Chapter Summaries

Asta awakened after Lin Chen gave her special medicine and recounted how strange incidents had isolated Herta Space Station and clouded her mind. As Lin Chen questioned her cautiously, Asta acted unusually attentive toward him and asked March 7th about their relationship.

• Asta thanked Lin Chen for helping her awaken, then described how Midnight Singing preceded disappearances, equipment failures, and repeated research reports aboard Herta Space Station.
• Asta explained that she had developed a high fever and confusion, and March 7th worried about her condition.
• Asta suggested finding the source of the midnight singing, while Lin Chen kept his theories and plans to himself.
• Asta whispered to March 7th to ask whether she and Lin Chen were romantically involved, and March 7th denied it while calling him crafty, a scoundrel, and a pervert.
• Asta smiled strangely at Lin Chen, who wondered why March 7th had already given him such a bad reputation.

March 7th left Lin Chen to look after Asta, who had just woken, and hurried back to the Astral Express. While Asta showered, Lin Chen played Honkai: Star Rail Glory with Wolf; the chapter ended as Asta returned in a revealing nightdress and watched his game.

• March 7th received a message from Himeko, asked Lin Chen to stay with Asta, and left for the Astral Express.
• Asta told Lin Chen she would give him a gift after her shower, while Lin Chen noticed her unexpectedly gentle manner.
• Lin Chen logged into Honkai: Star Rail Glory and teamed up with Wolf, helping her climb the Aeon Glory leaderboard.
• Asta came out of the bathroom in a white lace nightdress and leaned over to watch Lin Chen play.

Lin Chen tried to ignore Asta’s unusually seductive behavior while playing Honkai: Star Rail Glory with Wolf Girl, then ended the game to investigate Asta’s sudden change before their operation against the source of the Uncanny. The chapter left him startled as Asta pressed his hand to her chest and asked him to check her heartbeat.

• Lin Chen lost focus when Asta lounged in her lace nightgown, but Wolf Girl’s messages brought him back to the game.
• Lin Chen and Wolf Girl won their match, and he suspected Asta’s behavior might be a side effect of the Low-Quality Sanity Pills.
• Lin Chen told Wolf Girl he would play with her tomorrow, and Wolf Girl briefly asked whether he found Kaka more attractive before deleting the messages.
• Lin Chen put away his phone and asked Asta whether she still felt unwell, since he needed her help for the coming operation.
• Asta said her heartbeat felt irregular, took Lin Chen’s hand, and placed it over her heart.

Lin Chen rejected Asta’s advances, then learned that she was a key figure and received two system rewards. After trying on his new armor, he found Asta hurt and withdrawn beneath the blanket.

• Asta tried to seduce Lin Chen, but he pulled away and said she should stop.
• The system revealed that Lin Chen had formed initial and intermediate bonds with Asta, rewarding him with a Hellion armored vehicle and Myriad Nan Alloy Armor.
• Lin Chen checked the rewards and put on the lightweight armor, which could reshape itself into a defensive structure.
• Asta said she could never match March 7th and thought Lin Chen saw her as a scheming woman.
• Asta turned away, climbed onto the bed, and wrapped herself tightly in the blanket.

Lin Chen tried to comfort Asta after rejecting her advances, and she appeared to forgive him before preparing a surprise. She kissed and embraced him, leaving him wavering as he struggled to resist her.

• Lin Chen comforted Asta and suggested they could become friends after the crisis at Herta Space Station ended.
• Asta emerged from beneath the quilt, then searched the room for a gift while Lin Chen watched her.
• Asta returned with a hidden surprise and asked Lin Chen to close his eyes.
• Lin Chen secretly activated his armor’s danger warning and summoned two assault squads to defensive formation.
• Asta slipped something into Lin Chen’s coat pocket, kissed him, and wrapped her arms around him.
• Lin Chen opened his eyes and tried to push Asta away, but hesitated when she asked whether he liked her advances.

Lin Chen stopped Asta’s seductive kiss after realizing a glowing crest from the pills’ side effects had turned her into a little succubus, and March 7th returned before anything more happened. After giving Asta five [Low-Quality Sanity Pills] and arranging to meet at 10:30 that night to confront the Uncanny disaster, Lin Chen walked with March 7th, who asked whether he would join her on an adventure if the Astral Express’s journey ended.

