Chapter Summaries

Qingmu accompanied Mrs. Larry to investigate conflicting accounts of when people arrived on the island, while Petru confirmed his earlier visit and Mrs. Larry described her uncertain sense of time. The contradictions led Qingmu to suspect Anderson and question Mrs. Larry about what she knew of him and Alice.

• Su Huilan stayed behind as Qingmu, Mrs. Larry, Petru, and Boss Coal set off toward the lake, while Ivan and Boris shared food with the crow and the others.
• Qingmu asked Petru about his first visit to the island, and Petru confirmed that he had heard Ivan and Boris speaking there more than a month before Qingmu found him.
• Qingmu compared Petru's timeline with the differing accounts from Stone, Situ, Alice, and Mrs. Larry, and wondered who had mistaken or misrepresented when they arrived.
• Mrs. Larry said she could not reliably remember how long she had lived among the tribespeople, and Petru comforted her about forgetting painful experiences.
• Qingmu realized no one had asked Anderson how much time he thought had passed or what he remembered, and he questioned Mrs. Larry about Anderson and Alice.

Qingmu, Mrs. Larry, and Petru discussed the conflicting timelines of the groups stranded on the islands and considered whether an observer effect connected to mental force fields could affect time. As they waded through the lake, Qingmu sensed a difference between the force field in the water and the one on shore and asked Petru how he had located the Tapu beneath the lake.

• Mrs. Larry explained that she still thought of Alice as a child because Alice had worked at Yeg's studio before graduating.
• Qingmu and the others compared the different amounts of time each group had experienced before meeting on the island.
• Mrs. Larry described Professor Pardik's theory that observers could affect energy, decay, and time, and Qingmu connected it to the islands' mental force fields.
• Qingmu sensed that the mental force field in the lake differed from the one on shore and asked Petru how he had determined that the Tapu lay beneath the lake.

Qingmu questioned Petru about the lake and the islands’ strange history as they approached the savages’ camp. Their discussion of an ancient civilization and the altar’s writing ended with Mrs. Larry asking who God was.

• Petru told Qingmu that he had first found the lake while fleeing savages and had seen unusual stones like those at Tapu and the altar.
• Qingmu and Petru discussed the savages’ rafts and whether they could use the fog to return home after disasters reshaped the islands.
• Qingmu proposed that the islands’ disasters and distorted passages could explain why civilizations seemed to recover without aging.
• Mrs. Larry argued that civilizations might have risen and fallen unseen, and cited the altar’s writing and murals as evidence of a once-glorious people.
• Petru asked about the Gendaya Civilization, and Mrs. Larry said deciphering the altar might reveal what God was thinking and who God was.

Qingmu tried to reach the savages to negotiate while the shaman's mental power blocked his way. When the savages saw him beneath the eclipsing suns, they mistook him for God and bowed before him.

• The savages surrounded Qingmu, Petru, and Mrs. Larry, and Mrs. Larry taught Petru a phrase to shout to them.
• Qingmu sent Crow to distract the savages while he charged toward the riverbank, but the savage shaman's mental power stopped him.
• Qingmu used the willow branch to resist the shaman's power as Crow returned and landed on his head.
• Petru saw Qingmu appear as a great tree beneath the solar eclipse, and the savages knelt and prayed to him.
• Mrs. Larry said that Qingmu was God.

Qingmu awakened a vast psychic perception that spread through the earth and sky, and the tribespeople knelt before him as he accepted their worship. At the lakeshore, the tribal shaman surrendered his scepter to Qingmu, while Petru watched and vowed to avenge Mrs. Larry.

• Qingmu sensed psychic power throughout the soil, forest, and underground river, and realized that consciousness might harness rather than create it.
• The tribespeople came from their camp and knelt before Qingmu, who accepted their worship and felt his psychic presence grow like a towering tree.
• Qingmu witnessed a fiery vision of the two suns and the crow, then returned to normal as Petru and Mrs. Larry approached the lakeshore.
• Petru vowed to avenge Mrs. Larry and recognized that the black scepter, not a gun, represented power in the distorted spacetime.
• The tribal shaman faced Qingmu before the kneeling crowd, then knelt and offered him the scepter, which Qingmu took.

Hou Biao arranged extensive protection for Mei Yiqiu’s trip to the Los Angeles celebration, while the laboratory closed for the New Year with only Old Yu left on duty. Old Yu reflected on how Qingmu and Professor Mei had given him a place to live and work as he watched over the empty laboratory.

