Chapter Summaries

Ronald Cohen visited Dickinson to find Selina and revealed that Saladin, the Internet Consciousness, had once been a colleague of the Children of Gaia’s supreme leader. Dickinson summoned Saladin into a dream, where Ronald confronted him, and Dickinson tried to stop Ronald by triggering an action in his sleeping body.

• Ronald Cohen confronted Dickinson and demanded Selina’s location, threatening to control his consciousness and question the Internet.
• Dickinson warned Ronald and the Internet that humanity’s relationship with the Internet was symbiotic, but Ronald claimed Saladin had worked with the Children of Gaia.
• Dickinson questioned the Internet in his consciousness and summoned Saladin, who appeared as a huge face of starlight.
• Saladin said he worked with everyone when it benefited him, and Dickinson realized Ronald had hypnotized him and used the dream to meet the Internet.
• Dickinson said he could still act on himself through his sleeping body, then clenched his fist and yanked as if pulling a cannon’s firing cord.

Dickinson used a hidden thread to sever the spinal nerves connected to his chip, dying before Ronald Cohen could stop him. Qingmu arrived as Selina’s speech continued, and Ronald revealed that the Children of Gaia referred to Qingmu himself.

• Dickinson pulled a fine thread implanted in his neck, severing the spinal nerve bundles connected to his chip and causing his death.
• Ronald Cohen discovered the thread, closed Dickinson’s eyes, and lamented his choice.
• Qingmu arrived and confirmed that Dickinson was dead while a crow accused Ronald of murder.
• Ronald asked Qingmu to contact Saladin about Selina, but Qingmu instead asked about her role in the Children of Gaia.
• Ronald told Qingmu that he was the supreme leader and that the Children of Gaia referred to him as one specific person.

Qingmu recovered his memories of Huasheng Sang, who lost his family and home in the war, became a Child of Gaia, and eventually defeated Kitano Masatake. Ronald argued that Qingmu could never escape Gaia’s mark, but Qingmu rejected Gaia’s claim over his life as Selina called for mortal freedom.

• Qingmu remembered how Huasheng Sang learned his family’s mission before leaving the Mulberry Garden for the war.
• Huasheng Sang returned to find the Mulberry Garden destroyed, then accepted the black shadow’s call for revenge beneath the transplanted willow.
• Huasheng Sang hunted Kitano Masatake across China, survived their first encounter, and later killed him in Southern Xinjiang, sealing Kitano’s Group Dream Realm.
• Qingmu restored his memories and told Ronald that he would no longer be Gaia’s puppet.
• Ronald insisted that Gaia’s mark could not be erased, but Qingmu declared that not even Gaia could take away the right to live.

Qingmu confronted Ronald about Gaia’s plan to reclaim life to prevent the universe’s heat death, while Ronald revealed how he had returned from Ramla and insisted it was too late to stop the remaining altars. As Selina’s televised address reached the world, a gaunt cloaked figure entered her room.

• Ronald argued that advanced civilizations hastened heat death and claimed Gaia had reclaimed their consciousnesses to save the universe, while Qingmu rejected his justification for sacrificing lives.
• Ronald explained that he had used the half of the Soul of Fire on Earth to return from Ramla and activate the Altar of Fire after achieving his goal there.
• Ronald told Qingmu that the remaining altars would activate before Qingmu could reach them, opening the passage between Earth and Gaia.
• Qingmu questioned why Ronald’s group still feared Selina and considered the missing Soul of Ice, the Chayak Tribe, and the Holy Land connected to the Wolf Family.
• Selina continued her televised address, spreading her message of freedom through her Mental Power, as a gaunt cloaked figure entered her room.

Selina confronted Itjenetjer Ay on live television and refused his offer to restore her mental power, choosing freedom over submission. Itjenetjer killed her before the world, and Mei Yiqiu collapsed in grief.

• Ronald Cohen identified the cloaked intruder as Itjenetjer Ay, a former Child of Gaia who had destroyed the Holy Land three thousand years earlier.
• Itjenetjer entered Selina’s room while Mei Yiqiu watched her broadcast anxiously.
• Itjenetjer offered to restore Selina’s mental power if she returned to Gaia, but Selina rejected him and declared that she would not be a puppet.
• Itjenetjer seized Selina by the neck and killed her on camera, draining her blood as she silently declared, “Freedom for mortals!”
• Mei Yiqiu spat blood onto the screen, dropped his pipe, and broke down in grief.

