Chapter Summaries

Lumian agreed to use his divinity to help Green make Li Keji pregnant, while learning that Frank Lee’s mushroom experiments had led to his psychiatric confinement. He arranged a weeklong delay and planned to get Li Keji out before the hospital could intervene, then saw Huang Jiajia arrive with a group of suited people.

• Green asked Lumian to use his divinity to get Li Keji pregnant, and Lumian agreed after considering the Great Mother’s influence over Mushu Hospital.
• Lumian met Li Keji, who explained his ideals of improving food supplies through genetically modified mushrooms and described his bizarre experimental varieties.
• Lumian falsely told Green that Li Keji was pregnant and said the embryo would need a week to stabilize before the obstetrics staff could intervene.
• After leaving the hospital, Lumian told Anthony they should get Li Keji out of the psychiatric department within a week.
• Lumian saw Huang Jiajia arrive at Mushu Hospital with Miss Huang Beibei and several people in suits.

Lumian planned to ambush the Celestial Worthy's agents rather than rescue Li Keji, and learned from a letter that the name Stiano belonged to the God of Steam and Machinery. He prepared tip-off letters accusing Zarathustra of Danitz's murder and entered Arrodes's Mirror-Behind Region to deliver them, where he encountered Police Chief Yagaitze watching the mirror.

• Lumian and Anthony watched the authorities transfer Li Keji, then discussed guarding against an assassination and planned to ambush the Celestial Worthy's agents instead of rescuing him.
• Lumian warned Jenna to protect Rosanne, and he and Anthony went to the Star Dream General Store to collect a letter from Madam Magician.
• The letter said Mother Superior Roland showed no signs of being unusual and identified Yuggus Stiano as the God of Steam and Machinery.
• Lumian messaged Anderson Hood about turning himself in, then had the shop owner write three tip-off letters accusing Zarathustra of murdering Danitz.
• Lumian entered Arrodes's Mirror-Behind Region and traveled toward Police Headquarters to submit the letters through the Mirror World.
• At Police Headquarters, Lumian saw Yagaitze staring directly at the mirror and recoiled, suspecting the police chief had noticed him.

Lumian planted denunciation letters in several Police Headquarters offices, reported key findings to the Major Arcana, and learned more about the Uniqueness personas in the dream. Meanwhile, Rosanne’s safeguards were tested by a mysterious figure made of colored patches, and Jenna continued investigating people close to Zhou Mingrui.

• Lumian used mirrors to leave denunciation letters in Officer Dunn’s and Wang William’s offices, avoiding Yagaitze after black flames revealed spider silk around one letter.
• Lumian wrote to the Major Arcana, asking them to protect Rosanne, investigate Anderson Hood’s real-world circumstances, and noting Li Keji’s arrest.
• Lumian told Anthony that Stiano might have a significant identity, prompting Anthony to reflect on gods and the paths to godhood as they drove away.
• Franca and Jenna offered Rosanne a Mirror Substitute made from her blood and hair; Rosanne agreed, trusting them despite the risks.
• That night, colored patches consumed the parrot in Rosanne’s painting, formed a human shape beside her bed, then restored the parrot before she woke.
• Jenna went to observe dream characters close to Zhou Mingrui and prepared to make contact with Peng Deng.

Jenna and Anthony investigated Peng Deng by arranging a design consultation, and Anthony decided to isolate himself until dawn after finding Peng Deng’s work unusually well matched to his wishes. Meanwhile, Franca prepared for Zarathustra’s visit to Zhou Mingrui’s company, where Zarathustra showed Huang Tao a mirror that revealed an unexpected reflection; Lumian was already infiltrating the hospital holding Li Keji.

• Jenna took Ludwig to a café while Anthony went to Shengwei to meet Peng Deng, and she considered whether Ludwig could attend elementary school.
• Anthony used Hypnosis to get the company manager to assign Peng Deng to his consultation, then found that Peng Deng’s design images matched his unspoken preferences remarkably well.
• Anthony left without signing a contract and signaled Jenna that he would isolate himself until dawn to check for anything unusual.
• Franca told Rosanne not to hint to Zhou Mingrui that something was unusual yet, while she waited to see what Zarathustra would do during his visit to the company.
• Zarathustra showed Huang Tao an antique mirror that reflected Zarathustra as a younger man and Huang Tao as a beautiful crowned woman.
• Lumian infiltrated Crimson Moon through the Mirror World, where Li Keji was being held.

