Recaps

Antie and the Warden received a notebook from the failed solar survey mission and learned that the sun still had solar prominences. The Doctor sent doubles through the gate to investigate, but discovered that the entire survey team had died and could not identify the one person missing from the ship’s reported headcount.

• Antie urged the Warden to arrange another survey and volunteer to lead it, but the Warden warned him not to risk losing him.
• A notebook bearing Meier Gauss and Matthew’s signatures emerged from the Teleportation Gate, and the Doctor confirmed the signatures had not been there before the mission.
• Antie found Meier Gauss’s notes about solar prominences, confirming that the sun had not collapsed and was still alive.
• The Doctor injected himself with Cage and sent successive doubles through the gate to investigate, severing their links to his main consciousness.
• After the fifth Doctor entered the gate, the sixth noticed that one person was missing from the ship’s reported headcount and snapped his neck, triggering the same action among the remaining doubles.
• A newly printed Doctor arrived and told the Warden that he had not had enough time to identify the missing person.

The Doctor searched subspace for the missing person who he believed had entered the Teleportation Gate before it was calibrated. After repeated attempts and more than half a day of searching, a newly produced Doctor told the Warden and Antie that they had found him.

• The Doctor concluded that the missing person had entered the incompletely calibrated Teleportation Gate and returned to search for him.
• The Doctor entered subspace by opening a hole in the space around the gate, but suffocated when he found there was no air.
• A second Doctor equipped himself with oxygen tanks and a dose of "Cage" before entering subspace again.
• The Doctor used "Cage" to extend his consciousness and search the lightless space for the missing person.
• More than half a day later, a newly produced Doctor told the Warden and Antie, "We've found him."

The Doctor rescued Li Xiuqi from Subspace, and Li woke up in the Present World after the Prison Doctor treated him. He reported that the exploration team had vanished, shared what he knew about their solar survey and Meier Gauss’s notebook, and realized he was the only survivor.

• The Doctor used a substitute and the drug Cage to retrieve Li Xiuqi from Subspace, leaving other substitutes behind.
• After the Prison Doctor treated him, Li Xiuqi woke and urgently asked the Warden and Antie to rescue the exploration team.
• Antie asked Li about the solar survey, and Li explained that the commander had copied the data to every team member’s portable computer.
• Antie showed Li Meier Gauss’s notebook, and Li recounted how Meier had given it to him aboard the antigravity ship.
• Antie returned the notebook to Li and explained that it had fallen out of the Teleportation Gate.
• Li realized the exploration team had been wiped out and broke down crying over Matthew and Meier Gauss; Antie promised that the glory Li deserved would come.

Antie returned to his hotel after meeting the Warden and planned to go back to Northern Europe, though the Warden questioned whether he had time. He reunited with Futiya, who described how the Warden had provided for the succubi and minotaurs, while people across the Present World worked to rebuild and advance civilization.

• Antie told the Warden he intended to return to Northern Europe, but fell silent when the Warden asked whether the trip was important and whether he had enough time.
• Antie returned to the hotel, where Futiya asked whether he had finished his work, and he admitted that he had not.
• Futiya prepared a hot bath for Antie and told him the Warden had arranged housing and supplies for the succubi and minotaurs.
• The Warden assigned minotaurs to manual labor and met their request for fresh fodder, while an agricultural expert developed fast-growing synthetic grass seed.
• People throughout the Present World pursued research and other work to support the continuation of civilization.

The Warden appointed Zhang Weidong commander-in-chief of the Southern Heavenly Gate starship program, and Zhang struggled with the technical reports and repeatedly tried to resign. After the Ninth Group Army received Mother Tree leaves, more than a hundred soldiers awakened traits, including Zhang, and the army expanded to prepare for the project.

• The Warden signed off on the Southern Heavenly Gate plan and appointed Zhang Weidong, recently returned from Hell, as its commander-in-chief.
• Zhang Weidong repeatedly submitted resignation letters, but the Warden discarded them without reading them.
• The Warden gave Mother Tree leaves to the Ninth Group Army, and over a hundred of its more than sixty thousand soldiers awakened traits, including Zhang Weidong, who gained a special trait.
• The Ninth Group Army expanded its authorized strength to three hundred thousand after more than ninety percent of applicants chose to join it.
• Zhang Weidong complained to his guard that the Warden had not accepted his resignation, while struggling to understand reports and direct the Southern Heavenly Gate starship program.

Zhang Weidong resented the Warden for allowing exaggerated rumors about the Ninth Group Army to grow while its members were forbidden to correct them. Meanwhile, Moli'an challenged the Warden over his wager, insisting humanity could not relight a dimmed star, and revealed that Silicon-based Life had imposed the requirement for registering a race.

