Chapter Summaries

At Ma Liangdong’s public hearing, Fu Wanli refused to identify the killer behind four missing students, and Cui Zhonghua refused to speak without He Kui present. Ma Liangdong’s interrogation faltered under objections from Sun Linshou and others, leaving him humiliated as the hearing continued.

• Sun Linshou challenged Ma Liangdong for treating Fu Wanli as guilty without evidence, and Fu Wanli said he was not afraid of death or Ma Liangdong’s threats.
• An Youlu asked why Fu Wanli had tried to kill himself, but Ma Liangdong said he had not yet asked him any questions.
• Ma Liangdong ended Fu Wanli’s interrogation and called Cui Zhonghua to repeat his earlier confession.
• Cui Zhonghua refused to speak until He Kui was present, arguing that He Kui had given the account and was his superior.
• Sun Linshou rebuked Ma Liangdong for threatening the detainees, and Qin Siyang mocked him as the hall’s mood turned against him.

Ma Liangdong tried to use an interrogation to condemn He Kui, but the investigation uncovered no laws he had broken and only three minor disciplinary violations. He Kui killed himself in the hall, leaving Ma Liangdong’s case in ruins because the interrogation footage had not been properly verified.

• Ma Liangdong ordered He Kui brought in and demanded that he cooperate with the interrogation.
• He Kui challenged Ma Liangdong to identify his alleged crimes, and the investigators found no laws he had broken and only three minor disciplinary violations.
• He Kui accused Ma Liangdong of abandoning his principles and urged him to let the matter end with him.
• He Kui used a self-detonation tool and died before anyone could stop him.
• Gao Tingyue said He Kui could not be revived, and Sun Linshou revealed that the interrogation footage was invalid because He Kui’s condition had not been verified.

Qin Siyang stopped Ma Liangdong from ending the hearing and opened an investigation into He Kui’s suicide. He suspected Ma had used He Kui’s third disciplinary violation to threaten him, and asked Cui Zhonghua to confirm it.

• Ma Liangdong tried to end the hearing, but Qin Siyang announced that he would investigate He Kui’s suicide.
• Sun Linshou explained that the Department of Justice had not checked whether He Kui’s memories were continuous or whether he had been threatened.
• Qian Wendao, Zhu Haifeng, and Qi Tian pressured Ma Liangdong to sit down, and he returned to his seat.
• Ma Liangdong refused to explain what he had said to He Kui, and Cui Zhonghua also refused to reveal He Kui’s secret.
• Qin Siyang described the three disciplinary violations and asked Cui Zhonghua whether the third one had been used to threaten him and He Kui.

Qin Siyang exposed how Ma Liangdong had deceived Cui Zhonghua and District Chief He Kui into believing food distribution in State No. 14 could be stopped, leading He Kui to die to protect the people. After Ma Liangdong rejected his lawful sentence, Qin Siyang attacked him, declaring that the law could no longer protect him.

• Qin Siyang deduced that Ma Liangdong had used food distribution in State No. 14 to pressure Cui Zhonghua and He Kui into cooperating.
• Qin Siyang revealed that Secretary-General Gu had authorized the food distribution and that Ma Liangdong had no power to stop it; Cui Zhonghua blamed the officials from Zone 1 for He Kui's death.
• Qin Siyang asked Sun Linshou to sentence Ma Liangdong under United Government law, and Sun Linshou imposed three years in prison for threatening someone and causing their death.
• Ma Liangdong refused to accept the judgment, claiming Safe Zone laws could not judge someone from Zone 1.
• Qin Siyang said Ma Liangdong's rejection of the law freed him to act, then vanished and struck at him with a powerful fist.

Qin Siyang killed Ma Liangdong with a single punch, but Ander immediately struck at him and Qian Wendao intervened, blocking four lethal attacks. Ander and Qian Wendao faced off in the damaged Hall of Hope, leaving everyone braced for a fight if they could not settle their conflict.

• Qin Siyang ignored Ander and Qian Wendao's warnings and killed Ma Liangdong with a full-power punch.
• Ander launched a devastating attack at Qin Siyang, who teleported away after sensing murderous intent.
• Qin Siyang discovered that four motes of [Primordial Starshine] had appeared on his Path of Self-Verification.
• Qin Siyang saw that Qian Wendao had blocked four of Ander's killing blows, and their clash had torn through the Hall of Hope's roof and the Safe Zone's glass dome.
• Ander and Qian Wendao acknowledged each other's strength but remained face-to-face as the gathered fighters prepared for battle.

