Chapter Summaries

After discovering that the Pink Lady stood above a hidden chapel marked with the All-Seeing Eye, Li Wei studied Golden Era myths and connected a vision he had seen to the Goddess of Night. That night, he dreamed he rescued a frightened woman from a supernatural attacker, then woke in the Clock Tower unsure what the dream meant.

• Li Wei learned that Lady Claytie had converted an abandoned building into the Pink Lady after discovering the underground chapel beneath it.
• Li Wei reread the Golden Era history and found an account describing the Goddess of Night, whose appearance resembled the figure he had seen.
• Li Wei could not determine why Lady Claytie had chosen the chapel or how the myths related to her conspiracy, and he went to bed without a clear plan.
• Li Wei awoke in a foggy street beneath a red moon and ran toward a woman's scream.
• Li Wei used Death's Eye to shoot a floating, masked attacker, which shattered and vanished; the rescued woman recognized him as Mr. Li Wei before disappearing as well.
• Li Wei woke in the Clock Tower and realized the strange encounter had been a dream.

Betty and Maggie witnessed Edwards fall to his death at the Royal Academy of Medicine, and Li Wei was called to investigate. He found signs that Edwards had been drained of blood and suspected a vampire, but the witnesses had seen nothing unusual.

• Betty told Maggie she had dreamed that Li Wei rescued her from a knife-wielding stranger in Fog City.
• A body fell from the roof of the Royal Academy of Medicine, and Betty and Maggie screamed when they saw it.
• Li Wei arrived and identified the victim as Edwards, Amelia's ex-boyfriend, whose bloodless body bore two small puncture wounds.
• Li Wei used Soul Sight but found no soul trails near Edwards's body.
• Li Wei questioned Betty and Maggie in the infirmary, but they could not recall anything unusual.
• Betty told Li Wei she believed he would catch the murderer.

Li Wei investigated Edwards's bloodless death and suspected it was connected to the organization behind Lady Claytie and the Courtesan Killer case. His inquiries revealed that multiple people remembered Edwards with a beautiful young woman but could not recall her appearance, leaving him convinced something was wrong.

• Li Wei considered whether Edwards had been killed by a vampire or by a device that drained his blood, and suspected the murder was staged to be discovered.
• Officer Fletcher brought Li Wei records showing Lady Claytie had bought several properties after her sons died, including the building that became the Pink Lady.
• Li Wei questioned a member of Edwards's research group, who recalled a beautiful young woman visiting Edwards but could not describe her appearance.
• Li Wei questioned one of Edwards's classmates, who likewise remembered the beautiful woman but could not recall what she looked like.
• Li Wei compared his notes and concluded that the witnesses' inability to remember the woman's appearance was suspicious.

Li Wei recruited Betty to report daily events at the Royal Academy of Medicine while he investigated the mysterious “pretty lady.” Officer Fletcher then reported that Edwards’s body had vanished, and Li Wei and Katie found a blood trail in the Police Station basement.

• Li Wei asked Betty to record academy news and rumors in daily letters, warning her not to investigate anything herself.
• Li Wei told Katie that witnesses could not describe the suspected “pretty lady” beyond saying she was beautiful.
• Officer Fletcher called Li Wei to report that Edwards’s body had disappeared during a final examination.
• Li Wei and Katie went to the Police Station, where they found an empty basement corridor and a long trail of blood.

Li Wei, Katie, and Officer Fletcher followed a trail of blood through the morgue and found a zombie eating a corpse. After the zombie was destroyed, an old man with a covert group ordered Li Wei to find and erase whoever caused the tragedy, then asked him to look after Katie.

• Li Wei, Katie, and Officer Fletcher followed the blood trail to the autopsy room, where they found a man eating a corpse.
• Li Wei shot the attacker, and Katie punched him back before Li Wei disabled his limbs with more gunfire.
• Li Wei told Officer Fletcher to contact Inspector Lestrade and arranged for others to learn about the zombie.
• Inspector Lestrade and an old man arrived with masked soldiers, who shot the zombie and burned it to ashes.
• The old man ordered Li Wei to find and erase the culprit, then asked him to look after Katie.

