Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• After completing three scenarios and earning the required rating, Xia Lun unlocks Multiplayer Scenario Mode for 450 Memory Points. The feature will take 32 days to upgrade, but he can still play solo meanwhile.
• He spends his remaining 35 points expanding his Personal Space. It becomes wider, gains a carpet, and its once-ruined door is restored; he also neatly arranges his scattered belongings.
• Xia Lun notes that his next scenario has a 21-day cooldown, likely extended by his use of the Stasis Hourglass. He also infers that real-world time does not pass at a fixed ratio to scenario time.
• Back in reality, he sleeps, then restores his energy by using Life Drain on two cattle before breakfast.
• Eager to socialize after months alone, Xia Lun tries out jokes on the household staff. His remarks about a bizarre egg recipe confuse the cook’s assistant, Her, but amuse Xia Lun and the butler.
• Xia Lun gives Her a raise, which Her misinterprets as a raise for everyone. The head chef takes this as a sign to improve the cold platter and is startled by Her’s warning not to fry grouse eggs with honey and coconut shells.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun is cautious about multiplayer play: he wants to explore its possibilities but worries that strangers could expose his strengths. He unlocks the mode without committing to using it.
• His expanded space and return to familiar comforts mark a transition back to ordinary life. He intends to rebuild his business, address the Foresight Club, and reconnect with people.
• Xia Lun’s increased Intelligence has made him eager to share jokes, though his humor is difficult for others to understand.
• Her is anxious around Xia Lun because of rumors portraying him as an occultist, monster, or killer. His attempts to interpret Xia Lun’s joke reveal both his nervousness and his desire to please.
• The butler supports Xia Lun’s humor with a straight-faced laugh, while the head chef turns Her’s confused account into practical kitchen advice.

Significant themes

• Isolation and reconnection: After prolonged solitude, Xia Lun deliberately seeks conversation, even if his attempts at humor misfire.
• Rumor and perception: The staff’s fear of Xia Lun contrasts with his mild, playful behavior.
• Progress and expansion: The game’s new mode and the enlarged Personal Space suggest that both the system and Xia Lun’s circumstances are evolving.
• Humor and misunderstanding: Xia Lun’s jokes repeatedly fail to communicate as intended, creating comic confusion and unintended consequences.

Key events and discoveries

• After breakfast, Xia Lun reviews his third-round scenario in his Brown Notebook, then records broader findings in his Black Notebook.
• He realizes the “Desert Island Survival” scenario was actually Looping Island: using the Paradox Item, the Stasis Hourglass, revealed a far more dangerous reality beneath the scenario’s simple surface.
• Looking back, he identifies clues he missed: the empty Serko, the Salt Monster’s Secret Script, and the sacrificial wish at Camp No. 2. He also notes that the Undead appeared whenever Brigadier General bled, a clue to the General’s identity as the Sacrificer.
• Xia Lun deduces that Doctor’s dried corpse was likely the result of an earlier experiment. Doctor may have escaped Event Life by creating a paradox—apparently through two copies of the Prayerbook of the Drowned—and jumping into the Eye of the Storm.
• He records that the Foresight Club also operates as the Anomalous Phenomena Prevention and Control Committee, though its religious-sounding ranks remain unexplained.
• Remembering Daoist Huang’s warning about the Rotation of Time, Xia Lun wonders whether it may be caused by an Event Life. The possibility deeply unsettles him. He decides to contact White Line for information and to arrange a supply exchange.

Character development and interactions

• Xia Lun shows a more reflective, methodical side, treating review as a way to improve beyond the Game Panel’s stat boosts. He acknowledges his missed clues without dismissing the danger of acting on them too soon.
• His heightened Intelligence and Heightened Focus help him connect Doctor, the dried corpse, and the paradox-based escape theory, though it remains an unverified deduction.
• Xia Lun’s main interaction is with White Line, whom he plans to call. His notes also preserve what she told him about the Foresight Club and its unusual structure.

