Recaps

Merlin told Lin Qiye how Gilgamesh defended Uruk from two celestial gods and sought immortality to protect the kingdom’s national fortune. After Gilgamesh died, his sword killed one god, but Uruk’s national fortune was eventually severed and the kingdom disappeared from history.

• Merlin gave Lin Qiye an ancient copper fragment from the ruins of Uruk that might be connected to Gilgamesh.
• Merlin showed Lin Qiye visions of Gilgamesh becoming Uruk’s tyrant king and raising the kingdom’s power.
• Two celestial gods attacked Uruk to sever its national fortune, but Gilgamesh defeated them and heard that Uruk would fall after his death.
• Gilgamesh searched for immortality but eventually died on his throne, still guarding Uruk.
• After Gilgamesh died, the Sword of Royal Authority killed one celestial god, but the remaining god later returned and severed Uruk’s national fortune.

Lin Qiye confronted Gilgamesh with a fragment of the Wedge Chapter Stone, provoking a violent reaction that revealed how deeply Gilgamesh’s memories of Uruk’s destruction had been buried. After suppressing Gilgamesh’s divine power, Lin Qiye challenged him to face the loss of his kingdom instead of hiding in delusions.

• After hearing Gilgamesh’s past from Merlin, Lin Qiye approached him with a fragment of the Wedge Chapter Stone.
• Gilgamesh recognized the fragment and unleashed his divine power, accusing Lin Qiye of destroying the symbol of Uruk.
• Monkey King rushed toward Gilgamesh, but Merlin stopped him and assured him that Lin Qiye would be fine.
• Lin Qiye realized Gilgamesh had created false memories in which Uruk still thrived, and told him that his kingdom had been gone for a long time.
• When Gilgamesh attacked Lin Qiye with the Sword of Royal Authority, Lin Qiye stopped the blade, suppressed his power, and challenged him to face Uruk’s fall.

Lin Qiye forcefully severed Gilgamesh from his false memories, earning the chance to obtain one of the Hero King's abilities. At the training camp, Jialan secretly got Li Zhenzhen to make a Cupid's Arrow for her, while Lin Qiye selected Tyrant's Wrath and considered how it could turn enemies into loyal spies.

• Lin Qiye's treatment helped Gilgamesh break away from his illusory memories, and the system announced that his treatment progress had reached 4%.
• Jialan asked Li Zhenzhen to create a Cupid's Arrow that could make Lin Qiye fall in love with her, and Li Zhenzhen handed her the finished arrow.
• Lin Qiye activated the random selection of Gilgamesh's Divine Personality Ability and received Tyrant's Wrath.
• Lin Qiye read that Tyrant's Wrath could weaken lesser enemies and might make powerful enemies betray their faction and swear loyalty to him.

Jialan used Cupid’s Arrow on Lin Qiye in a struggle that ended with their bed breaking and the instructors barging in. In Shangjing City, Zuo Qing learned that the Mask Squad had vanished in Ningchang County and confronted Chen Moyu over the failed search.

• Jialan crept to Lin Qiye’s bedside with Cupid’s Arrow, but Lin Qiye woke before she could use it.
• Jialan straddled Lin Qiye and tried to drive the arrow into his chest; after their struggle broke the bed, she transferred her immortality to the arrow and struck him with it.
• Instructors rushed into Lin Qiye’s room after hearing the crash and found him and Jialan amid the broken bed boards.
• Zuo Qing returned to Night Watchmen Headquarters and heard that the Mask Squad’s signals and surveillance trail had disappeared after they reached Ningchang County.
• Zuo Qing asked Chen Moyu how long he had served him, then bitterly questioned what Chen Moyu had become after four years.

Zuo Qing exposed Chen Moyu's role in sabotaging the Night Watchmen, but Chen Moyu killed himself before revealing who was behind him. Zuo Qing ordered an emergency meeting and set out for Huaihai City as Baili Pangpang began a lesson on Forbidden Objects at the training camp.

• Zuo Qing confronted Chen Moyu with evidence that he had altered recruits' files and erased the Mask Squad's encrypted call record.
• Chen Moyu hinted that Commander Ye's successor would have to ask the person behind the plot, then cut his own throat and died.
• Zuo Qing ordered senior officials to join a video conference, arranged a flight to Huaihai City, and summoned Nightfall to Shangjing.
• At the training camp, recruits spread a rumor about Instructor Jialan and Instructor Lin, while Li Zhenzhen tried to correct them.
• Baili Pangpang started his Forbidden Objects class by displaying the objects around him across the training ground.

