Recaps

Sun Hang realized the Temporal Anomaly was herding the evacuation convoy toward a trap, but it surrounded the final vehicle without attacking. Suspecting it feared Three Monkeys, Sun Hang ordered the driver to keep moving into the darkness.

• Sun Hang noticed the anomaly maintained its distance as the convoy slowed and concluded it might be steering them toward a trap.
• Miki Fukada suggested climbing the mountains, but Sun Hang rejected the idea and ordered the convoy to keep moving toward the valley exit.
• Sun Hang sent a drone ahead, and its signal vanished before the lead vehicle disappeared into the anomaly.
• The Temporal Anomaly swallowed the other convoy vehicles, leaving Sun Hang's vehicle surrounded but untouched.
• Sun Hang warned Yang Qi not to send the rescue helicopter and persuaded the driver to move forward through the spot where the lead vehicle had vanished.

Sun Hang saved the survivors from the Temporal Anomaly’s aging shadow by repairing the ruined vehicle and turning it into Anomaly Equipment. After they escaped the valley, he reported that the anomaly might have returned in a changed form, and the response team began considering how to locate its hidden weakness.

• The Temporal Anomaly’s shadow aged the vehicle until its engine and controls were ruined, but Sun Hang repaired the engine with Liquid Metal and made the vehicle drive itself.
• Sun Hang and Miki Fukada discussed registering the self-driving vehicle as Anomaly Equipment as it sped out of the valley.
• The survivors met a rescue helicopter, and Sun Hang told its crew that the rest of the convoy had been swallowed by the Temporal Anomaly.
• Sun Hang restored communications with Yang Qi and reported that the anomaly had avoided him, possibly because of the Gluttonous Meme.
• Song Yarong and Yang Qi compared the returning anomaly with the earlier one and suspected that its weakness might now be hidden or unobservable.

The 605th Artillery Position bombarded Chimera Seventeen’s giant cocoon with liquid nitrogen shells, freezing the wraiths covering it. When mutated flower-like organs intercepted the next barrage, a fighter formation prepared to attack them directly.

• The 605th Division loaded its artillery, including a Nine Strikes replica, and fired shells that spread freezing mist across the cocoon and its wraiths.
• Officers at the artillery position saw that the liquid nitrogen had frozen many wraiths and ordered two more volleys before switching to other ammunition.
• Flower-like organs emerged atop Chimera Seventeen and destroyed the next shells with needle-like projectiles.
• Falcon 01’s fighter formation circled back after learning the cocoon had intercepted the artillery barrage.
• Falcon 01 received approval to lead the remaining fighters in a ground-attack dive targeting the flower buds, especially those that had not yet bloomed.

Valkyrie 04 and her wingmen destroyed six of Chimera Seventeen’s buds, but the creature’s energy beam shot down their fighters. After ejecting and regaining consciousness, Valkyrie 04 found herself somewhere strange and realized the rain had stopped.

• Valkyrie 04 led Harrier 02 and Sabre 03 in a dive attack, destroying six buds with autocannon fire.
• Chimera Seventeen locked onto the fighters and fired an energy beam, crippling Valkyrie 04’s aircraft and destroying Harrier 02 and Sabre 03.
• Valkyrie 04’s damaged fighter spun out of control, so she ejected and lost consciousness.
• Falcon 01 learned that Valkyrie 04’s parachute was descending toward Chimera Seventeen’s cocoon, but refused to risk more pilots on a rescue attempt.
• Valkyrie 04 woke in her ejection seat with her smart terminal ruined and could not see Chimera Seventeen nearby.
• Valkyrie 04 realized that no raindrops were falling on her.

Valkyrie 04 was swallowed by a supernatural crimson liquid and encountered a grotesque face that claimed to be the world, while Sun Hang felt compelled to return to Chimera Seventeen. Sun Hang vanished from the road and arrived at Bunker One's Vehicle Depot.

