Chapter Summaries

Su Ye learned how to address his Tier Three material shortage, obtain drone blueprints, and recruit loyal NPC specialists. After sending the Great Xia Soldiers away, he refined the King's Soul Crystal, greatly increasing his Mental Attribute, and began testing whether he could fly.

• Su Ye asked the team leader for Tier Three materials, drone blueprints for his Beehive Hangar, and advice on recruiting mechanical-control and fire-control specialists.
• The team leader explained that a Material Furnace could refine low-tier materials, promised to arrange drone blueprints, and advised Su Ye to recruit NPC specialists through their personal wishes.
• Su Ye used the Black Wind Soul-Severing Spear to send the three Great Xia Soldiers back and collected their first-tier Secret Realm Crystals.
• Su Ye ordered A Da to drive the Gale Ranger toward the Tier Two Road Section, then entered the Training Room with the King's Soul Crystal.
• Su Ye absorbed the crystal's mental energy, raising his base Mental Attribute by 30 points and bringing his total to 283.
• Su Ye used his Mental Power to lift himself off the ground and began testing whether he could fly.

Su Ye visited the Talent Market after learning that monsters had grown more aggressive because gray fog civilizations had raised the survival game’s difficulty. He arrived in his tier-three Gale Ranger and met the manager, Balo, who asked what talent he wanted to recruit.

• Su Ye practiced flying, then collected six drone blueprints from Great Xia Soldiers and began producing tier-two drones.
• Su Ye read players’ reports of stronger, more aggressive monsters and realized his achievements had prompted gray fog civilizations to increase pressure on the Fivefold Race.
• Su Ye used a Random Service Area Card and was sent to the Talent Market instead of the Shop Service Area.
• Su Ye arrived at the Talent Market, where six mostly tier-two vehicles were parked, and went inside with A Da.
• Balo greeted Su Ye, admired the Gale Ranger, and asked what kind of talent he was seeking.

Su Ye rejected the costly, low-loyalty high-grade talents at the Talent Market and asked to see its Discarded Talents instead. On the way, he met Ling Qi, who suspected Su Ye knew where Ling Yue was and began considering how the Young Clan Leader’s status might fare on Survival Road.

• Balo explained the Talent Market’s three talent grades and showed Su Ye recruitment profiles for high-grade specialists.
• Su Ye decided the high-grade talents’ expensive contracts and poor loyalty made them a bad investment.
• Su Ye told Balo to take him to the Discarded Talent Containment Area, believing he could earn their loyalty by treating their disabilities or trauma.
• Ling Qi approached Su Ye, who was disguised as a Feather Tribe noble, and introduced himself.
• Su Ye said he had run with Ling Yue and warned Ling Qi not to pry before leaving with Balo.
• Ling Qi suspected Su Ye knew Ling Yue’s whereabouts and questioned whether the Young Clan Leader still had influence on Survival Road.

Su Ye visited the Talent Market’s discarded-talent section and heard the five candidates’ difficult demands, promising to fulfill one by his next visit. He left for the Shop Service Area and met Shang Yan at the Commerce Tower, where Shang Yan noted that Su Ye was the only player to reach the seventh floor.

• Su Ye reviewed the discarded talents and selected five candidates to meet.
• The five talents told Su Ye they needed limb regeneration or neural prostheses, revenge on Black Scale, rare metals and a Quantum Computer, a Soul Crystal for the woman’s brother, and a Purifying Spirit Fruit.
• Su Ye said he could not answer immediately but expected to meet one request by his next visit, then tipped Balo a hundred Survival Coins and left the Talent Market.
• Su Ye used a Designated Service Area Card to reach the Shop Service Area and went to the Commerce Tower.
• Shang Yan welcomed Su Ye to the seventh-floor VIP room and said that other players had only reached the first and second floors.

Su Ye spent his Survival Coins on tier two natural treasures and cultivated until his base physique and spirit were both just short of 300. After five days of driving toward the Tier Two Road Section and absorbing attribute potions, he brought both base attributes to 300 and reached their tier two limit.

• Su Ye spent all 450,000 Survival Coins at the Commerce Tower on tier two natural treasures and stored his purchases.
• Su Ye consumed the treasures in the Training Room, raising his base physique and spirit to 284.
• Su Ye drove the Gale Ranger himself at top speed toward the Tier Two Road Section and collected resources from Great Xia Soldiers along the way.
• After five days, Su Ye drank two Tier Two Attribute Potions and raised both base attributes to 300.
• Su Ye confirmed that his physique and spirit had reached saturation at the tier two limit.

