Deception of the mind

As the door closes, Mikimo and Liu are plunged into a dream—no, a nightmare. Mikimo relives the horrors of his past, while Liu is tormented by visions of his older brother's exile. Outside, a woman sits on the edge of a rooftop, smirking at how easily the two can be deceived.

Mikimo struggles to wake up. In his nightmare, his sister attacks him, blaming him for not saving her. He realizes he is just a child again, crying for their mother. No sound escapes, only the slow drip of unseen water. His sister's screams shatter the silence:

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE ME?"

Mikimo, his voice small and trembling, pleads, "I'm... sorry..."

His sister's blows rain down mercilessly. Then his father joins in, transformed into a demon. His mother follows, her face twisted in monstrous rage.

Meanwhile, in Liu's nightmare, he kneels before his father, Qiwu Gao, who enforces an iron rule: no one breaks the code—or they die. Suddenly, his older brother, Yinxu Gao, bursts in, accusing their father of causing their mother's death.

"She should have lived! It should have been you instead!" Yinxu shouts.

Qiwu slams his fist onto his chair, rising with fury. Grabbing Yinxu by the collar, he growls, "She died because you abandoned her! You let the Langyi Clan kill her!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Yinxu yells back.

"YES, IT WAS!" Qiwu roars.

Liu is pulled into a flashback from 11 years ago. Yinxu, a young boy, walks by a pond with their mother, Laixao. Curious, he asks why she never gets angry. She smiles, explaining,

"Anger is a powerless emotion. It drags you down unless you learn to control it."

Yinxu listens in awe. Then he asks how she met his father. Laixao reminisces about when she was 21 and Qiwu was 23. She had been a respected young woman, admired by all, even gangsters. But Qiwu was different—a martial artist driven by pride and anger.

One night, she was kidnapped by a mafia gang. As they taunted the police with a recorded message, Qiwu burst into their hideout, smashing through tables. He fought off the thugs with ease, then leaped from a window onto a moving car. He shattered the windshield with a single punch, yanked the driver out, and rescued Laixao. In that moment, their fates intertwined.

They fell in love, married, and had children.

The flashback shifts to a terrifying moment. A gang called the Yulian Clan storms their home. Liu, just a child, watches in horror as they beat his mother. Their leader, Wang Qidian, grips Laixao by the hair, sneering,

"This is what Qiwu gets for killing his wife."

An hour later, Liu remains frozen, trembling. Laixao, gasping for breath, whispers, "I'm glad I had you as my second son," before dying from blood loss.

Qiwu emerges from the house, his eyes scanning the scene. Seeing Laixao's lifeless body, he turns to Liu.

"What happened?" he demands.

Liu stammers, "A gang... they... they beat mommy to death."

Qiwu pins Liu against the wall. "Why didn't you stop them?!"

"I... I was scared..."

Qiwu drops Liu, turning away in disgust. "Why did I raise such a weakling?"

At Laixao's funeral, the entire city gathers. Qiwu stands at the front, solemn, while Liu lingers in the back, tears staining his face as he clutches his pants.

Back in the present, Liu awakens to find himself bound by thick strings, held captive by a woman with an alluring figure. He senses her presence using a spiritual technique, moving stealthily toward her. Summoning three snakes from his body, he sends them slithering along the strings toward his captor.

At the last moment, the woman notices and evades the attack. She leaps onto a nearby building. Liu orders the snakes to bite through his bindings, freeing him. He charges at the woman, the serpents flanking him, growing in size. They attack, but she fends them off. One strikes from above, another from below. She dodges, ensnaring the upper snake in her strings. It loses all movement—except its tongue. The tongue extends, wrapping around her. The second snake coils around her, attempting to swallow her whole.

Before it can, an accomplice intervenes. A masked figure summons a massive white snake, which bites through Liu's summoned serpents, killing them instantly.

Liu lunges at the figure, landing a punch and a kick that shatters his mask. The man smirks.

"My name is Klod Rencin."

The woman introduces herself as well. "People below my rank call me Lady Lin."

Klod grabs Lady Lin, and in a flash, they teleport away.

Liu, confused and unsettled, knows this encounter is only the beginning of a greater nightmare. He rushes to Mikimo's side, finding him still trapped in his nightmare. In Mikimo's dream, giant snakes coil around him, biting him over and over. The pain is unbearable.

With a final agonized scream, Mikimo wakes up—to see Liu at his bedside, watching over him.