• Mei Yiqiu agreed to attend the Dream Guide celebration in Shenzhou and Los Angeles after organizers and prominent figures urged him to speak.
• Hou Biao worried about protecting Mei Yiqiu in Los Angeles, so he contacted Kui Wolf, who mobilized the Wolf Family’s and gang’s resources for security.
• Hou Biao stayed close to Mei Yiqiu and resolved to keep running Qingmu’s security company whether Qingmu returned or not.
• Mei Yiqiu gave the laboratory staff an early holiday and generous bonuses, leaving Old Yu to watch the machine rooms alone.
• Old Yu recalled how Qingmu had directed him to Professor Mei, who gave him a job at the laboratory when he had nowhere else to go.

Yu Jianguo adjusted to his new job at the Mei Laboratory, where training and the staff’s enthusiasm rekindled his sense of purpose. After Mei Ziqing entrusted him with one of two emergency keys, Bian Ziyuan returned to the laboratory and asked whether Yu had one.

• Yu Jianguo secretly swept and wiped the laboratory before learning its automated systems already kept it clean.
• The professor’s assistant and other staff trained Yu Jianguo over several months, after which he became an official employee of the Mei Laboratory.
• Mei Ziqing gave Yu Jianguo one of two emergency keys and told him to keep it secret and use it only when instructed.
• Yu Jianguo wondered where the key could be used as he watched Bian Ziyuan enter a restricted room and later come back out.
• Bian Ziyuan asked Yu Jianguo whether he had an emergency key.

Bian Ziyuan tried to get Yu Jianguo to help him obtain access to the quantum data center so he could secretly fix an error before it cost him his bonus. After learning the professor had installed a custom mechanical lock, Bian concluded that President Yao was the likeliest person to have the keys.

• Bian Ziyuan asked Yu Jianguo whether he had an emergency key to the quantum data center, and Yu denied having one.
• Bian Ziyuan joined Yu for hot pot and baijiu, then admitted he wanted to enter the data center without telling Professor Mei.
• Yu guessed that Bian had made a mistake and was trying to avoid getting reprimanded and losing his bonus.
• Bian explained that he could bypass the electronic security but needed two mechanical keys to open the custom lock.
• Bian said the professor might have given the keys to Qingmu, but since Qingmu was missing and President Hou was abroad, President Yao was the likeliest holder.

Yao Jingjing managed the company while preparing to take her mother back to Cuanzhou, and she worried that her mother’s dream about her great-grandmother might signal trouble for Ruxue. Before leaving, she decided to entrust Professor Mei’s emergency key to Bian Ziyuan, but Hou Biao’s concern about an art exhibition raised a new question about the painting in Elder Xia’s study.

• Yao Jingjing kept Professor Mei’s emergency key on her while handling the company’s increased workload and taking her mother to a hospital checkup.
• Mama Yao insisted on returning to Cuanzhou for the New Year and to visit her great-grandmother’s grave, while Yao Jingjing wondered whether her dream about Xue’er was connected to Ruxue.
• After the doctor confirmed Mama Yao was recovering well, Yao Jingjing booked their tickets and arranged to return to work shortly after taking her parents home.
• Yao Jingjing chose Bian Ziyuan as a trustworthy person to hold the emergency key while she was away, after Old Yu called about the laboratory’s alcohol-detection security system.
• Yao Jingjing called Hou Biao to ask about the situation abroad, and he said he was worried because an art exhibition there reminded him of the painting in Elder Xia’s study that Qingmu had mentioned.

Hou Biao escorted Professor Mei Yiqiu to a charity gala focused on the Space Box project and watched for security threats. Mei Yiqiu became the event’s center of attention, while guests speculated that aliens or Parasites were behind the project and recent political events.

• Hou Biao drove Professor Mei and Mei Ziqing through Beverly Hills, where the ordinary Cadillac stood out among the luxury cars arriving for the gala.
• At the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Hou Biao inspected the lobby murals and used his psychic abilities to get through the security checkpoint with his identification.
• Hou Biao stayed alert inside the theater, worrying that armed guests, agents, or Parasites might pose a threat to the professor.
• The host introduced Mei Yiqiu, and guests crowded around him because they wanted to join the Space Box project.
• Guests praised and questioned the project, then speculated that aliens had parasitized officials or helped create the Space Box.

