Chapter Summaries

Chapter summary: “Almost Too Broke to Eat”

Key plot points and events

• The world’s twelve major powers form a federation, prompting smaller countries to join as well. Huaxia openly leads the process, and resistance is minimal.
• The new government is organized around an Elders’ Council with nine Grand Elder seats. Each continent receives one, while Huaxia holds a separate Chief Grand Elder seat with veto power.
• Phantom Immortal Technology is granted a permanent Grand Elder seat and the role of Special Adviser. Its undisclosed powers include issuing mandatory recommendations during existential crises and acting independently if the Council obstructs action.
• The federation’s military remains under the Elders’ Council, limiting Phantom Immortal Technology’s formal authority. Governments accept the arrangement because of the company’s strength and Shen Bing’s reputation for using advanced technology to benefit humanity.
• Shen Bing is surprised and frustrated by the appointment, recognizing that the governments want to bind him to Earth’s collective defense. He considers appointing a quiet representative to the seat.
• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls Shen Bing to congratulate him, then raises concerns that Phantom Immortal Technology’s Dragon Scale AI may overwhelm Facebook’s Aili AI. He asks whether Facebook can participate in Shen Bing’s smart-home business. Shen agrees and directs him to Wang Sheng.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing is publicly elevated to the world’s highest circles of influence, but privately sees the position as an unwanted responsibility. He remains more interested in business and practical matters than political prestige.
• Zuckerberg shifts from congratulating Shen Bing to pleading for a business opportunity, worried about Facebook’s future. Their exchange is teasing and familiar: Shen Bing points out that he already has influence without the new seat, leaving Zuckerberg momentarily speechless.
• The world’s governments accept Shen Bing’s special role largely because they trust his past actions and expect him to identify extraterrestrial threats before they can.

Significant themes

• Power versus legitimacy: Phantom Immortal Technology’s influence rests not only on its formal privileges but on its capabilities and Shen Bing’s personal reputation.
• Global cooperation: The federation marks a major shift from rivalry among nations toward shared governance and humanity-wide interests.
• Technology and dependence: Facebook’s anxiety shows how quickly advanced AI can reshape markets and threaten even powerful companies.
• Unwanted responsibility: Shen Bing’s rise in status brings obligations he did not seek, rather than simple personal triumph.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing brushes off interest from Mark Zuckerberg in a smart-home partnership. Although the industry is highly profitable, Shen prefers to focus Phantom Immortal Technology on core, world-changing projects such as spaceships, intelligent robots, and game pods. He has also lost some motivation to accumulate money because exchanging it for immortal jade is becoming increasingly costly.
• After his appointment as a Grand Elder of the new Earth Federation, Shen receives a stream of calls from associates congratulating him or seeking his favor. He notices that some now treat him with greater awe.
• The Chief calls to insist that Shen must fulfill the office’s responsibilities and choose a suitable representative quickly. Shen argues that he cannot abandon research and that his subordinates are unsuited to politics, but the Chief refuses to let him evade the duty.
• Shen decides to use an intelligent robot as his stand-in. He orders Difu to create a lifelike, Huaxia-looking robot and register it as a person. The robot will make decisions with support from Qiuqiu and a behind-the-scenes team.
• Shen plans to ask his mother to lead that team. He visits her at home, where she is advising Yun Xue on pregnancy and scolding Shen for not spending enough time with her. After explaining his new position, he suggests that she may be involved; she immediately suspects he wants her to take the Grand Elder seat and objects.

Character development

• Shen Bing remains practical and reluctant to take on political work. He prefers scientific and technological projects, and resolves the problem through delegation rather than personal involvement.
• The Chief is supportive but firm, emphasizing that the Grand Elder position carries real duties and requires a prompt, capable choice.
• Shen Bing’s mother is devoted to Yun Xue’s pregnancy and eagerly anticipates a grandchild. The prospect of political responsibility threatens the time she expects to spend caring for the baby.
• Yun Xue gently defends Shen Bing when his mother accuses him of neglecting her, confirming that he makes time to accompany her.

Significant themes

• Responsibility versus personal priorities: Shen wants to focus on research, but his public position obliges him to contribute to the Federation.
• Delegation and technology: He plans to use an intelligent robot, AI, and a human support team to handle political duties.
• Power and changing relationships: Shen’s appointment makes others more deferential, even though he does not need the title to establish his status.
• Family alongside public ambition: The political appointment intrudes on domestic life, where pregnancy and the anticipated grandchild remain the mother’s chief concerns.

Character interactions

• Shen deflects Zuckerberg’s business proposal, then fields congratulations and requests from acquaintances.
• The Chief challenges Shen’s attempts to avoid the Grand Elder role and presses him to name a representative.
• Shen and his mother discuss the appointment; she first interprets his visit as a request for her to serve, while Yun Xue reassures her about Shen’s attentiveness.

