Introduction
With the explosion of popularity of the 2023 prequel I Am Nobody, the sequel was much anticipated in 2025. As this drama is to be continued in Season 3, it would be useful if I wrote the drama info, character list, and episode recap to review them again when Season 3 is here!
Drama Info
Drama title: I Am Nobody: The Showdown Between Yin & Yang
(Native title: 异人之下之决战! 碧游村 )
Alternative title: I Am Nobody Season 2
Genres: Comedy, Wuxia, Fantasy
Aired: Jan 18, 2025 - Jan 24, 2025
Episodes: 13 | Duration: 45 minutes
Director: Derek Hui ( 许宏宇 )
Screenwriter: Jiang Feng ( 蒋峰 )
Adapted from the manhua "Under One Person" ( 一人之下 ) by Mi Er ( 米二 )
Where to watch: Youku
OST: "Ice Flower" ( 冰凌花 ) by Zhou Shen ( 周深 )
Trailer:
Synopsis
Zhang Chu Lan is thrust into the Outsiders’ world, facing trials and tribulations that ultimately shape him into a just and responsible hero among the gifted. His fate is deeply intertwined with Feng Bao Bao, and their bond faces a critical test when an unexpected crisis arises. Chen Duo, a special operative for the NDT Express, murders her superior and goes on the run.
The remaining six elite operatives, known for their unique skills and secretive lives, come under suspicion and must collaborate to track Chen Duo down. Feng Bao Bao is among them. Meanwhile, clues lead to the mysterious Biyou Village, whose leader, Ma Xian Hong, is closely tied to Zhang Chu Lan’s relentless quest to uncover the truth behind the legendary “Eight Supremes.” (Source: Youku)
Notes:
NDT Express = governing organization of the Outsiders’ world that maintains stability, eliminates evil forces within the Outsiders’ world, and prevents Outsiders’ interference with the ordinary human world ensuring peaceful coexistence between the two. NDT poses as a courier company in the ordinary world.
Temporary workers = NDT is divided into seven regions, each is managed by supervisors. In each region, there are elite operatives, known for their unique skills and secretive lives. Their identities are strictly confidential and are not in the company’s records, thus they are called “temporary workers”.
Characters
I changed Wang Ye (Neo Hou) with Ma Xian Hong (Yin Fang) as one of the main characters. Although Neo Hou is more popular than Yin Fang and one of the top billings, character-wise Wang Ye is more of a supporting character in this drama with sporadic appearances, while Ma Xian Hong is an important role in this season and is also hinted to hold a key role in Season 3. The order of the supporting characters is based on their role’s significance.
Main Characters
Peng Yu Chang ( 彭昱畅 ) as Zhang Chu Lan, NDT Express employee Lubei Region
Wang Ying Lu ( 王影璐 ) as Feng Bao Bao, NDT Express temporary worker – Lubei Region
Vicky Chen ( 陳文淇 ) as Chen Duo, NDT Express temporary worker – Lunan Region
Yin Fang ( 尹昉 ) as Ma Xian Hong, Chief of Biyou Village
Supporting Characters
Episode Recap
Episode 1
At about 1 a.m., a decomposed body eroded by toxin is found in the Guang Sheng Road warehouse of the Southwest Administrative Region of NDT Express. The victim is Liao Zhong, Supervisor of NDT Express’s Lunan Region. All operations are halted, and the supervisors are ordered to return to the HQ for an urgent meeting. The suspect is his temporary worker Chen Duo. After arguments about having temporary workers, the HQ sends out these special agents to find Chen Duo who carries dangerous toxins to the Outworld as well as the human world. San and Si worry about Bao Bao’s interaction with the rest, so Chu Lan proposes to accompany her.
The next day, Zhang Chu Lan and Feng Bao Bao head the Southwest Region. They try to contact their teammates, but everyone is hiding. Only one member Xiao Zi Zai answers but wants to do the mission alone. Another member warns him of the danger being alone. Zi Zai visits Chen Duo’s uncle who runs a little restaurant. The uncle gives him an address where Chen Duo is heading and an envelope that contains a flood of rats. Zi Zai who runs into Wang Zhen Qiu. Both join Chu Lan and Bao Bao to visit the next address.
