Chapter Summaries

A gang of drug dealers drove endlessly along Guangyuan Road, where strange forces trapped them and made their drugs turn into flour. The men realized their cargo had been replaced, but their fate remained unresolved.

• The narrator possessed Qiuzi and learned that he and the other men in the van were drug dealers fleeing the police along Guangyuan Road.
• Qiuzi warned that the road was unnaturally long, but the others mocked him and the deputy leader continued driving.
• Third called his brother, who confirmed that Guangyuan Road had only one straight route and should not take more than an hour to cross.
• Yin energy surrounded the van as the men argued over whether someone had taken drugs or gotten them lost.
• Crooked Mouth opened one of the packets and discovered that the supposed drugs were flour, prompting the men to inspect the cargo in shock.

Akiko and the five men realized the drugs they bought were fake, then discovered their car was trapped in a time loop on Guangyuan Road. A phone call revealed they were approaching the mountain logging camp where six people had died in a fire, and flaming figures appeared as the car finally sped away.

• Crooked Mouth led the group to realize the sellers had tricked them with fake drugs, but the six could find no way out of their predicament.
• After the car turned back, the group discovered that only seven minutes had passed despite their long drive and tried taking the drugs to escape their fear.
• Crooked Mouth recognized that the drugs had no effect, and Third Brother called his second brother for help.
• Third Brother's second brother described the logging camp fire on Mount Tai'an and said six people had burned to death there.
• Flaming figures appeared on the mountain, Nest Head tried to flee, and Crooked Mouth threw his phone outside before the leader started the car and drove away.

The narrator watched as the van’s passengers tried to escape a supernatural loop around the lumber mill, then turned on each other in the darkness. After the headlights went out and more screams sounded, the narrator realized they had returned to the van.

• The van’s speed and fuel gauge remained fixed as the flame monsters pursued it, and Akiko suggested using black dog blood and peachwood against the ghosts.
• The small-time boss stopped the van and led the others toward the burning figures, but they could not reach them before the flames vanished.
• Third suggested walking away from the van, but the six men unknowingly circled it through a whirlpool of yin energy.
• The men panicked in the darkness and attacked one another, killing the Nesthead and leaving the others wounded.
• The small-time boss and Akiko faced each other as the headlights went out and screams sounded; the narrator realized they were back inside the van.

The six men in the van relived their deaths and learned that each had committed violence while feeding his drug addiction. After comparing their past crimes, they began looking for someone to blame and considering how to survive.

• The men realized they had dreamed of the same deaths, then received a call from an unknown number in the voice of their tormentor, who said they would all die there.
• The van locked them inside, and the terrified men accidentally stabbed one another as they tried to escape; after the headlights went out and came back on, they were alive again.
• Crooked Mouth asked for drugs, and the men smoked before laughing and cutting their own bodies until they died again.
• After another reset, Crooked Mouth admitted to killing someone, and the others confessed to past acts of violence, including stabbing people and attacking family members.
• The men wondered who had trapped them together, and Qiuzi blamed the logging camp before the little boss dismissed the idea.

The narrator watched the six drug dealers repeatedly die on a ghostly road until they became skeletons, then witnessed a driver trapped in a separate, endless death. The narrator shifted into another car just as the dealers’ van appeared and caused it to crash through the vehicle.

• The six drug dealers repeatedly died on the road, eventually rotting into skeletons while their deaths and the road’s darkness continued.
• A second driver encountered the skeletons, fled into the woods, and was impaled by branches after his car crashed uphill.
• The driver briefly came back to life but remained trapped in agony, and the narrator realized his soul would be frozen there forever unless the originator was destroyed.
• The narrator shifted into a private car as the drug dealers’ van appeared in its headlights and passed through it, causing the car to roll over and its passengers to scream.

After possessing a girl whose family had crashed on a dark road, I watched the five survivors realize that they were trapped in a supernatural loop and had already died. The chapter ended with the girl revealing their bodies inside the wreck before the headlights went out.

• The girl and four adults escaped their overturned car, but found their phones broken or missing and decided to wait for daylight.
• Mrs. Zhao chanted sutras as the family stood within the headlights, but time passed without the darkness lifting.
• Mr. Shen led the adults in counting, and they realized they had been waiting far longer than they thought while the girl grew cold beside her mother.
• The girl asked whether they were already dead and pointed out their bodies inside the wreck.
• Mrs. Zhao screamed as the headlights went out.

