Chapter Summaries

Jonas learned that the Star of Dawn’s Mika District base contained a hidden research site called the “mine,” and he ordered Eiffel to continue its excavation for the Alt Conglomerate. After Eiffel mistook the surveillance footage Jonas had watched for something indecent, she flirted with him and challenged him to undo the strap on her thigh with one tug.

• Jonas watched footage of Beigong Ling in her holding room before closing the surveillance feed when Eiffel arrived.
• Eiffel reported that most of the Star of Dawn’s research data at the Mika District base had been destroyed.
• Eiffel explained that the Star of Dawn called the base a “mine” because it connected to the Wasteland and contained unexplored theories and research findings.
• Jonas ordered Eiffel to send people to continue the unfinished excavation and research at the base.
• Eiffel offered to attend to Jonas’s needs, then lifted her skirt and told him the strap on her thigh would come undone with one tug.
• Jonas reached for the strap, claiming he only wanted to see whether it would come undone.

Jonas visited Rui after noticing she had not reported on the psychological-defect suppressant research, and discovered she was sulking because he had neglected to check on her. He offered to move her to a better-equipped base, then took out a remote and warned her she would be punished for failing to report her progress.

• Jonas decided to check on Rui after a month and a half without updates on the suppressant research.
• Rui resented Jonas for ignoring her work and withheld reports despite making progress, while also criticizing Eiffel in her thoughts.
• Jonas visited Rui at the Biology Research Center and asked whether she wanted time off because the project had stalled.
• Rui told Jonas she had made progress but had not yet reported it, and Jonas acknowledged that he had neglected her.
• Jonas offered to take Rui to the Mika District base as an apology, then produced a white remote and asked if she was ready for punishment.

Jonas learned that the Void Realm Church was building an altar for an upcoming operation involving the Star of Dawn and arranged with Carol to help destroy it at the right time. Afanisi planned to use the coming conflict as cover for a personal attack on Jonas, while expecting the Star of Dawn to fail.

• Jonas stopped punishing Rui and arranged for Miss Eiffel to take her to the New Research Institute.
• Esnie told Jonas that the Void Realm Church was preparing an altar and that its Saintess, Afanisi, would join the operation involving the Star of Dawn.
• Jonas concluded that the altar could grant Afanisi teleportation abilities and decided to destroy it after its completion without alerting the church.
• Jonas secured Carol's agreement to help with the altar plan, then awkwardly deflected Esnie's questions about Celine.
• Afanisi refused to commit church forces to the Star of Dawn's attack and revealed that her true target was Jonas.

Amau Sueko planned the Star of Dawn’s next operation against the Alt Conglomerate while Jonas Wetting prepared to exploit Lanika Bedo as an infiltrator. Jonas contacted Lanika and stopped her from ending the call by telling her that her father was still alive.

• Amau Sueko withheld contact with the Star of Dawn’s insider at the Alt Conglomerate and studied Esnie’s information for a way to keep her occupied.
• Amau Sueko devised a plan to find Jonas Wetting and force him to cooperate with the Star of Dawn.
• Jonas reviewed Lanika Bedo’s background and recognized her as a prospective mole he had selected before she joined the Star of Dawn.
• Lanika Bedo worried that Amau Sueko’s rescue plan would damage the Star of Dawn, but began arranging its funding anyway.
• Jonas bypassed the Star of Dawn’s signal-blocking system and called Lanika, telling her that her father was alive.

Lanika Bedo learned that Jonas Wetting might be able to rescue her father, Nige Bedo, and was asked to prove her sincerity. As Amau Sueko moved the Star of Dawn’s plan to rescue Beigong Ling forward, Jonas recognized the impending attack and ordered the Alt Conglomerate to prepare.

• Jonas Wetting told Lanika Bedo that her father, Nige Bedo, might still be alive and offered to help rescue him in exchange for her assistance.
• After learning that the Star of Dawn’s access in Mika District had been locked down and its members were wavering, Amau Sueko ordered preparations for battle and decided to take Jonas’s bait.
• Amau Sueko outlined the rescue plan, assigned Lanika Bedo temporary control of the organization’s finances, and secretly arranged to watch for a mole using a partly false plan.
• Jonas Wetting reviewed Amau Sueko’s plan and recognized that she herself was unknowingly passing information to the Alt Conglomerate.
• When red markers appeared on the screen, Jonas identified the arriving forces as members of the Star of Dawn and told Aifei’er to alert Security and prepare for their attack.

