Chapter Summaries

William was expelled from the circus after admitting he had killed Yate, then revealed his plan to seize Boss’s Primal Fear and leave for the Prime Material Plane. He escaped Boss’s attack with Catherine by transforming the theater into a movable Source Plague Zone, leaving the circus behind in the False Moon.

• Lorien watched William’s performance through the Moon Eyes and held the Token of Soldier, a pass to the Prime Material Plane.
• William admitted killing Yate and explained that he had contained Yate’s consciousness and Cancer Cells within himself; Boss expelled him and the Theater Department from the circus.
• William revealed that he had wanted Boss’s Primal Fear and planned to leave for a broader world, prompting Gian and Mr. Rabbit to attack and destroy both his arms before he regenerated them.
• William took Catherine with him and told Yi he would carry Yi’s share of malice to another world to encounter Calamity.
• Boss’s Black Hair engulfed the stage as William turned the theater into a movable Source Plague Zone, transporting it and everyone inside to a cavern in the False Moon; Boss caught only William’s prepared letter.

As William departed through Catherine’s dream tunnel, Yi Chen realized William had secretly taken some of his malice, then accepted the Warden’s help in leaving the false moon. The Duke announced that gods from outside the world would soon arrive, urging the Old World’s powers to prepare and consider setting aside their grudges.

• Yi Chen recalled William’s growing closeness with him and suspected William had stolen some of his malice to improve his performance and earn At’s trust.
• The Warden explained that Yi Chen could claim William’s reward for stopping At, then led Yi Chen, Princess Angelica, and Little Grape away from the false moon.
• William left the other recruited performers behind, while Yellow Skin accepted his departure and planned to reclaim the skin factory before seeking the outside world.
• The Boss read William’s Letter but refused to tell Chief Beast Tamer Zoke what it said, and the Supreme Lord showed no further intention of attacking the circus.
• The Duke summoned Lorien and announced that gods from outside the world would soon descend, urging everyone to consider the greater threat and prepare.

The Lung Venerable led a team of divine puppets on a recruitment mission to a strange Plague World that had parasitized a minor world. The team crossed subspace and reached the conjoined worlds, where their recruitment and efforts to establish contact would begin.

• Two puppets discussed rumors that young people in the Plague World had controlled a storybook Malignant Carrier and received a Token of Soldier from the Lung Venerable.
• The puppets met the Lung Venerable and received orders to recruit soldiers, treat the infected with respect, and establish a passage between the worlds.
• The Lung Venerable warned the team that they would face the Sick Ones in actual combat and that anyone whose shell failed during the crossing would be removed from the mission.
• The Lung Venerable and the ten puppets crossed subspace and saw a minor world joined to a swollen, pus-filled world that was draining its energy and taking its rules.

Two years after William Berens became the first Plague Lord, Zion had grown into a major neutral city-state through Yi Chen’s protection and alliances with several factions. As Nash returned to Zion with Zede, Martin, and Marco, a divine delegation led by the True Jin Hao Hua arrived and announced a test offering an opportunity to the Sick Ones.

• The stargazers, Regan Ludwig, the Blood People, and the Cancer Palace established ties with Zion, while Yi Chen’s reward secured the Plague Focal World’s protection for the city.
• Zion grew into a leading neutral city known as the City of Ascension, and its organization tightened the standards for the Gentleman’s Assessment.
• The Fear Circus adopted a less lethal performance policy, while Nash refused to replace William as Chief Actor and resumed work as J.
• Nash asked Zede, Martin, and Marco to take him to Zion so he could visit the city where William had lived.
• Zede, Nash, Martin, and Marco sensed a divine presence as the True Jin Hao Hua arrived with ten holders of divine authorities and invited Sick Ones to undergo a test.

The Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable invited the Sick Ones to compete for passage to the Prime Material Plane, offering recruitment and rewards to those who could cross his qi barrier and defeat an Incarnation Carrier. As the gathered factions watched, Progenitor Strain Ancient Shark Lokaas became the first challenger to reach the stone platform.

• The Silver Circle Sick Ones gathered at the ocean platform after the Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable announced an assessment, while Zede, Marco, Martin, Regan, Principal Deslin, and Parasite Nash traveled there from Zion.
• Parasite Nash recognized William's lingering scent on Principal Deslin, earning a stomp from her before the group arrived above the sea.
• The Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable explained that challengers below Plague Lord rank who crossed his qi barrier could fight one of ten Incarnation Carriers for a chance to travel to the Prime Material Plane.
• The Emperor watched the gathering through the Twin Eyes and decided to remain in the Plague Focal World for now.
• Progenitor Strain Ancient Shark Lokaas leaped from the sea, resisted the qi barrier with a film of water, and landed on the stone platform as the first challenger.