Baili Pangpang taught the recruits about Forbidden Objects while Lin Qiye and An Qingyu watched and discussed Lin Qiye’s feelings for Jialan. A phone call interrupted them, and Lin Qiye announced that they had a more important task to handle.

• Baili Pangpang showed the recruits Forbidden Objects and explained their abilities.
• Lin Qiye and An Qingyu watched the lesson and talked about An Qingyu’s lack of belonging among the Night Watchmen.
• An Qingyu pointed out that Lin Qiye’s actions showed he cared for Jialan and urged him to follow his feelings.
• Lin Qiye received a phone call, then said their rookie training had to pause because a more important task had arisen.

Baili Pangpang ended his lesson at the Training Camp when Nightfall Squad received an urgent summons to headquarters. Zuo Qing revealed that a traitor had lured Mask Squad to Ningchang County, where they disappeared.

• Baili Pangpang taught the recruits about prohibited items before joining Lin Qiye and the rest of Nightfall Squad for an urgent mission.
• Lin Qiye led Nightfall Squad to headquarters, where they found bloodstains in Zuo Qing's office.
• Zuo Qing told Nightfall Squad that a traitor within the Night Watchmen had used his phone and altered their voice to contact Mask Squad.
• Zuo Qing explained that Mask Squad had flown to Hainan for vacation, then gone to Ningchang County after receiving the traitor's call and vanished.

Lin Qiye and his companions retraced the Mask Squad’s journey aboard the passenger plane to Hainan, using Black Pupil to investigate how they had been lured away. Meanwhile, Zuo Qing arrived at a remote house on the outskirts of Huaihai City to pursue the Night Watchmen traitor.

• Zuo Qing told Lin Qiye that the captured traitor was dead and sent him to find the Mask Squad while he investigated the traitor’s identity.
• Lin Qiye, Baili Pangpang, An Qingyu, and Shen Qingzhu boarded the same passenger plane the Mask Squad had taken to Hainan so they could retrace the journey.
• Lin Qiye used Black Pupil’s Eye of Secret Peering to review what had happened aboard the plane, though it could not reveal what King Mask had heard on the phone.
• Lin Qiye and An Qingyu concluded that the traitor had likely assigned the Mask Squad a mission in Hainan and carefully timed the call to conceal their departure from the Night Watchmen.
• Zuo Qing reached a familiar house in a remote area outside Huaihai City.

Zuo Qing confronted Elder Chen over his betrayal of the Night Watchmen and his claim that he had acted to save Great Xia. Elder Chen revealed that the danger he feared was not the foreign gods, but an unseen “they,” and left Zuo Qing without an explanation.

• Zuo Qing visited Elder Chen and questioned him about his recent activities and the schemes he had planned.
• Elder Chen praised Zuo Qing for purging corrupt senior officials and said he had considered him better suited than Ye Fan to lead the Night Watchmen.
• Zuo Qing said Chen Moyu had died by running onto his blade and demanded to know why Elder Chen had ruined his own grandson.
• Elder Chen insisted that he had betrayed the Night Watchmen to save Great Xia and its people, claiming they would be spared only if the Great Xia Gods and Night Watchmen were destroyed.
• Zuo Qing rejected Elder Chen’s explanation and argued that Great Xia could defeat the foreign gods with its gods, Zhou Ping, the Human Apex, and the Night Watchmen.
• Elder Chen clarified that the “they” he feared were not foreign gods, then invited Zuo Qing to kill or interrogate him.

Zuo Qing detained Elder Chen for questioning after accusing him of betraying Great Xia and demanded to know where the Mask Squad was. Meanwhile, Lin Qiye and the others retraced the squad’s journey in Ningchang County and learned that its members had booked a private tour; the guide had not yet said which attraction they left at.

• Zuo Qing accused Elder Chen of endangering recruits and the Special Squad, threatened to torture him, and demanded the Mask Squad’s location.
• Zuo Qing ordered an interrogation team to prepare and detained Night Watchman Chen Lu for questioning.
• Lin Qiye and his companions arrived in Ningchang County and identified the tour bus the Mask Squad had boarded after arriving.
• Baili Pangpang paid to hire the tour agency, its driver, and the bus, and Lin Qiye asked the guide about the Mask Squad.
• The guide recognized the Mask Squad from photos and explained that they had booked a private tour with permission to leave the bus at attractions; Lin Qiye asked where they had stopped returning.