• Zhang Weidong reflected on how the Warden's influence and the secrecy rules left the Ninth Group Army unable to refute wild rumors about its supposed victories and plunder.
• Zhang Weidong suspected the Warden was building up his reputation in order to bring him down, and privately cursed him as a black-hearted old fox.
• The Warden met Moli'an in his office, where she teased him about making the wager as a graceful excuse to leave with her.
• Moli'an argued that humans could not relight a dimmed star and said they should instead focus on producing a Great Old One.
• The Warden asked why relighting a star was required to register a race, and Moli'an answered that Silicon-based Life had set the condition.

Moli'an told the Warden that Silicon-based Life's Species Registration rules might be intended to find races capable of completing its incomplete Technology, prompting him to suspect that Life itself might also be incomplete and that Liu Ni was connected to it. He discussed the possibility with Antie and the Doctor, who considered using the situation to their advantage and questioned whether Moli'an knew the truth about the real Liu Ni.

• The Warden asked Moli'an why Silicon-based Life required races to use their own power for Species Registration, and she explained that the rules had been created by the Silicon-Based Race.
• Moli'an said other major races suspected the rule was meant to find Silicon-based Life's Kin or identify races that possessed the missing part of its incomplete Technology.
• The Warden connected Moli'an's theory to Liu Ni and wondered whether Life was incomplete, then decided to consult Antie about a contingency plan.
• Antie and a Doctor double arrived, and the Warden repeated Moli'an's claims to them.
• Antie and the Doctor discussed what they could gain from the situation, while the Warden objected that treating Liu Ni as a bargaining chip seemed inhumane.
• Antie asked whether Moli'an knew there was another Liu Ni, and the Doctor said he could not be certain.

The Warden, Antie, and the Doctor questioned Moli'an’s motives after realizing she may have deliberately steered the Warden toward information about completing authority. The Warden began to suspect Moli'an was acting against the Goddess’s return and might even be wary of Augusis.

• The Warden realized Moli'an may have guided their conversation so she could reveal that incomplete authority could be made whole.
• Antie asked whether Moli'an was loyal to her race, her faith, or neither, while the Doctor explained that their shielded Monitoring Room had been built before they returned from Hell.
• Antie reasoned that Moli'an might know the Goddess had been replaced, while Weidiya likely did not, and suggested the two elves served different loyalties.
• The Warden wondered whether Moli'an wanted the Doctor’s Goddess to return to Mother Goddess Star or hoped to prevent her from completing her authority.
• The Warden recalled that Moli'an had controlled the pace of their interactions and began to suspect she might be wary of Augusis, who had rarely left the Post Office since her arrival.

The Warden and Doctor found a stockpile of nuclear weapons in the Dark Prison that could raise the chance of reigniting the sun to seven percent, prompting a worldwide military mobilization to retrieve them. Commander Yang Zhan headed toward his assigned coordinates, but Old Chen warned him that they were in Chernobyl.

• Doctor calculated that existing nuclear bombs could not restart stellar fusion, and the Warden revealed that around thirty thousand nuclear weapons were buried in the Dark Prison.
• Doctor said recovering and repairing the weapons would raise the chance of igniting the star by seven percent, and he placed the overall chance of success at seven percent.
• Military Headquarters ordered millions of troops across the Dark Prison to assemble and move to assigned coordinates.
• Commander Yang Zhan ordered his Fourth Group Army to march toward its coordinates while Old Chen urged him to stay behind.
• Old Chen told Yang Zhan that his son, a senior Researcher at C02 Containment Facility, had warned him not to go because the destination was Chernobyl.

The Warden, Antie, and Young Chen discussed the mystery of Chernobyl, including Russia’s costly military campaign there and the possibility that it held nuclear weapons. Young Chen asked Antie to reveal what was hidden there as the Fourth Group Army headed toward the site.

• Yang Zhan dismissed Old Chen’s warning about Chernobyl and ordered him to drive after the troops, who had to reach the coordinates within forty-eight hours.
• Antie asked the Warden why nuclear bombs had been stored in Chernobyl, and the Warden recalled that Chief Bai had wondered the same thing.
• Antie and the Warden discussed Russia’s deployment of two hundred thousand troops to retake Chernobyl and its later withdrawal, while Young Chen listened.
• The Warden revealed that the Doctor had monitored Young Chen’s call to his father in the Fourth Group Army, then invited him to listen openly rather than hide his curiosity.
• Antie speculated that Chernobyl might explain Russia’s early history during the Outsiders’ advent, and the Warden questioned why the site had attracted the Outsiders.
• Young Chen asked Antie to tell him exactly what was in Chernobyl, and Antie answered with a question of his own.

