Chapter Summaries

Wen Feiran and his companions pretended to be castle residents when Detective Gu Suian arrived to investigate the locked rooms. After Wen Feiran improvised an explanation that satisfied Gu Suian, the detective approached him while searching for clues, leaving their encounter unresolved.

• Song Lindi opened the door before the group had worked out their act, and Gu Suian met them at the entrance.
• Zou Yuxing introduced himself as the count and tried to explain why he had invited Gu Suian, but stumbled when the detective asked about the locked rooms.
• Zou Yuxing called on Wen Feiran to attend to Gu Suian, and Wen Feiran blushed under the detective's gentle gaze.
• Wen Feiran claimed someone had broken into the castle and locked several rooms, giving Gu Suian a reason to investigate.
• Gu Suian searched for clues and moved close to Wen Feiran as he picked up an ashtray.

Wen Feiran struggled to understand Gu Suian’s remark before helping Zou Yuxing solve a combination lock and joining the others for a grotesque-looking meal. The group discovered that the frightening dishes were edible treats, including chocolate cake disguised as a dead rat.

• Gu Suian told Wen Feiran that he should not have rejected him, leaving Wen Feiran embarrassed and wondering whether the remark referred to an earlier invitation.
• Zou Yuxing forgot why he had sought Wen Feiran’s help, then led him to a combination lock.
• Wen Feiran used the bullet-hole cracks in the glass to work out the lock’s code and open the door.
• Zou Yuxing and the others rushed into the room, where the grotesque-looking food put them off their appetites.
• Su Shangting identified a black dish as squid ink cheese noodles, and Zou Yuxing discovered that the gutted rat was chocolate cake.

Wen Feiran fled his unsettling room and joined Gu Suian after discovering a mysterious glass of milk, then heard Meng Jingxiu scream and prepared to investigate with Gu Suian. Their attempt to check the corridor was interrupted when Zou Yuxing emerged without fear.

• After dinner, Zou Yuxing went to his luxurious room, while Wen Feiran and Gu Suian returned to their own rooms.
• Wen Feiran found a glass of milk and a note in his locked room, then ran out as the castle's woodpecker clocks began shaking wildly.
• Wen Feiran brought the milk to Gu Suian, who invited him inside and claimed he was allergic to milk.
• A scream from Meng Jingxiu's room prompted Gu Suian and Wen Feiran to prepare to investigate.
• Zou Yuxing opened his door and looked around fearlessly, breaking the oppressive mood in the corridor.

After Meng Jingxiu and Meng Zizheng returned from the corridor without explaining what happened, Wen Feiran described the strange incident in his room to the others. Later, he heard a woman arguing in the room next door and crept over to eavesdrop despite his fear.

• Meng Jingxiu stumbled down the corridor, and Meng Zizheng followed him back to their rooms without sharing what they had seen.
• Wen Feiran told the group about the strange incident in his room, but they had too few clues to make sense of it.
• Zou Yuxing threw the broken woodpecker into the trash and proudly assumed he had stopped the noise.
• Wen Feiran struggled to sleep, then heard a woman arguing and crying out from the room beyond the adjoining wall.
• Wen Feiran wrapped himself in his blanket and crept toward the wall to listen more closely.

After a sleepless night haunted by a female ghost, Wen Feiran caught up on rest and shared an awkward joke with Gu Suian. His joke made both Gu Suian and Zou Yuxing laugh as the group gathered in the castle.

• Wen Feiran told Zou Yuxing and Su Shangting that a female ghost had repeatedly accused someone in the castle of killing her, but he could not identify her or learn how she died.
• Gu Suian offered to save Wen Feiran breakfast, and Wen Feiran went back to sleep for what he had meant to be ten minutes.
• Su Shangting woke Wen Feiran an hour later and served him a plate of strange-looking food, including mouse hearts, which Wen Feiran ate despite his hesitation.
• Wen Feiran imagined romance for his fanfiction while standing beside Gu Suian, then covered his embarrassment by telling him a joke about a stupid pig that died.
• Gu Suian chuckled at Wen Feiran's joke, and Zou Yuxing arrived and laughed so hard he could barely stand.

