Recaps

Hao Ren received a broadcast from Santu Su IV, where an inspector had captured an anger spirit and sought help analyzing it. After confirming that he had experience capturing one, Hao Ren arranged a visit to meet the other inspector and discuss their research.

• Hao Ren forgot Lily's steamed buns and tried to make up for it by giving her chocolate, which she could not eat.
• Hao Ren learned that Izax had taken Elizabeth to repair Old Madam Zhao's refrigerator, while Nangong Sanba had gone into the city to meet two Demon Hunters.
• The Data Terminal informed Hao Ren that an inspector on Santu Su IV had captured an anger spirit and was seeking help studying it.
• Hao Ren sent a D-level encrypted reply offering assistance, and the inspector welcomed him to visit.
• Hao Ren decided to travel to Santu Su IV with his team and considered bringing local specialties.

Hao Ren learned about Santu Su IV and traveled there with his companions to investigate a second angry spirit. They arrived at Suha Satellite Station, where the Station Chief repeatedly tried to sell them souvenirs, and continued toward the planet.

• Hao Ren read about Santu Su IV, its ancient civilizations, and the nearby Suha Satellite Station.
• Lily, Nangong May, Roll, and Nangong Sanba decided to join Hao Ren, while Vivian stayed home and Izax declined.
• Hao Ren and his companions traveled to Santu Su IV aboard a spaceship the next morning.
• The group reached Suha Satellite Station, a vast ancient structure covered in powerful broadcasting antennas.
• The Station Chief repeatedly offered Hao Ren a souvenir package and mentioned complaints about the station's antenna radiation.
• Hao Ren ended the call and had the spaceship accelerate toward Santu Su IV.

Hao Ren and his companions arrived on Santu? Su IV to meet a fellow inspector, only to be escorted by dragons to their hidden kingdom. There, Dragon Queen Galazhor revealed that she was the inspector and asked Hao Ren whether he had brought sauce-braised pork knuckle.

• Hao Ren brought Lily, Nangong May, Roll, and Nangong Sanba to the wilderness coordinate supplied by the inspector.
• Several dragons flew toward the group and ordered them to follow.
• The dragons carried Hao Ren and his companions to the hidden Dragon Kingdom inside Gleaming Stone Peak.
• Dragon Queen Galazhor dismissed the other dragons and revealed that she was an inspector.
• Galazhor dropped her imposing pose and asked Hao Ren for sauce-braised pork knuckle.

Hao Ren and his companions visited Galadriel, the Dragon Queen and fellow inspector, and learned how she became an inspector while sharing food and stories. Galadriel checked on the angry spirit trapped at Thunder Mountain, and the group met her unusually named cat.

• Galadriel welcomed Hao Ren and his companions to her palace and ate the Earth snacks he had brought.
• Galadriel told Hao Ren how she met the Goddess, bit her, and later became an inspector.
• Galadriel explained that inspectors came from many backgrounds and that the Xiling Pantheon's territory spanned countless worlds.
• Nangong May reminded Galadriel to check on the angry spirit, and Galadriel confirmed that it remained trapped in Thunder Mountain's core region.
• Hao Ren's talkative Data Terminal tried to befriend Galadriel's formal terminal, which repeatedly rejected it.
• Galadriel introduced her big yellow cat, simply named Cat, while Lily hid behind Hao Ren.

Galadriel took Hao Ren and his companions on a tour of her kingdom before flying them to Thunder Mountain. She revealed that the supposed mountain was an ancient fusion generator, where she had trapped the Wrath Spirit.

• Roll and the big yellow cat met, and Cat Girl concluded that the yellow cat was too stupid to fear dragons.
• Galadriel transformed into a Golden Dragon, ordered the palace sealed, and carried the group into the air.
• Galadriel showed the group her kingdom inside Glowstone Mountain and explained that its clouds concealed dragon eggs, not a treasure hoard.
• Galadriel flew the group toward Thunder Mountain and described how she had caught the Wrath Spirit near the gravitational balance point between Santu Su IV and Suha Satellite Station.
• Galadriel revealed that Thunder Mountain was a still-running fusion generator left by the previous civilization.

