Chapter Summaries

Chu Yang studied the Fergus Cipher and trained with Miss Xiu, rapidly improving his combat skills while Fors and Xiu agreed to help him. When hoofbeats sounded at the abandoned manor, Chu Yang and Xiu hid underground, unaware that someone had erased the traces of their practice.

• Fors questioned Chu Yang about his motives, but she and Miss Xiu agreed to help him pursue the plan and oppose human traffickers.
• Holmes swallowed a melted three-legged golden toad while Erlinda remained unaware of what he had done.
• Manhattan gave Chu Yang an ancient document about the Fergus Cipher and warned him never to recite it aloud.
• Chu Yang studied the cipher and trained with Miss Xiu, improving his shooting and lasting thirty seconds in a close-combat spar.
• Chu Yang asked about Fors's unfinished book, and Xiu said Fors would not finish it before next Saturday.
• Hoofbeats approached the abandoned manor, so Chu Yang and Xiu hid underground; an unseen person then swept away the traces of their practice.

Chu Yang and Miss Xiu escaped a remote estate after a hidden Beyonder drove off its buyer and left Chu Yang a message mentioning Palos. Back at Manhattan's studio, Chu Yang heard Erlinda's suspicion that her father was sneaking out at night and agreed to learn more.

• Chu Yang reassured Miss Xiu that the estate might remain accessible, but a buyer arrived and purchased it after bargaining the price down to one thousand five hundred pounds.
• The buyer approached the basement but inexplicably turned away, and Chu Yang and Miss Xiu fled after sensing a powerful Beyonder nearby.
• Chu Yang read a message on the estate gates saying that Palos had mentioned him, then decided to question Palos about his connections to Beyonders.
• Chu Yang and Miss Xiu ran five kilometers before stopping; Chu Yang told her the hidden presence was likely a spirit-type Beyonder of at least Sequence Seven.
• Chu Yang returned to Manhattan's studio and listened as Erlinda asked him to investigate her father, Holmes, whom she suspected of having an affair because he kept leaving home late at night.
• Erlinda described seeing Holmes sneak out in a black coat and later teased Chu Yang about possibly becoming her father-in-law someday.

Chu Yang accepted Erlinda’s request to investigate her father’s strange nightly outings, then Manhattan taught him how to create Runes by sacrificing materials to the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. Chu Yang successfully made four Runes and headed with Manhattan to the evening gathering carrying seven in total.

• Erlinda told Chu Yang that Mr. Holmes secretly left home at night and returned exhausted, so Chu Yang accepted her commission and refused her payment.
• Manhattan agreed that Mr. Holmes’s behavior was not an affair and teased Chu Yang about his female friends.
• Chu Yang told Manhattan he had encountered an enemy who might have been Sequence Six or Sequence Five, and Manhattan offered to teach him a combat method.
• Manhattan used Beyonder materials, incantations, and a sacrifice to the God of Knowledge and Wisdom to create Runes that could briefly affect the minds of Beyonders at Sequence Seven or below.
• Chu Yang successfully made four Runes, adding them to the three Manhattan had already given him, and joined Manhattan on the way to the evening gathering.

At Manhattan’s trading gathering, Chu Yang bought a Beyonder longsword and sold three Murmur Runes, then questioned Palos about the woman connected to the estate. After failing to follow Holmes, Chu Yang asked Hugh to help track him that night, and she suspected Holmes was secretly seeking a dangerous path to becoming a Beyonder.

• A woman offered a cold-resistance Beyonder material and an enchanted dagger; buyers acquired both despite the material’s Full Moon risk and the dagger’s short remaining lifespan.
• Chu Yang bought a Beyonder longsword for two hundred and fifty pounds, then sold three Murmur Runes for nearly four hundred pounds.
• Chu Yang questioned Palos about the mysterious woman who had erased traces at the estate, and Palos directed him to Lu Qi while warning him to watch his words.
• Chu Yang tried to follow Holmes from the bar but lost him in an alley with four exits, then admitted his failure to Manhattan.
• Chu Yang asked Hugh to help track Holmes at midnight, and Hugh judged that he was likely seeking to become a Beyonder by an improper route.

