Recaps

Sly and Liuguang investigated Liuguang’s former orphanage, where the director believed Sly’s promises to recruit the children and improve their living conditions. The chapter ended as the children returned from working in the fields and gathered around the ambulance.

• Sly reassured the director that he would raise funds for the orphanage, while Liuguang reflected that their mission required caution around potentially disguised weird life.
• Sly warned Liuguang that he would shoot if anything unexpected happened, and Liuguang agreed not to stop him despite his attachment to the orphanage.
• The director gave Sly a long-rotted pack of cigarettes, and Liuguang reacted with alarm when he saw it.
• The director led Sly and Liuguang inside and said he hoped they would take all the children if they qualified.
• The children returned carrying farming tools and gathered around the ambulance, and the director called for Little Rascal to bring them over.

At an orphanage, Liuguang was affected by an Anomaly and lost consciousness. In the Dark Prison, Lu Xiao and Ding Dan experimented with daggers that boosted strength, fought for over an hour, and then continued their journey with their minds clouded by Confusion.

• At the orphanage, Liuguang froze after seeing Xiaopidan and was affected by an Anomaly, while Sly realized what had happened just before Liuguang lost consciousness.
• In the Dark Prison vehicle, Lu Xiao explained that a dagger had strengthened someone who stabbed their heart and let Ding Dan test it.
• Lu Xiao accidentally gave Ding Dan the wrong dagger, then used Positivity to clear Ding Dan's confusion before handing him the strength-boosting dagger.
• Lu Xiao pushed Ding Dan's hand so the dagger plunged into Ding Dan's heart, causing his muscles to swell; Lu Xiao then stabbed his own heart as well.
• Lu Xiao and Ding Dan jumped out of the vehicle and traded punches for over an hour until Driver told them to move on.
• Lu Xiao stabbed himself in the thigh with Confusion and passed it to Ding Dan, who also stabbed his thigh without noticing Lu Xiao's growing confusion.

Lu Xiao, Ding Dan, and Driver learned that the muscle transformation would wear off after twenty-four hours and continued through the Dark Prison. As Ding Dan considered why Lu Xiao had become confused about his curse, he suspected the curse was influencing Lu Xiao’s subconscious.

• Driver used Positivity to clear Lu Xiao and Ding Dan’s confusion, but their muscles remained, so Lu Xiao asked the Omniscient Mirror how to change back.
• The Omniscient Mirror said the transformation would last twenty-four hours and required no payment, and the group returned to the vehicle.
• Driver drove the group out of the desert while Lu Xiao explained that Ivan’s bone-carved array had stopped working and he feared becoming a mindless mass of rotting flesh.
• Driver and Ding Dan questioned why Lu Xiao feared death and felt confused, while Lu Xiao said he could ask Ivan to carve another Alchemy Array.
• Ding Dan concluded that Lu Xiao’s curse might be affecting his subconscious, while recalling how Confusion had magnified his own worries and despair.

Ding Dan told himself he would consult Doctor about his discovery while Lu Xiao and his companions teleported toward C02. At the C03 Containment Facility, Doctor watched footage of Sly and Liuguang behaving as though they were back at the Orphanage, where Liuguang cried as the headmaster played with Nini.

• Ding Dan decided to ask Doctor about his discovery, while Lu Xiao gave him two daggers and Driver teleported their vehicle to C03, then toward C02.
• Adam watched the vehicle disappear and hid from it, then vowed that he would soon confront Doctor as his mutations continued.
• Lu Xiao inventoried gifts for Doctor, Lu Qian, and Mr. Ivan, learned the Director wanted to study the Transforming Vehicle, and was warned that he and Ding Dan were dressed inappropriately.
• Doctor failed to reach Liuguang and viewed satellite footage of Liuguang and Sly playing at an Orphanage.
• Sly and Liuguang made food with the headmaster and Nini, and Liuguang shed tears as the headmaster gave Nini a ride on his shoulders.

Sly saw the steamed buns turn into wet mud and heard a voice warn him not to eat, but the children and Liuguang saw nothing unusual. After apologizing to Nini and returning to bed, Sly left the dumplings behind as Liuguang served them to the director.

• Nini shared part of her steamed bun with Sly, but Sly saw it and the other children’s buns turn into foul mud and warned them not to eat.
• The buns appeared normal again, and Nini became upset when Sly threw his bun away; Sly told Liuguang he had dropped it by accident and claimed he had hallucinated.
• Sly went to Nini’s room and apologized, and Nini forgave him after he promised he had not lied.
• Nini promised to hide dumplings for Sly, then went out while Sly returned to bed to rest.
• Liuguang gave the director a plate of dumplings; the director praised them and told Liuguang to share them with the other children.

