Recaps

Core Aoke explained that Source Matter could bring the Metaverse and its creations into the physical world, and he enlisted AKI Aoke to make the Aoke Universe realistic enough to cross over. AKI demanded permission to build and insisted that every Qin Yiguan variant had to die, but Core Aoke was interrupted by news that Sniper Aoke had self-destructed.

• Core Aoke glimpsed a rabbit-masked young man outside the ship, then checked the area and found no sign of an intruder.
• Core Aoke explained that Source Matter converted between virtual code and physical matter and that the Ao Council headquarters existed where the two worlds met.
• Core Aoke revealed that a sufficiently realistic Aoke Universe could descend into the physical world and bring its inhabitants with it.
• AKI Aoke agreed to help build the Aoke Universe but demanded construction permissions.
• Core Aoke promised to kill Qin Yiguan and every variant, then saw a report that Sniper Aoke had self-destructed.

Core Aoke revealed that Sniper Aoke’s self-destruction had sent Qin Yiguan and his companions into a place called Hell. The three fell through ever-shrinking levels of matter as a masked figure watched from the wasteland of Multiverse No. 184.

• Core Aoke told AKI Aoke that the Multiverse Jump String had detonated and sent the three Qin Yiguans into Hell.
• AKI Aoke questioned why Core Aoke had never given him a String of Jumping, and Core Aoke said he trusted him and saw no need to shackle him.
• Underworld, Caregiver, and Qin Yiguan found themselves falling through darkness as their bodies repeatedly shrank.
• The three fell past a huge rocky body and through molecular structures, where giant worms lurked among balls of yarn.
• A black worm opened its mouth to swallow them, but they shrank again and passed through its particle-like body.
• On the wasteland of Multiverse No. 184, a young man in a rabbit mask watched the three Qin Yiguans fall through a speck of dust.

Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and the caregiver kept shrinking after the Ao Council remotely detonated the String of Jumping Sniper Aoke had carried. They feared they were trapped in an endless fall, possibly already inside the Boundless One, and the caregiver warned that escaping might send them into a distant future.

• The three Qin Yiguans plunged into a vast, viscous sea that spun into a whirlpool, then shrank again and found themselves passing between enormous blue droplets.
• The caregiver explained how their surroundings seemed to shift from cosmic vastness to a scale beyond quarks, while Qin Yiguan realized they were still beside Sniper Aoke's corpse and had only become unimaginably small.
• The caregiver told Underworld that he learned science to teach the orphanage's children, and Underworld admitted he was not suited to honest work.
• Qin Yiguan concluded that the Ao Council had remotely detonated Sniper Aoke's String of Jumping and trapped them in an endless shrinking fall.
• When Qin Yiguan called for the Boundless One, the surroundings dimmed, leading him to suspect that the Boundless One had arrived but was now too enormous to perceive.
• The caregiver reasoned that their decreasing weight could let them exceed the speed of light, and warned that returning to the real world might mean arriving centuries or millennia in the future.

Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and the caregiver landed in a monochrome wilderness and met a strange Aoke who claimed to be the real Core Aoke. He explained that the Ao Council’s repeated coups had left him imprisoned, and said he had invented the Multiverse Jump String.

• Qin Yiguan realized that time might be passing outside their fall, and feared he could lose his friends and the lives they had known.
• Underworld cracked jokes about the Ao Council to lift everyone’s spirits, and the three laughed until they hit the ground.
• The trio explored the black-and-gray wilderness and encountered a cloaked, short figure atop a stone pillar.
• Underworld attacked the figure, but creatures from subquark space swallowed the force behind his machete, and the stranger asked them not to fight because they were all prisoners.
• The strange Aoke explained that Ao Council subordinates repeatedly killed and impersonated Core Aoke to seize power, and said he was the real Core Aoke who invented the Multiverse Jump String.

Freak Aoke explained the native life-forms in the sub-quark space and revealed that he could kill Underworld, Qin Yiguan, and the caregiver, but chose not to because they were fellow exiles. In the Aoke Universe, AKI Aoke impressed Core Aoke with a detailed design, then questioned him about the Ao Council’s killings of Qin Yiguan’s isotopes and asked for more access.

