Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian remained trapped in the double embrace of Xilaliya I and Xilaliya II while Sala came to the underground church searching for her crying child. His questions exposed an uncanny similarity between Sala’s beliefs and Xilaliya’s, before Sala violently tore open her abdomen.

• Fu Qian endured the intoxicating embrace of Xilaliya I and Xilaliya II rather than try to escape, hoping to find a way to affect Akons.
• Sala arrived in the underground church, said she heard a baby crying, and asked Fu Qian whether he had seen her child.
• Fu Qian pointed out Xilaliya I and Xilaliya II, but Sala recognized neither as her child.
• Fu Qian asked about the child’s father, and Sala insisted that a simple title could not represent Them, echoing Xilaliya’s beliefs.
• Sala screamed, plunged her hand into her lower abdomen, and tore it open with her bare hands.

Fu Qian endured Sala’s attempt to block the passage with her expanding body and destroyed her with Gospel Blast. He climbed back into the church, where he found a new stranger seated across from the man in the felt hat.

• Sala tore open her abdomen, then expanded until her flesh filled the passage and began flowing down the stairs to trap Fu Qian.
• As the sobbing in his mind intensified, Fu Qian pulled out his heart and removed the blood mass to counter Heart Strike’s curse.
• Fu Qian unleashed Gospel Blast at Sala, whose pained howl grew louder before her swollen body burst apart.
• Fu Qian climbed the stairs through the remaining mess and returned to the church.
• Fu Qian spotted a rigid, frightened long-haired man with high cheekbones sitting opposite the man in the felt hat.

Fu Qian emerged from below with Sala and another horrifying figure, then shot the man in the felt hat with Mercy. The man’s body shattered into writhing pieces that began attacking everyone in the church, swallowing Dr. Dorian’s new Tool Person first.

• Fu Qian appeared covered in blood with two identical faces on his arms, horrifying the people in the church.
• The man in the felt hat asked what had happened to Xilaliya and the woman who had gone below, and Fu Qian described Xilaliya as having severe dissociative identity disorder.
• The man in the felt hat demanded to know why Fu Qian had brought them up, and Fu Qian aimed Mercy at his head.
• Fu Qian shot the man in the felt hat with a bullet infused with frenzied flames, causing his body to convulse and collapse into pieces.
• The pieces of the man in the felt hat reassembled and rushed at everyone present, swallowing Dr. Dorian’s new Tool Person.

Fu Qian escaped the church after the old woman used her gift potion to destroy a swarm of fleshly corruption. Outside, the unspoken presence finally attacked him, cutting through his chest and splitting his heart.

• Fu Qian watched the swarm consume Dr. Dorian’s Tool Person and attack the other church members.
• The head-bowed man used a chair empowered by the Holy Sword to smash some bugs, but the swarm continued advancing and twisted his hands.
• The old woman prayed to “Skong'e” and threw her gift potion into the air, where its mist dissolved the corruption.
• Fu Qian thanked the old woman and left the church, reasoning that Dorian’s extra man had drawn the presence in the night into the dream.
• The unspoken presence struck Fu Qian outside, slicing through his chest and splitting his heart.

Fu Qian met the pale-faced executioner Dorian had summoned to force him back into the church and learned that the swordsman’s blade, Severing, could make wounds appear healed while keeping them from recovering. The swordsman attacked again, but Fu Qian caught the blade even as it cut into his neck.

• Fu Qian reasoned that Dorian had summoned an ordinary outsider to make the supposed creature of the night appear.
• A pale-faced man in a dark coat confronted Fu Qian, carrying an enormous blade that had split Fu Qian’s heart without drawing blood.
• Fu Qian greeted the swordsman and asked about his weapon, and the man identified it as Severing.
• Fu Qian named his own weapon Mercy, but the swordsman immediately attacked again.
• Fu Qian caught Severing with a metal glove despite the blade cutting partway through his neck.

Fu Qian fought the White-faced Man, whom Dr. Dorian had sent as a trump card, and pushed him into several transformations. The White-faced Man vanished into gray dust after stabbing himself, leaving Fu Qian without knowing whether the treatment could still be completed.

