Chapter Summaries

Yu Sheng recounted his encounter with Ankaela to Baili Qing in exchange for funding to rebuild two orphanages, and they considered what the Dark Angel’s origins meant for the world. He also explained that Fairy Tale had fused with his valley, leaving the organization living under his care but still independent.

• Yu Sheng asked Baili Qing to fund the reconstruction of two orphanages in exchange for his account of Ankaela, and she agreed within her authority.
• Yu Sheng described how he had encountered Ankaela, and Baili Qing learned that the Dark Angel had once been an Ark from beyond the universe that changed after an immense disaster cast it into their world.
• Yu Sheng and Baili Qing discussed whether other Dark Angels might have undergone similar mutations, and Baili Qing worried about identifying any that could communicate.
• Yu Sheng warned Baili Qing that the unusual circumstances that let him reach Ankaela could not be reliably repeated, and she assured him they would not act recklessly.
• Yu Sheng told Baili Qing that Fairy Tale had fused with his valley and expanded it, while Fairy Tale remained independent despite living at his place.

Yu Sheng learned from Baili Qing that the red light in Ankaela’s memories was the Annihilation that destroyed the old world before the second Singularity Eruption. They worried that the growing Dark Angel incursions might be driven by a danger approaching from beyond the observable universe, and the chapter ended when Baili Qing received a troubling phone call.

• Yu Sheng described the disaster in Ankaela’s memories, and Baili Qing recognized it as the Annihilation recorded in ancient accounts.
• Baili Qing explained that the old world had been destroyed and that the Ancient Holy Spirits recreated it after the second Singularity Eruption.
• Yu Sheng connected Ankaela’s experience and the increasing Dark Angel incursions, while Baili Qing said she thought Annihilation had ended.
• Baili Qing explained that the Ancient Holy Spirits now guarded the borders of the observable universe and had not contacted mortals for more than a decade.
• Yu Sheng wondered whether the danger beyond the universe was worse than the Dark Angel invasion, and he and Baili Qing agreed they still had to keep living.
• Baili Qing answered a phone call, and her expression changed as she listened.

Baili Qing told Yu Sheng that some of Ankaela’s remains had gone missing and ordered a search while the Special Operations Bureau investigated their properties. Yu Sheng invited her to the Fairy Tale children’s celebration, and after he left she discussed the Dark Angel’s communication and the risks of revealing it publicly.

• Baili Qing informed Yu Sheng that a recovery team found an empty impact crater where some of Ankaela’s remains should have been, and she ordered searches of transportation hubs, surveillance footage, and boundary markers.
• Yu Sheng and Baili Qing considered whether someone had secretly taken the dangerous fragments, and Baili Qing explained that the Special Operations Bureau would isolate and assess the recovered remains before further analysis.
• Yu Sheng invited Baili Qing to the Fairy Tale celebration in the valley, and she agreed to attend after learning that the Hunter and Squirrel would be there.
• After Yu Sheng left, the colorless eyes told Baili Qing that she had given Yu Sheng its name and asked when she would announce the angel fall.
• Baili Qing decided to brief only select organizations about Ankaela’s situation, warning that public knowledge of the Dark Angel’s ability to communicate could inspire movements that obstructed the fight against angel incursions.

Yu Sheng returned home with new clothes for Eileen and a comb for Huli, then joined them in the valley to help prepare for a celebration. The preparations were nearly complete, but Rapunzel asked him to darken the sky because the town stayed bright even at night.

• Yu Sheng found the Eileens researching an account ban and told them to stop appealing and work on improving their skills.
• Yu Sheng gave Eileen two new dresses and Huli a comb suited to her tail.
• Eileen tried on a dress, discovered its back was uncomfortable, and Yu Sheng promised to alter it.
• Yu Sheng left home with Huli and Eileen to help Little Red Riding Hood prepare for the valley celebration.
• Yu Sheng found the town square decorated and stocked for a bonfire party, but Rapunzel asked him to make the bright sky dark.

Yu Sheng helped the valley’s residents by drawing clouds across the sky to create an artificial night, then learned how Little Red Riding Hood and the others planned to furnish and rebuild their new home. The chapter ended with Little Red Riding Hood assigning him to reinforce foundations for their houses, classrooms, and playground.

• Rapunzel asked Yu Sheng to turn off the sky, and he used controllable clouds to create an artificial night over the valley.
• Yu Sheng sent Huli to play with the children and warned her not to launch them with her tails.
• Little Red Riding Hood explained that King had arranged supplies from fairy-tale subsets, including furniture and materials taken from Snow White's castle.
• Little Red Riding Hood described how the fairy-tale stages were unsuitable for living in and said Dorothy and Snow White planned to repurpose and renovate them.
• Yu Sheng offered to help build the new home, but Little Red Riding Hood repeatedly insisted that he reinforce the foundations.

