Chapter Summaries

Mr. Luo revealed that he had planted the Foolish Tree to create the dolls, then killed the priest, Miyamoto, and a fleeing team member while completing his synchronization with the Mad Spirit. He turned his attention to Fu Qian and said he would kill him next.

• Mr. Luo revealed that he had planted the Foolish Tree and explained how it had created the dolls by separating supernatural power from its source.
• Mr. Luo pierced the priest’s head, crushed his doll, and fed the porcelain shards to the Mad Spirit.
• Mr. Luo dismissed Miyamoto’s threats and killed him with a net of green flames.
• A female team member fled, but Mr. Luo caught and killed her with the Mad Spirit.
• Mr. Luo completed his synchronization with the Mad Spirit, released it onto his shoulder, and announced that he would send Fu Qian on his way first.

Fu Qian fought Mr. Luo, who combined the Mad Spirit’s abilities to attack him with curses, gray curtains, and deceptive movement. Fu Qian trapped Mr. Luo in a tentacle barrier and survived his black-flame explosion, while the Mad Spirit fled.

• Mr. Luo used the Mad Spirit’s abilities to surround Fu Qian with gray curtains and launch a black fireball, which Fu Qian destroyed with a shot.
• Fu Qian revealed a hundred tentacles and attacked Mr. Luo, who used Blink and visual misdirection to reach him and unleash an explosion.
• Fu Qian’s tentacles trapped Mr. Luo inside a barrier, preventing his escape as he detonated black flames around himself.
• Mr. Luo was reduced to dust, but Fu Qian survived with scorch marks and broken tentacles that began healing.
• The Mad Spirit saw Fu Qian survive the blast and fled.

Fu Qian let Mr. Luo escape into Mad Spirit, then followed him beneath the island and learned how he had used the Foolish Tree and human test subjects to create vessels for supernatural power. Mr. Luo tried to recruit Fu Qian, but Fu Qian revealed that his mission now gave them a reason to fight.

• Fu Qian threatened Delin and the Archer, and the two fled while the girl emerged from hiding in Ailei the tree-man.
• Fu Qian questioned the girl, then flew to the island and found that Mr. Luo had taken Mad Spirit below.
• Fu Qian confronted Mr. Luo on the underground platform as dark red mist gathered around the doll.
• Mr. Luo explained that he had experimented on supernatural creatures and humans, using the Foolish Tree to extract their distorted power into dolls.
• Mr. Luo urged Fu Qian to cooperate, but Fu Qian checked his mission list and said they now had a reason to fight.

Fu Qian fought Mr. Luo after he fused with the Mad Spirit and gained the power of Blasphemous Words, then destroyed the monstrous doll. When the mission still did not register as complete, Fu Qian realized the Mad Spirit was not the perfect doll and reconsidered what he had seen.

• Mr. Luo used Blasphemous Words to attack Fu Qian, but Fu Qian resisted his commands and cracked the doll’s porcelain shell.
• Mr. Luo tried to repair the doll with red mist, but Fu Qian revealed that the power feeding it had weakened and that it was changing Mr. Luo’s personality.
• The doll transformed into a huge, rotting monster and attacked Fu Qian with every power at its disposal.
• Fu Qian spoke “Annihilate,” causing the monster’s attacks to vanish and its body to crumble.
• Fu Qian noticed the mission was still incomplete and concluded that the Mad Spirit was not the perfect doll, then recalled a detail that suggested another possibility.

Fu Qian used a branch from the Foolish Tree to confuse his mind and reveal the porcelain doll hidden beside the girl. He learned the doll, Madam Madeline, had been split from the girl and prepared to deal with it despite her protests.

• Fu Qian broke off a branch from the Foolish Tree, fashioned it into a headband, and used its mind-splitting effect to return to the battlefield.
• Fu Qian saw the porcelain doll on the girl's shoulder after his muddled mind let him perceive it, and realized it had been split from her.
• The girl asked whether Fu Qian had killed the man, and he confirmed it before asking her about the doll.
• The girl told Fu Qian that the doll had existed from the beginning, that her mother knew about it, and that her mother had told her to keep it secret and paint the mold-like patch on her face.
• The girl clutched Madam Madeline and insisted the doll had never harmed anyone or joined the free hunts, while Fu Qian said he still had to deal with it.

