Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren explained that humanity’s dying creators had intended the vassals to inherit human civilization, not merely serve humanity. The Main Brain revealed that it had activated a Final Code to free the vassals from their original directives, leaving N-6 the first to gain freedom.

• Hao Ren concluded that the mutated cells in the cultivation containers no longer contained living humans, and told the Main Brain he could not save them.
• Hao Ren argued that the vassals could inherit humanity’s knowledge, culture, and civilization, while Vivian and Izax explained that humanity had sought a home for them.
• N-6 wondered whether the vassals had let their creators down, and Vivian assured her that their survival meant they had not.
• The Main Brain revealed that it had placed a Final Code in every vassal’s logic circuits to free them from their original directives.
• The Main Brain confirmed that N-6’s Final Code had activated, and N-6 recognized it as humanity’s final gift to the vassals.

Hao Ren and the others witnessed the Main Brain end humanity’s life-support system and then shut itself down, leaving the Executors to face adulthood without their guardian. With the Planet Devourer still threatening their mother planet, Hao Ren brought the group back there to deal with the remaining danger.

• The Main Brain withdrew the cultivation container’s life-support systems, accepted that humanity was extinct, and shut itself down after declaring its work complete.
• Hao Ren, Lily, Vivian, and N-6 left the fortress as its machinery activated and the Executors stood watching its end.
• Nolan reported that the forces in the Zenith Seat had stopped and that he had received a guidance signal to the moon, so Hao Ren told him to pick up the group.
• N-6 and N-4 learned that humanity had died and struggled to imagine a future without the Main Brain’s orders.
• Hao Ren told N-6 that a new Management Group would soon guide the Executors, then led the group toward the deepest part of their mother planet.

Hao Ren and his companions found a vulnerable rift in the planet’s crust as the ancient fortress descended and was destroyed while delivering the regents’ Flesh and Blood Tissue to their homeworld. After recording the regents’ succession, Hao Ren prepared to enter the Firstborn’s depths through the newly exposed rift.

• Hao Ren used Nolan’s scans to identify healed crustal rifts as possible entrances to the Firstborn’s core region.
• Hao Ren and Lily spotted the moon fortress falling through the atmosphere, and the Data Terminal realized its automated systems had launched it from the moon.
• The Firstborn attacked the descending fortress, while Hao Ren ordered the Giant Turtle Rock Platform and drones to cover its final counterattack.
• The fortress broke apart, but its glass container released Flesh and Blood Tissue onto the planet, bringing the regents home and completing the central intelligence’s mission.
• Hao Ren recorded the regents’ succession as an extant civilization, and Nolan identified a rift weakened by the battle as their entry point into the Firstborn.

Hao Ren led the Giant Turtle Rock Platform and drone swarm into the living Firstborn’s depths, using Lullaby devices and decomposition beams to keep its active body subdued while they searched for its brain core. After passing through a cavern warped by the Firstborn’s nerve signals, they found central nerves leading toward the core.

• Hao Ren descended into the Great Rift with the drone swarm while decomposition beams cleared the Firstborn’s tentacle blockages and Lullaby devices hypnotized its nerve ganglia.
• Nolan reported that the brain core remained offline and that two primary nerves extended from its region without showing thought fluctuations.
• The Giant Turtle Rock Platform flew through underground cavities and fault zones, passing an immense lava lake where a nearby nerve ganglion distorted the cavern into shifting forests, deserts, and snowfields.
• Hao Ren told N-6 that the Firstborn had not always been a symbol of disaster and promised to share information about its history.
• Nolan spotted shattered rock strata mixed with Crystalline Bodies and massive black central nerves, revealing that they had found a route to the brain core.

Hao Ren and his companions descended into the Firstborn’s shattered deep structure and found its damaged brain-core cavern. They discovered that the blue-white crystals from a meteor shower had pierced the brain core, and Hao Ren recognized them from his vision beneath Vivian’s Sea of Red Moons.

• Hao Ren identified the shattered region as the deep structure exposed when the Firstborn opened Earth’s crust and ordered drones to collect crystal samples.
• Hao Ren, Lily, Vivian, and Izax left the Giant Turtle Rock Platform and entered the fissure leading deeper underground.
• The group followed a passage threaded with Firstborn nerve lines while avoiding cracks that opened onto magma.
• Hao Ren and his companions found the brain-core organ submerged in a blood-like lake, severely damaged and pierced by a blue-white crystal.
• Hao Ren recognized the crystals as resembling those he had seen in a vision beneath Vivian’s Sea of Red Moons.

