Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• After the bus leaves Hande Private Academy, the remaining students use their abilities to help classmates—including Ma Tao and Cai Meimei—escape. Ma Tao notes that the supernatural messages may be dismissed as rumors until people experience anomalies firsthand.
• Gao Ming and Zhang Ding help contain the flood disaster. With Yan Xizhi’s assistance, they seal it back inside the Flood Disaster Black-and-White Photograph. Zhang now controls some of its water ghosts, though many remain hostile.
• Gao Ming learns that Zhang is already a powerful Nether Residence-level entity, but still falls short of Yan Xizhi. Zhang explains that becoming a rule-wielding Greater Ghost requires intense emotional energy and the will to survive—or further growth by flooding Grudge Houses and Nether Residences.
• A video explaining the rules of the ghost-story game has already appeared online. Gao Ming suspects one or more of his classmates made it and decides to have Xuan Wen publish more information on the Deadwater Forum.
• With the Investigation Bureau weakened but still active, Gao Ming plans to recruit citizens as “Ghost Story Players.” He will stage controlled anomalies near the Queen Investigation Office in the East District, using challenges, hope, and rewards to inspire participants and gather power for Zhang.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming shifts from reacting to supernatural events to planning how to shape them. He weighs the need to resist the Investigation Bureau while recognizing that the rules and rewards of the “game” could help people survive.
• Zhang Ding gains confidence after containing the flood and is prepared to follow Gao Ming’s lead, though he worries about the disaster becoming uncontrollable. He also observes that Yan Xizhi’s authority seems to make the world itself obey her.
• Yan Xizhi is presented as a source of faith and protection: her sacrifice helped students recover their sense of self and made her the academy’s spiritual anchor.
• Xia Yang and Situ An, speaking as voices in Gao Ming’s mind, propose opposing strategies—taking over the Investigation Bureau or undermining it from behind the scenes. Gao Ming finds merit in both suggestions.

Significant themes

• Coexistence with the supernatural: There is no single correct way to deal with ghosts; people may fight them, reach them through sincerity, or negotiate.
• Hope and survival as power: Human emotion and the will to live can strengthen supernatural beings and help the dead recover their identities.
• Control versus risk: Gao Ming intends to turn dangerous anomalies into managed trials, but using disaster to gain power could still have grave consequences.
• Truth and public belief: The authorities’ secrecy and the public’s skepticism give Gao Ming time to prepare—but make it necessary to communicate the truth and earn citizens’ trust.

Chapter 202: “I Need You to Play NPCs in a Ghost Story Game”

• Gao Ming’s plan: Gao Ming reflects that frightening people requires more than ghosts: the setting, atmosphere, and psychological pressure must make them feel threatened and helpless. His experience as a prison counselor—and his own memories of dying repeatedly—makes him well suited to designing horror scenarios.
• A trap in Minlong Street: After receiving Wanqiu’s message that someone had taken over their home, Gao Ming suspects danger. He travels through the Shadow World to reach Wanqiu, avoiding the Investigation Bureau’s surveillance.
• Confrontation with Investigation Team Two: Gao Ming discovers that Team Two, led by Ma Lian, is waiting to arrest him. Ma Lian dismisses warnings about Class Thirteen and orders his team to seize Gao Ming. Gao Ming appears without resistance, then summons Fortune and Gong Xi. When Ma Lian fires his stun gun, the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal’s Grudge House envelops the alley and takes the Investigators inside. Gao Ming intends to reform them, not kill them.
• Wanqiu and Fortune reunite with Gao Ming: Wanqiu rushes to Gao Ming, relieved that he came despite the ambush. Gao Ming brings him and Fortune into the Shadow World. There, Wanqiu’s usual timidity gives way to curiosity; shadows, animals, and children seem naturally drawn to him.
• Gao Ming gathers allies: At No. 4 Minlong Street, Gao Ming reunites with Wei Dayou, the villagers of Lame Bay, and other trusted allies, including Investigators, disillusioned newcomers, sacrificed students, and ghosts. He warns that Hanhai’s East District will soon descend into chaos and asks them to help with a shared task: playing NPCs in a ghost story game.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming shifts from evading the Investigation Bureau to organizing his own forces. He sees the captured Investigators as people to reshape and potentially recruit, and begins preparing a large-scale horror scenario.
• Wanqiu fears Gao Ming has abandoned him, but Gao Ming’s return reassures him. His unusual affinity with the Shadow World becomes more apparent.
• Ma Lian remains aggressive and confident in the Bureau’s authority, but his ambush is quickly overwhelmed by supernatural forces.
• Wei Dayou responds to Gao Ming’s request with immediate loyalty and enthusiasm.
• Xia Yang jokes that the captured Investigators could be used as props, revealing a practical—and unsettling—view of Gao Ming’s growing collection of resources.

Significant themes

• Fear as something engineered: Gao Ming treats terror as a combination of perceived danger, helplessness, atmosphere, and psychological pressure.
• Loyalty and belonging: Wanqiu’s fear of being abandoned contrasts with Gao Ming’s willingness to return for him, while Gao Ming gathers a found community of living and dead allies.
• Power and institutional distrust: The Investigation Bureau sees Gao Ming and Class Thirteen as threats, while Gao Ming begins building an alternative network and plans to change the Bureau from within.
• Horror as performance: The chapter ends by framing a ghost story not just as a source of fear, but as a game whose cast and setting Gao Ming can deliberately assemble.