The Allied Forces in Hell gathered more than six hundred Gods for an overt assault intended to kill the Tina Empress, leaving Luolin considering whether to intervene and break the rules. Lu Xiao suspected the Tina lying at the Swarm’s center was a stand-in, and the chapter ended with Luolin questioning whether her real body was there.

• The Allied Forces in Hell assembled more than two hundred Gods and over six hundred giants to attack the Tina Empress openly.
• Luolin considered intervening because the Swarm could not reliably protect Tina from so many Gods, while Lu Xiao worried the war was escalating after only six days.
• Lu Xiao noticed that Tina seemed like a motionless statue and began to suspect she was not the real Tina.
• Lu Xiao approached Tina and confirmed his suspicion when she ignored him instead of objecting to being called by her full name.
• Lu Xiao told Luolin he thought they could wait and watch the attack, but Luolin warned that the real Tina might still be there and asked whether Lu Xiao would let him break the rules.

Luolin decided to trust Lu Xiao’s theory about Tina, while the Allied Forces launched their assault on the Swarm. As elemental authorities appeared among the Gods, Lu Xiao planned to claim them for himself and his companions.

• Luolin accepted Lu Xiao’s advice and decided to gamble on his theory about Tina, despite the risk of failing his mission.
• After waiting most of the day, more than six hundred Gods flew toward the Swarm to assassinate its Empress.
• The Swarm counterattacked with a vast wave of wingbeats that wore down the Gods’ divinity as Zerg converged on them.
• One God descended and drained the water from nearby Zerg, surrounding himself with a dark cloud that absorbed attackers.
• Lightning appeared inside the cloud, and Luolin identified the first God’s power as a water-related elemental authority.
• Lu Xiao realized the battle could let him obtain elemental authorities for himself, Nico, and Zhang Chu.

Lu Xiao watched the Demon Clan and the Zerg as more than six hundred gods pushed into the heart of Tina’s Swarm, which surrounded them despite their overwhelming individual strength. The Swarm replenished its losses with newborn Zerg adapted to resist elemental attacks and carrying the Holy Maiden Spider Clan’s toxin.

• Lu Xiao considered bringing Daimon and the Demon Clan into the fight, but abandoned the idea because Daimon did not command the clan.
• The gods reached the Swarm’s heart while Zerg surrounded them and blocked their path to Tina.
• Lu Xiao assessed how the Swarm’s vast numbers and resource-recycling reproduction let it contend with the gods, despite its incomplete defenses in Hell.
• The Zerg carried fallen bodies to the Mother Worms, which produced eggs that quickly hatched into newborn fighters.
• The newest Zerg showed heightened resistance to elemental attacks and carried the Holy Maiden Spider Clan’s toxin.

Lu Xiao watched the Allied gods suffer heavy losses as they advanced toward Tina, while Daimon arrived and recognized that their suicide attack was unlikely to succeed. The gods continued closing in on Tina, unaware of the advantage her side held.

• The Allied gods advanced through the Swarm toward Tina, destroying fallen comrades’ bodies until one god’s remains were consumed by the Mother Worm.
• Daimon noticed the commotion, received Kaitlin’s permission to investigate, and flew unhindered to Lu Xiao.
• Lu Xiao complained that Daimon’s Tyrant let him move around freely, then told him the gods were attempting to assassinate Tina Empress.
• Daimon said the attackers were treating Tina as a pushover and predicted they might all die.
• Lu Xiao reasoned that the Outsiders had made a sound choice given what they knew, but they were facing a top-ten superpower species.

The Gods' costly assassination attempt on Tina failed when her real self appeared, revealing that a double had drawn them into a trap. The Gods then switched targets and charged toward the Mother Worms as the Swarm tried to block their advance.

• The Gods lost hundreds of their number before reaching Tina's location and unleashing their attacks on her apparent figure.
• The Gods found only an empty crater, while a figure appeared on an insect Throne and the Swarm surged around it.
• Luolin realized Tina's double might have used Driver's Fantasy Authority to fake a life aura, and Lu Xiao confirmed Driver wielded Fantasy.
• The real Tina appeared with transparent wings and drove the Swarm to attack the Giants more fiercely.
• The Gods abandoned their failed attempt to kill Tina and charged toward the Mother Worms, pushing through walls of Zerg.

