Chapter Summaries

After learning that Charlotte’s soul was likely trapped in Dark City, Duanmu Huai recruited Mary to help investigate the monsters connected to the murders. Mary agreed to act as bait and began training with Lorena, starting with a five-kilometer run.

• Mary told Duanmu Huai that a steel monster had pursued Charlotte, and he explained that Charlotte’s body was alive but her soul was missing, possibly trapped in Dark City.
• Duanmu Huai learned that Mary’s Gold Eye had appeared a year earlier, gave her immunity to magic, and made her unusually skilled at deciphering ancient texts.
• Duanmu Huai introduced himself as an investigator and asked Mary to work with him, proposing that she act as bait to draw out the monsters attracted to her Gold Eye.
• Mary accepted, and Duanmu Huai gave her a Sacred Artifact ring and ordered her to train so she could escape the monsters.
• The next morning, Lorena met Mary to begin her training and announced that their warm-up run would cover five kilometers.

Duanmu Huai investigated Professor Chapek’s Research Society and office, suspecting a link to the human-machine monster, while Mary struggled through Lorena’s training and went to Shuo Academy. The chapter ended with Mary and Ashelika learning that someone had stolen Chapek’s entire safe.

• Duanmu Huai searched Chapek’s office, found books on occult subjects, and discovered that Chapek’s research on Human Mechanics involved merging humans with machines.
• Duanmu Huai decided to take Chapek’s safe, knowing that opening it would leave evidence.
• Lorena led Mary through a five-kilometer run and further exercises, and Mary completed ten repetitions before heading to school.
• Ashelika noticed Mary’s silver ring and questioned her about whether a gentleman had given it to her, but Mary changed the subject.
• Mary and Ashelika reached a crowd outside Chapek’s office and learned that the safe had disappeared overnight.

Duanmu Huai discovered that Professor Chapek and Charlotte Bronte were involved in the Silver Twilight Lodge’s plan to open the Tartarus Gate, while Mary received a final letter from Charlotte. Mary left to think about the revelations, and Duanmu Huai kept Professor Chapek’s stolen safe.

• Duanmu Huai found love letters and documents in Professor Chapek’s safe that linked Chapek to the Silver Twilight Lodge and its plan to open the Tartarus Gate.
• Duanmu Huai learned that the cultists’ monsters had been hunting Mary for her Gold Eye and that Charlotte had joined Chapek’s Research Society and entered the Tartarus Gate.
• Mary brought Duanmu Huai a letter Shirley had sent before falling into a coma, and she translated its Kadath Inscription cipher.
• Mary read Charlotte’s farewell letter, which asked her to forget Charlotte and live happily, then learned from Duanmu Huai about Charlotte’s connection to the cultists.
• Mary left to think through what she had learned, while Duanmu Huai admitted he had carried Professor Chapek’s safe back and planned to discard it.

Mary resolved to believe Shirley had not committed the murders and continued training under Lorena, while Duanmu Hu considered the mysteries of the Tartarus Gate. When Mary felt the familiar sensation of being watched, Duanmu Hu ordered them to prepare to set out.

• Mary told Duanmu Hu she would not abandon Shirley and insisted Shirley would never sacrifice innocent people.
• Duanmu Hu revealed he was an Inquisitor who would kill the Research Society members if he encountered them.
• Lorena took Mary to train while Duanmu Hu pondered the unknown members of Chapek's Research Society and the purpose of the Tartarus Gate.
• Lorena explained the Inquisition to Mary, and Mary suddenly felt the same strange presence that had watched her before.
• Duanmu Hu appeared beside Mary and Lorena and told them to prepare to set out.

Mary learned that another person had been murdered and encountered a Flame Monster that wanted her Gold Eye. Duanmu Huai used Mary to lure the monster deeper into the Dark City, where Lorena began fighting its Flame Hellhounds.

