Chapter Summaries

Lu Ban told Qin Tiantian that he had made a commercial blockbuster from his experiences in another world and persuaded her to watch a preview. After dinner, they settled in to watch the rough cut together.

• Qin Tiantian questioned Lu Ban about hiring so many people, and he said he was creating jobs in the film industry.
• Lu Ban reassured Qin Tiantian that Silent Media's films could expand her fanbase, though she worried about being associated with horror movies.
• Lu Ban claimed he had traveled to another world and made a movie from his experiences, and Qin Tiantian agreed to preview it after dinner.
• Lu Ban and Qin Tiantian cleaned up, went to her home, and opened the video file titled "Rough Cut, Rough Cut, Rough Cut, Rough Cut."

Qin Tiantian watched Lu Ban’s short film trailer and was shocked by its scenes of archers, monstrous wolves, a gruesome death, and a cavalry charge. Lu Ban explained the extensive post-production work still needed and revealed plans for a worldwide release with a five-billion earnings goal, leaving Qin Tiantian stunned by his wealth.

• Qin Tiantian watched Lu Ban’s trailer, which showed soldiers battling a living forest, savage silver-gray wolves, a man killed by his shadow, and knights charging monsters.
• Qin Tiantian asked what happened next, and Lu Ban explained that he was still working on the film and had only just created a new folder.
• Lu Ban showed Qin Tiantian the original archery footage and explained how depth of field, filters, and post-production gave the edited version a more cinematic feel.
• Lu Ban told Qin Tiantian that the increasingly complex film required more people and that finishing it would normally take three or four months.
• Lu Ban said he planned a simultaneous worldwide release and aimed to earn five billion, leaving Qin Tiantian amazed and worried that their wealth would make it hard to stay friends.
• Lu Ban assured Qin Tiantian that he did not choose friends based on money, and she lightly kicked him.

Bai Qiquan arrived at Lu Ban’s company and met the unfamiliar employees hired for the next film, then signed an employment contract with extensive accident insurance. Lu Ban explained that the core effects were already done and led the staff to the screening room to review the footage.

• Bai Qiquan arrived early at the empty company, where several other new employees gradually showed up.
• Lu Ban arrived with Qin Tiantian, put her at the front desk, and distributed employment contracts to the staff.
• Bai Qiquan noticed that his contract’s accident insurance covered bizarre disasters and injuries, and Lu Ban said the clauses were precautions for unpleasant work.
• Lu Ban told the new hires that the film was expected to release worldwide within the next year and that its core post-production work was already complete.
• Lu Ban led the staff toward the screening room to show them the original footage and effects.

Lu Ban showed his newly hired post-production staff nearly finished footage and explained that they would handle only final cleanup. He then met AMC manager Thomas Lee to discuss securing overseas theaters for his next film.

• Lu Ban showed the staff sample footage and raw clips that were already close to finished.
• Bai Qiquan asked whether the staff only needed to handle miscellaneous post-production tasks, and Lu Ban confirmed it.
• Lu Ban arranged for the new employees to get acquainted and provided housing for those who needed it.
• Lu Ban went to meet AMC manager Thomas Lee and brought discs of his previous two films as gifts.

Lu Ban and Thomas Lee failed to agree on the release window and profit split for Lu Ban’s next film. After watching Crying, Thomas Lee admitted the film’s horror could appeal to overseas audiences and prepared to watch Lu Ban’s second film.

• Lu Ban and Thomas Lee disagreed over releasing Lu Ban’s film during Christmas and over the theater chain’s share of profits and screening allocations.
• Thomas Lee considered Lu Ban’s work while worrying that Chinese films were increasingly difficult to sell to Western audiences.
• Thomas Lee watched Crying and was so frightened that he froze on the sofa and wet himself.
• After recovering, Thomas Lee recognized the film’s unusual horror experience could help Lu Ban succeed overseas.
• Thomas Lee decided to watch Lu Ban’s second film, changing into swim trunks before returning to the player.

Lu Ban finalized plans with Thomas Lee to bring his films to theaters, then Feng Yu visited Silent Media and asked to be considered for work. The chapter left Lu Ban, Feng Yu, and Qin Tiantian heading out to dinner while his employees speculated about their relationships.

