Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• A ghostly woman sings and dances in a classroom, recounting how a once-good man lost faith that virtue would be rewarded and resolved to become a god himself. The group leaves her undisturbed.
• Fan Li leads the others to a third-floor activity room where prayers play from a tape recorder. Though the room is empty, the prayers continue even after Bai Shu switches the recorder off.
• Gao Ming senses a presence in the restroom mirror and speaks with his reflection, who is actually the Faceless Clay Idol in disguise.
• The Idol explains that dead gods from the Shadow World seek to revive themselves through Hanhai’s living people. They generally avoid using their own powers because Fate punishes gods who act directly, so they make their chosen human agents fight instead.
• Bai Shu discovers on the surveillance screens that strange figures are approaching the activity room. The Idol ominously predicts that Fan Li may not survive.

Character developments and interactions

• Fan Li remains bold and decisive, pressing ahead despite the group’s fear. His willingness to investigate makes him a likely target in the Idol’s eyes.
• Bai Shu, Li, and Youyou are frightened and cautious, but follow Fan Li. Bai Shu’s discovery on the computer reveals the danger closing in.
• Gao Ming shows little surprise at the supernatural encounter and recognizes that the mirror figure is a fellow face-stealer. He challenges the Idol’s plans and learns more about the conflict between gods, Fate, and Hanhai’s inhabitants.
• The Faceless Clay Idol approaches Gao Ming politely and proposes settling their conflict through their chosen agents rather than direct action.
• Ouyang Susu explains that Sister Zhang once knew about rituals like the woman’s apparent soul-summoning performance, though Sister Zhang can no longer help.

Significant themes

• Faith, virtue, and disillusionment: The song describes a man abandoning belief that goodness earns a reward.
• Survival and possession: Gods seek rebirth by taking over the wills and bodies of Hanhai’s residents.
• Fate versus agency: Even powerful gods fear Fate’s retaliation, forcing them to act indirectly through human champions.
• Hanhai as prison and refuge: The Idol describes the city as a dream, a prison, and the last remaining hope after the Shadow World’s death.

Key plot points and events

• Gao Ming confronts the faceless clay statue through a mirror. The statue sees him as a dangerous new force: unlike the old gods, who worked within established rules, Gao Ming wants to kill Fate and break the system.
• In the activity room, Gao Ming’s companions discover that ghosts are closing in. They try to escape, but the opera-robed ghost blocks the exit. The group splits up: some flee, while Fan Li and Brother Li try to help Gao Ming.
• The statue’s influence is visible throughout the building: residents have forgotten their identities and wander like corpses, while the neighborhood committee’s ghosts and living paper figures attack the others.
• Fan Li is driven back by the opera-robed ghost and cannot reach the bathroom. Elsewhere, Youyou and Bai Shu face danger downstairs. Their terror and determination stir the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God inside Gao Ming, but it does not intervene, instead absorbing the residents’ intense wills and faith.
• Gao Ming rejects the mirror’s attempt to frame his friends’ choices as betrayal. He argues that treating people as pawns would only make the victor a new Fate. He smashes the mirror, injuring his hand, and declares that he has found the statue.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming remains committed to letting people choose for themselves, even when their choices put them in danger. He recognizes that defeating Fate without breaking its underlying cycle would simply reproduce its cruelty.
• Fan Li shows growing courage, risking himself to distract the ghost and then trying to return for Gao Ming. He ultimately has to retreat and choose between helping Gao Ming and rejoining the others.
• Brother Li acts despite his usual vulnerability, taking a chair and offering to help.
• Ouyang Susu prioritizes getting Sister Zhang to safety, while still intending to return if needed. Youyou and Bai Shu leave first as the group’s escape plan breaks down.
• The faceless clay statue manipulates residents and seeks to provoke despair, while its mirror-bound counterpart tries to turn Gao Ming against his companions. Gao Ming refuses its interpretation of events.
• The Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God remains indifferent to the living’s suffering, revealing a stark contrast with Gao Ming’s stated respect for their agency.

Significant themes

• Breaking cycles of power: Killing Fate is not enough if the new ruler adopts the same methods.
• Agency versus manipulation: The statue treats people as tools; Gao Ming insists they should determine their own fates.
• Despair as a resource: The living’s resistance produces the powerful will and faith sought by the gods.
• Trust and sacrifice: The group’s separation creates doubt, but Gao Ming sees their choices as decisions made under pressure—not proof that they have abandoned him.

Key plot points

• Gao Ming attacks the Faceless Clay Idol, rejecting its plan to claim the residential compounds and kill the people he has chosen to protect. He lets his Grudge House spread through the hospital activity room, turning it into flesh and blood and consuming the idol’s stolen memories and faith.
• The Faceless Clay Idol retaliates by revealing its true form. Its power lets it imitate ghost gods using faith and vows, and it transforms into a version of the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God, though it can reproduce only one of the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal’s four faces.
• The two giants clash. Gao Ming and the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God restrain the idol and use chains from the Execution House to drag it toward Fate’s Guillotine.
• Realizing it may be captured, the idol releases deathly power to draw Fate’s attention and drag Gao Ming down with it. A vast phantom world forms, and a pair of crimson eyes—associated with the rules of strange tales—opens in the black fog. Gao Ming faces the gaze directly and wonders whether it determines everyone’s fate in Hanhai.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming proves reckless and uncompromising: he will risk attracting Fate rather than surrender people to the idol. He fights with the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God as a coordinated partner and shows growing defiance by meeting the mysterious gaze head-on.
• The Faceless Clay Idol shifts from calculating negotiator to furious, desperate opponent. Its imitation ability makes it dangerous, but fear emerges when Gao Ming’s Execution House threatens to capture it.
• The Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God backs Gao Ming in combat, pinning the idol so they can use the Execution House and Fate’s Guillotine.

