Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren and the Sirens searched Nathatone’s ruins for the ship’s navigation database, hoping it would reveal the Sirens’ origin. The Data Terminal found the navigation data and identified their homeworld as Aio.

• Hao Ren explained that Nathatone’s systems might contain star charts showing where the Sirens came from.
• The Siren Queen pointed out the ruined palace that had served as the bridge, and Hao Ren organized the Sirens to clear the site for the ship’s core lines.
• Sirens and other Others joined the cleanup, while Vivian said most of them had stopped blaming the Sirens for what had happened.
• The Data Terminal found a severed navigation device and connected to the lines leading toward a central node.
• The Data Terminal located the navigation data and revealed that the Sirens’ homeworld was called Aio.

Hao Ren found the Sirens’ homeworld, Io, in Nathatone’s ancient navigation data and planted a bomb beside the Great Vortex to prepare for its destruction. After the freed aliens left Misty Island, the Siren Queen, Shaqila, Soma, and Hassu joined Hao Ren’s group to travel to the Dream Plane and seek their homeland.

• Hao Ren copied Nathatone’s star chart and navigation logs, which identified Io as the Sirens’ homeland, then prepared to leave with his companions.
• Hao Ren deployed a bomb from the Giant Turtle Rock Platform beside the Great Vortex and instructed the Sirens to guard it and monitor the vortex.
• Hao Ren and the others returned to Misty Island as freed aliens left Nathatone, and Shaqila reflected that the chaos surrounding the Day of Return was over.
• The Siren Queen asked Hao Ren to take her to the Dream Plane so she could see the Sirens’ homeland, and Shaqila and Soma decided to join them.
• Hassu asked to hitch a ride, and Lily suggested that May transform into the Lexington.

Hao Ren and the others returned to shore after May transformed into the wreck of the Lexington, and Hassu chose to return to Demon Hunter headquarters. Hassu’s account of Vivian’s past attacks revealed that she remembered none of them, leaving Hao Ren to wonder what else she had forgotten.

• Lily urged May to transform into an aircraft carrier, and May surfaced as the wrecked Lexington, frightening Lily away from boarding it.
• Vivian led the group back to shore, where Hassu said he would return to Demon Hunter headquarters to keep Demon Hunters away from Nathatone.
• Hao Ren asked Hassu to be less rigid about the divide between Demon Hunters and the Others, but Hassu refused to promise they would meet with smiles.
• Hassu claimed Vivian had blinded him and recounted several past rampages, including her attack on a Demon Hunter headquarters and a 1426 battle with rats in Egypt.
• Vivian denied remembering the incidents, though she recalled falling asleep in 1426, and Hao Ren realized that no one had ever dared question her about her past outbursts.

Vivian and Hao Ren realized that her battles before each sleep might have been caused by severe confusion that made others look like monsters. After returning home, Hao Ren prepared for a dangerous trip to Io and left Cat Girl, Doudou, and Elizabeth behind to guard the house.

• Vivian checked her manuscript against Hassu's account and wondered whether her battles had been illusions or someone else's control of her mind.
• Hao Ren concluded that Vivian had lost her ability to judge what she saw before each sleep, and Vivian apologized to Hassu for blinding him.
• Hassu and the other Demon Hunters left, and Hao Ren decided to stop investigating and prepare to search for the Siren homeworld, Io.
• Hao Ren reported the Nathatone incident to Raven 12345, checked the Giant Tortoise Rock Platform's weapons, and sent the Data Terminal to New Erem for supplies.
• Hao Ren prepared to take the group to Andre Ancient Castle, leaving Cat Girl, Doudou, and Elizabeth at home to keep them safe.

Hao Ren led the Siren Queen and her attendants through the rebuilt teleportation station and into space to begin locating their lost homeworld, Io. As the Data Terminal started recalibrating the Sirens’ outdated star map, Hao Ren warned Becky to report any clue about the brain monster without confronting it herself.

• Doudou and Silly Cat said goodbye as Hao Ren and the others teleported to the Dark Snowfield and crossed into the Dream Plane.
• Hao Ren showed the group the rebuilt Alamanda teleportation station, then warned Becky to notify him if she found the brain monster and not to capture it herself.
• Hao Ren took everyone aboard the Giant Turtle Rock Platform and flew over Tanagrus, where construction was turning the ruined city into a fortress.
• Shaqila asked Hao Ren what he did, and he began explaining as the ship left Tanagrus for the Crystal Core Research Station.
• Hao Ren asked the Data Terminal to recalibrate the Sirens’ ancient star map so they could determine Io’s location.

