Chapter Summaries

Angel confirmed that the Fixed-Point Compass detected eliminated challengers, then joined the Water Clone and Luigi to watch a livestream from the Instrument World. The broadcast showed Coleman and Edward chained in a dark hall, and a replay revealed how they had entered the world and awakened Satan.

• Angel confirmed Elder Xudeda had been eliminated, tested the Fixed-Point Compass, and left it with Yota.
• Angel returned to the Heart Space, where the Water Clone and Luigi were waiting to begin the livestream.
• The Water Clone explained that she could clearly see Coleman and the others in the Instrument World, and she set up screens for the broadcast.
• Angel and the others watched Coleman, Edward, and Ice Woman hanging in chains inside a dark hall, then replayed their arrival in the Instrument World.
• The replay showed Edward leading Coleman and Ice Woman toward a distant building before Coleman pulled Satan's Purple Flame from his body and awakened him.

Water Clone explained how Ice Woman encoded sound into the silent livestream, while Edward’s expedition reached a Gothic palace and discovered a ritual-material procurement list bearing the Ember Pact Merchant Alliance’s emblem. The chapter ended with the group facing a possible ritual and a merchant alliance connection inside the palace.

• Water Clone explained that Ice Woman encoded ambient sounds and voices into the footage through cold-air particles, which Water Clone then decoded and processed.
• The livestream showed Satan shrinking its flames in the damp air as the expedition approached a vast Gothic palace, where Edward suspected they might find a vehicle that could block moonlight.
• At the palace entrance, Edward found a rotting corpse hanging upside down, lowered it, and discovered an oilskin sheet covered with ritual materials and quantities.
• Edward recognized the seal on the sheet as the emblem of the Ember Pact Merchant Alliance.

Edward and his companions entered a palace they suspected was connected to the God-Worshipping Sect, but a masked man incapacitated and captured them with a Nullification Ritual. After they woke suspended in chains, the Masked Man explained that entering the mist had already completed the ritual and revealed that the palace was filled with traps triggered by ritual protocols.

• Edward identified a purchase order as belonging to the Ember Pact Merchant Alliance and suspected evil sects were responsible for the hanged corpse.
• Edward pushed open the palace doors, where a masked man completed a ritual that knocked Edward, Ice Woman, Coleman, and Satan unconscious.
• The Masked Man dragged the group inside and suspended them from chains; after they woke, Edward and Satan found they could not escape or burn through the chains.
• The Masked Man explained that either lowering the corpse or approaching the palace completed a protocol of the Nullification Ritual, and that they had already triggered it by entering the mist.
• Satan insulted the Masked Man and was struck unconscious by an automatic punishment ritual, leaving Edward to realize the palace was filled with dangerous ritual triggers.

Edward recognized the Masked Man as Reginald, the former mayor of Instrument Town, and his wife as Madam Beate, old benefactors who had helped him survive the Instrument World. Reginald spared Edward and the others on the condition that Edward give Beate a new makeup and hairstyle, leaving the livestream frozen as Edward went with them.

• Angel and Luigi discussed turning Luigi’s duels into a recorded music variety show while the group saw Edward’s party trapped in the palace.
• The Masked Man revealed that he and his wife knew Edward, then brought out Madam Beate’s head to meet him.
• Edward recognized Beate as his former benefactor and identified the Masked Man as Reginald, the mayor of Instrument Town.
• Reginald lowered Edward, unlocked his chains, and offered to spare the captives if Edward pleased Beate with a new makeup and hairstyle.
• Edward followed Reginald and Beate into the darkness, while Ice Woman remained behind and the livestream image froze.

Angel asked Luigi to prepare footage for a possible music variety show while the group received a brief image suggesting Sigmund might have reunited with Zaina. Meanwhile, Edward freed Coleman and Ice Woman and revealed that the Red Moon would arrive in five days, leaving them to choose between seeking Soul Coins or enduring imprisonment in Corpse God Temple.

