Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

• The survivors rebuild and provision the submarine. While anchored at sea, Xia Lun directs the group in setting up equipment salvaged from their underwater expedition: a carbon-dioxide-to-starch converter, a seawater purifier, and supplies for a future smoked-fish rack. Their work gradually makes the bare submarine feel like a home.
• Xia Lun cooks a communal meal. He prepares tomato fish-paste nutrient porridge, combining nutrient paste, fish, purified water, salt, and wine. The exhausted, anxious survivors eagerly eat, and their heartfelt praise pushes his Cooking skill from Basic 95% to Proficient 1%. He also earns 50 Memory Points for ending their famine.
• A new recipe offers Xia Lun a powerful reward. His Wilderness Survival skill reveals the recipe for Moonlight Glowmoth Gel. It must be blanched for 15 seconds when the moon is overhead and exposed to moonlight, which removes its toxicity and enhances innate abilities. At Xia Lun’s current life-energy level, eating it would grant a Free Attribute Point. The unusual instructions leave him baffled.
• The group discusses where to go next. Roman asks about their plans and points out how strange it is that no rescue team has appeared during nearly a week at sea. Carson recommends heading for White Moon Heavy Industries’ Starlight outpost, but proposes the notebook’s coordinates, (-30, -150), as an alternative if Code 18 prevents them from leaving. Xia Lun supports Carson’s proposal and orders the group to eat, rest, resume their watch shifts, and report anything unusual.

Character Developments and Interactions

Xia Lun continues to act as the group’s practical leader, organizing their supplies and using his cooking to address not only hunger but also the survivors’ exhaustion and anxiety. Though Manhunter urges him to eat, Xia Lun stays focused on the others. Roman’s joking request for food gives way to a more serious concern about their isolation; she and the others share the meal’s warmth before confronting the uncertainty ahead. Carson shows growing resolve in advocating that they face the danger at the coordinates, while Xia Lun trusts his judgment. Aislin’s trembling reveals how frightened she is, even as she tries to steady herself by eating.

Significant Themes

The chapter contrasts survival and ordinary care: amid a mysterious crisis, repairing equipment, sharing food, and taking watch shifts help preserve both morale and order. It also emphasizes cooperation and leadership, as the group depends on each other’s skills, and confronting fear, expressed in Carson’s belief that they must face the unknown to have a future. Finally, the moonlit recipe introduces the story’s blend of practical survival and the fantastical.

Plot points

• After anchoring the submarine for the night, Xia Lun waits for clear moonlight to cook Moonlight Glowmoth Gel in the Legend-tier Jade Wolf Pot.
• He uses his Light Control ability to scoop moonlight into the pot. The gel dissolves almost immediately, transforming the dish into a legendary drink called Light Moon Night.
• Drinking it grants Xia Lun the special skill Air-Walking, allowing him to fly using nearby light. He also gains Life Force, a Free Attribute Point, six months of lifespan, increased fishing catches under moonlight, and progress in Cooking and Stealth.
• Xia Lun briefly considers hunting and cooking more monsters for similarly massive rewards, but reins in his greed. He concludes that the Jade Wolf Pot, his other abilities, and good fortune—not simply the prey—made the result possible.
• He fishes through the night, catching several large fish with little effort. He spends his Free Attribute Point on Constitution, raising it to 25 and gaining Life Stabilization, which protects him from Life Drain and negative energy and lets him conceal his Life Force.
• His attempt to use Flesh Reshaping on a fish fails, but he is content with his gains. He resolves to keep a low profile, build strength, and later explore a dream of King Guewen’s master-level spearmanship.
• The night takes a strange turn when Xia Lun catches a talking golden salmon. It calls him “Roman” and delivers a cryptic warning about Manhunter’s death, urging him to face the matter without submitting to it.

Character development and interactions

• Xia Lun’s power and mobility increase dramatically, and he becomes more confident in the value of patient experimentation and preparation.
• The prospect of extraordinary rewards stirs his ambition and killing intent, but he consciously restrains himself, recognizing the danger of acting recklessly.
• He remains practical and self-controlled, choosing fishing and gradual advancement over pursuing uncertain risks.
• The golden salmon’s unexpected address and warning introduce a mystery seemingly unrelated to Xia Lun’s own identity or known circumstances, leaving him confused.

Significant themes

• Risk, opportunity, and restraint: The Scenario offers exceptional rewards, but success depends on preparation, favorable conditions, and luck; greed could undo Xia Lun’s progress.
• Ingenuity and unlikely advancement: Combining rare tools and abilities turns a simple cooking attempt into a major breakthrough.
• Steady growth: Xia Lun prefers accumulating strength quietly rather than forcing confrontations.
• Identity and guilt: The salmon’s reference to Roman and Manhunter hints at a hidden story involving responsibility, evasion, and confronting the past.

Summary

A talking golden salmon tells Xia Lun that Manhunter is dead and can only be brought back by traveling toward the rising sun, finding a stranded whale, and descending into the ocean abyss. Its claims echo the Scenario’s secret document, even though Manhunter is alive—apparently because Xia Lun’s earlier interventions disrupted events that were supposed to occur. When the salmon begins dissolving into moonlight, Xia Lun uses Light Control to capture it; it becomes Mirage Crystal, as Ailot did when she died.
Roman guesses the salmon’s directions point toward coordinates (-30, -150), but advises staying on course for White Moon Heavy Industries’ Starlight outpost instead, citing containment rules against letting anomalous events play out. Xia Lun tells her that in a dream she was the “Man in the Flesh,” a cult leader and his enemy. Roman is puzzled and questions whether the dream connects to their reality, but the secret document has ruled out a Reality Warper explanation. The salmon’s use of the name remains unexplained.
A wooden box then strikes the submarine. Xia Lun retrieves it and finds a decomposed, apparently living head that looks exactly like Manhunter. Roman screams, summoning the survivors; the real Manhunter arrives and is horrified to see his own head. Xia Lun treats the impossible scene as a useful clue to Code 18, while the others react with fear and disgust. Roman notices something in the head’s mouth, and Xia Lun pulls out a glass bottle. The head repeats a plea for Roman to save it, describing pain from crushing water pressure, but cannot answer questions. Xia Lun then opens the bottle, which contains rolled waterproof papers.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun remains calm and pragmatic amid escalating horrors. He captures the salmon, retrieves the box, and treats the apparent contradiction of Manhunter’s living head as evidence rather than a threat.
• Roman shifts from fascination with the talking fish to cautious investigation. She urges the group not to follow its directions, shares her coordinate theory, and recovers her composure enough to identify the clue in the head’s mouth.
• Manhunter is shaken by the sight of his own head, underscoring the disturbing gap between his apparent survival and the head’s claim of suffering and death.
• The survivors respond with panic, while Carson falls back on containment protocol and urges caution.
• Xia Lun and Roman’s teasing, familiar partnership is tested by his unsettling claim that she was his enemy in a dream; Roman remains curious but unconvinced.

