Chapter Summaries

Ruan Yuxia tried to warn Sun Jiayue that something was wrong, but a crashing object struck them before she could explain. Sun Jiayue then relived the memory of signing a wish sheet, realized she and Ruan Yuxia were already dead, and called Wu Ling while considering whether she could reverse time.

• Ruan Yuxia noticed the ominous danger surrounding Sun Jiayue and struggled to tell her about the suspected curse.
• Sun Jiayue thanked Ruan Yuxia and offered to help with her injured foot, while Ruan Yuxia asked whether she had bought a charm.
• A huge shadow crashed down, and Sun Jiayue shoved the people beside her before experiencing someone else's fatal injuries.
• Sun Jiayue found herself in an office where coworkers persuaded her to sign a wish sheet, completing its six signatures and blessings.
• Sun Jiayue realized that she and Ruan Yuxia were dead, considered reversing time, and called Wu Ling.

Lin told Wu Ling about Ruan Yuxia’s death and learned that saving her could expose her to an even worse fate. After Director Ma’s daughter also died in an accident, Lin tried to push away thoughts of the deaths and rejected Reporter Yuan’s request to investigate Greenleaf Paranormal Agency.

• Lin called Wu Ling, who said Ruan Yuxia’s past-life grudges had been settled and that her death was the best possible outcome.
• Wu Ling warned Lin that saving Ruan Yuxia might have led to a more dangerous death, and said she would ask Nangong to investigate Sun Jiayue.
• Lin told Skinny and the others about Ruan Yuxia’s death, and the office mourned in silence.
• The Demolition Office group chat reported that Director Ma’s daughter had died after a falling advertising sign struck her, while another woman died and two people were injured.
• Lin met Reporter Yuan at a supermarket and refused to help her access Greenleaf Paranormal Agency.
• Reporter Yuan said a friend had died after the truth-or-dare commotion and that she wanted to know how he died, but Lin dismissed the events as coincidences or a media stunt.

The narrator visited the accident site and learned that the curse's six signatures were sacrifices, then entered a dream that followed Sun Jiayue's coworkers after her death. The dream ended as Tang Zhuoxi was struck by a vehicle at the same intersection.

• The narrator heard neighborhood residents discuss Reporter Yuan and later visited the accident site, where a shopkeeper described Ruan Yuxia saving Sun Jiayue from a motorcycle.
• Wu Ling told the narrator that Nangong had identified Sun Jiayue's coworkers and that the curse's signatures were six sacrifices offered for the romance she wanted.
• The narrator dreamed of Tang Zhuoxi and Xu Weifang leaving flowers and candles for Sun Jiayue at the accident site and discussing her death with the shopkeeper and coworkers.
• Tang Zhuoxi crossed the intersection after saying goodbye to Xu Weifang, and a vehicle struck her as the narrator tried to reach her.

The narrator witnessed Tang Zhuoxi die in a motorcycle crash, then watched her vengeful ghost kill the rider in front of a crowd. Wu Ling explained that authorities had suppressed all reports of the incident and that the unprecedented public haunting might reflect a new response from Heaven.

• Tang Zhuoxi died after a motorcycle ran a red light and crashed into her, while the narrator froze at the sight of a sinister aura around her blood.
• Tang Zhuoxi's ghost rose from her corpse and used the motorcycle to run over its rider, killing him as witnesses fled in terror.
• At dawn, the narrator found no reports of the incident online and called Wu Ling to ask what had happened.
• Wu Ling said people with information-control abilities had blocked reports worldwide to limit public panic and prevent new spirits from emerging.
• Wu Ling explained that ghosts usually seemed to favor discreet attacks, but Tang Zhuoxi's public killing was unprecedented and might signal a new idea from Heaven.

After learning that supernatural forces were becoming harder to contain, the narrator discovered that the curse could not be dispelled and concluded that Heaven was deliberately using terror and death to reduce humanity. The chapter left the narrator collapsing as they imagined a future of abandoned roads, rampant ghosts, and monsters.

• Wu Ling explained that supernatural groups were debating how to control public knowledge and protect ordinary people as hard-line factions pursued extermination.
• The narrator learned that Ruan Yuxia's funeral was being held and later saw Reporter Yuan traveling with a cameraman, which stirred memories of Tang Zhuoxi's death.
• Wu Ling told the narrator that the curse could not be dispelled because a distorted blessing ritual had become irreversible, and killing its caster would not stop it.
• The narrator reasoned that Heaven wanted to frighten people away from the supernatural and might be trying to reduce the population.
• The narrator recalled a dream of a monstrous, ghost-filled future and a strange highway, then blacked out.

