Chapter Summaries

Wang Ye launched his revised supernatural survival assessment for five hundred people, while Xiao Si empowered Yang Chen and he began to evolve. In the ruined city, Lin Xi ventured out to find supplies and encountered a courtyard strewn with corpses.

• Xiao Si gave Yang Chen a drop of her black blood, causing his ghostly energy to surge as he began evolving.
• The five hundred participants received false identities and entered a ruined city where ghosts wandered and survival depended on their choices.
• Wang Ye watched the participants and explained that the assessment would grow more dangerous after its first hour.
• Lin Xi left his apartment to search for a nearby supermarket, smearing corpse blood on himself as he passed through the stairwell.
• Lin Xi stepped outside and found the residential courtyard covered with mutilated bodies and blood.

Lin Xi died after entering the streets to search for supplies, and Zhang Ziliang chose to enter the illusion realm himself. Wang Ye began arranging a tailored trial for Zhang Ziliang, who appeared in Lin Xi’s starting room and reviewed the scenario.

• Lin Xi lost his way while searching for the supermarket, was killed by a supernatural force, and was eliminated from the illusion realm.
• Zhang Ziliang judged Lin Xi’s performance, then accepted Wang Ye’s offer of three supernatural items for taking first place.
• Wang Ye hid Zhang Ziliang’s trial from the other observers and decided to personally complicate his challenges.
• Zhang Ziliang appeared in Lin Xi’s former room, absorbed the scenario’s recap, and looked out the window.

Zhang Ziliang observed a ghost killing a girl after she touched blood on the supermarket door, deduced that blood triggered its attacks, and headed toward the store while avoiding every stain. He left the residential complex with the ghost following him and continued questioning why the incident had begun so suddenly.

• Zhang Ziliang dragged a corpse outside and watched it, then observed a girl heading toward the supermarket.
• Wang Ye's blood-stained doorknob triggered the ghost, which killed the girl after she touched it.
• Zhang Ziliang deduced that blood was the ghost's killing medium and prepared to leave for the supermarket without touching any blood.
• Wang Ye watched Zhang Ziliang's progress and reflected that the residential complex was a beginner zone designed to test survivors.
• Zhang Ziliang walked toward the supermarket as the ghost's head followed him, and he used his phone screen to watch it in reflection.

Zhang Ziliang carefully entered a supermarket during the Supernatural Incident to gather supplies, while suspecting that events had been manipulated. He found a strange dagger beneath a shelf and dropped it after its freezing aura engulfed him.

• Zhang Ziliang opened the supermarket door from a distance, then saw a blood-soaked corpse blocking the entrance.
• Zhang Ziliang wrapped the ghost head in his coat, smashed a supermarket window with it, and hung it from a bicycle to keep it from reaching him.
• Zhang Ziliang used his phone’s reflection to inspect the supermarket and found his dead neighbor beneath the window, then wondered whether her injury had triggered the incident.
• Zhang Ziliang entered through the window, avoided the blood, and filled plastic bags with food and water.
• Zhang Ziliang spotted a pitch-black dagger beneath a shelf and dropped it when its bone-chilling aura swept through him.

Zhang Ziliang tested a mysterious dagger on a trapped ghost head, then mapped a route toward a busier district and set out to explore. Wang Ye observed the assessment and reflected on how participants’ choices revealed whether they could be trusted with the Heaven Group’s future.

• Zhang Ziliang used the dagger to frighten the ghost head and concluded that the weapon could harm ghosts, though one stab might not kill one.
• Zhang Ziliang returned to his room, stored his supplies, and drew a detailed map of the surrounding area with a route to a nearby CBD and commercial district.
• Wang Ye assessed the participants’ decisions, noting that more than thirty had already been eliminated, mostly through carelessness or refusing to believe the news.
• Zhang Ziliang ate and drank to restore his strength, then returned to the supermarket with the dagger and cautiously explored farther ahead.

Zhang Ziliang tested the crawling old woman’s and the severed head’s killing patterns, discovering that the road triggered the old woman’s attacks while the head could attack her in return. He was left unable to safely retrieve the head or cross to the pharmacy, and wondered how to escape the dead loop.

