Recaps

Doctor explained the failed nuclear-bomb plan through a model of branching timelines, pruning, and a gardener restarting time. He left Antie and the others with the idea that time restart was like planting a new seed after the timeline tree withered.

• Doctor questioned how anyone could have hidden the signs of three thousand nuclear explosions and explained that the planners hoped the blast would draw powerful counterparts from other timelines.
• Doctor described timelines as branches growing from a main trunk, with exhausted timelines falling away like leaves.
• Doctor explained that a gardener pruned timelines to preserve the main trunk, then eventually restarted time by replacing a withered tree with a new seed.
• Antie realized the other version of himself had come from a branch connected to the main timeline, not from a fallen leaf.
• Yang Zhan asked Ding Dan whether he understood Doctor's explanation, and Ding Dan admitted he did not.

The Doctor explained that Soviet scientists secretly tried to attract advanced civilizations to save humanity, but they had misjudged their timeline’s role. He revealed that their timeline was the main one and that another version of himself sacrificed it so humanity on the main timeline could have a future.

• The Doctor described how Soviet scientists planned to light a lamp across spacetime, lure other civilizations to Earth, and exploit the resulting technology while preserving seeds of civilization.
• Antie explained that the scientists kept the plan secret because they feared suspicion and interference from their own people.
• Yang Zhan argued that humanity’s crisis should have left no room for such suspicion, and Antie asked the Doctor where the plan had gone wrong.
• The Doctor said the scientists had assumed their timeline was one among many, when it was actually the main timeline on which humanity’s future depended.
• The Doctor revealed that another version of himself had glimpsed time and sacrificed his timeline, allowing humanity on the main timeline to have a future again.

After returning from the Dark Prison, the Doctor demanded power from the Warden, who refused an immediate transfer and asked what they had seen. The Doctor then seized control by force and announced the takeover to the world, leaving the Warden detained and the public stunned.

• The Doctor returned to the Present World and told the Warden he wanted to take power, while Antie supported him.
• The Warden refused to transfer power immediately, explaining that a sudden change would cause public panic and that the Doctor lacked public credibility.
• Antie insisted that special circumstances called for special measures, and the Warden asked what they had seen in the Dark Prison.
• A Special Forces team aimed their guns at the Warden as the Doctor apologized and announced a takeover through a video broadcast on electronic devices worldwide.
• The Doctor ordered the soldiers to take the Warden to rest, and the Warden realized the Doctor had hacked the modified Prison Wardens' Biochips.

The Doctor seized the Warden’s authority, taking control of Huaxia’s Military Headquarters and Northern Europe within minutes. As Moli’an visited the Warden, Antie discussed a mysterious “gardener” connected to what he had learned from the Doctor in the Dark Prison.

• The Doctor took the Warden’s chair, signed a document centralizing authority, and sent modified soldiers to seize Huaxia’s Military Headquarters and incapacitate its generals.
• The Warden asked Antie whether he had taught the Doctor to seize power, and Antie said the Doctor had already taken control of Northern Europe.
• Antie explained that he had been wondering who the “gardener” was, and Moli’an appeared to ask why the Doctor had taken the Warden’s power.
• Moli’an offered to help the Warden regain power, but he declined and accepted her invitation to have a drink after he finished his business.
• Antie said the “gardener” was connected to information he had received from the Doctor in the Dark Prison, which he had not fully understood.
• The Warden said he did not resent losing power but worried the Doctor’s public seizure would damage his reputation if civilization survived.

The Warden worried about being kept under house arrest and tried to learn what Antie and Ding Dan had seen in the Dark Prison. Back in Paradise Lost, Ding Dan pondered the beings Above the Old One before Morati took him toward Chang'an City to meet a Chosen One of death.

• The Warden realized he was under house arrest and wondered what had frightened Antie and Ding Dan in the Dark Prison, but Antie did not intend to explain.
• Ding Dan returned to Paradise Lost and considered the Gardener, the Time Convergence Point, and the known beings Above the Old One, but could not connect them.
• Morati entered the Main Hall and told Ding Dan that he had found a suitable body for the person they had discussed.
• Ding Dan and Morati set off together, and Morati said he needed to meet another of death's Chosen Ones near Chang'an City first.
• Ding Dan guessed that the Chosen One had come to collect souls, and Morati's expression seemed to confirm it.

Ding Dan learned that Morati had received a Divine Oracle to collect the soul of another Chosen One of Death, a Great Old One who was destined to fall in the Present World. Morati would inherit everything from him, while Ding Dan realized the coming death might signal a terrifying war involving the Postman.

