The Boy Was Raised by a Ghost Mother

 

In the middle of the road, police officer Chia-Hao lays on the ground, bleeding and having flashbacks of his childhood. There's an image of a woman sitting in front of him looking quite blurry, but the other memories are fine. Chia-Hao explains that he's been able to see ghosts since he was a little kid, and he's been bullied a lot for it. This started half an hour ago. Chia-Hao and his companion Chieh are watching over a closed road. Chieh thinks Chia-Hao would have a better life and make more money if he used his abilities to be a medium instead of a cop, especially considering he keeps getting in trouble on the job, like the time he pushed a ghost out of a car's way.

 When Chieh gets off the road to relieve himself, Chia-Hao gets distracted and a car passes past him, so he rushes in his own vehicle to stop it. The driver, Hei-Gou, apologizes and explains he's in a hurry because he wants to reunite with his family after not seeing them in weeks, convincing Chia-Hao to let him go without paying a ticket. However on his way back, Chia-Hao notices the taillights are off and when he opens the trunk, he finds a wallet covered in blood. Before he can do anything about it, tough, Hei-Gou appears next to him and hits him, making him fall to the ground. Chieh shows up and tries to arrest the man, but Hei-Gou steals his gun and kills him.

 He also shoots Chia-Hao on the shoulder, but when he's about to fire again to finish him, the ghost of his victim Ya-Hui shows up to slow him down, giving Chia-Hao the chance to take out his own gun and shoot Hei-Gou, taking us back to the beginning of the story. The last thing Chia-Hao remembers before passing out is the ghost pointing at the bloody wallet. A few days later, Chia-Hao is congratulated by his superiors for having caught a highly wanted criminal. However, the higher-ups aren't happy with the part of the statement that says he was helped by a ghost and they think Chia-Ha's delusions are to be blamed for Chieh's death. Not wanting to lie about it, Chia-Hao refuses to take out that part of the story and gets fired. Chia-Hao doesn't know what to do with his life now.

 Luckily for him, he's approached by Mr. Chang, the head of a secret police unit that is accessed through an elevator that everyone believes to be broken. Mr. Chang saw Chia-Hao that time he pushed a ghost out of a car's way and is impressed by the boy's respect towards the ghost that saved him, so he has the perfect work for him. After Mr. Chang presses two elevator buttons to access a secret floor, Chia-Hao arrives at the Ninth Precinct, a special unit in charge of dealing with ghosts that still wander the Earth after dying. Chia-Hao is confused because he doesn't know how he could help the ghosts when he can see them but not hear them, but Mr. Chang tells him he'll learn to hear them when the time comes. At that moment, the ghost of Chieh shows up, and Chia-Hao apologizes to him, promising to burn a paper doll in his name before he watches the spirit move on to the afterlife.

Next, Chia-Hao meets Hsueh, an expert medium that allows spirits to possess her and often drinks a lot to deal with it. Their introduction is interrupted when a new mission comes in, so Mr. Chang shows Chia-Hao the tools of their trade. The peachwood umbrella has incantations on it to keep bad spirits away and protect good souls. The incense burner allows them to be understood by the ghosts, kind of like a telephone. And the guns don't use normal bullets here, they are loaded with sacred water that can dispel evil spirits - these must only be used with the unsalvageable ghosts. There aren't normal badges either, the symbol of the Ninth Precinct is a ring that Mr. Chang wears around his neck and Chia-Hao will have to work hard to earn his own. The first case is about a haunted home in the city. A young woman's radio keeps turning on by itself, and the cupboard door is often opening on its own too, letting candy fall to the floor. At night, she sees the spirit of a kid appearing around the house, and while sometimes she tries to blame it on bad dreams, she finally accepts it as truth when she wakes one morning and finds the kid holding her. After they hear her story, Mr. Chang and Chia-Hao ask the house residents to leave so they can do their investigation. Chia-Hao immediately reaches for the cupboard, and when he opens the umbrella, the ghost of the kid appears next to him. In order to communicate with him, Mr. Chang takes a piece of candy and puts it next to the incense, allowing him to talk to the boy and understand what he's going through. It turns out his parents didn't have the ritual done properly after the boy's death, and now the kid's soul is trapped here, longing for his mother's return.

 The ghost never intended to scare the lady, he's been longing for the warmth and attention of a mother. Mr. Chang promises the kid he'll see his mother again, then uses the umbrella to catch him inside like a Pokémon, this way they can take him to the office to help him move on. Meanwhile, at the Sun General Hospital, Dean Yu-Shu is practicing a sales speech about her rejuvenation treatment when her assistant interrupts her to inform her that Councilor Lin was critically injured in a car accident. Because it's very important to keep a good relationship with politicians, Yu-shu orders her assistant to give Lin her turn in the treatment. She also reminds him not to hire another useless thug like Hei-Gou again or he'll have to face the consequences. When Mr. Chang and Chia-Hao return to the office, Hsueh informs Chia-Hao that there's a female spirit following him yet refusing to show herself.

 Chia-Hao wonders if it's the spirit of the woman he helped wanting him to solve her case, but Mr. Chang forbids him from getting involved: catching criminals is the job of the normal police, the Ninth Precinct only deals with ghosts. Still haunted by the blurry memory of a woman, Chia-Hao decides to ignore Mr. Chang's orders and returns to the road where they caught Hei-Gou. He encounters Ya-Hui's ghost and, after lighting the incense, he thanks her for helping him and shows her he still has her wallet. With a nod, Ya-Hui confirms she wants help, and Chia-Hao accepts her case. A few moments later, Chia-Hao breaks into an apartment Ya-Hui has taken him to. Because he's distracted, he doesn't hear someone coming and is knocked out with a pan hitting his head. When Chia-Hao wakes up handcuffed to the chair, he meets the owner of the apartment, journalist Ju-Hsin. To prove his story, Chia-Hao shows her Ya-Hui's ID, then points at a box Ya-Hui was also pointing at.

 Inside, Ju-Hsin finds Ya-Hui's journal with a picture of them together. Now she believes that Chia-Hao can see Ya-Hui, so Ju-Hsin explains her friend has been missing for over a month and needs help finding out what happened, causing Chia-Hao to accept to team up with her. The next case for the Ninth Precinct is a house with weird noises and constant shaking of furniture. The old man that has been hearing all this is actually the ghost that is haunting the place - he isn't aware he's dead and the voices he's heard are the new residents of the house. Now that the cops are here, the old man approaches the shelves, as if needing something from them. Chia-Hao checks them out and finds a hidden compartment with a box inside containing various items that used to belong to the ghost's daughter, like a hair tie. They need to find the daughter to fulfill the old man's wish and help him move on.

At that moment, Hsueh is possessed and gets a vision of the countryside, revealing the daughter's location. When they get there, they find the area is crowded with ghosts of young girls wearing the same gown, so Chia-Hao uses the hair tie to find the daughter they're looking for. Then, he opens the umbrella to release the old man's ghost, thus he finally reunites with his loved one. More surprisingly, Ya-Hui's ghost is there as well, and her gown matches the others. Later, when the normal police come over and start digging, they find the bodies of all the ghosts, Ya-Hui included. The matching gowns clearly indicate they all were killed by the same person and Chia-Hao wants to find them, but Mr. Chang once again reminds him he mustn't get involved.

To prove his point, he shares the story of a Ninth Precinct officer that tried to get involved and got his wife killed in a car accident as result, which made him lose his relationship with his daughter. Back in the hospital, Yu-Shu is in a hidden room where she's treating Councilor Lin by putting Hei-Gou's body in a pool. She also orders her assistant to find another one, or she'll be using him next. Meanwhile, Chia-Hao gets a call from Ju-Hsin, who saw the news about Ya-Hui's body and has been reading her diary. It turns out Ya-Hui had been pregnant and Councilor Lin was the father. She had an appointment with Yu-Shu for an examination, but that's when Ya-Hui disappeared. Ju-Hsin did some digging and discovered all the victims had been to the Sun General Hospital, which explains the matching gowns. Ju-Hsin and Chia-Hao decide to pay Yu-Shu a visit, but Yu-Shu pretends to be innocent and not to understand what they're talking about when mentioning the victims' gowns.

When it comes to Ya-Hui, Yu-Shu does admit she did examine her as a favor to Councilor Lin, but that's it. Ju-Hsin is sure Yu-Shu knows something, but there's nothing they can do without a warrant, so they decide to leave. On their way out, Ju-Hsin sees there are security cameras around and gets an idea. She bribes the guard to let them access the camera footage and finds many interesting things that she copies on a pendrive: Councilor Lin is showing no scars from the accident, Ya-Hui came to the hospital and never left, and Hei-Gou came shortly after her. Yu-Shu is doing some research of her own as well: her assistant confirms that Ju-Hsin's date of birth fit the treatment's criteria perfectly. Considering her a worthy sacrifice, Yu-Shu summons an evil spirit that is sent to catch Ju-Hsin. Back to Chia-Hao, he accepts Ju-Hsin's invitation to come to her place to share a drink. While they're chatting, he spills some wine on his pants, so he rushes to the bathroom to wash them.

 At that moment, the lights go off and Yu-Shu's evil ghost appears. Chia-Hao quickly jumps into action, grabbing his gun but leaving his pants behind as he tries to deal with that blurry memory of his becoming more clear and showing the ghost of a woman. When he finds the ghost, Chia-Hao tries to shoot him, but the spirit moves too quickly and after a few spooks, it leaves because he knows he can't go against a cop. Suddenly, the apartment door opens and Mr. Chang shows up, not happy at seeing Chia-Hao in his underwear because Ju-Hsin is his daughter. Mr. Chang tries to question what's going on, but Ju-Hsin doesn't allow him to say anything: she doesn't understand why he had to show up now after years of not talking to her. Wanting some time alone, Ju-Hsin kicks both men out. When they reach the streets, Mr. Chang refuses to hear Chia-Hao's explanation and shoots him with some sacred water bullets. Later at the office, Mr. Chang hits Chia-Hao for investigating against his wishes and dragging his daughter into it.

 After Mr. Chang leaves, Chia-Hao wonders why they're police officers if they can't bring justice. Hsueh explains that the cop from the story that lost his wife is Mr. Chang himself, so he wants to protect his officers from making the same mistakes he made. Meanwhile, Mr. Chang calls Ju-Hsin to try to get her to drop the case, but Ju-Hsin is still angry with him for having left after her mom died. At that moment, Hsueh gets possessed and writes "disaster" on a sheet of paper while Ju-Hsin notices something curious on the security footage: Yu-Shu's shadow has horns. Before she can do anything about it, Yu-Shu's assistant shows up with two thugs and kidnaps Ju-Hsin.