Significant themes

• Hidden truths and escalating danger: A scenario that appears straightforward becomes hazardous as Xia Lun investigates beneath the surface.
• Learning through mistakes: Careful review turns past oversights into lessons for future scenarios.
• Paradox, time, and uncertainty: Event Life and the Rotation of Time suggest larger forces whose rules remain unclear.
• Knowledge as a risk: Investigating the truth may be more frightening—and dangerous—than remaining ignorant.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun calls White Line about the Foresight Club investigation but initially reaches a busy signal. They later discover they had called each other at the same time.
• White Line reports that the Club’s surveillance defenses seem amateurish and says she has largely traced its movements. Xia Lun cautions her that he found the group’s symbol in a supernatural Scenario, where it belonged to the Anomalous Phenomena Prevention and Control Committee.
• White Line thinks the Club is probably a relatively small group of Players and promises to stay cautious, though she dismisses the idea that it poses an immediate threat. Xia Lun remains uneasy, especially after reminding her that the group can materialize souls. He decides to put more money into the detective company’s investigation.
• White Line jokes that, once the Club is dealt with, Xia Lun will lose the expert stipend he receives from her. She also suggests using separate, old-fashioned phones for sensitive contacts as a security measure.
• Xia Lun turns to restoring his business. He finds that, during his seclusion, his remaining companies have suffered extensive theft, defections, and damage, while those profiting from the decline have formed difficult-to-challenge alliances.
• His attempts to rebuild his network also falter: many people regard him as a dying man, avoid him, or maneuver to take what remains of his holdings. At the same time, opportunists and elaborate con artists swarm around him, each claiming to offer a cure or powerful connections.
• Since Xia Lun believes his lifespan problem is largely solved, he observes these visitors with amusement and learns from their manipulative techniques. The Information Panel confirms that his Charisma rises from 14 to 15.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shows caution and persistence. He warns White Line about the Club, then takes practical steps to investigate it further rather than relying on her confidence. Despite devastating business losses and social rejection, he remains composed and even treats the parade of scammers as an education.
• White Line is playful and self-assured, boasting of her progress before acknowledging Xia Lun’s warning and agreeing to be more careful. Their teasing exchange over the stipend and their simultaneous calls conveys familiarity and rapport.
• Their conversation is both lighthearted and serious: White Line jokes about their being “in sync,” while Xia Lun repeatedly urges caution about the Club.
• The people around Xia Lun reveal sharply different loyalties: former associates and competitors exploit his apparent weakness, while various outsiders try to profit from his illness. The chapter ends by pointing toward the question of who will prove a true friend.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Xia Lun’s reputation as a dying man shapes how others treat him, even though he believes his lifespan crisis is mostly resolved.
• Trust and self-interest: His business collapse and the reactions of former contacts expose how quickly loyalty can give way to greed.
• Caution versus overconfidence: White Line’s confidence contrasts with Xia Lun’s concern that the Foresight Club may be more dangerous than it appears.
• Adversity as a source of insight: Xia Lun’s misfortune teaches him about human nature—and, through observing con artists, improves his ability to influence others.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Convinced that Xia Lun is gravely ill and near death, many guests at a fundraising gala avoid discussing business with him. He quietly warns a few people about the swindlers circling the event, then slips away.
• In a dim corridor, he meets Jiavette, a Public Security Bureau officer who has often opposed him. Jiavette admits that he had wrongly blamed Xia Lun for Whitewash City’s rising violence: crime worsened even faster after Xia Lun withdrew. He apologizes, and Xia Lun accepts the gesture without resentment.
• The two discuss the city’s pervasive disorder and the Rail Transit project. Xia Lun doubts the project’s prospects and suspects it will mainly enrich its organizer, Long Robe, a former associate who has since stolen from him.
• During his speech, Long Robe displays genuine supernatural fire magic. Xia Lun suspects he is a Player, but chooses not to approach him, prioritizing the Soul Curse and avoiding unknown risks.
• In the days before his Scenario cooldown ends, Xia Lun trains and works to rebuild his business.
• White Line arrives unexpectedly and reports that her raid on the Foresight Club succeeded. The curse-caster, Curse Death, was killed, and the group’s other peripheral members were eliminated; only Golden Sprout escaped.
• White Line gives Xia Lun a silver pill recovered from Curse Death: an Ashen Record, which can add one month to the user’s lifespan—even beyond the theoretical maximum—and preserve the soul’s lifespan.

Character developments

• Xia Lun remains composed despite others treating him as doomed. He is practical and cautious, focused on recovering his health, business, and freedom from the Soul Curse.
• Jiavette revises his judgment of Xia Lun, recognizing that the city’s violence cannot be blamed on him. His apology reveals a more reflective side beneath his hostility.
• Long Robe is shown to be powerful and unstable, and may be a Player. His public display of magic confirms that Whitewash City’s dangers extend beyond ordinary crime.
• White Line returns sooner than expected, confident after a successful raid. Her report and the Ashen Record offer Xia Lun a possible path to counter his life-threatening curse.

Significant themes

• Adversity reveals character: Xia Lun learns who is dependable when others believe he is dying.
• Blame and responsibility: Jiavette’s change of heart challenges the assumption that Xia Lun caused the city’s disorder.
• Chaos and opportunity: Xia Lun sees disorder as dangerous but also as a “ladder” for those who survive it.
• Uncertainty and restraint: Faced with Long Robe’s unexplained power, Xia Lun avoids rash action and stays focused on his immediate priorities.
• Life, death, and the supernatural: The Ashen Record makes lifespan a tangible, transferable resource and raises the stakes of Xia Lun’s struggle to survive.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun and Jiavette move from mutual distrust toward a measure of understanding, sharing an unusually candid conversation.
• Xia Lun and Long Robe have a strained history: Xia Lun once supplied him with resources, but Long Robe later stole from him.
• Xia Lun and White Line maintain a familiar, direct rapport. She brings decisive news about the Foresight Club and entrusts him with a potentially vital item.

Key events

• Xia Lun receives an Ashen Record from White Line, who gives it to him for free as his share of the profits from their earlier deals. He burns it with a lighter, gaining one month of life.
• White Line jokes by offering him a supposedly music-playing earbud, then turns to business: a Foresight Club member named Golden Sprout escaped using a Secret Art. She asks Xia Lun to watch for him in Whitewash City while she checks other likely destinations.
• White Line warns Xia Lun against unlocking Multiplayer Scenario Mode: it makes Scenarios harder and disables Attraction-boosting items, including his Snail Statue.
• The two discuss Xia Lun’s increased Charm and his recent lessons from con artists. White Line jokes that she wants to meet them too.
• A black SUV arrives at Xia Lun’s manor. Its occupants—a calculating male con artist and a woman posing as an occult Medium—intend to exploit Xia Lun’s fear of death and desire to survive. Their scheme was arranged by Long Robe, who has provided them with a Safe House in case things go wrong.
• The con artist assumes Xia Lun’s short-haired companion is a naïve woman he has manipulated. But when his partner recoils at the sight of her, he notices a flash of dangerous sharpness in her expression and realizes she is a fellow con artist playing a vulnerable-girl role.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun accepts White Line’s gift and is visibly relieved by the extra month of life. He agrees to help track Golden Sprout and shows interest in Multiplayer Scenario Mode, though White Line’s warning changes his mind.
• White Line acts generously toward Xia Lun while keeping their partnership practical and friendly. Their teasing—including her earbud prank—shows their easy rapport.
• The visiting con artist is confident in his ability to manipulate Xia Lun through observation and a blend of authority and occult claims, but quickly becomes wary when he recognizes the short-haired woman’s act.
• The woman in the SUV appears distracted and hesitant about the plan, while the short-haired woman at the manor proves far less helpless than the visitor assumes.
• Long Robe remains offstage but is revealed as the planner behind the con and the provider of the conspirators’ escape route.

