Chapter Summaries

Lin Xiao used the Ring of Wisdom to deepen his understanding of magic and gained new abilities after it resonated with him. He ended the night with two awakened bracelets and eight still to discover.

• Lin Xiao joined May, Betty, Jane, Peter, and Ned for dinner after spending the afternoon studying magical runes.
• Lin Xiao asked Doupao to confirm his theory that magic used runes to guide elements through mental power, then put his first free attribute point into Spirit and sensed lightning elements gathering in the air.
• Lin Xiao spent his remaining attribute points on Spirit and triggered a resonance between himself and the Ring of Wisdom.
• The Ring of Wisdom gave Lin Xiao Elementary Five Elements Spells, Telepathy, and Magic Compression, while Matter Reorganization and Space Magic remained locked.
• Lin Xiao tested his new abilities, then went downstairs and reflected that two of the ten bracelets had awakened and eight remained.

Lin Xiao caught Susan trying to seduce him into revealing what he knew about Reed, and exposed her plan instead. After Susan attacked him with a force field, Lin Xiao flicked her forehead and left; Susan decided to investigate his connection to Agent Natasha.

• Lin Xiao found Susan crying alone in the engineering workshop and listened as she said Reed had grown cold and seemed like a different person.
• Susan flirted with Lin Xiao and tried to extract information about what had happened to Reed, while Lin Xiao used telepathy to confirm she was fishing for information.
• Lin Xiao pretended to accept Susan's offer of anything, then pulled her close without kissing her and told her he had seen through her act.
• Susan attacked Lin Xiao with a force field, but he stood firm and flicked her forehead, knocking her back against the shelves.
• Lin Xiao told Susan to ask him directly next time and left, while Susan resolved to look into his connection to Agent Natasha.

Lin Xiao gave Natasha an Invisibility Cloak after teasing her about being followed, and the two kissed before Coulson interrupted them with news about Fury and Dr. Selvig. Lin Xiao recognized the Tesseract storyline beginning and chose to stay out of the laboratory, leaving Selvig to study the cube while he warned Tony not to move his company into the sky.

• Lin Xiao gave Natasha an Invisibility Cloak in exchange for a kiss, and they kissed until Coulson interrupted them.
• Coulson told Natasha and Lin Xiao that Fury had brought Dr. Selvig to study equipment in the laboratory.
• Lin Xiao realized Fury was handing Selvig the Tesseract and decided not to enter the laboratory.
• Fury opened the briefcase and showed Selvig the Tesseract, which Selvig agreed to study in an underground laboratory.
• Lin Xiao used Doupao to look inside the laboratory, then messaged Tony to warn him not to move his company into the sky.
• Natasha brought Lin Xiao a folder, and he gave her the cloak before she walked away.

Natasha caught Susan searching her apartment and learned that Lin Xiao had inadvertently prompted Susan to follow her. After Susan escaped, Lin Xiao apologized to Natasha, and the two became intimate.

• Natasha evaded Lin Xiao's offer of a ride home by leaving on her motorcycle.
• Susan entered Natasha's apartment and searched for evidence linking Natasha to Lin Xiao.
• Natasha revealed herself beneath the Invisibility Cloak and struck Susan with the Widow's Bite, but Susan escaped through a window and turned invisible.
• Lin Xiao identified Susan as the Invisible Woman and explained that she had followed Natasha while investigating his connection to Reed.
• Natasha shocked Lin Xiao after he apologized for causing Susan's surveillance.
• Lin Xiao kissed Natasha, and they became intimate before resting together.

Lin Xiao considered how to help Natasha regain the ability to have children and decided Asgard might hold the answer. Meanwhile, Thor learned he could return to Midgard in three months, and Reed noticed Susan was limping as they worked apart at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s research center.

• Hill caught Lin Xiao and Natasha faking illness to take leave, then approved their requests.
• Lin Xiao and Natasha spent the day cuddled together, and Natasha watched a baby-care show before falling asleep.
• Lin Xiao asked Doupao about restoring Natasha's surgically removed organs and learned the available rewards were extraordinarily unlikely to obtain.
• Lin Xiao decided to seek help from Thor in Asgard after considering and dismissing other possible treatments.
• Thor learned he could return to Midgard in three months, while Sif reacted shyly to the news.
• Reed admired the propulsion system he had built and noticed Susan limping as she entered the research center.

