Chapter Summaries

Lin Yu defeated the fighters at the Demon Pig Bar and learned that the Fairy Queen ruled Gray Street Three. The Fairy Queen summoned him, and Old Zheng identified her agent as an alchemical creation.

• Lin Yu beat the challengers at the Demon Pig Bar without damaging his face, increasing Sherlock's reputation among Gray Street Three's residents.
• The Butcher apologized and asked what Lin Yu wanted, but Lin Yu dismissed him as unimportant and asked who held more power on Gray Street Three.
• A messenger announced that the Fairy Queen had invited Lin Yu to a discussion.
• The Butcher explained that the Fairy Queen had unified Gray Street Three five years earlier, imposed a set of rules, and punished those who broke them.
• The Butcher revealed that the messenger was a corpse animated by a strange power, and Old Zheng said it was alchemy.

Lin Yu followed a corpse through Gray Street Three’s utility tunnels to meet the Fairy Queen, whose true appearance and collection of bodies revealed a terrifying presence. The chapter left him suspecting that she was as powerful as the Nightless Sky Family Head.

• Lin Yu asked Old Zheng to analyze the Fairy Queen, and Old Zheng inferred that her self-chosen title suggested confidence, arrogance, and a desire for mystery.
• The corpse guide led Lin Yu into a utility tunnel jointly built by the Three Great Corporations.
• After about ten minutes, the corpse guide collapsed, having completed its mission.
• Lin Yu found a maintenance alcove filled with rows of corpses and a girl with black eyes seated behind a desk.
• The girl greeted Lin Yu through a loudspeaker, and he addressed her as the Fairy Queen while sensing her overwhelming presence.

Lin Yu met the Fairy Queen underground, where she revealed that she knew he was investigating Contract C-77 and wanted Alter Mercury dead. She offered him help, but Lin Yu called them potential cooperation partners rather than friends and insisted that friendship required honesty and trust.

• The Fairy Queen confronted Lin Yu about the deaths of three intermediaries and said she had seen their deaths entangled around him.
• The Fairy Queen revealed that she was interested in Lin Yu because he was investigating Contract C-77.
• The Fairy Queen explained that Alter Mercury was a Chosen of God and that the contract’s possible deaths mattered more to her than the intermediaries’ deaths.
• The Fairy Queen said she wanted Alter Mercury to die and offered Lin Yu assistance because their interests aligned.
• Lin Yu said their shared interests made them cooperation partners, not friends, and stressed the need for honesty and trust.

Lin Yu negotiated with the Fairy Queen about the C-77 commission and learned that a planned disturbance would disrupt Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s coming-of-age banquet. He exposed the corpse’s disguise, leaving the Fairy Queen revealed as Nightless Sky Fire Apricot.

• The Fairy Queen said she could not reveal her full identity and told Lin Yu that a three-minute disturbance would begin when the banquet bell rang for the second time.
• The Fairy Queen admitted that she had caused the disturbance and suggested the issuer of the C-77 commission would likely appear once it was completed.
• The Fairy Queen accused Lin Yu of killing three intermediaries and letting Black Snake escape, but Lin Yu denied involvement and explained that leaked commission details could help him.
• The Fairy Queen asked whether Lin Yu intended to pursue Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, and Lin Yu refused to answer while the speaker still came from a corpse.
• Lin Yu called the corpse Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and asked her to stop playing dead, prompting her to speak through the corpse’s mouth and admit he had seen through her.

Lin Yu explained how he recognized Nightless Sky Fire Apricot beneath her corpse disguise and admitted he had pursued her to attend her coming-of-age ceremony and help arrange Alter Mercury’s assassination. Fire Apricot accepted his explanation and asked him to make the pretense convincing by giving her an interesting birthday present.

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot revived herself, removed her prosthetic Dim Crystal eyes, and revealed her red eyes and identity to Lin Yu.
• Lin Yu explained that the corpse’s unnatural placement had made him suspect her disguise, though Old Zheng had actually seen that her soul was alive.
• Lin Yu reasoned that Fire Apricot belonged to the Nightless Sky Family and identified her from her knowledge, hidden identity, and way of asking about herself.
• Fire Apricot asked why Lin Yu had pursued her, and he admitted he needed an excuse to attend her coming-of-age ceremony and ensure Alter Mercury’s assassination plan proceeded.
• Fire Apricot said she was disappointed but accepted being used, then told Lin Yu to pretend to pursue her properly and give her an interesting birthday present.

