Chapter Summaries

Qi Sheng investigated the Dark Tide and Insect Tide’s synchronized growth, upgraded the player shop, built a Main City, and searched the Pale Continent for another beginner route. He discovered the Elysium Tribe had built a clumsy imitation of the Dark Tide’s legion system and found what appeared to be an Elysium Master Brain.

• Guide told Qi Sheng that the Insect Tide near the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range received spatial energy infusions, and Qi Sheng and Guide suspected the Supreme Master Brain was growing it to counter Di Nian Evil Spirit.
• Qi Sheng created twenty-eight shop products, including Energy Paste and Repair Stones, then transformed Emperor Tomb Village into a Main City with districts and functional buildings.
• Qi Sheng reviewed players’ suggestions on the Forum and set out with Guide to find another Spatial Node on the Pale Continent.
• Qi Sheng and Guide discovered an Elysium High Tower whose Bliss Warriors controlled incomplete creature replicas in a chaotic battle, revealing the Lord of Bliss’s flawed attempt to imitate the Dark Tide.
• Guide showed Qi Sheng a huge purple creature, and Qi Sheng recognized it as an Elysium Master Brain rather than an Insect Tide Master Brain.

Qi Sheng examined the Lord of Bliss’s failed imitations of powerful legions, opened the Rimewinter Snowfield, and recruited seventy thousand new players. As the newcomers battled the Purple Tide, the Lord of Bliss learned that the Player Race had appeared in the snowfield.

• Qi Sheng discovered that the Elysium Master Brain produced unstable creatures and that the Elysium Divine Lamp was a weak imitation of the Blue Lantern Race’s rule-altering power.
• Qi Sheng had Yan Ming build a bare-bones Rimewinter Snowfield space, then opened it and recruited forty thousand Human Race players, twenty thousand Skyfeather Race players, and ten thousand Gillfish Race and Abyssal Fish Race players.
• Yuling failed to secure Darklands access through the official Skyfeather Race distribution, but downloaded a cracked version and entered the game.
• The newcomers explored the snowfield, where Skyfeather Race players struggled with their Life Soul abilities and the army encountered the clumsy Elysium Evil Spirits.
• The Purple Tide defeated the disorganized newcomers until the Elysium Evil Spirits crossed beyond the High Tower’s control range and collapsed, prompting players to discuss the Lord of Bliss’s imitation of the Dark Tide.
• The Bliss Warriors reported the Player Race’s arrival in the Rimewinter Snowfield to the Lord of Bliss, who was hiding in an Independent Space.

Qi Sheng considered incorporating defeated factions’ world rules into the Challenger System as players explored the Rimewinter Snowfields and discovered a resource-rich domain guarded by powerful monsters. Meanwhile, the Lord of Bliss accepted the new players as training opponents and resolved to keep expanding his experiments as he pursued a path to the world’s pinnacle.

• Qi Sheng learned that the Challenger System could absorb outside world rules by spending Sacrificial Power, and he decided that defeated factions’ cheats could strengthen the Player Legion.
• Yuling led a Skyfeather Race party through the Rimewinter Snowfields, where they discovered Snow Giant Ridge and killed groups of Snow Velvet Balls to gain levels and materials.
• The Skyfeather players found the Kongyuan Peak domain node, but a level-92 Snow Ridge Great Desolation killed them before they could approach it.
• Qi Sheng found 387 Snow Ridge Great Desolations guarding the node and shifted his attention to the players’ battle against the Elysium Evil Spirits.
• The Lord of Bliss told Xie Yu that the new players were suitable opponents for the Testing Ground and explained that he was studying three powerful races to develop his own path.
• The Lord of Bliss recalled his ambition to rise beyond his former world and ordered Xie Yu to increase investment in the Testing Ground so they could learn about and eventually defeat their rivals.

Qi Sheng discovered that Kuxing had killed an Evil Spirit Warrior at a Dark Tide domain and issued a mission to capture the rule domain. Meanwhile, Meng Yuan used Darklands’ Library to complete a Spirit Plant assignment, unknowingly submitting game knowledge that earned him an S rating and a job offer; the chapter left him facing a visit from a professor eager to inspect the nonexistent Earthspring Star.