Lin Qiye and An Qingyu traced the Mask Squad’s route to a remote stretch of Ningchang County’s coastline. There, Lin Qiye discovered that the area’s past and future were obscured, suggesting they had found the site of the Squad’s disappearance.

• The tour guide told Lin Qiye that the Mask Squad had gone missing after visiting Sunset Coastline, and An Qingyu learned they had refused her company at several coastal attractions.
• An Qingyu deduced that the Squad had been lured toward the coastline under the pretext of a minor favor and hidden from surveillance, while Lin Qiye decided to search their last known area.
• Lin Qiye’s group reached Sunset Coastline at dusk and followed the route the Mask Squad had taken, leaving the crowded attraction behind.
• At a remote stretch of shore, Lin Qiye found that the Eye of Secret Peering could reveal neither the area’s past nor its future, and Black Pupil sensed something wrong there.

Lin Qiye and his team reached the uncharted Fishing Village while searching for Mask Squad and split up to investigate. An Qingyu and Jialan secured a place to stay with a fisherman, Chen Gou, who said his son had left the village years ago.

• Lin Qiye contacted Zuo Qing, then led the team toward Fishing Village after concluding it was likely connected to Mask Squad’s disappearance.
• Lin Qiye assigned An Qingyu and Jiang Er to accompany Jialan as she asked villagers for lodging and information, while he searched with the Eye of Secret Peering and Baili Pangpang went with Cao Yuan to another house.
• An Qingyu and Jialan knocked on Chen Gou’s door and persuaded him to let them stay overnight in his home.
• An Qingyu questioned Chen Gou, who said his wife had died and his son had left Fishing Village years earlier to seek a life outside.

Jialan and Jiang Er searched Chen Gou’s house and found a photograph identifying the boy beside him as Chen Lu. At Night Watchmen Headquarters, Tan Maoxun tortured Elder Chen for information about Mask Squad, but Elder Chen refused to speak as Zuo Qing intervened.

• Jialan and Jiang Er searched the village house and noted its lack of electronic equipment and the old photographs of Chen Gou and his son.
• Jiang Er cautioned Jialan about using False Love and Cupid’s Arrow on Qiye, and Jialan privately explained the truth to her.
• Jialan spotted the name Chen Lu written beside the boy in a photograph of Chen Gou.
• Tan Maoxun tortured Elder Chen at Night Watchmen Headquarters and demanded to know where Mask Squad was and what they were planning.
• Zuo Qing stopped Tan Maoxun, and Elder Chen urged him to try someone else if he could not make him talk.

Zuo Qing learned that Elder Chen had set a trap in Ningchang County’s Fishing Village, where Nightfall Squad had already lost contact. In the village, Baili Pangpang, Cao Yuan, and Shen Qingzhu tried to find lodging, but their suspicious appearance and fake cash got them rejected.

• Zuo Qing showed Elder Chen the Fishing Village address, and Elder Chen realized Nightfall Squad had entered the place on the 14th.
• Elder Chen laughed and warned that Mask Squad and Nightfall Squad would not return, saying someone was already watching the village.
• Zuo Qing ordered Nightfall Squad to withdraw, but the technician reported that their signal had vanished like Mask Squad’s.
• Zuo Qing sent the Master to the nearby Abstinence Hall and ordered a search of Elder Chen’s biographical records for ties to the village.
• Baili Pangpang, Cao Yuan, and Shen Qingzhu were turned away from several homes, so Shen Qingzhu proposed using their money to secure lodging.
• Baili Pangpang offered a villager fifty thousand for one night, but the villager recognized the bills as fake and threatened to call someone.

Shen Qingzhu realized that the fishing village’s outdated objects and the villagers’ rejection of Baili Pangpang’s real money meant something was wrong with the place. Lin Qiye discovered that every attempt to escape returned him to the village, leaving the group trapped as he planned to investigate and search for the Mask Squad.

• Baili Pangpang argued that his money was real, and Shen Qingzhu concluded that the village, not the bills, was the problem.
• Shen Qingzhu pointed out that the villagers’ calendar, shoes, and oil lamps came from different eras, and Baili Pangpang wondered if they had traveled through time.
• Lin Qiye searched the coastline with Black Pupil but found no clues, then sped away and inexplicably returned to the village.
• Lin Qiye tried to escape by running, flying on a Somersault Cloud, and entering the void with Zhanbai, but each attempt brought him back.
• Lin Qiye realized the group was trapped, found that his phone had no signal, and decided to investigate the village and look for the Mask Squad while waiting for possible support.