Chu Yang helped Miss Xiu investigate Mr. Holmes, then joined Manhattan in reviewing disappearances across the West Borough and was sent to investigate two promising leads. At the first scene, a missing boy’s luxurious family home, Chu Yang challenged Triss over the bureau’s careless investigation.

• Miss Xiu accepted Chu Yang’s Murmur Rune and agreed to track Mr. Holmes.
• Chu Yang spent the morning studying at the library before joining Manhattan for lunch and a new commission.
• Manhattan and Chu Yang reviewed the West Borough disappearance files, concluding that the missing people had vanished for different reasons and selecting two leads for further investigation.
• Manhattan sent Chu Yang and Triss to examine the home of a family whose six-year-old son had disappeared after someone called him outside.
• Chu Yang questioned Triss about how carelessly the West Borough Security Bureau had investigated the case, angering her.

Chu Yang and Triss investigated Jerome’s disappearance and uncovered signs that the family had staged the kidnapping for money. Angela admitted that Jerome had planned the deception, and the chapter left his real age and whereabouts unresolved.

• Chu Yang pointed out clues suggesting Angela’s account was false and that Jerome might have orchestrated the disappearance.
• Ian and his wife revealed that Red-Haired Stroh had demanded a five-hundred-pound ransom, prompting Chu Yang to warn them about the dangerous kidnapper.
• Chu Yang used his Beyonder power to silence the family and questioned Angela about her role in the deception.
• Angela said Jerome had forced her to help after discovering her relationship with Wade, and she revealed that Jerome wanted money for a doll model.
• Mrs. Ian let slip that Jerome was older than five or six, and Angela’s reaction exposed that she had invented his age to keep the Public Security Bureau from taking the case seriously.

After Chu Yang collapsed while investigating a doll connected to the Gray Fog, he recovered and realized the Pure White Eye had revealed a dangerous secret. Meanwhile, Xiu confronted Holmes over his collection of vagrant corpses, and he feared the authorities had discovered him.

• Ian admitted that his children had misled the Public Security Bureau and asked Triss and Chu Yang to investigate Jerome's doll-loving friend, Kordas.
• As servants carried Jerome's dolls out to burn, Chu Yang's spiritual intuition stirred, and using the Pure White Eye caused him to faint.
• Chu Yang woke after more than eight hours with his spirituality severely depleted, and Manhattan warned him not to investigate unknown objects recklessly.
• Chu Yang recognized that the dolls had revealed a secret tied to the Gray Fog and considered how he might use the Pure White Eye to create an item that could help him join the Tarot Club.
• Xiu watched Holmes and gang members load dead vagrants into a carriage, then confronted him with her Rune and identified herself as an Arbiter investigating his corpse transports.
• Holmes asked whether the authorities had targeted him, while privately fearing what official Beyonders might do to him.

Chu Yang learned that Holmes had entered the Beyonder world under the guidance of a demigod and decided to stop investigating him. At the West Borough Security Bureau, Aymlin was released after his detention, and he threatened legal action against Miss Triss after she insulted him.

• Miss Xiu questioned Holmes about the corpses, then agreed to watch over him after he said he needed them for a ritual.
• Chu Yang met Miss Xiu, learned Holmes possessed Runes and mysticism knowledge, and concluded that Holmes likely served a demigod called Immortality.
• Miss Xiu gave Chu Yang a collector's edition of Fors's newly published book, and they discussed using it to approach noble children.
• Chu Yang returned to the West Borough Security Bureau, where Miss Triss asked about his fainting and the heavy Beyonder dagger she had found on him.
• Aymlin was released with his lawyer after denying involvement in the kidnapping, and Miss Triss mocked him before the lawyer warned her about a possible Church Court lawsuit.

Chu Yang investigated missing-person cases, trained with Miss Xiu, and learned that his Reader potion had been completely digested after studying the Dark Church. Meanwhile, the pursuit of Stanik began outside the city, leaving Chu Yang’s sudden advancement and the dangerous battle as the story’s latest developments.