Key plot points

• Shen Bing persuades his mother to become the Federal Government’s Grand Elder in name, with an intelligent robot handling the public role while she advises a team from home. She agrees, apparently pleased to have meaningful work again.
• While walking with Yun Xue, Shen Bing explains that a unified Federal Government is necessary for humanity’s expansion into space: countries could not safely send forces abroad while leaving rivals free to seize territory at home. He warns that rapid technological change will soon transform society.
• Shen Bing praises Yun Xue’s completed Mecha project and plans to present it to the Federal Government’s military once the armed forces are integrated.
• News arrives that the Azure Empire has launched another, larger attack through the moon’s wormhole. Earth’s forces repel and destroy it, but Shen Bing suspects it was only a probe.
• Qiuqiu reports preliminary research suggesting the aliens are nitrogen-based life, possibly sustained by unusual dark matter. Researchers also believe each region of space can contain only a limited number of fundamental dark-matter and dark-energy types; upsetting that balance could have catastrophic effects.
• Shen Bing realizes that civilizations may be forced into conflict when their incompatible environments overlap, since each needs space suited to its own survival.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing and his mother: He accommodates her preference to stay home, though he suspects she has maneuvered him into giving her a role. Their exchange is affectionate and lightly humorous.
• Shen Bing and Yun Xue: Yun Xue questions the sudden political unification and admires Shen Bing’s vision. He credits her work and encourages her hopes that Mechas will see combat.
• Shen Bing and Qiuqiu: Qiuqiu’s scientific findings turn the conversation from political change to a potentially existential threat. Shen Bing reacts with anger and dismay, while Qiuqiu presents the discovery as unavoidable reality.

Significant themes

• Unity and social upheaval: Earth’s political consolidation is portrayed as necessary for space expansion, while rapid technological progress makes sweeping change unavoidable.
• Science and unintended consequences: Discoveries that enable humanity’s advancement may also destabilize the conditions that support life.
• Survival-driven conflict: War between civilizations may stem not merely from ambition but from the irreconcilable need for compatible living environments.
• Hope versus grim reality: Shen Bing values peace, but the chapter suggests that the universe may impose conflicts no good intentions can prevent.

Plot and key events

Shen Bing considers the danger posed by civilizations built on incompatible dark-matter structures. He sets aside the distant question of how Earth might coexist with the Immortal Realm and focuses on the Azure Empire, whose need to alter Earth’s dark matter could make the planet uninhabitable for humans.
He contemplates retaliating by changing the dark-matter structure of the Azure Empire’s territory. During a holographic call with Norman and Bunier, he learns that dark matter has seven energy tiers and that each tier is spatially exclusive. A foreign dark-matter structure needs to occupy a radius of about 3,200 kilometers to become relatively stable; from there, continued supply could let it spread.
This means overturning the Azure Empire’s territory would require a vast quantity of dark matter. Shen Bing asks how much dark energy Firmament produces, but Bunier can describe it only by saying it could make over five million tier-two Gene-Enhancement Drugs per day. Recognizing that his team lacks a standard way to measure dark matter, Shen Bing agrees to Norman’s proposal to establish both material-effect and energy-effect measures.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing shifts from abstract concern about inter-civilizational conflict to considering a drastic strategy against the Azure Empire. He is determined to protect Earth, though the scale of the task leaves him troubled.
• Qiuqiu informs him that Norman and Bunier have already relocated to Gold Island and suggests using holographic calls, showing the team’s transition to a more distributed operation.
• Norman explains dark matter’s energy tiers, spatial exclusivity, and stability threshold, then proposes a measurement system.
• Bunier provides Firmament’s production estimate, though the lack of a suitable unit makes the figure difficult to interpret.

Significant themes

• Survival and moral compromise: Shen Bing sees the conflict as potentially existential, making destruction of the enemy seem like a necessary defense rather than a question of ordinary morality.
• Incompatibility between civilizations: Different forms of life may be unable to share the same environment because their underlying dark-matter structures conflict.
• The limits of knowledge and measurement: The team’s research has advanced, but its inability to quantify dark matter exposes a practical gap between scientific discovery and strategic action.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing and his team establish si (SI) as their unit for dark matter, with reference values tied to Gene-Enhancement Drug production and equivalent electrical energy. Their current output—50,000 si of UI dark energy per day—is modest, but Bunier argues it could grow as Game Pod adoption and human cognitive abilities improve.
• Shen Bing decides to proceed with Plan A against the Azure Empire while continuing research. Plan B would instead disrupt the empire’s space by altering its dark-matter structure.
• An alarm sounds at the Underground Base: the Brain Blossom, a cultivated organism based on a Mysterious Insect gene sequence, has escaped. Surveillance shows it growing a spike strong enough to break its glass container, then melting into and disappearing through the floor.
• Qiuqiu cannot locate it with the team’s limited-range dark-matter equipment. Shen Bing suspects its mutation may have given it new abilities and worries it could become dangerous, particularly if it can control people.
• More than fear, Shen Bing is intrigued by its research potential: it can apparently make normally soft biological material hard as iron. He uses the immortal artifact Heaven-Seeker to track it by following dark-matter traces left in the nutrient solution.
• Bu Hechang and robot assistants collect the remaining solution for analysis while Shen Bing supervises, beginning the search.

Character developments

• Shen Bing remains strategic and ambitious, balancing long-term plans against the Azure Empire with the sudden crisis at the base. His alarm at the escape gives way to curiosity about the Brain Blossom’s scientific value.
• Bunier demonstrates confidence in the future of dark-energy production, pointing to technological advances and players’ potential as reasons output will rise.
• Qiuqiu is calm and efficient, quickly identifying the escape and helping organize the response, though she cannot track the Brain Blossom with current equipment.