Hao Ren and Galadriel traveled into Thunder Mountain’s dangerous reactor core, where they found a second wrath spirit preserved inside a magnetic field. Hao Ren went to retrieve the device that could communicate with it, leaving the group and their Data Terminals together.

• Galadriel led Hao Ren and the others past Quel'Thar’s mage outpost and into Thunder Mountain’s inner layer.
• Galadriel explained that she had hired the Fialli Consortium to repair the reactor core and described the lethal hazards inside the mountain.
• Galadriel brought the group to the reactor hall and showed them the wrath spirit contained by Magic Stones.
• The Data Terminal judged the spirit to be in better condition than the one they had captured, though Galadriel said her attempts to analyze it had failed.
• Hao Ren said his specialized communication device was aboard his spaceship and went to retrieve it.

Hao Ren and Galadriel investigated how to make sense of the wrath spirit’s chaotic memories, and the Data Terminal found a way to organize them without decoding them. The group prepared to begin reading Sample One.

• Hao Ren installed and tested the new analyzer, and Galadriel guided a wrath spirit into it with the Magic Stones.
• The analyzer produced a stream of apparently meaningless symbols and images, but Galadriel noticed repeated markers and sequences.
• Galadriel suggested that the wrath spirit’s memories might be disordered and non-linear, and Hao Ren theorized that the Firstborn had destroyed their organizational structure along with their self-awareness.
• The Data Terminal tried a new method of indexing the memories, organizing the information without relying on a timeline.
• The Data Terminal announced that the new approach was working and that they could begin reading Sample One.

Hao Ren secured Galadriel’s equipment for analyzing the wrath spirit and joined the Nangong siblings at a dragon banquet before returning to the Dream Plane investigation. Galadriel warned that the Dream Plane’s accelerating merger with the Outer World might not be natural, and the Data Terminal interrupted Hao Ren with news from the spaceship laboratory.

• Hao Ren told Galadriel he needed to help Nangong May and Nangong Sanba find their parents, and Galadriel invited them to a banquet before they left.
• Galadriel hosted Hao Ren and his companions at a vast plaza beneath Glowstone Mountain, where the dragons feasted on roasted meat.
• Galadriel asked Hao Ren about his responsibility for the Dream Plane and cautioned him to watch for unexpected revelations.
• Hao Ren described the stable passage between the Dream Plane and the Outer World, and Galadriel concluded that their recent merging process seemed accelerated and unnatural.
• The Data Terminal announced that news had arrived from the spaceship laboratory before Hao Ren could finish speculating about the Wall of Reality.

Hao Ren and the others searched the Wraith’s memories for Nangong Sanba and Nangong May’s parents, identifying them in a memory of a battle from a century earlier. The stars seen after the couple vanished did not match anything in this universe, suggesting the Wraith may have taken them to the Dream Plane.

• The Data Terminal asked Nangong Sanba to let an Autonomous Mechanical Unit extract his memories so the system could identify his parents in the Wraith’s vast memory bank.
• The system found a blurry image of Nangong Sanba and Nangong May’s parents, and May confirmed their identities.
• The group watched the Wraith’s memory of the couple fighting before interference obscured the scene and a starry sky appeared.
• The Data Terminal searched the Sovereign Hub’s celestial records but found no match for the stars, suggesting the memory might show a location outside this universe.
• The Data Terminal proposed that the Wraith had taken the couple to the Dream Plane and began searching the distant regions mapped by its proliferation probes.

Hao Ren used the Angry Spirit’s memories and his probe network to locate a star region that might be connected to the disappearance of Nangong May’s parents, but the region had no celestial bodies and contained only ashes. He took his companions aboard the Giant Turtle Rock Platform to investigate, where the station’s latest report identified the ashes as remnants of a sun.

• Hao Ren’s drones matched the Angry Spirit’s remembered stars to an empty region where a massive explosion had left a cloud of ashes.
• Nangong May feared her parents might have been sent into space, and Hao Ren decided to investigate the region in person.
• Hao Ren returned to Earth and told Vivian and the Nangong siblings about the discovery, then planned to leave the next day.
• Izax and Elizabeth volunteered to join the search, and Hao Ren brought the household aboard the Giant Turtle Rock Platform.
• The ship reached a drone relay station near the target region and received a report that the ashes were from a sun.