Wen Feiran and the others followed eerie piano music through the dark castle, but Zou Yuxing’s jokes and bickering with Su Shangting repeatedly broke the tension. After examining the self-playing piano, they continued exploring and found a locked door with a six-digit combination lock, leaving them blocked without any clues.

• Wen Feiran asked Zou Yuxing to lead the group through the dark castle, and they followed faint piano music after deciding to investigate.
• Zou Yuxing mocked the piano player, while Su Shangting argued with him and Wen Feiran broke up the quarrel; the group accidentally walked past the piano.
• Gu Suian reminded everyone to turn back, and Wen Feiran moved close to him before Gu Suian switched places to shield him.
• Zou Yuxing suggested taking apart the piano but admitted he did not know how, so the group gave up examining it and moved on.
• Zou Yuxing found a locked door with a six-digit combination lock and no nearby clues.

Wen Feiran opened a locked study by deciphering a code from a piano piece, then found a bloodstained diary describing a child trapped in darkness. When eerie footsteps and bouncing sounds approached, the group fled together, with Wen Feiran offering to stay at the back.

• Wen Feiran used the pitches in a piano piece to open the door, surprising Song Lindi and the livestream viewers.
• Wen Feiran and the others searched the study, and he opened the combination-locked desk drawers to find a diary.
• The diary described a child kept inside by a teacher, a missing sun, and a game of Wooden Man with big sister; Gu Suian identified the stains as oxidized blood.
• Song Lindi realized he had rubbed the bloodstains with his fingers and asked Gu Suian what to do.
• Rapid footsteps and bouncing sounds approached, so Zou Yuxing led everyone toward the exit and told them to stay together.
• Song Lindi moved behind Gu Suian, while Wen Feiran reassured him and offered to take the rear.

Wen Feiran survived a ghostly game of Wooden Man in the darkness and was found by Gu Suian, who led him back while calming him with conversation. The chapter ended as Wen Feiran spotted a light ahead.

• A ghostly voice told Wen Feiran to play Wooden Man, and he stayed still to avoid being targeted.
• After the footsteps faded, Wen Feiran stumbled through the darkness searching for Zou Yuxing and the others.
• Gu Suian found Wen Feiran, took his hand, and led him back.
• Gu Suian said Zou Yuxing and the others were waiting where they had been left, and reassured Wen Feiran that he remembered the way.
• As they walked and talked, Wen Feiran spotted a light in the darkness.

Wen Feiran reunited with the group and followed them through the dark while trying to hide his feelings for Gu Suian. After Zou Yuxing led them astray, they found and opened a massive iron door, revealing a huge room.

• Zou Yuxing found Wen Feiran and the others, and Wen Feiran told them what had happened to him.
• Zou Yuxing suggested that everyone hold hands as they walked, and Gu Suian took Wen Feiran's hand and slowed down to walk beside him.
• Gu Suian noticed Wen Feiran's mood and asked what was wrong, but Wen Feiran claimed he was out of energy.
• Zou Yuxing admitted he had taken a wrong turn, then found an iron door with a combination lock.
• Wen Feiran opened the lock after ten minutes, and Zou Yuxing forced the enormous iron door open to reveal a huge room.

Wen Feiran and the others discovered a prison room covered in desperate pleas, and Wen Feiran suspected a terrible connection between the writing and the chains. Back in the hall, Su Shangting trapped Gu Suian with a Skill Card, but Wen Feiran realized the confinement would last only one day.

• Zou Yuxing led the group into an underground prison filled with torture devices, broken manacles, and the words “Help me!” and “Teacher, I know I was wrong.”
• Wen Feiran lifted a chain with Gu Suian’s handkerchief, connected it to the writing, and left the room shaken by a horrifying thought.
• Zou Yuxing guided everyone back through the corridors to the castle hall, where they rested and agreed to review their information later.
• Su Shangting used a Skill Card to seal Gu Suian inside his room, claiming the detective was their only enemy.
• Wen Feiran examined the card and warned that it would confine Gu Suian for only one day, after which he could become suspicious.

Su Shangting discovered that his mistake with the skill card could jeopardize the game, and Wen Feiran tried to keep the group focused on solving the castle’s mystery. After resting, the group resumed exploring and found an irregular cluster of identical rooms, leaving Wen Feiran puzzled.

