Recaps

Xia Xu exploited the Superbrain plot to obtain SB-13, recruit Meng Bochao, and test the Mechanical Centipede Spine while monitoring Griffin Jones. The arc left him considering a team of talented researchers to pursue the opportunities ahead, as Griffin’s drug research and stock-trading prospects remained uncertain.

• Xia Xu chose to stay hidden rather than rescue the Superbrain researcher, then asked Yang Bowen to track Hovagner as the hitman watched Catherine Aitchison.
• Yang Bowen spotted a pill pouch at Splendid Plaza, allowing Xia Xu to take most of the SB-13 and follow Griffin Jones to his home.
• Xia Xu tested SB-13, temporarily gained Brain Overclocking, and rapidly memorized his textbooks and martial arts routines.
• Xia Xu followed Griffin’s investigation of his hacker neighbor and recruited Meng Bochao by promising to pay his father’s medical bills and find the hit-and-run driver.
• Meng Bochao and Tang Youxin disabled the Mechanical Centipede Spine’s tracking and control functions, and Xia Xu attached the device and tested its combat boost against Luo Hongyun.
• Xia Xu tasked Meng Bochao and Yang Bowen with monitoring Griffin and investigating the hit-and-run, then sought a professional negotiator to sell his Flying Boat Studio shares.
• Xia Xu and Tang Youxin made a bet tied to his exam scores and a kiss, while she clarified the score and passing conditions.
• Xia Xu saw Griffin studying stocks and experimenting with SB-13, then considered gathering researchers, including Catherine Aitchison, to pursue Griffin’s future opportunities.

Xia Xu pursued the van that had hit Meng Bochao’s father, strengthened his company, and recruited Chen Leyao as its general manager. He recognized Griffin Jones’s new business venture and watched Chen Leyao challenge Griffin’s claims about the Superbrain Drug.

• Xia Xu identified a white van in surveillance footage as the vehicle that hit Meng Bochao’s father and sent Meng Bochao, Yang Bowen, and A Tuo to investigate.
• A Tuo subdued the car thieves linked to the van, while Xia Xu and Grant exchanged information about Masked Freaks and Luo Hongyun considered leading a government Special Action Team.
• Xia Xu realized controlled-release SB-13 might reduce the Superbrain Drug’s side effects, and he learned that the Andra Group had targeted Louise for its Transcendence Project.
• Xia Xu hired Chen Leyao, whose exceptional business and finance talents made her a key addition to Star Sea Venture Capital, and tasked her with building the company.
• Xia Xu gave Tang Youxin small sips of Superbrain Drug to help her study, while Chen Leyao negotiated over Flying Boat Studio and prepared to meet Griffin Jones.
• Xia Xu decided to pursue the Xia Kingdom operating rights for Hero Glory, while Chen Leyao rejected Griffin’s offer to join Celestial Investment and questioned the safety of his unregulated pill.
• Griffin Jones took the Superbrain Drug to demonstrate its effects and challenged Chen Leyao to test his claimed abilities.

Xia Xu expanded Star Sea Venture Capital, recruited talent ahead of Griffin Jones, and took the Gaokao alongside Tang Youxin. Griffin Jones's investment proposal concealed a patent dispute, but Xia Xu accepted the project without him and assigned Zhang San to handle the legal problem.

• Xia Xu cleared up Yang Bowen's surveillance of Chen Leyao and hired He Qing after the taxi driver spotted the tail.
• After Luo Hongyun moved away to lead the Special Action Group, Xia Xu moved next door to Tang Youxin in Luogu Alley and began traveling to school with her.
• Xia Xu sold his seventy percent stake in Flying Boat Studio for seventy million yuan after taxes and directed Chen Leyao to expand Star Sea Venture Capital.
• Xia Xu recruited Zhang San as legal director with an advance annual salary of 1.2 million, preventing Griffin Jones from hiring him.
• Griffin Jones proposed a joint investment in Tonghe Pharmaceuticals, and Chen Leyao's investigation found no obvious problems while Xia Xu took the Gaokao with Tang Youxin.
• Xia Xu revealed the project's hidden patent dispute, told Chen Leyao to exclude Griffin Jones from the investment, and assigned Zhang San to prepare.
• Xia Xu subdued three men after they harassed Qu Xiaoyue and assaulted him, and Zhang San represented Star Sea Venture Capital at the police station.

Xia Xu helped the Special Department trace the bat Beastmen to Yao Fu, then used Yao Fu’s new public identity to draw their organization into the open. After the Hook-Nosed Bat-Man’s death, Yao Fu learned his parents had been murdered and set out to find their killers.

• Chen Leyao rejected Griffin Jones’s partnership offer, while Xia Xu finished his exams and spent the day with Tang Youxin, whose interview with him became an online sensation.
• Luo Hongyun captured Yu Zhengqing, a Rat-faced Man, and ordered the De City branch to investigate the Beastmen and hire Xia Xu as a consultant.
• Xia Xu deduced that Yu Zhengqing’s transformation was linked to a recent explosion and traced the missing item to Yao Fu, a student whose protagonist fate was titled “Batman.”
• Xia Xu arranged for Yao Fu to rescue Zhou Qian in public, drawing attention to him and prompting the organization behind the bat Beastmen to target his family.
• The Special Operations Team killed four bat Beastmen at Yao Fu’s home, but the Hook-Nosed Man escaped, and Xu Shao and another teammate killed Yao Fu’s parents.
• Xia Xu tracked the Hook-Nosed Man to Ruifeng Supermarket, fought him while protecting shoppers, and helped the Special Department kill him with supersonic bullets.
• Xia Xu managed the reports about the battle and suggested letting the organization believe Yao Fu had killed its Beastmen, while Yao Fu learned his parents were dead and vowed to find their killers.
• Yao Fu dismissed a report about a high school student killing his parents’ attackers, while Xia Xu concluded the organization might still suspect Yao Fu and target him again.