Ander confronted Qian Wendao over Qin Siyang killing Ma Liangdong, but Qian refused to hand Qin over. After Ander demonstrated his power and left the Hall of Hope, Qian asked Qin to take him back to District 2, where he suddenly collapsed and began bleeding.

• Ander demanded an answer from Qian Wendao for Qin Siyang killing Ma Liangdong, and Qian refused to compromise or surrender Qin.
• Ander threatened everyone in the Hall of Hope, then restored the shattered dome and damaged hall with his power.
• Ander left the Hall of Hope with the people from Zone 1, and Qian told everyone else to go home.
• Qian asked Qin Siyang to take him back to District 2 in the Drill Pod, and Qin agreed.
• Qian lost consciousness and bled from his mouth and nose, so Qin stopped the Drill Pod and gave him lifesaving medicine.

Qin Siyang helped Qian Wendao recover from his near-fatal fight with Ander, and Qian Wendao explained Ander's limits and learned how Qin Siyang found the Path of Self-Verification. He accepted Qin Siyang's extraordinary luck as proof that those chosen by the [Eye of the Divine Crow] bore a powerful destiny, then regretted that Gu Weiyang had died before he could lose their argument.

• Qin Siyang used three doses of lifesaving medicine to revive Qian Wendao, who admitted he had hidden how badly Ander had injured him to protect the group's morale.
• Qian Wendao explained that Ander was strongest in Zone 1 and could move freely at full strength on New Year's Eve, but was too afraid to leave Zone 1 and risk dying.
• Qin Siyang asked about Qian Wendao's origin sequence, and Qian Wendao realized Qin Siyang was an [Eye of the Divine Crow] awakener with an origin sequence.
• Qin Siyang told Qian Wendao that he had discovered the [Path of Self-Verification] on his own after distrusting the lure of the [Path of the Believer].
• Qian Wendao concluded that Qin Siyang's survival proved those chosen by the [Eye of the Divine Crow] bore a powerful destiny, then lamented that Gu Weiyang had died before he could lose their argument.

While piloting the Drill Pod, Qin Siyang rejected Qian Wendao’s claim that the [Eye of the Divine Crow] arranged people’s lives as steps in the destinies of its chosen. They discussed how Qin Siyang discovered [primordial starshine] and compared their origin sequence levels, leaving Qin Siyang seventeen motes short of level four.

• Qian Wendao argued that Shen Shisong and Gu Weiyang might have been destined to serve as Qin Siyang’s whetstones, but Qin Siyang insisted that people’s lives had meaning independent of him and that Gu Weiyang had chosen his own death.
• Qian Wendao asked how Qin Siyang discovered [primordial starshine], and Qin Siyang explained that he found it after nearly dying in real life, following two months of fighting gods in the God Arena.
• Qian Wendao revealed that he was at origin sequence level four and that the level required fifty motes of [primordial starshine].
• Qin Siyang checked his progress in the Path of Self-Verification, absorbed five new motes, and told Qian Wendao he had thirty-three motes, with seventeen more needed for level four.

Qin Siyang discussed strength, death, and emotional numbness with Qian Wendao, then uncovered that Qian had been transported from a previous evolutionary sequence domain. The chapter left Qin Siyang understanding why Qian had kept his origins and knowledge of origin sequences secret.

• Qian Wendao told Qin Siyang that repeated brushes with death had made him numb and left him longing for the end of the world.
• Qin Siyang reassured Qian Wendao that he understood the feeling and had once wished to see the world end, too.
• Qian Wendao said he knew Qin Siyang had obtained an [Apocalypse Fragment] and deciphered two sections of it.
• Qin Siyang inferred that his own three-section [Apocalypse Fragment] was unique because he had been the first native of the [evolutionary sequence domain] to reach origin sequence level three.
• Qian Wendao admitted that he had been transported from a previous [evolutionary sequence domain] and explained that he had kept this secret from the Safe Zone's leaders.

Qian Wendao told Qin Siyang that he had reached origin sequence level four in two previous [Evolutionary Sequence Domains] before being forced to start over, explaining his guarded nature and his relief at the current Safe Zone’s success. He described how the other Safe Zones were cramped and violent, and concluded that the world outside was rotten to the core.

• Qian Wendao revealed that he had reached origin sequence level four in each of the two previous [Evolutionary Sequence Domains] before teleporting and starting over.
• Qian Wendao explained that power struggles had forced him to flee the previous Safe Zones, while Qin Siyang gained a better understanding of his hardships.
• Qian Wendao recalled that his time working as an ordinary ability user and benefactor to Qin Siyang had been among his most interesting days.
• Qian Wendao described how the previous Safe Zones were small, resource-starved, and violent, leaving fewer than one in a hundred second-batch chosen ones alive.
• Qian Wendao said he had failed to improve the first Safe Zone, nearly died after trusting the wrong person in the second, and mostly succeeded with allies in the third.

