Reset (开端)
Plain spoiler-y recaps, no reactions or commentary
[ Episode 1 ]
Li Shi Qing wakes up in fright, causing Xiao He Yun, who was sitting next to her on the bus, to startle awake. Seeing Shi Qing sweating, the concerned He Yun reaches into his bag to pull out tissues. His elbow slips and hits Shi Qing’s chest. Shi Qing grabs He Yun’s hand and accuses him of being a pervert. She insistently asks for the bus to pull over as she wants to report He Yun to the police station. The passengers wanted to continue the route without delay. They told her to go to the station across the bridge instead. Shi Qing doesn’t relent. After begging for the bus driver to pull over, he stops to let Shi Qing out. Before getting off the bus, she pulls He Yun out, saying she wants to report him. When the bus leaves, Shi Qing leaves behind a confused He Yun. He Yun is upset at Shi Qing for accusing him and delaying his meeting. He hails a taxi and continues his journey after the bus. While Shi Qing is about to cross the road, she hears an explosion, and a motorcyclist runs into her.
Shi Qing wakes up at the hospital with a concussion. The police come in to get her statement. After struggling to recall the details, Shi Qing finally remembers and tells Zhang Cheng about her dream within a dream. Shi Qing recounts how her normal day started by getting on the bus, falling asleep, and waking up with burning pain. Each time she woke up, she felt the realistic pain from her dream and feared for her life. The sixth time she woke up, Shi Qing got desperate and accused He Yun of harassing her. While Zhang Cheng didn’t believe her “dream within a dream,” he permits Shi Qing to continue her statement. Zhang Cheng leaves the hospital requesting a female officer to look over Shi Qing and receives news that He Yun will not make it. A burnt-up He Yun, who passed away in the hospital, wakes up on the bus in fright.
[ Episode 2 ]
Xiao He Yun wakes up on the bus frightened, and Li Shi Qing realizes that He Yun is possibly aware of the time loop. Shi Qing confronts He Yun, but he dismisses her. After several attempts to leave the bus and Shi Qing telling him his methods wouldn’t work, He Yun decides to listen to her. They work together to prevent the crash instead of leaving the bus. After successfully stopping the traffic accident, Shi Qing and He Yun sigh in relief. Shi Qing hears the familiar ringtone of Canon from her first and second loops. The bus explodes, and they wake up again.
Realizing that there may be a bomb on the bus, Shi Qing and He Yun use the previous method (harassment) and gets off the bus. Shi Qing call the authorities to alert them about a bomb on Bus 45. After it explodes, they realize that the police will come for them, and they hide for the time being to come up with a plan.
[ Episode 3 ]
He Yun and Shi Qing draw out a timeline map of the location and time of the bombing in each time loop. The police find their location, and they get taken in for interrogation. He Yun and Shi Qing go into the details of the time loop during the investigation, but no one believes them. After several hours, the police switch their tactics and press the two by saying that the other has given a different statement. He Yun and Shi Qing are confused and worried about this turn of events. However, a call to Chief Du stops the interrogation. Shi Qing and He Yun will be detained with new evidence of bomb residue at the scene. The police decide to detain He Yun first, as he is less emotionally stable. Shi Qing falls asleep and wakes up on the bus again.
[ Episode 4 ]
Shi Qing and He Yun wake up and try to figure out where the bomb is. Discovering that they will reach one last stop before the bombing, they get off the bus. When they depart from the bus, Shi Qing immediately calls the police to alert them about the bomb. He Yun is upset that Shi Qing has alerted the authorities as they will end back up at the station for interrogation. Shi Qing tells He Yun that she will always choose to get on the bus and save the people inside it.
In contrast, He Yun stresses that it’s okay to be a coward and choose to live. The police stop the bus in the middle of the bridge, but the explosion still goes off, killing Xiao Jiang. Shi Qing goes to the police station while He Yun is still outside. The police suspect that Shi Qing and He Yun are acquaintances, but Shi Qing denies it. While being interrogated by Zhang Cheng, He Yun calls her. Shi Qing tells him to stop calling as they have already broken up. He Yun is confused but understands what she means and tells her, “Let’s sleep. Once we fall asleep, all will be better.”
[ Episode 5 ]
Shi Qing and He Yun wake up and decide to check everyone’s bag thoroughly before making any rash decisions to involve the police. They target the last passenger who abroad the bus with a backpack that he’s protecting closely. Shi Qing and He Yun act out different scenarios to see what’s inside his backpack but fail each time. On their third attempt, they drag the passenger off the bus and find a cat inside his bag. Shi Qing realizes that this man may be involved in the loop now and wants to debrief him on the situation to help them figure it out. Hearing Shi Qing praise this man causes He Yun to be jealous, so he tells her that they shouldn’t.
The bus still explodes, but this time Shi Qing and He Yun are trying to enjoy the experiences they create in the loop, get to know more information about the loop and find out about the passengers on the bus. The mysterious passenger they pulled back realized that He Yun and Shi Qing were acting suspiciously. He thinks that they know something about the explosion and confronts the two.