Lu Xiao and Ding Dan returned from the Dark Prison with ingredients and information, while the Director joined Doctor to investigate a troubled mission. They reported that Dart had grown much stronger and stayed behind to buy C03 time as the Gate failed.

• Liuguang secretly told Nini he had saved a large plate of food for Sly.
• Lu Xiao and Ding Dan endured Positivity’s side effects, borrowed clothes from Driver and Chef, and rode the Transforming Vehicle out of the Dark Prison.
• The Director greeted them and became absorbed in the Transforming Vehicle while Ding Dan reported their return and their encounter with Dart to Doctor.
• Doctor asked the Director to come to C03, where the Director watched videos about a mission that had gone wrong.
• Lu Xiao presented Doctor with ingredients from the Dark Prison, and Ding Dan explained that Dart had grown stronger, refused to return, and confirmed the Gate was failing through R019-Source of Contamination.
• Doctor asked whether Dart had said anything else, but Ding Dan glanced at the Director, so Doctor told him to explain later.

The Doctor sent the Director, Lu Xiao, and Driver to investigate the orphanage, where a weak Weird Life had apparently controlled Liuguang and another person. After the Director explained his past and prepared for the mission, the group arrived at night and found signs that the pair had entered armed; he told Lu Xiao to prioritize containing the anomaly, leaving Lu Xiao’s question about danger unanswered.

• The Director and the Doctor reviewed the videos and the Doctor shared reports about a farmer who had spoken to thin air at the orphanage.
• The Director concluded Liuguang had likely escaped the Weird Life’s control and hidden the Accessibility Communicators, while the Doctor urged a swift containment mission.
• The Director agreed to help in exchange for studying 302-Transforming Vehicle, and the Doctor sent Lu Xiao and Driver with him.
• On the drive, the Director said he became a leader by giving it his all with his father, then explained that the Doctor’s teacher had established C03 for him.
• At the orphanage, the Director found Mercury Bullets in the ambulance and warned Lu Xiao that containing the anomaly mattered more than protecting a Sacrificial One.
• Lu Xiao asked what to do if he was in danger, and the Director replied that he had once been a Sacrificial One too.

Lu Xiao entered the courtyard with the Director and Driver, but an anomaly trapped him in the body of a scarred young woman named Nini. He found himself in a wealthy household, where Liu Wen brought him to meet a client named Mr. Chen.

• The Director revealed his mechanical hand, tore off the gate's padlock, and proposed a code phrase for detecting anomalous influence.
• The Director, Lu Xiao, and Driver entered the courtyard and froze as their surroundings changed.
• Lu Xiao woke in a girl's room as a scarred young woman, and Liu Wen called him Nini and told him to get ready for a client.
• Lu Xiao tried to use the code phrase, but his words changed to "Okay... Mom," and Liu Wen dismissed his claim about a district chief father.
• Lu Xiao counted 363 dolls in the room, then followed Liu Wen to meet Mr. Chen and his family.
• Liu Wen told Mr. Chen that her husband was away, and Mr. Chen said he had already transferred development rights for a commercial plot to Zhang Zong's company.

Liu Wen demanded that Mr. Chen transfer his luxury goods company before she would treat his terminally ill son, while Zhang Chaoya refused to undo their land deal. Mr. Chen realized he had been trapped but, with his son’s life at stake, remained dependent on the treatment as Liu Wen delayed it for a meal.

• Liu Wen told Mr. Chen that she wanted his luxury goods company as payment for treating his son, and he refused.
• Mr. Chen called Zhang Chaoya, who denied knowing about Liu Wen’s demand until she took the phone and insisted she would not treat the boy without the company.
• Zhang Chaoya berated Liu Wen, then apologized to Mr. Chen but refused to return the land development rights because his construction crew was already on the site.
• Mr. Chen recognized that Zhang Chaoya and Liu Wen had trapped him and called his secretary, knowing he had already surrendered the development rights and still needed their help.
• Mr. Chen asked Liu Wen to begin the treatment, but she invited everyone to eat first.

Lu Xiao observed a dream in which his adopted body transferred a little boy’s illness, while the Director and Driver realized they were trapped in a dream too. The Director called a woman listed as “Darling,” learned he had an affair in the dream, and promised to visit her.

