Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Ford Motor Company, in partnership with several firms, wins the final auctioned technology—high-density electrical energy storage—for 220 billion yuan, a record-breaking price. Phantom Immortal Technology’s contract limits buyers’ profit margins and reserves it the right to resume production if those limits are violated.
• Although foreign companies win most of the afternoon’s technologies, Chinese firms secure three by cooperating.
• The sale of mature, production-ready technologies is expected to accelerate major changes in everyday life, from advanced transport and space travel to widespread physical training and improved access to healthcare, education, and electricity.
• Shen Bing receives about 1.9 trillion yuan from the auctions and related payments, then converts it into roughly 1.92 million immortal jade through the Gate to the Immortal Realm. Crossing a cumulative top-up threshold raises the exchange rate fivefold, leaving him frustrated that he did not deposit more before the rate changed.
• With just over three million immortal jade available, Shen Bing considers possible purchases but finds few worthwhile options. He ultimately confirms that he will attend the virtual-game press conference the next morning.

Character developments

• Shen Bing shifts from astonishment at his enormous wealth to irritation at the system’s worse exchange rate, then accepts the change as a consequence of having already improved conditions on Earth. He remains pragmatic, resolving to keep some jade in reserve and spend the rest carefully.
• He also recognizes that his success may have made him a target of public anger, but decides not to avoid the press conference or burden Wang Sheng further.

Character interactions

• Shen Bing and the Gate’s system: The system congratulates him on his large top-up while announcing the new, less favorable conversion rate; Shen Bing reacts with sarcasm and regret.
• Shen Bing and Qiuqiu: Qiuqiu relays Wang Sheng’s message that preparations for the press conference are complete and asks whether Shen Bing has further instructions. Shen Bing tells her to proceed with the plan and confirms his attendance.
• Shen Bing and Wang Sheng: Though Wang Sheng is not present, Shen Bing considers sending him in his place, then rejects the idea because Wang Sheng is already overworked.

Significant themes

• Rapid technological change: Distributing advanced, ready-to-use inventions may transform society faster than earlier breakthroughs such as electricity or computers.
• Wealth, merit, and diminishing returns: Shen Bing connects the worsening top-up rate to the reduced need for charitable spending as conditions improve on Earth.
• The cost of success: His immense financial gains bring both practical complications and the prospect of public criticism.
• Adaptation: Society—and Shen Bing himself—must adjust to changes that his company has helped set in motion.

Key plot points and events

• Phantom Immortal Technology announces another product launch, prompting speculation that it may be shifting to new products because it cannot—or will not—mass-produce Intelligent Robots. Many hope this would limit the threat to jobs.
• At Xiaxi Hospital, an experimental project puts Intelligent Robots to work as doctors. One robot diagnoses more than a hundred patients accurately, then performs operations ranging from appendectomies to brain surgery with remarkable speed and precision.
• The doctors are devastated by the robots’ superiority. Hua Yun, an associate chief physician, fears losing his job, though he cannot hate the company: its cancer treatment saved his life.
• Expecting the launch to reveal a retreat from robot deployment, Hua Yun takes time off to watch the broadcast, which Shen Bing will host.
• Meanwhile, Shen Bing is pleased that a mission has finally yielded results: King Yama’s followers have returned—but as ghosts, not living people. He is unsure whether they have “come back to life” or successfully died.

Character developments and interactions

• Hua Yun is torn between professional anxiety and gratitude toward Phantom Immortal Technology. He recognizes the public good robots could provide but quietly hopes opposition will restrict their rollout to protect doctors’ jobs.
• The hospital doctors move from testing the robot’s abilities to repeatedly challenging it with harder surgeries. Its success leaves them feeling obsolete rather than triumphant.
• Shen Bing reacts with bewildered amusement to the mission’s supernatural outcome, struggling to classify the followers’ ghostly return.

Significant themes

• Automation and livelihood: Robots promise better, more accessible care while threatening the careers and identities of skilled workers.
• Progress and personal conflict: Hua Yun accepts the benefits of technology but still fears what it will cost him.
• Life, death, and ambiguity: The chapter’s closing joke blurs the meaning of being alive or dead, echoing its title.

Key events

• After Shen Bing helps resurrect King Yama and the Six Great Underworld Bailiffs, Yama announces that Yama Hall must be restarted. The process will take forty-nine days, during which Shen Bing cannot stay there. Yama promises a reward, but Shen Bing leaves before the conversation can continue.
• Shen Bing travels to Craftsman God Island to see Lu Ban and check on the promised Floating Immortal Island. He discovers a gigantic island under construction and learns that Lu Ban is installing its defensive formation.
• Lu Ban explains that the lost technology behind Floating Immortal Islands makes the work delicate, so it cannot be rushed. He also describes his specialty: automated devices and puppets, as distinct from Duobao’s immortal artifacts.
• Interested in Lu Ban’s craft, Shen Bing asks to learn some artifact-refining methods. Lu Ban agrees to trade certain techniques—not for immortal jade, but for valuable items such as Great Golden Immortal remnant souls. He refuses to share the methods for Divine Puppet Artisans or Floating Immortal Islands.
• Shen Bing asks what else might qualify. Lu Ban names the Queen Mother’s peaches and Laozi’s Golden Cores, leaving Shen Bing to realize that the proposed bargains are far beyond easy or affordable.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains practical and opportunistic, hoping to benefit from both Yama’s promised reward and Lu Ban’s technology. His admiration for Lu Ban’s work grows into a genuine interest in learning the craft, though his excitement gives way to frustration at the cost.
• King Yama is cheerful after the bailiffs’ resurrection and grateful to Shen Bing, but his vague promise of a “generous” reward leaves Shen Bing wary.
• Lu Ban is absorbed in his work and speaks plainly about his limits and expertise. He is willing to share some knowledge, but draws firm boundaries around his most advanced creations.
• The reunion of Yama and the bailiffs conveys their long-standing camaraderie; Shen Bing waits patiently before Yama notices him.