Significant themes

• The cost of defying fate: Both opponents risk attracting Fate, but the idol weaponizes that danger when cornered.
• Power built on belief and memory: The idol’s strength comes from stolen memories, faith, and its followers’ prayers.
• Disaster as a means of resistance: Gao Ming counters one anomaly by creating a greater one, accepting collateral danger rather than submitting to the idol’s demands.
• The limits of imitation and godhood: The idol can copy a ghost god’s form and power only partially, while its claim to godlike authority falters when it cannot control the outcome.

Key plot points and events

• Gao Ming is exposed to a terrifying gaze from a blood city within the black fog. In less than five seconds, it nearly destroys his body and soul, despite his growing strength and the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal’s healing.
• The faceless clay idol is pulled into the Execution House, severing its connection to reality. The black-fog vision fades, and the gaze disappears.
• Gao Ming deduces that Hanhai may be a cage and the unclaimed thirteenth blood city. The other twelve cities seem to have masters, and Situ An’s schemes may have been aimed at claiming Hanhai. Gao Ming suspects the blood-city masters may have destroyed the Shadow World, though he recognizes this is only speculation.
• Fan Li returns to rescue Gao Ming and carries him to the team’s hiding place. There, the group watches surveillance footage as the threat of nearby ghosts grows.
• With Sister Zhang, Wu You, and Gao Ming injured, the group argues over whether to leave them behind. Brother Li volunteers to draw the ghosts away so the others can hide the wounded and pursue the clay idol.
• Gao Ming retreats into the Execution House, where the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God prepares to dissect the captured idol and consume its accumulated faith.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming realizes that his power is insignificant beside the blood-city gaze, but survives through the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God’s intervention. He continues analyzing the larger mystery even while badly injured.
• Fan Li risks returning for Gao Ming, showing loyalty and concern despite the danger.
• Bai Shu and Youyou argue that the team must prioritize survival and leave the incapacitated behind; Ouyang Susu refuses to abandon Sister Zhang.
• Brother Li proposes a compromise and volunteers to serve as a decoy. His selflessness contrasts with the group’s fear and desperation.
• Sister Zhang, apparently overwhelmed or losing control, struggles against Ouyang Susu’s efforts to restrain her.

Significant themes

• Human vulnerability before overwhelming forces: Gao Ming’s near-destruction shows that even substantial supernatural power offers little protection against the blood-city masters.
• The cost of survival: The team’s debate pits compassion and loyalty against the need to make ruthless choices.
• Worlds and hidden powers: Gao Ming’s theories suggest that Hanhai, the Shadow World, and the blood cities are connected in ways that may involve the destruction or captivity of entire worlds.

Plot and key events

• In the Execution House, Gao Ming’s Flesh-and-Blood Immortal devours the faceless clay statue’s will and its faith, transforming its divine pattern into part of himself. The faceless residents begin forming a new bond with the Immortal.
• The Immortal senses that the statue’s true body is still a threat and directs Gao Ming to find it. Gao Ming also reflects that Hanhai may be a closely watched prison, where using forbidden powers could attract the blood city’s master.
• As faceless ghosts close in on the group, Brother Li tries to lure them away by banging on a pot, but they ignore him and pursue Gao Ming’s teammates instead. The group scatters in several directions.
• Brother Li returns to help Ouyang Susu and Sister Zhang. Bai Shu carries the injured Gao Ming until panic sets in; urged by Youyou to abandon him, he leaves Gao Ming behind.
• Youyou discovers a dead Ghost Story Player and then encounters Xiao Guo and his faceless parents. Terrified, she abandons Bai Shu when the family attacks him.
• Gao Ming, largely unconcerned by the ghosts, follows the Immortal’s directions to a basement and finds the clay statue’s true body. An opera-costumed female ghost grabs it and flees.
• Fan Li arrives and attacks the female ghost to protect Gao Ming, without realizing the full situation. Gao Ming sees this as proof of Fan Li’s decency.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming grows more confident in the Immortal’s power and remains focused on eliminating the statue’s threat, even when surrounded by ghosts.
• Youyou’s fear exposes her self-preservation: she first panics during the escape, then abandons both Bai Shu and the group.
• Bai Shu initially tries to protect Gao Ming, but ultimately leaves him behind to save himself.
• Brother Li proves loyal and selfless by returning to help Ouyang Susu and Sister Zhang despite having an opportunity to escape.
• Fan Li shows compassion and courage, attacking what he assumes is a threat to Gao Ming without hesitation.
• The faceless residents shift their faith toward the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal, while the faceless statue’s remnants are absorbed into Gao Ming’s new god.

Significant themes

• Faith and protection: Belief matters less than which power can actually protect people.
• Self-preservation versus loyalty: The escape reveals who abandons others and who risks themselves to help.
• Uncertain reality and surveillance: Gao Ming questions his memories and suspects Hanhai is a monitored prison; the approaching shadow-world may expose the truth.
• The cost of power: Using forbidden abilities could draw the blood city’s master’s attention.

