Chapter Summaries

He Ao fought Kate and Si Wente in the banquet hall, killed Si Wente, and fought off the armed men who attacked him. The chapter ended with Kate preparing to unleash the power of five golden pendants after his ambush failed.

• Kate suspected He Ao was a returned ghost, then called on Si Wente to help attack him as an enemy of Eternal Radiance.
• He Ao fought off both men, using his sword to smash through Kate's armor and send him flying, then overpowered Si Wente's enhanced attack.
• He Ao shattered Si Wente's sword and pendants, pierced his chest, and killed him after using Si Wente's confidence against him.
• He Ao used a submachine gun and Si Wente's corpse to defeat the armed men in the corridor while Kate hid behind the cabinet.
• He Ao revealed that he had anticipated Kate's attack from behind, and Kate crushed five golden pendants while invoking Eternal Radiance.

He Ao defeated the transformed Kate and learned that the Eternal Church had ordered him to target He Ao’s family and take their bodies to the Main Church. He left the villa carrying the cabinet with his brother’s remains, determined to find his parents.

• Kate transformed into a giant protected by golden radiance, but He Ao used a harpoon and wire to make him crash into a wall and miss the cabinet.
• Kate attacked He Ao with a golden greatsword while the black clothed men fired, but He Ao used purple light on the Knight Sword to cut through Kate’s defenses and destroy several Energy Convergence Points.
• He Ao questioned the mutilated Kate, who confessed that the church had ordered him to deal with He Ao’s father and that He Ao’s parents’ bodies were at the Main Church.
• He Ao killed Kate and fought through the black clothed men in the corridor after the security captain ordered them to fire.
• He Ao bundled the cabinet and Si Wente’s corpse together, copied Eve’s data to the villa computer, and drove away as several large Off-road Vehicles arrived.

He Ao learned how the Eternal Sect had destroyed Novis’s security company and planned to seize control of the Security Federation. At Kate’s villa, the arriving security bosses found the massacre He Ao had arranged and were trapped between the Eternal Sect and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

• He Ao reviewed files showing the Eternal Sect had killed Novis’s loyal employees to intimidate the Security Federation and secure its cooperation.
• The Security Federation’s bosses arrived at Kate’s villa for the banquet, broke through its gate, and discovered Kate’s group dead inside.
• Jia Tuo found the bloody message “Blood debts must be paid in blood,” signed by Novis security company, and realized they had been framed.
• Eternal Sect reinforcements attacked the villa, and Jia Tuo concluded they intended to use the bosses as scapegoats for the massacre.
• Laina explained that the trap’s architect had arranged for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to arrive, leaving the bosses openly opposed to the Eternal Sect.

After engineering a clash between the Eternal Sect and the Security Federation, He Ao watched the Federation take the Security Federation into its convoy and went to Old Jacko Funeral Home to cremate Ilo’s body. While He Ao waited, Old Jacko showed him old news footage from United Industries’ founding and recalled the hopes people had placed in it.

• He Ao reviewed how he had used the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Eternal Sect’s reinforcements, and the Security Federation to force the Security Federation into opposing the Eternal Sect.
• Jia Tuo and his companions accepted that they needed the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s support, while Laina wondered whether the person behind the scheme was watching them.
• He Ao left the restaurant after the convoy passed and drove to Old Jacko Funeral Home with Ilo’s body.
• Old Jacko helped He Ao unload Ilo’s body and took it to the crematorium, while He Ao chose to wait.
• Old Jacko played news footage from United Industries’ founding and remembered how people had believed the organization could save the city.

Old Jacko explained how Rockville Energy Group kept Winter City’s mining companies divided and profited from the city, and how Skorn devised a plan for Winter City to gain independence. He began describing the preparations they made before the opportunity arrived.

• He Ao listened as Old Jacko described how Rockville Energy Group controlled Winter City’s mining, trade routes, politics, and media.
• Old Jacko explained that Skorn recognized the city’s lack of control over its own affairs and proposed uniting its mining industry and building local production lines.
• Old Jacko compared Skorn’s efforts with K’s role in helping Saint Jon City regain autonomy after Kajet Group’s bankruptcy.
• Old Jacko said Skorn expected Rockville Energy Group’s direct control to approach Winter City, creating a chance for the city to stand on its own.
• Old Jacko began explaining that Skorn and his allies prepared for that opportunity.

He Ao listened as Old Jacko recounted how Skorn and Endier built the mining alliance that became United Industries, then prepared to pursue an anonymous lead about the Novis Couple. The lead directed He Ao to Withered Tree Bar before sunrise, where he hoped to uncover the hidden forces beneath Winter City’s fragile balance.

