Recaps

The three teams chose their routes into the Natural Gray Zone, with Yi Chen volunteering to face the most difficult Gathered Eye Syndrome. Afterward, Lame Field summoned Yi Chen and Regan to help transfer important cargo from the lake bottom in exchange for benefits.

• Iskarion Lotsen and Norma Copet introduced their teams and explained their weaknesses in handling mental-infection incidents.
• Yi Chen chose Gathered Eye Syndrome, Norma selected Black Pus Syndrome, and Lotsen took the Baron's Mansion and its Septicemia case.
• After dinner, Lame Field singled out Yi Chen and Regan and led them to the cemetery at the town's East Exit.
• Field learned that Yi Chen had worked at Seven-Day Graveyard and Regan at Camberlier Grand Graveyard, then asked them to transfer important cargo from the lake bottom before the next day in exchange for benefits.

Yi Chen and Regan retrieved five premium corpses from the Lake Heart Burial Zone as Cold Lake Graveyard faced closure due to the spreading Natural Gray Zone. When moonlight made Yi Chen mistake the final corpse for Moon Scar, he remembered Twilight Clinic's warning that the moon was watching him.

• Field rowed Yi Chen and Regan across Cold Lake and explained the retrieval assignment and lake rules.
• Yi Chen and Regan followed the rules as arms reached from the water, and they recovered a paper boat requesting an autobiographical novel.
• Little Grape explained that the five corpses were being moved early because the Natural Gray Zone was spreading and could cause them to mutate.
• Yi Chen and Regan descended to the Lake Heart Burial Zone and bagged the first four corpses without resistance.
• Yi Chen uncovered a white-haired corpse whose moonlit face briefly appeared to be Moon Scar, frightening him and triggering the memory of Twilight Clinic's warning.

Yi Chen went to the Cold Lake to let Little Grape absorb its accumulated corpse essence before the Cemetery was abandoned. There, he met the silver-haired young man with Moon Eyes, who asked him to take him to the other end of the passage.

• Field explained that the expanding Ashen Zone would force the Cemetery and town to be relocated, and offered Yi Chen and Regan seventeen hours to harvest the Cold Lake's corpse essence.
• Regan stayed with Field to discuss other matters, while Yi Chen rowed Little Grape to the lake's center.
• Little Grape buried itself in the lakebed and began absorbing the corpse essence as Yi Chen waited alone in the boat.
• Yi Chen severed his connection to Little Grape and met the silver-haired young man with Moon Eyes, whom he suspected had sent him a signal through the illusion at the lake's bottom.
• The young man, accompanied by the transformed Female Doctor, asked Yi Chen to take him to the other end of the passage.

Moonscar Lorien asked Yi Chen to help him pass through the Newborn Passage to the Old World, threatening the town if Yi Chen refused. Yi Chen accepted Lorien’s plan to sew him into half of his body, and the Female Doctor began the operation.

• Lorien concealed the lake and explained that he wanted Yi Chen to take him through the Newborn Passage to the Old World.
• Lorien threatened to kill everyone in town, including Yi Chen’s girlfriend and the chubby kid, if Yi Chen refused to help.
• Lorien offered two plans: disguise himself as a teammate or have the Female Doctor sew him into half of Yi Chen’s body.
• Yi Chen chose the second plan and required Lorien to preserve his brain, hide his severed body at the lake bottom, and avoid interfering as they climbed the mountain.
• Lorien agreed to the first two conditions and partly accepted the third, then led Yi Chen onto his boat as the Female Doctor stabbed his neck and split him open.

After his surgery, Yi Chen buried his severed right half in Cold Lake Graveyard and prepared to leave for Mount Grail. As the teams gathered to depart, a demonic Black Fog spread from the graveyard, drawing the town’s officials and doctors to investigate.

• Yi Chen discovered that his new right half carried Moon Mark’s essence, making his Slaughter Moon ax more powerful, then buried his severed half in Cold Lake Graveyard.
• Lame Field gave Regan a Chain of Shackles bracelet to help him control and communicate with the corpse whose consciousness he sought to restore.
• Regan tested the bracelet on a grave, making a Living Corpse’s arm withdraw obediently into its mound.
• Regan told Lotsen that William was handling private matters with Mr. Field as the teams prepared to travel toward Mount Grail.
• A demonic Black Fog spread from Cold Lake Graveyard, prompting the town’s stationed gentlemen and the Seagull Clinic’s chief doctor to rush over.