An Qingyu investigated the Fishing Village and discovered that its old-fashioned supplies could not have come from inside the sealed-off village. He left the group with a question about how the villagers obtained their necessities.

• Lin Qiye used the Starry Night Dancer to seek clues from nearby Night Creatures and sensed something beneath the ground.
• An Qingyu noticed that Chen Gou's cigarette brand had been discontinued, then secretly left the house to investigate the village.
• Baili Pangpang, Shen Qingzhu, and Cao Yuan waited at the village entrance after failing to find a place to stay overnight.
• Lin Qiye told the group that he could not leave the Fishing Village, so they were unlikely to have traveled back in time.
• An Qingyu returned and explained that old currency and discontinued cigarettes showed the village's timeline was unusual.
• An Qingyu said his Fish Seed-infected rats also could not leave, and asked how the sealed village obtained supplies when its only shop held enough stock for just five days.

An Qingyu concluded that the fishing village was trapped in a time loop, with its supplies and residents repeating the same few days for more than fifty years. The Nightfall Squad discovered that creatures throughout the village were dying, and a wounded Flying Bird perished after reaching Baili Pangpang.

• An Qingyu explained that the village’s supply records showed goods came from outside, so it was not a Human Circle.
• An Qingyu proposed that time in the village had become a loop, resetting its people and objects after a span of a few days.
• Lin Qiye wondered whether King Mask was connected to the village’s time loop, while Shen Qingzhu questioned why anyone would create it there.
• Lin Qiye revealed that the Night Creatures he had sent to search for clues had all died, and An Qingyu sensed that his mice had died as well.
• A wounded Flying Bird landed on Baili Pangpang, pecked at his shoe, and died moments later.

Lin Qiye’s group learned that the Fishing Village was trapped in a time loop that could erase them when it reset, and they feared the Mask Squad might already have been lost. Lin Qiye sent everyone to search for clues, while An Qingyu admitted he had struggled to control his emotions.

• The group watched birds attack one another and wondered if the time loop was causing the creatures’ deaths.
• An Qingyu warned that the outsiders could be erased when the loop reset, and Lin Qiye deduced that it had begun the previous day.
• An Qingyu reasoned that the Mask Squad, who had entered the village ten days earlier, might have been erased in an earlier loop; Baili Pangpang angrily rejected the idea.
• Lin Qiye stopped Baili Pangpang and An Qingyu from arguing and ordered the group to search the village for supernatural clues.
• An Qingyu apologized to Lin Qiye, then explained that he was troubled by his inability to control his emotions.

Lu Ruici, Zhou Dao, and Master Chen searched the coastline for the Fishing Village where Nightfall Squad had disappeared, but found only an empty shore. Master Chen noticed that the moon appeared red, while Zuo Qing suspected the date might determine whether the village could be entered.

• Zhou Dao told Lu Ruici that three tourists had vanished from the coastline in separate cases dating back more than thirty years.
• Master Chen arrived by Ghost Carriage and took Lu Ruici and Zhou Dao to the coordinates left by Nightfall Squad.
• Lu Ruici and Zhou Dao found no sign of the Fishing Village, and Master Chen observed that the moon looked red from the shore.
• Zuo Qing considered that the Fishing Village might be hidden and suspected the date could be the key to entering it.

Zuo Qing learned that Chen Lu came from the Fishing Village, which had not mutated when he left, and wondered how Chen Lu knew it was deadly. In the village, Chen Gou told An Qingyu that his father had drowned at sea and then revealed that his father had been sending him Dream Messages.

• Zuo Qing received records showing that Chen Lu had joined the Night Watchmen over fifty years earlier and that his hometown was the Fishing Village.
• Zuo Qing saw photographs of young Chen Lu with his father Chen Gou and grandfather Chen Yangrong, and learned Chen Lu had never returned home.
• Zuo Qing questioned how Chen Lu knew the Fishing Village was dangerous if it had not changed when he left.
• Chen Gou told An Qingyu that his father had drowned after going fishing to send food to Chen Lu, who had enlisted in an army.
• Chen Gou told An Qingyu that his father had been sending him Dream Messages.

