Chapter Summaries

After restoring dozens of Arkham Asylum patients by showing them films, Lu Ban left Miskatonic and returned to Jiangcheng. Days later, he saw that his mission in The Silent Land had been completed.

• Lu Ban submitted his film review to the judging committee and decided to leave Miskatonic without attending the awards ceremony.
• At breakfast, Lu Ban discussed fear and human understanding with a young man named Howard, who gave him his contact information before leaving for a film.
• Lu Ban bought souvenirs near Boston and flew back to Jiangcheng, while Bao Bao jumped into the sea and disappeared during the journey.
• Lu Ban brought Qin Tiantian foreign statues as souvenirs and returned home.
• A few days later, Lu Ban watched the Miskatonic Film Festival awards livestream and saw the mission requirements marked complete.

After settling the Arcane Web task, Lu Ban considered how to grow its influence and accepted a Glorious cooperative task called Budding, which would take him and one companion into a sea-related realm. Unsure what it meant to witness the budding, he bought a ten-pull of Madman's Knowledge before setting out.

• Lu Ban concluded that the Arcane Web’s low rating came from its limited knowledge and slow-growing influence, though its players had resisted corruption and become devoted followers.
• The Silent Land’s television display was disturbed and announced the Budding cooperative task, requiring one companion and offering no alternative task.
• Lu Ban accepted the task and read its objectives: witness the budding and survive.
• Lu Ban wondered whether the task involved planting something, then spent points on a ten-pull of Madman’s Knowledge.

Lu Ban entered The Silent Land after learning of a strange, ocean-covered world, and Bao Bao followed him into the mission. He found himself aboard a foul-smelling ship with Xiya, who warned him that the mission could kill him.

• Lu Ban crushed the skull and heard whispers describing a windless sea, mermaids, storms, monsters, and a mysterious call from the deep.
• Lu Ban prepared for the mission, ordered seeds, and invited Feng Yu and Bao Bao; Bao Bao agreed to come and appeared beside him.
• Lu Ban entered The Silent Land, and Bao Bao followed after making a mysterious promise to bring him back safely.
• Lu Ban arrived aboard a ship and found its cabin damp and foul-smelling, with fish soup and watered-down alcohol.
• Lu Ban went onto the deck, greeted Xiya at the bow, and heard her warn that the mission was very dangerous and he might die.

Lu Ban learned from Xiya that Du Danping had met his future self in the Wasteland, where Lu Ban had appeared severely contaminated, and decided he would eventually go there to find him. Bao Bao then joined them on deck and revealed that the sea was quiet because this Otherworld had no incarnation of hers yet.

• Xiya told Lu Ban that Du Danping had met his future self during her Wasteland mission and had described Lu Ban as near death from severe contamination.
• Xiya said Du Danping was searching for a way to resist contamination and save his world, but had withheld what the future Lu Ban told him.
• Lu Ban recognized that he would need to travel to the Wasteland to find Du Danping and complete the loop of fate.
• Bao Bao appeared on deck in shrine-maiden clothes and remarked that there were no other Old Ones on the quiet sea.
• Lu Ban explained to Xiya that Bao Bao was an incarnation of an Outer God.

Lu Ban and Xiya learned that the ship was searching for a legendary treasure in the Windless Belt, but Lu Ban discovered they were in an ancient version of Harmony Island. He realized their mission was to witness the Divine Cherry Tree’s budding, though the tree did not yet exist in this world.

• Xiya became wary after Lu Ban explained Bao Bao was an incarnation of an Outer God, and Lu Ban reassured her that Bao Bao was temporarily their companion.
• Lu Ban asked the sailors about their destination and learned that Captain Nagamasu was seeking the King of the Seven Seas’ treasure on an island in the Windless Belt.
• The captain and Axiang had never heard of Harmony Island, its Grand Shrine, the Divine Cherry Tree, Pure Fire, or the Corrupted Ones.
• Lu Ban inspected several sailors’ memories and confirmed that this was ancient Harmony Island, where people sailed during the Age of Exploration.
• Lu Ban realized that the mission’s budding referred to witnessing the Divine Cherry Tree’s budding.