Significant themes

• Deception and performance: Characters hide their intentions behind carefully constructed roles, and even practiced con artists can misread one another.
• Fear, greed, and manipulation: The visitor plans to exploit Xia Lun’s urgent need to survive by shaping his emotions and letting him fill gaps in the story himself.
• Trust and reciprocity: White Line’s gift reflects the value of past cooperation, contrasting with the newcomers’ attempt to take advantage of Xia Lun.
• Survival and uncertainty: Xia Lun gains a temporary reprieve, but threats—including Golden Sprout and the arriving con artists—remain unresolved.

Key plot points

• Con man Raven meets Xia Lun and White Line, claiming to work for the Internal Affairs Department. White Line, a genuine officer, conceals her identity and praises the department rather than exposing him.
• Raven claims supernatural powers can cure Xia Lun’s terminal illness, introducing his partner as “KC-103,” supposedly a spirit medium who can transfer souls.
• The partner is actually Curse Death, an evil spirit that has secretly taken over her body. It recognizes the danger of Xia Lun and considers possessing him to gain his resources and further the cult’s plans.
• When Curse Death tries to use its curse on Xia Lun, its own Warning Curse activates. It senses a terrifying void where Xia Lun’s soul should be and recoils in fear.
• To avoid suspicion, Curse Death pretends to perform a spirit-communication act, but its performance is so poor that Xia Lun, White Line, and Raven are unimpressed.
• Desperate to make the display convincing, Curse Death suddenly begins to reveal that White Line is an Internal Affairs officer—ending the chapter on a tense interruption.

Character developments and interactions

• White Line proves quick-witted and composed: she plays along with Raven while subtly enjoying the irony of praising her own department.
• Xia Lun remains amused and observant, testing the group with questions while hiding whatever makes him dangerous to Curse Death.
• Raven improvises confidently, inventing explanations for the supposed medium’s odd speech and strange behavior.
• Curse Death shifts from predatory confidence to panic. Though it intends to manipulate the others, its fear of Xia Lun forces it to retreat and improvise.
• Xia Lun and White Line share a private, joking exchange about the con artists’ bad acting, which Curse Death overhears and misreads as a threat to its survival.

Significant themes

• Deception and shifting identities: Raven poses as an officer, while Curse Death hides inside its partner’s body; White Line, meanwhile, conceals her real position.
• Power and vulnerability: Curse Death believes itself nearly immortal, yet Xia Lun’s unexplained nature and its Warning Curse leave it helpless.
• Performance and control: The characters continually act roles—sometimes for manipulation, sometimes for protection—but Curse Death’s clumsy performance threatens to expose the whole situation.

Plot points and events

• Raven panics when Curse Death claims that White Line is an Internal Affairs Department officer, fearing the con is exposed. He reexamines her guarded posture, intense gaze, and old flip phone, and concludes she may genuinely be an officer.
• Curse Death insists she has channeled a spirit that says White Line is dangerous and that Xia Lun’s illness can be cured if White Line leaves. Raven is alarmed, while Xia Lun is confused.
• Unbeknownst to Raven, Xia Lun and White Line communicate through a Paradox Item earbud. White Line thinks Raven and Curse Death are skilled con artists; Xia Lun suspects the Medium may be genuine and proposes frightening the pair into leaving so they can be followed.
• Raven tries to recover by claiming he works in the Internal Affairs Department’s Special Operations division. Xia Lun challenges him, asserting that no such division exists, and uses a frightening display of pressure to intimidate the pair.
• White Line interrupts, saying Special Operations does exist and that Raven’s claim could be true. Xia Lun immediately softens his demeanor and apologizes, leaving Raven eager to make an excuse and escape.

Character developments

• Raven shifts from panic to rapid, observant reasoning, but his confidence crumbles under Xia Lun’s intimidation. He decides that survival matters more than pursuing the money.
• Curse Death remains unsettlingly insistent about her spiritual warning and the cure, leaving Raven unsure whether she is acting or genuinely channeling a spirit.
• Xia Lun shows unexpected menace and tactical cunning, using intimidation to test the suspects while coordinating secretly with White Line.
• White Line proves composed and perceptive. She advises caution and de-escalation, then breaks the confrontation at the right moment.

Themes

• Deception and performance: Everyone’s identity and motives are uncertain; even apparent mistakes may be deliberate tactics.
• Observation and misinterpretation: Raven relies on small clues to infer White Line’s role, but cannot know whether his conclusions are correct.
• Fear as a weapon: Xia Lun’s threatening presence nearly overwhelms the con artists, while White Line’s calm intervention changes the room’s mood.
• Caution in the supernatural: White Line emphasizes evasion, investigation, and conserving mental reserves rather than rushing into a fight.

Character interactions

• Raven tries to manage Curse Death’s unpredictable claims while privately fearing that she has ruined their scheme.
• Xia Lun and White Line exchange silent thoughts, coordinating a plan without alerting the supposed con artists.
• Xia Lun confronts Raven’s credentials and intimidates both visitors; White Line then intervenes with a plausible explanation, enabling Xia Lun to retreat from the threat without escalating the encounter.

Key events

• Raven leaves Xia Lun’s compound shaken after the failed con, grateful that Xia Lun spared him. He and his partner, Curse Death, head for Lord Long Robe’s shelter.
• Curse Death learns that Long Robe is wealthy and plans major development in Whitewash City. Hoping to possess someone influential, it is eager to meet him and abandons its plan to kill Raven.
• Xia Lun and White Line watch Raven through a tiny surveillance machine that White Line planted during their handshake. She explains her Mastery-level Sleight of Hand and leaves to investigate Golden Sprout, asking Xia Lun to continue pursuing the Long Robe lead.
• White Line hints that she may be monitoring Xia Lun too, then departs. Xia Lun decides Long Robe has crossed a line by sending people after him and begins planning to kill him discreetly—until Long Robe unexpectedly appears on the surveillance projection.

