Recaps

Fu Qian and Witch discussed the healing potion and the loss of extraordinary spirituality in Lairding, then considered how to monitor or investigate the fragile place. Witch proposed seeking a powerful being called the Guardian Angel as a possible medium for copying Lairding.

• Fu Qian drank the Moonlight Rose and quickly regained a portion of his health, while Witch explained that its effect worked only once.
• Fu Qian and Witch discussed how the lack of extraordinary spirituality affected objects and recalled related examples from other worlds.
• Witch assessed that Lairding was extremely fragile and suggested monitoring it or investigating whether its condition was connected to changes in the world's underlying rules.
• Fu Qian proposed copying Lairding to uncover more clues, and Witch said they would need a suitable medium instead of the weak Clockwork Bird.
• Witch identified the unusual activity in Lairding as a possible lead and told Fu Qian he could call its source the Guardian Angel.

The Witch explained that the Guardian Angel was a grotesque will formed from people who clung to fragments of the collapsed Stars Law, and that its nature made it sensitive to the Law’s revival. She and Fu Qian returned to the Dark Moon Church, leaving the frozen leaders in Lairding to resolve their dispute while they considered the Guardian Angel’s attention toward the city.

• The Witch and Fu Qian left the sanctuary beneath the Fallen Star’s base and returned to the church district, where Lady Xia, Frankie, and another leader remained frozen in their argument.
• The Witch used the Brain Fork and asked Fu Qian about the pawn he had encountered in the fog when Lairding reappeared.
• Fu Qian recalled that the pawn’s existence was shaped by the reappearing Stars Law, though its attributes did not obey that Law.
• The Witch explained that the Guardian Angel consisted of countless people fused together after choosing to bear broken fragments of the collapsed Law.
• Fu Qian inferred that the Guardian Angel’s sensitivity to the Law’s revival explained why it had turned its attention toward Lairding so quickly.

The Witch brought Fu Qian to the Guardian Angel’s domain, where the thick, burning fog concealed a bottomless expanse. The unstable landing separated them, leaving Fu Qian falling alone as a piece of flesh briefly imitated the Witch’s touch before slipping away.

• The Witch explained that the Guardian Angel’s chaotic power opposed Stars Law and said Fu Qian’s support could help her stabilize it after they killed it.
• The Witch transported Fu Qian to the Guardian Angel’s domain and warned him to stay still because the landing might be unstable.
• Fu Qian found himself standing on dense fog that burned his lungs and gave way beneath him.
• A surge of sound sent Fu Qian plunging into the fog, and he realized the Witch was no longer beside him.
• A piece of flesh imitated the Witch’s hand while Fu Qian sensed that he had been isolated, then slipped away into the fog.

Fu Qian was attacked by the Guardian Angel, whose flesh-and-blood body formed a hill and clouds that wielded the powers of mountains and lightning. After testing its attacks, he discovered a huge sphere of bodies that dragged him toward it with relentless force.

• Fu Qian landed on a hill formed from tightly packed human bodies and suspected it was part of the Guardian Angel.
• The Guardian Angel struck Fu Qian with blood-red lightning, which he endured and recognized as being made from its flesh and blood.
• Fu Qian concluded that the Guardian Angel gained the powers represented by the shackles it willingly bore, such as mountains and thunderclouds.
• Fu Qian dodged several lightning bolts, then saw a huge sphere encircled by human bodies appear through the thinning mist.
• The sphere exerted a rapidly strengthening pull on Fu Qian, drawing him toward it with deadly intent.

Fu Qian let the Guardian Angel trap him amid blood lightning, crushing gravity, and a barrier of flesh while he waited for the Witch’s plan to take effect. His hand unleashed the Witch’s darkness, swallowing the battlefield as Fu Qian remained confident he was serving as bait.