Lin Xiao watched S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier make its first flight and anticipated the coming Avengers crisis as a chance to earn system rewards. As a strange blue light appeared over New York, he prepared for trouble to begin.

• S.H.I.E.L.D. raised the Helicarrier from underground and held a ceremony attended by Fury, Tony, and Reed.
• Lin Xiao noticed that Susan was absent and wondered whether Doom was involved.
• Lin Xiao considered the approaching Chitauri invasion and planned to exploit the battle for system rewards.
• The Helicarrier hovered above the base as fireworks went off, and Lin Xiao spotted a faint blue streak in the clouds and prepared for action.

Lin Xiao spent half a month obsessively targeting New York’s villains to earn free attribute points, alarming May, Betty, and Jane with his nightly excursions. After arranging for the women to stay at Kamar-Taj in two months for their safety, he worried that Doom was hiding Susan’s whereabouts and decided to confront him.

• May learned from Hill that S.H.I.E.L.D. had assigned Lin Xiao no missions, so she, Betty, and Jane summoned Dr. Gardner to find out what he was doing.
• Lin Xiao told Dr. Gardner that he had been patrolling New York and confronting Bullseye, Electro, and Hedgehog Man, then reassured the women that he was safe as Homelander.
• Lin Xiao continued harassing villains to earn system points, prompting Electro to turn himself in, Bullseye to move away, and Doupao to rebuke Lin Xiao for inventing flimsy reasons to attack people.
• Lin Xiao told May, Betty, and Jane that he wanted the family, along with Gwen Stacy, Hill, and Natasha, to go to Kamar-Taj in two months, and they agreed after discussing the food.
• Lin Xiao failed to reach Susan and suspected Doom was concealing something about her and the Aether project, so he decided to make trouble for Doom before Loki arrived.

Lin Xiao confronted Doom at Reed Richards's villa and defeated him despite Doom's anti-magic defenses. He found Susan imprisoned in the basement and revealed his identity to her.

• Lin Xiao entered Reed Richards's villa to search for Susan, and Doom confronted him with an anti-magic barrier.
• Lin Xiao tore through Doom's magical domain, resisted his dark-energy chains, and revealed that dark magic strengthened him.
• Lin Xiao grabbed Doom and electrocuted him, then warned him to stop scheming against him.
• Lin Xiao sensed Susan's breathing underground, opened the basement, and found her imprisoned.
• Lin Xiao removed his mask, showed Susan his face, and offered to take her home.

Lin Xiao rescued Susan from Doom’s control and stopped himself from taking advantage of her, then purified the magic planted inside her. Doom’s plan failed, and he escaped after vowing to remember Lin Xiao.

• Lin Xiao helped Susan from the basement, and she said Doom had attacked her with green magic after an argument.
• Susan kissed Lin Xiao and tried to pull him into the bedroom while Doom watched through her and prepared to detonate a bomb inside her.
• Lin Xiao recognized the magic and stopped, binding Susan with Blue Silver Grass vines before purifying her with the Ring of Protection.
• The purification expelled and destroyed Doom’s dark magic, injuring Doom and restoring Susan’s awareness.
• Susan covered herself with a blanket and angrily sent Lin Xiao out, while Doom fled the water tower after swearing revenge.

Over two months, Susan avoided Lin Xiao while he continued causing trouble at S.H.I.E.L.D. When Loki's arrival threatened the Avengers Initiative, Lin Xiao offered Fury Vought's heroes for hire and overwhelmed him with a mountain of contract paperwork.

• Susan stayed away from Reed and searched with Human Torch and Thing for Doom, while privately fuming over her encounter with Lin Xiao and Natasha.
• Lin Xiao kept up his usual mischief at S.H.I.E.L.D., slapping Hill's backside before Natasha and Hill scolded him.
• Coulson told Fury that Hawkeye had defected with the Tesseract, while Tony and Banner were unavailable to the Avengers Initiative because of Vought.
• Lin Xiao proposed renting Vought's heroes, including Hulk, War Machine, Iron Man, Thor, and several mutants, to help S.H.I.E.L.D. face the coming crisis.
• Kara delivered a huge stack of contract documents, and Fury erupted at Lin Xiao when he learned the paperwork included payment protections and a lawyer's letter.

Lin Xiao paid S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and his recruits with funds transferred from S.H.I.E.L.D., then laid out survival-focused tactics and benefits for the coming alien invasion. In Paris, Loki reviewed Lin Xiao’s actions and decided that the conflict on Midgard had become interesting.