• Qi Sheng observed the player wars, learned that Kuxing had killed the Evil Spirit Warrior at the Ten Thousand Forests domain, and issued a Purification Mission to seize it.
• Meng Yuan, worried that his neglected Earthspring Flower would ruin his exam, found detailed growth records in the Emperor Tomb Village Library and memorized them.
• Meng Yuan submitted the records to the Spirit Plant Cultivation Center, where Tian Bei simulated them and confirmed they could produce the previously unknown Earthspring Star.
• Tian Bei contacted Meng Yuan, awarded his submission an S rating, and offered him a position at the Spirit Plant Cultivation Center without an exam.
• Tian Bei asked to see Meng Yuan’s Earthspring Star in person, while Meng Yuan realized he had submitted knowledge from the game despite having only a withered flower.

Meng Yuan’s false Earthspring Star submission revealed that Darklands’ cracked version contained undisclosed Spirit Plant technology, prompting both human and Eclipse Race leaders to reconsider the game’s significance. Meanwhile, players struggled against powerful Dark Tide Evil Spirits, and Li Zheng’s group rushed to meet the returning Broken Star, who had brought his Aircraft along.

• Tian Bei discovered that Meng Yuan’s Earthspring Star was a withered flower, but learned Meng Yuan had copied viable cultivation information from the cracked game’s library and gave him another chance.
• Bai Chen told Human Federation leaders that the cracked version was more complete than the official game and urged them to prepare resources and currency for future developments.
• The Star Network advised Eclipse Race leaders that ordinary players, fun, and stability could support the higher-dimensional being’s plans, and warned them to ignore its in-game decisions if it gained access.
• Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinders Group fought level-46 Dark Tide Evil Spirits in the Evil Moon Domain, using coordinated attacks to defeat curse-type units before retreating to recover.
• When the Guide Avatar said Broken Star had returned to recruit players but was far away, Li Zheng’s group deliberately died and hurried back from the Respawn Point.
• Broken Star carried his Aircraft toward the World Barrier, and Li Zheng’s group arrived to find him surrounded by players and holding it overhead.

Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinders Group returned from the dead and won permission to rejoin the Against the Tide Training Camp, then crossed dangerous terrain to reach Wildwind Fortress. There, they reunited with the cadets who had mourned them, leaving Ghost Eye and the others stunned by their sudden appearance.

• Broken Star learned that Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinders Group had revived, then Elder You approved their return to training and ordered them to repeat the journey to Phase Two.
• Li Zheng and his group returned to Snow Valley Training Camp, met Kuang Sha, and set out again after a meal and an overnight stay.
• The group fought Soul Beasts in the White Plains and endured dangerous wildlife in the mountains before reaching Wildwind Fortress.
• Yan Sha registered the group at Wildwind Fortress and warned them that they would have to make up their missed training.
• Ghost Eye and the Snow Valley cadets visited the cemetery to mourn the Player Race trainees, then turned in shock when Li Zheng and his group appeared alive behind them.

Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinders Group reunited with the Snow Valley trainees, joined Phase Two Training Camp, and began provoking Huan Ya and the other trainees with hunger-based tactics. Meanwhile, Di Nian Evil Spirit took control of a Dark Tide node, tested psychological taunts against players, and began secretly siphoning its resources while planning an infiltration tactic.

• Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinders Group reunited with Ghost Eye and the Snow Valley trainees, who welcomed them back with a rough brawl before celebrating their return.
• Ghost Eye explained that Huan Ya and the Dragon Valley trainees had been dominating Phase Two Training Camp, and Li Zheng promised to restore Snow Valley’s dignity.
• Yan Sha introduced the returning players, and they challenged Huan Ya before Sha Xin passed Yan Sha’s energy-ball exercise with help from his teammates.
• Li Zheng started a dining hall brawl by declaring lunch canceled, launching the Player Race’s hunger-endurance tactic against Huan Ya and the other trainees.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit took remote control of a Dark Tide node, tested taunts that provoked players into fighting, then used battles as cover to siphon resources.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit changed the Dark Tide’s unit composition to make it easier for players to kill and began planning a tactic he called Infiltration Tactics.

Qi Sheng chose Fat Peach as the first pet template while Di Nian Evil Spirit created a Player Template to infiltrate the players and learn their secrets. After repeated failures, Evil Eye found a way to imitate the player-only mark, and Di Nian’s latest infiltration attempt went unnoticed.

• Qi Sheng and Guide analyzed Fat Peach, a resource-producing monster raised by the Red Lotus Race, and recorded its life structure as a pet template.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit used Dark Tide energy and Evil Eye’s data to create a human Player Template with simulated abilities and lifelike expressions.
• Di Nian entered a player camp to gather information but was identified through the analysis ability and killed by the players.
• Di Nian’s infiltration plan spread across the Player Forum, and he made repeated attempts with altered Player Templates, each of which the players exposed and killed.
• Evil Eye traced the players’ discovery to a mark visible only to them and devised a way to simulate it using recorded pupil movements and player data.
• After a day of testing, Di Nian displayed a burning Crimson Flame mark above and to the right of his head, and players at the camp ignored him.