• A blood-like liquid flooded Valkyrie 04's ejection seat, trapped her legs, and dragged her underwater despite her efforts to escape.
• Valkyrie 04 heard countless voices, rose above the crimson water, and found herself alone in a strange, gravity-defying world.
• Valkyrie 04 removed her helmet, recognized herself as Elizabeth, and questioned a grotesque face that called itself the world.
• Sun Hang sensed something was wrong near Chimera Seventeen, stopped the anomalous vehicle, and told Zhong Ling to escort Tang Jing safely to the research institute.
• Sun Hang vanished from the road and arrived at Bunker One's Vehicle Depot.

Sun Hang discovered that Chimera Seventeen had falsified Bunker One’s observation systems, hiding the real state of its equipment and the footage sent to Command Center. As an H4 robot was taken over by Anna, she warned Sun Hang that she had concealed the intrusion and hinted that she had also hidden changes in Chimera Seventeen.

• Sun Hang entered Bunker One and used his consciousness to witness blurred memories of personnel fleeing through the bunker while firing at something unseen.
• Sun Hang found bullet holes in a corridor but no signs of fire or residual anomaly aura, then followed Yang Qi’s directions to the observation room.
• Inside the observation room, Sun Hang’s sealed Meme from Unknown Contained Anomaly No. 999 stirred, allowing him to see that the equipment was disconnected despite appearing normal on surveillance footage.
• Sun Hang sent Yang Qi a photo of the real observation room and concluded that Chimera Seventeen had infiltrated the surveillance system and falsified the footage.
• An H4 robot suffered an intrusion and spoke with Anna’s voice, telling Sun Hang that she had hidden the footage and communications intrusion, just as she had concealed Chimera Seventeen’s changes.

Sun Hang and Yang Qi discovered that Chimera Seventeen’s cocoon was cracking and its incubation had entered its final stage, prompting the authorities to move the final operation up. As the cocoon rapidly shed its shell, Sun Hang learned he would have to take Miki Fukada close to Chimera Seventeen to locate its weakness.

• Sun Hang restored the telescope’s settings and saw crimson cracks and glowing material inside Chimera Seventeen’s cocoon.
• Yang Qi ordered the final operation moved to two hours later after experts concluded Chimera Seventeen was close to hatching.
• Yang Qi told the military commander the operation had only a fifty percent chance of success and agreed to proceed at any cost.
• Sun Hang watched the cocoon’s exposed lava-like interior grow from 11% to 19.3% as shell fragments fell and tremors intensified.
• Yang Qi explained that the insecticide would be assembled and activated during the assault, then told Sun Hang to take Miki Fukada close to Chimera Seventeen to find its weakness.

Sun Hang and the others prepared to attack Chimera Seventeen, using Garuda as a mobile launch platform and relying on mass-produced hunters assigned to obey Sun Hang as their Anchor. The first squad launched, but it was wiped out almost immediately as Sun Hang moved to prepare the next squad.

• Miki Fukada insisted on joining the mission despite knowing she could die, and Sun Hang promised to do his best to protect her.
• Song Yarong explained that Garuda would launch P.F.D.A.s from different positions while drone formations drew Chimera Seventeen's fire.
• Sun Hang learned that thirty-five mass-produced hunters had been awakened for the mission and that he was their Anchor.
• Yang Qi said Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi's squads were the operation's key, while the first nine squads would clear a path for them.
• The first squad launched from Garuda with its P.F.D.A.s and a swarm of drones, while Sun Hang went to prepare the second squad with Crystal Princess.
• Yang Qi reported that the first squad had been wiped out.

Sun Hang and the others searched for a way to deliver pesticide to Chimera Seventeen despite its extreme heat, rejecting a plan that would kill Wang Xiyi. Sun Hang proposed blasting through the creature’s magma layer, and Tenth and Eleventh Squads prepared to depart and test his idea.

