Chapter Summaries

Lu Ban’s group entered the ruins and tracked a larger hunting party while Xiya detected hostile insects underground. Lu Ban encountered a strange, silent figure that might be the Saint’s Remains, and it reappeared behind Xiya as the group prepared to investigate the city center.

• Giant Arm and Flame Heart decided to let the other hunting party explore first, while Xiya detected sixteen people, camels, equipment, and hostile insects in the ruins.
• Lu Ban watched the hunters advance in separate groups and inferred that their formation was meant to protect them from both monsters and people.
• A white-clad, black-eyed figure appeared beside Lu Ban, mimicked his gestures, and vanished after a noise came from the hunters’ direction.
• Lu Ban told Xiya about the figure as the hunters headed toward a central plaza with an altar.
• The white-clad figure appeared again behind Xiya and stared at her.

Lu Ban saw a mysterious figure in white that Xiya could not detect, then the two headed toward the city center. At the altar, Iron Fist opened a passage underground in search of the Saint's Remains, and a scout found a door below.

• Lu Ban warned Xiya about a figure in white, but she could neither see it nor detect it with her Detection Spell.
• Lu Ban and Xiya suspected the figure was the Saint's Remains and decided to find the others.
• Iron Fist studied his map at the altar and explained that he was searching for the remains of the original Saints to save his city-state.
• Iron Fist's people poured human blood over the altar, causing it to sink and reveal a passage underground.
• Iron Fist saw a figure in white watching from the plaza stands, but it vanished before he could investigate.
• Two scouts descended into the passage and reported that they had found a door.

Lu Ban approached Iron Fist’s expedition in the city ruins and offered to cooperate in finding the treasure. He convinced Iron Fist that the invisible Saint's Remains stood beside him, and they agreed to work together.

• Lu Ban saw Wasteland Hunters uncover a pit in the city square and decided to join their exploration.
• Lu Ban introduced himself as Clown and offered Iron Fist a fifty-fifty partnership, then demonstrated his rapid healing by stabbing his hand.
• Lu Ban told Iron Fist that a Saint's Remains was standing beside him and described its appearance.
• Iron Fist accepted Lu Ban’s offer, and the two shook hands as comrades.

Lu Ban and Xiya joined Iron Fist’s group to explore the underground ruins, and Lu Ban asked for food before they entered. After learning the meal was made from insects, he finished it anyway; the group then opened the ruins’ main gate, where a white-clad figure vanished into the darkness.

• Lu Ban introduced Xiya as his companion, and Iron Fist accepted her into the group.
• Lu Ban asked Iron Fist’s group for food, and he and Xiya ate soup that the Faceless One said was made from insects.
• A scout reported that the group had opened the main gate, and Lu Ban followed Iron Fist into the underground hall.
• Iron Fist warned everyone not to disturb the supplies because they helped maintain a seal, while Xiya said she had surveyed less than a third of the vast maze.
• The white-clad figure passed through the main gate into the dark passage, and Lu Ban pointed out that it had gone inside.

Lu Ban and the others became trapped in an underground maze after blood activated the altar, and a supernatural force separated him from his companions. Alone in the passage, Lu Ban detected a room ahead and came face-to-face with the Saint's Remains.

• Iron Fist explained that the Saint's Remains was Achilles, a legendary warrior who remained active for decades after his death.
• Lu Ban theorized that the altar's tunnels were built to trap something and that the group might have become offerings when the blood activated the maze.
• The passage shook, sealed their route back, and snapped their guiding rope, so the group put out their torches and continued forward.
• Lu Ban noticed the group had grown unnaturally quiet and realized through True Sight that his companions had disappeared.
• Lu Ban used ultrasound to locate a room at the end of a descending passage, where he saw the Saint's Remains waiting for him.

Lu Ban followed the Saint's Remains through the underground labyrinth and found the rest of his team in a circular hall, where Xiya arrived after fighting bugs. The passages then sealed shut, and a blood-filled altar rose to reveal several eggs.

