Recaps

Lu Xiao helped Zhang Chu recover an eyeball and gave him the other half of the Life Trait, keeping him from going mad. Zhang Chu left with Lu Xiao, while Dan Qingrong watched him go, unable to make him remember her.

• Lu Xiao gouged out both eyes to help Zhang Chu identify the right one, and Zhang Chu recognized Lu Xiao and gave him the eyeball meant for him.
• Ding Dan explained that Lu Xiao's actions had kept Zhang Chu from breaking down over the vanished Prison and his lost memories.
• Dan Qingrong explained that the two halves of the Clockwork formed the Life Trait, warned that using it twice would cause pollution, and gave Zhang Chu her half.
• Zhang Chu failed to recognize Dan Qingrong, declined her invitation to practice Daoist arts, and prepared to leave with Lu Xiao.
• Dan Qingrong watched Lu Xiao and Zhang Chu depart, listened to the voices around her, and recalled that Zhang Chu had once told her it was better to forget each other than cling to each other in hardship.

Shadow joined Driver, Zhang Chu, Ding Dan, and Lu Xiao in the Transforming Vehicle, revealing that humanity had completed the Spark Plan and moved to a new world while Zhang Chu guarded Prison. Shadow then explained that Dan Qingrong’s procreation trait could cause pregnancy through her glare, prompting Ding Dan to recall Zhang Chu’s and Driver’s swollen abdomens.

• Driver brought the Transforming Vehicle to the Gate, where Shadow boarded and Zhang Chu recognized him as Liu Guang.
• Lu Xiao noticed the smell of human blood on Shadow, and Zhang Chu broke down, saying Prison had fallen and he could not face Chief Bai.
• Shadow told Zhang Chu that Chief Bai was dead and that humanity had completed the Spark Plan and moved to another world.
• Shadow said Dan Qingrong hated him and warned Ding Dan that traits could not be understood through ordinary assumptions about reproduction.
• Shadow revealed that whoever Dan Qingrong glared at could get pregnant, and Ding Dan remembered Zhang Chu and Driver developing swollen abdomens.

After returning to the Present World, Ding Dan and the others found a bloody riot sparked by the exposure of the C03 Containment Facility. The Highest Office planned to exploit public outrage against Huaxia’s Prison Warden, while Warden and Shadow watched; Lu Xiao approached a crying boy to learn what had happened.

• Shadow brought the group back to the Present World, left them at a riot scene, and asked them to try to stop the crowd.
• Ding Dan realized they had been away for less than two days, while Lu Xiao and Driver got out to investigate and Ding Dan and Zhang Chu stayed in the vehicle.
• Protesters demanded the truth about the C03 Containment Facility’s exposure and clashed with soldiers from Military Headquarters.
• Members of the Highest Office toasted their plan to use public anger against Huaxia’s Prison Warden to restore their standing and gain control of C04.
• Warden and Shadow watched the Highest Office members from across the street, and Shadow said the scheme would lessen his guilt.
• Lu Xiao approached a sobbing boy on the curb and asked him what had happened.

A sniper shot Lu Xiao with a powerful round, but he survived and pulled the bullet from his head as Ding Dan began to break down under the crowd’s abuse. Shadow and Warden discussed the deliberate pressure on Ding Dan, with Shadow admitting he had gone mad long ago.

• A little boy accused Lu Xiao of killing his father and bit his arm, while the crowd condemned Lu Xiao.
• An Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle shot Lu Xiao, and Ding Dan rushed out of the car as Driver checked him.
• The crowd called Ding Dan a monster, and their abuse caused him to tremble and cover his ears as Driver tried to shield him.
• Lu Xiao stood up, removed the bullet from his temple, and went to comfort Ding Dan.
• The crowd insulted Ding Dan and the soldiers, while Warden questioned Shadow about pushing the situation too far.
• Shadow said there was little time left and admitted that he had gone mad long ago.

Ding Dan received a letter from Feis and chose to embrace his identity as a demon, opening the gate to Hell. Feis King and a host of hideous monsters emerged as the stunned crowd watched.

• Shadow summoned a Green Mailbox, and Ding Dan received a letter from Feis and his subjects.
• Ding Dan told Lu Xiao he no longer wanted to be human, then transformed and prepared to open the gate to Hell.
• Shadow warned Ding Dan that opening the gate would release devils and endanger ordinary people.
• Ding Dan sought support from the others, and Lu Xiao congratulated him on becoming a true devil.
• Ding Dan pushed open the gate, unleashing a terrifying wind and freezing the crowd with fear.
• Feis King emerged, knelt before Ding Dan, and was followed by deformed monsters forced to their knees by pale arms.

