Chapter Summaries

Xia Xu visited Cui Xinghua at Gardner Psychiatric Hospital and learned about the former surgeon’s strange bathtub-based self-diagnosis. Cui Xinghua’s Status Panel revealed a Five-Star surgical medicine talent and a connection to the “Giant” plot, but Xia Xu remained unsure whether he was sane or feigning madness.

• Xia Xu asked Talos about the hospital’s obese patients, and Talos explained that one patient’s depression had led to binge eating and severe obesity.
• Talos brought Xia Xu to Cui Xinghua, who stared at a bathtub containing a floating washbasin and cup as part of his self-diagnosis.
• Talos explained that Cui Xinghua tested whether he would use the basin or pull the bathtub plug, and Xia Xu questioned whether the circular test could establish his mental state.
• Xia Xu checked Cui Xinghua’s Status Panel and discovered his Five-Star surgical medicine talent, his supporting-character status in the “Giant” plot, and his obsessions with a patient’s death and healing his hands.
• Xia Xu considered Cui Xinghua’s ruined surgical career and unusual behavior, then concluded that he might genuinely be mentally ill.

On registration day, Xia Xu brought Tang Youxin to the International Scientific Research University and helped her settle into the girls’ dormitory. When she asked him to stay because she was nervous, he teased her by saying he wanted her.

• Xia Xu sent Yang Bowen, Meng Bochao, and the others to Magic City to investigate Gardner Psychiatric Hospital and search for characters from “Giants.”
• Xia Xu arrived at the university with Tang Youxin and A Tuo, drawing a crowd before they completed registration.
• Xia Xu bought bedding and other supplies, then helped Tang Youxin set up her room in the girls’ dormitory.
• Tang Youxin admitted she was scared of meeting her roommates and asked Xia Xu to stay with her.
• Xia Xu agreed to keep her company, then teased her by saying he wanted her.

Xia Xu helped Tang Youxin meet her new roommates and discovered that each possessed exceptional academic talents. He realized the International Scientific Research University was a rich source of promising people and looked forward to finding more.

• Xia Xu and Tang Youxin introduced themselves to Song Yu, who agreed to look out for Tang Youxin and joined them in meeting the other roommates.
• Xia Xu, Tang Youxin, and Song Yu met Ge Qingyan and Luo Lin, and the four roommates quickly became acquainted.
• Xia Xu checked the Status Panel and found that Song Yu had three-star talents in programming, statistics, and topology; Ge Qingyan had four-star programming talent and three-star mathematics talent; and Luo Lin had three-star talents in artificial intelligence and systems engineering.
• Xia Xu concluded that the university was a concentrated source of talent and regretted not checking the students during registration.

Xia Xu settled into the International Scientific Research University’s mechanical engineering dorm and reunited with Grant, who had enrolled to learn how to design and modify guns. When Xia Xu checked Grant’s Status Panel, he discovered that Grant had gained a three-star mechanical engineering talent that had not been there before.

• Xia Xu left Tang Youxin with A Tuo and walked to his mechanical engineering dorm after explaining why he had chosen the major.
• Xia Xu met his roommates Zhang Meng and Lü Dong, both of whom had notable mechanical engineering talents.
• Grant arrived as Xia Xu’s final roommate, and the two old friends joked about their money and past adventures.
• Grant explained that he had come to study gun design and modification while continuing to hunt werewolves.
• Xia Xu checked Grant’s Status Panel and found a new three-star mechanical engineering talent, though he remembered Grant had not possessed it before.

Xia Xu questioned Grant about his sudden mechanical-design talent and learned that Grant had been captured and operated on at an Andra Group experimental base before escaping. Xia Xu connected Grant’s new talent to Andra’s Transcendence Project, concluding that the project had likely succeeded or was close to it.

• Xia Xu pressed Grant to explain how he had gained admission to the International Scientific Research University and developed a new talent.
• Grant explained that he had entered the university through his achievements and connections, then came to the Xia Kingdom as an exchange student while tracking a mutated werewolf.
• Grant told Xia Xu that Andra had captured him at an experimental base and placed him on an operating table before he escaped with help from his werewolf transformation and Dorothea’s group.
• Xia Xu connected Andra’s research branches, including the Superbrain Drug and Mechanical Centipede Spine projects, to the Transcendence Project.
• Xia Xu concluded that Grant’s newly acquired mechanical-design talent showed that Andra’s Transcendence Project had succeeded or was close to success.

