Vivien lands in Hong Kong as Florence Ng and is taken by a contact to a rooming house. She recalls the mystery of the coconut bun in the photograph Liam sent to Alice, remembering that the bun had no packaging and appeared handmade, a rarity these days. Vivien then flies to Xi’an, where she is immediately taken into custody by an MSS official. She is brought to a building near the Terracotta Warriors excavation, where she is greeted by Wang Lai, the head of the MSS, and then led to her ex-husband, Liu Tongzheng, who she believed was dead.

Meanwhile, Alice lands in Hong Kong but is denied a connecting flight to Xi’an because she lacks a travel visa. In the airport bathroom, she unfolds the paper snake and finds a list of corporations. She asks a flight attendant for a bakery that makes coconut buns and is directed to Kam Fung. She goes there, finds it closed, and is captured by the MSS agent from Liam’s photograph.

In the excavation pit near the Terracotta Warriors, Vivien confronts Liu Tongzheng. She accuses him of betraying her brother, Kai-wen—the famous “Tank Man” from the Tiananmen Square protests—by turning him in to the authorities, which led to his death. Liu admits to reporting him but claims he had no choice. He explains that Pangu, the pro-democracy network they co-founded, was never truly disbanded and has evolved into a radical terrorist organization responsible for the recent global attacks. He discloses that he is about to become the new head of the MSS and admits to being her contact, revealing that he deceived her with an AI-generated photo of a fictitious female official. He claims Pangu must be stopped, and their conversation is interrupted when guards bring their daughter, Alice, into the pit.

Alice, who had been blindfolded and transported by helicopter, is in shock after seeing her parents together. She runs to her father, Liu Tongzheng, and embraces him before pulling away, overwhelmed by anger and confusion about his decades-long disappearance and supposed death.

Meanwhile, President Pardington speaks privately with President Volkov of Russia, who tells Pardington to have his people investigate APAI, blockchain, and the supply chain as the methods behind the attack. Back in the pit, Alice demands to know about Pangu, the organization she overheard them discussing, while high above them, Wang Lai watches from a window.

To escape Wang Lai’s surveillance, Liu Tongzheng leads Vivien and Alice deeper into the excavation pit, stopping before the sealed wall of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb. Alice presses her father for the real reason he left. In response, Vivien explains that she kicked Liu out after learning from a contact that he had turned in her brother, Kai-wen; Liu silently confirms the accusation. To maintain their cover, Liu stages a reconciliation with Vivien, and as they hug, he whispers that her brother is actually alive in Taiwan. Liu then embraces Alice, pretending to comfort her, and whispers that he believes Vivien is the secret leader of the new Pangu.

In Beijing, Chinese President Chen watches a live video feed from Xi’an showing Liu, Vivien, and Alice in the excavation pit. He is skeptical of Wang Lai’s suggestion that Liu may be complicit in the attacks but grows suspicious seeing Liu embrace Vivien. Chen has been avoiding President Pardington’s calls but finally accepts one. His chief of staff is on the phone with the White House and relays a message to Chen: “APAI.” Chen takes the phone, and an aide instructs him to hold for President Pardington. Just as Pardington comes on the line, the power grid fails, and the line goes dead, signaling the start of a second, more severe attack.

A worldwide blackout plunges the excavation pit into darkness. Liu guides Vivien and Alice through the dark to a hidden door, emerging in the museum gift shop. Liu creates a diversion by sending the guards to rescue Wang Lai, whom he claims is trapped in the bunker. The three escape in an army vehicle, with Vivien driving to a nearby hangar where Liu has a small plane waiting. The blackout causes global chaos. During the confusion, McAllister searches the office of his protégé, Alan Zhou, who has reportedly succumbed to his injuries. McAllister, who had already retrieved a bloodstained dossier from Zhou’s body, finds additional hidden proof of Zhou’s role as a mole. He destroys this new evidence and forges another document in Zhou’s hand with the help of AI.

Aboard the plane, Alice questions why Vivien’s brother, Kai-wen, would not have tried to contact her if he were alive. Liu lands near Fuzhou and arranges for a contact to take them to the ferry to Taipei, telling them they can find Kai-wen there. At the chaotic port, an MSS agent escorts them onto the ferry. Vivien realizes their escape was orchestrated by the regime, who must believe Kai-wen is running Pangu. Alice shows Vivien the paper snake, and Vivien recognizes the painting on the li bien ball as an image from their mother’s book about “recluse scholars,” a book Kai-wen took when their parents were arrested. She now knows where to find him.

On the dangerously overcrowded ferry to Taiwan, Vivien explains that she left Liu years ago after an informant told her he was responsible for Kai-wen’s capture and death. Alice reveals that she left a note for her brother Kevin about her travel plans. Vivien is alarmed, stating her belief that Kevin’s husband, Paul, is a Chinese agent. Alice is surprised that Vivien knows Kevin is gay, but Vivien says that she has known since Kevin was a child. She wonders aloud if her anonymous warning about the elevators came from Liu, though she also says it doesn’t make sense; Alice infers this means he could be running Pangu. In Washington, President Pardington is briefed on the blackout’s catastrophic aftermath. CIA Director Grant McAllister presents a dossier framing Alan Zhou as the Pangu mole. McAllister argues that Pangu is an arm of the Chinese government, groomed by the United Front Work Department, and warns that much of their intelligence may have been fabricated by Double Dragon’s AI factory. The revelation casts doubt on all their information, but fearing a nuclear strike is next, Pardington orders McAllister to find Vivien and bring her to the White House.