NTE Story & Hidden Side Quests Deep Dive: Main Chapters, the 4 "Haunted by Nightmares" Endings & the Full Miles Apart Story

Key answers: The NTE 1.0 main story has 5 chapters (including the Prologue), the protagonist is the amnesiac “Appraiser,” and the core of the world is Hethereau City coexisting with Anomalies (Anomaly). Of the 16+ hidden side quests, the ones truly worth experiencing are — 3 that permanently change the world (Eclipse, gender switch, snowy weather), 2 emotional peaks (Miles Apart, A Retrograde Poem for You), 3 horror peaks (No-Name Hospital, Lonely Player, Whose Leak Is This?), and 3 reward vehicles / Arcs (Iron Cavalry Assault, Calling the Lone Home, Pink Paws Heist).

The underlying philosophy of NTE’s story is the “contrast between light-comedy everyday life and cosmic-scale horror” — one second you might be taking an exam with an owl stationmaster, and the next you’re being chased by a bandage monster in an abandoned hospital. This article breaks down the main-story structure plus 16+ must-experience hidden side quests all at once.

⚠️ This article contains mild spoilers (no major twists), but there is still reading risk for players who haven’t cleared the game. Chapter 4 and some side-quest ending sections carry extra spoiler warnings.

1. The Core of the World

Anomaly

The stage is the modern-style supernatural metropolis “Hethereau City / Hethereau.” In this world, humans coexist with Anomalies (Anomaly):

• An Anomaly is not a single species, but any existence that breaks the rules of reality — it can be a creature, an object, a place, or a bizarre event
• They are classified by danger level, with the top class being Class VII (seven-tier Anomalies; the first one named in this game is the “Hypervortex”)
• They are monitored via the “Wertheimer Index,” with 5 “Wertheimer Towers” corresponding to 5 major districts

The Core Conflict

“Neverness to Everness” — this vast, prophetic force is manifesting in the present world, and Anomalies are merely one of its outward signs. The main story is the journey of gradually uncovering the truth of “Neverness to Everness.”

2. The Protagonist

• The player plays the “Appraiser (The Appraiser / Esper Zero)”
• Amnesiac — found lying at the center of the “Hypervortex” disaster site, with no memory of who they are or where they came from
• Unique ability: able to sense the “Nexus” inside every Anomaly — this is the Anomaly’s weak point, and seeing through it is enough to break the Anomaly
• On special assignment from the “Bureau of Anomaly Control (BAC),” the Appraiser is dispatched to a poorly run antique shop, “Eibon,” to work as its appraiser and carry out outsourced Anomaly commissions
• Gender-switchable (requires completing the side quest “In the Reflection” to unlock)

3. The Three Factions

A. Eibon Antiques (the protagonist’s party)

NPC	Identity
Hotori / Fire Bird	The shop owner, a former Bureau of Anomaly Control captain; she’s cheap, gullible, and drowns her sorrows in drink, and she has the “time stop” ability (which is why you can never beat her at rock-paper-scissors)
Zero	A silent swordsman, head of the most prestigious family in Bridge Crossings, and a rising star among Hethereau’s Espers
Nanally Collins	The first 1.0 limited S; originally a figure in the Bridge Crossings street scene, she later stays on at the antique shop
Sakiri	An S-rank standard Incantation-type support who wields an Anomaly war hammer named “Kiroumaru,” a sharp-tongued girl
Adler	The butler, a functional support
Tajido	A pet-like live-in companion (1.1 will add a “mute toggle”)

B. The Bureau of Anomaly Control (BAC) (government agency)

The most elite squad, “ETD-4,” handles the highest-level Anomaly incidents:

• Captain Baicang
• Fadia
• Lacrimosa
• Skia

C. Sterry Express

A civilian Esper courier organization that guest-stars in Chapter 3:

• Jiuyuan, Hathor, Jensen, and others

4. The 1.0 Main Story Chapters

Chapter	Title	Location	Duration	Core Boss	Theme
Prologue Pt 1	Foreboding Yet Foreseen	New Herland	~40 min	Picture Frame	Amnesiac arrival, signing with BAC, combat tutorial
Prologue Pt 2	The Business of Business and Lucky Charms	Bridge Crossings · Sketch Town	~60 min	Tajido, Film-MANISH	The first Anomaly commission — the photo studio incident
Chapter 1	A Love Campaign Built on a Lie	Old Town	~30 min	Imagination Dough	A light-comedy slice-of-life, love built on a lie
Chapter 2	Deal? Deal!	Bridge Crossings · Eibon	~120 min	The Never-Ending Arachne	A Sterry Express commission, infiltrating the Ebisu Auction House
Chapter 3 / Chapter 4	Debt Collector / A Research in Scarlet	Bridge Crossings · Eibon	~120 min	Debt Collector, Zankou	The 1.0 finale, a haunted manor + time-switching

Numbering note: Game8 splits the Prologue into two parts, so it calls this “Episode 5, Debt Collector”; the Chinese community generally calls it “Chapter 4: A Research in Scarlet” (the English A Research in Scarlet plays on Sherlock Holmes’s A Study in Scarlet).

Chapter 4 “Debt Collector” Deep Dive ⚠️ SPOILER WARNING

The client Renee and her family are being haunted by the “Debt Collector.” Fifty years ago, Renee’s mother gave her an “Eternal Present” — an expensive longevity Anomaly that lets her keep searching for meaning in life even after her family members passed away one by one.

But the “Debt Collector” comes to collect the interest on the contract every single day, and this cycle has gone on for 50 years.

After defeating the Debt Collector, the Bureau gives Renee two choices:

1. Be taken in and protected as an Anomaly (permanently protected, but the Debt Collector still comes every day)
2. Live out the rest of her life as an ordinary person (free, but the Debt Collector will still appear)

After choosing option 2, once the story is over, the player can return at 21:00 to the cherry-blossom tree at the manor entrance, examine the little doll by the tree’s roots, and watch the “afterstory” — revealing Renee’s final fate.

Community reception: The story’s high points are concentrated in the Prologue and Chapter 4. Chapter 4 was criticized for its dragging pace (of three hours of dialogue, two and a half are repetitive emotional setup), but the characters’ motivations (Renee, the antagonist Lingering Rainbow, the hidden garden subplot) are complete, and it’s been called the “peak of the writing.”

5. 1.1 “Dream Roaming Corridor” Preview (live 2026/05/28)

• New characters: Lacrimosa (Chaos-element S-rank Main DPS, banner Phase 1: 5/28-6/11) + the first limited male S-rank, “Chaos” (Phase 2: 6/11-7/2)
• New map: a large theme amusement park, “PukaLand”
• New vehicle: a boat (allows exploration on water)
• New feature: a live-in system for male characters (responding to community feedback), plus Tajido’s “mute toggle”

See the 1.1 Version Preview for details.

6. Must-Experience Hidden Side Quests (16+ deep dives)

Suggested priority order: ☆☆☆ must-do → ☆☆ strongly recommended → ☆ do it when you have time

1. ☆☆☆ Haunted by Nightmares — No-Name Hospital · 4 Endings

Location: Sketch Town — the abandoned Hethereau City Hospital Highlight: the most complete horror experience in the whole game, designed like an escape-room game

Why it’s worth doing:

• There’s no combat, yet an undying “bandage monster” chases you through the hospital corridors
• Clue-gathering across three floors, where the 4 endings together piece out the full tragedy of the Sterling family
• Inside the hospital there is no map and a forced first-person view — getting lost is part of the design

4 ending unlock conditions:

#	Ending Name	Unlock Condition
1	The Price of Betrayal	Collect 3 “Anomaly Imbalance” clues
2	An Offering to Evil	Collect 3 “Surveillance Record” clues
3	A Monster of Medicine	Collect 3 “Anomaly Experiment” clues
4	The Voice of Nightmares	1 hidden clue + 2 designated experiment clues; must bring Zero / Aurelia / Nanally

Ending 4 hidden key: You need to go to the storeroom behind the reception desk on the 2nd floor, and arrange the documents you find into a unique arrangement to unlock the final segment, “The Voice of Nightmares.”

