Chapter Summaries

During the journey, Hao Ren tested what triggered Demon Hunters’ hunting instinct and found that it targeted local aberrants with certain inherited bloodlines, but not outsiders or newly evolved species. His findings led him to suggest to Hassu that the instinct might be an abnormal force controlling Demon Hunters, leaving Hassu demanding an explanation.

• As the group traveled in Shaqila and Soma’s spell bubble, Hao Ren asked Tutanin and Hassu why they kept their distance from aberrants and learned about the Demon Hunters’ hunting instinct.
• Vivian and Hassu confirmed that the instinct was unusually weak around Vivian and that its calmness had helped make their truce possible.
• Hao Ren tested Hassu’s reactions to himself, Cat Girl, Izax, Izax’s daughter, Lily, and Doudou, finding that only Lily triggered the instinct clearly.
• Vivian concluded that the instinct targeted local aberrants descended from standard Dream Plane bloodlines, while outsiders and newly evolved species did not trigger it.
• Hao Ren questioned whether the hunting instinct was an abnormal force controlling Demon Hunters, and Hassu demanded to know what he meant.

Hao Ren challenged Hassu to reconsider the demon hunters’ hostility toward the Others and suggested that both groups came from another world. Their discussion ended without Hassu agreeing to join Hao Ren’s research, and the group surfaced into a magically controlled fog as a mysterious song drifted toward them.

• Hao Ren argued that the demon hunters’ hunting instinct was an abnormal source of conflict, and Vivian said hostility between the Others was fading as well.
• Hao Ren suggested that demon hunters and the Others were not native to Earth and invited Hassu to travel with a group of Others to learn about his findings.
• Hassu postponed discussing the invitation until after the trip, while Hao Ren hoped Hassu would share their conversation with other demon hunters.
• Soma transformed into a multicolored fish, and Nangong May excited Elizabeth with talk of the many forms Sirens could take.
• The water bubble rose through magical fog as Soma warned that other Sirens were controlling the sea, and Hao Ren heard a mysterious song nearby.

Hao Ren and his companions fought a maddened Siren controlling the Ghost Ship North Sea Queen, whose attacks threatened to unleash a massive storm. After they destroyed the ship and rescued an unconscious mermaid, Shaqila recognized her as General Vanessa, the Queen’s chief bodyguard.

• Lily heard a Siren singing as the Ghost Ship North Sea Queen emerged from the fog and turned its cannons toward the group.
• Soma tried to communicate with the ship, but it attacked with freezing cannonballs, and Hao Ren and Izax defended the floating platform.
• The Ghost Ship raised waves and threatened to create a massive cyclone, so the group launched a fierce counterattack.
• Lily and Nangong May brought down the ship’s second mast with enormous chunks of ice while the others kept bombarding it.
• The Ghost Ship broke apart and burned, clearing the fog and calming the sea.
• Nangong May recovered an unconscious mermaid from the water, and Shaqila and Soma identified her as General Vanessa.

Hao Ren and the others learned that Nathatone had been taken over by a mind-controlling monster and hurried toward Misty Island after rescuing the Siren General. Along the way, Shaqila explained that Sirens could shape their bodies into ghost ships, and the group reached Misty Island.

• Vanessa woke but warned Shaqila that Nathatone was contaminated and that a monster had possessed the Siren Queen and infected Sirens’ minds.
• Izax calmed Vanessa and put her to sleep, and Hao Ren sent her to Kuiper Sanctuary for care before the monster could learn more from her.
• Hao Ren urged the group to hurry toward Nathatone, and Shaqila and Soma sped them through the water toward Misty Island.
• Shaqila explained that Vanessa’s ghost ship form and other ghost ships were Sirens reshaping themselves with water, while Nangong May described the limits of the ability.
• Soma returned to the water bubble and reported that they had approached Misty Island.

Hao Ren and his companions reached Misty Island, where the Sirens revealed the magical mechanisms hiding their homeland and guided the group through a spatial labyrinth. They approached the Nathatone Great Barrier, leaving the hidden Siren kingdom just ahead.

• Hao Ren and his companions saw that Misty Island was surrounded by an unnaturally still, magically concealed sea, and the Data Terminal confirmed they were still on Earth.
• Soma and Shaqila explained how the Sirens hid the route to Nathatone and welcomed Nangong May home, granting her permission to bring the group back.
• Nangong Sanba asked to explore the island, where the group discovered that its black surface concealed a vast magical device generating the mist barrier.
• Hao Ren and the others descended in a water bubble and saw the enormous sphere and its cables beneath Misty Island.
• Izax sensed that the Sirens’ route crossed a spatial interlayer, and Shaqila described the underwater labyrinth and its lost human visitors.
• Soma announced that the group had reached the Nathatone Great Barrier.