Themes and interactions

• The chapter highlights the tension between scientific opportunity and uncontrolled risk: the Brain Blossom’s mutation could yield valuable discoveries, but its abilities are unknown.
• It also emphasizes gradual technological progress. Dark-energy output is limited now, yet Shen Bing’s team expects growth through wider adoption and human enhancement.
• Shen Bing relies on Qiuqiu for immediate intelligence, while Qiuqiu and the researchers support his response by preparing the nutrient solution for Heaven-Seeker’s search.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing uses the Immortal Artifact Heaven-Seeker to scan for the escaped Brain Blossom. Its artifact spirit produces a highly detailed, molecular-level three-dimensional map covering most of Earth, revealing the creature moving underground at more than 200 kilometers per hour.
• He tracks it to the wilderness and sends Lu Xian and Lu Shiyi underground to intercept it. The Demon Puppet Artisans easily overpower the Brain Blossom and bring it back contained as a writhing gray-white liquid.
• The creature threatens humanity and boasts that it can escape, but Shen Bing bluffs that he can destroy it through mass-energy conversion. The threat makes it surrender.
• Shen Bing renames the Brain Blossom Venom. Rather than hand it to Clarence and his research team, he decides the Gate to the Immortal Realm’s Eye of Truth is better suited to analyze it. He transfers Venom into the system at a cost of nearly 700 immortal jade and prepares to inspect its description.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing demonstrates confidence, resourcefulness, and a willingness to use intimidation: he tracks Venom precisely, arranges its capture, and exploits its fear of being destroyed to bring it under control.
• Lu Xian and Lu Shiyi follow Shen Bing’s orders and defeat Venom with little difficulty. Lu Xian returns carrying it in a transparent enclosure.
• Venom shifts from arrogant threats to frightened surrender, then briefly boasts again about its potential for infinite evolution. Shen Bing rejects its claims and makes clear that it intends to control it, not merely imprison it.
• Shen Bing considers whether researchers can handle Venom, but chooses the supernatural system as a more promising route to understanding it.

Significant themes

• Power and control: Venom’s abilities are undermined by Shen Bing’s superior resources and its inability to resist his plans.
• Knowledge as power: Heaven-Seeker’s unprecedented map gives Shen Bing a decisive advantage, while the Eye of Truth offers a way to analyze an extraordinary life-form.
• Practical ambition: Shen Bing evaluates Venom less as a threat or scientific curiosity than as a potentially valuable asset.
• Bluff and negotiation: Shen Bing gains the upper hand by convincing Venom that resistance will lead to its destruction.

Key plot points

• Shen Bing names his newly acquired mutant life-form Venom. Its abilities include immunity to physical and magical attacks, shapeshifting and intangibility, and immortality as long as its energy lasts.
• He confirms the Eye of Truth cannot analyze living, intelligent creatures. He sends Venom back to reality and orders Old Ban to take it to Gold Island for research.
• The next morning, Shen Bing completes the main quest “Explore Hell: Restart Yama Hall” and receives Spatial Formation Essentials, a set of material for studying spatial technology.
• Wondering how to trigger the next quest, Shen Bing visits Celestial Venerable Taiyi. He also expects Taiyi to reward him personally, since Taiyi originally assigned the Yama Hall mission.
• Taiyi acknowledges the mission’s success and offers two treasures. Shen Bing rejects a Heart-Calming Talisman in favor of a cultivation method, then learns the other treasure is a sealed Elder Antiquity True Dragon Egg. The chapter ends with him weighing the risk of taking it.

Character developments

• Shen Bing shows growing confidence in exploiting the system and negotiating with powerful figures. He values treasures partly for their potential to yield useful “black technology” through analysis.
• Venom is revealed as extraordinarily hard to kill and is bound to Shen Bing through the Master Recognition Protocol, though it has no memory of the teleportation process.
• Celestial Venerable Taiyi understands Shen Bing’s implied demand for compensation and, after an attempted deflection, offers him gifts.

Significant themes

• Power and survival: Venom’s abilities make survival—not just offensive strength—a central measure of power.
• Knowledge as practical value: Shen Bing often prizes items for what he can learn or analyze from them, rather than their immediate use.
• Bargaining and obligation: Even divine status does not erase social debts; Shen Bing insists that Taiyi honor their arrangement.
• Progress through quests: Restarting Yama Hall advances the larger goal of restoring reincarnation, while the next stage remains uncertain.

Character interactions

• Shen Bing formally names Venom and establishes control over it through the protocol, then entrusts its study to Old Ban and the researchers.
• Shen Bing and Taiyi engage in a polite but pointed negotiation: Taiyi proposes taking him to the Jade Emperor, while Shen Bing silently presses for Taiyi’s own promised reward.
• Shen Bing chooses a body-refinement method over Taiyi’s protective talisman, then considers the uncertain but potentially immense value of the dragon egg.

Key plot points

• Shen Bing learns that the sealed Elder Antiquity True Dragon Egg can be unsealed using soul essences from heaven, earth, and humanity. Immortal and demonic souls are obtainable, and vengeful ghosts can be absorbed directly—but human souls are impossible to acquire.
• He chooses the egg anyway, treating it as a rare collectible and hoping it might hatch, while jokingly imagining future uses for its DNA.
• Celestial Venerable Taiyi escorts Shen Bing to the Hall of Miraculous Mist to meet the Jade Emperor. Shen Bing is awed by the Heavenly Court’s scale and splendor, especially the Jade Emperor’s palace.
• The Jade Emperor praises Shen Bing for reopening Yama Hall and offers him a choice among three grades of reward.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains irreverent and self-assured. He selects the uncertain dragon egg, shows little deference to the Jade Emperor, and views the emperor’s reward as a potential treasure.
• Celestial Venerable Taiyi is pleased that he has reduced his losses and guides Shen Bing to the audience. He explains the egg’s sealing requirements and the formal customs of the palace.
• The Jade Emperor appears gracious, but privately regards Shen Bing as an inexplicable anomaly whom he cannot see through. He acknowledges Shen Bing’s impressive deeds while noting his past foolishness.
• Shen Bing and the Jade Emperor exchange polite words, though Shen Bing privately doubts the emperor’s relationship with the Queen Mother because the emperor treats him so calmly after Shen Bing’s earlier conflict with her.

