Chapter Summaries

After the successful crackdown on organized crime, Li Wei stayed home to avoid retaliation and spent time with Alice and Katie. Inspired by his memories of manga and his Fine Art skill, he drew an anime-style angel, gave the picture to Alice, and promised to draw one for Katie.

• Li Wei donated police cars and prisoner transport vehicles to Fog City's police stations, while the courts rapidly tried and executed captured gang members in public.
• Li Wei stayed home and asked his butler to watch for outsiders who might seek revenge; Alice spent her free time with him, and Katie visited to play.
• Katie tossed Alice high into the air in the rooftop garden, alarming Adele while Li Wei and Erin watched calmly.
• After hearing Alice and Katie wish they could fly, Li Wei recalled Angel Sanctuary and decided to try drawing from memory using his Fine Art skill.
• Li Wei drew an anime-style angel and gave the picture to Alice, then promised to draw one for Katie.

Bored by the lack of work, Li Wei drew a comic about a puppy and a child, hoping to entertain Alice and explore whether his characters could be brought to life. After his friends at the Golden Mead Club reviewed it, Qiong offered to introduce him to a printing-house owner.

• Li Wei decided to draw a child-friendly comic about a dog, avoiding human protagonists and supernatural subjects that could cause trouble.
• Li Wei spent nearly a month drawing three chapters based on memories of a childhood puppy, using a panel format and keeping the humans' faces out of view.
• Li Wei brought the comic to the Golden Mead Club, where Qiong, Matilda, the rider, and Borent Bass read it and shared their opinions.
• Li Wei said he planned to publish the comic in black and white with a colored cover.
• Qiong offered to introduce Li Wei to the owner of a printing house, and Li Wei accepted her help.

Li Wei arranged for his children’s picture book to be serialized in Mysteries before a bound edition was printed. The old butler then assigned him to investigate strange events reported at Great Salt Lake.

• Li Wei showed his picture book to Mr. Richards at the Seven-Colored Pen printing factory, and they discussed printing and publication.
• Mr. Richards suggested serializing the book in Mysteries while the factory carved its woodblocks, and Li Wei accepted the plan.
• Qiong told Li Wei that Matilda had recommended the publisher, and Li Wei asked her to pass along his thanks.
• Li Wei returned to Military Intelligence Section Seven, where the old butler agreed to give his picture book a section in Mysteries.
• The old butler assigned Li Wei to investigate a reader’s report of strange happenings at Great Salt Lake.

Li Wei investigated a desperate letter from Sophia Clont, who had inherited an isolated estate near the Great Salt Lake and discovered a threat there. He decided to travel north to investigate, preparing Phantom No. 2 and loading it with equipment.

• Sophia Clont's letter asked Li Wei to come to the Great Salt Lake, and she enclosed her grandfather's final letter.
• Li Wei and the old butler discussed whether the letters were genuine and learned that the Great Salt Lake lay in a remote frontier region.
• Li Wei read Sophia Clont's grandfather's account of strange rumors at the family manor and a demonic shadow threatening the family.
• Li Wei judged the grandfather's letter sincere and decided to investigate the Great Salt Lake himself.
• Li Wei returned home, ordered preparations for a long trip, and had Phantom No. 2 readied with drones, turrets, and ammunition.

Li Wei and Katie traveled from Fog City to the Great Salt Lake in the armored Phantom No. 2, where Li Wei was assigned to investigate the impoverished district. On the road, they learned how the Cront Family’s health-resort business had once prospered around the lake, and Li Wei worried that its meteor origin might conceal something dangerous.

• Li Wei left Fog City for the Great Salt Lake the day after receiving his assignment, leaving five-year-old Alice behind.
• Li Wei and Katie traveled in the Phantom No. 2 with support agents Phillips and Anna, while Li Wei explained how Military Intelligence Section Seven’s support staff handled cleanup and disguises.
• Li Wei told Katie that the Great Salt Lake District had dwindled to one town and two villages, with little tax revenue and few apparent sources of income.
• Li Wei explained that the Cront Family had once marketed the lake’s water as a miraculous cure after a meteor strike created the lake, but their health-resort business later collapsed.
• Li Wei speculated that the meteor might have brought a monster or other danger and thought about how useful his unfinished airship would be.