• Su Shangting noticed the skill card’s time limit and offered to take responsibility, but Wen Feiran urged everyone to review their clues first.
• Meng Jingxiu, Song Lindi, and Zou Yuxing discussed the child’s diary and the teacher, while Wen Feiran theorized that the castle had entered the Inner World.
• The group agreed to rest before continuing their search, and Meng Jingxiu assured Su Shangting that he could solve the task in a day.
• Wen Feiran and the others explored a jumble of nearly identical small rooms, then split into two groups.
• Wen Feiran drew a team with Meng Jingxiu and Song Lindi, and they soon found two connected rooms.

Wen Feiran got trapped in a dark room after Meng Jingxiu and Song Lindi accidentally shut the door, then found Gu Suian inside and searched his jacket for a flashlight. The flashlight turned out to be unusually tiny, leaving Wen Feiran puzzled about its intended use.

• Wen Feiran opened the iron door by twisting the crystal ball and proposed that the group explore the room in turns.
• Wen Feiran entered first, but Meng Jingxiu and Song Lindi accidentally closed the door and left to fetch Su Shangting and the others.
• Wen Feiran ventured into the darkness and heard Gu Suian tell him not to be afraid.
• Wen Feiran felt around Gu Suian's jacket for the flashlight, accidentally touching his ear before finding it.
• Wen Feiran discovered the flashlight was super-mini and asked whether it was meant for playing with cats.

Wen Feiran found Gu Suian chained to a chair in the dark and helped him drink while he waited for the skill card’s effects to end. Their close encounter left Wen Feiran flustered, and Gu Suian’s intense gaze suggested an emotion he could not understand.

• Wen Feiran turned on the flashlight and discovered Gu Suian was restrained with iron chains to a wooden chair.
• Gu Suian told Wen Feiran the chains could not be opened while the skill card remained in effect, and explained that he had heard their earlier conversation.
• Gu Suian asked for water, so Wen Feiran poured it into his mouth because his hands were bound.
• Wen Feiran stared at Gu Suian’s lips, then spilled water when he realized Gu Suian had noticed his reaction.
• Wen Feiran met Gu Suian’s possessive, aggressive gaze, but when he looked again, Gu Suian’s expression seemed unreadable.

Wen Feiran stayed with Gu Suian while Su Shangting and Zou Yuxing searched for the way to free them. After Gu Suian accepted Wen Feiran’s explanation and escaped with him, Song Lindi discovered that his plan to isolate Wen Feiran had brought the two closer instead.

• Wen Feiran and Gu Suian shared water while waiting for Su Shangting and Zou Yuxing to reach the locked room.
• Su Shangting asked Wen Feiran to persuade Gu Suian not to question everyone after he was freed.
• Wen Feiran told Gu Suian that a newly found skill card had randomly locked him up, and Gu Suian said he believed him.
• Zou Yuxing and Su Shangting found the switch, freeing Gu Suian, who walked out beside Wen Feiran.
• Song Lindi saw Gu Suian with Wen Feiran and clenched his fist in frustration.

After Wen Feiran and Gu Suian moved past the misunderstanding over Su Shangting’s Skill Card, the group entered a mirror corridor and realized its sealed exit required pressing four red buttons at once. Zou Yuxing, Su Shangting, and Meng Jingxiu volunteered to press them, leaving the group poised to test the escape mechanism.

• Gu Suian accepted Su Shangting’s explanation that he had used a Skill Card by mistake, and Wen Feiran avoided further blame.
• The group stayed together and entered a mirror corridor, where Gu Suian steadied Wen Feiran after he mistook their reflections for strangers.
• Wen Feiran worked out that the corridor formed a sealed square, and the group failed to force open its entrance.
• Wen Feiran noticed red buttons at the corridor’s four corners, and Zou Yuxing pressed one without triggering anything.
• Gu Suian suggested that all four buttons had to be pressed simultaneously, and Zou Yuxing, Su Shangting, and Meng Jingxiu volunteered to help.

After Meng Jingxiu vanished from the mirror maze, the others searched for him and stumbled into a vast, dark space where moving walls separated Zou Yuxing and Meng Zizheng from the group. Wen Feiran realized the two were trapped above their ceiling, while the search for Meng Jingxiu remained unresolved.

