Chapter Summaries

Bai Heng and Ratio left the bar to discuss the Dark Domain, while Aventurine went to greet the Astral Express crew. Bai Heng accompanied Ratio to Origami Academy, where a mysterious Iris Family artist awaited an important person.

• Bai Heng settled the bill and suggested that he and Ratio find somewhere quiet to discuss the report on the Molten Eremite and the Dark Domain.
• Ratio proposed they talk aboard the Spodumene Yacht, and Aventurine spotted the Astral Express crew in the Daydream Hotel lobby.
• Bai Heng declined to greet the Nameless, while Aventurine returned to the lobby to meet them.
• Bai Heng accompanied Ratio to Origami Academy in Sun's Hour, where Ratio planned to visit old friends.
• A silver-gray-haired artist from the Iris Family walked through the academy, expecting to meet an important person there.

While waiting for Penacony’s dream to take hold, Bai Heng remembered a ruined civilization whose people had abandoned reality for the virtual game Naraka. He entered Sun’s Hour, bought pastries, and headed toward Origami Academy, thinking of the people he might bring them to.

• Bai Heng recalled meeting Liu Wen in Naraka and visiting the minor world Liu Wen had created.
• Bai Heng discovered Liu Wen and the civilization’s other residents dead in immersion containers at Naraka’s headquarters.
• Bai Heng learned the civilization had entered virtual life three hundred years earlier and speculated that a Pathstrider of Destruction might have caused its downfall.
• Bai Heng entered Penacony’s dream and recognized Sun’s Hour by its landmarks and afternoon streets.
• Bai Heng bought mango crepes and lemon cookies, then set off for Origami Academy with gifts for Firefly, Yomi, Silver Wolf, or the professors.

Sparkle prepared to arrange a meeting between Bai Heng and Miss Samuel while Bai Heng attended Origami Academy’s ceremony with Miss The Deceased. After Firefly was coaxed into a store promotion, Bai Heng received an anonymous message asking him to dance with Miss Samuel at the Midnight Moment ball.

• Sparkle watched the people gathering below the clock tower and set her plants to work on her matchmaking assignment for Bai Heng.
• Bai Heng sat through Origami Academy’s ceremony with Miss The Deceased, who was enjoying her freedom to move around Penacony as a meme.
• Firefly was persuaded by a sales associate to buy Robin-endorsed heels and join a store event, where she won the first prize.
• Bai Heng left the ceremony after hearing that Origami Academy would hold a ball at the Midnight Moment branch campus.
• Bai Heng received an anonymous message asking him to dance with Miss Samuel at the Midnight Moment that night.

Firefly fled Hound Family officers through Sun's Hour with Silver Wolf guiding her, but a doll attacked her after she reached the Origami Academy branch campus. Bai Heng and Miss The Deceased were there, and Miss The Deceased caught Firefly as she fell from the shattered skylight.

• Hundreds of Hound Family officers searched Sun's Hour for Firefly, so Silver Wolf guided her through the alleys toward Midnight Hour.
• Firefly summoned SAM and escaped the officers by flying to a rooftop, but drones spotted her and the chase continued toward downtown.
• Bai Heng received a text directing him to a changing room, and Miss The Deceased and Di Kui went with him.
• Silver Wolf guided Firefly past the drones to the Origami Academy branch campus, where Firefly found a doll on the theater roof.
• The doll struck Firefly with a hammer, sending her and SAM through a skylight, but Miss The Deceased caught Firefly as the mech disassembled.

Firefly reunited with Bai Heng and confessed her love to him. Bai Heng was moved and asked whether she wanted an answer immediately, but Firefly said she did not.

• Firefly cried while Silver Wolf worried over the earpiece, and Bai Heng reassured them that she was safe.
• Lady Death left Firefly with Bai Heng as others hurried away from the dressing room.
• Firefly touched Bai Heng's face and repeatedly called him Little Bai while Silver Wolf listened through the earpiece.
• Firefly explained that the world's greatest distance was standing before someone who did not know her feelings, then confessed that she loved Bai Heng.
• Bai Heng asked if Firefly needed an answer right away, and she told him no.

Bai Heng helped Firefly change into a white dress and healed the abrasions on her feet before taking her into the ballroom instead of escaping. As Hounds searched for a silver-haired girl in a black dress, Bai Heng asked Firefly to dance with him under the name Miss Samuel.