Little Grape emerged from Cold Lake after cleansing itself and absorbing the lake’s properties, then joined Yi Chen’s group as they departed for Holy Grail Mountain. As Little Grape returned into Yi Chen’s body, it sensed a deadly threat but was silenced and pulled inside.

• Yi Chen woke to find Cold Lake blackened with hair and watched Lame Field explain that the lake was undergoing its final treatment.
• Little Grape burst from the lake, thanked Lame Field, and said it would preserve Cold Lake’s Will within itself.
• Lame Field bid the group farewell, and Little Grape described how the lake had improved its movement and given its saliva cleansing properties.
• The group left for Holy Grail Mountain, while Little Grape celebrated on Yi Chen’s shoulder before crawling back into his body.
• Little Grape suddenly sensed an absolute threat of death, but Yi Chen covered its mouth and a powerful force dragged it completely inside.

Yi Chen, Regan, and Jin traveled through the Natural Gray Zone around Mount Grail, where they saw its diseased landscape and learned that the spreading zone could not be eliminated. They reached the mountain’s foot, and Jin prepared for the climb in a specially designed Leather Overcoat.

• Little Grape was pulled into the Moon Scar Ward inside Yi Chen, where Moon Scar said he would stay in Yi Chen’s body until they reached the Old World.
• Yi Chen and Regan watched the Natural Gray Zone through the carriage’s Membrane Windows as the coachman shot a Rabbit Person blocking their path.
• Yi Chen observed that the gray zone was approaching medium strength and that Mount Grail was shrouded in living mist.
• The carriage arrived at the foot of Mount Grail, and Yi Chen woke Jin.
• Jin put on the Leather Overcoat designed by Mr. Ivan, suppressing her mental madness and preparing for the climb.
• Lorien remarked to Yi Chen that his girlfriend was impressive.

Yi Chen and his companions climbed the Pilgrim's Road and discovered the pilgrims' eyeless corpses, whose backs concealed clusters of eyes. Little Grape destroyed the first cluster with its mental shock and eagerly urged the group to continue upward.

• The coachman left Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan at the mountain, and they planned their positions for the climb.
• Yi Chen freed Little Grape from Lorien's Consciousness Ward, and Little Grape recovered from its gloomy mood and asked to keep any grapes they found.
• The group found a line of dead pilgrims prostrated along the path, each eyeless corpse wearing a relieved smile.
• Regan spotted movement beneath a pilgrim's cloth, and Yi Chen uncovered the corpse's back while Little Grape watched.
• The eyes covering the corpse's back attacked Little Grape mentally, but its Lake Bottom Giant Eye shock made them all explode.
• Little Grape regained its confidence and challenged the mountain's remaining inferior eyes.

Yi Chen and his companions climbed Holy Grail Mountain, where Yi Chen discovered their surroundings had been warped by a powerful eye-based illusion that had separated the team. After merging with Little Grape to enhance his vision, he found a hidden passage into the mountain and chose to enter it, trusting Jin and Regan to survive on their own.

• Regan led the group up the perilous Pilgrim's Road, destroying the eye clusters inside abnormal corpses as they climbed past 1,008 pilgrims' bodies.
• At a mountainside fork, Yi Chen crushed a diseased pebble and found a human-like eyeball inside it, warning the others that dangerous eye-related abnormalities might lie ahead.
• Yi Chen realized Jin and Regan had vanished and concluded that an illusion had separated them, so he asked Little Grape to merge with him and enhance his vision.
• With their combined sight, Yi Chen saw that the apparent single road was a maze of hidden forks, diseased stones, and misleading corpses, and discovered a concealed passage in the mountain wall.
• Unable to search for Jin and Regan through the labyrinth and knowing Little Grape could not maintain the enhancement indefinitely, Yi Chen trusted his companions and headed for the hidden passage.

Moon Mark watched William, Regan, and Jin face a mountain illusion that separated them, while Yi Chen climbed through the mountain alone. At the top, Yi Chen encountered a mysterious figure emerging from an ancient hermitage.

• Moon Mark assessed the illusion as a deliberate attempt to guide the climbers and offered to intervene if an Open Source being appeared.
• Regan realized the mountain had separated him from his teammates, broke the false scenery with electricity, and continued climbing alone.
• Jin noticed William acting strangely, resisted exposing the illusion, and prepared a red lotus safeguard while Little Pea watched with her.
• Yi Chen climbed through a hollow passage inside the mountain and emerged into a cavern containing an ancient hermitage.
• A mysterious yellow-clad figure stepped out of the hermitage, invited Yi Chen inside, and was identified by Yi Chen as a Watcher.