• The Guardian Angel compressed the bodies beneath Fu Qian into a bloody star whose gravity intensified as it formed.
• The Guardian Angel surrounded Fu Qian with an interlocking flesh barrier and began forming a third star, while blood lightning continued to strike.
• Fu Qian let the attacks hit without dodging, and the light vanished as absolute darkness spread from his hand.
• Fu Qian recalled the Pontiff’s instructions and the Witch’s warning not to act, recognizing that he was meant to bait the Guardian Angel.
• The Witch’s charged authority, Night of No Light, swallowed the thunderclouds, stars, and barrier.

The Witch used Night of No Light to conceal herself and Fu Qian while she reshaped a supernatural book, with Fu Qian helping hold it. When the darkness ended, the book had become a warm, skin-covered object, and Fu Qian saw Guardian Angel transformed into a figure of clustered red-and-white spheres.

• Fu Qian and the Witch stayed hidden inside Night of No Light while Guardian Angel searched for them.
• The Witch gave Fu Qian a cold supernatural book to hold as she began reshaping it with her power.
• The book cracked and changed as Fu Qian felt its structure shift beneath their joined hands.
• The Witch ended Night of No Light after the brief transformation was complete.
• Fu Qian saw the book's new skin-like cover and a transformed Guardian Angel made of clustered red-and-white spheres.

Fu Qian watched the Witch turn Guardian Angel’s core restraint into the Pact Book of Restraint, leaving the angel’s combat strength and independent actions intact. The Witch took Fu Qian back through the Sea of Mind to the Fallen Star race’s sacred grounds, where an ongoing argument suddenly froze.

• The Witch explained that the red-and-white sphere was still Guardian Angel, while the book contained its core restraint.
• The Witch showed Fu Qian the Pact Book of Restraint and explained that its patterns formed a foundation for recording content.
• The Witch named the book and said she would guide Guardian Angel indirectly, preserving its strength and freedom of action.
• Guardian Angel began to wake, and the Witch grabbed Fu Qian and returned with him to the church in Lairding’s Dark Moon.
• The Witch plunged the Brain Fork into her hand and brought Fu Qian through the Sea of Mind to the Fallen Star race’s sacred grounds, where the argument about Death Star froze.

Fu Qian revisited the Doll Workshop with the Witch while she worked through the newly obtained Pact Book of Restraint. Speaking with Ailuo again revealed how her conversation followed a fixed story about the Deer Cart, and the chapter ended with the Witch stopping time and returning them to the pool of black water.

• The Witch paused the argument among the giants of the Fallen Star and went to the pool, where the Clockwork Bird appeared.
• The Witch brought Fu Qian to the Doll Workshop and asked him to talk with Ailuo while she worked on the Pact Book of Restraint.
• Fu Qian greeted Ailuo and repeated their earlier small talk, but Ailuo again directed him to look upstairs for the Deer Cart in a house with a blue roof.
• Fu Qian realized that Ailuo's role was to guide visitors toward the Deer Cart and understood the Witch's loneliness in this repeating story.
• The Witch stopped time as Ailuo began to reply, then showed Fu Qian the book and returned them to the pool of black water.

Fu Qian and the Witch examined the transformed Doll Workshop and read the newly completed Pact Book of Restraint. The story inside revealed the Persuader’s role and ended with him discovering that, despite returning to his hometown, he was still on the Other Shore.

• The Witch and Fu Qian recognized that the Doll Workshop had moved into a more stable state, though the Pact Book of Restraint had given Lord Yarakir a new, monitored connection to the Guardian Angel.
• The Witch opened the Pact Book and found its blank spaces filled with abstract patterns, while the three fallen-star leaders remained frozen nearby.
• The Witch sensed that she and Fu Qian could read the book directly and explained that it contained a children’s story featuring the Persuader as an important character.
• The Witch said the Persuader still had the form of a human head with an insect’s body and read a line in which he returned to his hometown but woke to find himself still on the Other Shore.

Fu Qian and the Witch connected the strange wording in a children’s story to the Other Shore, concluding that their escape from it may have left a lingering mark that confused the Nightmare Corridor and the Warehouse. They considered testing the theory by observing the prisoners’ attempts to corrupt the world and the world’s reaction to them.