At Tang Zhuoxi’s funeral, the narrator watched Chu Lan and Wang Mingli grieve while sensing the curse still clinging to them. Wang Mingli collapsed and died in the restroom, and her ghost joined another ghost as they confronted the man who approached Chu Lan.

• The narrator attended Tang Zhuoxi’s funeral while possessing Wang Mingli and sensed the curse around Chu Lan and Wang Mingli.
• After the service, Chu Lan and Wang Mingli went to the parking lot, where Wang Mingli headed to the restroom alone.
• Wang Mingli collapsed in the restroom, and funeral home staff tried to revive her before declaring that nothing more could be done.
• Chu Lan arrived and said Wang Mingli had no heart disease, then agreed to accompany the paramedics and contact Wang Mingli’s parents.
• A young man approached Chu Lan and offered to go with her, while Wang Mingli’s ghost appeared beside another ghost, who questioned Chu Lan about the man and a possible curse.

Wang Mingli mourned Tang Zhuoxi and spoke with October, a ghost who had forgotten his identity and last wish. After deciding to go home and visit the hospital, she found Chu Lan waiting beside her body with the man from the funeral home.

• Wang Mingli told October that she was the third of several victims and suspected Chu Lan had caused their deaths through wishes and signatures.
• Wang Mingli and October followed Tang Zhuoxi's funeral procession to the cemetery, where they watched the burial from a distance.
• October explained that he had forgotten how he died and whether he had a last wish, while cemetery spirits urged Wang Mingli to accept her death and reincarnate.
• Wang Mingli worried about her mother, then said she wanted to go home and visit the hospital.
• Wang Mingli appeared in the morgue beside her corpse and saw Chu Lan sitting in the corridor with the man from the funeral home.

Wang Mingli attacked the man who had been with Chu Lan, then saw her grieving parents and abandoned her revenge. Chu Lan returned home and discovered that the bloody paper now bore the names of Sun Jiayue, Tang Zhuoxi, and Wang Mingli.

• Wang Mingli choked the man with her ghostly hand until doctors intervened, leaving bruiselike handprints on his neck.
• October stopped Wang Mingli from attacking again and warned her that ghosts who killed people would be punished.
• Wang Mingli watched her parents grieve over her body, then followed Chu Lan after the couple took the body away.
• Chu Lan sent the man away, wandered home, and found a bloodstained paper on the mirror.
• Chu Lan saw that the paper now listed Sun Jiayue, Tang Zhuoxi, and Wang Mingli in blood.

In a dream, the narrator watched Guo Yujie reject a call, burn Wang Mingli’s letter, and return to her room with Wang Mingli beside her. After waking, the narrator warned Wu Ling and discussed the curse at the office, where Chen Xiaoqiu worried Tan Wenrui’s ability might have become dangerously powerful.

• Guo Yujie scrubbed her hands with cleaning products until they were injured, then answered a persistent call from an unknown number.
• After the call, Guo Yujie thanked the caller, ended their relationship, and said she would not attend the reunion.
• Guo Yujie burned Wang Mingli’s letter, while Wang Mingli stayed by her side; the narrator’s dream then ended.
• The narrator told Wu Ling about the dream and the ghost Shiyue at the funeral home.
• At the office, the thin man realized his ex-girlfriend might be in danger and rushed out to call her.
• Chen Xiaoqiu suggested Tan Wenrui’s ability might have been amplified and asked whether he could hypnotize himself or should be deceived by everyone.

The narrator and Chen Xiaoqiu considered how to develop the Thin Man and the others’ abilities, while the office prepared for a new demolition vote and tightened public-facing work after Director Ma’s family tragedy. The narrator reflected on their changing attitude toward the supernatural and realized that Heaven’s shift meant they might have an advantage as the world faced it.

• Fatty urged the group to plan Chen Xiaoqiu’s idea carefully and consult Greenleaf before trying to help the Thin Man and the others.
• The Thin Man returned and said his former classmate had abandoned her interest in mediums and was working hard toward becoming a business leader.
• The old director assigned the staff to work on a new demolition compensation vote and warned them to refer difficult public and media matters to him.
• The old director told the narrator to watch the office and the handover after Director Ma’s removal, prompting the narrator to suspect he knew something about Greenleaf.
• The narrator considered Director Ma’s daughter, Ruan Yuxia, and Ye Qing’s pursuit of justice, then realized their resistance to their abilities had begun to ease as Heaven changed its attitude.

