Recaps

The narrator accompanied Fivell’s team out of the fog and back toward Lairding, hoping to reach the vampires’ gathering and find Olyntel. Dark Moon’s power had reversed day into night, and the chapter ended with Amira revealing that the art museum had been closed indefinitely.

• The narrator persuaded Fivell to take him to the western district, while Fivell ordered the team to keep the expedition’s events secret.
• Fivell’s team brought Harriet and the others out of the ruins, keeping the narrator under close watch as they traveled through the fog.
• The team emerged from the fog beneath a night sky, confirming that Dark Moon had reversed day and night.
• The narrator told Amira that her self-doubt was a sign of growth, then asked her to request more time off from the art museum.
• Amira told the narrator that the art museum had been closed indefinitely and that no one could enter or leave.

Fu Qian was taken to a secure Church cell after the Church decided to keep him under watch, but he escaped by drawing the Templar Lady into Clear Dream. He then headed toward the highest point of the building.

• Fu Qian confirmed that the Church had likely left the painting in place and asked about his pay.
• Fivell ordered Amira and Reginald to leave and took Simon with the Church, limiting his contact with others.
• The Templar Lady escorted Fu Qian to a specially restricted cell in the Western District Church, where his Blood Conquest ability no longer worked.
• After the Templar Lady shut the cell door, she returned and found Fu Qian missing despite the undamaged walls.
• Fu Qian emerged from Clear Dream, passed the sleeping Templar Lady, and made his way toward the building's highest point.

Fu Qian escaped the cell by using Clear Dream twice on the Saint Hall Lady, then disguised himself as Herbert and climbed toward the temple’s upper reaches. He encountered the Tall Hat Elder, who attacked and called for help as Fu Qian struck back with a monstrous arm and answered with a violent gospel.

• Fu Qian tricked the Saint Hall Lady into releasing him from the law-forged cage with two consecutive Clear Dreams.
• The Saint Hall Lady realized Fu Qian had escaped, locked the cell, and hurried off to report the disappearance.
• Fu Qian climbed the stairs, transformed into Herbert, and covered himself with a curtain used as a cloak.
• The Tall Hat Elder recognized Fu Qian and attacked him with bloodred thorny growths.
• Fu Qian tore through the thorns and wounded half the Tall Hat Elder’s body, and the elder wailed for help.
• Fu Qian responded to the Tall Hat Elder’s call with a violent gospel.

Fu Qian infiltrated the vampires’ meeting despite their attempt to isolate him, then killed the Elder who attacked him. He took the Elder’s seat and asked the assembled vampires whether he had missed anything.

• Fu Qian discovered that the Church’s emergency signal could not cross the strange space overlapping the tower, and continued toward the vampires’ meeting.
• Fu Qian concluded the Tall Hat Elder had been placed in his path as a puppet and reached the meeting hall, where Jacques watched from the corner.
• The Elder refused Fu Qian a seat and attacked him with the Veiled Saw, inflicting wounds with every step he took.
• Fu Qian rang a bell that briefly stripped the Elder of the stars’ favor, then crushed him with his Mythical Form.
• Fu Qian turned off Mythical Form, took the Elder’s heart, sat in his empty seat, and asked whether he had missed anything.

Fu Qian killed the vampire Elder Shafar after escaping his trap, then claimed to be the Dark Moon’s First and Seventh Apostle as the vampires debated whether to attack him. Madam Number Two called on Jacques to repeat what he had told her, leaving the gathering on the verge of another revelation.

• Fu Qian used his Mythical Form and Eternal Clarity of Thought to break through the Stars’ protection and kill Shafar, destroying his body and heart’s life force.
• A tall vampire named Bally questioned Fu Qian, who introduced himself as Herbert Gulad, the Dark Moon’s First Apostle and Seventh Apostle.
• Madam Number Two urged the vampires to kill Fu Qian, but Bally warned that he could kill whoever made the suggestion and confirmed Shafar was beyond resurrection.
• Madam Number Two called on Jacques to tell the others what he had told her earlier.

