Chapter Summaries

Chen Lun reached Wonderland’s Crystal Mountains, found Fate Pathway knowledge and Philip’s warning about fate, then returned to the Mortal World to check on the players. He watched a video celebrating Polaris’s rise to the level cap, which showed players fighting giant rats.

• Chen Lun resisted the mural’s influence, realized he could use Thought Sharing to transmit its contamination, and left the blood lake for the Crystal Mountains.
• Chen Lun found Fate Faction Sequence 5-Juggler knowledge and read Philip’s note about the Fate Pathway and the challenge needed to regain control over one’s fate.
• Chen Lun returned to the Mortal World, decided to investigate the Pollution Tide’s source in Kazt before exploring farther, and checked on the players.
• Chen Lun saw that Polaris had reached level 30 and become the first player to reach the Open Beta level cap.
• Chen Lun watched a video in which Dragon King, Tutu, and Bitter Tea Nainai’s teams fought giant rats, and Bitter Tea Nainai attacked one with a venomous bee stinger.

Chen Lun watched a video and a player’s theory that Jack and Spade Knight Joko were the same person, while elite players in Wonderland discussed their progress and searched for Mr. Jack. The search led Hall of Heroes players to Jack Winery, where they found the gate unanswered and the grounds silent.

• Chen Lun watched a video featuring Polaris defeating a giant rat and Jack confronting Grand Bishop Rafa, then read a post arguing that Jack and Spade Knight Joko were the same person.
• Chen Lun recognized the post’s author, Ordinary Operative, as a skilled player and considered rewarding him if they met.
• In the Forest of Nature, Polaris told his fellow players that claiming to be Mr. Jack’s student had helped him secure Containment Bureau quests despite low Regional Renown.
• Dongyang said Hall of Heroes players had found traces of Mr. Jack in Peacock City and offered to confirm them the next day.
• Four or five Hall of Heroes players went to Jack Winery, knocked on its gate, and found no one there before two more teams arrived.

Players flocked to Jack’s Circus in Peacock City, hoping to meet Mr. Jack and join the faction, but its Black Crystal Craft Puppets killed every group that entered the Winery. Smoke Bomb’s party confirmed that the Circus was present and reported back to Vice President Dongyang, while the other players remained unable to reach the Villa.

• Her Shop Is Studded with Diamonds, Ill-Fated in Old Age, and Smoke Bomb’s groups agreed to enter the Winery together after finding no one at the gate.
• Black Crystal Craft Puppets attacked the players, killing Diamonds and then wiping out the rest with red lightning.
• After respawning, the players returned with other unaffiliated groups and agreed to sneak through the Winery, but the puppets spotted and killed them again.
• Smoke Bomb showed Diamonds a blurry screenshot of the blonde blind girl at the Villa and explained that confirming Mr. Jack’s presence completed their task.
• Smoke Bomb left with the Hall of Heroes players and sent Vice President Dongyang a report confirming the Circus’s location and the strength of its guards.

Chen Lun met the players in Wonderland and offered to teach them skills to help fight the Red Apple Church. Polaris learned a powerful passive skill, and Chen Lun then offered everyone Knight Swordsmanship.

• Chen Lun told Polaris and the others that he was fighting the Red Apple Church and avoided confirming whether he was the Spade Knight.
• Chen Lun offered skills to help the players overcome their growth restrictions, and Polaris spent 300 Contribution to learn Survival of the Fittest.
• The players reacted to the skill’s cost and pathway restrictions, while Morning Twilight and Dongyang arranged for guild members to buy it.
• Chen Lun offered the players the cheaper, universal Knight Swordsmanship skill.

Chen Lun sold a skill to the elite players and left them debating the Circus’s neutrality and his motives. At the History and Ritual Society’s ruins, Sage Queller uncovered Joko’s role in the bishop’s attack and sent Lonoli’s squad to hunt him with tools from an ancient book.

• Chen Lun sold the elite players a skill, learned that Polaris had paid nothing for it, and left Wonderland after encouraging them.
• Dongyang, Weiyin, and Polaris debated why Jack opposed the Red Apple Church and whether the Circus acted from self-interest, while Weiyin professed her devotion to Jack.
• At the Society’s damaged headquarters, Queller used his power to replay the attack and discovered Joko had brought the bishop there and seemingly driven him into a frenzy.
• Queller ordered Lonoli and the Readers of Antiquity to capture Joko before the next day’s handover, giving Lonoli a page that could track him for forty-eight hours.
• Queller retrieved a spiral-patterned stone called the Overlord’s Egg from his ancient book and identified it for Lonoli.