The Giant Turtle Rock Platform traveled toward Io, where Hao Ren hoped to learn more about the Sirens’ origins and the brain monster captured from Nathatone. He tried to communicate with the creature again, but its mental barriers kept him from making progress.

• The ship followed a route of successive jumps toward the star region believed to contain the Sirens’ home system, and Hao Ren discussed Io’s ocean-covered world with the Siren Queen.
• Nangong May joined Hao Ren on his way to the laboratory, while Shaqila and Soma explained the Sirens’ curled-up resting custom and Nangong Sanba reacted in disbelief.
• Hao Ren and May inspected the Wrath Spirit Scanner and the brain monster, which was contained under a protective crystal and fed through its tentacles.
• Hao Ren used a new device to connect with the brain monster and record its thoughts without direct contact.
• The brain monster flooded Hao Ren’s mind with apocalyptic illusions and refused to answer him, despite his demand to speak face-to-face.

Hao Ren entered the Giant Brain’s defensive mental world and provoked an emotional response by mentioning the Creation Goddess. After the brain ejected him, he and Nangong May discussed what he had learned before the Data Terminal announced their arrival at Aio.

• Hao Ren endured the Giant Brain’s apocalyptic surface-consciousness illusions and tried to persuade it to reveal itself.
• Hao Ren brought up the Creation Goddess, prompting the Giant Brain to roar that she was its Mother and call him an unfilial son before destroying the mental world.
• Hao Ren woke in the laboratory and told Nangong May that the brain had mistaken him for a Secondborn and that he had glimpsed a warm, peaceful light.
• Hao Ren and Nangong May reviewed the recorded images but found no further clues about the Giant Brain’s memories.
• The Data Terminal announced that the final jump to Aio would begin in two minutes, and Hao Ren and Nangong May headed back to the bridge.

Hao Ren and his companions arrived at Aeolus, the Sirens’ ocean-covered homeworld, and discovered a powerless colony ship wreck drifting in orbit. Hao Ren, Lily, and Vivian set out to inspect the wreck while the platform began scanning the planet.

• Giant Turtle Rock Platform emerged into the Sirens’ young star system and approached Aeolus.
• Shaqila and Soma saw their ancestral home, but Shaqila said she felt no special connection to it from orbit.
• Hao Ren spotted a huge, unpowered colony ship resembling Nathatone, and the Data Terminal identified it as one of Nathatone’s sister ships.
• Hao Ren examined the wreck’s explosion damage and ordered a full planetary scan to search for the portal and brain monsters.
• Hao Ren, Lily, and Vivian teleported onto the wreck to investigate, and Lily immediately flew into an alloy support beam.

Hao Ren, Vivian, and Lily investigated the wreck of the Siren ship Zalazane and discovered evidence that artillery fire, not the Firstborn, had destroyed it. After an unexploded shell detonated, they paused their investigation to deal with the teleportation portal.

• Hao Ren led Vivian and Lily to a blasted section of Zalazane and identified it as an explosion site.
• Vivian sent her bats through the passage with a slingshot and sensed an unusual object among the wreckage.
• Lily retrieved a Black Cylinder, which Hao Ren accidentally activated, causing an explosion that he shielded them from.
• Hao Ren identified the object as an unexploded artillery shell and concluded Zalazane had been destroyed by artillery fire.
• The Data Terminal reported that Deep Sea had found a concentration of energy, and Hao Ren chose to deal with the teleportation portal first.

Hao Ren and his companions descended to Eio, where they found no enemy army but discovered an ancient Siren observatory marking the place where the Sirens first saw the stars. They began sinking beneath it to investigate the high-energy region below.

• Hao Ren told Izax and Vivian that artillery had destroyed the Zalazane, suggesting an unidentified high-tech race might be involved in the Sirens' history.
• The Giant Turtle Rock Platform entered Eio's atmosphere, and Hao Ren explained that the planet endured nearly constant rain and enormous storms.
• The Data Terminal reported no detectable enemy forces or Firstborn on the planet.
• Hao Ren's group spotted a weathered metal platform, and Vivian identified its inscription as an ocean observatory built to observe the Air World.
• The group learned from the monument that Ivina Observatory commemorated the Sirens' first sight of the stars.
• Nangong May asked about the high-energy region beneath the observatory, and the Data Terminal began lowering the ship into the sea with its weapons systems ready.

