Chapter Summaries

After enduring a frozen village’s betrayal and the deaths of the Infected trapped with him, Orson apparently unleashed a mysterious power that destroyed the settlement. He woke restrained in an unfamiliar tent, where his fate remained unclear.

• Orson watched the village chief lure a group of Infected into an empty granary and lock them inside.
• Orson stole the village chief’s keys and tried to free an Infected girl, but the villagers caught him and threw him into the granary.
• Orson spent eight days trapped with the Infected, protecting the girl until she died in his arms.
• As Orson lost consciousness, he sensed an immense force emerge from within him.
• Orson awoke amid the village ruins with a sword at his neck, saw a pale-haired girl in a military uniform, called her his wife, and passed out.
• Orson later woke in an unfamiliar tent and found his arm restrained by chains.

Orson was rescued by Talula and FrostNova after a village massacre, then questioned about his mysterious survival and his views on the Infected. Restrained but alive in a remote camp, he suspected he had arrived before Reunion was founded and began exploring, where he sensed a melody.

• Talula and FrostNova questioned Orson about the ruined village, the dead Infected, and the girl he had held, while considering whether he was too dangerous to spare.
• Orson said the Infected deserved care rather than discrimination, but could offer the Guerrilla Force only Guo Degang's crosstalk routines when Talula asked what use he could be.
• Orson survived the interrogation and, while resting in camp, realized that FrostNova's survival and the absence of Reunion symbols suggested the group had not yet been founded.
• Orson wandered through camp in chained restraints, spoke with Infected soldiers chopping firewood, and received a warning from FrostNova to behave himself.
• After helping chop firewood, Orson reached a remote corner of camp and sensed a melody.

Orson followed a melody to an unconscious Elafia girl and experienced a childhood memory before Talula caught him beside her. Talula kept him from joining the mission to return to the destroyed village and assigned him to teach the infected children, where he began telling them a story.

• Orson found the unconscious Elafia girl in a cabin and, drawn by a melody, entered a dreamlike memory of his childhood friend urging him to preserve his kindness.
• The girl gripped Orson's hand, and Talula burst into the cabin, pinned him down, and threatened him before infected voices forced them to hide in a wardrobe.
• After the infected left, Talula warned Orson to forget their encounter, and he sensed pain, darkness, and loneliness in her melody as she returned to the unconscious girl.
• Orson asked to join FrostNova's operation to deal with the destroyed village, but Talula told FrostNova not to let him go near it yet.
• Talula learned the children had no teacher and assigned Orson to teach them; he told Sasha and the other children the story of Simon the Digger.

Orson told Sasha and Ino about Simon and Nia, then reflected on whether he could change the boys’ tragic futures. At Talula’s settlement, Patriot challenged Orson to define his goals, and the chapter left Orson reconsidering what he had to protect before setting out on a mission with Talula.

• Orson explained to Ino that Simon and Nia’s love had transcended life and death, then cheered Ino and Sasha up with another heroic story.
• Orson recognized Sasha and Ino’s childhood innocence and decided to give Ino extra lessons in moral education.
• Orson learned that Sasha and Ino considered each other best friends and urged Sasha to keep an eye on Ino.
• A Gatherer told Orson that Talula had arranged for him to share a tent, and Orson discovered his roommate was Patriot.
• Patriot questioned Orson about his goals, told him to survive first, and warned him not to touch his daughter.
• Orson woke at the settlement, reflected on Patriot’s questions, and began considering what he truly wanted to protect.

Orson tried to get closer to Talula so he could help with the strain he sensed beneath her calm demeanor, and she let him accompany her through an ordinary day of camp duties. The chapter ended with Talula catching no fish while Orson kept catching them, even after they switched fishing holes.

• Orson decided to focus on changing the fates of people like Talula and Ino, but Talula overheard him talking about training Ino and punched him.
• Talula chatted with Orson and other Infected, while Orson sensed tense, discordant sounds beneath her friendly manner and worried she was close to breaking down.
• Orson asked to accompany Talula, and she brought him to the kitchen to help prepare a meal.
• Talula struggled to peel a potato, remove corn kernels, and cut cabbage, so Orson repeatedly stepped in to help finish the stew.
• Talula melted a fishing hole in the frozen river, then grew frustrated when Orson caught five fish and she caught none.
• Orson and Talula switched fishing holes, but Orson caught another fish while Talula still caught nothing.

