Recaps

Shuns explained that consciousness could be copied and stored in Data Cortex Hard Drives, then tested the technology in the Experiment Room. After a failed upload caused a Minotaur's consciousness to become disordered, Shuns fixed the faulty cable and successfully completed a second experiment.

• Shuns told Lu Xiao that the technology could upload and copy consciousness, and revealed that humanity had obtained it from Technology.
• Lu Xiao wondered whether Technology might become another powerful backer, then planned to ask about his honorific name at Lu Liangren's place.
• Shuns's first experiment failed because a faulty cable caused packet loss, and the Minotaur became more foolish after his consciousness was reloaded.
• Shuns's staff replaced the cable, and his second experiment successfully saved the test subject's consciousness to a Data Cortex Hard Drive.
• Shuns downloaded the consciousness back into the test subject's brain, and the subject returned to normal.

Shuns began extracting Xiao Yu’s consciousness, arguing that it could be placed in a new body instead of treating her contaminated one. The extraction revealed that Xiao Yu’s parents appeared as grotesque figures in her Consciousness World, leaving the team unsure whether they would be included in the upload.

• Shuns adjusted the equipment and prepared to extract Xiao Yu’s consciousness despite the Prison Doctor’s warning that her contaminated Consciousness World made her case different.
• Shuns placed Xiao Yu on the machine, and the screen showed her smiling in the arms of two blurry figures that the group believed were her deceased parents.
• When extraction reached 50 percent, Xiao Yu’s parents’ faces became grotesquely clear, and the woman raised a hand to Xiao Yu’s head and seemed to speak toward the camera.
• Lu Xiao asked Shuns why the figures seemed able to see them, but Shuns said that should not be possible within a projection of Xiao Yu’s Consciousness World.
• The Prison Doctor wondered whether Xiao Yu had refused treatment because she still saw the figures as her parents, while Shuns said they should not be included in the upload in theory.
• Lu Xiao looked to Black Cat for help, but Black Cat indicated it was uninvolved, and Liu Ni sighed that forgetting could not be so easy.

Lu Xiao and the others watched Xiao Yu’s dream of sitting with her parents, but Consciousness Extraction stopped just short of completion. Xiao Yu woke speaking and behaving normally, though Lu Xiao remained wary of the unexplained change as she left to retrieve her lesson plans.

• Liu Ni told Lu Xiao that they needed to break Xiao Yu’s fixation on her parents, and suggested using the method that had worked on her.
• Shuns privately explained the Prison Doctor’s past dealings with Liu Ni, prompting Lu Xiao to consider diverting Xiao Yu’s attention from her parents.
• As Consciousness Extraction reached 99%, the monitor showed Xiao Yu laughing with her parents, whose bodies had strange tentacles.
• Xiao Yu’s parents turned toward the monitor with eerie smiles, and the extraction stopped before reaching 100%; Xiao Yu woke and spoke normally.
• Xiao Yu described dreaming of her parents watching television and encouraging her, while the others wondered why her mental contamination seemed resolved.
• Lu Xiao told Xiao Yu to take the day off, and she left the machine to collect her lesson plans, stepping on the Vocal Cords she had been holding.

Lu Xiao decided to grow stronger by eating more divine flesh so Night could not replace his consciousness, while Xiao Yu returned to an empty, cleaned classroom. At the cafeteria, Lu Xiao confronted Gambler over Nico’s behavior and prepared to whip him with a belt dipped in iodine.

• Xiao Yu found the classroom empty and tidy, recognized the military-rank study group’s handiwork, and left with her lesson plan.
• Lu Xiao chose not to use the Omniscient Mirror to seek answers about Xiao Yu, fearing the cost and suspecting a powerful being had noticed her.
• Lu Xiao reflected that he needed to advance beyond Night and planned to eat more divine flesh, while Amilia’s search for information about Hell’s Gods yielded little.
• Lu Xiao and Shuns arrived at the cafeteria, where Lu Xiao saw Gambler and remembered Nico’s gold chain and colorful umbrella.
• Lu Xiao asked Prison Doctor for iodine to disinfect his God-skin belt before whipping Gambler, who denied teaching Nico anything strange.
• Lu Xiao asked Gambler who had shown Nico the movies she had copied.

