Chapter Summaries

Qin Yiguan struggled to catch the Far Sail convoy until Jingye Meinan’s hidden upgrades boosted the Shadow to incredible speed and revealed several concealed systems. Qin Yiguan thanked Meinan, who claimed more of his preparations would surprise him in the future.

• Qin Yiguan watched the Far Sail convoy pull out of sight while the Shadow reached its maximum speed.
• Jingye Meinan’s prerecorded projection appeared and announced that he had secretly modified the Shadow.
• The Shadow activated its hidden engines and accelerated to 69% of the speed of light.
• God's Abandoned explained that Meinan had concealed upgrades and played his boastful prerecorded videos, while Qin Yiguan stopped him from playing the rest.
• Qin Yiguan discovered the World Scan, Nuclear Flash Megacannon, High-Precision Flight, and Super Liquid Black Hole systems aboard the Shadow.
• Qin Yiguan messaged Jingye Meinan to thank him, and Meinan promised that more hidden functions would appear later.

Men Luosha led the Far Sail Motorcycle Team into a vast underground vortex to capture E'piao, while Qin Yiguan followed in the Shadow until the passage became too narrow and continued on foot. Deep underground, the team reached a narrow cavern passage and spotted E'piao ahead.

• Men Luosha recognized Qin Yiguan's exceptionally fast Shadow and ordered the team to shake him off in the difficult terrain.
• Men Luosha led the Far Sail Motorcycle Team down the vortex's wall on their motorcycles, while Qin Yiguan followed in the Shadow.
• The passage narrowed to a five-meter opening that the Shadow could not fit through, so Qin Yiguan left the aircraft and proceeded on foot.
• The team dismounted when the underground passage became too narrow for their motorcycles and continued cautiously with weapons ready.
• Men Luosha halted the team behind a boulder, and the riders saw E'piao ahead.

Men Luosha’s team encountered a Starvation Corpse that swiftly overwhelmed them, leaving Tie Liang ready to sacrifice himself so she could escape. Qin Yiguan intervened and killed the monster with a terrifying creature summoned from the darkness, and Men Luosha recognized him as the Demon-like Youth.

• Men Luosha identified the creature eating Source Matter Ore as a Starvation Corpse and estimated it was a below-average B-rank monster.
• The Starvation Corpse fired Hunger Particles at Tie Dong and Tie Xi, then slaughtered most of the riders despite their shields and weapons.
• Tie Liang prepared to detonate his mechanical limbs to give Men Luosha a chance to escape, but Qin Yiguan arrived and mocked his sacrifice plan.
• The Starvation Corpse struck Qin Yiguan, who admitted that his frail body had no strength, while Tie Liang resumed discussing the prosthesis he wanted.
• Qin Yiguan spread darkness around himself and the Starvation Corpse, then emerged beside a ten-meter monster holding the dead Starvation Corpse impaled on its pitchfork.
• Men Luosha recalled the rumors about the mysterious figure who stopped a disaster in the B5 and B6 sectors and recognized Qin Yiguan as the Demon-like Youth.

Qin Yiguan discovered a chain symbol on the Starvation Corpse and found that a tiny Ground Mouth carried the same mark. As Men Luosha offered him the bounty, the Starvation Corpse melted away and disappeared.

• Qin Yiguan examined the dead Starvation Corpse and spotted a chain symbol beneath its skin, but God's Abandoned found no matching logo in the Metaverse.
• Tie Liang helped the injured riders, who reported that small tools and screws had vanished after falling to the ground.
• Qin Yiguan found a Ground Mouth hiding in a rock crevice and shook screws, crystals, and a miniature wrench from its belly pouch.
• Qin Yiguan noticed the same chain symbol on the Ground Mouth, which fled into another crevice.
• Men Luosha thanked Qin Yiguan and offered him the Starvation Corpse's bounty, but the corpse melted into transparent mucus and seeped into the ground.

Qin Yiguan discovered that Electricity Bugs had drained the riders’ motorcycles and confirmed their connection to the Starvation Corpses before waking in reality. Back in the Metaverse, a vast swarm of Starvation Corpses emerged from the cave and threatened the entire world.

• Qin Yiguan identified Electricity Bugs as the creatures that stole power from the riders’ motorcycles and recognized the chain pattern on them.
• Qin Yiguan realized he had slept in the Metaverse for two days and two nights, then returned to his body in Rust City.
• Qin Yiguan saw that many Castoffs had begun sleeping in Nutrient Pods, while Xiao Ning considered the new pod Officer Wang had provided.
• The riders awoke in the desert town to find it burning, with wrecked aircraft and bodies scattered around.
• Men Luosha saw Starvation Corpses filling the desert and warned that the entire Metaverse might be in danger.

