Chapter Summaries

Wen Xishu deduced that the Human Holes’ version of Morita Yu’s story concealed a forgotten boy who had borne the cost of granting happiness, then went to the Desire Tower seeking information about Hujiang. There he discovered that Wen Renjing had received a mission in the same districts, suggesting climbers from all three towers could be drawn into a shared level-seven challenge.

• Wen Xishu questioned the amnesiac boy about Morita Yu and theorized that the boy had paid the price for Morita’s happiness before the Human Hole erased him from its story.
• Wen Xishu decided to investigate the Human Holes and pain currency, then headed to Heavenly Origin in the Desire Tower to seek information about Hujiang’s Districts 19 and 20.
• Wen Xishu met Wen Renjing, who revealed that his mission, “Pain Payback,” also sent him to Districts 19 and 20, while Xun Hui had entered the Slaughter Tower at nearly the same time.
• Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing concluded that the shared destination might be a Three Towers mechanism that brought climbers together for a level-seven mission and could yield a Level Seven Facility.
• Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing agreed to tackle the districts through their respective towers and activated their Login Devices.

Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing entered District 19 together and traced the spreading curse to Morita Mansion. They found a hidden basement beneath the shrine, where a child called out to Wen Xishu, leaving them poised to uncover the source of Human-Hole Village.

• Xun Hui killed Slaughter Rena with a devastating punch, then mistook the Slaughter Tower's rules for a zombie outbreak.
• Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing discovered that Wen Renjing's Luck Value had brought them to the same place, and they agreed to investigate District 19 together.
• Wen Renjing theorized that a boy had absorbed Morita Yu's misfortune and that the accumulated burden had created Human-Hole Village.
• Wen Renjing used his charm and abilities to get past the hostile villagers, and he and Wen Xishu reached Morita Mansion.
• Wen Xishu followed the Compass to a forbidden shrine room, found a hollow tatami mat, and heard a child below ask whether he was the child's big brother.

Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing found Morita Tong imprisoned in a basement, where Wen Xishu’s bottle of misfortune briefly weakened Tong’s monstrous form. They uncovered how Morita Yu used Tong’s power to grant wishes and how Tong had reached out to the deeply abused Akiyama Xing, whose story ended with her wondering whether she deserved happiness.

• Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing entered the Morita residence’s underground room and found Morita Tong as a mass of living darkness.
• Wen Xishu gave Tong the bottle of misfortune, and drinking from it restored Tong to a more human shape and weakened his distortion.
• Morita Tong explained that he granted people’s wishes for Morita Yu, believing the black spots spreading across his body meant he was becoming a god.
• Wen Renjing found Tong’s chat history with Lucky Dog, while Wen Xishu realized the messages connected the Desire Tower’s vortexes through two unhappy people.
• Tong’s messages showed that he had tried to comfort Akiyama Xing, who had been exploited and brainwashed by an auction-house owner.
• Akiyama Xing replied to Tong, offered herself for money, and then received his earnest invitation to seek help, leaving her in tears and wondering whether she deserved happiness.

Xiao Xing and Morita Tong grew close as they shared their suffering, and Xiao Xing learned that Morita Yu was exploiting Tong while hiding the truth about his past. As Xiao Xing prepared to leave, she and Tong promised to meet so he could help her find happiness.

• Xiao Xing resisted her handler’s conditioning, and he agreed to investigate the Morita Immortal after she asked about him.
• Morita Yu persuaded the exhausted Morita Tong to absorb misfortune for a Councilman’s political faction, and opponents of evolution later died by suicide.
• Xiao Xing questioned Morita Tong about his role, and he insisted that his brother’s wishes and happiness mattered most.
• Xiao Xing learned that the Morita Immortal’s younger brother had died long ago and suspected that Morita Yu had deceived Tong about his identity and purpose.
• Xiao Xing and Morita Tong shared their painful pasts, and she asked him to find her before she left so they could help each other become happy.

Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing pieced together how Morita Tong became the Black Vortex and why Akiyama Xing’s pain-based rules could help save him. After leaving the Morita residence, they planned to reach Xing and change both children’s fate, with Wen Xishu insisting that violence remained an option.

• Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing read the chat log and concluded that Akiyama Xing was captive and Morita Tong had been deceived by Morita Yu.
• Wen Xishu invited Morita Tong to leave with them, but he refused because he trusted his brother’s promise; Wen Renjing calmed him and urged him to help Xing find happiness.
• Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing left the Morita residence and reasoned that Morita Tong had become the Black Vortex after absorbing the misfortunes of people Morita Yu had helped.
• Wen Renjing concluded that sharing misfortune among the people inside the Human Holes could restore Morita Tong, while Wen Xishu recognized that inflicting pain might help make that possible.
• Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing decided that Akiyama Xing was the key to breaking the deadlock, and Wen Xishu declared that they could use violence if necessary.

Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing found Akiyama Xing and rescued her from the Curator, the Ruinbringer who had been abusing her. Wen Xishu brutally overpowered the Curator and promised to question him, while Wen Renjing comforted Akiyama Xing.

• Wen Xishu asked Wen Renjing about the Ruinbringers' abilities and declared that he could handle one if they found him.
• Wen Xishu used the Compass to locate Akiyama Xing, who was being whipped by the Curator and had nearly given up hope of being rescued.
• Wen Xishu climbed through the hotel window while Wen Renjing obtained the room key, and they told Akiyama Xing that Morita Tong had sent them to save her.
• Wen Xishu used Time Stop to assess the Curator, then stabbed and beat him into submission.
• Wen Renjing reassured the sobbing Akiyama Xing that she could have happiness, while Wen Xishu kept the Curator alive so he could question him.

Wen Renjing and Wen Xishu questioned Akiyama Xing and Sakai Shinichi, discovering that the world’s hostility toward Xiao Xing let Sakai hurt her despite his inability to use violence against anyone else. Wen Xishu suspected her suffering was tied to a powerful Sequence and ended by telling her that pain and misfortune were helping her grow.

• Wen Renjing used his desire sequence to keep the hotel staff from intervening, while Wen Xishu continued questioning Sakai Shinichi.
• Wen Renjing asked Akiyama Xing about her suffering and suspected she had an ability she could not recognize.
• Sakai Shinichi explained that he could not commit violence against anyone except Akiyama Xing, whom others also felt compelled to hurt.
• Akiyama Xing told Wen Renjing that people seemed hostile toward her, and he assured her that he would not hurt her.
• Wen Xishu realized Akiyama Xing might be the mission’s strongest Gifted and told her that pain and misfortune were nourishment for her growth.

Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing learned that Morita Tong’s power made him nearly impossible to remove from Morita Yu’s control, while Akiyama Xing pleaded for them to save him. After Morita Yu forced Morita Tong to devour his misfortune, Capricorn appeared, killed Sakai Shinichi, and offered Wen Xishu permanent passage to another world.

• Wen Renjing pressed Sakai Shinichi for information, and Sakai explained that Morita Tong’s power made harm against him rebound as misfortune.
• Akiyama Xing asked Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing to save Morita Tong, and they agreed despite Sakai’s warning that Morita Yu would move him and target them.
• Morita Yu questioned Morita Tong, made him devour his misfortune, and promised again that Akiyama Xing would be happy.
• A violent storm struck Hujiang and abruptly cleared as Wen Xishu sensed a powerful presence watching him from a nearby building.
• Capricorn appeared in the hotel, killed Sakai Shinichi, identified himself as a ferryman, and invited Wen Xishu to leave his world permanently.

Wen Xishu rejected Capricorn’s offer to transfer him out of the Bunker, then learned more about Akiyama Xing’s power and helped devise a plan to rescue Morita Tong. The group split their roles: Wen Renjing would take Akiyama Xing to find Morita Tong while Wen Xishu distracted Morita Yu and prepared to fight him.