Su Ye accepted a Tier Three breakthrough quest requiring him to kill three Tier Three monsters alone, then drove toward the Tier Two Road Section while players in C13 marveled at his overwhelming lead in the supply collection event. After six days, he reached the bone-built toll station guarding the road, with an hour left in the event.

• Su Ye accepted the quest to kill three Tier Three monsters alone and decided to reach the Tier Two Road Section to complete it.
• Players in C13 discussed Su Ye’s lead of more than ten million supply points, while Ling Yue organized the Feather Tribe to secure as many other leaderboard spots as possible.
• Six days passed, and Su Ye’s Gale Ranger slowed as he approached a toll station built from enormous bones and guarded by more than a thousand monsters.

Su Ye reached the Toll Station and found it guarded by over a thousand Bone-Eroding Race monsters. He ordered the Gale Ranger to attack, and its weapons wiped out the entire force, leaving the way through the checkpoint clear.

• The Bone-Eroding Race spotted the approaching Gale Ranger and planned to stop Su Ye and rob him.
• Su Ye ordered Fifteen to fire the Army-Breaker Cannon and run through the checkpoint.
• The Army-Breaker Cannon destroyed the barricade, killed hundreds of Bone-Eroding Race monsters, and blasted a path through their formation.
• Fifteen’s machine-gun turret and roof-mounted ballista attacked the surviving monsters, who fled in panic.
• Su Ye ordered Fifteen to leave none alive, and five minutes later all the Bone-Eroding Race monsters had been killed.

After Su Ye cleared the battlefield and drove through the First-Tier Road Section toll station, players across C13 learned that the Survival Road had tiered sections with endpoints. Su Ye entered the Tier Two Road Section under a penalty that doubled his monster encounters, while messages from Mo Yu and Whirlwind began arriving.

• Su Ye ordered Fifteen to deploy Cleaner Drones, which gathered the battlefield loot and reported the haul of monster materials and Survival Coins.
• Su Ye told A Da to drive the Gale Ranger through the breached toll station and into the Tier Two Road Section.
• A Region-Wide Announcement informed every player in C13 that Never Checks the Fuel Gauge had passed through the toll station.
• Players in C13 celebrated learning that the Survival Road had tiered sections and reachable endpoints, gaining renewed hope to keep going.
• Su Ye received a warning that his forced passage and slaughter of the checkpoint guardians would double his monster encounters in the Tier Two Road Section, but he dismissed the penalty.
• Su Ye’s private chat began flashing with messages from Mo Yu and Whirlwind.

Su Ye sold information about the Toll Station to the Fivefold Race leaders and entered the Tier Two Road Section. After winning first place in the Supply Search Month event, he chose the Purifying Spirit Fruit as his reward.

• Su Ye sold Toll Station information to Ling Yue and the other four Fivefold Race leaders for fifty thousand Survival Coins, explaining the Bone-Eroding Race and the safe toll rules.
• Su Ye entered the Tier Two Road Section and observed that its surroundings resembled the First-Tier Road Section, though the road was wider and the fog thicker.
• A Region-Wide Announcement declared the Supply Search Month event over and announced that the next Monthly Event would begin the following morning.
• Su Ye received the zone's first-place reward choice and dismissed equipment and a Tier Two Workbench because he already had better gear and a workbench.
• Su Ye chose the Purifying Spirit Fruit, which would grant the Purifying Spirit Body and permanently increase his resistance to negative statuses below Tier Six.

Su Ye used a Random Service Area Card to return to the Talent Market with a Purifying Spirit Fruit and sought out Xing Meng, the single-horned Discarded Talent who had requested it. Rather than pay for the Market’s death contract, Su Ye trusted Xing Meng’s offer to bind himself through a Starhorn Clan secret art and handed him the fruit.

• Su Ye chose the Purifying Spirit Fruit as his reward and learned that it could remove negative statuses below Tier Six and grant the Purifying Spirit Body.
• Su Ye used a Random Service Area Card, which sent him to the Talent Market, and asked Balo to bring him the single-horned man who had requested the fruit.
• Balo brought Xing Meng to Su Ye, who showed him the Purifying Spirit Fruit and asked how he could ensure Xing Meng’s loyalty.
• Balo explained that a death contract with Xing Meng would cost 134,000 Survival Coins, while Xing Meng offered to use his Starhorn Clan’s secret art to create one after recovering.
• Su Ye decided to trust Xing Meng and tossed him the Purifying Spirit Fruit.

