Recaps

William woke Yi Chen and Lainey, then took them to Heretic Food Street to help them adapt to the foul stench they would face when visiting Aunt Mei. He used Little Grape to show them Aunt Mei cooking, leaving Lainey vomiting, Yi Chen struggling to hold back, and William drooling.

• William found Yi Chen hanging in the bathroom and woke him, then led him and Lainey out to get food.
• William explained that they needed to adapt to Aunt Mei’s intense smell before visiting her so they would not vomit in her home.
• William brought Yi Chen and Lainey to a grease-serving dining hall on Heretic Food Street and used Social Phobia to drive out the diners occupying its private room.
• William released Little Grape and projected a view of Aunt Mei cooking in a house beyond the wall.
• Lainey vomited a pile of goat embryos, Yi Chen fought back nausea, and William watched Aunt Mei with drool at the corners of his mouth.

William explained Aunt Mei’s Evil Fetus cuisine and why the Sixth Calamity was too dangerous to target, then led Yi Chen and Lainey to her restaurant. Aunt Mei greeted Lainey and guided her upstairs, her scent strangely fragrant instead of foul.

• Lainey watched the Evil Fetus through Little Grape’s x-ray vision, vomited, and asked William what it was.
• William explained that Aunt Mei processed Evil Fetuses into powerful food and said killing her would expose them to the other calamities.
• Yi Chen and Lainey spent five hours adapting to the sight and smell before William led them through the foggy streets toward Aunt Mei’s restaurant.
• The group passed Phenomenon-Level customers and illusions of evil babies as William described Aunt Mei’s ingredient exchange and the stench left by anyone who ate her food.
• Aunt Mei came down to greet Lainey, ignored William and Yi Chen, and led Lainey upstairs while giving off a fragrant incense scent.

Yi Chen, William, and Lainey visited Aunt Mei, who asked Lainey to help restore her Palace Body in exchange for food. Lainey agreed but let William choose a revised payment, and his request for a bowl of Dumplings visibly unsettled Aunt Mei.

• Yi Chen restrained his urge to attack Aunt Mei after William assured him that she was only holding Lainey's hand and urged him to follow her lead.
• Aunt Mei brought the group to her home, where she explained that she wanted Lainey to help restore her lost fertility by reconstructing her Palace Body.
• Aunt Mei offered Lainey a bowl of food each month and threatened an organ transplant if Lainey failed to restore her body; Lainey agreed to the deal but asked to change its terms.
• Lainey let William choose what he wanted in exchange, and William asked Aunt Mei for one bowl of Dumplings.
• Aunt Mei's scent turned foul as she stood and beckoned William to follow her for a private conversation.

Lainey agreed to create a Palace Body for Aunt Mei so William could obtain a bowl of Dumplings, trusting that he had a reason for arranging the deal. William secured Aunt Mei’s agreement with a Soul Contract, and the chapter ended with Yi Chen asking what William intended to do with the Dumplings.

• Lainey told Yi Chen she had agreed to Aunt Mei’s terms to repay William for helping her and because she suspected he wanted something valuable from Aunt Mei.
• In the back kitchen, Aunt Mei confronted William, who explained how he had brought Lainey to her and arranged the deal.
• Aunt Mei killed William, but his Malignant Tumor regenerated his body, and he negotiated the bowl of Dumplings as payment for the Palace Body.
• William and Aunt Mei signed a Soul Contract, and William emerged to tell Lainey to create the Palace Body.
• Yi Chen asked William what he wanted the Dumplings for, but William refused to discuss it there.

The First Calamity arrived while Yi Chen and William waited at Aunt Mei’s house, searched their minds, and ordered William to investigate a mysterious group. After it left, William revealed that he had hidden memories of Gap from the search, and Aunt Mei emerged carrying an unconscious Lainey.

• William waited with Yi Chen at Aunt Mei’s house, and the First Calamity appeared to question them about their activities and inspect their brains.
• The First Calamity asked whether William had seen Gap, then assigned him to investigate a mysterious group that had made the malice of several Phenomenon Levels vanish.
• William agreed to report back within three days and asked to bring Yi Chen along.
• After the First Calamity left, William explained that he had altered their memories of Gap to conceal their actions, and Yi Chen recovered the hidden memories when William snapped his fingers.
• Aunt Mei came out of the kitchen carrying the unconscious Lainey and placed her on the sofa.

