Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian used the Dark Moon and the Pope’s Gifted Mask to draw Rainbow of Yao Bian into a direct encounter. He explained that the invitation from the place that sent him had let him predict the god’s arrival, and the chapter ended with Rainbow questioning his certainty.

• Fu Qian used Blasphemous Embrace and the Dark Moon to counter Rainbow of Yao Bian’s plan, but the Pope’s voice did not appear.
• Fu Qian explained that he could not undo the error Rainbow had created and that his Mythical Form had run out of time.
• Fu Qian put on the Pope’s Gifted Mask and invited the Indigo Witch to have an honest conversation.
• Rainbow of Yao Bian accepted the invitation and descended in person, draining color from Fu Qian and his surroundings.
• Fu Qian told Rainbow that he had expected its timely arrival because the place that sent him had always held an invitation from it.

Fu Qian confronted Rainbow of Yao Bian about its plans in the Abyss and learned how it detected newly appearing divine traits. He then connected the trait’s emergence to a past fire and wondered whether he had disrupted the balance there.

• Fu Qian accused Rainbow of Yao Bian of using Edral and fragments of its power to guide events, and explained that he had anticipated its arrival.
• Fu Qian said a gap in his memory and his dislike of the scepter led him to discover Rainbow of Yao Bian, and that he had brought a lantern as an invitation.
• Fu Qian asked why Rainbow of Yao Bian had reacted so quickly to his traits, and it explained that a new divine trait’s existence was conveyed throughout the supernatural realm before it came into being.
• Fu Qian recalled the fire at Ji Feng’s home during the 1-039, The Nursery mission and considered whether his demigod ritual had disturbed the balance around Ji Feng’s resistance to Mother of Gospel.
• Fu Qian said less than three minutes remained and invited Rainbow of Yao Bian to ask what was troubling him.

Fu Qian questioned Rainbow of Yao Bian about the threat it feared, then used Eye Within the Eye to evade its attempt to destroy his will. The task completed successfully in the darkness of Night Holy Capital, and Fu Qian discovered a Dark Moon Ring linked to Nirgalia.

• Fu Qian asked Rainbow of Yao Bian whether its hidden preparations were connected to the ancient long night or a threat from the stars.
• Rainbow of Yao Bian answered cryptically that the night and nightmare had been too long, then trapped Fu Qian in rainbow light.
• Fu Qian activated Eye Within the Eye, abandoning thought so Rainbow of Yao Bian could not interfere with his drunken soul.
• The light vanished before Fu Qian blinked, and the Warehouse declared task No. 3-1003 completed and containment successful.
• Fu Qian felt a ring appear beneath the Yellow Garment and learned it was the Dark Moon Ring, which granted a chance to summon a lightless night.

Fu Qian used the Dark Moon Ring to dispel Rainbow of Yao Bian’s interference, complete the task, and return to the Warehouse with his rank and gains intact. He received the title King of Prison Break and recognized its eye-mark symbol as an expression of his power.

• Fu Qian activated the Dark Moon Ring’s Time Moon Deep Sleep effect before the Eye Within the Eye shattered.
• The task-completion notification appeared, confirming that the Finger Bone had been the key to making Midas real and that the ring had dispelled Rainbow of Yao Bian’s interference.
• Fu Qian returned to the Warehouse and received Sanity Value, Ascension, Gambler’s Bone, and Eternal Lock as rewards.
• Fu Qian read that his false-god name was King of Prison Break and saw the symbol associated with his power.
• Fu Qian connected the eye-like symbol to the carvings on the Golden Holy Grail and wondered whether the Holy Grail Cult had used eyes to spy on gods.

Fu Qian examined his mission rewards, including a Gambler's Bone die and an Eternal Lock pill, then tested the Frostburn effect on his new ring. He returned to Chief Yuan's residence just as Yuan Shan arrived with a guest.

