Chapter Summaries

Zhang Ye entered Sentry’s spiritual world to find the contamination’s source and discovered a barrier separating his reality from another, prompting him to seek a suitable vessel to cross it. In a Vought-controlled world, a dying supermarket worker agreed to a mysterious voice’s offer of revenge against the terrorists and The Eagle.

• Zhang Ye asked Sentry to let him enter his spiritual world while Doctor Strange kept the Sanctum Sanctorum stable.
• Miss Minutes warned Zhang Ye that contact with the other world would sever his connection to the Time Twister, but he proceeded anyway.
• Zhang Ye found a resilient Wall of Reality rejecting his magic and realized he would need a suitable shell to enter that world.
• The Eagle ran out of arrows while confronting bank robbers at a Kroger Supermarket, and the criminals began killing hostages.
• A mortally wounded supermarket worker wished for the terrorists and The Eagle to die, then accepted a mysterious voice’s deal by saying yes.

Zhang Ye survived entering a fragile student’s body by reshaping his magical energy into superhero-themed ability cards. After witnessing A-Train brutally kill armed thugs, he opened a portal and escaped to a cluttered rental apartment.

• Zhang Ye’s immense energy began destroying his new body, so he used Abstract Magic to divide his power into superhero-themed cards and restore the body.
• An explosion outside reminded Zhang Ye that he had awakened in the aftermath of a battle between heroes and criminals, where the previous owner of the body had died.
• Zhang Ye saw A-Train kill a thug with extreme force and retreated into the warehouse.
• Zhang Ye used a purple card to open a portal to a cramped rental apartment and stepped through it.
• The portal closed, leaving the warehouse empty and erasing the blood from its floor.

Zhang Ye adjusted to his new body and world, discovering he could use superhero powers through cards. After speaking with Emma, he agreed to attend Aniya’s birthday party and decided he would need help getting used to his new identity as David.

• Zhang Ye examined his superhero power cards and confirmed he could replenish their energy by absorbing sunlight.
• He reviewed Zhang Wei’s memories and realized the young man had died in a battle between heroes and criminals at Kroger.
• Emma Meyer called to check on him, and Zhang Ye told her he had skipped work because he felt unwell.
• Emma reminded Zhang Ye about Aniya’s birthday party, and he promised to attend that evening.
• After the call, Zhang Ye drew a card showing Charles and said he was counting on him to help with being called David.

Zhang Ye investigated how contamination shaped this world and tested Professor X’s telepathy by making people recognize his body as Zhang Ye. He accompanied Emma to Aniya’s birthday party, where he noticed many apparent superpowered guests and spotted William Butcher.

• Zhang Ye used Professor X’s telepathy to make people call his body Zhang Ye, then confirmed the effect when Emma greeted him by that name.
• Emma met Zhang Ye outside Aniya’s home and urged him to dress more suitably for her birthday party, but he said he could not afford better clothes.
• Zhang Ye and Emma entered the villa, where he observed the guests’ wealth, recognized public figures, and noticed several people who seemed to have superpowers.
• After accepting a glass of champagne, Zhang Ye fixed his attention on the stubble-faced, murderous-looking William Butcher.

Zhang Ye suspected Butcher had a target at Aniya’s birthday party and followed him through the villa after changing his appearance with Mystique’s power. He reached a closed guest-room door and heard Aniya and her father inside.

• Zhang Ye reasoned that Butcher had appeared at the party for a specific purpose while Emma went to the buffet.
• Zhang Ye used a card to transform his appearance, but Mystique’s power changed only his body, leaving him to discard his clothes.
• Zhang Ye returned to the hall and noticed Butcher had left, then spotted him heading upstairs.
• Zhang Ye followed Butcher through the second-floor ballroom area and into the guest-room corridor on the third floor.
• Zhang Ye heard Aniya and her father making suggestive sounds behind a closed door and reacted with shock.

Zhang Ye encountered Butcher at Aniya’s birthday party and saw live footage exposing her sexual relationship with her father and a superpowered man named Vic Kaufman. Butcher then showed Zhang Ye another suspect, Larr Greiss, whom he claimed had eaten a cameraman.