Fu Qian realized Madam Madeline was a pure doll whose lack of self-awareness made her a potential vessel for higher beings, and he gave the girl five minutes to bring her to life. The girl used the Foolish Tree’s sap and became fused with the doll, completing Fu Qian’s task before he was transported away.

• Fu Qian explained that Madam Madeline’s purity made her dangerous and told the girl her mother had asked her to face life’s helplessness.
• Fu Qian reconsidered what it meant to destroy the doll and gave the girl five minutes to try to bring Madam Madeline to life with a piece of her humanity.
• The girl carried Madam Madeline across the swamp to the Foolish Tree and embraced it as Fu Qian followed.
• The girl drank the tree’s sap, collapsed in agony, and developed cracks across her body as Madam Madeline began to crack.
• The task-complete notice announced that No. 2-090 had been contained, and the girl stood with white porcelain covering her left side in place of Madam Madeline.
• Fu Qian told the girl to find the Night Watchers, then recognized a resemblance between her face and Su Gao’s before he was transported away.

After completing the Abyss Walker mission, Fu Qian received a cup that could permanently fix his demigod form as the Chaos Knight, but he chose to store it rather than drink it. His rising Inspiration seemed to amplify the voices he heard, so he tested whether the effect followed him into the bookstore and found that it did not.

• Fu Qian returned to the Warehouse, received the Cup of Abyssal Mist, and learned that drinking it would permanently fix his demigod form as the Chaos Knight.
• Fu Qian decided not to drink the mist because the form's violent urges had disturbed him, and he discovered that he could summon a table and chair in the Warehouse to store the goblet and Blasphemous Embrace.
• Back in his living room, Fu Qian heard the voices from nearby orbs unusually loudly, including Pei Yanqing's, despite her seeming calm.
• Fu Qian suspected his increased Inspiration was amplifying the voices and returned to the Warehouse with Blasphemous Embrace.
• Fu Qian put on the Emissary Mask and woke in the bookstore, where he waited twenty minutes without hearing any voices.

Fu Qian visited the Night Watchers’ base to investigate records about Abyssal Fog and the Corrupt Forest. Su Gao’s file confirmed that she had come from the Corrupt Forest and joined the Night Watchers more than ten years earlier, and Fu Qian requested the forest’s records.

• Fu Qian found a letter from Wen Li asking him to visit and discuss something unusual, but he set it aside for later.
• Fu Qian decided that the records about where the Abyssal Fog was buried might help him investigate other traits, so he went to the Night Watchers’ base to ask Yuan Shan for access to their archives.
• Fu Qian offered to repay Yuan Shan’s help with a future favor, and Yuan Shan let him examine three files within her clearance.
• Fu Qian reviewed Su Gao’s file and learned that she had joined the Night Watchers more than ten years ago and came from the Forbidden Zone called the Corrupt Forest.
• Fu Qian asked the archive clerk for records on the Corrupt Forest.

Fu Qian learned that the Corrupt Forest had become a safe Forbidden Zone managed by the Night Watchers, but found no record of Mr. Luo or the organization behind him. After leaving the archives, he went to Wen Li’s mansion to follow up on an interesting discovery she had mentioned.

• Fu Qian read the Corrupt Forest file and concluded that Mr. Luo might have been connected to a larger organization.
• Fu Qian refused to tell Yuan Shan what he had found and saved his remaining archive searches for later.
• Fu Qian arranged to contact Yuan Shan by letter and left the Night Watcher base.
• Fu Qian went to Wen Li’s mansion, where the guards recognized Fang Xun’s name and Wen Li hurried out to greet him.

Fu Qian listened as Wen Li described a man whose emotions had no irregularities and who seemed interested in Deng Feizhou’s disappearance, then told her to report him to Yuan Shan. Afterward, Fu Qian discovered that his thoughts could affect people watching through the flickering orbs.

• Wen Li told Fu Qian that her improved emotional perception had detected a suspiciously normal man who had asked about Deng Feizhou.
• Fu Qian considered whether the man was connected to the Native Council or was a test arranged by Yuan Shan.
• Fu Qian advised Wen Li to report the man to Yuan Shan.
• Fu Qian returned to his living room and tried to quiet the noisy orbs with his will.
• Pei Yanqing and several people in Lin City abruptly stopped watching as the orbs dimmed and vanished, leading Fu Qian to suspect his will could reach them.

