Recaps

After the Anomaly Era was announced and then seemingly erased from public memory, Shen Yu remembered it and spotted an anomaly controlling his bus driver. The Anomaly Containment System rewound a fatal crash, and Shen Yu took control of the bus while telling passengers to restrain the driver.

• At New Year's, the Horror Game [Anomaly Era] launched on Blue Star, but most people soon forgot the announcement while world leaders held emergency meetings.
• Shen Yu remembered the Anomaly Era and felt an unexplained drop of icy water on his neck while riding the 201 bus.
• Shen Yu saw the driver turn deathly pale and lose control as a tanker truck approached, then watched the bus crash.
• The Anomaly Containment System activated, spent 10,000 Construction Points on a One-Time Time Rewind, and reversed the crash.
• Shen Yu pulled the possessed driver from his seat, took the wheel, and told the passengers the driver was having a seizure and needed to be restrained.

Shen Yu saved the passengers after the bus driver began acting violently, then used his newly activated system to detect anomalies and draw an S-rank Character Card. He chose to use the card for Bai Zuo, though its abilities and contracted anomaly remained locked.

• Shen Yu took control of the bus after the driver collapsed and the passengers restrained the driver while he drove toward District XX.
• Shen Yu called the police, and Patrol Officer Zhang Lin arrived and signaled him to stop the bus.
• The driver broke free, knocked a passenger down, and bit into his shoulder, while Shen Yu sensed danger when he tried to approach.
• Shen Yu activated the system's Anomaly Detection function, which detected seven anomalous targets and recommended drawing a Character Card.
• Shen Yu used his free first draw and received the S-rank Character Card Bai Zuo, whose profile listed a Heart Gu anomaly and several locked abilities.
• Shen Yu chose to use Bai Zuo's Character Card.

Shen Yu manifested as Bai Zuo and used Heart Gu to absorb malice, then intervened in a spreading outbreak by offering Patrol Officer Zhang Lin power through Mind Control. Zhang Lin regained control of his consciousness and subdued the frenzied passengers, while Bai Zuo approached through the panicking crowd.

• Shen Yu materialized as Bai Zuo, absorbed a flood of malice through Heart Gu, and stopped the flow before Bai Zuo's body was overwhelmed.
• Shen Yu devised a motive for Bai Zuo to work with the Containment Organization and decided to begin his performance.
• Zhang Lin restrained an infected driver, but the bitten passengers began transforming and attacking people as the corruption spread.
• Bai Zuo offered Zhang Lin power, and Zhang Lin accepted so he could protect the city.
• Bai Zuo used Mind Control to stabilize Zhang Lin's consciousness and direct him to overpower the frenzied passengers.
• Zhang Lin broke the attackers' limbs and subdued them, while Bai Zuo approached and calmed the people who met his eyes.

Bai Zuo controlled Zhang Lin while investigating and removing an anomaly that had infected passengers on a bus. He contained the creature, erased witnesses’ memories, and altered surveillance footage, then resolved to avoid truly harming people to improve his Character Card.

• Bai Zuo analyzed the infected passengers and identified the anomaly as a lowest-level Wandering Soul, while Zhang Lin remained unable to speak under his control.
• Bai Zuo had Zhang Lin pull black strands from the passengers’ necks and extract the anomaly hidden inside the driver.
• Bai Zuo used a Anomaly Cage to contain the anomaly after the system issued him ten cages, each capable of sealing one for 24 hours.
• Bai Zuo hypnotized the witnesses, blurred their memories, fabricated evidence, and changed the surveillance footage.
• Bai Zuo gained Character Perfection and decided he needed limits, since he could not actually kill people or set fires just to improve the card.

Shen Yu founded the Anomaly Containment Association after containing an anomaly, then passed out and let the incident be explained as a bus crash. Zhang Lin woke in the hospital with his memories of Bai Zuo and the anomaly intact, but everyone else believed he had been injured saving passengers.

• Shen Yu left Zhang Lin's memories intact, feigned unconsciousness, and received Construction Points for containing a Wandering Soul-level anomaly.
• Shen Yu learned that gaining Construction Points required establishing an organization, then founded the Anomaly Containment Association and received a Ten-Million-Level Company Acquisition Voucher.
• Passersby discovered the unconscious passengers, and rescuers took them to the hospital after the incident was mistaken for a bus crash.
• Zhang Lin woke in the hospital and asked Sun Xin about the passengers and driver.
• Sun Xin told Zhang Lin that the driver had caused a crash and that Zhang Lin had been injured saving passengers, while Zhang Lin struggled to reconcile the account with his memories.

