Chapter Summaries

Yi Chen uncovered Ludwig Regan’s true purpose at the Power Station: he was trying to restore the consciousness of Fei, whose body had been resurrected through a cemetery. After Fei asked to go with Yi Chen, Regan looked at an old photograph of them together.

• Yi Chen asked Regan about the organization’s cemeteries, prompting Regan to reveal his hidden strength and ask whether Yi Chen could see Fei.
• Yi Chen explained that Principal Deslin had sent him and deduced that Regan had joined the Power Station to restore Fei’s consciousness.
• Regan recounted how he worked for nine years at the Camberlier Grand Graveyard to resurrect Fei’s body from her remaining spine, then brought her to Zion for help rebuilding her consciousness.
• Regan explained that his research had made Fei a half-physical being through the Virtual Grid, but he refused to risk using a relic because it might revive her nightmare memories of the Gray Realm.
• Regan agreed to write Yi Chen notes about perception, and after Yi Chen left, Fei asked Regan to go with him before disappearing.
• Regan retrieved a cigarette case, lit a cigarette with an electric spark, and looked at an old photograph of Fei as a child with a young boy.

Yi Chen and Jin learned from Instructor Baili about a Newborn Passage expedition in a transforming Natural Gray Zone and had eighteen hours to find a third teammate. As they considered candidates, they encountered Regan on the street.

• Yi Chen met Jin in Keximani Orchard and examined her newly forged sword made from the Mutated Holy Fetus Marcos.
• Instructor Baili told Yi Chen and Jin about a Relic Event requiring three-person teams with strong Perception and Old Living Script skills to explore an unrecorded Newborn Passage.
• Yi Chen questioned why the organization was sending competing teams into the dangerous gray zone, and Instructor Baili explained the benefits of competition and having more explorers.
• Instructor Baili gave Yi Chen and Jin eighteen hours to choose a third teammate, so Jin suggested Dukeborg while Yi Chen planned to consult Professor Chamberson.
• A slightly chubby young man wearing glasses called out to Yi Chen, who recognized him as Mr. Regan.

Yi Chen recruited Ludwig Regan, a researcher with extraordinary perception, as the third member of the team investigating a Relic Event. After the team reported its lineup, Principal Deslin received word of Regan's involvement and decided to let the organization handle the matter for now.

• Ludwig Regan accepted Yi Chen's invitation to join the team after reshaping his body and putting his Power Station work on hold.
• Jin sensed a strange danger in Regan but agreed he would be valuable, and the three settled on how to distribute any relics they found.
• Regan handed Yi Chen his Gentleman Certificate and left to gather equipment, while Jin warned Yi Chen that Regan seemed to conceal a ferocity born of killing.
• Instructor Baili reviewed Regan's partially classified records and submitted the team's information to the organization's higher-ups.
• The organization sent the team's document to Principal Deslin, who noted Regan's poor physical condition and sent back a reply telling them to keep busy for now.

Ludwig Regan prepared to enter the Gray Zone with Fei, risking a dangerous neural modification to power his new device. Yi Chen discussed the Relic Event with his mentors and met Jin to prepare their team, leaving them working together through the night.

• Ludwig Regan apologized to Fei for failing to restore her Neural Consciousness and promised to take her into the Gray Zone to seek an ancient relic.
• Regan activated his Exoskeleton Spine, endured its painful neural fusion, and fell asleep in Fei’s embrace as electricity flashed between his eyelids.
• Yi Chen reported to Chamberson, who advised him to bring Twilight Silver Liquid and explained the risks and safeguards of traveling through the tunnel.
• Teacher Zed warned Yi Chen to explore cautiously and not lose his eyes as Zed had.
• Yi Chen visited Jin, who had gathered high-grade Imitation Meat, and proposed discussing the Relic Event while they processed it together.

Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan gathered at Gentleman Hall for the Newborn Passage incident’s squad selection, where seven registered squads competed for three places. Their squad drew number three and would battle last, giving them a chance to observe the other teams first.

• Yi Chen and Jin agreed that Yi Chen would lead their upcoming incident, while Jin promised to follow his suggestions in exchange for using Yi Chen’s body when needed.
• A letter summoned Yi Chen’s squad to a noon selection after seven squads registered for the Newborn Passage incident, which allowed only three squads to participate.
• Yi Chen arrived at Gentleman Hall carrying the still-sleeping Jin and reunited with Regan, whose newly installed device accidentally shocked Yi Chen when he handed over his Gentleman Certificate.
• A supervisor led the squads to an underground arena and announced that lots would pair them for battles, with one squad eliminated by drawing a blank slip.
• Regan’s squad drew number three and would battle last, while the supervisor prohibited weapons and highly lethal spells and called the first pair forward.

Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan faced Charvis's team in the final match for a place in the Relic Event. Professor Chamberson and Instructor Baili arrived to watch, and the match began after the teams sized each other up.

• Yi Chen assessed the experienced teams and led Jin and Regan into the arena for the final team slot.
• Arthur recognized Jin Almeida and warned his teammate about her record and strength.
• Yi Chen asked Jin to avoid using Red Lotus, and she said she would keep the opponents alive.
• Aige brought Professor Chamberson and Instructor Baili to watch, and Charvis learned that William was Chamberson's new student.
• Jin identified Livovich as Keximani's Ashen Man, while Yi Chen observed the armored opponent and noticed Regan seemed uncomfortable.
• Supervisor Aige's interruption ended, and the third match began.

During the third qualification screening match, Ludwig Regan’s overwhelming mental attacks and strange electrical abilities stunned the arena. Charvis’s carefully prepared counterattack failed when Regan’s female corpse companion struck him, leaving Charvis badly injured.

• Supervisor Aige asked Chamberson and Baili for their views on the match, and Baili said Jin’s presence had already decided its outcome but she wanted to observe Regan.
• Charvis began the match by boosting his team’s speed, but Regan’s Mental Shock knocked Balzan and Barry down and left Charvis bleeding and disoriented.
• Charvis recovered with a secret art, targeted Regan, and shattered a Wind Blade on Regan’s electrical pulse before charging in with two stored Secret Arts.
• Charvis used a magical decoy to evade Regan’s Pulse Cannon and attacked from behind with a Storm Sword.
• Regan shouted for Fei to stop, but the female corpse behind him struck Charvis into the arena wall and left him with a charred wound in his chest.

After Yi Chen’s team won the match, the supervisors discussed the team’s potential and stability, while Yi Chen helped Regan endure a painful reaction to his new exoskeletal spine. The three selected teams then boarded special carriages and departed for the Relic Event.

• Aige carried the unconscious Charvis away for medical treatment, and Barry ended his duel with Yi Chen as the match concluded.
• The Stone Mask Supervisor briefed the three victorious teams on their departure for the Relic Event that evening.
• At dinner, Baili learned that Jin was the Principal’s disciple, and Chamberson said William would help keep the team together.
• Regan suffered a severe rejection reaction from the exoskeletal spine embedded in his back, and Yi Chen stabilized it with Plant Root Tendrils and life essence.
• Regan explained the device’s functions and agreed to show Yi Chen the Power Station, then the three selected teams boarded special carriages and departed.

Yi Chen, Regan, and Jin traveled by special G&D carriage toward Yalsto Town to prepare for the Mount Grail Relic Event. After reading about the spreading Gray Zone, its three Rooted Pathogens, and a hidden passage into the Old World, Yi Chen looked out at the moonless sky.

• Yi Chen, Regan, and Jin boarded a special carriage, and the coachman told them they would reach Yalsto Town after three days.
• Yi Chen opened the classified event documents while Jin and Regan looked on.
• The documents described Mount Grail’s expanding Gray Zone, the three Rooted Pathogens, and the Purge team’s discovery of a passage inside the mountain.
• The document stated that the passage led to the shallow Surface Layer of the Old World and had never been traversed by a conscious life-form.
• Regan returned to his berth to silently discuss the event with his imagined girlfriend, Jin went to sleep, and Yi Chen looked out at the hazy evening sky.

Yi Chen and Regan discussed Regan’s neural research during the journey, while Yi Chen helped adjust Regan’s spinal device. At Yalsto Town, Lame Field laid out information about three afflictions near Mount Grail and required each team member to choose one to eradicate before the Watcher would open the passage to the Old World.

• Yi Chen finished his prepared books and shared details about his Student profession and abilities with Regan, omitting some of his secrets.
• Regan explained how pseudo-science-fiction had inspired his work on Fei and revealed that he was a senior researcher backed by the station master.
• Yi Chen examined and treated Regan’s spinal device, reinforcing it to stabilize its neural connections and reduce rejection.
• Yi Chen, Regan, Jin, and the other travelers arrived at Yalsto Town, a way station with facilities for gentlemen and a graveyard beneath Cold Lake.
• Lame Field presented information on Black Pus Syndrome, Gathered Eye Syndrome, and septicemia, then told the travelers to choose an affliction to eradicate near Mount Grail or receive an assignment from him.

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.