• Bai Heng chose a white chiffon dress for Firefly so the Hounds would not recognize her black gown.
• Firefly changed clothes, and Bai Heng healed the abrasions on her feet when he noticed she had run barefoot.
• Bai Heng led Firefly into the ballroom, where Hounds began questioning guests about a silver-haired girl who might have changed outfits.
• Bai Heng clasped Firefly's hand and waist, reassured her, and invited her to dance as Miss Samuel.
• Firefly accepted Bai Heng's invitation and followed his lead onto the dance floor.

Bai Heng and Firefly danced at the venue before Silver Wolf helped them escape the Hound Family by blacking out the lights. After they reunited, Bai Heng left to handle his own business, while Silver Wolf told Firefly that his debts were emotional.

• A patrol officer mistook Firefly for the missing stowaway and dismissed the idea when he saw her dancing with Bai Heng.
• Silver Wolf spotted Bai Heng and Firefly, then agreed to black out the venue so they could escape the Hound Family.
• During the blackout, Firefly kissed Bai Heng, and the pair escaped with Silver Wolf to a city rooftop.
• Bai Heng introduced Silver Wolf and Firefly, then parted ways with them to return to Lady Death and Professor Ratio.
• Silver Wolf explained that Bai Heng's group chat contained his creditors and warned Firefly not to repay or attack them because he owed emotional debt.

Firefly joined Bai Heng’s group chat and learned about his upcoming wedding, while Bai Heng received a dire tarot reading at Penacony. After paying the diviner to revise the prediction, Bai Heng left with an auspicious forecast.

• Silver Wolf told Firefly about Bai Heng’s wedding next month, and Firefly joined the group chat as “Bai Ying.”
• Firefly learned that Bai Heng’s two children were rabbits living with a Luofu swordmaster and saved one of his memes.
• Bai Heng flirted with Jingliu in the group chat, then welcomed Firefly to One Big Loving Family.
• Bai Heng asked a Penacony diviner for a tarot reading and was told an omen of death approached.
• Bai Heng paid the diviner repeatedly until the diviner reversed the reading and said good fortune would favor him.

Bai Heng visited Simmons under the alias Aventurine to learn about Gram immigrants in Penacony and uncovered the Family’s imprisonment of fallen Gram Iron Cavalry as Bloodsin Spirits. Simmons’s account left Bai Heng knowing the spirits were trapped in a sealed dreamscape beneath the shadow of Nihility.

• Bai Heng received Firefly’s recommendation to visit Simmons, then learned Ratio planned to work with Sunday and invite Aventurine into their game.
• Bai Heng returned to reality, collected the imperial blade Chi from Zhuming, and went back into Penacony’s dreamscape.
• Bai Heng introduced himself to Simmons as Aventurine, and Simmons initially mistook him for someone sent by the Family to test him.
• After Firefly confirmed Bai Heng’s identity, Simmons shared Sigva wine and explained how Gram Iron Cavalry had fought the insect swarm and later clashed with the Corporation fleet.
• Simmons said the Family had betrayed the fallen Iron Cavalry by imprisoning their Bloodsin Spirits in a prison-like dreamscape.
• Bai Heng understood that the Family had sealed the spirits in a stagnant Memory Zone to prevent Nihility from eroding Penacony’s dreams.

After learning about Penacony’s history, Bai Heng searched Asdana for a memoria prison and used his blade to tear open the Memory Void. He fell into its depths, where the Bloodsin Spirits were trapped.

• Bai Heng enjoyed Simmons’s Glamoth pancake, said he would return, and left the bakery.
• Bai Heng asked Jade for authorization to use the fleet’s onboard computing equipment, then scanned Asdana for memoria and found the prison’s coordinates.
• Bai Heng traveled to the coordinates in a star patrol vessel and entered the gray, sealed memoria prison.
• Bai Heng summoned Di Kui and used the edict blade Chi, imbued with Destruction power, to slash open the Memory Void.
• Bai Heng let the collapsing memoria pull him into its depths.

Yomi halted her clash with Firefly after sensing a familiar presence in the Memory Zone and admitted that she still dreamed. Meanwhile, Bai Heng awoke in a Memory Void and met Moer, a Candleflame squad member who mistook him for a local and offered to take him to camp.

