Recaps

Lin Ze lost another Genshin Impact 50/50 before reporting to the Transmigration Management Bureau to begin work in the External Transmigration Department. He left behind a dangerous assignment in the Historical Transmigration Department and arrived at his new department, where his next mission awaited.

• On the subway, Xiao Yu spotted Lin Ze playing Genshin Impact and told her friend he had lost his 50/50 while pulling for Zhongli.
• Lin Ze got Qiqi instead of Zhongli, found he lacked enough money for another pull, and left the game in a foul mood.
• Lin Ze visited the hidden Transmigration Management Bureau inside a convenience store and signed paperwork approved by Director Liao.
• Director Liao told Lin Ze to report to the External Transmigration Department, where failed missions were common.
• Lin Ze recalled escaping a dangerous mission in the Historical Transmigration Department and hurried to his new department.

Lin Ze joined the External Transmigration Department, chose a Genshin Impact cheat featuring Paimon, and learned that he would need to complete a prerequisite quest before pulling characters. After Minister Wu sent him through the spacetime gate as Aether, Lin Ze arrived in a barren desert and found Paimon buried in sand.

• Minister Wu welcomed Lin Ze and explained that modern consciousness-transfer technology made external missions safer than they had been in the past.
• Lin Ze chose the Paimon cheat, and the counter attendant warned him that he had to complete Paimon's prerequisite quest before he could pull characters.
• Minister Wu explained that Lin Ze would receive a ten-pull after the prerequisite quest and more ten-pulls for completing official missions.
• Lin Ze asked whether he would become Aether or Lumine, and Minister Wu sent him through the spacetime gate as Aether.
• Lin Ze arrived in a desolate desert and dug Paimon out of a sand dune after she called for help.

Lin Ze, synchronized with Aether the Traveler, and Paimon crossed a desert and found water before two armed men ambushed them. As the men closed in, Lin Ze used a snake to distract them and create an opening.

• Lin Ze comforted Paimon, shared Sunsettias with her, and set out across the desert with his Level 30 Dull Blade.
• Lin Ze and Paimon found sand willows and drank from a small lake.
• Two armed men approached and fired at Lin Ze and Paimon, forcing them to hide behind a sand mound.
• Lin Ze heard the men discuss capturing and assaulting them, and promised Paimon he would protect her.
• A venomous snake emerged beside Lin Ze, so he kicked it and flung it over the dune, drawing the attackers' gunfire.

Lin Ze defeated two armed men but was gravely wounded by a fragmentation bomb and collapsed as more armed men approached. Meanwhile, Tony Stark and Yinsen discovered a little girl inside a supply crate in their captivity, leaving them astonished.

• Lin Ze dodged gunfire, killed one attacker, and used Gale Blade to deflect Gene's fragmentation bombs before the blast wounded him.
• Lin Ze tried to remove metal fragments from his wounds, then lost consciousness after spotting armed men approaching and urging Paimon to flee.
• Tony Stark and Yinsen continued secretly assembling an armored suit while pretending to make bombs for their captors.
• Yinsen found a little girl inside a newly delivered crate, and he and Tony concealed their reaction from the surveillance cameras.

Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen discovered Paimon hidden in a crate, learned she was searching for Aether, and realized he was likely the injured prisoner brought to the terrorist base. They decided to speed up work on the Iron Man Armor to save him, but a terrorist entered just after they hid Paimon.

• Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen opened the crate and found a frightened little girl inside.
• Paimon introduced herself and asked whether they had seen the Traveler, Aether, then explained that she had followed him to the cave.
• Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen suspected that Aether was the injured person the terrorists had brought in earlier.
• Paimon recounted hiding in the sand and sneaking into the base inside a crate to find Aether.
• Tony Stark and Ho Yinsen decided to finish the Iron Man Armor ahead of schedule, then hid Paimon when footsteps approached.
• A terrorist opened the door and demanded to know what Tony and Ho Yinsen were doing.

