Chapter Summaries

Li Wei, Katie, and Elizabeth entered the fog-bound town of Miropes, where they found it deserted and crowded with churches. In one church, they discovered a mural depicting a robed man and Holy Knights facing winged, red-eyed creatures, and Li Wei asked Elizabeth whether demons really existed.

• Li Wei tested the fog and found that it allowed them to enter but prevented them from leaving.
• As they walked, Elizabeth explained that her Church work involved investigating supernatural claims, most of which had turned out to be hoaxes.
• Li Wei, Katie, and Elizabeth reached Miropes and found no people or sounds, while Li Wei counted more than a dozen churches in the small town.
• Katie broke open a church's barred doors, and Li Wei found candles burning inside despite the apparent absence of anyone there.
• Li Wei showed Elizabeth and Katie a mural of Holy Knights and a robed man confronting winged, red-eyed creatures, then asked Elizabeth whether demons existed.

Li Wei, Sister Elizabeth, and Katie studied church murals that told of guardian knights settling the town after defeating demons in a mountain cave. While spending the night in the thirteenth church, Li Wei noticed inconsistencies in the final mural and suspected the town’s history concealed something.

• Sister Elizabeth explained that the murals’ demons likely represented dangers rather than literal demonic manifestations.
• Li Wei, Sister Elizabeth, and Katie visited the town’s churches and pieced together a story of guardian knights defeating a threat from the mountain and settling the area.
• The three rested in the thirteenth church before planning to climb to the Monastery the next morning.
• Li Wei examined the thirteen churches’ murals and noticed that the final scene showed all thirteen people entering and leaving the cave unharmed, despite earlier depictions of casualties.
• Li Wei connected the thirteen knights and priest with the town’s thirteen churches and felt that the mural’s account was suspicious.

Elizabeth faced an illusion in which a crowd of dead-looking acquaintances and a demonic voice tried to break her faith, while Li Wei and Katie were missing. Li Wei discovered the All-Seeing Eye was attacking Elizabeth, and Katie destroyed it, leaving Elizabeth unconscious.

• Elizabeth found herself alone in a dark Church surrounded by pale, corpse-like people she knew.
• The crowd and an eerie voice threatened Elizabeth, but she resisted by continuing to pray.
• Elizabeth experienced a demonic illusion of Li Wei embracing her while the real Li Wei saw the All-Seeing Eye's red light enveloping her through Soul Sight.
• Li Wei shot the All-Seeing Eye, and Katie hurled a pew at it, smashing it and ending the red light.
• Elizabeth collapsed, and Li Wei confirmed she was alive while Katie ran over to check on her.

Elizabeth recovered from a demon-like hallucination, and Li Wei used the church’s unregistered status and suspicious murals to argue that the settlement was a cult stronghold. The three set out to examine the remains believed to lie beneath its thirteen churches.

• Katie woke Elizabeth by slapping her, and Elizabeth said she had been attacked by a demon through a hallucination.
• Elizabeth explained that demons used hallucinations to attack faith, while Li Wei said he could not verify her experience but believed something was wrong with the place.
• Li Wei pointed out that the monastery and thirteen churches were absent from Holy Lord Church records, raising doubts about the clergy and their teachings.
• Li Wei noted that all thirteen knights entered the demons’ lair and returned, then connected the thirteen figures in the mural to the thirteen churches built afterward.
• Li Wei proposed searching the churches for the knights’ remains, and Elizabeth and Katie agreed to go with him.

Li Wei and his companions opened the sealed coffin in the Underground Catacombs and learned that a demon had possessed a priest, using him to channel the churchgoers’ faith and build an army. After Li Wei destroyed the priest, a scream sounded outside, and the group prepared to move.

• Li Wei had Katie break the chains and lock sealing the upside-down coffin, despite Elizabeth’s warning that it might be a dangerous seal.
• The coffin contained the priest from the mural, who woke and asked for help in Ancient Golden Language.
• Elizabeth translated the priest’s account: a demon had possessed him and the dead knights, then built churches to channel villagers’ faith and enslave their souls.
• The priest told Li Wei that the demon needed a compatible vessel, potentially a medium, to escape and manifest in the world.
• After the priest warned that the demon knew they were there, a scream sounded outside, and Li Wei shot him, reducing his body to dust.
• Li Wei said they knew how to deal with the threat and ordered Katie and Elizabeth to get ready to move.

