Chapter Summaries

Zhou Yu uncovered a stolen resonance-material cache and realized Changli had arranged the investigation to bring him to her residence. After an unconventional game of Go, he asked Changli directly what she wanted him to do.

• Zhou Yu found a fresh note demanding the retrieval of Cradle and questioned the Curiosity Hall owner as Qiu Yuan's guards sealed the area.
• Qiu Yuan's team discovered stolen resonance materials hidden beneath stone tablets at the neighboring shop, and Chisaki confirmed the seals had been tampered with.
• Zhou Yu deduced that Changli had arranged the clues and accepted her invitation to dinner and a game of Go.
• At Changli's residence, Zhou Yu played Go with her while Dania ate nearby and Chisa kept watch.
• Zhou Yu connected his scattered stones into a narrow escape route, then asked Changli what she wanted him to do.

Changli recruited Zhou Yu to escort Jinhsi to Mt. Firmament, and he secured a stamped voucher covering the trip’s expenses and compensation. As the group prepared a covert route, a Patrol Department agent reported that the old post road had been sealed and warned that the Cradle was traveling with them.

• Changli explained that Jinhsi was heading to Mt. Firmament for a second resonance and asked Zhou Yu to prioritize her safety amid threats from the Fractsidus and Tacet Discords.
• Zhou Yu listed the trip’s risks and negotiated travel allowances, bonuses, equipment costs, and compensation for a delayed hot pot outing; Changli stamped his voucher.
• Changli showed the group a route through Bamboo Ridge, and Qiu Yuan offered to handle an old Ming Court sleeper agent along the way.
• A Patrol Department agent arrived with an urgent report that black talismans had sealed all three abandoned pavilions on the old post road.
• The agent revealed a message formed from black mist: “Cradle travels with you.”

Zhou Yu and the group traveled along the old North Gate post road, where Fractsidus had trapped three abandoned pavilions to block their way. Zhou Yu collapsed the pavilions with his watch, but the last collapse awakened something beneath Mt. Firmament.

• Black mist warned Changli's group that Fractsidus knew they were taking the North Gate, and Zhou Yu arranged for them to leave at the hour of the hare.
• Qiu Yuan, Chisaki, and the others found traps and hidden Fractsidus sentries around the three pavilions on the old post road.
• Zhou Yu used his watch to remove the first pavilion's collision properties, collapsing it and trapping the hidden attackers.
• Zhou Yu collapsed the second pavilion into a ditch, dumping the Fractsidus assassins inside into the mud.
• A black-talisman face at the third pavilion declared that Cradle would return to where she belonged, and Zhou Yu brought the structure down.
• Qiu Yuan detected an underground echo passage and heard a bronze bell ring beneath Mt. Firmament after the third pavilion collapsed.

Zhou Yu used a notice and Chisaki’s cognitive prompt to make a Tacet Discord horde queue, letting the group pass and turning the Fractsidus pursuers into targets. The group reached a bronze door identified as an old-model Cradle retrieval channel, where three knocks sounded from beyond it.

• As the group followed the rising echo channel through the bamboo grove, Qiu Yuan detected Fractsidus pursuing them and a horde of Tacet Discords blocking the narrow path.
• Zhou Yu posted a visitor-flow notice and used Chisaki’s tablet prompt to make the Tacet Discords line up, creating a clear passage for the group.
• Zhou Yu collected resonance crystal cores from the queued Tacet Discords while the group crossed, and Chisaki told Aimis to encrypt her footage.
• Three Fractsidus men charged in and were treated as queue-cutters by the Tacet Discords, which attacked them and knocked them into a ditch.
• The group reached a vine-covered bronze door, and Chisaki’s tablet identified it as an old-model Cradle retrieval channel before someone knocked three times from inside.

Zhou Yu and his team reached Mt. Firmament’s summit, where Jinhsi was burning her lifespan to suppress a temporal flow. Zhou Yu disrupted her resolve with a safety agreement and a practical plan to release the pressure, but a black talisman appeared demanding that the Magistrate be reclaimed.

• Zhou Yu led the group through the bronze doors and cleared Fractsidus talismans from the mountain passage with an administrative notice.
• The group found Jinhsi at the summit suppressing the temporal flow while Changli’s formation markers and the Patrol Department’s covert guards lay damaged.
• Jinhsi insisted that she had to sacrifice herself to protect Jinzhou, but Zhou Yu presented Changli’s contract and a safety agreement forbidding her from burning her lifespan.
• Chisaki identified three pressure-release points, and Zhou Yu convinced Jinhsi to stop sacrificing herself and help open the old sluice gates instead.
• Jinhsi landed on the summit and accepted a hot bun from Zhou Yu as the temporal turbulence weakened.
• A fourth knock sounded, and a black talisman appeared at Jinhsi’s feet bearing the words, “Reclaim the Magistrate.”

