Chapter Summaries

Yu Sheng and Baili Qing examined a 3,700-year-old record suggesting the Omen Goddess’s arrival had been planned through the World Bridge, though the summoning’s purpose and participants remained unclear. Yu Sheng left to visit Quiet Forest Sanatorium with Eileen and Little Red Riding Hood, setting out on Little Red Riding Hood’s shadow wolf after she gave it temporary license plates.

• Baili Qing explained that the record’s references to the Othergod, World Bridge, and Dark Star suggested a deliberate meeting that went awry when the bridge broke.
• Baili Qing identified doubts about the idea that Angel Cultists had summoned the Omen Goddess, including the sophisticated bridge, the goddess’s apparent reason, and Eileen’s protection of the exploration team.
• Yu Sheng promised to protect both Eileen and the Crossroads, then returned home after Baili Qing arranged the visit to Quiet Forest Sanatorium.
• Eileen greeted Yu Sheng and chattered about Huli, C-clip, and her new smartwatch while Little Red Riding Hood confirmed the trip’s arrangements.
• Yu Sheng left Huli and Luna at home and departed with Eileen and Little Red Riding Hood for the sanatorium.
• Little Red Riding Hood prepared to take them by shadow wolf and hung temporary license plates around its neck.

Yu Sheng, Little Red Riding Hood, and Eileen arrived at Quiet Forest Sanatorium, an Otherworld facility whose strange Director was a goldfish in a tank. The Director led them inside toward the person Yu Sheng wanted to see, as he began encountering the sanatorium’s unusual rules.

• Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood rode Shadow Wolves through a shortcut and emerged in the forest surrounding Quiet Forest Sanatorium.
• Little Red Riding Hood warned Yu Sheng and Eileen to stay on the path because they could be identified as lost patients and teleported into a ward.
• The Director greeted them at the entrance, revealing herself to be a goldfish in a tank and explaining that Baili Qing had defeated her and placed her in the device decades earlier.
• The Director invited Yu Sheng, Little Red Riding Hood, and Eileen to follow her to the deep ward to meet the person they were seeking.
• Yu Sheng entered the sanatorium and noticed that its bright, ordinary-looking lobby contained strange rules about patients, staff, and the Director.

Yu Sheng, Little Red Riding Hood, and Eileen visited Sun Chen at Quiet Forest Sanatorium and learned that he had caused a psychiatrist to go temporarily insane despite seeming completely lucid. When they reached his room, they found him dead in a blood-soaked ward covered in cryptic writing, and Yu Sheng tried to make contact with the dissipating spirituality.

• The director explained that Quiet Forest Sanatorium provided a comfortable environment under strict containment and that Sun Chen had entered voluntarily while lucid.
• The director said Sun Chen’s interview had driven a psychiatrist temporarily insane, leading to Sun Chen’s placement in the facility’s second-highest containment ward.
• Yu Sheng withheld the reason for his visit, and the director led the group toward Sun Chen’s blue-doored room.
• A strange sound and Little Red Riding Hood’s alarm prompted the director to smash open the door, revealing a headless corpse and cryptic symbols covering the ward.
• The director sealed the room and sent the goldfish to examine the corpse, but it reported that the spirituality was dissipating too quickly.
• Yu Sheng touched a pool of blood and called for the dead person to speak with him.

Yu Sheng spoke with the dead Sun Chen and learned that incomprehensible knowledge had driven him to calculate until he died. The “Dean” began investigating possible triggers while the Special Operations Bureau cleanup team secured the ward and recorded Sun Chen’s strange equations.

