Chapter Summaries

Chu Mu spent a peaceful week studying and exploring the Underworld while investigating his mysterious connection to Yaoshi and coping with his worsening vision. During his visit to Svarog at the Great Dump, he learned that his left eye contained a seed.

• Rumors that Cocolia Landau planned to seal off the Underworld unsettled its residents, while Chu Mu memorized the area and learned that the eerie figure in his dream had been Yaoshi.
• Chu Mu wondered about his origins and longed to leave Jarilo-VI, but Belobog lacked the technology to take him into space; his illness remained dormant as his vision worsened.
• Chu Mu and Natasha went to the Great Dump for his weekly appointment with Svarog, and Chu Mu introduced Natasha as a friendly visitor.
• Svarog asked about Chu Mu's eyes, and Chu Mu said he had removed his own right eye and that no one else was responsible.
• Svarog revealed that there was a seed in Chu Mu's left eye.

After learning that an unknown Aeon’s seed was lodged in his left eye, Chu Mu returned to the Orphanage and tried to focus on the life he still had. The next morning, Oleg insisted on taking him illegally to the world above so he could see the sky before the passage closed.

• Chu Mu reflected on the seed in his eye and returned to the Orphanage with Natasha and Xiao Bu.
• Xiao Bu greeted Chu Mu outside the Orphanage with the cracked Snow Globe, and he wondered whether Yaoshi’s actions had been a blessing or a curse.
• Chu Mu spent the next morning reading in the Library, trying to make the most of his remaining sight.
• Oleg invited Chu Mu to see the blue sky and white clouds by smuggling him to the world above.
• Chu Mu refused at first because the trip could endanger Oleg’s future, but Oleg insisted he was taking him anyway before the passage closed.

Oleg smuggled Chu Mu and Seele toward the Upper District in a supply bag, where Chu Mu learned that Seele had awakened the power of the Hunt. They passed the cable car inspector, who let Oleg through after worrying the passage might soon close.

• Oleg forced Chu Mu to hide in his oversized supply bag, where Seele was waiting.
• Chu Mu told Seele that his covered green eye was the Wicked King's True Eye, and she promised to keep it secret.
• Seele told Chu Mu she had awakened the power of the Hunt and could run faster than adults.
• Chu Mu reflected on the conflict between the Hunt and Abundance and realized Seele's Path made their relationship awkward because he carried a seed from Yaoshi.
• Oleg pushed the supply bag past a suspicious cable car inspector, who let them through after fearing the passage might close.

Chu Mu, Seele, and Oleg reached Belobog’s Upper District, where Chu Mu and Seele saw the life above ground and tried to pass as Upper District children. At the Eternal Winter Monument, a teacher questioned them, and Chu Mu deflected her by implying they were nobles under a Silvermane Guard captain’s protection.

• Oleg carried Chu Mu and Seele from the Underworld to the surface, where they saw the blue sky, prosperous streets, and opera house.
• Seele questioned why Upper District residents rode in cars while Underworld residents walked barefoot, and Chu Mu explained the districts’ inequality.
• Oleg brought them to lodging, where Chu Mu and Seele washed, changed into Upper District clothes, and planned how to avoid Silvermane Guard scrutiny.
• Chu Mu, Seele, and Oleg crossed the streets without being stopped and reached the Eternal Winter Monument, where they listened to a teacher explain its symbolism.
• The teacher mistook Chu Mu and Seele for students and questioned Seele, so Chu Mu claimed they attended a private school and directed her to Oleg, who displayed his captain’s badge.

Chu Mu, Seele, and Oleg discussed Belobog’s social hierarchy and the unequal burdens borne by the Upper District and Underworld. As they planned their visit to the Upper District, Chu Mu helped Seele move past her sadness about the different futures available to its children.

• Seele laughed about the teacher’s frightened apology, while Chu Mu reflected on the layers of authority above ordinary residents.
• Chu Mu questioned why Belobog’s rules forced some people to suffer, and Oleg explained the sacrifices he believed had preserved the city through the Eternal Freeze.
• Seele asked why Underworld residents had to be sacrificed, and Oleg admitted he had once misunderstood their hardship before being stationed there.
• Chu Mu suggested that someone was deliberately deceiving the two districts and stirring conflict, then asked Oleg about their plans for the next two days.
• Seele asked what her future might have been as an Upper District child, and Oleg described paths including military, medical, music, and art studies.
• Chu Mu reminded Seele that her dislike of studying might have led her to the Military Academy anyway, easing her sadness about the other children’s possibilities.