Qian Wendao told Qin Siyang about the dangers of other [Evolutionary Sequence Domains] and the limits of fighting large gods. Qin Siyang stunned him by revealing that he had completed another large god’s [Succession Trial], leaving Qian Wendao unsure how Qin Siyang knew about his own trial.

• Qian Wendao explained that Qin Siyang had been lucky to awaken the [Eye of the Divine Crow] in a relatively safe [Evolutionary Sequence Domain].
• Qian Wendao recounted a story of gods breaching and destroying an older Safe Zone, and said large gods could not be killed or subdued along the origin sequence path he knew.
• Qin Siyang asked how Qian Wendao had taken the Sandworm’s scales and completed its [Succession Trial].
• Qian Wendao reacted with shock when Qin Siyang revealed that he knew about the trial and had completed another large god’s [Succession Trial] alone.
• Qian Wendao questioned how Qin Siyang had inferred that he completed the Sandworm’s trial, but hesitated to ask him for more.

Qin Siyang and Qian Wendao discussed Qin’s succession trials, the disappearance of the Sacrificial Giant Vine, and the differences between Evolutionary Sequence Domains. As Qian warned Qin that Ander would target him, Ma Liangcai learned that his brother had died and faced the growing power of Minister Qin.

• Qin Siyang kept his promise to the Rock Core Being and refused to reveal how he knew Qian Wendao had completed the Sandworm’s [Succession Trial], then told Qian that he had passed the Sacrificial Giant Vine’s trial.
• Qian Wendao connected the Sacrificial Giant Vine’s disappearance to a vanished God Illusion on the Path of the Believer and explained that the domains contained different Large Gods.
• Qin Siyang told Qian Wendao that he planned to tell more people about the Origin Sequence, and Qian said he would not stop him.
• Qian Wendao explained that he had given Qin the Sandworm Scale to test how far a talented person without backing could go, and said the others who had received such chances had died.
• Qian Wendao warned Qin Siyang that Ander would not let the threat he posed go unanswered, then went alone to the Ministry of Armaments’ office.
• Ma Liangcai learned that his younger brother Ma Liangdong had died, while He Feifei mocked him and the office’s staff reckoned with the power of the new Minister Qin.

Qin Siyang tightened oversight of military supply distribution and warned officials whose loyalties or records concerned him. The chapter ended when Qi Boyuan told him that the supplies sent to the Qi Legion had a problem.

• Qin Siyang ordered half of the Han Character Legion's supplies issued and the rest inspected before next month's handover.
• Qin Siyang arranged for the Qin Character Special Brigade's supplies to be checked with help from the United Merchants' Association and the Joint Medical Association.
• Qin Siyang ordered the Qin Character Legion's supplies inspected meticulously and told Ma Liangcai to leave for Zone 1 if he could, or consider how to stay alive if he could not.
• Qi Boyuan called Qin Siyang and reported that the supplies sent to the Qi Legion had a problem.

Qin Siyang uncovered that Ma Liangdong had used his brother Ma Liangcai to poison the Qi Legion’s supplies as part of a Zone 1 scheme. He compensated the Qi Legion with the Qin Character Legion’s supplies and protected Ma Liangcai, who was left reflecting on kinship and enmity.

• Qi Boyuan told Qin Siyang that poisoned food had caused soldiers in the Qi Legion to suffer organ failure.
• Qin Siyang learned the supplies came from Ma Liangcai’s office and questioned him about who had accessed them.
• Ma Liangcai admitted he had taken his younger brother, Ma Liangdong, to inspect the supplies, and Qin Siyang concluded that Zone 1 had used him to poison them.
• Qin Siyang arranged to transfer the Qin Character Legion’s monthly supplies to the Qi Legion as compensation.
• Ma Liangcai thanked Qin Siyang for protecting him, and Wang Jilai remarked that the strong decide who counts as kin or foe.

Qin Siyang visited Chen Zhongming in State 13 and discovered that a young woman had likely used a charm-related ability to manipulate Chen Gongrang. After killing her, Qin Siyang suspected Zone 1 or Qin Yingguang had sent her to target Chen Zhongming through his son.

• Qin Siyang visited Chen Zhongming without warning to check on his difficulties governing State 13.
• Chen Zhongming told Qin Siyang that Chen Gongrang planned to marry Qianru after knowing her for only half a month.
• Qin Siyang restrained Qianru and Chen Gongrang, then asked whether she had used a Sequence Ability on him.
• When Qianru refused to answer, Qin Siyang severed both her arms and killed her.
• Qin Siyang explained that Qianru had likely been sent to target Chen Zhongming and named Zone 1 or Qin Yingguang as possible suspects.

