Recaps

Xu Chen learned that Song Tian's father had rapidly progressing chronic myeloid leukemia and that available treatments were unlikely to save him. After Song Tian went to be with his father, Xu Chen examined photos of the man's thighs and discovered a grotesque deformity that seemed far more severe than the doctors had described.

• Xu Chen and Song Tian asked the attending physician about Father Song's condition, and the doctor said his leukemia was near blast phase with few treatment options.
• Xu Chen learned that gene therapy might help, but it was unlikely to be ready before Father Song's condition worsened.
• Xu Chen reviewed the doctor's notes and found that Father Song's disease resisted existing drugs and was progressing rapidly.
• Xu Chen told Song Tian the prognosis was grim and offered to help him seek medical trials, so Song Tian went back to the ward to spend time with his father.
• Xu Chen found a file of photos of Father Song's thighs and was stunned by the twisted, severely deformed masses of flesh.

Xu Chen was escorted by soldiers to a military hospital, where Captain Chu told him that Old Ge was dying from unexplained systemic organ failure and had requested to speak with him alone. Xu Chen began recording their conversation and approached Old Ge, who weakly called him closer.

• Xu Chen studied cancer development in class and wrote down a thought about carcinogens.
• Two noncommissioned officers and six armed soldiers took Xu Chen from class in a Type 08 Infantry Fighting Vehicle to a military hospital.
• Captain Chu told Xu Chen that Old Ge was in critical condition and wanted to speak with him privately, while asking Xu Chen to record their conversation.
• Xu Chen entered Old Ge's room, turned on the recorder, and saw that machines were keeping the unconscious-looking man alive.
• Old Ge opened his eyes, declined Xu Chen's offer of water, and told him to come closer.

Xu Chen listened as Old Ge tried to describe a mysterious dream, but Old Ge died after the medication pump administered an overdose of propofol. The Nanhua Military Region reported his death to the central government and ordered the nation to mourn.

• Old Ge asked Xu Chen to remove his respirator, then described a magnificent dream and warned that speaking of it seemed dangerous.
• Old Ge struggled to explain that Xu Chen was more solid than the others and would not be washed away, as his heart rate rose and the medication pump administered repeated doses.
• Old Ge told Xu Chen that the indescribable thing was beyond words and that all things rejoiced at one who understood, then collapsed as the pump continued injecting medication.
• Xu Chen stopped the IV line and called for a doctor, but Old Ge died of cardiac arrest caused by a propofol overdose.
• An officer ordered Lian Gaoming to notify the central government that Old Ge had died, and the Nanhua Military Region announced national mourning.

After Old Ge’s fatal overdose, investigators questioned hospital staff and examined the faulty recording equipment. Xu Chen was detained and interrogated about damaging the recorder, but the officers were using the session to reconstruct his conversation with Old Ge.

• Doctors discussed whether Old Ge’s drug pump or vital signs monitor had malfunctioned, and Xu Chen considered whether Old Ge’s agitated state could have affected his heartbeat.
• Captain Chu called Engineer Cheng into the meeting room for technical support.
• Armed soldiers detained Xu Chen and took him to an interrogation room.
• Two public security officers questioned Xu Chen about damaging the recording equipment, then asked him to recount his conversation with Old Ge.
• In the conference room, Captain Chu objected to Xu Chen’s treatment, but an official said they needed his account because the recorder held no speech.

Xu Chen joined a meeting about Old Ge’s death and the missing voices in the recording, learning that Old Ge’s body had aged abnormally and that his research notes on the cultural relics’ special corrosion remained unreadable. The chapter ended with Xu Chen growing alarmed that Old Ge’s high-energy physics discovery was still unexplained.

• Captain Chu explained that the recording device had worked normally, but the playback contained only sounds and none of Xu Chen and Old Ge’s conversation.
• Xu Chen suggested Old Ge may have prevented the conversation from being recorded, but Captain Chu said Old Ge lacked the technical means and the cause remained unknown.
• An elderly man explained that an extraordinary amount of free radicals had caused Old Ge’s body to age rapidly, while investigators had ruled out chemical poisoning.
• Xu Chen asked about Old Ge’s research into the special corrosion of cultural relics, and Old Ge’s student said the teacher’s handwriting made his notes impossible to understand.
• Old Ge’s student said the research might have uncovered something in high-energy physics, but the team had discovered nothing yet, leaving Xu Chen deeply uneasy.

