Chapter Summaries

Lilia rejected Yang Pangzi and Shi Lei’s attempts to recruit her, then went with Yang Pangzi’s group to explore the Factory Area. After Lilia easily destroyed a still-moving Metal Golem, Yang Pangzi warned her about the unfinished super-ship that had nearly wiped out his group.

• Yang Pangzi invited Lilia to explore the Factory Area with his group and split the loot.
• Shi Lei challenged Yang Pangzi and tried to recruit Lilia to explore the Library, but Lilia called everyone present weak and declined.
• Lilia told Yang Pangzi she was heading to the Factory Area anyway, and he led her group there.
• Yang Pangzi explained that guard golems and powerful student projects made the Factory Area dangerous.
• Lilia kicked a dormant spider-type Metal Golem, accidentally activating it, then kicked it apart before Yang Pangzi’s group could react.
• Yang Pangzi told Lilia that his group had nearly been wiped out by an enormous unfinished super-ship.

Lilia joined Yang Pangzi’s group in the factory district to search for rituals left by the divers, while Lin Yuan suspected Yang Pangzi was hiding details about a mysterious super battleship. The group found a ritual, and when Lilia destroyed it, a phantom copy appeared in its place.

• Yang Pangzi told Lilia that a half-built super battleship had appeared among the scrap, attacked his teams, and vanished when they returned to investigate.
• Lilia asked Yang Pangzi’s group to help find traces of rituals, and Yang Pangzi recognized the divers as the people who had sealed off parts of the factory district.
• Yang Pangzi led Lilia to the divers’ restricted area and sent his teammates to search while warning them not to attract monsters.
• Yang Pangzi’s teammates quickly found a ritual concealed beneath scrap and a tattered cloth.
• Lilia destroyed the blood-drawn ritual at Lin Yuan’s direction, and a translucent phantom of it appeared in its original place.

Lin Yuan destroyed the ritual at the Factory but suspected its purpose had already been fulfilled, so he followed Fatty Yang’s group to investigate the giant ship they had seen. At dusk, the unfinished vessel appeared in the darkness, and Lin Yuan thought it looked more like an ark than a warship.

• Lin Yuan destroyed Retainer 9527’s ritual projection and deduced that the ritual could empower Divers by absorbing the life force of those killed nearby, though its larger purpose remained unclear.
• Lin Yuan returned to the Coffin, called Fatty Yang’s group back, and decided to investigate the giant ship they had reported seeing.
• Fatty Yang led Lin Yuan’s companions to a scrap heap and explained that the ship had appeared during the darkness between sunset and moonrise.
• As dusk fell, the guard puppets and student projects disappeared, and the enormous, unfinished ship emerged from the darkness.
• Lin Yuan observed the ship’s exposed wooden hull, decks, cabins, and cannons, and decided it resembled an ark more than a warship.

Lin Yuan used Lilia to investigate the unfinished ark and uncovered Fatty Yang’s plan to exploit her while his group collected materials. After taking their gains, Lilia headed onto the ark to investigate a mysterious shadow, while Fatty Yang and Zhang Shan’s groups moved toward a confrontation.

• Lin Yuan watched the ark’s machines repeat pointless construction tasks until a mysterious shadow corrected a misplaced plank, then had Lilia question Fatty Yang about the ship’s progress.
• Zhang Shan and others rushed to collect their former teammates’ belongings, revealing that Fatty Yang had hoped Lilia would provoke the ark and create an opportunity for his group.
• Fatty Yang admitted his scheme and handed over the group’s materials and Steam Cores when Lilia demanded them.
• Lilia took the Coffin and climbed toward the ark’s deck to search for the shadow, leaving Fatty Yang’s group behind.
• Fatty Yang led his teammates after Zhang Shan, who planned to lure them somewhere, while other players edged closer to exploit the brewing conflict.

Yang Pangzi and Zhang Shan chased each other through the ark while trying to reach Zhang Shan’s former captain and his equipment. Their confrontation was repeatedly disrupted by Lilia, and the chapter ended with her stumbling upon a corpse, equipment, and a Blueprint.

