Chapter Summaries

Tasia told Hesta that Rene was abusing his power and explained why she had run for Arbiter, and Hesta encouraged her to think of a way to deal with him. Hesta, Ligo, and Officer Silei returned to their room, where Ligo delayed showing Officer Silei the Guide so they could rest.

• Tasia told Hesta and Ligo that Rene stole from others, used violence, and had escaped meaningful punishment after complaints.
• Tasia explained that she had run for Arbiter because she feared Rene taking the position, and Hesta encouraged her to practice and think of a way to deal with him.
• Inspired by Hesta, Tasia told Philip she was going back to think of a way.
• Hesta and Ligo brought Officer Silei back to their room and locked the Guide in the safe.
• Ligo claimed the safe would not open for nine hours, and Hesta agreed they needed to rest before looking at the Guide.

Hesta told Ligo that advice from a new friend had partly prompted her to act, while Ligo stayed awake to keep watch as Silei rested. At Bishop Restaurant, Anna asked Mantel to take her to the deck and played her a harmonica tune.

• Hesta explained to Ligo that a new friend's words about seizing power had stayed with her and influenced her actions.
• Ligo said Chiba was delayed at Bishop Restaurant and remained awake to watch over Jane while Hesta and Silei slept.
• Mantel told Anna that a small inventory discrepancy might be due to an earlier counting error and offered to take her to the infirmary.
• Anna declined the infirmary and asked Mantel to wheel her to the stern's Observation Deck.
• Anna asked Mantel about the ship's former open-air theater and offered to teach her the harmonica before playing a tune.

Anna played Mantel the old tune “Song of the Porcupine” and explained its story about a porcupine leaving its group to face winter alone. As Mantel, Anna, Chiba, and Bo Shanfu stood on deck, hidden snipers watched Anna and received new orders.

• Anna played “Song of the Porcupine” for Mantel and described its AI-written story about a porcupine venturing into the winter wilderness rather than grinding down its quills to stay with the others.
• Mantel asked what happened to the porcupine, and Anna outlined several possible fates before teasing Mantel for being moved by its story.
• Mantel asked how long it would take her to learn the harmonica tune, but Chiba arrived with Bo Shanfu and took him out for a walk.
• Mantel and Anna made strained conversation with Chiba while Bo Shanfu stood silently by the sea.
• Snipers kept their sights on Anna and debated whether to shoot before one of them noticed that new orders had arrived.

Anna spoke with Bo Shanfu about his plans to return to District 14 and his daughter Flora before asking Chiba to take her back to her room. Chiba returned with Anna and Bo Shanfu looking unusually angry, and Ligo overheard her scolding Anna in an unfamiliar language.

• Anna asked Bo Shanfu about his plans for District 14 and learned that Flora had fallen ill and gone there after Estreia passed away.
• Bo Shanfu explained to Mantel that Anna had taught him Northern Jin Ancient Language when he lived near her lectures in Wulian.
• Anna said she was tired and asked Chiba to take her and Bo Shanfu back inside, then invited Mantel to visit for harmonica lessons.
• Ligo saw Chiba push Anna into her room with Bo Shanfu following and noticed Chiba looked unusually furious.
• Ligo spoke with Bo Shanfu, who said Chiba had unexpectedly invited him for a walk, then overheard Chiba scolding Anna in an unfamiliar language.

Chiba took over Anna’s shift and led Bo Shanfu away, but Ligo found Anna’s room empty and could not explain how she had vanished. Hidden in another room, Anna discussed Hesta’s likely role in the voyage with Zero, who warned that Anna’s bet with Chiba might determine whether the situation stayed under control.

• Chiba took over Ligo’s shift and brought Bo Shanfu to a room on the mezzanine level.
• Ligo slipped into Anna’s unlocked room and discovered that Anna was gone, despite having seen Chiba wheel someone inside.
• Anna transferred from her wheelchair to a bed in a dim, hidden room and told Zero she wanted to sleep.
• Zero asked Anna about her bet with Chiba over whether Hesta was more like Silei, explaining that Ava and Palan’s views of Hesta might be outdated.
• Zero warned that Hesta might side with Silei and that Anna’s belief in Hesta’s absolute safety could let events spiral out of control.
• Anna asked what Hesta was doing, learned that Hesta and Silei were resting, and closed her eyes to think further.