Yi Chen reached an ancient hermitage and learned that a passage to the Old World opened on the Madonna statue’s face, while the Watcher agreed to wait for his missing teammates. Though everything seemed normal, Yi Chen suspected the discovery might be a trap, and a strip of yellow cloth crept beneath his sealed door as he slept.

• Yi Chen entered the hermitage with the yellow-clad gentleman and learned that the Watcher guarded a passage to the Old World.
• The Watcher revealed the passage on the Madonna statue’s face, then covered it again and said Yi Chen’s teammates had one day to arrive before Yi Chen entered alone.
• Yi Chen sealed his room with plants and told Little Grape he suspected the apparent route to the passage might have been deliberately guided by an enemy.
• Yi Chen observed the Watcher absorb Gray Matter, searched the hermitage for anything suspicious, and returned to sleep in his sealed room.
• A strip of yellow cloth crept beneath Yi Chen’s plant-sealed door during the night.

Yi Chen uncovered the monastery’s illusion by destroying the ritual statue and using Little Grape’s Mental Shock, revealing a chamber made of countless pilgrims’ eyes. When the eyes tried to probe his body, they saw the Silver-haired Youth in a hospital ward, whose New Moon Eyes drove them away.

• Yi Chen discussed the illusion with Little Grape and learned it could briefly dispel it if he destroyed an important medium first.
• During the night, a strip of yellow cloth slipped beneath Yi Chen’s sealed door, while a hidden eye in his sleeping-bag outfit watched it withdraw.
• Little Grape washed Yi Chen’s brain with cold-lake saliva, sharpening his mind until he felt close to touching the Limit Membrane.
• Yi Chen chose to wait for his teammates by heading through the statue’s passage toward the Old World, then shot the Watcher and split the statue with his axe.
• Yi Chen and Little Grape used Mental Shock to collapse the false monastery, exposing a chamber of fused eyeballs that tried to inspect him.
• The eyeballs saw a Silver-haired Youth in a hospital ward, and his New Moon Eyes turned toward them and ordered them to leave.

Yi Chen confronted Rydento, the final pilgrim whose gathered eyes formed a powerful host, and resisted his attacks with Little Grape’s help. After Rydento stole Yi Chen’s eyes and twisted his arm with a glare, Yi Chen used the Black Umbilical Cord to restore his arm and challenged him to continue.

• Moonscar Lorien drove the spying eyeballs away, while Yi Chen escaped the collapsing hermitage and fired at the vortex gathering them.
• A great eye appeared in the vortex and deflected Yi Chen’s bullets, while Little Grape urged him to fight the host rather than flee.
• Yi Chen and Little Grape agreed to confront the host, and the eyeballs and gray matter formed the yellow-robed Rydento.
• Rydento’s power separated Yi Chen’s eyeballs from him and twisted his left arm with a single glare.
• Yi Chen brought out the Black Umbilical Cord and wrapped it around his neck, restoring his arm before challenging Rydento.

The chapter recounts how a yellow-robed old man manipulated pilgrims into slaughtering one another, then follows Yi Chen’s desperate fight against Rydento in the stone cave. It leaves Yi Chen parasitizing Rydento’s eye after being cut in half.

• Pilgrims stranded in the Gray Fog began eating diseased animals, and some gained eye-related abilities and a craving for eyeballs.
• The pilgrims chose a sole pilgrim by locking 119 candidates in a secret chamber, where the frail old man in yellow slaughtered them all; he then attacked the remaining pilgrims.
• Lainey woke from a dream in which Yi Chen faced a dangerous yellow figure, but her mother prevented her from going to help him.
• Yi Chen charged Rydento, lost his left calf to a Mental Shock, severed it, and regenerated as he pressed the attack.
• Yi Chen’s Moonlight Slash cut through Rydento’s barriers, but Rydento’s Ten Eyes in a Line severed Yi Chen at the waist.
• Yi Chen used Plant Growth to pierce and pull Rydento close, then planted black threads in his eye and taunted him for coveting the eyes in Yi Chen’s brain.

Yi Chen sensed that the Yellow Robe was still dangerous and discovered it might be the true body behind the pilgrims’ stolen eyes. Jin and Ludwig Regan joined him to destroy its manifested body, but the remaining fabric escaped through a vortex as the team reunited.

