Chapter Summaries

Yi Chen reviewed the new Affliction and Epidemic Value system and his abilities after opening his Status, then considered the Skin Farm’s plans and the need to gain leverage. The hidden yellow skin urged him to combine the inferior skin from the Connector, and Yi Chen decided to ask Mr. Ivan to alter his clothes first.

• Yi Chen returned to his dormitory and examined the monitoring data for his new Lecturer profession, Open Source Status, Epileptic Syndrome, and Epidemic Value.
• Yi Chen reviewed his profession and affliction traits, along with Little Grape’s increased corpse development and abilities.
• Yi Chen reasoned that the organization’s path involved transforming through disease and that relics and Diseased Crystallization could help resist the Skin Farm’s control.
• Yi Chen decided he needed more leverage to protect himself and those close to him if the Gray Domain spread and the Skin Farm turned against them.
• The hidden yellow skin demanded that Yi Chen combine the inferior skin from the Connector, but Yi Chen said he would first have Mr. Ivan alter his clothes.

Yi Chen told Chamberson about his breakthrough and learned that his Epileptic Syndrome exceeded the affliction of the Relic’s original owners. After Zede ambushed him to test his new abilities, they headed outside the academy together, discussing Zede’s role in protecting Zion and his Fibromyalgia Syndrome.

• Yi Chen reported his breakthrough to Chamberson, who was astonished that Yi Chen had gained a higher-grade affliction from the Mad Ones’ Relic and warned him to prepare for the First Gentleman selection.
• Chamberson advised Yi Chen to increase his clothing’s Skin Content and register his breakthrough at Gentleman Hall.
• Zede ambushed Yi Chen, whose Death Pus Shield blocked the strike before shattering, and praised his new ability.
• Yi Chen invited Zede to accompany him to Gentleman Hall and Mr. Ivan’s shop, and Zede agreed while explaining that he remained underground to help protect Zion from deadly outbreaks.
• Yi Chen and Zede boarded a train outside the academy and began discussing their syndromes, including Zede’s Fibromyalgia Syndrome.

Yi Chen spent more than ten days at Ivan’s shop while Ivan remade his clothing with a high skin content, then tried on a grotesque prototype. He experienced a terrifying vision of the outfit consuming and replacing him before waking at the Basement table, leaving the cause of the dream unclear.

• Yi Chen and Zede visited Ivan, who explained that remaking Yi Chen’s clothing required dissolving it, taking new measurements, and obtaining costly materials.
• Yi Chen spent more than ten days moving between the Basement and Ivan’s Tailor Shop for fittings and measurements.
• After waking to find Chasm-Street dark, Yi Chen entered the Nameless Tailor Shop and noticed something moving beneath a mannequin’s hood.
• Ivan led Yi Chen to try on the finished prototype, whose black patterns resembled writhing tentacles.
• In a vision, the clothing immobilized Yi Chen, erased his face and abilities, and let a wearer strip away his organs and bones.
• Yi Chen jolted awake at the Basement table with black, smoking drool on the tabletop.

Yi Chen suffered repeated, life-threatening nightmares after going without his clothing, then learned the dreams were part of a citywide outbreak of nightmare-related deaths. Professor Chamberson explained that the victims had all slept undressed and asked Yi Chen to help investigate.

• Yi Chen woke from a vivid nightmare, went to the Nameless Clothing Store, and told Mr. Ivan about it while trying on the unfinished garment.
• In another nightmare, Yi Chen attacked himself with his disease ability to escape, then woke in the Basement with his body covered in spikes and Dead Person Makeup.
• Professor Chamberson arrived and examined Yi Chen after the Principal asked him to check on his condition.
• Chamberson told Yi Chen that residents had been dying from apparent nightmares for three months and that Zion had ordered everyone to sleep dressed.
• Yi Chen realized he had missed the order because he had been with the Principal, and Chamberson told him to put on his finished clothing and report the outbreak to the Principal.

Yi Chen received his completed outfit, which could transform into a long coat after his skin content passed 50%. Ivan warned him to master Limit Release quickly if he wanted to compete for the title of First Gentleman, and Yi Chen went to the Knight Family’s manor to seek clothing modifications.

• Chamberson told Yi Chen that he was the first Nightmare Survivor and advised him to report his experience to the Principal once his outfit was finished.
• Ivan completed Yi Chen’s outfit ahead of schedule and deliberately startled him with a spaghetti joke during the fitting.
• Yi Chen’s outfit fused with his body, and he discovered he could transform it into a concealed long coat.
• Ivan explained Limit Release and warned Yi Chen to achieve it within a month or abandon the First Gentleman path.
• Yi Chen remembered his connection to a Knight Family member and arrived at a castle manor bearing a heavy hammer emblem.