• Yang Pangzi’s group chased Zhang Shan into a trapped compartment, but Yang used metallic dust to redirect the guard puppets toward Zhang Shan’s group.
• Lilia crashed through the deck, destroyed the guards, and left both groups free to resume their pursuit.
• Zhang Shan smashed a glowing crystal ball to summon his former captain’s phantom, which shot Yang Pangzi and his teammates.
• Lilia dropped into the fight again and cut down the phantom, leaving Yang Pangzi’s and Zhang Shan’s groups facing each other.
• The scattered traitors attacked both groups with grenades and a glowing net, then began searching for the former captain.
• Lilia fell through the deck a third time and found a corpse, equipment, and a Blueprint among the debris.

Lilia chased a mischievous shadow across the Ark’s deck while Lin Yuan recognized its weapon-assembly ability and hoped to recruit it as an Artisan using his Metal Contract. Below deck, Zhang Shan’s group secretly secured the Old Captain’s soul as Yang Pangzi and the traitors withdrew.

• Lilia gathered the items into the Coffin and charged back upstairs, while Yang Pangzi used a hidden group recovery method and led his team away.
• The traitors moved toward Zhang Shan’s companions, then fled when Zhang Shan sat up; Zhang Shan revealed that he had obtained the Old Captain’s soul.
• On the Ark’s deck, Lilia chased a child-shaped shadow that dodged her and assembled parts into one-use weapons, repeatedly blasting her off the deck.
• Lin Yuan identified the shadow’s ability as Temporary Weapon Assembly and wondered whether it was an Artisan or a supernatural entity with Artisan abilities.
• Lin Yuan asked Lilia not to kill the shadow because he wanted to question it and considered recruiting it with the Metal Contract.

Lin Yuan reviewed his gains from the factory district and considered the Artisan authority and a level 4 hull Blueprint while Lilia fought the shadow. The shadow transformed the ark into a towering mechanical giant, leaving Lilia to call for Lin Yuan’s help.

• Lin Yuan reflected that clearing the Divers’ ritual site might not have disrupted the Crawlers’ plans, then stored five Steam Cores and examined a level 4 Gale-type hull Blueprint.
• Lin Yuan considered the Artisan, prophet, and war authorities and wondered whether their organizations had been destroyed by the Crawlers.
• Lilia exhausted the shadow’s supplies and cornered it on the ark’s deck.
• The shadow plunged into the deck and transformed the ark’s components into a hundred-meter mechanical giant.
• Lilia was stunned by the shadow’s ultimate move and called for Lin Yuan to help.

Lin Yuan stopped Ark Kong’s attack on Lilia and fought the mechanical giant, then discovered it had mistaken him for someone worthy of worship. Ark Kong disassembled itself, and its shadow asked to join Lin Yuan’s crew.

• Lin Yuan blocked Ark Kong’s fist from striking Lilia and traded blows with the giant, judging their strength to be roughly equal.
• Ark Kong stopped fighting, lowered its head, and repeatedly struck the ground in a gesture Lin Yuan recognized as kowtowing.
• Lin Yuan asked Ark Kong to reveal its true body so they could talk, and it immediately fell apart into components.
• The child-sized shadow emerged and asked to join Lin Yuan’s crew, with Lilia interpreting its gestures.
• Lin Yuan asked why the shadow admired him and wondered whether he had an unconscious commanding aura.

Lin Yuan recruited the shadow as the Lin Yuan’s second crewmate after it recognized that he was a ship, and named it Little Black. The Metal Contract then showed him memories of the Artisan Academy’s former ship-modification factory and the unseen figure that had watched it.

• The shadow told Lilia that it was a shipwright and wanted to follow Lin Yuan and make him into the finest ship.
• Lin Yuan worried that the shadow had discovered his secret, but offered it a Metal Contract, which it accepted after carefully reading the terms.
• Lin Yuan learned that the shadow had no name, and Lilia named it Little Black; he also wondered whether she might someday act as captain.
• Lin Yuan received a stream of information through the Metal Contract and saw memories of the Artisan Academy operating in the past.
• The memories showed the academy’s busy ship-modification factory and an illusory figure silently observing it.

Lin Yuan witnessed the history that gave birth to Little Black and learned that he was a Ship Spirit formed from the Artisans' and ships' shared will. He concluded Little Black meant no harm and had the potential to become a powerful Artisan, though his current abilities were weak.

