Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun and White Line arrive in Hermaniel City, where the familiar canal district stirs Xia Lun’s memories of his years in the steel business—and regret that he missed the funerals of old friends who died while he was ill.
• He proposes a planned outing, but White Line chooses to take a boat through the canals instead. They rent one, hold hands on the way, and settle into a quiet, romantic afternoon on the water.
• As Xia Lun rows, he tells White Line local legends and recalls how often he once traveled to the city for work. He notices that she seems distracted.
• To draw her out, Xia Lun suggests a game of honest questions. Asked about her past, White Line reveals that she was born in Hermaniel but has been away so long that she feels like an outsider. Xia Lun is surprised, having assumed she came from the Herno Strait region.
• White Line asks whether Xia Lun has read the horror novel The White Mask. He has not.
• A gust blows White Line’s cap away. Xia Lun catches her as she tries to reach for it, then turns the boat toward a dock, promising to find her a more suitable hat.

Character developments

• Xia Lun is nostalgic and conscious of time lost, but he also shows warmth and attentiveness toward White Line. He tries to ease her silence by sharing memories and starting a conversation game.
• White Line reveals a previously unknown connection to Hermaniel City and a sense of estrangement from her birthplace. Her distraction suggests that returning has stirred something deeper than simple curiosity, though she does not explain it.

Significant themes

• Memory and regret: Xia Lun’s return brings back memories of friends he never got to say goodbye to; the Violet Crystal Palace legend likewise centers on regret over love left unspoken.
• Belonging and alienation: White Line’s birth in Hermaniel conflicts with her feeling that she has become an outsider.
• Time, illness, and missed chances: Xia Lun’s terminal illness has kept him away for two years, making familiar places feel changed and his lost time more vivid.
• Intimacy and unspoken feelings: Their hand-holding, peaceful boat ride, and tentative questions create closeness, while both the city’s legend and White Line’s evasiveness hint at feelings or history not yet discussed.

Character interactions

• White Line takes Xia Lun’s hand and leans against him as they walk, then lets him row while she navigates.
• Xia Lun shares his knowledge of Hermaniel and notices White Line’s preoccupation; he offers a question game to encourage her to open up.
• White Line answers only part of his inquiry, then shifts the conversation by asking her own question.
• When her cap blows away, Xia Lun stops her from lunging after it and takes charge of steering them toward a nearby dock.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun and White Line spend the day exploring Hermaniel City. She surprises him with her knowledge of music, and he buys her a red painter’s beret. She declines his offer to buy her a new outfit, saying it would make it harder to move around.
• They skip the Violet Crystal Palace and go to Hermaniel Port to watch the sunset from the cruise ship Cloud Giant. Xia Lun secretly buys cotton candy for White Line, remembering her interest in it.
• The sight of the sunset and the cotton candy makes White Line burst into tears. Xia Lun first assumes her distress is tied to supernatural events or her past work, but she explains that it comes from grief over her parents.
• White Line tells him that her parents, both Internal Affairs Department officers, wanted her to become a musician. Unable to meet their expectations, she left home for Herno Strait to write. She never achieved the success she hoped would prove herself to them, and they died on a dangerous assignment before she could reconcile with them.
• After their deaths, White Line joined the Internal Affairs Department with their help and inherited their Game Card. She now feels the lasting absence of the parents who once took her to watch sunsets and brought her cotton candy.

Character developments

• White Line is shown as more perceptive and capable than Xia Lun had assumed, with a strong appreciation of music and a painful history beneath her quiet, absent-minded manner. Her grief reveals her lingering guilt over leaving home and failing to fulfill her parents’ hopes.
• Xia Lun tries to understand and comfort her, but his guesses about supernatural causes miss the ordinary, personal source of her pain. He recognizes how deeply her story affects him, yet cannot bring himself to say that she still has him.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun gently guides White Line through the city, chooses a hat for her, and attends to her preferences without pushing when she declines more clothes.
• He uses humor and playful reasoning during their sunset conversation, then offers her cotton candy as a small, thoughtful surprise.
• When White Line begins crying, Xia Lun holds her and encourages her to speak. Once she shares her story, he listens in silence rather than trying to fix her grief.

Significant themes

• Grief and belated regret: White Line’s parents are gone before she can resolve their conflict or show them what she might become.
• Unspoken affection and missed chances: Xia Lun wants to reassure White Line but cannot say what he feels; the closing image echoes the story’s mention of a palace formed from tears of regret over love left unspoken.
• Expectations and self-worth: White Line’s struggle to meet her parents’ ambitions leaves her feeling useless, even though she eventually builds a life and career of her own.
• The weight of ordinary sorrow: Her secret is not supernatural, but its everyday nature makes it no less painful.

Key plot points and events

• After a quiet moment by the sea, White Line tells Xia Lun about her grief and feels at peace. Her mental state improves to Calm (At Peace), and her maximum Mental Health rises by twenty points.
• White Line offers Xia Lun her remaining savings—54,000 Memory Points—as a gift or investment. Though he initially refuses, she secretly slips him a one-use ring that transfers the points. His total reaches 86,362. They joke about their questionable business dealings and promise to protect the investment.
• A meteor shower begins earlier than the schedule predicts. Xia Lun discovers that it is already the twenty-first, despite their belief that they left Whitewash City on the twentieth. Their journey appears to have swallowed part of a day.
• Xia Lun suspects the road they took has distorted time and warns White Line not to use it again. He also points out that her instinct to return to Whitewash City may have been influenced by a Counter-Meme. She recognizes the possibility and agrees they should leave promptly.
• The pair decide to return by train rather than retrace their route.
• At Whitewash City Psychiatric Hospital, patients crawl around the White Stone Statue under an eerie influence. After the others leave, the cigar-loving dwarf and the handsome man awaken from their trance. They contact Prime through an apparently nonexistent ritual and report what they learned about the target. Prime seems satisfied, but a red glow appears in his eyes.

