Recaps

At the Xu Family reception, Xu Zhihan confronted Zhao Huaide over his dead wife’s forged share transfer and exposed his role in her death, causing Zhao to confess and collapse to his knees. Xu Zhihan left the chaotic banquet with Lu Wenchuan, while the Xu Family’s respectable image suffered another blow.

• Xu Zhihan confronted Zhao Huaide about Jiang Ren, a jade ring, and Zhao’s late wife, while Xu Chengyuan tried to silence him and Lu Wenchuan stood between them.
• Xu Zhihan accused Zhao Huaide of forcing his wife’s fingerprint onto a share transfer agreement and taking the ring from her hand.
• Lu Wenchuan restrained Zhao Huaide as Xu Zhihan summoned the dead woman’s spectral presence, and Zhao’s jade ring cracked and fell apart.
• Zhao Huaide fell to his knees and blurted out that he had wanted the company back and had moved his wife’s death forward, while bystanders recorded his confession.
• Xu Zhihan rebuked Xu Chengyuan over his guests and left the banquet hall with Lu Wenchuan, who gave him candy when he looked unsteady.

After Zhao Huaide’s public confession, Lu Wenchuan arranged protection for Xu Zhihan and confronted the Xu Family over the investigation. Xu Zhihan chose to leave with Lu Wenchuan, and they drove away from the Xu Family.

• Lu Wenchuan’s Seventh Team secured Zhao Huaide and stopped people from deleting their recordings while Xu Chengyuan challenged Lu Wenchuan’s involvement.
• Lu Wenchuan revealed that Zhao Huaide had invested in Jiang Ren’s sanatorium, linking it to the Xu Family basement formation and the Special Investigation Bureau’s case.
• Xu Zhihan rejected Xu Chengyuan’s and Zhou Man’s appeals to return home, then chose to go with Lu Wenchuan under temporary witness protection.
• Lu Wenchuan protected Xu Zhihan from reporters and warned them against spreading rumors or manipulating public opinion.
• Xu Zhihan grew weaker on the way to the car, and Lu Wenchuan gave him candy before driving them away from the Xu Family.

Xu Zhihan underwent medical examinations and ability tests at the Special Investigation Bureau after Lu Wenchuan brought him there. When the test equipment restrained him and an external force activated the room’s formations, Xu Zhihan’s readings surged into the red as the lights went out.

• Lu Wenchuan brought Xu Zhihan to the Special Investigation Bureau, where Song Zhixia ordered a physical examination despite Xu Zhihan’s objections.
• Song Zhixia found Xu Zhihan’s physical condition dangerously poor but his mental fluctuations unusually stable and impossible to measure fully.
• Lu Wenchuan explained that the ability tests could help place Xu Zhihan on the Bureau’s protection list and counter Xu Chengyuan’s claim that he was mentally unstable.
• The testing chair unexpectedly restrained Xu Zhihan, and Lu Wenchuan cut the metal bands after Xu Zhihan challenged the Bureau’s treatment of him.
• An external interference triggered the testing room’s formations and directed every instrument at Xu Zhihan to extract his mental fluctuations.
• Xu Zhihan remained still as the lights went out, and every reading on the control room screens surged into the red.

Xu Zhihan destroyed an entity tied to the Old Gods Society after it recognized his divine spark, but the effort left him badly injured and unconscious. A cryptic message announced that the god had returned, prompting Lu Wenchuan to order an investigation of everyone in the Special Investigation Bureau.

• The testing array turned against Xu Zhihan, and Song Zhixia identified the Old Gods Society as the source of the intrusion.
• A black-faced entity called Xu Zhihan an awakened god and said he belonged on the altar, while Lu Wenchuan tried to shield him from its attack.
• Xu Zhihan forced the entity to kneel and shattered it, collapsing the array and destroying the testing equipment.
• Xu Zhihan collapsed and told Lu Wenchuan that the entity knew about his divine spark before passing out.
• A screen displayed the words "The God Has Returned," and Lu Wenchuan ordered an investigation of everyone in the Special Investigation Bureau.

