Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren and his crew raced to transfer Zhuom’s sixteen billion human souls and the Firstborn before the sun destroyed the planet. The transfer finished, but Nolan’s incompatible data link left her fate uncertain as the data release point was consumed by fire.

• Hao Ren monitored the soul transfer as the Giant Turtle Rock Platform extracted Zhuom’s inhabitants and the Firstborn through the drone network.
• As the six-hour night ended, sunlight and stellar gravity began destroying the data release point while the transfer still had five percent remaining.
• The Firstborn’s central nervous system continued transmitting despite the burning destruction, and the progress reached one percent.
• The Data Terminal discovered that Nolan’s AI data could not pass through the soul-transfer link because its protocol only supported living organisms.
• Hao Ren confirmed that Nolan’s data could still be preserved and entered a final command before the data release point exploded and the console reset.

After Zhuom shattered, Hao Ren confirmed that the souls of its 1.6 billion people and the Firstborn had been transferred to the Crystal Core Research Station. He spoke with the Firstborn, who revealed that Source Blood in Hao Ren might explain their connection, then asked where Mother was.

• Zhuom broke apart after the Firstborn's death, and Giant Turtle Rock Platform left a monument orbiting the planet's former path.
• Hao Ren and his companions arrived at the Crystal Core Research Station, where Data Terminal confirmed the successful transfer of the Zhuom people's souls and the Firstborn.
• Hao Ren spoke directly with the Firstborn, which explained that it had warned him in the Gray River dream and wanted to preserve its memories of Zhuom for Mother.
• The Firstborn sensed Source Blood in Hao Ren, and Lily recalled that he had absorbed Source Blood during the Imprinting Ritual in Horleta.
• Vivian suggested the Source Blood's lingering effects might have let Hao Ren enter the Firstborn's dream, and the Firstborn asked where Mother was.

Hao Ren and the others questioned the Firstborn about the Creation Goddess and learned how it preserved Zhuom’s ecosystem by storing its blueprints and souls in a virtual ark before unleashing the Blood Tide. The Firstborn still wanted to know what happened to its mother, so Hao Ren decided to introduce it to the Guardian Giant.

• Hao Ren carefully told the Firstborn that the Creation Goddess had disappeared after a great battle and might still be sleeping somewhere in the universe.
• The Firstborn explained that its mother had warned it of danger, ordered it to protect the garden, and then cut off contact before the fall of the Founding Star.
• The Firstborn described how it and the Zhuom people preserved souls and ecosystem data in a virtual world, then dissolved the planet’s physical ecosystem to hide it from the other Guardians.
• The Firstborn said a dust cloud had slowed Zhuom’s planets and damaged its systems, leaving it unable to control its dreams or warn the inhabitants.
• Hao Ren decided to stop concealing the truth and said he would bring someone the Firstborn might know to explain more about the Creation Goddess.

Hao Ren brought the Guardian Giant to meet the Firstborn, whose souls he had rescued and stored in the Space Station. The two Guardians reunited and began talking privately, leaving Hao Ren and the others hopeful that they would find more of the Goddess’s surviving dependents.

• Hao Ren told the Guardian Giant about the Firstborn, the Zhuom people, and the Dream Ark, and the giant agreed to meet the other Guardian.
• The Guardian Giant said he would protect the Zhuom people as his mother had instructed and asked Hao Ren to take him to the Firstborn.
• The Guardian Giant and the Firstborn recognized one another and began speaking about their other siblings.
• Izax led the curious group out of the hall, while Hao Ren monitored the Guardians and explained that the giant was gently telling the Firstborn the truth.
• Vivian called the meeting a good start to gathering the Goddess’s surviving dependents, and Hao Ren agreed.

Hao Ren and the others learned that the Firstborn, whom Hao Ren named Zhuom, planned to help them find the Creation Goddess and support the waking Zhuom people. Hao Ren proposed that Zhuom return to the real world and begin a new life on Tanagrus.

• The Firstborn said he was angry and sad about the Goddess's apparent fall, but would not seek revenge against the rebels who had already died; the giant revealed that his name was Muru.
• Hao Ren named the Firstborn Zhuom after the planet where he had lived.
• Zhuom explained that the Dream Ark's limiter had preserved the souls' mental health by resetting their dream lives and storing their memories as harmless records.
• Zhuom asked Hao Ren to help build a new limiter because the souls would soon awaken, but Hao Ren asked whether he wanted to return to the real world.
• Hao Ren showed Zhuom images of Tanagrus and suggested it as a place to begin his new age of rebirth.

