Zong

Chapter Two: In Development

Chapter Two: The Dimension of Benevolent Perseverance is in development. New allies. New trials. The journey continues.

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You are an ordinary human from Earth. By accident, you cross into Zong — an ancient dimension of supreme beings, tasked with observing humanity and safeguarding the earthly realm.

But Zong is dying.

The Hundred Wells, the source of all memory, have been drained. Its beings are losing themselves. The Five Clans of Corruption — Libentia, Ignominia, Avaritia, Procella, Furia — have shattered Zong into Seven Sub-Dimensions and imprisoned twenty-eight Generals within them.

You are the only one who can cross the barriers. Find them. Restore their memories. Save the Wells.

Across the first chapter's 7-hour journey, you will:

— Receive Zong's Imprint in the Cave of Hundred Wells and hear Zong for the first time
— Battle the Osteospectral Tiger and harvest its marrow
— Cross the Bridge of Atomos, striking down Captives swinging up from the abyss
— Gather thousands of falling Papaver Rhoeas and raft through Boreas Gorge
— Draw the Valorous Wish from its stone coffin and awaken the sleeping Eon
— Craft the Jade Burial Suit and offer it to the fallen
— Use the Eye of Discernment to expose the controllers binding the Golden Helmet and Silver Armor
— Survive the Barrier of Furia, face the Bronze Rat, and withstand thirty-one strikes of the Nephrite Staff alone
— Catch two hundred Fossa Snakes barehanded and extract their bile with Phae
— Stand with four Supreme Commanders against five Ribbon Alp Scorpions and the Two Dragons Emerging from Water

This is not just a game. It is a 7-hour immersive narrative about memory, identity, and civilization — woven from Eastern philosophy, original classical incantations, and a fully realized world. In Zong, you will find purpose, accomplishment, and genuine companionship.

Chapter One: The Dimension of Primordial Initiation is now available.

Fifteen levels. Seven hours. One gate.

Chapter One: The Dimension of Primordial Initiation contains fifteen levels. Together they form a single continuous journey — from the moment you receive the Primordial Imprint in the Centiwell, to the moment you sail through the water barrier and the first gate closes behind you. Each level has its own environment, its own mechanics, its own combat design. No two levels play the same way. Below is what you will experience in Chapter One.

The fifteen levels are not simply a sequence of challenges. They are a descent into a dying world, and an ascent toward its restoration. You begin in a dark cave, with a stranger who has lost almost everything. You end on a river of memory, carrying letters to a world you left behind. In between, you will fight, craft, solve, swim, climb, sing, and remember. You will also, more than once, be asked to do something no game has ever asked you to do before: speak a poem and watch the world respond.

Level 1 — The Centiwell

You enter Zong as your true self. In the Cave of Centiwell, you meet Sol, the first Supreme Commander. He stamps the Primordial Imprint on your finger. Through the Imprint, Zong's beings can hear your voice, and you can move freely through their world. Sol tells you what has happened: the Coalition of the Five Clans of Corruption has drained the Centiwell, and the Generals have lost their memories. He asks you to help him find his scattered kin. You pick up a dead branch and write your name on the stone wall. You take the Spiritual Eye of Retinentia. You scrape a rock against the wall to generate a fireball, and you tap it to leave the cave.

Key feature

The first level teaches you how to communicate with Zong. The Imprint is your interface. Everything you learn, everything you save, everything you ask — all of it lives inside the Imprint.

Level 2 — Cliffside Tiger

You and Sol walk out of the secret passageway and find yourselves on a cliff above Boreas Gorge. Sol notices an Osteospectral Tiger nearby. He tells you it will attack humans from Earth. Because he cannot use his offensive powers while wearing the Spiritual Eye, he recites a Mantra Kardia and summons the Fiery Whip. He gives it to you. You fight the tiger. When it falls, you use a syringe to draw its bone marrow, and you learn the Mantra Kardia to summon it once, in the future, when you need it most.