Chu Mu, Seele, and Oleg shared a meal in the Upper District, where Gepard and Serval noticed the children were from the Underworld and chose not to expose them. As Seele confronted the waste and inequality around them, she asked Chu Mu to take her back to the Underworld.

• Seele eagerly ate the Upper District food while Chu Mu tried to save some of his meal to bring back, prompting Oleg to order more servings.
• Gepard told Serval he suspected the children were from the Underworld and wanted to uphold the law, but Serval challenged him to protect people rather than lifeless rules.
• Gepard accepted Serval's argument, and he and Serval left a large cake as a gift for Chu Mu, Seele, and Oleg.
• Seele reflected that some nobles were kind, while Chu Mu said oppression still had to be shattered; they shared the cake and packed the rest.
• Seele watched restaurant staff throw away uneaten food, then took Chu Mu's hand and asked to return to the Underworld; Chu Mu agreed and asked Oleg to go with them.

Chu Mu returned to the Orphanage with Xiao Bu’s meal and a large cake to share, and the three of them celebrated with an impromptu cake fight. As Xiao Bu said she liked living with Natasha and the Old Director, Chu Mu resolved that he would not let her stay there forever, privately fearing he could not accompany her on the road ahead.

• Natasha stayed with Xiao Bu outside the Orphanage until Chu Mu returned, and Xiao Bu rushed to embrace him.
• Chu Mu gave Natasha the large cake to share and brought Xiao Bu the meal he had saved for her.
• Natasha joined Chu Mu and Xiao Bu in the classroom, where they shared cake and Chu Mu recalled a hazy memory of a cake fight.
• Natasha smeared cream on Chu Mu’s cheek, and Chu Mu and Xiao Bu teamed up to smear cream on her before she defeated them.
• Xiao Bu told Chu Mu she liked living with Natasha and the Old Director, while Chu Mu resolved not to let her stay there forever and privately feared he could not accompany her.

After returning to the Orphanage, Chu Mu resumed his quiet routine and accepted that no family would adopt him while he was going blind, since he intended to stay until Xiao Bu was adopted. In the Upper District, Kafka arrived on Jarilo-VI to follow Elio’s script and adopt a child, while Silver Wolf prepared her cover identity and detected a Stellaron.

• Families visited the Orphanage to ask about adopting Chu Mu, but withdrew when the Old Director warned them he would soon go blind.
• Chu Mu was content to remain at the Orphanage until Xiao Bu was adopted so he could protect her.
• Kafka spoke with Silver Wolf, who explained that she had prepared Kafka’s identity as a Kliperburg official to get her into the Underworld.
• Silver Wolf detected a Stellaron on Jarilo-VI and wanted to claim it, but Kafka refused because Elio’s script had not mentioned it.
• Kafka took her forged documents and headed for the underground station, stopping to buy coats with Credits that astonished the shop assistant.

Sampo planned an operation to blow up Kliperburg while posing as Bosang, and Chu Mu discovered the plot. Sampo revealed that the Supreme Guardian would visit the Orphanage and that he could still reach the upper level after the passage was sealed, leaving Chu Mu relieved.

• Bosang paid Benny to plant explosives at Kliperburg the day after tomorrow and threatened him against backing out.
• Chu Mu confronted Sampo in the alley with his teacher Natasha, then assured Sampo that she had not overheard his conversation with Benny.
• Sampo said he planned to blow up Kliperburg because the Supreme Guardian would leave at noon the day after tomorrow to choose her successor at the Orphanage in Rivet Town.
• Sampo told Chu Mu that the passage between the upper and lower levels would likely be sealed the evening after tomorrow, but that the closure would not affect his own way up.
• Chu Mu smiled with relief after confirming Sampo could still reach the upper level once the passage was sealed.

Chu Mu weighed whether to send his little sister Xiao Bu to the Upper District through Sampo’s adoption arrangement, knowing his illness left him little time to care for her. He postponed the decision until after the Supreme Guardian’s visit and returned to the Orphanage with Natasha, unaware that someone watched them from a cable car.