Omar searched Tony Stark and Yinsen’s quarters but failed to find the hidden Paimon, while Lin Ze recovered in a cell and learned that his quest was to help Tony escape and save Yinsen. The chapter ended with Tony and Yinsen stunned by Paimon’s ability to fly.

• Omar inspected Tony’s reactor and searched the crate behind him, but found only bomb casings and a jacket.
• Omar ordered his men to search the room, then left after they found no sign of anyone hiding.
• Omar told his subordinate to keep watch on Stark and dismissed the suggestion that Yinsen treat the captured man.
• Lin Ze woke in his cell, used Elemental Sight to confirm that Paimon was safe, and discovered the quest to help Tony escape and save Yinsen.
• Lin Ze decided to recover and prepare to fight his way out the next day.
• Tony and Yinsen watched Paimon fly, leaving Tony to reconsider how much he understood about the world.

Tony and Yinsen completed the Mechanical Armor and prepared to escape with Paimon, while Lin Ze broke out of his room and fought through the Cave. As the armor’s power system slowly started, Yinsen drew the enemy away alone, and Lin Ze realized he was charging into a mass of attackers.

• Tony and Yinsen finished assembling the Mechanical Armor as Paimon watched over them, and Omar’s men discovered they were missing from the surveillance feed.
• Omar sent armed men to investigate Tony’s room, where an explosive trap blew apart the doorway and destroyed the surveillance equipment.
• Lin Ze escaped his room with a Wind Blade and hurried deeper into the Cave as Tony’s group waited for the armor’s power system to start.
• With enemies closing in and the progress bar still incomplete, Yinsen took a machine gun and ran into the passages to draw them away from Tony and Paimon.
• Lin Ze used Elemental Sight and saw Yinsen charging toward a dense group of enemy markers, so he rushed to help him.

Lin Ze rescued Yinsen and reunited him with Tony and Paimon, then helped the group fight through the enemies. They reached the cave entrance, where Omar aimed a launcher at them and fired an explosive round.

• Yinsen ran out of ammunition and faced a crowd of armed enemies, but Lin Ze rescued him with a Wind Blade.
• Lin Ze and Yinsen met up with Tony and Paimon after Tony shut down the power, and Paimon tearfully reunited with Lin Ze.
• Tony led the group through the cave while Lin Ze used his Wind Blade to kill two enemies and drive the others away.
• At the cave entrance, Omar aimed his launcher at the group and fired an explosive round as they approached the sunlight.

Lin Ze and Tony escaped the terrorist base with Yinsen and Paimon, though their flight ended in a crash landing in the desert. The group found Paimon buried in a separate mound of sand, alive and furious about the sand in her mouth.

• Lin Ze wounded Omar with his sword, but Tony ignored Omar’s offer to reveal who had arranged his capture and killed him with the armor’s weapon.
• Tony and the others fought their way through the base as Lin Ze’s Anemo powers spread the flames into a fiery tornado.
• Tony launched the overloaded armor with Lin Ze, Yinsen, and Paimon aboard, but its thrusters failed in midair.
• Lin Ze used his Wind Glider to catch Tony and Yinsen, but all four plunged into the desert sand.
• Lin Ze, Yinsen, and Tony dug through the sand searching for Paimon until she popped out of a nearby mound and complained about eating sand.

Lin Ze and Paimon said goodbye to Tony and Yinsen when a mysterious stone gate sent them back to the Transmigration Management Bureau. After receiving a B mission rating and pulling Qiqi again, Lin Ze entered another mission and found himself back in the same desert.

• Lin Ze recognized the stone gate as the one from Genshin Impact, and Tony and Yinsen could not see it while Paimon and Lin Ze could.
• Lin Ze confirmed that his Iron Man mission was complete, then he and Paimon said goodbye to Tony and Yinsen and passed through the gate.
• Lin Ze returned to the Transmigration Management Bureau, received a B rating from Minister Wu, and collected his mission report.
• Lin Ze used his reward for a ten-pull but got Qiqi again, then accepted the same mission setting and entered the Portal.
• Lin Ze and Paimon emerged in the desert they had just left, and Paimon wondered why they had returned there.