Chen Gou told An Qingyu about a recurring dream of his dead father worshipping the Red Moon, while An Qingyu noticed a faint crimson tint on the moon. Lin Qiye realized an unknown force was destabilizing the group’s emotions and prepared to search beneath the sea for the source of the Time Loop, with Jialan joining him.

• Chen Gou described his recurring dream of his father forcing him to worship the Red Moon, and An Qingyu suspected the moon looked faintly red.
• Jialan told Lin Qiye that his, Baili Pangpang’s, and An Qingyu’s emotions had seemed abnormal.
• Lin Qiye concluded that a growing force in the Fishing Village might be affecting emotions and could eventually drive people to kill one another.
• Lin Qiye told Jialan that her immortality made her immune to the force and asked her to act if the others lost control.
• Lin Qiye decided to search beneath the sea for the force maintaining the Time Loop, and Jialan agreed to go with him.

Lin Qiye and Jialan searched the deep sea for the cause of the Time Loop and discovered the corpse of a colossal Sea Beast that might have been a god. At the end, Lin Qiye spotted a living person inside a huge wound on the beast’s face.

• Lin Qiye summoned Sea Beast attendants to search the ocean and rode a Lantern Fish down with Jialan.
• Lin Qiye helped Jialan hold on to him as they descended through the dark sea.
• Lin Qiye noticed a colossal shadow on the seafloor and identified it as a Sea Beast’s corpse.
• The Lantern Fish said the beast might have surpassed the known realm of Mysteries and could have been a god.
• Lin Qiye found a deep slash on the beast’s face and spotted a living person inside it.

Baili Pangpang and Cao Yuan lost control of their tempers under an influence that Shen Qingzhu suspected was affecting the village’s living creatures. After a mad dog and a bloodied Flying Bird killed each other, Cao Yuan handed Shen Qingzhu his sword to keep him from entering his dangerous Black King state.

• Baili Pangpang admitted that he had suddenly lost his temper with Qingyu, then restrained a barking dog with a Green Rope instead of attacking it with his knife.
• Cao Yuan became enraged by the dog’s barking and reached for his sword, but Shen Qingzhu stopped him from drawing it.
• The dog gnawed off its tied hind leg and charged at the three of them before a wounded Flying Bird attacked it.
• Shen Qingzhu concluded that an influence was disrupting the emotions and sanity of animals and humans, and warned that Cao Yuan was especially vulnerable.
• After the dog killed the Flying Bird and then died, Cao Yuan removed his sword and handed it to Shen Qingzhu.

Lin Qiye and Jialan found Chen Yangrong trapped in the stomach of a giant sea beast, pinned to its wall by Yiyuan, the future King Mask’s blade that carried the laws of the Fishing Village’s Time Loop. Chen Yangrong offered to reward them if they freed him, but warned that their only alternatives were death by the blade or by “their” hands.

• Lin Qiye and Jialan rode the Lantern Fish into the giant beast’s mouth and reached one of its enormous stomachs.
• Lin Qiye spotted an old man pinned to the stomach wall by Yiyuan, whose ring of light revealed the power sustaining the Time Loop.
• Lin Qiye recognized Yiyuan as the future King Mask’s blade and wondered why it had been used on the old man.
• The old man introduced himself as Chen Yangrong, claimed he was an ordinary fisherman, and asked Lin Qiye to pull the blade from his chest.
• Lin Qiye questioned Chen Yangrong about the danger, and Chen Yangrong warned that they would die either by Yiyuan or by “their” hands.

Chen Gou and Chen Lu revealed that unseen beings were watching and preparing to return, while An Qingyu connected Chen Gou’s vision of a moon-bound eye to a golden light. The chapter ended with Chen Lu naming the beings as Cthulhu and warning that humanity could not defeat them.

• Chen Yangrong told Lin Qiye that unseen beings watched from afar and would eventually return.
• Chen Gou told An Qingyu that he had repeatedly seen a huge eye on the moon, which vanished whenever golden light flashed across it.
• A villager reported that Widow Wang had stabbed pregnant Yao Mei six times, and An Qingyu realized the village was cut off from the outside world.
• Chen Gou collapsed and said he had heard his dead father calling him.
• In the Night Watchmen Headquarters, Chen Lu said the Night Watchmen and Great Xia could not defeat the beings and urged humanity to submit to them.
• Chen Lu identified the beings as Cthulhu.