Jonas took Esnie and Celine on a seaside vacation, where the sisters’ attempts to spend time alone with him were interrupted by Celine’s fear of a ghost story. The next night, Esnie secretly slipped into Jonas’s bed, claiming she was frightened too.

• Jonas brought Esnie and Celine to Dreambay for a relaxing beach vacation.
• Esnie nearly shared a romantic moment with Jonas, but Celine interrupted them and Esnie went back to their room.
• Celine crept into Jonas’s bed after reading a ghost story online, and Esnie soon arrived to take her back.
• The next day, Celine looked exhausted while Esnie was energetic, and Jonas wondered if Celine would sneak into his room again.
• Esnie secretly crawled into Jonas’s bed wearing Celine’s nightdress and told him she was scared of ghosts.

The Star of Dawn attacked the Alt Conglomerate to rescue Beigong Ling, using an EMP and a Hovercar crash to breach the building’s defenses. Amau Sueko led the team inside and began searching for Beigong Ling and the missing Jonas Wetting.

• The Star of Dawn attacked the Alt Conglomerate with Hovercars and ground troops, while Jonas told Eiffel to contact Esnie.
• The Star of Dawn deployed an EMP that disabled weapons and Tactical Mecha, allowing its close-combat fighters to press the assault as they cracked an Access Key.
• Esnie joined the battlefield and halted the Star of Dawn’s advance, restoring the stalemate.
• Amau Sueko rammed a Hovercar into the Alt Conglomerate’s exterior, creating a breach and alarming Rhein, who had lent the vehicles to the Star of Dawn.
• Amau Sueko directed the team to enter through the breach and prepared to search for Beigong Ling and Jonas Wetting within half an hour.

Amau Sueko led the Star of Dawn in an attempt to rescue Beigong Ling from the Alt Conglomerate, but Jonas’s trap and Aungus’s intervention ended with her capture. Jonas then offered to reveal the identity of his mole in the Star of Dawn, leaving Amau Sueko overcome with dread.

• Amau Sueko led her squad through the emergency stairs and found Beigong Ling’s detention room empty, where a recording showed Beigong Ling in distress.
• Amau Sueko realized Jonas had anticipated her rescue attempt, then faced Alt Conglomerate reinforcements led by her former comrade Aungus.
• Amau Sueko fought the Destiny Organization’s forces and tried to help Aungus after an explosion, but he used the opening to inject her with a needle.
• Amau Sueko woke in the detention room as Jonas told her she had been unconscious for three hours and asked whether she wanted to know who his mole in the Star of Dawn was.

Jonas revealed to Amau Sueko that she had unknowingly betrayed the Star of Dawn, then used evidence and accusations about the deaths she caused to shatter her resolve. He left her cell planning to question her later and confronted Beigong Ling, who had been caught trying to ignore him.

• Amau Sueko suspected Jonas was trying to manipulate her, but he presented video and files showing that she had sent the Star of Dawn's plans to him.
• Jonas blamed Amau Sueko for deaths among the Destiny Organization and the Star of Dawn, and reminded her that he had provided for the dead members' families.
• Jonas left Amau Sueko's cell, intending to question her later after breaking down her defenses.
• Jonas went to Beigong Ling's cell and caught her in an embarrassing private moment.
• Jonas tricked Beigong Ling into responding by claiming he would visit Amau Sueko, then asked her what she had been doing.

Jonas challenged Beigong Ling’s belief that her rebellion would bring justice, arguing that destroying the conglomerates would devastate District 25’s poor and that he had already improved life in the Alt District. He offered to let the Star of Dawn continue independently, but Beigong Ling would have to wear a monitoring collar, and she reluctantly agreed.

• Beigong Ling asked Jonas what had happened to Amau Sueko, and he said she was captured and still unconscious.
• Jonas told Beigong Ling that the Star of Dawn had to prove its value and questioned whether her cause would actually help District 25’s poor.
• Jonas described the jobs, education, housing, and support he had provided in the Alt District, then promised to make all of District 25 similar after consolidating control.
• Beigong Ling asked whether the Star of Dawn had to merge into the Alt Conglomerate and whether its captured members would be released; Jonas said the group could remain independent, but its members would stay captive for now.
• Jonas offered to trust Beigong Ling only if she willingly wore a collar that monitored her condition, and she reluctantly agreed.

