Chapter Summaries

Jin Yi recalled Xingyao’s hidden talent for identifying ore as he investigated a discrepancy in the Ore Department’s latest report. At Fallen Star Palace, Shen Que examined the reports for a concealed loophole while the maids gossiped about his stone, the General, and a deputy minister’s family.

• Jin Yi remembered that Xingyao had repeatedly guessed ore purity and hardness correctly, and he reviewed a report after Xingyao insisted the ore was faulty despite eight rounds of testing.
• Shen Que studied years of Ore Department reports and suspected a subtle discrepancy could help reveal how to control the production line.
• Shen Que asked Demi about the lifespan of appraisal instruments and read a manual while holding his Pheromone Memory Stone.
• Anya, Demi, and Phil speculated about why Shen Que liked the ugly stone and joked that the General was possessive.
• Phil told the other maids that Gabi was rumored to be Baron Ganier’s illegitimate son and that public attention was growing after paparazzi saw the General leave his seat at the banquet.
• Demi worried that Grandpa Hall would react badly if he saw the Young Lord’s spouse wearing the stone.

Shen Que asked Charles about his Pheromone Memory Stone and sought a craftsperson in First Oasis. After getting lost and receiving a wildly incorrect navigation suggestion, he headed for an accessories shop, while Charles realized he had given Shen Que the wrong address.

• Charles confirmed that Shen Que's stone was a Pheromone Memory Stone and explained that it stored pheromones for varying lengths of time, possibly forever.
• Charles told Shen Que about a theory that lasting emotions preserved pheromones in memory stones, then recommended using the stone to help treat his Pheromone Dysregulation.
• Shen Que asked Charles for a craftsperson recommendation and went out alone after learning that Demi and Anya were unavailable.
• Shen Que got lost in the rainforest city, and a service robot mistakenly sent him directions to the Galhaha Prenatal Testing Center.
• Shen Que asked the robot to find an accessories shop, while Charles realized he had given Shen Que the address meant for Countess Janet.

Shen Que struggled to find an artisan to make a custom necklace amid First Oasis’s long jewelry queues. After meeting interstellar merchant Ling Yu, he accepted an offer to be introduced to an old artisan, leaving with a possible way to get his jewelry made sooner.

• Shen Que found his photo displayed as a popular jewelry trend and learned that the Master Artisan queue would take more than 785 days.
• Shen Que searched other shops but found the shortest artisan wait was still 306 days.
• Shen Que examined a larkstone and met Ling Yu, who recognized the stone as S-grade.
• Shen Que introduced himself as Xingyao, an ore appraiser, and asked Ling Yu to help him reach an artisan.
• Ling Yu offered to take Shen Que to meet an old artisan he knew through an important figure.

Shen Que visited Dion’s Workshop with Ling Yu to have a necklace made from his Memory Stone, then became captivated by a rare symbiotic stone commissioned as a wedding gift. Ling Yu tried to buy it and even its offcuts, while Shen Que considered obtaining a piece to give Pei Ji in return for the Memory Stone.

• Demi and Phil left Dion’s Workshop, and Demi worried that she had glimpsed someone who looked like the madam.
• Ling Yu brought Shen Que to the workshop, where Dion agreed to mount Shen Que’s Memory Stone without drilling it.
• While waiting, Shen Que noticed his longing for the Memory Stone and became fascinated by a rare symbiotic stone on a workbench.
• Ling Yu tried to reserve the symbiotic stone, but Dion explained that it belonged to a longtime customer and was a wedding gift.
• Ling Yu asked to buy the stone’s offcuts, and Shen Que considered getting some to make a pendant for Pei Ji.

Shen Que learned that Pei Ji was far from his fleet’s patrol route and secretly reported the anomaly, then suffered another painful episode tied to his Brain Computer. The chapter ended when Demi told him that the Memory Stone Pei Ji had given him had disappeared.

• Shen Que learned from Pei Ji that Duke Owen had introduced the ore merchant to Pei Li, then hinted that he wanted symbiotic stone to make someone a gift.
• Shen Que used the Recorder Pei Ji had sent to locate him near Asteroid Belt 2317, far from the Fourth Fleet’s patrol route, and reported the anomaly.
• Shen Que suffered a painful episode involving neural damage and heat, then took a Suppressant and waited for the symptoms to pass.
• Demi, Anya, and Phil discovered that the Memory Stone Pei Ji had given Shen Que was missing, and Demi told him what had happened.

