Chapter Summaries

Ji Lou read the Builder’s memory and revealed how it used Paradise Island’s memory correction to replace the island’s buildings and conceal the Hell Beasts. The search for Li Luo’s memory seemed fruitless until the Cube displayed “Nameplate,” and Li Luo’s own nameplate began emitting strange Black Fragments.

• Mo Ling tossed the black strap out of the Cube, and Ji Lou read its memory after Mo Ling retrieved it.
• Ji Lou explained that the Builder had replaced Paradise Island’s buildings using the island’s memory correction ability, which also helped conceal the Hell Beasts.
• Ji Lou said many races had built the prison and left guardians behind, but the guardians disappeared and the races seemed to forget the island.
• Li Luo asked whether Ji Lou had found her memory, but Ji Lou found no record of her and said a Memory Construct of her should theoretically exist.
• The Cube displayed the word “Nameplate,” and Li Luo pulled out her own nameplate, which was a Black Nameplate giving off strange fragments.

Mo Ling examined the black nameplate Li Luo had unknowingly worn, and found it held a fragment of her childhood memories. In the memory, a little girl named Li played with metal cubes, attended a banquet with her parents, and wished she could hide inside one.

• Li Luo showed Mo Ling the rusted black nameplate, and Ji Lou found that it contained corrupted memories of her childhood.
• Mo Ling took the nameplate into the Cube and saw a little girl playing with metal cube blocks while her mother humored her.
• The girl’s father arrived and told her and her mother to get ready for a banquet.
• At the Abyss Heart Technology celebration banquet, the girl watched the adults’ noisy, greedy behavior and took a cube from her mother’s bag.
• The girl looked at her reflection in the cube and wished she could hide inside it.

Li Luo grew up surrounded by Cubes in a secluded household, while her mother explained her father’s absence and Lin Nian revealed that the family’s strange routines might be tied to a curse. Lin Nian gave Li Luo a robot model, and Li Luo traded her favorite Cube for it, insisting that gifts required a price.

• Li Luo wondered why her father was always absent and why her mother gave her only Cubes to play with.
• Lin Nian told Li Luo that her father was cursed and described the family’s unusual isolation and strict habits.
• Li Luo performed a Cube trick for Lin Nian, who realized it was sleight of hand rather than a Relic ability.
• Lin Nian gave Li Luo a robot model based on a machine from her father’s company.
• Li Luo exchanged her favorite Cube for the robot model, saying she had to pay a price for receiving Lin Nian’s favorite thing.

A little girl explained to Lin Nian that her family’s rules taught her to treat everything as something with a price, and she recounted how she once navigated her first day of elementary school alone to save Cubes. Her story ended with classmates gathering around her Cube-built house and one offering her a snack.

• The little girl told Lin Nian that she had to pay for things at home with Cubes, while playing with Mom cost nothing because they took turns paying each other.
• She recalled wanting to pay Dad Cubes to play with her, but he said she could not afford his fee, so she kept saving as her work became more valuable.
• When she started elementary school, she walked to school alone, paid her tuition, declined a teacher’s offer to guide her, and chose a seat in the back to avoid extra costs.
• As parents argued over front-row seats, the little girl played with Cubes at her desk until several children gathered to watch.
• A chubby child placed a snack on the little girl’s desk and offered it to her.

Little Girl told Lin Nian how Chubby had paid her a monthly Friend Fee until he transferred away, then returned to her darkened manor and entered her forbidden parents’ room. Inside a vast silver space, she found her mother bleeding on the floor and her father holding a blade as her mother told him, “Li Luo, you're free now.”

• Little Girl recalled how Chubby paid her a Friend Fee and asked her to build a model of his father, who had disappeared in the Abyss.
• Chubby told Little Girl that he knew she was his friend regardless of the fee, then transferred away with his mother from Dawn City.
• Lin Nian promised to bring Little Girl a Friend Fee and asked her to report anything strange at home.
• Little Girl discovered the manor’s lights and robots had stopped working, then entered her parents’ forbidden room to investigate.
• Little Girl found herself in a vast silver space, where her father charged her Cubes to ask questions.
• Little Girl found her mother wounded beside her father, who held a glowing blade, and heard her mother tell him that Li Luo was free now.