Character developments and interactions

• Raven is frightened and weakened, but redirects his anger toward his partner and remains dependent on Long Robe’s protection.
• Curse Death shifts from wanting to silence Raven to seeing him as useful for reaching Long Robe, whose wealth could serve the cult’s ambitions.
• White Line demonstrates her skill and playful, teasing manner with Xia Lun. She continues investigating Golden Sprout and leaves surveillance equipment behind.
• Xia Lun grows more suspicious of Raven and more determined to retaliate against Long Robe. His wish to avoid alarming people conflicts with his readiness to kill quietly.
• White Line and Xia Lun share a bantering but wary relationship; her final “I’ll always be watching you” leaves the extent of her surveillance uncertain.

Significant themes

• Deception and misdirection: The swindlers’ cover, White Line’s sleight of hand, and hidden surveillance all hinge on controlling what others notice.
• Power, wealth, and ambition: Curse Death sees Long Robe’s resources as a path to advancing the cult’s plans.
• Retaliation and moral boundaries: Xia Lun tolerates business rivalry but treats a direct personal attack as justification for lethal revenge.
• Surveillance and trust: Both Xia Lun and White Line gather information covertly, making their alliance useful but uneasy.

Plot points and events

• Xia Lun watches a high-resolution recording of Long Robe arriving at a Safe House and meeting Raven and the strange Medium.
• Long Robe reveals that a powerful figure has requested the Medium. She and Long Robe confirm their connection with a code phrase: “We live in the World at the End of Dusk” / “At twilight, friends will not wait.” The Medium leaves in an arranged car.
• Long Robe describes the figure as possessing power beyond ordinary wealth and authority. Raven then reports that Xia Lun seemed completely healthy and that an Internal Affairs officer was with him.
• Long Robe suspects Xia Lun let Raven go as bait. Seeking legal permission to possess a Game Card, he kills Raven with fire and destroys Raven’s monitor.
• Elsewhere, Curse Death arrives at a three-story building and meets Golden Sprout, who welcomes them back. Curse Death explains that their current body’s stiff facial muscles make expressions impossible.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun quietly studies the secret code exchange, considering whether the group belongs to a real-world Player organization or the Foresight Club.
• Long Robe shifts from dismissive toward Raven to ingratiating toward the Medium, then turns calculating and ruthless. He treats Raven as expendable in pursuit of his goal.
• Raven abandons his earlier bravado and behaves submissively around Long Robe. Terrified by Xia Lun, he nevertheless reports what he learned before Long Robe kills him.
• The strange Medium is revealed to be connected to Long Robe’s network and is summoned by a powerful, unnamed person.
• Curse Death and Golden Sprout reunite warmly, though Curse Death’s body prevents them from showing emotion normally.

Significant themes

• Power and influence: The unnamed figure’s authority appears to eclipse conventional status.
• Deception and hidden affiliations: Secret phrases, disguises, and uncertain loyalties complicate Xia Lun’s investigation.
• Exploitation and expendability: Long Robe sacrifices Raven to advance his own aims.
• The body’s limits: Curse Death’s inability to move their facial muscles contrasts with the warmth of their reunion.

Key plot points and events

• Golden Sprout restores Curse Death’s damaged mind with enchanted green tea, apparently curing his difficulty speaking.
• They believe their staged deaths have drawn off White Line, though Curse Death recently saw her at Xia Lun’s Manor. Golden Sprout has asked Long Robe to test Xia Lun and check whether White Line is still there.
• Golden Sprout explains that Xia Lun’s survival, concealed mental state, and possible connection to Ghostly Shadow’s death are too suspicious to dismiss. He points out that Curse Death has been making strangely unquestioning assumptions about Xia Lun.
• Golden Sprout suspects a widespread Perceptual Dulling Filter is shaping how people interpret Whitewash City’s extreme violence and the use of Secret Arts. He warns Curse Death that they may be affected too.
• They plan to stay cautious, complete the Daoist Learning Society’s assignment, gather data, and leave. Once Long Robe finishes testing Xia Lun, they will excavate the Underground Ruins and retrieve Last Man’s one-use Sacred Artifact in case White Line attacks.
• Curse Death forgets what they were discussing, suggesting the filter may be impairing his memory or that its effects remain active.

Character developments and interactions

• Golden Sprout acts as healer, strategist, and stern mentor. Though restoring Curse Death drains him, he calmly pieces together the signs of an unseen influence and urges caution.
• Curse Death recovers physically and mentally after the tea, but becomes frightened when Golden Sprout exposes his distorted reasoning. He is reluctant to use the Sacred Artifact and briefly proposes getting help from Hei Mos instead.
• Their exchange shifts from casual banter to a serious warning: Golden Sprout challenges Curse Death’s assumptions, and Curse Death gradually recognizes the danger—though his final lapse casts doubt on how fully he understands it.

Significant themes

• Manipulated perception and unreliable reasoning: People may fail to notice dangers because their understanding of reality is being filtered.
• Power and vulnerability: Even experienced, powerful Secret Art users may be compromised by forces they cannot perceive.
• Caution amid the unknown: The characters’ safest course is to limit exposure, finish their mission, and escape rather than assume they can control the situation.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun spends five days arranging Long Robe’s death, planning for an explosion at the excavation site to trigger a landslide. He expects to take over Long Robe’s assets and use the opportunity to root out corruption in his own businesses.
• When Long Robe unexpectedly leaves the site, Xia Lun tells his observer to escape rather than intervene. Long Robe later arrives at Xia Lun’s home with a bodyguard, apparently seeking funding for his Rail Transit project.
• Xia Lun criticizes the project as financially unrealistic, using the discussion as a pretext to send Long Robe back to the site. Long Robe instead offers to sell him a Game Card, which would let him enter a Death Game and gain Transcendent Power. Xia Lun agrees to pay an exorbitant price.
• An explosion causes a landslide, but it does not kill Long Robe; it injures a goateed man Long Robe had asked his crew to protect. Long Robe rushes to leave.
• Seven hours later, Long Robe dies during a public speech in a supernatural attack: black sigils appear on his body, wounds open, and maggots pour out and consume him.
• Rumors blame Xia Lun for the gruesome death. Fear of his supposed witchcraft prompts corrupt employees to confess, return embezzled money, and expose others, while new business proposals arrive. Xia Lun’s finances improve rapidly.

