Chapter Summaries

Ed taught Duolin to secretly provide truthful intelligence about the Tree Worship Church to three different targets while concealing the Second Holy See’s role. Duolin began preparing to write the letters, trusting Ed’s guidance.

• Duolin told Ed he had learned to write in cipher, and Ed proposed that they create a masterpiece together.
• Ed identified a senior Pure One as target A, the Holy See Records Office as target B, and the provincial archbishop as target C.
• Ed explained that the Pure Ones could be allies if they showed loyalty to the Tree God, and that Duolin must avoid exposing the Second Holy See.
• Ed instructed Duolin to send genuine intelligence secretly to target A, leave subtle clues in a proper report to target B, and reassure target C until the time came to act against him.
• Ed urged Duolin to act as a trusted source of information rather than enter the conflict openly, and Duolin asked why Ed had chosen him.
• Ed privately admitted Duolin was his only connection in the Tree Worship Church and told him he trusted him.

Ed guided Duolin in preparing letters and reports that would expose suspected corruption in a remote Tree Worship Church parish while concealing their real purpose. Duolin sent the documents into the Church’s normal channels and prepared to continue the deception from behind the scenes.

• Ed explained that Duolin should act as the writer behind the scenes so others would trust the information.
• Duolin drafted a humble warning letter and a routine report that included figures revealing missing seeds from White Wax Town.
• Duolin copied the report with falsified figures for the provincial archbishop and wrote a third letter designed to curry favor with a fallen official.
• Ed told Duolin to send the letters through trustworthy squad members and outlined how to write later letters to two targets.
• Duolin asked how senior officials would respond if they uncovered the corruption, and Ed said they would have heroes investigate heroes.

Ed confirmed that reclaiming White Wax Town had completed the current phase of his mission and discussed with Little Green how the town’s Territory Secret Pact would enable a new plan. In the real world, Professor Li Yinhua was taken for examination after officials found unknown radiation in his report, then learned that its handwriting could glow in the dark.

• Ed asked Little Green how long it would take to digest White Wax Town's Territory Secret Pact, and Little Green estimated three days.
• Ed and Little Green discussed expanding their territory and using Little Green's growth to make Ed's earlier idea a reality.
• A young man in black asked Professor Li Yinhua for handwriting samples and escorted him from the university to a van.
• The middle-aged man in black told Professor Li Yinhua that traces of unknown radiation had been found on a document he submitted.
• The young man in black explained that Professor Li Yinhua's report on the battle to reclaim White Wax Town had begun emitting visible light in the dark.

The professor and the investigators considered whether his glowing handwriting was linked to a change in his body or consciousness, and he recalled allocating points to Psionic Energy Compatibility in the game. They brought his students to the hospital to test that possibility, where the young man in black told them to listen carefully and Lü Yang asked if they had seen a mermaid.

• The young man explained that specialists had found the professor’s glowing handwriting emitted unknown radiation and proposed two possible causes: a bodily change or a change in consciousness.
• The professor confirmed he had been emotionally excited while writing his report, and the young man said they had deliberately stirred similar emotions to test what triggered the glow.
• The professor recalled that he had allocated special attribute points to Psionic Energy Compatibility, unlike the players he knew, and the investigators considered testing whether that choice was connected to the radiation.
• The investigators asked the professor’s students, Lü Yang and Li Yu, to handwrite summaries and then come to the hospital with their reports.
• At the hospital, the young man in black gave Lü Yang and Li Yu paper and pens and told them to listen carefully, prompting Lü Yang to ask whether they had seen a mermaid.

Li Yu and the professor learned that World of Disorder could cause an unknown form of radiation, while the authorities discovered a player apparently using her real face. Elsewhere, a scammer’s fake activation-code group was shut down just before his first victim paid.

• Li Yu, the professor, and his students confirmed that only notes written in an agitated state showed signs of an unknown effect linked to World of Disorder.
• The middle-aged man in black explained that the game’s administrators protected player identities and made them difficult to trace.
• A team member showed the captain a photograph suggesting that a young woman played World of Disorder with her real face.
• A young man nearly paid ten thousand for a fake activation code before the recruitment group was dissolved and a scam warning appeared.
• The scammer realized his first potential victim had not paid and reacted in shock as his elaborate scheme collapsed.

[Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] offered to get her older brother an activation code, but demanded eighty thousand before agreeing to sell it for eight hundred and choose his game ID. Their bargaining was interrupted when three serious-looking people in black arrived with their parents.

• A scammer's computer was remotely searched, his group chats were disbanded, and a message from a tree appeared on his screen.
• The scammer fled to his front door, found his electronic lock disabled, and was met by two men with metal bracelets after opening it with a spare key.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] showed her older brother a photo of herself with Deadwood Vine seedlings and said her friend had sent her an activation code.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] offered to get her brother an activation code, first asking eighty thousand before agreeing to eight hundred in exchange for choosing his ID.
• Three serious-looking people in black arrived at the siblings' home with their parents while the siblings were still arguing.

A covert team asked [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] to invest her first attribute point in [Psionic Energy Compatibility], but she preferred [Plant Compatibility]. Her older brother agreed to cooperate, obtained a verified activation code for eight thousand yuan, and the captain later considered letting a team member play if he received beta access.

• The middle-aged man asked [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] to choose [Psionic Energy Compatibility], but she said she planned to choose [Plant Compatibility] unless circumstances changed.
• Her older brother volunteered to cooperate, then admitted he did not have access to World of Disorder.
• The middle-aged man arranged for the professor and two players to verify a genuine activation code, which the young man bought for eight thousand yuan.
• After the team left, a young man in black told the captain he wished he could play, and the captain explained why he needed to remain on player liaison and fieldwork.
• The captain said the young man could play if he received beta access, once a replacement was in position.

Liu Yi recruited Aibo to join his World of Disorder hunting business, offering to split the profits after their first two sales. Meanwhile, the trading site froze fake redemption-code listings after adding identity verification, and the man in black saw legitimate code prices stabilize around 8,000 yuan.

• Liu Yi met Aibo at a campus fast-food restaurant and told him that he could join the part-time job of hunting in World of Disorder.
• Aibo eagerly agreed, citing his ancestor’s history as a bounty hunter.
• Liu Yi explained that they would trade game resources for activation codes and sell them, with him taking the first two sales and splitting later profits with Aibo.
• A scammer discovered that the trading site had frozen his fake redemption-code listings and unwithdrawn payments pending proof of access to World of Disorder.
• The man in black arranged for the site to add identity verification, which removed most listings and left redemption-code prices at about 8,000 yuan.

Ed realized that the growing number of foreign players made an overseas version of World of Disorder necessary, while a mutated plant secretly revived a body in the castle. Aibo entered the game as [Western Sharpshooter] and began exploring the settlement with [Gill's Cuisine].

• Ed checked the foreign IP and considered developing a foreign-language version and opening an overseas server.
• A mutated plant dragged a reserve body from the secret chamber and revived it in the castle hall.
• Aibo heard the narrator's introduction, woke in the game, and met [Gill's Cuisine].
• [Gill's Cuisine] explained that Aibo's chosen ID was [Western Sharpshooter] and answered his questions about weapons and the game.
• [Western Sharpshooter] arrived in the settlement, where [Zhong Lele] recorded his arrival scream as her fortieth newbie scream.
• [Gill's Cuisine] showed [Western Sharpshooter] the riverside areas and led him toward the forest to complete a beginner quest.

World of Disorder announced new rules for redeeming beta activation codes, prompting players to debate the booming resale market. At Grand Ambitions All the Way General Store, Good Times Don't Last convinced Shit Appraisal Master to hunt separately for redemption materials and hire a Dragonborn to run the shop.

• World of Disorder announced that players would need 50 kg of living mutated monsters for their first activation code redemption, with the requirement rising by 50 kg each time to a 200 kg maximum, and warned that it would not take responsibility for real-money trades.
• Players argued over activation code prices, scams, and whether the codes being sold online were genuine.
• Good Times Don't Last told Shit Appraisal Master that their past losses came from anticipating official decisions and proposed earning money by hunting for activation code materials.
• Shit Appraisal Master agreed that they should hunt separately and split the cost of hiring a Dragonborn to watch the shop.
• Good Times Don't Last and Shit Appraisal Master decided to hire a reliable Dragonborn immediately.

