Recaps

Yu Meiren asked Qingmu to help her bathe because she did not know how to use the hotel bathroom, so he called Yao Jingjing to assist her. While Yu Meiren bathed, Qingmu heard from Bi Shenghua about a visitor and checked on his friends, then spoke with Yao Jingjing on the balcony.

• Yu Meiren told Qingmu she was embarrassed by the hotel bathroom and asked him to help her bathe.
• Qingmu brought Yao Jingjing inside and asked her to help Yu Meiren use the bathroom.
• Yao Jingjing learned that the girl was Yu Meiren, praised her name and father, and took her into the bathroom.
• Qingmu spoke with Bi Shenghua, who said Huang Ziqiang had left a business card and that Boss Coal was tiring Xiao Qi and the others.
• Yao Jingjing told Qingmu that Yu Meiren had quickly learned to use the bathroom, and Qingmu joked that he never bathed.

Qingmu, Yu Meiren, and Yao Jingjing spent the evening together, sharing dinner and a walk by Green Lake before shopping for Yu Meiren. Yao Jingjing learned that Yu Meiren had told Qingmu she liked him, and teased that he was a block of wood because he had only chuckled.

• Yao Jingjing made Cloud Mist tea for Qingmu and helped Yu Meiren dry and style her hair.
• Yao Jingjing took Qingmu and Yu Meiren to dinner, but Yu Meiren cried because she missed her mother and felt the restaurant was too expensive.
• The three visited the lakeside night market, ate at a cheaper restaurant, and walked along Green Lake after dinner.
• Yu Meiren whispered to Qingmu that Yao Jingjing liked him, and the two laughed when Yao Jingjing asked what they were discussing.
• Yao Jingjing bought Yu Meiren clothes and learned that Qingmu had only chuckled when Yu Meiren told him she liked him.

Qingmu let Yu Meiren sleep in his room and spent the evening talking with Yao Jingjing, who had a midnight train to catch. After Shi Dazhuang took Beauty away, Qingmu offered to escort Yao Jingjing to the station, but accepted her refusal, leaving her disappointed as she departed.

• Qingmu let Yu Meiren sleep in his room, and Yao Jingjing offered him her unused hotel room while explaining she had changed her train to midnight.
• Hu Xing called Qingmu to check on him and Shi Dazhuang, shared news about Xia Wenyuan's recovery, and asked for help with her lucid dreams.
• Qingmu gave Hu Xing a quantum-mechanics explanation of lucid dreaming, while Yao Jingjing listened and teased him about his beautiful disciple.
• Shi Dazhuang returned, recognized Yao Jingjing, and took the awakened Yu Meiren back to their room after she whispered something to him.
• Yao Jingjing prepared to leave, and Qingmu offered to take her to the station; when she declined, he accepted her answer, and she left feeling disappointed.

Qingmu and Shi Dazhuang discussed the investigation into Ma Fuqing while Qingmu tried to see Yao Jingjing off. After Yao’s rideshare driver took her onto a secluded road and attacked her, a passing motorist heard her cries for help but drove on.

• Shi Dazhuang told Qingmu that Ma Fuqing was under close surveillance but could not be arrested without evidence.
• After Yao Jingjing messaged that her driver was behaving strangely and heading toward Phoenix Mountain, Qingmu borrowed Shi Dazhuang’s SUV and set out to find her.
• The driver refused to turn back, and Yao Jingjing escaped from the car after he stopped on a secluded road.
• When Yao Jingjing returned to retrieve her suitcase, the driver grabbed her, dragged her into the woods, and threatened her with a knife.
• A passing driver heard Yao Jingjing shouting for help, but his companion dismissed the cries and he drove away.

Qingmu rescued Yao Jingjing from a driver who had threatened to kill and assault her. After forcing the driver to mutilate himself and jump from a bridge, Qingmu took Yao Jingjing to the station.

• Yao Jingjing resisted the driver's assault and held on to hope that Qingmu would find her.
• Qingmu arrived in an off-road vehicle, broke the driver's wrist, and threw him away from Yao Jingjing.
• Qingmu told the driver that his evil was drawing him into a black hole and directed him to cut away the instrument of his crime.
• The driver mutilated himself, followed fireflies to a bridge, and jumped into the ravine below.
• Qingmu comforted Yao Jingjing, then took her to the station.

