Chapter Summaries

Military Intelligence Section Seven investigated the manor and its underground ruins, where Richard identified the site as a First Age temple and discussed its connection to Emperor Arthur. The witnesses offered no suspicious clues, leaving the dead manager as the main lead as Li Wei returned to his room to check his system rewards.

• Military Intelligence Section Seven searched the manor, and Li Wei showed Benjamin the battle damage while they discussed improving his weapon and using silver bullets.
• Richard told Li Wei that the oversized ruins were likely a First Age temple honoring Emperor Arthur and his knights, and shared theories about the vanished Golden City.
• Ms. Windsor reported that the family and staff seemed truthful, while the manager was the only suspicious person and Inspector Lestrade had gone to investigate his identity.
• Li Wei returned to his room and opened the system to collect his rewards.

After completing the mission, Li Wei claimed his rewards, upgraded [Puppeteer] to LV2, and received a soul fragment. Back in Fog City, he learned from Inspector Lestrade that the inn manager, Alexander Bratton, had died three years earlier.

• Li Wei earned an SSS mission rating and received lifespan, a skill-level increase, and other rewards.
• Li Wei used the skill-level reward to raise [Puppeteer] to LV2, increasing his control range and the number of Dolls he could control.
• The system randomly raised Li Wei's hand-to-hand combat skill to Level 2, flooding him with knowledge of dirty fighting techniques.
• Li Wei received a soul fragment and wondered whether it belonged to the ghost knight or the red speck he had seen inside its head.
• Li Wei returned to Fog City, and Inspector Lestrade called the next morning to report that the inn manager, Alexander Bratton, had died three years earlier.

Li Wei advised Inspector Lestrade to turn public interest in fingerprint evidence into a dedicated scientific crime-solving team. Lestrade agreed to begin setting it up, then remembered he had come to see Li Wei about Alexander.

• Erin showed Li Wei a mechanical bird that transformed into a top hat, and Li Wei praised her handiwork.
• Inspector Lestrade told Li Wei that a fingerprint-based theft investigation had stirred public debate and frustrated the police.
• Li Wei argued that scientific methods could improve investigations and proposed a specialized unit working with the Royal Academy of Medicine.
• Li Wei revealed that the unit could also help Military Intelligence Section Seven identify cases requiring unscientific methods.
• Inspector Lestrade agreed to organize the unit, then stepped back out of the Elevator to say he had come to discuss Alexander.

Li Wei and Inspector Lestrade discovered that Alexander the Immortal, Doctor Dolittle, and Betty had all attended the same church, raising suspicion that the Holy Lord Church was connected to the cases. Li Wei’s team secretly dug up Alexander’s grave and found the coffin empty.

• Inspector Lestrade told Li Wei that Alexander had survived a lightning strike and a shipwreck, earning the nickname Alexander the Immortal, and that he had been a devout churchgoer.
• Li Wei asked Inspector Lestrade to investigate which churches Alexander, Doctor Dolittle, and Betty attended and where Alexander was buried.
• Inspector Lestrade found that Alexander, Doctor Dolittle, and Betty had frequented the same church, and that Doctor Dolittle and Mrs. Durex were buried in its cemetery.
• Li Wei, Henry, Anthony, and Katie secretly went to the Church Cemetery at night to investigate Alexander’s grave without alerting the Holy Lord Church.
• Katie helped Henry dig up Alexander’s grave, and Li Wei’s team found the coffin empty.

Li Wei and his companions investigated Alexander’s empty grave and suspected that someone had controlled him before his death and return. They broke into the church to search for evidence, where Li Wei saw a mysterious woman point toward the ground and decided to explore the catacombs.

• Katie found Alexander’s coffin empty, and Li Wei concluded that Alexander might have been brought back against his will by Mysterious Figure X.
• Li Wei recommended cremating Alexander’s body, and Henry closed and refilled the grave while Anthony joked with him.
• Anthony proposed searching the Holy Lord Church, and Li Wei agreed that its links to their other cases made it worth investigating.
• Anthony picked the church’s lock, and the four companions entered the building while Li Wei wondered whether widespread religious belief could create a Holy Lord.
• Li Wei saw a black-robed woman floating beneath the All-Seeing Eye and pointing at the ground, but she vanished before Katie could see her.
• After Li Wei learned that Anthony and Henry planned to search the bishop’s room, he chose to investigate the catacombs with Katie.