Fu Rui told the investigators about a mysterious death at a hospital complex and showed them a photo of a chalk outline appearing near her commute. They suspected a ghost was nearing the point of acting and planned to investigate Guangpu Road, while Fu Rui agreed to speak with her colleague, whom she thought might be connected.

• Fu Rui recounted how a falling air conditioner killed a passerby at First Hospital, leaving unexplained injuries and a chalk outline matching the body’s position.
• Fu Rui showed the investigators a photo of a faint human outline near Guangpu Road that had grown darker over the course of a week.
• An investigator identified ghostly energy in the photo and warned that the ghost might act soon, possibly using Fu Rui’s colleague as a medium.
• Fu Rui tried to call her colleague but could not reach him, so she agreed to speak with him at work the next day.
• The investigators decided to inspect Guangpu Road and asked Fu Rui about the deceased and his possible connections to the children at the hospital complex.

Greenleaf investigated a suicide on Guangpu Road and identified a female ghost who escaped after leaving a ring of white lines around the victim. Their inquiries about similar incidents led them to children at the hospital residential complex, where Jiujiu revealed that a big sister had taught them to draw little people and given them snacks.

• Wu Ling and Liu Miao reached the crowd around Hu Jiahao, who had died after stabbing himself, and found a ring of lines emitting yin energy around him.
• Ye Qing said the ghost had escaped, and Greenleaf’s audio analysis picked up a sinister woman’s laugh that most of the team could not hear.
• Greenleaf told Ms. Fu they had not caught the female ghost and planned to investigate her connection to children in the hospital residential complex.
• Greenleaf found no other fixed-line incidents at Capital First Hospital, then visited its residential complex and asked children about Liu Haiqing and their drawings.
• Jiujiu said a big sister played with the children, stayed with them, and gave them potato chips, prompting his mother to panic.

The investigators questioned a child about a beautiful woman who had given children snacks and drawn a strange figure, then warned the families that she was a dangerous ghost. They began investigating Liu Haiqing’s death and learned he may have held a grudge against someone named Li Jian, leaving that lead to pursue.

• An investigator learned from Jiujiu that a beautiful woman had approached the children, given them snacks, and drawn a figure that Xu Tiancheng traced over.
• The investigator told Jiujiu’s mother to take him and the other affected children to Purifying Dragon Temple and asked families to report anything they knew about the woman.
• The investigators reviewed Liu Haiqing’s January 14, 2007, case and interviewed his former coworkers, who described his arrogance and strained relationship with his parents.
• A coworker recalled Liu Haiqing drunkenly mentioning a grudge against someone whose name was probably Li Jian, connected to his school days and possibly a teacher.

The Greenleaf Paranormal Agency investigated a ghost who had been encouraging hospitalized children to draw faceless people, but their efforts to protect Luo Yonghua failed to stop her. The chapter left them returning to Seventh People's Hospital after Luo drew figures on the floor and his parents resisted discussing the ghost.

• On January 17, Ms. Fu told the agency that Luo Yonghua had become withdrawn and started drawing faceless people at Minqing Seventh People's Hospital.
• The investigators questioned Luo, who said a very pretty older sister had told him not to draw eyes or a nose, and they concluded the female ghost would contact him again.
• The team debated how to watch over Luo, placed a protective talisman under his bed, and considered using a listening device to catch the ghost.
• Mrs. Lin told the agency that Xu Tiancheng had played with the ghost in September and later recovered after monks at Jinglong Temple helped him.
• On January 24, Ms. Fu reported that Luo had drawn people on the hospital room floor and that his parents were upset and unwilling to discuss the ghost, so the agency headed back to the hospital.

Miss Wu and her companions investigated a ghost haunting the hospital, but it changed targets and Luo Yonghua’s father died by suicide after drawing a human-shaped outline. While listening to the recording, the narrator entered a vision of the father’s confrontation at the hospital and sensed the fierce ghost’s yin energy in his drawing.

• Miss Fu and Miss Wu arrived at the hospital as staff and onlookers gathered around the haunted ward, and the chief sensed unusually heavy yin energy.
• The chief concluded that the ghost had deliberately chosen its victim, while Miss Wu explained that a ghost could become vicious when revenge became impossible.
• Miss Wu discovered the ghost had moved onto Luo Yonghua’s father, and an attack followed as he died in the office.
• The team confirmed that Luo Yonghua’s father had died by suicide after drawing a human-shaped outline on the wall, while the ghost escaped after luring someone away.
• The narrator listened to the recording, entered the father’s perspective during his argument with hospital staff, and sensed fierce-ghost yin energy in the drawing.