 Mr. Chang quickly realizes something is wrong on the phone and goes to his daughter's apartment, only to find all the clues she's been gathering and the paper dolls he had gifted her years ago. Deciding to break his own rules, Mr. Chang goes to the hospital and, after beating up the guards, confronts Yu-Shu. He asks to have her daughter back in exchange for the evidence she's gathered, but Yu-Shu laughs as she reveals her black eyes and shows Mr. Chang that Ju-Hsin will be the next person to be sacrificed. Then, she uses her black magic to capture Mr. Chang in order to send him to the roof, promising to make it look like he jumped of his own accord.

 The police find the body a few hours later and the incident appears all over the news, it seems Yu-Su has faked some papers and now everyone believes Mr. Chang had been going to the hospital for months for mental problems. Everyone in the Ninth Precinct is grieving, but the one that got hit the hardest is Hsueh, who shares her story with Chia-Hao. As a kid, she had two dads: her biological father, who died when she was three, and then the man that adopted and liked to beat her up. One day, she got tired of it and ran away, only to pass out in the middle of the road. She woke up later at a temple where she lived until she turned eighteen and Mr. Chang recruited her for the Ninth Precinct - that's also when she learned Mr. Chang had been the one that found her and took her to the temple in the first place. In return, Chia-Hao shares his own story. He had two mothers because a fortune-teller told his dad that he would have two wives, so he married Chia-Hao's ghost mother to fulfill the prophecy. Chia-Hao was the only one that could see her, but he still loved her with all his heart, and the blurry memory is of her watching over him when he was sick.

 Unfortunately, Chia-Hao got bullied by other kids for his powers, and when he couldn't take it anymore, he started to ignore his ghost mother until she disappeared. Since then, he can't hear ghosts anymore. This is why Chi-Hao wants to find justice for the ghosts he encounters nowadays. Hsueh finally understands what's like to want to help the ghosts, deciding to ignore the rules and team up with him to bring down Yu-Shu. They start by ambushing the assistant at the hospital parking lot and kidnapping him to bring him to the office. The assistant refuses to talk, thinking Chia-Hao doesn't have the guts to shoot him, but Hsueh has changed the bullets in the gun and Chia-Hao ends up accidentally shooting the man on his shoulder. Hsueh then grabs the gun and puts it in the assistant's mouth, which prompts him to talk. Yu-Shu has been using people that were born on the same date to keep herself and her politician friends forever young and prolong their lives. The treatment needs a ritual and a sacrifice, but the most important thing is the medium. Hsueh and Chia-Hao armed themselves to the teeth, and Chia-Hao hangs one of Mr. Chang's paper dolls around his neck as a good luck amulet.

 Then they drive to the hospital, where they easily beat up the guards before finding the secret room with the altar holding an unconscious Ju-Hsin. Yu-Shu hears them arrive and interrupts her prayers for the devil to begin shooting at them, so Chia-Hao hides behind a statue and Hsueh goes behind a door that accidentally locks behind her. Hsueh now finds herself surrounded by ghosts that she proceeds to fight with her sacred weapons. It's a quick, clean fight, but after all the ghosts are exorcised, one more appears: it's Hsueh's abusive dad. Scared, Hsueh steps back and closes her eyes to concentrate, reminding herself she's not a kid anymore. Meanwhile, Chia-Hao and Yu-Shu continue to fire at each other, but Chia-Hao's bullets never land because Yu-Shu has a magic shield around her. When Yu-Shu throws Mr. Chang's ring at him, taunting him, Chia-Hao gets an idea. He puts down his guns and approaches Yu-Shu with his hands up, pretending to surrender.

Once he's close enough, he spits at her the sacred water bullets he's been holding in his mouth at the same time Hsueh takes a quick sip of her drink and spits at her father's ghost to destroy him for good. Yu-Shu pushes Chia-Hao back by shooting his shoulder, but it's already too late: her body is now revealing its real age. As Hsueh predicted, the medium is the most important part of the ritual, so the dark energies around Ju-Hsin disappear. Yu-Shu tries to shoot Chia-Hao again with the little energy she has left, but then, Mr. Chang's ghost appears to distract her, and Yu-Shu finally drops dead. He points out that this is the second time he's saved Chia-Hao's life, because it was his amulet that guided the bullet to his shoulder.

 There's also a very special change happening: Chia-Hao can finally hear ghosts again. While Hsueh finally gets the door open, Mr. Chang takes out Ju-Hsin from the ritual pool and talks to her until she wakes up. Sadly though, she doesn't have the ability to see her dad. A few days later, Ju-Hsin holds a funeral for her father, and Chia-Hao attends while wearing Mr. Chang's ring around his neck. Seeing his daughter bring the paper dolls she held so dear allows Mr. Chang to move on in peace. Sometime later, Chia-Hao goes to his old house to revisit his childhood memories, which allows him to finally see his ghost mother again. The two of them reconcile, and the lady finally gets to move on as well.

 Politicians appear on news shows denying ghosts are real and any connection to the mysterious Yu-Shu case. While the officers are watching this report at the precinct, Hsueh suddenly gets possessed and floats up in the air, announcing with a deep voice and white eyes that the end has come. Then, she falls to the floor, and the cracks forming around her form a pair of wings.

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USA Soldiers Unknowingly Open a Russian Bunker

 

In 2017, the US Air Force dropped its most  powerful non-nuclear bomb in a remote Afghan   province. Officially it was said they attacked a  key insurgent stronghold in the area, but there   were rumors of something else happening prior  to the bombing. This is the real story. Pilots   Kate and Johnson from the Royal Air Force are  flying over Afghanistan on their way home when   they're suddenly attacked by an insurgent  group and their planes get hit. Both pilots   eject their seats and when they hit the ground,  Kate dreams of her mother and son while holding   tightly her locket with a picture of them.  Seconds later, Kate is woken up by Johnson,   who asks her to play dead while he turns to fire  at the insurgents. Unfortunately he's quickly   killed, so when a man comes closer to check on  Kate, she takes out her own gun, kills the guy,   and uses him as a shield to kill the others.

Then  she says goodbye to Johnson before gathering as   many weapons as possible and searching for a  place to hide. She also tries to contact her   base through the radio, to no avail. One of the  insurgents is actually alive and calls for backup,   so soon Kate sees trucks coming after her and  decides to enter a bunker area with a sign in   Russian that she can't read. The doors have chains  on them and before Kate can attempt to open them,   the insurgents arrive and open fire, thus she  must hide to shoot back. After a few bullets are   exchanged, one of the insurgents throws a missile  that hits the doors and opens them, giving Kate   the chance to sneak inside.

The insurgents are  coming after her but the elevator isn't working,   thus Kate must carefully go down a set of stairs  to reach an area deep underground. Here she finds   more signs in Russian and a bunch of beds, but  also a row of gas masks and the body of what   appears to be a scientist. On a desk, there are  weird notes in Russian and a pendrive that Kate   decides to take with her. The insurgents also come  down and find everyday things like a mess hall,   which indicates that the people that used to be  here left in a hurry. Deeper into the bunker, they   also find a body on a bed. Eventually they find  Kate, who runs to hide while the insurgents turn   on the lights, revealing a series of pods with  humanoid shapes inside them. Kate takes advantage   of their distraction to knock a man out and open  fire with his weapon. As the insurgents fire back,   one of the pods breaks and releases one of those  humanoids onto the ground.

 Then Kate notices the   drains and escapes through there, prompting all  the insurgents to follow her except for one that   stays to check on the weird creature. This weird  monster isn't as unconscious as it seems and when   the guy turns around, the creature kills him.  Another insurgent finds Kate and makes her stop   while his friend goes back to find the missing  man, only to find the creature feeding on the   poor guy. Kate gets rid of her enemy by throwing a  flare at him, then she begins climbing the stairs   as she shoots anyone that tries to get in the  way. One of the men grabs her ankle and Kate can't   shake him off, but suddenly the monster shows  up and kills the guy, allowing a terrified Kate   to run away. As soon as she reaches the doors, the  monster catches up and hurts her abdomen, but Kate   slips away just in time to push the monster back  with a few bullets and close the door with the   chains.

 Outside the bunker, there's an insurgent  named Kabir waiting for his team, but as soon as   he hears the monster, he runs away. Kate begins  walking through the desert, only stopping to apply   some medicine for the pain. When she reaches  the road, she's hit by an American army truck,   which happens to be looking for the missing pilots  after seeing the crash site. Corporal Jade checks   Kate to be sure she's telling the truth about her  identity and steals her locket, then Sargeant Hook   promises they'll take care of her. The group  makes it back to the base in the morning, and   Kate meets with Major Finch, the man in charge. He  doesn't believe Kate's story even if Hook vouches   for her but he does take the pendrive. After  Kate leaves the tent, Finch calls his superiors   to report unusual activity in the area, he also  keeps hesitating on opening a letter. While the   other soldiers bring Kabir in for interrogation,  Kate approaches Jade to get her locket back. Jade   denies having it and triggers a fight that doesn't  stop until Hook orders Jade to return the locket. 

  Then, Hook explains this team is made of outcasts:  Jade is a kleptomaniac, doctor Wilks used to be   an addict, and Finch lost a better position  because he took the heat for a mistake that   Hook made. Next, Kate goes to see Wilks to get  her wound checked, and Wilks admits it doesn't   look like a bullet did it. Kabir's in that tent  as well but when Kate asks him to back her story,   he doesn't answer, apparently he can't understand  her. The other soldiers wonder how there could   be a bunker out there that doesn't appear on  satellite images, so Kate explains it's very   hidden and proceeds to use her photographic memory  to write the signs she saw in Russian. Suddenly,   Kabir reveals he does speak English and Russian  too, and explains the sign says "don't enter".

   He also finally confirms Kate's story. The other  soldiers are confused because if the bunker is   Soviet, then it must be around thirty years  old, and nobody can survive down there without   new supplies for that long. Those pods must keep  the creatures in some kind of stasis. Back in the   bunker, another creature breaks its pod and begins  to open the door. When night falls, Everett joins   Jade for the night watch while the other soldiers  learn they'll be out for three-hour shifts because   they're expecting trouble. Finch finally opens  his letter and learns his superiors are asking   him to step down. Furious, he makes a phone call  and learns the higher-ups want the content of   the pendrive, but he won't send it unless he gets  an explanation, and hearing the truth leaves him   in shock. Meanwhile, Kate and Wilks interrogate  Kabir, who explains he didn't shoot anyone.

 He's   just a driver that was working for the insurgents  to protect his family. Hook checks on his men and   sends a private to relieve Everett. However as  soon as he turns around, Everett hears a noise   and finds the soldier gone, only having left some  blood behind. Jones and Bromhead also hear a noise   and as soon as they check, they notice a bunch of  monsters has entered their base. The entire team   immediately gets in position and opens fire while  Kate wonders if the monsters somehow managed to   track her. Hook informs Filch of the situation  and Filch tries to make a call for backup,   but the radio tower is destroyed by the monsters.  The beasts are very powerful and bullets don't   hurt them, so soon soldiers begin getting hurt or  killed, starting with Everett. Wilks leaves the   tent to offer medical attention after telling Kate  to stay and watch Kabir.