Hou Biao attended a private art exhibition with Mei Yiqiu and noticed a series of paintings that seemed to point toward one another. The chapter left him facing a mural of a rain-soaked, empty street filled with living shadows, while the rumors that would threaten the Space Box project had not yet erupted.

• Hou Biao’s earlier remarks became the seed of rumors accusing Mei Yiqiu and the Third Space Foundation of being alien parasites, eventually threatening Space Box sales and production.
• The United Nations Space Management Committee declared that Mei Yiqiu and the Foundation’s research teams had passed the Lester Signature, but public outrage continued.
• After the event, Mei Yiqiu accepted an invitation to a private art exhibition, and Hou Biao entered ahead of him to check for danger.
• Hou Biao studied a painting of a girl whose raised finger seemed to direct him toward a photograph of a lonely highway and a sign reading “gas station 170 kilometers ahead.”
• Following the crooked label on Pukirev’s “The Unequal Marriage,” Hou Biao looked toward a mural of an empty street after rain, reflected in the shadows of many people.

Hou Biao escaped a strange vision inside a painting, where an illusion of Yao Jingjing had nearly made him hesitate to shoot. After Yao called, he learned she wanted to leave the key with Bian Ziyuan, and Mei Yiqiu approved.

• Hou Biao entered the painted street and saw the girl from the mural and an illusion resembling Yao Jingjing emerge from the shadows.
• Hou Biao hesitated to draw his gun at the illusion, but Yao Jingjing's phone call shook the vision apart and returned him to the gallery.
• Hou Biao covered the painted girl's eyes with chewing gum and rejoined Mei Yiqiu's group as visitors mistook the gum for an artistic touch.
• Hou Biao told Mei Yiqiu that Yao Jingjing wanted to leave the key with Bian Ziyuan for a few days, and Mei agreed.

Bian Ziyuan received a key from Yao Jingjing and realized he needed to reach the top floor to bring Kronos into the real world. He enlisted Yu Jianguo to help bypass the lock and surveillance, then headed to the basement before obtaining the password.

• Yao Jingjing gave Bian Ziyuan a key, and Yu Jianguo teased him about being attracted to her.
• Yu Jianguo secretly copied the key’s teeth into two pieces of gum while Bian Ziyuan went to throw up.
• Bian Ziyuan realized the lock required two keys and asked Yu Jianguo to help him pick it, but Yu Jianguo initially refused because he lacked clearance.
• Bian Ziyuan decided to alter Yu Jianguo’s clearance and block the surveillance before they went to the top floor.
• Bian Ziyuan told Yu Jianguo to wait while he went to the basement to take care of something before getting the password.

Qingmu used the Divine Wooden Staff to link with the tribespeople’s consciousnesses and command them, though he remained unsure of his connection to them. When Petru threatened the tribal shaman, Qingmu chose not to intervene, but Mrs. Larry persuaded Petru to spare him so they could work with the tribe.

• Qingmu grasped the Divine Wooden Staff, sensed the world’s pulse, and formed a mental link with the tribal shaman.
• Qingmu directed the tribespeople to stand in ranks, then dismissed them to their own affairs.
• Petru asked whether Qingmu was connected to the tribe, then drew his pistol and aimed it at the shaman.
• Qingmu decided not to stop Petru, unwilling to take responsibility for the tribe.
• Mrs. Larry urged Petru to spare the shaman because they needed the tribe’s help, and Petru lowered his gun.

Su Huilan questioned Situ about his age and the places he had traveled, then asked whether he knew Master Nanke. Situ said he knew Master Nanke and her father, and revealed that her father had replicated him in her dreams.

• Su Huilan wondered whether to tell Situ about her dreams while watching him and holding Hanran.
• Hanran reacted to the two suns joining in a total eclipse, and Situ came over to ask about the cat.
• Situ explained that he had helped design the first cesium atomic clock so he could simulate it in his consciousness and keep track of time during extraterrestrial travel.
• Su Huilan connected Situ's account to the passage of time in their strange surroundings, but he suggested that her dreams might also count as extraterrestrial space.
• Su Huilan asked Situ whether he knew Master Nanke, and he said he also knew her father.
• Situ told Su Huilan that her father had replicated him in her dreams, so they had met before.

Su Huilan questioned Situ about his ageless identity, Qingmu, and the Alliance, but their conversation was interrupted by a powerful mental disturbance in the sky. Situ went to investigate what Qingmu had done, then recognized something unusual inside Hanran, Su Huilan’s yellow cat.

