Chapter Summaries

A girl trapped in an unusual state between life and death failed to reach her parents, who brought in a ritualist who could not see her. She revisited her elementary school and its memories, then left with purpose and arrived at a junior high school.

• The girl's parents found her notebook and entered the room, but only the narrator could see her as she cried.
• The parents returned with a robed man, who performed a ritual without seeing the girl and drove her to leave the house in despair.
• The girl walked through her elementary school, revisiting her old classroom, teachers' offices, and keepsakes from her time there.
• The girl played a remembered passage on the music-room piano, then left the school with a stronger sense of purpose.
• Twenty minutes later, the girl stood outside a junior high school.

The girl revisited her junior high and high school, confronting memories and loneliness before returning home and discovering she could change the length of her hair. When she tried to spell out a message with paper, eerie green ghostfire consumed the sheets, and the narrator sensed dangerous yin energy rising from her.

• The girl visited Deyu Junior High School, revisiting her old classroom, library, and music room as memories left her feeling lonely and panicked.
• The girl ran to Minqing Senior High School and cried in the hallway as she struggled to recall any meaningful friendships there.
• The girl returned home, tore the talismans off her bedroom door, and charged her phone to read messages about a proposed class reunion trip.
• After watching Goddess Yan play piano, the girl discovered she could make her hair grow long or short, though she still could not see her reflection or leave a message.
• The girl arranged papers on the floor to spell something, but green ghostfire burned them, and the narrator sensed yin energy rising from her.

The girl watched her former classmates come looking for Yi Huan and leave notes, then revisited the street where they had taken graduation photos. She returned home to find her parents absent and her friends’ unanswered messages waiting, still unable to reach anyone.

• The girl abandoned her attempt to write, changed her appearance to match Goddess Yan’s outfit, and began playing the song from the video before stopping.
• Three of Yi Huan’s middle school classmates came to the apartment, left notes for her, and put more notes in the mailboxes.
• The girl followed the classmates, then went to the street where the group had taken graduation photos and spent the night on a bench with an unending sparkler.
• After days passed, the girl returned home and read her friends’ calls and messages, but she feared trying to contact them.
• The girl sobbed over her isolation, and I briefly wished she could become an evil spirit to escape her despair.

The girl wandered through places tied to her memories, unable to interact with the living, while carrying the notes she had retrieved and imagining a message about her friends’ trip. She eventually stopped outside a residential complex, where the narrator recognized it as Guo Yujie’s home and wondered about Guo Yujie’s ability.

• The girl found her parents had taken down and discarded her notes, then recovered both notes and the one she had left in the mailbox.
• The girl visited her hospital body, a fast-food restaurant, a stationery shop, and her piano teacher’s home, revisiting memories and watching a new student’s lesson.
• The girl went to the cinema where she had once watched a movie with friends, then imagined receiving a message that their trip had been finalized for the next day.
• The girl wandered until she reached a residential complex and broke down crying beside its back entrance.
• The narrator recognized the complex as Guo Yujie’s home and connected Guo Yujie, now Yi Huan and formerly Zhang Xiaojia, to Zhu Mei and the subway incident.

The narrator witnessed Yihuan’s final happy trip as a spirit before learning from his sister that Yihuan had died after days in a coma. He told the others about the experience and joined their discussion about Guo Yujie’s apparent ability to attract spirits, while reflecting on how his own ability had changed.

• The narrator experienced Yihuan’s memories of traveling with her friends as a spirit and saw her join them at the roadside before she died.
• The narrator’s sister called to say Yihuan had gone missing during the trip and that her mother had revealed Yihuan had died in the hospital.
• The narrator told his sister that Yihuan had seemed happy, and she said her friends would return to pay their respects.
• The narrator messaged the others about Yihuan, and they concluded that Guo Yujie might passively attract spirits.
• The Fatty suggested abilities could change, and the narrator reflected on how his own dreams had become more vivid and detailed.

Yang Fan described a series of missing packages and unexplained duplicate household items in his home, then told the investigators that a neighbor had seen someone inside his apartment. He had fled to hotels and sought help, but the identity and nature of the person in his home remained unknown.

