Chapter Summaries

Zhang Ye and the Winchester brothers prepared to hunt a dragon, with Zhang Ye arguing that his supernatural powers and weapons could overcome it without a Dragonslayer Sword. After demonstrating Jo’s storm ring and giving Dean and Sam Asgardian short swords, Zhang Ye prepared to transport the group directly to the dragon’s location.

• Sam and Dean reported that Bobby had found an abandoned bunker near the dragon’s trail and that Dr. Visayak recommended a Dragonslayer Sword forged from dragon blood.
• Zhang Ye told Dean that divine-level powers could kill a dragon and revealed that he possessed powerful weapons from other worlds.
• Jo demonstrated the storm ring’s destructive power, and Zhang Ye listed several other weapons in his collection.
• Zhang Ye gave Dean and Sam Asgardian Valkyrie short swords that could harm monsters, then warned that they could not harm ghosts or demons.
• Zhang Ye asked everyone to touch the King of Diamonds so he could take them directly to the dragon’s location.

Zhang Ye, Dean, Sam, and Jo entered an air-raid shelter to find the dragon and rescue its captives. After Zhang Ye tore open the girls’ cage, a young man attacked him with fire, but Zhang Ye’s fate remained unclear as the chapter ended.

• Zhang Ye used teleportation magic to take Dean, Sam, and Jo to a forest near the air-raid shelter, and Sam led them to its concealed entrance.
• The group explored the shelter, found a large hoard of gold, and followed the sound of crying to six kidnapped girls locked in an iron cage.
• Zhang Ye used his power to tear open the cage, and Sam began helping the girls escape.
• A young man ambushed the group with a blast of fire that engulfed Zhang Ye, but the attacker froze when the flames faded and he saw what had happened.

Zhang Ye and Jo rescued the captives by killing two dragons, then discovered and killed a pregnant dragon hidden deeper in the lair. Jo realized the dragons’ father might still be nearby, leaving them alert to another threat.

• Zhang Ye survived a dragon’s flames and sent Dean, Sam, and the girls out while Jo stayed to fight beside him.
• Jo used the Storm Ring to strike one dragon with lightning, while Zhang Ye froze and shattered the other.
• Jo killed the first dragon, and Zhang Ye sensed another one deeper in the lair.
• Zhang Ye and Jo found a pregnant dragon guarding gold and killed her.
• Jo noticed the dragon family included two brothers and a mother, then asked where their father was.

Dean and Sam rescued the imprisoned girls and killed the dragon guarding the shelter, then returned the survivors to their families. As the group left town, Bobby called with a possible clue about the rift in Heaven.

• Dean and Sam confronted the bearded dragon outside the shelter and fought to protect the weakened girls while Zhang Ye and Jo remained occupied in the cave.
• Dean cut off the dragon's raised arm, and Sam drove the Valkyrie Shortsword into its chest, killing it.
• Jo and Zhang Ye emerged, and the group delivered the rescued girls to their homes, including Rose, who promised to keep the monsters' existence secret.
• Sam said he had resolved to devote himself to the Hunter cause, and Zhang Ye praised the brothers for protecting others.
• Bobby called Dean with a possible clue about the rift in Heaven.

Zhang Ye said goodbye to Dean, Sam, and Jo outside Las Vegas, then used a portal to leave for another universe. Before departing, he revealed Azazel’s role in preparing a vessel for Lucifer and promised Jo he would return.

• Zhang Ye sensed divine, angelic, and demonic energy around Las Vegas and told Dean to stop before entering the city.
• Dean gave Zhang Ye his family hunting knife, and Zhang Ye warned Dean and Sam that Azazel was selecting a vessel for Lucifer to possess.
• Zhang Ye promised Jo he would return, then watched Dean, Sam, and Jo drive away in the Black Impala.
• Zhang Ye and Miss Minutes opened a portal to another universe, and Zhang Ye stepped through it.
• A man in a white suit appeared where Zhang Ye had stood and watched the vanished portal with confusion and worry.