Xia Xu reconsidered the danger of being entangled in Andra’s Transcendence Project, then settled into university life and attended the International Scientific Research University’s technology exhibition. The chapter left him unimpressed by exhibits that amazed his classmates, since he was already familiar with advanced technology.

• Xia Xu realized the Night Owl storyline might involve Andra’s headquarters and the Transcendence Project, and reassessed the risks of opposing the company.
• Xia Xu introduced Grant to Zhang Meng and Lü Dong, then treated Song Yu, Luo Lin, and Tang Youxin’s roommates to a late-night meal.
• Xia Xu completed the freshmen’s brief military training and observed the strong academic atmosphere among returning students.
• The university gathered its freshmen in a huge exhibition hall displaying robotics, automated systems, and experimental technologies to inspire them to study.
• Zhang Meng and the others noticed Xia Xu’s lack of excitement, and Xia Xu joked that he had facial paralysis.

At the university’s science expo, Tang Youxin overwhelmed students in hacking and robot competitions while Xia Xu watched from a distance. After Grant sensed a possible werewolf nearby, Xia Xu deflected the suspicion and agreed to start a research group with Zhang Meng and Lü Dong, seeing it as a way to recruit talent and invest in promising projects.

• Zhang Meng reported that Tang Youxin had crushed the hacking and robot contests, and Xia Xu recognized her from the crowd but chose not to approach.
• Grant told Xia Xu he sensed danger and a werewolf-like scent near the hall, which Xia Xu suspected came from A Tuo following Tang Youxin.
• Xia Xu joked about a bat-man and lied to Zhang Meng and Lü Dong that they were discussing building robots, prompting them to suggest forming a research group.
• Xia Xu agreed to start the group and considered how the university’s funding, laboratories, and expo could help him recruit talented students and invest in their research.

Xia Xu explored the research-group booths and became interested in the Super Spider Silk Protein Research Group’s material, which could help him upgrade his Spider-Shaped Predator designs. He offered to invest in the group, leaving its senior member stunned by his Star Sea Group business card.

• Xia Xu wandered through the crowded recruitment fair and inspected the research groups and their projects.
• A senior in a rubber suit explained that her group synthesized spider silk protein and demonstrated its extreme elasticity with a small piece of fabric.
• Xia Xu asked whether the group had a variant protein with high strength, rapid solidification, and strong adhesion, imagining how it could let his robots spray webs.
• The senior said the group had such a material but would only reveal details to members, then admitted the group needed research funding.
• Xia Xu offered to invest and gave her a business card identifying him as the owner of Star Sea Group.

At the International Scientific Research University, Xia Xu recruited Yang Xiaoshuang for a potential investment and encountered the Excavator Group, whose members he declined to join. Their talk of a talented mechanical engineering exchange student led him to recognize Victor’s name.

• Xia Xu examined Yang Xiaoshuang’s profile, admired her Four-Star proteomics talent, and told her someone would contact her about an investment.
• A chubby student invited Xia Xu to join the Excavator Group, pitching excavators as prerequisite technology for mechs, but Xia Xu declined after assessing the group.
• After Xia Xu left, the Excavator Group members comforted their friend and discussed a mechanical engineering exchange student rumored to have built circuit boards as a child.
• Xia Xu realized the student was not Grant and stopped when he heard the name Victor.

Xia Xu learned that the handsome exchange student Victor Spot was nearby and checked his status panel. He discovered Victor had five-star talents in mechanical engineering and physics, along with the fate of a protagonist in “Mechanical Age,” and worried about the upheaval Victor might cause.

• After turning down a chubby student, Xia Xu asked Yang Xiaoshuang whether she knew an exchange student named Victor.
• Yang Xiaoshuang pointed out Victor Spot, a striking blond-haired young man surrounded by women, and joked about his reputation as a womanizer.
• Xia Xu approached Victor and opened his status panel, discovering he was the protagonist of “Mechanical Age” with five-star mechanical engineering and physics talents.
• Xia Xu realized Victor might reshape technology and society, then hoped the student would cause less upheaval than his potential suggested.

Xia Xu recognized Victor Spot as a wealthy Plot Protagonist and a potential competitor, so he invested in promising research teams before Victor could. The next day, Victor discovered the teams he favored had already received investment and realized he faced a rival with an advantage in the Xia Kingdom.

