Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian warned Yuan Shan that the Gullard Family might be preparing a Promotion Ritual in Shangjing, possibly for a divine envoy, and suggested provoking them with another solar anomaly. After he caused one, he connected with the Dark Moon Pope and learned her cult was celebrating the anniversary of an eighth light appearing in the night sky.

• Fu Qian and Yuan Shan discussed the Gullard Family's recent retreat from public affairs, their bloodlines, and the resources they could offer Huang Zhixun.
• Fu Qian proposed that the family had withdrawn after the solar anomaly to prepare a ritual, and Yuan Shan worried they might be pursuing a divine envoy's promotion.
• Fu Qian suggested causing another solar anomaly to flush the Gullard Family out, and Yuan Shan condemned the idea before arranging to meet him again.
• Fu Qian drew Blasphemous Embrace and fired a rust-colored arrow at the sun, causing tendrils to blot out the sky and leaving him in a colorless state.
• Fu Qian reconnected with the Dark Moon Pope, who told him her cult was celebrating the seventh anniversary of an eighth light appearing in the night sky.

Fu Qian spoke with the Witch, declined her offer of a holiday gift until he had earned another merit, and returned to his bookstore. After several peaceful days in Shangjing, he went back to the Warehouse and received a new containment assignment.

• Fu Qian discussed the Witch’s church, the rotting painted world, and his Emissary Mask with her.
• Fu Qian declined the Witch’s offer of another gift and asked whether he could call on her in a crisis and what her name was.
• The Witch told Fu Qian to call her Your Holiness and warned him not to die before she could give him the gift.
• Fu Qian returned to his bookstore, and Shangjing remained peaceful for several days without Yuan Shan visiting or another vampire bringing a gift.
• Fu Qian returned to the Warehouse and received an assignment to enter Jiali’s 3-0530 Containment Scene and complete recontainment.

Fu Qian entered a modern city and received a mission to find Kanna Kisaragi’s corpse before six in the evening. After learning where Kanna could be found, he headed to Anjing Building, where she attended daily drug-trial testing, leaving him to consider why the deadline mattered.

• Fu Qian entered Containment Scene 3-0530 and received the mission to find Kanna Kisaragi’s corpse before six that evening.
• Fu Qian asked a fortune-teller about Kanna, and she gave him an address for Kanna’s home.
• Fu Qian went to the Kisaragi home and confirmed that Kanna was not there.
• Mr. Kisaragi told Fu Qian that Kanna went to Anjing Building at six every afternoon for drug-trial observation and testing.
• Fu Qian recognized Anjing Building’s connection to Anjing Group and wondered why he had to find Kanna before six.

Fu Qian searched for Kanna Kisaragi before the testers realized she was missing and learned that her neighbor Takagi had secretly collected extensive information about her. Takagi offered a stack of files on people close to Kanna who might know where she had gone.

• Fu Qian left the Kisaragi residence and noticed a neighbor watching him through a curtain.
• Fu Qian forced his way into the neighbor's home and questioned Takagi about Kanna Kisaragi.
• When Takagi denied knowing anything, Fu Qian choked him until he offered to lead Fu Qian to someone who might have information.
• Takagi opened a hidden room filled with photographs of Kanna, a map tracing her movements, and other collected items.
• Takagi gave Fu Qian files on people who had been close to Kanna and might know where she was.

Fu Qian followed Takagi’s suspicion and investigated Dancy Crawford, finding human organs in his kitchen and a body hidden beneath his villa. He reached the body but had not yet confirmed whether it was Kanna Kisaragi.

• Fu Qian examined Takagi’s files and asked which man he disliked most, and Takagi singled out Dancy Crawford as seeming inhuman.
• Fu Qian went to Dancy’s villa and found him washing a human lung in the kitchen.
• Fu Qian identified the lung, liver, and heart as recently removed human organs and confronted Dancy about the discarded body parts.
• Dancy led Fu Qian through the courtyard to an underground passage, where Fu Qian found a naked body on a stone slab.

Fu Qian discovered Kanna Kisaragi’s corpse and, after Dancy Crawford tried to kill him, used Dancy’s organs to repair it. His mission then updated to ensuring Kanna successfully completed the HAP0032-667 project test.

