Chapter Summaries

After the Empire's Knight Mechs eliminated the monsters, Li Wei completed the mission and received rewards, including a giant sword he could not wield and the Multishot skill. He arranged care for the survivors, ordered unstable troopers reassigned, and sent recovered alien devices to Military Intelligence Section Seven for study.

• The Empire's Knight Mechs wiped out the monsters, and Li Wei received an SSS mission rating with a lifespan reward.
• Li Wei summoned the Heaven's Retribution Blade, found it too large and heavy to use, and put it away.
• Li Wei raised Demon Hunter to LV2 and gained the Multishot skill, which doubled the number of ranged weapons counted in an attack.
• Henry reported that Dr. Franco was receiving treatment and that several troopers had become mentally unstable, so Li Wei ordered the affected men reassigned.
• Henry showed Li Wei recovered alien equipment, and Li Wei ordered it sent to Military Intelligence Section Seven for study.

Li Wei investigated the aftermath of Dr. Franco’s expedition, confirmed the alien threat and confronted a mysterious blue-eyed kitten that Kia had rescued. The next day, he reprimanded Dr. Franco for the expedition’s heavy losses and left the machines recovered by Military Intelligence Section Seven for investigation.

• Li Wei learned that Dr. Franco had survived with a badly injured leg, while only four of fifty soldiers and two of twenty expedition members had survived.
• Kia told Li Wei about the alien creature, and he identified its human-skin disguise as belonging to the monster that had tried to buy the Brain in a Jar; Military Intelligence Section Seven had arrested the human collaborator.
• Li Wei noticed that Kia’s kitten had a blue-glowing soul and warned it not to cause trouble among humans after it briefly revealed golden eyes and a powerful aura.
• Li Wei left the kitten with the sleeping Kia, then stayed overnight in Steel City before confronting Dr. Franco the next morning about the expedition’s casualties.
• Dr. Franco asked to study the monsters’ machines, but Li Wei told him to submit a request because Military Intelligence Section Seven had recovered them.

Li Wei arranged for Erin to establish a doll shop and acquire a factory to mass-produce toys, beginning with dolls modeled after Betty the Puppy. Meanwhile, the Empire allied with the Duchy of Tiris to warn the Kingdom of Kront against attacking it and to protect Francis’s flank, leaving Li Wei to expect troubled times ahead.

• Li Wei asked Erin to revive her dream of running a doll shop, explaining that he needed more dolls and wanted them mass-produced.
• Li Wei proposed selling Betty the Puppy dolls and later robot toys, and Erin agreed to find a suitable factory while Li Wei bought nearby houses for shops.
• The Empire and the Duchy of Tiris signed an alliance agreement, warning the Kingdom of Kront not to invade Tiris and securing Francis’s flank.
• Li Wei considered the Queen’s strategic move and worried that the coming days of peace would not last.

The Empire allied with Francis, forcing the Kingdom of Kront to reconsider its plans for war. Meanwhile, Li Wei’s new Dollhouse shop was overwhelmed by demand for Betty the Puppy Dolls, and he told Erin to limit purchases.

• The Empire and Francis signed an alliance, leaving Kront’s generals to choose between invading the Duchy of Tiris and attacking Francis’s fortified defenses.
• Li Wei watched a huge queue gather at the Dollhouse after Betty the Puppy Dolls went on sale.
• Erin called Li Wei to report that customers were buying multiple Dolls and the stock was nearly gone.
• Li Wei ordered Erin to limit sales to one Doll per person to stop bulk buyers.
• Li Wei stayed in the Tower with the Little Mermaid and suggested they sing while the crowd remained outside.

Li Wei's Betty the Puppy dolls became wildly popular, prompting him to hand off the overwhelmed shop and promise readers a new installment. At afternoon tea, Qiong reported that lead actor Mobius had been injured by a falling prop, and Li Wei agreed to investigate whether the accident had been deliberate.

• Li Wei was overwhelmed by the Dollhouse's crowds, delegated the shop, and welcomed other workshops making puppy doll knockoffs to spread Betty's popularity.
• At the Golden Mead Club, Borent asked Li Wei about his illustrated story's panel layout, while Matilda said she liked Betty but was too nervous to face the shop crowds; Li Wei offered them dolls.
• East asked for a doll too, and Li Wei agreed to bring one for each of them.
• Qiong arrived and said Mobius, the lead in the Eye of the Goddess Troupe's upcoming play, had injured his leg when a prop fell during rehearsal.
• East suggested someone might have sabotaged Mobius, and Qiong asked Li Wei to investigate; Li Wei agreed to go to the theater.

