Chapter Summaries

The narrator investigated whether the shared bicycle spirit had died after the demon’s bargain, but the deaths it had caused continued with altered injuries. Ye Qing gave no direct answer, leaving the narrator uncertain and still wary of the spirit.

• Wu Ling told the narrator that the people killed by the shared bicycle spirit were still dead, though their injuries had changed.
• The narrator visited Workers and Peasants Sixth Village and saw damaged shared bicycles but no sign of the spirit.
• The narrator asked Ye Qing whether the demon had kept its bargain, but Ye Qing remained silent and opened the door to send the narrator away.
• The narrator and the others discussed how shared bicycles might have become powerful through widespread attention and negative feelings.
• Chen Xiaoqiu wondered whether people’s thoughts could create spirits from famous figures, but the group had no evidence that such spirits existed.

The narrator dreamed of possessing Ren Pi during a traffic jam on Valentine’s Day, where Ren Pi saw a disturbing child resembling his daughter in the car ahead. The dream ended with Ren Pi realizing something was wrong when his wife, Wang Jing, repeated herself without responding to him.

• The narrator recognized Ren Pi as the man he possessed and inferred that the dream took place on Valentine’s Day.
• Ren Pi and his wife called their daughter, who cheerfully showed them a dance over video chat.
• Ren Pi spotted a gloomy girl resembling his daughter in the car ahead, but she vanished, and the narrator found no sign of her when investigating.
• Ren Pi grew distracted and considered asking Wang Xiaoshuai about the strange events.
• Wang Jing repeatedly talked about family plans without responding to Ren Pi, until he shouted her name and she slowly turned toward him.

Ren Pi saw a terrifying vision of his daughter being killed, then learned she had dreamed of a kidnapping that matched details from the earlier car ride. He took her to ballet practice and asked Wang Xiaoshuai whether she was the girl he had been searching for.

• A strange woman in the car spoke cheerfully to Ren Pi, then appeared normal again after traffic began moving.
• At dinner and later in bed, Ren Pi remained troubled by the woman's unsettling behavior.
• A shadow at the bedroom door became a red-eyed figure, and Ren Pi saw a vision of his daughter being crushed on a road before the lights came on and his family found him on the floor.
• The girl described a dream about being kidnapped, including details of Ren Pi and the woman in a car and a radio report about an accident on Tangning Road.
• Ren Pi took his daughter to ballet practice, met Wang Xiaoshuai, and asked if she was the girl; Wang Xiaoshuai pulled him into an empty lounge.

Ren Pi experienced an empty road to the underworld through Wang Xiaoshuai’s ability, leading them to fear that the underworld and the world itself were failing. After Greenleaf’s number proved disconnected, Ren Pi’s daughter recognized Wang Xiaoshuai as the kidnapper from her dream, and the narrator suspected Wang Xiaoshuai’s ability made someone else bear its side effects.

• The narrator connected to Ren Pi and saw him walk alone along an empty road to the underworld, suggesting that the underworld had stopped guiding the dead.
• Wang Xiaoshuai told Ren Pi that he had seen the road to the underworld only in visions of Ren Pi and Ren Pi’s daughter, unlike other death visions.
• Ren Pi and Wang Xiaoshuai called Greenleaf, but a recording said the number was out of service.
• Ren Pi and Wang Xiaoshuai went to collect Ren Pi’s daughter, who recognized Wang Xiaoshuai as the kidnapper from her dream.
• The narrator suspected Wang Xiaoshuai’s ability had an unusual side effect borne by someone other than him.

Ren Pi sought Wang Xiaoshuai’s help after strange events involving his daughter, but Wang admitted he had only ever saved Ren Pi and could not save his own family. As Ren Pi’s family shared dinner with Wang, a phone message from his wife and daughter revealed that they might already be dead, while their versions sat at the table behind him.

• Ren Pi asked Wang Xiaoshuai to travel to Minqing for help, but Wang refused because of his job and promotion prospects.
• Ren Pi went to Workers and Peasants Sixth Village, found a police notice on Building Six, and left without finding the people he sought.
• Wang told Ren Pi that he had only ever managed to save Ren Pi and had been unable to save his own family.
• Ren Pi suggested that his daughter might have foreseen the kidnapping in her dream and asked Wang to help protect her.
• During dinner, Ren Pi’s answering machine played a message from his wife and daughter describing a traffic jam, while both sat at the table behind him.
• Ren Pi’s wife and daughter turned toward him and invited him to join them in eating soup dumplings.