Xu Zhihan woke in the Special Investigation Bureau’s medical room and learned that the Old Gods Society’s attack was connected to his past and the Divine Spark. Lu Wenchuan discovered that Deputy Director Shen Cheng had authorized the testing-room program changes and went to confront him.

• Xu Zhihan woke early despite Song Zhixia’s warning that his overloaded mental state should have kept him unconscious for three days.
• Xu Zhihan said the intruder’s aura resembled the entity in the Xu Family basement, and Lu Wenchuan identified the Old Gods Society as a likely link.
• Song Zhixia warned Xu Zhihan that some Bureau officials wanted to detain and study him, and he took his bitter medicine before asking Lu Wenchuan to leave the candy behind.
• A team member told Lu Wenchuan that the testing-room program had been altered internally with Deputy Director Shen Cheng’s authorization.
• Lu Wenchuan went to meet Shen Cheng and said he would ask him how he wanted to die.

Lu Wenchuan challenged Deputy Director Shen over the testing room incident and opposed Headquarters’ order to isolate Xu Zhihan. Xu Zhihan stopped the enforcement officers from taking him away and left with Lu Wenchuan to investigate a series of disappearances on the Old South City night bus route.

• Lu Wenchuan confronted Shen Cheng, who blamed an anomalous login for the testing room breach and proposed isolating Xu Zhihan for a seventy-two-hour evaluation.
• Lu Wenchuan rejected Shen Cheng’s plan and demanded an explanation for the Old Gods Society’s device entering the testing room.
• At the medical ward, Lu Wenchuan found Song Zhixia blocking two Headquarters officers sent to transfer Xu Zhihan to the Isolation Zone.
• Xu Zhihan came out of his room and used his power to release the officers’ Restraint Devices when they threatened to use force.
• Xu Zhihan asked to take a case to prove his usefulness, and Lu Wenchuan agreed to bring him to investigate seven disappearances linked to the Old South City route.

Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan boarded the anomalous night bus to investigate the disappearances and found the missing passengers trapped among the spirits. After Xu Zhihan silenced the driver, he ordered the bus to continue to its final stop, the Place of No Return.

• Lu Wenchuan and Xu Zhihan waited at the abandoned bus stop and boarded the green bus that appeared in the fog.
• Xu Zhihan identified three living missing passengers among the spirits and saw that their souls were bound by black energy.
• The driver threatened that no one could leave before the final stop, but Xu Zhihan silenced him with a command.
• Xu Zhihan ordered the bus to drive to the Place of No Return as the three trapped passengers began to stir.
• Lu Wenchuan charged his blade with Thunderlight and prepared to face whatever awaited them at the end of the route.

Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan fought the supernatural bus, discovering it used living passengers as fares and stored named tickets in its fare box. As Lu Wenchuan steered the bus away from a collapsed bridge, Xu Zhihan declared that it was time to stop it.

• Xu Zhihan found black threads binding the high school boy and realized the bus was using living people to make up its fares.
• The bus issued black tickets to its dead passengers, while its driver claimed that anyone without a ticket could not leave.
• Lu Wenchuan attacked the driver with lightning fire as Xu Zhihan opened the fare box and found tickets bearing names, including three blank ones for the living passengers.
• The driver sent the bus speeding toward a collapsed bridge, and Lu Wenchuan took the wheel and forced it away from the edge, reopening an old wound on his wrist.
• Xu Zhihan noticed Lu Wenchuan's injury and told him to move, declaring that the bus had to stop.

Xu Zhihan destroyed the bus’s tickets to free the dead souls and save the living passengers while Lu Wenchuan fought the driver. The passengers escaped, but the driver remained, and Xu Zhihan forced it to kneel as he ran out of strength.

