Chapter Summaries

Han Xiao and the Thirteenth Bureau agents hunted Lugaon, a Germinal informant trying to flee West Capital with information about Zero. They caught him at a checkpoint, where Han Xiao killed him before he could take poison, and Han Xiao decided to put his plan into action sooner.

• Han Xiao deduced that Lugaon might escape through one of West Capital's three checkpoints and recruited Li Yalin, Zhang Wei, and Lambert to search for him.
• Han Xiao and Li Yalin raced to the southern checkpoint, where they used Li Yalin's identification to get inside and had the surveillance program screen Lugaon's portrait.
• Lugaon joined the crowd at the checkpoint, unaware that Han Xiao's group was searching for him, and soldiers sealed the city on orders from above.
• Soldiers identified and arrested Lugaon, and Han Xiao arrived with Li Yalin to confront him.
• Lugaon prepared to bite his poison capsule, so Han Xiao shot and killed him, then said he would have to put his plan into action sooner.

The Gods Guild learned that Zero was in West Capital, while Germinal’s leader ordered a major force to hunt him down. Han Xiao persuaded Gu Hui to let him join future operations using a disguise device and set his sights on destroying Dark Crow Valley Base.

• Jupiter learned that the Gods Guild’s quest had pinpointed Zero’s location to West Capital and planned to search for him after the open beta began.
• Germinal’s leader blamed Zero for Nosa and Lugaon’s deaths and ordered Wind Eye to locate him, with two hundred Night Owls and five executives ready to kill him.
• Frenzied Sword’s closed beta ended, and Han Xiao noted that the game’s update countdown did not match the passage of time in reality.
• Han Xiao told Gu Hui that Germinal could now narrow his location to West Capital and proposed openly opposing the organization and joining operations personally.
• Han Xiao privately told Gu Hui he could make a convenient appearance-changing device, and Gu Hui agreed to let him join operations once it was ready.
• Han Xiao chose Dark Crow Valley Base as his next target, hoping to weaken Germinal and limit future players joining its faction.

Han Xiao prepared to upgrade his equipment for a possible expedition across the Hesla border and learned a range of mechanical knowledge from Old Man Lü. He fused several knowledge types to create the Intelligent Simulation Optical Mask, leaving him ready to improve his disguise and combat gear.

• Han Xiao met with Gu Hui about contacting Hesla Military Intelligence, then returned to the repair shop after Feng Jun complained about his secret encounter with an assassin.
• Han Xiao decided to prepare a disguise mask, better combat equipment, and a vehicle for the likely expedition, while also planning upgrades for Zhang Wei's Warrior Armor.
• Han Xiao borrowed seven mechanical knowledge books from Old Man Lü, who thanked him for keeping Lü Qian out of danger during the assassination attempt.
• Han Xiao spent twenty potential points learning and improving mechanical knowledge, gained Basic Programming and Energy-Electromagnetic Enhancement, and practiced the Energy Refinement Method.
• Han Xiao spent 20,000 experience fusing four knowledge types and successfully developed the Intelligent Simulation Optical Mask blueprint.

Han Xiao crafted and tested the Intelligent Simulation Optical Mask, then secured permission to join a joint operation with Hesla. With at least half a month before departure, he planned a series of combat and logistics upgrades for his squad.

• Han Xiao used costly materials and microelectronic components to craft the Intelligent Simulation Optical Mask, which could simulate, store, reset, and scan facial appearances.
• Han Xiao demonstrated a stored disguise to Gu Hui while concealing the mask's full capabilities, and Gu Hui agreed to let him join the operation with his squad.
• Gu Hui told Han Xiao that the operation with Hesla would take at least half a month to prepare.
• Han Xiao listed his priorities for the waiting period, including stockpiling blueprints, acquiring a logistics vehicle, upgrading Zhang Wei's Warrior Armor, and improving his own combat gear.
• Han Xiao sent Feng Jun to collect 300,000 worth of materials for his planned modifications.

Han Xiao enhanced two Wild Eagles, chose Sniping as his advanced shooting skill, and built a modified glider and oscillation-equipped power arm. He then began a costly knowledge fusion to develop a signature mechanic weapon, hoping to get the blueprint on his first try.

