Chapter Summaries

Shen Meihuan took her son to the riverside, where Luo Qiu wondered whether the boy retained any resentment, while a masked stranger secretly followed them. Meanwhile, Lizi investigated a tutoring center and uncovered a possible connection between its manager and the student deaths, as Black Water suspected the club had restored Shen Meihuan’s son and vowed to protect her demon cubs.

• Shen Meihuan left her son on a bench to retrieve her windblown hat, and Luo Qiu sat beside him and wondered whether he could feel resentment toward his mother.
• Luo Qiu watched Shen Meihuan and her son leave, then noticed a masked, disguised person quietly following them.
• Lizi, posing as a student to help Ren Ziling and Ma Houde investigate the tutoring center, overheard girls suggest that Teacher Xu Zhao had given them money and that some people connected to them had jumped from a building.
• Lizi contacted Ren Ziling after the girls’ conversation was interrupted by someone entering the restroom.
• Black Water learned that Shen Meihuan and her son had checked out, suspected the club’s owner had changed the son’s condition, and promised Lingling she would not let any of the demon cubs suffer or leave her.

Ding Dongsheng blamed Xu Zhao for Qiao Rongrong’s death and attacked him, but failed to harm him before escaping. A voice from Ding Dongsheng’s shadow offered him help, leaving him facing a dangerous bargain.

• Ding Dongsheng remembered Qiao Rongrong and became convinced Xu Zhao had driven her to suicide.
• Black Soul Eighteen’s voice asked Ding Dongsheng whether he wanted revenge on Xu Zhao.
• Ren Ziling and Lizi discussed their investigation and spotted Xu Zhao leaving a drink shop with a woman.
• Ding Dongsheng, disguised in a mask and hat, attacked Xu Zhao and accused him of killing Qiao Rongrong.
• Xu Zhao overpowered Ding Dongsheng, but Ren Ziling struck him with a cup and Ding Dongsheng escaped.
• Black Soul Eighteen told Ding Dongsheng it could help him protect Qiao Rongrong, but he would have to pay a price.

Ding Dongsheng traded a family heirloom Bronze Shard to the club for a request to see Xu Zhao ruined and disgraced. Luo Qiu sent Taiyinzi to help the police investigate, while a masked man watched Shen Meihuan and her son from outside their apartment.

• Ding Dongsheng recounted his memories of Qiao Rongrong and said he wanted Xu Zhao to suffer for her death.
• Luo Qiu warned Ding Dongsheng that the police were already investigating Xu Zhao, but Ding Dongsheng insisted on making his request and offered a Bronze Shard as payment.
• Luo Qiu accepted the deal, and Ding Dongsheng left the club in the rain.
• Luo Qiu reviewed Black Soul Eighteen's client records and learned that she often used hatred to draw clients to the club.
• Luo Qiu freed Taiyinzi and ordered him to help the police investigate the cram school so Xu Zhao could be disgraced quickly.
• Ding Dongsheng wept beneath an eave as a masked man watched Shen Meihuan and her son at their apartment.

Ma Houde’s division investigated tutoring-center manager Xu Zhao’s suspicious finances and learned he wanted to turn himself in. Xu Zhao confessed to exploiting underage students and provided evidence, then fell asleep in the interrogation room after hearing the case against him was proven.

• Ma Houde’s officers discovered that Xu Zhao’s spending exceeded his income and that he had recently stopped using a rented villa at Jihao International.
• Xu Zhao arrived at the station and claimed he wanted to turn himself in for bribery and organized sexual exploitation of underage girls.
• Xu Zhao described how students were recruited through money and promised grades, with school administrators supplying exam questions.
• Xu Zhao gave Ma Houde a key and the password to a laptop containing evidence, which officers found at his home.
• Ma Houde told Xu Zhao that the evidence was conclusive and that he faced severe punishment, after which Xu Zhao fell asleep at the table.

Ren Ziling learned that Xu Zhao had confessed to crimes at the cram school but seemed to have forgotten turning himself in, while Dai Youcai had fled and the student suicides remained unexplained. At the club, Luo Qiu collected Ding Dongsheng’s Bronze Shard after fulfilling his request to ruin Xu Zhao, and left Ding Dongsheng shaken by questions about his motives.

• Ma Houde told Ren Ziling that Dai Youcai had disappeared, Xu Zhao had confessed to the cram school’s crimes before passing out, and Xu Zhao later claimed not to remember turning himself in.
• Ma Houde explained that Xu Zhao was implicated in luring the first four students but not Gu Jiajie, and he went to search the cram school again.
• Xu Zhao agonized in detention over why he had turned himself in and feared spending the rest of his life in prison.
• Ding Dongsheng watched Xu Zhao suffer at the club, then gave Luo Qiu the Bronze Shard after Luo confirmed his request had been fulfilled.
• Luo Qiu questioned whether Xu Zhao’s connection to Qiao Rongrong’s death had truly mattered to Ding Dongsheng, prompting Ding Dongsheng to flee the club.
• Maid Miss called Ding Dongsheng’s soul cheap and ugly, while Luo Qiu accepted the Bronze Shard as worth the transaction.

