Chapter Summaries

Huosuosi ordered every department to nominate sentinels for a personal guard for Yuqing, prompting fierce competition and concern over her recent trips to the infirmary. In the infirmary, Yuqing decided to improve her fitness so she could pilot a mech, and the system promised to create a training plan.

• Huosuosi announced that each department would submit twenty sentinel candidates for Yuqing to choose from, with at least seven guards to be selected.
• Sentinels argued over which teams were best suited to guard Yuqing, while Noi learned she had gone to the infirmary twice and worried about her.
• Huosuosi said the selection would judge mental compatibility, combat ability, and emergency response, and warned the officers not to cause complications for Yuqing.
• Yuqing asked the system how to reduce her nosebleeds, and it explained that her physical fitness needed to keep pace with her mental power.
• Yuqing agreed to train so she could pilot a mech, and the system began planning a tailored fitness program.

Yuqing improved her stamina and spiritual-control skills, then asked Marshal Huosuosi to increase her daily soothing appointments. Huosuosi approved fifteen slots per day, leaving the additional bookings set to open that afternoon.

• Yuqing completed an exhausting morning of exercise and study before Ers explained that elite sentinels from different teams would rotate guard duty around her.
• Yuqing carefully cleared toxins from a sentinel's Spiritual Sea and advised him to take A09 medication and return the following week.
• After soothing five sentinels, Yuqing found that she still had ample spiritual power and decided to request more appointments.
• 01010 explained that reaching lv1 would unlock Group Soothing, which could help reduce sentinel deaths caused by toxins after battle.
• Yuqing messaged Huosuosi to request fifteen daily soothing slots, and he approved the increase and arranged for bookings to open that afternoon.

The guide expanded her daily counseling slots, drawing an enthusiastic response from sentinels. Meanwhile, President Hoover ordered George to weaken the Ninth Military District and arrange Huosuosi’s death, with Liberation Day proposed as an opportunity for a trap.

• The Military Affairs Department announced that the guide’s daily counseling slots would increase from five to fifteen, and sentinels rushed to discuss and reserve them.
• President Hoover raged that Huosuosi had not signed his presidential inauguration document, leaving him an acting president.
• George urged Hoover to use Soul Erosion against Lin He and other powerful sentinels, suggesting the Yao Family could help tamper with something.
• George proposed using the Ninth Military District’s Liberation Day celebration to set a deadly trap for Huosuosi.
• Hoover tasked George with carrying out the plan within a year and promised him advancement if he succeeded.

Yuqing and her companions formed a team, chose Rust Canyon as their next route, and set out from the rebuilding town. After making camp that evening, they shared a meal and talked about their cooking assessments.

• Shen Que created a group chat, and Yuqing, Xilaier, and Ajiasi joined as teammates.
• Shen Que proposed taking the difficult Rust Canyon route for its quest rewards, treasure chests, and abandoned mecha parts, and the group agreed.
• Yuqing said farewell to Viscount Xiersen and his wife, then rode out with Shen Que, Xilaier, and Ajiasi.
• The group camped in the woods, where Shen Que rescued Xilaier's badly roasted rabbit and cooked dinner.
• Xilaier asked about Ajiasi's cooking assessment, and Ajiasi said he had barely passed.

Yuqing and her companions fled a massive pack of exotic beasts through a forest and into a narrow canyon. Just as they thought the canyon had stopped the pursuit, a Frost Rabbit nearing level five and a level-four Mutant Leopard appeared ahead of them.

• Yuqing woke early, made rabbit soup for Ajiasi, Shen Que, and Xilaier, and received a warning that about thirty exotic beasts were approaching.
• Yuqing alerted the others, and Ajiasi realized the pack included at least ten level-four beasts and a leader nearing level five.
• Shen Que led the group south while Xilaier carried Yuqing and Ajiasi fought off the beasts behind them.
• The four escaped into a dense forest and then a narrow canyon, where Ajiasi blocked the entrance with a Shadow Wolf's body.
• Two powerful beasts—a Frost Rabbit nearing level five and a level-four Mutant Leopard—charged toward them from deeper in the canyon.

Yuqing used her mental power to support Shen Que, Xilaier, and Ajiasi as they fought two mutated beasts trapped in the canyon. After helping them find the beasts’ weaknesses, she helped kill both and accepted the Frost Rabbit’s crystal core before the group rested.