Ed tested a Root Network plant that could teleport him about one kilometer, then discussed a way to extend teleportation by sending players’ body information to plants that could reconstruct them at the destination. He left the idea ready for further consideration, with Little Green sharing credit for the breakthrough.

• Players increasingly waited for activation codes to become cheaper, while updated beginner guides directed new arrivals to level up in the old castle before going to White Wax Town.
• Ed tested a pair of connected trees that transported him between hollows, confirming the Root Network’s short-range teleportation worked within about one kilometer.
• Ed explained that the Root Network connected the plants that sold items, resurrected players, and provided teleportation, and that the Demonic Tide disrupted longer transfers.
• Ed proposed disassembling players and teleporting their body parts, but Little Green suggested sending body information instead and rebuilding players from stored flesh at the destination.
• Ed considered how the plants could recreate players’ bodies and replace their items and clothes, then praised Little Green’s idea.

Aoda delivered Duolin’s report and letter to the archbishop in Fir City, while carefully answering questions about the missing taxes and conditions in White Wax Town. The archbishop then asked why none of the town’s original clerics had brought the letters.

• Aoda entered the Fir City cathedral and met the archbishop, whom he and Duolin suspected was a fallen one.
• The archbishop read Duolin’s report and learned that Aoda had become White Wax Town’s tax collector.
• The archbishop asked why Aoda had not brought last month’s taxes, and Aoda explained that the previous collector had died with the collected money and the faithful could not afford to be taxed again.
• The archbishop tested Aoda’s views on taxation, and Aoda said he disagreed with Duolin but could not override the bishop’s decision.
• Aoda described Duolin and Yiden as men who had disagreed but were arguing less often, and the archbishop asked why no original cleric had delivered the letters.

Aoda learned that Antiya Lisi was his new superior, while Tasi and Baluo delivered Duolin’s reports and denunciation letter in the Holy City. Baluo passed the letter to Samuer, who promised to deliver it to Cardinal Luxiusi.

• Aoda told the archbishop that he and Duolin would handle tasks for the other clerics, and the archbishop introduced himself as Antiya Lisi.
• Tasi returned to the Holy City and delivered Duolin’s monthly report to the Records Office.
• Baluo visited his former seminary teacher, who directed him to Samuer at the Records Office.
• Baluo gave Duolin’s letter of denunciation to Samuer, who said he would deliver it to Cardinal Luxiusi.
• Baluo waited in Samuer’s private room, then left the Records Office after seeing an enormous map at the entrance.

Samuer delivered Duolin’s denunciation of the Stained Ones to Cardinal Luxiusi, whose secret effort to restrain them through the Pure Ones had received its first response. Luxiusi investigated White Wax Town’s financial reports and discovered ten years of fabricated figures, implicating his former student, Archbishop Antiya Lisi.

• Samuer questioned his mechanical bird, Icarus, about Baluo’s actions, then went to Cardinal Luxiusi with a confidential letter from Duolin.
• Luxiusi recalled his plan to send capable Pure Ones from the Garrison Academy into the parishes to challenge the Stained Ones and curb their cruel experiments.
• After reading Duolin’s letter, Luxiusi asked Samuer to locate White Wax Town’s August report and then gather ten years of monthly reports from the parish.
• Luxiusi and Samuer compared the parish’s tax revenues, expenses, and balances, concluding that the figures had been falsified.
• Luxiusi identified Archbishop Antiya Lisi as the person in charge of Aduolin Province and remembered her as his student fifty years earlier.

Willow Seretima’s teacher sent her away with the final model of a successful experiment while confronting the monsters pursuing them. As Willow struggled to activate the teleportation circle, the teacher negotiated with the vampire Wens, who demanded that Willow be turned into a vampire.

• Willow’s teacher gave her a notebook and staff containing the successful experiment’s final model, then ordered her to teleport away before the cave exploded.
• The teacher revealed her fatal wound and called the teleportation attempt Willow’s graduation exam as a lich warlock.
• Willow tried to configure the magic circle while the teacher went to face the monsters outside.
• The teacher used Disorder to transform the attacking monsters, then addressed Wens and reluctantly agreed to talk.
• Wens arrived at the cave and demanded that the teacher bring out her daughter so he could give her a vampire’s first embrace.