Lu Ban and Xiya reasoned that their mission on uncontaminated Harmony Island was to witness the inevitable beginning of the Divine Cherry Tree and the Corrupted Ones. Xiya spoke with Axiang about his curiosity about the sea, while Lu Ban interrupted to ask whether the fish he had studied tasted good.

• Lu Ban concluded that the mission was to witness the Divine Cherry Tree's budding and possibly the birth of the Corrupted Ones.
• Xiya suggested that earlier factions had already clashed on Harmony Island, making the Corrupted Ones' arrival impossible to prevent.
• Xiya approached Axiang to ask how their wind-powered ship would travel through a windless zone and complimented his notes on fish.
• Axiang explained that he wanted to understand the sea, despite others believing that studying it was wrong.
• Xiya reflected that Axiang's curiosity could advance civilization or bring disaster, then Lu Ban asked whether the fish in Axiang's notes tasted good.

Lu Ban turned Axiang’s fish sketch into an excuse to go fishing, then tried to improve the ship’s bland food with new seasonings and braised fish. As Xiya, Axiang, and Bao Bao reacted to the dish, a cannon-like roar and a crowd’s commotion shook the ship.

• Axiang showed Lu Ban a sketch of a large, fast fish he had seen in the water, and Lu Ban proposed catching it to eat.
• Lu Ban wrote a promise of efficient fishing on a stick and caught a palm-sized Fanfish.
• Lu Ban made seasonings including soy sauce and pepper, then cooked the Fanfish in soy sauce for Xiya, Axiang, and Bao Bao to taste.
• Bao Bao and Lu Ban spat out the fish, while Xiya liked it and Axiang found its flavor too strong.
• A cannon-like roar and the voices of a crowd sounded outside, and the ship began to tremble.

Xiya stopped a pirate attack with invisible spheres of light, destroying one ship and forcing the others to surrender. Lu Ban was left eager to fight after the remaining pirates raised white flags.

• Xiya halted a cannonball aimed at the mainmast and spotted three pirate ships bearing down on the ship.
• Captain Nagamasu maneuvered the ship toward the pirates while their vessels spread out to encircle it.
• Xiya sent invisible spheres of light into the lead pirate ship, tearing apart its bow and then detonating its ammunition magazine.
• The lead pirate ship exploded, and its captain and crew tried to abandon it.
• Lu Ban prepared to attack, but the other two pirate ships stopped firing and raised white flags.

Lu Ban discovered the pirates’ base location from a prisoner’s memories, and Bao Bao killed the remaining pirates with her bewitching power. Captain Nagamasu and his crew were left stunned after every pirate died.

• Lu Ban questioned the captured pirates, but they refused to reveal their base because they feared being killed or punished by their own people.
• Lu Ban offered one pirate a chance to survive in exchange for the base’s location, then read the lead pirate’s memories and marked the island on the chart.
• Xiya said the pirates were no longer useful and ordered them thrown into the sea.
• A pirate grabbed Bao Bao as a hostage, but Bao Bao enchanted him into killing himself and then compelled the other pirates to do the same.
• Captain Nagamasu watched as the last pirate died, while Bao Bao licked her lips as though she had enjoyed a hearty meal.

Bao Bao forced Captain Nagamasu to lead the group to the pirates’ base, while Lu Ban and the others followed by ship. They reached the island, where Xiya struck the pirates guarding the harbor with an invisible magical arrow, leaving the harbor intact.

• After Bao Bao’s words drove the pirates into madness and they slaughtered one another, Nagamasu pledged to serve her.
• Bao Bao ordered Nagamasu to take the sailors aboard the remaining pirate ships and head for the base marked on Lu Ban’s map.
• Bao Bao cheered from the ship’s bow as Lu Ban and the others sailed after the faster pirate ships toward the island.
• Lu Ban spotted pirates and two ships at the island’s harbor, and repeated their vulgar conversation until Xiya told him to stop.
• At Axiang’s reminder to preserve the harbor, Xiya fired an invisible magical arrow that killed the nearby pirates while leaving the harbor undamaged.

Lu Ban and Bao Bao accompanied Axiang as he studied a tiny fiddler crab on the island where the crew was looting a pirate base. Axiang explained his curiosity about evolution, but Captain Nagamasu interrupted him with news that the crew had found a treasure map.

