Chapter Summaries

After a gaming session, Norton reflected on how his revived human emotions made him fear the universe’s heat death and the loneliness that awaited him. He decided to ask the Human Federation to establish a department devoted to researching the universe’s extinction.

• Norton finished a 10v10 game and sat down on the sofa in the empty room.
• He recalled that his humanity had awakened over the year since his revival, making him resist returning to the emotionless state of supremacy.
• Norton realized that the universe’s heat death would eventually leave him alone, and that he could not use his power to prevent it.
• He remembered that Shenyin, Jonah, and Kuba had once made the Garden of Eden self-sustaining, but that he had undone their work.
• Norton ordered Abraham to contact the Human Federation and establish a department of cosmic research to study the universe’s extinction.

An online mystery about an apparently inhabited but officially nonexistent town led gamers to connect it to Norton, the Pale God, and a wave of fabricated accusations against him followed. The Human Federation shut down the rumor campaign, explained the town and matchmaking glitches, and awarded Norton the Duoxia Peace Prize.

• An influencer’s video of the empty Motorcycle Township went viral after the government claimed the town had never been inhabited.
• Gamers compared screenshots of incomplete matches and noticed that every one included a player named “nt,” which they linked to Norton.
• Journalists and paid trolls spread accusations blaming Norton for historical persecutions and recent deaths, provoking widespread denunciation.
• The Human Federation cracked down on accounts spreading the claims and announced that Motorcycle Town was a new attraction that had not yet opened.
• The game company blamed matchmaking problems on spaghetti code and temporarily shut down the game for an overhaul.
• The authorities awarded Norton the Duoxia Peace Prize in recognition of his rescue of the populace and the crisis of trust he had suffered.

Norton attended the Human Federation’s Duoxia Peace Prize ceremony, where officials used the award to signal their awareness of the vanished residents of Motorcycle Town and seek closer cooperation. Norton accepted the prize and announced that the Pale Holy Court would raise orphans, leaving the public praising him while the children’s prospects looked grim.

• The Human Federation arranged the Duoxia Peace Prize ceremony as a probe and warning to Norton after Motorcycle Town’s residents disappeared.
• Norton arrived at the government-requisitioned cathedral with Elizabeth and Abraham and was welcomed by President Marshall.
• President Marshall praised Norton’s supposed benevolence and presented him with the Duoxia Peace Prize.
• Norton declared that the Pale Holy Court would take in and raise orphans, prompting the crowd to applaud and praise him.
• Norton smiled benevolently while the narration suggested that the Federation’s orphans might suffer.

President Marshall praised Norton as the source of humanity’s achievements and urged the audience to see his return as a chance for civilization to advance. After reporters pressed Norton about immortality and evolution for all, Norton declared that all beings exposed to his holy light would naturally evolve, leaving the crowd convinced the government’s plan had worked.

• President Marshall praised Norton and claimed humanity’s progress depended on him.
• Reporters questioned Norton about immortality, vampire slots, and whether he would lead humanity through another evolution.
• The Human Federation’s leaders used public flattery to pressure Norton into announcing evolution for all, hoping to gain greater benefits for themselves.
• Norton rose from his throne and declared that all living beings who basked in his holy light would ascend in the rank of life.
• The audience and reporters reacted with excitement, believing their plan had succeeded.

Piers and Ranier, revived as vampires and again controlling the Xiernuo Consortium, discussed manipulating the Pale God to secure their own immortality. They planned to use psychological pressure and the orphans sent to the Pale Holy See to influence him, believing his desire for humanity gave them leverage.

• The chapter described how prolonged peace and corruption had hollowed out the Human Federation's lower, middle, and upper classes and its leaders.
• Piers drank the blood of a young actress while the other women on his bed were too frightened to intervene.
• Ranier proposed using psychological pressure and training the orphans bound for the Pale Holy See to influence the Pale God.
• Piers argued that modern brainwashing could make the Pale God a weapon, since his desire for humanity gave them weaknesses to exploit.
• Piers and Ranier agreed that universal evolution mattered less than gaining the Pale God's cooperation, as they longed to escape their decaying bodies.

