Chapter Summaries

Lorien agreed to prioritize the performance but would try to kill Art if Art threatened him, while William warned that his Final Performance would put Yi Chen in a position to deal with Art. As the preliminary selection ended, Yi Chen and Nash trained in William’s Thought Library, where Nash glimpsed a hidden room through a crack in the wall.

• Lorien explained his fear of Art and agreed to prioritize the performance while reserving the right to kill him in self-defense.
• William introduced Gryph, whom he called Little Grape, to Nash and showed him Yi Chen’s External Body.
• Nash returned to the Thought Library to coordinate with Yi Chen, who suspected William’s ambition was growing but agreed to continue their training.
• The final day of Lu Pu’s Public Performance ended with 188 people qualifying for Moon Landing Qualification and the Final Performance.
• Yi Chen’s training exhausted Nash, who crashed into a library wall and spotted what appeared to be a hidden room through a crack.

Nash glimpsed a possible hidden room in the library before William dismissed it as exhaustion, while Yi Chen and William discussed the upcoming Final Performance and William’s increasingly ruthless methods. Yi Chen rested in the aquarium, reflecting that evil thoughts were spreading and that he was nearing his goal but found living exhausting.

• William visited Nash in the library, told him the Preliminary Selection had ended, and urged him to eat and prepare for his performance with Yi Chen.
• Nash noticed a seam in the wall that showed a dim room, but it vanished before he could investigate, and William said the library had no such room.
• Yi Chen mastered the old man’s Breathing Technique, and William gave him the Final Performance roster, including Yate, the Progenitor Strain, and Catherine.
• Yi Chen warned William that his actions were becoming less gentlemanly, while William defended using any means necessary to grow strong enough to face future dangers.
• Yi Chen searched the wall where Nash had seen the seam but found only cement, then returned to the aquarium to rest among the coffins.

After passing the Preliminary Selection, At, Catherine, and the other contestants reached the false moon, where William explained their choices for the Final Performance. At decided to participate, encouraged by the prospect of danger and a chance to confront someone who would give him a headache.

• Catherine and At discussed the preliminary performance and what they might do if they encountered Moon Boy, while At said he would give him more fear rather than kill him outright.
• William’s voice announced that contestants who passed the Preliminary Selection could follow the Yin-Head’s breathing to land on the moon, and At and Catherine were pulled inside along with the others.
• Lya Roman recognized Catherine as her daughter but failed to control her through the Maternal Gene; she sensed a threat from At and followed Catherine toward the false moon with her nine daughters.
• The selected contestants reached a fork where William explained that the left path led to modification and the audience, while the right led to an interview and possible participation in the Final Performance.
• At asked William whether the performance would involve real danger and whether Lorien would participate; William said Lorien would not, but someone else would give At a headache.
• At chose to sign up for the Final Performance after William confirmed that killing would be permitted under special circumstances.

William demonstrated a Crimson Cross modification that created a Little Nurse, then managed the Silver Circle candidates and interviewed the performers backstage. He warned Catherine that the upcoming performance would be genuinely dangerous and revealed his eyes, leaving her shocked.

• William threw out a borrowed Crimson Cross, which transformed into a Little Nurse whose chaotic nature drew the Sick Ones’ attention.
• William offered At a visit to the Chaos Laboratory if he performed without deliberately ruining the show, and At went backstage.
• William intervened when Catherine and Liya Roman nearly clashed, then led Liya and her daughters backstage for interviews.
• William used Social Phobia to verify the candidates’ fear tolerance, and seven of Liya’s daughters fled and were eliminated.
• William told Catherine she passed automatically, warned her to prioritize survival during the dangerous performance, and revealed his eyes to her.

Yi Chen left the deep memory zone and entered the theater backstage in his altered form, where he clashed with Clown Art before Nash interrupted them. As the performance approached, Little Grape received a warning to beware of William, while William began combining with her.

• William woke Yi Chen in the aquarium and offered to help choose his identity, but Yi Chen refused to cheat and left to join Nash for calibration.
• Yi Chen's Second Body combined with Nash, who had strengthened through joint training, and they headed toward the theater backstage.
• A child’s head formed from killing intent warned Little Grape, “Beware of William,” before William began a temporary combination with her.
• Yi Chen entered the backstage area, and his killing intent collided with Clown Art’s malice until Nash interrupted their confrontation.
• Art threatened Nash and promised to watch him during the performance, while Nash urged Yi Chen to consider assassinating Art and began recalling what he could do.