 Seconds later, a monster   enters the medical tent and uses its very long  tongue to capture Kate, but luckily Kabir finds a   machete in a chest and uses it to kill the beast.  Then he hands Kate a gun before running outside,   but the soldiers immediately grab him to keep  him guarded, thinking he was trying to escape.   It isn't until the soldiers start a fire that they  can finally keep these creepy things away. Wilks   goes to rescue Kate and brings her to the safe  spot where everyone's gathering, thus Hook takes   the chance to ask for cover in order to go save  Finch with Wilks. At that moment, another monster   enters Finch's tent, where it ignores all the  bullets to hit the major. Finch thinks he's about   to die when Hook and Wilks show up and shoot the  creature, this distracts it long enough for Finch   to grab a bat and smash it to death. Outside, the  group finds a container where they could hide, but   Bromhead has to work on picking the lock because  they don't have the key. When Hook and Wilks bring   Finch with them, one of the monsters tries  to attack them, so the soldiers open fire and   Kate takes the chance to jump on it with the ax,  having realized the mouth is the creature's weak   spot. There are still more creatures coming, so  as soon as the trio makes it back, they hide in   the container and decide to wait until morning to  see what happens.

 The soldiers are wary of Kabir,   but Kate points out he saved her life, and Kabir  finally tells them what he knows. He wasn't even   born when the Russians invaded, and the people in  his village knew war would reach them too because   a star had fallen to Earth and shook the ground.  Kabir's father taught him to fight, and by 1988   Afghan forces had begun to turn the tide. His  village had hope until one day people started   disappearing in the middle of the night, and  sometimes in the morning they would find bodies   that looked like they were attacked by a bear.  His father thought of hunting this animal, but   as soon as the Soviets withdrew, the attacks also  stopped. The village lost 46 people and Kabir's   father never made it back. The next morning,  the group leaves the container and discovers   their friends' bodies are gone. Wilks examines a  dead creature and discovers its teeth are in rows   and retractable, like a shark's, and its skin is  thick to function as body armor.

There's goo on   the table because the creature is melting since it  can't stand sunlight. Because the skin's so hard,   Wilks has to use a drill to look inside, and  he's shocked to discover the creature has human   organs. Finch finally decides to come clean and  apologizes to Kate, explaining the higher-ups   have always known about the bunker. It turns out  the star Kabir's people saw had been a starship,   and the Soviets invaded Afghanistan just  to retrieve it, the war had only been a   smokescreen. The aliens were used in experiments,  and the creatures are the result of combining   alien DNA with human DNA. There's a whole army of  them in the bunker, and last night they only sent   a few to learn the team's weaknesses, so they'll  likely come back tonight. Escaping isn't possible   because they don't have much fuel and they would  be found by the insurgents anyway. Suddenly their   conversation is interrupted by the beast on the  table waking up. It uses its tongue to grab Kate   again, leaving her in some sort of trance while  pushing away Kabir and the soldiers when they try   to stop it.

 Finch grabs a grenade and jumps on  the beast to kill it, making this his "voluntary   discharge" like the letter wanted. Afterward, the  soldiers finally free Kabir's hands because seeing   him fight has earned their trust. Kate feels dizzy  and confesses that when the creature touched it   felt like it was draining her mind, probably to  learn their strategies, but she has an advantage:   she knows where their nest is. Kate, Hook,  Jade, Wilks, Jones, and Bromhead are all the   soldiers that are left but it's enough people to  bomb the bunker, and Kabir asks to go with them   because he wants to avenge his father. When they  arrive at the bunker, they throw the bomb inside   and leave to detonate it, but Kate accidentally  drops her locket and Hook returns to pick it up.   This gives a monster the opportunity to grab him  and bring him down into the hole. The team thinks   they've lost their leader and gets ready for  the detonation, but Hook suddenly contacts them   through the radio to confirm he's still alive.

 He  doesn't want the team to go back for him and the   team agrees, but Kate changes everyone's minds  by pointing out that Hook would've done the same   for them. Wilks stays in the truck so he can  push and pull the broken elevator for the team,   but as soon as they make it to the bottom of the  bunker, Wilks picks up a worrisome message through   the radio: there'll be a missile strike in twenty  minutes, they probably got the location because of   the tracker on the truck. Seeing they don't have  much time, the group decides to split to cover   more ground more quickly. Meanwhile Hook discovers  there's a beast in the same room as him and soon   he's attacked by its tongue, but he manages  to distract it by biting that tongue before   killing it with his knife.

 Afterward, he finds  all his friends' bodies and manages to take some   weapons from them. As the team searches for Hook,  Kabir finds the bodies on the tables and realizes   these are the missing people from his village,  who probably were the ones that became creatures   later. Kate finds a pod on the wall she didn't  see before, and when she turns on the light,   she discovers the original alien floating around  still alive. At that moment, Hook leaves the room   and asks Kate for directions through the radio,  only to be intercepted by another monster.

 He   runs fast enough and manages to join his team to  kill the beast together by shooting at its head,   but this leaves many of them without ammunition.  Meanwhile outside, Wilks suddenly finds himself   surrounded by insurgents, meaning he has to open  fire and defend the entrance on his own. In the   bunker, the creatures are hatching out of the  pods, and Kate comes to the conclusion they knew   they were coming because they read her mind. The  team runs out of the pod room and closes the door,   but the creatures keep hitting it with outstanding  strength, so Jones stays behind to hold the door   to give the team the chance to escape. As they run  down the corridor, Jade hears a noise indicating a   monster is coming, so she stays behind too to  fight it and protect the team.

 As soon as the   group reaches the elevator, they realize Jade's  gone, and Hook decides to go back for her after   telling the team to leave if he isn't back in two  minutes. Jade takes the beast into the mess hall   and after exchanging a few hits she manages to  defeat it, only for a second one to appear behind   her. By the time Hook arrives, it's too late:  the beast has killed Jade. Hook begins fighting   the creature with any tools he can find around,  meanwhile Jones realizes he can't hold the door   anymore and lets go of it before detonating the  bomb to bring everyone down with him. Hook hears   the explosion and hides inside the fridge right  before the flames enter the room, killing the   beast there too. At the elevator, more monsters  are coming and the team is running out of bullets,   so Bromhead starts calling for Wilks to pull  them up.

Wilks is still fighting the insurgents,   who are now getting inside the truck to fight him  hand-to-hand. Kate, Bromhead, and Kabir also hear   the explosion and hide in the elevator for safety  at the same that Wilks finally kills the enemy and   activates the truck. Unfortunately the elevator is  too heavy and it pulls the truck down with it, but   Wilks can't stop it because more insurgents are  arriving and opening fire on him. More creatures   arrive at the elevator, and Kate and Kabir can  defend themselves with the ax and the machete,   but Bromhead only has his fists and gets killed.  The truck outside keeps advancing, so Wilks has   to move out of the way and see it fall. Kabir  sees the truck coming and tells Kate to get   out of the elevator while he keeps the creatures  distracted, thus when the truck finally crashes,   he dies together with all the monsters. Wilks is  captured by the insurgents while Hook returns to   Kate's side as a monster follows him. Together  both soldiers grab onto the elevator's wires,   which quickly take them back up with a quick shot  from Hook. As soon as they make it back outside,   Kate and Hook shoot the insurgents, saving Wilks  right before he gets killed. At that moment,   a plane appears in the sky and drops a missile,  so the trio pushes a man out of a car and steals   the vehicle to escape the area. The explosion  doesn't reach them, although it does push the   vehicle off the road, and Kate's sure this  bombing came from the government to get rid   of the evidence.

Her theory is correct because  at that moment, special agents land on the base   to look for any beast bodies, but they leave when  they only find Finch's. Kate isn't worried though   because she reveals she has the pendrive with  all the intel, a gift from Jade after she used   her thievery to take it from Finch. Now they  only need to make their vehicle work again.

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Robot Spends 700 Years Cleaning Earth Alone

 

In the 22nd century, Earth has become a wasteland  full of garbage because of humanity's consumerism   and lack of care for the ecology. All the  remaining survivors got away in a starliner   called Axiom and left behind trash-compacting  robots to clean up the planet. Unfortunately, the   clean-up is a complete failure and seven hundred  years later, there's only one robot left called   Wall-e. Wall-e plays music while he works and he  keeps a roach as his only company. Whenever he   finds an interesting item, he takes it back with  him to the home he's made inside an old garbage   lifter. His collection includes an old movie, and  watching it makes him want to have a loved one to   hold hands with. Every night, or whenever there's  a sandstorm, Wall-e sleeps on his own shelves by   transforming into a cube.

 When he needs to charge,  he lets the sunlight recharge his battery. One   afternoon, after having some trouble with a fire  extinguisher, Wall-e uses his laser to cut a   fridge open and is shocked to see a plant. He  puts it inside a boot and takes it home, where   something new gets his attention: a little red  dot appears suddenly on the ground. Wall-e begins   following the moving light around, but soon the  dot multiplies, and Wall-e discovers the lights   come from an incoming rocket. He rushes to hide  inside a hole and watches the rocket land, then it   releases a modern model called Eve before leaving. 

 Eve immediately begins flying around, searching   for the object of her mission. Wall-e immediately  begins developing a crush on her and follows her   everywhere, although he still gets scared whenever  Eve shoots at something because she heard a noise.   The roach isn't as scared and actually approaches  Eve, who shoots at it before realizing the roach's   an innocent creature and befriending it. Eve can't  help giggling at the roach walking on her body,   and this makes Wall-e giggle too. As soon as Eve  hears him, she shoots, and Wall-e only manages   to save himself by becoming a cube. Eve comes to  check on him and when her scanner confirms he's a   mere cleaning robot, Eve ignores him and continues  her search.

 Wall-e doesn't give up and continues   to follow her around, trying to impress her with  gifts and tricks to no avail. Eve's focused on   her search, but she grows frustrated because she  can't find anything. When a magnet crane captures   her by accident, Eve finally snaps and sets the  whole machine on fire. Wall-e can see she's in   a bad mood and approaches her to comfort her,  finally gaining her friendship. At that moment,   a sandstorm appears nearby. Eve begins panicking,  but Wall-e quickly drags her to his home. He   proceeds to show her all the cool things he has,  and Eve actually knows how to use a few of them,   like making a flame appear on a lighter. When  Wall-e shows her his beloved movie, Eve makes   a recording of it, then she tries to copy Wall-e's  dance steps.