Orson discovered that he had awakened Originium Arts that let him perceive and alter the scores of objects, and he began to sense a white score tied to living souls. After collapsing from overuse, he told Talula he might be able to revive Alina.

• Orson taught Talula how to fish, then joined her in mourning the Infected from the villages.
• Talula threatened Orson when he asked whether she had another personality or was possessed, but she calmed down after he explained that he sensed melodies around her.
• Talula explained Originium Arts and helped Orson practice using her sword as a medium.
• Orson formed a Black Score, shattered a rock, and set a dead tree alight before collapsing from exhaustion.
• After waking on Talula's lap, Orson saw a white score around her and concluded that he might be able to tune souls.
• Orson told Talula he might be able to wake Alina again, leaving Talula speechless.

Orson settled into life with the Guerrilla Force and continued trying to keep Talula from collapsing, but she still hesitated over his proposal to use Soul Tuning. At a campfire meeting, FrostNova and Talula discussed the settlement’s shortages and the growing danger of seeking supplies farther south.

• Orson and Petrova kept watch while Orson described the stories he planned to tell Ino, and Petrova teased him about Ino’s growing attachment to him.
• FrostNova returned with supplies and news that her team had established a lasting trade relationship with a village friendly to the infected; Big Bear revealed that the village chief had given FrostNova carrots.
• More than twenty days after Talula found him, Orson visited her beside Alina’s bed and asked whether she had decided to accept his risky proposal, but Talula remained uncertain.
• Orson reported the successful trade to Talula and worried that Alina’s death might trigger Talula’s collapse, while Talula insisted she would keep moving forward for her compatriots.
• At the campfire meeting, FrostNova and Talula discussed shortages of medicine and food, the risks of traveling south, and the need for reliable communication devices and coded signals.

Talula accepted that some Infected had lost faith and were leaving the settlement, then invited Orson to her tent, where he recognized her loneliness and found a way to keep her company. The chapter ended with Orson teaching Talula Chinese chess as they shared a quiet moment together.

• Some Infected told Talula they planned to leave because they no longer believed in the future, and Talula let them go with seeds and her blessing.
• After the meeting, Orson stayed beside Talula until she asked him to spend the night with her.
• Talula and Orson spoke about her work for the Infected, and Orson saw the ordinary, awkward person behind her public image.
• Orson realized Talula had invited him because he was an outsider with whom she could set aside her burdens, so he chose to stay.
• Orson made a paper Chinese chess set and began teaching Talula the rules.

Orson and Talula shared a brief, peaceful chess match before an emergency signal sent them to rescue infected who had left the group. They were ambushed by an Emperor's Inner Guard, and as Talula confronted it, Orson discovered there were two enemies.

• Orson and Talula played chess in her tent, enjoying a rare moment of peace before FrostNova brought an emergency warning from infected who had left the group.
• Talula led a six-person rescue team, bringing Orson along for his scouting ability while FrostNova stayed behind to contact Patriot.
• Orson sensed strange interference on the snowfield, and the team found the scout caster dead before the other infected were silently killed.
• Orson detected and exposed an Emperor's Inner Guard, which identified Talula as the daughter of Duke Koschei and challenged her ideals.
• Orson defended Talula, then used Resonance Beyond to communicate with her and learned there were two Inner Guards.

Orson and Talula escaped two Emperor's Blades by fleeing over a cliff, then took refuge in a frontier village. There, Talula confided how Koschei's curse and Alina's absence had undermined her resolve, while Orson urged her to seek Alina and promised he would trust her.

• Orson and Talula attacked the two Emperor's Blades, then escaped by leaping from a cliff as Orson used his shadow to slow their fall.
• Talula helped the injured Orson reach a frontier village, where they posed as a stranded Ursus noblewoman and her bodyguard.
• Talula explained that the Emperor's Blades served the Emperor of Ursus and revealed that she avoided unnecessary killing to preserve her original ideals.
• Talula told Orson about Alina, Koschei's lingering curse, and her growing fear that she had lost sight of the cause she once pursued.
• Orson urged Talula to find Alina and told her he trusted her because she had saved him; Talula realized he was precious to her and said she, too, had been saved.

