Chapter Summaries

After Bai An’s paintings confirmed his theory that the ghost who decapitated the monster was connected to the livestream deaths and the female ghost at the Affiliated High School of Science and Technology, the narrator learned Greenleaf was searching for her. The chapter ended with Fatty recalling that Yueyue had told him something about the school’s purple bathroom.

• The narrator suspected that the ghost who fought the monster had become the female ghost’s protector and told Wu Ling his theory.
• Wu Ling sent Bai An’s paintings, which showed the female ghost’s death, Sun Hongbin’s murder, Decapitation Island, and the ghosts gathered around the ancient-clothed man.
• Wu Ling confirmed that Qiu Ming had been missing for years, and Greenleaf began searching for the female ghost so the narrator could destroy her if they found her.
• Wu Ling explained that Liu Miao could see the resentful spirits behind the female ghost, but they were too weak to kill her.
• The narrator told Fatty and Skinny what had happened, and Fatty recalled that Yueyue had mentioned the purple bathroom.

The group drove to Workers and Peasants Sixth Village while Xue Jingyue recounted the strange deaths and ghost stories associated with the Affiliated High School of Technology University. Her account left the narrator puzzled about whether the female ghost was responsible for all the sightings and deaths.

• The narrator drove to Workers and Peasants Sixth Village as Fatty called Xue Jingyue and asked her to repeat her story.
• Xue Jingyue explained that her classmate died when a faulty office window trapped her neck, despite Xue having warned her after seeing a shadowy omen.
• Xue Jingyue recalled school legends about a purple restroom, a ghostly girl, and a teacher who supposedly died after fleeing the school.
• Xue Jingyue described former students seeing motionless figures and shadows and hearing crying or indistinct muttering around the restroom.
• The narrator doubted that the sightings matched the female ghost's behavior and wondered whether Greenleaf's interference had changed her.
• The group arrived at Workers and Peasants Sixth Village, and Fatty ended the call after the narrator thanked Xue Jingyue.

At Workers and Peasants Sixth Village, Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun’s families fought over the brothers’ plan to take Song Xian’s ashes to Headless Island. The brothers told the demolition workers that Song Xian had searched the abandoned factory for her dead parents before collapsing and dying that night, leaving the reason for their wish unexplained.

• Director Mao told the workers that the Liu brothers wanted to take Song Xian’s ashes to Headless Island, while their wives and children opposed the plan.
• Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun arrived at the complex with their wives, who refused to enter and argued with them.
• The narrator led the brothers into the residents’ committee office and asked directly whether they had seen Song Xian’s parents’ ghosts.
• Liu Zhijun recounted how Song Xian searched the abandoned factory, calling for her parents, before collapsing.
• Liu Zhiguo said the brothers buried and scattered the ashes as Song Xian had requested, then carried her home.
• The brothers said Song Xian died that night after they found her unresponsive in bed, and they broke down crying.

Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun explained how their mother’s ghost begged them to take her home, and they decided to find a way to honor her wish. Lin arranged to seek help with a sea burial and island access, then received an unfamiliar video file from Wu Ling.

• Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun described seeing their mother’s spirit during her funeral procession and hearing her ask to go home.
• The brothers insisted they would find a way to take their mother’s remains to the island or scatter them at sea, and Lin advised them to discuss the arrangements with their families.
• Lin reunited the brothers with their wives, and the brothers apologized to them.
• Lin called her former leader, who agreed to look into access to the island and the sea-burial procedures.
• Lin failed to reach Wu Ling, but later received a video file from Wu Ling and opened it.

Wu Ling and Liu Miao visited Qiu Ming’s wife, who recounted his rescue of her and his efforts to contain a ghost at Minqing school before he disappeared. She led them upstairs to see Qiu Ming, who appeared as a translucent, hollow-eyed man in a rocking chair.

• Wu Ling and Liu Miao met Qiu Ming’s wife at her home, where she explained that she and Qiu Ming had never had children.
• Qiu Ming’s wife described how her abusive ex-husband returned after dying and how Qiu Ming saved her when she fled from him.
• Qiu Ming’s wife said Qiu Ming had visited the girl at Minqing school for years, but she later seemed controlled, and the seal eventually collapsed.
• Qiu Ming’s wife said Qiu Ming vanished after rushing to the school and that she had never learned what happened to him.
• Qiu Ming’s wife led Wu Ling and Liu Miao upstairs and introduced them to the translucent Qiu Ming sitting in a rocking chair.

