Chapter Summaries

Old Qiao’s tactical walker escaped the battle in the dark district, where Luo’s allies unleashed bizarre monsters and fire, but his retreat ended when a Shadow Wolf lured him into a trap. A gigantic armored man disabled the walker and opened it, leaving Old Qiao helpless inside.

• Old Qiao watched card-like soldiers, Snake Princess, and Matchstick attack Black Dot’s forces as eerie singing rose through the battlefield.
• Old Qiao concluded that Luo had died in the bombardment, ordered reserve squads to contain the enemies, and decided the surviving soldiers who had heard sensitive information could not be left alive.
• Old Qiao fled in his damaged walker, but stopped at an abandoned building when its power core overheated and the singing continued to follow him.
• A Shadow Wolf appeared with a blood grenade, dropped it, and vanished; the crimson mist reminded Old Qiao of the incense on Luo’s desk.
• A giant in thunder-forged adamantine armor lifted Old Qiao’s walker, knocked off its legs, and produced a can opener as Old Qiao roared from inside.

Snow White and the giants defeated Old Qiao’s walker, but reinforcements let him escape the abandoned district. Back at a concealed hideout, Old Qiao prepared to flee, then questioned whether Luo was really dead.

• Thunder Titans tore open Old Qiao’s damaged walker and dumped out his metallic body, which Snow White recognized as an avatar.
• Snow White relayed Sister Luo’s instructions while Thunder Titans battered Old Qiao and prepared to finish him.
• Black Dot Group drones attacked Thunder Titans, allowing Old Qiao to grab a mounting rack and escape with two escort drones.
• Snow White comforted the wounded Thunder Titans as Mermaid’s song continued through the district.
• Old Qiao returned to a concealed hideout and prepared to flee aboard a shuttle, then wondered whether Luo was truly dead.

Old Qiao escaped Grey Dwarf Star and returned to his hidden base, where he agreed to continue his deal with the Path of Holy Asceticism after learning their plans involved a Great Void. His strange itching and unexplained sensations worsened as he went to admire his collection of human body parts.

• Old Qiao fled Grey Dwarf Star, doubting whether Luo had survived the ambush but deciding he could not risk returning to search for her.
• Old Qiao brought his frigate through hidden routes to a concealed base and verified that the ship and its crew were secure.
• Old Qiao confronted the Path of Holy Asceticism about withholding information on the Great Void and agreed to continue the transaction after preparing a new way to deal with Luo.
• Old Qiao felt a mysterious sticky sensation and spreading itch, while the base's equipment behaved strangely around him.
• Old Qiao went to his private gallery and relaxed as he admired his preserved collection of human body parts.

Old Qiao was overcome by a psychic contamination that made his body and laboratory seem to transform into a nightmare. A strange card opened a door for Yu Sheng and his companions, who subdued Old Qiao and entered the disturbing laboratory.

• Old Qiao saw Lo appear in his laboratory and experienced visions of his dead specimens as his body began changing.
• Old Qiao realized he had been contaminated, but his call for help went unanswered as his communications cables turned into flesh and nerves.
• A strange card fell from Old Qiao, and when he picked it up, it outlined a door that opened in the air.
• Eileen kicked Old Qiao in the face, and Huli and Eileen restrained him while Luna guarded the doorway.
• Yu Sheng surveyed the laboratory's specimens and exclaimed at the terrifying sight.

Yu Sheng and his allies infiltrated Old Qiao’s base, bound his damaged avatar, and began spreading bloody mist to gain control of the facility. Old Qiao awoke and led cloned soldiers toward the Core Area, where a filthy doll appeared in their path.

• Yu Sheng, Luo, and Eileen discovered Old Qiao’s hall of grotesque collections and bound his steel-shell avatar, while Luo explained that his main body would wake once the trapped mind died.
• Yu Sheng brought out the Demon Suppressing Tower Trio’s diffusion device and spread bloody mist through the base as Luo began describing its layout.
• Luna detected approaching units, and Luo warned that Old Qiao had awakened and would likely attack through Passage Two.
• Eileen teleported an army of dolls into the hall, and Luo suggested sending them through a ventilation duct while Yu Sheng urged Eileen to follow the movie-style tactic.
• Old Qiao assembled cloned soldiers and activated the base’s defenses, then found a filthy doll lying in the corridor near the Core Area.

Old Qiao’s forces were overwhelmed by living puppets and an Artificial Saintess as the base’s security systems failed. Just as he sensed a threat emerging from the Core Area, a furry tail appeared and an explosion interrupted him.