The narrator witnessed Mr. Luo kill himself while under the ghost’s influence, then returned to the case file and followed the investigation into Lei Yinyin’s death. The records left Liu Haiqing’s possible connection to Lei unresolved, while Lei’s father described his daughter and broke down recalling her death.

• Mr. Luo plunged a pen into his neck and died as his body aligned with the human-shaped outline he had drawn.
• The narrator returned to the desk and read the case file’s account of an audio recording in which a woman reported a death and described a female ghost.
• Investigators confirmed the ghost’s identity as Lei Yinyin, who had died after being attacked in 2004, and recorded that her killers remained unidentified.
• Zhuo Yifan told investigators that Liu Haiqing had been a good student but had grown distant and likely knew little about Lei Yinyin’s murder.
• Lei Dawei told investigators that Yinyin had been obedient and planned to return home for work before her mother’s illness brought her back to Minqing.

Mr. Lei recounted Lei Yinyin’s disappearance, murder, and his wife’s death from grief, while investigators reviewed a video of Tianhe Bridge No. 3. Ye Qing and the others found no yin energy at the bridge and decided to search along the river.

• Mr. Lei told the investigators that Lei Yinyin vanished on her way home from the library, and her books and bag were later found discarded.
• Mr. Lei recounted how the police found Lei Yinyin’s body in the river and said she had been kidnapped, beaten, and stabbed; his wife died shortly afterward.
• Mr. Lei said he dreamed of Lei Yinyin pleading for help and let the investigators see her photographs and belongings.
• On February 8, 2007, Liu Miao, Wu Ling, and Ye Qing reviewed footage of Tianhe Bridge No. 3 and found no yin energy there.
• Ye Qing suggested Lei Yinyin might never have stayed at the bridge and told the group to search along the river.

A recorded rite summoned Lei Yinyin’s ghost, and Wu Ling and Master Huiyi urged her to accept reincarnation while her father grieved nearby. Ye Qing warned that her pursuit of revenge was making her addicted to killing, leaving her response uncertain.

• Investigators contacted Lei Daywei for a blood sample and arranged for Master Huiyi to perform a rite of deliverance.
• Wu Ling painted a featureless doll with blood-like pigment while Master Huiyi chanted, and a red mist formed around it.
• Lei Yinyin emerged from the mist and recognized her father’s voice, but turned cold when Wu Ling explained that she was dead and had attacked innocent people.
• Lei Daywei apologized for failing to protect Yinyin, while Wu Ling warned that Yinyin’s evil aura could harm ordinary people.
• Ye Qing told Yinyin that her killers were already dead and warned that she was becoming hooked on the thrill of killing.

After witnessing the end of Lei Yinyin’s case in her memory, the narrator followed her on the day she was killed and struggled with growing emotional numbness. Lei Yinyin was seized on a market back road by three men pretending she was their wife, while bystanders failed to intervene.

• Wu Ling told Lei Yinyin it was time to end things, and Master Huiyi’s chanting made her vanish as the puppet collapsed.
• The narrator realized the following scene was Lei Yinyin’s memory and watched her spend time at a library before leaving.
• The narrator recognized that Lei Yinyin would be killed that day and grew alarmed at how calmly they accepted the supernatural events and her impending death.
• Lei Yinyin crossed the market’s back road with vegetables when three men grabbed her and claimed she was their wife.
• Lei Yinyin struck the first man with her vegetables and begged for help, but a nearby middle-aged woman looked away.

Leiyinyin was abducted, stabbed, robbed, and left to die, while the narrator watched without feeling anything. After her death, four boys discovered her body and treated the scene like a cartoon murder investigation, stirring the anger that would turn her into an evil spirit.

• Three men abducted Leiyinyin in a van, and she broke free and grabbed a knife before one of them stabbed her.
• The men dumped the bleeding Leiyinyin in the grass and left with her bag after deciding she was no use to them.
• A timid man found Leiyinyin, stole her bag, and ran away instead of helping her; Leiyinyin then died with only her consciousness remaining.
• Four boys discovered Leiyinyin's corpse, pretended to investigate the murder, and traced her body with crayons.
• Leiyinyin grew angry and hateful as the boys moved and drew around her body, nearing her transformation into an evil spirit.