Queller gave Lonoli an Overlord's Egg containing the space-disrupting creature Lennagana to help the History and Ritual Society pursue Joko. After Maggie's Tears shattered under a probe, Chen Lun used Wonderland divination to learn the Ancient Reader Squad could locate and restrict him, then realized the creature's characteristics might offer him an opportunity.

• Queller handed Lonoli the Overlord's Egg and left the pursuit of Joko to the Society.
• While preparing to hunt the Red Apple Church in Hornblende City, Chen Lun was probed by Historical Rewind, and Maggie's Tears shattered.
• Chen Lun retreated to an empty apartment, entered Wonderland, and dreamed of a three-headed creature threatening Joko.
• Chen Lun's card divinations confirmed that the Ancient Reader Squad could locate him and had a creature that could disrupt spatial movement, but no High-Rank Transcendent was poised to act.
• Chen Lun divined that the pursuit carried manageable danger and a hidden opportunity, then realized the creature's characteristics could be useful.

Chen Lun finished hunting the Red Apple Church in Rock State and reached the level cap, then stopped to face the Ancient Reader Squad pursuing him. As the squad confronted him in the rain, he ignited his greatsword and prepared to fight.

• Chen Lun stayed in Hornblende City, planned to destroy the local Red Apple Church, and contacted Bayers as backup.
• Over two days, Chen Lun destroyed Red Apple Church branches across Rock State, while players shared screenshots and mocked the Lost Name Guild for failing to catch him.
• Landun ordered his guild members to capture footage of the Spade Knight, and his livestream showed the Ancient Reader Squad appearing before Chen Lun in a rain-soaked town.
• Lonoli accused Joko of crimes against the History and Ritual Society and demanded his surrender, while warning his squad to remain cautious.
• Chen Lun revealed through his status panel that his hunting had raised him to level 120 and maxed his Sequence 6 Aerialist level.
• Chen Lun activated the Death-Burning Sword, setting his greatsword ablaze as the rain evaporated around him.

Chen Lun, disguised as Spade Knight, fought Lonoli and the Ancient Reader Squad after revealing that the Murder Club’s killers had been lying in wait. The battle continued in the air as Lonoli used potions and a Sea Demon’s mental assault, but Chen Lun resisted the attack and struck back.

• Lonoli summoned a Three-Headed Giant Serpent that disrupted space and prevented Chen Lun from using Teleportation and Cloud Leap.
• Seventeen Suit Killers ambushed the Ancient Reader Squad, turning the pursuit into a counter-encirclement.
• Lonoli transformed into a Gargoyle and attacked Chen Lun while the Ancient Reader Squad fought the Murder Club members below.
• Lonoli drank three Alchemy Potions and sent a Sea Demon to assault Chen Lun with a piercing shriek.
• Chen Lun resisted the Sea Demon’s mental attack and slashed at Lonoli, forcing him to retreat with the Sea Demon.

Chen Lun used Clarenso’s mural to drive Lonoli into losing control, and Lonoli killed himself with his Candleblue Potion as the Ancient Reader Squad was wiped out. After copying Lennagana’s Spirit Breath trait, Chen Lun cut off two of the serpent’s heads and discovered they could grow into separate serpents.

• Chen Lun struck Lonoli with the crimson cape, then used Thought Sharing to flood his mind with the polluted mural of Mr. Jingyao and Her Scorpio.
• Lonoli lost control, ordered his squad to retreat, and drank the Candleblue Potion, killing himself in an explosion.
• The Ancient Reader Squad could not escape the disrupted space, and the Murder Club’s killers wiped out its remaining members.
• Chen Lun mimicked Lennagana’s Spirit Breath trait, which let the serpent breathe in the Spirit World and disrupt space with blue flames.
• When Lennagana attacked, Chen Lun cut off two of its heads and saw them split into smaller serpents that began to grow.

Chen Lun defeated Lennagana, learned two useful traits, and rewarded the Murder Club assassins with the spoils from the Ancient Reader Squad. Back at the Winery, he rested with Froy and joined his companions for a lively dinner.

• Chen Lun mimicked Lennagana's Split Recovery and Crawling Body traits, then watched the ancient creature vanish.
• Chen Lun thanked the Murder Club assassins and took a Proficient Beaker and nine portions of Mystical Substance, leaving them the other Mysterious Objects.
• Chen Lun returned to the Winery, rested, and let Froy massage his temples before they sat together quietly.
• Chen Lun joined Noah, Maggie, Golov, Connie, Barton, and Morey for dinner as Noah told amusing stories.