• Ding Dan remembered that Old Feis and Calamity had left Hell, and asked Morati whether she remembered Calamity.
• Morati said Calamity was a Chosen One who had gone to fulfill his duty.
• At the Chang'an City Post Office, Morati met privately with another Chosen One of Death while Ding Dan waited.
• Morati told Ding Dan that Death had ordered her to collect the other Chosen One's soul after he fell, and that she would inherit everything he possessed.
• Ding Dan realized the doomed Chosen One was a Great Old One whose mission was likely to collect the Postman's soul, and feared that a devastating war was coming to the Present World.

Ding Dan and Morati went to the C02 Containment Facility and entered its computer room to meet the Doctor’s Main Consciousness Entity. They found the Doctor’s body in a tank and numerous Doctors and girls engaged in strange contests, while one pair turned to stare at them.

• Ding Dan changed his plans and flew with Morati to the C02 Containment Facility instead of visiting the body intended for Hairy Bear’s birth.
• A modified soldier escorted Ding Dan and Morati underground, where the Doctor told them the Main Consciousness Entity was waiting.
• Ding Dan entered the computer room and saw the Doctor’s body submerged in a glass tank of nutrient solution.
• Ding Dan and Morati found a Doctor and a girl playing Go behind the tank, then saw other pairs playing cards and engaging in different contests.
• A Doctor carrying an electric screwdriver and a circuit board emerged beside a girl, and both fixed their gazes on Ding Dan.

Ding Dan and Morati met the Doctor and Lu Xi, the main body of 001, and learned that the coming war would be sparked by the Doctor peering into the authority of the Old One of Life. The Doctor explained that he had seized power to gather humanity’s strength and contact the planet’s World Will as an enslaver.

• The Doctor introduced Lu Xi as 001’s main body and invited Ding Dan and Morati to sit with them.
• Ding Dan told the Doctor that a war involving the Old One of Life was about to begin in the Present World.
• The Doctor told Morati that the Present World would remain peaceful and welcomed him to settle there.
• The Doctor revealed that the Old One of Life would start the war to punish the Digital Life that had peered into time, and Ding Dan realized that the Doctor was that thief.
• The Doctor explained that he had seized power from his mentor so he could centralize humanity’s power and contact the planet’s World Will as an enslaver.

The Doctor explained how controlling a world’s will made the planet his property and revealed that Lu Liangren, Space’s Chosen One, was in the tank. He described how beings who controlled rules disrupted their duties, forcing other rules to cover for them and threatening the universe with collapse.

• The Doctor told Ding Dan that taking control of the world’s will made the planet his property, which could deter another Chess Player from attacking his Chosen One.
• Ding Dan recognized Lu Liangren in the nutrient tank and asked when he had arrived.
• The Doctor said another version of himself had revealed that Lu Liangren and a Postman died in a branch timeline when the war reached the Logistics Point.
• The Doctor explained that timelines branched around major choices and that the Gardener corrected their growth, prompting Ding Dan to wonder whether the Gardener was Fate.
• The Doctor argued that beings controlling rules acted on personal feelings and interests, causing them to abandon their duties and forcing other rules to cover for them.
• The Doctor compared the universe to a company whose work would stop if too many rules left their posts, eventually causing the universe to collapse.

Doctor explained to Ding Dan how Rules and the universe's lifeforms functioned like employees in a company, and revealed that he had maneuvered powerful leaders into mediating his conflict with a higher-up. He said Lu Liangren had discovered the universe's true nature through Universe Logistics Company and revealed that the body in the tank was a vessel for Lu Liangren's resurrection, implying Lu Liangren would die in the war.

• Doctor explained that Rules had thoughts and emotions, and that Chaotic Lifeforms arose as accumulated frustration destabilized the universe's organizational structure.
• Doctor compared the universe's owner to a patient in a vegetative state who could not manage the company sustaining his life.
• Doctor explained that he had taken the blame for a leader and used that leverage to bring other leaders into a confrontation with a higher-up.
• Doctor said Lu Liangren had learned the universe's truth after joining Universe Logistics Company and later shared part of it with him as a Great Old One.
• Doctor revealed that the body in the glass tank was a vessel prepared for Lu Liangren's resurrection and said the war would have casualties.

Ding Dan returned to Hell with Morati to retrieve Gambler for Doctor, but found the Holy City suffused with sacred energy and occupied by Angel’s Ash Knights. He confronted Angel, rejected her attempt to explain, and attacked her as she drew a flaming sword and prepared to face him.

