Chapter Summaries

Ling Yi discussed the danger of challenging the Ghost-Catching Bureau’s powerful members while investigating why Ghost Qi and ghosts had appeared. After Peng Hu and Peng Yu were dismissed, Zhang Wenguo received an assignment he believed would get them both killed.

• Zhang Wenguo warned Ling Yi that Peng Hu, Peng Yu, and the bureau director’s family would hold grudges against him, but Ling Yi insisted that strength would let him make his own rules.
• Ling Yi’s Paper Person Puppet used Modeling to create a speaker, though each use depleted its reserves and it could not replenish them.
• Zhang Wenguo explained that investigators had found no reliable cause for the ghosts’ emergence, and the two went to the cafeteria to discuss it.
• Ling Yi encountered Peng Hu and Peng Yu, who had been dismissed from the bureau; Peng Hu stopped Peng Yu from attacking Ling Yi and admitted his brother would have ruined him eventually.
• Ling Yi suggested powerful ghost practitioners might be concealing the truth about Ghost Qi, and Zhang Wenguo warned that seeking it would make everyone their enemy.
• Zhang Wenguo received an assignment and told Ling Yi it was certain to get them killed.

Ling Yi and Zhang Wenguo went to Dafeng City's public cemetery to hold off a Ghost Clan Ghost General, while Zhang believed their mission was a setup and no reinforcements would come. At seven, the Ghosts appeared, and Ling Yi and Zhang discovered that Peng Hu and Peng Yu had transformed into Ghost Clan members and were growing stronger by absorbing other Ghosts.

• Zhang Wenguo sent the evidence he had collected against the Dafeng City Ghost-Catching Bureau director to headquarters' Inspection Section.
• Ling Yi and Zhang Wenguo arrived at the public cemetery, where Zhang warned that they could not handle the Ghost Clan Ghost General and that no one would help them.
• Ling Yi reflected on how the Ghost-Catching Bureau's corrupt leadership had stifled Ghost Cultivators and reviewed how people could become Ghost Clan members while retaining their memories.
• At seven, Ghosts emerged from the gravestones, including the level 11 Ghost General Jin Gui and the level 1 Ghost Soldiers Peng Hu and Peng Yu.
• Ling Yi and Zhang realized that Peng Hu and Peng Yu had become Ghost Clan members in a single afternoon, suggesting someone in Dafeng City's Ghost-Catching Bureau was helping the Ghost Clan.
• Jin Gui killed dozens of Ghosts with his sword, allowing Peng Hu and Peng Yu to absorb their Ghost Qi and rise to level 2.

Ling Yi used a magnetic cannon to wipe out the ghosts in the cemetery and joined Zhang Wenguo in clearing Dafeng City, while questioning why humans and ghosts were enemies. Zhang Wenguo explained that ghosts needed to devour human mental power to eliminate their dangerous obsessions, leaving Ling Yi convinced the ghosts deserved to be killed.

• Ling Yi summoned an oversized magnetic cannon and blasted the Ghost General, astonishing Zhang Wenguo and the Peng brothers.
• Ling Yi swept through the cemetery with the cannon, sparing Peng Hu and Peng Yu until they were the last ghosts left.
• Ling Yi handed Zhang Wenguo a magnetic cannon, and Zhang shot and killed Peng Hu and Peng Yu.
• Ling Yi and Zhang Wenguo set out to clear the ghosts from Dafeng City, while Ling Yi wondered why humans and ghosts fought despite their seemingly compatible interests.
• Zhang Wenguo explained that ghosts devoured human mental power to erase obsessions that controlled their behavior, and Ling Yi concluded that the ghosts deserved to die.

After Zhang Wenguo was found dead at the Ghost-Catching Bureau, Ling Yi erupted in rage and slaughtered the officials and ghost wielders he held responsible. He captured the bureau’s director and demanded that he start a livestream.

