Chapter Summaries

The narrator intervened when Su Xiaoyu’s family abused her, then helped her choose whether to remain with them. After Su Xiaoyu left, the narrator and companions prepared to reach the clock tower, where they suspected the ghost was hiding.

• The narrator stopped Su Xiaoyu’s family from continuing to hurt her, and the family fled while leaving her behind.
• The narrator led Su Xiaoyu to a back stairwell and learned that she wanted to leave but believed no one could escape.
• Su Xiaoyu thanked the narrator, decided what to do, and walked away alone.
• The narrator spotted delivery boxes being taken toward the school building containing the clock tower.
• The little ghost in a suit unlocked the back door with its powers, and the narrator stepped outside.

Qi-ge searched the clock tower for the missing courier and discovered a hidden space above the third floor filled with dead grim reapers. The chapter left him wondering whether the grim reapers had been killed across the human world and whether their deaths were linked to its deterioration.

• Qi-ge, Nantian, and the skinny guy searched the clock tower but found no sign of the courier or its cart.
• The group found a ceiling hatch in a teachers' lounge, and Lili smashed it open, dropping a broken staircase and a grim reaper's corpse.
• Qi-ge experienced painful, fragmented visions of a grim reaper hanging in a corridor, bodies, and ghosts.
• Qi-ge looked through the hatch and saw at least twelve grim reaper corpses piled beneath the clock.
• Qi-ge suspected the clock tower had been an underworld office guarding an alternate-space entrance, and wondered whether grim reapers elsewhere had also been killed.

The narrator discovered that a newly installed ladder led to the school’s rooftop and witnessed the courier emerge from a black hole to release delivery slips. After locating the book-shaped statue and its tiny black hole, the narrator encountered a young woman who attacked with yin energy.

• The ghost baby named Tian spotted a ladder in the bell tower, and the narrator climbed up to find it.
• The narrator descended the new ladders and saw the courier emerge from a black hole, release the delivery slips, and leave with his cart.
• The narrator told Nantian and the Thin Man what had happened, and they went to inspect the statue in the courtyard.
• The narrator approached the statue, which transformed into the book-shaped statue with a tiny black hole.
• A young woman emerged from the black hole, and the narrator grabbed her arm as her yin energy formed a leopard and lunged.

The narrator relived fragments of Cheng Lin’s past and realized that time in Yangshan District was reversing, possibly as part of Ye Qing’s plan to restart the world. Cheng Lin rejected Cheng Jiu’s hope of returning to the outside world and rode away from the hospital, apparently heading for the University of Finance and Economics.

• Cheng Lin and a phantom fought the female ghost as the black hole distorted, and the narrator was pulled into a vision of Cheng Lin being shot by a blond man in a police uniform.
• The narrator recognized Cheng Jiu and remembered that Cheng Lin was his son, then understood that time in Yangshan District had been reversing and everyone’s memories had been erased.
• Cheng Jiu told Cheng Lin that he had helped him come back to life and believed the space might reconnect with the outside world if its balance failed.
• Cheng Lin rejected returning to the outside world, questioning Cheng Jiu about his mother’s death and refusing to become a ghost who killed for fun.
• The scene shifted to the hospital bike shed, where Cheng Lin took a bicycle and rode into the night toward the University of Finance and Economics.

Cheng Lin explored the University of Finance and Economics in an altered timeline, where he found the clock tower’s hidden ladder and triggered a black hole that let the narrator attack the female ghost. The narrator erased her but lost access to their memories and woke in a bedroom.

• Cheng Lin entered the university and helped Su Xiaoyu and her mother escape the man who had attacked them.
• Cheng Lin searched the teaching building, then climbed the hidden ladder into the clock tower, where the grim reapers’ corpses were invisible to him.
• Cheng Lin approached the statue, which transformed into a book and opened a black hole; the narrator realized the timeline had changed.
• The narrator attacked the female ghost, and Cheng Jiu briefly took Cheng Lin’s place as the ghost grabbed him.
• The female ghost disappeared, but the narrator’s memories were sealed away, and the narrator woke in a bedroom.

The narrator appeared in a stranger’s bedroom in an otherworldly space, where a sick woman and a hostile man were caught up in a violent confrontation. After the narrator fought the man and found that the woman was still alive, the room’s yin energy pursued the man as he reached the door, leaving him screaming.