• Underworld, Qin Yiguan, and the caregiver dismissed Freak Aoke as useless and considered forcing information out of him.
• Freak Aoke explained that Returners moved displaced objects back and Force Swallowers consumed force, and said he had befriended many native creatures.
• Freak Aoke said he had the power to kill the three but would spare them because they were all exiles far from home.
• AKI Aoke presented Core Aoke with a highly detailed design for a house and courtyard intended to help the Aoke Universe merge with the physical world.
• AKI Aoke asked how many of Qin Yiguan’s isotopes the Ao Council had killed and requested more access to check for himself, but Core Aoke refused and urged him to finish his task.
• AKI Aoke smiled and told Core Aoke he would raise his head as soon as he could.

Freak Aoke explained that the group had entered a microscopic quantum world inside the Metaverse, where he and generations of Core Aokes had been imprisoned after trying and failing to escape. The Core Aokes revealed that they planned to disband the Ao Council if they ever got out.

• Freak Aoke described Subquark Space as a tiny quantum realm with its own ecosystem, modeled on the physical world by the Gemini Superbrain.
• Qin Yiguan asked whether Freak Aoke had tried to escape, and Freak Aoke said he and the others had attempted it countless times.
• Qin Yiguan and the others encountered the 172 Core Aokes from successive generations, who described their past contributions and different modifications.
• The half-bodied 172nd Core Aoke accused Single Horn of betraying and burning him, then ranted about destroying the multiverse before Freak Aoke ordered him dragged away.
• Freak Aoke said many Core Aokes had died and regretted inventing the Multiverse Jump String, while the surviving generations agreed to disband or destroy the Ao Council if they escaped.

The First-Generation Core Aoke tried to recruit Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and the caregiver into his group of former Core Aokes and make himself their leader. When the three refused, they attacked him and the caregiver used his spatial ability to steal the burlwood cane, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• The First-Generation Core Aoke explained that 172 generations of Core Aoke were trapped in Subquark Space and urged Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and the caregiver to join them in escaping and disbanding the Ao Council.
• The First-Generation Core Aoke assigned the three newcomers numbers 173, 174, and 175, and ordered them to serve the other Aoke.
• Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and the caregiver agreed that they would have to defeat the First-Generation Core Aoke before they could establish themselves and search for a way out.
• Underworld charged at the First-Generation Core Aoke as a feint, while the caregiver used his spatial ability to take the burlwood cane.
• The First-Generation Core Aoke stared at his empty hands as Underworld mocked him, and the caregiver admitted they had not planned the attack in advance.

Qin Yiguan and his companions saw Subquark Space transform into a vivid, colorful world before the first-generation Core Aoke summoned a gigantic Ground Mouth to attack them. Starvation Corpse recognized the creature as one of its kind and flew out to speak with it, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• The first-generation Core Aoke explained that his Smiling Face Cane came from the Smiling Face Tree and was not the source of his control over Subquark Space creatures.
• The first-generation Core Aoke struck the ground with his cane, changing the dark landscape into a brilliant, abstract display of colors and patterns.
• The first-generation Core Aoke summoned a colossal creature from beneath the ground and ordered it to teach Qin Yiguan and the others a lesson without killing them.
• Qin Yiguan recognized the creature as a Ground Mouth and wondered whether Zhichun's imagined creatures came from Subquark Space.
• Starvation Corpse told Qin Yiguan that the Ground Mouth was one of its kind and was angry, then flew toward it to speak.

Starvation Corpse transformed into a muscle-bound Barbie and silently connected with the Ground Mouth, which turned against the First-Generation Core Aoke and swallowed him and the other Aoke. Starvation Corpse thanked the Ground Mouth, calling it his family.

• The First-Generation Core Aoke told the others to wait while Qin Yiguan and his companions faced the Ground Mouth.
• Starvation Corpse transformed into a giant, muscle-bound Barbie and blew kisses to Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and the Caregiver.
• Starvation Corpse touched the Ground Mouth's feeler, and the creature calmed as they silently communicated.
• The First-Generation Core Aoke ordered the Ground Mouth to attack, and it resumed thrashing and unleashed a powerful suction.
• The Ground Mouth spared Qin Yiguan and his companions but sucked the First-Generation Core Aoke and more than a hundred Aoke into its mouth.
• Starvation Corpse remained connected to the Ground Mouth and thanked it, calling it his family.

The Ground Mouth spat out the First Generation and more than a hundred Core Aoke, who landed in chewed gum and faced Qin Yiguan. Qin Yiguan took the First Generation’s cane and forced the Core Aoke to submit, then learned their escape plan was stalled because their device needed electricity.

