and a layered-colorization method that multiplies image resolution.
• The obstacle is equipment: Phantom Immortal Technology has no photolithography machine or supporting production tools. Since foreign suppliers are blocked by export restrictions, Shen asks the government to help secure domestic equipment—at the company’s expense.
• Director Liu leaves to seek approval. Shen tells him that, once the equipment is ready, the first batch of telescopes can be delivered within three months.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains confident and businesslike, revealing his capabilities selectively while making clear that his timeline depends on receiving the necessary equipment. He pushes back when Commander Gao implies the state might provide it for free.
• Commander Gao loses his composure at Shen’s three-month estimate, spraying tea and then feeling embarrassed. He later tries to assess Shen through casual conversation, while Shen recognizes the tactic and privately considers it transparent.
• Director Liu acts as the pragmatic negotiator: he restrains Gao from undermining their bargaining position, explains the limits imposed by foreign sanctions, and agrees to explore domestic procurement.

Significant themes

• Technological ambition versus practical constraints: Shen’s technical plans are extraordinary, but manufacturing depends on specialized equipment, money, and industrial capacity.
• National dependence and export restrictions: Foreign embargoes make domestic equipment essential.
• Negotiation and leverage: The state wants Shen’s telescopes, while Shen sets conditions for delivering them.
• Confidence and secrecy: Shen knows more than he initially discloses and uses his knowledge to negotiate from strength.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing secures a confidential agreement with the military: it will supply Phantom Immortal Technology with a complete set of chip-manufacturing equipment, worth US$200 million, at cost. Instead of paying cash, the company will provide 15,000 modified Ghost Eye Type 1 telescopes and maintain them.
• Shen announces the deal to the company’s executives, then reviews the company’s business and expansion plans.
• Dream Glass production is set to rise to 400 tonnes a day, enough to meet existing orders. Shen refuses to expand capacity further, preferring to keep the product scarce and preserve its luxury status.
• The glass factory will also supply the new Precision Optoelectronics Factory, which is planned to produce the Eagle Eye Type 1 telescope and civilian models.
• Shen reveals that the company will enter chip manufacturing. He says he has secured mature production technology and the military equipment, and orders a building converted into a cleanroom, stricter security measures, and further expansion of the factory grounds.
• The company is also soliciting designs for a new headquarters. One Italian designer’s striking concept appears impossible to build with current industrial capabilities, which intrigues Shen.
• Shen instructs Wang Sheng to negotiate for 1,000 mu of surrounding land, dismissing the executives’ surprise and saying he would buy 10,000 mu if the company could afford it.

Character developments

• Shen Bing demonstrates confidence, ambition, and a willingness to pursue industries others consider impractical. He balances controlled scarcity for Dream Glass with aggressive expansion into optics and chips.
• Wang Sheng voices practical concerns about chipmaking’s cost, technology, and equipment, but his past experience with Shen’s successful ventures leaves him cautiously hopeful.
• Zhuang Xin has grown from an inexperienced employee into a composed finance executive.
• Dong Qiang is awed by his sudden rise to managing a major factory and accepts the new direction without hesitation.
• Wang Dong eagerly accepts responsibility for designing the optoelectronics plant’s security plan.

Significant themes

• Vision versus conventional limits: Shen pushes into chip manufacturing and large-scale expansion despite his staff’s doubts.
• Scarcity as strategy: He deliberately caps Dream Glass production to preserve its exclusivity and perceived value.
• State–private cooperation: The military and Phantom Immortal Technology form a mutually beneficial, confidential arrangement.
• Rapid growth and ambition: The company moves from a small industrial footprint toward major manufacturing, research, and headquarters projects.

Character interactions

• Shen’s measured handling of the military negotiations wins Commander Gao’s approval, and Director Liu returns to the meeting smiling.
• At the executive meeting, Shen announces the military deal and directs each manager toward new responsibilities. Wang Sheng challenges the feasibility of chip manufacturing, while Shen reassures him and lays out the plan.
• The executives are repeatedly stunned by Shen’s plans—especially the chip venture and the purchase of 1,000 mu—but ultimately defer to his authority.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing organizes the new Precision Optoelectronics Factory and orders Wang Sheng to pursue chip-manufacturing technology from Jibada. He sends technical documents through Li Xiao, while focusing on getting the two billion RMB supplied by the military transferred overseas.
• Wang Sheng brings Fischer’s plans for a striking, Rubik’s-Cube-like headquarters: a 99-story building whose 386 sections can slide. Its enormous projected cost—about US$30 billion in raw materials—initially seems impossible.
• After studying the design, Shen Bing uses the Gate to the Immortal Realm to acquire Super Titanium Alloy Manufacturing Technology. He tells Wang Sheng to invite Fischer to Huaxia and says the company can manufacture the needed advanced materials itself.
• Over two days, the factory grounds are divided evenly between the glass and optoelectronics factories. Shen Bing personally calibrates eight float-glass production lines and nearly a thousand screen-printing machines.
• Jibada negotiations conclude: the company obtains chip-process technology for US$300 million, or about 1.9 billion RMB. Shen is pleased chiefly because the money has been transferred abroad.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains ambitious and confident, turning an apparently impractical architectural proposal into a possible project through his access to advanced technology. He also shows little concern for the scale of the spending or the conventional limits of manufacturing.
• Wang Sheng is a practical, cautious manager. He worries about the headquarters’ safety, cost, and unavailable materials, but Shen’s confidence and repeated technical breakthroughs leave him increasingly inclined to trust his decisions.
• Li Xiao unquestioningly follows Shen’s financial instructions because his awe of Shen—rooted in his experience with Little Doudou—makes him regard Shen as nearly godlike.
• Shen and Wang’s exchanges highlight their contrasting roles: Wang raises business concerns, while Shen answers with technological solutions that leave Wang impressed but baffled.

