Chapter Summaries

Dong Xuebin returned to Xie Huilan’s home to try on the custom suit she had bought him, where he found her bathing and was captivated when she came out wrapped in a towel. He stayed to dry her hair, leaving the two of them together at her home.

• Dong Xuebin spoke with Xie Huilan on the phone, and she invited him over to try on a suit she had bought for him.
• Dong Xuebin returned to Xie Huilan’s home, put on the black suit, and found that it fit perfectly.
• Xie Huilan came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and checked how the suit looked on him.
• Dong Xuebin offered to buy Xie Huilan clothes and asked for her measurements, but she teased him about looking for an excuse to take advantage of her.
• Xie Huilan sat before the mirror, and Dong Xuebin insisted on drying her hair.

Dong Xuebin asked Xie Huilan whether he could transfer to another post, but she advised him to wait until he had served a full year and warned that another high-profile position could hinder his career. Xie Huilan then told him the city planned to hold an investment conference in Tokyo, giving him a possible chance to bring in more investment and improve his prospects.

• Dong Xuebin flirted with Xie Huilan at her home and asked whether he could transfer to another department so they could begin planning their marriage.
• Xie Huilan said Dong Xuebin's recent promotions and brief time in his current Zhengke Level post made an immediate transfer difficult, and she advised him to keep a lower profile.
• Dong Xuebin decided to seek an opportunity to transfer sooner, while Xie Huilan reminded him to secure startup funds from the investors he had already attracted.
• Xie Huilan called Dong Xuebin after he got home and told him the city planned to take county investment officials to a Tokyo investment conference.
• Dong Xuebin realized the Tokyo trip might help him bring more foreign investment to Yantai County and strengthen his case for an early promotion.

Dong Xuebin chose staff for Yantai County’s investment promotion trip to Tokyo while overseeing the Investment Bureau’s new projects. He left the final travel slot undecided pending confirmation of a Japanese-speaking employee and ordered Japanese promotional materials prepared.

• Dong Xuebin greeted Jia Yan at the bureau and told Sun Shuli he could not join the Tokyo delegation because the bureau needed him to manage ongoing projects.
• Luo Haiting asked about the overseas trip, and Dong Xuebin gave her a slot after arranging for Guo Panwei to temporarily handle her office duties.
• Dong Xuebin selected Zhang Fan for a slot and awarded him a ten-thousand-yuan bonus for his work during the Investment Conference.
• Dong Xuebin asked Luo Haiting to confirm whether a young office employee spoke Japanese and prepare Japanese brochures for the trip.

Dong Xuebin led Luo Haiting, Zhang Fan, and Yu Rui to Capital Airport to fly to Japan for an investment conference. Airport staff found a Circle Cult propaganda leaflet in Luo Haiting’s bag, and airport police took the group away for questioning.

• Dong Xuebin instructed Sun and Pan Wei to manage the Investment Bureau while he was abroad, then drove to Capital City with Luo Haiting, Zhang Fan, and Yu Rui.
• Yu Rui explained that he had prepared the trip’s promotional materials and would handle Japanese translation.
• At Capital Airport, Luo Haiting’s bag inspection revealed two apples wrapped in a newspaper containing Circle Cult propaganda.
• Airport police arrived and Team Leader Sun ordered Dong Xuebin, Luo Haiting, Zhang Fan, and Yu Rui to come with them.

At the airport, Luo Haiting was detained after a Quan Zi Gong flyer from her bag was mistaken for material she was distributing. Dong Xuebin called Municipal Public Security Bureau Director Feng Xueliang, cleared up the misunderstanding, and got the group onto their Tokyo-bound flight.

• Airport Street officers questioned Luo Haiting after finding a Quan Zi Gong flyer she had used to wrap apples, then prepared to take her and her companions to the station.
• Dong Xuebin argued that the flyer was an innocent mistake, but the deputy station chief ordered the group arrested as boarding time approached.
• When the deputy station chief received a call warning that Director Feng Xueliang might inspect the station, Dong Xuebin took the phone and asked to speak with Feng.
• Feng Xueliang heard Dong Xuebin's explanation and spoke with the deputy station chief, who apologized and escorted the group through a special passage to their flight.
• Luo Haiting apologized to Dong Xuebin, while she, Zhang Fan, and Yu Rui wondered about his connections.