Su Ye used a Purifying Spirit Fruit to cleanse Xing Meng’s curse and restore his strength, earning a Star Soul Death Pact from the Starhorn Clan warrior. After learning Xing Meng had once reached Tier Six, Su Ye brought him to the Beehive Hangar and questioned whether he could manage it.

• Su Ye gambled on saving Xing Meng because he wanted to learn about the Starhorn Clan and trusted its people to honor their promises.
• Xing Meng swallowed the Purifying Spirit Fruit, which removed his curse and restored his body and horn.
• Xing Meng offered Su Ye a Star Soul Death Pact, and Su Ye accepted, making Xing Meng his absolutely obedient subordinate.
• Su Ye checked Xing Meng’s stats and discovered that he had once been a Tier Six powerhouse, then paid Balo the brokerage fee.
• Su Ye brought Xing Meng to the Beehive Hangar and said he would put him in charge if he proved capable of managing it.

Su Ye learned that Xing Meng was a Starhorn Clan machinery expert with unusual abilities, but Xing Meng remembered only that his civilization had cleared the Survival Road before failing again. When Fifteen spotted an abandoned warehouse, Su Ye prepared to test Xing Meng’s skill with the Beehive Hangar.

• Xing Meng introduced his machinery experience and explained how Star Sense and Star-Mark Lock could help him operate and control drones.
• Xing Meng told Su Ye that the Starhorn Clan had cleared the Survival Road but later failed, and that he had awakened as an NPC with much of his memory missing.
• Su Ye concluded that reaching the end of the Survival Road did not ensure safety and wondered whether NPCs came from civilizations that had failed before.
• Fifteen detected an abandoned warehouse beside the road, and Su Ye ordered A Da to stop the Gale Ranger nearby.
• Su Ye told Xing Meng his test had begun, and Xing Meng activated the Beehive Hangar’s systems with rapid, precise control.

Su Ye tested Xing Meng’s control of the Beehive Hangar as Xing Meng led a drone attack that wiped out forty-five Iron-Scaled Demon Wolves without losing a drone. After collecting the loot, Su Ye spotted five Great Xia Soldiers beside the road ahead.

• Xing Meng deployed reconnaissance drones to scout the warehouse and identified forty-five Iron-Scaled Demon Wolves.
• Xing Meng used Star-Mark Lock and coordinated attack drones to kill all the wolves in less than five minutes without losing a drone.
• Cleaner Drones collected the wolves’ scales, fangs, and other loot, and Su Ye praised Xing Meng and welcomed him to the team.
• Fifteen detected five figures beside the road ahead, and Su Ye recognized them as Great Xia Soldiers.

Su Ye met with Great Xia's team in the Tier Two Road Section, learned more about Xing Meng's past, and prepared to enter the Emberfire Furnace instance. The chapter ended with the Gale Ranger arriving before the sealed furnace gate beneath an active volcano.

• Su Ye discussed the stronger monsters and his need for tier three kills and a fifth skill with the Great Xia team leader, who supplied tier two Instance Crystals and Secret Realm Crystals.
• Su Ye introduced Xing Meng as a former tier six powerhouse from the Starhorn Clan, and the leader promised to report Xing Meng's revelation that his clan had reached the road's end and then failed.
• Su Ye sent the Great Xia team back, collected their crystals, and told Xing Meng to follow his orders around other humans from Great Xia.
• Su Ye and Xing Meng traveled through the Tier Two Road Section, where Su Ye fought monsters and opened tier two Supply Crates while Xing Meng modified drones in the Beehive Hangar.
• Su Ye used a tier two Instance Crystal and entered the Emberfire Furnace with Xing Meng and A Da, arriving before a sealed gate beneath an active volcano.

Su Ye entered the Volcanic Furnace Workshop and used Xing Meng’s stealth drones to eliminate the Flamehorn patrols. He found a tablet describing the Furnace Master’s failed attempt to sacrifice himself to stop the curse that had corrupted the Main Furnace.

• Su Ye waited for the gate to open, then ordered A Da to carry the vehicle into the workshop.
• Xing Meng sent out his modified drones, which silently killed the Flamehorn patrols and gathered Flameblood Essence.
• Su Ye and Xing Meng reached a circular antechamber where a skeleton held a cracked stone tablet.
• Su Ye read the tablet and recalled how the Furnace Master’s sacrifice had intensified the dark purple curse, forcing the surviving Flamehorn people to keep forging.