• Mary received Ashelika’s warning that a killer was active in the city district and that the police had sealed the area.
• A Flame Monster appeared behind Mary and demanded her Gold Eye, but Mary refused and ran deeper into the street.
• Duanmu Huai observed that the monster’s flames could not harm Mary and decided to consider recruiting her into the Inquisition after the danger passed.
• Duanmu Huai and Lorena let Mary draw the Flame Monster farther into the Dark City before moving in.
• Lorena smashed a Flame Hellhound with her Holy Book and knocked the others away, leaving Mary stunned.

Lorena destroyed the Flame Hellhounds with her Holy Book and Iron Fist, while Duanmu Huai subdued and killed the Flame Monster. Afterward, they confronted Professor Chapek, who spoke cryptically about Charlotte and then melted away before Mary could question him about Shirley.

• Lorena smashed the Flame Hellhounds with her Holy Book, then used her Iron Fist to tear apart the pack when one pinned the book down.
• The Flame Monster tried to flee, but Duanmu Huai hooked it with his cane and stomped it until it vanished.
• Duanmu Huai and Lorena surrounded Professor Chapek as he tried to escape, and Mary recognized him.
• Mary asked Professor Chapek why he had acted with Shirley, but he spoke about Charlotte instead.
• Professor Chapek melted into foul-smelling remains before Mary could reach him.

After Professor Chapek’s death, Duanmu Huai learned that the Silver Twilight Lodge and other members of the Chapek Research Society remained at large. When Mary reported that students had vanished from Royal Shuo Academy after ominous notices appeared, Duanmu Huai reviewed the police files and decided to investigate the school that night.

• Duanmu Huai gave Professor Chapek’s documents and evidence to Lestrade, who warned that prosecuting the Silver Twilight Lodge would be difficult.
• Duanmu Huai stayed in Fog City, where Mary soon told him that students had disappeared from Royal Shuo Academy after threatening notices appeared.
• Duanmu Huai questioned Lestrade, who said the police suspected the missing students had run away and had found no useful clues.
• Duanmu Huai reviewed the case files and learned that both missing Mathematics Department students belonged to the Research Society and had vanished after leaving its meetings.
• Duanmu Huai decided to visit Royal Shuo Academy that night.

Duanmu Huai decided to lure out the culprit behind the Shuo Academy incidents by using Mary as bait. He brought her to the academy at night and told her to walk around while he followed from hiding.

• Duanmu Huai waited at Royal Shuo Academy for two nights but found no clues or sign of the culprit.
• Duanmu Huai asked Mary to help lure out the enemy, and she agreed despite worrying about her curfew and what to tell Mrs. Hydeson.
• After Mary finished her homework, Duanmu Huai grabbed her from her window and carried her across the rooftops to Royal Shuo Academy.
• Mary recovered from the dizzying trip and spotted Duanmu Huai hiding behind a lamppost.
• Duanmu Huai told Mary to walk around anywhere while he followed behind her.

Mary encountered Heinz Baker at Shuo Academy, where he persistently tried to court her until Winston Churchill intervened. After Mary and Duanmu Huai joked about romance, the academy gate became impassable and a monster appeared, demanding her right eye.

• Heinz Baker praised Mary's research paper and pressed her to spend time with him despite her refusals.
• Winston Churchill stepped in, introduced himself as Heinz's friend, and helped Mary leave.
• Mary reunited with Duanmu Huai, who made her blush by bursting his shirt open to prove he could make a girl’s heart race.
• Mary and Duanmu Huai discovered the academy gate would not open, and a fly-like monster emerged, demanding Mary's right eye.
• Duanmu Huai clenched his fists as the monster confronted them.

Duanmu Huai had Mary lure the fly monster through Shuo Academy while he searched for its host. He found Churchill Winston in the shadows and captured him, leaving Mary confused when the monster suddenly collapsed.

• Duanmu Huai told Mary to run and draw the fly monster toward a trap while he dealt with it.
• Mary fled through the corridors and stairwells, evading the monster’s split bodies as she grew exhausted.
• The shadow controlling the monster wondered why his powers had failed against Mary’s Gold Eye and watched her escape.
• Duanmu Huai attacked the monster’s hidden host instead of the creature, and Mary saw the monster collapse without knowing why.
• Duanmu Huai captured the host, recognized him as Churchill Winston, and demanded answers.