Mo Ling experienced Li Luo’s childhood memory, in which her father attacked her mother and then tried to kill Little Girl before an unseen force intervened. After Mo Ling used his teleportation ability to alter the memory and the Black Fragments consumed the severed arm, Li Luo’s nameplate returned to normal, and Mo Ling sent it back to her.

• In Li Luo’s memory, her father stabbed her mother, then tried to attack Little Girl, but an invisible force severed his arm and dropped him through a door in the floor.
• The dying woman told Little Girl she had found the Lucky Cube, then held her and hummed as blood flooded the silver space.
• Mo Ling collapsed after the memory ended, and the Black Fragments on the nameplate consumed the severed arm, blade, and blood before disappearing.
• Mo Ling realized his intervention in the memory might have changed the nameplate and used his vision to return it to the Cube.
• Li Luo saw the restored nameplate and asked Mo Ling how he had changed it back.

After Li Luo regained her memories, a beam from a crack in the sky followed her and began destroying the darkness around her. She and Ji Lou flew through the crack to the top of Hell Island, where they discovered the source of the Black Fragments, and Li Luo crushed something unusual in the ground.

• Li Luo’s nameplate restored her memories, and she asked Mo Ling whether the Cube could recover other people’s memories.
• A beam of light shone through a crack in the sky, followed Li Luo, and burned black surfaces to ash, while Ji Lou’s body remained unaffected.
• Li Luo, Mo Ling, and Ji Lou flew through the crack and found themselves atop Hell Island’s dome beneath a second dome of glowing stones.
• Li Luo identified the brittle, carbonized matter on the ground as the source of Hell Island’s Black Fragments, and Ji Lou found remains from many kinds of creatures.
• While feeling through the ground, Li Luo crushed something different from the other fragments.

Li Luo and Ji Lou discovered living Coal Ball creatures beneath the coal, then encountered a white Builder that attacked them and trapped them inside a growing stone fortress. The Builder named its construction “Urn,” leaving them surrounded by walls, Stone Men, and cannons.

• Li Luo dug a soft, living Coal Ball out from beneath the coal, and Ji Lou captured it in a chain cage.
• Ji Lou found another Coal Ball trying to hide in a crack, but the caged creature began struggling as the ground shook.
• A white Builder approached, shattering the coal and forcing Ji Lou to free Li Luo and flee with the caged Coal Ball.
• The Builder hurled a white boulder at them, but Ji Lou dodged it before the boulder transformed into walls that enclosed them.
• Stone Men and cannon-like weapons appeared atop the fortress walls, and the Builder formed a square gesture and declared, “Build: Urn!”

Mo Ling and Ji Lou fought the builder’s attacks inside the City Wall but could not locate its main body. After surviving the stone tomb and ghost soldiers, Mo Ling realized he needed a way to find a breakthrough.

• Ji Lou realized the Giant God had formed an urn city to trap and kill them, while Mo Ling dismantled the stone cannons and soldiers on the walls.
• Mo Ling discovered that the Giant God’s many layers of armor concealed only a built stone decoy, not the builder’s main body.
• The Giant God used “Build: Tomb” to raise stone tombstones and mounds from the ground.
• Mo Ling destroyed the tombstones, triggering ghost soldiers to emerge from the mounds, then stopped destroying them and eliminated the soldiers attacking Ji Lou.
• Mo Ling decided he needed to find a breakthrough as the builder began changing its hands again.

The Builder trapped Mo Ling and Ji Lou in a prison and attacked Mo Ling with a temple illusion that overwhelmed him with worshippers’ desires. After Mo Ling destroyed the believers and Ji Lou recovered, Ji Lou identified the prison’s hidden lock, allowing Mo Ling to break it and free the Cube.

• The Builder created an invisible prison around the Cube and conjured a temple filled with praying figures whose desires assailed Mo Ling.
• Li Luo’s cough jolted Mo Ling out of the temple’s influence, and Mo Ling destroyed the figures to silence their prayers.
• Mo Ling found Ji Lou still immobilized, but Ji Lou soon recovered and recognized the prison around them.
• Ji Lou revealed where the prison’s lock was hidden, and Mo Ling teleported there and shattered it, freeing the Cube.
• Ji Lou touched the space before it and remarked that it had encountered a future it had never seen before.

