Chapter Summaries

[Ginseng Rooster] used brutal and arbitrary tests to screen Black Pine City's militia recruits, persuading Cleric Andy that his methods served the city's defense. He finally approved [Second-Class Biscuit], who knocked him down with a punch, and Andy handed over the contract for him to sign.

• [Ginseng Rooster] punched a coughing civilian and eliminated him, then defended the harsh screening to Cleric Andy as necessary preparation for battle.
• [Ginseng Rooster] reassured Andy that he would resign after the battle, and Andy accepted his explanation and agreed to support his methods.
• [Ginseng Rooster] rejected civilians for supposed injuries, poor appearance, weakness, and even the name John, prompting Andy to ask him to accept someone.
• [Ginseng Rooster] questioned [Second-Class Biscuit], praised his answer that he would obey orders, and asked him to punch.
• [Second-Class Biscuit] struck [Ginseng Rooster] down with his tree-grown arm, and Andy handed over the contract.

[Ginseng Rooster] recruited players and local NPCs into the militia in Black Pine City, while Duma prepared to send an infiltration force toward the city. With Green Wheat Town captured, Duolin approved the first wave of two hundred Soul Returners to move out by air transport.

• [Ginseng Rooster] recruited twenty players and sixty local NPCs after testing the candidates’ strength with punches.
• [Ginseng Rooster] planned to make the players company and squad leaders so they could command the local militiamen.
• Duma learned that the Soul Returner Legion had captured Green Wheat Town, leaving Black Pine City as its remaining target.
• Duolin told Duma that two hundred Soul Returners were ready for the first infiltration wave, and Duma ordered him to begin.
• Duolin found [Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows] among the Soldier Bees and told him to summon the selected Soul Returners.
• [Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows] announced that the first air transport was ready to move out.

The Soul Returners assembled a Soldier Bee squadron and launched an attack toward Black Pine City. As Luorui'er inspected the militia and considered whether the city could resist, she heard a strange buzzing from the north.

• [Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows] summoned the players and announced an attack on Black Pine City.
• The Soul Returners emerged from the Trees of Rest and boarded Soldier Bees for the flight south.
• Buluke struggled through harsh militia training while [Ginseng Rooster] kept the unit in formation for Luorui'er's inspection.
• Luorui'er praised [Ginseng Rooster] and began to feel more confident that Black Pine City could hold out.
• Luorui'er heard buzzing and saw a fast-moving dark cloud approaching from the north.

As the royal army approached Black Pine City, [Ginseng Rooster] asked Archbishop Luorui'er to pay the militia, only for her to offer seeds of her symbiotic plant instead. Luorui'er left to inspect the Holy Crusaders, while [Ginseng Rooster] realized she had arranged to get the militia to fight without wages.

• [Ginseng Rooster] recognized the approaching dark cloud as the royal army and warned Luorui'er that the militia might face its first battle.
• [Ginseng Rooster] asked Luorui'er for militia wages, and she questioned why commoners needed pay.
• Luorui'er gave [Ginseng Rooster] seeds of her [Forget-Sorrow Mint], claiming they would provide strength and count as several months' pay.
• Luorui'er left to inspect the Holy Crusaders' encampment and told [Ginseng Rooster] to distribute the seeds quickly.
• [Ginseng Rooster] realized Luorui'er had fobbed him off with seeds to secure the militia's labor for free.

[Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows] led two hundred Soul Returners in a three-minute airborne raid on a Holy Crusaders barracks in western Black Pine City. The attackers withdrew by Soldier Bee, but one battered Holy Crusader clung to [Enemy from the Sky]’s vine with a knife in his teeth.

• [Ginseng Rooster] pocketed the seed after the archbishop left and continued supervising the militia’s drills more harshly.
• [Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows] briefed the First Air Transport group on the barracks target and led the Soldier Bees toward it.
• The Soul Returners rappelled into the barracks and overwhelmed the Holy Crusaders with cudgel strikes before they could organize a defense.
• As the three-minute raid limit approached, [Enemy from the Sky] and [Brain Bling] climbed back to their Soldier Bee after driving off a sturdy Holy Crusader.
• [Enemy from the Sky] spotted the Holy Crusader clinging to the vine beneath his Soldier Bee, holding a knife in his teeth.