Hao Ren identified the crystal embedded in the Firstborn as a divine, signal-transmitting material like the crystals from his illusion, and realized it could help locate the crystal-covered planet. After ordering an antenna array built, he turned to deciding what to do with the planet's irreparably damaged Firstborn.

• Hao Ren recognized the spear-like crystal as one he had seen in the Creation Goddess's illusion and learned that its energy had killed the Firstborn's cranial core beyond repair.
• Izax pulled the crystal from the Firstborn, and Hao Ren ordered drones to establish a monitoring system in the cavern before returning to the ship with the sample.
• The laboratory confirmed the crystal carried divine power and released signals that could propagate indefinitely through the Dream Plane.
• Hao Ren and Nolan realized the crystals could form an antenna array to locate the crystal-covered planet, and Hao Ren ordered the drones to begin construction.
• Hao Ren finished arranging the crystal work and faced the unresolved question of what to do with the planet's Firstborn.

Hao Ren and his companions searched for a way to keep the brain-dead Firstborn alive without destroying the Agents’ homeworld. Lily proposed using remote communications to let Zom serve as the Firstborn’s thinking center, and Hao Ren judged the plan feasible.

• Hao Ren reviewed the Firstborn’s irreversible brain death and the damage his body had caused to the planet’s structure.
• Izax explained that killing the Firstborn would leave the planet at risk of breaking apart, while the group rejected relocation and Lullaby as inadequate solutions.
• Lily suggested building the Firstborn an artificial brain, and Hao Ren noted that the extensive damage to its nervous system made the surgery daunting.
• Vivian proposed having Zom take over the thinking-center function, but Nangong May pointed out that Zom could not leave Tanagrus Planet.
• Lily proposed connecting artificial nerves on the Firstborn to Zom through a wireless link, and Hao Ren approved the idea as feasible.
• Lily suggested calling the technology Cloud Brain and using it to let Zom control other surviving Firstborn.

Hao Ren and Vivian discussed their concern about being trapped on the planet, while Roll and Doudou wandered the quiet base. Vivian reassured Hao Ren that their companions were safe and chose to join the journey, and the chapter ended with Roll’s old kitten habit resurfacing as the clouds cleared above them.

• The group approved Lily’s plan to link Dhom to the planet through the drone network, and Nolan confirmed that the network could support his consciousness transfer.
• Roll patrolled the base at night with a sleepy Doudou on her head while Hao Ren and Vivian watched from a terrace.
• Hao Ren told Vivian he was troubled that the divine-force blockade still trapped them in X Sector, and Vivian reminded him that the group was safe and had chosen to travel with him.
• Roll explained that she carried Doudou on her head because younglings should be carried that way, reminding Hao Ren of the kitten he had once rescued.
• Vivian reassured Hao Ren that Roll was content, and a full moon emerged as the clouds dispersed.

Hao Ren’s drone swarm continued rebuilding the Firstborn’s damaged nervous system so Zom could take control and the Agents could safely return to their home planet. As N-4 and N-6 prepared to help govern their newly independent civilization, Hao Ren urged the Agents to live well and rebuild their world.

• The drone swarm expanded its factories and fortresses, then began replacing the Firstborn’s poisoned nerves with artificial structures connected to a surface data center.
• Roll climbed to a tower with Doudou, tried to draw in her diary, and argued with her after discovering Doudou had eaten the paper’s corners.
• N-4 and N-6 met Hao Ren with Agents newly appointed to manage their civilization through an Arbitration Court.
• Hao Ren, Izax, and Vivian discussed the challenges the Agents would face in governing themselves, changing their society, and rebuilding their home planet.
• Hao Ren explained that the Agents could return from the Moon once the artificial neural network was complete and Zom’s will took control of the Firstborn.
• The young Agent thanked Hao Ren, who told the Agents that living well would be the best way to honor their creators.

Hao Ren showed the Moon envoys the facilities being built to control the Planet Devourer and reassured them about the risks of leaving it dormant under his group's control. As construction continued and the envoys returned to the Moon, Nolan reported that the deep-space drones had found leads on the divine-power energy operation diagram sealing off the X Sector.

• Hao Ren explained to envoy 16-C how the Remote Thought Array would control the Planet Devourer, and acknowledged her concerns about the planet being under his group's power.
• Hao Ren arranged for Zom to remotely control a purified Firstborn body and discussed Zom's interest in a Cloud Brain.
• N-4, N-6, and the action team returned to the Moon aboard the Giant Turtle Rock Platform while drones continued building at the outpost.
• Nolan used a modified Autonomous Mechanical Unit to join the group in the Rest Room, where Lily realized she could submit her overdue articles using the internet.
• Nolan told Hao Ren that the deep-space drone swarm had found leads on the divine-power energy operation diagram sealing off the X Sector.