Ji Lou’s alternate program, Ji Tai, instructed Li Luo and Mo Ling to stay still as the Builder unleashed a rain of White Light Stone. The stones buried them and swallowed the hill, leaving Mo Ling to trust that Ji Tai’s warning was true.

• Li Luo discovered that Ji Tai had taken over Ji Lou’s body and learned that Ji Lou could be restarted later.
• Ji Tai told Mo Ling that the Builder would use “Dam” and ordered him not to attack or move.
• The Builder created a downpour of small White Light Stone pieces that began piling up around Li Luo and Ji Tai.
• Ji Tai shielded Li Luo with an umbrella and its mechanical arms, insisting the rain was fictional and would soon pass.
• As the stones buried Li Luo and covered the hill, Mo Ling refrained from intervening and realized Ji Tai was trusting them to follow its instructions.

After Ji Tai and Li Luo endured the Builder’s rain attack without moving, Mo Ling entered the Builder’s memories to recover what had been lost. He witnessed the Builder’s early life as Si Yang, a newborn of the Silk Clan who loved sunlight.

• Ji Tai explained that he and Li Luo had survived the rain by remaining a steadfast dam, and praised Li Luo for trusting him.
• Ji Tai told Mo Ling that returning the Builder’s memories was the only way to resolve the crisis.
• Mo Ling found the black ribbon and entered the memory, intending to use his teleportation ability to restore it.
• Mo Ling experienced Si Yang emerging from underground, being taken by a giant hand, and receiving a crude stone body from the Silk Clan.
• Si Yang named himself and told Si Ling that he loved sunlight, though the clan avoided it.

Si Yang left Silk Island after failing to learn the Silk Clan’s way of building, then discovered through his travels that construction could take many forms. Using the techniques and materials he had gathered, he finally built a functional body and embraced building as an act rather than a clan-specific ability.

• Si Ling gave Si Yang a pair of arms to help him experience building materials, but he still could not learn the Silk Clan’s construction ability.
• Si Yang decided to leave Silk Island and seek adventure, and Si Ling encouraged him to follow his own path.
• Si Yang traveled among different civilizations and studied their unusual construction methods.
• Si Yang realized that building did not have to rely on the Silk Clan’s ability and began making a body from stone.
• Si Yang used gathered materials and techniques to complete a functional stone body, finding the process simple.

Si Yang shared construction knowledge and stories from the Outside World with the Silk Clan, then continued traveling to learn more. When the Walrus Race invited the clan to help fight the Hell Beast by building Paradise Island, Si Yang volunteered to represent them and set sail with a ribbon from Si Ling.

• Si Yang returned to Silk Island and taught the Silk Clan construction techniques he had learned, helping them build structures that blended different architectural styles.
• After traveling again, Si Yang learned the histories and human meanings behind buildings and shared those stories with the Silk Clan, but they could not build with Heart's Intent.
• The Silk Clan declined the Walrus Race's invitation to join the campaign against the Hell Beast, but Si Yang volunteered to help build Paradise Island.
• Si Ling tied a ribbon around Si Yang's main body mycelium and asked him to return, and Si Yang promised he would.

Si Yang designed Paradise Island to contain the Hell Beasts, then stayed behind as its guardian after the battle succeeded. As the other guardians and their replacements gradually departed, he remained alone until a young man finally arrived on the island.

• Si Yang used his knowledge and Heart's Intent to design Paradise Island's defenses and cages for the Hell Beasts.
• The races sealed the Hell Beasts on Paradise Island, and Si Yang volunteered to stay and maintain it.
• Si Yang's guardian friends left one by one, and newly appointed guardians also abandoned the island.
• Si Yang recalled the old man on a deserted island and realized that Paradise Island's history had become his entire life.
• After a very long time alone, Si Yang saw a young man set foot on Paradise Island.