Significant themes

• Bargains and value: Both divine rewards and technical knowledge come with delays, conditions, or steep prices.
• Limits of knowledge and technology: Shen Bing’s scientific achievements are impressive, but Lu Ban’s craft is beyond his understanding; even Lu Ban cannot safely rush a lost technology.
• Ambition tempered by practicality: Shen Bing imagines the Floating Immortal Island’s potential, but must accept that its construction and the knowledge he wants are not immediately within his control.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing suspects Lu Ban’s real objective is acquiring Great Luo Golden Immortal Remnant Souls, which Lu Ban needs to create Divine Puppet Artisans.
• Lu Ban demonstrates two inventions as possible trades. Shen Bing rejects the Thunderbolt Divine Puppet because it cannot fly and seems less useful than technology he could build himself.
• Lu Ban then presents the Destruction Sphere, a powerful, single-use weapon that could reportedly threaten even a peak great golden immortal. Though excited, Shen Bing hides his interest and bargains over the price.
• Lu Ban insists that the refining method costs two Great Luo Golden Immortal Remnant Souls. He offers the Thunderbolt Divine Puppet’s method as a free extra, but Shen Bing refuses it as an unwanted “freebie.”
• Shen Bing suggests Lu Ban include the Self-Propelled Immortal Carriage’s refining method instead. Lu Ban vehemently refuses because the carriage is his successful, lucrative product.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing is strategic and calculating: he assesses each invention’s practical value, conceals his enthusiasm, and uses the cost and limitations of the Destruction Sphere to bargain.
• Lu Ban is an inventive technology enthusiast who wants rare remnant souls, but also protects his commercial interests. He tries to sweeten the deal without giving up anything truly valuable to him.
• Their exchange is a friendly but shrewd negotiation. Shen Bing recognizes that Lu Ban’s “compensation” is merely a low-value extra, while Lu Ban draws a firm boundary around his profitable carriage technology.

Significant themes

• Bargaining and perceived value: An item’s worth depends on usefulness, cost, and scarcity—not just its advertised power.
• Technology adapted to its setting: Shen Bing questions a ground-bound weapon in a world where opponents can fly, and compares it with his own technological capabilities.
• Commercial self-interest: Lu Ban is generous only up to the point where generosity threatens his livelihood.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing studies Lu Ban’s Spirit-Communicating Pearl, a magical device that monitors a vast area, displays a three-dimensional image of it, and flags unusual activity. Though Lu Ban considers it of limited use in the Immortal Realm, Shen Bing recognizes its potential as a source of technological ideas and chooses it.
• Lu Ban refuses to hand over the device before Shen Bing completes the agreed exchange by obtaining a Great Luo Golden Immortal Remnant Soul.
• The next morning, tens of thousands of people gather outside Phantom Immortal Technology’s headquarters. Many are concerned about the company’s plans for intelligent robots and are effectively protesting, though reporters focus on the new-product launch.
• Inside the launch venue, attendees watch fantastical footage of powerful figures and armies. They assume it is a game cinematic, though its unprecedented visual quality prompts speculation about what technology could produce it.
• Shen Bing opens the presentation and reveals the title Firmament. The audience is confused and divided: many suspect a game, while others expect a more substantial product. The chapter ends before the product is explained.

Character developments

• Shen Bing is impressed by the Pearl’s capabilities and sees value in adapting its underlying technology, unlike Lu Ban, who judges it by Immortal Realm standards. Shen remains direct and businesslike at the launch.
• Lu Ban is protective of his livelihood and strictly enforces the rules of their exchange, despite Shen’s interest in receiving the Pearl early.
• Zhang Huang, an electronics-focused creator attending his first launch, initially assumes the announcement will concern electronics. The cinematic amazes him, but he argues that current computers could not run visuals of that quality.
• The gathered public are presented as more than curious spectators: many are anxious about the consequences of the company’s robot plans.

Significant themes

• Different standards of technological value: A device Lu Ban sees as unimpressive appears revolutionary to Shen because they assess it against different worlds and needs.
• Technology, speculation, and public expectations: The dramatic footage and ambiguous title encourage attendees to guess what Phantom Immortal Technology is launching.
• Innovation’s social consequences: The crowd’s quiet protest reflects uncertainty and concern about intelligent robots, not merely excitement about new products.

Character interactions

• Shen tries to persuade Lu Ban to offer a different item and asks for the Pearl in advance; Lu Ban declines, citing the rules.
• Reporters explain that the crowd is waiting to see whether the company will change its robot plans.
• Zhang Huang’s livestream audience debates whether Firmament is a game, while he pushes back against the idea that existing computers could support its visuals.

