Recaps

Hao Ren coordinated the equipment, evacuations, and personnel for the Firstborn's final handling, then gathered the team at the spatial rift beneath Andre Ancient Castle. With the Erem Excavator Brigade ready to enter the other world, he summoned Raven 12345 to begin building a container for the Firstborn.

• Hao Ren opened three spacetime tunnels after receiving reports that the personnel and equipment were ready.
• Hao Ren brought Vivian, Big Beard, and the others to Andre Ancient Castle, where Igor welcomed Vivian and reported that his family had recovered from the Angry Spirit's influence.
• Hao Ren and the group reached the Dark Snowfield and checked the spatial rift and the equipment they had left there.
• Hilda confirmed the Erem Excavator Brigade was ready, while Becky reported that the Pope and his people were waiting in Horleta.
• Hao Ren recited Raven 12345's summoning passage, and Raven 12345 appeared after teasing him; she then prepared to build the Firstborn's container.
• Hao Ren told Hilda to begin transmitting the brigade in forty minutes, with Vivian guiding them through the rift to the Tanagrus transfer station.

Hao Ren and Raven 12345's thought-form clone built a massive orbital facility to contain the Firstborn, but her intervention nearly destabilized the Dream Plane. After Raven 12345 vanished, Hao Ren was left to finish the work alone and wondered what she meant by a terminally ill parasite.

• Hao Ren and Raven 12345 teleported to Tanagrus's orbit to build a prison for the Firstborn.
• Raven 12345 created a moon-sized crystalline research facility with an enormous containment chamber and adjusted its orbit to protect Tanagrus.
• Raven 12345 explained that her interference distorted the Dream Plane and that further intervention could destroy the universe.
• Raven 12345's thought-form clone disappeared, and the stars returned to normal.
• Hao Ren realized the universe had been a minute from doomsday and wondered what Raven 12345 meant by a terminally ill parasite.

Hao Ren brought Hilda and a team of Erem Elf technicians to Horleta to help investigate the Firstborn. After a chaotic arrival at Becky's manor, the group met Ofra and the Pope and prepared to begin work at the evacuated sites.

• Hao Ren received the crystal complex's structural diagram and activation instructions as it continued growing into a research base and prison.
• Hilda and the Erem Elf technicians arrived at the underground transfer station, where Lily directed them through the spatial rift to Alamanda.
• Hao Ren sent the elves through the teleporter in Becky's basement, and the large group emerged in a chaotic crush that damaged Becky's possessions and foot.
• Hao Ren introduced Hilda to Ofra and the Pope as the Queen of the Erem Elves, and revealed that he was the Sun King.
• Ofra confirmed that Horleta had evacuated residents and nearby wild animals from the sealed sites, and Hao Ren prepared to begin the project.

Hao Ren clarified that he would not interfere in Horleta’s wars, then led the Erem Elf crews as they prepared to excavate Sunset Volcano and the Giant Life Tree. The chapter ended with the alien machinery assembled and Hao Ren promising Ofra a demonstration of advanced excavator technology.

• Ofra questioned Hao Ren about his role and whether he would help Horleta fight its neighboring barbarians, and he said he would intervene only against extinction-level natural disasters.
• Hilda completed the technical handover and went to meet King Moron while Hao Ren took the Erem Elves to the work sites.
• Hao Ren divided the elven technicians into groups for Sunset Volcano and the Giant Life Tree and summoned enormous machines from another world.
• The Erem Elf crews boarded the Disintegration Cutters and operated their equipment as the pope and Ofra watched.
• Hao Ren told Ofra she was about to witness the aliens’ advanced excavator technology.

Hao Ren arrived at the Giant Life Tree with Ofra and the others, discovering that the tree was now a mountain-sized stump. Once the elven excavators arrived, their sensors revealed how the tree’s vast roots had formed a prison around the Firstborn underground.

• Hao Ren and his companions traveled with Ofra to the lush region around the Giant Life Tree while the elven excavators flew toward the site.
• Ofra pointed out that the strange, vegetation-covered mountain in the basin was all that remained of the Giant Life Tree.
• Dodo emerged from Hao Ren’s collar and caused confusion among the Horleta officials, who mistook her for an otherworlder’s clone.
• The elven engineering brigade arrived, and Hao Ren ordered the excavation work to begin.
• The elves scanned beneath the tree and revealed that its roots stretched nearly two hundred kilometers, wrapping around and imprisoning the sleeping Firstborn.