• Lu Ban offered the Saint's Remains an energy bar and asked it to help find his companions; it led him farther into the passage.
• Lu Ban studied murals depicting kings, Crystal Core Disease, and sacrifices meant to awaken the Underworld King.
• Lu Ban reached a circular hall and reunited with Iron Fist, Faceless, Echo, and Flash, while Xiya was still missing.
• Xiya emerged from a passage after fighting bugs and confirmed her identity with Lu Ban's handshake password.
• The team discovered that the hall was an altar, and stones blocked the passageways as a platform bearing several eggs rose from the blood pool.

Lu Ban, Xiya, Iron Fist, and Faceless found that the altar’s blood activated bug eggs and uncovered an immense underground egg-processing chamber. Iron Fist proposed following the conveyor route to find the bug queen, while Lu Ban questioned whether they should first clear the dangers below.

• Lu Ban asked Xiya to destroy the hatching eggs, and her spell blasted them apart after a short delay.
• A surviving bug stabbed Lu Ban in the throat, but grass grew from his wound and forced the creature out before it shriveled away.
• Iron Fist noticed the altar’s blood draining through a gap and said the ruins concealed something that could turn a person into a saint, guarded by the bug queen.
• Iron Fist smashed the altar, and Faceless’s subordinate Flash illuminated a vast chamber full of eggs and moving machinery below.
• Iron Fist suggested following the conveyor belts toward the bug queen, while Lu Ban asked whether they should clear the area first.

Giant Arm, Flame Heart, and Old Dream witnessed an insect swarm slaughter the Wasteland Hunters and fled with other survivors into the plaza pit. After sealing the entrance, Lu Ban’s group found a nest of larval sacs below, and Faceless froze it before they went down to investigate.

• Giant Arm and the others watched Lu Ban meet the enemy leader, then heard buzzing and saw bone spikes massacre the Wasteland Hunters in the plaza.
• A vast swarm of giant bugs attacked the camps and blocked the survivors’ escape, forcing Giant Arm, Flame Heart, and Old Dream to run toward the plaza.
• The survivors rushed into the pit together, and Giant Arm sealed its opening with a stone as the insect tide closed in.
• Lu Ban argued with Xiya about how to clear the tunnels, but Faceless used his cold-controlling ability to freeze the larval nest below.
• Faceless jumped into the pit, and the others prepared to follow him.

Lu Ban and his companions discovered a vast insect nest and fought their way through its swarm to reach the insect queen, who was bound in a mechanical cage. The Saint's Remains appeared and seemed to beckon Lu Ban closer, but the queen's behavior left him wondering if it was trying to court the Saint's Remains.

• Lu Ban stomped on the frozen larval sacs and tested a thawing worm before Faceless urged him to move on.
• Iron Fist broke through a wall, and bone spikes from inside the room killed Echo and Flash as Lu Ban glimpsed the insect queen and her nest.
• Faceless froze part of the swarm, and Iron Fist detonated his crystalline arm to cut through the insects.
• The surviving insects retreated as the Saint's Remains appeared among them, visible only to Lu Ban.
• Lu Ban approached the Saint's Remains and noticed its eyes resembled the queen's before the queen shifted her abdomen toward it.

Lu Ban faced the insect queen, which had lured him to its lair and wanted him to produce offspring, while he considered how to obtain the real Saint's Remains without endangering his companions. He offered the queen a pumpkin, and it repeated the word “Halloween.”

• Lu Ban realized Saint's Remains was an illusion created by the insect queen and suspected it had been manipulating people in the city and luring Wasteland Hunters to the ruins.
• Lu Ban considered using Last Words or a Speech Bullet against the insect queen, but worried that either approach would leave his companions vulnerable to the surrounding insects.
• Iron Fist and Faceless discussed whether to attack, while Iron Fist hesitated because the true Saint's Remains lay beneath the insect queen.
• Giant Arm and the other Wasteland Hunters arrived wounded, and Lu Ban told them the queen wanted to have children with him.
• Lu Ban gave the insect queen a pumpkin as a gift, demonstrated eating, and watched as it swallowed the pumpkin and said “Halloween.”