Ren Pi and Wang Xiaoshuai investigated a strange phone recording, but a possessed call made Ren Pi's wife warn that he was going to die. After she recovered, Ren Pi's wife asked him to explain what was happening.

• Ren Pi and Wang Xiaoshuai replayed the answering machine recording and transferred it to a computer, but heard only static.
• Ren Pi and Wang Xiaoshuai returned to the living room and found Ren Pi's wife holding the phone; her head turned backward as she spoke into the receiver.
• Ren Pi's wife told Ren Pi that he was going to die, then collapsed before waking with no memory of what had happened.
• Wang Xiaoshuai left, and Ren Pi's wife later returned and gently asked Ren Pi what was going on with him and Wang Xiaoshuai.

Ren Pi confessed to his wife that he had seen her possessed and told her he could not find the paranormal agency that once saved him. The family traveled to Mount Pushi to seek help, but their daughter began making the cable car break apart over a deep abyss.

• Ren Pi's wife confronted him about his secrecy, and he admitted that he had seen her possessed by a ghost.
• Ren Pi told his wife that Wang Xiaoshuai had also seen the possession and that he could not find the paranormal agency he had contacted before.
• Ren Pi and his wife discussed seeking help from feng shui practitioners, then decided to visit a temple on Mount Pushi.
• Ren Pi, his wife, and their daughter rode a cable car through the mountains toward the temple.
• Ren Pi's daughter stamped her feet, cracked the cable car's windows, and caused its floor to drop into the abyss.

Ren Pi’s family faced renewed supernatural incidents after their trip to Mount Universal, and Wang Xiaoshuai could offer no clear solution. After Ren Pi dreamed of his daughter calling to him on the Road to the Underworld, he woke and rushed into her bedroom.

• During the cable-car ride at Mount Universal, Ren Pi’s wife and daughter appeared to threaten him, then returned to normal when the car reached the summit.
• In September, Ren Pi saw his daughter kick his driver’s seat while her song continued despite her closed mouth, and he called Wang Xiaoshuai for help.
• Ren Pi and his wife agreed to visit Mount Universal again after the strange behavior returned.
• Ren Pi dreamed that his daughter called to him from across the Road to the Underworld, while Wang Xiaoshuai pulled him backward.
• Ren Pi woke drenched in sweat and rushed into his daughter’s bedroom as his wife followed.

Ren Pi and his wife were frightened when their daughter climbed into a strange car, but she was found safe with Wang Xiaoshuai, who could no longer see their deaths. The dream then showed Ren Pi and his daughter dying in a bizarre crash, before the red monster destroyed the spirit watching them.

• Ren Pi called Wang Xiaoshuai after dreaming that he had seen Ren Pi on the road to the Underworld, then arranged to meet him.
• At school pickup, Ren Pi saw his daughter climb into a black car and chased it with his wife; the girl appeared in the back seat with black eyes and a chilling smile.
• Police stopped the black car, and Ren Pi's wife found their daughter safe inside with Wang Xiaoshuai, who said he had been asked to pick her up.
• At dinner, Wang Xiaoshuai told Ren Pi he could no longer see their deaths, leaving the strange events unexplained.
• In the dream, a bicycle crashed through Ren Pi's car and killed him and his daughter, but the red monster pierced and shattered the spirit watching them.

After waking from the dream, the narrator discovered that his ability had vanished and learned from Ye Qing and Wu Ling that the demon had used a wizard’s spell. Wu Ling proposed testing Wang Xiaoshuai and using Skinny’s ability to make him believe in an object or spell that could control the demon.

• The narrator woke after hearing the demon finish a sentence and found that his ability no longer worked.
• The narrator rushed to Ye Qing, who said the demon had used a wizard’s spell rather than being a pure demon.
• Wu Ling said no ability-user had ever lost their power this way, except when Heaven had temporarily removed the group’s abilities during a game.
• Wu Ling suggested checking whether Wang Xiaoshuai had also lost his ability and arranging for Nangong Yao to examine the narrator.
• Skinny arrived, and the narrator told him that his ability was gone.
• Wu Ling proposed using Skinny’s ability to make him believe in a spell or object that could control the demon, possibly drawing on a legendary object and its supernatural materials.