Character developments and interactions

• White Line gains emotional relief by speaking about her pain and becomes more considerate of Xia Lun’s limited lifespan. Her offer of money shows trust and care, while her playful sleight of hand reveals her determination to help him.
• Xia Lun supports White Line without pressuring her, then shifts quickly into investigative mode when he notices the date discrepancy. He treats her as a reliable partner and carefully tests whether she is affected by the suspected Counter-Meme.
• Their teasing about fraud and investments softens a serious conversation and reinforces their close, trusting relationship.
• The dwarf and the handsome man emerge from the hospital’s apparent control long enough to carry out their mission. The handsome man contacts Prime and delivers their intelligence.

Significant themes

• Grief and emotional healing: Speaking openly about loss helps White Line find peace.
• Care, trust, and sacrifice: White Line’s financial support and Xia Lun’s concern for her safety strengthen their partnership.
• Time and reality becoming unreliable: The missing day and early meteor shower suggest the world’s rules are distorted.
• Cognitive influence and hidden danger: Whitewash City may be affected by a Counter-Meme, while the hospital patients’ trance and Prime’s red glow hint at deeper threats.

Key plot points and events

• Returning to Whitewash City, Xia Lun and White Line are ambushed by armed men. Xia Lun kills them and discovers they were hired assassins who mistook White Line—wearing a red hat—for their intended target, a Railway Manager.
• Back at the manor, White Line says she plans to begin another Scenario soon and asks Xia Lun for a Snail Statue. She considers her red hat lucky, shares a drink with him, gives him a quick kiss, and heads to bed.
• Xia Lun restores some lifespan by using Life Drain on two cows, then weighs which dream Memory to enter: King Guewen’s Master-Level Spearmanship or the Special Memory focused on Rituals. He chooses Ritual Apprentice, hoping to broaden his options and avoid drawing attention from powerful Secret Art Scholars.
• In his Personal Space, Xia Lun redeems Numien’s Sigh, an artifact that can turn widely believed ideas into facts by spending Legendary Influence. He also redeems a massive, Purity Seal-certified tactical nuclear bomb, which delights him both as an explosives enthusiast and as a powerful weapon.
• Reflecting on the previous Scenario, Xia Lun resolves to rely more on close combat and Negation rather than burning lifespan in Echo Domains. He then enters the Ritual Apprentice Memory and receives the objective: escape from captivity. He wakes as the Memory begins.

Character development

• Xia Lun remains pragmatic and cautious: he considers the risks of attracting High-Rank Secret Art Scholars and chooses versatility over incremental weapon mastery. His reflection on past mistakes shows a growing awareness of his combat strengths and limits.
• His anxiety about his limited lifespan continues, but he takes concrete steps to preserve it. The nuclear bomb also reveals a more playful, long-standing personal enthusiasm for explosives.
• White Line seems optimistic about her next Scenario and treats the red hat as a lucky charm. Her easy affection toward Xia Lun adds warmth to their relationship.

Significant themes

• Power versus exposure: Greater abilities and Legendary Influence can reshape events, but using them conspicuously risks attracting dangerous attention.
• Scarcity and survival: Xia Lun’s limited lifespan and Memory Points make every choice consequential.
• Adaptation: Xia Lun learns from the previous Scenario and adjusts his strategy to suit his strengths.
• Belief and reality: Numien’s Sigh introduces the idea that collective belief can transform what is true.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun protects White Line during the mistaken assassination attempt, then drives her safely home. She trusts him, borrows his Bottomless Coffee Cup, and kisses him goodbye.
• Xia Lun’s encounter with the assassins is decisive and matter-of-fact; he quickly identifies the misidentification and disposes of the threat.
• In his Personal Space, Xia Lun examines his new relics and briefly interacts with On the Secrets of the Silver Mirror, which reacts fearfully to the nuclear bomb.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun awakens inside a Special Memory as Hunterton, a wheelchair-bound former doctor suffering from a severe hangover, alcohol dependence, shaking hands, and an injury to his leg.
• He searches his room and discovers a hidden compartment containing a medal, coins, a crowbar, and a breakup letter. The letter reveals that Hunterton was disabled in a northern war, lost his girlfriend and medical career, and fell into drinking.
• His neighbor Hatton arrives after hearing glass break. A burly, kindly man, he brings bread, cleans the room, and explains that Hunterton saved his life years earlier.
• Hatton reveals that the neighborhood is under lockdown after another attack by the serial killer known as the Shadow of Dunrest. The factory owners are also using the restrictions to exploit workers.
• Xia Lun concludes that “escape captivity” likely means getting out of the locked neighborhood. He plans to use the hidden crowbar to force the gate open that night.

Character developments

• Xia Lun/Hunterton: Xia Lun regains his composure, gathers information cautiously, and begins turning a bleak situation into a practical plan. He suspects this memory may represent a turning point in the life of the future scholar Proud Sun, though he has no explanation yet for the title “Ritual Apprentice.”
• Hatton: Hatton is revealed as a loyal, compassionate neighbor. He supports Hunterton without demanding repayment and urges him to stop drinking and hold on to hope.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun avoids pretending to know Hunterton’s history, instead asking Hatton questions under the guise of memory loss.
• Hatton responds patiently, recounting Hunterton’s past and offering food and help. Their exchange establishes a bond rooted in Hunterton’s earlier kindness toward Hatton.

Significant themes

• Recovery and escape: Xia Lun’s immediate goal is physical escape, while Hunterton’s history suggests a deeper struggle to escape despair and addiction.
• Kindness and reciprocity: Hatton’s support reflects the lasting impact of Hunterton’s past generosity.
• Industrial exploitation: The lockdown is presented not only as a response to murder but also as a means for factory owners to profit at workers’ expense.
• Identity and foreshadowing: The contrast between Hunterton’s present misery and his future as a powerful scholar hints at a major transformation still to come.

