Chapter Summaries

A Wraith gathered black energy inside a museum, prompting S.H.I.E.L.D. to seal off the surrounding streets and call in Old Man and Ah Xing. Ah Xing realized the Wraith’s apparent evolution could be reversed, then prepared to explain his mission to Coulson as Old Man detected demonic energy inside the museum.

• The Wraith Tewal struck an iron object, drawing black energy into the museum, and Coulson ordered the streets evacuated and sealed off.
• Old Man arrived with Frank and tested the black energy with a bottle of magic potion, discovering that its mist dissolved only a small amount.
• Old Man sent a signal to Ah Xing, who arrived and recognized that the Wraith’s evolution came from the Rooster Talisman's demonic energy and could be undone.
• Ah Xing examined the museum while Coulson waited for an explanation, and Old Man used ingredients to reveal demonic energy within.
• Old Man pointed out that Ah Xing had promised him the demonic-energy artifact, and Ah Xing agreed to tell Coulson about his mission.

Ah Xing explained that twelve dangerous Talismans containing portions of Demonic Qi made the Museum incident difficult to predict, while black mist spread from the building. After S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sent inside were killed, Old Man prepared to enter with Frank, Coulson, and Ah Xing, who vanished to the Museum entrance.

• Ah Xing told Coulson that the twelve Talismans held different abilities, some powerful enough to destroy a street, and that he could not locate them in advance.
• Black mist spread from the Museum, and Nick Fury ordered Coulson to widen the evacuation zone and increase the Jamming Device's coverage.
• Coulson sent a squad into the Museum, but the agents were killed by gunfire soon after entering.
• Old Man finished preparing potions and told Frank to stay behind, but Frank insisted on accompanying him.
• Coulson and Ah Xing agreed to enter with Old Man and Frank, and Ah Xing appeared at the Museum entrance.

Ah Xing, Old Man, and Coulson entered the Museum to confront the Wraith Tewal, and Ah Xing used enchanted bullets to attack it. Tewal revealed its consciousness and stalled Coulson with a false negotiation before demanding weekly sacrifices, while Ah Xing's shots failed to hit it.

• Ah Xing sensed a phantom near the Museum entrance and fired three enchanted bullets through the black mist.
• Ah Xing and the others entered the Exhibition Hall, where Ah Xing dodged an Iron Sword thrown from the display cases.
• The Wraith Tewal revealed that it could speak, shocking the group.
• Coulson tried to negotiate with Tewal, hoping to communicate with the conscious Wraith, while Old Man grew disappointed in him.
• Tewal demanded that a hundred people, with no old people, be sacrificed each week, revealing that it had been stalling.
• Ah Xing fired several shots at Tewal, but every bullet struck only the black mist.

Jiang Xiang and the others fought the Wraith Tewal after it absorbed power from the Rooster Talisman, while Jiang Xiang secretly began reclaiming that power. The Wraith was defeated, but Freddy appeared and vanished after warning the group, leaving the shield with a faint trace of the talisman’s power.

• The Wraith Tewal filled the museum with black mist, while Old Man searched for its true form and Ah Xing tried to disperse it.
• Jiang Xiang used the talisman to reclaim some of the Wraith’s power, and Alice told Natasha she had already given Ah Xing the items before vanishing.
• Old Man fired magical beams that struck the Wraith and tore through its spirit body.
• As its consciousness faded, the Wraith poured its soul power into the shield, which began absorbing it; Jiang Xiang hurried to reclaim the talisman’s power.
• Coulson told Nick Fury that the Wraith seemed defeated, but Freddy appeared, introduced himself, and vanished after warning them.
• The museum’s eerie atmosphere dissipated, and a faint trace of the Rooster Talisman’s power emerged within the shield.

After the museum incident, Jiang Xiang celebrated his emotional-value haul and gained an A-rank Fire Demon incarnation card, but chose not to summon it for fear of attracting the Ancient One's attention. Meanwhile, Nick Fury reviewed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s losses and considered how to reclaim the shield from Old Man.

• Jiang Xiang dispelled his Freddy incarnation, restored some Rooster Talisman power to the shield, and watched his emotional value surpass ten thousand.
• Jiang Xiang inspected the A-rank Fire Demon card, realized summoning it might draw the Ancient One's attention, and decided to wait before manifesting it.
• Jiang Xiang counted more than thirteen thousand emotional value and celebrated his successful museum incident while practicing the Chakra Refinement Method.
• Coulson reported to Nick Fury that eleven agents had been killed, five civilians were dead, and Mr. Cheng's magic had defeated the Wraith.
• Nick Fury considered how the Wraith incident and reports of a larger group would worsen pressure on S.H.I.E.L.D., then reviewed files on superhumans who had appeared in 2004.
• Nick Fury focused on finding a way to get the shield's miraculous powers back from Old Man.

