Chapter Summaries

Cocolia reunited with her uncle, the Chief Stoker, who urged her to improve life in the Underworld and offered her his notes. As she approached the Orphanage, an eerie voice pressed her to follow its promised path to a new world, while she faced Belobog’s dwindling geomarrow and seemingly inevitable collapse.

• The Chief Stoker praised Cocolia for reclaiming power from the nobles and urged her to improve conditions in the Underworld.
• Cocolia told the Chief Stoker she had found a path to a new world where Belobog’s people would be free from cold and hunger.
• As they reached the Orphanage, Cocolia questioned whether her plan was right, and an eerie voice insisted she had no choice but to follow it.
• The voice claimed that people lost in the Fragmentum lived on in a peaceful new world and warned that the Underworld’s geomarrow would run out in ten years.
• Cocolia reflected that Belobog had endured the Eternal Freeze for seven hundred years, had no viable escape or new geomarrow source, and might soon freeze to death.

Cocolia arrived at the Orphanage with Gepard while Natasha and the Old Director were kept in the office and the children were left frightened in their classroom. As Gepard spoke with Oleg outside, Oleg received orders to assemble his troops and join the Underworld Lockdown Mission.

• Cocolia arrived at the Orphanage, dismissed Gepard’s escort, and ordered him to stay by her side as her guard.
• An old butler confined Natasha and the Old Director in the office, refusing to reveal his department or discuss Fuka.
• Oleg found the classroom guarded by elite Silvermane Guards and worried about the crying children, including Seele.
• Gepard apologized to Oleg for the children’s distress and admitted that his sister Serval had stopped him from making a mistake when he treated two orphans to dinner.
• A young soldier delivered Oleg a Silvermane Guards Command dispatch ordering him to assemble his troops and join the Underworld Lockdown Mission.

Cocolia and the Chief Stoker assessed the children for a possible successor, while Chu Mu faced the separation from his little sister Xiao Bu. Xiao Bu was taken away by the Silvermane Guards, and Chu Mu vanished, leaving only her Snow Globe behind.

• Cocolia rejected Chu Mu as a successor despite the Chief Stoker praising his resolve, because he was an alien and blind.
• Cocolia chose a timid-looking girl as her preferred candidate, judging her bright eyes proof of inner strength.
• Silvermane Guards came to take Xiao Bu away, and Chu Mu told her to go with them and promised to wait.
• Xiao Bu left her Snow Globe on the desk and was led out, while she and Chu Mu cried as the door shut between them.
• Seele asked whether Xiao Bu would be safe, and Chu Mu said she had her own destiny before he vanished, leaving the Snow Globe behind.

Chu Mu decided to kill Scott before leaving Jarilo, while Scott forced Kruzer to fight a dangerous opponent under threat to his family. The chapter left Chu Mu heading to the Fight Club as Kruzer faced a fight he was expected to lose.

• Chu Mu met Sampo in Boulder Town and learned that the Kliperburg bombing plan had gone awry after the Supreme Guardian changed her schedule.
• Sampo explained that Scott forced Fight Club champions to lose to a wealthy patron, and Chu Mu said he was going to kill Scott.
• Chu Mu headed for the Fight Club, intending to stop Scott from harming more children and from taking revenge on Seele.
• Scott revealed that he had arranged Kruzer’s string of championship wins to make him the club’s top fighter.
• Scott ordered Kruzer to lose to the mysterious gentleman and threatened Kruzer’s family if he refused.
• Kruzer realized he had no way out and bowed his head without answering.

Chu Mu killed the Upper District noble and Scott at the Fight Club, then took the money from Scott’s safe. Outside, he met Kafka and said he was going to ask a friend to forget him.

• Scott told the noble that he had arranged a match against the Five-Time Champion, and the noble boasted about Upper District blood and Underworld people.
• Chu Mu slit the noble’s throat and taunted him about his supposedly noble blood.
• Scott tried to flee, then revealed the safe’s location and combination before Chu Mu killed him and took the Credits.
• Kafka met Chu Mu outside the Fight Club and teased him about going alone.
• Chu Mu told Kafka he was going to meet a friend and ask him to forget him.

Chu Mu brought Kafka to visit Svarog, and she helped replace his damaged and aging chips so he could escape the ruins. Svarog lifted Chu Mu onto his shoulder as they fulfilled their old promise, though Chu Mu could no longer see the view.