Hao Ren’s team tested the Lullaby device and began excavating the sleeping Firstborn together with the roots of the Giant Life Tree. The central pillar was cut free and began to tilt as gravity-towing spacecraft moved in to pull it out.

• Hao Ren and the others examined how Lorisa’s Giant Life Tree roots had fused with the Firstborn, and concluded that the tree had ultimately been destroyed by the Firstborn’s corruption.
• The team deployed the Messenger to place a Lullaby device near the Firstborn and temporarily blocked the Holy Coffin’s inhibitor to test it.
• After the Firstborn remained asleep through the test, Hao Ren ordered the engineers to excavate it without separating the tangled roots.
• The Disintegration Cutters carved away the surrounding underground rock, and patrol craft blasted apart the remaining connections beneath the central pillar.
• The pillar began tilting, and Hao Ren’s team ordered gravity-towing spacecraft to pull it out.

Hao Ren and the engineering teams lifted the Giant Life Tree and the entangled Firstborn from Horleta, then transferred both living specimens to Tanagrus's orbit. After the operation went smoothly, the group returned to the royal capital, where the King invited the visitors to a feast.

• Erem Elf engineers raised the Giant Life Tree, the Firstborn, and a massive pillar of rock from the basin while injecting the Firstborn with tranquilizer.
• Hao Ren learned that Hilda and Big Beard were helping Moron oversee the parallel operation in the Sunset Mountains.
• The engineering fleet positioned both specimens in orbit, and the Giant Turtle Rock Platform transported them inside spatial bubbles to Tanagrus's orbit.
• Hao Ren and the teams returned to Horleta's royal capital, where Hilda reported that her diplomatic visit had gone smoothly.
• Ofra invited Hao Ren and the others to the King's feast, and Hao Ren accepted for the free food.

At a state banquet honoring the visitors from another world, the Erem Elves stunned Horleta’s officials with their blunt efficiency and unusual customs. As the feast continued, an anxious Church Knight appeared, drawing Hao Ren’s attention with a suspicious aura.

• The guests gathered at Veshan Great Hall, where Vivian noticed that many apparent Horleta nobles were actually trained attendants concealing the limited attendance.
• Ofra joined Hao Ren’s table, where Doudou judged her armor too hard to crawl into and Hao Ren worried about finding a larger pool as she grew.
• Moron and the pope gave lengthy speeches until Hilda ended them with a brief invitation to eat.
• The Erem Elves finished their meal in minutes, and Hilda explained their tradition and said she had already transferred much of her authority to Vime.
• Lily fed Hao Ren roasted meat and suggested he and Vivian recreate it at home.
• A worried high-ranking Church Knight hurried toward the pope, and Hao Ren sensed something suspicious about him.

A disguised heretic attacked the royal banquet hall after announcing that the Pope had been summoned by the Lord. Hao Ren, Vivian, Lily, and Izax stopped the monster and left it incapacitated, though Lily began tearing at it.

• A Church Knight delivered documents about the Return Sect to the Pope, then announced that the Pope had been summoned by the Lord.
• Moron ordered the guards to seize the knight, whose wounds revealed him as a monster that attacked the Royal Guards and threatened Moron.
• Vivian trapped the monster in a storm of bats, lightning, and ice, but it survived and charged at Hao Ren.
• Hao Ren kicked the monster away and ordered it taken alive, while Lily fought it and blocked its escape.
• Izax seized the monster and broke its limbs, but Lily then bit and tore at its arm.

Hao Ren and the others stopped a heretic’s attack at the banquet, but the Pope identified the attacker as a flesh-and-blood construct containing tormented souls, including the knight John. After the Pope explained the cult’s recent setbacks, Hao Ren examined the cursed scroll, which suddenly shrieked and shattered.