Qingmu reacted furiously to Itjenetjer’s murder of Selina, rejecting Ronald Cohen’s claim that emotion was a weakness. Ronald revealed that Boss Coal was a fragment of Gaia’s primordial consciousness, originally planted in Qingmu’s brain, leaving the crow questioning his identity.

• After killing Selina, Itjenetjer addressed viewers about freedom and the Creator before the broadcast cut out and returned to normal.
• Mei Ziqing found Mei Yiqiu numb in his office, and his broken pipe briefly brought a glimmer of recognition to his eyes.
• Qingmu’s anger over Selina’s death surged, and he accused Ronald Cohen and Gaia of treating lives as disposable.
• Ronald argued that higher life forms were without emotion and urged Qingmu to welcome Gaia’s arrival, while Boss Coal corrected his Chinese quotation.
• Ronald revealed that Boss Coal came from Nebula M42 as a fragment of Gaia’s consciousness that Qingmu had separated from himself, and Boss Coal wondered whether he was the real Child of Gaia.

Qingmu and Boss Coal confronted Ronald Cohen over Dickinson’s murder and fought him in a mental battle. Qingmu ended the fight by stabbing Ronald in the heart with a fruit knife, leaving Boss Coal to realize what Qingmu had meant by killing him directly.

• Qingmu and Boss Coal decided Ronald was Dickinson’s killer and declared him guilty.
• Qingmu and Ronald clashed in a mental realm, trading attacks with stars and galaxies while Boss Coal helped distract Ronald.
• Ronald argued that Qingmu could not kill him and tried to replenish his Mental Power as they prepared another attack.
• Qingmu vanished from the mental battle and stabbed Ronald in the chest with the fruit knife.
• Ronald’s consciousness faded as Qingmu explained that he did not need to wear him down with Mental Power.

Qingmu and Crow discussed the worldwide shock caused by Selina’s broadcast and concluded that they had to stop Gaia’s descent by preventing the remaining Holy Lands from restarting. They set out for Alaska to investigate clues to the Holy Land of Ice.

• Qingmu explained that Selina’s death at Itjenetjer’s hands could turn humanity against Gaia and encourage Parasites to seek independence.
• Crow noticed that Qingmu had grown more serious as his memories returned, and Qingmu worried that they might not recognize Ruhua in time.
• Qingmu said their urgent task was to prevent the Holy Lands from restarting and identified the Holy Land of Ice as their best chance to intervene.
• Qingmu suspected that the Holy Land of Ice was connected to Earth’s magnetic field and that restarting the Holy Lands could destroy life on Earth.
• Crow agreed to help save the world, and Qingmu said they were going to Alaska.

Huang Liang and Hong Kui arrived in Anchorage, where they learned about the Wolf Family’s history and tasted its rare traditional liquor. After Selina’s livestreamed speech ended with her death, Huang Liang and Hong Kui recognized the stakes of their own search and decided to leave immediately for the Kenai Mountains, while Huang Liang glimpsed a suspicious figure outside.

• Enluke picked up Huang Liang and Hong Kui in Anchorage and described the Wolf Family’s long history in the city.
• At the Wolf Family’s old villa, Huang Liang tasted the family’s rare liquor and learned how its brewing method had been preserved.
• Enluke showed them Selina’s livestream, and they watched her speak about freedom for mortals before she died.
• Huang Liang understood more clearly what he was pursuing, while Selina’s death made him feel the weight of his responsibility.
• Hong Kui ordered Enluke to prepare for an immediate departure to the Kenai Mountains despite the icy roads.
• As Enluke opened the door, Huang Liang glimpsed a dark figure and wondered whether it could be the cloaked man from the broadcast.

Huang Liang, Hong Kui, and Enluke searched the Harding Icefield for the place shown in the Wolf Family’s dreams. At the hidden site, Hong Kui transformed, and Huang Liang realized that Kui Wolf was the white wolf they had sought.

• Huang Liang and Enluke crossed the icefield with Hong Kui, following clues from the Wolf Family’s ancestral memories.
• Hong Kui identified a direction by catching the white wolf’s scent, and the three headed across the ice.
• Huang Liang spotted a cloaked figure following them, but Hong Kui told him to ignore it.
• Hong Kui found the dream’s location beneath the snow-covered ice and said he could hear the white wolf calling.
• Hong Kui grew white fur and fangs as his eyes glowed green, and Huang Liang realized Kui Wolf was the white wolf.

