Recaps

William and Catherine fought the regenerating Boss until the Observer and Expediter detectives arrived and sealed the shrine. The Boss escaped, and the detectives agreed to help William and Catherine leave the county seat by train.

• Catherine's attack on the shrine was repelled, tearing off one of her tentacles, while its red light caused the Boss's scattered flesh to regenerate.
• William and Catherine broke up the flesh and threw some out the window, but the Boss reassembled and attacked them with her abdomen maw.
• The Expediter detective emerged from the Boss's body and helped William tear her apart, while the Observer detective sealed Guanyin the Child-Giver with a talisman.
• The detectives discovered that the Boss had escaped and boarded a taxi with a newborn made of stitched flesh, whose ornament was another idol.
• The Observer detective thanked William and Catherine, agreed not to pursue them, and offered to help them board a train after William asked about news from three years earlier.

William and his companions learned about Yi Chen, the Undying Murderer, and the Forbidden Idol linked to his apparent immortality while traveling to the railway station. After they boarded a train, the detectives discovered that William had taken an idol from the shrine, but The Observer chose not to pursue them.

• The Observer told William how he had once encountered a shadow he believed was Yi Chen and described rumors that the murderer targeted people with malice.
• William asked about Yi Chen’s death and the source of his undying trait, and The Observer said the relevant divine vessel was likely a state-controlled Forbidden Idol.
• The detectives gave William and his companions four train tickets, and the group boarded a train and locked themselves in their compartment.
• Fangfang took Guanyin the Child-Giver from a children’s schoolbag as the train began moving.
• The Observer and The Expediter found that the idol had vanished from the shrine and discovered William’s note saying he had borrowed it.
• The Observer declined to chase William, deciding the group did not seem likely to cause trouble.

William, Catherine, and Xiao Fang traveled toward Linghai City with the stolen Guanyin the Child-Giver idol sealed in a backpack, and discussed how they might restore Catherine’s Nightmare Ability or return home. That night, a monstrous infant emerged from a pregnant woman in an adjoining carriage and crawled toward them.

• Xiao Fang explained that the yellow talisman suppressed the consecrated idol, which William and Catherine had stolen from the detectives, and put it away safely.
• William revealed that he had arranged tickets to the coastal city of Linghai, where they hoped the sea or a sea deity might help Catherine regain her Nightmare Ability.
• Catherine worried about the danger of staying in the New World, while William warned that encountering Yi Chen there could get them killed.
• After the train passed several stations without the police searching for them, the group relaxed for the night.
• A pregnant woman dreamed that Guanyin the Child-Giver touched her belly, then woke to find her water had broken.
• A blood-covered monstrous infant crawled out of the woman, bit through its umbilical cord, and headed toward the adjacent carriage.

William’s attempt to contain Guanyin the Child-Giver’s statue failed when a blood infant destroyed its seal, triggering pregnancy-related effects throughout the train. He forced the statue into the abyss, where a dark disease corrupted it and its deity, leaving Guanyin the Child-Giver to quarantine infected believers and warn other domains.

• William awoke from a nightmare and found Guanyin the Child-Giver’s statue glowing as its yellow paper seal began to fail.
• A blood infant appeared in the train corridor, then exploded in Catherine’s tentacles after she caught it near the statue, destroying one of her tentacles and breaking the seal.
• The unsealed statue’s red radiation caused women and pregnant passengers throughout the train to suffer severe reactions, so William grabbed it and chose to use his self-digestion plan.
• William endured the statue’s influence and punched it into the abyss, where a tentacle pulled him back from falling off the train.
• A dark existence in the abyss infected the statue with a dark disease, corrupting it and causing its corresponding deity to sever its connection and isolate infected believers.
• Guanyin the Child-Giver recognized the source of the outbreak and reported the disease to the other domains.

After absorbing the Child-Giving Guanyin idol, William recovered somewhat, but he and Catherine fled Linghai City’s sudden blood inspections with Xiao Fang’s help. William spotted a mysterious Yellow-Clad Person watching him, then lingered in the city to eat fried chicken and soda before noticing another idol in the restaurant.

• William woke on the train and learned that his body had changed after digesting the idol, while Catherine described what had happened during his sleep.
• William, Catherine, and Xiao Fang avoided the disease inspection at Linghai City station by slipping through a Safety Passage and escaping through an office window.
• William spotted a Yellow-Clad Person staring at him from the station exit, and the stranger vanished when police passed in front of him.
• William chose to linger nearby with Catherine and entered a fast-food restaurant, where Catherine enthusiastically ate fried chicken and drank soda.
• Catherine noticed a Human-Chicken Idol displayed behind the counter, and William looked toward it.

