Recaps

Xia Xiu investigated the aftermath of the Linden Tree Street disaster, where Cornflower-002 was destroyed and Bryce died, while the [Thirteenth Department] concealed the truth. Charlotte explained that factions in Heaven had radical plans for the Veil, and 0-02 revealed the Utopia Project before being cleared in an Ethics Committee review.

• Xia Xiu learned that Professor Nimus had received no instructions from Heaven and signed the Information Secrecy Regulation without accepting the [Thirteenth Department]'s reward.
• Wendell told Cornflower-002 that her apparent independent choice came from meme contamination, and she died as her programs were destroyed.
• Xia Xiu visited the dying Bryce, who questioned the Veil and the concealment of anomalies before dying.
• Xia Xiu and Wendell attended the victims' memorial, where Xia Xiu criticized the [Thirteenth Department] and Wendell admitted they were all compromised.
• Charlotte told Jasmine that factions within Heaven supported radical plans, including tearing open the Veil and establishing a unified human government.
• 0-02 revealed the Utopia Project to Charles Furnell, and the Heaven Committee later ruled 0-02 not guilty after review.

After a spiritual vision about Yarn and Terra, Xia Xiu read a report on the Linden Tree Street massacre before it was censored and began preparing for the Crimson King's approaching Reprise Performance. He summoned his new spear, Gáe Bolg, and reviewed the performance's rules as he awaited an admission ticket.

• Xia Xiu woke from a vision in which Yarn pleaded for someone to save Terra, then recognized the red ring on his hand as a sign of his Innate Key's awakening cycle.
• Xia Xiu read a report detailing the Linden Tree Street massacre, the Thirteenth Department's response, and the backlash against the anomalous community before the report and his Lineage Link disappeared.
• Xia Xiu considered his preparations for the Reprise Performance, including graduation arrangements, the Great Demon Hound's modification, and his Non-Spirit-Medium Weapon's next evolution.
• Xia Xiu summoned Gáe Bolg and inspected its piercing, slashing, and disembowelment abilities.
• Xia Xiu reviewed the Crimson King's rules for Red, Yellow, and White Performance Cards, their conversions and ascensions, and the rewards for the performance's champion and supporters.

Xia Xiu chose the second-generation Great Demon Hound A7 as his Familiar, named him Jam, and transformed him into a three-headed hound using supernatural DNA. Jam survived the procedure and showed he could retract his new heads, leaving Xia Xiu with another powerful subordinate.

• Xia Xiu visited Deer College’s shelter with Professor Laugen, chose A7, and arranged to tame him before leaving for the Unknown Lands.
• Xia Xiu defeated A7 in a fight, then forced him to sign a Familiar contract and named him Jam.
• Xia Xiu explained that he planned to give Jam a spiritual vision of Cerberus and injected him with an anesthetic.
• Xia Xiu used the Chimera Construction Module to implant Petroshapian and Flame Beast DNA into Jam, repairing his body throughout the procedure.
• Jam awoke with crystalline and flaming heads in addition to his original head, then showed Xia Xiu he could retract them.

After finishing his studies, Xia Xiu bid farewell to his friends at Deer College and left Camille behind as he headed for the Vienna Region. He crossed the Reality Rainbow Bridge back to the [Unknown Lands], where a mysterious old man named Mu greeted him.

• Xia Xiu told Ushas and the Mysterious Animal Research Club that he had finished his studies and was returning to the [Unknown Lands].
• Xia Xiu walked Camille to the dormitories, discussed the Brain in a Vat and his way of facing life, and warned her to be wary of her feelings before leaving her with his umbrella.
• In Vienna, Von Hansen welcomed Xia Xiu as Abraham and escorted him through the Golden Hall to the Reality Rainbow Bridge.
• Xia Xiu and Jam climbed the Heavenly Road, recited its required phrases, and teleported to the [Unknown Lands].
• An old man named Mu greeted Xia Xiu, addressed him as Xiu Abraham, and said everyone knew his name.

