Recaps

Fu Qian led Lei, Fran, and Cartman through the abandoned sections of the mountainside buildings to search for Jessica. In the basement they found a recently opened hidden passage, and Cartman reluctantly went down first.

• Fu Qian persuaded Lei, Fran, and Cartman to search the unvisited buildings rather than head straight down the mountain.
• The group crossed into a dusty, neglected section, where Fu Qian suggested checking the basement in case Jessica had entered from another route.
• Fu Qian led them downstairs and found a passage leading deeper beneath the building.
• The group noticed fresh marks showing that the hidden door had recently been opened, raising the possibility that Jessica had gone inside.
• Fu Qian handed Cartman the lantern, and Cartman reluctantly stepped into the passage first.

Fu Qian led Cartman, Lei, and Fran through a hidden passage where they found signs that someone had searched several rooms, then guided them through the forest to Sheriff Jones. The chapter ended with Fu Qian asking Jones for news about Lasik.

• Fu Qian spotted a concealed side passage, and the group found a storage room whose shelves showed someone had recently searched it.
• The group discovered more searched areas and exited through a hidden door into a forest, where Fran found signs someone had passed through.
• Fran suggested finding Sheriff Jones, and Fu Qian led the group toward a black stone path by following the sound of a dog barking.
• Fu Qian met Sheriff Jones, who had brought a police dog to help find people, and asked whether Jones had news about Lasik.

Fu Qian and his companions told Sheriff Jones that Jessica had gone missing and led him to the underground passage connecting the mountain to the roadside. Jones shared a lead on Lasik, then took Fu Qian with him as he continued investigating.

• Fu Qian noticed Jones react to Lasik's name and asked what Jones knew about him.
• Fran told Jones that Jessica was missing, and Cartman explained that the group had found an underground passage from the mountain.
• Jones inspected the passage's exit, learned that someone had recently used it, and told Fran and the others to stay at his home.
• Jones revealed that a traffic ticket for excessive speeding had been issued to someone using Lasik's name, but the officer who issued it could not remember the driver's appearance.
• Mrs. Mary said she had not known about the passage, and Jones brought Fu Qian along when he left to investigate.

Fu Qian accompanied Sheriff Jones as he investigated Harold’s disappearance and discovered clues suggesting that someone had disguised themselves as Harold’s wife. Jones suspected the witnesses might be in danger, and Fu Qian reminded him that the two remaining witnesses were at his house.

• Fu Qian rode with Sheriff Jones as Jones explained that he planned to investigate people with motives instead of organizing another large search.
• Jones and Fu Qian searched Harold’s home, found it empty, and noticed that someone had already gone through it.
• A neighbor told Jones that someone wearing a hat and resembling Harold had driven away, and that Harold’s wife had worn a hat when she left the day before.
• Jones concluded that someone had disguised themselves as Mrs. Harold after she was killed, then suggested Harold had also met with foul play.
• Fu Qian reminded Jones that Ray and the other remaining witness were at Jones’s house.

Fu Qian and Sheriff Jones returned to Jones’s home, where they discovered that Cartman had disappeared from his room. Jones then confronted Lei at gunpoint and demanded to know what he had seen the previous day, but Lei denied seeing anything.

• Jones questioned Fu Qian about Lasik and his reasons for searching for him, then sped back to his home, fearing for his wife.
• Jones found Mary, Fran, and Lei safe, but Cartman was missing from his room, whose window stood open.
• Jones sent Fran and Mary downstairs, shut the room door, and demanded that Lei explain what he had seen while buying supplies.
• Lei accused Fu Qian of making things up, and Fu Qian denied it without elaborating.
• With Jones’s gun pressed to his head, Lei insisted that he had not seen anything.

Lei confessed that he had accidentally hit a hat-wearing person with the car before the person ran into the woods, then helped conceal the incident. Jones sent Lei to help search for his missing friends, and Fu Qian and Fran joined the search as well; the chapter ended with a report that Harold's car had been found.

