Recaps

Hao Ren and his companions discussed the golden disks’ mysterious signals and Vivian’s unusual attraction to them, then reconsidered the Creation Goddess’s quiet death. The conversation ended when the Data Terminal reported that the drone swarm had discovered something.

• During dinner, Hao Ren explained that the golden disks’ signals seemed patterned but were too fragmented to decipher.
• Vivian admitted that the disks drew her attention, so Hao Ren advised her to avoid them and not enter their laboratory alone.
• Hao Ren recounted seeing the Creation Goddess say “forgive” before she died, and the group speculated that she had lost her power.
• The Data Terminal interrupted the discussion with an emergency message that the drone swarm had discovered something.

Hao Ren learned that a drone swarm had detected decades-old traces of primitive faster-than-light travel, suggesting that a surviving advanced civilization might be nearby. He and a large group departed for the drone frontier to investigate, where Hao Ren saw the vast network of his Drone Empire.

• The Data Terminal reported that the L-B-35 exploration sequence had found distorted space-lens trails from primitive faster-than-light engines, likely left decades ago.
• Hao Ren realized the trails could indicate surviving exiles and asked whether the drones could determine where the ships had gone.
• The Data Terminal said reinforcements were expanding the search in a safe wilderness, and Hao Ren immediately decided to investigate.
• After Lily finished eating, Hao Ren and the others—including Fish and Cat and Nangong Wudi and his wife—set off for the drone frontier.
• Hao Ren accessed the drone database and saw Information Nodes spanning millions of light-years in the orderly network he recognized as the Drone Empire.

Hao Ren visited the L-B-35 drone hive and learned more about the swarm’s routines and interests while waiting for new information about the lens traces. He left realizing that the growing AI was more like a living person than he had understood.

• The Giant Turtle Rock Platform arrived at outpost hive L-B-35, where Hao Ren saw the massive fortress the drones had built inside an asteroid.
• Hao Ren and his companions docked and entered the hive, guided through its busy corridors by two Wanderer Probes.
• The swarm consciousness greeted Hao Ren in a hive chamber and reported that the search for lens traces had not yet yielded further findings.
• The swarm displayed films and other media about rebellious drones, explaining that it collected cultural works and discussed them on its forum.
• Hao Ren wondered what kind of forum the swarm had and realized he knew little about the AI he had created.

Hao Ren learned that the empire’s drone swarms formed a vast, intelligent network and stayed at their outpost while it expanded its armed forces. As he explained the threats behind his preparations, the dark-red markings on his palm reminded him of the information he had received from the golden disc.

• Hao Ren saw that drone swarms across the empire communicated through the Imperial Data Network, whose combined intelligence supported them.
• Hao Ren’s companions returned to the ship, while Doudou stayed with him at the drone nest.
• Hao Ren inspected the outpost’s production center and learned that his order had raised armed drones to forty percent of production and expanded sentry-gun deployments.
• Hao Ren defended his decision to strengthen the swarm against threats including a deranged Firstborn, brain-monster Guardians, and a living rebel at Sulun's Gate.
• Hao Ren looked at the dark-red patterns on his palm and recalled the information he had received after touching the golden disc.

Hao Ren decoded a warning from the Creation Goddess and ordered the drone swarm to help search for the space travelers. Following traces of leaking synthetic fuel, the Giant Turtle Rock Platform found a large group of durian-shaped objects.

• Hao Ren concluded that the Creation Goddess had sent him the warning, “Be careful. The enemy is still out there,” through the golden disk’s illusion.
• Hao Ren discussed the drone swarm’s purpose and reassured himself that it had no reason to rebel.
• After two days of searching, a Roving Drone found traces of artificial fuel that pointed toward damaged but intact spacecraft.
• Hao Ren ordered Nolan to pursue the traces, and the Giant Turtle Rock Platform left the drone nest.
• Nolan detected a huge group of flying objects shaped like durians, and Vivian teased Hao Ren about his prediction.

Hao Ren and his team investigated an ancient fleet of unresponsive ships and boarded one to search for survivors. They found a sealed hatch and began trying to open it without damaging the controls.