Li Wei learned that the Empire’s upper echelon wanted the supernatural culprit found and eliminated, then spent another exhausting night rescuing girls from a masked killer in his dreams. Erin recognized Li Wei’s description as the Courtesan Killer, giving him a possible lead.

• Li Wei concluded that Katie’s powerful family represented the Empire’s stance and welcomed their order to find and eliminate the culprit.
• Li Wei returned home after speaking with Inspector Lestrade, while Katie left with the old butler.
• Li Wei dreamed repeatedly of masked attacks across Fog City and automatically appeared to save hundreds of unfamiliar girls.
• Li Wei found no explanation for the dreams at the Underground Temple, and Katie said she had slept normally.
• Erin asked whether Li Wei was unwell, and she identified the masked killer he described as the Courtesan Killer.

Li Wei realized that people associated the Courtesan Killer with a terrifying masked figure, which explained why he kept fighting her in other people’s dreams. He went to the apartment where vampire victim Edwards had lived and discovered that Lady Claytie had owned the building, then began reading Edwards’s diary for clues.

• Erin described how the public imagined the Courtesan Killer, and Li Wei understood why dreamers kept calling for him to fight her.
• Li Wei decided to investigate the vampire case first after reading a newspaper report naming him as its lead investigator.
• Li Wei recognized Edwards’s apartment building on Chestnut Street as property Lady Claytie had purchased.
• Li Wei met Betty outside the building; she said she had come to visit her friend Maggie, who was not home.
• Li Wei used the key from Edwards’s body to enter his room, found his brain-transplant thesis, and began reading his diary.

Li Wei investigated Edwards's diary and traced his mysterious lover to a jewelry shop, where a ruby ring triggered a vision of a crimson moon and a clock tower. He left with a new clue about the woman and the ring's unexplained history.

• Li Wei found a diary entry about Edwards wanting to buy a ring his lover liked and decided to question nearby jewelry shops.
• Li Wei saw Maggie return home and realized she had lied about knowing Edwards, but chose not to confront her yet.
• At Moonlight Splendor Jewelers, a saleswoman recognized Edwards and recalled that he had first visited with a beautiful, elegant young woman.
• The saleswoman identified the ring the woman liked as Crimson Temptation and said the ring had remained unsold for a long time.
• Li Wei examined Crimson Temptation and briefly saw a deserted street beneath a crimson full moon, with a tall clock tower ahead.
• The saleswoman could not recall the woman's features or explain the ring's history, and Li Wei thanked her.

Li Wei investigated the second apparent vampire killing, the death of painter Rogers Blanco, but found no clear connection to the first victim. Betty's letter reported rumors of a beautiful female vampire targeting handsome men, leaving Li Wei wondering whether the story was aimed at him.

• Li Wei read that Rogers Blanco had been found dead, and Inspector Lestrade called him to investigate the scene.
• Li Wei questioned the household servants and learned Rogers had returned from the Gold and Elephant Bar after meeting a beautiful woman.
• Li Wei examined Rogers's body and bedroom, finding two small holes in his neck but no other evidence of an intruder.
• Li Wei questioned bar staff and Rogers's acquaintances, who confirmed he had left with a beautiful woman but could not identify her.
• Li Wei returned home without finding a link between Rogers and Edwards, then read Betty's warning about rumors of a female vampire preying on handsome men.

Li Wei investigated Rogers’s transformation into a vampire and suspected the vampire rumors were part of a reality-distorting ritual aimed at killing him. At the theater, he encountered a mysterious woman whose supernatural attack was repelled by Katie’s All-Seeing Eye badge, then left with new evidence about its power.

• Rogers rose from the morgue as a vampire, attacked Inspector Lestrade, and was burned to ashes by the soldiers.
• Li Wei rejected a curfew and theorized that rumors about the Courtesan Killer and vampires gained power as people added details to their stories.
• Li Wei suspected his enemy had invented a vampire who hunted handsome men to target him and arranged to confront the creature at a theater.
• A mysterious woman lured Li Wei into a room and embraced him, dulling his awareness as she reached toward his pocket.
• Li Wei’s All-Seeing Eye badge burned the woman, and she vanished while the theater audience applauded the play.