• Yu Sheng touched Sun Chen’s blood and entered the black-and-white afterlife, where Sun Chen continued calculating despite being dead.
• Sun Chen told Yu Sheng that knowledge from another world had compelled him to calculate and that a melody or whistling sound had triggered the process.
• Sun Chen’s afterlife collapsed after he said, “Not enough mass,” and Yu Sheng returned to the ward.
• Yu Sheng told Eileen that knowledge beyond human comprehension had killed Sun Chen, and Eileen mistakenly concluded that he had died from failing to solve a math problem.
• The “Dean” sent a cleanup team to contain Sun Chen’s remains and document the equations and symbols covering the ward.
• Yu Sheng asked whether anything had triggered Sun Chen’s sudden calculations, and the “Dean” agreed to check surveillance footage and recent audio materials.

Yu Sheng investigated the strange writings left by Sun Chen at Quiet Forest Sanatorium and suspected that a melody had triggered his sudden deterioration. With the lead gone cold, Yu Sheng planned another trip to Dark Alley and decided to bring his nephew, while Zheng Zhi encountered an ominous black thread near No. 66 Wutong Road.

• Yu Sheng examined Sun Chen’s bloodstained notebook, but Eileen admitted she could not understand its writings.
• Yu Sheng told the director that Sun Chen’s sudden decline suggested an unknown trigger, and the director promised a thorough investigation.
• Yu Sheng told Little Red Riding Hood he suspected a melody had activated Sun Chen’s dangerous knowledge, though he had no proof of foul play.
• Yu Sheng decided to return to Dark Alley with Eileen and King, and proposed bringing his nephew as well.
• Zheng Zhi noticed black threads rising from a groove outside No. 66 Wutong Road, touched one, and was suddenly pulled into an unknown place.

After Zheng Zhi vanished near Yu Sheng’s home, Yu Sheng traced the disappearance to Eileen’s spider silk and had her follow it. Meanwhile, Baili Qing investigated growing threats to The Crossroads and planned another search of the Archives for clues about the Omen Goddess.

• Yu Sheng, Li Lin, Huli, and Little Red Riding Hood searched for Zheng Zhi after he disappeared, and Little Red Riding Hood found his scent ended at an intersection within the range of No. 66 Wutong Road.
• Yu Sheng discovered that Eileen’s spider silk near her ball-grinding spot might have taken Zheng Zhi away, then asked Eileen to trace it.
• Eileen sensed that the spider silk led far away and began weaving extra strands to strengthen it.
• Baili Qing questioned the director about an infiltration at the sanatorium and monitored disturbances at the border and in Misty Boundary City.
• Baili Qing told Baili Xue that she intended to search the Archives for hidden information about the Omen Goddess’s attempted descent, and said she might rely on Yu Sheng’s team if the Archives yielded nothing.

Zheng Zhi explored a ruined hall floating in a dark void and was drawn toward a black celestial body above an endless tower. Eileen pulled him back through a rift, but the images he took appeared completely black to the others.

• Zheng Zhi searched the ruined hall for an exit and discovered it floated among wreckage in a boundless darkness.
• He photographed an endless black tower and a dark star, then found himself drifting toward the star against his will.
• Zheng Zhi grabbed a pitch-black thread and called for Yu Sheng as the star's pull carried him away from the hall.
• Eileen used spider silk to open a rift and pull Zheng Zhi back, while Li Lin slapped him awake.
• Zheng Zhi showed everyone his photos, but Eileen said the screen looked entirely black.

After Zheng Zhi returned from a strange space containing the Black Star and an endless tower, Yu Sheng concluded that black spider thread and Zheng Zhi might be the key to reaching it again. That night, Sun Chen’s corpse awakened in the form of a swollen brain, attacked the director, and caused the director to breach containment at Quiet Forest Sanatorium.

• Zheng Zhi described the strange space he had fallen into, and Yu Sheng recognized its pitch-black celestial body as the Black Star.
• Yu Sheng reasoned that black spider thread and Zheng Zhi’s unusual constitution were linked to reaching the tower, but Eileen’s summoned threads failed to send him back.
• Little Red Riding Hood ordered Zheng Zhi to rest instead of joining the planned trip to the Dark Alley.
• The director reviewed surveillance footage and noticed Sun Chen had become bewildered after whistling alone in the Reading Room.
• Sun Chen’s corpse appeared in the director’s office as a swollen brain, attacked the director, and claimed that someone had promised to free him from the tower.
• The director’s fishbowl containment broke, and the director escaped as water filled the office; an alarm announced a containment breach and ordered the facility evacuated.

