Chapter Summaries

At an auction, Qin Siyang tried to secure a pair of mutated lightning sheep horns for Zhang Kuang, while Guo Jiuxiao secretly bid on the same item to support his research into the apocalypse. Qin Siyang outbid Guo Jiuxiao at the last moment with a crystal coin, leaving Guo Jiuxiao furious.

• Qin Siyang recalled that Zhang Kuang had never asked him for anything before requesting help to obtain the lightning sheep horns.
• Qian Wendao opened bidding on the horns at ten gold coins, and the price gradually rose to forty gold coins.
• Guo Jiuxiao bid forty-five gold coins, hoping to acquire the horns for his secret investigation into the apocalypse's arrival.
• Qin Siyang waited until the auction countdown and then bid one crystal coin, shocking the room and angering Guo Jiuxiao.

Qin Siyang outmaneuvered Guo Jiuxiao at the auction and secured the mutated lightning sheep horns while concealing that he wanted them. He then stopped bidding on other items, leaving Guo Jiuxiao to suffer the loss as the trading event continued.

• Guo Jiuxiao realized he could not outbid Qin Siyang and feared losing every openly auctioned item they both wanted.
• Qin Siyang used Guo Jiuxiao's late bid on the mutated lightning sheep horns to conceal his own interest and raise the price against him.
• Zhang Kuang recognized Qin Siyang's quick thinking and admired his ability to hide his intentions.
• Qian Wendao completed the countdown, and Qin Siyang collected the horns after no one else entered the bidding.
• Qin Siyang refrained from competing for further items unless Guo Jiuxiao bid, earning approval from the other attendees.

Qin Siyang sold part of his black crystal pear ore to researchers and waited in vain for Qi Tian, hoping to return Qi Jiangnan’s remains. When trading resumed, Zhong Dingming presented a Tier Four artifact that warned its wearer of incoming mental attacks, drawing Qin Siyang’s keen interest.

• Qin Siyang agreed to sell the researchers half of his black crystal pear ore at 1.5 kilograms per gold coin.
• Qin Siyang saw Qi Yong at the banquet and decided not to entrust him with Qi Jiangnan’s remains because he wanted to return them to Qi Tian in person.
• Qin Siyang made no further bids after trading resumed and the Three Major Merchants' Associations finished presenting their items.
• Zhong Dingming introduced [Mindguard], a Tier Four artifact that could detect mental attacks indefinitely unless it was damaged.
• Zhong Dingming said he would trade [Mindguard] only for barter or certain special pieces of intelligence.

Qin Siyang negotiated with Zhong Dingming for the [Mindguard] item, using Zhong’s interest in the World-Destroying Church and the [Apocalypse Fragment] to expose what he truly wanted. He left the deal unresolved, making future cooperation depend on Zhong’s next move.

• Zhong Dingming rejected Qin Siyang’s offer of Crystal Coins and said he would accept barter or special intelligence for [Mindguard].
• After other Safe Zone heavyweights made their offers, Qin Siyang privately asked Zhong what he valued most.
• Qin Siyang suggested Zhong wanted information about the [Apocalypse Fragment] or the World-Destroying Church’s other Sequence path, prompting Zhong to reveal his interest in the latter.
• Qin Siyang said the information Zhong wanted was worth far more than [Mindguard], and Zhong asked whether they could still work together.
• Qin Siyang told Zhong that he wanted [Mindguard] and left it to him to decide what to ask in return.

Qin Siyang bought [Mindguard] from Zhong Dingming for three Crystal Coins, winning out over several powerful bidders. He stayed out of later trades, and after the invited guests finished selling their items and attendees took a break, open trading began with Qin Yingguang stepping onto the display platform.

• Zhong Dingming asked whether Qin Siyang could work with him despite Li Tianming’s resentment, and Qin Siyang said he could separate business from personal grudges.
• Zhong Dingming offered [Mindguard] as a congratulatory gift, but Qin Siyang refused the favor and paid three Crystal Coins for the artifact.
• Zhong Dingming announced that Qin Siyang had secured [Mindguard], shocking Han Huizhi and the other attendees whose offers had been rejected.
• Qin Siyang avoided further trades while Zhong Dingming and Guan Fuhai displayed and traded their remaining artifacts.
• After a break and dinner, Qian Wendao opened trading for the attendees, and Qin Yingguang was the first to take the display platform.

At the trade fair, Qin Yingguang failed to find anyone willing to sell him Shadow-Splitting Giant Python remains, while Fan Baoluo’s offer also drew no buyers. The final Vine Heart trade began with an unexpected announcement: the offered weight had risen from ten kilograms to one hundred.