• Walker supervised movers transferring S.H.I.E.L.D.’s contingency funds to Vought, while Fury signed the contracts and took medical leave, leaving Hill in charge.
• Lin Xiao distributed cash to Banner, Rhodes, Tony, Bobby, Hank, Steve, Natasha, and others at a meeting in the Vought Building.
• Lin Xiao warned the group that Hawkeye had defected as part of an invasion plot and ordered them to prioritize survival, use group tactics, and avoid fighting alone.
• Lin Xiao announced that Steve would lead pre-battle training beginning the next day and promised participants villas, expense reimbursement, and insurance.
• Loki studied a report on Lin Xiao’s use of contracts and money to assemble allies, then expressed interest in the unfolding conflict on Midgard.

Lin Xiao discovered that Sitwell had brought Wanda into S.H.I.E.L.D. and arranged for her to become his assistant. He suspected Wanda carried dangerous energy and planned to keep her under his watch.

• Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents gossiped about Lin Xiao and Hill, then panicked when Lin Xiao caught them talking.
• Lin Xiao helped Hill sort documents while she rested and noticed Pierce had been placing new personnel in S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Sitwell introduced his niece Wanda to Lin Xiao, who recognized her as a dangerous figure and suspected she was the Scarlet Witch.
• Hill reviewed Wanda's suspiciously clean résumé, but Lin Xiao asked to take her on as his assistant, and Hill approved the assignment.
• Lin Xiao told Hill that Wanda's energy was dangerous and said he would keep her close, then went to meet his new assistant.

Lin Xiao put Wanda through a day of dubious accounting work and shameless teasing, while Wanda tried to investigate him and gain access to Vought. He took her to dinner near a Sokovian restaurant, where her Chaos Magic flared, then evaded the moment and ended the chapter stealing her food.

• Lin Xiao gave Wanda inflated expense slips to revise and peeked under his desk while pretending to look for a pen.
• Wanda considered following Lin Xiao to Vought to get intelligence, but he left without asking her to come.
• Kara visited Lin Xiao, grew jealous of Wanda, and fed Lin Xiao grapes while he rested his head in her lap.
• Lin Xiao dragged Wanda to dinner in New Jersey, and Wanda's Chaos Magic surged when she saw a Sokovian restaurant sign.
• Wanda asked Lin Xiao for Captain America's autograph, and he promised to get one before eating most of her chicken wings.

Lin Xiao lured Wanda to a bar by promising she could meet Captain America, then kept her waiting and spun stories until they drank and danced together. Wanda woke beside Lin Xiao with a hickey and confronted him, but he blamed her and threatened to tell Sitwell, leaving her realizing he had tricked her again.

• Lin Xiao called Steve in front of Wanda, prompting her to agree to go out with him for a chance to meet Captain America.
• Lin Xiao cleared out the Midnight Knight bar, and Wanda watched him discover that the gold chain left behind by a departing customer was fake.
• After Steve failed to arrive, Lin Xiao entertained Wanda with stories, and she shared memories of growing up in Sokovia before they danced.
• Wanda woke in bed beside a shirtless Lin Xiao and found a hickey on her neck, then recalled that he had carried her to the room and kissed her neck while she was half-conscious.
• Lin Xiao claimed Wanda had gotten drunk and taken advantage of him, then threatened to tell Sitwell, so Wanda stopped him and realized he had played her again.

Lin Xiao and Wanda received footage of Loki attacking a charity concert in Stuttgart, prompting S.H.I.E.L.D. to summon senior agents. Lin Xiao identified Loki as Thor’s brother and headed to the conference room, while Wanda worried about him.

• Lin Xiao teased Wanda at work, and she rebuffed him while keeping her scarf wrapped tightly around her neck.
• Sitwell brought coffee to Lin Xiao and Wanda, but Lin Xiao suspected Sitwell’s hidden Hydra loyalties and threw his coffee away.
• An emergency alert showed Loki reveal his identity at a Stuttgart concert and kill a politician with his scepter as the audience fled.
• Lin Xiao told Wanda that Loki was an Asgardian prince and Thor’s younger brother, and Wanda sensed something disturbing about the scepter.
• Hill summoned all agents Level 5 and above, and Lin Xiao went to the conference room while Wanda worried about his safety.

