Recaps

Wen Li advanced to the fourth tier, and Fu Qian examined her new abilities, discovering crystal scales that enhanced her defenses and resistance to mental attacks. Yuan Shan then considered how to explain Jiang En’s conduct publicly, while Fu Qian proposed blaming Darnetta for a separate criminal scheme.

• Yuan Shan recognized that Wen Li had reached the fourth tier less than half a year after reaching the sixth.
• Fu Qian questioned Wen Li about her condition and abilities, then tested her Kaleidoscope.
• Fu Qian pricked Wen Li’s wrist, revealing crystal scales that he recognized as evidence of an inherited ancestral legacy.
• Wen Li thanked Yuan Shan for her help, and Yuan Shan said she had lost nothing.
• Yuan Shan weighed whether to pursue Jiang En’s conduct further and said she still needed to explain the sensitive matter to the public.
• Fu Qian suggested blaming Darnetta for an evil pyramid scheme and told Yuan Shan to find Darnetta’s remaining accomplices.

Yuan Shan accepted Fu Qian’s plan for handling Darnetta’s group and Jiang En, then tested whether he might be Herbert; Fu Qian’s absurd answer persuaded her he was not. After Yuan Shan left, Wen Li celebrated advancing to the fourth tier while Fu Qian considered how her success supported his theory about the Supernatural Path.

• Yuan Shan agreed to investigate Darnetta’s group and watch Jiang En, while withholding action against him unless he did something extreme.
• Yuan Shan challenged Fu Qian’s identity as Herbert, and his bizarre explanation about vampire eye colors convinced her the possibility was unlikely.
• Yuan Shan thanked Fu Qian and advised Wen Li to digest and consolidate her advancement before leaving.
• Wen Li celebrated reaching the fourth tier and thanked Fu Qian for letting her help.
• Fu Qian reasoned that supernatural materials might already exist within people, and that advancement involved discovering and controlling what was already built inside them.

Fu Qian began a new containment mission after spending several days watching over Wen Li and recovering his left arm. He entered the blue-lit Color Wheel scene, where a group of adventurers approached him, and discovered that none of his selected skills worked.

• Fu Qian decided to stay with Wen Li for a few days while she recovered from her rapid advancement.
• Wen Li followed his instructions and focused on digesting her gains as Fu Qian's left arm gradually regrew.
• Fu Qian started the new mission for the containment breach at Color Wheel, code 1-105, and selected all his skills and items.
• Fu Qian entered a strange, blue-lit settlement and encountered five oddly dressed people who called him another special person.
• Fu Qian noticed that none of his selected skills worked and told the group he was an ordinary person.

Fu Qian joined five other mission participants, who used cards to choose codenames and agreed that any newcomers would be enemies. The group had received no missions and found themselves powerless amid strange blue light, so they set out to investigate its source.

• A short-haired man introduced the card-based codenames, and Fu Qian chose Death Watcher as his.
• Fu Qian joined Mask, Red Dragon, Star, Death Row, and Azure, learning that the others considered any later arrivals enemies.
• Star said the group had come to complete missions, while Red Dragon explained that none of them had received one and survival came first.
• Fu Qian told the group he had received no mission and was in an unusual condition.
• Mask proposed that they investigate the blue light and determine whether it was connected to their strange situation.

Fu Qian joined the newly formed team as they agreed to search the strange, orderly settlement for survivors. After splitting into pairs, Fu Qian and Red Dragon discussed the team's cautious strategy, and Fu Qian voiced doubts that Ms. Star’s conversation with Qing would go well.

• Masked Guy proposed that the team search for people, and Ms. Star and Red Dragon agreed.
• Masked Guy divided the team into three pairs, and Ms. Star chose to search with Qing.
• Fu Qian and Red Dragon searched their assigned area, found no one, and returned to a high-rise.
• Red Dragon discussed the value of the team's anonymous cooperation with Fu Qian.
• Fu Qian questioned whether Ms. Star's conversation with Qing would go well as he looked at a blue rose made of reinforced concrete.

Fu Qian and Red Dragon searched a strange office building for clues, finding nothing until they opened a safe. Inside, a pair of emerald-green eyes stared at Red Dragon as a cat meowed.

• Fu Qian explained that Ms. Star seemed most anxious to keep their group together, then joined Red Dragon in searching the building.
• Red Dragon led Fu Qian through the building using the freight elevator route, and they found no clues across nearly half the complex.
• Red Dragon and Fu Qian searched a laboratory and found a gray safe among unlabeled bottles and jars.
• Fu Qian picked the safe's lock, and Red Dragon cautiously opened it with his weapon.
• Red Dragon saw emerald-green eyes inside the safe, and a cat gave a loud meow.

Fu Qian and Red Dragon found a cat in a safe and brought it back to the group, where they met Adele, a frightened young woman who had stayed behind to search for someone named Henry. The Masked Man asked Adele to explain what had happened at the building.