• Zhang Ziliang spotted a legless old woman crawling repeatedly across the road between the complex and the pharmacy.
• Zhang Ziliang used the severed head as a test, throwing it onto the road and observing the two ghosts attack each other.
• Zhang Ziliang deduced that movement on the road triggered the old woman’s attacks and that the head could attack her when her blood triggered its pattern.
• The old woman rammed the head off the road, then the head resumed attacking her and tore off both her hands.
• Zhang Ziliang realized the bloodstained road still blocked his way to the pharmacy, while retrieving the blood-covered head risked provoking it.

Zhang Ziliang turned the road ghost against the dismembered old woman, then searched for a way to reach the pharmacy without triggering the blood-based killing rule. At the plaza, he found the remains of another massacre and began reasoning about the unknown ghost’s rule.

• Zhang Ziliang baited the head ghost into charging, dodged it, and sent it crashing in front of the immobile old woman, who bit it.
• After the ghosts fought for ten minutes, Zhang Ziliang found both badly damaged and guessed that emotional agitation could disrupt their killing rules.
• Zhang Ziliang considered crossing the blood using a skateboard, but noticed mummified children’s corpses scattered across the plaza.
• Zhang Ziliang suspected a new ghost was responsible for the children’s deaths and considered whether panic might have triggered its killing rule.

Zhang Ziliang discovered the ghost hiding in the plaza fountain and tested whether it would interact with the weakened highway ghost. Wang Ye watched, frustrated by Zhang Ziliang’s skill, as Zhang deliberately drew the plaza ghost toward the road.

• Zhang Ziliang picked up the skateboard and left the plaza while the fountain ghost silently followed him.
• Wang Ye realized Zhang Ziliang had solved the plaza ghost’s hiding place and worried he would claim the three supernatural items.
• Zhang Ziliang used his phone to watch the ghost and reasoned that it manipulated liquids, making the fountain its likely hiding spot.
• Zhang Ziliang slowed down to let the plaza ghost approach, then skated toward the highway ghost to test what happened when two ghosts’ killing patterns might overlap.
• The highway ghost turned toward Zhang Ziliang but could not move, while the residential complex ghost’s head shifted briefly and then went still.

Zhang Ziliang entered a pharmacy, gathered medicine, and made the Square Ghost carry it as he headed home. Watching him, Wang Ye decided to make the game’s ghosts more capable and prepare a tougher challenge for Zhang Ziliang.

• Zhang Ziliang left the Road Ghost and Apartment Complex Ghost behind, then stopped outside an empty pharmacy.
• Zhang Ziliang entered the pharmacy and waited by the door until the Square Ghost followed him inside.
• Zhang Ziliang filled bags with medicine and hung them from the Square Ghost, even making it hold a bag handle in its mouth.
• Zhang Ziliang rode his skateboard toward his apartment complex with the Square Ghost carrying the medicine behind him.
• Wang Ye watched the scene in disbelief and considered making the ghosts more humanlike and adaptable to challenge Zhang Ziliang.

Zhang Ziliang kept the Plaza Ghost in his room while studying the ghosts’ behavior and preparing to survive the night. Outside the illusion, Wang Ye announced a new ordeal called Midnight Carnival as the eliminated contestants watched in fear.

• Zhang Ziliang brought the Plaza Ghost into his room, provoked it into opening its mouth, and used the moment to put down the bags it carried.
• Zhang Ziliang concluded that ghosts were intelligent but difficult to kill, could be provoked and exploited, and were not allies; he also questioned the news report’s account of the outbreak.
• Zhang Ziliang watched the corpses outside, kept the Plaza Ghost nearby for safety, and went to sleep with his dagger within reach.
• The Plaza Ghost remained unable to attack because Zhang Ziliang carefully avoided its apparent killing rule by staying still and smiling.
• Wang Ye announced Midnight Carnival, and the eliminated contestants grew frightened as they suspected he wanted the elimination rate to rise.

Wang Ye’s sudden anomaly stripped the ghosts of their usual killing rules, trapping Zhang Ziliang between a rampaging Square Ghost and a hair ghost inside his apartment. Zhang Ziliang discovered that both attacks came from the same ghost, but the chapter left him facing an even more dangerous situation with the dagger in his hand.

