Recaps

Natasha’s small Orphanage gathering grew into a huge tribute from the Underworld residents, who celebrated the hope she had preserved during the years of isolation. The crowd forced Natasha to cancel the event, and Kafka helped her plan a speech and crowd-control measures.

• Underworld residents gathered at Natasha’s Orphanage event to honor her care during the thirteen years the Underworld had been sealed off.
• Hook recognized Chu Mu, scolded him for leaving without telling the Moles, and declared that his punishment was to join her for fun; Stelle and March 7th demanded to come too.
• The gathering spilled into the street, creating a risk of a stampede and prompting Natasha to cancel the planned event.
• Kafka suggested that Natasha calm the crowd with an impromptu speech while Oleg brought soldiers to maintain order.

After Bronya reassured Belobog’s Underworld refugees that they would keep their homes in the Upper District, Silver Wolf arrived and revealed that Interastral Peace Corporation ships were also heading to Jarilo-VI. The news threatened Bronya’s plan to keep Belobog isolated for ten years while it rebuilt its strength.

• Natasha spoke to the crowd about Belobog’s past and future, and Bronya promised that everyone had the right to live in the sunlight.
• The gathering ended at sunset, and Silver Wolf arrived after Kafka used Blade’s Measuring Instrument to provide her spatial coordinates.
• Silver Wolf told Kafka that she had hacked into Corporation ships while waiting at a Warp Tunnel and discovered they were bound for Jarilo-VI.
• Chu Mu explained the Interastral Peace Corporation’s influence and reminded Bronya that Belobog needed to preserve its Winter City Shield and economic independence.
• Bronya’s plan to develop Belobog quietly for ten years faced an immediate challenge when the Corporation’s ships headed for the planet.

The group realized the Interastral Peace Corporation may have supplied Belobog with its buried Automaton Soldiers and that the Corporation’s arrival could be tied to an old debt. Bronya feared Belobog could not repay seven hundred years of interest, while Chu Mu promised to deal with the Corporation’s threat.

• Oleg, Seele, March 7th, and Stelle questioned why the Interastral Peace Corporation had come to Jarilo-VI, and Chu Mu explained that the planet had once been an advanced civilization with ties to the Corporation.
• Svarog revealed that Corporation chips were inside him and that the code for Belobog’s Automaton Soldiers had come from the Corporation, raising fears that the soldiers could contain backdoors.
• Bronya realized the buried Automaton Soldiers might have been supplied by the Corporation, while Chu Mu reassured her that he would handle the trouble.
• Natasha urged the group to discover the Corporation’s reason for arriving, and Stelle suspected Findie had revealed that Jarilo-VI was inhabited.
• Bronya suspected the first Supreme Guardian had borrowed the buried weapons from the Corporation, and Kafka warned that seven hundred years of interest might exceed the original debt.
• Bronya worried that Belobog could not afford to repay the debt, even if the weapons’ depreciated value covered the principal.

Chu Mu explained how the Company might use Belobog’s debt to make the city a Company asset, outlining the benefits and the loss of control that could follow. Bronya weighed cooperation against independence, and Chu Mu urged her to choose freely; she regained her resolve just as someone interrupted.

• Seele, Natasha, Bronya, and Oleg questioned how Belobog could repay its debt and what the Company might demand in return.
• Chu Mu warned that the Company could offer debt relief and reconstruction in exchange for turning Belobog into a Company asset.
• Chu Mu explained that Company assets could gain technology and prosperity but would remain vulnerable to the Company’s control.
• Bronya struggled to choose between improving her people’s lives through cooperation and preserving Belobog’s independence.
• Chu Mu told Bronya he wanted her to retain the freedom to refuse, and she regained her resolve.
• An unfamiliar voice interrupted the conversation and asked what everyone was discussing.