Lu Xiao punished Gambler, then confronted Chef after Chef served dark cuisine to the group. After eating, Lu Xiao went to visit Ruiqi to investigate how she had encountered and been possessed by "Night."

• Lu Xiao whipped Gambler, though he avoided seriously injuring him, and thought about Ruiqi possessed by "Night."
• Chef served dark cuisine, prompting Prison Doctor, Liu Ni, and Shuns to make excuses and leave; Gambler ate a plate before departing.
• Lu Xiao threatened Chef with the Belt, and Chef remade the dishes after Lu Xiao finished eating and left.
• Chef resolved to introduce dark cuisine gradually so diners would eventually accept it, while Lu Xiao went to visit Ruiqi and investigate her possession by "Night."

Lu Xiao visited Ruiqi to ask about Night possessing her, but she had no memory of the events. Ruiqi then asked to return to her Clan's Settlement, and Lu Xiao agreed while warning her about possible Outsiders.

• Lu Xiao found Ruiqi in her sparsely furnished Containment Room and learned that a blind staff member with a perception impairment was teaching her Chinese.
• Lu Xiao told Ruiqi that Night had possessed her and described her actions in the Divine Hall, but she remembered none of it.
• Lu Xiao suspected Ruiqi's contact with the Tentacle Gods' flesh and blood might be connected, though others had eaten it without incident.
• Ruiqi asked to return to her Clan's Settlement in case some of her people had come back.
• Lu Xiao allowed Ruiqi to leave but warned her that Outsiders might target her, and Ruiqi said she could protect herself.

Liu Ni told Lu Xiao that her Deification Ritual had begun and required her to create an independent life, so he brought her to Ivan to learn Life Alchemy. Afterward, Lu Xiao returned to the Base to wait for Ding Dan, then noticed Minotaurs carrying iron barrels into a tent.

• Lu Xiao sat idly at the Base with Little Well-Behaved until Liu Ni approached him after treating injured soldiers.
• Liu Ni said her Deification Ritual required her to create an independent life, and Lu Xiao decided she should learn Life Alchemy from Ivan.
• Lu Xiao persuaded a lab worker to let them into Ivan's Experiment Room, where Ivan agreed to teach Liu Ni while Niu Bo continued analyzing Alchemy.
• Lu Xiao returned to the Base to wait for Ding Dan, who was due to arrive the next day so Lu Xiao could take him to Lu Liangren.
• Lu Xiao saw several dozen Minotaurs carrying iron barrels into a large tent and went to investigate.

Lu Xiao learned that the iron drums held fuel made from Hell Creatures’ blood, then spent the day silently waiting in Gambler’s room for him to ascend. When Ding Dan arrived, Lu Xiao told Gambler to come with them, leaving Gambler to realize the day of unnerving silence had only been Lu Xiao killing time.

• Lu Xiao entered the tent and learned from the soldiers that the iron drums contained fuel made from Hell Creatures’ blood.
• Lu Xiao visited Gambler’s Containment Room and asked how soon Gambler would ascend to become a deity; Gambler said it might happen within a few days.
• Lu Xiao silently sat with Gambler through a meal and then returned to Gambler’s room, making Gambler increasingly anxious.
• Ding Dan arrived at Gambler’s room, and Lu Xiao told Gambler to come with them.
• Gambler asked whether Lu Xiao had spent the whole day waiting for him, and Lu Xiao said he had been spacing out anyway.

Ding Dan revealed that he had brought a Demon Legion of about ten thousand King-level demons as a welcoming gift for Lu Xiao, easing the standoff at Zhang Weidong’s base. In the Present World, the Warden went outside to find a Taoist-robed man pleading with two boys, one of whom demanded to return home.