• Captain Nagamasu ordered the sailors to search the pirate base thoroughly while they sorted through its disorganized, often ruined loot.
• Axiang found a tiny fiddler crab on the beach and explained how its body had adapted to life in the gravel.
• Bao Bao transformed sand into an octopus-like creature, then crushed it when it crawled toward her sleeve.
• Axiang told Lu Ban that he wanted to study evolution and understand how humans and other creatures had changed over time.
• Captain Nagamasu called to Axiang from the dock and announced that the crew had found a treasure map.

Nagamasu and Axiang debated whether a treasure map pointing to an island in a vast Calm Belt was genuine, while Lu Ban and Xiya recognized the monsters drawn on it as signs of contamination. Lu Ban and Xiya decided to investigate the location to learn more about the contamination and the Divine Cherry Tree’s history.

• A navigator explained that the treasure map’s marked island lay about a week away in an uncharted region inside a vast Calm Belt where ships had vanished.
• Nagamasu insisted the map was authentic and tried to persuade Axiang that the dangerous waters meant the treasure remained undiscovered.
• Axiang questioned why the map had not been destroyed if the treasure was real, but Nagamasu argued that he and his companions were prepared for the Calm Belt.
• Nagamasu pointed out drawings of three strange monsters guarding the island, and Axiang began to reconsider after studying them.
• Lu Ban and the others recognized the creatures as contaminated monsters and concluded that they should investigate the island, even if they had to take a pirate ship.

Nagamasu and Axiang set sail with Lu Ban to follow the treasure map, while the sailors who stayed behind waited on the island. Lu Ban inspected Nagamasu’s alcohol-powered propeller and watched Axiang document the open sea’s luminous jellyfish and water whale.

• Nagamasu let some sailors remain on the island and agreed they could claim the ships and treasure if he did not return within a month.
• Nagamasu’s remaining crew sailed toward the map’s destination, and Lu Ban asked how they would cross the doldrums.
• Nagamasu showed Lu Ban and the others an alcohol-powered machine meant to propel the ship, and Lu Ban recognized that its design might have come from another world.
• Lu Ban found Axiang recording observations beside the rail and learned that the glowing jellyfish attracted fish and served as food for water whales.
• A water whale surfaced to eat the jellyfish, and Axiang described the sea’s food chain as Lu Ban reflected that contamination would eventually destroy these creatures on Harmony Island.

Lu Ban and the crew approached the Calm Belt, where Xiya discovered that its contamination gradually halted all movement. As the storm swept their ship across the boundary, Xiya opened her eyes inside the cabin.

• Lu Ban observed a massive storm gathering near the Calm Belt and saw lightning slow and fade after entering its still waters.
• Xiya tested the boundary with a magic arrow and determined that contamination gradually stopped movement.
• Xiya told Nagamasu to wait until night before entering the Calm Belt, and Nagamasu ordered the crew to furl the sails and clear the deck.
• A violent storm battered the ship as Nagamasu steered it toward the waves and Xiya waited below deck.
• At midnight, the storm swept the ship into the Calm Belt, and Xiya opened her eyes inside the cabin.

Nagamasu and Lu Ban sailed into the Calm Belt, where a steam engine’s noise drew a monstrous Great Serpent toward their ship. Lu Ban’s Speech Bullet drove the serpent mad, and the Calm Belt’s stillness froze it above the clouds as the crew continued onward and spotted an ornate ship ahead.

• Nagamasu entered the Calm Belt, tested its windless waters, and started the ship’s wine-powered steam engine.
• Lu Ban used True Sight to notice that movement and pollution would attract the Calm Belt’s monsters.
• A hundred-meter-long skeletal Great Serpent approached, and Lu Ban fired a Speech Bullet at it.
• The Great Being’s whisper drove the Great Serpent mad, and its loss of control over its supernatural power caused the Calm Belt to freeze it in midair.
• Axiang wondered whether ancient creatures or humans might have remained in the Calm Belt, and the crew spotted an ornate, brightly lit ship ahead.