• Thomas Lee praised Lu Ban's horror films and asked to import them along with Lu Ban's earlier works.
• Lu Ban agreed to the import deal, keeping the original revenue split and securing a minimum screening share of five percent.
• As Silent Media employees worked on Demon Tide in the Night Country clips, Lu Ban urged them to balance work and rest.
• Feng Yu visited Silent Media, asked Lu Ban about working there, and invited him to dinner.
• Qin Tiantian joined the dinner plans, and Lu Ban let the employees leave early before the college entrance examination.

Lu Ban celebrated his birthday with Qin Tiantian and Feng Yu, then discussed how knowledge and pollution were linked in the Otherworld. Feng Yu revealed that uncovering The Silent Land’s true purpose had cost her dearly, showing Lu Ban the monstrous mouth that now occupied her chest.

• Feng Yu reminded Lu Ban that it was his birthday, and he and Qin Tiantian realized he had forgotten it.
• Lu Ban, Qin Tiantian, and Feng Yu shared a birthday dinner, where Feng Yu asked about his plans to screen his film overseas.
• After taking Qin Tiantian home, Lu Ban walked with Feng Yu and discussed how knowledge increased pollution and power in the Otherworld.
• Lu Ban asked whether The Silent Land sought to deepen pollution in the Otherworld, and Feng Yu said its deeper reason involved extremely profound pollution.
• Feng Yu revealed the huge, tentacled mouth and watching eyes that had replaced her chest after she verified the truth.

Lu Ban learned that Feng Yu's species endured contamination by replacing their bodies, and Feng Yu invited him to investigate a ghost ship in the Western Pacific. The chapter left them preparing to travel together to examine the Starry Sky, a cruise ship that had sunk but was now appearing at sea.

• Feng Yu explained that she had suffered some contamination and might eventually replace her current body, though she could not directly tell Lu Ban more about her species.
• Feng Yu invited Lu Ban to travel to the Western Pacific at the beginning of July so she could show him what she had learned.
• Feng Yu told Lu Ban that fishermen had reported seeing a ghost ship resembling the sunken Starry Sky, surrounded by fog and storms, while fishing boats and fishermen had gone missing.
• Feng Yu revealed that she had boarded the ghost ship herself and believed it had become an aberration of The Silent Land.
• Lu Ban agreed to arrange the trip, and Feng Yu looked forward to their first journey together.

Lu Ban investigated the sinking of the Stars and found evidence that supernatural forces and strange island rituals had affected the ship and its crew. Captain Johnson Gustav claimed something had been born when the ship sank and was coming soon, and he later died by drowning himself.

• Lu Ban read the investigation report and rewatched archived footage showing strange, nonhuman-looking buildings amid the storm.
• Lu Ban compared conflicting interviews in which Zhao Liren, passengers, and crew described the captain and the crew's behavior differently.
• Johnson Gustav said the storm had distressed the crew and described strange islanders, statues, and a damaged temple on Pohnpei Island.
• Johnson Gustav claimed something rose from the burning Stars, declared that the stars had come and would arrive soon, and became hysterical.
• Lu Ban learned that Johnson Gustav later drowned himself in a washbasin, with his hands twisted behind his head.

Lu Ban and Feng Yu traveled from Jiangcheng to Pohnpei Island, where they planned to investigate the mysterious Star Cluster incident and the island’s ancient ruins. As Lu Ban settled in for the flight, Feng Yu warned him that something was wrong with the plane.

• Lu Ban researched the Star Cluster incident and found high rates of mental breakdowns, self-harm, and suicide among those involved, along with confusing reports about a ghost ship.
• Lu Ban studied Pohnpei Island’s Nan Madol ruins, their enormous stone structures, and the legends surrounding their construction.
• Lu Ban packed for the trip, asked Qin Tiantian to watch over everyone, and met Feng Yu at Jiangcheng Airport.
• Airport staff noticed a crowbar in Lu Ban’s checked luggage and a suona in his backpack, but allowed him to continue.
• Lu Ban and Feng Yu boarded their first-class flight toward Pohnpei Island, transferring through Guam.
• After Lu Ban lay down to nap, Feng Yu entered his compartment and quietly told him that something was wrong with the plane.

