Chapter Summaries

Ji Chen returned to Earth more than two hundred years after vanishing and struggled to adjust to a home where his parents and younger brother had died. Hoping to understand the changed world through a virtual game, he applied for Monster World and received access.

• The Monster World officials announced a new area, the Return function, and a distribution of two million game access slots.
• Ji Chen arrived in Data City, received a new identity, and went to his assigned home, where he discovered the conveniences and unfamiliar technology of the future.
• Ji Chen found records of his disappearance and learned that his parents had died; he watched his mother’s final recording and learned his younger brother, Ji Xing, had also died without descendants.
• Ji Chen remembered how Dragonkin had led their rebellion against White Demon and how they parted after more than a century together, with Ji Chen returning to Earth.
• Ji Chen applied for Monster World access to help him adapt to the present, browsed the game information, and received a notification that he had won access.

After returning to Earth, Ji Chen entered Monster World, chose an Eagle-Headed Demon as his initial Life Soul, and found that the game had restored his body to youth. Outside the crowded starting area, he discovered a startlingly realistic world filled with spiritual energy far greater than that of the other world where he had spent two centuries.

• Ji Chen entered the virtual Game Pod and watched Monster World’s opening scenes before choosing the Eagle-Headed Demon as his initial Life Soul.
• After several names were rejected, Ji Chen registered as "Reborn, Returned, Still Can't Win" and appeared in the packed Sun-Chasing Space.
• Ji Chen realized that the game had reconstructed his body in a youthful, healthy state, free from his old scars and illnesses.
• A player with a Strength Savage Axe dismissed Ji Chen’s Eagle-Headed Demon as a weak choice for early combat.
• Ji Chen left the starting area and tested the lifelike ground, stones, and sunlight in Monster World.
• Ji Chen breathed in the area’s immense spiritual energy and understood the Dragonkin’s description of cultivation as breathing in the essence of the world.

Ji Chen explored Monster World’s Land of Chasing the Sun, discovering that the game reproduced supernatural abilities with startling fidelity and let him fight effectively in his weak Eagle-Headed Demon form. After learning the region’s history and leveling up while hunting, he recreated his real-world Psychokinesis to reach a precious Spirit Plant, ending stunned by how powerful the ability felt in the game.

• Ji Chen entered the crowded Newbie Scenario, chose the Eagle-Headed Demon Life Soul, and found that its Perception View let him observe the world in extraordinary detail.
• Ji Chen hunted a Pixie and then two Erosion Patterns with precise attacks, leveling his Life Soul to level 7 and selling the monsters’ crystals for Sacrificial Power.
• Ji Chen read Forum posts about the Land of Chasing the Sun, Kaci, and the Mechanical Legion while exploring the crowded region and hunting more monsters.
• Ji Chen spotted a Nine-Leaf Red Glow Grass growing across a cliffside gap and watched another player fall while trying to reach it.
• Ji Chen spent most of his Sacrificial Power on Mental Recovery Potions and recreated his Psychokinesis imprint, then used the ability to lift stones and tear apart a dead tree.

Ji Chen realized Monster World’s Life Soul traits could amplify real-world abilities, then joined a newcomer leveling event and used enhanced psychokinesis to hunt monsters and take first place. He continued grinding to protect his lead while wondering whether the Dragonborn Professor’s forbidden techniques could also work in the game.

• Ji Chen concluded that Life Soul traits could combine with real abilities, and he interpreted the game’s systems as a framework for developing powerful ability paths.
• An all-channel notice announced a 72-hour leveling event for newly recruited players, and Ji Chen decided to compete for its rewards.
• Ji Chen sold his nine-leaf crimson cloud grass for 11,875 Sacrificial Power, then raised his Body Tempering Level, unlocked another Star Meridian Slot, and socketed the Qi Eater Life Soul.
• Ji Chen hunted monsters with psychokinesis, reached first place in the newcomer rankings with his Eagle-Headed Demon Life Soul at Level 16, and kept hunting to defend his lead.
• Ji Chen crushed a group of Shadow Scorpions and wondered whether the Dragonborn Professor’s forbidden techniques could be used alongside Life Soul traits.

Ji Chen won first place in the Leveling Frenzy event, explored Emperor Tomb Village, and used its cultivation system to strengthen himself. While creating a Spiritual Pivot Pool imprint, he discovered that it connected to the pool Dragonkin had made in the Otherworld, where residual energy from his old battles still remained.