• Miss Triss told Chu Yang that her father was Chief Bakerpo, while Bakerpo and Manhattan found a gruesome alley scene with signs of a Living Corpse Beyonder.
• Chu Yang solved the case of a missing woman who had planned to flee overseas, and Manhattan explained that Beyonder-related cases had been transferred to official teams.
• Palos informed Madrid that Stanik had committed murders, and Madrid and Natalie planned to follow the official Beyonders and exploit their pursuit of him.
• Chu Yang and Miss Xiu trained at the Public Security Bureau shooting range, and Chu Yang reassured Erlinda that her father was helping homeless people rather than having an affair.
• While reading about the Dark Church, Chu Yang used the Pure White Eye and completely digested his Reader potion in less than ten days.
• A battle erupted outside the city as the official forces pursued the injured Stanik, who controlled a horde of Living Corpses.

Stanik escaped the Punisher Squad with help from a wounded werewolf, while Chu Yang advanced to Sequence Eight and discovered new abilities granted by the Pure White Eye. Madrid and Natasha then discussed the escapees’ injuries and whether to act against them.

• Stanik narrowly evaded the Punisher Squad’s pursuit, but a hidden ally posing as a werewolf rescued him and fled with him.
• The squad leader explained that a ghostly shadow had delayed him, while the werewolf collapsed from his injuries and Stanik escaped into a shop.
• Chu Yang drank the potion made from the sapphire and became a Sequence Eight Reasoning Student, gaining Spirit Sight.
• Chu Yang tested the Pure White Eye and found that it could stay active longer, sharpen his thinking, and let him use abilities associated with Sequence Seven Knowledge Keepers.
• Natasha told Madrid that Stanik’s allies had rescued him, including a Sequence Seven and a Sequence Six Beyonder, and that both Stanik and the werewolf were badly injured.
• Madrid concluded that they might be able to begin acting against the injured group.

Chu Yang learned that the official Beyonders had failed to capture the three wild Beyonders, while Mr. Holmes faced danger from Stanik and his injured werewolf companion. After hearing that Triss had run away to pursue freedom, Chu Yang reflected on his own direction and continued improving his shooting.

• Natasha told her companion that the three wild Beyonders were hiding in a clothing-store warehouse without Beyonder traces, while the squad captain ordered searches for disappearances and spread news of their injuries.
• Manhattan discovered that Chu Yang had reached Sequence Eight and praised his grasp of the Acting Method before explaining that the Punisher Squad had gravely injured but failed to capture three wild Beyonders.
• Chu Yang realized the battle had taken place near Erlinda's clothing store and wondered about the unusual Sealed Artifact used there.
• Mr. Holmes sensed danger outside his shop, while the injured werewolf gave Stanik a severed limb and promised him the family of three when the time was right.
• Chu Yang learned that Triss had run away from home to seek freedom, defended her choice to explore the world, and wondered about his own purpose.
• At the shooting range, Chu Yang's skill astonished Miss Su, and he told her that he had become Sequence Eight the previous day.

Chu Yang began studying Manhattan’s case files as strange incidents created opportunities for experience and income. Meanwhile, Madrid and Natasha’s attempt to strike at their enemies failed when Pondasi used the Sun Ritual to weaken them, while Holmes’s wife was gravely injured in a Werewolf attack.

• Miss Xiu gave Chu Yang Fors’s book and said its strong sales had brought Fors invitations, though Fors was staying home and avoiding gatherings.
• Manhattan assigned Chu Yang more than ten case files and urged him to study them alongside language materials, explaining that recent strange events offered both work and survival experience.
• Madrid left the bar with his Living Corpses as Stanik and the Werewolves were released to attack Holmes and the others.
• A Werewolf burst into Holmes’s bedroom, and Holmes used a strange item to block its attack, but the creature seized his wife and tore off her arm.
• Natasha controlled Stanik until Pondasi appeared with the Sun Ritual, which broke her control and weakened her; Madrid rescued her and fled.
• Pondasi bound Madrid and Natasha with resentful spirits, and Madrid began chanting a Sun incantation as golden light descended upon him.