Xu Chen and the investigators examined Old Ge’s notebook, which was filled with seemingly meaningless circles, then asked Xu Chen what Old Ge’s final message meant. When Xu Chen said “Cthulhu,” an immense consciousness reached into his mind, but he resisted its influence and cut off the unnatural joy it had imposed.

• A technician copied the photographs of Old Ge’s notebook from his student’s phone and displayed the pages for the conference room.
• The investigators and a handwriting analyst found only dense, irregular circles in the notes and sent them to the technical team for analysis.
• The investigators asked Xu Chen to explain Old Ge’s message, and Xu Chen recalled that the final words evoked the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Xu Chen said “Cthulhu” and sensed an immense consciousness above him, which filled his mind with thoughts of raising, harvesting, and spreading.
• Xu Chen felt forced joy and an urge to look up, but he shouted a curse, sprang to his feet, and shut his eyes, abruptly ending the joy and silencing the presence.

Xu Chen found that he could no longer speak, write, type, or otherwise communicate information after trying to reveal what Old Ge had discovered. Unable to alert the conference room, he privately deduced that a Cthulhu-like mastermind had silenced Old Ge and him, then wondered whether Old Ge had left a hidden message about Special Corrosion.

• After Xu Chen lost his voice, the conference room tried writing, typing, dictionary selection, and surveillance footage, but each method failed to reveal what he had tried to say.
• The conference room concluded that an unknown enemy could disrupt cognition and ordered inquiries into how such a weapon worked and whether it could be countered.
• Xu Chen selected books through a process of elimination but ended up with Andersen's Fairy Tales instead of the Cthulhu Mythos he wanted.
• Xu Chen deduced that Old Ge had uncovered information about the mastermind while researching Special Corrosion, and that the mastermind had killed Old Ge and scrambled Xu Chen's cognition to prevent the information from spreading.
• Xu Chen suspected the mastermind might be Cthulhu and considered that understanding Special Corrosion could help humanity resist the destruction of cultural relics.
• Xu Chen reconsidered Old Ge's final words and wondered whether they had contained a hidden message, but he could find no useful information in them.

Xu Chen received a warning from Yang Tianyou and discovered that the jade jue let him speak again. He linked the warning to the infected patients and tested writing Cthulhu’s name, triggering another disturbing vision.

• Captain Chu gave Xu Chen Yang Tianyou’s package, which contained a warning letter and a jade jue pendant.
• Xu Chen found that he could speak while holding the jade jue, so he made it into a necklace and wore it.
• Xu Chen realized Yang Tianyou’s warning about people being washed away likely referred to the Aspergillus flavus patients who had been part of the internship group.
• Xu Chen wrote to Yang Tianyou asking how he knew about the incident and where the jade jue came from, then sent the letter with Captain Chu.
• Xu Chen wrote Cthulhu’s name on paper and saw a dark, writhing vision before tearing the page into pieces.

Xu Chen questioned the possibility that harmful information could affect or kill people, connecting the idea to Taihao disease and the typhoon wind-field map. He refused to continue cooperating until Captain Chu removed his earpiece and agreed to be checked for other listening devices.

• Xu Chen kept the forbidden name to himself, and Captain Chu found scraps of paper bearing an unknown script and sent them to the Think Tank.
• Captain Chu asked Xu Chen what had happened during the missing stretch of time and what he had tried to say at their previous meeting.
• Xu Chen recounted a story about a prisoner who died after believing he was bleeding, then explained how information could shape bodily responses.
• Captain Chu revealed that harmful information was possible and linked the concept to the typhoon wind-field map associated with Taihao disease.
• Xu Chen suspected Captain Chu was transmitting their conversation, so he demanded that Captain Chu remove his earpiece and submit to a metal-detector check.

Xu Chen warned Captain Chu about a supernatural entity whose name could bring madness, but attempts to record details of Him were distorted by a supernatural effect. They reasoned that the entity might be planning to destroy human civilization through a psychic plague, and Captain Chu fell silent as he considered Xu Chen’s earlier exposure to its gaze.

• Xu Chen told Captain Chu about an entity he called “He,” whose name could attract its attention and drive those it gazed upon into madness.
• As Xu Chen described the entity, Captain Chu’s clothes became soaked with salty seawater, and his notes transformed into the same distorted script Xu Chen had found before.
• Xu Chen and Captain Chu set aside the entity’s identity and discussed whether He was behind the strange cases, Taihao disease, Aspergillus flavus infections, and the destruction of cultural relics.
• Xu Chen suggested that the entity might spread madness by spreading its name, and Captain Chu wondered why it had not already done so.
• Xu Chen recalled that he had lost the ability to speak after saying the entity’s name in the conference room, and Captain Chu fell silent as he looked at the one under its gaze.