Silver Wolf arrived and met Bronya, whose striking resemblance to her unsettled her, while Chu Mu and Kafka teased them about being like sisters. Silver Wolf revealed that she had secretly changed the IPC fleet’s warp coordinates, diverting its enormous Ecoship away from Belobog.

• Kafka sent Silver Wolf the spatial coordinates, and Silver Wolf teleported in, startled by Bronya’s resemblance to her.
• Silver Wolf and Bronya introduced themselves, and Chu Mu explained that Silver Wolf was her gaming username rather than her real name.
• Silver Wolf agreed to play games with Chu Mu later, then said the IPC had sent a huge Ecoship toward Belobog.
• Silver Wolf revealed that she had hacked the IPC system and changed the fleet’s warp coordinates so it would no longer come to Belobog.

Silver Wolf disrupted the Corporation’s access to Belobog, and Bronya hosted a banquet where Chu Mu reunited with people who had helped him and Seele years earlier. The gathering ended with Chu Mu setting aside a dangerous plan to melt Belobog’s ice after Himeko warned that it would devastate the planet’s adapted wildlife.

• Silver Wolf said she had entered random warp coordinates for the Corporation’s ships and erased Belobog’s coordinates from their system, delaying their return.
• Bronya invited Serval, Gepard, and Lynx to a banquet at Kliperburg, where Lynx showed a blurry photo of the supposed Belobog Wildman and Stelle suspected it was Sampo.
• Gertie attended the banquet and brought Chu Mu the bloodstained garment he had left at her hotel years earlier; Chu Mu examined it but returned it to her.
• Chu Mu recalled the night he faced Yaoshi and entered the Path of the Eyeless, then put those memories aside to enjoy the reunion.
• Chu Mu abandoned his idea of using the Red Sun to melt Belobog’s ice after Himeko warned that it would flood the planet and destroy habitats supporting its adapted life.

Stelle told Chu Mu that Asta, Herta, and Fu Xuan had arranged support to help Belobog repay its debt and develop, easing his worries about Bronya’s future. After revisiting the Underworld and reflecting on his childhood, Chu Mu went to visit the Old Director at the History Museum.

• Stelle revealed that Asta had paid Belobog’s debt to Topaz and that Herta would create an environmental transformation plan for the planet.
• Stelle said Fu Xuan was willing to establish trade relations with Belobog and create new Automaton Soldier code.
• Chu Mu chose not to tell Bronya about the help arranged for Belobog, instead reassuring her that they would find a way forward.
• Hook took Chu Mu and the others to eat Underworld street food, and Chu Mu reflected on how far his childhood had receded.
• When the History Museum closed on Monday, Chu Mu went to visit the Old Director.

Chu Mu revisited the former Orphanage with Bronya, Kafka, and Natasha, reflecting on the Old Director and the years they had spent there. Bronya gave Chu Mu the Snow Globe as a wish for his journey to Deep Blue Star, and the group ended their visit before portraits honoring the Old Director and her family.

• Chu Mu and Kafka visited the restored Director's Office, where they remembered the Old Director's kindness.
• Chu Mu showed Bronya the height marks on the infirmary wall, and Natasha measured the siblings and added new marks.
• Chu Mu entered the preserved classroom and found the Snow Globe that had helped Bronya recover her memories.
• Bronya gave Chu Mu the Snow Globe, asking Mr. Snowy Owl and Miss Rabbit to bring him back safely.
• Chu Mu and the others reached the corridor's portraits of the Old Director and her family.

After settling Belobog’s crisis, Chu Mu prepared to leave for Deep Blue Star and said goodbye to Bronya. Aboard the Star Destroyer, he offered a Stellaron to join the Stellaron Hunters, hoping his choice would protect them if he became an aeon.

