Chapter Summaries

Lu Yingheng told the mayor that a Hollow had left him fatally wounded and arranged to have his death announced while he went into hiding. He left the mayor to protect Vivian and said he would stay “dead” until his enemies revealed themselves.

• Lu Yingheng visited the mayor and revealed that he expected to die despite being a member of the Immortal Dragon Clan.
• Lu Yingheng said he had defeated a powerful Ethereal and warned the mayor to keep people out of the Hollow.
• Lu Yingheng showed the mayor the enormous hole where his heart and ribs had been erased, then asked him to protect Vivian from political threats.
• Lu Yingheng refused to let the mayor take more than half the Dragon Emperor Guard away from Vivian, ordered him to announce his death the next day, and said he would remain hidden until his enemies showed their hand.
• After Lu Yingheng left, the mayor recalled how the young Lu Yingheng had once forced his way before him and demanded the title of [Void Hunter].

Lu Yingheng met with An Limi and prepared to disappear to prevent a disaster, then checked the merged system and its costly bloodline upgrades. As he walked through town, a stranger mistook him for someone cosplaying the Dragon Emperor.

• Lu Yingheng reassured An Limi, who had raised him, then let the old man send him away from the car while grieving over his planned death.
• Lu Yingheng recalled his childhood, when the Defense Force rescued him from Ethereals, and how he later became a Void Hunter.
• Lu Yingheng summoned his system and reviewed his 50% Black King Nidhogg bloodline, abilities, inventory, and increasingly expensive shop upgrades.
• Lu Yingheng said he needed to gather the rest of his bloodline, say goodbye to Vivian, and fake his death before the main story began in a year.
• Lu Yingheng joked with his system while walking, then a passerby told him his Dragon Emperor cosplay lacked the real Dragon Emperor's cold demeanor.

Lu Yingheng rescued a mother and daughter from a Hollow disaster and caught the transmigrator who had shoved them toward Thanatos. After learning the man possessed a Plot System, Lu Yingheng killed him so the Strongest Dragon Emperor System could devour it; the system began absorbing its modules.

• Lu Yingheng remembered arriving at a Hollow disaster and seeing a transmigrator shove a mother and daughter toward Thanatos to escape.
• Lu Yingheng rescued the mother and daughter, then caught the fleeing transmigrator and brought him back.
• Lu Yingheng and the little girl discovered that the transmigrator had a Plot System that could supply the missing modules in the Strongest Dragon Emperor System.
• The transmigrator tried to bargain for his life and insisted the mother and daughter were only data, so Lu Yingheng killed him with Gungnir.
• The Strongest Dragon Emperor System began devouring the Plot Role-Playing System.

Lu Yingheng picked up Vivian and met her friends Alice and Hoshimi Miyabi at Lumina Square, while privately planning to fake his death and join the protagonist's party under the guise of amnesia. Before the girls went shopping, he told Miyabi to investigate Hollow Apus, where he suspected something big would happen.

• Lu Yingheng accepted Vivian's call and drove to pick her up, while telling his system he planned to fake his death and enter the protagonist's party as an amnesiac.
• Vivian insisted Lu Yingheng spend more time with her, then asked him to join her shopping trip when they arrived at Lumina Square.
• Alice ran up and hugged Lu Yingheng, then shyly relayed that her father wanted to know when he would visit the family.
• Hoshimi Miyabi reminded Lu Yingheng that he had promised to treat her to a melon, and he asked her to check on Hollow Apus because he expected trouble there.
• Vivian led Alice and Hoshimi Miyabi into the mall, while Lu Yingheng called after them with advice and reminders.

Lu Yingheng staged the Dragon Emperor’s death in Crete Hollow so he could disappear and enter the main storyline, trusting New Eridu’s mayor not to betray him because their interests were aligned. Vivian felt his apparent death as a growing unease, and the chapter ended with her unanswered message to Yingheng.

• Lu Yingheng explained that the remaining TOPS forces made his staged death necessary, then had Long Yi bind him to a cross and drive Gungnir through his heart.
• Vivian, Alice, and Hoshimi Miyabi felt an unexplained sense of loss in Lumina Square, but Hoshimi Miyabi attributed it to unstable Ether impurities.
• The system teased Lu Yingheng about faking his death, then asked whether he feared the mayor would betray him.
• Lu Yingheng said the mayor would not betray him because their interests were aligned and betrayal would undermine the mayor’s own power.
• Vivian’s unease turned to fear, and she messaged Yingheng asking where he was and whether he was all right.
• When Yingheng did not reply, Vivian dropped her shopping bags and stared at her silent phone.

