Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian and Witch discussed the Dark Moon, the church’s transformation, and how Fu Qian had entered the dreamlike sanctuary. Their conversation ended with Witch sitting upright in surprise when Fu Qian revealed where he had entered.

• Fu Qian told Witch that absorbing the mask had revealed the name Dazzling Face and its explanation.
• Witch explained that the sudden appearance of Law and the stars had made the sanctuary and its people undergo irreversible nightmarefication.
• Witch said she had helped the gathered people adjust and discovered that nightmarefication made concepts like erasing memories and turning back time easier to manipulate.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the painting’s entrance required the location to lose its status as reality while Witch remained there.
• Fu Qian revealed that he had entered from the same place where he had left last time, startling Witch into sitting upright.

Fu Qian discussed the reappeared Law’s flaws with the Witch and learned that its essence, rather than its structure, was missing. When Fu Qian revealed a similar power, the Witch recognized its resemblance to the Law, leaving Fu Qian thinking about the Xiyuan Huang Clan.

• The Witch showed Fu Qian her expanded painting of Lairding, and he praised it before discussing what it lacked.
• Fu Qian described how recent blessings had caused mutations and asked the Witch what she had sensed about the reappeared Law.
• The Witch said the Law’s structure remained intact but its essence was missing, making it prone to distortion.
• The Witch said she knew of no will within the Law and had no explanation for the anomaly.
• The Witch noticed golden power emerging from Fu Qian and said it resembled the Law; Fu Qian recalled his encounter with a rotting tree and considered visiting the Xiyuan Huang Clan.

Fu Qian and the Witch investigated how the laws, Law Remnants, and ancient Lairding were connected, then traveled into the Witch’s preserved version of the city. They found that the stars’ collapse had ended and the former darlings of the laws had become ordinary mortals, while the Witch had used laws to protect the city and conceal it in fog.

• Fu Qian told the Witch about the rotting tree that bestowed gifts like laws, and she said she had seen nothing like it.
• Fu Qian recognized writing on the Duchess’s damaged Pocket Watch, and the Witch explained that the Duchess had become a unique being affected by the laws.
• The Witch confirmed there was another place to visit and led Fu Qian through a painting into ancient Lairding.
• Fu Qian learned that the Witch had preserved the city as a World Within the Painting and hastened the collapse of the stars.
• The Witch explained that fog kept people outside the city from finding their way in, and that she had borrowed laws to make people unable to see the Dark Moon directly.

Fu Qian heard how the Witch’s Dark Moon laws reshaped Lairding and helped turn a murder into the foundation of a new faith. He declined to revisit familiar places and chose to wander through the city with the Witch.

• The Witch explained that Mrs. Harper had become respected because her former tenant, Anke, was regarded as the Dark Moon’s Seventh Apostle after returning to life on the fifth day.
• The Witch said Amira had spread the Dark Moon’s laws, drawing followers away from panic as the Celestial Cult faltered and Lairding faced chaos.
• The Dark Moon’s followers captured the people who had murdered Anke after the world did not collapse, and Anke’s former home became a sanctuary.
• Fu Qian approved of the new faith’s structure, which let the Witch distribute power through permissions and eased the strain on her.
• The Witch mentioned that vampires had also asked to join, but Fu Qian declined to visit the art museum or church and chose to wander around Lairding.

Fu Qian recovered enough to walk and explored the Witch’s restored world with her. After visiting a bookstore that Loretta had once used as a hidden gift for a friend, Fu Qian and the Witch shared coffee, and she told him it was time to go back.

• Fu Qian adjusted his damaged body and confirmed he could walk while the Witch watched over him.
• Fu Qian and the Witch walked through a quiet commercial district and discussed how she had preserved the world and its nightmares.
• Fu Qian led the Witch into a locked bookstore, found its hidden key, and prepared coffee from the supplies inside.
• Fu Qian explained that Loretta had left the shop and a gift for a friend, then showed the Witch her card addressed to Bernard.
• The Witch finished her coffee, returned the items she had accepted for Fu Qian, and told him to go back.

