Recaps

Xia Xu visited Zhou Xiaodong at Huichuang High-Tech to acquire counter-drone equipment and ended up agreeing to buy the company. Pan Long watched Xia Xu’s spending and reconsidered what it meant to have a superpower.

• Xia Xu asked Zhou Xiaodong to sell him a Drone Jamming Gun, and Zhou agreed to provide a prototype for its production cost.
• Zhou explained the jamming gun’s capabilities and showed Xia Xu and Pan Long the company’s research workshop.
• Xia Xu bought the spy drone and Justice Guard, along with other counter-drone products Zhou presented.
• Zhou proposed that Xia Xu acquire Huichuang High-Tech, and Xia Xu agreed on the condition of full ownership and Zhou staying to work for him.
• Pan Long watched Xia Xu buy the company and concluded that money might be the real superpower.

Xia Xu acquired Huichuang High-Tech for eight million and secured Zhou Xiaodong’s research team and drone-jamming technology. Back at the Warehouse Base, he questioned Pan Long about investigating Dong Changhe’s shooting after Pan Long failed to recognize Duan Zhiyi.

• Xia Xu decided Huichuang High-Tech’s technical team and Zhou Xiaodong’s talents made the company worth acquiring.
• Xia Xu had Star Sea Venture Capital finalize the full acquisition of Huichuang High-Tech for eight million.
• Zhou Xiaodong examined the recovered Armed Drones and found they lacked anti-jamming technology, confirming his team’s Drone Jamming Gun could disrupt them for now.
• Xia Xu showed Pan Long Duan Zhiyi’s photograph, but Pan Long did not recognize him.
• Xia Xu asked Pan Long why he wanted to investigate Dong Changhe’s shooting and pressed him to tell the truth.

Pan Long told Xia Xu that his missing parents had left behind a photo of his father with Dong Changhe, and Xia Xu brought him and the briefcase to the Consulting Company. Xia Xu assigned his team to find Duan Zhiyi before the drone attacker could harm more people.

• Pan Long explained that he had found a briefcase containing a photo of his father and Dong Changhe, and Xia Xu examined it but found no further clues.
• Xia Xu took Pan Long and the briefcase to the Consulting Company, where He Qing, Yang Bowen, Meng Bochao, and Tang Youxin were waiting.
• Xia Xu teased Tang Youxin about her work attitude and reassured her that she was a full employee by telling her she could earn a bonus.
• Xia Xu told the team that Duan Zhiyi's armed drones had killed several police officers and assigned them to locate him quickly.
• Xia Xu resolved to prevent further casualties, while considering that the Special Department might already have joined the investigation.

Xia Xu’s team examined Pan Long’s parents’ briefcase and found that its only clue, a photo of Pan Long’s father with Dong Changhe, had appeared on an old blog. The blog suggested Pan Long’s father was connected to the Yunfan Group and was trying to cure a woman, possibly Pan Long’s mother, leaving Pan Long uncertain about her health.

• Xia Xu introduced Pan Long to the team, and the members exchanged introductions before turning to the briefcase.
• Yang Bowen, He Qing, and the others found nothing in the briefcase besides a photo of Dong Changhe and Pan Long’s father.
• Meng Bochao reverse-searched the photo and found it on an old blog under the name Sailing Far Away.
• The blog’s final post, published ten years earlier, showed the photo and said the company was getting on track, providing stable research funding, and that the writer would cure her.
• Xia Xu suggested Pan Long’s father might have been a Yunfan Group founder and asked whether the woman he planned to cure was Pan Long’s mother; Pan Long could not recall her being ill.

Xia Xu and his companions discovered that Pan Long’s father’s blog photograph contained a hidden message, and Xia Xu deduced that the original digital file on an old camera could provide the key to decoding it. Pan Long recalled that his family still had the camera and prepared to retrieve it, while Meng Bochao and He Qing faced losing their month’s pay over a bet.

• Meng Bochao found signs of LSB steganography in the blog photograph but could not identify which pixel changes encoded the message.
• Xia Xu suggested that Pan Long’s father must have left a way to decode the image specifically for its intended recipient.
• Xia Xu reasoned that the original digital photograph would be on the camera used to take it and that the camera or a backup was likely kept by Pan Long’s family.
• Pan Long remembered an old digital camera gathering dust in a cupboard at home, and Meng Bochao urged him to retrieve it.
• Xia Xu reminded Meng Bochao and He Qing that they had bet their month’s base pay against his success, and Tang Youxin refused to plead for them.

