Recaps

Shadow sensed danger aboard the plane, then used his Instigation ability to make Lu Xiao stabilize it after a bird strike disabled both engines. The three escaped into the desert before the plane crashed, while Shadow suspected the Prison Wardens had caused the incident.

• Shadow sensed danger as Lu Xiao pushed the plane's throttle to maximum, and a bird strike set one engine on fire.
• Lu Xiao attempted to fly through the emergency but stalled the plane, and the second engine failed as they plunged toward the ground.
• Shadow gave Lu Xiao one of his fingers and used Instigation to make him regain control of the plane.
• Lu Xiao's maneuvers stabilized the plane long enough for Shadow, Lu Xiao, and He Shang to jump out above the desert.
• The plane crashed and exploded, and Shadow told Lu Xiao not to fly again.

Shadow, Lu Xiao, and He Shang encountered Lucilla, the Third Seat-Pride, after arriving in her territory. Shadow bribed her with a finger to help his student join the Saints as the Tenth Seat, but Lucilla used her ability on him.

• Lu Xiao realized he had left his eye and heart behind just as Shadow sensed an approaching Anomaly.
• Lucilla arrived amid a swarm of bats and greeted Shadow, whom she called Mr. War.
• Lucilla lunged at He Shang, but Shadow stopped her and explained that this He Shang was not the one who had humiliated her.
• Shadow offered Lucilla one of his fingers, and she accepted the bribe to hear his request that his student join the Saints as the Tenth Seat.
• Lucilla realized Shadow had become a god and asked whether he planned to challenge Gambler for the First Seat; Shadow denied wanting the position.
• Shadow felt a surge of restlessness and recognized that Lucilla had used her ability on him.

Shadow tried to secure Lucilla’s cooperation in bringing He Shang into the Saints, offering her divine flesh and promising not to challenge Gambler for leadership. Lucilla accepted his reason for wanting He Shang and hinted that she expected help with her own Deification Ritual.

• Shadow reassured Lucilla that he would not compete with Gambler for the Saints’ chief position, while Lu Xiao introduced himself and asked if he could lick her.
• When Lucilla threatened Lu Xiao, Shadow gave him another finger and sent him to guard He Shang.
• Lucilla ate Shadow’s divine flesh, then asked why he wanted He Shang to join the Saints.
• Shadow said he wanted to initiate a Deification Ritual for his student, and Lucilla warned him not to lie to her.
• Lucilla said her own Deification Ritual had reached a critical step, so Shadow directed her toward the plane wreckage and activated Incitement.

Shadow and Lucilla formed a partnership as the Saints claimed responsibility for stealing the System Core, naming Gambler as their new First Seat and revealing War as a Deity. Antie’s warning and Cass’s resignation left the Highest Office facing a possible internal reform.

• Lucilla agreed to a partnership with Shadow, while the Highest Office announced that the System Core had been stolen and suspected the Saints.
• Gambler released a video claiming responsibility for the incident, introduced War as the Saints’ Ninth Seat, and revealed that War was a Deity.
• Antie left the Highest Office after killing his country’s representative and warning the organization about its authority.
• Mr. Cass concluded that the Pioneers might reform the Prison Wardens by abolishing the Highest Office, then resigned and returned to his country.

Gambler confronted the Pope about his forsaken faith and took the Holy Relic Scepter, while the Pope's original body remained committed to completing his Deification Ritual. Gambler destroyed the Black Joker and drew a Colorful Joker, declaring that he was placing his bets.

• Gambler questioned the Pope about his plans with War and threatened to wager their lives after the Pope resisted his control.
• Gambler asked whether the Pope would choose faith again, but the Pope defended his betrayal and declared that Cthulhu would return to consume them all.
• Gambler ordered the Pope to leave the Scepter behind, and the Pope tossed it down before vanishing.
• The Pope's original body appeared, collected the Scepter, and told Gambler that he would become a god without needing Gambler to stake everything on him.
• Gambler tore up the Black Joker, declared that he had never lost, and drew a Colorful Joker.

Shadow, Lu Xiao, and He Shang escaped after the plane exploded, and Shadow explained that He Shang might absorb the Divinity in his Clone to prepare for the Deification Ritual. Shadow learned that Lu Xiao’s ritual began with killing a true Deity alone and eating Them whole, then asked whether Lu Xiao had chosen a target.

• Shadow led Lu Xiao and He Shang away from the area and said the Clone’s filtered Divinity might help He Shang prepare for his Deification Ritual.
• Shadow explained that Deification Rituals required reaching King-level and generally depended on a person’s Trait.
• Lu Xiao revealed that the Omniscient Mirror had told him to kill a true Deity alone and eat Them whole as the first step of his ritual.
• Shadow considered whether Lu Xiao’s unknown Trait involved eating and reflected on how Lu Xiao had changed the paths of others.
• Shadow asked Lu Xiao whether he had chosen a Deity to kill.