Xia Xiu met Mu, Heaven’s Third Swordbearer, who explained Heaven’s institutions and the tensions slowing its vast system. After declaring that the Resolution Assembly should be restructured, Xia Xiu entered the hall to link with the Holy Ark.

• Mu welcomed Xia Xiu and offered to take him to the Holy Ark, explaining that he had come after learning a child was returning home.
• Mu described the Resolution Assembly and Heaven’s four other core institutions, their roles, and the checks that constrained their power.
• Mu warned Xia Xiu that Heaven’s complicated structure operated too slowly to face its many threats and asked what he would choose.
• Xia Xiu said the Resolution Assembly should be restructured, revealing his ambition to reach Heaven’s decision-making body and access Yahweh.
• Mu brought Xia Xiu to the Holy Ark’s hall and told him that linking with it might grant him a unique word spirit.
• Xia Xiu left Jam outside to guard the entrance and stepped into the hall.

Xia Xiu logged into the Holy Ark, awakened the Word Spirit Judgment and Redemption, and left the assembly hall as Mu recognized him as the uncrowned Vicegerent. Meanwhile, a memetic weapon killed 013’s Angels and erased a file, leaving 013 to investigate a new development near the Chaos Sea.

• Xia Xiu logged into the Holy Ark and received the Angel Sequence’s Word Spirit, Judgment and Redemption.
• Xia Xiu tested the Word Spirit by stabbing himself and discovered that it forcibly purified Smyrna.
• Mu suppressed the radiance from the assembly hall, saw Xia Xiu’s transformed appearance, and called him the uncrowned Vicegerent.
• Mu began questioning the Supreme Procedure about backed-up souls and matter on Terra, but a countermeasure erased the discussion.
• A memetic weapon called the Fallen Twins killed 013’s subordinate Angels and erased files in his safe.
• 013 received a report of a new development near the Chaos Sea and left, telling himself to wait a little longer.

Xia Xiu traveled to Queen Street, trusting fate to lead him to an admission ticket for "Reprise Performance." After finding Lindbergh Addison’s wallet and office, he took over a client’s case under the name Sherlock Holmes, while the missing detective ended up hospitalized after a string of mishaps.

• Xia Xiu left the Monastery with Jam and used a coin toss to choose Stockholm as their next destination.
• At the Skansen Museum, Xia Xiu explained that he was seeking a ticket to "Reprise Performance" by entrusting himself to fate, then boarded a bus to Queen Street with Jam hidden by mimesis.
• Xia Xiu found Lindbergh Addison’s wallet beneath his foot and followed the address on a postcard to Addison’s private detective office.
• When Henry arrived looking for Addison, Xia Xiu claimed the detective had fled his debts, introduced himself as Sherlock Holmes, named Jam as John Watson, and accepted Henry’s case.
• Lindbergh Addison lay in Karolinska University Hospital, recalling how he had left his office unlocked before losing his wallet and falling into a sewer with its manhole cover missing.

Xia Xiu accepted Henry’s request to investigate whether Lina’s traffic death had been murder and searched her records at the Karolinska Institute hospital. He found evidence that a killer may have engineered a series of dangerous “accidents” and began narrowing down who benefited.

• Henry told Xia Xiu that he suspected his daughter Lina’s death was not an accident and hired him to investigate.
• Xia Xiu followed a doctor into the hospital archives and briefly encountered the badly injured Lindbergh Addison, whose wallet he returned after taking 500 Youyang Currency.
• Xia Xiu found Lina’s death certificate, which confirmed that her injuries came from the collision, along with her earlier medical records.
• Xia Xiu noticed that Lina had suffered repeated life-threatening incidents before her death, including two serious illnesses and a near-fatal gas leak.
• Xia Xiu concluded that someone had used stacked probabilities to kill Lina and began investigating who stood to benefit.