• Chu Mu reflected on the Old Director’s and Governor Luwan’s final choices, then left after deciding what answer he would give with his own life.
• Bronya held a public trial for the Old Nobles who had tried to assassinate her, and their execution at the city gates shattered the nobles’ confidence and weakened their hold over Belobog.
• As Chu Mu prepared to leave, Bronya wept beneath the stars and asked Mr. Snow Owl and Miss Rabbit to bring her brother back.
• Chu Mu departed Belobog with the Stellaron Hunters aboard the Star Destroyer, while Stelle and March 7th returned to the Astral Express.
• Chu Mu revealed the missing Stellaron and asked to join the Stellaron Hunters, explaining that he hoped his possible ascension would help remove Kafka and the others from the wanted list.

Chu Mu returned to Deep Blue Star and saw how its civilization had flourished with help from Asta and Arlan. In Hope, he unexpectedly encountered Sampo, who claimed he had dug through a snow tunnel and emerged on the planet.

• Sam left aboard the Auxiliary Ship to bring Elio so Chu Mu could seek an invitation to join the Stellaron Hunters.
• The Star Destroyer warped toward Deep Blue Star after Silver Wolf checked its vents and walls for Sampo.
• Chu Mu learned that Deep Blue Star had advanced into the information age and that the young governor had built the city-state of Hope with restrained aid from Asta, delivered by Arlan.
• Chu Mu spotted Sampo in Hope, where the con artist tearfully called him “Big Bro” and described digging through a snow hole to reach Deep Blue Star.
• Chu Mu asked Sampo how he had arrived, and Sampo wondered whether he had dug into a spatial wormhole.

After Sampo pointed Chu Mu toward the hope within himself, Chu Mu neared a breakthrough that could make him the God of Hope. He postponed ascending to protect his companions and received gifts from Goff and Norton.

• Chu Mu asked Sampo whether he had saved Tingyun, and Sampo told him that the hope he sought was within himself.
• Chu Mu realized he could claim the entire concept of hope, but deliberately suppressed the thought of merging with it for now.
• Chu Mu asked Sampo to stand with him and protect Kafka and the others as the gate to godhood began drawing him in.
• Goff gave Chu Mu an orange, spotted seashell that Silver Wolf recognized as a gift from the Simulated Universe.
• Norton gave Chu Mu a gift from Yaoshi, which turned out to be a Prosthetic Eye Lens.

Chu Mu returned to the Incubator to face the Heterochromic-Eyed Man, carrying the gifts and memories that had shaped him. He identified his Path’s third manifestation as Weaving Fate, then began explaining how he had reached that answer.

• Norton returned Chu Mu’s Prosthetic Eye Lens, and Chu Mu admitted he still feared failing the gods’ expectations.
• The Young Whale carried Chu Mu to the Incubator, where he met the Heterochromic-Eyed Man and declared himself ready.
• Chu Mu reflected on the people and keepsakes he had gained over the years, accepting that becoming a god could change who he was.
• Chu Mu revealed that the third manifestation of his Path was Weaving Fate, though he had never been able to defy the fate woven for him.
• The Heterochromic-Eyed Man said Chu Mu’s fate had been disrupted, and Chu Mu began explaining how the Black-and-White Fictional Space led him to the answer.

The Heterochromic-Eyed Man explained how the Blind Aeon sought to control fate by observing the entire universe, only to go mad after discovering they could not see or govern their own fate. Chu Mu learned that his premature emergence brought him suffering and that Yaoshi’s fate was sealed, then prepared to begin as the Heterochromic-Eyed Man offered to help him contain the Black Sun.

• Chu Mu described his idea of a being that could observe every change in the universe and control the threads of fate.
• The Heterochromic-Eyed Man revealed that the Blind Aeon used the Red Sun and Black Sun to study fate, eventually extending their observation across the entire universe.
• The Blind Aeon could not observe their own fate, went mad, and chose death and rebirth in hopes of gaining control over it in a new life.
• The Heterochromic-Eyed Man said Propagation's Corpse had likely caused Chu Mu to emerge prematurely, bringing him hardship and preventing him from becoming an Aeon without memories of his past.
• Chu Mu learned that Yaoshi’s intervention had sealed their fate, and that saving an Aeon would require becoming a being above the Aeons.
• Chu Mu said he was ready to begin, and the Heterochromic-Eyed Man offered to help him contain the Black Sun.