Duoxia warned President Marshall that the Pale God could become dangerously unrestrained now that Norton seemed to have reached supremacy, but Marshall rejected his proposal as futile. Duoxia left after asking Marshall to release his student, determined that someone had to act.

• President Marshall questioned Duoxia about why his position on the Pale God's rule had changed since ten thousand years ago.
• Duoxia argued that the Pale God faced no higher power to restrain him and could become as corrupt as the Human Federation's leaders.
• Marshall said the Federation lacked the strength to oppose the Pale God and dismissed Duoxia's concerns.
• Duoxia accepted that Marshall would not help, suggested the Pale God's fated enemy might be the Holy Lord Church, and asked him to release his student.

After Norton’s speech, mutations spread throughout the Garden of Eden and beyond, ranging from an elf-like newborn to a man transformed by full-body cancer. As humanity struggled to classify the changes, Norton left the Garden of Eden by space train, still focused on the ultimate heat death.

• A pointed-eared, long-lived newborn appeared in the Northern Continent, and the Federation took the family in and made the child a public ambassador.
• An elderly man developed full-body cancerous growths that kept renewing his cells, alarming people about the danger of uncontrolled mutations.
• Public opinion turned against mutation and Norton, while wealthy people rushed to buy vampire slots for protection.
• Mutations spread to residents of space cities, and the Federation created a supernatural classification system that spurred technological progress.
• Norton boarded a space train bound for an outer-space city, intent on the ultimate heat death.

Abraham took a spaceship sightseeing trip and felt overwhelmed by the vast universe and the smallness of his ten-thousand-year life. Norton challenged Abraham’s nihilism, claiming that the Garden of Eden was the universe’s only home for life and that the sun had revolved around it ten thousand years earlier.

• Abraham gazed through the spaceship’s transparent walls at the universe and reflected on how much the world had changed since the ancient Holy Lord Empire.
• Seeing the Garden of Eden from space made Abraham feel that his life and all its struggles were insignificant, and he felt grateful to Norton for preserving him.
• Norton relaxed on a sofa and played a game while asking Abraham whether he felt insignificant.
• Abraham admitted that seeing the universe had changed his perspective on power, status, and the turmoil of his past.
• Norton told Abraham that he, Jonah, Kuba, and Shenyin were not ants, and that the Garden of Eden was the universe’s only place with life.
• Norton claimed that ten thousand years earlier, the sun had revolved around the Garden of Eden.

Norton explained to Abraham how the universe’s physical and spiritual entropy connected to the destruction of life, then recounted the roles of Jonah, Shenyin, and Kuba in preserving the Garden of Eden. He ended uncertain whether the being crucified was Kuba or God, and unable to observe Kuba’s form before the sun was sealed.

• Abraham challenged Norton’s account of celestial movements and deities using scientific explanations he had watched in short videos.
• Norton described the universe’s expansion and eventual heat death, explaining that it applied to both physical energy and souls.
• Norton said souls dispersed into Heaven after death and that Jonah sealed the sun while Shenyin enabled souls to circulate through the Garden of Eden.
• Norton recounted how Kuba killed God, how Shenyin dismembered Kuba and exposed his body to the sun, and how a mysterious species had helped Norton cross the Fourth Stage.
• Norton said he could not observe Kuba before the sun was sealed and questioned whether the being crucified had been Kuba or God.

Norton told Abraham that despite his power, every future he had observed ended in the universe’s heat death, and he suspected the truth about Kuba was connected. Abraham tried to reassure him with modern theories and short-video wisdom, but Norton ended the conversation by restricting Abraham and Elizabeth’s phone use.

• Norton explained that after destroying the seals governing physical reality and souls, he had only ever seen the universe end in heat death.
• Abraham feared that Norton’s revelations foretold another catastrophe and blamed Norton for causing it.
• Abraham tried to reassure Norton that future technology and humanity’s knowledge could solve the problem.
• Elizabeth tried to take cucumber slices to her room after watching a video about preventing aging.
• Norton scolded Abraham and Elizabeth for being brainwashed by the internet and limited both of them to two hours on their phones each day.