• Yang Fan told the investigators that he bought and renovated a vacant secondhand house in 2011, performed a ritual there, and noticed nothing unusual for months after moving in.
• Yang Fan said several deliveries went missing, and he later discovered that the supposedly missing plates and chopsticks had appeared as duplicate sets in his cupboards.
• Yang Fan explained that a new phone worth more than five thousand yuan was signed for at his apartment while he was at work, though the courier claimed someone inside had accepted it.
• Yang Fan said another delivery was reported as signed for, and his neighbor had seen the courier leave before the apartment door closed as if someone inside had shut it.

A client described how a ghost had been appearing inside his home, using his belongings and accepting food deliveries while remaining invisible to him. The investigators identified the ghost as Ye Xin, but his connection to the client and the house remained unknown.

• The client told the investigators that police, home searches, and cameras had confirmed a stranger was entering his locked house, apparently through the bathroom, and using his home while he was away.
• The investigators saw ghostly yin energy on the client and in the photograph, judged that the stranger was a ghost, and chose to investigate before attempting to send him on.
• On April 24, 2014, the investigators reviewed footage showing the ghost watching television, making tea, eating a delivery, and leaving before the client returned.
• The footage showed the client discovering the computer and entering the room where the ghost had appeared, then emerging with a grim expression.
• On April 27, 2014, the investigators identified the ghost as Ye Xin, who had died in a car accident in 2010, with no known connection to the client or his home.

The investigators questioned Ye Xin’s father and his university friend Xu Ziwen about Ye Xin’s interest in buying an apartment at Zhuangcheng Xinyuan. They then visited Yang Fan’s home to speak directly with Ye Xin’s ghost, leaving the meeting about to begin.

• The investigators learned from Ye Zhengping that Ye Xin had visited Zhuangcheng Xinyuan with a wealthy classmate and had discussed buying a home someday.
• The investigators discovered that Xu Ziwen had bought an apartment at Zhuangcheng Xinyuan in January 2010 and questioned him about Ye Xin.
• Xu Ziwen recalled that Ye Xin had envied his early home purchase but said he planned to buy a bigger place later, and Xu denied noticing anything unusual after moving in.
• The investigators visited Yang Fan’s home, where Wu Ling called for Ye Xin to come out and meet them.

Wu Ling and Ye Qing questioned the ghost of Mr. Ye, who explained how he died and why he had been haunting Yang Fan’s apartment. After Ye Qing helped him become more tangible, Wu Ling offered to help him reincarnate.

• Wu Ling urged Mr. Ye to stop idling in the human world, and Ye Qing agreed to bring him out.
• Mr. Ye recounted dying in a car accident and spending years wandering, unable to contact his parents or find a way onward.
• Mr. Ye explained that a ghost hunter drove him away with a jade pendant, so he hid in Yang Fan’s empty apartment and later unsettled delivery workers.
• Ye Qing and Wu Ling learned that Mr. Ye could not appear until Ye Qing spoke, and Mr. Ye felt more real after appearing.
• Wu Ling offered to help Mr. Ye reincarnate if he was willing.

Wu Ling explained that Ye Xin had been unable to find the way to the underworld because reapers were increasingly understaffed, leaving some souls trapped among the living. She speculated that lingering spirits might have contributed to the world’s deterioration, and the narrator wondered if the cause was a shortage of newborns.

• Ye Xin accepted Wu Ling’s offer to help him, but the attempt to take him to the underworld’s administrative office failed before a rite sent him on to the afterlife.
• The narrator called Wu Ling after reading Ye Xin’s case file and described Yi Huan’s similar situation.
• Wu Ling explained that some dead people could not find the route to reincarnation and needed a reaper or a rite to guide them.
• Wu Ling said reapers had become too few to manage the growing number of spirits left in the human world.
• Wu Ling theorized that lingering, self-aware spirits might have evolved into a new threat, and the narrator wondered whether too few newborns were to blame.

After Yi Huan’s funeral, the narrator took his grieving younger sister out for barbecue and stayed by her as she ate and drank until she could barely walk. On the way home, he carried her on his back, but the group of students from the restaurant came after them.

