Recaps

Hao Ren arrived alone on a snow-covered stretch of Mirror Two Earth and tried to locate Vivian’s forgotten Siberian resting place. After fighting off a wolf pack in the forest, he saw a silver-haired girl who looked like Lily charging toward him.

• Hao Ren discovered that the sandbox had severed his communications and that he would have to explore Mirror Two Earth alone.
• His probes lost contact near a pine forest, so Hao Ren used Vivian’s journal and the surrounding landscape to conclude that he had landed in Siberia.
• Hao Ren entered the forest to search for Vivian’s slumbering ground, but found no people who could give him directions.
• A Siberian Wolf pack surrounded and attacked Hao Ren, but his Rigid Shield and fists defeated the wolves.
• A silver-haired, golden-eyed girl in leather clothing charged toward Hao Ren, who recognized her as Lily.

Hao Ren encountered a younger Lily in the Siberian forest and fought her after she mistook him for a threat to her wolf pack. Once he stopped her by grabbing her tail, they made peace, and Lily proposed becoming sworn brothers.

• Hao Ren recognized the wolf-eared girl charging out of the woods as Lily, but she accused him of hurting her wolf pack and attacked him.
• Hao Ren used Rigid Shield to withstand Lily’s blows and realized he had met her in the past, before she entered human society.
• Lily grew excited by their fight and kept attacking, while Hao Ren used his experience training with the Lily he knew to anticipate her moves.
• Hao Ren grabbed Lily’s tail during a fight, making her stop and complain that he had fought dirty.
• Hao Ren explained that the fight had been a misunderstanding, and Lily asked him to become sworn brothers.

Hao Ren treated Lily’s injured Wolf pack and learned that she had wandered north into Siberia while trying to reach a human city. After correcting her direction, he asked Lily to help him find someone.

• Hao Ren and two Autonomous Mechanical Units treated the injured wolves while Lily eagerly chatted with him.
• Lily explained that she had left her village after her adoptive parents died and planned to become an eating-performance artist in a southern city.
• Hao Ren realized Lily had traveled from the Three Northeastern Provinces to Siberia in the wrong direction and told her to turn around.
• Lily thanked Hao Ren and insisted they become sworn siblings, then told him she had been named Lily by her adoptive parents and had once used the surname Liu.
• Hao Ren asked Lily to help him find someone.

Hao Ren followed Lily to her remote cabin, where she fed him and shared stories about her life in the wilderness. He asked her to help locate Vivian, and Lily agreed to search based on the clues he provided.

• Lily led Hao Ren to her cabin in the Siberian forest and explained that her wolves had been stealing objects from travelers for her collection.
• Lily prepared meat porridge and roasted salmon, and Hao Ren gave her latiao from his personal storage space.
• Lily asked Hao Ren to summon figures from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but their conversation wandered before returning to his request.
• Hao Ren described the sleeping nonhuman woman he was searching for and considered how the distorted spacetime might have altered history.
• Lily asked about Hao Ren's friend and her sleep, and Hao Ren offered to let Lily smell something the woman had used.

Hao Ren enlisted Lily to track Vivian by scent, and Lily led him to a mysterious valley in Siberia where unnatural signs suggested Vivian might be sleeping. The Wolf pack balked at the valley’s edge, so Hao Ren and Lily prepared to investigate it alone.

• Hao Ren gave Lily Vivian’s phone to memorize her scent, and Lily agreed to help search for Vivian the next day.
• Hao Ren spent the night at Lily’s cabin, then learned that her Wolf pack had found a barren valley marked by strange weather and mysterious sounds.
• Hao Ren, Lily, and the Wolf pack crossed the pine forest and reached the valley, where the plants were dying and animal sounds had vanished.
• Lily sent the frightened Wolf pack back and continued toward Death Valley with Hao Ren.

Hao Ren and Lily crossed Death Valley and found the hidden cave where Vivian was slumbering. They discovered Vivian’s protective blood runes, and Hao Ren prepared to use his Magic Immunity to decipher them.

