Recaps

Luo reclaimed the preserved section of her spine and learned that the laboratory workers trapped in Deep Rock Fortress were safe. She met them in person and announced that Old Qiao was dead.

• Luo found her preserved spine in the exhibit hall and put it in a cardboard box to keep in her valley dormitory.
• Yu Sheng told Luo about the non-combat personnel sealed in the fortress, and she chose to meet them herself.
• Luo explained that Old Qiao had gotten the quick death he wanted, though she felt no regret about killing him.
• Momo and the other laboratory workers waited anxiously as the sealed passages reopened after the fighting ended.
• Luo met Momo and reassured her, while Eileen tossed Old Qiao's mechanical head onto the floor and declared him dead.
• Luo repeated Eileen's announcement to the gathered laboratory workers.

After Old Qiao’s death, Luo helped rescue and transfer his surviving laboratory prisoners to Black Stone Station, where they could recover and potentially join the station’s workforce. The group arrived safely, and Yu Sheng turned his attention to reviewing Old Qiao’s intelligence about the Holy Ascetic Society.

• Momo and the other prisoners confirmed Old Qiao was dead, celebrated, and gathered the people hiding throughout the laboratory.
• Luo introduced herself and Yu Sheng to Momo as members of the Traveling Inn, then asked Yu Sheng to open a door to Black Stone Station.
• Momo organized the prisoners to cross through the doorway, and Huli used healing and life-preserving arts on the most severely injured.
• Luo explained that the rescued prisoners could help staff Black Stone Station, while her former Black Dot Group colleagues could not yet be trusted.
• Yu Sheng proposed reviewing the intelligence Old Qiao had provided, especially information about the Holy Ascetic Society.

Luo searched Old Qiao’s records and assets at Deep Rock Fortress, uncovering a way to trace the Holy Ascetic Society while planning how to reorganize the base and conceal his death. The group aimed to locate and infiltrate the Society before the Black Dot Group’s investigation revealed what had happened.

• Luo warned Yu Sheng that Old Qiao’s secret contact lines could be traps, and planned to investigate his genuine pickup point with a stealth probe.
• Yu Sheng asked Luo to find the record of Old Qiao’s communication; she recovered traces of the erased message and a relay-node registration list.
• Luo explained that tracing the Holy Ascetic Society’s disguised communications would take a few days, but she could deduce the relay nodes’ true coordinates and locate its hideout.
• Luo proposed moving Deep Rock Fortress to Black Stone Station, having Ryan reorganize the surrendered troops, and letting the Black Dot Group redistribute Old Qiao’s industries.
• Yu Sheng warned that the Society might learn of Old Qiao’s death once the Group handled his assets, so Luo planned to delay the investigation and infiltrate the Society before its information advantage disappeared.

Elder Ku Ting, Blood Young Master, and Bone Gnawing Immortal treated the rescued Argraidean Elves while Momo worried about her injured companions and received an examination. Yu Sheng arrived with the traveling troupe and asked to speak with Momo about something.

• Elder Ku Ting examined a critically injured elf and said the young man had lost most of his organs and would suffer lasting damage even if saved.
• Elder Ku Ting and Blood Young Master traded stories about their past misdeeds until Bone Gnawing Immortal warned them not to invite another punishment.
• Momo visited the separate residence to check on her companions, and Bone Gnawing Immortal examined her and found only mild stagnant poison.
• Elder Ku Ting and Blood Young Master rushed to report to Yu Sheng when he arrived with the traveling troupe and a secondhand scientist.
• Yu Sheng asked Momo to speak with him, prompting Luo to remind him of her name.

Momo told Yu Sheng and his companions how she had been captured and forced to work for Old Qiao, then revealed his ties to the Holy Ascetic Society and their dangerous rift gate. The group realized the gate might be uncontrollable and located on the Society’s capital planet, while Yu Sheng asked Momo what else she knew.

• Momo explained that a ship accident stranded her near the Dark Current star sector, where Sky Raider Pirates captured her and eventually sold her to Old Qiao.
• Momo described assisting with Old Qiao’s living-metal experiments and factory, and said he handled his business dealings with help from a simple AI assistant.
• Momo revealed that Old Qiao had secretly dealt with the Holy Ascetic Society and had complained about the Hermetic Society pressuring him over Luo’s laboratory accident.
• Yu Sheng and Luo deduced that Old Qiao had given the Holy Ascetic Society misleading data, causing its Eden Gate to become impossible to shut down and possibly endangering the Dark Angel’s awakening.
• Momo said Old Qiao had cursed that the Holy Ascetic Society built the gate on its capital planet, Sacred Realm, and Yu Sheng asked her to share anything else she knew.

