Chapter Summaries

Tingyun offered Chu Mu a lead about merchant Norton and revealed that she had come to Sand Sea Planet seeking a way to escape the blessing of Abundance. Chu Mu agreed to cooperate with her and learned that the Xianzhou had quietly restarted its investigation.

• Tingyun suggested investigating Norton, who had accused the locals of greed while allegedly trading cheap food for gold dust, though she had never seen the dust herself.
• Chu Mu questioned Tingyun about her purpose on Sand Sea Planet, and she said she sought a way to escape the blessing of Abundance for the Minghuo Merchant Guild’s benefit.
• Tingyun recounted the Xianzhou’s past surveys, including a team destroyed by Interstellar Pirates sixty years ago, and said her current information was outdated.
• Tingyun explained that rumors about Sand Sea Planet had spread two hundred years earlier, while the Xianzhou Marshal had dismissed them as a possible trap.
• Chu Mu inferred that the Xianzhou authorities had restarted their investigation based on uncertain new information and sent Tingyun to scout instead of acting openly.

Chu Mu learned more about the Sand Sea's buried giant-tree caverns and the mystery of its population growth while Tingyun reconsidered what she knew about gold dust. Kafka used her Word Spirit Art to pressure Tingyun into letting Chu Mu touch her tail, then argued that he should make friends; the group ended with Silver Wolf reluctantly agreeing while demanding money for her game purchases.

• Tingyun told Chu Mu that ancient surveys found the Sand Sea's caves resembled the trunks, branches, and roots of enormous buried trees, and Chu Mu wondered how the tribes' populations had grown so much.
• After learning the truth about gold dust, Tingyun decided to apologize to Norton and seek information from him, and Chu Mu asked her to call him by name.
• Kafka used her Word Spirit Art to coax Tingyun into allowing Chu Mu to touch her tail, but Chu Mu broke the influence and Tingyun fled in embarrassment.
• Chu Mu rebuked Kafka for abusing her power, while Kafka argued that Tingyun would eventually identify them through the Corporation's wanted poster anyway.
• Kafka said Chu Mu needed to make friends, and Silver Wolf switched sides when Kafka threatened to sell the Star Destroyer and shrink her Game Room.
• Silver Wolf asked Kafka for money for in-game purchases, but Kafka refused because Silver Wolf's accounts were on the Corporation's network.

Chu Mu discovered that the Pyramid concealed the truth about the Blaze Tribe and ordered it demolished, despite Tingyun warning that sunlight could kill the mushrooms grown underground. The demolition continued as Tingyun revealed that Norton had disappeared, and Kafka asked whether Tingyun would let Chu Mu touch her tail.

• Chu Mu decided to demolish the Pyramid so the Star Destroyer's robots could reach the settlement's lowest caverns and expose the sinkhole.
• Tingyun warned Chu Mu that sunlight would kill the mushrooms below, which she said had fueled the Blaze Tribe's population growth.
• Chu Mu questioned Tingyun's account, noted that Norton supplied packaged food each year, and ordered Silver Wolf to finish demolishing the Pyramid before noon.
• Tingyun told Chu Mu that Norton had vanished after their meeting the previous day.
• Kafka praised Tingyun's achievements, confirmed she had come to heal Chu Mu's eyes, and asked Tingyun to let Chu Mu touch her tail.

Chu Mu read about Sand Sea Planet’s history and the Xianzhou expeditions that had sought a way to escape the Blessing of Abundance. He was left questioning what had happened to the missing expedition and why the Xianzhou authorities had suddenly taken interest in Sand Sea.

• Chu Mu denied wanting to touch Tingyun’s tail, while Kafka joked with him and Silver Wolf complained about her remarks.
• Chu Mu learned that Kafka could hear Faf’s reports and asked how many hidden functions the artificial intelligence had.
• Chu Mu read that reports two hundred years earlier had described Sand Sea as a place where Ascetics could escape the Blessing of Abundance.
• Chu Mu learned that a large Xianzhou expedition to Sand Sea had vanished sixty years earlier, despite authorities blaming Interstellar Pirates.
• Chu Mu wondered who had spread the original reports, what had become of the Ascetics and the missing expedition, and why the Xianzhou authorities had changed their stance.