After Holmes used a vessel to summon a demigod’s power, Natasha and Madrid escaped with Erlinda and his corpse while the official Beyonders investigated the ruined clothing store. Chu Yang learned that Erlinda was missing and, using his Pure White Eye, reconstructed the battle and saw an elderly man in clerical robes descend at the end.

• Holmes used a confusion Rune to save Erlinda from the Werewolf, then blew a black vessel that summoned a demigod’s aura and cost him his life.
• Natasha and Madrid recovered Erlinda and Holmes’s corpse and fled through the black smoke as the others retreated.
• Chu Yang read that Erlinda was missing and Mrs. Holmes had died, then decided to investigate the clothing store.
• The Captain of the Punishers ordered his team to search for the Werewolf, Erlinda, Holmes, and information about the Sun Ritual.
• At the cordoned-off store, Chu Yang recognized one of his Runes and used it to reconstruct the battle, seeing Holmes summon the smoke and an elderly cleric descend from the sky.

After Erlinda’s family was killed, Chu Yang sought a way to grow stronger, and Manhattan let him use a Sealed Artifact. Erlinda chose to absorb her father’s Beyonder characteristic to pursue revenge, then reunited with Chu Yang at the bar, where she confronted him about hiding the truth about her father.

• Chu Yang mourned his inability to help Erlinda and asked Manhattan to borrow a ring to decipher a potion formula; Manhattan granted him access to his collection room for an hour each evening.
• Erlinda refused Madrid’s offers of money or a new life and insisted on becoming a Beyonder like her father, despite the risk of turning into a monster.
• Madrid prepared a solution from Holmes’s Beyonder characteristic, and Erlinda drank it.
• Palos summoned Chu Yang to the bar, where he found Erlinda newly transformed and struggling to control the power inside her.
• Erlinda accused Chu Yang of knowing about her father’s secret, and Chu Yang denied having lied to her.

Chu Yang retrieved the money, potion formulas, and false identity Holmes had prepared for Erlinda, helping her prepare to leave the city and pursue revenge. After parting from her, he continued his work and studies until a striking woman arrived at Manhattan's studio, where Chu Yang received her.

• Chu Yang told Erlinda he supported her revenge but warned her that life as a Beyonder was dangerous, and she asked him to retrieve her father's hidden belongings because she trusted him more than Madrid and Natasha.
• Chu Yang disguised himself, investigated Holmes's villa, and used the Fergus Cipher to restrain a ghost guarding its entrance.
• Chu Yang found nearly a thousand pounds, Corpse Collector potion formulas, and a false identity in the villa's basement, then brought them to Erlinda.
• Erlinda told Chu Yang she planned to leave the city and grow stronger before returning, and they parted after he promised to find her if he could.
• Chu Yang focused on studying the Fergus Cipher, deciphering Manhattan's ring, and helping with commissions, which earned him a local reputation.
• A beautiful woman in black arrived at Manhattan's studio while Manhattan was away, and Chu Yang told her to return the next morning if she had a commission.

Chu Yang investigated Ilfa’s request for information on fallen nobles and deduced that she was helping Rampage Vice-Admiral arrange a noble’s replacement. Meanwhile, Houston warned Miss Xiu that a mysterious woman was seeking information about her, leaving Miss Xiu suspecting a Beyonder was involved.

• Ilfa hired Chu Yang to investigate more than a dozen unmarried nobles, paid him an advance, and signed his contract.
• Chu Yang found Baron Miguel on the list and concluded Ilfa was working with Rampage Vice-Admiral to help Green replace a noble without attracting suspicion.
• Ilfa told Salina that hiring Chu Yang would conceal how they obtained the nobles’ information, then warned her to investigate the arrest of one of her subordinates.
• Salina revealed that the arrested subordinate had been investigated over illegal lending by a Beyonder called the Arbiter.
• Houston met Miss Xiu in a bar’s shadows and told her that a captivating woman had been asking about her home, her investigation of illegal lending, and her contact information.
• Miss Xiu suspected the woman was a Beyonder and considered asking Chu Yang for help.