• Fu Qian inspected the crude Gambler's Bone die and put it away.
• Fu Qian examined the Eternal Lock pill and realized it had been made using the metallic bird's blood from Blood Lake.
• Fu Qian checked his used items and discovered the new ring could transform his supernatural abilities into icy forms.
• Fu Qian activated Law Remnants through the ring, spreading silvery frost and recognizing that the effect could help him create a new identity.
• Fu Qian put on the Emissary Mask and returned to Chief Yuan's residence, where he heard Yuan Shan showing someone around.

Fu Qian visited Yuan Shan to collect compensation for the previous night and learned from Su Gao how the city’s strange celestial events had unfolded. The conversation ended with Su Gao pointing out a cat in Yuan Shan’s home.

• Fu Qian watched Red Moon’s light disperse over Night Holy Capital after Rainbow of Yao Bian left.
• Yuan Shan arrived at Fu Qian’s room and questioned how he had known where she was staying.
• Fu Qian told Yuan Shan he had come to collect compensation for the previous night’s quality-control incident.
• Su Gao described the sunlike phenomenon, the dark moon, and the red moon that followed.
• Su Gao mentioned visiting Yuan Shan after the alert ended and revealed a black-and-white cat in the living room.

Fu Qian visited Yuan Shan and discovered that Henry had been transformed into a cat, then returned to the Warehouse and prepared to use the Dark Moon to advance again. The chapter ended with Fu Qian feeding a murky eyeball to the mouth that opened in his chest.

• Fu Qian realized that Yuan Shan’s cat was Henry, who had been distorted into a cat after she used the switch Henry had entrusted to her.
• Yuan Shan warned Fu Qian and Su Gao to leave because the investigation into the previous day’s events was still underway, and Fu Qian gave Su Gao Gambler’s Bone.
• Fu Qian returned to the Warehouse and confirmed that the spy device numbered 1-015 had disappeared.
• At sunrise, Fu Qian used a transparent longbow to cover the sun in a rusty, blasphemous color and bring out the Dark Moon.
• Fu Qian’s rank rose again, and he fed a murky eyeball to the sharp-toothed mouth that opened in his chest.

Fu Qian used Insight on Ancient Recollection and the Pope’s mask while searching for a way to reach the missing Pope. The abilities he gained offered no clear rescue method, leaving him to keep testing possibilities.

• Fu Qian recalled that the Pope had helped him during the battle in Night Holy Capital but had not responded since, and he worried something had gone wrong.
• Fu Qian used Insight on Ancient Recollection and gained Medicative Hesitation, an ability that bathed an area in moonlight and slowed its targets.
• Fu Qian judged that Medicative Hesitation could not reach into another world, then swallowed the Witch-born mask to seek another connection.
• Fu Qian gained Dazzling Face, which concealed supernatural aura by making its user appear dazzling, and saw that its face was the Pope’s.
• Fu Qian transformed into an inhuman beast to avoid taking on the Pope’s face, but its features kept becoming more handsome.

Fu Qian used the Bug Whistle’s hunger to sense a path behind the Dark Moon and traveled to a museum. There, he recognized a familiar painting in an exhibition hall but could not understand how it had ended up there.

• Fu Qian tested the Bug Whistle and gained Extreme Hunger Infection, which made him feel like a creature of the Nightmare Corridor.
• Fu Qian used his growing hunger to sense something responsive behind the Dark Moon and briefly activated Mythical Form to identify a destination.
• Fu Qian followed the hunger through the Dark Moon and emerged underground in a public museum.
• Fu Qian restored his human form, entered the exhibition hall, and recognized a moldy painting with a blood-red handprint at its top.

Fu Qian investigated the strange painting in the art museum and used Clear Dream to make Rafferty believe he was a missing staff member named Anke. The effect ended after exactly one minute, leaving Rafferty's photographs mysteriously gone.