• Hao Ren and Lily entered Death Valley, where a mysterious force drained vitality and the remains of dead animals showed signs of poisoning and boiling blood.
• Hao Ren gave Lily a life-support collar to protect her from Vivian’s sleeping powers.
• Lily followed Vivian’s scent to a concealed cave in the valley’s cliffside, and Hao Ren entered with her.
• Hao Ren and Lily found no visible sign of Vivian inside the cavern, but Hao Ren concluded that her seal was loosening and recognized her Rune of Leta.
• Hao Ren placed his hand on Vivian’s blood runes, confident that his Magic Immunity could counter them.

Hao Ren and Lily reached Vivian’s hidden sleeping place and broke the runes guarding it, only to trigger a violent awakening. They fled the exploding cavern and waited at the valley entrance for Vivian to calm down.

• Hao Ren erased the Rune of Leta, destroying the cavern’s magical defenses and revealing a stone chamber with a coffin.
• Hao Ren approached the coffin to wake Vivian while Lily mistook him for a tomb raider.
• Vivian’s coffin shook violently, then its lid flew off as a black storm erupted from within.
• Hao Ren dragged Lily out of the cavern as the blast hurled them through rocks and ice.
• A powerful eruption destroyed the cavern and part of the mountainside, so Hao Ren and Lily retreated to the valley entrance to wait for Vivian to wake fully.

Hao Ren and Lily found Vivian after her explosive awakening in the Siberian valley, but she did not recognize Hao Ren and remained wary of Lily as a Werewolf. After hunger overcame her hostility, Vivian ate with them, leaving Hao Ren to begin rebuilding their relationship through food and further tests.

• Hao Ren and Lily entered the devastated valley and found Vivian confused about the era and unable to recognize Hao Ren.
• Vivian mistook Lily for an enemy Werewolf and prepared to attack, but collapsed from hunger before the fight began.
• Lily hunted with her Wolf pack while Hao Ren gathered supplies, and they cooked a meal for Vivian.
• Vivian ate ravenously, learned Lily had no connection to the Werewolf families she had fought, and thanked Hao Ren for the food.
• Hao Ren realized Vivian had not recovered her memories and decided to build trust with her and continue testing ways to stimulate her memories.

Hao Ren and Lily took the newly awakened, amnesiac Vivian back to Lily’s cabin, where Hao Ren realized a keepsake from their shared home might restore her memories. When he showed Vivian his own copy of her weathered house key, she began to remember and asked what had happened.

• Vivian explained that she had no memory of her past and planned to find a human settlement, while Hao Ren told her she had been fighting someone in Siberia before she fell asleep.
• Hao Ren invited Vivian to rest at Lily’s cabin, and Lily agreed to host them as they prepared for a journey south.
• At the cabin, Vivian showed Hao Ren a strange, weathered key she had carried when she woke up.
• Hao Ren recognized it as the key to his home and showed Vivian an identical one from his storage space.
• Seeing the matching keys, Vivian’s memories began to return, and she asked Hao Ren how she had gotten there and what had happened.

Hao Ren awakened Vivian in the hunter’s cabin and learned that her scattered powers were fighting in a deeper battlefield. After Vivian vanished, Hao Ren prepared to continue through the distorted past, awakening her in each era and sending her power to aid the battle.

• Hao Ren explained to Vivian that her sleep had caused her Evil Spirits to resonate and distort Earth’s spacetime.
• Vivian said she had suspected she was the source of the contamination and vowed to resist the force inside her.
• Vivian began fading from the dream and told Hao Ren to awaken her across the eras, beware the Evil Spirits, and seek the past Heiserana’s trust.
• Vivian disappeared, leaving Hao Ren with the knowledge that each awakened version of her would send power to the battle in the deepest spacetime.
• Hao Ren headed for the cabin door, and Lily suddenly asked why she was there.