Key events

• Gao Ming explains his plan to turn his horror-game concepts into real events, assigning people roles such as guides, victims, and teammates. Though alarmed, Wei Dayou and the others receive their scripts.
• Zhang Ding sends his son, Zhang Fendou, back inside to do homework, briefly easing the living people’s fear of him.
• Gao Ming plans two strange tales: in Lishan, Bai Qiao will lead a team into the shadow world and help Gao Ming’s people take over the local Investigation Office, securing his home base. In the East District, he intends to exploit the crisis to challenge Situ An’s former power structure.
• Gao Ming confronts Situ An, who is chained inside Gao Ming’s heart. Situ An pretends to offer his fortune and secrets in exchange for death, but Gao Ming recognizes the offer as a trap designed to expose him to Situ An’s enemies.
• Gao Ming asks instead for information about the East District Investigation Bureau. Situ An agrees, hoping to preserve a chance to escape rather than risk being destroyed.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming is revealed as an ambitious strategist: he sees his horror scenarios not only as inevitable disasters but as opportunities to save people, recruit capable allies, and build influence.
• Situ An remains cunning and relentlessly self-interested. Even in chains and pain, he uses deception and bargains to protect himself; Gao Ming understands his tactics but still makes use of his knowledge.
• Zhang Ding shows a protective, parental side by keeping Zhang Fendou out of danger and insisting he study.
• Wei Dayou is horrified by Gao Ming’s plans, while the others begin accepting their assigned roles.

Significant themes

• Turning catastrophe into opportunity: Gao Ming believes disaster will happen regardless, so he tries to shape it to protect people and strengthen his position.
• Trust and manipulation: Every exchange between Gao Ming and Situ An is a contest of schemes; cooperation is temporary and driven by self-interest.
• Power and corruption: Situ An’s account depicts the East District Bureau as deeply compromised, with personnel replaced or controlled to serve his aims.
• Ordinary life amid horror: Zhang Ding’s concern over homework provides a mundane, comic contrast to the supernatural danger.

Key plot points and events

• Situ An explains that Jingtuo God, a deceptive and deadly “cleanup” operative for the General Investigation Bureau, hides the Bureau’s misconduct. Though a Mystery Analyst with no formal post, he could be a source of valuable information—and a threat to Gao Ming’s plans.
• Gao Ming continues refining his ghost-story game with advice from Situ An and Xia Yang.
• The chapter then follows Fu Shan, an investigator and son of East District office director Fu Ling. Dependent on Situ An’s Soul-Transference Drug, Fu Shan is desperate when his supply runs out. The drug, created by Doctor Lu and tied to the Shadow World, has left him unstable and detached from reality.
• In a rage, Fu Shan ignores his father’s repeated calls and nearly harms his crying baby, whom he mistakes for Situ An. Xia Yang appears through a family portrait and intervenes, catching the child with a hand formed from the painting’s colors.
• Xia Yang’s influence transforms Fu Shan: he calms down and cares for the baby, but disappears from the portrait, leaving only his wife’s image. At dawn, Fu Shan looks toward the East District Investigation Bureau, wondering whether it is finally his turn to be the protagonist.

Character developments

• Gao Ming remains strategically cautious, using others’ knowledge to advance his plans.
• Situ An reveals more about the Bureau and its shadowy operatives, while the narrative underscores that his ambitions once reached the Bureau’s highest position.
• Xia Yang shows both power and a disturbing sense of judgment, deciding to save the baby while taking control of Fu Shan.
• Fu Shan shifts from drug-driven desperation and violent delusion to sudden tenderness and apparent transformation. His fate and the extent of Xia Yang’s control remain unclear.

Significant themes

• Power and manipulation: Information and influence are tools for controlling rivals and shaping events.
• Addiction and psychological collapse: The drug’s short-lived relief deepens Fu Shan’s dependence and terror.
• Reality distorted by the Shadow World: Fu Shan’s confusion makes his child appear to be an enemy, while supernatural forces intervene.
• Protection at a cost: The baby is saved, but Fu Shan vanishes from the portrait, suggesting that rescue may involve sacrifice or possession.

Character interactions

• Situ An advises Gao Ming and Xia Yang about Jingtuo God, while implicitly encouraging them to pursue the secrets of the Investigation Bureau.
• Fu Shan’s dependence on Situ An’s drug feeds his hatred of Situ An, even as he craves another dose.
• Fu Shan rejects his father Fu Ling’s calls, severing a connection to his former life.
• Xia Yang confronts Fu Shan through the portrait, saves the baby, and appears to take Fu Shan’s place or otherwise transform him.

Plot points

• Rookie Investigators are ordered to memorize the rules of strange tales. Their instructor stresses that the rules were learned through the deaths of past Investigators and may be the only way to survive.
• A level-four anomaly near Hanhai’s East District has spiraled out of control. The district is on maximum alert, and inexperienced recruits are being sent to the outskirts.
• Fu Shan returns to the East District branch, where his father, Office Director Fu Ling, is managing a worsening crisis. Other branch directors demand the use of the East District’s Security department, but Fu Ling refuses without Situ An’s authorization.
• Fu Ling takes Fu Shan to the restricted upper floors, revealing that Situ An has been trying to construct “Artificial Grudge Houses” to study and contain Greater Ghosts.
• The thirteenth floor has become inaccessible, and a Greater Ghost has appeared inside one of its Grudge Houses. Security personnel are gathered on the twelfth floor, preparing to deal with it during daylight.

Character developments and interactions

• The old instructor is stern about the rules but privately weary and worried for his family. His experience gives his warnings a personal, life-or-death weight.
• Xiao Yong is confident in physical strength and initially doubts the need to study the rules, showing the gap between his bravado and the dangers ahead.
• Fu Shan returns with a notably mature, composed presence. He reunites warmly with Fu Ling, then questions the branch’s refusal to deploy Security.
• Fu Ling is protective of his son and unwavering about keeping the secret floors—and the Security department’s mission—hidden from the visiting directors.
• Chen Yuntian challenges Fu Ling, believing the East District is withholding resources from those risking their lives to help.

