Today I spent my time finishing the story content of the new ZZZ patch (2.4). I honestly expected it to be shorter, but it ended up taking quite a bit more time than planned, though to be fair, the story was interesting enough that it felt like time well spent.
The plot picks up right where we left off, with Sarah working toward the revival of the Creator together with Ye Shiyuan, who has seemingly betrayed everyone in order to defy a prophecy that foretells the near-future death of his sister, Ye Shunguang.
Meanwhile, Dialyn receives orders from TOPS to forcibly retrieve Banyue’s core, since they don’t consider him a living being. She’s given full authority to act however she sees fit, with Zhao operating from the shadows to provide intel and monitor the mission.
First, let’s talk about Dialyn, because they finally laid out her entire backstory (presented through hallucinations) and, as is becoming the norm for ZZZ, it’s steeped in despair and tragedy. She was offered as a “sacrifice” to the Hollow by the person she trusted most, supposedly to save their village.
But the truth was even worse: the entire sacrifice ritual was fabricated by a construction company to wipe out the village residents for insurance money. Despite learning this, Dialyn still ran back to try and warn that person.
Her character is hard to read right now. She appears ruthless in some scenes, yet unambiguously caring in others. As a Krampus judge working under TOPS, I guess part of her role is hiding her true feelings to deliver an “objective” judgment. In the end she chooses to recruit Banyue rather than destroy him.
Zhao is hesitant about it, but decides to support her anyway within TOPS. The mention of an unseen “executioner” during their discussion about Dialyn decision leaves me curious as to which new character they have in preparation for us in this faction.
Speaking of Banyue, we also get a look at his past. It’s a familiar kind of story: he saves the children because their parents were beyond saving, and the kids hate him for it because they don’t understand. It’s fine, but definitely less compelling than the rest of the patch for me.
As for Ye Shiyuan and Sarah, their segments were more impactful. Sarah’s backstory shows that she originally worked for HAND (a faction tied to the city administration), and after her squad was wiped out in the Hollow, she was erased from the records entirely. It’s no wonder she fell into despair. The Exaltists rescued her, and without a place to return to, she gravitated toward them and their mission. Honestly, you can’t really blame her. The city discarded her, why should she retain loyalty to it?
Ye Shiyuan instead was clearly bluffing and tried to destroy the Creator before it could materialize, he failed, but at least showed that his allegiance to the group is still true. He didn't return at the end of the battle though so he clearly is still doing something to help his sister from the shadow.
We also finally get a “proper” introduction to the Creator, at least voice-wise. The voice sounds female, but we still have no idea what the Creator actually is. What we do know is that it wants to return to the real world and is using the Exaltists to accomplish that. I can’t help but wonder if this ties back to the mysterious AIs mentioned way back in the prologue.
There’s also a short but heavy scene showing the price Ye Shunguang pays for using her special sword: she loses memories every time. She’s already in a fragile state after this patch’s events, and I genuinely wonder how much more she can endure with the battles that are clearly coming.
With the 2.x series nearing its finale, I’m really curious where they plan to take things next and how they’ll transition us into the “next phase” of the story. The pieces are all moving into position, and it feels like something big is coming.
Looking forward to it.
