Chapter Summaries

Chen Lun helped Bayers recover his true body and accepted a quest to aid him, then returned to Amber City and reached the level cap. At the station, he arranged a Moon Church burial for a deceased elderly woman and received the Moon God Margaret’s blessing.

• Bayers explained that he had attacked the Sun Church to rescue Youlan and vowed to kill Terrence and the dark-world monsters who had ruined his life.
• Chen Lun completed his quest, gained Bayers’ respect and a Moon Faction Sequence 7 reward, and used his accumulated experience to reach level 80.
• Chen Lun reviewed his plans to help Bayers evade pursuit, find further Transcendent Knowledge, and prepare for the coming upheaval.
• At Amber City station, Chen Lun recognized an elderly woman he had met earlier among the dead and recited the Moon Church’s scripture over her body.
• Chen Lun paid the station manager to send the woman to the Moon Church for burial, then received the Moon God Margaret’s Moonlight Blessing.

Chen Lun learned the Moon God's honorific names, prayed to her, and received an oracle urging him to advance to high sequence and escape the Ring of Fate. Days later, while preparing for the hunt for the Black Knight, he arranged a contract killing against Jerome's No. 7 Rose Team.

• Chen Lun recalled the old woman named Margaret and wondered whether she was the Moon God or had come to visit a relative in Amber City.
• Chen Lun recited the Moon God's honorific names and received her oracle: he should advance to high sequence soon and break free of the Ring of Fate.
• Chen Lun returned to the Manor and learned Froy had found the extra box of chocolates he had left in her drawer, prompting him to wonder whether she was the relative Margaret had mentioned.
• Over the following days, Chen Lun brewed extraordinary wine and planned to disguise himself as Silver Flask Knight Frun when confronting the Black Knight's hunters.
• Chen Lun sent three bottles of extraordinary wine to the Murder Club in exchange for a contract killing targeting Jerome's No. 7 Rose Team.

Chen Lun offered Mirna Blood Wine to the Murder Club to arrange Jerome’s assassination, but Conrad took the wine and promised to kill Jerome himself. Meanwhile, Maggie discovered Noah’s hidden paintings of Jack and shared one with Connie, while Chen Lun prepared to summon Akbin and Drink for the coming operation.

• Chen Lun offered Mirna Blood Wine in exchange for the murder of Jerome, also known as Joko, but Conrad took the wine and decided to act against Jerome himself.
• Chen Lun gave the Spirit World Messenger a letter for Mr. Akbin and planned to bring Akbin and Drink into his next moves.
• Maggie went to Noah’s room to test her strengthened Stamina Potion on him, found him absent, and uncovered his concealed paintings.
• Maggie and Connie admired a painting of Jack in the living room, while Bibu watched alongside them.
• Maggie teased Connie about being shy and asked whether she had ever been in a relationship.

Chen Lun welcomed Mrs. Caroline to the Manor, where she reunited with him and Froy over afternoon tea while Babu tussled with a little white cat. In Fossil City, Rudolf Teka read a record linking the plague in Gemstone State to the Disaster Mourning Society and Jack’s discoveries in Amber City.

• Froy stopped Maggie and Connie from looking at paintings of Chen Lun, warning that their actions undermined his authority.
• Mrs. Caroline visited Chen Lun at the Manor and shared her worries about Taut, who remained unconscious after being injured.
• Froy served Mrs. Caroline her rose and red wine cake, and Chen Lun fed a bite to Froy before tasting it himself.
• Babu challenged a little white cat, but the cat knocked him back and then ate cake from Chen Lun.
• Rudolf Teka read an account stating that the Disaster Mourning Society had helped spread the plague across Gemstone State and had later been destroyed by the Containment Bureau.

Howard recalled Mona from Amber City and watched Jerome’s name blur from the script titled “Plague Tale,” suspecting Maggie had changed it. In Amber City, Captain Weizi ordered the Lamp Protectors Squad to recover a Mysterious Object from the Circus before joining the operation against Bayers.

• Mona delivered the Record of Suffering and Weakness to Howard and voiced concern about the operation against Bayers in Amber City.
• Howard told Mona that Ralph and the arriving elite squads could handle the situation, then ordered her to familiarize herself with affairs in the Empire.
• Howard saw Jerome’s name bleed from the script and wondered aloud whether Maggie had changed it.
• Captain Weizi briefed the Lamp Protectors Squad on the planned operation to capture Bayers and revealed that the church was secretly searching for former pontiff Martin Augustus.
• Weizi said the Mysterious Object Fireworks in the Palm had passed to Jack, leader of the Circus, and ordered the entire squad to recover it before the next evening.