Baili Qing entered Quiet Forest Sanatorium after the Dean’s containment breach and found the Core Area flooded by the Goldfish. She rescued the trapped security squad, restored the Goldfish to its tank, and asked what had happened.

• Baili Qing learned that the Dean’s monitoring team was trapped inside the flooded Core Area and went into the sanatorium alone.
• Baili Qing found the security squad alive but caught in dreams of being goldfish, and sent them outside to safety.
• The Goldfish told Baili Qing that an attacker had smashed its tank and that it had tried to protect the unconscious squad.
• Baili Qing examined the office’s repeating memory bubbles, repaired the cracked fish tank, and forced the struggling Goldfish back inside.
• The flooding receded, the human shell stood up, and Baili Qing asked the Goldfish how it had ended up that way.

Baili Qing identified the attacker at Quiet Forest Sanatorium as a Black Dot Group Infiltrator and suspected the group had come seeking knowledge about the Omen Goddess. She informed Yu Sheng of the attack, leaving him stunned by the revelation that the Black Dot Group had infiltrated the sanatorium shortly after he left.

• The goldfish showed Baili Qing visions of the Infiltrator attacking the director and Black Dot agents fighting the security squad while protecting him.
• Baili Qing concluded that Sun Chen’s attacker was a Black Dot Group Infiltrator and that the group was seeking knowledge buried in history, then went to examine Sun Chen’s corpse for traces of their guidance.
• Baili Qing and Baili Xue discussed whether the Black Dot Group had directed Sun Chen toward the tower connected to the Omen Goddess, and Baili Qing decided to call Yu Sheng.
• Yu Sheng repaired cracks in Eileen’s arm with lotus-root powder while Huli ate from the bowl, then received Baili Qing’s call about the sanatorium attack.
• Baili Qing told Yu Sheng that Black Dot Group agents had infiltrated The Crossroads and were probably after the Omen Goddess; Yu Sheng recognized the group as an extremist organization and learned that its members may have come from academic societies.

Baili Qing explained to Yu Sheng how the Black Dot Group grew from an archaeological project into a powerful, dangerous organization devoted to investigating the universe’s ultimate limits. The group had become a vast corporation and extremist power that occupied an illegal star region, and Yu Sheng was left with a clearer sense of why its research made it so feared.

• Baili Qing told Yu Sheng that the Black Dot Group began as an old-world tracing project jointly established by Argraidean Star Nobles and Terra Academy.
• Baili Qing explained that an aggressive excavation changed the project members’ outlook, leading them to break away and form the Black Dot organization.
• Baili Qing described the Technical Black Dot Theory, which claimed that understanding the universe’s ultimate equation would bring the observable universe to an end.
• Huli remarked that the group’s beliefs seemed contradictory, while Yu Sheng and Eileen considered whether its members had become academic terrorists.
• Baili Qing explained that the Black Dot Group’s dangerous research and mental contamination had led many civilizations to label it a high-risk group or terrorist sect.
• Baili Qing said the Black Dot Group had grown into a powerful organization that openly occupied an illegal star region and effectively stood as a nation.

Yu Sheng learned that the Black Dot Group had infiltrated The Crossroads to pursue knowledge connected to the Omen Goddess, and Baili Qing warned him that more agents could be hidden nearby. As Yu Sheng prepared to face them, he discovered that Eileen had secretly used up his stored blood and Huli’s black iron to create forces numbering four regiments.