• The narrator sensed yin energy beneath the bed and watched a shadow crawl toward the coughing woman.
• A man entered, berated the woman, and dragged her onto the floor while accusing her of ruining the blanket.
• The man discovered the narrator hiding behind the door and accused him of sleeping with his wife.
• The narrator told the man to call the police and an ambulance, but fought him when he tried to stop him.
• The narrator checked the woman’s pulse and breathing, then found his phone had no signal.
• The man headed for the door as the yin energy followed him; the door opened and slammed shut, and he screamed.

The narrator watched a newborn ghost kill the woman and man who had rejected him. The ghost then lost his malice but remained in the isolated space as police knocked at the apartment door.

• The narrator saw the man trapped by the newborn ghost, while the woman emerged from the bedroom and attacked the narrator with a vase.
• The man blamed the woman for the abortion, and the woman pleaded with the ghost to prove he was the man's child.
• The woman rejected the ghost, who strangled her with his umbilical cord and then killed the man.
• The ghost's malice faded, and he babbled at the narrator, who wondered whether the underworld was cut off from the alternate space.
• Police knocked at the door and called for the occupants to open up, leaving the narrator beside the two bodies.

After communications failed and a supposed police officer fell silent, the narrator met the ghost boy Han Yun, who blamed the visitors for disrupting his return. Han Yun began explaining the tragedy behind the ghost baby, but the story remained unfinished as he turned to the little girl.

• The narrator prepared to dispose of the corpses, but noticed the ghost baby moving toward the door and discovered that phones had no signal and the landline was dead.
• Han Yun and a blood-scented little girl passed through the door, and the narrator recognized Han Yun from Greenleaf's files.
• Han Yun blamed the narrator and the others for disrupting his return, then asked whether the narrator had realized he had lost his memories.
• Han Yun described how Xiao Zhang's father abused Xiao Zhang's pregnant mother, causing her to miscarry, and how Xiao Zhang later died while his mother was neglected.
• Han Yun picked up the sobbing ghost baby and then pointed toward the little girl.

Han Yun explained the tragic pasts of Wang Honghong and Xiao Zhang, then revealed that Yangshan District contained two entrances to another dimension and several supernatural beings. He left the narrator alarmed by saying that the sealed district was about to undergo its fourth restart.

• Han Yun described how Wang Honghong's family abused her and her mother, and how Wang Honghong later killed her relatives as a ghost.
• The narrator reflected on the children's suffering and suspected Han Yun had more to explain.
• Han Yun said two Leaves had arrived to investigate Wang Honghong, Xiao Zhang, and another ghost guarding an entrance to another dimension.
• Han Yun revealed that Yangshan District contained two black holes, two ghosts from the future world, himself, and a little bicycle.
• Han Yun confirmed that the little bicycle was a shared-bike spirit, which had caused trouble after the district was sealed off.
• Han Yun told the narrator that the other dimension was about to undergo its fourth restart.

The narrator learned that spatial abilities and repeated time distortions had trapped everyone in the Yangshan District pocket dimension, and Han Yun proposed escaping through its black holes. Han Yun revealed that Ye Qing had entered one before but Liu Miao had not returned, leaving the group to attempt the dangerous route with another chance in a future cycle.

• Han Yun explained that several people and ghosts had spatial abilities, and that their gathering had helped form the incompletely isolated pocket dimension.
• Han Yun blamed the narrator for causing four cycles of time distortions and said he remembered each one while the narrator had lost their memories.
• The narrator and Han Yun discussed using the black holes and the future dimension to escape, possibly by finding a route back through another pocket dimension.
• Han Yun admitted that Ye Qing and Liu Miao had previously planned to enter a black hole, and that Ye Qing had gone in alone after Liu Miao failed to return.
• Han Yun said the narrator and others could keep trying in later cycles, since he remembered what had happened and the female ghost continued to hold onto the pocket dimension.

A black hole opened in the spatial dimension and began swallowing buildings as Han Yun led the narrator through panicked crowds to find Nan Tian. The hole’s wind turned into a powerful suction, lifting people into the air as the narrator feared they would be pulled in next.

