Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren and Lawrence prepared to open the Throne Ark’s dome on Aio, while Nolan planned repairs and a network of floating cities for the Ark civilization. As Vivian, Lily, and Lawrence went to prepare the residents, Katerina spotted a green glow across the sea and asked Hao Ren to investigate.

• Lawrence explained how he had prepared Ark residents with legends for the dome opening, and agreed to help Vivian and Lily calm them.
• Hao Ren ordered Vivian, Lily, and Lawrence to stage a spectacle before Nolan opened the shelter’s dome, and Nolan confirmed the transformation mechanism was ready.
• Hao Ren and Nolan planned to repair all twelve Arks and connect them into floating cities with bridges, ports, and resources for the residents.
• Nolan explained that her dreams had taught her about surviving on an ocean planet and maintaining civilization in carrier cities.
• Katerina pointed out a faint green glow rippling across the distant sea and asked Hao Ren to go look at it.

Hao Ren and the Sirens investigated a strange patch of green in the Sea of Aio and discovered that the ocean plants had grown from moss Hao Ren had once scattered there. They encountered Eva, reborn as a being made of seawater, and reestablished their mental connection.

• Hao Ren left Nolan in charge of the Giant Turtle Rock Platform and went with Elsa, Nangong May, and Katerina to investigate the unusual waters.
• The group found a vast, interconnected growth of seaweed-like plants and fish feeding beneath it.
• The Data Terminal identified the plants as descendants of moss Hao Ren had scattered into the Sea of Aio.
• A shapeless seawater creature emerged, played around the group, and tried to imitate Katerina.
• Hao Ren recognized the creature as Eva, touched her hand, and reestablished their mental connection.

Hao Ren brought the newly reborn Eva to watch the Ark open and explained that its people had lost their home and needed refuge. As the Ark revealed the city within, Eva listened to his account of the refugees’ plight.

• Hao Ren explained that Eva had been reborn with only fragments of her memories and could communicate with him through touch.
• Eva told Hao Ren that Siren ruins remained on the seafloor and asked when the Sirens would return home.
• Nolan informed Hao Ren that the Ark’s dome was ready to open, so he brought Eva to witness it.
• Hao Ren ordered the Ark’s dome opened, and the giant ship unfolded to reveal its city.
• Hao Ren told Eva that the Ark’s people had fled their destroyed home and needed a place to rest.

The Ark unfolded into a floating city, and Lawrence reported that the planned transformation had caused damage but no casualties. Eva disappeared, then returned with a gigantic wave of seaweed and aquatic plants, excitedly calling it food.

• The Ark's shell unfolded into a city, while Vivian used storms as miracles to calm its frightened residents.
• Eva vanished after hearing about the Ark people's hardship, leaving Hao Ren and the others unsure why she had gone.
• Lawrence told Hao Ren that the transformation was complete, casualties had been avoided, and the city would begin repairs.
• Lawrence planned to restore order by establishing a religion honoring the Twin Goddesses of Ice and Fire.
• A colossal wave rushed toward the Ark fleet, then abruptly shrank and revealed a mass of seaweed and aquatic plants.
• Eva reappeared as a giant transparent figure and pushed the plants beside the Throne, repeating, "Food, food, food~~".

Hao Ren helped the people of the Floating City understand Eva’s arrival and accept the seagrass she had brought as food. As the group prepared to leave, Lawrence promised to treat Eva peacefully, and Hao Ren pointed out that 1,200 drone turrets would watch over the city.

• Eva brought seagrass to feed the starving residents of the Floating City, and Hao Ren realized she regarded them like small animals in a garden.
• Hao Ren told Lawrence to explain Eva as the Sea God who had granted the people a gift, and Autonomous Mechanical Units broadcast Lawrence’s explanation across the city.
• Hao Ren and Nolan struggled to keep Eva’s curiosity from damaging the ark while Lawrence addressed its residents.
• At dusk, Hao Ren, Vivian, Katerina, and Lawrence said farewell to Eva, and Lawrence acknowledged that his people would need to live peacefully with her.
• Hao Ren warned that Eva would respond to the people as they treated her, then pointed out 1,200 unmanned drone turrets shining in the sky.

Hao Ren spent a peaceful snowy day at home playing Gomoku with Izax and Doudou while Vivian and Lily bickered after returning from grocery shopping. The quiet ended when Vivian learned that Demon Hunters had vanished from the Hellenic Peninsula and several other sanctuaries.