Key feature

The Fiery Whip. The first weapon. The first Mantra Kardia. The first time you understand that in Zong, power is spoken.

Level 3 — The Captives

Sol snaps his fingers and recites the Mantra Kardia to summon the Bridge of Atomos — an old wooden bridge spanning the gorge. Below the bridge, the Captives of Zong hang by their ankles, facing the abyss. Because you are not from Zong, your weight is different. The moment you step onto the bridge, they will sense you. Sol gives you the Hammers of Zither. You cross the bridge in three segments, striking down the Captives as they swing up from below. Each strike produces a note. The notes form a melody.

Key feature

The Bridge of Atomos. The Hammers of Zither. The first time the game turns combat into music.

Level 4 — Papaver Rhoeas

You arrive at the Dent Area. Thousands of flowers fall from the sky. They are Papaver rhoeas — a flower that can cure pain and dispel evil. Ves appears in the glowing light. She has lost her memory. She does not remember Sol. She gives you the Wellspring Needles and asks you to help her gather the falling flowers. You pierce the silver ones and the golden ones. Then Sol gives you the Staff of Espousal, and you break the flower ledge. You and Ves and Sol fall from the Dent Area into the river below, and the flower ledge becomes a raft.

Key feature

The Papaver rhoeas. The Wellspring Needles. The first time the game asks you to gather, not fight.

Level 5 — Jade Burial Suit

A huge crucible appears in the center of Boreas Gorge. Sol tells you it is used to make Jade Burial Suits — the highest form of memorial ceremony in Zong. A Jade Burial Suit is made from the Golden Strings of Zong's canaries, fused with the jade stones of Lake Li'er, burned with the flames of Papaver rhoeas. You shoot the canaries with the Dionysian Slingshot, collect their Golden Strings, and pull the bellows to keep the fire burning. You take the Shield of Frost and lift the finished Jade Burial Suit from the crucible.

Key feature

The Jade Burial Suit. The Dionysian Slingshot. The Shield of Frost. The first time the game asks you to craft something sacred.

Level 6 — Mount of Simian

You sail onward. A giant ape statue appears — Simian, the ancient Commander who was known for his valor and his benevolence. His offspring sculpted his image from white soil after he passed away. You drape the Jade Burial Suit over the statue. Simian's heavenly spirit returns. He tells you that Zong has been divided into seven sealed gates, and that twenty-eight Generals are trapped inside. He gives you the Eye of Discernment, the White Soil, and the Umbrella Pugna. He gives you seven water droplets, each representing one of the seven gates.

Key feature

The Eye of Discernment. The White Soil. The Umbrella Pugna. The first time you see the full map of Zong.

Level 7 — The Cloud-Mounting Ladder

You sail into a gorge where thunderclouds swirl. Two giant pillars bristle with rotating levers, some tipped with red buttons. This is the Cloud-Mounting Ladder. Sol tells you that Arcane Ranks can fly straight to the Hanging-Coffin Cliff, but you must dodge the levers and press seventy-three red buttons to stop the ladder. Lightning flashes obscure your vision. After you press the tenth button, Sol returns from the cliff to help you. When all seventy-three buttons glow, the ladder stops. Sol recites the Mantra Kardia, and you ascend.

Key feature

The Cloud-Mounting Ladder. The seventy-three buttons. The lightning. The first time the game tests your reflexes, not your mind.

Level 8 — Hanging-Coffin Cliff

You reach the Hanging-Coffin Cliff. A coffin hangs against the rock face, humming with the spirits of the fallen. A sword trembles in a stone crevice, glowing violet. Sol cannot find Eon. He raises the Invisible Dhvaja and determines that Eon is ahead. You try to draw the sword, but you fail. You and Sol push open the coffin. Inside is a military scroll. You follow its instructions — rotate the sword three times counterclockwise, once clockwise, and call out to the swan goose. The sword comes free. It is the Valorous Wish. Ves cries out — the heavenly spirit of a fallen Commander named Bande emerges, and Ves remembers Sol. Eon appears. He agrees to join you if you help him recover his golden helmet and silver armor.