Yi Chen encountered Catherine backstage and accepted her gift of a bracelet made from suicide-obsessed patients’ skulls. William arrived with a strange new eye and organized the cast’s identity draw for the Final Performance, which would revolve around fear and Danger Value.

• Catherine questioned Yi Chen about his ruined body and gave him a bracelet made from the skulls of severely depressed patients; a baby on his arm took it from her.
• Mother Liya Roman sensed a black sea of death around Yi Chen, while Babullo Intestine-Finger focused on cleaning his fingers.
• William arrived with a transformed eye that reminded everyone of the Evil Sun and explained that the Final Performance would take place in a mansion.
• Catherine drew an Identity Card first, and William gave every participant a role and script without allowing them to reveal their identities.
• William explained that Danger Value would rise when performers strayed from their scripts or disrupted the show, and named fear as the performance’s theme.

Yi Chen drew the role of Jennifer Bello for the theater's first public performance, while William prepared to launch the show and discovered he could make a small alteration to a storybook. The audience entered the snowy estate setting as the performance began.

• Yi Chen learned that he had drawn Jennifer Bello, a woman with a fiancé, and William reminded the actors to stay in character and keep their identities secret.
• William used Little Grape's Evil Sun and his Mad Brain to change one character in the Human Body Collector storybook, leaving the altered text intact.
• William became excited by the storybook's potential and ate dry instant noodles to recover his energy.
• The curtain rose, and William instructed the audience to put on Play Skulls and enter the performance through their senses.
• The audience's view shifted to a snowy night and a massive estate on a snow-covered mountain.

Eldest Daughter Jennifer returned to the Bellow mansion with her fiancé, Calvin Frey, as a blizzard trapped the family and guests inside. After the power failed, Jennifer and Nash prepared to investigate Layton Bellow’s identity while the people in the mansion revealed sinister sides.

• Jennifer and Calvin arrived at the Bellow mansion during a heavy blizzard, where Nurse Ima and Officer Yumaz warned them that the roads and phone lines were cut.
• Jennifer learned her younger sister Sharon had been kept at home since Jennifer left, and electrician Dick Drum was allowed to stay overnight after the power system failed.
• Layton Bellow, Sebastian Wilkerson, and Sharon joined the others, and Layton excluded Calvin from the dinner table, prompting Jennifer to angrily confront her father.
• A dead pigeon smashed through the dining room window, and the storm forced everyone to remain in the mansion for the night.
• The generator suddenly went out, revealing sinister smiles among the guests and family as a seal deep within the mansion began to loosen.
• Jennifer revealed her stitched, monstrous body to Nash, a Gu Worm symbiotically joined to her, and they set out to investigate Layton’s identity.

Yi Chen, disguised as Jennifer, moved through the mansion to kill Layton Bello while trying to identify the other performers. He found Layton already brutally murdered, leaving the killer unknown.

• Calvin returned with a travel bag and snow shovel, made unwanted advances toward Jennifer, then escaped through the window after she left.
• Yi Chen left the room, resumed his mission to kill Layton, and encountered Nurse Ima, who warned him not to disturb the master and advised caution around Calvin.
• On the first floor, Policeman Sebastian threatened to shoot Jennifer if she tried to kill Layton, while Nash restrained Yi Chen from retaliating.
• Yi Chen reached Layton's study and found Layton dead, his face smashed and abdomen cut open, but could not determine who had killed him.

After Chief Clown Yate killed The Master and framed Jennifer, Yi Chen investigated the study and discovered a hidden passage beneath Bello Manor. He descended to uncover the family’s secrets as the Policeman encountered a dangerous masked woman in the mansion.

• The audience watched Bablo Finger Intestine’s brutal death in The Master’s study, and William reacted with concern about Yi Chen’s ability to handle the situation.
• Nash warned Yi Chen that Jennifer would become the prime suspect, but Yi Chen examined the corpse and concluded that the killer had carefully staged the scene to frame her.
• Yi Chen found a blood-activated switch among the bookshelves, opened a secret passage, and went underground to investigate the manor’s secrets while staying out of sight.
• The Policeman waited for Jennifer to leave the study, then headed upstairs and encountered a long-haired, masked woman who seemed to be a dangerous creature summoned by the rising Danger Value.

