Recaps

Moli'an offered to take the Warden to the Mother Goddess Star, but after weighing humanity’s needs against the risks, he decided to stay. The Mother Goddess Elves were preparing to leave the Milky Way with the real Liu Ni and a human technical team, and Lu Xiao ended by teasing the Warden about Moli'an’s interest in him.

• Moli'an asked the Warden whether he had considered her suggestion and said her people would leave in two days.
• The Warden explained that Moli'an wanted him to accompany the Mother Goddess Elves, and Lu Xiao said he would respect the Warden’s choice.
• The Warden decided to remain because his knowledge of humanity could be used against it if he joined the elves.
• The Warden told Lu Xiao that Moli'an might know the Director was impersonating the Goddess but had chosen not to expose him.
• The Warden outlined plans for the real Liu Ni and a human technical assistance team led by the Director to leave with the Mother Goddess Elves.
• Lu Xiao asked whether Moli'an had taken a liking to the Warden, then joked that he should ask her to leave him a child.

Lu Xiao joked with the Warden about using a child to persuade Moli'an, then explored the hot spring with Dart and found a mineral-encrusted bone. The group returned to Chang'an City, where the Warden sent the bone for testing and the Doctor hosted a banquet.

• Lu Xiao proposed leaving a child with Moli'an as leverage, then admitted he had been joking when the Warden grew uncomfortable.
• Antie helped those on shore enter the water, and Nico brought Futiya over to chat with Moli'an.
• Lu Xiao and Dart dove to the hot spring's bottom, where Lu Xiao found a mineral-encrusted bone.
• The group flew back to Chang'an City, and the Warden arranged for the bone to be tested at the Professional Institution.
• The Doctor hosted a banquet at the Hotel, where Moli'an drank from hoses connected to two Water Tanks.

The Doctor told Lu Xiao that the finger bone he found in the hot spring belonged to a god-level life-form and contained residual divinity. After hearing how Lu Xiao discovered it, the Doctor asked him to return with equipment, suspecting that buried powerful life-forms had caused widespread mutations in the Present World’s oceans.

• The Doctor explained that tests identified the bone as a god-level life-form’s finger bone with residual divinity.
• Lu Xiao recounted finding the bone at the bottom of the hot spring, where the underwater temperature was unusually high.
• The Doctor speculated that powerful life-forms buried in the oceans had caused ocean creatures to mutate by feeding on their corpses.
• The Doctor asked Lu Xiao to revisit the site with equipment, but said to wait until he had prepared it.

Lu Xiao accompanied the Doctor to inspect the new body prepared for Daimon and learned about Yao Ling’s upgrades and Number Two’s firepower. They arrived at the factory producing the Doctor’s doubles, where Daimon’s body was being made.

• The Doctor showed Lu Xiao Daimon’s soul and invited him to see the body he had prepared.
• The Doctor introduced Number Two, his fully mechanized bodyguard, and revealed that Yao Ling was his Number One.
• The Doctor explained that Number Two had greater conventional firepower, while Yao Ling could keep upgrading herself using scientific knowledge stored in her Biochip.
• Lu Xiao asked for a Biochip, but declined after the Doctor explained its limits and the cost of building a mechanical body.
• Lu Xiao and the Doctor reached the factory making Daimon’s body and passed through rows of Doctors who all stared at Lu Xiao.

Doctor used the Chosen One of 'Death' to weave Daimon's soul into a prepared body, but the revived Daimon had no consciousness. Doctor began creating one for him and brought out a 'Cortical Disk'.

• Lu Xiao learned that Daimon's consciousness had collapsed before it could be backed up, leaving Doctor with only his soul and a prepared body.
• Doctor introduced the Chosen One of 'Death', who knitted Daimon's soul into a glowing green hat and placed it on the body's head.
• The body opened its eyes, but Daimon remained without consciousness, and the Chosen One of 'Death' departed as black feathers.
• Doctor began creating a consciousness for Daimon, and another Doctor entered carrying a 'Cortical Disk' made of tissue resembling human skin.

Doctor transferred a new consciousness into Daimon and asked Lu Xiao to guide him, then Daimon woke up as a blank slate. On the Mother God Elves’ departure day, Moli'an promised to return with a dowry if the Warden won their wager, and Postman Augusis revealed she was the eldest daughter of the Andreiro Family.