• Wang Ye triggered a blood-red anomaly that caused ghosts across the city to attack people without warning, while the Square Ghost chased Zhang Ziliang out of his room.
• Zhang Ziliang tricked the Square Ghost into leaving, then barricaded the door as it rammed against it from outside.
• A faucet turned on in Zhang Ziliang’s bathroom, and black hair flowed into the living room and approached him.
• Zhang Ziliang flung the hair ghost out the window, but it climbed back up and shattered the glass.
• Zhang Ziliang cut the hair with a dagger, and the Square Ghost outside howled, revealing that both threats were the same ghost.

Zhang Ziliang survived the ghost’s nightly assault and moved to a second-floor apartment, while growing suspicious that his surroundings were staged. Wang Ye realized the missing internet service had exposed a glaring flaw in his setup and considered adding an explanation.

• Zhang Ziliang chopped apart the ghost’s hair, weakening its attacks, then endured the remaining assault until the blood-red sky faded and the impacts stopped after two hours.
• Zhang Ziliang questioned why so few people seemed to be outside and considered whether an unseen force was controlling his surroundings.
• Zhang Ziliang left his apartment with food and medicine, and the bald plaza ghost followed him as he headed for a second-floor home.
• Zhang Ziliang found that his phone had no signal and suspected someone was hiding the truth.
• Wang Ye realized he had forgotten to provide internet access and considered introducing another NPC to explain the situation.

Zhang Ziliang woke to find the Plaza Ghost had ruined his food and medicine, then left the apartment with it following like a bodyguard. He encountered a bizarre combined ghost in the residential complex and realized the dangers around him had grown stranger.

• Zhang Ziliang opened an empty apartment with a piece of cardboard, settled in, and fell asleep while wondering whether his memories or the world were wrong.
• Wang Ye worried that Zhang Ziliang would expose flaws in the illusion, then entered it himself as the head coach.
• While Zhang Ziliang slept, the Plaza Ghost destroyed his food and medicine with corrosive water.
• Zhang Ziliang woke, cursed the ruined supplies, made peace with the Plaza Ghost, and left with it following him.
• Zhang Ziliang found a ghost made from parts of the Residential Complex Ghost and the Highway Ghost crawling around downstairs.

Zhang Ziliang narrowly escaped the fused composite ghost and returned home with the plaza ghost still following him. He spotted a living man and woman entering the residential complex with supplies, and began considering how to use them as a team.

• The plaza ghost roared, drawing the composite ghost’s attention and sending it after Zhang Ziliang.
• Zhang Ziliang escaped by climbing onto a rooftop while the composite ghost’s uneven arms slowed its pursuit.
• The plaza ghost followed Zhang Ziliang home, where its terrifying expression made him fear it had grown stronger.
• Zhang Ziliang saw a living man and woman sneak into the residential complex carrying bulging backpacks.
• Zhang Ziliang considered the newcomers potential recruits, believing he could lead a group rather than fight on the front lines.

Zhang Ziliang figured out that his world was an illusion and stabbed himself to escape it, where he confronted Wang Ye about the trial and its promised rewards. Wang Ye denied that Zhang Ziliang had passed, and Zhang Ziliang quickly changed his criticism to praise after seeing the Ghost Messenger Blade.

• Zhang Ziliang lured the pursuing ghosts away from a young man and woman, then stopped running and addressed the ghosts.
• Zhang Ziliang suspected that the world was an illusion and that suicide could break it, then stabbed himself in the heart.
• Wang Ye, disguised as the plaza ghost, watched Zhang Ziliang die as the illusion vanished.
• Zhang Ziliang and Wang Ye emerged from the illusion, and Zhang Ziliang criticized Wang Ye's script.
• Wang Ye claimed Zhang Ziliang had been eliminated and refused his rewards, so Zhang Ziliang praised the trial after Wang Ye drew the Ghost Messenger Blade.

Wang Ye completed the illusion assessment and returned to Ghost Gate Pass, where Xiao Wu and Xiao Si told him they had to leave. As Wang Ye prepared to risk his life to grow stronger, he visited the hidden room at the amusement park and wondered whether the girl inside the heart could be Lu Qing.