Lu Xiao learned that the Corrupted Creator had created their world and was being kept as a contingency to replace him when the world faced destruction. Shadow revealed that Doctor Li had prepared measures to control the Creator and that other Creators were imprisoned in the Dark Prison.

• Lu Xiao asked Shadow whether eating the Corrupted Creator could complete his deification ritual, and Shadow advised him to wait until he became a god because the Creator was especially powerful in his own world.
• Shadow explained that whoever ate the Corrupted Creator would take his place as the world's Creator, and that the plan was for the replacement to lead the world into destruction.
• Lu Xiao asked why the Corrupted Creator did not resist or escape, and Shadow said the Creator had lost hope, might be making secret arrangements, and would be stopped from leaving by Serial Number 02-Angel.
• Lu Xiao realized Doctor Li had created the Corrupted Creator and likely arranged Angel to keep him in check.
• Shadow revealed that there had been multiple Creators, with the least corrupted one kept in the Containment Facility and the others imprisoned in the Dark Prison.

Shadow explained that the Prison Wardens were preserving humanity through repeated evacuation and Cage Plans, then brought Lu Xiao and He Shang into the Dark Prison. Driver arrived to collect them and was startled to recognize Shadow as a Deity.

• Shadow told Lu Xiao that the Creators were being kept as livestock for Zhang Chu and that the Prison Wardens guarded the prison.
• Shadow opened a passage to the Dark Prison by bribing and psychologically influencing himself, and Lu Xiao and He Shang followed him through.
• Shadow explained that the Prison Wardens planned to send Pioneers and high-quality humans to a New World while those left behind carried out another Cage Plan.
• Shadow told Lu Xiao that the plan might fail and that he did not know how many times it could succeed.
• Driver arrived in an aircraft to pick them up, recognized Shadow's aura, and realized he was a Deity.
• Driver apologized to Shadow and asked why he had come to the Dark Prison.

Shadow brought Lu Xiao to meet Bai Suoyi, who had been awakened again by Lu Xiao’s blood and recognized him as Serial Number 292-Lost Person. The reunion ended with Bai Suoyi and Shadow exchanging a punch and a joke, while Driver and He Shang waited together by C02’s Gate.

• Shadow explained to Driver how Lu Xiao had taken over the plane, and Driver dismissed his own role in Lu Xiao’s account as a dream.
• Driver told Lu Xiao that Director had advanced technology while Lu Xiao slept, then teleported with Shadow, Lu Xiao, and He Shang to a Gate.
• Shadow told He Shang to stay with Driver, and the two clasped hands after deciding they were comrades from C03 Containment Facility.
• Shadow led Lu Xiao through the ruins to a deep pit and called out to Old Bai.
• Bai Suoyi appeared, recognized Lu Xiao as Serial Number 292-Lost Person, and saluted him.
• Bai Suoyi punched at Shadow, who blocked him and tossed him a newly regrown finger; Bai Suoyi joked that he did not accept bribes.

Bai Suoyi explained that he had been gravely wounded while dealing with a person who went mad after awakening, and Shadow described humanity and conviction as anchors against divinity-induced madness. Lu Xiao, Shadow, and Bai Suoyi descended into the ruins of the Anomaly Supervision Bureau’s Initial Base and reached a decaying laboratory.

• Bai Suoyi told Lu Xiao that a person he awakened in the Land of Slumber went mad and attacked him, leaving him near death; the Director rescued him and lost an arm.
• Shadow explained that shaken convictions and lost humanity could lead people with divinity toward madness, contrasting Niclade and Adam with the still-sane soldier Dart.
• Lu Xiao reflected on humanity through the Prison Doctor and Ivan before Bai Suoyi led him and Shadow into the pit.
• Lu Xiao recognized the vast underground ruins as the Bureau’s base, and Shadow confirmed it was the Anomaly Supervision Bureau’s Initial Base.
• After walking for roughly two hours through the ruins, the three reached a laboratory surrounded by rotting flesh and unsettling sounds of breathing.

Lu Xiao, Shadow, and Bai Suoyi explored a sealed underground facility to retrieve an item and meet someone. After Shadow used his ability to calm the approaching figure, he welcomed him back as Dr. Shuns.

