Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren saw how the Erem Elves had dismantled their planet into floating islands to survive, while failing infrastructure and dwindling resources left their civilization near collapse. As Erem aircraft approached the Giant Turtle Rock Platform, Hao Ren realized that simple aid would not be enough to save them.

• Hilda explained that the Erem Elves had dismantled their planet into floating islands, using some as homes, ecological domes, and testing grounds.
• Hilda described how aging facilities, failed experiments, and depleted resources had caused islands to become uninhabitable and forced the Elves to relocate survivors and restrict supplies.
• Hao Ren reconsidered his plans to help the Erem Elves with materials or technology, recognizing the scale of their crisis.
• The Data Terminal noted that the Erem Elves had never developed faster-than-light engines, and Hilda confirmed that their final Spatial Teleportation experiment had failed.
• Erem triangular aircraft approached the Giant Turtle Rock Platform, and Hao Ren brought his spacecraft almost to a stop.

Hao Ren and his companions arrived at Erem, where Hilda reunited with her son Vim, who had been acting as regent. As they traveled from the landing platform, Vim prepared to tell Hilda what had happened to Erem after the accelerator explosion.

• Hilda answered a call from Erem and discovered that her son Vim was leading the elves in her absence.
• Hao Ren and his companions landed at the royal court’s spacecraft platform on Sunrise Floating Island.
• Vim embraced Hilda, thanked Hao Ren for saving her, and greeted the visitors.
• Hilda told Vim that the spacetime accelerator had failed and asked what had happened to Islands of Stars and Rainbow Light Island.
• Hao Ren activated the Giant Turtle Rock Platform’s lock before boarding a floating car with the others.

Hao Ren and his companions traveled with Hilda and Vym through the Erem Elves’ bleak city as Vym described the damage and despair caused by the spacetime accelerator’s failure. Hilda planned to restore public confidence, but learned that Cadilong had gone to the World of Prayer amid signs that the Elysium organization had returned, and vowed to reorganize the Elder Council.

• Vym told Hilda that the Erem Elves still had enough supplies to survive, but the accelerator’s destruction had shattered public confidence.
• Hilda ordered Vym to announce the otherworldly visitors and present the experiment as a technological success to rally the people.
• Vym reported that Rainbow Light Island had been destroyed, while Islands of Stars had survived with damage to its systems.
• Hilda asked Vym to summon Cadilong, but learned that he had gone to the World of Prayer after the Elysium organization became active again.
• Hilda condemned the fragile state of social order and ordered an immediate meeting of the Elder Council to reorganize it.

Hao Ren and his companions arrived at Hilda’s home in the Erem Royal District while Hilda hurried to convene an emergency Elder Council. As they settled into the guest wing, Hao Ren considered his duties as an inspector and discovered that the Erem Elves’ food was bland synthetic fare.

• Hilda welcomed Hao Ren and his companions to her home, then left with Vim to convene an emergency Elder Council.
• A royal servant led the guests to the VIP wing and explained how to request help and where to find food.
• Hao Ren observed the simply furnished rooms and the city beyond the dome, then asked the Data Terminal for advice on handling his inspection independently.
• Lily tried the synthetic food in the cabinet and complained that the bars tasted like salty chalk and the paste tasted like motor oil.
• The Data Terminal explained that the food supplied necessary energy but lacked flavor and texture because improving them would require wasteful production.

Hao Ren and the others sampled the Erem Elves’ synthesized food while waiting for Hilda, then saw a flash and learned that an explosion had damaged the floating island’s outer wall. They rushed toward the incident site after the Royal Guards reported the damage was only temporarily sealed.

• Hao Ren, Vivian, and Izax tried the synthesized food, while Lily shared dog food from her personal bag with Hao Ren and Vivian.
• Hao Ren watched the floating island’s artificial sunset and spotted a brief flash near the horizon.
• Hao Ren noticed a commotion in the city and pressed the Royal Guards to take him and his companions to the exit.
• An elf warrior told Hao Ren that a propulsion unit had exploded and damaged the island’s outer wall, though it had been temporarily sealed.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, Lily, and Izax rushed toward the incident site, with Vivian carrying Hao Ren into the sky.

