Chapter Summaries

The United Government reorganized the Safe Zone into War Readiness Zones, relocating residents and turning abandoned districts into farmland and strategic reserves. In former State No. 4, officials protested their zone’s abandonment, while Yu Renjie explained how the new appointments had left him with a diminished post.

• The United Government announced that it would establish one thousand War Readiness Zones, consolidate its states, relocate residents, and use uninhabited zones for crops and strategic food reserves.
• Residents and officials in developed zones resented being excluded from the new defensive network, while Qian Wendao’s unified government coordinated the reorganization.
• Residents of former State No. 4’s Zone 4001 surrounded the State Government building after learning they would be relocated to District No. 711.
• Hou Wencheng demanded to know why his City No. 40 had been abandoned, and Yu Renjie revealed that he had been assigned as an Administration Bureau chief.
• Yu Renjie explained that Vincent had become mayor of City No. 71 and Cui Zhonghua had been appointed district chief of District No. 711, leaving him with little chance of a higher position.

The United Government struggled to implement the relocation of over a hundred million people as residents resisted and officials lacked motivation. With Qian Wendao away, Qin Siyang faced pressure to find a workable solution, especially for District No. 711.

• Yu Renjie explained to Hou Wencheng that Cui Zhonghua had been personally appointed by Secretary-General Qian, Lin Dexing was the Deputy District Chief, and officials tied to the old factions had been reassigned.
• Yu Renjie warned that compressing more than ten thousand districts into a thousand War Readiness Zones would strain housing, resources, and political factions.
• Olof convened a remote meeting and heard that relocation was stalled because residents resisted, officials were disengaged, and housing plans alone would not satisfy people in developed regions.
• Chu Zhongxiong proposed using fear to make residents understand the danger, but Olof rejected sabotage and called for the United Government to mobilize the public.
• Qin Siyang proposed examining District No. 711 as a test case, while Olof explained that officials were going through the motions and that neither force nor persuasion seemed viable.
• The group looked to Qin Siyang to make a broader decision, and he recognized that he had to prove his ability to lead.

Qin Siyang set a ten-day deadline for the Safe Zone's mass relocation, promising housing, food, work, and schooling while warning that areas outside the War Readiness Zones would become lawless. He then issued an assessment order threatening obstructive officials with prison as the relocation's implementation began.

• Qin Siyang proposed addressing ordinary residents' main concerns by arranging housing, work, and schooling and ordering everyone to relocate within ten days.
• Kav said the Information Security Department and Ministry of Education had prepared work and school assignments for residents in their designated regions.
• The United Government's highest-level meeting unanimously approved Qin Siyang's relocation plan, which would withdraw government services and resource shipments from areas outside the War Readiness Zones after the deadline.
• Qin Siyang blamed State No. 4 officials' deliberate delays for obstructing relocation and decided to hold officials accountable for their performance.
• Qin Siyang sent every official a War-Readiness Relocation Officials Assessment Order offering diligent workers a place in the new Safe Zone while threatening obstructive officials with court and prison labor.
• Sun Linshou received the files needed to prosecute officials who failed the relocation assessment, and Qin Siyang declared that accountability would follow the relocation.

Huan Kai delayed the Safe Zone’s relocation so its residents could move before he revealed the Life-Substitution Lamp’s secret. After Qin Siyang completed the mass relocation in five days, anonymous posts exposed how to make and use the artifact, threatening the fragile peace.

• Yu Renjie and the other officials organized the Safe Zone’s relocation under Qin Siyang’s orders, while workers abandoned the protests led by factory owners and Merchants' Association managers.
• Huan Kai watched the crowds move and resolved to fulfill Royt’s dying wish by revealing the Life-Substitution Lamp’s secret after relocation was nearly complete.
• Qin Siyang and the United Government moved the entire population into the War Readiness Zone in five days.
• Anonymous posts appeared on major forums, claiming that powerful figures possessed Life-Substitution Lamps and explaining how the artifacts could grant their users another life by killing a nearby donor.

