Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian used a rigged coin toss to make Jane long for her ordinary life, hoping her desire would resonate with the real world and return him from the Inner World. He reappeared in the breakfast shop with Mr. Hack, but Jane’s lucky coin was missing, leaving the Old Hunter’s escape unexplained.

• Fu Qian refused to tell Jane which side was heads and admitted he would rig the result, while urging her to guess wrong so she could keep working.
• Jane guessed heads with her eyes closed, and Fu Qian announced that she had lost the toss.
• Fu Qian revealed that he had staged the cruel gamble to intensify Jane’s longing for normal life and make her resonate with the real world.
• As Jane counted to twenty, Fu Qian felt warmth and light return, and Mr. Hack’s voice came from across the table.
• Fu Qian found himself back in the quiet breakfast shop, then discovered Jane’s lucky coin was gone and wondered how the Old Hunter had escaped.

Fu Qian tested how the Inner World interacted with reality and considered how the Old Hunter might have entered and escaped it. Hack brought him to Rachel’s home, found no one there, and suggested they visit an abandoned prison where Art Creators had gathered.

• Fu Qian confirmed that the coin he lost remained in the Inner World and reasoned that Jane likely did not consciously remember her experience there.
• Fu Qian suspected the Old Hunter had known about the Inner World longer than he had and considered that Jane’s disappearance might have helped the Old Hunter escape.
• Hack directed Fu Qian to pull over outside Rachel and her husband’s empty-looking home.
• Hack told Fu Qian about an abandoned prison that had attracted Art Creators and said he had planned to investigate whether two missing young people had gone there.
• Hack warned that the group disliked the police and told Fu Qian that someone had arrived.

Fu Qian and Hake visited Ed to ask about two missing young people, while avoiding telling him that Rachel was absent from the breakfast shop. Ed knew nothing about the missing pair and said Rachel had been absorbed in painting.

• Hake and Fu Qian went to Rachel and Ed's home, where Ed let them in.
• Fu Qian observed the carefully decorated home and a photograph of Ed with Rachel.
• Hake asked Ed whether he had seen a missing young man and woman, and Ed said he had not.
• Ed worried that something had happened to Rachel, and Fu Qian's pointed remarks shifted Ed's anger into concern about the missing boy.
• Hake asked whether anything had been wrong with Rachel, and Ed said she had been absorbed in painting.

Fu Qian agreed to investigate Art Prison alone while Hake stayed behind with Ed, then followed directions to the distinctive compound. He arrived at its graffiti-covered outer wall, surrounded by abandoned buildings.

• Ed said he had no information about the unfamiliar missing child, and Hake introduced Fu Qian as his new partner, Anke.
• Hake asked Fu Qian to visit Art Prison alone while he stayed with Ed, and Fu Qian agreed.
• Fu Qian reasoned that leaving was safer than challenging Hake, who might be suspicious or still retain supernatural abilities.
• Fu Qian asked locals for directions and learned that outsiders often sought the legendary Art Prison.
• Fu Qian reached Art Prison, a vivid graffiti-covered compound amid abandoned buildings.

Fu Qian entered the old prison, searching for clues about two young people's whereabouts while looking for a place that might appeal to teenagers. After choosing a turquoise building, he encountered a strange artist who taunted him and hinted that the building held something interesting.

• Fu Qian drove through the old prison and noticed a vivid painting of vines and blood clustering toward a Flower of Corruption.
• Fu Qian searched the converted prison buildings for somewhere a normal fourteen-year-old might visit, treating the search for Ms. Rachel as a side quest.
• Fu Qian chose a freshly repainted turquoise building because its plain, rebellious look stood out from the surrounding artwork.
• A strange, thin artist leaned from behind a half-open door and mocked Fu Qian for his childish choice and for responding to his remarks.
• Fu Qian asked what was wrong with being childish, then pushed the door open after the artist promised he would see something interesting.

Fu Qian questioned Head-Peeking Brother about two missing teenagers and learned they had entered Art Prison but never been seen leaving. Fu Qian set off for the tower with Head-Peeking Brother, who reluctantly followed.

• Fu Qian discovered Head-Peeking Brother was hanging from a contraption behind the door and questioned him about the two teenagers.
• Head-Peeking Brother said a boy and a girl had arrived the previous day, argued, and gone into Art Prison one after the other.
• Head-Peeking Brother revealed that the teenagers had not come back out and that the girl had told him to get lost when he greeted them.
• Fu Qian invited Head-Peeking Brother to come along, then left for the tower while Head-Peeking Brother protested that he was about to close up.

Fu Qian forced Head-Peeking Brother to join his exploration by making him guess a coin toss, then led him into a vine-covered level beneath the building. They discovered a painting of Ivan concealing a passage behind it.

• Head-Peeking Brother apologized to Fu Qian, who made him guess a coin toss and insisted the game had to end with an answer.
• Head-Peeking Brother guessed tails and won the chance to accompany Fu Qian.
• Fu Qian opened a heavy door and found green vines covering the staircase, floor, and walls.
• Head-Peeking Brother said the vines had not been there a month earlier and that Ivan had been sealing the place off.
• Fu Qian and Head-Peeking Brother found a painting of Ivan with vines emerging from behind his body, and Fu Qian lifted it to reveal a passage.