Key plot points

• Shen Bing reveals that the impressive footage shown at the launch is from Firmament, a new game—not the kind of revolutionary device the reporters expected.
• He explains that the footage runs on an ordinary midrange gaming computer, but says PC play is only a compromise: Firmament is designed as a virtual reality game.
• Shen introduces the company’s Game Pod. Players lie inside it and enter a deep sleep while their consciousness enters the game, where brainwave control lets them see, hear, feel, and act as they would in reality.
• The audience and viewers initially doubt the announcement, but the company’s reputation makes the claim persuasive. Shen calls Firmament “humanity’s second world” and hints that it will have significance beyond entertainment.
• Three coffin-like Game Pods are brought onstage. Shen invites an overseas attendee and a woman to try them; the crowd eagerly hopes to be chosen, while Zhang Huang’s livestream chat urges him to get Shen’s attention.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains confident and teasing. He anticipates the audience’s disappointment, redirects their skepticism, and builds suspense rather than explaining the game’s broader purpose.
• The audience and public shift from feeling misled and dismissing the announcement as “just a game” to excitement and anticipation once they understand the VR claim.
• The selected attendees are thrilled to receive a chance to test the technology; the unselected crowd feels disappointed. The woman privately jokes that she would be available even if she were menstruating.
• Zhang Huang’s viewers tease him for sitting passively and urge him to make himself noticeable.

Significant themes

• Expectation versus reality: The announcement seems underwhelming until the true nature of the game is revealed.
• Trust in scientific credibility: People are skeptical of VR claims in general but believe them when they come from a company with a strong record of innovation.
• Technology blurring reality and entertainment: The Game Pod promises an experience indistinguishable from real life, challenging the boundary between a game and a second world.
• Status and spectacle: Being among the first to experience VR is presented as a once-in-a-lifetime distinction—and a source of bragging rights.

Key plot points and events

• At a Phantom Immortal Technology event, Shen Bing invites three audience members to test the Game Pods. Zhang Huang is selected, while a man in a pale-yellow jacket mistakenly tries to pass himself off as the person Shen called. Shen publicly corrects him, and Zhang takes his place.
• Zhang, a livestreamer, asks to broadcast the trial. Shen explains that the pod will leave him unable to use his phone and that its interior is dark, so Zhang ends the stream and promises to tell his viewers about the experience afterward.
• The three volunteers lie down in mass-production Game Pods. The devices automatically close, put them to sleep, and begin five-minute trials.
• Zhang awakens in a vivid woodland that feels entirely real: he feels pain, sees a leaf drift past, and watches a rabbit flee. Confused, he wonders whether he has been transported to another world.
• When the trial ends, Zhang wakes inside the pod and struggles to accept that the woodland was virtual. The other testers are similarly disoriented.
• Afterward, all three describe the experience as astonishingly realistic. Shen uses their reactions to assure the audience that the technology works and that the tested pods are ordinary production models.
• Shen introduces the game’s promise: players can become as powerful as—or more powerful than—the superheroes in its promotional footage. He then makes a broader claim that such strength may be possible in the real world too, ending with: “In the future, anything is possible!”

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Huang shifts from eager anticipation to profound confusion, then to conviction that the Game Pod is worth buying at any cost. His streamer instincts surface when he asks to share the trial live, but he accepts the practical limitations.
• Shen Bing remains confident and direct. He refuses to quietly overlook the impostor’s mistake, then uses the volunteers’ reactions to build trust in the product and excitement for the game.
• The mistaken volunteer is publicly told to sit down and is left awkwardly behind as Zhang goes onstage.
• The other two testers, including a woman, share Zhang’s amazement and uncertainty about what is real. Their testimony strengthens the audience’s anticipation.
• The crowd and Zhang’s viewers move from curiosity to intense desire to try the technology themselves.

Significant themes

• Reality and illusion: The virtual world feels so convincing that the testers cannot distinguish it from reality, unsettling their confidence in what they experience.
• Technology and possibility: The Game Pod represents a leap beyond ordinary gaming, while Shen’s closing statement expands the promise from virtual power to potential real-world transformation.
• Marketing through experience: The volunteers’ firsthand reactions persuade the audience more effectively than technical explanations alone.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing claims that items from the Virtual Reality Game Firmament can be brought into real life and used to strengthen people—an announcement the audience initially dismisses as absurd.
• After viewers mock Zhang Huang for previously praising Shen’s honesty, Shen insists he is serious and explains the technology behind the claim.
• Shen says Phantom Immortal Technology discovered that human consciousness exists in a form connected to dark matter and dark energy. Their research suggests certain kinds of dark energy can enhance the body and consciousness, potentially allowing humans to evolve without a fixed limit.
• Because useful dark energy is scarce on Earth, the company developed equipment that converts other forms of dark energy, using human consciousness as a catalyst without draining it. The equipment is built into Firmament’s core server, and the resulting energy is embodied in game items that players can obtain and use in the real world.
• Shen finishes his presentation and invites questions. The audience erupts, eager to learn more and excited by the possibility of gaining extraordinary abilities.

Character developments

• Shen Bing remains composed and confident despite being treated as a braggart. He responds to skepticism with a detailed explanation rather than anger, determined to persuade the audience through facts.
• Zhang Huang feels embarrassed when Shen’s claim makes his earlier praise of the product’s honesty look foolish in front of his livestream audience. He avoids reacting to the mockery for fear of becoming its next target.
• The audience shifts from ridicule to astonishment and cautious belief. Though they cannot fully understand Shen’s science, the possibility that it is true quickly captures their imagination.

Significant themes

• Disbelief and the limits of understanding: Revolutionary claims initially sound ridiculous, especially when they challenge familiar ideas about reality.
• Science, consciousness, and human potential: The chapter presents consciousness as an active force in dark-energy conversion and suggests that human evolution may be unlimited.
• Technology’s promise and uncertainty: Firmament is framed not merely as entertainment but as a gateway to real-world transformation, exciting and unsettling the public.
• Belief in authority: Many listeners accept Shen’s claims less because they understand the science than because they trust his reputation.