Fu Qian entered the containment scene for Pest 1-077 and found himself trapped in a student’s body, unable to move or use his skills and equipment. After slowly regaining control, he suspected that he himself was the pest, leaving the mission’s true danger unresolved.

• Fu Qian entered the scene without any option to configure skills or equipment and saw a blackboard in what appeared to be a normal classroom.
• A mission prompt told Fu Qian to hide his abnormality as he realized he could barely move or speak.
• An academic advisor tried to help Fu Qian, who blinked and struggled to avoid being taken to the campus clinic.
• Fu Qian regained some control of his body, joked that he was cold-proof with wax coating, and startled a nearby girl by swinging his hand.
• After gradually regaining movement, Fu Qian wondered whether he was the pest himself.

Fu Qian realized his mission had changed and suspected he had taken over the body of a pest. After discovering that the classroom seemed abnormal, he packed his things and prepared to leave, warning Liu Yi about the strange weather outside.

• Fu Qian received an updated mission to maintain a normal state and survive at the school until sunrise.
• Fu Qian found an old book depicting strange pests and wondered whether reading it could cause them to grow inside someone’s body.
• Liu Yi asked Fu Qian not to read the disturbing book in the classroom.
• Fu Qian went into the corridor and saw unnatural darkness and fog outside the old teaching building.
• Fu Qian noticed that the students acted unnaturally and learned from a wooden-voiced boy that the counselor had gone out.
• Fu Qian packed his things, told Liu Yi the weather outside was bad, and prepared to leave.

Fu Qian encountered people behaving strangely in a fog-filled campus and avoided entering the clinic after suspecting the doctor was dangerous. He reunited with Liu Yi, who told him that the students in her classroom had suddenly stood up.

• Fu Qian left the classroom building in thick fog and headed for the campus clinic, hoping to find a quiet place to spend the night.
• Fu Qian saw a figure holding an ox head bellow, and the counselor began trying to pull off his own head; Fu Qian struck himself to break his gaze and escaped.
• Fu Qian suspected the seemingly normal clinic worker was dangerous and walked away when the worker urged him to come inside.
• Fu Qian met Liu Yi near the classroom building after another ox bellow stopped her from going farther.
• Liu Yi told Fu Qian that the students in her classroom had suddenly stood up without saying anything.

Fu Qian and Liu Yi encountered people across the campus behaving strangely under the thickening fog, while a calm student in a Black T-shirt warned them about horrors at the dorms and proposed hiding in the campus clinic. Fu Qian rejected the plan and walked away, leaving the group’s next move unresolved.

• Fu Qian warned Liu Yi to cover her mouth and not look when Cow-Head Sister bellowed nearby.
• Fu Qian told Liu Yi to find somewhere to hide but said he would act alone and started to leave.
• A student in a Black T-shirt arrived and said people at the dorms were silently catching two-legged, hairless rats emerging from a damp underground space.
• Black T-shirt said the school’s edge scrambled his sense of direction and suggested they hide in the campus clinic.
• Fu Qian rejected Black T-shirt’s suggestion, dodged his attempt to grab his shoulder, and walked in another direction.

Fu Qian learned that the strange fog had spread across the school and was awakening people and creatures, then discovered that the Cow-Head Sister’s call was drawing students toward the library. Liu Yi and Black T-shirt fled a fused-body monster from the duty room and found Fu Qian, who led them toward the student procession.

• Fu Qian told Black T-shirt and Liu Yi that the person behind the duty-room door had seemed normal, then left them behind.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the fog had spread across the school and decided to avoid looking at the Cow-Head Sister while steering clear of her territory.
• Fu Qian found a silent line of students moving toward the Cow-Head Sister’s call and realized the library had likely been emptied.
• Liu Yi and Black T-shirt emerged from the fog as a fused-body monster pursued them, and Black T-shirt revealed that it had attacked after they opened the duty-room door.
• Fu Qian saw the monster catch up and led Liu Yi and Black T-shirt toward the line of students.