Hao Ren and his companions investigated the divine power network covering the X Sector and discussed what caused it to intercept their ship. Nolan revealed that the region also held over a thousand energy entities that acted as guards, and one destroyed a drone after failing to contact central command.

• Nolan showed the group a shifting divine power network that covered an estimated ninety-eight percent of the X Sector and intensified to destroy intruders.
• Nolan reasoned that the network could sense life-forms and energy levels, while Hao Ren and his companions considered other possible triggers, including divine reactions and Vivian.
• Nangong Sanba suggested testing whether Nolan could leave alone and then carrying passengers out one at a time, and Hao Ren approved the plan.
• Nolan showed the group a milky-white energy entity and explained that the drone swarm had detected over a thousand similar structures throughout the X Sector.
• The energy entity warned the drone to provide authorization, then destroyed it after failing to contact central command.

Hao Ren investigated the artificial Light Clouds, gathered the Main Brain’s wreckage for a monument, and prepared Giant Turtle Rock Platform to test the X Sector’s security system. Nolan reached the planetary system’s boundary and began probing the divine power network’s limits.

• Hao Ren and Nolan concluded that the Light Clouds were artificial guardians that attacked outsiders without valid identification, and Hao Ren ordered further reconnaissance and a report to Muru and the Guardian Giants.
• Hao Ren revealed that he had collected the Main Brain’s wreckage to build a monument where its final remains fell, commemorating the Agent civilization’s return home.
• Nolan and the engineering drones prepared Giant Turtle Rock Platform for a security-system test, and Nolan nervously joked with Hao Ren before launching into space.
• Nolan piloted Giant Turtle Rock Platform to the planetary system’s boundary, where she detected no reaction, and decided to continue outward.

Hao Ren and his companions tested the blockade around X Sector and found that only Hao Ren, Vivian, and Doudou could pass through. As they planned to search for the blockade’s control center, Asuman identified the luminous structures in space as dormant Starry Sky People warships.

• Nolan passed the planetary system’s boundary without interference, but tests showed that most of the group were intercepted by the divine-power network.
• Nangong Sanba was sent first after the group discovered that he had accidentally fed vodka-tainted Rune of Leta cards to Doudou.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, and Doudou successfully crossed the boundary, leaving the group puzzled about what they had in common.
• Hao Ren hypothesized that the blockade assessed life signs and divinity, then proposed that the trio search for its control center.
• Nolan relayed Asuman’s message, and Asuman told Hao Ren that the luminous structures were Starry Sky People warships in a dormant state.

Hao Ren received a crystal containing Asuman’s core data to help him approach the dormant Starry Sky People warships in the X Sector. As the group began their voyage, Asuman sensed countless mysterious presences hidden throughout the region.

• Asuman explained that dormant Starry Sky People warships would attack unauthorized visitors and gave Hao Ren a crystal fragment that could identify him as one of their kind.
• A drone delivered Asuman’s crystal and a hovering ring device to Hao Ren’s group.
• Hao Ren left Izax in charge of the outpost and departed aboard the Giant Turtle Rock Platform with Vivian, Doudou, and Asuman’s crystal.
• The group passed through the divine-power blockade and entered the X Sector without being attacked.
• Asuman sensed countless unknown presences whispering through the region’s cosmic background radiation but could not locate their source.

Hao Ren and his crew approached a dormant Starry Sky Person in the X Sector, where its system identified the region as a war zone and granted them entry. Inside the luminous cloud, they saw tangible projections of the sleeping being’s past, and Nolan accidentally shattered one with the ship.

• Asuman explained that the mysterious whispers came from many sources and warned that the dormant Star People might not be the only cause.
• Hao Ren ordered Nolan to ready the probes and weapons as Giant Turtle Rock Platform followed the reconnaissance beacons toward a luminous cloud.
• The dormant being’s system verified the crew as neutral, granted them level-two contact authorization, and warned that they were entering a war zone.
• Nolan guided Giant Turtle Rock Platform into the cloud while Asuman sensed that the Starry Sky Person’s primary consciousness was deeply dormant.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, and the others saw structures appear as tangible projections, and Nolan crashed into a crystal pillar that shattered against the ship.