Plot points and events

• Fan Li becomes dangerously corrupted after swallowing the death essence from the Faceless Clay Idol. In a blood-mad frenzy, he attacks the Costumed Female Ghost, risking his own life to hold her back and give his teammates a chance to escape.
• Gao Ming summons the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal, who takes Fan Li and the ghost into the Execution House. The Immortal removes the corruption through brutal surgery, repeatedly restoring Fan Li with flesh-and-blood power whenever he nears death.
• The Immortal destroys the Clay Idol’s true body and forges it into a memory-stealing mirror. With the idol gone, the compound’s darkness lifts, and the residents begin recovering memories of kindness that the idol had stolen.
• The Deadwater Forum announces that the group instance is over. Fan Li receives a “Miracle Easter Egg” boost, though he is left shaken by the treatment.
• Gao Ming tells Fan Li that the Hanhai Investigation Bureau considers Ghost Story Players enemies and warns him to be careful. Fan Li recognizes Gao Ming as the Class Thirteen member whose voice he heard on television.
• Fan Li is reunited with Ouyang Susu and Sister Zhang. He asks about the others and, from their silence, realizes that some may not have survived. Gao Ming watches from the shadows as Fan Li and his teammates leave.

Character developments and interactions

• Fan Li proves his courage and fierce loyalty by attacking the ghost at enormous personal cost. The ordeal leaves him physically weakened but more mature, and it deepens his belief that the Ghost Story Players are the city’s true saviors.
• Gao Ming is forced to confront the limits of his plan to save Fan Li. He nevertheless finds a way to preserve him and quietly sees the rescue as the beginning of a longer plan.
• The Flesh-and-Blood Immortal acts as both healer and executioner, saving Fan Li through severe, unflinching methods. It also becomes the new divine spirit of the Faceless Believers.
• The Costumed Female Ghost, drained of faith and strength, survives alongside Fan Li.
• Fan Li’s reunion with his teammates is subdued: their concern contrasts with his growing awareness of the night’s losses.

Significant themes

• Fate versus choice: Gao Ming suspects fate is pushing Fan Li toward his original destiny, yet Fan Li’s choices—especially his self-sacrifice—still matter.
• The cost of survival: Fan Li is saved, but only through suffering so extreme that he would rather have died than endure it again.
• Memory, kindness, and identity: The idol feeds on memories of kindness, while restoring those memories helps its victims rediscover themselves.
• Seeds of future change: Gao Ming’s rescue and guidance leave Fan Li with new convictions; Gao Ming believes the experience may shape what comes later.

Plot points and events

• Gao Ming and the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God are pleased with Fan Li, whose desperation and willpower can strengthen the god. Gao Ming burns Fan Li’s name off his list and prepares to target someone else.
• Gao Ming and his allies continue racing through Hanhai’s old districts, using ghost stories to rescue people and recruit anyone who might help them resist fate before the Investigation Bureau intervenes. Gao Ming tries to contact A Fang’s parents and senses they may be at Lishan Hospital, now under heavy surveillance.
• At the General Investigation Bureau, Bai Xiao survives the fourth-stage test to fuse with the Malice Divine Corpse. The test kills all 46 other participants; the Bureau had secretly fed dozens of Investigators to the corpse during the process. Bai Xiao gains powerful ghost markings but struggles against the malice within him.
• The Jingtuo God reveals that Hanhai has been cut off from the outside by deadly black fog. The isolation began on the night the Lishan Hospital anomaly spiraled out of control. The Bureau cannot explain what happened there.

Character developments

• Gao Ming remains determined to defy fate, building a network of potential allies and treating every small chance of changing the future as worth pursuing.
• Bai Xiao becomes stronger and more ghostlike after his transformation, but the sunlight and ordinary human comforts now repel him. He clings to Gao Ming’s knife as an anchor amid the corruption.
• The Jingtuo God presents the Bureau’s brutal experiments as necessary for public safety, while hinting that Bai Xiao has earned access to deeper truths.
• Situ An envies Gao Ming’s knack for finding people with potential; the Execution House itself is increasingly crowded and lively.

Significant themes

• Fate versus agency: Gao Ming cannot defeat fate alone, so he gathers people whose small chances of resistance might combine into something powerful.
• The cost of power and survival: Bai Xiao’s strength comes through a deadly, inhumane experiment that pushes him away from humanity.
• Isolation and uncertainty: Hanhai’s encircling fog turns the city into a sealed world, while the unexplained Lishan Hospital event may be connected to the crisis.
• Desperation as strength: The Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God feeds on the willpower produced when people struggle under dire circumstances.

Character interactions

• Gao Ming’s work with Fan Li benefits both him and the Ghost God; he then moves on to seek more people with similar potential.
• Situ An’s mother carefully handles his chains, while Xia Yang teases him, underscoring the Execution House’s strange but increasingly close-knit atmosphere.
• The Jingtuo God congratulates Bai Xiao, gives him a new uniform, and leads him to the Bureau’s screens to explain Hanhai’s isolation and question him about Lishan Hospital.

Key plot points and events

• Jingtuo God explains that the black fog disrupts communications, alters memories, and can drive people insane. The General Bureau is assembling a specially screened team to investigate it and reconnect with other cities.
• Bai Xiao and Zhuo Jun are appointed to the East District Special Security Team, but they are only recommended candidates. The General Bureau’s Great Screening will take place in three days, and anyone alive—including Ghost Story Players—may enter for valuable rewards.
• The screening will force candidates into an anomaly event on the border between Hanhai and Hanjiang, where they may encounter a red-garment ghost.
• Zhuo Jun privately warns Bai Xiao that, because he is now half human and half ghost, the end of the disaster could mean the destruction of his soul.
• Gao Ming and Xuan Wen discuss the black fog and suspect Hanhai may be a city inside the Black Mist World—or even a dream shaped by Fate. They question whether anyone has truly left Hanhai since the anomalies began.
• Xuan Wen plans to send selected Ghost Story Players to the screening for access to secret archives and rare rewards. Gao Ming adds Fan Li to the roster and asks again about Bai Xiao, who remains missing.
• The chapter ends as several Ghost Story Players approach Gao Ming’s hiding place.