Hao Ren and his companions hurried from the Royal Spire toward the explosion site, overcoming the Royal District’s barrier through a traffic entrance. After asking nearby elves for directions, they ran toward the dangerous area.

• Vivian carried Hao Ren toward the Royal District barrier while Lily and Izax followed, but Lily slammed into the shield when she tried to leap through it.
• Hao Ren and Vivian spotted a fixed traffic entrance in the shield and passed through it, with Lily crashing face-first onto a roof and Izax gliding through on Flame Demon wings.
• The group continued toward the city’s edge, then landed and asked an elf for directions after the warning beams failed to pinpoint the explosion site.
• An elf recognized Hao Ren’s group as foreigners brought back by the Queen, and Hao Ren hurried through the crowd toward the accident despite a warning that the way was dangerous.

Hao Ren and his companions reached the explosion site and learned that the blast had damaged the floating island’s systems, causing the protective dome to split apart. As the elves fought to contain the breach, the Data Terminal offered to power the shield through an energy-conversion plug-in.

• Hao Ren and his companions hurried toward the explosion as evacuating elves fled and the district’s artificial gravity failed.
• The Data Terminal identified an energy vortex spreading across the protective dome and led the group toward the damaged shield generators.
• Hao Ren and his companions arrived at the breach, where elf Spellcasters were holding back the escaping air while fires and structural damage threatened nearby facilities.
• An elf mage told Hao Ren that the explosion had severed a main shield-generator line and that the backup energy pool could not start, while workers had sealed the airflow leaks.
• The Data Terminal announced that it could supply power to the damaged system and asked the elves to bring it a power outlet.

Hao Ren and the Data Terminal restored the Isle of the Rising Sun’s shield, but damaged propulsion units suddenly activated and sent the island rolling out of control. The elf queen ordered the inhabitants to evacuate to the Royal District while the rescue teams tried to stop the thrusters.

• The Data Terminal converted psychokinetic energy through the elves’ equipment and restarted the shield generator.
• The shield synchronized with the other generators, clearing the dome’s interference and restoring its protection.
• The Isle of the Rising Sun began tilting and rolling when damaged propulsion units activated and diverted energy from the shield.
• The elf mage learned the island risked colliding with Shimmering Light Island and could not choose how to counteract the thrust.
• The queen ordered the other islands protected and the elves evacuated to the Royal District while rescue teams had twenty-four hours to stop the propulsion units.
• The elf mage ordered the team to destroy the propulsion system with a bomb if they could not shut it down safely.

Hao Ren and Izax ventured into the vacuum-damaged propulsion section to stop the runaway engines threatening the Isle of the Rising Sun. They reached the ruined monitoring room, but the propulsion units remained ahead.

• The runaway propulsion units destabilized the Isle of the Rising Sun, and the elves reported that missiles could not reach them.
• Izax offered to destroy the propulsion units, and the Data Terminal explained that Hao Ren could survive and move through space with his enhancements.
• Hao Ren and Izax entered the maintenance passage while Lily stayed behind to help rescue people.
• Hao Ren and Izax passed through the airlocks, adjusted to the vacuum, and communicated telepathically.
• Hao Ren and Izax reached the propulsion units' rear monitoring room, which had been torn apart by the explosion.

Hao Ren and Izax entered the damaged propulsion unit and discovered a dead Erem Elf who had tried to stop the runaway engine. They escaped into space, where Izax struck the engine with a giant fireball, leaving Hao Ren unsure whether the danger had passed.

• Hao Ren found the maintenance area's control equipment broken, and Izax smashed through a wall to reach the combustion tube.
• Hao Ren discovered a dead Erem Elf beside an emergency-stop lever and realized the worker had died trying to shut down the engine.
• Hao Ren carried the elf's body to the second airlock before he and Izax rushed out through the combustion pipe.
• Hao Ren and Izax saw the engine's enormous flame and Erem patrol craft watching from a distance.
• Izax hurled a giant fireball at the runaway engine, and Hao Ren watched the resulting smoke uncertainly.

Hao Ren and Izax stopped the floating island’s runaway engine, but the explosion killed Angdon and damaged the city. Vivian revived Angdon with her blood, and Hao Ren left for Hilda’s spire while the Data Terminal stayed behind to help restore power.