After S.H.I.E.L.D. outsourced Loki’s capture to Vought and barred Captain America and Natasha from joining, Lin Xiao sent Bobby and Walker to Stuttgart to bring Loki in. Loki agreed to go after Walker relayed Lin Xiao’s warning, while Lin Xiao watched nearby with Blink and was ready to intervene.

• Hill announced that Vought would handle Loki’s capture independently, while Captain America and Natasha were prohibited from participating and Fury would return to headquarters.
• Lin Xiao recruited Bobby to capture Loki and gave Walker a pinhole camera, along with instructions for speaking to him.
• Bobby and Walker confronted Loki at the Stuttgart concert hall, where Loki attacked them and threw Bobby into a row of seats.
• Walker warned Loki that the encounter was being livestreamed and relayed Lin Xiao’s message, prompting Loki to release him and willingly accept handcuffs.
• Lin Xiao watched from a nearby café with Blink, who realized he had been prepared to rush in and save his employees.

May, Betty, Jane, and Gwen transformed life at Kamar-Taj with modern comforts and construction projects, while Wong struggled to accept the changes. Tao Yuhan received Lin Xiao’s Mark Armor blueprints and S.P.E.A.R. ordered him to protect the Lin family and support their stay.

• May, Betty, Jane, and Gwen persuaded the Ancient One to approve air conditioning, new mattresses, Wi-Fi, underfloor heating, and other improvements at Kamar-Taj.
• May and Betty arranged a hot spring and wind turbines, while the masters adapted to the renovated rooms and upgraded meals.
• Tao Yuhan and Tao Yusun arrived at Kamar-Taj and learned that Mrs. Lin was overseeing a hot spring project.
• May gave Tao Yuhan Lin Xiao’s complete Mark Armor blueprints, covering the first through fifth generations.
• Tao Yuhan reported the blueprints to Director Zheng Xian, who ordered S.P.E.A.R. to provide support and protect the Lin family.
• Wong watched the masters enjoy their new comforts and began to think the changes might not be so bad.

Lin Xiao returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. after spending time with Blink and learned that two unidentified fast-moving objects were approaching the plane carrying Loki. He recognized their arrival as a double blessing, while Hill demanded to know who the second person was.

• Lin Xiao received a notice that US$4 million had been spent on special materials and accepted the expense as part of the surprise May and the others were preparing.
• Lin Xiao read Tao Yuhan’s message thanking him for his help and asking for his bank account number, then concluded that May had delivered the Mark I through Mark V blueprints.
• Blink opened a portal to S.H.I.E.L.D., and Lin Xiao stepped through before she could stop him.
• Lin Xiao reached Hill’s office, where she showed him two unidentified objects racing toward the plane carrying Loki.
• Lin Xiao called their arrival a double blessing, and Hill grabbed his waist and demanded to know who the second person was.

Thor and Sif arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane carrying Loki, and the newcomers learned why he had been imprisoned. The flight continued safely, while Thor teased Sif about her feelings for Lin Xiao and Bobby realized he had fallen for her.

• As the plane bucked through a storm, Bobby froze a replacement wall over the torn-open doorway, but Thor smashed through it and entered with Sif.
• Walker fired at Thor, and Sif deflected Bobby's ice spear before Walker stopped the fight and explained that the encounter was a misunderstanding.
• Thor questioned Walker about Loki's imprisonment, then heard how Loki had killed people in Stuttgart and condemned his brother for disgracing their father.
• Thor asked Walker about Lin Xiao and Vought, while Sif reacted quietly to Lin Xiao's name and Thor teased her about wanting to see him.
• Bobby watched Sif deny her feelings for Lin Xiao and cursed his boss after realizing he had fallen for her.

Lin Xiao welcomed Thor and Loki at the Triskelion, provoking Loki with hints that he knew about the god’s plans for the Helicarrier. Loki was confined in a glass cage, where he silently marked Lin Xiao as a target.

• Thor arrived at the Triskelion, but Lin Xiao dodged his attempted reunion and embraced Sif instead.
• Walker tried to set Bobby up with his sister, whose supposed resemblance to Walker made Bobby reject the offer.
• Lin Xiao traded barbs with Loki, hinted that he knew about the planned sabotage, and warned Loki not to hurt anyone aboard the carrier.
• Sif took Lin Xiao’s hand in support, while Hill noticed and Wanda felt a flash of jealousy.
• Agents locked Loki inside a reinforced-glass cage, and Loki watched Lin Xiao before silently naming him as prey.