Hao Ren learned from Raven 12345 that Lily had entered the safe sandbox as a consciousness linked to its weakening distortion, potentially opening the way for other helpers. Raven warned that Lily and any future arrivals would be vulnerable inside the past, while Hao Ren himself could truly die there; after their connection ended, Lily returned to herself, unaware of what had happened.

• Lily appeared in the past after experiencing memories of her earlier adventures with Hao Ren and asked whether they were real.
• Raven 12345 took over Lily and explained that Hao Ren’s regressions had weakened the distortion, allowing Lily’s consciousness to enter the sandbox as a helper.
• Raven said other people might also enter if they met the right conditions, but warned that they would have reduced abilities and could suffer lasting harm if they died there.
• Raven reminded Hao Ren that he had entered with his true body and could die for real, and he insisted he would survive.
• Raven told Hao Ren that Lily was safe outside, then ended the connection; Lily returned to herself and asked why she had spaced out.

Hao Ren and Lily left the frozen hunter’s cabin and entered late medieval Europe during the Dark Era, where they planned to find Vivian while avoiding the Demon Hunters’ attention. They disguised themselves in local clothes and prepared to identify their location and the year, with a Demon Hunter’s silver sword at Hao Ren’s waist.

• Hao Ren explained that Raven 12345 had possessed Lily and that other acquaintances might join them as he retraced history, though they would retain only their historical-era strength.
• Lily recalled her wandering years in Siberia and the worn copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms she had carried after leaving her village.
• Hao Ren opened the cabin door and brought Lily into a late medieval European street, while the cabin remained embedded in the spacetime fragment as a base.
• Hao Ren and Lily hid in an alley and took local clothes from a clothesline to avoid drawing notice from the Demon Hunters and their informants.
• Hao Ren planned to gather information after dark and felt the 1315-model holy silver short sword at his waist.

Hao Ren and Lily traveled through a medieval French town while searching for Vivian’s slumbering ground, with Hao Ren posing as a Wanderer Hunter. Their plan was to investigate local supernatural reports, and the chapter ended when Lily sensed someone ahead who smelled of potions.

• Hao Ren used what he had learned about Demon Hunter forces to choose a Wanderer Hunter as his cover identity and equipped genuine hunter gear.
• Hao Ren and Lily crossed the dark, foul-smelling town streets while avoiding watchmen and searching for signs of Others.
• Hao Ren explained that they would investigate recent supernatural reports to find Vivian’s slumbering ground, keeping the hunter’s cabin as a fallback safe house.
• Lily argued that she could evade Demon Hunters if they encountered any, while Hao Ren doubted her reasoning.
• Lily stopped and told Hao Ren she smelled potions from someone up ahead.

During curfew, Hao Ren and Lily captured Ash Rat, a potion-using informant, and learned that witches had gathered in town after a powerful witch was captured. Hao Ren wondered whether the witches’ presence was connected to Vivian’s slumbering ground.

• Ash Rat hid in an alley during curfew and watched a man and woman walk openly through the streets.
• Lily swiftly subdued Ash Rat after he realized he had been spotted.
• Hao Ren questioned Ash Rat about his potion and whom he served.
• Ash Rat revealed that several witches, including one male witch, had recently gathered in town to rescue a supposedly powerful witch who had been captured.
• Hao Ren considered whether the captured witch and the gathered witches were connected to Vivian’s slumbering ground.

Hao Ren forced the Ash Rat to lead him and Lily to the witches’ contact point, while concealing who they were. The Ash Rat mistook them for Werewolves and hoped Madam Mary would spare him.

• Hao Ren threatened the Ash Rat until he agreed to take them to the contact point for Madam Mary.
• The Ash Rat explained that he had only watched for visitors and communicated with witchcraft puppets, without knowing the witches’ secrets or meeting them directly.
• Lily heard night-patrol soldiers approaching, so Hao Ren had the Ash Rat guide them through the city’s dark alleys toward the slums.
• The Ash Rat asked whom he was serving, and Hao Ren let Lily reveal her wolf ears and fangs to show they were not Witch Hunters.
• The Ash Rat believed Hao Ren and Lily were Werewolves and continued guiding them, hoping the witches would be less hostile to them.