• Lily lost control and bit the defeated monster until Hao Ren pulled her away, while Vivian’s teasing made her vomit.
• The Pope recovered from the scroll’s soul attack and recognized the monster as a creation containing at least a dozen tormented souls, including John.
• Moron sealed the hall, and Ofra explained that the Return Sect’s peripheral groups had been badly hit and might be making a desperate last stand.
• Hao Ren asked Ofra for intelligence on the heretics and their summoned Giant Brain, and she agreed to discuss it after the banquet.
• Hao Ren opened the scroll while the Data Terminal monitored it, but it appeared blank before shrieking and bursting into pieces.

Hao Ren discovered that the shattered scroll had attacked him with divinity and learned his status as a contracted divine envoy had caused it to fail. After the Church captured the flesh monster, Izax offered to extract its souls and possibly rescue the innocent people trapped inside.

• Hao Ren and the Data Terminal determined that the scroll was a ritual object carrying a trace of the Creation Goddess’s divinity, likely from the same source as the heretics’ Giant Brain.
• The Data Terminal explained that Hao Ren’s authority as a contracted divine envoy had caused the scroll’s attack to backfire and destroy it.
• Hao Ren concealed the scroll’s divine nature from the pope and said it had burned out after taking a hit.
• Church Knights bound the twitching flesh monster with holy silver chains and took it away for the Inquisition to question.
• Izax offered to extract the souls sealed inside the monster and asked whether doing so would violate the Church’s doctrine.

Izax began interrogating the fused creature’s soul while the Erem Elves returned home and Becky asked Hao Ren for household appliances. Ofra gave Hao Ren the Return Sect’s records and warned that a more powerful force might be controlling the cult.

• Izax persuaded the pope to allow soul interrogation of the dying fused creature, then left with Elizabeth to question it.
• King Moron apologized after the banquet was disrupted, and the Erem Elves teleported back to their planet through Becky’s basement.
• Becky asked Hao Ren to bring her household appliances, a generator, and internet access, and he agreed.
• Ofra gave Hao Ren intelligence reports, ritual objects, and the Return Sect’s core doctrine, saying the sect might serve a stronger force.

Hao Ren examined the Return Sect’s original scripture and learned that its core members followed revelations from a mysterious Voice of the Master. He suspected a Giant Brain was hiding on Planet Horleta, while Ofra and Big Beard prepared to help the church investigate.

• Hao Ren read passages in the original scripture describing the Voice of the Master, flesh rituals, and the sect’s alleged commands from the Goddess.
• Ofra explained that the Return Sect concealed the Voice of the Master from its peripheral branches and credited the Goddess for its revelations and supernatural abilities.
• Hao Ren and Vivian suspected the Voice of the Master was connected to a Giant Brain, and Hao Ren concluded that one might be hiding on the planet based on an alien artifact used in an assassination attempt.
• Ofra agreed to report the suspected Giant Brain to the king and the pope, while Hao Ren advised her to look for nearby insomnia, nightmares, and madness.
• Big Beard chose to remain and assist the church, while Ofra explained that the sect’s Bishop-level members kept its summoning secrets orally and died before they could be interrogated.
• Hao Ren decided to return and check whether Izax had finished interrogating the cultists.

Hao Ren and his allies learned that the Return Sect used a fusion corpse and a divine artifact in its failed assassination, while its mind-controlled infiltrators remained unaccounted for. After leaving the investigation to the pope and Ofra, Hao Ren returned to Tanagrus to deal with the two steel wool-like objects beneath the planet.

• Hao Ren met Izax, Elizabeth, the pope, and church officials at the Grand Cathedral after Izax finished interrogating the fusion corpse.
• Izax explained that the Return Sect had created the fusion corpse with twisted divine magic and had planned the assassination for months, unaware of the banquet’s true purpose.
• The pope and Ofra learned that infiltrated guards and priests had disappeared or died, and Lily warned that some remaining guards might still be under mind control.
• Izax revealed that the Return Sect’s scroll came from beyond the heavens through the Voice of the Master, and Hao Ren connected it to the Giant Brain on the planet.
• Hao Ren left the heretic investigation to the church and Ofra, then returned with his group to Tanagrus through Becky’s basement teleportation gate.
• Hao Ren told Becky to stay safe and report any progress, while he prepared to deal with the two steel wool-like objects dug out of the planet.