Character developments and interactions

• Bai Xiao is officially recruited but distrusts the General Bureau’s plan and remains wary of Zhuo Jun.
• Zhuo Jun appears cold and threatening, yet gives Bai Xiao a blunt warning about the danger of his half-ghost nature.
• Jingtuo God reveals the Bureau’s strategy: exploit the Ghost Story Players’ motives and weaknesses, while planning to deal with them later.
• Gao Ming and Xuan Wen develop a shared theory about Hanhai’s possibly fabricated reality. Xuan Wen trusts Gao Ming’s judgment and handles the operational planning; Gao Ming relies on her while adding his own candidate.

Significant themes

• Uncertain reality and manipulated memory: Hanhai’s history and residents’ memories may have been fabricated by Fate.
• Humanity and identity: Bai Xiao’s transformation raises the question of what remains of a person when human and ghostly natures mix.
• Manipulation and uneasy alliances: The Bureau and Ghost Story Players cooperate pragmatically, each expecting eventual conflict.
• Isolation and survival: The black fog traps Hanhai, turning access to the outside—and knowledge of the truth—into powerful incentives.

Plot points

• Gao Ming waits inside a Pet Supplies Company building as other Ghost Story Players arrive for the same anomaly-related mission.
• Luo Dong, a Hacker known online as Hamster Dad, enters with his wife and two children. He proposes cooperation, and the group agrees to avoid wasting time fighting or scheming.
• Yu Ruolong and his subordinate Yu Ruohu arrive in ill-fitting Investigation Bureau uniforms. Yu admits they belong to the Catfish Gang, a group of Ghost Story Players.
• The group discusses the growing pressure to strengthen themselves after someone gains a major power boost from a Miracle Easter Egg.
• A camera crew from Strange Tale at Twelve arrives. Its host promotes the site and app as a free alternative to the Deadwater Forum, but the platform appears to copy the Forum’s missions and content.
• The other players distrust the pitch. Gao Ming, however, asks how to register, leaving his motives unclear.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming stays understated, calling himself an unemployed chef. His interest in the new platform contrasts with the others’ skepticism and may conceal a private reason.
• Luo Dong is practical and perceptive: he quickly spots the fake uniforms, openly identifies his family, and pushes for cooperation. His wife and children follow him into dangerous events, reflecting his unconventional approach to raising them.
• Yu Ruolong presents himself as a gang leader and backs down from impersonating an official once exposed.
• The Female Host is polished and persistent, framing her platform as a community service. Luo Dong challenges her sincerity, citing the Investigation Bureau’s failures.
• The different groups begin cautiously but agree to work together; the host’s arrival immediately introduces a new point of tension.

Significant themes

• Survival and self-improvement: Players fear falling behind as others gain extraordinary abilities.
• Trust, cooperation, and suspicion: Alliances form pragmatically, while people remain wary of hidden agendas.
• Opportunism amid catastrophe: Even after disaster, people compete for influence and build rival platforms.
• The ambiguity of public-spirited claims: The host promises to help survivors, but the others question whether those promises are genuine.

Plot points and events

• Luo Dong checks the Deadwater Forum’s mission details for the Heartfelt Pet Supplies Building. The group instance requires players to find and destroy a clay sculpture that escaped from Lishan Hospital; it may also yield rare cursed items that can command ghosts.
• Seeing that 29 players have already entered, Luo Dong and his family head for the upper floors, where the danger increases. The Female Host warns them that people taken into the testing workshop return as monsters.
• On the second floor, Luo Dong sends his son ahead to test the corridor. The boy marks doors as safe or dangerous, identifying something inside the fourth room. Luo Dong then suddenly races past it, leaving the other players confused.
• The chapter shifts to Manager Nian’s office, where she intimidates her employee Xiao Wu. She reveals that she hired him because he resembles a dog she once owned, and a severed head in her liquor cabinet confirms the danger she poses. As she closes in on the terrified Xiao Wu, someone knocks at the door.

Character developments and interactions

• Luo Dong appears calculating and distrustful, even of the Female Host’s warnings. He treats his son as a scout, suggesting a harsh, practiced family dynamic.
• Luo Dong’s son seems accustomed to dangerous situations and follows his father’s instructions, though he visibly fears what he finds behind one door.
• The Female Host continues trying to guide the group despite Luo Dong’s suspicion; Yu Ruohu, meanwhile, watches her with fascination.
• Manager Nian is controlling and predatory, treating Xiao Wu like a pet and using money, wine, and intimidation to manipulate him.
• Xiao Wu is frightened but initially tries to remain polite and composed. The severed head destroys any remaining sense of safety, leaving him unable to escape.

Significant themes

• Power and dehumanization: The mission’s warning that people become pets is reflected in Nian’s treatment of Xiao Wu and in the broader threat of the building.
• Trust and survival: Players must decide whom to trust, while Luo Dong relies on suspicion and calculated risk.
• Fear hidden beneath routine: Ordinary settings—a workplace, an office, a job interview—become scenes of supernatural horror.

