My Deepest Dream Episode 22 Recap
> My Deepest Dream Recap
Police surrounded Chen Xingjian, who defiantly declared he would take everyone down with him. Captain Zhao shot Chen Xingjian in the wrist, causing the potassium cyanide to fall. Officers immediately apprehended him. As Xu Jingmiao was being prepared for transfer to the hospital, she urgently called Tan Jiao over. She revealed that Chen Xingjian was not working alone; there was another perpetrator.
Xu Jingmiao, in her semi-conscious state, recalled hearing the other person's frightening voice during a loud argument, saying Chen Xingjian's mission was complete and that he would handle Tan Jiao himself. Before Tan Jiao could press for more details about the accomplice, Xu Jingmiao lost consciousness, and Tan Jiao unexpectedly transmigrated again. Tan Jiao found herself back in the forest on the island. Seeing Chen Xingjian with a knife, she immediately confronted him, accusing him of being the killer.
Chen Xingjian attempted to throw the knife, but Wu Yu and the others arrived and restrained him. Tan Jiao then noticed a snake on the ground, realizing Chen Xingjian had been aiming for the snake, not her. Annoyed by the accusations, Chen Xingjian defiantly admitted to killing two girls and kidnapping them. Zhou Wei recognized Chen Xingjian, explaining to Wu Yu that they were once bandmates.
Chen Xingjian, however, retorted by calling Zhou Wei a "traitor" who left their band for money. Wu Yu pressed Chen Xingjian about the missing girls. Chen Xingjian, in a fit of anger, reiterated that he captured them for fun and challenged them to do something about it. Tan Jiao questioned if he had actually intended to kill the snake, to which Chen Xingjian retorted that he had intended to kill her and merely hit the snake by accident.
Shortly after, Chen Ruying returned. As everyone attempted to find a way off the island, a discussion arose regarding the passage of time. Chen Ruying claimed she and Zhu Jirui had only been gone for half an hour, but the others had been searching for them for half a day. They discovered strange flowers that bloomed and withered almost instantly. Wu Yu, after experimentation, concluded that the island harbored a powerful magnetic field that distorted the flow of time.
He explained that Zhu Jirui and Chen Ruying’s perceived half-hour was equivalent to half a day for the rest of them. This time anomaly also accounted for the prolonged absence of any search and rescue teams. Panic set in as everyone worried about starvation. Chen Xingjian, claiming knowledge of where to find food, offered to lead them, but only if Tan Jiao would kiss him.
Infuriated, Tan Jiao held a dagger to his neck, warning him to show respect to her and her friends. Startled, Chen Xingjian quickly dismissed his demand as a joke and agreed to lead them. Wu Yu, understanding Tan Jiao's trauma, embraced her reassuringly. Chen Xingjian led the group to a cave, stating it felt like his own home and that they would never find anything without him.
Wu Yu and Tan Jiao were skeptical, noticing that this Chen Xingjian's demeanor was vastly different from the ruthless and meticulous one they knew from the future; this version was easily intimidated. Tan Jiao pondered what could cause such a drastic transformation in a person. Recalling Xu Jingmiao's revelation, Wu Yu suggested that the mastermind was someone else, prompting Tan Jiao to conclude that the future Chen Xingjian might merely be a "puppet" with a hidden orchestrator.
Elsewhere, Yan Yuan stayed with Zhu Jirui, performing magic tricks to lift her spirits. While looking at a family photo in her phone case, Yan Yuan caught sight of it. Upon seeing Zhu Fengxian in the picture, his expression changed dramatically, and he excused himself to check inventory. Meanwhile, Wu Yu and Tan Jiao inquired about Chen Xingjian from Zhou Wei.
Zhou Wei described Chen Xingjian as a good person, despite his occasional harsh words, and deeply passionate about music, even more talented than himself. Zhou Wei speculated that Chen Xingjian's earlier attack on Tan Jiao must have been a misunderstanding. Wu Yu approached Chen Xingjian, proposing a trade of one question for one answer. Wu Yu first asked if Chen Xingjian was alone when he woke up. Chen Xingjian confirmed he was, in that very cave.
It was then Chen Xingjian's turn to ask why Tan Jiao wanted to kill him so badly when he had saved her. Tan Jiao responded that it was because he had taken away the person most important to her. Chen Xingjian chuckled, misinterpreting her words to mean Wu Yu, and quickly clarified that he preferred women. Wu Yu pressed him further, asking why he, unlike the others, woke up in a cave instead of on the beach.
Chen Xingjian then clarified that he had woken up in a different cave, one "full of crystals," before jokingly attributing his presence there to "sleepwalking." This escalated an argument between him and Zhou Wei. Chen Xingjian disparaged Zhou Wei's music as "repetitive," and their heated exchange quickly turned physical. As Wu Yu tried to intervene, the cave began to collapse. Falling rocks separated Tan Jiao and Chen Xingjian from the others, trapping them in a different section.
Outside the collapsed section, the survivors were distraught. One of the men instructed Yan Yuan to stay and care for the women and manage the supplies, while he and Zhou Wei entered the unstable cave for rescue. Wu Yu, also separated from Tan Jiao, desperately searched for another path to reach her. Inside, Chen Xingjian, having shielded Tan Jiao from falling debris, lay unconscious and injured. Wu Yu eventually found Tan Jiao, relieved to see her unharmed.
Tan Jiao explained that Chen Xingjian had protected her, knocking himself out in the process. She confessed her deep internal conflict, struggling to reconcile this Chen Xingjian, who had now saved her twice, with the ruthless figure from the other timeline who had killed her best friend Zhuang Yu, Wu Yu's sister, and many other innocent girls. Wu Yu observed that Chen Xingjian's actions on the island seemed genuine, as he couldn't have orchestrated every unforeseen event.
Tan Jiao admitted she had bandaged Chen Xingjian's wound, feeling a profound uneasiness about helping someone destined to become a heinous murderer. She voiced her fear that they were implicitly condoning his future crimes. Suddenly, Chen Xingjian regained consciousness and asked, "So, is everything you said just now real?"