Xia Xu and the others decoded a long letter Pan Long’s father, Pan Yuanhang, had hidden in a group photo, revealing the history behind the development of brain-control technology and Yunfan Group. The letter left them with a clearer picture of Duan Zhiyi’s motives for shooting Dong Changhe.

• Meng Bochao and the others compared the original group photo with the blog image, decoded the hidden text, and found Pan Yuanhang’s letter to his son.
• Pan Long read his father’s teasing message, and Xia Xu reassured him that it showed how thoughtful his father had been.
• The letter explained that Pan Yuanhang and Duan Zhiyi had developed brain-control technology to give Pan Long’s mother a way to live after her mysterious hereditary illness destroyed her body.
• The letter described how Dong Changhe grew resentful of the company funds spent on the research and, before Yunfan Group’s public listing, diluted Pan Yuanhang’s and Duan Zhiyi’s shares and pushed them out of management.
• Xia Xu suspected that Duan Zhiyi had stayed with the project for years out of devotion to Pan Long’s mother, and that the project’s cancellation had helped drive him to shoot Dong Changhe.

Xia Xu deduced from the altered photo and letter that Pan Yuanhang was probably alive but unable to contact his family freely. He took Pan Long to the address in the letter, where they found an overgrown wasteland at the edge of Square Market.

• Xia Xu explained that the timing of the blog post showed Pan Yuanhang had added the group photo and hidden letter later, suggesting he had survived until then.
• Xia Xu concluded that Pan Yuanhang was likely still alive but under restricted circumstances, while Pan Long hoped the letter's address would lead to his father.
• Xia Xu set out with Pan Long, He Qing, and A Tuo, bringing weapons and equipment in case they encountered danger.
• The group drove to Square Market and followed the address to a slope leading down to an overgrown wasteland with abandoned buildings.

Xia Xu, Pan Long, and He Qing found the sealed entrance to Pan Yuanhang’s hidden passage and learned that children had explored it before. When Pan Long entered the red house at the tunnel’s end, a device recognized him and opened a concealed stairway to a lit basement.

• A boy told Xia Xu, Pan Long, and He Qing that the tunnel had once been open, had been explored by children, and led to an abandoned red house.
• Xia Xu broke through the bricked-up entrance, and He Qing led the group and their dog through the empty underground rooms.
• The group followed the tunnel to the red house, where a synthesized voice announced that verification had succeeded and welcomed Pan Long back.
• A concealed stairway opened in the house’s floor, and lights came on as the group cautiously descended.

Xia Xu and Pan Long searched Pan Yuanhang’s underground workshop for clues about brain-control technology, and Xia Xu discovered homemade smart glasses that appeared connected to another creature’s vision. The glasses revealed a mechanical centipede in the laboratory, leaving Xia Xu startled by how familiar it looked.

• Xia Xu and Pan Long entered the dusty underground workshop, where Xia Xu asked Pan Long to check the computer while he searched the room.
• Xia Xu found homemade smart glasses in a cabinet and suspected they were related to Pan Yuanhang’s brain-control research.
• Xia Xu powered on the glasses, opened an app marked with a brain icon, and saw a dark view that seemed to belong to something else.
• He Qing startled at a mechanical centipede crawling from a cabinet and called for Xia Xu’s help.
• Xia Xu saw the centipede through his own eyes and the glasses’ display, then realized the machine looked familiar.

Xia Xu found a crude mechanical centipede and reasoned that its design and muscle-stimulation technology might connect to Pan Yuanhang’s research into saving Pan Long’s mother. He suspected Andra Group had acquired or exploited that research, leaving Pan Long eager to know whether his father had made the device.

• Xia Xu compared the mechanical centipede to the Centipede Spine on his back and saw similarities in their construction and purpose.
• Xia Xu reasoned that Pan Yuanhang might have developed neural-sensing and muscle-stimulation technology while trying to save Pan Long’s mother.
• Xia Xu suspected Pan Yuanhang’s work had attracted Andra Group and might have contributed to the Centipede Spine.
• Pan Long asked whether his father had made the device, and Xia Xu said its creator was certainly connected to him.

Xia Xu recruited Pan Long to Nine Suns Consulting and explained that the brain-control technology and Smart Glasses in the facility were assets left by Pan Long’s father. Pan Long understood that Xia Xu wanted to buy the technology, leaving them to discuss the deal.