Lumian watched Li Keji’s ward, then staged a supernatural encounter with Zhou Mingrui to warn him about Zarathustra and expose the hidden connections around him. Afterward, Lumian waited at Intis Group for the dream to banish him, hoping Zarathustra would be caught up in it too.

• Lumian observed milky liquid and mycelium emerge from Li Keji’s ward, then left after Huang Jiajia, Huang Beibei, a lawyer, Officer Dunn, and a doctor arrived.
• Franca reported that Zarathustra visited Intis Group without contacting Zhou Mingrui, and Lumian told Franca, Jenna, and Anthony to stop contacting him while he carried out his experiment.
• Lumian entered the men’s restroom, used a Fictional Bottle to isolate himself and Zhou Mingrui, and produced flames with a lighter to hint that supernatural powers existed.
• Lumian warned Zhou Mingrui to watch out for Zarathustra, prompting Zhou Mingrui to connect the warning with Rosanne, Li Ming, and Luo Fu.
• After finishing his patrol, Lumian watched night fall and waited for the dream to banish him, hoping Zarathustra would be banished as well.

Lumian experienced a brief, citywide marionettization in the dream after warning Zhou Mingrui about Zarathustra, then investigated Zarathustra’s hotel and discovered that a historical projection had been hanged in his place. Lumian left without attacking, while Anthony waited in isolation for an anomaly.

• Old Xia began moving and speaking like a puppet, and Lumian realized that he and the surrounding people and vehicles were also stuttering under a marionettization effect.
• After the effect ended, Lumian pretended to need the toilet and used Spirit World Traversal to reach a restroom near Zarathustra’s hotel.
• Lumian entered the Mirror World and saw Zarathustra hanging from a light fixture before the apparent corpse and falling maggots vanished.
• A living Zarathustra appeared, and Lumian concluded that a historical projection had taken the brunt of the targeted marionettization triggered by his hints to Zhou Mingrui.
• Lumian considered assassinating Zarathustra but left the mirror unnoticed, while Zarathustra and his attendants turned toward the window after he departed.
• Anthony isolated himself in a cheap hotel after contacting Peng Deng and waited for an anomaly.

Anthony’s reaction to Peng Deng led Lady Justice to suspect that his fear had caused him to leave the dream, while Lumian and Franca’s group continued investigating Zarathustra and Zhou Mingrui. The chapter ended with Zhou Mingrui realizing that Rosanne and Franca were warning him about Zarathustra and were connected to Li Ming.

• Anthony felt as though he was being expelled from the dream after contacting Peng Deng, then voluntarily left when he feared he was becoming a marionette.
• Lady Justice concluded that Anthony’s fear had made him mistake a hallucination for being kicked out and advised him to spend three hours outside the dream.
• Lumian told Jenna about the previous night’s events and arranged for Rosanne to remind Zhou Mingrui about Zarathustra.
• Franca helped Rosanne plan how to bring up Zarathustra, and Rosanne told Zhou Mingrui that Zarathustra was the boss of a company negotiating with their group.
• Franca warned Zhou Mingrui to watch his step, and he inferred that she and Rosanne were cautioning him about Zarathustra and working with Li Ming.

Jenna auditioned for Hall Film Company and investigated the actor playing Gehrman Sparrow, learning that a previous actor had been left in a vegetative state after a car accident. Lumian identified the injured actor as An Xiaotian, suspected a connection to Antigonus, and planned to investigate him at Crimson Moon Hospital.