This causes Eve to accidentally push   Wall-e against the wall and break him, but  Wall-e doesn't worry, he has plenty of spare   parts to fix himself. Wall-e wants to try to hold  Eve's hand, but sadly she takes it away. Next,   Wall-e tries to impress Eve by showing her  the plant. This immediately makes her grab   the plant and put it away inside her body before  going into capsule mode, it turns out that proof   of plant life was her objective. Wall-e gets  desperate and uses all methods he can think of   to try to wake her up, like leaving her under the  sun to charge and even taking her out on dates,   but nothing works. Eventually Wall-e gives up and  goes back to work, only pausing to look at the   lighter to remember her time with Eve. Suddenly,  a rumble gets Wall-e's attention: the rocket is   back, and it's taking Eve away. Wall-e runs to the  rocket and grabs onto its railing so he can come   along. The rocket reaches outer space and Wall-e  is amazed by everything he sees, he also uses the   closeness to the sun to fully recharge. Eventually  they find Axiom hiding in a galaxy far away,   and a series of cleaning robots receive the rocket  to clean everything from potential contamination.   A little guy called MO tries to clean Wall-e,  but when other robots take Eve away, Wall-e   begins following them, leaving a track of mud  behind. This means MO begins following him too.   They make it to a corridor where Wall-e discovers  the reality behind the current state of humanity:   they've all become fat and lazy, and they  move around on floating chairs, their eyes   never leaving the screen. The management of the  starliner, from teaching the babies to cooking,   is all done by robots.

 Wall-e's presence gets John  attention and causes him to fall off his chair,   prompting him to finally stop looking at a screen.  While a bunch of robots arrives to push John back   on his chair, Wall-e rushes to go after Eve,  and to reach her he asks Mary for some room to   move. Mary moves back and this causes her to stop  looking at the screen too, discovering the world   around her as if it was the first time. Wall-e  pretends to be Eve's handler and goes with her   to be checked by Otto, the ship's AI autopilot,  who does a quick scan and goes to wake the captain   up to bring him the news. Captain McCrea is  also a lazy bum that doesn't leave his chair,   Wall-e hides under the desk to watch him go  through the tedious routine of making sure the   system is fine. After giving the population the  daily announcements, McCrea finally wakes Eve up   and sees she's got a positive result.

 This never  happened, and when McCrea presses the plant button   on his panel, a video immediately starts playing.  The President of Earth appears on the screen and   explains a positive result means the robots have  found plant life on Earth, meaning they can go   back. The control panel expells a manual that  McCrea checks for instructions, and while he's   busy Wall-e tries to approach Eve, who is shocked  to see him and quickly makes him hide. McCrea   activates a robot arm to retrieve the plant, but  when Eve opens her body, she's shocked to see the   plant is gone. Otto says she's probably broken,  so McCrea calls it a false alarm and cancels the   trip to Earth before sending Eve to be repaired.  When Wall-e finally introduces himself to McCrea,   he shakes his hand and leaves some dirt on the  captain's fingers, thus McCrea sends him to be   cleaned. Once the robots are gone, McCrea puts  the dirt on the scanner to be analyzed and is   surprised by all the things he gets to learn about  Earth, so he keeps himself busy asking the AI lots   of questions.

 Eve and Wall-e arrive at the repair  department and Eve is forced into capsule mod with   special hardware. Wall-e almost gets the same  treatment, but he dodges the arms and ends up   getting a makeover from a faulty beauty assistant.  Then, Wall-e is put in a cage while Eve is given   the maintenance treatment. Wall-e mistakes this  for torture, so he breaks the cage with his laser   and breaks through the door to rescue Eve. The  working robot tries to shoot Wall-e to stop him,   but Wall-e dodges it and the shot ends up hitting  the control panel. This causes all the cages to   open, and the robots take the chance to escape.  Because they consider Wall-e their savior,   the malfunctioning robots take him with them,  and Eve follows them. When they reach a corridor,   a group of guard robots blocks their way and  take a picture of them to raise the alarm.

   The picture appears on all the ship screens,  warning the population about rogue robots,   and the guards try to arrest them. Eve  immediately picks Wall-e up and flies away,   hiding in a window until the guards are gone.  Afterward, Eve brings Wall-e to the elevator,   where he tries to be friendly. However she's so  angry about these shenanigans that she shoots a   screen to shut him up. When the elevator reaches  the hangar, Eve tries to put Wall-e in a pod to   send him back to Earth, but he refuses to go if  Eve doesn't come too. Suddenly they hear a noise,   and Eve and Wall-e get into capsule mode to hide.  The visitor's a little robot controlled by Otto,   who brings the plant to send it back to Earth.

  Wall-e rushes into the pod to try to rescue the   plant, but at that moment the little guy activates  the pod and Wall-e is launched into space. Eve   immediately enters an emergency exit and is  launched out too while Wall-e presses all the   buttons to make the pod stop, but he activates  the self-destruct sequence instead. Eve watches   how the pod explodes and thinks it's all over,  but Wall-e suddenly passes by her using a fire   extinguisher as if it was a jet pack. Both robots  fly around until they finally get to meet in the   middle, and Wall-e reveals he's managed to save  the plant. Eve is so happy that she hugs Wall-e   and pushes their foreheads together, sharing  a small spark of electricity that feels that   a kiss. Wall-e is shocked but also delighted by  this, and he uses his extinguisher to dance with   Eve through space as they make their way back to  the ship.

This is seen by John and Mary, who are   finally enjoying the beautiful view of space, and  approaching the window allows them to meet each   other for real. Eve and Wall-e get back on the  ship, and Eve sneaks around to avoid the guards,   leaving Wall-e behind. She reaches the captain's  room safely and hands the plant to McCrea, who   gets excited because now they can return to Earth.  Eve interrupts him to show him the recordings she   took of the planet, and McCrea's disappointed to  see Earth isn't the beautiful place he saw in the   old pictures. However when Eve plays Wall-e's old  movie too, the sound of music brings back some   hope, and McCrea decides that if the little plant  didn't give up, he shouldn't either. The movie   reaches the part about the hand-holding and Eve  begins thinking about it too, especially when the   recording suddenly shows her all the things Wall-e  did for her while she was asleep. Meanwhile Wall-e   tries to go looking for Eve by entering a trash  chute, and MO follows him.

 The captain tries to   order the ship to return to Earth, but Otto stops  him and asks for the plant. McCrea refuses and   demands an explanation, thus Otto plays another  video. The President of Earth announces the   clean-up program was a failure and that toxicity  levels make life unsustainable on Earth. This   means the project to reconolize is canceled, and  directive A113 puts the ship on eternal autopilot   so humans can stay in space. Otto is loyal to  A113 and that's why it had taken the plant from   Eve when it checked on her the first time. McCrea  notices this video is around seven-hundred years   old, which means the information is outdated and  the plan proves life can be possible on Earth,   meaning they should return. Otto calls its little  robot to stop them, and when the small guy takes   the plant, Eve threatens it. The robot responds  by throwing the plant into the trash pipe,   but at that moment, Wall-e climbs out of it with  the plant on its head.

 Eve tries to reunite with   Wall-e, but the little robot captures her.  Wall-e hides the plant inside his body, but   Otto electrocutes him and pushes him into the pipe  before putting Eve in capsule mode and tossing her   too. Then Otto locks McCrea in his room to keep  him quiet. Seconds later Eve wakes up thanks to a   mouse robot pressing her button, finding herself  in the garbage disposal room. Here the machines   press the garbage into cubes to then throw them  into space, and both Eve and Wall-e end up inside   those cubes. Using her gun, Eve frees herself,  but she isn't strong enough to pull Wall-e out   as well and the cubes get ejected. Suddenly MO  shows up and gets stuck on the inner door. The   force of the ejection helps Eve get Wall-e away  from the garbage and she flies back to hold on   to MO. The garbage robots notice there's trouble  and immediately close the outer doors, helping   the trio come back inside. Wall-e isn't working  well, so Eve goes looking for chips to repair him.   Unfortunately none of these modern pieces are good  for an old model and Wall-e gives Eve the plant,   asking her to prioritize the mission.

 At first Eve  refuses and even tries to hold Wall-e's hand to   make him change his mind, but Wall-e pushes her  hand away and insists Earth is more important,   presenting the lighter as proof. Eve realizes  Earth will have the necessary parts to fix him,   thus she grabs everyone and flies back into the  main area of the ship. A guard sees them and   raises the alarm, but Eve pushes it away and keeps  going while the other rogue robots follow her.   Otto sees everything on the screens and activates  as more guards. McCrea also sees it all too and   begins messing with the control panel so he can do  a transmission. The captain appears all over the   ship to show Eve the instruction manual, pointing  at the area where the plant should be deposited.   Eve and Wall-e immediately begin moving only  to find themselves surrounded by guards robots. 

However the rogue robots immediately begin  fighting the guards to clear the way for their   savior. Meanwhile McCrea puts a picture of the  plant on the screen and calls Otto, pretending to   have the plant to taunt the AI into coming after  him. As soon as Otto enters the room, McCrea jumps   on it to fight it, and in the struggle he kicks  the little robot through the window. After lots   of pulling, he manages to reach the control and  activates the traveling mode of the ship, now the   robots start to put the humans ready to sleep  through their trip back to Earth. The special   capsule for the plant opens in the middle of the  ship, but when Eve and Wall-e are about to reach   it, Otto pushes McCrea off and steers the ship to  make the plant fall. All the humans fall off their   chairs, and Mary and John have to work together to  save a bunch of babies. Two transporting couches   begin falling as well, but Eve stops them right  before people can get crushed. Otto shuts down   the special capsule, so Wall-e rushes to keep  it up, getting even more broken.

 McCrea makes   an effort and finally stands up again, allowing  him to jump on Otto and turn it off for good. Then   the captain puts the ship back into place, and Eve  goes to check on Wall-e while asking everyone to   look for the plant. MO, the rogue robots, and  the humans work together to retrieve the plant   and toss it into the capsule. This activates  the returning program again and releases Wall-e   from the pressure, but he isn't working. In just  ten seconds, the ship pulls off a hyper-jump and   returns to Earth. As soon as they land, Eve takes  Wall-e to his home and fixes him, shooting a hole   in the ceiling to make sunlight recharge. Wall-e  wakes up but Eve is devasted to see he doesn't   recognize her, not even when she shows him his  collection and the movie. It seems Wall-e has   lost his personality and he just begins working  like a regular robot. Eve approaches him to say   one last goodbye by holding his hand and giving  him a little electric kiss, this causes Wall-e to   suddenly hold Eve's hand back. Little by little,  Wall-e's personality comes back, and he and Eve   have a sweet moment together while McCrea shows  the humans how to grow the plant. From then on,   robots and humans work together to rebuild their  society with much more nature-friendly methods.