• Fu Qian recognized the painting as his own, but found it had lost all of its former power.
• Rafferty arrived to evacuate the museum and grew suspicious when he noticed Fu Qian's bare feet.
• Fu Qian learned Rafferty's name and used Clear Dream to have him identify Fu Qian as the missing employee Anke.
• Rafferty explained that Anke had disappeared five days earlier, then noticed the photographs in his hands had vanished as Clear Dream ended.

Fu Qian tested the Clear Dream’s strict time limit, then claimed the identity of Anke and was taken from the painting’s building by officers. Outside, he discovered that he was in a city unlike the world he remembered, and a woman arrived to take him for a psychological evaluation.

• Fu Qian questioned Lafayette in the Clear Dream and confirmed that it always ended after about a minute.
• Fu Qian persuaded Lafayette to support his claim that he was Anke when other officers arrived.
• The officers escorted Fu Qian from the building, and he saw a plaza and city unlike the place he remembered.
• After the officers checked the visitors, a young woman approached Fu Qian and said she would take him for a psychological evaluation.

Amira brought Fu Qian to a religious sanctuary for counseling and a confidential conversation about his experiences in another world. In a confessional, she asked where he had gone during the five days he was missing, while an unseen figure listened.

• After Fu Qian impressed the police with his composure, Amira introduced herself and took him away in a carriage.
• Amira brought Fu Qian to a grand religious building, explaining that it would help calm him and that someone wanted to hear his story about another world.
• Fu Qian noticed stars visible through a stained-glass window despite the daylight and agreed to meet the interested expert.
• Amira led Fu Qian into a confessional and, wearing a gold-thread mask, assured him that his account would remain confidential.
• Amira asked Fu Qian where he had gone during the five days he was missing, while an unseen figure watched from the other side.

Fu Qian described the World Within the Painting to Amira and Mr. Anke, who suggested his experience might have been a nightmare. He learned that the Leisens had suffered a similar ordeal, then saw Amira use a mysterious, soothing power.

• Fu Qian told Amira about the underground world, its stone-faced inhabitants, strange churches, and colored lights that resembled his painting.
• Fu Qian said he had touched the painting before, and Mr. Anke suggested that his experience might have been a nightmare.
• Fu Qian questioned how he could have been missing for five days and learned that other people had experienced similar troubles.
• Mr. Anke named Mr. and Mrs. Leisen as survivors of a similar ordeal, and Fu Qian let the dream shatter.
• Amira reached across the divider and revealed a glowing pattern in her palm that sent out a soothing pulse.

After Amira’s treatment, Fu Qian recognized that her power used Commandments like Ill Omen’s and returned to Anke’s rented home. He met landlady Mrs. Harper and began asking about the nearby Leisen victims while keeping up his role as a recovering nightmare victim.

• Fu Qian asked Amira to treat him again and recognized the patterns in her power as Commandments resembling Ill Omen’s.
• Amira escorted Fu Qian out and sent him home in a carriage, while he noticed that the starlight vanished beyond the building’s wall.
• Fu Qian went to Anke’s residence instead of using the address Officer Lafadi had given him, hoping to learn about the nearby Leisen victims.
• Mrs. Harper recognized Fu Qian as Anke and let him inside after he claimed he had been lost in a nightmare.
• Fu Qian changed clothes and went downstairs, where Mrs. Harper offered him tea and invited him to talk.

Fu Qian questioned Mrs. Harper about his disappearance, the art gallery, and the explosion, then learned that the Leisens lived nearby. When he visited them, he recognized them as people he had encountered in his nightmares, confirming they were fellow victims.

• Fu Qian told Mrs. Harper that he had been found at the art gallery after spending five days trapped in a nightmare.
• Mrs. Harper shared that investigators had found no explanation for the explosion and asked why Fu Qian had been paid so much to work at the gallery.
• Fu Qian asked whether Mrs. Harper knew the Leisens, and she gave him their address after he said the Celestial Cult had suggested he meet people who had experienced nightmares.
• Fu Qian went to the Leisens' home and recognized Mr. and Mrs. Leisen from scenes in his nightmares.