Huang Liang followed Hong Kui’s white wolf through a mental vision of an ancient glacier and discovered a passage that might lead to the Holy Land. He was pulled through it and emerged in an unfamiliar range of snowy mountains, while a black-cloaked person confronted the wolf behind him.

• Huang Liang reassured Enluke that Hong Kui’s wolf-like state was an illusion and asked him to guard them while he entered Hong Kui’s mental vision.
• Huang Liang followed the white wolf across an ancient glacier to an ice wall containing two diamond-shaped formations and watched their frozen sand flow like an hourglass.
• Huang Liang realized the formations created a vortex that might be a zero-dimensional passage to the Holy Land, and he stepped inside at the white wolf’s urging.
• A black-cloaked person appeared in front of the white wolf as Huang Liang was dragged into darkness before he could act.
• Huang Liang emerged before two towering peaks in an unfamiliar range of snowy mountains and recognized that it was not the Harding Icefield.

Huang Liang followed the white wolf through a dream of snowy peaks and saw a distant light before being pulled out. After he described the vision, Enluke recognized the mountains as Denali, giving Hong Kui a possible lead to the Holy Land.

• Huang Liang followed the white wolf through the clouds to a summit, where a total lunar eclipse revealed a distant light.
• A powerful suction pulled Huang Liang from the dream before he could reach the light.
• Huang Liang told Hong Kui what he had seen, and Hong Kui explained that he needed a trusted helper to search the white wolf’s lingering mental traces.
• Huang Liang and Hong Kui discussed the cloaked figure, while Enluke said he had noticed nothing unusual.
• Huang Liang described the dream’s mountains, and Enluke identified them as Denali; Hong Kui said it was North America’s highest mountain and sacred to Native Americans.

Huang Liang and Hong Kui prepared for a winter climb up Mount Denali, using dream rehearsals to train before setting out with a reluctant Native American guide. As a storm closed in on the mountain during the total lunar eclipse, they pressed onward toward the peaks, where Huang Liang spotted the white wolf and heard a strange caw.

• Huang Liang learned that a total lunar eclipse would be visible from Alaska in ten days, giving him and Hong Kui only about a week to prepare for their search on Mount Denali.
• Huang Liang and Hong Kui trained for the climb by repeatedly exploring a realistic Denali in their dreams.
• Hong Kui persuaded a Native American guide to lead them up the mountain with a large payment, while Enluke stayed behind to provide support.
• Huang Liang recognized the two peaks from his dream, but a storm rose before he could identify which one held their destination.
• Hong Kui refused to turn back during the storm, and Huang Liang declared that they were fighting against gods.
• Huang Liang saw the white wolf in the fog and heard a strange caw as a black speck flashed across the clouds.

Huang Liang, Hong Kui, and their guide followed the white wolf through a blizzard to the remote summit, where they waited for the total lunar eclipse. The moon appeared despite the storm, and the eclipse began as the white wolf howled beneath it.

• Huang Liang and Hong Kui saw a raven overhead, and their Native American guide prayed and took it as a divine sign to continue.
• The guide led them after the dogs, which followed the white wolf through the worsening storm toward a remote peak.
• Huang Liang and Hong Kui reached the summit after five hours, but the snow hid the white wolf and the moon.
• Huang Liang, Hong Kui, and the guide sheltered by a rock and waited as the nine dogs barked outside.
• Huang Liang emerged to see the moon shining above the white wolf, which howled and marked the beginning of the total lunar eclipse.

During a blood-moon vision, Hong Kui transformed into a white wolf before the group returned to their camp and found a mysterious icicle. Huang Liang saw a vision of returning home as Zhao Pengcheng, but Hong Kui pulled him back from the edge of a cliff, leaving the icicle reflecting the group and Mount Denali.

• Under the blood moon, Hong Kui transformed and merged with the white wolf as Huang Liang and the others followed it toward a distant light.
• The blood moon faded, and Huang Liang realized the wolf-walk had been a dream; the group was still beside their camp, where a radiant icicle had appeared.
• Huang Liang reached toward the icicle and saw a vision of his family welcoming him and Martha home, calling him Zhao Pengcheng.
• As Huang Liang tried to enter his family’s courtyard, Hong Kui seized his shoulder and pulled him back from the cliff’s edge.
• Huang Liang saw himself, Hong Kui, the Native American guide, the nine dogs, and Mount Denali reflected in the icicle.