Chu Mu and the others sent robots into the sinkhole to investigate its 230 underground levels and the people living there. The robots reached the pool six hundred meters below the surface, where strange face-marked mushrooms grew in the dark.

• After sunlight exposed the sinkhole, black spores poured out, and Chu Mu suggested using the robots' remote cameras to explore it.
• Silver Wolf remotely sent a squad of robots into the pit while Kafka and the others watched their footage aboard the Star Destroyer.
• The robots surveyed the crowded upper levels and found fluorescent radioactive ore, while Chu Mu explained that Norton had used fake gold dust as vouchers so everyone could trade for food.
• At the deeper levels, the robots found pale residents and many children with deformities, which suggested that people above had abandoned them underground.
• The robots reached the pool at the bottom, where washbasin-sized black mushrooms with white, face-like markings surrounded the water.
• Silver Wolf switched a robot to a daylight lamp and shone it on the mushrooms.

Chu Mu investigated Sand Sea Planet’s underground tribes and learned that human-faced mushrooms had enabled a population boom by feeding on people’s blood. The discovery revealed how the Blaze Tribe’s divisions began, while Chu Mu fled Tingyun after Kafka’s teasing made him self-conscious about her tail.

• Chu Mu had robots capture residents from different underground levels and gathered more than two hundred people for Kafka to question with her Word Spirit Art.
• Kafka apologized to Tingyun for joking about her tail, then teased Chu Mu until he fled to his cabin while Tingyun wondered why he was avoiding her.
• Kafka’s questioning revealed that human-faced mushrooms had appeared sometime within the past fifty to one hundred years and could provide a person’s daily nutrition in exchange for blood.
• The tribe’s people exploited the mushrooms by making some residents give extra blood so others could avoid doing so.
• The resulting hierarchy first ostracized albinos and children with deformities, then ranked brown-skinned residents by the levels where they lived.

Chu Mu’s group investigated Norton’s disappearance on Sand Sea Planet and learned that he had gone south in search of a mysterious Lady who had vanished. Silver Wolf’s reconstruction of the Lady’s face resembled the woman in Chu Mu’s dream, leaving him unsure whose memories he had seen.

• Chu Mu and the others questioned the Albino People on the lowest level and learned that Norton had entered a mine tunnel to find a pretty woman they called the Lady.
• Tingyun recognized a wooden bracelet as a design from her family’s shop, and the group learned it had been found in a pool.
• An underwater robot found no useful clues, and the group traced Norton’s route to an uninhabited sinkhole before losing his trail in the sand.
• Back on the Star Destroyer, Chu Mu said the group should focus on finding the truth rather than governing the tribe.
• Silver Wolf created a composite of the Lady, whose scarred, bald face resembled the woman in Chu Mu’s dream, and she teased him about the connection.

Chu Mu and his companions uncovered the Blaze Tribe’s connection to a stellaron and prepared to leave Sand Sea Planet, while Tingyun’s Diting tracked Norton’s trail. Chu Mu traded Norton’s packaged food to sustain the tribe for a year, and the group continued searching for the Lady.

• Silver Wolf hacked Norton's merchant ship and found that it had spent thirty years delivering packaged food to Sand Sea Planet while remaining idle most of each year.
• Kafka revealed that Sand Sea Planet’s human-faced mushrooms came from a stellaron that had answered the natives’ wishes, and Silver Wolf prepared to take on the stellaron mission despite the absence of Fragmentum.
• Tingyun used Diting, a scent-tracking pet, to follow Norton’s trail, while Chu Mu showed her the Lady’s portrait and asked her to keep watch for the woman.
• Chu Mu traded Norton’s remaining packaged food for gold dust, leaving the Blaze Tribe enough food to last a year before departing.