The team stops in a deserted warehouse. Lao Meng from the Northwest Region appears quickly and wants to persuade Chen Duo first, but she sends poisonous bats. The three resist the bats one by one, but Bao Bao uses 18 Formidable Ways to quickly eliminate all. Chen Duo shows up.
Episode 2
At night, Zhu Ge Qing from Wuhou Qimen gets a visit from a robotic doll that is split into two dolls. He subdues them and is surprised by the crafts made by his family, the Divine Forge technique. Fu Rong who controls the dolls shows up. She hands Ge Qing a phone. Ma Xian Hong, on the other end, invites him to Biyou Village.
Chen Duo tells Lao Meng that Liao Zhong refused her freedom but all she wanted was to be happy. Three men back her up and start fighting with the team. Chen Duo runs away with a car. Chu Lan and Bao Bao chase Chen Duo on foot. Finally, Bao Bao hits the car and the two girls continue fighting in the water. Chen Duo releases poison into the water but it doesn’t affect Bao Bao. Seeing Chen Duo is losing, her protector Qiu Rang pulls her up. He breaks the bridge between him and the two. Someone from far away continuously attacks Qiu Rang protective layer, so he and Chen Duo run away.
Lao Meng tells everyone his story of meeting Chen Duo five years ago. He took a task to destroy an illegal organization called Medicine Immortal Association. One of the outstanding members who inherited poison arts is Chen Duo. Liao Zhong took Chen Duo away and made her his special agent. They realize that the status of temporary workers depends on Chen Duo. If they fail the mission, all temporary workers will be abolished.
The HQ locates another Chen Duo’s location at Mei Jing Feng’s house. She is an elder of NDT’s enemy: Sinister Pleasure. A man called Xia Liu Qing is visiting Mei Jing Feng. By the time the team arrives, they find Xia wounded by Chen Duo’s men. He says although the men have average skills they all have magical weapons. He tells the team that Mei Jing Feng is brought to Biyou Village. Xia gives his belonging to Wang Zhen Qiu who he regards as his successor because he taught him some kung fu skills before.
Episode 3
The team finds out there are many Outsiders influxes to the strange Biyou Village, all are unregistered by NDT. Another team member shows up, Hei Guan Er from Luzheng Region. He was the one who attacked Chen Duo and Qiu Rang by the bridge. He says those magic weapons are not ordinary.
Er Zhuang, team member from Northeast Region, prepares a self-driving car for the team. Wang Zhen Qiu says the Armorers are very skilled in making weapons, but they’re rare and one group usually has one. But they have seen so many secret weapons. They enter Biyou Village through a cave and disguise themselves as a tourist group. Biyou Village Chief Ma Xian Hong (from now on I will call him Chief Ma) shows up. His great-grandfather is Zhang Chu Lan’s grandfather’s sworn brother. When knowing that Zhang Chu Lan wants to take away Chen Duo, Chief Ma tells him that she just wants to be a human, not a poisonous tool. Meanwhile, the rest team confronts Chief Ma’s people. Their disco dance is hilarious, lol! Chu Lan says that they need to find a peaceful way to resolve the issue. Chief Ma welcomes them to the village and even invites them to a banquet.
Zhang Chu Lan tells the team about his meeting with Chief Ma. He will go to the banquet while the rest look for Chen Duo around the village. At the banquet, Chu Lan feels weird with Chief Ma’s attitude and speech. He says to the villagers that he would help everyone to fulfill their heart desires. After the banquet, Chu Lan gathers again with the rest but they don’t have important info until Er Zhuang sends the detailed info of Chief Ma and his lackeys. The team challenges her to show up since she’s the only member who hasn’t appeared yet. Poor thing! She shows her disabled condition due to an accident. With only the upper half body in a tank full of tubes and eyes closed. Her superpower ability is to break through various radio waves, so she gets info from the villagers’ phones. She communicates with the team through brain waves. The team sans Chu Lan then sends their selfies to Er Zhuang.