• Lu Xiao, Gambler, and Ding Dan left the base and found Zhang Weidong’s forces and the Demon Legion aiming weapons at one another.
• Ding Dan landed the demons before Lu Xiao and called the legion a welcoming gift, and Lu Xiao praised him as a grown-up boy.
• Lu Xiao mediated the situation, and Zhang Weidong learned that the armed demons were being handed over rather than attacking his base.
• Ding Dan left with Lu Xiao and Gambler without answering Zhang Weidong’s question about Yi Hao.
• The Warden’s assistant dragged him outside, where he found a Taoist-robed man arguing with a boy who wanted to leave the world and another boy pulling down his pants to tease him.

Zhang Chu reunited with the Warden, explained how Dan Qingrong had turned him into a puppet, and agreed to enter Hell with his sect elders after learning that Gambler had driven many Outsiders into hiding. Meanwhile, Lu Xiao and his companions reached the Post Office in Hell, where Gambler wondered whether the building was made by aliens.

• Zhang Chu brought the unruly sect elders to the Warden, who agreed to arrange a nursery but refused to provide a female teacher until one elder promised to keep the others in line.
• Zhang Chu told the Warden that Dan Qingrong had taken him apart and turned him into a puppet, and that wearing the Mask had restored his memories.
• The Warden explained that Gambler had recently swept through the present world and the Dark Prison, forcing most Outsiders into hiding, and told Zhang Chu about Hell.
• Zhang Chu decided to go to Hell with his sect elders, so the Warden prepared supplies and arranged for them to learn the Language of Hell, which they refused to study.
• Lu Xiao and his group reached the Post Office in Hell, and Gambler asked whether the building was alien-made.

Lu Xiao, Ding Dan, and Gambler went to Universe Logistics hoping to get help with Ding Dan’s Authority, but found that the Postman Lu Xiao knew had been transferred. The new Postman took Ding Dan away after Lu Xiao arranged a letter, and Lu Xiao left Gambler wondering whether he could actually see through the Postman’s lies.

• Gambler asked why Lu Xiao did not seek help from the powerful being he knew, and Lu Xiao explained that the being did not know him.
• Lu Xiao, Ding Dan, and Gambler entered the Post Office and discovered that its Postman had been replaced.
• Lu Xiao bribed the new Postman with cigarettes and learned that the previous Postman had been recalled, possibly after a promotion.
• Lu Xiao filled out a letter about Ding Dan’s problem, and the Postman supplied the recipient information and told Ding Dan to follow him.
• Gambler questioned how Lu Xiao had known the Postman would help, and Lu Xiao admitted he had only been messing with him.

Ding Dan returned from a library with the Flesh Crown and discussed his planned trade with Lu Xiao, while the group found Hell’s creatures waiting outside the Settlement. They stayed within Universe Logistics’ territory and started a card game with escalating slaps as the stakes.

• Ding Dan returned to the Post Office with the Flesh Crown and told Lu Xiao that Lu Liangren had arranged for a powerful being to resolve his problem at a library.
• Ding Dan refused to explain the terms of his trade with Daimon, prompting Lu Xiao to tease him for acting mysterious.
• Lu Xiao, Ding Dan, and Gambler found a crowd of Hell’s creatures gathered outside the Settlement, led by a green figure with the aura of a god.
• Ding Dan and Lu Xiao stayed calm inside Universe Logistics’ territory, and Gambler joined them in waiting.
• Gambler suggested playing Fight the Landlord, and Lu Xiao proposed wagers of slaps that doubled with each bomb.

Gambler beat Lu Xiao and Ding Dan in the first round of Dou Dizhu and collected eight slaps from each. After Lu Xiao bribed Ding Dan to cut the deck, Gambler dealt them strong hands and realized his own hand was likely poor, leaving him to decide whether to take the landlord role.