Plot points and events

• Xia Lun meditates until night, using his Master Level Swordsmanship to acclimate to his disabled, alcohol-damaged body. His breathing, nerves, and strength improve slightly.
• At 1 a.m., he gathers his house key, coins, and crowbar, then breaks the courtyard padlock and ventures into the city.
• He overhears patrolmen discussing a gruesome serial killer, a plague, and the city’s lockdown. Xia Lun suspects that “escape the cage” may mean getting out of the city.
• A hooded, skull-masked figure carrying a corpse approaches. Xia Lun tries to ambush him, but the figure speaks a strange syllable, and Xia Lun abruptly reappears in his apartment corridor at 1:01 a.m.
• Xia Lun considers whether this was time reversal or an illusion, then decides to test other possibilities. On a second attempt to leave, he encounters the killer in an alley.
• The killer attacks with a scalpel and a cloud of powder. Xia Lun reads his movements, deflects the blade, and uses a precise sword technique through the crowbar to break the attacker’s arm, strike his abdomen, and smash his mask. He knocks the killer down and delivers a final blow as patrolmen approach.
• Xia Lun wakes in the room where the memory began, apparently returned not merely to the corridor but to the morning of his first entry. The chapter ends with him realizing that the Special Memory has reset again.

Character development and interactions

• Xia Lun grows more physically attuned to his weakened body and increasingly confident in his ability to act despite his paralysis and withdrawal symptoms.
• He approaches danger strategically: first hiding from the patrols, then attempting an ambush, and finally choosing to confront the killer to gain information.
• His swordsmanship proves formidable even through an improvised weapon, while his disability limits his mobility and ability to finish the fight conventionally.
• Xia Lun’s encounters with the killer are the chapter’s central interaction: the first ends with an apparent supernatural reset; the second becomes a violent duel. The patrolmen and their Hound remain nearby, heightening the urgency without directly intervening.

Significant themes

• Confinement and escape: The locked courtyard, sealed city, and “escape the cage” objective leave Xia Lun uncertain about what freedom requires.
• Reality and repetition: Abrupt resets raise questions about whether the memory is a dream, illusion, or looping experience.
• Adaptation and agency: Xia Lun compensates for a damaged body through discipline, observation, and technical skill.
• Violence and investigation: He treats the killer as both an immediate threat and a source of information, blending survival with the need to understand the scenario.

Plot and events

• Xia Lun wakes at 12:32 p.m. after another apparent time reversal, again just before the Serial Killer’s death. He reasons that the killer may have been a Secret Art Scholar capable of manipulating time.
• When neighbor Hatton visits with food and asks for a crowbar, Xia Lun grows suspicious. Hatton’s build matches the killer’s, and his unexpected request reinforces Xia Lun’s theory.
• Xia Lun pretends to be drunk and draws Hatton into conversation, then tests him with a false claim that the city is already under lockdown. Hatton’s reaction exposes his assumption—and his nerves.
• Xia Lun accuses Hatton of being the Serial Killer. Hatton draws a surgical knife, but Xia Lun produces the crowbar and turns the confrontation into a negotiation. By reading Hatton’s behavior, Xia Lun concludes he kills neither for pleasure nor domination, but out of fear and a perceived obligation.
• The system confirms that Xia Lun has completed “Escape from Captivity” by cowing Hatton, though he may remain in the memory. Xia Lun infers that Hatton was Hentont’s ritual teacher.
• Pressed for an explanation, Hatton claims a forbidden being demands sacrifices to avert disaster. He says the demands escalated, that refusing one brought a plague, and that the sacrifices grant him knowledge and the ability to move through time.
• Xia Lun checks Hatton’s status and learns that he is in Permanent Madness: his mental health is below zero, his perceptions are unreliable, and his condition cannot be cured. Additional information explains that this state can afflict Secret Art Scholars and is bound up with Candle Erosion and the pursuit of truth.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shows greater control of his damaged body and hangover, and uses careful observation, deception, and intimidation rather than relying on force. His suspicion of Hatton develops into a direct confrontation, then shifts to curiosity about the ritual and time-reversal mystery.
• Hatton changes from a seemingly friendly, protective neighbor into a frightened and threatening suspect. Once cornered, he reveals a distorted worldview: he sees himself as a reluctant sacrificer trying to save the world, while his reported powers may be entangled with his delusions.
• Their relationship moves from neighborly concern to mistrust and confrontation, then to a wary exchange in which Hatton is cowed and Xia Lun questions him.

Significant themes

• Reality versus delusion: Hatton’s extraordinary claims are undermined by his permanent madness, leaving uncertain what is true about the entity, disasters, sacrifices, and time travel.
• Knowledge and its cost: Power and insight appear connected to sacrifice, but may also bring irreversible mental ruin.
• Coercion and moral responsibility: Hatton describes escalating violence as something forced upon him, raising the question of whether fear and supposed necessity excuse his actions.
• Time and fate: Repeated reversals suggest that time can be manipulated, while the memory’s rules hint that death may be reversible but madness is not.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun concludes that Hatton’s “Evil God” is likely a delusion caused by permanent madness. Hatton’s fear may be unconsciously amplifying his own powerful Secret Art, creating a cycle that produces the apparent plague and threat.
• Seeking his main goal—learning Ritual—Other-Dimension Transmigration—Xia Lun offers to help Hatton complete his sacrifice in exchange for Ritual knowledge.
• Hatton says the sacrifice requires the cervical vertebrae of nine virgins. Xia Lun claims he will spare Hatton the guilt of killing and secretly gathers six vertebrae from plague victims’ bodies in the medical college morgue.
• Hatton performs the ritual. It succeeds, and he gains the knowledge of Other-Dimension Transmigration.
• Hatton reveals the next year’s task: travel to another world and choose either a completely mad dwarf or a disgraced stockbroker named Zark as a blood sacrifice. The location is Whitewash City—a name that shocks Xia Lun.

Character developments

• Xia Lun remains focused and calculating. He uses Hatton’s delusions and his own reputation as an extraordinary figure to manipulate him, while treating the Special Memory as a low-risk opportunity.
• Hatton shifts from desperation and suspicion to trust and gratitude, believing Xia Lun understands and supports him. His renewed hope is tied to the successful sacrifice and the promise that Hentont is still alive.