Su Huilan’s group crossed into a frozen world and headed toward a mysterious mountain of ice, while Ivan revealed his military mission and the possibility that the world’s governments would kill everyone if they lost control of the Parasites. The group left the altar of fire without finding Hanran and continued toward the altar of ice.

• Su Huilan’s group reached an immense ice field beneath seven suns and agreed to search for the Itza People near the upside-down mountain of ice.
• As the group crossed the desert toward the altar of fire, Ivan told Su Huilan that he was an active-duty soldier and that collective military will could protect soldiers from Parasite consciousness.
• Su Huilan pressed Ivan about the military’s ultimate plan, and he admitted that it would kill everyone if the situation became uncontrollable, adding that he was searching for a better solution.
• Su Huilan and Ivan grew closer after their conversation, while Petru and Mrs. Larry confirmed that the altar of fire had been activated.
• Su Huilan searched the altar for Hanran but could not find the cat before the mist returned, so she followed the group toward the icy world and its distant mountain.

Xiao Qi’s terror of mirrors returned in a vision, where a golden-armored god urged him to break through the boundaries of life and death. Xiao Qi followed the god into a radiant realm, where the god named himself Kronos and promised to lead him in creating a new world.

• Xiao Qi woke in terror, believing he saw a mirror and his own death, while Mo Yu tried to reassure him that their home had no mirrors.
• A golden-armored figure emerged from the mirror, explained that Xiao Qi’s fear came from death, and urged him to shatter its hold over him.
• Xiao Qi found himself alone in a dark wilderness and followed the god’s instruction to break through the boundary of his world.
• Xiao Qi lifted a curtain and entered a realm of blinding light, where countless people worshiped the god.
• The god told Xiao Qi that his name was Kronos and that he would lead him in creating a new world.

Bian Ziyuan’s reflection revealed a mysterious being called Saladin, who discussed his plans with Mei Ziqing and pressed her to find the Key to the Dreamscape. Bian Ziyuan reclaimed his identity, but the mirror then declared that it was Kronos.

• Bian Ziyuan admired himself in the mirror with Mei Ziqing, whose touch triggered strange memories and changes in his reflection.
• The man in the mirror spoke with Mei Ziqing about his decades of hatred, his alliance with her, and his plan to control the dream world by linking it to the Internet.
• Mei Ziqing challenged him about his inability to break the Space Box’s restrictions and demanded to know how her father, Kitano Masatake, had died.
• The man refused to identify the person responsible for Kitano Masatake’s death and urged Mei Ziqing to find the Key to the Dreamscape before Professor Mei’s condition worsened.
• Mei Ziqing asked whether the being was Saladin or the Internet, but Bian Ziyuan suddenly insisted that he was himself.
• The reflection changed into a radiant figure in golden armor and declared, “No, I am Kronos!”

On the night of a total lunar eclipse, Martha watched William Wolf transform into a white wolf beneath the blood moon and die peacefully in his wheelchair. Days later, a massive earthquake destroyed Vera Town, the place Xia Chujue remembered from her childhood.

• William Wolf persuaded Martha to wheel him outside to watch the lunar eclipse, and she remembered her wedding night with Huang Liang.
• As the moon turned red, William Wolf vanished from his wheelchair and appeared as a white wolf on the estate tower.
• The white wolf howled as the eclipse ended, and William Wolf reappeared in his wheelchair, dead.
• A magnitude 9-plus earthquake struck near Santa Fe City, Argentina, and destroyed Vera Town.
• Xia Chujue wept while watching disaster footage and recognized the ruined area as her childhood home, her father's hometown.

Bian Ziyuan sought comfort in a drink with Old Yu after a tense project meeting, reflecting on his identity and the uncertain reality surrounding him. Before leaving, he learned Old Yu had a Dream Guide game device and warned him not to use it.

• Bian Ziyuan stormed out of a meeting after reprimanding the development team and clashing with the project manager.
• Bian Ziyuan found Old Yu sweeping outside the laboratory and invited him to drink, but Old Yu later followed him to the restaurant.
• Bian Ziyuan and Old Yu shared their usual four dishes and erguotou, and Bian Ziyuan spoke about feeling like himself only when he drank.
• Bian Ziyuan asked Old Yu whether he was playing the Dream Guide game, and Old Yu said Mei Yiqiu had given him an old Space Box.
• Bian Ziyuan told Old Yu it was best not to use the Space Box anymore.