Significant themes

• Reality disrupted by intervention: Xia Lun suspects his actions have derailed events described in the secret document.
• Contradiction as evidence: The impossible coexistence of Manhunter and his own head may reveal how Code 18 works.
• Knowledge and control: The salmon offers cryptic guidance, while Roman’s protocols favor avoiding the unknown.
• Identity and fate: The “Man in the Flesh” label and Xia Lun’s dream raise questions about whether identities or futures can cross between scenarios.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun opens a message bottle that had been hidden inside Manhunter’s severed head. He crushes the head’s teeth first to reassure Manhunter, then reads three waterproof sheets.
• The first sheet is a Scenario: its numbered sections describe someone escaping the Sea Abyss with “her,” later returning to reality, gaining immortality, and helping her escape Dreamland Beyond the Other Shore. Carson interprets the labels as scene numbers: the end of Act Three and an epilogue.
• The second sheet depicts a grim alternate course of events: Ailot and Manhunter die, the group runs out of food and ammunition, and the survivors drift at sea while strange phenomena intensify. Roman suspects it reflects a possible timeline in which Xia Lun was never part of the expedition.
• The third sheet reveals that Code 18 is neither a Reality Warper nor a concrete being; the anomalies are its projections into reality. Its typewriter lies not only in the Sea Abyss but beneath it, in Dreamland Beyond the Other Shore, and the group has supposedly found a key to reaching it.
• Roman links the third sheet to the secret documents from the Bioelectric Object Containment Site, noting shared references and similar handwriting. Xia Lun organizes the written clues into three sets: documents by an unidentified site employee, Roman’s alternate-timeline accounts, and the Scenario manuscript.
• Xia Lun also groups the anomalies: some appear connected to Mirage Crystal, others to disturbances in time, while the suddenly appearing safe remains unexplained.
• The group’s goal is to leave Farpoint alive. Xia Lun proposes going first to White Moon Heavy Industries’ Starlight outpost, then—if necessary—to coordinates (-30, -150).
• Carson questions who put the bottle in Manhunter’s head and why the safe appeared at such a convenient moment. Roman wonders whether their apparent guidance is itself part of a Scenario.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun remains composed and practical, using Text Sense to decipher obscured writing and arranging confusing evidence into a clear plan. His steady leadership helps the others regain focus.
• Roman actively connects the clues and proposes that the second sheet describes another possible reality without Xia Lun. She rejects Manhunter’s claim that she wrote it, and her final question raises the possibility that the group is being guided by a Scenario.
• Carson offers a confident reading of the first sheet as a theatrical script, then adopts a suspicious, conspiratorial stance about the bottle and safe. He compares the apparent manipulation to the group’s own past schemes, including steering Manhunter into bombing Jade Pharmaceuticals’ Tower.
• Manhunter shifts from fear of his own severed head to excitement about the clues, though he remains bewildered by their complexity and resists Carson’s conspiracy theory.
• The Oceanographer and Attendant struggle to follow the evidence, emphasizing how disorienting the situation has become. The Oceanographer is especially intrigued by Xia Lun’s account of a talking golden salmon, which turned into Mirage Crystal when killed.

Significant themes

• Reality, timelines, and identity: The documents suggest that events may differ across possible realities, including one in which Xia Lun never joined the expedition.
• Guidance and manipulation: The bottle, safe, and Scenario may be directing the group, leaving them unsure whether their choices are truly their own.
• Order amid uncertainty: Xia Lun’s effort to sort clues and establish a plan contrasts with the growing instability of the world around them.
• Freedom and survival: The writings connect escape, immortality, and freedom with the Sea Abyss, while the living characters focus on the immediate goal of getting home alive.

Plot points and events

• Roman recognizes that their predicament resembles Manhunter’s earlier ordeal: someone may be arranging events to force them through a “scenario.” The group debates whether to resist or comply, but Xia Lun calmly sticks to their route toward White Moon Heavy Industries’ Starlight outpost, with a fallback destination at (-30, -150).
• The group agrees that Manhunter’s strange, derivative head is too dangerous to keep. Xia Lun smashes it with the Bioelectric Oar, then sees its remains transform into Mirage Crystal before sealing the box and throwing it overboard.
• With the immediate threat apparently gone, Xia Lun gives everyone a day to rest and promises grilled fish. After the others leave the deck, he reflects on the scattered clues while preparing a golden salmon.
• Xia Lun realizes that Roman’s draft report, a survivor’s diary, and the scenario text may all be parts of the same text. He considers two possibilities: the text records events that would have happened without him, or it influences people and reality to make its contents come true.
• He suspects the scenario’s central mystery lies in the Sea Abyss, but prioritizes surviving the remaining days in comfort, improving his combat skills, and getting some sleep.

Character developments and interactions

• Roman remains cautious and pragmatic, advising against keeping Manhunter’s head. Aislin is anxious and looks to Roman for reassurance, later asking what the group will eat.
• Manhunter insists on resisting rather than surrendering, even though the nature of Code 18 is unknown. He also agrees that his head should be destroyed.
• The attendant urges the group to follow the scenario in hopes of avoiding a worse fate; Manhunter rejects this as cowardly.
• Xia Lun steadies the group with humor and composure. Though curious about the mystery, he deliberately avoids overcommitting and favors rest, fishing, and training—while recognizing that his fighting ability still needs improvement.