• Ji Chen joined players fighting a Resonance Primordial Savage Bull and killed it by using Mental Force to cut it apart from within, earning a participation reward and a Star Meridian Slot.
• Ji Chen tested Dragon Breath cultivation with the Qi Eater trait, then won first place in the event and received 100,000 Sacrificial Power.
• Ji Chen studied game guides, traveled to Emperor Tomb Village, and acquired Star Spiral for automatic cultivation, a Treasure-Seeking Mouse, a Flying Hoverboard, and new Star Meridian abilities.
• Ji Chen spent more than 23,000 Sacrificial Power tracing a Spiritual Pivot Pool imprint until he completed it and found that its space held energy substances from the White Demon Race world.
• Ji Chen recognized Crimson Sky Bloodflame and other stored energies as remnants of the pool Dragonkin had created in the Otherworld, and realized the game had connected to it.

Ji Chen concluded that Monster World was a real world connected to another realm, and realized its Life Soul traits were genuine powers of rules. After researching Earth Alliance history, he suspected the Eclipse Race was concealing a far greater power behind the game, but an unseen voice warned him to stop investigating.

• Ji Chen opened the Life Soul Database and was shaken to find sixty-three Life Soul traits that might be genuine rule seeds, then logged off to test his theory.
• Ji Chen emerged from the Game Pod in Data City and struggled with the Real World's polluted air, pain, and dimmer vision after his week in Monster World.
• Ji Chen read historical records and learned how the Eclipse Race had built the Star Network, won the Earth Alliance's trust, and helped connect Earth's races.
• Ji Chen compared Monster World's sudden technological leap and the Eclipse Race's limited player access with his discovery that the world was real, and suspected a powerful hidden being was directing events.
• As Ji Chen searched for further answers, a familiar voice warned him to stop or have his account banned.

Star Network traced Ji Chen’s searches and concluded that he had discovered Monster World was real, then contacted him and explained the Higher-Dimensional God’s game, Earth’s danger from the Dark Tide, and the possibility that game growth would eventually feed back into reality. Ji Chen resolved to pursue that future, but Star Network disappeared before answering whether his failing body could survive long enough to reach it.

• Star Network reviewed Ji Chen’s classified records and Monster World activity, deduced that he had connected the Library to a real Spirit Coffin Space, and warned him to stop investigating and keep the truth secret.
• Ji Chen confirmed that Monster World was real and that Life Soul traits were powers of rules, then asked why Earth’s races were being sent there as players.
• Star Network explained that the Higher-Dimensional God used players as pieces in a game whose ultimate purpose was war against the Dark Tide, which threatened Earth.
• Star Network said the Eclipse Race concealed the truth to keep players from bearing pressure and explained that the game could feed back into reality, allowing Earth’s living beings to inherit player bodies and fight the Dark Tide.
• Ji Chen realized the game could restore his broken body and resolved to act, then asked whether the Eclipse Race could extend his lifespan, but Star Network had already left without answering.

Ji Chen sought life-extension treatment from the Eclipse Race and decided to earn Sacrificial Power in Monster World, while Qi Sheng updated the Player Forum with specialized sections. A trending post then described how its author’s Death Space earnings were taken by a fellow villager, leaving the account holder with a negative death payout.

• Ji Chen reviewed the Eclipse Race’s medical services, found the treatments unaffordable, and planned to earn Sacrificial Power to pay for them.
• Star Network warned Ji Chen against trying to bring Monster World healing items into reality without a Higher-Dimensional God’s permission.
• Ji Chen entered his Game Pod and wondered whether his Dragonkin brother might be struggling in Monster World.
• Qi Sheng rejected personalized forum recommendations and divided the Player Forum into a main section and nine specialized subsections.
• Qi Sheng read a trending post in which its author recounted clearing Death Space, graduating, and building up over 130,000 Sacrificial Power in a Player Body.
• The post’s author said a fellow villager killed the Elysium Player character in Cave World, took the death payout, and left the author with a 10-Sacrificial-Power resurrection charge.

Wen Han lost her Elysium alt’s rewards to Night Hunt, so Divine King and the Divine Hall Guild intervened to recover them and punish him. After Night Hunt was forced to return the stolen Sacrificial Power and apologize, he resolved to seek strength by joining the Divine Hall Guild.