Qinglun defeated Gusha Lokaias in two blows during the gods’ recruitment trial. The arena was left stunned, then Nash entered and revealed a new figure emerging from his corpse who greeted the Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable as an old acquaintance.

• Gusha Lokaias chose Vajra Qinglun as his opponent, and Qinglun’s first punch knocked Lokaias back and scorched his fist.
• Lokaias began transforming into a giant shark, but Qinglun summoned a Vajra Pestle and shattered him with a single strike, sparing his life.
• Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable warned that the visitors would recruit ten talented individuals or lower their evaluation of the Plague Focal World.
• Nash rushed onto the arena, cut off his own head, and let a humanoid figure emerge from his corpse.
• The figure synchronized its breathing with Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable and greeted him as an old acquaintance.

After two years without news of William, Yi Chen met with the Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable and learned William had secretly entered the Prime Material Plane. Yi Chen demanded four qualifications to return to his original world, then faced four Incarnation Carriers at once and revealed a deathly power that overwhelmed their divine presence.

• Yi Chen asked the Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable whether William was with him, and they discovered William had secretly entered the Prime Material Plane two years earlier.
• The Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable said he would investigate William and warned that William’s unregistered arrival with a Malignant Carrier was a serious danger.
• Yi Chen requested four qualifications to return to the Prime Material Plane, and the Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable agreed that he could earn them by defeating four Incarnation Carriers.
• When Morrigan stepped forward to fight, Yi Chen stopped her and insisted that four opponents face him together because he had four Consciousness Bodies.
• Pure Water warned Qinglun Vajra that Yi Chen’s deathly divinity posed a genuine risk, while Yi Chen manifested the Dead Sun and armed himself with Nash’s iron chain.
• The four Incarnation Carriers stepped toward Yi Chen and found themselves on a black beach, where a chained dead man rose as the black sea swallowed their divine presence.

Yi Chen defeated four divine Incarnation Carriers and received the remaining Token of Soldier talismans, while Plague Lords and old allies watched his strength. He and Lorien then departed for the plane’s central region to undergo examinations and investigate matters related to William.

• Fish Origin and the other Plague Lords rose to watch Yi Chen fight, while Baron Cassas, the Warden, and the Emperor also arrived.
• The Emperor and Baron Cassas reunited and discussed their plans to remain in the Old World as the younger generation explored beyond it.
• Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable explained that Yi Chen’s self-focused upbringing made him an unusual ally against the ultimate evil.
• Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable stopped the battle and gave Yi Chen four Token of Soldier talismans after Yi Chen defeated the four Incarnation Carriers.
• Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable used Yi Chen’s purple lung to create an incarnation, and Lorien descended to accompany Yi Chen toward the plane’s central region.

Yi Chen and Lorien traveled with Jin Hao Hua through subspace to a plant-filled world, where he planned to take them to the City of Husks for evaluation as recruits against the Malignancy. Yi Chen learned that his original world had been a Simulated World destroyed by a powerful Video Tape Carrier, and that his imprisoned body was gone.

• Jin Hao Hua led Yi Chen and Lorien through subspace to a world connected to the Prime Material Plane, where they passed through a teleportation gate toward the Land of Deities.
• Jin Hao Hua explained that recruits rated above S-rank could settle in the City of Husks, but first Yi Chen and Lorien would undergo advanced testing.
• Yi Chen asked to return to his original world, and Jin Hao Hua told him it had been devoured by the Malignancy three years earlier.
• Jin Hao Hua revealed that Yi Chen's world had been a Simulated World designed to test talent cultivation methods, and that its oppressive conditions had fostered widespread malice.
• Jin Hao Hua said a high-level Video Tape Carrier had spread through the Simulated World and made its destruction irreversible, then continued toward the City of Husks with Yi Chen and Lorien.

Yi Chen and Lorien arrived in the City of Husks, where Purple Lung Heavenly Venerable explained how the gods used technological carriers to manage their influence in the lower planes. At the registration building, an awakened pharaoh’s Eye of Horus saw through both newcomers and recognized Lorien as a disciple of the Supreme Divinity.

• Purple Lung Heavenly Venerable led Yi Chen and Lorien through the rain-soaked City of Husks toward the registration office.
• Lorien searched for William and found no trace of him, while privately vowing to use moonlight to uncover his trail.
• Purple Lung Heavenly Venerable explained that the city’s workers maintained divine carriers, puppets capable of bearing gods’ incarnations and true bodies.
• A moonlit door appeared in the Eye of Horus registration building, and a staff member made of yellow sand questioned Purple Lung Heavenly Venerable about the two recruits.
• A lightning strike awakened an ancient pharaoh, whose Eye of Horus pierced Yi Chen and Lorien’s defenses and recognized Lorien as the Supreme Divinity’s disciple.

