Chapter Summaries

Lu Xiao recruited Old Feis to impersonate Isaac and traveled with him and Calamity to confront the Minotaur Tribe. They demanded that the tribe bring out Niu Bo, but their threatening arrival ended with an elder getting struck in the face by a glob of phlegm.

• Old Feis offered to impersonate Isaac, and Lu Xiao agreed to use him to draw attention.
• Old Feis disguised himself with Isaac's skin, while Lu Xiao sent Ruiqi to lead the Wanderers south toward the Holy City.
• Old Feis flew Lu Xiao and Calamity to the Minotaur Tribe's settlement in less than half an hour.
• Lu Xiao demanded that the Minotaur Tribe bring out Niu Bo, while Old Feis revealed his Deity's aura.
• A Minotaur brought out a huge waterskin, and a glob of phlegm landed on the face of the elder who had ordered it.

Lu Xiao, Old Feis, and Calamity confronted the Minotaurs and met Elder Niu Bo, who recognized them and renewed his offer to cooperate. Niu Bo agreed to reveal key information in exchange for Lu Xiao telling him about his world, leaving Lu Xiao to consider the terms.

• Old Feis and Calamity revealed the aura of deities, and Lu Xiao claimed he was one too, prompting the Minotaurs to bring out Niu Bo.
• Niu Bo recognized Lu Xiao and invited him, Old Feis, and Calamity into the Elders' Council to speak privately.
• Old Feis confronted Niu Bo, who identified him as the first of the Gods to appear and called him a devilfish.
• Niu Bo said his agreement to cooperate with Lu Xiao still stood, but he would approach His Majesty the Great Lord if Lu Xiao refused.
• Lu Xiao asked for greater honesty, and Niu Bo agreed to share key information if Lu Xiao later told him about his world.

Niu Bo explained that the Minotaur Tribe had been exiled to Hell and survived the Royal Family’s war through a wager with a former Great Lord. He left Lu Xiao with the explanation that the Royal Family had allowed the tribe to remain, but had cursed it as a precaution.

• Niu Bo confirmed that Lu Xiao already knew what had happened to the Minotaur Tribe and explained that the Royal Family’s attack had deeper causes than the tribe’s threat to its position.
• Old Feis and Niu Bo clarified that the Minotaur Tribe had not allied with the bandits and that the Royal Family had halted its attempt to wipe them out after other races attacked the Royal City.
• Niu Bo revealed that his tribe had been exiled to Hell and that he had wagered with the Great Lord of that generation that the Outsiders would besiege the Royal City to exploit his Authority of 'Wisdom.'
• Niu Bo explained that the Royal Family agreed to let his tribe stay if his prediction came true, while the tribe would become its dependents if he lost the wager.
• Niu Bo told Lu Xiao that the Royal Family protected the tribe’s brickmaking business and received priority access to its bricks at a low price.
• Niu Bo explained that the Royal Family had cursed his tribe as insurance, so that its descendants would be a burden rather than a threat if his prediction proved false.

Niu Bo revealed that the Great Lord succession struggle was a scheme to draw attention while the First-Generation Demon Great Lord’s corrupted authority sought to resurrect him. He suspected that Death had entered the conflict to obtain something for someone else, and said Death’s involvement had nearly settled the outcome.

• Lu Xiao realized the Royal Family had used Niu Bo’s wisdom to devise plans and test his loyalty.
• Niu Bo explained that anyone who inherited the Tyrant authority would be assimilated by the First-Generation Demon Great Lord’s lingering soul and become an anchor for his return.
• Lu Xiao understood that Hell lay over the corpse of a Great Old One, while Niu Bo said powerful beings could not descend freely without attracting an even greater threat.
• Niu Bo questioned why Old Feis’s master had joined the conflict, and Old Feis said he did not know.
• Niu Bo guessed that Death had entered the fray to fulfill a deal with someone who wanted the Great Old One’s corpse, then said Death’s involvement made the outcome nearly certain.