Significant themes

• Resistance versus compliance: The group disagrees over whether to fight an unknown force or follow its apparent plan.
• Fear and reassurance: Anxiety spreads through the group, but Xia Lun’s calmness helps restore their composure.
• Reality shaped by stories: Xia Lun’s theory that the scenario text may influence events raises questions about fate, prediction, and control.
• Survival and ambition: Xia Lun balances curiosity about the Sea Abyss with his immediate goal of staying alive and comfortable.

Plot and key events

• Xia Lun enters the Master-Level Spearmanship Specialization Memory, reliving King Guewen’s battles against the Flint Dragons.
• He quickly learns that a great spear requires different movement from a short sword: he must keep his footing agile while controlling his center of gravity. Repeated deaths and fights help him master this balance.
• By studying the dragons’ predictable attacks, Xia Lun develops a reliable method for striking their Reverse Scales. He also invents Force Wave, a new application of Force, and combines it with Adhesion Force to pull dragons into spear range.
• His battles prompt a broader insight: Flint Dragons resemble Ghouls, and perhaps beings without Knowledge are predictable in the same way. He connects this thought to Echoes, information, and the mysteries surrounding Code 18.
• First Bloom of the Craftsman appears and teaches Guewen that he might generate Force by dissipating the energy of the Planet’s rotation. She also explains that the world is a Planet orbiting the sun. Guewen rejects her claim and vows to reclaim the sky from the dragons.
• The dream races through history: humans unite under Guewen, defeat the Flint Dragons, and reclaim the sky; later, they turn against one another, rebuild civilization, and attempt unsuccessfully to recreate the legendary Crimson Amber Tree.
• On a terrace in Longeryasi City, Guewen declares victory. First Bloom offers to reveal a prophecy as the stake in their wager. Xia Lun recognizes that this moment may resolve Guewen’s regret and asks to hear it.
• She prophesies that Guewen will try to destroy the Planet, and that his arrogance will lead to his death amid blood and fire. The dream then collapses.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun/Guewen grows from a capable short-sword fighter into a master spearman, learning disciplined footwork, exploiting patterns, and expanding his use of Force. His curiosity also deepens as he links combat observations to larger questions about Echoes and Knowledge.
• First Bloom of the Craftsman is revealed as both a perceptive teacher and a formidable thinker. She offers Guewen practical insight into Force and a scientific explanation of the world, while warning him about the limits of his ambition.
• Guewen remains defiant and convinced that no destiny can constrain him. He dismisses First Bloom’s claims, then achieves his goal of defeating the dragons—only to receive a prophecy that his hubris will bring about his end.
• Their interaction shifts from instruction and argument to a wager, a victory, and finally a stark warning.

Significant themes

• Mastery through practice: Xia Lun improves by adapting technique, observing opponents, and learning through repeated failure.
• Knowledge and predictability: The chapter questions whether apparent intelligence and freedom conceal deeper patterns, using the dragons, Ghouls, Echoes, and Code 18 as related ideas.
• Ambition versus limits: Guewen’s triumph over the dragons is real, but First Bloom’s prophecy suggests that confidence can become destructive arrogance.
• Cycles of history: Unity brings humanity victory, yet later gives way to conflict, decline, and imperfect attempts to recover the past.

Key plot points and events

• Aboard the moving submarine, Xia Lun wakes to the morning sun, which replenishes his life force through his Light Annihilation State.
• He kills a Jump-tail Shark with the Bioelectric Oar and prepares it for breakfast.
• His status panel reports major gains from his recent specialization memories:
  • His polearm skill reaches Master Level, making him especially formidable against large creatures.
  • His swordsmanship advances from Master Level 10% to 12%, and his general melee-weapon skill rises to Mastery 99%.
  • He begins condensing Knowledge, suggesting his ideas about Echo, time, inevitability, and the world are connected.
• Fulfilling Guewen’s wish unlocks a one-time Final Battle Special Memory. In it, Xia Lun must face an adaptable, seemingly immortal Evil Spirit alone at the Planet’s core, with only a spear and a fragment of his partner. The memory’s hostile description irritates him, and he disputes its framing of him as a manipulative outsider.
• Xia Lun cooks the shark for the group. The survivors eat together while the submarine travels; Manhunter and Carson take food to keep watch, and the others share a meal. Xia Lun earns sixty Memory Points.
• Reflecting on First Bloom, Xia Lun questions the Riddle Dragon’s nature and apparent longevity. Its intelligent, persistent Echo form and divided, independently minded shadows seem impossible under what he knows about Echo and its lifespan costs.
• Manhunter spots a human settlement and urgently calls for the submarine to stop. Xia Lun rushes to investigate.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun’s growing expertise spans multiple weapons, while his emerging Knowledge leads him to connect ideas across time, Echo, and higher dimensions. He remains practical and sociable, cooking for the group, but is increasingly skeptical and analytical.
• The Special Memory’s portrayal of Xia Lun as a feared, deceptive being unsettles him; he pushes back against its assumptions about his identity and past actions.
• The group’s routines reflect cooperation: Manhunter and Carson accept lookout duty, and everyone gathers for Xia Lun’s meal. Oceanographer quietly lets Attendant take food first, calling it repayment for past help—a sign of changed priorities after famine.
• Roman playfully asks to photograph Xia Lun’s cooking; Attendant and Oceanographer trade barbs, while Roman and Aislin focus on eating.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and mastery: Progress in one discipline strengthens related abilities and helps Xia Lun grasp deeper connections.
• Uncertainty about identity and history: The Special Memory’s accusation clashes with Xia Lun’s own understanding of events.
• Mystery and the limits of established rules: First Bloom’s unusual Echo existence raises questions about time, lifespan, and the nature of Echo.
• Community and survival: Shared food, assigned watch duties, and small acts of repayment show survivors rebuilding cooperation amid danger.