• As his body reconnected, Yi Chen sensed danger in the cavern and regenerated his eyes to identify the Yellow Robe as the source.
• The Yellow Robe formed a withered old man who tried to possess Yi Chen, but Jin arrived, severed a ribbon, and struck the old man with Crimson Lotus.
• Yi Chen used Gentleman's Skin to contain the severed ribbon, then joined Jin in preparing to fight the Yellow Robe-clad old man.
• Ludwig Regan arrived and crushed the old man with mental pressure and repeated electromagnetic cannon blasts, destroying his manifested body.
• The remaining Yellow Robe fragments sank into a vortex and escaped, while Regan confirmed that Gathered Eye Syndrome had been eliminated and reunited with Yi Chen and Jin.

After the team discussed the Yellow Robe and Yi Chen recovered from his battle, Little Grape absorbed the pilgrim eyeballs and awakened memories of an ancient battlefield. Little Grape fell asleep before it could fully explain the new skeleton power it might gain.

• Yi Chen told Regan and Jin about the false sanatorium, the disguised Watcher, Gathered Eye Syndrome, and the Yellow Robe, then discussed the Yellow Robe's abilities and origins.
• Lorien told Yi Chen that the Yellow Robe had been targeting his body and warned him to be careful if they met again beyond the passage.
• Yi Chen woke in the cavern to find Little Grape emerging from a grave mound after absorbing the pilgrim eyeballs.
• Little Grape told Yi Chen it had seen memories of a starry river and an ancient battlefield, and said it might be able to construct an Ancient Corpse Skeleton and use its power.
• Little Grape fell asleep from exhaustion, and Yi Chen made it a hammock from plants inside his body.

Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan reached a medium-level gray domain at the mountain summit and entered its stone temple, where a powerful Watcher attacked them. After the Watcher recognized their strength and examined the yellow skin-disease fragment, he advised Yi Chen to take it to Xion’s First Gentleman for answers.

• Regan examined the black bones in the grotto, and the group continued climbing toward the summit.
• The three reached a gray dome filled with Gray Sand, and Lorien confirmed that it resembled the Old World’s environment before sealing off communication.
• Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan entered the stone temple and dodged a massive Black Halberd wielded by a Watcher.
• Jin charged the Watcher but was struck hard, and Yi Chen caught him with plants while he recovered using a flesh-juice injector.
• The Watcher recognized the group’s quality and told Yi Chen that the unknown skin disease might have come from the Old World, advising him to consult Xion’s First Gentleman.

Olman Yude explained his duty as a Watcher and guided Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan through the newly formed passage into the Old World. They emerged beneath a black sun pierced by a gigantic sword, with their one-day countdown underway.

• Olman Yude told Yi Chen and Regan that he remained a Watcher to cultivate people able to survive in the Gray Zone, then judged the three newcomers fit to enter the passage.
• Olman revealed the hidden passage in the temple wall and warned the group to carry an hourglass, limit their stay in the Old World to one day, and avoid greed.
• Yi Chen crawled into the passage first, followed by Jin and Regan, and the group eventually reached its far end.
• Yi Chen pushed aside the exit stone, and the group entered a temple identical to the one they had left; their Kerosene Lamp went out and their clothing began consuming its Gentleman's Skin.
• The group started the hourglass and stepped outside, where they saw a lifeless gray sky and a black sun pierced by a gigantic sword.

Yi Chen and his teammates found three separate routes to explore in the Old World’s gray desert, each indicated by a different supernatural sign. They agreed to split up and search for relics, leaving Yi Chen to follow one route while Lorien remained inside his body.

• Yi Chen reviewed what he knew about the Old World as a diseased planet whose passageways spread illness into the Human World.
• Lorien refused to separate from Yi Chen yet and promised to perform surgery when he eventually peeled away.
• Regan, Jin, and Little Pei each discovered a different route through the desert using electricity, Crimson Lotus Root Tendrils, and a rolling Dead Egg.
• Regan proposed that the team split up to explore the three routes, and Yi Chen agreed that they would reunite at the temple in one day.
• Jin warned Yi Chen to return on time and revealed that she had sensed the unusual movement in the right side of his body.

Yi Chen separated from Moon Scar and used Little Grape to replace his right half with a corpse-like body, discovering that it carried the abilities of an ancient Fallen Gentleman. Moon Scar remained with him, and they prepared to explore the Old World together.

• After Regan and Jin left, Yi Chen chose to follow Little Pei's Dead Egg, but Lorien suggested they spend time separating.
• Yi Chen returned to the temple and let Moon Scar detach his right half, while the umbilical cord kept his remaining body stable.
• Instead of regenerating, Yi Chen let Little Grape replace his right half with a black-haired, corpse-like body in exchange for eating the Pilgrim's Eye.
• Yi Chen discovered that Little Grape's body contained the remains of Gemhal, an Eyeball Collector and Fallen Gentleman, and that it could amplify eye abilities and sorcery.
• Yi Chen tested the new body's abilities, making sand rotate under his palm's gaze and coating his plant roots with a curse-enhancing sorcery effect.
• Moon Scar praised Yi Chen's choice and offered to explore the Old World with him.

