Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian arrived in a tourist city and learned that its blue-eyed amulets, called “The Unassailable,” matched the mission’s clues. After hearing the guide’s introduction, he left the group’s planned tour to search for a dancer.

• Fu Qian rode an old red tram into the city with a small tour group and met their female guide.
• The mission updated with the objective to find the blue-eyed dancer, and Fu Qian spotted blue-eyed ornaments at the street vendors’ stalls.
• The guide explained that locals called the ornaments “The Unassailable” and believed they could protect people from foreign things and disaster.
• Fu Qian confirmed that the King of Prison Break had retained his mission skills and Insight gains, though he had lost his items.
• When the group prepared to explore together, Fu Qian asked the guide where he could find a dancer.

Fu Qian left his tour group to seek out a local dance performance and followed a shady tout to a hidden venue. He arrived in time to see a blue-eyed dancer take the stage.

• Fu Qian persuaded the tour leader to let him visit a nearby dance venue and agreed to meet the group again in an hour and a half.
• Fu Qian reached the closed venue and accepted directions from a scrawny stranger he called Rat Face.
• Rat Face led Fu Qian through winding alleys marked with the symbol of The Unassailable to a hidden establishment.
• Fu Qian took a seat at the venue and watched a blue-eyed dancer come onstage.

Fu Qian watched a dancer whose belly rings resembled The Unassailable while a young tourist explained the ornament’s history. The Warehouse updated his mission, identifying the ornament as the Third Cause and ordering him to forbid any desecration of his authority.

• Fu Qian noticed two metal rings around the dancer’s navel and recognized their proportions as resembling The Unassailable.
• A young tourist joined Fu Qian and explained how the ornament had become associated with dancers and sensuality.
• The Warehouse updated Fu Qian’s mission, naming him master of the Third Cause and telling him to forbid any desecration of his authority.
• Fu Qian concluded that the rings represented the Third Cause and confirmed his identification to the young tourist.

Fu Qian recognized the Third Cause as an authority he could wield, one that inserted errors into fate and allowed him to control its power. After watching the dancer receive his praise and place her veil around his neck, he learned that local custom expected an honored guest to give a gift in return.

• Fu Qian saw a break in the dancer’s abstract circuits and realized it corresponded to the Unassailable mark on her lower abdomen.
• Fu Qian understood the Third Cause as an intrusion that altered fate and recognized himself as its incarnation, able to remove the mark’s power at will.
• Fu Qian considered why the Warehouse had assigned him a rare mission to prohibit the desecration of authority.
• The dancer ended her performance, approached Fu Qian, and hung her veil around his neck as the audience cheered.
• Several figures emerged from the shadows, and their leader told Fu Qian that tradition required an honored guest to leave a gift of thanks.

Fu Qian tested his control over the dancer’s Third Cause blessing, then paid for the ritual without challenging the men running the venue. The group left after the woman in the white dress also paid, but Fu Qian abruptly ordered the men to put their hands up.

• Fu Qian asked to take the ring from the dancer’s stomach and learned it was tied to a private meeting and a customary payment.
• Fu Qian removed the dancer’s Third Cause blessing and marked her as a rejecter, making her immune to blue eyes.
• Fu Qian offered the woman in the white dress a chance to pay a token of thanks, but she declined, so he put down his money.
• The woman in the white dress objected that Fu Qian had paid too much and offered two banknotes of her own.
• The man with glasses kept Fu Qian’s money and accepted the woman’s payment, then arranged for the dancer to perform for her.
• Fu Qian stood up, tapped the table, and told the men to stick their hands up.

Fu Qian used violence to make the men pay him, then left with the woman in white as she questioned his choices. She introduced herself as Clara and called him Jian, leaving him wondering if his handlers had reused his cover name.

• Fu Qian pinned the men with their own daggers and collected their money while praising the dancing girl.
• The woman in white followed Fu Qian and asked why he had not gone to the police.
• Fu Qian explained that he did not mind if the police came, since their involvement could help his mission.
• The woman introduced herself as Clara and said she had heard people call him Jian.
• Fu Qian silently wondered whether his handlers had reused the name material for his cover identity.

Fu Qian spoke with Clara, whom he called Encore, after they watched a performance, then returned to the tour’s meeting point and bought her coffee. He explained that he planned to keep exploring Lanfeilai to understand the widespread misuse of The Third Cause, while Clara described the city as a mummified corpse and voiced doubts about its blue-eyed people truly receiving a god’s favor.

• Fu Qian teased Clara about her interest in the performance and reclaimed the money she had taken from him, while refusing to return it because he considered it stolen loot.
• Clara followed Fu Qian, who offered her coffee to thank her for speaking up for him earlier.
• Fu Qian returned to the tour’s designated meeting point and said he intended to continue sightseeing because he had raised money for the trip.
• Fu Qian reflected that blue-eyed people across Lanfeilai showed signs of The Third Cause’s abuse, so he wanted to understand the city before acting.
• Clara admitted she had left the tour to visit the performance and described Lanfeilai as a beautiful, mummified corpse, saying its blue eyes might only be pretending to reflect a god’s favor.

