Chapter Summaries

As oxygen levels plunged and Otherkind attacks increased, Song Linwei revealed Capital City Base’s last-resort plan to build an Escape Ship for selected survivors. Sheng An left before answering whether she would board, asking where Old Qin was.

• Sheng An confided her fears about the Fragments and the worsening world to Qi Lingwu at the Research Institute.
• Song Linwei reported that cold and oxygen deprivation were killing people, while Otherkind attacks were increasing across the bases.
• Song Linwei said oxygen would reach zero in forty-nine days and presented Capital City Base’s Escape Ship plan, which would carry civilization’s resources and a select group of people.
• Jiang Yu, Lou Mingwei, Li Xin, and Xiang Hanshuang objected to abandoning the rest of humanity, and Song Linwei waited for Sheng An’s decision.
• Sheng An asked where Old Qin was, then hurried toward the kitchen after Ji Yani said he had taken Qin Xuan there to eat.

Sheng An confronted Old Qin about his hidden identity and his belief that humanity’s fate could not be changed. Old Qin finally agreed to reveal who he was, but ended the chapter by giving Qin Xuan’s name instead.

• Qi Lingwu told Song Linwei that Sheng An had refused to board the escape ship, and the Special Affairs Office agreed to keep fighting for humanity.
• Song Linwei revealed he had already rejected the Base Chief and Elder Li’s request to persuade Sheng An to leave.
• Sheng An confronted Old Qin in the kitchen, citing his unusual abilities and pressing him to explain his secret.
• Old Qin sent Qin Xuan away, then argued that humanity’s outcome was predetermined and further struggle was pointless.
• Sheng An insisted she would never stop fighting and asked Old Qin who he really was.
• Old Qin agreed to introduce himself again and said, “Qin Xuan. My name is Qin Xuan.”

Old Qin revealed that he was Qin Xuan from Sheng An’s previous life and recounted how prophecy had shaped humanity’s struggle against the Otherkind. He began describing the final prophecy he made before the battle against M, leaving its answer unrevealed.

• Old Qin told Sheng An that preserving his previous-life self had aged him, and that the Prophecy Diagram she had seen came from his earlier prophecy.
• Old Qin explained that Sheng An and Qi Lingwu had rescued him early in the previous apocalypse, and his first prophecy exposed a conspiracy involving the Otherkind.
• Old Qin recounted how Elder Zhang, secretly an Otherkind, caused devastating losses before Sheng An and the others defeated him, and how Sheng An later brought Jiang Yu back.
• Old Qin said humanity identified M as the Otherkind leader and fought for fragments, but by the fifth year only about ten thousand humans remained.
• Old Qin described launching the Final Battle against M and said his final prophecy had revealed the Prophecy Diagram; he began explaining that he had made it to discover the truth and how to solve the crisis.

Old Qin revealed that his prophecy showed every attempt to defeat the Otherkind and the Fragments would fail, explaining why he had returned from the previous lifetime expecting the struggle to be futile. He told Sheng An that both humanity and the Otherkind were pieces in a game controlled by the same player, leaving her with the revelation that victory was impossible.

• Old Qin explained that his rule-and-order superpower let him glimpse truth at the cost of his life, and the Fragments had trapped him in a gap in the rules when he witnessed the previous lifetime’s defeat.
• Old Qin said he had returned thirty days before the Apocalypse and had tried to let Qin Xuan and the others live freely because he believed every path ended in failure.
• Old Qin admitted he had joined Sheng An and her teammates after seeing their faces at the Briefing Meeting, despite believing their efforts were futile.
• Sheng An asked what Old Qin had seen that made him conceal the truth from his former teammates.
• Old Qin revealed that black and white belonged to the same player, making humanity and the Otherkind pieces in a game that guaranteed humanity’s defeat whether it won or lost.

Old Qin revealed that the Fragments had manipulated humans and Otherkind into feeding it, leaving humanity doomed whether it assembled the Fragments or not. Sheng An refused to give up, and as Old Qin began his final prophecy, she asked him to prophesy about Hao Jingye.

• Ruan Zifeng, Gu Qiansheng, and Wu Buyu realized the Fragments used human blood and energy to strengthen itself, making both humans and Otherkind its tools.
• Old Qin told Sheng An and the others that assembling the Fragments or leaving them scattered would both lead to humanity's destruction.
• Sheng An rejected Old Qin's advice to accept defeat and told everyone to keep feeding him while she considered what Hao Jingye might have left behind.
• Old Qin said he was full and content, then began disappearing as he activated his final prophecy.
• Sheng An tried to stop Old Qin with her time superpower, but he moved his hand away and prophesied as his body vanished.
• Sheng An asked Old Qin to make his final prophecy about Hao Jingye.