• Xia Xu warned Pan Long that his father might be held by a wealthy transnational organization with werewolves and vampires.
• Xia Xu offered Pan Long a job at Nine Suns Consulting, and He Qing persuaded him that the company safeguarded world security and paid well.
• Pan Long accepted Xia Xu’s offer and joined Nine Suns Consulting.
• Xia Xu told Pan Long that a job alone would not make him rich and proposed using his inherited assets to make money.
• Xia Xu explained the brain-control technology and Smart Glasses to Pan Long and said he wanted to buy the technology his father developed.

Xia Xu negotiated with Pan Long to buy Pan Yuanhang’s brain-control technology and found the research files on the basement computer. The deal was set at five million if detailed documentation existed, and the files revealed research on brain control, the Mechanical Centipede, and muscle stimulation.

• Xia Xu offered Pan Long five hundred thousand for samples or five million for detailed technical documentation, and Pan Long agreed to the deal.
• Xia Xu explained the technology’s commercial challenges and why he valued it, while Pan Long accepted his offer.
• He Qing joked about Pan Long inheriting money, and Xia Xu collected the smart glasses and Mechanical Centipede before searching the computer.
• Xia Xu found only academic papers in the computer’s “Study materials” folder, then called Meng Bochao to bypass the password on Pan Long’s account.
• Xia Xu opened the “Research materials” folder and found extensive records about brain-control technology and the Mechanical Centipede, plus notes on muscle stimulation technology.

After acquiring Pan Yuanhang’s brain-control technology, smart glasses, and Mechanical Centipede, Xia Xu studied how the devices worked and realized mechanical engineering was more accessible to him than biochemical research. He left the chapter considering whether he could shift from being a Summoner to a Mechanic and build powerful machines with money and help from talented collaborators.

• Xia Xu returned to the company after looting Pan Yuanhang’s underground chamber and wondered whether Pan Yuanhang’s falling-out with Duan Zhiyi had involved Duan’s feelings for Pan’s wife.
• Xia Xu examined the brain-control documents and learned that the system relied on a fingernail-sized Brainwave Sensing Chip and a large Brainwave Analysis Database with programming algorithms.
• Xia Xu read the Mechanical Centipede documents and found that its design combined existing hardware with a brain-control system housed in the smart glasses.
• Xia Xu concluded that mechanical products were easier to develop than biochemical technologies because he could assemble existing components and outsource specialized work.
• Xia Xu imagined building enlarged, weaponized machines and wondered whether he could switch classes from Summoner to Mechanic.

Xia Xu walked Tang Youxin home after studying late at the company, encouraged her programming ambitions, and promised to make her his Exclusive Chief Programmer. Uncle Luo called just as Xia Xu expected the Special Department to be joining the search for Duan Zhiyi.

• Xia Xu and Tang Youxin left the company late and walked home together, teasing each other as they went.
• Tang Youxin said she wanted to become useful quickly, and Xia Xu asked how her programming was progressing.
• Xia Xu offered Tang Youxin responsibility for the software systems if he built robots and named her his future Exclusive Chief Programmer.
• Xia Xu resolved that finding Duan Zhiyi remained the priority, since the villain's attacks could continue and endanger more people.
• Uncle Luo called Xia Xu, leading him to suspect that the Special Department had already become involved in the search for Duan Zhiyi.

Xia Xu recruited Tang Youxin and Meng Bochao to help the Special Department track down Duan Zhiyi, who used armed drones to kill people remotely. The group arrived at the department’s Star City office, where Tang Youxin nervously followed Xia Xu inside.

• Luo Hongyun called Xia Xu about tracking Duan Zhiyi through the armed drones’ communications network, and Xia Xu said they could try hacking them while pursuing other leads.
• Xia Xu considered the difficulties of locating Duan Zhiyi through encrypted drone signals and planned to use Zhou Xiaodong and the others’ Spy Drone to attempt access.
• Xia Xu told Tang Youxin that finding Duan Zhiyi was her mission and encouraged her by mentioning the achievement and possible reward.
• Tang Youxin agreed to help find Duan Zhiyi after hearing she might earn several hundred thousand.
• The next morning, Xia Xu brought Tang Youxin and Meng Bochao to the Special Department’s office building in Star City, where Tang Youxin nervously clung to his clothes.

Xia Xu brought Tang Youxin and Meng Bochao to the Special Department’s Star City base to help investigate Duan Zhiyi, where the Logistics Team questioned their qualifications. The chapter ended with Xia Xu realizing that Uncle Luo had risked his authority to bring them in.