Yu Sheng and the others held a celebration for the children, with fireworks, food, music, and dancing filling the square. As the party continued, Baili Qing reunited with the hunter, whose greeting revealed a connection to her and the Deep Dive Team from seventy years ago.

• Yu Sheng brought Li Lin, Xu Jiali, and Baili Qing through the illusory gate to the celebration, where the gathered staff and children welcomed them.
• Rapunzel and Matchy launched fireworks, while Huli added foxfire to the display and the children celebrated around the bonfire.
• King summoned a Court Jester and musicians, and a girl with Long Hair sang as the celebration grew livelier.
• Yu Sheng found Baili Qing away from the crowd and learned that Baili Xue had been blinded by the fireworks.
• A squirrel arrived with the hunter, and Baili Qing greeted the hunter as an old acquaintance.
• The hunter called Baili Qing “Director” and said they had not seen each other in a long time, surprising Yu Sheng.

Baili Qing reunited with the Hunter and finally presented him with the long-promised medal, then brought him to the celebration where the children welcomed him warmly. As the bonfire festivities continued, she explained why the Special Operations Bureau’s staff were so intimidated by her, and she and Yu Sheng watched the lively gathering together.

• Yu Sheng learned that Baili Qing had served as Director for a hundred years and realized she had personally known the Special Operations Bureau’s people for generations.
• Baili Qing pinned a medal on the Hunter in a simple ceremony, while fireworks—including missiles launched by Huli—lit up the sky.
• Yu Sheng invited the Hunter to the square, where Little Red Riding Hood and the children greeted him without fear and the Squirrel joined their celebration.
• Baili Qing explained to Yu Sheng that generations of Bureau personnel feared her because she had watched and recorded their work for a century.
• Baili Qing and Yu Sheng sat beside the bonfire and watched Eileen, Huli, the Squirrel, Rapunzel, and the Mermaid enjoy the festivities.

After the bonfire party, Yu Sheng fell asleep beneath the night sky he had created, but a strange wind and cold reached him through a dream. He discovered that the room at the end of the second floor had overlapped with a snowbound cave, and pulled a torn strip of cloth through the mirror into his world.

• The bonfire party ended, and the Squirrel and the Hunter returned to the Black Forest after agreeing to visit the town regularly.
• Yu Sheng slept beside Huli and the three Eileens, then woke after sensing howling wind and cold in his dream.
• Yu Sheng realized the sensation came from home and told Huli to wake Eileen before he went through a door to No. 66 Wutong Road.
• Yu Sheng found wind and snow filling the room at the end of the second-floor corridor, with the mirror reflecting the snow-covered cave.
• Yu Sheng examined the room without touching the mirror and pulled a fluttering strip of torn cloth into his world.

Yu Sheng pulled a patterned scrap of cloth from the strange snowy room, where he and his companions discovered recent footprints before the blizzard and the connection to the cave vanished. After Yu Sheng posted about the cloth online, Nietu Sanqian replied with an image of a matching fragment.

• Yu Sheng examined the scrap of cloth and found its patterns resembled the runes on the metal lump from the previous visit.
• Huli and Eileen arrived, and Huli spotted recent footprints and cleared snow in the cave reflected in the mirror.
• The blizzard stopped, the cave vanished from the mirror, and Yu Sheng concluded the connection had been severed.
• Yu Sheng photographed the cloth and posted about it on Border Communication while Huli revealed she had learned to read everyday characters.
• Nietu Sanqian replied with an image showing a cloth fragment whose patterns matched Yu Sheng's scrap.

Yu Sheng discovered that a fabric fragment held by Nietu Sanqian matched the one he had found, and learned that Nietu Sanqian lived at Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain beyond The Crossroads. Their exchange left Yu Sheng wondering whether the place resembled the strange realm he had visited, while Eileen guessed he wanted to go there.

• Yu Sheng compared his fabric fragment with Nietu Sanqian's and learned their patterns appeared to share an origin.
• Yu Sheng searched for Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain and found news of its Beast Taming Championship, whose setting reminded him and Eileen of the realm beyond the door he had opened.
• Nietu Sanqian explained that his traveling senior brother had brought the cloth back and that he had stored it in the Treasure Pavilion.
• Yu Sheng asked Nietu Sanqian to share any new information about the cloth, and the two agreed to keep investigating it.
• After chatting through the night, Yu Sheng looked out at the morning streets, and Eileen asked if he planned to visit Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain.

Yu Sheng brought a strange strip of cloth to the Special Operations Bureau and learned from Baili Qing that Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain was a major interstellar power, not simply a mountain sect. He was left stunned by the scale of the civilization connected to his online acquaintance, Nietu Sanqian.