Character developments

• Xia Lun is calculating and composed, disguising his intent to kill Long Robe while trying to exploit the aftermath. He is also intrigued by the prospect of gaining Transcendent Power, though he hides his interest. When the explosion injures an innocent person, he recognizes his failure and considers a more public approach to killing Long Robe.
• Long Robe appears arrogant and commercially optimistic, pressing ahead with an implausible transit scheme and seeking money. He reveals that he is a Player with Transcendent Power and offers Xia Lun access to a Game Card. His concern for the injured man briefly breaks through his bluster.

Significant themes

• Plans and chance: Xia Lun’s carefully arranged assassination fails, yet Long Robe dies soon afterward for an unrelated, apparently supernatural reason.
• Rumor as power: The public’s belief that Xia Lun used witchcraft makes him more feared—and indirectly helps him regain control of his businesses.
• Ambition and money: Long Robe prioritizes real-world wealth over supernatural power, while Xia Lun weighs the potential value of both.
• The uncanny in ordinary life: Game Cards and Transcendent Power complicate Xia Lun’s earlier certainty that urban legends are false.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun and Long Robe spar over the viability of the Rail Transit project: Xia Lun offers practical objections, while Long Robe dismisses them and demands funding.
• Long Robe tries to use Xia Lun’s illness to persuade him to buy a Game Card, claiming Transcendent Power could save his life.
• Xia Lun maintains a cordial façade despite planning Long Robe’s murder; after the failed explosion, he lets Long Robe leave without revealing his involvement.

Plot

• Four days after Long Robe’s death, Xia Lun has restored his business and influence. His Scenario cooldown has ended, but he delays entering another Scenario so he can contact White Line and buy Game Items.
• Unable to reach White Line, he considers investigating Jade Pharmaceuticals. Before he can act, Public Security Officer Jiavette confronts him over a wave of gruesome deaths.
• Twenty-four people linked to Long Robe’s excavation have died in four days, their bodies consumed by maggots. Rumors call it the “Maggot Death Curse” and blame Xia Lun. The site near Baihuan Psychiatric Hospital has been sealed off.
• Xia Lun realizes he has overlooked events in the city. Using Heightened Focus, he connects the deaths, the earlier explosion, and White Line’s disappearance.
• Tracking Focus restores their connection. White Line warns that a powerful Evil Spirit sealed in the mountain beside the High-Risk Psychiatric Sanatorium was awakened by the explosion. She is fighting it with the Foresight Club and urges Xia Lun to run.
• As Xia Lun receives the warning, the Evil Spirit’s curse targets him. He draws Night Plume and prepares to use Curse-Reversal Strike.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun has shifted from acting under the pressure of an impending death to treating Scenarios as a choice. He remains resourceful, but recognizes that his focus on business made him miss a major crisis. His concern for White Line turns into alarm when he learns she may be in danger.
• Jiavette confronts Xia Lun bluntly, suspecting him of orchestrating the killings. He is initially accusatory but softens when he realizes Xia Lun may not know what is happening.
• White Line remains absent from ordinary contact but sends Xia Lun a desperate warning through their supernatural link, revealing that she is actively battling the awakened Evil Spirit.
• Xia Lun and Jiavette’s tense exchange exposes the gap between public rumor and Xia Lun’s actual knowledge; the driver supplies key details about the victims and sealed site.

Significant themes

• Appearances versus truth: Xia Lun is blamed for the deaths despite knowing nothing about them.
• Attention and oversight: His intense focus on business causes him to miss a catastrophe unfolding nearby.
• Connection and isolation: White Line’s warning reaches him only when he reestablishes their mystical link.
• Escalating supernatural danger: The deaths are not merely a local mystery but evidence of a powerful entity’s awakening—and Xia Lun is now directly in its sights.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun successfully uses Curse-Reversal Strike to redirect the Evil Spirit’s black curse back at it. The curse’s aftershock rots the car and nearby trees and infects Xia Lun’s companions, but he cuts the curse’s threads away from them.
• Through his occult connection to the creature, Xia Lun witnesses the attack land. He sees a colossal, many-eyed being among starry ruins, accompanied by the Medium, a goateed man with a Scepter, and White Line. The creature turns its attention toward Xia Lun and seems to warp space and time.
• Xia Lun and the others are displaced to a nearby valley, apparently near the Long Robe excavation site. Their surroundings return to normal, but night has fallen, their equipment is destroyed, and everyone but Xia Lun has lost their sanity.
• Xia Lun’s Information Panel reports severe mental deterioration, while also noting that his swordsmanship has improved and his daily uses of Curse-Reversal Strike have increased from one to two.
• He knocks out his companions to keep them from harming themselves, then heads alone toward the excavation site, reasoning that escape is impossible and the creature may have been wounded.
• The site is devastated: soldiers lie dead, injured, or mad; the mountainside is shattered and studded with crystals; and maggots glowing with Starlight cover the ground. Xia Lun realizes the “stars” he saw around the creature were maggots.
• He finds the goateed man alive, badly weakened and holding a broken Scepter. The man says the Sacred Artifact struck its target and asks whether they won.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun demonstrates calm, skill, and resilience under supernatural pressure. Though deeply shaken by the warped reality and his companions’ collapse, he regains focus, protects them, and chooses to confront the threat rather than flee.
• Jiavette, the driver, and the bodyguard all succumb to madness. Xia Lun tries to steady them, gives Jiavette a cigarette, and ultimately knocks them unconscious for their safety.
• The goateed man survives the apparent battle but is gravely weakened; his brief question leaves the outcome uncertain.
• Xia Lun’s connection to the Evil Spirit briefly lets him witness its injury and glimpse the other figures at the site, linking his encounter to a larger effort to stop the creature.