Lu Xiao told Niu Bo about the Present World's crisis, and Niu Bo decided the Minotaur Tribe could not safely move there. Niu Bo proposed creating a Great Old One to protect Lu Xiao's people, then hinted at a second, more demanding solution.

• Lu Xiao described the Present World's situation to Niu Bo, hoping for advice and to dissuade the Minotaur Tribe from relocating there.
• Niu Bo used his Authority to consider Lu Xiao's account, exhausting himself before deciding their cooperation would have to end.
• Niu Bo explained that Hell offered a safer refuge than the Present World and suggested Lu Xiao move his people there.
• Niu Bo proposed that a Great Old One could hide Lu Xiao's planet in an interstitial space and deter their enemies.
• Lu Xiao asked whether there was another option, and Niu Bo said there was one with considerably more demanding requirements.

Niu Bo explained why Lu Xiao’s star had gone dark and described two ways to respond to the region’s transformation from order toward chaos. He warned that the transformation could create a Black Domain Battlefield, leaving Lu Xiao to consider whether his race could withstand the corruption of chaos.

• Niu Bo told Lu Xiao that a star had been extinguished to conceal the region’s transformation from beings opposed to chaos.
• Niu Bo proposed spreading word to attract those beings, but warned that they might bring destruction and could not locate the region unless the star was reignited and its guardian dealt with.
• Niu Bo said producing a Great Old One would be a more reliable solution, and explained that completed transformations could turn the region into a Black Domain Battlefield filled with divine flesh and blood.
• Niu Bo warned that consuming such flesh could corrupt orderly beings or let the original owner seize their minds.
• Lu Xiao asked how to tell whether his race suited order or chaos, and Niu Bo explained that the key was resisting external divinity while retaining consciousness and reason.

Niu Bo explained the differences between Orderly, Chaotic, and Neutral Lifeforms, and Lu Xiao considered what their conflicting interests meant for Earth. With stopping the transformation seeming too risky and becoming a Great Old One too slow, Lu Xiao decided to pass the information to Doctor and the others and try to get Niu Bo involved.

• Niu Bo explained that Orderly Lifeforms served rules, Chaotic Lifeforms resisted or sought to replace them, and Neutral Lifeforms acted according to their own whims.
• Lu Xiao questioned whether his status as a Chosen One of Fate made him orderly, and considered how his humanity might push him toward chaos.
• Old Feis warned Lu Xiao that a fully transformed Earth would become a Black Domain Battlefield, while Niu Bo clarified that the worst destruction came from Great Old Ones, who rarely appeared there.
• Lu Xiao concluded that Earth’s transformation had to be stopped, but decided he lacked time to become a Great Old One and would have to explore the riskier alternative.
• Lu Xiao decided to relay Niu Bo’s information to Doctor and the others, then look for a way to persuade Niu Bo to help.

The Ninth Group Army prepared to enter Hell as humanity’s advance force, carrying supplies and nuclear warheads while the Warden briefed Commander Zhang Weidong. The departure ceremony ended with Zhang entrusting the soldiers’ final letters to the Warden.

• The Warden warned Zhang Weidong that the twelve nuclear warheads represented everything Huaxia and America had produced so far, and Zhang chose to take only two.
• The Warden told Zhang Weidong to wait for someone to explain Hell and taught him a ritual to call Lu Xiao if he encountered a problem he could not solve.
• Reporters described the Ninth Group Army’s supplies and equipment as the army prepared to enter Hell through the Gate.
• A truck arrived with the final letters of all 68,632 officers and soldiers, and Zhang Weidong asked the Warden to keep them safe.

The Ninth Group Army entered the one-way Gate to Hell after Zhang Weidong and the Warden exchanged farewells, while the Doctor prepared to meet Niu Bo and find materials to rebuild the Gate. At the southeastern coastline, the Gambler tried to persuade a wary jellyfish to make another bet, but its offer left the jellyfish suspicious.