After Wu Ling’s explanation eased the group’s worries, Nangong Yao confirmed that a seal had suppressed the narrator’s abilities without removing the mark that left them vulnerable to paranormal events. The narrator later turned to work and opened Greenleaf’s Case 072 file, which began with Wang Yan describing the disappearance of a friend.

• The narrator told Skinny and the others Wu Ling’s plan to search overseas for the notebook, and the group treated it as their best lead.
• Nangong Yao examined the narrator and said a seal had suppressed their abilities but could be broken, while the mark remained.
• The narrator stayed on guard for several days, then relaxed as demolition-office work occupied their attention.
• On Saturday night, the narrator opened Case 072 and read Wang Yan’s account of her friend’s disappearance after returning to her rural hometown for a funeral.
• Wang Yan said the police could not find her friend and that locals blamed a black fish spirit, while Wang Yan believed something had taken her alive.

Wang described the disappearances of Zhou Min and Cai Yuanyuan, and investigators followed leads about their friends, an anime convention, and a black fish spirit. In Zhou Min’s hometown, they heard accounts of a child killed by a giant black fish and older local legends, but found no confirmed explanation for the disappearances.

• Wang told investigators that Zhou Min vanished in summer and Cai Yuanyuan later disappeared from her home, leaving behind a water-soaked bed and no signs of a struggle.
• Wang said she and her friends had no unusual experiences before the disappearances, apart from discussing an anime convention, and investigators warned her that she might also be at risk.
• Investigators examined the Minqing International Anime and Comics Exhibition and the missing women’s relatives but found no unusual disappearances or deaths among them.
• Investigators traveled to Zhou Min’s hometown and interviewed a local who recalled that Zhou had vanished after going to use the toilet, leaving a puddle of water in the woods.
• The local recounted stories of a giant black fish that killed a child and a black fish spirit said to have caused a flood, while acknowledging that the spirit stories were local legends.

A villager told the interviewer that his uncle had found children’s bones in the river, possibly remains from an old sacrifice story about the black fish spirit. Zhou Min’s mother then described the night her daughter disappeared during a funeral visit, leaving the interviewer with the mystery of how she vanished from an unused bathroom.

• Old Zhang said his uncle had pulled weeds from the river and uncovered several children’s skulls and bones, which he believed might have come from an old village story.
• Old Zhang said his uncle had told no one else about the bones, while another villager dismissed the story and said the police had searched the river for Zhou Min without finding her.
• The interviewer contacted Sha Shuhui on September 8, 2011, and she explained that Zhou Min had come to the village for her grandfather’s funeral.
• Sha Shuhui said Zhou Min spent the days with her grandmother or using her phone, and shared a room with her mother and aunt at night.
• Sha Shuhui said Zhou Min went to the bathroom that night but never returned, and the room was empty and spotless when she checked.

Investigators reviewed testimony and recordings concerning Zhou’s disappearance and the deaths of two girls, but found no unusual activity in the village or river. They discovered four old infant skeletons in the river and began interviewing Cai Yuanyuan’s father, who said Yuanyuan had worried about her missing friend.

• Zhou’s relative told investigators that Zhou vanished after planning to attend a comic convention, and suspected she might have been kidnapped.
• Investigators reviewed two audio files and found no strange sounds or signs of sorcery in the village.
• Investigators searched the river and recorded a normal-sized black fish, then found a bone protruding from the riverbed.
• Local police found four old female infant skeletons in the river, while the puddle remained undiscovered.
• Investigators interviewed Cai Jianjun, who said Cai Yuanyuan had been concerned about her friend’s disappearance before she died.

Investigators connected Yuanyuan’s disappearance to her obsession with Renasha, an anime character whose magic turns people into ice collectibles, and questioned her friend Wang about the missing Xiaomin. Wang recalled that Yuanyuan had asked what would happen if anime characters appeared in real life, and the investigators decided to meet their remaining friends.

• Mr. Cai told the investigators that his daughter had been distressed while searching for a missing friend and that her bed was soaked when she died.
• The investigators learned that Yuanyuan collected Renasha figurines, whose fictional magic could turn people into ice and melt them into water.
• Wang explained that Yuanyuan cosplayed Renasha and Xiaomin liked the pairing of Renasha and Teylo, but said both friends had moved on to other anime.
• Wang recalled that Xiaomin had stopped answering messages and that Yuanyuan had asked what would happen if anime characters appeared in real life.
• The investigators warned Wang that she and her friends might be targeted, and Wang agreed to take them to meet their other two friends at university.