Significant themes

• Knowledge bought at a cost: Survival depends on rules discovered through others’ deaths.
• Secrecy and divided loyalties: Fu Ling must balance cooperation with other branches against protecting Situ An’s secret project.
• Human attempts to control the supernatural: The Artificial Grudge Houses blur the line between investigation and deliberately raising dangerous forces.
• Courage versus caution: Physical bravery alone is inadequate; discipline and respect for rules are essential.

Key plot points and events

• Fu Ling and his son Fu Shan enter the East District Investigation Bureau’s unfinished Grudge Houses. Fu Ling fears the authorities may silence them because of suspicions that the Bureau has been compromised.
• They meet He Yi, the Security captain, who refuses to intervene in the crisis outside. Fu Ling asks him to take Fu Shan along if they have to evacuate; He Yi reluctantly agrees.
• He Yi reveals that a child, A Fang—“Live bait no. 0109”—may be the source of the Greater Ghost inhabiting the Grudge Houses. Unlike all the other test subjects, A Fang survived wandering among them, and the accumulated resentment may have concentrated in him.
• A Fang’s parents disappeared during an anomaly event, after which Qing Ge brought him to the research lab. In surveillance footage, the apparently innocent child plays with a toy car, while Fu Shan senses something terrifying behind him.
• He Yi plans to probe the Greater Ghost at noon, when it is weakened. As Fu Ling leaves, Fu Shan remains to paint on the wall with his own blood. He Yi then reveals he knows Fu Shan has been taking the Bureau Chief’s Soul-Transference Drug and offers him more in exchange for secret help.

Character developments

• Fu Ling is protective of Fu Shan and willing to risk himself to preserve the Bureau’s forces and secure his son’s escape.
• Fu Shan, whose body Xia Yang has taken over, is fascinated rather than frightened by the horrifying Grudge Houses. His urge to paint with blood reveals a disturbing connection to the place and a desire he conceals from his father.
• He Yi appears pragmatic and menacing: he offers Fu Ling a favor, but privately tries to recruit Fu Shan by exploiting his drug dependence.
• A Fang is introduced as a vulnerable child who may nevertheless be the center—or embodiment—of a powerful supernatural force.

Significant themes

• Human cruelty versus supernatural horror: Fu Ling warns that people can be more vicious than ghosts, and He Yi’s manipulation bears this out.
• Exploitation of the vulnerable: A Fang was used as live bait, while Fu Shan’s drug use makes him a target for recruitment.
• Appearance versus reality: A Fang looks innocent, but a dreadful presence surrounds him; Fu Shan appears merely frightened to his father, though he feels excitement and bloodlust.
• Parental protection and sacrifice: Fu Ling’s main concern is securing his son’s survival, even as the family’s trust is compromised.

Character interactions

• Fu Ling reassures Fu Shan and tries to protect him, unaware of the full extent of his son’s altered nature and drug use.
• Fu Ling bargains with He Yi, offering to shield the Bureau’s remaining forces in return for his son’s safety.
• He Yi and Fu Shan share a private exchange: He Yi exposes Fu Shan’s secret and tempts him with more drugs, setting up a covert alliance against Fu Ling.

Key plot points

• He Yi manipulates Fu Shan by revealing that Situ An’s Shadow World home contains Soul-Transference Drugs, influence over powerful figures, and research on ghost creatures. He wants Fu Shan to get the required offerings from his father, Fu Ling; He Yi already knows the home’s location, while Jiang Chan has its key.
• Fu Shan agrees, apparently tempted by the drugs, though his apparent reaction may be part of a deception.
• Fu Ling briefs the leaders of the Wanzai Investigation Office as the General Bureau prepares a daytime purge of suspected replacements. The supplied helmet, supposedly able to identify them, is distrusted as potentially manipulated.
• Fu Ling orders his teams to cooperate with the purge during the day but withdraw to safety before nightfall. He plans to let protesters, ghost creatures, and others seeking justice or Situ An’s legacy enter the East District bureau, prioritizing his people’s survival.
• Fu Ling keeps Fu Shan out of the purge, telling him to train newcomers. Fu Shan remarks that Gao Ming’s chosen game venue is about to become disastrous.

Character developments and interactions

• Fu Shan plays along with He Yi’s request, then receives rare praise from Fu Ling, who urges him to put his own safety first. He responds warmly, but his closing comment suggests he understands the looming danger.
• Fu Ling shows compassion toward his son and his subordinates, while taking a grim, pragmatic stance toward the General Bureau’s orders. His moment alone with the helmet reveals exhaustion and wavering resolve.
• He Yi treats Fu Shan as a means to reach Situ An’s hidden resources, exploiting his craving for Soul-Transference Drugs.
• The investigation team leaders voice doubts about the purge and the helmet; Fu Ling listens but keeps his larger plans to himself.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and trust: He Yi exploits Fu Shan, while the supposedly reliable Bureau and its technology may also be deceptive.
• Survival versus duty: Fu Ling rejects the idea that investigators should become the government’s “knives,” choosing to protect his people over obeying orders.
• Justice and public anger: Protests over deaths, disappearances, and Situ An’s exposed secrets threaten to collide with the Bureau’s response.
• A looming reversal: The daytime purge may provoke a nighttime return by the ghosts, turning the bureau into a deadly battleground.

Key plot points and events

• Fu Shan leads a bizarre “training” exercise, asking recruits to draw how they see themselves, then insults nearly every submission. He burns Xiao Yong’s drawing of roosters and mocks his belief that a rooster can herald a better future.
• Fu Shan tells the recruits that most will probably die that night and advises them to spend their remaining time as they wish. He describes them not as cannon fodder but as “fresh paint” for a gray world, then leaves to assess other recruits.
• An emergency assembly order reaches the bureau, but Fu Ling tells the East District’s core members to ignore it and follow their existing plan. Fu Shan watches as reinforcements gather.
• The Jingtuo God arrives: a pristine-looking young Mystery Analyst whom Fu Shan believes is actually in his fifties. His team reveals Saeki, imprisoned in a box and subjected to grotesque experimentation.
• The Jingtuo God announces that seven people have already been arrested in connection with Class Thirteen at Hande Private Academy. He claims former students attract shadows and trigger anomalies, and orders a sweeping search of the East District before nightfall.
• The district is sealed off and declared a prison. Investigators are ordered to find the Class Thirteen students and eliminate the danger.

