Chapter Summaries

Mei Yiqiu questioned Xia Wenyuan’s medical care and, with Qingmu’s help, began investigating whether anyone around him had been replaced or was not human. The chapter left Xia Wenyuan, Wu Lixia, and Peter bewildered as Mei Yiqiu announced he needed to confirm they were all Earthlings.

• Xia Wenyuan warmly welcomed Mei Yiqiu and Qingmu, then brought them to his study with Wu Lixia and Dr. Peter.
• Mei Yiqiu questioned Peter about Xia Wenyuan’s examinations and the records from Hopkins Medical Center, making Peter angry.
• Mei Yiqiu asked Qingmu to assess Peter and Wu Lixia; Qingmu found no immediate signs of trouble but trusted Wu Lixia’s intuition.
• Qingmu explained that Xia Wenyuan’s growing shadow could learn from his memories and eventually try to kill him again.
• Mei Yiqiu told the group he had to ensure everyone in the room was an Earthling before discussing their plans.

Qingmu tried to enter Xia Wenyuan’s dream and taught Hu Xing to sense dream brain waves. Hu Xing passed through a dream doorway and found Xia Wenyuan fishing beside a reservoir.

• At Mei Yiqiu’s insistence, Wu Lixia and Peter left Xia Wenyuan’s study, and Hu Xing joined Qingmu, Mei Yiqiu, and Xia Wenyuan.
• Qingmu asked Hu Xing about her lucid-dreaming practice, then guided her to sense Xia Wenyuan’s brain waves as he slept.
• Hu Xing realized she had begun dreaming, and Qingmu pulled her out of her collapsing dream space into his room.
• Hu Xing sensed the ripples of Xia Wenyuan’s dream, passed through a dark doorway, and found him fishing beside a reservoir.

Hu Xing entered Xia Wenyuan's dream and watched a crow attack the shadow in the reservoir, but Qingmu explained that it had not been destroyed completely. Professor Mei joined them and explained how dream spaces and passages might work, leaving Hu Xing to consider whether their world could be God's dream.

• Hu Xing became trapped at the edge of Xia Wenyuan's dream after Qingmu disappeared and the passage back vanished.
• A crow pursued Xia Wenyuan's underwater shadow and carried it into the sky until it faded away.
• Qingmu reappeared and told Hu Xing that the shadow remained symbiotic with Xia Wenyuan's conscious form.
• Professor Mei appeared and praised Hu Xing for finding a passage into another person's dream.
• Mei Yiqiu described dream spaces as temporary universes formed through unstable spatial fluctuations and wormholes.
• Hu Xing asked whether their world was someone's dream, and Mei Yiqiu said it could be understood as God's dream.

Mei Yiqiu told Xia Wenyuan and Hu Xing that a parasitic consciousness was invading humanity and explained the evidence linking Lester’s death to a virus. Xia agreed to provide a virus sample and fund the scientists’ effort, leaving the group with resources to pursue their proposed solution.

• Qingmu said the shadow could not hear them for now, and Mei Yiqiu and Hu Xing woke after spending only seventeen seconds in reality inside the dream.
• Mei Yiqiu told Xia Wenyuan and Hu Xing about Lester’s warning and said he was certain the shadow in Xia Wenyuan’s dream was an invader.
• Mei Yiqiu revealed that Lester had requested an autopsy, which uncovered a virus in his brain before the samples and report were destroyed.
• Qingmu and Mei Yiqiu explained that the invaders targeted people with access to society’s resources and that only human mental strength could resist them.
• Xia Wenyuan agreed to provide a virus sample and offered a billion in deployable funds for the scientists’ proposed project.

Qingmu discussed the suspicious Dream Foundation and the parasitic consciousness haunting Xia Wenyuan with Mei Yiqiu and the Xia family. He proposed investigating how Mama Yao’s similar invader had been expelled, while Xia Wenyuan arranged help for her leukemia treatment.

• Qingmu asked Mei Yiqiu whether a consciousness entity could parasitize the mental residue in Picasso’s painting, and they considered how a mind might connect a painting’s world to reality.
• Qingmu linked the painting’s seller, Ronald Cohen of the Dream Foundation, to an art exhibition attended by Lester and to Xia Wenyuan’s troubles, prompting Xia Wenyuan to describe the foundation’s unusual membership and structure.
• Qingmu explained that changing the rules of Xia Wenyuan’s dreams might counter the parasitic shadow, but that making light exist everywhere would be easier than removing shadows outright.
• Qingmu told the group about Mama Yao, whose situation resembled Xia Wenyuan’s, and said he would investigate how her invader was driven out after her transplant.
• Hu Xing offered to arrange Mama Yao’s leukemia treatment in Wuzhong, and Xia Wenyuan asked her to have Aunt Xia make the arrangements.