• Su Huilan realized Situ had appeared unchanged across decades and asked how he knew so much, but he said he did not know everything.
• Situ said he had examined Qingmu’s mental power but could not tell how old he was, and Su Huilan asked him to explain the Alliance.
• Su Huilan recounted her father’s dreams and his final words about an ark sinking into the abyss; Situ said her father had faced difficulties that left him no choice.
• The twin suns joined into a gourd shape and sent a jet of flame across the sky as a mental impact shook the island and unsettled Hanran.
• Situ postponed answering Su Huilan, headed toward the slope to see what Qingmu had done, and asked how someone had entered Hanran’s body.

Yao Jingjing drove her parents to their old home in Cuan Family Village, where a conversation about family and home revealed that her great-grandmother had attended the Wuchang Branch of the Whampoa Military Academy. The chapter left Yao Jingjing intrigued by her great-grandmother’s remarkable past.

• Yao Jingjing rented a car and drove Mama Yao and Papa Yao toward Cuan Family Village, while her parents reminisced and teased each other along the way.
• Mama Yao said the mountain air smelled like home and recited a poem she had learned from her grandmother.
• Mama Yao told Yao Jingjing that the old Cuan Family had once been wealthy and that her great-grandmother had worn a military uniform in a photograph taken in Wuchang.
• Papa Yao explained that the Whampoa Military Academy Wuchang Branch had admitted more than two hundred female cadets, including writer Xie Bingying.
• Yao Jingjing wondered whether her great-grandmother had truly attended the military academy and imagined her as a daring heroine.

Yao Jingjing returned with her parents to Cun Family Village and climbed to the abandoned Cuandi Bazi, where she explored her great-grandmother’s preserved home. When Mama Yao fell asleep in the old woman’s room, Yao Jingjing entered her dream and saw her great-grandmother ask where Xue’er had gone.

• Yao Jingjing and her parents visited Cun Family Village, where Mama Yao told villagers she had chosen a successful son-in-law for Yao Jingjing.
• Yao Jingjing climbed with her parents to Cuandi Bazi and saw the stele bearing the single surviving character for Cuan.
• Mama Yao’s cousin unlocked the ancestral home, and Mama Yao took Yao Jingjing into her great-grandmother’s room.
• Yao Jingjing examined faded photographs beneath the dressing-table glass and recognized her great-grandmother in military uniform.
• Mama Yao fell asleep holding an old wooden box, and Yao Jingjing entered her dream.
• Yao Jingjing saw her great-grandmother approach through a desert and ask Mama Yao where her Xue’er had disappeared.

Yao Jingjing explored her mother's dream of a desert and learned that her great-grandmother had left behind an old photo album. The final photograph showed her great-grandmother with a familiar-looking young man at Mulberry Garden, raising new questions about the family's past.

• Yao Jingjing entered Mama Yao's dream and watched her chase her great-grandmother across a desert before the dream shattered.
• Yao Jingjing questioned Mama Yao about the dream, and Mama Yao said she had dreamed of her grandmother and a great desert.
• Mama Yao explained that the wooden box held her great-grandmother's keepsakes and showed Yao Jingjing an old photo album.
• Yao Jingjing found a 1927 photograph of a women's battalion and a later photograph of her great-grandmother standing with a young man beside a mulberry tree.
• Yao Jingjing read the photograph's inscription: Huasheng Sang, Cuan Yifang, photographed at Mulberry Garden, 1931.

Bi Shenghua researched Mulberry Garden’s history before discovering that the redevelopment plan for Liuying Lane would move the protected old willow tree. She fiercely opposed the move and confronted developer Huang Ziqiang, while Director Liu feared her actions would jeopardize the project.

• Bi Shenghua read three gazetteer accounts of Mulberry Garden and considered whether its first owners had been surnamed Sang or Hua.
• Bi Shenghua found surveyors measuring the old willow tree and learned they planned to move it for Liuying Lane’s redevelopment.
• Director Liu told Bi Shenghua that the developer insisted on moving the tree, but Bi Shenghua refused to let it be touched.
• Bi Shenghua called Huang Ziqiang and threatened to hold him responsible if the tree lost even one leaf.
• Director Liu scolded Bi Shenghua, then called Huang Ziqiang to apologize and learned he was already on his way over.