• Chu Mu learned that Sampo could arrange for a child to be adopted in the Upper District, where she would be made to resemble a deceased girl.
• Chu Mu considered Xiao Bu’s bleak prospects in the Underworld and decided to tell her about his illness and let her choose whether to leave.
• Sampo offered to arrange the adoption for one thousand Winter City Shields, but Chu Mu asked him to wait two days in case the Supreme Guardian chose Xiao Bu.
• Natasha found Chu Mu and warned him to avoid Sampo, then joked with him as they headed back to the Orphanage.
• A pair of purple eyes watched Chu Mu and Natasha from a cable car as they disappeared down the street.

Kafka arrived in Belobog’s Underworld to find a child from the Xianzhou whom Elio had identified as her target. After killing a gang of vagrants, she found Chu Mu at the orphanage and introduced herself as his mother.

• Kafka told Silver Wolf that she had spotted the Xianzhou child she was meant to adopt and headed for the orphanage.
• Silver Wolf complained that Kafka had made her teleport clothes and teased her about her sudden maternal instincts before ending the call.
• Vagrants ambushed Kafka in an alley, but she shot them dead before they could attack.
• Guard Captain Oleg found the corpses and wondered about the unfamiliar ammunition, fearing the Underworld’s situation would worsen.
• Chu Mu struggled to read by the heating system’s light as his eyesight deteriorated, then met Kafka in the library.
• Kafka told Chu Mu, “Child, I’m your mom!”

Kafka revealed that Chu Mu came from the Xianzhou and carried a seed of the Ambrosial Arbor, making him a high-order Abomination of Abundance who would be killed if he returned. After confessing his recent experiences under Kafka’s influence, Chu Mu learned she intended to adopt him.

• Chu Mu rejected Kafka’s claim that she was his mother, and Kafka introduced herself while identifying him as a child of the Xianzhou.
• Kafka explained that the Xianzhou consisted of six immense starships and that Chu Mu’s left eye contained a seed of the Ambrosial Arbor, making him a target of the Xianzhou.
• Kafka told Chu Mu that the Xianzhou opposed Abundance and warned that returning home would mean certain death for him.
• Chu Mu recounted his recent experiences to Kafka, then realized she had kept him under her influence throughout their conversation.
• Kafka assured Chu Mu that her account of the Xianzhou was true and said she was going to adopt him.

Kafka offered to awaken the power of a Path sealed in Chu Mu’s sea of consciousness, and he used her key to enter it. He rejected an illusion created by Aha and found a Golden Crown, where a voice invited him to enter a kingdom.

• Chu Mu distrusted Kafka’s offer to take him on an interstellar journey, but she told him a gift from a Path lay sealed in his sea of consciousness.
• Kafka gave Chu Mu an ordinary iron key and urged him to use it to open the gift in his mind.
• Chu Mu entered the Sea of Stars and encountered masked performers, a Clockwork Doll, and a box that urged him to open it.
• Chu Mu realized the scene was an illusion by Aha because he was blind, and the performers and Clockwork Doll shattered.
• Chu Mu found a Golden Crown on a platform, and a voice told him to don it and enter a kingdom.

Chu Mu learned that he had become an Emanator of an unknown Path left behind by a fallen, eyeless Aeon, after the Aeon of Abundance had blinded him. With Kafka’s encouragement, he tested his new ability and vanished from the Library into a mental space only the blind could perceive.

• Chu Mu told Kafka that she was the last person he had seen before he lost his sight.
• Chu Mu realized he had awakened as the sole Emanator of an unknown Path whose Aeon had fallen, and suspected Yaoshi had remade him to suit it.
• Kafka told Chu Mu that fate had many threads and that he could still choose his future.
• Chu Mu drew Imaginary Energy from the Path and disappeared from Kafka’s sight and senses.
• Chu Mu explored a black-and-white mental model of the Library that only the eyeless could see.

Chu Mu discovered that his new Path let him reconstruct his surroundings through sound, while Kafka mistook it for the Path of the Hunt and offered to adopt him. Kafka explained that destiny allowed only Chu Mu—not his younger sister—to board the Stellaron Hunters’ ship, and Chu Mu asked for two days to decide.

• Chu Mu used echoes and sounds to map the room, realizing his power came from the Path of the Eyeless and might someday let him reconstruct far more.
• Kafka mistook Chu Mu’s ability for the Path of the Hunt, and Chu Mu kept the truth about the Eyeless Path and the fallen Aeon to himself.
• Kafka tried to persuade Chu Mu to join her family, describing an older brother and a younger sister, while Chu Mu questioned her adoption claims and asked whether his own sister could come too.
• Kafka said destiny allowed only Chu Mu to board the ship, and Chu Mu asked her for two days before deciding.
• After Kafka left, Silver Wolf questioned why Chu Mu’s sister could not join them, and Kafka said Elio had rejected the other futures because they were bad enough to be impossible to choose.