Qingmu and Bi Shenghua visited Yao Jingjing’s mother in the hospital, where Yao Jingjing became jealous after learning how close Bi Shenghua was to Qingmu. Bi Shenghua’s bar expansion stalled when two neighboring shopkeepers reneged on their deal, and the chapter ended with Qingmu spotting a gunman near Riverside Park.

• Mama Yao worried that Yao Jingjing might become Qingmu’s mistress, then grew suspicious of Bi Shenghua’s closeness with him.
• Yao Jingjing asked Yu Meiren whether Auntie Xing or Auntie Hua was Qingmu’s girlfriend, and Yu Meiren teased that Yao Jingjing wanted to be his girlfriend too.
• Old Wang and Auntie Zhang returned Bi Shenghua’s transfer fees and disappeared, so Bi Shenghua ordered the bar renovations to continue despite their reneging.
• Bi Shenghua scolded Qingmu over the women drawn to him, then discussed a young woman’s killing by a carpool driver and condemned the ride-hailing platform.
• As Qingmu, Bi Shenghua, and Yu Meiren passed Riverside Park, Qingmu saw a gun muzzle behind a large tree.

Qingmu confronted Hou Biao, who had ambushed him to avenge Jiang Deqian, and agreed to fight him without guns or mind control. As they prepared to begin, Qingmu considered his mysterious fighting abilities and the danger the consciousness invaders posed to Mei Yiqiu.

• Qingmu sensed Hou Biao's ambush and sent Bi Shenghua and Yu Meiren home before approaching him.
• Qingmu immobilized Hou Biao with mind control, then released him after learning that Hou had chosen not to shoot while Qingmu was with a woman and child.
• Hou Biao explained that he wanted to avenge Jiang Deqian, while Qingmu argued that Hou owed him a life for sparing him.
• Hou Biao proposed a head-on fight without weapons or mind control, and Qingmu accepted their agreement to leave each other alone afterward.
• As they prepared to fight, Qingmu reflected on his unexplained knowledge and abilities and worried that the invaders might threaten Mei Yiqiu.

Hou Biao and Qingmu fought fiercely, first unarmed and then with a dagger and wire, while Qingmu’s instinctive techniques hinted at fragmented memories of past battles. The chapter left Hou Biao off balance and falling toward Qingmu’s dagger.

• Hou Biao adopted his old fighting stance and attacked Qingmu, who instinctively countered with unfamiliar martial arts techniques.
• The two exchanged rapid blows without either gaining the advantage, and Qingmu experienced fragments of bloody battles he could not fully remember.
• When Hou Biao drew a dagger, Qingmu struck his ribs but held back to avoid being cut.
• Hou Biao threw the dagger to Qingmu and switched to a length of wire, saying neither could kill the other without weapons.
• Qingmu used the dagger to counter Hou Biao’s wire and thrust at his chest, then kicked his supporting leg and sent him falling toward the blade.

Qingmu spared Hou Biao and made arrangements to protect the people around him before asking Mei Yiqiu about security against the invaders. Mei Yiqiu explained the Space Box and its Dream Guide program, then revealed that he planned to test it on Xia Wenyuan, who was being invaded by an alien consciousness.

• Qingmu spared Hou Biao, who warned that Jiang Deguan wanted him dead and that other men were working for Jiang Deguan.
• Qingmu arranged for Hu Xing to pick up Yu Meiren and gave Xiao Qi and Mo Yu time off while Bi Shenghua remained at home.
• Qingmu visited Mei Yiqiu to discuss security risks posed by the invaders and learned that the researchers had divided their core plan into subtasks.
• Mei Yiqiu explained that the Space Box and Dream Guide would place users in a virtual environment to distinguish human consciousness from alien consciousness.
• Mei Yiqiu said he planned to test the program on Xia Wenyuan, and Qingmu reacted with shock.

Qingmu agreed to Mei Yiqiu’s Space Box experiment while the two planned how to protect Mama Yao and the scientists from the invading consciousnesses. After urging Yao Jingjing to guard her mother, Qingmu and Yao Jingjing flirted, leaving their relationship unresolved.

• Qingmu agreed to let Mei Yiqiu continue developing the dream guide because no universally applicable way to destroy the invading consciousnesses had been found.
• Mei Yiqiu promised to oversee Mama Yao’s hospital care, and Qingmu suggested they arrange reliable guards for her and the scientists.
• Mei Yiqiu told Qingmu he had left him the laboratory in his will, and Qingmu promised to find a way to protect him.
• Qingmu went to the hospital and asked Yao Jingjing and Papa Yao to check Mama Yao’s food and medication carefully.
• Yao Jingjing asked Qingmu whether he had a girlfriend, then hinted that he might discover his feelings for her if he looked closely; Qingmu was left embarrassed.