The Soul Returners escaped the raid on the Holy Crusaders’ barracks with several disciplined soldiers captured and bound to their Soldier Bees. Luorui'er arrived at the battered barracks and used her symbiotic plant to calm the soldiers and strengthen their remorse, but she still did not know where the knight order’s grand knight commander had gone.

• [Brain Bling] helped [Enemy from the Sky] by restraining an attacking Holy Crusader with vines, and the players captured him.
• The Soul Returners took other disciplined Holy Crusaders prisoner during their retreat and carried them behind the Soldier Bees.
• [Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows] used paralysis smoke to knock out his struggling prisoner, then ordered the First Air Transport group to withdraw at full speed.
• Luorui'er entered the western district barracks and found the Holy Crusader soldiers battered and unable to fight.
• Luorui'er spread the scent of [Forget-Sorrow Mint] through the barracks to calm the soldiers and intensify their guilt and remorse.
• Luorui'er wondered where the knight order’s grand knight commander had gone.

After a rebel raid devastated the Holy Crusaders’ camp, Luorui'er ordered the grand knight commander to reorganize his forces and recruit replacements. Convinced Black Pine City would fall, she decided to leave while sending word to [Ginseng Rooster] to keep the militia training.

• The grand knight commander rushed back to his camp after learning rebels had raided it, then found Luorui'er waiting in his command tent.
• Luorui'er confronted the grand knight commander with the casualty report and ordered him to restore his unit and fill its vacancies with militia recruits.
• The grand knight commander gathered his surviving officers, assigned replacements for captured leaders, and declared his loyalty to the archbishop.
• Luorui'er concluded that Black Pine City was doomed and told her attendant that the Fitz Family would leave.
• Luorui'er instructed her attendant to tell [Ginseng Rooster] that tree seeds would be delivered and that the militia should focus on training.

After the Holy Crusader knight order suffered losses in a Soul Returner attack, its grand knight commander asked [Ginseng Rooster] to transfer militia to replenish the ranks. [Ginseng Rooster] agreed and assembled the militia, where local NPCs and Soul Returners competed for the chance to join the knight order.

• The grand knight commander asked [Ginseng Rooster] for militia to replace the soldiers his knight order had lost.
• [Ginseng Rooster] decided to spread Soul Returners among the knight order, anticipating further attacks and future requests for recruits.
• [Ginseng Rooster] agreed to let the grand knight commander select men and warned that the recruits might be unusually eager to impress him.
• The grand knight commander inspected the assembled militia and took note of their energetic, showy behavior.
• [Ginseng Rooster] announced that the grand knight commander was selecting recruits, prompting local NPCs and Soul Returners to vie for a place in the knight order.

The Soul Returners impressed the Grand Knight Commander with their stunts, and he recruited a temporary squad for the Holy Crusaders. Afterward, an Archbishop Luorui'er’s servant brought [Ginseng Rooster] several crates of tree seeds to fund the militia.

• The Soul Returners performed a human pyramid, juggling, and a leap through a flaming hoop for the Grand Knight Commander and the militiamen.
• [Ginseng Rooster] told the Grand Knight Commander he could choose recruits, and the commander formed a temporary squad from the militiamen.
• The Grand Knight Commander took the selected recruits to the Holy Crusaders' barracks in the western district.
• A Fitz Family servant told [Ginseng Rooster] that Archbishop Luorui'er had approved his suggestion to motivate the militia with pay and sent tree seeds for that purpose.
• [Ginseng Rooster] saw several crates of tree seeds in the servant's wagon and recognized them as military funding.

[Ginseng Rooster] persuaded the players to hide the militia’s tree-seed pay so they could later use it to win the militiamen’s loyalty. Meanwhile, Ed told Duma that the situation in Klaf City required a new plan for assigning the Soul Returners and asked for manpower.

• [Ginseng Rooster] gathered the players and showed them the five crates of tree seeds sent by Luorui'er as militia pay.
• [Ginseng Rooster] proposed withholding the pay temporarily to worsen the militiamen’s conflict with the archbishop and later strengthen the players’ bond with them.
• The players agreed and buried the crates beneath the militia captain’s tent, concealing the disturbed ground before leaving to rest.
• Ed asked Duma for manpower and explained that complications in Klaf City had led him to revise his plan for assigning the Soul Returners.

