Chapter Summaries

Gonzales recounted Mount Diomo’s arrival in the Dark Corner and the disasters that transformed its residents’ lives, then explained how a failed escape from an Infinite Hospital Corridor ultimately brought him to Modern City. Angel shared Gonzales’s intelligence with the team, while Gonzales and Gleipnir left to investigate Zuniga’s rare Fashion Demonic Beasts.

• Angel relayed the information he had gathered from Gonzales to everyone through the team chat channel.
• Gonzales explained how Mount Diomo had entered the Dark Corner, endured supply shortages and deadly disasters, and was gradually Assimilated by the Starry Grassland of Dreams.
• Gonzales described surviving as an explorer and learning about the Dark Corner’s layers, entities, and hazards.
• After an aether disaster drove him into an Infinite Hospital Corridor, Gonzales failed to outrun its dangerous entities and crawled into a hidden passage.
• The passage threw Gonzales into a void layer, where a crack eventually carried him to the outskirts of Modern City.
• Gleipnir accompanied Gonzales to investigate the rare Fashion Demonic Beasts around Zuniga.

Gonzales explained Dreamscape Layers and the rumored power of Lords of Layers, then suggested Diomo City’s royal family might know how to become one. Angel shared the information with Sigmund and Laplace, whose completed side quest had given them tools for entering the Dark Corner, and advised Sigmund to adapt if his route to the Starry Grassland proved difficult.

• Gonzales described Dreamscape Layers as places filled with dream and illusion, and said Lords of Layers ruled their layers with authority to manipulate them.
• Gonzales said Diomo City’s royal family had publicly pledged to become the Lord of the Starry Grassland of Dreams, making them a likely source of information about how to claim the title.
• Gonzales offered to guide Angel to Diomo City if Angel entered the Dark Corner, while Angel understood the offer but did not plan to send him away yet.
• Angel shared his conversation with Gonzales in the team chat and noted that Sigmund and Laplace had completed their side quest and received the Dark Corner Guide, an Ether Society Badge, and a single-use Ether Converter.
• Sigmund summarized his plan to reach the Starry Grassland and seek clues from Diomo City’s royal family, and Angel advised him to adapt if he could not find that route.

Angel prepared to send Hua Yuan and Sigmund into Dark Corner, explaining that Hua Yuan should bring back information about the Lord of the Dreamscape Layer. As the entrance ritual began, Hua Yuan revealed that she sought Dark Corner because her companion Cherry suffered from a congenital illness caused by ether contamination.

• Angel told Hua Yuan that entering Dark Corner required no payment beyond bringing back intelligence, and he asked her to seek information about the Lord of the Dreamscape Layer.
• Angel discussed the upcoming trip with Sigmund and asked him to watch for the mysterious child from Sisley's quest.
• Angel began the Sacred Eye Prayer Convergence Formation, and Doros and Luliana used the Faith Crystal to activate it around Sigmund and Hua Yuan.
• Angel asked Hua Yuan about Cherry's illness to calm her nerves, and she explained that the Flashgold Association had diagnosed Cherry with congenital Dark Corner Disease.
• Hua Yuan said Cherry's worsening symptoms had driven her to seek a cure in Dark Corner, and she feared losing it.

The Sacred Eye Prayer Convergence Formation sent Sigmund toward the Dark Corner but rejected Hua Yuan because she did not meet Wonderland’s entry conditions. The formation’s Moon Eye projection nearly captured Angel because of his mark, but he escaped and learned more about the rules governing NPC entry into the Dark Corner.

• Laplace realized Cherry’s illness came from ether energy and suggested using an Ether Converter to remove it, though Angel decided they could not interrupt the active formation to test the idea.
• The Sacred Eye Prayer Convergence Formation opened a passage, and Moon Eye’s projection sent Sigmund and Hua Yuan toward the Dark Corner.
• Wonderland rejected Hua Yuan because she had not met the conditions for entering, while Sigmund remained in the passage and was not expelled.
• Moon Eye tried to capture Angel because of his Call of the Dark Corner mark, but Angel exited the Instance and escaped before the countdown ended.
• Angel explained to Laplace that ordinary NPCs could not enter the Dark Corner unless they became extraordinary or a Challenger became lord of the relevant layer, allowing Wonderland Authority to extend there.

Angel explained why Hua Yuan had been expelled from the Dark Corner and advised Laplace to let her believe she had simply been unlucky. Meanwhile, Gleipnir shared a difficult luck-based quest called “Nine Stars Aligned” and described its first challenge, which she had already failed.

