Chapter Summaries

Xia Xu decided not to rescue the Superbrain researcher directly, but planned to obtain the brain-enhancing drug from the story while staying behind the scenes. After Luo Hongyun invited him over, Xia Xu discovered that the real reason was to get him to help Louise with her homework.

• Xia Xu weighed the risks of hiring the researcher against the value of the Superbrain technology and decided not to expose himself to the Andra Group by rescuing him.
• Xia Xu resolved to seek the brain-enhancing drug by taking advantage of the Superbrain plot while remaining hidden.
• Luo Hongyun invited Xia Xu next door for dinner, where Xia Xu found Louise crying over her homework.
• Luo Hongyun asked Xia Xu to help Louise with her schoolwork while he prepared dinner.
• Louise quickly solved the strange elementary-school questions and teased Xia Xu for being as silly as her father.

Xia Xu discovered that Hovagner was watching Yang Bowen and warned him that the man was a dangerous professional hitman. Yang Bowen chose to help track Hovagner despite the risks, and Xia Xu agreed to let him follow the hitman from a distance and report his movements.

• Yang Bowen told Xia Xu that he felt someone was watching him, and Xia Xu identified Hovagner in a treetop nearby.
• Xia Xu warned Yang Bowen not to approach Hovagner because he was a professional hitman, then told Yang Bowen to keep watching the school.
• Yang Bowen volunteered to track Hovagner, explaining that he wanted meaningful work, to make his family proud, and to face his fears after learning about Werewolves.
• Xia Xu explained the risks and clarified that Werewolves were technological creations, but Yang Bowen remained determined.
• Xia Xu agreed to let Yang Bowen follow Hovagner from a distance and report his movements in real time.

Xia Xu had Yang Bowen tail Hovagner, who followed Catherine Aitchison to the abandoned Ivy Elementary School campus. After Hovagner fired a gun there and killed someone, Yang reported his location to Xia Xu, who arranged for someone tougher to take over the surveillance.

• Yang Bowen followed Hovagner as he pursued Catherine Aitchison through the night.
• Catherine entered the old Ivy Elementary School campus and remained there for five hours before leaving near dawn.
• After Catherine left, Hovagner broke into the campus and fired a gun, and Yang heard someone scream.
• Yang reported that Hovagner had gone to an apartment building on Anping Road, and Xia Xu praised him for the information.
• Xia Xu told Yang to keep watching Hovagner until someone tougher arrived to relieve him.

Xia Xu and Yang Bowen tracked Hovagner and identified Splendid Plaza as the likely place he would meet the protagonist of “Superbrain.” When Yang Bowen called on Friday morning to report that Hovagner had gone out, Xia Xu skipped class to pursue the chance to obtain the Brain Enhancement Drug.

• Xia Xu sent Luo Hongyun to relieve Yang Bowen in case Hovagner tried to leave the Xia Kingdom, but Hovagner stayed nearby and acted casually.
• Yang Bowen gave Xia Xu photographs of nearby plazas, and Xia Xu joked with Tang Youxin about doing his homework and helping him prepare for university.
• Yang Bowen reported that Splendid Plaza was close to Hovagner's residence and drew many local residents and foreigners, so Xia Xu judged it the likely meeting place.
• Xia Xu asked Yang Bowen and Luo Hongyun to keep watching Hovagner and report whenever he went out.
• On Friday morning, Yang Bowen called to report Hovagner's movement, and Xia Xu skipped class to follow the lead and pursue the Brain Enhancement Drug.

Xia Xu stole most of the Superbrain pills and a USB drive from a pouch intended for the down-and-out protagonist, then let the protagonist take the remaining drugs and become the apparent target. He returned home with A Tuo, eager to test whether the pills worked.

• A runner hid a pouch of unlabeled white pills beneath a bench at Splendid Plaza and texted its location.
• A Tuo stole the pouch for Xia Xu, who took most of the pills and the USB drive, then had A Tuo return the pouch beneath the bench.
• The down-and-out protagonist found the pouch, took the remaining pills, and left with it while Xia Xu watched.
• Xia Xu followed the protagonist to his residential complex with A Tuo, learning where he lived.
• Xia Xu went home with A Tuo, planning to test the Superbrain drugs.

Xia Xu read the plot unlocked through Griffin Jones’s protagonist fate and learned that the tablets were a brain-enhancing drug from the Superbrain Project. After considering its effects and risks, he tested a small amount himself.