Lin Yu questioned Nightless Sky Fire Apricot about her birthday gift and learned more about her chaotic nature and her role as the Fairy Queen of Gray Street Three. The chapter ended with Old Zheng realizing that Nightless Sky Fire Apricot had made the corpses into external organs of her own body.

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot asked Lin Yu for one hundred million in cash, then requested a pair of living orcas when he refused.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot admitted that she acted on instinct around nobles and described several disruptive acts, including releasing modified biological weapons and dumping nobles in the Great Wilderness.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot explained that she acted as the Fairy Queen of Gray Street Three partly to stop her mother from considering her as an heir.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot revealed that she had mastered four Advanced Alchemies and one Supreme Alchemy by age eleven and developed her own alchemical system.
• Old Zheng realized that Nightless Sky Fire Apricot had refined the corpses into external organs of her own body.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot revealed that she wanted Alter Mercury’s death to disrupt her family and delay an arranged marriage, while Lin Yu investigated who might have posted the C-77 commission. She also warned Lin Yu that the Heavenly Scroll was a particularly dangerous Divine Artifact, and explained what it could contain.

• Lin Yu challenged Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s claim that Alter Mercury’s death would simply make things more entertaining, and she admitted she wanted chaos to postpone an alliance marriage.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot asked Lin Yu to help ensure the C-77 commission caused a major upheaval, and described the team as poorly suited to the task.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot named Qiu Xinliu, Larry Solence, Alter Mercury, and possibly the Nightless Sky Family Head as suspects behind the commission.
• Lin Yu said he had no choice but to pursue Alter Mercury’s death, and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot accepted that his role as a Player constrained him.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot warned Lin Yu that the Heavenly Scroll was a vicious Divine Artifact and said it could store and draw upon concepts inherent in things, including natural forces, time, and the Laws governing all things.

Lin Yu learned more about the Royal Nobles’ alchemy and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s abilities, then discovered how she used the underground gas pipelines. Nightless Sky Fire Apricot left to return to her family, telling Lin Yu to meet her on her birthday.

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot explained that Alter Mercury could store time and potentially resurrect someone who had died only seconds earlier.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot claimed that admitting they were friends would let her control Lin Yu’s corpse after his death, but Lin Yu saw through the lie with his Mind-Reading Mirror.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said she was happy to have made a friend and told Lin Yu that her elder sister Huo Le would likely withdraw the warrant against him soon.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot explained that she used the underground gas pipelines to travel and kept people out while feeding the rats that lived there.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot left for the Nightless Sky Family and told Lin Yu to see her on her birthday and bring her a present.

Lin Yu returned to the Demon Pig Bar, where Truth Company security squads and Nightless Sky Family guards had subdued Gray Street Three after a violent crackdown. Nightless Sky Huo Le and Paris awaited him, and Paris apologized after Huo Le made Stiller shock him for disrespecting Sherlock.

• Lin Yu returned to the Demon Pig Bar and found Truth Company squads surrounding it and Gray Street Three residents and gang leaders detained.
• Lin Yu saw Nightless Sky Huo Le and Paris waiting inside among the subdued locals and signs of bloodshed.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le explained that she had withdrawn Lin Yu's wanted warrant and come after hearing he was under attack in Gray Street Three.
• Lin Yu corrected Huo Le, saying he had surrounded the locals, and The Butcher backed him up.
• Paris ordered Stiller to shock The Butcher, then Huo Le challenged Paris for disregarding Sherlock's words.
• Paris endured a minute of electric shocks from Stiller, then apologized to Sherlock, who accepted the apology.

Lin Yu returned safely after Nightless Sky Huo Le intervened in Gray Street Three, and she warned him about the mysterious Fairy Queen. When Lin Yu revealed that the Fairy Queen was Nightless Sky Huo Le’s sister, Huo Le rejected the claim as impossible.

• Nightless Sky Huo Le let the gang members from Gray Street Three live, though the ringleaders would face investigation and detention.
• In the car, Nightless Sky Huo Le scolded Lin Yu for risking danger and explained that she had used the arrests to expand her influence in Gray Street Three.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le warned Lin Yu that people who investigated the Fairy Queen had vanished without a trace and urged him not to get involved with her.
• Lin Yu told Nightless Sky Huo Le that he knew the Fairy Queen’s identity and said she was her sister.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le dismissed Lin Yu’s claim, arguing that Nightless Sky Fire Apricot could not have ruled Gray Street Three while growing up under strict confinement.