• Jenna impressed the Hall Film Company interviewers with her performance and was told to wait for their decision.
• Jenna saw Jia Yu, the actor playing Gehrman Sparrow, and learned that the originally intended actor had been left in a vegetative state after a car accident.
• Jenna discovered that the injured actor's name was missing from the information she could find and reported the mystery to Lumian.
• Lumian and Anthony searched for details, then asked Anderson Hood, who identified the actor as An Xiaotian and said he was at Crimson Moon Hospital.
• Lumian suspected An Xiaotian might correspond to Antigonus and asked Anthony to write about him while he planned to visit the hospital.

Anthony received updates about Rosanne, Li Keji, and Anderson Hood, while Lumian investigated Zarathustra and suspected Emperor Roselle might be operating in the dream. Lumian then visited the unconscious An Xiaotian, whose vital signs surged when Lumian arrived and whose finger moved.

• Anthony read the Major Arcana's warning that Li Keji must not be corrupted or turned into the Celestial Worthy's puppet, and learned Anderson Hood could not be found in Aisala.
• Lumian arranged for pinhole cameras and listening devices, then planted them in Zarathustra's room and observed a business dinner from a mirror.
• When President Huang looked toward Lumian's hiding place, Lumian suspected Emperor Roselle had entered the dream and might be conspiring with Zarathustra to control Huang Tao and the Intis Group.
• Lumian saw no abnormality in Zarathustra after nightfall and concluded the dream's subconscious might no longer react to his name without a new stimulus.
• Lumian found the unconscious An Xiaotian in Crimson Moon Hospital, and the patient's readings became active before his finger moved slightly.

Lumian encountered a disturbing warning from An Xiaotian in the hospital dream, while Franca, Jenna, and Ma'am Justice coordinated a response to concerns that President Huang might be under Roselle in the Mirror’s influence. The chapter ends with Ma'am Justice revealing that her work on Great Pirate 3 was also an attempt to help bring about Mr. Fool’s awakening.

• Lumian saw An Xiaotian’s fingers twitch, then entered a corridor filled with silent hospital figures who each tried to warn him before the scene rewound and forced him out of the dream.
• Lumian reasoned that An Xiaotian was trying to convey crucial information and resolved to find a way to contact him again despite the dream’s restriction.
• Franca and Jenna read Lumian’s message about President Huang and Zarathustra, then decided to alert Bernadette through the Major Arcana.
• Jenna left the dream and told Ma'am Justice about the suspected threat to President Huang, and Ma'am Justice sent a dream messenger to contact the Queen of Mysteries.
• Ma'am Justice told Jenna that her work on Great Pirate 3 was also part of her effort to help realize the words, 'The World awakens, The Fool returns.'

Madam Justice explained how the team tried to create Gehrman Sparrow in Dream City through Great Pirate 3 and actor An Xiaotian, but the attempt failed after An Xiaotian and his sister fell into vegetative states. Jenna returned to reality with the revelation that Antigonus could not explain An Xiaotian’s warning, leaving her and Franca to consider whether the Great Mother could heal him.

• Madam Justice told Jenna that Gehrman Sparrow had no counterpart in Dream City, so the team tried to create one to awaken “The World.”
• Madam Justice and Madam Magician created Great Pirate 3, but both attempts resulted in Madam Justice or Madam Magician being kicked out of the dream.
• Madam Justice cast An Xiaotian as Gehrman Sparrow after Antigonus approved, but An Xiaotian suffered a car accident and became vegetative on the first day of filming.
• Madam Justice said Jia Yu later played Gehrman Sparrow, but the film failed to awaken Zhou Mingrui, and people gradually forgot An Xiaotian.
• Jenna told Franca that Antigonus could sense Mr. Fool’s dream but had never entered it and did not know what An Xiaotian wanted to warn Lumian about.
• Jenna and Franca wondered whether the Great Mother could heal An Xiaotian, while Lumian was posing as the Great Mother’s Divine Child.

Franca and Jenna considered using Zhou Mingrui to play Gehrman Sparrow in a remake of Great Pirate 3 as a possible way to awaken the World. When Rosanne faced dismissal, Franca sought help from Bernadette and then used mysticism pathogens to empty the Administration Department, leaving Rosanne’s dismissal delayed and suspected Beyonders exposed.