• Mr. Chen and Liu Wen signed a transfer agreement, and Lu Xiao’s body took the little boy’s illness away.
• Liu Wen dismissed Lu Xiao’s pain, and he returned to his room, where he realized a dream-bound Weird Life had pulled him into a dream.
• The Director and Driver discovered they could move freely again and concluded they were inside a dream or hallucination.
• The Director called a number saved as “Darling” to ask about Mr. Chen, but the woman flirted with him and asked when he would visit.
• The Director told the woman he would come see her after finishing his business, and Driver praised him.

The Director and Driver followed Zhang Chaoya back to his villa, where they learned Liu Wen and Zhang Chaoya planned to sell Nini to Liu Mingsheng. The Director reunited with Lu Xiao in Nini’s room and began examining his body, while Driver slipped into Liu Wen’s room.

• The Director and Driver returned to Zhang Chaoya’s villa and witnessed Zhang Chaoya and Liu Wen discuss Nini’s illness and their plan to give her to Liu Mingsheng for a final deal.
• The Director entered Nini’s room as Zhang Chaoya and regained control of his body, then exchanged code phrases with Lu Xiao to confirm their identities.
• The Director, Driver, and Lu Xiao reunited and shared information before the Director offered to examine Lu Xiao’s body for clues.
• Driver followed Liu Wen to her room, slipped inside, and put his arm around her waist; Liu Wen laughed and warned him that Zhang Chaoya was still home.

The Director examined Lu Xiao’s severely damaged body and discussed why Nini had drawn them into her dream, while Lu Xiao proposed killing everyone to escape. Elsewhere, the Doctor prepared an experiment with Ding Dan, and Niclade ordered Gambler to help restore Sloth, whose attempt to gamble for his recovery ended with the bet declared invalid.

• Driver continued his affair with Liu Wen while Zhang Chaoya remained unable to control the body.
• The Director found that Lu Xiao’s body had numerous illnesses and missing organs, then discussed Nini’s dream with him; Lu Xiao suggested killing every living thing to escape.
• The Doctor watched Lu Xiao and the others moving in circles in the wasteland, then told Ding Dan he needed him for an experiment.
• Niclade scolded Gambler for sending Sloth to a place where he was transformed, then ordered Gambler to restore him.
• Gambler offered Sloth a card-drawing bet with his life as the stake, but concluded that the bet was invalid.

Gambler summoned War while Liuguang found Blackie beside a sick girl at the Orphanage. Meanwhile, the Director, Lu Xiao, and Driver set out to learn what happened to Nini, but the black cat secretly redirected their car away from Liu Mingsheng’s Manor.

• Niclade banished Gambler and Sloth, and Gambler called on War for help.
• Liuguang found Blackie beside a girl covered in rashes at the Orphanage and grew tearful when he looked at her.
• A black cat appeared at Lu Xiao’s window, vanished when he opened it, and left him drowsy.
• Zhang Chaoya arranged to take Nini to Liu Mingsheng the following night, and the Director and Lu Xiao prepared to go with him.
• The Director, Lu Xiao, and Driver left the Villa, but none of them noticed the black cat on the car roof or that their route did not lead to Liu Mingsheng’s Manor.

Lu Xiao, the Director, and Driver witnessed Zhang Chaoya’s death in the black cat’s Dreamscape, then investigated his records and returned to the Orphanage. The black cat revealed itself as the Dreamscape’s creator, and Lu Xiao fired his Corrupted Revolver at it.

• Zhang Chaoya was killed by the driver after the car brought him to a dilapidated building, while Nini watched from inside.
• The Director, Lu Xiao, and Driver woke in the wilderness and learned from police records that Zhang Chaoya’s body had been found, but Nini had vanished.
• The Director led Lu Xiao and Driver back to the Orphanage, where they encountered the white-haired Orphanage Director, the black cat, and a group of children.
• The black cat revealed that it had created the Dreamscape and claimed to be a god within it.
• Lu Xiao aimed his Corrupted Revolver at the black cat and pulled the trigger.

Lu Xiao, the Director, and Driver fought the children and figures Black Cat conjured in his dream, while the Director reasoned that the dream’s powers depended on Black Cat’s understanding. Driver challenged Black Cat to bring out something worse, and the chapter ended with Driver enduring a barrage of weak bullets and asking for heavier attacks.

• Black Cat claimed he was God in the dream, but the Corrupted Revolver produced a Clown Doll and Lu Xiao’s Bone Spur became a balloon.
• The Director argued that Black Cat could not kill them and that his dream powers depended on his understanding; the children attacked, and the Director, Lu Xiao, and Driver fought them off.
• Black Cat summoned Zhang Chaoya’s drivers and half-headed figures, but the three remained unfazed, and Driver taunted Black Cat to create something nastier.
• Black Cat gave the orphanage director an RPG launcher, but its rocket did nothing, leading the Director to conclude Black Cat did not understand the weapon.
• Black Cat conjured automatic rifles that fired at Driver for more than ten seconds, but the bullets only hurt him; Driver asked Black Cat for heavier stuff.

