As the plot of 'Steins;Gate' continued to unfold, the ratings for Yunteng TV skyrocketed.
The opening scene of the final episode completely erased any doubts fans had about the show possibly dropping the ball at the end.
Zhu Qing, too, shifted her attention from discussing in the fan group to focusing fully on the episode itself.
It was the second time the protagonist, Okabe, traveled back to July 28—the day Makise died.
This time, Okabe demonstrated through action what it truly meant to deceive the world and deceive himself to save Makise.
To enter the 'Steins;Gate' world line, there were two key conditions:
First, Makise's father must fail to steal her thesis. The thesis needed to be destroyed so that the future superpowers wouldn't use it to trigger a world war.
Second, Makise must be saved without changing anything. In other words, she had to be saved in a way that appeared as though nothing had changed.
It sounded convoluted, and Zhu Qing was just as confused as any first-time viewer. But as a seasoned drama fan, she understood one thing—if the writers dared to pose such a dilemma, they would certainly provide a solution.
Before heading into the past, Okabe prepared by bringing along a large container of blood plasma.
Then, upon arriving in the past—on July 28—he went straight to the gacha machine and made sure to pull out the metal Upa before his past self arrived.
"Ohh, I get it! So when the Okabe and Mayuri from this timeline arrive, they'll get a regular plastic Upa instead. And even though Mayuri drops the plastic Upa, and Makise picks it up and puts it into her thesis bag, the machine won't detect it and sound an alarm because it's just plastic. That means the thesis will be successfully burned!"
"But… wouldn't this still change the world line?"
"Exactly, it needs to change! The paper has to be destroyed, and Makise has to be saved at the same time—that's what the Steins;Gate world line is all about!"
"No, wait, didn't future Okabe specifically say before that the past must not be changed? That to save Makise, he couldn't let his past self notice anything different? But originally, his past self got the metal Upa, and now it's a plastic one… Isn't that a change?"
"Hmm… yeah, you're right."
"I'm lost again. This is so confusing…"
"Feels like there's a plot hole here!"
As the episode progressed, the fan chat group erupted into an intense debate.
But all of these questions would soon be answered in the unfolding story.
Okabe had hidden himself in the very room where Makise was supposed to be killed. However, he soon realized the blood plasma he brought had already started to clot. At that moment, Makise and her father began arguing over the thesis.
And then—it happened.
Okabe deliberately positioned himself to be stabbed by Makise's father.
With the last of his strength, he chased the man off and then used a stun gun to knock out the shocked Makise.
Since the plasma had clotted and was useless, Zhou Gang looked down at the blade wound piercing through his abdomen.
He reached into the wound with both hands and pulled hard.
"Aaaaaaargh!!!"
A blood-curdling scream echoed through the building.
Downstairs, the Okabe from the original July 28 timeline heard the scream and rushed upstairs.
There, he saw blood pooling on the floor—and Makise, unconscious from the stun gun, lying in the middle of it.
Zhu Qing was stunned.
So were fans all across the country watching Steins;Gate.
"So… this is what it meant to deceive the world and deceive himself?"
Finally, someone in the chat group understood.
"What? What does that even mean?"
"It's exactly what it sounds like. Okabe wanted to save Makise, but he couldn't change the past."
"Uh, what?"
"What they're saying is—if Okabe had never seen Makise lying in a pool of blood, he would never have sent the message saying 'Makise… she was stabbed,' which SERN intercepted, triggering the jump from the β world line to the α world line. And if he hadn't gone to the α line, he would never have fallen in love with Makise and fought so hard to return to β. So, everything that happened on July 28 for the past Okabe—none of it could change. But… did what he saw really happen the way he thought? Just because Makise was lying in blood, did that mean she was actually dead? This whole illusion was deliberately orchestrated by Okabe, who traveled back in time. It was all a lie—for the sake of saving her."
"But… wasn't Makise fated to die on this day due to world line convergence? How could this change that?"
"That's the point! The world has infinite possibilities! The Steins;Gate world line is one where Makise isn't killed due to convergence, where the thesis is destroyed, and the world avoids a war, where Okabe's friends and loved ones all survive. But to reach that world line, Okabe had to go through the entire journey: from β to α and back again, risking everything to save Makise. The key was to deceive his past self—without letting Makise get mortally wounded in the first place."
Zhu Qing suddenly understood.
All the foreshadowing from the very first episode of Steins;Gate—it all became crystal clear in this moment.
Genius.
That was the only word in Zhu Qing's mind.
Reincarnation.
After hundreds of world line shifts, the final method revealed itself: to deceive the self, and in doing so, deceive the world.
"Come on… Starting now, you're entering the longest—and most important—three weeks of your life."
The Okabe, who arrived via time machine, hid in the shadows, watching his past self's shocked expression upon seeing Makise lying in the blood. Silently, he sent a blessing to the version of himself who was about to begin the painful, yet redemptive, three-week journey.
For Zhu Qing, who had followed Okabe's journey for over two months, all the mysteries were finally resolved.
The future had changed. The world line had shifted. Okabe had guided the world into a reality where the time machine and its theories were never made public.
The Steins;Gate World Line.
Since the time machine was never invented, Suzuha naturally never appeared in this era.
And so, after returning twenty days into the future, the logic loop closed—Suzuha and the time machine vanished into light. The next time Okabe would see her would be seven years later, when she was born.
The final scene was from the Steins;Gate world line.
Makise, who had been inexplicably knocked out by Okabe, woke up in a pool of blood, dazed, searching for him everywhere.
This was a world line where everyone lived. A world line where this version of Makise didn't even know Okabe.
But they met on the street.
"I finally… found you!"
Makise looked like she was about to cry. She didn't know this man, yet her heart overflowed with emotions that all pointed toward him.
This was the choice of Steins;Gate!
Zhu Qing sat still, eyes fixed on the screen, as the ending theme played.
Her heart swelled with quiet emotion.
What an incredible ending.
Three weeks of story. Hundreds—maybe thousands—of world line shifts. And even the fifteen years of effort that future Okabe endured, which the drama didn't even fully show.
Past, present, and future—Okabe gave it everything he had to reach…
Steins;Gate.