Character developments and interactions

• Fu Shan acts as an unorthodox, cruelly provocative mentor. His contemptuous appraisals upset the recruits, but his warnings suggest he expects them to face real danger that night.
• Xiao Yong openly challenges Fu Shan and defends his idealistic reason for joining the bureau: honoring his dead comrades and fighting ghosts. Fu Shan responds by assigning him to patrol together that night.
• The Jingtuo God is presented as cold and ruthless, treating Saeki’s suffering as part of an investigation and using it to assert authority.
• Fu Ling quietly counters the General Bureau’s command by telling East District’s core members to stick to their original plan.

Significant themes

• Idealism versus harsh reality: Xiao Yong’s hopeful convictions collide with Fu Shan’s grim view of survival.
• Human beings as tools: Fu Shan calls recruits “paint,” while the Mystery Analyst’s methods reduce captives to research subjects.
• Fear and control: The General Bureau turns the East District into a sealed zone and mobilizes its forces against an alleged threat.
• Uncertainty about danger: The chapter presents the Class Thirteen students as potential sources of anomalies, but the claim comes from an institution using brutal methods, leaving its full reliability unclear.

Plot points and events

• Fu Shan recognizes that both Gao Ming and the Jingtuo God are hunting students from Class Thirteen. The Jingtuo God has turned Saeki into a grotesque conduit between the real world and the shadow world, while unrest spreads through Hanhai.
• The East District Investigation Bureau braces for a major confrontation. The Jingtuo God orders a purge of suspected replacements and demands that the Class Thirteen students be captured before nightfall. The General Bureau’s reinforcements arrive, but its factions appear divided over how to deal with the shadow world.
• While inhabiting Fu Shan’s body, Xia Yang explores restricted areas and gathers information about sacrifices, hoping to enter the shadow world and open Situ An’s “front door.”
• Fu Shan stops the rookie investigators from being sent out on dangerous patrols, claiming ghost creatures may attack the Bureau. When Xiao Yong challenges him, Fu Shan’s gaze briefly exposes an uncanny, rooster-like image within him.
• Jiang Chan arrives and supports Fu Shan’s decision to keep the rookies inside. Fu Shan then begins training them, outlining five attributes for surviving and fighting ghosts: fierce heart, strong body, shadow soul, obsession, and mental power.

Character developments and interactions

• Fu Shan acts protectively toward the rookies, defying deployment orders despite his reputation as a privileged, ineffective “pacifist.” His disturbing power becomes apparent when he confronts Xiao Yong. He also takes on the role of instructor, though his real purpose is to shape the rookies into sacrifices.
• Xia Yang, using Fu Shan’s body, continues preparing for his own attempt to reach the shadow world.
• The Jingtuo God grows furious at the slow purge and remains fixated on capturing the Class Thirteen students, whom he sees as threats capable of creating new anomaly events.
• Xiao Yong distrusts Fu Shan and initially defies him, while other rookies debate whether Fu Shan is protecting them or merely avoiding danger. Their view of him shifts when Jiang Chan backs his decision.
• Jiang Chan emerges as a powerful authority in the East District and reinforces Fu Shan’s control over the rookies. The chapter also highlights tensions among the Bureau’s leaders and competing approaches to the shadow world.

Significant themes

• Power and division within institutions: The General Bureau is not unified, and its internal disagreements complicate the response to the crisis.
• Protection versus exploitation: Fu Shan appears to save the rookies from being used as cannon fodder, yet plans to make them suitable offerings.
• The cost of fighting the supernatural: Survival depends on discipline, physical resilience, transformation by the shadow world, strong attachments, and mental strength.
• Reality under threat: Saeki’s transformed body and the approaching conflict show the shadow world breaking into ordinary life.

Key plot points and events

• Fu Shan, controlled by Xia Yang, teaches recruits about five trainable attributes—Fierce Heart, Strong Body, Shadow Soul, Obsession, and Brainpower—and gives them memorial portraits that may help in a crisis.
• Top recruit Zhang Lian challenges Fu Shan’s authority and proposes taking people to Spring Apartments. Fu Shan counters by showing the city’s growing emergency: anomalies are spreading, Spring Apartments is swallowing investigators, and the Bureau is under mounting pressure.
• Wang Hu tries to leave to protect his sister, but vanishes almost immediately after stepping into the corridor, demonstrating that the Bureau is not safe.
• As night approaches, an anomaly breaks out nearby. The recruits’ Black Rings issue an order for investigators to return to the Queen Thirteenth Street District, but Fu Shan destroys his ring and refuses to obey.
• Xia Yang reveals his true aim: to make the recruits struggle and “bloom” into beautiful souls, while drawing Fu Ling into a larger conflict. He shoots Fu Shan’s body, then emerges as a paint-like figure that enters Zhang Lian.
• Under Xia Yang’s control, Zhang Lian stabs Xiao Yong as the lights go out, beginning the danger inside the training room.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Yang/Fu Shan shifts from acting like an eccentric instructor to openly embracing his role as an orchestrator of violence. He treats the recruits as material for his artwork and disregards their survival.
• Zhang Lian’s suspicion of Fu Shan proves justified. She challenges him, tries to lead others to safety, and then becomes Xia Yang’s unwilling vessel.
• Wang Hu acts out of concern for his younger sister, but his disappearance shows how quickly ordinary motives can lead to catastrophe.
• The recruits move from skepticism and impatience to fear as the threats become undeniable. Their responses expose divisions between those who trust authority and those who distrust it.
• Fu Ling, though heard only through the Black Ring, attempts to direct investigators back to the district; Xia Yang specifically intends to draw him into the conflict.