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God Comes to Earth And Kills 8 Billion People

 

In the near future in the city of Moscow, Oleg  and Alyona are having a date, during which Oleg explains he's a soldier on a two-week break.  The date goes great, and the two of them end up spending the night together. Meanwhile in  Paris, a plane is about to land when suddenly all its lights go out and everyone aboard loses  consciousness. Soon this loss of power spreads around the world, only leaving a small section of  Eastern Europe with light. Oleg and Alyone notice that the drones that fly around Moscow freeze  mid-air, and they rush to the hotel lobby to see what's going on. Every person in the building  is gathering there to listen to the news. The anchorman explains that this wasn't a consequence  of any natural disaster, and while at first they suspected it to be a terrorist attack, they've  discovered they've lost contact with the rest of the world.

A group of soldiers led by Mayor  Dolmatov is sent on a recon mission to Kirov, one of the many cities that are now in darkness.  Journalist Olga goes with them to record any clues they may find. The government has sent drones  into this area already, but none of them has made it back. The team wanders around the city  and enters a store where they use special slime lights to have a better look, this is how they  discover every citizen in here is dead, even the fish in the bowl. They can't help wondering how  everyone died since there aren't any indications of an attack, it's as if happened instantly  out of nowhere. Then they begin to investigate different apartments, where they find everything  in its place as if nothing happened. Once again, it looks like it happened instantly as if  people vanished into thin air. Suddenly, one of the soldiers is attacked by a mysterious  being.

The rest of the team rushes to help him, but as soon as the being sees them, he takes the  soldier's weapon and escapes through the window. The team immediately opens fire, but the being  doesn't seem affected by bullets and runs away. They take the wounded soldier to their plane  and ask him if he saw the face of his attacker, but it was dark and the struggle made it  impossible to notice anything. A month later, more than one hundred million Russians are  considered dead, and the government tries to ask the remaining population to stay calm. However  religious groups are gathering because they think the end of the world is coming. Meanwhile Yura  is one of the many civilians that receives a letter asking him to join the army.

 Yura lives  with his mother who suffers from Alzheimer and it pains him to leave her behind, but he joins  the army anyway. When he leaves for the base, he notices the current state of the world, since  just one month was enough for the streets to look post-apocalyptic. Yura ends up joining  Oleg's team, which is informed of the current situation by Dolmatov and Colonel Marina. Every  city in darkness is considered under quarantine, and the only existing power can be found in  Moscow, parts of Belarus, Ukraine, and Finland; this area is known as the "Circle of life".  Some retcon teams have come back with bodies and they've discovered they died from endogenous  neurotoxins, which are chemicals produced by the human body. The new teams have two tasks: find  clues for the scientists to understand the cause behind these neurotoxins, and to go deeper into  the quarantine zone to gather resources because Moscow is running low.

 They need to be careful  because they've already sent many teams and most of them didn't come back, even if they had  tanks to protect them. While everyone gets ready, more volunteers arrive, and Oleg is surprised  to see Alyona among them. Suddenly an alarm goes off alerting of an incoming attack. Apparentely  there's a group of huge enemies coming closer, thus the soldiers gather at the border between  the base and the quarantine zone. At that moment the power at the base goes out, so Dolmatov begins  shooting flares for a more clear view and when the strange beings are close enough, the soldiers open  fire. Some of these beings manage to reach the base anyway and begin attacking everyone in sight,  causing Oleg to lose consciousness. The next morning, Oleg wakes up under the weight of a dead  enemy. Yura notices he's still alive and asks for help moving the body, now Oleg can see the strange  being was actually a huge bear. In fact there are dozens of bear bodies on the other side of the  border, and nobody understands why they behaved like that. Olga is there too recording everything  for the news. Oleg is taken to the infirmary and is surprised to learn Alyona's a doctor. She  takes care of his injures and when he feels pain, she comforts him with a kiss.

 Meanwhile Marina  and Dolmatov discuss the matters of "sensors", a group of people that supposedly gained powers  after the blackout. Marina explains they aren't like superheroes, sensors can actually receive  data in their minds like radios receive signals. However they haven't been able to decipher  the data or how this happened. The strongest sensor is Sasha, who is being kept in a military  hospital. Since the blackout, he keeps having nightmares about a mysterious bald guy. Today he's  being visited by Zhenya, who says he was sent by someone named Id. He explains the first wave  destroyed all electronics, the second launched the self-destruction of all biological organisms,  and the third wave will make anyone still alive in the quarantine zone attack them. There are  millions of them, and their free will is gone, but they have time to stop it. Sasha doesn't want  anything to do with this and calls for security, but the soldiers can't see Zhenya and tell the  doctor that Sasha is hallucinating. The rest of the soldiers get ready for the mission.

 Yura  ends up traveling with Olga, who makes him some questions for the camera. Yura admits he doesn't  mind the current situation because it's given his life meaning, and it's better than being a taxi  driver. When they make it to the quarantine zone, they discover the tanks destroyed on the ground  and a chasm cutting through the buildings, implying the third wave has already begun. The  footage of this destruction puts the remaining population in a state of panic, causing riots and  an increased crime rate to take over the city. The government promises they're working on it, but  people think their leaders are hiding something. The soldiers are divided into groups to cover  more ground. Yura and Olga are in group seven, and as they cross the woods, a flirting tension  grows between them. When a recovered Oleg arrives, he joins team four, who investigates a small  town. One of the soldiers opens a storage room, causing a bunch of metal bars to fall on top  of him and hurt his leg.

The team decides to rest inside a house until a doctor comes. The  next morning, Alyone arrives and announces the soldier will have to return to Moscow with her if  he doesn't want to lose his leg. Group seven also spent the night inside an apartment, and while  they're having breakfast, Yura notices something weird about a store. He checks Olga's recording  and confirms the doors weren't opened when they arrived. Yura and a few soldiers enter the store  and find evidence someone was there, so they decide to set up some traps. Then they return to  the apartment and wait for the traps to activate, this doesn't happen until night falls. Everyone  gets ready to leave, but Yura asks Olga to stay inside and teaches her to use the flares to ask  for help if they don't come back. Olga ends up disobeying Yura and follows the team anyway to  record everything. Inside the store, they find a teenager that was wounded by the traps. They  take him into the apartment and try to help him, but the boy reacts by stealing a knife and  killing a soldier. The others immediately react by shooting him down. Meanwhile Sasha goes  to have some fresh air on the hospital roof and is suddenly startled by Id, the guy Zhenya told him  about. Zhenya had only been a mental connection but Id is actually here and wants Sasha to help,  to convince him he knows what's going on he shows his face and reveals he isn't human. At that  moment Marina shows up with a bunch of soldiers pointing their weapons at Id, but suddenly they  all turn their weapons on Marina. Id explains he used his mental powers to make the soldiers see  her as Id and he as Marina, so she shouldn't try anything. He also swears he's on Marina's side  and warns her that millions like him are coming to end humanity.

 When Marina asks what he is, Id  says humans would consider him a god. Marina takes Id to her office to interrogate him. Id explains  he was supposed to start an irradiation process when the Moon was above the oceans, but he made  a mistake: the Moon was covering this section of Europe, so it protected it from radiation. That's  how the Circle of Life happened, and everyone in the quarantine zone is only a mindless drone  that will attack soon. Id's race needs Earth because their own start is about to die and they  want somewhere new with a sun to live in. Then he reveals there was a wave zero thousands of  years ago: this wave was the human race, which is actually a bioweapon sent by the aliens to destroy  the native population of planet Earth. It was the previous native people that built the pyramids  and underwater cities because they had been much more developed.

Humans are the perfect bioweapon  because they're destroyers and colonizers, and they share a lot of DNA with Id's people, except  they were stripped of any psychic abilities. The unplanned radiation is causing some people like  Sasha to get them back. An army from Id's planet is arriving tomorrow but Id's brother Ra is  already here. Id doesn't agree with his methods and wants to find him, but the only one that knows  the location is Sasha thanks to his dreams. In the meantime, all the teams are suddenly attacked by  mind-controlled humans. The soldiers immediately open fire and try their best to establish a line  of defense, but the enemy comes in huge numbers and doesn't have trouble fighting back, killing  most of the teams and causing them to run out of ammo. When the apartment they're hiding in  blows up, Yura asks Olga to shoot the flare, but most teams are doing the same thing and there  aren't enough resources to help them all.

 For now, the few remaining members of group seven will  wait on the roof of a building to be out of the attackers' reach. Marina's conversation with Id  is interrupted by a message informing her of the attack, and Id points out they're wasting time.  The two of them together with Zhenya and Sasha fly to the base, and during the trip Id explains  he's immortal as long as nobody decides to kill him. When they make it to the base, Id puts Sasha  in a trance and he manages to draw Ra's location, which is a skyscraper in Kirov. Id wants to  mobilize the remaining tropes immediately, but when Dolmatov sees Id's appearance, he  doesn't know if trusting him. At that moment a soldier announces Moscow is being attacked as  well and Marina convinces Domatov by pointing out Id is their only hope. Back to group seven, they  decide to climb down the building to search for the teams that didn't send any flares. Olga is  terrified to try, so Yura kisses her to calm her down and lowers her gently.

As they walk through  the streets, they find a few civilians and kill them before even talking to them. Olga is upset  by this because they looked fine, but Yura reminds her the teenage boy had seemed fine at first  too. As if to prove his point, a new wave of droned humans attacks them. All the other soldiers  die but Yura manages to fight the attackers off, getting wounded in the process. They run to hide  inside a garage, where they take care of Yura's injury and find a car with gas and keys to use to  escape. At the base, Sasha confesses he's scared to go because he's sure Ra saw him during the  vision, and Id allows him to stay behind for the sake of his safety. When Dolmatov's team leaves  in the tanks, Marina notices Sasha is missing and makes everyone stop.

 At that moment, a series of  rockets attacks the base and blow it up. Marina points her gun at Id, angry because he obviously  knew about this, and Id admits it's true. However if Sasha had been with them, the team would've  died instead, and they wouldn't have won the war. The next morning, Yura and Olga find Oleg  and Alyone. Their team has few members left too, and they've run out of ammo. Fortunately moments  later Dolmatov's team finds them and asks them to join the mission to kill Ra. Olga and Alyona will  have to come along because there's no base to send them to. Hours later, the team arrives at Kirov.  Dolmatov is surprised they aren't being attacked, and Id explains Ra thinks he died at the base.  The streets are blocked by the droned humans, and there are a few of them jumping from above  with bombs. The army just pushes ahead with the tanks, shooting or crushing any enemy that tries  to stop them.