• The narrator spoke with Wu Ling about the possibility of rescuing him if he died and entered a soul state.
• The narrator met his younger sister outside their old middle school after she attended Yi Huan’s funeral.
• The narrator and his sister ate barbecue, where she mourned Yi Huan and recounted how her parents had suffered during her hospital stay.
• A young man named Yu Jiaming approached the sister to ask for her contact information as part of a game, then returned to his friends.
• The sister drank and ate until she could barely stand, and the narrator carried her on his back after stopping at a convenience store.
• The narrator heard a commotion and saw the students from the restaurant coming toward them.

Lin Qi witnessed Yu Jiaming and another young man die in a strange incident, then learned that similar events had occurred across the country. The cause remained unknown as Wu Ling shared a disturbing emergency-call recording linked to a party game.

• Lin Qi saw Yu Jiaming collapse and die, followed by another boy vomiting something abnormal and falling motionless.
• Lin Qi carried his sleeping sister home, reassured that Greenleaf's protective charm remained intact, and told his contacts about the strange sounds he had sensed.
• The Thin Man wondered whether Lin Qi's ability had changed, while Chen Xiaoqiu urged him to rest; Lin Qi stayed awake most of the night and had no dream.
• At the office, Lin Qi told the others nothing had happened in his sleep, and Wu Ling called to report a nationwide rise in emergency dispatches involving young people at gatherings.
• Wu Ling played Lin Qi a recording in which witnesses described two people being horribly injured after refusing to kiss during a game.

Wu Ling warned that spirits were growing more powerful as the world deteriorated and said Greenleaf would investigate the truth-or-dare deaths. The chapter ended with a witness describing how the game began and how the victims were pressured to kiss.

• Wu Ling told the narrator that the deaths were not Greenleaf’s responsibility, but she considered them a bad omen.
• Wu Ling explained that newer spirits could affect many people at once, unlike the spirit behind the game Nangong Yao had faced.
• Wu Ling said Greenleaf would contact the caller, the victims’ friends, and others in their circle, and warned the narrator to be careful.
• The narrator listened to Wu Ling’s recording of a witness describing a gathering where friends played truth or dare.
• The witness said Brother Kang challenged Ahao and Xiangxiang, a couple, to kiss; they refused to continue when the group urged them on.

The narrator listened to recordings of Xiangxiang, Ahao, and Wang Meng dying after playing a Truth game, then learned Tong Ziwen’s cruel confrontation with Wang Meng had also been recorded. Wu Ling concluded that a powerful spirit was behind the deaths, but the group decided not to risk playing the game to investigate yet.

• A witness described Xiangxiang biting off her tongue and Ahao dying when a coat-rack rod pierced the back of his neck.
• A recording captured Tong Ziwen insulting Wang Meng outside her door, after which Wang Meng screamed and died.
• Zhou told the narrator that Wang Meng had jumped out of a window after answering that she did not like Tong Ziwen during the game’s Truth round.
• Wu Ling said the recordings contained no other sounds during Tong Ziwen’s visit and asked whether the narrator had heard anything strange.
• The narrator connected the deaths of Yu Jiaming, Xiangxiang, Ahao, and Wang Meng to the game’s punishments and worried that Tong Ziwen’s role remained unclear.
• Wu Ling judged the spirit stronger than those they had faced before, but decided they were not ready to risk playing the game to catch it.

The narrator struggled with the loss of access to his dream abilities while helping with demolition work at Workers and Peasants Sixth Village. Property owner Zhang arrived in panic, confessed to Guo Yujie, and revealed that a truth-or-dare game from more than three years earlier was linked to deadly events.

• The narrator failed to enter a dream and could not determine whether his abilities or an outside force were responsible.
• The narrator and his coworkers stayed late at the residents' committee to answer property owners' questions about the next demolition compensation vote.
• Zhang rushed into the office, grabbed Guo Yujie's hand, and confessed that he liked her before calling someone to report that she had rejected him.
• Zhang learned over the phone that Xu Jing had gone bankrupt and tried to identify other people connected to an event from the previous night.
• Zhang's call with Li Chengjie ended after a loud boom, and Zhang said everyone was going to die.
• Chen Xiaoqiu asked whether Zhang had played truth or dare the previous night, and Zhang said they had played it more than three years earlier.

