Recaps

The HeLa Cell evolved from a small organism into a city-destroying monster, then survived the military’s bombardment by transforming into Hela. Sun Hai took Hela in, while the Special Investigation Squad prepared to test new recruit Xing Lan.

• The HeLa Cell copied animals and a girl, then attacked Yan Ling, the captain, Han Xuan, and Xiaoxiao, killing the group and evolving by devouring them.
• Han Xuan sacrificed himself to blast apart the HeLa Cell, but Xiaoxiao fell from a cliff and the creature continued toward City C.
• The HeLa Cell reached the city, devoured people and a police car, and grew into a huge mass of flesh that spread tentacles across the city.
• The military bombed the HeLa Cell, and its special investigation team searched the ruins while the creature transformed into a human girl.
• Sun Hai found the naked, silent Hela among the ruins and took her to a hospital, where Nanming identified her as a seventeen-year-old with albinism.
• Sun Hai brought Hela to his apartment and cared for her, while Hela learned to understand Chinese and decided to stay until she could escape.
• Nanming and the squad welcomed Xing Lan, a nineteen-year-old High Rank ability user, and led her to their disguised base, where Sun Hai asked whether she was an awakened one or a symbiote.

Xing Lan brought Hela into the Night Stars, where the team discovered that Hela was a Symbiote bonded with the regenerative HeLa Cell and prepared her for recruit training. At camp, Hela joined the recruits’ test and teamed up with Ye Yiqing against an instructor.

• Xing Lan lost her strength test to Sun Hai, who accepted her onto the team and assigned her a dorm room.
• Sun Hai entrusted Hela to Xing Lan, and Xing Lan took her shopping while a young man was killed by the spider creature hidden in an elderly landlady’s basement.
• Xing Lan and Hela encountered the spider old man, who cut Hela in half before Liu Xiaogang and the squad arrived and defeated him.
• Hela regrew her severed hand in front of the team, confirming she was a Symbiote bonded with the HeLa Cell, and she chose to join the Night Stars.
• The squad trained Hela for recruit camp, and Sun Hai took away the hidden-blade pendant Xing Lan had given her before Feng Xuan flew Hela to Guangshen.
• Hela arrived at camp, met her roommate Han Keru, and jumped from a seventh-floor window to reach her first assembly ahead of the other recruits.
• Li Hu began a recruit test in which the recruits had to evade instructors and steal their bells, while Hela and Keke escaped toward the armory.
• Hela survived Yan Wusheng’s rocket attack and confronted Li Hu, while Ye Yiqing fought an instructor and later caught Hela as she fell into the duel.

The recruits endured a wilderness training exercise filled with Variants and illusions, while Hela’s past and Han Xiaoxiao’s trauma came to light. Ye Yiqing and his companions defeated several threats and reunited, while Ye Ciqing and Wang Canxin continued fighting the Mirror Dream Flower.

• Hela and Ye Yiqing seized Qin Gucheng’s bells, and Ye Yiqing later gave bells to Hela, Keke, and Ye Ciqing before the group began their training routine.
• Han Xiaoxiao asked Ye Yiqing to teach her his saber technique, and he discouraged her from joining the training camp before agreeing to think about it.
• The instructors secretly took the recruits into the wilderness, where Hela found Keke and joined her and Han Xiaoxiao in searching for the others.
• Hela fought off a Variant carrying Ye Yiqing, and Han Xiaoxiao revealed that [HeLa Cell] had killed her brother Han Xuan and maimed her.
• Hela severed and reattached her arm, then created a creature from her thumb as the group learned about her regenerative abilities and shared food beside a campfire.
• The flower demon trapped Ye Ciqing and later joined forces with a giant wolf, while illusions led Han Xiaoxiao to believe Han Xuan had returned and Keke to relive a happy family memory.
• Ye Yiqing helped Han Xiaoxiao recognize the illusion of Han Xuan, and together they defeated the giant wolf before Ye Yiqing collapsed, and Hela later carried Han Xiaoxiao back to Keke.
• Ye Ciqing and Wang Canxin battled the Mirror Dream Flower, using traps and attacks to expose and strike its hidden bodies.

Hela and Keke spent New Year with Qin Gucheng before joining his team on a mission to hunt a centipede Variant in Guangshen. Qin Gucheng died protecting the recruits, and Hela was left grieving as the enemy escaped with Night Kill.

• The recruits finished wilderness training, and Hela placed first with ninety-nine points while Wang Canxin discovered she was [HeLa Cell] and agreed to keep her identity secret in exchange for a favor.
• Hela spent New Year with Keke at Qin Gucheng’s home, where he introduced them to his fiancée Liu An and shared the painful story of her capture and torture.
• Li Hu sent Hela, Keke, and Yan Wusheng with Qin Gucheng to investigate a centipede-shaped Variant in Guangshen, where they found it underground and battled it in a cavern.
• A girl who controlled the centipede attacked the team, transformed into [Night Kill], and overwhelmed Qin Gucheng while Hela killed the centipede Variant.
• [Night Kill] killed Qin Gucheng and attacked Keke, but Hela returned in a giant wolf form and fought until she restrained Night Kill.
• A black-clad figure severed Hela’s hands and escaped with Night Kill, while Hela and Keke learned Qin Gucheng had died protecting them.
• Qin Gucheng received a military funeral and third-class merit, Keke blamed herself for his death, and Ye Yiqing gave her Qin’s saber.