Fu Qian returned from the Witch’s realm to the bookstore, where he discovered that he had landed inside a nightmare and received a mission to break through its barrier into reality. The Witch had restored the Dark Moon Ring’s protective effect, but Fu Qian’s abilities and items were restricted by the new scene.

• The Witch examined Fu Qian’s nightmare-worm ability and restored one use of the Dark Moon Ring’s Time Moon Deep Sleep, leaving her upper body transformed into tentacles.
• Fu Qian packed his equipment and was pulled back through the barrier by Extreme Hunger Infection, arriving unharmed on the bookstore’s second floor.
• Wen Li sensed Fu Qian’s return, found the bookstore door unlocked, and came upstairs to see him.
• The Warehouse assigned Fu Qian the mission to find a way through the barrier and descend into reality, restricting him to nightmare-related items and abilities.
• Fu Qian recognized that Eternal Clarity of Thought, Sweet Dream Head Cage, Extreme Hunger Infection, and Return Edict were connected to the Nightmare Corridor.

Fu Qian appeared in Wen Li’s dream with his supernatural abilities suppressed and a strange entity in place of his left hand. After discussing Shangjing’s recent calm, he recognized that he needed to use dreamers to break through the Nightmare Corridor’s barrier, and a phantom eye opened above Wen Li.

• Fu Qian reassured Wen Li that his injured left arm was under control, though the Nightmare Corridor had replaced his hand with a partly independent entity and suppressed most of his abilities.
• Wen Li told Fu Qian that Jiang En had cut ties with the Jiang Clan, the Gullard Family was cooperating with the Night Watchers, and Darnetta’s remaining followers had likely fled Shangjing.
• Fu Qian teased Wen Li about rumors that she had reached the stable Fourth Order and intended to challenge him, prompting her to notice she could not sense his emotions.
• Fu Qian concluded that Wen Li was dreaming and that he needed to corrupt dreamers to carry his mark into reality and cross the Nightmare Corridor’s dimensional barrier.
• Fu Qian gazed above Wen Li as a flickering phantom eye slowly opened.

Fu Qian tested how Wen Li’s emotions affected his control over her dream, then deliberately woke her by saying Eve’s name. He left to visit an old friend, suspecting the persuader had been unusually quiet.

• Wen Li noticed the illusory eye above her head, and Fu Qian told her it was a trick caused by his unusual state.
• Fu Qian revealed that he had advanced to Second Order, and Wen Li’s shock began to destabilize the dream.
• Fu Qian clarified that his strength was still far below that of a true Second Order, calming Wen Li enough to keep the dream intact.
• Fu Qian felt his control over the dream grow as Wen Li accepted his explanation and grew more at ease.
• Fu Qian said Eve’s name, causing Wen Li’s dream to shatter, then decided to visit an old friend because the persuader had been too quiet.

Fu Qian returned to the Corridor after reaching Second Order and met Persuader, who warned him that he was now trapped in the same situation. Persuader claimed Fu Qian was far from escaping, but Fu Qian noticed that Persuader was hiding something.

• Fu Qian waited outside Cheng Yi's door until Persuader appeared and scolded him for acting recklessly.
• Fu Qian told Persuader he had reached Second Order and asked for advice, while Persuader kept his distance.
• Persuader explained that Fu Qian was no longer bait with a line attached but was trapped like the other inhabitants of the Corridor.
• Persuader said Fu Qian could control his dream but was nowhere near escaping, and insisted he knew only Fu Qian's general condition.
• Fu Qian asked Persuader why he was hiding.

Fu Qian asked the silver-tongued elder how to escape the Nightmare Corridor, and the elder explained that he had to mark people through their dreams without waking them. Fu Qian remained trapped with his transforming worm-like arm and learned that if nobody dreamed of him, he would lose his chance to escape.

• The silver-tongued elder asked whether Fu Qian planned to get out, and Fu Qian asked him for advice.
• The elder pointed out that Fu Qian's left arm had become a grotesque, armored worm-like limb that was slowly spreading toward his shoulder.
• The elder told Fu Qian to escape by imprinting his name, form, abilities, or authority onto people who entered his dreams.
• The elder warned Fu Qian that he had to leave a strong mark without waking the dreamers, since their dreams were deeper than his had been.
• Fu Qian compared the task to carving a design into an eggshell with a sledgehammer, and the elder warned that he would lose his chance if nobody dreamed of him.