• Gambler dealt the first round and won with two bombs and a spring, giving Lu Xiao and Ding Dan eight hard slaps each.
• Lu Xiao accepted the punishment without complaint, and Gambler began shuffling for the next round.
• Ding Dan asked to cut the deck, and Lu Xiao offered him a cigarette and lit it, asking him to cut them good hands.
• Gambler realized Lu Xiao had used his ability to influence Ding Dan and worried that his cheating would no longer secure him a win.
• After the cut, Gambler dealt the cards and saw that Lu Xiao and Ding Dan had strong hands, so he considered passing on the landlord role.

Gambler used his Theft Authority to steal Lu Xiao’s intention to play a high card and secretly swapped his jack for Lu Xiao’s big joker. Ding Dan revealed that his Authority could change the cards themselves, defeated Gambler, and declared the landlord beaten.

• Gambler accepted the landlord role despite fearing that Lu Xiao might work with Ding Dan against him.
• Gambler led with a three and stole Lu Xiao’s thoughts of playing a two, making him hesitate before finally playing it.
• Gambler played what he believed was Lu Xiao’s big joker, but the card had become a small joker.
• Ding Dan revealed the red big joker in his hand and showed that his Flesh Crown Authority could alter the cards.
• Ding Dan played pairs until he finished with a pair of twos and defeated Gambler.

Lu Xiao and Ding Dan punished Gambler for cheating before Daimon arrived and began burning the Outsiders around the Settlement. Ding Dan revealed that he had traded his Authority to help Daimon claim victory and ascend to an Old One, hoping Daimon would save their homeland, though he was unsure Daimon would keep his promise.

• Ding Dan struck Gambler so hard that half his face was destroyed, and warned Lu Xiao that Gambler could steal thoughts.
• Lu Xiao slapped Gambler, making his head disappear briefly before it returned, and Gambler refused to play another round.
• Daimon appeared as a giant and covered the area around the Settlement in black flames, burning the Outsiders blocking it.
• Ding Dan told Lu Xiao that Daimon had once ruled Hell as its most powerful Great Lord and commanded the respect of other races.
• Ding Dan revealed that he had wagered his Authority on helping Daimon claim victory and ascend to an Old One in exchange for help with their homeland’s predicament, though he could only gamble that Daimon would honor the deal.

Lu Xiao, Ding Dan, and Gambler concluded that Hell’s upheaval was designed to let the Demon Clan rise, and Lu Xiao proposed occupying Universe Logistics’ protected territory for humanity. As Daimon fought the green-skinned god, Lu Xiao enhanced Ding Dan, who used the Flesh Crown to make the god kneel; Daimon began eroding the god’s divinity while madness spread through the Settlement.

• Ding Dan told Lu Xiao and Gambler that only the Demon Clan could achieve victory in Hell’s upheaval and ascend to become an Old One.
• Lu Xiao reasoned that Universe Logistics’ territory could shelter humanity, since it would survive even if Hell were shattered.
• As Daimon overwhelmed the green-skinned god, Lu Xiao stacked buffs on Ding Dan and gave him his fingers as bribes.
• Ding Dan charged out, put on the Flesh Crown, and commanded the green-skinned god to kneel, allowing Daimon to seize and restrain him.
• Daimon began eroding the green-skinned god’s divinity and ordered Ding Dan to leave as the god fought back with malicious muttering.
• The beings in the Settlement went mad and attacked one another, while Lu Xiao bribed Gambler to keep him from joining the melee.

Lu Xiao and his companions witnessed the Postman effortlessly slaughter more than a hundred thousand Hell beings, leaving the Settlement a dead city. They decided to move production-related human resources there, then watched Daimon continue fighting the green-skinned god until Daimon asked Lu Xiao how he wanted his steak cooked.