Yi Chen underwent an inspection in the City of Husks and earned the highest evaluation after Tutankhamun recognized his connection to a Supreme Divinity. During their exchange of questions, Yi Chen learned that clown and vortex graffiti had appeared in malignant incident scenarios and asked Tutankhamun to search for his missing friend, Portia Kaufman.

• An employee led Yi Chen and Lorien to sealed coffins, where metallic sand inspected them and an unseen pharaoh recognized Yi Chen as the rumored sole believer of a Supreme Divinity.
• Yi Chen negotiated an equal exchange of questions with the pharaoh, who brought him to a palace and introduced himself as Tutankhamun.
• Tutankhamun asked whether the Plague Focal World had other talented people, and Yi Chen named several potential recruits and advised him to offer benefits and establish a connection between the worlds.
• Yi Chen asked about plague, clown, abyss, and vortex-related incidents, and Tutankhamun reported that teams had found clown and black-vortex graffiti in some malignant scenarios.
• Tutankhamun offered to have teams search for Yi Chen's missing friend, and Yi Chen identified him as Portia Kaufman.

Yi Chen traded information with Pharaoh Tutankhamun, learning that malignancy would destroy the Prime Material Plane within forty-seven years, then received his SSS-Class recruit file in the City of Husks. He and Lorien decided to investigate William together after Yi Chen found traces of his secret dealings with evil.

• Pharaoh Tutankhamun searched for Yi Chen’s named acquaintance and questioned Yi Chen about his contact with the Dead Sea Evil God, but Yi Chen declined to explain his experience in detail.
• Yi Chen asked how soon malignancy would consume the Prime Material Plane, and Tutankhamun predicted its collapse and the fall of all gods in forty-seven years.
• Yi Chen awoke in the testing room with Lorien and checked his recruit file, which listed his associated lifeforms, rare Death Divinity, and SSS-Class rating.
• Lorien questioned the value of their SSS-Class ratings, and Yi Chen proposed they work together because he had found traces of William secretly contacting evil.
• Yi Chen told Lorien he had not revealed William’s situation to the examiner, and Lorien agreed that their investigation had become more interesting.

Yi Chen and Lorien checked into Cloud Peak Hotel, where Yi Chen was assigned an evil-god room on the five-hundredth floor. As the Purple Lung explained the place of evil gods in the Prime Material Plane, Yi Chen encountered a strange mother pushing a carriage filled with infant heads.

• Yi Chen and Lorien checked in at Cloud Peak Hotel, and Yi Chen chose Counter Seven after learning his information was linked to an evil god.
• The attendant assigned Yi Chen room 50051 on the top floor, while Lorien went to a room on a lower floor.
• The Purple Lung explained that evil gods were rare, often persecuted, and generally shared an interest in preserving the world.
• Yi Chen reached his room and saw a veiled woman pushing a carriage of infant heads with tentacles in their mouths; she laughed and entered a room across the hall.

Yi Chen learned how the planes were structured and how malignancy was spreading from the lower planes toward the Prime Material Plane. After the Celestial Venerable avatar left, Yi Chen found a mysterious note bearing the number 1910.

• The Celestial Venerable avatar explained that the Prime Material Plane lay at the center of the planes, while four stable Divine Realms housed most divinity holders.
• The Celestial Venerable avatar described the ranks of gods and said Supreme Divinities could not stop malignancy because they understood the material world's underlying laws.
• The Celestial Venerable avatar revealed that malignancy had corrupted nearly all the lower planes and was spreading upward, and said Yi Chen would be contacted within three days about a suppression mission.
• The Celestial Venerable avatar wrote six names on the tabletop before returning to Yi Chen's body, and someone knocked on the guest-room door as it vanished.
• Yi Chen used Little Grape to inspect the corridor, then found a hidden note under the carpet marked 1910 and wondered who had placed it.

Yi Chen and Lorien followed a clue linking William to Simulated World 1910, and Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable authorized them to investigate with Jin and Regan. The four arrived in the dark world and boarded an empty night bus, where a mysterious old woman offered to tell them a story.