Silei woke from a disturbing dream about a boy in Bishop Restaurant’s corridor and discovered she had slept through a day. After cutting her neck on a brooch bearing the words “Seeking help is the act of the strong,” she and Ligo discussed what the saying meant.

• Silei dreamed she chased a young man through the corridor outside Bishop Restaurant but could not catch up with him.
• Hesta told Silei that she had called out the name Xiaoyu in her sleep, but Silei did not explain who it was.
• Ligo entered and noticed Silei was wearing Hesta’s uniform; when Silei removed it, the brooch on its collar cut her neck.
• Ligo bandaged Silei’s shallow wound, and they identified the brooch as one given to them by their mental-health teacher, Valenti Viking.
• Silei said the brooch’s motto meant that asking for help took courage, while Ligo argued that seeking help successfully required strength and discernment.

Hesta, Ligo, and Silei examined the Guide and found a ship card dated to the Golden Age, nearly a thousand years before their present. The card's warning and signature led Hesta to recognize the name Robogriye.

• Hesta reflected that people in precarious situations might stay silent because asking for help carried risks, then set the blue brooch beside the alarm clock.
• After dinner, Ligo took the Guide from the safe, and Hesta opened its document pouch.
• Ligo found a shimmering ship card for a cruise from Rellepden to Vilyuchinsk, dated 3647.
• Hesta, Ligo, and Silei realized the card was dated nearly a thousand years before the current year, 4632.
• Hesta turned over the card and recognized its urgent warning as the original of a note they had found at the navigation museum.
• After studying the panicked signature, Hesta identified the name as Robogriye.

Silei, Hesta, and Ligo examined the cruise ticket and Ship Card regulations, uncovering hidden warnings that contradicted the printed rules. They suspected the warnings came from a different perspective, but did not know which instructions to trust.

• Silei recognized Robogriye's signature on the old ticket and read its sailing instructions with Hesta and Ligo.
• The three discussed the apparently unused Fifth Deck Cabin Front Desk and the registration papers Hesta had seen there.
• Silei removed strips covering three clauses on the Ship Card regulations and revealed warnings to cut the card, beware of free services, and never hand the card to anyone.
• Hesta, Ligo, and Silei considered whether meals and other onboard amenities counted as free services.
• Silei observed that the hidden warnings were printed rather than handwritten and suggested they represented a different perspective from the official regulations.

Hesta, Ligo, and Officer Silei found a note warning that anyone who read the Ascending Bright guide had to designate a new Adjudicator at a self-service station on Deck -2 within an hour. They headed there before the deadline, while Anna watched their movements and questioned Silei’s decision.

• Hesta examined a diary believed to belong to Robogriye and found a drawing of a banyan tree that triggered an elusive sense of déjà vu.
• Hesta found a note signed H.G stating that readers of the cruise guide could designate a successor Adjudicator at the Deck -2 self-service station within an hour to waive one Safety Inspection.
• Hesta, Ligo, and Officer Silei discussed the danger of the Safety Inspection and the possibility that someone was monitoring them.
• Officer Silei decided to go to Deck -2 with Hesta and Ligo before the one-hour deadline.
• Zero reported their departure to Anna, who noted that they had only skimmed the documents and might be heading downstairs with too little information.

Anna asked Zero about Agnes and Meyers, then Silei, Hesta, and Ligo went to the Hard Rock Bar to designate an arbitrator in advance. The bartender rejected both invitations as contaminated, leaving them unable to complete the procedure.

• Anna learned that Agnes was recovering poorly and Meyers was safe but often crying, and she decided to leave their release to Hesta.
• Silei recalled taking Hesta to the Hard Rock Bar with Anna and Zero on the night they boarded, prompting her to wonder whether Chiba had entered Bullet Time.
• Hesta, Silei, and Ligo reached the Hard Rock Bar and asked the bartender to process their invitations for advance arbitrator designation.
• The bartender said the procedure could not be completed at the self-service station because its machine was broken, so the group submitted their invitations to her.
• The bartender rejected Hesta's and Silei's invitations, explaining that both had been contaminated.