• Chu Mu visited Svarog early and introduced him to Kafka, who jokingly called herself Chu Mu's mother and asked to be added to Svarog's friendly life-form records.
• Kafka received maintenance access and opened Svarog's armor so she could inspect his damaged modules.
• Kafka sent photos of Svarog's chips to Silver Wolf, who found compatible replacements and teleported them over.
• Kafka replaced Svarog's damaged and aging chips while leaving his memory module untouched.
• Svarog powered up, climbed out of the ruins, and lifted Chu Mu onto his shoulder, fulfilling their old promise.

Chu Mu asked Svarog to lock away his memories before leaving, believing he might never return, and Kafka later explained that Svarog’s memories could be restored if they reunited. As Chu Mu and Kafka headed back, an explosion erupted at the Core Furnace Hub while Oleg and Gepard’s troops struggled to contain Underworld residents protesting the closure of the passage to the surface.

• Chu Mu asked Svarog to forget him because he was leaving and could no longer keep their promise to meet; Svarog sealed away his memories instead of deleting them.
• Chu Mu said goodbye to Svarog and left, while Svarog reactivated and went to the mine to protect Belobog’s Underworld without remembering his friend.
• Kafka asked Chu Mu why he had made Svarog forget him, and Chu Mu explained that Svarog would otherwise wait for him with memories that never faded.
• Chu Mu reflected that he had fulfilled three wishes before leaving, then an explosion at the Core Furnace Hub sent fire and smoke toward nearby towns.
• At the Core Furnace Hub, Oleg and Gepard’s troops tried to block the stairway after the cable car was closed, while Underworld residents surged toward them over rumors that the passages would be sealed.
• Oleg recognized familiar Underworld residents in the crowd and wondered why the Supreme Guardian had ordered the blockade.

Cocolia prepared to seal off the Underworld as violence erupted between its residents and the Silvermane Guards, leaving the Chief Stoker to try to prevent a civil war. As Oleg and Natasha stayed behind to search for the missing, blind Chu Mu, the Chief Stoker addressed the Underworld and called for calm.

• Cocolia told the Chief Stoker she planned to seal off the Underworld and ordered him to appease its people within half an hour before she used force.
• A secretary reported bombings in Kliperburg, a murdered noble, and an assault on the Silvermane Guards at the Core Furnace Hub, prompting the Council to authorize a crackdown.
• Natasha searched the crowd for the missing Chu Mu and Xiao Bu; Gepard said Xiao Bu had been taken to the Upper District but had not seen Chu Mu.
• Oleg learned that Chu Mu was blind and left the defensive line to search for him, while Natasha chose to go with him and remain in the Underworld.
• The Chief Stoker appeared on a platform with the Great Code and used the loudspeakers to call for the people to stop.

The Chief Stoker died as the Underworld erupted into chaos, while Cocolia erased Xiao Bu’s memories and remade her as Bronya. Natasha and Oleg founded Wildfire to restore order, and Chu Mu left the Underworld with Silver Wolf.

• The Chief Stoker ordered the Silvermane Guards to retreat and urged the Underworld residents to disperse, but an explosion destroyed the stairs, and he walked into the furnace with the Code and his notebook.
• Cocolia renamed Xiao Bu as Bronya Landau, declared her own daughter, and used an eerie voice to erase the girl’s memories of her brother and the Underworld.
• Natasha and Oleg stopped searching for Chu Mu and decided to organize the Underworld’s residents, using money and Credits left behind by Chu Mu to establish Wildfire.
• A purple-haired woman met Chu Mu at the orphanage, confirmed his description of her supposed family, and teleported away with him as Silver Wolf.

Kafka introduced Chu Mu to Silver Wolf aboard the spaceship and explained the Stellaron Hunters, Elio’s ability to see possible futures, and why she had brought Chu Mu from his planet. Chu Mu learned that the Interastral Peace Corporation had issued a wanted notice for the Hunters, and Kafka kept him aboard despite his wish to leave.

• Chu Mu met Silver Wolf, and she and Kafka revealed that they had both been knowingly playing along with each other’s lies.
• Kafka told Chu Mu that Elio could see countless futures and had sent her to take him from his planet; she said his future remained his to choose.
• Kafka explained that Silver Wolf was on probation, Blade was another Hunter aboard, and she would not yet tell Chu Mu about Stellarons.
• Chu Mu asked about the Stellaron Hunters’ reputation, and Kafka admitted that the Interastral Peace Corporation had a wanted notice out for them.
• Chu Mu tried to pull away and asked if he could get off the ship, but Kafka took his hand again and held on tightly.

Kafka showed Chu Mu the Stellaron Hunters’ ship before Silver Wolf revealed that Blade had left on the main ship, which had activated its self-destruct sequence. The crew learned they would need to reach Deep Blue Star to obtain a warp-capable ship, and Kafka ordered them to set sail there.