Yao Jingjing told Qingmu about her ill mother, the blind date waiting at home, and her hope that the man she was destined to love would ask her to stay. Qingmu told her to board the train, and she left after thanking him, while he watched her go with her tears still on his shoulder.

• Yao Jingjing explained that her mother's illness and wish for her to marry had made her agree to a blind date at home.
• Yao Jingjing described her belief in destined love and confessed she would stay if Qingmu asked her not to go.
• Qingmu told Yao Jingjing that the train was leaving soon instead of asking her to stay.
• Yao Jingjing took her suitcase and entered the station, then turned back to thank Qingmu.
• Qingmu waved goodbye and realized Yao Jingjing's tears had soaked his shoulder.

Qingmu met Ma Fuqing on the roof of an unfinished building after Ma asked to talk. Ma offered him money and a villa in exchange for staying out of his affairs, and Qingmu asked if he was threatening him.

• Unable to sleep, Qingmu received a message from Ma Fuqing asking to meet at an unfinished building on Nongken Road.
• Qingmu drove Shi Dazhuang's car to the building and found Ma Fuqing waiting on the roof.
• Ma Fuqing said the police suspected him because of Qingmu and offered him a case containing a million yuan.
• Ma Fuqing asked Qingmu to stop interfering, claiming he wanted to repent and live quietly.
• Ma Fuqing offered Qingmu a villa in Sanya and suggested his flight attendant girlfriend could enjoy it with him.
• Qingmu grew wary and asked Ma Fuqing, "Are you threatening me?!"

Ma Fuqing used surveillance footage and threats against Qingmu’s girlfriend to force Qingmu to spare him. Qingmu paced the unfinished building’s roof, weighing his options as Ma Fuqing believed he had secured his future.

• Ma Fuqing claimed he wanted to repent, then threatened Qingmu by suggesting his people could target Qingmu’s girlfriend back home.
• Qingmu revealed that he had killed Mu Ka after Mu Ka abducted his friend’s child and told Ma Fuqing he intended to kill him.
• Ma Fuqing showed Qingmu a video of the driver’s death and revealed that he had arranged the driver’s attack to gather compromising footage.
• Ma Fuqing said he had sent the footage of the driver’s death and their conversation to a friend, and threatened that his men might harm Qingmu’s girlfriend if he did not contact them by dawn.
• Ma Fuqing relaxed and asked Qingmu to spare him, while Qingmu paced the unfinished building’s roof and considered the predicament.

Qingmu trapped Ma Fuqing in an iron cage and made him face the suffering he had inflicted on his younger brother. As the water rose, Ma Fuqing explained his resentment toward his family and admitted he wanted them all dead.

• Qingmu rejected Ma Fuqing's offers and threatened to make him suffer before he died.
• Ma Fuqing discovered he was trapped in an iron cage as water rose around him.
• Qingmu told Ma Fuqing that his younger brother had locked him in and demanded he experience the same suffering.
• Ma Fuqing described how his parents favored his younger brother and forced him to abandon his studies to support him.
• Ma Fuqing admitted he had brought his younger brother home after abusing him so their mother would suffer, then screamed that he wanted her and the others dead.

Qingmu exposed how Ma Fuqing orchestrated his wife’s murder, framed Yang Baoguo, and manipulated his family and Qingmu to cover his crimes. Ma Fuqing resisted Qingmu’s hallucinations through self-hypnosis, but Qingmu prepared to overcome him.

• Qingmu deduced that Ma Fuqing had used his brother and mother to murder his wife, planted evidence to frame Yang Baoguo, and planned to leave his mother as the scapegoat.
• Ma Fuqing admitted that he had lured Qingmu to his home, hoping his mother would attack him, and revealed that he had secretly killed Yang Baoguo in detention.
• Ma Fuqing recognized Qingmu’s mind-controlling methods and sat still, convincing himself that the rising water was an illusion.
• Qingmu acknowledged Ma Fuqing’s unusual understanding of hypnosis but said he could overcome his resistance.

Ma Fuqing endured Qingmu’s rooftop illusion until a storm drove him to move, then fell into a filthy cage where his younger brother Ma Fuquan strangled him. Even after dying, Ma Fuqing watched as a headless woman approached and demanded her head back.