Orson was shot while protecting Talula from the villagers, then fought to stay alive as she dragged him back toward safety. He awoke beside Talula after choosing to return from a dreamlike vision of a girl he called Little Pu.

• Orson shoved Talula away from the window and took a crossbow bolt in the abdomen when villagers attacked them.
• Talula surrendered her greatsword, but the village chief refused to help Orson and threatened her.
• Orson manifested Rest Note, which killed the village chief, and urged Talula to leave the remaining villagers to him.
• Talula tried to treat Orson and dragged him from the village while he clung to his Soul Score to keep from losing consciousness.
• Orson dreamed of Little Pu and chose to return to the frozen world and Talula rather than remain in the dandelion field.
• Orson woke in bed with Talula holding his hand, and Talula threw herself into his arms.

Orson recovered from his wound and helped Alina awaken by entering her soul, while Talula finally reaffirmed her resolve to move forward. The chapter ended with Orson fleeing Ino’s new Originium Art and interrupting Talula’s reunion with Alina.

• Talula explained that Patriot’s arrival had prevented a clash with the Imperial Guards, and that Ino had saved Orson with his Originium Art.
• Three days later, Orson demonstrated his control over Rest Note and admitted he regretted the destruction caused by its first rampage.
• Talula told Orson she had decided to seek warmth rather than wait passively, and Orson used Soul Tuning to enter Alina’s soul.
• Orson repaired the crack in Alina’s soul, and Alina woke to reunite with Talula.
• Ino showed Orson feathers that could transfer vitality and influence others, then chased him to make him the first test subject.
• Orson interrupted Talula’s conversation with Alina while asking for help, and Talula blasted him away with hot air.

Talula revealed her noble identity to the Guerrilla Force and persuaded them to build alliances in the northern borderlands before advancing south. Later, she began using her status as a merchant to negotiate trade with a secluded village, and the chapter ended after the village chief left to consider her offer.

• Talula disclosed that she was Koschei the Deathless's daughter and announced her plan to gain allies among northern villages before moving south.
• FrostNova and Patriot accepted Talula's strategy, and the Guerrilla Force agreed to follow her future policy.
• Talula introduced Alina and Orson as her dearest friends, then led the group in a celebratory banquet.
• Orson awoke surrounded by sleeping companions, but Patriot startled him by asking whether his daughter's arm had been soft.
• Talula visited a secluded village with Orson and Alina, offering cigarettes in exchange for rock salt and surplus grain.
• Talula defended employing infected people and urged the village chief to decide whether the trade would help his villagers; he left to consider the offer.

Talula and the Reunion Movement used Orson’s communicators to build trade and intelligence networks across most northern villages, and prepared to move south. After Orson dealt with bandits on the road, the group returned to their settlement, where he reunited with Ino and encountered FrostNova.

• Talula and Alina explained that Orson’s Originium Arts had enabled secure communications, letting the Reunion Movement connect villages through trade and intelligence networks.
• Talula finished trading with a village chief, recorded the village’s needs, and agreed with Alina that the movement’s next goal was to head south.
• Orson stopped the group’s vehicle and used Rest Note to defeat bandits who tried to rob them.
• Orson returned to the settlement with goods and captured bandits, greeted Ino and Sasha, and gave them a harmonica and a switchblade.
• FrostNova returned from a mission, threw a snowball at Orson, then took the carrot he offered and ran off while eating it.

Orson discussed Reunion’s progress and proposed Chernobog as a future route to medical supplies and outside support. As he checked in with Alina and FrostNova, the chapter revealed that he had lost his vocal cords saving FrostNova during the battle that earned him the title “The Silence of the North.”

• Orson gave Patriot a bottle of Chuanbei Pipa Gao, and Patriot later began posting Yan Country medicine facts online.
• Talula reviewed Reunion’s progress, and Orson suggested contacting Chernobog to seek medical aid and supplies.
• Orson checked on Alina’s prosthetic needs, and they bonded over their shared devotion to Talula.
• Orson asked FrostNova about her mission and offered to join future operations, but she agreed only if he was available.
• FrostNova recalled that Orson had saved her in the Silence Campaign, where his vocal cords were destroyed and he earned the title The Silence of the North.