Key plot points and events

• Luo Dong’s family’s abilities are clarified: his son senses nearby ghosts, his wife can suppress pain for family members, and his youngest daughter’s ability remains unknown.
• The group reaches the third floor, but Luo Dong’s son senses ghosts throughout the area. When ghosts begin emerging from the second floor as well, Luo Dong urges the Strange Tale at Twelve host to lead the way.
• Gao Ming and Yu Ruolong pressure the host by threatening to expose the group’s apparent reliance on Ghost Story Players. The host responds confidently, claiming that helping players is the website’s mission.
• As she leads them past haunted rooms, the host explains that survival depends on following the “abnormal rules” of Strange Tales rather than ordinary reality.
• A waterlogged, mutated girl and hair-like creatures burst from a room and attack. The cameraman is seized despite his unusual agility; the host runs without helping him, and the others flee.
• Gao Ming notices a red ring on the host’s ankle, suggesting she is Investigation Bureau security. He suspects the Bureau is secretly backing Strange Tale at Twelve to compete with the Deadwater Forum and influence Ghost Story Players.
• The group reaches the far end of the corridor. Luo Dong’s son approaches an office and knocks, apparently sensing people inside.

Character developments and interactions

• Luo Dong becomes increasingly protective and forceful when his family is endangered, while still explaining his son’s ability to the others.
• Luo Dong’s son proves essential as a supernatural guide, but his fear intensifies when ghosts surround them.
• Gao Ming remains observant under pressure and begins piecing together the host’s possible Bureau affiliation from the ankle ring and the website’s unusually open operation.
• The Female Host maintains a composed, authoritative public persona, but her decision to abandon the cameraman suggests she is prioritizing secrecy or self-preservation.
• The cameraman displays striking reflexes and carries a specialized knife, hinting that he is more capable than an ordinary media worker, yet he is still captured.
• Yu Ruolong and Yu Ruohu shift from challenging Luo Dong to cooperating, with Yu Ruolong backing Gao Ming’s confrontation of the host.

Significant themes

• Unfamiliar rules and survival: The host argues that Strange Tales require adapting to abnormal rules rather than relying on everyday assumptions.
• Trust and hidden agendas: The group’s dependence on Strange Tale at Twelve is complicated by suspicions that the organization serves the Investigation Bureau.
• Ability versus vulnerability: Special powers and equipment can offer advantages, but they do not guarantee safety.
• Protection and sacrifice: Luo Dong’s choices center on keeping his family safe, while the host’s abandonment of her companion raises questions about loyalty and self-interest.

Plot points and events

• Xiao Wu discovers a severed human head hidden in the liquor cabinet and panics. When someone knocks, he rushes to open the office door, hoping for help.
• Instead, an antlered, fur-covered monster with an axe grabs him. Manager Nian arrives, subdues him with a pet-training whistle, and forces him to behave like a dog, suggesting she has done something similar before.
• Luo Dong’s group arrives for what they believe may be a dangerous interview. Xiao Wu greets them as ordinary job applicants and helps them prepare résumés and intern badges.
• Xiao Wu explains the company’s four work areas and warns them of three rules: run if they hear barking, don’t eat anything, and never trust pets that imitate human speech. He directs them to Manager Nian on the fourth floor.
• Suspicious of Xiao Wu, the group searches the office. They find records of pet experiments. When Yu Ruohu opens the liquor cabinet, something inside seems to watch him. A crash and barking then come from the bathroom, and Xiao Wu immediately runs out.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Wu shifts from terrified victim to unnervingly cheerful, helpful guide. His obedience to Manager Nian and abrupt flight at the sound of barking suggest he is under the company’s control—or hiding something.
• Manager Nian appears polished and composed while treating Xiao Wu like a pet, revealing a cruel, controlling side.
• Luo Dong trusts his son’s ability to distinguish ghosts from living people; Yu Ruohu admits to being far more cowardly than his imposing appearance suggests.
• The group accepts Xiao Wu’s practical help but remains wary, especially after seeing the experimental records and noticing odd details in the office.

Significant themes

• Dehumanization and control: Xiao Wu is reduced to an obedient “dog,” while intern badges resemble pet tags.
• Appearance versus reality: A normal-seeming interview and a friendly employee conceal a deadly workplace.
• Trust and survival: The company’s rules warn that familiar voices and apparent helpers may be dangerous; the applicants must decide whom to believe.

Plot points and events

• After a dog barks from the office bathroom, Xiao Wu urges the group to run. They escape just before the barking stops, leaving a smell of rotten flesh behind.
• Xiao Wu tells them to wear their Work IDs and find Manager Nian on the Fourth Floor, warning them to flee whenever they hear barking. Luo Dong questions whether Xiao Wu is trying to keep them trapped, but a mutated creature in an iron cage charges down the corridor before he can explain.
• The group flees to the Fourth Floor, where they find machinery and a vast pool that reeks of rotting meat. Yu Ruohu discovers that he has touched meat paste.
• Luo Dong argues that Xiao Wu may not be trustworthy: he could be a pet imitating a human, and the “rules” he gave them might be fabricated. Gao Ming suggests the barking could have been a cry for help, and that the bathroom creature may have been a victim.
• The Task Panel shows only 25 surviving Players, down from 29. Luo Dong concludes that the group must find and destroy the clay sculptures identified by the Deadwater Forum, then tries to lead his family away. The others follow him anyway.
• The chapter ends with the machines grinding and something apparently moving inside the pool.