• Ma Fuqing refused to move despite the rising water and rain, but the storm eventually forced him to stand and leave the rooftop.
• Ma Fuqing stumbled down the dark stairs and fell onto scrap rebar, discovering an iron cage below.
• Ma Fuqing found Ma Fuquan inside the cage, and Ma Fuquan accused him of locking him up before strangling him to death.
• Ma Fuqing remained conscious after dying and watched a headless woman enter the cage and demand her head back.

Ma Fuqing relived his death as his wife and brother separated and buried his head and body, then crawled back to life only to be tortured by Yang Baoguo and forced to confess his crimes. After Yang smothered him with wet tissues, Qingmu appeared and said they would decide how Ma Fuqing should die.

• Ma Fuqing's headless wife sawed off his head while Ma Fuquan took his body to an abandoned fishpond and buried the head beneath a locust tree.
• After an unknown stretch of time, Ma Fuqing's rotting body crawled from the pond, dug up his head, and reattached it.
• Yang Baoguo and four men pinned Ma Fuqing down and used wet tissues to suffocate him until he confessed his suppliers, buyers, customers, women, hidden goods, and deals.
• Yang Baoguo covered Ma Fuqing's face with more wet tissues, killing him again.
• Qingmu approached Ma Fuqing's corpse and said they would discuss exactly how he should die.

Yao Jingjing returned to Cuanzhou to visit her hospitalized mother, whose family urged her to go on a blind date while she tried to arrange better treatment. A doctor told her they had found a bone marrow match, but her mother also had unexplained, potentially expanding brain damage that might affect the transplant.

• Yao Jingjing arrived in Cuanzhou before dawn and unknowingly drew the attention of two men who had followed her from the train station.
• Yao Jingjing visited her mother, who insisted that she go on a blind date and refused to let her father sell their house to pay for treatment.
• Yao Jingjing offered to take her mother to the Capital for another examination, but her mother focused on seeing her daughter married.
• A doctor told Yao Jingjing that her mother had a bone marrow match and that surgery and rehabilitation could cost around a million yuan.
• The doctor explained that Yao Jingjing's mother had fibrosis and necrosis in her cerebral cortex, and they did not know what caused it or whether it would affect the transplant.

Yao Jingjing chose to prioritize her mother’s bone marrow transplant and struggled to find the money, then went to a blind date where she thought she saw the man she had promised herself not to think about. In a nearby alley, Qingmu confronted Tang Eight Fingers and his men, telling them Ma Fuqing was dead before a vision of a speeding train bore down on Tang Eight Fingers.

• Yao Jingjing decided to pursue her mother’s bone marrow transplant first and planned to borrow money, seek an advance from work, and possibly sell the family apartment.
• Yao Jingjing’s mother urged her to attend a blind date, and Yao Jingjing reluctantly went to a café in the south of the city.
• When the man she was meant to meet failed to appear, Yao Jingjing thought she saw a trench-coated figure resembling the man from Spring City and tried to chase him.
• Tang Eight Fingers and his thugs waited in an alley to target a woman, but Tang Eight Fingers called off the plan when Ma Fuqing did not contact him.
• Qingmu appeared in the alley, told Tang Eight Fingers that Ma Fuqing was dead, and approached as Tang Eight Fingers saw a train rush toward him.

Yao Jingjing met her blind date, Xiang Feiyu, and his domineering mother, who treated the meeting like a marriage negotiation and insulted her. When Yao Jingjing tried to leave, Xiang Feiyu's mother revealed she knew Yao Jingjing's mother was ill and needed money.

• Yao Jingjing waited in the rain after her blind date was late, then saw Xiang Feiyu arrive with his mother.
• Xiang Feiyu's mother ordered coffee and judged Yao Jingjing, declaring she could become a daughter-in-law of the Xiang family.
• Xiang Feiyu said he liked Yao Jingjing, and his mother laid out conditions about premarital assets, children, surnames, and custody.
• Yao Jingjing challenged the woman's arrogance, but she insulted Yao Jingjing's job and tried to leave with Xiang Feiyu.
• Xiang Feiyu refused to leave without Yao Jingjing, and his mother offered gifts and a car before Yao Jingjing rejected the arrangement.
• As Yao Jingjing stood to leave, Xiang Feiyu's mother said she knew Yao Jingjing's mother was sick and that Yao Jingjing needed money.