Hao Ren and his companions searched the empty remains of a dead star system for the planet where the Nangong couple had been sent. A probe discovered that the planet had been transformed into a wandering world driven by engines, and calculations placed it near the coordinates they sought a century earlier.

• The Data Terminal found only the ashes of a dead star at the location indicated by the wrath spirit’s memories, with the system’s planets missing.
• Hao Ren’s group traveled to the stellar remains and confirmed that no planetary debris could be found.
• A probe delivered an unfamiliar component, then detected a planet being propelled through space by enormous engines.
• The Giant Turtle Rock Platform caught up with the wandering planet and observed its extensive artificial modifications.
• The Data Terminal calculated that the planet had been near the sought coordinates a hundred years earlier, and Lily suggested the Nangong couple were on its surface.

Hao Ren and his companions explored a lifeless wandering planet propelled through space by enormous engines, hoping to find Nangong May’s mother and Nangong Sanba’s father. After confirming that the thrusters were the likeliest place for survivors, they drove toward them and encountered vast structures beneath the snow.

• Hao Ren’s group surveyed the wandering planet and found frozen oceans, a magnetic shield, and more than 160 enormous thruster nozzles, with only some still operating.
• Hao Ren left Elizabeth, Cat, and Fish aboard the ship while he, Vivian, Izax, and the others teleported to the surface; the Data Terminal remained in orbit to provide support.
• Nangong May and Nangong Sanba considered whether their parents could have survived the harsh conditions, and Izax pointed out that the active thrusters were the planet’s only warm region.
• Hao Ren drove the group across the ice fields toward the thrusters, where enormous pipes and steel supports rose from the snow and spread across the land.

Hao Ren and the others explored a ruined planet whose enormous engines created isolated habitable zones, finding an abandoned city but no sign of the Nangong siblings’ parents. They concluded that the planet’s failed escape had begun moving only a hundred years ago and continued their search.

• Hao Ren, Lily, and Vivian crossed the frozen planet and observed that its engines generated limited rings of warmth and wind.
• Hao Ren and the others found a ruined city near an active engine and discovered no signs of life there.
• Hao Ren judged that the city had been abandoned for at least ten thousand years and suspected the inhabitants had fled an apocalypse caused by the Firstborn or brain monsters.
• Lily pointed out that the planet had only started moving a hundred years earlier, and Hao Ren agreed that something had delayed its escape.
• The Nangong siblings found no evidence their parents had lived in the city but remained hopeful and decided to search the planet’s other habitable regions.

Hao Ren and his companions explored the automated machinery surrounding a massive plasma engine and encountered a robot that identified them as citizens. It guided them to a clean inspection facility, where a human figure suddenly appeared on a wall screen.

• Hao Ren followed an automated transport vehicle into a vast factory city where machines and vehicles operated without anyone present.
• Hao Ren’s group explored the factories and found that even the control room was empty and automated.
• A patrol robot detected the group, checked their health, and ordered them to follow it to an inspection station.
• Hao Ren and his companions followed the robot to a bright, orderly hall filled with small service robots.
• A human figure appeared on a screen in the wall as the group approached the far door.

Hao Ren and his companions discovered that survivors lived in a shelter beneath the seemingly deserted planet and descended dozens of kilometers underground. The elevator opened onto an enormous, illuminated city inside a cavern, leaving them stunned by the shelter’s scale.

• A stern middle-aged man appeared on a wall screen, directed Hao Ren’s group toward a shelter, and said a civil affairs investigator would ask about them.
• Vivian and Hao Ren reasoned that the survivors’ presence was puzzling and wondered whether Nangong May’s parents might be in the shelter.
• The group noticed the man had shown no surprise at May’s sea-serpent tail or Lily’s ears and tail, then rode a deep underground elevator while staying alert.
• Nangong Sanba tested the area outside the elevator with rune paper before the group cautiously stepped out.
• Hao Ren’s group found a vast city beneath a rocky cavern, and Vivian briefly lost herself in thought about the cavern.