• Hao Ren and Izax destroyed the runaway engine, ending the island’s uncontrolled spin, and Hao Ren recovered Angdon’s body from the wreckage.
• Angdon’s wife and daughter mourned him, and his wife asked for their ration allocation to be reduced by one person.
• Vivian used a blood ritual to revive Angdon, whose body began moving and whose eyes opened.
• Vivian explained that the people she revived were mostly ordinary and that her conversion worked only about one time in five.
• Vim arrived to escort Hao Ren and his companions to Hilda at the Royal District spire, while the Data Terminal stayed behind to help set up backup power.
• Hao Ren’s group flew across the badly damaged city toward the spire as Erem civilians returned to repair their homes and infrastructure.

After the Isle of the Rising Sun disaster, Hilda and Hao Ren surveyed the orderly rescue effort and discussed the help the Erem Elves might need. A scan of the World of Prayer revealed tampering and no information on Lord Cadilong, and Hilda explained the virtual world's history before Hao Ren learned how its experiments had once caused catastrophic explosions.

• Hilda and Hao Ren surveyed the damaged city as rescue work continued, and Hilda recalled how survivors of an earlier floating-island disaster had prepared her people for crises.
• Hao Ren asked what price Hilda would pay for help, and she offered everything the Erem Elves had left if he could give them a better life and a real sky.
• An elf reported that a preliminary scan of the World of Prayer had found no information on Lord Cadilong, and Hilda ordered auxiliary storage units sealed and upload applicants investigated.
• Hilda told Hao Ren that the World of Prayer was a virtual environment originally built for scientific research and later used to house the souls of the dead.
• Hilda explained that experiments with faster-than-light engines in the World of Prayer had caused explosions in reality that destroyed two floating islands and ended the project’s early enthusiasm.

Hilda explained how the Erem Elves used the World of Prayer to preserve resources and why she opposed letting everyone abandon reality, while the Utopia Organization pushed for mass escape into the virtual world. After learning that Cadilong had disappeared while investigating the group, Hao Ren prepared to look into the crisis.

• Hilda explained that the World of Prayer had become a virtual refuge for elderly, sick, disabled, and unproductive elves, whose bodies were broken down for resources.
• Hilda said she and others remained in the real world because someone had to preserve hope and keep working to save their homeland.
• Hilda described the Utopia Organization as a group seeking to upload all Erem Elves and said it had become more active after the temporal accelerator explosion.
• Hilda told Hao Ren that the Utopia Organization had seized control of the main storage unit and hidden its supporters inside the World of Prayer, where Cadilong had disappeared while investigating.
• The Data Terminal returned after restoring backup power and reported that engineering ships were repairing the damaged floating island.
• Hao Ren told Hilda he would investigate and urged her to restore order in society.

Hao Ren decided to relocate the Erem Elves from their failing floating islands to a suitable planet rather than provide technology or supplies. He realized Doudou Planet might work and learned he could use his rights as its first-priority investigator to settle them there.

• Hao Ren returned to the VIP room and said the elves’ floating islands were too dangerous to live on.
• Hao Ren proposed relocating the Erem Elves because supplies and advanced blueprints would not solve their underlying problem.
• The Data Terminal listed the requirements for a suitable planet and warned that moving an entire species to another universe was heavily regulated.
• Hao Ren suggested Doudou Planet, and the Data Terminal explained that emergency circumstances could justify the relocation if it harmed no other civilization.
• The Data Terminal told Hao Ren that his survey made him Doudou Planet’s first-priority investigator, and Hao Ren realized the elves could help him manage it as tenants.

Hao Ren arranged for the Erem Elves to relocate to his universe and found a private transport company willing to move their billion people. The captain of Ship 883 agreed to take their abandoned floating islands and equipment as payment, pending the elves’ approval.

• The Data Terminal explained why relocating the Erem Elves to Hao Ren’s universe fit the Empire’s Civilization Preservation principles.
• Hao Ren contacted the captain of Ship 883 and asked him to transport the Erem Elves and their belongings.
• After hearing about the elves’ situation, the captain agreed to take their floating islands and equipment as payment for the journey.
• The captain offered to send a force-field barge so the elves could preserve a few islands as mementos, and Hao Ren said he would confirm their agreement first.
• Hao Ren and the captain finalized the plan for the Erem Elves’ Great Migration.