Lu Xiao and the Orphanage Director confronted Black Cat in its Dreamscape, where they discovered they could not be killed as long as they knew they were dreaming. Lu Xiao forced himself awake, while the Director stayed behind to question Black Cat about Nini.

• Black Cat struck Driver with a flaming meteorite, but Driver survived as a talking mouth and continued taunting it.
• The Director reasoned that the Dreamscape could not truly harm people who knew they were dreaming, and Black Cat admitted they might die if trapped long enough.
• When Black Cat vanished its summoned figures, the Director suggested that Lu Xiao inflict pain while recognizing the dream; Lu Xiao tore out and crushed his heart, then disappeared from the Dreamscape.
• Lu Xiao woke inside the Transforming Vehicle, confirmed he had left the Dreamscape with the Omniscient Mirror, and slapped Driver awake.
• The Director remained in the Dreamscape, where Black Cat asked to talk and he questioned it about why it had sought Nini.

The Director persuaded Black Cat to cooperate by promising that the facility would protect and treat Nini. Meanwhile, Lu Xiao came up with a way to take the Bone Spur into a Dreamscape by embedding it in his body, just as the Director woke and saw him tearing open his chest.

• The Director explained that the facility wanted to contain Black Cat and run experiments, and Black Cat demanded to know how they would treat Nini.
• The Director promised to protect Nini and provide effective treatment, so Black Cat agreed to cooperate if they could cure her.
• Lu Xiao reasoned that embedding the Bone Spur in his flesh would let him bring it into a Dreamscape.
• Lu Xiao tore open his chest to bury the Bone Spur in it, and the Director woke to see him doing it.

Lu Xiao and the Director returned to the Orphanage, where Black Cat freed Sly from his Dreamscape while Liuguang chose to remain in his. An hour later, Liuguang emerged with the grown-up Nini and accepted that he would face punishment for his actions.

• The Director stopped Lu Xiao from testing whether he could carry the Bone Spur into another Dreamscape and told the group to return to the Orphanage.
• At the Orphanage, Liuguang asked for more time, and the Director gave him an hour while Black Cat woke Sly from his Dreamscape.
• Black Cat explained that Liuguang had awakened when he saw his childhood self, then hypnotized himself back into the Dreamscape and taken Xiaopidan's place, leaving Sly caught up in it.
• An hour later, Liuguang came out carrying Nini, and the Director reminded him that he would face punishment for his choice.
• Black Cat explained that he had tricked Nini's driver into bringing her back to the Orphanage instead of taking her to the buyer, and the Director concluded that the dream had driven the driver mad.

Liuguang said goodbye to the Orphanage Director and rescued Nini from the ruined dream, then faced punishment for breaking the Sacrificial One code. The Doctor stripped him of his status pending investigation, but gave him a chance to return as a candidate and assigned Sly to train him and take him on a new investigation.

• Liuguang tearfully said goodbye to the Orphanage Director, who blessed him before disappearing.
• Liuguang carried Nini out of the Orphanage and asked Little Black to give her another good dream.
• The Doctor stripped Liuguang of his Sacrificial One status pending investigation and said he could return as a candidate if cleared.
• The Doctor made Sly Liuguang's instructor and assigned him to investigate disease transfers, especially Ms. Liu Wen, with Liuguang joining after his investigation.
• The Doctor visited the Prison Doctor's Containment Room, where Lu Xiao, Ding Dan, Ivan, Lu Qian, Chainsaw Man, and the Director gathered around the Operating Table.

The Doctor and the Director agreed to conduct joint research on Black Cat, while Lu Xiao and the Prison Doctor began an examination and treatment of Nini. After replacing her blood and removing damaged skin, the Prison Doctor prepared to begin the most difficult part of the operation.

• The Doctor asked the Director about Black Cat’s ability and proposed joint research, and the Director agreed to stay with Black Cat.
• Lu Xiao persuaded Ding Dan to accept his plan, then asked the Prison Doctor to examine Nini.
• The Prison Doctor found that Nini had 331 conditions and 32 curses, and said conventional treatment could not cure her.
• The Prison Doctor asked Ivan to stabilize Nini with an Alchemy Array and used cultured blood to replace hers.
• The Prison Doctor debrided Nini’s ulcerated skin for over an hour, then announced that the main part of the operation was next.