Yi Chen enlisted the Bessarius Family and the Principal to develop armor using stellar ore, while revealing how he escaped the Nightmare. The chapter ended as he arrived at a gathering of Zion’s prophets, wearing the completed armor and drawing their attention.

• Siph Bessarius welcomed Yi Chen, identified Aivart Losa as Barry’s killer, and assigned Wolavi Bessarius to help design Yi Chen’s armor.
• Yi Chen and Wolavi Bessarius designed lightweight armor for Yi Chen’s right shoulder and arm, but lacked a suitable core material.
• Yi Chen visited the Principal, who offered stellar ore in exchange for his cooperation at a meeting about the Nightmare.
• Yi Chen explained that his Mad Brain, monastery chains, and inherited illusion arts helped him escape the Nightmare, prompting Deslin to raise the event’s danger level.
• Yi Chen arrived at Swan Hall wearing the finished silver armor as the gathered prophets examined him and Little Grape eagerly spotted their grapes.

Yi Chen and the prophets of Zion examined his memories of the nightmare and learned how dangerous its layered dreamscape could be. As they watched, the memory continued beyond its expected ending, and a nightmare presence began reaching into the classroom.

• Yi Chen met the six remaining prophets of Zion, and Deslin Baldivia explained that they would study his nightmare memories to assess the invasion.
• Yi Chen agreed to cooperate on the condition that the prophets could not access memories beyond the nightmare, and Deslin began extracting and displaying the memory.
• Oginga Sabah and Missy Hatfilia helped reconstruct the fragmented images while Ennio Vargas supplied their missing sounds.
• The prophets watched Yi Chen escape the nested Nightmare Room using chains, a needle-studded technique, an umbilical cord, and Dead Person Makeup.
• The replay continued past its expected end, showing a half-bodied Yi Chen in the Basement as black, tentacle-like matter spilled from his mouth and spread into the classroom.

Principal Deslin stopped the Nightmare from spreading through Swan Hall and preserved a sample for investigation. Yi Chen defended himself against Yuri’s call for a brain dissection and agreed to accompany Deslin to the Pathology Research Building before pursuing the Nightmare’s source.

• As the Nightmare Tentacles prepared to attack, Principal Deslin used Spatial Stripping to annihilate the Nightmare substance and sealed one drop as a sample.
• Deslin ordered everyone in Swan Hall to inspect themselves for Nightmare infection, and the Prophets shared the samples and evidence they had collected.
• Yuri’s Mechanical Maid proposed regular intelligence checks and a brain dissection for Yi Chen, but Deslin and the old man rejected the claim that the Nightmare had parasitized him.
• After the Prophets left, Deslin flew Yi Chen to the Pathology Research Building, and Yi Chen agreed to wait for the analysis and an official investigation mission.
• Yi Chen said he hoped to consult his Sick One friend about the Nightmare and joked that he wanted another chance to fight its tentacles.

Dean Gregory Alaus examined the Nightmare Substance and warned Yi Chen not to investigate it outside the city until he achieved Limit Release. After leaving the hospital, Yi Chen was intercepted by Jin Almeida, who dragged him toward Keximani to spar, while a Mechanical Maid watched him from the orchard.

• Dean Gregory Alaus studied the Nightmare Tentacle in a containment workstation, then sealed it again and ordered a medical consultation about the threat to Zion.
• Dean Gregory refused Yi Chen's request to leave the city, advising him to strengthen himself and achieve Limit Release first.
• Yi Chen accepted Principal Deslin's advice and decided to improve his clothing skills and combat ability before pursuing the Nightmare.
• Jin Almeida ambushed Yi Chen with an exploding piece of pork belly, then dragged him toward Keximani to spar with him.
• As Yi Chen and Jin passed through the orchard district, a Mechanical Maid glared at Yi Chen with her mechanical prosthetic eye.

Yi Chen and Jin were invited by Prophet Yuri to his underground slaughterhouse, where he offered them a reward for surviving a test of their abilities. Jin eagerly accepted, while Yi Chen felt drawn to the arena and its promise of a chance to hone his skills.

• A Mechanical Maid invited William Berens to meet Yuri and warned him not to reveal anything about the Prophet Assembly or the Nightmare.
• Instructor Baili explained that Yuri had sealed himself away to control his powerful Killing Instinct and used his Mechanical Legion to detect and prevent murders.
• Baili led Yi Chen and Jin through Keximani's underground passages to Yuri's Prophet's Abode.
• Yuri welcomed them to his bloodstained arena and offered a Slaughter Reward if they survived his test.
• Jin accepted Yuri's challenge immediately, while Yi Chen considered the arena ideal for honing his techniques and adapting to his modified clothing.