Hao Ren and his companions reached the core of the partially awakened Star People Spaceship, where they found a lifeless crystal projection but no trace of its main consciousness. As they searched for a way to make contact, Doudou teleported onto the central crystal cluster.

• Hao Ren ordered Nolan to take the Giant Turtle Rock Platform toward the center of the glowing cloud as crystal structures grew more complete around them.
• Asuman told Hao Ren and Vivian that the spaceship was alive but had lost much of its energy and mental energy.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, Doudou, and Asuman left the platform and passed through an entrance in a massive crystal barrier into a vast pyramid-like hall.
• The group found a dark crystal cluster at the center of the hall, but the Data Terminal could read nothing from its empty projection.
• Doudou teleported directly onto the central crystal cluster using her Demon Hunter Fish ability.

Dodo accidentally revived the dormant spaceship’s physical systems, allowing the Data Terminal to recover fragments of old records that suggested invaders had attacked the Creation Goddess’s defenses. The ship quickly fell dormant again, leaving Hao Ren and his companions with recorded data and a reason to seek the battlefield.

• Dodo slapped the Thought Crystal twice, briefly restoring the spaceship’s systems, but Asuman found that its primary consciousness was still absent.
• Hao Ren sent the Data Terminal to scan the ship’s devices, and it recovered partial records, including a report of an invasion and energy being sent to a sequence.
• Hao Ren and Vivian concluded that the dormant Star People Spaceships had likely transferred their energy to a battlefield during a sudden attack on the Creation Goddess’s defenses.
• The hall lost power and returned to its dormant state, and Dodo’s further attempts to wake the Thought Crystal failed.
• The Data Terminal confirmed it had saved everything it could read, and Hao Ren decided to return and share the intelligence.

The chapter depicted an ancient war at the Crystal Hub, where the Hub Guard Legion used Agudar's Final Torrent to drive back a vast monster army. Back on the proxy's homeworld, Hao Ren and the others learned that the dormant Star People Spaceships had sent their energy to a mysterious battlefield, which might hold the key to lifting the divine-power seal.

• At the Crystal Hub, a bearded giant and his younger brother discussed the worsening spatial instability and Agudar's Final Torrent as the monster army attacked.
• The bearded giant activated the Torrent of the End, whose beam devastated the enemy forces and drove them into retreat.
• The battle left space badly fractured, though the divine-power seal contained its aftershocks within X Sector.
• Hao Ren told the group that the dormant Star People Spaceship they had investigated had lost its consciousness and energy, which its logs showed had been sent to a distant battlefield.
• The Asuman Crystal said the energy trail had dissipated over thousands of years, while Hao Ren explained that the Star People Fleet had transferred its energy suddenly when the war broke out.
• Nangong Sanba asked whether the battlefield held the key to lifting the divine-power seal, and Hao Ren said they had no other leads.

Hao Ren and Vivian considered the link between the X Sector’s divine-power blockade and the ancient Star People warships, then prepared to search for the crystal planet they believed was at the heart of the conflict. The Remote Thought Array came online, allowing Zom to control the Firstborn Body and its enormous tentacle.

• Hao Ren and the others reasoned that the Star People warships were still engaged in a stalemate on a distant battlefield, though they had no proof.
• Hao Ren told Vivian he suspected the crystal-covered planet from his vision was the treasure protected by the X Sector, its blockade, and the warships.
• The Data Terminal reported that the crystal-detection antennas had found only background static, leaving Hao Ren and Vivian concerned that the planet might be gone.
• The Remote Thought Array passed its tests, and Zom successfully transferred his consciousness and synchronized with the Firstborn Body.
• Zom tested his new controls by raising a colossal tentacle from the ground and bending it into a cursive smiley face.

Hao Ren watched Zhuom use the Remote Thought Array to transform the war-ravaged planet into a glowing forest and towering World Tree. When Zhuom began hearing panicked transmissions from space, Hao Ren suspected they were connected to the crystal resonance antenna and set out to contact Nolan.

• Hao Ren told the Data Terminal that the regents could prepare to move to their mother planet now that Zhuom had taken control of it.
• Zhuom grew a luminous forest and a towering World Tree across the planet, delighting in his new body and creative work.
• Zhuom heard increasingly clear signals warning someone to shut down all channels and describing an impending defeat.
• Hao Ren recognized a bright moving star as the crystal resonance antenna and suspected it was related to the signals.
• Hao Ren asked Zhuom to locate the signal source and went to find Nolan to connect Zhuom to the antenna.