• Han Yun and the narrator noticed a strange dry wind after the entrance to the spatial dimension opened unexpectedly.
• A growing black hole swallowed nearby buildings, and Han Yun revealed that he had found Nan Tian near its edge.
• Residents noticed the destruction and fled as the narrator and Han Yun ran against the crowd toward an apartment building.
• Han Yun pulled the narrator through the chaos and shielded her from fleeing people.
• The black hole’s outward wind became a powerful suction that swept a child and then his mother into the air.

As a black hole pulled people into an otherworldly space, Han Yun led the narrator toward Nan Tian in an apartment building. The narrator realized the entrance opened onto a place filled with monsters, making it too dangerous to enter, but the crowd was swept outside and the man holding the narrator was pulled away.

• Han Yun pulled the narrator through the wind as people were lifted toward the expanding black hole, and the narrator refused to save a woman who grabbed their sleeve.
• The narrator sensed that entrances to two otherworldly spaces had opened and followed Han Yun toward an apartment building where Nan Tian was sheltering.
• Nan Tian and the narrator were surrounded by residents who demanded help, while a middle-aged couple claimed to be Nan Tian's friends and an old woman urged Xiaoyu to ask to be taken along.
• The crowd shoved Han Zhen and the narrator outside, where the wind lifted them along with Nan Tian, Xiaoyu, and others.
• The narrator heard many kinds of monsters roaring beyond the entrance and concluded they could not enter that otherworldly space.
• The man gripping the narrator screamed as he was pulled past them toward the black hole.

As the black holes expanded across Yangshan District, Han Yun rescued the narrator and Nantian before they could be pulled in, while a girl sacrificed herself to save Nantian. The group gathered with Liu Miao and prepared to enter the alternate space through the Finance University entrance, but a female ghost appeared with a way to return to the real world.

• Han Yun flew the narrator and Nantian out of the black hole’s reach, but they failed to save the girl who had been clinging to Nantian.
• The narrator told Nantian that monsters were coming through the black hole, and Liu Miao arrived with a ghost baby and a spirit riding a shared bicycle.
• As another black hole appeared in Yangshan District, Liu Miao questioned Han Yun about which entrance to use, and Han Yun pointed toward Finance University.
• Han Yun said the demons did not eat people, while the narrator worried about the danger they posed to humans.
• A female ghost arrived with a delivery slip and offered to take the group back to the real world if they wrote down a recipient.

The narrator, Han Yun, Liu Miao, Nan Tian, and the female ghost faced two growing black holes and considered working together to escape the alternate space. After the skinny man arrived, the narrator prepared to use his ability with the female ghost’s shipping label to send the group to Chen Xiaoqiu.

• The female ghost offered to use her ability to get everyone out, warning that the collapsing alternate space threatened both worlds.
• Liu Miao, Nan Tian, and Han Yun challenged the female ghost’s explanation, and she admitted that their combined presence might strengthen her ability.
• The narrator told the group to make the skinny man believe the shipping label could send them all back without giving him time to overthink it.
• Han Yun said A Rui would arrive soon, and after half an hour two ghost babies brought the skinny man to the group.
• The narrator learned that only two hours had passed in the real world and chose Chen Xiaoqiu as the recipient for the shipping label.

The group arranged for Han Yun to send a package to Chen Xiaoqiu through the female ghost’s Yixun Express service, hoping to escape the collapsing alternate space after delivery. As the space fell apart, Liu Miao seized the female ghost, but the group was overwhelmed by a burst of images and information, allowing her to escape.

• The Thin Man filled out a waybill addressed to Chen Xiaoqiu, but Liu Miao tore it up and insisted that Han Yun be listed as the sender.
• Han Yun filled out a new waybill with his old family home as the sender’s address and listed the group as the items being sent.
• After the female ghost accepted the waybill, the two black holes merged and the alternate space began to collapse, pulling buildings, people, and pieces of the ground into the sky.
• Liu Miao grabbed the female ghost by the throat and attacked her with shadows as the group tried to recover from the collapse.
• A surge of images and information left the group incapacitated, and the female ghost transformed and vanished toward the ceiling.

After the shared-bike spirit was destroyed, the demon appeared with Ye Qing’s soul and declared their contract complete. Liu Miao and the others restrained the demon while a mysterious hand destroyed his heart, book, and quill, causing him to vanish and leaving the bedroom restored.