Significant themes

• Authority versus independent judgment: Fu Shan contradicts official rules, while Zhang Lian’s distrust of him proves perceptive.
• Safety as illusion: Neither the city streets nor the Investigation Bureau offers reliable protection.
• Art through suffering: Xia Yang views fear, struggle, and death as ways to bring out the beauty—or “flavor”—of people’s souls.
• Powerlessness and sacrifice: The recruits are caught between collapsing institutions, escalating anomalies, and a manipulator who treats them as expendable.

Key events

• The supposed teacher Fu Shan is exposed as an Anomalous. Zhang Lian hunts the trainees with a bloodied knife, while Wang Hu transforms into a painting-bound creature and attacks them.
• Xia Yang uses the power he gained from devouring the Art Teacher’s Grudge House: his portraits awaken people’s malice and drive them into murderous madness. He sees this ability as a way to make painted rules real, and claims his actions are for Gao Ming’s sake.
• The East District Investigation Bureau comes under attack. North District reinforcements are diverted there, while Wei Dayou and his squad impersonate bureau personnel to take control of the approach to the building.
• Spring Apartments becomes a trap, filled with substitute ghosts. Meanwhile, fear and anger are being stirred among the crowds on Queen Thirteenth Street by adults wearing Student Council armbands.
• Wang Jie learns that powerful General Bureau figures knew Situ An was being used as a controlled link between the Shadow World and reality. Situ An’s secret actions let the crisis grow far beyond their expectations. Wang Jie is told that Class Thirteen’s students are crucial to containing the disaster.
• The Jingtuo God orders a Security squad to kill Gao Ming, suspecting he is a Shadow World “seed” who may already be mastering its power.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Lian reveals a cruel, predatory side, tormenting her former colleagues and treating their terror as necessary “sacrifice.”
• Xiao Yong recognizes the danger too late, but warns others to flee when Wang Hu changes. Wang Hu, still insisting he is human, tries to lure Xiao Yong into his painting.
• Xia Yang embraces the Art Teacher’s abilities and frames his increasingly dangerous choices as being “for” Gao Ming, hinting at conflict between them.
• Wang Jie learns more about the political forces behind the disaster and is ordered to stay hidden and report what he knows about his classmates.
• The General Bureau’s leaders are shown to have tolerated a dangerous arrangement around Situ An, while the Jingtuo God prioritizes killing alleged ringleaders over protecting civilians.

Significant themes

• Fear as a weapon: ghosts, paintings, and human manipulators exploit terror and anger to trigger violence.
• Power and moral corruption: supernatural abilities offer ways to control others, while characters justify increasingly ruthless actions as necessary or benevolent.
• Institutional failure and hidden agendas: officials knew about the Shadow World’s role in reality but underestimated the risk, leaving rival factions to scramble for control.
• People as instruments: Class Thirteen’s students are treated as strategic assets, and investigators and civilians alike are reduced to pieces in a larger conflict.

Key plot points and events

• On the rooftop of the Fu’an supermarket, Gao Ming and Zhang Ding discuss Xia Yang’s blood-painted evaluations of the Lishan Investigation Office and East District Investigation Bureau. The East District site’s danger, mutation, and shadow coverage have surged, making it comparable to two simultaneous Level Three anomaly events.
• Gao Ming believes Xia Yang’s Posthumous Photograph keeps the situation manageable, though Zhang Ding remains wary. Xia Yang’s unusual “miracle” rating reflects his belief that survival may be possible even in extreme danger.
• Zhao Xi reports that red-ringed security personnel have entered the Lishan shadow world. They appear to be searching for Gao Ming and can detect both An’an and Posthumous Photographs. Gao Ming tells Zhao Xi to hide with An’an and the others, and decides to draw the investigators back.
• Gao Ming orders Xuan Wen to begin preparations immediately. A truck crashes into the East District Investigation Bureau, starting a coordinated retaliation by the shadow world and launching the collective “Strange Tale Investigation Bureau” instance early.
• The chapter ends with Su Mo, an ordinary university student and delivery rider, preparing to join the instance. After discovering that ghost stories and players are real, he sees the collective game as his chance to become a protagonist.

Character developments

• Gao Ming acts decisively, coordinating allies and using the Posthumous Photograph as leverage while protecting An’an from the Investigation Bureau.
• Zhang Ding remains suspicious of Xia Yang but recognizes his skill and the usefulness of his evaluation system.
• Xia Yang is shown as both dangerously unpredictable and guided by a personal belief that miracles can emerge from terrible circumstances.
• Xuan Wen has assumed Xia Yang’s former role in controlling the Deadwater Forum and organizing players, strengthened by Gao Ming’s information.
• Su Mo moves from ordinary life toward becoming a player, embracing the possibility of a larger role despite his lack of experience.
• Zhao Xi demonstrates practical judgment and loyalty by protecting An’an and warning Gao Ming.

Significant themes

• Hope within danger: Xia Yang’s “miracle” measure suggests that the most desperate situations may still contain a chance of survival.
• Control and escalation: Gao Ming tries to manage a rapidly worsening crisis, but the arrival of outside security forces and the early instance launch widen the conflict.
• Ordinary people entering extraordinary roles: Su Mo’s story introduces the idea that anyone might become a protagonist.
• Competing claims of justice: Gao Ming fears the Investigation Bureau may harm An’an under the guise of justice, complicating the divide between protectors and threats.

Character interactions

• Gao Ming and Zhang Ding debate Xia Yang’s motives and the worsening situation, with Zhang Ding questioning Gao Ming’s confidence.
• Zhao Xi urgently informs Gao Ming of the security forces’ arrival and protects An’an; Gao Ming directs him to hide.
• Gao Ming instructs Xuan Wen to launch the preparations, turning the confrontation into an active counterattack.
• Su Mo’s interaction with the Deadwater Forum—and its assessment of his abilities—pushes him toward entering the collective instance.