Jacques testified that Mr. Herbert had corrupted the law and shattered Jacques's shared bloodline gift, and Fu Qian confirmed he had used his distortion to do so. The vampires hesitated to attack Fu Qian after seeing his power, and he moved the gathering on to the next agenda item.

• Jacques said he had met Mr. Herbert in an ordinary family and that Mr. Herbert broke free of his restraints and corrupted the law.
• Jacques revealed that he had shared his bloodline gift with Mr. Herbert and that Mr. Herbert had shattered it; he said the Order might have records of the incident.
• Bally asked Fu Qian whether he had used his distortion to purge the gift, and Fu Qian confirmed that he had.
• Fu Qian called the vampires unstable beings and provoked their anger, but none of them attacked him after witnessing his one-hit kill.
• Madam Number Two urged the vampires to attack, but they held back, so Fu Qian called for the next agenda item and asked Jacques about the cause of the earlier unusual case.

Fu Qian led the vampires into discussing Jacques's case, in which a girl's condition worsened after his blessing and subsequent treatments were distorted. He revealed that he had known the outcome of her illness, ending with a cryptic remark about dreams and waking.

• After Shafar's death, Fu Qian directed the vampires to begin the case review, and Lady Bally encouraged Jacques to speak.
• Jacques explained that his blessing had made a girl's eyes grow without limit after she wandered into the fog outside the city.
• Jacques said his attempt to restore the girl to her former state caused her body and voice to revert, and that sharing the vampire's gift also became distorted.
• Lady Bally asked Fu Qian how he had diagnosed the girl's recovery, and he said he had already known the outcome.
• Fu Qian denied using divination and said, "The final destination of every dream is waking up."

Fu Qian used a sudden shift from day to night and Shafar’s death to convince the vampires that he had guided them into their gathering, then redirected their discussion to the Mist’s Abandoned. Lady Bally explained that the Abandoned and the Mist were remnants of a world-encompassing curse tied to time, and that Lairding was now the only place left in the world.

• Fu Qian implied that he had caused the nightfall to bring the vampires’ gathering forward, and they connected his arrival and Shafar’s death to his supposed guidance.
• Lady Bally challenged Fu Qian to prove that they were trapped in a nightmare, but he dismissed the demand and returned the gathering to its main topic.
• Fu Qian asked Jacques why the vampires blamed the Mist’s Abandoned for the patient’s condition, and Jacques said they had ruled out other causes.
• Fu Qian described how the cult had enabled the Abandoned to project fused forms into a special dream, then asked the vampires what they knew about them.
• Lady Bally said the Abandoned and the Mist were remnants of a time-related curse that encompassed the world, and confirmed that Lairding was the only place left.

Fu Qian discussed the cast-off and Jian’s distorted constitution with Bally, who rejected Jacques’s theory that lingering exposure to the mist had caused it. As the debate ended, Fu Qian reminded Jacques that he had proposed another possible cause during their earlier consultation.

• Fu Qian agreed with Bally’s assessment of the ruined city and asked whether vampires sensed one another through the stars.
• Bally said the cast-off were the mist itself and argued that they lacked the power to give Jian her unusual constitution merely through lingering influence.
• Madam Number Two warned Bally to stop, but Bally threatened her and pointed out that the vampires around them would not avenge her.
• Bally said the cast-off could bypass some rules but remained vulnerable to the Gun of Death, and that their abilities depended on the mist.
• Jacques asked what else could explain Jian’s condition, and Bally turned to Fu Qian for his opinion.
• Fu Qian told Jacques he had seemed to doze off during their previous consultation and asked whether he remembered the other possibility Fu Qian had mentioned.

Fu Qian challenged the vampires to consider that the stars, rather than their laws, were flawed, then questioned Jacques about how vampire blessings worked. Bally realized the stars might have distorted Jian’s blessing, and Fu Qian suggested the vampires could be unaffected because they received theirs before the fog appeared.