Character interactions

• Zhang Huang’s livestream audience teases him for having vouched for Shen’s lack of exaggeration, while Zhang stays silent to avoid further embarrassment.
• An audience member gives Shen an easy way to retreat by suggesting he is joking; Shen rejects that interpretation and addresses the crowd’s skepticism directly.
• Shen’s explanation transforms the audience’s response, turning mockery into a chaotic rush of questions and excitement.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing uses high-powered speakers and AI-organized questions to restore order at the crowded press event.
• Asked why he is revealing Firmament’s technology, he says humanity must evolve to survive space travel and prepare for future conflict with aliens. He also explains that more players make the game’s dark-energy conversion system more effective.
• He reveals that aliens reached Earth through a lunar wormhole and covet humans because people can pass through wormholes without using energy.
• When challenged on whether a privately run game can be fair, Shen rejects the premise: neither real life nor existing games are truly fair. He openly admits that Huaxia players will receive a small innate-stat advantage, while insisting it is limited.
• Shen says company employees will receive no special privileges. He may visit the game, but will not participate in its progression or alter its data. The audience accepts that he may personally benefit from the technology, given his role in creating and revealing it.
• Asked how people with jobs can keep up with professional players, Shen says conventional work will become far less common as robots replace workers. His answer shocks the global audience, especially those who had opposed intelligent robots.

Character developments

• Shen Bing presents himself as bold and unapologetic. He explains his decision to disclose the technology in terms of humanity’s survival, but openly acknowledges his national preference and rejects demands for idealized fairness.
• The audience and viewers move from excitement and suspicion to stunned attention, then largely accept Shen’s arguments about game privileges and his own potential gains.
• Foreign reporters are left uncertain about how to portray Shen after his candid admission of favoritism undermines their planned praise of his selflessness.

Significant themes

• Human survival and evolution: Strengthening humanity is framed as essential to space exploration and future encounters with alien civilizations.
• Fairness versus reality: Shen argues that perfect fairness is an illusion, both in games and in life.
• National loyalty and favoritism: He openly prioritizes Huaxia players, provoking foreign frustration while pleasing people from Huaxia.
• Automation and social change: Robot workers may free people from conventional jobs, while Firmament offers a new path to resources and human development.
• Technology and responsibility: Shen’s decision to reveal powerful technology is presented as a choice driven by humanity’s collective future.

Character interactions

• The audience submits questions through AI, and Shen answers them publicly, repeatedly challenging the assumptions behind their concerns.
• His frankness unsettles foreign reporters and some attendees, while earning support from Huaxia viewers.
• Shen’s remarks about automation prompt people who opposed intelligent robots to reconsider their position, fearing they might otherwise miss out on the game’s benefits and future evolution.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing announces that Firmament launches globally at 10 a.m. Huaxia time on October 27, with a single shared server. Game Pods go on sale the following morning at local time.
• Because production cannot meet worldwide demand, players can initially use computers, phones, or VR headsets. They can make the same progress and earn the same rewards, but only a Game Pod can extract Evolution Items into the real world.
• Shen prices the Game Pod at 200,000 yuan, though the chapter later refers to households needing around 300,000 yuan. He refuses to explain its extraction technology or identify the Evolution Items, saying players must discover them in the game; there will be no guides.
• Shen’s announcement sends crowds rushing to Phantom Immortal Technology’s more than ten thousand stores worldwide to queue for Game Pods. Many people consider quitting work to focus on the game.
• Even before Firmament launches, people begin selling property to raise money for Game Pods. A surge in home listings causes housing prices to plunge worldwide, while people shift their savings from real estate toward the devices.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains composed and matter-of-fact, answering questions while keeping key information secret. His confidence—and the lack of an apparent motive to lie—persuades many listeners to take his claims seriously.
• The public moves rapidly from skepticism to urgency. People weigh the risk of being misled against the chance that Firmament could transform humanity, and decide securing a place in line is worth the gamble.
• Families face pressure to obtain a Game Pod, even if they can afford only one. Yet players distrust relying on someone else to obtain Evolution Items for them, fearing they could be cheated.