Qin Xuan’s Prophecy revealed that Hao Jingye had two sides and left information connected to his own superpower inside the Fragments. After Old Qin died, Sheng An and the others resolved to search the Fragments’ memories immediately, despite the danger and their dwindling time.

• Old Qin used his final moments to tell the group that Hao Jingye had two halves, that M was controlled by the Fragments, and that they should search the Fragments’ memories for information Hao Jingye left behind.
• Song Linwei poured all of Sheng An’s power into Old Qin, but Old Qin vanished after delivering his final message.
• Qin Xuan cried over Old Qin’s death as Sheng An collapsed and Qi Lingwu comforted her.
• Ruan Zifeng and Song Linwei reasoned that M’s Copying ability had been granted by the Fragments, while Hao Jingye’s own ability might have concealed the information.
• Jia Guangliang, Xiang Hanshuang, Wu Buyu, and Gu Qiansheng considered how the group could find Hao Jingye’s hidden information in the Fragments despite their resistance.
• Sheng An stood with Qi Lingwu’s support and urged the group to search the Fragments immediately.

After Old Qin's death, the survivors mourned him and discussed the mysteries of Jiang Yu's space and how to investigate the Fragments. Sheng An secretly subdued Qi Lingwu and went alone to the Laboratory to confront the Fragments, leaving her next move uncertain.

• Sheng An gathered Old Qin's clothes and vowed to overturn the Chessboard and restore a clean world.
• Qin Xuan comforted Jiang Yu and the others, while Song Linwei and the group discussed how the Space Key might have transferred to Jiang Yu and whether the space was connected to the Fragments.
• Qi Lingwu decided to take the final fragment and investigate the Fragments himself so Sheng An would not have to risk it.
• Sheng An caught Qi Lingwu as he tried to leave, anesthetized him, took the fragment, and asked him to watch her back and kill her if she became an Otherkind.
• Sheng An entered the Laboratory alone, removed the incomplete Fragment assembly from its apparatus, and unleashed her full superpower.

Sheng An entered the Fragment Egg to examine its memories, but the Fragments began trying to transform her into an Otherkind as she traveled through a temporal rift. She witnessed the Fragments’ arrival and devastation of Earth, then lost herself to rage and began killing the monsters emerging from the time shards.

• Sheng An connected with the Fragment Egg while Qi Lingwu and the others watched, unable to reach her or interrupt the examination.
• After two hours, the Fragments began drawing energy back into Sheng An and seemed to be turning her into an Otherkind.
• Sheng An shattered the white expanse of the temporal rift and leaped into a wormhole filled with intersecting shards of time.
• Sheng An witnessed the Fragments’ defeat and exile, their meteor shower striking Earth, and their manipulation of humanity to gather energy until the planet was destroyed.
• Sheng An became overwhelmed by fury, her eyes turned scarlet, and she began slaughtering monsters that crawled out of the time shards.

As Sheng An lost herself to the Fragments and descended into an endless slaughter, Qi Lingwu entered her mental power through an anchor point he had planted long ago. Their teammates lent him their energy so he could search the scarlet time fragments for her, leaving Wu Buyu tearfully hoping they would both return with Hao Jingye’s information.

• Wu Buyu heard Sheng An's thoughts of bloodlust and slaughter as the mark between her brows turned blood-red, but the others could not sever her connection to the Fragments.
• Qi Lingwu revealed the anchor point he had planted in Sheng An's mental power and decided to enter her consciousness despite the danger from her time power and the Fragment Egg.
• Song Linwei and the others poured their energy into Qi Lingwu, enabling him to follow the anchor point into Sheng An's time.
• Sheng An continued killing through time, briefly hearing a distant call before the voice in her mind drove her back into the slaughter.
• Qi Lingwu entered the scarlet time fragments and called for Sheng An as he searched for her, while Wu Buyu silently wished for them to return with Hao Jingye's information.

Qi Lingwu searched through fragments of time and found Jiang Yu, Li Wanyun, Lou Mingwei, Li Xin, and Xiang Hanshuang in earlier lives, while repeatedly hoping to find Sheng An. After Sheng An and Qi Lingwu rescued Li Xin and Xiang Hanshuang from an Otherkind trap, Sheng An introduced herself as Li Xin’s future boss.

• Qi Lingwu watched Jiang Yu endure abuse from Yu Litian and Chen Jiaojiao while plotting revenge and dreaming of rescue.
• Qi Lingwu found Li Wanyun and Lou Mingwei gravely injured after Lou Mingwei’s group attacked her for her supplies, and Sheng An, Qi Lingwu, and Wu Buyu arrived to help them.
• Qi Lingwu encountered Li Xin and Xiang Hanshuang fighting after Xiang Hanshuang took offense at Li Xin, and the Otherkind ambushed them both.
• Sheng An and Qi Lingwu wiped out the Otherkind, and Wu Buyu explained that they had lured Li Xin and Xiang Hanshuang into a duel to weaken them.
• Sheng An told Li Xin that she was his future boss as Qi Lingwu continued searching through time.