• Griffin Jones found unmarked tablets hidden in a leather bag and discovered they dramatically enhanced his memory, observation, and thinking.
• Griffin Jones used his newly sharpened mind to expose his girlfriend Mary and friend Joel’s betrayal, then began studying subjects that could help him get rich.
• Xia Xu concluded the tablets were likely a temporary brain stimulant and judged their effects to be more powerful than he had expected.
• Xia Xu scraped a small amount from one tablet and put it in his mouth to test the drug.

Xia Xu tested the SB-13 Superbrain Drug and discovered that it temporarily gave him Brain Overclocking, along with risks of addiction and brain damage. He began using a diluted dose to memorize his high school textbooks at extraordinary speed, while deciding to leave research into a safer drug to Griffin Jones.

• Xia Xu took a small dose of SB-13 and gained the temporary Brain Overclocking special attribute.
• Xia Xu read the drug’s warning and reasoned that its addictive potential came from the psychological dependence caused by returning to ordinary thinking.
• Xia Xu inferred that Griffin Jones’s medical talent and experimental data could help him solve the drug’s side effects, and decided to wait for Griffin’s research.
• Xia Xu dissolved a tablet in water and drank it in small sips before reviewing his high school textbooks.
• Xia Xu rapidly memorized his language arts, mathematics, physics, and chemistry textbooks, though he had not yet mastered their contents.

Xia Xu used the Superbrain drug to memorize all his high school textbooks, then went to Luo Hongyun to test how an overclocked brain compared with combat talent. After copying a Baji Fist routine from one demonstration, he showed that memorizing moves was not the same as mastering them.

• Xia Xu memorized all fifty-four high school textbooks in less than half an hour, though he knew understanding and integrating the material would take longer.
• Xia Xu visited Luo Hongyun and asked him to teach combat techniques to both Xia Xu and Louise so he could compare overclocked learning with Louise's five-star combat talent.
• Luo Hongyun took Xia Xu and Louise to their training ground and demonstrated a Baji Fist routine.
• Xia Xu repeated the entire routine after watching it once, surprising Luo Hongyun with his memory.
• Luo Hongyun observed that Xia Xu had only memorized the movements and still needed practice and physical conditioning to master them.

Xia Xu discovered that his enhanced memory could not fully replace combat talent, then theorized that he might imitate talented people’s subconscious thinking patterns to reproduce some of their abilities. He defeated Louise in a martial-arts memorization contest, but his teasing made her cry.

• Xia Xu realized that memorizing Luo Hongyun’s Baji Fist movements did not teach him how to use them instinctively, while Louise explained how she understood the techniques.
• Luo Hongyun explained Baji Fist’s stance and methods of generating force, prompting Xia Xu to consider how combat talent shaped instinctive ways of thinking.
• Xia Xu theorized that analyzing and imitating Louise’s behavioral patterns could let him reproduce part of her talent, though he lacked the data and tools to test the idea.
• Xia Xu challenged Louise to learn more martial arts faster, then rapidly memorized several styles and left her aggrieved.
• Louise went home to study, but Xia Xu teased her about reading fluently and made her burst into tears.

After returning to school, Xia Xu reflected on the danger of becoming psychologically dependent on SB-13, then resumed investigating Griffin Jones with Yang Bowen. Yang Bowen uncovered Griffin’s contemptuous online posts about the Xia Kingdom, leaving both men angered by his behavior.

• Xia Xu left Louise with Uncle Luo and took A Tuo back to school, then felt the lethargy and urge to use SB-13 as its effects faded.
• Xia Xu returned late to class, accepted Liu Xiulan’s reprimand, and spent the rest of the day reviewing what he had learned while his brain was overclocked.
• Xia Xu met Yang Bowen near Griffin Jones’s apartment and learned Griffin had stayed inside all day, rapidly reading and browsing while taking pills.
• Yang Bowen told Xia Xu that Griffin was an American English tutor whose girlfriend had cheated on him and showed him Griffin’s insulting posts about the Xia Kingdom.
• Xia Xu agreed Griffin’s remarks were disgusting, while Yang Bowen said he would have reported Griffin if it would not interfere with Xia Xu’s plans.

