Chapter Summaries

The narrator watched the seven candidates play the truth-or-dare game and learned more about Yue Lingqing, Lan Chenguang, and Su Fei. Several answers seemed false without triggering any response, and the second round ended with Huang Tian’s ambiguous claim that he had died.

• Yue Lingqing chose a dare and spun around, while the narrator wondered whether the candidates’ abilities had been overestimated.
• Lan Chenguang answered that beef was his favorite food, and Su Fei said she was unmarried before daring Huang Tian to hop three times.
• Huang Tian dared Anna to write the name of someone dead, and Anna wrote “Huang Tian,” but nothing happened.
• Yu Zhidao said he had seen a ghost, and Ai Fei denied seeing one despite the narrator recognizing her answer as a lie.
• Su Fei denied ever lying, then Huang Tian said he had died, leaving the second round with an answer whose truth was unclear.

After the Truth or Dare game ended without punishment, Huang Tian and the others waited for the danger their divinations had foretold. Anna was suddenly compelled to draw a dark city, and Lan Chenguang collapsed before she could explain further.

• All seven players broke the game’s rules, but no punishment appeared before Huang Tian ended the game.
• Su Fei and Yu Zhidao foresaw disaster, while Huang Tian recalled Master Xuanqing’s warning that their mission offered only one glimmer of hope and that the old monk had died after divining the future.
• The group waited tensely in the warehouse as time passed and their candles burned down.
• Anna abruptly picked up a pen, snapped it against the paper, and said the thing was trying to control her.
• After Su Fei and Huang Tian restrained her, Anna said she felt compelled to draw an entirely dark city with no distinction between day and night.
• Lan Chenguang suddenly dropped to her knees before Anna could finish describing the city.

Blue Chenguang and Anna suffered supernatural punishments as the group investigated an unseen force that could influence their abilities. The chapter ended with Ai Fei rapidly aging after her height changed, while the others wondered whether the force could attack them too.

• Blue Chenguang’s body split open as a conjoined man emerged, and Blue Chenguang severed the man’s lower body with his dagger before Yu Zhidao stopped the bleeding with a talisman.
• Huang Tian seized the conjoined man while Yue Lingqing restrained him, and Huang Tian erased the man’s soul.
• Yu Zhidao chose to leave the body attached to Blue Chenguang for the time being, while the group questioned why Ai Fei had not been punished after Anna.
• Anna said she had seen only the outline of a modern city in the darkness, and the group concluded the force might influence people without controlling them completely.
• Huang Tian proposed that the force might have no physical form, then noticed Ai Fei had grown taller.
• Ai Fei began coughing and rapidly aged, prompting Huang Tian to identify the change as her soul aging and Yue Lingqing to intervene.

Yue Lingqing, Su Fei, Yu Zhidao, and Huang Tian were struck by the darkness, leaving the group injured and unable to find their unseen enemy. They tried Su Fei’s divination board as a final attempt to locate it, and the board answered yes.

• Yue Lingqing’s eyes emitted blinding light, leaving her unable to see and bleeding from her eyes.
• Su Fei’s crystal ball cracked after she saw a city in the darkness, and Yu Zhidao also showed signs of having seen it.
• Huang Tian was transformed into a canid-like form with a forked tongue and new sensory abilities, while his soul struggled to control his body.
• Su Fei and the others admitted they could not detect the enemy, so Anna proposed trying their planned capture strategy.
• Anna wrote a question on paper, and Su Fei used her divination board; after Ai Fei and Yue Lingqing answered no, the board moved and Su Fei announced yes.

A ghostly force killed Anna, Lan Chenguang, and Su Fei before Yue Lingqing and Yu Zhidao tried to fight it. The figure they wounded revealed itself as a monstrous Master Kuchan, who killed Ai Fei and dissolved Yu Zhidao and Yue Lingqing before turning toward Huang Tian.

• The hands on Lan Chenguang moved across the hexagram, and Su Fei read their message before Anna tore herself in two.
• The hands strangled Lan Chenguang, and a flying tarot card killed Su Fei after the candles went out.
• Yue Lingqing struck an invisible ghost that had lifted Ai Fei, and Yu Zhidao wounded it with his wooden sword.
• Huang Tian recognized the revealed figure as Master Kuchan, who crushed Yu Zhidao's sword and stabbed him through the chest.
• Master Kuchan killed Ai Fei and dissolved Yu Zhidao and Yue Lingqing in his yin energy.
• Master Kuchan turned and fixed his gaze on Huang Tian.