Zhang Lin remembered the anomalous bus incident and told Captain Chen Guangji, who believed him and promised to report it to the higher-ups. Meanwhile, Shen Yu created Ji Wu and Xu Zhou as loyal subordinates and sent them to investigate a newly detected anomaly at the hospital.

• Zhang Lin recalled that an unknown person had controlled his body and erased everyone else's memories of the bus incident.
• Chen Guangji visited Zhang Lin, heard his account, and recognized it as a likely anomalous event connected to information he had learned at a secret government meeting.
• Shen Yu asked the system about the associated characters on Bai Zuo's Character Card and learned that Ji Wu and Xu Zhou were intelligent, loyal subordinates.
• After the system detected a moderate anomalous presence, Shen Yu created Ji Wu and Xu Zhou in a stairwell and gave them a cover story about searching for Bai Zuo.
• Ji Wu and Xu Zhou entered the hospital to investigate the anomaly, with Xu Zhou complaining about having to write reports.

Xu Zhou and Ji Wu found Zhang Lin in the hospital and discovered that Bai Zuo had marked him after taking control of his body during an anomalous incident. Ji Wu explained the Anomaly Containment Association and confirmed Bai Zuo had acted to protect people, while Zhang Lin said he had wanted to gain power.

• Xu Zhou and Ji Wu searched the hospital and sensed a strong eerie aura near Zhang Lin's room.
• Xu Zhou sensed a trace on Zhang Lin but found no mark, so Ji Wu entered and discovered Bai Zuo's familiar mark over Zhang Lin's heart.
• Ji Wu introduced himself and explained that Bai Zuo belonged to the Anomaly Containment Association and was under supervision because of his dangerous anomaly.
• Zhang Lin explained that Bai Zuo had taken control of him after an anomaly attacked him on a bus, then dealt with the threat.
• Ji Wu concluded that Bai Zuo had protected the passengers and driver, and Zhang Lin said he understood because he had wanted to gain power.

Ji Wu and Zhang Lin discussed the risks of Contract Anomalists before an infant’s cries led Ji Wu, Xu Zhou, and two hospital visitors into a powerful Ghost Domain. The domain separated Xiao Li from Sun Chengzhi, and Ji Wu could only stop Sun Chengzhi from following her.

• Zhang Lin questioned why the Anomaly Containment Association accepted a Contract Anomalist with a dangerous personality, and Ji Wu explained that the organization needed to make use of scarce talent.
• Xu Zhou heard a baby crying, and Ji Wu noticed the sound despite the lack of pediatric or obstetric departments in the hospital.
• Ji Wu and Xu Zhou found the corridor filled with an anomaly’s presence as patients began hearing a baby laugh and cry.
• Ji Wu identified the transformed corridor as a Ghost Domain while blood dripped from the ceiling and the walls and exits changed.
• Xiao Li ran down the corridor after her imagined baby, and Ji Wu stopped Sun Chengzhi from chasing her.

Xu Zhou and Ji Wu fought two Ghost Infants inside a Ghost Domain, but the battle turned against them. Ji Wu ordered Xu Zhou to break through the domain and find Bai Zuo while he held off one of the infants.

• Ji Wu decided not to risk rescuing the trapped woman, but encouraged Xu Zhou to summon the Ghost Hand.
• Xu Zhou used the Ghost Hand to tear into the Flesh Membrane, revealing the Ghost Infant and starting a fight between them.
• The Ghost Infant attacked the Ghost Hand with painful cries, while Ji Wu prepared his gun and Sun Chengzhi broke down in terror.
• A second, faster Ghost Infant appeared beside Sun Chengzhi and killed him before Ji Wu could stop it.
• Ji Wu told Xu Zhou to focus the Ghost Hand on breaking the Ghost Domain and ordered him to escape and find Bai Zuo, then charged the second Ghost Infant with a dagger.

Xu Zhou confronted his feelings of worthlessness while fighting the Ghost Infants and nearly used the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow Blade on himself. Bai Zuo arrived in time to save him, and after the Ghost Infants were captured, Xu Zhou learned that Sun Chengzhi had survived.

• Xu Zhou recalled the insults from his past, charged to help Ji Wu, and admitted that he thought he was useless and had only joined the organization as Brother Bai's tool.
• Unable to hit the Ghost Infant, Xu Zhou tried to use the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow Blade's sure-hit attack on himself, but Zhang Lin kicked him away.
• Bai Zuo arrived on a giant Spider, whose Ghost Domain overwhelmed the Ghost Infants' domain, and Ji Wu captured the two entities in the Anomaly Cage.
• Xu Zhou checked Sun Chengzhi's pulse and found him alive, while Ji Wu urged Xu Zhou not to blame himself for everyone the team could not save.
• Bai Zuo made Zhang Lin lie on his hospital bed and drew on his cast while taking photos, and Xu Zhou said he could not imitate Bai Zuo's carefree behavior.

