Chapter Summaries

Ling Chu avoided fighting the Mechanical Fortress Ship and negotiated with Engineering Men Have No Love for two hydraulic howitzers in exchange for sulfur. After they signed a System Contract and she sent the sulfur, he agreed to deliver the cannons within three days.

• Engineering Men Have No Love prepared to activate the hydraulic grenade launcher, but the Ghost Ship turned away and left the area.
• Ling Chu chose to avoid the Mechanical Fortress Ship, suspecting its reinforced hull plates concealed powerful weapons and deciding not to risk a fight before the next disaster.
• Ling Chu sent Engineering Men Have No Love a friend request and asked whether he had cannons, offering sulfur for cannon blueprints.
• Engineering Men Have No Love refused to sell the blueprints and offered completed hydraulic howitzers, which Ling Chu inspected and found powerful but costly in ship durability.
• Ling Chu negotiated two hydraulic howitzers for one hundred jin of sulfur, and Engineering Men Have No Love agreed to deliver them within three days.
• Ling Chu and Engineering Men Have No Love signed a System Contract, and she sent him the sulfur.

Ling Chu received a Hydraulic Howitzer from Engineering Guy and installed one on the Ghost Ship, then tested its firepower at sea. The cannon performed powerfully, and Ling Chu went below deck to inspect its hydraulic system.

• Engineering Guy traded Ling Chu an extra hundred jin of sulfur and later delivered the two Hydraulic Howitzers as promised.
• National Server Little Luban described the completed city wall’s fish-skin-and-shell mortar, while he and Mickey Meow Witch recovered from their exhausting work.
• Ling Chu installed one Hydraulic Howitzer at the Ghost Ship’s bow, saving the second until the ship reached Level 7.
• Ling Chu loaded the cannon with mana stones and shells, then fired ten rounds that blasted towering columns of water into the sea.
• The Skeleton Henchmen and crew praised the cannon’s power, and Ling Chu went below deck to inspect its hydraulic system.

As Hope Island prepared for a natural disaster, a system announcement revealed that the disaster was Eerie Fog, and Ling Chu used the Ghost Lantern Figurehead to restore some visibility around the ship. The fog then disabled players’ maps, coordinates, and tracking skills, leaving their ships unable to navigate normally.

• Ling Chu finished preparing her cannons, trained her crew, and withheld teleportation tickets as the disaster approached.
• As fog thickened around the ship, Squid Ball used a pendulum to predict great misfortune, and Ling Chu sensed that something was wrong.
• The system announced that Eerie Fog would descend in ten minutes, and Ling Chu installed the Ghost Lantern Figurehead on the bow.
• The figurehead’s green light parted the fog enough to restore visibility to about a hundred meters around the ship.
• Players discovered that maps, coordinates, and tracking skills had stopped working in the fog.

Crispy Shark faced backlash after his acid-rain prediction proved wrong, while a monstrous being and its creatures emerged from the Forbidden Sea’s Trench. The Weird Fog Disaster descended, leaving Ling Chu’s Ghost Ship with only a small illuminated safe zone as Clumsy Bear feared what might be lurking outside.

• Players cursed Crispy Shark in Public Chat after he disclaimed responsibility for his failed acid-rain prediction, and he shut off the channel.
• A voice in the Forbidden Sea’s Trench announced that Liberation Day had arrived and sent wraiths and other creatures toward the ocean.
• A colossal giant made of countless pale arms crawled out of the Trench and passed through a barrier.
• Ling Chu inspected the cannon’s hydraulic system during the ten-minute countdown, then returned to the cabin as the Weird Fog Disaster fully descended.
• Ling Chu found that her coordinates were garbled and the Marauder’s Map was mostly blank, though a small safe zone moved with the Ghost Ship, which she guessed came from the Ghost Lantern Figurehead.
• Clumsy Bear watched the fog through a porthole and worried that a terrifying creature might emerge.

A Drowned disguised itself as Squid Ball and nearly suffocated Clumsy Bear before Ling Chu killed it. The monster’s corpse revealed that a creature from the Calamity of Strange Mist had reached the Ghost Ship, leaving Ling Chu wary of further danger.

• A Skeleton Henchman heard a cry for help and alerted the crew that someone had fallen overboard.
• Clumsy Bear pulled a figure he believed was Squid Ball from the water and covered her with his coat.
• Ling Chu recognized the figure as a threat and warned Clumsy Bear to move away.
• The Drowned attacked Clumsy Bear, but Ling Chu stabbed and killed it with her Dagger.
• Ling Chu identified the monster as a Drowned from the Calamity of Strange Mist, while Clumsy Bear recovered from its suffocating grip.