Significant themes

• Vision versus practicality: Fischer’s extravagant design and Shen’s willingness to pursue it push beyond ordinary engineering and financial expectations.
• Technology as a way around scarcity: Shen’s plan is not to buy rare materials but to invent and manufacture them.
• Trust in exceptional leadership: Wang’s skepticism gradually gives way to confidence in Shen’s track record.
• Money and ambition: Huge expenditures are treated as acceptable when they serve the company’s larger technological plans.

Plot points and events

• After a US$300 million deal closes, Shen Bing returns to Dragon Lake Ring Island and uses the money to recharge the Gate to the Immortal Realm. His balance rises to 2,217 Immortal Jade.
• He spends 2,000 Immortal Jade to teleport Lu Xian, a Demon Puppet Artisan, into the real world.
• Lu Xian appears with Shen Bing’s face and clothes, explains that he has no fixed appearance, and demonstrates that he can change shape—including into a huge furnace.
• Shen Bing learns that Lu Xian can separate matter into atoms, combine pure substances into new materials when given a sample or technical documentation, and machine with atomic-level precision. Lu Xian describes himself as only a helper, though his abilities astonish Shen Bing.
• Shen Bing asks Li Xiao to obtain Lu Xian a flawless legal identity. Li Xiao agrees and promises to arrange it quickly.
• Shen Bing takes Lu Xian to the factory to test his abilities. Lu Xian criticizes the Spyker C8’s uneven bearings, prompting Shen Bing to imagine upgrading a domestic car—perhaps turning a Wuling Hongguang into a supercar.

Character development and interactions

• Shen Bing shifts quickly from surprise at Lu Xian’s identical appearance to excitement about his abilities and potential usefulness. Their mysterious mental connection lets Shen Bing sense what Lu Xian is about to say, and Shen Bing realizes Lu Xian can function almost like another version of himself.
• Lu Xian is respectful and obedient, initially addressing Shen Bing as “Master.” Shen Bing dislikes the title and tells him to use “Boss” instead. Lu Xian’s self-deprecating claim that he is “only good for odd jobs” contrasts humorously with his extraordinary capabilities.
• Li Xiao is briefly startled by seeing two identical Shen Bings, but recovers quickly and confidently takes responsibility for securing Lu Xian’s identity.

Significant themes

• Power and possibility: Lu Xian’s near-unlimited material manipulation opens up ambitious—and potentially world-changing—uses.
• Identity and imitation: Lu Xian can copy appearances, raising practical questions about how he might pass as an ordinary person.
• Comedy through contrast: Shen Bing’s casual plans and Lu Xian’s modest self-description sit alongside abilities far beyond modern technology.
• Mischief and innovation: Shen Bing immediately imagines using Lu Xian to transform an everyday domestic car into an astonishing supercar.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing travels to the Illusion Immortal Glass Factory with Lu Xian, who insists on driving because he sees it as a servant’s duty.
• Lu Xian explains that his Spiritual Sense lets him inspect machinery and understand its operation, though his range is limited to roughly 400–500 meters. Shen Bing realizes this ability could help him study and reproduce advanced equipment.
• At the factory, Shen Bing transfers his knowledge of the production lines directly to Lu Xian. Lu Xian rapidly calibrates and modifies the equipment, completing two lines in under half an hour with extraordinary precision.
• Meanwhile, Heavenly Auspice Special Glass is in crisis: its stock keeps hitting the daily limit downward, damaging reports undermine the company, and shareholders oust Lin Shaogong as chairman.
• At home, Lin Shaogong clashes with his mother, blaming her for protecting Lin Zijian and accusing his brother of bringing ruin on the family. He declares the company nearly insolvent and the Lin Family finished.
• A small cat hidden beneath the sofa secretly hears the conversation.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing shifts from curiosity about Lu Xian’s abilities to recognizing his enormous value for future manufacturing projects. He becomes a relaxed supervisor while Lu Xian does the work.
• Lu Xian remains deferential and devoted to Shen Bing, but his technical prowess is astonishing: he can intuitively understand machinery and perform delicate modifications by transforming his hand into a cutting tool.
• Lin Shaogong moves from confidence in his steady business judgment to despair and anger as the company collapses and he loses his leadership position.
• Lin Shaogong and his mother argue over Lin Zijian. She pleads for help for her husband and younger son; Shaogong lashes out, blaming her favoritism for the family’s downfall.