Yu Sheng and the others gathered information from Momo about Old Qiao, living-metal technology, and the Hermetic Society’s dangerous plans on Holy Realm. Luo offered Momo a legitimate job at her laboratory, but Yu Sheng abruptly demanded she drink his blood before signing a contract.

• Momo shared what she knew about Old Qiao’s facilities and living-metal research, and Luo explained that the technology had legitimate uses despite Old Qiao’s abuses.
• Yu Sheng reasoned that the Hermetic Society had likely moved Shadowless Bones to Holy Realm, where it could threaten Eden Gate, and said he would discuss a cautious response with Baili Qing.
• Momo said she might return home but feared her Black Dot modifications would prevent her from finding work at a legitimate research vessel.
• Luo offered Momo a formal laboratory job with contracts, benefits, and help finding her escaped coworkers, and Momo agreed to review the contract.
• Yu Sheng had Luna cut his arm and presented Momo with a ball of blood, prompting Momo to yowl in alarm and Luo to protest that she should sign first.

Momo signed on with Black Stone Station, while Yu Sheng brought the Deep Rock Fortress to Shuxi orbit and helped Luo arrange its integration with the station. Seeing Momo’s wish to contact her family prompted Luo to ask for leave to visit her own home, which Yu Sheng approved for after the Hermetic Society matter was resolved.

• Momo signed on with Black Stone Station, and Luo told her to recuperate at Mo Ran’s place before reporting to the station.
• Luo brought Eileen, Luna, and Huli to the Viewing Platform, where they watched the Deep Rock Fortress emerge through a spatial rift.
• Yu Sheng said Huli had damaged the fortress’s superluminal core, then finished emergency repairs and stabilized the fortress in orbit.
• Yu Sheng explained the fortress’s condition and future arrangements to Luo, and he opened a door back to No. 66 Wutong Road.
• Eileen warned Luo that her vague promise to talk later sounded like a death flag, and Luo clarified that she wanted leave to visit her family.
• Yu Sheng realized Momo had reminded Luo of her own family, and he approved her request to go home after the Hermetic Society matter was over.

Yu Sheng briefed Baili Qing on the threat posed by the Hermetic Society’s Eden Gate and proposed using Old Qiao’s identity to draw them into a deal. Meanwhile, Momo arrived at Fairy Tale Valley’s teleportation hub with Luo and learned which dangerous residents to avoid.

• Yu Sheng told Baili Qing about Old Qiao, the rescued victims, Luo’s past, and the Hermetic Society’s plan to use the Eden Gate.
• Yu Sheng and Baili Qing discussed a surprise operation to seize control of the Eden Gate before attacking the Hermetic Society’s territory.
• Baili Qing confirmed the Hermetic Society had noticed the Angel Catalyst but was cautiously monitoring the Special Operations Bureau.
• Yu Sheng proposed approaching the Hermetic Society as Old Qiao, whose death they did not yet know about, and Baili Qing agreed to develop a plan.
• Momo stepped through a door from Black Stone Space Station into Fairy Tale Valley’s teleportation hub with Luo, who warned her not to provoke its dangerous residents.

Luo showed Momo the Inn’s vast valley and introduced her to its bizarre residents and dangers. Momo met Bell, another Jipuluo person, and the two quickly bonded over catnip.

• Luo explained that Eileen controlled the Inn’s mass-produced doll bodies and warned Momo not to tease her about her height.
• Luo guided Momo through the valley, where Momo witnessed Sword Flight mishaps, a Titan, an armored vehicle, a falling dragon, and a child riding a Shadow Direwolf.
• Luo told Momo that she and her recovering friends could live in the town, then warned her to stay away from a tower playground filled with real demons.
• King, a talking cat, questioned Momo, used a summoned Saintess to calm her, and told her she would meet another Jipuluo person.
• Momo met Bell, and Bell offered her catnip from The Crossroads.

Momo began adjusting to life in the Crossroads valley as Bell welcomed her and encouraged her to relax. Meanwhile, Little Red Riding Hood organized housing and chores, Yu Sheng returned, and Rapunzel and Luo started another risky psychic mushroom tasting.