Hao Ren and the others explored the seemingly empty underground shelter city and discovered that its systems and broadcasts were still operating. In a mall, the Nangong siblings sensed a water element and found two figures who appeared to be their parents.

• Hao Ren and his companions found the shelter city deserted, though its vehicles and maintenance robots continued to operate.
• Nangong Sanba noticed that the streets and facilities were clean and regularly maintained.
• Hao Ren and the others entered a mall and discovered a live news broadcast describing the Planet Ark’s route and an approaching asteroid belt.
• Nangong Sanba and Nangong May sensed a water element and followed its energy into a household goods shop.
• Nangong May saw two figures emerge from behind the shelves and recognized them as her parents.

Nangong May and Nangong Sanba reunited with their parents, Elsa and Nangong Wudi, in the deserted city. After the family caught up, the group continued investigating the place and followed the couple to their home.

• Nangong May and Nangong Sanba reunited with their parents, who had been living in the city for a hundred years.
• Hao Ren and the others gave the family time alone and explored the mall, where Lily and Izax took snacks from shelves that automated machines promptly restocked.
• The group met the Nangong family at the mall entrance, and Elsa and Nangong Wudi offered to help with the investigation.
• Nangong Wudi introduced himself, then led the group toward the couple’s home on a driverless floating bus.
• Hao Ren noticed that cheerful advertisements played on the bus while the city outside remained silent and deserted.

Hao Ren and his companions reunited Nangong May with her parents and learned how the couple had arrived on the Planet Ark. Their account suggested the planet began its voyage after they arrived, while their discovery that the city was sealed off deepened Hao Ren’s suspicion that its survivors were hidden elsewhere.

• Nangong Wudi told Hao Ren and the others that he and Elsa had arrived in a frozen wilderness before the Planet Ark’s pillars of light activated.
• Hao Ren and Vivian connected the couple’s memories of earthquakes and changes in gravity to the planet setting sail.
• Nangong Wudi reassured Nangong May that he and Elsa had adapted to life in the city, though they had endured loneliness.
• Nangong Wudi revealed that the city’s exits were sealed and machine people had stopped him and Elsa from forcing their way out.
• Hao Ren asked the Data Terminal to scan deep beneath the planet for signs of life and large shelters, and warned it to avoid provoking a conflict.

Hao Ren and his companions debated why the planet’s natives had hidden themselves and maintained an empty city as an apparent observation room. After Lily’s attempt to call them failed, the group ate with the Nangong family and watched news about Planet Ark preparing to slow down, before Izax suddenly caused an explosion in the city.

• Vivian, Izax, and the others discussed the purpose of the empty city, and Lily proposed calling out to the natives before forcing their way through the checkpoints.
• Lily howled from the balcony and shouted for the natives to come out, but no one responded, so the group prepared to test the city’s defenses.
• Elsa served a meal, and May and Elsa shared memories of the century they had spent apart.
• Lily turned on the television, and Hao Ren noted that the broadcasts made the city seem like a glass house built for an observer.
• The group watched news that Planet Ark’s engines were changing output, and Izax raised his hand toward distant buildings, triggering a huge explosion.

After Izax caused a huge explosion, Hao Ren’s group watched Deep River Station’s news and discovered that officials and reports appeared to be fabricated to make the empty city seem alive. They headed toward the city’s edge to expose whoever was behind the simulation, but a mechanical army gathered in their path.

• Izax caused a massive explosion in Deep River Station, and emergency crews and robots responded to the blaze.
• Hao Ren’s group watched the morning news and saw Deep River Station officials describe the unexplained explosion, though the Nangong couple had never heard of them.
• Lily brought in a freshly printed newspaper featuring the same officials, and Izax concluded that someone was pretending the world was still alive.
• Hao Ren led the group toward the city’s edge, while Nangong May told her parents it might be their last day there and Nangong Wudi went to retrieve his old gear.
• Billboards, robots, and vehicles urged the group to stay in the shelter, and a taxi refused to take them outside the city.
• Hao Ren took out his spear and sidearm as a mechanical army gathered ahead of the group.