• The White-faced Man killed Xilaliya the Second with his opening strike, causing Fu Qian to lose her Combined Skill.
• Fu Qian shot the White-faced Man with Golden Fire bullets, provoking a change that raised ridges resembling spines and skulls across his body and blade.
• Fu Qian snapped the transformed Butcher's Blade with the Sage's Punishment and judged the White-faced Man still insufficiently powerful.
• The White-faced Man stabbed himself with the broken blade, then he and the weapon disappeared into gray dust.

Fu Qian returned to Dr. Dorian’s dream after defeating the White-faced Man and questioned Dorian about the fourth doll and his powers. Dorian explained that he had learned to control dreams and draw others into them, leaving the story with Fu Qian still investigating how the dream works.

• Fu Qian left the church after the White-faced Man vanished and returned to reality to confront Dr. Dorian.
• Fu Qian saw a fourth doll beside Dorian collapse into dust when Dorian shifted, and inferred that it had been a one-use tool for making the Dark Night Butcher real.
• Fu Qian asked whether the fourth man had been an outsider, and Dorian admitted that he had been.
• Fu Qian asked whether outsiders who failed to wake after treatment were left as dolls, then removed and replaced his own head while clearing blood clots from his neck.
• Dorian said he had discovered his ability to control dreams before the place was abandoned, and that immersing others in the dream made it stronger and gave him something special.
• Dorian said the other dolls had not been created in the same way; he had needed helpers, and his growing connection with Akons let him perform special acts.

Fu Qian questioned Dorian about the dreams, the disappearances in Cold Mountain, and the mysterious figure called Severing. With the mission still offering no clear path forward, Fu Qian began considering a logical approach that ran counter to human nature.

• Fu Qian learned from Dorian that he could turn outsiders into puppets, but his dreams did not affect locals themselves.
• Dorian said some people vanished without being attacked, while others appeared to suffer torment from an unseen figure that came only at night and left no trace by daylight.
• Fu Qian noted that the same figure, wielding a weapon called Severing, had appeared in multiple dreams, and Dorian admitted that everyone had imagined it identically.
• Dorian explained that he could not take part in his dreams and that dying in one caused it to restart, leaving the dreamer with their fear but no memories.
• Fu Qian concluded that his efforts had not brought him closer to completing the mission and began considering a purely logical deduction against human nature.

Fu Qian reviewed the strange rules of Akons and reasoned that he might be able to affect the real town through something reflected from its temporary backups. He identified the weak White-faced Man as a possible way across the barrier, but had not yet worked out how to use it.

• Fu Qian recounted how Dorian’s Healing Dreamscape had introduced him to Xilaliya and other Akons natives, whose memories reset between encounters.
• Fu Qian concluded that Akons operated through temporary backups, where his actions and collected objects did not affect the real town.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the mission remained completable, so he might be able to influence the real Akons without entering it.
• Fu Qian considered using his King of Prison Break rank or surrendering to the town’s powers as backup plans, but judged both risky.
• Fu Qian focused on the weak White-faced Man as an unusual element that might cross the barrier and asked to see the rest of the collection.

Fu Qian killed Doctor Dorian, took his head and the two dolls made from Xilaliya, then brought them to Xilaliya at Lord Akons's sanctuary. He told her Dorian wanted to upgrade his dolls with her as material, and she revealed her true self and agreed.

• Fu Qian asked Dorian about his other patients and inspected the clothes and dolls in the clinic's tower.
• Dorian explained the strengths and weaknesses of his dolls, and Fu Qian proposed using Xilaliya to improve them.
• Fu Qian killed Dorian, took his head and Holy Sword, and collected both of Xilaliya's dolls.
• Fu Qian returned to Lord Akons's sanctuary and showed Xilaliya the dolls and Dorian's head.
• Fu Qian told Xilaliya she could be used as material for Dorian's upgraded dolls, and she revealed her true self and agreed.

Fu Qian recognized Xilaliya’s newfound serenity as possible evidence that the Bitter Fruit was growing within Akons’ natives, and feared it had already matured in her. He killed her without damaging her eyes or lungs and carried her to the clinic, while questions about the containment conditions and Akons remained unresolved.