The girl’s ghostly power trapped the two couples in a repeating car journey, forcing them to relive the killing of a child they had abandoned years earlier. After the adults were run over again, the girl woke confused and afraid, then escaped into the darkness.

• Mr. and Mrs. Zhao and Mr. and Mrs. Shen were terrified when the girl described a nightmare about a car crash and accused them of killing a child at Bashan five years earlier.
• The girl transformed into a ghostly figure, and the four adults fled before the car drove itself over them and reset the scene.
• In the repeated scene, Mrs. Zhao strangled the girl while the adults argued over their past crime, then Mr. Shen and Mr. Zhao dumped her by the road.
• The girl pounded on the trunk until the adults fled, and the car ran them over again before the scene reset.
• The girl woke fully conscious, asked why the adults had killed her, then opened the car door and ran away.

The narrator followed the little girl through a repeating nightmare where she fled her parents and attacked the car carrying the two couples. A living driver crashed into the ghostly group, realized he could not touch them, and fled, while the narrator noticed the driver and the ghosts seemed to belong to different seasons.

• The little girl ran from her parents, then rushed toward an approaching car, which struck her and triggered her transformation into a vengeful ghost.
• The girl clung to the windshield and terrified the four adults as Mr. Shen lost control of the car and overturned it.
• Mr. Zhao led the group into the woods, but the adults and the girl returned to the same road and gave up hope of escaping.
• A living man crashed his car near the ghosts, tried to touch the little girl, and fled after realizing his hands passed through her.
• The narrator followed the man as he drove away and noticed his summer clothes contrasted with the group's heavy late-winter clothing.

The narrator witnessed trapped drivers and ghosts on the looping Guangyuan Highway, including a man who tried to escape by using the telephone operator as his stand-in. The narrator then followed the Li family after their fatal crash and learned that Li Shi suspected the accident was connected to a ritual he had arranged for Zhao Chi.

• A frightened driver continued along the endless road, while a couple who had seen Mr. Shen and the others fled in their car.
• The narrator observed repeated crashes and other tragedies caused by the five people stopped on the road.
• A driver hit the telephone operator and believed her death would let him escape, but an invisible barrier destroyed his car in the fog.
• The narrator was pulled into a crash that killed Li Shi, his wife, and their child, who appeared as ghosts beside the wreckage.
• Mrs. Li noticed that the car that had hit them was missing, while Li Shi recalled getting lost on a transformed mountain road and suspected a connection to the ritual he had arranged for Zhao Chi.
• Li Shi and his wife began climbing the mountain with their child as the narrator watched, still hoping to find Zheng Motian.

Li Shi and his family searched for a way out of the mountain forest, keeping their son calm as they traveled. They emerged beside a river in the ghost’s territory, but their route ended at open water with no path forward.

• Li Shi and Mrs. Li tried to cheer their frightened son and briefly practiced flying, but Li Shi could only rise a few inches.
• Li Shi led his family around the wrecked car and down the mountain slope, while Mrs. Li told stories to keep their son entertained.
• The family grew worried that they were lost, but Li Shi reassured Mrs. Li and promised they would find a way out.
• The family emerged from the forest at a riverbank and followed the river downstream, unaware that its yin energy kept them inside the ghost’s territory.
• Li Shi carried his son over rocks beside the river, but the family reached a stretch where water blocked their way and no path remained.

The narrator followed the Li family through a foggy river gorge as falling rocks struck the water and seemed to target them. The family drifted into thick fog, where Li Shi remembered they might be trapped in an endless journey, and the narrator abruptly woke.

• Falling rocks struck the river, injuring the narrator as the Li family sank underwater and drifted downstream.
• Li Shi got Mrs. Li and their child safely ashore, and the family realized that being ghosts meant they did not need food, drink, or air.
• The Li family found their route blocked again, tied themselves together, and leaped into the river to follow the current.
• The family drifted through unfamiliar scenery until thick fog swallowed them, and Li Shi remembered they might drift forever.
• The narrator woke from the dream and wondered why it had ended so abruptly.