Key plot points and events

• The submarine crew spots a lighthouse in the fog, and the Oceanographer initially interprets its flashing signal as “hello.” Manhunter assumes they have found a safe human outpost where they can wait out the coming Cosmic Electromagnetic Storm.
• Roman identifies a Mirage Crystal Collection Facility near the lighthouse and, using binoculars, spots the White Moon Heavy Industries logo. The location appears to be Starlight Outpost—but the crew should still be days or weeks away from it.
• The Oceanographer confirms that no outpost should be nearby. Carson and Roman advise avoiding the lighthouse, suspecting a supernatural trap. Xia Lun agrees, and the submarine turns away.
• The lighthouse reappears directly ahead, despite the submarine’s change of course. As the fog clears, the crew sees that the island is Starlight Outpost, with deserted colonial buildings and a field of white lilies of the valley.
• Roman connects the flowers to a message in a bottle warning that the lilies are dangerous and that the island is linked to Code 18 and the “final truth.”
• As the crew debates whether to land, Xia Lun sees someone at the lighthouse: White Line, covered in blood.

Character developments

• The Oceanographer begins questioning the meaning of his life and his devotion to Abby. He hopes Xia Lun might advise him, but the crisis interrupts him.
• The Attendant regrets that safety may end the unusual honesty and closeness brought on by disaster; he wonders what everyone will do once they return to ordinary life.
• Xia Lun remains calm and delegates practical tasks during the emergency, but White Line’s appearance visibly shocks him.
• Roman shifts from playful banter to serious caution, recognizing the island’s connection to Code 18.
• Manhunter moves from confident relief to fear when the lighthouse appears behind the submarine, though he is also tempted by the possibility of finding the “final truth.”
• Aislin remains cheerfully focused on eating grilled shark, even as the others grow alarmed.

Significant themes

• Reality and disorientation: The lighthouse’s impossible reappearance suggests that space—or reality itself—has been distorted.
• Safety versus danger: What first looks like a rescue and refuge may instead be a supernatural threat.
• Purpose and connection: The Oceanographer’s doubts and the Attendant’s reflections show how crisis prompts people to reconsider their relationships and lives.
• Knowledge at a cost: The island may hold answers about Code 18, but the message warns that reaching them involves danger and loss.

Character interactions

• Manhunter asks the Oceanographer to interpret the lighthouse’s signal, while Roman teases the Oceanographer and he remains wary of her reputation.
• The Attendant’s question about life after rescue prompts the Oceanographer to confront doubts about his devotion to Abby.
• Xia Lun consults Carson and Roman before deciding to avoid the lighthouse, then calmly assigns the crew roles when it reappears.
• Roman shares the warning about the lilies and asks Xia Lun whether they should go ashore. His unexpected shock at the sight of White Line ends the discussion on a cliffhanger.

Plot points and events

• Xia Lun spots what appears to be the bloodied White Line at the Island’s lighthouse. Though he suspects it is an illusion, he decides to investigate, believing the Island may hold a key to the sea abyss and a chance to resist Code 18.
• Roman and Manhunter warn him that going ashore is likely a trap. Xia Lun goes alone, leaving them to guard the submarine and instructing them to escape with it if necessary. He creates a Blood Pool Revival Point and sets up Final Ash as a backup before departing.
• Using his new Voidflight skill, Xia Lun runs across the waves to the Island. Roman is astonished; Manhunter treats the feat as entirely in character.
• The Island’s settlement is abandoned and decaying. In one residence, Xia Lun finds signs that people vanished mid-meal, a diving suit that seems to appear suddenly, and a skull-shaped key hidden among canned food.
• At the lighthouse, a notice says that three keys are needed to open the “Door of Nonexistence” and reach a haven of light. Xia Lun ignores the instruction and flies straight to the top.
• White Line is absent. Xia Lun realizes her image was bait, but before he can identify the trap, lilies of the valley burst through his arm and feed on his blood.
• Xia Lun retaliates: his blood vessels drain and destroy the flowers, then he throws Star Ore explosives into the surrounding lilies, determined to burn the Island.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shows caution and strategic preparation, but his composure gives way to fury when the Island attacks him. Rather than follow its apparent puzzle, he relies on his abilities and responds with overwhelming force.
• Roman is protective and practical, proposing the laser cannon and volunteering to accompany Xia Lun. She stays behind when he insists on going alone and is stunned by his ability to stand and run across the sea.
• Manhunter remains devoted and trusting, supporting Xia Lun despite recognizing the danger.
• The scene briefly recalls White Line through Xia Lun’s concern for her and the coffee cup she gave him, but the lighthouse vision proves to be a false lure.

Significant themes

• Illusion and deception: The image of White Line draws Xia Lun into a trap, and strange objects appear without explanation.
• Agency against imposed rules: Xia Lun refuses to obey the lighthouse’s key-collecting instructions, choosing his own path.
• Escalating survival and retaliation: Careful exploration turns into open conflict as Xia Lun answers the Island’s predatory attack with destructive force.
• Trust and loyalty: Roman and Manhunter respect Xia Lun’s decision while maintaining their responsibility to protect the submarine.

Key plot points and events

• The Attendant wakes on a sunny beach beside Xinora, seemingly living the successful life he once dreamed of: he has risen from poverty to become a Blue Wilderness director, married into influence, and gained wealth and status.
• Seeing the Oceanographer with Abby and Aislin sparks his familiar protective anger. But when he cannot remember who Aislin is, the beach illusion begins to collapse.
• He awakens underground, entangled in a thorny vine and surrounded by desiccated bodies infested with lilies of the valley. The Oceanographer, Manhunter, Carson, Aislin, and Roman are also trapped.
• Biting a chunk from his own arm breaks the dream’s hold long enough for the Attendant to regain awareness. A mysterious voice tells him to close his eyes and return to the illusion while Nuo Ring Hour’s main root is away.
• The voice identifies itself as the corpse in the Powered Armor—the person who sent the Attendant supplies and the message in a bottle. It explains that Nuo Ring Hour is a Class V Bioelectric Object whose Lighthouse traps people in blissful dreams and infects them with lilies. Escape requires cutting free while the main root is absent and fleeing by boat.
• The speaker reveals that Code 18 is both the Scenario written on a Typewriter beneath the Sea Abyss and, more broadly, the world the Scenario created. The Attendant cannot remember his own name because he and the others are fictional constructs, not living people.
• One person aboard the submarine is real, and the Screenwriter who writes the Scenario is also present. The Attendant may become real by reaching the Typewriter, revising the Scenario to include his escape, and writing the deaths of both the real person and the Screenwriter. Mirage Crystals are needed for the Scenario to take effect.
• Before the Attendant can act, Nuo Ring Hour apparently goes berserk. The illusion breaks, and enormous roots crash into the cavern. Just as the Attendant expects to die, a familiar voice appears and unleashes a torrent of black flame against the roots and flowers.