Lu Xiao watched the Allied Gods fail to break through the Zerg’s vast living wall and realized the Swarm had won, then turned his attention to finding a way to kill Tina without knowing whether she was using a stand-in. A day later, the Fourth Group Army reached Chernobyl to retrieve buried nuclear warheads, but a strange black mist shrouded the site.

• The Gods and Zerg fought a devastating battle, with more than two hundred Gods and around a billion Zerg dying within ten minutes.
• Lu Xiao asked Daimon and Zhang Chu whether they could breach the billion-strong wall guarding the Mother Worm, and both said they could not.
• The last hundred Gods fell without reaching the Mother Worm, and Luolin declared the Zerg had already won the war.
• Lu Xiao stopped watching and wondered how he could kill Tina when he could not tell whether the one who had appeared was her true body or a stand-in.
• The Fourth Group Army arrived at Chernobyl after a journey of more than thirty hours to retrieve over three thousand buried nuclear warheads.
• Yang Zhan surveyed the living, distorted black mist covering Chernobyl, while the army could not use its usual artillery strike.

Yang Zhan led the Fourth Group Army into Chernobyl’s black fog after the Sharp Sword Special Operations Team failed to return on time. He discovered that time inside the fog moved three times slower than outside and reported that the threat exceeded his army’s capabilities; the Warden, Antie, and the Doctor decided to call in outside help.

• Yang Zhan sent the Sharp Sword Special Operations Team into the black fog to investigate and ordered the Fourth Group Army to advance after three hours passed without the team returning.
• Yang Zhan’s forces found the team inside the fog, where Captain Qin Lin said only one hour had passed since they entered, despite three hours passing outside.
• Yang Zhan compared watches with Qin Lin and Old Chen, concluded that time flowed three times slower inside the fog, and contacted Military Headquarters.
• The Warden summoned Antie and the Doctor at the C02 Containment Facility and told them the situation in Chernobyl exceeded the Fourth Group Army’s ability to handle.
• Antie urged the Warden and the Doctor to call in outside help, and they agreed.

Ding Dan and Morati arrived at Chernobyl to investigate the Mist, where time flowed differently and a powerful being might be hiding. After hearing Yang Zhan’s account, Ding Dan chose to enter the Mist with Morati and seek the nuclear warheads without provoking its inhabitant.

• Ding Dan received Doctor’s call about Chernobyl and flew with Morati to the C02 Containment Facility, then entered the Dark Prison.
• Ding Dan recalled his previous journey into the Dark Prison with Lu Xiao before flying toward Chernobyl.
• Yang Zhan withdrew the Fourth Group Army from the Mist and waited for reinforcements, which arrived as Ding Dan and Morati.
• Yang Zhan told Ding Dan that time inside the Mist flowed at a different rate, strange roars came from within, and the army had suffered no casualties.
• Ding Dan decided not to use his Authority to correct the time flow, fearing it might expose or anger the powerful being inside.
• After learning they needed to retrieve buried nuclear warheads, Ding Dan and Morati entered the Mist to investigate and avoid a fight if possible.

Ding Dan and Morati entered the Dark Prison and encountered a Fourth Group Army led by a Yang Zhan who did not recognize Ding Dan. Ding Dan’s Correction confirmed that this army was not an anomaly, leaving him unsure who was guarding the area outside the mist.

• Ding Dan and Morati sensed something draining from them as they explored the ruined city of Chernobyl and spotted a surviving steel building.
• They flew toward the building and found soldiers in military uniforms, who aimed their guns at the demons.
• Yang Zhan arrived, identified Ding Dan and Morati as potential threats, and demanded to know why they were there.
• Ding Dan used Correction on the Fourth Group Army, but the ability did not correct them, indicating they belonged there.
• Ding Dan said Mr. Warden had sent him to help the Fourth Group Army find the buried nuclear warheads, but Yang Zhan denied requesting assistance.

Ding Dan found that Correction confirmed the Yang Zhan outside the mist was real, leaving him unsure which of the two identical Fourth Group Armies was false. He led the outside army back into the mist to test the other Yang Zhan, and the two forces met near the steel building.

• Ding Dan and Morati left Yang Zhan’s group and returned through the mist, where Ding Dan used Correction but failed to make the outside Fourth Group Army disappear.
• Ding Dan questioned Yang Zhan and used Correction to verify his answers, learning that the Yang Zhan outside had not lied.
• Ding Dan decided to bring the outside army into the mist and use Correction to identify which force was false, while avoiding a fight by making both sides prove their identities.
• Half an hour later, Yang Zhan led the Fourth Group Army into the mist with Ding Dan and Morati.
• Two hours later, the armies met in the parking lot before the steel building, and Yang Zhan asked the other force which army it belonged to.

