Qin Zheng wakes in a medical bed in Huaxia, now dependent on a machine that oxygenates his blood since he no longer has a heartbeat. He recalls maintaining consciousness deliberately during the return journey, with two tribute girls assigned to wake him if his pulse vanished for more than five seconds.

Those tribute girls, after the Heavenly Court's destruction, allied with foreign tributes to overpower the false gods aboard an evacuation ship and surrendered the Hive Queen to Qin Zheng, trusting him as their ruler. He landed the Hive Queen in Chang'an with the foreign tributes and divine prisoners, publicly declaring to gathered cameras that the gods were merely human subjugators and that he had destroyed the Heavenly Court before demanding a heart surgeon.

Reflecting on Zetian's betrayal, Qin Zheng oscillates between fury and possessiveness. He recalls her unconscious tenderness toward him and concludes she is in denial about her true feelings. He resolves not to discard the dragon half-pendant he wears, vowing instead to find her, having trained himself to sense her spirit signature across great distances just as she trained to sense his.

Confident she will return to Huaxia, he summons Secretary Shangguan and Minister Gao, intending to hold her female allies hostage to force her return. He concludes ominously that his son cannot grow up without a mother.