Li Wei confronted Maggie in a dream and learned that Betty had given her the power behind the murders. Betty revealed herself as the mastermind and attacked Li Wei alongside Maggie, leaving their fight underway.

• Maggie wandered the streets, weakened by her thirst for blood, and ran into Li Wei, who revealed he had seen through her glamour in the dream.
• Maggie admitted she had taken power to win attention and said she had to drink blood, but she could not identify the person who gave it to her.
• Betty attacked Maggie from above, and Li Wei shot the dark shape before Betty appeared with blood-red eyes.
• Betty mocked Maggie and confessed she had wanted to remain Li Wei's assistant while growing closer to him.
• As Li Wei aimed his revolver at Betty, Maggie lunged at him and Betty leaped from the streetlamp to attack.

Li Wei confronted Betty and learned that she and her allies sought to become gods, then revealed that he had lured her and Maggie into a trap with Katie and armed soldiers. Betty’s transformation began after Li Wei made her doubt her great one, and she merged with Maggie into a batlike monster that attacked him.

• Li Wei used Death's Eye to shoot Betty and Maggie, then fled through the alleys until Betty and Maggie cornered him.
• Betty explained that she believed history’s returning tides would restore her kind’s former glory, and she offered to make Li Wei her thrall.
• After Betty attacked, Katie struck Maggie while soldiers with searchlights and flamethrowers surrounded the alley, revealing that Li Wei had planned an ambush.
• Li Wei told Betty that her great one had likely killed Lady Claytie, making Betty question what her teacher had told her.
• Betty screamed as her body and Maggie’s dissolved and fused into a batlike monster, which lunged at Li Wei.

Li Wei and Katie defeated the bat monster, and the police traced the vampire incidents to the missing Professor Franz Rebecca. Li Wei wrote up his theory that the enemy controlled people through dreams, while Katie showed him the newspaper celebrating him as a hero.

• Li Wei and Katie used fuel tanks and gunfire to set the bat monster ablaze and kill it.
• The police found that Professor Franz Rebecca had disappeared, led an Occult Research Society that included Betty, and had ties to Lady Claytie, so they issued a warrant for him.
• Li Wei wrote a case report for the elderly butler and explained to Katie his theory that beliefs could shape what happened inside dreams.
• Katie showed Li Wei a newspaper praising him as the detective who defeated the nightmare, and he worried that his growing fame would bring more trouble.

After solving the vampire murders, Li Wei chose Shadow Movement as his reward and learned that the royal household had created Military Intelligence Section Seven to investigate supernatural cases. He reported to its new front organization, the Mystery Explorers Editorial Department, where the old butler introduced the team that would investigate and publish accounts of mysterious incidents.

• Li Wei reviewed his mission rewards, chose Shadow Movement over Bloodlust and Sonic Attack, and learned that it let him travel through connected shadows for up to ten meters at a steep lifespan cost.
• Li Wei learned that Franz Rebecca remained at large and that the authorities had established Military Intelligence Section Seven, with Inspector Lestrade as its representative at the Police Station.
• Li Wei arrived at a shabby building and discovered that Military Intelligence Section Seven operated through the Mystery Explorers Editorial Department, which planned to publish reports on mysterious incidents.
• The old butler explained that Li Wei would investigate reader-submitted cases while the newspaper used its authority to screen and control rumors.
• The old butler introduced Benjamin Thomson, Richard Scott, and Windsor Herson, who would contribute weapons expertise, historical research, and psychological analysis and help prepare cases for publication.

Li Wei visited the authorities’ secret base beneath the editorial office, where Benjamin Thomson showed him the command center and introduced him to new weapons for investigating supernatural threats. Li Wei left with experimental ammunition and a disguised rifle cane, ready to test them in the field.

• Li Wei agreed with the department’s plan to monitor rumors through the editorial office and send investigation teams to investigate possible supernatural incidents.
• Benjamin Thomson guided Li Wei through the guarded command center and showed him Difference Engine Number Thirteen, Contemplation.
• Benjamin took Li Wei’s revolver and prepared special ammunition for it, including phosphorus Hellfire rounds, mercury-filled Ashen Curse rounds, and silver bullets.
• Li Wei named his revolver the Persuader and fired a Hellfire round at a humanoid target, setting it ablaze.
• Benjamin gave Li Wei a silver cane that transformed into a scoped bolt-action rifle with armor-piercing ammunition and a detachable bayonet.