Lin Qi witnessed Master Kuchan kill six members of the group and then confronted him alongside Huang Tian, glimpsing two lights in Huang Tian’s chest before waking. After Wu Ling confirmed that all seven players had died, Lin Qi said he wanted to play the game.

• Master Kuchan’s overwhelming yin energy killed Blue Chenguang, Anna, Ai Fei, Yue Lingqing, and Yu Zhidao, leaving Huang Tian as the sole survivor.
• Master Kuchan attacked Huang Tian, destroyed his body, and seized his fleeing soul.
• Lin Qi flew to Master Kuchan and used his ability to reveal the monk’s original face before Master Kuchan dispersed.
• Lin Qi saw two lights in Huang Tian’s chest and heard the faint words, “Amitabha” and “I'm counting on you...” before waking in his bed.
• Wu Ling told Lin Qi that the seven players had died and that a traditional vengeful ghost had appeared at the scene.
• Lin Qi told Wu Ling that he wanted to play the game.

Qi went to meet Wu Ling and the Greenleaf team to test a theory that might end the paranormal crisis, though he feared he might not return. Skinny discovered Qi’s plan and joined him, insisting that he and Fatty would take part if needed.

• Qi called Wu Ling and asked him to join a game so Qi could confirm his theory, and Wu Ling agreed.
• Qi left his family without explaining the danger and headed to the hotel where Wu Ling and the others were staying.
• While traveling, Qi read the group chat’s worried messages and wondered what would happen if Master Kuchan killed the seven people and continued as a vengeful ghost.
• Skinny called Qi, realized he was going to play the game, and confronted him for trying to leave everyone behind.
• At the hotel, Skinny told Qi that he and Fatty would play the game too if the crisis worsened, even if it meant dying.

Lin Qi gathered with the Thin Man and the others at the hotel suite as they prepared to face the strange events threatening the world. Wu Ling proposed they play Truth or Dare as though they knew nothing about the danger, and the game began with a question that exposed Nangong Yao’s name.

• The Thin Man insisted on standing with Lin Qi despite the danger, and the Fatty, Xue Jingyue, Guo Yujie, and Chen Xiaoqiu joined them at the hotel suite.
• Gu Mo teased Lin Qi for favoring those closest to him when choosing who might be sacrificed.
• Wu Ling told the group that a powerful vengeful ghost had appeared after another group’s game, then vanished before anyone could act.
• Lin Qi said the ghost was not Master Kuchan, who had been used as a weapon by the real threat.
• Wu Ling proposed playing Truth or Dare normally so Lin Qi would not anticipate what happened, and Lin Qi agreed.
• Wu Ling asked Nangong Yao to choose truth or dare and then asked his name; Nangong Yao answered, "Nangong Yao."

Lin Qi used the truth-or-dare game to command Heaven to remove everyone’s marks, and the group discovered that the game had ended. The chapter left the survivors heading home after confirming their powers and the supernatural threat had not necessarily vanished.

• Lin Qi asked Heaven to remove everyone’s marks, and colored lights briefly appeared on the players before disappearing.
• Wu Ling explained that the dare had succeeded, but Gu Mo could no longer hear, and Lin Qi could not use his ability.
• The group’s abilities returned, but Wu Ling said she could no longer sense the game’s constraint on her soul and declared the game over.
• Wu Ling tested the conclusion by asking Nangong Yao a truth question, and neither she nor Nangong Yao sensed a new constraint or mark.
• Gu Mo sent everyone home, while the others discussed the game’s end as they went downstairs.

After discussing the god’s game and Huang Tian’s sacrifice, the narrator hurried to the office at Workers and Peasants Sixth Village to check on Ye Qing. The office was wrecked, the seal on the painting had been damaged, and Ye Qing was nowhere to be found.