• The Warden saluted Zhang Weidong and the Ninth Group Army, then promised to safeguard their farewell letters and wished them a victorious return.
• The Doctor told the Warden that the Gate was a one-way, single-use portal and that rebuilding it would require finding materials in Hell.
• The Doctor said he would travel to Hell with the C03 Containment Facility, hidden in the vessel "Zhou," and meet Lu Xiao and the Minotaur Niu Bo.
• After roll call, the Ninth Group Army entered the Gate, with the Doctor and Zhang Weidong going in alongside the Mechanized Forces; the Gate went dark after the last supply truck passed through.
• The Gambler asked the jellyfish to bet again, and it complained that he had cheated in their earlier bets.
• The Gambler offered the jellyfish a chance to gain the ability to transform into a human if it lost, making the jellyfish question his motives.

Gambler wagered his life against the jellyfish in a game of Three-Card Poker, and the jellyfish took human form after losing. Gambler survived when she restored him, then persuaded her to explore the human world and named her Nico.

• Gambler proposed a wager with the jellyfish, staking his life and teaching it Three-Card Poker.
• The jellyfish chose three cards and got a king-high flush, but Gambler won with an ace-high flush.
• The jellyfish transformed into a humanlike girl while Gambler became a desiccated corpse from overtaxing his Authority.
• The girl touched Gambler between the eyebrows and restored his body and vitality; he revealed he had been betting on whether she would save him.
• Gambler encouraged the girl to visit his casino, promised to protect her from strange wagers, and named her Nico.

Gambler discovered Nico believed Lu Xiao was her father and used a vial of Cage Drug to convince her he served him. As Nico grew angry hearing Gambler’s fabricated stories about Lu Xiao’s enemies and hardship, Lu Xiao suddenly recovered his lost memories and lamented his miserable time in the Dark Prison.

• Nico told Gambler she was waiting for her dad, and Gambler realized she meant Lu Xiao.
• Gambler showed Nico a vial of Cage Drug, convinced her he was Lu Xiao’s Chosen One, and persuaded her that their wagers no longer counted.
• Gambler told Nico that Lu Xiao had gone to another world and promised to take her to him after they dealt with his enemies.
• Gambler slandered Lu Xiao’s enemies and invented a tale about Lu Xiao suffering in the Dark Prison, making Nico grow angry.
• Lu Xiao recovered his lost memories and claimed he had been so hungry in the Dark Prison that he ate turf and roots, while Calamity challenged his story.

Doctor concluded that Lu Xiao’s apparent recovered memories were fragments forcibly inserted into his mind, then asked for a way to make camp in the hard ground. Lu Xiao introduced Big Good Boy the Hell Worm, who dug an underground base for the Ninth Group Army, while Old Feis became fascinated by radiation from a nuclear missile.

• Lu Xiao told Doctor about memories of being chased by Lizardmen and suffering in Dark Prison, and Doctor said they were likely forced-in memory fragments.
• Lu Xiao said Niu Bo and his migrating tribe would probably arrive the next day, and Doctor explained that the Ninth Group Army’s distillation combat suits could produce drinkable water.
• Lu Xiao introduced Big Good Boy the Hell Worm, who emerged from the ground and drew the attention of the Ninth Group Army.
• Little Well-Behaved the War Sea Turtle charged over and aimed his turrets at the Hell Worm until Lu Xiao declared that Big Good Boy was his little brother.
• Big Good Boy dug an underground space about twenty meters below the surface for the army, while engineers set up communications facilities above ground.
• Old Feis climbed onto a nuclear missile, and Doctor and Calamity explained that the energy he sensed was radiation as Calamity warned him about its effects.

Zhang Weidong launched a nuclear missile to announce humanity’s arrival in Hell, destroying a newly emerged race whose members were all King-level or stronger. After witnessing the blast, Niu Bo recognized its power as resembling weapons used by silicon-based life, and Doctor said more warheads could arrive once they built the Gate to the Present World.