• Lin Yuan watched the Artisan Academy fall to ruin, then saw its survivors rebuild it as a monument and begin constructing the Ark.
• The survivors' first three Arks sank shortly after launch, and their leader died before completing the fourth Ark's Blueprint.
• After the survivors died, the golems endlessly repeated their orders while Little Black grew solid enough to touch the world.
• Lin Yuan realized Little Black's memories showed his gestation and that he had been born from the Artisans' and ships' combined will.
• Lin Yuan decided Little Black would not betray him and recognized his potential to become the strongest Artisan.

Lin Yuan returned from the Factory with Little Black, valuable loot, and troubling questions about the strange information he had experienced. On Commercial Street, a man from the Press Club arrived with something for Zero on behalf of Research Institute 3154.

• Lin Yuan gave Little Black the Land-Walking Modification Technical Manual, which Little Black ate and then digested while sleeping in its own cabin aboard the Lin Yuan.
• Lilia failed to enter Lin Yuan’s shadow and complained when he climbed into her Coffin, while Lin Yuan wondered whether the strange information stream had revealed his own ability or something more mysterious.
• Lin Yuan decided to return to Commercial Street with Lilia, hoping to meet 3154 or members of other major organizations.
• A young man named Wind-Ear from the Press Club told Lilia that Research Institute 3154 had sent something for Zero and asked to see him.
• Wind-Ear then asked whether he could touch Lilia.

Lin Yuan received a sealed metal case from Wind-Ear and learned that the Research Institute and other organizations were secretly acting against the Crawlers. After returning to Commercial Street and finding the organizations gone, he remained uncertain about their plans and Wind-Ear’s cryptic observations about Lilia and Zero.

• Lilia confronted Wind-Ear, and Lin Yuan emerged from the Coffin to receive a metal case from 3154 through him.
• Wind-Ear refused to explain where the Research Institute and other organizations had gone, but hinted they were handling rituals connected to the Crawlers.
• Lin Yuan suspected the organizations were secretly helping humans despite claiming neutrality, and wondered why Old Three had openly joined their efforts.
• After Lin Yuan and Lilia left, Wind-Ear revealed that he had stayed behind to observe them and questioned whether Lilia matched what he expected about Zero’s ship.
• Lilia brought Lin Yuan back to Commercial Street, where he found no members of the organizations and had no Copper Cards available to try the gacha.

Lin Yuan decided to seek a balanced level 4 hull upgrade using the Ark’s unfinished design plans, which he hoped Little Black could turn into a blueprint. He sent Lilia to the Library, where she found players rapidly flipping through books and could read their words but not understand them.

• Lin Yuan reviewed his plans to strengthen himself, including Little Black’s land-travel modifications and a level 4 hull upgrade.
• Lin Yuan rejected the Gale hull path and recalled that he had liked the Ark’s sturdy, balanced design, but its plans were unfinished.
• Lin Yuan realized Little Black could use its Artisan ability to develop a level 4 hull plan from the Ark’s design, and decided to retrieve the plans from the Library.
• Lilia arrived at the Library with the Coffin and found teams of players quickly flipping through the metal books.
• At Lin Yuan’s prompting, Lilia examined a book and found that she recognized the words but could not understand their meaning.

Lilia found a metal box hidden inside an old manuscript in the Library and learned that it contained a fragile Blueprint protected by a self-destruct mechanism. After she tore the box open and destroyed the Blueprint, the nearby players fled after realizing how strong she was, leaving Lilia without answers about the keys.

• Lilia discovered a thick metal box concealed in a manuscript and found no key for it.
• A player explained that the box held a Blueprint and would destroy it if opened without its key.
• Lilia tore the box apart, causing the Blueprint inside to burn to ashes.
• The player and his teammates retreated after seeing Lilia's strength, before she could ask where to find keys.
• Lin Yuan stopped Lilia from chasing them, and they remained in the Library without a way to open the other boxes.

Lin Yuan and Lilia struggled to search the Library for valuable Blueprint boxes and keys, where players split between searching and hunting. As Lin Yuan considered giving up, Little Black woke after digesting the Land-Walking Modification Technical Manual.

• Lilia searched a small room of books and found several higher-grade Blueprint boxes but no keys.
• After hearing a fight, Lilia found a destroyed Administrator Golem with an empty key ring.
• Lin Yuan ordered Lilia to patrol for Administrator Golems and observed that searching players were often robbed by stronger wandering players.
• Lilia encountered attacks from wandering players but could not catch them through the maze of bookshelves, and she found no golems.
• Lin Yuan realized the Library suited neither him nor Lilia, while Little Black woke after finishing the manual.