Bruce Banner’s gamma-ray experiment failed a military review, and an accident in the laboratory exposed him to intense radiation while killing Gene. Meanwhile, Jiang Xiang prepared to spend his accumulated Emotional Value on two Gold Boxes, but the chapter ended before he opened them.

• Jiang Xiang continued practicing chakra and Qi Magic while S.H.I.E.L.D. struggled to prepare for supernatural threats.
• Bruce Banner and Betty demonstrated rapid wound healing in rabbits, then concealed the rabbits’ deaths from the military reviewers.
• Banner and Betty worried that repeated failures could cause the military to shut down their research project.
• Banner entered the gamma laboratory with Gene to inspect a faulty circuit, and the sealed room suddenly began operating.
• Gamma rays killed Gene and caused subtle changes in Banner.
• Jiang Xiang prepared to open two Gold Boxes with his 20,023 Emotional Value and ordered the system to open them.

Jiang Xiang opened his treasure chests, gained new incarnation cards and an unusual item, then made plans to take Gwen Stacy on a two-week cruise. The chapter ended with George reluctantly agreeing, provided Gwen called him three times each day.

• Jiang Xiang opened two Gold Boxes and received B-rank and C-rank fragments, a childhood Krillin card, a Big Baby card, and outer-layer stripping gloves.
• Jiang Xiang incarnated as Krillin and felt the power and Kamehameha ability in his new body, though he could not tell what distinguished a B-rank card from a C-rank one.
• Andre gave Jiang Xiang an invitation for a yacht party, and Jiang Xiang spent Children's Day with his grandfather and uncle.
• At Midtown High School, Jiang Xiang met Gwen Stacy's friend Linda, who invited Gwen to the summer dance, but Gwen said she and Jiang Xiang had other plans.
• Jiang Xiang asked whether Gwen had told George that they would spend two weeks aboard the Tyke, and George reluctantly agreed after Gwen coaxed him, requiring three daily video calls.

Jiang Xiang fused a Zhang Fei Card with a Soldier Card and discovered the resulting character card could become C-rank with the right energy. He and Gwen Stacy boarded the Tech for a two-week voyage, where Jiang Xiang anticipated trouble because Tony Stark was also aboard.

• Jiang Xiang fused the Zhang Fei Card and Soldier Card into an incomplete D-rank Zhang Fei (Twin Souls) card with a path to C-rank.
• Jiang Xiang promised George that he would bring Gwen Stacy back safely and set out with her on a two-week sea voyage.
• Tony Stark agreed to board the Tech after Pepper Potts told him the car was ready and reminded him of President Stane's goodwill gesture.
• Jiang Xiang and Gwen Stacy reached the docks early, boarded through the VIP lane, and settled into separate rooms.
• Jiang Xiang showed Gwen Stacy around the Tech and impressed her by locating the restaurant from the ship's layout map.

Jiang Xiang’s warning artifact signaled danger aboard the Tech, and a supernatural storm capsized the cruise ship after it entered international waters. Jiang Xiang kept Gwen Stacy safe, and they found the ship still afloat amid injured and dead passengers.

• Jiang Xiang’s protective artifact activated, but he found no immediate danger and wondered whether Obadiah Stane might be targeting Tony Stark.
• At the Stark Industries party, the artifact glowed again, so Jiang Xiang asked Gwen Stacy to stay with him.
• As the Tech crossed into international waters, mysterious patterns appeared on its hull and a severe storm struck, prompting the crew to order passengers to shelter.
• Jiang Xiang protected Gwen Stacy with his artifact and chakra as waves rocked the ship and it rolled onto its side.
• Jiang Xiang and Gwen Stacy reached the overturned hall, where they saw passengers suffering serious injuries or lying dead.

Jiang Xiang led Gwen Stacy and a group of survivors through the damaged cruise ship, then found the surrounding sea unnaturally calm and their communications cut off. Gunfire and eerie cries erupted nearby, and a crewman warned that Sea Demon Rus was hunting them.

• Jiang Xiang led Gwen Stacy away from the survivors after judging the crewman's advice to barricade the compartment doors and windows useless.
• Jiang Xiang guided the group outside, where they saw a windless, eerily calm sea, and Victor reported that his S.H.I.E.L.D. phone had no signal.
• Jiang Xiang, Victor, and Happy pried open a door, while Gwen Stacy said she had seen a hand among the cables.
• Gunfire rang out, and Jiang Xiang kept the group in cover rather than investigating.
• The Black crewman stumbled toward them, then broke down amid renewed gunfire, a child's mournful cries, and screams, shouting that Sea Demon Rus was hunting them.