Duanmu Huai interrogated and killed a Silver Twilight Lodge member, learning that the cultists had gone to Antarctica to open the Tartarus Gate. He arranged to join a Royal Shuo Academy expedition and secured a place for Mary Clarissa Christie, leaving them prepared to travel south.

• Duanmu Huai intimidated a Lodge member into revealing that the Lodge sought to summon ancient gods and that its followers had gone to Antarctica to open the Tartarus Gate.
• Duanmu Huai killed the member after learning that the Lodge knew him as a bald, menacing man disrupting its plans.
• Mary asked to accompany Duanmu Huai to Antarctica in hopes of finding Shirley, but she lacked the credentials to travel there.
• Duanmu Huai used the Foundation to learn that the Royal Shuo Academy was planning an Antarctic expedition and offered to fund it.
• Duanmu Huai persuaded Professor Parmal to add both himself and Mary Clarissa Christie to the expedition.

Duanmu Huai took Mary and Lorena to an opera, then explained how obsessive love could lead people into destructive bargains. After Mary reunited with Kainz and Ellie, their teasing about her relationship with Duanmu Huai left her wondering whether her quickened heartbeat meant more than fear.

• Duanmu Huai endured the opera while Mary and Lorena enjoyed it, then told Mary he disliked romantic devotion because demons could exploit it.
• Duanmu Huai warned Mary that love could not excuse destroying the world and that obsessive devotion could turn someone into a pawn.
• Mary reunited with Kainz and Ellie, two street-orphan friends who had become faster and more agile after Lorena's training.
• Duanmu Huai gave Kainz and Ellie banknotes, and they teased Mary by calling her his lover before running away.
• Mary wondered whether others saw her and Duanmu Huai as a couple and noticed her heartbeat quickening.

Duanmu Huai used his awakened ability to uncover Shirley’s past and learned that her fear of losing Mary led her to make a contract at Tartarus Gate. He confronted Professor James Moriarty, discovered his plan to test humanity against the Great Old Ones, and set out for the next battle in Antarctica.

• Duanmu Huai saw Shirley’s past, including her contract to escape the fear of losing Mary by preventing tomorrow from arriving.
• Duanmu Huai concluded that Professor James Moriarty had manipulated Charlotte Bronte and orchestrated the events surrounding the Silver Twilight Lodge.
• James Moriarty explained that he had surrendered his body to a Great Old One to test whether humanity could defeat it and inherit the world.
• James Moriarty revealed that his followers had already reached Antarctica, but Duanmu Huai killed him before he could finish.
• Duanmu Huai decided that the next battlefield would be Antarctica.

Duanmu Huai arranged a luxurious expedition to Antarctica with Mary, Professor Parmal, and Lorena, chartering the airship Full Moon and Stars despite its reputation after a cultist murder. The group boarded safely, and the Captain planned to rename the airship after their trip to escape its bad reputation.

• Mary learned that Professor Parmal had invited her to join an Antarctic expedition sponsored by Duanmu Huai.
• Duanmu Huai arranged a luxurious journey by airship to Tierra del Fuego and ship to Antarctica, while Lorena worried about another murder aboard an airship.
• Duanmu Huai revealed that he had chartered the Full Moon and Stars, where a cultist had previously killed a passenger, and Mary asked for a room far from the crime scene.
• The Captain welcomed Duanmu Huai and explained that rumors about the murder had ruined the airship's business.
• The Captain agreed to take the group to Antarctica and planned to renovate and rename the Full Moon and Stars afterward.

Duanmu Huai’s expedition reached Antarctica, where he warned Professor Parmal that his group might leave to pursue a more important mission. He left Parmal with a cryptic promise, but Captain Lake interrupted before the professor could question him further.