• Xia Xu approached Victor Spot, who politely refused to befriend or join him and pointed out his surname.
• Xia Xu identified Victor as a member of the family behind Spot Industrial and concluded that they would become competitors rather than collaborators.
• Xia Xu invested in twelve or thirteen promising research teams at the International Scientific Research University.
• Victor returned the next day ready to begin investing, but learned that several teams he favored had already received investment.
• Victor realized a competitor had moved quickly and that the teams were more likely to favor a domestic investor over Spot Industrial.

Xia Xu investigated Cui Xinghua and Gardner Psychiatric Hospital, discovering that Cui’s deceased patient had suffered from gigantism caused by a growth hormone adenoma. He concluded Gardner was experimenting with ways to create giant humans and decided not to rush Cui Xinghua, leaving the investigation to follow the original plot.

• Xia Xu reviewed the information Yang Bowen and the others had gathered about Cui Xinghua and Gardner Psychiatric Hospital.
• Yang Bowen told Xia Xu that Cui Xinghua’s last patient had recuperated at Gardner before dying during Cui’s operation.
• Xia Xu examined the patient’s medical records and learned that a GH adenoma had caused abnormal growth hormone secretion and acromegaly.
• Xia Xu researched the condition and realized that abnormal growth hormone secretion in a minor could cause gigantism.
• Xia Xu inferred that Gardner had mastered the creation or transplantation of GH adenomas and was experimenting to produce stable giant humans.
• Xia Xu decided not to act hastily against Cui Xinghua and instead considered following the original plot to obtain Gardner’s technology.

Xia Xu recruited new members for the Xinghai Mechanical Research and Development Group and found four-star mechanical engineering talent Zhou Ji. When Victor tried to recruit Zhou Ji as well, Xia Xu used Zhou Ji’s feelings for Jiang Yuanyuan to turn him against Victor.

• Xia Xu ordered Yang Bowen and the others to watch Gardner Psychiatric Hospital while he focused on studying.
• Xia Xu, Zhang Meng, Lü Dong, and Grant established the Xinghai Mechanical Research and Development Group and opened a recruitment booth the next day.
• Xia Xu spotted Zhou Ji’s four-star mechanical engineering potential and invited him to join the group.
• Victor Spot interrupted Xia Xu and offered Zhou Ji a place on his team, promising knowledge, wealth, fame, and women.
• Xia Xu whispered that he could help Zhou Ji get Jiang Yuanyuan while Victor might take her, and Zhou Ji firmly declined Victor’s offer.

Xia Xu recruited Zhou Ji and Jiang Yuanyuan by helping them admit their feelings, then spotted a promising recruit at Victor’s booth. The boy, Walker Houseman, had two four-star talents and was the protagonist of the story “Mechanic,” leaving Xia Xu eager to recruit him.

• Xia Xu revealed that Zhou Ji had turned Victor down because he promised to help Zhou Ji win over Jiang Yuanyuan, then pushed the two childhood friends to embrace.
• Zhou Ji and Jiang Yuanyuan filled out team applications and agreed to help Xia Xu recruit students.
• Xia Xu and Victor spent the morning recruiting at International Scientific Research University, but neither attracted many students.
• After attending two classes, Xia Xu returned to the recruitment booth and saw Victor talking with Walker Houseman, a boy who appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen.
• Xia Xu checked Walker’s profile and discovered that he had four-star mechanical engineering and weapons engineering talents and was the protagonist of “Mechanic.”

Xia Xu challenged Victor’s confidence that Walker Houseman would not leave his research group, then demonstrated his smart glasses’ brainwave-controlled devices. The Spider-Shaped Predators seized Victor in front of the startled crowd, leaving Xia Xu’s performance underway.

• Xia Xu joined Victor and Walker Houseman’s conversation and learned that sixteen-year-old Walker was Victor’s devoted fan and had already chosen Victor’s research group.
• Victor teased Xia Xu for failing to poach Walker, and Xia Xu accepted his challenge to put on a performance.
• Xia Xu used his smart glasses to remotely drive the Venom Supercar to the Science and Technology Museum, drawing a crowd with its driverless arrival.
• Xia Xu deployed four Spider-Shaped Predators from the car, and they fired grappling lines that lifted Victor into the air.
• The onlookers reacted in shock as the mechanical spiders restrained Victor.