Qin Yiguan discovered that the Starvation Corpses came from Zhiliao’s fantasies, but learned that Zhiliao was actually Zhichun’s dead younger brother, recreated by her Logic Completion Fantasy Syndrome. Zhichun revealed that she controlled the Starvation Corpses and confronted Qin Yiguan after he uncovered her secret.

• Qin Yiguan learned from Zhiliao that Starvation Corpses were creatures imagined to explain hunger, and Dr. House identified Zhiliao’s condition as Logic Completion Fantasy Syndrome.
• Qin Yiguan realized Zhiliao could control the Starvation Corpses and urged him to recall them after hearing they had overrun a relay station town and killed many people.
• Zhiliao explained that he had created the Starvation Corpses to make people hungry because his grandfather, Lao De, was dying and had devoted his life to feeding others.
• Qin Yiguan persuaded Zhiliao to stop hurting people, but noticed the same chain marking on the boy that appeared on the manifested creatures.
• Dr. House revealed that the patient with Logic Completion Fantasy Syndrome was Zhichun, and that Elder Chen’s grandson had died years earlier.
• Zhichun admitted she had created Zhiliao and the strange creatures, declared that only she could control the Starvation Corpses, and warned Qin Yiguan for meddling.

Zhichun attacked Qin Yiguan with strange creatures and tried to kill him, but he survived with help from his Higher Self, Victim. As Qin Yiguan grabbed Zhichun, Lao De sang a farewell song and died, leaving Zhichun weeping over him.

• Zhichun revealed that she planned to cause mass starvation so Logic Completion would bring her grandfather back to life, and attacked Qin Yiguan with Dream Skin and Brain Chisel.
• Dream Skin paralyzed Qin Yiguan, and Brain Chisel struck him down before a Gate Angel carried his apparent corpse toward heaven.
• Qin Yiguan broke free of the illusion, destroyed Dream Skin and Brain Chisel, and told Zhichun that Victim was his Higher Self.
• Qin Yiguan seized Zhichun by the throat, but Lao De began singing a mountain song outside and died as his pipe fell from his hands.
• Zhichun dropped her basket of red love beans, recognized that Lao De was gone, and tearfully called out to her grandfather.

After Lao De died, Qin Yiguan persuaded Zhichun to continue her grandfather’s work, and her song made the starved dead turn into water that nourished new shoots. Qin Yiguan later saw Zhichun pledge to feed the world and realized his staged resurrection had given her a way to bring her grandfather back.

• Lao De died, and the Gate Angel carried his body through the Gate of Heaven while Zhichun grieved.
• Qin Yiguan urged Zhichun to keep farming in her grandfather’s memory and argued that the lives she had saved outweighed those lost to the starved dead.
• Zhichun sang in Shennong Garden, and the starved dead became water that soaked into the earth as shoots emerged.
• The Far Sail Motorcycle Team crossed the now-green desert, and Men Luosha suspected Qin Yiguan had acted behind the scenes.
• Qin Yiguan watched Zhichun promise at Lao De’s memorial to grow enough food for everyone and spotted the Divine Farmer Emperor in the crowd.
• The Metaverse Experimental Zone event ended, raising Qin Yiguan’s Fusion Rate to 70%.

Qin Yiguan remained ravenously hungry after the Starvation Corpses vanished and discovered that he craved a mutated mandrill’s unusual muscle rather than ordinary food or Men Luosha. After eating a small piece, he heard a mysterious voice in his mind and flew away, leaving the Far Sail Motorcycle Team bewildered.

• Qin Yiguan mistook his hunger for a craving for Men Luosha when he remembered seeing her ride her motorcycle.
• Men Luosha spotted Qin Yiguan’s Shadow returning and watched him land in front of the Far Sail Motorcycle Team.
• Qin Yiguan lifted Men Luosha from her motorcycle, then opened its storage compartment and focused on the preserved mutated mandrill inside.
• Qin Yiguan tore a peculiar strip of white muscle from the mandrill and ate it while the riders watched in shock.
• Qin Yiguan heard a deep voice in his mind say “Delicious!”, asked Men Luosha if the bite would affect the sale, and flew away in the Shadow.
• Tie Liang puzzled over Qin Yiguan’s behavior, and Men Luosha turned her displeasure on him.

Qin Yiguan learned that Starvation Corpse had been displaced from Zhichun’s mind and had taken refuge in his, offering him power in exchange for food and demanding that he become its slave. When Starvation Corpse saw the powerful figures in Qin Yiguan’s consciousness, it realized he might have twelve Higher Selves, and Qin Yiguan told it that it could only be his dog.

