Chapter Summaries

Ye Lin and his allies fought the Demihuman in the hangar, discovering that its damaged fusion heart forced it to suppress its injuries. The Demihuman targeted Ye Lin after recognizing his star god demon power, and Ye Lin led a desperate counterattack to exploit its weakness.

• The Demihuman nearly killed Ye Lin with its warhammer, but he dodged with Blood Shadow Impact and transformed into his star god demon form.
• The Demihuman overpowered Ye Lin in a clash, but he noticed that its exposed fusion heart was cracked and that it seemed unable to use its full strength.
• He Zheng, Huang Liang, and An Ke attacked together, but the Demihuman blasted He Zheng and An Ke away with its Destruction Field.
• The Demihuman recognized Ye Lin's transformation as a star god demon and charged at him, then dodged Ye Lin's sonic wave rather than risk taking damage.
• Ye Lin concluded that the Demihuman was suppressing serious injuries, urged everyone to attack, and boosted himself with four orc abilities to trade wounds with it.

Ye Lin and the others exposed the Demihuman’s invisibility and nearly defeated it, but the wounded enemy crushed its Energy Core and unleashed a force that devoured Zhang Qi and began restoring its strength. The fight ended with the Demihuman rapidly growing stronger as it absorbed blood and energy throughout the Hangar.

• Ye Lin, He Zheng, and the others battered the Demihuman’s black-light shield until it dropped the shield and vanished.
• The invisible Demihuman repeatedly attacked Ye Lin, exhausting his star energy while An Ke, He Zheng, Lin Yu, and Huang Liang struggled to locate it.
• Zhang Qi deduced that the Demihuman’s Battle Armor refracted light and used an Electronic Jamming Device to disrupt its invisibility.
• He Zheng restrained the revealed Demihuman, An Ke immobilized it, and Ye Lin’s Blood Shadow Splitting attack cracked its Energy Core and brought it near death.
• The Demihuman crushed its Energy Core, triggering a devouring force that disintegrated Zhang Qi and drew energy from the Hangar as the Demihuman’s strength rapidly returned.

Ye Lin drew the recovering Demihuman away while An Ke and the others tried to retrieve Zhang Qi’s Identification Module, which the Demihuman seized. After regaining intermediate third-tier strength, the Demihuman followed Ye Lin to the top level, equipped the module, and transformed its hammer into a cannon.

• Ye Lin realized the laser cannons were the only weapons aboard the Starship that could threaten the Demihuman and flew away to lure it toward them.
• An Ke and the others headed for the Energy Area, but An Ke turned back to retrieve Zhang Qi’s Identification Module after realizing the Demihuman could use it to track them.
• The Demihuman struck at An Ke and seized the Identification Module with electromagnetic force, forcing He Zheng to drag her away.
• The Demihuman recovered intermediate third-tier strength, broke through the Starship’s upper levels, and pursued Ye Lin while absorbing energy as it moved.
• The Demihuman put on the Identification Module, confirmed the laser weapons had not locked onto it, and transformed its metal war hammer into a mechanical cannon.

Ye Lin endured the Demihuman’s relentless bombardment while waiting for his allies to get into position. He used the Starship’s laser cannons against the Demihuman by crushing his own Identity Recognition Device, then escaped as the cannons fired.

• The Demihuman siphoned power from the Starship and bombarded Ye Lin, damaging the vessel as Ye Lin repeatedly transformed and fled.
• The Demihuman caught up with Ye Lin and blasted him, leaving him badly injured and nearly out of Star Energy.
• Ye Lin heard from his Wristwatch that his allies were in position and charged toward the Demihuman.
• Ye Lin crushed his Identity Recognition Device, making himself a target for the Starship’s laser cannons and realizing the Demihuman had been fooled.
• Ye Lin unleashed Hellfire as An Ke cast Ice Soul Hell and He Zheng threw his Battle Axe at the Demihuman.
• All twenty-seven laser cannons fired at them, and Ye Lin used Blood Shadow Impact to escape into the sky.

After the Demihuman's death triggered a catastrophic explosion that destroyed the Starship, Ye Lin's companions used the creature's remaining Energy Crystal to save him. Ye Lin learned they had defeated the Demihuman and discovered that his own reward included a Grade A rating and the Elite title, which granted new system privileges.

• The Demihuman's death unleashed a chain of explosions that broke apart the Starship and sent it crashing to the ground.
• He Zheng and the others found the Energy Crystal left by the Demihuman and placed it on Ye Lin, whose body began devouring it as he lay gravely wounded.
• Ye Lin regained consciousness, learned that the Demihuman was dead, and heard that the others had each received 100 points and a Grade B rating.
• Ye Lin checked his System Wristwatch and found that he had earned 100 points, a Grade A rating, and the Elite title with level 1 system privileges.