• After Meng Jingxiu failed to return, Gu Suian said he had not seen him, and Meng Zizheng and the others searched the mirrors without finding him.
• The group left the maze and found themselves in a vast, unfamiliar space as they continued looking for Meng Jingxiu.
• Wen Feiran threw a building block into the darkness, but it failed to hit a wall, and a gust of wind extinguished their candle.
• A distant bell rang as the group moved through the darkness and entered a passageway without realizing it.
• Zou Yuxing helped Meng Zizheng climb a high step, but the step rose toward the ceiling and separated them from the others.
• When Su Shangting called out to Zou Yuxing, Wen Feiran guessed that Zou Yuxing and Meng Zizheng were above their ceiling.

Wen Feiran became separated from Gu Suian and Su Shangting in the shifting maze, then fled the pursuing bell until he reached a corridor where he overheard a familiar argument. The chapter ended with Wen Feiran and the evil ghost spotting each other across a narrow passage, neither moving to cross it.

• The moving walls split Wen Feiran from Gu Suian and left him traveling with Su Shangting.
• Wen Feiran realized Su Shangting had vanished and continued alone as the bell drew closer.
• Wen Feiran ran through the shifting walls to escape the bell, losing a shoe and its height-increasing insole.
• Wen Feiran heard a familiar voice accuse someone of stealing the identity of the Meng Family's only child.
• The staff member playing the evil ghost and Wen Feiran spotted each other across a narrow corridor and stared without moving.

Wen Feiran and an evil ghost staff member overheard Meng Jingxiu and Meng Zizheng arguing over their identities as the real and fake Meng family young masters. The brothers’ dispute continued as Meng Zizheng promised to prove himself through his own efforts.

• Wen Feiran tried to escape the corridor but the wall remained closed, while the evil ghost staff member urged him to listen.
• Meng Zizheng asked Meng Jingxiu to accept him as family, but Meng Jingxiu insisted that he had lived under Meng Zizheng’s name for over twenty years.
• Wen Feiran learned that Meng Zizheng was the Meng family’s biological child and that Meng Jingxiu had been switched at birth.
• Meng Jingxiu warned Meng Zizheng to keep their identities secret and accused him of disrupting a dinner meeting with a director to distract him.
• Meng Zizheng denied deliberately causing a scene and said he would rely on his own abilities to face difficulties.

Wen Feiran escaped a hidden room but was caught by the evil ghost, who invited him to crack sunflower seeds and gossip about Meng Zizheng. After getting separated and searching for Meng Zizheng, Zou Yuxing found Wen Feiran chatting comfortably with the ghost and rushed in to save him, only to discover their unexpected gathering.

• The production team moved a wall to let Wen Feiran leave the brightly lit room, but he soon spotted the approaching evil ghost and was caught.
• The evil ghost led Wen Feiran to a corner, shared sunflower seeds with him, and discussed Meng Zizheng and the real-and-fake-young-master scandal.
• Zou Yuxing became separated from the others and searched the shifting maze for Meng Zizheng.
• Hearing the bell, Zou Yuxing found the evil ghost with another person and recognized Wen Feiran's voice.
• Zou Yuxing charged in to rescue Wen Feiran, then saw that he and the evil ghost were sitting together cracking sunflower seeds and gossiping about Meng Zizheng.

Wen Feiran was separated from the others during the variety show challenge but ended up chatting and sharing sunflower seeds with the staff member playing the evil ghost. The group reunited at the starting point, where Gu Suian’s concern for Wen Feiran surprised Song Lindi.

• Zou Yuxing and the evil ghost staff member bonded over gossip while Wen Feiran sat awkwardly apart.
• The director moved the doors to push the group onward, and Zou Yuxing and the staff member joked about the breeze.
• Su Shangting told Gu Suian that he had been separated from Wen Feiran and feared the bell meant Wen Feiran was being chased.
• Gu Suian went to find Wen Feiran despite Song Lindi insisting that Wen Feiran was probably fine, leaving Song Lindi startled by Gu Suian’s concern.
• Wen Feiran returned with Zou Yuxing and the staff member, and Su Shangting shielded Wen Feiran before learning he had not been caught.
• Su Shangting questioned Zou Yuxing about his bond with the staff member, and Zou Yuxing said he only wished he had met him sooner.