• Zhang Ye overheard Aniya asking someone to be gentler before Butcher spotted him and beckoned him over.
• Butcher questioned Zhang Ye about following him, and the two agreed not to interfere with each other.
• Butcher showed Zhang Ye live surveillance footage of Aniya with her father and Vic Kaufman, then explained Vic’s pleasure-inducing superpower.
• Butcher showed Zhang Ye footage of Larr Greiss and said he had been gathering evidence of Greiss’s crimes.
• Butcher revealed that Greiss had eaten a cameraman.

Zhang Ye learned that Butcher was investigating Larr Greiss, a popular wilderness survival celebrity who had secretly eaten five people, and saw Larr target Emma. Zhang Ye stopped Butcher from using Emma as bait and revealed his shapeshifting power as he offered to deal with Larr directly.

• Butcher told Zhang Ye that Larr had eaten his cameraman during a storm and had killed at least five people since.
• Zhang Ye saw Emma approach Larr and realized that Butcher might use her as bait to gather evidence.
• Zhang Ye grabbed Butcher's hand and insisted that Emma could not be sacrificed, then offered to help stop Larr.
• Zhang Ye transformed into A-Train, alarming Butcher, and said he would deal with Larr without exposing Butcher's investigation.
• Butcher questioned whether he could trust Zhang Ye, who replied that their goals were currently the same.

Zhang Ye decided to deal with Lal, a cannibal, without alerting Vought, and enlisted Butcher to help erase the traces. At Lal’s birthday party, Zhang Ye approached him as a reporter and confronted him privately about targeting Emma.

• Zhang Ye warned Butcher that exposing his ability to transform could let Vought blame him for its heroes’ crimes, then asked Butcher to help cover up the planned killing.
• Butcher insisted on accompanying Zhang Ye to watch him deal with Lal, and Zhang Ye agreed on the condition that Butcher stay out of the way.
• Zhang Ye returned to the crowded party in another appearance and spotted Lal watching Emma with a bloodthirsty gaze.
• Zhang Ye introduced himself to Lal as Clark Parker, a Global Daily reporter, and invited Emma to sit in on the interview.
• Zhang Ye whispered to Lal that he could reveal Lal planned to make Emma his midnight snack, causing Lal’s pleasant expression to freeze.

Zhang Ye lured Larr Greiss into the woods and killed him after revealing that he knew about Larr’s cannibalism. Emma secretly followed them while shrunk, and Zhang Ye noticed someone watching from the bushes before carrying Larr’s corpse deeper into the woods.

• Larr Greiss panicked when Zhang Ye hinted that he knew Larr’s secret, then agreed to leave the party with him.
• Emma used her Compound V power to shrink herself and followed Zhang Ye and Larr into the woods.
• Larr offered Zhang Ye money to keep quiet, but Zhang Ye made clear that he wanted to expose Larr rather than take a bribe.
• Larr attacked Zhang Ye, who caught his punch and revealed a card that transformed his eyes and mouth into a feral appearance.
• Zhang Ye broke Larr’s arm, twisted his neck, and killed him.
• Zhang Ye noticed someone hiding in the bushes, picked up Larr’s corpse, and disappeared deeper into the woods.

Zhang Ye killed Lal and met Butcher to dispose of the body, while the two men tested each other’s motives and abilities. They parted on friendly terms, each considering the possibility of working together while remaining wary of the other.

• Zhang Ye carried Lal’s corpse through the woods and used his combined Mystique and Sabretooth abilities to avoid leaving evidence.
• Zhang Ye met Butcher outside the manor and handed over Lal’s body; Butcher explained that Lal had targeted the thirteen-year-old daughter of a photographer he had eaten.
• Butcher and Zhang Ye put Lal’s corpse in Butcher’s car, and Butcher described how he had tampered with the villa’s surveillance cameras.
• Butcher introduced himself as Billy Butcher, while Zhang Ye gave him the alias Witch Raven and claimed he wanted to punish evil as a superhero.
• Zhang Ye rejected Butcher’s suggestion that he join The Seven, and the two agreed they might work together while privately calculating how much to trust each other.