• Fu Qian recognized the story’s reference to the Other Shore and recalled asking the Witch what would happen if the Furnace’s marked inhabitants left it.
• Fu Qian and the Witch reasoned that their escape from the destroyed Furnace may have created a paradox, causing the Nightmare Corridor and Warehouse to mistake their world for the Bookstore World.
• The Witch suggested that the Warehouse’s changed behavior and Fu Qian’s ability to travel through the Messenger might result from the Other Shore’s lingering influence.
• The Witch proposed watching whether the Other Shore’s mark affected the prisoners’ efforts to corrupt the world, while Fu Qian considered investigating the world’s response and the need for Nightmare fusion.

Fu Qian and the Witch used Lairding as a channel to let the Dead Sea of Mind's cold influence spread through the nightmare aggregate. The Fallen Star leaders saw the broken mirror's moonlight, and Frankie discovered their silent companion lifting their last sacred relic toward her head.

• The Witch formed a broken mirror above Lairding's black pool to connect it with the Dead Sea of Mind.
• The Witch explained that the stable nightmare could safely spread the Other Shore's influence as a stimulus.
• Frankie declared that he would not accept the fate that had befallen others, and the Witch ended the freeze.
• Frankie, Xia, and their companion noticed the moonlight over the sacred pool and discussed the unseen visitors' intentions.
• Frankie recognized Fu Qian as Herbert, Apostle of the Dark Moon, then shouted when he saw the female leader raising the Fallen Star race's soft skull toward her head.

The giantess tried to use a flexible skull to resist Death Star, who had descended into her body. The Witch sensed an unusual place connected to the descent and found it as Fu Qian and the others faced the unfolding crisis.

• The giantess struggled against another will and forced the flexible skull onto her head.
• Death Star appeared on the skull and pleaded for help, while the giantess demanded that the intruder leave her body.
• Lady Xia recognized Death Star and asked how they had descended into one of their own.
• Fu Qian concluded that the skull could resist the descent only partially, as Death Star and the giantess continued calling for help from opposite sides of it.
• The Witch sensed an unusual place through Death Star's descent and the spread of the Dark Moon, then found it and took Fu Qian's hand.

Fu Qian and the Witch found a hidden place protected by the Night of No Light, where they rescued Death Star and discovered traces of Mother. The place was not Mother’s burial ground, but its garden carried the same scent as the Full Moon Garden.

• The Witch led Fu Qian to a darkness she identified as the faint power of Mother, and Fu Qian heard someone shouting inside.
• The Witch recognized the voice as Death Star and explained that the darkness had trapped him by stripping away his senses and will.
• The Witch sent Death Star out of the darkness, though he might not fully return to his original form.
• The Witch showed Fu Qian a modest wooden building and explained that it held traces of Mother but was probably not her final resting place.
• Fu Qian and the Witch explored the building and found a flower-filled courtyard whose scent matched the Full Moon Garden.

Fu Qian and the Witch discovered that the hidden garden contained flowers linked to Dark Moon, strengthening the case that Dark Moon had once been human and had ties to the world of the regicides. The Witch then revealed that the moon visible in the garden was neither herself nor part of that place, but a reflection from a distant dimension brought there by her presence.

• Fu Qian recognized the radiant flowers as the same kind he had seen in the Full Moon Garden and concluded that this was Dark Moon's garden.
• The Witch confirmed she had never seen the flowers, and she and Fu Qian agreed that the garden was a secluded resting place rather than a stronghold.
• Fu Qian told the Witch about Annalise's memories and her selection as the Moon God's reincarnation, prompting them to consider Dark Moon's human origins.
• The Witch reminded Fu Qian to focus on recovering his missing inspiration, and he asked whether there was a way to accelerate the process.
• The Witch explained that the moon above them was not her and did not belong to the garden, but was reflected from a distant dimension because she had come.