• Angel lent Luigi illusion nodes and asked him to make preliminary footage for a possible music variety show.
• The Water Clone showed Angel an image of Sigmund watching a woman who might have been Zaina at a secluded lake, suggesting Sigmund may have escaped captivity.
• Angel judged Luigi’s footage ineffective because Luigi had chosen an opponent too weak to showcase a compelling duel.
• Edward freed Coleman and Ice Woman, then warned them that the Red Moon would appear in five days.
• Edward explained that the temple ritual could shield them from the Red Moon, but staying would mean becoming prisoners; he recommended remaining in the temple over trying to earn enough Soul Coins.

Coleman chose to leave Corpse God Temple with Ice Woman while Edward stayed, and their staged argument gave the livestream dramatic footage. As they departed through the Cloud Whale Station, Reginald mentioned a rumored Star Sea Station, prompting Angel to wonder whether Instrument World and its creator resembled Dream Crystal Plain and Angel in their potential.

• Coleman weighed Edward's advice to remain for five days against leaving, then decided he and Ice Woman would go while Edward stayed.
• Coleman and Edward staged a bitter argument for the livestream before Edward led Coleman and Ice Woman toward an underground exit.
• Edward brought them to Reginald, who directed them through the mist to Cloud Whale Station and mentioned a rumored Star Sea Station.
• Angel recognized that Star Sea Station could be connected to the Star Sea Train and questioned why Instrument World had received a station.
• Water Clone compared Instrument World with Dream Crystal Plain and suggested that Instrument World's creator might have exceptional potential like Angel.

Edward explained how Reginald was forced into the Bloodletting Sect to preserve Beate, then sent Coleman and Ice Woman toward Cloud Harbor City aboard a Cloud Whale Bus with passes, soul coins, and advice for surviving the Red Moon. After hearing that several Challengers had been eliminated at once in the Window Dungeon, Angel prepared to log in and investigate.

• At Cloud Whale Station, Edward told Coleman and Ice Woman how the Bloodletting Sect’s attack on Instrument Town had driven Reginald to join the sect to keep Beate conscious, and how meeting Edward had rekindled a small flame in him.
• Edward warned Coleman and Ice Woman about the Bloodletting Sect and the Corpse God Temple, described an unconventional way to earn money, and gave them two Cloud Whale Bus passes and five soul coins from Reginald.
• Coleman and Ice Woman boarded the Cloud Whale Bus, passed its misty ticket inspectors, and settled into a cabin where a sleeping girl sat in the front row.
• In Heart Space, Angel, Water Clone, and Luigi discussed what they had seen before Rabbit Girl reported that Yifuda had asked her to pass along news of multiple Challenger eliminations in the Window Dungeon.
• Angel agreed to log in and investigate the eliminations.

Luojia questioned Cloud Whale Bus 007 after Crystalfolk vanished upon seeing Luojia, and ordered it to capture one or two stowaways for questioning. In Prophet's Cave, Bonida described how she and three Revivers encountered a figure in multicolored mist and were eliminated, leaving Angel and Yota worried that the being had noticed the other Challengers aboard the bus.

• Luojia asked 007 why the Crystalfolk vanished, and 007 reported finding no soul fragments and suggested a god might have protected them.
• Luojia asked 007 to capture one or two Crystalfolk for questioning while leaving the rest alone.
• Angel found Yota, Yifuda, and Bonida in Prophet's Cave, where Bonida was enduring soul weakness after refusing Liquid Gold Crystal Sand.
• Yota told Angel that Bonida and three Revivers had been eliminated simultaneously, and Bonida recounted meeting a figure in multicolored mist inside the Skyborne White Whale.
• Angel and Yota connected the figure to the one Luoketa had encountered and worried that the remaining Challengers aboard the Cloud Whale Bus had drawn its attention.

Angel learned that Wonderland Authority’s warning mechanism could block direct disclosures about the Dream Crystal Plain but could not stop coded leaks. After meditating and confirming the mechanism’s limits, he returned to the broadcast and found Coleman and Ice Woman bound after the Challengers had provoked a new faction aboard the Cloud Whale Bus.