Xia Xiu investigated the fatal tram and track-guided bus collision by questioning Primo and Hughes Robin, then confronted Hughes with evidence suggesting he had plotted to kill his wife, Lina, for insurance money. The chapter ended with Xia Xiu denouncing Hughes as the “ugly beast,” while Hughes sat facing the accusation.

• Xia Xiu visited Primo in Stockholm Prison, gave him food, and asked about Hughes Robin’s work on Route 101 before the accident.
• Primo told Xia Xiu that Hughes had resigned a month before the collision and had later been imprisoned over a sexual offense; Xia Xiu revealed that Lina, the woman who died, had been Hughes’s wife.
• Xia Xiu met Hughes at a rain shelter, offered him coffee in exchange for a story, and listened as Hughes described his happy marriage to Wendy.
• Xia Xiu recounted a suspicious fatal car crash involving multiple insurance policies and presented it as the inspiration for a story about a man plotting to murder his wife for money.
• Xia Xiu showed Hughes a photograph and accused him of being the ugly beast behind Lina’s death.

Xia Xiu confronted Hughes Robin with evidence that he had murdered his wife Lina for insurance money, tracing the crime back to the violence that awakened his cruelty. After Hughes dismissed the evidence as speculation, Old Henry revealed that Lina was his daughter and attacked him.

• Xia Xiu recounted how the economic crisis and Hughes's poverty led him to murder Jenny Aviva at Swallow Alley End and discover his taste for violence.
• Xia Xiu presented records showing Hughes borrowed money, bought accident insurance in Lina's name, and repeatedly caused or exploited her illnesses.
• Xia Xiu explained how Hughes tampered with Route 101's tracks and conditioned Lina to sit near the front before the fatal tram crash.
• Hughes mocked Xia Xiu, arguing that the evidence was speculation and too slow to bring justice through court.
• Xia Xiu left Hughes to Old Henry, who revealed that Lina was his daughter and beat Hughes in revenge.

Xia Xiu completed Old Henry’s commission, obtained the bloodied watch that transformed into a Yellow Card, and reviewed the coming performances. He recognized that winning either “Dragon Slayer” or “Alice Game” was necessary for his plan to claim the Great Deed in “The Impaler,” while “The Fall of Icarus” was driving Terra toward war.

• Xia Xiu led Old Henry away as Jam drove a stolen dump truck into the shelter and killed Hughes Robin.
• Xia Xiu accepted Old Henry’s watch as payment and vanished before Old Henry could speak further.
• Xia Xiu recited a phrase that turned the anomalous watch into a Yellow Card bound to him, and he queried its list of performances.
• Xia Xiu determined that he needed to win “Dragon Slayer” or “Alice Game” before attempting to obtain the Great Deed in “The Impaler.”
• Xia Xiu considered how “The Fall of Icarus” was fueling rebellions, repression, and mounting tensions between the Diva Empire, the Oletin Empire, and Heaven.

After returning to plague-stricken Fog City, Xia Xiu joined the White Card faction as its Savior and learned the performance’s objectives and restrictions. He discovered that his unawakened liege was somewhere in Westminster and would need the Balmung Holy Sword, while the plague was helping the Evil Dragon; Xia Xiu set out to find the White Card’s precise location.

• At the Fog City Stock Exchange, Xia Xiu learned that a plague had spread from Florence across Youyang and reached Fog City, killing thousands each day, and he ordered one million invested in the Ouroboros Railway.
• Xia Xiu returned to his residence and chose the White Card · Savior faction, causing the Crimson King’s performance to block his lineage connections to Heaven and the Flesh Supremacy Lineage.
• Xia Xiu examined the performance information and learned that the Evil Dragon needed to be released from confinement, while the ordinary White Card needed the Balmung Holy Sword and a special attack against the dragon.
• The Yellow Card disclosed that the plague was the Evil Dragon’s breeding ground and that Xia Xiu’s unawakened liege was in the Westminster region of Fog City.
• Xia Xiu considered the restrictions on defection and concluded that the Crimson King would not allow participants to exploit loopholes in the performance.