• Qin Yingguang asked the trade fair attendees to sell him Shadow-Splitting Giant Python remains, but no one responded, and he left the platform.
• Fan Baoluo offered a high-temperature protective artifact and its manufacturing technology in exchange for rare materials, but Qin Siyang and the other attendees declined to trade.
• Qin Yingguang criticized Fan Baoluo’s tier four artifact as too ordinary to fetch the rarest materials.
• The open trading session concluded, with Qin Siyang making no trades and Crystal Coins used in many deals.
• Qian Wendao announced that the Vine Heart being offered weighed one hundred kilograms after Zoff said the cue card had been changed from ten kilograms.

At the Three Major Merchants' Associations' trade fair, Kyle revealed that they were offering one hundred kilograms of Vine Heart and explained that Sacrificial Giant Vines had vanished from the Safe Zone. Qin Siyang suspected he might have been the last person to see one, while the bidding rules introduced god remains as currency.

• Qian Wendao announced that one hundred kilograms of Vine Heart were up for trade, shocking Qin Siyang and the other guests.
• Kyle explained that the Vine Heart came from the Three Major Merchants' Associations and said they had found no Sacrificial Giant Vines for over a month.
• Qin Siyang realized his encounter two months earlier might have been the last sighting and wondered whether the vines' disappearance was connected to the Succession Trial.
• Kyle announced that the Vine Heart would be sold as a single lot through open bidding using god materials instead of money.
• Kyle outlined the rules requiring intact remains of medium gods or certain small gods, then displayed the associations' five-tier classification of god remains values.

Qin Siyang reviewed the bidding rules and realized his god remains were unlikely to win the Vine Heart, but the tier four list ended with a god he recognized: a Doom Octopus. The open bidding had not yet begun, and his discovery left him startled.

• Qin Siyang dismissed the tier five materials as likely bait and studied the values assigned to the other tiers.
• Kyle explained that bidders could summon god remains from their warehouses and announced a starting bid of one million kilograms of tier one remains.
• Most prominent guests, including Zhong Dingming and Guan Fuhai, called their contacts, while Qin Siyang sat studying the materials list.
• Qin Siyang concluded that he lacked enough tier one and tier two remains to compete and decided not to trade tier three materials needed for the God-Worship Ritual.
• Qin Siyang reached the end of the tier four list and was shocked to see a Doom Octopus listed.

At the trading event, Chu Baxing questioned why the Doom Octopus was classified as a fourth-tier God, and Jiang Hao defended the decision by explaining its unusual rules and research value. The Three Major Merchants' Associations confirmed that they would accept any quantity of Doom Octopus remains, while Qin Siyang quietly realized the answer could work in his favor.

• Chu Baxing asked why the Doom Octopus appeared in the fourth-tier list alongside exceptionally powerful Gods.
• Jiang Hao explained that the Doom Octopus multiplied when attacked, concealed its heart through seemingly perfect randomness, and was instantly annihilated if its heart was correctly guessed.
• Qi Yong questioned whether the Doom Octopus's unusual qualities justified its fourth-tier practical value, and Jiang Hao described the classification as an investment in its research potential.
• Fan Baoluo asked whether the Three Major Merchants' Associations would accept a large supply of Doom Octopus remains, and Jiang Hao confirmed they would count them all.
• Chu Baxing sat down without bidding, while Qin Siyang suppressed a smile after hearing that there was no limit on accepted Doom Octopus remains.

After a long wait for resources to arrive, the final auction for one hundred kilograms of Vine Heart began. Qin Siyang watched the major factions reveal their reserves through escalating bids, and the contest was still underway.

• Hu Chan canceled his request for branches to gather God Remains after seeing the Vine Heart, while Gu Yunpeng, Zhao Sifang, and others reacted to Qin Siyang’s apparent good fortune.
• Li Tianming and Zhang Kuang discussed the unusual placement of Doom Octopuses in the auction tiers, and Li Tianming considered trading research tools to Qin Siyang for Vine Heart.
• The attendees waited overnight and into the next day as their people delivered God Remains to the Core Venue.
• Qian Wendao opened the final auction for one hundred kilograms of Vine Heart with a starting bid of one million kilograms of first-tier God Remains.
• Han Huizhi bid two million kilograms, Ulit raised the offer to three million, and Xie Nanyun followed with four million kilograms of first-tier God Remains.

The Vine Heart auction escalated as major figures offered enormous quantities of god remains, with Zhu Haifeng's tier-two materials pushing the price to twenty million value points. The bidding continued to twenty-five million, while Qin Siyang wondered how Fan Baoluo had acquired such vast reserves.