Zhang Chu Lan finds out that his friend from Season 1, Zhu Ge Qing, is also in Biyou Village because he likes Chief Ma’s lackey Fu Rong. A dark shadow is spying them, it’s Chief Ma’s puppet doll. Everyone chases it, but Lao Meng gets distracted by a yellow dog. While chasing the doll, the team sans Bao Bao is suddenly frozen by none other than… Wang Ye from Gate of Gale! He is invited by Chief Ma, too. They find a group of puppets. Zhu Ge Qing appears and warns the group not to walk around the village. Suspicious Wang Ye feels Chief Ma and Zhu Ge Qing work together.
Episode 4
Chief Ma called Wang Ye several days ago and introduced himself as the descendant of Ma Ben Zai from the Divine Forge and invited all descendants of Eight Supremes to work together. Wang Ye refused, but later followed his friend Zhu Ge Qing to the Village. Chief Ma then comes with an ordinary man who tries to fight Wang Ye. Of course, Wang Ye easily subdues him. Chief Ma then took both to Refining Furnace and puts the man into the Furnace. Now he has qi and beats Wang Ye easily. Chief Ma wants to make ordinary people into Outsiders without cultivation of qi. Sensing Chief Ma is up to no good, Wang Ye and Zhu Ge Qing decide to leave quietly but are prevented by Chief Ma. Zhu Ge Qing decides to stay. Before leaving, Wang Ye has looked for the Furnace anywhere in the village but can’t find it, until he ran into the team. Wang Ye joins them.
Lao Meng follows the dog and finds Chen Duo’s hiding place. He can communicate with the dog, so the guards let him in to talk to Chen Duo. One guard says he is a Beast Tamer. While Lao Meng is talking to Chen Duo, Chief Ma is spying on them. A woman appears whom Chief Ma calls Sis, and reports that he has brought Mei Jing Feng back. Chief Ma’s conspiracy is to increase the number of Outsiders by adding bad Outsiders and ordinary people through Furnace to outnumber the world population that will lead to chaos.
Episode 5
This episode is about Zhu Ge Qing, which I don’t care about. The actor doesn’t have charm as Wanyan Luo Rong’s version of Zhu Ge Qing in Season 1. Also, Luo Zheng didn’t have chemistry with Neo Hou, though Wang Ye and Zhu Ge Qing are supposedly good friends. To summarize, Chief Ma wants Zhu Ge Qing to help an ordinary man in a Furnace.
Episode 6
This episode tells about the long process of humanizing Chen Duo, starting when Lao Meng rescued her during the operation to exterminate Medicine Immortal Association five years ago.
Episode 7
This episode tells about how Liao Zhong was able to humanize Chen Duo and after she’s able to control her poisonous power, he takes her as his special agent to protect her. However, the HQ puts a detonation collar around her neck to explode her when her poison gets dangerous. During an operation, she gets lost and meets Chief Ma, who indoctrinates her that she can have what she wants. He takes the detonation collar off her. He also said her boss Liao Zhong only wants to control her but she’ll get freedom in his village. She then meets Liao Zhong and tells him she is very happy and doesn’t want to go back. The HQ wants him to blow her up so she kills him. That is at least the version told by Chen Duo when Lao Meng met her last time. But Chu Lan thinks Chen Duo is hiding something. He tasks Bao Bao to have a girl talk with Chen Duo. But Bao Bao is not good at communication lol, so she puts a headphones for Chu Lan can hear the convo and tell Bao Bao what to say. Chen Duo tells Bao Bao that Liao Zhong ignored the HQ order to blow her up before dying, and used his last effort to close the detonation remote control. The girls then hear a loud noise outside and they’re surrounded by growing bamboo trees.