Significant themes

• Power comes with danger: Xia Lun’s successful counterattack brings tangible gains but exposes him to an overwhelmingly powerful being and catastrophic effects.
• Sanity and resilience: The encounter breaks Xia Lun’s companions mentally, while his discipline and experience let him keep functioning—though not without serious strain.
• Uncertainty and isolation: Reality itself becomes unreliable, communications fail, and Xia Lun is left to face the disaster largely alone.
• Hope amid devastation: The Evil Spirit appears to have been hit, but the destroyed site and the survivor’s question leave victory unresolved.

Plot points and events

• Xia Lun identifies the dying old man as Golden Sprout, a member of the Farseers’ Club, and learns that he recognizes Xia Lun’s sword strike—the blow that also killed Ghost Shadow.
• Golden Sprout’s head and brain disintegrate, releasing luminous, star-like maggots. Xia Lun inspects the wooden staff he was holding and learns that its power has been spent; using it consumed a great deal of the wielder’s lifespan. Its only remaining use is as fuel.
• The staff’s catastrophic blast has carved a vast, molten crater into the mountain. Xia Lun reflects on how dangerous the world is and presses onward into the cavern.
• Inside, he finds the colossal evil entity, wounded by a massive sword slash and pierced by a spiral-shaped cavity. He senses valuable treasure may lie within it.
• The entity is still alive and turns its many eyes toward him. Xia Lun readies his sword and prepares to defend himself, but the creature suddenly stops moving. Its maggots dissolve into liquid and crystallize, and the entity disintegrates.

Character developments

• Xia Lun remains composed amid grotesque horrors, using humor to steady himself. He recognizes how vulnerable he would have been without his powers, but resolves to keep moving.
• Golden Sprout is revealed as an exhausted survivor who spent his lifespan activating the staff. Even as he dies, he acknowledges Xia Lun’s strength and the danger of underestimating others.

Character interactions

• Golden Sprout identifies Xia Lun as the swordsman responsible for the devastating slash and treats Ghost Shadow’s death as a fitting outcome.
• Xia Lun confronts Golden Sprout about his identity, then proceeds alone toward the wounded entity.
• The entity silently confronts Xia Lun, who responds by raising his sword; before either can attack, it dies.

Significant themes

• Power has a cost: The staff’s immense force was bought with the user’s lifespan.
• Survival and perseverance: Xia Lun confronts escalating horrors and chooses to continue despite his fear.
• The limits of certainty: A seemingly defeated monster remains alive, while its eventual death occurs unexpectedly.
• Cosmic horror and grotesque beauty: The maggots’ destruction transforms the cavern and its inhabitants into dazzling blue crystals.

Plot points and events

• Xia Lun examines the defeated Evil Spirit and realizes it was already near death; his sword strike merely finished it. He is relieved that the threat is gone, though frustrated that the effortless kill earns no Memory Points.
• Searching the crystal remains, he finds the Evil Spirit’s empty Protective Valve. Its Crystal Memory has been stolen, and the lingering Tracking Focus trail reveals that White Line took it and survived.
• Xia Lun follows her trail out of the mountain. He sees that the Evil Spirit’s death has caused a vast geological rupture and a major fire in Whitewash City. He infers that the Spirit’s enormous maggot-like body had been part of the landscape and that its collapse triggered the disaster.
• He also realizes Long Robe’s proposed rail line was likely part of a secret Foresight Club plan involving the Astral Spirit, though Long Robe died before carrying it out.
• Following the trail to Hedge Bridge, Xia Lun finds White Line unconscious in the shallows, still clutching a silver metal case.

Character developments

• Xia Lun moves quickly from relief at surviving to practical action: he searches the site, assesses the disaster, and sets out to find White Line.
• His fear of the Evil Spirit gives way to concern and hope for White Line, whom he has saved before.
• White Line’s survival and theft of the Crystal Memory suggest she remained active and resourceful during the catastrophe, though her condition is now uncertain.

Significant themes

• The aftermath of catastrophe: Even after the supernatural threat is defeated, its physical consequences endanger the city.
• Survival and uncertainty: Xia Lun’s relief is tempered by the discovery that White Line may be hurt and the city is in crisis.
• Hidden schemes: The rail project and Long Robe’s actions point to secret motives behind the disaster.
• Memory and identity: The stolen Crystal Memory is essential to the Evil Spirit’s life, making its loss central to the creature’s death.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun recalls first meeting White Line beneath Hedge Bridge years earlier, when he saved her from pursuing thugs. That encounter became a turning point in his career.
• Their shared history gives Xia Lun’s search emotional weight: he hopes she has survived “this time too,” then finds her unconscious with the metal case in her arms.