Li Xin agreed to help Sheng An’s group fight the Otherkind, while Xiang Hanshuang asked for time to make arrangements. Qi Lingwu continued searching through the Time Fragments and found Zhuang Fan on his way to Capital City, where he and Jiang Ling fought after she mistook his words for an insult about her hair.

• Li Xin accepted Sheng An’s offer to join the fight against the Otherkind, and Xiang Hanshuang agreed to join after arranging things for her people.
• Qi Lingwu walked through the Time Fragments for years, searching for his anchor point, and encountered Zhuang Fan in the third year of the apocalypse.
• Zhuang Fan left a hostile base and headed for Capital City, where Jiang Ling told him the government had called Superpower Persons together to eliminate the Otherkind and their source.
• Jiang Ling invited Zhuang Fan to travel with her, but he accidentally sounded as though he had called her bald, provoking her to attack him.
• Nie Changshui passed the fighting Zhuang Fan and Jiang Ling, dismissed them as lunatics, and continued toward Capital City.

Qi Lingwu searched through time fragments for Sheng An and witnessed her turn Qiu Yu back toward atonement and gather their allies. After decades of searching, he reached a fragment from the early second year of the doomsday and saw Jiang Yu, while Sheng An had paused after hearing his distant calls.

• Qi Lingwu watched Sheng An defeat M’s scheme, offer Qiu Yu a chance to atone, and bring her back into the fight against the Otherkind.
• Wu Buyu tried to use Mind Reading, but Gu Qiansheng silenced his power while Sheng An negotiated with Qiu Yu.
• Qi Lingwu saw Sheng An gather their teammates and other Superpower People in Capital City, including Ji Yani, who joined after Sheng An promised meals.
• After twenty years of searching, Qi Lingwu heard that Sheng An had stopped killing in a time fragment when his calls reached her.
• In the thirty-eighth year, Qi Lingwu reached a fragment from the beginning of the second doomsday year and saw Jiang Yu.

Qi Lingwu witnessed Jiang Yu awaken her plant-type power, take revenge on Chen Jiaojiao and Yu Litian, and inherit the space through Chen Jiaojiao’s jade bracelet. After Hao Jingye saved Jiang Yu indirectly, Qi Lingwu understood how the space could change owners and continued searching for Sheng An.

• Jiang Yu awakened her plant-type superpower when the Otherkind attacked her after Chen Jiaojiao and Yu Litian abandoned her.
• Jiang Yu killed Yu Litian and Chen Jiaojiao, and Chen Jiaojiao’s jade bracelet fell beside her body.
• Hao Jingye passed by Jiang Yu with the Reflecting Otherkind, the Interference Otherkind, and the Illusion Otherkind, killing the Otherkind that threatened her before leaving.
• Jiang Yu recognized the jade bracelet as her family heirloom and vanished into the space, revealing that the space transferred when its owner died and someone else bound to the Space Key.
• Qi Lingwu wondered whether Sheng An had found Hao Jingye’s clues in the meteorite fragments and continued searching for her.

After Qi Lingwu spent forty-nine years searching through time, Sheng An regained her awareness and examined the past for information Hao Jingye had left behind. She found the clue hidden in the Jade Bracelet and discovered Hao Jingye’s space-related superpower.

• Qi Lingwu collapsed from exhaustion but kept calling for Sheng An until she answered and appeared beside him.
• Sheng An searched through the time fragments and saw how the Fragments had destroyed the world, while Qi Lingwu had sacrificed himself to give her an anchor for Time Reversal.
• Sheng An searched from the fifth year of doomsday back through the earlier years but found no information left by Hao Jingye.
• Sheng An traced the Jade Bracelet’s timeline and discovered a scorched, shattered world beyond the mist inside its space.
• Sheng An learned that Hao Jingye’s superpower was rule-and-order type space.

After awakening from the Fragments, Sheng An learned that forty-nine days had passed and oxygen depletion threatened mass deaths within hours. Faced with the Escape Ship and Time Reversal plans, she rejected both and left the group awaiting her alternative.

• Sheng An and Qi Lingwu escaped the Fragments and woke in the Laboratory as the fragment egg could no longer hold them.
• Song Linwei told Sheng An that forty-nine days had passed, more than forty million people had died, and oxygen would reach zero in six hours.
• Sheng An learned that the Laboratory had been converted into a partially completed Escape Ship, with Elder Li coordinating affairs on the ground.
• Song Linwei explained the two options: finish the Escape Ship or repeat the previous life’s Time Reversal, while Elder Li argued for securing what they could save.
• Sheng An rejected both plans, saying they could choose neither A nor B.