Significant themes

• Irreverence toward authority: Shen Bing’s casual attitude contrasts with the ceremony surrounding the Jade Emperor.
• Merit and recognition: The Jade Emperor weighs Shen Bing’s past misconduct against the great merit of reopening Yama Hall.
• Risk and ambition: Shen Bing accepts the uncertain dragon egg for its rarity and potential rather than guaranteed value.
• Power and uncertainty: Despite ruling the Immortal Realm, the Jade Emperor cannot understand Shen Bing, highlighting the limits of authority and knowledge.

Key plot points and events

• The Jade Emperor offers Shen Bing a choice of upper-, middle-, or lower-tier reward. Shen Bing suspects the choice is a way to let him accidentally accept less than he deserves, so he feigns humility and requests the lower tier.
• The Jade Emperor appears frustrated, confirming Shen Bing’s suspicion that the reward is valuable. Taibai Jinxing brings it, and Shen Bing stores it without opening it.
• Celestial Venerable Taiyi says he needs Shen Bing’s help reopening the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Shen Bing agrees, earns the Jade Emperor’s promise of a share of the merit, and accepts a system quest to assist Taiyi.
• Taiyi explains that reopening reincarnation requires immense magical power. The key is to capture living Primordial Fiendgods in the Land of Primordial Chaos, but they are extremely powerful, difficult to subdue, and nearly impossible to transport.
• Shen Bing realizes his own abilities may solve the transport problem. He claims to have visited the land before and defeated powerful Outworld Demons. Taiyi responds by teaching him the Soul-Shocking Spell, which can render a Fiendgod unconscious without killing it.
• Back on Illusory Void Island, Shen Bing reviews his rewards and puts the spell into the Eye of Truth for analysis.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing demonstrates confidence, cunning, and growing experience. He reads the Jade Emperor’s tactic, negotiates a valuable reward, and recognizes how his own capabilities can advance Taiyi’s mission.
• The Jade Emperor tries to retain control over the reward but is visibly displeased when Shen Bing’s response outmaneuvers him. He later promises Shen Bing merit for helping with reincarnation.
• Celestial Venerable Taiyi is initially doubtful that Shen Bing can help, but becomes enthusiastic after hearing of his feats in the Land of Primordial Chaos. He gives Shen Bing the Soul-Shocking Spell.
• Shen Bing and Taiyi form a practical partnership: Taiyi explains the mission’s obstacles, while Shen Bing offers a possible way to overcome them.

Significant themes

• Cleverness versus authority: Shen Bing uses insight into the Jade Emperor’s incentives to turn a seemingly simple reward choice to his advantage.
• Power and cooperation: Restoring cosmic order requires powerful beings to work together and overcome problems no one can solve alone.
• Ambition and reward: Shen Bing is eager to help, but the quest explicitly ties greater participation to greater rewards.
• Reincarnation and cosmic balance: The effort to reopen the Six Paths is presented as essential to restoring order throughout the Three Realms.

Key events

• Shen Bing discovers the spell manual is classified as a Quest Item and cannot be analyzed. He instead analyzes the Spatial Formation Essentials, obtaining Three-Star Dimensional Space Technology.
• After paying 999 immortal jade to transfer the knowledge, he sends it to Qiuqiu’s database and assigns Ye Tian Cangsang to lead research. The technology uses dark matter and could greatly advance Phantom Immortal Technology’s work on space.
• Shen Bing opens the Jade Emperor’s gift: the Yellow-Black Tower, an acquired spirit treasure modeled on the legendary Heaven and Earth Yellow-Black Tower. Though somewhat weaker than the original, it is a formidable defensive artifact.
• He decides not to risk analyzing the tower or use the Soul-Shocking Spell manual yet. His immediate priority is the wormhole on the moon and the Azure Empire beyond it.
• Shen Bing orders Master Qiao and equipment brought in, and summons Thorne and Bernie. The two report that the Dragon-Tiger Pill has made them superhumanly strong.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing’s disappointment at the blocked analysis quickly turns to excitement when he uncovers a major new field of technology. He acts decisively, putting the knowledge and research into the hands of his team.
• He recognizes the Yellow-Black Tower’s value and the Jade Emperor’s reluctance to surrender it, while remaining cautious about wasting his limited analysis attempts.
• Thorne and Bernie’s growth is made clear through Bernie’s boast that he could defeat a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Shen Bing takes the claim seriously, though he notes that such a feat would be unimpressive beside the creatures of the Immortal Realm or Avalon Planet.
• Shen Bing directs Qiuqiu, Ye Tian Cangsang, Master Qiao, Thorne, and Bernie toward the next phase of his plans.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as power: Dimensional Space Technology promises progress that even a brilliant researcher might otherwise take a century to achieve.
• Caution and resource management: Shen Bing avoids gambling with the tower or his limited analysis attempts.
• Escalating scale: Human-level strength and technology are measured against increasingly vast threats—from the wormhole and Azure Empire to the beings and creatures of other realms.