• Shadow explained that they had left something behind when they were weaker and led Lu Xiao and Bai Suoyi to retrieve it.
• Bai Suoyi opened a sealed chamber and activated a crystal sphere that revealed Lu Xiao's mental power was white.
• The group followed the crystal's light for about an hour until a crazed figure approached them.
• Shadow used his Bribery ability to calm the figure after it touched his thrown coat.
• Shadow identified the figure as Dr. Shuns and welcomed him back.

Lu Xiao, Shadow, and Bai Suoyi subdued the maddened Cass Shuns and returned to find Driver and He Shang becoming sworn brothers. Shadow gave Driver a severed finger to let the Transforming Vehicle teleport to the Present World, and the vehicle vanished after Driver tried again.

• Cass Shuns briefly regained clarity before his madness returned, so Lu Xiao knocked him unconscious to keep him calm.
• Lu Xiao and the others returned to the Transforming Vehicle and found Driver and He Shang pledging to become sworn brothers.
• Shadow approved of their bond because it would help strengthen He Shang's humanity, and Driver declared the front passenger seat reserved for his second brother.
• When Driver asked how they would return, Shadow gave him a severed finger and urged him to try teleporting the vehicle to the Present World.
• Driver tried again, and the Transforming Vehicle flickered before vanishing.

Shadow realized he had to use Bribery on the Transforming Vehicle rather than Driver, allowing the group to teleport back to the C03 Containment Facility. There, Shadow instructed Doctor to use C03’s system main body, but Doctor suddenly fell back into madness.

• Shadow recognized that teleportation belonged to the Transforming Vehicle, then used Bribery on it and returned the group to C03.
• Driver and He Shang carried the unconscious Shuns into the Containment Facility, where the Director greeted Bai Suoyi as his father.
• Bai Suoyi explained to Lu Xiao that he had taken the Director in as an orphan and accepted being called Dad.
• The Director led the group to Doctor’s office, where Shadow told Doctor to use the system’s main body in C03’s server room and promised to help raise his clearance.
• Doctor’s eyes turned bloodshot and his expression twisted as he fell into madness again.

The Director arranged a Group Dreamscape to enter Shuns's consciousness and help restore his sanity, while he became convinced that He Shang was a successful genetic clone. Shadow, Lu Xiao, Bai Suoyi, and Driver entered Shuns's dream, where Bai Suoyi recognized that the laboratory was not the one used for the experiment.

• The Director prepared Little Black's Containment Room and proposed using its dream-weaving ability to enter Shuns's consciousness and stop his experiment.
• Shadow led Lu Xiao, Bai Suoyi, and Driver into the Group Dreamscape after Driver insisted on joining them.
• The Director concluded that He Shang was a genetic clone and asked him to cooperate in an experiment, which He Shang eventually accepted.
• Lu Xiao and the others awoke in a bright laboratory, and a researcher hurried them toward an imminent experiment.
• Shadow realized they were in Dr. Shuns's dream, but Bai Suoyi said the laboratory was not the one used for the experiment.

Shadow and Bai Suoyi recognized the Initial Base laboratory, where Doctor Li planned to begin the Apotheosis Plan despite the risks and asked whether they were prepared to sacrifice themselves. They visited Chen Fei and Zhang Chu in Nutrient Tanks, learned how both had been gravely injured, and heard that the origin of Chen Fei’s mechanical heart remained unknown.

• Shadow and Bai Suoyi recognized the laboratory as part of the Initial Base, while Doctor Li told Shuns that less than six months remained and the experiment could not wait.
• Doctor Li asked Lu Xiao and the others if they were prepared to sacrifice themselves, and Bai Suoyi requested ten minutes to see Chen Fei and Zhang Chu.
• Shadow and Bai Suoyi led Lu Xiao and Driver to Chen Fei and Zhang Chu, who were submerged in Nutrient Tanks with severe injuries.
• Bai Suoyi explained that a Kin had torn out Chen Fei’s heart and that Zhang Chu had been injured after returning to retrieve Chen Fei’s body.
• Bai Suoyi said that Zhang Chu’s Flying Sword had plunged into his own head and that both he and Liu Guang remembered nothing after being ambushed.
• Bai Suoyi revealed that Doctor Li had transplanted Serial Number 05 into Chen Fei, but they did not know where the heart had come from.

In the Dreamscape, Bai Suoyi explained that Doctor Li had transplanted the unknown heart into Chen Fei after the first Apotheosis experiment, while the reason Zhang Chu woke remained unclear. As an unexpected incident drew near, Lu Xiao volunteered to undergo the experiment first, and Bai Suoyi sensed that the moment had arrived.

