Chapter Summaries

Cheng Shi explained how [Deception] created Hope's Flame from what remained of the fallen [Destiny], while Zhen Xin urged him to let others share the burden of saving the world. An Mingyu returned with [Destiny]'s Vessel and Hope's Flame's final message, then offered to lead Cheng Shi into the depths of memory to meet someone.

• Cheng Shi told Zhen Xin that Hope's Flame was created by [Deception] from what was connected to the fallen [Destiny], and that [Deception] had preserved [Destiny]'s change in them.
• Zhen Xin told Cheng Shi to accept everyone's help, and they agreed that even if no self remained, they would be free.
• An Mingyu returned with [Destiny]'s Vessel and relayed Hope's Flame's message that [Deception] had protected Passing the Flame and Hope's Flame.
• Cheng Shi assured An Mingyu that hope remained for the world and reflected that the two Dominions of [Nothingness] had left the stage.
• After An Mingyu said she had not seen Sun Miao but had seen someone else, she offered to take Cheng Shi into the depths of memory to meet him.

Cheng Shi and his companions descended into the Ravine Rift, where they found the frail Qin Xin, who revealed how [Destiny] had saved him and showed them a memory [Destiny] had surrendered. The memory left Cheng Shi questioning whether [Destiny] or [Deception] was truly guiding Predestination.

• Li Jingming explained that the Ravine Rift held the discarded memories surrounding the creation of Delusional Memories and suggested the world's future might lie there.
• The group found a frail man in Qin Xin's arms and learned he was the real Qin Xin, also known as Still Like in a Dream.
• Cheng Shi healed Still Like in a Dream, who said [Destiny] had saved him by trading away one of his memories to his Lord of Grace.
• Li Jingming replayed the memory, showing [Destiny] questioning [Deception] about their identities before declaring that he would be himself.
• Cheng Shi realized [Destiny] had noticed something was wrong and wondered whether [Deception] was driving Predestination forward.

Li Jingming revealed that False Curtain Call had truly happened and urged Cheng Shi to erase his memories of Hope's Flame's plan. After reading the Final Decree, Cheng Shi rejected the future it described but concealed the truth from Li Jingming as they prepared to leave.

• Li Jingming gave Cheng Shi a memory explaining that False Curtain Call had recorded a real change and that [Origin] had truly come.
• Li Jingming asked Cheng Shi to erase the memory so he could forget what he should not know and preserve Hope's Flame's Final Decree in secret.
• Cheng Shi erased Li Jingming's memories and retrieved Hope's Flame's memories from the crystal coffin.
• Cheng Shi read the Final Decree and rejected its vision of him leaving the world on a lonely journey.
• Li Jingming asked Cheng Shi what he had wanted to say, but Cheng Shi withheld the truth and told him it was time to leave.

Cheng Shi returned to Dolgo D, reunited with Afros, and then found Galiusha at the Honest Tribunal. He explained the Cosmos’s crisis and the creator’s experiment, leaving Galiusha free to decide whether to help despite the risks of becoming a god.

• Cheng Shi met Afros, who urged him to abandon his burdens and pursue joy, but Cheng Shi refused and asked where Zhen Xin was.
• Cheng Shi told Afros he had not found Tria’s killer, then continued to the Honest Tribunal.
• Cheng Shi found Galiusha studying a model of the Isle of Hope and learned that [Deception] had told her to stay alive until he needed her.
• Cheng Shi explained the Cosmos’s crisis and the truth of the creator’s experiment, warning Galiusha that she could refuse and that becoming a god was no guarantee of control over her fate.

Galiusha accepted [Folly] and challenged Cheng Shi to explain whether his choices could produce an answer. Later, as the gods gathered at Dolgo D, the Doctor announced he had found a way to evade [Origin]'s gaze, leaving Cheng Shi and the others to hear his discovery.

• Galiusha questioned Cheng Shi’s offer, then accepted [Folly] and became a god.
• Galiusha asked whether Cheng Shi’s foolish actions would yield an answer, and Cheng Shi said his choice was his answer.
• The gods and candidates gathered at Dolgo D, where Galiusha counted their foolish acts and Tao Yi turned away with red eyes.
• The Doctor rushed to Cheng Shi and announced that he might have found a way to evade [Origin]'s gaze, while Cheng Shi urged him to explain calmly.
• The Doctor said 0221’s warning during his slice experiment reminded him of [Time]’s command not to close his eyes and helped him glimpse the truth closest to 'Truth'.