• The First Generation and the other Core Aoke drifted through the Ground Mouth’s belly among enormous real-world objects before a whirlwind carried them back into Subquark Space.
• The Ground Mouth spat the Core Aoke onto a giant piece of chewed gum, where Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and the caregiver confronted them.
• Qin Yiguan summoned the First Generation’s burlwood cane and transformed it into a bracelet on his wrist.
• Qin Yiguan ordered the 172 Core Aoke to kneel, and most submitted; the First Generation knelt after Underworld approached with a machete.
• The First Generation told Qin Yiguan that their device might let them escape Subquark Space, but it could not run without electricity.

Qin Yiguan inspected First Generation’s crude machine, which needed electricity to work, and discovered that ant-like creatures carried real-world electricity in their bellies. First Generation explained how names let him control Subquark Space creatures and revealed that quantum fields could allow someone to enter the Gemini Metaverse without a Nutrient Pod, leaving Qin Yiguan wondering if he had exposed First Generation’s secret.

• First Generation showed Qin Yiguan a hand-built stone machine and explained that it needed electricity, which their world lacked.
• Qin Yiguan realized that the ant-like creatures might carry real-world matter, and the group spotted blue-lit ants marching through the cave.
• First Generation said he could not capture the ants, while Qin Yiguan withheld that Starvation Corpse could communicate with them.
• First Generation revealed that naming creatures let him control them through quantum fields.
• First Generation explained that a strong quantum field could let someone enter the Gemini Metaverse without a Nutrient Pod, and Qin Yiguan suspected he had revealed a secret.

Qin Yiguan named the ants Electricity Bugs, allowing him to control them and collect the electricity in their bellies for the First Generation’s machine. The machine created a glowing reverse-jump string, and the First Generation announced that it had worked.

• Qin Yiguan realized the First Generation could not control the ants because Zhichun had already named them.
• Qin Yiguan called the ants Electricity Bugs, and they turned toward him and followed his request to help.
• The Electricity Bugs carried charged bubbles to the machine’s energy storage box, where the bubbles gathered into a small mountain.
• The First Generation explained how the machine used quantum transitions and discontinuity to create a string that could return everyone to their original worlds.
• The First Generation activated the machine, and a bright, stable string appeared inside the cannon.

Single Horn Aoke recalled how he murdered Core Aoke and seized control of the Ao Council, then learned that his former leader may have survived in a prison. He repeatedly plucked Core Aoke’s String of Jumping to unleash disasters inside the prison, where three Qin Yiguans had also been trapped.

• The current Core Aoke ordered AKI Aoke’s plan to assassinate Qin Yiguan’s isotopes slowed, wanting to leave some enemies to keep AKI in check.
• Single Horn Aoke recalled joining the Ao Council, becoming Core Aoke’s trusted aide, and burning and exiling the former Core Aoke before taking his place.
• Single Horn discovered that detonating the String of Jumping had sent the former Core Aoke to a prison rather than killing him, and learned that three Qin Yiguans had been imprisoned there.
• Single Horn set the prison as his interference target and rapidly plucked Core Aoke’s golden String of Jumping, triggering catastrophic disasters inside the prison.

First Generation’s cannon began converting No. 172 into data, but the current Core Aoke’s String of Jumping triggered a catastrophic lightning storm that threatened the machine and everyone nearby. Qin Yiguan rescued the badly injured Underworld as the lightning began sweeping across the land with apparent intent.

• First Generation asked for a test subject, and No. 172 volunteered to enter the cannon after Qin Yiguan warned Underworld that his healing had limits.
• First Generation activated the crude machine, and No. 172’s body began turning into data as the group expected him to escape the prison.
• First Generation revealed that the current Core Aoke’s String of Jumping had caused a massive catastrophe, and the shaking made the cannon’s energy unstable.
• Underworld ran to the cave entrance to investigate, where a lightning strike sheared away part of the mountain and left him hanging over a vast chasm.
• Qin Yiguan pulled Underworld to safety as he healed his severe injuries, while the lightning storm spread across the land and began moving as though guided.
• A bolt of golden lightning split the mountain hiding the cannon machine in two.

Qin Yiguan and his companions tried to protect the cannon machine and No. 172 from the golden lightning, but the storm overwhelmed them. In the Aoke Universe, Single Horn learned that a Qin Yiguan isotope had been captured and prepared to question him.