Key plot points and events

• Thorne, Bernie, and Master Qiao prepare to travel through a wormhole to the Azure Empire. Shen Bing ensures Master Qiao carries the components and energy needed for the mission, despite the high cost.
• Instead of joining them, Shen Bing plans to follow their progress remotely using improved quantum information transmission.
• The team travels to the Moon in the newly developed A3 Fighter, powered by an antimatter engine. It can reach up to 90% of light speed, making it an exceptionally capable escape craft even against the Azure Empire.
• The Chief tells Shen Bing that the Earth Federation has integrated global military forces and assembled a 1,000-person Special Operations Force, ready to deploy once Shen Bing completes a base.
• Shen Bing proposes broadcasting the expedition’s journey through the wormhole to the Federation’s former national leaders, hoping that witnessing the alien world will foster unity. The Chief agrees.
• Shen Bing sets up a large virtual conference room. The Council members gather through their Firmament Game Pods, and Thorne’s team waits at the lunar base for the broadcast to begin.

Character developments

• Shen Bing remains focused on research and avoids formal political responsibility, even as others try to draw him into Federation leadership. He is willing to use his technology and wealth to support the mission, but prefers innovation to governance.
• Thorne and Bernie trust Shen Bing’s preparations and are not anxious about the dangerous journey.
• The Chief is more confident after the Federation’s military integration and uses the opportunity to encourage Shen Bing’s involvement in political affairs.
• Shen Ming, Shen Bing’s representative, holds a prominent Council position, reflecting Shen Bing’s indirect influence.

Significant themes

• Technology and exploration: The A3 Fighter and antimatter engine show the rapid pace of Shen Bing’s research teams and the risks of venturing into unknown space.
• Power and political unity: Military integration has established the Federation, but Shen Bing recognizes that cooperation built on pressure may not create genuine solidarity.
• Responsibility versus personal ambition: Shen Bing’s capabilities make him influential, yet he resists taking on the burden of governing.
• Shared experience as a source of unity: Shen Bing hopes that witnessing the alien expedition together will help Earth’s leaders see themselves as one people.

Character interactions

• Shen Bing briefs the expedition team, provides logistical support, and relies on their trust in his planning.
• In a call with the Chief, Shen Bing proposes a live broadcast; the Chief supports it and suggests inviting the former national leaders through the Council.
• Shen Bing delegates the invitation to Shen Ming and uses virtual reality to bring the Council together, linking advanced technology with the Federation’s political process.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Ming reveals that Phantom Immortal Technology has built a vast, modern base on the moon and plans eventually to offer 10,000 immigration places. The base is also a launch point for missions into the Azure Empire.
• A three-person security team—including Thorne—sets out in the experimental A3 Fighter. Shen Ming explains that Phantom Immortal Technology destroyed an earlier Corgi Empire base and installed five Charged Particle Cannons near the wormhole, repelling two Azure Empire attacks in the past ten days.
• Master Qiao makes the fighter vanish, and the team disappears into the wormhole. The footage reveals an enormous alien hall filled with strange vehicles and intelligent Azure inhabitants.
• The team reaches the hall’s edge but is stopped by an invisible Warning Barrier, which can detect even dust. Master Qiao, disguised as dust on Thorne’s arm, had warned them before they blundered into it.
• Thorne and his companion search the perimeter and discover openings where the barrier briefly deactivates as people pass through. They plan to slip out behind the Azure natives.

Character developments

• Shen Ming presents himself as a composed, authoritative guide, calmly explaining the company’s actions and the alien environment. The audience remains unaware that he is an Intelligent Robot.
• Thorne and his companion show discipline by following Master Qiao’s warning and searching for a stealthy route rather than rushing out.
• Master Qiao proves crucial through his transformation into a tiny speck of dust, allowing him to travel unseen and detect the barrier.
• The conference attendees move from admiration and curiosity to shock as they learn how vulnerable Earth is—and how much Phantom Immortal Technology has done to defend it.

Significant themes

• A shattered worldview: The moon base, advanced technology, wormhole, and alien civilization overturn the attendees’ assumptions about humanity’s place and capabilities.
• Technology as both wonder and protection: Phantom Immortal Technology’s inventions seem almost supernatural, yet they are presented as practical defenses against invasion.
• Earth’s hidden vulnerability: Peace on Earth depends on an unseen struggle against alien incursions.
• Stealth and caution: The mission’s progress relies not on force but on observation, timing, and avoiding detection.

Character interactions

• Shen Ming informs the attendees, while they silently question the company’s decisions and react aloud to the revelations.
• The conference participants debate the strange alien setting; Shen Ming distinguishes the likely Corgi-built hall from the Azure Empire’s inhabitants and vehicles.
• Master Qiao’s warning prevents Thorne and his companion from triggering the barrier, after which the team searches for a safe way out.

Key plot points and events

• Thorne and Bernie decide to risk sneaking out of the fortified hall rather than fight their way through. They know the Azure Empire has strong defenses because it has already lost two invasion forces to Earth.
• The exit’s Warning Barrier opens for only about a tenth of a second when an Azurean passes. With Master Qiao relaying the barrier’s movements telepathically, Thorne slips through immediately behind an armored Azurean.
• Thorne gets out, but the armored Azurean is too slow for Bernie to follow. Bernie waits for another opening and eventually escapes as well.
• Outside, the observers see a strange, vividly colored, coral-like ecosystem. Shen Ming explains that its organisms are withering because the Azure Empire’s conquest will make the planet’s environment unsuitable for them. The Azureans will eventually replace the world’s existing life and alter its air to suit themselves.

Character developments and interactions

• Thorne and Bernie show resolve and coordination, trusting each other and Master Qiao’s real-time guidance. Thorne takes the first risk; Bernie adapts when he cannot follow immediately and successfully escapes later.
• Master Qiao’s exceptional perception and mental communication prove crucial to navigating the barrier.
• Shen Ming provides context to the observers, explaining both the planet’s ecology and the environmental consequences of conquest.
• The Earthly audience reacts with wonder at the beautiful landscape, then anxiety about the mission and concern as they recognize that the lifeforms are dying.