After defeating the Demihuman, Ye Lin’s team learned the value of their rewards and hurried to join Han Yuer at the Control Core before the Starshatterer Alliance arrived. As the group discussed their return, Ye Lin stopped and stared at the moon.

• He Zheng questioned the modest rewards, and An Ke explained their total value and the benefits of Ye Lin’s new title.
• Ye Lin asked about Han Yuer, who reported that her team had bypassed the Control Core’s protection and had one verification procedure left.
• Ye Lin led everyone toward the core control room, relieved that they might leave before the Starshatterer Alliance entered.
• An Ke warned He Zheng that the Demihuman would have been overwhelming at full strength, and Ye Lin suggested it had targeted him because it knew about his equipment and teleportation.
• The group looked at the moon through the opening above the ruins, and Ye Lin suddenly stopped and stared at it.

Ye Lin realized that the moon meant the world they had explored was fake and that Lia’s goal of freeing the controlled people could unleash a catastrophe. He rushed to stop her from reaching the Control Core, but Lia attacked Han Yuer as red eyes appeared throughout the darkness.

• Ye Lin and Huang Liang realized they could see the moon even though the Sun was supposedly blocked, and Ye Lin concluded that their assumptions about the world were wrong.
• Ye Lin recognized that the Starship was meant to help them fight their pursuers, not solve the examination, and he ordered Han Yuer to kill Lia before the Rebels reached the Control Core.
• Ye Lin explained that Lia had told the truth from her own perspective and wanted to free the controlled people and restore sunlight, even if those people were machines.
• Han Yuer heard Ye Lin’s warning as Lia rose and lunged at her, forcing her hand toward the Control Core.
• Scarlet eyes lit up across the Starship and beyond the valley.

Han Yuer and her companions fought to keep the Rebels from taking the Control Core after Lia triggered a scenario-change warning. Chen Qing stayed behind to delay the attackers while Han Yuer and Aroro retreated, hoping to hold out until Ye Lin arrived.

• Lia touched the Control Core, and the system verified Han Yuer’s identity, awarded her 40 points, and warned that the scenario would change if anyone remained in contact with the core for more than 30 seconds.
• Han Yuer shot Lia’s hand, but Lia attacked her; Chen Qing blasted Lia with a large-caliber bullet, and Aroro pulled him clear of an electromagnetic cannon blast that destroyed his right leg.
• Han Yuer and Aroro discovered cloaked Rebels advancing with electromagnetic cannons, while Chen Qing stayed behind to provide covering fire.
• Lia tackled Han Yuer and reached for the Control Core, but Aroro seized Han Yuer’s dropped pistol and shot Lia in the head.
• Chen Qing used a grenade to collapse the corridor, then urged Han Yuer to escape; Aroro instead led her deeper into the Control Core area to wait for Ye Lin.
• Chen Qing continued firing at the pursuing Rebels as an explosion swallowed the light from his muzzle flashes.

Han Yuer sacrificed herself so Aroro could escape with the Identification Module, but Ye Lin and his allies found her dead. As Rebels surrounded them, Huang Liang deduced that the clues to Transcendence lay at the South Pole, while the Starshatterer Alliance was due to enter the examination in 24 hours.

• Han Yuer sent Aroro into a ventilation duct with the Identification Module, then drew the Rebels away and died fighting them.
• Ye Lin arrived and ordered An Ke to save Han Yuer, but An Ke and He Zheng found her charred corpse surrounded by Rebels.
• Ye Lin and the others escaped the Starship wreckage as a vast Rebel force attacked, including tanks, mechs, and supernatural beings.
• The system warned Ye Lin to leave the examination and announced that the Starshatterer Alliance would enter in 24 hours.
• Huang Liang theorized that the world was an artificial setting and that humanity had hidden from the Sun while the Dyson Sphere was built.
• Huang Liang urged the group to head south toward the South Pole, which he believed held the key to Transcendence.

Ye Lin and the others realized the battlefield might be a small enclosure near the South Pole, and they fled in a cargo spaceship while Ye Lin drew the Rebels away. Ye Lin rejoined them, but warned that something was wrong with the Rebels as they raced to escape.

• Huang Liang proposed that the real humans were hiding near the South Pole, and Ye Lin reasoned that the battlefield might be small enough to escape in any direction.
• An Ke's compass needle pointed downward, convincing the group they were near the South Pole.
• Ye Lin stayed behind to draw the Rebels away while An Ke and He Zheng searched for a working spaceship.
• The group launched a damaged cargo spaceship, and Ye Lin caught up with it after a fireball and sonic boom erupted behind them.
• Ye Lin climbed aboard and urged them to speed up, warning that something was wrong with the Rebels.

After escaping the Rebels with the Control Core, Ye Lin and the others discussed the strange presence among their pursuers and the Rebels’ possible connection to a hidden examination question. Huang Liang blamed himself for the deaths they could not prevent, while He Zheng wondered whether their own fate was already set.

