Chapter Summaries

Greenleaf investigated the One-Step Fortune app after Mr. Sun was transformed into an old man and found that its debtors were losing their life spans. As Mr. Sun’s condition worsened and Tinnan Fortune Group approached bankruptcy, its president Blue Allen offered to end the attacks and withdraw.

• Investigators found no immediate problem with Mr. Sun’s phone or organs and began examining One-Step Fortune and its operators.
• The investigation traced the app’s development and found 128 users with outstanding debts, then discovered that Mr. Sun suffered organ failure and that four indebted foreign users had died.
• Investigators linked Tinnan Fortune Group to the S.S.K. Consortium and found a hidden user-agreement contract written in an undeciphered variant of Ancient Cazaanan.
• Tinnan Fortune Group announced bankruptcy proceedings, and investigators found no such contract in the app’s database.
• Blue Allen visited Greenleaf and offered to withdraw with his master, stop taking the remaining 124 debtors’ life spans, and leave the area.

Ye and Wu Ling negotiated a contract that ended the Tian Nan Wealth Group’s operations and barred its master from China while they lived. Afterward, Ye researched the Demon Manuscript and feared the ancient master was a powerful monster still active in the modern world.

• Ye and Wu Ling demanded that the Tian Nan Wealth Group shut down and its master stay out of China while they were alive.
• The master’s representative agreed to close the company, repay customers’ borrowed lifespans, and sign the contract in ancient Chinese characters.
• On February 14, 2014, Kang Fu was confirmed to have recovered and the investigation was concluded.
• Ye researched the Demon Manuscript and learned it came from the ancient Kazana civilization and had later been used for curses.
• Ye felt an uncanny effect while staring at Kazana characters and realized his yin-yang eyes might have made him sensitive to them.
• Ye connected the master to Kazana’s seventh-century-BCE history and feared the ancient monster wielded immense power across the world.

The narrator reflected on a monster that offered small loans through contracts and wondered whether it had returned to China, then discussed it with his coworkers on their way to Workers and Peasants Sixth Village. The chapter left them speculating about mythical creatures and agreeing that humanity was the cruelest creature.

• The narrator read Greenleaf's file about a contract-making monster and wondered whether it had returned to China after Ye Qing and Wu Ling had died.
• The narrator's younger sister texted that a scam caller had obtained her tour group's travel details, and one of the travelers confronted their tour guide and contacted the travel agency.
• The narrator reassured himself that his sister's group had plans to find replacement guides and reminded her to stay safe.
• On the drive to Workers and Peasants Sixth Village, the narrator told Skinny, Chen Xiaoqiu, Fatty, and Guo Yujie about the life-span loan file.
• Skinny explained that unicorns and mermaids had once been considered dangerous creatures, and the group agreed that humanity was the most vicious creature.

At the neighborhood committee, the narrator and the others discussed scam calls, demolition, and the aunties’ matchmaking attempts. Tian Fu then described an army buddy returning from overseas with his grandson after the boy’s parents died, and the narrator recognized the names Gu Junze and Liu Shengxuan.

• The narrator and the neighborhood residents discussed a wave of scam calls and a shopping tour tied to product sales.
• The aunties asked the five young people about dating and tried to set them up, while the Fatty, the Thin Man, and the narrator denied being interested in men.
• Tian Fu arrived and told the aunties he was going to pick up an old army buddy, his wife, and their grandson at the airport.
• Tian Fu explained that his buddy’s son had married a man overseas, but the couple had killed each other and the surviving partner had died in prison.
• The narrator asked whether the deceased couple had been Gu Junze and Liu Shengxuan.

Lin recognized the names Gu Junze and Liu Shengxuan when Tian Fu described his comrade’s son, whose story resembled the events of “The Love Curse.” Tian Fu then asked Lin for help finding a psychologist for the troubled child Gu Junze had adopted, and explained that the boy had witnessed Gu Junze’s murder.