After escaping the Cave, Tony and Yinsen struggled across the desert and spent a freezing night on a dune, where Yinsen confessed that his family had been killed. As Yinsen fell asleep, a strange dark shape appeared beside him and spoke in a little girl’s voice.

• Tony and Yinsen walked through the desert until exhaustion forced them to stop, and Tony helped Yinsen rest against a sand mound.
• As night approached, Tony and Yinsen climbed to a high dune to avoid being buried by drifting sand and settled there in the cold.
• Tony urged Yinsen to stay awake and keep warm, while Yinsen admitted that Omar’s men had killed his wife and children.
• Tony promised Yinsen a future at Stark Industries, and Yinsen grew quiet and appeared to fall asleep.
• Tony heard something approach through the sand and saw a dark shape standing in front of Yinsen.
• The dark shape made a flapping sound and a little girl’s voice called for them to hold hands because it was going to blow away.

Tony and Yinsen encountered Qiqi, a cold, forgetful girl who said she was a zombie, in the desert. Qiqi disappeared to treat Yinsen, then returned with a sand snake, destroyed it with a sword, and inexplicably healed Tony.

• Tony caught Qiqi when the desert wind nearly blew her into a sand pit, and she introduced herself as a zombie.
• Qiqi repeatedly forgot their conversation and could not remember how she had arrived in the desert.
• Yinsen began coughing violently, and Tony realized his condition had worsened.
• Qiqi ran off while Tony checked on Yinsen, then returned carrying a large sand snake.
• Qiqi destroyed the snake with her sword, and Tony's fatigue and aches vanished.

Tony and Yinsen continued crossing the desert with Qiqi, who gave them Coconut Milk to ease their thirst. A rescue helicopter arrived and Colonel Rhodes reunited with Tony, while Tony and Yinsen stopped Qiqi from revealing that she was a zombie.

• Tony decided to keep walking with Qiqi despite suspecting she was a zombie, and Yinsen also accepted her after she had saved his life.
• Qiqi gave Tony and Yinsen Coconut Milk from her inventory, helping them recover some strength and save a carton for later.
• A sandstorm struck, and Tony and Yinsen sheltered Qiqi until they heard a helicopter approaching.
• Tony and Yinsen waved down the rescue helicopter, and Rhodey reunited with Tony after confirming he was safe.
• Tony introduced Qiqi to Rhodey as his daughter, then he and Yinsen covered her mouth when she began to say she was a zombie.

Rhodey learned that Qiqi appeared lifeless on the base’s medical equipment, but Tony insisted she was his child and persuaded Rhodey to protect her from the military. After Rhodey brought Tony, Qiqi, and Yinsen back to New York, Lin Ze received his first official mission.

• Rhodey reassured Potts that Tony was safe, then learned from Qiqi’s medic that the girl had no detectable heartbeat, pulse, or body temperature.
• Rhodey confronted Tony about Qiqi, and Tony confirmed that he knew she was unusual and asked Rhodey to keep her from military and research organizations.
• Tony promised to treat Qiqi as family if her relatives could not be found, and Rhodey agreed to protect her while confiscating Tony’s alcohol.
• Rhodey used test reports to mislead the medic, then flew Tony, Qiqi, and Yinsen back to New York after they rested overnight.
• Lin Ze saw his first official mission appear: “The Weight of Iron,” which asked him to witness Tony Stark become Iron Man.

Tony returned to New York with Yinsen and Qiqi, where Potts welcomed them and quickly grew fond of the little girl. After Qiqi decided Tony should go to the hospital to treat his shrapnel wounds, Tony agreed, and Happy drove them there.

• Tony arrived at New York Base with Rhodey, and Potts greeted him before meeting Yinsen and Qiqi.
• Qiqi gave Potts a carton of Coconut Milk, and Potts welcomed her into the car and shared candy with her.
• Potts and Yinsen urged Tony to go to the hospital for his shrapnel, but Tony refused.
• Tony asked Qiqi to decide, and after Potts explained what a hospital did, Qiqi chose to take him there.
• Qiqi offered to gather herbs to help Tony, moving Potts, Yinsen, and Happy; Tony then told Happy to drive to the hospital.