Hao Ren and his companions arrived at the research station and watched Sample Two, fused with the Giant Life Tree, being sealed inside Lockdown Container Two. They explored the crystal facility and learned its official name was Crystal Apple Core Research Station.

• Hao Ren and his companions arrived at Alamanda at sunset and boarded the Giant Turtle Rock Platform to reach the research station.
• Hao Ren showed everyone Sample Two as workers cleared debris and scanned the Firstborn fused with the Giant Life Tree.
• The research station sealed Sample Two inside Lockdown Container Two and reported that containment was complete.
• Hao Ren and the others crossed the crystal bridge and entered the station, where Lily tried to take a crystal for Dog's Treasure.
• Hao Ren asked what to name the station, and the Data Terminal revealed that Sister Raven had named it Crystal Apple Core Research Station.

Hao Ren explored the Crystal Core Research Station and began planning research on the captive Firstborn and two mysterious spheres. He sent the spheres for analysis and decided to check whether the Firstborn had similar organs.

• Hao Ren used the station’s crystal mainframe to connect to the containers holding the two Firstborn.
• Hao Ren reviewed the Firstborn’s condition and proposed scanning its body to identify its organs and investigate its memories.
• Hao Ren sent the two red spheres from Demon King’s City to Comprehensive Analysis Room One.
• Vivian suggested checking whether the Firstborn had organs resembling the spheres, and Hao Ren approved the idea.

Hao Ren and the others discovered that the Firstborn’s Red Spheres were brain cores in a distributed thinking system. The two damaged spheres were still alive and sleeping, and their dreams could create large-scale illusions.

• Hao Ren and Vivian waited as the Data Terminal scanned the Red Spheres and the Firstborn in container one.
• The Data Terminal found seven or eight Red Spheres inside the Firstborn, linked to its Nerve Ganglia and grayish-white nerve fibers.
• Hao Ren suggested the Red Spheres might be the Firstborn’s brains, and tests confirmed that three kinds of tissue worked together as its distributed brain.
• The Data Terminal explained that the brain cores, Nerve Ganglia, and nerve fibers coordinated thought and control across the Firstborn’s enormous body.
• The Data Terminal proposed that the Demon King’s City illusion had been created by the sleeping, damaged brain cores dreaming.

The Data Terminal explained that Firstborn brain cores were seeds that could reproduce through fission and that the two damaged cores had created Demon King's City's phantom from their memories. Hao Ren considered trying to connect with a brain core himself, but its ability to respond remained unknown.

• The Data Terminal theorized that Firstborn grew multiple brains, then split into new individuals, which explained the three Firstborn on Planet Horleta.
• The Data Terminal explained that a damaged brain core's neural activity had produced a remembered projection of Demon King's City.
• The Data Terminal said the brain cores were too damaged to communicate with and could only be given nutrients while they recovered.
• Lily patted a brain core and joked that it should wake up, then suggested Hao Ren try reading its thoughts.
• Hao Ren stepped forward to try connecting with one of the brain cores.

Hao Ren failed to connect mentally with the damaged Firstborn brain core, so he began testing whether source blood could restore it. He left the Crystal Core Research Station running automated analyses and arranged for Planet Tanagrus to be developed into a protected base.

• Hao Ren tried several ways to connect with the red brain core, but none worked, and Lily's attempt to make it recognize him by biting his finger also failed.
• The Data Terminal placed one brain core in source blood and kept the other in a neutral solution as a backup; the first core began absorbing the source blood, though no repair was visible yet.
• Hao Ren assigned the station's mainframe to study the Firstborn samples, map their physiology, investigate their nervous system, and monitor the brain cores for healing.
• Hao Ren inspected the engineering teams on Planet Tanagrus and confirmed plans to build signal towers, monitoring equipment, and an energy dome while limiting ecological changes.
• Hao Ren and the exhausted group returned to Earth, leaving the research station's automated systems to continue their work.

Hao Ren enjoyed a quiet morning with his chaotic household and learned that Doudou was a prodigy in Demon Hunter skills. Nangong Sanba warned that she would soon need a professional teacher, though Hao Ren doubted her tiny size would make combat training useful.