• Baili Qing explained the Black Dot Group’s vast reach and revealed that its technology had been used to create the deep divers’ umbilical cords.
• Baili Qing told Yu Sheng that Sun Chen had been an Infiltrator who separated himself from his original body, and warned that the Black Dot Group might have other agents hidden in The Crossroads.
• Yu Sheng agreed to contact Baili Qing if he found traces of the agents, then discussed the threat with Huli, Eileen, and Luna.
• Eileen boasted that the Black Dot Group was coming for her, and Luna mocked her by saying she had no knowledge before knocking her down during their scuffle.
• Yu Sheng warned that the agents’ interest in the Omen Goddess’s knowledge could mean many had infiltrated The Crossroads.
• Eileen claimed she commanded four regiments, then admitted she had used Yu Sheng’s stored blood and all the black iron Huli had left behind.

Yu Sheng became concerned that Eileen’s growing number of Mass-produced bodies was changing her mind, so he told her to stop producing more and planned to return to the Dark Alley that evening. Meanwhile, Baili Qing entered the Special Operations Bureau’s shattered Archives and was greeted by an aged voice.

• Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood watched the Mass-produced Eileens work around town, and Little Red Riding Hood explained how they helped with everyday tasks.
• Eileen said that controlling more than three regiments of Mass-produced bodies had made her feel more relaxed and perceptive, though Yu Sheng disagreed that she had become smarter.
• Yu Sheng ordered Eileen to stop making Mass-produced units because he feared an unstable part of her mind was becoming active, and she agreed to trust his judgment.
• Yu Sheng planned to call the King and his recovered eldest nephew that evening before returning to the Dark Alley.
• Baili Qing entered the Special Operations Bureau’s vast, shattered Archives, where an aged voice greeted her as the Colorless Descendant.

Baili Qing used Sun Chen’s memories to open a dangerous inquiry into the Crossroads’ history, while Yu Sheng’s group returned to the Dark Alley to investigate. The chapter ended when the Alley’s entrance reacted by retreating from Yu Sheng instead of opening.

• Baili Qing showed the Crystal Skull visions drawn from Sun Chen’s memories and used the Shattered Tower as a medium for searching the Archives.
• The Crystal Skull warned Baili Qing about the danger and allowed her thirty minutes to seek information, and she touched it as the library began to collapse around her.
• Yu Sheng returned to Qinghe District with Little Red Riding Hood, Huli, Luna, Eileen, and Zheng Zhi to enter the Dark Alley.
• Eileen threaded a connection into Zheng Zhi so she could pull him back if something latched onto him.
• Yu Sheng and Zheng Zhi repeatedly tried to enter the Dark Alley, but its entrance stayed silent before the wall finally retreated half an inch.

Yu Sheng entered Dark Alley after its wall retreated in response to his approach and found the Otherworld covered in black webs trapping cat-like entities. Eileen used Ominous Wandering Star to gain control of the webs, and the group freed one of the trapped cats.

• Yu Sheng noticed the wall leading to Dark Alley retreat whenever he approached it, though the entrance still did not open.
• Yu Sheng imagined and opened a door into Dark Alley, and the King, Zheng Zhi, Luna, Huli, Little Red Riding Hood, and the others followed him inside.
• The group saw black spiderwebs covering Dark Alley and trapping countless cat-like entities, while Yu Sheng briefly recalled a fading impression of the blind prophet Kong Daman.
• Eileen tried to control the web but could not, so Yu Sheng brought Ominous Wandering Star through a small door from No. 66 Wutong Road.
• With Ominous Wandering Star circling her, Eileen began controlling the web and loosened it enough for a trapped cat-like entity to fall to the ground and hiss at the group.

Yu Sheng and his companions investigated the webs spreading through the Dark Alley, discovering that the area was already stuck in its deeper-layer state. Suspecting someone had triggered and maintained that state, they prepared to push through the webs toward the crossroads for clues.