• Yu Sheng told Huli about accidentally opening a door into someone’s Alchemy Furnace, and Huli hugged him so tightly that he had to repair his injuries.
• Yu Sheng sent Baili Qing a photo of the cloth he found at home, and she called him to bring it to the Special Operations Bureau.
• Yu Sheng, Eileen, and Huli went to the bureau, where staff transferred the cloth under the highest-level initial contact procedure.
• Yu Sheng told Baili Qing that Nietu Sanqian had a similar piece of cloth and asked about Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain.
• Baili Qing explained that Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain led a powerful interstellar civilization on the Great Void Spiritual Pivot and had helped the bureau search for Huli’s homeland.
• Yu Sheng realized that Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain was the name of an interstellar civilization’s capital, not merely a mountain and sect.

Baili Qing took Yu Sheng to a high-security containment zone to inspect the remains left after Ankaela fell, while explaining The Crossroads’ hidden technological strength and its true reach. Yu Sheng learned that Boundary City anchored The Crossroads at L-0 and that the Council’s influence extended across the universe.

• Baili Qing invited Yu Sheng to see the remains recovered after Ankaela fell and bought him bread before leading him to a containment zone.
• Baili Qing explained that the containment facility floated beyond The Crossroads and would be cast into a star if anything inside breached containment.
• Yu Sheng asked why the headquarters had far more advanced technology than Boundary City, and Baili Qing said Boundary City was The Crossroads’ baseline state.
• Baili Qing revealed that Boundary City anchored The Crossroads at L-0 and that Ankaela’s attack had threatened its irreplaceable core.
• Baili Qing described The Crossroads as a hub space bubble whose Council branches and influence stretched far beyond the city and its borders.

Yu Sheng and Baili Qing discussed the Crossroads’ missing history and the Archaeological Association before bringing Eileen to the Special Operations Bureau’s containment facility. Researchers revealed that the angel fragment produced a smaller crystal by transforming an ordinary stone, prompting Baili Qing to ask whether it assimilated nearby matter.

• Baili Qing explained that records from before Boundary City’s founding were scarce and described the Archaeological Association’s search for lost histories and ruins.
• Yu Sheng and Baili Qing arrived at the containment facility, where Eileen remarked that its lack of color reminded her of Baili Qing.
• Baili Qing said the angel fragment had been brought to the facility because its security and laboratory were suitable, and Yu Sheng entered despite a guard’s concern about protecting visitors.
• Yu Sheng and Eileen examined the large, harmless-looking crystal as staff reported that it emitted only faint, stable energy fluctuations.
• A researcher showed Baili Qing a smaller crystal that had transformed from an ordinary silica-rich stone, and Baili Qing asked whether the fragment assimilated nearby matter.

Baili Qing's team explained the mother crystal's limited assimilation range and the unusual behavior of its secondary crystals while studying the recovered remains of Ankaela. Yu Sheng's blood was absorbed by the mother crystal, but when Eileen tried to touch it with her threads, an unseen barrier repelled them and knocked her off his shoulder.

• A researcher told Baili Qing, Yu Sheng, and Eileen that the mother crystal assimilated only one kind of rock within a radius of up to twenty meters, while secondary crystals resonated with it and reorganized every 33.3 seconds.
• Yu Sheng asked to touch the mother crystal and smear blood on it, and Baili Qing allowed him to try despite the researchers' concerns.
• Yu Sheng struggled to cut his unusually tough hand, then dripped blood onto the mother crystal, which silently absorbed it.
• The researchers rushed to analyze the apparent blood absorption, but Yu Sheng explained that his blood was unusual and asked Baili Qing to stop them from treating him as a specimen.
• Yu Sheng invited Eileen to test whether her threads could connect with the mother crystal, and her black threads struck an invisible barrier and snapped apart, throwing her off his shoulder.

Yu Sheng and Baili Qing investigated the crystals after Eileen discovered that an invisible barrier blocked her threads, and the researchers named them Ankaela crystals. After leaving the containment facility, Baili Qing told Yu Sheng that the missing angel fragment was still unaccounted for and might be lost in the Crossroads’ temporal turbulence.

• Eileen’s threads bounced off invisible barriers around both the mother crystal and a secondary crystal, and Yu Sheng asked her to test the smaller one.
• A researcher proposed that the crystals’ protective effect might target forces on the level of the mind, then thanked Eileen for her help.
• Yu Sheng suggested naming the crystals Ankaela crystals, and Baili Qing approved the name.
• Baili Qing explained that the containment facility’s container caused pressure because it served as a suppression condition for dangerous objects.
• Baili Qing told Yu Sheng that the missing angel fragment had not entered Boundary City and was likely hidden in the outskirts or transferred beyond the boundary monument.
• Baili Qing explained that temporal turbulence disrupted time and communications in the Crossroads’ outskirts, complicating the search for the fragment.