Significant themes

• Madness and reality: Hatton’s imagined Evil God may be a projection of his own power and fear.
• Manipulation and self-deception: Xia Lun deliberately frames events so Hatton fills in the gaps and convinces himself Xia Lun is trustworthy.
• Moral compromise: Xia Lun claims to spare Hatton guilt, but obtains the offerings through desecrating corpses and feels little ethical burden.
• Power and consequence: Hatton’s ritual knowledge comes at a painful cost, and each sacrifice sets up a new obligation.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun first pressures Hatton with silence, then wins his cooperation by validating his account and promising to rescue Hentont.
• Hatton trusts Xia Lun enough to accept the offerings and perform the ritual in front of him.
• Their exchange ends with Hatton sharing the next task, while the revelation of Whitewash City abruptly changes Xia Lun’s reaction.

Key plot points and events

• Hatton’s mention of Whitewash City breaks Xia Lun’s sense that the Special Memory is safely separate from reality. He briefly considers using the Transmigration Ritual and Numien’s Sigh to reach Infinity by informing his younger self of the future, but rejects the risky plan rather than spend his life-saving trump card.
• Xia Lun insists Hatton honor their existing bargain before making another. Hatton explains that the next sacrifice could be either a securities broker named Zark or a cigar-loving Dwarf accompanied by someone who looks like a woman. The sacrifice’s deadline is unknown; the Evil God will notify Hatton.
• Xia Lun makes Hatton teach him Rituals, beginning with Other-Dimension Transmigration and proceeding through their principles and common forms. Over nearly three weeks, Xia Lun learns the theory, diagram structure, offerings, and how Rituals can be combined—though he recognizes gaps in Hatton’s explanations.
• His study unlocks Secret Art Ritual (Comprehensive), Beginner 99%, and he masters several Rituals, including Calling, Stabilization, Blockade, Transmigration, healing, repair, and vector manipulation.
• When Hatton misses a lesson to visit a cemetery and honor the dead, Xia Lun confronts him about the hypocrisy of seeking comfort while continuing to sacrifice people. Hatton reveals that he studied a forbidden Ritual in pursuit of a Ritual Apprentice’s ultimate dream: becoming like the sun, nourishing all things without diminishing oneself.
• Xia Lun suggests that a genuine dream should bring peace of mind. Hatton rejects the advice angrily, calling Xia Lun a bloodthirsty monster with no right to lecture him.

Character developments

• Xia Lun shows caution and discipline, resisting the lure of a potentially enormous shortcut. He remains pragmatic and morally blunt, while also becoming a capable Ritual scholar.
• Hatton is revealed as more than a deranged killer: he feels guilt and still clings to an ideal of selfless abundance. Yet his shame and resentment prevent him from accepting Xia Lun’s counsel.

Significant themes

• Risk, patience, and ambition: Xia Lun chooses steady progress over a dangerous chance at instant power.
• Knowledge and uncertainty: Ritual study grants practical power, but Hatton’s theory is incomplete, and Xia Lun does not yet understand the discipline’s true foundations.
• Guilt, sacrifice, and moral hypocrisy: Hatton’s visit to the cemetery exposes the conflict between mourning victims and continuing to make them sacrifices.
• Dreams and peace of mind: Xia Lun argues that a true aspiration should align with inner peace; Hatton’s angry response suggests he cannot reconcile his ideal with his actions.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun firmly sets boundaries with Hatton over their unfinished bargain, then turns their arrangement into a sustained program of instruction.
• During their lessons, Xia Lun questions Hatton’s ideas and identifies holes in his understanding, while still learning from him.
• Their conversation about the cemetery shifts from accusation to a rare confession: Hatton explains his dream and guilt, but Xia Lun’s interpretation provokes anger rather than reconciliation.

Key plot points and events

• After Hatton angrily challenges Xia Lun to kill him, Xia Lun stays calm and points out that Hatton has admitted his real motive for killing. Hatton leaves, insisting Xia Lun is lying.
• That night, Hatton burns the flowers he had used to honor his victims and stops paying tribute to them. He avoids Xia Lun for a time, then gradually resumes their routine, though he is now more afraid of Xia Lun in a way he cannot explain.
• Hatton explains that his time-reversal power came as a reward for sacrificing to an entity, not from a Ritual. Xia Lun’s observations suggest the reversal affects the entire observable universe.
• Hatton plans a Ritual—Other-Dimension Transmigration to reach Whitewash City. He will combine offerings representing a doorway, travel, and influence, but realizes he also needs an object from his destination to serve as an anchor. Xia Lun faces the same obstacle in his own hope of returning to the Pilgrimage World and finding Renee.
• Xia Lun’s study of Rituals stalls at 99% Beginner. He fast-forwards through the Special Memory, tracking events through newspapers. Reports show the city recovering from plague, artifacts being stolen, and investigators reopening the Throat-Cutter case.
• Xia Lun warns Hatton that the Exorcism Directorate’s investigation makes his continued activity dangerous. Hatton dismisses the risk and insists he must complete his task.
• Xia Lun tells Hatton that becoming the Proud Sun is not truly his dream and that he is using it to run away. Hatton reacts with anger and hatred, rejecting Xia Lun’s authority as his mentor.
• Hatton’s Ritual nears completion during a peaceful stretch, but on September 30 the city is locked down after investigators obtain evidence linking the Throat-Cutter to Black Magic. Hatton tries to gather supplies and escape, but the next day his neighborhood is surrounded. The Special Memory reaches its end.

Character developments

• Hatton shifts from openly grieving and honoring his victims to abandoning those rituals after Xia Lun confronts him. Though he grows accustomed to Xia Lun again, his fear deepens. He remains ambitious and convinced he can control the danger, but becomes increasingly defensive when Xia Lun questions his motives.
• Xia Lun continues to observe rather than force Hatton’s choices. He investigates time reversal, studies Rituals, pursues a possible route back to Renee, and warns Hatton despite expecting resentment. By the end, he lets events proceed, confident that the Special Memory is approaching its established conclusion.