Fu Qian visited Mr. and Mrs. Leisen to learn about their recovery from a nightmare connected to the art gallery. The Leisens revealed that they had endured the same nightmare for decades after attending an exhibition.

• Fu Qian approached the Leisens on their balcony, won an invitation for tea, and introduced himself as Anke, a new art gallery employee.
• Fu Qian mentioned the gallery explosion and the missing employee, then explained that Amira had sent him to visit the Leisens.
• Mr. Leisen calmed down after hearing Amira considered them good people and asked whether Fu Qian had encountered something at the gallery.
• Fu Qian described a rotting painting, and the Leisens recognized it as a source of their nightmares.
• Mr. Leisen confirmed that the nightmares featured blizzards, underground monsters, and rosy light, and said he and his wife had been trapped in them for decades after visiting an exhibition.

Fu Qian questioned the Leisens about their nightmares and learned that the Celestial Cult was investigating a wave of victims linked to the art gallery. He left with an address for another possible victim, then discarded it while an unseen observer watched.

• Leisen explained that the Celestial Cult had opened the dangerous gallery to find the source of the nightmares and study those affected.
• Mrs. Leisen said the victims had appeared about a month earlier and that people at the cult's headquarters seemed to share their suffering.
• Fu Qian told the Leisens that his nightmare included eight beams of light, while they remembered only seven and believed their nightmares had ended before that point.
• Mrs. Leisen described how the nightmare's cold and fear had vanished suddenly, and Fu Qian inferred that their memories of the World Within the Painting had stopped earlier than his.
• Fu Qian used Clear Dream to ask Leisen about other victims, received an address, and later threw the note away while someone watched from the shadows.

Fu Qian returned home after deliberately acting like he rejected the cult’s explanation, hoping to provoke the organization into revealing how it handled nightmare cases. That night, he found himself isolated in a star-lit domain and sensed someone waiting with murderous intent.

• Fu Qian refused to visit the Leisen couple’s address and headed home, having decided to pose as an incorrigible fool to provoke the cult.
• Fu Qian used money borrowed from Brother Lafadi to buy sweets, and Mrs. Harper praised his improved appearance and advised him to rest.
• Fu Qian recalled that the cult revered the stars and that its members gained powerful Star Laws through inspiration beneath the night sky.
• Fu Qian woke to find the house and surrounding area deserted, recognizing that a power had sealed him inside a domain cut off from reality.
• Fu Qian suspected the cult had created a nightmare to change his worldview, but sensed someone nearby waiting with murderous intent.

Fu Qian followed a silver-clad hunter through the nightmare street and watched him attack a nearby building. A frightened woman emerged and met Fu Qian, but the bloodied hunter soon returned and advanced on her with a flaming sword.

• Fu Qian left his residence and followed the silver-clad hunter through the empty street.
• The hunter fired an electric blast into a nearby building and rushed inside.
• A young woman in a nightgown fled from a neighboring building and asked Fu Qian what had happened.
• Fu Qian told the woman that the nightmare could not hurt her if it was only a dream.
• The bloodied hunter emerged from the attacked building, focused on the woman, and approached her with a silver-gray flaming sword.

Fu Qian watched the cult hunter attack Harriet with a star-powered blade, and Harriet fled toward him after being badly injured. The chapter left Harriet holding a cold blade to Fu Qian’s neck and threatening the hunter with his life.

• The cult hunter attacked Harriet with a blade surrounded by metallic flames, and she dodged his opening slash.
• The hunter struck Harriet’s arm with a crushing blow, then pursued her through the wreckage as she counterattacked and sent him flying.
• Harriet escaped through shattered shop windows and rushed toward Fu Qian, using an unnatural, floating movement despite her injury.
• Fu Qian recognized that Harriet was trying to take him hostage, and she pressed a cold blade to his neck and threatened the approaching hunter.