Key plot points and events

• Ghost Story Players receive a group mission to infiltrate the East District Investigation Bureau, rescue the imprisoned former students of Class Thirteen, and expose Acting Bureau Chief Situ An’s crimes.
• Su Mo, a poorly equipped newcomer with little confidence, joins the scenario alone despite the many other players gathering in an alley. Experienced investigator Li Lin offers to team up; Su Mo refuses, so Li Lin follows him instead.
• Su Mo enters the Bureau through an unguarded back entrance but gets lost. Li Lin intervenes and guides him through the building.
• From a second-floor gallery, they see Saeki, a Class Thirteen student, imprisoned in the lobby and tortured with tubes piercing his body. Su Mo prepares to document the evidence, but Li Lin urges him to wait until they have searched the other floors.

Character developments

• Su Mo is resourceful and determined, having spent his savings on protective gear, but his inexperience and anxiety show when he gets lost. Despite his fear, he remains committed to confronting the scenario.
• Li Lin begins with deep mistrust of both the Bureau and the Ghost Story Players. Seeing the Bureau’s cruelty firsthand shakes his belief in its authority. Though wary, he shows compassion by helping Su Mo.
• Fei Wu and his roommates, along with the Le brothers, arrive as fellow players, establishing that the mission has attracted a wide group of participants.

Character interactions

• Su Mo rejects Li Lin’s offer to work together, suspecting he may be betrayed; Li Lin follows him anyway and eventually takes charge when Su Mo loses his way.
• At the sight of Saeki’s torture, Su Mo wants to record and expose it immediately, while Li Lin prioritizes exploring further before releasing evidence.

Significant themes

• Corruption of authority: The Bureau, meant to preserve order, is implicated in sacrifice and abuse.
• Moral uncertainty and new order: The mission frames the players as potential challengers to a failing institution, raising the question of what should replace it.
• Survival, trust, and compassion: In a dangerous setting where cooperation is risky, Li Lin’s choice to help Su Mo offers a tentative counterpoint to suspicion.
• Prometheus imagery: Saeki’s suffering evokes the myth of Prometheus, suggesting punishment for bringing knowledge or truth to others.

Plot points and events

• Li Lin and Su Mo navigate the East District Investigation Bureau, where eerie sounds and moving portraits make the building feel haunted. Li Lin senses fresh blood and warns Su Mo to stay close.
• They find Investigator Zhang Lian, wounded and warning that the Bureau Chief has betrayed the Bureau and unleashed a ghost that hunts people. She explains that the ghost is a painter: its portraits depict real people, and having one’s face painted brings a curse.
• Su Mo accepts Zhang Lian’s account because it fits what they already know and helps her move. Li Lin distrusts her and follows cautiously.
• On the fourth floor, they see grotesque paintings that appear to show dissolved bodies. A voice calling for help leads them to room 403, where an Investigator’s body is bait attached to a ravenous creature made from dissolved corpses.
• Li Lin fires and orders everyone to run. The creature pursues them through the corridors. They encounter Xiao Yong and other survivors on the stairs; startled by Su Mo carrying Zhang Lian, they flee in panic, with Su Mo and Li Lin following.
• The survivors reach the tenth floor, where Blood Ring-wearing Security personnel block the way. Beyond them is a sealed-looking blood-red door marked with a Headless Door God.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Mo shows growing composure and practical reasoning: he judges Zhang Lian by whether her story fits the evidence and recognizes that the Investigators can be allies against the ghost. He acts quickly to help her and escape danger.
• Li Lin remains cautious and protective. Though suspicious of Zhang Lian and frustrated by Su Mo’s trust in her, he stays close and reacts decisively when the corpse creature attacks.
• Zhang Lian provides crucial information about the Bureau Chief and the ghost, then relies on Su Mo for help.
• Xiao Yong and the other survivors are so frightened and exhausted that they flee at the sight of Su Mo and Zhang Lian, mistaking the scene for another threat.

Significant themes

• Fear and survival: The Investigators’ workplace has become a nightmare, forcing everyone to act under extreme pressure.
• Trust under uncertainty: Su Mo and Li Lin differ over whether Zhang Lian can be trusted, while their shared danger pushes them into cooperation.
• The uncanny transformation of the familiar: Portraits, colleagues, and even ordinary rooms become deadly threats.
• Horror and betrayal: The Bureau Chief’s apparent treachery turns the institution meant to protect people into a trap.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Yong and the others encounter the Blood Gate on the Investigation Bureau’s tenth floor. Security initially orders them away, then abruptly allows them inside after Captain He Yi receives a message from Zhang Lian.
• The group is escorted past locked rooms filled with people crying out in agony. Security claims the inmates have lost their sanity to the Shadow World, but Li Lin suspects the officers and ghosts are cooperating to lure the newcomers in.
• In a large conference-room-like office, He Yi presses logistics supervisor Jiang Chan to approve a plan to enter Situ An’s hidden home and claim its contents. Jiang warns that the home holds Situ An’s fate and sins, and that entering may be fatal.
• Jiang reveals Situ An’s Black-and-White Posthumous Photograph. Its inscription says that Situ An’s child made themself a “gift,” transferring their fate and the role of head of the household to Situ An. The head may treat the household’s monstrous members with love or exploit and torment them, but is charged with welcoming the Shadow World by triggering Anomaly Events.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Yong is more cautious after earlier dangers, hesitating rather than seeking help impulsively.
• Li Lin recognizes the apparent betrayal: the newcomers were likely driven toward the Blood Gate, and Security changed its stance only after Zhang Lian sent a message.
• Su Mo naively imagines he can unite the Investigation Bureau and Ghost Story Players, while missing Li Lin’s and Xia Yang’s attempts to warn him. Zhang Lian punctures his confidence with a blunt remark.
• Zhang Lian discreetly communicates with Security, suggesting she has influence or an agenda tied to them.
• He Yi, visibly afflicted by the Shadow World, is aggressive and eager to enter Situ An’s home for its rewards.
• Jiang Chan stays composed and cautions He Yi, but his motives remain uncertain.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and compromised authority: Security may be serving the Shadow World rather than protecting people.
• Family, inheritance, and exploitation: Situ An’s household is bound by a disturbing transfer of fate, with its members treated as either loved ones or tools.
• Moral corruption and choice: The head of the household has broad freedom, while being tasked with advancing the Shadow World.
• Uncertainty and misreading danger: Characters interpret events differently, and apparent refuge may be another trap.