Hao Ren’s group left the city after discovering that its robots were controlled by a rigid, malfunctioning system that tried to keep residents inside. Guided by the Data Terminal, they headed through the city’s outer gate toward an energy node near Earth’s core.

• The Data Terminal reported that no suitable shelter existed and located a planetary energy node near Earth’s core.
• Hao Ren’s group reached the city gate, where mechanical guards and traffic blocked their way.
• Hao Ren addressed the unseen controller, and the machines stopped advancing but silently watched as the group passed.
• Hao Ren cut through the city gate and gave Nangong Wudi and Elsa life-support collars.
• Hao Ren led the group into a tunnel toward the transportation hub and the passages descending toward Earth’s core.

Hao Ren and his group explored an abandoned subway hub beneath the planet and found evidence that the Starry Sky People had once warned its inhabitants. They discovered a deep shaft below the station, and Hao Ren and Vivian prepared to descend while the others waited.

• Hao Ren's group explored the dusty subway passage and found a memorial plaque identifying the dead Grand Commander.
• The group reached the subway interchange, where the station lights activated and they discovered a sculpture commemorating the Starry Sky People.
• Hao Ren connected the Starry Sky People to the "allies from the stars" mentioned on Planet Horleta.
• The group searched beneath the station and found a vast shaft with missing lift equipment and a seemingly bottomless descent.
• Hao Ren chose to descend with Vivian while the others stayed above.

Hao Ren and Vivian reached the ark’s mainframe deep beneath the planet and learned how the Firstborn destroyed its civilization. The mainframe’s account left Hao Ren asking who the Starry Sky People were.

• Hao Ren and Vivian descended the Vertical Shaft and found a platform above a weak magma lake, where the mainframe’s entrance opened for them.
• Inside the Control Center, the Ark Mainframe explained that its mission was to preserve the Creators, but the civilization had gone extinct before the ark set sail.
• The mainframe showed how the planet’s lights went dark after it survived a solar eruption, then identified the Calamity as the cause of the Creators’ destruction.
• The mainframe said the Starry Sky People helped the Creators cast the Firstborn into the sun and detonate it, but the Firstborn’s remaining soul killed the civilization afterward.
• Hao Ren realized the Firstborn’s soul had since dissipated and asked the Ark Mainframe who the Starry Sky People were.

Hao Ren and Vivian learned how the Starry Sky People and the Ark Mainframe tried to preserve the civilization of Planet Ark after the Firstborn destroyed its inhabitants. The Ark Mainframe accepted that its simulated city could not continue, and Hao Ren left with a library of its records and a sample of the planet’s moss.

• Hao Ren watched a record of the Starry Sky People dying as the sun expanded and learned that the Firstborn’s surviving soul had destroyed the planet’s ecosystem.
• The Ark Mainframe explained that the Nangong couple had restarted the ark’s launch protocol and that the city’s human society had been simulated to keep the creators’ civilization from ending.
• Hao Ren asked the Data Terminal to broadcast information about the Time-Space Administration Bureau to the Ark Mainframe, which then said it understood.
• Hao Ren returned to the Giant Turtle Rock Platform with a library of the ark’s records and a jar of moss from the planet.
• The Ark Mainframe shut down the simulated city as the Giant Turtle Rock Platform departed from Planet Ark.

Hao Ren and his companions returned to Io with the moss samples from the Planet Ark, intending to help life take root in the Sea of Io. The Ark continued its thousand-year voyage to revive its creators’ world, while Hao Ren entrusted the moss to Eva and left its future in the ocean.

• Nangong Wudi and Elsa met Doudou and mistakenly thought she was Nangong May’s child, prompting Hao Ren and May to explain the misunderstanding.
• Hao Ren explained that the Planet Ark would continue toward its chosen destination, where it could revive its creators’ world using the life that remained.
• The Giant Turtle Rock Platform emerged above Io, and Elsa reunited with the peaceful sea where the Siren originated.
• Hao Ren scattered the moss fragments and prepared green powder into the Sea of Io, asking Eva to care for them.