Ding Dan and Yang Zhan encountered identical versions of themselves and their armies inside the mist, then realized the place was a time convergence point. After confirming the other group came from a different time and posed no danger, the Fourth Group Army entered the mist again, considering cooperation with their counterparts.

• Yang Zhan and his counterpart argued over which one was real while Ding Dan found that neither was lying, and Morati sensed their souls had identical auras.
• Two Ding Dans and two Moratis arrived, used Correction, and discovered that the Ding Dans’ souls also matched exactly.
• The Ding Dans compared when they had entered the mist and concluded that the region was likely a time convergence point rather than a time shadow.
• Both groups withdrew from the mist simultaneously and watched each other disappear, confirming they could not meet outside it.
• Yang Zhan realized he had been cursing at himself, and the Fourth Group Army entered the mist again after deciding the encounter was harmless.

The Doctor decided to bring his Main Consciousness Entity to the Dark Prison to study the Time Convergence Point at Chernobyl, despite the Warden and Antie’s objections. Antie joined him, drawn by the chance to meet himself from another Timeline, and prepared to help him reach the convergence point.

• The Warden and Antie discussed whether the Soviet Union had discovered Chernobyl’s Time Convergence Point before abandoning the area.
• The Doctor announced that he would send his Main Consciousness Entity to the Dark Prison to study time, and the Warden and Antie objected.
• The Doctor argued that the convergence point could disappear at any moment and left before the Warden could stop him.
• Antie inferred that the Doctor had already reached the Dark Prison and offered to accompany him, while the Warden accepted that as their only option.
• At the Dark Prison, the Doctor’s double asked Antie to help them proceed, and Antie admitted he wanted to meet himself from another Timeline.

Yang Zhan's forces searched the Chernobyl site for nuclear warheads but found only an abandoned nuclear power plant. Doctor and Antie arrived, and Doctor began examining the site while they discussed the plant's past and why the warheads might be hidden there.

• Yang Zhan sent a Special Forces Company into the steel building, which they identified as an abandoned nuclear power plant with no hidden doors.
• Yang Zhan ordered the combat engineers to dig through the ground for the nuclear warheads while the combat units stood guard.
• The two Ding Dans spotted Antie and Doctor arriving in a streak of fiery light.
• Doctor said he had come to glimpse time, then set down his Metal Container and examined the steel building.
• Antie explained that Chernobyl was the site of humanity's largest nuclear power plant leak and that human negligence and immature technology had contributed to it.
• Doctor asked why nuclear warheads had been hidden there, but Antie said he did not know and noted that much information had been lost during the Outsiders' advent.

Doctor Li and Antie met their counterparts from another timeline, while the two Doctors exchanged data to calibrate their knowledge. Before disappearing, the other Antie warned that his timeline had ended and urged them not to repeat its mistakes.

• The chapter explained that nuclear warhead locations, including the Soviet Union’s stockpile at Chernobyl, were kept secret and that Doctor Li had uploaded their coordinates to the system.
• The two Doctors connected their metal containers and exchanged data, which one Doctor said was for calibration.
• The other Antie told Antie there were no nuclear warheads there and claimed the Soviet Union had detonated over three thousand nuclear bombs and hydrogen bombs to disrupt space-time.
• The other Antie warned that time on his timeline had reached its end, then dissolved into bubbles before answering Antie’s questions.
• The other Doctor wished everyone good luck as rust appeared on his face.

Doctor’s group left the mist after Doctor explained that the Soviet scientists’ nuclear detonations had disrupted spacetime and created the Chernobyl they had seen. The chapter revealed that the scientists’ plan had succeeded, though they had not known it at the time.

• Doctor’s duplicate watched a metal container and its circuitry decay under the effects of time, then turned back with Doctor’s body and told Antie there was no point continuing to search for Nuclear Warhead.
• One of the Yang Zhans said he would soon disappear, urged his troops to go home, and dissolved into an illusion as the Fourth Group Army turned to ash.
• Ding Dan learned from his other self that all temporal anomalies would be corrected, then flew away; Morati followed him.
• Antie caught up with Doctor’s group after they left the mist and asked why they were stopping without finding Nuclear Warhead.
• Doctor explained that the mist had shown a spacetime disruption rather than the real Chernobyl, caused by the Soviet scientists detonating more than three thousand nuclear warheads.
• Doctor told Antie that the scientists’ plan had succeeded, though they had not realized it at the time.