Zhou Yu trapped the evolving Dreamless Phantom in a gravity pit and turned the mountaintop battle into a hotpot meal, giving Jinhsi a chance to rest. The Phantom then fell silent as its cracked talisman announced that the gate had been locked and forced retrieval had begun.

• Jinhsi prepared to hold off the Dreamless Phantom, but Zhou Yu told her to eat and used his digital watch to open a gravity pit beneath it.
• Chisaki confirmed that the pit sharply restricted the Phantom’s detection and attack range and interrupted its evolution.
• Zhou Yu set up a hotpot beside the pit while the others gathered ingredients and joined the meal.
• Jinhsi relaxed and ate with the group as Zhou Yu explained that the hotpot’s heat provided a temporary buffer and that they still had time to reach the sluice gate.
• The Phantom stopped moving, and a crack in its talisman revealed a message that the gate had been locked and forced retrieval initiated.

Zhou Yu led the group from the mountain after opening the sluice enough to weaken the Dreamless afterimage, then arranged a publicly funded stay at Hongzhen’s Cold Spring Inn so Jinhsi and her attendants could recuperate. As the group relaxed in the hot springs, a black talisman appeared on the roof and named Cradle as the next target.

• Zhou Yu opened a temporary maintenance passage with a voucher, allowing the sluice to release water and weaken the Dreamless afterimage while Chisa held it back.
• The group descended to Hongzhen, where Zhou Yu declared their recuperation publicly funded and arranged for the Patrol Department to secure the town.
• Zhou Yu booked the Cold Spring Inn’s rear courtyard and overrode Chisaki’s food-budget restriction so Dania could keep eating.
• Dania persuaded Chisa to join the hot springs, and Chisa gradually relaxed as she shared watermelon with the others.
• Qiu Yuan spotted a half-black talisman on the roof, where its message named Cradle as first on the recuperation list.

Zhou Yu’s group returned to Jinzhou City for the Moon-Chasing Festival after discovering dangerous black talismans and completing their fieldwork. At the crowded night market, Dania found the missing Light-Treading Bell for the ceremony at her feet.

• Qiu Yuan and Zhou Yu discovered that a black talisman had been placed at the Cold Spring Inn, and Zhou Yu suspected the inn had leaked their lodging information.
• Changli’s letter summoned Jinhsi and the group back to Jinzhou City for the festival and required them to file their fieldwork documents; Zhou Yu gave Jinhsi a schedule limiting her work hours.
• The group arrived in Jinzhou City, where Zhou Yu handed Qiu Yuan a large stack of fieldwork reimbursement claims for Changli to approve.
• At Clear Radiance Courtyard, the group found gift boxes and festival food sent by Changli, and Zhou Yu told Dania to choose only two items.
• At the night market, festival staff searched for the missing Light-Treading Bell, and Dania spotted it beside her shoe.

Dania and Zhou Yu joined Lingyang in searching for the protection talisman he had lost before the Moon-Chasing Ceremony. They found a broken thread and a fragment in the dressing room, while a mechanism beneath a lion-head mask began to move.

• Lingyang recovered his Light-Treading Bell and revealed that his mother's protection talisman had gone missing.
• Sigelica and Chisaki began organizing a search, and Zhou Yu agreed to help after Dania asked him to support Lingyang.
• Lingyang said he had last touched the talisman in the dressing room before heading to rehearsal and recalled bumping into a worker carrying masks.
• The group searched the dressing room and found a broken red thread and a small piece of blackened talisman paper.
• The fragment marked "Cradle recovery" in Zhou Yu's bag grew hot as the mechanism beneath a lion-head mask slowly drooped in the mirror.

Zhou Yu organized a search for Lingyang’s stolen protection charm, uncovering evidence of a saboteur but failing to find the charm. He suspected the thief was waiting for Lingyang to need it and sent him to rehearse while preparing to exploit a bug at the lion-dance platform.