• Laplace watched over the unconscious Hua Yuan while Cherry hid inside Hua Yuan’s Fashion Magic Book.
• Angel used an illusion to tell Laplace not to explain the Dark Corner to Hua Yuan and suggested they wait to reopen it until they could help Cherry in Modern City.
• Gleipnir told the team chat that she had met Zuniga and received a random quest she believed they could not complete.
• Gleipnir shared the “Nine Stars Aligned” quest, which required nine luck-only challenges with one attempt at each location.
• Gleipnir revealed that her first challenge required drawing a gold-tier Demonic Beast card from a capsule machine, and she had already failed it.

Gleipnir attempted three Nine Stars Aligned challenges, scoring only five points before deciding the quest was too difficult. She left for Prada Media Company to ask about Sorrowful Star, the Fashion Demonic Beast the quest sought.

• Gleipnir failed the card-drawing challenge, then caught two fish in ten minutes and earned five points at the underground lake.
• Gleipnir told Angel that the challenges restricted outside help and limited resources, and she warned that relying on Kang Mu’s luck might count as cheating or expose someone to Sorrowful Star’s misfortune.
• Gleipnir entered an abandoned cottage and discovered that a mutant girl and her friends had been using its hidden passage to the Underground District and frightening people away from the clown’s former home.
• Gleipnir used an automatic card launcher for the third challenge, but Starflower 2, Heart 3, and Black Fish 3 added up to only eight points instead of twenty-one.
• Gleipnir gave up on Nine Stars Aligned and headed to Prada Media Company to ask about Sorrowful Star.

Angel went to Eighth Town to find the sleeping Zuniga and inspect his Sorrowful Star challenge, while learning why Zuniga wanted to capture the mysterious Fashion Demonic Beast. After discovering that Zuniga had to beat seven lucky casino champions, Angel doubted he could help without the mission judging it as cheating.

• Angel told Laplace that he would attempt Nine Stars Aligned only if he could borrow luck with Kang Mu, then began a livestream of his true body searching for Zuniga in Eighth Town.
• Angel summoned Pattern Lady Dan from his contact card, and she guided him toward Zuniga while explaining what Gleipnir and Gonzales had done earlier.
• Angel asked Dan about the Sorrowful Star, and she said Zuniga believed it might bring luck or be a Demonic Beast ranked above High Grade.
• Dan led Angel through a hidden staircase to Zuniga’s basement home, where Gonzales received him and Angel touched the sleeping Zuniga.
• Angel saw Zuniga’s Fate Gambling Match mission, which required him to defeat seven Lucky Champions, and wondered whether outside help would count as cheating.

Angel learned that Zuniga remained asleep because he was seriously challenging the Sorrowful Star, whose mission Angel could not help him complete. After reaching Grave Street with Kang Mu, Angel tried the Nine Stars Aligned challenge to test whether Kang Mu’s luck could overcome its restrictions, but his first pull yielded only a blue Rococo Rabbit card.

• Angel explained to Dan that Zuniga could leave the challenge whenever he wished but had chosen to keep challenging the Sorrowful Star, and he described why the Nine Stars Aligned mission was too difficult to complete with outside help.
• Gleipnir told Angel that Sorrowful Stars magnified misfortune and could only make friends with someone whose immense luck could offset their effects.
• Angel met Kang Mu at an unmanned Grave Street warehouse and learned that the Wonderland Authority had sealed away external aid for the card capsule challenge.
• Angel had Kang Mu touch the game coins, then used one to open a capsule, but drew a blue Rococo Rabbit card and scored zero.
• Kang Mu said he had sometimes drawn gold cards in a ten-pull, leading Angel to wonder whether Kang Mu’s luck was strong enough for the Sorrowful Star.

Kang Mu used the gacha machine and revealed that his luck favored things he genuinely desired, while Angel left to try the challenge again. Hua Yuan awakened to learn she had not been chosen for Dark Corner, but Laplace offered to treat Cherry’s aether illness, and Hua Yuan agreed to keep their location secret.

• Kang Mu used the gacha machine, won the rare Starshine Illusion Butterfly card, then drew two blue cards after Angel asked him to try again.
• Angel deduced that Kang Mu’s luck improved when he truly wanted something, then left Grave Street and headed toward a fishing spot to continue challenging Nine Stars Aligned.
• Angel stopped the livestream and removed Hua Yuan’s soundproof barrier when she began to wake.
• Laplace and Angel told Hua Yuan that the formation had chosen Sigmund instead of her, and Laplace explained that Cherry’s aether illness could be treated or eased.
• Hua Yuan asked what payment they wanted, and Angel asked her to keep the location and its secrets confidential; she swore she would.

Angel recruited Hua Yuan into Prada Media so she could help save Cherry without abandoning her Dark Round Table identity. He tested whether Nightmare Illusion could bypass the fishing challenge’s rules, but the countdown stopped instead, while the Ether Converter began drawing Ether from Cherry.