Significant themes

• Risk and teamwork: The escape depends on timing, nerve, and cooperation.
• Imperial conquest and ecological destruction: The Azure Empire’s occupation threatens not only the conquered intelligent species but the entire ecosystem.
• Perspective and contrast: A beautiful world can be endangered by a hostile civilization, and the chapter contrasts Earth’s familiar greenery with an alien, coral-like biosphere.

Plot points and events

• Shen Ming explains that the Azure Empire’s occupation of another planet altered its environment so drastically that the native life was doomed to extinction. The same could happen to Earth, making peaceful coexistence unlikely.
• The footage reveals a gigantic, thousand-meter-long flying vessel resembling a sailing ship. Shen Bing realizes that the Azure Empire may possess far larger craft than the Corgi Empire’s records suggested, though its combat role remains uncertain.
• Bernie proposes shooting the vessel down, but Shen Bing orders the team to stay hidden and escape instead. The vessel passes without discovering them.
• Master Qiao, Thorne, and their companions identify a nearby Earth-like planet already under Azure control. Unable to establish a base there, they decide to use its smallest, most distant moon as a temporary station and continue searching for a safer location. Their aircraft then disappears into space.
• Shen Ming tells the assembled leaders that the Azure Empire is preparing the planet as a military stronghold for an eventual attack on Earth. He argues that humanity must seize control of the wormhole and the surrounding star system rather than rely on defense alone.
• The leaders support forming a larger expeditionary force. Shen Ming recommends recruiting only soldiers at least at second-tier strength, but such people are rare in reality despite many players having advanced in the game Firmament.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing shows caution and command, rejecting Bernie’s impulse to attack and prioritizing concealment and escape.
• Bernie appears overeager and reckless, prompting Shen Bing to call him an idiot.
• Master Qiao and Thorne adapt pragmatically to the Azure-controlled planet, choosing a temporary lunar base rather than risking an exposed landing.
• Shen Ming takes charge of the strategic discussion, making the case for preemptive control of the wormhole.
• The world leaders quickly align behind the plan, including former presidents Kra and Jinpu and Huaxia’s chief. A questioner raises the moral concern that invading the Azure Empire could repeat the Corgi Empire’s wrongdoing, but Shen Ming argues that the Azure Empire’s aggression makes decisive action necessary.

Significant themes

• Environmental incompatibility and conquest: Occupation can destroy a world’s native life even without direct warfare.
• Preemption versus defense: The chapter presents control of the wormhole and enemy territory as necessary to prevent an invasion.
• Caution versus aggression: Bernie’s eagerness to fight contrasts with Shen Bing’s restraint.
• Moral ambiguity: Humanity condemns the Azure Empire’s expansion while preparing its own expedition into Azure territory.
• Uneven advancement: Progress in a game does not readily translate into real-world strength, limiting the force humanity can deploy.

Plot points and events

• Grand Elder Kela questions whether requiring second-tier warriors for early operations is too restrictive. Shen Ming explains that ordinary firearms and most kinetic weapons can barely injure Azureans; humanity’s energy weapons are not yet practical for field use. For now, the military should focus on infiltration and harassment, while people grow stronger in Firmament.
• Thorne, Bernie, and Master Qiao land on a small satellite near the Home Planet. Thorne suggests hollowing it out as a hidden base, but Master Qiao rejects it as too close to Earth. They will use it as a temporary outpost while searching for a safer permanent base.
• Shen Bing instructs the trio to contact Avalon Planet once the outpost is ready and to place observers near the wormhole to monitor Azurean activity. He delays planting surveillance near the Azure Empire’s Hall so their infiltration is not exposed prematurely.
• The Hope Spaceship continues mapping Jupiter by deploying hundreds of thousands of signal transmitters each day. Because local heavy materials are scarce, transport ships collect resources from Jupiter’s satellites. Chen Bing hopes to explore as much as possible before the Auspicious Cloud arrives in three days—and, ideally, find metallic hydrogen.
• Rongcheng has rapidly adapted to flying cars, while intelligent robots are beginning to reshape everyday life.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Ming’s firsthand experience gives his warning about Azurean durability considerable weight; Kela accepts the implications despite their military significance.
• Master Qiao demonstrates caution and strategic patience, choosing a temporary staging post over a risky permanent base. Thorne agrees, and the team follows Shen Bing’s orders.
• Shen Bing balances urgency with secrecy, postponing surveillance that could compromise the infiltrators.
• Chen Bing is proud of the historic importance of exploring Jupiter, but sees fulfilling his boss’s assignment—not personal acclaim—as his foremost duty.

Significant themes

• Humanity’s vulnerability and adaptation: Conventional weapons are inadequate against the Azureans, making stronger warriors and new tactics essential.
• Patience and concealment in warfare: The team avoids premature exposure while preparing for a future campaign.
• Exploration and technological change: Jupiter’s mysteries are steadily revealed, while flying cars and robots transform life on Earth.
• Duty and legacy: Chen Bing’s ambition to make history is closely tied to loyalty and responsibility.