• Yifuda worried that the Challengers who had boarded the Cloud Whale Bus had been captured, and Angel reassured everyone that the Red Moon would eliminate them in five days if necessary.
• After logging off, Angel told the Water Clone and Luigi that the Challengers might reveal sensitive information about the Dream Crystal Plain and Wonderland Instances under interrogation.
• Angel meditated in the Geometric Space, then searched the Sea of Authority and found that Wonderland Authority warned Challengers against direct disclosures but could not prevent them from using codes or metaphors.
• Angel returned to the broadcast area and saw Coleman and Ice Woman restrained, while Luigi explained that Satan’s big mouth had provoked a new faction.
• A white-haired old man in a red ceremonial robe boarded the Cloud Whale Bus, caused the passengers to shrink back, and sat beside Coleman.

Luigi replayed how the man in red captured Coleman and Ice Woman and prepared to use them as sacrifices. Angel and the others suspected the Challengers’ misfortune came from the Instrument World rejecting their illegal entry, and concluded Coleman and Ice Woman were unlikely to survive.

• On the Cloud Whale bus, Satan insulted the man in red, who recognized Coleman as a twin-born Evil Fire clan member and took an interest in sacrificing him and Ice Woman.
• The man in red inferred that Reginald had given Coleman and Ice Woman their tickets, then trapped and knocked them unconscious after they left the bus at Cloud Harbor City.
• Luigi explained that the man in red had taken the pair to an empty factory, where his robed subordinates helped prepare a ritual with Coleman and Ice Woman as offerings.
• Angel and Water Clone considered whether the Instrument World’s hostility toward illegal entrants was causing the Challengers’ declining fortune, while noting that Edward seemed exempt.
• Water Clone suggested that the next Time Doppelgänger should seek Edward first, as Coleman and Ice Woman appeared unlikely to escape the man in red’s ritual.

Angel learned that Behemoth felt overwhelmed by Luolun’s attention but did not hate him, and explained that he had placed Behemoth near Luolun so the summoning wizard could help develop its potential. After Behemoth agreed to care for a group of young companions, Angel arranged for Luolun to study it and then checked on the Crystal-Eyed Race Challengers, discovering that their enemy had changed tactics.

• Angel asked Behemoth about its time in the Dream Crystal Plain, and Behemoth described Luolun’s intense attention and its discomfort with becoming his assistant.
• Angel explained that he hoped Luolun could help develop Behemoth’s mysterious bloodline, and Luigi persuaded Behemoth to consider the opportunity for Nakbi’s sake.
• Behemoth agreed to care for Dangros, the Wood Spirit, the Swift Spirit, Ermi, and Hyde Land, though Ermi and Hyde Land soon hid or left.
• Angel asked Luolun to research Behemoth, and Luolun agreed while offering to teach Behemoth his research methods if the Dream Crystal Plain’s bodies could not be studied.
• Angel visited Prophet’s Cave and learned from Yota that only two Challengers had been eliminated in a day, while their high-ranking enemy had begun directing others to attack instead of acting personally.

Luojia learned that the Crystal-Eyed Race came from the Mirror Realm, but its members vanished whenever they tried to reveal their origins. After watching Anta and Tuo Tuo escape Evening Dream Cloud Harbor through a leak-prevention mechanism, Yota and the others hoped Tunita would discover how to use it.

• A Dongdong Tour Group guide told tourists that Late-Sleep Town was rumored to be where a Creator’s descendant had performed a world ritual, and Luojia recognized the descendant as its father.
• Luojia asked Cloud Whale Bus No. 007 about its interrogation, learning that the Crystal-Eyed Race members were from the Mirror Realm but that Anta and Tuo Tuo had vanished when questioned about their origins.
• Luojia watched the Crystal-Eyed Race members enter Late-Sleep Town and secretly tracked them, while directing jellyfish to bring some members who had landed elsewhere back onto the bus.
• At Prophet's Cave, Yota told Angel that Anta and Tuo Tuo had been tortured and that Tuo Tuo escaped by sensing she would die if she revealed information about Dream Crystal Plain.
• Yifuda hoped Tunita would discover the escape mechanism, but the Giant City Spirit doubted that Tunita would use it.

