Zhou Mingrui, a Chinese office worker, wakes up in the body of Klein Moretti, a history student from the city of Tingen who has just died from a bullet to the head. Thrown into a Victorian-inspired world haunted by supernatural forces, he must understand his host's death before it catches up with him.
Personality
Cautious to the point of paranoia, methodical and gifted with a very dry inner humour, Klein survives by planning every move. Beneath this caution lies a man deeply attached to his family, who clings to his humanity as his power pulls him away from it.
Powers & abilities
He drinks the Seer potion, the first Sequence of a pathway built on divination, manipulation and the play of appearances. He also discovers a mysterious space above the "gray fog", from which he summons other Beyonders while posing as an enigmatic power: The Fool.
History
Recruited by the Nighthawks, the branch of the Church of the Evernight Goddess that handles supernatural cases, Klein learns the principle of "acting" his potion to progress without losing his mind. The tragedies of Tingen later force him to change identity and lead several lives at once, from the detective Sherlock Moriarty to the adventurer Gehrman Sparrow.
Relationships
His brother and sister, Benson and Melissa, are his anchor and the reason for his lies. Dunn Smith, his Nighthawks captain, is his first mentor. In the Tarot Club he secretly guides Audrey Hall (Justice) and Alger Wilson (The Hanged Man), who have no idea who hides behind The Fool.
Key moments
- Waking up in Klein's room, facing a revolver and a notebook covered with a cryptic sentence.
- The first Tarot Club gathering above the gray fog.
- The events of Tingen, which force him to leave his life and family behind.
In the adaptations
B.CMAY Pictures' donghua, launched in 2025, adapts the first volume with a beautifully crafted gothic atmosphere. Cuttlefish That Loves Diving's novel remains the reference for following his many identities.
Did you know?
- Klein calls himself "The Fool", a nod to the first tarot card; every club member takes a tarot name.
- The original novel entered the British Library's collections in 2024, a first for a Chinese web novel.
Our take
Klein is a remarkably subtle hero: he wins through cunning, preparation and restraint rather than force. That is what makes Lord of Mysteries so different from the rest of the genre.
— Spidermas, for Donghua Fan