• Fu Qian identified the cat as a young, owned animal, and he grabbed it after it dodged Red Dragon.
• Fu Qian and Red Dragon heard the team’s agreed signal and returned to the group with the cat.
• They found Ms. Star, Qing, and the Masked Man with Adele, a young woman they had discovered.
• Adele admitted she had secretly stayed behind to look for Henry.
• The Masked Man said Adele had bad news and asked her to recount what had happened.

Fu Qian and the others learned that the rainbow light had driven people to evacuate and received a mission to find its source. After Fu Qian figured out Henry belonged to Adele’s neighbor, the Masked Man shot Adele in the forehead.

• Adele explained that a vision of rainbow light and mass madness had caused many residents to flee, and Fu Qian’s group received the mission to find the light’s source.
• Adele said she had returned to find Henry, her neighbor Paul’s cat, after he went missing during the evacuation.
• Fu Qian deduced from Henry’s worn, ill-fitting collar that Adele cared for him but did not own him.
• Adele said she planned to search the research institute for Henry because he liked its air conditioning and people there liked him.
• The Masked Man reassured Adele that Henry would be cared for, then shot her in the forehead with a crossbow.

The Masked Man shot Adele, revealing that the glowing colors had already transformed her into a dangerous creature. After the team subdued her, Brother Death Row turned his gun on Fu Qian and questioned the cat Henry, who had never left.

• The Masked Man shot Adele, then explained that her truthful account might still have been unreliable and that she could help test the threat.
• Adele transformed as luminous growths spread from her wound, and Lady Qing, Ms. Star, Brother Death Row, and Brother Red Dragon attacked and restrained her.
• The Masked Man and Lady Qing concluded that the colors were dangerous and that the team needed to find their source quickly.
• Brother Death Row pointed his pistol at Fu Qian and challenged him for watching without acting.
• Fu Qian said he had expected the others to handle the danger, and Brother Death Row redirected his gun toward Henry, noting that the cat had never left.

Fu Qian refused to let the group kill Henry, the cat found in a sealed laboratory safe, and persuaded them to take it along. The team headed toward the research institute for clues, while Fu Qian used the confrontation to establish that he would not be forced into actions he opposed.

• Fu Qian held Henry as the others considered killing it, but he argued that the cat might have had less exposure to the dangerous color because it had been sealed in a safe.
• Red Dragon confirmed that Henry had been found in a locked safe at a laboratory, and the Mask suggested the research institute as their next destination.
• Fu Qian drew Mercy, called Brother Death Row dead weight, and declared that he would rather kill him than Henry.
• The Mask decided to bring Henry along and sent the group to search the research institute, which Red Dragon said they had only searched halfway.
• The group followed Red Dragon toward the institute as tensions lingered, while Fu Qian reflected on his decision to resist being forced by the others.

The team searched the research building and found three unidentified vials, which Mask assigned to the Death Row Inmate to keep the group united. After Fu Qian picked open a locked route to the top floor, Lady Qing noticed that his lock-picking tool glowed like the light on Adele’s corpse.

• Red Dragon led the team back to the laboratory, where he revealed that Fu Qian had picked open the safe.
• The team searched the building, and Fu Qian opened more safes, finding three vials of red, green, and blue drugs.
• Mask told the Death Row Inmate to hold the vials, signaling that he wanted to keep the team together.
• Mask offered to scout ahead, but the team found every route to the top floor locked.
• Fu Qian picked open a passage while Henry hung from his waist, then showed Lady Qing his tool, whose glowing tip matched the light on Adele.

Fu Qian and the others found the strange glowing contamination spreading rapidly through the corridor and fled from the door as something battered it from the other side. Their route back was unexpectedly blocked, and two fluorescent, bloodied hounds attacked them, leaving Red Dragon drenched in their foul fluid.

• Fu Qian noticed the outside turning purple and red as the glow spread from the keyhole across the door and onto Brother Death Row's glove.
• Mask warned that something was coming through the door, and Red Dragon led the group back the way they had come.
• The group found their familiar route blocked by a locked door that had become covered in the spreading glow.
• Mask fired at the door, and Red Dragon kicked it open before dodging a black hound that lunged out and wounded it with his blade spear.
• Lady Qing stopped a second hound with an arrow, and the team finished it with gunfire and other attacks.
• Ms. Star helped Red Dragon up as he stared at the hounds' remains, where threads of fluorescence showed among the gore.

The group found fluorescent contamination spreading across the lower floors and fought their way through aggressive walking corpses while searching for a defensible place to hide. They took refuge in the room where Brother Death Row had found his potion and noticed that its safe was still locked.