Jonas took Amau Sueko to an abandoned district and forced her into a humiliating private assignment after stopping her attempted attack. The chapter ended with Amau Sueko kneeling and reluctantly addressing him as “Master.”

• Jonas visited a homeless man wearing a broken sensory device and passed through the Slums to an abandoned neighborhood with Amau Sueko following him.
• Amau Sueko removed her mask and confronted Jonas, then tried to strike him when he offered her a garment.
• Jonas used a Neural Blocker to paralyze Amau Sueko and warned her not to resist before giving her a black-and-white maid outfit.
• Amau Sueko changed into the maid outfit, and Jonas ordered her to copy photographs, wear a pink nurse's uniform, and address him as “Master.”
• Amau Sueko knelt and reluctantly called Jonas “Master.”

Jonas forced Amau Sueko to pose for humiliating photos, then made her cross a pebble path barefoot after giving her a sensitivity-enhancing potion. He punished her with the neural blocker while Beigong Ling called, and the chapter ended with Jonas preparing to continue.

• Amau Sueko reluctantly posed in revealing outfits and changed into a maid costume under Jonas's threats.
• Jonas led Amau Sueko to a pebble path and made her drink a sensitivity-enhancing potion before ordering her to cross it barefoot.
• Amau Sueko collapsed on the path, and Jonas used the neural blocker to punish her for failing to finish in time.
• Beigong Ling called Jonas to ask if he had harmed Sueko, and Jonas lied while Sueko struggled to warn her.
• Jonas offered Amau Sueko a two-minute alternative task, immediately triggered the device, and declared that her punishment would continue.

Jonas brought the unconscious Amau Sueko back to the Alt Conglomerate after she completed his private mission, with Esnie helping him. Beigong Ling received better treatment while confined and wondered how Sueko was doing when someone opened her holding-room door.

• Jonas found Esnie hiding nearby and learned she had secretly followed him out of concern for his safety.
• Jonas and Esnie took the unconscious Amau Sueko back to the Alt Conglomerate.
• Esnie envied Amau Sueko after watching her private mission and privately resolved to ask Jonas for one herself next month.
• Beigong Ling reflected on her improved conditions, her uncertain probation, and her worry about Amau Sueko.
• Someone opened Beigong Ling's holding-room door, interrupting her thoughts.

Jonas brought Beigong Ling to the Alt Conglomerate's top-floor office to resume talks about the Star of Dawn and its relationship with the conglomerate. He left her still wearing the collar, but reassured her that her behavior had spared Amau Sueko from being made to wear one.

• Eiffel brought Beigong Ling an employee uniform and escorted her to Jonas's office.
• Jonas told Beigong Ling the uniform would be standard for the Star of Dawn and said the organization would remain independent while receiving support from the Alt Conglomerate.
• Jonas asked whether Beigong Ling had gotten used to her collar, and she reluctantly said she had.
• Jonas said he had considered transferring the collar to Miss Amau but had changed his mind because of Beigong Ling's recent behavior.
• Beigong Ling felt relieved that her behavior had spared Amau Sueko, while Eiffel recognized Jonas's manipulation tactic.

Jonas pressured Beigong Ling into recording a declaration that would surrender the Star of Dawn, arguing that doing so would save the organization from collapse. The video later reached Miss Rhein, who was furious at its contents.

• Jonas told Beigong Ling that the Star of Dawn attackers were in his hands and gave her a document to read on video.
• Beigong Ling hesitated because the declaration would strip the Star of Dawn of autonomy and risk splitting the organization.
• Jonas blamed Beigong Ling for bringing the Star of Dawn to ruin and urged her to see the declaration as atonement.
• Beigong Ling accepted Jonas's argument and agreed to record the declaration of surrender.
• District 25 widely viewed the Star of Dawn's defeat as another victory for Jonas and the Alt Conglomerate.
• Miss Rhein watched Beigong Ling's surrender video and became furious.

Jonas Wetting confronted Miss Rhein over her failed maneuver involving the Star of Dawn and proposed a new alliance. After he threatened to expose Senna Life’s cooperation with the Rebel Organization and leave her vulnerable to the Arbitration Bureau and her own directors, Rhein reluctantly agreed.