After officials failed to identify the source of the train’s Fertility Incident, Linghai City began citywide quarantine inspections alongside an investigation into a mysterious series of murders. William, Catherine, and the others found an unlicensed driver willing to take them toward the sealed-off Flower Sea Village, and began the trip by back roads.

• City officials ordered weeklong quarantine inspections after the train station screenings found no carriers, and agreed to have the Health Bureau assist with the serial murder investigation.
• William waited in a fried-chicken shop for the Yellow-Clad Person, then noticed quarantine checks spreading across the city and decided to head for the coast.
• A taxi driver explained that Flower Sea Village had been sealed off after visitors allegedly angered the Sea God and died.
• William hired an unlicensed driver to take the group to Flower Sea Village by mountain roads and village paths.
• Catherine drank soda in the car and calmed down after the driver repeatedly glanced at her.

William, Catherine, and Fangfang entered Flower Sea Village, where pollen from its strange flowers infected their driver and drove him to his death. After arriving, they headed toward a guesthouse, and Catherine urged William to let the local Boss's Wife help them learn what was happening.

• William learned from the unlicensed taxi driver that Flower Sea Village's year-round jacaranda blooms were linked to a Sea God and that visitors had been dying there.
• The driver saw a white-dressed woman with blue flowers in place of eyes beside the mountain road, then later showed signs of being infected by pollen.
• William and Catherine formed protective membranes inside their faces to avoid inhaling pollen, while Fangfang appeared unaffected.
• The flower-covered driver dropped William, Catherine, and Fangfang at Flower Sea Village, then drove his car into the sea.
• After investigators arrived in response to the crash, the three hurried toward the other side of the village, where the Boss's Wife beckoned them into her guesthouse.
• Catherine grabbed William and suggested they get a room so the locals could explain what was happening.

William, Catherine, and Fangfang hid in Flower Sea Village while investigating its strange worship and disappearances. The Boss's Wife explained the village's rules and revealed her hostility toward the city investigators, whose presence left William suspecting that she was not entirely human.

• Fangfang paid the Boss's Wife to shelter the group and explained that she had gathered money from abandoned belongings and the doomed driver's possessions.
• William asked Fangfang what she would do if he and Catherine left, and Fangfang said she planned to return to her parents and live independently.
• Catherine sensed a heavy stench of corpses around the flower-covered sea and suspected that a huge corpse lay underwater, receiving human sacrifices.
• At lunch, William and Catherine learned that the Boss's Wife kept a shrine to the Flower Sea Buddha Mother, whose village rules controlled the population, villagers' movements, and leadership.
• The Boss's Wife said villagers had willingly drowned themselves to appease the Buddha Mother after tourists disturbed the Main Idol, then threatened the investigators as seawater began seeping from her body.

William questioned the Boss's Wife about the village chief and the Main Idol, then followed her to the beach, where she tried to sacrifice him to the sea. He resisted with the Abyss's power and destroyed her and the drowned corpses, leaving the village's response unknown.

• The Boss's Wife told William that the village chief had served seven terms, lived underwater, and rarely met outsiders, while the Main Idol was kept in a cave outside the village.
• William considered the risks and potential benefits of Catherine absorbing the Main Idol, and reflected on how he had begun to understand the Abyss within him.
• The Boss's Wife invited William to the beach after the investigators changed shifts, and Catherine stayed behind while he went with her.
• At the shore, the Boss's Wife embraced William and sang a hypnotic ballad that roused flower-eyed corpses from the sea to drag him in as a sacrifice.
• William resisted the song, used the Abyss's spiraling force to break free, and killed the Boss's Wife and the drowned corpses with a shoulder throw.

Catherine absorbed the replica idol and used its connection to locate the Main Idol, leading William and Xiao Fang to a sealed cave beyond Flower Sea Village. Xiao Fang lured away the investigators so William and Catherine could enter, where William realized the villagers had sealed the cave to restrain the Flower Sea Buddha Mother while exploiting its power.

• Catherine smashed and ate the replica idol, gaining new power and sensing the Main Idol's direction.
• William and Catherine followed the investigators toward the cave, and Xiao Fang joined their rooftop journey.
• Catherine led William and Xiao Fang through the talisman-covered forest to the cave guarded by four investigators.
• Xiao Fang drew the investigators into the forest, letting William and Catherine slip past the cave's ropes and talismans.
• William and Catherine entered the cave and found that the villagers feared the Flower Sea Buddha Mother while seeking to benefit from its divinity.

