Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian waited for Eternal Clarity of Thought to recover, then used his bell to force Lorraine to appear in the mirror hall and planned to profane her rather than risk killing her. The bell briefly silenced the Transcendents and froze the mirrors as Fu Qian opened fire at Lorraine.

• Fu Qian let Elina and Cross leave, but Elina chose to stay and watch him.
• Fu Qian waited nearly a day in the ruin while Elina watched and no one else entered.
• After Eternal Clarity of Thought recovered, Fu Qian prepared to expose Lorraine briefly with his bell and profane her.
• Fu Qian rang the bell, causing Elina and Cross to become ordinary mortals and the mirrors to freeze.
• Lorraine appeared, and Fu Qian greeted her and opened fire.

Fu Qian used a Pregnancy Bullet to force Lorraine’s angelic being back into the mortal world, destroying the mirror and completing his mission. As Elina’s powers returned, she formed an oath and grew wings, leaving her staring at Lorraine.

• Fu Qian shot Lorraine in the lower abdomen with a Pregnancy Bullet after using Eternal Clarity of Thought to suppress her powers.
• Lorraine’s wound healed, but feathers erupted from her swelling belly as the angelic being purged the new growth and lost its extraordinary state.
• The mirror shattered, and Fu Qian received confirmation that No. 2-153 had been contained successfully.
• Elina’s powers returned, enormous wings spread from her back, and she looked up at Lorraine in thought.

Fu Qian completed the Oathbreaker Gunslinger mission, received the revolver Mercy, and returned to the bookstore. He found a note saying Wen Li had left Shangjing for family matters.

• Fu Qian received the mission evaluation, which confirmed that Lorraine had found the Angel Dungeon, and earned the special reward Mercy.
• Fu Qian examined Mercy and learned that it could conceal a shot and give subsequent attacks a chance to hit three times.
• Fu Qian noticed Mercy had no ammunition and decided he could obtain some through Yuan Shan or Wen Li.
• Fu Qian found a letter from Wen Li saying she had left Shangjing for family matters and could be contacted through her steward.

Fu Qian reopened his bookstore and dealt with a rude customer before Taylor Gullard arrived to offer him an ancient book. Fu Qian opened the book and realized it was a diary.

• Fu Qian refused to help a well-dressed customer find a book and told him the volume he wanted was only free with another copy of itself.
• After the customer left, Fu Qian reflected that he had reopened his bookstore while Wen Li was away from Shangjing.
• Fu Qian's indifference drove several customers out of the bookstore.
• Taylor Gullard entered, dismissed the remaining customers, and asked Fu Qian whether he bought old books.
• Taylor introduced himself and presented an ancient black book, and Fu Qian opened it and recognized it as a diary.

Fu Qian examined Taylor’s thousand-year-old notebook, learned that it changed its writing for each reader and erased claims that were untrue, then offered Taylor one dollar for it. Taylor tried to take it back, but Fu Qian pinned it down and challenged him to force a sale.

• Fu Qian read the notebook’s entries about vampires and learned from Taylor that its writing changed to suit whoever read it.
• Taylor explained that the blank pages accepted only things the writer firmly believed to be true, and false claims disappeared.
• Fu Qian offered Taylor one dollar for the notebook, provoking Taylor’s anger.
• Taylor reached to reclaim the notebook, but Fu Qian pinned it down and slid a coin toward him.
• Taylor threatened Fu Qian, who gestured at the empty bookstore and asked whether Taylor had investigated his style before coming.

Fu Qian took the Abyss Notebook from Taylor, who had brought it to test him, and made Taylor pay for damaging his counter before leaving. Yuan Shan explained that the notebook reads anyone who reads it and can record information about them, leaving Fu Qian with a dangerous new discovery.