Tony held a press conference and announced that Stark Industries would shut down its weapons manufacturing division, angering Obadiah. After the event, Tony joined Qiqi in the lounge and learned that a stranger had apparently spoken with her while she was alone.

• Tony completed a medical examination, then went with Yinsen and Qiqi to his press conference, where they met Obadiah and Agent Phil Coulson.
• Coulson told a woman over his earpiece that Qiqi needed further observation, then had another agent watch her.
• Tony announced that he was shutting down Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing division, and Obadiah looked furious as the press swarmed Tony.
• Potts and Yinsen left Qiqi alone in a locked lounge with a tablet while they went to check on Tony.
• Tony returned to the lounge and watched cartoons with Qiqi, who said an uncle had told her which characters were Mickey and Psyduck.

Potts discovered that someone had secretly entered the lounge and spent time with Qiqi, while S.H.I.E.L.D. investigated the girl’s strange biology and her mysterious coconut milk carton. Tony brought Qiqi to his newly prepared home, where she happily asked if they could stay together forever.

• Potts found that the lounge’s security footage had been tampered with and called the police after realizing an intruder had approached Qiqi.
• Coulson learned that Barton had visited Qiqi in disguise, and ordered him to investigate the Cocogoat Coconut Milk carton she had given him.
• Natasha reported that Qiqi’s cellular activity was far above normal, while the proteins needed for human life barely survived; Coulson considered asking Professor X to assess her.
• Tony took Qiqi to a pink Princess Room in Stark Tower and told her they were family.
• Qiqi said she liked the room and asked Tony if they could stay together forever.

Tony promised to stay with Qiqi forever, and he and Potts made sure she had plenty of Coconut Milk after learning she could not taste food. As Tony worked on the Mark Armor, Qiqi settled into a happy routine and kept a notebook of her memories; the chapter ended when a man named Charles spoke to her.

• Tony had JARVIS record his promise to stay with Qiqi forever, and Qiqi chose eating salt as his punishment if he broke it.
• Qiqi told Tony that food tasted like wax and asked for Coconut Milk, so Tony and Potts arranged for Stark to acquire a Coconut Milk brand.
• Tony worked on the Mark Armor while Qiqi played in his workshop with toys, cartoons, Dum-E, and JARVIS.
• Qiqi wrote in her notebook that she had used her sword to save Tony when he caught fire, but had cut his roof in half, so she punished herself by giving up one cup of Coconut Milk.
• A man named Charles spoke to Qiqi and asked to talk with her.

Professor Charles used Qiqi’s permission to explore her memories and discovered a vivid scene of her homeland being struck by a storm and attacked by a gigantic five-headed sea beast. The chapter left Charles shaken by the destructive creature and the mystery surrounding Qiqi’s past.

• Professor Charles explained mutants and special abilities to Qiqi, who could not remember when her own power had appeared.
• Qiqi agreed to let Professor Charles help uncover her memories because she felt she did not belong in this world.
• Professor Charles found resistance as he explored beyond Qiqi’s recent memories and pushed deeper with his Telepathy.
• Professor Charles glimpsed a magnificent nation before a violent storm filled the sky and a colossal beast roared from the sea.
• Professor Charles watched the five-headed sea beast unleash streams of blue energy and was left terrified by what he had seen.

Charles witnessed Qiqi’s memories of Osial’s defeat and learned that she came from a world of gods before Zhongli detected his psychic intrusion and knocked him unconscious. The chapter ended with the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents rushing to help Charles.

• A golden structure atop a floating mountain crashed into the sea beast, driving Osial beneath the waves and saving the city.
• Qiqi lost her strength while climbing down from the wall, but Zhongli caught her on a stone formation and helped her reach the ground.
• Zhongli explained that Osial had broken free of Morax’s seal but had failed to return to the mortal world.
• Charles concluded that Qiqi came from another world and extended his psychic power beyond her memories.
• Zhongli sensed Charles’s intrusion, struck his consciousness, and left him unconscious in the real world.