Captain Chu’s think tank questioned whether Xu Chen had correctly identified the supernatural forces around him, and testing Cthulhu’s name left Captain Chu briefly bewildered without causing a disaster. Xu Chen returned to his dormitory and tried to recreate the noisy atmosphere that helped him study while Song Tian was away.

• Captain Chu briefed his five-person think tank on Xu Chen’s information, and an investigator suggested that Xu Chen might be protected by another supernatural being and could not be certain there was only one.
• Captain Chu told Xu Chen that the investigator suspected Taihao was helping him, and Xu Chen agreed to test Cthulhu’s name with the Jade Jue in hand.
• Xu Chen said “Cthulhu” to Captain Chu, but Captain Chu only lost his senses briefly and then could not remember hearing the name.
• Xu Chen returned to his empty dormitory, collected missed class handouts, and began catching up on his studies.
• Xu Chen turned on Song Tian’s television and raised the news volume to recreate the lively noise that made studying feel more productive.

Captain Chu learned that the information about the supernatural creature was infecting the investigators and changing their personalities, while the search for Old Ge’s research yielded little. He drafted a contingency order directing his team to control Xu Chen if he died, then regained some confidence as an investigator urged him to keep pursuing the hidden creature.

• Old Ge’s student told Captain Chu that the research had only revealed experiments related to high-energy physics and thermodynamics, so Captain Chu arranged for Academician Tang to help.
• The think tank told Captain Chu that information about Him carried a mysterious power and caused emotional blunting and unexplained memories.
• A psychologist warned that Captain Chu’s changes were the most severe and that the creature might kill or replace them.
• Captain Chu drafted an application directing his team to deal with Xu Chen if he died, hoping they would keep Xu Chen under control.
• An investigator reassured Captain Chu that the creature could be caught, and Captain Chu considered whether a missile strike might be necessary.

Xu Chen discovered how severely culture had declined in his world and reflected on the loss of historical works and relics to Special Corrosion. While watching Old Ge’s funeral, he noticed a United Nations announcement that revived his suspicion that Song Tian and his notes on carcinogens were connected to the mystery.

• Xu Chen found that many historical sites and classic works were missing or damaged, and concluded that culture had declined while entertainment flourished.
• Xu Chen reflected on Old Ge’s discoveries, death, and possible reasons for not sharing what he knew about the mastermind’s methods.
• Xu Chen watched Old Ge’s coffin being lowered into the grave and paid his respects from home.
• Xu Chen saw a news ticker announcing a United Nations meeting about pressure on global healthcare and the customs inspection system.
• Xu Chen retrieved his notes and, after reading his list of carcinogens, suspected they might connect to Song Tian and the broken trail of clues.

Meng Hua asked Academician Tang to investigate Academician Ge’s cryptic research notes, and Tang found a possible lead in Ge’s final words. Tang left Meng Hua a coded string and instructions before departing to verify his suspicions, fearing the mysterious entity that had killed Ge might target him next.

• Meng Hua explained that Academician Ge’s notes were incomprehensible and asked Academician Tang to infer Ge’s research from the experiment records.
• Academician Tang examined the data, noticed anomalies, and scolded Meng Hua’s team over a measurement error before deciding the flawed data was not essential.
• Tang read the records of Ge’s conversations with Xu Chen and focused on the statement that matter and time solidified into small pieces.
• Tang wrote Meng Hua a long string of numbers as a clue, told him to study thermodynamics, and instructed him to alert the authorities if Tang did not return.
• Academician Tang hurried away with the materials, believing the mysterious entity that had taken Ge might claim him as well.

Xu Chen found that fungal infections had overwhelmed medical systems around the world, then suspected Cthulhu was using a different method to make people ill in the country after earlier measures failed. He ended the chapter investigating the link between rising domestic illnesses, immune disorders, and Cthulhu’s attempts to reduce the population.

• Xu Chen read reports of mycotoxin infections spreading worldwide and collapsing medical systems in some countries.
• Xu Chen compared the overseas fungal outbreak with the more violent Aspergillus flavus infection that had been contained at home.
• Xu Chen suspected Cthulhu had influenced his thoughts when he repeatedly wrote that tritiated water was causing rising pressure on domestic public health services.
• Xu Chen found that inland illnesses and immune disorders could not be explained by tritiated water alone.
• Xu Chen checked Song Tian's father's medical records and found bone lesions linked to immune system dysfunction.
• Xu Chen wrote that Cthulhu might be using new methods to make people ill after previous methods had failed.