• Wen Han mourned the loss of her Elysium alt’s rewards and asked the forum for help after Night Hunt killed her and took the drops.
• Divine King offered to intervene, then announced that Night Hunt had 24 hours to return the stolen proceeds or face sanctions from the Divine Hall Guild and its allies.
• When Night Hunt ignored the warning, Divine King sent 130,000 allied elite members to search Cave World for him.
• Pan Yue and two Divine Hall Guild members pursued Night Hunt through Cave World and defeated him after he tried to escape.
• Night Hunt accepted defeat, returned 164,000 Sacrificial Power to Wen Han, and posted an apology as Divine King required.
• After the Divine Hall Guild members left, Night Hunt decided to seek a place in the guild.

Qi Sheng introduced a sin system to curb malicious attacks between players while leaving normal competition unpenalized. Meanwhile, Di Nian Evil Spirit used projection teleportation arrays to draw players to four Dark Tide nodes, where the resulting alliance of Evil Spirit Warriors struggled against the players and received no support from the Monarch.

• Qi Sheng launched the sin system, imposing escalating penalties on players who maliciously killed members of their own faction.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit and Evil Eye perfected projection teleportation arrays that connected the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range Region to four other Dark Tide nodes.
• The United Warband led by Divine King chose to farm Sacrificial Power at the four nodes, and Nightfall Is Coming posted intelligence on their Evil Spirit Warriors.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit established an information network with Blood Mark, Iron Spine, Rotting Heart, and Gui Ya, who complained about player attacks and insults.
• Blood Mark reported that Dusk Eye had denied resource support because the Monarch was occupied fighting the Against the Tide Legion, prompting the Evil Spirit Warriors to curse him.

Qi Sheng watched Di Nian Evil Spirit build an alliance with four other Evil Spirit Warriors, while players debated new tactics for fighting them. When the Bully Alliance tested Di Nian's War Network against a player army, its shared resources and computing power gave it a strong start, though its members' poor coordination and constant arguments threatened the operation.

• Qi Sheng learned from Guide that the Dark Tide's thought imprints would conceal Di Nian Evil Spirit's alliance from the Monarch, and he watched players recruit for battles against the five Evil Spirits.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit trained Gui Ya, Bloodmark, Iron Spine, and Rotting Heart, then proposed a War Network that shared battlefield information, Dark Tide energy, and Evil Eye computing power.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit presented the joint command plan, and the four Evil Spirit Warriors agreed to test it across their connected nodes.
• Ye Lan proposed Tidal Rotation Tactics on the Forum, prompting players to debate flexible mixed builds designed to blunt the Dark Tide's specialized troop types.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit activated the War Network when players attacked Gui Ya's node, and the five Evil Spirits coordinated their troops against the advancing army.
• Divine King recognized the alliance and abandoned the attempt to seize Gui Ya's node, while Di Nian Evil Spirit improved the joint command's coordination despite the other Evil Spirits' arguments.

Qi Sheng reviewed two newly contained Life Souls and the Spirit Breath Race’s progress in the Sea of Illusory Flowers. Little Mage proposed using his Mysterious Shop to accelerate the race’s development, and the chapter ended with the Seven Thrones asking him to explain it.

• Qi Sheng reviewed Wealth, a Life Soul whose damage scaled with carried resources, and Critical Hit, a powerful secondary Life Soul that could boost any attack.
• Players explored the Land of Chasing the Sun and discovered Spirit Ore mining areas as the Spirit Breath Race built a settlement in the Sea of Illusory Flowers.
• Little Mage recalled how a Skyveil Giant Beast had nearly overwhelmed the settlement and worried that the Spirit Breath Race’s slow resource gathering left it vulnerable.
• Little Mage decided to use his Player Shop and Trading House access to improve the Spirit Breath Race’s resource conversion, then summoned the Seven Thrones.
• Little Mage demanded control of the race’s development resources and claimed a dream had granted him access to a Mysterious Shop.
• Little Mage showed the Seven Thrones a Pure Energy Crystal, convincing them to ask him for more details about the shop.

Little Mage inspected the Spirit Breath Race’s land, mines, breeding grounds, and warehouse, then used the Mysterious Shop and Trading House to turn unused resources into Sacrificial Power and buy supplies for development. He presented spirit plant seeds and a healing potion to the Seven Thrones, giving the race hope of rebuilding its strength.