• Jones struck Lei and pressured him until Lei admitted he had hit someone while driving with Cartman and Jessica in the car.
• Lei said the person had quickly fled into the woods and that he, Cartman, and Jessica had hidden what happened.
• Jones told Lei he could not go home and ordered him to help search for his missing friends.
• Jones assured Mary that he would keep Lei safe, then set out with Fu Qian and Fran, who volunteered to find Jessica.
• A voice over Jones's car radio reported that Harold's car had been found.

Jones investigated Harold after he crashed his car near the mountain bridge and suspected that a mysterious killer had drugged him and staged the crash. Jones then sent Lei away to draw out the culprit, and Fran stopped Lei before he could leave.

• Jones took Fu Qian, Lei, and Fran to the bridge after police reported that Harold had crashed through the railing.
• Officers pulled Harold from the wreck, and Jones found a needle mark on his neck while questioning him about a missing person.
• Harold denied knowing anything, and Jones ordered the officers to take him for a thorough examination.
• Jones suspected the mysterious killer had drugged Harold and placed him in the car, then decided to use Lei as bait.
• Lei prepared to leave in his car, but Fran grabbed the door and stopped him.

Fran returned to the old estate with Fu Qian to search for Jessica, but they found no trace of her. After Fu Qian discovered Fran’s name carved behind a picture frame, he led her to the basement and trapped her inside the Iron Maiden.

• Fran took Cartman’s car from Lei and asked Fu Qian to drive her back to the mountain to look for Jessica.
• Fu Qian agreed, and he and Fran searched the old estate but found no sign of Jessica.
• Fu Qian moved a picture frame and found Fran’s name freshly carved into the wall behind it.
• Fran suspected the mysterious killer had marked the rooms, and Fu Qian led her downstairs to the room with the Iron Maiden.
• Fu Qian forced Fran into the Iron Maiden and declared that she had been sentenced to death.

Fu Qian tested his theory that people in the old house gained extraordinary abilities under extreme emotional pressure, and Fran calmly transcended her fear. The mission updated to “Transcend Samsara with Lasik,” leading Fu Qian to conclude that Lasik’s trapped consciousness had left traces across repeated cycles, though escaping the cycle remained unresolved.

• Fu Qian used the Iron Maiden to push Fran’s fear to its limit, suspecting that the people involved in the cases had suddenly exceeded their abilities under pressure.
• Fran stopped screaming and calmly asked Fu Qian to let her out, showing that she had transcended herself.
• Fu Qian opened the Iron Maiden, and Fran thanked him without trying to flee.
• Fu Qian received an updated mission to transcend samsara with Lasik and connected it to the strange ticket and room marking.
• Fu Qian concluded that Lasik’s consciousness had left traces across repeated cycles, but recognized that finding a way out would be difficult.

Fu Qian noticed that Fran had inherited memories and knowledge of the mansion after escaping the torture device, then used those clues to reconstruct the missing people’s roles in Mrs. Harold’s disappearance. With only a dozen or so hours left before the cycle reset, he focused on finding why Lasik had failed to escape it.

• Fu Qian accepted Fran’s thanks, and Fran admitted she felt calmer and somehow knew details about rooms she had never entered.
• Fran said the mansion had a complex underground structure with multiple passages down the mountain.
• Fu Qian reasoned that Harold had drugged and staged his wife’s accident, while Lei had hidden her using the secret passages and covered up evidence.
• Fran suggested they return to safety, but Fu Qian focused on the countdown and on finding the blind spot that had kept Lasik trapped in the cycle.

Fu Qian and Fran drove down the mountain while discussing Lasik, the disappearances, and Fran’s memories. After Fu Qian revealed that Lei had probably killed someone near the road, Fran began thinking of places to hide a body, but Fu Qian refused to investigate them.