Xia Xiu learned the rules of the Holy Sword Contest and rushed to claim the Balmung Holy Sword, attacking the red-side contestants in Hyde Park. After defeating Daisy’s companions and capturing Daisy, he left the white side with the sword contest underway and a prisoner he intended to use as bait.

• God’s-eye View announced that the Balmung Holy Sword had appeared in Hyde Park and explained the contest rules; Xia Xiu activated his Holy Sword Mark and sent Jam to work.
• Price Daisy fled Hyde Park with the Balmung Holy Sword, but Jam attacked her and held her off as Nick and Bernard approached.
• Xia Xiu killed Nick, severed Bernard’s arm, learned that many of the red side’s powerful yellow cards were in Farlan, and killed Bernard.
• Jam dragged Daisy to Xia Xiu, who offered her a chance to live and began healing her face so she would make attractive bait.

Sharon Euliphis led Fog City's red-side Yellow Cards aboard a frigate to meet Price Daisy, only to discover that Daisy had been used as bait by Xia Xiu. After Xia Xiu's light giant destroyed the frigate and killed Daisy, Sharon faced him on shore and offered to defect to save her life.

• Sharon Euliphis gathered Fog City's red-side Yellow Cards and sailed aboard a frigate to meet Price Daisy.
• Doves that were Familiars bombed the frigate, and Sharon realized the meeting was a trap.
• A giant formed from Light Particles rose from the sea, split the frigate apart, and killed Daisy with a wheel of light.
• Sharon escaped the destruction on her griffin, but a red energy beam wounded it and forced her down on shore.
• Xia Xiu approached Sharon with Daisy's bag, and Sharon screamed that she would use [Defection] if he spared her.

After securing the [Balmung Holy Sword], Xia Xiu used it to prepare for the Holy Sword Contest and questioned Sharon Euliphis about the plague ravaging Youyang. He learned that only the destined [Dragon Slayer] could create a vaccine that would stop the conceptual virus, and tasked Sharon with finding the plague’s source.

• Xia Xiu and Sharon Euliphis spent time at Stokeley Park’s golf course while Jam killed and disposed of red-side pursuers.
• Xia Xiu burned the corpses, reassured Sharon that they were companions, and invited her to dinner.
• The [God's-Eye View] countdown ended, confirming that the white side had fulfilled its prerequisite and that the [Balmung Holy Sword] could locate the [Dragon Slayer].
• At dinner, Sharon told Xia Xiu that the plague spread through mosquitoes and that only a vaccine created by the [Dragon Slayer] could eradicate its concept.
• Xia Xiu agreed to find the [Dragon Slayer] and ordered Sharon to investigate who was spreading the plague.

Valente Bernard attended a ball despite his contempt for aristocratic society, where Xia Xiu revealed knowledge of the hidden world and led him to a holy sword. After drawing it and learning he was destined to become the Dragon Slayer, Valente declared he would resist fate.

• Valente wrote in his notebook about the plague’s mysterious origins, then prepared to attend a ball before leaving for the epidemic’s front lines.
• Valente rejected Sawyer Demi’s invitation to dance and watched her approach Charlie Bathermelo.
• Xia Xiu appeared beside Valente, exposed Charlie’s infidelity, and discussed Valente’s plans to protect his reputation by leaving for the epidemic front.
• Xia Xiu invited Valente outside, where Valente drew a greatsword that chose him and received a pure white card and knowledge of his destiny.
• Valente learned Xia Xiu’s name and declared that he would not submit to fate.

Xia Xiu and Valente agreed to save Youyang from the plague and pursue Night, while Xia Xiu arranged publicity for Valente’s future vaccine and sought information about the plague’s source. The chapter left Xia Xiu investigating the Hand of Pestilence, a group likely responsible for creating the outbreak.