• Fu Qian refused to return the Abyss Notebook, and Taylor left after paying for the holes he had made in the counter.
• Fu Qian brought the notebook to Yuan Shan and told her he had bought it from Taylor for one dollar.
• Yuan Shan identified it as the Gullard Family's Abyss Notebook and confirmed that false information written in it would disappear.
• Yuan Shan warned Fu Qian that anyone who read the notebook was read by it in turn, allowing anyone to write information about them.

Fu Qian learned more about the Abyss Notebook and accepted Yuan Shan’s offer to take special ammunition from the Night Watchers’ storage facility as compensation for the trouble involving Gan Zuoxun and the Gullards. After choosing several kinds of bullets, he asked Yuan Shan whether anything unusual had happened in Bee Monkey City.

• Yuan Shan explained that the Abyss Notebook could identify people who looked at it, and that its truthful records might help its holder resist madness.
• Fu Qian and Yuan Shan discussed the Gullard Family’s likely retaliation, and Yuan Shan said the Night Watchers would not interfere if he killed them so long as he avoided causing a public stir.
• Fu Qian asked Yuan Shan for ammunition, and she took him to the Night Watchers’ storage facility in the Shangjing district.
• Yuan Shan offered Fu Qian special bullets as compensation for the trouble caused by her assessment of the situation involving Gan Zuoxun.
• Fu Qian selected several types of supernatural ammunition and asked Yuan Shan about unusual activity in Bee Monkey City.

Fu Qian learned from Yuan Shan that the Night Watchers had failed to find Yul in Bee Monkey City, then traveled there to investigate a possible hidden passage beneath its museum. He left Shangjing by train while one of Taylor’s men continued to follow him.

• Fu Qian asked Yuan Shan about Bee Monkey City, and she told him the Night Watchers had searched there for Yul without finding any trace of him.
• Fu Qian admitted that he knew Yul, and Yuan Shan advised him to leave Shangjing for a while while she arranged for someone to watch his bookstore.
• Fu Qian returned to the bookstore, noticed Taylor’s men tailing him, and prepared his pistol Mercy with bullets he had collected.
• Fu Qian decided to visit Bee Monkey City to investigate whether its museum had a hidden basement and passage like the one he had seen in the Corrupt Forest.
• Fu Qian boarded a train to Bee Monkey City, leaving the gray-hatted man assigned by Taylor watching from the platform.

Fu Qian boarded a train with the Abyss Notebook and was followed by Gray Hat, while a pair of Night Watchers confronted him and confiscated his pistol. After using Yuan Shan’s travel permit to clear up the misunderstanding, Fu Qian asked the Night Watchers to help deal with Gray Hat.

• Fu Qian brought the Abyss Notebook aboard the train while Gray Hat followed him under Taylor’s orders.
• A short-haired woman posing as a fellow passenger threatened Fu Qian with a dagger and took his pistol.
• The woman and her middle-aged partner identified themselves as Night Watchers and questioned Fu Qian about his weapon and behavior.
• Fu Qian showed them Yuan Shan’s special travel permit, and the middle-aged Night Watcher verified it.
• Fu Qian admitted he was not a Night Watcher and told the pair that Gray Hat was tailing him, asking them to help deal with him.

Fu Qian returned to Bee Monkey City and investigated the museum’s underground passage, finding it empty after the Nightmare Corridor’s effects had faded. He used his notebook to test whether he could uncover what had caused the anomaly, but his second statement disappeared.

• Xiao Zhi and the middle-aged Night Watcher used their authority to stop the gray-hatted man from following Fu Qian.
• Fu Qian arrived in Bee Monkey City at night and noticed people still wandering its unusually lively streets.
• Fu Qian entered the museum, where the staff member recognized him but seemed mentally disturbed and scratched his face until it bled.
• Fu Qian uncovered the passage beneath the staircase and found it silent, empty, and free of the strange insects from his previous visit.
• Fu Qian wrote in his notebook that he was at an excavation site, then added that the thing causing its anomaly had been taken away; the second line vanished.