The revelation of the Life-Substitution Lamp’s creation method triggered a wave of killings across the Safe Zone, while Qian Wendao and the other officials struggled to contain the spread and restore trust. The crisis reached the military and left even the government meeting unsure who among them might be planning to make a lamp.

• After the Life-Substitution Lamp method spread online, criminals and Sequence Ability Users considered killing ordinary people to meet its requirements.
• Qin Siyang contacted Qian Wendao and Kav to block the post and debunk it, but killings began in Sigma District before they could act.
• The Information Security Department deleted the original posts and issued warnings, but screenshots and word of mouth had already spread the method throughout the Safe Zone.
• Qian Wendao summoned senior officials, and Old Johnny recounted Royt’s final claim that he still had a move to play.
• An adjutant reported that a level-four company commander had killed his sleeping soldiers and fled, so Wei Rulai left the meeting to handle the mutiny.
• The officials connected past mass killings by the World-Destroying Church to Life-Substitution Lamps and realized they could not trust even one another.

Qin Siyang proposed using mass-produced Lie Detectors to identify people intending to use or manufacture Life-Substitution Lamps, and the United Government enforced the plan with public screenings and brutal crackdowns. As the Safe Zone’s unrest subsided, Qin Siyang quietly left to seek a breakthrough in his origin sequence.

• Chu Zhongxiong suggested targeting the Life-Substitution Lamps, and Qin Siyang proposed screening people with Lie Detectors.
• Olof agreed to work with Li Tianming on simpler Lie Detector designs, while Qian Wendao warned officials against using or making the lamps.
• The United Government deployed Lie-Detection Black Boxes across the War Readiness Zones and offered a large bounty for capturing or killing violent suspects.
• Enforcers and independent hunters fought people who resisted the screenings, and the violence continued until most lamp-seekers were dead or imprisoned.
• Qin Siyang left the Safe Zone to seek an opportunity to advance his origin sequence.

Qin Siyang failed to find a way to advance along the Path of Self-Verification, then traveled to meet Qian Wendao, Old Johnny, and Yu Jianyun. Yu Jianyun asked the strongest people in the Safe Zone to help resist an invasion and revealed that he had seen the outsiders.

• Qin Siyang exhausted his methods for breaking through and cursed after gaining nothing from hunting gods and consuming the Feather Eagle's Feather Blades.
• Qin Siyang received coordinates from Qian Wendao and traveled for five hours in his Capsule Pod to meet him.
• Qin Siyang sent a phantom clone to check the meeting place and found Qian Wendao, Old Johnny, and Yu Jianyun talking together.
• Yu Jianyun said the Safe Zone's future rested on its strongest people and asked them to help repel the outsiders' invasion.
• Qin Siyang asked how Yu Jianyun knew about the invaders, and Yu Jianyun replied that he had seen them.

Yu Jianyun told Qin Siyang and the others that three outsiders had died after crossing the River, leading Qin Siyang to realize that the altered terrain was a protective gift for the survivors. The barriers could only delay and weaken invaders, and Yu Jianyun revealed that he had summoned them to share a dying outsider’s last words because he did not fully trust Qian Wendao.

• Yu Jianyun told Qin Siyang, Qian Wendao, and Old Johnny that he had found three outsiders dead or dying in the primeval forest by the River.
• Yu Jianyun explained that the outsiders had no combat wounds and seemed to have been drained by crossing the River.
• Qin Siyang connected the outsiders’ deaths and the severed limb he had found to the god’s message, concluding that the mountains, River, and other changes protected all the survivors.
• Qin Siyang recognized that the natural barriers could weaken invaders but would not stop them forever, and he resolved to prepare for a coming war.
• Yu Jianyun told Qian Wendao that he had summoned them to share the dying outsider’s last words and admitted he did not entirely trust him.