Bai Zuo rejected Zhang Lin’s offer to become a Contract Anomalist and threatened him, while Xu Zhou struggled with his feelings of inadequacy. Ji Wu helped Xu Zhou join the Anomaly Containment Association and registered him at the organization’s newly acquired company, leaving the new business’s employees puzzled by its unusual departments.

• Zhang Lin asked Bai Zuo to make him a Contract Anomalist so Xu Zhou could return to an ordinary life, but Bai Zuo called Xu Zhou his tool and threatened Zhang Lin.
• Bai Zuo’s Character Perfection increased by 5%, unlocking the special ability Mind Possession (Excellent), and Zhang Lin reached for Ji Wu’s business card after Bai Zuo left.
• Xu Zhou asked Bai Zuo if he was useless, but Ji Wu stopped Bai Zuo from using his ability and reminded him that Xu Zhou was an Anomaly Containment Association member, not his tool.
• Ji Wu used an acquisition coupon to buy a company and rename it Yigui Clean Energy Transport Co., Ltd., then registered Xu Zhou in its Execution Department as a C-Class Contract Anomalist.
• Ji Wu created several new departments and retained many of the company’s employees, who speculated about the new boss’s plans and worried about the change in industry.

After taking over Yigui Clean Energy Transport Co., Ltd., Shen Yu ordered Ji Wu to make its remaining employees sign the Anomaly Containment Association’s strict confidentiality contract. Ji Wu distributed the contracts, and the employees began reading them, pleased at first to see their salaries would rise by fifty percent.

• Employees at Yigui Clean Energy Transport Co., Ltd. panicked about the new boss’s plans, and most of the company’s staff resigned.
• Shen Yu saw that only twenty-three employees remained and told Ji Wu to prepare new contracts based on the Anomaly Containment Association’s employee agreement.
• Ji Wu asked whether to explain the Association’s principles, and Shen Yu said the employees could learn them after signing.
• The Legal Department objected that the contract’s penalties, including erasing memories, personalities, or existence, were legally outrageous, but Ji Wu ordered them to draft it and said they would have to sign too.
• A Legal Department employee drafted the contract and resigned, while Ji Wu gathered the remaining employees and offered them the contracts.
• The employees began reading and were delighted to discover that signing would raise their salaries by fifty percent.

Ji Wu explained the company's unusual contract and assigned jobs to the seventeen employees who stayed. He introduced Xu Zhou as an Execution Department member entitled to a monthly reimbursement allowance of one million, leaving the new staff curious about the department and his role.

• Several employees rejected the contract and left, while seventeen signed and stayed.
• Ji Wu assigned the programmers, sales staff, cleaner, logistics workers, and general workers to their initial duties.
• Ji Wu introduced Xu Zhou as an Execution Department member and told the logistics staff to provide him with whatever he needed at the company's expense.
• Ji Wu told Xu Zhou that his C-Class rank entitled him to a monthly reimbursement allowance of one million, which made Xu Zhou anxious and amazed.
• Yang Su wondered what the Execution Department did and resolved to stay long enough to find out.

After the government learned that Zhang Lin remembered the truth behind Bus 104, Kong Yubo’s team questioned him and revealed the deadly scale of anomalous events across the country. Zhang Lin warned them to be cautious around the Anomaly Containment Association, leaving Kong Yubo to ask whether he had decided to join it.

• Shen Yu watched Ji Wu’s meeting and gained Construction Points as the Anomaly Containment Association’s existence spread.
• Chen Guangji reported Zhang Lin’s account, prompting the government to send Kong Yubo’s action team to Yeyang City.
• Kong Yubo showed Zhang Lin surveillance footage that concealed the supernatural truth of the Bus 104 Incident.
• Zhang Lin recounted what he knew, and Kong Yubo described the massacre at Huayuan Ridge and the eleven anomalous events the government had discovered.
• Zhang Lin warned Kong Yubo to be cautious of the organization with mysterious powers, and Kong Yubo asked whether he had chosen to join it.

Zhang Lin told Kong Yubo about his decision to become a Contract Anomalist, then warned him to avoid a mind-controlling demon. Shen Yu learned that the authorities knew about the Anomaly Containment Association and searched for anomalies to contain, settling on a rumor about an abandoned bridge.

