Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• At the Crow’s Nest, visitors complain about paying separate fees for its scenarios. Zhang Ze changes the pricing: one ticket covers every Crow’s Nest scenario, while the Second Ward remains a separate attraction. The change satisfies the crowd.
• Chen Ge watches Zhang Ze revive two Ghost Story Association members and concludes that Zhang Ze did not restore their original selves, but placed other consciousnesses in their bodies. He recognizes the ability as frighteningly powerful.
• Chen Ge recalls how Zhang Ya and Xu Yin defeated Han Bao’er and her companion, devouring the ghosts attached to them. The encounter also triggers a Black Phone mission: Living Coffin Village, a three-star scenario tied to the Ghost Story Association’s gathering and an enemy they could not defeat.
• Determined not to be outdone by Zhang Ze, Chen Ge prepares to continue completing missions. He considers asking Doctor Gao for help with Jiang Ling, a troubled child he met at the welfare institute.
• Zhang Ze reviews three new missions: expand into Hanjiang’s Eastern Outskirts, acquire a storefront in another city, and undertake a Nightmare Mission that he recognizes as Silent Hill. He postpones the Nightmare Mission and decides to expand cautiously.
• Zhang Ze identifies a weakness in his operation: the Crow’s Nest is poorly defended when he is away. Rather than pursue the Underworld Fetus immediately, he decides to strengthen his staff. With resentment from the Underground Morgue, he has enough resources to promote an ordinary Fierce Ghost to Red-Clothed, and gathers the team to ask who wants to improve.

Character developments

• Zhang Ze shows practical judgment by adjusting ticket rules, then shifts from expansion to protecting his base. He remains confident but recognizes the need to build up his team.
• Chen Ge is shaken by Zhang Ze’s growing power but channels his unease into renewed determination. His concern for Jiang Ling also shows his continued commitment to helping vulnerable children.
• Doctor Gao is considered by Chen Ge as a potential ally in treating Jiang Ling, though he has not yet replied.
• The Crow’s Nest staff—Old Zhou, Li Yang, Wang Shan, Feng Xiaomin, Sadako, Lingling, and Little Door—are gathered for a possible upgrade.

Significant themes

• Competition and ambition: Zhang Ze and Chen Ge measure themselves against each other and refuse to fall behind.
• Power and identity: Zhang Ze’s apparent “resurrection” raises the disturbing question of whether a body’s original consciousness survives.
• Preparation and responsibility: Zhang Ze recognizes that strength alone is not enough; his Haunted House needs protection when he is absent.
• Care amid horror: Chen Ge’s supernatural conflicts coexist with his concern for children suffering psychological trauma.

Character interactions

• Zhang Ze responds to visitors’ complaints by revising ticket prices, winning their approval.
• Chen Ge reflects on Zhang Ze’s methods and compares their rival Haunted Houses, while resolving to keep building his own team.
• Chen Ge reaches out to Doctor Gao for help with Jiang Ling.
• Zhang Ze summons his staff and invites them to share their ambitions, setting up a new round of growth for the team.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Ze decides to strengthen the ghosts in his Haunted House, arguing that in a world overrun by supernatural threats, becoming stronger is necessary to survive.
• He channels resentment from the Underground Morgue into Old Zhou, Li Yang, and Wang Shan. They turn red but remain half-step red-clothed ghosts, each still needing a catalyst to complete the transformation.
• Feng Xiaomin also receives Zhang Ze’s power. Her gaming ability improves dramatically, but she too remains half-step red-clothed and admits she would still lose to Lingling.
• Zhang Ze then empowers Little Door. Because Little Door has resolved his past obsessions, the transformation succeeds: he becomes a true red-clothed vengeful ghost.
• Zhang Ze’s Haunted House now has four red-clothed ghosts: Lingling, Sadako, Qiu Mei, and Little Door. He considers his forces superior to Chen Ge’s strongest fighters.
• Meanwhile, police in Hanjiang’s East Outskirts discuss the strange crimes and supernatural incidents that have been surfacing elsewhere.
• A prison reports an escape. Footage shows a condemned man apparently dying after a lethal injection, then transforming into a monster, killing a staff member, and breaking free. Before the camera goes dead, the creature leaves a bloody message: “See you at the Haunted House in the Western Outskirts!”