William, Yi Chen, and Lainey set out to investigate a mysterious organization after Prison Boss assigned William a mission. They reached a world being consumed by darkness, where Yi Chen spotted a circus poster.

• Aunt Mei gave William a red-jade Dumpling, then weakened and went to rest while William cleaned up the filth.
• William read Prison Boss's mission and prepared to leave with Yi Chen, but he fell asleep in the hotel lobby for half an hour.
• Lainey woke and joined William and Yi Chen as they traveled through an adjacent world after their teleportation attempt failed.
• William, Yi Chen, and Lainey arrived at a world with two-thirds of its surface covered in darkness and landed on an eerily deserted city street.
• Yi Chen saw a poster blown by the wind and recognized the image as a circus.

William explained that the circus was swallowing a small city by drawing people into its shadows, and he proposed entering undercover to discover what it had become. He used his Adaptive Stage to disguise the group, then led them toward the circus for a reunion with his former companions.

• Yi Chen found William hiding in a dumpster, and William revealed that the circus was spreading flyers before drawing people caught in its shadows into its performance.
• William and Catherine concluded that the circus’s world-devouring behavior did not match its former methods and might have a cause unrelated to Boss.
• William told Yi Chen he would first try to persuade the circus to leave, then proposed entering it in disguise to investigate its strength and activities.
• William activated his Adaptive Stage, which made Yi Chen and Lainey see Director Cao and other figures from Yi Chen’s past until William snapped him out of the illusion.
• William explained that the stage disguised anyone within five meters and led Yi Chen, Lainey, and Catherine toward a city being swallowed by the shadows.

William and his companions entered a circus performance by hiding among villagers, then survived a deadly magic-hat game without exposing their identities. After receiving spectator cards, William recognized the magician as the circus’s new deputy commander and revealed that he wanted to find out who had become Head Clown.

• William and his companions disguised themselves as villagers and were swept into the shadows, then grabbed ropes to survive the fall into the circus arena.
• A roulette wheel selected the Magic Hat performance after William’s attempt to influence the result failed, and the magician announced a five-minute head-finding challenge with fatal penalties.
• Yi Chen, Catherine, Lainey, William, and one elderly villager found their heads and survived, while the other villagers died.
• The magician gave the survivors spectator cards, and William secretly endured the strain of keeping his Actor Field active as the magician wiped blood from him.
• In the dressing room, William identified the magician as the newly recruited deputy commander and spoke to the face emerging from his chest about finding the Head Clown.

William, Yi Chen, and Catherine watched the circus’s new clown show after a much larger group of humans arrived. The Skeleton Clown’s depressive aura killed nearly all the participants, and he recruited a trembling volunteer to bring the show up to its required number.

• William and his companions ate a meal from the circus and discussed its expansion and the new Main Clown and Sub-Clown.
• A city’s worth of humans fell into the circus, and a priest-like man spun the roulette wheel until William’s influence stopped it on the clown mask.
• A gaunt, wooden-legged Skeleton Clown took the stage and spread despair among the participants, prompting most of them to kill themselves.
• The Skeleton Clown found only nine survivors and asked for volunteers, offering a job in his department to anyone who survived the performance.
• A black-clothed survivor raised his trembling hand, and the Skeleton Clown eagerly called him onto the stage.

William volunteered for the Skeleton Clown’s performance, hoping survival would earn him a place in the circus and spare him the final selection. After ten minutes of being tossed high above the circus, William and the priest barely survived while most of the other participants died or were crippled.

• William hid a piece of Origin Tumor beneath a seat and volunteered to take part in the performance.
• The Skeleton Clown created a towering building and ordered ten participants to reach its roof and jump down one by one.
• Catherine recognized William as possibly being from Melancholy City and wondered how he could have escaped Yate’s notice.
• The Skeleton Clown tossed the participants into the air, while their fear of heights intensified and a countdown pressured them to jump.
• William survived repeated tosses despite a broken neck, injuries, and losing control of his bladder; most participants were left dead or severely injured.

William revealed himself to Skeleton Clown as the former Chief Actor of the circus, surviving the clown’s attacks and escaping his restraints. Just as Skeleton Clown recognized him, a powerful figure wearing Rabbit Headgear descended into the venue and pinned them under its pressure.