Fu Qian and Head-Peeking Brother explored the hidden passages beneath the guard tower, where Fu Qian found a jacket that might have belonged to one of the missing boys. Head-Peeking Brother locked Fu Qian behind a vermilion door, but Fu Qian fired through it and struck him, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Fu Qian sent Head-Peeking Brother into the passage first, and the two followed its downward, branching tunnels by lamplight.
• Fu Qian found a new-looking jacket behind a vermilion door and suspected it might have belonged to a fourteen-year-old boy.
• Head-Peeking Brother shut Fu Qian behind the locked door and revealed that he had a key.
• Fu Qian questioned Head-Peeking Brother about the key, then fired through the door when he refused to answer.
• Head-Peeking Brother protested that Fu Qian had shot him and began getting back to his feet.

Fu Qian tested Head-Peeking Brother’s regeneration and concluded that the Art Prison was already part of the Inner World. After Head-Peeking Brother tore keys out of his own body and ripped the door apart, Fu Qian continued deeper into the prison.

• Fu Qian shot Head-Peeking Brother through the door and watched him heal from a head wound before shooting his shoulder.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Art Prison was already in the Inner World and that he had brought Head-Peeking Brother along to investigate it and gain information before the Old Hunter.
• Head-Peeking Brother claimed he had a key in his pocket, and Fu Qian pointed out that his tight outfit had no pockets.
• Head-Peeking Brother dug into his flesh and pulled out a string of keys, but Fu Qian saw no white key among them.
• Head-Peeking Brother tore the door apart as Fu Qian walked farther into the prison and told him to take his time.

Fu Qian explored the Art Prison with the mutated Head-Peeking Brother, reasoning that people could enter the Inner World through connections to selves already living there. Head-Peeking Brother remembered a route and began recalling that he had eaten many things, leaving Fu Qian to investigate what he had done.

• Fu Qian considered how Jane and Head-Peeking Brother entered the Inner World and concluded they might have selves there acting as anchors.
• Fu Qian continued through the dark passage while Head-Peeking Brother followed closely, carrying the lantern despite his increasingly monstrous form.
• At a fork, Head-Peeking Brother recalled having been there before, and Fu Qian asked him to choose a route.
• Head-Peeking Brother chose the left passage, and Fu Qian continued onward while questioning him.
• Head-Peeking Brother recalled smelling something unusual, searching for it, and eating many things.

Fu Qian questioned Head-Peeking Brother about the people he had eaten as they navigated the Art Prison, learning that the girl tasted best and Ivan tasted worst. They reached a spherical chamber containing a human-length black bag, leaving Fu Qian to suspect the victims had been brought there after death and deliberately frozen.

• Fu Qian asked Head-Peeking Brother which victim had tasted best, and he named a girl because she had been cool.
• When Head-Peeking Brother could not remember which path to take, Fu Qian flipped a coin and chose the left-hand fork.
• Fu Qian asked who had tasted worst, and Head-Peeking Brother named Ivan, saying he had spoiled like wood.
• Fu Qian considered whether Old Hunter had already caused the events in the Art Prison, then opened a door into a spherical chamber.
• Fu Qian found a human-length black bag in the chamber and wondered if the victims had been brought there after death and frozen.

Fu Qian followed Head-Peeking Brother through the passages beneath Ivan and found more spherical rooms where frozen bodies had been kept. The trail led to a hospital gown that suggested the girl might still be alive, but the boy was found dead behind a door.

• Fu Qian questioned Head-Peeking Brother about the bodies, and he recalled another person who had been less cold than the best-tasting one.
• Head-Peeking Brother struggled to remember the location, then recovered enough to lead Fu Qian back to a fork in the passage.
• Fu Qian found another body bag and a bloodstained hospital gown, which raised the possibility that the girl was still alive.
• Fu Qian followed the passages beyond Head-Peeking Brother's usual range and opened a door to find the thin boy's corpse.

Fu Qian examined the boy’s corpse and concluded that Ivan had used human bodies to grow the Invisible Tree’s fruit inside their skulls. When Head-Peeking Brother was drawn toward the corpse, Fu Qian set the skull ablaze, provoking a furious roar from above.

• Fu Qian inspected the boy’s opened skull and crushed hand, reasoning that the skull had been opened while the boy was alive and the later search for a key had happened after his death.
• Fu Qian suspected Ivan had used human bodies to grow the Invisible Tree’s fruit, and that Old Hunter had killed Ivan while pursuing the White Key.
• Head-Peeking Brother crawled onto the ceiling, drawn by the fragrance coming from the boy’s skull.
• Fu Qian shot Head-Peeking Brother and smashed an oil lamp into the open skull, setting its contents ablaze.
• Fu Qian threw the removed piece of skull into the fire, and Head-Peeking Brother roared in fury.