Li Wei traveled toward the Great Salt Lake and investigated the disappearance of Sophia Cront, uncovering clues that an old, burly man had taken her there and sent a letter on her behalf. He suspected Sophia was trapped and had asked the outside world for help, and he continued toward the Great Salt Lake to learn what had happened.

• Li Wei questioned a village elder, who told him that a young woman had recently asked how to reach the Great Salt Lake and shared rumors about the region.
• Li Wei learned from the innkeeper that the woman was Sophia Cront, who left before dawn on March 12 after meeting a tall, unkempt man with a tangled beard.
• Li Wei asked Katie to check the carriage stand and went to the post office, where a clerk recalled a tall, broad old man with a huge beard sending an urgent letter and riding away on a horse.
• Katie reported that a strange carriage, apparently driven by a large man, had left town before dawn on March 12.
• Li Wei concluded that Sophia may have been unable to leave the Great Salt Lake and had sent the letter to seek help, then decided they would have to reach the region to find out what happened.

Li Wei and Katie entered the night-shrouded town near the Great Salt Lake to investigate after their vehicle became trapped in the strange wilderness. They found signs that their client had been attacked, and Li Wei prepared for whatever was lurking nearby.

• The Phantom No. 2 was suddenly surrounded by night, and Li Wei ordered the team to continue toward the town despite being unable to escape by reversing.
• Li Wei and Katie spotted the town’s ornate stone buildings and left the vehicle behind when a collapsed wall blocked the road.
• Li Wei told Phillips and Anna to guard the Phantom No. 2 and use a flare to call for mortar support if needed.
• Li Wei and Katie crossed the rubble and inspected an overturned carriage, where Li Wei found a suitcase marked S.K.
• Li Wei concluded that their client had been attacked and rescued, then warned Katie to stay alert after finding two dead horses nearby.

Li Wei and Katie entered a cursed city, where hostile locals attacked them and a ghostly old man warned them that no one could leave. After learning a carriage had gone toward the inner city, they continued in pursuit, with Katie still insisting monsters were no problem despite being frightened by ghosts.

• Li Wei and Katie encountered armed locals, and Li Wei shot them when they charged at him; he noticed their souls were a stagnant dark green.
• A ghostly old man told Li Wei and Katie that the city was cursed, outsiders could not escape, and the city grew more dangerous toward its center.
• The old man said a carriage had headed toward the inner city, and Katie offered him a biscuit after Li Wei revealed he was a skeleton.
• Li Wei and Katie left the old man's house and set off toward the inner city.

Li Wei and Katie fought their way through the cursed town, then paused for tea while admiring its moonlit streets. A bandaged stranger approached them and offered to take them to Miss Sophia Cront.

• Li Wei and Katie defeated the fanatics they encountered as they explored the town.
• Li Wei and Katie rested in a pavilion, where Katie brewed tea and served pastries.
• Li Wei and Katie discussed the town’s beauty and what might happen to it if the curse were lifted.
• Li Wei identified the bandaged stranger as the man who had brought Miss Sophia Cront to town and delivered her grandfather’s letter.
• The stranger told Li Wei and Katie to follow him so he could take them to see the young lady.

Li Wei and Katie met Sophia Cront and Harold Brown, who explained how Deans Cront’s excavation broke an ancient seal and transformed the city. Harold revealed that the sealing ritual required supplies hidden elsewhere, leaving Li Wei to retrieve them before the evil awakened.

• Li Wei and Katie entered a church and met Sophia Cront, who excitedly recognized Li Wei as her idol.
• Harold Brown introduced himself and recounted how he had helped Deans Cront search the family records for a buried treasure.
• Harold explained that Deans found a strange book, became obsessed with excavating beneath the castle, and eventually broke the seal on an ancient evil.
• Harold said Deans had given him a stone disk that let him leave the Great Salt Lake District once a month, and that he had brought Sophia back to help reseal the evil.
• Harold revealed that Sophia’s blood had opened the secret chamber, but the ritual supplies were missing and Li Wei would need to retrieve them.

Li Wei questioned Sophia about how she and Harold reached the secret chamber and learned that opening its chained door required Cront blood, while three Holy Relics were needed to open it fully. After Harold identified the relics’ locations, Li Wei set out with Katie and Sophia, leaving Harold behind.