• Shen Que, Xilaier, and Ajiasi prepared to fight the Frost Rabbit and Hidden Wolf while Yuqing enhanced their mental power.
• Ajiasi struggled to penetrate the Frost Rabbit’s armor, while Shen Que and Xilaier could barely defend themselves against the Hidden Wolf.
• Yuqing spotted the Hidden Wolf’s injured left hind leg, allowing Shen Que and Xilaier to wound it and drive it back.
• Yuqing directed Ajiasi to attack the Frost Rabbit between its brows, then struck its exposed belly with a blade of mental power and killed it.
• The group killed both beasts, and Ajiasi gave Yuqing the Frost Rabbit’s crystal core while Xilaier offered her the Hidden Wolf’s lightning-element core.
• Yuqing kept the Frost Rabbit’s core and the group rested after the battle.

Shen Que, Yuqing, Ajiasi, and Xilaier reached an abandoned mining town, where they found a bullied mechanic named Dolly surrounded by hostile sentinels. After Mine Rats attacked and one sentinel shoved Dolly toward the swarm, Yuqing protected her and Xilaier killed the beasts, leaving Yuqing to treat Dolly’s injuries.

• Shen Que realized the group had gone off course, and Ajiasi suggested a quicker detour around the canyon that Yuqing agreed to take.
• Shen Que led the group into an abandoned mining town, where he explained that an old mecha repair station might hold useful parts.
• Xilaier, Shen Que, Ajiasi, and Yuqing found three sentinels pressuring Dolly to repair an abandoned mining mecha and insulting her for being a weak female sentinel.
• A swarm of Mine Rats attacked, and one sentinel shoved Dolly toward the beasts while escaping.
• Yuqing shielded Dolly from the Mine Rats as Xilaier charged in and killed the swarm.
• Yuqing treated Dolly’s scratches, and Dolly thanked her in surprise.

Dolly revealed her extensive knowledge of an old mining mecha after her teammates abandoned her, and Yuqing invited her to join their group. Dolly accepted, beginning to feel welcomed as the team argued over what to name itself.

• Yuqing praised Dolly’s repair work, and Dolly identified the mining mecha’s model, faults, and needed repairs in detail.
• Shen Que recognized Dolly’s unusual expertise and asked what she would do after her teammates left her behind.
• Dolly refused to look for her former teammates and said she would leave the mining town alone.
• Yuqing, Shen Que, Ajiasi, and Xilaier invited Dolly to join them, promising to protect her and share resources fairly.
• Dolly accepted the invitation, and Yuqing welcomed her as a teammate.
• Xilaier, Yuqing, and the others argued over team names while Dolly watched and felt her loneliness begin to ease.

The group discovered that the repair station warehouse held valuable mech parts and usable mining mechs, and they began sorting and selling the stock. By the end, they had nearly emptied the warehouse, and Yuqing’s account had climbed past three thousand.

• Around the campfire, Dolly explained that the mining town had three intact MX-7 Mining Mechs, two partly dismantled mechs, and a warehouse of spare parts.
• Dolly told the group why she had chosen the free individual combat major instead of studying mechs, and Yuqing, Xilaier, and Ajiasi gave her their drumsticks.
• Dolly pointed out ways to earn money in the game, and Yuqing and Xilaier resolved to collect and sell the town’s junk.
• At dawn, Ajiasi cut through the warehouse lock, and the group found shelves of parts, several mining mechs, and a machine tool.
• Shen Que assigned jobs while Dolly sorted the parts, Xilaier and Shen Que carried them, Yuqing sold scrap through the game store, and Ajiasi kept watch.
• Yuqing watched her account rise past three thousand as the warehouse was nearly emptied, leaving Ajiasi visibly unsettled.

After the group shared their earnings, Yuqing refined a level-five Frost Rabbit crystal core in the game and greatly strengthened her spiritual power. While keeping watch with Ajiasi, she learned about his military academy past and asked to enter his Spiritual Sea.

• Yuqing split 5,000 Federation credits equally among herself and the others, then decided to wait for her wages before shopping.
• Yuqing followed 01010's advice and began refining the level-five Frost Rabbit crystal core while Shen Que, Dolly, Xilaier, and Ajiasi guarded her.
• Yuqing absorbed the core's energy, expanding and purifying her Spiritual Sea while Bai Ze devoured some of the escaping energy.
• After Yuqing's breakthrough, Shen Que let her keep watch with Ajiasi, who told her that his high spiritual rampage value had forced him to leave military academy life behind.
• Yuqing asked Ajiasi to let her enter his Spiritual Sea.