Yi Chen and Jin defeated Prophet Yuri’s mechanical maids, prompting Yuri to unseal his body and fight them in the arena. Yuri overwhelmed both of them, but their attacks left him badly wounded.

• Jin and Yi Chen destroyed Yuri’s two mechanical maids in under ten minutes, while Yi Chen refused Mad Brain’s prompt to enlighten the disabled maid.
• Yuri left his wheelchair, unsealed one foot and one hand, and pulled a Spine Cleaver from his personal maid before challenging the two fighters.
• Jin revealed that he had trained in the Cancer Palace, and Yuri apologized for underestimating him before unsealing his complete form.
• Principal Deslin sensed the bloodshed at Keximani, while the old dean told her to focus on the doctors’ meeting unless trouble required their intervention.
• Instructor Baili and his followers were stopped from entering the arena while Yuri fought Yi Chen and Jin.
• Yuri defeated and severely injured both fighters, but Yi Chen and Jin left him covered in cuts, scorch marks, and deep corrosion wounds.

Yi Chen and Jin trained against Mr. Yuri, who offered Yi Chen arena access and a deal: Yi Chen would let him study his body in exchange for instruction in combat technique. Ten days later, the two were still training, and Yi Chen was beginning to undergo a qualitative change.

• Yi Chen and Jin fought Mr. Yuri until they reached their limits, then Jin spoke with him and returned smiling, having found a new direction for his training.
• Mr. Yuri told Yi Chen that the Death Substance in his brain could block the Nightmare Factor and offered him unlimited use of the arena until he mastered combat technique.
• Mr. Yuri recognized Yi Chen's resemblance to Hogney Zede and proposed dissecting and analyzing Yi Chen's body to perfect a maid mold in exchange for teaching him technique; Yi Chen agreed.
• A memory fragment of Yi Chen standing amid corpses surfaced during their conversation, but his maniacal brain scattered it before he could see more.
• Yi Chen and Jin continued training for ten days, exhausting the supply of practice maids, while Yi Chen's body began to show signs of qualitative transformation.

Jin and Yi Chen discussed their next steps before Yi Chen met with Prophet Yuri for a transaction and learned more about the spreading nightmare. Yi Chen planned to explore it, while Yuri prepared to teach him something useful.

• Jin fed Yi Chen nutrients made from a tumor and discovered that her brain cancer could not infect his mind.
• Jin agreed to wait while Yi Chen settled his transaction with Yuri, then planned to join him and Regan at the Power Station to enter a dream.
• Yuri met Yi Chen on the spiral staircase and led him to a sealed mechanical workshop for an examination.
• During the examination, Yuri told Yi Chen that the nightmare could infiltrate Zion within three months and might threaten the entire city.
• Yi Chen said he intended to apply for Nightmare Exploration because he was interested in the nightmare, and Yuri promised to teach him something useful.

Yi Chen learned Prophet Yuri’s slaughter technique by using the prototype servants to enhance his tactile sense and identify Slaughter Lines. After seeing faint lines on Yuri, Yi Chen left to practice on his own and consider attempting Nightmare Qualification under Deslin’s supervision.

• Prophet Yuri explained that efficient slaughter required identifying and cutting precise Slaughter Lines, then led Yi Chen to a secret room filled with humanoid prototypes.
• Yi Chen spent three days touching the prototypes, training himself to sense their anatomy without relying on sight.
• Yi Chen began seeing Slaughter Lines on the prototypes and found the lines on Prophet Yuri blurred and shifting like red mist.
• Prophet Yuri told Yi Chen his training was complete and refused his request to use the arena again.
• Yi Chen agreed to practice elsewhere and discuss attempting Nightmare Qualification with Deslin; after Yi Chen left, Prophet Yuri returned to designing maids.

Yi Chen and Jin recruited Regan to join a trial Nightmare Exploration, then persuaded Principal Deslin to approve their participation. The three prepared to enter the dream under supervision at the Power Station.

• Yi Chen and Jin discussed their weapons and the possibility of relying on their own strength during a Nightmare Event.
• Yi Chen and Jin met Regan outside the Power Station, and Regan agreed to hear about their plans over hotpot.
• Yi Chen told Regan about his previous nightmare and asked him to join the trial exploration, while Regan's girlfriend urged him to go.
• Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan met with Principal Deslin and explained why their Sensitivity and nightmare experience made them suitable candidates.
• Regan proposed using the Power Station's monitored dream-entry room, and Deslin agreed to supervise their exploration.

Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan went to the Power Station to prepare for entering a dream, where Director Celestin examined the newcomers and had special Dream-Entering Attire made for them. As the group prepared to sleep in a monitored chamber, Yi Chen calmly stood beneath a shower in his Gentleman's Attire, with yellow light flickering across it.