• Lu Xiao, Ding Dan, and the Gambler chose not to fight the brawling Hell beings, and the Postman arrived to restrain and kill them with black threads.
• Lu Xiao and his companions estimated the Postman was at least an Old One and discussed how Universe Logistics could employ someone so powerful.
• The Gambler asked whether they would still move humans to the Settlement, and Lu Xiao and Ding Dan agreed to relocate only production-related resources.
• Lu Xiao complained that Daimon had burned the Hell beings to ashes, wasting their flesh, and the Gambler explained that the low-grade meat would not benefit them.
• Ding Dan relayed Daimon's question about how well done Lu Xiao wanted it, and the Gambler interpreted it as asking how he wanted his steak cooked.

Lu Xiao coordinated supplies and reinforcements for Hell while Daimon and Dart fought the green-skinned god. Dart used his authority of despair to make the god collapse, though he was still alive.

• Lu Xiao learned from Ding Dan that his past actions in Hell had made him well known, then asked Daimon to send uncontaminated divine flesh for food.
• Lu Xiao held a Divine Hall meeting with Shuns and Warden, arranged for Dart and Chef to come to Hell, and requested one nuclear warhead for the Group Army.
• Warden told Lu Xiao that Zhang Chu and his sect elders would enter Hell with the next supply convoy in about two days.
• Dart and Chef arrived, and Chef began preparing the divine flesh while Dart went to help Daimon fight the green-skinned god.
• Dart used his authority of despair to overwhelm the green-skinned god, who collapsed after Daimon struck him, though he was not dead.

Lu Xiao and Gambler pretended to be the illegitimate children of powerful beings above the Old Ones, using Dart’s role as Lu Xiao’s bodyguard to impress Daimon. As they waited for Chef to cook, their exaggerated stories further confused Daimon and left him more convinced of their powerful connections.

• Dart returned to Lu Xiao and the others while Daimon recognized that Dart’s unknown authority made him a dangerous opponent.
• Chef began preparing the useful cuts of the green-skinned god, and Daimon joined Lu Xiao’s group, observing their relationships and ranks.
• Lu Xiao arranged for Dart to stand guard while he and Gambler sat together, hoping Daimon would mistake them for privileged offspring of powerful beings.
• Lu Xiao and Gambler joked about beings above the Old Ones, and Daimon reconsidered their backgrounds while Ding Dan pretended to space out.
• Lu Xiao claimed that Night had once sent a Chosen One to abduct him and that Death’s Chosen One had helped him avoid losing his chastity.

Lu Xiao questioned Daimon about the Demon Clan and learned that it had fallen from power after its Progenitor was killed. Gambler offered Daimon a blessing in Fate’s name, and Daimon sensed that Fate was truly watching him, while Lu Xiao had intended the words as a way to secure the transaction.

• Lu Xiao apologized to Daimon for neglecting him, and Ding Dan praised Daimon as the protagonist of Hell’s play.
• Daimon explained that the Demon Clan had once ranked among the Universe’s hundred strongest races but fell after its powerhouse above the Old Ones died and its enemies attacked.
• Lu Xiao compared the Demon Clan’s decline to humanity’s troubles, and Gambler said he felt an affinity with Demons.
• At Lu Xiao’s direction, Gambler told Daimon, “May Fate always favor you,” and Daimon bowed, believing Gambler had a genuine connection to Fate.
• Daimon sensed Fate watching him, while Lu Xiao reflected that Gambler had used the Authority of Lies to make the blessing serve as an empty promise for the transaction.

Lu Xiao served Daimon Chef's roast meat and discovered that Chef's cooking imbued ingredients with pure Divinity, which Daimon mistook for the work of an angel. Daimon left to hunt another god and promised to help Ding Dan find an Authority, while Lu Xiao and Ding Dan acknowledged they were using each other.