• Chisa stopped a needle trap hidden in the lion-head mask, and Zhou Yu found a black rivet while the talismans pointed toward Lingyang’s broken cord.
• Zhou Yu formed a search task force, and Linnai and Aimis learned that a limping laborer in gray had carried a mask toward the west alley.
• Chisaki discovered seven breaths of missing surveillance footage, while Zhou Yu’s see-through device exposed guards shirking their duties and several building violations.
• Sigelica searched the drainage channel and Qiu Yuan searched the vegetation, but neither found the protection charm; Chisaki confirmed the laborer had vanished from the records.
• Lingyang worried about forgetting his lion-dance steps, so Zhou Yu gave him milk tea and sent him to rehearse, promising to prevent him from falling by exploiting a bug.

Lingyang overcame his fear and completed the Moon-Chasing Festival lion dance, with Zhou Yu secretly using his device to keep him from falling. Afterward, Lingyang found the missing safety amulet in his locker, revealing that he had performed without needing it.

• Zhou Yu adjusted the poles’ friction during rehearsal, and Lingyang practiced until he could leap across them despite his broken amulet cord.
• At the festival performance, Lingyang slipped on a high pole, but Zhou Yu maximized its friction and turned the near-fall into a flourish.
• Lingyang gained confidence and completed the lion dance as the crowd cheered and fireworks lit the sky.
• Backstage, Lingyang found the safety amulet tangled beneath his spare clothes and realized he had searched for it in vain.
• Lingyang yelled about the lost amulet, and the audience mistook his outburst for an encore.

Zhou Yu secured Changli’s approval for the team’s extensive fieldwork expenses and divided the funds among equipment, bonuses, and leave. He then set the team’s next destination as the Black Shores, where they planned a seaside vacation and an investigation into Aleph One.

• Zhou Yu presented Changli with a detailed expense booklet, including charges for emotional support, safety work, and the team’s recovery after their assignment.
• Changli approved the full amount and gave Zhou Yu a bank draft, while Dania received a box of osmanthus cakes.
• Zhou Yu allocated the funds among equipment, bonuses, and paid annual leave as Chisaki noted they still had to submit a closing report.
• Zhou Yu announced that the team would travel to the Black Shores after the report and investigate Aleph One during their vacation.
• A green light appeared beside the marked Black Shores on Zhou Yu’s map, indicating that the anomalous frequency band had locked onto Aleph One.

Zhou Yu and his companions lost their communications and bearings in the fog near the Black Shores until Encore appeared and offered to guide them inside in exchange for food. They followed her boat through a narrow channel, while Dania noticed that one of Encore’s Wooly dolls seemed to move.

• Chisaki found that the fog had flattened all external communications frequencies, while Qiu Yuan tried to steer by listening for reefs.
• Chisa sensed something approaching, and the group heard a lively song before Encore’s boat emerged from the fog.
• Encore boarded the ship, accepted a seafood rice ball from Zhou Yu, and agreed to guide the group into the Black Shores.
• Encore warned the group not to enter the fog without her and led their ship through a narrow channel where the compass stopped spinning.
• Dania told Zhou Yu that the white Wooly seemed to be moving, and Encore said Wooly could hear them and help remember their favorite foods.

Zhou Yu and the others arrived at the Black Shores, where Aalto asked Zhou Yu to review the Tethys System’s logs after revealing that Dania had the characteristics of a Cradle. A blue butterfly associated with Shorekeeper appeared before Dania, and the system detected two high-density carriers, leaving the group to wonder who the second one was.

• Wooly returned to being an ordinary stuffed toy as Encore guided the boat through the Black Shores to the dock.
• Aalto welcomed Zhou Yu and the group, offered them room and board, and asked Zhou Yu to review the Tethys System’s recent operation logs.
• Zhou Yu negotiated limits on his work hours and signed Aalto’s agreement before taking Dania to breakfast.
• Aalto told the group that Dania had the characteristics of a Cradle, while Dania quietly hooked her little finger around Zhou Yu’s.
• A blue butterfly arrived at the table, and Encore identified it as Big Sister Shorekeeper.
• After the butterfly vanished, Zhou Yu’s watch split its blue ripple in two and the Tethys System log recorded a recognition count of two.

Zhou Yu and Aalto descended to inspect strange operating logs and found ten hidden dark patches in Tethys’s star chart that Zhou Yu could see without his digital watch. At the main computational core, the patches synchronized with Zhou Yu’s heartbeat, and a hidden message detected a shared-origin low-level access language.

• Zhou Yu left his digital watch in Dania’s bag and went with Aalto to inspect the logs beneath the restaurant.
• Zhou Yu spotted hidden dark patches on the star chart and counted seven on the right and three on the left.
• Aalto explained that thoughts near the main computational core could affect reality, while Tethys could not control Dania’s appetite.
• As Zhou Yu entered the observation ring, all ten dark patches began mimicking his heartbeat.
• A hidden line appeared on the star chart, reporting a detected shared-origin low-level access language.