Character developments and interactions

• Yu Ruolong acts quickly when danger appears, but remains wary of Xiao Wu and tries to assess the threat from the Fourth Floor.
• Luo Dong becomes suspicious and decisive, piecing together clues about Xiao Wu, the rules, and the dwindling survivor count. Despite wanting to operate independently with his family, he is frustrated when the group keeps relying on him.
• Gao Ming offers a new interpretation of the barking, suggesting it might signal distress rather than danger.
• Yu Ruohu focuses on the revolting conditions and helps prompt the group’s discussion.
• The Female Host keeps filming even after their escape and begins to reason through the rules, though Luo Dong interrupts her.
• Xiao Wu remains an ambiguous figure: he may be helping the Players, or may be a disguised threat.

Significant themes

• Trust and deception: In a hostile place, apparent helpers and even survival rules may be traps.
• Survival through suspicion and cooperation: The group must interpret clues quickly, but its members disagree over whether to stick together or split up.
• Dehumanization: The possibility that Players are being turned into pets links the animal-like monsters, the strange rules, and the dwindling survivor count.
• Unseen danger: The Fourth Floor’s foul pool and the movement within it foreshadow a threat that has not yet emerged.

Key plot points and events

• Yu Ruolong sticks close to Luo Dong, while Luo keeps his family apart from the other players.
• Luo’s son warns that a terrifying creature is watching from the pool. The group must either retreat to another stairwell or cross the pool using a wire mesh railing.
• The Female Host explains that the anomaly is controlled by a divine statue seeking faith, and that following its rules may help the group survive.
• Barking approaches from the dark stairwell. With the group running out of time, Gao Ming goes to investigate rather than risk Luo Dong, who has a family to protect.
• Gao Ming finds a badly wounded man whose throat has been changed so he can only bark. Before Gao Ming can treat him, Big Dog emerges from the Posthumous Photograph and offers to take over.

Character developments and interactions

• Luo Dong remains protective and cautious, prioritizing his family and trusting his son’s warning despite pressure from the others. He is also willing to stand between danger and his loved ones.
• Gao Ming shows compassion and unusual confidence, approaching the barking as a plea for help rather than a threat. He reassures Luo Dong and takes the risk himself.
• Big Dog reveals a personal connection to the victims: he was once treated as a monster and gradually became one. He wants to save the people in a way shaped by his own experience.
• Yu Ruohu is impulsive but not malicious; he tries to cross the pool and urges the others to follow. The Female Host contributes useful knowledge about the anomaly’s rules.

Significant themes

• Humanity and dehumanization: The clay sculptures’ power erases people’s humanity, and being treated as animals can make them become what others call them.
• Compassion amid danger: Gao Ming and Big Dog choose to help the wounded despite the risks.
• Fear and uncertainty: In darkness, the group’s lack of knowledge makes danger feel more immediate, while different characters respond according to their instincts and responsibilities.

Key plot points

• Gao Ming and Big Dog reflect on Lishan Hospital, where a clay sculpture stole people’s humanity and turned them into controllable “pets.”
• Big Dog realizes that his own experience of despair has not destroyed his sense of self. After taking in a modified man’s remaining will, he gains strength and discovers his Grudge House can grow by absorbing living people’s faith and willpower.
• Gao Ming agrees that Big Dog should rescue other victims held by the Pet Company. He stays behind to keep the clay sculpture occupied while Big Dog slips away into the shadows.
• The Ghost Story Players, unable to see what is happening, grow uneasy. The Female Host senses Big Dog nearby, while Yu Ruolong urges Luo Dong and his son to move.
• When Yu Ruolong grabs the boy, he notices the child’s skin is unnaturally cold. The Female Host concludes that Luo Dong’s family are already dead—ghosts in the shadow world—and abandons him as a recruitment prospect.
• Left isolated by the others, Luo Dong holds his frightened son and condemns the group for turning against them. Gao Ming, watching from the darkness, praises Luo Dong.

Character developments

• Big Dog finds a purpose and a possible path toward becoming a Dream Ghost. His newfound power strengthens his confidence and resolve to save other victims.
• Gao Ming shows deep trust and affection for Big Dog, treating him as family, and takes responsibility for distracting the enemy.
• Luo Dong is revealed to have lost his family long ago, though he continues to protect and rely on them. His loyalty to them persists despite the danger and the others’ rejection.
• The Female Host is shown to be calculating: she had considered recruiting Luo Dong but quickly drops him once she learns his family are ghosts.

Significant themes

• Humanity and identity: Big Dog’s suffering has not made him lose himself, while the Pet Company’s victims are stripped of their humanity.
• Faith, will, and power: Big Dog’s growing strength suggests that the will of the living can empower supernatural beings.
• Loyalty versus self-interest: Gao Ming and Luo Dong stand by those they care about, while the other players retreat when Luo Dong’s family seem dangerous.
• Fear of the unknown: The darkness heightens the players’ panic and distrust.

Character interactions

• Gao Ming encourages Big Dog and trusts him to decide how best to help the victims.
• Big Dog protects a modified man and absorbs his remaining will, then leaves to find others like him.
• Yu Ruolong tries to help Luo Dong’s son but recoils when he discovers how cold the boy is; Luo Dong shoves him away protectively.
• The Female Host identifies Luo Dong’s family as dead and withdraws, prompting the others to distance themselves too.
• Gao Ming’s final praise offers Luo Dong recognition after the group rejects him.