Significant themes

• A technological revolution reshapes society: the prospect of human evolution changes how people value work, money, housing, and the future.
• Scarcity fuels competition: limited Game Pod production makes early access seem essential, even though players can begin on other platforms.
• Speculation and uncertainty: people act on extraordinary claims before they can be verified, judging the potential consequences too important to ignore.
• Changing measures of wealth: property loses its appeal as people prioritize access to a device that may offer far greater power and opportunity.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Public reaction to the announcement of Firmament is immediate and overwhelming. Some people hesitate to buy a 300,000-yuan game pod without proof of Shen Bing’s claims, but the first sale attempt draws huge crowds to experience stores.
• To manage the crush, Phantom Immortal Technology announces an online lottery for the first million pods. The crowds disperse, but work and ordinary routines quickly lose their importance as people focus on the game. Some stock up on food, while businesses and factories struggle with absentee workers.
• Companies begin discussing how to enter Firmament together, confirming Shen Bing’s point that no game can be perfectly fair: organizations with staff and resources can form teams more easily than individual players.
• Online excitement turns rowdy, with some users urging people to quit their jobs or even attack their bosses. More reasonable voices warn that widespread disorder could cripple society.
• In a holographic meeting with world leaders, Shen Bing is pressed to help prevent economic collapse by expanding intelligent-robot production. He agrees to raise output to two million a day—but only if governments provide scarce materials, 500 billion yuan, and factory space around the world.
• The leaders reluctantly accept. Shen Bing later confirms to Huaxia’s chief that Firmament’s claims are a mixture of truth and concealment, but insists that the evolution items players receive are real and that humanity will eventually travel through wormholes bodily.
• Shen Bing also reports that the Hope spacecraft is due to land on Mars that night, with the event to be broadcast live.
• Meanwhile, companies that recently bought Phantom Immortal Technology’s new technologies fear Firmament will sharply reduce demand for physical goods. The firms that bought gaming-interface rights from Penguin and Xinlang feel especially blindsided, concluding that Shen Bing has overturned the market.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing shows himself to be strategically capable and unapologetically self-interested. He refuses to accept responsibility for the upheaval caused by Firmament, pushes governments to fund robot expansion, and reminds them that Phantom Immortal Technology is a company—not a public agency. He also maintains ambiguity about Firmament while reassuring the Huaxia chief about its real benefits.
• Huaxia’s chief remains calm during negotiations because Shen Bing has already promised to prioritize Huaxia’s robot needs. Their warm, joking exchange reveals mutual respect and patriotism.
• Foreign leaders, especially the U.S. president and British prime minister, are anxious about social collapse and try to persuade Shen Bing to act. Their dependence on him—and their reluctance to challenge his company—becomes clear.
• Ordinary people and employees react in sharply different ways: many want to immerse themselves in the game, some seek strength in groups, and others warn against abandoning work and social order.

Significant themes

• Technology reshaping society: Firmament alters work, commerce, leisure, and public priorities almost overnight.
• Unequal opportunity and collective power: Companies can organize groups of employees, while individual players may have to compete with better-resourced teams.
• Power and responsibility: Governments expect Shen Bing to contain a crisis caused partly by his technology, but he insists that public welfare is not solely his company’s obligation.
• Economic disruption: A virtual world promising extraordinary experiences threatens industries built around physical goods, leaving recent investors feeling deceived.
• Uncertainty and truth: Shen Bing’s claims are neither wholly confirmed nor wholly denied, keeping both governments and the public unsure how much of Firmament’s promise is real.

Key plot points and events

• After six months of success in smart gaming, Penguin Group suffers a major setback when Phantom Immortal Technology announces its upcoming virtual-reality game, Firmament. Hua Teng feels betrayed, having viewed Shen Bing as an ally, but knows his company must stay close to Phantom Immortal Technology to remain competitive.
• Hua Teng calls Shen Bing, who offers Penguin a partnership developing game content for Firmament. Shen explains that the game is meant to become a vast virtual-world platform and needs outside creators to enrich it. Penguin is invited to contribute ideas such as skins and other content, provided they do not affect game balance.
• Delighted by the opportunity, Hua Teng agrees to bring a team to Rongcheng. Shen contacts several other major companies as well, including Taobao, Nancy Group, and Yida Group.
• News of the partnerships spreads quickly, convincing businesses and the public that Firmament may become a “second world” with enormous commercial potential. Corporate leaders rush to Rongcheng in luxury Skyflying Cars.
• Meanwhile, Phantom Immortal Technology begins global sales of the first one million Firmament Game Pods. Its operating-system network distributes lottery results almost instantly. The sales bring in 300 billion yuan in roughly three minutes—around 100 billion per minute.

Character developments and interactions

• Hua Teng moves from resentment and uncertainty to excitement and gratitude. Though initially afraid that Shen Bing’s call might bring another blow, he recognizes the value of the partnership and eagerly accepts.
• Shen Bing presents the deal as a practical way to fill Firmament with content, while also enjoying his influence and personally making the calls. He avoids handling negotiations himself so he can return to the Gate to the Immortal Realm and pursue two technologies he covets.
• Their conversation mixes business caution, mutual flattery, and humor: Hua Teng praises the chance to work with Shen, while Shen privately finds the exchange amusing.

Significant themes

• Power and dependence: Phantom Immortal Technology’s technological dominance leaves even major corporations dependent on its ecosystem.
• Business rivalry and cooperation: A disruptive product can threaten competitors while also creating new partnership opportunities.
• The commercialization of virtual worlds: Firmament’s promise as a global platform sparks excitement about its vast marketplace.
• Technology-driven reach: Phantom Immortal Technology’s control of operating systems lets it distribute information and sell products on a scale no rival can match.

Chapter Summary: “A Grand Spectacle”

Key plot points and events

• Phantom Immortal Technology’s upcoming game, Firmament, and a viral CG video suggesting humanity may one day achieve extraordinary power have sparked worldwide excitement and sleepless anticipation.
• Crowds gather before the company’s Offline Experience Stores to see the Game Pods distributed through a worldwide purchase lottery. Some hope to buy a pod from a winner, even offering far more than its 300,000-yuan price.
• The Rongcheng store draws an especially large crowd, including many students from the nearby University of Electronic Science and Technology, Shen Bing’s alma mater.
• Zhao Yang, a freshman at the university and one of the lottery winners, arrives with his three roommates to collect his Game Pod. His parents readily provide the money, believing Firmament could help people evolve and may be more important than conventional studies.
• Zhao and his roommates have agreed to help one another obtain Evolution Items, but not to share the Game Pod itself. They worry it might become bound to its first user.
• Their conversation is interrupted by a commotion near the store entrance, leaving unclear whether the store has opened or something else has happened.