• Ding Dan asked Doctor whether he had arranged his own escape, and Doctor said his fate depended on the powerful figures involved in the struggle.
• Doctor asked Ding Dan to go to Hell and bring Gambler back, and Morati agreed to accompany him.
• Ding Dan and Morati teleported to the Holy City, where they sensed a sacred atmosphere and found the Ash Knights Corps occupying the area.
• Ding Dan manifested his giant original body and demanded an explanation from Angel, then punched at her before she could finish speaking.
• Angel dodged Ding Dan’s attack and formed a longsword from holy fire, while Ding Dan struck again and activated his Correction authority.

Ding Dan challenged the Angel by using Correction against her Holy Flame, while she drew power from the Ash Knights Corps and judged him with a crimson flame. His own stored Faith Power answered his command, but he ended the chapter bound to a gigantic cross and trapped in golden flames.

• Ding Dan repeatedly used Correction to contest the Angel's Holy Flame, but she summoned the Ash Knights Corps and drew on their faith to transform into fiery armor.
• Ding Dan commanded the Holy City's residents to kneel, and they answered, "Praise the king!" as his God Statue released stored Faith Power to him.
• Morati explained that the Faith Power could briefly amplify Ding Dan's Divinity, and Ding Dan chose to use it against the Angel.
• The Angel cried that she judged Ding Dan's sins, and a crimson flame struck him before Correction could extinguish her Holy Flame.
• Ding Dan found himself unable to move, bound by chains to a thousand-meter cross as golden flames enveloped him without causing pain.

Ding Dan and Angel found that neither his Correction nor her Holy Flame could overcome the other, and Angel withdrew. Ding Dan demanded that she leave, while Morati asked why the angels had occupied the demon city; Angel looked hurt, and Ding Dan recognized her as Nono, the Pope’s granddaughter.

• Angel’s Holy Flame failed to harm Ding Dan, while Ding Dan’s Correction failed to extinguish Angel’s Holy Light or cut off her Faith Power.
• Ding Dan concluded that holiness was not pure enough and evil was not absolute enough to explain why neither power worked.
• Angel descended and released Ding Dan from the cross; Ding Dan left his Mythical Life Original Body form and told her to get lost.
• Morati asked why Angel and the Ash Knights Corps were occupying a city belonging to demons, and told her to explain in a language Ding Dan understood.
• Ding Dan noticed Angel’s hurt expression and recalled that she was Nono, the Pope’s granddaughter, who had become an angel when she was young.

Ding Dan and Morati demanded an explanation from Angel, while Gambler realized his lie might have sent her and her Ash Knights Corps into danger. Lu Xiao struggled to devise a way to identify Tina’s doubles, then heard an unfamiliar prayer that drowned out Night’s murmurs and chose not to answer it.

• Ding Dan ignored Angel’s hurt expression, and Morati sternly demanded her explanation.
• Gambler recalled lying to Angel about the demons and feared Daimon’s legion had wiped out her Ash Knights Corps.
• Lu Xiao considered taking control of the Zerg after the war so the Swarm could devour any uncontrolled Tina doubles, but doubted Lu Qian could seize the whole Swarm.
• Lu Xiao wondered whether he had misinterpreted Fate, since the theory behind his plan had begun with his own speculation.
• An unfamiliar female prayer suddenly drowned out Night’s murmurs, and Lu Xiao decided he could not answer it and left the supplicant on her own.

Lu Xiao recognized a prayer to him from Angel and suspected she was his Subgod through the Human Heart authority. He questioned Gambler about Angel’s family and learned that her parentage connected to Pope Thatcher Lino in two ways.

• Lu Xiao recognized the name Nono in a prayer and realized Angel was calling on him with a devotion stronger than a Chosen One’s.
• Lu Xiao recalled Calamity’s explanation of Subgods and wondered whether Angel served his Human Heart authority.
• Lu Xiao asked Gambler about Angel’s background, and Gambler said she was Thatcher Lino’s granddaughter through his daughter.
• Gambler explained that Lino’s only daughter gained immense power after he became Pope and was corrupted by it.

Gambler told Lu Xiao how Nono was born from a scandal involving the Pope’s daughter and became Angel after the Church’s prayer ceremony received a response from its True God. Lu Xiao questioned Gambler’s involvement and the Pope’s decision to acknowledge Nono, and Gambler began explaining that Popes could be chosen in two different ways.