Lin Yu told Nightless Sky Huo Le that someone had commissioned an assassination of a Royal Noble at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s coming-of-age ceremony. Huo Le went to warn her mother while sending Lin Yu to the Truth Tower, and Lin Yu revealed he had never planned to accompany her.

• Lin Yu told Nightless Sky Huo Le that he had prepared a gift for Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and explained that the Solence Family had not framed him at the Heavenly White Jade Palace.
• Lin Yu admitted that he had killed three intermediaries after uncovering a commission to assassinate a Royal Noble at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s coming-of-age ceremony.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le feared the attack could devastate her family and asked Lin Yu what he had learned about the target and client.
• Lin Yu said the target was likely a Royal Noble who had not appeared publicly in a long time, but he had found no leads on the client.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le decided to report the threat to her mother and arranged for Lin Yu to go to the Truth Tower instead of joining her.
• Lin Yu told Nightless Sky Huo Le that he had not intended to go with her to warn the Family Head.

Lin Yu met President Paris at Truth Tower and learned why Paris had deliberately let Nightless Sky Huo Le reprimand him. Paris then asked Lin Yu to bring a mysterious person into Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s coming-of-age ceremony to steal something, offering him a benefit in return.

• Paris greeted Lin Yu at Truth Tower and escorted him to his office, where Lin Yu asked why Paris had provoked Nightless Sky Huo Le at Demon Pig Bar.
• Paris explained that he had let Huo Le scold him to deflect criticism over her use of armed forces and to discourage people from targeting Lin Yu.
• Paris admitted he also wanted to mend his relationship with Lin Yu after their earlier conflict on the train.
• Paris asked Lin Yu to bring an unidentified person into Fire Apricot’s coming-of-age ceremony to steal one of the valuable gifts, promising Lin Yu a reward.

Lin Yu learned that President Paris wanted to recruit him for a mission involving stolen Advanced Alchemy and discovered that his supposed contact was Nightless Sky Huo Ming. He realized Huo Ming planned to assassinate Arter Mercury, a detail Paris himself had not known.

• Lin Yu pressed Paris about the mission’s payment, and Paris offered him a branch of original Advanced Alchemy.
• Paris brought in the red-haired woman, and Lin Yu recognized her as someone he already knew.
• The woman revealed that she was Nightless Sky Huo Ming and warned Paris that privately possessing or trading Advanced Alchemy was a serious offense.
• Lin Yu inferred that Huo Ming had secretly returned from the Great Wilderness without her mother’s knowledge.
• Lin Yu revealed that Huo Ming’s mission was to assassinate Arter Mercury, and Huo Ming confirmed that Paris had not known about the assassination.

Lin Yu used Paris and Huo Ming’s secrets to force them into cooperating on the plan to assassinate Arter Mercury. The three revised the commission and arranged support for Huo Ming’s infiltration of Huo Xing’s coming-of-age ceremony.

• Lin Yu revealed that he knew Huo Ming planned to act independently and had prepared a small alliance, then promised to keep the secret from Paris.
• Lin Yu warned Paris that his private contact with Huo Ming could look like collusion, so Paris agreed to support the plan wholeheartedly.
• Lin Yu revised the commission: he would bring Huo Ming into the ceremony while Paris created a distraction and supplied elite personnel, including Stiller.
• Lin Yu told Huo Ming to provide people for the operation and make use of Zhu Rong, whom Huo Ming had rescued.
• Huo Ming revealed that the Divine Power Group would send a box of Jade Laurel leaves, and Lin Yu demanded half if the operation succeeded.

Lin Yu finalized his cooperation with President Paris and Nightless Sky Huo Ming, securing help for the remaining parts of his plan before Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s birthday party. He then disguised himself and entered the Divine Power Group’s research department, where he heard rumors about an assassin hired to kill a Royal Noble.

• Nightless Sky Huo Ming agreed to give Lin Yu half of the Jade Laurel, and Lin Yu confirmed his cooperation with her and President Paris.
• Lin Yu asked Paris to prepare a large, sealed transparent container for his gift to Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, then asked Huo Ming for help using her connections in the Great Wilderness.
• After leaving Truth Tower, Lin Yu changed into a Divine Power Group technician’s outfit and entered the company’s campus with Old Zheng helping conceal him.
• Lin Yu reached the Divine Power Group’s crowded technical research department and heard technicians discussing a commission to assassinate a Royal Noble.