• Fu Qian accepted Fran’s suggestion to leave the mountain and reflected that his reliability may have made Lasik harder to identify.
• Fran wondered how Jessica and the others were doing, and Fu Qian admitted he was looking for Lasik and had already met him.
• Fu Qian considered what Lasik might have been searching for in the secret passage and ruled out several possible explanations for the endless loop.
• Fran asked about Lei’s facial injury, and Fu Qian said Lei had probably hit and killed someone near the road.
• Fran thought of possible places to hide a body, but Fu Qian refused to go look for it.

Fu Qian brought Fran to Sheriff Jones’s home and used a false claim about Lei’s drug use to provoke a reaction. After following Mary to Lei’s hotel, Fu Qian watched as the accusation shocked Lei, possibly allowing Lasik to surface.

• Fu Qian and Fran returned to Sheriff Jones’s home, where Fu Qian claimed Lei carried unusual drugs.
• Jones offered Fu Qian and Fran a place to stay for the night.
• Fu Qian saw Mary leave with food for Lei and persuaded Jones to take him to the hotel.
• Fu Qian and Jones watched Mary confront Lei about taking illegal drugs, claiming Fran and the others had found out.
• Lei froze after Mary said Fran and the others had gone up the mountain, and Fu Qian wondered whether Lasik was about to appear.

Lei convinced Mrs. Mary that the accusations against him were mistaken, while Fu Qian and Sheriff Jones watched. Fu Qian later visited Lei at the inn, where Lei probed what Fu Qian knew and hinted that he might disappear.

• Sheriff Jones drew his gun as Mrs. Mary confronted Lei, but Lei persuaded her that Cartman's belongings had been mistaken for his.
• Mrs. Mary brought Lei dinner, accepted his explanation, and left after warning him not to wander that night.
• Fu Qian recognized that Lei's flawless performance meant he was in his superhuman state, and Sheriff Jones decided not to question him.
• Fu Qian entered the inn and joined Lei for dinner, while Lei asked how Fu Qian had heard about the special drugs.
• Fu Qian blamed Cartman for the drugs and asked whether Lei had found him; Lei said Cartman was still missing and mused that he might disappear too.
• Fu Qian called Lei an important subject of observation, startling him.

Fu Qian questioned Lei about the missing people and revealed that he was searching for Lasik, while testing Lei’s knowledge and reactions. The chapter ended with Fu Qian treating Lei as an important subject of observation as the morning approached its reset.

• Lei asked Fu Qian what he meant by an important observation, and Fu Qian hinted that he was watching someone nearby.
• Lei reasoned that Cartman could not have left town because police roadblocks would have blocked the routes out.
• Fu Qian speculated that Jessica had escaped through a secret passage, while Cartman was likely hiding nearby after becoming afraid of the situation.
• Fu Qian admitted he was searching for Lasik and asked Lei if he could help, but Lei said he had never heard the name.
• Fu Qian warned that Lasik could never be found, then called Lei an important subject of observation as the morning neared its reset.

Fu Qian explained why Lasik was essential to his mission to escape the time loop, then returned to Sheriff Jones's house. He found Fran back to normal after she had gone upstairs to rest.

• Fu Qian provoked Lei, hoping to spur the Lasik inside him into action.
• Fu Qian reasoned that Lasik's existence was the variable that made transcending the loop possible, and that he needed to use Lasik to complete his mission.
• Fu Qian returned to Sheriff Jones's house and asked Mrs. Mary how Fran was doing.
• Fu Qian found Fran at her room, looking tired but back to normal.

Fu Qian considered how Lasik's superhuman state passed between people before Sheriff Jones took him, Mrs. Mary, and Fran to the police station after Lei vanished. On the way, they spotted a column of smoke rising from a mountainside.