• Angel clarified that he wanted Hua Yuan to join Prada Media, not the Dark Corner Cult, and Hua Yuan agreed after he offered her a concealed identity.
• Angel explained that Hua Yuan could join Prada Media under another name and appearance while keeping her Dark Round Table identity.
• Angel began the fishing challenge and used Nightmare Illusion to catch fish without triggering the violation notice.
• After ten minutes, Angel found that the fishing challenge countdown still read 09:49.
• Laplace and Angel watched as the Ether Converter absorbed residual Ether from Cherry while Hua Yuan prayed beside it.
• Laplace asked whether Wonderland Authority had stopped the countdown in response to Angel using Nightmare Illusion.

Angel learned that the Ether Converter had removed most of Cherry’s ether energy, offering hope for its recovery. Meanwhile, Vera advised Lizi on her investigation into Tina Tower’s hidden corpses, and Lizi learned that the upcoming rehearsal could offer a better opportunity to continue her work.

• Angel gave up on trying to catch Sorrowful Star after interpreting Wonderland Authority’s reaction as a warning about its dangerous misfortune.
• Laplace used the Ether Converter on Cherry, which absorbed nearly all of its ether energy and improved its condition; Cherry woke and embraced the relieved Hua Yuan.
• Angel returned his attention to his main body, knocked two attacking Undercurrent Hounds unconscious, and then contacted Lizi.
• Angel found Lizi meeting Vera Montclair, who told Lizi to trust her own sense of justice while warning that her public investigation could put her at risk.
• Vera told Lizi that Tina Entertainment would hold an internal grand rehearsal in two days, hinting that it would be a better time to continue the investigation.

Vera questioned Lizi about Angel and the information he had provided, then met Angel and agreed to exchange answers under Mindflow. The chapter left them ready to begin, with Vera agreeing to keep the Fashion Guild and Dark Round Table from obstructing the Prada Beauty Pageant.

• Vera asked Lizi what made her respect Angel, and Lizi said he had revealed the victims' remains hidden throughout Tina Tower.
• Vera suspected Angel might be an outsider sent to undermine Tina Entertainment, but Lizi insisted she trusted him.
• Angel appeared beside the café table, revealed that he knew Vera's hidden identity as the Dark King, and asked to speak with her privately.
• Vera proposed that Angel answer questions while under Mindflow and disclose what he wanted from her; Angel agreed in exchange for limiting her to three questions and protecting Lizi from traps.
• Angel asked Vera to prevent the Fashion Guild and Dark Round Table from obstructing the Prada Beauty Pageant, and Vera agreed.

Vera used Mindflow to lock onto Angel’s heart and began questioning him, while Angel confirmed that his true name was Angel Pat and revealed that he came from Savage Cave. Vera realized he was from another world, but the exchange ended before she could ask why he had come.

• Vera enclosed herself and Angel in an invisibility cloth, used Graffiti Kid to project convincing moving images, and formed an Eye Prison to activate Mindflow.
• Angel learned that Mindflow could detect lies by locking onto a person’s heart, and Vera warned him that Sorrowful Star brought misfortune even through its puzzle pieces.
• Vera activated Mindflow, and Angel’s true body experienced the vision of a bloodshot eye; he used Nightmare Illusion to lessen its scrutiny without breaking the lock.
• Angel told Vera his real name was Angel Pat, then answered her first question by saying he came from Savage Cave and was a low-level magician.
• Vera realized Angel was from another world and wanted to ask more about his origin and purpose, but Angel refused to add questions, leaving her to weigh what to ask next.

Angel explained that his organization investigated Alfred while searching for the Dark Corner Entrance, then revealed that its highest secret involved Prada Media’s Beauty Pageant Show. Vera learned that Angel’s people could identify outsiders whose challenge tasks inexplicably failed, while Angel warned that his group would follow Modern City’s rules only as long as possible.

• Vera asked why Angel and his organization had investigated Alfred, and Angel explained that they traced Alfred’s disappearance to the Dark Corner while searching for its entrance.
• Vera used her final question to ask why Angel had requested her support for Prada Media’s Beauty Pageant Show, and Angel said the answer involved his organization’s highest secret.
• Vera chose to hear related intelligence instead, and Angel offered her a way to identify members of his group and outsiders like them.
• Angel told Vera that his group could use wizard methods to overwhelm Modern City but preferred to resolve conflicts by the city’s rules.
• Angel revealed that an inexplicably failed challenge task indicated one of his people was involved.

Angel revealed to Vera that his people could take over challenge tasks, and explained how he had interfered with tasks at Tina Entertainment. After Vera questioned his relationship with Lizi and their investigation into the skeletal remains, Lizi reported a possible lead on Xiadia, whose name someone recognized.