Yu Jianyun shared a dying man’s warning about the Domain Master and the requirements for reaching the Domain Sequence. Old Johnny revealed that, despite meeting two conditions, he had not killed Royt and therefore had not broken through.

• Yu Jianyun told Qian Wendao, Old Johnny, and Qin Siyang that the man had come from the World-Destroying Church in the Sixth Domain, which Qian Wendao explained had been corrupted by people seeking power.
• Yu Jianyun relayed that the Safe Zone would lose hope if its Domain Master died, and Qian Wendao suggested he might be that Domain Master because he possessed the third part of the [Apocalypse Fragment].
• Yu Jianyun said the Domain Sequence was above the Origin Sequence and listed three breakthrough conditions: obtain all the primordial starshine, complete a Large God's Succession Trial, and kill an origin sequence level five or higher enemy who followed the path of self-verification.
• Qian Wendao questioned whether Old Johnny had already reached the Domain Sequence, since he had broken through to origin sequence level five and seemed to have met the first two conditions.
• Old Johnny admitted he had not broken through and said he had not killed Royt.

Old Johnny and Qin Siyang realized that Zhong Dingming may have received credit for killing Royt, making him a future threat if he reached origin sequence level five. Yu Jianyun learned about the Path of Self-Verification and the danger of returning to the Safe Zone, then accepted Qin Siyang’s gift before planning to leave.

• Old Johnny explained that only Zhong Dingming may have received credit for Royt’s death because he struck the final blow, and Qin Siyang worried about Zhong Dingming becoming a threat.
• Qin Siyang and Qian Wendao considered whether Zhong Dingming could have known about domain sequence earlier, but concluded that this was unlikely.
• Qian Wendao asked Yu Jianyun about the dead messengers’ final words and bodies, and Yu Jianyun handed over their remains in a Storage Box.
• Qin Siyang explained the Path of Self-Verification and warned Yu Jianyun that the gods would kill everyone in the Safe Zone if someone broke through to sequence level ten one.
• Yu Jianyun declined to change paths and said he would leave the Safe Zone when he neared that breakthrough.
• Qin Siyang gave Yu Jianyun a Storage Box of tools in gratitude, and Yu Jianyun accepted it.

Qian Wendao and Qin Siyang explained that killing an ally would not fulfill the condition for reaching the domain sequence; the victim had to be an enemy at origin sequence level five or above. They ended with no clear way to defeat the powerful outsiders threatening the Safe Zone, and Yu Jianyun left without learning the name of the messenger who had died.

• Old Johnny offered to let Qian Wendao kill him, believing his death could help protect the Safe Zone and let Qian break through.
• Qian Wendao and Qin Siyang explained that the breakthrough required killing a genuine enemy, not someone on the killer’s own side.
• Qian Wendao recalled that Sima Ji had killed a powerful pure human, while Yu Jianyun reaffirmed his old doubts about Old Johnny’s ability to uphold order.
• Qin Siyang worried that the outsiders were too powerful for the Safe Zone’s defenders to kill and asked Yu Jianyun for the dead messenger’s name.
• Yu Jianyun said the messenger had died without giving his name, then left with the Storage Box.

Qin Siyang and Qian Wendao focused on defending the Safe Zone as they faced resistance to the new War Readiness Zones and other reforms. In District No. 711, demoted officials Yu Renjie and Hou Wencheng criticized a new special-talent promotion scheme, leaving them to consider how the reforms had cost them their former standing.

• Qin Siyang and Qian Wendao abandoned plans to pursue a breakthrough and turned their attention to the Safe Zone’s defense and development.
• The United Government eased its demands after relocating residents, then issued policies to calm discontent while continuing to warn that outside threats could destroy the Safe Zone.
• Yu Renjie and Hou Wencheng, both demoted and assigned to District No. 711, reviewed the United Government’s new special-talent selection and exceptional promotion document.
• Yu Renjie and Hou Wencheng criticized the scheme for overlooking how ordinary people advanced through broad competence and opportunity, not exceptional talents.