Plot points

• He Yi recognizes Situ An’s posthumous photograph as the key to Situ An’s front door. Whoever takes it on must follow its rules and inherit a dangerous fate.
• Jiang Chan explains that no one can leave the shadow-world house alive until a new Head of the Family takes over. Hanhai, once a symbol of order, has died for reasons she hints at but does not explain.
• He Yi recruits Fu Shan’s selected Investigators into the Security Department, promising to reveal how they can gain power to fight ghosts. He also brings Su Mo along, despite Jiang Chan’s objections.
• On the tenth floor, He Yi sends the recruits to face the Blood Gate and its Door Guardian as a test of their will and endurance. When a tentacled head appears on the Guardian, the recruits panic and retreat—triggering attacks.
• Xiao Yong realizes that moving closer to the gate is safer, and the recruits rush toward it. The Guardian returns to normal, but the spilled rice and bloody floor conceal another threat that pushes them toward the door.
• A recruit touches the Blood Gate, which reacts violently. He Yi finally reveals the real purpose of the trial: the recruits are living sacrifices, and they must push the door open to survive.

Character developments and interactions

• He Yi shifts from acting as a recruiter to revealing the lethal truth behind the test. His familiarity with Situ An’s legacy and his apparent willingness to use recruits as sacrifices make him an unsettling, morally compromised figure.
• Jiang Chan demonstrates considerable knowledge of the house’s rules and tries to stop He Yi from bringing Su Mo into the trial.
• Su Mo connects He Yi’s test to the basic attributes of Ghost Story Players and hopes to learn the Security Department’s ghost-fighting methods. His confidence is shattered when he realizes the recruits are being used as sacrifices.
• Xiao Yong shows initiative and quick thinking by charging toward the Guardian, discovering that the area near the gate offers temporary safety.
• Teacher Xia, speaking through Zhang Lian, calmly offers to help Su Mo and watches the trial with unnerving interest. His remark that no one will survive once he starts imagining things suggests a threat beyond the test itself.

Significant themes

• Survival through sacrifice: The recruits’ apparent training is actually a deadly mechanism, forcing them to confront the possibility that survival depends on opening the gate.
• Fear and control: The trial weaponizes fear, using the recruits’ reactions to guide and endanger them.
• Inheritance and identity: Taking Situ An’s photograph means inheriting not just a position, but a perilous fate.
• False authority and trust: He Yi’s promises of empowerment conceal the trial’s true purpose, leaving the recruits unsure whom to believe.

Key plot points and events

• He Yi’s group and the newcomers try to force open the Blood Gate before the blood threads consume them. The Door God’s grip weakens as the sacrifices accumulate.
• The gate’s influence exposes and physically manifests the Investigators’ buried fears, guilt, and obsessions. One by one, the newcomers are absorbed into the door.
• Xiao Yong, convinced his uncle had told the truth about the chicken they ate, throws himself against the gate. Li Lin follows, restraining the extra arm that threatens others, and helps push.
• Zhang Lian then activates Xia Yang’s hidden influence on Su Mo. Xia Yang tells Su Mo that the others have become part of the door and demands everything from him in exchange for making him the one to open it.
• A ghost in a red raincoat appears through Xia Yang’s power, giving Su Mo a strange ability linked to the gate. Though Su Mo has only one attribute point, he slowly opens it.
• Beyond lies a shadowed, blood-red version of the East District Investigation Bureau. Two new rooms occupy the tenth floor: the House of the Abnormal and the Butcher’s House.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Mo stands apart from the other sacrifices: his modest fears and ordinary ambitions produce no grotesque mutation. Reluctant and terrified, he nonetheless becomes the one who opens the door.
• Xiao Yong clings to his belief about the chicken and turns that conviction into a final act of defiance.
• Li Lin’s hidden guilt surfaces as an unwanted third arm, tied to a past shooting. He struggles to control it and protects Su Mo.
• Xia Yang reveals that he has been manipulating the newcomers by cultivating their obsessions and can influence souls through his black-and-white photographs. He treats the survivors as part of a selection process.
• He Yi focuses on keeping the group pushing, knowing that failure may force him to sacrifice his own team.
• Zhang Lian acts as Xia Yang’s intermediary, triggering his influence on Su Mo.

Significant themes

• Obsessions as both weakness and lifeline: The gate exploits personal memories and guilt, but recalling what matters helps some resist being consumed.
• Sacrifice and survival: The group’s escape depends on people being absorbed into the gate, blurring the line between victory and loss.
• Manipulation and agency: Xia Yang’s power shapes people’s inner lives, while Su Mo’s apparent lack of exceptional traits leaves him an unlikely instrument of survival.
• The uncanny reshaping of reality: Personal trauma becomes bodily mutation, and the opened door leads not to safety but to a distorted version of a familiar place.