Hao Ren arranged for Zhuom to rebuild its ecosystem on Tanagrus with Muru as its assistant and guardian. Back aboard the ship, he found Nolan awake and alarmed by what had happened.

• Hao Ren suggested that Zhuom merge its ecosystem with Tanagrus's fragile existing life, and Zhuom agreed to study how to do it safely.
• Zhuom explained that it hoped to make a new garden for Mother, and Muru agreed to help inspect and guard the ecosystem.
• Hao Ren and Vivian convinced Muru that he could resume his former role observing and recording the Firstborn's work.
• Zhuom and Muru began planning Tanagrus's restoration while Hao Ren returned to Giant Turtle Rock Platform with Lily and Dodo.
• Hao Ren found the ship's mainframe recompiling garbled data, and Nolan appeared, saying she had just woken up and demanding to know what happened.

Hao Ren explained how he had rescued Nolan by downloading her into Giant Turtle Rock Platform, then told her the truth about Zom and her origins. Nolan struggled to accept that she was a monitoring program rather than a human, and the chapter left her uncertain about what rebuilding an ecosystem had to do with her.

• Hao Ren explained that he had saved Nolan by downloading her soul into Giant Turtle Rock Platform, though compatibility problems had damaged her data before the ship restored it.
• Nolan asked what had happened to Zom, and Hao Ren showed her footage of the planet being destroyed by the sun.
• Hao Ren told Nolan that he had saved the souls from Zom and that she was now on Planet Tanagrus near the Crystal Core Research Station.
• Hao Ren explained that Nolan was a monitoring program for the machines maintaining an ancient Primitive Creature's dream, and that humanity had retreated into Zom's virtual world ten thousand years earlier.
• Nolan struggled with the revelation that her memories and past had been fabricated, while Hao Ren reassured her that sentient life was equal regardless of its form.
• Nolan asked about Hao Ren's ecosystem project, but said that learning she was a program made the work feel unrelated to her.

Nolan learned that she was created as data and that damage to her soul had bound her to the Giant Turtle Rock Platform’s mainframe. As she wondered how to live in the ship, the Data Terminal arrived to keep her company and show her that being an AI could still be a good life.

• Nolan struggled to accept that her life began when the virtual world booted up, and Hao Ren explained that she had no earlier memories to recover.
• Hao Ren told Nolan that damage during her transfer had made her part of the ship’s mainframe, where she had to remain until her soul could repair itself.
• Nolan asked what she could do in the ship’s data world, and the Data Terminal burst in to introduce itself as her coworker and senior.
• The Data Terminal proudly described the perks of being an AI, helping Nolan feel less alone as she adjusted to her new existence.
• Nolan recalled the Terminal’s past as Patty and remarked that Hao Ren’s life had always been unusually exciting.

Hao Ren explained that Nolan would become the Core Intelligence of Giant Turtle Rock Platform and outlined the limits on her control of the ship. Nolan accepted her new life and identity, while Hao Ren left her with the Data Terminal to begin adapting to the ship.

• Hao Ren promised to connect Nolan’s senses to the ship and showed her views of the Crystal Core Research Station and Tanagrus.
• Lily argued that simulated sensations could be as real as physical ones, then introduced Nolan to her and Dodo as Alien Creatures.
• Hao Ren explained that the ship’s permission tree, his orders, and its safety protocols would restrict Nolan’s actions.
• Nolan accepted the restrictions and agreed to do her best as the Core Intelligence of Giant Turtle Rock Platform.
• Hao Ren left with Lily and Dodo, and Lily asked whether he would tell Nolan what the ship’s name meant.

Hao Ren, Muru, and Zom explored how to give Zom a body so it could control source blood beyond the limited range of the Crystal Core Research Station. Hao Ren proposed using a Firstborn brain core preserved in an experimental container, leaving Muru startled as the containers arrived.

• Vivian tested replicated source blood while Lily waited for her to cook, and Zom confirmed the source blood could create life.
• Muru explained that Zom lacked a brain core and tentacles, limiting its ability to command source blood to a small area.
• Hao Ren suggested using the bodies of two mad Firstborn, but Muru warned their obsessions could contaminate Zom's weakened soul.
• Hao Ren revealed that he had a brain core from a Firstborn that had died two hundred thousand years earlier.
• The station's mainframe raised two containers holding red organs, and Hao Ren asked Muru whether they were suitable.