Lu Ban, Xiya, and their companions uncovered insect impostors among the Wasteland Hunters and destroyed the insect queen, allowing them to recover the Saint's Remains. As they prepared to leave the Otherworld, Old Dream began repeating “Halloween,” suggesting the influence had not ended.

• The insect queen and the insects in the hall began chanting “Halloween,” and Xiya realized they shared a connection.
• The Wasteland Hunters accompanying Giant Arm, including Iron Fist and Faceless, also repeated “Halloween,” revealing that they were insects disguised as humans.
• Xiya attacked the insect queen with her Void Burst Technique while Flame Heart burned the affected hunters, and the insect swarm turned on nearby creatures.
• Xiya struck the insect queen again, Giant Arm moved the stone coffin, and Lu Ban recovered the Saint's Remains from the skeleton inside.
• The group escaped the cave and blocked its entrance with rubble, but Old Dream suddenly began repeating “Halloween.”

Lu Ban and Xiya discovered that the Wasteland Hunters were insects whose human identities had been fabricated by the insect queen, and Xiya struggled to cope with the revelation. After Lu Ban helped snap her out of her distress, they completed their mission and returned, while a surviving insect crawled away through the city.

• Flame Heart realized he was an insect with false human memories, while Giant Arm accepted the truth and asked Lu Ban to let him die looking human.
• Xiya killed Giant Arm and freed the others, revealing that the hunters' human forms and identities had vanished, leaving only insects.
• Xiya suffered a loss of sanity after confronting the possibility that even her own identity could be fabricated, but Lu Ban startled her by pretending to say "Halloween" and then joking.
• Lu Ban told Xiya they could contact each other in The Silent Land and asked whether she knew Du Danping; she did not, and they returned from the mission.
• A smaller insect crawled out of the desert and struggled toward a corner of Nameless City as dawn rose.

After returning from Nameless City with the Saint's Remains, Lu Ban reflected on his incomplete task settlement and the mysteries of the wasteland. He used the Saint's Remains, Sigh of the Unfixed Mist, and Merciful Statue of the Black Mother to Sublimate Last Words, then discovered that the revolver had gained new abilities.

• Lu Ban received 11,000 Silence Points and the Nameless City career reward after completing the task with 80% exploration.
• Lu Ban compared the Saint's Remains with Momiji's crystal and wondered whether wasteland saints were similar to witches and what mysteries lay behind the Named Ones and Crystal Core Disease.
• Lu Ban decided to Sublimate Last Words using the three gathered materials and 50,000 Silence Points.
• The materials and Silence Points flowed into Last Words as the revolver transformed and inscriptions appeared on its barrel.
• Lu Ban felt the Sublimation reshape his body and mind, then recognized that Last Words had finished transforming and learned it had new abilities.

Lu Ban tested Last Words' new ability, discovering that it could repeat recorded movements and states, and used it to make Qin Tiantian fly into a flower bed. He then checked the requirements for Last Words' next essence extraction, which needed 200,000 Silence Points and three materials.

• Lu Ban replicated a clown's five-ball juggling routine with Last Words and earned money from onlookers.
• Lu Ban recorded a car's motion and used Last Words to race forward at car-like speed.
• Lu Ban fired Last Words at Qin Tiantian, sending her nearly ten meters into a flower bed, then walked with her back to their building.
• Lu Ban explained that Last Words could repeat states and actions for under ten seconds, and considered using it to force enemies to dance.
• Lu Ban opened Last Words' essence interface and saw that extraction required 200,000 Silence Points, a Lucky Charm, Crane's Song Ascension Chronicle, and Winter Wolf's Pale Heart.

Lu Ban reviewed the materials needed to refine his Last Words and decided to try Mutation difficulty on his next mission. His career task then required him to establish a cinematic universe and gain ten million followers within three months, so he began looking into how to do it.