• Capricorn offered to transfer Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing into the Three Towers World, but Wen Xishu refused and learned that Capricorn had previously helped someone enter the Bunker.
• Capricorn revealed that Akiyama Xing possessed Eerie Sequence 14, whose accumulated suffering could produce a powerful rule shaped by her feelings toward the world.
• Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing resolved to rescue Morita Tong by turning Akiyama Xing’s misfortune into Morita Tong’s desire to save her, which could weaken Morita Yu’s control.
• Wen Xishu gave Wen Renjing the Compass and assigned him to take Akiyama Xing to find Morita Tong while Wen Xishu distracted Morita Yu.
• Wen Xishu prepared to face Morita Yu without using Three-Phase Power and vowed to test whether he or Morita Yu’s luck was harder to overcome.

Wen Xishu infiltrated Morita Yu’s awards ceremony and transformed into the Ghost Groom, whose power finally killed Morita Yu despite the fate protecting him. At the Morita residence, Wen Renjing held off a ninja so Akiyama Xing could reach Morita Tong, and their reunion triggered Morita Tong’s new Sequences.

• Wen Xishu entered the Hujiang Grand Hotel to assassinate Morita Yu while Wen Renjing raced Akiyama Xing to the Morita residence.
• A Radiation-Modified Human attacked Wen Xishu at the ceremony, and Morita Yu revealed the Super Yamato Guards to the gathered guests.
• Morita Yu’s guards repeatedly blocked Wen Xishu’s attacks, so Wen Xishu swallowed Black Coffin Blood and became the Ghost Groom.
• The Ghost Groom fought through the guards and Morita Yu’s protection, then overcame fate and killed Morita Yu before losing himself to his vengeance.
• Wen Renjing fought a ninja to hold it back while Akiyama Xing reached Morita Tong and embraced him.
• Morita Tong recognized Akiyama Xing, absorbed her misfortune, and awakened Sequence 15 · Mercy King Class Change and Sequence 14 · Heaven of the Goddess of Suffering.

Morita Tong and Akiyama Xing transformed misfortune into a new golden power that spread from District 19, freeing Morita Tong from the Heavenly Eye God state and restoring Wen Xishu’s control over the Ghost Groom. The golden light also granted Wen Xishu the Ghost Groom personality as a new trump card, while its expanding reach left the scale and duration of its effects on Hujiang uncertain.

• Akiyama Xing absorbed Morita Tong’s misfortune, turning its black particles into golden mist that rose into the sky as she explained that she wanted him and kind people to find happiness.
• Morita Tong recovered memories of years of rejection and deceit, then remembered Wen Renjing, Wen Xishu, and Akiyama Xing trying to save him and embraced Akiyama Xing as they resolved to turn everything around.
• The Ghost Groom escaped the Hujiang Grand Hotel and rampaged through the city, killing civilians and supernatural beings while creating violent illusions and causing widespread destruction.
• The golden light from District 19 reached the Ghost Groom, restoring Wen Xishu’s control and returning his body to normal.
• Wen Xishu received the Ghost Groom personality in his Personality Party and realized the golden sun was expanding across Hujiang.

Akiyama Xing and Morita Tong unleashed a citywide blessing that changed the fates of Hujiang’s suffering residents and empowered Wen Renjing and Wen Xishu, but a greater force disrupted it. After the children woke, Wen Renjing and Wen Xishu warned them to restrain their powers and departed, while Wen Xishu received an invitation from Gemini.

• Xun Hui discovered that the monsters on Slaughter Tower floor sixty had lost their ability to turn pain into strength and resumed slaughtering them.
• Akiyama Xing and Morita Tong’s powers merged into a golden radiance that healed and empowered Wen Renjing while changing the circumstances of people throughout Hujiang.
• The golden orb trembled and broke apart after an hour, and both children fell unconscious as an unknown force interfered.
• Wen Renjing and Wen Xishu reunited at the Morita residence, concluded that the children had changed many fates, and received mission-completion notices.
• Akiyama Xing described using her power to help the suffering and stop those causing harm, while Morita Tong mourned his brother Morita Yu.
• Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing told the children to keep their powers in check before departing, and Wen Xishu learned that his affinity with Gemini had reached Friendly.