• Liu Miao burned the shared-bike spirit along with its bicycle, and its scream abruptly stopped.
• The demon appeared with Ye Qing’s soul, declared their contract complete, and dismissed Liu Miao’s ability as ineffective against him.
• A dark-red hand emerged from the void and reached through the demon to seize his heart while Liu Miao and the others held him down.
• The hand snapped the golden vessels in the demon’s heart, crushed it, then used the demon’s quill to pierce and erase his contract book.
• The demon, the book, and the quill vanished, and the room returned to normal except for the fallen bedsheet and the narrator’s ruined clothes.

After the demon was defeated and everyone returned safely, Liu Miao and Nantian spoke with Gu Mo and Nangong Yao by phone. Liu Miao told Nantian that his unusually good fortune could be ruined if he kept pursuing his brother, but Nantian remained silent about whether he would change.

• The Skinny Guy and Han Yun described what they had experienced, while the others confirmed they were safe.
• The narrator told Wu Ling the danger was over and handed the phone to Liu Miao, who spoke with Gu Mo.
• Nantian asked whether his brother was on the phone, then argued with Nangong Yao and angrily hung up.
• Liu Miao told Nantian that Nangong Yao had visited his school and learned from Master Xuanqing that Nantian had an exceptionally fortunate fate.
• Liu Miao warned Nantian that pursuing his family could wear away his good luck, and Han Yun added that he should stop chasing after his brother.

After the alternate space collapsed, the narrator reunited with Greenleaf and learned that Han Yun’s attachment remained unknown. The chapter then opened Incident 001, in which Qiu Hongmei recounted a dog barking in her apartment complex and finally seeing it on a neighbor’s balcony.

• Wu Ling and the others arrived at Chen Xiaoqiu’s home, where Liu Miao joyfully reunited with them and Nangong Yao.
• The narrator asked Wu Ling what Han Yun was attached to, but she did not know, and the group concluded that their involvement had caused the Yangshan District alternate space to collapse.
• The narrator shared his experience with the Skinny Guy and Greenleaf, and he felt guilty that their actions might have dragged millions of people down with them.
• Qiu Hongmei told investigators that a dog had barked for hours during weekdays for months, though nobody could locate its owner.
• Qiu Hongmei returned home to collect laundry during the barking and spotted the dog on the balcony of an apartment diagonally below hers.

Ms. Qiu recounted how a pug was found dead in a locked apartment after barking at something unseen, and how the police could not explain what happened. She revealed that she later saw the pug again, leaving her frightened and unsure whether something was wrong with her.

• Ms. Qiu told the interviewer that a pug had been left alone in a neighbor’s apartment and later caged on the balcony, where it barked as if something inside frightened it.
• Ms. Qiu called the police to report a possible break-in, and officers forced open the apartment door, where they found a scene that made the owner vomit and cry.
• Ms. Qiu saw blood covering the pug’s cage and the balcony, but the police found no signs of entry and could not determine what had happened.
• Residents suspected an old man who had threatened to kill dogs, but Ms. Qiu learned he had left before the incident; the pug’s owners later blamed and harassed neighbors.
• Ms. Qiu said similar daytime dog-barking incidents spread to other buildings, and she began working during the day because she felt unsafe at home.
• Ms. Qiu revealed that she had seen the pug again and had never told her family about her experiences.

Ms. Qiu told the investigators about a ghostly dog reflection and barking linked to a dead man’s apartment, while they examined records and visited the apartment where a pug had been killed. The realtor revealed that the owners had rushed to sell the apartment after supposedly killing their dog and becoming frightened by what followed.

• Ms. Qiu described seeing a dog’s reflection on the balcony of an apartment whose owners had moved away, and recounted rumors of barking from another empty apartment after its owner died.
• The investigators discussed whether Ms. Qiu’s account was reliable and obtained police records confirming the pug had been torn apart in Room 1102, No. 321 Tianmu Road, with no other traces found.
• The investigators visited the apartment and questioned realtor Xiao Chen, who said the owners had lowered the price and were desperate to sell.
• Xiao Chen said he had heard the owners killed their dog, found the struggle and blood disturbing, and later became haunted by the dead dog; he began explaining their history with the agency.