Angel and Water Clone concluded that a higher-order being was secretly influencing the remaining Challengers, while Coleman and Ice Woman were caught in a ritual that might involve the God-Worshipping Sect. The ritual left their fate unclear, and an earthquake-like shaking obscured the livestream in drifting colored mist.

• Angel shared Yota's report, and Water Clone reasoned that the higher-order Six-Pointed Star life-form had likely not captured the remaining Challengers but was secretly guiding or protecting them.
• Angel and Water Clone agreed that the being's influence might help the Challengers make progress, though gathering more intelligence would give them options for maneuvering around it.
• Angel watched the livestream and saw the old man in red and thirteen hooded figures perform a ritual around Coleman and Ice Woman.
• Ice Woman relayed fragments of prayers about uploading consciousness and worshipping a Chaos God, leading Angel and Water Clone to suspect the figures belonged to the God-Worshipping Sect.
• The old man in red ignited the ritual array, after which Coleman, Satan, and apparently Ice Woman lost consciousness, but the livestream continued without sound.
• The factory began shaking violently, debris and dust obscured the image, and colored mist appeared after the dust settled.

Angel and the others watched a colored-mist ritual leave Ice Woman and Coleman unconscious, and suspected their consciousnesses had been uploaded elsewhere. The hexagram-shaped Luojia’s guardians carried them to a tower outside Cloud Harbor City, while Luojia studied the ritual that had led it to attack the God-Worshipping Sect.

• Angel and Water Clone concluded that the ritual might have uploaded Ice Woman and Coleman’s consciousnesses, leaving them worried about whether their minds could return safely.
• A hexagram-shaped figure appeared in the mist as its followers presented it with the severed heads of the prayer chanters, then ordered its giant subordinate to carry Ice Woman and Coleman away.
• The group carried Ice Woman and Coleman out of the factory under the cover of colored mist, preventing the moonlight from eliminating them, and brought them to a hospital-like white tower outside Cloud Harbor City.
• Half an hour earlier, Luojia took command of the Guardian Family and chose to test its strength by sending it after the God-Worshipping Sect instead of the Bloodletting Sect.
• Luojia sensed a Chaos God Ritual, led the guardians in hunting the sect members, and went to study the ritual array for clues about the sect’s secrets.

Luojia examined the altered Chaos God Ritual array and concluded that the God-Worshipping Sect was diverting sacrificed consciousnesses into the Secret Grounds, though it welcomed the possibilities the change might bring. After the guardians failed to capture the sect’s chief priest, a premonition led Luojia to have them bring the dying sacrifices, Coleman and Ice Woman, back to Late-Sleep Town, where they were taken for treatment.

• Luojia found that the Chaos God Ritual array had been altered to send some sacrificed consciousnesses to the Secret Grounds, and considered how the sect’s actions might create change.
• Luojia identified the two victims as an Evil Fire clansman and an ice elemental, then learned that the guardians had killed thirteen sect members but failed to catch the chief priest.
• Luojia declined to use its authority to find the escaped chief priest and ordered the guardians to take Coleman and Ice Woman with them after sensing a premonition about the pair.
• Luojia told the guardians to keep Coleman and Ice Woman’s vital signs stable, and the hulking family head took them to the White Tower for treatment.
• In the Heart Space live feed, the doctor examined Coleman and Ice Woman with pity before leaving the view.

Angel investigated the Hero Dungeon after its entrance statue changed and discovered that the Singers and the Featherwood Clan had advanced the dungeon to a new stage. Ye Jue led him to meet Ms. Gosha, who had helped guide their progress and now wanted to speak with him.

• Angel found that the Hero Dungeon statue had changed, with a thorny vine and man-eating flower facing the hero.
• Angel inspected the dungeon and saw a transformed map with only Divine Armor, a silver statue from the Singers, still exploring it.
• Ye Jue revealed that Ms. Gosha had sent him to invite Angel to discuss the dungeon and its unusual NPC.
• Ye Jue explained that Ms. Gosha had planned for Divine Armor to remain inside after the others completed the town quest, but he had not yet escaped the changed dungeon.
• Ye Jue led Angel to the Crystal Hotel in the Crystal-Eyed settlement, where Ms. Gosha was waiting to meet him.