• Qin Yiguan summoned Ground Mouth to shield the cave and cannon machine from the golden lightning, but the beast was badly wounded.
• Qin Yiguan told Ground Mouth it did not have to sacrifice itself, and Ground Mouth withdrew underground.
• The caregiver lifted the damaged cannon machine with his space-manipulating ability as Qin Yiguan and Underworld guarded him while they fled through the lightning.
• A thick bolt struck the three companions, sending them flying as the cannon machine cracked and No. 172 screamed; Qin Yiguan then lost consciousness.
• Single Horn hid the golden bowstring when Blue Blood Aoke reported capturing a Qin Yiguan isotope, then ordered him brought in for questioning.

Qin Yiguan and the survivors assessed the devastation left by the calamity, but No. 172’s attempted escape ended in a monstrous fusion and destroyed their cannon. As Subquark Space transformed into a bizarre, thriving world, Qin Yiguan vowed to find a way out.

• Qin Yiguan found Underworld badly wounded but healing, while the caregiver emerged from a shattered spatial shield and Ground Mouth withdrew after shielding him from the heavenly lightning.
• First Generation revealed that fifty-five Core Aoke had died and blamed Single Horn for the calamity; the survivors then discovered the cannon barrel and heard No. 172 inside it.
• No. 172’s jump malfunctioned, fusing him with several Aoke counterparts into a many-headed monster that the caregiver trapped, while the cannon was destroyed.
• Qin Yiguan admitted that his actions had helped cause the Ao Council’s pursuit and their current predicament, but Underworld reassured him that they would face it together.
• Subquark Space suddenly regenerated into a vast, strange rainforest filled with enormous creatures, and Qin Yiguan promised to keep searching for a breakthrough.

As Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and the caregiver explored Subquark Space’s rainforest, they discussed their pasts and the caregiver’s illness. Qin Yiguan realized that the caregiver’s spatial abilities came from Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, while First Generation feared that everyone trapped in Subquark Space would eventually die there.

• First Generation lamented that the Aoke would never escape Subquark Space, despite Qin Yiguan and his companions searching for a way out.
• Underworld and his companions pushed through the rainforest, where enormous creatures ignored them, and Underworld admitted he had no clue guiding their expedition.
• Underworld told Qin Yiguan that he had risen through the ranks of the underworld to avenge his lover, but his target died of a heart attack before Underworld could kill him.
• The caregiver explained that they had suffered from Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, which caused perceptual distortions, migraines, vomiting, and sometimes seizures.
• Qin Yiguan connected the caregiver’s illness to their ability to manipulate space and concluded that psychological disorders could grant powerful abilities in the Metaverse.

Caregiver told Qin Yiguan and Underworld how caring for frightened children at his childhood orphanage helped him manage his illness and gave him purpose. The Ground Mouth led them to a garden where the Lord of Subquarks might know a way out, while Caregiver’s love of sweet nectar prompted Qin Yiguan to suspect a connection to the child in his story.

• Caregiver described how his distorted perceptions had once made ordinary life unbearable, and how helping an orphan at his childhood orphanage calmed his mind.
• Caregiver said he had gained power over space in the Metaverse and planned to return to the orphanage after everything was over.
• Qin Yiguan resolved to find a way out for everyone before the Ground Mouth circled them and signaled for them to follow it north.
• The Ground Mouth led Qin Yiguan, Underworld, and Caregiver to a garden of enormous flowers, where Caregiver tasted sweet nectar and said he had loved sweets since childhood.
• King Kong Barbie Starvation Corpse reported that the Ground Mouth had brought them to the Lord of Subquarks, who might know how to escape, and Qin Yiguan looked around warily.

Qin Yiguan and his companions encountered Zhiliao, a shapeshifting creature from Subquark Space who had taken the form of Zhichun’s deceased younger brother. Zhiliao healed Ground Mouth and Qin Yiguan, leading Underworld to conclude that he was probably the Lord of Subquarks.

• Starvation Corpse said he had never heard of the Lord of Subquarks, while Qin Yiguan warned the caregiver to stop eating nectar as something approached through the flowers.
• A little boy carrying a jar of honey emerged and introduced himself as Zhiliao, whom Qin Yiguan recognized from Shennong Garden.
• Zhiliao revealed that he was originally a shapeshifting monster and had taken the form of Zhichun’s deceased younger brother when she summoned him.
• Zhiliao restored Ground Mouth to its enormous size by touching it.
• Zhiliao healed Qin Yiguan’s broken ribs and wounded arm, prompting Underworld to identify him as the likely Lord of Subquarks.