Shen Que learned that the Symbiotic Stone seized by the General Affairs Office had been Pei Ji’s secret gift for him. After hearing how the Trade Department confiscated it as allegedly smuggled ore, Shen Que decided to visit the department the next day.

• Demi told Shen Que that Pei Ji had brought back a Symbiotic Stone and left it at Dion’s workshop, and Shen Que realized it was the gift meant for him.
• At the Golden Casino, Ling Yu gave Gabi candy and collected an item from him.
• Demi and Phil explained that the Trade Department had seized the Symbiotic Stone, claiming its paperwork showed it was smuggled.
• Shen Que questioned why the stone had been confiscated despite never having circulated on the market.
• Shen Que sent the maids to rest and announced that they would visit the Trade Department the next day.

Shen Que investigated the Ore Department’s smuggled ore appraisals and accompanied Demi to appeal the seizure of her shipment. The Trade Department’s minister, Lucas, arrived to face Shen Que after his receptionist insulted the Young Lord’s household.

• Xingyao told Shen Que about two recently appraised Symbiotic Stones and denied seeing any crystalline sand gold and aquamarine stones of unusually high purity.
• Shen Que took Xingyao and the 172 appraisal reports to the Trade Department, where Demi and Dion were waiting.
• Demi presented her appeal appointment, but the receptionist dismissed her and insulted her lord before recognizing Shen Que.
• Lucas hurried to the reception room after learning that Shen Que had arrived, but decided he could not sweet-talk him.

Shen Que investigated the Trade Department’s seizure of ore from Dion’s Artisan Workshop and suspended Minister Gabi after uncovering his mishandling of the paperwork. With Gabi removed and Jin Yi appointed acting minister, Shen Que turned to the remaining officials and demanded to know where his ore was.

• Shen Que questioned Minister Lucas about the seized ore, and Dion’s apprentice identified the Trade Department staff who had taken it and threatened the shop.
• The two staff members said Minister Gabi had stamped their seizure paperwork, while Xingyao pointed out that the assessment contained a false claim about where the ore came from.
• Lucas recalled signing a confirmation without reading it, and Gabi tried to evade responsibility when Shen Que questioned him about the seizure.
• Shen Que suspended Gabi for his lack of knowledge about ores and appointed Jin Yi acting minister; Personnel Department staff then removed Gabi from the office.
• Shen Que asked the Trade Department officials where his ore was.

Shen Que uncovered that Lucas was responsible for the missing symbiotic stone and arranged criminal charges, telling him to take his objections up with Pei Ji. Later, Xingyao examined the stone and remembered the light mecha he once vowed to design and name Cold Glow.

• Shen Que ordered the two Beta staff members suspended pending investigation and held Lucas responsible for the lost ore.
• Lucas objected that only the lord could suspend him, so Shen Que instead filed criminal charges for maliciously misappropriating Pei Ji’s property and requested evidence and a valuation.
• Shen Que told Lucas the stone belonged to Pei Ji and that he could challenge the charges in court; Lucas collapsed in despair.
• Xingyao returned to work, learned Jin Yi had taken some of his paperwork, and kept Shen Que’s investigation confidential.
• Xingyao inspected the symbiotic stone and recalled promising Teacher Lan to create a close-combat-capable 3S light mecha named Cold Glow.

Pei Ji led his squad in clearing an Insect Nest in Asteroid Belt 2317 and grew suspicious that someone was leaking patrol routes. A sudden bad feeling sent him toward White Sand Star, where he learned Shen Que had gone to an underground Golden Casino.

• Shen Que learned from Blue Crane that Cold Glow could not be rebuilt because its blueprints were lost and even the same engineer could not reproduce it.
• Pei Ji and his squad destroyed a B-class Insect Nest and recorded 1,238 Zerg, including its queen.
• Pei Ji suspected someone was revealing the Seven Fleets' patrol routes after discovering two nests that had avoided them.
• Pei Ji dismissed his squad and headed toward White Sand Star after a foreboding feeling struck him.
• Pei Ji angrily asked Demi and Phil where Shen Que had gone, and they said he was at the underground Golden Casino.