Li Wei investigated a falling stage fixture that had injured actor Mobius at the Eye of the Goddess Theater. He concluded that Mobius had anticipated the accident and asked to search Mobius’s room and belongings for clues.

• Bliss Turner welcomed Li Wei to the theater and explained that conflicts among actors could lead to deliberate sabotage.
• Qiong described how a heavy cloud board had fallen on Mobius during rehearsal, injuring his lower leg.
• Li Wei had Qiong reenact Mobius’s movements and examined footprints on the stage.
• Li Wei concluded that Mobius had jumped aside when the board fell, even though his position should have prevented him from seeing it in time.
• Qiong recalled that Mobius had acted uneasy and unusually rehearsed on the Third Stage that day.
• Li Wei asked Bliss Turner to let him inspect Mobius’s room and belongings.

Li Wei investigated the attempt to kill Mobius and found a threatening note warning him not to play Noan. After reading the play’s script, Li Wei narrowed the likely suspects to members of the troupe but remained uncertain about their motives, so he decided to question Mobius.

• Li Wei reconstructed how someone cut the rope above the stage to drop a plank on Mobius, then followed Qiong and the old troupe leader to Mobius’s room.
• Li Wei found a torn threat in Mobius’s wastebasket: “Do not play Noan, or you will die.”
• Li Wei reasoned that the note likely came from someone in the troupe, since outsiders would not know the unreleased play or specify Noan’s role.
• The old troupe leader gave Li Wei the script for Moonflower, whose plot followed Noan, Anna, and Oute through betrayal, revenge, and tragedy.
• Li Wei recognized Noan as a role that suited Mobius’s personality, found the motive harder to understand, and decided to speak with Mobius.

Detective Li Wei forced Mobius to describe the attack by bluntly rejecting his claims that his fame made him indispensable. Mobius revealed that he had received a threat warning him not to play Noan, and Li Wei left to investigate further, considering a conversation with Matilda.

• Li Wei visited Mobius in the hospital, but Mobius initially refused to discuss his accident.
• Li Wei said Mobius's fame would not make his death matter much and started to leave, frightening Mobius into cooperating.
• Mobius told Li Wei he had received a letter warning, “Don't play Noan, or you'll die,” and said the old troupe leader had assigned him the role.
• Mobius explained that Matilda had been commissioned to write the play and that he had felt watched and uneasy before rehearsing on the Third Stage.
• Mobius recounted dodging a whooshing object while crouching to pick a flower, after which he broke both legs; Li Wei considered speaking with Matilda next.

Li Wei learned from Matilda that the Eye of the Goddess Troupe’s script was an adaptation of her novel, “The Mask,” whose Oute was secretly the obsessive Noan. The revelation led Li Wei to suspect Oute might have sent Mobius the threatening letter, and he resolved to investigate further.

• Li Wei reassured Mobius that he was unlikely to die because his broken legs meant he could no longer perform as Noan, then left.
• Li Wei asked Matilda about the troupe’s new script, and she explained that she had only allowed an adaptation of her work and disliked how it changed the original.
• Matilda gave Li Wei her novel “The Mask,” in which Oute disguised himself as Noan, assaulted Anna, manipulated her into marrying him, and killed her before revealing his identity at her grave.
• Li Wei recognized that the adaptation had transformed Oute from the original’s ruthless mastermind into an innocent victim.
• Li Wei wondered whether Oute had sent Mobius the threatening letter and decided to pursue the case seriously.

Li Wei investigated the attack on Mobius and suspected Corent Hann, the actor playing Oute, after learning the script’s changes gave him a chance to take on Noan’s role. He questioned Corent about his whereabouts and ended by confronting him with evidence that contradicted his account.

• Li Wei learned from Qiong that the troupe might revise the play to restore the original novel’s plot, with the actor playing Oute taking both roles.
• Qiong identified Corent Hann as the actor playing Oute, and Li Wei asked to speak with him alone.
• Corent said he had been in the restroom when Mobius was attacked and described Mobius as talented but difficult to work with.
• Li Wei wrote down Corent’s answers and had him sign a statement confirming their accuracy.
• Li Wei told Corent that his footprints had been found backstage, where there was no restroom.

