Recaps

Su Mian explained how covert marketing could manipulate public opinion, while Duan Xuanyu comforted her and then tried to turn her harmful-product knowledge into an economic opportunity. Later, Fang Nuonuo checked the online reaction to her carefully staged day and found that things had gone badly for her again.

• Su Mian told Duan Xuanyu about the white-noise-bomb tactics she had used in her former marketing job to shape public opinion around a harmful product.
• Duan Xuanyu reassured Su Mian that she was not solely responsible, then asked what the product was so he could consider selling it in Northern Liang.
• Su Mian dodged his questions by asking for ice cream, and Duan Xuanyu added isatis root granules to it because he feared she would catch a cold.
• Su Mian challenged Duan Xuanyu to find her missing Bluetooth earbud after making him memorize the scent of the one she still had.
• Fang Nuonuo spent the afternoon socializing with wealthy young ladies and noticed the dating show's production team was secretly livestreaming her.
• Fang Nuonuo returned home and checked online, only to see that the reaction she hoped for had not come.

Fang Nuonuo tried to smear Su Mian with rumors, but Duan Hongxu exposed her main and alternate accounts, prompting Su Mian to mock her online. The guests received news of surprise livestreams and upcoming visits, and Su Mian answered Fang Nuonuo’s unexpected video call.

• Fang Nuonuo saw public support for Su Mian grow and posted insinuations that Su Mian had spent the night with Duan Hongxu and Duan Xuanyu.
• Duan Hongxu told Su Mian about the rumors and exposed the matching IP addresses of Fang Nuonuo’s two accounts.
• Su Mian mocked Fang Nuonuo online after the accounts’ posts were revealed.
• Yin Xiaohong announced that the production team had livestreamed some guests’ everyday lives and that the remaining guests would host visits.
• Fang Nuonuo joined the group chat enthusiastically and then video-called Su Mian, who answered.

Su Mian investigated Gu Yichen’s home to learn what he truly wanted and whether he would fall for Fang Nuonuo, but found no clues during the livestreamed tour. In Gu Yichen’s laboratory, a bottle shattered and ether left Duan Xuanyu dizzy, forcing Su Mian to ventilate the room.

• Fang Nuonuo posted an edited apology video, and online commenters criticized her for leaving out Su Mian’s response.
• Su Mian reread the original plot and suspected Gu Yichen fell for Fang Nuonuo because she helped him resist his family, though she wondered what he truly wanted to do.
• Duan Xuanyu grew jealous when Su Mian seemed eager to visit Gu Yichen, then complained that the musical fountain at Gu Yichen’s home was off.
• Su Mian toured Gu Yichen’s laboratory but found nothing suspicious before a glass bottle shattered and released ether.
• Su Mian held her breath and opened the door to air out the laboratory after Duan Xuanyu became dizzy and weak from the ether.

Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu recreated the scene of their first meeting and traveled back to his past, where Su Mian discovered that he had pretended to be drugged and had once planned to kill her. Duan Xuanyu searched the palace memorials for a way to change his fate, leaving Su Mian disturbed by what he found.

• Su Mian remembered that recreating an earlier experience might trigger Duan Xuanyu’s system Easter egg and send them back to ancient times.
• Duan Xuanyu embraced Su Mian and pleaded for help, and she splashed water on him and repeated that she would not touch him because he was young.
• The two traveled back to Duan Xuanyu’s sleeping palace, where Su Mian called her system online and listened in on his conversation with his system.
• Duan Xuanyu revealed that he had already regained his senses during their first meeting and had hugged Su Mian intending to silence her, but she had pushed him away.
• Duan Xuanyu regretted not holding on to Su Mian and considered pretending to be drugged again, while Su Mian silently vowed to make him pay if he tried.
• Duan Xuanyu searched through memorials for a way to change his fate, and Su Mian read one and called it twisted.

Duan Xuanyu punished Prince Sheng’s heir for murdering a peddler’s pregnant wife and father, then used the case to move against the heir’s household. After Duan Xuanyu returned from his brief transmigration, Beijing’s commoners celebrated the execution and the powerful nobles fell silent.

• Yu Fei impeached Prince Sheng’s heir for the brutal murder of a peddler’s family.
• Duan Xuanyu ordered the heir’s six-month-old child steamed alive and made into meatballs, then summoned the heir to the palace.
• The heir admitted he had secretly sent the child away, and Duan Xuanyu ordered him executed for defying the imperial decree.
• Duan Xuanyu told Xiang Yi to deliver further decrees targeting the heir’s household and revealed that the heir had worn a dragon robe.
• Duan Xuanyu returned from his transmigration, while news of the heir’s execution sparked public rejoicing and silenced Beijing’s powerful nobles.