Doctor and Galiusha discussed why slices from the same prototype developed different personalities, and Doctor revealed that mutations became far more likely when an experiment’s observer stopped watching. The group learned that a brief lapse in attention could provide a way to hide changes from [Origin].

• Galiusha explained three causes of personality divergence and said she had once tried to fund research into creating more disordered slices.
• Doctor described studying the mutation pattern of subject 0221 and said [Time]’s guidance had led him to investigate changes in the observer.
• Doctor scattered marbles and asked Cheng Shi what had happened while Long Jing secretly took one as Cheng Shi blinked.
• Doctor said experiments showed slice mutations increased significantly when observers stopped watching, making overlooked moments the key to divergence.

Doctor received the Divine Throne of [Truth] and began investigating the gap in [Origin]'s observation, hoping to find a way to escape its gaze. Cheng Shi then learned that Hong Lin had gone to the edge of the world and found her preparing to sacrifice herself for her friends.

• Doctor explained that [Origin] blinked and asked Cheng Shi to grant him [Truth] so he could locate the gaps in its attention.
• Doctor began his experiment in Dolgo D with the Dragon King's clue and the Truth Ritual.
• Cheng Shi bestowed the remaining Divine Thrones, creating the gods of [Nothingness], [Deception], and [Destiny].
• Cheng Shi asked where Hong Lin had gone, and Tao Yi revealed that she was waiting at the edge of the world.
• Cheng Shi found Hong Lin in the Void, and she told him she was willing to take the stage and do something for her friends.

Li Wufang decided to investigate the Sea of Desire to understand its dangers before the new era, while Zhang Jizu and Zhen Xin separately considered going there as well. Zhen Yi and An Mingyu objected to Zhen Xin’s plan, and the group learned that Li Wufang had already left.

• Blind Man worried that Qin Xin would stop restraining his warlike nature now that he had new hope.
• Li Wufang told Tao Yi and An Mingyu that he intended to visit the Sea of Desire, then vanished from Dolgo D’s courtyard before they could stop him.
• Zhang Jizu proposed scouting the Sea of Desire with [Death]’s protection and [Deception]’s concealment, but Zhen Yi rejected the plan.
• Zhen Xin declared that she would go instead, citing the lack of successors for several gods and the successors available to [Chaos].
• Zhen Yi and An Mingyu objected to Zhen Xin’s plan, and the group forbade An Mingyu from using prophecy.
• An Mingyu revealed that Li Wufang had already left.

Qin Xin prepared to enter the Sea of Desire as [War] to investigate its link to [Origin], while Still Like in a Dream agreed to take over the seat of [War]. As others gathered to volunteer, Poison arrived and offered to enter the Sea of Desire herself.

• Qin Xin entrusted Still Like in a Dream with becoming the new [War] before setting out for the Sea of Desire.
• Nangong followed Qin Xin and pleaded to enter the Sea of Desire in his place, but Chen Shu silenced her and helped Qin Xin leave.
• Li Wufang tried to rush into the Sea of Desire, and Qin Xin stopped him as Zhen Xin, An Mingyu, and others arrived.
• Poison appeared and said she was suited to enter the Sea of Desire because she had no desires.

Poison chose to enter the Sea of Desire in search of meaning and answers, despite Cheng Shi’s warning about its dangers. Cheng Shi began to suspect the Sea’s contamination was connected to [Origin] and that the gods who encountered it had chosen to die rather than being killed by it.

• Poison, who had lost her desires, followed The Fated and the Clowns to the Sea of Desire and insisted that being mortal might give her an advantage there.
• Cheng Shi returned with Hong Lin and tried to persuade Poison to wait for another way to recover her sense of meaning.
• Poison asked Cheng Shi to remember her, then volunteered to enter the Sea of Desire and search for answers, telling everyone to remember and miss her.
• Qin Xin tried to stop Poison, but she evaded him and walked into the Sea of Desire after Cheng Shi warned her not to speak if she found anything contagious connected to the Creator.
• Cheng Shi reconsidered the deaths of [Order], [War], [Deception], and Drachirko and suspected that the Sea’s contamination was a curse tied to [Origin], not a direct cause of death.

Cheng Shi deduced that a rule prevented anyone from speaking about the Sea of Desire’s secret and realized silence could reveal a warning. Poison found [Origin]’s hidden eyes at the seabed, became contaminated, and understood that speaking of it would spread the contamination and trigger World Collapse, so she swam back in silence.