Jiang Xiang recognized Ruth as the Evil Eye Lord and led a small group of survivors away from the cabins and toward a lifeboat. As they tried to escape the cruise ship, he suspected the creature was a dimensional lifeform.

• A crewman identified Ruth as a sea monster, and Jiang Xiang recalled that Old Man's local lore described the Evil Eye Lord.
• The enormous cross-pupiled eyeball drew near, and the Black crewman became bewitched and died after striking his head on a gear.
• Jiang Xiang led the survivors out of the cabins as the ship shook and screams echoed, then guided them to the upper-deck swimming pool.
• With the routes blocked and the survivors growing weak, Jiang Xiang proposed leaving the ship by lifeboat, and Tony, Pepper, Gwen Stacy, Victor, and the young man with gold-rimmed glasses joined him.
• Jiang Xiang and Victor launched a lifeboat, and Jiang Xiang told Victor that rescue was doubtful and that they might be facing a dimensional lifeform.

Jiang Xiang explained dimensional lifeforms to Victor before the Tech exploded, trapping the survivors near the approaching Evil Eye Lord. After returning to the ruined ship, the group found no other survivors and killed a disguised creature, then prepared to face the Evil Eye Lord with Jiang Xiang as their supernatural guide.

• Jiang Xiang explained dimensional lifeforms and dimensions to Victor, then his phone short-circuited aboard the lifeboat.
• The Tech exploded, and Jiang Xiang used a Dried Lizard spell to push the lifeboat away, but Victor realized they were not getting farther from the ship.
• Tony Stark found the lifeboat's communications equipment damaged, and the group returned to the Tech after it rolled over and seemed to go silent.
• The group found the Tech wrecked and its survivors missing, then Jiang Xiang shot and destroyed a waiter who emerged from the Storage Room.
• Jiang Xiang led the group to a conference room, told them about the Evil Eye Lord, and they prepared to wait for it to approach.

Jiang Xiang fought the Evil Eye Lord while it attacked the survivors aboard the ship, then destroyed its cross-shaped weak point with a Kamehameha. Krillin appeared afterward and introduced himself as a member of Langya's Turtle School.

• Jiang Xiang sensed the Evil Eye Lord's control over the space around the ship, while Tony Stark made crude walkie-talkies and tried to prepare weapons.
• As night fell, Jiang Xiang and the others realized that thousands of passengers and crew had disappeared, and Jiang Xiang prepared for battle.
• Jiang Xiang engaged the Evil Eye Lord, but it attacked the other survivors with plastic hands while Gwen Stacy's protective item kept her safe.
• Jiang Xiang baited the Evil Eye Lord into attacking and identified the cross-shaped mark in its pupil as a weak point.
• Jiang Xiang struck the mark with a Kamehameha, restoring the world's colors, and Krillin appeared and introduced himself to Jiang Xiang and the others.

After the maritime disaster, Nick Fury questioned Victor about Tony Stark and Jiang Xiang while considering the Avengers Initiative. At Stark Industries, Krillin accepted Pepper Potts’s security job, and Jiang Xiang learned that the Hulk had appeared.

• Nick Fury questioned Victor about Tony Stark and Jiang Xiang, then reviewed footage of Krillin and reopened the Avengers Initiative file.
• Pepper explained that the Tech disaster had been covered up as a maritime accident, with the videos deleted and the survivors’ accounts coordinated.
• Natasha tried to recruit Krillin for S.H.I.E.L.D., but Pepper offered him a high-paying, low-work security position at Stark Industries.
• Krillin accepted Pepper’s offer to work for Stark Industries, while Jiang Xiang privately considered the value of placing him there.
• Jiang Xiang saw a report that a giant green figure had rampaged through the Liz Biochemical Technology Research Institute and realized the Hulk had been born.

Natasha investigated a village where an octopus-headed statue had been found, while Jiang Xiang fused an Evil Eye Demon Seed into a Zhang Fei card and opened three Gold Boxes. The chapter left Natasha hiding in a well from a strange, increasingly distorted song, with a shadowy shape appearing in her eyes.

• Nick Fury sent Natasha to investigate one of the first locations where a statue worshipping an octopus-headed figure had been discovered.
• Jiang Xiang fused the Evil Eye Demon Seed with his incomplete Zhang Fei card, creating a B-grade character card.
• Jiang Xiang opened three Gold Boxes and received B-grade fragments, a Silver Ring Book, a Jack the Ripper card, and a Yes-or-No Coin.
• Jiang Xiang anticipated a coming street brawl between Hulk and the military and decided to make arrangements.
• Natasha reached a gloomy village, heard a strange song, and hid inside a well as the melody grew distorted.
• Natasha injected herself with a syringe and slumped against the well wall, while a shadowy shape began appearing in her eyes.