• Asta kissed Lin Chen passionately, but Lin Chen noticed a glowing purple crest and realized the pills’ side effects had made her act like a succubus.
• Lin Chen broke off the kiss, and March 7th returned to Asta’s cabin without catching them in the act.
• March 7th helped Asta lie down, and Asta claimed she was dizzy while concealing what had happened.
• Lin Chen gave Asta five [Low-Quality Sanity Pills] for capable fighters aboard Herta Space Station and arranged to meet her in the Master Control Zone at 10:30 that night.
• March 7th asked Lin Chen whether he would travel with her if the Astral Express’s journey ended, then blushed and kneed him when he teased her about getting married.

Lin Chen agreed to travel with March 7th, then played Honkai: Star Rail Glory with Wolf Girl and her eccentric friend. He and March met Asta at the Space Station for their planned mission, where Arlan arrived transformed into a girl.

• March 7th asked to travel with Lin Chen after leaving the Astral Express, and he agreed.
• Lin Chen played more than a dozen matches with Wolf Girl and her friend Undying Blade, who repeatedly charged into enemies and died.
• Lin Chen logged off, woke March 7th, and went with her to meet Asta at the Space Station's Master Control Zone.
• Asta wondered why Arlan was late, then Arlan arrived in light armor with a large blade, appearing as a girl.
• Asta recognized Arlan and reacted in shock at his transformation.

Lin Chen discovered that Arlan had taken all the Sanity Pills and transformed from a boy into a girl, then led the group’s investigation into the midnight singing and missing security officers. He identified the space station’s reservoir as the likely source of the uncanny and prepared the group to investigate it that night.

• Arlan admitted that he had taken all the Sanity Pills, and Asta scolded him over the severe side effects.
• Lin Chen greeted Arlan, formed a bond with him, and received six Space Marines from the system.
• March 7th told Lin Chen that Arlan had originally been a boy, leaving him embarrassed about mistaking Arlan for a girl.
• Asta and Arlan reported that their investigations had found no clues about the midnight singing or the missing security officers.
• Lin Chen connected the uncanny singing and the books’ seafaring fables to the water supply and chose the B4 reservoir as the group’s destination.

Lin Chen summoned the Conqueror Legion to help find the source of the midnight uncanny singing in Herta Space Station's B4 Load Zone. The soldiers knelt to him, then raised their rifles at March 7th after she kicked him, leaving the group in an armed standoff.

• Lin Chen warned Asta, Arlan, and March 7th to stay close as midnight approached, while Asta argued that the enormous load zone might require them to split up.
• Lin Chen used a system command to summon Alpha and Beta Assault Squads and ordered them to deploy Psionic Detection Field Generators.
• The soldiers arrived in formation and knelt before Lin Chen, stunning Asta and impressing Arlan while March 7th realized they were on their side.
• March 7th accused Lin Chen of lying about being a Demon Hunter, and Lin Chen teased her by claiming the soldiers were Demon Hunters too.
• March 7th kicked Lin Chen in the knee, prompting the soldiers to raise their rifles and aim their laser sights at her head.

Lin Chen used the Conqueror Legion’s psionic detector to locate the source of the uncanny singing on Herta Space Station. The detector traced it to water pipes between rooms 0018 and 0276, revealing that water carried the song through the station.

• March 7th surrendered when Lin Chen’s soldiers aimed their weapons at her, and Lin Chen called off the attack.
• Lin Chen ordered Reynolds to set up the Psionic Detection Field Generator while the Conqueror Legion secured the plaza.
• Asta, Arlan, and March 7th watched as the device began scanning, and midnight brought the eerie singing back.
• Lin Chen told Reynolds to switch the detector to high-power mode, shrinking its range to improve sensitivity.
• Reynolds detected a target jumping between water towers 0018 and 0276, and Lin Chen recognized the numbers from his assigned rooms.
• Lin Chen realized that water flowing through the station’s pipes carried the uncanny singing.