After Professor Charles fell silent, Lin Ze noticed that his mission was in danger and rushed to check on Tony. He found Obadiah had stolen Tony’s arc reactor, but Qiqi healed Tony long enough for Lin Ze to retrieve the old reactor and put it back in place.

• Lin Ze saw that his mission indicator had turned red and hurried toward Tony’s room.
• Obadiah stopped Qiqi, claimed Tony had gone to bed, and sent her back to her room.
• Lin Ze returned to Tony’s room and found him paralyzed, gravely ill, and missing his arc reactor.
• Qiqi used her Cryo ability to heal Tony temporarily, and Tony told her where to find his old reactor.
• Lin Ze retrieved the reactor, smashed its glass case, and placed it backward into Tony’s chest.

Professor Charles warned Coulson not to investigate Qiqi’s memories, while Potts discovered Obadiah’s role in Tony’s kidnapping and theft of his reactor. Tony suited up and flew to help Potts, leaving Rhodey with Qiqi, who demanded that he take her to Tony.

• Professor Charles told Coulson that Qiqi was not a mutant and warned him that investigating her further could attract a powerful being.
• Potts learned that Obadiah had arranged Tony’s kidnapping and hurried to confront him with Coulson’s help.
• Rhodey reached Tony’s workshop and told him that Potts was safe with five agents who planned to arrest Obadiah.
• Tony put on his armor, asked Rhodey to keep others from interfering, and left Qiqi in his care before flying off.
• Qiqi drew her sword against Rhodey’s neck and ordered him to take her to find Tony.

Obadiah attacked Tony and Potts in his oversized armor, turning the fight into a deadly street battle. After Obadiah launched Rhodey’s car at Tony, Qiqi freed Rhodey with her icy sword, leaving the car’s fate unclear.

• Obadiah cornered Potts, but Tony crashed into him and carried their fight into the street.
• Obadiah hurled a car at Tony, forcing him to catch it as his armor’s power dwindled.
• Obadiah recognized Rhodey and Qiqi in their car, then threw it into Tony, sending both the car and Tony flying.
• Rhodey found himself trapped in the wreckage and worried about Qiqi, but she appeared outside and used ice to ease his injuries.
• Qiqi raised her sword, told Rhodey to listen as she counted to three, and slashed at the car.

Qiqi rescued Rhodey from the explosion and protected Tony from Obadiah’s attack, using her Cryo powers and swordsmanship to disable Obadiah’s armor. Tony celebrated Qiqi’s victory as Obadiah was left trapped in the frozen suit.

• Qiqi pulled Rhodey from the car just before it exploded as Obadiah overwhelmed Tony.
• Qiqi entered the flames and shielded Tony, allowing him to emerge unharmed with her on his shoulder.
• Obadiah attacked Tony again, but Qiqi dodged him and struck his armor with her sword and Cryo abilities.
• Qiqi froze Obadiah’s armor completely, shutting down its lights and systems and trapping him inside.
• Tony picked Qiqi up and praised her for protecting him and defeating Obadiah.

Tony and Qiqi returned to Stark Tower after Obadiah was captured, sharing a quiet flight beneath the stars. When Rhodey warned Tony that Obadiah had escaped, a missile struck Qiqi’s room, and Tony staggered through the wreckage to find her.

• Qiqi forgot how she had threatened Rhodey, and Rhodey took the blame for the damage she had caused to Tony’s cars.
• Tony and Qiqi flew back to Stark Tower while Qiqi watched the stars and rested against his armor.
• Tony went to his workshop after seeing that Rhodey had left his luxury cars intact.
• Rhodey called Tony to warn him that Obadiah had escaped, and Tony rushed to Qiqi’s room.
• A missile exploded through Qiqi’s room, injuring Tony and throwing Qiqi across the room.
• Tony searched the rubble for Qiqi and froze when he found her.