• Old Jacko explained how Skorn and Endier used Endier’s mayoral office and Rockville Energy Group’s attempted annexation to unite Winter City’s mining companies.
• Skorn secured outside orders and supply agreements, stabilized the alliance, and helped it withstand a months-long struggle with Rockville Energy Group until it became United Industries.
• He Ao received an FBI request and an anonymous email offering information about the Novis Couple, while Old Jacko gave him an urn and a red knitted scarf.
• He Ao concluded that his actions had disrupted Winter City’s balance and set his vehicle’s destination near Withered Tree Bar to investigate the anonymous lead.

Gaster’s FBI prepared to cooperate with the forces behind the message sent through Novis security company, while Biert’s wounded Eternal Sect group regrouped and searched for Si Wente. He Ao entered the Withered Tree Bar as a group in private room 305 waited for the Novis contact, and the doorbell rang again after a waiter delivered a fruit plate.

• Gaster concluded that the Backstage Forces had weakened the Eternal Sect and signaled a willingness to cooperate, then ordered the FBI to prepare after Novis security company’s email reply arrived.
• Biert’s group escaped the FBI pursuers and gathered at a meeting point, where they received word that Si Wente had been found near an abandoned building.
• He Ao entered the Withered Tree Bar and moved through the crowded main hall.
• In private room 305, the group discussed using the expected Novis contact to distract the Eternal Sect while they entered its Storm District Main Church.
• A waiter delivered a fruit plate to room 305, then the group heard the doorbell ring again as the Short Knife-wielding man went to answer it.

He Ao used a bloody message to draw the Eternal Sect and the church into a confrontation near Withered Tree Bar, then received information about the Eternal Sect Main Church. Lie Wensi identified the child as a possible target and ordered the area sealed as He Ao escaped.

• He Ao delivered a blood-written message to the heretical sect leader, collected one hundred Federal Coins, and left before the Black Snake-tattooed woman could follow him.
• Lie Wensi learned that the Main Church had ordered the child killed without exception and continued monitoring Withered Tree Bar.
• Biert’s convoy mistook a Federal Bureau of Investigation ambush for a trap laid by Si Wente, and the resulting retreat sparked a firefight near the bar.
• He Ao ignored the heretical sect’s offer to cooperate, received details about the Eternal Sect Main Church, and replied that the sect had surrounded them.
• Lie Wensi ordered the bar and its surrounding routes sealed, activated the Third Floor lockdown, and set out to find the child.

Lie Wensi’s forces hunted the heretical followers while Laina secretly arranged for the Federation to send support. He Ao confronted Lie Wensi in an alley, killed him, and left his corpse displayed above the Withered Tree Bar before driving away.

• Wei A and his men fought their way through an Eternal Sect blockade, but Lie Lun and the sect’s reinforcements stopped them and revealed that Lie Wensi had arrived.
• Lie Wensi learned that his eastern forces had mistakenly fought their own allies, ordered Biert to guard the signal jammer, and continued pursuing He Ao.
• Laina refused to leave the bar, sent a waitress through a hidden passage to contact the Federation, and prepared to face the Eternal Sect.
• He Ao waited for Lie Wensi near an off-road vehicle, endured his power, and asked how to enter the real Main Church.
• He Ao defeated Lie Wensi in a sword clash, killed the attacking White Robe Priests, and impaled Lie Wensi’s corpse on the Withered Tree Bar sign.
• He Ao drove away as the nearby buildings collapsed, leaving the sect’s people to discover Lie Wensi’s death.

He Ao killed Lie Wensi, destroyed the signal jammer, and saved a woman and her son, setting off a citywide confrontation involving the Eternal Sect, the Eternal Old Sect, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other forces. As Laina realized the conflict had been deliberately engineered, He Ao reached the Eternal Sect’s Main Church and spotted another group approaching it.

• Biert threatened and assaulted the short-haired woman, but He Ao shot him, killed the forces gathered around the tower device, and destroyed the signal jammer.
• The woman freed her son from the vehicle, took a pistol from a dead Eternal Sect man, and described He Ao as the one who had burned away the filth.
• After learning Lie Wensi had been killed, Wei A requested reinforcements while Lie Lun took command and ordered the Eternal Sect to seek support from the Main Church.
• Laina and Jia Tuo concluded that a hidden force had killed Lie Wensi and restored communications to force the Eternal Sect into a premature battle against its rivals.
• Laina received a message, took a Small Wooden Box from a hidden compartment, and entered the secret passage beneath her bar.
• He Ao arrived at the Eternal Sect’s Main Church and saw a group cautiously approaching it from a concealed position.

