Chapter Summaries

Wu Ling’s team investigated the death of Mrs. Qin and questioned Xiaohé Village residents about the ghost-marriage arranger known as Immortal Sun. The village party secretary identified him as Sun Desheng and began recounting his troubled family history.

• Wu Ling gave Qin Kai a protective charm and told him to call the police after Mrs. Qin’s death.
• The investigators reviewed recordings and heard villagers describe Immortal Sun as an elderly man who arranged ghost marriages for wealthy families.
• Wu Ling confronted the village party secretary with evidence linking Sun to Mrs. Qin’s death and warned that the danger could claim more lives.
• The secretary revealed that Immortal Sun was actually Sun Desheng, around sixty, who had returned to the village changed after years away.
• The secretary explained that Sun had supported his siblings, but they drifted away, his parents died, and his wife left while their son was still young.

Sun Desheng confessed that he had killed his wife and later learned to arrange fraudulent ghost marriages under a master who trafficked in unclaimed corpses. He denied killing his master, claiming a ghost had killed him.

• A village resident explained that Sun Desheng and his family staged ghost marriages to defraud grieving customers and directed the investigators to contact him.
• The investigators confronted Sun Desheng and questioned him about his knowledge of ghost marriages, grave robbing, and the yin energy surrounding his family.
• Sun Desheng told the investigators that his wife drowned after he struck her and walked away during an argument.
• Sun Desheng said his master took his wife's body for a ghost marriage, then recruited him to work and revealed that the operation used trafficked corpses.
• Sun Desheng denied killing his master and insisted that a ghost had killed him.

Sun Desheng recounted how his master died after encountering a female ghost linked to a gold bracelet, and both Sun Desheng and Qin Kai later died from chest and abdominal injuries. The chapter then revealed the memories of Qi Huilan, a drowned pregnant woman whose body was taken for a ghost marriage, as the ghost appeared beside two coffins with her belly emptied.

• Sun Desheng told the investigators that he found his master dead beside the female ghost and later inherited a gold bracelet that kept returning to him.
• Sun Desheng said the woman had recently appeared in one of his houses wearing the bracelet, and the investigators searched the property for it.
• Sun Desheng and Qin Kai were confirmed dead from chest and abdominal injuries, and the investigation was terminated.
• Qi Huilan remembered that her husband had abandoned her while she was pregnant, and she drowned herself in a river.
• Men retrieving Qi Huilan's body removed her gold bracelet and placed her in a coffin for a ghost marriage.
• Qi Huilan appeared beside two coffins, touched her belly until it flattened, and smiled eerily.

The narrator relived the grudge-bearing woman’s memories and learned that Wang Zhong’s people had mistaken her corpse for Li Mei’s when arranging a ghost marriage. As the narrator tried to stop her from killing Qin Kai and then Sun Desheng, Ye Qing crushed her gold bracelet, but the woman remained present and drew power from an unknown source.

• The narrator witnessed the woman’s memories of longing to be a wife, her death and madness, and her attack on the gravedigger who took her bracelet.
• The narrator saw Li Mei trapped at the school and realized Wang Zhong’s people had confused the woman’s corpse with Li Mei’s.
• The woman attacked Qin Kai, and the narrator’s ability could not stop her before the scene shifted to Sun Desheng.
• Ye Qing struck the woman while her flesh-born child bit Sun Desheng, then crushed the gold bracelet that had belonged to her.
• The woman stared at the crushed bracelet as her emotions faded, but the narrator felt power flowing into her from elsewhere.

The narrator stopped Huilan’s rampage by confronting her with her abandonment and the child in her belly, then learned that Bian Sijun had attended Li Mei’s school. The chapter left the narrator wary of the other female ghosts and protective of his younger sister.

• The narrator used his power to hold Huilan’s changing strength in check as her memories replayed, then called out that her husband had been dead for years.
• Huilan reacted to the narrator’s questions about her marriages and unborn child, and the narrator’s power helped end her rampage as she and the grotesque child vanished.
• The narrator called Wu Ling and learned from her that Bian Sijun had graduated from the High School Attached to the Institute of Technology and that the female ghosts might be seeking allies.
• The narrator worried that the female ghosts had plans beyond peaceful coexistence with humans, then asked his younger sister to tell him if she got a boyfriend so he could check him out.