Episode 8
The guys find out that all their phones lost signals so they can’t communicate with the HQ. Chief Ma blocks them by putting a sky barrier. Bao Bao finds a mobile game that doesn’t need an internet connection so she starts playing and even teaches Chen Duo, and the two girls have fun playing it. Zhang Chu Lan goes to see Chief Ma to negotiate about releasing Bao Bao. Chief Ma persuades him to leave the HQ, saying that if anything wrong happens, Bao Bao will also be destroyed like Chen Duo.
Er Zhuang’s consciousness breaks away from her body, she only has 30 minutes of life left. She disguises as Chief Ma’s puppet and takes away Xiao Zi Zai and Hei Guan Er. Soon the three are surrounded by tons of puppets that start attacking Zi Zai and Guan Er while Er Zhuang’s electromagnetic is dying. The two men defeat the puppets to pieces. Er Zhuang uses the puppet pieces to make a new body, reaches the sky, and finally breaks the electromagnetic barrier. She returns to her body.
The electromagnetic wave is back to normal and Chu Lan can see Bao Bao’s voice again. He leaves Chief Ma and asks Bao Bao to relay his message to Chen Duo, asking her if she wants to leave but Chen Duo refuses. Bao Bao then flies leaving Chen Duo and crashes onto the house roof while Chu Lan tries to catch her in the front yard, lol. The signal is restored, the HQ finds Biyou Village because the fake sky is broken. The HQ issues an order to destroy the Refining Furnace, return the Divine Forge, capture Chief Ma and his lackeys, surround the Village people, and take them back to the Outsider world for investigation, and Chen Duo to be arrested. The battle has begun.
Episode 9
Lao Meng and Wang Ye successfully persuade Zhu Ge Qing and Fu Rong leave the Village the funny way. Unfortunately, Zhu Ge Qing hasn’t mastered his family Divine Forge. Bao Bao does an embarrassing thing by hitting the villagers until they pass out and drags them to the village entrance, lol. She stole Qiu Rang’s ruyi weapon, too, since she had an eye on him when she first saw it. Then she burns down the village. Chief Ma sends out villagers to attack. They start with Hei Guan Er but he’s no match for them. Zhang Chu Lan meets Chief M to persuade him to surrender. He has a brain tumor, so he doesn’t have much time left to do his best without regrets, so he refuses Chu Lan. Zhu Ge Qing decides to help the group. Qiu Rang follows Lao Meng thinking that he’s the weakest of all. However, Lao Meng sends bees with poisonous bacteria, a technique he develops himself as Bio-Master Path. Xiao Zi Yi stops Zhao Gui Zhen and kills him.
Episode 10
Bao Bao provokes Chief Ma and leads him to the center of the village. His lackeys come to back him up. Hei Guan Er and Wang Zhen Qiu arrive to back Bao Bao up. Each demonstrates their superpowers, and I like Wang Zhen Qiu channeling the Monkey King Sun Wu Kong, a new technique he learned through a crash course with his suddenly-master Xia Liu Qing who was pissed because his sweetheart Mei Jing Feng was kidnapped.
Seeing the superpower showdowns of his opponents, Chief Ma realizes that his newly refined army are no matches to the team. One of his lackey expresses his loyalty to his chief by challenging Xiao Zi Zai who just arrives after battling Zhao Gui Zhen. He calmly throws a bag to Chief Ma, that once is open leaks out Zhao Gui Zhen’s wicked sorcery (that signs that the master has been killed). Ma Xianhong orders all his refined army to leave and starts fighting the team himself. However, seems like the four people just toy around with him. Finally he realizes it’s a scheme to distract him while Zhang Chu Lan is trying to find the Furnace, with the help of Zhu Ge Qing, Chu Lan finally finds the location. However, when he’s ready to destroy the furnace, he is attacked by Black Puppet, Ma Xian Hong’s most powerful creation. He possesses three combined skills and one of them is Chen Duo’s poison. Chu Lan is accidentally poisoned. At this critical moment, the Old Farmer power inside Zhang Chu Lan is activated. Chief Ma hurries over the Furnace, chased by the four. Chu Lan dispells Black Puppet, and he successfully demolished the Furnace.