Purple Moonlight Squad Number 4 received a divine decree to abandon the hunt for Bayers and return for another mission. Meanwhile, the Lamp Protectors stormed Jack Manor to seize [Fireworks in the Palm], but Bibu stopped their attack and overwhelmed Weizi with a glance.

• Pope and Purple Moonlight Squad Number 4 debated the order to hunt Bayers as they approached Amber City through the Spirit World.
• A Moonlit Nun delivered a divine decree ordering the squad to return, and Pope led them away without learning how Bayers's case would be resolved.
• Weizi led the Lamp Protectors into Jack Manor, intent on subduing Jack and retrieving [Fireworks in the Palm].
• Weizi threw a golden fireball at Jack while Jack and his companions continued their afternoon tea.
• Bibu stopped the fireball with a raised paw, and Weizi lowered his gaze as the kitten's presence caused him severe pain.

The Cat God killed the Sun Church’s Lamp Protectors Squad after they attacked Weizi, then revealed herself to Chen Lun and explained that she had protected him from the squad in Amber City. She left Chen Lun tasked with thanking her through a tasty meal and urged him to confess his feelings to Fuluoyin.

• Bibu used a golden spark to kill Weizi after the Cat God dismissed his plea for forgiveness.
• Chen Lun sensed a brief warning at Jack Manor, but the danger passed while the team chatted and ate.
• Bibu revealed to Chen Lun that she was the Cat God, Maggie Milna, and pressed him to tell Fuluoyin how he felt.
• The Cat God told Chen Lun she had killed the Sun Church’s Lamp Protectors Squad, which had come after him because of the glove on his hand.
• The Cat God demanded pan-fried mackerel from Fuluoyin, and Chen Lun went to the kitchen to ask for it.

Chen Lun learned from Maggie that Howard, a Sequence 3 Playwright, manipulated his fate, and that Philip had failed to break free despite reaching high sequence. Maggie revealed where Chen Lun could find the six pieces of Sequence 6 knowledge in Wonderland before leaving, while Jerome prepared for revenge in Sunflower City.

• White Kitten used Maggie’s power to make Chen Lun embrace and kiss Fuluoyin, then demanded that he have a hundred children to repay her.
• Maggie warned Chen Lun that fate-pathway Transcendents became pawns, revealed that Philip had failed to challenge fate, and named Howard as the one manipulating Chen Lun’s fate.
• Maggie urged Chen Lun to advance to Sequence 6 and gave him the locations of six wooden huts in Wonderland containing the relevant Transcendent Knowledge.
• After Maggie left, Chen Lun fed Bibu nature-faction mystical substance, causing the cat to grow into a larger, sharper, and more intelligent creature.
• At Wordsworth Clinic, the bandaged Jerome held a cracked bone-carved doll as an image appeared in the crystal ball.

Jerome and the Rose Team were killed by the King of Slaughter after Jerome’s divination provoked him. Outside Amber City, Bayers faced the Executioners Squad and learned that Talleyrand had brought his wax-preserved teacher and lover to help fight him.

• Jerome’s divination showed a wine glass, and the King of Slaughter’s presence drove the Rose Team to attack Jerome.
• Six Ghouls pursued Jerome, and the King of Slaughter killed him and all six members of the Rose Team.
• Three Murder Club assassins concluded that Conrad had personally killed the Rose Team and celebrated witnessing his intervention.
• The Executioners Squad confronted Bayers outside Amber City without the expected Lamp Protectors or Purple Moonlight squad.
• Talleyrand summoned Hirna, a wax figure made from his deceased teacher and lover, to aid the Executioners.
• Bayers criticized Talleyrand for preserving Hirna as a wax figure, and Hirna explained that she had chosen to remain by his side.

Chen Lun and the Black Knight led their allies against Talleyrand’s Executioners Squad in the Spirit World. The allies gained the upper hand, but Leslie wounded herself to escape Chen Lun’s attack and struck him with Heart Strangulation, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Hirna transformed into a Gargoyle and transported the combatants into the Spirit World, where Akbin, Drink, Chen Lun, and Mr. Pot joined the Black Knight.
• Chen Lun and his companions attacked the Executioners Squad as the Black Knight fought Talleyrand and Hirna inside his Black Night Domain.
• Chen Lun overwhelmed Leslie with his swordsmanship while disease and curses pushed the other Executioners onto the defensive.
• Leslie cut off her own forearm to create an opening, then used Heart Strangulation on Chen Lun and called for the Executioners to kill him.