• Lu Wenchuan held off the bus’s spirits while Xu Zhihan discovered that destroying the tickets would free the dead souls.
• Xu Zhihan tore up the tickets one by one, then burned the remaining stack despite the memories overwhelming him.
• Lu Wenchuan stopped the driver from devouring the three living passengers, and Xu Zhihan destroyed their tickets to free them.
• Lu Wenchuan shattered the bus door and ordered the passengers to run into the path to reality.
• The driver lunged at Xu Zhihan, who commanded it to kneel before collapsing from exhaustion.

Xu Zhihan separated the trapped souls from the Old Gods Society’s influence inside the night bus and recovered a damaged mark as a clue. He collapsed from the effort, and Lu Wenchuan carried him away as the bus vanished.

• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan forced the driver to reveal that it served the Old Gods Society, but its mark began trying to destroy it.
• When Lu Wenchuan stopped Xu Zhihan from touching the mark, Xu Zhihan instead drew the resentment from the bus and separated the trapped souls from the black vapor.
• Xu Zhihan stripped the driver’s black vapor away, freed the souls, and sealed half of the damaged mark inside a charred bus ticket while Lu Wenchuan pinned it down.
• Xu Zhihan collapsed and coughed up blood; Lu Wenchuan carried him off the bus after confirming that the survivors had escaped and the souls could leave.
• Lu Wenchuan took Xu Zhihan to the car with the ticket in hand as the night bus turned to ash and disappeared.

After Xu Zhihan helped rescue three people and release the night bus’s trapped souls, he returned to the medical room in critical condition. Lu Wenchuan and Song Zhixia discovered that the Old Gods Society’s mark might share a drug source with the medication Xu Zhihan had taken from the Xu Family, while Xu Zhihan secretly heard enough to blame his family.

• Lu Wenchuan brought the badly weakened Xu Zhihan back to the medical room, and Xu Zhihan first asked whether the three people and the bus’s souls had survived.
• Song Zhixia warned that Xu Zhihan’s body could not withstand many more uses of his ability, while Lu Wenchuan admitted that he had taken him on the mission because his help had saved lives.
• Song Zhixia told Lu Wenchuan that the remaining Old Gods Society mark contained traces of a drug similar to an ingredient in Xu Zhihan’s long-term medication.
• Song Zhixia asked Lu Wenchuan not to tell Xu Zhihan about the possible connection, but Xu Zhihan overheard their conversation and decided the Xu Family owed him another debt.

Xu Zhihan accepted a paper flower from the boy he had rescued and reflected on the boy’s promise to live well. After reviewing evidence linking the bus mark’s drug traces to his stepmother’s family, Xu Zhihan planned to make Zhou Man fear the dead.

• A rescued high school student thanked Xu Zhihan with a handmade paper flower and promised to live well.
• Xu Zhihan accepted the flower, and Lu Wenchuan returned the mint candy to the bedside table for him.
• Lu Wenchuan gave Xu Zhihan test results linking the drug traces in the bus mark to a supplier connected to Zhou Man’s distant cousin.
• Xu Zhihan said they should first make Zhou Man unable to sleep, then let the dead come to collect their debts.

Xu Chengyuan confronted Zhou Man about her connection to Xu An’s death, and Zhou Man revealed that Zhou Qiliang had taken money to send He Xiaoyun away. After the Special Investigation Bureau found He Xiaoyun alive, Xu Zhihan asked Lu Wenchuan to bring her back gently.

• Xu Chengyuan questioned Zhou Man about Zhou Qiliang and Xu An, and she admitted she knew Xu An would die but refused to identify who ordered it.
• He Guilan’s ghost appeared in the study, and Zhou Man confessed that Zhou Qiliang had taken money and sent He Xiaoyun away.
• Xu Mingji overheard Zhou Man’s confession and began to consider separating himself from her.
• Xu Chengyuan told his assistant to investigate Zhou Qiliang and He Xiaoyun, while Zhou Man collapsed after He Guilan vanished.
• At the Special Investigation Bureau, Xu Zhihan explained that he had borrowed He Guilan’s resentment to make Zhou Man reveal the truth.
• Lu Wenchuan received word that He Xiaoyun was alive at the Neighboring City Psychiatric Sanatorium, and Xu Zhihan told him to bring her back without disturbing her.