• Cheng Shi connected Hong Lin’s account of [Origin]’s contaminating power to the silence of those who had entered the Sea of Desire, and recalled telling Poison not to speak if she discovered a contagious secret.
• Poison followed corpses through the orderly depths of the Sea of Desire until she reached the crimson seabed and passed the corpse of a former Passing the Flame companion.
• A vortex swept Poison away from the seabed, where she saw the blood-red ground resemble an enormous eye and lost consciousness in terror.
• Poison awoke to find eye-like red lines spreading across her arms and realized she had become the eyes of [Origin].
• Poison understood that [Origin]’s hidden eyes contaminated those who saw them and that revealing the secret would spread the contamination and cause World Collapse, so she swam toward the surface without speaking.

Doctor and Long Jing discovered a fixed 221-unit Faith Interval that could briefly sever a god’s connection to [Origin]. When the group infused Cheng Shi’s Dyed Vessel with all fourteen faiths, it revealed itself as a blueprint for an [Origin] Vessel.

• Doctor explained that the gap between drops of Divinity created a moment when faith—and a god’s connection to believers—was absent.
• Long Jing said the Faith Interval lasted for 221 temporal twists and proposed using it to escape [Origin]’s gaze.
• Cheng Shi revealed his Dyed Vessel, and the remaining gods infused it with their faiths.
• An Mingyu added [Destiny], causing the Vessel to cycle through the fourteen faiths and manifest a complete Divine Throne.
• Cheng Shi recognized the Vessel as a blueprint for the Divine Throne, which was an [Origin] Vessel.

Cheng Shi revealed that completing the Divine Throne required draining the gods’ wills and faith, which would erase them from the future they hoped to create. The gods accepted the sacrifice and entrusted Cheng Shi with leading reality away from [Origin], though saving the world remained uncertain.

• Cheng Shi placed the Divine Throne assembled from the gods’ remains beside the blueprint left by [Deception] and recognized how to construct the final vessel.
• Cheng Shi warned Qin Xin and the other gods that completing the Divine Throne would consume their will, spirit, and faith, leaving them absent from the new future.
• Zhen Xin and Zhen Yi accepted their impending departure, while Long Jing joked about being honored with a memorial.
• A figure pushed Cheng Shi away from the Sea of Desire, confirming his suspicion that contamination connected to [Origin] was hidden there.
• Qin Xin asked Cheng Shi to separate reality from the Void and lead the world away from [Origin] using the gods’ combined faith and will.

Cheng Shi faced the friends’ choice to sacrifice themselves so he could complete the Divine Throne and give the world a future. After Hu Xuan and Tao Yi entrusted their faith to him and dissolved into the Blueprint, he was left to continue the farewell.

• Hu Xuan met Cheng Shi in a dark void and urged him to save the world, explaining that she had chosen to go first as [Birth].
• Cheng Shi reached out to keep Hu Xuan with him, but she refused and reaffirmed her trust in him.
• Cheng Shi asked Hu Xuan to pour [Birth]’s will into the Blueprint, and she dissolved into starlight that filled the first empty faith-trace in the Divine Throne.
• Tao Yi arrived and wished for the new world to prosper, then said she was ready to be strong and asked Cheng Shi what to do.
• Cheng Shi told Tao Yi to believe in him, and she dissolved into starlight that formed the second fragment of the Divine Throne.

Cheng Shi witnessed Zhang Jizu, Nangong, and Mo Shu depart as the Divine Throne took shape, while he concealed his grief behind a smile. After the Blueprint completed its course from [Life] through [Sinking], Cheng Shi gained shared faith and divinity, bringing him closer to becoming [Origin] so he could keep his friends alive.

• Zhang Jizu urged Cheng Shi to stop suppressing his emotions, then transformed into the White Bone Flood and entered the Divine Throne.
• Nangong told Cheng Shi that Poison had returned to the Sea of Desire without a farewell, then gave him a Lucky Tree sprig and asked whether she still had a future.
• Cheng Shi promised Nangong that she and everyone else had a future, and she departed as [Decay]'s aura vanished.
• Mo Shu asked Cheng Shi whether the Divine Throne was the Stage, accepted the performance's uncertainty, and prepared to take the stage as the Pastry Chef.
• The Blueprint completed its course from [Life] through [Sinking], and the Divine Throne became one-third assembled as shared faith gathered around Cheng Shi.

As [Civilization] gave rise to [Truth], Cheng Shi watched Li Wufang, Doctor, Qin Xin, and Zhen Yi leave their places in the world to help complete the Divine Throne. Zhen Yi asked Cheng Shi to promise that she could be his big sister this time, and he agreed as she joined the throne.