After a quiet day with her family, the narrator woke early and opened Incident No. 044, about a father worried by a series of unexplained deaths in a hospital bed. Guan Guojun asked the narrator’s team to investigate at the hospital.

• The narrator watched a horror movie with her younger sister, then went to bed early after feeling groggy from using her ability.
• The narrator woke after ten hours of sleep, bought breakfast for her family, and returned to her room to open a case file.
• Guan Guojun told investigators that several parents had reportedly died suddenly while staying overnight beside children recovering from surgery in Bed 37.
• Guan Guojun said a mother in the ward had warned him not to sleep that night, and he asked the investigators to assess the situation.
• The investigator agreed to accompany Guan Guojun to the hospital.

Mr. Guan Guojun hired experts to investigate the chair beside Bed 37 after several overnight companions died. Head Nurse Ms. Jin revealed the chair had been connected to repeated deaths and sightings of a ghost, and said the spirit had remained in the hospital.

• The experts told the ward staff that nine people connected to Bed 37 had died and asked to speak with someone authorized to address the chair.
• Ms. Jin explained that an elderly cardiac surgery patient’s daughter had died suddenly while sleeping on a companion chair after her mother’s operation.
• Patients later reported seeing a figure near the bed, and one companion was found dead after someone appeared to strangle them.
• The cardiac surgery ward replaced the bed and chair and left the bed empty for a time, but Ms. Jin said the chair was later moved to Bed 37 after its original chair broke.
• Ms. Jin said she had reported the problem and asked for the chair to be discarded, but cardiac surgery staff told her the person was still in the hospital.

Wu Ling and her team dealt with the haunted hospital companion chair and helped Li Baiqing's ghost move on. The client's son recovered and was discharged, though Wu Ling and Liu Miao remained uneasy about the hospital.

• A hospital staff member explained that Li Baiqing's ghost haunted the hospital and that attempts to remove the chair had failed.
• Wu Ling unfolded the chair, called Li Baiqing by name, and urged her to let go of her guilt over her mother's death.
• Li Baiqing sobbed, then became calm as the chanting resumed and her soul was pulled away; the chair collapsed and she vanished.
• Gu Mo, Nan Gongyao, and Liu Miao discussed the incident, and Wu Ling said the hospital made her uncomfortable.
• The client's son completed surgery, stayed overnight without incident, and was discharged on November 11, 2007.

The narrator helped arrange for Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun to take Old Madam Song’s ashes to Duantou Island with a TV crew, while worrying about the island’s supernatural entrance and Bai An’s haunting hospital paintings. By Friday, Wu Ling had finalized a way for Wu Ling, Liu Miao, and the narrator to join the trip to Duantou Island.

• The narrator’s old boss arranged for Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun to return Old Madam Song’s ashes to Duantou Island with a TV crew, and asked the narrator to coordinate the visit.
• The narrator led the TV crew to Song Xian’s old house and helped them film Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun before they left to arrange the island trip.
• Skinny told the narrator that Wu Ling knew about the plans and would find a way for them to reach Duantou Island together.
• The narrator saw Bai An’s paintings of a frightened nurse and a ghost in a hospital ward, then worried that Bai An was repeatedly suffering from nightmares.
• Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun told the narrator that the TV station had arranged their departure, while Wu Ling confirmed that she, Liu Miao, and the narrator could join the boat to Duantou Island.

The narrator, Wu Ling, and Liu Miao traveled by boat to Headless Island, where they joined a TV crew and military personnel. After walking through the island’s forest, they reached Headless Cliff, where the narrator heard strange sounds.

• The narrator endured a miserable boat trip with Wu Ling and Liu Miao, while worrying that Ye Qing’s ghostly bargain could bring danger.
• The group reached Headless Island, and Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun arrived on another boat with Song Xian’s ashes and portrait.
• The TV crew filmed the brothers’ arrival, and the group headed inland to stay in the soldiers’ quarters.
• Wu Ling returned with a young soldier who guided the three companions through the forest toward Headless Cliff.
• The group emerged from the woods at the cliff, and the narrator thought he heard strange sounds.