• Skeleton Clown noticed that the headgear-wearing participant had survived the dangerous performance and tried to remove the headgear for employment authentication.
• Skeleton Clown recognized the participant’s grotesque mouth as resembling A Ter, entered a manic state, and attacked William with powerful gravity-based jumps.
• William survived Skeleton Clown’s attacks, while the circus’s upper-level members watched and the magnetic male voice said William was special.
• Skeleton Clown stopped a devastating final dive, realized the participant was William Berens, and helped him remove the headgear.
• A figure wearing Rabbit Headgear crashed into the venue, forcing William and Skeleton Clown down with its overwhelming pressure.

William returned to Fear Circus after the World Infection and was attacked by Mr. Rabbit, whose strength had grown to Plague Lord level. He reunited with the circus members and learned that Mr. Gian had become Boss while the former Boss was sealed away.

• Yi Chen felt Mr. Rabbit’s overwhelming physical pressure from the audience platform but restrained his urge to fight.
• William revealed his identity and tried to stop Mr. Rabbit’s punch without harming the audience, but Mr. Rabbit’s sudden burst of power sent him crashing into the venue’s edge.
• William emerged from the crater and asked how Mr. Rabbit had grown so strong, just as Fear Circus’s current members arrived.
• William recognized the circus’s departments and learned about their new members, including Teacher Zed as Fourth Troupe Leader, the Zion magicians Martin and Marco, and the clown Thomas Jumper.
• William asked Mr. Gian whether he was the new Boss and learned that the former Boss had been isolated and sealed deep within subspace.

William returned to the circus with a way to restore the former Boss, but the remedy would transform the Boss with evil. He asked Gian to accept the risk and help the circus confront the eighth Calamity, then revealed that he and Yi Chen would face the first Calamity at a separate stage.

• William asked to see his former Boss and said he had found a way to restore him, but Gian refused to let him meet the Boss until he explained the method.
• Catherine vouched for William, though Gian recognized that she and William had transformed in essence and remained wary of them.
• William produced a box containing an original fetal body of evil that could heal the former Boss, and Yi Chen recognized the Dumplings inside.
• William explained that the remedy would make the former Boss a fusion of malice and the abyss, then asked Gian to help lure the eighth Calamity into a circus performance during the final war.
• William said he would stage his own performance against the first Calamity with Yi Chen, whose gaze made Gian feel threatened.

Yi Chen and William reunited with Mr. Gian and the circus, and William agreed to report his mission complete if the circus left the evil-occupied lower plane. At the Demon Feast, William’s dish was replaced by a cassette that promised the food was inside, leaving the gathered members to decide whether to play it.

• Yi Chen greeted Mr. Gian, and the two discussed William and the limited information about the Eighth Calamity.
• William told Mr. Gian that he would not destroy the circus and could report his mission complete if it left the lower plane.
• Mr. Gian invited everyone to gather for a Demon Feast, and Catherine and Mahat joined the circus members.
• William learned that Chef Timmy was recovering from his injuries and that Mr. Grim had taken charge of the expanded back kitchen.
• As the Demon Feast began, Thomas reported that William had gone into the back-kitchen bathroom without preparing a dish, then an unmanned dining car arrived carrying a television and a cassette claiming William’s food was inside.

At the Demon Feast, William used an eating-stream video to make the circus crave octopus, while Catherine served matching octopus dishes. Catherine won first place, and Gian quietly assessed William’s ability to threaten the circus alongside Yi Chen.

• The circus members sampled the dishes, including Clown Thomas’s Diving Fish and Adam Frost’s Magic Meatballs, before turning their attention to William’s Video Tape.
• Gian had a Poker Face attendant play the tape, where William performed an eating stream featuring a live octopus and an enticing pepper-oil sauce.
• William’s performance made the diners hungry again, and Gian realized Catherine’s food had not been served.
• A trembling Poker Face attendant brought Catherine’s Dining Car, revealing a box of octopuses prepared to match William’s recipe, and the diners eagerly ate them while repeating his chant.
• Gian privately asked William how long he would need to purge the circus with Yi Chen’s help, and William said three days would barely suffice.
• Catherine won first place and embraced and kissed William.

William discussed the Acrobatic Troupe’s transformation and debated with Jaan whether eliminating malice could prevent the World Reset. He hinted that the higher powers might have created another method, then laughed so contagiously that a deadly gaze turned toward the banquet hall.