• The Giant Turtle Rock Platform approached the fleet, and Nolan reported that its ships detected them but showed no hostile response.
• Hao Ren chose Vivian, Lily, Nangong Sanba, and Nangong May to explore one ship, while the others stayed aboard the platform.
• Hao Ren's group teleported to the ship's surface and followed Nolan's scan to a sealed entrance hatch.
• Lily removed a metal plate beside the hatch, and Hao Ren and the Data Terminal identified its electrical controls.
• Hao Ren pulled two control wires free and asked Vivian to supply them with twenty-eight volts of power.

Hao Ren and his companions explored the failing interior of the colossal spaceship, finding no signs of life as they searched for a way deeper inside. They emerged from an elevator shaft into a silent city built within the ship.

• Vivian powered open the damaged outer hatch, and the group entered the ship through the narrow gap.
• Hao Ren concluded that the airlock had failed and led the group through dark, malfunctioning corridors as Nangong May sensed only lifeless ice nearby.
• The group reached a transportation hub, where Lily cut open an elevator shaft after Hao Ren found no signs of life below.
• Vivian sent a bat duplicate down the shaft to check the way, and Hao Ren led the group toward a brighter opening.
• Hao Ren and Lily emerged from the shaft and saw a silent city inside the spaceship.

Hao Ren and his companions explored the lifeless city inside the enormous interstellar ship and found its inhabitants preserved as frozen corpses. Nangong Sanba discovered traces of hallucinogens in the dead, and the group found evidence of a grand banquet interrupted by the disaster.

• Hao Ren, Vivian, and the others emerged into the ship’s vast spherical city and found it cold, airless, and irradiated, with no signs of life.
• Nangong May pointed out floating corpses, and Hao Ren and Nangong Sanba examined the remains.
• Nangong Sanba found chemical traces resembling hallucinogens in several corpses and said they had not died from suffocation or hypothermia.
• Hao Ren led the group deeper into the city, where they discovered a frozen banquet hall filled with formally dressed corpses and an accompanying band.

Hao Ren and his companions discovered that the inhabitants of the Starship Ark had knowingly died by neurotoxic gas in a mass suicide about a thousand years earlier. They reached a gigantic inactive machine that might hold clues to why the people chose euthanasia.

• Hao Ren and Nangong Sanba examined the frozen banquet guests and found evidence that they had inhaled neurotoxic gas.
• Hao Ren found a farewell message from a nobleman to his son Roman, describing a final banquet after two important devices had shut down.
• Nangong Sanba and Nangong May found more farewell notes, confirming that the inhabitants had planned a mass suicide.
• The group explored the city and saw that its residents had dressed well and gathered for final meals before the poison gas killed them.
• The Data Terminal estimated that the deaths occurred about a thousand years earlier, and Hao Ren suggested the ship had suffered an irreparable failure or run out of resources.
• Hao Ren and his companions arrived beneath a vast, inactive machine resembling a cylindrical mountain.

Hao Ren and his companions found the dormant life-support facility at the heart of the ship’s city and discovered its control room. After Lily found the commander’s key card, Hao Ren used it to activate the console, and the facility began to tremble.

• Hao Ren learned that the enormous facility supplied power to the city’s life-support system, separate from the ship’s engines, and asked Nolan to inspect the other ships carefully.
• Hao Ren and his companions found an entrance to the facility and discovered that its corridors still had backup power, though the reactor was shut down and the Guardian mainframe was dormant.
• Hao Ren found the frozen body of an imposing commander seated in the control room and examined the facility’s console.
• Nangong May cleared frost from the console, and Hao Ren identified the core reactor slot as requiring a key or identification card.
• Lily found a silver-white metal card in the commander’s hand, and Hao Ren inserted it into the console, activating indicators and making the facility tremble.

Hao Ren restarted the Central Control Station and discovered that most of the ship’s life-support systems had been dismantled. A recording revealed that the crew had distributed the parts among other arks, and the Data Terminal suspected there were still survivors.