Hao Ren and the Sirens descended beneath Io’s storms and discovered the vast ruins of their ancient capital, Ivhaduran. As they searched for the portal between worlds, Nangong Sanba spotted a mysterious object ahead that looked like a spaceship.

• Hao Ren sent probes down through Io’s depths as the Giant Turtle Rock Platform descended and encountered strange native sea creatures.
• Hao Ren approved the Sirens’ request to dive, and Katerina, Shaqila, Soma, and Nangong May swam outside to explore the water.
• Shaqila spotted light below, and the group reached the ancient Siren capital of Ivhaduran, illuminated by glowing algae.
• Hao Ren and the Sirens began searching the ruins for the portal while the chaotic energy made their instruments unreliable.
• Nangong Sanba spotted a huge dark object ahead, and Hao Ren wondered whether it was a spaceship.

Hao Ren’s group found the ruined Paracene and a second mysterious black warship, then prepared to salvage the warship while Hao Ren went to destroy the chaotic portal. The Giant Turtle Rock Platform began lifting the wreckage as Hao Ren and Izax set out with explosives.

• Hao Ren identified a massive black wreck as a spaceship and suspected it was connected to the attack on Io.
• Nangong May found the shattered Paracene beside Ivhaduran, confirming that another Siren ark had been destroyed at its launch platform.
• Hao Ren’s group spotted a second black warship beside the Paracene, apparently wrecked while firing on it, and decided to salvage it for analysis.
• Katerina reported that she had found the portal but could not approach because it was chaotic.
• Hao Ren left Izax in charge of helping him handle accidents and took explosives to the portal while the Data Terminal began preparing to raise the black warship.

Hao Ren and his allies planted bombs at the vortices connecting the Dream Plane and the Outer World, then successfully detonated them and collapsed both portals. As the interference between the worlds began to fade, hostile currents and an eerie presence gathered around the group.

• Groups of Autonomous Mechanical Units installed antigravity devices on the black warship, and Giant Turtle Rock Platform began towing it toward the surface.
• Hao Ren, Izax, Shaqila, and Soma found Katerina near the distorted vortex, where she revealed herself after hiding in the form of a giant mantis shrimp.
• Hao Ren set a cube bomb in the vortex while Vanessa confirmed that the readings at Nathatone were safe for detonation.
• Hao Ren remotely detonated the bombs, collapsing the vortex near Ivhaduran and the portal above Nathatone.
• The Siren Queen noticed the currents growing stronger, and Hao Ren sensed an eerie, hostile presence approaching.

After destroying the portal, Hao Ren and his companions fled as the entire Aeolus planet began freezing under the influence of an awakened consciousness. They escaped through the ice after explosions opened a path, though Izax sensed powerful vengeful spirits in the ocean.

• The Siren Queen sensed a vast consciousness awakening as unnatural currents and freezing water spread through the sea.
• The Data Terminal failed to teleport Hao Ren and the others, so Hao Ren, Izax, and the three sirens raced toward the surface.
• Izax shielded the group from the cold and pressure while Hao Ren blasted through glaciers, and the Data Terminal identified interference from the collapsing Wall of Reality.
• Izax sensed vengeful spirits filling the ocean, and explosions above cracked the ice blocking the group's escape.
• Hao Ren led the others through the glacier passage, and they teleported away from Aeolus once the interference weakened.

Aeolus froze and thawed in rapid succession as Hao Ren and Izax returned to the Giant Turtle Rock Platform with the Sirens. The thawing ocean formed a vast, hostile female face that the Siren Queen recognized as Eva.

• Lily panicked when the ship’s scans failed, and the Data Terminal used the platform’s secondary cannons to blast passages through Aeolus’s ice.
• Hao Ren and Izax returned with the frozen Sirens, and May confirmed they would recover as they thawed.
• Hao Ren learned that the Data Terminal had used the ship’s cannons to clear the ice around them.
• Vivian spotted Aeolus thawing, and the melting ocean formed a gigantic female face that attacked the platform with ice and watery limbs.
• The Sirens thawed, and the Siren Queen identified the face as Eva.

