Psych-Hunter Episode 24 Recap
> Psych-Hunter Recap
The next morning, those destined for the Palace of Bliss gathered at The Earthly Inn. Chief Yan hosted a grand "feast," insisting everyone partake to reflect the Palace of Bliss's principle of "all beings are equal" and their future "paradise."
When Qin Yiheng expressed his reluctance to eat a hearty breakfast, explaining he was not accustomed to such heavy food early in the morning, Jiang Shuo interjected, stating Qin Yiheng's habits as a doctor and his fastidiousness prevented him from eating. Jiang Shuo then offered to eat on his behalf. However, Chief Yan offered Qin Yiheng a lighter vegetable dish instead. Soon after, Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng, along with everyone else around them, felt weak and collapsed.
They woke up on Hunchback Liu's boat. Hunchback Liu, who daily ferried people to the Palace of Bliss, told them they were headed to the Palace of Bliss. He took them to a small cottage by the river, which concealed a secret passage. Hunchback Liu led them into this hidden entrance, welcoming them to the "Palace of Bliss."
Inside the secret passage, Jiang Shuo noticed drawings on the walls, depicting people with six fingers, leading him to believe this was the den of the Yan Clan. As they entered a room where people sat in a circle, Qin Yiheng immediately covered his nose and mouth with a cloth, having anticipated gas poisoning after discovering missing pages on the topic in Su Min's medical books. He also quickly intervened to prevent Jiang Shuo from being affected by the gas.
Unable to wake the unconscious individuals, who were deeply poisoned, Qin Yiheng instructed Jiang Shuo to use his psych-hunting ability to enter their inner worlds. Inside a beggar's psych, they witnessed his fantasies of indulging in food, drink, and women, and another man’s delusion of passing the imperial examination. Qin Yiheng explained that these were the beggar's projections of desires gleaned from others' conversations at the inn.
He concluded that the Palace of Bliss was a place designed to create illusions, allowing people to experience their deepest, unfulfilled wishes through fantasies, all maintained by drugs. Jiang Shuo wondered if they should awaken these people from their blissful but false realities, but Qin Yiheng asserted that it would be crueler not to, as prolonged drug use would jeopardize their health and lives. Their priority became finding the drug-emitting mechanism.
Leaving the beggar's psych, Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng blew out a burning lamp, which caused the hallucinating individuals to writhe in distress, confirming the lamp was part of the drug-delivery mechanism. Following a mysterious flying bug, they navigated corridors filled with more people, many of whom Qin Yiheng recognized as influential figures from Changshanzhou who had disappeared long ago, now rendered extremely weak and wearing red strings.
Jiang Shuo speculated that the bodies found in the mass grave behind the village likely suffered the same fate. Meanwhile, Yuan Muqing awoke and entered the very room Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng had just left. Seeing the incapacitated people, she quickly went to seek help. Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng followed the bug to a drug-making room, where they found Qin Yiheng's senior, Liu Qing, tied up.
Liu Qing explained she was kidnapped by Madam Mei and Chief Yan after they witnessed her treating a drug addict. They forced her to make potent, addictive drugs that were then added to the lamps, turning people into addicts and earning them vast sums. Overwhelmed by guilt, Liu Qing recounted a past escape attempt during which she got lost in the hills but saw a light. Pursued by Chief Yan, she gestured for help to avoid endangering others.
This confirmed Yuan Muqing's earlier sighting of a woman in white wearing a red string. Expressing concern for Yuan Muqing, Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng informed Liu Qing that Su Min had also gone missing while searching for her. Qin Yiheng, though trusting Su Min, emphasized that finding the culprits was paramount to ensure Yuan Muqing's safety and rescue everyone.
Liu Qing revealed that after her failed escape, Chief Yan had personally taken over collecting the drugs for the lamps, indicating he no longer trusted her. Qin Yiheng concluded they should ambush Chief Yan at the lamp-refilling station. Liu Qing agreed to guide them. While searching for help, Yuan Muqing encountered Chief Yan. Sensing danger, she was nonetheless captured and bound in a room where she found Su Min also restrained.