The Prison Doctor completed Nini’s surgery using Lu Xiao’s flesh while the Doctor and Director tested the Black Cat’s ability to harm people through dreams. The Doctor then proposed flesh machinery and sequence god-making as ways to help humanity survive the crisis, suggesting memory erasure could ensure the loyalty of godlike test subjects.

• The Prison Doctor replaced Nini’s diseased organs with Lu Xiao’s flesh as Liuguang and Sly watched.
• The Black Cat killed a Consumable inside a dream, confirming the Doctor and Director’s theory that dreamers could be harmed if they did not realize they were dreaming.
• The Doctor proposed human mechanical modification using anomalous power, which he called flesh machinery, and the Director acknowledged its potential.
• The Doctor proposed sequence god-making based on Ding Dan’s transformation, and the Director questioned whether such subjects could be trusted.
• The Doctor said he planned to use memory erasure to make godlike test subjects completely loyal to humanity.

The Doctor revealed that mutation could be controlled and proposed testing whether Lu Xiao’s blood could transform people into powerful life forms. The Director agreed to join the dangerous experiment after consulting his father, and the chapter ended with the Doctor and Director preparing for the trial.

• The Doctor told the Director that Ding Dan’s account and the Omniscient Mirror confirmed mutation could be controlled, with bodily integrity and incurable disease determining its outcome.
• The Director recalled that his father had awakened after receiving Lu Xiao’s blood but had undergone a mild contaminated mutation.
• The Doctor offered the Director blood from the rescued girl as a pathogen, then revealed that he had already injected himself with it.
• The Director refused to experiment on himself immediately and suggested the Doctor use Consumables, but the Doctor said memory erasure and loyalty conditioning would take too long.
• The Director called his father and Assistant, then agreed to proceed with the Doctor, who warned that they could die, become monsters, or end up in the Dark Prison.

The Prison Doctor finished a two-day surgery that cleared Nini’s illnesses, though curses remained, and her condition began to improve. The Doctor arranged for Nini to stay safely at the Containment Facility, while Liuguang prepared to investigate those who had hurt her.

• The Director injected himself with blood, then joined the Doctor to visit the infirmary after learning the surgery was over.
• The Prison Doctor told Lu Xiao that he had removed Nini’s illnesses and that her blood would gradually destroy the remaining curses.
• The Doctor recognized that the Prison Doctor’s diseased tissue came from illnesses he and the Director had replicated in their own bodies, and he ordered the Assistant to preserve it.
• The Doctor arranged a separate room and education for Nini at the Containment Facility, and he took Lu Xiao and Lu Qian to retrieve a gift for her.
• Liuguang thanked the Doctor for protecting Nini, then told Sly he would help prepare for the investigation and vowed that no one who had hurt Nini would escape.

Lu Xiao prepared to recover his memories through a nine-day dream experiment with Black Cat while Lu Qian’s godfathers divided up the Ghost-Faced Moth Empress’s corpse for her to eat. The Doctor and the Director discovered that U01 had fallen and Smith had become a vampire, then suspected Mr. Shadow had sent the secret report to draw the Doctor into a scheme involving Niclade’s sacrifice.

• The Doctor gave Lu Qian the Ghost-Faced Moth Empress’s corpse, and the Prison Doctor, Ivan, and Chainsaw Man prepared pieces for her to eat.
• The Doctor began a nine-day experiment in which Black Cat would use her dream-weaving ability to help Lu Xiao recover his memories.
• The Doctor told the Director that Mr. Shadow had secretly sent him the results of an investigation into the Saints’ ties to the Prison Wardens’ higher-ups.
• The Director read the report and learned that U01 had fallen and Smith had become a vampire with ties to Pride, the Saints’ Fourth Seat.
• The Doctor and the Director suspected Mr. Shadow had sent the secret report to help turn a scheme against its makers and involve the Doctor in Niclade’s Sacrifice Plan.

Lu Xiao dreamed that the Driver abducted and killed him, while Black Cat pixelated the gruesome parts. The dream ended when a man with a wooden sword and bell burst into the Driver’s home and confronted the Driver and his wife.

• The Doctor told the Director to hold Black Cat’s experimental data back and said they would begin an experiment after the Prison Doctor and the others finished.
• Lu Xiao realized he was dreaming in the taxi but remained unable to control his actions, and Black Cat appeared to pixelate the violence as the Driver attacked him with a balloon.
• The Driver put Lu Xiao in a sack, carried him home, and called for his wife, who appeared as a mass of pixelation.
• A middle-aged man in a bulletproof vest blasted open the door, raised a wooden sword and bell, and declared that the Driver and his wife were monsters.