Fu Qian tried to force Head-Peeking Brother to reject his Inner World anchor by intensifying his frustration and desire. He returned to the lively courtyard with Head-Peeking Brother asleep and unharmed, but found that the flames had changed two of his fingers green.

• Fu Qian reasoned that strong will and a desire to return to the Surface World might sever Head-Peeking Brother’s connection to his anchor.
• Fu Qian intensified Head-Peeking Brother’s longing for food, destroyed the food, and provoked him by praising Ivan.
• Fu Qian plucked a strange piece from the skull while enduring the flames, and something burst as the surroundings brightened.
• Fu Qian returned to the courtyard and found Head-Peeking Brother asleep, breathing rapidly but physically unharmed.
• Fu Qian saw that the first two joints of the fingers he had held in the fire had turned green.

Fu Qian returned to Ivan’s studio to investigate the artist and the changes to his hand, while reconsidering how the Old Hunter had moved ahead of him. In the passage behind Ivan’s unfinished painting, Fu Qian realized the invisible plant was upside down and that the corpse inside its spherical space had been pollinated.

• Fu Qian concluded that the Old Hunter might have entered Art Prison a day before him, but he still could not rule out Old Man Hake as a suspect.
• Fu Qian decided to investigate Ivan and his hand, then went alone to the guard tower.
• Fu Qian picked the tower’s locked door, found Ivan absent, and discovered an unfinished abstract painting covering the passage entrance.
• Fu Qian noticed the passage behind the painting was ordinary and less vivid than its counterpart in the Inner World.
• Fu Qian reinterpreted the invisible plant as upside down, with its downward-reaching limbs as branches and its spherical space as a reproductive structure where the corpse had been pollinated.

Fu Qian explored the passage beneath the prison, following clues that seemed connected to Ivan’s experiments and the missing people. He found a hospital-gowned corpse in a Body Bag and, deeper in the passage, a freshly killed middle-aged man.

• Fu Qian returned to the passage and discovered that his ammunition had not been replenished while the blue-green discoloration spread across his finger.
• Fu Qian found a jacket resembling the boy’s clothes from the Inner World, but neither jacket contained the White Key.
• Fu Qian followed an unpleasant smell to a Body Bag containing an older corpse in a hospital gown, which appeared to have been frozen and recently thawed.
• Fu Qian continued through the passage and found a middle-aged man lying in a pool of blood with a gash across his throat.

Fu Qian found Ivan’s corpse in the underground passages and concluded that someone from the outer world had killed him. He followed a hidden route to an abandoned house, where he spotted a hospital nearby.

• Fu Qian identified the corpse as Ivan and found a bloodied scalpel beside him.
• Fu Qian considered whether one of the two missing people had killed Ivan and ruled out the idea that the blue fuzz granted supernatural vitality.
• Fu Qian took the scalpel and continued mapping the underground passages.
• Fu Qian discovered a lit trapdoor leading to an abandoned house and found several sets of footprints there.
• Fu Qian looked out from the house and recognized a hospital in the distance.

Fu Qian pieced together a theory about Ivan’s death and the missing young people, then returned to the Art Prison instead of heading straight to the hospital. There, he examined a conspicuous pink car and met Rachel, whom he suspected owned it.

• Fu Qian inferred that Ivan had obtained corpses from a nearby hospital and that two young people might have killed him before fleeing toward the hospital.
• Fu Qian considered whether an incident at the hospital had caused Tina’s strange behavior and decided the hospital was worth investigating, especially because his rival might be heading there too.
• Fu Qian returned underground to check the Art Prison side quest, then emerged into the prison yard without finding other corpses or exits.
• Fu Qian examined a clean, bright pink car that he suspected belonged to Rachel, whose husband Old Man Hake had said was missing his car.
• Rachel greeted Fu Qian, and he addressed her by name while introducing himself.

Fu Qian questioned Rachel about her absence from work and claimed to be a new police officer searching for two missing young people. Rachel agreed to give him a ride, then led him to her hidden painting studio inside the prison.

• Fu Qian called Rachel by her name, mentioned her husband Ed, and introduced himself as Anke, a new police officer.
• Fu Qian asked Rachel whether she had seen the missing young man and woman, and she said she had not.
• Rachel asked whether she should return home or go to work, but Fu Qian left the choice to her.
• Fu Qian asked Rachel for a ride, and she agreed after saying she needed to collect her things.
• Fu Qian asked to see Rachel's studio, and she led him deeper into the prison to a discreet room where she retrieved her bag.

Fu Qian examined Rachel’s dark paintings, then had her drive him to the hospital to visit Tina. He arrived with Rachel waiting nearby, using her presence to help ensure he remained in the surface world.

• Fu Qian inspected Rachel’s paintings and recognized their style as resembling the Inner World.
• Rachel explained that Ed disliked her darker works, and Fu Qian joked that she might not be emotionally mature enough to drive.
• Fu Qian asked Rachel to take him to the hospital, saying he intended to visit Tina rather than search for the missing people.
• Rachel drove Fu Qian to the hospital and agreed to wait so she could take him back to his car.
• Fu Qian entered the hospital grounds with Rachel nearby, relying on her as an anchor to the surface world.