Significant themes

• Efficiency and technological superiority: Lu Xian’s supernatural abilities far surpass ordinary industrial methods.
• Loyalty and hierarchy: Lu Xian’s servant-minded devotion contrasts with Shen Bing’s growing dependence on him.
• Corporate collapse and blame: The company’s decline exposes self-interest among shareholders and deepens family resentment.
• Secrets and surveillance: The unnoticed cat’s presence hints that private words may have consequences.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Xian calibrates the Illusion Immortal Glass Factory’s equipment in less than a day, enabling the factory to begin Dream Glass production that evening. The company tells the Nancy Group that deliveries can be made ahead of schedule, helping the group accelerate its major construction projects.
• Shen Bing brings Lu Xian to the Safe Room beneath his villa on Dragon Lake Ring Island and reveals his plan to build a concealed Underground Base.
• Impressed by Lu Xian’s abilities, Shen Bing expands his original plan for a modest, shallow base: he now wants to dig several hundred meters down, perhaps eventually approaching a kilometer.
• Lu Xian says he can excavate extremely quickly, but processing debris and reinforcing the shaft requires considerable energy. Electricity is inefficient; full-power work would cost ten Immortal Jade per day.
• Shen Bing pays Lu Xian fifty Immortal Jade to get started, but Lu Xian explains that he lacks the technical knowledge needed to make suitable wall supports. Shen Bing postpones digging so he can teach him, beginning with titanium-alloy production.

Character developments

• Shen Bing grows more ambitious about hiding his supernatural activities underground, convinced that Lu Xian can overcome the logistical barriers that once limited the project. His excitement is tempered by the unexpectedly high cost of powering Lu Xian.
• Lu Xian proves exceptionally capable at both precision calibration and excavation, but his abilities depend on energy and technical instructions. He follows Shen Bing respectfully while acknowledging the limits of his knowledge.

Significant themes

• Concealment and security: Shen Bing sees an underground base as the safest place to keep extraordinary resources and activities hidden.
• Power has a price: Lu Xian’s remarkable productivity comes with a steep energy cost, forcing Shen Bing to weigh efficiency against expense.
• Knowledge complements ability: Even a powerful supernatural artisan cannot complete complex work without the relevant engineering knowledge and material formulas.
• Modern technology meets the supernatural: Electricity, titanium alloys, and industrial production are combined with Lu Xian’s extraordinary capabilities.

Character interactions

• Shen Bing speaks to Lu Xian as both a trusted subordinate and a valuable worker, directing the project and asking about his capabilities.
• Lu Xian responds with deference, explains his energy needs, and flags the technical obstacle before starting.
• Shen Bing adapts to Lu Xian’s limitations by deciding to teach him the necessary materials science rather than abandoning the project.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing transfers knowledge of super-titanium-alloy smelting and specialized glassmaking to Lu Xian, then has him study materials science online. Lu Xian reads at extraordinary speed but cannot innovate independently.
• Yuan Wei asks for a day off because her mother is having surgery. Shen Bing grants it and wishes her mother well.
• In the basement Safe Room, Lu Xian transforms into a furnace, excavates a deep shaft through reinforced concrete and steel, and processes the surrounding earth and rock.
• He produces high-grade X-β titanium alloy and unusually strong glass, then uses his immense strength and heat to install them as reinforcement for the shaft.
• After completing the first section rapidly, Lu Xian jumps back into the shaft to keep digging.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing is impressed by Lu Xian’s speed, precision, and industrial potential. He also briefly considers entering biomedical research, imagining how immortal medicines might help people like Yuan Wei’s mother.
• Lu Xian proves capable of applying human scientific knowledge with near-perfect control, despite his lack of independent creativity. He explains that his furnace form can hold enormous quantities through an incomplete spatial technique, though the ability fails in human form.
• Yuan Wei reveals the personal burden she carries by asking to visit her mother during surgery. Shen Bing responds sympathetically without pressing her for details.
• Shen Bing directs Lu Xian’s work, while Lu Xian addresses him respectfully as “Master” and reports on the materials he produces.

Significant themes

• Science and supernatural power: Lu Xian’s magical abilities become especially useful when guided by modern scientific knowledge.
• Industrial transformation: Lu Xian’s precision and output suggest he could reshape basic materials production.
• Human vulnerability and care: Yuan Wei’s family crisis contrasts with the chapter’s extraordinary technology and Shen Bing’s ambitious plans.
• Limits amid power: Lu Xian is immensely capable but constrained by his inability to innovate and by the incomplete nature of his spatial technique.