Yu Renjie and Hou Wencheng discussed their demotions and decided to wait for public unrest before joining any protest openly. After relocation, widespread work stoppages disrupted the United Government, merchants’ associations, mining operations, and military training, while protesters called for officials linked to Zone 1 and religious groups to be purged.

• Hou Wencheng and Yu Renjie judged the special-talent selection requirements too restrictive to offer most people a real chance at promotion.
• Yu Renjie warned Hou Wencheng not to provoke Qin Siyang and Qian Wendao, and advised him to wait until officials brought their grievances into the open before joining them.
• Yu Renjie and Hou Wencheng agreed to keep working at the Administration Bureau and quietly watch how events developed.
• After relocation, officials, merchants’ association staff, mine workers, and lower-ranking legion personnel began halting work, business, and training.
• The resulting unrest threatened shutdowns across the United Government, United Merchants’ Association, and Joint Mining, and disrupted War Readiness Zone training.
• Protesters criticized Fan Baoluo, Yu Yongyou, and Lin Dexing, implying that the Safe Zone needed to purge corrupt advisers.

Safe Zone leaders discussed how to respond to protests targeting the officials appointed by Qian Wendao and Qin Siyang, and agreed that backing down would only invite further attacks. The factions moved to remove protest organizers from their ranks, leaving Qian Wendao relieved that the leadership had united.

• Zhao Longteng explained that protesters were targeting the leaders’ appointees because challenging Qian Wendao and Qin Siyang directly would be difficult.
• Yu Yongyou offered to resign, but Qin Siyang and Qian Wendao told him the campaign targeted the whole leadership and that concessions would never end.
• Wei Rulai and Chu Baxing reported disciplining or expelling soldiers who had organized protests within their legions.
• Zhao Sifang, Hu Chan, and Yu Yongyou said their organizations would remove protest participants and replace them where needed.
• Qian Wendao felt relieved as the Safe Zone’s leaders united behind their response.

Qian Wendao and the meeting attendees discussed how to handle United Government personnel protesting the reorganization of the War Readiness Zone. Qin Siyang proposed addressing legitimate concerns and offering new career paths before using a blanket crackdown against those who continued to oppose the plan.

• Qian Wendao explained that United Government employees were difficult to replace and that their protests could not be ignored.
• Qin Siyang asked why the government could not use a blanket policy against the protesting employees, and Chu Zhongxiong explained that their grievances represented diverse groups and needs.
• Qin Siyang proposed family-based transfers and performance evaluations to address legitimate concerns and distinguish vested interests from other protesters.
• Qin Siyang suggested that Minister Kav develop a phone app for residents to submit feedback, and Kav agreed to prepare a plan.
• Qin Siyang proposed making the Path of Self-Verification and the Path of the Believer public and offering ritual materials to high-performing United Government employees.
• Qin Siyang said that Minister Sun could carry out a blanket crackdown on anyone who still opposed the division of the War Readiness Zone after those offers.

Yu Renjie and Hou Wencheng agreed to stop publicly opposing the United Government, but Qin Siyang summoned Yu Renjie to a meeting with other demoted officials. Qin revealed that they had escaped multiple purges and praised them as talents.

• Yu Renjie told Hou Wencheng to abandon their public dissent and accept their demotions rather than risk being treated as hardliners.
• Qin Siyang called Yu Renjie and invited him to a remote meeting, alarming both Yu Renjie and Hou Wencheng.
• Yu Renjie joined a meeting with other heavily demoted officials who had been excluded from the War Readiness Zone plans.
• Qin Siyang explained that the officials had avoided several purges because investigations found they were not involved in the targeted schemes or campaigns.
• Qin Siyang called the surviving officials remarkable talents for remaining in their offices despite their connections to Zone 1.