Chu Mu absorbed the Black Sun and became an incarnation of a concept, spending ages observing the universe as his consciousness slowly returned. He witnessed the deaths of those he knew and the destruction of all civilization, then awoke alone in a silent, desolate world.

• Chu Mu absorbed the Black Sun, and its Path overwhelmed his consciousness as the Black-and-White Fictional Space expanded across the universe.
• Chu Mu dissipated and watched the universe without thought until a tear fell and he began to reflect on what he had seen.
• Chu Mu witnessed a purple-haired woman die, a genius hacker leave an upgraded Faf in a time capsule, and Yaoshi be captured and killed despite never resisting.
• Chu Mu watched people search for him, including a girl who chased the stars, a scientist, and a Diviner who found he seemed to be everywhere.
• Chu Mu saw an Aeon War and Destruction devastate the Sea of Stars, while the girl in Belobog grew old waiting for him and left Svarog to keep waiting.
• Chu Mu awoke after all civilization had vanished and found himself alone in the silent, desolate world.

After enduring billions of years of isolation, Chu Mu confronted Black Sun and uncovered the truth about his divided past and the Path of Observation. He absorbed the concept of hope, became the only Aeon with two Paths, and began driving the stars backward through time.

• Chu Mu met the Heterochromic-Eyed Man and realized he was Black Sun, the despair split from Chu Mu's past consciousness.
• Chu Mu explained that his past self had been divided among Red Sun, Black Sun, and a kind consciousness that opened the true Path of Observation.
• Chu Mu invoked No-Self and absorbed the concept of hope, washing Black Sun away after declaring that his choices could change his future.
• Chu Mu gained the Paths of Observation and hope, spread hope across what he had observed, and became the only Aeon.
• Chu Mu gathered more concepts with the authority of Order and transformed into the Star Shepherd, who drove the stars backward along the river of time.

Chu Mu’s repeated cycle of sacrificing his personality to preserve the universe began with a masked boy who became his loyal little brother. After Chu Mu’s plans set another journey through time in motion, signs appeared that the cycle had changed and he had returned to his friends.

• A cold-faced youth rescued a mocked beggar boy by bursting the tavern drunks’ eyeballs, then gave the boy a red mask and asked him to call him big brother.
• Chu Mu explained his plan to the masked Con Artist, who was to retrieve Propagation’s remains after Chu Mu went to sleep and his divinity scattered into the stars.
• Generation after generation of Star Shepherds repeated Chu Mu’s cycle, traveling upstream through time to reunite with an old friend.
• Yukong welcomed a Foxian girl back to the Xianzhou Luofu, while a Prosthetic Eye Lens hung from the girl’s wrist.
• Chu Mu and the Con Artist discussed how the cycle and Worldline seemed to have changed, and how people now called Chu Mu Nihility.
• Belobog’s Supreme Guardian found Chu Mu’s note beside a Snow Globe, and Chu Mu later appeared before Kafka holding a seashell.

Stelle worked as The Reverie’s Front Desk Manager after the Astral Express helped save Penacony, and Chu Mu visited to check out. After discussing the crisis and Chu Mu’s hidden intervention with Aha, Chu Mu decided to make the Xianzhou their next stop.

• Stelle proudly took over the front desk and processed the departing festival guests’ checkouts.
• Chu Mu arrived to check out, and Stelle realized his presence could have made the Penacony crisis much easier to resolve.
• Stelle reflected that facing the crisis without Chu Mu had helped her and the others grow, then completed his checkout.
• Chu Mu and Aha discussed the hidden remnants of Order and the propagation bugs that Chu Mu had secretly dealt with in Penacony.
• Chu Mu spotted a familiar Xianzhou native arriving at the port and chose the Xianzhou as their next destination.