• Chen Xiao Qiu and the others speculated that the god had created the game to find someone who could act against supernatural events.
• The narrator told the group about dreaming of Huang Tian and reflected that their survival had depended on luck and Huang Tian’s help.
• The narrator noticed Gu Mo had looked toward Workers and Peasants Sixth Village and took a taxi there to check on Ye Qing.
• The narrator found the office filled with chaotic yin energy and dark blood, with a gash in the wall and the painting and jade bell damaged.
• The narrator searched for Ye Qing but found neither her nor the yin energy normally present in the office.

Lin Qi left the office after Wu Ling warned him about the danger Ye Qing was facing and reflected on how Heaven’s failed attempts might have created the supernatural threats around them. On the deserted night road, Lin Qi encountered a terrified man in a suit, then heard steady footsteps approaching from behind.

• Lin Qi called Wu Ling when he could not find Ye Qing, and she said they could only wait and warned that the sealed thing was extremely dangerous.
• Wu Ling hinted that Ye Qing had opposed Heaven by suppressing the thing, and Lin Qi left the office unsure whether it had escaped or been sealed again.
• As Lin Qi walked through the empty streets, he reasoned that Heaven might have created ghosts, spirits, the sealed thing, and the new restaurant entity through failed attempts to control events.
• Lin Qi wandered into a residential complex, turned back, and saw a terrified man in a suit sprint past him without explaining what had happened.
• Lin Qi chose another route home, but stopped when he heard rhythmic footsteps approaching behind him.

The narrator encountered a terrifying shadow on the way home, then found an online post that might have come from the suited man he had met on the road. He fell asleep and began dreaming from the suited man’s perspective as the man approached the same meeting place.

• The narrator saw a sinister shadow that seemed to face him before its footsteps faded into the darkness.
• The narrator reassured his worried sister that nothing was wrong and later searched social media for reports about the night road.
• The narrator found OceanArnold’s post describing a ghost that had chased him and suspected OceanArnold was the suited man he had encountered.
• The narrator dreamed that he was inside the suited man as the man walked toward their meeting place, while another person’s hurried footsteps approached.

The suited man watched Ye Qing’s shadow swallow a middle-aged man with exposed organs, then found himself at home as a ghost who did not realize he was dead. He discovered that his roommate could not see him, and the chapter ended as he answered a call placed to his own phone.

• The middle-aged man rushed at the suited man, but Ye Qing’s shadow caught him and swallowed him in the darkness.
• The suited man returned to his apartment, where his phone passed through his fingers and he began to suspect something was wrong.
• The suited man saw that he had no reflection and realized he had become a ghost.
• The suited man’s roommate searched the apartment for Sun Bin, unaware that the suited man was standing nearby.
• The suited man answered the call to Sun Bin’s phone as his roommate spoke to him through the phone speaker.

Sun Bin discovered that he was dead and blamed Old Tai for chasing him before his death. Grandpa Fei and Sun Bin went to Old Tai’s home, then Xiaomi appeared and reported that someone had killed several people and chased Old Tai.

• Sun Bin realized that no one could see him and found his own body being examined by Lu An, medical personnel, and police.
• Grandpa Fei comforted Sun Bin, who said he had seen Old Tai chase him and insisted on confronting him.
• Sun Bin and Grandpa Fei entered apartment 502, but found only a woman asleep and no sign of Old Tai.
• Xiaomi approached Grandpa Fei and said she had seen someone kill Grandma Zhou and chase Uncle Tai, after which they had not returned.

The narrator learned that Greenleaf had lost control and was hunting ordinary dead people, and considered finding a powerful ghost for him to devour. The dream continued as Grandpa Fei explained Greenleaf’s history and recounted how Old Lin had become a man-eating ghost.

• A woman told Grandpa Fei that Greenleaf had killed everyone in Workers and Peasants Sixth Village and was hunting ghosts.
• The narrator suspected that cutting off Greenleaf’s source of power had caused him to lose control, and considered finding him a powerful ghost to devour.
• The narrator tried to wake up but remained in the dream while Sun Bin questioned Grandpa Fei.
• Grandpa Fei described Workers and Peasants Sixth Village as an eerie place and said Greenleaf had once protected nearby ghosts from man-eating ghosts.
• Grandpa Fei recounted how Old Lin died after falling from a balcony, then killed his wife and began attacking other ghosts.

The narrator watched Sun Bin decide to punish his former boss, despite an old man's warning against reckless actions. As Sun Bin fled, a huge shadow appeared and turned its gaze toward the narrator.

