Chapter Summaries

The narrator followed Yu Xiaoqin to an abandoned phone booth and realized it might be connected to a ghostly call that let her hear her dead husband. Yu Xiaoqin left after speaking on the phone, and the narrator remained unsure whether to intervene while Director Fu stayed nearby.

• The narrator followed Yu Xiaoqin to a phone booth and recalled a Greenleaf file about callers who were eventually killed after answering a dead person's call.
• The narrator asked Fu Ying about Yu Xiaoqin and learned that her husband's name was unknown and that she had long believed he would call her.
• Yu Xiaoqin answered the ringing phone, and pure yin energy emerged as she listened with a warm, happy expression.
• After the call ended, Yu Xiaoqin left without responding to the narrator's questions.
• Fu Ying explained that Yu Xiaoqin had been isolated for years and that her family had been unable to help her.

Qi and his companions suspected that the phone booth’s caller was not Yu Xiaoqin’s husband, but the booth vanished before they could investigate it. They found Yu Xiaoqin’s address and entered her room, where she sat absorbed in something she held.

• Qi told Skinny and Fatty that he suspected something was wrong with Yu Xiaoqin, and they discussed whether the phone booth’s caller could really be her husband.
• Qi decided to return to the phone booth, but the group found the road empty and concluded that Yu Xiaoqin might be the key to its appearance.
• Qi and his companions met district government staff to discuss relocation and community facilities, then Qi asked Fu Ying for Yu Xiaoqin’s address.
• Fatty drove the group to Yu Xiaoqin’s dilapidated apartment building, where a neighbor told them her door was unlocked.
• Qi pushed open Yu Xiaoqin’s stuck metal door and saw her sitting on her bed, absorbed in something in her hands.

I questioned Yu Xiaoqin about the phone booth she believed let her hear from her dead husband. Her account revealed that she had found the booth in 2018 and heard her husband’s voice twice, but I began to suspect something unusual because she had fallen asleep both times.

• I asked Yu Xiaoqin whether she knew about the Greenleaf Paranormal Agency and whether she was sure the caller had been her husband.
• Yu Xiaoqin explained that she had searched for a phone booth because she wanted to hear her husband’s voice.
• Yu Xiaoqin said she found a phone booth near where she lived in 2018 after hearing it ring, but she fell before she could answer.
• Yu Xiaoqin recounted that the booth disappeared after she waited inside and fell asleep, and that the police found her the next day.
• Yu Xiaoqin said she returned and heard her husband call out, but she cried too much to understand him before falling asleep again.
• I asked whether she had felt unwell when she fell asleep, and Yu Xiaoqin froze.

Yu Xiaoqin remembered her family and tried to call them, but the number was out of service, and she collapsed back into a blank state. Her aunt Tang Wen arrived, tore up Yu Xiaoqin’s wedding photo, and revealed that Yu Xiaoqin had gone out of her mind after receiving a mysterious phone call years earlier.

• Yu Xiaoqin remembered her family, called a number from the narrator’s phone, and learned it was out of service.
• The narrator contacted Fu Ying, who arranged to find Yu Xiaoqin’s family, while Yu Xiaoqin lost consciousness again.
• Yu Xiaoqin’s aunt Tang Wen arrived with her son and identified herself to the group.
• Tang Wen slapped Yu Xiaoqin, tore up her wedding photo, and berated her for searching for her dead husband for twenty years.
• Tang Wen told the group that Yu Xiaoqin had gone out of her mind after receiving a mysterious phone call and that her parents had since died.

After Tang Wen explained how Yu Xiaoqin’s family had believed she suffered a mental breakdown, a ringing red phone booth appeared as Tang Wen and her son were leaving. Tang Wen answered the call and seemed to recognize her deceased older brother, while an old woman’s figure appeared beside her.

• Tang Wen told the narrator that Yu Xiaoqin’s parents had given up searching for her and that she had been living on their savings.
• Tang Wen softened toward Yu Xiaoqin and offered to take her to the cemetery to speak with her parents.
• As the narrator escorted Tang Wen and her son outside, a red phone booth appeared nearby and began ringing.
• The narrator urged Tang Wen and her son to leave, but Tang Wen insisted on seeing what was happening and rushed into the booth.
• Tang Wen answered the phone, and the narrator saw an old woman’s reflection beside her as Tang Wen’s son recognized the name Junjun.