• Ye Lin told He Zheng, An Ke, and the others that an unseen presence among the Rebels had rapidly drained his life force, though he doubted it was a ghost.
• An Ke theorized that the Rebels were part of a hidden question and that the Echo Demon might have been trying to trigger Star God Cataclysm; Ye Lin agreed and suspected their plan involved a star god demon.
• He Zheng praised Huang Liang for realizing they should head to the South Pole, and Huang Liang said he had only worked it out late.
• Huang Liang blamed himself for failing to save Han Yuer, Chen Qing, and others, leaving the group silent.
• He Zheng remembered the dead and wondered whether, despite their efforts, he and the others were bound to a fated path.

After the team escaped the battle, An Ke and the others reviewed their mistakes and the weaknesses that had nearly gotten them killed. They still did not know what the Final Producer wanted or what transcendence meant, and An Ke feared that the increasingly difficult exams might soon overwhelm them.

• An Ke told Huang Liang not to blame himself for Han Yuer and the others’ deaths, explaining that their limited abilities left them little chance of survival.
• He Zheng realized An Ke had steered the team away from relying on guns because technological weapons could be easily countered, while Ye Lin’s dual bloodline helped cover their weaknesses.
• An Ke and Ye Lin identified clues they had missed in Lia’s account, including its jumbled timeline and the Safe Zones’ lack of customers.
• He Zheng wondered what the Final Producer wanted, and Ye Lin considered whether the exam worlds were virtual, parallel Earths, or places whose disasters might one day reach their own reality.
• The team discussed their battle coordination and estimated that escaping the artificial region by spaceship would take four to six hours.
• An Ke watched the exhausted Ye Lin and worried that the exams were becoming too difficult for the team to survive.

Ye Lin fused Mechanical Core with Star God Demon, creating a more powerful, mobile form, then chose to retain it despite the steep cost. With An Ke, He Zheng, and Huang Liang transferring points to him, he secured the ability and prepared to deal with threats ahead.

• Ye Lin fused Mechanical Core with Star God Demon, gaining energy conversion, Star Flash, and Swallow Star.
• Ye Lin decided to retain Star God Demon (Modified), but the system quoted a cost of 580 points after his Elite discount.
• Ye Lin weighed the cost against the limited uses remaining and the points he needed for survival after the examination.
• An Ke, He Zheng, and Huang Liang offered Ye Lin their points, and the system limited He Zheng's transfer to 59 points.
• Ye Lin accepted the transferred points and retained Star God Demon, then resolved to deal with certain problems ahead of time.

Ye Lin agreed to stop at the abandoned building and take Aroro’s companions aboard, but he refused to give Aroro the promised Energy Crystals. Aroro’s explanation of their escape route led Ye Lin to realize why Hera had died.

• Aroro asked Ye Lin to stop the plane so he could pick up his kin from the abandoned building below.
• He Zheng and Huang Liang supported bringing the Goblins along, and Ye Lin agreed to take them.
• Ye Lin asked Aroro why his group had fled north to south, and Aroro explained they had avoided Safe Zones and the teams ambushing nearby.
• Ye Lin offered to let Aroro’s kin touch the Control Core for points and said he could no longer give Aroro the promised Energy Crystals.
• Ye Lin inferred that the direction with the fewest Safe Zones explained Hera’s death.

Ye Lin confronted Lin Yu as the Patroller, and Lin Yu revealed that the Patroller possessed him while its actual body was elsewhere. Ye Lin questioned why it was following them and whether it came from a previous round, leaving the group to confront the possibility that the Patroller knew about the Sacrificial Ritual and dagger from before.

• Aroro reunited with the goblins, and Ye Lin told them to board the spaceship while explaining that survival was worth celebrating.
• Ye Lin drew his gun on Lin Yu and accused him of being the Patroller, while He Zheng, Huang Liang, and An Ke prepared to attack.
• Lin Yu denied being a monster and cited his Wristwatch identity announcement, but Ye Lin argued that the Patroller could possess a human and fired at him.
• Lin Yu's third-tier Mental Shock erupted, exposing the Patroller's possession of him; Ye Lin inferred that its actual body was elsewhere.
• Ye Lin explained that Lin Yu's suspicious Sacrificial Ritual story renewed his suspicions, then asked whether the Patroller had killed Hera, sought the Sacrificial Dagger, or come from a previous round.
• He Zheng, An Ke, and Huang Liang realized the Patroller knew about the Sacrificial Ritual and the dagger Ye Lin had obtained in the previous round.

Lin Yu confronted Ye Lin’s group over the Sacrificial Dagger, but Ye Lin deduced that the Patroller was constrained by the Examination and had motives separate from the people seeking the dagger. Lin Yu admitted he was observing something in the world and warned that Ye Lin’s group faced serious trouble, leaving Ye Lin asking what danger awaited them.