Duan Xuanyu discovered that returning to his era let his system download new cheats, while Su Mian kept her own system’s spying ability secret. After history recorded his reforms but still claimed he later became a brutal ruler and died young, Su Mian sent him the record and reference materials, and he suspected Xu Guizhen had caused the change. As the guests left to visit Cheng Qin’s home, Su Mian overheard Fang Nuonuo and Gu Yichen hinting at Gu Yichen’s secret.

• Duan Xuanyu questioned Su Mian about her remark, then learned from his system that returning to his era replenished its energy and unlocked a new cheat.
• Su Mian decided not to risk having her system tap into Duan Xuanyu’s system after they returned to their physical forms.
• A news report described newly discovered artifacts that vindicated Duan Xuanyu’s actions as Emperor Xiaowu and showed that ordinary people had loved him.
• Su Mian found a historical record claiming Duan Xuanyu later pursued immortality, used human sacrifices, and died from poisoning, so she sent him the record and electronic chemistry and medical references.
• Duan Xuanyu suspected Xu Guizhen had influenced his future actions and resolved to behead the Daoist on his next return.
• As the guests prepared to visit Cheng Qin’s home, Su Mian overheard Fang Nuonuo and Gu Yichen discussing his secret.

Fang Nuonuo and Gu Yichen discussed his secret passion for singing, while the group visited Cheng Qin’s home and then went to Yu Liqi’s modest rental apartment instead of the Yu family estate. Fang Nuonuo’s relatives planned to make trouble for Yu Liqi, and Fang Nuonuo alerted an uncle that the café Yu Liqi chose belonged to him.

• Fang Nuonuo learned that Gu Yichen wanted to sing but felt bound by his family’s expectations, and she encouraged him to show off his talent on the show.
• The guests visited Cheng Qin’s spacious apartment and met her toy poodle, which Su Mian called over along with Duan Xuanyu.
• Fang Nuonuo saw that her relatives planned to shut Yu Liqi out of the Yu family estate and prepared to intervene if the crew was turned away.
• Yu Liqi brought the production crew to her cramped rental apartment instead of the estate and offered to treat everyone to coffee nearby.
• Su Mian suggested checking whether the café accepted Yu Liqi’s group-deal vouchers before they went in.
• Fang Nuonuo messaged her uncle that Yu Liqi was taking everyone to a café he had started.

Yu Liqi and the guests faced an unexpectedly high café bill, and the server looked down on her and Su Mian when they questioned the charges. Yu Liqi paid rather than accept Fang Nuonuo's offer, while Su Mian promised to find someone to deal with the café.

• Yu Liqi learned that the three vouchers still left a bill of fifteen thousand, and Su Mian asked to see the receipt.
• Su Mian found charges for the private room, tableware, and a service fee, while the server condescendingly defended the fees.
• Fang Nuonuo read her uncle's message and offered to pay, hoping to improve her image.
• Yu Liqi refused Fang Nuonuo's offer, paid the bill, and requested an invoice after Su Mian reminded her.
• Su Mian told the server to wait because she would find someone to deal with the café.

Su Mian and Yu Liqi reported the restaurant for undisclosed fees and forced sales, winning triple compensation after the waiter exposed further violations. Yu Liqi later published an investigation of her eldest uncle’s restaurant, forcing it to close for rectification as the dating show’s popularity rose.

• Su Mian and Yu Liqi reported the restaurant for consumer fraud, forced sales, and a menu that lacked Chinese text.
• The waiter’s excuses revealed that the restaurant had not disclosed extra fees and had tied paid tableware to a dessert purchase.
• Yu Liqi learned the restaurant belonged to her eldest uncle, then negotiated forty-five thousand in compensation.
• Yu Liqi wrote a report exposing consumer traps and anonymously brought her eldest uncle’s restaurant under public scrutiny.
• Yu Liqi’s eldest uncle closed the restaurant for rectification, while the show announced upgraded challenges for its next episode.

The guests began a ten-kilometer race to the airport that would decide who became kings and attendants for their trip to the Land of Sand. Su Mian swam across a lake to arrive first, while Duan Xuanyu continued along the road and received a new cheat.