Chen Lun killed Leslie and helped Mr. Pot defeat the Executioners, then joined Akbin and Drink against the last two enemies. The fight remained unresolved as the survivors faced the Executioners’ darkness and waited to see what Chen Lun would do.

• Chen Lun revealed that he had moved his heart in advance, then killed Leslie by switching places with the Kazt Longsword and crushing her throat.
• Chen Lun and Mr. Pot killed the four Executioners in their battle, and Chen Lun healed Mr. Pot before collecting the spoils.
• Chen Lun, Mr. Pot, and Mr. Bottle reached Akbin and Drink, who had already killed three of their five Executioners.
• A Moon Faction Night Watcher and an Arcanist created a dark domain, sealed Akbin’s potions, and used ripples to sense their opponents.
• Mr. Pot asked where Silver Flask had gone, and Mr. Bottle replied that Chen Lun had said he had a way to deal with the enemies.

Chen Lun defeated the two Executioners, while Bayers drove Talleyrand and Hilna from the Black Night Domain and pursued them with a powerful sword strike. The scene then shifted to a blond middle-aged man watching the battle through a pale blue fissure as he held a script and pen.

• Chen Lun used the Moon God's nighttime blessing and his Extreme State to track down and injure the [Arcanist] Executioner.
• The [Night Watcher] intervened with a soul attack, but Chen Lun resisted it and sent him crashing into the boundary of the night curtain.
• After the darkness vanished, Chen Lun pierced the [Arcanist]'s heart, and Drink drained the blood from both Executioners to ensure they died.
• Chen Lun learned that the fight had taken six minutes, collected the spoils, and watched the battle inside the Black Night Domain.
• Bayers emerged as the Black Knight and struck at the fleeing Talleyrand and Hilna with a towering arc of purple sword energy.
• A blond middle-aged man watched Bayers's strike through a pale blue fissure while holding an oversized script and a black fountain pen.

Hirna sacrificed herself to let Talleyrand escape Bayers, and Talleyrand vowed to survive and take revenge. Howard observed that Jack had deviated from his script, then appeared before Chen Lun and immobilized him and his companions.

• Hirna swallowed an alchemical potion, used Borrowing the Past, and took Bayers’s purple sword strike to protect Talleyrand, dying from the attack.
• Talleyrand attempted to pull Hirna back from history, then used Historical Rewind to restore his body and escape Bayers, vowing to seek revenge.
• Howard reviewed how events had unfolded, noted Jack’s unexplained deviation from the script, and decided to investigate in person.
• After the operation against Bayers ended, Chen Lun prepared to approach him, but Howard appeared and left Chen Lun unable to move.
• Bayers, Bottle Pot, Akbin, and Drink tried to intervene, but Howard’s presence overwhelmed them with grief and froze them.

Howard seized Philip's Wonderland from Chen Lun and confronted the Fate Serpent-Oscar, who killed him after he claimed to be the era’s protagonist. Chen Lun woke trapped in an unfamiliar part of Wonderland, found a recently occupied Wooden Hut, and faced a mysterious figure waiting in its doorway.

• Howard pulled Philip's Wonderland from Chen Lun and transported them both into the space created by the Four Seasons Bookmark.
• Howard bowed to the Fate Serpent-Oscar and declared that fate had made him the protagonist of the era; Oscar killed him, leaving his weeping mask behind.
• Chen Lun woke in darkness, realized he could not leave Wonderland, and calmed himself by resolving to grow strong enough to resist Howard’s manipulation.
• Chen Lun found a campfire and a Wooden Hut, checked for danger, and discovered signs that someone had recently lived there.
• A figure appeared in the Wooden Hut’s doorway, greeted Chen Lun as Jack, and raised a lantern.

Chen Lun met Arno, a powerful stranger who knew him through Philip, in the End of Darkness and learned that the region was where the Mortal World and Spirit World had merged. Unable to explain how to escape, Arno fed Chen Lun extraordinary soup that greatly improved his attributes, then eagerly offered him another bowl.

• Chen Lun followed the white-haired Arno out of the hut and discovered that his Fate-Peering Eye could reveal none of Arno's stats or even his name.
• Arno explained that Philip, his only friend, had told him Jack would eventually visit and that they would become friends.
• Arno identified their location as the End of Darkness, where the Mortal World had merged with the Spirit World, but said he could not remember how to leave.
• Chen Lun appraised Arno's meat soup and found that it contained flesh from an old god's offspring and could improve his physical attributes.
• Chen Lun ate the soup and gained substantial increases to his health, stamina, strength, dexterity, endurance, and intelligence.
• Arno happily refilled Chen Lun's bowl and offered to hunt for more if he wanted it.