• Fu Qian provoked the vampires by arguing that their conclusion about the stars had been forgotten, while Jacques and the others reacted with anger.
• Bally admitted the vampires could not threaten Fu Qian that night and asked why he was raising the issue; Fu Qian urged her to consider what would follow if the stars were flawed.
• Fu Qian asked Jacques how he had blessed the patient, and Jacques explained that vampires used flesh and blood as a hidden vessel for the stars to engrave a lasting mark.
• Jacques realized that flawed stars could distort the blessing they engraved, and Bally concluded that Jian’s distorted gift might have come from the stars rather than from Jian.
• When a vampire asked why they were not affected, Bally asked whether Fu Qian thought their blessings had been received before the fog appeared.

Fu Qian challenged the vampires’ belief in the stars after the Dark Moon altered the night, and Madam Number Two proposed that he came from a different reality hidden behind a painting. The debate ended with her still intent on killing him, while Fu Qian invited the others to respond.

• Lady Bally agreed with Jacques that the stars could not be wrong, but Fu Qian asked whether night still followed dawn after the Dark Moon appeared.
• Lady Bally admitted the change was extraordinary and said she wanted an explanation for it and for Fu Qian’s shattering of the shared vampire blessing.
• Madam Number Two argued that Fu Qian came from a reality hidden behind a different painting and had used his appearance as Anke to divert the vampires’ attention.
• Madam Number Two claimed the Dark Moon was connected to an ancient law, but Fu Qian countered that her theory implied he had a more noble bloodline than the vampires.
• Madam Number Two said the vampires would retain their noble bloodline if Fu Qian died, and Fu Qian asked whether anyone else had anything to add.

Fu Qian stopped Madam Number Two from turning the vampires against him and finished questioning Bally about the World Within the Painting and vampire customs. He left the hall with the door’s seal lifted and flew into the night, planning to return to work.

• Madam Number Two argued that Fu Qian was a threat and urged the vampires to kill him or make him a Blood Slave.
• Madam Number Two sprouted enormous blood-patterned wings and retreated after Fu Qian used Thread of Concern on her, ending her attempt to incite the room.
• Fu Qian asked the vampires whether they had anything else to add, and Bally said she had no further knowledge but could lift his restrictions if he wanted to leave.
• Fu Qian asked why vampires drank blood, and Bally explained that they liked its taste rather than needing it for food.
• Fu Qian left through the unsealed door, unfolded his Bizarre Wings, and descended into the night.

Fu Qian used Clear Dream and the King of Prison Break’s Calamity Authority to explore the stars corresponding to reality, then triggered a calamity that sent their light raining down as meteors.

• Fu Qian slipped into the art gallery and returned to the corner where his painting was displayed.
• He activated Clear Dream around the painting, then transformed into the King of Prison Break.
• Fu Qian surveyed the dream and reality through the Calamity Authority, using Scarlet Fine Wine to sharpen his grasp of the stars and laws.
• He selected the starry sky corresponding to reality within the dream and waited for the calamity to reach its limit.
• Fu Qian triggered the calamity, and the stars stopped twinkling before their light flared and became a rain of meteors.

Fu Qian used the painting to enter the hidden studio and found that the Pope’s artwork had preserved a passage between the gallery and the painted world. He left the studio and reached a silent hall, where a figure rested against a throne.

• Fu Qian maintained Mythical Form as he studied the painting and noticed reality becoming blurred and detached from its surroundings.
• Fu Qian let the painting’s power draw him into the hidden studio, where he found a faded painting of Lairding’s art gallery.
• Fu Qian recognized the painting as the Pope’s work and judged it inferior to Tan Ying’s.
• Fu Qian left the studio and crossed the dark, snowbound grounds, finding no sign of life or the seven lights in the sky.
• Fu Qian entered a magnificent hall and saw a figure leaning against a throne as if asleep.

Fu Qian met the fading shadow of Pope Nirgalia in the Dark Moon Church and swallowed her, triggering a rapid loss of life force. Back in the art gallery, he concluded that the Witch might still exist somewhere in the world, but he had less than a day to live and his attempts to stop the drain failed.

• Fu Qian found Pope Nirgalia’s sleeping figure in the Dark Moon Church and reached out to clasp her hand as she faded away.
• Fu Qian swallowed the Pope’s fading shadow, causing the church to collapse and sending him back to the art gallery.
• Fu Qian realized the shadow’s power was draining his life force and inferred that the Witch might still be present in the world.
• Fu Qian estimated he had less than twenty-four hours to live and pulled Blasphemous Embrace and Sweet Dream Head Cage from his wounds.
• Fu Qian put on Sweet Dream Head Cage, but it failed to slow the loss of his life force.