Episode 11
Chief Ma witnesses the Furnace destruction and has gone mad. He violently attacks the team members. Zhan Chu Lan observes the battle calmy, giving credit to the team members for their unity and tacit understanding. But Chief Ma pulls all his power with his magic instruments until Wang Ye suspends him in the air and takes off his magic instruments. Chief Ma finally surrenders.
The matter of Biyou Village and Ma Xian Hong has settled in the dust, and now everyone worries about Chen Duo. When they find her playing an online game, Bao Bao calmly walks towards her and gives her gaming advice, lol. Instead of joining Chief Ma and fighting the team, Chen Duo has made a choice to follow them.
Episode 12
This episode is the most heartbreaking of all. Chen Duo decides to return to her original world in 24 hours (aka she’ll die because she’s poisonous). She tears off her anti-poison jacket. She proposes that she wants to spend her last hours shopping at the mall. After Zhang Chu Lan’s refusal and Lao Meng’s crying, the team finally agrees. Chen Duo is also one of them, and they will choose to support her after all. They walk the street together, Chen Duo is like a bird who has just flown out of the cage, is curious about everything, and tries everything. She buys a white sleeveless dress and is completely changed to a pretty girl. But the poisonous spots on her body become noticeable. She buys every member ice cream and offers the last two to strangers but everyone is afraid of her. Lao Meng walks with her since she is too weak to walk. People try to take pictures and videos, but Er Zhuang distorts all signals and electronic waves. At this moment, all the beautiful past appears in front of her eyes. Chen Duo sees Chen Jun Yan, her friend. She looks back at the distressed Lao Meng and the rest, and then rushes to a bright light, slowly walking to meet the smiling Liao Zhong, as if looking for her final destination. When Chen Duo dies, she dissipates to the air.
Episode 13
Zhang Chulan submitted a report to the HQ explaining the action to destroy Biyou Village and capture Chen Duo ending up with her refusal to surrender and escape, and finally died from poisoning. But the HQ is suspicious of his report. The original intention of the action was to abolish the temporary worker position, but because they succeeded in the mission, not only did they still keep their status, but are now united, thus threatening.
Everyone undergoes comprehensive investigation and interrogation with a lie detector, starting with Zhang Chu Lan. When asked about Chen Duo’s cause of death, his statement following the report is caught lying. After that, everyone says what happened and they’re willing to be responsible for Chen Duo’s death. When asked about Ma Xian Hong, some agree that he was admirable, but what he did was wrong. During the interrogation, a report comes that Ma Xian Hong escaped with the help of a woman. The HQ knows there is a mastermind behind him. The special team members are released, including Chu Lan and Bao Bao who don’t pass the lie detector. When asked why the Director let the two go, he says that Bao Bao will be the best bait to capture the mastermind. And yay, the agent from the Northeast Region, Er Zhuang is there too, and everyone says their goodbyes.
I will not recap what happened with Ma Xian Hong and Qu Tong, the mastermind woman who released him, and their connection with Mei Jin Feng whom they kidnapped. What Qu Tong says is somewhat cryptic and confusing as a prologue for Season 3. In a dream, there is a train that rides far away. A sleeping young Bao Bao and her father Feng Wu Sheng are in it. After the train stops, Feng Wu Sheng carries his sleeping daughter and slowly puts her on the ground. He looks up at the red fireball-shaped objects above and says sadly to her daughter: “Bao Bao, go ahead.” The end.
Conclusion
Although some viewers regarded Season 2 as a filler instead of continuing from Season 1, that ends with a hint of Feng Bao Bao’s mysterious background. But I agree with Wang Ye’s reflection on the event in Biyou Village in the final episode, that Ma Xian Hong will play a significant role in the future. I also ended up liking these special agents with their quirky characters and their amazing superpowers. Hopefully, I can see some of them again in Season 3.
Oh, and don’t forget to watch the ending credit of the final episode, in which Zhang Chu Lan and his team battle Chief Ma and his team… on the dance floor!
See you in Season 3!