Wu Ling questioned Qiu Ming’s wife about his return and the girl at the school, but Qiu Ming remained unresponsive. The narrator relived a terrifying memory involving an abusive man before waking from a dream of Qiu Ming and a girl.

• Wu Ling learned that Qiu Ming had returned in a vacant state after disappearing when the school seal collapsed.
• Qiu Ming’s wife explained that he had been trying to help a girl at the school, whose behavior changed after refusing gifts.
• Wu Ling told Qiu Ming’s wife that there was no longer an underworld and promised to investigate the school.
• The narrator remembered entering her apartment, where a dead abusive man berated her and chased her outside.
• A car struck the narrator as she fled, and she saw Qiu Ming before waking from the frightening vision.

Qiu Ming entered the woman's dream and witnessed her dead ex-husband return to torment her and attack him. The woman took the knife meant for Qiu Ming, and he finally moved his eyes to look at her as she collapsed.

• Qiu Ming realized the woman was dreaming as her ex-husband's soul returned from the underworld.
• The ex-husband entered the house, beat the woman, and demanded to know where her lover was.
• The ex-husband went upstairs and attacked Qiu Ming with a kitchen knife while the woman tried to stop him.
• The woman threw herself between the ex-husband and Qiu Ming, and the knife struck her neck.
• Qiu Ming moved his pupils and lowered his eyes to look at the wounded woman.

Qiu Ming stopped the woman from killing her ex-husband’s ghost, revealed that he and the woman shared restored memories, and refused to have her brought back to life. He then explained that the ancient-clothed girl at Li Da Affiliated High School had behaved as though someone else were controlling her before the seal containing her collapsed.

• The woman’s soul emerged from her corpse, and she grabbed the man’s arm before he could strike Qiu Ming, then took his cleaver.
• Qiu Ming stopped the woman from attacking the man, dismissed the man’s ghost, and led her out of the study.
• Qiu Ming told the narrator that the woman did not need to be brought back to life, and the woman agreed to remain with him as a ghost.
• The narrator asked Qiu Ming about the female ghost at Li Da Affiliated High School, and Qiu Ming described sealing the girl after Greenleaf failed to resolve the case.
• Qiu Ming said the girl later became unpredictably silent, seemed possibly controlled by someone else, and eventually broke free when her seal collapsed.

Qiu Ming followed the ghost girl through the teaching building and into the administration building, where she used repeated appearances and staged scares to lead him through the school. The chapter ended with the girl fleeing down the corridor after he saw her standing in the music room doorway.

• Qiu Ming spotted a crack in the restroom wall, sensed the girl’s yin energy, and chased her through the teaching building.
• The girl repeatedly appeared to lure Qiu Ming, then fell from a classroom window and vanished along with her body after he saw her reflection beside him.
• Qiu Ming suspected the girl’s movements were limited and entered the administration building, where her figure appeared in a group photo and led him toward the music room.
• The girl triggered noises and music in the music room before appearing in the doorway and darting away down the corridor.

Qiu Ming searched the school for the girl and discovered another ghost watching a woman from a balcony on the computer room screens. He escaped to the nearby apartment and found his wife safe, but as they prepared dinner, he saw her chopping her own arm with a knife.

• Qiu Ming searched the art room and laboratories but found no sign of the girl.
• A video appeared on the computer room screens, and a ghost whispered that the woman in the footage was not her.
• Qiu Ming burned the ghost with a talisman and rushed to the nearby residential complex, fearing the girl was in danger.
• Qiu Ming met his wife outside with groceries and returned with her to their apartment.
• As Qiu Ming washed vegetables, he smelled blood and saw his wife repeatedly chopping her forearm while smiling at him.

A man possessed Qiu Ming’s body and watched a ghost impersonate him after killing him, before Qiu Ming trapped the man with a spell. The man escaped, dissolved Qiu Ming’s wife and Qiu Ming, then approached the narrator until an unknown solid figure intervened.

• The man in the dream killed Qiu Ming, took his wedding ring, and planned to return home in Qiu Ming’s likeness.
• The narrator’s soul attacked the man, but an unfamiliar ancient-dressed man struck him and awakened him in the room with Qiu Ming.
• Qiu Ming bound the ancient-dressed man with a glowing spell, and the narrator realized the stranger had controlled his abilities and possessed him.
• The man vanished from the binding and dissolved Qiu Ming’s wife and then Qiu Ming with his scorching yin energy.
• The man approached the immobile narrator, but a solid figure appeared between them.

