Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian pieced together how April Fools’ Day’s supernatural effects had caused the school attacks and Joshua’s failed return from the dead. After receiving his mission reward, he questioned why the mission had restricted his abilities and arranged events as a script, but the evaluation offered no answers.

• Fu Qian reconstructed how Joshua’s assistants brought his body to the school and how Wen attacked him while suffering the effects of losing Salma’s supernatural influence.
• Fu Qian concluded that the end of April Fools’ Day had erased Joshua’s supernatural vitality, preventing him from coming back to life.
• The mission evaluation awarded Fu Qian 20 Sanity Value and the special reward Blood and Wine and Blood, while reporting no kills.
• Fu Qian noticed the evaluation ignored why the mission had been scripted out of order and why it had restricted his abilities and items.

Fu Qian pieced together how the deaths and the party prank fit together, concluding that Joshua’s murder could be blamed on Wen while the party witnesses kept quiet. He received the special reward, an ordinary paper cup with the power to make blood and wine overlap, then continued deeper into the Warehouse.

• Fu Qian reasoned that Eva had murdered Wen out of jealousy, while Joshua’s death could be pinned on Wen and mistaken for part of the party prank.
• Fu Qian concluded that the two assistants would likely conceal the truth about Joshua’s body to avoid trouble and preserve the story that they had played a prank.
• Fu Qian received the consumable reward Blood and Wine and Blood, a paper cup that caused blood and wine within range to share a concept for three hours.
• Fu Qian placed the cup among his collection on the Evil God's Table and walked deeper into the Warehouse.

Fu Qian examined a red feather called April Fools' Day and considered its connection to the Idol of Fools and the Warehouse. After leaving the Warehouse, he closed his bookstore and prepared to take Su Gao out to eat.

• Fu Qian found the tiny box containing the red feather and wondered whether it was linked to the Fool's power and the Idol of Fools.
• Fu Qian confirmed that the Warehouse would not let him remove the feather, then transformed into the Idol of Fools without provoking any reaction.
• Fu Qian answered the Warehouse's call to leave and returned to Shangjing as the Bookstore Owner.
• Fu Qian closed the bookstore and invited Su Gao, who had arrived for a new assignment, to dinner.
• Fu Qian offered Su Gao a choice of destinations, then decided they would go somewhere spacious and quiet.

Fu Qian and Su Gao traveled to the Academy of Revelation to investigate the mysterious entity that had attacked him. The chapter left them heading to the incident scene under Fu Qian’s cover identity as a professor.

• Fu Qian asked Su Gao about her recent work and learned the Night Watchers wanted an investigation report within a week.
• Su Gao said the Native Council had kept a low profile, and Fu Qian suggested consulting Nepheli about the suspicious incident.
• Fu Qian noticed Su Gao’s unease about the assignment and told her to rest before they arrived.
• At the academy, Fu Qian instructed Su Gao to call him Professor Fu while they were working, and she accepted his cover identity.
• Fu Qian and Su Gao decided to go directly to the scene and rest afterward in his nearby lab.

Fu Qian and Su Gao entered the academy in their true identities and investigated the ruined Institute of Curses, where Fu Qian explained the Angel Lord’s death and the strange feathers. They followed the destruction underground to a deep pit, where Fu Qian sensed something Su Gao had not noticed.

• Fu Qian and Su Gao arrived at the academy and slipped past its security to reach the damaged Institute of Curses.
• Su Gao identified the damage as coming from inside, and Fu Qian explained that fifty-seven supernatural meteors had struck the Angel Lord before his death.
• Fu Qian told Su Gao that the gray feathers resembled ones he had seen in the Wasteland, where a gigantic mirror was also present.
• Fu Qian and Su Gao crossed the academy’s barrier and followed the feathers and destruction underground.
• At a deep pit covered in feathers, Fu Qian asked Su Gao whether she sensed something, and she admitted she had not.

Fu Qian and Su Gao investigated the pit where Angel Lord died and concluded that he had hidden himself in a special space beneath the Institute of Curses. They left the search unresolved, with Su Gao considering how to locate that space.