Key plot points

• Su Mo passes through the Blood Gate after his Red Garment painting disintegrates, losing the brief protection and support Xia Yang provided.
• He Yi forces Su Mo to open two rooms, hoping one contains Situ An’s hidden home and inheritance.
• In the House of the Abnormal, Su Mo finds photographs of Hanhai residents identified as potential psychopaths. At Xia Yang’s urging, he secretly removes photographs of Gao Ming and Xia Yang.
• Removing them causes all the photographs to fall away, revealing uncanny patterns. The patterns suggest the Shadow World planted psychological abnormalities in these people, though Xia Yang rejects that explanation and insists he chose who he became.
• The Butcher’s House contains a bone-built model of Hanhai. Its tallest building collapses, and bloody water floods the model, prompting Xia Yang to predict that many people will die.
• At the same moment, a pre-recorded video of Situ An is broadcast across major online platforms. He declares that he is dead and promises to reveal a horrifying truth.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Mo remains frightened and confused but follows Xia Yang’s instructions, showing growing involvement in events far beyond his understanding.
• Xia Yang acts decisively, guiding Su Mo to remove the photographs, then offers a grim interpretation of the collapsing city model. His disagreement with the patterns’ explanation reveals his strong belief in personal choice.
• He Yi is driven by ambition and suspicion. He wants to claim Situ An’s possessions, but the two rooms’ easy access makes him wonder whether Situ An misled him.
• Situ An, though apparently dead, remains influential: his final arrangements and public message shape the crisis.

Significant themes

• Power and morality: He Yi believes disaster will make power the only thing that matters.
• Choice versus fate: The wall suggests people’s abnormalities were imposed by the Shadow World; Xia Yang insists his identity was chosen.
• Inheritance, betrayal, and revenge: Situ An’s apparent final move may not be a legacy but a way to cause further destruction after his death.
• Private horror becoming public: The broadcast signals that hidden truths about the Shadow World are about to reach the wider population.

Plot points

• Situ An’s prerecorded message appears on a giant screen across Hanhai. He claims the Investigation Bureau sacrificed citizens for its own benefit and promises to release evidence after his death.
• He says he has prepared a hidden “home” containing wealth, allies, and tools to fight ghosts. The first person to find it will inherit his position and lead Hanhai through the coming disaster. His only clue is: “the answers to every secret were set from the very beginning.”
• The broadcast turns public attention against the Investigation Bureau and deepens divisions among Hanhai’s residents. Situ An intends to use the sympathy he cultivated in life—and the belief he inspires after death—to become a powerful ghost.
• Gao Ming recognizes that Situ An’s claims are a calculated attempt to shift blame and secure influence after death. He suspects Situ An might otherwise have grown even more dangerous, but he has already imprisoned him, along with Xia Yang, inside his heart.
• Gao Ming notices that his own posthumous photograph identifies him as a family head, like Situ An. He wonders whether the shadow world is organized into ghostly families, then enters the Execution House to question Situ An.

Character developments and interactions

• Situ An reveals himself as a planner who prepared for death as carefully as he prepared for life. His public image of a self-sacrificing protector conceals a strategy to gain posthumous power.
• Gao Ming sees an opportunity to exploit the confusion and expand the Ghost Story Players’ influence. He also connects his title as family head to Situ An’s mysterious “home.”
• Zhang Ding alerts Gao Ming to the broadcast and stays behind to guard him while Gao Ming enters his heart.
• Gao Ming’s closing remark mocks Situ An’s shameless attempt to make the public feel embarrassed on his behalf.

Significant themes

• Reputation as power: Situ An uses public sympathy and the memory of his supposed sacrifice as tools that may empower him beyond death.
• Doubt as a weapon: His accusations weaken trust in the Investigation Bureau and divide people, even if many still support it.
• The danger of obsession: The chapter suggests that overwhelming convictions can transform the dead into terrifying ghosts.
• Secrets and inheritance: Situ An’s hidden “home” and Gao Ming’s family-head title hint at a larger system governing the shadow world.

Plot points and events

• Gao Ming confronts the chained Situ An, who argues that fate will bring another version of him and that Gao Ming may ultimately become his successor.
• Situ An reveals that being remembered keeps him from being completely erased. He has manipulated the public and turned the Investigation Bureau into a target, worsening the chaos across Hanhai.
• Gao Ming asks what “home” and the “Head of the Family” mean in the shadow world. Situ An answers obliquely, suggesting that a Head of the Family protects their own home by bringing death to others. He urges Gao Ming to look at the Posthumous Photographs and question who is human or ghost.
• Before Gao Ming leaves, Situ An asks why he has hidden corpses in his own home. Gao Ming reflects on the remark and on a photograph showing his parents at his birthday dinner.
• With Hanhai descending into disorder, Gao Ming decides the Ghost Story Players can become a new source of support for the citizens. Wearing a mask, he enters Queen Street with ghosts disguised as players. Other members of Class Thirteen also begin resisting.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming remains focused on his personal resolve to kill Situ An, rather than being distracted by predictions about fate or the future. Situ An’s hints unsettle him, however, particularly the questions about his “home,” corpses, and identity.
• Situ An demonstrates remarkable persistence despite torture and captivity. He believes memory can preserve him and tries to provoke Gao Ming into following the same path he did. Their exchange is hostile in purpose but unusually calm in tone.
• Gao Ming and Zhang Ding briefly discuss the need to retrieve Xia Yang, whose growing danger could cost many lives.
• Class Thirteen’s surviving members have become hardened and are taking action against the worsening crisis.

Significant themes

• Fate versus choice: Situ An insists that events follow a cycle, while Gao Ming rejects the idea that this should determine his priorities.
• Memory and survival: Situ An claims that being remembered prevents his complete erasure.
• Home, family, and sacrifice: The chapter presents family protection as potentially selfish and destructive, while leaving the meaning of Gao Ming’s own “home” uncertain.
• Identity and moral ambiguity: Situ An’s questions about humans, ghosts, and Gao Ming’s hidden corpses suggest that the boundary between them may be unclear.
• Support amid collapse: As fear and public disorder spread, Gao Ming sees an opening for the Ghost Story Players to offer citizens something to rely on.