• Franca proposed that Zhou Mingrui could play Gehrman Sparrow in a remake of Great Pirate 3 and potentially awaken the World, though Jenna noted the many obstacles.
• Rosanne told Franca that President Huang planned to fire her, and Franca suspected the dismissal was connected to threats against Zhou Mingrui’s friends.
• Bernadette, appearing as Huang Beibei, agreed to investigate her father but asked Franca to keep Rosanne out of the handover process for a week in return for payment.
• Franca got President Ai to agree to plead Rosanne’s case, then spread mysticism pathogens that caused stomach flu among the Administration Department employees.
• After the sick employees were taken to Crimson Moon Hospital, President Ai told Rosanne to hold the fort and not worry about dismissal, while Franca told Lumian that the healthy staff might be Beyonders.

Lumian guarded Rosanne, considered using Li Keji’s mushrooms to awaken An Xiaotian, and monitored Zarathustra in preparation for an ambush. He discovered that Jia Yu, the actor who played Gehrman Sparrow, had visited Zarathustra and began checking whether the Listening Device had captured their conversation.

• Lumian stayed near the Administration Department to protect Rosanne while employees recovered from the Mysticism Pathogens, then returned to the Security Department with Old Xia.
• Lumian rejected dangerous ways of awakening An Xiaotian and considered asking Li Keji to create a mushroom that could exploit Mr. Fool’s beliefs and reverse the symbolism.
• Jenna learned that Hall Film Company wanted her to sign an Agent Contract and felt relieved to have a job.
• Lumian retrieved surveillance recordings of Zarathustra to study his abilities before a planned attack.
• Lumian saw Jia Yu visit Zarathustra late at night and paused the footage to check whether the Listening Device had recorded their conversation.

Lumian and Anthony realized Zarathustra was using the planned Intis Group merger to turn dream-created companies into real money and resources, so Lumian began preparing to eliminate him. Meanwhile, Jenna signed with Hall Film Company and the team rented Magic Mirror Arrodes, leaving them equipped for their coming operation.

• Lumian and Anthony identified Zarathustra's recruitment of Jia Yu and the Intis Group merger as key parts of his plan to gain resources, and Lumian urged them to act against him soon.
• Lumian visited Li Keji in the hospital and used Instigation to encourage him to develop mushrooms that could cure a vegetative patient's condition.
• Jenna negotiated and signed a three-year acting contract with Hall Film Company, receiving a thirty-thousand advance.
• Jenna collected the team's transferred funds and rented Magic Mirror Arrodes from Star Dream General Store for two hundred and twenty thousand a day.

Lumian, Franca, and Jenna questioned Magic Mirror Arrodes about Zarathustra’s abilities and whether he had detected Lumian’s surveillance. The mirror revealed that Zarathustra knew someone had spied on him, then disclosed that Peng Deng had rented it most recently.

• Franca asked how Zarathustra’s Beyond Abilities manifested, and Magic Mirror Arrodes described his marionettes, Historical Void images, disguises, wishes, and other powers.
• Magic Mirror Arrodes asked Franca whether she had thought about doing something with Lumian while Jenna was absent, and Franca admitted she had thought about it but never acted.
• Lumian asked whether Zarathustra had discovered his surveillance, and the mirror said Zarathustra knew someone had watched him but did not know who.
• Magic Mirror Arrodes asked whether Lumian loved or valued Franca and Jenna, and Lumian said he valued them.
• Jenna asked who had rented the mirror most recently, and Magic Mirror Arrodes answered that it was Peng Deng.

Lumian, Jenna, and Franca learned that Peng Deng had rented Arrodes, but the mirror would not answer their question about what he did. In the dream city, Jenna spotted a strange inconsistency in the Great Pirate films, while Zhou Mingrui prepared to meet Rosanne and Luo Fu after Rosanne said she might lose her job; President Huang left Zarathustra to answer a call.