• Fu Qian told Fran that Lei was eating well and looked better, while privately considering whether Lasik's superhuman state passed from one person to another.
• Fu Qian returned to his room to rest, expecting Sheriff Jones to keep watch on him.
• Sheriff Jones woke Fu Qian at gunpoint and told him Lei had disappeared, leaving a fake figure in his bed.
• Fu Qian agreed to go to the station, and Jones ordered Mrs. Mary and Fran to come with them.
• As the group traveled to the station, their driver spotted thick smoke rising from a nearby mountainside.

As the abandoned estate burned and the fire threatened the mountainside, Fu Qian suspected Lei had started it. Lei emerged from the flames unharmed and announced that he had finally understood the answer, confronting Fu Qian as the countdown dwindled.

• Jones handcuffed Fu Qian and ordered the cars up the mountain to investigate the fire.
• Fu Qian recognized the estate was burning at multiple points and suspected Lei had set it alight after taking his earlier suggestion literally.
• Jones ordered the residents to retreat as the fire spread beyond the estate and put everyone at risk.
• A figure emerged from the flames, discarded a scorched blanket, and revealed himself to be Lei.
• Lei fixed his gaze on Fu Qian, claimed he had found the answer, and accused Fu Qian of being too arrogant and telling him too much the previous night.

Lei admitted to starting the mountain fire and killing Mrs. Harold, then accused Fu Qian of infecting the town and using its residents as test subjects. Lei collapsed as Jones prepared to take him in, and Cartman emerged from the flames.

• Lei admitted to starting the fire and revealed Mrs. Harold's body, confessing that he had run her over and hidden her.
• Lei told Jones that he had been infected after entering the mansion and suspected the infection was connected to Lasik.
• Lei accused Fu Qian of knowing about the infection and turning the town into a testing ground, prompting Jones to question Fu Qian.
• Lei suddenly collapsed as an officer moved to restrain him.
• Cartman burst out of the flames, and Jones recognized him.

Cartman emerged from hiding and confirmed Lei had killed Mrs. Harold, while explaining that he escaped through hidden passages beneath the building. Lei then accused Fu Qian of orchestrating a conspiracy, and Fu Qian revealed to himself that he intended to spread fear and infection throughout the town to help Lasik.

• Jones questioned Cartman, who confirmed he had hidden on the mountain and escaped on his own.
• Cartman told Jones that Lei had hit and killed Mrs. Harold and asked the others to keep it secret.
• Cartman said he escaped through hidden passages that he somehow remembered, and Lei used this to warn that anyone could relapse and become dangerous.
• Fran questioned Fu Qian about the strange messages and whether he had created a conspiracy, as the crowd turned against him.
• Fu Qian decided to exploit the town's fear by making the conspiracy real and driving as many people as possible to become infected, giving Lasik more people to possess.

Fu Qian pushed the crowd toward panic by confronting Sheriff Jones and undermining his certainty, until the spreading fear awakened Lasiks and completed the containment mission. As Mrs. Mary charged him, Fu Qian held his fire and embraced his role as the villainous mastermind.

• Fu Qian asked Fran and the crowd whether they feared the end of the world or infection more, then provoked Sheriff Jones into attacking him.
• Fu Qian restrained Jones, held him at gunpoint, and challenged his explanations of the recent events until Jones began to doubt himself.
• Mrs. Mary overcame her fear and demanded that Fu Qian release Jones, while Fu Qian urged her to embrace the extraordinary being awakening within her.
• Another newcomer triggered a superhuman state, and despairing roars from the mountain and town spread panic through the crowd.
• The containment mission for #2-205 completed, and Mrs. Mary charged Fu Qian as he chose not to fire.

Lasik relaxed in town until Mrs. Mary told her about Mrs. Harold’s brutal murder and the disappearance of her husband. Lasik then attacked Mrs. Mary and searched her body for something, but found nothing and ended the chapter in anguish.