As rumors spread that a Royal Noble would be assassinated at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot's coming-of-age ceremony, Nightless Sky Huo Le and Paris strengthened the Nightless Sky Family's security and tried to quell suspicion. Nightless Sky Huo Le grew concerned when Sherlock became a popular suspect and remained missing after promising to prepare surprises.

• Paris inspected the Nightless Sky Family's heightened defenses, while Nightless Sky Huo Le admitted she still feared they might not be enough.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le reviewed reports showing rumors had spread from suspicion of the Nightless Sky Family to accusations against prominent Royal Nobles, including herself.
• Paris reassured Nightless Sky Huo Le that the rumors were unreliable and that their security preparations were thorough.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le found Sherlock among the most popular assassination suspects and dismissed the claim as absurd.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le worried that Sherlock's disappearance for nearly a day was allowing the rumors to grow and wondered what surprises he was preparing.

President Paris took the spreading rumors as a sign that he and Sherlock were safer, and he expected Sherlock’s gift to arrive before Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s birthday celebration. Sherlock’s gift arrived ahead of the other offerings: an elaborate aquarium containing a living Pink Octopus, which astonished the guests.

• President Paris told Nightless Sky Huo Le not to worry about Sherlock and said Sherlock’s gift should arrive soon.
• The Saint Orchid Family, Solence Family, Mercury, and Autumn Family sent their gifts to the Nightless Sky Family, followed by other nobles and officials.
• Stiller drove President Paris’s pickup truck to the side entrance and explained that Sherlock had ordered him to deliver the gift quickly.
• The servants uncovered a large ornamental aquarium filled with seaweed and coral, revealing a living Pink Octopus inside.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le and the surrounding guests admired the rare gift and accepted that it had been allowed to arrive ahead of the other offerings.

At the exhibition hall before Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s coming-of-age banquet, Sherlock’s octopus aquarium drew attention as guests discussed his ties to recent conflicts. President Paris spotted a dangerous stranger posing as a waiter, but let him continue because he suspected Sherlock had arranged him.

• Guests admired Sherlock’s pink octopus aquarium and discussed his pursuit of Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and his connections to the Nightless Sky and Saint Orchid families.
• The guests connected Sherlock to the Assassinate King Commission and the recent killings and disputes in the City That Never Sleeps.
• President Paris noticed a tall, thin man carrying heavy bags without an employee ID and questioned him.
• Paris gave the man a spare Truth Company ID card and told him to return to work.
• Paris recognized the man as a hostile, bloodied Wild Dog from the outer city, but let him go because he thought Sherlock had arranged him.

Bone Spur infiltrated the Nightless Sky Family’s exhibition hall by posing as a Truth Company employee, believing his disguise had gone unnoticed despite heightened security. As the ceremony approached, Saint Orchid Kui arrived early and complained to Paris about the placement of the exhibits, including his gift.

• Bone Spur explained how he had bribed a Truth Company employee and used an old uniform to infiltrate the venue, where the president had unknowingly given him a valid ID card.
• A Truth Company team leader sent Bone Spur to serve wine while Paris discussed the heightened security and missing team leader with the vice president of Divine Power Group.
• Servants announced Saint Orchid Kui’s arrival, and the guests bowed as the Royal Noble entered the exhibition hall.
• Saint Orchid Kui questioned Paris about the exhibition’s arrangement, accepted that Sherlock’s aquarium belonged in the center, and objected that his own sculpture had been placed in a far corner.

Saint Orchid Kui proudly displayed his hand-carved statue of Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and waited for Sherlock to arrive, convinced he had already won her favor. Alter Mercury arrived at the exhibition hall and gave Saint Orchid Kui Essence of Life for his bedridden mother, leaving Kui feeling guilty about accepting an assassination commission.

• Paris moved Saint Orchid Kui's mislabeled statue into a prominent display case after Kui explained that he had carved it himself for Nightless Sky Fire Apricot.
• Paris and the Divine Power Group vice president distracted themselves by discussing bubbles in the aquarium while avoiding criticism of Kui's statue.
• Saint Orchid Kui listed his reasons for believing he had surpassed Sherlock, then asked Paris when Sherlock would arrive.
• Alter Mercury entered the exhibition hall, exchanged respectful greetings with Saint Orchid Kui, and asked about Kui's parents.
• Alter Mercury gave Saint Orchid Kui Essence of Life to take to his mother, and Saint Orchid Kui felt ashamed of accepting an assassination commission.