Talula organized an advance mission to Chernobyl after Isaac revealed a maintenance passage into the city, and the group settled on sending Orson and Isaac. After Patriot punished Orson over Alina’s staged claim that he wanted to date FrostNova, Orson spoke with Sasha about Chernobyl and the life Reunion had given him; he then visited Talula, who opened her door after a suspicious commotion.

• Isaac told Talula’s group that he could lead them through a Chernobyl maintenance passage that opened the next day, prompting a debate over sending scouts.
• Talula first proposed FrostNova and Alina for the advance team, but the group eventually chose Orson and Isaac after FrostNova raised concerns about Alina’s safety.
• Alina told Patriot that Orson wanted to go on a date with FrostNova, and Patriot challenged Orson to a Wendigo-style duel before the mission was settled with Orson and Isaac as a pair.
• Sasha reassured Orson that he and Ino had begun to move beyond their painful memories of Chernobyl and thanked him for caring for them.
• Orson visited Talula’s room, where she delayed opening the door amid clattering and banging sounds before greeting him in a tidy room.

Orson repeatedly trained his Originium Arts and used Soul Tuning to meet Koschei, the black snake possessing Talula. When Talula sought intelligence for a planned operation in Chernobyl, Koschei questioned the strategy after learning Orson had suggested the city.

• Orson trained with the Reunion Movement's veterans, refined his Originium Arts, and worked to ensure Soul Tuning would not endanger those connected to his power.
• Orson and Talula confronted Koschei in the soul-consciousness space, and Talula rejected his influence while acknowledging that her bonds helped resist his curse.
• At later meetings, Orson repeatedly slept, sought Talula's birthday, borrowed recipes, introduced Alina to Koschei, and made requests that angered him.
• Talula entered the soul-consciousness space with Orson to ask Koschei about using Chernobyl as the Reunion Movement's first stepping stone.
• Koschei initially praised the plan, then criticized it after Talula revealed that Orson had suggested Chernobyl.

Orson entered Chernobyl with Engineer Isaac to gather intelligence, secure an identity, and approach the rising Rostov family. He encountered Lumen, who was being hunted, and she offered to surrender to her pursuers if they let him go.

• Talula asked Koschei for information about Chernobyl's noble forces, and Koschei agreed to provide it if Orson stopped bothering him for a month.
• Orson drove into Chernobyl with Engineer Isaac, who showed him an abandoned entrance and gave him a map of the underground maintenance tunnels.
• After reaching Central Station, Orson split up from Isaac and planned to obtain a black-market identity and contact the Rostov family.
• Orson noticed Lumen running from armed pursuers and followed her into a dead-end alley, where he identified the attackers as hired thugs backed by a Sarkaz mercenary.
• Lumen swore by the Rostov family that she would go with the attackers if they let Orson leave.

Orson protected Natalia from an assassination attempt, then fought W after she trapped them at an abandoned stadium. He subdued W but, instead of killing her, suddenly acted frightened and called for help.

• Orson used Rest Note to defeat the thugs and the Sarkaz mercenary who had attacked Natalia.
• W appeared and bombed Orson and Natalia, forcing them to flee toward an abandoned stadium.
• Orson hid Natalia and tried to negotiate a truce with W, but she continued attacking him.
• Orson used Curtain Call to disable W’s explosives, then rushed her and pinned her to the ground.
• Orson held a dagger to W’s throat, then abruptly pretended to be scared and called for his teammates.

Orson escaped W with Lumen and unexpectedly became a security officer for the Rostov family in Chernobyl. After learning the city was on the brink of war, he agreed to stay outside Lumen’s door for the night as she sought comfort after the danger she had faced.

• Orson stopped pursuing W after disarming her, then found Lumen and helped her escape; W vowed to take revenge on him.
• Talula learned by radio that Orson had reached Chernobyl, joined the Rostov family, and was living with Lumen, then melted the receiver in anger.
• Talula and FrostNova planned to go to Chernobyl, but Alina discovered their scheme and stopped them.
• Lumen introduced Orson to her father, Vladimir Andrei Rostov, who hired him as a senior security officer despite his lack of a legal identity.
• Lumen told Orson that Chernobyl was becoming a furnace forging war and asked him to stay with her through the night.
• Orson declined to enter Lumen’s room but promised to remain outside her door, answering when she called for him later.