Hao Ren and Lily followed Ash Rat to a hidden contact point and met Madam Mary, who killed Ash Rat before questioning them. Hao Ren offered news about the Demon Hunters and arranged to meet the witches the following night.

• Ash Rat led Hao Ren and Lily through the slums to a ruined wall marked with hidden witchcraft.
• Madam Mary's face emerged from black sludge on the wall and killed Ash Rat when he tried to explain their arrival.
• Hao Ren introduced himself as a wizard traveling with a werewolf and asked about the witches' plans to rescue an imprisoned witch.
• Madam Mary revealed that the imprisoned witch was a false story used to distract the church, and Hao Ren said he had news about the Demon Hunters.
• Hao Ren showed Madam Mary a holy silver shortsword as proof, and she arranged to meet him after nightfall the next day beyond the western gate, guided by a crow.

Hao Ren and Lily investigated a medieval city and found evidence that witches had prepared to rescue a captured companion. After gathering information throughout the day, they left the city at night to meet the witches.

• Hao Ren and Lily entered the inner city in disguise and found a gallows and burning stakes at an execution square.
• Hao Ren spotted a Rune of Leta and concluded that witches had prepared the square to rescue an important captured companion.
• Hao Ren explained to Lily how witches, warlocks, and human organizations had dealt with one another during the Dark Era.
• Hao Ren and Lily searched the city for information until nightfall, then climbed over the city wall to meet the witches.

Hao Ren and Lily followed the witch Madam Mary's giant crow, Kodo, to a gathering of witches in a cemetery. After proving his supposed wizard identity, Hao Ren challenged Madam Mary about her story of a captured witch and learned that the prisoner was Heiserana, a powerful Blood Mage whom the witches hoped to rescue.

• Hao Ren and Lily left the city at night and followed Kodo through the wilderness to a cemetery.
• Kodo led Hao Ren and Lily into the cemetery, where Madam Mary and several witches had gathered.
• Hao Ren summoned an array of weapons to prove he was a wizard, while Lily's werewolf aura convinced the witches of her identity.
• Madam Mary asked whether Hao Ren had news of the Demon Hunters, but he demanded information about the captured witch.
• A young witch explained that the witches hoped to gain protection by rescuing an important representative, and named her as Heiserana, a powerful Blood Mage.

Hao Ren joined the witches’ plans after learning that the captured witch was named Heiserana and that Demon Hunters were closing in. The hooded wizard saw through Hao Ren’s act and confronted him about his real motives.

• Hao Ren reacted when Helen named Heiserana, then denied knowing the Blood Mage she meant.
• Helen, the sickly witch, and Madam Mary accepted Hao Ren’s warning that Demon Hunters were approaching and believed he had killed one.
• Hao Ren learned the witches wanted to reach Shadow City for protection and offered to travel with them, with Lily’s reluctant agreement.
• The hooded wizard approached Hao Ren and said he knew Hao Ren was pursuing something other than helping the witches or reaching Shadow City.

Hao Ren learned that Heiserana was set to be burned at the stake, and joined Madam Mary’s witches as they planned a rescue before the Demon Hunters arrived. The chapter ended with a Demon Hunter elder approaching the city and warning that Heiserana would be especially dangerous when she woke.

• Barn questioned Hao Ren about Roan's Night Watch Knights, then left after realizing Hao Ren did not know the name.
• Rom reported that Heiserana had confessed to practicing black magic and would be burned at noon the next day.
• Madam Mary rallied the witches to rescue Heiserana before the Demon Hunters arrived, and Hao Ren minimized their numbers to keep the group from losing heart.
• Madam Mary began explaining the rescue plan while Hao Ren wondered whether Heiserana was the bat spirit he knew.
• A Demon Hunter elder watched the city and told his deputy that Heiserana would be dangerous when she woke.