• Sun Hang learned that First Squad had been wiped out and that Chimera Seventeen’s exposed magma layer reached nearly four thousand degrees Celsius, making it impossible for the squads’ injectors to approach.
• Yang Qi told Sun Hang that the injectors melted near Chimera Seventeen and that two hunters had been badly burned; Sun Hang said his materials could not withstand the heat.
• Song Yarong proposed using Wang Xiyi as an injector, but explained that the pesticide would kill her even if she reached Chimera Seventeen.
• Wang Xiyi agreed to the plan, but Sun Hang stopped her and suggested blasting through the magma layer so the pesticide could be dropped into a hole.
• Yang Qi ordered Tenth and Eleventh Squads to depart with Miki Fukada’s assault equipment and warned that Chimera Seventeen’s energy-beam organ had regenerated.

Sun Hang launched himself toward Chimera Seventeen in a Liquid Metal shuttle and used the Kui Niu Meme’s electromagnetic field to slip through its energy-beam attack, though the following P.F.D.A.s were destroyed. He and Wang Xiyi reached the battlefield near the weakened Chimera, where Sun Hang prepared to release Miki Fukada from her anti-G cylinder.

• Sun Hang turned the cylinder carrying Miki Fukada into a streamlined Liquid Metal shuttle and launched ahead of the P.F.D.A.s, while Wang Xiyi dove toward Chimera Seventeen.
• Sun Hang evaded Chimera Seventeen’s first crossing beams, then passed through its energy net using an opening created by his electromagnetic field.
• Chimera Seventeen’s energy net destroyed the eight following P.F.D.A.s and damaged the drone surveillance network, but Sun Hang reported that he had reached the safe zone.
• Yang Qi reported that the energy net had weakened Chimera Seventeen’s beam weapons, and Wang Xiyi avoided the attack before landing near Sun Hang.
• Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi found themselves near the Chimera with Miki Fukada still inside her cylinder, and Yang Qi explained how to release its pressurized life-support medium.

Sun Hang freed Miki Fukada and used her Death’s Eye ability to find a strange spot on Chimera Seventeen, where he drilled through its cocoon shell. The opening revealed a hollow interior, and Sun Hang decided the team had to enter and find Chimera Seventeen’s hidden body before they could use the insecticide.

• Sun Hang released Miki Fukada from the metal cylinder, and Yang Qi explained that she had received four units of sustained-release adrenaline.
• Miki Fukada sensed something unusual beneath a cracked patch of cocoon shell, and Sun Hang shaped P.F.D.A. wreckage into a giant drill to attack it.
• The drill pierced Chimera Seventeen’s magma-covered shell, exposing a hollow cavity as the surrounding magma solidified and cooled.
• Sun Hang warned the hunters that they needed to find Chimera Seventeen’s hidden body inside the cocoon for the insecticide to work.
• Wang Xiyi folded away her wings and headed for the opening to take point.

Sun Hang and the hunters entered the tunnel, where their batteries rapidly drained and the others vanished in absolute darkness. Sun Hang was subjected to a series of questions and visions that tested his feelings about humanity and the world, ending with a message that humans’ negative emotions would make the world collapse.

• Sun Hang, Miki Fukada, Wang Xiyi, and the hunters entered the tunnel and continued onward as their batteries drained unusually fast.
• The tunnel fell into absolute darkness, and Sun Hang realized that Miki Fukada and the hunters had disappeared.
• Sun Hang found himself in a mirrored testing room, where an electronic voice asked him questions before announcing that the test was complete.
• A screen asked Sun Hang whether he felt lonely and hated the world, and he recalled why he still liked it and wanted to protect it from becoming like Maoyun Town.
• Sun Hang saw a bustling Tianfu City street overshadowed by a monster formed from the crowd’s negative emotions and resisted their effect on his mind.
• A corrupted advertisement told Sun Hang that humans’ accumulated negative emotions would collapse the world he loved and that he could not save them.

Sun Hang confronted Chimera Seventeen in a world resembling a Tianfu City pedestrian street and learned that the people he killed were real humans the entity had recreated. As Chimera Seventeen lost control, Anna explained that the street was a Small World created by the entity, where its creator could alter the laws and the inhabitants’ lives at will.