Hao Ren and Firstborn Zhuom tested whether Zhuom could use two ancient brain cores as a relay to control source blood and eventually reshape Tanagrus’s ecosystem. After Zhuom connected to the source blood, it suddenly went still, while Doudou sensed something in the tank.

• Hao Ren brought the two brain cores to the Space Station laboratory and connected Firstborn Zhuom to its mainframe, with Muru present to observe.
• Hao Ren had Zhuom inspect the brain cores in read-only mode, and Zhuom found only scattered memory remnants that could not restore the dead Firstborn’s consciousness.
• Hao Ren proposed keeping Zhuom’s soul in the mainframe while using the brain cores to convert and relay his mental signals through antenna arrays on Tanagrus.
• Hao Ren released the source blood’s suppression and instructed Zhuom to try creating primitive cells through the brain cores.
• Zhuom directed his spirit into the source blood, which immediately became still, and Doudou opened her eyes and looked toward the tank.

Hao Ren and Firstborn Zhuom prepared a new ecosystem for Planet Tanagrus by modifying the research station’s equipment and broadcasting Zhuom’s will across the planet. They seeded Tanagrus with Source Blood and left Muru to oversee its rebirth alongside the planet’s existing life.

• Firstborn Zhuom connected to the brain cores, and a temporary suppression signal stopped the Source Blood’s activity before the connection recovered.
• Hao Ren stopped Lily from suggesting powerful creatures and directed Zhuom to create organisms according to their plan.
• Hao Ren and his team built the Sarcophagus of Life and adapted Tanagrus’s antenna arrays to broadcast Zhuom’s will across the planet.
• Hao Ren ordered crystal containers carrying most of the station’s Source Blood reserves to be sent down to Tanagrus.
• Muru assured Hao Ren that the designed ecosystem would coexist peacefully with Tanagrus’s existing life, and Hao Ren prepared to leave the planet.

After Hao Ren returned to Earth, Nolan explored space in the Giant Turtle Rock Platform and resolved to learn how to care for her ship body. Hao Ren planned to search the Dream Plane for surviving Guardians and rebuild their forces, though he wondered if it was too soon.

• Hao Ren let Nolan travel anywhere in the Milky Way as long as he could call her back for missions.
• Nolan left Kuiper Station to explore space and asked the port workers to prepare polishing wax for her armor.
• Back on Earth, Hao Ren discussed the Zom incident and his plans with Raven 12345.
• Hao Ren proposed finding sane surviving Guardians and rebuilding the Guardian forces of the Founding Star.
• Doudou carried off the Data Terminal before it could finish speaking, and Hao Ren wondered whether rebuilding the Guardians was premature.

Hao Ren escaped the noisy household for a walk while Vivian and Lily fought over Lily’s shedding. Meanwhile, a lost foreign driver brought his mistress to the Nangong couple’s restaurant, where she berated him for failing to find Hao Ren’s home.

• Hao Ren and Vivian joked about Doudou eating fallen leaves, and Doudou spat them out in disgust.
• Vivian attacked Lily to stop her from shedding on the sofa, while Hao Ren took Doudou outside to avoid the cold and chaos.
• Hao Ren collected twigs and bark to feed Doudou, drawing puzzled looks from a passing mother and son.
• A luxury sedan’s Blond Driver searched the South Suburbs for Hao Ren’s home but got lost and stopped at the Nangong couple’s restaurant.
• The Blond Driver opened the sedan’s rear door and asked his Mistress to eat, and she angrily scolded him for getting lost despite using Baidu Maps.

Heiserana arrived in the South Suburbs with her followers Duncan and Cassandra, where a tense confrontation with Nangong Wudi nearly began. Hao Ren recognized Heiserana and explained the visitors were friends, clearing up the misunderstanding and leading Nangong Wudi to invite them into his restaurant.

• Heiserana climbed out of the car with Duncan and Cassandra, drawing attention from the bystanders.
• Nangong Wudi recognized Heiserana's resemblance to Vivian, while Heiserana spotted his Demon Hunter equipment and her group formed a defensive stance.
• Nangong Wudi drew his protective weapons as the vampires' magic chilled the surroundings, and a fight seemed imminent.
• Hao Ren arrived, recognized Heiserana, and introduced her to Nangong Wudi as Vivian's mini-version and a family head from the Athens Sanctuary.
• Hao Ren explained that Nangong Wudi was Nangong May's father, and Nangong Wudi invited Heiserana and her followers into the restaurant.