• Su Gao proposed that Angel Lord had briefly detached himself from the real world when the meteor struck, leaving the pit and its gray feathers behind.
• Fu Qian questioned why Angel Lord had chosen the Institute, and Su Gao reasoned that the building had helped him conceal himself from Fu Qian’s mark.
• Fu Qian agreed that they needed to find a nearby space beyond their perception and suggested Nepheli might know about it.
• Su Gao considered using a meteor to locate the hidden space, while Fu Qian explained that they would need to identify the place first or wait for a meteor to strike nearby.
• Su Gao began testing her sword strokes by cutting feathers in the pit.

Fu Qian and Su Gao searched the underground space for the hidden shelter the Angel Lord had sought, using Su Gao’s Echo to detect distortions. They found a concealed opening and entered, discovering what appeared to be a ship.

• Su Gao slashed at drifting feathers to test whether her Echo could detect a hidden spatial distortion, and she sensed something near a square pillar.
• Fu Qian confirmed the pillar was not a core support and let Su Gao break into it.
• Su Gao found the hidden spot and pierced it, opening a vibrating passage in the empty space.
• Su Gao leapt through the shrinking opening, and Fu Qian followed her.
• Fu Qian and Su Gao landed on wooden planks, and Su Gao wondered if they were aboard a ship.

Fu Qian and Su Gao explored a strange, ship-like space beneath the Institute of Curses and fought off two humanlike aquatic creatures. They found evidence that Angel Lord had been there, then discovered several bodies suspended above the ship.

• Fu Qian and Su Gao recognized the wooden, blue-lit space as resembling a sunken ship, and Su Gao warned that their perception was severely restricted.
• Su Gao opened the door and stepped into the mist, where she struck a creature that attacked from above.
• Fu Qian examined the humanlike aquatic creature as Su Gao cut it down, then she swiftly killed a second one that attacked from behind.
• Fu Qian found a feather on the second creature and said it showed that Angel Lord had left traces in the area.
• Su Gao and Fu Qian moved deeper into the vast ship-like space and spotted several bodies hanging from ropes that stretched up from the floor.

Fu Qian and Su Gao explored a sunken ship filled with amber-encased human bodies and found signs that some had escaped. They considered whether the ship had sheltered people through the Long Night, then Fu Qian asked whether any Night Watcher leaders practiced the Institute of Curses’ miraculous power.

• Su Gao and Fu Qian examined the ship’s rows of amber-encased bodies and noticed empty ropes where some captives seemed to have escaped.
• Su Gao wondered whether the attackers had come from the amber forms, and Fu Qian agreed that the lack of further threats was strange.
• As they walked toward a passage leading down, Su Gao proposed that an ancient deity’s power might have sustained the ship and its occupants.
• Su Gao asked whether the ship had protected its passengers through the Long Night, and Fu Qian said it was possible while considering whether it was an ark.
• Su Gao questioned why the ship had appeared in the Academy and noted the lack of signs of faith, so Fu Qian asked about Night Watcher leaders skilled in the Institute of Curses’ miraculous power.

Fu Qian and Su Gao investigated a hidden area beneath the Institute of Curses, suspecting miracles and Nepheli connected it to the Native Council and perhaps some Night Watchers. They found a field buried in feathers and were attacked by feather-covered corpses, leaving the threat unresolved.

• Fu Qian theorized that a long-lasting miracle might have connected the hidden place beneath the academy to the Institute of Curses, and Su Gao agreed Nepheli could be involved.
• Su Gao reasoned that the earlier attack on Fu Qian might be linked to the Native Council, while Fu Qian warned that the danger could extend to her and possibly involve some Night Watchers.
• Su Gao and Fu Qian descended to a foggy level blanketed in gray feathers and concluded the attacker had likely been hiding there before a meteor strike destroyed him.
• A feather-covered corpse burst from the feathers and attacked, but Su Gao killed it with her blade.
• Another feather-covered figure sprang from the mass and flew into the air as Fu Qian noticed its strange, fin-like wings.