• Qin Yiguan confronted the voice in his mind and recognized it as Starvation Corpse.
• Starvation Corpse explained that Zhichun had created it and that it had been replaced in her mind by Victim.
• Starvation Corpse revealed that it had gathered in Qin Yiguan’s mind through their connection and promised him power if he fed it white meat from mutated creatures.
• Starvation Corpse demanded that Qin Yiguan kneel, call it master, and find food for it.
• Starvation Corpse saw powerful figures in Qin Yiguan’s consciousness and wondered if they were twelve Higher Selves.
• Qin Yiguan declared that Starvation Corpse could only be his dog.

Qin Yiguan traveled deeper into the Experimental Zone while Starvation Corpse rested in his consciousness. Calls from Wulong Baiyan and Clam brought news of the Otherworld Alliance and a new game, leaving Qin Yiguan curious about Metaverse games for the first time.

• Starvation Corpse asked Qin Yiguan to let it sleep, and Qin Yiguan continued flying through the desolate Experimental Zone aboard the Shadow.
• NST Wulong Baiyan complained that the Otherworld Alliance had defeated all seventy-two Underworld gangs and asked Qin Yiguan where Jingye Meinan had gone.
• Qin Yiguan kept Meinan's whereabouts to himself and privately reflected on Wulong Baiyan's troubles with Daxiu.
• Taotie Gala called Qin Yiguan and asked why he would not let him join Hall 157.
• Clam invited Qin Yiguan to play Breath of the Mute and explained how popular games had become independent Metaverse worlds.
• Clam described the living worlds of League of Legends and Genshin Impact, and Qin Yiguan realized he had never played a Metaverse game.

Qin Yiguan discovered a huge restricted building in the Experimental Zone and encountered a black humanoid mecha that attacked the Shadow. Meanwhile, Clam entered the game Breath of the Mute, where an event revealed a Mute Demon overpowering a mecha, leaving Clam dismissing it as beneath his notice.

• Clam urged Qin Yiguan to try Breath of the Mute, boasting that he ranked sixth in combat power and was known as Emperor Wuxing.
• Qin Yiguan detected a massive metal building 400 kilometers away and noticed unmanned probes warning him away from the restricted area.
• A black, three-meter humanoid mecha raced toward the Shadow, leaped into the air, and swung an energy blade at it.
• Taotie Gala put on his game helmet and entered Breath of the Mute as Clam, then climbed into his famous Wuxing mecha.
• Clam viewed an event showing a Mute Demon defeat a mecha in combat and dismissed the A2-level threat as unworthy of his attention.

Qin Yiguan discovered that the guard mechs were remotely controlled and that the barren land held traces of past battles, then fought off an attacking mech. The mech’s destruction revealed another empty cockpit, while its player respawned and alerted other players to the threat.

• Qin Yiguan found that the destroyed mech contained a self-destructing control core instead of a pilot, and he spotted wreckage and old blood across the land.
• Qin Yiguan sent God's Abandoned to hide the Shadow and continued toward the enormous building on foot, watched by surveillance probes.
• More than a hundred mechs converged on Qin Yiguan, and a crab-like mech erupted from underground to confront him.
• Qin Yiguan kicked over the crab mech, tore off its drill claws, and used them to disable it before finding another remote-control core in its cockpit.
• The crab mech’s player respawned in Breath of the Mute, reported the Mute Demon’s attack on Human Base No. ED02, and saw the Thousand-Handed Demon arrive.

Qin Yiguan infiltrated a mecha warehouse and discovered that the players in Breath of the Mute were remotely controlling real mechas while mistaking people for Mute Demons. He suspected the game was being used to make players kill real people, and wondered what the company behind it was trying to achieve.

• Qin Yiguan hid inside the giant mecha as it returned to the warehouse and entered the base unnoticed.
• Qin Yiguan saw the warehouse synchronizing players’ mecha upgrades, paint jobs, and missions with real machines.
• Qin Yiguan recognized a Chinese-style mecha marked “Wuxing” and connected it to Little Clam’s game, Breath of the Mute.
• God's Abandoned translated a pilot’s distorted speech, helping Qin Yiguan realize that the pilots mistook him for a Mute Demon and could not see him as he really was.
• Qin Yiguan concluded that the players were unknowingly killing real people and protecting the warehouse, then recalled the Otherworld Alliance as a possible clue to the game company’s goal.

Taotie Clam accepted an SSS-grade mission to assassinate a Mute Demon designer, while Qin Yiguan discovered the mission was tied to a real-world test site and followed Emperor Wuxing there. The chapter ended as the mecha lunged at Taotie Clam’s father, Taotie Mitian.

• Qin Yiguan watched Emperor Wuxing accept a special-grade assassination mission and prepare to leave its hangar.
• Taotie Clam accepted an SSS-grade mission offering 128 X-SD special-grade modification kits, despite the risk of losing his mecha.
• Taotie Clam briefly saw Qin Yiguan flicker in and out of his base, then launched Emperor Wuxing toward the Mute Demon World.
• Qin Yiguan grabbed Emperor Wuxing as it left the warehouse, rode its unmanned transport aircraft, and arrived at a Chinese military mecha testing center.
• Qin Yiguan recognized the slick-haired man at the test site as Taotie Clam’s father, Taotie Mitian, just as Emperor Wuxing attacked him.