• Angel told Vera that his people were involved whenever a challenge task failed, and explained that their limited numbers and difficult tasks could not destabilize Modern City's magic circle.
• Angel admitted that he had taken over the clown's and Lily's tasks at Tina Entertainment, including the public variety show task that brought him into contact with Sisley.
• Vera ended Mindflow and asked Angel about his relationship with Lizi, warning him not to deceive or use her; Angel said he had asked Lizi to investigate skeletal remains in Tina Tower and insisted she would be safe.
• Lizi entered the café and told Angel that Xiadia's former roommate recalled her visiting the Underground District, though the lead was too vague to identify her origins.
• After Lizi mentioned Xiadia's name, someone said it sounded familiar.

Vera recalled that Xiadia might be the missing woman Qixia, and Angel set out to check the Wandering House in Eighth Town. After rescuing an unconscious woman from the river, Angel discovered that a Fashion Demonic Beast had targeted her.

• Vera searched her Memory Palace and remembered a missing-person request in the Underground District for a young man's older sister, Qixia, whom she suspected was Xiadia.
• Angel revealed that he was speaking through an illusion and said he would check the Wandering House in his district.
• Vera warned Lizi to avoid people like Angel, then offered to guide her in exchange for serving as her assistant and investigating Prada Media Company.
• Angel watched as Lizi began investigating Prada Media, then headed toward Eighth Town to learn more about the missing-person request.
• Angel used the Magic Hand to rescue an unconscious woman from the river, then told Laplace that a Fashion Demonic Beast had targeted her.

Angel persuaded Laplace to pursue the Hairstyle Beast because its Style Point system suited her unusually long, flexible hair, and Laplace agreed to accept its quest. Angel then visited Sisley at the Wandering House to investigate old quests connected to Xiadia and Qixia, and Sisley sent someone to retrieve the records.

• Angel showed Laplace the Hairstyle Beast’s quests and explained that it belonged to the Style Series and awarded Style Points whenever a hairstyle attracted attention.
• Angel pointed out that Laplace’s silver hair already drew attention, so she could earn Style Points without changing her hairstyle, and Laplace agreed to pursue the Hairstyle Beast.
• Laplace read her quest to challenge hair salons and collect six emblems, then wondered whether she could simply take them and exploit the subjective nature of hairstyling contests.
• Angel gave Laplace a beacon for the woman undertaking the competition quest, left her to help Hua Yuan and Cherry, and returned his thoughts to his main body.
• Angel searched the quest hall in Eighth Town for quests connected to Xiadia or Qixia, found none, and asked Sisley to check the past quest records.
• Sisley confirmed he could access records of quests posted in the hall and sent someone to investigate.

Angel learned that Dark Corner was accessible and told Sisley that investigators would search for the mysterious child, easing Sisley’s despair. While investigating Qixia’s missing-person commission, Angel found that the publisher was April First and went to the Public Security Directorate, where Lizi released him; April First still had not looked up at Angel.

• Angel told Sisley that a team had entered Dark Corner and would look for the mysterious child, giving Sisley renewed hope.
• Sisley gave Angel the files for Qixia’s missing-person commission, which her younger brother had reposted for five years.
• Angel discovered that Xiadia was one of the makeup identities Qixia had used and that the commission publisher was named April First.
• Angel found that April First had logged in and was being held at the Public Security Directorate beside Fashion Tower.
• Angel summoned Lizi, who used her Fashion Guild authority to bring April First out of the detention room.
• April First followed Lizi with his head down and did not recognize Angel, seeing only his shoes.

April First woke in the Fashion Guild after Lizi rescued him from the Public Security Directorate, where Angel had arranged for his release. As Angel questioned him about the disturbance, April First explained that he had gone to search for records about his sister, who had been missing for over five years.

• April First fainted from exhaustion and low blood sugar after leaving the Public Security Directorate, then woke on a sofa in Lizi's office.
• Lizi took April First to eat at the Fashion Guild, where he met Angel and learned that Angel had arranged his release.
• Angel concealed their private room in mist after discovering that Vera's Doodle was surveilling them, and Vera sent Lizi to deliver him an apology gift.
• Angel asked April First why he had caused a disturbance at the Directorate, and April First said he had been searching its records for his missing older sister.

Angel questioned April First about breaking into Public Security Headquarters and learned that he believed the Modern City Instance was a dream. Angel called him an awakened one and offered to help find his missing sister in exchange for information from reality, but explained that the Box Garden could not provide information beyond Modern City.

• April First admitted that he had reported his sister Xiadia missing five years earlier but had received no answers, and that he broke into Public Security Headquarters because he thought he was dreaming.
• Angel recognized that April First believed the Instance was a dream and told him that realizing this meant he had awakened.
• Angel explained the Box Garden and described April First as special for retaining his awareness of reality within it.
• April First asked whether he could find information about his sister, and Angel offered to help if April First did him a favor.
• April First agreed immediately, and Angel asked him to find information from reality, clarifying that information about Modern City would be available.