• Old Feis eagerly climbed onto a missile until Lu Xiao and the others talked him down.
• Zhang Weidong told Doctor he planned to launch a nuclear warhead, and Doctor advised him to coordinate with Lu Xiao to avoid hitting allies.
• Amilia told Lu Xiao that a previously unseen race had appeared in southern Hell and wiped out a Wanderers tribe; the race’s weakest members were King-level and its leader was a Deity.
• Zhang Weidong ordered the nuclear missile launch, and Lu Xiao and the others provided targeting before Calamity carried them away from the blast.
• The missile exploded above the new race, producing a vast mushroom cloud and deafening Lu Xiao’s group as humanity announced its arrival in Hell.
• Niu Bo sensed power like a star’s in the explosion, identified silicon-based life as a race with similar but stronger weapons, and learned from Doctor that eleven nuclear warheads remained.

The Doctor learned that the silicon-based Main Brain had mastered Technology and Space, and suspected its connection to Universe Logistics had broader implications. After humanity’s nuclear strike shocked Hell, Yi Hao decided to visit the human encampment, where Lu Xiao eyed the Holy Relics recovered from the battle.

• Niu Bo explained that the silicon-based Main Brain held complete authority over Technology, and that other races could use technology only by becoming its kin.
• The Doctor asked about Universe Logistics, and Niu Bo said the silicon-based life had created it and that Technology had publicly mastered both Technology and Space.
• Lu Xiao and the others returned to the Ninth Group Army’s encampment as news spread that humanity’s nuclear explosion had killed seventeen deities and captured a critically wounded one.
• Yi Hao decided to visit the humans and bring supplies for his people.
• Lu Xiao stared eagerly at nine Holy Relics while the Doctor studied the captured deity’s blood; eight of the seventeen deities had been false gods whose bodies vaporized in the blast.

Zhang Weidong declined Lu Xiao’s offer to try becoming a deity, while Lu Xiao reunited with Lu Qian and learned that Ivan had become the chief researcher of the Biological Armor project. Doctor advised Lu Xiao to use the Holy Relics to raise his ontological rank, reminding him that he was Miracle.

• Zhang Weidong asked Lu Xiao about a deity’s authority but refused to try merging with one, saying he could not bear more responsibility.
• Lu Qian flew to Lu Xiao and perched on his head as Doctor, Ivan, Shuns, Prison Doctor, and Liu Ni emerged from the facility.
• Ivan insisted Lu Xiao address him as Doctor Ivan, and Doctor explained that Ivan led the Biological Armor project with Shuns as his assistant.
• Lu Qian complained that Doctor Ivan no longer carved toys for her, and Doctor Ivan reminded her to use his title in public.
• Doctor told Lu Xiao to check the Holy Relics for useful authorities and otherwise use them to raise his ontological rank; Lu Xiao remembered that he was Miracle.

Lu Xiao consumed nine Holy Relics to strengthen himself and agreed to pursue the rank of a God before beginning the Old One ritual. The group gathered at Zhou’s cafeteria to share Chef’s meal, leaving Zhang Weidong convinced that he had finally arrived in Hell.

• Calamity warned Lu Xiao that intentionally using his Miracle authority might make it no miracle at all.
• The Doctor urged Lu Xiao to raise his ontological rank and promised him every Holy Relic their side obtained.
• Lu Xiao swallowed nine Holy Relics, felt his mental power increase, and learned that the fallen Deity’s Holy Relic was a ring.
• The Doctor said Chef had finished processing the Deity’s flesh and blood, and the group followed him back to Zhou.
• At the cafeteria, Ruiqi watched Chef prepare the meal, Old Feis offered up his demon hide, and Niu Bo stared down Chef’s cleaver.
• Zhang Weidong questioned whether Chef’s food was safe to eat, then laughed that he finally felt like he was in Hell.