Lu Wenchuan rescued He Xiaoyun from a psychiatric facility and brought her under Special Investigation Bureau protection. On the way back, He Xiaoyun revealed that her mother had visited Zhou Man before Xu Zhihan’s medicine was switched, leaving her afraid of what Xu Zhihan would learn.

• Lu Wenchuan confronted Director Huang and discovered that Zhou Qiliang had placed He Xiaoyun in the facility.
• Lu Wenchuan told He Xiaoyun that Xu Zhihan had sent him, and she asked in disbelief whether Xu Zhihan was still alive.
• He Xiaoyun agreed to leave with Lu Wenchuan but begged him not to let Zhou Man know she was alive.
• Lu Wenchuan secured the facility’s records and drove He Xiaoyun toward the Special Investigation Bureau.
• He Xiaoyun told Lu Wenchuan that her mother had visited Zhou Man before Xu Zhihan’s medicine was switched, and agreed to tell Xu Zhihan herself.

He Xiaoyun told Xu Zhihan that Lin Wan and He Guilan had uncovered the Xu family’s plans to use him as a vessel, and that Xu An had been taken into the basement. After Lin Wan’s jade clasp stirred a painful memory in Xu Zhihan, he decided to let Zhou Man learn that He Xiaoyun was alive so she could be made to reveal the truth.

• Lu Wenchuan brought He Xiaoyun to see Xu Zhihan, and she showed him an old photograph of Lin Wan, He Guilan, herself, Xu Zhihan, and Xu An.
• He Xiaoyun explained that the Xu family planned to use Xu Zhihan as a vessel, and that Lin Wan had tried to take him away before becoming ill.
• He Xiaoyun said her mother traced Lin Wan’s suspicious medicine to Zhou Man and Zhou Qiliang, then died after warning her to hide.
• He Xiaoyun revealed that Xu An disappeared after Lin Wan’s death and that she had seen someone take him into the basement with a red string tied around his hand.
• He Xiaoyun gave Xu Zhihan Lin Wan’s jade clasp, which brought him a brief memory of his mother promising to take him away and warning him not to trust Xu Chengyuan.
• Xu Zhihan asked Lu Wenchuan to let Zhou Man know He Xiaoyun was alive so they could make Zhou Man reveal what she knew.

Zhou Man learned that He Xiaoyun was alive and accidentally revealed her crimes to Xu Mingji, who recoiled from her. Xu Zhihan gave Zhou Man a choice to confess to the Special Investigation Bureau or face He Guilan, then warned that Xu Chengyuan was next; Xu Chengyuan returned as Xu Mingji told him He Xiaoyun was alive.

• Zhou Man received a photo of He Xiaoyun alive at the Special Investigation Bureau, and Xu Mingji recognized her.
• Zhou Man called Zhou Qiliang and admitted He Guilan's death and He Xiaoyun's imprisonment while Xu Mingji listened.
• Xu Zhihan confronted Zhou Man on the television and demanded that she confess, warning that He Guilan would visit her if she refused.
• Xu Zhihan listed Zhou Man's crimes and told her Xu Chengyuan was next before ending the call.
• Xu Chengyuan came home, and Xu Mingji told him He Xiaoyun was still alive.

Xu Chengyuan realized Xu Zhihan had uncovered Zhou Man’s past crimes and tried to contain the damage while the Special Investigation Bureau pursued Zhou Qiliang. The Bureau arrested Zhou Qiliang with new evidence, leaving Xu Zhihan eager to examine a memory card despite Lu Wenchuan’s concern for his health.

• Xu Chengyuan learned Xu Zhihan had exposed Zhou Man’s call and ordered her to stay silent while he summoned a lawyer and sought Zhou Qiliang.
• Xu Chengyuan told Zhou Man that the Gu Family could no longer protect her, and Xu Mingji feared his father would abandon him.
• At the Special Investigation Bureau, Lu Wenchuan told Xu Zhihan they needed Zhou Man to reveal more before they could arrest her.
• A team member reported that Zhou Qiliang had been stopped at the airport with a fake passport and a memory card containing Lin Wan’s medication records and surveillance footage related to Xu An.
• Xu Zhihan ordered the team to bring the memory card, and Lu Wenchuan agreed on the condition that Xu Zhihan watch it only once.