After a Drowned attacked Clumsy Bear, Ling Chu secured her ship and stood watch while strange breathing lingered beneath the fog. Reports of a lone player vanishing in the Public Chat prompted Zhen Qingshan to share ways to hide from the ghosts.

• Lingering Wind and Fading Moon examined Clumsy Bear, found mental trauma, gave him a sleep aid, and sent him to rest.
• Ling Chu warned the crew to stay inside, fortified the deck with iron caltrops and Ghost Thorn, and took watch against creatures lurking beneath the sea.
• Ling Chu asked Give You a Dalieba about Hope Island, then warned the allies to keep away from the shore and not open the city gates.
• Balabala Bu reported knocking at his cabin and porthole before falling silent, causing panic in the Public Chat.
• Zhen Qingshan explained that ghosts craved fresh souls and shared a method of sealing a living person's aura with cinnabar or blood and a line at the cabin entrance.

Ling Chu watched players discover that fish blood could expose the Drowned, then witnessed Edmund's defenders repel a horde that tried to trick them into opening the city gates. The Drowned were dangerous up close and through deception, but vulnerable to ranged attacks.

• Zhen Qingshan told players where to smear blood, and Balabala Bu reported that fish blood drove a Drowned away from his window.
• Flying Mouse spotted a lighthouse in the fog and went to investigate, but stopped responding.
• Ling Chu watched A Silly Bird livestream a crowd of more than a hundred Drowned approaching a walled city.
• The Drowned mimicked Edmund's dead relatives and people familiar to Give You a Dalieba, nearly convincing Edmund to open the gates.
• Give You a Dalieba shook Edmund out of the deception, and Edmund ordered the ballista operators to fire.
• The defenders killed the Drowned with repeated volleys, and Ling Chu realized that groups could expose their deception and defeat them from a distance.

Ling Chu bought candles and Nether Pearls from the updated system shop as Drowned attacked Hope Island again. Edmund’s defenders defeated the horde, and Ling Chu set rules for sharing future monster drops to keep the island’s players united.

• Ling Chu noticed the system shop’s new white candles, red candles, and Nether Pearls, then bought ten of each candle and exchanged for ten pearls.
• More than two hundred Drowned emerged from the sea and advanced toward Hope Island’s walls.
• Edmund ordered the ballistas and archers to fire, and the defenders killed the Drowned by striking their heads.
• Give You a Dalieba collected two Nether Pearls dropped by the dead Drowned and traded them to Ling Chu.
• Ling Chu told Give You a Dalieba that players could keep drops from monsters they killed, while drops from monsters killed by ballistas or citizens should go to her.

Ling Chu’s defenders killed a second wave of Drowned, and players learned they could keep loot from monsters they killed. After the assault seemed over, Drowned infiltrated Ling Chu’s ship through a torn fishing net, but she and the Skeleton Henchmen stopped them.

• The ballistae and players killed more than four hundred Drowned, and Dalieba returned a player’s Nether Pearl while announcing that players kept loot from monsters they killed.
• The players and townspeople recovered arrows and hauled away the corpses after no more Drowned emerged from the sea.
• Ling Chu heard heavy footsteps on her ship and found five Drowned attacking her crew, one of which tore off Skeleton Henchman’s head.
• Ling Chu shot three Drowned with Storm Arrows, and the Skeleton Henchmen killed the remaining two.
• Ling Chu discovered a Drowned climbing aboard through a hole in an Automatic Fishing Net, killed it, and ordered the Skeleton Henchmen to put away the nets and fishing platforms.
• Ling Chu found that the Drowned she killed had dropped a Nether Pearl and credited her high Luck stat for the unusually good drop rate.

Ling Chu and her crew repelled the Drowned attacking their ship, then gathered for dinner after the danger seemed to pass. A system alert announced that Flying Mouse had failed to crack the Whispering Lighthouse and that the mist monster had become the Executioner, while a scraping sound began outside.

• Ling Chu used Undead Empathy to turn Max around and help him kill a Drowned that had lunged at his back.
• After half an hour, the remaining Drowned withdrew from the ship, and Ling Chu told the crew they could leave their rooms.
• You Jiali cooked dumplings for the hungry crew, easing their tension as they ate together.
• The system announced three times that Flying Mouse had failed to crack the Whispering Lighthouse and that the mist monster had updated to Executioner.
• Huang Xiaowen and the others grew vigilant as metallic scraping sounded outside the cabin, and Ling Chu recalled that Flying Mouse had entered the lighthouse seeking treasure.