Qingmu tasked Boss Coal with protecting Bi Shenghua, and the crow stayed close while annoying her with crude jokes and teasing her about Qingmu’s other romantic interests. After Old Wang called and insisted on meeting her immediately at a teahouse with Auntie Zhang, Bi Shenghua set out with Boss Coal following for her safety.

• Qingmu ordered Boss Coal to protect Bi Shenghua while he was away, and the crow followed her everywhere.
• Boss Coal teased Bi Shenghua, performed a mocking song while they watched television, and suggested she visit South Korea for cosmetic surgery.
• Boss Coal mentioned Du Juan and claimed Qingmu had nearly become involved with her in Southern Yunnan, but it revealed little before Bi Shenghua accused it of making up the story.
• Old Wang called Bi Shenghua and insisted that they meet immediately at a teahouse where Auntie Zhang was waiting.
• Bi Shenghua got ready to drive to the teahouse, and Boss Coal insisted on accompanying her to protect her.

Qingmu agreed to examine Huang Ziqiang’s friend, a powerful Chinese-Canadian gang leader suffering from unexplained nightmares and violent episodes. At West Mountain Hot Springs Resort, Qingmu saw William Wolf restrained to a bed and watched him transform as he struggled.

• Director Liu introduced Huang Ziqiang to Qingmu, who questioned him about Jiang Deqian’s older brother and asked why he had come.
• Huang Ziqiang explained that he wanted Qingmu to examine a friend whose nightmares, suspected persecution, and volatile temper had baffled hospitals.
• After warning Qingmu that his friend was a major figure from North America, Huang Ziqiang decided to take him to the resort.
• Huang Ziqiang drove Qingmu to West Mountain Hot Springs Resort, where he introduced him to William Wolf, also known as Hong Zhenlong, and his son Hong Kui.
• When Qingmu approached the restrained William Wolf, the man snapped at him, struggled against the restraints, and grew fangs as his eyes turned blue.

Qingmu witnessed Hong Zhenlong’s strange transformation and concluded that it was caused by a powerful dreamlike eruption of mental energy. Hong Kui revealed the condition was hereditary, and Qingmu proposed letting his father sleep to investigate why it had worsened.

• Hong Zhenlong’s eyes turned blue, fangs emerged, and hair grew across his face before the changes faded as he fell asleep.
• Qingmu reasoned that Hong Zhenlong’s uncontrolled mental power had drawn those nearby into a Real-Scene Dream that merged with reality.
• Hong Kui told Qingmu that the family had suffered from the hereditary condition for nearly a century and that his father’s attacks had worsened that year.
• Hong Kui explained that cameras never captured the family’s physical changes, leading doctors to dismiss them as hallucinations.
• Qingmu said he might discover why Hong Zhenlong’s illness had worsened and suggested letting him sleep.

Qingmu examined Hong Zhenlong and had Hong Kui remove his restraints before leading the old man to the window to see Wuzhong. In Hong Zhenlong’s vast dream, a pack of Kenai Mountain Wolves fled hunters until a gigantic white wolf appeared, and Qingmu was left facing a dreamscape whose origin he could not identify.

• Hong Kui brought Qingmu to see Hong Zhenlong, who was awake but restrained and being fed by a servant.
• Qingmu explained that the restraints could worsen Hong Zhenlong’s condition, and Hong Kui removed them after his father agreed.
• Qingmu helped Hong Zhenlong walk to the window, where sunlight and the view of Wuzhong seemed to restore some of his vitality.
• Qingmu entered Hong Zhenlong’s dream and saw hunters and sled dogs drive a pack of enormous gray wolves across a snowy wilderness.
• A wolf howled, Hong Zhenlong reacted with anger and excitement, and a gigantic white wolf appeared on a cliff above the fleeing pack.

Qingmu entered Hong Zhenlong’s dream and witnessed the white wolf king cornered by hunters before the dream collapsed and Hong Zhenlong attacked him. After Qingmu subdued him, Hong Kui explained the family’s recurring wolf dreams and linked Hong Zhenlong’s recent decline to a disputed painting deal with Ronald Cohen.

• Hunters surrounded the white wolf king, and Hong Zhenlong charged into the frozen dream world before it collapsed under the strain of an immense spatial overlap.
• Hong Zhenlong tore off a window and lunged at Qingmu, who hypnotized him and helped Hong Kui put him to bed.
• Qingmu questioned Hong Kui, who confirmed that his family members repeatedly dreamed of the white wolf and that Hong Zhenlong’s condition had worsened over the past six months.
• Hong Kui recounted how Ronald Cohen first bought a Picasso Hong Zhenlong wanted, then backed out of their later deal and offered a Monet as compensation.