Fu Qian and Su Gao encountered feathered, fish-like creatures that had emerged from Accumulated Feathers and discovered that the ship had likely absorbed something from the Angel Lord’s death. As the creatures spread a strange sacred light across the ship, they decided to leave them alone and continue downward.

• Feathered attackers emerged from Accumulated Feathers and watched Fu Qian and Su Gao from a distance.
• Su Gao’s sword cleared away some feathers, revealing that the ship itself was covered in rows of feathers.
• Fu Qian and Su Gao suspected the ship had absorbed power from the Angel Lord when he died.
• The Feathers and Fish roared, shaking loose glowing white feathers and causing light to spread throughout the ship.
• Su Gao reported that the light seemed non-hostile, and Fu Qian noted that feathers on a nearby corpse were glowing too.
• Fu Qian told Su Gao to leave the creatures alone and continue downward.

Fu Qian and Su Gao descended to another level of the ark and found its remaining cocooned inhabitants were pregnant, including men and nonhumans. Their investigation left them suspecting the ship had altered its sleeping passengers, until they discovered a cocooned woman with a maw split open in her abdomen and realized something may have been born successfully.

• Fu Qian and Su Gao passed the frozen natives and descended deeper into the ark without being attacked.
• Su Gao and Fu Qian found that nearly all the amber cocoons on the level had vanished, while the few that remained held emaciated, pregnant bodies, including pregnant men and mutated nonhumans.
• Fu Qian and Su Gao speculated that the ark had sheltered its followers through the Long Night and that its sea-like nature had gradually changed them.
• Su Gao and Fu Qian found an intact cocoon whose female occupant had a gaping, folded maw where her abdomen had split open.
• Fu Qian concluded that at least some of the pregnancies had not failed to produce offspring.

Fu Qian and Su Gao investigated the ship’s mutated offspring and discovered that the Great Light was rapidly transforming Su Gao into a porcelain doll. Fu Qian urged her to open a passage and escape, but her face and hand had already changed.

• Su Gao and Professor Fu examined a mutated corpse and speculated that severe contamination had enabled it to give birth to offspring.
• Su Gao encountered a large, heavily mutated creature in the third room, and Fu Qian identified it as one of the offspring they had sought.
• Fu Qian realized the Great Light was transforming Su Gao rather than merely purifying her, while leaving him unaffected.
• Fu Qian urged Su Gao to open a passage immediately, and she raised her sword as her face and left hand turned to porcelain.

Su Gao transformed and cut open an exit from the Ark while Fu Qian tested a newborn creature that seemed connected to Marco and the Native Council. They emerged safely at the Institute of Curses, where Fu Qian suspected time had flowed differently inside the Ark, and he told Su Gao to check herself before they went outside.

• Su Gao entered her Mythical Form and used her sword to break through the Ark's sealed space.
• Fu Qian frightened the half-ticket child with his Biochemical Demon Arm, provoking it to use a technique associated with Marco from Dunis.
• Fu Qian suspected the newborn might be Marco reborn and considered whether the Mal brothers and other Native Council elites had been born inside the Ark.
• Su Gao and Fu Qian exited the Ark and found themselves at the Institute of Curses, though it was now night.
• Fu Qian suggested that time had flowed differently inside the Ark and told Su Gao to examine herself before they went outside.

At the academy, Su Gao sensed a special connection to the ark and described its folded, unstable state to Fu Qian. Fu Qian used the Return Edict after hearing her assessment, leaving their investigation of the ark unresolved.

• Fu Qian reflected on the ark's history and suspected some of its missing inhabitants had become the attackers he had encountered.
• Su Gao said she could sense the ship through a special connection, though examining it was still dangerous.
• Fu Qian asked Su Gao to describe the ark, and she explained that its space was folded and reversed, its routes did not lead back the way they came, and it seemed liable to vanish from history.
• Su Gao agreed that the underground of the Institute of Curses was a dock in both space and time.
• Fu Qian thanked Su Gao and activated the Return Edict.