Chu Mu reached the Ember Tribe and found the pirates who had pursued Norton being held for sacrifice. Their account revealed that Norton had willingly walked into the fire, while another blue-haired child had been made a Sky Person; Chu Mu asked for the child's name.

• Chu Mu's group found several tribes abandoned after their inhabitants were abducted and headed straight for the Ember Tribe.
• Chu Mu landed the Star Destroyer at the Ember Tribe's Pyramid, where the priest claimed a prophecy foretold his arrival and the sacrifices were about to be burned.
• Tingyun's Diting detected Norton's trail in the fire, and a captured pirate said Norton had willingly entered it.
• Chu Mu learned that Norton had spent decades' worth of pirate wealth on packaged food for the Blaze Tribe and had been pursued when he could not pay the crew their promised shares.
• A pirate explained the Ember Tribe's classes and said a blue-haired child had been treated as one of the Sky People, prompting Chu Mu to ask for the child's name.

Natasha cared for the gravely wounded Oleg at the Children's Commune and learned that Fragmentum monsters had reached the Underworld. When Seele reported that they had appeared in Rivet Town, Natasha ordered Wildfire to evacuate the residents.

• Natasha treated Oleg's abdominal wound and confirmed he was out of mortal danger.
• Seele told Natasha that humanlike monsters attacked Wildfire while the group patrolled, leaving Oleg badly wounded.
• Natasha recognized the attackers as Fragmentum monsters and realized the Rift's corrosion had spread to the Underworld.
• Seele said the monsters had appeared in Rivet Town, so Natasha ordered Wildfire to evacuate nearby residents to other towns.

Natasha helped oversee Rivet Town’s evacuation and remembered Chu Mu, the orphanage, and the people who had once cared for him. As the orphanage was abandoned, she left his damaged Snow Globe behind and realized that Chu Mu had erased himself from Svarog’s memories.

• As the Fragmentum swallowed parts of Rivet Town, Natasha remembered Chu Mu’s farewell letter and how Oleg and Seele still missed him.
• Natasha recalled the Old Director’s final request to keep the orphanage going and her gentle acceptance that Chu Mu had returned to the Sea of Stars.
• With the children relocated to Boulder Town, Natasha walked through the empty orphanage and apologized to the Old Director’s portrait for being unable to fulfill her request.
• Natasha left Chu Mu’s damaged Snow Globe among the orphanage’s discarded belongings, hoping he would reclaim it if he returned.
• As Wildfire and the Mechanical Settlement helped evacuate Rivet Town, Natasha remembered that Svarog no longer recognized Chu Mu, whom he had once called a friend.

Natasha strengthened Wildfire in Boulder Town and learned that her brother Wah planned to join her as a doctor. Svarog found and adopted Clara, while Cocolia began preparing Bronya to become Supreme Guardian and revealed her plans to make her Acting Commander.

• Natasha recruited fighters from the Fight Club into Wildfire and received a letter saying her brother Wah would come to help as a doctor.
• Svarog revisited the Great Dump, found the abandoned child Clara in a pit, and carried her back to the Mechanical Settlement.
• Bronya studied Belobog's history while waiting for Cocolia, still unable to remember anything from before age five.
• Cocolia told Bronya that past Supreme Guardians had often been corrupt or incompetent, but had become great figures once they held power.
• Cocolia told Bronya to join the Silvermane Guards the next day and said she would make her the youngest Acting Commander.

Sampo reunited with Chu Mu and recounted how his pirate misadventures had brought him to the Ember Tribe. After learning the tribe’s brutal Red Sun doctrine and its use of captives as mushroom fertilizer, Chu Mu and his companions discussed whether Sampo was too dangerous to keep around.