He Ao infiltrated the Main Church during a battle between its defenders and attackers, following a Red Haired Woman into a hidden hall deep inside. He spoke a syllable learned from Lie Wensi, and a vast presence seemed to answer as light and corruption engulfed him.

• He Ao climbed to a rooftop, killed a broadsword-wielding Eternal Sect believer, and watched attackers assault the church while a Red Haired Woman approached from behind.
• He Ao hid in an abandoned tent behind the church, received a warning note from the Red Haired Woman, and entered after she broke through a window once the golden shield shattered.
• He Ao followed the Red Haired Woman through the dark church, killing monsters she bypassed with a needle-bearing disk.
• The Red Haired Woman vanished through a small door on the eighth floor, and He Ao entered the hidden hall she had reached.
• He Ao held a glowing pendant and spoke “Atmorayeh,” triggering brilliant light and a surge of twisted corruption that engulfed him.

He Ao entered the Inner Church, survived its deadly fog, and followed a little girl’s guidance out of the hall. He found himself in a cramped room with a note about staying home safely, as someone knocked at the iron gate.

• He Ao explored the Inner Church and found the Red Haired Woman hiding beneath a pew.
• When deadly fog filled the hall, He Ao hid inside a cabinet while the Red Haired Woman warned him to watch for anomalies.
• A phantom head seeped into the cabinet, and He Ao destroyed it with his sword.
• He Ao gave a Paper Butterfly to the Red Skirt Little Girl, who guided him out of the hall through the cabinet.
• He Ao emerged into a cramped room and found a handwritten note saying that Elder Brother and the writer had stayed home and were safe.
• Someone knocked on the old Iron Gate.

He Ao investigated a strange room in the Inner Church and discovered that its doors and hiding places led through a maze of supernatural spaces. After surviving a monster beneath a bed, he found the Red Skirt Little Girl gone and a torn diary page left behind.

• A group of Eternal Sect intruders entered the church hall, where dense fog devoured a Thin Man after the burly man shut himself inside a cabinet.
• The burly man encountered a crying Red Skirt Little Girl in the cabinet and was killed when her featureless face split open.
• He Ao examined a room in the Main Church, rejected conflicting guidance from a diary and a voice outside the door, and destroyed a spirit that emerged from the peephole.
• He Ao hid beneath an iron bed and entered another room, where he encountered the Red Skirt Little Girl hiding from a searching monster.
• He Ao killed the flesh-and-blood monster and found a torn diary page beneath the bed, but the Red Skirt Little Girl had disappeared.

He Ao survived a room where gray-black space spread through a broken door by using a makeshift bolt to restore the lock, then entered a dining hall where masked pig monsters feasted while a starving Red Skirt Little Girl watched. He moved to confront the monsters by flipping their enormous table.

• A short young man opened a door onto a void and was pulled apart, while rhythmic knocking continued in the room.
• He Ao fought off translucent axe-wielding figures and stopped the spreading gray-black space by using a flattened bullet casing to secure the damaged door's latch.
• He Ao found a diary and a propaganda calendar, then hid in a fabric wardrobe as something rammed the sealed door from outside.
• He Ao passed into a blood-scented hall filled with hanging food and discovered masked pig monsters feasting while a Red Skirt Little Girl hid beneath their table.
• He Ao cut down the noose that snatched the girl's bread, then climbed onto the dining table and flipped it toward the pig monsters.

He Ao fought through the seven pig monsters in the dining hall and exposed Long Hair Man’s attempt to use him as a sacrifice. After the room’s rules changed, the Red Skirt Little Girl vanished, leaving He Ao with a scarlet-written diary as the hanging delicacies became corpses that stared at him.

• He Ao used the pig monsters’ size and momentum against them, killing all seven while resisting the room’s hunger-inducing influence.
• Red Skirt Little Girl tried to warn He Ao as Long Hair Man attacked him with smoke needles from inside a locker.
• Long Hair Man offered to lead He Ao to his separated leader, then revealed a ritual that would sacrifice He Ao for power.
• The room’s influence forced Long Hair Man to eat pig flesh until he transformed into a pig-like monster, then a noose killed him.
• The pig monster corpses melted as the hall turned blood-red, and Red Skirt Little Girl disappeared, leaving behind a diary.
• The hanging delicacies became dried corpses that fixed their eyes on He Ao as he held the diary and Knight Sword.

He Ao escaped the blood-filled hall through a skylight and entered a house where he encountered the Red Haired Woman and a dangerous Smile Mask Man. As the Red Haired Woman and He Ao watched two Eternal Old Sect members explore the house, the diary pages in He Ao’s pocket began to crack.