[ Episode 6 ]
Lu Di takes He Yun and Shi Qing to his secret hideout that’s filled with cats and anime. They decide to tell Lu Di that they are in a time loop. Lu Di is confused and asks why a time loop is occurring in May and not in August, a month that’s typical for time loops. He Yun scoffs as he realizes that Lu Di refers to the world of anime and time loops. Lu Di believes they are telling the truth and is happy to be chosen to help them. Before departing, Lu Di tells them his secret name, “Lu, Cat Apostle, a person chosen by the light, Di.“ If they call him, he shall help them at any time and returns home.
Lu Di has asthma, causing his parents to close him off from the world. After coming so close to death, Lu Di reflects on his life and his parents inside his room. While writing in his diary, the police call him to give a statement. While waiting for updates from the police, Shi Qing and He Yun discover more information on the passengers. They soon receive a phone call to visit the station for details on the accident. Lu Di tells the truth of what happened that day but doesn’t dive into the time loop details. Zhang Cheng believes that there’s more going on with the three and their relationship than it seems.
[ Episode 7 ]
Ma Guoqing is in prison, and his wife visits. He’s happy that he will get out early, but his wife breaks the news to him that they shouldn’t contact each other again. At the station, He Yun and Shi Qing both give statements that point to Ma Guoqing as suspicious. Finding out that Ma Guoqing has a record, they question his family. However, Zhang Cheng is still doubtful and wants to keep them until after speaking with the family members. While walking out of the station, Shi Qing sees all the deceased’s family members. She happens to overhear Ma Guoqing’s wife talking to an officer and asks to wait for He Yun’s, her boyfriend, to be released. While waiting, Shi Qing eavesdrops on the conversation between Ma Guoqing’s wife and the officer. Ma Guoqing’s son walks out, Shi Qing follows him outside the station.
Lu Di’s mother finds the will he wrote in his diary and approaches the station. Seeing that there was additional evidence on Lu Di knowing more about the accident, the police detained all three for interrogation. Time is running out during the interrogation as it gets closer to midnight. When they open their eyes, they’re back on the bus. Lu Di broads the bus, and they approach him but realize that he didn’t enter the loop with them. They decide to take matters into their own hands and squash Ma Guoqing’s watermelons by “accident.” Realizing their mistake, Shi Qing pretends to be a coworker of his son, Ma Xiao Tong. With the information she got from Ma Xiao Tong, Shi Qing tries to make it up to Ma Guoqing in his last moments.
[ Episode 8 ]
Jiao Xiaorong is laid off from his construction job and is evicted from his garage unit.
He Yun and Shi Qing try to figure out which one of the remaining two suspects they should approach first in the bus. Shi Qing approaches the female suspect and asks for a pad, but she tells her she doesn’t have any. Dejected, Shi Qing walks back to He Yun, deciding to leave the bus. Before the door opens, Jiao Xiaorong tugs on Shi Qing’s bag and proceeds to open up his suitcase, and gives her a pad. Concluding that the pressure cooker filled with meat is probably the bomb, He Yun pushes Shi Qing out and tries to grab the pot. However, the lady’s grip on the pressure cooker was firm. She pulled on the wire, causing the bus to explode.
Shi Qing wakes up first to find He Yun struggling to get up. Once he is conscious, Shi Qing admits that she’s scared of death. While contemplating if they should get off of the stop on a possible last loop, Shi Qing decides against it. They both pretended to have lost something and tried to grab the pressure cooker again. The lady pulls out a knife and stabs He Yun and Shi Qing. They both wake up in the loop again, and this time, Shi Qing pushes He Yun out at the stop. She turns back to try to grab the pressure cooker. The lady pulls out the knife again, but He Yun intervenes and kills the lady. Shaken but determined, He Yun pulls Shi Qing off the bus. The bus driver walks over to look at the scene, and the bus explodes.
[ Episode 9 ]
The suspicious lady is sweeping up the remaining ash from a fire at her home garage unit.
Jiao Xiangrong was one of the passengers that the police could identify through the surveillance cameras. Xiao Jiang dispatches to investigate Jiao Xiaorong at Gangwu New Village while others look for He Yun and Shi Qing. During the investigation on Jiao Xiaorong, Xiao Jiang finds out that the suspicious lady lives at one of the garage units at Gangwu New Village. Xiao Jiang suspects that she may have a part in this explosion.
He Yun and Shi Qing endlessly walk through the streets and ends up in Gangwu New Village – a place with little surveillance cameras. They stop by an outside sink, and He Yun throws up. As they continue, they discover that the police are surrounding them. He Yun wants to leave Shi Qing behind, but she follows him on the run. They hitch a ride that leads them to Lu Di’s secret base, where they seek shelter. While Shi Qing goes out in cosplay to grab medicine to clean He Yun’s wound, she sees Zhang Cheng.