• The production team announced that the guests would travel to the Land of Sand and revealed that their episode challenge would begin on the way to the airport.
• The host divided the guests into kings and attendants based on arrival order and explained that each king could give an attendant a demand to follow until they arrived in the Land of Sand.
• Duan Hongxu offered to help Su Mian win in exchange for a chance to pursue her, but Su Mian rejected him and said kings only gave other kings a chance.
• Su Mian put her shoes and jacket on the bus, secured her phone and identification, and swam across a lake to shorten her route to the airport.
• Su Mian reached the airport first, and Duan Xuanyu received a notification that a new cheat had downloaded successfully.

Duan Xuanyu learned that his new Illusion Technique could alter people’s perceptions, but rejected it as useless and impossible to replace the time-reversal skill. Meanwhile, Su Mian recruited Gu Yuanqiu’s help to stop Gu Yichen from debuting as a singer, and the competition ended with Duan Hongxu trying to keep Gu Yichen from helping Fang Nuonuo claim the final king spot.

• Duan Xuanyu learned that the Illusion Technique could permanently change the perceptions of people within ten kilometers, but he rejected the skill and could not return to the past.
• Su Mian messaged Gu Yuanqiu that Gu Yichen planned to debut as a singer, and Gu Yuanqiu offered the Gu Group’s global brand ambassador deal if she stopped him.
• Duan Xuanyu, Yu Liqi, and Cheng Qin finished the running competition in second, third, and near-last place, while Lin Xi had run in the wrong direction.
• Fang Nuonuo fell behind and worried she would have to carry the suitcases, so Gu Yichen promised to hold Duan Hongxu back and told her to run.
• Gu Yichen grabbed Duan Hongxu’s collar to give Fang Nuonuo a chance to catch up, but Duan Hongxu smiled and challenged him.

Duan Hongxu escaped Gu Yichen by tearing off his shirt, and the guests chose attendants before Su Mian made Gu Yichen shout to damage his voice and lower his favorability. At the airport, Su Mian quietly watched influencer Disi livestream and sign autographs, then stood and walked toward her.

• Duan Hongxu tore off his shirt to escape Gu Yichen, leaving Gu stunned and dismissive of the tactic.
• The four kings chose attendants in ranking order: Su Mian chose Gu Yichen, Duan Xuanyu chose Lin Xi, Yu Liqi chose Cheng Qin, and Duan Hongxu chose Fang Nuonuo.
• Su Mian ordered Gu Yichen to shout everything he said, then revealed she meant to ruin his singing voice; his favorability fell to zero, but his disgust points did not rise.
• Su Mian reached the gate first and moved away when Disi told her not to sit near her livestream.
• Disi promoted her eyebrow pencil and upcoming remarriage livestream, then signed autographs for a crowd while Su Mian received no attention.
• Su Mian stood up and walked toward Disi.

Su Mian tricked Disi into signing an IOU after exposing her fake fans and scolding her for acting entitled. At the airport, she stopped Duan Xuanyu from confronting people from Country K and sent him to fetch a tennis ball while she watched the argument.

• Su Mian got Disi to sign an IOU, then made her admit that the people shouting for her were hired extras rather than fans.
• Disi apologized and received the paper back, realized it was an IOU, and hurried away after discovering that Su Mian was with a production crew.
• The guests put on real-time translators and understood that locals and people from Country K were arguing over the origins of malatang and Chinese characters.
• Duan Xuanyu tried to fight the people from Country K, but Su Mian told him to sit down and then sent him to fetch a tennis ball.
• Su Mian looked toward the people from Country K as Duan Xuanyu went after the ball.

Su Mian stirred up an argument between guests from the Land of Sand and Country K by mocking Country K’s claims over other cultures, while Duan Xuanyu understood why she was keeping him from losing his temper. On the plane, Su Mian urged Gu Yichen to disguise himself as someone from Country K, but he found shouting at rude passengers so liberating that his Disgust Points vanished and his Affection Points rose again.

• Su Mian told two women from the Land of Sand that Country K claimed their traditional headscarves, prompting them to condemn Country K.
• The guests repeated absurd claims about Country K stealing other countries’ traditions, and an argument escalated into a fight while they pretended to calm everyone down.
• Duan Xuanyu returned with the ball, joined the heckling briefly, and realized Su Mian had kept him calm to protect him in an era where public opinion mattered.
• After boarding, Su Mian told Gu Yichen to slick down his hair or draw a square on his philtrum, and his Disgust Points rose to 5.
• Gu Yichen slicked down his hair and shouted at passengers and a flight attendant in broken Country K language, enjoying the release.
• Gu Yichen’s Disgust Points disappeared and his Affection Points returned to 60 as Su Mian watched from behind him.

After arriving in the Land of Sand, the guests boarded a minibus arranged to take them to their hotel, unaware that the pickup was a trap. When armed locals demanded their phones and passports, the guests gave up resisting.