Character developments and interactions

• The Attendant’s imagined success highlights his deep desire for love, recognition, and security. His attachment to the Oceanographer proves stronger than the dream’s seductive comfort: he resists in order to save her.
• His relationship with the Oceanographer is shown through his long familiarity with her habits and his irritation at her apparent inability to see Abby’s romantic maneuvering. Despite calling her foolish, he thinks of her as his only friend.
• Abby apologizes to the Oceanographer for betraying her and asks for forgiveness; the Oceanographer refuses, though the Attendant suspects she secretly enjoys Abby’s attention. Aislin innocently interrupts them with ice cream.
• Xinora serves as part of the dream’s tempting fantasy, soothing the Attendant and trying to draw him back into sleep. He pushes her aside to listen to the corpse’s warning.
• The corpse becomes the Attendant’s guide, revealing the nature of their world and a possible path to real existence. The chapter ends before the identity of the rescuer—whose voice the Attendant recognizes—is revealed.

Significant themes

• Reality and authorship: The chapter challenges the distinction between lived experience and fiction, revealing that memory, identity, and history may all be written constructs.
• Free will and resistance: Though the Scenario shapes events, it cannot dictate every thought or action; the Attendant’s painful choice to wake suggests a way to resist its design.
• Temptation and desire: Nuo Ring Hour traps victims with personalized dreams of happiness, making emotional attachment both a vulnerability and a reason to fight.
• Identity and the desire to live: The Attendant’s inability to name himself turns the abstract revelation that he is fictional into a personal crisis, while the possibility of becoming real gives him a new goal.

Key plot points and events

• As Nuo Ring Hour attacks, Xia Lun bursts through the underground dome and engages the plant-like monster with Black Flame. A voice urges the injured Attendant to escape, but the Attendant refuses to abandon the Oceanographer and others.
• Nuo Ring Hour unleashes a Bioelectric Storm made from the souls it has absorbed. The Attendant glimpses its true nature: an invisible Bioelectric network, with the vines as transmission lines and the lilies as receiving ports. The corpse in the Bioelectric Power Armor is connected to the network—and intends to possess the Attendant.
• Xia Lun cuts through the soul-beam, severs Nuo Ring Hour’s main stem, and crushes its golden core, killing it. The survivors are freed from the vines.
• The corpse, identifying himself as Hornard, tries to possess the Oceanographer instead. Xia Lun severs the Bioelectric tentacles and removes Hornard from the armor. Hornard reveals that he survived a Bioelectric Object Containment Site, sent Xia Lun the Drift Bottle and Safe, and knows the Sea Abyss. He also says the island will become a White Moon Heavy Industries Starlight outpost in the future.
• When Xia Lun asks whether Hornard delivered the Ashen Pact Record, pink Mirage Crystal erupts from Hornard’s head and kills him. The Oceanographer dies in the same manner moments later, leaving Xia Lun angry and baffled.
• The Attendant explains that the Oceanographer accepted possession to save him. Xia Lun agrees to help bury him. The Attendant then reveals Hornard’s claim that most people in Code 18 are fabricated by the Typewriter, while one is a “living person” and another a “screenwriter.”

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun displays overwhelming power and confidence, but also a practical interest in gathering information. He shifts from combat to bargaining with Hornard, using threats and humor to coax answers. The sudden deaths of Hornard and the Oceanographer provoke his anger and resolve to pursue the Scenario’s mastermind.
• The Attendant chooses compassion over escape, despite his injuries and the chance to return to reality. He is nearly possessed, then survives because the Oceanographer intervenes. His grief and gratitude deepen his connection to his fallen friend.
• The Oceanographer surprises the Attendant—and Xia Lun—by sacrificing himself for someone who had treated him badly. His selfless choice contrasts with his earlier reputation for selfishness.
• Hornard shifts from seeming like a potential informant to a desperate, self-interested survivor seeking a new body. Though he gives Xia Lun useful information, his death prevents further questioning.
• Xia Lun and the Oceanographer share a brief, telling exchange after the battle: the Oceanographer recoils from Xia Lun’s exhilaration, suggesting he now suspects Xia Lun enjoys combat more than he admits.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and unexpected virtue: The Oceanographer’s final act overturns others’ assumptions about him.
• Reality, identity, and control: The revelation that Code 18’s inhabitants may be creations of the Typewriter casts doubt on who is real and who holds agency.
• Knowledge at a cost: Hornard’s answers are cut short by an unexplained execution mechanism, leaving the Scenario’s rules obscure.
• Power and responsibility: Xia Lun’s force saves the survivors, but his growing anger may push him toward a more openly destructive pursuit of the Scenario’s controller.

Plot points and events

• After awakening from the lighthouse’s hypnotic dream, the Attendant explains that most people aboard the Submarine were recently created by a typewriter in the Sea Abyss. They are fictional characters, controlled by a “writer” who is trying to escape Code 18 and return to reality.
• The Attendant says the writer killed Ailot and the Oceanographer and urges Xia Lun to kill everyone aboard, ensuring he eliminates both the writer and the one “living person.” Xia Lun rejects the plan, preferring to identify the culprit through reasoning rather than slaughter.
• Xia Lun questions whether the Attendant’s violent impulse might itself have been planted by the writer. He encourages the Attendant to keep living and hold on to the possibility that everyone might escape.
• The Attendant breaks down in grief. Xia Lun orders him to treat his wounds and rest rather than bury the Oceanographer immediately. The system rewards Xia Lun for uncovering the world’s secret and for profoundly changing the Attendant’s outlook.
• The Black Flame dies down, and the injured survivors gather. Xia Lun announces that the Oceanographer is dead and that he has learned what Code 18 is, then activates Emotion Reading.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun moves from investigating a stalled trail to understanding the Scenario’s artificial nature. He refuses the Attendant’s proposal to kill the others, showing a personal code that rejects needless violence and a preference for intelligence and influence. He also offers the Attendant empathy and hope.
• The Attendant reveals his crisis over learning that his memories, identity, and feelings may have been written for him. Grief and anger initially drive him toward collective murder, but Xia Lun’s questions make him doubt that impulse. He ultimately accepts Xia Lun’s encouragement and collapses in tears.
• Carson apologizes for failing to manage the cabin, but now recognizes that Xia Lun’s strength far exceeds his earlier estimate.
• Manhunter loses hope in resistance after seeing Xia Lun’s power, concluding that opposition to company executives may be futile.
• Aislin is visibly distressed, while Roman watches Xia Lun uneasily and is no longer comfortable casually calling him “partner.”
• The survivors’ injuries and new awe toward Xia Lun shift the group dynamic, placing him in a position of authority.