• Kafka explained the Interastral Peace Corporation’s history and took Chu Mu to see the Stellaron Hunters’ ship.
• Silver Wolf told Kafka that Blade had taken the main ship to pursue a lead and that it had activated its self-destruct sequence.
• Chu Mu offered Kafka his condolences, but Kafka clarified that she was upset about losing her coats and said Blade could not die because of his immortality curse.
• Silver Wolf revealed that she had saved Kafka’s coats, but the auxiliary ship lacked a warp drive and would take four years to reach a warp passage.
• Silver Wolf told Kafka that the passage led directly to Deep Blue Star, where the Corporation had stationed an armed force.
• Kafka ordered the crew to head for Deep Blue Star to find a warp-capable ship.

Chu Mu explored the auxiliary ship and bonded with Silver Wolf over video games before entering cryosleep. He dreamed of a rotting giant whale crying “Betrayal,” then woke in pain as the ship approached Deep Blue Star, a planet inhabited by people who live on giant whales.

• Chu Mu explored the auxiliary ship, and Silver Wolf introduced him to video games designed for blind players.
• Silver Wolf played games with Chu Mu, who quickly mastered the controls and even beat her in some competitions.
• Silver Wolf reassured Chu Mu that his sight could be restored with advanced technology and helped him enter a Cryo Pod.
• Chu Mu dreamed of a vast, rotting whale whose body radiated the word “Betrayal” as he saw himself reflected in its eye.
• Chu Mu woke in severe pain, and Kafka and Silver Wolf checked on him while he recovered.
• Kafka told Chu Mu they were nearing Deep Blue Star, where people lived on the backs of gigantic whales.

After waking from a four-year hibernation, Chu Mu grappled with the time separating him from his loved ones on Belobog before traveling with Kafka and Silver Wolf to Deep Blue Star. There, they discovered a military lockdown and came under attack, leaving their escape uncertain.

• Chu Mu worried that years of interstellar travel would leave his friends and family on Belobog aged or gone, and Kafka comforted him by promising their journeys might one day meet again.
• Silver Wolf warped the ship to Deep Blue Star, where Kafka described the orbital spaceport and its capital, Skorint, also known as the City of Bones.
• Chu Mu connected the planet to the deep-sea vision in his dream and urged Kafka to leave because he believed something there had targeted him.
• Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Chu Mu saw armed ships, ground-facing space weapons, and Trailblaze Department soldiers surrounding the spaceport as they waited to dock.
• An inspection ship stopped short, and Silver Wolf abruptly dove the ship to evade an enormous beam that struck where they had been.

Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Chu Mu fled the battle raging among the Corporation’s ships and landed in a garbage city on Deep Blue Star after their ship began losing power. They met the city’s inhabitants, whose leader mistook Kafka for the ship’s commander and took an interest in Chu Mu.

• Kafka and Silver Wolf saw the Corporation’s ships attack one another, destroying the Spaceport and Warp Tunnel as newly formed black holes pulled nearby ships in.
• Chu Mu suspected that betrayal had spread across Deep Blue Star, while Silver Wolf guided their ship through the atmosphere and scanned the planet below.
• Silver Wolf discovered a settlement built on floating garbage where information had led them to expect a Whale City, then proposed landing because their ship was losing power.
• Kafka and Chu Mu agreed, and Silver Wolf landed the ship in the garbage city with help from its control tower.
• Kafka stepped out into the city’s oppressive heat, and an old man in a white shirt assumed she was the ship’s leader and showed particular interest in Chu Mu’s covered eyes.

Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Chu Mu learned about the planet’s hostile situation after landing, including a forbidden cult, the Deep-Sea Revenants, and the people’s hatred of giant whales. Silver Wolf revealed that expanding black holes would swallow the planet within a year, leaving Chu Mu silent as the group faced the crisis.

• Kafka used a Synesthesia Beacon so Chu Mu could understand the old man, who warned them that black cloth signified a forbidden cult and urged them not to go outside at night.
• The old man grew furious when Kafka asked about the whales, then accidentally revealed the name Deep-Sea Revenants before leaving armed guards behind.
• Back aboard the ship, Kafka worried that Chu Mu showed no discomfort in the heat and said he needed a full medical checkup.
• Silver Wolf told Kafka and Chu Mu that the space battle had ended and explained that the Interastral Peace Corporation’s recovery effort could take centuries.
• Silver Wolf revealed that expanding black holes would swallow the planet within a year, and Chu Mu fell silent.