The narrator tried to free Tang Wen and her son from a supernatural phone booth, but the booth vanished with them inside. A timid ghost boy said the booth was digesting them and claimed he could no longer control it.

• The narrator tried to break open the phone booth while Tang Wen spoke to the ghostly woman inside.
• The ghostly woman dragged Tang Wen’s son into the booth, then the booth vanished with Tang Wen, her son, and the ghost.
• A timid boy with the same yin energy appeared, and the narrator grabbed him and demanded that he return the missing people.
• The boy said he had died inside the booth and could no longer control it, though he had once been able to make it appear.
• The narrator called the skinny guy, the fat guy, and Chen Xiaoqiu, then learned the booth was digesting Tang Wen and her son.

Qi and the others confronted Luo Mu about the phone booth, learning that anyone entering it died and was digested. They brought him to Greenleaf’s office, where Wu Ling began questioning him, and Luo Mu said he might have starved to death.

• Qi demanded that Luo Mu release the phone booth, and a ringing phone appeared before the booth transformed and vanished.
• Luo Mu admitted that people who entered the booth died and were digested, leaving nothing behind.
• Qi took Luo Mu to Greenleaf’s office after Wu Ling asked him to bring the others.
• Luo Mu sensed the entrance to another dimension and became frightened when he saw Ye Qing.
• Wu Ling offered to help Luo Mu pass on if he cooperated, and Luo Mu gave his name and said he might have starved to death.

Wu Ling questioned Luo Mu about his life under the Ghost King Lan Ji, his escape, and how he reached the city. Luo Mu could not identify when he arrived, leaving the connection between his world and theirs unclear.

• Luo Mu said he had escaped from Lan Ji, who ruled a place where unattractive people were enslaved and made to serve the beautiful.
• Luo Mu explained that Big Brother, who had been delivered to Lan Ji by the ghost-run One Express, urged the slaves to escape with him.
• Luo Mu said other ghosts caught the escaping group, and he became separated from them before hiding in a phone booth and dying of hunger.
• Luo Mu told Wu Ling that everyone in his world became a ghost after death, though he only knew about reincarnation from a little girl.
• Luo Mu said he had somehow floated through the sea, spotted a boat, and eventually reached the city, but he could not remember when it happened.

Wu Ling questioned Luo Mu about the phone booth’s history, learning that it had begun eating people and controlling ghosts as the world deteriorated. Luo Mu’s account linked the booth’s victims to people who kept thinking about the dead, leaving the group to face the danger behind Yu Xiaoqin and Tang Wen’s loved ones.

• Wu Ling asked Luo Mu about the calendar and used the public phones he remembered to estimate that he had arrived in the real world decades earlier.
• Luo Mu recalled helping a dead girl call her mother, who told her that she might be reincarnated as her mother’s next child.
• Luo Mu said other ghosts later used the phone booth, and he witnessed a ghost bite a fleeing person before the booth began eating people.
• Luo Mu told Wu Ling that the booth started eating people last year and recently began controlling ghosts, though it first attracted them to people who kept thinking about the dead.
• Luo Mu and the narrator connected the booth’s victims to Yu Xiaoqin’s husband and mother and Tang Wen’s son, who had resisted corruption for a long time.

Wu Ling tried to make Luo Mu regain control of the telephone booth, then revealed her plan to summon Shen Wangshu against Zhang Yifeng. The group also prepared for the possibility that Zhang Yifeng’s side could unleash demon beasts, and Wu Ling asked for Mr. Chu’s blood as a precaution.

• Wu Ling bound Luo Mu and urged him to regain control of the telephone booth, but a force carried him into another room for Ye Qing.
• Liu Miao and Nangong Yao assessed Luo Mu’s connection to the booth, and Wu Ling said Luo Mu and Yu Xiaoqin could help summon it.
• Wu Ling revealed that she wanted to summon Shen Wangshu and asked for Mr. Chu’s blood as a precaution.
• Liu Miao explained that Zhang Yifeng’s martial uncle had raised monsters, one of which had killed her parents, and Wu Ling warned that some might still be alive.

Wu Ling and Greenleaf’s team prepared to move against Zhang Yifeng, while the narrator weighed the supernatural community’s conflicts and his own role in the coming fight. After leaving Building Six, the narrator’s companions discussed seeking help through a ritual.