• Old Qiao opened fire on a motionless puppet, triggering an ambush by a swarm of identical puppets that poured from the ventilation ducts and killed many clone soldiers.
• Old Qiao learned that several of his units were under attack while the base’s alarms, sensors, and monitoring systems failed outward from the Core Area.
• An unseen attacker cut down clone soldiers in a connecting passage, and Old Qiao recognized his opponent as an Artificial Saintess before losing that body.
• Old Qiao realized the situation had slipped beyond his control and began to reconsider his orders as his remaining soldiers awaited instructions.
• A large furry tail floated out from a side door, and an explosion interrupted Old Qiao.

The fortress transformed into a hostile living structure as Luo broadcast a surrender offer to the clone soldiers, while Yu Sheng and the others prepared to secure the Core Area. Two clone units surrendered, and Old Qiao’s attempted escape failed when the shuttle’s stationary field and airlock refused his commands.

• The fortress’s defenses and changing corridors attacked Old Qiao’s clone soldiers, trapping and killing units as the transformed area spread.
• Luo used the facility’s communications to strip Old Qiao of authority and urge surviving soldiers to surrender.
• Yu Sheng reported that two Black Dot units had surrendered, then detected a shuttle attempting to escape.
• Old Qiao launched the shuttle and ordered the stationary field disabled, but the facility rejected his command and pulled the craft back onto its platform.
• The launch-channel airlock closed, and the console told Old Qiao, “It is.”

Yu Sheng and his companions captured Old Qiao after Huli wrecked his escaping shuttle. Luo removed Old Qiao’s living brain from its mechanical shell and took him away for questioning.

• Old Qiao tried to escape the fortress in his shuttle, but Huli smashed through the passage wall and rammed the craft.
• Huli tore open the shuttle, pulled Old Qiao from the cockpit, and pinned him to the floor with foxfire.
• Yu Sheng, Eileen, Luna, and Luo arrived, and Old Qiao recognized Luo as the former experimental animal who had escaped his laboratory.
• Old Qiao tried to stab Luo with a hidden plasma blade, but Luo’s mechanical limb intercepted it and Luna cut off both his arms.
• Luo dismantled Old Qiao’s shell and removed the container holding his brain, then told him Yu Sheng had taken control of the fortress.
• Yu Sheng said they would question Old Qiao somewhere quiet, while Luo warned him not to provoke her.

After taking Deep Rock Fortress, Yu Sheng and Luo interrogated Old Qiao and learned that the Hermetic Society was building a passage to a world called Eden. Old Qiao revealed that the Zolda Black Stone had been planted in Luo’s path from the beginning, leaving her to confront the possibility that the Society had been manipulating her all along.

• Yu Sheng took control of Deep Rock Fortress, while Luo isolated its network and imprisoned Old Qiao’s consciousness in a tank.
• Luo questioned Old Qiao, who said the Hermetic Society contacted him through intermediaries and promised him a place in Eden, an unclaimed world they hoped to reach through an Eden Gate.
• Old Qiao explained that the Society’s prototype gate had charging and stabilization problems, and that they had sought his Zolda Black Stone data to help solve them.
• Yu Sheng, Luo, Eileen, Huli, and Luna discussed whether Eden would tempt them, and Yu Sheng said he would want to visit it without necessarily acting like the Society’s fanatics.
• Luo asked when Old Qiao and the Society had targeted her, and Old Qiao revealed that the Zolda Black Stone had been a deliberate gift from the start.

Yu Sheng and Luo interrogated Old Qiao’s brain about the Hermetic Society and Luo’s stolen body parts, then Luo destroyed his remaining consciousness. Afterward, she composed herself and prepared to return with Yu Sheng and the others.

• Luo learned that the Hermetic Society had used Old Qiao to connect her to the Zolda Black Stone, which had responded strongly to her.
• Yu Sheng searched Deep Rock Fortress and found it was mostly Old Qiao’s hidden residence and collection of cruel amusements.
• Luo interrogated Old Qiao until he revealed that he had displayed her spinal cord, discarded her skin, and fed her organs to Su, who later died in a reactor accident.
• Luo used electricity to destroy Old Qiao’s consciousness, then burned what remained of him after Yu Sheng and the others left the room.
• Yu Sheng reminded Luo that Long Hair was waiting to roast mushrooms, and he reassured her that they were friends as her mechanical limbs settled back into her body.

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.