• Lin recognized Gu Junze and Liu Shengxuan in Tian Fu’s account and worried that another ominous coincidence was unfolding.
• Lin told Tian Fu she had met the two men online, while the older women watched her closely.
• Tian Fu asked Lin for the contact information of a psychologist she had found for Wang Hongzhang’s daughter.
• Lin recalled that Zheng Xinxin, one of the psychologists who had helped with Old Wang’s case, had died in a paranormal incident.
• Tian Fu explained that Gu Junze’s adopted son had become dull and withdrawn after witnessing a man kill Gu Junze and turn himself in.

After Gu Junze’s death, Tian Fu sought help for the adopted child, and Chen Xiao Qiu arranged for Lin Qi to meet the psychologist Mu Ge. Lin Qi and Chen Xiao Qiu visited Mu Ge’s practice, where he greeted Lin Qi and said he had seen hope when they last met.

• Tian Fu asked Chen Xiao Qiu to connect him with someone who could help Gu Junze and Chen Jia’s adopted child.
• Chen Xiao Qiu contacted Chen Yihan, who arranged a meeting with Mu Ge, a psychologist with supernatural abilities.
• After work, Chen Xiao Qiu drove Lin Qi to Mu Ge’s counseling practice, Love Song.
• Mu Ge greeted Lin Qi and asked whether everything was all right now.
• Mu Ge told Lin Qi that their previous meeting had not been for nothing because he had seen hope.

Muge welcomed Lin Qi and Chen Xiaoqiu into his home, where he revealed his ability to control people and ghosts with his voice. He recounted how a deadly traffic pileup involving his ex-wife and daughter led his wife to fear him, and his story left his painful past unresolved.

• Muge introduced his daughter Mu Ai, who asked Lin Qi if he could save her and her mother.
• Muge guessed that Lin Qi had helped cause the recent astonishing events in Minqing, and Lin Qi acknowledged his abilities.
• Muge explained that his voice had always soothed people and later developed the power to command people and ghosts.
• Muge described how he used his voice as a teenager to stop a mugger and persuade the ghost pursuing him to move on.
• Muge recounted how an evil spirit caused a 37-vehicle pileup that trapped his ex-wife and Mu Ai, and how he commanded the spirit to kill the person it resented.
• Muge said his ex-wife blamed and feared him after the incident, eventually begging him to let her go.

Mu Ge explained how grief and guilt shaped his determination to protect his daughter and build a new balance without ghosts or monsters. He revealed that he suspected Ye Qing had been waiting for Lin Qi, then asked Lin Qi whether he shared the resolve to do anything for loved ones.

• Mu Ge described the innocent girl he had killed while saving his ex-wife and said he believed the world’s rules still held him guilty.
• Chen Xiaoqiu suggested that Mu Ge would do anything to keep those he loved alive, and Mu Ge said that was why he had stayed in Minqing.
• Mu Ge guessed that Ye Qing was waiting for Lin Qi, and Lin Qi recalled that Ye Qing had known about him since childhood.
• Mu Ge said Lin Qi would be a catalyst in establishing a new balance among the living, the dead, ghosts, ordinary people, and monsters.
• Mu Ge declared that he would stop at nothing to create a world where his daughter would not face supernatural terror, then asked Lin Qi whether he shared that resolve.

Mu Ge questioned Xiao Mo about whether he would commit himself to saving the dead girl, and Xiao Mo admitted he lacked that resolve. After Mu Ai revealed she could see Xiao Bai and other guardian spirits, Mu Ge brought Xiao Mo to meet the grieving Gu family and asked to speak privately with the boy.

• Xiao Mo told Mu Ge he had not chosen to pursue saving the dead girl with the same determination as Ye Qing.
• Mu Ai reassured Xiao Mo, then revealed she could see Xiao Bai and other guardian spirits.
• Mu Ai asked Xiao Mo to bring the girl from the car accident back to life, but he said he did not know if he could.
• Mu Ge led Chen Xiao Qiu and Xiao Mo to meet the Gu family, whose elderly couple described their son's death while the silent boy listened.
• Mu Ge asked the elderly couple to wait and took Xiao Mo and the boy to another room for a private conversation.

Mu Ge questioned Gu Mo about his parents’ deaths and used his ability to make the child temporarily forget the traumatic memories. After learning that Mu Ai could see the dead in people’s hearts, the narrator watched her reveal that she saw her mother inside both herself and Mu Ge.