• Doctor explained that Daimon’s new consciousness had no memories or thoughts and asked Lu Xiao to teach him.
• Lu Xiao accepted responsibility for guiding Daimon, who woke up on the operating table and looked at Lu Xiao and Doctor in confusion.
• Two days later, the Mother God Elves and the Technical Assistance Team gathered in Chang'an City's Planned District for the elves’ departure.
• Moli'an asked the Warden to accompany her, but he reminded her of their wager about whether humanity would light the Star.
• Moli'an agreed to return and witness the Warden’s failure, promising to bring a valuable dowry if he won, then gave her full name as Moli'an Andreiro.
• Postman Augusis told the Warden that Moli'an was the eldest daughter of the Andreiro Family.

Augusis explained the Andreiro Family’s origins, power, and tradition of recruiting talented males as live-in sons-in-law, leading the Warden to suspect Moli'an wanted him for the family’s internal power struggles. He dismissed the idea because he was only a Star-level Life, unaware that Moli'an had offered him a place on the Mother Goddess Elves’ Think Tank.

• The Warden asked Augusis whether the Andreiro Family was a major family among the Mother Goddess Elves.
• Augusis explained that the Andreiro Family ranked second, and that its head, Andreiro, had been a Fallen Elf Star God who married into the Mother Goddess Elves and ascended to World God.
• Augusis said the Andreiro Family controlled a third of the Mother Goddess Elves’ resources and foreign trade, and recruited exceptional males as live-in sons-in-law.
• Augusis suggested that Moli'an had taken an interest in the Warden and wanted him to marry into her family.
• The Warden connected Moli'an’s change in attitude to their business negotiations and imagined she wanted his strategic talent for the family’s internal struggles.
• The Warden decided the plan was unlikely because his Star-level Life would leave him vulnerable to more powerful rivals.

Yi Hao told Lu Xiao he planned to become famous enough to choose the Mother Goddess Elves’ Empress as his wife, while the Director prepared to lead a team into the depths of the stars. As the Director left without a farewell from Bai Suoyi, Bai Suoyi reflected on the words that had shaped his own name.

• Yi Hao told Lu Xiao that he had rejected Weidiya’s offer of Mother God Elf wives because he hoped to become famous enough to marry the Imperial Princess, then the Empress.
• Lu Xiao mocked Yi Hao’s ambition, and Yi Hao angrily challenged him before Lu Xiao reminded him of his Human Heart authority.
• The Director prepared to leave for the depths of the stars with Little Black, whose deification ritual remained incomplete.
• The Director lamented that Bai Suoyi had blocked his calls and had not come to say goodbye.
• Lucilla urged Bai Suoyi to offer the Director parting words, but Bai Suoyi said his son needed to shoulder his responsibilities.
• Bai Suoyi recalled his father’s words about putting the nation’s urgent needs before personal interests.

Bai Suoyi and Lucilla departed as the Mother Goddess Elves prepared to leave, signaling that humanity would soon face threats from species seeking its wealth and from major powers probing its backers. As the elves and humanity’s technical team were beamed aboard a warship, Liu Ni chose to remain and take responsibility for her civilization.

• Bai Suoyi suppressed his feelings about his father and left with Lucilla.
• The Mother Goddess Elves’ departure signaled that humanity would lose their protection and face attacks and probes from other species.
• Humanity’s leaders pursued the rushed attempt to ignite a star so they could register their species and gain a temporary buffer of safety.
• A shuttle-shaped Goddess Elves warship appeared above the square and beamed up the departing elves and humanity’s technical assistance team.
• Liu Ni reflected on her father, the soldiers, and Lu Xiao, then decided to shoulder her share of responsibility for humanity.

Lu Xiao, Dart, and the Doctor drained a hot spring and found the bones of what the Doctor believed were three Gods-level beings. The Doctor concluded that a civilization had existed underground long before the Creator adapted its world for humans, and that an unknown framework had kept the underground world from collapsing under gravity.

• Lu Xiao received the Doctor’s message to prepare, then met him with Dart and flew to the hot spring with the Doctor’s pump.
• The group pumped the hot spring dry and uncovered a deep pit filled with mineral-coated bones.
• The Doctor identified three different sets of characteristics among the bones and concluded that three Gods-level beings had died there.
• The Doctor suggested that an extinct underground civilization had already created a framework for a world before the Creator made it suitable for humans.
• The Doctor compared the Present World with the Dark Prison and the newer underground world, then proposed that invisible supports held the Present World together.