Key feature

The Valorous Wish. The Invisible Dhvaja. The military scroll. The first time the game asks you to solve a puzzle by reading a poem.

Level 9 — Golden Helmet and Silver Armor

The golden helmet and silver armor appear, spinning rapidly around the raft. You activate the Eye of Discernment and see two faceless heavenly spirits trapped inside, each with a glowing yellow ring on its abdomen — a controller. Sol suspects the Five Clans have corrupted them. Sol and Ves attack the helmet. Eon and you face the armor. The armor attacks from five directions. You must pierce its controller with the Valorous Wish. Each hit costs five Pitasarah fragments. After defeating the armor, Sol captures the helmet. He calls out, and you stab its controller. The golden helmet and silver armor return to Eon. He formally grants you the Valorous Wish as your own weapon.

Key feature

The Eye of Discernment. The controllers. The five-direction attack. The first time the game asks you to see what is hidden inside an enemy.

Level 10 — Barrier of Furia

The raft sails into a mist of green and gold. Sol identifies it as the Barrier of Furia — a trap of the Five Clans. You must fan a banana leaf to keep the mist away. After two minutes and thirty seconds, four maroon air sacs appear. You burst one of them and find a wooden slip with a verse inscribed on it. You and the Generals interpret the verses, solving the puzzle of the Triple Combinations, the Six Combinations, and the animal directions — snake, rooster, ox, rat. Ves's tears fall on the ox head, and the barrier dissolves. The bronze rat attacks. Then the Nephrite Staff traps the three Generals inside a bell. You withstand thirty-one strikes alone. Eon recalls a Mantra Kardia that empowers the Valorous Wish. After ten heavy blows, the bell and the staff rise into the sky. The three Generals are free.

Key feature

The Barrier of Furia. The four air sacs. The bronze rat. The Nephrite Staff. The first time the game asks you to survive alone while your companions are trapped.

Level 11 — Cave Reverentia

The raft enters the Cave Reverentia. Its ceiling is made of crimson soil of looms — the remnants of the looms destroyed by the ancient Commander Pallium. You collect a handful of the crimson soil. Vines cover the walls. Fossa Snakes — serpents with dragon claws and golden cruciform bellies — climb through the cave. Phae dances in white light. She has lost her memory. She tests you: catch one hundred and eighty Fossa Snakes barehanded within twelve minutes. Then she gives you the Flora Straw and asks you to help her extract bile — or to drive away the Buteo with the Wingblade Lasso. When you succeed, Phae opens the exit, and the raft continues.

Key feature

The Fossa Snakes. The Flora Straw. The Wingblade Lasso. The first time the game asks you to catch, not kill.

Level 12 — Silver Bean Pond

You arrive at a carbon-black stone wall. Phae calls it the Third Minor Trial. She spits a silver bean into the wall, and you trace a circle around it with your chosen Zong artifact. You carve open the wall and reveal a vortex of gelatinous fluid. Phae gives you a vine and tells you to stir the fluid one hundred times until it solidifies into bean pulp. A Fossa Snake appears and asks to be taken into your Creatura Voluta. You may accept or refuse. At sixty stirs, a being called Umbra-born Malden emerges. At one hundred stirs, the bean pulp solidifies. Phae adds the snake bile. The pulp bursts with purple-gold light. Phae summons a Humus Spider to spin silk. You place your hands on the bean pulp and receive a golden protective film. The wall collapses. You collect the falling crimson soil. The three Generals reappear, and Phae joins you.

Key feature

The silver bean. The one hundred stirs. The Umbra-born Malden. The Humus Spider. The golden protective film. The first time the game asks you to slow down and do something patient.