Sheng An and Qi Lingwu explained what they had learned inside the Fragments, including Qi Lingwu’s forty-nine years searching for her and Hao Jingye’s connection to the black soil space. The team learned that Hao Jingye had created the space and that it could only be used once, leaving them to consider what this meant for their remaining hope.

• Sheng An explained that the Fragments had beguiled her, while Qi Lingwu searched through their time fragments until he awakened her consciousness.
• Qi Lingwu revealed that he had experienced forty-nine years inside the Fragments, sustained by his teammates’ superpower energy, and described the memories of their previous lives.
• Qi Lingwu said he had not found Hao Jingye’s hidden information, but Wu Buyu connected Hao Jingye’s presence to the occasions when Jiang Yu could not enter the black soil space.
• Sheng An revealed that Hao Jingye’s space-type superpower had created the black soil space and that he had intended it to pass to Jiang Yu.
• Sheng An explained that Hao Jingye had used all his superpower to create the space, leaving it with the drawback that it could only be used once.

Sheng An and the others realized Hao Jingye had used his spatial power to preserve the black-soil space and that the Fragments had allowed multiple world restarts while growing stronger each time. The revelations left them facing the conclusion that they could not risk another restart, while Jiang Yu learned Hao Jingye had secretly helped humanity all along.

• The group discovered that Hao Jingye had carved the black-soil space out of the intact world, making it dependent on the planet and rendering the Escape Ship plan partly doomed.
• Qi Lingwu explained that their previous life had already been a restart, and the current life was the second restart.
• Sheng An concluded that the Fragments had retained some strength and memories through each restart, growing stronger while using humans and Otherkind against one another.
• Zhang Kun and Elder Li realized that another restart would likely empower the Fragments further, leaving humanity unable to afford another failure.
• Jiang Yu grieved that she had killed Hao Jingye, and Sheng An reassured her that he had always been their teammate.
• Song Linwei and Jiang Yu realized Hao Jingye had arranged for Wu Zhi to warn humanity about the apocalypse, completing the chain of events that led to this life.

With oxygen running out and humanity’s remaining plans failing, Sheng An weighed the choices left after learning the truth about the Fragments and Hao Jingye’s black soil space. As the crisis worsened, she decided to negotiate with the Fragments and start over one more time.

• Li Wanyun and Long Tianyu realized that the so-called cheats were humanity’s struggles within the bounds of science, not signs of chosen heroes.
• Sheng An and the others rejected both Time Reversal and the Escape Ship plan, while Jiang Yu offered to use Hao Jingye’s black soil space however they needed.
• Reports told the group that bases were falling, oxygen supplies were failing, and the fish mint was beginning to wither.
• Academician Zhou warned Sheng An that the fish mint’s decline meant humanity could become extinct within four hours.
• Song Linwei reported that the Research Institute had found no fundamental solution to the Fragments, while Elder Li and the Base Chief left the decision to Sheng An.
• Sheng An decided to negotiate with the Fragments and start over one more time.

With humanity nearing collapse, Sheng An confronted the Fragments and demanded a restart that would preserve their memories in exchange for returning the Fragments. After she threatened to bind herself to it forever and Qi Lingwu promised to anchor her consciousness, the Fragments agreed to the deal.

• Qi Lingwu, Song Linwei, Ke Jiaxue, and Xiang Hanshuang accepted Sheng An's decision to negotiate a restart despite their doubts.
• Sheng An offered to return the Fragments in exchange for one restart with their memories intact, while Song Linwei reported worsening disasters and dwindling oxygen reserves.
• Sheng An used the White Clock to strike the Fragments and threatened to remain symbiotic with it so it could never recover.
• Qi Lingwu promised to anchor Sheng An's consciousness and help seal themself away with the Fragments.
• The Fragments tempted Sheng An with life in a higher world, but she called it an invader and demanded an answer.
• The Fragments agreed to the deal.

Sheng An and the Special Affairs Office assembled the Fragments and prepared to reverse time, but Sheng An abruptly revealed she had no intention of restarting the world. The clock hands froze, leaving her allies stunned as she cursed the plan.

• Song Linwei struggled between despair and rage, and Wu Buyu quietly reached out to him.
• Elder Li saluted the sleeping Base Chief and wished for humanity's survival; the Base Chief shed tears and echoed his prayer.
• Sheng An and the Special Affairs Office gathered outside the Escape Ship, where the Fragments offered to take Sheng An and Qi Lingwu with it, but Sheng An refused.
• Gu Cheng warned Sheng An that handing over the final fragment would leave humanity without a backup plan, but she completed the Fragments anyway.
• The completed Fragments gathered energy for half an hour, then told Sheng An to begin Time Reversal.
• As Qi Lingwu and Mountain Blossom unleashed their powers, Sheng An's clock hands stopped, and she cursed the idea of restarting the world.