Character developments

• Zhao Yang is portrayed as fortunate and enthusiastic: he admires Shen Bing, chose his university partly because of him, and has won the chance to buy a pod. He is also practical about keeping the device for himself.
• Liu Xiao, Zhao’s cheeky roommate, jokingly asks to use the pod, then complains that the pickup arrangements are unfair. He seems influenced by gaming novels and underestimates the technology’s likely development costs.
• Zhao’s parents are supportive, readily funding the purchase because they believe Firmament could have major consequences for human development.

Character interactions

• Zhao trades teasing remarks with Liu Xiao over whether he will share the Game Pod, while the other roommates tacitly back Zhao’s refusal.
• When Liu Xiao criticizes Phantom Immortal Technology, Zhao and the others distance themselves from him, then Zhao argues that the pod’s low price does not mean it is cheap to develop.
• The gathered public’s excitement reflects Shen Bing’s strong influence: his success has boosted his university’s reputation and attracted students who hope to be close to his company.

Significant themes

• Technology reshaping priorities: The possibility that Firmament can help humanity evolve leads families and students to treat gaming as potentially more consequential than ordinary education.
• Celebrity and institutional influence: Shen Bing’s accomplishments raise his university’s status and inspire applicants.
• Wealth and access: The lottery, high resale offers, and contrast between ordinary buyers and the wealthy show how access to groundbreaking technology may become a status symbol.
• Uncertainty and anticipation: The chapter emphasizes public speculation about what the Game Pods can do—and ends on a cliffhanger as the crowd reacts.

Plot points and events

• As crowds gather outside Phantom Immortal Technology’s Offline Experience Store, a teenager offers a suited young man money for his Game Pod. The owner refuses even a thirty-million-yuan offer, leading onlookers to suspect the devices have greater value than their price suggests.
• Zhao Yang and his three friends decide to keep their own Game Pod rather than sell it. When the store opens, only authorized buyers are allowed inside until 10 a.m.; the robot attendant makes clear that anyone entering will be considered to have bought a pod, and may then purchase only one.
• The handover is quick and practical: buyers take boxed pods away themselves, and each device unfolds with the press of a button. Zhao and his friends bring theirs to a rented apartment near campus.
• Zhao activates the pod. It scans and binds itself to his identity, preventing unauthorized users from playing games while still allowing others to try virtual-reality scenarios.
• Zhao is transported into a spectacular ruin before a colossal divine statue. As he stares at it, visions appear of a giant cutting through celestial bodies and a cosmic army at war.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhao is eager to test the pod, while Liu Xiao jokes about its appearance and initially sees the possibility of selling it for a profit.
• Chen Jie argues that selling would be foolish because the Game Pod may have undiscovered features. Zhao ultimately agrees to keep it.
• The suited owner’s calm refusal of an enormous offer establishes that some buyers value the pod beyond its resale price. His exchange with the teenager also draws the crowd’s attention to the devices’ potential worth.
• Zhao’s friends accompany him to help carry the pod, only to discover it is light and easy to transport. They remain outside while Zhao tests it.

Significant themes

• Human nature and greed: The crowd quickly imagines profits and resale fortunes, while the prospect of losing access to a rare device also encourages caution.
• Scarcity and control: Phantom Immortal Technology uses purchase authorization, one-per-person limits, and user binding to curb scalping and protect buyers.
• Technology and wonder: The pod’s futuristic design and immersive world blur the boundary between gaming and reality, suggesting that its capabilities may exceed ordinary entertainment.

Plot points and events

• Firmament’s worldwide PC and mobile downloads begin ahead of its official launch. Telecom providers fear the enormous demand will overwhelm global networks, but Phantom Immortal Technology assures them there is no need to worry.
• Players begin downloading at once and are astonished by smooth speeds of about 100 MB per second. Experts trace the traffic back to Phantom Immortal Technology’s main server and conclude that the company has achieved a major networking breakthrough.
• Public attention quickly shifts from the network technology to Firmament itself. Game Pod users share recordings of realistic virtual environments, where movement and combat depend on controlling a body with one’s own abilities. A trial feature lets players experience strength multiplied a hundredfold, though whether the game includes skills remains a mystery.
• Meanwhile, Shen Bing spends the day searching the Land of Primordial Chaos for the promised Great Luo Golden Immortal Remnant Soul, using many Teleportation Talismans without success.
• That evening, Yun Xue and Yuan Wei tell Shen Bing about an anomaly they found at the Underground Base: as more players connect to Firmament’s main server, its dark-energy monitoring system begins producing data unlike anything seen in earlier tests.

Character developments and interactions

• Telecom executives move from alarm to curiosity and reluctant admiration when Phantom Immortal Technology’s assurance proves justified.
• Players are impressed by Firmament’s realism and extraordinary physical experiences, and speculate about its still-unknown mechanics.
• Shen Bing is frustrated by his fruitless search, then jokes with Yun Xue and Yuan Wei about pregnancy. Their teasing gives way to a serious discussion.
• Yuan Wei explains the anomaly, while Shen Bing asks what makes the readings unusual. Yun Xue introduces the topic and lets Yuan Wei describe the technical details.