• Lu Ban found that a Lucky Charm from Harmony Island and Crane's Song Ascension Chronicle were available for purchase, but Winter Wolf's Pale Heart was too rare and expensive for him to afford.
• Lu Ban considered the dangers and rewards of Mutation difficulty and decided to choose it for his next mission.
• Lu Ban checked his career task and discovered that he had to establish a cinematic universe and gain ten million followers.
• Lu Ban questioned how to connect his separate works and whether he needed to create a new account, then decided to search online for information.

Lu Ban decided to build a cinematic universe based on The Silent Land and its otherworldly monsters to draw attention and complete his Career Development Task. He organized the setting into an encyclopedia, commissioned an official website, launched social media accounts for The Silence Project, and planned to promote it with a short film based on Nameless City.

• Lu Ban researched cinematic universes and concluded that big promises could attract attention, though he refused to deceive investors.
• Lu Ban found an online post cataloging the monsters from his films and realized he could use The Silent Land as the foundation for a shared universe.
• Lu Ban organized the Ruined City setting and monster information into materials for an online encyclopedia.
• Lu Ban asked Li Zijian to connect him with a website outsourcing team and commissioned an official website.
• Lu Ban created accounts for The Silence Project and decided to turn Nameless City into a short film to promote it.

Lu Ban edited footage from the ruins into a short film and discovered that an insect queen had survived after he and Xiya escaped. He prepared for the midnight premiere of Crying, where he planned to announce a new project, and arrived to find Feng Yu waiting.

• Lu Ban reviewed the footage and found a surviving black insect crawling toward the ruins after he and Xiya had left.
• Lu Ban chose the insect's appearance as the short film's suspenseful ending.
• Lu Ban received the premiere schedule for Crying and decided to attend and announce his new project.
• Lu Ban tested his modified Speech Bullets, keeping a high-speed movement state and leaving one slot open for flexible use.
• Lu Ban arrived at Jiangcheng Plaza's giant-screen cinema for the premiere, where Feng Yu greeted him.

At the premiere of Crying, Lu Ban announced the Silence Project, a connected series of films and world-building that would launch at midnight. After the screening, Feng Yu invited him to return to the cinema in one week at midnight, hinting that he might see something.

• Lu Ban found Feng Yu at the premiere, where she said she was helping coordinate the event for the ordinary director she worked with.
• Lu Ban gave a brief speech before announcing the Silence Project and the free release of Nameless City at midnight.
• Lu Ban warned the audience that security guards were available to escort anyone afraid to go home alone.
• Lu Ban watched Crying beside Feng Yu and noticed her reacting emotionally to the film.
• Feng Yu asked Lu Ban what movie he would want to see before dying, then invited him to the cinema in one week at midnight.

As Wail opened nationwide, Lu Ban launched The Silence Project, a shared horror universe, and Bai Qiquan explored its website before starting its new film. The film began like a desert adventure, but Bai Qiquan soon realized he had underestimated it.

• Bai Qiquan saw a notification about Lu Ban's new project and followed its official account to the website.
• Bai Qiquan explored The Silence Project's description and encyclopedia, reading about its unsettling foreign realms and the Night Country.
• Bai Qiquan decided to watch the new film before returning to his studies.
• Bai Qiquan watched Lu Ban and a young woman cross a silver desert, where a giant insect emerged from the gravel.
• Bai Qiquan mistook the film for a classic treasure-hunting adventure before realizing he had been naive.

Bai Qiquan watched Lu Ban’s film and saw a mysterious figure in white and the explorers disappear one by one. As the film’s eerie events seemed to spill into the study room, Bai Qiquan spotted the figure standing in front of his desk.

• Bai Qiquan watched Lu Ban and his companions arrive at the ruins of an ancient desert city.
• Bai Qiquan saw a black-haired figure in white appear behind Lu Ban and Xiya, imitating Lu Ban’s movements.
• Bai Qiquan noticed that people in Lu Ban’s group vanished one by one without the others realizing it.
• Bai Qiquan saw a figure in white outside the study-room window, but the other students saw nothing.
• Bai Qiquan resumed watching as Lu Ban followed the figure and saw murals reveal scenes from the city’s past.
• Bai Qiquan looked up and saw the black-haired figure in white standing in front of his desk.