Li Wei and Katie followed fresh footprints through the church catacombs and found a ritual chamber containing a model of the Imperial Bridge. As someone approached, Li Wei had to decide what to do with the suspicious object.

• Li Wei used the Black Cat Doll to open the catacombs entrance and led Katie inside, following fresh footprints made by at least four people.
• Li Wei and Katie passed through increasingly crowded burial chambers, and Li Wei spotted a faint red glow with Soul Sight.
• Li Wei found a freshly excavated chamber with an altar, magic circles, candles, and a glass-covered architectural model.
• Katie recognized the model as the Imperial Bridge, which its architect had once displayed publicly.
• The Black Cat Doll detected approaching footsteps, and a glowing dot appeared on Li Wei's minimap.

Li Wei and Katie discovered four masked church members conducting a ritual around a model of the Imperial Bridge, and Li Wei identified their leader as the culprit behind Mrs. Durex’s murder. Unable to arrest them without evidence, Li Wei gave Katie the model and left the investigation focused on Bishop Raphael and the group’s plans.

• Li Wei and Katie hid in a burial niche and watched four white-robed figures chant around the Imperial Bridge model.
• The robed figures discussed four destroyed nodes, their plan, and their intention to deal with an irritating enemy after their mission; their leader suffered severe pain and insisted he was not sick.
• Li Wei used [Soul Sight] to confirm that the leader was connected to Mrs. Durex’s ashes and recognized him as the suspected Mr. X.
• Katie identified the leader’s voice as Bishop Raphael’s, prompting Li Wei to wonder whether Raphael was also Professor Franz and whether Francis was involved.
• Li Wei linked the four destroyed nodes to cases he had solved, saw a hazy red glow in the model, and gave it to Katie to take home.

Li Wei reported evidence linking Bishop Raphael and the Holy Lord Church to the recent cases, and Military Intelligence Section Seven sent the Royal Guard to arrest the bishop. Raphael resisted with newfound strength, and bullets struck him only to release white feathers.

• Li Wei told the old butler that Katie had identified Bishop Raphael and asked him to investigate Raphael’s arrival and his possible identity as Professor Franz.
• Li Wei and the old butler discussed evidence Anthony had found connecting the Holy Lord Church to the cases, then the old butler received a call and ordered the operation to proceed.
• Bishop Raphael returned to his quarters suffering from physical and mental effects he blamed on Li Wei’s wanted notice, then went to prepare the cathedral for worship.
• The Royal Guard arrived at the cathedral to arrest Bishop Raphael and the others over their suspected involvement in the Fog City cases.
• Raphael shoved a guardsman with unexpected force, declared the cathedral his Lord’s sanctuary, and stood unharmed as bullets struck him and burst into white feathers.

Li Wei watched Bishop Raphael’s feather curse infect the church and helped the Royal Guard contain the transformed monsters with fire. After setting the church ablaze and apparently killing Raphael, Li Wei discovered that the quest to find the hidden danger at the Imperial Bridge had not progressed.

• Li Wei observed Bishop Raphael transform people touched by his feathers into Feather Monsters, while the Royal Guard captain ordered his soldiers to retreat.
• A priest seized the captain and tried to force him to accept the feathers, but Li Wei’s shots set the leading Feather Monsters ablaze and let the captain escape.
• Li Wei ordered the Royal Guard to seal the exits and burn anything that left the church, then used [Death's Eye] to fire five rounds at Bishop Raphael.
• Li Wei’s explosive and incendiary rounds ignited Raphael and the drifting feathers, causing a blaze that engulfed the church.
• Li Wei checked his quest bar and saw that the objective to find the hidden danger at the Imperial Bridge had not changed.

Li Wei explained that Bishop Raphael had transformed according to the clergy’s understanding of angels, then investigated the Imperial Bridge for supernatural danger. He found no leads or signs of anything unusual, leaving the bridge’s risks unresolved ahead of its opening in three days.

• Li Wei told the group that Bishop Raphael had transformed into an angel as clergy imagined one, and Elizabeth explained that the Church’s angels differed from the public’s beautiful image.
• The old butler asked Li Wei about the Imperial Bridge, whose opening ceremony the Queen would attend in three days, and Li Wei reported that the investigation had found no useful leads.
• Li Wei and the others went to the Imperial Bridge, where its builder described the security checks and safeguards against sabotage.
• Li Wei searched the bridge with [Soul Sight] and his Doll bird and Doll cat but found nothing unusual, so he decided to return and pursue other leads.