Vivian, Alice, and Hoshimi Miyabi discovered that Lu Yingheng had stopped responding and searched for him through their families’ contacts. Their efforts found no trace of him, leaving all three increasingly afraid that something had happened to him.

• Vivian panicked after she could not reach Lu Yingheng, and Hoshimi Miyabi urged her and Alice to search through their own contacts.
• Vivian returned to the house she shared with Lu Yingheng and found it empty, then broke down in his room.
• Alice asked Lionel Thymefield where Lu Yingheng had gone, but Lionel said he had no reason to leave on a mission.
• Hoshimi Miyabi hurried to the Hoshimi Family residence and asked Hoshimi Souichirou to contact Lu Yingheng.
• Hoshimi Souichirou found no trace of Lu Yingheng through the family’s channels, and Hoshimi Miyabi was left bewildered.

After an official announcement declared Lu Yingheng dead in the Crete Advanced Hollow, Vivian believed she had lost the person she relied on most. She watched his memorial procession in Lumina Square and broke down in grief as Alice and Hoshimi Miyabi stayed beside her.

• Vivian read the Dragon Emperor Guard's announcement that Lu Yingheng had died protecting New Eridu from a level-nine Ethereal.
• Thousands gathered in Lumina Square for Lu Yingheng's memorial procession, where Long Er carried a black urn.
• Alice and Hoshimi Miyabi searched the crowd and found Vivian standing alone, then Alice embraced her while Hoshimi Miyabi stayed quietly beside them.
• Vivian blamed herself for failing to realize Lu Yingheng was in danger, and Alice told her it was not her fault.

After Lu Yingheng’s death, Long Er found Vivian after she tried to kill herself and delivered Lu Yingheng’s final message. Vivian learned that she had been appointed acting leader of the Dragon Emperor Guard and was charged with opposing the financial powers behind his death.

• Long Er arrived at Vivian’s wrecked house and found her unconscious in Lu Yingheng’s bedroom with a severe wrist wound.
• Long Er treated Vivian’s wound, and she woke and wept over her failure to use her foresight to save Lu Yingheng.
• Long Er told Vivian that Lu Yingheng had left instructions for him and played her a recording explaining that financial powers had likely plotted his death.
• Long Er told Vivian that Lu Yingheng had placed the Dragon Emperor Guard under her sole command and asked her to live on and protect the world.
• Far away, a figure on a cross in the Hollow sensed the events and said, “Just as planned.”

After receiving Lu Yingheng’s recording, Vivian, Alice, and Hoshimi Miyabi resolved to seek revenge for his deliberate murder and oppose the TOPS Consortium. Alice and Hoshimi Miyabi gained their families’ support, and Vivian invited them to form an alliance.

• Vivian accepted responsibility as head of the Dragon Emperor Guard, exported Lu Yingheng’s final recording, and sent it to Alice and Hoshimi Miyabi.
• Alice listened to the recording, emerged from her room, and told Leoniel that she had evidence and knew who killed Lu Yingheng.
• Hoshimi Miyabi told Hoshimi Kiyohime that Lu Yingheng had been deliberately targeted and asked whether the Hoshimi Family would join her in seeking revenge.
• Hoshimi Kiyohime heard the recording, vowed that the Hoshimi Family would punish the conspirators, and went to mobilize the family.
• Hoshimi Miyabi read Vivian’s invitation to join Alice and secretly oppose the TOPS Consortium.

In a livestream, Xia Linxi watched the Cunning Hares battle Ethereals in Crete Hollow, where they found a mysterious golden safe zone unlike the closed-beta story. They entered the barrier and discovered a wounded black-haired young man impaled on an iron cross.

• Xia Linxi streamed the Cunning Hares’ desperate fight and reassured viewers that their Proxy would help them escape.
• Anby spotted an empty area ahead, and Nicole ordered Billy and Anby to break through toward it with the red-scarfed Bangboo.
• The three fought their way through the Ethereal horde and reached a golden barrier that repelled the creatures.
• Nicole, Billy, and Anby entered the peaceful safe zone and found a black-haired young man pinned to an iron cross by a spear.

Nicole recognized the cross-bound man as Lord Dragon Emperor, the benefactor who had transformed her orphanage, despite the city announcing his death a year earlier. Nicole, Anby, and Billy freed him from the spear, causing the golden barrier to collapse and its light to enter his body.