Key plot points and events

• Gao Ming returns alive from the dark stairwell, confirming that the barking came from a living person whose soul had apparently been transformed into an animal by a clay sculpture hidden in the pet company. The person was trying to communicate, but could only bark.
• The Female Host doubts Gao Ming’s account, insisting she saw a huge black dog. Gao Ming does not try to convince her.
• Gao Ming sides with Luo Dong and his family, arguing that their usefulness to Hanhai matters more than whether they are human or ghost. He presents the Deadwater Forum as open to anyone willing to help people survive.
• Gao Ming identifies the Female Host as an Investigation Bureau security officer by the Blood Ring on her leg. She admits her affiliation, and Gao criticizes the Bureau—especially its connection to Situ An—for contributing to Hanhai’s crisis.
• Luo Dong agrees with Gao and leads his family, Gao Ming, and the others toward the way back, warning that the pool is dangerous.
• Their exit is suddenly blocked. The Fourth Floor’s machines start processing flesh and bones into pet food, while waste pours into the pool. A huge presence spreads through the floor, and a twisted tentacle with a deformed child’s finger emerges from a burst pipe.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming shows strategic judgment and a pragmatic, inclusive attitude, recruiting Luo Dong by recognizing his potential as both a survivor and a future leader. He openly challenges the Investigation Bureau’s claims to moral authority.
• Luo Dong prioritizes keeping his family together, even though they may be ghosts. Reassured by Gao Ming, he becomes more willing to trust him and guides the group.
• The Female Host reveals her Investigation Bureau identity after Gao Ming exposes her. She remains suspicious of him and holds to her belief that a monster lurks in the dark.
• Yu Ruohu and Yu Ruolong initially worry that Luo Dong’s family is dangerous, but begin to reconsider after seeing that the boy has helped them.
• Gao Ming’s acceptance of Luo Dong’s family contrasts with the Female Host’s suspicion, creating a debate about whether survival and shared purpose can bridge the divide between humans and ghosts.

Significant themes

• Inclusion and cooperation: Gao Ming argues that people—and even ghosts or corrupted beings—should be judged by their actions and willingness to help.
• Institutional distrust: The exchange casts doubt on the Investigation Bureau’s responsibility and motives amid Hanhai’s collapse.
• Survival and moral complexity: The characters must weigh trust and identity against immediate danger.
• Escalating horror: The chapter shifts from argument and uneasy alliance to a new threat, revealing the pet-food machinery and the vast creature inhabiting the pool and pipes.

Key plot points and events

• A massive, many-bodied creature erupts from the Fourth Floor’s pool. Its rootlike tendrils, tipped with fingers and pieces of human bodies, spread through burst pipes and beneath the floor.
• The creature attacks rats in nearby cages and begins flooding the area with foul wastewater and bloody debris, turning the floor into a trap.
• As tendrils block the exit, Yu Ruohu and Yu Ruolong flee toward Luo Dong. Luo Dong escapes with his wife and son but leaves his daughter behind.
• Gao Ming notices the omission, grabs the girl, and runs after Luo Dong. She reveals herself as a Vengeful Ghost, furious at her father for leaving her.
• Gao Ming withstands her resentment with help from the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal and calms her by telling her that Luo Dong never intended to abandon her.
• He draws a lifespan-consuming blade, cuts through the tendrils, and leads the way out. Severing them appears to awaken the pool monster fully; a huge shadow begins climbing out.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming remains compassionate and decisive, risking himself to rescue Luo Dong’s daughter even after realizing she is a dangerous ghost. He uses his supernatural powers and weapon to protect the group.
• Luo Dong is revealed to have left his daughter behind not out of favoritism or lack of love, but because she is uncontrollable and dangerous when provoked. He warns Gao Ming that she may kill him.
• Luo Dong’s daughter shifts from silent and seemingly abandoned to openly enraged, voicing her pain and distrust. Gao Ming’s words briefly reach her through her resentment.
• Yu Ruohu and Yu Ruolong abandon caution and flee when the monster attacks; Yu Ruohu realizes how close he came to being killed on the mesh.

Significant themes

• Family, abandonment, and resentment: The daughter’s anger centers on feeling left behind, while Luo Dong’s choice reflects a desperate attempt to protect the rest of his family.
• Compassion amid danger: Gao Ming refuses to treat the girl as merely a threat and risks his life to save her.
• Monstrous transformation and survival: The human remains incorporated into the pool creature blur the boundary between people and monsters, while the characters are forced into increasingly desperate choices.

Key plot points and events

• The pool monster erupts in a frenzy, attacking everyone in the hospital’s Fourth Floor.
• The Female Host escapes by using Luo Dong’s ghost wife as a distraction. Luo Dong turns back to save her, despite the danger.
• Gao Ming rescues Luo Dong’s children, then returns to stop Luo Dong from sacrificing himself. He slaps Luo Dong to break through his despair and promises to save his wife.
• Gao Ming draws the monster’s attacks toward himself, giving Yu Ruohu and Yu Ruolong time to help Luo Dong and the children escape to the Third Floor.
• Once everyone else is clear, Gao Ming reveals his full strength. With the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal and the Execution House, he traps the monster on the Fourth Floor and has the ghosts dismantle it.
• The monster seals the Fourth Floor, leaving the others unsure whether Gao Ming and Luo Dong’s wife survived.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming shows compassion and courage, risking himself for a stranger’s family. He reveals that his willingness to help comes from having once had a happy family of his own.
• Luo Dong is driven to reckless despair when his wife is seized, but Gao Ming’s intervention reminds him that his children still need him. He escapes with them, though he remains anguished about Gao Ming and his wife.
• The Female Host acts selfishly and shows strong prejudice against ghosts, sacrificing Luo Dong’s wife to save herself and then refusing to accept responsibility.
• Yu Ruohu and Yu Ruolong help Luo Dong and his children escape once Gao Ming creates an opening.