When they make it to the skyscraper, Id takes Yura and a few soldiers with him to the  rooftop while everyone else stays at the entrance for defense. The fight is absolutely vicious and  they don't know for how long they'll be able to keep up, so Oleg takes the civilians upstairs  too. After killing any enemies inside, Id and the soldiers meet with Ra on the rooftop. Yura tries  to attack him, but Ra simply pushes him away and leaves him hanging on the edge. Id attacks Ra  next and their fight is pretty even, but when Yura climbs back up and a huge explosion can be  heard on the streets, Ra gets distracted and Id takes the chance to attack him directly, removing  a device from inside Ra's body. Yura immediately cuts in and puts a grenade in the resulting hole,  finally killing Ra. Now Id can use his powers to release all the controlled humans. He announces  the next step is to kill the aliens arriving in the spaceship, since humans were made to kill  after all.

Zhenya doesn't understand why Id didn't warn them of all this before the blackout  happened, and Alyona and Marina protest against the way Id is using humans. When Id says he's  the god humans deserve, Zhenya attacks him with a knife, but Id uses his powers to make him kill  Marina instead. Furious, Oleg tries to attack Id too, but Yura comes in his defense, pointing out  Id is the only hope they have against the incoming invasion. A fight begins between Yura and Oleg,  and when Olga notices Yura is beating Oleg up, she grabs a gun and shoots Yura to make him stop.  Zhenya tries to kill Id again, but Id easily stops him. Oleg thinks about killing Yura and shoots  at Id instead, yet bullets don't do anything. Id uses his powers to make Oleg see everyone as his  father, causing him to hesitate. However thanks to being a sensor, Zhenya can find the real  Id and he jumps to bring him down with him. They both die as soon as they touch the ground. At  that moment, a giant spaceship lands on a bunch of buildings.

Oleg grabs the device Id took from  Ra and leaves with the women after refusing to finish Yura off. After taking some weapons from  fallen bodies, the trio enters the spaceship, which opened the door because it's waiting for  Ra. Inside there are hundreds of aliens sleeping in pods, and when Oleg presses the device, oxygen  starts being transported to those pods. It seems Ra was supposed to wake them up, and the timer  on the pods confirms they'll be ready soon. They try shooting at them and confirm it does kill  them, but they don't have enough ammo or time to do them all.

Olga notices the pipes carrying the  oxygen are on the floor, and destroying one kills many aliens at the same time. The trio begins  destroying every pipe they can find, effectively stopping the invasion. However when Alyona is  about to destroy the last pipe, she freezes because she realizes these last pods have children  in them. The kids begin leaving the pods and when Oleg sees them, he drops his weapon to the  ground, not being able to hurt innocent creatures.

 

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Scientists Unlock Plants' Intelligence Causing Them to Take Over Cities

 

In the near future, an experiment gone wrong  causes plants to start growing at high speeds   and gain mild intelligence. They begin attacking  animals, but soon they move on people and start   taking over cities all around the world. After  just one week, all that's left of society are   ruins and shelters. One year later, plants occupy  more than 80% of the land area. Hao and his   daughter Yuan missed the last evacuation, and now  they try to survive by living in the ruins. One   afternoon, Yuan finds a dog that reminds her of  the pet she used to own and ignores her father's   warnings not to go after it. Hao worries because  the sun is about to set and the plants come out in   the dark to attack, so he immediately goes after  her. He finds her staring at a tree that has a   bunch of bodies caught on its vines, and Hao picks  Yuan up to run away as the vines begin going after   them too. They rush through the woods and when  the vines are about to catch them near the cliff,   they jump onto a large truck that they use  as a bridge to go back to the place they   call home nowadays.

 Yuan wonders if she's being  a troublemaker and if it had been better if her   mother had survived instead of her. Hao assures  her she's doing fine, then he gifts her his watch   so he can keep track of her. Lastly he sings  the happy birthday song until she falls asleep.   Afterward Hao goes back to use his radio to try  to find other survivors and falls asleep in the   process. This causes him to miss two things:  the plants are getting closer to the apartment,   and the Joint Forces send a message announcing a  plan to reclaim Earth. Hao begins to dream about   the day of the catastrophe. He, Yuan, and his  wife Yeyan had been stuck in traffic for hours,   and Yeyan wouldn't take her eyes off the computer  because she was very worried about her project to   prevent desertification. Yuan didn't mind seeing  her mom working because she saw this as saving the   world.

 Suddenly, they see people running away and  birds acting weirdly. Yeyan gets a call from her   lab saying the plants they were working on began  losing control. At that moment the ground starts   shaking and wounded people scream as they reveal  there's a giant vine coming after them. Back in   the present, Hao wakes up when he realizes the  screaming is coming from Yuan. The vines have   broken through the floors and are reaching for the  bed, taking it and the girl away before Hao can   do anything. Yuan's still wearing the watch, so  Hao wastes no time and goes back outside to track   her. The signal takes him to an old building full  of plants, where he finds the watch on the floor. 

Hao moves deeper inside while using a UV light to  keep any plants away and finds a body on a chair,   but thankfully it's not his daughter. At that  moment Hao hears Yuan scream and runs into   another room, where he finds her defending herself  with a UV flashlight that is about to run out of   batteries. Hao throws his own flashlight at her,  then tosses a piece of furniture to distract the   vines. Next Hao approaches the window, which has  been sealed, so he begins hitting it to let the   sunlight in. As the vines begin closing around  him, Hao finds a fire extinguisher on the floor   and throws it at the window, finally creating a  hole big enough that allows sunlight to get inside   and scare the plants away. The vines drop Hao  and he hits his head when he falls on the floor,   causing him to have more flashbacks. On the day  of the catastrophe, Yeyan made the family return   to the lab so she could pack up her experiment.

It  was this testing that caused the plants to evolve   in the first place, but Yeyan thought she could  modify the formula to weaken the plants and at   least make them weak to sunlight. She also pointed  out that the plants were all connected to a root   network. The small plants in the lab were starting  to react as well and suddenly a wall crumbled to   reveal giant vines that captured Yeyan. Hao  grabbed her hands and tried to pull her back,   but more vines appeared through the door and  grabbed Yuan, so Yeyan told Hao to let her go   and saved their daughter instead. In the present,  Hao wakes up to discover the plants are trying   to take him. Suddenly a UV grenade falls on the  floor and lights up the room, followed closely by   soldier Limo, who immediately cleans up the main  vines and rescues Hao. Now the entrance is clear,   the rest of her team comes in and joins the  fight against the plants. They all have plenty   of weapons, including a flamethrower, and while  most of the team opens fire, Lei begins activating   the UVA radiator.

 However a vine takes him away,  and 21 has to take over even if he doesn't know   how the radiator works. Captain Fang is almost  grabbed too, but Yuan saves him by pointing   her flashlight at the plant. Hao notices 21 is  having trouble and quickly joins him to offer   his technical knowledge, the radiator finally  activates and emits a strong light that sends   all the vines away. Afterward Hao thanks the team  and wonders what's going on. They explain they're   an operation team working for the Joint Force,  formed by all the surviving soldiers around the   world to try to fight off the plants. Fang calls  the base to explain their mission was delayed   because the reagent they're transporting was  broken, so they came to the lab in this building   to fix it. Fortunately they find the necessary  pieces and quickly begin working on fixing it.   While they wait, Fang shows Yuan a little magic  trick, making a picture of her daughter appear   from behind Yuan's ear.

Unfortunately he lost her  during the catastrophe, making Fang wish he could   adopt Yuan instead, which makes Hao uncomfortable.  21 and Limo explain to Hao that scientists found   a huge root network underground that will end  humanity when it breaks out, an event they call   "the green tide". There are fifty-four hours left  before this happens, so various teams around the   world must find access to the root and inject  it with hydrazide reagent, which will work as   a permanent plant sedative. These predictions  are based on biological signals, and Hao tries   to point out Yeyan had discovered those signals  are unstable and can't be trusted, but he isn't   taken seriously. Suddenly the building begins  shaking and a vine breaks the floor, bringing   down the UV light and causing a few people to fall  through the hole. The soldiers open fire in the   darkness of the room while on the floor below,  Limo checks on Lei to find him severely wounded.   Hao and Yuan have fallen as well and notice a  giant snake-like plant coming closer.

 This plant   is blind and hunts by following sound. The reagent  fell away from them and Limo needs to retrieve it,   thus the trio decides to move as quietly as  possible. Hao and Yuan manage to walk over the   plant's body without trouble and once they reunite  with Limo, they finally grab the reagent, but this   accidentally moves some jars on the floor and  makes noise. The plant turns around to go after   them and the trio runs to hide behind a table,  but since the plant keeps coming closer, they have   no choice but to split. Yuan walks backward and  accidentally hits a shelf that makes more noise,   causing the plant to go after her. Scared, Yuan  runs away and ends up falling, so Hao and Limo   rush to put themselves between her and the plant.  At that moment, Lei shows up opening fire on the   plant, and when the monster catches him, he tells  the trio to run before activating a grenade to   bring down the plant with him. The force of the  explosion forces the trio and the reagent out of   the building and shortly afterward, the rest of  the team joins them. Because of Lei's sacrifice,   they don't have anyone to handle the reagent,  and Fang asks Hao to be their new engineer. Hao   refuses because his priority is taking care of his  daughter. Gui is furious because he sees Hao as   selfish, and Fang points out that if he doesn't  come they'll die anyway, but Hao is firm on his   decision. Limo cuts in and says they should let  him go, admitting she remembers what it was like   to lose her brother. The team begins going away,  and Yuan announces she wants to join them because   her mother would've wanted her to help save the  world.

Now Hao has no choice but to come along   as well. As the group walks through the city,  they come across a broken Ferris wheel, and Hao   tells Yuan that's where he had his first date with  Yeyan, promising to take Yuan to an amusement park   after they save the world. This inspires Stone to  ask Jing on a date after they save the world too,   but Jing turns him down. Stone doesn't give up  and gives her a special good luck charm that his   mother made for him to gift his future wife, but  Jing doesn't want it either and tosses it back to   him. Moments later, the weather starts changing  again and all the birds in the area fly away. 21   receives a message from another team announcing  the green tide is coming earlier than expected,   confirming Hao's point that the biological signs  couldn't be trusted. As an earthquake hits the   area, a building starts to fall, and the group  runs away just in time to avoid being hit. At that   moment, the green tide finally appears, although  21 points out this is just the beginning.

The   group immediately begins running and finds a bus  where they can hide, but Stone falls behind when   he's hit by a falling car. The earthquake opens a  rift in the ground and Stone now can't rejoin the   team, so he runs as close as possible to the edge  and throws the reagent at Jing before the plants   kill him. Limo has to come and grab a grieving  Jing to drag her to the bus, but a vine stops her   by grabbing her uncle. Hao saves her by cutting  the vine with a machete and the group finishes   entering the bus right before the earthquake and  the vines begin tossing the vehicle all over the   place. The team has to be careful to protect  the reagent and to grab onto each other until   they're all strapped to their seats.