• Nicole recognized the black-haired man on the cross and remembered how he had funded orphanages across New Eridu, including the one where she grew up.
• Anby recalled that Lord Dragon Emperor had been declared dead in a Hollow disaster a year earlier, and Nicole insisted she could not mistake him.
• Billy noted the mystery of finding the supposedly dead hero in Crete Hollow, while Anby suspected someone had murdered and sealed him with the spear.
• Nicole rushed to the cross and vowed to take Lord Dragon Emperor back, and Anby and Billy joined her in pulling out the spear.
• The three extracted the spear, the golden barrier collapsed, and its light flowed into Lord Dragon Emperor's body.

Lu Yingheng revived, secretly played along as an amnesiac, and annihilated the Ethereals threatening the Cunning Hares. Nicole, Anby, and Billy planned to get him out of the Hollow safely while Xia Linxi and Lin Xingyao discussed what his actions revealed about him.

• After Lu Yingheng's wound healed and the golden barrier vanished, Ethereals surrounded Nicole, Anby, and Billy as they fought to survive.
• Lu Yingheng freed himself from his restraints, decided to pretend to have amnesia, and waited for his chance to make an entrance.
• As the Cunning Hares ran low on stamina and ammunition, Lu Yingheng released an immense force that instantly destroyed every Ethereal and earned him 160 million Emotion Points.
• Nicole approached Lu Yingheng, who acted confused and unable to speak, and learned through his gestures that he did not remember her or clearly recall his death.
• Anby urged the group to find the Hollow's exit and hide Lu Yingheng, warning that multiple factions might have plotted his murder and could attack again.
• During Xia Linxi's livestream, Lin Xingyao concluded that Lu Yingheng was powerful and important, while Xia Linxi teased her for judging his character by his looks.

Wise and Belle drove off a hacker and restored the Eous connection, only to discover a devastated Hollow and a black-haired man believed to be the Dragon Emperor. The chapter left Wise and Belle confirming his likely identity while Lu Yingheng finished the story sequence and received 150 million Emotion Points.

• Wise and Belle used the Phaethon account as bait to trace and drive off the hacker, then restored the Eous connection.
• Belle saw the Ethereal-ravaged Crete Hollow and warned Nicole that the group needed to evacuate immediately.
• Nicole asked Belle about the First-Generation Void Hunter, the Dragon Emperor, and Anby directed Belle to look behind the Eous camera.
• Belle recognized the unconscious black-haired man as her idol, and Wise's system scan gave him a 75% identity match as the Dragon Emperor.
• Lu Yingheng asked the Human-Machine System whether the story sequence had ended and received 150 million Emotion Points.

After learning that Lu Yingheng was the Dragon Emperor who had been ambushed and imprisoned, Nicole and the others worried that his enemies would come after him again. Belle persuaded Wise to take Lu Yingheng into their home and hide him at the video store while he recovered.

• Billy explained that several factions had conspired against the Dragon Emperor and that Lu Yingheng had been imprisoned until the group removed the spear pinning him down.
• Nicole said Lu Yingheng had wiped out the Hollow's Ethereals without harming anyone, while Belle and the streamers reacted with excitement to his confused, helpless manner.
• Anby warned that Lu Yingheng's enemies would strike again and urged the group to hide him until his memory and strength returned.
• Nicole volunteered to take Lu Yingheng in, but Billy objected that the Cunning Hares could barely afford to feed themselves.
• Belle proposed bringing Lu Yingheng to the video store, and Wise agreed to shelter him there while he recuperated.

Billy warned that he, Nicole, and Anby were close to becoming Ethereals, while Belle used a commission safe’s key to activate FAIRY and reopen an evacuation route. In the Hollow, Lu Yingheng followed Eous toward the video store, and the group prepared to bring him there.

• Billy warned Nicole and Anby that their Ether tolerance was nearly exhausted, and Belle explained that corrupted Hollow data left the safe’s key as their only way out.
• Lu Yingheng contacted his system spirit in his mind and learned that the three women who cared about him had become yanderes during his year-long sleep.
• Belle directed Nicole to open the safe, then inserted its core key into Eous, triggering a complete system reconstruction.
• FAIRY Type III activated, and Eous invited Lu Yingheng to return with it to the video store for safety and recovery.
• Lu Yingheng followed Eous, while Nicole reluctantly accepted that the Cunning Hares could not protect him and Anby agreed to the arrangement.
• FAIRY opened a clear evacuation passage out of the sealed Crete Hollow.