Li Wei discussed Mr. Richard’s theory that rumors and the human subconscious could give legendary beings power, and warned that such entities might soon appear in reality. Before leaving, he proposed using fabricated rumors to help track Professor Franz.

• Li Wei joined Mr. Richard and Ms. Windsor as they debated whether the Empire could create heroes by linking people to figures in public consciousness.
• Ms. Windsor and Li Wei warned that any such hero could be dangerous and difficult to control, while Mr. Richard speculated that legendary creatures might appear without anyone directing the process.
• Li Wei discussed the Luddites’ fears of industrialization with Mr. Richard and Ms. Windsor, then left with their advice about the threats he might face.
• Mr. Richard asked Li Wei for more details for Professor Franz’s wanted notice, and Li Wei wrote a list of fabricated identifying traits and illnesses.
• Li Wei proposed spreading rumors about Franz so that the rumor-spreader would experience the same tactic himself.

Li Wei was assigned to investigate a haunted house after a team sent to examine it vanished. He and Katie traveled to the Knights' Quarter, where Li Wei decided to seek clues at a nearby tavern.

• Li Wei left Richard and Lady Windsor after revealing his plan to ruin Franz's reputation.
• The royal family launched The Explorer, whose popular stories and reader letters led to investigations of strange incidents.
• Li Wei and Katie set out after an investigation team failed to report back or return from the House of Death.
• Li Wei reviewed the haunted house's history and noted that the missing team had likely entered without proper preparation.
• Li Wei ordered the carriage to take them to a nearby tavern to begin their investigation.

Li Wei investigated the rumors surrounding the House of Death by gathering stories at a tavern and finding a laundress whose grandmother had worked for its first owner. The old woman agreed to tell him what she knew, and her account was about to begin.

• Li Wei bought drinks for the tavern patrons and introduced himself as a detective investigating the House of Death.
• The patrons told stories about the mansion’s later owners, including suicides, murders, and a family that vanished without a trace, while Katie recorded their accounts.
• A laundress offered to take Li Wei to her grandmother, who had worked at the house when it was first built.
• Li Wei questioned the old woman about the house’s origins, and she agreed to share her secrets.

An old woman recounted how servants and members of the Lancaster family vanished from Black Cedar Manor, leaving her as the sole survivor. After hearing her story, Li Wei and Katie discovered the old woman and the laundry worker had both become dolls, and Li Wei proposed burning down the house.

• The old woman told Li Wei and Katie that Annie vanished after the young master summoned her, and coachman Darren disappeared soon afterward.
• The old woman described how the Lancaster family and servants gradually vanished while their voices and routines continued inside the manor.
• The old woman said she fled after seeing the missing family and servants gathered behind the young master, and she never learned what happened to them.
• Li Wei pulled back the curtain and found an old-woman-shaped doll in the bed; when Katie looked again, the doll had disappeared.
• Li Wei and Katie found the laundry worker replaced by a doll with shillings in its hands, and Li Wei suggested setting the house on fire.

Li Wei proposed formal investigation procedures and a team to investigate the dangerous House of Death, but the old butler required evidence before approving any large-scale destruction. Two days later, Li Wei met the assembled joint-operation team and learned it included Katie, Anthony Blount, Henry Custer, and Elizabeth Delaney of the Pure Rite Sect.

• Li Wei asked the old butler to burn down the House of Death, but the old butler refused because they lacked evidence and the house still had an owner.
• Li Wei requested a team and presented procedures for assessing supernatural threats, using rumors and recorded deaths to determine danger and needed reinforcements.
• The old butler agreed to assemble a team and asked Li Wei to wait two days so they could prepare evidence for cooperation from other departments.
• Two days later, Li Wei returned to Military Intelligence Section Seven and greeted Katie, Anthony Blount, Henry Custer, and Elizabeth Delaney.
• Li Wei recognized Elizabeth as a member of the Pure Rite Sect and realized the investigation would be a joint operation between departments.