Recaps

Qingmu returned half of the Soul of Fire to Horemheb, who explained that Gaia’s arrival was foretold and that sealing the Holy Lands again would trap their guardians in Ramla. Horemheb revealed that humanity was prophesied to defeat Gaia after a second near-extinction struggle, and Qingmu set out to reach the Holy Land while Huang Liang carried Hong Kui’s body onward.

• Qingmu offered Horemheb half of the Soul of Fire, but Horemheb asked him to give it to someone who deserved it and said he would die with Itjenetjer.
• Horemheb explained that Gaia’s nine eyes appeared as Holy Lands were activated, and that sealing them again would require immense sacrifice and would not stop Gaia’s mental power from reaching Earth.
• Huang Liang grieved over Hong Kui and hoped that the unopened Holy Land of Ice would delay Gaia, while Horemheb warned that another Chayak Family descendant might still activate it.
• Qingmu refused to give up hope, and Horemheb said the prophecy foretold humanity would ultimately defeat Gaia after two direct confrontations, blessing the heroes of Qingmu’s age.
• Horemheb chose to remain on the ice, while Qingmu headed for the Holy Land to make amends and Huang Liang carried Hong Kui’s body there for burial.

Huang Liang and Qingmu crossed the ice field and reunited with Su Huilan and the others, then reached the Altar of Ice and met Situ. Mrs. Larry pieced together a possible account of Gaia’s origins and purpose, while the group faced the question of how to oppose her.

• Huang Liang followed Qingmu across the ice field carrying Hong Kui’s corpse, leaving Horemheb and Itjenetjer behind.
• Qingmu and Huang Liang reunited with Su Huilan, Ivan, Petru, Mrs. Larry, Alice, and Duwa; Boss Coal learned that Hanran had vanished in the Sacred Land of Fire and hoped she had returned to Earth.
• Qingmu gave Petru the Soul of Fire and told him about his ancestor Horemheb, prompting Petru to mourn.
• The group reached the Altar of Ice, where they met Situ, and Qingmu repeated Horemheb’s prophecy about Gaia’s arrival and the hope of defeating her.
• Mrs. Larry connected the clues and proposed that Gaia was a Boltzmann Brain that had created life to explore the universe before deciding to reclaim it as the universe approached heat death.

Mrs. Larry explained her theory of Gaia’s return and the ancient struggle, and Situ described Gaia and the universe as opposing players using life as pieces. The group learned that humanity might help one side win, but would likely be destroyed when the game ended.

• Mrs. Larry finished explaining how Gaia’s influence had returned through the reactivated Holy Lands and how humanity’s ancestors had resisted her.
• Huang Liang carried Hong Kui’s body away from the altar to take him to the Holy Land where he had dreamed of resting.
• Crow asked who the players were, and Situ said Gaia was playing against the universe itself.
• Situ explained that Gaia created life as pieces to challenge the universe, then began killing them when civilization’s spread strengthened her opponent.
• Petru asked whether humanity could win, and Situ said humanity might survive the contest but would be cleared from the board afterward, regardless of which player won.
• Mrs. Larry concluded that life was born of fate and became great by resisting it.

After Mei Ziqing was found mentally damaged and brought home by Bian Ziyuan, he rejected Saladin’s offers of power and a restored version of Mei in order to care for her as she was. Saladin then offered to help recover her consciousness if Bian helped find the Key to the Dreamscape and merge him with Kronos.

• A cemetery caretaker discovered Mei Ziqing stealing grave offerings and sitting at Mei Yiqiu’s grave, then lost his job after she was reported to the police.
• Bian Ziyuan identified Mei Ziqing at the police station and took her home, where he cared for her despite her inability to remember him.
• Saladin urged Bian Ziyuan to seize the Kitano Clan’s wealth or implant a chip in Mei Ziqing, but Bian refused both options.
• Mei Ziqing embraced Bian Ziyuan and called him Otosan, and he comforted her back to sleep.
• Saladin offered to restore Mei Ziqing’s consciousness if Bian recovered the Key to the Dreamscape using the Kitano Clan’s power and merged Saladin with Kronos.

Mei Ziqing was drawn into Mei Yiqiu’s Dream Guide, where he showed her the Dream Core. She realized it was the center she had long wanted to unlock, and Mei Yiqiu revealed its other name: the City of Sin.

• A great bird’s Mental Power pulled Mei Ziqing out of her body and left her drifting through a dark, timeless void.
• Mei Ziqing followed a distant light and called for Professor, forming a connection that brought her out of the void to Mei Yiqiu.
• Mei Yiqiu led Mei Ziqing through a white world into his dream, where mountains, forests, streams, and moonlit scenery appeared.
• Mei Yiqiu showed Mei Ziqing a chain bridge leading through storm clouds to a floating castle.
• From the castle, Mei Ziqing saw Bian Ziyuan, Kronos, and many connected worlds, then recognized the place as the Dream Core.
• Mei Yiqiu told Mei Ziqing that the Dream Core was also called the City of Sin.