• Red Dragon discovered fluorescent substance on his shoulder and blade-spear, but Mask said contamination was likely spreading throughout every floor.
• Mask and Qing argued that the substance could not be avoided and that the group should focus on finding a defensible location and learning what was happening.
• The group encountered a legless crawling figure trailing fluorescent residue, and Qing pinned it down with an arrow so they could pass.
• Creatures from the top floor broke through obstacles and pursued the group as they continued through corridors filled with fluorescent substance and aggressive walking corpses.
• The group ran low on weapons and abilities, so they followed Red Dragon into a room to rest and hide.
• Brother Death Row recognized the room where he had found his potion, and Red Dragon pointed out that the safe there was still locked.

Fu Qian explained that the group had shifted into a version of the building where the evacuation never happened, and the others connected the changed surroundings and spreading glow to the timeline shift. With the infection worsening, Ms. Star wondered whether something on the top floor had caused the timelines to intersect.

• Red Dragon opened the safe and found three vials matching the colors of the death row inmate’s potions.
• Fu Qian asked the death row inmate to produce his three vials, then said all six bottles were the same three seen at different points in time.
• Fu Qian proposed that the group had entered a version of the place where no one had evacuated before the disaster.
• Qing noticed the world had turned red and connected the timeline shift to the locked door, contamination, and glowing traces spreading across their bodies.
• Fu Qian warned that the group might become like the walking corpses as the infection advanced.
• Ms. Star asked whether something on the top floor had caused the timelines to intersect.

The group debated how to reach the top floor as fluorescent contamination spread and hostile figures waited outside. After the Masked Man noticed Fu Qian’s cat had vanished when the color began changing, the group considered waiting or risking contaminated scouts, and Fu Qian volunteered to go first.

• Qing saw hostile figures moving below the window, while Red Dragon warned that the group could neither fight their way back nor safely wait as the fluorescent growth spread.
• Fu Qian suggested using the potions in the safe, and the Masked Man argued that the color might change on its own rather than in response to their actions.
• Qing realized Fu Qian’s cat had disappeared just before he picked the lock, and Fu Qian said the color had started changing at the same time.
• Ms. Star and the Masked Man proposed waiting for the color to change back or using contamination to pass as one of the figures outside.
• Qing suggested sending people out in batches once the hostile figures grew less aggressive, but Red Dragon favored waiting longer.
• Fu Qian stepped forward and volunteered to go first.

Fu Qian left the group alone to draw the infected away and investigate the lower floor, while the others watched his signal from behind a sealed door. He reached a room below and subdued two infected uniformed figures, finding fluorescence in their wounds.

• Fu Qian volunteered to leave alone, arguing that his reckless plan would make the infected less likely to attack him.
• He exited while the others sealed the door, and two infected figures followed him down the corridor.
• Fu Qian avoided the blocked route to the top floor and headed to the floor below to check something he wanted to confirm.
• He opened the lower-floor door, shot two pursuing infected in the legs, and slipped inside.
• Fu Qian locked the door, broke one infected person's knee with his tranquilizer, and examined the pair's uniforms and fluorescent wounds.

Fu Qian returned to the lab to learn whether hiding from the pervasive colors could prevent contamination. He found Oliver and rescued Henry from the safe, but Henry was still affected, leaving Fu Qian without a reliable way to avoid contamination.

• Fu Qian searched two bodies, took a riot baton, and continued through the locked doors.
• Fu Qian reached the lab where Henry had been kept and shut the door against a crippled polluter.
• Fu Qian questioned Oliver, who identified himself but could barely respond to questions about Henry.
• Fu Qian opened the safe and found Henry inside, more aggressive than before.
• Fu Qian restrained Henry and concluded that the darkness had not protected him from the colors’ effects.

Fu Qian questioned Oliver and learned that the real laboratory was below the building, then knocked him out and took an access card. As the fluorescent contamination spread across his body, Fu Qian chose to explore the top floor alone and noticed the red color shifting again.

• Fu Qian restrained the increasingly powerful Henry and confirmed that Oliver recognized the cat.
• Oliver told Fu Qian that the laboratory was below before reverting to repeating Henry’s name.
• Fu Qian deduced that a hidden laboratory lay beneath the building and that the locked door upstairs might conceal an elevator.
• Fu Qian tranquilized Oliver, searched him, and took a white access card and several keys.
• Fu Qian decided to explore the top floor instead of rejoining the others, then saw the deep red in the glass change again.

Fu Qian shifted into the role of a movie theater employee named Angelo, with Henry the cat in his custody and Adele still alive. After Adele warned him that the research institute was hunting for the source of disaster rumors, Fu Qian decided to take Henry to his owner, Paul, with Adele accompanying him.

• Fu Qian’s vision returned in a movie theater, where he held Henry by a worn leather collar.
• Sergei reprimanded Fu Qian for letting Henry into the theater and ordered him to take the cat outside.
• Adele arrived, recognized Fu Qian as Angelo, and asked whether his warning about a coming disaster had been a joke.
• Adele warned Fu Qian that the research institute was searching for whoever had spread the disaster rumors.
• Fu Qian refused to hand Henry to Adele and said he would take the cat to Paul, so Adele went with him.