Lu Ban and Feng Yu discovered that their plane had become an empty, old-fashioned aircraft haunted by an anomaly. They found masses of flesh with countless eyes pouring from the overhead compartments, and Lu Ban was engulfed as his attack failed to stop them.

• Lu Ban and Feng Yu searched the empty plane and found signs of bloodshed throughout its old-fashioned cabins.
• Feng Yu proposed that they could escape by reaching the plane’s destination and warned that the anomaly would create threats.
• Feng Yu opened the last overhead compartment and revealed a mass of flesh covered in countless eyes.
• Lu Ban fired a Speech Bullet at the flesh, but the Great Being’s muttering only seemed to excite it.
• The flesh surged through the cabin, and Lu Ban’s counterattack briefly scattered it before more flesh filled his view and blocked Feng Yu from sight.

Lu Ban survived the plane’s strange phenomenon after a Hound took an interest in him and joined his party. The plane landed safely on a Pacific island, where Lu Ban and Feng Yu prepared to explore the ruins and the Hound reappeared beside him.

• Lu Ban watched the flesh around him vanish and saw it transform into a Hound that eagerly sought his affection.
• Feng Yu explained that Hounds belonged to a powerful Outer God, hunted time travelers, and could move through narrow spaces and across time.
• Lu Ban let the Hound stay with him, and it hid as smoke beneath a seat while the plane returned to normal.
• Feng Yu said the Hound had made time unimportant, and the plane landed safely at its destination ahead of schedule.
• Lu Ban stepped onto a hot Pacific island, spotted ancient ruins, and saw the Hound reappear in the form of a corgi with a huge eye.

Lu Ban and Feng Yu stayed on Pohnpei Island while waiting for changes expected in two nights, and Lu Ban learned that Hound could travel through time by stealing it from people. After two days inspecting Nan Madol and observing Hound’s nightly disappearances, they heard that a typhoon was approaching the island.

• Lu Ban fed Hound some tuna while he and Feng Yu discussed Hound’s time-travel abilities and another dangerous way to travel through time.
• Feng Yu said Pohnpei Island would undergo changes in two nights, so she and Lu Ban rented a double room and explored Nan Madol’s ruins.
• Lu Ban named Hound Laika and noticed that it turned into black mist and vanished each night before returning later.
• Two days later, Lu Ban and Feng Yu saw a television report announcing that a typhoon was coming to Pohnpei Island.

As a powerful typhoon battered Pohnpei Island, Lu Ban witnessed the islanders worshipping the glowing Nan Madol ruins and saw three people appear there in a lightning strike. Feng Yu urged him to go to the ruins, leaving their next move unresolved.

• Lu Ban called Qin Tiantian and checked that the employees were working before the typhoon cut off their signal.
• The storm devastated the island, and Lu Ban saw the Nan Madol ruins glowing as their buildings seemed to multiply.
• Feng Yu asked Lu Ban if he could hear whispers, and he discovered the innkeeper bowing and praying toward the ruins.
• Lu Ban saw the islanders worshipping the ruins as lightning struck their center and three people appeared.
• Feng Yu pointed toward the ruins and said they were going.

Lu Ban followed Feng Yu into a restored tomb, where she merged with him and let him perceive the world through True Sight. Seeing the three intruders’ true nature nearly destroyed him, but Feng Yu repaired his body, and he learned that the Silent Land’s Chosen were both chosen and not chosen because there was more than one god.

• Lu Ban and Feng Yu followed the three strangers’ footprints to a king’s tomb in the Nan Madol ruins.
• Feng Yu merged into Lu Ban and made the rain and light avoid him, leaving him to see through True Sight.
• Lu Ban saw the tomb’s eldritch nature and recognized the three intruders as Chosen of the Gods who were also not Chosen of the Gods.
• The revelation ruptured Lu Ban’s organs, but Feng Yu used her power to repair his body.
• Lu Ban understood that the Silent Land had more than one god.

Lu Ban recognized that “Silence” pointed to a Great Being, and the knowledge nearly killed him before Feng Yu repaired his body. After Lu Ban recovered, Feng Yu warned that the others were nearing the temple’s depths.