Norton visited the Human Federation Interstellar Research Center to seek answers about the universe’s heat death, while researchers debated what his powers and concerns revealed about the limits of reality. The chapter ended with Norton heading to the center on Duoxia Star as the researchers continued arguing over whether spacetime and heat death could be changed.

• The chapter described how humanity’s curiosity about alien civilizations and enormous welded seams on distant planets had once driven scholars, including Newton Morgan, to despair and suicide.
• Norton sought to gather researchers’ ideas about the heat death of the universe and whether he was truly God.
• Researchers speculated that Norton’s pursuit of humanity and freedom, and his resistance to supremacy, reflected a conflict between human desires and the universe’s fundamental rules.
• Researchers disputed whether Norton could reverse heat death, debating whether his powers were limited by fixed spacetime or whether he could have established those limits himself.
• Norton traveled toward the Interstellar Research Center on Duoxia Star, where the research conference hall was already filled with clamor.

Scholars prepared to cooperate with Norton on academic research as he arrived at Duoxia Star and admired humanity’s cities. After Abraham’s comments about immortal Vampires offended him, Norton teased him about resuming his rule, then declared that humanity could continue ruling under his granted freedom.

• Meyer Katz concluded the seminar by describing Norton as a curse and a blessing and affirming the Human Federation’s plan to cooperate with him.
• Norton and Abraham descended toward Duoxia Star, and both marveled at humanity’s cities and achievements across the harsh planet.
• Norton took offense when Abraham suggested that long-lived Vampires would become idle, and Abraham prostrated himself and praised Norton’s leadership.
• Norton joked that he might resume ruling, frightening Abraham, then laughed and reassured him that humanity could continue its rule.
• Norton put on his silver crown and cloak and asked when he had ever started trouble if humanity had not wronged him.

Norton arrived in Dalan City on Duoxia Star and went straight to the Interstellar Research Institute to discuss the universe's heat death with scholars. While he immersed himself in the research, the public speculated wildly about his motives, and the Human Federation Government tried to contain the resulting rumors.

• Norton arrived in Dalan City, where Governor John Luodi and other officials welcomed him.
• Norton dismissed the formal reception and ordered every scholar to join him in studying the universe's heat death.
• Norton withdrew from the internet and spent his days discussing heat death with the scholars.
• Reporters and online commentators speculated that Norton's interest in heat death signaled a coming disaster or revealed the limits of his powers.
• Influencers spread fabricated apocalypse rumors, prompting the Human Federation Government to restrict public discussion while Norton continued his research.

Norton explained to Mr. Kazi and the scholars that God encompassed infinitely many time universes, while their questions exposed the limits of his knowledge about his own future and the river of time. He recalled the Church’s creation stories and concluded that he was the transformation God had sought for advancement.

• Norton told the scholars that the universe inevitably ended in heat death, though he could not observe what happened to himself after ascending to the Fifth Stage.
• A time researcher and Mr. Kazi questioned whether Norton had truly changed the past and whether his soul originated outside the universe.
• Norton explained that the universe consisted of infinitely many fixed Time Universes, with God encompassing all of them across time and space.
• Norton recalled the Holy Lord Empire’s creation stories and recognized that God had tried to advance by creating different forms of life.
• Norton concluded that his unique soul made him the possibility of God’s advancement and the transformation God had sought.

Norton explained that as an outsider, his actions generated new timelines that became part of God’s expansion, and said he could return only to the present because Jonah’s death had sealed Heaven off from the Garden of Eden. Dr. Kazi’s questions about drawing God into the Garden and whether heat death represented God’s maturity left Norton visibly frightened.

• Norton told the Church and scholars that his existence had become the source of God’s expansion across new temporal universes.
• Kazi asked whether Norton could return to any point in spacetime, and Norton said he could return only to the present.
• Norton explained that Jonah’s imprisonment in the sun had sealed Heaven off from the Garden of Eden, preventing his shattered soul from returning there until ancient ruins were excavated and minds gathered around them.
• Kazi asked whether renewed preaching could anchor God in the Garden of Eden as Norton had been anchored.
• Kazi proposed that the universe’s heat death might be God’s mature state, and Norton clenched his hand and broke into a cold sweat.