Significant themes

• Self-deception and escape: Hatton’s grand ambition may conceal a desire to flee from his own identity and actions.
• Consequences and accountability: Hatton treats time reversal as a safety net, but his confidence cannot prevent the authorities from closing in.
• Knowledge and uncertainty: Xia Lun’s deductions advance his understanding, while crucial questions—especially how to anchor a dimensional journey—remain unanswered.
• Power versus judgment: Hatton possesses extraordinary abilities but dismisses practical warnings; Xia Lun’s restraint and clear-eyed assessment contrast with Hatton’s overconfidence.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun’s calm confrontation unsettles Hatton more than threats would, prompting Hatton to recognize his own wavering resolve.
• Their teacher–student relationship becomes strained: Hatton credits Xia Lun with teaching him Rituals but resents being told what his dream really means.
• Xia Lun’s warnings about the investigation go unheeded. Hatton’s confidence and hostility leave Xia Lun to watch as events converge on the neighborhood.

Key plot points and events

• After leaving meditation, Xia Lun and Haddon discover that the Exorcism Office of Discipline has surrounded their courtyard. An airship and its cannons threaten to destroy the building, while inspectors accuse Haddon—the “Throat-Cutter”—of bringing the Void Realm dangerously close to the real world.
• Haddon’s death triggers True Time Reversal, but it can rewind only to the beginning of the day. Xia Lun helps him plan an escape, yet the authorities anticipate their routes. Across repeated attempts, their plans fail, and each reversal leaves Haddon more exhausted.
• By their twelfth attempt, Haddon can rewind only to late morning. With the inspectors closing in, he accuses Xia Lun of deceiving the Evil God by obtaining the ritual’s required vertebrae from a morgue. Xia Lun instead announces their surrender, partly to buy time.
• The two recognize that their last possible escape is to activate the nearly completed Other-Dimension Transmigration Ritual. It requires a powerful blood sacrifice, meaning one must kill the other.
• Rather than attack Xia Lun, Haddon stabs himself and crawls into the ritual’s offering position. As he dies, he asks Xia Lun to prevent Hentont’s return and continue studying Rituals. The ritual activates, carrying Xia Lun away as the memory ends.

Character developments

• Xia Lun remains observant and pragmatic, repeatedly spotting escape options and reading the authorities’ preparations. Though he bluffs about surrendering, he ultimately faces the choice between killing Haddon and accepting his own death.
• Haddon shifts from arrogance and certainty in his plans to exhaustion and self-doubt. He finally recognizes that he had no right to sacrifice others in the name of saving the world, and chooses to give his own life instead.
• Haddon’s death marks a genuine act of remorse, but his final words also leave Xia Lun with a mission: stop Hentont and pursue the possibility of becoming “the sun.”

Significant themes

• Limits of power: True Time Reversal cannot overcome enemies who have prepared beyond its reach.
• Responsibility and sacrifice: Haddon’s final choice contrasts with his earlier willingness to kill others for his supposed greater purpose.
• Agency in defeat: Xia Lun insists that struggle still matters, even when escape seems impossible.
• Idealism versus self-interest: Haddon’s grand ambition to save the world is exposed as tangled with pride and selfishness, though he ultimately seeks atonement.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun repeatedly advises Haddon, challenges his overconfidence, and guides their escape attempts; Haddon gradually comes to trust his judgment.
• Under pressure, Haddon confronts Xia Lun over the ritual’s offerings, while Xia Lun refuses to accept immediate defeat.
• Their final interaction is a quiet reversal of their earlier conflict: Haddon sacrifices himself for Xia Lun, entrusting him with both a warning and a purpose.

Plot points and events

• After the Special Memory ends, Xia Lun witnesses a frozen, branching view of Hatton’s possible futures. Although events vary, they all converge on Hatton dying during the Ritual, suggesting his fate is fixed even when the circumstances change.
• The branches ultimately lead back to a library scene where Hatton reads a blue notebook. It argues that Permanent Madness brings power by sacrificing “possibility.” Hatton accepts the bargain, and Xia Lun glimpses an eerie red glow in his eyes.
• Back in reality, Xia Lun recovers from the memory’s toll with coffee and records what he learned. He concludes that Permanent Madness permanently affects Knowledge-bearing Secret Art Scholars, apparently costing them their possibilities and making them resemble Time Ghouls.
• Xia Lun compares combat strength across worlds, then notes that the Special Memory’s events may connect to real history. He asks his butler to gather materials for a transmigration Ritual and investigate Zark, a stockbroker executed by Xia Lun’s former business rival, Moherne.
• Xia Lun also asks whether a Dwarf has appeared near Whitewash City, accompanied by a handsome young man. The butler recognizes the description from a recent attack on the local television station. A newspaper photograph confirms that both men are the same figures the Evil God had designated as sacrifices in the Special Memory.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun emerges unsettled but analytical: despite the memory’s damaging effect on his Mental Health, he quickly turns its revelations into notes and investigative plans. His experience in Henton’s wheelchair also deepens his appreciation of his own healthy body.
• Hatton’s willingness to accept Permanent Madness suggests he chose power and his “grand dream” over the possibilities he would lose. His red-lit eyes hint at a disturbing transformation.
• The butler follows Xia Lun’s instructions discreetly, but is surprised by the request to find a storybook Dwarf and his handsome companion. His news leads Xia Lun to a startling real-world confirmation.