• Mary studied geological archaeology under Professor Parmal during the airship journey, impressing him with her instinctive ability to judge the age of geological evidence.
• The Full Moon and Stars rendezvoused with the Orion at Tierra del Fuego, and Captain Lake told Duanmu Huai that another European research team had recently headed to Germania’s Georg Station.
• Lorena suffered severe seasickness aboard the Orion as the ship crossed rough waters toward Antarctica.
• The Orion reached Antarctica, and Duanmu Huai told Professor Parmal that his party had come for a purpose beyond archaeology and might leave the expedition without warning.
• Duanmu Huai explained that he had chosen to fund Parmal because of his cautious approach to excavation and asked how he would respond to a world-changing ruin; Parmal said he believed archaeological research required caution.
• Duanmu Huai promised to tell Parmal something interesting when he returned, but Captain Lake interrupted and called them over.

The narrator was still sick with a cold and fever, with pain in the lower back and back. After a poor night's sleep, they continued to recuperate.

• The narrator remained ill with a cold and fever.
• The narrator felt aches in the lower back and back.
• The narrator slept poorly and continued to recuperate.

Duanmu Huai and his group settled into Queen Elizabeth Station during a blizzard and prepared to investigate the cultists’ last known location near the Mountains of Madness. Mary dreamed of finding Shirley in Another World, glimpsed an enormous city beneath the mountains, and woke determined to find her.

• Captain Lake played Duanmu Huai and Professor Parmal a broken distress transmission, and Duanmu Huai decided they would investigate later.
• Duanmu Huai’s group reached Queen Elizabeth Station before a blizzard struck, while Mary fell asleep exhausted and Lorena recovered from seasickness.
• Duanmu Huai marked the Mountains of Madness on a map and concluded that the missing cultists had most likely been killed by Shoggoths.
• Duanmu Huai said Mary might react if her friend’s soul was nearby and that they would rely on the Gold Eye to guide them.
• Mary dreamed she followed Shirley through the mist to a cliff overlooking a vast, twisted city, then woke and vowed to find Shirley.

Duanmu Huai took Mary and Lorena into Antarctica, where Mary sensed that Shirley was somewhere in an ancient city built by the extinct Ancient Ones. They reached the city and headed toward her, while Duanmu Huai told the others how its builders had died.

• Duanmu Huai left the Research Station with Mary and Lorena after the maids arrived with an aircraft.
• Duanmu Huai used Intimidation to disperse a blizzard that threatened their flight.
• Mary sensed Shirley’s presence beyond a mountain range, and the aircraft landed at a ruined temple in the ancient city.
• Duanmu Huai sent the maid to circle overhead and led Mary and Lorena into the city.
• Duanmu Huai told Mary and Lorena that the Ancient Ones had become trapped on Earth after losing their ability to travel through space, then went extinct.

Duanmu Huai and Lorena sent Mary through a sealed door into a dark staircase, where she confronted memories of her loneliness and climbed to find Shirley. Shirley explained that she wanted to keep Mary with her forever and attacked her.

• Mary noticed the ruins were empty, and Duanmu Huai explained that the Shoggoths had swallowed the Ancient Ones and their remains.
• Duanmu Huai opened a massive sealed door as strange screams sounded, then sent Mary inside while Lorena prepared to fight.
• Mary saw an endless staircase with her Gold Eye and ran upward toward Shirley, overcoming memories of her mother leaving her.
• Mary found Shirley on an altar in a black dress, with a Gold Eye matching her own.
• Shirley said she feared losing Mary and wanted them to remain together in an eternal present, then thrust her black blade at Mary's chest.

Mary fought Shirley while Gold Eye controlled her movements, but she threw away her sword and embraced her friend, persuading Shirley to abandon the darkness. Duanmu Huai defeated Wu Ming, then gathered Mary, the unconscious Shirley, and Lorena and launched them into the sky to escape.

• Mary used Gold Eye and a white blade to defend herself against Shirley, while Wu Ming watched and declared that black Sharnos would devour the world.
• Duanmu Huai confronted Wu Ming, rejected the contract Shirley had made as invalid, and attacked him with his cane.
• Shirley grew furious when Mary mentioned Duanmu Huai and intensified her attacks, but Mary disarmed her and threw away her own sword to embrace her.
• Mary reminded Shirley of their childhood promise and urged her to return; Shirley's black dress melted away as she fell asleep in Mary's arms.
• Duanmu Huai told Mary and Lorena that they had to leave, gathered them and Shirley together, and launched them into the sky.