Fu Qian and the Witch concluded that the Dark Moon’s traces in the Nightmare Corridor had responded to changes caused by the Other Shore, and the Witch decided to investigate them. Fu Qian returned to the Warehouse to prepare, where a new containment breach sent him to recontain Lone King, code 1-423.

• Fu Qian and the Witch theorized that the Dark Moon overhead had responded to the Nightmare Corridor because the Other Shore had brought its traces closer to their world.
• The Witch said she wanted to investigate the remnants of her mother, and Fu Qian agreed to take her there.
• Fu Qian removed the Emissary Mask and returned to the Warehouse, confirming he could cross back as he had before.
• Fu Qian prepared to explore the Nightmare Corridor and expected the Warehouse’s next breach to provide evidence for his theory.
• The Warehouse issued a new task ordering Fu Qian to enter the containment scene for Lone King, code 1-423, and complete recontainment.

Fu Qian began the Warehouse's first task, which placed him in a formal interview and tasked him with finding the disguised Ariel. Suspecting the task had taken him to the Bookstore World, he claimed to be Ariel and prepared to investigate.

• Fu Qian entered the task with King of Prison Break as his chosen skill, and the Warehouse loaded a scene with an abstract description about convincing a gatekeeper.
• Fu Qian found himself in a modest room facing a stern middle-aged woman and an unkempt bearded man, who asked what he should be called.
• The Warehouse updated Fu Qian's task to finding the disguised Ariel, leading him to suspect he had been transported to the Bookstore World.
• Fu Qian answered that his name was Ariel, intending to use the identity to help his old friend make a splash.

Fu Qian posed as Ariel during an interview for a mysterious opportunity, answering questions about his identity and willingness to kill. After the interview, he joined four other candidates in the waiting room, wondering whether the real Ariel had already been accepted or was in another group.

• Fu Qian introduced himself as Ariel and said Nepheli had recommended the place.
• Fu Qian admitted that he had killed people and confirmed that innocent blood might be on his hands.
• The interviewers ended the questioning and told Fu Qian to wait outside for an immediate decision.
• Fu Qian found four other candidates in the waiting room and wondered whether Ariel was elsewhere or had already been accepted.

Fu Qian explored the empty city during the gatekeeper interview, considering whether it resembled Akons and wondering where candidates who passed the test went. When he returned, the gatekeepers told him he had been selected, then the female gatekeeper crushed the oldest candidate to pieces.

• Fu Qian left the interview room and explored the empty city while the gatekeepers watched without stopping him.
• Fu Qian compared the city to Akons and wondered whether Ariel had passed the test or was demonstrating his resolve elsewhere.
• Fu Qian turned back and found the interviews finished, with his four competitors waiting beside the gatekeepers.
• The male gatekeeper confirmed that Fu Qian had been selected, and the female gatekeeper crushed the oldest candidate to pieces.

Fu Qian watched the gatekeepers slaughter the eliminated candidates and judged the last survivor’s attempt to prove his murderous nature. After the gatekeepers killed the man and confirmed Fu Qian’s selection, the female gatekeeper offered him something.

• The gatekeepers killed the eliminated candidates as two tried to flee, while the last candidate stayed behind and chewed on a severed finger.
• Fu Qian assessed the last candidate as deliberately demonstrating the answer to the interview question about killing.
• The gatekeepers asked Fu Qian to judge his competitor, and Fu Qian quickly called him impressive.
• The female gatekeeper killed the last candidate and said they had already chosen Fu Qian.
• The female gatekeeper became formal again and held something out to Fu Qian.

Fu Qian used a blood-soaked card to pass through the miasma and entered a populated level of the city. After the doorkeepers told him to pay respects to the Lone King, he began looking for clues to Ariel’s whereabouts and encountered a mysterious child with a Handbell.

• Fu Qian cut his hand on the card and adjusted his level until the card stopped shuddering, leaving him at roughly the Second Order.
• The card transported Fu Qian away from the interview site, and the doorkeepers told him to pay respects to the Lone King.
• Fu Qian wondered whether Ariel had also come to pay respects to the Lone King and whether he could find Ariel there.
• Fu Qian arrived on a populated street and found red intersecting marks imprinted on his palm where the card had been.
• A youthful, exceptionally short figure rang a Handbell and told Fu Qian that the hour had not yet come before walking away.