• Sun Hang provoked the presence on the glass wall by asking about Anna, and the black-eyed pedestrians attacked him.
• Sun Hang used a silver thread to cut down the attackers, then argued that they were the dead humans Chimera Seventeen had already devoured.
• Chimera Seventeen explained that the people had desired Sun Hang as the fulfillment of their deepest wants and said it sought death because life was imperfect.
• Chimera Seventeen blamed Sun Hang for its inability to die, then lost control, causing the glass-wall text to garble and the severed bodies to writhe.
• Anna spoke through Sun Hang’s headphones and revealed that the street was a real Small World created by Chimera Seventeen, where the recreated humans lived and the creator could change the laws at will.

Sun Hang fought to survive as Chimera Seventeen’s collapsing Small World twisted into an impossible landscape, while Anna urged him to search for hidden memories. He entered the abyss and emerged in an abandoned old residential complex whose address, No. 153, Xiangyang Li, left him wondering whether he had reached an occupied zone.

• Sun Hang questioned Anna about the Small World’s collapse and learned that he might be erased with it, while she advised him not to leave yet.
• As gravity and the landscape warped, Anna explained that the world’s madness concealed truths and memories, and Sun Hang realized he needed to search the sky-swapping abyss.
• Sun Hang launched himself into the abyss and emerged in an ordinary-looking but seemingly lifeless old residential complex.
• Sun Hang examined the deserted complex and found its sign identified it as Spring Breeze Garden, Building 6, Unit 1, at No. 153, Xiangyang Li, Chuangxin Road.
• Unable to recognize Xiangyang Li, Sun Hang guessed that the location might be in the occupied zone, but Anna did not answer.

Sun Hang explored a recreated family housing complex on Nameless Island and concluded that Chimera Seventeen had once lived there. The apartment’s age and his growing sense of familiarity left him questioning whether he had been involved in the institute’s experiments and whether he was still human.

• Sun Hang realized Anna had gone silent and suspected Chimera Seventeen had regained her sanity.
• Sun Hang recognized the coast and an old Xiazhou Federation flag, identifying the setting as Nameless Island.
• Sun Hang found that every apartment had identical furnishings and inferred the Small World reflected Chimera Seventeen’s limited memories of the complex.
• Sun Hang concluded that Chimera Seventeen had been born in the family housing complex and that the apartment had been her home.
• Sun Hang felt an intense familiarity in the bedroom and wondered whether he had once lived there, taken an experimental embryo from the institute, or injected a Primal Grade meme into himself.

Sun Hang reconsidered the Nameless Island trial and suspected Pei Zongjun and Tianshu Tower had deliberately used hunters as cannon fodder to help release Anna. At the window, he experienced Chimera Seventeen’s memories and encountered the entity, which called itself a defective product.

• Sun Hang examined his Metal Nameplate and wondered whether Pei Zongjun knew his identity and what had happened on Nameless Island.
• Sun Hang reviewed the trial’s abnormal death toll, lack of safety measures, and unusually permissive admissions, and suspected Tianshu Tower had planned for him to release Anna.
• Sun Hang resolved to confront Pei Zongjun after his mission and determine whether he knew Anna existed.
• Sun Hang realized the room’s view belonged to a higher floor and saw phantom warships from the Nameless Island research institute’s past.
• Sun Hang witnessed two phantoms at the window, then watched the first disappear as the second continued counting signal flags.
• The remaining phantom identified itself as Chimera Seventeen and said it disliked its human-assigned designation but admitted it was a defective product.

Sun Hang learned that Chimera Seventeen was born from the same human embryo as Anna and could only be killed if he sacrificed one-third of his soul, with Three Monkeys able to help. Chimera Seventeen offered to disperse Eternal Night if he accepted, while Garuda detected an energy surge from her chrysalis.