Lin Yuan ordered Little Black to begin modifying the Lin Yuan for land travel, and Little Black inspected the ship while revealing new ways to improve its Production Workshop. After discovering the Treasure Collection Room was invisible to it, Little Black opened a locked Blueprint box by turning its shadow hand into a key.

• Lin Yuan told Little Black to begin the Land Travel Modification after it said it had mastered the required techniques and had enough materials.
• Little Black inspected the Lin Yuan and modified the Production Workshop so it could make custom components and items, then offered to upgrade the ship's equipment.
• Little Black reacted excitedly to the Transcendent Core Chamber but said it was beyond an Artisan's ability to modify.
• Little Black could not see the entrance to the Treasure Collection Room, so Lin Yuan stopped trying to lead it inside.
• Little Black turned its shadow hand into a key and opened a bronze Blueprint box, revealing a Blueprint for a Luxury Crew Cabin.

Lin Yuan switched to searching for high-quality Blueprint Boxes after learning Little Black could open the Library’s locks, and Lilia quickly found two gold boxes. When Wandering Faction players cornered a group of searchers, Lilia blocked the only doorway with the Coffin, trapping everyone inside.

• Little Black explained that it could open the Library’s boxes using its inherited knowledge, but its Artisan Power was limited and needed 24 hours to replenish.
• Lin Yuan ordered Lilia to join the Searching Faction and focus on finding gold Blueprint Boxes, hoping to recover the Ark designs.
• Lilia joined the searchers who had advised her earlier and found two gold Blueprint Boxes in quick succession.
• Wandering Faction players led by a scar-faced man entered the room and demanded that the searchers hand over their finds.
• Lilia dashed to the doorway but used the Coffin to block the passage, trapping the Wandering Faction and the searchers inside.

Lin Yuan had Lilia defeat Scarface Man’s Wandering Faction team and take their keys, then devised a plan to use the keys to strengthen Little Black while searching for the Ark’s design plans. Lilia joined forces with the Searching Faction players, the Rats, and they headed for the Library’s top floor, where the best Blueprint boxes and most Hunters were gathered.

• Lin Yuan had Lilia block the doorway and confront Scarface Man’s Wandering Faction team, and Lilia knocked two attackers into the bookshelves.
• Scarface Man surrendered and handed over his team’s keys, and Lilia let them leave.
• Lin Yuan decided to have Lilia disguise herself among the Searching Faction players and use the keys to nurture Little Black.
• Lilia asked the Searching Faction players to cooperate, and they agreed to form a team with her.
• The Rats led Lilia toward the Library’s top floor, where the highest-quality Blueprint boxes and the most Hunters were located.

Lin Yuan learned from Jerry how the Library’s Hunters and Rats operated, and why the Hunters’ upcoming Party might be dangerous. After reaching the top floor with Lilia and the Rats, the group began searching a room but was interrupted by Scarface.

• Jerry explained that Rats relied on recognizing search marks on lower floors, while stealth and escape skills mattered on the upper floors.
• Jerry told Lilia and Lin Yuan that Hunters called the golems’ periodic cleanup of the top floor a Party, during which Hunters killed golems for keys.
• Jerry warned that Hunters had finished preparing for the next Party and that several large teams planned to kill every Administrator Golem that appeared.
• Jerry worried that stopping the Library’s repair process could cause a serious incident, though the group continued onward.
• Lilia, Lin Yuan, and Jerry’s team reached the top floor and began searching an empty room.
• Scarface entered the room, and Lilia recognized him.

Lilia led the Rats players toward the Hunters’ largest room after Scarface pointed it out, where they were surrounded by Shi Lei’s team. Shi Lei attacked Lilia, but she regenerated her injured arm, and Lin Yuan told her to kill the Hunters.

• Lilia and Scarface ran into each other, and Scarface pointed her toward the room where the strongest Hunters were gathered.
• Lilia took the Rats players to the room, while Scarface decided not to follow them and risk becoming caught in a fight.
• Shi Lei recognized Lilia and taunted her, boasting that his thirty-person team was stronger than Hook’s group.
• Shi Lei struck Lilia with his saber, but her arm quickly regenerated after she pulled the blade free.
• Lin Yuan told Lilia through a mental transmission that she could fight, and Shi Lei ordered his team to attack her.