• Wu Ling drew blood from the fat guy and explained that Greenleaf’s team planned to act soon if Luo Mu agreed.
• Wu Ling and Gu Mo discussed keeping the operation contained, and the narrator decided he should stay away from the battlefield.
• Wu Ling explained that Zhang Yifeng’s targets and the supernatural community’s factional disputes made confronting him politically complicated.
• Wu Ling told the narrator and his companions to leave Building Six, and they departed in silence.
• The thin guy suggested finding a temple to pray, then recalled a supposedly effective ritual.

Thin Guy tried to recall a candle-and-mirror wish ritual that his ex-girlfriend had once performed, and his coworkers helped him search for it. They learned that the ritual had won his ex-girlfriend a meeting with the famous medium Granny Ena, whose background raised questions about her ability to communicate with ghosts.

• Thin Guy described the midnight ritual with twelve red candles and a mirror, while his coworkers warned that it sounded like a curse.
• Thin Guy admitted that his ex-girlfriend had tried many similar rituals, and that the one he remembered had won her a chance to meet Granny Ena.
• Thin Guy searched online and found an article describing Granny Ena's childhood ability to see ghosts and her later work as a medium.
• Guo Yujie read Granny Ena's claim that she relayed the deceased's real words, and Chen Xiaoqiu suggested she might have been able to reach recently dead souls or communicate with the underworld.

The group investigated Granny Enna’s ability to communicate with the dead and learned from Wu Ling that Enna had died, possibly overwhelmed by the sudden influx of ghosts. They discussed their next steps and the skinny guy called his ex-girlfriend for help, while Jiang You asked about moving to the southern suburbs.

• The skinny guy described Granny Enna relaying messages from deceased grandmothers, and the group considered whether she could locate ghosts from the underworld.
• Chen Xiao Qiu suggested contacting Enna, but Wu Ling told the narrator that Enna had died from a cerebral hemorrhage and theorized that the influx of ghosts had overwhelmed her ability.
• Wu Ling said they still needed information about Luo Mu and would contact Yu Xiaoqin, while the narrator mentioned having to give a statement about Tang Wen.
• Guo Yujie asked whether the skinny guy had found someone matching their condition; when he said no, she urged him to call his ex-girlfriend, and he went outside to do so.
• Jiang You asked about the southern-suburbs facilities and learned that the market and supermarket could open after the Spring Festival, with utilities available for activation.

The Skinny Guy learned the ritual required fasting, sun exposure, and an equivalent exchange, while Qi and the Fatty gave statements about Tang Wen and her son. The chapter ended with Chen Xiaoqiu suggesting Greenleaf might accept the ritual’s deadly cost because Lin Qi could handle the deaths with his ability.

• The Skinny Guy explained the ritual’s fasting and sunbathing conditions, and Chen Xiaoqiu wondered if his ex-girlfriend had set them to torment him.
• Qi and the Fatty gave statements at the police station about Tang Wen and her son, then Qi reported back to his old superior.
• The Skinny Guy said his ex-girlfriend had told him to die, and the group connected her anger to their past trip to see Mother-in-Law Enna and their breakup.
• The Skinny Guy revealed that the ritual required an equivalent exchange and would grant a wish only if the performer had recently lost something.
• Qi warned that wishing for Zhang Yifeng to die might cause someone on their side to die in exchange.
• Chen Xiaoqiu suggested that Greenleaf might accept the ritual because Lin Qi could use his ability to deal with the deaths.

Chen Xiaoqiu and the others considered whether Skinny could use a mirror-and-candle ritual to exchange a wish for Lin Qi’s life, but Wu Ling explained that its effects depended on supernatural spirits and the practitioner’s willpower. The group left the idea unresolved as Wu Ling considered whether the cost could be bound to a specific person.

• Chen Xiaoqiu and Fatty agreed that Lin Qi might die if the ritual demanded a life, so they would only try it if they could understand the exchange.
• Skinny explained that his ex-girlfriend and her friends had tried the ritual without success, and Guo Yujie warned him not to bring his ex-girlfriend into their troubles.
• Lin Qi messaged Wu Ling to ask how the ritual worked, and Wu Ling described its origins as a unanimous request and offering to twelve spirits.
• Wu Ling explained that rituals could summon spirits through willpower and tradition, but the exchange’s price was uncertain and Mr. Tan might be able to control it with his ability.
• Lin Qi and Wu Ling considered whether they could bind the ritual’s cost to a specific person, and Wu Ling said she would think about it further.