Si Yang learned from a descendant of his old friend that the Hell Beasts had been fabricated as a common enemy to unite the races and end the war. He accepted that the deception had brought lasting peace, though he was left dazed by the revelation.

• Si Yang showed the young man around Paradise Island and learned that he was descended from one of the island’s former guardians.
• The young man said people no longer feared Hell Beasts and showed Si Yang a history book about the Paradise Plan.
• Si Yang read that the Hell Beasts were harmless creatures that fed on painful memories and had been presented as a powerful enemy to unite the warring races.
• Si Yang realized that the Hell Beast threat had helped the races build Paradise Island and maintain peace after the battle.
• The young man said most races knew the truth and accepted it, and Si Yang agreed that everyone had been happy.

Mo Ling recovered Si Yang’s memories and returned them to him, bringing Si Yang back to life as a black stone statue beneath a ray of sunlight. Si Yang chose to keep his memories, while Ji Tai released a Hell Beast and questioned whether it could truly destroy the world.

• After the boat left, Si Yang rested on the island, then inspected the Hell Beasts in their underground nest and lay among them beneath the white dome.
• Inside the Cube, Mo Ling escaped Si Yang’s oppressive memory and delivered the recovered strap to Ji Tai.
• At Ji Tai’s request, Mo Ling opened a gap in the dome, and sunlight shone on the strap as mycelium spread and formed Si Yang’s black stone body.
• Si Yang thanked Ji Tai and said he no longer wanted to forget his memories, explaining that he had regretted it when he saw sunlight before falling asleep.
• Ji Tai released the caged Hell Beast, which sprang up and burrowed underground, then asked whether it was the creature capable of destroying the world.

Si Yang explained how Paradise Island replaced the identities and memories of beings whose pain had been devoured, then recounted how it had guarded the island while its own memories were altered. It apologized to Li Luo and Cube for attacking them after mistaking them for a threat.

• Ji Tai dimmed the light, and Li Luo removed her blindfold and asked about the statue.
• Si Yang explained that Paradise Island imposed identities and false memories to compensate for pain taken by Hell Beasts, while the beasts themselves consumed the painful parts of lives and Relic costs.
• Si Yang recalled waking with false memories of being a builder and guarding the island, unaware that the Coal Balls were Hell Beasts.
• Si Yang let humans settle on the island, changed their buildings into White Light Stone structures, and continued guarding Paradise Island.
• Si Yang remembered attacking Li Luo and Cube when it saw the hole in the nest and apologized for being wary of anything black.

After Li Luo recovered painful memories, she thanked the Cube for protecting her and gave it a bottle of cola as hush money. Si Yang and Ji Tai discussed Paradise Island’s decay and the fixed nature of the future, ending with Ji Tai questioning whether even this brand new future had been predetermined.

• Li Luo thanked the Cube for protecting her and asked whether it had seen her recovered memories.
• The Cube confirmed it had, then demanded a bottle of cola as hush money, which Li Luo gave it.
• Li Luo accepted that her painful memories were part of who she was and reaffirmed her reason for going to Abyss Bottom.
• Si Yang agreed not to repair the dome opening and explained that Paradise Island was failing as its White Light Stones ran out of energy.
• Ji Tai said she could not reveal Paradise Island’s future because she believed the future was fixed like a novel’s plot.
• Ji Tai wondered whether the brand new future had also been predetermined, leaving Si Yang unsettled.

Li Luo, Si Yang, and Ji Tai climbed out of Hell Island through a staircase Si Yang constructed and encountered the island’s authorities. Si Yang explained his secret identity and reflected that Paradise Island’s residents, rather than its builder, were its true Masters.

• Li Luo asked why she had ended up in the Hell Beast’s nest, and Si Yang suggested it was because she was the Fire Thief.
• Si Yang constructed a floating staircase, and he, Ji Tai, and Li Luo climbed through the dome’s opening to the surface.
• A police officer checked on Li Luo and questioned Si Yang, who identified himself as a registered Constructor with a secret identity.
• Si Yang explained to Li Luo that his confidential human identity let him move around Paradise Island without conflict with the authorities.
• Si Yang watched the island’s residents pass by and felt like the one who did not belong.