• Lin Xi wondered why Su Mian had lost interest in him, while Gu Yichen insisted that she was all right and Fang Nuonuo decided to find a way to win Gu Yichen over.
• Su Mian rejected the system’s offer to show her others’ favorability, saying she would miss the people she had met.
• After the flight, the production team told the guests to meet under a billboard and promised a lavish hotel stay and a campus romance at the Royal School.
• Lin Xi led the guests to the billboard, where they boarded a minibus with no phone signal.
• A man demanded the guests’ phones and passports, but Su Mian and the others put away their weapons when locals surrounded them with Gatling guns.

Su Mian and the other guests were kidnapped after boarding the wrong bus and taken to a compound where people were sorted for a scam operation and possible organ harvesting. Su Mian disguised herself as an idiot to reach the compound, then attacked Disi as she tried to summon help.

• The production team announced that the livestream was suspended after the guests went missing, while the guests were taken to a desert compound called Stringy Squid.
• Disi ordered the captives divided by appearance, sending the ugly people to the compound and the pretty people to a manor; Su Mian explained the scam to Duan Xuanyu.
• Su Mian told Duan Xuanyu to keep everyone safe, then pretended to be an idiot so the guards would send her to the compound with Gu Yichen.
• Su Mian and Gu Yichen were taken for blood tests as other captives were beaten and forced inside, and Su Mian spotted Disi passing nearby.
• Su Mian followed Disi into a room, stopped her from reaching a button, and stabbed toward her heart with the blade hidden in her self-defense baton.

Su Mian threatened Disi into offering protection, but Disi suddenly recoiled from her in disgust. Meanwhile, Duan Xuanyu used the Illusion Technique to make the estate’s perpetrators see their intended victims as piles of poop, throwing the gathering into chaos.

• Su Mian held a knife to Disi’s throat as Disi claimed she had been forced into telecom fraud and offered to protect Su Mian in the compound.
• Disi abruptly shoved Su Mian away, called her a monster, and retched, leaving Su Mian confused.
• Duan Xuanyu and the other victims were brought into a luxurious estate, where powerful figures selected people from the group.
• Duan Xuanyu asked his system to use the Illusion Technique on the perpetrators, but the system mistakenly made the victims look like poop to them.
• The perpetrators panicked and fled from the victims, who remained unharmed and bewildered.

Duan Xuanyu helped the captives escape the Stringy Squid Compound, and the stranded guests later searched for help and food on the outskirts of a city. Lin Xi went to investigate a church offering free eggs and returned bruised.

• Duan Xuanyu urged the victims to flee after the perpetrators began vomiting, and everyone escaped the Stringy Squid Compound in minibuses.
• Duan Xuanyu found Su Mian and led her onto a bus, keeping his role in their escape a secret.
• The minibuses ran out of fuel near the city, leaving the guests without phones, money, or passports as they discussed finding the production crew.
• Su Mian spotted a nearby church giving away free eggs, and Lin Xi volunteered to investigate it alone.
• Lin Xi returned from the church with a bruised nose and a swollen face.

After escaping the criminals, Su Mian and the guests found shelter and food at a church, while Duan Xuanyu learned that his illusion had made elites see feces as attractive people. The production team and police searched for the missing guests, and an online photo finally revealed they were safe near a desert lake.

• The guests entered a church for shelter from the rain, received boiled eggs, and planned to spend the night there; Duan Xuanyu stayed awake beside Su Mian.
• Duan Xuanyu's system revealed that his illusion had made the elites perceive feces as handsome men and beautiful women, and he wished them luck.
• The production team and local police found the victims' belongings and arrested Disi and other criminals, while the elite perpetrators returned to their countries for treatment.
• News outlets reported a supposed Dung Beetle Virus affecting elites, and online spectators speculated about its cause and spread.
• A netizen spotted Su Mian and the other guests in a photo near the desert lake, prompting the production team to rush there to find them.

Stranded near a church in the Land of Sand, the guests argued over how to earn taxi fare to the embassy while their discussion was broadcast live. Cheng Qin and Yu Liqi rejoined the production team first, while Lin Xi wandered into a residential neighborhood and was surrounded by teenagers.

• The guests failed to find a taxi to the embassy and debated begging or other ways to earn money, unaware that a livestream was broadcasting them.
• Viewers recognized the guests in an overseas influencer’s livestream and alerted the production team, while the Land of Sand police arrested the influencer after mistaking the reports about his crime for a tip.
• After the church sent them out and the guests could not agree on a plan, they split up to earn taxi fare or seek help.
• Cheng Qin and Yu Liqi stayed near the church, developed ideas for future writing projects, and rejoined the production team when it arrived.
• Lin Xi went off alone to find the production team, entered a residential neighborhood, and was surrounded by a group of teenagers.