Hao Ren and his companions reached Nathatone and discovered a mysterious vortex forming above the city, which the Siren Queen may be using for a catastrophic purpose. They prepared to infiltrate the heavily guarded city and take control of both the queen and the Giant Brain, but still needed Shaqila to get them inside.

• Hao Ren and the others approached Nathatone, marveling at its sealed city and preparing life-support collars before entering the sea.
• Shaqila led the group to the wilderness boundary, where they found no Siren outside the city.
• Lily spotted a huge vortex forming above Nathatone, and Shaqila recognized it as being beyond the Great Shield Wall.
• Soma warned that the vortex might be drawing immense power from the planet, while Izax urged the group to infiltrate Nathatone and seize the queen and her officials.
• Hao Ren described the Giant Brain's abilities to Hassu, and Hassu advised a sneak attack before Hao Ren turned to Shaqila for help entering the city.

Hao Ren and his companions discovered that the Queen’s Water Dome prevented them from entering Nathatone unnoticed, then found undead soldiers and living supernatural beings forced to build an energy-extraction system outside the city. The chapter left them spying on the construction site and its Siren overseers.

• Shaqila explained that the Water Dome was linked to the Queen through the Tarani crystals and that the Water Core sustained her power.
• Doudou led the group to a wrecked Soviet submarine, where they watched a Siren use a crystal-tipped halberd to command undead soldiers.
• Vivian and Shaqila led the group after the undead squad toward Nathatone’s outer walls.
• The group discovered undead Allied soldiers installing metal devices on pillars that Izax said were extracting energy from Earth’s core.
• Nangong Sanba spotted Werewolves, Vampires, and shadow demons working as living slaves at the construction site.

Vivian uncovered how the Sirens’ construction site and Nathatone powered the Great Vortex, then led Hao Ren and the others into the city by following the Water Skeletons. As the group headed toward the palace district, Hao Ren realized Nathatone was a spaceship.

• Vivian contacted Bruce, a Bloodkin laborer, and learned that nonhuman families who believed in the Day of Return had been captured and forced to work at the site.
• Vivian explained that the construction equipment supplied energy to the Great Vortex and that Sirens inside Nathatone were being drained to stabilize its magical device.
• Vivian proposed entering Nathatone by following the Water Skeletons through the city shield while it was charging their chest crystals.
• Hao Ren and the others followed the Water Skeletons into Nathatone, then took a hidden route toward the palace district with Shaqila leading.
• Hao Ren read the facility signs and diagrams and realized Nathatone was a spaceship.

Hao Ren discovered that Nathatone was a spaceship and learned that the Sirens had lost their ancient writing and knowledge of their origins. The group reached a maintenance tunnel leading toward the palace district, where Soma detected sentries ahead.

• Hao Ren read the signs on Nathatone's equipment and told Shaqila and Soma that their city was a spaceship.
• Shaqila explained that the Sirens had forgotten their ancient writing, while Vivian connected their memory loss to the other races' arrival on Earth.
• Hao Ren told Hassu, Bai Huo, and Tutanin that the races had come from elsewhere and questioned why they were hostile to one another.
• Shaqila led the group toward a secret passage, and they hid from a patrol escorting weakened Sirens in water bubbles.
• The group evaded two more patrols and entered the Seventh Resonance Chamber Maintenance Tunnel, where Soma sensed sentries ahead.

Hao Ren’s group entered the Resonance Chamber and accidentally shattered a crystal connected to the Water Skeletons. The undead soldiers awakened and turned toward the intruders, but a Soviet submarine commander appeared to react positively to being freed.

• Hao Ren captured two Siren sentries and stored them away before the group opened the hatch to the Resonance Chamber.
• The group discovered numerous dormant Water Skeletons arranged around a luminous orb and a large crystal embedded in a rune platform.
• Hao Ren accidentally touched the crystal, causing it to crack and crumble because of his anti-magic constitution.
• The Water Skeletons awakened and focused on Hao Ren’s group, while Nangong May pulled Doudou away from them.
• Hao Ren apologized to a Soviet submarine commander, who looked at the crystal in his chest and raised his arm as if cheering.