• Yomi sensed someone in the Memory Zone, lowered her blade, and told Firefly that she still dreamed.
• Yomi told Firefly that her time had not yet come and said she could see through disguises.
• Bai Heng awoke in a poppy field beside wreckage and watched Moer emerge from beneath insect corpses.
• Moer introduced herself as CR-76321 and invited Bai Heng to the Candleflame squad's camp.
• Moer explained that the Empress's Gram Military Regulations, based on Bai Heng's Ember Ash Party Constitution, forbade knights from taking anything from the people.

Aventurine felt Harmony’s influence and gave away gemstones in Aedien Park while investigating Penacony’s urban legends under Bai Heng’s name. Meanwhile, Bai Heng traveled with Moer, who mistook him for Bai Heng’s descendant, and they reached the Candleflame squad’s temporary base.

• Aventurine wondered whether Harmony was affecting him and reflected on Bai Heng’s unusual powers and approachable nature.
• Aventurine handed out gemstones to visitors in Aedien Park while posing as a tabloid reporter, and told people to call him Bai Heng.
• Moer asked Bai Heng his name and imagined he was Bai Heng’s illegitimate son, but Bai Heng claimed he was Ratio instead.
• Moer recovered from the disappointment and continued traveling with Bai Heng through the forest.
• After about a system hour, Bai Heng and Moer reached a cliff overlooking the Candleflame squad’s illuminated temporary base.

Bai Heng arrived at the Candleflame Squad’s camp with Moer and gave Dongyi a false identity as a senior clerk from an interstellar corporation. After learning that the squad had lost its mechanics, he offered to try repairing its damaged Molten Knights, and Dongyi allowed him to attempt it.

• Moer brought Bai Heng into the factory camp and introduced him to Dongyi, captain of the Candleflame Squad.
• Dongyi questioned Bai Heng about his identity and why he was in the area, and he claimed to be a corporate senior clerk fleeing a swarm attack.
• Dongyi assigned Dieye to escort Bai Heng to the barracks and warned him not to act on his own while the squad supervised him.
• Dieye explained that the squad’s two mechanics had died and showed Bai Heng the damaged Molten Knights.
• Bai Heng said he had mechanical repair experience and professional certification, and Dongyi agreed to let him try repairing the wrecks.

Bai Heng repaired a silver Iron Cavalry for the Candleflame squad and agreed to help fix their remaining armor without payment. After joining the squad for a meal, he discovered that Dieye had cooked the stew.

• Bai Heng used Xiaoqi and the squad's tools to rebuild an Iron Cavalry and restore its mechanical core.
• Dongyi test-drove the restored armor and confirmed its movement and weapons worked.
• Bai Heng agreed to repair the squad's remaining armor for free, explaining that he wanted to help their cause and that his lover had once belonged to the Gram Iron Cavalry.
• Bai Heng ate with the Candleflame squad and asked Dieye whether their cook had died in battle.
• Dieye told Bai Heng that she was the cook.

Bai Heng listened as Dieye shared her growing exhaustion with life in the Iron Cavalry and her hopes of volunteering after retirement. Before he could rest, Moer burst into his barracks to warn him that the swarm had arrived.

• During a meal, Bai Heng heard Dongyi, Moer, and Dieye discuss their plans after retirement from the Iron Cavalry.
• After finishing his work at the factory, Bai Heng met Dieye outside and asked whether she was tired of serving in the Iron Cavalry.
• Dieye told Bai Heng that repeated battles against the Insectoid Spawn and the loss of comrades had left her feeling helpless and longing to volunteer.
• Dieye thanked Bai Heng for listening, then left to change shifts as the Iron Cavalry began to mobilize.
• Moer kicked open Bai Heng's barracks door and warned him that the swarm had arrived.

Bai Heng confronted Penacony's Dreamweaver, who tried to stop him from drawing his blade and showed him the seven-hundred-year-old battlefield tragedy. Bai Heng broke through the dream prison and ordered his companions to exterminate the Insectoid Spawn and escort every Gram Iron Cavalry home.