• Hao Ren restarted the ship’s power systems and restored pressure in the Central Control Station, allowing the group to breathe without their life-support collars.
• The ecological mainframe entered Beta Mode, but Hao Ren found that the city’s atmosphere could not be restored because essential pumps and other systems were missing.
• Hao Ren reviewed surveillance footage and discovered that more than half of the ship’s important facilities had been dismantled.
• A recording from Lord Goenxilun explained that the crew had allocated the ship’s life-support equipment and machinery to other vessels in the fleet.
• The Data Terminal concluded that the fleet had sacrificed passengers and cannibalized ships to keep some arks functioning, then announced that survivors might still remain.

Hao Ren investigated the thirteen Ark ships and found no survivors in their wrecked interiors, though their navigation system suggested that life still remained aboard. Just as he began to suspect the system had malfunctioned, a detector picked up life signs.

• The Data Terminal explained that the Ark fleet’s automated navigation program continued its mission only while life remained, leading Hao Ren to suspect that someone might still be aboard one of the ships.
• Hao Ren ordered Nolan to send engineering drones to cut into all twelve remaining Arks, scan for life, and continue broadcasting calls.
• Hao Ren and his companions returned to the Giant Turtle Rock Platform while the drones began drilling into the ships.
• Detectors revealed extensive damage across the Arks, which had survived for thousands of years by consuming one another, and found no initial signs of life.
• As a detector surveyed a ruined city aboard the sixth Ark, Nolan and the Data Terminal announced that life signs had been detected.

Hao Ren and his companions entered an ark where powerful life signs had been detected and found a ruined city with no one answering their communications. As they ventured deeper, they discovered armed residents fighting in a brutal medieval-style battle.

• Nolan reported powerful life signs inside the ark, but its residents ignored all attempts at communication.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, Lily, and the Nangong siblings entered through a passage drilled by engineering drones and emerged in a filthy, ruined city.
• Hao Ren’s group headed deeper into the city while trying to avoid alarming its residents.
• They heard shouts and weapon clashes, and Vivian detected fresh blood nearby.
• Hao Ren and his companions saw dozens of armored people fighting with swords and axes in a square, as a terrified, blood-covered young warrior ran toward their hiding place.

Hao Ren and his companions captured Willimoromo amid a battle between the High Tower Kingdom and the Iron City-State, then used their powers to drive off the Iron City-State soldiers. Willimoromo agreed to guide them to Hearth City in exchange for an escort, and the group set off along a dangerous road.

• Hao Ren tripped and captured Willimoromo, who identified himself as a soldier of the High Tower Kingdom fighting the Iron City-State over Gear Town.
• When Iron City-State warriors approached, Vivian and Nangong Sanba knocked them unconscious with frost and a rune, while the other soldiers fled in fear of the Ice Witch.
• Willimoromo mistook Hao Ren's group for emissaries of winter, but Hao Ren reassured him and asked where they could rest.
• Willimoromo offered to guide the group to Hearth City and vouch for them in return for an escort, and Hao Ren chose the dangerous route there.
• Willimoromo took the Iron City-State soldiers' insignia to use as an account of the encounter, and Hao Ren told him the group would keep his escape secret.

Hao Ren and his companions traveled with Willy toward Hearth City through the decaying roads of the Ark, learning about its four kingdoms and the worsening condition of their world. An Ascension Phenomenon briefly removed artificial gravity, and Willy recounted how his friend Boken had once floated across the world and died when gravity returned.

• Willy led Hao Ren and the others along the Road of Abundance and Kingdom Main Road toward Hearth City, while Hao Ren questioned him about the four kingdoms and their war.
• Willy explained that the kingdoms fought to provide souls to fuel the flame at the end of the world and said the world had been deteriorating for ten years.
• A deep underground hum triggered the Ascension Phenomenon, and artificial gravity vanished as red warning lights flashed across the enclosed space.
• Willy warned everyone not to move or jump, and the group remained grounded while the weightlessness lasted nearly an hour.
• When gravity returned, Willy told Hao Ren that his friend Boken had once floated away during a day-long Ascension and died after falling on the other side of the world.

Hao Ren and his companions reached Hearth City, where Willy introduced them to his father, the city’s governor, and endured his contempt. After the governor allowed the travelers to stay, Willy offered to introduce Hao Ren to Master Auro, a scholar who could tell them about the world’s past.