Lin Xi was rescued from begging children and reached out to the embassy, while a fellow countryman’s video exposed the risks of begging in the Land of Sand. Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu found food from a gorilla in a private garden, and Su Mian came up with an idea to make money.

• Lin Xi ran from children demanding money and was helped by a fellow countryman, who explained that begging was illegal in the Land of Sand.
• Lin Xi contacted the embassy to ask for help reaching the production team, while the fellow countryman posted a video that drew a huge audience.
• Duan Xuanyu admitted he felt guilty about leaving Duan Hongxu behind, and Su Mian suggested he could make it up to him by abdicating in his favor.
• Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu spotted animals in a rich man's private garden, and Su Mian persuaded a gorilla to give her its bananas.
• Su Mian shared a banana with Duan Xuanyu, then noticed a fallen banana leaf and came up with an idea to earn money.

Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu sold flower crowns while the production team searched for them, until Su Mian’s death forecast showed a fugitive killing the gorilla that had helped her. They rescued the gorilla, captured the fugitive, and received a hundred-thousand-dollar bounty and a gold watch worth ten million from the gorilla’s owner.

• Su Mian wove flower crowns, gave one to the gorilla, and then sold crowns with Duan Xuanyu despite their translators running out of battery.
• Su Mian learned from a news report that fugitive Tao Fan was wanted for telecom fraud, then foresaw him killing the gorilla wearing her flower crown.
• Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu rushed back to the courtyard, where Tao Fan had pinned the gorilla down, and Su Mian identified and tackled him.
• Duan Xuanyu struck Tao Fan with a heavy banana leaf, and the arriving police arrested him.
• The gorilla reunited with its owner, who gave Su Mian a gold watch worth ten million to thank her for saving the gorilla, and Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu also received the hundred-thousand-dollar bounty.

After the guests reunited at the hotel, Duan Hongxu regretted plotting against Duan Xuanyu, who thanked him and promised to treat him well. The next day, the campus episode began with a heart-rate game to determine the guests’ roles, and the production team revealed its first image.

• Su Mian guessed Gu Yichen and Fang Nuonuo had gone busking, and the production team found them there before Gu Yichen could begin singing.
• Duan Hongxu revealed through his thoughts that he had stayed at the hotel and hoped to rescue the other guests and win Su Mian’s favor.
• Duan Xuanyu thanked Duan Hongxu for looking after him, and Duan Hongxu realized he had treated his ancestor unfairly.
• The guests rested at the hotel, then gathered the next day for the campus episode’s Heart-Fluttering Tea Party, where they would earn points by keeping their heart rates below 120.
• The game began when the production team displayed its theme image.

Su Mian won the heart-rate challenge by making the other guests laugh, angry, or startled, while Fang Nuonuo was the last opponent she eliminated. The host assigned roles according to how long each guest lasted, leaving Su Mian to play Duan Hongxu’s seventy-year-old grandmother.

• Su Mian joked about disinfecting the guillotine, and Duan Xuanyu and the other guests joined in with absurd comments that made their heart rates rise.
• Su Mian eliminated Duan Hongxu, Gu Yichen, and Duan Xuanyu with taunts, while Fang Nuonuo resisted her repeated attempts to provoke her.
• Su Mian startled Fang Nuonuo by standing up and roaring at her, then won the challenge as the last guest remaining.
• The host assigned roles based on how long each guest had lasted, giving Duan Hongxu a sixteen-year-old transfer student role and Su Mian the role of his seventy-year-old grandmother.

The production team announced a school-role competition whose winner would have a bronze dragon sculpture donated to the National Museum in their name. As Su Mian prepared to play a grandmother, Duan Xuanyu was overcome by fear that he would die before seeing her grow old, and she noticed his distress and ran toward him.

• Yin Xiaohong announced that the guests would take on school identities and compete for votes, with the winner earning a bronze dragon sculpture donation in their name.
• Su Mian emerged in elderly makeup, while viewers wondered how her grandmother role could win over the students.
• Duan Hongxu teased Su Mian, who offered him sugarcane after pretending to have peeled it, and he left in disgust.
• Duan Xuanyu saw Su Mian's silver hair and makeup, then hid outside the garden as he feared he would die before seeing her grow old.
• Su Mian noticed Duan Xuanyu was upset, put down the fruit, and ran toward him.