Lu Ban and his companions boarded a passenger ship frozen in time within the Calm Belt and found its passengers preserved in the middle of a banquet. As they sampled the still-fresh food, Lu Ban realized they had taken more chicken legs than one chicken could have had.

• Xiya ordered the ship toward the enormous passenger ship while Axiang sketched the monstrous frozen serpent in the clouds.
• Bao Bao tempted Axiang with a tale that immortality came from abandoning humanity to embrace knowledge, but Lu Ban pulled her away and warned Axiang not to take her seriously.
• Lu Ban, Xiya, and Bao Bao boarded the passenger ship and found its passengers, musicians, food, and wine frozen in time.
• Xiya wondered whether removing the force affecting the ship could revive its passengers, while Lu Ban tasted the food and wine and concluded their time had truly stopped.
• Lu Ban shared roast chicken drumsticks with Xiya, Bao Bao, and Nagamasu, then realized they had eaten more legs than one chicken could have had.

Lu Ban and his companions discovered that time had begun flowing aboard a ship in the Calm Belt, causing its food and people to reveal their mutations. After Xiya vanished and Bao Bao offered help in exchange for emotional entertainment, Lu Ban began investigating the contaminated diner himself.

• Nagamasu vomited after eating the ship's food, while Lu Ban bit through a tentacle that had grown inside his mouth and Bao Bao pretended to die.
• Xiya concluded that their arrival had restarted time and ordered the sailors to return, but several vanished beneath a black shadow.
• Lu Ban used his Silver Pen to reveal that a seemingly ordinary diner had been mutated by contamination.
• Xiya disappeared without a trace, and Lu Ban threw Nagamasu back to his own ship for safety.
• Bao Bao offered outside assistance if Lu Ban found her chaotic emotions to enjoy, but he declined and touched the diner, whose flesh swelled as something burrowed out.

Lu Ban fought the mutated crew aboard the passenger ship and discovered that the Windless Belt’s time stagnation had delayed the effects of its contamination. After encountering a colossal monster that appeared at regular intervals, he used a clock made from cabin wood to measure its return, leaving the group with a window of 816.42 seconds.

• Lu Ban shot the diner and blasted the transforming dancers into the air before they could touch one another.
• Lu Ban concluded that the crew had been contaminated for a long time while time in the Windless Belt had halted the contamination’s effects.
• A huge black-mist monster seized Lu Ban, but silver light from one of its arms cut through the mist and returned him to reality.
• Lu Ban used Last Words to turn cabin wood into a clock, then escaped the monster when it appeared again.
• Lu Ban checked the clock and saw that its second hand had reached forty-three seconds.

Lu Ban explained how a monster trapped in the forty-second second of each minute preyed on people in the windless zone, and the crew avoided the haunted ships. As the ship sailed toward the treasure island, Axiang noticed something writhing between the gaps in Xiya’s armor.

• Lu Ban deduced that the black-fog monster appeared for one second each minute and had likely taken the missing sailors into its flow of time.
• Lu Ban and Xiya returned to Nagamasu’s vessel before the next forty-second second passed, and the monster did not appear.
• Xiya warned Nagamasu to avoid the abandoned ships, and Nagamasu told Axiang to record the missing sailors’ names so their families could receive their shares.
• Axiang saw that the stars had changed and learned that the ship would reach the treasure island after another day of sailing.
• Near dawn, Axiang approached the unresponsive Xiya and spotted something writhing between the gaps in her armor before she spoke to him.

Axiang saw the monstrous corruption beneath Xiya’s armor and learned that it was the price of knowing too much. After resting, he joined the others as they approached the island, where Lu Ban, Xiya, and Bao Bao went ashore to investigate.

• Axiang asked Xiya about her condition, and she showed him the corrupted flesh beneath her gauntlet.
• Xiya warned Axiang that pursuing knowledge could destroy his rationality and humanity, while Axiang argued that knowledge could benefit those who came after him.
• Xiya told Axiang to rest, and he slept until twilight before joining Xiya and Lu Ban for fish soup.
• Nagamasu spotted the island using the treasure map and agreed to stay aboard while Lu Ban, Xiya, and Bao Bao rowed ashore.
• Lu Ban stepped onto the island, and the frozen air around him began to flow.