Su Ye and Xing Meng entered the Hammer Forge Workshop, where more than a thousand Flamehorns were forced to labor under the instance’s rules. Su Ye’s tier three vehicle and Army-Breaker Cannon overwhelmed the monsters, and he charged into the survivors with his spear.

• Su Ye restored a skeletal hand with Flameblood Essence and used it to open the stone wall leading to the first level of the instance.
• Su Ye and Xing Meng drove the Gale Ranger into the Hammer Forge Workshop and saw more than a thousand Flamehorns laboring at furnaces.
• Su Ye ordered Xing Meng to control the drones and Fifteen to provide covering fire, then had the Army-Breaker Cannon fire.
• The Army-Breaker Cannon killed many Flamehorns and stunned the survivors, who were shocked that Su Ye had a tier three vehicle.
• Su Ye activated Extreme Thunder and pierced a Flamehorn with Cloud-Piercing Thrust as the others reacted.

Su Ye cleared the Hammer Forge Workshop by killing its Flamehorn monsters, then entered the Cooling Fissure and crossed its magma-riven passage in the hovering Gale Ranger. The vehicle reached the stone arch leading to the Instance’s third floor, the Furnace Core Zone.

• Su Ye and the Gale Ranger’s weapons killed 1,123 Flamehorn monsters in the Hammer Forge Workshop.
• Xing Meng reported that the loot consisted mostly of Tier Two materials, with no equipment or blueprints.
• Su Ye opened the workshop’s iron door and drove the Gale Ranger into the Cooling Fissure.
• Su Ye ordered Xing Meng to eliminate the patrolling monsters and A Da to activate the vehicle’s air-cushion hovering.
• Xing Meng’s combat drones killed the Flamehorn patrols while A Da flew the Gale Ranger safely over the magma fissures.
• The Gale Ranger passed through the stone arch into the Furnace Core Zone.

Su Ye exploited the Furnace Core Zone’s hidden rule, using attacks on the giant furnace to force the Flamehorn Race monsters back to their stations while the Gale Ranger slaughtered them. After the last monster fell, the furnace began to tremble violently.

• Su Ye explained that disrupting the furnace’s flames would compel the Flamehorn Race monsters to return to forging and ordered his team to attack it.
• Fifteen fired the Army-Breaker Cannon, killing hundreds of monsters and drawing the survivors’ attention to the Gale Ranger.
• Xing Meng’s drones attacked the furnace, making its flames run wild and forcing the charging monsters to return to their stations.
• Su Ye’s turrets, ballistae, and drones attacked the monsters while the furnace’s flames kept them from fighting back.
• Xing Meng repeatedly disrupted the furnace whenever the monsters charged, and the team killed nearly five thousand Flamehorn Race monsters in fifteen minutes.
• After the last monster fell, the gigantic furnace began to tremble violently.

Su Ye uncovered the Furnace Master's secret chamber, retrieved a Firegold Cup that could collect flames, and drew out the Emberfire Furnace Master. He began using the cup to absorb the boss's dark purple flames, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Su Ye had Xing Meng use Cleaner Drones to place four black crystals in wall recesses, opening a hidden passage.
• Su Ye explored the secret chamber, collected its technical documents, and broke a stone pedestal to obtain the Firegold Cup.
• Su Ye returned to the Gale Ranger and ordered Fifteen and Xing Meng to bombard the furnace until it burst open.
• The Emberfire Furnace Master emerged from the furnace, and Su Ye identified it as a tier-three boss tied to his breakthrough quest.
• Su Ye aimed the Firegold Cup at the Emberfire Furnace Master and began drawing its flames inside.

Su Ye defeated the Emberfire Furnace Master by draining his flames, then used the Firegold Cup’s stored power to destroy the boss’s transformed second phase. After earning an SSS-rank clear, Su Ye chose a tier two Workbench and the Emberfire Heart as his rewards.

• Su Ye used the Firegold Cup to absorb the Emberfire Furnace Master’s flames, leaving the boss unable to use his skills or weapon.
• Su Ye and Xing Meng’s forces attacked for nine minutes, emptying the Emberfire Furnace Master’s health bar.
• The dying boss pulled out the Emberfire Heart, which absorbed his body and transformed him into a stronger monster.
• Su Ye threw the near-shattered Firegold Cup at the monster and ordered A Da to retreat to the Cooling Fissure, where the cup burst and engulfed the core area in dark purple flames.
• Su Ye received an SSS-rank instance clear and advanced his tier three monster breakthrough quest to 1/3.
• Su Ye selected the tier two Workbench and Emberfire Heart from the instance rewards.