Ed changed the fronts’ recommended assignments to send lower-level players south and stronger players east, where urgent searches for Adelaide and another sealed grand duke awaited. After the commanders accepted the plan, Ed finished teaching Noya the Kingdom language and gave her a task under their contract.

• Ed told Duma that players below level twelve should fight in Fitz Province, while higher-level players should head to Klaf City or the unknown grand duke’s resting place.
• Duma accepted the change and said he would liberate Black Pine City before leading the weaker Holy Crusaders farther west and south.
• The new level recommendations appeared in players’ game systems, prompting discussion in chat groups and on the forums.
• Ed tested Noya on the Kingdom language, which she had learned quickly despite never having studied it before.
• Ed told Noya that her language training was complete and that she would now begin working for him under their contract.

Ed connected Noya’s soul to the Root Network and appointed her to help manage its systems and support the Soul Returners. He presented her with a cute pixel-art avatar, which wriggled awkwardly in the corner of the network panel.

• Ed pulled Noya’s sword to him and connected it to his consciousness space, causing Noya to howl in alarm.
• Ed entered Noya’s star-filled consciousness space and found her cowering in the form of a blue dragon.
• Ed explained the Root Network’s matter and information modules and how Soul Returners could retain limited functions beyond his territory.
• Ed connected Noya to the Root Network and granted her high-level permissions to monitor coverage, manage terminals and resources, and assist Soul Returners.
• Ed named Noya the network administrator and showed her a pixel-art blue dragon avatar that wriggled in the panel.

Ed appointed Noya as the pixel blue dragon assistant who would help Soul Returners stay connected to the Root Network. In the real world, Cui Yuan found Noya’s self-edited encyclopedia entry and saw a player’s report of her warning them about a suspicious figure.

• Ed explained how Noya’s pixel resolution would reflect Soul Returners’ connection to the Root Network and assigned her the role of Little Blue.
• Cui Yuan checked World of Disorder’s official updates on the subway and discovered Noya’s NPC entry, which listed Soul Returner assistance as her duty.
• Cui Yuan noticed that Noya had edited her own encyclopedia entry and took screenshots to investigate further.
• Cui Yuan opened a popular forum post describing how a pixel blue dragon had warned a player in Black Pine City about a furtive figure nearby.

Players explored the new pixel blue dragon assistant, while Noya enjoyed supporting them through the root network. In Black Pine City, [Ginseng Rooster] used the assistant to consult a demon-training manual as his plan to unsettle the militia continued to work.

• [Great Wei Boxing Champion] read a post about the blue dragon assistant and grew eager to enter the game, while players compared the assistant’s image quality and speculated that it depended on distance from the Second Holy See.
• Ed checked in on Noya, who said she enjoyed talking to many players and had helped one escape a pursuer and another retrieve information from the database.
• [Ginseng Rooster] asked Little Blue to find Duma’s Demon Soldier Training Notes, and she opened passages he could use to train the militia.
• [Ginseng Rooster] reflected that the manual suited the Tree Worship Church civilians, whose abilities resembled those of low-tier demons.
• [Autumn Light and Osmanthus Shadows] led another late-night air raid that defeated five hundred men, and a grand knight commander transferred some of the militia’s worst troublemakers as unease spread through the ranks.

Ginseng Rooster planned to exploit the militia’s resentment toward Luorui'er and stir up trouble during the assault on Black Pine City. After learning of suspicious tunnel digging near Luorui'er's residence, he left the Soul Returner hideout with a rumor intended to rally the people.

• Ginseng Rooster used Forget-Sorrow Mint to draw out militia complaints about poor supplies, exhausting training, and being watched.
• Ginseng Rooster oversaw the construction of a fence around the militia camp, hoping to ease their resentment until the right moment.
• Ginseng Rooster slipped out of the camp at midnight and visited a Soul Returner intelligence station.
• Dragon Roar Egg Yolk told Ginseng Rooster that tunnel digging had been heard near the southern city wall, where Luorui'er's residence stood.
• Ginseng Rooster gave Dragon Roar Egg Yolk a note to spread, whose final line promised that no grain tax would be paid when the Son of God came.