• Hao Ren reported to Raven 12345's stand-in and enjoyed several days without new assignments.
• Hao Ren and Izax played Gomoku as the Data Terminal mocked Hao Ren's reputation and chess skills.
• After Izax left, Hao Ren recruited Doudou to play, and Vivian and Lily returned from buying groceries.
• Vivian and Lily argued over whether they got along, while Hao Ren teased them about their Ark girl group.
• Heiserana called Vivian to report that Demon Hunters had disappeared from bases across the Hellenic Peninsula and other sanctuaries, and Vivian told Hao Ren.

Hao Ren investigated reports that Demon Hunters had abandoned their worldwide posts and found that Ryūsei and Zhao Xi had taken leave at the same time. The hunters appeared to have left under a planned transfer order, but their destination and the reason for their withdrawal remained unknown.

• Otherworldly families around the world reported that Demon Hunters had disappeared from their strongholds, though one South American Werewolf family had seen a team relocating.
• Vivian told Hao Ren that Heiserana had asked about the hunters’ movements, and Hao Ren decided to check on Ryūsei and Zhao Xi.
• Hao Ren left Vivian at home to cook and took Roll with him to the shopping mall where the two hunters worked.
• A phone shop employee told Hao Ren that Zhao Xi and Ryūsei had both taken extended leave about a week earlier.
• Hao Ren concluded that the local Demon Hunters had left calmly under orders, while Roll kept asking him to find tasty food.

Tutanin and Bai Huo defended the palace as rebel forces overwhelmed its defenses and captured the West Tower energy node. Tutanin revealed Elder Hassu was likely alive and gave Bai Huo a blood-red Crystalline Body to deliver to the Countess.

• Tutanin ordered his exhausted Demon Hunters to retreat to the palace’s second line of defense after the West Tower energy node fell.
• Tutanin found Bai Huo recovering from a severe wound in the inner hall and told her the palace defenses might hold only a few more days.
• Bai Huo considered shutting down or destroying the Tower of Stars, but Tutanin warned that doing so could sacrifice the sacred land without sealing the space.
• Tutanin told Bai Huo that Elder Hassu had been captured alive and that the Saints appeared to have a specific objective.
• Tutanin gave Bai Huo a blood-red Crystalline Body left by Elder Hassu and instructed her to deliver it to the Countess, whom Saint Betoris had named in a message.

Hao Ren investigated the Demon Hunters’ sudden disappearance, then found the badly injured Bai Huo after she fell from the sky into a garbage bin. He brought her home, leaving Vivian, Lily, and Nangong May to react to her arrival.

• Hao Ren found no sign of Ryūsei or Zhao Xi and discussed tracing the Demon Hunters’ withdrawal with the Data Terminal.
• Roll remembered her hungry, cold days as a stray cat and affectionately rubbed against Hao Ren in the snowy streets.
• A flash of white light appeared, and Bai Huo fell from the sky into a garbage bin.
• Hao Ren pulled the wounded Demon Hunter from the bin, confirmed she was alive, and teleported home with her.
• Hao Ren arrived in the living room, where Lily recognized Bai Huo and Roll announced that she had picked her up from a garbage bin.

Hao Ren and his companions treated the gravely injured Bai Huo and investigated the worldwide disappearance of Demon Hunters. As they considered whether the hunters had been ordered to relocate, Vivian learned that minor families were preparing to restore the old world order themselves.

• Hao Ren placed unconscious Bai Huo in the medical pod, where scans showed she was stable and likely to wake in a little over an hour.
• Hao Ren told Vivian that Bai Huo may have teleported to their home while fleeing, and that Demon Hunters Ryūsei and Zhao Xi had disappeared after taking leave.
• Lily connected the disappearances to a possible mass relocation and asked where the Demon Hunters' headquarters was, but Nangong Wudi could only place it somewhere in the north, perhaps Scandinavia.
• Vivian received a call from Hesperis and learned that minor families had secretly gathered to discuss restoring the world order if the Demon Hunters vanished.

Vivian warned Hao Ren that some Others were forming secret societies and considering restoring the Mythical Era, while she chose to wait for Bai Huo before acting. When Bai Huo woke, she revealed that the Demon Hunters had fallen into a civil war after Hassu reported the truth about the Ankatro Secret Realm, leaving Hao Ren and the others uncertain about the crisis’s full extent.