 The pushing  of the vines sends the bus flying off a cliff,   but fortunately the vehicle crashes against  a building and gets stuck on the window,   allowing the group to get off safely. The team  takes a moment to cry for Stone, especially when   Jing notices he left the charm on the reagent as  a final goodbye. Fang notices he hurt his hand   during the bus escape, and Yuan thanks him  for his protection by giving him a bandage.   Then Fang tries to contact the base to warn them  about the early tide, only to discover they're   cut off. They need a signal booster, luckily  there's a tower across the street. To reach it,   they'll have to cross a flimsy bridge that  connects both buildings. The group begins walking   across the bridge very carefully, which includes  having to sneak around a huge hole. 21 slips,   but fortunately he manages to hold onto the  metal beams and keeps on moving by crawling.

Suddenly a building nearby begins crumbling, and  while it doesn't hit the team, its fall sends an   air blast that pushes Yuan off the bridge.  Fang reacts fast and using a grappling hook,   he jumps to grab her before she hits the ground.  Hao tries to pull them up, but the weight is too   much and the bridge won't hold on for much longer,  so Fang decides to do his final magic trick. After   telling Limo she's in charge now, he connects Yuan  to the rope and then lets go to disappear into the   abyss. Other buildings around them are starting  to collapse as well. The team hurries into the   tower and Hao pulls Yuan up to join them, throwing  the girl at the soldiers before the bridge finally   collapses too. For a moment the team thinks they  lost him, but Hao manages to hold onto the edge of   the window and Limo immediately pulls him inside.  Minutes later, the team finds the main comms room,   and Hao fixes the generator to get power running  again. 21 connects his computer and contacts the   base, but when Limo tries to inform them of the  early tide, the commander reveals they already   knew about it because all the other teams are  having the same trouble. According to their   new calculations, they only have four hours left.

  While the team discusses how to proceed, a message   from the High Command of the Joint forces begins  broadcasting to the entire world. He explains   their scientists have discovered the root network  has created a protective barrier on its periphery   using underground plants and microorganisms,  meaning their reagent won't be able to penetrate   it. Since nuclear weapons aren't an option either  because Earth can't withstand the effect anymore,   they've decided to cancel the mission. 21 uses an  egg to explain how the protective barrier works to   his team, which gives Hao an idea.

 He takes over  the conversation and gives the world a heartful   speech about all the loved ones that they've lost  so far and the promises he's made to his daughter   on her birthday, begging for one more chance.  The commander decides to let the teams vote,   and immediately all soldiers and bases around  the world agree to try to finish the mission   even if the chances of winning are extremely low.  Limo's team leaves the tower and crosses the city   to reach the launch station, which contains a  gigantic drill. The green tide is coming closer,   so the team rushes to connect the reagent to the  drill and send it underground. Unfortunately the   scientists were right and the drill can't break  the barrier, the same thing happens to other   teams around the world. The plants begin attacking  the stations and jam communications, and a sudden   noise announces the neighboring volcano is getting  active.

Limo explains this station is powered by   this volcano's geothermal energy through four  sets of maintenance systems underground, and Hao   points out the volcano's magma could be used to  destroy the barrier. 21 finds a map of the station   on the system and Gui finds a box of explosives,  thus they agree to enter through the main access   point and blow up the whole maintenance system.  Hao volunteers to go as well because he's the   only one that knows how to handle machines. Yuan  begins crying, and Hao promises her he'll be back   soon. Gui, Limo, and Hao take the elevator to the  access point, which 21 unlocks from the computer.   They can feel the heat as soon as they arrive,  but when they enter the corridor, they discover   is full of plants. The trio immediately begins  fighting, and in the struggle, Gui drops the bomb,   accidentally causing it to start the detonation  countdown.

 A vine grabs Hao's leg and Limo cuts   it off, but now Hao's hurt and she has to help him  walk. As the two of them move back, Gui decides   to follow Lei's sacrificing example, letting the  plant capture him to activate a grenade and bring   it down with him. While teams all over the world  give up and wait for the green tide to take them,   Hao and Limo reach the maintenance system. Hao  sends Limo to find something to break the door   lock, but as soon as she leaves him, Hao opens  the door with one of his tools and locks it   from the other side. Limo tries to open the door,  reminding him this is her task, but Hao only asks   her to take care of Yuan before running away with  the bomb. Crying her heart out, Limo runs back to   the elevator and reunites with the others to bring  the bad news. The vines continue to make the whole   area shake and falling debris knock Hao for a  few seconds, but he's woken up by a new broadcast   that tells humanity goodbye. Hao can't let that  happen, so he drags his body to the final room in   the maintenance system and uses the security  camera to say goodbye to Yuan, who is crying   and saying she doesn't want her dad to save the  world anymore. At that moment, the bomb explodes   and allows the magma to come in, effectively  breaking the barrier. The reagent finally   gets drilled into the root network, causing the  plant to begin collapsing all over the world. As   humanity begins celebrating, the team leaves  the station to watch the plant die, and Yuan   reminds everyone that this tragedy was a warning  for people to start treating the planet better.

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He Wakes Up In a Parallel World & Not Even His Wife Recognizes Him

 

In a French high school, Raphael spends his time  in class working on his sci-fi book instead of   paying attention to teachers, which often gets  him in trouble. He's been working on this book   for three years, and the protagonist's Rapahel's  self-insert. His best friend and ping-pong partner   Felix is supportive of Raphael's dream even  if he isn't allowed to read the book yet,   although he always points out that the protagonist  needs a good love interest for the story to work.   One evening after class, Raphael hears a beautiful  song and follows into one of the school's many   abandoned rooms. There, he finds fellow student  Olivia playing the piano with admirable skill.   However she stops playing when she notices Raphael  because this is supposed to be her secret spot.

 Raphael apologizes and compliments her piano  skills as he steps back, accidentally pushing over   a statue and activating the room's alarm. Olivia  wastes no time and drags Raphael with her to run   out of the building before they're found, and what  begins as panic soon becomes laughing at these   shenanigans. When they reach a bench outside, the  pair exchanges names and shakes hands, and it's   at that moment that Raphael realizes Olivia is the  perfect love interest for his story and himself as   well. Afterward, they fall asleep together on the  bench. The next day, Raphael's in an awful mood   because he realizes he's lost his notebook, and  now he'll have to rewrite everything from scratch.   Fortunately Olivia found it in the piano room and  brings it to Raphael while admitting she read it   all and really liked it. After some friendly  chatting, the two of them kiss to start their   new relationship.

 Raphael and Oliva get along  extremely well and their dates together are lots   of fun, going from experiencing new kinds of food  to carving their names on the bench where they   fell asleep together. Olivia is very supportive  of Raphael's writing and helps him come up with   ideas, she's also the one that gets to read  everything first. They go to college together,   and every Sunday they visit Olivia's grandmother  Gabrielle, who gives Raphael her beloved ring so   he can propose to Olivia. Olivia of course  accepts, and the wedding goes wonderfully.   The married couple moves to their own apartment  with the help of Felix and his girlfriend Morgane,   and every day Olivia makes dinner for Raphael  by making cute and funny shapes on his plate.   Raphael surprises Olivia with a small piano of her  own, and now she can practice at home more often   while he writes. Olivia starts entering music  competitions and small local concerts to build   up her career as a musician, Raphael always makes  sure to go see her shows every time.

 When Raphael   finishes his book, Olivia likes it so much that  she sends it to a publisher without him knowing.   This turns out to be a great idea because it gets  Raphael a publication contract, and he hires Felix   as his manager. Soon Raphael becomes very famous,  and while at first this is great because it gives   them things like a bigger apartment, soon the  mood at home becomes very tense. Raphael is   always busy at some party or interview and he's  almost never around, leaving Olivia's cute meals   abandoned on the table. To make matters worse, he  starts missing Olivia's concerts and he doesn't   even mention her when he talks about the writing  process he went through in interviews. All this   stress and sorrow deeply affect Olivia's  performances, and when she begins losing   competitions, she gives up her dream and becomes  a music teacher. One evening, Raphael comes late,   but he barely says a word to Olivia before sitting  down to finish his next book.

 The hero must choose   between his girlfriend and the world and he  chooses the world, letting the bad guys kill   the love of his life. Olivia points out that this  time, Raphael hasn't allowed her to read anything,   unlike the old times. Raphael tells her he isn't  in the mood for an argument because tomorrow   he has to discuss the movie deal and visit a  school, and when he accuses Olivia of nagging,   she finally snaps. She's tired of eating alone  and Raphael constantly ignoring her, it's time to   admit their relationship isn't going well and that  she's unhappy. Shocked, Raphael wonders if she   doesn't love him anymore, and Olivia confesses she  isn't sure, causing Raphael to stomp out of the   apartment and go drink at a bar. Still attached  to her old tradition, Olivia reads Raphael's new   story as it starts to snow outside, and she is  incredibly hurt when she sees the love interest   dies.

 Raphael comes back late in the night,  and neither of them says a word before falling   asleep. The next morning, Raphael oversleeps, so  when he wakes up he hurries out of the apartment   to get to work without noticing the apartment has  changed and assuming Olivia's avoiding him. Felix   is waiting at the door for him as usual, but  instead of his fancy car, he's brought an old   scooter. Raphael blames it on Felix's weirdness  and they leave on the scooter to reach the school   where Raphael will be talking to some fans, but  things just keep getting weird: a random teacher   calls him "Raph" as if she knew him, and Felix  leaves him in the classroom alone.

 When Raphael   approaches the kids in class, he lets them ask any  question they want, but they only have comments   about their homework. Raphael is starting to  think this may be a prank by the journalists,   and after checking a mirror for hidden cameras, he  decides to leave because he isn't in the mood for   this. Next he goes to his publishing company for  a meeting about the movie adaptation of his book,   but nobody recognizes him there. Raphael thinks  they're pranking him too and begins losing his   temper, so he's kicked out of the building. As  soon as he hits the streets, Raphael is shocked   to see a sign on a bus promoting Olivia's next  concert in one of the most important theatres   in the city. Raphael goes to that theatre to see  what's going on and finds a group of fans waiting   for Olivia to come out, apparently she's this big  piano star and as far as her fans and journalists   everyone knows, she's still single.

 When Olivia  finally shows up, she signs autographs for   everyone and asks Raphael his name to give him  one too, because she clearly doesn't recognize   him. Still utterly confused, Raphael returns to  his apartment and finally notices everything is   different. Olivia's belongings aren't there,  and there's nothing fancy about it either.   Raphael's notebook shows his story isn't complete,  and googling himself doesn't produce any results   about fame. He does find his profile on social  media and dating sites, which show him he works   as a literature teacher. Googling Olivia does give  him better results: she's indeed a very successful   star and everyone is crazy about her. His search  is suddenly interrupted by a videocall from Felix,   who wants to chat about the crazy party they went  to last night, apparently partying and picking up   random women is something they do a lot.