Di Nian Evil Spirit infiltrated player squads to gather intelligence, but players recognized him and used his free combat support while feeding him contradictory fabricated backgrounds. After he abandoned the plan, Qi Sheng reviewed new Primordial life souls and regional developments, then ordered Guide to recruit 100,000 players, prioritizing humans, the Giant Python Race, and the Night Demon Race.

• Di Nian Evil Spirit joined a player squad disguised as a mage, and Fateful Encounter identified him as a Dark Tide unit, but the squad kept him around for free damage and protection.
• The players gave Di Nian Evil Spirit incompatible stories about the Player Race, prompting him and Evil Eye to conclude that the squad had deceived him and exploited his combat power.
• Qi Sheng noted that the players’ shared communication system and Guide’s surveillance had doomed the infiltration, then reviewed the newly contained Insight and blood reversal life souls.
• Qi Sheng surveyed the Rimewinter Snowfield’s resource domains and decided to recruit 100,000 players, allocating 60,000 slots to humans and 40,000 to the Giant Python Race and Night Demon Race to strengthen melee builds.
• Qi Sheng told Guide to begin handing out access.

The Giant Python Race and Night Demon Race obtained access to Darklands through a cracked-version link, and their chiefs reported the incident to the Eclipse Race while allowing players to keep using it. Qi Sheng investigated a frozen Shuyan Race scenario and discovered it was a Book World driven by Ink Power and shaped by an unseen author, leaving him wondering whether its creator had gone on hiatus.

• The Giant Python Race and Night Demon Race downloaded the cracked version of Darklands, and their chiefs fought before agreeing to report the link to the Eclipse Race.
• The Night Demon chief told Eclipse Administrator No. 3 about the link, and the administrator said the distributed access would not be revoked while asking about a currency exchange.
• Qi Sheng observed the two races' players charging into battles in Darklands, where many died quickly because they ignored the game's settings and enemies' strength.
• Qi Sheng investigated a frozen domain near the Ascension Race Territory and replayed the Shuyan Race's battle against the Ascension Race, finding that Shuyan warriors had received rule-altering assistance.
• Qi Sheng and Guide traced the domain's origin to a Book, Pen, and Wield, learning that the scene ran on Ink Power and could be rewritten by an unseen author.
• Qi Sheng suggested that the author had stopped updating, leaving the Shuyan scene frozen, and wondered whether starting a new book would create a new scene.

Qi Sheng discovered that Shuyan used stories and readers to generate Ink Power, then watched it abandon one story and create a cultivation world designed to undermine the Ascension Race. When the Ascension Race attacked the new scene, Shuyan resumed the story and the two races went to war, drawing players toward the battlefield.

• Qi Sheng learned that the first four stories in Shuyan’s Rulebook had collapsed after outside factions, including the Dark Tide, invaded and killed their protagonists.
• Guide explained that Shuyan gained Ink Power mainly from readers reached through projections, while warfare and devouring provided a secondary source.
• Shuyan abandoned the fifth story, reclaimed its Ink Power, and began writing a cultivation story about Great Sun that exposed the Ascension Race’s parasitic control of cultivators.
• Great Sun discovered the Ascension Race’s scheme, killed the parasite within him, and joined other factions in preparing to defy heaven.
• The Ascension Race attacked Shuyan’s scene, prompting the Rulebook to continue Great Sun’s story and start a war between the two races.
• Players gathered around a livestream of the battle, while some headed toward the battlefield hoping to capture pets or finish off weakened monsters.

Players flocked to the battle between the Shuyan cultivators and the Ascension Race to scavenge rewards and capture weakened Book-Speech Warriors, while Qi Sheng monitored their gains and prepared a pet system. Shuyan spread a story undermining belief in ascension as his forces fought a prolonged war, and Qi Sheng planned to keep developing the players steadily.

• Players gathered around the Shuyan Scenario, learned from Guide that Shuyan controlled the cultivators through plot changes, and searched for chances to claim battlefield rewards.
• A gravely wounded Shuyan cultivator crashed near a player ship, and Yinzi used Sacrificial Power to reshape it into a healer that the team could control.
• Players captured Book-Speech Warriors and shared capture advice, while teams earned large rewards by killing wounded Ascension Race members.
• Shuyan spread his story across Ascension Island's small worlds to weaken the Ascension Race's supply of fighters and sustain a prolonged war.
• Qi Sheng observed the players' gains, advanced development of the pet system, and considered building other features around Primordial Abilities.