• Sun Hang refused to trade his life for Tianfu City but agreed that he would try to stop Chimera Seventeen from destroying it.
• Chimera Seventeen revealed that she and Anna were separated from a human embryo, and that Sun Hang had to discard one-third of his soul to end her existence.
• Chimera Seventeen explained that her memories were fading and she would eventually fall into madness, then said Three Monkeys could help Sun Hang sacrifice part of his soul.
• Chimera Seventeen offered to disperse Eternal Night if Sun Hang accepted the exchange.
• On Garuda, Song Yarong and Yang Qi waited anxiously for news from the team inside the chrysalis.
• Garuda detected an energy reaction from Chimera Seventeen that exceeded its equipment's detection limit.

Chimera Seventeen reached a collapse state, making Yang Qi and Song Yarong believe Tianfu City was about to be destroyed. Instead, it released its compressed energy into the sky and ended the Eternal Night across Shu Province, leaving Yang Qi and Song Yarong stunned as its memetic reaction weakened.

• Song Yarong livestreamed Chimera Seventeen as its cocoon glowed like a sun, while Old Yu saw daylight return to Tianfu City.
• Chimera Seventeen's light abruptly vanished as it collapsed and compressed, and Yang Qi warned that it could be about to explode.
• The Eternal Night returned over Tianfu City, plunging its residents into despair after their brief glimpse of daylight.
• A crack opened atop Chimera Seventeen, and it fired a powerful beam through the clouds, dispersing them and restoring daylight across Shu Province.
• Old Yu and the people in his neighborhood watched the clear sky in disbelief, while Yang Qi and Song Yarong learned that the Eternal Night's memetic reaction had vanished.

After Chimera Seventeen and Eternal Night perished, Sun Hang recovered in the newly sunlit Shuzhou and wondered what giving up a third of his soul had changed. He decided to investigate whether Pei Zongjun was still fully human, while Yang Qi learned Sun Hang planned to go to Chunming City.

• Sun Hang asked Anna about the soul he had given up, and she said neither of them knew what effect the loss would have on him.
• Anna explained that Chimera Seventeen had loved and hated Sun Hang, while he questioned whether existence was worth the suffering she endured.
• Wang Xiyi found Sun Hang alive, told him the other hunters could be rescued, and discussed the mysterious destruction of Eternal Night.
• Sun Hang asked about Pei Zongjun's security and said he wanted to verify whether Pei Zongjun was still a pure human.
• Yang Qi handled the aftermath of the crisis and learned that Sun Hang planned to go to Chunming City.

Sun Hang flew back to Chunming City to speak with Pei Zongjun, while his fellow hunters mistook his purpose for an official assignment. After inspecting the inaccessible heaps of memories in his mental world, he reached the airfield and headed toward the Jade Pillar by leaping from its thousand-meter drop.

• Wang Xiyi saw Sun Hang off and promised to rescue him if he got into trouble.
• On the flight, Sun Hang heard the hunters gossip about Tianfu City and revealed that he was going to speak with Pei Zongjun.
• Sun Hang put on an eye mask and inspected two vast, mist-shrouded heaps of memories in his mental world.
• After landing, Sun Hang declined to join the hunters' aircar and jumped over the airfield guardrail.
• The little fat guy saw Sun Hang land safely and walk toward the Jade Pillar.

Sun Hang visited Pei Zongjun in the Primal Underground Palace and discovered that Pei Zongjun had fused his brain with Tianshu Tower’s Mainframe. The Mainframe explained that its core came from half of the Sphinx’s brain, which granted precognition.

• Sun Hang reached the Primal Underground Palace and defeated Pei Zongjun’s mechanical bodyguard by dismantling her prosthetics.
• Pei Zongjun welcomed Sun Hang and revealed that he had anticipated the visit by observing him through cameras.
• Pei Zongjun showed Sun Hang his corpse and the brain tissue fused with Tianshu Tower’s supercomputer, explaining that he had become the Mainframe.
• The Mainframe told Sun Hang that the Sphinx was an intelligent Anomaly and that a Hunter had obtained half of its brain.
• The Mainframe revealed that the Sphinx’s brain granted precognition.