• Li Wei dismissed Harold’s account as unverified and asked Sophia to explain what had happened.
• Sophia told Li Wei that Harold had brought her to the Inner City, where her blood opened a secret chamber containing a chained stone door marked with an empty All-Seeing Eye.
• Sophia explained that Harold said her grandfather and an evil being were trapped underground, and that three Holy Relics had to be found to open the door.
• Katie reported that the Holy Relics were in the Eastern Fishing Village Church, the Western Academy Exhibition Hall, and the Inner City Cathedral, though Harold could not say what dangers awaited them.
• Li Wei invited Sophia to join the expedition because her Cront blood might be needed, and Harold stayed behind as Li Wei promised to keep Sophia safe.

Li Wei, Katie, and Sophia entered the Fishing Village to search for the Holy Relic, where they found transformed fishermen worshipping a grotesque idol. Li Wei’s overwhelming firepower defeated the monsters and helped Sophia overcome her fear, and the group headed into the Church to look for the relic beneath its altar.

• Li Wei led Katie and Sophia to the Fishing Village, where Sophia explained that her grandfather had led the fishermen to do terrible things in exchange for treasure.
• Sophia spotted the fishlike monsters through binoculars, and the group found nearly a hundred of them praying before a grotesque idol in the village square.
• When the monsters attacked, Li Wei summoned two Automated Turrets that killed them and destroyed the idol.
• A giant fishman charged from the Church with a smaller fishman riding on its head, and Li Wei shot both of them dead.
• Sophia said she was no longer as afraid after seeing the monsters killed, and Li Wei asked Katie where the Holy Relic was hidden.
• Katie said the Holy Relic was beneath the Church’s altar, and she, Li Wei, and Sophia went inside.

Li Wei found the bishop’s logbook, which recorded how Deans’s new faith won over the fishermen with abundant catches and treasure, while a final note suggested someone had hidden the Holy Relic to protect it. Katie and Sophia recovered the relic from beneath the church altar, and Li Wei kept the logbook as the group prepared to visit the second location.

• Katie lifted the church altar and tore its metal supports free, revealing a hidden hole containing half of a stone disk.
• Li Wei searched the bishop’s room and found a logbook describing Deans’s new faith and the fishermen’s growing devotion to it.
• Li Wei read the priest’s final entry about trying to stop the construction of a blasphemous idol, then discovered an unsigned note about protecting the Holy Relic.
• Katie showed Li Wei the stone disk she and Sophia had found beneath the altar, and he told her to put it away.
• Li Wei pocketed the logbook and led the group toward the second location.

Li Wei entered the Academy to retrieve the Holy Relic Stone Disc, leaving Katie and Sophia outside, but found its display case empty. The ghost-filled Exhibition Hall shifted into a sunlit scene from the past, where an elderly woman asked him to investigate the stone disc’s theft.

• Katie refused to enter the haunted Academy, so Li Wei sent her and Sophia back to wait at the nearby bar.
• Li Wei explored the Academy with [Soul Sight] and saw ghosts repeating scenes of students searching and arguing.
• Li Wei reached the Exhibition Hall and found the Holy Relic Stone Disc missing from its shattered display case.
• The Exhibition Hall changed into a bright scene from the past, where an elderly woman reported the stone disc stolen and asked Li Wei to investigate.
• Li Wei questioned the woman about when the disc was last seen and who might have taken it, then agreed to investigate.

Li Wei investigated the theft of the Holy Relic Stone Disc, but the academy staff avoided identifying the girl his clues pointed to. He learned from an academy book that the Cront Family’s ancestor had sealed a demon beneath the earth, and realized the relic was connected to that seal.

• Li Wei learned the academy’s schedule and security arrangements, and discovered that the Holy Relic Stone Disc had vanished from its smashed display case after the supervisor had seen it there at midnight.
• Li Wei used blood, fingerprints, and footprints to conclude that a left-handed girl around fourteen years old and 1.6 meters tall had stolen the relic, but the supervisor and teachers denied knowing such a student.
• Li Wei stopped questioning the staff and attended classes, then considered whether Deans had arranged the theft to serve his plans.
• Li Wei asked the supervisor for records about the Holy Relic Stone Disc and read the headmaster’s book about the Great Salt Lake’s history.
• Li Wei learned that the Cront Family’s ancestor had defeated a demon from beyond the heavens and sealed it underground, and connected that seal to the Holy Relic of the All-Seeing Eye.

Li Wei investigated the Holy Relic Stone Disc theft and learned that Judy, a student missing for three days, might have stolen it. He questioned a nun, who revealed that the headmistress was suspected of making students disappear and gave Li Wei the key to the Chapel basement.