After deciding to leave Jarilo-VI for the Sea of Stars, Chu Mu planned to settle Xiao Bu’s future before negotiating with Kafka. He could no longer see, and the chapter ended as he and Xiao Bu went to meet Kafka, who was posing as an official seeking to adopt him.

• Chu Mu decided to wait for the Supreme Guardian to choose a successor before discussing Xiao Bu’s future and negotiating with Kafka.
• Chu Mu reflected on his worsening illness and his wish to return to the Sea of Stars, while keeping his blindness secret from Xiao Bu.
• Xiao Bu told Chu Mu that a woman was willing to adopt him and tearfully urged him not to refuse another chance because of her.
• Chu Mu took Xiao Bu’s hand and led her to meet the woman.
• In the director’s office, Kafka, calling herself Fuka, claimed she wanted to adopt a child, and the Old Director asked whether her husband would object.

Kafka considered adopting Chu Mu, but he insisted she take Xiao Bu too, causing the adoption to fall through. Natasha discovered that Chu Mu had gone completely blind, and he comforted her while asking her to keep his condition secret.

• Kafka told the Old Director that she was a widowed Silvermane Guards officer and was willing to adopt Chu Mu.
• Chu Mu entered with Xiao Bu and said he would only leave the orphanage if Kafka adopted both of them.
• Kafka explained that she had approval to adopt only one child and left to reconsider, while Natasha stepped out in tears.
• Chu Mu comforted Xiao Bu and told her that promises lasted a lifetime.
• Natasha took Chu Mu aside, removed his eye covering, and learned he could no longer see.
• Chu Mu asked Natasha to keep his blindness secret as Xiao Bu listened from outside the classroom.

Kafka left the Orphanage after telling Silver Wolf that Chu Mu’s little sister looked just like her. Oleg then locked down the Orphanage for an important visitor and grew suspicious of Kafka’s identity and interest in adopting Chu Mu.

• Kafka showed Silver Wolf a photo of Chu Mu’s little sister, and Silver Wolf was shocked by how much the girl resembled her.
• A squad of Silvermane Guards ordered Kafka to leave because the area was being placed under lockdown.
• Oleg told the Old Director that everyone at the Orphanage had to remain inside for two days while they prepared for an important visitor.
• The Old Director explained that Ms. Fuka had sought to adopt Chu Mu, and Oleg questioned whether she was truly an Internal Affairs Officer from Kliperburg.
• Oleg ordered the Orphanage sealed and its key locations guarded, while the children and Silvermane Guards settled into the unusually pleasant watch.

Chu Mu reflected on the Old Director’s selflessness as he hid his blindness while eating with the Orphanage children. After warning Oleg that the Big Shot’s visit might offer an orphan a chance to leave the Underworld, Chu Mu prompted Oleg to rush out and bring Seele back.

• Silvermane Guards shared canned meat with the Orphanage, and Chu Mu remembered the Old Director’s sacrifices and how she had shaped him.
• Xiao Bu silently played along with Chu Mu’s act of blindness and went to get him another serving.
• Oleg sat with Chu Mu, and they joked about food and discussed Seele’s absence.
• Chu Mu questioned whether the Big Shot’s visit was really just a simple visit and hinted that the Orphanage itself held something important.
• Oleg realized the Big Shot might adopt an orphan and hurried off to bring Seele back before she missed the opportunity.

Chu Mu negotiated with Kafka about joining her while trying to secure a place for his little sister, then prepared for the Supreme Guardian’s visit to the Orphanage. The chapter ended as the awaited big shot arrived, with Seele and Xiao Bu beginning to become friends.

• Kafka visited Chu Mu in the Library and learned that Belobog’s Supreme Guardian would come to the Orphanage to choose a successor.
• Chu Mu tried to persuade Kafka to take his little sister with him, but Kafka did not agree and said she would take Chu Mu back if the Supreme Guardian chose him.
• Kafka left after telling Chu Mu that he would come with her the next time they met.
• At the Orphanage, Natasha taught lessons while Oleg kept Seele in her seat, and Seele and Xiao Bu agreed to be friends.
• Hurried footsteps announced the arrival of the big shot.