The narrator realized the ghost on Guangyuan Road had noticed him and was avoiding confrontation, while unease spread through Workers and Peasants Sixth Village. That night, he entered a new possession and discovered he had taken over Jin Shanshan, who had just agreed to join a group investigating the road.

• The narrator inferred that the Guangyuan Road ghost had recognized him and let Li Shi's family go before ending his dream.
• Director Mao and Xiao Yao described feeling uneasy, and Chen Xiaoqiu suggested people might subconsciously sense that something was coming.
• The teams found residents less active and reported the change while preparing for another demolition compensation vote.
• The narrator dreamed of his own funeral, then found himself on Guangyuan Road among the aftermath of an eight-car crash.
• A young woman addressed him as Shanshan, and the narrator realized he was possessing Jin Shanshan as she agreed to join the group.

The narrator followed Jin Shanshan and her paranormal group as they prepared to use a spirit pen to contact her murdered cousin. The group gathered at Mo Xiaoling’s apartment and began choosing participants, while the narrator remained uncertain why their ability had led them to Jin Shanshan.

• The narrator recognized Jin Shanshan as the girl from the abandoned-farm case and learned she wanted to find the people who could avenge her cousin.
• A group member explained that spirit writing required the victim’s relative, someone with a yin constitution, and sincere participants.
• The group decided to try spirit writing again and traveled to Maixi Road, where Mo Xiaoling had rented an apartment.
• Mo Xiaoling arranged the group in a circle and brought out paper and a ballpoint pen for the séance.
• Mo Xiaoling selected herself and Jin Shanshan as participants, the long-haired woman offered her yin birth chart, and the group looked for one more person.

A pen-spirit ritual focused the group’s suspicions on a bespectacled man, and the pen carved the word “death” into the table before breaking. After the gathering, a ghost killed a man outside the building and devoured his soul, while a flash of red appeared on the fourteenth-floor balcony.

• The Fortune Teller revealed a Death card and called for someone named Death to step forward, so Sister Black brought a bespectacled man into the group.
• Sister Black, Mo Xiaoling, Jin Shanshan, and the man held a pen together as yin energy gathered around them and the pen carved “death” into the table.
• Jin Shanshan collapsed, and Sister Black accused the man of bringing a ghost tied to someone he had killed; Mo Xiaoling said they would try again the next day.
• After the gathering, Jin Shanshan and another girl left the building, and the girl excitedly speculated that a murderer was being haunted.
• A man fell from above and died in front of Jin Shanshan and the girl, and a ghost swallowed his soul as the narrator glimpsed red on the fourteenth-floor balcony.

Jin Shanshan revisited the trauma of finding her cousin dead and struggled with her boyfriend over her search for paranormal answers. After a deadly Pen Fairy gathering, Mo Xiaoling finally contacted Shanshan for help and offered to show her the death scene she had witnessed.

• Jin Shanshan argued with Wu Qiren about whether the Pen Fairy gathering had been dangerous and whether she should keep searching for her cousin.
• Shanshan remembered finding her cousin hanged and seeing a figure reflected in her cousin’s eyes, though no one believed her account.
• Wu Qiren apologized, and Shanshan later read the group chat discussing the death and Mo Xiaoling’s unexplained silence.
• Shanshan messaged Mo Xiaoling and eventually fell asleep while waiting for a reply.
• In a later dream scene, Mo Xiaoling met Shanshan at a coffee shop, asked for help, and offered to show her the death scene she had seen.

Mo Xiaoling witnessed Hei-jie use a ghost to kill a man, then told Jin Shanshan how Hei-jie claimed to punish evil with ghosts. Later, after a fortune-telling session, Jin Shanshan found the key to her cousin’s apartment and hoped it would help her uncover what happened to her cousin.

• A ghost chased a man from the bathroom and drove him off the balcony, then devoured his soul as Mo Xiaoling watched.
• Mo Xiaoling told Jin Shanshan that Hei-jie used ghosts to punish evil, though she was unsure whether the dead man had deserved it.
• Jin Shanshan comforted Mo Xiaoling and admitted she had sought her help to learn the truth about her cousin.
• At a later seaside gathering, the fortune-teller gave Jin Shanshan the upright Chariot card after she drew it.
• After returning home, Jin Shanshan found her old key to her cousin’s apartment and connected it to the card’s promise that things would go smoothly.