Yi Chen and Moonscar Lorien encountered an Old World merchant after a pale arm seized their rolling Dead Egg. The merchant, Duke Garryson, recognized Yi Chen as a traveler between worlds and invited them to trade, leaving the pair facing his imposing shop.

• Yi Chen checked the hourglass and discovered that half a day had passed, while Lorien used a Moonlight Barrier to slow the consumption of Yi Chen's Skin Content.
• A withered arm seized the Dead Egg as it rolled into a sandy pit, and a massive castle-like shop rose from the sand.
• The shop's Back-Seat People moved instantly before Yi Chen and Lorien, and a voice stopped the pair from retreating.
• Duke Garryson revealed himself, identified the Dead Egg as a rare Lifeless Egg, and asked to buy it.
• Duke Garryson recognized Yi Chen as someone from another world and invited him and Lorien to trade.

Yi Chen and Moonscar Lorien met Duke Garryson, an Old World Merchant who offered to buy their Dead Egg and showed them three relics linked to physique, intelligence, and perception. Unable to afford the relic they wanted, they decided to sign a contract with the Duke to gain access to borrowing and discounts.

• Duke Garryson offered Yi Chen five hundred transaction points for the Dead Egg and explained his shop's trading system.
• Yi Chen asked about three-attribute relics, and the Duke presented three sealed relics with prices ranging from 1,300 to 2,000 points.
• The Duke said the final relic's details required a five-hundred-point deposit and a confidentiality agreement.
• Duke Garryson offered borrowing through a worship oath or gambling as ways to quickly obtain transaction points.
• Moonscar Lorien confirmed that the Duke would not restrain them unless they defaulted on debts, and he and Yi Chen decided to sign a contract.

Yi Chen and Lorien received transaction marks from Duke Garryson and learned how his gambling games worked. After Lorien discovered the Moonlight Greatsword and set his sights on it, Yi Chen wagered Dead Egg and began a high-stakes game to obtain a Triple-Attribute Relic.

• Duke Garryson branded Yi Chen and Lorien with Marks of Transaction, and Little Grape also asked for a brand.
• Yi Chen asked how gambling worked, and Duke Garryson explained that the wager's multiplier determined a randomly generated game's difficulty.
• Yue Hen examined moon-related products and showed interest in a damaged Moon Staff, but Lorien sensed a resonance from a sealed case containing the Moonlight Greatsword.
• Lorien found a new direction in the Moonlight Greatsword, which Duke Garryson offered for 12,000 points.
• Yi Chen chose to wager Dead Egg, worth 500 points, toward an information-sealed relic priced at 1,600 points and confirmed the gamble.
• Duke Garryson touched Yi Chen's head and began extracting memories to shape the gambling game.

Yi Chen and Lorien entered the Duke’s role-playing gambling game, which recreated a world from Yi Chen’s memories. Yi Chen woke as an eight-year-old boy in a meticulously tidy bedroom, where his parents and dog told him to stay home.

• The Duke explained the role-playing game and let Lorien join Yi Chen after Yi Chen confirmed he was committed to winning.
• Yi Chen and Lorien entered the Duke’s passage, and the Duke built a large gambling venue from Yi Chen’s memories.
• The Duke offered the Back-Seat People loans to bet, but they refused because they feared falling deeper into debt.
• Yi Chen woke in a child’s bedroom with a body around eight years old and quickly silenced the alarm clock.
• Yi Chen’s mother and father, watched by their Samoyed, told him to stay home and never go outside.

Yi Chen explored the Duke’s weakened gambling-game world, confirmed that pets were preventing children from leaving their homes, and stole letters from his mailbox. Snowy transformed into a monstrous creature, while the sight began to awaken Yi Chen’s sealed memories.

• Yi Chen assessed his weakened body and found his reduced weapons and suit in a suitcase.
• Yi Chen ate breakfast, explored the house, and discovered Snowy watched him and blocked his attempts to leave.
• Yi Chen observed that other children were trapped inside their homes and saw a mailman deliver letters to their mailboxes.
• Yi Chen locked Snowy in a kitchen cabinet, ran outside, and took several letters from his mailbox.
• Snowy appeared at the doorway and transformed into a four-meter creature with a skinless woman emerging from its dog body.
• Yi Chen froze at the sight of Snowy’s true form as sealed memories began to surface.