Hao Ren and his crew discovered that Io was a gigantic Siren named Eva, a collective spirit formed when the Sirens faced extinction. As Eva attacked the Giant Turtle Rock Platform, Hao Ren decided to speak with her before the ship’s shields failed.

• The Siren Queen explained that Sirens believed Eva was a primordial consciousness beneath the sea, and recognized the face on Io as the form most Sirens imagined for her.
• Io-Eva bombarded the Giant Turtle Rock Platform with near-light-speed ice, destroying the salvaged black warship and forcing the crew to evade.
• The Data Terminal identified Io as an enormous, awakened Siren, while the Siren Queen confirmed that she was Eva.
• Hao Ren fired the ship’s weapons at Eva’s water arms, but they regenerated faster than his crew could destroy them.
• Izax theorized that Eva was a collective Siren spirit that had become a vengeful undead creature after failing to prevent the ancient apocalypse.
• With the ship’s shields under pressure and about an hour remaining, Hao Ren chose to talk to Eva about the disaster from ten thousand years earlier.

Hao Ren risked diving into Aeolus’s ocean to connect with Eva, hoping to learn who attacked the planet ten thousand years ago. Instead of witnessing the catastrophe, he entered Eva’s memories of the Sirens’ ancient origins and history.

• Hao Ren decided to contact Eva and asked Katerina, Shaqila, and Soma to help him reach her.
• The Data Terminal agreed to draw Eva’s attention with the ship’s weapons while Hao Ren and the Sirens descended to Aeolus’s ocean.
• Katerina, Shaqila, Soma, and Nangong May controlled the water as Hao Ren submerged himself and established a connection with Eva.
• Hao Ren entered Eva’s memories and saw the peaceful primordial seabed where the Sirens first evolved and formed an ancient society.
• Hao Ren watched the early Sirens develop tools, worship the deep sea and meteorites, and begin their Meteorite Iron Age.

Hao Ren relived the Sirens’ history and learned that Eva was a grieving consciousness formed from their destroyed civilization. He connected Eva with living Sirens and showed her that her people had survived elsewhere, allowing her to calm down and finally rest.

• Hao Ren witnessed the Sirens’ rise, their exploration of Ayo, and the destruction of their civilization by unidentified Space Battleships.
• Hao Ren emerged from the water and recognized that Eva’s storm was an expression of her grief and confusion.
• Hao Ren took the hands of Shaqila and Nangong May and connected them to Eva so she could sense living Sirens.
• Hao Ren told Eva that Siren civilization had continued in another world, and she asked whether it had seas and whether its people were happy.
• Eva’s final strength calmed the storm and returned Ayo’s water, while a surviving fish reached the sea and Hao Ren said goodnight to her.

After Eva restored Aeolus, Hao Ren explained that black warships had destroyed the Siren civilization after an unexplained battle among themselves. The Data Terminal then found surviving wreckage in orbit that might contain an escape pod, giving the group a new lead.

• Aeolus's storms ended after Eva reshaped the planet, and Hao Ren discussed the surviving life and Eva's eventual return with Lily.
• Hao Ren told the group that the Sirens had evolved naturally and that black warships, not the Firstborn, had destroyed their civilization.
• Hao Ren described how the warships had circled Aeolus's solar system, fought one another, and then united to attack the Sirens.
• The group debated why the warships had fought and discussed investigating their origin and the brain monster's connection to the incident.
• The Data Terminal found surviving wreckage in orbit that might contain an escape pod, and Hao Ren went to investigate.

Hao Ren, Izax, and Lily explored a huge section of the wrecked black warship near Aio and discovered that its crew had been giants. Their remains showed signs of severe skull swelling, leaving the cause of their deaths and their role in Aio’s destruction uncertain.

• Giant Turtle Rock Platform reached the warship wreckage, and Hao Ren sent an Autonomous Mechanical Unit inside to check the largest intact section.
• Hao Ren, Izax, and Lily entered the wreckage and found its rooms, controls, and equipment built on an enormous scale.
• Lily pried open a hidden door and revealed an operations cabin containing the floating remains of four giant crew members.
• Hao Ren and Izax examined the apparently preserved remains, while Lily noticed that one giant’s swollen, ridged skull might explain the deaths.
• Hao Ren told the Data Terminal that they had found something and said the remains needed to be examined.