After witnessing Lal’s death, Emma called Zhang Ye for help, torn over whether to report what happened. Zhang Ye realized Emma’s negative emotions had generated contamination energy, but it vanished as he answered her call.

• Emma recalled Lal attacking Zhang Ye and dying, then struggled over whether to call the police or protect the reporter.
• Emma called Zhang Ye and asked for help while he watched her from a nearby alley.
• Zhang Ye reflected that Emma’s negative emotions had produced contamination energy, suggesting the world itself could generate contamination.
• As Zhang Ye answered Emma, the contamination around her suddenly disappeared, leaving him stunned.

Zhang Ye investigated the contamination that briefly appeared on Emma and vanished, while Emma struggled to understand Lal’s death and the danger surrounding her. After Vought covered up Lal’s disappearance and announced Starlight as a new member of The Seven, Zhang Ye decided to investigate whether superpowered people could reveal more about contamination.

• Zhang Ye met Emma on Moore Avenue, and she embraced him before realizing Lal’s friendly attention might have concealed his cannibalism.
• Emma kept Lal’s death from Zhang Ye to protect him, unaware that Zhang Ye had killed Lal and already knew what happened.
• Lal’s manager found an uneaten arm in Lal’s home and reported his disappearance to Vought.
• Madeline ordered Homelander and Vought’s public relations team to contain the scandal, while Vought announced Starlight’s membership in The Seven.
• After failing to find contamination among ordinary people, Zhang Ye focused on Starlight and set out to test a new possibility.

Zhang Ye infiltrated Vought International with mutant powers and learned that A-Train had killed Hughie's girlfriend, setting the original story in motion. He reached The Seven's headquarters as The Deep showed Starlight around, where The Deep suddenly exposed himself to her.

• Zhang Ye used Mystique's and Professor X's abilities to pass unseen through Vought International and explore the building.
• Zhang Ye overheard A-Train apologizing to Ashley for accidentally killing a pedestrian, an event that would lead Hughie to join Butcher's resistance.
• Zhang Ye entered The Seven's headquarters and saw that The Deep had brought Starlight there ahead of her arrival.
• Starlight told The Deep that she had once admired him and kept his poster as a child.
• The Deep took off his pants in front of Starlight, leaving her frozen in shock.

The Deep coerced Starlight by threatening her place in The Seven, while Zhang Ye observed a strange corruption spreading from her as she struggled with despair. Zhang Ye altered both their minds to overwrite the incident with a false memory, making the corruption disappear but overturning his theories about its connection to emotion.

• The Deep pressured Starlight to submit by invoking her dream of joining The Seven and threatening to have her expelled.
• Starlight resisted, then closed her eyes and crouched as her distress intensified.
• Zhang Ye spotted corrupt energy emerging from Starlight and halted The Deep and Starlight with Professor X's telepathy.
• Zhang Ye tried changing Starlight's emotions, but the corruption remained around her.
• Zhang Ye implanted false memories in The Deep and Starlight, after which Starlight fled and the corruption vanished.

Zhang Ye theorized that pollution grew from people’s choices and vanished when they chose another path, then received a call from Butcher asking him to help with a dangerous problem. At Butcher’s safe house, Hughie, MM, and Frenchie struggled to figure out how to kill the captured Translucent before Vought or The Seven found them.

• Zhang Ye reflected on Starlight and Emma’s experiences and guessed that pollution arose from harmful choices and could disappear when someone chose differently.
• Butcher called Zhang Ye, reminded him of his dream to become a superhero, and invited him to a gathering; Zhang Ye agreed to come.
• At Butcher’s safe house, Hughie stared at the cage holding the invisible Translucent while MM warned that Vought and Homelander would soon find them.
• Butcher told Frenchie that he had called the person who killed Lal and insisted they needed special help to deal with Translucent.
• Frenchie said Translucent’s carbon skin was nearly impossible to penetrate, and Butcher urged the group to find a way to kill him before The Seven arrived.

Butcher brought Zhang Ye, known as Witch Raven, to help the team kill the captured Translucent. Zhang Ye suggested attacking Translucent’s unprotected insides, giving the team a way to overcome his nearly impenetrable skin.