Significant themes

• Fate and choice: Countless variations in Hatton’s life still converge on the same death, raising questions about how much freedom people truly possess.
• Power and sacrifice: Permanent Madness offers strength in exchange for “possibility,” framing ambition as a bargain with profound consequences.
• Reality and fiction intertwining: The Special Memory’s ritual targets appear to exist in the real world, making the boundary between game-like memories and history increasingly uncertain.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun realizes the dwarf in a newspaper photograph may connect the supposedly imaginary “Evil God” to the real world. He learns that two Foresight Club members believed dead after a rocket attack are alive and recently appeared at the Star Ore Science Summit. He increases the detectives’ funding and asks them to find out whether anyone is hunting the pair, while ordering stronger security at the Manor.
• At Whitewash Mental Sanatorium, the dwarf and a refined-looking man summon Prime, claiming to have delivered information about Xia Lun and asking him to help them leave their world. Their surroundings appear to be a town soaked in blood, and Prime believes the offering will let him cross over.
• The refined man performs a Ritual that draws Prime through a Portal, but the scene shifts to the sanatorium’s Courtyard and the White Stone Statue. A powerful, unknown influence attacks Prime through the statue’s appearance. He escapes by destroying and regrowing his own heads, but the Portal closes; the dwarf and the refined man are found dead.
• Prime realizes his favorable Peace Hexagram was corrupted into a Stagnation Hexagram, meaning his judgment had been manipulated. He suspects an End Times Cult Bishop—possibly imprisoned in Xia Lun’s world—caused the attack. Rather than risk going himself, Prime plans to sell this information to the Cult and use the resulting chaos to pursue revenge against Xia Lun.
• The storm quickly clears. Xia Lun secures his belongings, then finds White Line preparing to enter a Scenario alone. Despite his concern, she proceeds.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun responds cautiously to new threats, relying on investigators and tightening security. He also shows genuine concern for White Line’s safety, offering to wait until he can join her.
• Prime moves from confidence to alarm after nearly being destroyed. He recognizes that Xia Lun’s world is far more dangerous than he assumed, but his desire for revenge turns the near-disaster into a scheme to exploit the End Times Cult.
• White Line demonstrates independence and resolve, believing she must be able to survive a solo Scenario after Xia Lun’s extensive help. Her playful requests—for marshmallows and his Bottomless Coffee Cup—soften her serious farewell; she asks him to remember her if she dies.
• Xia Lun and White Line share affectionate banter. He reminds her that dying would cost her future dividends, while she counters with his prophecy that things will go smoothly.
• The butler reports the investigation’s findings and comments on the threatening weather, then later corrects himself when the sky clears.

Significant themes

• Hidden supernatural danger: Rituals and seemingly ordinary places conceal forces capable of manipulating perception and threatening even powerful beings.
• False certainty and corrupted judgment: Prime’s divination gives him reassurance, yet an unseen influence has already compromised his thinking.
• Revenge and dangerous ambition: Prime’s fear does not deter him; he turns the encounter into a plan to use others against Xia Lun.
• Courage, independence, and attachment: White Line chooses to face danger on her own, while her teasing goodbye reveals the bond she shares with Xia Lun.

Key plot points

• After White Line leaves, Xia Lun finds a concealed note from her. She shares details about other Player gatherings and mentions that she left him coffee beans. Xia Lun appreciates her trust and plans to investigate stockbroker Zark’s death while she is away.
• Prime senses that someone has disturbed his mark on the shattered Deer of Abundance’s Head. Believing Xia Lun is making a move, he decides to act immediately rather than wait for his allies.
• Xia Lun’s butler obtains records compiled by investigator Jiavette, who had privately pursued Zark’s murder for years. The records reveal that Zark lured Moherne into short-selling Steady Health stock, but Moherne killed him after realizing Zark had fled and the promised scandal was elusive.
• Jiavette’s deeper investigation uncovered that Steady Health had developed the Perfection Elixir, a drug that improved cattle’s health and intelligence and appeared to slow aging. But the cattle and researchers exposed to it began behaving strangely, following spiral paths and developing spiral-like features. The island laboratory itself eventually began to rotate, and then vanished along with everyone and all records.
• Jade Pharmaceuticals bought and restructured Steady Health before the affair was exposed. Xia Lun is alarmed, especially because Jade has recently bought cattle from Hornard and might suspect he possesses the Elixir.
• At two thirty, a maid interrupts Xia Lun. When he asks whether she has seen White Line, she responds nervously that she doesn’t know who White Line is.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun feels genuine affection and trust toward White Line, contrasting her favorably with Hatton. His investigation shifts from a murder and fraud case to a disturbing mystery tied to his own past illness and Jade Pharmaceuticals.
• White Line demonstrates care and resourcefulness by leaving Xia Lun a private note with useful information and a personal gift.
• Prime moves from recovery to action, convinced that Xia Lun’s apparent urgency creates a rare opportunity.
• Jiavette emerges as a determined investigator whose decade-long pursuit uncovered the hidden history behind Zark’s death.
• Xia Lun’s friendly exchange with his efficient butler—and his casual coffee-and-cotton-candy break—contrasts with the increasingly ominous revelations.

Significant themes

• Trust and loyalty: White Line’s quiet gesture strengthens Xia Lun’s sense of having a dependable teammate.
• Greed and complicity: Steady Health’s leaders suppress the crisis to protect potential profits, while Zark treats dangerous information as a chance to make money.
• Hidden consequences of progress: The supposedly miraculous Elixir brings grotesque, inexplicable changes rather than uncomplicated improvement.
• Interconnected mysteries: The investigation links Zark, the Evil God, Hatton, Jade Pharmaceuticals, and Xia Lun’s own circumstances, suggesting the case is part of a much larger conspiracy.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun discovers that White Line has vanished from the Manor. The Cognitive Filter has erased her from the staff’s awareness, and her Game Pod is empty.
• He considers using Daoist Huang’s Eyeball to find her but senses the danger: it has not recharged. Instead, he reasons that White Line may have been displaced into a Scenario connected to the events he once experienced in Sorrow Hill City.
• Believing she may still be alive, Xia Lun resolves to enter another Scenario as soon as possible and use four Snail Statues to save her. He searches for the coffee beans and Game Items she left behind, eventually finding them buried near Hedge Bridge, where they first met.
• White Line’s perspective reveals that an ambush by a two-headed immortal-like enemy left her gravely wounded. She escaped her previous Scenario but was transported into an unfamiliar world, where her health and mental state continued to deteriorate.
• She recognizes the bamboo grove and mountain path as the place Xia Lun once described. Remembering his warnings and sword-training advice, she realizes she may be able to change the future.
• Gaining the Knowledge attribute restores her mental clarity and strengthens her. She uses the sword Xia Lun gave her to split a huge boulder blocking the path—but the palace she expected to find proves to be a mirage.
• Seeking shelter, White Line finds a cave where someone is cooking bamboo shoots beside the charred bodies of bandits. She enters and meets a gray-blue-haired girl who recognizes her as “Awu.”