• Han Xiao enhanced two Wild Eagles to green quality and spent experience raising Precision Shooting to Lv3.
• Han Xiao chose Sniping over Close-Quarters Gun-Kata and Recoil-Controlled Suppressive Fire.
• Han Xiao manufactured a Cloud Swallow Glider and added folding technology from the Folding War Blade.
• Han Xiao fused knowledge to develop the Pneumatic Oscillator, then installed it in a modified Light Power Arm.
• Han Xiao started a 70,000-experience knowledge fusion for a mechanic weapon and hoped to obtain its blueprint on the first attempt.

Han Xiao spent three days crafting an incomplete Magnetically Controlled Metal Extension Armor, a powerful new defensive tool. After testing it and learning to control it, he concealed it in a small box and considered his combat capabilities nearly complete.

• Han Xiao fused his knowledge and developed the Magnetically Controlled Metal Extension Armor blueprint, then spent three days making it.
• After emerging from his workshop, Han Xiao fell asleep while Li Yalin complained about delayed orders and reminded him of an upcoming mission to Hesla.
• Han Xiao woke the next morning, ate Lü Qian's breakfast, and returned to his workshop to examine the armor.
• Han Xiao used magnetic energy to form the metal flakes into armor and tested its durability with the Folding Taibo War Blade.
• Han Xiao practiced controlling the armor, stored it in a concealed box, and decided that only art remained to complete his combat preparations.

Han Xiao upgraded his equipment and acquired a military heavy truck, which he converted into a mobile workshop and outfitted for rough travel. He named the finished vehicle Big Black.

• Han Xiao fitted sixty delayed blasts with miniature propellers and decided his personal equipment was ready.
• Han Xiao exchanged 150 Thirteenth Bureau contribution points for a heavy-duty truck, and Feng Jun delivered it to the repair shop.
• Because the truck could not fit inside the repair shop, Old Man Lü lent Han Xiao a garage nearby.
• Han Xiao inspected the truck, then reinforced its chassis and bumper, turned its cargo box into a workshop, and added nitrous bottles, spare tires, and a radar antenna.
• Han Xiao finished modifying the truck and named it Big Black.

Han Xiao modified Zhang Wei’s Warrior Armor and prepared his team’s heavy truck for the joint operation against the Dark Raven Valley base. The squad arrived at the eastern checkpoint, where the other teams and staff officer Qi Baijia were waiting.

• Han Xiao showed his teammates the heavy truck, named it Big Black, and agreed to modify Zhang Wei’s Warrior Armor for 360,000.
• Han Xiao developed a Low-Level Intelligent Chip and a K600 Model Powered Endoskeleton, then finished modifying the Warrior Armor before departure.
• Li Yalin drove Big Black to the eastern checkpoint while Han Xiao slept in the cargo compartment.
• At the checkpoint, Ma Qingyang, Di Susu, and staff officer Qi Baijia waited for Zhang Wei’s squad to arrive.
• Han Xiao’s modified military heavy truck rumbled into view, and the waiting agents recognized that the squad had arrived.

Han Xiao joined the Secret Operations squads aboard a military train and learned they were headed to investigate the Germinal base in Dark Raven Valley. As Qi Baijia briefed the team, Han Xiao spotted an approaching beast attack, and the train lurched as agents screamed.

• Zhang Wei, Ma Qingyang, Li Yalin, Di Susu, and the others boarded a military train with Big Black and forty field agents.
• Han Xiao woke in the cargo compartment, joined the others, and traded greetings with Di Susu and Ma Qingyang.
• Qi Baijia briefed the squads on their mission to investigate Dark Raven Valley through the wanderer settlement of Crow Forest.
• Qi Baijia identified Pan Kuang, Ji Jie, and Dormon as key figures at the base and said Hesla agents would join the operation.
• Han Xiao shouted that beasts were attacking, and the train jolted as field agents screamed.

A Black Earth Worm attacked the train, but the agents drove it away with High Combustion Bullets and continued their journey. Han Xiao spent the remaining trip training and making machinery before the train reached a border station in Hesla.

• A Black Earth Worm wrapped around the train carriage and swallowed several field agents while their bullets failed to penetrate its shell.
• Li Yalin and Di Susu damaged the worm with their energy-infused blades, and Di Susu identified its fear of fire.
• Zhang Wei and the agents fired High Combustion Bullets, forcing the worm to release the carriage and burrow underground.
• The agents recovered and began cleaning up the damaged carriage, while Han Xiao brushed off their gratitude.
• Han Xiao practiced the Energy Refinement Method and manufactured machinery during the three-day journey, which ended at a border station in Hesla.