• Qin Yingguang and the Qi Legion raised the Vine Heart bid to ten million kilograms of tier-one god remains, pricing most attendees out.
• Zhu Haifeng offered two hundred thousand kilograms of tier-two materials, driving the displayed value to twenty million and astonishing the crowd.
• Tang Wangong resented the bidders for hoarding remains instead of supplying the United Government, then reflected that Qin Siyang was a reliable ally for his future.
• Yu Yongyou and Chu Xiaoang each raised the bid with mixed tier-one and tier-two materials.
• Wei Rulai and Fan Baoluo pushed the value to twenty-five million, and Qin Siyang questioned how Fan had obtained so many god remains.

The bidding for the Vine Heart escalated as Guo Jiuxiao offered an enormous quantity of fourth-tier god material, driving the value to one hundred million points. Qin Siyang questioned how Guo Jiuxiao had obtained so much, and Guo Jiuxiao revealed that the material came from Doom Octopuses.

• Xie Nanyun, Zhu Haifeng, and Han Huizhi raised their bids with increasingly rare god material, pushing the value past forty-four million points.
• Guo Jiuxiao bid one hundred thousand kilograms of fourth-tier material, raising the value to fifty million points.
• Qin Yingguang raised the bid to fifty-seven million points, but Guo Jiuxiao countered with two hundred thousand kilograms of fourth-tier material and pushed the value to one hundred million.
• As Qian Wendao prepared to close the auction, Qin Siyang asked Guo Jiuxiao how he had obtained so many fourth-tier gods.
• Pressed by Qin Siyang, Qi Yong, and Qin Yingguang, Guo Jiuxiao opened a Storage Box and revealed a Doom Octopus tentacle as the source of his offered material.

Guo Jiuxiao used a loophole in the Vine Heart trade rules to offer huge quantities of Doom Octopus corpses, while Jiang Hao backed the rules and revealed his scheme against Kyle and Zoff. The guests recognized the trap, but the trade was still likely to proceed under the agreed rules, leaving the Vine Heart poised to go to Guo Jiuxiao.

• Guo Jiuxiao revealed that his two hundred thousand kilograms of fourth-tier materials were Doom Octopus corpses, and Jiang Hao confirmed that the rules allowed them.
• Kyle and Zoff realized Jiang Hao had arranged for Doom Octopus to count as a fourth-tier material so Guo Jiuxiao could claim Vine Heart cheaply.
• Kyle accused Jiang Hao of conspiring with Guo Jiuxiao, while Jiang Hao argued that they had all approved the rules and could not object afterward.
• The guests protested the scheme, and Qin Yingguang challenged Jiang Hao and Guo Jiuxiao over its consequences.
• Qi Yong threatened Guo Jiuxiao, who insisted the trade must follow the established rules and said he would answer to Secretary-General Gu if necessary.
• The crowd fell silent as they recognized that Gu Weiyang would likely uphold the rules, making it unlikely anyone could stop Guo Jiuxiao from receiving the Vine Heart.

Qin Siyang revealed that he also had a large supply of Doom Octopus, exposing Jiang Hao and Guo Jiuxiao’s plan to win the Vine Heart by exploiting its fourth-tier classification. He then joined the bidding, doubling Guo Jiuxiao’s offer and leaving the outcome uncertain.

• Han Huizhi threatened Jiang Hao and Guo Jiuxiao, but neither took the warning seriously as the other bidders accepted that the Vine Heart was about to go to them.
• Qin Siyang challenged Guo Jiuxiao’s claim that he had only checked the fourth-tier material out of curiosity, then produced seven or eight Storage Boxes of Doom Octopus.
• Qin Siyang said he had refused to exploit the material’s low cash value, and the other attendees praised him while Guo Jiuxiao and Jiang Hao stared at him in shock and anger.
• Qin Siyang announced that he would now compete in the bidding and offered two Storage Boxes, causing the light-screen bid to rise from one hundred million to two hundred million.

Qin Siyang outbid Guo Jiuxiao for the Vine Heart by revealing an overwhelming stock of Doom Octopus materials. After securing it, he offered to share half with Zoff and Kyle and sell it publicly, splitting the proceeds with them.

• Xiao Zhigang questioned where Qin Siyang had obtained so many Doom Octopus carcasses, and Qin opened his Storage Boxes to prove the materials were genuine.
• Guo Jiuxiao raised his bid to 510,000 kilograms of fourth-tier material, but Qin Siyang countered with 600,000 kilograms and forced him to give up.
• Qian Wendao sold the one hundred kilograms of Vine Heart to Qin Siyang for 300 million value points.
• Qin Siyang handed Storage Boxes to three association chairmen and stored half of the Vine Heart he had acquired.
• Qin Siyang proposed keeping half the Vine Heart and jointly selling the remaining fifty kilograms with Zoff and Kyle, splitting the proceeds equally.

Qin Siyang set new rules for trading the Vine Heart and confronted Wang Xuzuo after he urged Qin to offer more of it. He excluded the Wang Family from the trade and warned Wang Xuzuo to stop challenging him.