Captain Chu investigated the sudden deaths of six Taihao disease patients and learned from Yang Tianyou that Taihao had paid a price to avert a greater disaster. When Yang Tianyou refused to explain further, Captain Chu put on protective gear and went to confront him.

• Xu Chen hid his notes of meaningless circles and planned to seek help from his senior schoolmate Ouyang Xing.
• Captain Chu questioned Xiao Wu about six patients who had suddenly suffered brain death at Nanhua Military Region Hospital.
• Xiao Wu said Yang Tianyou had called the deaths a price, and Yang Tianyou told Captain Chu that Taihao had paid it to prevent a greater disaster.
• Yang Tianyou refused to explain what Taihao had done, despite Captain Chu demanding the information.
• Captain Chu put on a Level A hazmat suit and went upstairs to confront Yang Tianyou, while Xiao Wu warned that Yang Tianyou was emotionally unstable.

Captain Chu pressed Dean Yang for the truth about the supernatural entity, but hearing Cthulhu’s words left him terrified and unable to remember what he had learned. Dean Yang explained that the patients in the wards had paid the price for the disclosure, while Captain Chu accepted that he would face the danger despite its consequences.

• Captain Chu demanded that Dean Yang explain what he knew about the entity, and Dean Yang warned that learning the truth carried a price.
• Dean Yang recited words about Cthulhu as alarms sounded for patients in the wards, and Captain Chu’s memories shattered as terror overwhelmed him.
• Dean Yang sedated Captain Chu, then explained that two patients had paid the price and that Captain Chu had learned nothing because his inspiration was too low.
• Captain Chu declared that confronting the entity mattered even if he died, and Dean Yang confirmed that the entity had noticed him.
• Captain Chu asked about Taihao, Xu Chen, and the consequences of hearing the truth without a sacrifice, and Dean Yang warned that they would die for nothing.

Captain Chu learned more about Taihao and the mysterious being from Yang Tianyou, then planned how to protect Xu Chen and preserve their findings. Meanwhile, the government rapidly approved measures to respond to a global fungal emergency.

• Yang Tianyou told Captain Chu that invoking Taihao's name could protect him from the mysterious being, though it would come at a price.
• Captain Chu discussed Yang Tianyou's revelations with his Think Tank and ordered them to copy their records across multiple storage methods.
• The Think Tank analyzed the being's ability to suppress information and influence modern instruments, while Captain Chu refused to call on Taihao for protection.
• Officials gathered to address the global spread of fungi after the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency.
• The conference rapidly approved proposals for domestic medical guidance and support for the pharmaceutical industry.

Ouyang Xing showed Xu Chen how his group had reduced the kidney toxicity of the antifungal drug EXC07 and developed EXC08, though it was less effective and could not defeat the Mutant Aspergillus flavus. He then showed Xu Chen a photograph of a still-living person covered in a terrifying black-haired fungus, revealing another dangerous fungal infection.

• Ouyang Xing excitedly showed Xu Chen a notice about support for domestic research into fungal infection treatments.
• Ouyang Xing took Xu Chen to the laboratory, where he explained that the group had modified EXC07 into the less kidney-toxic drug EXC08.
• Ouyang Xing told Xu Chen that EXC08 was not effective enough against the Mutant Aspergillus flavus, which had been contained, though other dangerous fungal samples remained.
• Ouyang Xing showed Xu Chen a photo of a person covered in thick black fungal growth and said the person was still alive when the photo was taken.
• Xu Chen retched at the image and realized that some alarming information was kept out of the news to prevent panic.

Xu Chen learned that Aspergillus niger had evolved into weaker, long-distance-spreading strains outside a heavily infected zone, and that Ouyang Xing’s EXC08 drug could treat those strains but still needed work to reduce its toxicity. Xu Chen then asked Ouyang Xing to investigate why China’s medical system faced growing pressure, and received patient-origin reports from six hospitals.

• Ouyang Xing explained that Aspergillus niger became highly dangerous in dense populations but evolved weaker, long-distance-spreading strains after isolation.
• Xu Chen realized that EXC08 targeted the weakened strains rather than the original fungus, while Ouyang Xing said the drug still needed further toxicity reduction.
• Xu Chen asked Ouyang Xing why China’s medical system was under pressure despite the containment of Aspergillus flavus.
• Ouyang Xing called six hospitals connected to Dean Yang’s former students and gathered their patient-origin reports for Xu Chen.