Li Wei and his allies fought the undead army controlled from the mountain, while he used the Grim Reaper Doll and an artillery strike to destroy the attackers. With the town’s fog cleared, Li Wei prepared to confront the mastermind behind the attack.

• Li Wei spotted crimson spirit threads controlling the undead and told Katie to protect Elizabeth while he fought.
• Li Wei sent the Grim Reaper Doll to cut through the Skeleton Monsters, while Katie smashed others with a bench.
• Li Wei ordered Eye of the Sky to bombard the square after grotesque Knights from the other churches arrived.
• The artillery destroyed the undead army and Knights, and the fog over the town dispersed.
• Li Wei ordered Lieutenant Horn to have Henry bring the assault team down for the coming confrontation.

Li Wei prepared to assault the Monastery and used a Doll Bird and Little Sprite to scout it. He discovered a hall of grotesque deaths and found Susie, the supposedly dead medium, alive in a secret chamber swallowing blood.

• Li Wei told Henry and the others that the town was sealed off and argued they had to attack the Monastery without waiting for the Papacy.
• Li Wei asked Elizabeth to organize what she knew about exorcism, then sent Katie to rest.
• Li Wei controlled a Doll Bird to scout the Monastery and sent a Twin-Tailed Pixie through a vent.
• Li Wei saw a blood-soaked hall where people were dead or behaving deliriously, and watched a nun cut out her own heart before melting into the blood.
• Li Wei guided the Little Sprite through a drain and discovered Susie kneeling in a secret chamber and swallowing the blood.

Li Wei learned how the Church’s exorcism ritual worked and decided that destroying the demon’s physical host was the safest approach. At sunrise, he bombed the Monastery and left it as a crater, then ordered his crew to go inspect the ruins.

• Li Wei recognized the missing Susie as a demonically possessed woman whose soul was turning red, and the Exorcism quest activated.
• Elizabeth explained the exorcism ritual, and Li Wei concluded that they could skip its tests and destroy the demon’s physical body before it completed its transformation.
• Li Wei ordered Lieutenant Horn to prepare ammunition and bombs, and the crew set out at sunrise.
• The demon waited inside the Monastery, unaware that Little Sprites had placed explosives throughout its cave.
• The bombs destroyed the Monastery, and Li Wei ordered his crew to go down and inspect the crater.

Li Wei and Elizabeth destroyed the demon possessing a young woman after uncovering how it had manipulated her and her companions. Li Wei completed the quest and received a major lifespan reward, then had to choose between two powerful Puppeteer specializations.

• Li Wei’s Steam Mech Troopers uncovered the demon’s half-head, and Elizabeth used holy water to force it to reveal what happened to the woman and her companions.
• The demon confessed that it had manipulated the woman’s companions into betraying her, then killed them at her request after possessing her.
• Elizabeth recited the Holy Scripture while Li Wei used [Reality Anchoring] to destroy the demon, then ordered the site burned.
• Li Wei received an SSS quest rating and a lifespan reward of 1,500 days, more than the 500 days he had spent using [Reality Anchoring].
• Li Wei’s Puppeteer skill reached level 10, and he weighed the choice between [Soul Legion] and [Infinite Control].

Li Wei chose [Infinite Control] and reported the Demon’s destruction, then discussed Susie’s reward and the Empire’s wartime situation with the Old Butler. He accepted an invitation to meet Military Intelligence Section Seven members who had partnered with fantasy species.

• Li Wei chose [Infinite Control] and explained how he could use [Shifting Positions] to move containers filled with Dolls, extending the skill’s usefulness beyond its ten-Doll limit.
• Li Wei reported the Demon’s destruction to the Old Butler and requested a death benefit for Susie, arguing that her actions had helped expose and destroy the Demon.
• Li Wei told the Old Butler to circulate the three dead investigators’ reports and instruct other squads to write clear, useful reports.
• The Old Butler told Li Wei that Francis had reclaimed territory from the Kingdom of Kront, Delai Port was being rebuilt as a deepwater port, and the Rothfield Family had been punished after the port’s destruction.
• The Old Butler reported that agents had recruited fantasy species, and Li Wei agreed to attend a meeting with squad members who had formed contracts with them.

Lydia Derricks traveled to the Red Moon Inn to represent Military Intelligence Section Seven at a gathering of people connected to mysterious creatures. She met the other attendees and was astonished when Li Wei arrived, his presence carrying the scent of pureblood dragon blood.