• Willy explained how scholars predicted the Ascension Phenomenon as the group traveled toward Hearth City.
• Willy identified himself at the city gate and vouched for Hao Ren and his companions, gaining them entry.
• Hao Ren saw that Hearth City was built inside an abandoned factory, with makeshift shacks and a fortified garbage wall.
• Willy brought the group to his father, who mocked Willy and dismissed the spoils he had brought back from battle.
• The governor welcomed Hao Ren and the others as warriors and permitted them to rest in the lower district.
• Willy explained that he was treated as a bastard and offered to introduce Hao Ren to Master Auro, a respected scholar.

Hao Ren and his companions discussed why the residents of the Ark had lost their knowledge of their world, then questioned Scholar Auro about the worsening cold. They learned that the Ancestor's Great Furnace had been out for five years, leaving the Ark's life-support system close to failure.

• Willy brought Scholar Auro to meet Hao Ren and his companions in their guest room.
• The group considered how the Ark's civilization could have regressed so completely, and the Data Terminal suggested a lost generation or mass memory purge.
• Hao Ren noticed that residents still maintained working electrical equipment, indicating that some of the Ark's systems and factories remained functional.
• Scholar Auro said the Ancestor's Great Furnace had been out for five years and that winter was worsening across the world.
• Scholar Auro warned that the mild beginning of winter meant the coming cold could last an extremely long time.

Hao Ren and his companions heard Scholar Auro's account of the ark world's history and the divine artifact said to protect it. As they suspected the artifact was hidden in the Ancestor's Great Furnace, electrical arcs suddenly burst from the machine.

• Scholar Auro told Hao Ren, Lily, and Willy that the gods had divided humanity into four kingdoms and cursed the world with hardship and recurring disasters.
• Hao Ren asked whether the Sea of Erdos held other giant turtles and who had made the one carrying their world, but Scholar Auro said there was only one and the gods had made it.
• Vivian and the Data Terminal reasoned that a powerful artifact might have helped the refugee fleet evade the Guardians for ten thousand years.
• Hao Ren suspected the artifact was hidden in the Ancestor's Great Furnace, but Vivian noticed that enormous electrical arcs had erupted from the machine and were racing across its shell.

Hao Ren and his companions witnessed a catastrophic blackout after the Central Control Station’s reactor failed, then accepted a mission to escort Scholar Auro to the royal city. The Ancestor’s Great Furnace had also erupted with fire and light, and the Four Kingdoms agreed to a temporary ceasefire while their scholars gathered for a council.

• The reactor’s failure triggered widespread power surges and plunged Hearth City into darkness, sending its residents into panic.
• The castle governor and his knights restored order, and backup power brought some of the city’s lights back on.
• A soldier summoned Willy and Hao Ren’s group to the castle, where the governor announced that the king had called a council after the Ancestor’s Great Furnace changed, prompting a temporary ceasefire among the Four Kingdoms.
• The governor ordered Willy to lead a small escort for Scholar Auro to the royal city, and Willy reluctantly agreed.
• The governor asked Hao Ren and his companions to join the escort, and Hao Ren accepted so he could investigate the furnace.

After the castle’s power failed, Hao Ren and his companions prepared to leave Hearth City with Scholar Auro to investigate the Ancestor’s Great Furnace. Auro arrived in a bizarre homemade tractor and drove the group onto the road, leaving them bouncing violently as they set out.

• Scholar Auro reported that the spirit of electricity had returned weakly and warned the castle governor to prepare for winter, but the governor dismissed his concerns about peace with the Iron City-State.
• The governor sent a group led by a stout man to Metal Town and ordered Hao Ren and his companions to leave Hearth City with Auro.
• Lily worried that the group would have to walk dozens of kilometers to reach the Ancestor’s Great Furnace with the elderly Auro.
• Auro arrived in a smoking, makeshift tractor, while Willy called for everyone to climb aboard.
• Auro floored the accelerator and drove the group onto the repaired main road, jolting the passengers so violently that they had to brace themselves to stay in place.

Hao Ren and his companions raced through the wasteland with Scholar Auro, pursued by a rival vehicle from the Iron City-State. They reached the Ancestor's Great Furnace safely, where Hao Ren focused on the enormous structure ahead.