Fu Qian kept watch while Su Gao purged the corruption, then encountered Professors Rob and A Kai, who had sneaked into the crime scene to investigate the meteor shower incident. He warned them they were in trouble just as Professor Chang Mo appeared behind them.

• Su Gao used the Return Edict to purge the corruption while Fu Qian stood guard.
• Two walking corpses approached, and Fu Qian recognized them as Professor Rob and Professor A Kai.
• Rob and A Kai explained that they had entered at night to investigate the meteor shower incident after Dean Li barred access to the area.
• Fu Qian learned they had come alone and ordered them to move closer to him.
• Professor Chang Mo shouted at Rob and A Kai from behind them.

Fu Qian and Su Gao arrived at the sealed Institute of Curses site, where they met Professor Chang Mo and two academy members who had sneaked inside. Su Gao woke as the Night Watchers' investigator, and Chang Mo sent the intruders to speak with Dean Li.

• Professor Chang Mo confronted Fu Qian and asked who Su Gao was after the group appeared inside the site.
• Fu Qian identified Su Gao as the Night Watcher investigating the incident and described himself as a temporary action consultant.
• Fu Qian refused to claim Rob and A Kai had arrived with him, and Rob admitted that they had sneaked in and explored below.
• Rob and A Kai noticed that Fu Qian's Return Edict had restored their lifelike appearances, removing their deathly aura.
• Chang Mo softened and told Rob and A Kai to discuss their punishment with Dean Li.
• Su Gao opened her eyes and said she would go along, too.

Su Gao took charge after the exorcism and led the group to meet Dean Li Weixuan, where she revealed that a high-rank transcendent had died aboard an ancient ship hidden beneath the Institute of Curses. She assigned the academy staff to investigate the ship and help identify the dead transcendent, while officially naming Fu Qian a special operations consultant for the Night Watchers.

• Su Gao refused to summon Dean Li Weixuan and instead led Chang Mo, Rob, and his companion to meet him at the Sword Participation Institute.
• Chang Mo and Li Weixuan explained the academy's investigation, and Su Gao said she and Fu Qian had already examined the scene.
• Su Gao revealed that a high-rank transcendent had hidden beneath the Institute of Curses and died there.
• Su Gao explained that the hiding place was an ancient ship accessible through an overlap between two spaces, possibly connected to a previously activated miracle.
• Su Gao asked Professor A Kai to search the Institute of Curses' records and directed Li Weixuan and several instructors to assist her and Fu Qian.
• Su Gao identified Fu Qian as a special operations consultant for the Night Watchers.

After Su Gao secured Professor Fu’s cooperation in the investigation, Li Weixuan arranged support for the Institute of Curses and accepted Rob and A Kai’s help with security. Su Gao and Fu Qian then discussed the meeting’s outcome before she headed off to continue the Night Watchers’ work.

• Su Gao’s remarks prompted Li Weixuan to welcome Professor Fu’s role as a special-action consultant and offer the academy’s cooperation.
• Li Weixuan asked Rob and A Kai to help Professor Chang Mo guard relics left by high-level extraordinaires, and they agreed.
• Su Gao asked Fu Qian whether the meeting had gone as intended, and he praised how she had handled it.
• Su Gao spotted Fu Qian’s laboratory tower, accepted his invitation to rest there later, and left to continue her work.

Fu Qian returned to the lab and opened an ornate box containing a screaming bone creature. Professor Lisha arrived to ask what he thought of her gift, leaving its purpose unexplained.

• Fu Qian returned to the lab and found Liu Shuang meditating.
• Fu Qian opened the ornate box and heard a piercing scream from the bone creature inside.
• Liu Shuang told Fu Qian that Professor Lisha had delivered the box and warned her not to touch it.
• Fu Qian shut the creature back inside when it began crawling out, then invited Professor Lisha to explain it.
• Professor Lisha entered and asked Fu Qian what he thought of the creature, and he called it very interesting.