Qingmu and Mei Yiqiu discussed investigating Ronald Cohen while keeping Qingmu’s identity secret, and Mei Yiqiu organized a search for Cohen’s contacts. Hong Zhenlong then named Qingmu a potential heir to the Wolf family because he could see the white wolf, but Qingmu questioned the family’s business until Hong Kui explained that most of it had been legalized.

• Qingmu proposed meeting Ronald Cohen in New York, but Mei Yiqiu warned him to stay hidden and avoid alerting the enemy.
• Mei Yiqiu said the paintings were unlikely to be the only channel for parasitism, described the Third Space Foundation, and asked Xia Wenyuan to compile a list of people connected to Cohen.
• Qingmu learned that Hong Zhenlong had awakened and went to speak with him.
• Hong Zhenlong explained that seeing the white wolf marked Qingmu as a clan member and named him a successor alongside Hong Kui.
• Qingmu rejected the offer, but Hong Kui explained that the Wolf family had ended its drug business and invested in legal industries.

Qingmu investigated the shadow haunting Hong Zhenlong’s dreams and learned it was driving him to enter an ancestral forbidden zone. After calming Hong Zhenlong in the dream, Qingmu confronted the shadow, which took Hong Zhenlong’s likeness and claimed to be him.

• Qingmu declined to discuss becoming the Hong family heir and asked Hong Zhenlong about his nightmares.
• Hong Zhenlong explained that a shadow had once tried to kill him, then began urging him to enter the forbidden zone in his snowy dreams.
• Qingmu concluded that the shadow wanted something in the forbidden zone and chose to suppress it without revealing his theory to Hong Zhenlong.
• Qingmu entered Hong Zhenlong’s dream and used the sound of his footsteps to calm him, causing the shadow to sink back into the ground.
• Qingmu asked the shadow to stand up, and it took Hong Zhenlong’s appearance and insisted that it was Hong Zhenlong.

Qingmu stopped the shadow from attacking Hong Zhenlong in his dream, then woke Hong Zhenlong and ensured he rested. At dinner, Hong Kui asked Qingmu to consider inheriting the family holdings and revealed that he had entered the forbidden land in the dream.

• Qingmu froze Hong Zhenlong and the shadow, shattered the ice containing the shadow, and melted the ice around the real Hong Zhenlong.
• Hong Zhenlong collapsed from exhaustion, so Qingmu left the dream, helped him sit up, and hypnotized him to rest.
• Hong Kui arranged for servants to care for his father, then invited Qingmu to dinner.
• Hong Kui explained that the family heir administered shared family assets and asked Qingmu to inherit them.
• Hong Kui said he did not want to be heir because entering the forbidden land had made him lose interest in worldly fame and fortune.

Hong Kui told Qingmu why he had entered the Wolf Family’s forbidden grounds: a childhood dream of the White Wolf King left him believing he had inherited its unfinished mission. He also recounted how his violent transformation brought him to William Wolf’s attention, leaving Qingmu to understand why Hong Kui did not want to inherit the family fortune.

• Hong Kui explained that the forbidden grounds felt like his ancestral home and that he preferred pursuing a dream to managing the Wolf Family’s wealth and gang.
• Hong Kui said he had lucid dreams as a child, which left him isolated and led to his confinement in a psychiatric hospital.
• Hong Kui described how the White Wolf King became his friend in a dream before leaving to protect its pack from hunters.
• Hong Kui told Qingmu that the White Wolf King sacrificed itself to trigger an avalanche and that he felt he had inherited its unfinished mission.
• Hong Kui recounted killing a doctor who was molesting a minor patient, then transforming and injuring police officers at his trial.
• William Wolf hired Hong Kui a lawyer and secured a not-guilty verdict, after which Hong Kui became the Wolf Family heir under strict supervision.

Qingmu learned the Wolf family’s Inuit origins and told Hong Zhenlong that a dangerous shadow threatened his life and humanity. After Qingmu saved him and won his support for Professor Mei’s foundation, Hong Zhenlong prepared to return to the United States and again asked Qingmu to become his heir.

• Hong Kui told Qingmu that his family descended from Inuit who had been guided to a legendary sacred land by a white wolf, and explained how the family later mixed with Chinese communities.
• Qingmu explained that he had seen the White Wolf King in Hong Zhenlong’s dream, but Hong Kui said other dreamers had never seen the wolf.
• Huang Ziqiang arrived to speak with Qingmu, then left after learning that Hong Zhenlong had awakened and ordered his men to watch Jiang Deguan and protect a woman with a crow.
• Qingmu told Hong Zhenlong about the threat connected to his condition, and Hong Zhenlong concluded that the gang’s earlier turmoil had concealed a plot against him and his family.
• Hong Zhenlong thanked Qingmu, agreed to join Professor Mei’s foundation, and decided to fly to Los Angeles the next day.
• Hong Zhenlong asked Qingmu to reconsider becoming the Wolf family’s heir.