[ Episode 10 ]
He Yun and Shi Qing go to He Yun’s friend’s place, where the police used Lu Di’s device to track them. He Yun wanted Shi Qing to fall asleep before he turned himself in. They both woke up on the bus and concocted a new plan to get everyone off the bus. They type a message on their phones stating the situation and that they’re the police. Despite getting everyone to see this, the lady notices something wrong and ignites the bomb.
On their second attempt, they decide to get help. He Yun once again lies that he’s a policeman and seeks Jiao Xiaorong’s help. When Lu Di boards the bus, they use his secret name to ask him to assist them. While He Yun and Jiao Xiaorong tackle the lady, Lu Di grabs the pot, and Shi Qing tries to get the bus driver to open the bus. Realizing that he won’t open the door, He Yun breaks the window, trying to get the pot out. With another unsuccessful attempt, Shi Qing is upset with the bus driver. She has always thought he was a righteous and friendly man. After waking up, she confronts him angrily, and the lady pulls the trigger again.
[ Episode 11 ]
He Yun’s standby/wake-up time is starting to lag every time he wakes up. Instead of trying to stop the explosion, Shi Qing and He Yun leave the bus to figure out the details of the suspicious lady and the bus driver, Wang Xing De. He Yun and Shi Qing first stop at Wang Xing De’s workplace to get information about him through the guise of students working on a project. As they’re about to get the basic information they want from the office worker, the police show up to get route information on Bus 45. Shi Qing and He Yun use this distraction to grab the information they need and move to the next place.
They visit Wang Xing De’s resident location and pretend to be his family. The uncle who lives with Wang Xing De opens the door for them and lets He Yun search for the household registration that Wang Xing De supposedly asked him to grab. While He Yun goes into Wang Xing De’s room to snoop, Shi Qing distracts the roommate to inquire about more details of Wang Xing De’s personal life.
He Yun and Shi Qing realize that they have to push the police into investigating Wang Xing De and the suspicious lady to get the most out of the current time loop. They voluntarily go to the station to give their statements and successfully lead the police in the right direction, but now Zhang Cheng and the team feels like these two are acting too suspicious.
[ Episode 12 ]
As the police try to confirm the evidence they found on Wang Xing De and his wife, they continue to monitor He Yun and Shi Qing. They soon learn that He Yun and Shi Qing have good intentions with the helpful and specific knowledge they disclosed. He Yun and Shi Qing conceded that even though they were to get all the details they needed on Wang Xing De, they still wouldn’t be able to stop the bus. They ask hypothetical questions to gauge what the police would do if they were still on the bus with limited time to reach the bomb. Seeing that they can trust Zhang Cheng, He Yun asks for his number before Zhang Cheng leaves.
He Yun wakes up on the bus with a nose bleed. He Yun sent Zhang Cheng a message regarding the bomb on the bus and stalled the vehicle while the police dispatched out. Their attempts to stop Wang Xing De and his wife seem futile as they are running out of time.
[ Episode 13 ]
After Meng Meng’s accident, Tan Yinhong and Wang Xing De were not satisfied with the results of the police report. Tan Yinhong decided to do an investigation herself that lasted over one month. Her desperation led to harassing young female college students on the bus to becoming obsessed with Meng Meng’s death.
Zhang Cheng, He Yun, and Shi Qing are all in the hospital. He Yun lost a lot of blood and needs rest while Zhang Cheng needs surgery. Xiao Jiang desperately wants to get statements from He Yun and Shi Qing but is held back.
[ Episode 14 ]
Tan Yinhong blames Wang Xing De for not answering his phone and possibly preventing Wang Meng Meng’s death. They decide to move to Jialin. Wang Xing De applies to be a bus driver for route 45, the same route associated with Meng Meng’s death. He realizes that even though they sensed a familiarity with him, the bus company has forgotten about him and Wang Meng Meng. This revelation ignites Wang Xing De’s fury, allowing him to bury himself in anger with his wife.
Shi Qing believes her advisor may know some information on Wang Meng Meng’s death and calls her advisor over to the hospital. It turns out that Shi Qing’s advisor was also Wang Meng Meng’s advisor when she was still alive. With the assistance of Xiao Jiang, they were able to find a clue to get them more insight into what may have happened on the bus before Wang Meng Meng’s death.
[ Episode 15 ]
Shi Qing, her advisor, and Xiao Jiang received the photo evidence from an alumn student who happened to see Wang Meng Meng getting harassed. Back at the hospital, He Yun spits up blood and is worried that he won’t wake up if they aren’t on their last loop. He makes sure that Shi Qing remembers Officer Zhang’s number and the sequence of events to delay the bus.
As predicted, He Yun struggles to wake up from the loop. Shi Qing takes charge by texting Officer Zhang and gathering help from Jiao Xiaorong and Lu Di. Despite successfully holding back Tan Yinhong, Wang Xing De takes the bomb into his own hands, ready to discharge it. However, with Shi Qing’s quick thinking and Officer Zhang’s persuasion, Wang Xing De gives up the bomb. Right before the bomb goes off, Officer Zhang throws it into the river, saving everyone’s lives.
Read more: Reset Final Review
Photo credits (all linked): Douban