• Mu Ge gently asked Gu Mo what had happened, and Gu Mo described Liu Shengxuan killing Chen Jia while inhabiting Gu Junze’s body.
• Mu Ge told Gu Mo to sleep and temporarily forget the frightening memories, then woke him and returned him to his relieved grandparents.
• Mu Ge told the narrator and Chen Xiao Qiu that he suspected Mu Ai could see the dead after she had seen his father in his heart.
• The narrator and Chen Xiao Qiu went to Mu Ge’s home, where Mu Ai cried and said she saw her mother inside herself and Mu Ge.

After Mu Ai learned that her mother had died, the narrator reflected on the danger paranormal events posed to the people he loved and resolved to change that reality at any cost. The chapter ended when Mu Ge called him.

• Mu Ge calmed Gu Mo by giving him a command that temporarily made him forget what had happened, then asked the narrator and Chen Xiaoqiu to leave.
• Chen Xiaoqiu talked with the narrator about loss and warned him to keep his emotions and abilities in check.
• The narrator saw his sister's happy travel photos and said he would do whatever it took to change a reality that threatened his family.
• Chen Xiaoqiu said the narrator's nature might be why he had his ability, and he went home to his parents.
• After thinking of his loved ones and the strange figure, the narrator received a call from Mu Ge and sat up in surprise.

The narrator promised Mu Ai he would save her mother, then possessed Mu Ai’s mother and witnessed the car accident that killed her. Trapped behind a barrier at the crash site, he saw Mu Ge order an evil spirit to kill a girl and realized he was reliving the accident from Mu Ai’s mother’s perspective.

• Mu Ai called the narrator in tears and begged him to save her mother, and he promised after she sent him a family photo.
• The narrator possessed Mu Ai’s mother and experienced the warmth of her life with baby Mu Ai.
• A truck caused a horrific pileup, and the narrator found himself unable to cross a barrier surrounding the crash site.
• The narrator tried to stop the evil spirit but heard Mu Ge order it to kill a girl trapped in a bus.
• The evil spirit killed the girl, and the narrator found himself inside the car with Mu Ge, who tried to comfort A-Ling and Xiao Ai.

The narrator experienced the unbearable screams tormenting Mu Ai’s mother and witnessed her recoil from Mu Ge after he confessed his lies. The dream moved ahead to their separation, while the screams returned even after the narrator severed their connection.

• The narrator endured the screams and saw that Mu Ai’s mother lay vacant and unresponsive in the hospital.
• Mu Ai’s grandparents visited and discussed how Mu Ge was caring for both hospitalized Mu Ai and her mother.
• Mu Ai’s mother reacted with fear when Mu Ge arrived, and the narrator severed their connection to escape the pain.
• Mu Ge apologized to Ling for hiding the dangers he had faced and begged her to forgive him, but she asked him to let her go.
• The dream showed divorce papers, Mu Ai crying, and Ling living in seclusion, convulsing whenever she heard Mu Ge or Mu Ai’s names.
• The screams grew clearer and overwhelmed the narrator again despite the severed connection.

The narrator relived the memories of Mu Ai’s mother and discovered that she had died while trying to tell Mu Ge to take Mu Ai back and help her stop loving him. The narrator woke in their own bedroom with Mu Ge’s pain and emotions still overwhelming them, and missed his call.

• The narrator struggled through Mu Ai’s mother’s suffering and realized that reversing her time would not change her memories or thoughts.
• Mu Ai’s mother left home alone and called Mu Ge, but he did not answer.
• Mu Ai’s mother confessed that she had lied before the car accident and begged Mu Ge to take Mu Ai back and keep her from loving him.
• Mu Ai’s mother collapsed as her pain and emotions overwhelmed her, and the narrator reached out in an attempt to save her.
• The narrator woke in their bedroom, endured the lingering pain from Mu Ge’s ability, and found that Mu Ge’s call had ended before they could answer.

After hearing Mu Ge and Mu Ai grieve over A Ling’s final message, Lin Qi reflected on the pain their abilities had caused. The next morning, she spotted a seemingly transparent girl in her younger sister’s sunrise photos and realized the girl was a ghost.