Shanshan gathered Wu Qiren, Mo Xiaoling, and Sister Hei to investigate her cousin’s death, and Mo Xiaoling revealed how the girl had been killed by a supernatural presence in the wardrobe. Sister Hei concluded that the killer was not a ghost but someone who had cursed Shanshan’s cousin to death.

• Shanshan contacted Wu Qiren, Mo Xiaoling, and Sister Hei, and they agreed to help investigate her cousin’s death.
• Shanshan brought the group to her cousin’s apartment, where Mo Xiaoling and Sister Hei examined the room and the wardrobe.
• Mo Xiaoling showed Wu Qiren and Sister Hei the scene of the death, then let Shanshan witness it herself.
• Shanshan saw her cousin approach an open wardrobe, where a red dress sash tightened around her neck and a hidden figure snapped it.
• Sister Hei told Shanshan that her cousin had been killed by a curse, not a ghost.

Jin Shanshan sought a way to learn who cursed her cousin, so Black Sister arranged to visit Songyuan Cemetery and examine the remains. After a strange guard led them to the grave and opened it, Black Sister opened the urn, triggering a sudden shift in the cemetery’s yin energy.

• Black Sister said she might be able to help identify the curse if she could examine Jin Shanshan’s cousin’s body, and she arranged a midnight visit to Songyuan Cemetery.
• Black Sister drove Jin Shanshan, Wu Qiren, and Mo Xiaoling to the cemetery, where she warned them not to speak or say anyone’s name.
• An eerie elderly guard led the group through the cemetery as Black Sister and Jin Shanshan searched for the cousin’s grave.
• The guard pried open the grave, removed the urn, and handed it to Black Sister.
• Black Sister opened the urn, and the cemetery’s yin energy shifted as red light flashed over her and the guard.

Sister Hei used Bao Jiaxiu’s ashes to reveal that Xu Zhou killed Jin Shanshan’s sister, and a diviner later pointed the group northwest to search for him. As Mo Xiaoling, Sister Hei, the diviner, Jin Shanshan, Wu Qiren, and Liu Liangwang gathered in People’s Celebration City, the narrator realized their group formed around 2017, close to the time Ye Qing died.

• Sister Hei performed a ritual at Bao Jiaxiu’s grave and named Xu Zhou, causing the haunting to vanish; she confirmed that Xu Zhou had killed Jin Shanshan’s sister.
• Sister Hei explained that her family’s inherited magic was supported by worshipping a deity, while Mo Xiaoling said the diviner would soon come to People’s Celebration City.
• Mo Xiaoling said Greenleaf had been wiped out, leaving People’s Celebration City without a group in control and giving paranormal newcomers more freedom.
• The diviner moved to the city and helped Jin Shanshan’s group learn that Xu Zhou was somewhere to the northwest.
• Mo Xiaoling and Sister Hei searched for paranormal cases, while Jin Shanshan helped with travel and research; Liu Liangwang joined them as a painter seeking inspiration.
• The group took shape in 2017, around the time Ye Qing died, prompting the narrator to question the timeline and Mo Xiaoling’s account of the paranormal world.

Jin Shanshan drew the Chariot card for the second time and began to suspect that her cousin Bao Jiaxiu’s killer was connected to Qingzhou. She logged into Bao Jiaxiu’s account to search for clues.

• Wu Qiren warned Jin Shanshan that she knew too little about Mo Xiaoling, Sister Hei, and the fortune-teller, but Jin Shanshan reassured him that their outings were safe.
• Jin Shanshan secretly applied to a graduate program to give herself more time to travel with Mo Xiaoling and the others, while Wu Qiren prepared for exams alongside her.
• The fortune-teller gave Jin Shanshan the upright Chariot card, which reminded her of the key she had found to her cousin’s home and the first Chariot card.
• After learning that Bao Jiaxiu’s ex-boyfriend had been from Qingzhou, Jin Shanshan wondered if he had cursed her cousin to death.
• Jin Shanshan called Wu Qiren, recalled that the ex-boyfriend’s surname was Hao, then logged into Bao Jiaxiu’s account to look for new clues.