In Black Pine City, Archbishop Luorui'er learned that the enemy prisoners' strange behavior might come from a power stronger than [Forget-Sorrow Mint] and continued preparations to flee. Meanwhile, [Ginseng Rooster] contained a militia revolt by persuading the unpaid soldiers to agree on a demand for tree seeds, then opened the barracks gate.

• Luorui'er questioned her servant about a tunnel being dug beyond the city and confirmed that displaced workers were doing the work so their deaths would go unnoticed.
• A militiaman, driven to anger by unpaid service and taxes, snapped his spear and tried to leave the barracks, with other soldiers supporting him.
• [Ginseng Rooster] stopped the militiaman and urged the troops to choose one shared demand, while messaging other Soul Returners to guide the discussion.
• The militiamen agreed to demand tree seeds, and [Ginseng Rooster] opened the barracks gate.

[Ginseng Rooster] learned that Holy Crusaders were abducting outsiders to dig an escape tunnel beneath Luorui'er's residence, then used a staged beating to return to the militia camp badly injured. The chapter left him telling the militiamen that the archbishop had refused their request and had him beaten.

• [Dragon Roar Egg Yolk] told [Ginseng Rooster] that the Holy Crusaders were arresting outsiders and taking them to dig an escape tunnel at Luorui'er's residence.
• [Ginseng Rooster] asked [Dragon Roar Egg Yolk] to send information to Legion Commander Duma and make a stretcher.
• [Ginseng Rooster] had two Soul Returners beat him until he was badly injured, then had them carry him back to the militia camp.
• [Ginseng Rooster] told the gathered militiamen that the archbishop had refused their request and had him beaten.

After [Ginseng Rooster] logged off and appeared to collapse, Soul Returners stirred the militiamen’s grief and anger into a potential mutiny against Archbishop Luorui'er. They redirected the soldiers toward the Son of God’s movement by describing its promises and policies, leaving the militiamen astonished that it bought grain with coins.

• [Ginseng Rooster] logged off after saying he had let everyone down, and the militiamen mourned his apparent collapse.
• Soul Returners used [Forget-Sorrow Mint] to intensify the militiamen’s grief, prompting them to arm themselves and vow to seek justice.
• A Soul Returner warned the militiamen that the archbishop and her forces would overwhelm them, then offered a way to fight back without dying.
• After the militiamen swore to keep the discussion secret, the Soul Returner recited a nursery rhyme promising an end to forced labor and grain levies under the Son of God.
• Soul Returners described the Son of God’s army as protecting property, helping people grow food, and buying grain with gold and silver coins.

The Soul Returners persuaded the militia to turn against Archbishop Luorui'er and help the Son of God's army enter the city. That night, they caught several suspected informants escaping the camp and sounded the emergency assembly bell.

• A Soul Returner convinced the militiamen that the Son of God paid workers and urged them to open the city gates to his army.
• The Soul Returners encouraged the militia to keep training and promised to arrange contact with the army outside the city.
• The militiamen trained with renewed determination, believing they were preparing to free themselves from the clergy.
• Several suspicious figures climbed over the camp's fence at night, but the Soul Returners tackled and captured them.
• The Soul Returners brought the captives back through the main gate and rang the emergency bell, waking the militia.

[Ginseng Rooster] exposed and subdued militia informants in Black Pine City, then sent word to Duma about the planned uprising and the city’s vulnerable south gate. Duma and Duolin agreed to begin the assault, and Duma issued a blunt call to arms to the Soul Returners.

• [Ginseng Rooster] confronted the militia with their captured roommates and claimed they were informants bought by the archbishop.
• [Ginseng Rooster] had Joel beat a prisoner who accused the militia of being enemy spies, then sent the prisoners away for interrogation.
• [Ginseng Rooster] dismissed the militia, believing he had secured their loyalty and prepared his plan.
• Duma received [Ginseng Rooster]'s intelligence about coordinating an assault on the south gate with the militia inside Black Pine City.
• Duma and Duolin agreed to attack, and Duolin planned to lead a team onto the walls.
• Duma replaced his lengthy draft with the call to arms: “All Soul Returners, get ready to kick ass!”