• Fu Qian observed Xilaliya’s calm transformation and connected it to the Bitter Fruit and her earlier explanation of the treatment.
• Fu Qian considered whether Sala’s actions in the Healing Dreamscape also reflected the Bitter Fruit’s influence, and concluded that the natives were its soil and time was running short.
• Xilaliya told Fu Qian that her former devotion to Lord Akons had been false and said becoming a unique symbol might bring her closer to Them.
• Fu Qian wondered why a native had to remain alive and what role Akons played in containing the Bitter Fruit.
• Fu Qian broke Xilaliya’s spine, carefully preserved her eyes and lungs, and carried her toward the clinic.

Fu Qian visited Doctor Dorian and agreed to undergo treatment in the round tower, where four Xilaliyas and hundreds of dolls watched him. As the dream treatment began, Fu Qian rejected the Xilaliyas’ invitation and said he was going to see a friend.

• Fu Qian arrived at Dorian’s clinic with three Xilaliyas and paid for treatment, keeping Dorian’s detached head nearby.
• Dorian returned and led Fu Qian to the round tower, where a treated Xilaliya sat among the dolls.
• Fu Qian questioned Dorian about Xilaliya’s treatment methods and learned the words she used to describe healing and shelter.
• Fu Qian thanked Dorian and allowed him to unfold the dream without resisting.
• Fu Qian opened his eyes in the dream, refused the four Xilaliyas’ treatment, and said he was going to see a friend.

Fu Qian entered Doctor Dorian’s healing dream and found Xilaliya’s four identical selves, then encountered a rapidly changing Lady Sala and a church crowded with frightened outsiders. He began investigating why the man in the felt hat remembered the outsiders while they had never encountered the glass, and prepared to act on what he noticed the old woman holding.

• Fu Qian refused the four serene Xilaliyas’ pleas to stay and went upstairs to clear his head.
• Lady Sala asked Fu Qian about a crying child, then broke down and tore open her abdomen; Fu Qian destroyed her with a punch and walked through the gore.
• Fu Qian entered Akons Church and found dozens of frightened people crowded around the statue.
• The man in the felt hat told Fu Qian that he recognized the outsiders but had never seen them remain in Cold Mountain after treatment.
• Fu Qian considered how his administrator status might explain why he alone had encountered the glass, then grabbed the man’s neck and gestured toward an old woman’s object.

Fu Qian investigated the source of the old woman’s potion and then confronted a newly empowered White-faced Man. The chapter ended with Fu Qian realizing the blade could erase his connection to the world and might defeat him if it struck his heart.

• Fu Qian caught a strand from the mass that emerged from Hat-Brother’s corpse and found that its power could injure him but not trigger a transformation.
• The old woman used her potion to disperse the mass, and Fu Qian learned she had received the blessing after Lord Akons stopped responding during the Long Night.
• Fu Qian left to seek White-faced Man, while wondering whether Akons and the other outsiders belonged to different eras or forms of existence.
• White-faced Man appeared with a more powerful presence and attacked Fu Qian with his blade.
• Fu Qian knocked the blade aside and felt his hand lose color, recognizing the change as a threat that could send him away if the blade struck his heart.

Fu Qian fought the White-faced Man, whose knife Severing inflicted a Colorlessness effect that weakened his attacks and left wounds that would not heal. He crushed the knife and battered the White-faced Man, then prepared to take it to doctors.

• Fu Qian asked the White-faced Man its name, but it attacked him with Severing, badly injuring his right hand when he blocked the strike.
• Fu Qian realized the White-faced Man behaved like a mindless First Order and pursued him even when he concealed himself with Blood Conquest.
• The White-faced Man cut a deep, unhealing wound across Fu Qian’s waist, while Fu Qian’s golden-flamed punch barely damaged its body.
• Fu Qian unleashed Gospel Blast, but the White-faced Man kept attacking, so he retreated toward the church grounds.
• Fu Qian transformed as King of Prison Break, seized Severing, crushed the knife, and struck the White-faced Man until it collapsed.
• Fu Qian stomped the ruined White-faced Man into the ground and said he would introduce it to doctors.