• Regan led Yi Chen, Jin, and Principal Deslin through the concealed entrances of the Power Station to its research institute.
• Director Celestin arranged comprehensive examinations and dream-entry preparations for Yi Chen and Jin.
• Celestin found that Yi Chen’s brain system extended throughout his body and that multiple pathogen structures had merged into his main brain.
• Jin’s examination triggered an alarm over her dangerous cancerous tumors, but Celestin shut it off after recognizing her control over the disease.
• The institute delivered custom Dream-Entering Attire and prepared a monitored chamber with equipment to support and awaken the dreamers.
• Yi Chen and the others began preparing in their changing rooms, while Yi Chen stood beneath the shower in his Gentleman's Attire as yellow light moved across it.

Yi Chen and his companions entered a Nightmare Exploration, but the first attempt seemed to end in ordinary sleep. Yi Chen then discovered that he had been dreaming, killed the nightmare creature impersonating Jin, and confirmed that dream combat could work; Jin also recognized and destroyed a fake Yi Chen in her own dream.

• Yi Chen decided to keep Yellowhide out of the exploration and have Little Grape merge with his brain before he entered the dream.
• The director explained the exploration rules, and Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan fell asleep connected to Fishing Lines.
• After three hours, the researchers concluded that the Power Station’s magnetic shielding had prevented contact with the nightmare and planned another attempt outside the facility if needed.
• A creature disguised as Jin attacked Yi Chen in the changing room, but Yi Chen noticed the mask-related incongruity and killed it by following the lines he could see.
• Yi Chen realized he had entered the nightmare and found that his attire let him use his real-world abilities to kill its creatures.
• In her dream, Jin recognized that Yi Chen was an impostor, let him reveal himself, and sliced him apart with a blood sword from her spine.

At the Power Station nightmare, Yi Chen killed Jin’s dream double and began exploring the facility with Little Grape. Meanwhile, the hospital’s Nightmare Exploration trial ended in disaster, while officials learned that Yi Chen and his teammates were conducting a stable exploration at the Power Station.

• Four test subjects in the Major Hospital of Hippocrates isolation room became corrupted by Nightmare Substance and died after Vice Principal Visari’s death gas was released.
• The old hospital director learned that the Fabric Workshop test had also killed its participants, while the Power Station test remained stable under Principal Deslin and Director Celestin.
• Yi Chen cut apart the Gentleman's Attire after killing Jin’s dream double, then confirmed that the nightmare’s surroundings were not entirely made of Nightmare Substance.
• Yi Chen called on Little Grape to help inspect the dim Power Station and decided to explore casually before making a deeper plan.
• A corrupted Power Station employee smashed his face into a recognition device, opening the security door; Yi Chen collected the employee’s ID Card and continued onward.

Yi Chen realized that he had to ingest Nightmare Substance to descend deeper into the dream, so he swallowed the remaining tentacle fragments and entered another layer. There, he received a strange gift and woke in the Isolation Room holding a nightmare-infused card.

• After concluding that he was trapped on the first dream level, Yi Chen decided to descend by accepting the Nightmare Substance despite Little Grape’s warning.
• Yi Chen ate the tentacle fragments, causing him to awaken in the Isolation Room in a deeper layer of the dream, where a distorted broadcast invited him to claim a gift.
• Yi Chen found a wrapped gift box in his changing room and opened it cautiously, revealing a laughing doll’s head resembling Jin and a strange ink-colored card.
• Electricity struck Yi Chen’s brain and woke him in the brightly lit Isolation Room alongside Jin and Regan, with the nightmare-infused card clenched in his hand.

Yi Chen and the other testers reported what they learned about the Nightmare, while Yi Chen secretly kept the card that pointed to a potentially infected gentleman in Zion. As the three left the Power Station, Yi Chen recognized employee Elvan Pound from his recurring Nightmare, and Elvan watched them depart with an unsettling smile.

• Yi Chen verified that he had returned to reality, examined the Nightmare card, and hid it in a concealed layer of his clothing after reading its invitation to 83 Rotka Street.
• Jin described escaping a looping passage by infecting it with Red Cancer and blasting through its boundary, while Regan explained his analysis and his attempt to build a Nightmare Stairway.
• Yi Chen told the meeting that he had reached a deeper Nightmare layer by eating its tentacles, and the researchers discussed using Regan's method and teaching testers to achieve self-awareness.
• Principal Deslin shortened Yi Chen's examination, told the three testers they would receive rewards, and invited Yi Chen to discuss Star Magic in her office.
• Yi Chen recognized Power Station employee Elvan Pound from the Nightmare loop, and Elvan watched Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan leave with a familiar, sinister smile.