Qin Siyang removed a threat near Chen Gongrang and discussed Chen Zhongming’s powerless post and the growing instability in the Safe Zone. He left Chen Zhongming life-saving supplies and promised that changing circumstances would give him a chance to use his abilities.

• Qin Siyang stored the corpse and arranged for Chen Zhongming and Chen Gongrang to receive secret protection, while warning Chen Gongrang to be more vigilant.
• Chen Gongrang resented Qin Siyang’s warning, and Chen Zhongming sent him to wait in the next conference room.
• Chen Zhongming told Qin Siyang that grain distribution was running smoothly and warned that tensions in the Safe Zone were rising, suggesting Qin Siyang focus on strategically important State No. 5.
• Chen Zhongming said he owed his rise to Qin Siyang and asked him to spare Chen Gongrang if his son ever caused serious trouble.
• Qin Siyang gave Chen Zhongming a Storage Box containing life-saving medicine and a tool, and promised he would soon have a chance to put his talents to use.

Qin Siyang settled on the Sigma District as his new base and went to the Underground City Management Association to rent a shop. He secured a vacant location after insisting he was there to do business, while the thin man who helped him suspected a coming clash with [Yu Gu].

• Qin Siyang decided to make the Sigma District his home and develop its untapped potential.
• Qin Siyang visited the Yu Family Mine to withdraw his earnings, then went to the Underground City Management Association.
• Qin Siyang demanded a shop in the best location and warned the association members to accept his terms or face death.
• A thin man pointed out that [Yu Gu] already held the best shop under contract, so Qin Siyang chose the best vacant location instead.
• After Qin Siyang signed the rental contract and left, the thin man collected a second-tier tool for helping him and predicted a battle between Qin Siyang and [Yu Gu].

Qin Siyang opened a well-stocked shop opposite [Yu Gu]'s, drawing crowds with rare high-tier goods and a formidable Nanrong University staff. After the shop earned nearly a hundred gold coins on its first day, Duan Chongfang disguised himself as a beggar and watched [Yu Gu]'s shop, expecting Qin Siyang to help him deal with [Yu Gu].

• Qin Siyang opened his shop with rare materials, three Tier Three Items, and a Tier Four Artifact, attracting curious customers and praise.
• Shi Tao took charge of the shop and hired talented Nanrong students to run and protect it.
• A thief tried to steal the Tier Four Artifact, but Yu Guanying killed him and his accomplice before cleaning up the shop floor.
• Shi Tao reported nearly a hundred gold coins in first-day revenue, exceeding Qin Siyang's expectations.
• Duan Chongfang disguised himself as a beggar outside Qin Siyang's shop and watched [Yu Gu]'s premises, grumbling that he had come only because Qin Siyang promised to help him deal with [Yu Gu].

Qin Siyang and Shan En discussed the success of the [Yu Gu] shop and their plans to grow their Underground City businesses. As the rival shops traded new services and drew crowds, the middle-aged woman suggested that both could win the business war.

• Shan En told Qin Siyang that the [Yu Gu] shop had earned a few hundred gold coins, and Qin Siyang agreed to work with him on expanding both shops.
• Qin Siyang’s shop and the [Yu Gu] shop drew customers with different goods and services, while their competition intensified.
• The [Yu Gu] shop delivered its first batch of custom artifacts and materials, renewing excitement around Yu Gu.
• Qin Siyang’s shop began buying disc carapace, drawing crowds and boosting business throughout the Underground City.
• Liu Dao Wu asked the middle-aged woman who would win the rivalry, and she said both shops could win.

An Youlu urged Zone 1’s leaders to kill Qin Siyang, accusing him of building an independent power base and threatening the United Government. The meeting ended with An Youlu demanding permission to leave Zone 1 if Ander still refused to act.

• At a Zone 1 roundtable, Yang Xian mocked Tan Biao, while Yu Jianyun declined to take a position on Qin Siyang’s disc carapace purchases.
• An Youlu accused Qin Siyang of preparing to break away from the United Government, and Fan Baoluo argued that the government’s own actions had driven him to it.
• Fan Baoluo revealed that [Yu Gu]’s shop offered Sequence Potions to customers with a [Scorpion Card], and challenged An Youlu for targeting Qin Siyang while overlooking [Yu Gu].
• An Youlu called Qin Siyang a grave threat and demanded that Ander authorize his killing.
• An Youlu told Ander that he would leave Zone 1 if Ander continued refusing to act against Qin Siyang.