• Xia Xiu defeated Valente in a sword-training bout, and Valente explained that he planned to develop a plague vaccine within a week.
• Valente chose to save Youyang despite the risk of revealing himself, and Xia Xiu proposed that they confront Night in Farlan and kill him.
• Valente agreed to go with Xia Xiu, trusting him despite the risk that Xiu Abraham might defect.
• Xia Xiu asked Sharon Euliphis to publicize Valente’s role in curing the plague and warned her to prevent family interference.
• Sharon told Xia Xiu that the plague likely originated in Florence and was created by the Hand of Pestilence, which operated in old virus laboratories.

Xia Xiu entered Carmignano in search of the [Hand of Pestilence] and encountered Alec and Wende experimenting with a zombie virus. After defeating them, he forced Wende to guide him to the underground black market, where he learned a virus sale was three days away and asked about attending.

• Xia Xiu arrived in Florence with Jam and headed for Carmignano to find the [Hand of Pestilence].
• Alec explained his controllable zombie prion to Wende, revealing that he had infected a family of four and turned them into aberrant corpses.
• Xia Xiu made the corpses attack Alec instead, while Jam injured Wende as he tried to flee; Xia Xiu destroyed the corpses and began questioning Wende.
• Wende led Xia Xiu to Carmignano's underground black market and told him that members of the [Hand of Pestilence] sold viruses there.
• Wende said the next virus sale was in three days and described the first requirement for attending; Xia Xiu claimed he sincerely believed in the Plague Evolution Theory and asked about the second requirement.

Xia Xiu prepared to trade Jam at Carmignano’s underground gathering, secretly planning to use the fake Familiar transfer to fleece a buyer. After passing the gathering’s screening and hearing several members request virus samples, Xia Xiu offered Jam in exchange for rare materials, setting up his scheme.

• Wende explained Carmignano’s barter-only gathering and led Xia Xiu and Jam to the mushroom houses, where Xia Xiu chose a red-capped dwelling.
• Xia Xiu created two symbiotic protozoa, made Jam swallow one, and planned to fake a [Contract Transfer] so he could cheat a buyer.
• Three days later, Xia Xiu passed the [Grid-Exclusion Stone] screening and followed the beak-masked man and the other attendees to the gathering’s altar.
• Xia Xiu identified four [Hand of Pestilence] members buying virus samples in bulk and decided to kill all four rather than determine which one was spreading the plague.
• Xia Xiu requested four portions each of [Bipolar Nanoflake], [D32 Steel], and [Polymerizing Agent], plus four [Crystal Electronic Units], and offered Jam as the Familiar in exchange.

At the Carmignano underground gathering, Xia Xiu traded a forged Familiar contract to Hansa for materials and identified sixteen people who had traded large quantities of virus samples. He upgraded [Gorgon] to Adaptive Stage Two and, as the fog began to recede, prepared to start his assassination operation.

• Xia Xiu demonstrated Jam's [Aetherization] and traded Hansa a forged [Contract Transfer] for four restricted materials, while Jam pretended to be docile.
• Xia Xiu observed sixteen people making large-scale trades in virus samples and decided to spare none of them.
• Back at his mushroom house, Xia Xiu used the materials to upgrade [Gorgon], unlocking shotgun and sniper modes and full Meme Contamination release.
• Xia Xiu tested [Gorgon]'s new forms, then learned through the Familiar contract that Jam had already left the caverns.
• Xia Xiu crushed a red protozoan and set his assassination operation in motion.

Jam fought Hansa at the cavern exit while Xia Xiu pursued Gunther Jason through Carmignano’s underground passages. Xia Xiu blasted through a cavern wall to unleash a nearby river on Jason’s mosquito-filled lair.