The Challenger System launched a Pet Shop where players could buy and raise five types of pets, and Pei Yun adopted a Fat Peach he named Marshmallow before publishing a detailed guide. Players debated the new pets and their costs on the Forum, while captured free-roaming pets remained unable to revive.

• Qi Sheng’s update added the Pet Shop, portable pet spaces, and purification for captured pets, while confirming that freely captured pets could not be revived.
• Pei Yun found that his recent diet of spirit food had made his mother’s cooking taste bland, then logged in after Divine King alerted him to the pet feature.
• Pei Yun explored the Pet Shop’s five starter pets and their abilities, then bought a Fat Peach and named it Marshmallow.
• Pei Yun spent 1,500 sacrificial power to create a pet space and wrote a guide reviewing the pets for the Forum.
• Players discussed the pet feature, complained about its sacrificial-power costs, and lamented that captured pets still could not be revived.

Qi Sheng monitored the war between the Ascension Race and Shuyan while players profited from both sides. After the Ejia Race massacred the Soil-Eating Race, Fang Zhi’s escort party was wiped out, and thousands of furious players formed a Warband to march against the Ejia.

• Qi Sheng reviewed pet adoption figures, tracked the players’ gains from the Ascension Race–Shuyan war, and learned how players viewed the known factions.
• Fang Zhi and his team discovered that the Ejia Race had slaughtered the Soil-Eating Race, then helped the surviving elder cremate the dead and promised to carry their ash-made slab to the cemetery.
• The elder gave Fang Zhi the Soil-Eating Race’s heirloom and burned himself to combine his remains with the villagers’ ashes, forming the slab.
• E Jiu and 277 other Ejia warriors ambushed Fang Zhi’s party, destroyed the slab, and killed the players despite their efforts to protect it.
• After Fang Zhi’s account and video spread across the Forum, thousands of players gathered, formed a Warband, and marched to attack the Ejia Race.

E Jiu’s Ejia Race squad was discovered and killed by players, who then attacked the Evil Armor Race Territory and forced E Gu to retreat. Di Nian Evil Spirit sent the Dark Tide to attack the Ejia Race and draw the players back, but the Dark Tide overwhelmed E Gu’s forces; afterward, Di Nian began directing Evil Eye to mobilize it against the players’ target.

• E Jiu led more than two hundred Ejia Race warriors on a hunt, but players ambushed them after Light Spirit Feathers spotted their movements, and the players killed E Jiu when he begged for mercy.
• Qi Sheng located the Evil Armor Race Territory and helped Guide provide its route to the players, who gathered in force and launched attacks against the Ejia Race.
• Divine King commanded the fifty-thousand-player assault as players of several races, varied builds, and Life Souls overwhelmed the Evil Armor Warriors; Extraction proved especially effective against their plant-based armor.
• E Gu ordered his people to withdraw behind a wall of steel, but a Dark Tide appeared ahead and blocked their escape, leaving the players to pursue them.
• The Dark Tide devoured the Ejia Race’s qi-blood and armor, and E Gu’s forces were overwhelmed as the Evil Spirits grew stronger from their deaths.
• Di Nian Evil Spirit learned that the players were fighting the Ejia Race and ordered Evil Eye to mobilize the Dark Tide against them to draw their attention back toward the Evil Moon Domain.

The Di Nian Evil Spirit fought the players with the Dark Tide, stealing the Ejia Race’s resources and testing a tactic that lured players with valuable energy crystals. Five days later, Qi Sheng added three Primordial Monsters and two resource nodes to the players’ holdings, then announced healing points and an auction for plots in the Emperor Tomb space.

• The Di Nian Evil Spirit’s Dark Tide devoured the Ejia Race, clashed with the pursuing players, and divided the Ejia Race’s resources with them before withdrawing toward the Evil Moon Domain.
• The Di Nian Evil Spirit used Calamity Bows to kill the players’ healing summons, then sent Baleful Shadow Wraiths carrying energy crystals to lure players away from their formation.
• Qi Sheng observed that the players benefited from the prolonged fighting and let the Di Nian Evil Spirit continue testing tactics against them.
• Over five days, the players contained Mental Shockwave, Brain Overclocking, and Withering, while the Illusory Sea and Eye of the Wind resource nodes merged into the Emperor Tomb Village space.
• Qi Sheng decided to use Spirit Spring Water for limited free healing at teleportation points and to auction three plots in the Emperor Tomb space for guild use.
• The update announcement prompted the Apocalypse Technology Guild and Pharmacist Alliance to raise funds for the auction, while rising demand drove up the price of Sacrificial Power.