Policeman Wilkerson found Dick Drom’s body in the exhibition hall and was confronted by Calvin, who suspected him of murder and hiding Jennifer. By morning, the survivors gathered for a meeting, where Calvin openly accused the Policeman and demanded to know where his fiancée was.

• Policeman Wilkerson encountered a strange woman in the corridor, then continued his patrol after his attack failed to hit her.
• Policeman Wilkerson found Dick Drom dead in the exhibition hall, arranged as a Human Vase, and realized Catherine might still be in the mansion.
• Calvin Frey burst into the hall and found the Policeman examining Dick Drom’s corpse; the Policeman proposed gathering everyone for an emergency meeting.
• By morning, Layton Bello was dead, Jennifer Bello was missing, and the surviving residents gathered in the meeting room.
• Policeman Wilkerson blamed Jennifer’s conflict with her father and urged everyone to search for her, while Calvin accused him of killing Layton and possibly hiding Jennifer.

Nanny Ima and Sharon helped Calvin imprison Sebastian, then found him apparently dead in the storage room and mistook his death for a retreat from the performance. Nanny turned on Calvin, but he shot her and Sharon; both rose again, leaving him facing their tentacles.

• Nanny Ima accused Sebastian of being suspicious and restrained him with a tentacle-laced rope before locking him in a sealed storage room.
• After searching the mansion for Jennifer without success, Calvin, Nanny Ima, and Sharon gathered at the storage room late that night and found Sebastian lying dead with a gunshot wound to the head.
• Catherine wondered whether her boss, Yate, had truly died, while Lya Roman chopped up Sebastian’s body and disposed of the pieces.
• Nanny Ima accused Calvin of killing the electrician and handed him a pistol, but Calvin shot Nanny Ima and Sharon in the head.
• Nanny Ima and Sharon sprouted tentacles from their wounds, rose again, and threatened Calvin.

Yi Chen waited underground while the mansion’s surviving performers fought, and Yate revealed that he had survived by taking over The Master's corpse. The chapter ended as Ilya Roman sensed the Black-haired Woman behind her.

• Yi Chen found Jennifer’s mother floating in the Blood Pool and learned the Belo family had used ancient blood in an attempt to revive her.
• Yi Chen told Nash to wait underground rather than investigate, then asked whether Nash would submit to Mad Brain Enlightenment if William demanded it.
• Ilya Roman defeated Catherine, who warned that her boss might still be alive and could threaten her true body.
• Ilya Roman went to The Master's study to search for Jennifer, where the supposedly dead Master suddenly stood up and reclaimed his intestines.
• Yate revealed he had been playing The Master after transferring his consciousness into the Policeman’s corpse, then warned Ilya Roman that danger was behind her.
• Ilya Roman felt a cold presence and saw a spoon slide across her neck.

Liya. Roman withdrew from the performance by killing Nanny, then joined the eliminated actors to watch the final act. As William and the audience returned to the manor, At confronted Mr. Yi and demanded a fight to the death.

• Liya. Roman admitted she had planned to die rather than continue, then shot Nanny and exited the performance without raising her Danger Value.
• Backstage, William thanked Liya. Roman and invited her to watch the final act; she joined Catherine and her daughters in the audience.
• Catherine explained that Mr. Yi was William's other half and that the boss's attacks could harm actors' original bodies, leaving the Redundant Intestine Company actor unlikely to survive.
• William noticed Tumor Cells on the storybook and warned that At had reached a dangerous level before sending the audience back to Snowstorm Villa.
• In the study, At vomited up foul fluid, said he had dealt with the scene's hidden threat, and demanded that Mr. Yi fight him until one of them died.

Cancer-Faced Kamisky watched Yate’s performance to investigate his abilities, while Yi Chen’s decapitation attack revealed that Yate could transfer wounds to bodies inside him. Yi Chen then saw that Yate’s soul had grown into a mountain of tumor-covered flesh containing the people he had absorbed.

• Cancer Palace sent Kamisky to investigate Loop City after rumors of a New Moon spread, and he recognized Yate as a threat when he reached the theater.
• Kamisky recalled that Cancer Palace’s Malignant Tumor exiles had disappeared and that the evidence pointed to Yate, who was suspected of absorbing them.
• Kamisky watched the performance and judged that its final hidden actor was likely weak, but Yate’s sudden decapitation shocked him and the other spectators.
• In the basement, Yi Chen attacked Yate with a dagger carrying the Decapitation Concept, but Yate expelled a headless corpse and regenerated his head.
• Yi Chen realized Yate had transferred the decapitation to another body inside himself and saw that Yate’s enormous soul contained his former prey, including the missing exiles and circus employees.