• Gambler said a politician used a scandal involving Lino’s daughter and Nono to blackmail the Pope, who eventually acknowledged Nono as his daughter’s daughter.
• Gambler said Lino’s daughter did not survive the Church’s holy baptism and Nono later tested with greater Mental Power than Lino.
• Gambler explained that the Church prayed for guidance and received a response that made Nono Angel and bestowed the Authority of Judgment on her.
• Lu Xiao asked whether Antie called Nono the Pope’s son’s daughter because he did not know the history, then suspected Gambler had helped cause the scandal.
• Lu Xiao challenged the Pope’s decision to acknowledge Nono, and Gambler replied that there were two different ways to choose a Pope.

Gambler explained that Lino became Pope through a divine revelation and that Nono was named an Angel of Judgment, whose lack of education explained her behavior. After Lu Xiao revealed that Nono had called on him for help, he concluded that Gambler had masterminded her birth, though Fate was the true force behind it.

• Gambler told Lu Xiao that Lino became Pope through a revelation from the True God, making him impossible to remove without another revelation.
• Gambler explained that Nono had been named an Angel of Judgment, but her long periods of sleep had caused her to miss much of her early education.
• Lu Xiao told Gambler that Nono had called out to him and asked him to stand up for her, leaving both men confused about why she had contacted him.
• Gambler explained that he had learned the Church's secrets while serving as Second Seat of the Saints, and Lu Xiao realized that Niclade had inherited those memories from him.
• Lu Xiao accused Gambler of masterminding Nono's birth and suspected that Fate had ultimately orchestrated it.

Gambler considered why Angel’s prayer had reached Lu Xiao and developed theories about the Church’s origins and the authority called “miracle.” He left the “True God’s” identity unresolved, while the Church’s contaminated Pope’s Crown still needed to be recovered from the Clone Pope.

• Lu Xiao and Gambler set aside Angel’s background, though Gambler wondered why her prayer had been directed to Lu Xiao.
• Gambler reasoned that “miracle” might be an authority held by the “True God” and outlined three possible reasons Lu Xiao received Angel’s prayer.
• Gambler recalled that the Church had once possessed many holy relics, including the contaminated Pope’s Crown, which had passed through his hands before being returned to the Pope’s original body.
• Gambler revisited Doctor Li’s theory that the Church grew out of an organization of authority-wielding beings whose fallen members left behind the holy relics.
• Gambler concluded that the Church’s “True God” could have been a powerful authority-wielder, though people had previously guessed that its authority was “creation.”

Gambler concluded that the True God who wielded Miracle had fallen, which could explain why Lu Xiao received Angel’s prayers, and he shared his theory with Lu Xiao. Lu Xiao went to ask Postman Luolin whether anything major had happened in the Universe, but Luolin reminded him that the Zerg were about to win the war and that the outcome depended on Lu Xiao.

• Gambler ruled out the other possibilities and concluded that the True God had recently fallen.
• Gambler theorized that a divine war had split the True God’s organization, and that the winning faction had left for the Universe with the authority of the fallen god.
• Gambler told Lu Xiao his full conjecture, including that Lu Xiao had inherited the authority and could therefore receive Angel’s prayers.
• Lu Xiao decided to check whether anything major had happened in the Universe and brought Gambler to Postman Luolin.
• Lu Xiao asked Luolin about recent events in the Universe, and Luolin warned him that the Zerg were about to win and that everything depended on Lu Xiao.

Lu Xiao asked Luolin to investigate major events from the past ten hours to verify a theory before proceeding with Tina’s assassination. Luolin reported that Silicon-based Life had destroyed a species and killed several Observers, leaving Lu Xiao wondering what message the incident was meant to send him.

• Lu Xiao asked Luolin to check whether a major event had occurred in the universe roughly ten hours earlier.
• Luolin learned that Silicon-based Life had wiped out a small-to-medium species seven hours earlier and destroyed its galaxy in front of the Observers.
• Luolin explained that Silicon-based Life had also killed several Observers and tried to attack the others, despite the Observers’ rules countering it.
• Lu Xiao wondered whether Silicon-based Life was demonstrating that it could defeat the Observers and draw out 'Time,' while Luolin said the Observers had not yet responded.
• Lu Xiao remained unsure what message Silicon-based Life was trying to convey to him.

Luolin realized Silicon-based Life had escaped the notice of Truth and could counter both Truth and Time, while Lu Xiao concluded that its attack on a race called God’s had really targeted the Observers. The chapter left Lu Xiao suspecting that the False God’s departure was tied to the Observers.