Zhang Ye arrived in a devastated New York, where Zombie Sentry’s outbreak had turned much of the Avengers and population into zombies. After testing his powers on Ellie Grayson, he learned the contamination erased her when she nearly accepted his offer, and he set out to find uninfected people; meanwhile, Magneto blamed himself for the outbreak and prepared to return to Earth.

• Zhang Ye emerged from a portal into a blood-soaked New York and saw the devastation caused by Zombie Sentry’s infection.
• Zhang Ye restrained the zombie Ellie Grayson with the power of the Hell Dimension, but could not fully control her.
• Zhang Ye tried to make Ellie his knight, but the contamination burned away her soul and erased her body before she could accept.
• Zhang Ye concluded the contamination could not detect or infect him and decided to find uninfected people to test.
• Magneto mistakenly blamed his biological warfare efforts for the Zombie Virus and ordered a transport tunnel to Earth despite warnings that the planet had fallen.

Zhang Ye concealed himself from ordinary zombies and avoided contacting the heroes gathering aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier so he would not alter the timeline. There, Tony Stark proposed building a dimensional escape device while Nick Fury agreed to pursue a cure and named Tony their only hope if the world could not be saved.

• Zhang Ye used Optical Witchcraft and the demonic aura of the Seven Deadly Sins to hide from ordinary zombies.
• Zhang Ye saw Thor, Nova, and the Fantastic Four flying toward the Helicarrier but chose not to contact them to avoid changing the timeline.
• Nick Fury asked Tony Stark whether Reed Richards could develop a cure, but Tony warned that the global outbreak was beyond control.
• Tony Stark proposed building a dimensional traversal device to evacuate survivors to another universe.
• Nick Fury agreed to let Tony build the device while Reed and the others continued seeking a cure, and said Tony would be their only hope if the outbreak proved irreversible.

Zhang Ye searched New York for survivors and tried to locate Zombie Sentry, but the contaminated timeline interfered with the Watcher's vision. Aboard the Helicarrier, Reed Richards concluded that the virus replaced its victims completely and that they could not be saved.

• Zhang Ye realized that the virus had spread across New York and that every zombie interfered with his search for survivors and the source of the contamination.
• Zhang Ye used the black crow and the Eye of the Watcher to inspect the timeline, but the contamination obscured his vision.
• Zhang Ye sensed that Zombie Sentry was still nearby and headed toward an explosion in the distance.
• Reed Richards studied a live zombie aboard the Helicarrier and explained that the virus gradually replaced a victim's cells, nerves, personality, and soul.
• Reed Richards told Susan and Ben that the infected were no longer human and could not be saved, while S.H.I.E.L.D. agents guarded the laboratory.

Zhang Ye observed Tombstone’s men fighting zombies in New York and rescued one of them from Spider-Man, hoping to study an uninfected survivor. When he tried to examine the man, green flames erupted from him, revealing that the man already showed traces of contamination.

• Zhang Ye identified the armed survivors as Tombstone’s men and realized their gunfire was attracting more zombies.
• Zombie Spider-Man attacked the building, killing guards and throwing others into the horde below.
• Zhang Ye used portals to rescue a falling gang member and brought him to a bar for questioning.
• Zhang Ye tried to test the apparently uninfected man, but the man began burning with ghostly green flames.
• Zhang Ye stopped and told Miss Minutes that the survivor had traces of contamination.

Reed Richards became infected by the viruses and began to see his transformation as a path to evolution. When two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents entered his laboratory, he killed one and dragged the other inside.

• Reed Richards studied a zombie test subject as the infection twisted his body and made him believe he could control his hunger.
• Reed Richards covered the laboratory’s glass door and told the guards he was finished but needed help removing the obstruction.
• An agent opened the laboratory door and found the room in disarray and the test subject dismembered.
• Reed Richards attacked and killed the older agent with his stretched body.
• Reed Richards seized the female agent by the throat and dragged her into the laboratory before the door slammed shut.

Zhang Ye examined a man whose body had been ruined after his magic purged the contamination, then reasoned that differences in universes’ energy structures explained why his power could resist it. He concluded that his magic could counter-contaminate people, though those already deeply infected might be erased.