• Li Wei read that the Cront Family’s Holy Relic Stone Disc seemed to have no mysterious power and wondered why Deans had excavated the site.
• A student told Li Wei that her roommate Judy had been missing for three days and that teachers had concealed other students’ disappearances.
• Li Wei concluded that finding the stolen Holy Relic Stone Disc required locating Judy and investigating the disappearances.
• After morning worship, Li Wei questioned a nun, who said the headmistress had ordered her to guard the Chapel basement and keep people out.
• Li Wei persuaded the nun to give him the key to the Chapel basement.

Li Wei investigated the footprints in the Academy’s underground prison and discovered a hidden passage linked to the Ancient Arcades. Inside, he encountered monstrous creatures that had once been girls and prepared to fight them.

• Li Wei learned that the Headmistress had sealed the dungeon three years earlier, around the time the head of the Cront Family began excavating the castle.
• Li Wei found the suspect’s footprints in the locked dungeon and reasoned that the Headmistress had staged the Holy Relic Stone Disc’s theft to hide its location from the strange man.
• Li Wei followed the footprints to a hidden passage by pulling down a torch, but the nun vanished and the prison fell dark.
• Li Wei entered the passage, recognized it as the Ancient Arcades described in the ancestor’s letter, and saw a vision of a man fleeing through it.
• Monstrous creatures with girls’ heads and spider-like bodies emerged from the darkness, and Li Wei drew the Persuader.

Li Wei confronted the Headmistress, a Human-Headed Spider transformed by Deans, and learned she had turned several girls into spider creatures. He killed her when she charged to protect the Holy Relic Stone Disc, then took the undamaged disc and prepared to return.

• Li Wei identified the Human-Headed Spider as the Headmistress and questioned her about her transformation and Deans.
• The Headmistress explained that Deans had promised her power and endless life, and said she had transformed several girls to keep her company.
• Li Wei demanded the Holy Relic Stone Disc, but the Headmistress refused and charged at him with the disc hanging around her neck.
• Li Wei used Death's Eye and fired both guns, killing the Headmistress before she could use the promised power.
• Li Wei retrieved the undamaged Holy Relic Stone Disc from the corpse and decided to head back.

Li Wei brought the Holy Relic Stone Disc to the Inner City Church, where Durant revealed that Deans had sealed an Otherworldly Demon beneath the Cront Family castle and warned that undoing the seal would free it. Li Wei chose to fight Durant rather than remain trapped in the city, and Durant attacked.

• Li Wei reunited with Katie and Sophia, showed them the assembled pieces of the Holy Relic Stone Disc, and learned that the final piece was in the Inner City Church.
• Li Wei led Katie and Sophia through the Inner City, where his Automated Turrets cut down the monstrous inhabitants, and Sophia decided she wanted to become an arms dealer.
• Katie opened the Church doors, and Li Wei found the final Holy Relic in the All-Seeing Eye, guarded by a tentacled black-robed man.
• The black-robed man identified himself as Durant and explained that Harold had manipulated Deans into excavating beneath the castle, where Deans discovered a book and learned of the Otherworldly Demon.
• Durant said Deans had sealed the demon and trapped the city to prevent it from escaping, but Li Wei decided they would undo the seal so they could leave.
• Li Wei aimed his Persuader at Durant, who roared that they would die and sent tentacles lunging at them.

Li Wei and his allies fought the black-robed man in the Church, where Katie uprooted his hidden body and Li Wei destroyed his core. Before dying, the man warned Li Wei that a book unearthed by Lord Deans might reveal information about the otherworldly fiend, though anyone who read it would be cursed.

• Li Wei received the quest to break the seal and eliminate the otherworldly fiend, then sent a silver-armored Doll to attack the black-robed man while Katie and Sophia joined the fight.
• The black-robed man caught Katie with a tentacle, but Katie held firm and pulled his enormous rootlike body out from beneath the Church floor.
• Li Wei used [Death's Eye] to slow time and directed the silver-armored knight to cut through the roots and pierce the black-robed man's core.
• The black-robed man's tentacles dissolved into blood, and he warned Li Wei that Lord Deans had unearthed a cursed book that might contain knowledge about the otherworldly fiend before he died.
• Li Wei concluded that he would have to examine the book despite the curse.