Significant themes

• Family and grief: Luo Dong’s devotion to his wife nearly costs him his life, while Gao Ming’s own past family happiness motivates his rescue.
• Self-sacrifice and compassion: Gao Ming risks himself for people he barely knows, contrasting sharply with the Female Host’s self-preservation.
• Humanity versus prejudice: The chapter challenges the idea that ghosts are disposable, emphasizing their bonds with the living.
• Hidden danger and power: The monster’s many souls and ability to multiply make it a growing threat, while Gao Ming’s decisive containment prevents it from spreading into the city’s water system.

Plot points and events

• The Female Host urges Luo Dong to abandon his dead family, calling them a curse that could turn him into an anomaly. Her warning makes him furious, and he refuses to give up his wife and children.
• Yu Ruohu and Yu Ruolong defend Luo Dong and urge the group to focus on getting out alive. Luo Dong’s daughter confirms that her mother is still inside the building.
• Recalling Gao Ming’s sacrifices and the way his daughter regained her reason, Luo Dong renews his resolve to save his family.
• The group searches the office bathroom and finds Pencil, a Ghost Story Player chained to a bloodied bathing pool. He can only bark, but gives Luo Dong the password to his phone.
• Pencil’s videos reveal that Manager Nian lured his team into the building. On the sixth floor, she told them to destroy a clay sculpture in the training area; as night fell, the seemingly ordinary employees transformed into numerous terrifying anomalies.
• The group debates whether the training room is a trap. Luo Dong examines stones found in Pencil’s neck wound, discovering mysterious carvings and questioning whether destroying the sculpture simply means smashing it.

Character developments and interactions

• Luo Dong shifts from grief and helplessness to determined resistance, rejecting the Female Host’s attempt to separate him from his family. He remains cautious rather than rushing into the apparent solution.
• The Female Host reveals her hostility toward the Shadow World and adopts a cold, pragmatic approach to Luo Dong’s family.
• Yu Ruohu and Yu Ruolong support Luo Dong, challenging the Female Host and encouraging him to protect his surviving children.
• Pencil is introduced as a badly injured captive whose videos provide crucial clues.
• Gao Ming, though absent, profoundly influences Luo Dong through his earlier courage and sacrifice.

Significant themes

• Family and loyalty: Luo Dong refuses to treat his wife and children as disposable, even when others call them dangerous.
• Grief versus survival: The chapter pits emotional attachment against the Female Host’s harsh argument that letting go is necessary to prevent further harm.
• Agency and caution: The group must decide whether to trust the mission’s obvious objective or suspect it is a trap.
• Humanity and monstrosity: The boundary between ordinary people and anomalies proves fragile, as the sixth-floor employees transform after nightfall.

Key plot points

• Luo Dong, Yu Ruolong, and the Female Host learn that the clay sculptures are vessels for distorted faith and that their “gods” can destroy them. They suspect Pencil’s transformation is linked to fragments of a sculpture and decide to investigate the barking rather than follow Xiao Wu’s instructions. The Female Host quietly calls the Security Department for help.
• Meanwhile, Gao Ming has swallowed the fourth floor into the Execution House to keep the tentacled monster from escaping through the pipes. His patients and Faceless Believers subdue it, revealing a young man named Nian Yu beneath the tentacles.
• Gao Ming forces Nian Yu to consume blood under the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal’s influence. This weakens the beast controlling him and reveals a beast-headed totem, from which the Immortal extracts a stone fragment. Once the fragment is removed, Nian Yu’s human heart is replaced with a beating heart of flesh and blood, and he regains some reason.
• A posthumous photograph reveals Nian Yu’s family and his sister, Nian Xin. Gao Ming recognizes her as the future mass murderer known as Manager Nian and decides to keep her confined in the Execution House.
• Luo Dong’s wife is rescued. Teacher Xia tries to threaten her into silence, but Gao Ming returns him to the photograph and reassures her that she is safe.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming appears increasingly monstrous and ruthless, using the Execution House and the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal to dominate Nian Yu. Yet he shows restraint toward the rescued woman and chooses containment over killing Nian Xin.
• Nian Yu shifts from a nearly mindless, predatory monster to a barely lucid survivor after the stone is removed. His concern for his sister emerges as his first clear words.
• Luo Dong takes the lead in questioning the authorities’ instructions and protecting his children, though he suppresses his hatred of the Female Host after learning who she is.
• The Female Host recognizes the crisis is beyond her control and seeks Security Department assistance.
• Teacher Xia attempts to intimidate Luo Dong’s wife, but Gao Ming intervenes.

Significant themes

• Humanity versus bestial nature: The chapter challenges the idea that beasts are simply irrational, showing that human beings can be more brutal—and that Nian Yu’s monstrosity is imposed and can be partially reversed.
• Faith and transformation: Clay-sculpture fragments and totems appear to alter bodies and souls, turning belief into a physical force.
• Power and moral ambiguity: Gao Ming’s methods are terrifying, but they also rescue victims and prevent future violence.
• Family and fate: The photograph links the siblings’ transformations to their family history, while Gao Ming’s knowledge of Nian Xin’s future shapes his decision to confine her.