Theo activates a system whose mission is to drive his husband Gideon's "darkness level" to zero, or suffer electric punishment. He is repeatedly forced to follow system orders, even being made to humiliate himself in public. Gideon is actually not of this world—he is the consciousness that sustains it, and in a previous life he retaliated against the world after Theo's death. Theo refuses to be the system's puppet any longer; together with Gideon he uncovers the truth behind the wedding chandelier accident, prevents the disaster from repeating, and clears the darkness level to zero. The system finally rules the threat resolved: Theo earns lifetime unbinding and a million-dollar reward, Ethan is suspended from the foundation pending investigation, and the two are at last free of the system and together.