• William learned that Jaan had become Boss, Ates had died, and the Acrobatic Troupe had grown into a mobile Source Plague Zone with four new standards of combat strength.
• Jaan asked William whether eradicating malice could solve the crisis, arguing that unchecked divine statuses might still trigger a World Reset.
• William joked about killing the gods, then suggested that the higher powers might have a second method besides malice.
• William pointed toward himself and burst into laughter that spread across the world and reached the calamities of the City of Evil.
• A bloodshot eye watched through the crack between the kitchen and dining hall doors, and Catherine and Thomas joined the laughter.

William said farewell to his acquaintances at the circus before preparing to return home and face the remaining calamities. He encountered Clown Thomas, discovered that the clown was immune to the Clown Virus, and sent him to join the circus's Clown House.

• William visited Zede at the Corpse Department, discussed the organization’s growth and new plague masters, and asked about the monastery.
• Zede said he would leave the monastery alone for now, and William said goodbye and entrusted him with the Eighth Calamity.
• William planned to return home to have Yi Bao deal with the Ninth Calamity, but exhaustion made him fall asleep as he walked toward the exit.
• Clown Thomas approached William, who pierced his brain and tested the Clown Virus, but Thomas regenerated without being harmed.
• William refused to make Thomas his student and told him to join the Clown House, surpass Yate, help with the Eighth Calamity, and attend William’s performance at the Final Stage.

After William implanted false memories of the circus battle, Yi Chen returned to the hotel and was targeted by the First Calamity in a mental examination illusion. The manager rescued him, and Yi Chen concluded that the First Calamity had grown stronger after obtaining something from Lorien.

• William used a fictional video tape to overwrite Yi Chen and Lainey's memories with a false account of their victory over the circus.
• Yi Chen returned to the Hotel Lobby with a severed arm and a damaged soul, then carried the sleeping Lainey to his room.
• As Yi Chen prepared to heal himself through the Dead Sea, a mirror image of a woman warned him to be careful, and the bathroom door opened onto a mental hospital illusion.
• A nurse registered Yi Chen and subjected him to an apparent brain examination before a giant hand tore him from the hospital.
• The manager pulled Yi Chen from the overflowing bathtub and apologized for the intrusion, while Yi Chen suspected the First Calamity had transformed after obtaining something from Lorien.

William learned that the First Calamity was changing after absorbing Lorien and might soon surpass the limits of calamity, while the Lighthouse had also invaded Yi Chen and Lainey's minds at the hotel. After William returned, he warned the manager about the danger, and the manager opened a long-sealed ledger.

• Lainey told Yi Chen that her dream examination at Lighthouse Mental Hospital had involved a nurse extracting brain matter before she returned to the hotel.
• The First Calamity rewarded William with land on the reverse side of the City of Evil, where William planned to build an amusement park called Paradise.
• William learned that the First Calamity might advance the Great Annihilation to reach the Diseased Moon, and agreed to guide it to the Old World.
• William secretly relied on his Tumor Clone to begin building Paradise, then returned to the hotel and learned that Yi Chen and Lainey had suffered brain-cell invasions.
• William warned the manager that the First Calamity might transcend calamity, and the manager retrieved a dusty, sealed ledger from beneath the counter.

Yi Chen confronted William about helping Lorien meet the First Calamity, and William revealed that he wanted their fusion to create a grander Final Stage. Yi Chen realized William’s plan involved something deeper than defeating evil, and they began planning how to keep the other Calamities from interfering with their battle against Prison Boss.

• William told Yi Chen that Prison Boss had begun fusing with Lorien and might transcend through their compatibility.
• Yi Chen accused William of deliberately bringing Lorien to the City of Evil, and William explained that Lorien’s rivalry with him made their eventual fusion likely.
• William admitted that he had arranged events to make the Final Stage surpass their performance against Yate Kramer, with Prison Boss and Lorien as key participants.
• Yi Chen recognized that William was using the First Calamity to address a deeper problem, and William praised his insight before asking to be released.
• William poured wine and spread character cards of the Calamities across the table as he and Yi Chen discussed preventing them from interfering with the battle against Prison Boss.

William explained the threats posed by the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Calamities and assigned plans to contain them. The group had to recruit the Zombie before it could contaminate the lesion, since failure could destroy the plague system and collapse the Old World.