Chen Lun noticed that beef from Montero Slaughterhouse and milk both triggered his Spiritual Intuition, so he decided to investigate the slaughterhouse. In the study, he experimented with his transformations and devised a versatile close-combat technique using many pale snakes.

• Golov, Barton, and Morey apologized to Chen Lun for failing to find clues about Dolim, and Chen Lun reassured them.
• Chen Lun gave Maggie a [Proficient Beaker], and Connie reported that she had developed the Connie No. 2 rifle with a flamethrower attachment.
• Froy served beef in spicy broth, but Ding Ding rushed into the bowl, prompting Chen Lun to suspect the meat was harmful.
• Chen Lun learned that Connie had bought the beef from Montero Slaughterhouse and told her to avoid buying meat from there for several days.
• Chen Lun's Spiritual Intuition warned him about milk in his study, so he destroyed it and resolved to investigate the slaughterhouse.
• Chen Lun transformed his arm into dozens of pale snakes and considered using them as adaptable weapons for close combat.

Chen Lun developed new uses for his abilities, named his transformed state Pale Form and his armored appearance Pale Knight, then investigated the Montero Slaughterhouse. After hypnotizing its owner, Montero, Chen Lun questioned him about mysterious incidents and tampering with beef and milk, but Montero denied knowing anything.

• Chen Lun used Pale Hand and separated a miniature version of himself, then discovered that Spirit Breath let him teleport through space disrupted by his own Breath Fire.
• Chen Lun named his new transformation Pale Form and combined it with the Balag Armor to become the Pale Knight.
• Chen Lun traveled with Barton and Morey to the Montero Slaughterhouse to investigate its suspicious beef cattle and possible connection to mysterious incidents.
• Chen Lun hypnotized Montero and his subordinates with Siren's Song and asked whether they had planned the incidents or tampered with beef and milk.
• Montero claimed he did not understand the question and denied that the slaughterhouse had tampered with its products.

Chen Lun investigated suspicious beef and milk at the Montero Slaughterhouse, traced the cattle to the Jit Agricultural District, and encountered a familiar Bard there. He rescued Alexis from two workers who transformed into monsters, then left him facing a likely arrest by the Containment Bureau.

• Chen Lun found that the slaughterhouse workers knew nothing about the suspicious meat and milk, while the cattle had no consciousness and could not reproduce.
• Morey and Barton discovered that the cattle came from the Jit Agricultural District and that Dolim was responsible for raising them, so Chen Lun sent a warning to the Containment Bureau.
• Chen Lun entered the Agricultural District and heard workers beating Alexis, a Bard he had met before, after catching him inside a farmhouse.
• The two workers transformed into Flesh Tendril monsters and attacked Alexis, but Chen Lun killed them before they could reach him.
• Alexis recognized Chen Lun as Jack and claimed he could have handled the monsters himself, so Chen Lun left after warning him that the bodies could get him sent to the Containment Bureau.

Chen Lun freed Alexis, learned that the bard’s dreams had revealed his identity and warned of a looming Red Calamity tied to the Chrysalis of the End and the Red Apple Church. He hypnotized Alexis into joining the Circus and returned to investigate Dolim and the cattle farm.

• Chen Lun freed Alexis and questioned him about recognizing his name and the transformed workers; Alexis said his dreams had shown him what was happening.
• Alexis warned Chen Lun that Dolim was involved with the Chrysalis of the End and that the Red Apple Church’s plans would bring a dangerous Red Calamity to the Empire.
• Alexis admitted that his dreams had drawn him to meet Chen Lun, who invited him to join the Circus and then used [Siren's Song] to take control of him.
• Chen Lun brought Alexis to Fuluoyin and the others, ordered them to keep him under watch, and said Alexis would die in the Agricultural Park if he stayed there.
• Chen Lun returned to the Western Suburbs Agricultural District to investigate whether Dolim was the farmer he sought and possessed the third opportunity.

Chen Lun found Antonio, a contaminated transcendent bull held captive by the Chrysalis of the End, and learned that Antonio longed to escape. After Dolim discovered them, Chen Lun received an A-rank quest to help Antonio regain his freedom.

• Chen Lun used Teleportation to enter the Jit Agricultural Area and recognized the captive bull as Antonio, a boss from his previous life.
• Chen Lun approached Antonio and provoked him into revealing that humans imprisoned him, exploited him, and took his calves to be butchered.
• Antonio told Chen Lun that he could not use his supernatural power without surrendering to the evil inside him and losing himself.
• Dolim discovered Chen Lun speaking with Antonio and ran to call security.
• Chen Lun received the first stage of the A-rank Swordfighter quest, which tasked him with helping Antonio escape the Chrysalis of the End.