• Rhein learned that the Star of Dawn had mostly rallied behind Beigong Ling and realized her maneuver had strengthened the Alt Conglomerate instead of hurting it.
• Jonas called Rhein, revealed that he knew her informant Sterbon Carl, and told her to meet him at the Senna Life building.
• Rhein brought Jonas to Senna Life’s partner reception room after he insisted they discuss further cooperation.
• Jonas proposed strategic, commercial, and political support for the Alt Conglomerate in exchange for its friendship, and Rhein rejected his terms.
• Jonas warned that Beigong Ling could reveal Senna Life’s cooperation with the Rebel Organization, inviting Alt Conglomerate action and Arbitration Bureau intervention.
• Rhein, fearing the consequences for her position, reluctantly agreed to Jonas’s proposal.

Jonas pressed Miss Rhein into becoming the Alt Conglomerate’s partner and promised to help secure her position on Senna Life’s Board of Directors. At the Alt Conglomerate, Beigong Ling watched her surrender video until her Collar signaled that Jonas had arrived.

• Jonas told Miss Rhein that the Alt Conglomerate needed her to secure her seat on Senna Life’s Board of Directors.
• Miss Rhein questioned Jonas’s ability to help, and he promised she would see proof of his sincerity in a few days.
• Jonas left before Miss Rhein could learn what he planned, leaving her uneasy about how firmly he seemed to control the situation.
• Beigong Ling watched her surrender video and worried that Star of Dawn members who joined the Alt Conglomerate would become cannon fodder.
• Beigong Ling’s Collar emitted an electrical signal and made her body stiffen, alerting her that Jonas had arrived.

Beigong Ling learned that Jonas had purged opposition and suspected moles from the Star of Dawn, and he asked her to do something after she returned. Meanwhile, Miss Rhein faced a Senna Life board meeting that seemed poised to make her take the blame for aiding the Star of Dawn.

• Beigong Ling asked Jonas to release Amau Sueko and the other Star of Dawn members, but he said they would return to the Alt Conglomerate after things settled.
• Jonas revealed that he had sent Beigong Ling’s video to the Star of Dawn and eliminated opposition and suspected spies within its leadership.
• Beigong Ling suspected Jonas had more control over the Star of Dawn than she did, and Jonas said she could return in a couple of days if she agreed to do something for him.
• Miss Rhein failed to reach Jonas after the Alt Conglomerate publicly accused Senna Life of assisting the Star of Dawn, despite their earlier agreement to set the matter aside for compensation.
• Senna Life’s Board of Directors convened a meeting focused on Miss Rhein, who appeared likely to be made the scapegoat.

Rhein endured pressure from Senna Life’s board as Eve Humphrey tried to make her the scapegoat for the Star of Dawn incident. Jonas’s announcement instead named Eve as the person who supplied the rebels, leaving Rhein relieved and newly willing to tolerate Jonas’s manipulation.

• Rhein arrived at a Senna Life board meeting, where Eve Humphrey pressed her to explain the Alt Conglomerate’s accusations.
• Rhein denied responsibility and pointed out that other board members, including Eve Humphrey, could have deployed the Hovercars.
• Jonas’s announcement identified Eve Humphrey as the person who provided strategic resources to the Star of Dawn and incited its attack.
• Rhein seized the reversal to condemn Eve, and the board turned its attention toward him.
• Rhein received Jonas’s message asking whether she was satisfied with the surprise and decided he deserved an eighty out of a hundred.

Jonas wrapped up plans to bring the Star of Dawn under Alt Conglomerate control while teasing Esnie, who persuaded him to skip work and go with her. At the Void Realm Church’s Abernisi Outpost, Afanisi received a power from the Lord of the Void Realm and prepared to reclaim the Black Ring.

• Esnie told Jonas that the Star of Dawn’s resources were secured and its internal opposition had been eliminated, while Ranika’s intelligence had helped Nightingale target its leaders.
• Jonas said the Void Realm Church and the Alt Conglomerate would inevitably clash again, and teased Esnie about her new earrings and her old clothes.
• Esnie offered to go home and change into her clothes from a few years earlier, and Jonas agreed to go with her instead of working on reports and a new contract.
• At the Abernisi Outpost, Afanisi learned that the Star of Dawn had surrendered and revealed that she had supported it to distract the Alt Conglomerate.
• Afanisi received an ethereal black orb from the Lord of the Void Realm, accepted its cost of taking partial control of her body, and vowed to reclaim the Black Ring.