Fu Qian uncovered a hidden golden cup beneath the museum and recognized its design in the monastery’s carvings, leading him to investigate Yul’s former quarters. There he encountered Dr. Kelly, who did not recognize him and said her memory had been poor because of the many patients lately.

• Fu Qian used his bell to briefly reveal a golden cup hidden in the underground chamber, but chose not to disturb it.
• Fu Qian recognized the cup’s design from carvings at the monastery and decided to investigate where Yul had lived as Nivalis.
• Fu Qian passed a museum staff member checking the glass over a nude painting and left without disturbing him.
• Fu Qian returned to the monastery, where nightmares had affected the monks, and followed the carvings toward Yul’s former quarters.
• Fu Qian met Dr. Kelly at a half-open door, and she failed to recognize him, explaining that her memory had been poor amid the many patients lately.

Fu Qian visited Kelly at the monastery and learned that her patients had been hearing a baby cry, then investigated Yul’s former quarters and found an abandoned underground site linked to the museum excavation. He uncovered evidence of the Holy Grail Cult and took a Golden Cup and a damaged parchment, while the cult’s purpose and the connection between its discoveries remained unresolved.

• Fu Qian spoke with Kelly, who said her growing caseload of inexplicable psychological traumas had shaken her faith in her ability to help people.
• Fu Qian asked Kelly whether her patients had heard a baby crying, and she confirmed that several had.
• Fu Qian found a hidden passage in Yul’s quarters that led to an abandoned underground structure connected to the museum excavation.
• Fu Qian found a Golden Cup with recently carved decorations and a damaged parchment labeled Holy Grail Cult.
• Fu Qian inferred that the cult had searched for something to make its Golden Cups and that Mr. Luo and Yul had each uncovered only part of the mystery.
• Fu Qian pocketed the Golden Cup and parchment.

Fu Qian recovered the Golden Cup and learned that Loretta had left Bernard a message and a gift through their hidden signals. He remained unable to deal with the monster beneath the museum until his ability came off cooldown, and he left wondering whether Loretta and Bernard could ever be freed from their supernatural torment.

• Fu Qian searched the underground area, found nothing else of value, and left the monastery with the Golden Cup.
• With Eternal Clarity of Thought still on cooldown, Fu Qian decided to spend the next twenty-odd hours in Bee Monkey City before returning to the museum.
• Fu Qian found Bernard working late at a shop, where Bernard poured him coffee and explained that Loretta had treated him.
• Bernard told Fu Qian that he and Loretta had agreed on secret ways to leave messages, and that he understood she had left the shop and information for him.
• Fu Qian recalled that Loretta and Bernard's consciousnesses had been replaced by supernatural things and wondered whether he might one day be able to restore them.

Fu Qian broke the Golden Holy Grail at the museum, unleashed a supernatural threat, and used the Warehouse to isolate himself from its effects. He discovered that the Warehouse could transfer the extracted dream-related trait into Clear Dream, whose description then appeared.

• Fu Qian returned to the museum excavation site and used the bell to reveal the Golden Holy Grail.
• Fu Qian shot the cup with Mercy, punched a hole through it, and triggered the appearance of countless eyes that wounded and disoriented him.
• Fu Qian threw the other Golden Cup at the eyes, making them twist into threads and vanish.
• Fu Qian removed the Emissary Mask to enter the Warehouse, which stopped the cup’s ghostly light from affecting him and contained the extracted traits.
• Fu Qian dropped Clear Dream into the intact cup, and the liquid flowed into the ring.
• Fu Qian examined Clear Dream and read its newly revealed description, learning it could draw targets into a shared dream.

Fu Qian upgraded the Clear Dream and discovered the Golden Cup remained intact after its Trait was extracted, then was assigned to recontain Blazar in a strange office. He investigated the office as unusual game-like prompts appeared, leaving him uncertain what waited beyond the door.