Lu Yingheng entered the video store and stayed with Wise and Belle while pretending to have amnesia, as Wise tried to find protection for him through the Dragon Emperor Guard. Vivian, the Guard’s head, treated Wise’s public message as a hoax and ordered a hacker to threaten and trace him, forcing Wise and Fairy to defend the store’s network.

• Belle welcomed Lu Yingheng, while Wise offered him a place to stay and asked about his memory and the factions that had plotted against him.
• Belle took Lu Yingheng to buy clothes, and Wise used Fairy to confirm his original name before posting an anonymous lead on the Dragon Emperor Guard’s forum.
• Vivian saw Wise’s claim that the Dragon Emperor was alive and had been found in a Hollow, but believed it was a fraudulent rumor and ordered the Guard’s hacker to trace the poster.
• The hacker launched a cyberattack against Wise’s hidden address and sent a threatening message, while Wise ordered Fairy to defend the system and disrupt the tracking attempt.

Belle took Lu Yingheng shopping for clothes while trying to keep his striking appearance from attracting attention. After Lu Yingheng unexpectedly spoke, Belle sent him to change in a fitting room, but he started lifting his shirt in the middle of the store.

• Belle pulled Lu Yingheng into an alley and covered his face with her jacket to keep people from noticing him.
• Belle brought Lu Yingheng to a fashion store and told the saleswoman he was her boyfriend.
• The saleswoman was stunned by Lu Yingheng's looks and picked out clothes that fit him.
• Lu Yingheng touched his cheek, said "Huh?", and startled Belle by speaking for the first time.
• Belle handed Lu Yingheng the new clothes, and he began to change in the store until she shouted that he should use the fitting room.

Belle tried to calm herself by thinking about the Dragon Emperor Bureau’s search for the Dragon Emperor, but she became flustered again after secretly photographing Lu Yingheng in the clothing store. She left with him after he accepted her apology, then grew jealous when he showed her the shop assistant’s contact details.

• Belle recalled her brother’s warning that the Dragon Emperor Bureau’s intentions were unclear and decided not to reveal Lu Yingheng’s identity.
• After Lu Yingheng changed into a black outfit, Belle accidentally photographed him with the flash on and fled the store in embarrassment.
• The shop assistant slipped Lu Yingheng her contact details, but he caught up with Belle and gave her the note.
• Belle apologized for secretly photographing Lu Yingheng, and he told her she could take his picture.
• Belle read the shop assistant’s contact details and complained that the woman had flirted with her boyfriend.

Belle explained to Lu Yingheng that “boyfriend” meant a member of a loving couple and admitted her earlier remark had only been an excuse. Meanwhile, Vivian’s failed search for Lu Yingheng left her convinced he might still be alive, and Long Er summoned her to Lumina Square.

• At the arcade, Lu Yingheng asked Belle what “boyfriend” meant, and she resisted the temptation to claim they had once been a couple.
• Belle told Lu Yingheng that she had used the word to explain his appearance, then fled to a nearby video store without waiting for his response.
• At Dragon Emperor Bureau headquarters, Vivian dismissed a hacker who had failed to break through a powerful defensive barrier or uncover any clues.
• Alone in her office, Vivian wondered whether Lu Yingheng was alive and why he had not returned to her.
• Long Er, who had overheard Vivian’s grief, composed himself and told her that Ms. Hoshimi had invited her to Lumina Square.

Vivian learned that Yingheng was alive but injured, blind, unable to speak, and possibly suffering from amnesia, and she became consumed by jealousy over the girl seen with him. Hoshimi Miyabi refused to let Vivian find him, warning that their involvement would endanger him as the three women and powerful factions moved toward conflict.

• Hoshimi Miyabi showed Vivian a photograph of Yingheng and explained that a girl had brought him to a clothing store and called him her boyfriend.
• Vivian recognized Yingheng and raged that the girl had taken him from her.
• Alice comforted Vivian and relayed the clerk’s belief that Yingheng had lost his memory and did not remember anyone.
• Hoshimi Miyabi accused Vivian of intending to imprison and control Yingheng, and vowed not to let her find him.
• Vivian challenged Hoshimi Miyabi, insisting that Yingheng could only belong to her.
• Hoshimi Miyabi left, explaining that keeping Yingheng near them would expose him to danger from their rivalry and the major factions.