Zhang revealed that his classmates had resumed a Truth or Dare game at their reunion, and people connected to their dares were dying in bizarre ways. After learning his parents had died in an apparent accident, Zhang lost hope, but Chen Xiao Qiu urged him to go home and deal with what had happened.

• Zhang recognized the Truth or Dare warnings circulating on Moments and described how his classmates had played the game at their reunion before their class monitor died in a strange accident.
• Zhang explained that the reunion’s conversation had continued the dares from a game the class had played three years earlier, and several classmates had already suffered punishments.
• A nanny called to report that Zhang’s parents had fallen after a child ran into them and had broken their necks; Zhang broke down and raged.
• Guo Yujie slapped Zhang and scolded him, while Chen Xiao Qiu told him to go home and handle his parents’ deaths.
• Zhang left with his phone, and Chen Xiao Qiu called Chen Yihan.

After Zhang fled, the group feared he might use Truth or Dare to harm others, while Chen Xiaoqiu reported that the authorities were trying to contain the spreading news. The story left the group without a way to stop the game at its source as they went to Workers and Peasants Sixth Village and told Director Mao about Zhang.

• The Fatty warned that someone could use Truth or Dare dares to cause deaths, and the group worried Zhang might seek revenge on society.
• The narrator called Wu Ling, who said people in the circle were cooperating to contain the situation but still did not know how it killed people or how to destroy it.
• The narrator's younger sister showed him that the story had spread across social media, where many users treated it as superstition or a joke.
• Chen Xiaoqiu said the authorities were suppressing public accounts and trying to use public opinion to contain the news, but banning Truth or Dare was difficult.
• The group went to Workers and Peasants Sixth Village, where the narrator told Director Mao that Zhang was traumatized and mentally unstable.

Overseas reports revealed that Truth or Dare had already been used to kill, prompting a worldwide response from people with supernatural abilities. The chapter ended with news that the goddess Ashley statue’s head had exploded into flames and black smoke while the group waited for the results of three test games.

• Overseas Chinese shared reports of a successful murder committed through Truth or Dare, and the five-person group discussed the threat.
• Wu Ling told the narrator that people in their circle had contacted overseas exorcists and mediums and arranged three simultaneous test games, including one group from their country.
• The narrator noticed people at work acting warily after news of the game spread online, while the older residents at Workers and Peasants Sixth Village seemed less concerned.
• At lunchtime, the Skinny Guy showed the group a foreign headline reporting that the head of the goddess Ashley statue had burst into flames and black smoke.

After the Ashley Goddess statue was destroyed in Country A, Wu Ling confirmed that everyone who had participated in the Truth or Dare game there had died, and the narrator realized the game could affect both people and objects. The narrator then entered a dream of a new game and prepared to seize the chance to catch the force behind it.

• A video showed the Ashley Goddess statue exploding and collapsing, killing people beneath the rubble.
• Wu Ling told the narrator that Country A’s participants were all dead and that a female ability user had been compelled to climb the statue before the explosion.
• The narrator and the others at the neighborhood committee office lost hope, while news reports covered the statue’s destruction.
• The narrator fainted during dinner and entered a dream in which seven people sat in a candlelit warehouse to play Truth or Dare.
• The narrator recognized the dream as an opportunity and focused on observing the players and the space to catch the thing behind the game.

The narrator possessed Huang Tian during a planned truth-or-dare game among seven paranormal ability users, while learning about the group through Huang Tian’s memories and thoughts. The game continued around the circle, ending with Ai Fei asking Yue Lingqing to choose truth or dare.

• The narrator learned that Huang Tian could control his soul and worried the group might mistake the narrator for a ghost.
• The narrator learned that Anna could make things written on paper become real, though her power required great effort and she could not bring herself to kill a person.
• Huang Tian asked Anna her age, and she answered that she was twenty-five as the group followed their prearranged game plan.
• Anna asked Yu Zhidao for his real name, and he answered that it was Yu Zhidao.
• Yu Zhidao asked Ai Fei truth or dare; she chose dare, did a squat, and then asked Yue Lingqing to choose.