Significant themes

• Reality and identity: The revelation that people may be constructed characters raises questions about whether their emotions, memories, and choices are still meaningful.
• Free will and manipulation: The Attendant’s proposal may itself have been written into him, leaving characters unsure which desires are truly their own.
• Hope and survival: Xia Lun argues that uncertainty leaves room for escape, and that staying alive preserves possibilities that death forecloses.
• Power and resistance: The survivors’ reactions show how overwhelming power can undermine belief in collective resistance.
• Influence as a source of power: Xia Lun gains rewards not only by solving mysteries but by reshaping others’ beliefs and emotional lives.

Plot

• Xia Lun uses Emotion Reading to gauge the survivors’ reactions after Attendant reveals what Hornard’s dried corpse told him about “Code 18”: most people are fake, a “Screenwriter” controls the Scenario, and only one person may escape to reality.
• Carson focuses on securing “Code 18” for his company and considers eliminating rivals. Roman warns that sabotage could endanger everyone, prompting Carson to accuse her of being the Screenwriter.
• The group begins to lose hope when Carson argues that resistance may be pointless. Manhunter counters that choosing to resist is itself a form of freedom, even if defeat is inevitable.
• Xia Lun insists the Screenwriter is not omnipotent: unwritten events remain open, and the Scenario can be disrupted. Roman points out that Manhunter was meant to be dead but survived.
• Xia Lun persuades Carson that establishing Blue Wilderness Company in the Sea Abyss could serve the company better than fighting the others. The group unites to resist the Screenwriter and avenge Oceanographer.
• Just as Xia Lun declares that they can overcome the seemingly inevitable together, a meteor plunges toward them through the shattered dome.

Character developments and interactions

• Manhunter moves from despair to passionate resolve, drawing on an earlier lesson about defying forces that control people’s lives. His speech restores the group’s courage.
• Attendant shares Hornard’s revelations and joins the resistance, driven by grief and a desire to avenge Oceanographer.
• Aislin grieves Oceanographer and fears dying, but tentatively joins the group after Roman comforts her.
• Roman challenges Carson’s suspicions and helps identify the Scenario’s limits, though the accusation briefly shakes her confidence.
• Carson remains fiercely loyal to his company and initially sees the others as obstacles. Xia Lun redirects his ambition, and Carson eventually joins the group, though his underlying motives remain uncertain.
• Xia Lun acts as observer, mediator, and strategist, using his authority and persuasion to turn a divided group into an uneasy alliance.

Themes

• Free will versus control: Even if the Screenwriter—or society—has shaped people’s paths, resistance can still be a meaningful choice.
• Solidarity against despair: The survivors’ commitment to stand together counters fear, suspicion, and the threat of being forced into competition.
• Ambition and loyalty: Carson’s devotion to his company shows how self-interest can distort priorities, while Xia Lun finds a way to enlist that ambition.
• Hope amid uncertainty: The group chooses to resist without knowing how to win—but their new unity is immediately tested by the meteor.

Key plot points and events

• A meteorite strikes the ruins of the Lighthouse, shaking the Cavern and triggering a Bioelectric Storm that injures and disorients the survivors.
• Xia Lun deduces the impact was likely intended to disrupt the Nuo Ring Hour, whose dream-trap threatened the group, rather than kill them. He believes the Screenwriter is trying to steer them toward the Sea Abyss.
• The Manhunter boasts that the Screenwriter has failed, while Carson offers a more plausible explanation: the meteorite was aimed at the Nuo Ring Hour.
• Xia Lun discovers the impact produced rare Meteoric Ice Marrow. Cooked with honey in the Jade Wolf Pot, it can restore health and even extend life. Xia Lun’s first taste grants him three years.
• He prepares the marrow for the group. The meal rapidly heals their wounds, restores their strength and morale, and impresses the survivors. They rest by the underground river before continuing their journey.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun continues to act as the group’s capable leader, helping others after the impact and using his cooking ability to heal them. His eagerness to harvest the marrow also reveals his excitement about the pot’s extraordinary rewards.
• The Manhunter remains reckless and defiant, openly taunting the Screenwriter even after the meteorite strike.
• Carson stays analytical, challenging the Manhunter’s interpretation of events and marveling at the meal’s impossible effects.
• Roman recommends treating their injuries before setting out, then shares Carson’s disbelief at the healing.
• Aislin is shy and easily embarrassed, but openly enjoys the food and expresses growing faith that Xia Lun can save them.
• Xia Lun’s generosity and the meal’s effects strengthen the group’s trust in him.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and survival: The meteorite may be a dangerous event that also serves the Screenwriter’s larger plan.
• The absurdity of the world: A meteorite can yield an ingredient that restores health and lifespan, blurring the line between catastrophe and opportunity.
• Food as care and power: Xia Lun’s cooking provides more than nourishment—it heals the group and renews their hope.
• Trust amid uncertainty: Though the survivors cannot fully understand the forces shaping events, Xia Lun’s actions give them reason to believe they can survive.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun’s lavish meal of Honey-Roasted Star Marrow Ice and grilled fish lifts the survivors’ spirits. He also gains substantial Memory Points and Cooking Specialty progress, realizing that feeding the group could earn him far more points than fighting.
• The group turns to identifying the Scenario’s “Screenwriter” and determining who among them is “alive.” Roman proposes profiling the Screenwriter through the scattered Scenario fragments.
• Attendant argues that Roman is suspicious because her viewpoint is especially vivid and the fragments contain specialized knowledge. Roman counters that the clues pointing to her may have been planted, then analyzes the Screenwriter’s writing style: the writer understands the containment site and Divinity, writes convincingly from different perspectives, but neglects causal setup and detail.
• Roman suggests the Screenwriter may be powerful and socially privileged, yet accustomed to getting their way without managing details. Aislin jokingly names Xia Lun, but Carson dismisses the idea.
• Roman suspects Carson; he denies it, saying his work requires attention to detail. Carson then argues that Manhunter and Xia Lun are unlikely candidates and proposes that the Screenwriter may be hiding in an apparently harmless form. He names Aislin, who anxiously denies it.
• Asked for his view, Xia Lun remains uncertain. Instead, he reflects on why his high Intelligence has not made him a good detective and begins searching for a flaw in his reasoning.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun recognizes the Jade Wolf Pot’s value as a support item and begins deliberately examining his own thinking, drawing inspiration from Renee’s deductive abilities.
• Roman shows confidence and analytical skill, defending herself while offering a detailed profile of the Screenwriter.
• Attendant demonstrates renewed resolve and sharp reasoning after the meal, openly challenging Roman’s status as the leading suspect.
• Carson takes charge of the discussion, disputes the accusations against himself, and advances the theory that the Screenwriter may be disguised as someone harmless.
• Aislin provides comic relief with her guess about Xia Lun, then becomes frightened when Carson turns suspicion toward her.
• Manhunter remains irreverent, teasing others and puncturing the serious debate with blunt remarks.