• Zhang Lin explained that he was an Adaptive and said he wanted to join the mysterious organization rather than become a Patrol Officer, and Chen Guangji accepted his choice.
• Kong Yubo finished questioning Zhang Lin, who warned him that a malicious demon could control people's minds.
• Shen Yu received Construction Points after the authorities learned about the Anomaly Containment Association and found he still lacked the points and Anomaly Cages to build a permanent anomaly-containment headquarters.
• Shen Yu used Bai Zuo's hacking skills to search local reports and found a rumor about a resident who saw a deceased relative across an abandoned bridge in Fujing District.

Hu Xingde entered the White Mist on the Abandoned Bridge while livestreaming, and his signal cut out. Ji Wu and Xu Zhou arrived to investigate, where Xu Zhou saw his mother, who had died three years ago.

• Hu Xingde started a livestream to prove he had seen his deceased family member and rode to the Abandoned Bridge.
• Hu Xingde walked into the White Mist, and his livestream signal cut out as he disappeared from view.
• Shen Yu decided the bridge was anomalous and sent Ji Wu to investigate.
• Ji Wu recruited Xu Zhou and notified Bai Zuo before traveling with Xu Zhou to the bridge.
• Xu Zhou saw his mother on the bridge and told Ji Wu that she had died three years ago.

Xu Zhou rushed into the White Mist after seeing what he believed was his dead mother, and Ji Wu followed to protect him. Ji Wu became trapped in the fog until an old Lantern Bearer guided him out into an unfamiliar place filled with others dressed in old-fashioned attire.

• Xu Zhou ignored Ji Wu's warning and ran onto the bridge into the White Mist.
• Ji Wu followed Xu Zhou, but wandered through the endless fog, grew exhausted, and could not contact him.
• An old man carrying a ringing red lantern approached Ji Wu and offered to lead him out.
• Ji Wu followed the Lantern Bearer and found that his strength drained at a normal rate while walking beside the lantern.
• The old man led Ji Wu out of the White Mist, where Ji Wu saw an unfamiliar place and many other Lantern Bearers in ancient-style clothing.

Ji Wu found Xu Zhou with his deceased mother in the strange, deserted city and urged him to cherish their time together without trying to remain with her. He then spotted the missing Hu Xingde trapped in a funeral procession and tried to pull him free.

• Ji Wu followed the Lantern Bearers through a deserted city that looked familiar and wondered where Xu Zhou and Bai Zuo were.
• Ji Wu reunited with Xu Zhou, who introduced his mother, and learned she had died three years earlier.
• Ji Wu warned Xu Zhou that the dead could not return to the living, but encouraged him to spend time with his mother and reassure her.
• A funeral procession passed, and Ji Wu recognized the terrified Hu Xingde among its members.
• Ji Wu grabbed Hu Xingde's arm and tried to pull him out of the procession.

Ji Wu realized that the Funeral Procession’s apparent family members were only distortions of memories, then escaped with Hu Xingde and defeated the pursuing procession. He warned Xu Zhou that the figure he believed was his mother might be a monster, leaving Xu Zhou to decide how to handle her.

• A strange voice called Ji Wu by name, but he recognized that the blurred figures could not convincingly imitate his family and revealed that Ji Wu was only his codename.
• Hu Xingde realized the woman he had seen was not his wife, regained control of his body, and Ji Wu pulled him out of the Funeral Procession.
• The procession chased Ji Wu and Hu Xingde until Ji Wu shot its leader, causing the creatures to flee and leaving their garments and funeral objects behind.
• Xu Zhou caught up with Ji Wu, who explained how the procession had used a figure from his memories to control him.
• Ji Wu warned Xu Zhou that the figure he remembered as his mother could be a monster, and Xu Zhou said he understood and would decide what to do.

Ji Wu, Xu Zhou, and Hu Xingde searched Anyang for a way out of the strange city and learned that a Soul Lamp could guide them through the White Mist. They bought one from Uncle Zhang, but Hu Xingde discovered he had no phone signal to pay, leaving them unsure how to get it.

• Hu Xingde panicked after realizing they were trapped, while Ji Wu and Xu Zhou discussed whether they were inside a Ghost Domain.
• Ji Wu explained that the White Mist had trapped him until an old man carrying a lamp led him out, so the three decided to seek a lamp.
• A masked girl warned them to stay away from the Lamp Mansion Festival and said a Soul Lamp could guide them out.
• The girl led them to Uncle Zhang’s shop, where he offered a dusty red lantern for ten thousand.
• Hu Xingde tried to pay by phone but found that it had no signal.

Ji Wu, Xu Zhou, and Hu Xingde traded fifty jin of their own body fat for Lamp Oil and lit a Soul Lamp to escape the Ghost Domain. The watching presence vanished, but Ji Wu said they could not handle the anomaly and doubted even Bai Zuo could manage it alone.