Level 13 — Floodway Ridge (Part One)

The raft reaches Floodway Ridge, where torrents rage and countless lost souls are buried. Bande — the leader of Procella — descends and taunts you. He claims the Five Clans have obtained the Spirit-summon Silk. Phae binds his neck with her hair, triggering combat. Bande recites the Tonal Regulating Mantra and summons five Ribbon Alp Scorpions: Lightning, Spitting Fire, Scattered Wind, Flooding Aqua, and Exploding Thunder. The four Generals each fight one. You face the Flooding Aqua scorpion alone, using the Umbrella Pugna to block water blasts from four directions and firing wooden pepper seeds to land one hundred hits. When you defeat it, the other Generals return. Bande chants again. Two ships emblazoned with "Procella" rise from the water.

Key feature

The five Ribbon Alp Scorpions. The Umbrella Pugna. The wooden pepper seeds. The first time the game asks you to defend while attacking.

Level 14 — Floodway Ridge (Part Two)

Two Procella ships ram the Well-shaped Matrix, then fire ten thousand arrows across five fan-shaped zones. The four Generals each defend one zone. You defend the central zone with DUNXUN, absorbing arrows and gaining Pitasarah fragments. When the arrows end, the ships form a sharp angle and a giant ox tongue slaps out. The Generals bind it with a silver net. You stab it repeatedly with the white chestnut on DUNXUN. After twenty-five stabs, the chestnut doubles. Thirteen more stabs kill the tongue. The ships reform into an "M" shape and release the Two Dragons Emerging from Water. Eon and Phae clamp the dragons with ribbons. You lure them with DUNXUN's pearl, weakening their fury, then hook them with the Changyi scythe. The dragons attack in three combined forms — Inverse Scales, Mountain Rising, River Crossing — and five separated forms. You must switch between the Valorous Wish, the Umbrella Pugna, the Changyi scythe, and DUNXUN. After five thousand total hits, the dragons fall. Sol gifts DUNXUN to you. A gale sweeps you away.

Key feature

The ten thousand arrows. The giant ox tongue. The Two Dragons Emerging from Water. DUNXUN. The first time the game asks you to switch between four weapons in a single battle.

Level 15 — Reward Pool

You arrive at Boreas Gorge. Sol tells you that the instruments behind the red cloths can be exchanged for Pitasarah fragments. You choose an instrument, light its heavenly spirit, and take it. You return to the raft. Sol gives you rice. You scatter it into the river and summon a water ball. You fill the engraved board's binary marks with grains — zero is one grain, one is three grains. The board turns into a letter. Golden light flashes. You gain one thousand Pitasarah fragments automatically. Sol teaches you the Mantra Kardia of Shared Zong — "Remembering spirits gone with the wind" — and you record it in the Creatura Voluta. You sail one hundred meters forward and pass through the water barrier. The screen fades to black. The Dimension of Primordial Initiation comes to an end.

Key feature

The thirteen Zong artifacts. The water ball. The binary letter. The Mantra Kardia of Shared Zong. The first time the game asks you to send a message back to Earth.

Common Features Across All Levels

The Pitasarah System

Every action you take in Zong is recorded. Pitasarah fragments accumulate into segments, segments into fruits, fruits into a tree. Your growth is visible. Your rank rises.

Arcane Rank

Every being in Zong has a rank. From lowest to highest: Grana, Cyma, Virga, Thalla, Virgulta, Catoma, Palma, Amicula, Umbra, Silva, Auxiliary Commander, Ancillary Commander, Primary Commander, Supreme Commander. You begin as Grana. Where you end is up to you.

Level Selection

Levels must be started from the Centiwell. Once you complete six levels, free selection opens on the main menu.

UI System

Your interface is the Primordial Imprint. Everything you learn, save, and ask is stored inside it. You can drag the UI canvas to any position in your VR view.

Mantra Kardia

Mantra Kardias are the source of power in Zong. In Chapter One, they are summoned by the Generals. In later chapters, you will learn to summon them yourself.

Chapter Two: The Dimension of Benevolent Perseverance is in development

Another 7-hours VR journey in the making！