• Bai Suoyi told Lu Xiao that Chen Fei became a test subject in the second batch of the Apotheosis Project after receiving the unknown heart, but he and Shadow did not know how Zhang Chu had awakened.
• Bai Xuedong arrived with soldiers, and Bai Suoyi greeted his father with tears as he recalled the reason behind his father's strictness.
• Doctor Li asked who would go first, and Bai Xuedong ordered Bai Suoyi to step forward.
• Lu Xiao pulled Bai Suoyi back and volunteered to go first, despite Bai Xuedong insisting that he was more important.
• Shadow wondered whose Dreamscape they had entered and suspected the memory might help him recover memories of Lu Xiao; Bai Suoyi then said it was time.

With the Kin attacking the base, Lu Xiao persuaded Doctor Li and Shuns to proceed with the experiment that vaporized and reassembled its subject. Lu Xiao emerged intact and unmutated, then said, “I saw it.”

• A soldier warned Bai Xuedong that the Kin were attacking and the base had been exposed, so Bai Xuedong sent the researchers to the Shelter Room and organized the defense.
• Lu Xiao convinced Doctor Li to run the experiment before the base fell, and Doctor Li and Shuns took him to the experiment site.
• Doctor Li explained that the process would vaporize Lu Xiao and reassemble him, possibly as a monster, but Lu Xiao entered the tank anyway.
• Doctor Li activated the experiment, channeling the base's nuclear reactor energy into the tank and vaporizing Lu Xiao.
• As the Kin's attack shook the base, Doctor Li and Shuns waited while Lu Xiao's body slowly reassembled.
• Lu Xiao emerged intact and unmutated, then murmured, “I saw it.”

After the experiment succeeded, Lu Xiao saw the path of apotheosis and prepared for the arrival of a powerful Evil God. He climbed the path, leaving keepsakes for Doctor Li, Shuns, the Captain, and Zhang Chu as his companions’ memories of him began to disappear.

• Lu Xiao confirmed that the experiment had succeeded and told Doctor Li and Shuns that he had seen the apotheosis path.
• Knowing a powerful Evil God would soon descend, Lu Xiao asked Shuns to remember him and told Doctor Li that he had a daughter named Lu Qian.
• Lu Xiao stepped onto the staircase with both feet, gouged out his left eye for Doctor Li, and gave him his heart to leave for the Captain.
• Lu Xiao tore the skin from his face and made it a mask for Zhang Chu, then began climbing the staircase as his aura grew stronger.
• Doctor Li and Shuns lost their memories of Lu Xiao and tried to record his words, but their writing faded until only fragments remained.

Lu Xiao continued climbing the Apotheosis staircase in his Dreamscape as an Evil God attacked him and the soldiers around him. He revealed that he had acted before, despite being unable to intervene without losing the last of his humanity.

• Everyone woke from the shattered Dreamscape except Lu Xiao, and Shuns rushed to his side, crying that he had not forgotten him.
• In Lu Xiao's continuing Dreamscape, Bai Xuedong and the soldiers defended the base from the Kin, but they had forgotten Lu Xiao and could not remember his role.
• An Evil God descended, and its presence transformed a soldier into a monster; the other humans learned not to look directly at it.
• As Lu Xiao climbed the staircase, his aura strengthened, his injuries healed, and the Evil God crushed Kin with gravity before attacking him.
• Lu Xiao endured the Evil God's gravity and whispers without stopping, even as the staircase collapsed beneath him and his body began to break down.
• Lu Xiao explained that climbing the Apotheosis Path eroded his humanity and that acting could turn him into an unconscious, rule-like being, then insisted, "But I did act!"

Lu Xiao spoke with a manifestation of himself about altered history, the memories they shared, and the price of changing the past. As he climbed toward apotheosis, he learned that his life and memories had been arranged by others and chose to forget them.

• Lu Xiao’s manifestation explained that Lu Xiao had changed history, giving humanity a chance to survive, and that the altered course would make Lu Xiao pay a price.
• Lu Xiao asked who had manifested him, and the manifestation answered that Driver had done so.
• At a beach filled with grotesque creatures, Lu Xiao flicked blood onto a jellyfish, and the manifestation explained how his blood had become rules and anomalies.
• The manifestation explained that Lu Xiao’s humanity had to come from his own experiences and that each step on the stairs erased fragments of it.
• Lu Xiao learned that Driver’s ritual required manifesting a historical life beyond the rank of deities, while the true history ended with Lu Xiao achieving apotheosis and humanity going extinct.
• Feeling that his life and memories were not his own, Lu Xiao said he wanted to forget everything, and the manifestation told him to forget.

After Lu Xiao’s curse erupted, the Omniscient Mirror revealed that he had experienced actual history rather than the dreamscape, and that the Present World existed because of his curse. Shuns learned that Lu Xiao had traded away his humanity and memories for Shuns’s lucidity and memories, leaving Lu Xiao needing to rebuild his humanity.