• Hughie protested when Butcher said they planned to kill Translucent, but Butcher argued that Vought would soon hunt them down and reminded Hughie of his desire to avenge his girlfriend.
• Butcher, Frenchie, and MM considered suffocation, electricity, and piercing Translucent’s skin, but none of their ideas seemed workable.
• Zhang Ye arrived at the safe house, where Butcher introduced him to Hughie, Frenchie, and MM and revealed Translucent in an electrified steel cage.
• Zhang Ye opened his bag of Chinese food, then suggested that they place a bomb inside Translucent, whose organs were not protected by his hardened skin.
• MM and Frenchie recognized the plan’s potential, and Butcher praised Zhang Ye as the expert he had called.

Zhang Ye brought food to Butcher’s group and discussed Starlight, whom he hoped to recruit as an ally against Vought. After giving Butcher IP addresses to investigate, Zhang Ye went to Translucent’s room and asked the others to help him stage a change of identity so he could talk with the captive hero.

• Frenchie and MM took charge of preparing the bombs while Zhang Ye laid out food for the hungry group.
• Butcher asked why Zhang Ye had gone to Vought, and Zhang Ye explained that he had assessed Starlight and found her kind and naïve.
• Zhang Ye said Vought had sidelined Starlight and suggested recruiting her to undermine the company.
• Zhang Ye handed Butcher a note of IP addresses and asked him to investigate them, and Butcher agreed.
• Zhang Ye went to Translucent’s room and asked the others to help him change identities so he could speak with him.

Zhang Ye rescued Translucent while disguised as Homelander, then exposed himself to the group after Hughie interrupted Translucent's confession about A-Train. Zhang Ye and Butcher agreed to investigate Vought's secrets separately, with Zhang Ye heading to a psychiatric hospital research facility and Butcher looking into A-Train and Compound V.

• Translucent feared losing his place in The Seven until a red flash swept through the kidnappers and a disguised Zhang Ye entered as Homelander.
• Translucent pleaded with Homelander to spare him, then revealed that A-Train secretly used Compound V and had killed Hughie's girlfriend while mentally unstable.
• Hughie cried out from outside the door, and Zhang Ye dropped his Homelander disguise before leaving Translucent trapped in the cage.
• Zhang Ye told Butcher that Vought operated a secret laboratory at a suburban psychiatric hospital where Lamplighter worked as a guard.
• Zhang Ye refused Butcher's offer to accompany him, and they agreed that Zhang Ye would investigate the facility while Butcher looked into A-Train and Compound V.

Zhang Ye infiltrated Sage Grove to investigate Vought’s Compound V research and learn more about the facility’s role in the contamination. After encountering Stormfront and Lamplighter, he took control of the security room and began examining the imprisoned supes on its surveillance feeds.

• Zhang Ye left the Safe House and traveled to Sage Grove, where Vought researched ways to make Compound V work on adults.
• Zhang Ye used Shadowcat’s ability to enter the facility through the ground, then disguised himself as a doctor.
• Zhang Ye encountered Stormfront escorting Lamplighter and overheard her tell him to stay at Sage Grove and report any trouble.
• Zhang Ye reached the security room, where he used Illusia’s ability to incapacitate two guards.
• Zhang Ye examined the surveillance feeds and saw the superpowered individuals held at Sage Grove.

Zhang Ye searched the research institute’s records and learned how Vought planned to use unstable superpowered prisoners as villains. When Lamplighter confronted him, Zhang Ye revealed ice powers and defeated his flames, leaving Lamplighter facing a frost-covered double.

• Zhang Ye reviewed the institute’s files and found that twenty-seven superpowered people remained, while many others had died from unstable Compound V.
• Zhang Ye discovered that Vought intended to unleash uncontrollable prisoners as supervillains, but Homelander’s actions had redirected the company’s attention toward superpowered terrorists.
• Lamplighter entered the control room, recognized that Zhang Ye was not Professor Smith, and demanded to know who he was.
• Zhang Ye showed Lamplighter a card depicting Saint John Allerdyce and taunted him about becoming what he hated.
• Lamplighter engulfed Zhang Ye in flames, but Zhang Ye emerged as an icy double, extinguished the fire, and struck at him.