Plot and key events

• Xia Lun finds White Line unconscious but breathing at the riverbank, clutching a silver case. She appears younger than before and wakes coughing up river water.
• White Line explains that the Astral Evil Spirit’s mental attack has nearly driven her mad. She exchanged for a “Foolishness Specialty” to resist it, but believes she has only about half an hour of lucidity left.
• Xia Lun uses Phantom Flesh Refines Essence twice, sacrificing some of his own Life Force to restore her Mental Health. The gray-black corruption around her brain disappears, though she does not initially realize she has recovered.
• White Line explains that the case contains the Astral Spirit’s sealed heart. It is not dead, and could revive if reunited with its body. She asks Xia Lun to take it to Hermaniel’s Internal Affairs Department for containment.
• Xia Lun takes the case despite its whispers and the rapid drop in his Mental Health, joking that he is “serene.” White Line accepts his reassurance, and they set off toward an old car.
• On the way, White Line thanks him and confesses that she envies him. She describes her lifelong wish to be a hero, her work for the Internal Affairs Department, and the lies, theft, manipulation, and other compromises she made—including orchestrating the Herno Strait council bombing.
• Xia Lun challenges her self-description: he argues that she is not jealous of him so much as dissatisfied with herself, and that she has confused being honorable with being a hero. He also says she has turned him into an idealized projection.
• White Line objects that he should have comforted her, then checks her Information Panel and discovers her Mental Health is fine. She is stunned and embarrassed.

Character development and interactions

• Xia Lun shows practical courage and care by risking his health to save White Line and taking responsibility for the dangerous case. He is also blunt and analytical, refusing to simply soothe her self-recrimination.
• White Line is shown as vulnerable beneath her usual guarded, performative manner. Her confession reveals the conflict between her childhood ideal of heroism and the morally compromised methods her job demanded. Her gratitude and tentative attempt to reach toward Xia Lun expose a rare emotional openness.
• Their relationship is marked by mutual rescue and trust: White Line acknowledges that she has saved Xia Lun before, while he credits her with giving him the Game Card that helped keep him alive. Their teasing and disagreement coexist with genuine concern.

Significant themes

• Masks and identity: White Line fears that repeated deception has made her mask indistinguishable from her real self; Xia Lun sees acting as a tool he can choose to put aside.
• Idealism versus compromise: White Line’s pursuit of heroism forces her to use methods she once despised, raising questions about whether the means reshape the person.
• Self-understanding and projection: Xia Lun argues that White Line’s envy reflects self-hatred and an ideal she has projected onto him.
• Sacrifice and responsibility: Xia Lun trades his own Life Force to help White Line and accepts the burden of transporting the still-dangerous heart, while White Line insists on fulfilling her duty as long as she can.

Key plot points and events

• White Line, whose Intelligence has fallen to nine, becomes embarrassed when Xia Lun catches her making an awkward attempt to deny what she said earlier. As a distant explosion brings down the Main Signal Tower, her distress over becoming “an idiot” finally breaks through.
• Xia Lun reassures her that her Intelligence may recover, and reveals his Phantom Flesh Refines Essence ability: he can turn Life Force into Mental Health for others, gradually restoring even their maximum Mental Health. White Line explains how rare and valuable this power is.
• The pair reach White Line’s old jeep and prepare to contact allies and secure the excavation site by the psychiatric hospital, where many people are badly injured. White Line feels guilty when she learns restoring her Mental Health cost Xia Lun Life Force; he insists her earlier gifts have more than repaid him.
• Their brief intimacy is interrupted when the radio switches on by itself. A woman identifying herself with the Foresight Club demands the Crystal Memory, offering White Line membership and treatment in exchange. White Line challenges the organization’s motives and refuses.
• Xia Lun recognizes the speaker as Curse Death, the person who placed his Soul Curse. He suspects her negotiation is a stall to locate them. Curse Death offers to cure his Lung Disease with a Game Card and accuses White Line of deliberately freeing the Evil Spirit.
• Xia Lun knows the accusation is misleading: he planted the explosives himself, though White Line detonated them early. As Curse Death closes in, Xia Lun taunts her, then reacts to her sudden curse attack with Curse-Reversal Strike.

Character developments and interactions

• White Line is vulnerable and self-conscious about her reduced Intelligence, but still demonstrates sharp reasoning when questioning the Foresight Club’s purpose. She is also protective of Xia Lun and anxious that he may trust Curse Death’s attempt to divide them.
• Xia Lun balances teasing White Line with reassuring her, then shows strategic restraint during the radio conversation. His hostility toward Curse Death is controlled but unmistakable, and the encounter turns personal once he confirms her identity.
• Curse Death uses threats, bargaining, and accusations to manipulate the pair and buy time. Her offer targets Xia Lun’s illness, while her claim that White Line released the Evil Spirit exploits the group’s distrust.

Significant themes

• Power has a cost: Xia Lun’s healing ability consumes Life Force, and he emphasizes that nothing is free.
• Trust and manipulation: Curse Death frames her demand as fair exchange and tries to turn Xia Lun against White Line; Xia Lun must distinguish plausible persuasion from what he knows.
• Vulnerability and resilience: White Line fears the loss of her intelligence, yet retains enough insight to challenge an organization’s motives.
• Intimacy amid danger: A tender moment between Xia Lun and White Line is cut short by an imminent threat, linking personal connection with the chapter’s larger crisis.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun reads and deflects Curse Death’s slow-moving curse with his sword, redirecting it into her and badly burning away her face.
• He follows with a gunshot that shatters her heart, then cuts through the puppet trees she controls and overpowers her. Curse Death realizes Xia Lun was the swordsman who once wounded the Astral Evil Spirit.
• Xia Lun drains her body and soul with Life Drain, but she is sustained by her cursed music and cannot be killed so easily. In desperation, she shoots the lock on the silver case, releasing the Crystal Memory.
• The Crystal Memory manifests as a beautiful azure polyhedron that cries and resists containment. White Line explains it exists only in reflections, can invade minds through sight, and must be trapped inside the reflective silver case.
• Xia Lun decapitates Curse Death and turns to pursue the Crystal Memory. Yet Curse Death survives, summons cursed fire, and threatens to let the Astral Evil Spirit revive.
• White Line takes on Curse Death while Xia Lun activates his abilities and prepares to attack the Crystal Memory with Night Plume.