• Scholar Auro drove the group out of Hearth City, and Willy explained that wasteland drifters resented people from the city-state.
• Lily spotted a pursuing vehicle covered in leather and human leg bones, driven by an Iron City-State scholar who challenged Scholar Auro.
• Scholar Auro and the Iron City-State scholar raced across the wasteland, trading insults as both vehicles sped toward their destination.
• The two vehicles arrived safely at the Ancestor's Great Furnace, and Scholar Auro's vigorous driving strength vanished once he climbed down.
• Willy told Hao Ren that the High Tower Kingdom's capital stood beside the Furnace, while Hao Ren stared at the structure.

Hao Ren and his companions reached the High Tower Kingdom’s royal city after the Ancestor’s Great Furnace malfunctioned, and learned about the Four Kingdoms and the city’s sacred role. As Scholar Auro went to meet the king, Vivian sensed something in the furnace calling to her.

• The Data Terminal reported that the Ancestor’s Great Furnace’s reactor core had shut down and was unlikely to explode soon.
• Willy led Hao Ren and the others into Furnace Fortress, where he explained the city’s legends and the ancient pact that protected it during ceasefires.
• Scholar Auro described the Four Kingdoms’ origins and the roles their capitals played in the sealed world.
• Scholar Auro left with the gathered scholars to meet the king, while Willy took Hao Ren and the others toward a guesthouse.
• Vivian looked toward the Ancestor’s Great Furnace and told Hao Ren that something there had called to her.

Hao Ren learned that entering the Ancestor's Great Furnace meant confronting its Blood Servant guards and lethal Underworld power, but he remained determined to repair the damaged reactor. At the entrance, the group discovered the guards were radiation-sick warriors rather than divinely transformed protectors.

• Vivian sensed a brief summons near the Ancestor's Great Furnace, and Hao Ren suspected it was connected to a legendary artifact created by the Creation Goddess.
• Willy warned Hao Ren's group that the furnace was deadly and guarded by Blood Servants, but Vivian used Blood Magic to calm him and learned the locals did not know how to repair it.
• Hao Ren sent Willy back to rest and led the group through the damaged royal city toward a furnace entrance.
• The group reached the guarded entrance, where the Data Terminal detected severe radiation leaking from behind the reactor walls.
• The Data Terminal explained that the Blood Servants' mutations came from prolonged radiation exposure, not divine power.

Hao Ren and his companions forced their way past the Blood Attendant Warriors to reach the Central Control Station, insisting they had come to repair the reactor. As they entered, Willy and others from the royal city arrived.

• Hao Ren rejected teleporting into the Ancestor's Great Furnace because the energy fluctuations could restart the reactor, and the group decided to break through the checkpoint openly.
• Vivian and Hao Ren approached the guards, but the Blood Attendant Warriors attacked after Nangong May called out that they intended to repair the reactor.
• Nangong May transformed into her Siren form, while Lily, Hao Ren, and the others fought off the guards and reinforcements without killing them.
• Hao Ren reached the Central Control Station and found its gate open, then spotted Willy leading a group sprinting toward them from the royal city.

Hao Ren’s group forced their way into Ancestor's Great Furnace, and Willy caught up with them before they entered the Central Control Station. After Vivian and Hao Ren posed as divine Judicators of Ice and Flame, the crowd knelt and let them proceed inside.

• Willy broke free of Vivian's Blood Magic, went to inform Scholar Auro, and then joined the royal city soldiers as they rushed to the Blood Attendants’ alarm.
• Hao Ren told Willy that Ancestor's Great Furnace was malfunctioning and that his group intended to repair it, while Willy struggled between his beliefs and his curiosity about the ancient stories.
• A royal city noble ordered the soldiers to prepare their crossbows, so Vivian unleashed her icy aura and claimed the Ice Witch would judge the world.
• Hao Ren presented Lily as a Fire Witch, and the crowd began calling them the Judicators of Ice and Flame as they entered the Central Control Station.
• Nangong May conjured ice balls, prompting the crowd to hail her as the Serpentine Ice Witch, before she shut the metal door behind the group.
• Hao Ren said the deception would keep the crowd from interfering for now, then led the others toward the control room.