The Doctor and Lu Xiao concluded that the ancient remains might belong to a prior civilization whose immortal remains caused the ocean’s mutated creatures, and they considered whether a Great Old One could dwell on the seabed. After returning to Chang'an City, they found the Planned District nearly empty, and the Doctor warned Lu Xiao that a busy month lay ahead.

• The Doctor proposed that a destroyed civilization had left immortal remains that later mutated new life, including creatures in the ocean.
• Lu Xiao and the Doctor speculated that a Great Old One might live on the seabed, but Lu Xiao decided to explore the depths only after advancing.
• The Doctor, Lu Xiao, and Dart returned to Chang'an City after their half-day trip.
• Lu Xiao noticed that visitors had dwindled in the Planned District, and the Doctor told him to rest before a demanding month.

Ding Dan used Yao Ling and Gambler’s cover story to gain the Pigman Chief’s help in entering Dark Prison’s Gladiatorial Arena. As War Elephant, also called the Berserker, prepared to fight, Ding Dan ordered Yao Ling to challenge him.

• Ding Dan persuaded the dim-witted Pigman Chief to take him and Yao Ling to watch the gladiatorial fights.
• When the Pigman Chief reached for Yao Ling, she blasted his trotter down to bone and warned him that Ding Dan’s control over her did not extend to him.
• Gambler told Ding Dan that he had used Lies to establish his cover story among the Pigman Tribe.
• Ding Dan and the Pigman Chief watched the arena fill, and the chief explained that War Elephant had won ten matches by tearing apart his opponents.
• Ding Dan ordered Yao Ling to fight War Elephant, and she promised to end his winning streak despite doubting she could beat him without thermal weapons.

Ding Dan watched the arena bouts while learning about the Chaos Faction and its Blood Crystal economy. He expected the pigman chief’s gladiator to win, but the pigman was instead beaten badly, making Ding Dan suspect he had thrown the match.

• Ding Dan learned that a regular planned to have the battle pet War Elephant killed and considered why Chaos Faction beings had stayed in the Dark Prison.
• He learned that Yao Ling was valued at around fifty thousand Blood Crystals and that Blood Crystals served as the Chaos Faction’s unstable currency.
• Ding Dan watched the first bout end and learned that Bai Suoyi had supplied him with ten thousand Blood Crystals to cultivate connections.
• The pigman chief bet one hundred Blood Crystals on his gladiator, who fought an upright tiger in the second bout.
• Ding Dan predicted that the much larger pigman would win, but the tiger battered him until Ding Dan suspected the pigman was throwing the match.

The Pigman Chief celebrated a rigged arena victory and proposed that Ding Dan rig Yao Ling’s match against War Elephant, but Ding Dan refused. Yao Ling explained that despite giving War Elephant a thirty-seventy chance, she could defeat him with the advanced weapons Doctor had installed.

• The Pigman Chief’s Battle Pet lost after throwing the match, earning the Pigman Chief over nine thousand blood crystals from a hundred-crystal bet.
• The Pigman Chief suggested that Ding Dan have Yao Ling lose to War Elephant so they could profit from the odds, but Ding Dan refused because his race needed a victory.
• The Pigman Chief asked Ding Dan how Yao Ling would fare against War Elephant, and Yao Ling said the odds were thirty for her and seventy for him.
• Yao Ling clarified that she meant she would need three moves before War Elephant’s seventh-day funeral rites, and the chapter revealed that Doctor had equipped her with an internal ammunition space containing a nuclear warhead.

Ding Dan arranged for Yao Ling to face War Elephant in the seventh match while Sly and Fan Xing watched from the stands, unaware of Ding Dan’s arrival. The crowd gathered to cheer War Elephant’s bid for an eleventh consecutive victory as he entered the arena.

• Ding Dan planned for Yao Ling to fight War Elephant, intending to help the Saints’ planted mole survive the match.
• Sly and Fan Xing discussed who might have been sent from home, and Sly guessed it was his former instructor, Ding Dan.
• Sly and Fan Xing placed bets while they waited for the seventh match, which would pit deity-level fighters against each other.
• The spectators rose and cheered for Berserker and War Elephant as the gladiators entered the arena.
• Sly remarked that War Elephant looked bulkier than before as the crowd celebrated his chance to win eleven matches in a row.

Yao Ling faced War Elephant in the Gladiatorial Arena, where both had to maintain appearances for their own reasons. After War Elephant used a moral appeal to limit her firepower, the match began with him charging and Yao Ling preparing to fight.