• Wang Ye ended the illusion assessment after nearly all the survivors had died and left Zhang Ziliang to rank their performances.
• Wang Ye returned to Ghost Gate Pass, where Liang Zhi Shui continued patrolling the city.
• Xiao Wu told Wang Ye he had to leave and would take Xiao Er with him; Wang Ye asked if Xiao Er was Lu Qing, but Xiao Wu said he was not.
• Xiao Si also announced his departure, briefly hugged Wang Ye, and left.
• Wang Ye decided to risk his life to improve his strength, then went to the amusement park and considered whether the growing girl inside the transparent heart might be Lu Qing.

Wang Ye absorbed a Bodhisattva Sarira as the Buddha Kingdom’s leaders prepared for the approaching Third Awakening of Eternal Night. Meng Po and Zhong Kui set out from the emptied Number Seven Grocery Store, while Dragon Tiger Mountain’s Daoists celebrated a new pill.

• Wang Ye swallowed a Bodhisattva Sarira in the Post Office and endured its destructive power as yin energy entered his body.
• Maitreya returned to the ruined Buddha Kingdom, questioned its leaders, and called them to discuss preparations for the Third Awakening of Eternal Night.
• Mao Yong'an squeezed out from behind the door at Number Seven Grocery Store, and Meng Po scolded Zhong Kui for bullying him.
• Meng Po drew a door in the air and kicked Zhong Kui through it before following him.
• Daoists at Dragon Tiger Mountain unveiled a black pill and debated who would test it.

The Daoists tested Old Ge’s Bigu pill and began preparing more research as the Third Awakening of Eternal Night approached. In the Wasteland Forbidden Zone, a little girl met with a dark-cloud face and ordered the Heavenly Court’s return to proceed despite Taibai Jinxing’s betrayal and recent losses.

• An old Daoist swallowed Old Ge’s pill, confirmed that it quickly relieved hunger, and suggested improvements before the Daoists agreed it was reliable.
• The Daoists discussed adding their names to the classics as experimenters and moved on to researching another pill formula.
• Zhou Han worried that their ancestors would not emerge from seclusion before the Third Awakening of Eternal Night and set off for Dragon Tiger Mountain.
• A little girl walked through the Wasteland Forbidden Zone while the surrounding ghosts kept their distance.
• The dark-cloud face told the girl that Taibai Jinxing had betrayed them and that the Four Great Heavenly Kings had died while Li Tianwang’s avatar had been destroyed.
• The girl ordered Li Jing to be used as bait, told the face to retrieve the Heavenly Kings’ magical artifacts, and said the Heavenly Court’s return should proceed with the Third Awakening of Eternal Night.

Wang Ye endured the destructive emotions of three Bodhisattva Sariras, realized that his faith lay in himself, and broke through into the Bodhisattva Realm. Meanwhile, Zhao Hai remained forgotten in his prison cell as Zhang Ziliang’s people ignored him.

• A little girl ordered a face in the sky to slaughter one of the human race’s eleven cities when they returned.
• Wang Ye absorbed a third Bodhisattva Sarira, and its fused emotions overwhelmed his mind as yin energy and black flame struggled to stabilize him.
• Wang Ye remembered his identity and realized that advancing beyond the Bodhisattva threshold required inner conviction.
• Wang Ye recognized that he believed in himself, declared his resolve, and broke through into the Bodhisattva Realm.
• Wang Ye’s blood fell away and his hair regrew as his body recovered.
• Zhao Hai asked the crowd outside his cell to notify Zhang Ziliang, but they followed orders to ignore him.

Wang Ye emerged from training in the Post Office with greatly increased strength and claimed to follow the path of invincibility. Meng Po promptly beat him in a brutal sparring session, leaving him exhausted and battered while promising to wait for him to recover.

• Zhao Hai silently analyzed Zhang Ziliang's plans while Zhang watched him from Heaven Group headquarters.
• Wang Ye finished absorbing the energy in his body and wondered whether his new strength made him the Heaven Group's strongest fighter.
• Meng Po asked about Wang Ye's faith, and he declared that he was invincible in this age.
• Meng Po decided to beat Wang Ye while he was still weaker, and he tried to flee but failed to escape her.
• Meng Po battered Wang Ye for thirty minutes until his energy was exhausted, then told him to rest so they could continue.