Hesta tested how the ship’s bartender defined contaminated invitations and learned that Albodoronica’s written message marked one invitation as contaminated. The bartender offered a way around the rule preventing Hesta from appointing a successor, but the chapter ended before she heard it.

• Hesta learned that token bestowal required an uncontaminated invitation and that she could not appoint Silei because both their invitations were contaminated.
• Hesta had Rene bring four invitations to the bar, where the bartender found that one was contaminated.
• Hesta touched three invitations to test the bartender’s definition of contamination, and learned that ordinary contact did not count.
• Hesta and Ligo discovered a message from Albodoronica on Helen Bastia’s invitation and concluded that invitations bearing such messages were contaminated.
• Hesta asked Pujina about Safety Inspections and the ship’s veterans, and Pujina offered a way to bypass the rule against appointing a successor.

Hesta returned Rene’s invitations and learned that Philip’s hamsters had been poisoned, while Silei remembered she could review the ship’s surveillance footage. Back in their room, Hesta, Ligo, and Silei found the Restricted Item Storage Application and read its rules for restricted items and safety inspections.

• Hesta declined the bartender’s offer and left with Ligo to find Silei.
• Hesta gave Rene the four invitations and asked whether anything unusual had happened; Rene reported that Philip’s hamsters had been poisoned and that Philip wanted the surveillance footage.
• Hesta asked Rene about Tasia and reminded him to prepare the list of people for the precious slots by the following morning.
• Hesta, Ligo, and Silei found the front desk table empty and agreed to check the surveillance footage later.
• Silei found the Restricted Item Storage Application, and the three read its definitions and the rules for Class S, Class A, and Class D safety inspections.

Hesta, Ligo, and Silei compared the Ascending Bright regulations with an old ticket and suspected the rules had been tailored to their group. In Anna’s study lounge, Meyers found Buli’s medical wristband on the white cat, dated that day, and Agnes worried that something had happened outside.

• Hesta, Ligo, and Silei discussed the hazardous-goods Safety Inspection and its possible exemption.
• Ligo noticed that the Ascending Bright passenger regulations closely matched the Supreme Praise sailing instructions, and Hesta questioned whether they had been made for the group.
• Agnes woke in pain while Meyers slept nearby, and the returning white cat startled Meyers.
• Meyers found a disposable medical wristband stuck to the cat and identified it as Buli’s, with a date matching that day.
• Agnes wondered what had happened outside and whether Mr. Goberlin had been caught up in it.

Agnes persuaded Meyers to seek help by sending letters on the cat, while Rene tried to collect Ship Cards from passengers for Hesta’s protection list. Helen resisted him, reclaimed her invitation, and warned him about what would happen when the ship docked.

• Agnes urged Meyers to stop waiting and proposed attaching help letters to the cat, and Meyers agreed to write them.
• Rene arrived at Bishop Restaurant after meeting Hesta, and the passengers who had given him their invitations asked how it had gone.
• Rene demanded the passengers’ Ship Cards, saying Hesta needed them for the protection list, and two men handed theirs over.
• Helen refused to surrender her Ship Card, twisted Rene’s arm, reclaimed her invitation, and mocked him as his subordinates threatened her with guns.
• Helen released Rene and warned him that he would face consequences when the ship docked if he was still alive.

Helen Bastia visited Hesta and offered her experience as a bodyguard, scout, and sniper, warning that Rene Blombo was using Hesta’s name to collect Ship Cards. Hesta agreed she could join her if she met one condition, which she had not yet revealed.

• Helen warned passengers who had handed over their Ship Cards not to trust Rene Blombo and called him an idiot.
• Helen Bastia arrived at Hesta’s room with a man and asked to speak with her in person.
• After learning that Helen’s invitation carried the unusual message “Sighing with regret,” Hesta agreed to meet her.
• Helen introduced herself and told Hesta that Rene was using her name to demand passengers’ Ship Cards.
• Helen offered her experience and pointed out that Hesta lacked people capable of keeping others in check.
• Hesta welcomed Helen’s offer but said she had to meet one condition.