Taotie Mitian rejected his son Taotie Clam as a Divine Mech Six pilot and chose You Long instead, despite Clam’s strong test scores. You Long appeared disciplined but privately revealed that he had sabotaged Clam and looked down on the other pilots.

• Deputy Commander Zhao told Taotie Mitian that Taotie Clam had performed exceptionally in the Divine Mech Six pilot selection.
• Taotie Mitian argued that Clam lacked the ability and resilience needed to pilot Divine Mech Six, despite his strong statistics.
• Taotie Mitian named You Long as the better candidate, citing his exceptional test results.
• You Long saluted Taotie Mitian while privately insulting the other pilots and boasting about his plans to pursue two female pilots.
• You Long revealed that he had tricked Taotie Clam into drinking a nerve-depressing agent, which eliminated him from the test.

Taotie Mitian used the arrival of an assassin mech to test Divine Mech Six, while Taotie Clam fought the Mute Demons in a mission and Qin Yiguan jumped from a transport craft. The test ended with You Long overpowering the Wuxing, as officials arrived to watch.

• A golden assassin mech attacked Taotie Mitian, who blocked its spear with his glasses’ plasma shield and identified it as a junkyard mech.
• Taotie Mitian sent You Long to fetch Divine Mech Six while Taotie Clam charged a bespectacled Mute Demon mechanical designer.
• A dark-green Mute Demon mech caught Clam’s spear, kicked the Wuxing backward, and stood guard over the designer.
• Taotie Mitian ordered You Long to capture the enemy pilot alive, and You Long said one minute would be enough.
• Qin Yiguan jumped from a transport craft 400 meters above the ground, despite realizing he could not fly.
• Divine Mech Six struck the Wuxing into a warehouse, and Taotie Mitian later told arriving officials that it had destroyed the attacker with one punch.

Taotie Clam piloted the battered Wuxing to defeat You Long’s Divine Mech Six by studying its flaws and exploiting its movements. After Clam moved to finish the quest, Qin Yiguan revived, spoke through a cracked language pack, and claimed the Mute Demon was Clam’s father.

• Taotie Clam repeatedly got knocked down by You Long’s Divine Mech Six while observing its habits, weaknesses, and declining performance.
• Taotie Clam dodged the Divine Mech Six’s laser blade, broke its right arm by striking a mechanical flaw, and used the Wuxing’s altered arm to hit its energy reactor.
• Taotie Clam retrieved the golden spear and pierced the disabled Divine Mech Six’s head, impressing Taotie Mitian with his piloting skill.
• Taotie Clam approached a surviving Mute Demon to complete the quest, but another Mute Demon fell to its death and then revived as Qin Yiguan.
• Qin Yiguan told Taotie Clam he could not kill the Mute Demon because it was Clam’s father, prompting Taotie Gala to erupt in anger.

Qin Yiguan tried to stop Taotie Clam from attacking Taotie Mitian, but Clam’s game system convinced him the humans were enemies. Qin Yiguan escaped a fatal strike by using the Boundless One to vanish into a vortex, while news arrived that five assassin mechs were attacking government and military leaders.

• Qin Yiguan told Taotie Clam that he was piloting the Wuxing in reality and was attacking his father, Taotie Mitian, but Clam’s system restored its disguise and made him attack again.
• Qin Yiguan caught the Wuxing’s spear, but Clam continued pressing the attack and swung a blade-tipped kick at him.
• As the world around him flickered between the mech base and a swamp, Qin Yiguan saw the Boundless One and entered its vortex, vanishing before the Wuxing’s blade struck.
• A communications officer told Taotie Mitian that five assassin mechs had appeared and killed three senior officials, and the higher-ups had ordered an interception.

Qin Yiguan and Taotie Clam learned that assassination missions in Breath of the Mute threatened real-world leaders, so they split up to stop them and investigate the game's creators. Meanwhile, Taotie Mitian watched a golden mech defeat a black-winged attacker and realized the battered Wuxing mech belonged to his son.

• Qin Yiguan explained Breath of the Mute to Taotie Clam, who discovered that the top five mechs had received special-grade assassination missions.
• Taotie Clam decided to stop the assassins and revealed that he had five hidden mechs designed to counter the top-ranked pilots, while Qin Yiguan set out to find Breath of the Mute's designer.
• Taotie Mitian watched a black-winged mech destroy Divine Machine Four, then saw a golden mech defeat the attacker with a particle grid and drill.
• Taotie Mitian recognized the golden mech as Wuxing and recalled his son's childhood dream of strengthening the nation through armament.