Key plot points and events

• Phantom Immortal Technology’s robots and Game Pods have transformed daily life. Many people have left traditional jobs to earn more in Firmament, while increased leisure and spending have revived real-world businesses.
• Shen Bing shops with his pregnant wives, Yun Xue and Yuan Wei, wearing Human Skin Masks so they can avoid recognition. Yun Xue observes that the surveillance and suspicious activity that once followed them have disappeared.
• Shen explains that Phantom Immortal Technology’s permanent seat in the Earth Federation, and his own demonstrated strength, have made it dangerous for anyone to target them. He imagines that automation and abundant resources could eventually create a utopian society; Yuan Wei questions whether human selfishness would still prevent it.
• Yun Xue, feeling unwell, suggests visiting their university instead of crowded streets, and Shen agrees.
• Thorne reports that the moon Outpost 1 has been converted into a base. It contains a powerful Dark Matter Shield and a Force Field Analysis Device, which will survey the planetary system and send its data to Earth for Qiuqiu to analyze.
• A separate measurement project establishes that Avalon Planet is roughly ten light-years from the planet beyond the Moon’s wormhole. This gives Phantom Immortal Technology a potential rear base from which to threaten the Azure Empire’s flank.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen is increasingly secure and influential: the need for covert protection has faded, and his confidence in Phantom Immortal Technology’s political and military position is clear.
• Yun Xue and Yuan Wei show their closeness to Shen in an ordinary domestic outing; Yun Xue’s pregnancy symptoms shape their plans.
• Yuan Wei is skeptical of Shen’s optimistic vision of a society without conflict, raising the enduring question of human nature.
• Shen reacts with delighted surprise to Avalon Planet’s proximity, recognizing its strategic value.

Significant themes

• Technology and social change: Automation frees people from labor but also reshapes employment, leisure, and commerce.
• Utopia versus human nature: Material abundance may reduce competition, but whether it can eliminate selfishness and conflict remains uncertain.
• Power and security: Political standing and strength have replaced secrecy and surveillance as the basis of Shen’s safety.
• Expansion and strategy: Scientific advances turn distant worlds into practical military assets and extend humanity’s reach.

Key events and plot points

• Shen Bing concludes that the Azure Empire is poorly equipped for interstellar warfare. Its invasion of the Corgi Empire depended on wormholes and its people’s ability to pass through them, so it likely cannot travel between star systems efficiently. Avalon Planet is therefore safe for now, giving Shen time to strengthen it.
• Since Avalon’s location is now known and its importance has increased, Shen accelerates plans to modify it, rather than waiting until the Moon’s transformation is finished.
• Shen’s original Asteroid Climate Control Technology was limited to planets about the size of Mars. Research at the Climate Control Research Center has expanded it so it can work on satellites such as the Moon, and the team expects to remove the remaining size limitations within ten days.
• Shen instructs Zhong Yuanchang to begin Avalon’s modification immediately, treating the project as a test case for larger planets.
• Zhong points out that the work requires dark-matter conversion and therefore more Mass-Energy Conversion Devices than the center currently has.
• Shen realizes that making Avalon habitable requires changing its dark-matter structure, not merely its ordinary environment. Avalon’s main dark-matter components fall within the second to fourth energy tiers, making conversion challenging but feasible; scarce seventh-tier matter can be ignored.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen is strategically confident: he sees the Azure Empire’s limitations as an opportunity to fortify Avalon and potentially repel or destroy the invaders through harassment.
• He quickly shifts from long-term planning to action, calling Zhong directly and authorizing Avalon’s modification as soon as he hears the technology is nearly ready.
• Zhong is confident in his team’s progress despite the pressures of the previous month, but candidly identifies inadequate infrastructure—especially too few conversion devices—as a practical obstacle.
• Shen’s exchange with Zhong leads him to a broader understanding of what planetary climate control entails: dark matter itself must be altered to make an entire planet suitable for humans.

Significant themes

• Strategic advantage through understanding limitations: The Azure Empire’s reliance on wormholes gives Shen time to prepare.
• Innovation and adaptation: Existing technology is extended beyond its original size restrictions to meet new planetary needs.
• The gap between theory and practice: Mass-energy conversion may theoretically produce dark matter, but energy tiers and limited equipment complicate implementation.
• Terraforming as total environmental transformation: Habitability requires reshaping a planet’s underlying dark-matter structure, not just its visible climate.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing declines to send Master Qiao to help Zhong Yuanchang, since Qiao is needed for the Azure Empire base project. Instead, he promises Zhong two capable assistants and two Demon Puppet Artisans to help develop the Mass-Energy Conversion Device.
• At a base near Shacheng, elite soldiers from various countries assemble to prepare for an expedition to the Azure Empire. Commander Gao warns them that they will face an unfamiliar battlefield and must be ready to fight—and possibly die—to protect Earth.
• The troops are scheduled for ten days of intensive training in spacecraft operation and Energy-Form Weapons.
• Martin Lin of Illusion Immortal Technology introduces the company’s Stun Gun. In a demonstration, he destroys an M1A2 tank with a single shot from more than four hundred meters away.
• Martin explains that the weapon has a three-kilometer effective range, near-perfect accuracy, and a million volt-ampere-hours of stored energy. The soldiers are stunned by its capabilities.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains focused on building the Azure Empire base, but supports Zhong Yuanchang’s work by assigning him specialized personnel and artisans.
• Zhong Yuanchang is relieved and grateful, trusting that Shen Bing’s “capable assistants” will be exceptionally talented.
• Commander Gao, revealed to be Gao Jingchuan’s father, has regained a youthful appearance through an Immortal Peach and Firmament rewards. He takes command of the multinational force and motivates the soldiers with a forceful appeal to defend Earth.
• Martin Lin confidently presents the Stun Gun and addresses the troops’ skepticism by demonstrating its destructive power.
• The soldiers, initially doubtful of a pistol-like weapon, are quickly impressed and energized by what it can do.