Dong Xuebin and the Yantai County delegation arrived in Tokyo for an Investment Conference, but the venue visit was canceled and the staff were left to spend the day as they pleased. After shopping with Luo Haiting, Dong found a drunken Chinese man with a strangely familiar face and helped him into the hotel.

• Dong Xuebin met Pan Zhengyi and the other county and district Investment Bureau leaders at the airport, where they argued over transportation and whether to visit the conference venue or check into their hotel first.
• Pan Zhengyi arranged a Tour Bus, but later told Dong that the venue had closed because of a power-system problem, canceling the day's itinerary.
• Dong told Zhang Fan, Yu Rui, and the others they could explore freely and offered to reimburse their travel expenses and up to five thousand yuan in shopping.
• Luo Haiting stayed with Dong, invited him shopping, and bought clothes, cosmetics, and Nylon Stockings before they returned to the hotel.
• A drunken Chinese man stumbled toward Dong outside the hotel, and Dong and Luo Haiting helped him inside after Dong recognized his face as strangely familiar.

Dong Xuebin and Luo Haiting prepared for Fenzhou City’s investment conference in Tokyo, and he spoke with the middle-aged man he had helped the night before. The man introduced himself as Liu Chenglong, a former Fenzhou City Electric Power Company employee whose familiar face left Dong Xuebin curious.

• A Fenzhou City staff member told Dong Xuebin that the tour bus had arrived and the group would leave for the conference venue soon.
• Luo Haiting visited Dong Xuebin, helped tidy his room, and took notes as he assigned her tasks for setting up their county’s promotional materials.
• Luo Haiting told Dong Xuebin that the man from the previous night had woken up and was staying in Zhang Fan’s room.
• Zhang Fan arrived with the middle-aged man, who thanked Dong Xuebin for helping him and introduced himself as Liu Chenglong.
• Liu Chenglong said he had worked for the Fenzhou City Electric Power Company and was visiting Tokyo on business and for sightseeing, while Dong Xuebin wondered why his face seemed familiar.

After the Tokyo investment conference ended without signed projects, Dong Xuebin prepared to return home and exchanged contact information with Liu Chenglong. A photograph in Liu Chenglong’s wallet showed his ex-wife, whose striking resemblance to Yu Meixia left Dong Xuebin wondering whether she was Yu Meixia’s biological mother.

• Luo Haiting reported that Japanese businessmen had expressed interest in Yantai County’s industrial projects, though none had signed agreements.
• Dong Xuebin dismissed the meeting and told Luo Haiting, Zhang Fan, and Yu Rui to pack for their return flight.
• Dong Xuebin exchanged phone numbers with Liu Chenglong at the hotel before leaving for the airport.
• After Liu Chenglong’s wallet fell, Dong Xuebin saw a decades-old photograph of Liu Chenglong with his ex-wife.
• Dong Xuebin recognized that Liu Chenglong’s ex-wife strongly resembled Yu Meixia and recalled that Yu Meixia had been adopted and did not know her biological parents.

In Tokyo, Dong Xuebin investigated Yu Meixia’s origins and discovered that she might be the daughter Liu Chenglong and Qian Lihua lost decades ago. He arranged a flight home but kept the discovery from Liu Chenglong until he could speak with Yu Meixia.

• Dong Xuebin called Yu Meixia to ask what she remembered about her early childhood and urged her to seek clues from relatives.
• Dong Xuebin stayed behind in Tokyo and invited Liu Chenglong to dinner, where he learned Liu had once been married to Qian Lihua.
• Liu Chenglong revealed that his five-year-old daughter Tong Tong disappeared in Fenzhou City about thirty years earlier.
• Dong Xuebin connected Tong Tong’s age, hometown, and resemblance to Qian Lihua with Yu Meixia and concluded she was probably the missing child.
• Liu Chenglong arranged a two o’clock flight to Beijing for Dong Xuebin, who chose not to tell him about Yu Meixia yet.

Dong Xuebin boarded a flight from Tokyo to Beijing, but an engine caught fire over the ocean and the plane began plunging toward an island or the sea. As the passengers failed to open the emergency exits, Dong Xuebin feared he would die before returning to his family.