Ding Dan began his deification ritual by unleashing hell creatures on a crowd while Shadow broadcast the massacre worldwide. As violence spread and the authorities’ role came under suspicion, Ding Dan opened his eyes to a mysterious stairway and stepped toward it.

• Ding Dan ordered Feis and the monsters to spread fear, while warning them not to attack the soldiers in camouflage uniforms.
• Ding Dan asked Shadow to broadcast the scene worldwide, and Shadow revealed that the live feed had already begun.
• Antie watched the broadcast, praised Shadow’s boldness, and ordered the gods plan wrapped up and the Eden Project commenced.
• Bai Suoyi crushed his phone as Lucilla attacked him, and he reflected on Shadow’s advice about using righteous and evil methods for different people.
• Soldiers attacked the hell creatures, but the monsters spared them and continued slaughtering the crowd; Shadow told Driver the purge would make it easier to reveal the Dark Prison’s secret.
• Ding Dan became calm, saw an endless stairway, and stepped onto its first step as fear and despair pressed in on him.

Ding Dan resisted the temptation to abandon his humanity and completed his Deification Ritual, then learned that Shadow had engineered the crisis to force his resolve. Ding Dan promised to act once on humanity’s behalf, while Driver chose to remain with Shadow.

• Ding Dan climbed the stairway while a tempting voice urged him to abandon his feelings and humanity.
• Ding Dan refused to order the soldiers killed, rejected the stairway’s temptation, and reached its end as the scenery shattered and new steps appeared.
• Shadow and Ding Dan both ordered the Hell Creatures and soldiers to retreat, ending their confrontation.
• Ding Dan deduced that Shadow had arranged the events to help him attain godhood and offered to do one thing for him in return.
• Ding Dan vowed to act once on humanity’s behalf, and Driver chose to stay beside Shadow.

Ding Dan left with the Green Mailbox after the Hell Creatures were dragged back to Hell, while Shadow and Driver discussed why Shadow had exposed the truth. Lu Xiao and Zhang Chu found Warden in a building with a sniper rifle, and Warden claimed he could see evil clearly despite his failing eyesight.

• Ding Dan dismissed Feis, then carried away the Green Mailbox as the Hell gate dragged the remaining Hell Creatures back.
• Driver asked Shadow whether Ding Dan would have stayed if Shadow had not called for retreat, and Shadow explained he had wanted them to part without resentment.
• Driver told Shadow he had chosen to stay, and the two joked about hating each other by the book if Shadow ever schemed against him.
• Lu Xiao and Zhang Chu traced the sniper shot to a deserted building and found Warden behind a shattered glass partition beside a sniper rifle.
• Lu Xiao asked Warden whether he had shot him, and Warden pointed toward a building across the way and said he could see evil clearly.

Lu Xiao followed the Warden’s warning and confronted several Highest Office members in a nearby building, asking what evil they had done. They trembled before him, and an elderly man claimed the red liquid on the table was wine.

• The Warden pointed out people preparing to leave a nearby building, and Lu Xiao spotted them through the window.
• Lu Xiao smashed through the floor-to-ceiling glass, leaped across the gap, and climbed the opposite building’s exterior.
• The men inside recognized Lu Xiao from his outdated containment file and grew frightened when he entered.
• Lu Xiao said he wanted to learn what the men had done, then noticed a glass of vivid red liquid on the table.
• An elderly Highest Office member insisted the liquid was red wine and pointed to the partly filled bottle.

Shadow confronted Adams and the Highest Office over their plan to expose the Prison Wardens and manipulate public opinion, then revealed their conversation was being broadcast worldwide. The timer he started ran out just as he announced the live broadcast.

• Shadow identified the wine as human blood, but Lu Xiao tasted it and said it was red wine.
• Shadow named Adams and used his influence to make Adams admit he was a member of the Warden Supreme Office.
• Shadow introduced himself as War, the Saints’ Ninth Seat, and challenged Adams’s claim that the Prison Wardens served humanity.
• Shadow accused the Highest Office of leaking satellite footage from C03 Containment Facility to provoke public unrest and strengthen its own position.
• Shadow said the conversation was being broadcast live worldwide as his five-minute timer reached zero.

Shadow’s livestream exposed the Highest Office and helped turn public opinion toward the Containment Facility, then he recruited its disgraced members into the Saints. Lu Xiao killed Adams and later learned that Shadow had fired the shot at him.