Hao Ren and his allies learned from the freed undead sailors how to reach the palace district and the Giant Brain’s secret chamber. The sailors led them through the alarmed passages, sacrificing themselves along the way, as Hao Ren’s group fought past the guards and pressed toward the palace.

• Tutanin used spirit-channeling to translate Ivan and learned that the undead sailors had worked in the palace and knew the routes to the Giant Brain’s secret chamber.
• The undead sailors destroyed the control crystals in their chests, and Ivan led Hao Ren’s group through maintenance passages toward the palace.
• An alarm sounded, and the sailors disintegrated as they hurried through the water-circulation pipes; Ivan turned to sand just before the group reached the final gate.
• Hao Ren’s group fought the Siren guards in the Rest Room, and Bai Huo burned the last guard with sacred flames.
• The final Allied Forces soldiers crumbled into sand after Hao Ren told them the Germans were finished and Leningrad had held.

Hao Ren and his allies fought their way through Nathatone’s palace and split into two teams: one to confront the Siren Queen and the other to reach Giant Brain. Hao Ren led his team into a hidden passage toward the underground secret chamber.

• Shaqila led the group through the palace as its sentinels sealed the passages behind them.
• Siren warriors and giant sea monsters attacked the group in the domed hall, and Hao Ren’s allies fought them back.
• Hao Ren divided the group, sending Izax, Hassu, the Demon Hunters, and the Nangong siblings toward the Siren Queen while he led the others toward Giant Brain.
• Izax and Elizabeth blasted open the gate to the Queen’s palace, and Hassu entered with Izax.
• Lily tore open a water gate in the floor, revealing a dark passage leading to Giant Brain’s secret chamber.

Hao Ren's group reached the Giant Brain's chamber beneath the palace while Izax's team fought through the Queen's Guard and entered the Queen's Chamber. Both groups found their targets behaving differently than expected, leaving the cause of the change unclear.

• Shaqila led Hao Ren's group through an abandoned pressure-regulation pipe toward the brain monster's chamber and explained her past as an outer guard and Soma's work as a palace technician.
• Elizabeth, Izax, and their allies fought through the Queen's Guard, whose members could revive, until the guards abruptly fled from the palace door.
• Hassu's group entered the Queen's Chamber and encountered the Siren Queen, who showed curiosity rather than hostility and asked what Izax and his daughter were.
• Hao Ren's group froze two Siren guards, cut through the final Isolation Door, and found the Giant Brain in a defensive posture.
• Hao Ren sensed that the Giant Brain differed from the one they had seen before.

Hao Ren realized the Giant Brain had exchanged bodies with the Siren Queen and ordered his team to stop attacking her. He left Shaqila to guard the Queen while he and the others went to support the battle above, carrying a crystal that might defend against the brain monster’s mental power.

• Hao Ren’s team attacked the Giant Brain, but he recognized that it was the Siren Queen inside after touching one of its tentacles and connecting to its consciousness.
• Hao Ren told his team to cease fire and learned from Elizabeth that Nangong Sanba had passed out, May was injured, and the others were fighting the queen and Tutanin.
• Hao Ren left Shaqila in the secret chamber to watch over the recovering Siren Queen and gave her his protective collar.
• Hao Ren sent “Roll” and Doudou back to the secret chamber, then continued toward the palace with Vivian and Lily while considering how to resist the brain monster’s mental invasion.
• Hao Ren found a protective crystal from the Crystal Core Research Station that might suppress the brain monster’s mental power.

Hao Ren and his companions reached the Queen’s Chamber, where the mind-controlled Siren Queen was overwhelming Izax and the others with mental and water-based attacks. Hao Ren used the protective crystal to reach his allies, but found that Nangong May had also been controlled and was harmlessly healing everyone around her.

• Hao Ren, Lily, and Vivian entered the palace and found the Queen’s Guard lying unconscious after the brain monster’s influence weakened.
• Elizabeth was blasted from the Queen’s Chamber and warned Hao Ren that only Izax and the Demon Hunters remained conscious.
• Hao Ren entered the chamber and saw Izax battling the possessed Siren Queen while Hassu, Bai Huo, and Tutanin fought nearby.
• Hao Ren urged Hassu to retreat and found Nangong Sanba unconscious beside a mind-controlled Nangong May, who kept casting healing spells.
• Vivian tried to lead May away, but May broke free and continued healing and poking Hao Ren with her tail.