Zhou Qiliang was arrested while trying to flee and confessed to his and Zhou Man’s roles in He Guilan’s death, He Xiaoyun’s confinement, and the harm done to Lin Wan and Xu An. After learning Xu Chengyuan knew what had happened to Xu An, Xu Zhihan asked Lu Wenchuan to show Zhou Man the interview transcript, hinting that he would confront her that night.

• Seventh Team arrested Zhou Qiliang at the airport with a fake passport, and Lu Wenchuan questioned him about the memory card and He Xiaoyun.
• Zhou Qiliang confessed that Zhou Man ordered He Guilan taken to the Xu Family Old Residence, where she fell into a well and was left to die; he later sent He Xiaoyun to the Sanatorium.
• Zhou Qiliang said Zhou Man arranged for Lin Wan’s medication to be switched and identified a masked man who arranged Xu An’s removal to the basement as a member of the Old Gods Society.
• Zhou Qiliang confirmed Xu Chengyuan knew about Xu An being used as a vessel, and Lu Wenchuan sent him away to face prison as well as serve as a witness.
• Xu Zhihan watched the memory-card videos and read Zhou Qiliang’s confession, then told Lu Wenchuan to show Zhou Man the transcript that night.

Zhou Man confessed to her crimes and implicated Xu Chengyuan before the Special Investigation Bureau took her into custody. He Guilan’s spirit departed after learning He Xiaoyun was safe, while Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan agreed that Xu Chengyuan would be dealt with next.

• Zhou Man read Zhou Qiliang’s questioning record, then accused Xu Chengyuan of knowing about and benefiting from the crimes.
• He Guilan’s spirit appeared, and Zhou Man confessed to letting her die, sending He Xiaoyun away, changing Lin Wan’s medication, and allowing Xu An to be taken into the basement.
• The Special Investigation Bureau took Zhou Man away, while Xu Mingji heard the truth and Xu Chengyuan told him to forget what he had heard.
• He Guilan learned that He Xiaoyun was protected and would have a good life, then bowed to Xu Zhihan and faded away.
• Xu Zhihan learned that Zhou Man had been taken into custody and told Lu Wenchuan that Xu Chengyuan would be next.

After Zhou Man was arrested, Xu Chengyuan told Xu Mingji to distance himself from her crimes and avoid provoking Xu Zhihan. Alone with the public backlash, Xu Mingji received an offer to help him harm Xu Zhihan and asked what to do.

• Xu Chengyuan told Xu Mingji that Zhou Man’s crimes had nothing to do with him and warned him not to provoke Xu Zhihan.
• Xu Mingji read the online criticism of himself and cried alone, with no one coming to comfort him.
• An unknown sender messaged Xu Mingji, asking whether he wanted to make Xu Zhihan pay.
• The sender sent Xu Mingji a photo of the unconscious Xu Zhihan and said a small action could stop him from waking up.
• Xu Mingji asked the sender what he should do.

Xu Mingji met a masked figure from the Old Gods Society, who gave him a talisman to place near Xu Zhihan and promised to help save Zhou Man. He left the studio frightened, with a message warning him not to let the unseen presence go hungry.

• Xu Mingji went to an abandoned photography studio after receiving an address from an unknown number.
• A masked figure confronted Xu Mingji with his hatred of Xu Zhihan and offered him a talisman to put near Xu Zhihan’s pillow or medicine.
• The figure showed Xu Mingji a photograph of Zhou Man in an interrogation room and promised help if he cooperated.
• Xu Mingji took the talisman after the figure said Xu Zhihan would return to the Xu household and that something was already waiting for him.
• Xu Mingji received a warning not to let it go hungry, then saw a small handprint appear on the studio mirror.