• Cheng Shi sent Li Wufang into the Blueprint, where he became part of the Divine Throne.
• Doctor explained that 0221’s aberration might be a clue left by someone and joined the Divine Throne.
• Still Like in a Dream told Cheng Shi that Qin Xin had chosen to leave, and Cheng Shi crowned [War] so Qin Xin could help complete the throne.
• Qin Xin encouraged Cheng Shi to pursue his own dreamed-of future, then became a new piece of the Divine Throne.
• Zhen Yi told Cheng Shi that she wanted to be his big sister this time, and he promised before she joined the throne.

As the others took their places on the Divine Throne, Cheng Shi shared his plan with Chen Shu and received memories from the Dragon King before Long Jing agreed to stay behind the scenes. The chapter ended with Cheng Shi questioning whether he could trust himself—or [Origin]—with the Cosmos’s future.

• Galiusha added [Folly] to the Divine Throne, and Chen Shu used signs to reveal that [Decay] had given him a way to keep silent.
• Cheng Shi told Chen Shu his plan, frightening him into covering his ears and jumping into the Divine Throne.
• Li Jingming gave Cheng Shi a treasured memory of [Existence] arriving and comforted him with the promise that their shared past would remain.
• Long Jing asked about a monument in the new world, then agreed to stay behind the scenes if Cheng Shi needed him to.
• Cheng Shi wondered whether the experiment could succeed and asked himself whether he could trust Cheng Shi—or [Origin].

Cheng Shi learned that [Deception] had designed False Curtain Call to replace [Origin] with a new “Origin” and let the Cosmos escape the Experiment Field. The plan left Cheng Shi alive in a world severed from everyone and everything he wanted to protect, and Zhen Xin and An Mingyu arrived as the farewells continued.

• After False Curtain Call, [Deception] hid the Cosmos's memories in [Memory]'s junkyard, where Hope's Flame found them and continued the rebellion with the Pen of Destiny.
• [Deception] wrote False Curtain Call as a plan to make the gods vanish, then have a returning “Origin” win the people's faith and replace [Origin]'s gaze.
• [Deception] made the eyes shown at the Cosmos's collapse appear to be [Origin]'s, though they were actually Cheng Shi's eyes, giving the replacement “Origin” a way to prove his identity.
• Li Jingming passed the memories through to Cheng Shi, then chose to die so his knowledge of the truth would not endanger the new world's faith.
• Cheng Shi rejected the future [Deception] had promised but recognized it as the outcome won through countless struggles, and hoped everything in the present could stop.
• Zhen Xin and An Mingyu arrived hand in hand as the farewells continued.

Cheng Shi learned that Hong Lin had left a keepsake and a message urging him to succeed, while Zhen Xin and An Mingyu joined the completed Blueprint. The Vessel of “Origin” formed as a miniature Isle of Hope, leaving Cheng Shi to choose between repeating [Origin]’s experiment or accepting a future without his friends.

• Zhen Xin told Cheng Shi that Hong Lin had left to stir up the True Universe and draw the Creator’s attention, and that [Time] could use the clock hand to synchronize time across the Spacetime Barrier.
• An Mingyu gave Cheng Shi Hong Lin’s green seed and relayed her message of faith in him, while Zhen Xin comforted him.
• Zhen Xin and An Mingyu entered the nearly completed Blueprint, and [Chaos] completed the Divine Throne’s transformation into the Vessel.
• Cheng Shi saw that the Vessel was a miniature Isle of Hope and realized that Predestination was [Origin], with the Abyssal Volcano at the Vessel’s center.
• Cheng Shi faced the choice of becoming the next “Origin” and starting another Universe Experiment or leaving with a new world without his friends.
• The narration addressed the reader as “Cheng Shi” and asked them to make the choice.

Cheng Shi and Shadow Cheng Shi split into two Origins, allowing [Deception] to prepare another experiment while [Destiny] worked toward a future without gods. As Cheng Shi began designing the Creator’s Experiment, a familiar feeling brought back memories of the false ending and [Deception]’s two choices.

• Cheng Shi chose to pursue both futures, and Shadow Cheng Shi agreed to become the second Origin, choosing a future while Cheng Shi chose reunion.
• The two Origins used the Vessel’s Seven-Colored Divine Power to separate the Void from reality, then began preparing their respective plans.
• Cheng Shi questioned [Origin]’s intentions and decided to begin another experiment despite fearing that it might only prolong despair.
• Cheng Shi designed the Creator’s Experiment to allow variation rather than simply reproduce his memories, resolving to act as a neutral observer.
• Cheng Shi recognized the experiment’s familiar logic and remembered that [Deception] had offered him two choices during the false ending.