• Momo rested with Bell on the castle roof, learned about the valley, and discussed her mechanical ear and her years of stress.
• Bell explained that Jipuluo people stopped meowing when stressed, gave Momo another mint stick, and invited her to visit the Cat King's cat tree.
• Little Red Riding Hood arranged housing for incoming Black Stone Station employees and sent Rapunzel to fetch Cinderella and study.
• Yu Sheng arrived with Luna, heard that Momo was on the roof and Luo was by the river, then went to check on the puppet production center.
• Rapunzel and Luo began their second Psychic Mushroom Tasting Session after taking Exorcism and Toxin Dispelling Pills.

Yu Sheng toured the Eileen Legion’s increasingly crowded alchemy assembly line, where dolls repaired even severely dismembered comrades with remarkable speed. Eileen warned that the operation was running out of space and blood, leaving Yu Sheng to consider expanding the facilities while facing a harder-to-solve shortage of production material.

• Yu Sheng and Luna watched Mass-produced Eileens repair damaged dolls, including one whose upper and lower halves were fitted back together.
• Luna teased a half-doll, prompting Yu Sheng to intervene as the dolls continued their repairs around them.
• Eileen told Yu Sheng that the alchemy hall was too small for the growing legion, and Yu Sheng proposed building a doll town and production base beside the Black Forest.
• Eileen revealed that the laboratory had enough reserve blood for only two more refills of the diffusion device, and Yu Sheng realized his heart’s blood was nearly gone.

Yu Sheng and Eileen discussed ways to stretch the blood needed to produce mass-produced puppets, but neither of their proposed methods seemed practical. After a strange, forgotten manifestation of darkness appeared around Yu Sheng, he set aside his questions about his blood and took Eileen to the Black Forest to choose a site for the puppet production center.

• Yu Sheng explained that Spirit Fox Profound Iron was manageable, but the blood catalyst remained the main obstacle to mass-producing puppets.
• Eileen proposed cycling donated blood through Yu Sheng, but he rejected the idea because his blood type might not match anyone else's.
• Yu Sheng suggested feeding his blood into the diffusion device until he died, reasoning that blood already used would not be erased when his death reset; Eileen objected and suggested using saline.
• Yu Sheng wondered about the nature of his blood as a dark shadow briefly overlapped his body, then vanished along with Eileen and Luna's memories of it.
• Yu Sheng took Eileen to a broad clearing by the Black Forest and chose it for her puppet town and production center.

Yu Sheng began laying out Doll Town, but Eileen rejected his awkward houses and decided to build the town herself based on the Alice dolls’ gathering place. He then found Luo and Rapunzel recovering from a stronger-than-usual mushroom trip, and the chapter ended with Rapunzel promising to make up her homework.

• Yu Sheng reshaped the land beside the Black Forest into Doll Town, planning roads, a river, homes, workshops, and a plaza.
• Yu Sheng built rows of awkward houses that Eileen and Luna compared to toilets and urns, so he turned them back into earth.
• Eileen took charge of building Doll Town and imagined recreating Alice and Duncan's Antique Shop and nearby streets from the Garden Network.
• Yu Sheng left to check on Luo and discuss the Holy Ascetic Society, then found Luo and Rapunzel dazed beside a campfire after eating mushrooms.
• Luo and Rapunzel snapped out of their stupor, and Rapunzel offered Yu Sheng roasted mushrooms before saying she would return to make up her homework.

Yu Sheng, Luo, and Eileen worked out a way to use the forged Angel Catalyst as bait to contact the Hermetic Society without knowing Old Qiao’s security code. Yu Sheng left to write a script for the staged emergency, while Luo stayed behind with Eileen and the roasted food.

• Yu Sheng roasted food with Luo and Eileen, and Luo explained the risks of impersonating Old Qiao and smuggling the forged Angel Catalyst to the Hermetic Society.
• Yu Sheng and Luo worried that Old Qiao had a secret code or identification method they could not recover before his death became known.
• Eileen suggested having Old Qiao contact the Hermetic Society while supposedly in trouble, prompting Yu Sheng and Luo to plan a staged emergency around the Angel Catalyst.
• Yu Sheng assigned Luo to prepare the communications channel and disguised shuttle while he went to write the script, then gave Luo roasted skewers before leaving.
• Luo praised Eileen for her insight, and Eileen admitted she did not understand what the code was for.

Yu Sheng spent a quiet afternoon with Huli before a crash drew them to the room with the mirror, where snow fell through the ceiling and walls. He discovered that the mirror had become pitch-black and developed a nearly invisible crack.