The narrator witnessed a memory of Grandmother Enna as a little girl at her grandmother Elizabeth’s funeral, where Enna saw and spoke with Elizabeth’s ghost. As the mourners prepared to leave for the cemetery, Elizabeth comforted Enna and told her to treasure her ability to see the dead.

• The narrator woke within young Enna at Elizabeth’s funeral and realized she could see through Enna’s eyes.
• Enna noticed Elizabeth’s ghost sitting on the sofa and told the adults that her grandmother had come out of her coffin.
• Enna instinctively used her ability, and Elizabeth appeared to her, smiling and inviting her to sit together.
• Elizabeth explained that Enna could see the dead because she was special and reassured her about growing up and growing old.
• Enna’s mother led her away as the mourners prepared to bury Elizabeth, and Elizabeth waved goodbye from the sofa.

Enna’s memories showed how she first saw Grandma Elizabeth’s ghost at Sally’s wedding, then revealed a frightening childhood encounter with a malevolent ghost. The chapter ended with the female ghost dragging Enna from beneath a bed and choking her.

• Enna saw Grandma Elizabeth’s ghost watching Sally’s wedding, waved to her, and searched for her afterward.
• Enna, around ten years old, ran from a malicious female ghost and took refuge in an abandoned house after a ghostly police officer called her inside.
• The police officer hid Enna beneath a bed, but the female ghost destroyed him and followed Enna upstairs.
• The female ghost found Enna beneath the bed, dragged her out, and wrapped her hands around Enna’s neck.

Enna survived the female ghost’s attack when her grandmother Elizabeth rescued her, then reunited with Fiona’s spirit and gave police information about Fiona’s killers. Years later, Granny Enna declared that no more dead needed her help, and her vital signs disappeared.

• Elizabeth appeared in a gale, dragged the female ghost away from Enna, and vanished with her.
• Enna’s family and neighbors found her, and her parents took her home while police questioned her about her injuries.
• After learning that Fiona had died and that her father had been killed pursuing the criminals, Enna ran outside and embraced Fiona’s ghost.
• Enna told police she had overheard five suspects discussing a bar called Dream Girl in New Louis City, while Fiona’s spirit went to follow the investigation.
• As an old woman in a wheelchair, Granny Enna said there were no more dead who needed her help, and her vital signs disappeared.

After dreaming of Grandma Enna’s death, Qi learned that Ye Qing might have gained her ability to communicate with the dead. Wu Ling revealed that using the ability consumed the spirits of friends and family, while Grandma Enna had believed they were simply going to heaven; her soul was still being watched overseas.

• Qi dreamed that Grandma Enna died and her soul watched a caregiver try to resuscitate her, then woke without any change to his body.
• Qi wondered whether Ye Qing had taken Grandma Enna’s ability and considered how it might help Greenleaf find a suitable ghost for its plan.
• Qi asked Skinny about Grandma Enna’s health and life, and Skinny said he knew of no unusual illness or disability.
• Wu Ling told Qi that Grandma Enna’s ability weakened and eventually consumed the spirits of people she wanted to contact.
• Wu Ling explained that Grandma Enna had thought her loved ones were ascending to heaven, and said people overseas were monitoring her soul because no reports of her killing anyone had emerged.

The narrator and the Thin Man learned Wu Ling’s revised wish ritual, which used an ancient snake candle and a fragment of Marianne’s mirror. Wu Ling chose the witch known as the Vengeful Spirit of Char as the ritual’s target, but they had not yet performed it.

• The narrator worried that Granny Enna might become an evil spirit after learning the truth, while Wu Ling changed the subject and introduced her plan for a new wish ritual.
• Wu Ling showed the Thin Man a candle made from a white snake, explaining that it could gather yin energy and attract ghosts.
• Wu Ling revealed Marianne’s mirror and recounted how Marianne had been sealed inside the original mirror before its fragment was repurposed.
• Wu Ling proposed targeting the witch who had sealed Marianne and drew the symbol of Wiccanami and its Black Witch faction.
• Wu Ling explained that the witch, later called the Vengeful Spirit of Char, had escaped Marianne, taken her place as a noblewoman, and become a powerful leader of the Black Witches.