• Moer left Bai Heng as the Insectoid Spawn vanguard advanced across the land.
• The Dreamweaver bound Bai Heng with silver threads and warned him that drawing his blade would bring Infinite Husband's wrath and unleash the Sleeper Without Form.
• Bai Heng challenged the Dreamweaver, who revealed that the Oak Family's 107,336 children served as its eyes, ears, and mouth.
• The Dreamweaver showed Bai Heng a battlefield from seven hundred years earlier, where Insectoid Spawn had killed the Iron Cavalry and the Bloodsin Spirits endlessly repeated their final actions.
• Bai Heng drew his longsword, transformed it into an ink brush, and split the dream world with an ink-black crack.
• Bai Heng ordered Seaborn, Singer, Fool, Radiance, Kunyu, and Fate to exterminate all Insectoid Spawn in the Asdana Star Region and escort every Gram Iron Cavalry home.

Bai Heng agreed to guide the Bloodsin Spirit out of the dream and used the edict blade Chi to draw in the dream’s Nihility. As he brought the seven-hundred-year-old stage to its close, Yomi appeared in the Penacony Grand Theater and promised to lead the departed home.

• Bai Heng faced the Dreammaster and persuaded him to settle their dispute in reality if Bai Heng could guide away the Bloodsin Spirit without letting Nihility taint the dream.
• Bai Heng drew Chi, fed it his blood, and enclosed the sea of memories in a golden cage.
• Bai Heng declared that he would lead the dream home and struck down the black curtain sealing it for seven hundred years.
• Yomi drew her edict blade in the black-and-white rain at the Penacony Grand Theater and said she would lead the departed home.

Bai Heng entered the Black Hole Narrows after containing the leaking Nihility and met Yomi, who revealed herself as Mei, the Wàngchuān Guardian. Their conversation about the affinity between him and the edict blade Chi ended with Yomi blocking his way and jokingly proposing marriage.

• Bai Heng entered the Black Hole Narrows through the Imaginary turbulence and watched the edict blade Chi dart through the air.
• Yomi caught Chi and asked Bai Heng whether its affinity belonged to the blade or to the people.
• Bai Heng retrieved Chi from Yomi and walked away after she answered that the affinity came from the object.
• Yomi blocked Bai Heng with her blade and introduced herself as Hokushin, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei, though he could now call her Yomi.
• Yomi said the affinity had passed from Chi to Bai Heng and hinted that it was not too late for him to marry into her family.

Bai Heng and Yomi postponed discussing their marriage until they could leave the Black Hole Narrows, and he then rescued and healed Aventurine in Dreamflux Reef. After leaving Aventurine to be collected, Bai Heng heard the Dreammaster ask him to leave Penacony until the Harmony Gala, and learned that the other Nihility Emanator had already departed.

• Bai Heng and Yomi agreed to talk about their relationship after returning to reality and joked about visiting an amusement park together.
• Bai Heng read Aventurine's messages and found his location in the Land of Exile, where Aventurine had been rescued from danger by a silver-armored man.
• Bai Heng brought Aventurine out of Dreamflux Reef, healed him, and sent his coordinates to the group chat before leaving to meet someone.
• Bai Heng heard the Dreammaster offer compensation to the Iron Cavalry's descendants and ask him to leave Penacony until the Harmony Gala.
• Bai Heng asked about the other Nihility Emanator, and the Dreammaster told him that she had already left Penacony.

With the Harmony Gala approaching, Yomi urged the Astral Express to leave the Asdana System immediately, and Bai Heng backed her up. After Bоthео confronted them and asked about Oswaldo Schneider, Black Swan prepared to explain the danger as Yomi moved close to Bai Heng.

• Yomi told the Astral Express to warp out of the Asdana System to protect everyone, and an uninvited voice urged Pom-Pom to obey.
• Bai Heng appeared aboard the train and supported Yomi's demand to leave before time ran out.
• Bоthео turned his revolver on Bai Heng, while Yomi threatened Bоthео with the aura of her sheathed blade.
• Bai Heng answered Bоthео's question about Oswaldo Schneider and warned him about the risks of assassinating a Company executive, easing the conflict.
• Dan Heng asked for an explanation, and Black Swan stepped forward to describe the situation as Yomi stood close beside Bai Heng.
• Dan Heng quietly asked Bai Heng about Jingliu, but Bai Heng insisted they discuss business first.