• Dong Xuebin spoke with Xie Huilan and Qu Yunxuan by phone before the flight took off, learning that they were together at the Family Compound and that Qu Yunxuan's baby was doing well.
• After about an hour in the air, the plane began shaking violently, and an explosion set its right-wing engine on fire.
• Dong Xuebin put on an oxygen mask and life jacket as the plane descended toward an island and the surrounding ocean.
• Several passengers tried to force open the emergency exits, but they could not get them open, heightening the panic in the cabin.
• Dong Xuebin remained strapped in as the plane lurched again and feared he would die before seeing his family or fulfilling his hopes.

As the plane plunged toward a rocky island, Dong Xuebin called Luan Xiaoping, Qu Yunxuan, and Xie Huilan to say goodbye and urge them to live well without him. Xie Huilan realized the plane was crashing and demanded he promise to return, and Dong Xuebin braced himself to fight for survival as impact neared.

• Dong Xuebin called Luan Xiaoping and thanked her, then told her to live well with Old Yang.
• Dong Xuebin called Qu Yunxuan and told her to get rid of their child and move on without him.
• Dong Xuebin spoke to Qu Yunxuan and Xie Huilan together, claimed he had never loved them, and made them promise to find good men and marry.
• Xie Huilan recognized that Dong Xuebin was on a crashing plane and made him promise to come back alive.
• As the plane neared the island, Dong Xuebin resolved to fight with all his strength and return.

Dong Xuebin repeatedly rewound time to escape a doomed plane, eventually using STOP during the crash to flee across the frozen sea. After he deactivated the power, the plane and rocky island exploded, and the waves swept him away.

• Dong Xuebin rewound sixty seconds after dying in the failed emergency landing and escaped through a shattered plane window, but STOP could not halt his own fall and he died again.
• Dong Xuebin rewound seventy seconds and broke both window panes while remaining buckled into his seat.
• After the plane struck the sea and exploded, Dong Xuebin used STOP to freeze the flames, wreckage, passengers, and waves around him.
• Dong Xuebin climbed onto the wing, jumped onto the frozen sea, and ran away from the plane and rocky island.
• Dong Xuebin deactivated STOP as the plane and island exploded, then fell into the sea and lost consciousness.

After surviving the plane explosion, Dong Xuebin drifted alone across the dark sea, struggling against exhaustion, cold, and towering waves. He finally found a small reef to rest on, but remained stranded and feared everyone back home had already believed him dead.

• Dong Xuebin awoke floating in the sea and realized he had drifted far from the plane crash site.
• He swam for hours in search of an island or refuge, avoiding a large shadow beneath the water.
• A violent storm swept Dong Xuebin beneath towering waves, but his life jacket repeatedly brought him back to the surface.
• After the sea calmed, Dong Xuebin struck a reef and climbed onto it to rest.
• Dong Xuebin worried that Xie Huilan, Qu Yunxuan, and his family had been told he was dead, then focused on finding a way to survive.

Stranded alone at sea, Dong Xuebin used his time-stopping ability to collect rainwater and catch a fish, temporarily easing his thirst and hunger. As sunset approached, he still had no way to reach safety or know when rescue would come.

• Dong Xuebin endured another day without rescue, growing weak from hunger and thirst as he feared he had drifted far from the crash site.
• When a brief storm passed over the sea, Dong Xuebin stopped time and gathered suspended raindrops, drinking enough water to recover some strength.
• Dong Xuebin dove into the sea and stopped time to catch a fish that he could not otherwise reach.
• Dong Xuebin killed and ate the raw fish, then wondered how he could survive at sea or get back to safety.

After more than ten days stranded on a reef, Dong Xuebin spotted a freighter and tried to signal for help, but its crew ignored him. He used STOP to run across the frozen sea, caught up with the ship, and climbed aboard.

• Dong Xuebin struggled to survive on the reef after going two days without rain and feared the Rescue Team would never arrive.
• Dong Xuebin spotted a freighter, waved his orange Life Jacket, and shouted for help.
• The freighter's crew noticed Dong Xuebin but sailed away without stopping.
• Dong Xuebin activated STOP, ran across the frozen sea, and caught up with the freighter.
• Dong Xuebin leaped from a frozen wave and pulled himself onto the freighter's deck.