• Little Mage identified spirit plants suited to the Illusory Flower Plains and planned farms, while inspecting the mine and considering a teleportation array to improve ore transport.
• Little Mage proposed raising spiritual ingredients for sale and decided the Spirit Breath Race should capture and breed valuable wild monsters.
• Little Mage sold spectral crystals, Stardust Sand, and Rotworld Mycelium, sacrificed unwanted plants and equipment, and earned 3.39 million Sacrificial Power from the initial round of sacrifices.
• Little Mage bought spirit plant seeds and pure Energy Crystals, then showed the seeds to the Seven Thrones and assigned the Shadow King to oversee their planting.
• Little Mage gave the Soul King a potion that healed his accumulated injuries, and the Seven Thrones recognized the Mysterious Shop as a chance for the Spirit Breath Race to pursue a more ambitious future.

Qi Sheng followed a Forum debate about physical evolution and weapons, then watched the Lord of Bliss develop a new way to use the Elysium Players. The Lord of Bliss decided to turn them into mobile sources of corruption called Elysium Heavenly Demons, and Qi Sheng believed the idea might succeed.

• Qi Sheng read a popular Forum post debating why Monster World's civilizations favored physical enhancement over weapons, along with a detailed reply arguing that physical evolution was efficient and adaptable.
• Guide told Qi Sheng that low-level civilizations could develop either path, while high-level civilizations converged on using energy and could switch between them.
• Xie Yu reported that the Elysium Insect Tide and Elysium Purple Tide had adopted a third-generation command system, while the Elysium Players remained expensive and poorly suited to large-scale warfare.
• After seeing a powerful creature fall into corruption at Elysium Branch Hall 83, the Lord of Bliss proposed giving Elysium Players derivative imprints of the Jile Rule so they could corrupt beings across Monster World.
• The Lord of Bliss planned to reward Elysium Players according to the Elysium Power they generated, and Xie Yu agreed that the Heavenly Demon System could expand the Elysium Tribe's reach.
• Qi Sheng observed the plan and considered the roaming corruption system a promising innovation.

Three Elysium players sought ways to earn returns from derivative rule imprints while Hong Yang and his team witnessed the Cave World being remade by the Blue Lantern Race’s Adventurer Rule. Qi Sheng learned that the new Adventurer World would offer players rewards for completing instances, and decided to open a route for them once it was ready.

• Three players received Elysium derivative rule imprints, and Forum discussions explored how to use them without harming existing player ventures.
• Hong Yang, A Qi, Lao Wu, and Xiao Ye killed a Rock Armored Beetle and absorbed the energy it yielded.
• The Cave World began collapsing as the Blue Lantern Race’s Adventurer Rule reconstructed its scenarios, and Hong Yang’s team was sent back to the Little Black Room.
• Shangguan Xingfeng posted that the Blue Lantern Race was turning the Cave World into an Adventurer World with fixed instances and challenges.
• Qi Sheng learned that the Blue Lantern Race rewarded adventurers with resources while cultivating nearby races for eventual harvest, and planned to open a direct route for players.

Players debated how to divide Adventurer World loot before Hong Yang led his five-person team into the Bone Throne instance. They defeated its first-act boss, Bone Vanguard Karon, and obtained a valuable Rule Fragment, leaving the team rich and the regional channel furious with envy.

• Players on the Forum proposed roll, gold, DKP, and hybrid groups as ways to distribute instance rewards.
• Hong Yang's team selected Bone Throne and entered its bone-filled wasteland, where they fought Skeleton Warriors and collected Divine Forging Coins and a spirit plant.
• The team reached the Royal City gates, where Bone Vanguard Karon appeared and charged them on his skeletal warhorse.
• Hong Yang, Old Wu, A Qi, Xiao Ye, and Xiao Hua coordinated their attacks and destroyed Karon, earning the City Gate Key.
• The boss dropped Wailing Spine, a level 4 spirit plant, and a Rule Fragment of March of the Dead worth 468,000 sacrificial power if sacrificed.
• Xiao Ye posted a screenshot of the rare drop on the Forum, and Hong Yang shared it in the regional channel, drawing curses and an attempted low offer.

Hong Yang’s team fought through Bone King City, learned that the instance preserved the Bone Race’s destruction, and defeated the second-act boss before being wiped out in the third act. After selling the March of the Dead Fragment to Little Mage, the team returned to instance challenges, while Di Nian prepared to unite the five nodes and attack the Golden Ocean Domain.