Li Wei exposed Corent as the person who sabotaged the scenery lift rope, and Corent confessed that he wanted to force the troupe to honor the original novel. The case still lacked physical evidence, but Corent agreed to go with Li Wei to see the troupe leader.

• Li Wei confronted Corent with the footprints he had memorized backstage, and Corent struggled to explain why he had been there.
• Li Wei deduced that Corent attacked Mobius to prevent Moonflower from being performed as written and force the troupe toward The Mask.
• Corent explained that he loved Matilda's novel and had been disappointed by how the adaptation reduced Oute to a supporting character.
• Corent admitted he had sent Mobius a warning letter and sabotaged the scenery lift, believing the troupe would have to follow the original novel if Mobius could not perform.
• Li Wei told Corent he was a detective rather than a police officer and said the case still needed physical evidence; Corent agreed to go with him to see the troupe leader.

After Corent agreed to turn himself in after the performance, Li Wei visited Erin’s workshop to inspect new combat Dolls. He was then ordered to search the Storm Sea for a missing passenger liner carrying the Princess, despite his fear of the deep sea.

• The old troupe leader let Corent perform both roles in Moonflower on the condition that he turn himself in afterward.
• Li Wei saw Erin’s heavily armored Mecha Doll and inspected a mechanical spider and miniature explosive Dolls made by the technicians.
• Li Wei told Erin to describe his Doll orders as a hobby and invited the technicians to propose more designs.
• Mr. Kane contacted Li Wei through Military Intelligence Section Seven and reported that a passenger liner had vanished on the Storm Sea with the Princess aboard.
• Li Wei accepted the assignment to search for the Princess from an airship, though he dreaded going to sea.

Li Wei joined the search after Princess Louise’s passenger ship, the Torchlight, and its naval escort, the Aegis, vanished without warning. As the Airship searched the dark sea, Li Wei spotted a vivid red flash at the edge of his vision.

• The Old Butler told Li Wei that the Torchlight and the Aegis had stopped reporting in, and that attempts to contact them had failed.
• Li Wei learned that other ships had seen the Torchlight and its escort traveling normally along the Empire’s safe shipping route.
• Li Wei, the Old Butler, Anthony, and Katie boarded the Airship and joined the search as other vessels were ordered into port.
• Li Wei searched the sea with Soul Sight while Katie asked him to find Louise and promised to help.
• After night fell and the search found nothing, Li Wei spotted a vivid red flash at the edge of his vision.

Li Wei and his team boarded the apparently deserted Aegis to investigate its crimson soul radiance and search for clues about the missing Torchlight. The ship’s log began recording a sudden attack by half-human, half-fish creatures, and Li Wei ordered everyone to the engine room.

• Li Wei spotted the Aegis drifting dark and silent, and the Old Butler summoned two other ships to rendezvous while Li Wei volunteered to investigate.
• Li Wei, Katie, Henry, and the Steam Mech Troopers boarded the Aegis, leaving five soldiers to guard their landing zone.
• Henry led the group to the bridge, where Li Wei found the captain’s log describing lost bearings despite the Aegis being on course.
• A new entry appeared in the log, reporting that the Aegis and Torchlight were under attack by half-human, half-fish creatures and that the engine room had been breached.
• Li Wei realized the attack might not be happening aboard the Aegis they had boarded and ordered everyone to ready their weapons and head for the engine room.

Li Wei led reinforcements through a portal into the world aboard the Aegis, where he killed the Deep Ones attacking the engine room and restored the ship’s propulsion. He concluded that the Torchlight was the source of the invasion, received a mission to destroy the strange world and return to reality, and leaped aboard the Torchlight with Katie.

• Li Wei summoned more than a hundred soldiers, warned them about the monsters, and led them to the Aegis’s deserted engine room.
• Li Wei used his Ghost Ship core to open a red portal, shot a Deep One, and led Henry and the soldiers through it.
• Li Wei killed dozens of Deep Ones in the engine room with Death’s Eye and Multishot, then ordered soldiers to restore the Aegis’s propulsion.
• Li Wei learned that the Torchlight was under attack and saw a powerful red light aboard it, which he suspected had drawn the ships into another world.
• Li Wei received the mission to destroy the world and return to reality as the Aegis approached the Torchlight.
• Li Wei took Katie and leaped from the Aegis onto the Torchlight’s deck.