Significant themes

• Food as comfort and hope: A satisfying meal temporarily eases grief and fear, while also strengthening the group’s morale.
• Reasoning and uncertainty: The survivors try to infer identity from incomplete, possibly misleading evidence; each clue can support competing interpretations.
• Self-improvement: Xia Lun recognizes that intelligence alone does not guarantee insight and considers changing his habits of thought.
• Narrative and causality: Roman’s analysis highlights the tension between vivid characterization and implausible, poorly foreshadowed events.

Summary

• Key events: The narrator says they cannot write on September 18 and decides to take the day off. They cite strained eyes, physical exhaustion, and a lack of ideas.
• Character development: The narrator recognizes their limits and chooses rest rather than forcing themselves to work.
• Themes: Burnout, creative block, and the importance of acknowledging fatigue and taking a break.
• Character interactions: There are no other characters or interactions; the passage is a personal reflection.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun pauses before the survivors to reconsider why his reasoning has seemed weaker. He concludes, humorously, that his super strength and combat abilities have been suppressing his “super wisdom.” To restore his detective instincts, he fetches his reclining wooden chair and settles beside the fire.
• He asks what separates Scenario text from reality. Aislin recalls his explanation: reality is chaotic and without a predetermined purpose, while written text is fixed and must serve a purpose. Xia Lun says this distinction is the foundation for identifying the Screenwriter and understanding the Scenario, but keeps his deductions to himself.
• Xia Lun sends the survivors back to the Submarine, then rereads the collected Scenario texts alone. He believes he has resolved the last inconsistency and confirms that the group should head to the Sea Abyss at (-30, -150), hoping it will grant “immortality in the narrow sense.”
• The next morning, Roman questions whether following the Screenwriter’s apparent plan is too dangerous. Xia Lun compares the decision to an all-in poker game: both sides know the journey to the Sea Abyss raises the stakes, and the outcome will determine a winner. Roman worries that the Screenwriter can cheat, but Xia Lun offers no direct explanation.
• Confident the Screenwriter will not kill the survivors before they reach the Sea Abyss, Xia Lun makes preparations, completes his daily fishing and cooking, and enters a dream-memory to train in master-level spearmanship.
• In the memory, he discovers that King Guewen improves his technique by imagining powerful opponents and fighting them. Xia Lun adopts the method, battling a conjured phantom.
• Weeks pass without further murders or strange incidents. The tense Submarine finally nears the Sea Abyss, bringing the long voyage—and the Scenario—toward its final act.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun grows more confident in his investigative ability, recognizing that careful deduction—not just strength—may solve the Scenario. He remains deliberately cryptic about his theory and uses the poker analogy to frame the coming confrontation.
• Aislin shows she has absorbed Xia Lun’s earlier lessons and contributes the key distinction between reality and written narrative.
• Roman acts cautiously and challenges Xia Lun’s decision to follow the route, expressing concern about the Screenwriter’s ability to manipulate events. She also briefly suspects Xia Lun may be hinting that she is the Screenwriter, but remains unconvinced by his evasive clues.
• The other survivors trust Xia Lun enough to follow his instructions, despite being confused by his reasoning. Their anxiety contrasts with his calmness.

Significant themes

• Reality versus narrative: Reality is unpredictable, while written events imply purpose—an idea Xia Lun uses to reason about the Screenwriter.
• Strength and intellect: Xia Lun jokes that his physical power has overshadowed his analytical talent, while deliberately adopting the role of an “armchair detective.”
• Trust versus caution: The survivors rely on Xia Lun, but Roman’s objections highlight the risks of following an enemy’s apparent plan.
• Preparation for a final confrontation: The journey to the Sea Abyss is framed as a high-stakes showdown, while the long quiet stretch builds tension before it.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun spots a huge whale carcass stranded on the sea and recognizes it as the landmark the golden salmon described. It signals that the Sea Abyss—and a possible way to revive the dead Manhunter—is near.
• The submarine is still more than two hours from the trench. Xia Lun decides the crew should eat before diving.
• While preparing the usual fish-and-nutrient-paste meal, Xia Lun secretly cuts his palm and adds his blood to the pot. The food becomes a Paradox Item: consuming it would grant extraordinary regeneration, fire resistance, and the ability to breathe and endure pressure underwater, but at the cost of severe mental harm and possible assimilation.
• Xia Lun reconnects with the blood and weakens the mental-health penalty from devastating to moderate. He seasons the food to conceal its origin, then invites the crew to eat, calling it their “last meal.”