After dreaming that a powerful ghost called Ye Qing a Guardian Spirit, the narrator found Ye Qing safe in the office and learned that the group would go to Decapitation Island to deal with an entrance. Nangong Yao explained what Guardian Spirits were and revealed they disappeared when their protected person no longer needed them.

• The narrator dreamed that Ye Qing confronted a powerful ghost, who called him a Guardian Spirit, then called Wu Ling and hurried to the office.
• The narrator found Ye Qing sitting in the dark; Ye Qing said the ghost had not been defeated and told the group to go to Decapitation Island and deal with the entrance.
• Ye Qing disappeared, and the narrator told Nangong Yao and Gu Mo what he had said; Gu Mo contacted Wu Ling while Nangong Yao noted that the wording suggested Ye Qing had made a deal.
• As they left the office, Nangong Yao explained that Guardian Spirits protected someone through their last wish and could warn or intervene to keep that person safe.
• Nangong Yao said a Guardian Spirit vanished once the person they protected no longer needed them, leaving the narrator stunned.

The narrator learned that guardian spirits could disappear when their bond with the living weakened and wondered whether Ye Qing had become his guardian spirit. Nangong Yao warned him not to overthink the possibility, while Gu Mo and Nangong Yao left to continue investigating the female ghost.

• The narrator recalled how Ye Qing had guided him into paranormal events and considered whether Ye Qing had become his guardian spirit.
• Nangong Yao explained that a guardian spirit and the person it protected needed a mutual bond, and that the Wu family’s ancestor had eventually perished when that bond weakened.
• Gu Mo finished a call and said the others had not arrived, while he and Nangong Yao discussed whether to keep investigating the female ghost from the restroom.
• Nangong Yao said they should continue investigating the female ghost, and he and Gu Mo drove the narrator home.
• Nangong Yao told the narrator not to overthink guardian spirits because they eventually disappeared, and Gu Mo joked that the narrator might become a powerful ghost king.

Li Mei listened to Wu Ling's interview with Zhang Jifen and learned about the mistreated girl whose ghost haunted Ligong Affiliated High School. Zhang's account ended with the report that Wang Zhong exhumed Li Mei's body to arrange a ghost marriage for his drowned son.

• Li Mei's sister talked with him about college, her student union work, and the restaurants near Minqing University.
• Wu Ling told Li Mei that they had reported Qiu Ming's wife's death to the police and were now investigating the female ghost in the purple restroom at Ligong Affiliated High School.
• Li Mei played Wu Ling's recording of Zhang Jifen identifying the ghost as Li Mei, a girl found as an infant beneath a plum tree and sold to the Wang family as a child bride.
• Zhang Jifen described how the old principal helped Li Mei attend school, while the Wang family expected her to marry their mentally disabled son and serve their household.
• Zhang Jifen recounted finding Li Mei dead beneath junk in a school storeroom, her head smashed open, and said Wang Zhong later dug up her body for a ghost marriage after his son drowned.

The narrator learned that Li Mei may have been bound to Wang Zhong’s son through a ghost marriage and listened to testimony about a ghost haunting the school restroom. A student then described seeing two women vanish near the sports field, leaving the narrator unsure whether the wet figure was Li Mei or another ghost.

• A retired teacher told the narrator that Li Mei’s corpse had reportedly been dug up for a ghost marriage to Wang Zhong’s son and recalled the school’s rumors and past deaths.
• Wu Ling said the investigation was focusing on Wang Zhong, while the narrator noticed Bai An’s paintings depicted people and places connected to past paranormal cases.
• Wu Ling explained that Bai An could not be reached because he had closed his contact channels and his representatives only sent automated replies.
• Wu Ling sent the narrator an interview with Cui, who described seeing a dripping-wet woman enter the fourth-floor girls’ restroom and leave barefoot footprints.
• Cui said that after school he saw two women arguing on the running track before one grabbed the other by the neck and both vanished.
• The narrator wondered whether the wet woman was a drowned ghost, since Li Mei’s previous victims had not died by drowning.