• Hong Yang’s team cleared the Bone Guards, collected their drops, and learned from the murals and Guide that the Blue Lantern Race had destroyed the Bone Race and preserved its final moments as an instance.
• Hong Yang and his teammates defeated Thousand-Jointed Burial Bone, claimed four rewards, and later died fighting the third-act boss.
• Hong Yang watched Divine Hall Guild’s speedrun video, then agreed with his teammates to sell the March of the Dead Fragment and listed it for 800,000 sacrificial power.
• Little Mage bought the fragment for the Spirit Breath Race, while A Lan learned it had sold and began offering more on the forum.
• Di Nian told the allied spirits to gather at his node so they could combine their strength and attack the Golden Ocean Domain.

Di Nian Evil Spirit united with the four great Evil Spirits to attack the Gigantification Domain, but the Golden Domain’s Rule-bearing Giant Tiger turned the battle against them. The Combat Zerg and Player Race mobilized toward the battlefield, and Evil Eye announced that their entry was compulsory despite Di Nian Bully’s objection.

• Di Nian Evil Spirit summoned Blood Vein, Rotting Heart, Gui Ya, and Iron Spine, proposed that they become Demon Gods, and led their Dark Tide against the Golden Domain.
• The five Evil Spirits coordinated their troops against the giant beasts, but a golden Giant Tiger appeared and used its Power of Rules to heal the beasts and devastate the Dark Tide.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit ordered his forces to focus on Frenzy and Death Calamity troops, while the Main Brain assembled the Combat Zerg and sent its growing army east.
• Divine King assembled more than a million players with Tourist No. 1’s help and led the Player Legion toward the Gigantification Domain.
• Evil Eye reported that the Player Race and Combat Zerg were approaching and requesting permission to join the battle, but announced that their entry was compulsory when Di Nian Bully denied the request.

Di Nian Evil Spirit, the Player Race, and the Combat Zerg converged on Divine Tiger’s Gigantification Domain, turning the fight against the Giant Beast Legion into a three-sided war. As the armies clashed, Di Nian, Star Network, and the Zerg Master Brain each brought their distinct command methods to bear, leaving the four Evil Spirits stunned by Di Nian’s full tactical power.

• Divine Tiger enlarged the Giant Beast Legion, while Di Nian Evil Spirit realized the Player Race and Combat Zerg were approaching and explained to the four Evil Spirits how those factions had repeatedly obstructed his expansion.
• The Combat Zerg and Player Race reached the golden domain, and their armies entered the battle after the players answered the Zerg’s war cries with chaotic shouting.
• Di Nian yielded the two flanks to avoid being surrounded, and the Insect Race and Player Legion joined the Dark Tide in attacking the Giant Beast Legion from three directions.
• The Damage-Soaking Style players charged into the giant beasts, using their bodies and Gang Qi to break through the enemy’s ranks as the three factions’ forces fought amid competing attacks.
• Di Nian took control of the Five Evil Eyes and used battlefield data to direct the Dark Tide, while Star Network and the Zerg Master Brain activated their own systems for coordinating their armies.
• Di Nian, Star Network, and the Zerg Master Brain engaged in a high-speed contest of battlefield command, and the four Evil Spirits watched in awe as Di Nian demonstrated his full tactical ability.

The Three Great Disasters tore through the Giant Beast Legion and pressed its survivors back toward the Twelve Divine Pillars and the gigantification rule imprint. As the factions fought over the imprint, Monster Beast Style players made a desperate stand to preserve their fading playstyle, while Di Nian Evil Spirit prepared to prove how far it had grown.

• The Star Network, Di Nian Evil Spirit, and the Main Brain turned their attacks on the Giant Beast Legion, using coordinated bombardments, curse-marked evil spirits, and endless Insect Tide waves to slaughter its warriors.
• The Divine Tiger raced between the collapsing battle lines, but the Three Great Disasters steadily overwhelmed it and forced the surviving giant beasts toward the domain's core.
• The Three Factions renewed their struggle over the gigantification rule imprint, which each wanted for its own growth and future.
• Monster Beast Style players recalled their playstyle's decline and rallied around Never Extinguishing's forum post, then fought with everything they had to keep it alive.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit reflected on its defeats and growth, then ordered the Dark Tide Legion to regroup into precise attacks against the battlefield's weak points.
• The Monster Beast Style players, Di Nian Evil Spirit's Dark Tide, the Insect Race, and the Giant Beast Legion clashed in a final frenzy across the bloodied golden sand.