Helen tried to negotiate a partnership with Hesta but left without securing one, while her companion Jivi offered his ship card and pledged his service. Hesta planned a gathering at the Grace Theater and discussed Anna, Chiba, and a golden key with Ligo.

• Hesta demanded Helen's ship card as proof of sincerity, but Helen refused and hinted that Anna had nearly died on the stern deck.
• Ligo found a name card in Helen's pocket and pushed her out, while Jivi offered Hesta his ship card and promised to serve her.
• After Helen and Jivi left, Hesta explained that she had rejected Helen because Helen wanted a partnership, not because she considered her unsuitable.
• Hesta asked Silei to gather everyone at the Grace Theater at nine the next morning because Rene was privately collecting ship cards.
• Hesta and Ligo speculated that Anna had put herself in danger and Chiba had brought Bo Shanfu to rescue her.
• Hesta told Ligo that the golden key was taped behind the cabinet, separate from the safe containing the 'Guide'.

Hesta kept the key she found behind the safe and told Ligo she planned to take care of something important. At Bishop Restaurant, Tasia realized Rene was using her connection to Hesta to intimidate her, but Hesta arrived and took Rene aside.

• Ligo found a hidden compartment behind the safe and gave Hesta its key, which Hesta decided to keep.
• Officer Silei told the partygoers to gather at Grace Theater at nine the next morning and warned them to return to their rooms before midnight.
• Rene took the drunken Philip into his care after Philip grieved over his dead hamsters.
• Rene frightened Tasia with stories about the Wasteland and implied that Hesta wanted the two of them to get closer.
• Hesta and Ligo arrived, Hesta asked Tasia to take Philip back, and then told Rene to come with her.

Hesta questioned Rene about his knowledge of District 15 after testing his judgment and asking him to name three people for a list. Rene finally revealed a rumor that District 15 held all the technological legacy of the Golden Age.

• Hesta walked with Rene and discussed the assassins and the nobles they had hunted.
• Hesta posed a Queen’s Game riddle about a wasteland woman and her daughter, and Rene quickly guessed the answer.
• Hesta confronted Rene for trying to drive a wedge between her and Tasia, and Rene admitted he had only meant to tease Tasia.
• Hesta asked Rene for three names for a list, and Rene put his own name first.
• Hesta pressed Rene about District 15, and Rene revealed a rumor that it held all the technological legacy of the Golden Age.

Hesta and Ligo learned more from Rene about District 15 and Bo Shanfu, then Hesta killed Rene and took three Ship Cards. After they returned to their room, Silei told them she had picked up a letter.

• Rene told Hesta that Robogriye had received an undeciphered reply from District 15 and revealed that Bo Shanfu's translation of the Collection of Divine Ballads might be tied to returning to the Golden Age.
• Rene said District 3 had refused to release Bo Shanfu and insisted on transporting him by ship, possibly to make it easier to act against him.
• Hesta killed Rene on the deck while Ligo kept watch, then took three Ship Cards from his wallet.
• Hesta and Ligo returned to their room at one in the morning and told Silei they had chased a shadow but found no clues.
• Silei told Hesta and Ligo that she had picked up a letter.

Hesta discovered a plea for help from Agnes and Meyers, whom she had confined below deck, and dismissed Silei’s questions by claiming she was protecting them. The next morning, Tasia sought Silei’s help after Rene disappeared; while waiting for Hesta, she put on makeup to face Rene again.

• Hesta found Agnes and Meyers’s note on a cat, tore it up, and told Silei she had locked the sisters away to save their lives.
• Tasia arrived with men who accused her of knowing where Rene was, and Silei let her inside while turning the men away.
• Tasia told Silei that Rene had spoken to her about his time in the wasteland, then recalled his remarks about women selling themselves for bread.
• Tasia applied makeup to feel secure and resolved to show Rene she was not a woman from the wasteland.