• War Elephant entered the arena, bearing scars from his past victory over Chainsaw Butcher.
• Yao Ling appeared as his opponent, and spectators placed bets as the odds evened out.
• Yao Ling warned War Elephant about the gap between their strength, while he invoked their status as comrades to discourage her from using thermal weapons.
• War Elephant provoked Yao Ling because he needed her to fight convincingly, though he feared her attacks could kill him.
• When the bell rang, War Elephant lunged at Yao Ling, who formed steel spikes and opened the panels on her arms.

Yao Ling poisoned War Elephant during their fight, but he activated his rampage state and became too fast for her to predict. She avoided using her devastating thermal weapons and faced him with Tai Chi while Ding Dan watched, confident that War Elephant would eventually weaken.

• Yao Ling wounded War Elephant with poisoned steel spikes, slowing him before he activated his rampage state.
• War Elephant entered his berserker state, gaining immunity to toxins and greatly increased speed and strength.
• Ding Dan considered giving War Elephant the Positivity dagger and its counterpart, Confusion.
• Yao Ling found that her mechanical eyes could no longer track War Elephant and prepared to use Tai Chi rather than risk destroying the Beast Arena with thermal weapons.
• The Pigman Chief worried over his bet on Yao Ling, while Ding Dan remained confident that War Elephant would weaken when his rampage state ended.

Yao Ling used her superior resources, reinforced body, and vast combat experience to outlast War Elephant in the arena. She defeated him when his Rampage ended, leaving him exhausted and temporarily weakened by accumulated neurotoxins.

• Ding Dan knew that the rare-metal components in Yao Ling’s body were worth a fortune and gave her a decisive advantage over War Elephant.
• Sly asked Fan Xing how he would fare against War Elephant, and Fan Xing said he would lose in a regulated match but could kill him in a fight without rules; Sly said he could beat War Elephant either way.
• War Elephant entered the deepest stage of Rampage, but Yao Ling’s extensive combat knowledge and durable body let her learn his attacks and avoid serious harm.
• Yao Ling ignored the crowd’s boos by making her auditory system interpret them as praise, and she fought with greater spirit as the match continued.
• After about half an hour, Yao Ling punctured War Elephant with her steel spikes until he collapsed when his Rampage ended; the neurotoxins in his body had invaded his brain, though his deity body could recover.

Yao Ling defeated War Elephant, but a suspected neutral lifeform entered the arena as her next opponent, raising fears that the match was part of a plan against humanity. In a private box, the Pigman Chief eagerly tried to bet on the newcomer, only to discover his odds guaranteed a loss for anyone backing him.

• Yao Ling waited for her next opponent after defeating War Elephant, determined to face whoever had schemed against him.
• Yao Ling’s mechanical eyes identified the tall, black-robed newcomer as an unknown lifeform suspected to belong to the neutral faction.
• Sly and Fan Xing realized War Elephant might have been exposed and suspected the neutral lifeform’s appearance was a move against humanity.
• The Pigman Chief told Ding Dan he planned to bet everything on the newcomer and urged him to join in.
• The Pigman Chief learned the newcomer’s odds were 0.7 and protested that backing him meant losing thirty percent even if he won.

Yao Ling's duel against the neutral lifeform revealed its power to suppress physics and seize control of her body, while Doctor and Lu Xi worked to counter it. The chapter ended with Doctor facing the intelligence behind the opponent in a digital battlefield.

• Ding Dan suspected that War Elephant and the Saints might have been exposed, but Gambler relayed Doctor's instruction to trust Yao Ling and the Saints and not act rashly.
• Yao Ling opened the duel with four missiles, but they lost their propulsion and fell harmlessly when they reached the neutral lifeform.
• Doctor identified the enemy as an outer god and ordered Ding Dan to use Correction while Yao Ling prepared to unleash maximum firepower.
• The neutral lifeform infiltrated Yao Ling's Biochip and forced her body to twist uncontrollably as Doctor analyzed the breach.
• Lu Xi began rebuilding the Biochip's underlying logic while Doctor created a digital battlefield to confront the human face behind the neutral lifeform.

Doctor fought a digital lifeform from the Gardener Faction in a data battle that threatened both of their databases, while uncovering a possible struggle between "Technology" and "Time." Lu Xi joined the fight using the Present World's servers, helping stabilize the battle, but her support would end when the servers were destroyed.

