Time Raiders Episode 17 Recap

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> Time Raiders Recap

After temporarily fending off the Forbidden Woman and pinning the sea monkeys in a cave, Wu Xie and Pangzi rested briefly. Pangzi complained that his back was still itching. Wu Xie asked about his condition, to which Pangzi replied his entire back felt numb, unsure if it was from pain, soreness, or itching. Zhang Qiling informed them that Pangzi had been poisoned.

Pangzi, terrified, worried if he would mutate into a sea monkey from the Forbidden Woman's venom, a possibility Zhang Qiling couldn't confirm. This made Pangzi even more anxious to escape and seek medical treatment. Pangzi urged Zhang Qiling to move quickly, but Zhang Qiling was fixated on something ahead. He then declared that they had found the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds. Pangzi and Wu Xie, having heard tales of this legendary place, gazed at the sight before them.

The grand, gray structure appeared incredibly magnificent upon closer inspection, revealing pavilions, elaborate gardens, and palaces, each exquisitely crafted with intricate designs and beautiful murals. Overwhelmed by the splendor, Pangzi called it "ancient LEGO architecture." He wondered if the real palace was actually in the sky and joked that Wu Xie was corrupting Xiaoge by making him more humorous.

Zhang Qiling then directed their attention to the center of the structure, where they found an ancient figure resembling a mummified corpse or a statue. Zhang Qiling identified it as Wang Zanghai, renowned for his ingenious mechanisms and secret passages. Pangzi remarked that Wang Zanghai was like a "zookeeper of monsters," constantly encountering sea monkeys, the Forbidden Woman, and white-haired creatures.

Wu Xie deduced from the murals that Wang Zanghai had poured immense effort into constructing this palace, only for it and its builders to be buried by an avalanche. Unwilling to let his masterpiece disappear without a trace, Wang Zanghai created numerous shadow murals, which displayed different narratives from various angles of light, to document the events.

These murals depicted the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds as it was just after completion, nestled on a high mountain peak like the Three Saints Snow Mountain, shrouded in clouds. Another mural showed a high-ranking northern noble, identified as the palace's master, surrounded by an entourage of nearly all women, leading Pangzi to joke if it was a "women's kingdom."

The murals also depicted a plank path being burned, which Wu Xie surmised was to prevent outsiders from damaging the palace. Ultimately, the murals revealed that the fire caused an avalanche, burying the entire palace and its procession, making it a legend unseen by the world.

Wu Xie concluded that Wang Zanghai, despite his love for showing off, was forced to keep his grandest work secret by a powerful patron, but still desired for future generations to discover and appreciate it through these hidden records. As Wu Xie finished his explanation, the lights in the chamber dimmed, and Zhang Qiling vanished. After searching frantically, Pangzi found Zhang Qiling standing silently before a mirror, where Zhang Qiling revealed a hidden hole behind it.

With a collective effort, they pushed the mirror aside, exposing a deep cavern. Zhang Qiling stated he had been there before, recalling how he and his former teammates were drugged and lost all consciousness in that very spot years ago. He expressed his intention to enter again to uncover the truth and resolve his long-standing amnesia.

However, Wu Xie tried to dissuade him, arguing that his Third Uncle likely lacked the ability to erase memories and worrying about Zhang Qiling losing his memory once more. Zhang Qiling countered that while for them it was an adventure, for him it was an unresolved personal anguish, compelling him to pursue the truth, even if it meant risking further memory loss.

Pangzi sided with Wu Xie, emphasizing that all secrets would become meaningless if they all suffocated inside due to the dwindling oxygen supply. Faced with this dilemma, Zhang Qiling then proposed a plan to escape by making a hole in the ceiling when the tide receded, assuring them the site itself would remain. Convinced by the urgency and Xiaoge’s high success rate prediction, Pangzi urged Zhang Qiling to follow this plan and find tools.

As Zhang Qiling pulled out a tool, Pangzi light-heartedly advised him not to disappear, strike poses, or show off unnecessarily. Ignoring the plan to find tools, Wu Xie, still seeking answers about his Third Uncle and past events, impulsively ran into the dark hole. Zhang Qiling quickly followed, and Pangzi, carrying the disoriented A Ning, reluctantly trailed behind them, complaining about the sinister nature of the place.

Inside the dark, fog-filled passage illuminated by a red light, Wu Xie began to hallucinate, seeing his Third Uncle and attempting to reach out to him. Pangzi, also experiencing hallucinations and struggling with the weight of A Ning, was startled by the bizarre apparitions. He asked if A Ning was possessed, but Zhang Qiling suggested she might be "triggered by something."

Pangzi, still annoyed, then saw a giant coral tree adorned with numerous hexagonal bells—the same type of object that caused hallucinations, which they had encountered in the King of Lu's kiln. Wu Xie realized Wang Zanghai might have acquired these bells during an official mission, or replicated them.

Pangzi speculated that Wang Zanghai, an Imperial Astronomy Bureau official skilled in fengshui and imperial tomb construction, might have visited King Lu’s kiln while on duty as he was also known for catching tomb raiders. The hallucinations intensified, and Wu Xie lunged towards his perceived Third Uncle, only to be pulled back by Pangzi and Zhang Qiling. Returning to the main chamber of the Heavenly Palace, they discovered their oxygen was critically low, with only twenty minutes remaining.

Xiaoge proposed a daring solution: retrieving explosives from inside Wang Zanghai's animal-skin replica. They returned to the replica, which Pangzi described as a monster with a monkey-like tail, and, after a brief struggle where Wu Xie was briefly ensnared by the replica’s tail and Pangzi used a fishhook to retrieve the explosives, successfully extracted a sealed "Treasure Rotor" containing the explosives.

Just then, a partially recovered A Ning seized the opportunity, snatching an oxygen tank and Wu Xie's grandfather's notebook before making an escape. Wu Xie, distraught, momentarily considered chasing her, but Pangzi reminded him of their dwindling time and the importance of their lives. Despite their predicament, Wu Xie, drawing on his architectural knowledge, assured them he could find the optimal blast point to prevent the dome from collapsing.

Zhang Qiling then took the explosives, climbed towards the ceiling, and tossed them at the planned spot. Wu Xie and Pangzi quickly took cover. The ensuing explosion partially succeeded, creating a leak in the ceiling, but it wasn't the clean exit they hoped for, leaving them in a precarious situation as water began to rush in.

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