Significant themes

• Phantom Immortal Technology’s apparent superiority to established infrastructure—and the uncertainty surrounding how it achieves such results.
• The boundary between virtual and real experience, as Firmament reproduces physical movement and lets players exceed ordinary human limits.
• Hidden consequences of technological progress: the strange readings suggest that mass connection to the game may be affecting or revealing something beyond its intended systems.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing recalls that Firmament’s Server is also an experimental device, built to collect and preserve the consciousness-related dark matter released by players as they think. The process does not harm or deplete them.
• This dark matter is valuable raw material for Mass-Energy Conversion Technology, potentially enabling large-scale advances such as Brain Development Technology and gene-enhancement drugs once the game reaches a global audience.
• Yuan Wei presents anomalous Server data: when the number of connected players reached one million, the collected dark matter briefly took on a new, much higher-frequency form. Its properties returned to normal when player numbers fell.
• Shen Bing and his colleagues suspect a qualitative change caused by a quantitative threshold. Because the anomaly lasted less than two minutes, they lack enough data and plan to investigate during the game’s official launch the next day.
• Over dinner, Shen Bing asks whether Yuan Wei and Yun Xue will play. Yuan Wei is eager to revisit gaming; Yun Xue asks for special treatment, then backs off when Shen Bing teasingly challenges her.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing is revealed to have concealed the Server’s true purpose at the press conference: it harvests consciousness-related dark matter, though harmlessly. He sees the new substance as potentially more important than his earlier research and considers developing stronger gene-enhancement technology.
• Yuan Wei shows both scientific initiative—extracting and discussing the anomaly with the research team—and personal enthusiasm for playing the game.
• Yun Xue, whose mecha research touches consciousness-control technology, recognizes that the anomaly may be a new substance. She playfully seeks an advantage in the game, while Shen Bing responds with teasing and she rolls her eyes.

Significant themes

• Quantitative change leading to qualitative change: A critical number of players appears to trigger a transformation in the dark matter collected by the Server.
• Science and human potential: The game is not merely entertainment; it may provide the resource base for major technological and evolutionary advances.
• Ethics and concealment: Shen Bing’s public explanation omitted the Server’s real function, even though he maintains that the process causes players no harm.

Plot and major events

• At dinner, Yun Xue proudly describes her progress on a Mecha project. She has completed its power and combat systems and is working on flight, hoping to build a prototype.
• Shen Bing suggests using antigravity and nuclear fusion for flight, then points out that a hundred-meter Mecha would be difficult to transport or deploy. He proposes smaller, piloted support Mecha that enhance a person’s strength and speed while providing ranged attacks. He also raises the more speculative idea of a size-changing material.
• Firmament’s popularity surges as companies and individuals organize teams. Foxconn plans to bring its enormous workforce into the game, partly in response to the threat posed by Phantom Immortal Technology’s Intelligent Robots.
• Huaxia announces that half its military will enter Firmament and that replaced government workers may join game-affairs bureaus while retaining their pay and benefits. Several other major nations announce military participation too, persuading much of the world that Firmament can truly drive human evolution.
• The next morning, prizewinners collect the second batch of Game Pods, while most people wait at home or work for the servers to open. At the University of Electronic Science and Technology, students have been given the day off and told to enter Firmament.
• Zhao Yang and three companions prepare to log in. His friends envy his Game Pod, and Zhao ends the chapter uneasy, saying he feels something bad is about to happen.

Character developments and interactions

• Yun Xue is regaining confidence after taking the Aperture-Opening Pill and is determined to lead her own ambitious research project. She and Shen Bing trade playful insults, but she takes his technical advice seriously.
• Shen Bing alternates between teasing Yun Xue and offering practical guidance. His suggestions help her rethink the Mecha’s scale and intended role; his mention of size-changing materials hints at research beyond her project.
• Yuan Wei laughs at the pair’s bickering and points out how closely in sync they are.
• Zhao Yang and his companions share the widespread excitement about Firmament, though their joking jealousy over Zhao’s Game Pod adds tension to their preparations.

Significant themes

• Technological change and human evolution: Firmament is presented as a possible turning point, drawing support from governments, businesses, and ordinary people.
• Automation and adaptation: Intelligent Robots threaten established jobs, while Foxconn and public agencies seek new roles for displaced workers.
• Ambition, confidence, and collaboration: Yun Xue’s independent research gives her renewed purpose, while Shen Bing’s experience helps refine her ideas.
• Anticipation and foreboding: Global excitement builds toward Firmament’s launch, but Zhao Yang’s final unease foreshadows trouble.

Key plot points and events

• At 10 a.m., Liu Xiao and his friends finally enter Firmament. Players discover that their in-game faces closely match their real ones, with only limited appearance changes allowed.
• Instead of appearing together in a promised starting village, the friends are scattered across remote, dangerous locations: Liu Xiao is near wolves, another friend is in a graveyard, and Zhao Yang is alone on a mountainside.
• With no clear instructions, weapons, or beginner skills, Zhao Yang decides to explore and look for an NPC. The group’s plans for meeting up are useless until they learn where they are.
• Yao Xin finds that PC players receive ten steamed buns in their inventory. Zhao Yang discovers that the Game Pod version has a twenty-slot inventory, also containing ten buns.
• The buns’ description reveals that food is limited and players can starve to death, making survival Zhao Yang’s immediate concern.
• Zhao Yang encounters a large snake. Though his friends dismiss it as an easy monster, the lifelike VR experience makes it genuinely frightening. He considers fighting it to learn how the game works, then spots a possible way to obtain a weapon.

Character developments

• Zhao Yang shifts from anxious confusion to practical problem-solving. He recognizes that survival—not immediate advancement—is the first priority, and begins confronting his fear of realistic dangers.
• Liu Xiao remains brash and dismissive, treating the snake like an ordinary low-level game enemy.
• The friends’ different experiences highlight how much more frightening and difficult the VR version is than playing through a screen.