• Yu Sheng brought roasted sweet potatoes home and relaxed with Huli, who said Eileen had probably not been thinking deeply while he and Luo discussed the Angel Catalyst.
• A crash from upstairs alerted Yu Sheng, Huli, and Eileen, and they hurried to the room with the mirror.
• Yu Sheng entered the room and found it covered in snow that ignored the underfloor heating and Huli's foxfire.
• Yu Sheng examined the pitch-black mirror and saw that it reflected neither Eileen nor Huli.
• Yu Sheng felt a nearly invisible crack running across the mirror and realized it had been broken.

Yu Sheng used his blood to touch the cracked mirror and found himself in a vast void where he saw the universe’s information structures and a projection of Black Star. Eileen pulled him back after only seconds in the room, and Yu Sheng told Eileen and Huli what he had seen.

• Yu Sheng pressed his bleeding hand against the cracked mirror, which drew him into a strange void.
• Yu Sheng watched the universe’s laws and information megastructures reflected on a boundless surface, along with messages left by the Creators.
• Yu Sheng realized the surface was a projection of Black Star and felt himself falling toward the swirling starlight.
• Eileen wrapped Yu Sheng in golden threads and pulled his consciousness back into the room, where Huli caught him with her tails.
• Yu Sheng learned the mirror had healed and told Eileen and Huli that he had seen Black Star and felt strangely at ease beside it.

Baili Qing entered the Council Tower, where echoes of an older era caused strange phenomena, and joined the other councilors in the Long Hall. The meeting was about to begin, with the Colorless Dragon now present.

• Baili Qing passed a lounge where temporal phantoms argued over an old role-playing story and continued to the elevator.
• The chapter explained that the Council Tower contained a vast temporal echo from the previous turning of the age, which the Council kept contained in its Core Area.
• Baili Xue appeared in the elevator and told Baili Qing she disliked the Council Tower, recalling that its inhabitants had once tried to kill her.
• Baili Qing entered the Long Hall and sat beside the black-haired maiden and the crude clock-filled robot.
• The white-haired old man welcomed the Colorless Dragon and announced that the meeting could begin.

The Crossroads councilors discussed the threat of an artificial World Bridge and a Dark Angel in the Darkstream Star Sector, and considered sending the Inn to infiltrate the Holy Realm. Meanwhile, Luo arrived at the Morona Fault to search for the Hermetic Society’s strongholds using probes.

• Baili Qing told the councilors that the Holy Ascetic Society might have an unstable artificial World Bridge and a Dark Angel poised to awaken.
• The councilors discussed having the Inn infiltrate the Holy Realm to disable the Eden Gate before a fleet assault, while preparing backup plans.
• Kand said he had found no trace of Yu Sheng in the remnants of the previous era, though the councilors agreed he and his team were reliable allies.
• Luo piloted a stealth shuttle into the Morona Fault and released two deep-space probes.

Luo found a safe route to the gravitational collapse point where Old Qiao had arranged to meet the Hermetic Society, while Yu Sheng’s team prepared to use a robotic shell of Old Qiao to contact the Society. Their disguised transmission connected to a Darkcurrent Star Domain communications array, and the team began listening for a response.

• Luo used deep-space probes to locate a safe rift leading to the collapse point and reported that no one appeared to be watching it.
• At Deep Rock Fortress, technicians tested a robotic shell resembling Old Qiao while Yu Sheng calmed Momo and Huli.
• Luo returned from the Morona Fault and confirmed the meeting place, while Yu Sheng described the Special Operations Bureau’s cover story about missing Boundary Bridge wreckage.
• Luo assured Yu Sheng that her equipment could disguise their signal as Darkcurrent Star Domain traffic and imitate Old Qiao’s encrypted communications.
• Luo ordered the team to activate its shielding and transfer control of the Old Qiao shell, then the disguised transmission connected to a remote communications array.

Yu Sheng, Luo, Momo, and the Deep Rock Fortress crew used a staged call with the Hermetic Society to make them believe Old Qiao possessed the Angel Catalyst. They negotiated a sale and arranged an inspection and handoff at the Morona Fault, leaving the group ready to carry out the next stage of their plan.

• Deep Rock Fortress received and decoded a response from the Hermetic Society, and the crew prepared Old Qiao’s shell for a staged negotiation.
• Old Qiao claimed Luo had escaped through a rift and left behind a black stone, prompting the priest to identify it as an Angel Catalyst and offer a large sum for it.
• Luo followed Yu Sheng’s directions and refused to accept the Hermetic Society’s initial offers too readily, maintaining Old Qiao’s suspicious persona.
• Old Qiao agreed to sell the Angel Catalyst and arranged a meeting at the Morona Fault, with one-third of the payment due as a deposit and experts inspecting the catalyst at the delivery site.
• The priest revealed that a genuine Angel Catalyst would make the Hermetic Society’s mysterious data unnecessary, and Old Qiao ended the call as the crew applauded.