Significant themes

• Preparation for an unknown threat: The expedition demands discipline, courage, and readiness to face unfamiliar enemies.
• Technology reshaping warfare: Advanced weapons and spacecraft turn established military expectations upside down.
• Cooperation and shared responsibility: Soldiers from many nations unite for a mission framed as the defense of humanity and Earth.
• Human advancement and changing status: Firmament’s effects and new technology are transforming people, military hierarchies, and the balance of power.

Key plot points and events

• Martin Lin demonstrates a stun gun powerful enough to destroy a tank. It can fire up to a thousand full-power shots per charge, use a remote power supply over five kilometers, and accept quick battery swaps. It will be standard equipment for troops entering the Azure Empire.
• He unveils an indestructible adamantium dagger, explaining that it is meant not mainly for combat but to extract the energy from dead Azureans. Energy-Absorbing Modules can be exchanged for evolution items from the game Firmament.
• Martin reveals the exchange rates: two full modules buy a Hundred-Year Ginseng; filling a module requires eight green-and-white Azureans or two bronze-skinned ones. The soldiers’ excitement grows as the mission gains tangible rewards alongside its strategic purpose.
• Shen Bing tells the Earth Federation’s Chief Grand Elder that Phantom Immortal Technology will move its headquarters to Gold Island, while keeping its Rongcheng industrial park as its Greater Huaxia branch. Shen Bing confirms his ambition to build a technology city capable of traveling through space—effectively an artificial planet.
• Shen orders general manager Wang Sheng to begin the relocation without attending himself. The move attracts little global attention, but Rongcheng residents and officials regret losing the company’s headquarters and, especially, its Research and Development Center.
• The chapter closes as more than a hundred specialized flying vehicles and over ten thousand employees gather for the move. After farewell speeches, Rongcheng’s Secretary Li tells Wang Sheng that the city hates to see the company leave.

Character developments and interactions

• Martin Lin presents Phantom Immortal Technology’s weapons and turns the soldiers’ mission into an opportunity to earn valuable evolution items.
• The soldiers shift from fighting solely out of duty to feeling motivated by concrete rewards; they debate the risks and profitability of hunting Azureans.
• Shen Bing displays confidence and vast ambition, treating an artificial planet as a worthwhile project only if it is large enough. He delegates the relocation to Wang Sheng, who accepts the responsibility with wry resignation.
• The Chief Grand Elder recognizes the scale of Shen Bing’s plans but falls silent at the enormity of them, then returns to his own military duties.
• Rongcheng’s officials and residents feel a strong sense of loss, while Wang Sheng and Secretary Li exchange a cordial, regretful farewell.

Significant themes

• Practical incentives and human nature: Material rewards can sustain soldiers’ motivation beyond appeals to duty and patriotism.
• Technology as strategic advantage: The stun gun and energy-harvesting dagger could reshape the conflict with the Azure Empire.
• Ambition and scale: Shen Bing’s plans extend beyond corporate growth toward spacefaring civilization.
• Local pride and the costs of progress: Phantom Immortal Technology’s expansion brings opportunity for the company but leaves Rongcheng feeling abandoned and diminished.

Key plot points and events

• Martin Lin introduces a powerful stun gun that can kill with a single hit, has a thousand full-power shots per charge, and can be recharged remotely or with a quick battery swap. It will be standard equipment for the soldiers preparing to enter the Azure Empire.
• He then unveils an indestructible adamantium dagger. Its main purpose is not combat but to extract the special energy from dead Azureans, preventing nearby enemies from absorbing it.
• Phantom Immortal Technology offers to exchange charged energy modules for evolution items from Firmament. The crowd learns that two modules can buy a Hundred-Year Ginseng; filling a module requires eight green-and-white Azureans or two bronze-skinned ones. The rewards spark enthusiasm for the coming guerrilla campaign.
• Shen Bing tells the Federation’s Chief Grand Elder that Phantom Immortal Technology is moving its headquarters to Gold Island, while keeping its Rongcheng industrial park as a regional branch. He reveals his ambition to build a spacefaring technological city—essentially an artificial planet.
• Shen Bing orders the relocation to begin, leaving general manager Wang Sheng to oversee it. The move receives little global attention, but Rongcheng feels the loss, particularly because the research center is relocating too. More than ten thousand employees gather as the departure ceremony begins.

Character developments and interactions

• Martin Lin presents the weapons and explains their strategic and economic value, turning military preparation into an enticing opportunity for the soldiers.
• The soldiers shift from fighting solely out of duty to feeling motivated by the prospect of earning valuable evolution items. They debate the exchange rates and the feasibility of ambush tactics.
• Shen Bing displays confidence in his enormous ambitions and his habit of delegating practical work. He lets Wang Sheng manage the move rather than attending in person.
• The Chief Grand Elder accepts the relocation but is taken aback by Shen Bing’s artificial-planet plans. Their friendly conversation ends with the Chief abruptly returning to his own duties.
• Wang Sheng is surprised when Shen Bing leaves the relocation entirely in his hands. Rongcheng officials, especially Secretary Li, express regret at losing the company’s headquarters and research center.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and incentives: Tangible rewards help sustain soldiers’ motivation beyond patriotic duty.
• Technology as power: The weapons and energy-harvesting system give humanity new ways to fight—and profit from—the Azureans.
• Ambition and scale: Shen Bing’s plans extend beyond corporate expansion to building a city capable of traveling through space.
• Local attachment versus progress: Rongcheng’s pride in Phantom Immortal Technology clashes with the company’s need to move toward larger ambitions.