Xia Xu reconsidered whether to give Griffin Jones the Superbrain Project data and decided to wait until Griffin reached a research bottleneck. Watching Griffin through binoculars, Xia Xu saw a new plot reveal that Griffin had discovered his neighbor’s secret surveillance setup and gained leverage over him.

• Xia Xu decided to keep the USB drive and delay giving it to Griffin Jones until he could profit from Griffin’s later research difficulties.
• Xia Xu used binoculars to view Griffin Jones’s attribute panel and read the next part of Griffin’s plot.
• Griffin Jones emerged from studying finance while suffering hunger and other symptoms from the Superbrain Drug.
• Griffin Jones noticed his neighbor’s panic and glimpsed a room displaying traffic-camera feeds on a computer workstation.
• Griffin Jones confronted Xia Xu’s neighbor and said he had discovered the neighbor hacking into a government traffic management system.
• Xia Xu concluded that the neighbor was an important hacker character whom Griffin Jones could use as leverage.

Xia Xu went to recruit Meng Bochao, a young hacker whose Four-Star talents in hacking and information retrieval could strengthen his intelligence network. After entering Meng Bochao’s apartment, Xia Xu revealed that he knew about the traffic-system hack, leaving Meng Bochao terrified and uncertain of Xia Xu’s intentions.

• Xia Xu left Yang Bowen behind to keep monitoring Griffin Jones and went to meet the hacker in the neighboring apartment.
• Xia Xu inspected Meng Bochao’s attributes and discovered his Four-Star hacking and information retrieval talents, along with his need for medical money and desire to find the person responsible for an accident.
• When Meng Bochao tried to close the door, Xia Xu stopped him, entered the apartment, and locked the door behind him.
• Xia Xu confronted Meng Bochao about hacking the Traffic Management System, making him panic and fear that Xia Xu belonged to a powerful organization.

Xia Xu recruited Meng Bochao by offering him a salary, bonuses, help with his father’s medical bills, and a search for the hit-and-run driver. He introduced Meng Bochao to Yang Bowen, and the two began discussing how their skills could complement each other.

• Xia Xu offered Meng Bochao a guaranteed salary and promised to cover his father’s medical bills and help find the driver who hit him.
• Meng Bochao accepted Xia Xu’s offer and followed him to meet Yang Bowen.
• Xia Xu introduced Meng Bochao and Yang Bowen as colleagues, then asked Yang Bowen to show Meng Bochao the ropes and take him to the company the next day.
• Yang Bowen asked about Meng Bochao’s skills, and Meng Bochao explained that he specialized in hacking and locating people through electronic devices.
• Yang Bowen welcomed Meng Bochao’s expertise, and Xia Xu left after seeing the two get along.

Yang Bowen brought Meng Bochao to the Nine Suns Comprehensive Consulting Company and told him about the werewolves and hunters behind the company’s unusual work. Meng Bochao arrived excited to join the mysterious organization, but found its storefront shabby and was told it served mostly as a cover and meeting place.

• Yang Bowen told Meng Bochao that the company was a small storefront and that he did not know all the details of their boss’s other forces and businesses.
• Yang Bowen described the company’s special investigations and revealed that werewolves existed, claiming he had helped hunt down a pack in Star City.
• Meng Bochao began to believe Yang Bowen and eagerly imagined that vampires and supernatural powers might exist too.
• Yang Bowen and Meng Bochao arrived at the Nine Suns Comprehensive Consulting Company, where Yang Bowen explained that the shabby shop was mainly a cover and meeting place.

Xia Xu brought Meng Bochao to the Consulting Company, where he asked Yang Bowen to help investigate the person responsible for Meng Bochao’s father’s situation and warned Meng Bochao to move away from Griffin Jones. He then presented a frightening-looking mechanical centipede as a personal favor for Meng Bochao to handle.

• Yang Bowen introduced Meng Bochao to Tang Youxin, who greeted him while cleaning the office.
• Xia Xu arrived with A Tuo and exchanged a playful greeting with Tang Youxin before discussing Meng Bochao’s arrangements with Yang Bowen.
• Xia Xu asked Yang Bowen to help identify the person responsible for Meng Bochao’s father while keeping watch on Griffin Jones.
• Xia Xu told Meng Bochao to move because living next to Griffin Jones could expose him to danger, and Meng Bochao agreed.
• Xia Xu officially made Meng Bochao an employee of the Consulting Company and brought out a metal object that startled everyone before explaining that it was a mechanical centipede.