2. ☆☆☆ Miles Apart — the Longest Side Quest in the Game

Location: New Herland District · East Tarrin Boulevard · the Golden Apple Collection Hall

Why it’s worth doing:

• The whole thing is an emotional, healing-style narrative — interweaving the childhood memories of the architect Patty with her mother’s dying wish
• It uses a dual timeline of “dark past vs. sunlit present” to solve puzzles
• You’ll get a “time switcher” from Tungsten, letting you travel between the two timelines to gather 4 key items:
  • Patty’s design blueprints
  • The fox and the swing
  • A sticky note
  • The mended teddy bear
• Emotional climax: the grown-up Patty finally works up the courage to finish reading the last letter her late mother left behind

Rewards: Hunter EXP 400 + Annulith 60 + Fons 15,000 + Senior Hunter’s Guide 12 + Colorless Dye 12 + Beetle Coin 30,000

Linked sequel: Completing it unlocks “The Second Lamp / A Hero Doesn’t Always Show Up in the Shining Moment” — the story of the actor Klarion, who is mistaken for a superhero fighting the Garuda gang by sheer accident, his popularity built on years of lies.

3. ☆☆☆ A New Day Another Day / Eclipse — Unlocks the Free S-Rank Protagonist Signature Weapon

Location: Starts beside the ReroRero phone booth at the BAC (Bureau of Anomaly Control) Rewards: the S-rank protagonist signature Arc “Day Off” + unlocks the Eclipse weather effect

Why it’s worth doing:

• A must-do at launch — one of the few free S-rank protagonist signature weapons in the whole game, obtainable in the early game
• The NPC “Eclipse” is an extremely mysterious character who disappears after every conversation and reappears in a new spot, discussing philosophical topics like “labor and purpose”

6 dialogue locations (all in clear weather + morning 6:01-19:59):

1. The Bureau of Anomaly Control (BAC), beside the ReroRero phone booth
2. Sketch Town · East Hankaku Street · the rooftop of the photo studio
3. Illusion Town · beside the Wertheimer Tower · the top of the pink Oops gift shop building
4. Coastal Highway · the right-side beach entrance off Hankaku Street
5. Tikal Bridge (heading south from the beach, you can see two red suspension bridges)
6. Back to the BAC, beside the phone booth — claim “Day Off”

Derived achievement “Schedule Change”: After getting the weapon, on a clear morning go to Unheard Shores · beside the Wertheimer Tower to find a little boy, then use the weapon’s active skill to trigger an eclipse and talk to him.

4. ☆☆ In the Reflection — Permanently Unlocks Gender Switching

Location: Bridge Crossings · Hankaku Street — triggers after Prologue II + after unlocking the motorcycle Rewards: permanently unlocks “switch the Appraiser’s gender” (Settings → Other tab, switchable once every 24 hours)

Why it’s worth doing:

• One of the only three “permanently unlock a system feature” side quests in NTE
• Story premise: out on the street you happen to overhear two girls discussing an urban legend about “a magic mirror that can reflect the future”
• The one who truly holds the “magic mirror” isn’t the supposed mirror-owner, but the grocery-store owner Kookie — she has a wash basin that, when filled with water and looked into, reflects the protagonist of the opposite gender
• Kookie warns you not to spread the word, because “people believe what they want to believe”

5. ☆☆☆ A Retrograde Poem for You — Unlocks Snowy Weather

Location: Miguel District — the Felicitá ice cream shop, find Daisy Rewards: permanently unlocks “snowy weather” + the achievement “It’s Snowing!” + Annulith 30

Why it’s worth doing:

• Stands alongside “Eclipse” and “In the Reflection” as one of the three “permanently unlock a system” side quests
• The story’s core is the snowman Anomaly Puff — a group of bikers buys up all the ice cream every day, just to feed this snowman hiding in a corner so he can help people beat the heat
• The protagonist helps Puff gather cold air (visiting the Nekomaru ramen shop, 7-Oceans Seafood, and the Golden Apple Collection Hall)
• Tragic ending: to bring snow to the summer, Puff sacrifices himself by melting away — in the end the protagonist only finds the wreath he leaves behind
• It’s a representative work of NTE’s “tragedy wrapped in a light-comedy shell” style