Character developments

• Xia Lun demonstrates extraordinary swordsmanship, speed, and resolve, revealing himself as far more than an ordinary human. He briefly abandons revenge when the Crystal Memory becomes an urgent threat.
• Curse Death shifts from confidence to disbelief, fear, and desperation as Xia Lun overwhelms her. Though badly injured and beheaded, she remains dangerous because her curse lets her survive through music and other hosts.
• White Line is initially stunned by Xia Lun’s strength but quickly warns him about the trees and explains how to contain the Crystal Memory. She takes responsibility for holding Curse Death back.

Significant themes

• Power and transformation: Xia Lun’s abilities have advanced so far that Curse Death suspects he is an Evil Spirit himself.
• Revenge versus duty: Xia Lun confronts his enemy, but prioritizes preventing the Crystal Memory from escaping.
• Survival and persistence: Curse Death’s curse allows her to endure seemingly fatal injuries, while the Crystal Memory presents a different, uncanny threat.
• The danger of perception: The Crystal Memory can use reflections—including human eyes—to invade minds and escape through people’s sight.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun repeatedly surprises and terrifies Curse Death, turning her own curse back on her and then overpowering her directly.
• White Line warns Xia Lun about the puppet trees and later explains the Crystal Memory’s rules, helping him shift focus from revenge to containment.
• As Curse Death attacks the Crystal Memory to obstruct the pursuit, White Line engages her so Xia Lun can chase the escaping artifact.

Key plot points and events

• Using Wind Whisperer, Heightened Focus, and his connection to Crystal Memory, Xia Lun senses the creature without opening his eyes. He attacks with his short sword, Night Plume, discovering that it can damage the seemingly intangible being.
• His swordsmanship enters a powerful state of insight. By gathering and redirecting force through Swordsmanship—Flow, Xia Lun unleashes a strike that breaks the sound barrier and pierces Crystal Memory’s center.
• Weakness Insight reveals a strange line extending from Crystal Memory into space. Xia Lun cuts it, shattering the creature and exposing a brilliant star-like entity, which he immediately absorbs with Life Drain.
• Xia Lun senses a terrifying attention approaching from beyond the sky. He uses his sword to redirect that gaze onto Curse Death, who is already being beaten by White Line.
• Seeing Crystal Memory destroyed, Curse Death loses hope, abandons his body, and escapes to his shell in the Far Mountain Region. Unbeknownst to him, the otherworldly gaze follows him.

Character developments

• Xia Lun gains a deeper understanding of swordsmanship, experiencing the blade as a bridge between himself and the world. He also demonstrates greater control over perception, force, and the supernatural—destroying Crystal Memory and redirecting a cosmic threat.
• Curse Death, previously confident that Crystal Memory would turn the fight in his favor, is shaken by Xia Lun’s feat. He gives up resisting and flees.
• White Line remains absorbed in attacking Curse Death, continuing the assault even after the battle’s balance has shifted.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun’s attack surprises Curse Death, who had expected Crystal Memory to return and defeat their enemies.
• White Line’s relentless beating leaves Curse Death vulnerable; when he stops resisting, White Line briefly pauses before resuming the attack.
• Xia Lun indirectly turns the distant entity’s attention toward Curse Death, making the fleeing enemy the target of a danger he does not yet understand.

Significant themes

• Mastery through connection: Xia Lun’s insight presents swordsmanship not merely as technique, but as a way to sense and alter the relationship between self and world.
• Escalating cosmic danger: Destroying Crystal Memory reveals that threats extend far beyond the immediate battle—and that defeating one danger may expose someone to something worse.
• Reversal and consequence: Xia Lun redirects the gaze toward Curse Death, echoing the story’s recurring idea that harm and danger can be transferred back to their source.

Key plot points and events

• Curse Death awakens in a new body after escaping Xia Lun, but the battle has left its mind permanently damaged. Terrified of Xia Lun, it regrets provoking him and decides to flee rather than seek revenge.
• It plans to spread its Musical Curse at a concert, take over audience members’ bodies, recruit the powerful Hei Mos, and trigger a calamity connected to the shattered Crystal Memory to use against Xia Lun.
• Before it can act, a sea of stars appears beyond its dressing-room door. Space collapses around it, and Curse Death vanishes—apparently into a fate worse than death.
• Earlier, Xia Lun and White Line had found Curse Death’s remains outside Whitewash City. Xia Lun believes it abandoned its body rather than being killed, but has shifted the Astral Evil Spirit’s attention onto it and expects a grim outcome.
• White Line realizes Curse Death may be a musical meme rather than an ordinary spirit or physical creature. Xia Lun confirms he destroyed the Crystal Memory, shocking her.

Character developments

• Curse Death is left fearful, mentally corrupted, and unable to advance. Its confidence briefly returns as it devises a desperate plan, but it is abruptly taken away before carrying it out.
• Xia Lun feels satisfied with his revenge and pleased by his swordsmanship breakthrough and gains from the Crystal Memory. He remains calm and analytical about Curse Death’s nature.
• White Line is enthusiastic but blunt and confused, interpreting the evidence aloud. Her sincere admiration and reaction to the Crystal Memory’s destruction contrast with her former, more calculated behavior.

Significant themes

• Revenge and consequences: Curse Death’s earlier provocation leads to lasting damage and apparent ruin.
• Fear and power imbalance: Curse Death recognizes that Xia Lun is far beyond its ability to challenge.
• Unintended cosmic forces: The star-filled phenomenon suggests dangers beyond the characters’ control, and the Crystal Memory’s destruction may have serious consequences.
• Identity and classification: Curse Death resists simple categories, possibly existing as a piece of music or meme rather than a conventional spirit.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun and White Line discuss Curse Death’s strange nature and why ordinary anti-spirit measures failed.
• White Line initially treats Xia Lun’s claim that he destroyed the Crystal Memory as a joke, then struggles to accept it.
• Curse Death’s fear of Xia Lun shapes its plans, while Xia Lun’s decision to redirect the Astral Evil Spirit’s attention sets the stage for its disappearance.