• Qin Siyang announced that the fifty kilograms of Vine Heart would be traded using god remains, with the Doom Octopus downgraded to a second-tier god.
• Qin Siyang replaced the open auction with a contribution-based system in which participants would receive shares proportional to their bids.
• Wang Xuzuo suggested that Qin Siyang keep only ten kilograms and offer the other ninety for public trading.
• Qin Siyang disqualified the Wang Family from the trade, saying he did not like Wang Xuzuo.
• Qin Siyang declared that he controlled the trade rules and participation, then warned Wang Xuzuo not to push him further.

Qin Siyang silenced Wang Xuzuo and ran a pooled-contribution allocation for fifty kilograms of Vine Heart, collecting more than 230 million value points in materials. The participants received their shares, the merchants settled their proceeds with Qin Siyang, and Jiang Hao was left with a crushing loss.

• Yu Yongyou warned Wang Xuzuo not to blame Qin Siyang for Shao Xiaozhan's death, and Wang Xuzuo backed down in humiliation.
• Qin Siyang began the second Vine Heart transaction under contribution-based allocation, and Kyle and Zoff recognized the advantages of his approach.
• Qin Siyang tore up Guo Jiuxiao's bid card and refused to let the Western Glory Principal participate.
• Qin Siyang collected the bids and Storage Boxes, and the Three Major Merchants' Associations tallied more than 230 million value points in materials.
• The participants received Vine Heart shares proportional to their contributions, while Kyle, Zoff, and Qin Siyang divided the materials and exchanged rare god remains.
• Kyle and Zoff praised Qin Siyang's earnings and noted that Kav had chosen him over Kyle, while Jiang Hao suffered a major loss trading Vine Heart for Doom Octopus corpses.

After the trade fair, Qin Siyang resold Black Crystal Pear Ore to researchers and spoke with Yan Ran, who pressed him to marry her and offered a trade for Vine Heart. Yan Ran left with one kilogram of Vine Heart, predicting Qin Siyang might change his mind when they met again in the Sigma District.

• After the trade fair ended, Qin Siyang resold Black Crystal Pear Ore to the researchers at their agreed price and declined their offer of thanks.
• Yan Ran congratulated Qin Siyang and again asked him to marry her, offering him command of her troops.
• Qin Siyang rejected Yan Ran's proposal and suggested that the World-Destroying Church's message about the [Apocalypse Fragment] might change his mind after they reached the Sigma District.
• Yan Ran asked to buy one kilogram of Vine Heart and offered a thousand sets of armor and items, but Qin Siyang insisted on a trade at his auction price.
• Yan Ran gave Qin Siyang a Storage Box of armor and items worth the agreed price, received one kilogram of Vine Heart, and left for the Sigma District.

After parting from Yan Ran and Sally, Qin Siyang strengthened ties with United Government ministers by supporting Tang Wangong’s Research Hall and rewarding Sun Linshou for his help. He discussed Crystal Coins and black sweet potato cultivation with Chu Zhongxiong, who suspected Qin Siyang had a larger plan for the crops.

• Sally warned Qin Siyang not to like Yan Ran or Wen Shu, then ran off after declaring that she hated him.
• Qin Siyang gave Tang Wangong Vine Heart and second-tier god remains to support the Research Hall under the Administration Department.
• Qin Siyang gave Sun Linshou Vine Heart, rare god remains, and Crimson Crystal as a token of trust and gratitude.
• Chu Zhongxiong asked Qin Siyang about the risks of anchoring Crystal Coin value, and Qin Siyang said he would abandon the currency if survival demanded it.
• Chu Zhongxiong questioned why State No. 12 was promoting more black sweet potato cultivation than State No. 14’s food aid appeared to require.

Qin Siyang secured a possible source of funding for black sweet potato production, distributed Vine Heart to allies, and gave Zhang Kuang mutated Lightning Sheep Horns for his apocalypse research. As Qin Siyang prepared for a dangerous trip to the Sigma District, Zhang Kuang believed the horns could help reveal the apocalypse’s mysteries.

• Chu Zhongxiong warned Qin Siyang to be cautious about his surplus black sweet potato production and offered to discuss United Government investment with Governor Kav.
• At a Zhao Family banquet, Qin Siyang gave out twenty kilograms of Vine Heart, including shares for Li Tianming and several allies, in exchange for large-scale defensive tools.
• Qin Siyang learned the Zhao Family could not spare more basic Armor tools, leaving him short of equipment for his four thousand soldiers.
• Qin Siyang planned to strengthen himself before traveling to the Sigma District to retrieve the [Apocalypse Fragment] and meet the World-Destroying Church.
• At the Miracle Building, Qin Siyang gave Zhang Kuang the mutated Lightning Sheep Horns, which Zhang believed could help investigate the apocalypse’s disruptions to time.