6. ☆☆ Weather Watch — A Tale of a Rainy Night

Location: Bridge Crossings · a residential back alley between the Coastal Highway and Whiteparrot Street (can only be accepted on rainy days)

Why it’s worth doing:

• A two-night investigation story, working with JTF (Joint Task Force) member Bixing
• The theme is the “Rainmen” Anomaly — a group of umbrella-wielding monsters that attack pedestrians on rainy nights
• You find environmental clues at the “Damp House,” and following the clues you enter the basement of an abandoned warehouse
• The truth: in the basement there’s a monster growing “weather vines” — it’s the one creating the abnormal downpour

Completing it grants the achievement “A Rainy Day in Hethereau.”

7. ☆☆☆ Lonely Player — Clement Academy

Location: Sketch Town · Clement Academy, on the east side of the Wertheimer Tower (only triggers 20:00-06:00) Community reception: “the most eerie and most difficult Anomaly commission in the whole game”

Why it’s worth doing (and why it’s scary):

• In the nighttime school, you play games with 8 wandering dolls
• There are no in-game hints at all — the maze-like campus, the puzzles, and the mini-games are all up to you to figure out
• It strings together 5 Peepy wall-cracks, 1 memory puzzle, 1 piano sequence (transcribed by ear! 3 scores of a dozen-plus notes each, and a fail means starting over), and the mini-games for the 8 wandering dolls
• Including invisible-doll hide-and-seek, a paper-cup game, using cheese (usable only once — use it in the wrong spot and all your progress is wasted), and a teleport race
• Key item: the “Cheese Camera” — using it in the wrong order / too early gets you soft-locked
• Certain levels require “a character who can attack from behind” — Nanally’s skill or Zero’s basic attack

Why it’s worth experiencing: it’s the ultimate expression of NTE’s design philosophy — it completely trusts the player to figure things out and offers no conveniences whatsoever, like playing an indie psychological horror game.

8. ☆☆ Norms on the Anomaly Express — Unlocks the Phantom Train

Location: the train station in the northern part of the Miguel District map Highlight: a hidden side quest that doesn’t appear on the map and isn’t listed in the collection tracker — you have to discover it yourself

Why it’s worth doing:

• Unlocks the “Phantom Train (Ghost Train / Anomaly Express)” — the game’s most important biweekly endgame dungeon, with enemy waves, time limits, side challenges, and a boss
• The presentation is extremely distinctive:
  1. The station’s stationmaster, Miss Levi — a talking owl
  2. You must take a “pass” to apply at the BAC, then return to the station to take a 10-question written exam (the content is the Anomaly Express rules, e.g. “Keep a lost ticket: not allowed,” “shut down on full-moon Wednesdays,” “violators may be permanently banned”)
  3. Only by passing can you get a ticket
• Completion reward: 60 Annulith

9. ☆ Invade! Octopus Trailer!

Location: Unheard Shores — along Coastal Highway Z42 (a moving target)

Why it’s worth doing:

• The whole game’s only “moving object” (every other Anomaly is a fixed, stationary point)
• An octopus disguised as an old green trailer, constantly driving along the highway
• The protagonist must chase it on a motorcycle / in a car; ramming it deals damage, and getting close triggers a battle
• Completing it grants the achievement “Trailing Shadow”
• A perfect match for NTE’s “the uncanny within the city” — you’re driving through the city, an old trailer slowly rolls by ahead, and no one suspects it’s a monster

10. ☆☆ Pink Paws Heist — the Biggest Extraction Mode in the Game

Location: unlocked at City Tycoon Lv 10 World: a Tarkov-like mode

Story background:

• Pink Paws Bank has a dual identity: on the surface a normal bank, but in fact the stage of the show “Vault Heist” — the director partners with Dvorak to turn a real robbery into a legal “reality show,” and the player is a contestant
• Lobby manager Chiz (a pink cat-person, = Chiz/Xiaozhi) is the face of the heist, and is also the free S-rank playable character unlocked at City Tycoon Lv 18
• The final boss Mammon — powerful, but drops a huge amount of Fons
• The bank has 3 floors: LG1 Office Floor, LG2 Collection Floor, LG3 Vault Floor + a basement boss room

For a detailed money-making route, see the City Tycoon Guide.