Li Wei reached Princess Louise aboard the Torchlight and searched its auction vaults for ocean-related items that might have caused the supernatural attack. As Katie tried to force open a vault, the ship lurched and an enormous octopus-like creature rose from the sea.

• Li Wei learned that Princess Louise was safe in the VIP lounge and brought Katie upstairs to meet her.
• Li Wei questioned the auctioneer and learned that five ocean-related items, including a painting called Deep Sea, were stored in vaults one, five, and eighteen.
• Princess Louise joined Li Wei and Katie as they headed to the vaults, where Katie bent the iron bars and tried to open the heavy doors.
• The Torchlight lurched, and Li Wei returned to the forward deck to find an island-sized octopus-like monster emerging on the horizon.

Li Wei discovered that the colossal sea monster was tied to an auction painting and destroyed it, ending the danger and returning the ships to reality. He thanked Katie and Princess Louise before preparing to leave and deal with the aftermath later.

• Katie forced open the vault doors while Princess Louise asked whether Katie was happy living with Li Wei.
• Li Wei saw an immense monster rising from the sea and used Soul Sight to confirm its soul glowed red.
• Li Wei returned to the vault and searched the auction items while the ship rocked as the monster advanced.
• Katie found an oil painting depicting the monster, and Li Wei shot it with the Punisher.
• The monster collapsed into the sea, and Henry saw the ships return to their world as the painting burned.
• Li Wei praised Katie for helping them, then told Princess Louise they should leave and discuss the aftermath later.

After completing the mission, Li Wei used piano music to soothe the soldiers and nobles traumatized by the monsters. The next morning, the Old Butler told him that the Queen had invited him to afternoon tea.

• Li Wei received an SSS mission rating, a lifespan reward, the Old Sign Blessing, and an upgrade to Soul Sight.
• Li Wei activated the blessing but realized it seemed to require a performance, so he played piano for the shaken soldiers and nobles.
• The music helped everyone recover, and Li Wei played two more pieces before the guests departed by airship and he returned home.
• The next morning, the Old Butler informed Li Wei that the Queen had invited him to afternoon tea.

Li Wei inspected the Royal Treasury, identified dangerous cursed objects and powerful equipment belonging to the Imperial Ancestors, and absorbed several Soul Fragments. When he returned home, Dr. Franco asked him to look after Kia while he joined Military Intelligence Section Seven to research mysterious artifacts.

• The Queen sent Li Wei to inspect the Royal Treasury and identify objects with unusual properties.
• Li Wei discovered that the Holy Lord Papacy’s crown, ring, scepter, and robe could intensify faith, and he identified other cursed objects and beneficial equipment once owned by the Imperial Ancestors.
• The Old Butler arranged for the harmful objects to be disposed of and the beneficial equipment to be preserved, while Li Wei absorbed seven or eight Soul Fragments from the treasury.
• Li Wei returned home and found Dr. Franco and Kia waiting for him.
• Dr. Franco told Li Wei that he would join Military Intelligence Section Seven to research mysterious artifacts and asked Li Wei to care for Kia.
• Li Wei agreed to let Kia stay with him and attend the Royal Academy of Medicine.

Kia moved into Li Wei's Tower and began building a Difference Engine workshop while Li Wei enjoyed a quiet stretch of days. The chapter ended when Kane delivered Li Wei an invitation to a banquet, leaving him suspicious of whoever had invited him.

• Li Wei introduced Kia to Alice and the Little Mermaid and arranged space for her Difference Engines and mechanical workshop.
• Kia explained that she was designing an encrypted punched-card reading mode to prevent faulty data from damaging Difference Engines.
• Li Wei learned that Corent had turned himself in for injuring Mobius, who chose not to pursue the matter.
• Matilda described a new romance story about an actor and actress whose love might be only a performance, and Li Wei worried her stories would inspire more criminals.
• When Li Wei returned from the Club, Kane gave him a banquet invitation, and Li Wei wondered who had such a death wish.