Luo Qiu praised Taiyinzi and hosted Lizi for dinner at Ren Ziling’s home, where she felt the warmth of their family life. After leaving alone, Lizi wondered whether she should stay in the city a little longer.

• Luo Qiu praised Taiyinzi for recovering the Bronze Shard, and Taiyinzi vowed to work harder before leaving to seek a patron.
• Luo Qiu asked You Ye to store the Bronze Shard and said he would be entertaining a guest at home that evening.
• Ren Ziling thanked Lizi over dinner and told Luo Qiu that Lu Yiyun would soon attend his school, asking him to show her around.
• Lizi described Luo Qiu’s cooking as a flavor that warmed people from within and hinted that her hometown was a cold, snowy place.
• Lizi declined Ren Ziling’s offer to walk her home and wondered whether she should stay in the city longer.

Ren Ziling reconsidered the cram school rumor and identified its receptionist as a possible suspect, prompting Ma Houde to reopen that lead. The provincial bureau sent Wang Yuechuan to investigate the cram school, and Ma Houde was ordered to cooperate with him.

• Luo Qiu helped Ren Ziling reason that someone might have kept the mysterious-teacher rumor alive to misdirect investigators.
• Ren Ziling suspected the receptionist because she had access to students’ information and could have overheard Xu Zhao and Dai Youcai.
• Ma Houde told Ren Ziling that the receptionist had been on his initial tracking list and agreed to have her investigated.
• Ma Houde received a call from his superior and went to meet Wang Yuechuan, who had arrived from the provincial bureau.
• Wang Yuechuan questioned Leader Old Liu’s claim that the area was peaceful, and Old Liu ordered Ma Houde to cooperate with him on the cram school investigation.

Wang Yuechuan challenged Ma Houde’s investigation and focused suspicion on cram-school receptionist Zhao Ru, while Shen Meihuan prepared to flee the city after learning Gu Feng had reported her missing. The chapter ended with a disguised figure following Shen Meihuan.

• Wang Yuechuan reviewed the case files and suggested that Zhao Ru, the cram school’s receptionist, might be the culprit who had fabricated the rumor.
• Wang Yuechuan criticized Ma Houde for relying on Luo Qiu and questioned Luo’s father’s abilities, angering Ma Houde.
• Ma Houde ordered someone to find Zhao Ru’s residence and left to continue investigating the five students’ deaths.
• Shen Meihuan bought a seat on an unlicensed bus out of the province after learning Gu Feng had reported her missing and deciding to hide that her son was alive.
• A masked, hatted, and sunglass-wearing figure followed Shen Meihuan after she left the bus ticket seller.

Ma Houde questioned Zhao Ru about missing Dai Youcai and suspected she was preparing to flee after noticing her packed suitcase. As police linked her late-night outings to student deaths and discovered her imminent train trip to YN, Ma Houde led officers to stop her while Wang Yuechuan continued investigating.

• Ma Houde visited Zhao Ru and asked whether Dai Youcai had contacted her, while noticing her suitcase had been packed away.
• After leaving Zhao Ru's apartment, Ma Houde suspected she planned to flee and ordered officers to check travel records and question people nearby.
• Ma Houde met Luo Qiu at a bus stop, ate the durian Luo offered, and felt his fatigue and nausea disappear.
• Police reported that Zhao Ru's late-night outings matched the dates when students died and that she had bought a train ticket to YN for that afternoon.
• Ma Houde ordered officers to stop Zhao Ru before her train departed, while Wang Yuechuan stayed behind to study his evidence board.

Zhao Ru was arrested after trying to flee the train station, and the police questioned her about blackmailing students who later died by suicide. New evidence suggested she had no connection to Gu Jiajie's death, leaving Ma Houde to wonder whether the boy had acted alone.

• Zhao Ru abandoned her train ticket and tried to escape Ma Houde and the officers, but Ma Houde tripped her with a thrown cola can and she was arrested.
• Luo Qiu and Maid Miss found Zhao Ru's dropped necklace and identified its pendant as a source of energy like the black diamond from Liu Ang's house.
• Ma Houde confronted Zhao Ru with photos of student death scenes and evidence of extortion, and she admitted blackmailing four students while denying responsibility for their deaths.
• Zhao Ru denied ever blackmailing Gu Jiajie, and Ma Houde's officers confirmed that her laptop and phone held no evidence connecting her to him.
• The officers reported that surveillance had not captured Zhao Ru leaving home on the night Gu Jiajie died, prompting Ma Houde to question whether Gu Jiajie had committed suicide alone.