• Yi Chen showed Lorien the note bearing the number 1910 and identified the corresponding Simulated World as a possible place where William was active.
• Yi Chen and Lorien asked Golden Lung Heavenly Venerable for permission to investigate, and he secured authorization for them and two companions to enter the world for up to three days.
• Jin and Regan joined Yi Chen and Lorien, and the four passed through the Plane Door into Simulated World 1910.
• The four appeared at a bus stop in the middle of the night and boarded an approaching, empty bus.
• A black-clad old woman boarded despite no one being at the stop and offered to tell the four a story.

Yi Chen and his companions followed a strange night bus to Balloon Station, where Little Grape spotted William’s invitation inside the New Trade Mall. They entered the dark mall, where a doll on a bicycle challenged them to a game.

• An old woman and several other passengers died after their malignant stories triggered cancerous afflictions, and Jin dealt with the passengers who boarded.
• Yi Chen explained that Malignant Carriers could make stories affect reality and warned the group to avoid engaging with them while searching for William.
• At Balloon Station, the group saw the bus’s monstrous flesh-and-blood form beneath the moonlight and waited for a connection that never arrived.
• Little Grape spotted balloons spelling “come in” inside the New Trade Mall, and Yi Chen took the group there.
• Inside the mall, a doll on a bicycle blocked Lorien’s moonlight and played a message challenging the group to a game.

William’s “find me” game forced the group to search the mall alone, and Yi Chen solved the riddle by reversing the doll’s tape and locating a hidden videotape. The videotape revealed William, who greeted Yi Chen and confirmed that he had completed his transformation.

• William’s doll announced the rules of a one-hour search game and gave laughter as the riddle.
• Lorien, Regan, and Jin searched the mall separately while Yi Chen realized the doll’s tape could be played backward.
• Yi Chen reversed the tape and heard clues describing something hidden in a dark room, rolled into a ball, and capable of appearing young or old.
• Yi Chen searched backward through the mall and found Brother Zhang's Recycling, where he recovered a Video Tape from the dead Boss’s throat.
• Yi Chen played the Video Tape on an old television, and William appeared on screen, welcoming him and revealing his transformed form.

Yi Chen met William through the Video Tape and learned that William wanted him to carry it on recruit missions so he could secretly encounter and influence other Malignant Carriers. Yi Chen left the mall with his companions, but the rain revealed that the world’s malice had already begun targeting them.

• William explained that he had reached a deep stage of evil but could no longer progress by himself, and asked Yi Chen to bring the Video Tape on future missions.
• Yi Chen agreed to take the Video Tape, which his suit and Little Grape concealed after William was forced to end their conversation when Lorien tracked them.
• Jin kicked Yi Chen after hearing that William was on him, but Yi Chen was unharmed and the group left the shopping mall.
• Yi Chen told the others they would have to remain in the unstable world for three days because the World Gate was closed.
• Heavy rain began outside, and the group encountered a bus full of staring passengers, a vacant taxi, and a row of red umbrellas as signs of the world’s malice.

Yi Chen and his companions crossed a city where the nights were dangerous and the days were safe, encountering a watcher before finding an old inn. As they settled in for the day, the innkeeper’s gaze fell on Jin and he opened a drawer containing gloves and clippings from an unsolved serial murder case.

• Yi Chen, Regan, Lorien, and Jin walked through malicious night rain that followed them, while Little Grape spotted a tall, hat-wearing figure watching from an alley before it vanished in the sunlight.
• The group learned that the city’s danger receded with daylight, and Yi Chen warned everyone to stay vigilant over the next three days.
• Yi Chen took the others to a breakfast shop, where Lorien tried rice noodle rolls, enjoyed them, and wondered if discarded bodies from the Moon Clinic had other uses.
• Yi Chen rented the top floor of a remote old inn and agreed to follow the innkeeper’s curfew, staying indoors after five in the afternoon.
• The innkeeper watched Jin as she went upstairs, then opened a drawer containing unused gloves and newspaper clippings about an unsolved serial murder case involving at least seventeen women.

Yi Chen showed Regan, Jin, and Lorien a Video Tape containing William, who warned them to keep his existence secret and explained that he had become a Mad Shell Virus. After the inn’s murderous Boss was lured away from the building, she encountered a stranger beneath a dark bridge.

• Jin spread Crimson Lotus Cancerous Tumor through the inn while Regan protected the building with a magnetic field.
• Yi Chen played the Video Tape, and William told his companions about his transformation and urged them to summon him when facing a difficult evil.
• Regan built a replacement film player, but William’s warning startled everyone, and the television crashed through the window.
• The Boss lusted after Jin, then panicked when her crime gloves went missing and chased them away from the inn.
• The gloves led the Boss beneath a dark bridge, where a figure in oversized black shoes whispered in her ear as rain began to fall.