• Arrodes asked Jenna whether she had considered intimacy with Lumian and Franca if she became a man, and she answered yes.
• Franca asked what Peng Deng had done with Arrodes, but the mirror gave no answer, so Lumian suggested asking again later.
• Rosanne told Zhou Mingrui she might lose her job and invited him to dinner with Luo Fu; Zhou Mingrui wondered whether her situation was connected to Zarathustra.
• Jenna joined Hall Film Company and learned from Jiang Yue that Jia Yu was away and that the company had planned Great Pirate 4, though its writer had not finished it.
• Jenna realized Great Pirate 3 had no preceding film installments, recognized the inconsistency as a dream loophole, and suggested adapting the story into other formats.
• President Huang introduced Zarathustra to a hotpot restaurant, then left the private room to answer a call from Beibei.

Lumian and his allies used a carefully planned ambush to draw Zarathustra into the Mirror World and separate him from his marionettes. After Bernadette brought Zarathustra there, Lumian and Jenna attacked him directly.

• Bernadette sent a message that made everyone in the private room except Zarathustra and President Huang fall silent, while she concealed Lumian’s presence behind the mirror.
• Lumian used Person of the Loop to make Zarathustra’s reflection reappear, then cursed it with the Flames of Destruction as Zarathustra escaped into the historical fog using a Paper Figurine Substitute.
• Bernadette used Distortion to swap Zarathustra and his substitute with his mirror projection, bringing the real Zarathustra into the Mirror World before she withdrew.
• Lumian used Fascination to stun Zarathustra and bind him with spider silk, then attacked with the Sword of Courage.
• Jenna appeared at the edge of the mirror-behind region and struck at Zarathustra through his reflection with her Witch’s black flames.

Lumian and his allies attacked Zarathustra in the Mirror-Behind Region, but Zarathustra used his abilities to isolate some of them and drive Anthony away. The chapter left Zarathustra facing a new wave of attackers while Lumian remained inside the Realm of Mysteries.

• Zarathustra returned from the Historical Fog in his Mythical Creature Form, summoned two marionettes, and triggered Lumian’s prepared firestorm in the Mirror-Behind Region.
• Lumian used Flames of Destruction to destroy the female marionette, while Zarathustra’s historical projection trapped Lumian and Jenna inside a Realm of Mysteries.
• Anthony ambushed Zarathustra, but Zarathustra’s illusion misled him and a wish banished him to a prison.
• Lumian found the weak point of the Realm of Mysteries and hurled the Sword of Courage toward it as Zarathustra tried to break the seal on the exit.
• Ludwig, a female Anthony, and a male Jenna arrived as the next wave of attackers, while the real Jenna remained hidden in a tunnel.

Zarathustra revealed his mythical creature form, banished Ludwig, and wished to keep everyone else from interfering. Lumian destroyed Zarathustra’s historical projection and marionette, but Zarathustra summoned another projection as Lumian launched a new attack.

• Zarathustra’s mythical creature form drove Male Jenna and Female Anthony to lose control and disappear, while Ludwig was banished through an illusory door.
• Zarathustra fulfilled his wish to prevent further interference, temporarily stopping Jenna from traversing to the mirror-behind region.
• Lumian used Person of the Loop and Push Destiny to end Zarathustra’s historical projection prematurely, then cursed and destroyed the marionette with Flames of Destruction.
• Lumian returned to the mirror-behind region and confronted Zarathustra, who summoned another Sequence 1 historical projection.
• Lumian attacked Zarathustra and the new projection with a compressed crimson fire serpent.

Lumian shattered the mirror to drag Zarathustra into the Mirror World's turbulence, then teleported them into the dream hotpot restaurant, where both were expelled from the dream. Zarathustra returned to Dream City but Franca killed his dream persona, while Lumian-na and Ludwig left the stage.

• Lumian shattered the mirror and collapsed the Mirror-Behind Region, sending himself and Zarathustra falling into the Mirror World's turbulence.
• Lumian used spider silk to teleport beside Zarathustra, and Bernadette disrupted Zarathustra's escape with the Gloom Crown.
• Lumian teleported himself and Zarathustra through the hotpot restaurant's screen, where Zhou Mingrui saw them appear.
• The dream expelled Lumian and Zarathustra, while Ludwig returned to Lumian-na's side and led her away from the stage.
• Franca shot and killed Zarathustra's dream persona with the Certain-Hit Gun as he headed upstairs.