The village chief discovered that William had entered the cavern and turned on the investigators, killing two before leading the others inside. A concealed observer in a Yellow Raincoat watched the pursuit and worried that William and Catherine had encountered a powerful deity.

• Investigators at the beach found no Divinity Aura, and the village chief arrived to report that an outsider had killed a villager and might be seeking the village's guardian deity.
• The village chief and two investigators reached the cavern entrance and found Captain Li's team missing.
• The village chief killed both investigators, devoured one, and unleashed a shriek that prompted the villagers to transform.
• The village chief tore down the entrance barrier, misled the arriving investigators, and led most of them into the cavern while two stayed behind.
• A hidden observer wearing a Yellow Raincoat watched the investigators enter and worried that William and Catherine might not survive their encounter with the deity.

William and Catherine ventured into the flooded cave beneath Flower Sea Village, following flower-covered corpses toward the Main Idol. They found the Flower Sea Buddha Mother in an underground temple, where drowned villagers had been embedded in her face as sacrifices.

• William and Catherine entered the cave and managed its moisture as they followed directions from Flower People at each fork.
• A Flower Person startled Catherine by whispering directions, and William held her hand to calm her as the cave's strange influence grew stronger.
• After passing seven forks, William and Catherine waded through rising seawater toward the increasingly loud cries, singing, and laughter.
• They emerged into an underground temple filled with drowned worshippers and floating meditation cushions, facing the enormous Flower Sea Buddha Mother.
• William and Catherine saw that corpses had been embedded in the Buddha Mother's flower-covered face as sacrifices, with the kneeling drowned bodies serving as replacements.

Catherine resisted the Mother Buddha’s attempt to turn her into a sacrifice, revealing her octopus form while William prepared to hold off the investigators. In the flooded passage, a mysterious figure in a yellow raincoat confronted the village chief and revealed a face the chief recognized as the Undying Murderer.

• Catherine’s eyes blossomed into blue flowers, and she knelt before the Mother Buddha despite William’s attempts to stop her.
• Wei Darong shot at William, but William blocked the first bullet and rolled behind a Flower Person; the village chief stopped Wei from firing again and strengthened the investigators by drawing seawater from their bodies.
• The Mother Buddha expelled a drained corpse and pulled Catherine into its face, but Catherine’s head split open and octopus tentacles wrapped around the statue, apparently drawing energy from it.
• William revealed himself to the investigators and prepared to fight them while buying Catherine time.
• The village chief prepared to attack Catherine, but a mysterious figure in a yellow raincoat appeared behind him and challenged him to a fight.
• The figure removed his hood, and the village chief recognized him as the Undying Murderer.

William defeated the investigators without killing them, while Wei Darong recognized the real danger and helped his teammates escape through a passage to the sea. Yi Chen arrived with the village chief’s severed head just as the Buddha Mother’s idol captured Catherine and began to reveal the being inside it.

• Wei Darong watched William overpower the investigators, then shot the temple corpses instead of William after recalling the Buddha Statue’s warning against killing.
• Wei Darong told his teammates that the village chief had lured them there as sacrifices, and William directed them to escape through a passage leading to the sea.
• William asked Wei Darong for his consecrated handgun, and Wei Darong lent it to him with two spare magazines.
• Yi Chen emerged carrying the decapitated village chief’s head and warned William that the god behind the temple would be furious.
• The Buddha Mother’s White Jade Bottle sucked Catherine into it, and the idol cracked open to reveal a woman in a Corpse Robe beginning to awaken.

William and Yi Chen fled the underwater cavern after Flower Sea Buddha Mother awakened, then faced her again at Barren Mountain. The chapter ended with Yi Chen splitting her and the well in two, only for the mountain’s flowers to laugh at them.

• Flower Sea Buddha Mother emerged from the giant Buddha Statue and planted roots inside William through eye contact, but he tore them out.
• Yi Chen urged William to flee the cavern, and the pair escaped as seawater flooded the temple.
• William ran with newfound speed and caught up with Yi Chen before they reached the burned Barren Mountain.
• Flower Sea Buddha Mother absorbed the villagers of Flower Sea Village and pursued the pair, appearing at the mountain through a stone well.
• Yi Chen cleaved Flower Sea Buddha Mother and the well in two, but her corpse smiled as laughing faces appeared across the flowers.