• Hao Ren scolded Cat Girl for scratching his bedroom door while Doudou ate the wood shavings.
• Hao Ren discovered Lily had modified earphones that gave her four-channel audio, and the Data Terminal explained that beast-eared races existed across worlds.
• After breakfast, Hao Ren handed Doudou to Nangong Sanba to continue her Demon Hunter lessons.
• Nangong Sanba told Hao Ren that Doudou learned skills and Runes of Leta extraordinarily quickly and would soon outgrow his teaching.
• Nangong Sanba recommended finding Doudou a professional Demon Hunter teacher, but Hao Ren said controlling her abilities was enough for now.

Hao Ren heard reports of strange tap-water problems around Baishi Road and suspected they might involve supernatural activity. When Nangong May returned, she confirmed that water elsewhere was abnormal too, suggesting there really was a problem.

• Hao Ren struggled to keep Roll out of trouble during their walk with Izax and Elizabeth.
• Residents told Hao Ren that tap water was being shut off, flowing unpredictably, and damaging pipes and equipment.
• Hao Ren questioned a pumping-station worker’s father, who said the station’s machines were fine but the water pressure had been behaving strangely.
• Hao Ren decided the water problem might involve Otherworlder activity and planned to ask May about it.
• Nangong May returned at noon and agreed that the abnormal water in other places meant there was a real problem.

Hao Ren and his companions investigated reports of supernatural water problems at the South Suburbs pumping station. Nangong May traced the abnormal moisture to the nearby water tower, where countless water molecules defied natural laws.

• Nangong May told Hao Ren that residents had reported strange tap-water problems, and he learned their own water supply had been cut off for two days.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, Lily, Nangong May, and her brother went to the pumping station to investigate.
• The station operator said the water pressure near the water tower was abnormal and sent them away as the machinery acted up again.
• Nangong May spotted water flowing upward along a wall, while Lily sensed unusual patches of humidity and dryness.
• Nangong May sensed the strange water gathering around the water tower and saw countless water molecules drifting there unnaturally.

Hao Ren and his companions investigated supernatural water disturbances at a water tower and found an injured Siren hiding in its tank. After clearing up her suspicion that they had come to capture her, they learned she needed clean running water to recover.

• Lily found water floating against gravity around the water tower, and Nangong May sensed a Siren inside its storage tank.
• Hao Ren and his companions climbed into the tank, but the hidden Siren ignored their calls until Hao Ren threatened to pour vinegar into the water.
• The Siren emerged as a watery figure and accused the group of trying to capture her, but she relaxed after Nangong May showed her pure water.
• Hao Ren explained that the Siren's presence was disrupting the local water supply and could draw the attention of ordinary people and Demon Hunters.
• The injured Siren asked for clean running water to recover, and Nangong May said a bathtub of water would be enough.

Hao Ren brought the injured Siren Shaqila home to question her about Deep Sea City and the Queen’s Guard. After the medical pod healed her wounds, Shaqila prepared to explain what had happened.

• Hao Ren persuaded the wary Shaqila to return with him, and she revealed that the Queen’s Guard had injured her with poisoned water arrows.
• Hao Ren teleported Shaqila and the others home, where she introduced herself and asked for water to treat her injuries.
• Nangong May took Shaqila to the medical pod, and Elizabeth knocked her inside before she could finish objecting.
• The medical pod healed Shaqila’s wounds and gray-scale disease, and she said she would transform into a sea serpent before explaining her story.

Shaqila told Hao Ren and the others how the Sirens’ Queen sent messengers ashore with a vague prophecy, then began forcibly recalling Sirens amid rumors that she planned to open the Return Gate early. She revealed that the Queen’s strange behavior began after the Sirens captured a grotesque sea monster.

• Shaqila explained that she had come ashore a hundred years earlier and that the Siren messengers had little contact with one another afterward.
• Shaqila recited the Queen’s prophecy about the approaching Day of Return, admitting that the messengers had never been told what it meant.
• Shaqila said the Queen’s Guard had begun forcibly taking back Sirens who had settled on the surface, despite their freedom to choose when to return.
• Shaqila recalled that the Queen had seemed absent-minded and secluded herself in the palace around the time she sent the messengers ashore.
• Shaqila told Hao Ren that the Queen’s strange behavior had begun after the Sirens captured a grotesque, brain-like sea monster with tentacles.