Fu Qian brought the White-faced Man to the underground clinic and had the Xilaliyas treat it, hoping to turn the anomaly into a puppet. The treatment succeeded, and Fu Qian returned to the stone tower as the mission was marked complete.

• Fu Qian used his King of Prison Break form to confirm that Akons existed behind a layer of glass, then withdrew before the worlds collapsed.
• Fu Qian struck the White-faced Man into the church’s underground clinic and asked the four Xilaliyas to treat it.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the White-faced Man might be another exiled outsider and decided to try turning it into a puppet.
• The four Xilaliyas embraced the White-faced Man, and three of them withered as the treatment continued.
• The White-faced Man fell silent, and Fu Qian returned to the stone tower beside a new puppet with a round hat and a white face.
• The mission system announced that No. 1-011 had been successfully contained.

Fu Qian worked out how he had stopped Bitter Fruit from maturing by turning the White-faced Man into a permanent fixture in Akons, then reviewed the Warehouse’s explanation of the town’s origins. He left with new questions about the powerful being that had tried to purify Akons and a special reward, the Entwined Umbilical Cord.

• Fu Qian told Dorian to keep the extra doll safe before returning from Akons to the Warehouse.
• Fu Qian deduced that the White-faced Man’s doll would remain in Akons and prevent Bitter Fruit from maturing.
• The Warehouse’s task evaluation explained that Akons was an ancient remnant of faith within the human mind and that a powerful entity had tried to purify it.
• Fu Qian received 20 Sanity Value, the Entwined Umbilical Cord, and a current Sanity Value of 117.
• Fu Qian wondered about the entity’s motives and resolved to speak with it if he had the chance.

Fu Qian considered how Akons and the Realm Where the Gods Fell were connected, then examined his special reward, the Entwined Umbilical Cord. He suspected the being who had banished him had revived the powers of Akons’s vanished gods, and he left the cord’s effects for a later investigation.

• Fu Qian reasoned that Akons formed part of a barrier separating human minds from the Realm Where the Gods Fell, and that the Warehouse required Akons to retain at least one native resident.
• Fu Qian opened his special reward and found the Entwined Umbilical Cord, which could make its bearer an ancient Higher Being but risked divine mutations after half an hour.
• Fu Qian examined the cord, noted that eating it would grant 99 Sanity Value, and hung it around his neck without noticing any change.
• Fu Qian connected the cord’s tainted rebirth to the return of Akons’s vanished gods and concluded that the being who banished him had imagined their powers back into existence.

Fu Qian finished his work in the Warehouse, replenished his wardrobe, and enjoyed breakfast in Lin City. He chatted with Xixi Gatsby through their shared consciousness, and she offered him a chance to win a rug made by her mother.

• Fu Qian completed his Warehouse task, set the umbilical cord on the table, and left using the mark on his hand.
• Fu Qian bought several outfits from a shop attendant and explained that he wanted to show off the character of Lin City.
• Fu Qian bought bread and a drink, then sat down to enjoy breakfast.
• Xixi Gatsby greeted Fu Qian through their shared consciousness and showed him the mountain view from her mother's former home.
• Xixi Gatsby showed Fu Qian a handmade rug and offered him a chance to win it, and he agreed.

Fu Qian accompanied Xixi to her late mother's old home, where she showed him how sunrise reflected pink snow over her grandfather’s portrait, making his mustache appear pink. After Fu Qian used Clear Dream to recreate the view, Xixi asked him why she had recognized him as one of her kind at first glance.

• Xixi led Fu Qian through her family's old home and showed him her grandfather's portrait in the study.
• Xixi explained how the sunrise and snow-covered mountains made her grandfather's mustache look pink from a particular seat.
• Xixi asked Fu Qian to use Time Reversal to recreate the sunrise, and he pointed out that the season and snowline also needed changing.
• Fu Qian used Clear Dream to recreate the scene, and Xixi thanked him before offering to raise the stakes with a question.
• Xixi asked Fu Qian why she had recognized him as one of her kind at first glance.