• Uncle Zhang offered the three men twenty milliliters of Lamp Oil in exchange for fifty jin, and Ji Wu checked the contract before they agreed.
• The contract took effect when Uncle Zhang burned it, stripping twenty jin from Ji Wu, ten jin from Xu Zhou, and twenty jin from Hu Xingde.
• Uncle Zhang showed them how to refill the Soul Lamp, and Ji Wu took charge of it while Xu Zhou carried the Lamp Oil.
• Ji Wu lit the Soul Lamp, and the unseen presence watching them disappeared.
• Xu Zhou asked whether they would leave without completing their mission, and Ji Wu said the anomaly was beyond their abilities, perhaps even Bai Zuo's.

Xu Zhou and Ji Wu crossed the abandoned bridge over the Anyang River, where vengeful spirits tried to lure them into looking back, and safely escaped the White Mist. Ji Wu reported the anomaly and discovered that Bai Zuo was on Anyang Island for the Lamp Mansion Festival, leaving him to wonder how the festival connected to the Ghost Domain.

• Ji Wu explained that Bai Zuo’s S-rank ability was especially effective against people, while Xu Zhou and Hu Xingde continued toward the abandoned bridge.
• Xu Zhou spotted resentful faces floating in the Anyang River, and Ji Wu warned everyone not to look down or answer the voices calling from behind.
• Xu Zhou stopped Hu Xingde from turning around, and the group crossed the bridge safely before Hu Xingde fled on his bicycle.
• After his phone regained signal, Ji Wu sent the Anomaly Containment Association their observations and theories about the anomaly.
• Ji Wu reached Bai Zuo by phone and learned that he was on Anyang Island among crowds celebrating the Lamp Mansion Festival.
• After learning that the festival honored Yama and the dead, Ji Wu questioned how it was connected to the Ghost Domain.

Ji Wu and Xu Zhou headed to Anyang Island after Ji Wu learned Bai Zuo was there, while Kong Yubo’s team investigated Yi Gui Company and followed them. On the island, the crowded Lamp Mansion Festival procession began with Yama, a Procession Deity made from a giant Tower Bone, at its head.

• Bai Zuo told Ji Wu he was enjoying himself on Anyang Island and ended the call, prompting Ji Wu to go there with Xu Zhou.
• Ji Wu arranged for the Anomaly Containment Association to seal off the Abandoned Bridge and chose another bridge to reach Anyang Island.
• Kong Yubo’s team investigated Yi Gui Company, identified Ji Wu and Xu Zhou, and tracked their route toward Anyang Island.
• Kong Yubo led his team to Anyang Island and alerted local authorities to increase crowd control ahead of the festival.
• The Lamp Mansion Festival procession began with Yama, followed by Black and White Impermanence, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, and a crowd carrying lanterns.

During the Lamp Mansion Festival, Ji Wu and Xu Zhou found Bai Zuo disguised as the Holy Prince in the procession. At the Divine Altar, Bai Zuo claimed authority over the netherworld and unleashed a Ghost Domain over the crowd.

• Ji Wu and Xu Zhou discussed the Holy Prince legend while searching the procession for Bai Zuo.
• Xu Zhou spotted Bai Zuo sitting on the Divine Palanquin, and Ji Wu rushed after him with Xu Zhou.
• At the festival's destination, Bai Zuo stepped onto the Divine Altar and began an unscheduled ceremony.
• Bai Zuo declared that he had returned to claim half the authority of the netherworld and ordered the crowd to serve as Ghost Soldiers.
• Bai Zuo spread a massive phantom over the crowd, while Ji Wu and Xu Zhou sensed a familiar eerie aura.
• People at the front felt something furry crawling up their legs and screamed.

Bai Zuo opened his Ghost Domain in public, triggering panic and a dangerous crush that threatened to bring the Anomaly Containment Association’s judgment down on him. As Xu Zhou struggled to protect the crowd, he saw a little girl begin to fall, but could not reach her in time.

• A Ghost Domain spread through the crowd, filling people with fear and trapping them in a crush.
• Xu Zhou summoned his Ghost Hand to separate the panicked people while Ji Wu warned him that using abilities against ordinary people could violate Association rules.
• Ji Wu realized Bai Zuo’s actions could cost him his freedom and drew his special pistol to stop him.
• Bai Zuo mocked Ji Wu, saying he was no hero of justice, and Ji Wu fired, grazing Bai Zuo’s face.
• The gunshot worsened the panic, and Xu Zhou tried to prevent people from being trampled.
• Xu Zhou spotted a little girl falling but could not get his Ghost Hand to save her.