Han Xiao and the Stardragon agents arrived in Hesla to join a military operation against the Germinal Organization’s Dark Raven Valley base. After learning the mission offered multiple faction objectives, Han Xiao was suddenly attacked by a red-haired woman.

• Ye Fan met Qi Baijia and the Stardragon team at a military station and escorted them to register for the operation.
• Colonel Kelt approved the team’s deployment, while the Stardragon agents discussed the Heslans’ hostility and their countries’ past war.
• Han Xiao discovered that the Dark Crow Valley Operation was a faction mission with reconnaissance, combat, assassination, and sabotage objectives.
• A red-haired woman approached Han Xiao outside the lounge, asked if he was from Stardragon, and stabbed at his neck with a dagger.

Han Xiao faced down Hesla agent Wenna’s attempt to intimidate him, then led his team to the temporary base in Big Black. The journey ended with his teammates sick from his reckless driving, while Lambert warned him not to drive again.

• Wenna introduced herself as a Military Intelligence Department agent and tested Han Xiao with a dagger, but he drew his pistol faster and made her back down.
• Wenna told Ye Fan that Han Xiao seemed dangerous, while Han Xiao kept the confrontation from his team and Qi Baijia approved of his restraint.
• Kelt was satisfied that the Stardragon agents had avoided a fight, and both countries’ teams departed for Hesla’s secret base.
• When Zhang Wei ordered Han Xiao to catch up with the Hesla convoy, Han Xiao drove Big Black at such speed that his teammates and Lambert vomited after they arrived.
• Han Xiao praised Lambert for seeming unaffected, but Lambert vomited and warned Han Xiao that he would jump out if Han Xiao drove again.

The Thirteenth Bureau infiltrated Crow Forest Town to find intelligence while Wenna’s Hesla team searched the forest for Germinal sentries. Han Xiao identified a Germinal spy in town and built a small arthropod detector, as Wenna closed in on a sentry near Dark Crow Valley Base.

• The teams split up, with Di Susu leading the Thirteenth Bureau into Crow Forest Town and Wenna taking the Hesla agents to search for sentries.
• Han Xiao advised Di Susu to act naturally, then directed her team to a casino where they found Germinal’s bald spy.
• Han Xiao left Lin Yao to monitor the operation and used knowledge fusion to develop a Small Arthropod Detector (Spider).
• Magnu tracked a lone man through the forest, and Wenna’s team located a Germinal sentry hidden in a tree.
• After checking for other threats, Wenna silently approached the sentry and launched herself at him.

Wenna’s team raided a sentry post, and Ye Fan hacked its network to steal base intelligence before the enemy deleted most of it. The Dark Raven Valley base revealed that the breach had hit a decoy network, and Ji Jie and Pan Kuang prepared for a possible Hesla invasion.

• Ye Fan approved Wenna’s plan to raid the sentry post despite the risk of exposing Thirteenth Bureau operatives in Crow Forest Town.
• Wenna and her team broke into the post, subdued its three occupants, and forced the officer Roman to open a safe containing a laptop.
• Ye Fan hacked the laptop’s network and backed up 28% of the base’s data before the enemy deleted the files.
• Ji Jie learned that the breach had stolen decoy intelligence and said Hesla might invade in the coming days.
• Ji Jie advised Pan Kuang to seek permission to evacuate the base, and Pan Kuang told him to call if he needed help fighting.

Han Xiao suspected that the intelligence on Dark Crow Valley Base was doctored and secretly went to investigate it himself. After using mechanical spider detectors to locate hidden sentries, he began eliminating them from a distance with Lambert's heavy sniper rifle.

• Lin Yao told Han Xiao that the Thirteenth Bureau had captured peripheral members and found Dark Crow Valley Base, while Ye Fan reported that Hesla agents had obtained detailed intelligence and captured Roman.
• Han Xiao warned that the intelligence might be false, but Wenna dismissed his suspicion and defended the results of her team’s operation.
• After examining Roman, Han Xiao concluded that the base’s low-ranking officers had been given false information and that its visible sentries were bait.
• Han Xiao left the base at night without telling his teammates and traveled to Dark Crow Valley Base with his sniper rifle and mechanical equipment.
• Han Xiao sent out four mechanical spider detectors, mapped the hidden sentries, and shot one of them in the head from hundreds of meters away.