Zhou Yu noticed the strange frequencies in Tethys’s core and later found a marked black memory stone buried among the purple flowers. He put the stone in his bag to keep it safe until Aalto returned, and his switched-off watch began reading it at 1%.

• Zhou Yu returned from the processing core, and Aalto had Chisaki seal the dual-carrier log before checking the underground access records.
• Encore led Dania and the others on a treasure hunt along the shore, where she dug up a black stone with pale markings.
• Encore said Aalto had called marked stones memories and that the lines sometimes seemed to speak to her from far away.
• Zhou Yu examined the stone and agreed to hold it until Aalto returned, while Encore and Dania resumed their search for coral.
• The stone knocked against Zhou Yu’s switched-off watch in his bag, and its screen lit up with a message that an unknown memory carrier was being read at 1%.

Zhou Yu met Aalto at the abandoned observation room and learned that Tethys was changing its records and that a third party wanted to make its written data real. After Zhou Yu negotiated temporary access to Tethys, Aalto’s switched-off game console displayed a warning that Cradle had arrived at the coast.

• Zhou Yu separated the black stone from the other equipment after it activated his watch, while Chisaki suggested isolating it for testing.
• Aalto summoned Zhou Yu to the observation room and told him that Tethys had altered records, including listing living people as dead.
• Aalto explained that Dania’s dense data had increased Tethys’s processing speed and warned that a third party wanted to turn Tethys’s records into reality.
• The black stone heated up as Zhou Yu’s watch displayed unknown characters, and Aalto said the intruders had entered Tethys’s old archive and left records mentioning Cradle.
• Zhou Yu agreed to test his rules against Tethys after negotiating access to the core observation area, anomaly logs, and other conditions.
• Aalto’s switched-off game console turned on by itself and displayed, "Cradle has arrived at the coast."

Encore and Dania shared purple coral porridge by the sea while Dania recounted Lingyang’s dangerous Moon-Chasing Festival performance. Encore spoke of Aalto, who had become mist, and Dania comforted her before Aalto watched them from the observation room and left.

• Encore took Dania to the seaside with porridge and asked her to tell the story of the Moon-Chasing Festival.
• Dania recounted how Lingyang nearly fell from a high pole during the performance, and Encore worried that he could have been hurt.
• Encore told Dania that someone had promised to catch her but had turned into mist and could no longer join her for porridge.
• Dania split her last osmanthus candy with Encore and said that recognizing someone meant they were not completely lost.
• Encore said Aalto had told her similar things as Aalto watched them from the abandoned observation room, then slipped away.

Zhou Yu and Aalto’s team fought an intrusion by Aleph One into the Black Shores intranet, where it accessed old records connected to the black memory stone. The lockdown contained the breach temporarily, but Aleph One resumed reading an unknown memory carrier as Zhou Yu vowed to protect Dania’s memories.

• Encore and Dania hurried back to the observation room with Zhou Yu after the alarm sounded and the sea mist gathered.
• Aalto halted the lockdown when cutting off the authorization tree risked damaging the night’s memory samples, while Zhou Yu’s watch displayed “Aleph One.”
• Chisaki confirmed that the black memory stone’s frequency matched Aleph One’s signal as Aalto ordered the coastal personnel to evacuate.
• A storage chip revealed that an unidentified party had previously borrowed data from the Black Shores intranet, including footage of blue butterflies on a data tower.
• Aalto compressed the black fissure, but Zhou Yu’s watch displayed a two-percent reading progress and the fissure reopened as Zhou Yu vowed to protect Dania’s memories.

Zhou Yu and Aalto searched the Black Shores' restricted archives for clues about Aleph One, uncovering records of a mysterious figure and erased gravitational data. The watch then detected an unknown memory medium beneath the archives.

• Aalto took Zhou Yu to the restricted archives while Chisa and Encore watched over Dania aboveground.
• Zhou Yu read scattered records describing a figure who had returned across different eras, and Aalto said his way of handling rules resembled someone foundational to the Black Shores.
• Aalto showed Zhou Yu a file about H, who had recovered The Last Gravitational Data from old ruins.
• Aalto explained that after the data was stored, Tethys calculated for seventy-two hours and erased the related records, including H's identity.
• The archive lights flickered, and Zhou Yu's watch reported an unknown memory medium beneath the restricted archives.