• Fu Qian recognized Kanna Kisaragi’s body but wondered why his mission remained incomplete.
• Dancy Crawford attacked Fu Qian, then tried to escape when the attack missed and Fu Qian appeared behind him.
• Dancy warned Fu Qian about the Anjing Group’s Death Mark, which would retaliate if Dancy died unnaturally.
• Fu Qian killed Dancy and removed three organs, placing them into Kanna’s corpse to see if repairing it would satisfy the mission.
• Fu Qian’s mission updated to ensure Kanna Kisaragi successfully completed the HAP0032-667 project test.

Fu Qian waited as Kanna Kisaragi revived after the drug trial, then helped her leave Dancy’s hideout and make contact with the test project. Kanna arranged a later appointment at Anjing Building, while Fu Qian suspected his task was to ensure the project’s tests showed nothing unusual.

• Fu Qian disguised himself as Dancy, destroyed the corpses, and waited beside Kanna Kisaragi’s body until she revived.
• Kanna Kisaragi asked Fu Qian what had happened, and he pulled the knife from her thigh before helping her leave.
• Kanna Kisaragi received a call at six from the test project and explained that an accident had kept her from attending.
• The caller rescheduled Kanna Kisaragi’s test at Anjing Building, and Fu Qian wondered whether the task was meant to keep the project from detecting anything unusual.
• Kanna Kisaragi noticed the prepared dinner, said she was hungry, and went to shower.

Fu Qian watched Kanna Kisaragi cook with ingredients she recognized as human organs, then welcomed Hayami Suzune, a Night Watcher investigating him for disappearances and murder. Hayami revealed that Kanna’s participation in the Miracle Potion experiment brought the case under the Night Watchers’ jurisdiction.

• Fu Qian considered investigating Kanna’s resurrection and watched her clean up and bandage her wound.
• Kanna noticed the unusual ingredients in the kitchen but chose to cook them, and Fu Qian wondered whether eating them might affect her.
• Kanna prepared three dishes and sat down to eat with Fu Qian, who announced that another guest had arrived.
• Hayami Suzune entered Fu Qian’s home and accused him of involvement in disappearances and murder.
• Fu Qian identified Hayami as a Night Watcher and questioned her authority over the case.
• Hayami said Kanna had taken part in the Miracle Potion experiment, placing anything related to her under Night Watcher jurisdiction.

Fu Qian and Kanna Kisaragi faced an accusation from Night Watcher Suzune, who suspected Fu Qian of harming Kanna. Kanna calmly claimed she had cut herself, and Suzune left without acting; Fu Qian then agreed to take Kanna to her rescheduled test that night.

• Fu Qian realized Suzune had been watching Dancy Crawford and connected Kanna Kisaragi’s trial participation to the Miracle Potion project.
• Suzune exposed Kanna’s bandaged leg and questioned her, but Kanna said she had accidentally stabbed herself while cooking.
• Kanna ate the dishes she had prepared, leaving Suzune confused and Fu Qian focused on whether eating her own lung would affect her wound.
• Suzune threatened Fu Qian as she left, and he replied that she should act within the rules.
• Kanna apologized for not explaining things earlier and said her test had been moved to ten that night; Fu Qian offered to take her.

Fu Qian drove Kanna Kisaragi to the Anjing Building for her Miracle Potion test and learned how the applicant-funded program worked. Kanna left disappointed, while Sawada, the test supervisor, tried to recruit Fu Qian for a test, which he refused.

• Fu Qian asked Kanna Kisaragi about the Miracle Potion program, and she explained that she had waited nearly ten months for an interview and believed miracles were as rare as winning the lottery.
• Kanna Kisaragi told Fu Qian that applicants paid for testing because the Night Watchers had only approved a program led by ordinary people, with Anjing Group providing public assistance.
• Fu Qian and Kanna Kisaragi arrived at the Anjing Building, where many applicants waited to be tested, and Kanna entered the testing area.
• Kanna Kisaragi returned less than ten minutes later disappointed, though Sawada said her observation period was still underway.
• Sawada introduced himself as Kanna Kisaragi's test supervisor, praised her talent, and invited Fu Qian to take a test for a suitable potion.
• Fu Qian refused Sawada's invitation and wondered whether his identity as Dancy had attracted the man's attention.