• Lin Qi listened to Mu Ge explain that A Ling’s voicemail had originally ended before she could say she loved him, and Mu Ge thanked Lin Qi for helping him recover the memory.
• Mu Ge said he would send Mu Ai to live with his in-laws for her safety, while Mu Ai cried and begged him to be okay.
• Lin Qi wept over the suffering Mu Ge and Mu Ai had endured and thought about how others had treated her own ability as a source of hope.
• At dawn, Lin Qi examined photos her younger sister had sent and noticed a tall, androgynous girl who looked slightly transparent.
• Lin Qi found a sparkler’s light visible through the girl’s hand and recognized that the girl was a ghost.

Lin Qi worried that the ghost following her overseas sister might be dangerous, but Guo Yujie revealed she had encouraged the girl to join her friends’ trip. Lin Qi entered a dream to possess the girl and found herself in a hospital room, looking at the girl’s reflection.

• Lin Qi tried repeatedly to call her sister, then told the group chat about the ghost and shared the photo.
• Guo Yujie recognized the girl and explained that she had met her crying before the trip and urged her to go with her friends.
• Lin Qi tried calling her sister again, but the call went unanswered, so she decided to enter a dream and possess the girl.
• Lin Qi woke in a shared hospital room and saw the girl’s face reflected in the window.

The narrator tried to use their ability to heal a hospitalized girl with advanced lung cancer, but repeated interruptions kept them from acting. When the girl finally woke and reached for her mother, her hand passed through her, leaving both the girl and the narrator wondering if she had left her body.

• The narrator learned that the girl had advanced lung cancer and decided to heal her so she would survive and not become a danger to the narrator's sister.
• The narrator reached toward the girl, but the girl's phone rang and she moved before the narrator could act.
• The girl read her friends' excited plans for their graduation trip, then began coughing blood, and doctors and nurses rushed to treat her.
• The narrator waited until evening for the girl's parents to stop watching her, but the narrator's hand still could not touch her.
• The girl woke, called to her mother, and froze when her hand passed through her mother's sleeve.

The narrator watched a girl's soul leave her living body and followed her through the hospital, unsure how to use his ability to reunite them. After he tried reversing time on her body and failed, the girl remained unconscious as her parents waited for answers.

• The girl woke outside her body, panicked, and found that she could not touch or communicate with anyone except the narrator.
• The girl's parents discovered she had not woken up, and doctors moved her body for tests while her soul remained behind.
• The girl wandered through the hospital at night and found her parents waiting outside the intensive care unit beside her ventilated body.
• The narrator used his ability on the girl's arm for three seconds, but her soul remained separated from her body.
• The girl watched her parents return with a doctor, who said the tests had found no cause for her unconsciousness; she leaned against the wall and cried.

The narrator followed the girl home and watched her revisit music, keepsakes, journals, and photographs from her past. After checking a group chat whose travel plans were nearly settled, the girl’s phone died, and the narrator saw her crying.

• The narrator followed the girl and her parents from the hospital to their home.
• The girl entered her bedroom, played Goddess Yan’s music video, and examined keepsakes that recalled her childhood.
• The girl read her school journal and looked through a handmade photo album, including pictures of friends and a boy holding her hand.
• The girl found her phone and checked a group chat where travel plans were nearly finalized.
• The girl’s phone ran out of power, and the narrator saw tears streaming down her face.

A girl who has become a soul wandered through her home, grieving that she could neither feel nor interact with the living world. When her mother briefly believed she had returned, the girl tried and failed to leave her a message, ending the chapter in despair.

• The girl woke after crying through the night, heard her parents discussing her hospital stay, and wandered through the apartment without being able to taste juice or see her reflection.
• After watching children play outside, the girl saw her mother return and call for her, but she passed through her when she tried to embrace her.
• The girl tried to use a mouse and pen to communicate with her mother, but her hands passed through them, while her mother searched and sobbed.
• The girl's father returned, and he and her mother put away her belongings while insisting she was still alive and in the hospital.
• The girl tried to write with a marker and a ballpoint pen, then use her laptop, but nothing she did left a message, so she screamed and slammed the laptop onto the floor.