Fu Qian investigated the Witch’s traces, wore the head cage to confirm that the world around him was real, and planted evidence to mislead the cult and vampires into searching for another painting. He returned to Anke’s rented house and surprised Amira by coming home from his night shift.

• Fu Qian kept wearing the head cage, collected the Blasphemous Embrace, and left the art gallery after finishing his shift.
• He used Blood Conquest to appear before Reginald’s search squad, then vanished and left blood traces for them to find.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Witch had left something hidden in the World Within the Painting and that she might be dead or in an abnormal condition.
• He returned to the house Anke had rented, removed the head cage after more than an hour, and confirmed that the surroundings still looked real.
• Fu Qian quietly entered the house, passed the sleeping Mrs. Harper, and surprised Amira in his room.

Fu Qian returned to Mrs. Harper’s home injured after visiting the art gallery and found Amira waiting in his room. He questioned her motives and nudged her to reflect on her experiences with nightmares before she left, then discovered a red-wax-sealed envelope outside the door.

• Fu Qian put on a coat and ate leftover dessert while Amira questioned him about his injuries and escape.
• Fu Qian challenged Amira about sneaking into his room, and she admitted she did not know why she had come.
• Fu Qian told Amira the people at the art gallery were fine and asked whether she had ever felt the same way in her nightmares.
• Amira asked to leave, and Fu Qian let her go after reminding her not to wake Mrs. Harper.
• Fu Qian cleared away the dishes, opened the door, and found an envelope sealed with red wax outside.

Fu Qian received another Warehouse containment task and entered its scene despite his worsening wounds and dwindling time to save the Witch. He arrived shackled in a guarded facility with no task description or containment conditions, and considered whether to proceed.

• Fu Qian found the carefully preserved letter Mrs. Harper had left for him and read the updated Warehouse task.
• Fu Qian reflected on the Pope, the stars, and his limited time to find and rescue the Witch before heading to the task.
• Fu Qian followed the rearranged traversal sequence and entered Containment Scene 1-119 with his abilities and items intact.
• Fu Qian found himself shackled to a bed in a guarded cell and saw ordinary prisoners in the corridor.
• Fu Qian assessed his situation and wondered whether to continue the task.

Fu Qian watched visitors arrive at the prison, only to discover they were seeking his neighbor, Esther. Mariana revealed that she and her companion had come to rescue Esther, and the inmate finally responded as the chapter ended.

• Fu Qian watched three visitors approach the end of the corridor, then realized they had stopped at Esther's cell instead of his.
• Dean Glen explained that Esther believed she was a nine-year-old girl and had massacred at least four families.
• Mariana threatened Dean Glen with Murderous Weapon and forced him to unlock Esther's cell.
• Mariana introduced herself and told Esther that she knew she really was nine years and five months old.
• Esther raised her head and looked at the moving patterns on Mariana's hand, while Fu Qian reconsidered the value of his mission.

Fu Qian watched Mariana confront Esther with a strange, vine-like power and insist that Esther had lived in another world as a nine-year-old girl. Esther continued to deny it, while Mariana’s display silenced Dean Glen and left her pressing Esther to remember.

• Mariana revealed a physical, vine-like technique and stabbed Dean Glen, catching Fu Qian’s interest.
• Mariana told Esther that she had seen the technique before in the world she inhabited at age nine.
• Esther insisted she was thirty-three, had always lived in Lairding, and had never been to another world.
• Mariana said she saw a confused, hurt nine-year-old girl in Esther and questioned her about forgotten dreams.
• Glen tried to stop Mariana from worsening Esther’s symptoms, but Mariana silenced him with her bloodstained vines and asked Esther whether she remembered.

Mariana convinced Esther that her life in the orphanage beneath the stars was real and that her current world was a nightmare, then told her to wait for a gift before leaving. Fu Qian realized the mission involved people trapped in a nightmare, while Mariana’s team knocked out Glen and prepared to erase the listeners’ memories.