Yao Jingjing learned that a million had been delivered to the hospital for her mother’s treatment by a man her parents mistook for her boyfriend. She reunited with Qingmu and, as he began asking about her mother’s nightmares, the reason for his visit remained unclear.

• Yao Jingjing returned to the ward after refusing to accept Mrs. Xiang’s marriage proposal on the spot, and her parents told her that her boyfriend had brought a million for her mother’s treatment.
• Yao Jingjing searched the hospital for the man, then ran into Qingmu as he returned to the ward.
• Yao Jingjing’s parents welcomed Qingmu warmly and assumed he was her boyfriend, embarrassing Yao Jingjing.
• Qingmu told Yao Jingjing that her mother’s condition was complicated and asked whether she had been having frequent nightmares.

Qingmu questioned Mrs. Yao about the nightmares she had during chemotherapy, and she described a strange encounter with her reflection. The story left off as she recalled the reflection changing its move and speaking to her.

• Mrs. Yao said her nightmares began around March, during her first round of chemotherapy, and stopped after she came to terms with her illness.
• Mrs. Yao mistook Qingmu’s questions about her nightmares for an opportunity to discuss his marriage to Yao Jingjing.
• After Yao Jingjing identified Qingmu as a psychologist, he asked Mrs. Yao to describe her nightmare in detail.
• Mrs. Yao recalled feeling followed and seeing her reflection move the same hand as she did instead of reversing sides.
• Mrs. Yao played rock, paper, scissors with her reflection, which eventually threw rock while her hand still showed scissors and called her stupid.

Qingmu learned that Mother Yao had experienced an invading consciousness that searched through her memories and appeared in dreams as her double, demanding that she confess a secret. Mother Yao’s dreams ended when their cat frightened the double away, leaving Qingmu wondering why the consciousness had wanted a confession and why it had stopped.

• Mother Yao described feeling accompanied by an unseen presence and dreaming in detail about memories from her life.
• She told Qingmu that her double appeared during chemotherapy, repeatedly threatened to kill her, and demanded that she confess something.
• Qingmu connected Mother Yao’s experience to Xia Wenyuan’s illness and reasoned that an invading consciousness had searched her memories.
• Mother Yao recalled that the double fled when their cat appeared, surprising Qingmu.

Qingmu learned that Mama Yao’s childhood cat had appeared in her dream and driven away the invading consciousness. He suspected the cat was tied to a protected memory and decided to enter Mama Yao’s dream, leaving the story with him trying to send Yao Jingjing and Papa Yao away.

• Mama Yao recalled that her grandmother’s cat had appeared in her dream, while Yao Jingjing and Papa Yao said they had never known the family to keep one.
• Qingmu reasoned that the cat could not be a mere dream copy because it had driven off the invading consciousness, and considered whether its consciousness had survived its death.
• Mama Yao recalled that her grandmother and the cat died on the same night while she was in high school, after she fell asleep beside them.
• Qingmu suspected a protected memory region connected to the cat held something the invading consciousness wanted, and decided to hypnotize Mama Yao and enter her dream.
• Qingmu told Yao Jingjing he was hungry and called her by name, startling and flustering her.

Qingmu hypnotized Mrs. Yao to guide her through a dream and uncover her memories of cats. The dream ended with Mrs. Yao pleading with her grandmother for a cat as mice swarmed around them.

• Qingmu sent Yao Jingjing and Mr. Yao downstairs, then drew the curtains and hypnotized Mrs. Yao.
• Qingmu watched Mrs. Yao dream of a hospital where doctors extracted her bone marrow and called a vertebra fresh.
• The dream shifted to Mrs. Yao’s home, where Yao Jingjing fed a memory-made version of Qingmu bone broth containing a vertebra.
• Qingmu guided Mrs. Yao’s dream to her childhood countryside home and suggested that mice were driving ants from their nest.
• As mice multiplied, Qingmu urged Mrs. Yao and her grandmother to call for a cat, and Mrs. Yao cried out that she wanted one.

Qingmu discovered that a powerful white cat was guarding an encrypted region of Mama Yao’s dream and protected her consciousness when their psychic powers collided. He left the cat’s secrets untouched, helped Mama Yao rest, and the chapter ended with Yao Jingjing and Papa Yao returning with food.