• Zhang Qun welcomed Xia Xu and explained that the Special Operations Team was resting while the case remained in logistics processing.
• Xia Xu learned that Yao Fu had joined the Special Department as non-staff personnel so he could continue his studies.
• Meng Bochao asked Tang Youxin about Xia Xu’s unusual standing at the Special Department, while she felt pleased to be included in his work.
• Deputy Team Leader Liu questioned whether Xia Xu’s young companions were qualified experts for a high-tech crime investigation.
• Xia Xu reassured the anxious Tang Youxin, then learned from Zhang Qun that the Special Operations Team had overstepped its authority by bringing them in.
• Xia Xu realized Uncle Luo had arranged the invitation because of his request and had put his own authority at risk.

Xia Xu met Luo Hongyun to discuss tracking Duan Zhiyi and revealed that he had acquired a drone research company. He also asked about buying the sealed Xinyuan Building, and Luo Hongyun explained that the Special Department now controlled it and hinted that a sale might still be possible.

• Luo Hongyun asked Xia Xu how he planned to deal with Duan Zhiyi, and Xia Xu proposed hacking the next drone attack to trace its connection.
• Xia Xu said his company had the equipment they needed and revealed that he had bought Huichuang High-Tech the day before.
• Xia Xu asked whether the authorities planned to sell or auction the Xinyuan Building, which he wanted for Xinghai Pharmaceuticals.
• Luo Hongyun explained that the building had been cordoned off as a high-risk site and was now an asset of the Nanhu Province Special Department.
• Luo Hongyun said a sale was not entirely impossible because the Special Department had not yet established provincial or municipal research institutions.

Xia Xu proposed trading special combat assets for a chance to acquire Xinyuan Building, while Luo Hongyun and Zhang Qun explained why selling it would be difficult. Before Xia Xu could reveal his plan, the culprit behind the shooting killed again, and the team rushed to respond.

• Xia Xu asked whether he could obtain Xinyuan Building, and Zhang Qun explained that the Special Department would face serious risks and criticism if it sold the high-risk property.
• Xia Xu hinted that he could offer benefits rather than money and promised Luo Hongyun an enormous achievement, planning to supply the Special Department with Werewolf Enhancement Serum.
• A clerk reported that the shooting culprit had used an Armed Drone to kill again and revealed that Dong Changhe had an unprotected son with a mistress.
• Luo Hongyun angrily assembled the Special Operations Team and headed to the scene.
• Xia Xu told Meng Bochao and Tang Youxin to follow, warning them to stay close to him and A Tuo.

Xia Xu and the Special Operations Team arrived too late to save Dong Changhe’s mistress and illegitimate son, then came under attack from Duan Zhiyi’s sniper drones. Xia Xu used Huichuang High-Tech’s Drone Jamming Gun to silence the attackers, leaving the authorities to regroup and consider his equipment.

• Xia Xu called Zhou Xiaodong to bring equipment as he hurried with the Special Operations Team to the crime scene.
• Luo Hongyun and the team found Dong Changhe’s mistress and illegitimate son dead, and Deputy Team Leader Liu accepted responsibility for the Logistics Department’s failure to protect them.
• A sniper drone attacked Luo Hongyun, who dodged the shot and directed Wu Tao to shoot down the drone.
• Duan Zhiyi’s other drones opened fire, pinning down the Special Operations Team while Xia Xu pushed Meng Bochao and Tang Youxin behind cover.
• Xia Xu used the Drone Jamming Gun to silence the surrounding sniper rifles, then recommended that the Logistics Department buy a batch.

After Duan Zhiyi threatened Xia Xu and Little White Flower through a sniper drone, Xia Xu decided to hunt him down rather than wait for another attack. Just as Xia Xu resolved to begin the hunt, someone said they had found Duan Zhiyi.

• Xia Xu and the Special Operations Team recovered the disabled sniper drones, and Duan Zhiyi used one to threaten Xia Xu and Little White Flower before cutting the connection.
• Meng Bochao failed to hack the drones before Duan Zhiyi severed their network, while Deputy Team Leader Liu said the drones’ components might help trace Duan Zhiyi through Spot Industrial.
• Xia Xu rejected Deputy Team Leader Liu’s suggestion that he leave the investigation, deciding Duan Zhiyi remained a threat to him and his companions.
• Xia Xu resolved to use the plot of "The Thrower" and the Yunfan Group to force Duan Zhiyi into the open.
• Someone timidly announced that they thought they had found Duan Zhiyi.