Fu Qian explored the Great Court, wondering about its origins and the Lone King as he headed toward the interview site, where he expected an ambush. A leech-covered man confronted him and tried to expose him to the King’s red, causing a patch of Fu Qian’s skin to twitch.

• Fu Qian noticed the red crisscrossing marks on the hands of people in the Great Court and suspected they were unique identification marks.
• Fu Qian headed toward the interview site, reasoning that others might expect him to search there and lie in wait.
• Fu Qian observed that the Great Court was vast and populated by wanderers who seemed detached from ordinary life, and he questioned when and how the place had formed.
• A leech-covered man blocked Fu Qian and demanded that he look at the King’s red mark on his hand.
• As the man’s leeches shimmered with blood, Fu Qian felt the influence spread to him and saw a patch of skin on his hand twitch.

Fu Qian followed the growing radiance of the Lone King while investigating signs that the Night Watcher had entered the area. He reached the site of his earlier interview, where a familiar rag doll hung inside the empty waiting room.

• Fu Qian praised Brother Leech's fervent devotion and felt the Lone King's radiance affect him.
• Fu Qian spotted a rag doll associated with Kelin, the Needle Witch, and considered whether the Night Watcher and Native Council were cooperating or watching him.
• Fu Qian continued toward the interview site, sensing the Lone King's influence growing stronger around him.
• Fu Qian found the interview building empty, with a familiar rag doll hanging from the ceiling by a red thread.

Fu Qian entered the interview site and openly acknowledged the strange rag doll, challenging the person controlling it to respond. The doll turned toward him and inflicted a blood-related curse, apparently because the Night Watchers mistook him for a Tool Person searching for the Lone King.

• Fu Qian considered how to respond to the conspicuous rag doll and chose to walk in and openly show his interest.
• Fu Qian sat before the doll, making clear that he knew it was unusual and waiting for its controller to act.
• The doll turned its face toward Fu Qian and developed two red spots like blushing cheeks.
• Fu Qian sensed blood flowing unnaturally toward the active patch of skin on his hand and recognized the effect as a likely curse connected to Kelin.
• Fu Qian inferred that the Night Watchers had mistaken him for a Tool Person meant to search for the Lone King.

Fu Qian watched as the Night Watchers and a strange trio gathered around the Lone King, trying to understand their interest in him. He realized the trio had come to transform a rookie, and the chapter ended as one of them began cutting away the brittle flesh around the rookie’s neck.

• Fu Qian let the leeches feed and inferred that Needle Witch and Ragdoll were testing him while the Night Watchers kept their interest in the Lone King concealed.
• A man with an exposed, powder-coated neck entered the room, followed by a woman with a similarly altered neck and a rookie whose skin was dusted with powder.
• Fu Qian recognized that the trio had come to transform the rookie, but stayed in his seat and watched.
• The male office worker ordered the rookie to sit near Fu Qian, then used a knife to break away the brittle flesh around the rookie’s neck.

Fu Qian watched the office workers perform a ritual to strip a man’s skin, but they stopped when the expected sign of the Lone King’s favor failed to appear. The male office worker blamed Fu Qian, who realized the Needle Witch had interfered in the ritual and revealed that she had lost patience with their standoff.

• Fu Qian observed the male office worker cut strips of deadened skin from a man while the female office worker restrained the man’s urge to join in.
• Fu Qian noticed the leech-like mark on his hand continued to grow as Ragdoll’s curse drew him closer to the Lone King.
• The male office worker froze when he saw no sign of God’s Grace on the man’s newly exposed skin, and the female office worker cried out in despair.
• The male office worker accused Fu Qian of profaning God’s Grace and causing the ritual to fail.
• Fu Qian deduced that the Needle Witch had weakened the sign of the Lone King’s favor to provoke a clash and force him to reveal himself.