The narrator wondered whether Ye Qing was their guardian spirit and how they could help him, then began reading case file 031 about a couple whose dead son seemed to have returned home. Qin Kai suspected the presence was not actually his son after it grew angry about the couple planning to adopt a child.

• The narrator considered whether Ye Qing was their guardian spirit and thought of Mu Ai’s ability to see guardian spirits and Xiao Bai’s presence in their heart.
• The narrator took an unread case file from the bookshelf and read the details of Case 031, “The Third Person.”
• Qin Kai told the investigators that strange acts of housework began at home after the anniversary of his son’s death.
• Qin Kai said his wife believed their deceased son had covered her with a blanket and spoken to her, though their son had never been capable of doing chores while alive.
• Qin Kai explained that the couple’s plan to adopt a child triggered shattered windows, mirrors, lights, and other belongings.
• Qin Kai said the presence had not attacked them but continued breaking things, and he suspected it was not their son.

The investigators visited the Cui family and confirmed that a powerful ghost had been haunting their home, though they could not tell whether it was their dead son. An unexplained woman appeared beside the son in an old family photograph, and the investigators began looking into her identity while suspecting Mr. Cui had concealed something.

• The investigators visited Mr. Cui's home, confirmed the presence of a powerful ghost, and asked whether the family had encountered anything unusual around the son's death anniversary.
• Mr. Cui denied that his son had been married or had a girlfriend, but the investigators showed him a family-trip photograph in which an unknown woman stood beside his son.
• Mr. Cui said the woman had never been in the original photograph and recalled that the family had taken the trip around 2000 or 2001.
• The investigators took the abnormal photograph and asked Mr. Cui to question his family and his son's friends about anything that might have happened on the trip.
• The investigators analyzed the recordings, noted that the ghost seemed powerful enough to kill the couple, and arranged for Nangong to scan the photograph to identify the woman.
• The investigators suspected Mr. Cui was hiding something about the family's visit to the cemetery.

The investigators looked into Qin Shuai’s grave, his former classmate, and the strange changes in his parents’ behavior. Their inquiry took an urgent turn when Qin called in distress, saying his wife was hurt and asking for help.

• On March 8, the investigators inspected Qin Shuai’s grave and found no abnormalities.
• Qin told the investigators that his son had liked a girl from university and gave them an email contact, while avoiding questions about the death anniversary and agreeing to consider surveillance cameras.
• Wei Mingyu told the investigators that the woman in the photo was unknown to Qin Shuai’s classmates and described Qin Shuai as unlikely to return to do housework as a ghost.
• Wei Mingyu said Qin Shuai’s parents had seemed emotionally improved and discussed adopting a child, and wondered whether they might have mental health problems.
• On March 10, Qin called the investigators in distress as his wife cried for help, and they rushed to the couple’s home.

Wu Ling and Ye Qing investigated Qin Kai’s home after his wife was killed by a ghost, and Qin Kai described the attack. He revealed that he and his wife had arranged a ghost marriage for their dead son through an elderly spirit medium near Jishan.

• Wu Ling and her companions entered Qin Kai’s home and found his wife dead in the bedroom.
• Qin Kai told Wu Ling that a woman’s ghost had attacked his wife while they were asleep, overpowering him before disappearing.
• Ye Qing asked Qin Kai about the anniversary of the death, and he recalled meeting a family arranging a ghost marriage at a cemetery.
• Qin Kai explained that the story inspired him and his wife to find a way to arrange a ghost marriage for their son.
• Qin Kai said they eventually found an elderly spirit medium in a village near Jishan who was believed to communicate with the yin world.

Wu Ling questioned Qin Kai about how a swindler arranged a ghost marriage for his deceased son. Qin Kai revealed that the supposed bride was never a corpse and that the entire village had helped deceive his family.

• Qin Kai described his grief over his son’s death and explained that he and his wife sought a ghost marriage to ease their pain.
• Qin Kai said the man eventually found a woman whose birth charts matched his son’s and showed them documents and a body in a freezer.
• Qin Kai recounted the wedding ceremony, the woman’s cremation, and the man keeping her ashes until they could be buried with his son.
• Qin Kai explained that after the burial, the man disappeared and the villagers confessed that he was a swindler who had used his son and daughter-in-law to fake the corpse.
• Qin Kai said the villagers had helped the family’s deception, with some working in crematoriums and cemeteries.