• Luolin recognized that the Recorders had failed to predict Silicon-based Life’s attack, suggesting it could evade Truth as well as counter Time.
• Luolin learned that Silicon-based Life had used the galaxy-destroying Phase-Matrix Collapse Array Silicon Wafer and that the Universe Logistics Company had suspended transport and paid compensation.
• Luolin inferred that Silicon-based Life and Space were jointly intimidating the Universe’s races and forcing them to choose sides.
• Lu Xiao concluded that Silicon-based Life had destroyed God’s race incidentally while targeting the Observers and Time behind them.
• Lu Xiao connected Gambler’s conjecture that God was a thief or traitor to the possibility that the False God’s departure involved the Observers.

Lu Xiao was pulled into the Unknown Divine Hall, where a mysterious being merged with him and took control of his body. He witnessed 'Fantasy' and other beings Above the Old One gather, but received no answers before the taxi disappeared.

• A wormhole pulled Lu Xiao from Luolin into the Unknown Divine Hall, where he found a motionless blurry figure before the statues.
• Lu Xiao could not speak or move as the figure approached, sat on his lap, and merged with his body.
• Two more blurry figures appeared and took seats on the Divine Thrones.
• An orange taxi appeared on the round table, and Lu Xiao recognized its driver as 'Fantasy'.
• 'Fantasy' objected to Lu Xiao being present and told the others to erase his memories before turning blurry.
• Lu Xiao wondered if the gathering was meant to reveal truths, but the beings stared at the table and 'Fantasy' made the taxi vanish.

At a silent Divine Hall meeting, Lu Xiao learned that the Supreme Insect Emperor had been located and that Time objected to the others probing his authority. The discussion ended with orders to kill the Supreme Insect Emperor before the war in Hell ended, while Fantasy hinted that Tina must not be killed.

• A blurry figure told Lu Xiao that the group had pinpointed the Supreme Insect Emperor’s location.
• Technology reported that Time said he had overstepped his bounds, and Fantasy wondered whether Time felt threatened by their grasp of his authority.
• Lu Xiao asked about Time’s stance toward the Home Planet, and Technology said Time had not stated one.
• Fantasy said Life wanted to stay uninvolved while Death had grown close to Lu Xiao, and Lu Xiao decided they could leave the siblings alone for now.
• Lu Xiao ordered that Lu Xiao kill the Supreme Insect Emperor before the war in Hell ended.
• Fantasy reminded Lu Xiao that he had wanted to kill Tina, hinting that Tina must be spared.

Lu Xiao connected Tina’s gene-extraction ability and the Heavenly Insect Clan to the mysterious beings’ plans, and feared that a being Above the Old One might threaten Tina after the war in Hell. He then heard Technology and Fantasy discuss Night, and his other self ordered Technology to deal with her.

• Lu Xiao reasoned that Tina’s gene-extraction ability made her essential to the plan, and connected her safety to the deal involving the Heavenly Insect Clan and the Supreme Insect Emperor.
• Lu Xiao suspected that a being Above the Old One might enter the conflict after the war in Hell ended.
• An indistinct being asked Technology whether Time had answered about retrieving people from the past, and Technology said no.
• Fantasy mentioned that Night had caused Technology trouble, and Lu Xiao’s mouth answered that she had caused him some trouble too.
• Lu Xiao’s other self told Technology to finish its current work and then deal with Night, suggesting that someone else could wield night.

Fantasy explained his relationship with Driver and hinted at how he had created Lu Xiao, using a witch’s takeover of a kingdom as an allegory for events in their universe. Lu Xiao concluded that a powerful, all-knowing being had outmaneuvered the world’s cautious rulers, and Fantasy confirmed that Lu Xiao’s interpretation was clever.

• After the meeting ended, Lu Xiao regained control of his body and approached Fantasy, who revealed his face and invited Lu Xiao to ask questions.
• Fantasy told Lu Xiao that Driver was him, but that he was not Driver, and said Lu Xiao was the only life-form he had imagined into existence.
• Fantasy explained that a witch used a magical apple to replace Snow White, then manipulated events until she controlled the kingdom.
• Lu Xiao asked whether Fantasy’s story reflected their own universe and whether he used the allegory because he feared attracting the witch’s attention; Fantasy confirmed Lu Xiao’s suspicion.
• Lu Xiao reasoned that the world’s rulers had fallen prey to the witch’s schemes despite their caution, and Fantasy praised his interpretation.