Han Xiao infiltrated Dark Crow Valley Base by disguising himself as a Germinal guard, but he found that the intelligence about the base did not complete his reconnaissance mission. Meanwhile, deputy supervisor Ji Jie revealed that the intelligence was a trap and planned to use the base to strike Hesla before evacuating.

• Han Xiao sniped hidden sentries until he completed [Dark Forest Killer], then hid as three armed search squads arrived.
• Han Xiao strangled a guard, took his uniform, simulated his face, and joined the search squad without arousing suspicion.
• Han Xiao followed the squad through the concealed entrance and entered Dark Crow Valley Base, where he searched for the unusual intelligence needed to complete [Reconnaissance II].
• Ji Jie learned that thirteen sentries had been sniped and explained that he had mixed genuine details with false intelligence to lure Hesla's forces into a trap.
• Ji Jie said the Germinal leader had arranged an evacuation in five days and that the base would attack Hesla before withdrawing.

Han Xiao infiltrated Dark Crow Valley Base, investigated its hidden door, and discovered that the base’s calm technical staff were connected to a secret operation. After capturing and threatening two men who had used the hidden passage, he learned classified information and completed Reconnaissance II.

• Han Xiao disguised himself as Talamande and learned that the base planned to evacuate while armed personnel stayed behind to delay Hesla’s army.
• Han Xiao followed Dormon to a spotless storage room, planted a spider detector, and watched until a concealed door opened.
• Han Xiao pickpocketed an access card from two technical staff and realized that some people in the base seemed confident rather than worried.
• Han Xiao followed the two men outside, knocked them unconscious, and dragged them away from the base.
• Han Xiao threatened the captives until they revealed classified information about the hidden passage, completing Reconnaissance II.

Han Xiao returned from infiltrating the Dark Crow Valley Base with intelligence about its hidden inner base and escape routes. Kelt doubted his account and demanded proof, leaving Han Xiao unable to explain his disguise without revealing his trump card.

• The agents evacuated the safe house without Han Xiao, so Zhang Wei and his teammates stayed behind and the Hesla agents reported his suspicious absence to Kelt.
• Kelt ordered an immediate march on the Dark Crow Valley Base, dismissing Ye Fan’s concern that the Thirteenth Bureau team might be endangered.
• Han Xiao returned with two prisoners, contacted Zhang Wei, and told Qi Baijia that the base had a secret inner section connected to hidden escape routes.
• Qi Baijia reported Han Xiao’s intelligence to Kelt and urged the army to delay its attack until they learned the inner base’s layout and evacuation routes.
• Kelt accused Han Xiao of lying about infiltrating the base, and Han Xiao refused to explain the Simulation Mask, calling it his ability instead.

Han Xiao learned that Kelt had ordered an early attack despite the danger to the Stardragon agents, so he sent Lin Yao and Lambert undercover into the inner base to gather intelligence. Their disguises got them inside just as the enemy began preparing to evacuate.

• Kelt ordered his troops to attack the Dark Crow Valley Base and had Qi Baijia and the other Stardragon agents disarmed and escorted away.
• Han Xiao returned to the hideout and directed Lin Yao and Lambert to infiltrate the inner base using the prisoners’ identities and access cards.
• Han Xiao’s squad disguised Lin Yao and Lambert, then drove them to the base’s side entrance.
• Lin Yao and Lambert passed the guards, opened the hidden entrance, and reached the heavily guarded inner base.
• An alarm sounded, and Ji Jie announced that Hesla’s troops were approaching and the inner base was preparing to evacuate.

Han Xiao, Zhang Wei, and Li Yalin fled the Germinal pursuit in a modified heavy truck, fighting their way across the mountains and plains. They reached the Hesla army after destroying much of the convoy, while Kelt and the others watched in astonishment.

• Han Xiao ordered Lin Yao and Lambert to stay undercover while he, Zhang Wei, and Li Yalin escaped in the heavy truck as Kelt’s forces advanced.
• Li Yalin drove through the forest under machine-gun fire, then crashed through Crow Forest Town as the pursuing SUVs caused destruction and killed wanderers.
• On the plains, Zhang Wei used his modified armor and machine guns to return fire while Han Xiao set SUVs ablaze with sniper rounds and flipped others with delayed bombs.
• Han Xiao’s team destroyed more than twenty armored vehicles, but stray bullets killed the two captives.
• Li Yalin spotted Hesla’s army ahead, and Kelt, Ye Fan, Wenna, and the others watched the battered truck approach in disbelief at its firepower and durability.