Hao Ren and Izax defeated the brain monster controlling the Siren Queen and captured it, though the battle devastated Nathatone’s central control zone. The Queen’s soul was trapped in the brain monster, and Hao Ren asked whether she knew how to reverse the exchange.

• Hao Ren sent Vivian and Lily to evacuate Nangong Sanba and Nangong May while he joined Izax in fighting the possessed Siren Queen.
• Izax drew the Siren Queen’s attention, and Hao Ren attacked with his spear and Protective Crystal as Hassu’s holy crossbow bolt pierced her living-water barrier.
• Izax trapped the fleeing Siren Queen, and Hao Ren used the Protective Crystal to weaken the brain monster’s control until she lost consciousness.
• Hao Ren, Izax, and Hassu bound the Siren Queen and returned to the others through Nathatone’s heavily damaged central zone.
• Shaqila and Roll brought the brain monster, and Hao Ren asked the Queen’s soul inside it how to reverse the consciousness exchange.

Hao Ren helped the Siren Queen reclaim her body and secured the brain monster, but learned that the Great Vortex had become self-sustaining and could no longer be shut down. The chapter ended with the vortex still expanding toward an unknown destination.

• Hao Ren arranged for the Siren Queen and the brain monster to exchange bodies while the others protected them.
• The Siren Queen recovered her own body, and the Data Terminal confirmed the exchange before Hao Ren released her restraints.
• Hao Ren placed the unconscious brain monster in a specimen container with the protective crystal and sent the Data Terminal to retrieve the Siren General.
• Hao Ren asked the Siren Queen about the Great Vortex, and she explained that it had absorbed enough energy to keep expanding on its own.

The Siren Queen led Hao Ren and the others to Nathatone’s Water Core to cut its connection to the self-sustaining vortex threatening the real world. On the way, Nangong May learned that the Queen remembered her mother, Elsa, and said she might have been reborn.

• The Siren Queen explained that the vortex had fused with the Great Shield Wall and could destroy the real world, so the group headed for Nathatone’s energy core to slow it down.
• The Siren Queen ordered General Vanessa to release the aliens and restore order while she assigned other Sirens tasks throughout the ruined city.
• As they traveled through Nathatone’s current-powered transport system, Nangong May asked the Siren Queen about her missing mother, Elsa.
• The Siren Queen recalled Elsa as a bold Siren who collected human relics and reassured Nangong May that she might have been reborn.
• The group arrived at the Water Core, where the Siren Queen explained that the palace’s main control pipe had been destroyed and that they would have to use the backup system to sever its connection to the Great Shield Wall.

The Siren Queen and her allies decided to shut down the Great Shield Wall to cut power to the growing vortex, despite exposing Nathatone to the world. The Data Terminal traced the vortex to an unstable spatial tear linked to the Dream Plane, which the brain monster intended to enlarge into a passage.

• The Siren Queen explained that shutting down the Great Shield Wall would expose Nathatone, but buy time before the vortex reached a critical point.
• Vivian warned that Demon Hunters could threaten the Sirens if the city became visible, and Hassu and Tutanin promised to keep Nathatone’s exposed defenses secret and stop any expedition for a month.
• Hao Ren had Raven 12345 witness Hassu’s guarantee, and she warned that breaking it would bring punishment from the laws of heaven and earth.
• The Siren Queen shut down the Great Shield Wall, while General Vanessa watched the city’s protective membrane vanish and remarked on a century of chaos.
• The Data Terminal detected an invisible tear in Nathatone’s energy network and concluded that the damaged spaceship’s turbulence had opened a route to the Dream Plane that the brain monster planned to widen.

With the Great Shield Wall failing, Hao Ren’s group planned to destroy the Great Vortex by detonating both ends at once, but first they needed to find its far end in the Dream Plane. Katerina revealed that it likely led to the Sirens’ homeland, and Hao Ren realized Nathatone might know where that planet was.

• The Data Terminal proposed detonating both ends of the Great Vortex to redirect its energy into the void and reinforce the Wall of Reality.
• The Data Terminal warned that no information or objects could be sent through the Wall of Reality, leaving the group with a month to locate the vortex’s other end.
• Hassu showed interest in learning about Hao Ren and the others after watching their discussion of the Dream Plane.
• Katerina said the Great Vortex’s aura matched the Sirens’ homeland and that the Sirens had stopped resisting the monster because they longed to return home.
• Hao Ren realized that Nathatone, as an interstellar spacecraft, might know the location of the Sirens’ origin planet.