Sun Hang learned that Sphinx’s vague prophecies had guided Pei Zongjun’s choices, including sending Sun Hang and sacrifices to Nameless Island to awaken Anna. The Mainframe revealed a warning about the Three Wise Monkeys and pointed Sun Hang toward Sphinx’s broad range in Africa, though it cautioned that the Fallen Zones there could only be observed by entering them.

• Sun Hang questioned Pei Zongjun about Sphinx’s prophecies, and Pei Zongjun explained that they were vague clues that had guided his decisions.
• Pei Zongjun revealed that memories and records of the Nameless Island project had been blocked, and that the hunters who accompanied Sun Hang were sacrifices required by a prophecy.
• Sun Hang realized that his connection to Anna might be the key to keeping her on humanity’s side.
• The Mainframe showed Sun Hang a drawing of the Three Wise Monkeys and explained that Pei Zongjun’s attempt to use Sphinx’s precognition on them had caused a devastating backlash.
• After Sun Hang asked about retrieving Sphinx’s other brain half, the Mainframe received a prophecy of an endless desert and said Sphinx ranged across former Egyptian, Sudanese, and Libyan territory.
• The Mainframe warned Sun Hang that Fallen Zones could not be observed by satellite because of Shadow of Frozen Time, and that entering them was the only way to learn what was inside.

Sun Hang agreed to witness the Mainframe’s prophecy while supplying it with life force to withstand the backlash. He relived his past as a homeless young man during the Taotie Clone’s attack, then saw Peacekeepers shoot him on sight.

• Pei Zongjun warned Sun Hang to stay in Xiazhou and explained that revealing a prophecy tied to Sun Hang could trigger a destructive backlash in the Mainframe and Chunming City.
• Sun Hang agreed to inject life force into the Mainframe as Pei Zongjun showed him the prophecy.
• Sun Hang experienced his past self eating instant noodles in a shabby attic as the Taotie Clone attacked and bit through his neck.
• Sun Hang watched his past self emerge from the ruined attic after the Taotie Clone vanished, leaving a devastated street and a mangled landlord.
• Several Peacekeepers saw Sun Hang, reacted with terror, and shot him, knocking him into darkness.

After Sun Hang saved the Mainframe from its malfunction, it named him its second-generation controller and revealed that Pei Zongjun’s consciousness had perished. Sun Hang inherited authority over the Mainframe, but Pei’s message left him with unanswered questions about the prophecies and humanity’s future.

• Sun Hang wondered whether he had killed the Peacekeepers after devouring the Taotie Clone and planned to search the Mainframe for records of the reinforcements who found him.
• The Mainframe’s brain tissue began rapidly self-destructing, so Sun Hang poured in life force until the malfunction ended.
• A robot scanned Sun Hang and collected his blood, allowing the Mainframe to identify him and grant him its highest authority.
• The Mainframe told Sun Hang that Pei Zongjun’s consciousness had perished and named him the new controller.
• The Mainframe played Pei Zongjun’s final message, in which Pei explained his choice to die as a human and asked Sun Hang to guide humanity and give the Mainframe time to prepare a replacement.
• Sun Hang learned that the Mainframe could operate independently and could not bring Pei Zongjun back to life.

Sun Hang told Candle Dragon that Pei Zongjun’s consciousness had died after using Sphinx’s prophecy, and that Pei had transferred control of the Mainframe to him. Sun Hang planned to seek Sphinx’s other brain half in Egypt, and Candle Dragon offered to join him with knowledge of a related desert anomaly.

• Sun Hang revealed Pei Zongjun’s death to Candle Dragon, who believed him and took him to a Tianshu Tower safehouse.
• Sun Hang explained that Pei had survived as a brain in the Mainframe until Sphinx’s prophecy erased his consciousness, and that Pei had transferred the Mainframe’s control to Sun Hang.
• Sun Hang said he planned to find Sphinx’s other brain half in Egypt, while privately hoping to use its prophecies to recover memories and confront Three Monkeys.
• Candle Dragon asked to accompany Sun Hang and described his past explorations of fallen zones, including an encounter with a Sand-Sinking Giant Worm related to an anomaly found in Egypt.