• Vivian told Hao Ren that young Others were secretly discussing what to do after the Demon Hunters disappeared, and she decided to wait until Bai Huo woke before taking action.
• The Data Terminal announced that Bai Huo was about to wake, and Hao Ren opened her medical pod; Bai Huo jolted upright and hit her forehead against his nose.
• Bai Huo told Hao Ren and the others that the Demon Hunters had descended into a civil war between the Thirteen Saints and the Elder Council.
• Bai Huo explained that Hassu’s meetings with the Saints turned hostile after he reported what he had learned in the Ankatro Secret Realm, and he never returned from the third meeting.
• Bai Huo said the Elder Council arrested Hassu, ordered the elimination of his battle groups, and began arresting elders close to him, including Elder Andal.

Bai Huo explained how the Demon Hunters’ Saints and Elder Council had turned against their own people while remaining lucid, and she gave Vivian a blood crystal left for her by Saint Betoris. Vivian swallowed the crystal to recover the memories she had stored in it, leaving Hao Ren preparing for a possible emergency.

• Bai Huo told Hao Ren and the others that the Saints had arrested Hassu and started a purge that escalated into a battle between the Elder Council and lower-ranking Demon Hunters.
• Bai Huo explained that the thirteen ancient Saints led the Demon Hunters and that the Elder Council consisted of elite warriors guarding their headquarters, Korperus.
• Bai Huo said the Saints and Elder Council were lucid but had adopted an extreme new worldview, and Vivian suspected something had affected their minds beyond the Chaos Shadow or the Original Sin of Divine Blood.
• Bai Huo gave Vivian a Platinum Box containing a blood crystal that Saint Betoris had left for her, passing it through Bai Huo’s mentor before the mentor was arrested.
• Vivian recognized the crystal as one she had left for herself and swallowed it to awaken its memories while Hao Ren prepared a medical pod.

After Vivian learned that the ancient blood crystal pointed toward the Demon Hunters’ Arctic headquarters, she agreed to investigate the crisis there with Hao Ren. They discovered the Elder Council had seized much of Korperth and planned to recruit reinforcements before confronting its overwhelming forces.

• Vivian read the blood crystal and learned it urged her north toward something she had left behind while warning of a dangerous presence.
• Bai Huo revealed that the Demon Hunters’ headquarters, Korperth, was hidden in a spatial rift near the North Pole.
• Vivian agreed to investigate Korperth, and Hao Ren joined her despite learning that the Elder Council had at least 120,000 elite warriors.
• Bai Huo explained that the Elder Council controlled Korperth’s ancient energy nodes and was slaughtering Demon Hunters and nonhumans who opposed it.
• Hao Ren and Izax concluded they needed reinforcements, and Hao Ren told Bai Huo he could mobilize troops from elsewhere.

Bai Huo struggled to understand Hao Ren’s unconventional group before learning that he commanded an army. Hao Ren and the Data Terminal explored ways to intervene in the Demon Hunters’ civil war without violating inspector rules, and Izax pointed out that the Erem Elves were unsuitable for the fight, leading Hao Ren to consider the Cleaver Gang.

• Bai Huo marveled at Hao Ren’s unusual household and, after hearing about his army, asked whether a larger force was hidden beneath the sanctuary.
• Hao Ren and the Data Terminal discussed how to classify a large-scale intervention in the Demon Hunters’ civil war without violating the inspector restrictions.
• The Data Terminal argued that the Demon Hunters were not Earth’s main civilization and that the conflict could be contained before it affected human society.
• Hao Ren proposed using the Erem Elves to resolve the crisis before the Elder Council escaped Colperus.
• Izax explained that the Erem Elves lacked combat experience and were poorly suited to fighting in a sealed secret realm.
• Hao Ren realized that the Cleaver Gang might provide the battle-hardened fighters he needed.

Hao Ren and his companions reached the Arctic North Pole, where Bai Huo explained the Ice Fortress and its role in containing the Elder Council within Corpus. Hao Ren prepared to open a portal and summon a hundred thousand peacekeeping personnel to help the Demon Hunters.

• Hao Ren and his companions arrived at the North Pole, where Bai Huo used the stars to judge that Corpus's ancient weapons had not activated and the Ice Fortress remained in their hands.
• Bai Huo explained that the Ice Fortress and Tower of Stars guarded Corpus's fixed entrance, and that the Demon Hunters had lost nearly ten thousand lives holding the Elder Council inside.
• Hao Ren decided to open a legion portal away from the Ice Fortress entrance to avoid disturbing Corpus's unstable spatial structure.
• Bai Huo promised to swear allegiance to Hao Ren if he helped the Demon Hunters survive the crisis.
• Hao Ren began preparing to summon a hundred thousand peacekeeping personnel from New Erem Star.