• Hansa transformed into a plague-ridden monster and attacked Jam, who countered with crystal spikes and fireballs before retreating from the spreading black mist.
• Jam summoned Xia Xiu’s Flesh Module Chimera as backup, and Chimera attacked Hansa while Jam waited for a chance to strike.
• Xia Xiu sensed Chimera’s activation, followed Gunther Jason into a cavern, and was discovered when Jason used mosquitoes and Floaters to locate and blind him.
• Xia Xiu used Hat Trick to become intangible and Smyrna to clear his vision, then transformed Gorgon into sniper mode.
• Xia Xiu fired through a weak spot in the cavern wall, causing nearby river water to rush into Jason’s mosquito breeding ground.

Xia Xiu killed Gunther Jason, then arrived in Fog City after Jam defeated Hansa. At St. James's Palace, Valente managed patients after a vaccine showed promise and discussed the limits of kindness with Xia Xiu.

• Xia Xiu shot Gunther Jason dead beside the river before Gunther could use [Defection].
• Hansa defeated Chimera but was ambushed and killed by Jam, who used an indigo crystal and [Adorai Explosion].
• Valente learned that the vaccine had improved patients in ward 303, then calmed the patients in ward 110 and warned Lina to speak carefully.
• Valente reassigned ward 110 to other doctors and headed to ward 303, where he met Xia Xiu.
• Xia Xiu accompanied Valente and remarked that kindness and generosity needed limits.

Xia Xiu brought Valente to the Louvre, where a Yellow Card prompt revealed cats secretly living there and meows coming from the paintings. They discovered a white cat moving between paintings, and Xia Xiu identified it as an Earthbound Spirit before sending Jam to calm it.

• Xia Xiu drove Valente to Farlan ahead of their planned fight with Night, hoping to find a secondary condition that could lower their risk.
• Near the Louvre, Xia Xiu's secondary-condition detector led him and Valente to the glass pyramid, where [God's-Eye View] prompted them to visit the Painting Gallery.
• Xia Xiu and Valente entered the Painting Gallery and saw a white cat meow from a painting, flee into neighboring paintings, and remain unnoticed by other visitors.
• Xia Xiu determined that the cat was likely an Earthbound Spirit rather than an Anomalous Art or a Clock Tower manifestation.
• Xia Xiu asked Jam to calm the white cat, then reminded the barking dog that his mimesis concealed him from sight but not sound.

Xia Xiu and Valente learned that Snow Child, a fading Earthbound Spirit cat in the Louvre, wished to see The Eternal Smile, so they planned to bring the painting to her. After midnight, as they prepared to enter the Louvre, Xia Xiu reminded Valente that Snow Child would be free to choose whether to leave with them.

• Jam caught Snow Child after Xia Xiu identified the pattern in her jumps through the paintings.
• Xia Xiu learned from [God's-Eye View] that Snow Child had lived in the Louvre for six years and could be freed from her bonds with her consent.
• Snow Child began speaking to Xia Xiu and Valente, and told them she dreamed of seeing The Eternal Smile.
• Xia Xiu and Valente decided to take The Eternal Smile from the second floor and bring it to Snow Child after midnight.
• At 00:02, Valente asked whether Snow Child would leave with them, and Xia Xiu said they were giving her the right to choose.

Xia Xiu and Valente retrieved The Eternal Smile for Snow Child, but she chose to remain in the Louvre and faded away, unlocking Valente’s Compassion. After returning the painting, they discussed choice and fate; the next day, Professor Laugen received an email about returning Mr. Night’s Familiar Xiu Ke.

• Xia Xiu disabled the Louvre’s surveillance while Valente handled the alarms, and the two retrieved The Eternal Smile.
• Snow Child admired the painting as Valente urged her to consider the wider world and the choices beyond the Louvre.
• Snow Child chose to stay in the Painting Gallery and dissolve rather than leave; Valente respected her decision, unlocking Compassion.
• Xia Xiu and Valente returned the painting, then discussed whether choices could be made without regret and what fate meant to Xia Xiu.
• Professor Laugen received an email from a former student with instructions for returning Mr. Night’s Familiar Xiu Ke.