Fu Qian, posing as Dancy, refused the Anjing Group’s Miracle Potion but drew Sawada’s attention with his speed. After taking Kanna Kisaragi to her sister’s shop, he returned to his lodgings and let two hidden attackers inject him with a syringe so he could learn more about the potion project.

• Fu Qian refused Sawada’s invitation to take the Miracle Potion and caught Kanna Kisaragi when she stumbled.
• Fu Qian learned the next test was tomorrow night and took Kanna Kisaragi to her sister’s fortune-telling shop instead of her home.
• Fu Qian told Kanna Kisaragi’s sister that she needed to attend the Miracle Potion test the following day.
• Fu Qian questioned why the Warehouse had assigned him to keep the Anjing Group from learning whether the potion worked.
• Fu Qian returned to his lodgings, sensed two people hiding behind the door, and let one inject him with a syringe.

Fu Qian let Sawada and an accomplice capture him, then woke restrained in a room where they tried to question him about the Miracle Potion. After Sawada interrupted his partner, Fu Qian broke free and tore off the man’s head.

• Fu Qian pretended to be knocked out after Sawada and a stranger injected him with an anesthetic and stuffed him into a bag.
• Fu Qian woke restrained in a white room and recognized Sawada’s partner by his voice.
• A man wearing a turkey mask tried to question Fu Qian, who guessed the captors were connected to Anjing Group and the Miracle Potion.
• Sawada interrupted from behind a one-way mirror and told his partner to ask the questions.
• Fu Qian snapped the turkey-masked man’s neck, then tore off his head.

Fu Qian confronted Sawada after killing his masked partner and deduced that Sawada had acted independently to capture and test him. Sawada was trapped by the consequences of his gamble, and Fu Qian offered to discuss Supernatural Power despite declaring Sawada doomed.

• Fu Qian waited for Sawada beside the dead turkey-headed man, and Sawada returned to the room.
• Sawada threatened Fu Qian with the Anjing Group and the electric chair, while Fu Qian revealed they were in a special corporate hospital.
• Fu Qian reasoned that Sawada had planned the operation on his own after spotting him at Anjing Building and deciding to study him.
• Sawada admitted the plan was his own and claimed he had only wanted Fu Qian to cooperate with tests.
• Fu Qian argued Sawada would be in serious trouble if Fu Qian were ordinary, then declared Sawada doomed and said he had become interested in Supernatural Power.

After awakening to strange new strength, Fu Qian persuaded Sawada to turn the incident into a controlled potion-testing case that could secure Anjing Group’s protection from the Night Watchers. Sawada obtained a list of potions, and Fu Qian found the entry for Wriggling-7.

• Fu Qian showed Sawada that his wound had rapidly healed and demonstrated strength approaching that of a formal Transcendent.
• Fu Qian proposed that Sawada report his transformation as an unusual but controlled test result and request Anjing Group’s protection from the Night Watchers.
• Sawada doubted Fu Qian’s motives, but Fu Qian argued that Anjing would prefer an unexpected result produced under its own control.
• Sawada agreed to arrange further testing, but Fu Qian demanded to choose his own potion from a complete list.
• Sawada returned with confidential potion documents, and Fu Qian found the entry for Wriggling-7, listed under HAP0032-667.

Fu Qian investigated Kanna Kisaragi’s drug trials and arranged to use the same drug while maintaining his cover as Dancy Crawford. He returned to the fortune-teller’s cottage to find Kanna in a tense standoff with her father, then left with her.

• Fu Qian questioned Sawada about the drug assignments and learned that numbered versions were distributed at random and often produced unexpected effects.
• Fu Qian found Kanna Kisaragi’s file and learned she had used Wriggle-7, while Sawada warned him to wait until the company abandoned her before acting on his interest in her.
• Sawada suggested Fu Qian choose Wriggle-7 and explain that he wanted to test whether the same drug would produce special effects; Fu Qian agreed.
• Fu Qian examined Dancy Crawford’s file and told Sawada that he had killed the real Dancy and was impersonating him, which Sawada accepted as a useful cover story.
• Fu Qian returned to the fortune-teller’s cottage and found Kanna Kisaragi facing her furious father, Mr. Kisaragi, who had a hidden knife.
• Kanna Kisaragi came out, greeted Fu Qian, and asked him to leave with her while her father looked away.