Angel met Ms. Gosha, who revealed that she was a Time Doppelgänger of the White Porcelain Singer. The chapter left Angel recognizing the significance of her origins through what Laplace had told him about the title Singer.

• Lady Roseleaf apologized to Angel for concealing that Ms. Gosha had found the Hero Dungeon’s location.
• Magic Flute opened his chest, allowing the frail, porcelain-white Ms. Gosha to emerge from beside his metal heart.
• Angel provided illusion nodes that Ms. Gosha used to make a dress and devices to amplify her voice and speak through her mind.
• Ms. Gosha introduced herself as a Time Doppelgänger of the White Porcelain Singer.
• Angel said he had not heard of the White Porcelain Singer but knew from Laplace that the title Singer carried great significance.

Angel learned that Ms. Gosha was the Time Doppelgänger of the legendary White Porcelain Singer, sent to seek a new home for the Gosen Mirror Domain. She explained that the Calamity Puppet had followed her group into the Day Mirror Domain, and Angel ended by asking about the Hero Dungeon.

• Lady Roseleaf explained that the Veneration Clan had written The Singers' Cantos to flatter the Singers and had once sparked resentment by comparing them to miracle existences.
• Ms. Gosha revealed that only legendary lifeforms could hold the title of Singer, and Lady Roseleaf and Magic Flute wondered why she had mentioned Angel alongside miracles.
• Ms. Gosha told Angel that the White Porcelain Singer and other Time Doppelgängers had been seeking a new home because no one could resolve the Calamity Puppet.
• Ms. Gosha explained that she had traded time for stronger abilities, regressed into an infant state, and failed to notice the Calamity Puppet following her team into the Day Mirror Domain.
• Ms. Gosha apologized for endangering the Day Mirror Domain and thanked Angel for finding a new way out for its inhabitants.
• Angel declined to ask Ms. Gosha most of his questions and instead asked about the Hero Dungeon, reminding her that they had come to discuss abnormal NPCs.

Angel asked Ms. Gosha how the Singers and the Featherwood Clan had identified an abnormal NPC in the Hero Dungeon. She explained her quasi-rule intuition ability and hinted that she had inferred Angel’s identity, but refused to reveal it in front of Lady Roseleaf and Magic Flute; Angel agreed to speak with her privately later.

• Ms. Gosha said her quasi-rule ability came from an ability seed nurtured by sacrificing nearly all her time, leaving her trapped as a porcelain doll infant.
• Ms. Gosha explained that her Self-Only intuition method helped her assess information and identify the abnormal NPC by reviewing Instance data after logging out.
• Ms. Gosha said she had guessed Angel’s identity because he was an unknown her ability could not deduce, and warned that revealing it might endanger Lady Roseleaf and Magic Flute.
• Angel asked how Ms. Gosha’s original self knew someone like him, and agreed to speak with her alone later.

Ms. Gosha explained how her intuition revealed that the Childlike Demon's consciousness was hidden in the old woman's daytime personality and how the challengers helped Valentine escape the game prison. After hearing how they carried out the plan, Angel prepared to move on to his private conversation with Ms. Gosha.

• Ms. Gosha identified Valentine, known as Fatty by day, and the old woman outside town as the Hero Dungeon's unusual NPCs.
• Ms. Gosha deduced that the Childlike Demon's consciousness slept inside the old woman's kindly daytime personality, while her nighttime personality became an old witch.
• Ms. Gosha explained that the Singers and Featherwood Clan recreated daylight cues at night and hypnotized the old woman's nighttime personality so Valentine could defeat her daytime self.
• Lady Roseleaf recounted how the old woman briefly made the group lose consciousness, then said she had finally been waiting for them before the hypnosis began.
• Ms. Gosha said Valentine escaped the prison, though she suspected the old woman's nighttime personality had allowed their plan to succeed.
• Angel asked why Ms. Gosha had left early, and she explained that she wanted to avoid being trapped when the town disappeared and ensure they could join the Sandbox Wonderland.