• Qingmu found an encrypted region in Mama Yao’s dream and saw a white cat emerge within an immense psychic space.
• Qingmu and the white cat combined their powers to shield Mama Yao from the shock of their collision, then faced each other until the cat relaxed.
• The white cat meowed at Qingmu and disappeared into the darkness, and Qingmu chose not to force open the encrypted memories.
• Qingmu withdrew from the dream, reassured Mama Yao, and helped her fall asleep after she woke exhausted.
• Yao Jingjing and Papa Yao returned with takeaway dishes and a pot of slow-simmered soup, which Papa Yao proudly showed Mama Yao.

Qingmu learned that Mama Yao’s illness involved the same unusual brain changes as Xia Wenyuan’s and questioned whether they were connected to the invading consciousness and her childhood cat. Before leaving, he offered to help arrange Mama Yao’s operation in Wuzhong, giving Yao Jingjing hope they would meet again soon.

• Qingmu recalled seeing Yao Jingjing’s blind date and discovered that Mama Yao had unusual brain changes similar to Xia Wenyuan’s.
• Mama Yao described her childhood white cat and grandmother, revealing that her family had once used the surname Cuan.
• Qingmu told Yao Jingjing he had come to see her and dismissed her promise to repay the money he had brought.
• Yao Jingjing asked whether they would meet again, and Qingmu offered to help arrange Mama Yao’s operation at a hospital in Wuzhong.
• Qingmu promised they would meet again soon, then thought of the white cat.

Qingmu, Shi Dazhuang, and Yu Meiren dealt with the frail stray cat Yu Meiren had adopted and returned to Wuzhong after Shi Dazhuang handed the police Qingmu’s recording of Ma Fuqing’s confession. On the flight, Qingmu encountered a familiar plump woman who proudly pointed out that first-class boarding passes looked just like economy ones.

• Yu Meiren adopted a weak stray yellow cat, and Qingmu warned Shi Dazhuang that it might not survive long.
• Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu arranged pet transport for the cat because they could not take it on their flight to Wuzhong.
• Yu Meiren asked Qingmu whether he would marry Yao Jingjing, and Shi Dazhuang teased him for being a block of wood.
• Qingmu played Shi Dazhuang a recording of Ma Fuqing confessing to crimes, and Shi Dazhuang praised him for providing evidence against the gang.
• Shi Dazhuang gave the recording to the Spring City police, who folded the case into a major provincial drug operation.
• Qingmu boarded the flight to Wuzhong and saw a familiar plump woman in first class, who waved her boarding pass and declared that it was the same as an economy one.

After returning to Wuzhong, Qingmu visited Mei Yiqiu’s laboratory after Mei Ziqing reported that the professor had become suspicious and was forcing his staff to learn the Lester Signature. Mei Yiqiu let Qingmu enter without requiring him to learn it, leaving the cause of the professor’s behavior unexplained.

• Qingmu returned to Wuzhong and spent his quiet days at the counseling office with Boss Coal while Bi Shenghua handled the bar’s renovation.
• Qingmu decided to visit Mei Yiqiu, but Mei Ziqing called to say the professor had locked himself in his lab, refused to sleep, and demanded that staff learn the Lester Signature.
• Qingmu went to the laboratory and found researchers protesting Mei Yiqiu’s demand to learn the Thought Matrix Cipher.
• Mei Ziqing explained that the Lester Signature was a difficult, brain-wave-based cipher that required advanced mathematical skill and strong mental control.
• When Qingmu turned to leave rather than attempt to learn it, Mei Yiqiu opened the door and told him he could come in.

Mei Yiqiu questioned Qingmu about entering dreams and the consciousness entities within them, then warned that humanity faced an unprecedented catastrophe. He told Qingmu that Mr. Lester had died and handed him a metal eye mask.

• Mei Ziqing entered Mei Yiqiu's smoky workroom, and Qingmu discussed the three million he had earned and given to another woman.
• Mei Yiqiu asked Qingmu whether he could enter dreams, see their primary consciousness entities, and encounter multiple consciousness entities in one person's dream.
• Qingmu recalled the shadow in Xia Wenyuan's dream, the intruder Mama Yao had mentioned, and the white cat, then said he had never encountered two consciousness entities in a dream.
• Mei Yiqiu said humanity faced an unprecedented catastrophe and told Qingmu that Mr. Lester had died.
• Mei Yiqiu handed Qingmu a metal eye mask and told him to put it on.