Natasha escaped the song’s influence with Yan Shuangying’s help and followed him to his Safe House in the eerie fishing village. After exchanging intelligence and agreeing to cooperate, they discovered they had arrived in different years, leaving Yan Shuangying stunned by Natasha’s account.

• Yan Shuangying used a Stone Carving to awaken Natasha from the song’s influence, then took her away on his motorcycle.
• Yan Shuangying led Natasha through his traps into a Safe House and warned her to avoid clustered houses and stay inside after dark.
• Yan Shuangying said he would help Natasha only if she proved useful, and she gave him an encrypted document containing intelligence.
• Yan Shuangying said he had arrived in July 1950, while Natasha claimed she had arrived in 2004.
• Yan Shuangying reacted with disbelief to Natasha’s arrival date, then regained his composure.

Natasha and Yan Shuangying investigated the fogbound village and learned that a statue was connected to the eerie song and murmurs, but examining Yan's carving yielded no answers. Meanwhile, Nick Fury went to Old Man's Antique Shop seeking help with the statues after Natasha's team failed to report back.

• Natasha and Yan Shuangying searched houses and compared a hand-drawn map with her map of the village, finding no clear way out.
• Yan Shuangying explained that the singing came from the other people he had seen, and he and Natasha listened to it on a radio.
• Natasha deciphered the song's story about a statue and identified it as relevant to her mission investigating the statues' origins.
• Yan Shuangying let Natasha hold his stone carving, but it overwhelmed her senses with cold, emptiness, whispers, and terror.
• Nick Fury learned that Natasha's team had not returned, then went to Old Man's Antique Shop for specialist help.
• Nick Fury showed Old Man photographs of the discovered statues.

Old Man and Frank identified the statue as an object from Indus Mythology linked to a god of Hunting and Harvest, while Nick Fury struggled to learn more without offending them. The chapter ended with Natasha wondering why Yan Shuangying had not explored possible ways out of the Safe House.

• Old Man examined Nick Fury's pictures and asked where the statue had come from, then searched his library after learning Xiang was away on a cruise.
• Old Man found an ancient volume depicting a similar statue and asked Nick Fury how S.H.I.E.L.D. had obtained it.
• Nick Fury revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had acquired the statue from a townsman who had gone mad, and Frank translated the volume.
• Frank identified the statue as belonging to Indus Mythology and said its god held Divine Authority over Hunting and Harvest.
• After a night's rest in Yan Shuangying's Safe House, Natasha questioned why Yan Shuangying had not explored possible ways out.

Natasha and Yan Shuangying searched the town center for a way out, and Natasha retrieved an illustrated book despite the dangerous whispers. Following one of its routes, they escaped the town, and Yan Shuangying agreed to accompany Natasha while he considered what world he was in.

• Yan Shuangying told Natasha that the town center might hold a way out and sent her in tethered with ropes and chains.
• Natasha entered the mist, succumbed to the whispers, and collapsed after grabbing a book, which Yan Shuangying pulled her back with the rope.
• Yan Shuangying studied the book’s illustrations and chose one apparent escape route for them to try.
• Yan Shuangying drove Natasha through the town as shadowy figures pursued them, shooting the legs of four figures blocking their path.
• Natasha and Yan Shuangying passed through a barrier and escaped the town; after Natasha contacted Agent Romanoff, Yan Shuangying agreed to go with her.

S.H.I.E.L.D. learned that a book from Insco Town described a way to gain supernatural power, while Nick Fury investigated Yan Shuangying and classified the town’s secrets. Yan Shuangying continued assessing S.H.I.E.L.D. as Natasha and Coulson weighed how to handle his reluctance to join.

• Coulson reported that Mr. Cheng needed more time to translate Natasha’s book, while Old Man told Frank it contained a possible path to supernatural power and chose to provide the translation to S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Coulson delivered the translation to Nick Fury, who learned that a pure person could receive a divine blessing by praying at one of three altars in Insco Town.
• Nick Fury learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. had found no background for Yan Shuangying, considered whether he could be a spy or super soldier test subject, and classified Insco Town as a level-ten file.
• Stone spoke with Coulson outside Nick Fury’s office and passed along that Coulson appeared to have received a major classified assignment.
• Yan Shuangying demonstrated his skill with a wooden blade as Natasha and Coulson watched, while Natasha worried that he would not join S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Yan Shuangying continued probing the people around him and found that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s personnel were unusually well trained, leaving him uneasy about the organization.