• Sampo described how he repeatedly switched pirate crews, survived a chain of disasters, and ended up captured by the Ember Tribe.
• Sampo explained that the Ember Tribe enslaved Ash People, sacrificed other captives, and claimed they would be reborn when the ancient sun awakened.
• Sampo revealed that the Ember Tribe secretly used the supposed sacrifices as fertilizer for human-faced mushrooms and named its religion Red Sun.
• Chu Mu locked Sampo and the pirates in a cabin, then went with Silver Wolf and Kafka to discuss the tribe and Sampo’s suspicious nature.
• Chu Mu and Silver Wolf agreed to keep Sampo with them for now and try to leave him behind after they escaped Sand Sea Planet.

Chu Mu’s investigation on Sand Sea Planet reached a deadlock after the Ember Tribe’s priest burned himself to death, but Tingyun revealed a recording that offered a new lead. The recording showed Kang Shuo, a former Cloud Knight, claiming that he and the sixty-year expedition survivors had escaped mara-struck on Sand Sea.

• Chu Mu, Silver Wolf, and Kafka flew to the altar, where the Ember Tribe’s priest declared his mission complete and urged Chu Mu to burn the world.
• The priest burst into flames and died before Kafka could stop him, leaving Chu Mu without a lead from either the Blaze or Ember Tribe.
• Chu Mu threatened to destroy Sand Sea Planet with the Star Destroyer Cannon unless Tingyun shared any undisclosed information, prompting her to reveal the existence of a mysterious recording.
• Tingyun played the recording, in which Kang Shuo said he was 1,051 years old and had freed himself from the blessing of Abundance on Sand Sea.
• Kang Shuo claimed that the expedition survivors lived in an eternally fertile land and invited Xianzhou residents to join them.

Chu Mu abandoned the Sand Sea investigation after Tingyun explained that the clues had run cold, and he decided to undergo artificial-eye surgery before returning to see someone important to him. As the Star Destroyer departed, Tingyun prepared to leave and a familiar male voice interrupted them.

• Tingyun told Chu Mu and Silver Wolf that the Xianzhou authorities had sent her to investigate a recording promising long-lived species a way to avoid becoming mara-struck, but she had found no trace of the people or giant tree it described.
• Chu Mu gave up searching the Sand Sea and invited Tingyun to travel with them; she accepted, while he declined Silver Wolf's suggestion to blast the Stellaron out.
• Chu Mu told Tingyun he intended to get artificial eyes despite the painful rejection response Heavenly Deficient people suffered, and Kafka suggested he wanted to see a big, fluffy tail.
• As the Star Destroyer rose from the burning Ember Tribe, Chu Mu and Kafka reassured each other, and Silver Wolf exiled Sampo and the pirates by detaching their compartment.
• Tingyun said the Xianzhou would likely send a larger team to investigate later, and a familiar male voice spoke just before Silver Wolf initiated the jump.

Chu Mu and his companions encountered the Denizens of Abundance and the Antimatter Legion near Sand Sea Planet, whose rival fleets appeared to be drawn by a Stellaron. With the Star Destroyer caught between them, Silver Wolf warped the group away before they could be attacked.

• Sampo escaped pirates through a ventilation duct and rejoined Chu Mu’s group, prompting Chu Mu to try sending him away on a separate ship.
• A fleet of living warships bearing the Borisin flag appeared, and Tingyun identified them as the Denizens of Abundance.
• Silver Wolf considered attacking the Denizens of Abundance, while Kafka concluded the Sand Sea Planet footage had attracted their interest.
• A much larger fleet led by Doomsday Beasts arrived, and Tingyun recognized it as the Antimatter Legion.
• Kafka said the Antimatter Legion’s presence confirmed Sand Sea Planet had a Stellaron, and Silver Wolf warped the Star Destroyer away.

After a failed warp scatters the Star Destroyer, Chu Mu wakes injured in the Bo Tribe on a forested Sand Sea Planet and learns that Kang Shuo believes himself to be a native. As Chu Mu recovers, he suspects this Inner World is connected to the Surface World and that a Stellaron may be consuming it.