Wen Xishu became exempt from the Strange Tower’s sixtieth-floor mission after he and Wen Renjing were recognized as its destined individuals, and he received the first official level seven completion reward. The Guide revealed that his new Three Towers Memory Archive could summon realistic simulations of people and their scenarios, and Wen Xishu asked for an explanation of Gemini’s Invitation.

• Wen Xishu learned that Morita Tong and Akiyama Xing had created the Human Hole and Inverse Human Hole barriers, and that he and Wen Renjing were exempt from their mission as destined individuals.
• Wen Xishu checked his improved panel, gained an inventory slot and a sequence slot, and discovered that the Suffering Settlement rune made Perfect Parry reflect damage.
• The Guide told Wen Xishu that his reward was the level seven Three Towers Memory Archive, which could summon updated simulations of people he had encountered and reproduce their domains of obsession for training.
• Wen Xishu realized the archive could be used to train Tower of Deception Academy students with dangerous scenarios that would not kill them.
• Wen Xishu asked the Guide to explain the Constellations and Gemini’s Invitation.

After Wen Xishu completed the Great Devourment, Albert secured him unprecedented authority across the Bunker and Three Towers Academy. Wen Xishu explored the Wen Family Old Residence, where a photograph of Wen Chaohua remained beyond his reach, then joined Albert at the academy as midnight approached.

• The Three Towers Guide warned Wen Xishu that opening Gemini’s Invitation Letter could lead to an unpredictable and dangerous task, so he agreed not to use it lightly.
• The final Orange Vortex descended, ending the Great Devourment and sending the Bunker into celebration as residents credited Wen Xishu with saving lives and homes.
• Albert overruled the Five Elders, recognizing the Xishu Divine Church and naming Wen Xishu a permanent senior adviser to the Security Bureau and dean of the new Tower of Deception Academy.
• Wen Xishu visited the Wen Family Old Residence and found that a photograph in Wen Chaohua’s room spoke to him, but his Magic Resistance was still insufficient to uncover its secret.
• Wen Xishu told Albert he could use Strange Tower figures from the Recollection Archive as teachers, then accompanied him to the academy and waited for midnight.

Wen Xishu opened the Tower of Deception Academy, gained authority over its Academy Spirit, and was appointed its dean. At Albert’s gathering, Miyamoto Yoshiki challenged him, and the chapter ended as they prepared to fight in the Tower of Slaughter Academy’s training grounds.

• Wen Xishu sacrificed his blood to open the Tower of Deception Academy, which appeared upside down above Three Towers Academy.
• The Academy Spirit introduced itself as Spirit and explained that it could manage and reshape the Tower of Deception Academy under Wen Xishu’s authority.
• Evelyn warned Wen Renjing to describe Wen Xishu’s combat abilities as unproven and derived only from the Strange Tower.
• At the gathering, Albert announced the Tower of Deception Academy’s opening and appointed Wen Xishu its dean.
• Miyamoto Yoshiki challenged Wen Xishu, who accepted and went with him to the Tower of Slaughter Academy’s training grounds.
• Wen Xishu put on the Phoenix Gloves and agreed that the fight would end when one fighter surrendered or could no longer continue.

Wen Xishu’s duel with Miyamoto Yoshiki never became a conventional fight after Blood Mist Surge awakened the dangerous Ghost Groom personality within him. Albert restrained Wen Xishu and restored his consciousness, leaving Miyamoto defeated and the onlookers silent as Wen asked what the Old Principal had done to him.

• Xun Hui and Albert discussed whether Wen Xishu could defeat Miyamoto Yoshiki, while Wen planned to counter Miyamoto’s blade and attacks.
• Miyamoto let Wen attack first, but Blood Mist Surge and Slaughter Sequence 204: Murderous Intent Search triggered Wen’s Ghost Groom personality.
• Wen’s crimson blood mist terrified Miyamoto and the spectators, and Miyamoto collapsed, dropped his Demon Blade, and begged for mercy.
• The Miyamoto Family Head rushed in to protect Miyamoto, but Wen’s Ghost Groom form threatened him until Albert restrained Wen and cut off his senses.
• Wen regained control as the blood mist dissipated, Miyamoto lay unable to fight, and Albert invited anyone who disputed Wen’s victory to challenge him; no one answered.