• The King communicated with the local cat and learned the webs had appeared at the crossroads before spreading through the alley, where they had now stopped multiplying.
• Eileen failed to control the distant threads, and Huli found that burning them only caused them to regenerate instantly.
• Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood recognized signs that the Dark Alley was in its deeper layers, where entities could appear.
• Little Red Riding Hood concluded that an unknown visitor had triggered the deeper-layer state and that the alley was being maintained there; she ruled out other investigators because access permits were suspended.
• Yu Sheng recalled information about the Black Dot Group and decided to head for the crossroads, asking Eileen to clear a path through the webs.

Baili Qing left the Pale Library with evidence that the Dark Angels had coordinated to build the World Bridge, while she and Baili Xue wondered about Eileen’s role in the ancient descent. In the Dark Alley, Yu Sheng and Eileen pushed through the invasive webs and encountered a strange technological device.

• Baili Qing returned from the Pale Library with new clues, and the crystal skull told her to stay away for seven days.
• Baili Qing told Baili Xue that Dark Angels had helped build the World Bridge and that Eileen’s unexplained appearance was suspicious.
• Baili Qing decided to seek information from Terra and take Baili Xue to the Nth Floor for purification after the Archives’ illusions imitated her voice.
• Yu Sheng and Eileen advanced through the Dark Alley as Eileen struggled to move the hostile webs blocking their way.
• Yu Sheng spotted a buzzing silver-white device that could not have originally belonged in the Dark Alley.

Yu Sheng and his companions discovered a strange device in Dark Alley, then witnessed a passage open into a laboratory where armed personnel attacked them. The passage closed after Luna crossed through and captured one unconscious guard for questioning.

• Yu Sheng found a damaged silver-white device at the crossroads and sent photos to Baili Qing, asking the Special Operations Bureau to investigate it.
• Zheng Zhi sensed rifts opening along the webs, and the rifts joined into a passage leading to a laboratory filled with researchers and armed guards.
• After someone on the other side declared a Class III accident, the researchers retreated as the guards fired at Yu Sheng's group.
• Eileen tried to hold the passage open with webs while Yu Sheng's companions returned fire, and Yu Sheng ordered them to capture enemies alive.
• Luna dashed through the passage before it closed and returned with one unconscious armed guard.

Yu Sheng brought a captured Black Dot Group soldier from Dark Alley to the Special Operations Bureau, where Baili Qing ordered an investigation of the strange device and passage. Reviewing Luna’s recording, they concluded the passage may have been part of an experiment and focused on a black object at the center of the laboratory.

• Luna captured an armed man from the other side of the passage before it collapsed, and Yu Sheng took him to the Special Operations Bureau.
• Song Cheng identified the prisoner as a Black Dot Group soldier deployed domestically, prompting Baili Qing to send a team into Dark Alley and order the prisoner taken to the medical center and then prison.
• Luna revealed that she had recorded the encounter and projected the footage for Baili Qing and Yu Sheng.
• Baili Xue pointed out that the people across the passage had seemed surprised, and Baili Qing suggested the passage might have been part of a teleportation experiment.
• Baili Qing identified a black object floating above the laboratory platform as the apparent core of the facility, leaving Yu Sheng wondering what it was.

Yu Sheng and Baili Qing discovered that the Black Dot Laboratory’s artifact bore a mark linked to the Omen Goddess, and suspected the group had secret routes into the Crossroads. They went to the Bureau’s unusually extreme medical zone after learning the captured Black Dot soldier had awakened.

• Luna enhanced the black fragment’s markings, and Yu Sheng recognized them as matching a piece of the Ominous Banner associated with the Omen Goddess.
• Baili Qing and Baili Xue speculated that the Black Dot Group’s experiments had opened a passage into the Crossroads and might have created other hidden routes there.
• A messenger told Baili Qing that the Black Dot soldier had awakened, so Yu Sheng and the others headed to the medical zone on the seventy-seventh floor.
• On the way, Baili Qing revealed that she had read Yu Sheng’s stories and asked whether he would write more, leaving him flustered.
• Yu Sheng saw alien beasts fighting outside the medical zone before a heavily armored hospital guard went out and killed them.