Dong Xuebin boarded a Japanese cargo ship and used Stop to avoid its armed crew while finding food, clothes, and a route toward Japan. A television report confirmed that his plane had been declared a total loss with no survivors, while he remained alive aboard the ship.

• Dong Xuebin spotted three armed Japanese crewmen and realized they had ignored his plight because they were involved in illicit work.
• He froze time, entered the ship, and found a lounge where he drank coffee and ate bread.
• Dong Xuebin changed into a suit and shoes, then found a map showing the ship was headed for a coastal city near Tokyo.
• He watched a news report about flight J736, which said the crash had no survivors and the search-and-rescue operation had been suspended.
• Dong Xuebin reflected on how Back, Stop, and the chance encounter with the ship had helped him survive.

Dong Xuebin escaped the police raid on the Black Ship and reached Tokyo after stealing two cars, but he remained a fugitive without money or identification. He headed toward the airport to secretly board a flight home, while pursuing officers found his Accord mysteriously empty.

• Dong Xuebin hid aboard the stopped ship until gunfire revealed that police were raiding it, then used his time-stopping power to escape onto shore.
• After police officers discovered him near the port, Dong Xuebin froze time, stole their patrol car, and drove north toward Tokyo under fire.
• Dong Xuebin abandoned the damaged patrol car, knocked out Yellow Hair, and took his Accord to continue north.
• Police pursued Dong Xuebin through the night, and he escaped into an alley after stopping time, leaving the Accord behind.
• Dong Xuebin reached Tokyo and decided to sneak onto a flight because he had no money or documents.
• Four armed officers surrounded the Accord and discovered that Dong Xuebin had vanished from the driver's seat.

Dong Xuebin used STOP to sneak aboard a Tokyo-to-Beijing flight by hiding in its cargo hold. After enduring the freezing, airless journey, he reached Capital Airport and was finally back in Beijing.

• Dong Xuebin checked the Tokyo airport flight schedule and used STOP to slip past customs without identification or a ticket.
• Dong Xuebin boarded the plane by hiding among the luggage in its cargo hold.
• Dong Xuebin endured the rough, cold, oxygen-poor flight as the plane traveled toward Beijing.
• After landing, Dong Xuebin used his remaining STOP time to pass customs and enter the terminal.
• Dong Xuebin left Capital Airport, recognized Beijing around him, and celebrated being home.

Dong Xuebin returned to Beijing broke after his trip and accepted a free meal from a restaurant owner. When health inspectors tried to fine the owner, Dong intervened, and his pass to the Standing Committee Family Compound made them back down.

• Dong Xuebin drove away from the airport hotel without paying the parking fee because he had lost his wallet and identification.
• Dong Xuebin accepted a meal from a home-style restaurant owner and promised to help him if he opened a restaurant in Fenzhou City.
• Dong Xuebin returned after seeing Chaoyang District Health Bureau staff enter the restaurant and threaten the owners with a five-thousand-yuan fine.
• Dong Xuebin questioned the inspectors and demanded to see their IDs and names.
• The inspectors noticed Dong Xuebin's Standing Committee Family Compound pass, reconsidered the fine, and left the restaurant without imposing it.

After the Health Bureau withdrew its fine, Dong Xuebin borrowed a phone and discovered that everyone he knew was unreachable. He learned they had gone to his memorial service and raced toward Yantai County to attend it himself.

• Dong Xuebin persuaded the Health Bureau team to leave without fining the restaurant, and the grateful owners offered him tea and a phone.
• Dong Xuebin called Zhai Yunxuan, his mother, Xie Huilan, and others, but every number was switched off or unanswered.
• Dong Xuebin drove to Zhai Yunxuan's empty, messy home and found no one there.
• Dong Xuebin reached the County Government's Secretarial Section and learned that Xie Huilan and Hu Silian were attending Dong Xuebin's memorial service.
• Dong Xuebin took money from Zhai Yunxuan's home, filled his car with gas, and sped toward Yantai County to reach his own memorial service.