Guardian Episode 7 Recap
> Guardian Recap
On his way home, Shen Wei is accosted by two men who demand his jade and money. He calmly complies, but just then, Zhao Yunlan appears, and Shen Wei quickly adopts a timid, vulnerable stance. Zhao Yunlan easily dispatches the two thugs, sustaining a minor wrist injury in the process. He follows Shen Wei back to his apartment to have the injury dressed.
During their conversation, Zhao Yunlan offers Shen Wei a consulting position with his unit, hoping to leverage his knowledge of Subterraneans. Shen Wei politely declines, citing a busy teaching schedule, but assures Zhao Yunlan he will provide any information he can. As Zhao Yunlan leaves, Shen Wei gives him some liniment for his wrist. Soon after, the two defeated thugs are attacked by an unseen entity, crying out in terror as they are frozen to death.
A week later, Zhao Yunlan's plans to celebrate a quiet period for the Special Investigation Unit are interrupted by a new case. The victims are the same two thugs, found frozen solid despite the warm weather. Zhao Yunlan confirms their identities and that the time of death matches their encounter. Detectors reveal traces of dark energy at the crime scene. Zhao Yunlan contacts Professor Shen Wei, asking about Subterraneans with the ability to control ice.
Shen Wei, while helpful, maintains his boundaries, explaining he cannot compromise his principles by officially joining the SIU, but assures Zhao Yunlan he would never hide information concerning the safety of his acquaintances. Da Qing then suggests the possibility of "Monster Sarcoma," grotesque, hunchbacked creatures who once terrorized Jiu County before the local Black Robed Envoy drove them into a forbidden area. Before they can investigate further, Zhao Yunlan receives a call that a strange suspect has been apprehended.
At the SIU, Chu Shuzhi and Lin Jing attempt to interrogate the suspect, who can only scream about "a monster." Lin Jing recognizes that the victims' frozen deaths perfectly match Chapter 29 of "August 8 Horror Story," a popular online novel by a new author named Lai Su. He explains to Zhao Yunlan that Lai Su’s stories, though often absurd, are written with such detail they feel incredibly real.
As the head of Lai Su's fan club, Lin Jing reveals a disturbing trend: cases described in the novel seem to be occurring in real life. He cites a frosted sailor's body from Chapter 1 and a dancer killed in a hotel from Chapter 19, both of which coincided with real incidents. The latest chapter, describing a punk frozen to death, now matches their current case.
Lai Su, who typically updates every three days, has been silent for five, drawing the ire of his fans. Zhao Yunlan orders Lin Jing to use the novel’s IP address to locate Lai Su, reminding him that his bonus is on the line. The entire SIU converges on Lai Su’s address. They knock, but there's no answer. Lin Jing picks the lock, and inside, Da Qing detects the fresh scent of a human.
Chu notices the absence of a writing desk, suspecting a hidden workspace. After a brief search, the team discovers a secret passage and finds Lai Su huddled inside, terrified. Lai Su begs for help, claiming someone has been imitating his novel to commit murders and frame him. He confesses that he was a nobody until a "secret visitor" messaged him, encouraging him to write horror stories and promising fame and money.
Consumed by his newfound success, Lai Su continued writing even after realizing his stories were being mimicked by a real killer. Lin Jing, his idol shattered, furiously denounces Lai Su, calling him a "rat hiding in a sewer" who doesn't deserve to be a writer for knowingly continuing despite the deadly consequences. To allow Lin Jing to calm down, Zhao Yunlan leaves Chu and Da Qing to guard Lai Su.
Overwhelmed by remorse, Lai Su uses his computer to update his novel, prematurely ending the story by killing off his protagonist, the murderer. Informed of the update, Zhao Yunlan rushes back, but it is too late. The moment Lai Su publishes the chapter, a Subterranean entity emerges from his computer screen. While it doesn't physically harm Lai Su, the sheer terror causes him to die of cardiac arrest.
This demise perfectly mirrors the death he had just written for his fictional killer. The Subterranean then evades Chu's restraining puppet strings and escapes. The medical report confirms Lai Su was "scared to death." Zhao Yunlan learns that the killer in Lai Su's novel also died after being scared by his own reflection.
Later, Zhao Yunlan discusses the case with Shen Wei, who theorizes that Lai Su possessed dormant Subterranean genes, granting him psychic power that enabled self-hypnosis through his writing. He explains that Lai Su essentially became the very killer he wrote about. In his desperate attempt to end the story by "killing" the fictional murderer, the entity he created turned on him.
Shen Wei laments that Lai Su's desire and greed, combined with his powers, led to his complete immersion and self-destruction, musing that just as authors say their characters take on a life of their own, perhaps everyone is merely a character in someone else's story.