Mei Yiqiu revealed that he had long known Mei Ziqing’s identity and had been guiding events to prepare a Mental Black Hole against Gaia. He disclosed that he was Nanke, the ancient planner behind the Alliance’s hidden projects, and the chapter ended with him recalling his forgotten name.

• Mei Yiqiu told Mei Ziqing that he had known who she was from the beginning and had acted at her father’s request to watch over her.
• Mei Yiqiu revealed that Mei Ziqing’s father was dead and had sought imprisonment in the City of Sin to atone for his sins.
• Mei Ziqing accused Mei Yiqiu of abandoning her and challenged his belief that her plan to create a dream world could defeat Gaia.
• Mei Yiqiu explained that the City of Sin was an Itza Dream Core intended to grow into a Mental Black Hole capable of trapping Gaia.
• Mei Yiqiu admitted that he had concealed a plan involving human chips, Internet Consciousness, the Space Box, and Dream Guide, while saying that the Alliance leaders atoned after death.
• Mei Yiqiu explained the meaning of his name, and Mei Ziqing recognized him as Nanke.

Mei Ziqing learned that Mei Yiqiu had built a plan to use Bi Shenghua’s key to create a mental black hole and trap Gaia, at the cost of everyone on Earth wearing a Space Box and those dreaming. Mei Yiqiu revealed hidden preparations for humanity’s future, but said the greatest danger was Gaia arriving before the black hole could swallow her.

• Mei Yiqiu told Mei Ziqing that Bi Shenghua held the real key, while Yu Jianguo and Yao Jingjing had been decoys intended to mislead Saladin.
• Mei Ziqing deduced that Saladin would use Bian Ziyuan to seize the Dream Guide and that Bi Shenghua would connect the City of Sin to it, forming a mental black hole to capture Gaia.
• Mei Yiqiu explained that the plan would kill everyone on Earth wearing a Space Box and anyone dreaming, and that he hoped the black hole could also slow the universe’s heat death.
• Mei Ziqing realized Mei Yiqiu had hidden the real Dream Network Core in the laboratory basement, where Ghost and a supercomputer could transfer information between symmetrical universes.
• Mei Yiqiu said he had left his estate and laboratory to a young girl he intended to lead the Alliance’s next generation.
• Mei Yiqiu warned that Gaia might descend too quickly for the black hole to contain her, so someone had to slow her arrival.

Huang Liang buried Hong Kui at the altar and parted from Qingmu and the other Guardians as they set out to close the activated altars. On the return journey, Alice activated the altar and revealed her inherited mission before the rising water covered her.

• Huang Liang placed the Soul of Ice in Hong Kui’s hand and laid him to rest within the wolf-shaped outline in the ice.
• Qingmu, Situ, Duwa, and Petru continued toward their Holy Lands, while Huang Liang, Su Huilan, Mrs. Larry, Alice, and Ivan retraced their route.
• After mist covered the ice field, the group realized Alice had disappeared and rushed back to the altar.
• The ice split and water rose around the altar, where Alice stood with her bleeding wrist held above the pool.
• Alice told Mrs. Larry that she carried the legacy of the Two-Faced Goddess and had to fulfill a prophecy by destroying the world; the water covered her, leaving only her blood dispersing on the ice.

After the Dreamscape’s barriers vanished and its new world emerged, Gaia’s arrival brought ten suns and catastrophic floods to Earth. Qingmu, Situ, Duwa, Petru, and Crow joined forces to shoot down the suns, while Bi Shenghua later found the mulberry trees dead and activated the key Mei Yiqiu had given her.

• Saladin’s men stole the dream box, and Bian Ziyuan unlocked the Dreamscape’s barriers before leaving with Mei Ziqing.
• The Dreamscape’s rules merged into a new world, and ten suns appeared as Gaia’s arrival melted the northern ice and unleashed floods.
• Qingmu, Situ, Duwa, Petru, and Crow combined their powers to form a flaming bow and arrow that destroyed the extra suns.
• The survivors saw one sun remain, while black feathers fell and the world returned to its former appearance.
• Bi Shenghua found every mulberry tree in Mulberry Garden dead except the willow, then pressed the key Mei Yiqiu had given her.

As the old world’s disasters receded, Lawiye was freed from prison and humanity began rebuilding. Bi Shenghua quietly cared for the condemned statue of the old man at the Century Disaster Memorial Hall, where the chapter ended.

• Floods and rising sand swallowed most of the Giza pyramids as Abdullah Rashad Rashid Bucibulaxi Yicijielaxi Cishalasha Mudezhile saw visions of suns, fireworks, and black feathers.
• A white cat mourned among the feathers while Lawiye, starving in her prison cell, remembered the man she had loved and the fireworks she had seen.
• An Eastern woman entered Lawiye’s cell, confirmed her name, and told her she was free.
• The cold spell ended, the Arctic opened to settlement and shipping, and humanity began to flourish again.
• The former Mei Laboratory became the Century Disaster Memorial Hall, where crowds cursed and defiled a statue of the old man.
• Bi Shenghua swept the square and, after dark, carefully cleaned the statue.