Qin Siyang invited Yu Renjie and other officials who had once been connected to Zone 1 to join the United Government Secretary-General's Office as advisers. They accepted and were assigned to travel with their families to War Readiness Zone 2 and devise a plan to address public dissatisfaction with the United Government.

• Qin Siyang told the officials that they were the last people with ties to Zone 1 who had escaped the purges, then praised their ability and caution.
• Qin Siyang offered them positions in the Secretary-General's Office, explaining that Secretary-General Qian Wendao needed capable advisers to help plan the Safe Zone's future affairs.
• Yu Renjie questioned whether the officials' past connections made them unsuitable for access to high-level secrets, and Qin Siyang said their careful conduct had earned the government's trust.
• The officials accepted Qin Siyang's invitation without asking about compensation.
• Qin Siyang arranged private cars to take the officials and their families to War Readiness Zone 2, where they would spend two days planning how to eliminate public dissatisfaction with the United Government.

The Safe Zone rebuilt its administration and imposed strict rules on god-hunting to conserve resources and protect weaker Sequence Ability Users. Outside the endless Mountain Ridge, the Domain Masters’ watchers found no way into the Eighth Domain and decided to go to the First Domain.

• Qian Wendao and the leadership used the Secretary-General’s office to restore order and shift their attention to preparing the Safe Zone for war.
• The United Government restricted god-hunting by level and area after beginners depleted the small gods near the Safe Zone.
• The government introduced warnings, reduced hunting access, fines, tracking measures, and exile to Lingnan to punish rule-breakers.
• Qian Wendao praised the advisory team’s efficiency, and Qin Siyang credited the shrewd officials with handling the Safe Zone’s problems.
• Granny Hua worried that no living person had crossed the Eighth Domain’s boundary, while Alan reported that Little Bear could not smell intruders.
• Sima Ji told Granny Hua that the Seventh Domain’s Ferry Tools could not overcome the Eighth Domain’s rules, then proposed going to the First Domain.

Sima Ji argued that the First Domain should handle the Eighth Domain because its people wanted the territory, while he and the other Domain Masters had little to gain from risking their lives. He left Granny Hua and Alan to choose whether to demand the First Domain’s help or continue fighting alone, and said he would return to the Seventh Domain if they refused.

• Granny Hua warned Sima Ji that the First Domain would eliminate them if they failed to prove their value by conquering the Eighth Domain.
• Alan compared their usefulness to his Teddy Bear, which he would discard if it could no longer help him.
• Sima Ji argued that the First Domain should take responsibility for conquering the Eighth Domain, since he and the others would not benefit from the victory.
• Sima Ji said he feared the First Domain less because he had killed its assassins sent to the Seventh Domain.
• Sima Ji told Granny Hua and Alan to ask the First Domain to solve the problem or keep fighting alone, while he would return to the Seventh Domain if they did not act.

Two and a half months after the domains merged, the Safe Zone’s new leadership had cleared away factional infighting and rapidly advanced infrastructure projects, including the opening of the Giant Ridge Tunnel. At Nanrong University, acting Student Council Chairman Fu Wanli watched the news and reflected on how much he had changed since his friends left.

• After two and a half months of construction, the United Government opened the 221-kilometer Giant Ridge Tunnel connecting the Safe Zone’s main region and Sigma District.
• News anchor Xu Qingnan reported that the tunnel would improve the movement of supplies and troops and strengthen the Safe Zone’s defenses.
• Fu Wanli watched Xu Qingnan’s broadcast from his lavish Acting Student Council Chairman’s Office and joked that she should have confessed to him before becoming famous.
• The chapter explained that Principal Harrison had given Fu Wanli the office because of his influential connections, but Fu Wanli had since become diligent in his studies, student duties, and training.
• Fu Wanli turned off the broadcast and looked at a group photo of himself and his friends outside Nanrong’s gates.