Fu Qian questioned the Envoy about the Nightmare Corridor and learned that dying inside it only made him sink deeper. He entered the newest dream connected to him and found a blood-soaked bed with a naked body lying on it.

• Fu Qian tried to draw the silent Envoy into conversation, and the Envoy finally answered that dying in the corridor was not real death but made a person sink deeper.
• Fu Qian realized the Envoy was guarding a door against the nightmares behind it, then sensed a disturbance and entered the newest connected dream.
• Fu Qian considered that the Envoy might have come from beyond Bookstore World or be trapped in the corridor, and resolved to gather information from those who had come before him.
• Fu Qian arrived in the new dream and saw a naked body nestled in blood-soaked white sheets.

Fu Qian found himself in a hotel room staged to resemble one of the vampire body-dumping scenes and faced Jiang En, who accused him of using the incidents to drive Taylor Gullard out of Shangjing and build the Great Fortune Ming King’s reputation. Jiang En laid out his theory, while Fu Qian neither confirmed nor denied it.

• Fu Qian realized the red stain on the unconscious woman was wine, recognized his Great Fortune Ming King mask, and connected the scene to the recent Shangjing body-dumping cases.
• Jiang En broke into the room, and Fu Qian calmly invited him inside despite the damaged door and the woman on the bed.
• Fu Qian told Jiang En that the woman had passed out after hitting her head on a wine bottle, and Jiang En replied that he already knew she was alive.
• Jiang En accused Fu Qian of exploiting the incidents to pressure Taylor Gullard, drive him out of Shangjing, and then challenge Jiang En himself.
• Jiang En argued that keeping the woman alive would prevent the Night Watchers from clearing Taylor and pursuing Fu Qian, then asked whether his theory was correct.

Fu Qian realized Jiang En had caught him in a dream’s version of the corpse-snatching incident and was using the discovery to demand a Supernatural Item. Jiang En singled out the Sweet Dream Head Cage, and Fu Qian suspected he wanted to trade it for a favor.

• Fu Qian recognized that the dream had cast him as the culprit in the corpse-snatching incident, while Jiang En and Taylor benefited from the accusation.
• Fu Qian challenged Jiang En’s motives, but Jiang En threatened to take him to the Night Watchers and argued that Fu Qian could not credibly frame him for the crimes.
• Fu Qian asked what Jiang En wanted, and Jiang En implied he would ignore the incident in exchange for an item he had supposedly picked up.
• Jiang En said he wanted the Sweet Dream Head Cage, and Fu Qian guessed that Jiang En intended to trade it for a favor.

Jiang En tricked Fu Qian into handing over the Sweet Dream Head Cage so he could take it to the Night Watchers and expose the person behind the events. Fu Qian then revealed that he knew Jiang En’s true identity, leaving the dream’s stability on the verge of collapse.

• Fu Qian admitted he had found an opportunity that required sacrifices, and Jiang En offered to help him negotiate with the Jiang Clan in exchange for the Sweet Dream Head Cage.
• Jiang En took the cage and tried to guide Fu Qian toward the Night Watchers, but then accused him of assuming everyone used underhanded tricks.
• Jiang En concealed the cage and explained that he planned to use its traceable history to let the Night Watchers identify and investigate Fu Qian.
• Fu Qian realized Jiang En had been trying to expose the person behind the events and questioned whether the man before him was really Jiang En.
• Fu Qian asked who he himself was if the other man was Jiang En, then identified him as Taylor Gullard, causing the dream’s illusory eyes to tremble.

Fu Qian exposed Taylor as the dream’s owner and used their argument to deepen his control over the dream. Taylor realized too late that Fu Qian had lured him into leaving traces on the head cage.

• Fu Qian provoked “Jiang En” until Taylor admitted he was behind the disguise.
• Fu Qian explained that he had recognized Taylor from the face of a victim and from Taylor’s reactions about Jiang En.
• Taylor suggested that Fu Qian had benefited from the underground gathering, but Fu Qian turned the accusation back on him.
• Taylor realized Fu Qian had expected him to come and looked down at the head cage in his hand.
• Fu Qian told Taylor that he had already left his traces on the head cage, as the previous victims had.