• He Ao stalled the corpse tide, found the blood-red skylight above the hanging corpses, and escaped the hall through it.
• He Ao entered a furnished house, sensed danger from the Smile Mask Man, and hid in a storage cabinet with the Red Haired Woman.
• He Ao and the Red Haired Woman exchanged information about their rooms and agreed that they had reason to cooperate against the sects and the room’s dangers.
• The Smile Mask Man called for Alice, brought bloody steaks to the dining table, and spoke to an unseen child while He Ao and the Red Haired Woman watched.
• Two Eternal Old Sect members emerged from beneath the Secondary Bedroom’s bed and began searching as the Smile Mask Man approached; He Ao felt cracks forming on the diary pages in his pocket.

He Ao and the Red Haired Woman fought the Smile Mask Man while searching Alice’s home for the clue that would reveal the route onward. After finding a diary page that suggested Alice’s brother had died and the Smile Mask Man was connected to it, they escaped through a blood-filled fog as the mask revived.

• A hidden Eternal Old Sect believer attacked the Smile Mask Man, allowing He Ao to strike and shatter his Paper Mask, though the fragments began to reform.
• He Ao sent the Red Haired Woman to scatter the mask fragments while he searched Alice’s bedroom and the rest of the house for clues.
• He Ao found a bloodstained watch in a locked drawer; it turned into a diary page saying that Alice’s family’s possessions had been taken and that it was her turn.
• He Ao deduced that Alice’s brother was likely dead and that the Smile Mask Man was connected to his death, then opened the front door to a dangerous fog passage.
• He Ao and the Red Haired Woman entered the fog, and the Smile Mask Man revived after blasting away the sofa blocking the bedroom door.

He Ao and the Red Haired Woman reached another hall, where Vice Bishop Locke was about to repeat the ritual that had once sacrificed the Red Skirt Little Girl. He Ao freed the girl and faced Locke, leaving their confrontation about to begin.

• The Red Haired Woman followed He Ao through the corrosive fog as his collapsing diary pages guided him toward their power source.
• Locke prepared to sacrifice the restrained Red Skirt Little Girl again and told her that her elder brother would never come to save her.
• He Ao arrived with the Red Haired Woman and recognized Locke as the man who had once been his family’s neighbor.
• He Ao confronted Locke about arranging the childhood attack that had pushed him from the rockery, and Locke admitted he had ordered it.
• He Ao evaded Locke’s invisible threads, rescued the Red Skirt Little Girl, and gave her the diary pages, which freed her from the ritual.
• He Ao turned to face Locke and prepared to fight.

He Ao fought Locke in the Inner Church while the Red Skirt Little Girl weakened the hall’s power and healed him, and the Red Haired Woman helped with a flying dagger. After He Ao damaged two of Locke’s Energy Convergence Points, Locke invoked the power of Eternal Radiance as the church’s light and threads blocked his path.

• He Ao used the flying wood shavings and his Spirit Vision to draw Locke out and wound his chest, while Locke revealed a two-layer Energy Circuit and transformed his body with what he called grace.
• The Red Skirt Little Girl used the hall’s power to heal He Ao and weaken Locke’s enhancement, and He Ao pierced one of Locke’s Energy Convergence Points in his palm.
• The Red Haired Woman released a flying dagger to distract Locke, giving He Ao an opening to redirect Locke’s punch and slash his abdomen.
• He Ao confirmed the Red Skirt Little Girl could keep healing him, while his attacks destroyed two of Locke’s four Energy Convergence Points.
• Locke said he was a believer of Eternal Radiance, then called out a creed as light poured from the dome and invisible threads formed a barrier before him.

He Ao defeated Locke with the Red Skirt Little Girl’s healing support, then escaped the collapsing church with the Red Haired Woman. Guided by the Paper Butterfly, they jumped into the Dark Space toward the central area, where He Ao expected the hunters and their prey to have just finished a battle.

• He Ao used the Red Skirt Little Girl’s life force to sustain his burst of strength and broke through Locke’s defenses.
• Locke forced He Ao against the Stone Gate, but He Ao wounded Locke’s knee and then cut his throat at an Energy Convergence Point.
• Locke died, and He Ao told the Red Haired Woman that the church was about to collapse.
• He Ao and the Red Haired Woman followed the Paper Butterfly through the opened Stone Gate as the church hall crumbled.
• He Ao said they were heading to the central area, where the hunters behind the scheme and their prey had likely just fought, then jumped into the Dark Space with the Red Haired Woman following.