• Fu Qian examined the upgraded Clear Dream and put the emptied Golden Cup back in the Warehouse, planning to study its patterns later.
• After more than twenty-four hours without an alarm, Fu Qian received a containment breach alert for Blazar, designation 1-005, and entered its Containment Scene.
• Fu Qian arrived in a small office, found coursework and personal items, and received a task to leave within five minutes.
• Fu Qian searched the desk drawers instead of leaving and heard a real-time prompt say that one drawer was locked and required a key.
• Fu Qian wondered whether the office was like a game or illusion and hesitated over what might be outside the door.

Fu Qian ignored the five-minute task to leave Ms. Media’s office, triggering a failure penalty and discovering her with a student. After speaking with Media, he received a new objective to escape the Furnace before his Sanity Value reached zero.

• Fu Qian picked the locked drawer in Ms. Media’s office and found photographs of four high-school-aged boys, but no useful information.
• Fu Qian stayed in the office after the five-minute countdown ended, and the task failed, costing him one Sanity Value.
• A young man entered with Media, and Fu Qian realized she was a teacher at his school.
• Media asked Fu Qian why he was in her office, and he told her he had appeared there unexpectedly.
• Fu Qian received a notification that containment had been achieved and that he had to escape the Furnace before his Sanity Value reached zero.

Fu Qian tried to learn about the Furnace while speaking with Media, who treated the mission prompts as ordinary and infallible. Media's reaction to the unlocked drawer and Fu Qian's questions left him confronting how deeply the prompts shaped this world.

• Fu Qian realized the containment instructions threatened his Sanity Value and ran alongside his previous mission.
• Media flirted with Fu Qian and reassured him that Daniel would not cause trouble over their earlier encounter.
• Media took Fu Qian's photograph, then opened her locked desk drawer with a key she had hidden in a shoe.
• Media insisted Fu Qian could not have opened the drawer without its key and said the prompt had made that clear.
• Fu Qian learned that Media trusted the prompts completely and believed they could not be wrong.

Fu Qian left Media’s office and was cornered by Daniel and two classmates after he tried to find his way home. He followed them to a secluded storage room, intending to question them in private.

• Media admitted she treasured the memories in Fu Qian’s file and asked to keep his photo, while Fu Qian agreed and left her office.
• Fu Qian realized the world treated rule-based prompts as absolute and considered how he might use them to drain Sanity Value.
• Fu Qian left the school building to find his way home, since Media had misunderstood his request for help.
• Daniel returned with two classmates, had one of them throw a basketball at Fu Qian, and threatened him when Fu Qian confronted him.
• Fu Qian agreed to go with Daniel and his companions, who escorted him to a secluded storage room.

Fu Qian resisted Daniel’s attempt to imprison him in a dark storage-room closet and knocked him down. A corpse then fell out of the closet, revealing a secret Daniel seemed to recognize.

• Daniel sent the other two boys away and questioned Fu Qian about being in Media’s locked office.
• Fu Qian denied conspiring with Media, but Daniel refused to believe him and tried to force him into a dark room behind a wooden door.
• Fu Qian realized the door could only be opened from the other side and punched Daniel before he could be locked inside.
• Fu Qian shoved the baseball bat into Daniel’s mouth, but a corpse fell out of the dark room.
• Daniel reacted to the corpse by saying Fu Qian had found out and that he had no choice.

Fu Qian intimidated Daniel into revealing his home address and agreed to let him go in exchange for a sick note and silence. He reached his old apartment building before sunset and unlocked his home.

• Fu Qian convinced Daniel he was a killer and questioned him about who knew they had met and where Fu Qian lived.
• Daniel said no one else knew about the meeting and gave Fu Qian his home address.
• Fu Qian told Daniel to submit a sick note if he missed school the next day, then left the storeroom as Daniel signaled Steve and the other guard to let him pass.
• Fu Qian followed Daniel's directions to an old apartment building and used his keys to unlock the door.