Xia Xu gave Meng Bochao the Mechanical Centipede Spine to check for hidden control risks, and Meng Bochao began hacking its custom system. His work quickly filled with errors, leaving Xia Xu to wonder whether he needed to hire another programmer.

• Xia Xu explained to Yang Bowen, Meng Bochao, and Tang Youxin that the Mechanical Centipede Spine enhanced strength and movement by forcing the body to use its potential, while draining stamina and risking bodily damage.
• Meng Bochao was astonished by the device and began to believe that other supposedly fictional technologies and creatures might exist.
• Xia Xu handed the Mechanical Centipede Spine to Meng Bochao and asked him to check for backdoors, remote-control programs, or tracking software.
• Meng Bochao found a hardware driver vulnerability, connected to the device, and began working on its custom control system.
• Meng Bochao's code produced a string of errors, and Xia Xu dryly said he might need to hire a new programmer.

Tang Youxin astonished Meng Bochao by spotting dozens of errors in his code, despite claiming she had barely studied programming. Meng Bochao suspected she was the expert who had tracked his earlier hack, but Yang Bowen insisted she was a high school senior who only helped clean the office.

• Meng Bochao told Xia Xu that coding mistakes were unavoidable, and Tang Youxin contradicted him, saying careful mental preparation could prevent them.
• Tang Youxin identified dozens of errors and omissions in Meng Bochao's program, and he corrected them in amazement.
• Xia Xu questioned Tang Youxin about her programming knowledge, and she said she could understand code just by reading it.
• Meng Bochao asked Yang Bowen if Tang Youxin was the expert who had caught his traffic-management-system hack.
• Yang Bowen said Tang Youxin was a high school senior who had only read a few programming books, but Meng Bochao doubted his explanation.

Xia Xu had Tang Youxin supervise Meng Bochao as he finished software to control the Mechanical Centipede Spine, ensuring its remote tracking and control features were disabled. Xia Xu then put the device on and felt it attach to his back, leaving him with a strange new sense of control over his muscles.

• Xia Xu told Tang Youxin to watch Meng Bochao's work and point out any mistakes or omissions.
• Tang Youxin corrected Meng Bochao's coding as he worked, and he finished the control software by evening.
• Meng Bochao said he had disabled the Mechanical Centipede Spine's remote tracking and control modules, and Tang Youxin confirmed she had corrected the code's problem areas.
• Xia Xu pressed the green button, and the Mechanical Centipede Spine unfolded and crawled up his arm and beneath his clothes.
• The device attached its legs to Xia Xu's back, briefly numbed his body, and left him feeling a powerful sense of control over his muscles.

Xia Xu tested the strength and fighting techniques granted by the Mechanical Centipede Spine, impressing Tang Youxin, Yang Bowen, and Meng Bochao. After teasing Tang Youxin about sneaking looks at him, he removed the device and examined its concealed probes.

• Xia Xu practiced Baji Fist and Muay Thai, whose forceful movements drew amazed reactions from Tang Youxin, Yang Bowen, and Meng Bochao.
• Meng Bochao and Yang Bowen asked Xia Xu to teach them martial arts, and Xia Xu told Meng Bochao to prove his commitment by doing push-ups.
• Xia Xu removed his shirt to cool off, and Tang Youxin brought him water while secretly glancing at his physique.
• Xia Xu teased Tang Youxin about looking at him, and she blushed and hurried away.
• Xia Xu detached the Mechanical Centipede Spine and inspected its tiny holes, realizing its body-piercing probes retracted inside the device.

Xia Xu tested the Mechanical Centipede Spine and realized it could amplify his strength, speed up attacks, and make memorized martial arts feel instinctive. Confident in his new abilities, he challenged Luo Hongyun to spar and attached the device before the bout began.

• Xia Xu assessed how the Mechanical Centipede Spine amplified his muscles and considered its limits and risk of injury.
• Xia Xu concluded that the device also increased attack speed and let his body carry out memorized fighting moves automatically.
• Xia Xu grew eager to test his boosted combat ability against Luo Hongyun, then ate dinner with Meng Bochao and the others and took Little White Flower home.
• Xia Xu went to Luo Hongyun's home and asked to spar with him.
• Xia Xu showed Luo Hongyun the Mechanical Centipede Spine and attached it, and Luo Hongyun agreed to spar.