Character developments

• Xia Lun remains composed and practical, but reveals a dangerous new strategy: using his own mysterious blood to prepare the crew for the deep-sea journey. He carefully controls its effects and hides what he has done.
• The crew are eager to reach the Sea Abyss but wary of the Screenwriter, whose silence for two weeks has made them suspect another attack.
• Aislin approaches Xia Lun timidly, while Manhunter is excited by the sonar discovery and Carson tries to dismiss fears of an imminent threat.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and risk: The meal offers survival-enhancing powers, but carries serious psychological and existential costs.
• Secrecy and trust: Xia Lun’s concealed blood infusion raises questions about what the crew will be told—or asked to consume.
• Hope amid danger: The whale may lead to Manhunter’s revival, but the route to that hope requires a perilous descent.
• Food as transformation: An ordinary meal becomes a vehicle for supernatural power and potential assimilation.

Character interactions

• Manhunter reports the sonar discovery, and Roman estimates the submarine will reach the trench in a little over two hours.
• Xia Lun reassures the crew that there is time to eat before diving.
• The Attendant voices concern about the Screenwriter; Carson rejects the idea that another attack is imminent.
• Xia Lun responds to Aislin’s question about the meal with his usual description, then presents the secretly altered food to everyone.

Key plot points and events

• The crew shares a salty minced-fish meal that secretly lowers their Mental Health. Xia Lun conceals the effect, gives everyone purified water, and uses Phantom Flesh Refines Essence to restore their health.
• As the Submarine prepares to descend through a narrow, one-way trench, Xia Lun predicts that the apparently dead whale will act before they go. The whale revives and sings a warning: “Laser cannon, safe, Drift Bottle, meteorite, Gatekeeper.” Xia Lun interprets this as a reason not to attack the Gatekeeper.
• The crew descends into the trench, enduring increasing pressure and tension. During the descent, Roman raises the question of what they will do when they find the Typewriter: whether they will compete to escape Code 18 or choose to remain there.
• Attendant and Manhunter say they would stay in Code 18. Carson says he must return to report valuable information to the company, though he would accept staying rather than eliminate Xia Lun. Xia Lun offers a cryptic hint that they should consider the “heart of the problem,” then jokes that he enjoys being mysterious.
• The Submarine clears the trench and reaches the Sea Abyss, a dazzling expanse of pink Mirage Crystals. Before the crew can take it in, a huge shape charges the Submarine. Manhunter reaches for the weapons, but Xia Lun stops him.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun continues to protect and direct the group while keeping his motives hidden. He shows strategic confidence in trusting the whale’s warning and prevents a potentially dangerous attack.
• Aislin expresses gratitude for Xia Lun’s protection and remains anxious about the journey and the group’s choices. She also questions whether someone’s stated desire to leave might expose them as the Screenwriter.
• Roman shifts the group’s attention from immediate survival to their conflicting goals after finding the Typewriter, exposing a tension they had avoided.
• Attendant and Manhunter openly prefer staying in Code 18, while Carson remains loyal to the company and intends to return if possible. Their disagreement reveals that the survivors may not share a common purpose.
• The crew works cooperatively on preparations, but the conversation about escape divides them and leaves the question of who the Screenwriter is unresolved.

Significant themes

• Trust and deception: Xia Lun hides the meal’s effects, while the whale’s strange warning challenges the crew to decide whom—or what—to trust.
• Freedom and belonging: The survivors debate whether escape to reality is worth risking their lives, or whether they might prefer the fabricated world of Code 18.
• Uncertainty and survival: The trench is a one-way route, the group’s motives remain unclear, and the chapter ends with an immediate, unexplained threat.
• Appearance versus reality: The beautiful Sea Abyss quickly becomes dangerous, and seemingly simple clues may carry hidden meaning.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun prevents the crew from attacking the colossal Gatekeeper, arguing that a fight would serve the Screenwriter’s plan.
• In the darkness caused by the monster’s surge, the Screenwriter tries to fire the Submarine’s Laser Cannon at the Gatekeeper. Xia Lun’s prepared tumors block the weapon and absorb its energy, foiling the attempt.
• Roman realizes the Screenwriter is attached to the Submarine. Xia Lun identifies the Screenwriter as Ailot, who faked her death and has been manipulating events from behind the scenes.
• Xia Lun explains how the Scenario’s characters and monsters were given roles to support Ailot’s plan: Carson’s gold would make her rich; the Oceanographer’s “blooming” death concealed Ailot’s survival; Manhunter’s predicted death helped frame Roman; and the Wheel of Moxie and other events diverted suspicion.
• Xia Lun also questions who counts as the Scenario’s “living person,” suggesting Aislin or Roman may fit better than himself. Carson points out that Manhunter’s backstory gives him a purpose, leaving him to fear he is merely a fabricated character.
• Ailot appears on the sonar display, acknowledges Xia Lun’s deductions, and threatens to kill the crew in the Submarine. A crack opens in the vessel’s side as the chapter ends.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun emerges as a calm, strategic investigator. He anticipates Ailot’s backup plan, protects the crew, and explains the hidden logic behind the Scenario.
• Roman makes the crucial deduction that the Screenwriter is connected to the Submarine; Xia Lun confirms it and considers Roman a possible “living person.”
• Ailot is revealed as the supposedly dead cult leader and the real Screenwriter, confident that her control of the Submarine still gives her the advantage.
• Manhunter shifts from joking skepticism to doubt about his own identity after Xia Lun and Carson explain the purpose behind his history.
• The crew alternates between fear, suspicion, and reluctant trust, relying on Xia Lun’s reasoning despite the apparent danger.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and performance: Ailot uses staged deaths, assigned roles, and misleading clues to shape how others interpret events.
• Identity and agency: The characters question whether they are real people, constructed roles, or participants in a written Scenario.
• Reason versus terror: Xia Lun’s composure and deduction counter the crew’s fear of the Gatekeeper and the Screenwriter’s schemes.
• Purpose in apparent chaos: Xia Lun argues that both people and monsters have roles within the Scenario, and that seemingly unrelated details can reveal the larger design.