Fu Qian and Adele visited Paul to return Henry the cat, but the meeting was interrupted by Red Dragon and Ms. Star, who appeared to investigate the rumors. The two newcomers were surprised to find Fu Qian there.

• Adele took Fu Qian to Paul's apartment after checking through her telescope that Paul was home.
• Paul reacted tensely to Fu Qian, and Adele realized that Fu Qian had told him about the disaster.
• Fu Qian returned Henry to Paul, while Adele warned Paul not to lock the cat up.
• Fu Qian heard people approaching, and Paul accused him and Adele of tricking him.
• Red Dragon and Ms. Star arrived in uniform, apparently to deal with whoever had spread the rumors, and recognized Fu Qian with surprise.

Angelo, Red Dragon, and Ms. Star captured Paul and compared what they had learned after the white light separated them into different roles. The chapter ended with Angelo revealing that he had encountered Oliver.

• Red Dragon and Ms. Star confronted Paul, who indirectly confirmed that he had spread the rumors, and took him into custody.
• Angelo agreed to go with Red Dragon and Ms. Star, while Adele stayed behind with Henry.
• Angelo told Red Dragon and Ms. Star that he had appeared at the cinema and met Adele after a flash of white light.
• Ms. Star and Red Dragon explained that they had been assigned roles among uniformed personnel and had not found the Masked Man or the others.
• Red Dragon and Ms. Star discussed following their assigned roles and gathering information until the situation changed.
• When Red Dragon asked what unusual thing he had found, Angelo said he had encountered Oliver.

Fu Qian told Red Dragon and Ms. Star that Oliver had revealed the real laboratory was below, and they chose to report the situation rather than sneak in. At the institute, Fu Qian confronted Michelle with claims about Oliver and Paul, then declared that he knew what was below.

• Fu Qian told Red Dragon and Ms. Star that Oliver was lucid despite serious contamination and had said the real laboratory was underground.
• Red Dragon considered sneaking below, but Fu Qian questioned where the masked people had gone, and Red Dragon decided to trust their judgment and report the situation.
• Red Dragon arranged to report Fu Qian’s condition as serious and stay nearby with Ms. Star to protect him.
• Michelle questioned Fu Qian about spreading rumors, but he challenged her by bringing up the research and Oliver’s relationship with Paul.
• Fu Qian claimed he had started the rumor and said he knew exactly what was below.

Fu Qian pressured Michelle into revealing how Paul’s statements had spread and deduced that someone was secretly directing her. When an old expert arrived to take Fu Qian to his laboratory, Fu Qian noticed Michelle’s lipstick dimming and attacked him.

• Fu Qian told Michelle that Paul’s supposed dream and the rumors about it were part of a plan to make the rumors seem credible.
• Fu Qian confronted Michelle about the dangerous experiments behind the rumors and warned her that Paul’s strange statements would become reality.
• Fu Qian realized someone was giving Michelle instructions and asked to speak with that person, prompting Michelle to leave.
• Michelle returned with an old expert who offered to take Fu Qian to his laboratory.
• Fu Qian spotted Michelle’s lipstick growing dim, drew Mercy, and seized the old expert by the throat.

Fu Qian killed Michelle and the old expert to learn that the object was on the lowest level of the Third District, then the colors shifted and he reunited with Red Dragon and Ms. Star. The group headed upstairs to find their remaining members, where Red Dragon spotted Qing.

• Fu Qian shot Michelle, forced the old expert to reveal that the object was on the lowest level of the Third District, and then killed him as the room shifted into a blue-colored state.
• Red Dragon and Ms. Star reunited with Fu Qian and reported that a more professional team had appeared outside.
• Fu Qian, Red Dragon, and Ms. Star headed upstairs to find their other members after learning that Adele's body was missing and the elevator was still unusable.
• Red Dragon stopped in surprise when he saw Qing in the distance.

Fu Qian, Red Dragon, Ms. Star, and Green reunited and reached the top floor, where they found an elevator that required an access card. Fu Qian supplied Oliver’s card, leaving the group ready to activate it.

• Green reunited with Fu Qian, Red Dragon, and Ms. Star and explained that she had been confined as a staff member in the facility’s fake laboratory.
• Green learned that the real laboratory was downstairs and joined the others as they headed for the top-floor entrance before the blue phase ended.
• Fu Qian shared his deductions about the company, Adele’s neighbor Paul, and the possible location of the information they sought.
• Fu Qian opened the top-floor door without incident, and the group found an empty room with an accessible elevator.
• Red Dragon discovered that the elevator required a card, so Fu Qian handed him Oliver’s access card.