Episode Summary
In this episode, Ding Qi deals with a hostage crisis at a wedding, which he suspects was orchestrated by the killer known as Squid. By reviewing security footage, he finally gets a name and face for his suspect: Ye Kun. As a new time loop begins, Ding Qi uses this information to get ahead of the game, but discovers that his target, Mo Yuanzhi, has changed his pattern and was secretly in contact with An Lan during the night.
Spoiler Alert
The Wedding Goes Sideways
So, the big event is the wedding of Liu Haotian and Zhao Zixin. Ding Qi is on high alert. He knows something is supposed to go down. He also remembers that in the first loop, An Lan wasn't even there. But this time, she shows up looking fantastic, and Ding Qi is clearly distracted.
A Botched Stakeout
The police presence is way too obvious. Ding Qi realizes Squid is probably watching them make fools of themselves. His team even tackles a poor guy on a scooter who turns out to be a cake shop employee. It's just clumsy.
While all this is happening, we get a really sad side story. Duan Zheng lets Fu Jun go and even gives him money for a fine. Fu Jun, too proud to take it, goes back to his delivery job. Then, he has a sudden heart attack and dies right there on the road. Duan Zheng is wrecked. He feels completely responsible for the guy's death.
Hostages and Hallucinogens
Back at the wedding, Mo Yuanzhi is working the room with An Lan, which makes his wife, Yu Shiya, visibly jealous. Han Yufei is also there, brushing off some woman hitting on him while Tang Xin watches his every move.
The ceremony itself goes fine. But afterward, people start moving. Yu Shiya gets up and leaves her seat. Ding Qi immediately tells his partner, Yu Peishan, to follow her. Then Han Yufei and Tang Xin get up, too. Ding Qi sends more cops to tail them.
The cake comes out, but the bride, Zhao Zixin, is nowhere to be found. Then someone screams. A man is holding Zhao Zixin hostage with a knife. Total chaos. Ding Qi tells his guy Da Kai to protect Mo Yuanzhi while he deals with the crisis. He waits for an opening, and when the kidnapper gets distracted, Ding Qi shoots and injures him. The immediate threat is over, but he's left wondering if this whole mess was Squid's design. Looking on from a distance are Yu Shiya, Han Yufei, and Tang Xin, just watching it all unfold.
The Hunt for Squid
After the chaos, Han Yufei approaches Ding Qi. He figured out Ding Qi is a cop, not a bodyguard. He wants to know who killed his father. Ding Qi promises he'll find out.
The cops check on the kidnapper. The guy is totally out of it. Ding Qi finds a small "stamp" on his neck. It's LSD, a powerful hallucinogen that can be absorbed through the skin. This wasn't a simple kidnapping. This was orchestrated.
A Face for the Ghost
This is where Ding Qi gets his first real break. He goes to the security room to check the tapes. At 11:40, he sees a man with curly hair and a hat talking to the kidnapper. Ding Qi has a flash of memory. He saw a man just like that right before Tang Shaorong's accident. He's convinced this is Squid.
He keeps watching the footage. He tracks the man's every move through the wedding venue. And then he gets it. A clear shot of the man's face. He snaps a picture and runs it through the police database. Just as the clock is about to strike twelve, he gets a hit. He has a name.
The Third Loop Kicks Off
Ding Qi wakes up back in his office. It's a new day, a new loop. He knows things the others don't. Fu Jun is alive. An Lan's mother opens her eyes in the hospital. And in her lab, An Lan makes a breakthrough. One of her lab mice has regained the ability to move.
A New Game Plan
Ding Qi doesn't waste a second. He prints out the photo of the man in the hat. His name is Ye Kun. He calls Duan Zheng and tells him to get his team ready for early deployment. He briefs his own squad, telling them to find Ye Kun, who seems to have vanished off the map. His last known address was demolished.
He also reassigns surveillance. Fang Lu is on Tang Xin. Yu Peishan is on Yu Shiya. Gu Song is on Han Yufei. He's not letting any of them out of his sight.
Mo Yuanzhi Breaks the Pattern
Here's where things get weird. Ding Qi goes to Mo Yuanzhi's house, but he's not in his gym like he always is. Yu Shiya says he's still asleep. This is a huge change in the routine. It means something is different in this loop.
Ding Qi has Yu Peishan pull Mo Yuanzhi's call logs. She also drops a bombshell. She planted a tracker on Mo's car at 2 AM, and the engine was still warm. Mo Yuanzhi went out in the middle of the night.
Yu Peishan reports that the person he contacted most was An Lan. And An Lan was the one who reached out first. Ding Qi asks his team where Squid would most likely attack Mo Yuanzhi. Yu Peishan figures it would be at his upcoming university lecture. Killing him there would be the biggest possible humiliation for his company, Mo Ma Bio. The episode ends with Ding Qi escorting Mo Yuanzhi to the university, now knowing that An Lan is tangled up in this far more than he realized.