William and Yi Chen faced the Flower Sea Buddha Mother, whose fluid divinity made it difficult to locate and kill. While Yi Chen hunted its shifting manifestations, William endured its seductive hallucinations and seemed to awaken something within his Abyssal Cavity.

• William and Yi Chen agreed that they had to shake the Flower Sea Buddha Mother's belief in its own divinity so Yi Chen could destroy it, with merging as their last resort.
• The Buddha Mother's seawater rain filled William with hallucinations, but he resisted by imagining wrestling at the Bunny Castle Club and striking himself with a PowerBomb.
• Yi Chen severed the flower-roots attacking him, marked a severed arm to track the Buddha Mother, and struck one of its manifestations, only for its divinity to shift away.
• Yi Chen realized the Buddha Mother could transfer its divinity through the rain and kept attacking its manifestations as they drained his strength.
• Seeing William sitting motionless among the flowers, Yi Chen began to move to his aid, then noticed William's Abyssal Cavity rotating as if something were about to emerge.

William escaped the Buddha Mother's illusion by transforming his body into an Abyss Body and destroying the rain droplet that carried the Evil God's true presence. Yi Chen was left facing the Buddha Mother as William joined the fight.

• Yi Chen kept his distance from William and slaughtered the Buddha Mother's flower and female-body clones to draw her attention.
• William realized he could reverse his body through the Abyssal Cavity, turning its interior into the abyss and creating an Abyss Body.
• William's transformation broke the illusion, and the abyss revealed the Buddha Mother's incarnations and the white-lit rain droplet moving between them.
• William transformed his pistol into an abyssal weapon and used it to capture and crush the droplet, making the Buddha Mother scream.
• Yellowhide returned to William, and Yi Chen turned to him in surprise and praised his transformation.

Yi Chen and William fought the Buddha Mother on Barren Mountain, destroying her ritual artifact and crippling her body. Catherine escaped from inside the Buddha Mother and consumed her from within, leaving only a Sarira containing an octopus larva with a woman’s head.

• William crushed the Buddha Mother’s divinity, and she gathered the vitality of Barren Mountain’s flowers for a desperate fight.
• Yi Chen complained that Yellow Raincoat had left him, then wore William’s reworked black raincoat and charged toward the mountaintop.
• The Buddha Mother trapped Yi Chen in the White Jade Bottle, but he survived, broke out, and cleaved the bottle apart while William wounded her with a palm strike.
• Yi Chen used his killing intent to form wings and severed the Buddha Mother’s remaining arm as she prepared to detonate her divinity.
• Catherine emerged from the Buddha Mother, restrained her with Octopus Tentacles, and filled her body with eggs that consumed her until only a Sarira remained.

After killing Flower Sea Buddha Mother's avatar, William, Catherine, and Yi Chen returned to the Old World through a shared dream. Boss learned what had happened and announced that the circus would hold a Reform Conference.

• After Flower Sea Buddha Mother's avatar was destroyed, gods across the current world revealed Barren Mountain's location, but the rain erased the traces before their pursuers arrived.
• Catherine used the rain to put William and Yi Chen to sleep, and their dreams carried them back to the Old World.
• William and Catherine woke in a pool at the Clown Factory, where Boss and the circus leaders had gathered to assess their changes.
• Catherine projected their memories of the other world, including the battle against Flower Sea Buddha Mother's avatar, for the assembled circus members.
• Boss explained that Catherine and the Vibrio Sea subjects had been developed as dream vessels for opening a world passage, then announced a Demon Feast and Reform Conference for the following day.

After the Demon Feast preparations began, William reunited with Catherine and learned how the Flower Sea Buddha Mother's incarnation had strengthened her ocean abilities and dream-based ocular techniques. He proposed that they create a dish together for the feast, leaving Catherine with a chance to demonstrate her powers.

• After the others left the pool, William asked Catherine whether Art had visited, and she showed him that Art's factory door remained shut.
• Catherine offered William a reward for bringing back the Buddha Mother's divinity, but he asked only to hold her hand, and her evil quieted when they touched.
• At the Circus Public Plaza, Catherine said she hoped to create a passage back to the other world and described how the incarnation had improved her connection to the sea.
• Catherine turned the wineglass's contents into a miniature ocean and transformed William's spaghetti into a living sea cucumber with her ocular technique.
• William suggested that he and Catherine jointly make a Demon Feast dish to showcase her new abilities, and Catherine agreed.