Hao Ren and Izax built an overloaded hybrid Space Gate on the Arctic ice to bring Izax’s hundred-thousand-strong army to Earth. The gate exploded open, and Bai Huo watched the demon-led, multi-racial Allied Forces pour through.

• Izax summoned Lanina, who asked where the legion would fight and how many troops were needed.
• Hao Ren, Izax, and Elizabeth worked with Autonomous Mechanical Units to build a large Space Gate using inspector technology and demonic runes.
• The Data Terminal confirmed the site was shielded, and Hao Ren led everyone a kilometer away before the gate overloaded and exploded into a spatial rift.
• A demon guard stepped through the rift and complained about the Arctic cold as the army began arriving.
• Bai Huo saw demon guards, Abyssal Lords, Flame Demons, dwarves, human knights, and elves marching together under the same insignia, and cried out in shock.

Hao Ren and his companions watched Izax’s Demon King’s Army pour through a Space Gate onto the Arctic ice, where Lanina began organizing the arriving troops. Hao Ren and Bai Huo headed toward the hidden Ice Fortress to meet its guards, and Bai Huo’s rune card caused the scene before them to turn upside down.

• The Demon King’s Army emerged through the Space Gate, and Hao Ren explained to Bai Huo that portals were a common means of transport in the demons’ shattered homeland.
• The Flame Demons began melting the ice, so elven mages doused them with polar storms; Elizabeth explained that Izax had learned transformation magic to court her mother.
• Lanina arrived and told Izax that only a few thousand troops had crossed so far and the rest would arrive in batches over the next day.
• Three starlights signaled from the Ice Fortress, so Hao Ren and Bai Huo went ahead while Lanina stayed to guide the following troops.
• Bai Huo ignited a Rune of Leta card with holy flames, and Hao Ren saw the scene before them turn upside down.

Hao Ren and his companions arrived at the Ice Fortress, the Demon Hunters’ ancient stronghold, and were admitted as allies for the first time. After welcoming them, Master Kuzov prepared to brief the group on the worsening front line.

• Bai Huo activated her rune card, revealing the Ice Fortress hidden between spacetime, and led Hao Ren’s group to its gates.
• The fortress opened its gates, and Bai Huo explained that she had escaped from deep inside Kolperth through dangerous spatial turbulence after the retreat routes were cut off.
• Hao Ren and the others entered the fortress as its Demon Hunter defenders watched them with curiosity and caution.
• Master Kuzov greeted Bai Huo and learned that the reinforcements would arrive at the intermediate layer in an hour.
• Bai Huo introduced Vivian as an honored ally, and Vivian asked Master Kuzov to explain the situation on the front line.

Hao Ren and his companions traveled through the Ice Fortress toward the Tower of Stars, where the gate to Korperus had been sealed. After opening the passage, they prepared to see the situation on the other side.

• Bai Huo told the group she had been born in the Ice Fortress, and that her parents had died when she was young: her mother was ill, and her father died after taking too many magic potions and challenging a volcano.
• Bai Huo and Vivian acknowledged their disagreement over how Demon Hunters and outsiders viewed each other, while Hao Ren reflected on the long conflict between the two groups.
• Master Kuzov led the group to the Tower of Stars, a vast shaft descending through the Ice Fortress and connecting to Korperus.
• Hao Ren chose to inspect the situation beyond the sealed gate rather than wait for the main force, and Kuzov opened the passage.

Bai Huo led Hao Ren and the others through the Tower of Stars into Corpus, where they discovered a surreal realm of floating ruins and ongoing battles. As Demon Hunters reported worsening losses, Hao Ren and Lily stared at the ruins with an unexplained sense of recognition.

• Bai Huo explained that the Night Vow guards protected the Tower of Stars in shifts, and Hao Ren and Lily admitted they had formed their expectations from television.
• Bai Huo led the group down the tower's spiraling shaft, where its spatial laws shifted from deep sea to outer space and reversed their direction of travel.
• Hao Ren and the others reached the tower's floating upper platforms, and Bai Huo welcomed them to Corpus.
• The group saw Corpus's floating ruins and distant fighting as Demon Hunters teleported in to greet Bai Huo.
• A Demon Hunter reported that Master Tutankh had withdrawn, two more energy nodes had been lost, and the Elder Council faced an uncertain situation.
• Hao Ren and Lily stared at the distant ruined palaces, both appearing to recognize them.