Norton feared that God could return to the Garden of Eden by anchoring through human minds, and warned the Human Federation’s leaders. At a summit in Dalan City, scholars explained the threat and urged cooperation with Norton to prevent God’s descent.

• Norton recalled Kuba’s and Jonah’s account of how they had restrained God, then realized that he had burned away the seals blocking God’s return.
• Norton sent his suspicions about God’s possible descent to the highest ranks of the Human Federation.
• Mr. Marshall arrived in Dalan City with several elderly leaders, who hurried to the research center to meet Norton.
• Mr. Kazi told the leaders that God could use human minds as anchors, and that a physical descent could make God uncontrollable and threaten the Garden of Eden.
• The Human Federation and consortium leaders listened nervously as Kazi called the Pale God a parasite while Norton sat nearby.

The Human Federation’s leaders agreed that God’s return could threaten humanity and the Garden of Eden, and asked Norton how he would prevent it. Norton proposed reshaping society and the Church to erase God’s influence, then left the leaders fearing that humanity would be trapped under his control.

• Scholar Kazi warned that God’s arrival could cause extinction because the Federation had no knowledge of him and could not easily stop prayers from reaching him.
• Mr. Stephen asked Norton whether he could seal the gateway to Heaven or otherwise prevent God’s descent.
• Norton said the Federation should provide for people’s needs, expand entertainment and pleasure, merge the churches and replace references to God with his name, and reward believers in him with stronger mutations.
• Norton ordered the Federation’s leaders to obey his will or be exterminated.
• The leaders were frightened by Norton’s power and plans, which they realized could pen humanity inside the Garden of Eden.

Norton and the Human Federation reshaped society by merging the two churches, introducing universal government support, and promoting human evolution. After the Federation erased an elderly revolt and suppressed public dissent, it encouraged people to believe that reverence for Norton could strengthen their evolution.

• The Human Federation announced that the Pale Church and the Holy Lord Church would merge as the White Lord Church, with Nicholas abdicating in favor of Norton.
• The Federation introduced a monthly allowance of ten thousand yuan and took responsibility for production, provoking furious protests from many middle-aged and elderly people who feared losing their place in society.
• Dumusi and another armed elderly man set out to attack a school, but Norton made them and their belongings vanish; the Federation suppressed the ensuing unrest and removed Norton's threatening social-media post.
• The Federation promoted reports of powerful evolved humans and animals, while suspending its quarterly census as the population changed.
• The Federation claimed that people who esteemed Norton evolved more powerfully and suggested that worshipping him could strengthen human evolution.

Millions of devout Holy Lord Church believers gathered at the old Holy See ruins to mourn the church’s merger with the Pale Church. The enormous pilgrimage went unnoticed by the media and seemed to have slipped beyond the Human Federation’s view.

• Norton’s mass killing and the Federation’s submission to his power marked a quiet change of regime.
• Believers from across the world traveled to the Holy Lord Holy See ruins, where they gathered in grief.
• About a million mostly poor and devout believers filled the mountain paths, forests, and surrounding peaks.
• The believers’ collective sobbing drowned out the sounds around them, while the media and influencers failed to appear.
• The gathering seemed to have escaped the notice of society and the Human Federation.

Norton watched a million Holy Lord Church believers mourn at the Wailing Wall and feared their faith would anchor the Pale God’s descent. As the sun transformed into a gilded eye and fixed its gaze on the crowd, the Pale God declared himself to them.

• Norton dismissed the believers’ faith as ignorance, then warned that their devotion could establish an anchor for the Pale God’s descent.
• A million believers gathered at the Wailing Wall, lamented the Holy Lord Church’s fall, and accused Pope Nicholas of abandoning them.
• The sun changed from pale yellow to gold, prompting the believers to celebrate what they believed was a divine miracle.
• A golden ring and pupil appeared in the sun, which turned its gaze toward the believers.
• The Pale God sent a message into every believer’s mind, declaring, “I am God, the Pale God!”