Doctor used Chef’s cooking to bring together powerful beings over a meal of a captured Deity’s flesh, which strengthened or visibly changed those below Deity rank. Lu Xiao recognized that the feast had subtly improved relations with Niu Bo and Old Feis, leaving Doctor’s plan to use food as a bond underway.

• Chef prepared the captured Deity’s flesh, removing its contamination, and served everyone except Zhang Weidong, whose tiny portion left him flushed, dazed, and looking younger.
• Calamity, Lu Xiao, Old Feis, and the others ate the feast, while Old Feis consumed nearly half the flesh.
• Ruiqi, Liu Ni, and other diners below Deity rank showed changes after eating, while Lu Xiao felt a modest increase in strength.
• Calamity helped Zhang Weidong leave, and Lu Xiao followed as the gathering ended.
• Lu Xiao understood that Doctor had used Chef’s cooking to build ties with Niu Bo and Old Feis, whose power and authority Doctor wanted to keep close.

Lu Xiao fed flesh and blood to Little Well-Behaved and talked with Calamity about traveling through the Universe after the threats to his people were dealt with. Yi Hao arrived with an offer to arrange supplies and smooth relations with the Holy City, but Lu Xiao explained that he needed enemies to provide Hell Creature blood as fuel.

• After Calamity suggested feeding Little Well-Behaved, Lu Xiao slipped into the turtle’s shell and fed it flesh and blood.
• Lu Xiao asked Calamity to travel through the Universe with him once his people were safe, and Calamity agreed.
• Calamity described the Universe in an increasingly suggestive analogy, then urged Lu Xiao to pursue Ruiqi, prompting Lu Xiao to call him a scumbag.
• Yi Hao arrived on the enormous "Shadiao" and said he had arranged supplies and intended to prevent trouble between the Holy City and Lu Xiao’s side.
• Lu Xiao objected that trouble was needed to secure fuel, then told Yi Hao that Hell Creature blood could serve as petroleum; Yi Hao was stunned.

Gambler brought Nico to Australia, where she destroyed the Clone Pope after Cthulhu failed to answer his call. With the Clone Pope gone, the Church gained room to prepare its own Deification Ritual, and Gambler continued taking Nico around the world to handle threats before he planned to enter Hell.

• Gambler arrived in Australia with Nico, who stopped a school of fish-like creatures and grew into an island-sized jellyfish.
• Gambler challenged the Pope, and Nico’s attack destroyed the building where the Clone Pope was hiding.
• The Clone Pope called on Cthulhu, but received no answer and was killed by Nico’s tentacle.
• Gambler concluded that the Clone Pope’s fall eased pressure on Northern Europe and let the real Pope prepare a Deification Ritual.
• Gambler continued traveling with Nico to address threats across the Present World and planned to help humans in Hell.
• News of the Clone Pope’s fall reached Great Brahma, where He Shang sat with Driver, who remarked on the devastation in Australia.

He Shang explained the Pope’s plan to turn Angel into a god and prepare for his own Deification Ritual, while he and Driver agreed to help. In Hell, Niu Bo discussed human military training with Zhang Weidong, who proposed a bet about human fragility.

• He Shang told Driver that the Clone Pope had fallen and that they needed to help the original Pope complete his Deification Ritual.
• He Shang explained that Eden’s creatures would be used as nourishment for Angel’s ascension, and he ordered the Bodhisattvas to encircle and wipe out Eden.
• He Shang said his merit was nearly enough for him to become a deity and told Driver to oversee Mocking Heaven Palace while he remained in seclusion.
• In Hell, Doctor designed equipment to use brine for cooling the human army’s underground base, while the soldiers trained with their new equipment.
• Niu Bo praised the human army’s command structure but criticized the fragility of human bodies.
• Zhang Weidong proposed a bet to Niu Bo.