Ling Chu and the crew fought Tier 5 Executioners that could evade physical attacks by turning into black mist. After discovering that the exposed arms connecting their cloaks to their blades were vulnerable, Ling Chu struck one and made it disperse.

• The Executioners climbed aboard the ship, evaded Ghost Thorn's vines, and attacked the Skeleton Henchmen.
• An Executioner used Judgment Slash to cut a Skeleton Henchman in half, and Eyepatch revealed the monsters' skills and weaknesses.
• Ling Chu used Keen Eye to identify the pale arms linking the Executioners' cloaks and blades as weak points.
• Peter struck an Executioner's exposed arm, knocking off its blade but leaving it able to fight with its other arm.
• As more Executioners reached the deck, Ling Chu ordered the crew to support Squid Ball's Star Drawing Technique and attacked an already wounded Executioner.
• Ling Chu severed the Executioner's remaining arm, causing its black-mist form to disperse.

Ling Chu, You Jiali, Huang Xiaowen, Lingering Wind and Fading Moon, Clumsy Bear, and Squid Ball fought the Executioners aboard the ship, and Squid Ball’s Star Drawing Technique proved especially effective against them. After the crew reduced the attackers to ten, two Executioners sacrificed themselves to launch their swords at Squid Ball, leaving Lingering Wind and Fading Moon in the path of one blade.

• Ling Chu and You Jiali disabled Executioners by severing their blade arms and paralyzing them with electricity, while Huang Xiaowen froze one with her Ice Crystal Dagger.
• Squid Ball overcame the fog’s interference and used Star Drawing Technique to vaporize the Executioners with beams of starlight.
• The crew steadily reduced the Executioners to ten, and the remaining attackers recognized Squid Ball as their greatest threat.
• Two Executioners detached their swords and dissolved, sending four blades toward Squid Ball in a final attack.
• Huang Xiaowen swapped one sword with a piece of shipboard, and Clumsy Bear punched another aside, but a third sword flew toward Lingering Wind and Fading Moon.

Ling Chu saved Squid Ball from an Executioner's blade but suffered a severe hand wound, then killed the remaining Executioners aboard the ship. After her companions treated her injury, she encouraged Squid Ball to train harder and collected the fallen weapons.

• Ling Chu caught an Executioner's metal cleaver with her bare hand to protect Squid Ball, cutting her palm.
• Ling Chu used her skills and the Blade of White Bones to kill the remaining Executioners on the deck.
• Lingering Wind and Fading Moon bandaged Ling Chu's wound and gave her an Intermediate Life Potion to restore her health.
• Squid Ball blamed herself for Ling Chu's injury, and Ling Chu told her to train harder and react faster next time.
• You Jiali returned to the kitchen, while Ling Chu had Skeleton Henchman collect the fallen broadswords.

After defeating fifty Executioners, Ling Chu distributed their blades, repaired the Ghost Ship, and shared the monsters’ weakness with other players. As deaths mounted, she concluded that the Whispering Lighthouse was not the only place like it and began considering the wider danger.

• Ling Chu gave the Executioner Blades to Titch to inventory and distribute, then used a Ship Repair Kit to restore the Ghost Ship.
• Ling Chu read Public Chat Channel messages and realized most players faced only one or two Executioners, while her group had been targeted by fifty.
• A Silly Bird reported that Hope Island was safe, and Ling Chu warned its allies to stay alert for an attack.
• Ling Chu told players that severing an Executioner’s arm at the cloak-and-blade connection would make it drop its weapons and die, and advised them to avoid close combat.
• Ling Chu noticed that more than five thousand players had died in an hour and told her crew there had to be more places like the Whispering Lighthouse.

Ling Chu realized that successfully solving the Whispering Lighthouse’s riddle might stop more monsters from appearing, and she contacted Flying Mouse to learn what had happened. After getting Flying Mouse’s coordinates, Ling Chu turned the Ghost Ship toward the lighthouse to rescue her.

• Ling Chu and the crew concluded that solving the lighthouse riddle might reverse the monster releases.
• Ling Chu sent Flying Mouse a friend request, and Flying Mouse accepted and explained that she was trapped inside the Whispering Lighthouse after failing its timed challenge.
• Flying Mouse shared her pre-fog coordinates, and Ling Chu estimated that the lighthouse was within a day’s travel of the Ghost Ship.
• Ling Chu promised to reach Flying Mouse, and the skeletons turned the Ghost Ship toward her coordinates through the fog.

Ling Chu and the others shared a lavish breakfast meant to support her injured hand before sailing to the Whispering Lighthouse. They found the lighthouse in the fog, but its appearance above water despite the ocean’s extreme depth raised new questions.