11. ☆☆ Iron Cavalry Assault — the Most Cinematic Boss Fight in the Game

Location: Bridge Crossings, heading south from the Wertheimer Tower Rewards: the S-rank Plasma Arc “Raging Flames” (a motorcycle with a blue ghost-flame effect)

Prerequisites (very strict):

• Level 35+
• Time: 00:00-04:00 (02:00 is the most reliable)
• You must be driving a four-wheeled car (motorcycle / scooter won’t work)

Trigger route: from the tower head south → past the basketball court → climb over the wall → glide down to the road → summon a four-wheeled car → drive east to west → ahead, the blue-flame ghost motorcycle “Headless Iron Rider” appears → keep a medium follow distance → the system prompts “Target Locked” → enter the Anomaly space

Two-phase boss fight:

• Phase 1 (100%-60%): high-speed pursuit, the bike drifts and attacks with a scythe
• Phase 2 (60%-30%): clones, dive attacks, and an area shockwave

Why it’s worth doing: the protagonist drives a four-wheeled car against the blue-flame motorcycle reaper in a midnight city-highway showdown, and on completion you get a motorcycle with cosmetic effects as a vehicle.

12. ☆☆ Calling the Lone Home — Sakiri’s Signature Weapon Reward

Location: New Herland District · atop a garden tower (pagoda) Rewards: Sakiri’s exclusive S-rank Arc “Tears Behind the Mask”

Why it’s worth doing:

• Sakiri is one of the 1.0 launch standard S-rank characters, and the most popular sharp-tongued + cat-ear support
• “Tears Behind the Mask” is her best weapon, making this a must-do for Sakiri users
• Process: after unlocking the teleport point, climb to the top of the tower and talk to the torii gate ahead to trigger the boss fight; bringing Nanally (for easier climbing) makes it faster to complete

13. ☆ C’s Rubik’s Cube

Location: Unheard Shores · the grassland north of the Wertheimer Tower Style: a puzzle + combat hybrid

• After tracking the commission, head to the grassland → climb the stacked boxes → chase the endlessly splitting “C creature” → reach the top of the tower and trigger the fight → defeat it to complete

Why it’s worth doing: gameplay-wise it’s a fast-paced little commission of “parkour + maze combat,” well suited as a checklist-style bit of exploration.

14. ☆☆☆ Whose Leak Is This? — NTE’s Strongest Urban-Legend Atmosphere

Location: Miguel District · an apartment building beside Saint Torres Avenue Highlight: forced first-person view, intense horror atmosphere (the reason “NTE Whose Leak Is This?” is a hot search is precisely because it’s so scary)

Why it’s worth doing:

• NTE’s most representative “urban-legend atmosphere” Anomaly commission — letting “horror presentation” override combat

Process:

1. Enter the designated apartment elevator
2. In the corridor, find the “restore switch” next to the phone and press it, then return to the elevator and change floors
3. On another floor, check the corridor phone, then go back to the elevator
4. Collect 3 elevator buttons — avoid the black water!
5. When switching floors, you’ll be force-attacked by a giant black-water entity (unavoidable)
6. The final step: return to the bathroom and turn off the faucet — the commission ends

The whole process has eerie ambient sound, and there’s no combat but the pressure is immense — it’s one of the most direct representatives of “NTE’s horror side.”