Fu Qian considered why the Unassailable had suddenly gained supernatural power and suspected his arrival had changed the city, possibly amid a brewing crisis. He reunited with the tour group at the coffee shop, where the others showed off their souvenirs and the tour leader asked whether he had lost anything.

• Fu Qian reasoned that the Unassailable might have been powerless until he entered the mission, and wondered whether the Warehouse had arranged the mission because a larger crisis was coming.
• Fu Qian offered Clara another coffee and praised her actions, while she reacted skeptically to his apparent lack of concern about their situation.
• The tour leader and the other four members arrived at the coffee shop and joined Fu Qian and Clara.
• The tour leader asked Fu Qian whether he had seen the show and lost anything, and he said he had seen an excellent show elsewhere and lost nothing.

Fu Qian and the tour group visited the Royal Imperial Garden, where A Lian explained its history and its connection to the city’s layout. As A Lian noticed that the old man had disappeared, Fu Qian recognized a structure tied to the city’s protective charms.

• A Lian confirmed that Fu Qian and Clara would continue with the tour and led the group to the Royal Imperial Garden.
• Night Watchers checked the visitors’ identities at the entrance, and Fu Qian watched the old man and the other tourists closely.
• A Lian guided the group to a hidden vantage point where they could overlook the garden and much of Lanfeilai.
• A Lian described Anke Wenlan, the former ruler, and explained that his family had planned the city.
• Fu Qian recognized a familiar structure in the city and asked about the origin of its blue eyes.
• A Lian turned around and discovered that the old man had disappeared.

Fu Qian helped A Lian search for Old Man after he disappeared from the group, but instead found him secretly reading in the restricted library. Fu Qian then discovered Clara watching the couple kiss in a secluded room.

• A Lian noticed Old Man was missing and asked the group to search for him.
• Fu Qian, Clara, and the balding man volunteered to help, and A Lian split them up after they retraced their steps.
• Fu Qian ignored his assigned area and found Old Man in a restricted library, rapidly consulting several books.
• Fu Qian left Old Man to his research and went looking for the others.
• Fu Qian found Clara secretly watching the couple kiss in an ornate room.

Fu Qian tested how losing their purchased gifts affected a couple behaving strangely in the former royal residence, then rejoined the captain and the rest of the team. The old man returned to the meeting point, bringing the team back together and ending the immediate crisis.

• Clara knocked to interrupt the couple, while Fu Qian demoted them to Third Cause Rejectors and observed that they regained clarity in the same order their gifts were removed.
• Fu Qian considered whether the couple's behavior revealed the meaning of the mission to put an end to the desecration of authority, but continued on without settling the question.
• Fu Qian found the captain, chose not to remove his gift, and walked with him back toward the meeting point.
• A Lian asked Fu Qian whether he had found anything and considered reporting the old man's disappearance.
• The old man arrived, apologized for getting lost, and reunited the team.

After the Old Man rejoined the tour, A Lian kept the group together and let them explore the old city on their own. Fu Qian secretly followed the Old Man to a private club, where he was turned away and caught Fu Qian watching.

• The Old Man explained that he had gotten lost in the Royal Imperial Garden, and A Lian asked everyone to stay close for the rest of the tour.
• The group finished touring the former Wenlan Clan residence, ate a local meal, and received the afternoon to explore the old city freely.
• Fu Qian followed the Old Man, suspecting the address he had found in an old book would lead into the city's supernatural world.
• The Old Man went to a private club on a narrow street but was refused entry and driven away.
• Fu Qian mocked the Old Man for being turned away, revealing that he had watched the encounter in disguise.

Fu Qian, calling himself Old Wang, challenged San Hao to accept the consequences of pursuing the things inside a private club. When San Hao returned to the club, lightning struck it and tore a breach through the building.

• San Hao introduced himself under an assumed name and asked Fu Qian to help him contact the club’s members.
• Fu Qian warned San Hao to consider the consequences of opening the box and asked if he was ready to face them.
• San Hao said he was ready, and Fu Qian told him to return to the club despite having been turned away.
• San Hao went back to the club and was refused entry for the third time.
• A bolt of lightning struck the historic building, crashing through its walls and opening a massive breach.

Fu Qian used the Tyrant’s Calamity Power to strike the private club with lightning, helping Old Man San Hao gain entry to Lanfeilai’s supernatural world. After observing the police and a likely Night Watcher arrive, Fu Qian followed the Night Watcher.

• Fu Qian unleashed the Tyrant’s Calamity Power on the private club after its doorman turned Old Man San Hao away.
• The lightning damaged the building, and the club’s members surrounded San Hao before escorting him away in a car.
• Fu Qian realized that two of the men were supernatural beings and that they had recognized San Hao as one of their own.
• The police cordoned off the scene while Fu Qian identified a likely Night Watcher among the onlookers.
• Fu Qian finished his drink and followed the departing Night Watcher.