• Lasik accepted Mrs. Mary’s invitation for breakfast after greeting Sheriff Jones as he left for work.
• Mrs. Mary told Lasik that Mrs. Harold and her husband had disappeared, and that Mrs. Harold had been found brutally murdered.
• Mrs. Mary described how the killer had gutted Mrs. Harold and hollowed out her head, apparently searching for something.
• Lasik struck Mrs. Mary with an ashtray and drank the corn porridge while Mrs. Mary lay unconscious.
• Lasik tore open Mrs. Mary’s head and searched her body, insisting that something had to be hidden in her bloodline, but found nothing.

After completing the mission, Fu Qian learned more about Lasik’s repeated failures and examined his new reward, the Return Edict. He discovered it could erase an anchor from his Emissary Mask and let him establish a new one, then considered a questionable way to use it.

• Fu Qian reviewed the mission summary, which revealed that Lasik had watched Harold from the position of God and that he earned the Return Edict without killing anyone.
• Fu Qian found a videotape inside the box holding the Virtue and suspected that someone had deliberately trapped Lasik in the reincarnation cycle.
• Fu Qian activated the Return Edict and watched it erase the Blood of Thorns stains from his Emissary Mask.
• Fu Qian used the mask to reach the bookstore, tested how removing it created a new anchor point, and thought of a questionable use for the ability.

Fu Qian told Yuan Shan that he and Su Gao were leaving Shangjing for Leaf Island, then suggested a way to punish the Gulad family and deter other factions. After Yuan Shan left to act on his advice, Fu Qian prepared to depart with Su Gao.

• Fu Qian tested his new skill and found that its anchor lasted long enough to let him return to the Warehouse after logging off.
• Yuan Shan visited Fu Qian to thank him, and he told her that he and Su Gao were going on vacation to Leaf Island.
• Fu Qian asked Yuan Shan to pass a message to Wen Li and suggested supporting Gan City's hardline new administrator to make the Gulad family pay for its actions.
• Yuan Shan accepted Fu Qian's plan and left to handle the aftermath in Shangjing.
• Fu Qian told Su Gao they would leave for Leaf Island immediately and awarded her paid leave.

Fu Qian and Su Gao traveled by cruise ship toward Leaf Island, where Fu Qian planned to investigate the Native Council. During the trip, Su Gao told him about the deadly Sea of Ashes, and they noticed a powerful supernaturalist watching them.

• Fu Qian persuaded Su Gao to treat their journey to Leaf Island as a vacation and asked her to cover the expenses because the company was short on cash.
• Fu Qian and Su Gao boarded a cruise ship as ordinary passengers, and Su Gao explained that she had mixed feelings about returning to the island near the Corrupt Forest.
• Fu Qian asked Su Gao about the Sea of Ashes, and she described its shifting ash islands, living ash creatures, and dangerous supernatural forces.
• Su Gao told Fu Qian that a Night Watcher had pursued a fugitive demigod into the Sea of Ashes, where the fugitive died without the pursuers killing him.
• Su Gao noticed that a powerful supernaturalist aboard the ship was watching them, but Fu Qian told her to stay put and act like an ordinary passenger.

Aboard the cruise ship, Fu Qian investigated the Red Moon’s connection to him by consulting the Abyss Notebook, then baited Jia Keke into revealing her age. The chapter ended with Fu Qian confirming that the woman who had approached him was over fifty.

• Fu Qian considered the extraordinary passengers aboard the ship and returned to his room after lounging on the balcony while Su Gao rested.
• Fu Qian read Selena’s note that Blood Clan Progenitor Annalise had completely fallen and wondered who the Red Moon’s “Mom” was.
• Fu Qian went to the private dining room with the Abyss Notebook and let Jia Keke read a line suggesting Lei Aier was not interested in him.
• Jia Keke introduced herself and offered Fu Qian red wine, but he refused after her glass crumbled into sand without spilling the wine.
• After Jia Keke left in a huff, Fu Qian wrote in the notebook and saw the entry that Jia Keke was over fifty years old.