Investigators questioned Cao and Sun about the deaths of Zhou Min and Cai Yuanyuan, suspecting a link to the anime character Renaša or merchandise connected to her. Wang Yan accepted that her friends had been killed and, grieving, imagined how they might have experienced Renaša’s freezing spell.

• The investigators asked Cao and Sun about unusual events and learned that Yuanyuan had bought and displayed an ema featuring Hero, while Zhou Min had bought no similar item.
• Cao rejected the investigators’ supernatural theory, but they warned that the women could be targets because they shared the victims’ interests.
• After Cao and Sun left, the investigators confirmed to Wang Yan that Zhou Min and Cai Yuanyuan were dead.
• Wang Yan asked whether the investigators could contact her friends’ spirits and explained that neither victim had enemies or conflicts at school or online.
• Wang Yan recalled Renaša’s freezing spell and imagined that her friends had been lured in and frozen before anyone could hear their cries for help.

The investigators found no clues in the figurines or related cases, then received a desperate call from Cao Meng as she fled someone she identified as General Hardy piloting a human-sized mecha. After Cao Meng died from a fall, the investigators reviewed the evidence and planned to summon her spirit to learn what happened.

• The investigators analyzed audio files and searched for strange sounds in figurines taken from Wang Yan's home, but found nothing unusual.
• Cao Meng called the investigators in terror, saying General Hardy and a human-sized mecha were chasing her through her school.
• The investigators heard Cao Meng's final cries and later confirmed that she had died from intracranial bleeding after a fall.
• The investigators questioned Cao Meng's friends and reviewed a list of students, but found no clear suspect or connection to Hardy.
• The investigators concluded that Cao Meng's body could provide samples and proposed summoning her spirit if her soul was intact.

After Sun Ruiying survived an attack by the ghost Nanako, the investigators traced figurine buyers and narrowed the suspects to Wei Shuhao and Lai Xiaotian. The chapter ended with the client recognizing two names on the suspect list and asking whether they were responsible.

• Sun Ruiying told the investigators that a woman with long black hair and white clothes had approached her in her dormitory, but a protective charm burned hot and drove the apparition away amid a scream and purple light.
• The investigators identified the apparition as Nanako from the J-country horror film series and concluded that magic could destroy her.
• The investigators confirmed that Sun Ruiying and the client had not been injured or lost belongings and had not donated blood in the past year.
• The investigators identified 15 figurine buyers as suspects, then narrowed the list to Wei Shuhao and Lai Xiaotian based on their connections to the client and her friends.
• The client recognized Xiao Hao and Sky_Qinglong on the list and asked whether they had committed the attacks.

The investigators questioned Wang about Wei Shuhao and Lai Xiaotian’s past relationships with the victims, then interviewed Wei and provisionally ruled him out. As they turned to Lai, they learned he had fallen ill after Sun Ruiying’s attack and could not reach him.

• Wang said Wei Shuhao had pursued Yuanyuan during their university club days, while Lai Xiaotian had privately messaged her and possibly tried to pursue her.
• The investigators warned Wang to keep her protective charms with her and said they would contact Wei and Lai.
• On October 3, 2011, the investigators interviewed Wei Shuhao about his anime interests and examined his collection of merchandise and cosplay items.
• The investigators provisionally ruled out Wei Shuhao’s involvement.
• On October 10, the investigators learned Lai Xiaotian had missed work and suffered unstable health after Sun Ruiying was attacked, though hospital tests found no specific illness.
• The investigators failed to contact Lai on October 12 and contacted his colleague Liu Jie the next day.

Investigators traced Lai Xiaotian’s fixation on a cosplayer and followed his phone location to Room 632 of the Guangmao Building. A hidden-camera recording ended as someone approached the closed room’s door.

• An investigator interviewed Mr. Liu, who said Lai Xiaotian had called a red-haired cosplayer his future wife and became gloomy after he stopped talking about her.
• Mr. Liu recalled Lai’s volatile moods and frequent absences, and said the company could no longer reach him.
• On October 15, investigators found searches in Lai Xiaotian’s browsing history about pursuing women, rejection, curses, and black magic.
• On October 16, investigators used Lai Xiaotian’s phone location history to identify Room 632 in the Guangmao Building as a suspect location.
• On October 17, a hidden-camera video showed investigators entering the building and finding Room 632’s door shut and blinds drawn.
• After the doorbell beside a potted plant failed to sound, footsteps came from behind the door.