• The Omniscient Mirror told Shadow that Lu Xiao had experienced actual history, not the dreamscape, and that someone had already paid the price for Shadow’s questions.
• The Omniscient Mirror explained that Lu Xiao’s curse had fully erupted because his humanity had disappeared, and that he could only resolve it by rebuilding his humanity himself.
• The Doctor realized the Present World’s existence depended on Lu Xiao and began nearing madness, so Shadow used Bribery to put him to sleep and threatened Black Cat into weaving him a realistic dreamscape.
• Shuns asked how Lu Xiao could rebuild his humanity, and the Omniscient Mirror revealed that Lu Xiao had exchanged his humanity and memories for Shuns’s lucidity and memories.
• Shuns looked at Lu Xiao and understood that Lu Xiao had forgotten everything.

After learning that the Present World had not existed before, Shuns proposed restoring Lu Xiao's humanity by helping him revisit his memories. The team prepared to recreate the course of Lu Xiao's life, and Shuns named the plan “Finding the Lost One.”

• Shuns said they needed to help Lu Xiao rebuild his humanity, starting with his memories.
• Shuns asked Shadow and the Director for help, and the Director summoned Sacrificial One Sly, Sacrificial One Liuguang, Sacrificial One Xiao Yu, and Mr. Ding Dan.
• The summoned team members described Lu Xiao's experiences, allowing Shuns to form a detailed plan.
• Shuns arranged for Lu Xiao to be placed in the Dark Prison, with Chainsaw Man protecting him and the others reenacting his past.
• Shuns assigned Shadow to lead Bai Suoyi, Sly, Liuguang, Xiao Yu, He Shang, and Driver into the Dark Prison, while Shuns would play Doctor at the C03 Containment Facility.
• Shuns named the plan “Finding the Lost One.”

Lu Xiao woke in the Dark Prison with no memories and rotting patches on his body, while Shadow prepared He Shang to confront his crazed Clone. The chapter left Lu Xiao trying to understand who he was as his wounds rapidly healed.

• Shuns reviewed surveillance recordings while the others prepared to work for Lu Xiao.
• Shadow ordered He Shang to kill his crazed Clone, warning that only one of them could survive.
• He Shang emerged wounded with Past and Future's heads, and Shadow promised to turn them into weapons while reminding He Shang that he was not Present.
• Future tried to tempt He Shang into eating the heads, but He Shang mocked his approach and Past refused to help him.
• Lu Xiao awoke in the Dark Prison with no memories, tore rotten flesh from his arm and abdomen, and watched the wounds rapidly repair themselves.

Lu Xiao went berserk and overwhelmed Chainsaw Man, prompting Shuns to send Shadow and the others to intervene. After Bai Suoyi fought Lu Xiao and he vanished, Shadow reported that the mission had failed.

• Lu Xiao followed the chainsaw’s sound and rammed Chainsaw Man, sending him flying before disappearing into the darkness.
• Chainsaw Man warned Shuns that Lu Xiao was awake and too powerful to defeat, so Shuns ordered Shadow and the others to reach him and, if necessary, knock him unconscious.
• Shadow led the team to Chainsaw Man, who fled behind them while Lu Xiao darted through the shadows and attacked him.
• Bai Suoyi fought Lu Xiao, striking him with his tail, but Shadow could not use Instigation because Lu Xiao’s P06-Eye of Truth suppressed his ability.
• Lu Xiao vanished from sight, and Shadow told Doctor Shuns that the mission had failed.

Shadow and Bai Suoyi pursued the maddened Lu Xiao through the Dark Prison, hoping to capture him and restore his sanity. The chapter ended with Bai Suoyi breaking Lu Xiao’s arm but getting stabbed in the abdomen by Lu Xiao’s other hand.

• Shadow sent He Shang and the others back to the Containment Facility, then followed Chainsaw Man and Bai Suoyi to find Lu Xiao.
• Lu Xiao killed a huge Weird Life and ate part of its brain, while Shadow concluded that Lu Xiao’s remaining humanity had kept him from attacking Bai Suoyi.
• Shadow decided to ask the Omniscient Mirror to restore Lu Xiao’s sanity and gave Bai Suoyi his severed arm to empower him with divine strength.
• Shadow and Bai Suoyi caught up to Lu Xiao as he finished killing another Weird Life, and Bai Suoyi struck Lu Xiao’s head into the ground.
• Bai Suoyi broke Lu Xiao’s arm, but Lu Xiao drove his other arm into Bai Suoyi’s abdomen.