Xu Chen reviewed hospital records and discovered an unusual surge in rare immune diseases and neonatal deformities, but the cause remained unknown. He ruled out obvious chemical pollution as he considered what might be behind the worsening hospital pressure.

• Xu Chen compared hospital statistics and found that oncology faced the greatest pressure, though cancer cases alone did not explain the surge.
• Xu Chen asked Ouyang Xing about many unfamiliar conditions, and Ouyang Xing learned that most were rare immune diseases appearing in unusual numbers.
• Xu Chen found that other minor illnesses were also rising and discovered thirteen cases of neonatal deformities, including a parasitic fetus attached to a baby's head.
• Xu Chen considered whether pollution or radiation could explain the deformities, then dismissed chemical pollution because the records listed the cause as unknown and the hospitals would likely have detected it.

Xu Chen linked the rise in illnesses to a possible connection with the mutant Aspergillus flavus and questioned Ouyang Xing about the fungus’s extraordinary behavior. He learned that researchers still did not know what made it so active, and that frontline scientists were investigating the original strain.

• Xu Chen noticed that several disease categories had recently increased abnormally and wondered how Cthulhu was causing so many people to fall ill.
• Xu Chen recalled Song Tian’s father’s case, the doctors’ meeting notes, and abnormally high Brc-Abl tyrosine kinase activity, then asked Ouyang Xing about the mutant Aspergillus flavus.
• Ouyang Xing explained that the mutant fungus grew one to two millimeters per hour, spread mycelium rapidly, and drew nutrients most efficiently from living mammals.
• Xu Chen asked why the fungus was so active, and Ouyang Xing said he and even Academician Qi did not know.
• Ouyang Xing explained that six institutions shared information and researched antifungal drugs, while frontline researchers focused on the original mutant fungus and its unexplained traits.

Xu Chen linked the fungi’s abnormal activity to a cancer patient’s unusually active Brc-Abl tyrosine kinase and hematopoietic stem cells, proposing that an unknown substance might affect both. Ouyang Xing doubted the idea but contacted Academician Qi at Xu Chen’s request, and Qi listened as Xu explained his conjecture.

• Xu Chen told Ouyang Xing that meeting materials about his roommate’s father described abnormally active Brc-Abl tyrosine kinase and hematopoietic stem cells, alongside rapid disease progression and severe drug resistance.
• Ouyang Xing urged Xu Chen to return to studying mycology and offered to find a way to bring him back into the research group working on EXC08.
• Xu Chen proposed that a common substance might cause both the fungi and the patient’s cells or Brc-Abl tyrosine kinase to become abnormally active.
• Ouyang Xing challenged Xu Chen’s theory, arguing that no known substance explained the fungi’s activity, but Xu Chen declined to reveal more and asked him to contact Academician Qi.
• Ouyang Xing called Academician Qi, who stayed on the phone while Xu Chen explained his conjecture about the fungi and the cancer case.

Zhuangzi and a chubby researcher called firefighters to force open the laboratory door, where they found Academician Tang dead. A veteran investigator searched the scene and found students’ ID cards on Tang, treating them as crucial evidence as night fell.

• Zhuangzi called the fire department after the chubby researcher realized his access card was with their teacher, Academician Tang.
• Firefighters cut through the shielding door and opened the laboratory, where Zhuangzi, the chubby researcher, and the captain found Academician Tang.
• A veteran criminal investigator entered the laboratory and examined Tang’s body, cigarette butts, and scattered papers covered in strange writing and circles.
• The investigator searched Tang’s clothes and found ID cards belonging to some of Tang’s students, which he considered crucial evidence for identifying who could access the laboratory.
• The investigator vowed to bring the culprit to justice as night fell outside.

After Academician Tang and Old Ge died from multiple organ failure, the national leadership approved retaliatory measures against the mysterious enemy known as “He.” A top-secret report laid out the evidence and proposed countermeasures, and the leader ordered the country’s agencies to unite and make Him pay.

• The leader recalled Old Ge and Academician Tang’s service to the country and called for a vote on retaliatory measures.
• Everyone at the conference table voted in favor, and the attendees began reading the top-secret report.
• The report described a toxic drug developed by Academician Qi’s team that could contain the mutant fungus, though its effect on Aspergillus niger remained unknown.
• The think tank concluded that supernatural factors had appeared and that He had killed the two academicians to silence them, with Old Ge’s student likely holding key information.
• The leader promised full support for the response and ordered the attendees to make Him pay a sufficient price.