Lin Qi, Wu Ling, and Liu Miao entered the cave beneath Broken Head Island after a ghost’s yin energy forced the sea away and exposed the entrance. Inside the cavern, Lin Qi wondered how long the ghost had been dead and whether it could have lived in Mo Wen’s era.

• A soldier told Lin Qi, Wu Ling, and Liu Miao that they would have to wait for the tide to recede before entering the cave beneath the cliff.
• The soldiers took the group by assault boat to the cliff, where they spotted a narrow cave opening and saw the water level begin to drop.
• Wu Ling recognized that the tide was receding, but Lin Qi sensed the ancient-clothed ghost’s yin energy pouring from the cave and pushing the sea away.
• The yin energy drew the boat into the exposed cavern, where Liu Miao helped Wu Ling and Lin Qi onto the rocky ground.
• Wu Ling told Lin Qi not to overthink what they had witnessed, and Lin Qi wondered whether the ghost had lived in Mo Wen’s era.

Lin Qi and his companions found the ghost’s hidden entrance in the cavern beneath Severed Head, but could not reach it. The ghost used Lin Qi’s power to close the black hole, leaving Lin Qi exhausted and Liu Miao visibly disappointed.

• Lin Qi followed Wu Ling and Liu Miao through the cavern, where they searched for an entrance to the alternate space and found nothing.
• When the tide began rising, Wu Ling led the group back, and they saw the ancient-robed ghost enter a black hole high above the cave floor.
• Wu Ling asked the ghost about Li Mei, and he said he had cut off his connection to her before asking Lin Qi how long it would take to solve the problem.
• The ghost immobilized Lin Qi and drew out his power until the black hole vanished.
• Lin Qi collapsed, and Wu Ling and Liu Miao helped him leave the cave as Liu Miao looked regretful and disappointed.

After Song Xian’s ashes were buried on Headless Island, the group returned to the mainland, where Wu Ling showed that Bai An had painted the Behemoth emerging from a human body. Wu Ling revealed that Bai An was dead, leaving the painting’s connection to the monsters unexplained.

• Wu Ling explained that soldiers could become a first line of defense as ghosts if the worst happened, and she urged delaying catastrophe while Yezi’s plan continued.
• Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun buried Song Xian’s ashes at the war memorial, while the soldiers saluted and the TV crew filmed.
• The group spent the night on Headless Island and departed the next day; the narrator suffered through the rough boat ride back.
• At the dock, Wu Ling showed the narrator Bai An’s new painting of the Behemoth emerging from a limp human figure.
• The narrator connected the image to a creature from a dream and speculated that monsters could emerge from people, and Wu Ling said Bai An was dead.

After returning from Headless Island, the narrator learned that Bai An had died, possibly by suicide, and worried that his death might be connected to his ability or his public work. The narrator received no dream or new information about Bai An, then returned to work and organized resettlement preparations for the property owners.

• Wu Ling told the narrator that Bai An had died and that his company had initially assessed the death as suicide, while promising to investigate.
• The narrator discussed with Skinny, Chen Xiaoqiu, Guo Yujie, and the others whether Bai An might have been murdered for influencing public opinion in the supernatural community.
• The narrator checked Bai An’s social media, found only the death notice and speculation from commenters, and slept poorly without dreaming of him.
• The narrator’s old supervisor asked about Liu Zhiguo and Liu Zhijun after Headless Island, and the narrator reported that the brothers seemed to be recovering from their grief.
• The old supervisor instructed the narrator to monitor the property owners and coordinate their move to resettlement housing, so Skinny began calling them.

TV host Shen Wangshu told a paranormal investigations office that people she circled on televised footage later died, while her memories of the broadcasts changed to match their deaths. After deliberately circling an abusive man and hearing her own pleased commentary, she feared she had caused his death; the investigator asked whether she had experienced anything else paranormal.

• Shen Wangshu explained that after she circled a pedestrian in a broadcast, he was struck and killed, though she remembered him crossing safely.
• She described circling a pickpocket on another broadcast; he later died, and the recording no longer matched her memory of the footage.
• Shen deliberately circled an abusive man in a video, and he later died in an accident at his apartment complex.
• Shen admitted she had been testing whether her actions caused the deaths and had felt glad when the abusive man died.
• The investigator asked Shen whether she had experienced other paranormal phenomena or marked anyone on another kind of object.