• Lydia worried that she was unqualified to attend the gathering, while the White Cat Fairy encouraged her and explained that the other attendees might have varied personalities.
• At the Red Moon Inn, Polk Bantry introduced himself and his fairy, Pixie, and welcomed Lydia inside, where a fortune-teller and a scarred man with a coffin were already waiting.
• The White Cat Fairy sensed that the fortune-teller carried a sinister aura, while judging Polk and the scarred man to be relatively harmless.
• More attendees arrived, including a boy with a doll, a kindly old man, and a woman with a Treasure Sniffer, as Lydia learned that Li Wei was expected.
• Li Wei entered the inn, and the White Cat Fairy recognized the powerful scent of pureblood dragon blood, confirming to Lydia that he had truly slain a dragon.

Li Wei assembled supernatural investigators from across the Empire and warned them that foreign spies were likely carrying out supernatural operations around Fog City. He arranged for them to draw lots to form teams before they departed the next day.

• Li Wei surveyed the eight investigators and recalled how they and their supernatural partners had joined the investigation teams.
• Li Wei told the group that supernatural incidents around Fog City likely indicated operations against the Empire by foreign spies.
• The investigators accepted Li Wei’s call to serve and asked when their cases would begin.
• Li Wei said they would rest that night, depart the next day, and draw lots to form teams.
• The investigators stood up to take part in the draw.

Li Wei uncovered a Holy Lord Church operation near Fog City and led a supernatural team with soldiers to attack one of its hidden sites. The group approached a ruined monastery, where robed priests and armored knights gathered, and Li Wei prepared to launch a surprise assault.

• Anthony learned from a captured spy that the Holy Lord Church had trained him in a Cathedral in Francis, and his informants discovered a planned operation near Fog City.
• Li Wei used the Eye of the Sky to find three concentrations of red aura at abandoned churches and monasteries, then divided his forces to investigate them.
• Li Wei kept Katie in reserve and led Lydia, Mores, a supernatural creature, and a platoon toward the mountaintop monastery.
• The White Cat Fairy sensed a strange smell of metal, blood, rust, and wailing souls near the monastery and warned Lydia to be careful.
• Li Wei spotted priests praying inside the ruined monastery with Holy Knights nearby, then ordered Mores to accompany him and told the soldiers to fire mortars at his signal.

Li Wei and Mores attacked a Monastery where priests were using Soul Shackles to suppress a golden soul inside a Gemstone, then fought the Holy Knights guarding the ritual. They killed several knights with explosives and gunfire, but still needed to capture some alive.

• Li Wei used Soul Sight to discover red auras feeding through the Soul Shackles and suppressing the Gemstone's golden soul.
• Li Wei sent a Twin-Tailed Pixie to distract a knight, then used it to deploy a Flashbang before bombarding the Monastery with mortar shells.
• Li Wei and Mores confronted the surviving Holy Knights, who charged through a barrage of machine-gun fire behind their shields.
• Li Wei detonated Anti-Armor Mines beneath the knights, destroying their shields and damaging their armor.
• Li Wei killed a knight with a bullet that curved into his eye, while Mores froze another knight and shot him at close range.
• Li Wei concluded they could handle the remaining knights but reminded Mores that they needed to capture some alive.

Li Wei investigated the Holy Knights and the ruined Monastery after defeating the attackers, uncovering signs that the Holy Lord Church had transformed them and that the group had taken a mysterious gem from the ruins. He ordered other gems found at the attack sites brought to him for examination, while Lydia began considering whether she could learn to investigate like him.

• Li Wei captured two Holy Knights alive with tranquilizer darts and discovered their bodies were red, scaled, and inhuman; the White Cat Fairy suggested a curse might explain their appearance.
• Mores recognized the writing inside the knights' armor as the same runes used on the altar where the Holy Lord Church killed his wife.
• Li Wei found that the Monastery's priests had poisoned themselves and observed that the undamaged gem had lost its red aura after their deaths.
• A soldier led Li Wei to the attackers' nearby camp, where Li Wei deduced that they had come to the Monastery to retrieve the gem.
• Li Wei learned from Katie that teams at the other sites had also found gems, and he ordered all three brought to him rather than taken to Fog City.
• Lydia admired Li Wei's careful investigation and considered learning to follow his example so she could contribute more to the team.