Miss Xiu fled to Chu Yang after Salina, a Sequence Seven witch, began investigating her, and Manhattan revealed that Ilfa was a Sequence Six witch who had rescued Salina. Manhattan proposed exposing clues to the authorities while Miss Xiu left Backlund for at least a month, leaving the group to set their plan in motion.

• Miss Xiu escaped the bar, reached her safe house, and told Chu Yang that a woman had been searching for her.
• Chu Yang suspected the woman was a witch or wielded a Sealed Artifact, and Manhattan confirmed that the authorities had recently ambushed a Witch Cult member named Salina, whom Ilfa had likely rescued.
• Manhattan advised them to let the authorities discover clues about Salina themselves, while Chu Yang reasoned that they should avoid acting as informants and wait until Ilfa contacted her noble target.
• Manhattan recommended that Miss Xiu leave Backlund for at least a month, and Chu Yang predicted Salina would be caught or Ilfa would complete her mission by then.

Manhattan sent Chu Yang and Miss Xiu out of Backlund on a month-long commission to avoid scrutiny and a possible Witch Cult ambush, while helping them prepare with valuable Beyonder items. After they reached Yatokson Port, they found that mid-tier tickets had sold out amid a surge of passengers fleeing a nearby conflict.

• Manhattan told Chu Yang and Miss Xiu to travel together on a commission outside the city, take different routes there and back, and lie low while the Witch Cult and military investigations continued.
• Manhattan revealed that the military had begun investigating Miss Xiu and her family, then advised her to visit her hidden relatives and wait for a possible ally of her father to contact her.
• Manhattan lent Chu Yang the Wind Ring, gave him a Jade Veil needed for Sequence Seven, promised to look for Elven Tree branches and leaves, and gave Miss Xiu a protective Beyonder item.
• Chu Yang and Miss Xiu set out the next morning and reached Yatokson Port in the afternoon, where the ticket clerk said recent fighting had driven many travelers to leave.
• When the mid-tier tickets had sold out, Chu Yang prepared to pay extra for two first-class tickets.

Chu Yang and Miss Xiu traveled aboard the Deep Sea, where Chu Yang suspected Captain Harrison had a sea-related Beyonder ability and anticipated Mr. Klein’s arrival under the blood moon. After reaching Manhattan, they met school principal Abdu, who hired them to escort him through a maze under a secrecy contract.

• Chu Yang bought tickets for the Deep Sea after learning it had a capable captain and a record of long voyages, then he and Miss Xiu boarded and shared a cabin.
• Chu Yang and Miss Xiu met Captain Harrison, and Chu Yang suspected the captain was a Beyonder after Harrison claimed the sea could never harm him.
• Chu Yang and Miss Xiu watched the red moon from the deck, where Chu Yang said a major event affecting the world was taking place and thought Mr. Klein had arrived.
• The Deep Sea reached its destination safely, and Chu Yang and Miss Xiu went to meet their client, school principal Abdu.
• Abdu presented a Beyonder contract that allowed Chu Yang and Miss Xiu to withdraw if the mission was dangerous or beyond their abilities.
• Chu Yang and Miss Xiu accepted the task of escorting Abdu through a maze, while Abdu withheld details about what lay inside it.

Chu Yang and Miss Xiu signed Mr. Abdu’s contract and prepared to enter a mysterious maze that offered information through changing trials. As Chu Yang considered how to contact Klein without endangering him, Klein received an unexpected visitor and an opportunity to become a Beyonder.

• Chu Yang inspected the contract with the Pure White Eye, then he and Miss Xiu signed it alongside Mr. Abdu.
• Mr. Abdu explained that the maze began on its ninth floor, offered increasingly difficult trials, and could only be entered under limited conditions for valuable information.
• Chu Yang learned that entrants could team up, that Mr. Abdu was a Sequence Seven Appraiser, and that dream-inducing Runes were needed to enter.
• Chu Yang made Runes for himself and Miss Xiu, then decided to delay contacting Klein and try advancing the Pure White Eye first.
• Klein met an unexpected visitor who offered him the chance to become a Beyonder, but he chose to wait before selecting a sequence.