Hao Ren and Lily discovered that the witch being burned was Heiserana, who had apparently allowed herself to be captured as part of a scheme. Madam Mary launched the planned attack on the execution square, but Heiserana was horrified when rescuers rushed toward her.

• Hao Ren and Lily reached the square and saw Heiserana brought in chains to be burned.
• Hao Ren recognized Heiserana and realized she had likely been captured on purpose.
• Heiserana cursed the officials as they read out her charges and waited for them to light the pyre.
• Madam Mary ordered the attack, unleashing locusts and chaos across the square.
• Several figures rushed toward the execution site, and Heiserana shouted in alarm at the rescuers.

Hao Ren and the witches disrupted Heiserana’s intended plan while rescuing her from execution, then fled the city with Lily’s help. Heiserana escaped with them but was left bewildered and dismayed by her unexpected rescuers.

• Madam Mary and the witches attacked the execution square, and Hao Ren joined the assault with Lily to reach Heiserana.
• Hao Ren freed Heiserana and convinced her to come with them by mentioning Vivian and calling her “little Bat.”
• Madam Mary warned that reinforcements were coming, so Hao Ren and the group fled toward the western gate.
• Lily tore down the city gate and hurled it at the soldiers before the group escaped through an alley and broke out of the city.
• Hao Ren and the others reunited with Helen outside the western gate, while Heiserana looked utterly despairing.

After the witches rescued Heiserana from an execution ground, she angrily explained that they had ruined her own plan, then questioned Hao Ren about his connection to Vivian. Hao Ren convinced her by showing her the little bat Vivian had entrusted to him.

• The witches returned to Misty Cemetery with Hao Ren, Lily, and Heiserana after escaping the city.
• Madam Mary greeted Heiserana, who berated the witches for raiding the execution ground when she had never needed rescuing.
• Hao Ren calmed Heiserana and asked her to explain what had happened, while she demanded to know who he was and how he knew Vivian.
• Hao Ren told Heiserana that Vivian feared her Curse Halo would harm her, but Heiserana insisted he needed stronger proof of their friendship.
• Hao Ren produced the sleeping little bat Vivian had given him, and Heiserana finally believed that he knew her.

Hao Ren confirmed his identity to Heiserana, who explained that she had let humans capture her to lure Demon Hunters away from Vivian’s sleeping place. The witches’ public rampage had ruined her careful plan and risked bringing a larger force of Demon Hunters to the area.

• Hao Ren proved his connection to Vivian with her little bat, and Heiserana accepted that he was her closest friend.
• Hao Ren asked Heiserana why she had deliberately allowed the humans to capture her.
• Heiserana revealed that Vivian had been sleeping nearby for more than two hundred years and that Demon Hunters were searching for her slumbering ground.
• Heiserana explained that she planned to use her capture and escape to draw the Demon Hunters into a trap and kill them.
• Heiserana told the witches that their attack, especially Lily’s public appearance as a Werewolf, would alert the Demon Hunters and likely bring reinforcements.

Hao Ren and Heiserana planned to move Vivian from her hidden slumbering ground before the Demon Hunters found it. The Demon Hunters ambushed them before they could set out, killing one witch and wounding two others.

• Hao Ren introduced himself and Lily to Heiserana and explained that he had joined the witches because he thought she had been captured.
• Heiserana said Shadow City would not send reinforcements, so she proposed moving Vivian from the castle hidden partly in the Shadow World.
• Heiserana gave the group a black crystal to guide them through the Shadow World and planned to reach the castle by noon the next day.
• Demon Hunters attacked the group with Holy Silver Crossbow Bolts and Rune magic, killing one witch and heavily wounding two others.
• Wizard Barn raised Mud Barriers for cover, and Hao Ren realized the Demon Hunters had come directly instead of seeking reinforcements.