• William showed Yi Chen that Sweeney Todd had two projections, and that killing Todd would unleash Madam Lovett's terrifying revenge form.
• William warned that Aunt Mei must be kept from the Final Stage, and Lainey agreed to ask Sheep Mother and the others to help stop her.
• William described the Old Man as a blind weapons master who could fight an army, and urged the group to avoid confronting him directly.
• William revealed that the Zombie's virus could contaminate the entire lesion and said Yi Chen needed to recruit it through the Film Crew.
• Yi Chen asked what would happen if recruitment failed, and William said the Old World could collapse and he would kill himself.

Yi Chen learned that William wanted him to investigate the Ninth Calamity while William gambled that the Second Calamity would stay out of the Final Stage. Five days later, Yi Chen attended a press conference for New Halloween, where fans crowded around him for autographs.

• William explained that the Ninth Calamity was a virus cluster that could devour pathogens, and asked Yi Chen to investigate it before the First Calamity acted.
• William said he had no plan to deal with the Second Calamity and hoped to avoid his interference by appealing to his tastes; Yi Chen recognized the risk in William's gamble.
• After William left, Lainey said she believed he was preparing for the Final Stage and would help stop Aunt Mei.
• Five days later, the Film Crew released a teaser for New Halloween and held a press conference attended by huge crowds of fans.
• Yi Chen signed autographs for the fans throughout the first day, and a withered, rotten arm reached toward him on the second day.

Yi Chen lured the Zombie Virus into joining the film crew as an action consultant, then disappointed him by claiming there was not enough time to make a zombie movie. After the Zombie Virus left, Yi Chen continued his plan and met him again at a motel, where he offered him a meal.

• The Zombie Virus arrived too late to receive a commemorative card, but Yi Chen invited him to wait and return to the film crew’s base.
• Yi Chen told the Zombie Virus that the crew was considering a zombie movie and asked him to serve as a technical consultant; the Zombie Virus eagerly agreed.
• The director explained that the Great Annihilation was too near to build the sets or finish the movie, and Yi Chen apologized to the disappointed Zombie Virus.
• After the Zombie Virus left, the director worried that the plan might fail, but Yi Chen insisted that human nature could change the Zombie Virus’s allegiance.
• Yi Chen sensed a frightening smile on the director’s face, but when he turned around, the director’s expression appeared unchanged.
• Yi Chen found the dejected Zombie Virus outside a motel and invited him to share a meal as an apology.

Yi Chen invited the Zombie to dinner and persuaded him to support moving the Film Crew to the Plague Focal World, where they could continue making films after the Great Annihilation. The Zombie agreed immediately and slept outside the Film Crew’s entrance, while a clown secretly watched him to ensure he would not report to the First Calamity.

• Yi Chen brought the Zombie to the hotel restaurant, where the manager explained that Jeffrey Dahmer had been stripped of his calamity title and imprisoned there.
• The Zombie ate only fruits and vegetables, explaining that meat would make the virus inside him reproduce and risk an outbreak.
• Yi Chen proposed moving the Film Crew to the Plague Focal World and making zombie films with the Zombie’s support, and the Zombie agreed enthusiastically.
• Lainey said she would discuss the plan with the director alongside Yi Chen the next day, and the Zombie offered to sleep outside the Film Crew’s entrance.
• Yi Chen returned to his room and praised Lainey, who revealed that she had stayed there the whole time and asked whether he had resolved the Zombie problem.
• A clown outside the Film Crew’s entrance used an eyeball hidden in a balloon to watch the sleeping Zombie and check that he would not report to the First Calamity.

At the Film Crew’s base, Yi Chen helped the Ninth Calamity prepare zombie extras and learned that the zombie’s virus could infect anyone, even the First Calamity. Yi Chen then tested his death powers against the undying zombie, but his near-fatal strike revealed an apocalyptic vision of the dead becoming zombies.

• Yi Chen and the Ninth Calamity chose the Film Crew’s captive humans to serve as zombie extras, and the zombie decided they should use makeup rather than risk spreading his virus.
• The zombie explained that his virus could infect anyone, including the First Calamity, though he could not get close enough to bite him.
• After work, Yi Chen invited the zombie to spar in the Deathmatch Arena and tested whether his death powers could overcome the Ninth Calamity’s undying nature.
• Yi Chen decapitated the zombie with a Consciousness Slash, but the zombie simply reattached his head.
• Yi Chen unleashed a stronger attack over the Sea of Death, but stopped his blade when he saw a vision of the dead becoming zombies and overrunning the sea.
• The zombie offered to help Yi Chen draw the First Calamity’s attention because he could not be killed.