Qin Yiguan encountered Child, who attacked the Underworld member until Qin distracted him with Zhiliao’s honey. The caregiver recognized Child’s similarities to himself and went to approach him, while Qin realized Child’s ability might let them escape Subquark Space.

• Zhiliao told Qin Yiguan that he could not leave Subquark Space unless Sister Zhichun summoned him.
• Child arrived and attacked the Underworld member, but the caregiver shielded him with layers of spatial cubes.
• Qin offered Child Zhiliao’s honey, stopping the attack and calming him.
• Qin explained that Child could shrink or grow himself and others, potentially allowing them to escape Subquark Space.
• The caregiver said he understood Child and went into the sea of flowers to deal with him.

The caregiver made a flower-nectar lollipop to tempt Child away from killing Underworld and persuade him to help the group leave. Child reached for the candy, but whether the offer would save Underworld remained uncertain.

• The caregiver boiled and filtered flower nectar while Qin Yiguan realized Child might kill Underworld once his honey ran out.
• Child finished his honey and walked toward Underworld, who feared for his life.
• The caregiver blocked Child and offered him a handmade lollipop, while Zhiliao warned that ordinary honey could not satisfy him.
• The caregiver showed Child the lollipop’s miniature scene of a peaceful home featuring the two of them.
• Child reached out to grab the lollipop as Underworld watched in alarm.

Caregiver used flower-scented lollipops and a story about a lost mole to calm Child and persuade him to spare Underworld. Child then offered to send Caregiver, Qin Yiguan, and Underworld out of his inner world.

• Caregiver gave Child a lollipop with a peaceful scene, then showed him another with the mole Child had complained was missing.
• Caregiver used more lollipops to introduce Underworld and asked Child to spare him until the mole found its way home; Child agreed.
• Child tasted the candy and received a bundle of lollipops, smiling as he counted them.
• Caregiver told Qin Yiguan and Underworld he had been the only caregiver at his orphanage, prompting their strained laughter.
• Child asked whether they wanted to leave and offered to send them out.

Single Horn Aoke examined the captured Qin Yiguan and confronted Blue Blood Aoke for disobeying an order to stop hunting him. Blue Blood revealed that he had come to replace Single Horn and attacked him with a sword pulled from Qin Yiguan.

• Single Horn Aoke watched AIK Aoke expand the Aoke Universe and received fragments recovered from Sniper Aoke’s explosion.
• Blue Blood Aoke brought in a heavily restrained young man he identified as Qin Yiguan, whom he had captured in Multiverse 335.
• Single Horn Aoke examined the prisoner and questioned Blue Blood about ignoring his order to slow the assassinations of Qin Yiguan’s isotopes.
• Blue Blood admitted that he had read the order but never intended to obey it, then pulled a short sword from Qin Yiguan’s spine and charged at Single Horn to take his place.

Single Horn Aoke revealed that he had anticipated Blue Blood Aoke’s coup and killed him with the Aoke Universe’s invincible hidden blades. After killing Blue Blood’s Qin Yiguan look-alike, Single Horn discovered a golden light emerging from the sealed box, and an unknown figure attacked him through it.

• Single Horn Aoke revealed that he had staged his apparent helplessness and used hidden blades to sever Blue Blood Aoke’s arms and neck.
• Single Horn explained that he had created invincible blade rules in the Aoke Universe to prevent anyone from repeating his own takeover.
• Blue Blood Aoke’s head fell from his body, and he died.
• Single Horn cut open the Qin Yiguan look-alike’s face, exposed his artificial alterations, and killed him.
• A golden light appeared inside Blue Blood’s sealed box and grew large enough to reveal three indistinct figures.
• A roguish voice called Single Horn a Big-Headed Aoke, and a machete thrust from the golden light toward his forehead.

Qin Yiguan and his companions emerged from a speck of dust in Single Horn's office, where Single Horn identified them as possible Qin Variants. After a mysterious blade attacked them, Single Horn claimed he controlled the Aoke Universe and demanded answers.

• Single Horn nearly died when a machete appeared above his head, then recognized the three figures who had emerged from the golden light as Qin Yiguan and two companions.
• Qin Yiguan identified Single Horn as the Core Aoke and realized they were at the Ao Council headquarters.
• Underworld warned the others about an incoming black blade, then clashed with it and found that it had sliced a piece from his machete.
• Single Horn explained that the room was the Aoke Universe, where he could control everything and impose its rules.
• Single Horn asked about the Qin Variants, then threatened the three companions and demanded that they answer his questions.