After Tang Youxin tracked down Duan Zhiyi, Xia Xu learned that she had hacked through the underground hacking scene and accessed America’s GPS Satellite System. The Special Department realized her feat could expose the drones’ flight paths, though its scale was far beyond what the investigation required.

• Tang Youxin told Xia Xu and the Special Department team that she had found Duan Zhiyi, then privately asked Xia Xu whether her hacking was legal.
• Meng Bochao inspected Tang Youxin’s laptop and discovered that she had taken over a hacker organization’s zombie computers and gathered numerous 0-day vulnerabilities.
• Meng Bochao explained that Tang Youxin had used vulnerabilities from a mysterious organization to hack America’s GPS Satellite System.
• Deputy Team Leader Liu reacted in shock as the team understood that GPS satellite data could reveal the drones’ routes and lead them to Duan Zhiyi.

After Tang Youxin located Duan Zhiyi by tracing his drones, Xia Xu and the Special Operations Team found his hidden base beneath a bridge. The team stormed the hideout and fought Duan Zhiyi's armed drones.

• Tang Youxin used drone navigation data to identify Duan Zhiyi's likely hiding place, and Xia Xu praised her and promised her a bonus.
• Luo Hongyun ordered everyone to keep the day's events classified, while Deputy Team Leader Liu nominated Tang Youxin for the Special Talent Protection Plan.
• Xia Xu sent Tang Youxin and Meng Bochao back and joined the Special Operations Team to capture Duan Zhiyi.
• Luo Hongyun and ten Special Operations Team members entered a concealed sewer chamber beneath a bridge and found Duan Zhiyi inside.
• Duan Zhiyi launched his armed drones, and the Special Operations Team advanced under cover and began destroying them.

The Special Operations Team captured Duan Zhiyi after Xia Xu explained how close-range drone control had strengthened his defenses. Xia Xu discovered Duan Zhiyi had implanted an unfinished brain-control chip and crushed his conviction by revealing that Pan Yuanhang, the woman’s husband, had developed brain-control technology too.

• Duan Zhiyi’s drones fought more effectively as the Special Operations Team neared his room, but Uncle Luo broke through and seized him.
• Xia Xu told Duan Zhiyi that the team had tracked him through the drones, then searched his workshop for brain-control equipment.
• Xia Xu found Duan Zhiyi’s status panel and discovered an inferior brain-control chip implanted in his head, driven by his obsession to cure a woman.
• Xia Xu put on Pan Yuanhang’s smart glasses and brought out a mechanical centipede to show Duan Zhiyi that Pan had developed brain-control technology.
• Xia Xu told Duan Zhiyi that Pan was the woman’s husband and more gifted than him, causing Duan Zhiyi to break down in disbelief.

After helping capture Duan Zhiyi, Xia Xu returned to Nine Suns Consulting and comforted Tang Youxin, who admitted she had been frightened but wanted to keep earning money. When she asked to visit his other companies, Xia Xu agreed, then worried she might feel insecure when she met Chen Leyao.

• Xia Xu explained Duan Zhiyi's history with Pan Yuanhang and the others, worsening Duan Zhiyi's breakdown, before the group finished cleaning up and escorted him back.
• Xia Xu left Luo Hongyun and the others and returned to Nine Suns Consulting with A Tuo, where Tang Youxin had been waiting anxiously.
• Xia Xu asked Tang Youxin to thank him with a hug, and she admitted she had been scared during the gunfight and satellite hack.
• Tang Youxin said she wanted to earn lots of money and teased Xia Xu about keeping him, while the two settled into a peaceful silence.
• Tang Youxin asked to visit Xia Xu's other companies, and Xia Xu agreed but worried about her meeting Chen Leyao.

Xia Xu checked the progress of Xinghai Biopharmaceuticals’ projects and asked Wu Hang to develop controlled-release tablets for the Superbrain Drug. Wu Hang experienced the drug’s effects and began work on the sixteen-hour formulation.

• Xia Xu took Tang Youxin to Star Sea Venture Capital, where Chen Leyao befriended her and left her admiring Chen’s career success.
• Xia Xu brought Tang Youxin to Xinghai Biopharmaceuticals’ research institute to review its progress.
• Xia Xu learned that Jiang Hai’s blood pressure drug was nearly complete and Wu Hang’s team had largely reproduced the controlled-release tablet technology.
• Xia Xu gave Wu Hang the Superbrain Drug pills and asked him to make half-dose tablets that released their effects over sixteen hours.
• Wu Hang took a pill, experienced its effects, and hurried to the laboratory to begin developing the controlled-release tablets.