A receptionist delivered Poker Face’s message about the Demon Feast to Art, only to be reabsorbed into the clown’s body as Art emerged from secluded cultivation. Meanwhile, William and Catherine prepared a joint dish for the feast, and Chef Timmy’s first taste ended with a strange, shrill moan heard across the circus.

• A terrified receptionist approached Art’s factory, where the Head Balloons and chains let him pass.
• The receptionist rambled about circus business and his personal life before remembering to invite Art to the next day’s Demon Feast.
• The receptionist merged into Art, who revealed he had created the man from excess nutrients and consciousness while cultivating in isolation.
• William and Catherine asked Chef Timmy to let them prepare a joint dish ahead of the feast, and he agreed to inspect it.
• After six hours of work, William and Catherine presented their dish to Chef Timmy, whose first taste prompted a shrill moan that many circus members heard.

During the Demon Feast, Jain’s appetizer prepared everyone for the later courses, while William and Catherine’s deep-sea instant noodles drew the diners’ consciousness into an abyssal ocean. Art’s dangerous transformation and his clash with Nash also came to light as the feast began.

• Jain watched the gaunt, more restrained Art as the cooks finished preparing their dishes for the Demon Feast.
• Art and Nash both tried to serve last, and Nash provoked Art by mentioning his boss’s past victory over him before taking his place at the table beside William.
• Chef Timmy announced that William and Catherine’s jointly prepared dish would be served as the feast’s staple food, outside the rankings.
• The diners ate Jain’s Eternal Bacon and Bean Roll, whose Abyssal Structure cleared their digestive tracts and enhanced their enjoyment of the meal.
• After Mr. Rabbit served his Supreme Wellington 'Muscle' Steak, William explained how to prepare the deep-sea shrimp and fish cake noodles, and Catherine completed them with a touch.
• When the diners slurped the noodles, Abyssal Aura pulled their consciousness into a deep ocean within the noodle buckets.

At the Demon Feast, William and Catherine’s Abyss-infused Instant Noodles restored Boss and impressed the diners, prompting Boss to commission ten thousand cups for the circus. Nash and Clown Art then presented their desserts, and Yi Chen took control of William to eat Art’s malicious human-shaped soufflé, leaving Art pleased by the violent response.

• Boss ate William and Catherine’s Instant Noodles, which stabilized her body and restored her strength as she experienced the dish’s Abyss resonance.
• The diners finished the noodles and broth, and Boss asked William whether the portable food could be stored and produced at scale.
• William agreed to prepare ten thousand cups for Boss and said he would develop more flavors for the circus’s coming reforms.
• Nash presented a Dragon Beard Crisp shaped like William, which most diners enjoyed despite William’s embarrassment.
• Art served a writhing human-shaped soufflé, and Yi Chen took control of William to eat it while imagining himself slaughtering humanoid monsters.
• Yi Chen thanked Art for the dessert and promised William would give him a perfect score before returning control, while Art smiled perversely.

Boss announced a major reform to split the Circus Tent into departments that would travel independently to collect fear, while William considered expanding his theater and potentially performing in the Human World. The reform would begin after William mass-produced Instant Noodles, and William wondered whether Lorien had calmed down enough for him to apologize.

• Clown Art won the Demon Feast, and Boss praised his dish before beginning the Reform Conference.
• Boss proposed dividing the Circus Tent among its departments so each chief could travel, perform, and meet monthly fear-collection quotas, with consequences for repeated failure.
• Nash questioned the risks to performance quality and security, and Boss said she would monitor the departments and intervene if necessary.
• William asked whether departments could perform in the Human World, and Boss warned that the Circus Tent would be weakened when passing through a passage.
• William thought about approaching Lorien to apologize, while a Silver-haired Youth on the Moon sneezed during a cheerful conversation with another young man.

William streamlined Instant Noodles production as the Acrobatic Troupe prepared to relocate and divide its tents. He learned that the reform would determine the next troupe leader and planned to recruit a friend from the Human World, while postponing his conflict with the Bloodfolk unless fear collection fell short.

• William organized the noodle production process, assigning the troupe members to make noodles, prepare packets, and redesign the noodle cups.
• William proposed that Nash parasitize his brain to cross into the Human World, but Nash panicked and later agreed to study parasitism before attempting it.
• A Poker Face summoned William to Boss, where Boss explained that the troupe's post-reform fear collection would decide whether William or Mr. Gian became the next leader.
• William said he would delay confronting the Bloodfolk and the skin factory unless the reform failed to produce enough fear, in which case he would stage a fear performance there.
• Mr. Gian and Boss approved of William's boldness, and Boss said he looked forward to seeing what William could do.