• Zhang Ye used the Wizard's Eye to discover that his magic had driven the contamination from the comatose man but destroyed the man's organs and spine.
• Zhang Ye and Miss Minutes reasoned that everyone in the cyclic world had been infected, while those who became zombies had suffered a full eruption of the contamination.
• Miss Minutes explained that different universes had different energy structures and levels of power, which shaped how their inhabitants resisted threats.
• Zhang Ye concluded that Cognitive Contamination could mainly affect its own universe and could not quickly invade people from higher-level universes.
• Zhang Ye theorized that his cultivated magic carried higher-dimensional attributes, letting him counter-contaminate infected people, while those already deeply contaminated might be erased.

Zhang Ye concluded that the Zombie Virus was a deeper contamination that altered people’s minds and existence, and he decided that finding Zombie Sentry was the way to uncover its source. On the Helicarrier, Nick Fury reported to Tony Stark that sending more heroes out to rescue civilians would only make things worse.

• Zhang Ye considered how the contamination affected people and wondered where it came from and what it was meant to do.
• Miss Minutes said people could be protected if they were contaminated before the effects took hold, and Zhang Ye decided to resume the plan to find Zombie Sentry.
• Nick Fury’s remaining heroes continued rescuing civilians despite knowing the missions were likely to end in death.
• Nick Fury visited Tony Stark in the technology lab and said Nova had been right that they could not send out more heroes.

Tony Stark completed a prototype device to open a passage through the Multiverse while Nick Fury described the heroes’ devastating losses to the zombie outbreak. At the Helicarrier laboratory, the Fantastic Four returned to find Reed Richards behaving strangely as he studied a zombie’s head.

• Nick Fury told Tony Stark that the X-Men and Thunderbolts had been lost and that he had recalled the remaining heroes.
• Tony Stark showed Nick Fury his completed teleportation device and said it would take at least a day to find a suitable world and open a passage.
• Invisible Woman Susan, Human Torch, and Thing Ben returned to the Helicarrier after retreating from zombified superhumans, and Nick Fury assigned them to help Reed Richards develop a cure.
• Reed Richards stared at the dissected zombie’s head and murmured, “How beautiful,” before greeting the Fantastic Four with sudden excitement.
• Thing Ben backed away from Reed Richards, unsettled by how unfamiliar his friend seemed.

Reed Richards infected the Fantastic Four and embraced their transformation into zombies, then they attacked Nick Fury and Tony Stark as the two prepared to escape to a parallel universe. Tony was cornered before an unknown figure appeared in a flash of golden light.

• Susan confronted Reed about his fixation on the zombie virus, and Reed revealed that he had infected the Fantastic Four with contaminated body parts and food.
• Susan, Thing Ben, and Human Torch succumbed to the virus and attacked Reed, who welcomed their transformation.
• Tony Stark and Nick Fury discussed using a portal to reach a parallel universe, weighing whom to bring and the risks of their limited resources.
• The zombified Fantastic Four burst into the mechanical room and attacked Nick Fury and Tony Stark.
• Invisible Woman blasted Tony's Iron Suit case away, leaving Tony cornered by Thing Ben and Human Torch until a golden streak appeared and someone snapped their fingers.

Zhang Ye stopped time to rescue Tony Stark from the zombie Fantastic Four and explained that he had come to find the source of the contamination. Since Tony’s infection was an absolute point in time, Zhang Ye split Tony’s timeline so one version could survive while the other remained on its original course.

• Zhang Ye appeared in the frozen laboratory and saved the falling whiskey as Tony Stark recoiled from the zombie Fantastic Four.
• Zhang Ye told Tony Stark he came from another Multiverse to trace the contamination to Sentry, who had been infected by the Zombie Virus from Tony’s universe.
• Tony Stark realized his parallel-universe travel device might have spread the virus, and Zhang Ye explained that Sentry held the secret behind the paradox.
• Zhang Ye said Tony’s infection was an absolute point in time and used magical energy to split Tony’s individual timeline.
• Tony Stark watched another version of himself get bitten and devoured by the Fantastic Four.