Yu Sheng’s team prepared a counterfeit Angel Catalyst to lure the Hermetic Society into a meeting, while Luo checked that their communications and cover story were secure. On the agreed delivery day, Yu Sheng planned to fly the unescorted shuttle into the Morona Fault himself.

• Luo checked the communication data and camouflage protocols as Eileen asked whether the Hermetic Society would notice the trap.
• Luo argued that the Hermetic Society would investigate because Eden Gate made the Angel Catalyst too important to ignore.
• Ryan and his guards received a disguised cargo container from Li Lin and saw the unstable-looking imitation Angel Catalyst inside.
• Li Lin explained the counterfeit catalyst’s containment precautions and handed Ryan the transport instructions.
• Two days later, Yu Sheng prepared to pilot the shuttle carrying the counterfeit catalyst into the Morona Fault without an escort.

Yu Sheng and Eileen departed Deep Rock Fortress aboard the Silver Star to deliver the Angel Catalyst to the Hermetic Society, while Luo guided them remotely. At the Morona Fault, the Hermetic Society’s concealed flagship appeared, and the delivery began.

• Yu Sheng boarded the shuttle with Eileen in a mass-produced body, and the Silver Star teleported to the Morona Fault before its launch channel had opened.
• Luo took over the shuttle’s controls after Yu Sheng’s erratic piloting, and Yu Sheng and Eileen admired the shattered planet and starry sky as Luo reflected on her fading Star Language talent.
• The Silver Star reached the Morona Fault’s gravitational collapse point, where Luo scanned for the Hermetic Society’s contact ship.
• The Hermetic Society’s concealment field disengaged, revealing its Dark Star-class missile cruiser.

Yu Sheng delivered the Angel Catalyst to a Hermetic Society warship, arranging to observe its inspection from inside the hangar. The Society’s technicians began testing the catalyst while Yu Sheng and Luo watched, leaving the transaction underway.

• A Darkstar-class cruiser contacted Yu Sheng and proposed verifying the Angel Catalyst before completing the deal.
• Yu Sheng asked to dock aboard the cruiser so he could observe the inspection, and the commander agreed.
• Yu Sheng entered the hangar in a Black Dot uniform while Eileen hid in the shuttle.
• Hermetic Society soldiers escorted Yu Sheng to the opened cargo container, where their priests and technicians began preparing to examine the catalyst.
• Luo recognized the technicians’ equipment as modified detection apparatus from Black Stone Station and told Yu Sheng they were checking spatial fluctuations and psionic waves.

Yu Sheng delivered the Angel Catalyst to the Hermetic Society and returned to Black Stone Space Station, where Luo began locating the enemy’s stargate. As Yu Sheng planned to infiltrate the Hermetic Society’s homeworld, a fleet assembled near Mela-IX for an expedition led by Baili Qing and a black-haired maiden.

• Yu Sheng left a blood mark aboard the Hermetic Society’s cruiser, delivered the Angel Catalyst, and departed after the priests promised payment to Old Qiao.
• Yu Sheng and Eileen returned to Black Stone Space Station, where Huli greeted him and Luo explained how she could trace the cruiser’s route toward an illegal stargate.
• Yu Sheng said he would wait until the catalyst reached the Hermetic Society’s holy realm before opening a door to infiltrate their homeworld.
• Luo began locating the stargate to provide coordinates for a fleet, while Eileen learned that Yu Sheng’s group was not acting alone.
• At Mela-IX, a fleet assembled near the homeworld defense fortress, and Baili Qing agreed to join the black-haired maiden on the expedition.

Baili Qing, Baili Xue, and Hong discussed how Yu Sheng had changed Baili Xue and how her awareness had grown. At the Supreme Holy Temple, the Holy Seat announced that the Angel Catalyst needed for Eden Gate had been recovered and was on its way back.

• Baili Qing explained that Baili Xue had begun changing after her first contact with Yu Sheng, and Hong asked Baili Xue what she had noticed.
• Baili Xue admitted that she felt more aware than before, and Hong left after saying she had work to do before the distant coordinates lit up.
• Golendel attended the Holy Seat’s meeting in a wheelchair and felt ashamed of his injuries until the Holy Seat reassured him that his suffering was part of his path to perfection.
• The Holy Seat announced that the border warriors had recovered Angel Catalyst, a better fuel for Eden Gate than Shadowless Bones, and were returning with it.
• Golendel heard the news and smiled, relieved that something good was finally happening.