Ma Houde searched for evidence connecting Zhao Ru to her victims while You Ye questioned Zhao Ru about the necklace she had worn for months. At Gu Feng’s home, Ma Houde found a pill hidden beneath a carpet and hurried to have Old Qin identify it.

• Ma Houde ordered officers to check communication records and victims’ homes for evidence linking Zhao Ru to the students.
• You Ye appeared in Zhao Ru’s cell with the missing necklace, hypnotized her, and learned she had bought it three months earlier and worn it constantly.
• You Ye returned the necklace to Zhao Ru and vanished from the cell.
• Ma Houde searched Gu Jiajie’s room and found a broken white pill beneath the carpet near the window.
• Ma Houde called Old Qin to identify the pill and ordered the young officer to drive him to the department.

Luo Qiu and You Ye investigated a black crystal pendant and learned that it had been sold by a mysterious man alongside Zhao Ru’s necklace. At the same time, Ma Houde identified a pill found in Gu Jiajie’s room as an anticancer drug, while Shen Meihuan discovered her son’s hair was falling out in clumps.

• You Ye hypnotized a jewelry shop owner, who recalled buying crystals from a salesman three months earlier and sketched his face.
• Luo Qiu concluded that the Liu family’s black diamond and Zhao Ru’s crystal necklace had been deliberately distributed to amplify Evil Thoughts, then tied a bracelet around You Ye’s wrist.
• Ma Houde told Old Qin that an anticancer drug called Cediranib had been found in Gu Jiajie’s room, and Old Qin went to examine the body again.
• Shen Meihuan returned to her rented home, where she cared for her son and promised they would soon leave and start a new life.
• Shen Meihuan discovered that her son’s hair was falling out in clumps and realized he was rotting.

Shen Meihuan tried to care for her decaying but still-living son while hiding from the police. Ma Houde tracked her to the Urban Village, where he confronted a masked man and recognized him as Gu Jiajie before the man escaped.

• Shen Meihuan washed her face and reassured herself that she was merely tired, then comforted her son and left to buy cosmetics.
• Ma Houde searched for Shen Meihuan after learning her bank records placed her near the Urban Village, and a convenience-store owner pointed him toward her route.
• Shen Meihuan bought cosmetics, noticed a figure behind her in a shop-window reflection, and hurried back through the alleys.
• Ma Houde followed Shen Meihuan and confronted a masked man he found searching the alleys, but the man broke free and ran.
• Ma Houde removed the man's mask, recognized him as Gu Jiajie, and watched him escape after being stomped and shoved to the ground.

Shen Meihuan learned that the son following her was her long-lost twin, whom she had believed dead, and fainted after Ma Houde said he had seen him. Meanwhile, Liu Jiahui returned to the hospital to find his grandmother, and Luo Qiu led the resurrected boy into an amusement center where he began playing whack-a-turtle.

• Shen Meihuan found Gu Jiajie missing from the apartment and searched the streets for him.
• Ma Houde stopped Shen Meihuan and revealed that the boy he had seen looked like Gu Jiajie's twin brother.
• Shen Meihuan explained that her other son had stayed with his father after the divorce and that she had lost contact with him, then fainted when she realized he was the son following her.
• Liu Jiahui returned to the hospital and learned from a nurse that his grandmother had fainted with a fever but was now resting.
• Luo Qiu opened the amusement center for the resurrected boy, who entered and repeatedly struck a whack-a-turtle machine.

Shen Meihuan learned that Liu Jiahui was alive and confronted He Xiaomei, who confessed that she and Liu Cheng had faked his death to keep him from leaving. After hearing about Jiahui’s difficult years and his sacrifices for He Xiaomei, Shen Meihuan went to the hospital to meet him, but he fled when Officer Ma spotted him.

• Shen Meihuan returned to Liu Cheng’s home with Gu Feng to seek custody of Jiahui, but Liu Cheng claimed Jiahui had died and showed her a grave.
• Shen Meihuan collapsed, and Officer Ma told her that Liu Cheng had died years earlier and that Jiahui was alive at the Third Hospital with He Xiaomei.
• Shen Meihuan visited He Xiaomei, who confessed that Liu Cheng had faked Jiahui’s grave and that they had told Jiahui his mother was dead.
• He Xiaomei explained that Jiahui had endured abuse from Liu Cheng, sold their home and land to pay for her surgery, and recently learned the truth about Shen Meihuan.
• Officer Ma saw Liu Jiahui carrying porridge outside the hospital and chased him when he ran away.

Gu Jiajie discovered his twin brother Liu Jiahui at the hospital, while Shen Meihuan tried to find the son who had returned from the dead. At Riverside Park, Blackwater confronted Luo Qiu about the walking corpse, and Luo Qiu claimed he could hear the first stirrings of its soul.