Fu Qian used Cow-Head Sister’s power to stop the six-legged monster long enough for him, Liu Yi, and Black T-shirt to escape into the library. After reaching a fourth-floor office, he asked Black T-shirt for his name.

• Fu Qian tried to draw the six-legged monster’s attention, and Cow-Head Sister’s roar left it rigid and unable to attack.
• The monster tore off its own head, revealing a white structure of curved bones beneath its neck, while Liu Yi and Black T-shirt recoiled in horror.
• Fu Qian led Liu Yi and Black T-shirt to the library, where they climbed to the fourth-floor office area and found an unlocked room.
• Black T-shirt said he had shut the library’s glass door behind him, and Fu Qian asked him what his name was.

Fu Qian suspected Liang Yuntian was hiding his real identity while his own body changed after his connection to it deepened. As the monster’s roars faded, Liang Yuntian went to investigate, leaving Fu Qian to notice that Liu Yi was also showing signs of infection.

• Fu Qian questioned Liang Yuntian’s name and remembered that it did not appear on the library card, raising the possibility that another infected person was nearby.
• Fu Qian discovered that his right hand had become covered in black carapace and that his strength and claws had increased.
• Liu Yi heard the monster’s roars weakening, and Liang Yuntian left to check whether it had escaped.
• Fu Qian asked how Liu Yi felt and noticed red patches on her hand while she scratched at an itch.
• Liu Yi saw Fu Qian’s clawed hand score the desk and felt an urge to flee.

Fu Qian questioned Liu Yi about her hunger and suspected that Liang Yuntian had been driven to kill and devour others by the pest’s infection. When Liang Yuntian arrived, grotesquely transformed and boasting about eating someone, Fu Qian revealed that he knew more than Liang expected.

• Fu Qian showed Liu Yi his mutated arm and learned that she had grown hungry after visiting the school clinic with Liang Yuntian.
• Fu Qian suspected Liang Yuntian had been injured in the clinic and might have gone downstairs to devour Six-legged Brother.
• A crash from downstairs frightened Liu Yi, who fled the office to find another hiding place.
• Fu Qian strengthened his grip by twisting the doorknob off, then waited for Liang Yuntian to arrive.
• Liang Yuntian entered with a massively changed body and admitted that he had devoured someone, saying it tasted incredible.
• Fu Qian asked whether the meal tasted better than what Liang Yuntian had eaten before, leaving Liang speechless and asking how Fu Qian knew.

Fu Qian fought Liang Yuntian, who had gained bone armor and powerful spikes by devouring people. As Liang’s attack nearly killed him, Fu Qian tested a theory about his connection to the body and reached inside his wound to seize a sharp claw, leaving the outcome uncertain.

• Fu Qian deduced that Liang Yuntian had already devoured someone, likely a person listed on the library card, and Liang admitted he had killed and eaten someone.
• Liang attacked Fu Qian with bone-spiked fists, but Fu Qian dodged and countered until Liang was badly wounded.
• Liang formed Bone Armor and bone-spike wings, then pierced Fu Qian’s shoulder and wounded him with a barrage of spikes.
• Fu Qian’s wounds stopped bleeding as Bone Armor covered his neck, and he sensed his connection to the body growing stronger.
• Fu Qian questioned whether his assumptions were facts, reached into his neck wound, grabbed a sharp claw, and yanked on it while telling Liang to witness a miracle.

Fu Qian escaped the fusion by testing whether his parasite identity had been imposed on him, and he awakened in the Nightmare Corridor, where the Speaker explained that its doors led through dangerous nightmares to possible exits. The Speaker revealed that he had used divine corrosion to alter Fu Qian’s perceptions and bless his escape, but warned that Fu Qian’s reckless actions had complicated matters.

• Fu Qian pulled himself out of the fusion and appeared in a corridor facing a strange being with a human head and insect-like body.
• The being introduced himself as the Speaker and explained that he had helped Fu Qian leave the previous place.
• Fu Qian guessed that the Speaker had altered his senses, causing him to believe he was a parasite.
• The Speaker explained that the Nightmare Corridor held rooms connected to special entities, each containing a possible way out through dangerous conditions.
• The Speaker demonstrated divine corrosion and said he had used it to bless Fu Qian, then warned that Fu Qian had acted recklessly.