Li Wei struggled to find a lead in the Imperial Bridge case while the queen insisted on attending the bridge’s opening ceremony. After hearing children sing a game about the Imperial Bridge collapsing, he recognized a clue and began taking notes.

• Li Wei found no useful leads about the Imperial Bridge, while the bridge model’s red glow continued to take shape in Military Intelligence Section Seven’s vault.
• The queen invited the Holy Lord Church’s Archbishop to the opening ceremony, and she refused Li Wei’s suggestion that she stay away.
• Li Wei reviewed rumors about the bridge, then went for a walk and rested in a park.
• A group of children played a game called the Imperial Bridge game and sang a rhyme about the bridge falling down.
• Li Wei questioned the children about their game, asked them to sing again, and realized he had found the loose end of the case.

Li Wei and Military Intelligence Section Seven connected a children’s game to the Imperial Bridge’s opening ceremony and rehearsed the queen’s planned passage to discover how the threat would work. As the bridge decks suddenly crashed into the river, Li Wei plunged into the water with Katie.

• Li Wei explained that a children’s game and its lyrics appeared to predict the Imperial Bridge ceremony, and the team realized the game might target the queen aboard the Throne Blade.
• Li Wei concluded that they could not change the announced ceremony in time, so he arranged a rehearsal with Katie standing in for the queen and carrying the model.
• Li Wei and Katie traveled under the rising Imperial Bridge at night while Henry followed in another boat and Anthony coordinated from the bridge.
• Anthony warned Li Wei over the radio just as the steamboat reached the bridge’s center, and Li Wei grabbed Katie and plunged with her into the river.
• The bridge decks abruptly dropped and slammed into the river.

After the Imperial Bridge collapsed into the river, Li Wei and Katie found themselves on a fog-shrouded, living version of the bridge. Using the model to manipulate the bridge, Li Wei turned its towers against each other and led Katie inside to reach their glowing targets.

• The Imperial Bridge lost pressure and crashed into the river, while Anthony rushed out to search for Li Wei and Katie.
• Li Wei and Katie were pulled underwater, then suddenly thrown onto a foggy version of the bridge where its towers came alive.
• Li Wei used the bridge model to redirect the towers’ attacks and tangle their arms together.
• Li Wei spotted glowing red points inside the towers and ran with Katie toward the archway to attack them.
• Li Wei led Katie up the tower’s emergency stairs, where Katie punched away a giant gear and offered to handle the next obstacle.

Li Wei and Katie destroyed the living defenses in one bridge tower, then smashed the other tower by controlling the bridge and escaped through the river. Back in the Control Room, they uncovered young children’s skulls hidden inside the tower wall, and Li Wei ordered the remains buried and the opposite tower searched.

• Li Wei and Katie fought through screaming animated objects and reached the thirteenth floor, where an anthropomorphic machine gun blocked the corridor.
• Li Wei used [Death's Eye] and the shadows to reach and restrain the machine gun, and Katie smashed it into a wall containing a red glow, silencing the objects.
• Li Wei used the model to make their tower punch through the opposite tower, then jumped with Katie into the river as both towers began collapsing.
• Li Wei returned with Katie to the Control Room and led the burly engineer and workers to break open a wall on the thirteenth floor.
• Henry smashed through the wall, spilling several small skulls from inside, and Li Wei told Anthony to open the matching wall in the opposite tower and bury the remains.

Li Wei reviewed the investigation into the skulls hidden in the Imperial Bridge, then spent the ceremony waiting and examining his rewards from the mission. The warship passed safely across the bridge, and Li Wei sent everyone home to rest.

• Li Wei confirmed that Holy Lord Church priests had buried the skulls of deceased children inside the bridge wall, and Anthony said the priests would face execution after the ceremony.
• Li Wei told Anthony, Henry, and Katie that he and Katie had tested the bridge and found no further problems, though he could not guarantee the ceremony would go smoothly.
• Li Wei examined his mission rewards, including increased lifespan and occult resistance, the Trace Inspection skill, and a choice of shooting techniques.
• Li Wei chose Ricochet Shot, raised Puppeteer to LV3, and found that the Ring had acquired two soul fragments from the bridge's cores.
• The warship crossed the Imperial Bridge safely and sounded its whistle, after which Li Wei told everyone to go home and rest.