Yi Chen seemingly killed Yate with a ricocheting hand axe and a rapid series of cuts, but discovered the clown had used Cancer Cell Transfer to survive. Yate transformed the mansion into a flesh-and-tumor circus and challenged Yi Chen to a wirewalking duel above a bottomless drop.

• Yate taunted Yi Chen and questioned his independence from William, while Nash defended Yi Chen and stood up to Yate.
• Yi Chen threw a hand axe into a series of ricochets, using materialized killing intent to build its force until it snapped Yate’s hands and split his head.
• Yi Chen followed with a dagger strike and chopped Yate’s divided body into pieces, leaving the audience stunned.
• Yi Chen sensed that the kill felt soulless, and Yate’s faces appeared across the basement walls as he revealed that he had transferred himself into the building.
• Yate’s tumors transformed the mansion into a flesh-made Clown Tent, where he appeared on a platform across a wire from Yi Chen and announced a wirewalking performance over a bottomless drop.

At trapped Yi Chen inside the Clown Circus and began a three-act performance, starting with a deadly wirewalking duel. Yi Chen drew on his brutal childhood training to walk steadily toward At with his eyes closed.

• William admired the Clown Circus and unlocked Bullet Comments for the audience.
• Yi Chen tried to cut through the circus tent with his Flying Axe, but the tumor-like barrier swallowed it; At explained the three-act challenge and the rules of Wirewalking.
• Lorien posted a warning that Wirewalking demanded perfect balance and recalled how he had barely passed At's game by surgically altering his brain.
• As Yi Chen stepped onto the Wire, he remembered surviving a lethal wirewalking test at the orphanage, where only five children passed.
• Yi Chen walked toward At with his eyes closed, keeping an unusual steadiness that stunned At.

Yi Chen crossed the wire with his eyes and ears shut, defeating Yate’s attacks through instinctive balance, Consciousness Slash, and precise swordplay. He outmaneuvered Yate with a sudden burst of speed, won the first round, and stepped onto the platform for the next performance.

• Yi Chen merged his sensations with the wire, while Nash helped him enter the wirewalking state.
• Yate sent Head Balloons and a compressed meat projectile at Yi Chen, but Yi Chen neutralized them with Consciousness Slash and purple lung energy.
• Yate enlarged an iron hammer with tumors, but Yi Chen retrieved the Hundred-Headed Hunter and split it without losing his balance.
• Yate tried to block Yi Chen’s path, but Yi Chen accelerated suddenly, cut through him, and passed him.
• Yate surrendered as Yi Chen reached the opposite platform, and Yi Chen opened his eyes as the wire disappeared.

After Yi Chen won the tightrope performance, Yate trapped him in a ring of fire and revealed his cancerous body for the second show, a physical contest to push each other outside the ring. Elsewhere, Mr. Rabbit praised Mosander’s improved strength and ranked Yate second only to himself in physical power.

• Yi Chen grew wary after winning the tightrope walk, suspecting Yate had let him take the first point for a reason.
• Yate surrounded Yi Chen with a ring of fire and slammed his enormous cancerous body into the circus floor.
• Mr. Rabbit praised Mosander’s leg strength and said Yate was the circus member with the strongest body after himself.
• Yate revealed his Back Tumor Wings and explained that the second show required them to push each other out of the ring of fire three times, under rules forbidding flight and requiring human posture.

Yi Chen faced Yate in a ring-of-fire contest, relying on technique to overcome the clown’s overwhelming size and strength. After Yate’s charge crushed him and the contest’s burning penalty destroyed his eyes, Yi Chen recovered and prepared for a second round by dislocating his joints and neck.

• The audience and Kamisky marveled at Yate’s enormous new form and ring-shaped wings as Yi Chen asked about the contest’s rules.
• Yi Chen prepared to use skill and borrowed force against Yate, who charged immediately after the countdown began.
• Yi Chen tried to redirect Yate’s momentum, but Yate’s immense weight left him unable to move the clown and a collision flattened him against the tent.
• Yi Chen re-formed with Nash’s help, but Yate’s out-of-bounds penalty ignited his eyes, forcing Yi Chen to remove them.
• Yi Chen recovered, coordinated with Nash, and dislocated his joints and neck before declaring himself ready for the second round.