Li Wei investigated the ruined Monastery, where Sniff uncovered a sealed cylinder bearing the Royal Family’s emblem, while three mysterious gems were prepared for transport. After the Old Butler took the gems toward a Royal Family storage vault, Li Wei led the teams to inspect another scene.

• Li Wei questioned the battered Team B, reprimanded Miss Carly about responsibility, and learned that Pixie had kept everyone alive.
• Mrs. Castin gave Li Wei a letter written in Ancient Golden Language, and he tested Sniff by asking it to find what mattered most to the Monastery.
• Sniff retrieved an old cylinder from the Monastery ruins, and Li Wei recognized the Royal Family’s seal on its wax seal.
• The Old Butler confirmed that the cylinder was an Imperial House edict that only the Queen might be authorized to read, and Li Wei suspected it was connected to the gems.
• The Old Butler arranged to move the three gems to a Royal Family storage vault outside Fog City, and Li Wei led the teams to another scene.

Li Wei reconstructed the forest ambush from footprints, showing that Ruth’s instincts had saved the group and that both she and Carter had made mistakes. After Lydia finished her report, she asked if she could go see Li Wei, hoping to learn from his detective skills.

• Li Wei followed footprints to the clearing and found evidence that five knights had prepared an ambush around Polk, Carter, and Ruth.
• Li Wei explained that Ruth’s sudden attack had saved the group, while her inability to explain her instincts and Carter’s wasted time had caused problems; he ordered both to write statements of contrition.
• Li Wei searched two churches with the Treasure Sniffer but found no more scrolls, then everyone returned to the Red Moon Inn.
• Lydia told the White Cat Fairy that she wanted to learn Li Wei’s investigative methods so she could help her companions avoid misunderstandings.
• Lydia finished her individual report the next morning, submitted it to the Seventh Office investigator, and asked whether she could go see Li Wei.

Li Wei turned away a scholar seeking to test a new forensic technique on a major case, then heard Baron Harbort Hanklis describe a man he had shot whose body only Hanklis could see. Li Wei agreed to investigate the strange case, unsure whether the baron was hallucinating or something else was happening.

• Li Wei explained to a scholar that new forensic techniques had to be tested on minor cases before courts could accept them.
• Erin told Li Wei that Baron Harbort Hanklis wanted to discuss a case, and Li Wei agreed to see him.
• Hanklis told Li Wei that he had shot a masked stranger who attacked him, but his family, servants, and police could neither see nor feel the body.
• Hanklis said he had carried the body to a ravine, only for it to reappear in his sitting room in the same position.
• Li Wei questioned whether Hanklis was hallucinating and decided the case was worth investigating.

Li Wei considered Baron Hanklis’s strange corpse sighting and discussed how supernatural creatures should be organized, then agreed to help Lydia Dericks study criminal investigation. The story ended with a call informing Li Wei that Baron Hanklis had died.

• Li Wei and Erin discussed whether Baron Hanklis had hallucinated seeing a corpse and its servants avoid it, and Li Wei advised him to see a doctor before investigating.
• Li Wei reflected that supernatural creature owners should work alongside trained agents rather than be forced into military-style training.
• Lydia Dericks asked Li Wei to teach her detective work, and he offered her a letter of introduction to the Royal Academy of Medicine.
• Li Wei spent the following days in the Tower with Alice, Sophia, and the others until he received a call saying Baron Hanklis had died.

Li Wei investigated the mysterious shooting death of Baron Hanklis, whose apparent delusions and invisible attackers left no supernatural traces. At Baron Hanklis's home, Li Wei was startled to meet Baron Harbort Hanklis alive.

• Lestrade told Li Wei that Baron Hanklis had claimed to see a person only he could see, and a doctor had recorded strange delusions about a brother at war who did not exist.
• Li Wei learned Baron Hanklis had been shot three times in a restaurant, though witnesses saw no attackers and heard no gunshots; the bullets were standard-issue Cront rifle rounds.
• Li Wei examined the body and restaurant, questioning a waiter who recalled Baron Hanklis staring at the entrance, raising his hands, and collapsing.
• Li Wei traveled to Baron Hanklis's home to investigate the earlier attack the baron had described.
• Baron Harbort Hanklis entered the sitting room and greeted Li Wei, appearing alive despite the reported death.