Chen Lun befriended Arno at the End of Darkness and received Philip’s booklet, which revealed Philip had become a Saint of Fate and was trapped in the Dream Realm. The chapter left Chen Lun confronting Philip’s warnings about fate, the gods, and a looming upheaval, while grieving Philip’s longing for Maggie.

• Chen Lun shared a meal and conversation with Arno, learned that dangerous dark creatures surrounded the Wooden Hut, and discovered Arno could not leave the End of Darkness.
• As Chen Lun’s Sanity reserve dwindled, Arno left to hunt and gave him a booklet Philip had entrusted to him.
• Chen Lun read Philip’s account of surviving his battle, becoming a Saint of Fate, and discovering gods in the Dream Realm.
• Philip described how his teacher’s guidance drew him into the Deep Sea, after which the Lady of Sighs trapped him in the Dream Realm and fate bound him to kill his teacher alongside Howard.
• Philip warned Chen Lun about the Ring of Fate, the coming upheaval, and the connection between the End of Darkness and the Dream Realm, and urged him to help Arno.
• Chen Lun read Philip’s final message to Maggie and saw that water stains had blurred its smiley face into a weeping one.

After reading Philip’s final message and using his notes to strengthen his Standard State, Chen Lun searched Arno’s hut for a way out of Wonderland. He ventured into the darkness, where the ground turned into a black swamp and the hut vanished behind him.

• Chen Lun studied Philip’s message, learned that he had to advance to a high sequence and confront Howard, and considered the warnings about the Deep Sea Pathway.
• Chen Lun found Philip’s high-sequence Fate substance and notes on Animal Mimicry, then used them to transform his Standard State so that eight white pythons hovered behind him.
• Chen Lun searched Arno’s hut for clues and found a doll inscribed with “Anna will always miss you.”
• Chen Lun left the hut with a lantern, stepped into a black swamp, and saw the hut and campfire disappear into the darkness.
• Chen Lun heard a rush of wind beside his ear.

Chen Lun was ambushed by a swarm of Didak in the darkness, but Arno rescued him with a devastating strike and guided him back to the campfire. Chen Lun thanked Arno, worried over his dwindling Sanity, and began telling him about the Silver Cane Philip had left behind.

• Chen Lun fought off a combat-oriented Child of the Old God-Didak and discovered that dozens more were pursuing him through the darkness.
• Chen Lun realized that the Didak were hunting him because of the Godslayer curse and found himself trapped in a cavern with the swarm closing in.
• Arno appeared with a lantern and annihilated the Didak with a blazing strike from his broken sword.
• Arno led Chen Lun back to the Wooden Hut, where Chen Lun considered Arno's extraordinary power and his own dwindling Sanity reserves.
• Chen Lun thanked Arno for saving him, and Arno asked to inspect the Silver Cane that Philip had left him.

Arno reforged Chen Lun’s Silver Cane into a more powerful weapon, then recovered memories of his younger sister Anna after seeing her doll. The chapter left Arno confronting how many years had passed since he last remembered her.

• Arno recognized Chen Lun’s glove as a Mysterious Object made by his Uncle Martin, then examined the materials Chen Lun offered.
• Arno used materials from the Dark World to reforge the Silver Cane into the B-Rank Mysterious Object Star River’s Hymn, with cane, Snake Sword, and greatsword forms.
• Chen Lun thanked Arno and shared a meal and stories with him, then asked whether he had a younger sister.
• Chen Lun showed Arno a doll marked with Anna’s name, prompting Arno to remember his younger sister.
• Arno asked Chen Lun the Solar Calendar year, learned it was 4419, and sighed over how much time had passed.

Chen Lun returned from Arno’s Wonderland to the space inside the [Awakening of Insects] bookmark, where Oscar explained that Howard’s avatar had died and granted the bookmark new power. Oscar then left with Chen Lun’s Black Hat, while Howard was expected to leave Chen Lun alone for a time.

• Arno gave Chen Lun his ring and threw him into the well, saying he would never forget his mission to hunt the darkness.
• Chen Lun awoke inside the [Awakening of Insects] bookmark, recovered Philip's Wonderland, and found Howard’s fallen Crying Mask.
• Oscar appeared, identified himself, and explained that Howard’s avatar had died and that the bookmark could absorb the mask’s power to provide healing through linked seeds.
• Chen Lun realized the new bookmark ability might let him create a remote healing and access system for players.
• Oscar revealed that he had anticipated Howard’s fate, said Howard would likely stop interfering with Chen Lun for a while, and departed wearing Chen Lun’s Black Hat.
• Chen Lun returned to the Mortal World and reflected on the schemes of the Fate Faction’s Higher Beings.