Fu Qian accompanied Kanna Kisaragi to Anjing Building, where he claimed he had changed his mind about taking the Miracle Potion. After Sawada approved his request, Fu Qian was brought in for review, and the potion was placed before him.

• Kanna Kisaragi told Fu Qian that her father had found her naked in her sister's arms, and said her sister had grown unusually close to her in recent years.
• At Anjing Building, Sawada greeted Kanna Kisaragi, but Fu Qian asked to enter with her and said he wanted to accept the potion after all.
• Sawada took Fu Qian through the building and left him waiting while he reported Fu Qian's case for review.
• Sawada returned with a staff member carrying the Miracle Potion and told Fu Qian to control his breathing and drink it within ten seconds.

Fu Qian drank Yasui Company's Crawling-7 potion but felt no effect, reinforcing his plan to have the formula dismissed as a failure. After returning home to observe events, he was attacked at dinner by Ms. Suzune.

• Fu Qian examined and drank the potion, sensing a brief trace of supernatural energy but no lasting effect.
• Fu Qian questioned why the supposedly failed formula had resurrected Kanna Kisaragi and concluded the mission had a deeper purpose.
• Fu Qian told Sawada he felt no change and warned him to record the test results honestly, intending to keep Yasui Company from pursuing the formula.
• Fu Qian found that Kanna Kisaragi had already left, then returned home rather than pursuing her.
• Ms. Suzune burst into Fu Qian's home and pinned his hand to the dining table with a dagger as he calmly offered her pasta.

Hayami Suzune confronted Fu Qian over Kisaragi Iken’s murder, but Fu Qian denied killing him and persuaded her that Kanna Kisaragi might be the culprit. He left Suzune with two suspects, one of whom had taken the Miracle Potion.

• Hayami Suzune accused Fu Qian of killing Kisaragi Iken and taking his liver, then admitted she had come intending to kill him on impulse.
• Fu Qian asked Suzune to turn off her recorder, denied the murder, and challenged her to consider whether she had wanted an excuse to kill him.
• Fu Qian told Suzune that Kanna Kisaragi had killed her father and pointed out that Kanna had eaten something suspicious the previous day.
• Fu Qian suggested a missing student from a nearby school had been the food Kanna ate, and Suzune retched after realizing Fu Qian meant himself.
• Suzune refused to accept Fu Qian’s claim without proof, while he reminded her that Kanna had taken the Miracle Potion and fell within her responsibilities.

Fu Qian accompanied Hayami Suzune to investigate Kisaragi Iken’s murder and offered a bizarre reconstruction of the crime. Kanna Kisaragi and her older sister arrived at the scene as Fu Qian continued his performance.

• Fu Qian told Hayami Suzune she could find remains outside, and she ordered him to bandage his wound and come with her.
• Hayami Suzune drove Fu Qian to the Kisaragi family estate, where officers had secured the murder scene.
• Fu Qian examined Kisaragi Iken’s body and concluded that the killer was inexperienced with a blade and knew the house well.
• Fu Qian theatrically described the killer’s movements, prompting an officer to praise his supposed empathy.
• Kanna Kisaragi and her older sister arrived, and Fu Qian suggested that Kisaragi Iken had endured the attack without fighting back against the person who wielded the blade.

Fu Qian revealed that Kisaragi Iken had taken his own life, then questioned the female diviner about her relationship with Kanna and why she had told their father about Kanna’s dangerous connection to him. The diviner defended her father’s choice and described Kanna as being like a wax figure.

• After Fu Qian implied Kanna Kisaragi was responsible for the death, her older sister left the scene with her, and Hayami Suzune took Kanna aside to question her.
• Fu Qian declined to ride with Hayami and Kanna, then took the female diviner home by taxi.
• At the diviner’s cottage, Fu Qian asked what she thought of Kanna and told her he knew Kisaragi Iken had killed himself.
• The female diviner said Kanna had spoken about Fu Qian to show off, not out of malice, and Fu Qian asked why she had told their father about Kanna’s involvement with him.
• The female diviner said her father had been a father who acted out of helplessness, and suggested Kanna was like a wax figure.