• Lu Xiao suspected Chef had made Dark Cuisine, but Chef denied it, and Daimon noticed the roast meat's Divinity felt unusually pure.
• Ding Dan explained that Chef made all ingredients incomparably pure, and Daimon identified the effect as the 'Pure' Authority and asked if Chef was an angel.
• Lu Xiao claimed Chef had been abandoned by his clan, and Chef played along while refusing Daimon's suggestion that he become a fallen angel.
• After eating, Daimon set off to hunt another god and offered to help Ding Dan choose an Authority; Lu Xiao sent Dart with him.
• Once Daimon had flown far away, Lu Xiao called him honest, but Ding Dan said they were merely using each other, and Lu Xiao replied that his 'Human Heart' Authority let him see that.

Lu Xiao suspected Chef was an Angel and tried to make him admit it, while Gambler’s unusual reactions frustrated him. After eating the next dish, Lu Xiao asked about a hideous green creature, and Gambler identified it as a Goblin.

• Lu Xiao considered Daimon’s claims about Angels and the Authority of Purity, then questioned Chef about whether he was an Angel.
• Chef denied knowing anything about Angels and said Lu Xiao had taught him to claim his race abandoned him as a child.
• Lu Xiao threatened Chef with his belt, but Gambler interpreted the threat as a reward and insisted he was serious.
• Chef served braised pork, which Lu Xiao ate as he focused on advancing.
• Lu Xiao asked what race the bright green creature belonged to, and Gambler said a movie had called creatures like it Goblins.

Lu Xiao persuaded the Postman to explain the difference between angels and fallen angels, confirming that Chef was a fallen angel whose strange dishes were especially effective. The Postman stayed to sample Chef’s cooking, while Gambler asked to become a postman and learned the Postman knew he was Fate’s Chosen One.

• The Postman joined Lu Xiao and the others at their meal and asked whether they were eating the goblin god.
• The Postman recognized Chef as a fallen angel, then explained that angels wielded the Authority of purity and fallen angels turned high-level flesh into disgusting but unusually effective food.
• Chef admitted he was a fallen angel, and Lu Xiao offered the Postman Incense Sticks in exchange for his explanation.
• After eating the Incense Sticks, the Postman prepared to leave, but Lu Xiao convinced him to stay and try a dish made by Chef.
• Gambler asked the Postman for a chance to become a postman, and the Postman asked whether he would betray Fate as Fate’s Chosen One.

The Postman tried Ding Dan’s cigarettes backward, then took him to Morati’s tobacco warehouse and traded its contents for a lump of flesh from an Old One. The flesh contained the Old One’s Authority and remnants of consciousness, and the Postman warned that it could revive through it.

• Ding Dan gave the Postman a cigarette, which he smoked backward after the Gambler lit it for him.
• The Postman took Ding Dan to Morati’s warehouse and returned with a thumb-thick tobacco roll after clearing out the stored tobacco.
• The Postman gave Ding Dan a lump of flesh taken from an Old One on a Black Domain Battlefield in exchange for the tobacco.
• The lump of flesh drove Lu Xiao, Ding Dan, and the Gambler toward madness until the Postman’s smoke calmed them.
• The Postman warned that the Old One could revive through the flesh, then suggested Ding Dan eat it little by little.

Chef prepared the Dark Cuisine dish “Shit Across the Sky,” which Postman praised and Gambler ate while recalling a story Lu Xiao recognized as a lie. In the Present World, Zhang Chu and his sect elders prepared to use a repaired Gate to enter Hell, while Zhang Chu reflected on an old dispute over cultivation methods and technology.

• Chef served Postman a dish made from minced Old One-level flesh and supplementary ingredients, naming it “Shit Across the Sky.”
• Postman praised the dish, and Lu Xiao and Ding Dan resisted the prospect of having to eat such Dark Cuisine as they advanced.
• Gambler tried the dish, claimed it reminded him of an egg sandwich from his childhood, and teared up; Lu Xiao called out his fabricated story, and Gambler kept eating.
• In the Present World, Zhang Chu told his sect elders that a repaired Gate would lead to Hell and that they would enter with a supply convoy.
• A childlike sect elder criticized Li Liangren for choosing technology over making cultivation methods available to everyone, and Zhang Chu privately wondered what Doctor Li had thought of the proposal.