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ze takes a more deliberate role in building his Haunted House’s strength, personally empowering his ghosts and assessing who is suited to fight.
• Old Zhou, Li Yang, Wang Shan, and Feng Xiaomin grow stronger but remain short of full red-clothed status, establishing that power alone may not be enough to overcome the final threshold.
• Little Door has moved beyond his old grievances and now eagerly follows Zhang Ze. His successful transformation marks a major step in his growth.
• Zhang Peng is excluded from the upgrade plan: Zhang Ze keeps him as a Haunted House NPC rather than a fighter.
• The chapter contrasts Zhang Ze’s growing supernatural team with the police officers’ limited, mostly secondhand understanding of the unfolding crisis.

Significant themes

• Strength as survival: In a world where ghosts prey on one another, power is presented as necessary for self-preservation.
• Growth requires more than power: Several ghosts reach a near-advanced state but still need a personal catalyst to fully transform.
• Escalating supernatural danger: The prison escape suggests the threat is spreading beyond the Western Outskirts—and may be heading directly for Zhang Ze’s Haunted House.
• Competition and confidence: Zhang Ze takes pride in the strength of his team, but the closing threat hints that this confidence may soon be tested.

Plot points and events

• Across Hanjiang City’s East Outskirts, five brutal murderers strike at once, each leaving a message: “See you at the Haunted House in the Western Outskirts!”
• At East Ridge Reservoir, a woman who lures would-be rescuers into the water kills several people. In Liwan Private Hospital, a raincoat-clad man murders a doctor involved in trading stolen organs.
• Zhang Ze learns that the attacks are aimed at him and his Haunted House. The events do not match the original novel, and he suspects Wego may have released killers from Liwan Town into the real world.
• Rather than close the Haunted House, Zhang Ze decides to use it as bait and catch the attackers together. He asks Kuai Liang to send plainclothes officers to protect visitors, while planning to bar children under the guise of renovations.

Character developments

• Zhang Ze responds to the threat strategically and confidently, treating the attackers’ challenge as an opportunity to eliminate them at once. He remains concerned about civilian safety, though he is willing to take a calculated risk.
• Kuai Liang is alarmed by Zhang Ze’s plan and worries that visitors could be caught in the violence. His caution contrasts with Zhang Ze’s confidence.
• The attackers are introduced as ruthless, apparently human killers with supernatural abilities; their coordinated message suggests a common purpose.

Character interactions

• At the reservoir, the caretaker warns a group of young men not to rescue the woman, but they accuse him of cruelty. Their argument leaves them vulnerable to her attack.
• At the hospital, the doctor mocks the raincoat man and refuses to pay him for organs deemed poor quality. The man abruptly kills him.
• Zhang Ze discusses the threat with Kuai Liang, who questions the danger of keeping the Haunted House open. Zhang Ze argues that closing it could cause the killers to target people elsewhere instead.

Significant themes

• Predation and moral ambiguity: Apparent victims can be predators, while attempts to help may carry deadly consequences.
• Control versus chaos: Zhang Ze tries to channel a citywide threat into a controlled confrontation.
• The cost of protecting others: Keeping the Haunted House open may endanger visitors, but closing it could expose more people to scattered attacks.

A bandaged killer and a young arsonist attacked Tianteng Hospital, where the bandaged man swallowed the ghost Xu Zhenzhen before the arsonist set the site ablaze. Zhang Ze identified them as two of five killers coming for the Haunted House and warned his allies to stay alert and avoid confronting them.

• A bandaged man rampaged through Tianteng Hospital, found Xu Zhenzhen's cassette, and swallowed her when she appeared.
• A young man carrying a lighter arrived at the hospital, and the manager recognized him as a wanted serial arsonist.
• The bandaged man and the arsonist attacked Tianteng Hospital, killing employees and setting the building on fire.
• Zhang Ze and Chen Ge learned of the attack, and Zhang Ze contacted Kuai Liang while Chen Ge called Captain Yan.
• Zhang Ze identified the five killers targeting the Haunted House and warned Chen Ge, Xu Wan, Uncle Xu, Director Luo, the park staff, and the plainclothes officers to report suspicious people and avoid direct confrontation.