Lin Chen used the Conqueror Legion to destroy the water towers and disrupt the eerie singing, provoking the unseen threat into attacking. After three Space Marines disappeared, he ordered a retreat to loading zone B4 and prepared with March 7th, Arlan, and Asta to face the approaching monster.

• Lin Chen ordered the Space Marines to shoot the water towers, releasing torrents of water that disrupted the singing.
• Lin Chen taunted the unseen being as the singing grew more violent and a wave surged toward the group.
• The system reported that Space Marines 0014, 0016, and 0019 had lost contact, and Lin Chen ordered the Legion to defend loading zone B4.
• Lin Chen concluded that the monster was physical and powerful enough to destroy armored Space Marines instantly.
• Arlan, Asta, and March 7th took positions beside Lin Chen and vowed to defend the Space Station as the unknown threat approached.

A monstrous uncanny creature emerged from the black flood in the B4 Load Zone plaza, and Arlan fought it while Asta and Lin Chen supported him. Arlan and Asta prepared to end the battle quickly, but the monster healed rapidly, leaving the fight unresolved.

• A grotesque, building-sized monster appeared in the flooded plaza and charged at the group.
• Arlan attacked the monster with his lightning-wreathed blade, severing its tentacles and burning its body before it drove him back.
• Lin Chen watched Arlan struggle against the monster’s strength and speed, while the creature’s wounds regenerated within seconds.
• Arlan called on Asta for support and warned that they had to destroy the monster completely.
• Asta used her Staff to cast Starlight Blessing, enveloping everyone present in starlight.

Lin Chen watched March 7th, Arlan, and Asta battle the uncanny monster, whose resilience and eerie song turned the fight against them. As Arlan and Asta succumbed to mental contamination, March 7th appeared unaffected.

• March 7th froze the uncanny monster with Six-Phased Ice, giving Arlan an opening to attack.
• Arlan unleashed a furious flurry of blade strikes while March 7th and Asta supported him with ice arrows and crimson fire.
• The monster broke free of its icy prison and blasted Arlan away with a ring of black light.
• The monster's eerie song caused mental contamination, weakening Lin Chen, Arlan, and Asta.
• Lin Chen noticed that March 7th remained unaffected by the monster's song.

A supernatural sea fog lured Lin Chen toward the black tide, but Reynolds intervened and sacrificed himself to save him from a monstrous attack. Lin Chen survived and resolved to grow stronger, though Reynolds vanished into the fog.

• The dark halo spread across the B4 Load Zone, surrounding Lin Chen in chilling sea fog and separating him from Arlan, Asta, and March 7th.
• A blonde maiden's song lured Lin Chen toward the black tide, promising to guide him to safety and treasure.
• Reynolds arrived, fired into the fog, and urged Lin Chen to escape while he held back the monster.
• When the monster charged Lin Chen, Reynolds stepped in front of him and took the creature's claw through his powered armor.
• Reynolds drove the monster backward with his fusion thruster and disappeared into the fog as Lin Chen watched.
• Lin Chen survived and resolved to use his resources to become stronger.

Lin Chen summoned a Hellfire Battlewagon and brought March 7th, Asta, and Arlan aboard so they could join the fight against the uncanny beast. The Space Marines held the monster at bay with sustained fire as Lin Chen drove toward the battlefield.

• Lin Chen reassured Arlan and Asta, then accepted March 7th's offer to stay behind and watch over them.
• Lin Chen summoned a Hellfire Battlewagon and invited everyone to get inside for protection.
• Lin Chen had the Central Control Tower operate the battlewagon and asked March 7th and Asta if they could fight while it was moving; both agreed.
• Lin Chen drove the battlewagon toward the uncanny beast with March 7th and Asta ready to attack.
• The twenty-six Space Marines maintained crossfire against the regenerating monster, while one Marine picked up Reynolds's weapon and advanced while firing.

Lin Chen and the Conqueror Legion defeated and contained the Uncanny Behemoth by separating its regenerating limbs, then burning its weakened body with the Hellfire Battlewagon's plasma flames. The Space Station was safe, but the containment device had no capacity remaining.