• The livestream ended as authorities and Prison Wardens exposed the Highest Office’s scandals, prompting widespread condemnation and support for the Containment Facility.
• Shadow asked the Highest Office members to join the Saints, and Adams called him despicable.
• Lu Xiao tore out Adams’s tongue and Adams died, while Shadow confirmed the violence had not been livestreamed.
• The remaining members agreed to join the Saints, and Shadow welcomed them without requiring conditions.
• Lu Xiao asked Shadow who had shot at him, and Shadow admitted that he had fired the shot.

Lu Xiao accepted the Warden’s invitation to a seafood feast, while Shadow sent Driver to tell He Shang to establish a public organization called Great Brahma and complete the Transforming Vehicle’s combat form. At C03 Containment Facility, Doctor and Shuns discussed implementing Flesh Machinery as Lu Qian tried to stop the facility’s frenzied staff.

• Lu Xiao and Shadow returned to the building, where Zhang Chu gave Lu Xiao the Warden’s note inviting him to a free seafood feast, and Lu Xiao agreed to go.
• Driver met He Shang at Mocking Heaven Palace and relayed Shadow’s order to establish a visible organization; they settled on the name Great Brahma.
• Driver told He Shang that Shadow had also ordered him to stay and help complete the Transforming Vehicle’s combat form, which Shadow believed could rival a deity’s power.
• At C03 Containment Facility, two staff members attacked each other in the chaotic office until Lu Qian intervened and made them apologize.
• Doctor and Shuns discussed the details of implementing Flesh Machinery.

Shuns, the Doctor, and the Director discussed how to conceal C03 and establish leadership at the new C04 facility, following Shadow’s instructions. As they considered who could lead C02, Shuns revealed that the Doctor’s mentor had lived since the catastrophe.

• The Director told Shuns and the Doctor that the C04 Public Containment Facility was complete, and they agreed not to move the System Core there because it would undermine trust in the Saints.
• The Director proposed hiding C03, announcing it was shut down, and saying C04’s system came from C03; the Doctor and Shuns agreed to follow Shadow’s plan.
• The Director told the Doctor to lead C03 into joining the Saints, and the Doctor chose Lu Qian to take C03’s seat among them.
• The Director said he would lead C04 and offered Shuns leadership of C02, but Shuns declined in favor of research.
• The Director and the Doctor worried about finding a leader for C02, and Shuns said the Doctor’s mentor had been alive since the catastrophe.

After Sacrificial One Yao Ling returned from investigating the fog, she began vomiting her organs while still showing strong vital signs, forcing Warden and Jailer into quarantine. Warden suspected her collapse was a provocation aimed at him, while Shadow arrived at the restricted military zone as the Commander of the Ninth Group Army.

• Jailer told Warden that sea creatures had attacked the coast twice and that Yao Ling had returned from a brief investigation inside the fog.
• Yao Ling reported poor visibility, seawater beneath the fog, lung corrosion, and murmurs calling her deeper into it.
• Yao Ling suddenly vomited flesh and her organs, but medical personnel found that her vital signs remained strong.
• Jailer arranged for the command post to be burned and for Warden and Jailer to enter quarantine, while Yao Ling was restrained and kept under observation.
• Warden noted that Yao Ling had collapsed just after he returned and wondered whether the incident was a provocation aimed at him.
• Shadow arrived at the restricted military zone, where Lu Xiao saw that Shadow's identification named him Commander of the Ninth Group Army.

Shadow brought Lu Xiao and Zhang Chu to the military camp, where they visited the quarantined Warden and learned that the mist had contaminated Yao Ling. Shadow said only the final eruption remained, while elsewhere Ding Dan discovered a hidden message on the cigarette pack Shadow had given him.

• Lu Xiao questioned Shadow about his many identities, and Shadow explained that the Ninth Group Army was the Prison Wardens' military force for handling Anomaly incidents.
• Shadow drove Lu Xiao and Zhang Chu into the military camp, ordered an operational meeting for the next day, and used a Safe-class Researcher identity to reach the quarantine area.
• Lu Xiao showed the Warden his note, and the Warden recognized him and invited Shadow inside, but Shadow chose to follow the quarantine rules.
• The Warden explained that Yao Ling had been contaminated by the mist while investigating it, and Shadow connected the mist to the grayish-white mist in the Prison.
• The Warden asked whether Shadow had finished setting everything up, and Shadow replied that only the final eruption remained.
• Ding Dan found Shadow's cigarette pack in his pocket and noticed a line of small text on its lid.

Ding Dan learned how Hell Creatures communicated and discovered that his Crown could help him command them. He ordered Feis to gather Hell Creatures at the post office for future summons, and learned that his blood could be used to bargain with powerful ones.