• He Zheng demanded Lin Yu identify himself, and Lin Yu said he had never entered the Mysterious and Subtle and was seeking the Sacrificial Dagger.
• Ye Lin inferred that later teams had entered the Examination and connected the dagger to a broader plan involving the Immortal, the Immortal Gate, and the Mysterious and Subtle’s true body.
• Lin Yu revealed his advanced third-tier aura and demanded the dagger and the book, but Ye Lin ordered his companions not to attack.
• Ye Lin reasoned that Lin Yu had accepted a mission but was not part of the group behind the plan, and that restrictions and the Eternal Page kept him from attacking or taking the book.
• Lin Yu said he was observing, did not care about obtaining the dagger, and would not trade with dead men because Ye Lin’s group had too much trouble hanging over them.
• Ye Lin asked whether Lin Yu meant they would die in the Examination or face hunters afterward because of the dagger.

Ye Lin learned that the Starshatterer Team was coming after him because the Demihumans had reported his Devour ability, and Patroller Lin Yu warned him to flee rather than fight. Aboard the cargo spaceship, Ye Lin confirmed the stone Lin Yu gave him could block tracking in the Simulation Space, but the group still faced an uncertain threat as Huang Liang began to ask him something.

• Lin Yu told Ye Lin that the Demihumans had exposed his ability and warned that the Starshatterer Team would likely kill him, then offered advice in exchange for learning how Ye Lin had identified him.
• Ye Lin revealed that Lin Yu had given himself away by using a gun with no bullets, and Lin Yu handed him a stone that could briefly block tracking before disappearing.
• Lin Yu revealed that he was human and said the Patrollers might contact Ye Lin if he survived and returned.
• Aboard the cargo spaceship, Ye Lin confirmed that crushing the stone prevented target-locking in the Simulation Space, though he was unsure how well it would work against the Starshatterer Team.
• Ye Lin reflected on the Demihumans' report of his ability and concluded that the group needed to survive the round and escape; Huang Liang then began asking him a question.

Ye Lin explained that Hera had been killed by other teams after trying to lead everyone out of the Examination, not by the Patroller. The Spaceship then crossed a barrier and revealed a frozen world beneath a sky packed with countless galaxies.

• Ye Lin said Hera's last words warned them not to search the Safe Zone and to flee rather than confront the pursuer.
• Ye Lin concluded that stronger teams had killed Hera and her teammates because her plan to leave threatened their gains from the Team Battle.
• An Ke realized Hera's vague final warning was more likely to be believed than a direct claim that the Safe Zone was fake.
• He Zheng began asking how other teams had learned Ye Lin's War Zone, but a violent tremor interrupted him.
• Ye Lin and the others saw a frozen world filled with ice-covered buildings and frozen human figures beneath an immense, densely packed field of stars.

Ye Lin and the others left the protected zone and their spaceship began flying toward a suspected human base as their [Transcendence] progress reached 39%. As they worried about the frozen people and wondered whether Zhang Tie might still be alive, the spaceship’s shadow darkened beneath the strange star-filled sky.

• The System announced that [Transcendence] progress had reached 39% and that further information could let the group leave the examination.
• The spaceship changed course on its own toward a suspected destination, and Ye Lin spotted two signals on the radar while warning that something seemed wrong below.
• Ye Lin, He Zheng, Huang Liang, and An Ke observed frozen people and strange black patterns on the ground, and An Ke guessed that something had driven the people from their homes.
• He Zheng asked whether Zhang Tie might still be alive, and Ye Lin hid his doubts by agreeing that it was possible.
• He Zheng celebrated the prospect of Zhang Tie returning while Aroro watched the stars and the spaceship’s shadow grew darker on the ground.

Ye Lin and his companions reached the IJ Group entrance but encountered phantoms that drained energy, froze goblins, and grew stronger when attacked. As the monsters pursued them, Ye Lin realized they fed on energy and ordered everyone to stop using abilities and fall freely.

• He Zheng woke Ye Lin as the spaceship approached the IJ Group door, and Ye Lin noticed the Starshatterer squad still had nineteen hours before entering.
• The spaceship flew into transparent phantoms that drained its power, causing it to crash; Ye Lin transformed, destroyed the ship, and fled with Aroro while He Zheng rescued the other goblins.
• Ye Lin and Huang Liang's attacks made the phantoms more solid, while a paper-thin black monster swallowed the explosion and flattened Huang Liang's arm, forcing Ye Lin to sever it.
• The phantoms grew faster and darker as they pursued the group, and An Ke warned Ye Lin that they were getting stronger.
• Ye Lin deduced that the creatures devoured energy, cut his own wrist to spray blood, and ordered everyone to free-fall without using abilities.