Xu Zhihan returned to the Xu Family to retrieve Lin Wan’s key and uncovered Xu Mingji’s attempt to use a talisman against him. After extracting a clue about the Old Gods Society, Xu Zhihan headed for the Abandoned Photo Studio with Lu Wenchuan.

• Xu Zhihan returned to the Xu Family with Lu Wenchuan and found Xu Mingji hiding a talisman and a shadow linked to the Old Gods Society.
• Xu Zhihan opened the safe with Lin Wan’s birthday and took the old key, while Xu Mingji attached the talisman to his wrist.
• The talisman recoiled from Xu Zhihan and bound itself to Xu Mingji, whose shadow began trying to consume him.
• Xu Mingji revealed that a stranger had sent him to the Abandoned Photo Studio, and Xu Zhihan interrogated the shadow until it mentioned a mirror and a door there.
• Xu Zhihan sealed part of the shadow and ordered Lu Wenchuan to send Xu Mingji to the Special Investigation Bureau, then set out for the Photo Studio with Lu Wenchuan.

Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan investigated an Old Gods Society remnant at a photo studio, where a mirror awakened a mysterious connection to Xu Zhihan’s past. After the masked figure warned that Lin Wan had wanted to take more than one person away, Xu Zhihan set out for the Xu Family Old Residence to search for answers, and Lu Wenchuan followed.

• Lu Wenchuan drove Xu Zhihan to West City Old Street after the Seventh Team took the unconscious Xu Mingji away.
• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan found traces of Xu Mingji and black energy inside the Photo Studio, along with a mirror showing a dark corridor.
• The mirror’s presence affected Xu Zhihan, and Lu Wenchuan caught his wrist and stopped him from approaching it.
• A masked figure called Xu Zhihan a god, said the Divine Throne awaited him, and warned that the Xu Family was only the first gate and Lin Wan had wanted to take someone else away.
• Xu Zhihan shattered the mirror, then decided to search the Xu Family Old Residence for answers, and Lu Wenchuan went with him.

After the Old Gods Society’s mirror gate showed Xu Zhihan the Divine Throne, he and Lu Wenchuan learned the gate’s residue pointed to the Xu Family Old Residence. Xu Zhihan insisted on going there to learn what Lin Wan wanted, but agreed to wait for Song Zhixia to stabilize him and for Lu Wenchuan to accompany him.

• The Seventh Team found the photo studio’s mirror shattered, and Xu Zhihan told Lu Wenchuan that he had seen the Divine Throne in it.
• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan discussed the masked person’s titles for them and Lu Wenchuan’s teacher, who had left him the warning, “When the door opens, don't look back.”
• A team member reported that the mirror-gate residue pointed to the Xu Family Old Residence and that Xu Mingji had awakened, asking to see Xu Zhihan.
• Xu Zhihan refused to meet Xu Mingji and prepared to go to the old residence, but Lu Wenchuan persuaded him to wait for Song Zhixia and accept Lu’s company.
• Lu Wenchuan called Song Zhixia, who began scolding him before he could finish giving her the address.

Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan searched the Xu Family Old Residence and found Lin Wan’s letter, which warned that the Xu Family planned to use Xu Zhihan to nurture a gate and urged him not to fear his capacity for compassion. The letter and a map led them to a marked place beneath the residence called Door Bone, where something began knocking.

• Song Zhixia tested Xu Zhihan, found his mental state unstable after he saw the Divine Throne, and made him take medicine before allowing him to visit the old residence with Lu Wenchuan.
• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan entered the abandoned residence and found a concealed box beneath the study floorboard.
• Xu Zhihan opened Lin Wan’s letter, which revealed the Xu Family’s plan to use him as a vessel for a gate and warned him about mirrors and the Divine Throne.
• Xu Zhihan remembered fragments of his past as Lin Wan’s words about gods being softhearted clashed with the command that gods should not be.
• Xu Zhihan found a map marking Door Bone beneath the residence, and he and Lu Wenchuan heard something knocking below before deciding to investigate.