Wen Xishu defeated Miyamoto Yoshiki, absorbed the Demon Blade’s power, and backed Albert’s sweeping reforms to the Bunker. He then prepared the Tower of Deception Academy for its opening and resumed climbing, arriving at Heavenly Origin after rolling three ones on the Madman’s Dice.

• Wen Xishu defeated Miyamoto Yoshiki, took the Demon Blade, and absorbed its power until his Tower Power reached 27 points.
• The Miyamoto Family head accepted Albert’s decision to appoint Wen Xishu as director, and Albert announced reforms that raised the standing of Strange Tower and Slaughter Tower climbers while limiting Desire Tower Ascenders’ housing options.
• Albert announced that the Tower of Deception Academy would open at midnight and welcome new applicants and transfers, prompting celebration among Slaughter Tower students and protests among Desire Tower students.
• Wen Xishu summoned Tang Rui in the Recollection Archive and asked her and Spirit to frighten visitors who came to challenge the Tower of Deception Academy.
• Wen Xishu left the Bunker and rolled three ones on the Madman’s Dice, gaining the choices Triple High and Three-Phase Power before arriving at Heavenly Origin in the Strange Tower’s Rest Area.

Wen Xishu entered the Sin Sea Voyage mission aboard the Ark, where eight people had to land on an island to calm the deadly sea. After learning that returning from the islands could erase fundamental concepts from people’s minds, he chose to join the landing party.

• Wen Xishu began the Strange Tower’s sixty-third-floor mission, Sin Sea Voyage, and arrived aboard the Ark during a red-level sea beast attack.
• Wen Xishu found himself dining with seven others under armed guard and used his power to disarm a soldier when they ordered him to sit down.
• Wen Xishu forced the Ark’s squad leader to explain that the Ark had entered the Sin Sea, where eight people had to spend twenty-four hours on an island to stop the danger.
• The squad leader told Wen Xishu that people who returned from the islands could lose essential concepts, such as children, water, or life.
• Wen Xishu decided to land on the island, hoping to learn how the Sinland Fragments differed from the Sinland.

Wen Xishu chose to go ashore despite awakening a noble ability, hoping to uncover the secrets of Sinland and the Ark. On the island, he woke in a new identity as Xiao Mian’s partner and realized he had lost the ability to recognize some important concept, leaving him overwhelmed by a sense of incongruity.

• Wen Xishu asked to meet the captain, but the squad leader refused and explained that the captain could only be reached by someone who escaped the Sin Sea’s curse.
• As the Ark approached an island, a monstrous beast attacked and blood-red mist plunged the civilians into hallucinations; the squad leader warned Wen Xishu that islanders often forgot their identities and failed to return.
• Wen Xishu and the seven others entered the Ark’s Portal Elevator and were transported to the island.
• Wen Xishu woke in a peaceful living room, where a youth named Xiao Mian called him big brother and offered him tea.
• Wen Xishu recovered memories of coming from the Ark and the Bunker, then learned that the island’s altered identity made Xiao Mian his partner.
• Wen Xishu rejected the role and felt that he had lost an important concept, but he could not identify it or find his way back to the Ark.

Wen Xishu discovered that lowering his synchronization rate restored his awareness but drew dangerous forces, and he set out to find Horn and investigate Judy and Mia. Meanwhile, Judy and Mia confronted changes to their bodies as something approached their apartment.

• Wen Xishu found Judy and Mia's names triggered rising world dissonance, and Xiao Mian tried to stop him from remembering them.
• Wen Xishu called Judy and Mia, learned they knew nothing about world dissonance, and watched the danger outside recede as his dissonance fell.
• Wen Xishu contacted the others and found Horn was the only one who shared his sense that the world was wrong; they agreed to meet and seek out Judy and Mia.
• Wen Xishu refused Xiao Mian's plea to stay and left to meet Horn.
• Judy and Mia struggled with their changed bodies, while a crawling sound came from outside their window.