• Tychus attacked the Uncanny Behemoth to avenge fallen soldiers, but it flung him into a corridor wall as two Space Marines died.
• Lin Chen used the Hellfire Battlewagon's autocannons alongside March 7th's ice arrows and Asta's Stardust to wound the Behemoth while evading its pursuit.
• Lin Chen ordered Space Marines to collect the monster's severed pieces and dump them into the Waste Disposal Chute, preventing them from rejoining its body.
• When the Behemoth spread sea mist and eerie singing, Lin Chen tracked it through the dark tide and blasted it with the battlewagon's Plasma Flame Projector.
• Lin Chen contained the Behemoth's ashes, and the system confirmed that Anomaly No. 1376 was contained and the device had zero capacity remaining.

After defeating the Deep-Sea Nightmare, Lin Chen gained Conquest Points and mental resistance, then learned that his Path of Conquest offered no conventional upgrades. He opened a reward for the Conqueror Legion’s victory, and the chapter ended as its roulette spun.

• Lin Chen used Field Decomposition to destroy the Deep-Sea Nightmare and received 3,000 Conquest Points and Intermediate Mental Resistance.
• The system announced that Lin Chen had opened the Path of Conquest, but his tier, skills, talents, and other fields were blank.
• The system explained that no Aeon could strengthen Lin Chen and advised him to build influence, gather resources, and develop the Conqueror Legion.
• The system awarded Lin Chen a Fate's Departure Gift Pack for the legion’s first combat victory, and he opened it as a reward roulette began spinning.

Lin Chen received a Universal Countermeasure Card after the crisis on Herta Space Station ended, then spoke with Asta and Arlan before leaving with March 7th. As they walked, March 7th asked whether Lin Chen would go to Azure Star or return to the Astral Express, and said she wanted him to stay aboard.

• Lin Chen learned that the Universal Countermeasure Card could provide a plan to resolve an immediate crisis, but would disappear after one use.
• Asta thanked Lin Chen for ending the uncanny singing, and Arlan offered to repay his kindness; Lin Chen suggested they have a drink sometime.
• Researchers arrived at the damaged plaza, and Lin Chen left Asta to handle the cleanup as he and March 7th headed back to bed.
• Lin Chen asked what Himeko had told March 7th, and March 7th asked whether he and Himeko were romantically involved.
• March 7th asked whether Lin Chen planned to go to Azure Star or return to the Astral Express, then admitted she wanted him to stay so they could go adventuring together.

After the crisis ended, Lin Chen teased March 7th about staying on Herta Space Station, then returned to Cabin 0276 and fell asleep. He woke in a vivid seaside marketplace that he did not recognize, where a sailing ship was preparing to depart.

• Lin Chen told March 7th he might stay on Herta Space Station as a security guard, prompting her to protest and accuse him of having his eye on Asta.
• Lin Chen reached Cabin 0276 and found that the old book on the desk had vanished.
• Lin Chen went to sleep in his cabin after the eerie singing and the Deep-Sea Nightmare battle had ended.
• Lin Chen awoke in a bustling marketplace and suspected he was dreaming, though the city felt unnervingly real.
• Lin Chen climbed toward the harbor, where he saw crowds boarding ships and an old sailing ship raise its sails as a bell rang.

Lin Chen recognized the port city as a world trapped in an endless cycle and realized the bell, not the Deep-Sea Nightmare's song, was driving the phenomenon. He summoned the Conqueror Legion to attack the bell tower, whose repeated restoration began to weaken under their fire.

• Lin Chen saw ships repeatedly depart and return to the port, sometimes carrying treasure and sometimes corpses, and concluded that the world was caught in an endless spiral.
• Lin Chen jumped from a cliff to escape the dream but returned to the fruit stall, where he realized the bell's tolling marked the beginning and end of each cycle.
• Lin Chen summoned the Conqueror Legion and ordered Tychus to direct its fire at the distant bell tower.
• Tychus and twenty-six Space Marines repeatedly destroyed the bell tower, but it restored itself each time, while the black lines around it steadily shrank.
• Lin Chen concluded that the world was more than a dream and told Tychus to continue firing because the bell tower seemed close to its critical point.