• Ding Dan arranged the slips from the pack while Feis arrived through a Gate and waited for him.
• Ding Dan asked Feis about Hell, and Feis described it as vast, empty, dangerous, and home to a post office where Hell Creatures exchanged information and letters.
• Feis explained that threats had made other Hell Creatures join his letters, which was why he appeared beside Ding Dan each time.
• Ding Dan learned that the Gate led to the post office and that his Crown was a Trait acknowledged by Hell's will.
• Ding Dan ordered Feis to gather Hell Creatures at the post office, and Feis said Ding Dan's Crown could suppress them after they were summoned.
• Feis suggested Ding Dan could bargain with powerful Hell Creatures using his blood, which held a fatal allure for them.

Ding Dan began building Paradise Lost with Hell Creatures and recruited Assistant to manage construction, then entered Hell to investigate how to control the Green Mailbox’s summoning rule. Meanwhile, the Director oversaw the newly occupied C04 Public Containment Facility and was told that preparations to construct the Gate were complete.

• Ding Dan named the desolate land near Magic City Paradise Lost and used the Green Mailbox to summon a Hell Creature, whose fear of his Crown let him recruit Hell Creatures to dig.
• Ding Dan summoned Feis again, learned Feis could not stay longer, and decided he needed a strategist and a lasting workforce.
• Ding Dan asked Doctor to send Assistant and provide construction resources, then learned he might control the mailbox by visiting the Hell Post Office and gaining control of its rule.
• Ding Dan assigned Assistant to receive construction resources and stepped through the gate into Hell.
• The Director watched researchers handle anomalies at the newly occupied C04 Public Containment Facility, where preparations to construct the Gate were complete.

The Director oversaw the construction of a new Gate and sent a squad into the Dark Prison to establish communications. Meanwhile, the Gray Fog spread across every sea, isolating the world’s landmasses as deformed sea creatures attacked coastal defenses, and the Warden concluded the force behind the fog wanted to savor humanity’s despair.

• The Director gave a multilingual speech at the Gate construction site, then ordered the staff to begin construction.
• The Director sent a squad of Prison Warden Special Operations Soldiers through the Gate, and they reported that their mission was proceeding smoothly.
• The Director noticed that U01 had not sent the contained anomalies according to the list and wondered why Shadow and the Standing Management Council had not addressed the matter.
• Hairy Bear learned that the Gray Fog had spread across all the seas, while deformed sea creatures attacked shore defenses and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared in the fog.
• The Warden told Jailer that the fog was isolating humanity so its controller could savor despair and please themselves.

Shadow explained why he joined the Saints and recalled how Gambler’s extraordinary luck led him from a death-row experiment subject to a fighter for humanity and eventually a Pioneer with the traits of fate and greed. As Shadow considered whether Niclade might have survived, Gambler’s history led him to suspect he had understood something important about the Saints’ traits.

• Shadow told Lu Xiao and Zhang Chu that he had joined the Saints to watch over Gambler, then stayed after discovering that the Saints were gathering people with powerful sin traits.
• Shadow explained that only life born on Earth could use or fuse with the traits, and that someone who fused with a sin trait could become a deity without a Deification Ritual.
• Zhang Chu challenged Shadow’s assumption that Niclade was dead, prompting Shadow to consider whether resurrection might be possible despite Niclade’s apparent death.
• Lu Xiao asked about Gambler, and Shadow recalled that Gambler had been a celebrated Las Vegas gambler who was framed, extradited to Huaxia, and sentenced to death.
• Shadow remembered how Gambler survived repeated experiments at the base, was recruited into a special squad, and later fought for humanity with Antie.
• Shadow recalled that Gambler gained the traits of fate and greed after joining the Saints, chose fate for his Deification Ritual, and seemed to have found a way to attain godhood.

Shadow, Warden, and Antie investigated the attacks by sea creatures and concluded that the fog and attacks might be part of a deliberate effort to eliminate weaker countries. They left Yao Ling in the care of C03, while Antie asked how they could aid countries isolated by the fog.

• Shadow arranged for Yao Ling to be sent to C03 after medical staff could not wake her, and Warden said she had vomited up her internal organs.
• At the shore, Warden told Shadow that the sea creatures seemed to have fled ashore and that a creature in the fog might be challenging him.
• Shadow contacted Antie, who reported exploring two kilometers into the fog and finding frenzied sea creatures but nothing else.
• Antie explained that the creatures attacked weaker countries fiercely while probing countries with powerful militaries, and warned that the fog contaminated ordinary people.
• Warden told Antie about their suspicions that someone had leaked information, and Shadow said they had to aid other countries before investigating further.
• Antie said planes could not pass through the fog and asked Shadow whether he had a way to provide aid.