Chief Yan, gloating, revealed that the Palace of Bliss was his "goldmine," dismissing Yuan Muqing's accusations of madness. Taking advantage of the Chief's departure, Su Min explained to Yuan Muqing that he had spent years undercover as a farmer, even digging a tunnel, all to find his fiancée, Liu Qing.
He apologized for involving her, stating he kept his true purpose secret because she was a police officer, and he couldn't bear to save Liu Qing only to see her arrested for her involvement in the drug operation. Meanwhile, Madam Mei met with Chief Yan, expressing concern about the extinguished lamps and the missing Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng.
Chief Yan, confident that the two men couldn't escape the Palace of Bliss, dismissed her worries and took the drugs to refill the lamps himself, instructing Madam Mei to guard Yuan Muqing and Su Min. Madam Mei arrived at the river cottage, where she encountered Jiang Shuo, Qin Yiheng, and Liu Qing, who had recently escaped from the Palace of Bliss. A confrontation ensued, during which Jiang Shuo used his psych-hunting ability to hypnotize Madam Mei.
Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng then tied her up in the drug-making room. Under interrogation, Madam Mei revealed that a masked man had informed her and Chief Yan about "Yan Clan treasures," which they interpreted as the Daan herb. Madam Mei then turned the tables, revealing she held Yuan Muqing and Su Min captive, mocking Su Min for his "death wish" in digging a tunnel to save Liu Qing. Liu Qing, desperate, pleaded with Madam Mei to release Su Min.
Qin Yiheng, before he and Jiang Shuo left the drug-making room, privately warned Liu Qing not to be swayed by Madam Mei's words. However, Madam Mei played on Liu Qing's fears of retribution for her role in the drug operation, suggesting that Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng would only care about Yuan Muqing's fate and abandon her and Su Min. She offered Liu Qing and Su Min freedom to "start over" if Liu Qing cooperated.
Succumbing to the manipulation and fearing for her future with Su Min, Liu Qing untied Madam Mei, then drugged Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng, and left the drug-making room with Madam Mei. Meanwhile, Chief Bai's police team arrived at Yan Village, finding Qin Yiheng's car and discovering a male body dead from poisoning. More disturbingly, forty to fifty bodies, also poisoned, were found behind the hills, greatly angering Chief Bai.
Officers were dispatched to interrogate villagers and keep alert for armed, possibly hostage-taking suspects. An officer then presented a map found at the inn, leading Chief Bai to interrogate Hunchback Liu, who initially feigned ignorance but eventually admitted his boat ferried people on a hidden river, which locals called the "Yin River" and led to the "Palace of Bliss." Chief Bai ordered Hunchback Liu to guide them there.
Madam Mei brought Liu Qing to the room where Su Min and Yuan Muqing were held. Su Min, overjoyed to see Liu Qing, immediately challenged Madam Mei, demanding to know where Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng were. Madam Mei, believing Liu Qing had switched sides, gloated that the two men were captured and posed no threat. As Madam Mei moved to harm Yuan Muqing, Liu Qing quickly intervened to protect her. Su Min, enraged, then tried to intervene himself.
Liu Qing then proposed that Yuan Muqing, along with the captured Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng, could be used to test her "new drugs," which she claimed would produce stronger hallucinations and greater addiction. Chief Yan and Madam Mei enthusiastically agreed, and they proceeded to the drug-making room for the demonstration. However, this entire scenario, including Liu Qing's apparent defection, was a carefully orchestrated trap by Jiang Shuo and Yuan Muqing.
Jiang Shuo and Qin Yiheng, never truly drugged, ambushed Chief Yan and Madam Mei in the drug-making room. A fierce battle ensued, resulting in Chief Yan's death. Su Min, sacrificing himself to protect Liu Qing, was fatally wounded.
In his dying moments, he expressed his happiness at finding Liu Qing again, reminding her of the red string he had given her—a symbol of their promise that he would always find her, no matter where she was, a poignant echo of their past. Meanwhile, outside the Palace of Bliss, Chief Bai and his team, led by Hunchback Liu, were rapidly closing in.