Fu Qian manipulated Taylor Gullard’s dream, exposing how he had been tricked into taking the head cage and making him believe it bore a dangerous mark. After gaining greater control over the dream, Fu Qian negotiated with Taylor for an item from the Gullard family and named the Abyss Notebook as his target.

• Taylor realized Fu Qian had set him up and threw the blood-stained head cage away.
• Fu Qian explained that Taylor had dreamed of proving his innocence by catching the Great Fortune Ming King, but his performance had been under Fu Qian’s control.
• Fu Qian showed Taylor a fabricated special glove and warned him that taking an unfamiliar high-grade Supernatural Item had been reckless.
• Taylor calmed down and asked Fu Qian what he wanted in exchange for helping him.
• Fu Qian proposed that Taylor verify the method for removing the head cage’s mark, then requested the Abyss Notebook.

Fu Qian pressured Taylor in a dream to give up the Abyss Notebook, but Taylor revealed that he had lent it to a bookstore owner and tried to turn Fu Qian against him. Fu Qian saw through Taylor’s scheme as the mask’s design changed into a crude hand gripping an eyeball.

• Fu Qian questioned Taylor about the Abyss Notebook, and Taylor admitted he had it but offered a cloak as a substitute.
• Fu Qian rejected the cloak and insisted that Taylor retrieve the Notebook, threatening him with the iron cage in the dream.
• Taylor revealed that he had lent the Notebook to a bookstore owner who was powerful and allied with the Night Watchers.
• Taylor tried to send Fu Qian after the bookstore owner, hoping the two would fight and clear Taylor’s predicament.
• Fu Qian dismissed Taylor’s warning and exposed that he recognized the attempted trick as the mask’s design changed.

Fu Qian used his growing control over Taylor’s dream to present the emblem of the King of Prison Break and experiment with recreating the King’s authority. He left Taylor convulsing after an apparent calamity, then discovered that his conjured supernatural effects still drew on the Corridor’s power.

• Fu Qian decided to use the King of Prison Break’s emblem as a mark to contaminate Taylor’s dream.
• Fu Qian changed his mask, recited part of the King of Prison Break’s Honored Name, and conjured a pistol to unsettle Taylor.
• Fu Qian fired the empty gun while imagining a calamity around Taylor, causing Taylor to convulse and stagger.
• Fu Qian transformed his hand into a claw and fired the pistol into his palm to test the dream’s effects.
• Fu Qian found that the wound consisted of tiny worms and realized the Corridor still powered his conjured supernatural effects.

Fu Qian used the nightmare to mislead Taylor and expose the Persuader’s interest in the dream. Taylor woke after realizing the date, and the Persuader confronted Fu Qian about ending the dream before asking what use Taylor would have been.

• Fu Qian realized the worm’s influence had corrupted his powers and made him a tool of the nightmare’s true evil god.
• Taylor confronted Great Fortune Ming King, who claimed that the Gullard Family would be swallowed by darkness and urged him to submit to Calamity Power.
• Fu Qian removed his mask and revealed Jiang En’s transformed face, then prompted Taylor to question what day it was.
• Taylor’s dream collapsed and he woke, while Fu Qian invited the hidden Persuader to speak with him.
• The Persuader criticized Fu Qian for waking Taylor, and Fu Qian questioned whether keeping him in the dream would have served any purpose.

Fu Qian confronted the envoy about his actions in the dream and the corruption affecting them both. The envoy named the higher being responsible as Yarakir, leaving Fu Qian with a lead on escaping the Corridor.

• Fu Qian revealed that he had tested whether the envoy could be harmed in the dream and challenged him to speak honestly.
• The envoy admitted he had tried to merge more deeply into the dream to observe Fu Qian’s progress and judge whether escape was possible.
• Fu Qian asked whether the envoy had caused the worms in his hand, and the envoy denied it.
• The envoy explained that a higher will in the Corridor had deeply tainted Fu Qian, changing his existence and abilities through Divine Corruption.
• Fu Qian asked for the higher being’s name, and the envoy identified it as Yarakir.