Before  Raphael can question what exactly is going on,   someone rings the bell: it's Melanie, the teacher  he saw earlier. She enters the apartment as if   Raphael was supposed to be expecting her, she also  brings food and a hunger for something hotter than   dinner. Raphael panics and hides in the bathroom  to buy time, and when he decides to take a shower,   he notices he has a tattoo on his chest that  wasn't there before - it says "ping" because Felix   has "pong" to mark them as a ping-pong team. The  next morning, Raphael looks for Felix and tells   him the only explanation that he can think of:  he's arrived in a parallel universe where he has   a totally different life. Felix obviously doesn't  believe him, so Raphael has no choice but to teach   his class for the rest of the day. After work,  Raphael tries to explain things to Felix again,   but he's still not taken seriously, thus he asks  his friend to summarize his life for him while   pretending he has amnesia. Felix tells Raphael  that he's a literature teacher, that his students   love his classes, that they still play ping-pong  tournaments together, and they don't share a   place because Raphael likes to bring different  girls over all the time.

In Raphael's eyes,   this sucks because of how different things are,  but he can't help wondering if Olivia's also   trapped. In the evening, Raphael sneaks into  a fancy party at the theatre by pretending to   be a waiter. When he approaches Olivia, she asks  him for some food, so he brings it to her and is   delighted to be called by his name. Unfortunately  this is a false alarm: Olivia remembers him from   the signing the day before, not from another life.  Raphael takes a shot and admits he's not a waiter,   he just wanted to have the honor to talk to  her, which Olivia considers very sweet. But   before Raphael can say more, Olivia is called  over for some work stuff. On the weekend,   Felix takes Raphael to a ping-pong competition.  Raphael hasn't played since high school and is   an absolute disaster, causing them to lose the  match.

 Ironically this is what finally convinces   Felix the parallel universe story is true since  his Raphael is an excellent player. Then Felix   begins mentioning examples of time traveling  and alternate universes in fiction and points   out there always is a conflict that initiates  the transition, so Raphael begins telling him   all about the night of their argument. Considering  they had never fought before, Raphael assumes the   argument triggered this craziness and to solve  it he needs to make Olivia love him again. At   first he thinks it would be easy because he knows  everything about Olivia, but then he realizes her   tastes may've changed in this life. Raphael starts  by visiting Gabrielle on Sunday. Gabrielle swears   she recognizes him, but soon Raphael catches on  and understands in this universe she has memory   trouble, so she's just playing along; she also  still has her special ring.

 When Olivia arrives,   she's shocked to see a man without authorization  bothering her grandmother, causing Raphael to   pretend he's volunteering to read for the elderly  in the nursing home before leaving the room to   give them some privacy. Olivia considers calling  the director to check if Raphael's story is true,   but she's shocked to hear Gabrielle remembering  her name thus when she mentions she remembers   the guy too, Olivia takes it as proof the story's  real. Once her visit is over, Olivia finds Raphael   outside pretending to read to another elderly man.  He drops the book as soon as he sees Olivia so   he can walk with her and do some chitchatting, he  also buys her what he believes to be her favorite   coffee and snack, but in this universe, she hates  the type he chooses. At least they get to talk,   and Raphael learns Gabrielle has become obsessed  with reading biographies.

 Raphael thinks Olivia,   being the star that she is, should have one  about her life and offers to write it himself,   but Olivia isn't interested. For his next attempt,  Raphael gets his best friend's help. Felix changes   his name and calls Olivia's agent while pretending  to be Raphael's agent offering a big deal to write   Olivia's biography. The guy finds Felix to  be hilarious and agrees for Raphael to meet   with Olivia to discuss the matter. Raphael gets  very excited and the following night, he goes to   Olivia's apartment with her favorite flowers in  hand - luckily this time he does nail Olivia's   taste. Sadly he soon gets his hopes shattered when  he is introduced to Marc, who is both Olivia's   boyfriend and agent, because this is supposed to  be a business meeting. Raphael wants to kill Felix   for the misunderstanding but for now he goes to  the bathroom and calls him to ask him to come too   after lying to Olivia and Marc by telling them  Felix was just a little late.

 Moments later,   the four of them are having a pleasant yet a bit  awkward dinner, and Raphael has lots of trouble   stopping his jealousy from making him do faces  every time Olivia and Marc are sweet with each   other. After dinner, Olivia goes to the garden to  have some fresh air, and when Raphael joins her,   he discovers she's actually smoking in secret  because Marc hates it. Olivia also confesses   that since she's so young, she feels like writing  her biography already would be too pretentious,   so Raphael decides to respect her wishes and drop  the subject for now. When Marc comes to tell them   desert is ready, Raphae doesn't tell him about  the smoking, and Olivia is so impressed by all the   respect he's been showing that she decides maybe  she should give the biography a chance after all.

The next day, Raphael and Olivia meet at a café  to start the first interview for the biography.   Raphael only pretends to have brought questions  and to take note of Olivia's answers because he   already knows all her childhood anecdotes, but he  still has a great time because it's like relieving   their first dates. Hours later when they're  leaving, Raphael sees Melanie approaching and   tells Olivia she's an ex he can't get rid of, so  in order to help, Olivia tells Melanie that she's   dating Raphael now. The trick works and Melanie  finally gives up on Raphael for good. When Raphael   explains he knew Melanie from school, the subject  of education comes up and Olivia's surprised   to hear they used to go to the same high school  during the same years because she doesn't remember   him at all. Hoping to recreate the magic of the  night they met, Raphael takes Olivia to their   old school and tries to get her in the abandoned  piano room, but the door is locked.

 Unwilling to   give up yet, Raphael tries to break the padlock  with a fire extinguisher, and this gets them   in trouble with another teacher so just like it  happened in their youth, the pair has to run away.   Not everything goes exactly the same though:  when Raphael takes her to the bench outside,   it's taken by a vagabond. For their next biography  meeting, Olivia takes Raphael to the places where   she won her first prizes and had her first shows.  When they're done, Raphael tries to schedule their   next meeting, but Olivia tells him he'll have to  wait because she's leaving for a few days to have   a little vacation near the coast. Raphael wonders  if he could come with her, but Olivia turns him   down, explaining she does this every year to have  some alone time.

The following day, Raphael is   delighted to get a text from Olivia saying she's  changed her mind and that he can come, thus they   take the train together. The vacation house she's  renting turns out to be the place where they had   their honeymoon in the other universe, so Raphael  can't stop seeing flashbacks of his other life in   every corner. They have a lot of fun together  while relaxing through various activities like   riding bicycles and playing the piano, although  Raphael is going through constant whiplash between   present and past: this Olivia is sharing some  childhood anecdotes he never knew about, but   she also keeps playing the same song she played  the night they met in the other universe. During   dinner, Raphael feels brave enough to tell her the  truth, but Olivia thinks he's pulling some kind of   writer's joke. After laughing, she makes up her  own little story of a parallel version of them,   where they fight and cheat but in the end they  mature and come together again. Once dinner is   over, they decide to go skinny-dipping in the  sea, and Olivia allows herself to forget about   Marc for a night to get frisky with Raphael.  The next morning, Raphael wakes up alone,   but there's a breakfast in a cute shape waiting  for him. For a moment he thinks he's managed to   fix reality, but then he notices the tattoo is  still on his chest, meaning he's still in the   parallel universe. Olivia is outside talking to  Marc because of an emergency: Gabrielle has fallen   and now Olivia must cut her vacation short. After  she hangs up, she asks Raphael to keep last night   a secret. With a broken heart, Raphael agrees,  and when they take the train back, he has to   watch how Marc picks up Olivia at the station  as if nothing happened. Instead of going home,   Raphael goes to see Felix to have a friendly ear  to rant to.

 Olivia likes him again yet she chose   Marc and Raphael keeps complaining because he has  to go back to teaching and stupid ping-pong. This   makes Felix finally snap, because he's tired of  hearing Raphael insult the life he's built here,   not to mention that at least he has Olivia as  a friend. Felix doesn't even have that: in this   universe, Morgane told him to leave her alone  years ago and Felix respected that, so since then   he's been putting all his feelings into letters  he never sent. If Raphael won't appreciate having   Felix and Olivia in his life, then Felix wants him  out of his house. Not knowing what else to do now,   Raphael pays Gabrielle a visit, only to discover  she doesn't have her ring anymore. This can only   mean one thing, so Raphael immediately calls  Olivia, but she ignores his calls because she's   currently being proposed to by Marc.

 She does  see Raphael's name on the phone screen though,   and that makes her hesitate before answering.  Some hours later, Olivia and Raphael meet at   the bench outside school, and Raphael notices  the ring on Olivia's finger. She explains Marc   has been with her a long time and wishes she  had met Raphael earlier, and after she leaves,   Raphael cries his heart out on the bench while  pretending the carving is still there, he also   goes to a bar to get drunk. Afterward, Raphael  tries to accept this is his life now and works   to get used to the school routine. Felix isn't  talking to him, so as the last gesture in the name   of friendship, Raphael takes all his letters to  Morgane. One morning, Raphael's students discuss   that the writer of a book is that world's god, so  if they want someone to die, then they just die.   This makes Raphael realizes something: it hadn't  been the fight that triggered this universe jump,   it had been him killing his own wife in his  story.

After retrieving his old notebook,   Raphael begins working hard on his book again,  but this time the hero sacrifices himself in the   end to save his love interest. Once he's done, he  prints it and takes it to the theatre on Olivia's   big night to ask for one last big favor: he wants  her to read this story, and promises he'll never   bother her again. Olivia accepts after hearing him  say how important it is and tells him he can take   Gabrielle's seat at the concert if he wants to  watch it because her grandmother hasn't remembered   to come in years. They seal the deal with a  handshake. When Raphael goes back to the streets,   he bumps into Felix and Morgane, who are together  now thanks to Raphael's meddling. Felix couldn't   be happier and forgives Raphael for everything  to show his gratitude. Inside the theatre,   Olivia begins reading the story and this makes  it snow like in the other life, which Raphael   sees as a sign his plan is working. He rushes  inside to watch the concert, unaware that the   moment Olivia left the book behind to play, it  stopped snowing as well. The concert then begins   and Raphael can't believe what he's seeing. As  memories of his years with Olivia flood his mind,   he realizes she's never played the piano with  this much passion and skill, which means he's   been holding her back and she's obviously better  without him. Crying, Raphael leaves the hall and   sneaks into the dressing room to retrieve his book  and only leaves a note behind saying loving Olivia   is the most beautiful thing that's ever happened  to him. When the concert is over, Olivia is hurt   and disappointed to see the reserved seat  is empty, the only one waiting for her is   Marc's serious face. Outside the theatre, Raphael  throws his book in the trash, wondering what to do   next. His thoughts are suddenly interrupted  by Olivia, who has realized where her heart   truly lies and has come looking for him to kiss  him, a sign that she's choosing him over Marc.

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