Shadow recognized that the fog commander might be forcing two countries into a prisoner's dilemma, where losing communication could make each choose between surrender and resistance. He convened an emergency Round Table Conference, which ended with five elderly men bowing to the Containment Facility leaders.

• Zhang Chu suggested that the commander in the fog was trying to create a prisoner's dilemma, and Shadow called Antie to convene the Round Table Conference.
• Shadow explained that the countries might face a choice between giving up resistance, accepting contamination, or risking extinction, while the Warden warned that communications would be cut off.
• Antie organized the emergency conference, and Shadow brought Lu Xiao as the representative of C03 Containment Facility.
• The Director asked why Lu Xiao was sitting in the Doctor's seat, and Lu Xiao brusquely told him it was none of his business.
• Containment Facility leaders gathered and started private discussions before five elderly men arrived and bowed deeply to them.

At the Round Table Conference, the councilors announced the dissolution of the Standing Management Council and the Highest Office, while the leaders welcomed the new C04 Public Containment Facility. Antie then revealed that the Mist Event had escalated and presented the prisoner’s dilemma facing the facilities, leaving everyone waiting for a plan.

• A councilor announced that the five Standing Management Council members would resign and that both the council and the Highest Office would be dissolved.
• The councilors congratulated the leaders on establishing C04 and named the Director its first leader.
• The Warden said Lu Xiao was representing C03 and had been chosen as its new leader, which the Director confirmed was lawful under the Warden Regulations.
• Antie asked why Doctor had not attended, then accepted Lu Xiao in Doctor’s place and returned to the meeting’s agenda.
• Antie described the Mist Event’s escalation and explained the prisoner’s dilemma he had uncovered with the Warden and Shadow, leaving the leaders silent.

Antie proposed revoking subsystem access and relocating populations to consolidate resources against the mysterious beings, leaving Australia isolated by the fog. The Director offered a way to evacuate Australians using Contained Anomaly Serial Number 302-Vehicle, prompting the Warden to criticize Antie’s handling of people.

• Antie told the leaders that the first step was to revoke all subsystem access privileges and assigned Huaxia’s Prison Wardens to recover the system’s main unit from the Saints.
• Antie proposed moving Europe’s population to his side and Asia’s population to Huaxia, and the leaders agreed after he promised them refuge.
• When Australia’s leader demanded to know what would happen to his people, Antie said Australia was isolated and could relocate only if it found a way across the fog or through the Dark Prison.
• The Director proposed using Contained Anomaly Serial Number 302-Vehicle to transport Australians across the sea, and Australia’s leader agreed to evacuate as many people as possible.
• The Warden told the Director that Antie should spend some time learning how to handle people.

Antie demanded that the facility leaders defend their territories until civilian evacuations were complete, knowingly using an overt scheme to pressure them into risking their lives. The Councilors and leaders committed to helping with the transfers, and the Warden pledged to do his part.

• Antie praised the Director’s appointment, then told the leaders they must defend their territories until civilian migration was complete.
• Shadow explained to the Director that Antie wanted leaders to risk their lives for the greatest chance of saving civilians, and that his original plan to pressure them had been disrupted.
• The leaders recognized that Antie’s plan left them little room to refuse, while the five Councilors announced they would stay to coordinate civilian transfers.
• The leader of the R01 Containment Facility, Hairy Bear, entrusted his facility’s civilians and researchers to the Warden and promised to hold out until the last moment.
• The Warden stood, placed his hand over his heart, and called for them to strive together.

The Warden, Antie, and the leaders of A02 and A03 persuaded the other leaders to support Antie’s proposal without sacrificing them, and the leaders agreed to face the danger together. After negotiations began, the Warden revealed he planned to enter the mist to meet the life-form that challenged him and buy more time, while Lu Xiao reminded him about the promised seafood feast.

• The Warden, the leaders of A02 and A03, and Antie declared their willingness to face the danger, prompting the other leaders to insist that they survive and lead their facilities.
• Shadow told the Director to record those who spoke up so their people could receive more resources, and Antie promised to honor their contributions.
• The leaders began negotiating the details, while Lu Xiao, the Warden, and Shadow discussed how the display of solidarity had helped secure agreement.
• Shadow asked how the Warden would investigate the mist, and the Warden said he planned to meet the life-form that had challenged him and try to gain more time.
• Lu Xiao asked about the promised seafood feast, and the Warden explained that the meeting had delayed their trip to the shore.
• Lu Xiao said he liked seafood but warned that eating too much could raise uric acid and cause gout.