Zhang Ye explained that Tony Stark now existed in a split timeline as an Echo, then left him at Stark Tower to search for the Sentry while studying magic. Zhang Ye traveled to the far side of the moon and confronted the Watcher.

• Tony Stark watched zombie Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four devour another version of him while Zhang Ye explained that they were in the reverse side of reality and that Tony’s timeline had been split.
• Tony Stark agreed to help Zhang Ye find the Sentry, and they went to the ruined Stark Tower to use its reactor-powered systems to scan for his energy signature.
• Zhang Ye sensed something and left Tony Stark with magical books and protective barriers, telling him to contact Zhang Ye after locating the Sentry.
• After Zhang Ye departed, Tony Stark decided to begin with advanced magic despite Zhang Ye’s warning to study gradually.
• Zhang Ye opened a portal to the far side of the moon and addressed the Watcher.

Zhang Ye met the Watcher guarding two contaminated universes trapped in an endless cycle and learned that Zombie Sentry was trying to break through reality. The Watcher agreed to keep the timeline stable while Zhang Ye searched for Zombie Sentry and a way to stop the contamination.

• The Watcher explained that he had sealed two contaminated universes into a repeating cycle after the heroes and all life were consumed.
• Zhang Ye learned that the universes had repeated their cycle for over fifty-four million cycles and told the Watcher he had come to help.
• The Watcher recognized Zhang Ye as the Time Bard and asked whether he had found a way to deal with the contamination.
• Zhang Ye said he needed to find Zombie Sentry, whom the Watcher had sent into this universe.
• The Watcher revealed that Zombie Sentry had slipped beyond his control and was striking at reality's barrier, while his influence created Zombie Sentries across other universes.
• The Watcher promised to keep the timeline stable and left the search for Zombie Sentry to Zhang Ye.

Zhang Ye returned to Stark Tower, discovered Tony Stark had experimented with magic and located Zombie Sentry, then teleported into space to intercept him. The chapter ended with Zombie Sentry hovering before Zhang Ye and demanding more destruction.

• Zhang Ye learned that the Zombie Heroes had infected the last remaining heroes and that the Silver Surfer had arrived to announce Planet Eater’s coming.
• Zhang Ye found Tony Stark transformed into a frog beneath a Black Magic book and restored him to human form.
• Tony Stark told Zhang Ye that Zombie Sentry had passed Jupiter and was heading toward the Sun.
• Zhang Ye teleported to Zombie Sentry’s path and hurled three asteroids at him, but the monster shattered them without slowing down.
• Zombie Sentry stopped in front of Zhang Ye and rasped that he wanted more destruction.

Zhang Ye fought the Zombie Sentry while trying to keep their universe’s reality walls from collapsing. After feeding him convincing magical copies of himself and allowing him to regain some sanity, Zhang Ye asked Robert for help because he carried clues that could save other universes.

• Zombie Sentry attacked Zhang Ye, and Miss Minutes warned that his unstable energy threatened the universe’s reality walls.
• Zhang Ye created hundreds of physical copies of himself to distract the Sentry, who devoured them and unleashed destructive energy.
• After eating his fill, the Sentry regained some reason and grieved over the bodies around him.
• Zhang Ye revealed that the devoured bodies were magical creations and told Robert he needed his help to save other universes.

Zhang Ye questioned Robert about his arrival and learned that Robert had summoned Planet Eater in hopes of stopping himself after the Zombie Virus took hold. When Zhang Ye touched Robert’s mind to investigate the contamination, a stream of strange numbers overwhelmed him, leaving him shaken.

• Zhang Ye asked Robert for his help and questioned him about what he had done since arriving in the universe.
• Robert recalled that a man in a blue robe had brought him there and that he summoned Planet Eater after infecting the Avengers, hoping Planet Eater could stop him.
• Robert explained that hunger overtook him while he was traveling to meet Planet Eater, leaving him unable to remember what happened afterward.
• Zhang Ye warned Robert that the contamination, rather than the Zombie Virus alone, had corrupted and controlled him, and Robert agreed to submit to an examination.
• Zhang Ye touched Robert’s head and entered his spiritual world, where he encountered a flood of strange numbers and recoiled in shock.