Xia Xu used his spider robots to impress Walker Houseman and persuade him to join his research team. Walker accepted, leaving Victor frustrated but acknowledging his freedom to choose.

• Walker Houseman examined the robots’ advanced control systems and mobility, then became intrigued by their technology.
• Xia Xu released Victor from the robots’ grappling lines and teased him about recruiting Walker.
• Victor argued that much of the robots’ hardware came from his Spot Group, but Xia Xu credited his own software and control systems.
• Xia Xu offered Walker funding, skilled engineers, and brainwave control technology to develop combat robots with him.
• Walker agreed to join Xia Xu, and Victor left in anger after warning him he would regret the choice.

Xia Xu recruited Walker Houseman into the Star Sea Research Group and began its first project, a modified spider robot called Web Weaver. He then learned that a werewolf with bone-growth abilities had vanished, and linked it to the experiments at Gardner Psychiatric Hospital, where researchers might be pursuing artificial gigantism.

• After Victor left, Xia Xu persuaded Walker Houseman to join the research group and introduced him to Zhou Ji and Jiang Yuanyuan.
• Zhang Meng and Lü Dong secured activity rooms, and Xia Xu’s group chose to develop Web Weaver with Yang Xiaoshuang’s research team.
• Four days later, Xia Xu asked Grant whether he had found the mutant werewolf that had been shipped to Magic City.
• Grant explained that the werewolf had participated in the Steel Bone experiment and could grow additional bone, potentially becoming a gigantic, heavily armored monster.
• Xia Xu revealed that his people were investigating Gardner Psychiatric Hospital for research into artificial gigantism and suspected the missing werewolf was connected to it.

Xia Xu and Grant prepared to hunt the mutant Werewolf, stopping by the School of Information Engineering to pick up a helper. There, Xia Xu ran into Victor Spot, who tried to recruit Tang Youxin and her roommates, and left Victor stunned when Xia Xu revealed his relationship with Tang Youxin.

• Grant eagerly urged Xia Xu to take him to the mutant Werewolf, but Xia Xu said they should wait until dark and pick up a helper first.
• Xia Xu drove Grant to Tang Youxin's dormitory, where they spotted Tang Youxin, Song Yu, Luo Lin, and Ge Qingyan arriving.
• Victor Spot intercepted the women, intending to recruit them and flirt with them, before Xia Xu approached.
• Victor challenged Xia Xu over competing for the women, but Xia Xu put his arm around Tang Youxin and kissed her cheek.
• Xia Xu reminded Victor to check people's personal connections before approaching them, leaving Victor speechless after being thwarted by him for the third time.

Xia Xu took A Tuo and Grant from the school to prepare for a nighttime operation in Gardner, with Grant supplying weapons and gear. As they set out after moonrise, A Tuo carried equipment for Xia Xu, leaving Grant skeptical of the dog's strange loadout.

• Victor stormed off after seeing Xia Xu laughing with Tang Youxin and the others, and Xia Xu introduced A Tuo to Grant as their help.
• Xia Xu told Tang Youxin he was taking A Tuo out for the night and reassured her that Grant would handle any danger.
• Xia Xu followed Grant to his rented inn, where Grant showed him a case of weapons and handed him a gun blade for protection.
• After moonrise, Grant geared up with a bow and tactical equipment while Xia Xu took a mask and A Tuo carried two Spider-Shaped Predators and a Miao Dao.
• Grant questioned whether A Tuo would bark or use a blade, and Xia Xu retorted that Grant seemed to be insulting him.

Xia Xu, Grant, and A Tuo approached Gardner Psychiatric Hospital but discovered armed searchers combing the hillside. Xia Xu sent Spider-Shaped Predators to find whatever had escaped, leaving Grant astonished by the mechanical spiders and Xia Xu’s claim that he was Spider-Man.

• Xia Xu used his Silver Smart Glasses to navigate the dark woods as he, Grant, and A Tuo approached Gardner Psychiatric Hospital.
• A Tuo alerted them to people ahead, and Xia Xu’s glasses revealed searchers carrying tranquilizer guns.
• Xia Xu led Grant and A Tuo back to the Venom Supercar, deciding to find out what had escaped before trying to enter Gardner.
• Xia Xu deployed twelve Spider-Shaped Predators to search the hillside and explained that the escapee might reveal what was happening inside Gardner.
• Grant stared in shock at the mechanical spiders, and Xia Xu declared that he was Spider-Man.