Significant themes

• Immersion and fear: Realistic VR turns familiar game dangers into visceral threats.
• Survival before progress: Hunger and possible death make basic needs more urgent than leveling or evolution.
• Unequal starting circumstances: Players are scattered and receive different interfaces, while the contrast between VR and conventional play affects how they perceive danger.
• The game’s stinginess and uncertainty: Minimal supplies and missing information leave players to discover the rules through experience.

Character interactions

• Zhao Yang stays in contact with Liu Xiao and the others through an earpiece-like device, despite being inside the VR world.
• The friends compare their locations and supplies, but cannot reunite or act on their plans.
• Liu Xiao urges Zhao Yang to attack the snake; Zhao Yang rejects the advice as reckless because, unlike his screen-based friends, he experiences the creature as if it were real.

Key plot points and events

• In the wilderness, Zhao Yang snaps off a thin pine branch to use as a weapon against a large snake. Rather than attack, the snake flees, revealing that creatures behave realistically instead of following familiar game conventions.
• Players across the server report harsh survival conditions: some spawn on barren islands or near dangerous predators, death is frighteningly realistic, respawning takes an hour, and dying costs players everything in their backpack.
• A player finds a Vermilion Fruit, extracts it from the game through his Game Pod, and eats it. After intense pain, he believes his body has been cleansed and reports that his speed has tripled. The discovery convinces many that the game’s promised real-world item extraction and evolution are genuine.
• Zhao Yang’s roommate Yao Xin discovers a town and hopes it will offer a route to advancement. But guards stop him at the entrance and demand a Travel Permit—an item new players don’t have. His plea that bandits robbed him fails, and the guards threaten him.

Character developments

• Zhao Yang adapts by applying practical survival logic, but remains frustrated by his weak starting strength and the game’s unfamiliar rules.
• Yao Xin goes from feeling lucky to being blocked by an unexpected bureaucratic requirement.
• Liu Xiao enthusiastically imagines becoming a martial-arts hero, while his teasing and jokes keep the group’s exchanges playful.
• The Vermilion Fruit player becomes the first widely publicized example of in-game rewards producing real-world physical change.

Significant themes

• Realism over game conventions: Animals assess danger and flee, while pain, fear, and death carry real weight.
• Survival and risk: Players must contend with scarce resources, severe death penalties, and hazards that make ordinary gaming strategies unreliable.
• The game’s impact on reality: The extracted fruit suggests that virtual discoveries may transform players’ real bodies.
• Rules and access: Even reaching civilization does not guarantee safety or progress; unfamiliar systems, such as travel permits, can create new barriers.

Character interactions

• Zhao Yang gives his friends survival advice and jokes about returning victorious, while Liu Xiao teases him about being stranded in the mountains.
• Players exchange reports online about dangerous spawns, death, and penalties, turning individual experiences into shared knowledge.
• Yao Xin’s discovery draws Liu Xiao and another roommate into his room to watch. At the town gate, Yao Xin tries to persuade the guards to admit him, but their rigid enforcement leaves the group uncertain how players can enter town.

Chapter summary

• Firmament’s rules and fairness: Zhao Yang argues that Yao Xin could bribe a gatekeeper or steal another player’s travel permit to get through a gate. The group also debates why the game has no real-money purchases. Liu Xiao suggests Phantom Immortal Technology can profit from Evolution Items instead, while another friend argues that banning top-ups prevents wealthy players from buying overwhelming advantages.
• The Vermilion Fruit’s impact: A player who obtained a Vermilion Fruit finds that its real-world effects also raise his character’s strength in Firmament, effectively tripling his starting stats. The discovery fuels envy and speculation: stronger stats could improve a player’s chances of gaining experience or joining powerful cultivation organizations. Buyers begin offering enormous sums for similar items.
• Economic and social changes: As people realize they may earn money in the game, companies can no longer expect employees to hand over all their in-game earnings. Governments and businesses raise wages to retain workers, while Phantom Immortal Technology’s robots help keep production capacity high. Many people come to see Shen Bing as someone guiding humanity toward a new future.
• Shen Bing’s research: At Phantom Immortal Technology, Shen Bing focuses not on Firmament’s enormous launch audience—about 3.2 billion concurrent players—but on the consciousness energy generated by them. His team routes player data to a backup server for study. Bunier explains that this energy resembles an electromagnetic wave but carries no readable information, and that its intensity rises sharply with more players. The team believes it can be concentrated and potentially used to create matter, opening new possibilities for human evolution.
• A developing anomaly: As the team monitors player data, Bunier spots an unexpected increase in energy density. The change appears before the population reaches one million, suggesting the phenomenon begins at a lower threshold than they had thought.

Character and relationship notes

• Zhao Yang is pragmatic and quick to suggest questionable ways around obstacles; his friends’ debate also shows his concern about how wealth might affect fairness.
• Yao Xin is frustrated and wants practical help, while Liu Xiao pushes the group to think about the game’s larger purpose.
• Shen Bing is presented as humanity’s perceived guide, but remains absorbed in the technical consequences of Firmament.
• Bunier is an enthusiastic, increasingly awed researcher who brings the critical new finding to Shen Bing’s attention.

Significant themes

The chapter explores fairness versus wealth, the game’s influence on real-world labor and economics, and technology-driven evolution. It also suggests that mass human participation may generate a powerful resource whose potential—and risks—are not yet understood.