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun initially keeps his emotions under control, but White Line’s disappearance and farewell note bring his grief and regret to the surface. He recognizes that he treated her badly and vows to be honest with her if they meet again. His hope that she is alive becomes a firm determination to rescue her.
• White Line endures injury, isolation, and a near-collapse of her mental health. Her memories of Xia Lun—and the sword he gave her—help her persist. After unlocking Knowledge, she becomes mentally stable, acts decisively, and chooses to challenge the future rather than accept it.
• Xia Lun and White Line remain connected despite being separated: his past guidance helps her navigate the strange world, while his gift of the sword gives her courage. Xia Lun’s note about her possible fate contrasts with White Line’s determination to return to him.
• The chapter closes with White Line confronting the gray-blue-haired girl in the cave, setting up a new encounter.

Significant themes

• Memory and erasure: The Cognitive Filter can remove White Line from others’ awareness, making her absence difficult to prove.
• Fate versus choice: White Line encounters events Xia Lun predicted, but interprets them as opportunities to test whether the future can be changed.
• Love, regret, and connection: Their bond sustains White Line and gives Xia Lun a reason to confront his past mistakes.
• Knowledge and possibility: Unlocking Knowledge both restores White Line’s mind and suggests that time and the past may be mutable—part of the “path to Infinity.”

This chapter is a brief announcement rather than a story episode: the narrator says they are designing a new dungeon and will not post an update that day. There are no plot developments, character interactions, or character changes; the only implied theme is the work involved in creating the dungeon.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun examines the belongings White Line left behind. He finds the Fracture Point Pocket Watch, her damaged Mindvoice Earbud, and an Azure Glow Remnant. The watch can detect people touched by Divinity; the crystal resets his Scenario cooldown.
• Before entering the next Scenario, Xia Lun plans to use Daoist Huang’s Eyeball to check whether White Line survived and to avoid conflict, since his remaining lifespan is limited.
• He enters a single-player Scenario set in a high-tech mining facility on Farpoint Planet, where a Cosmic Electromagnetic Storm has caused a blackout. His objective is to survive 90 days.
• Xia Lun uses the Eyeball and confirms that White Line is alive. He then dons a spacesuit and takes an emergency repair kit to conceal his unfamiliar identity.
• He meets Roman, a journalist who resembles the Man in the Flesh from an earlier Scenario, and Manhunter, a repair engineer who initially mistakes Xia Lun for an intruder. Roman claims Xia Lun is her investigative-journalist partner, allowing him to join them.
• The group learns that a Level I security officer has been killed and that an unknown native creature may have attacked the facility. At the main gathering area, they find the administrator is also dead. An attempt to repair a power unit fails amid electrical sparks, leaving the facility without circulation, security systems, or communications.
• As the residents argue over what to do, Xia Lun announces that he has a solution.

Character developments

• Xia Lun’s anxiety about White Line gives way to relief after learning she is alive. He remains cautious and tries to avoid unnecessary violence, while adapting quickly to the new setting and concealing his identity.
• Roman proves quick-thinking and bold: she improvises a cover story for Xia Lun and keeps investigating despite the danger.
• Manhunter’s swagger fades when challenged, then returns around Roman and among people who trust his repair skills. His failed repair leaves him discouraged.
• The frightened man with glasses reports the alien attack, while guards and other residents remain divided between disbelief and fear.

Significant themes

• Survival and uncertainty: The 90-day objective, blackout, deaths, and possible creature attack establish a dangerous, unpredictable scenario.
• Identity and concealment: Xia Lun lacks a counterpart and must pass as someone who belongs, relying on Roman’s cover story and a spacesuit.
• Knowledge and Divinity: The Pocket Watch and Xia Lun’s low Knowledge stat underscore the danger of being noticed by those who understand these forces.
• Trust and improvisation: Xia Lun’s cautious cooperation with Roman and Manhunter helps him enter the group and may make him useful in the crisis.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun silently hopes to return White Line’s damaged earbud to her, and his first action in the Scenario is to verify her survival.
• Roman protects Xia Lun by introducing him as her partner; he accepts the lie and plays along.
• Manhunter first confronts Xia Lun with a stun baton, then recruits him and Roman to help reach the facility’s machinery.
• Roman teases Manhunter about his claims of protecting her, while remaining professionally focused on documenting events.
• When the group’s repair plan fails, Xia Lun steps forward with an offer of help, setting up the next development.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun steps in to repair the facility’s damaged Gas Circulation System, hoping to prove useful and avoid becoming a scapegoat as the crisis escalates.
• Using Heightened Focus and Weakness Insight, he identifies a hidden electrical fault. A ghostly presence appears near the wiring, and Xia Lun narrowly prevents a short circuit that could have ignited nearby fuel.
• He removes a strange translucent gel from the circuitry, restoring power throughout the facility. The crowd applauds, and Xia Lun earns Memory Points for solving the mystery and gaining Manhunter’s admiration and Roman’s recognition.
• A Level IV security officer arrives with Carson, a powerful man in a pink suit who seems to recognize the anomaly and suspect it is connected to “Code 18.” Carson offers Xia Lun an ID card and money, then asks him to accompany him on a confidential mission.
• Carson warns that Xia Lun’s companions could also face consequences if he refuses. Xia Lun asks to consult them, while Manhunter cautions against trusting corporate elites and Roman argues that they may have no real choice.
• Before Xia Lun can decide, explosions shake the facility. The building tilts, the lights fail, and people flee in panic. Roman photographs the disaster.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shifts from keeping a low profile to establishing himself as capable and valuable. He remains cautious, weighing Carson’s offer rather than accepting it blindly.
• Manhunter warns Xia Lun about the dangers of repairing the live system, then shows concern for his safety and distrust of Carson. Though impulsive, he appears loyal to Xia Lun.
• Roman celebrates Xia Lun’s success and gains professional recognition, but her eagerness for an exclusive puts her priorities at odds with Manhunter’s concern for their partner. She ends the chapter photographing the catastrophe.
• Carson displays authority and calculated pressure, but also offers Xia Lun protection and resources. His interest in Xia Lun suggests the repair has drawn him into a larger mystery.
• The crowd’s response shifts from suspicion to admiration after Xia Lun restores the power.