• Lu Ban connected his Silent Chosen title to Silence and perceived a distant, impossible nebula that revealed knowledge of a Great Being.
• The knowledge damaged Lu Ban’s brain and body, causing him to collapse as his blood boiled and his nerves burned.
• Feng Yu used silvery smoke to repair Lu Ban’s body, then restored his consciousness.
• Feng Yu explained that she had separated Lu Ban’s soul from his body during the repair and said his soul had made it possible.
• Feng Yu said she had memorized Lu Ban’s scent and would retrieve and possess his corpse if he died in a foreign realm.
• Feng Yu reminded Lu Ban that the others were nearing the depths of the temple.

Lu Ban descended through the mausoleum and learned from Feng Yu that other gods had their own Chosen Ones, who could become his enemies. He reached an ancient city inside the typhoon’s eye and discovered three otherworldly Chosen Ones aboard the Starry Skies, apparently planning to break a seal.

• Lu Ban asked Feng Yu about Silence, other gods, and whether their Chosen Ones might oppose him, and she confirmed they could be enemies.
• Lu Ban descended past murals that shifted from ancient rituals to images of the Deep Sea and distant stars.
• Lu Ban passed through a bright opening and found a sunlit city at the center of the typhoon’s eye.
• Lu Ban recognized the rust-covered ship as the Starry Skies and heard a four-eyed man say they needed to reach the island and break a seal before the storm arrived.
• Lu Ban saw a bandage-wrapped creature and a merman aboard the ship, and realized the three beings were likely other gods’ Chosen Ones.

Lu Ban secretly followed three Chosen of the Gods aboard a ghost ship as they searched for a way to reach the island temple and undo the seal on an Unnamable Great Being. When Lu Ban accidentally collided with the fishman, the fishman was thrown aside, but the Bandaged Man found nothing there.

• Lu Ban learned that the Bandaged Man, the fishman, and Four-Eyes had been sent on an Aberration-difficulty mission to undo a seal in the island's temple.
• Feng Yu warned Lu Ban that a monster from another domain lurked aboard the ship and told him to avoid complete darkness.
• The Bandaged Man and the fishman went into the ship to inspect its power system, while Four-Eyes stayed on deck and Lu Ban followed them.
• After they entered a dark corridor filled with rooms that seemed recently occupied, the Bandaged Man stopped because he sensed something ahead.
• Lu Ban bumped into the fishman, who was thrown into the wall, but the Bandaged Man searched the spot and found nothing.

Lu Ban and Feng Yu secretly followed Bandaged Man and the fishman aboard the Starbound, while Four-Eyes worried that the Aberration mission was suspiciously easy. The mission remained stalled by the storm as Four-Eyes spotted a mass of flesh and blood on the ship.

• Bandaged Man searched the Starbound’s captain’s cabin, saw Lu Ban’s face in a mirror, and investigated strange noises without finding anyone.
• Feng Yu admitted she had briefly dropped Lu Ban’s invisibility to startle Bandaged Man, and Lu Ban worried about Laika’s disappearance.
• Four-Eyes read the mission requirements to enter the temple and break the seal, then questioned why the Aberration mission had been so easy.
• Four-Eyes spotted what looked like a mass of flesh and blood moving across the distant deck.

Lu Ban followed Feng Yu and the others to the engine room, where Shadow Demons lurked in the darkness, and considered how to end the threat permanently. As they entered the danger zone, he deduced that the Silent Land’s missions were reconstructed scenarios used to uncover knowledge—and that this knowledge was the real purpose behind them.

• Lu Ban learned from Feng Yu that Shadow Demons moved only in complete darkness and hunted by surrounding prey until it died.
• Lu Ban proposed turning creatures from other realms into ingredients and marketing them to spread pollution, leaving Feng Yu speechless.
• Feng Yu insisted that Lu Ban had to resolve the threat at the engine room because the storm could keep bringing more Chosen of the Gods to the ship.
• Lu Ban reasoned that the Silent Land placed Chosen of the Gods into fixed scenarios that had to follow rules and might overwrite history when someone succeeded.
• Lu Ban concluded that powerful beings used the scenarios to obtain hidden knowledge, which polluted the Chosen of the Gods and served as the Silent Land’s true purpose.