15. ☆☆ This Is Not a Painting — Pure Perspective Puzzle

Highlight: the purest perspective-puzzle commission in the game, with no combat and no collecting (listed as “What You See” in the commission menu)

Why it’s worth doing:

• Unique gameplay — you need to find 4 paintings, stand in a specific spot, and adjust your perspective to make the picture frame line up perfectly with objects in the real scene to trigger the mechanism

Solutions for the 4 paintings:

1. First painting (at the entrance): you see a puppet figure; adjust the angle so the frame lines up with the door behind it
2. Second painting: line it up directly with the door leading to the basement
3. Third painting (at the far end of the basement): line it up with the photography light behind you — you’ll find that the sculpture horse perfectly overlaps with the painting on the right
4. Fourth painting (in the middle of the basement): line it up with the small door and the wall projection on the table

Core technique: stand still, move slowly, turn slightly — stand 1-2 meters directly in front of the painting, and when you hear the sound cue you’ve got it.

16. 21’s Gift — the Treasure Chest Collection System (not story)

Nature: a collection system, not a story commission Total: 78 chests

Region	Chests
Old Town + Bridge Crossings	12
Unheard Shores	9
Sketch Town	22 (densest)
Miguel	15
New Herland	20

Important mechanic:

• Some chests are affected by the weather system
• Over 90% appear reliably at night — it’s recommended to lock the time to nighttime across the board
• Route suggestion: from old to new (Old Town → Bridge Crossings → Unheard Shores → Sketch Town → Miguel → New Herland)

It’s a key collection source that backs up F2P players’ pity counter.

7. Major Main-Story Choices and Branches

The NTE 1.0 main story has no complex branching choices (each chapter is basically linear); the choice branches are mainly concentrated in:

The End of Chapter 4 “Debt Collector”

The Bureau gives Renee two choices:

1. Be taken in as an Anomaly (permanently protected, but the Debt Collector comes every day)
2. Live out the rest of her life as an ordinary person (free, but the Debt Collector will still appear)

→ After either choice, the player can return at 21:00 to the cherry-blossom tree at the manor, examine the doll by the tree’s roots, and watch the “afterstory” CG.

The Either-Or in Hidden Side Quests

• In the Reflection: accept the wash basin’s secret → unlock gender switching; decline and you miss it
• A Retrograde Poem for You: choose to keep helping Puff gather cold air → trigger the tragic snowy ending; interrupt it and you can’t unlock snowy weather

The Protagonist’s Gender

It can be freely switched after completing In the Reflection — all CGs and voice acting switch along with it.

8. Conclusion: The Side-Quest Design Philosophy

NTE’s side-quest design philosophy is the “contrast between light-comedy everyday life and cosmic-scale horror”:

• On one side, racing an octopus trailer and taking an exam with an owl stationmaster
• On the other, the bandage monster in the hospital, the melting snowman, and the dolls at school in the dead of night
• On one side, an architect recovering her mother’s last letter; on the other, an actor having his hero lie exposed

Among the 16 side quests:

• 3 truly change the world (Eclipse / snowy weather / gender switch)
• 2 are emotional peaks (Miles Apart, A Retrograde Poem)
• 3 are horror peaks (No-Name Hospital, Lonely Player, Whose Leak Is This?)
• 3 are vehicle/Arc rewards (Iron Cavalry Assault, Calling the Lone Home, Pink Paws Heist)
• The rest are all “urban slices” of the NTE world

Related Guides

• Side Quest Guide — full walkthroughs of all 38 Anomaly commissions
• Complete City Exploration Guide — landmarks and anime homage easter eggs across the 5 districts
• Complete Arc System Guide — why Day Off and Raging Flames are must-grabs
• City Tycoon Guide — the full Pink Paws Heist route
• 1.1 Version Preview — the Dream Roaming Corridor main story

FAQ

Story and side-quest data is compiled from public sources including Game8, GameWith, PowerPyx, Game Rant, Phrasemaker, Deltia’s Gaming, AllThings.How, TV Tropes, Villains Wiki, Bahamut, Entertainment Taxi, 4Gamers, Moegirlpedia, and others. Some story details (especially ending branches and hidden-clue arrangements) may be adjusted by version updates; the in-game version is authoritative. The 1.1 “Dream Roaming Corridor” main-story details are pending verification after the official launch.