Yu Sheng brought Huli to the Special Operations Bureau cafeteria, where she devoured an enormous breakfast and left a strange iron-like object as payment. Back home, Huli fell asleep, while Baili Qing investigated the object and contacted True Spirit Yuanling about his Border Communication name, “Nietu Sanqian.”

• Yu Sheng and Baili Qing found Huli eating nearly all the cafeteria’s noodles and steamed buns, and Yu Sheng explained that she was replenishing her ammunition.
• Huli apologized to the chefs and left them a heavy metallic object before Yu Sheng took her home and reminded Baili Qing to send news about the Ankaela crystal, the strip of cloth, and the orphanage relocation expenses.
• Huli explained that the object was a leftover core product with some Spiritual Essence, then fell asleep on the sofa while Eileen watched television.
• A technician identified the object as mostly iron with unusual energy reactions, and Baili Qing had it sent to the laboratory as an unidentified substance.
• Baili Qing contacted True Spirit Yuanling and asked whether his Border Communication name was “Nietu Sanqian”; he asked how she knew.

Baili Qing told True Spirit Yuanling that his online friend Yu Sheng had defeated Dark Angel Ankaela, prompting Yuanling to arrange for his disciple Xuan Che to visit The Crossroads. Yu Sheng received Yuanling’s message asking whether Xuan Che could visit him, and reacted with cold sweat.

• Baili Qing revealed to True Spirit Yuanling that his online friend had dealt with Dark Angel Ankaela.
• True Spirit Yuanling decided to send his trusted disciple Xuan Che to meet Yu Sheng on his behalf.
• True Spirit Yuanling summoned Xuan Che and told him to prepare for a stay in The Crossroads.
• Yu Sheng finished sewing Eileen’s dress while Eileen chatted beside him.
• Yu Sheng read True Spirit Yuanling’s message asking to send Xuan Che to visit, and broke into a cold sweat.

Yu Sheng agreed to meet the disciple of his online friend Nietu 4000 while enjoying a brief quiet spell at home. He then visited the rebuilding valley to arrange a stable portal and found Little Red Riding Hood happily wearing a school uniform instead of her old red coat.

• Yu Sheng agreed to meet Nietu 4000’s disciple, who would arrive after completing the required procedures, and gave Eileen the purple dress he had repaired.
• Yu Sheng and the others spent two peaceful days at home while the valley’s children continued rebuilding and Yu Sheng finished a long-delayed manuscript.
• Yu Sheng brought Eileen and Huli to the valley to arrange an additional stable portal for its residents.
• Rapunzel recognized that Yu Sheng had come to do something serious and called Little Red Riding Hood over.
• Little Red Riding Hood showed Yu Sheng her school uniform and explained that she no longer had to wear her red coat to keep her fingernails from sharpening.

Yu Sheng, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel returned to the ruined orphanage to choose a site for a permanent portal connecting Fairy Tale to the real world. Yu Sheng selected an intact patch of land and prepared to open the door there.

• Little Red Riding Hood suggested placing the portal at the old orphanage because the site was familiar and its shielding nodes remained in place.
• Yu Sheng opened a doorway to the orphanage ruins, where Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel saw the destruction left by the Dark Angel incident.
• Yu Sheng told Li Lin he wanted to establish a permanent portal at the orphanage, and Li Lin confirmed the protective nodes would remain for years.
• Yu Sheng listed the unusual supplies needed for the portal, and Li Lin reported the request to Captain Song, who approved it.
• Li Lin showed Yu Sheng an undamaged patch of land beside the old play area, and Yu Sheng chose it as the portal's location.

Yu Sheng used an old iron gate and an alchemical setup to create a living portal between reality and the valley. The gate opened successfully, and Yu Sheng told Li Lin that only authorized people could pass through it.

• Li Lin brought a heavy security gate for Yu Sheng, but Yu Sheng asked him to replace it with an ordinary door that the children could open.
• Yu Sheng drew a simplified alchemical formation around the old East Building office door while Li Lin and the Special Operations Bureau agents recorded the process.
• Yu Sheng had Huli bite his wrist, used his blood, and focused on shaping the corresponding door in the valley.
• The gate transformed, fused with the wall, and opened onto the valley, where the Mermaid, the King, Snow White, and the others greeted Yu Sheng.
• Yu Sheng told Li Lin that Little Red Riding Hood and the others would arrange a rotating gatekeeper post and that the portal required authorization to enter.