Shen Wangshu described her dangerous image-based killing ability to investigators, who warned her that she would have to control it herself. The chapter then showed her using the power and revisited memories of Yu Zihao’s death and her mother’s failing memory, ending as her mother vanished beside her.

• Shen Wangshu told investigators she feared the urge to kill that accompanied her ability, and they said she could avoid triggering it but could not be helped to suppress it.
• The investigators warned Shen Wangshu that using her ability could make her more likely to encounter ghosts and supernatural events, and they concluded the case on December 3, 2009.
• Shen Wangshu pointed at people in photographs and printed images while whispering that they should die.
• At a gathering, Shen Wangshu learned that Yu Zihao had died after eating something he was allergic to, though she remembered being there and grieving with the others.
• Shen Wangshu looked through a photo album with her elderly mother, who could no longer remember her, and her mother disappeared as Shen Wangshu turned to another page.

Shen Wangshu realized her ability had caused her mother's death, and Wu Ling refused to help because Greenleaf was occupied with Gu Mo's disappearance. Overcome by grief, Shen Wangshu began using her power to kill people she found in news reports, and the dream ended as someone opened her bedroom door.

• Shen Wangshu discovered that the photos of her mother had vanished from the album and remembered touching Yu Zihao's picture, realizing she had possessed her power for some time.
• Shen Wangshu called Greenleaf for help, but Wu Ling said they could not take her case and that the dead could not be brought back to life.
• Shen Wangshu's grief and remorse overwhelmed her as her father tried to comfort her.
• On January 3, 2013, Shen Wangshu printed news articles about criminals and used her ability on people shown in their photographs, changing reports to say they had died.
• Shen Wangshu continued searching for people to target, and someone pushed open her bedroom door.

The narrator witnessed Shen Wangshu being kidnapped and imprisoned, then helped restore her strength while supernatural forces attacked her captors. Shen Wangshu used a phone to capture the compass-wielding leader, and the narrator woke before learning what happened next.

• Nine men entered Shen Wangshu’s home, seized her, and set the house on fire after leaving her father behind.
• The men imprisoned Shen Wangshu, weakened her with an IV, and used her hand to press a photograph onto a sheet of paper.
• The narrator waited for Ye Qing’s guidance as two ghosts appeared in Shen Wangshu’s room and attacked the captors.
• Someone pushed the narrator toward Shen Wangshu, and the narrator used their power to revive her and free her restraints.
• Shen Wangshu picked up an unlocked phone and recorded the compass-wielding leader, who collapsed with her after appearing in the video.
• Ye Qing said Shen Wangshu had happened to be the hundredth, and the narrator woke in the bedroom chair.

After learning that Zhang Yifeng was alive and had found her, the narrator heard Wu Ling explain that Bai An had died after secretly painting a strange portrait. Wu Ling planned to deal with Zhang Yifeng, while the narrator spent the night and following workday fearing an attack.

• The narrator saw Bai An's obituary still posted and told Wu Ling about her dream, learning that Shen Wangshu's case had been ruled a suicide and the compass user was still alive.
• Wu Ling confirmed that the man was Zhang Yifeng and warned that he had already found the narrator.
• Wu Ling said Bai An had withdrawn from others before his sudden death and had destroyed an unfinished portrait of a person against a mirrored cityscape.
• Wu Ling told the narrator not to use her ability and said she and the others would deal with Zhang Yifeng with Master Xuanqing's help.
• The narrator checked her locks, slept badly, and worried Zhang Yifeng might target her family, while Chen Xiaoqiu doubted he would be easy to kill.

The narrator, Fatty, and Skinny visited the Southern Suburbs resettlement community to check on its facilities and reassure future residents. They encountered a distressed woman who repeatedly walked toward a phone booth where her husband had died, and the narrator asked to follow her.

• The narrator, Fatty, and Skinny toured the Southern Suburbs community with Fu Ying and discussed plans to prepare its facilities before residents moved in.
• As Fatty drove away, Skinny spotted a dazed woman stumbling along the sidewalk, and the narrator stopped to check on her.
• Fu Ying explained that the woman rented a nearby house, had been mentally unwell since her husband died in a phone booth, and regularly went to make calls there.
• The narrator asked Fu Ying if they could follow the woman and investigate the phone booth.