Chen Lun confronted the Red Apple Church and Chrysalis of the End members guarding Antonio, killed them and Dolim, and learned how the cow’s unusual vitality tied into a conspiracy. He discovered that the Chrysalis of the End had researched Antonio with the Red Apple Church’s support, using corrupted beef sales to advance the Sinblood Ritual.

• Chen Lun teleported out of the Glass Pavilion as guards and members of the Red Apple Church and Chrysalis of the End surrounded it.
• The guards fired on Chen Lun, but his scales deflected the bullets, and he trapped the six people in red with black magic cards.
• Chen Lun killed the guards and the six trapped members, then extracted memories from them and Dolim through Thought Theft.
• Chen Lun learned that the Chrysalis of the End had seized an ancient book Dolim found and spared him to care for Antonio.
• Chen Lun discovered that the Chrysalis of the End studied Antonio’s extraordinary vitality and worked with the Red Apple Church to sell corrupted cattle and advance the Sinblood Ritual.

Chen Lun freed Antonio, then trapped the Chrysalis of the End and Red Apple Church forces in the Spirit World and slaughtered most of them with his cards. The remaining leaders transformed into Ghouls and attacked, but Chen Lun kept overwhelming them.

• Chen Lun picked up the Mysterious Object left by the Chrysalis of the End creature and led Antonio out of the glass enclosure.
• A Chrysalis of the End leader and two Red Apple Church priests blocked Chen Lun and Antonio’s way out with dozens of Beyonders.
• Chen Lun dragged the group into the Spirit World and used scarlet cards and a storm of playing cards to kill the assembled Beyonders.
• The Chrysalis of the End leader and the two priests transformed into Ghouls, but Chen Lun blasted them with his attacks.
• The Chrysalis of the End leader turned into bats to escape, but Chen Lun’s cards hunted them down and forced him to reform, while the wounded priests lunged at Chen Lun.

Chen Lun freed Antonio and discovered the cow was host to the Profane Holy Sword, which repeatedly tried to possess him. Sinblood helped Antonio gain control of the sword’s power, and Antonio became close to Chen Lun.

• Chen Lun killed the Chrysalis of the End Leader and two Red Apple Church Priests, then learned the church planned to refine Sinblood and resurrect Former Pope Dolomipulnis.
• Chen Lun freed Antonio, but Antonio was struck by another Pollution Invasion from the Profane Holy Sword.
• Chen Lun gave Antonio the Sinblood he had collected, calming him and helping him resist the invasion.
• Antonio revealed he had endured countless invasions and showed Chen Lun his extraordinary Willpower.
• Antonio transformed his foreleg into a sword-bearing arm and began wielding the Profane Holy Sword’s power, completing the second stage of Chen Lun’s quest.

Chen Lun completed the quest’s second stage, recruited Antonio to join the Circus, and gained a powerful trait from him. After using his increased stamina to create twelve more Black Crystal Craft Puppets, Chen Lun finished the night’s work at dawn.

• Chen Lun accepted the quest’s third stage to find the Blood Diamond and help Antonio master the holy sword’s power.
• Antonio admitted he had no real home and chose to accompany Chen Lun to the Winery.
• Chen Lun introduced Antonio to the Circus, where Antonio learned to speak human language and met the other members.
• Chen Lun used Animal Mimicry on Antonio and gained the Tirelessness trait, raising his Endurance and maximum stamina.
• Chen Lun used his increased stamina to make twelve Black Crystal Craft Puppets, bringing his total to twenty-six.

Chen Lun returned to the Winery, where he kept the suspicious Alexis under observation, then studied a mythical Nature book and learned the powerful new skill Key of Life. He finished the book with more experience and skill points, while Alexis remained confined at the Manor.

• Chen Lun returned to the Villa with twelve new Black Crystal Craft Puppets and assigned them to patrol the Winery.
• Alexis demanded his freedom, but Chen Lun refused until he revealed his secret; Chen Lun secretly searched his thoughts and found no mystical memories.
• Chen Lun read the Ancient Book about biological structures and mythical creatures, learning about the ritual method called Symbolic Imprint.
• Chen Lun gained Key of Life, which let him transfer injuries, briefly restore living things, and perfectly control his body at the cost of maximum Sanity.
• Chen Lun spent eight skill points to raise Key of Life to its maximum level, then finished reading the book and gained more skill points and experience.