• Silver Wolf began the warp, but Fragmentum activity disrupted the data, disabled the engines, and threw Chu Mu into spatial turbulence.
• Chu Mu lost consciousness after he failed to reach Kafka and could not retreat into the black-and-white fictional space.
• Kang Shuo told Chu Mu that he had found him outside the Bo Tribe, and Chu Mu realized Kang Shuo did not remember the Xianzhou or the footage he had recorded.
• Kang Shuo described the Bo Tribe and its devotion to Her Ladyship, while Chu Mu wondered whether Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Tingyun had also reached the planet.
• During his recovery, Chu Mu learned about the giant ancestral trees in the planet’s northern and southern hemispheres and named this forested world the Inner World.
• Chu Mu connected the monsters in the forests to the Fragmentum and suspected that a Stellaron was hidden in the Inner World.

Chu Mu joined the pilgrimage to the Ancestor Tree and reunited with Tingyun, who had lost her memories. He suspected the Bo Tribe had sent them for reasons they were hiding, and continued traveling with Tingyun toward the next tribe.

• Chu Mu explored the Bo Tribe and questioned why its residents’ strict devotion to selflessness left obvious needs, such as access to water, unmet.
• Kang Shuo selected Chu Mu to represent the Bo Tribe on the pilgrimage to the Ancestor Tree, and Chu Mu agreed in hopes of finding Kafka and the others.
• The Maple Tribe’s pilgrimage group arrived and took Chu Mu from the Bo Tribe; Chu Mu overheard its leader speaking with Kang Shuo but learned nothing important.
• Chu Mu sneaked into the room of the Maple Tribe’s representative and discovered that she was Tingyun, who had lost her memories and did not recognize him.
• Tingyun visited Chu Mu the next day, and he joined her in the cramped sedan chair as the pilgrims continued their journey.

Chu Mu and Tingyun traveled with a growing pilgrimage group toward the Southern Ancestor Tree while Chu Mu searched for clues about the Goddess and worried about Kafka and Silver Wolf. Near their destination, Tingyun confessed she feared Chu Mu would abandon her, then said he could not see the defect she believed she had.

• Chu Mu and Tingyun joined thousands of pilgrims heading toward the Southern Ancestor Tree, but they found no sign of Kafka or the others.
• A pilgrimage leader described forbidden zones as places where selfish people became monsters, and Chu Mu recognized the zones as Fragmentum created by the stellaron.
• Chu Mu realized the Goddess was the key link between Sand Sea Planet's Surface World and Inner World and suspected she was the girl in bridal robes from his dream.
• As the group neared the Ancestor Tree, Chu Mu worried Kafka and Silver Wolf might have fallen into the Fragmentum, while Tingyun continued to follow him closely.
• Tingyun admitted she was afraid Chu Mu would abandon her, and Chu Mu promised to tell her before going anywhere.
• Chu Mu pointed out that many tribal representatives had acquired missing limbs, but Tingyun said she was the only one with a true defect and that he could not see it.

On the pilgrimage’s forty-first day, Chu Mu encountered Sampo, who had been put on trial for introducing paid services to a tribe on Sand Sea Planet. Sampo reunited with Chu Mu and continued to pester him, leaving Chu Mu dragging him away for a private talk.

• Chu Mu and Tingyun joined a tribe’s public trial, where the chieftain accused the merchant Bosang of selfishness for charging for his services.
• The chieftain had Bosang sent to the pilgrimage group as the tribe’s representative, and Bosang revealed himself as Sampo when he spotted Chu Mu.
• Sampo greeted Chu Mu enthusiastically and called Tingyun his sister-in-law, prompting Chu Mu to correct and scold him.
• Chu Mu dragged Sampo toward the bushes to speak with him, while Sampo insisted he could not stop thinking about his big bro.
• Sampo suggested Chu Mu had been thinking about him too, and Chu Mu was overcome with revulsion.