• Ling Yi noticed the simulation scenario had patched itself, then sent a Paper Talisman Puppet resembling Yin Lingyun to Blue Star with more talismans.
• Ling Yi and Zhang Wenguo finished clearing the ghosts from Dafeng City, but Ling Yi later found Zhang Wenguo’s Paper Talisman Puppet waiting at his home with a fresh stack of talismans.
• Ling Yi arrived at the Ghost-Catching Bureau and found Zhang Wenguo dead; when two ghost wielders refused to explain his death, Ling Yi killed them.
• Ling Yi questioned the bureau’s staff, killed those who resisted, and learned that the director had killed Zhang Wenguo for stealing and illegally using a magnetic gun.
• Ling Yi sent over a hundred Paper Talisman Puppets to attack the bureau and, ten minutes later, forced the director to kneel and asked whether he knew how to start a livestream.

Yin Lingyun uncovered the Ghost-Catching Bureau’s cover-up while Ling Yi’s actions triggered a purge of its corruption. Ling Yi completed two simulation missions, reached Planet Grade, and prepared to lie low until the final thirty-day survival mission ended.

• Yin Lingyun found records revealing that the Ghost-Catching Bureau had hidden the cause of Ghost Qi, wounded the director-general, and gave him ten days to reach the Ghost Saint realm.
• The director-general announced Ling Yi’s appointment, posthumously honored Zhang Wenguo, and ordered an investigation and purge of corruption across the bureau.
• The Surveillance Bureau killed corrupt bureau members across the country while Ling Yi and Yin Lingyun disappeared, leaving Ling Yi’s final survival mission underway.
• Ling Yi recalled his Paper Talisman Puppets and reflected on how his anger over Zhang Wenguo’s death had led him to kill the Dafeng City bureau indiscriminately.
• Ling Yi revealed that he had reached 1.7 Planet Grades, gaining flight and Light Energy Blast abilities, and settled into lying flat for the rest of the simulation.

After clearing the Urban Battle Royale scenario, Ling Yi returned to the cave and tried to explore beyond it, but warnings and the system urged him to stay inside. A seal disturbance triggered an emergency scenario, and Ling Yi found himself assigned to protect Dr. Ma in Dafeng City while deciding to strengthen himself before leaving the cave.

• Ling Yi ignored the scenario prompts and received the Perfect Controller reward, then approached the cave exit and saw warnings against leaving the safe zone.
• Ling Yi withdrew from the exit and sent a Paper Talisman Puppet outside to inspect the courtyard.
• At a secret experimental base, AI Nüwa reported that a contestant had touched the seal, prompting officials to launch an emergency simulated scenario with virtual contestants.
• Ling Yi was transported into the Mutant Rat Frenzy scenario as a school gate security guard, with tasks to protect Dr. Ma, stay in Dafeng City, and survive for a month.
• Ling Yi upgraded Photosynthesis to Version 2.2 and reviewed his strength, abilities, equipment, and Personal Space before deciding to wait until he reached dimension grade.

Ling Yi found Dr. Ma and watched her question an unusually intelligent rat, learning that a rat intelligence surge was linked to an explosion at North Leaf Biology Laboratory. The rat contacted an online friend to locate research documents, while nearly a million rats in Dafeng City began converging on the institute.

• Ling Yi located Dr. Ma at the Dafeng City Biotechnology Institute and secretly observed her experiment.
• Dr. Ma discovered the rat could understand and speak, and it revealed that it had become smarter about a week earlier.
• The rat told Dr. Ma that rats near North Leaf City were more intelligent and that some had found documents in the laboratory that exploded.
• Dr. Ma put the rat in a glass cage and had it message its friend, Linlin, to find out where the documents were.
• After the rat sent its message, nearly a million rats across Dafeng City began converging on the institute.

Ling Yi summoned thousands of enhanced, human-intelligent Chinese tabbies to defend the academy from mutated rats gathering in its sewers. As darkness fell, the rats emerged and the cats began killing them, leaving Linlin and Daqin watching the battle unfold.

• Ling Yi discovered that huge numbers of rats had gathered in the sewers around the academy and decided to counter them by summoning enhanced Chinese tabbies.
• The cats appeared throughout the academy, drawing students’ attention as Linlin chased one and Daqin grew wary of their strange, disciplined behavior.
• As night fell, hundreds of cats surrounded Linlin and Daqin, then turned their attention to a sewer manhole as noises rose from below.
• Rats burst out of the sewer, and the Chinese tabbies held their positions and swiftly killed those that approached.
• Linlin and Daqin watched the cat-and-mouse battle break out across the academy wherever rats emerged from sewers.