• You Jiali prepared a feast of meat dishes for Ling Chu, and Lingering Wind and Fading Moon explained how the foods could support wound healing.
• Ling Chu’s injured hand had begun to heal, though she worried it might hinder her when she faced the Whispering Lighthouse’s riddle.
• At midnight, Ling Chu guided the Ghost Ship to Flying Mouse’s coordinates, but the lighthouse was initially nowhere to be seen in the dense fog.
• A Skeleton Henchman spotted a light, and Ling Chu ordered the Ghost Ship toward it until they reached a lighthouse on a tiny rocky island.
• Huang Xiaowen questioned how the lighthouse could stand above water so deep that the ship’s three-hundred-meter anchor could not reach the seafloor.

Ling Chu and her five crew members entered the Whispering Lighthouse to begin its puzzle challenge, and she managed to slip four Skeletons inside before the door closed. The group found themselves in a towering chamber covered with more than a thousand armed human silhouettes, and Ling Chu contacted Flying Mouse as the Skeletons recovered from their rough entry.

• Ling Chu knocked the bronze ring three times, opening the lighthouse and learning that it had two challenge attempts remaining and allowed up to six challengers.
• Ling Chu sent Clumsy Bear to fetch Titch, Emily, Raphael, and Peter, then ordered Titch to get them inside after the crew entered.
• Peter, Emily, Raphael, and Titch squeezed through the closing door, but Titch lost a thigh bone outside.
• Ling Chu used Repair and Disassemble to fit Titch with a replacement leg bone.
• Ling Chu and the others saw that the lighthouse chamber was lined with more than a thousand armed human silhouettes, and she messaged Flying Mouse to ask where he was.

Ling Chu and the others began the Soul-Subduing Tower’s weapon-matching puzzle, only to discover that matching a weapon to a wall silhouette brought it to life. The newly awakened armored figure attacked Huang Xiaowen, and Skeleton Peter intercepted its spear strike.

• Flying Mouse told Ling Chu that she was trapped in a separate, pitch-black space as the puzzle challenge began.
• A platform carrying a huge assortment of Soul Blades descended into the lighthouse, and Ling Chu confirmed that ordinary humans could not wield them at full power.
• Lingering Wind and Fading Moon, You Jiali, and Huang Xiaowen helped deduce that the group had to match weapons to the wall silhouettes, while Ling Chu warned that a wrong match would activate one.
• The group sorted the weapons, and Squid Ball selected a spear that matched a silhouette; the spear floated into place and caused the silhouette to emerge from the wall.
• The awakened armored figure thrust its spear at Huang Xiaowen, who swapped places with Skeleton Peter, and Peter blocked the attack with his blade.

Ling Chu and her companions defeated a Netherworld lancer and fitted the correct spear into its silhouette, completing one part of the tower’s weapon puzzle. With thousands of silhouettes remaining and time running short, Ling Chu reorganized the group to fight and assemble pieces as quickly as possible.

• Ling Chu identified the lancer’s head as its weak point, and she, Huang Xiaowen, and You Jiali worked together to knock off its helmet and make it dissipate.
• Squid Ball’s spear failed to match the silhouette, but Lingering Wind and Fading Moon found the spear with the correct pattern and fitted it into the wall.
• Ling Chu saw that they had completed only one silhouette in three minutes and ordered Squid Ball and Lingering Wind and Fading Moon to find weapons, Clumsy Bear to transport and sort them, and the others to fight.
• Ling Chu recalled that Flying Mouse had faced a much smaller puzzle alone, and she concluded that Whispering Tower increased the challenge’s difficulty for larger groups.

Ling Chu and her companions searched the lighthouse weapon pile and tested weapons against the wall silhouettes, summoning hostile Netherworld creatures when they made mistakes. Ling Chu realized that higher-level silhouettes released stronger monsters and told the group to solve the lower floors first.

• Clumsy Bear knocked over the weapon pile, and Lingering Wind and Fading Moon matched meteor hammers to silhouettes, correcting the pattern order after one activated a tier-five enemy.
• Huang Xiaowen and You Jiali fought the meteor-hammer silhouette while Squid Ball tried matching spears and accidentally released a spearman.
• Ling Chu attacked the spearman, but it summoned a Netherworld Warhorse and became a tier-six Netherworld Lance Rider.
• Ling Chu deduced that silhouettes higher on the tower wall released stronger monsters and told Squid Ball and Lingering Wind and Fading Moon to match the first three levels before moving upward.
• Ling Chu noted that the lighthouse had nine floors, with fewer silhouettes on the upper floors, and that assembling the highest-floor figures could summon especially powerful creatures.