The Emperor Tomb Village auction awarded its three plots to the Apocalypse Technology Guild, Pharmacist Guild, and Divine Hall Guild. Meanwhile, Tong Xin sold his old-game assets, quit his jobs, and secured Darklands Game Access, leaving him ready to rejoin his friends.

• Yang Tianxuan and Yu Ze agreed that the Apocalypse Technology Guild would bid for plot 1 and the Pharmacist Guild for plot 2, with Yang promising to support Yu Ze if needed.
• The auction ended with the Apocalypse Technology Guild winning plot 1 for 720,000 sacrificial power, the Pharmacist Guild winning plot 2 for 680,000, and the Divine Hall Guild winning plot 3 for 667,000.
• Tong Xin sold an epic staff for 18,000 Credit Points, worked his radiation and bar shifts, and accepted a 120,000-yuan gift from his friends to help him obtain Darklands access.
• Tong Xin liquidated his Land of Sin equipment and storage, resigned from his job, and stocked up on supplies while preparing to try for Game Access.
• Tong Xin performed several luck rituals before the next access distribution and successfully obtained Darklands Game Access, then shared proof with the Kindergarten Passionate Chat Group.

Tong Xin finally bought official access to Darklands, but found its mechanics and realism differed sharply from the Cracked Version his friends played. His forum post exposed the possibility of two versions, prompting the Human Federation to watch events unfold and the Eclipse Race to announce that its First Consul would address the controversy the next day.

• Tong Xin created a character named Kindergarten Director, entered Feng Yunlan, and discovered that Darklands used Talent Specializations and a skill tree instead of the Life Soul system his friends had described.
• After encountering problems with the game's realism and accidentally befriending the wrong player, Tong Xin called Iron Hammer, who suggested the official game was a stripped-down version of the Cracked Version.
• Iron Hammer told the group that the two versions seemed to be different games, and his forum post led players to realize that many of them had downloaded the Cracked Version.
• Tong Xin posted about his official game's differences, faced disbelief, and added screenshots and his receipt to support his claims.
• The Human Federation's leaders chose to let the discussion spread while they waited for the Eclipse Race's response, and the Eclipse Race announced that the First Consul would explain the controversy the following day.

Administrator No. 1 revealed that the secret cracked game was Monster World, a free, next-generation virtual world being tested separately from Darklands. After the briefing sparked worldwide anger, excitement, and diplomatic interest, Qi Sheng decided to prepare an official Monster World website and distribute future access publicly at a rate determined by the players’ progress.

• Administrator No. 1 confirmed that Monster World was a closed-beta game whose realism and AI surpassed Darklands, and said the Star Network controlled access and intended the game for players of every race.
• Administrator No. 1 explained that the Eclipse Race tested an internal Version A while outside beta testers played Version B, and announced refund options tied to Monster World’s in-game currency.
• The briefing revealed that Monster World could support experiments using realistic and extreme virtual environments, prompting leaders of the Earth Alliance’s races to seek beta access and assess its technological potential.
• Players celebrated learning that the Star Network had granted their beta access and that Version B would become the focus of future development, while Eclipse Race members expressed trust in the Star Network and sought access.
• Qi Sheng approved the Eclipse Race’s explanation, recognized that the refund plan could secure resources for Monster World, and decided to create an official website and distribute future access publicly according to the Player Legion’s growth.

Qi Sheng expanded the Novice Village spaces by leading players to contain the Fallen Leaf and Thunder Lion Domain Nodes, then launched Monster World's official website and announced a public access giveaway. After Tong Xin explored the site and watched battle footage, its countdown to a qualification contest reignited his hope of getting into the game, while players across the Earth Alliance rushed to compete for scarce access.

• Qi Sheng announced Purification Missions for Fallen Leaf and Thunder Lion, and players contained Fallen Leaf before advancing on Thunder Lion.
• Players struggled against Thunder Lion's Phantom Nightmares, discovered Brain Overclocking reduced their mental damage, and contained the node after two days of fighting.
• Qi Sheng launched Monster World's official website and planned to distribute ten thousand player slots.
• Tong Xin, regretting that he had missed earlier chances to play, explored the website and watched immersive battle footage through his Game Pod.
• The official website displayed a twenty-four-hour countdown to a qualification contest, prompting Tong Xin and users across the Earth Alliance to eagerly anticipate the access distribution.