After receiving his car from Uncle Hank’s steam factory, Li Wei learned Hank wanted him to invest in a new steam-car business. Li Wei agreed to consider a contract, leaving the car’s name undecided.

• Li Wei watched a chaotic steam-car race and returned home unimpressed.
• Erin told Li Wei that Uncle Hank had nearly finished his car, and Li Wei went to the factory after lunch.
• Uncle Hank showed Li Wei the custom steam car and explained its design and features.
• Li Wei tested the car and praised it, then Hank asked him to invest one thousand pounds for a 45 percent share.
• Li Wei agreed to review a contract, and Hank asked what he wanted to name the car.

Li Wei invested in Uncle Hank's factory as the Empire's queen seized control of its churches and established the Pure Rite Sect as the state religion. The queen then assigned Li Wei to investigate the Baskerville Family's disappearances and protect its heir, sending him alone to uncover the truth.

• Li Wei investigated Kellida Steam Mechanics and invested eight hundred pounds for a 38% share, leaving its daily operations to Uncle Hank.
• The queen accused the Holy Lord Church of desecrating corpses, broke the Empire's churches from the Holy See's jurisdiction, and named the Pure Rite Sect the state religion.
• The old butler summoned Li Wei to Military Intelligence Section Seven and explained that Baskerville family heads had vanished after turning thirty-eight, beginning with the first Sir Baskerville more than half a century earlier.
• The old butler told Li Wei that the third Sir Baskerville had recently disappeared despite police protection and that the family's heir was its only surviving blood descendant.
• Li Wei accepted the queen's order to discover what happened and protect the heir, then learned that Katie would stay in Fog City while he went alone.

Li Wei investigated the Baskerville Family’s importance to the Empire, then drove toward Delicat to look into Sir Baskerville’s disappearance. On the road, he gave a red-cloaked girl a ride and began to suspect that her story was familiar.

• Li Wei learned that the Baskerville Family descended from one of Emperor Arthur’s Twelve Knights and that its survival helped support the Empire’s legitimacy.
• Li Wei left Fog City alone in his new steam car, the Phantom, and recalled the circumstances surrounding Sir Baskerville’s disappearance.
• Li Wei braked to avoid a girl in a red cloak who had darted onto the road, checked for an ambush, and offered her a ride.
• The girl told Li Wei she was traveling to a village near Delicat to visit her grandmother and bring her food and wine.
• Li Wei realized that the girl’s story sounded familiar.

Li Wei drove Little Red Riding Hood to Wolfhead Village, where he learned that a werewolf had supposedly killed a villager. After gaining permission to investigate, he examined the victim and asked to see where the body had been found.

• Little Red Riding Hood told Li Wei about her trip to visit her grandmother, and he drove her to Wolfhead Village.
• Hunters confronted Li Wei at the village gate, but he disarmed three of them with a ricochet shot before Little Red Riding Hood calmed the standoff.
• The lead hunter told Little Red Riding Hood and Li Wei that a werewolf had attacked the village and killed Fraser.
• Li Wei showed the villagers his detective credentials and secured permission to investigate the suspected homicide.
• Li Wei examined Fraser's body, judged that he had died around midnight from a single claw-like wound, and asked the hunter to take him to the discovery site.

Li Wei investigated Fraser’s death, learning about Wolfhead Village’s history with a giant wolf and questioning Fraser’s drinking companions. As a wolf howled and the emergency bell summoned the villagers to church, Li Wei went with Little Red Riding Hood to find out what had happened.

• Li Wei examined the scene where Fraser was killed and learned that villagers suspected a werewolf.
• A hunter showed Li Wei the preserved head of the Wolf God and claimed its escaped cub had returned for revenge.
• Li Wei questioned the tavern owner, who said Fraser had argued with Roger, Charlie, and Tommy and rarely paid for his drinks.
• Charlie and Tommy told Li Wei that Fraser’s companions bought drinks through card-game losses, though Li Wei sensed they were hiding something.
• Little Red Riding Hood invited Li Wei to dinner, but a wolf’s howl and the village’s emergency bell sent them toward the church.