Silver Wolf and Kafka planned to repair the ship within a year, while Kafka took Chu Mu shopping in Garbage City. There, Arlan was beaten by street children who smashed the jar of fresh water he was carrying, and an unseen person criticized his hesitation in a fight.

• Silver Wolf proposed waiting for falling ship parts, repairing the ship, and traveling to a Warp Tunnel fifty light-years away.
• Kafka insisted that Chu Mu accompany her shopping, and he agreed to return before dark because he remembered the warning about Deep-Sea Revenants.
• Street children taunted Arlan for believing a young woman from the sky would return, then attacked him and demanded what he carried.
• A bully kicked Arlan, shattering his clay jar of fresh water, and the children licked up the spilled water before leaving.
• As Arlan watched the children disappear into an alley, someone behind him said that his greatest weakness was hesitating during a fight.

Chu Mu befriended Arlan and learned the history of Deep Blue Star, from its pact with the Giant Whales to the Corporation’s exploitation and the whales’ sudden betrayal. Arlan warned Chu Mu and Kafka that, with no offerings outside their spaceship, they would become the night’s offerings.

• Chu Mu challenged Arlan’s belief that his bullies were merely unfortunate and offered to become his friend.
• Arlan told Chu Mu he was searching for a pink-haired girl who had promised to return, then agreed to guide Chu Mu and Kafka.
• Arlan warned Chu Mu that speaking openly about his blindness was unsafe, and Chu Mu asked him about the taboo.
• Arlan explained that humanity had once made a pact with the Giant Whales, but the Corporation’s resource hunt led to war and the near destruction of the whales.
• Arlan recounted how a black sun appeared ten years earlier and the Giant Whales abandoned humanity, beginning the betrayal era and leaving natives like him to live in Garbage City.
• Arlan urgently told Chu Mu and Kafka to leave because the absence of offerings outside their spaceship meant they would be the offerings.

Arlan told Chu Mu how the Black Sun Cult’s blind followers became undead who returned from the deep sea to steal dew, and how Governor Luwan made residents supply them. With their ship’s propulsion system dead and no way to get official dew collectors, Chu Mu, Silver Wolf, and Kafka prepared to face the undead.

• Arlan explained that the Black Sun Cult spread through Garbage City and its followers gouged out their eyes during an eclipse.
• Governor Luwan banned the cult and sent the blind believers away aboard a derelict ship.
• Six months later, residents began seeing the ship and then a procession of more than a thousand blindfolded believers stealing dew.
• After a household that refused to offer dew vanished, residents began supplying the undead, while Luwan enforced inspections and a curfew.
• Arlan warned Chu Mu that outsiders could not get approved dew collectors and needed to escape before dark.
• Silver Wolf told Chu Mu that the ship could not fly, then proposed using Kafka’s heavy machine gun to fight the undead.

Silver Wolf prepared to test whether Garbage City's supposed undead could withstand her heavy machine gun, while Kafka and Chu Mu questioned Arlan's account and said goodbye to him. After night fell and the ship docked, Arlan waited anxiously in his shack, hoping Chu Mu's group would not start a fight with the undead.

• Silver Wolf brought out a heavy machine gun despite Arlan warning her that the undead could not be killed.
• Chu Mu and Kafka questioned whether the dew-collecting beings were truly undead, and Kafka warned Arlan that rumors of immortality would attract powerful people.
• Chu Mu and Kafka gave Arlan two bottles of water before he left, and Kafka asked Chu Mu whether she seemed sincere with him.
• Silver Wolf called Chu Mu her best gaming partner when Kafka asked what he was to her.
• After night fell, the ship docked and the undead began collecting dew around Garbage City.
• Arlan stayed awake in his shack, listening for a gunshot and worrying that Chu Mu's group might be fighting the undead.

Chu Mu tracked the people disguising themselves as ghosts and confronted Governor Luwan, who explained why he had concealed the truth from Deep Blue’s citizens. Luwan began testing Chu Mu’s understanding of leadership, leaving the nature of his larger scheme unrevealed.

• Kafka and Silver Wolf discussed Chu Mu’s balance between the Hunt and Abundance and considered seeking the Aeon of Equilibrium’s help.
• Chu Mu used his sound-based perception to follow the people collecting dew in ghost disguises to the Governor’s Mansion and then to the port.
• Chu Mu confronted Luwan in his office, and Luwan admitted he followed the path of Erudition but lacked combat talent.
• Luwan asked whether those in power should tell the public the truth, and Chu Mu said they could tell it but should not tell everything.
• Luwan praised Chu Mu’s grasp of leadership and said that governing larger groups required plotting and deception as well as concealing the truth.