Fu Qian followed a stern Night Watcher to a hidden meeting with a supernatural informant from the club and learned that Old Man San Hao’s visit and the lightning strike had raised suspicions of a conspiracy. The informant revealed that a bald stranger calling himself the Ancient King had directed San Hao to the club, while Fu Qian realized his alias had linked the incident to the club’s research.

• Fu Qian followed the stern Night Watcher to an ordinary home, where she met a mustached supernatural informant from the club.
• The informant told the Night Watcher that Old Man San Hao had arrived during the lightning strike after finding the club’s address and code phrase in Gregor’s manuscripts.
• The informant explained that someone had advised San Hao to try entering the club again, prompting the Night Watcher to suspect a hidden connection to the lightning.
• The informant described the stranger as a bald, ordinary-looking man who called himself the Ancient King.
• Fu Qian recognized that his chosen alias had made the club more likely to connect the incident with The Unassailable and its research.

Fu Qian met Layton after Layton had disclosed the club’s activities to a Night Watcher, and reassured him that he had made the right choice. Fu Qian then asked Layton to explain the club’s research into the Ancient King.

• The Night Watcher left after instructing Layton to confirm the tourist’s whereabouts and report back if needed.
• Layton waited after the Night Watcher departed, then found Fu Qian outside his door and apologized for revealing everything.
• Fu Qian accepted Layton’s apology and explained that he understood why Layton had acted cautiously.
• Fu Qian considered Layton’s possible motives, including his interest in the Supernatural Path and his concern about the Night Watchers.
• Layton asked Fu Qian whether he had advised San Hao to try again, and Fu Qian confirmed it.
• When Layton asked about Fu Qian’s claim regarding Old Wang, Fu Qian instead asked him to describe the Ancient King research.

Leighton told Fu Qian how Gregor’s research into folk customs led him to a group studying supernatural power in human culture. After confirming that symbols could contain power, Fu Qian left Leighton uncertain whether Gregor’s theory was right but convinced that finding such power might exceed his abilities.

• Leighton explained that the Gregor Folk Studies Club had nineteen members and was named after a scholar who believed supernatural power could be found in human wisdom and folk customs.
• Leighton said Gregor’s notes and a later reader’s address had led him to join the club, where he had spent years without achieving tangible results.
• Leighton described the club’s effort to identify symbols left by the Ancient Kings in human consciousness and distinguish them from symbols originating with Higher Beings.
• Fu Qian gave Leighton a blue eye associated with The Unassailable, and Leighton said it seemed to have no special significance.
• Leighton asked Fu Qian whether Gregor’s theory was right and whether symbols contained power; Fu Qian confirmed that they did, but said Leighton might be unable to find it.

Fu Qian reassured Mr. Layton about the club’s limited prospects and asked about the dancers, learning that their modern tradition grew from an ancient prayer dance. He left Layton with a simple instruction to continue being a good citizen.

• Fu Qian told Mr. Layton that the club could focus on folklore research without worrying so much about the Night Watchers.
• Mr. Layton thanked Fu Qian and explained that the club had studied the dancers but considered them a low-priority subject because the group’s modern tradition was relatively recent.
• Mr. Layton said the dancers had repeatedly changed the designs on their bellies after protests, and some club members wanted to stop observing them.
• Mr. Layton explained that the dance itself dated back to the Mythological Era and had once been a solemn prayer dance, possibly associated with disaster and ill fortune.
• Fu Qian said attempts to prevent its commercialization might only make the dancers more popular, and told Mr. Layton to keep doing his duty as a good citizen.

Fu Qian encouraged Layton to reveal their entire conversation to the Night Watchers, using them to investigate the Dancer and the newly empowered Unassailable. He then returned to the tour group, where the captain greeted him as Encore.

• Fu Qian told Layton he could share everything they had discussed with the Night Watchers, and Layton agreed despite remaining confused.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Dancer’s ancient prayer ritual might connect an ancient Higher Being to The Unassailable, whose new owner could have awakened its blasphemy.
• Fu Qian expected the Night Watchers to investigate the Dancer and The Unassailable, leading them to discover that the owner of The Third Cause had returned.
• Fu Qian arrived at the tour group’s lodgings at dusk, and the captain greeted him as Encore.

Fu Qian rejoined Captain and San Hao after exploring Lanfeilai and changing into local clothing, then discussed the unusual lightning strike and the group’s plans. Clara revealed that A Lian’s special outing was a visit to burn incense, while Fu Qian continued seeking clues about the source of the blasphemy.

• Fu Qian returned to Captain and explained that he had explored the area, changed into local clothes, and witnessed the lightning strike.
• San Hao joined them in a formal outfit, and Captain asked Fu Qian about the lightning that had cracked a building.
• Captain said A Lian had brought back someone from dinner and might arrange a special show for the group.
• Fu Qian considered possible ways to address the blasphemy if his theory about the Dancer proved correct, and looked forward to learning more about Lanfeilai.
• Clara revealed that A Lian was taking the group to burn incense.