• Doctor and the face bombarded each other's Digital Worlds with junk data containing hidden viral code.
• Doctor realized the face was likely a Gardener Faction digital lifeform sent to punish him, and that the fight could affect the conflict between "Technology" and "Time."
• As his Digital World filled with data, Doctor struggled to scan for viruses, send his own attacks, and decipher the opponent's unfamiliar programming language.
• Lu Xi finished reconstructing the Biochip's program and joined the battle through a cluster of Present World servers, despite the risk of destroying them.
• Lu Xi's intervention diverted some of the data and gave Doctor time to study the new programming language, bringing the two sides to a fragile balance dependent on the remaining servers.

Doctor and Lu Xi fought the face with hidden viruses and phishing programs while Doctor analyzed its programming language. Antie’s eerie program distracted the face long enough for Doctor to finish decoding the language and prepare a virus for himself and Lu Xi.

• Lu Xi overwhelmed the face with spam containing concealed viral code as Doctor analyzed its programming language.
• Doctor implanted a phishing program in his own system, causing useless data to flow back to the face, and Lu Xi followed his example.
• Human computer elites helped with limited data analysis while Antie wrote and uploaded a romantic program featuring a digital image of Driver, Hu Haichao.
• The face was shaken by Antie’s program and Doctor’s thousands of fireworks depicting people he knew, giving Doctor time to complete his analysis.
• Doctor used the face’s programming language to analyze the returning data, wrote a virus, and sent a copy to Lu Xi.

Doctor’s virus disrupted the database and helped Yao Ling and Ding Dan defeat the black-robed Neutral Lifeform. Claudius arrived afterward, demanded the Pigman Chief’s blood crystals, and confronted Ding Dan and Doctor over the deception involving War Elephant.

• Doctor’s virus overwhelmed the database, while Doctor sought to steal its confidential data and a portion of the Authority of “Technology.”
• Yao Ling regained control of her mechanical body, and Ding Dan followed Doctor’s command to unleash Small Missiles on the black-robed figure.
• The explosions killed the Neutral Lifeform, leaving Yao Ling alone in the arena as the spectators watched in disbelief.
• Claudius entered Ding Dan’s private box, identified himself as Claudius I, and ordered the Pigman Chief to surrender the blood crystals from the rigged match.
• Doctor admitted that War Elephant belonged to Ding Dan, and Claudius asked what punishment they deserved for deceiving an emperor.

Doctor questioned Claudius about his motives and the forces involved in the Beast Arena, learning that Cthulhu was using blood crystals to secretly create followers and planned to descend into the underground sea. Claudius asked Doctor to kill Cthulhu but refused to help with species registration because he belonged to the Chaos Faction.

• Doctor argued that neither War Elephant’s fights nor the sale of him involved deception, and Claudius agreed that Doctor had understood his position.
• Doctor asked why Claudius remained on the surface, and Claudius explained that the Mutual Aid Society helped him divert the attention of beings watching him.
• Claudius revealed that Cthulhu had tampered with every blood crystal, placing a fragment of his consciousness inside each one to turn its host into a follower.
• Claudius told Doctor that Cthulhu planned to recover his strength and then descend into the underground sea to retrieve something the other Outer Gods also wanted.
• Claudius asked Doctor to kill Cthulhu so the Outer Gods would stop watching the planet, then refused to help Doctor with species registration because he belonged to the Chaos Faction.

Doctor rejected Claudius's offer to join the Chaos Faction, while Claudius promised information about Cthulhu and left. Ding Dan and Gambler prepared to work with Claudius against Cthulhu, as Lu Xiao kept Warden company at the Hotel.

• Doctor declined Claudius's offer, believing humanity would face a purge if it joined the Chaos Faction.
• Claudius warned that no faction was united and said he would give Ding Dan information about the Outer God Cthulhu before vanishing.
• Ding Dan suspected Claudius held the authority of 'King,' and Gambler explained how Claudius had maneuvered Doctor into owing him a favor.
• Ding Dan and Gambler accepted that they would act as Claudius's blade against Cthulhu and planned to contact the Mutual Aid Society's forces.
• Doctor left to absorb the fruits of their victory, while Yao Ling returned after repairing her components and the group finished its business at the Beast Arena.
• Lu Xiao followed Warden around, and Warden stood at the Hotel's window staring at the distant Blood-red Hole.