• Mariana prompted Esther to recall the orphanage, the stars, and Lady Raven, leading Esther to accept that her current reality was a nightmare.
• Esther asked whether she could become like Mariana, and Mariana said Esther would receive a gift if she stopped resisting awakening.
• Mariana told Esther to remain in the prison and wait for the gift, warning that the nightmare would react violently if they took her away by force.
• Esther worried Glen would reveal what he had heard, so Mariana’s teammate knocked him unconscious with a green mist and said he would forget the conversation.
• Mariana said the person eavesdropping next door would forget even more thoroughly, while Fu Qian recognized the similarities to the nightmare victims he had encountered.

Fu Qian met Ben, one of the Nightmare Awakened Ones, and studied the strange memory-erasing power he had used on Dean Glen. Mariana interrupted Ben before he could enter Fu Qian’s cell, then challenged Fu Qian’s claim that he had opened his eyes after learning his identity as Gorimshaw.

• Fu Qian greeted Ben calmly after overhearing him deal with Dean Glen, and admitted he had deliberately eavesdropped.
• Fu Qian considered how the Awakened Ones’ gifts differed from the Laws wielded by cultists and linked their powers to the changes caused by the mist.
• Ben unlocked Fu Qian’s cell after Fu Qian said half a year would be enough to open his eyes.
• Mariana stopped Ben and questioned Fu Qian’s claim, then described Gorimshaw as a doctor and painter imprisoned for murdering and eating his critics.
• Fu Qian confirmed the identity and said he had ended up imprisoned because he had eaten the wrong things.

Fu Qian used the stars and his own transformation to challenge Mariana’s understanding of the nightmare and reveal the vampires’ connection to the Dark Moon. The chapter ended with Esther standing outside her cell in a daze as Fu Qian declared that vampires would carry out the Dark Moon’s will.

• Mariana questioned Fu Qian about his murders and asked what he had seen when he opened his eyes.
• Fu Qian asked Mariana to open the sealed skylight, then confirmed that the stars belonged to a different sky than the one he had seen before.
• Fu Qian told Mariana that her perception of the truth was incomplete, and she delayed leaving so she could hear his explanation.
• Fu Qian revealed his vampire eyes and fangs, then explained that vampires served the Dark Moon.
• A flash of moonlight enveloped Fu Qian and withdrew into Gorimshaw, while Esther emerged from her cell, dazed.
• Fu Qian declared that the vampires would carry out the Dark Moon’s will everywhere.

Fu Qian decided to use the nightmare and the Awakened Ones to gather information, presenting himself as a vampire and apostle of the Dark Moon. When Mariana offered to help him leave the cell and meet others, he instead unleashed a vast Clear Dream.

• Fu Qian concluded that the nightmare might be watched over by a consciousness and decided to make a major impact to learn more.
• Fu Qian denied that he had come to save the Awakened Ones and told them to continue their own efforts.
• Fu Qian examined Esther, the special subject of the Enlightenment Project, and noticed that her appearance seemed unlike that of a nine-year-old.
• Ben warned Mariana that Fu Qian was insane, but Mariana chose to trust what she had witnessed and proposed taking him and Esther out of their cells.
• Fu Qian rejected Mariana’s plan and enveloped the area in an astonishingly large Clear Dream.

Fu Qian used Clear Dream to tear open the prison corridor and reveal a dark moon, then produced a shadowy arrow as evidence for Mariana. The nightmare’s composure finally broke, and Fu Qian received a containment condition requiring him to eliminate its proxy.

• Fu Qian spread Clear Dream through the corridor and dismissed Mariana’s concerns about time and escape.
• Fu Qian tore open the ceiling and walls, exposing the night sky and frightening the prisoners.
• A dark moon appeared, and Fu Qian told Mariana to look beyond what deceived her.
• Fu Qian caught Ben attempting to attack him and released him after Mariana challenged his plan.
• Fu Qian restored the corridor, ended Clear Dream, and produced a dark arrow as evidence.
• Fu Qian received a containment condition to eliminate the nightmare’s proxy and make the nightmare fall into reality.