• Gu Jiajie spotted Liu Jiahui at the hospital and followed him after ending a call with his mother, Shen Meihuan.
• Ma Houde urged Liu Jiahui to see Shen Meihuan, but Liu Jiahui refused for now and asked her to go home while he thought it over.
• Shen Meihuan left the hospital alone, rejected returning to Gu Feng, and resolved to search for Gu Jiajie.
• Liu Jiahui returned to He Xiaomei, then sat in the corridor and wondered whether Gu Jiajie should have existed after seeing him alive.
• Luo Qiu accompanied the silent walking corpse through places tied to its memories, while Blackwater warned that it could become dangerous and refused to trade with him.
• Luo Qiu gestured for Blackwater to listen and said he heard the first stirrings of the soul.

Long Xiruo woke from a recurring dream and continued into the Primeval Forest, while Luo Qiu urged Black Water to listen for a walking corpse’s spirit. Ma Houde uncovered evidence that Zhao Ru had driven students toward suicide, but questioned whether Gu Jiajie’s death was connected; meanwhile, Black Water agreed to help Shen Meihuan find her missing son without making another trade.

• Long Xiruo woke from a dream of the world collapsing and continued toward a place in the Primeval Forest that might give her answers.
• Luo Qiu told Black Water to remember the moment she first opened her eyes and listen for the walking corpse’s spirit, and Black Water left in fear.
• Ma Houde read letters that appeared to show Zhao Ru had threatened students with private photographs and ordered a handwriting comparison.
• Ma Houde noticed that the letters never mentioned a teacher and went to Third Hospital to investigate whether Gu Jiajie’s death was separate from the earlier victims’ deaths.
• A nurse told Ma Houde that Liu Jiahui was caring for He Xiaomei, whose life might not last much longer.
• Black Water told Shen Meihuan that corpse aura was corroding her, then promised to help her find her son and warned her not to make another trade.

Gu Jiajie confessed to Ma Houde that he and his dead twin brother, Liu Jiahui, had switched identities so Liu could die in his place and Gu could escape their abusive home. As Luo Qiu watched a new soul awaken in the arcade, Blackwater arrived with Shen Meihuan.

• Ma Houde confronted Gu Jiajie with the medicine bottle and revealed he knew the dead man was Liu Jiahui.
• Gu Jiajie explained that he and Liu Jiahui had switched places, and that Liu had jumped to his death without waiting for Gu to approve their plan.
• Gu Jiajie admitted he had regretted the deception after seeing his mother grieve, and Ma Houde agreed to keep the truth from her for now.
• Ma Houde realized Liu Jiahui must have carried deep resentment before he died.
• Luo Qiu watched the arcade attendant strike the whack-a-turtle machine as a newborn soul emerged from lingering attachment.
• Blackwater appeared behind Luo Qiu with Shen Meihuan.

Gu Jiajie found a letter from his brother and learned of his feelings, while Shen Meihuan discovered that the resurrected son she had believed was Gu Jiajie was actually Liu Jiahui. Her rejection triggered a new soul in the walking corpse, but Luo Qiu said it would die.

• Gu Jiajie searched his brother’s travel bag and found a letter addressed to him, then sat down after reading it.
• Shen Meihuan embraced Gu Jiajie at the amusement center and demanded to know what Luo Qiu had done to him.
• Luo Qiu touched Shen Meihuan’s forehead, revealing that the walking corpse was Liu Jiahui rather than Gu Jiajie.
• Shen Meihuan recoiled from Liu Jiahui, who cried out, dropped his hammer, and smashed his head against the floor.
• Black Water heard the corpse’s soul crying and realized it had formed from his memories and attachment to Shen Meihuan.
• Luo Qiu said the newly born soul would die, and Black Water wondered whether her intervention had prevented a true resurrection.

Luo Qiu helped Shen Meihuan’s other son, whose newborn soul had been hurting itself, find comfort in her embrace and call her “Mom.” After Black Water paid with a drop of essence blood, Luo Qiu returned the son’s soul to Shen Meihuan as a new life growing inside her.

• Luo Qiu explained to Black Water that the son’s new soul had been born from lingering obsession and memories, and that its pain made it hurt itself.
• Shen Meihuan embraced the son and soothed him until he stopped and called her “Mom.”
• Black Water gave Luo Qiu a drop of essence blood and asked him to preserve the son’s body, then challenged him for withholding that the child was her other son.
• Luo Qiu asked Black Water whether it would have been fair for the son to die without another chance to make memories with his mother, and she left the arcade.
• Luo Qiu drew a pure white soul from the sleeping child and placed it in Shen Meihuan’s belly, where she felt a new life taking shape.