Following Qin Zheng's kiss in their shared dream, Zetian suppresses her panic and chooses to reciprocate, calculating that she has more to gain by exploring his vulnerability than by resisting. He pulls her into a manifested version of his quarantine chamber, undresses her, and admits he has fantasized about her, frustrated by the glass divider that keeps them apart at night.

As Qin Zheng induces overwhelming pleasure in her through their psychic link, Zetian struggles against her own responses while reminding herself that nothing in the dream is real and thus doesn't count. She plays into his desire, calling him shīfu to rile him further, hoping that his loosening control will let her glimpse his mind.

Her strategy works: memories from two centuries past spill into her, including scenes of his impoverished youth, revolutionary speeches, mass executions, and confrontations with people who accused him of betraying their ideals for personal glory. Among these memories, she catches a recent one featuring Yizhi.

Zetian rewinds and witnesses Yizhi and Sima Yi proposing to Qin Zheng a covert procedure: secretly extracting her eggs under anesthesia, fertilizing them with his sperm, and implanting the embryos in a surrogate, all without her knowledge. Yizhi argues she is too young to carry a pregnancy and that the equipment can be built into her quarantine chamber.

Horrified, Zetian wrenches herself awake to find Qin Zheng stirring across the glass and ominous medical equipment newly installed beside her bed, confirming the betrayal is already in motion.