Wens survived the destruction of four mountain peaks, while Willow escaped the Demon Realm by teleporting but nearly died in a fall. She landed in a wasteland of giant flowers and encountered a strange humanoid creature.

• The maimed lich Yiwenni sacrificed herself to trigger Psionic Energy Implosion, erasing four mountain peaks and destroying Wens's thralls.
• Wens regenerated from a blood pool and flew away from the crater.
• Willow teleported into midair and cast Skin Hardening to survive her fall to the ground.
• Willow checked her staff and notebook, then studied her map while surrounded by enormous, ominous flowers.
• A humanoid creature with enormous eyes emerged from one of the flowers as Willow tried to identify where she had landed.

Willow escaped the sea of flowers after turning an insect monster into a tree, then decided to travel west in search of a settlement that would accept her and her teacher’s research. In the real world, Yu Yun asked his father to finance a project and chose to be treated as an investor, leaving him ten minutes to explain how it would make money.

• Willow cast Disorder on the insect monster, transforming it into a mutated tree, and fled through the sea of flowers until dawn.
• At the forest’s edge, Willow mourned her teacher and studied her map before deciding to head west rather than return toward the Eternal Domain and Graycast Corridor.
• Willow marked the insect and flower on her map and set off west to seek a settlement that would accept her.
• Yu Yun visited his father to ask for money to fund a venture, and his father asked whether he wanted a loan or an investment.
• Yu Yun chose to be treated as an investee, and his father gave him ten minutes to explain how the plan would turn a profit.

Yu Yun’s father dismantled his plan to corner the activation-code market and advised him to produce and sell codes instead, prompting Yu Yun to borrow money and launch Great Prospects Game Studio. Meanwhile, [Good Times Don't Last] hired a dragonkin woman to work at his store and headed into the jungle for one last adventure before college.

• Yu Yun’s father explained that new activation codes would quickly replenish the market, making Yu Yun’s proposed price manipulation risky and unlikely to profit.
• Yu Yun’s father suggested producing activation codes with hired workers and competing through reliable supply, quality, and low prices.
• Yu Yun accepted his father’s financing, registered Great Prospects Game Studio, and planned to buy helmets, rent a hotel floor, and recruit workers.
• [Good Times Don't Last] taught a young dragonkin woman to keep accounts and signed a one-month employment contract with her, witnessed by Seraphina.
• [Good Times Don't Last] left for the jungle for one last adventure before his freshman year began.

World of Disorder’s closed beta passed five hundred players as revised activation-code rules and an announcement about persistent NPCs drew more people into the game. Gold farmers and major gaming clubs began entering the growing marketplace, and [Great Prospects Game Studio] caught the clubs’ attention with its steady supply of discounted activation codes.

• The revised activation-code rules and the developers’ warning that NPCs remembered players’ actions helped drive a surge in interest and pushed the beta population past five hundred.
• Ed investigated the players’ real-world identities and found university students, office workers, gold farmers, and intelligence agents among them.
• University students, researchers, and office workers pursued their own routines, from experimenting with game systems to fishing and making lore videos.
• Gold farmers arrived to gather resources and redeem activation codes, while [Howling Pothos] accelerated the effort to grow stronger alone.
• Major gaming clubs formed gold-farming teams and turned to the trading website, where [Great Prospects Game Studio] stood out for listing at least five activation codes a day at prices below the market average.

Ed welcomed the different groups of players in the World of Disorder as the game entered an era of large-scale development. Gray traveled beyond the Graycast Corridor toward a nomad settlement, but nobody answered his arrival, despite livestock still being penned there.

• Ed accepted the presence of players with specific objectives, including observers and gold farmers, so long as they did not disrupt ordinary players.
• Gray continued his trading route through settlements and outposts beyond the Graycast Corridor, marking nomadic camps on his map.
• As Gray approached a camp at dusk, the living power components inside his fortress became unusually noisy, and he knocked on their hatch to quiet them.
• Gray sounded his horn outside the camp, but no one came out of the tents.
• Gray noticed dozens of Vine Sheep still inside the settlement's makeshift fences and wondered why the nomads had left them behind.