Tabby cat soldiers protected Dr. Ma from an armed rat assault on the Dafeng City Biotechnology Institute, while the rats sought her complete NR33 research. Dr. Ma agreed to develop an antidote as the cats prepared to guard her and the research.

• Daqin and Linlin watched tabby cats slaughter rats emerging from a sewer as students and authorities gathered at the school.
• Dr. Ma realized the rats wanted her complete NR33 research, which they hoped would help them advance and spread their intelligence.
• Special forces rats smashed into Dr. Ma's laboratory and demanded the research, but a dozen tabby cats dropped in and defended her.
• The cat soldiers routed the rats and explained that they would protect Dr. Ma while she developed an antidote; Dr. Ma said she needed a few days.
• A tabby urged Dr. Ma to save humanity, and she returned to the laboratory while another cat toyed with a captured rat.

Ling Yi’s cat-shaped mechs stopped a raid by intelligent rats piloting newly built giant rat mechs, while Dr. Ma continued to struggle to produce an antidote to NR33. Ling Yi realized the simulated scenario was sabotaging her work and decided to respond in kind.

• After the rats’ attack on the institute ended, human forces searched the campus but found no trace of the tabby cats, which Ling Yi had returned to his personal space.
• Over the next few days, authorities exterminated rats across Dafeng City and North Leaf City, while the rats in North Leaf City derived the NR33 formula and began manufacturing the agent.
• On the fifth night, Master Gao and nine other truck drivers delivered ten giant metal rat mechs near the institute after rats threatened their families.
• The rat mechs charged toward Dr. Ma, but Ling Yi’s three larger cat-shaped mechs blocked them, and additional cat mechs joined the fight until all ten rat mechs were destroyed.
• Dr. Ma’s antidote formulation kept failing because the simulated scenario was sabotaging her work, and Ling Yi resolved to use underhanded tactics in return.

Ling Yi foiled the rats’ drone raid and plot to flood Dafeng City while Dr. Ma resisted officials trying to seize her NR33 research. Dr. Ma developed an antidote, but the Rat Emperor had already created a more potent drug, NR34, as the antidote began spreading across North Leaf Province.

• Ling Yi detected tens of thousands of rat-piloted drones and rats planting explosives in the dam, then sent puppet cats to stop them and used lasers to shoot down the drones.
• College officials tried to force Dr. Ma out of her laboratory and take her NR33 research, but authorities arrested them for betraying humanity to the rats.
• Two days later, Dr. Ma tested her antidote on an intelligent rat, and the rat lost its enhanced intelligence.
• The Rat Emperor used one of two vials of NR34 and gave the other to his consort; NR34 boosted intelligence even more than NR33.
• On the twelfth day of the simulation, authorities began deploying the antidote across North Leaf Province, especially in Dafeng City and North Leaf City.

Ling Yi remained in Dafeng City while the Rat Emperor and his wife seized Radiant Water Country, and his mental power grew until he could perceive all of Blue Star. When Dr. Ma traveled to North Leaf City for an academic symposium, the Rat Emperor and Rat Empress confronted her in humanoid robots.

• Ling Yi sent Paper Talisman Puppet cats to protect Dr. Ma after the Rat Emperor and his wife conquered Radiant Water Country and renamed it Rat Country.
• The system rewarded Ling Yi with repeated increases to his mental power, expanding his perception range to 260,000 kilometers and granting him mental power skills.
• Dr. Ma received a notice to attend an academic symposium in North Leaf City, and Ling Yi sent Paper Talisman Puppets to protect her despite his inability to leave Dafeng City.
• On the highway to North Leaf City, Dr. Ma and a tabby cat discussed the Rat Emperor's rapid technological progress and the risks of the NR33 Antidote formula leaking.
• At a tollbooth, the Rat Emperor and Rat Empress emerged in humanoid robots, and the tabby cat leaped out to fight them.