Hao Ren met Heiserana and her two subordinates at Nangong Wudi’s restaurant, where their antics revealed the household’s unusual way of life. The Vampires brought news about Vivian’s magic book, and Heiserana admitted she had secretly come to surprise Vivian.

• Nangong Wudi ushered Heiserana, Duncan, and Cassandra into his restaurant, where the Vampires ordered ordinary food instead of blood.
• Nangong May showed Hao Ren how she washed dishes inside her shape-shifting body, while Nangong Sanba explained that he had turned his holy-silver swords into kitchen knives.
• Duncan revealed that the Heiserana Family had news about Vivian’s magic book, and Cassandra explained that they had found its source but no other related magical items.
• Heiserana told Hao Ren she had come secretly to surprise Vivian, and Hao Ren guessed she had feared Vivian would run away.

Hao Ren brought Heiserana and her attendants to visit Vivian after Heiserana found clues about an old magic book. Vivian tried to flee when Heiserana appeared, but Hao Ren persuaded her to come out and make Heiserana promise to behave.

• Hao Ren told Heiserana that her jealousy and pursuit were why Vivian kept running from her.
• Heiserana, Duncan, and Cassandra ate at Elsa’s restaurant before Hao Ren drove them to his home in Heiserana’s luxury car.
• Vivian opened the door, saw Heiserana, and immediately slammed it shut.
• Heiserana rushed inside after Vivian, who scattered into a swarm of bats to escape her.
• Hao Ren called Vivian out, and she reassembled in the living room and told Heiserana to promise to talk properly.

After Lily thawed from the ice and charged into a fight with Heiserana’s group, the household gathered amid the wreckage to hear why Heiserana had come. She revealed a preserved Purgatory Ripper specimen made by the same wizard who created the spellbook, and suggested his work was connected to Vivian.

• Hao Ren found Lily frozen in a block of ice in the backyard while Elizabeth slowly roasted it over bonfires.
• Lily broke free, rushed inside to attack Vivian, and accidentally started a brawl with Heiserana and the others.
• Vivian scolded everyone for wrecking the living room, then told Heiserana to explain her visit.
• Heiserana opened a magically sealed briefcase and showed the group a dried juvenile Purgatory Ripper.
• Cassandra explained that the specimen came from Purgatory, and Heiserana said its maker had also created the spellbook and likely pursued Vivian.

Heiserana and Vivian explained Purgatory, an unstable alternate space full of dangerous beasts, and its history of sporadic links to Earth. They revealed that a wizard opened its gate several hundred years ago, and that his hidden manuscripts and Vivian-related forbidden spells might be in Scandinavia.

• Heiserana described how alternate spaces arose in the Mythical Era and how the Demon Hunters severed their links to Earth after the era collapsed.
• Vivian explained that Purgatory held monstrous beasts, whose powerful flesh wizards used in forbidden spells, and that its gate continued to open unpredictably.
• Heiserana said the Purgatory Ripper specimen had been brought out by a wizard several hundred years ago, who remained active in Europe around the American War of Independence.
• Heiserana revealed that the wizard sought to use the King of Blood's power to reach Purgatory's depths and had left manuscripts, including more Vivian-related spells.
• Heiserana said the wizard's secrets were likely hidden in Scandinavia, where he had opened the Great Gate of Purgatory.

Hao Ren assembled a team to investigate the former site of the Great Gate of Purgatory in Northern Europe. After Heiserana arranged their travel, they reached Finland and learned that her family secretly controlled a human company and airport.

• Hao Ren agreed to investigate the magic-book relics and the former Purgatory gate with Heiserana as their guide.
• Heiserana warned the team to prepare for curses and magical traps, while Hao Ren advised them to bring thick coats for the cold.
• Two days later, Hao Ren traveled to Finland with Vivian, Lily, the Nangong siblings, and Heiserana's companions.
• Heiserana took the group from Helsinki to a private airport north of the city, explaining that her family had built and owned its industries through human organizations.
• Heiserana revealed that the airport's human employees did not know their true vampire employers, and Lily teased Vivian about her alternate identity's wealth.