Hao Ren reported his plan to relocate the Erem Elves to Raven 12345, who approved it as a localized operation. While the group rested, Lily transformed and tried to help clear debris, and Hao Ren was left to deal with the commotion as Raven contacted him.

• Hao Ren compiled a report about relocating the Erem Elves and asked Lily to proofread it before sending it to Raven 12345.
• Raven 12345 initially replied that she was still reading the report, so Hao Ren and the others took time to rest.
• Lily grew bored, took spicy strips, and secretly transformed into a giant husky to help clear debris outside the Royal District.
• The elves stopped Lily at the barrier, and Vivian went to keep an eye on her and bring her clothes.
• Raven 12345 contacted Hao Ren, approved the relocation plan, and noted that Data Terminal had helped him exploit the regulations.

Raven 12345 advised Hao Ren on the dangers of moving the Erem, and he later proposed relocating their entire civilization to a resource-rich planet. The chapter ended with Hilda and Vim stunned by Hao Ren’s offer of a suitable world and a fleet to transport ten billion people.

• Raven 12345 gave Hao Ren more than a hundred precautions for the Erem’s Great Migration, including quarantine, heliosis, and rebuilding agriculture.
• Raven 12345 questioned Hao Ren’s unusual household expense claims, then agreed to reimburse them.
• Hao Ren, Izax, Lily, and Vivian helped the locals clear debris before resting overnight.
• Hao Ren told Hilda and Vim that the Erem could leave their world and establish a new settlement, despite the risks and hardship.
• Hao Ren offered to provide a suitable planet and a transport fleet capable of carrying ten billion immigrants, leaving Hilda and Vim astonished.

Hao Ren offered the Erem Elves a planet and arranged transport for their billion survivors, with the migration paid for using their floating islands and equipment. Hilda accepted the plan and began preparing to announce the good news, but then collapsed over the table.

• Hao Ren explained that the Erem Elves could settle on a leased planet and later gain permanent rights after developing faster-than-light travel, while paying for transport with their equipment and floating islands.
• The Data Terminal explained that the Erem Elves' recycling and ecological technology made their equipment valuable in interstellar secondhand markets.
• Hilda accepted Hao Ren's migration plan and asked Vimu to alert the Elder Council and prepare a royal announcement calling the news good.
• Vimu left to carry out Hilda's orders, though he questioned whether Hao Ren's offer was real.
• Hilda relaxed after discussing the solved crisis, then collapsed over the table without a sound.

Hilda collapsed after returning home, and a medical scan revealed that she had died in the Rainbow Light Island explosion and had been carried onward by the last fragments of her soul. Her lingering obsession had kept her unaware of her death until she finally felt at peace, and Raven 12345's voice reached Hao Ren as Hilda's soul rested.

• Hilda collapsed, and Vivian revived her body's tissues, but the Data Terminal found no brain activity or signs of intelligence.
• Hao Ren took Hilda to the ship's medical pod with Izax while Vivian stayed behind to conceal her condition from the elves.
• The medical scan diagnosed Hilda as soul-dead and dated her soul's deterioration to twenty or thirty days earlier.
• The Data Terminal explained that Hilda had died in the Rainbow Light Island explosion and that fragments of her soul had sustained her lingering obsession with returning home.
• Hilda's body was revealed to be at peace, and Raven 12345's voice suddenly sounded in Hao Ren's head.

Hao Ren learned that Hilda had died before entering the Dream Plane and had persisted as an obsession-driven remnant. Raven 12345 revealed a way to restore her soul, and Hao Ren prepared to take Wim to the ruins of Rainbow Light Island to find the missing fragments.

• Raven 12345 told Hao Ren that Hilda’s soul had been torn apart and that the other fragments should remain among the space-time accelerator wreckage.
• Raven 12345 explained that she had left power in Hilda’s body to keep her soul nearby long enough for the fragments to be reunited.
• Hao Ren summoned Vivian and asked her to bring Wim aboard the ship alone.
• Hao Ren explained Hilda’s condition and Raven 12345’s plan to Wim, who struggled to process the news.
• Wim agreed to take Hao Ren and the others to the ruins of Rainbow Light Island immediately.