Ling Yi captured the Rat Emperor and his wife, then cleared the sixth simulation scenario and immediately entered an Urban Wuxia assassin scenario. He received a Personal Small World reward, discovered his assassin credentials, and accepted a job from Young Miss before jumping from a rooftop to meet her.

• Ling Yi captured the Rat Emperor and his wife, learned that the Rat Emperor had come to avenge his siblings and feared Dr. Ma developing an NR34 Antidote, then confined the pair in a glass cage for experiments.
• The sixth scenario ended with only seven contestants clearing it; Xiao Lian and Ye Chen also succeeded, while Qin Su was eliminated by the mutant rats.
• Ling Yi returned to the cave, received the Urban Wuxia scenario’s assassin missions and martial-arts objectives, and was transported to a rooftop in Dafeng City.
• Ling Yi received a Personal Small World reward but chose not to fuse it with Personal Space, then found an assassin license and an Assassins app on his phone.
• Young Miss called Ling Yi with a job targeting a Half-Step Second-Rate expert, and he agreed to meet her outside Jiajia Hotpot Restaurant.
• Ling Yi saw an old man leap from a sixth-floor balcony and land in the street, then jumped from the twenty-story rooftop toward his meeting.

Ling Yi met Jin Xiaoxiao outside Jiajia Hot Pot and learned that she had taken an assassination mission against someone from the Wind Sect. He agreed to help for ninety percent of the payout, and the pair prepared to eat before heading to Red Maple Mountain.

• Ling Yi flew to meet Jin Xiaoxiao, who was shocked to see how far his cultivation had advanced since they last met.
• Jin Xiaoxiao explained that her million-yuan mission targeted a Wind Sect member and that abandoning it would cost her a hundred-thousand-yuan penalty.
• Ling Yi told Jin Xiaoxiao to complete the mission, then bargained for ninety percent of the payout in exchange for helping her.
• Jin Xiaoxiao agreed to the split after realizing Ling Yi had reached the Master realm, and she said the target was on Red Maple Mountain.
• Ling Yi produced a Martial Practitioner Coin, and Jin Xiaoxiao explained how Martial Practitioner Coins were used before he offered to buy them hot pot.

Ling Yi and Jin Xiaoxiao tracked Cheng Hu to Red Maple Mountain and discovered that the authorities had listed him as a weakened target despite his apparent recovery. Ling Yi exposed corruption behind the mission and revealed his Master-level strength, leaving Cheng Hu surrendering in fear.

• Ling Yi and Jin Xiaoxiao discussed Cheng Hu’s crimes, his Bone Tempering Realm cultivation, and the assassination commission’s suspicious terms as they searched Red Maple Mountain.
• Ling Yi led Jin Xiaoxiao to a mountain hollow, where they found traces of a campfire and called Cheng Hu down from a tree.
• Cheng Hu revealed that he planned to trade the Wind Sect’s Wind Spirit Movement to corrupt officials in exchange for a new identity and a place in the authorities.
• Ling Yi concluded that someone inside the authorities had rigged the mission to obtain the cultivation method, then said they should capture Cheng Hu and turn him in.
• Ling Yi pierced a tree with golden Innate Gang Qi, revealing himself as a Master, and Cheng Hu surrendered after Ling Yi’s next attack narrowly missed him.

Ling Yi secured a massive cache of peerless martial arts while Cheng Hu died in custody before he could warn the Wind Sect that Ling Yi was a Master. Ling Yi then spotted an upcoming martial arts gathering that could help him pursue the title of World's Finest and registered.

• Cheng Hu turned himself in, surrendered the Wind Spirit Movement manual, exposed a worm in the yamen, and received a thirty-year sentence with his martial arts crippled.
• Ling Yi and Jin Xiaoxiao celebrated the increased mission reward, and Ling Yi later left a Paper Talisman Puppet in the hotel while his real body went to space to sunbathe.
• Cheng Hu severed his own heart meridians and died before he could send a warning to the Wind Sect.
• Ling Yi received a Jin-series martial arts manual mega-pack that instantly granted him mastery of its techniques.
• Ling Yi read the Jianghu Winds and Clouds app and found an announcement for the Jianghu Martial Arts Grand Gathering in ten days.
• Ling Yi tapped the registration link and opened the Martial Arts Grand Gathering app.

