Episode Summary
Fleeing from a police manhunt, Mu Dai seeks refuge with Luo Ren, who reaffirms his unwavering trust in her despite her own doubts about her innocence. As the team investigates two key witnesses to clear Mu Dai's name, Cao Yanhua and Yi Wan San stage an elaborate act to extract a testimony. The plan takes a dark turn when a confrontation leads to a witness's mental breakdown, a bizarre supernatural injury, and a shocking car accident that leaves Yi Wan San framed for an attack he cannot explain. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman named Xiang Silan confronts Zhang Guanghua about a cryptic "game" twenty years in the making.
Spoiler Alert
The Seven Relics of Ill Omen, Episode 17 Recap: A Game of Trust and a Burning Touch
This Episode , the tangled web surrounding Mu Dai tightens, but Luo Ren’s faith in her never wavers. As the team splits up to chase down unreliable witnesses, a bizarre confrontation ends in a supernatural injury and another member framed for a crime they didn’t commit.
A Desperate Plea in the Dark
The episode kicks off with the police raiding the hot pot restaurant owned by Zheng Li's aunt, searching for the evidence to pin a murder on Mu Dai (Liu Hao Cun). Tipped off just in time, Mu Dai makes a frantic escape over a wall, with officers in hot pursuit. As she hides, she spots Luo Ren's (Song Wei Long) car driving by. Luo Ren, having learned from the restaurant that Mu Dai is now a wanted woman, returns to his place, only to be startled by a knock on his door late at night. It's Mu Dai, desperate and out of options. Her plan is as simple as it is risky: she begs him to hide her in his car's trunk and smuggle her out of the city of Nantian.
The Rooftop and the 20-Year Game
In a strange and unsettling interlude, Zhang Guanghua (Yan Yi Kuan) finds himself on a rooftop, where he's met by a woman named Xiang Silan. Dressed provocatively in a red leather jacket and high heels, she speaks in riddles. Xiang Silan claims that she was once an outcast, reviled for a terrible full-body skin disease, but has since "merged" with the endemic "scaly plague" of Nantian. She declares she has been waiting twenty years for Zhang Guanghua and cryptically asks if "the game is about to begin." Zhang Guanghua offers only a stoic silence in return, leaving the nature of their pact a chilling mystery.
You Are Mu Dai
Safely away from the immediate danger, Luo Ren provides Mu Dai with a meal, gently pressing her for the truth about the murder. Mu Dai confesses her greatest fear: she can't be sure her "white personality" didn't commit the crime, revealing the deep fractures in her self-perception. Unfazed, Luo Ren cuts through her doubt with a powerful statement of trust: "There's no need to separate black and white. You are just Mu Dai." To help her reclaim her own identity, he engages her in two rounds of a psychological game designed to build her confidence and teach her to defend herself. The exercise works, and as Mu Dai begins to find her voice, Luo Ren’s relief is palpable.
Hunting for the Truth
Luo Ren is convinced that the death of Zhang Tong was a murder designed to frame Mu Dai. He and the team identify two key eyewitnesses: Ma Chao and Song Tie. The team gathers the next morning, and after a bit of cold friction from a still-on-edge Mu Dai, Luo Ren lays out the plan. He will track down Song Tie himself. Cao Yanhua (Zhang Yi Chi) and Yi Wan San (Ao Rui Peng) are tasked with finding Ma Chao.
To get to the street-smart Ma Chao, Cao Yanhua and Yi Wan San devise an elaborate ruse. Cao Yanhua slicks his hair back, puts on a thick gold chain, and flashes his tattoos, fully embracing the role of a tough-guy gangster. He swaggers onto Ma Chao's turf and is promptly surrounded by his crew. Just as things get tense, Yi Wan San, pretending to be a random passerby, smashes what appears to be a glass bottle over Cao Yanhua's head. The bottle, made of sugar, shatters harmlessly, but the performance is convincing.
The stunt piques Ma Chao’s interest in the seemingly fearless Yi Wan San. Lowering his guard, Ma Chao reveals what he saw: Zhang Tong was standing on the bridge railing to urinate when Mu Dai pushed him from behind. He adds that the other witness, Song Tie, also saw Mu Dai at the scene. However, Luo Ren later notes a critical inconsistency in Ma Chao's story concerning someone who was "almost hit by a car."
Urban Legends and Burning Clues
The team's morale takes a hit when a third witness, Wu Yaping, also positively identifies Mu Dai. But Luo Ren’s sharp instincts kick in. He points out a major flaw in the testimonies: the old bridge has no streetlights, so how could three separate witnesses so confidently identify Mu Dai in the dark?
His skepticism prompts Mu Dai to recall a local urban legend about a place called "Tengma Diaotai" (Soaring Horse Sculpture Terrace). The team decides to investigate the site and makes a crucial discovery: evidence that Ma Chao had burned joss paper for the deceased Zhang Tong—a ritual often performed out of guilt or a close connection.
The walls are closing in on Ma Chao. Yi Wan San confronts him at a restaurant, using psychological pressure to break him down. The tactic works too well. Ma Chao has a complete mental breakdown, bolts from the restaurant, and runs wildly into the street. In the ensuing chase, Yi Wan San scrapes his hand. As he reaches out and accidentally touches Ma Chao's cheek, something impossible happens: Ma Chao's skin instantly turns black and appears scorched.
Seconds later, Ma Chao is struck by a car. As a crowd gathers, they see the burn mark on his face and immediately assume Yi Wan San attacked him. In a cruel twist of fate, Yi Wan San finds himself trapped in the same nightmare as Mu Dai: framed, cornered, and with no way to explain the unexplainable.