Significant themes

• Survival through usefulness: Xia Lun tries to secure his place in a dangerous group by proving his value.
• Trust and coercion: Carson’s offer may be generous, but his warning about the consequences of refusal makes it difficult to accept freely.
• Competing loyalties and ambitions: Manhunter prioritizes safety and trust, while Roman sees opportunity in the unfolding crisis.
• Uncertainty and hidden threats: The ghostly anomaly, strange gel, and sudden explosions suggest the power outage was only one part of a wider danger.

Key events

• A battle between the Giant Electronic Ghost and the Level IV Security Officer tears apart the harvesting facility. Xia Lun, Roman, and Manhunter flee as explosions, molten metal, and collapsing walls kill or scatter the crowd.
• The escape pods are destroyed. Xia Lun and Roman reach a cable-suspended submarine, but its access lock keeps them from entering. The security officer kills the ghost, then dies in the same blast; his body snaps the submarine’s cable, dropping it into the sea.
• They survive the landing as the facility burns and sinks. Xia Lun realizes the Scenario is now a “lone boat” survival challenge, not a hunt for an intruder or a ghost. With communications blocked by a months-long cosmic electromagnetic storm and a deadly whirlpool forming, they set out to find survivors and supplies.
• Xia Lun spots Manhunter clinging to crates and rows over to rescue him. Roman reveals she is an investigative reporter who recruited Xia Lun as a distraction while investigating the company. Xia Lun brings Manhunter aboard, but Manhunter angrily condemns Roman’s profit-minded photography.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun stays calm and resourceful through the disaster, prioritizing survival and rescuing others. Though initially intent on keeping a low profile, he takes responsibility for finding help and supplies. Roman’s playful manner reminds him of White Line, making him more willing to trust her.
• Roman remains excitedly focused on photographing the catastrophe, even in immediate danger. She admits she partnered with Xia Lun because he could help her access restricted areas and says she values his looks and fighting ability. She declares them partners, while also showing practical knowledge about the submarine and communications.
• Manhunter survives the fall and is rescued by Xia Lun, but remains furious at Roman, seeing her commercial ambition as comparable to the corporation’s greed.
• Xia Lun’s exchanges with Roman mix skepticism and dry humor; Roman’s banter contrasts with the growing danger, while her clash with Manhunter exposes the group’s differing motives.

Significant themes

• Survival and cooperation: the characters must find a way to endure together amid isolation, limited resources, and an approaching whirlpool.
• Disaster and spectacle: Roman turns devastation into photographs and potential profit, raising questions about the ethics of documenting tragedy.
• Changing expectations: Xia Lun repeatedly revises his understanding of the Scenario, shifting from investigation and evasion to open-water survival.
• Trust and self-interest: the new partnership begins pragmatically, while Roman’s motives and Manhunter’s accusations leave its moral basis uncertain.

Plot points and events

• After rescuing Manhunter, Xia Lun and his companions try to enter the submarine but discover it requires a high-level access card. The collection facility is sinking, and the growing whirlpool threatens to pull everything under.
• Xia Lun salvages a fishing kit and a case of valuable but presently useless Mirage Crystal. The group then spots survivors and rows toward them, using Psychic Paddles powered by psychic energy.
• They rescue Oceanographer and his self-described “apprentice,” the Attendant, who bring substantial food and water. Oceanographer argues they should stop rescuing people and prioritize supplies; Xia Lun rejects this and continues toward the remaining survivors, hoping Carson has the submarine access card.
• Near the collapsing facility, the group gathers supplies and finds Carson, a little girl, and a distressed blonde woman. Carson had been keeping the child afloat despite his own dangerous exposure to the cold. Xia Lun jumps into the sea and brings the nearly frozen Carson aboard.
• The blonde woman raves about a supernatural “Wheel of Moxie.” Xia Lun sees an enormous blue eye beneath the whirlpool and feels the creature’s attention. Though tempted to attack it for the lifespan he might gain, he restrains himself and resolves to leave. The whirlpool suddenly surges, and the others also glimpse the eye.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun stays practical and understated, coordinating the rescue and helping others without seeking recognition. His instinct to protect Carson reflects his respect for the butler, but he also deliberately resists a dangerous opportunity to use his powers.
• Manhunter is exhausted but joins the rowing and supports Xia Lun’s decisions. He is blunt and contemptuous of Oceanographer’s willingness to abandon survivors, while respecting Carson’s selflessness.
• Roman continues photographing events—even arguments and moments of danger—yet proves useful by organizing the crew, securing supplies, and arguing that more survivors could help defend against threats.
• Oceanographer is knowledgeable and cautious, warning that the whirlpool leaves little time. His proposal to stop rescuing people sparks conflict with Manhunter and the Attendant.
• The Attendant is fiercely devoted to Carson, urgently insists the group save him, and briefly silences the panicking woman with a slap.
• Carson reveals compassion by putting the child’s safety before his own. The rescued survivors’ reactions to Xia Lun’s speed make his abilities more visible than he intended.

Significant themes

• Cooperation versus self-preservation: The characters disagree over whether to spend dwindling time and resources rescuing others, but Xia Lun chooses solidarity.
• Selflessness and loyalty: Carson risks himself for the child, while the Attendant’s devotion to his master shapes his actions.
• Restraint and hidden power: Xia Lun suppresses his excitement and avoids attacking the mysterious creature, prioritizing caution over immediate gain.
• The unknown and looming danger: The supernatural eye, the facility’s collapse, and the expanding whirlpool transform a survival crisis into a larger, uncanny threat.