Ling Yi entered the Martial Arts Grand Gathering and set out to clear The Assassins’ dead-blade missions. After forcing more than twenty wanted targets to surrender, he left the authorities in Dafeng City baffled by his methods.

• Ling Yi learned that Martial Practitioner Coins were scarce and valuable, then registered for the Martial Arts Grand Gathering and gave Jin Xiaoxiao coins to pay his entry fee and gather information.
• Ling Yi flew to a wealthy mountain village and confronted Ling Han, a flower thief whose disguise skills had kept him hidden for years.
• Ling Yi used a mysterious technique on Ling Han and told him to surrender; Ling Han was driven to the authorities’ office by unbearable itching that stopped only inside.
• More than twenty dead-blade mission targets surrendered at the authorities’ office in one day, all naming Ling Yi as the person who had forced them to do so.
• The authorities investigated Ling Yi and found that the newcomer had only recently received his martial practitioner certificate and was supposedly at the early Body Tempering Realm.

Ling Yi returned to Jin Xiaoxiao after completing twenty missions for The Assassins, then received the Copy skill and began another mission. He confronted the Martial Practitioner Alliance official responsible for Qin Ming’s family tragedy, leaving the suited young man poisoned and terrified.

• Ling Yi explained how his yin-yang light energy powered his Life and Death Talismans and how his mental will set their trigger conditions.
• Jin Xiaoxiao gave Ling Yi his Martial Arts Grand Gathering registration card and told him that over two hundred thousand people had registered.
• At midnight, Ling Yi received Copy, a skill that could replicate everything a target possessed once per day.
• Ling Yi investigated mission target Qin Ming, a martial arts prodigy whose mother and younger sister had died after the Martial Practitioner Alliance ruled their deaths suicides.
• A suited young man arrived at the Dafeng City branch of the Martial Practitioner Alliance and kicked a disguised Qin Ming, who poisoned him with an altered version of Ten Thousand Flowers.

Ling Yi abandoned several Assassin missions after discovering that the targets’ situations were more complicated than their files suggested, and he suspected someone was manipulating the simulation to hinder him. He learned that the Martial Practitioner Alliance was plotting to disrupt the gathering and that counterfeit coins had come from the alliance, leaving him determined to foil its plans and claim the World's Finest title.

• Qin Ming revealed his revenge was complete, so Ling Yi spared him, took him into his Personal Small World, and abandoned the mission.
• Ling Yi abandoned further missions involving people who had killed for revenge, then saved Little Potato from poison and discovered evidence that her classmates had brutally abused her.
• Ling Yi returned to the hotel, heard from Jin Xiaoxiao that five hundred thousand martial practitioners had registered, and said counterfeit Martial Practitioner Coins had entered circulation through the Martial Practitioner Alliance.
• Ling Yi explained that the alliance leader was plotting to challenge the authorities during the gathering, and he resolved to stop the scheme if it threatened his bid to become the World's Finest.

Ling Yi used a loophole in The Assassins missions to send Xia Yun into his Personal Small World and replace her with a Paper Talisman Puppet. He completed one hundred missions in a day and copied Xia Yun’s Illusory Heaven Method, leaving his remaining tasks still to be completed.

• Ling Yi gave Jin Xiaoxiao three survival-focused cultivation techniques before leaving to grind The Assassins missions.
• Ling Yi targeted Xia Yun, a martial arts genius whose Illusory Heaven Method had made her a dead-contract target for the yamen.
• After Xia Yun hypnotized an admirer, Ling Yi sent her into his Personal Small World, where Qin Ming explained that she was no longer on Blue Star.
• Ling Yi transformed a Paper Talisman Puppet into Xia Yun’s likeness and sent it to the yamen, completing the mission.
• Ling Yi completed one hundred runs in a day and copied Xia Yun’s Illusory Heaven Method, which he considered more practical than the Soul-Shifting Great Method.