• The old man told Sun Bin that Lao Lin had killed ghosts to gain power, but Ye Qing had stopped him, and that ghosts had become more common over time.
• Sun Bin recalled his abusive workplace and decided to teach his former boss a lesson.
• The old man urged Sun Bin not to act recklessly, but Sun Bin left to carry out his plan.
• The old man and the woman discussed Sun Bin's resentment, then the old man said they owed Ye Qing a good turn for saving them from Lao Lin.
• A vast shadow stretched across the road, making Sun Bin collapse in fear, and then its gaze settled on the narrator.

The narrator searched for a wicked ghost to keep Greenleaf from harming innocent ghosts, then investigated Wu Renkang’s visions of a fatal car accident after his corneal transplant. The investigation narrowed the possible donors to Geng Xiaoming and Liu Hong, and the chapter left the team questioning Liu Hong’s mother about her death and organ donation.

• The narrator woke after Greenleaf expelled their soul from his dream and began searching for a wicked ghost to give him.
• Wu Renkang reported visions of being struck by a car, which grew more vivid and painful after his corneal transplant.
• The investigators identified Geng Xiaoming and Liu Hong as possible cornea donors, then learned Geng’s accident and death did not match Wu’s visions.
• The investigators contacted Liu Hong’s mother, Wang Shuxian, who described Liu’s fatal accident and her decision to donate her body.

Investigators traced Liu Hong’s donated skin and researched transplants at the hospital where their client had been treated, but neither lead explained the suspected voice. Their interview with kidney recipient Xu Zhian revealed that he had experienced hallucinations after surgery, and they asked him to describe them.

• Liu Hong’s family told investigators that her organs and skin had been donated before her body was cremated, but they could not remember the nurse who had discussed donation.
• Chen Haishan described how Liu Hong’s skin graft helped him recover from severe burns, leaving investigators doubtful that he was connected to the voice they were seeking.
• Investigators learned that the client’s hospital had performed three transplants, and that Xu Zhian had received a kidney from his mother and recovered well.
• When investigators asked Xu Zhian whether he had experienced hallucinations after surgery, he reacted with surprise and asked how they knew.

Mr. Xu described recurring visions of a fatal car accident after receiving his mother's kidney, leading the investigators to identify the deceased organ donor as Zhou Xixi and the driver who killed her as Zhou Fusheng. They discovered Zhou Fusheng's son needed a kidney transplant and contacted Zhou Xixi's friend Li Pingping, who began recounting the accident.

• Mr. Xu told the investigators that he repeatedly saw a black car hit and run over someone, and that the visions began after his transplant.
• Mr. Xu reported seeing the driver's hateful expression and hearing the victim's head crushed beneath the car.
• The investigators reviewed hospital and police records, identified Zhou Fusheng as the driver and Zhou Xixi as the deceased, and learned neither had volunteered to donate organs.
• The investigators found that Zhou Fusheng's son, Zhou Tengfei, had nephritis and needed a kidney transplant, but they could not reach Zhou Fusheng's wife.
• The investigators contacted Zhou Xixi's friend Li Pingping, who said she was angry about what happened and prepared to explain the accident.

An investigator learned from Zhou Xixi’s former coworker that her parents had demanded she donate a kidney to her sick younger brother, and that her father later killed her in a car crash. Zhou Xixi’s family refused to cooperate, so the investigators performed a ritual for the client and suspended the case while continuing to monitor Zhou Tengfei.

• Zhou Xixi’s former coworker explained that her parents had abandoned her as a child, then later pressured her to donate a kidney to Zhou Tengfei and offered her money.
• The coworker said Zhou Xixi died after her father hit her with a car, but the police treated it as drunk driving and sentenced him to five years.
• The investigators located Zhou Tengfei’s mother, but she denied any wrongdoing and refused to believe Zhou Xixi’s ghost might come after her.
• The investigators told Mr. Wu they could not reach an agreement with Zhou Xixi’s family and proposed performing a ritual to resolve his troubles.
• The investigators performed the ritual and confirmed Zhou Xixi’s yin energy had disappeared, then suspended the investigation as unresolved while continuing to monitor Zhou Tengfei’s illness.